Opera: Did you mean...?

The Arthurian legend begins with the Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100 - c. 1155 CE). Earlier history writers such as Gildas, Bede, and Nennius had already established the existence of a British war-chief who defeated the Saxons...

Can physical education be part of a totalitarian project to control and reshape the masses? Both the leader of Fascist Italy, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), and the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), believed that sports could...

The impressionist exhibitions in Paris through the final quarter of the 19th century were organised by a group of avant-garde artists who struggled to have their innovative works accepted by the art establishment. Although ridiculed by many...

The Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800) was one of the most important battles in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). It not only helped bring the French Revolutionary Wars to an end but also did much to consolidate Bonaparte's new...

This short analysis will investigate the associations known as 'collegia' (also known as clubs, associations, companies) mentioned in the letters (10.33-34) from the Roman pro-consul Pliny to the emperor Trajan. We will determine why Trajan...

One of the lasting contributions ancient cultures have made to modern life is architecture, both in terms of surviving monuments and their influence on contemporary buildings around the world. Ambitious rulers set up pyramids in Egypt and...

In this gallery, we showcase 12 amphitheatres, a structure built throughout the Roman empire where ordinary people could watch such spectacles as gladiator games, mock naval battles, wild animal hunts, and public executions. Usually oval...

Esau & Jacob on Lorenzo Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise for the Baptistry, made between 1420 and 1447 with assistance from Lucca della Robbia, Donatello, Michelozzo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Bernardo Cennini, and two of Ghiberti's sons. Museo dell'Opera...

The original wooden models submitted by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446 CE) for the dome of Florence's cathedral, completed in 1436 CE. (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence)

The Deposition (also known as the Florentine Pieta), a marble sculpture by Michelangelo, 1547-1555. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence. Photo: George Groutas