Rome’s Secret Disrupter
November 6, 2023
Peter Stothard — Marcus Licinius Crassus was in his early sixties in the summer of 54 BCE, fit but old for a Roman army commander, red-cloaked and almost ready to… READ MORE
Tag: ancient history
The Legend of Cleopatra
October 18, 2023
Francine Prose — If we view Cleopatra through any lens except that of her appearance, her seductiveness, her sexual agency, and her relationships with two men, we see a brave… READ MORE
What If Julian the Apostate Had Lived?
September 26, 2023
Philip Freeman— Sometimes when I’m teaching ancient history to my undergraduate students, I like to ask them how the world today would be different if some key event in the… READ MORE
Ep. 117 —What Do The Beatles and Measurement Have in Common?
July 28, 2023
This episode of the podcast features a conversation with renowned physicist Piero Martin about his new book, The Seven Measures of the World. In the podcast, Martin talks about how The Beatles are connected… READ MORE
Enlightening the Enlightenment
April 5, 2023
Dare to Know was a New York Times Best Art Book of 2022 Elizabeth M. Rudy — How can the organization of a book about the Enlightenment convey the period’s… READ MORE
Where Next for the World’s First Author?
March 24, 2023
Sophus Helle— Enheduana is the first known author in the history of world literature. She was a royal princess and high priestess who lived in the 23rd century BCE in… READ MORE
Ep. 96 – The Art, Myths, and Gods of the Ancient Maya
December 7, 2022
In this episode of our podcast, we talk to professor and curator Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos about two books: Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art, which accompanies an exhibition… READ MORE
The First Tycoon
November 21, 2022
“The marble busts that now appear stark, blank stones were once painted in vivid colors that made them seem fully human. The Ancient Lives series is founded on the conviction that what… READ MORE
Demetrius, The First Celebrity Politician
November 17, 2022
“We are very excited to add Ancient Lives to Yale’s successful series of interpretive biographies as a fresh way of telling history. Imagining ancient lives is a way to recapture not only the… READ MORE
Gilgamesh in the Twenty-first Century
December 14, 2021
Sophus Helle— “Gilgamesh is tremendous!” the poet Rainer Maria Rilke exclaimed in 1916. “I hold it to be the greatest thing a person can experience.” Many modern readers have shared… READ MORE
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