Letter from the Editor, Daisy Dunn
Almost everyone’s sense of time seems to have been affected by the pandemic. It was perhaps only to be expected that the days would roll into one when there was so little to break up the week. But more than that, these long spells of isolation and lockdown appear to have thrown months and even years of the past into disorder, too.
Our diaries may not brim with as many exciting things as they did in 1965, 2000, 2019, but for us philhellenes, 2021 should be a year to remember insofar as it marks both the bicentenary of the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, and the 2,500th anniversary of the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis and Artemisium (of 480 BC – remember, there was no 0 BC/AD, so the calculation is 479 + 2021 = 2500).
While the War of Independence and its aftermath will be the special focus of our autumn issue (there are some brilliant events and lectures lined up – https://21in21.co.uk/about/ and https://www.greece2021.gr/en/ are good places to start), the Graeco-Persian wars of the fifth century BC form the backdrop to some of our leading articles in this spring edition. (Continue reading)
Read two articles online:
Alberto J. Quiroga Puertas on counterfactual thinking
Michael Kwadwo Okyere Asante on the hurdles to studying classics in Ghana
Contents
ANCIENT
David Stuttard ponders why Cimon is not better known today
Peter Ireland on the Motya Charioteer
Gaia Marziale probes the scientific background to Apollonius’ Argonautica
Amelia R. Brown on the 2,500th anniversary of Thermopylae
ARCHIVE
Fiona Haarer explores the Society’s archive
LATE ANTIQUE & EARLY MODERN
Alberto J. Quiroga Puertas on counterfactual thinking
Judith Herrin charts the development of Ravenna
John Davie on John Milton and Greek tragedy
PUZZLES
Julian Morgan sets a challenge of two Greek word puzzles
MODERN
Michael Kwadwo Okyere Asante on the hurdles to studying classics in Ghana
Arlene Holmes-Henderson on classical languages in primary schools
J.W. Bonner explores the classical influences on Nobel Laureate Louise Glück
Evripidis Konstantinidis reflects on life as a bookseller over the past year
John Mole shares tales from his roadtrip to Mount Athos
Diana Bentley reflects on a recent holiday to Eleutherna
NEWS
Fiona Haarer delivers news from the Hellenic Society
BOOKS
A round-up of recent and forthcoming books
Violet Moller on Benjamin Wardhaugh, The Book of Wonders: The Many Lives of Euclid’s Elements
Paul Cartledge on Adrian Goldsworthy, Philip & Alexander: Kings and Conquerors
Leonie Breeds on D.J. Ian Begg, Gilbert Bagnani: The Adventures of a Young Italo-Canadian Archaeologist
Clare Mulley on Isaac Matarasso, Talking Until Nightfall: Remembering Jewish Salonica 1941–44
Alice Dunn on Jonathan Coe, Mr Wilder and Me
