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2000 Ancient / Classical History Features
12/19/00 - Rise of Democracy: Reforms of Cleisthenes
Solon may have started the democratic reforms in Athens, but it was Cleisthenes who made them work.
12/12/00 - Democracy Then and Now
The original democratic society faced many of the same problems seen in the 2000 presidential election in the U.S.
12/05/00 - Review: Cutter's Island
In Vincent Panella's first novel Caesar is captured and held for ransom by a group of pirates with a grudge against Rome.
11/28/00 - Genealogy of the First Gods
Gaia was the ancestor of the Titans, Olympians, Okeanids, and many more gods and powers.
11/21/00 - Hermes
Hermes, god of thieves, commerce, and birds of omen, invented fire, sacrifice, and the lyre which he gave to Apollo in exchange for the cattle he'd stolen.
11/14/00 - Vestal Virgins
An important sacred, ceremonial role held only by women who held the luck of Rome in their hands.
11/07/00 - Matrimonium
Roman marriages could be in manum confarreatio, coemptio, and usus, or sine in manu.
10/31/00 - Odyssey II: Wily Penelope
A perfect match for her wily husband, suitor-thwarting Penelope is likened to a fox.
10/24/00 - Thesmophoria
The annual autumn harvest celebration for Athenian women honored Demeter and brought fertility to the fields.
10/17/00 - Maya Calendar Round
One of the calendars used by the Maya and adopted by the Aztec is really two calendars, the Haab and the Tzolkin combined together like cogwheels.
10/11/00 - Soul Mates
An adaptation of Aristophanes' speech on Love in Plato's Symposium.
10/10/00 - Navigating This Site
Tips on how to find what you're looking for and summaries of major sections of the Greek and Roman pages.
10/03/00 - Review: Oresteia
Ted Hughes tackles Aeschylus' trilogy about the Curse of the House of Atreus.
09/26/00 - Odyssey I: A Goddess Intervenes
Athena takes advantage of Poseidon's absence to rally the other Olympians around the cause of returning Odysseus to Ithaca.
09/19/00 - Review: Euripides Alcestis
Ted Hughes' adaptation and translation of Euripides tragedy adds just enough background and updating to make the play captivating for modern readers.
09/12/00 - Mysteries of the Amarna Pharaohs
Did Akhenaten deserve the label heretic? Was Smenkhare really Nefertiti? Was King Tut Akhenaten's son or brother? These are some of the mysteries yet to be resolved conclusively about the Amarna period pharaohs.
09/05/00 - Review: Tutankhamen
Christine El Mahdy's biography of Tutankhamen and the other Amarna rulers, Smenkhare and Akhenaten, is a treasure house of information about the Egyptians, their customs and beliefs.
09/03/00 - Origins of Labor Day
Guest feature by William Harris on the origins of the American holiday in trade unions and the international holiday in the Roman agricultural calendar.
08/29/00 - Review: Last Seen in Massilia
Steven Saylor's newest Roma sub rosa mystery takes Gordianus to Marseilles to find a couple of missing people.
08/22/00 - Aeneas' Underworld Adventure
Aeneas visits a much more mapped out underworld than the one Odysseus saw when he looks for his father in the home of Dis and Proserpine.
08/15/00 - Odyssey Book XI: Nekuia
Odysseus is one of the few mortals able to make a return trip to the realm of Hades.
08/08/00 - Review: The Laughter of Aphrodite
Peter Green constructs a biography based on the few known facts of Sappho's life.
08/01/00 - What's Love Got To Do With It?
Apollo's dealings with Cupid, a snake, and the bay laurel tree all contributed to today's Olympics.
07/25/00 - Overcoming Fear of Ancient Philosophy
Yes, there may be daunting words, but there are rewards, and no one expects you to be another Socrates.
07/18/00 - Review: Hypatia of Alexandria
Review of Maria Dzielska's book on the truth behind the legend of the woman described as the body of Aphrodite and the spirit of Plato.
07/11/00 - Why Classics?
Learning Classics widens your horizons both mentally and in the job market.
07/04/00 - Olympics: Games, Warfare, Ritual
The Olympics were panhellenic games in which individual athletes demonstrated their prowess in displays of military skills.
06/27/00 - Juvenal
Juvenal was the last and greatest of the Roman verse satirists.
06/20/00 - Review: Satire
Origins of the Roman genre and review of Dominik and Wehrle's book on Roman Satire.
06/13/00 - Doric Columns - An Introduction
The earliest of the Greek columns was known as the Doric, a heavy, "masculine" structure, seen in the Parthenon.
06/06/00 - Hadrian's Wall - An Introduction
Trajan's successor consolidated the Empire and built enduring monuments like the wall that's still standing across Britain.
05/30/00 - Mithridates
Mithridates maintained his status as friend of Rome even after he first waged war.
05/23/00 - Marius
Uncle of Julius Caesar, seven-time consul Marius ended the Jugurthine War.
05/16/00 - Review: Seneca's Oedipus
A recent translation of Seneca's tragedy makes Oedipus accessible to modern audiences.
05/12/00 - Gladiator: The DreamWorks Movie
Can you discriminate the true anachronisms from the actual, but improbable history in this blockbuster movie starring Russell Crowe?
05/09/00 - Demeter
Why the Goddess of Agriculture created seasons.
05/02/00 - Classical Greece
Following the Archaic Period and the Persian War, the Athenians, under the leadership of Pericles, implemented impressive artistic and civic projects.
04/25/00 -Archaic Greece - An Introduction
Period marked by the beginnings of philosophy and development of literature, and ending with the Persian War.
04/15/00 - Gladiators
If you're looking for anachronisms in the new movie, Gladiator, you'll have to look beyond Commodus' entering the arena as a gladiator.
04/08/00 - Curse Tablets: Revenge on Bath Thieves by Sympathetic Magic
Curse Tablets, a form of sympathetic magic enabled shivering bathers to regain their robes.
04/02/00 - Dating Easter
Difficulties of the Jewish calendar and a desire of the early Christians to distance themselves from the Jews led to the separation of Easter from Passover.
03/28/00 - Persia - An Introduction
Colorful leaders and impressive conquests characterized these Eastern people whom Alexander the Great conquered.
03/21/00 - Assyria - An Introduction
When the Assyrians conquered, they forced the natives into exile.
03/14/00 - Babylonia - An Introduction
The powerful, long-lasting successor to Sumer/Akkad.
03/07/00 - Sumer - An Introduction
A quick look at the place about which they say history begins.
02/29/00 - Women in Archaic Greece - An Introduction
From the strong-willed, and the poet, to the powerless dependent.
02/22/00 - A Yokepair of Opposites
Alcaeus and Sappho of Lesbos were lyric poets of the seventh century B.C.
02/15/00 - Vergil and the Classical Tradition
The poet, the legend, and the enduring legacy.
02/06/00 - Livy's Ab Urbe Condita
The structure of Livy's History of Rome.
02/01/00 - Who Really Launched 1000 Ships?
Aphrodite punishes those who fail to worship her.
01/25/00 - Major Near Eastern Monarch
Introduction to eight of the major Neo-Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian monarchs.
01/18/00 - Who Really Launched 1000 Ships?
Part V of Olympians series discusses Aphrodite's responsibility.
01/15/00 - Non-Standard Male Roman Sexuality
Malacus and cinaedos were Greek borrowings to describe men Romans viewed as unmanly.
01/14/00 - Standard Male Roman Sexuality
The Romans adopted and adjusted the Greek attitudes towards sexuality.
01/11/00 - Seneca
Advisor to Nero and a philosopher who wrote gruesome tragedies before his own lingering suicide.
01/04/00 - Stoics: Moral Philosophy: Epictetus
Slave freed from an abusive master was forced out of Rome by Domitian.
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