Ancient History

Rubina Raja, Member (2019) in the School of Historical Studies, explains how archaeological context can transform understanding of ancient societies. By analyzing a "loose head" from Palmyra, Syria, once misidentified as the work of a Greek sculptor, she demonstrates how local craftsmen were not merely imitating foreign styles but creating distinct works, fundamentally reshaping our view of Palmyra's cultural identity.

Introducing Celia Sánchez Natalías, William D. Loughlin Member in the School of Historical Studies, whose research focuses on lead curse tablets, or defixiones, from the Roman period. In this Q&A, she discusses her ‘autopsy’ work, being motivated by curiosity, and her fascination with virtually unrolling papyri.

In celebration of the appointment of Maria Hsiuya Loh to the School of Historical Studies Faculty, Visitor (2021–22) and Research Associate (2022) Abbey Ellis explores how Loh's work reshapes traditional views of a great Renaissance artist and grafts new stems onto the legacy of art historical scholarship at the Institute.

Patrick Geary is co-PI of the European Research Council funded research project HistoGenes, which uses a combination of genomic, archaeological, anthropological, and historical methods to study over six-thousand burial sites in the Carpathian Basin between the fifth and tenth centuries.

In the summer of 430 B.C.E., a ship from Egypt arrived in Piraeus with an uninvited guest onboard: the "plague." The symptoms of this yet-to-be-identified disease—hypotheses range from typhoid fever to viral hemorrhagic fever—are described by the...

In 327–326 B.C.E., Alexander the Great, after having defeated the Persian King and conquered the Persian Empire, crossed eastern Iran, Afghanistan, and Bactria, testing the limits of his abilities. He attacked the fortress of Aornos, on Mount Pir...

As part of Ideas: Celebrating 2017–18, Kathleen Coleman, Elinor Lunder Founders' Circle Member in the School of Historical Studies, gives a talk on A Child Prodigy in Ancient Rome with Professor Angelos Chaniotis.

Harvard University Press has published Age of Conquests: The Greek World from Alexander to Hadrian by Angelos Chaniotis, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, which provides a compelling narrative of the main events that shaped ancient...

Emotions penetrate every aspect of our lives. Interwoven with memory, attention, cognition, and decision-making, they determine our interpersonal relations, our private life, the public sphere, and religious worship. Emotions are the background of...

During Augustus’s reign (late first century B.C.E.), the philosopher Athenodoros returned from Rome to his hometown Tarsos, in southwest Turkey. When he found the city dominated by the poet and demagogue Boethos, he used the authority given to him...