Ancient Greek pottery

Ancient Greece

An ancient Greek gold coin

Q&AWhen were the first coins made?

Picture of Chrysippus of Soli

Q&AHas anyone ever died of laughter?

The ruins of the Temple of Apollo, Delphi, Greece. (Getty Images)

My favourite place: Delphi, Greece

10 astronomers you’ve (probably) never heard of

Historian at the Movies review: Hercules. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Delphi and the Spanish empire. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How did it become a gesture of well-wishing to say to an actor before they go on stage "break a leg"? (Photo by Andrys Lukowski via iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&AWhy do we say ‘Break a leg’?

My favourite place: Michael Scott

Illustration of the Zodiac Man

General ancient history

Q&AWhy did physicians ‘bleed’ their patients?

Larry Siedentrop photographed for BBC History Magazine. (Image by Geraint Lewis)

Books interview with Larry Siedentop: "What is distinctive about the west is that the organising social role is no longer the patriarchal family and instead the individual". This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Books interview: Herodotus's 'The Histories'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

What did the ancient Greeks do for us?

A monument to Nicolaus Copernicus in Poland.

Q&AWas Copernicus the first to demonstrate that the earth goes around the sun?

Greek slavery, Victorian heroism and Dan Snow on cars. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail of a funerary monument from Athens, Greece depicting a squire taming a horse. Holding elaborate funerals was one of the many ways in which aristocrats broadcast their great wealth. (Photo By DEA/G.DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The trouble with luxury

Illustration by Jonty Clark

Ye olde travel guide: Constantinople 976. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ye olde travel guide: Olympia 480 Bc. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Two women from South America. Six centuries ago South American civilisations matched the west in some respects. (Getty Images)

The wonder of the west

The Battle of Marathon plus Dunkirk and WWII refugees. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ancient Greece in the 4th-century BC and the Spanish in Mexico. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The ancient theatre of Epidaurus (or "Epidavros"), Argolida prefecture, Peloponnese, Greece. (Photo by Gatsi via Getty Images)

Greece’s golden century