The Peloponnesian War ended with Spartan victory but Persian influence. Athens, devastated, eventually challenged Sparta again, leading to a tactical win at the Battle of Cnidus. This complex struggle involving alliances and strategies ultimately benefited the Persian Empire.
Ancient Greece
Posted inAncient Greece, Archaeology, Art
The Colossus of Dionysus and the kouroi of Flerio, Greek statues from the 6th century B.C. that remain unfinished in the quarries of Naxos.
The island of Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades in extension, famous and coveted since ancient times for its wealth and its white marble, with quarries exploited until today (only those of crystalline marble). As it happens in Egyptian quarries, where obelisks remain, or in those of Rapa Nui, with half-finished moai, in those […]
Posted inAncient Greece, Archaeology
The Nymphaeum of Mieza, the place where Aristotle instructed Alexander the Great.
When Alexander the Great was already at war in Asia, strange news reached him from his homeland: his tutor Aristotle had made public his teachings, those same doctrines with which he had imbued the mind and soul of the young Macedonian, allowing the whole world to know them. Alexander’s displeasure is reflected in the alleged […]
Posted inAncient Greece, Archaeology
The Lemnos Stele, a funerary inscription from the 6th century B.C. that links the Pelasgians to the Etruscans
In 1885, a unique stele was found as part of the walls of a church in the town of Kaminia on the Greek island of Lemnos. It has been dated to the 6th century BC, prior to the conquest of the island by the Athenians in 510 BC to the Pelasgians. This was the name […]
Posted inAncient Greece, Antiquity
Corupedium, the battle that ended the long war between Alexander’s successors
It is curious that one of the most extensive empires of antiquity had such a weak foundation that, in reality, it was only based on the charisma of its builder. We’re talking about Alexander the Great. That giant with feet of clay that he formed with his military genius fell apart as soon as his […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Onesicritus, the historian whom Alexander the Great sent to learn the secrets of the yogis
Astypalaia is a small island in the Greek Dodecanese, possibly a colony of Megara, where around 360 B.C. Onesicritus, a historian and cynic philosopher who followed Diogenes of Sinope ( the one who lived like a beggar in a jar), was born. In 334 BC, when he was 26 years old, he crossed the Hellespont […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Electrum, the natural gold and silver alloy used to mint the first metal coins
If we were to ask about a metal alloy used since the beginning of history, the unanimous answer would surely be bronze. And, in fact, this combination of copper and tin gives its name to a whole period of prehistory, so that we could perhaps consider it the most important until the appearance of others. […]
Posted inAncient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Antiquity
Where did the books from the Great Library of Alexandria come from?
The great Library of Alexandria was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC by Ptolemy I Soter. At its peak it housed an impressive 900,000 manuscripts. It was not only a storehouse of books, but also an entire research and teaching center that brought together numerous scholars from different centers of classical culture. […]
Posted inAncient Greece, Archaeology
12 most important Greek archaeological discoveries in the last decade
Listing the most important archaeological discoveries of the last decade is complicated, no matter which country, region or place in the world you choose. But especially in Greece, due to the abundance and proliferation of finds, from Prehistory to the Middle Ages. Therefore, what better way than to turn to the Greeks themselves to find […]
Posted inAncient Greece
The Iliad and the Odyssey are just two of the eight poems from the Epic Cycle that narrate the Trojan War.
The Epic Cycle, also called the Trojan Cycle because it narrates events related to the Trojan War, is a collection of eight poems composed in dactylic hexameter, the traditional type of verse of the Greco-Latin epic. The two most famous, for having been preserved complete, are The Iliad and The Odyssey, both attributed to Homer. […]