Greece

Pytheas was not the first to hear of the frozen north, but he may well have been the first Greek to see it for himself. Source: Exekias / Public Domain.

The Voyage of Pytheas, the Arctic Explorer of Ancient Greece

All That History November 30, 2024

Pytheas is not a familiar name, even to those familiar with the ancient world. But...

Turns out we may know about the Trojan War from the Hittites, and the mysterious people to the west they called the Ahhiyawans. Source: Unknown Author / Public Domain.

The Ahhiyawa and Wilusa: Did the Hittites Know of the Trojan War?

All That History November 5, 2024

Homer’s Iliad is one of the oldest stories which has survived. Coming out of the...

The golden larnax of Tomb II at Vergina, wherein the remains of a sacred purple tunic belonging to Alexander the Great are believed to have been found. Source: Digitalphilologist / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tunic in Royal Vergina Tomb may have Belonged to Alexander the Great

All That History November 1, 2024

Few individuals have changed the world, and fewer still manage to do so, as Alexander...

The Dreros Stones could be the key to reading Linear A, the ancient language of the Minoans. Source: Émile Gilliéron / Public Domain.

The Dreros Stones, and an Ancient Language Lost to the Nazis

All That History October 21, 2024

Unpicking our ancient past is a nigh-impossible challenge. Piecing together who we are and where...

Mycenaean warriors depicted on a vase. Something sudden happened to the Bronze Age palaces which caused them to be abandoned as society collapsed, and the social order which replaced them looked decidedly different. Source: Sharon Mollerus / CC BY 2.0.

The Mycenaean Collapse: A Massacre in the Palaces?

All That History October 15, 2024

Bronze Age Greece is seen as a golden age. This is Homer’s Greece, the Greece...

The excavated Greek ruins including the large L-shaped rampart wall. Some of the finds indicate a site dating back to the golden age of Bronze Age Greece. Source: Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media.

Ancient Greek Ruins in Croatia Date back to the Trojan War

All That History October 9, 2024

Archaeologists in the village of Stobreč in Croatia have unearthed an ancient Greek settlement. What...

Pythagoras with visual representations of some of his numerology theories. His stranger ideas have been omitted. Source: J Augustus Knapp / Public Domain.

The Wild Life and the Ridiculous Death of Pythagoras

All That History October 2, 2024

You all know about Pythagoras, the triangle guy? His brilliant theorem to calculate the lengths...

Ichor is often portrayed as a golden liquid, ethereal and very different to mortal blood. Source: Ann Wuyts / CC BY 2.0.

Ichor, Life Blood of the Immortals

All That History October 1, 2024

It is fair to say that gods are a little different. Whilst most creation myths...

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus

All That History September 16, 2024

Ever wondered why proponents of medieval alchemy thought they could turn lead into gold? Such...

The Spartans were famed throughout ancient Greece for their warrior code. But such quality came at a terrible cost, a series of trials known as the Agoge.

A Cut Above: Agoge, the Ancient Spartan Entry Test

All That History September 9, 2024

Of all the city states of ancient Greece it is Sparta who stands out as...

Roman orichalcum, which begs the question: how can we not know what this metal is? Well, it seems that perhaps the Romans didn’t know, either (Emanuele riela / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Orichalcum: A Lost Metal that we Never Lost?

All That History August 4, 2024

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, writing about Atlantis, made mention of a fabulous metal which...