New themes

Allow me to start the first blog post of the new year on a rather personal note: the last months of 2015 turned out to be a bit difficult. My father, who has always been a healthy and energetic man, learned that he had a life-threatening disease. This – and several lesser problems – put quite a strain on me and for several weeks, I was unable to give as much attention to Ancient History Magazine as I would’ve liked to.

Nevertheless, the second issue was finished, was sent to the printer before Christmas, and has just returned from the printer’s. Because I have had some time to recuperate in the meantime, I can now work hard to finish the third and fourth issues, about Pergamon and early Egypt. And so we can start to look forward to the themes of the fifth and sixth issue.

AHM 5: Not the Olympic Games

In August 2016, the Olympic Games will take place in Rio de Janeiro. It would have been a terribly cheap cliché to devote an issue to the ancient Olympics. On the other hand however, those Greek contests are quite interesting. So we’ve decided to focus on the other festivals: the Nemean, the Isthmian, and Pythian Games. The Hellenistic and Roman athletic festivals are not excluded and remember, there were musical contests as well.

AHM 6: Rome of the Twelve Tables

Written in the mid-fifth century BC, the Laws of the Twelve Tables are interesting in many ways: written in an archaic kind of Latin, they are the beginning of the western legal tradition, and they are a unique document about urban life in Italy. The idea behind AHM 6 is to use these fragments as a key to early Roman society: for example the rule that “when a patron defrauds his client, he shall be dedicated to the infernal gods” (8.17) tells something about patronage, about the death penalty, and about religion.

Interested?

If you want to contribute, just drop me a line. For the fifth issue, I’d like to hear from you as soon as possible; for the sixth issue, 15 February will be soon enough.