Hellenic World Articles

Cyrus the Great (558-530 BC) built the first universal empire, stretching from Greece to the Indus River. This was the famous Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia. An inscription at Naqsh-i-Rustam, the tomb of his able successor Darius I (521-486 BC), near Persepolis, records Gadara (Gandhara) along with Hindush (Hindus, Sindh) in the long list of satrapies... [continue reading]

Hipparchia was the wife of Crates, a very popular Athenian philosopher. She was also notable for her brazen abandonment of her aristocratic upbringing for life as a Cynic. Though not much is known about Hipparchia, her importance in the history of ancient Greek women is undeniable. She was an educated philosopher, she was outspoken, and she was unconventional... [continue reading]

Trade was a fundamental aspect of the ancient Greek world and following territorial expansion, an increase in population movements and innovations in transport, goods could be bought, sold and exchanged in one part of the Mediterranean which had their origin in a completely different and far distant region. Food, raw materials and manufactured goods... [continue reading]

Did Greek city-states create colonies in the ancient world in order to expand their sphere of influence? If the answer is yes, then why did one of these colonies break away from its mother-city in order to better itself? The answer is a complicated one and is subject to analysis on both a macro and micro level. The primary example of a colony that found... [continue reading]

The issue of perspective is intrinsic to historiography. This is evident in the ancient Greco-Roman literary record, specifically the limits placed on its value to modern academics by the ethnographic biases of its authors. However, with the rise of the post-processual approach to archaeology over the past thirty years, modern historians have begun... [continue reading]

This book is about court culture in the broadest sense. It discusses the social and formal aspects of court society, palace architecture, cultural and scientific patronage, and royal ritual. There are several reasons why I have committed myself to writing this book. The most important of these is the wish to fill a gap. Historians have long recognised... [continue reading]

The maintenance of a garrison in a city or a region was for many a Hellenistic power a comfortable alternative to conquest and direct administration. Every major power held garrisons in dependent settlements of various legal statuses, usually in dependent poleis. The establishment of garrisons, the duration of their presence, and their removal was... [continue reading]