Ancient

Rebel without a cause? Paul Cartledge probes whether the chequered career of one of fifth-century Athens' most famous sons reveals more about conflicting codes of loyalty than just the machinations of a turncoat.

David Braund takes a look over the latest collection of books on the Roman age.

'You are what you eat' was as relevant an observation for the ancients as for more modern thinkers, argues Helen King

'Bread and circuses' - the control and availability of grain was the key to political power and social stability in the ancient world.

As a political thinker Cicero has been all manner of things to all manner of men. In order to understand Cicero's political ideas, however, we need to look at the world of Rome in the first century BC, argues J.B. Morrall.

There is evidence, argues Adrian Tronson, to suggest that the 13th-century Mali empire, and its ruler Sundiata, were strongly influenced by the life of Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC, an influence that was to be capitalised on in the late 1950s.

Neither the Greeks nor the Romans paid much attention to the achievements or customs of the peoples that they conquered. As Jenny Morris shows here, in the case of their Jewish subjects this indifference caused problems that had both religious and political repercussions.

Charles Seltman traces the idea of the ruler not only great but good—helper and protector of his subjects—back to Alexander of Macedon.

Arthur Waley describes Chinese civilization in the first and second centuries AD.