In a previous blog entry, we looked at the story of Oroetes, the rebellious Lydian satrap of the Persian Empire in the 520s BC. In the...

Episode 30: After a shocking and crushing Greek victory at Salamis, how will the God King Xerxes deal with his first defeat? How do the...

The Achaemenid Persian Empire was perhaps the first superpower of the ancient world, establishing its ‘King of Kings’ as an immensely...

You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a Biblical headline was about the story of Jonah and the Whale. However, looking past...

Episode 29; A Spartan king may lay dead on the the battlefield and Athens itself may be a burnt ruin, but the Greeks have a plan for the...

SPOILERS for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny The eponymous ‘Dial of Destiny’ was based on an actual mechanical device, the name of...

Episode 28: Despite the heroics at Thermopylae and the importance of Artemisium, the Persian juggernaut continues its ways south, finally...

When faced with the notion of a scholarly Roman emperor, you would be forgiven for immediately thinking of the great philosopher king,...

Episode 27: While some Spartans and their king were taking their place in history, a no less important battle was occurring in the waters...

It is not just mythological, divine and actual ancient people that have inspired classical street names in Belfast. There are also some...

Published 2018 to much fanfare, with President Michael D. Higgins giving an address, the 4-volume Cambridge History of Ireland is by all...

Episode 26: After the heroic defeat came the myths and legends... Just how many Spartans/Greeks were there at Thermopylae? How did they...

The area occupied by modern Belfast has seen some form of human occupation since the Bronze Age. The Giant’s Ring is an almost...

Episode 25: A small pass in northern Greece becomes the site of a heroic stand by a small(ish) Spartan-led Greek army against the largest...

Let’s get this out of the way... Monty Python’s Life of Brian  is a comedic and satirical masterpiece. There are so many scenes which stand out as personal favourites, but here I am focusing on a very specific part of one of the most famous scenes – the (attempted) stoning of Matthias, son of Deuteronomy of Gath on the charge of blasphemy.     Even within this scene, there are several aspects that could be looked at...   ·         the bloodthirsty women, keen to mete out capi

Episode 24: Can the Greek city-states set aside their long-standing differences and come together to face the overwhelming power of the...

The appearance of three False Neros in the two decades after the emperor’s death in 68 was not the only ‘afterlife’ that Nero had. He...

Episode 23: Mad kings fall, heroes rise, court intrigue... just a few of things going on in Sparta during the interbellum......

Confronted with rebellions by Vindex in Gaul and Galba in Spain and rumours of the allegiance of Verginius Rufus’ army in Germania, the...

In 216BC, the Italian countryside played host to the Battle of Cannae between the forces of Carthage and the legions of the Roman...