CLEOPATRA: THE FATE OF EGYPT This immersive experience with virtual reality explores the life and reign of Cleopatra VII, and the alliances, betrayals, and secrets that changed the course of history. CUBE ORANGE 42 quai Rambaud, 1er et 2e étage,…
Cleopatra VII now joins such luminaries as Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill, and Henry VIII, as the latest historical celebrity to have her own volume in Bloomsbury’s ‘Significant Figures in World History’ series. Rather than a conventional biography, the aim of…
LIVES AND LITERACY IN ANCIENT EGYPT An exhibition of papyrus manuscripts from the collection of the John Rylands Library in Manchester (UK), and related artefacts including stelae and objects related to writing. The texts on display include letters, legal petitions,…
With Marc DeSantis
Where is this? If you know, email the Editor peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com before 28 February with your answer, giving your full name, address, and a contact phone number. One lucky reader’s name will be selected at random from all the correct answers…
REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS In the third and final instalment of his Ptolemaic series, Grainger presents what he describes as a ‘deeply unpleasant and murderous succession of barely competent kings and queens’, following the dynasty’s decline into ‘confusion and chaos’,…
Across 8 Mexican state, location of Mitla archaeological site (6)9 Early horse, now known as Hyracotherium (8)10 Phoenician city-state destroyed by Rome in 146 BC (8)11 Mycenaean settlement in southern Greece (6)12 Stage of the British Pleistocene Series (10)13 Greek…
The American-born writer and academic Phillips Payson O’Brien on an admirable dictator, and his fascination with failure.
Across 7 Portico or vestibule at the western entrance of an early Christian church (7)8 Green semi-precious mineral (7)10 US state, location of the Jeffers Petroglyphs archaeological site (9)11 Covered colonnade in ancient Greece (4)12 Father of Aeneas in Greek…
Across 8 Ancient Greek historian and geographer (6)9 2nd-century Greek theologian, author of Against Heresies (8)10 Fabled city of South America (2,6)11 Mayan style of architecture from northern Yucatan (3,3)12 Inca citadel (9)14 Recess in the wall of a Roman…
Across 7 North American archaeological culture (6)9 Huntress of Greek mythology (8)10 Germanic people defeated by the Huns (10)11 Port, now in Israel, conquered by Alexander in 332 BC (4)12 Father of Aeneas in Greek mythology (8)13 Extinct language of…
Across 6 Large knife often found among Anglo-Saxon grave goods (9)8 Fertility goddess worshipped at Carthage (5)10 ___ Wall, Roman fortification in Scotland (8)11 Extinct Tibeto-Burman language (6)12 Opponent of Greece at the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis (6)13 US…
Across 6 Homo ___, early human species, the name meaning ‘handy man’ (7)8 Undeciphered script found on tablets in Crete (6,1)10 Earliest epoch of the Tertiary period (10)11 Recess in the wall of a Roman basilica (4)12 ___ Ware, 6th-century…
REVIEW BY ANDREW SELKIRK Edward J Watts, Professor of History at San Diego University, is not a fan of politicians who claim that society is rotten and only they can make it better. This claim, however, is nothing new: the…
Review by Diana Bentley Nearly two and a half millennia after it was written, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War not only remains vibrantly alive and regularly referred to in discussions of modern conflict and politics, but is a rich…
Across 8 Germanic people who settled in the south of France and Spain (8)9 Chest used for human remains in ancient Greece (6)10 Andean city that flourished from AD 500 to 900 (10)11 Roman historian born around 60 BC (4)12…
A deity of wisdom and war, born fully grown, and armed, from the head of her father Zeus/Jupiter, Minerva – and her Greek counterpart Athena – played an important part in Greek and Roman religion.
He is one of the most famous figures in human history, the subject of countless legends, and a commander regularly claimed as the greatest of all time. But who was Alexander the Great really? We know that he was born…
Which Persian king did Alexander defeat at the Battle of Gaugamela?
Across 6 Ancient Greek historian and geographer (6)8 Emperor whose return to Rome from campaigns in Spain and Gaul was honoured by the building of the Ara Pacis (8)10 Member of a Germanic people believed to have invaded Britain in…
Which Greek goddess was the personification of the Earth?
A study involving the scientific analysis of Roman coinage has revealed a significant debasement in the value of silver denarii at the start of the 1st century BC, shedding new light on a financial crisis alluded to by Roman statesman…
Crossword from Current World Archaeology issue of March 2022.
Between which five present-day countries is the roughly defined geo-cultural territory of Kurdistan mostly now divided?
Are bad Roman emperors really that different from good Roman emperors? Nathalie de Haan and Eric M Moormann look at the case of Domitian, an accomplished military man and prolific builder who emulated Augustus but was reviled as a new Nero.
The history of the Mesopotamian city of Babylon had a powerful legacy even within antiquity. Today, many are familiar with the city, situated in modern Iraq, for its numerous appearances in the Bible and for the fabled wonder of the…
It would be fair to say that Nero’s reputation survives him. But could it be that this notorious imperial bad boy has been unfairly condemned by history? While the charge sheet levelled against him by the ancient historians is truly horrifying, archaeology paints a more nuanced picture, as Thorsten Opper told Current World Archaeology's Matthew Symonds.
The Gallic War is one of the most famous ancient conflicts, and raged across north-west Europe for almost a decade. Andrew Fitzpatrick explores the archaeology of those dramatic events and their aftermath.
Sarah Lindsell journeys across the Albanian hills to the 3rd-century BC Greek city of King Pyrrhus.