Cultural

Diana Webb looks at the miracles and saints populating the basilica of the San Frediano in Lucca.

We may all know about Nefertiti, but what was life like for the less-famous women of ancient Egypt? Joyce Tyldesley describes the restraints and freedoms operating on daughters of Isis. 

Barry Strauss looks at the contrasts and similarities between the city-states and the 'land of the free'.

Susan Cole looks at how, though formally excluded from the political process, Athena's sisters nevertheless made their mark.

Ann Hills investigates Romania's rural rescue scheme.

François Hartog on how urban living has coincided with the advocacy of popular rule from Plato through to Machiavelli, Rousseau and 20th-century sociologists.

Richard Cavendish visits the society dedicated to the tragic Great War poet.

Rachel Braverman on a shocking American realist.

The elaborate funeral portraits of Poland's 17th-century nobility are a window on their self-image and lifestyle, as Bozena Grabowska discusses here. (Translated from the Polish by George Lambor).