Ancient Greece

The ancient Greek physician Dioscorides

General ancient history

Happy plants and laughing weeds: how people of the ancient world used – and abused – drugs

Wrestlers in ancient Greece

Q&A How did ancient athletes prepare for the Olympics?

Charlton Hetson races a chariot in Ben-Hur

Wacky races: 10 weird and wonderful contests through history

Women in ancient Athens

Love, magic and murder: the strange death of Philoneos in 430BC

The runners at the two mile mark at the back of Greenwich Park.

A brief history of marathons

The food served at the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell may be inspired by accounts of ancient Roman excess, says Ayelet Haimson Lushkov. (© Home Box Office, Inc/Sky Atlantic)

Power plays and scheming queens: the ancient history behind Game of Thrones

The ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus, which boasts superb acoustics and aesthetics. (Photo by Alamy)

My favourite place: the Peloponnese, Greece

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Thessaloniki's Rotunda of Galerius, Greece, built in the fourth-century by Roman occupiers

Explore Thessaloniki, Greece: Greece's cultural melting pot . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Beard presents an episode of the BBC's 2018 headline arts series, 'Civilisations'. (Image credit: BBC/Nutopia)

Mary Beard: “I couldn’t give a toss what Roman emperor Donald Trump was most like” plus 3 other things we learned about her

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Mary Beard on the HistoryExtra podcast

Mary Beard’s life in Classics . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Composite image of famous women: Cleopatra, Marie Curie, Mary Wollstonecraft, Madame CJ Walker, Jane Austen, Emmeline Pankhurst, Ethel Smyth, the Virgin Mary, Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, Diana, Princess of Wales, Amelia Earhart.

100 women who changed the world

The history of birthday presents dates back to the Roman period. (Photo by Lambert/Fototrove/Getty Images Plus)

Q&A When did people start giving birthday presents?

Crowds of women from ancient Greece gather round a man holding a vase

Q&A What was life like for Spartan women?

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Sarah Dunant. (Alamy)

The history of today . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Sultanahmet district in Istanbul, Turkey, which is classified as World Heritage by UNESCO. (Photo by DOZIER Marc via Getty Images)

A new civilisation rises