history

Visiting Scholars

Open House | Sparta and its continuing myth, with Paul Cartledge

We were pleased to welcome Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow, Clare College, Cambridge, and  A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture Emeritus, for the first Open House of the Fall 2018 session, to discuss Sparta and its continuing myth. This event took place on Thursday, September 6, at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. Before watching the event you might like to read the PDF handout: 2018-05-29_PaulCartledge_Sparta-T.pdf You can… Read more

History

The Classic Ship | Part 1: The Persian Wars and the maritime supremacy of Athens

In the period of about 600–480 BCE, Ionian colonists emigrated from Attica to the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey[1]. There they inhabited a narrow coastal strip from Phocaea in the north to Miletus in the south, including the islands of Chios and Samos. Persia (c 540 BCE) conquered the cities of this area and appointed native tyrants to rule for them. The rebellion of the colonists against the rule of these… Read more

History

Xenophon’s Anabasis: Historical Context

Members of the Kosmos Society have been reading sections of Xenophon’s Anabasis, and this post provides a brief historical context to that work. The text is available on Perseus, both in Greek and in an English translation by Carleton L. Brownson (1922). Historical context The Anabasis by the Athenian soldier, historian and philosopher Xenophon, also known as The Anabasis of Cyrus, The March of the Ten Thousand and The March… Read more

History

The Modeled Ship | Part 2: The spectator on the aft deck, and the histopedē (mast step)

The spectator on the aft deck A clay model found in a tomb at Amathos[1] tells us the story of a man who comfortably sits on the back of his ship without a helm, having such a clear vision over the well-built ship—and where it is going to—that we could call it a modeled scene of a theōriā: the figure being a spectator who looks with his eyes and his… Read more

History

The Theoretical Ship

By the second part of the Bronze Age the Mediterranean was a vibrant place, full of maritime activity, enabling exchange in knowledge and materials. The Greek art of building ships and knowing how to operate them was at the basis of western civilization. The natural drive to look beyond the horizon resulted in cultural growth, wealth, trade and migration.[1] The ancient Greeks explored new coastlines and envisaged to enter into… Read more