We classicists tend to study ancient oratory in isolation and, at most, branch out to other ancient oratorical cultures, comparing Roman with Greek and vice versa. But after some years of being asked about my opinion on Tony Blair’s and Barack Obama’s oratory and finding that as a Ciceronian scholar I had surprisingly little to… Continue reading →
The Greek polis of Gaza in Palestine underwent, in common with other cities, a profound transformation during the fifth and sixth centuries CE in society, economy and religion. What is unique about Gaza in these decades is its thriving and wide-ranging culture, as documented by ample literary and also material evidence. Speeches, letters and philosophical… Continue reading →
Since October 2014, I’ve been working with a team to investigate Hero (Heron) of Alexandria’s treatise On Making Automata (peri automatopoiētikēs). It’s not a very well known or well studied text, but it’s our best detailed evidence for a recognisable sub-field within ancient mechanics and engineering. The devices that Hero describes are powered mainly by… Continue reading →
