Adrienne Mayor

The death of the bronze automata Talos depicted on a Volute krater, c. 400 BC. ArchaiOptix (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Tyrants and Robots in Ancient Greece

Autocrats have deployed automatons as weapons since antiquity, not just in Ancient Greek myth but in reality.

Alexander the Great portrayed on an amphora from Magna Graecia, southern Italy, c 330 BC. De Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Image

When Alexander met Thalestris

The romantic liaison between the great Amazon warrior queen and the conqueror of the known world has been much mythologised. But did such a pairing really happen?

Portrait of the king of Pontus Mithridates VI as Heracles. Marble, Roman imperial period (1st century).

Mithradates: Scourge of Rome

The legendary ruler of Pontus and creator of a formidable Black Sea empire was, until recently, one of the most celebrated figures of the Classical world, a hero of opera, drama and poetry.