Pausanias: Did you mean...?

Travel opportunities within the ancient Greek world largely depended on status and profession; nevertheless, a significant proportion of the population could, and did, travel across the Mediterranean to sell their wares, skills, go on religious...

Pherenike (l. c. 388 BCE, also known as Kallipateira) was an athlete from Rhodes who, because she was a woman, could not compete in the Olympic Games and, as a married woman, was not allowed to even watch them. Defying these rules and risking...

Olympias (c. 375-316 BCE) was the second wife of Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 BCE) and the mother of Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE). Olympias was the driving force behind Alexander's rise to the throne and was accused of having...

Cynisca of Sparta (b. c. 440 BCE) was a Spartan royal princess who became the first female Olympic champion. Defying the traditional role of women in ancient Greece, she competed in the Olympic Games alongside the men and won. Her triumph...

Cadmus is a Phoenician-born prince and the founder and king of Thebes in Boeotia in Greek mythology. He travelled to Greece from his home in Tyre in search of his sister Europa who had been kidnapped by Zeus. His rescue mission was abandoned...

The Pentecontaetia (Pentekontætia, πεντηκονταετία) or “the account of the fifty years” is a term first used by Thucydides to describe, in Book 1, Sections...

A map showing the locations of battles in ancient Greece.

The initial positions of the Greek (blue/purple) and Persian (red) armies prior to the Battle of Plataea in August 479 BCE. The two armies were separated by the river Asopus. Also indicated are the Persian fortified camp, the town of Plataea...

Remains of the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece.

Telesilla was a Greek lyric poet who lived in Argos in the fifth century BCE. Along with the famous poet Sappho, Telesilla was named as one of the Nine Female Lyric Poets of Greece, and is known for both her lyric poetry (even though only...