Photius (c.815-897) was one of the greatest scholars of the Byzantine world, and patriarch of Constantinople between 858-867 and 878-886. One of his main publications is the Myrobiblion, a collection of 280 excerpts of all kinds of literature on every…
The texts known as the "Sibylline oracles" were collected between the second century BCE and seventh century CE. They derive their name from Sibyl, a word indicating a prophetess; there were some ten or twelve of these ladies and there…
Curse texts or defixiones are handwritten texts, often on thin plaques of lead, in which someone asks a god or demon to do evil to another person. The oldest known, very simple tablets are from Sicily and Sardinia and date…
In his Gorgias, the famous Athenian philosopher Plato (427-348 BCE) had attacked the study of oratory with several arguments, which all boiled down to the suspicion that capable rhetors were able to persuade people to bad behavior. More than five…
In the summer of 330, the Athenian politician Aeschines attacked his rival Demosthenes for the failure of the latter's anti-Macedonian policy. His speech is known as Against Ctesiphon.
M.M. Austin has translated the sections 132-134.
Alexander's Letter to the Chians: letter by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great to the people of the isle of Chios, evidence of his interference in the internal affairs of his allies.
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Our main source for the history of the Peloponnesian War is the Athenian author Thucydides, but he sometimes makes mistakes. One of these is a blind eye for Persian influence on the war. As a consequence, he underestimated the importance…
Simon ben Kosiba, surnamed Simon bar Kochba ("son of the star") was a Jewish Messiah. Between 132 and 135, he was the leader of the last resistance against the Romans. After the end of the disastrous rebellion, the rabbis called…
Appian of Alexandria (c.95-c.165): one of the most underestimated of all Greek historians, author of a Roman History. The part on the Roman Civil Wars survives in its entirety while substantial parts of the remainder survive as well.In Antiquity, a…
Appian of Alexandria (c.95-c.165): one of the most underestimated of all Greek historians, author of a Roman History. The part on the Roman Civil Wars survives in its entirety while substantial parts of the remainder survive as well.Julius Caesar was…