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21 Images of Greek and Roman Charioteers
This gallery features images of Greek and Roman chariot racers. Chariot racing was the most popular spectator sport in ancient times. In Greece, chariot racing was important in aristocratic funeral games from an early period. As formal races...
Collection
Great Ancient Greek Poets
The poets of ancient Greece are among the most famous in the world and established many of the forms still used by artists today. From the epic poetry of Homer to the more intimate works of Sappho of Lesbos, ancient Greek poetry has inspired...
Article
Famous Grammarians & Poets of the Byzantine Empire
In the wake of the downfall of the Western Roman Empire and the intellectual collapse of Athens, Byzantine scholars engaged in preserving the Classical Greek language and its literature. Thus they became the guardians of a vanished culture...
Definition
Philoctetes
The play Philoctetes was written by one of the greatest of the Greek tragedy playwrights, Sophocles, in 409 BCE. Philoctetes is one of his surviving plays whose exact production date can be determined and is set in the final year of the Trojan...
Definition
Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE) is regarded as the first Western philosopher and mathematician. He was born and lived in Miletus, a Greek colony in Ionia (modern Turkey) referenced as the birthplace of Greek Philosophy because of his high...
Definition
Hellenistic Astrology
Hellenistic astrology encompassed various forms of divination in Greece and the Mediterranean, all linked to the observation of astronomical phenomena. Hellenistic astrology was based on the belief that the stars and planets could either...
Definition
Medea (Play)
The tragedy Medea was written in 431 BCE by Euripides (c. 484 – 407 BCE). Euripides authored at least 90 plays of which 19 have survived intact. As with the plays by Sophocles and Aeschylus, the audience was already well aware of the myth...
Definition
Tympanon
The tympanon (tympanum in Latin) was the most popular frame-drum in ancient Greek music, producing a loud rumbling sound not far from the sound of the orchestral timpani drums today. This percussion instrument was played mainly by women on...
Definition
Battle of Marathon
The Battle on the plain of Marathon in September 490 BCE between Greeks and the invading forces of Persian king Darius I (r. 522-486 BCE) was a victory that would go down in folklore as the moment the Greek city-states showed the world their...
Definition
Scythians
The Scythians were a nomadic people whose culture flourished between the 7th and 3rd century BCE in a territory ranging from Thrace in the west, across the steppe of Central Asia, to the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the east. This covers...