Attica: Did you mean...?

Sounion (or Sunium) was an important ancient Greek religious sanctuary sacred to the gods Poseidon and Athena. Spectacularly located on a promontory in southern Attica, the site is dominated by the temple of Poseidon perched on the cliff...

Populonia (Etruscan name: Pupluna or Fufluna), located on the western coast of Italy, was an important Etruscan town which flourished between the 7th and 2nd century BCE. Rich in metal deposits and so noted for its production of pig iron...

A Greek ceramic plate used for serving fish and seafood. A central depression collected any excess oil. The shape was popular in both Attica and Magna Graecia. Attic dishes almost always have the fish painted with their underside towards...

Spartan women had more rights and enjoyed greater autonomy than women in any other Greek city-state of the Classical Period (5th-4th centuries BCE). Women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, and were better educated...

Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Herakles, the most popular figure from ancient Greek mythology. Hercules was the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and the mortal woman Alcmene. Zeus, who was always chasing one woman or another...

The ancient Greeks built open-air theatres where the public could watch the performances of Greek comedy, tragedy, and satyr plays. They then exported the idea to their colonies throughout the Aegean so that theatres became a typical feature...

One of the most celebrated works of Hellenistic art is without doubt the Nike of Samothrace, on display at the Louvre since 1884 CE. The white Parian marble statue represents the personification of winged victory. In a sense, the impact of...

In the second year of the Peloponnesian War, 430 BCE, an outbreak of plague erupted in Athens. The illness would persist throughout scattered parts of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean until finally dying out in 426 BCE. The origin of...

Olives and olive oil were not only an important component of the ancient Mediterranean diet but also one of the most successful industries in antiquity. Cultivation of the olive spread with Phoenician and Greek colonization from Asia Minor...

In 1204 CE the unthinkable happened and Constantinople, after nine centuries of withstanding all comers, was brutally sacked. Even more startling was the fact that the perpetrators were not any of the traditional enemies of the Byzantine...