My trip to Naples—planned months ago—had not been cancelled; I could hardly believe it. Up to the last minute I was not sure whether the Foreign Office would advise against trips to Italy or not. But there I was in the Parthenopean city, and thinking of how to get from Naples to Paestum (pronounced [pestum] in Italian), which I had not visited before. On the appointed day, Domenico, my driver,… Read more
In 460 BCE the Athenians were underway to carry out a mission—a raid on Cyprus to collect some more of the treasures of that island—when they was ordered by Perikles, after a voting process in Athens, to divert his fleet to Egypt.[1] The objective was to give naval support to the Libyan ruler Inaros II, who was leading a revolt against the Persian presence in that area. Charitimides led the… Read more
We were pleased to welcome Denise Demetriou, University of California – San Diego, for an Open House discussion entitled “Immigration and Belonging: Phoenician Immigrants in Fourth-Century BCE Athens,” on Friday, October 9, at 11 a.m. EDT, which was recorded In preparation for this event, you might like to read this PDF handout of readings: Immigration and Belonging Handout You can watch the video on our YouTube channel, or in the… Read more
What should I tell of autumn’s storms, and stars, and what men must watch for when the daylight shortens, and summer becomes more changeable, or when spring pours down showers, when spiked crops bristle in the fields, and wheat swells with sap on its green stem?[1] Our October selection is from the Roman poet Virgil: the pastoral poem Georgics. This work is divided into four books: Book I discusses agriculture… Read more
Head of Helios In this post, following the one on Thera, I offer you a safe and virtual journey through time to another Greek island of the Aegean Sea. Rhodes is well known for its famous statue of the Kolossos of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but the Kolossos (the god Helios) was destroyed during an earthquake in c226BCE, and it was not rebuilt according… Read more