Europe

Just what are the similarities between ancient Greece and the Roman Empire? You can find out in this section with a podcast that tackles just that, or you can listen to or read the large variety of resources that explore everything from poetry, drama, religious beliefs and the men and women that populated and shaped the Ancient World. Read more

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  • Recorded webinar: Prosthetics and assistive technology in ancient Greece and Rome

    Article

    In this webinar, Jane Draycott shares her research on prostheses and assistive technology in ancient Greece, Rome and the neighbouring civilisations. She outlines the findings from her 2023 book on this subject, which arose from a grant to visit museums around the UK to access surviving ancient prostheses and modern...

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  • History Abridged: Salt mines in Eastern Europe

    Article

    History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. See all History Abridged articles Towards the end of the Bronze Age, the climate across Europe began to warm. This...

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  • History Abridged: The City of Alexandria

    Article

    History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. Think Horrible Histories for grownups (without the songs and music). See all History Abridged articles One of the oldest cities...

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  • Film: Attic Inscriptions

    Article

    Public Museums, National Trust Properties and private homes across the UK contain thousands of antiquities deriving from the ancient Greek world. Many of these were obtained by those who ventured upon the Grand Tour, a cultural expedition to Europe undertaken by wealthy young men in the eighteenth and ninteteenth centuries. In...

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  • Out and About in Paestum

    Article

    Trevor James introduces the extraordinary archaeological remains from Greek and Roman occupation to be found at Paestum. Paestum is the more recent name of a location originally known as Poseidonia, named in honour of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Poseidonia was a Greek settlement or colony on the west...

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  • The emergence of the first civilisations

    Article

    Paul Bracey – The emergence of civilisations provided fundamental changes in the capacity for human development. This said, they exhibited similarities, differences, frailties, negative and positive attributes and should be related to a broadly based appreciation of the past. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the assumption was that...

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  • History Abridged: the Acropolis

    Article

    History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. Think Horrible Histories for grownups (without the songs and music). See all History Abridged articles The Acropolis of Athens is...

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  • Anything but enlightened: child slavery in the Roman world

    Article

    Through evidence and models, Ulrike Roth explores the role of child slavery in ancient Rome. Ancient Rome has been a source of inspiration throughout the ages. Some of the most remarkable thinkers in human history have drawn on one or other of Roman society’s great achievements. The profound reflection on,...

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  • The amazing adventures of Pytheas the Greek

    Article

    Alf Wilkinson explores the achievements of Pytheas, the first person, as far as we know, to sail completely around the British Isles in around 325 BC. When we think of the Ancient Greeks we tend to think of warfare, drama, myths and legends, perhaps mathematics, medicine and science. What we...

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  • Space and behaviour at the court of Alexander the Great

    Article

    Why do we behave in the way that we do? In this article, Stephen Harrison shows how our behaviour is intrinsically linked to the spaces we inhabit and he argues that Alexander the Great adopted spatial features from Persian architecture which altered the nature of his relationship with his subjects....

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  • Podcast Series: St Peter & Constantine

    Multipage Article

    In this set of podcasts Professor Mark Humphries of the University of Swansea discusses the life and significance of both St Peter and Constantine the Great, focusing on their roles in the development of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

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  • Podcast: St Augustine of Hippo

    Multipage Article

    In this podcast Dr Conrad Leyser of Worcester College, University of Oxford, looks at the life, ideas and significance of St Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).

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  • Ideas on the Shape, Size and Movements of the Earth - Pamphlet

    Article

    This classic pamphlet takes you through some of the key ideas on the shape, size and movements of the Earth as they changed over time from classical cosmology to the work of Galileo and Isaac Newton.

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  • 'Veni, Vidi, Vici!'

    Article

    A personal reflection on Julius Caesar and the conquest of Britain Julius Caesar always brings to mind the famous dictum of Winston Churchill, ‘History will be kind to me, for I shall write it!' In his writings Julius Caesar provides a vivid and detailed account of his invasions of Britain in...

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  • Podcast Series: Women in Ancient Greece & Rome

    Multipage Article

    In this series of podcasts Dr Richard Hawley of Royal Holloway, University of London looks at the history of women in Ancient Greece and Rome.

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  • Podcast Series: Goths, Huns and the fall of the Roman Empire

    Multipage Article

    In this series of podcasts Professor Peter Heather of King's College London looks at the history of the Goths, the Huns, the division of the Roman Empire and the fall of the Roman Empire.

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  • Podcast: Christianity in Imperial Rome

    Multipage Article

    In this podcast Dr Emma-Jayne Graham and Professor Helen King of the Open University discuss how Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman world.

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  • Podcast: Ancient Greece & Rome - Similarities and Differences

    Multipage Article

    In this podcast Dr Ursula Rothe & Dr Colin Andrews of the Open University discuss how social, moral and religious life in Rome differed from that of ancient Greece.

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  • Podcast: Latin Poets and their Role in Roman Society

    Multipage Article

    In this podcast Dr Joanna Paul & Dr Paula James of the Open University discuss the role and significance of the Latin Poets in Roman society.

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  • Podcast: Roman Imperial Society

    Multipage Article

    In this podcast Dr Emma-Jayne Graham and Dr Ursula Rothe of the Open University examine Roman Imperial Society.

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