It was a treacherous stretch of coast. The ancient Greek historian Xenophon, writing in the 4th century BC, describes the perils of…
The story of the rise of Rome is best studied not in the city itself, but in the area surrounding it. It…
Should you be caught in a heavy rain storm in modern Ercolano, you will understand why the local residents talk about ‘lava’…
Rome is an iconic city. From Grand Tour etchings to nocturnal portraits of the cityscape, Rome’s monuments have become familiar images. Yet…
Every time I arrive at the British School at Rome, it is somehow different. Old buildings and strong institutions can be like…
For Sigmund Freud, the archaeology of the city of Rome was a metaphor for the unconscious mind – a place where no…
Rome is a city of books. Perhaps the greatest concentration of leading libraries in the world exists here, though refurbishments and closures…
In 1911 a major international exhibition was held in Rome, and the British put up a particularly splendid pavilion designed by Edwin…
We know more about Pompeii than any other Roman town. It is the benchmark, and yet we still have so much to…
Laodicea is well sited on a high plateau and surrounded by the rivers Lycos, Kapros and Asopos. Little wonder the city has…
The site has become famous partly for its large size (about 5,000-8,000 people lived there) and long occupation (the site is Neolithic…
From one iconic archaeological site to another, we end this round-up at Troy, on the western coast of Turkey. The site was…
In his writings, Strabo explains that the city of Metropolis is 120 stadia from Ephesus - and indeed it lies about 35km…