Clik here to view.
A Ghost Story
We often tell scary stories not just to evoke screams and chills but with a message. The monsters of our creepy tales reflect our larger fears, but sometimes the point of the story is that the most...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Curious Case of Cambyses and the Apis Bull
The Persian king Cambyses has a bad reputation. He has come down in Western histories as a prototypical mad emperor: arrogant, violent, and contemptuous. The centerpiece of this narrative is his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Aithiopia Forever
The Greek historian Herodotus tells us some interesting stories about the people he refers to as Ethiopians (or Aithiopes in Greek). The term Ethiopians/Aithiopes was widely used in ancient Greece for...
View ArticleHow Not to Study Linguistics
The Greek historian Herodotus recounts a tale about a rather dubious experiment in linguistics supposedly carried out by the Egyptian king Psammetichus. The point of the experiment was to find out what...
View ArticleA Busy Paeonian Woman
The Greek historian Herodotus tells a story about how the Persians were induced to conquer the Paeonians, a people of the southern Balkans. Like many of Herodotus’ stories, this one is probably more...
View ArticleAncient Egyptians Knew How to Party
Here’s how the ancient Greek traveler and historian Herodotus describes the festivities surrounding a great festival held every year in honor of the goddess Bast, popular with both native Egyptians and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Wars Begin: The View from Ancient Greece
Explaining why wars begin is an urgent question for a lot of people: if we knew how they started, maybe we’d figure out how to stop them. It is also an important question for a lot of writers. Many...
View ArticleHerodotus and the Upside-Down World of Egypt
The ancient Greek traveler and historian Herodotus was impressed by many of the things he saw in his visit to Egypt. He wrote about ancient monuments like the pyramids (already thousands of years old...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Writing Prophecies
Prophecies are a staple of fantasy fiction, and for good reason: they are a convenient way of providing the heroes with information to get the plot moving while also imparting an aura of ominous...
View ArticleQuotes: The Things We Have Had on Our Minds During the Day
People have long been fascinated by dreams and seen them as potential sources of meaning and insight. While today we focus on dreams as potential windows into our unconscious minds, ancient peoples...
View Article
