Ancient History Magazine

Ancient History looks at every aspect of the ancient world: you'll find articles covering politics, society, literature, language, religion, economics, and art - all in one magazine! Like its big brother, Ancient Warfare, Ancient History Magazine is a bi-monthly, 60-page magazine that relies on a thematic approach: each issue is centered around one specific subject. From ancient Egyptian trade and Roman family life to the lost city of Pompeii, there's sure to be something for everyone - all presented in a well-researched but accessible, fun manner.

Ancient History Magazine

EDITORIAL - LITTLE PURPLE MEN

PRELIMINARIES

Tiny Pompeian house boasts lavish wall art

2500-year-old shipwreck located off Sicily

OROPOS AND THE AMPHIAREION • How to survive and remain independent when surrounded by bigger and stronger neighbours? It must have been a question on the minds of leaders of every small polis in the ancient Greek mainland. Bigger powers inevitably controlled their fates, for instance, through sheer force or influencing their leaders. Oropos was no different in that respect. Located in the eastern fringes of central Greece, its political fate was unwillingly determined by its geography and the three larger neighbours surrounding it.

Sweet dreams

The other true place of divination

TRADE, WAR, AND DIPLOMACY • The people, cultures, and polities of ancient Egypt and Nubia interacted extensively, ranging from peaceful to hostile relations. Lower Nubia offered desirable resources, plus riverine and overland access to sub-Saharan commodities, including fauna, flora, metals, stone, precious and semi-precious stones, and labour. From as early as the Pre-Dynastic Period in Egypt, people travelled along the Nile Valley, transporting various goods.

Red Sea trade with Punt

OVERLOOKED INNOVATORS • According to Herodotus “These Phoenicians … brought with them to Hellas, among many other kinds of learning, the alphabet, which had been unknown before this, I think, to the Greeks” (5.58). Famed for providing the model for the Greek alphabet and being among the most famous merchants and explorers of all time, many aspects of the Phoenicians remain a mystery.

Lost Phoenician literature

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY • The Phoenicians pose a fascinating puzzle. Emerging as a distinctive group around 1000 BC in the coastal cities of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and others along the Levantine coast, they settled abroad from the late ninth century BC, spreading their language and culture. Without their innovations, our own world would look quite different. Yet there is a question-mark hanging over the Phoenicians’ heads. Who were they, as a group, as a people? The contours of the term ‘Phoenician’ seems fuzzy, difficult to draw. But are they any different in this way to other ancient and even modern cultures?

Hellenicity

PHOENICIANS IN IBERIA AND TARTESSOS • It is well known that the Phoenicians were active throughout much of the Mediterranean, even settling beyond the Pillars of Heracles. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Phoenicians encountered metal-rich lands and quickly established trading outposts and settlements among them. Due to the appearance of the name in Herodotus’ Histories, modern scholars refer to these inhabitants as Tartessians, inhabiting Tartessos. However, the nature of Tartessos is uncertain. Was it a region, a people, or a state? Is Tartessos the same as Biblical Tarshish?

Melqart and Heracles

Same people, different name?

Shipping shields overseas

PHOENICIAN CARTHAGE • Carthage was an intriguing city, praised by many as the wealthiest in the world and feared by others as a threat to Rome’s dominance. Its brutal destruction in 146 BC, following a three-year siege led by Scipio Aemilianus, marked an end to the Punic Wars...