Elagabalus:mad, bad or misunderstood?

Carthage burned for six days. After three long years of siege, in the spring of 146 BC Roman soldiers finally broke through the city’s defences and began to slaughter the population. But still the Car

The most intriguing aspect of this book is that it’s written as a sort of ‘life in the day’ of the Colosseum, that vast edifice begun in Rome by the emperor Vespasian (AD 69–79) to entertain the masse

As frequently, this column is inspired by Britain’s Queen of Classics, Mary Beard. This time, her ‘History of food tasters from Nero to now,’ appearing (25 May 2025) in the TLS weekly Newsletter. Does

The cut-throat politics of Syracuse informed Plato’s thinking

There were 13 men: unlucky for someone. They were dressed to kill – but so was everyone else. In what was essentially an army camp, crammed with armed men, the assailants blended right in. Moving casu

In short, yes: the Victorians did indeed think eating mummified remains pilfered from ancient Egyptian tombs was a good idea, although they did not come up with the idea themselves. The morbid practic