While Alexander the Great was crossing the Hellespont on his way to immortality, in 334BC, his uncle and brother-in-law, Alexander I of Epirus, received an invite to cross to Italy from Taras, a Greek...

***SPOILERS for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny*** The opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with Indy and Basil Shaw infiltrating a Nazi plunder train presented the filmmakers with the opportunity for a significant ‘bait and switch’. Some of the fun in the run up to a new Indiana Jones film, show or game is trying to figure out/guess what the ‘MacGuffin’ – the object or device that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters – is going to be if it is

The ‘end of Roman Britain’ raises many of the same type of question as the ‘fall of the Roman Empire’. It must have ended in some manner and at some point, but without some titanic fight for survival ...

In a previous blog entry, we looked at the story of Oroetes, the rebellious Lydian satrap of the Persian Empire in the 520s BC. In the course of the story of the satrap’s dealings with Polycrates of S...

The Achaemenid Persian Empire was perhaps the first superpower of the ancient world, establishing its ‘King of Kings’ as an immensely powerful individual. However, in the process of creating their emp...

You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a Biblical headline was about the story of Jonah and the Whale. However, looking past that the original Hebrew text suggests Jonah was swallowed by a “g...

SPOILERS for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny The eponymous ‘Dial of Destiny’ was based on an actual mechanical device, the name of which was used in the film – the Antikythera, or the Antikyther...

While the river frontiers - Rhine, Danube, Euphrates - became increaingly fixed against expectation, this does not mean that the Romans gave up offensive operations to hide behind their defences. Empe...

When faced with the notion of a scholarly Roman emperor, you would be forgiven for immediately thinking of the great philosopher king, Marcus Aurelius or if you are a late antiquarian, perhaps Julian ...

It is not just mythological, divine and actual ancient people that have inspired classical street names in Belfast. There are also some ancient geographical terms that have been used. There is a Hiber...

Published 2018 to much fanfare, with President Michael D. Higgins giving an address, the 4-volume Cambridge History of Ireland is by all accounts a significant academic achievement in presenting the h...

The area occupied by modern Belfast has seen some form of human occupation since the Bronze Age. The Giant’s Ring is an almost 5,000-year-old henge while the hills around the city host the remains of ...

Let’s get this out of the way... Monty Python’s Life of Brian is a comedic and satirical masterpiece. There are so many scenes which stand out as personal favourites, but here I am focusing on a very ...

Episode 69 - A look at the successor to Pericles as Athens' leading man... Kleonhttps://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-69-an-overflowing-sewer/A (hopefully) fun and accessible portal int...

The appearance of three False Neros in the two decades after the emperor’s death in 68 was not the only ‘afterlife’ that Nero had. He became increasingly associated with a legend that he was not dead,...

Confronted with rebellions by Vindex in Gaul and Galba in Spain and rumours of the allegiance of Verginius Rufus’ army in Germania, the emperor Nero panicked. Rather than face up to what was perhaps f...

We saw last time that the career of Pierius must have been significant enough before his appearance in the historical record for Odoacer to promote him to his chief bodyguard, comes domesticorum. The ...

Flavius Odoacer is most famous as the man who deposed the ‘last’ western emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476, becoming the first non-Roman ruler of Italy for centuries. He did technically act as a vicer...

On 8 December 2001, a Washington Post article asked a woman stationed in Saudi Arabia if she was comfortable with some of that country’s rules, to which she replied that she was and ‘When in Rome, do ...

The doctrinal divide that sealed the fate of Qatari’s burgeoning Azariqa statelet in Kirman was not the first instance of such internal strife. When al-Azraq was driven out of Basra by the Zubayrids, ...

Most of the focus on the Second Fitna – the second civil war that engulfed the Arab caliphate upon the accession of Yazid I, son of Mu’awiyah I, in April 680 and lasted until late 692 – usually falls ...

History is littered with instances of power being thrust upon children of a young age. Ivan the Terrible became Grand Prince of Moscow aged 3; Puyi, the last emperor of China, ascended at just 2 years...

We all make mistooks when writing. I made one in teh first sentence of this blog. And the second… (and my word processor informs me that the third is a fragment that I should consider revising…)"To er...

Throughout its history, the Christian Church has had to deal with its own ever-developing understanding of aspects of its own faith as various thinkers raised questions that had yet to be answered. Di...

The Vestal Virgins are one of the most evocative establishments of Ancient Rome. They might not know exactly what they were or what they did, but the name of Vestal Virgin can spark something in many ...

Setting aside civil wars and revolts, the majority of Rome’s military manpower was used against extramural opposition. Therefore, how Rome acted along her frontiers and fought foreign wars directly af...

It may have been short, but Julian’s reign as sole emperor was nothing if not eventful: dispelled fear of war with Constantius II, overseeing his predecessor’s funeral, convening a tribunal to look in...

Ancient Greek philosophers - the term conjures up the names of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, with the stories of hemlock, the Academy and teaching Alexander the Great not far behind. But how often wo...

Leo VI was born on 19 September 866 and as the second son of the emperor Basil I (867-886), he was crowned as junior emperor in 870 and then became direct heir to the throne on the premature death of ...

Leo VI was born on 19 September 866 and as the second son of the emperor Basil I (867-886), he was crowned as junior emperor in 870 and then became direct heir to the throne on the premature death of ...

Say hello to Imperator Mar. Silbannacus Augustus.No, I had not heard of him either, which is hardly surprising as there is no record of him in the written sources, no inscriptions, no statues.Indeed, ...

A Brief History of 'Byzantine Mutilation'

Episode 68 - War has broken out, with it comes Death... and then a white horse hoves into the view of Athens... https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-68-a-white-horse/A (hopefully) fun ...

“puto, ut sancti Innocentii, qui apostolicae cathedrae et supra dicti viri successor et filius est, teneas fidem” “I think that you should keep the faith of St. Innocent, who is the successor and son ...

An island from the end of the Ice Age in Britain, the earliest identified inhabitants of the Isle of Mann were hunter-gatherers and fishermen of the Mesolithic period, who were capable of rudimentary ...

I had largely finished the outline of this blog by the time I found Clive Foss’ numismatic-based look at ‘Emperors called Constantine’ Revue Numismatique 161 (2005) 93-102; I was glad to find that not...

While in the East, a great blaze of light in the sky could be a hopeful sign of the rise of a powerful leader, the Greco-Romans dreaded comets as portents of doom, war or the overthrow of a ruler. Whe...

It all started so innocently. I was just showing the latest addition to my coin collection to Twitter followers that had arrived in the post that morning. As inquisitive types, we were both struck by ...

With the demise of Nero – the last Julio-Claudian emperor – you would be forgiven for thinking that the extinguishing of that dynasty marked the end of the bloodline of its founder, the emperor August...

The otherwise unknown Sentius wrote his name into the annals of Roman history, specifically Cassius Dio LXVIII.22.3, on the backdrop of the Roman emperor Trajan's invasion and conquest of much of the ...

The mixed reactions to the Red Comet recorded in A Clash of Kings and the concordant early episodes of the second season of Game of Thrones reflect similar ambiguous responses in history to such astro...

What do the Roman victories of Gaius Duilius over the Sicilians and Carthaginians in 260/259BC, Publius Cornelius Lentulus over the Ligurians in 236/235BC, Gaius Claudius Pulcher over the Istri and Li...

Is it ever permissible to destroy a site or building of historical value because of possible military applications? The damage done by insurgents, jihadis, rebels, governments and western forces in th...

As they streak across the sky, striking awe into onlookers, it is easy to forget that such comets could, with just a few degrees difference in angle, be harbingers of the ultimate doom to life on this...

We might think that the vast gatherings of people at sporting events as being a modern phenomenon: the largest crowd recorded at an enclosed stadium is considered to be the 173,850 (although unofficia...

I have written elsewhere of an instance of the reign of a Persian king, Shapur II, technically beginning before he was born with him being ‘crowned in utero’…https://classicalassociationni.wordpress.c...