If you blinked, you might have missed it. Well, not quite. But the lifetime of the Colossus of Rhodes as a Wonder of the Ancient World was fleeting compared to some of the other six wonders. It’s reputation must’ve been very great, then, if 56 years was enough to earn everlasting fame. The Colossus is […]
Category: Ancient Greece & Rome
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia – Power & Art Perfected?
A second of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the statue of Zeus at Olympia. Like six of the seven wonders, sadly, it is not extant. You cannot travel to see it today like you can visit the pyramids of Giza in Egypt. And unlike some of the other great statues of antiquity, […]
The Battle of Thermopylae – Facts, Myths, and its Real Importance
The Battle of Thermopylae gained pop culture fame in 2006 when the movie 300 caught the attention of audiences. Although scholars had not neglected the battle prior to 2006, its popularity soared, at least temporarily. In the process, the Battle of Thermopylae (fought in 480 BCE) became a popular symbol of heroic resistance against overwhelming […]
Marcus Junius Brutus Dies by His Own Hand
The name Marcus Junius Brutus is well-known in history, not least because of Julius Caesar’s dying remarks to him in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. The real Marcus Junius Brutus was a leader of the group of conspirators who plotted against Caesar and carried out his assassination in 44 BCE. They thought they were restoring the […]
The Spartans at Thermopylae
Today, a friend mentioned he was a big fan of the Spartans and the movie “300” and asked me what I knew about it. A little bit, as it turns out, considering I just gave my Western Civilization class this lesson a few days ago. What interests me most, however, was the irony that the […]