A Mediterranean Valley redux
My son looked at me askance and muttered ‘more nostalgia’. I smiled, recognising he was right. My Mediterranean journey really began in this unlikely valley and its off-the-beaten-track places that I have
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Charles Williams and the Corinth Roman Painting Project
In the second – and final – part of his interview, Richard Hodges talks to Charles K Williams about the remarkable Roman frescoes he discovered in Corinth.
Corinth’s greatest treasure
In the first of a two-part piece, Richard Hodges visits Corinth for a conversation with its legendary excavator Charles K Williams.
Byllis and the end of the Roman Empire
When I think of spring, one of the first images that comes to mind in the depth of winter is the carpet of flowers at Byllis, high above the Vjosa valley. This
Cosmic psychopomps and apotropaic pentagrams: A pot with a difference
Archaeology essentially illuminates human entanglement with things, James Deetz pointed out 50 years ago in his classic book In Small Things Forgotten. ‘Don’t read what we have written; look at what we
Ashby and Strong: A golden partnership and its end
Dedicated to the memory of Amanda Claridge In 1925, thanks to Winston Churchill, Britain returned to the gold standard; Italy slipped into a dictatorship under Benito Mussolini after a speech to the
Master of Actium
Richard Hodges introduces the Emperor Augustus’ city of victory at Actium and interviews its renowned excavator, Kostas Zachos.
Saving Saranda
Strictly speaking Saranda cannot be saved. When I first came here in September 1993, a year after Albania became a democracy, it was a blissful Ionian seaport. Many of its citizens had
Bomarzo and its Pyramid
In a deep valley below Bomarzo’s Orsini palace lies the so-called ‘Monster Park’ – the Sacro Bosco, a Mannerist gem from the later 16th century. It is surely one of the most
In the footsteps of N G L Hammond
On a cold March day in 1995, fortune blessed me. I had written to the ancient historian N G L Hammond to see if he might meet me. He was 87, so
Bluetooth’s Kingdom
I have embarked on an odyssey to revisit Viking Denmark decades after I first became familiar with it through editing Klavs Randsborg’s landmark book The Viking Age in Denmark (1980). Randsborg’s book
Being ‘a Greek spy’ back at Butrint
I was in Greece, rolling off a ferry at Kyllini, about to visit its mighty castle, when I received the text message accusing me of being a Greek spy. Almost at once,
The apogee of Monte Cassino
In the second of a two-part feature examining Monte Cassino, Richard Hodges examines how the monastery developed from the late 9th century onwards.
Excavations at Monte Cassino
In the first of a two-part feature, Richard Hodges untangles the early evolution of the famed Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino.
In praise of Tating Ware (and high-definition archaeology)
Fifty years ago, I received a life-changing letter. David Peacock, my tutor at Southampton University, offered me a doctoral scholarship to study the imported Frankish pottery from Hamwic, the 7th- to 9th-century
Ventotene: A prison that was a university
A free and united Europe is the necessary premise to the strengthening of modern civilisation… The Ventotene Manifesto (1941).
St George’s Hill, Damoulianata, Kefalonia
Last summer, one day stands out. While on holiday on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, I persuaded three friends to spend a morning investigating a castle that has intrigued me. Situated on
Grama Bay: where the Ionian blue begins
Richard Hodges has been following in the wake of generations of mariners by investigating the extraordinary concentration of inscriptions carved into the rock of Grama Bay, Albania.
Asterix’s legacy at Alésia
Richard Hodges explores Alésia in Burgundy and the legacy of Julius Caesar’s defeat of Vercingétorix and the Gauls.
Clare Tuffy and Newgrange
I would restore the great chambers of Boyne, prepare a sepulchre under the cupmarked stones. Seamus Heaney, ‘Funeral Rites’
881: Sacking San Vincenzo al Volturno
In the conclusion to this two-part article, Richard Hodges examines the circumstances surrounding the attack on the Benedictine monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno in AD 881.
Tracy Roberts and LoveItaly
Based in Rome, LoveItaly is now in its seventh year and its accent is decidedly American and not patrician. It owes everything to the dynamism of a Californian who is every bit as Roman as the Romans.
Paul Reynolds and a new Classical Archaeology
The astonishing thing about Paul is his photographic memory. I recall he once joined a Roman sherd from Butrint with a piece from the maritime villa at Diaporit, three miles away.