Ancient Literature And Epics
Articles tagged Ancient Literature And Epics.
5 Roman Epic Poets Beyond Virgil
Lucan, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus and Cornelius Severus wrote Roman epics about civil war, Greek myth and the struggle against Hannibal.
How Did Ancient Scholars Study Before Printing?
Before printing, ancient scholars used clay tablets, papyrus, oral recitation, libraries and debate. Their methods varied across cultures and centuries.
Aristotle’s Lost Works: The Dialogues and Research We No Longer Have
Aristotle's lost dialogues were celebrated in antiquity, while many research collections vanished. What survives, how it was transmitted and what scholars can reconstruct.
Disability in Ancient Literature: Ridicule, Care and Respect
From Homer’s Thersites to Sophocles’ Philoctetes and Roman satire, ancient texts reveal how disability shaped ridicule, exclusion, care and social status.
Apuleius’s The Golden Ass: A Donkey in the Roman World
Apuleius’s The Golden Ass follows a man turned donkey through magic, exploitation and Roman provincial life before Isis offers deliverance.
Why Ovid Was Exiled to Tomis in 8 CE
In 8 CE Augustus banished Ovid to Tomis. The poet blamed his Ars Amatoria and a mysterious mistake, but the second offence remains unknown.
The Lock of Berenice: How Hair Became a Star
Berenice II's missing hair became a constellation in a Greek court poem and Catullus 66. The surviving texts reveal how love, dynastic politics and...
Petronius’s Roman Werewolf: The Satyricon Story
At Trimalchio’s dinner, Niceros tells of a soldier who became a wolf. Petronius turns a terrifying Roman folktale into a study of fear and...
Lucian’s A True Story: The First Science Fiction?
Lucian of Samosata sent fifty sailors to the Moon, then used an impossible voyage to expose how convincingly invented stories can imitate history.
Can Archaeology Prove Ancient Myths? Troy, Gilgamesh and Rome
Troy was a real city, Gilgamesh may have been a king, and Rome had Iron Age huts. Here is what ancient evidence proves and...
The Hero’s Journey in Ancient Myth: Before Joseph Campbell
From Gilgamesh and Inanna to Odysseus, Aeneas and Sigurd, ancient hero myths share journeys but disagree about death, duty and return.
Gilgamesh Tablet XII: Mesopotamia’s Underworld
Tablet XII of Gilgamesh describes Enkidu’s journey to the underworld and the fate of the dead. Its unusual ending comes from an older Sumerian...
