The Antikythera Mechanism
Since its surprising discovery on the Aegean seabed over a century ago, the Antikythera mechanism has intrigued astrologers, classicists and historians of science.
Reviews
Stripping Down the Buttoned Up
An examination of the ‘fleeting, fine-grained intimacies’ of letters, diaries and memoirs produces a witty and scholarly account of Victorian attitudes to the body.
A Forensic Take On Deviance
Microhistories, examining a range of notorious and mundane crimes, can help recover marginalised figures and forge links to wider cultural histories.
Picts, Pins, Stones and Bones
A vivid account of groundbreaking archaeological excavations at a Scottish site of crucial importance to the North Sea world.
The Law According to Justinian
A magisterial translation of a work that forms the basis of the European civil law tradition.
An Idea of Alexander
During the Enlightenment, Alexander the Great was reinvented as an esoteric ideal.
The Lost Obelisks of Egypt
The story of the transportation of three obelisks to London, Paris and New York captures the 19th-century mania for all things Egyptian.
Savage Nobles and Noble Savages
The great and not-so-great desert explorers of the 18th and 19th centuries are evocatively profiled.
‘Montaigne: A Life’ by Philippe Desan review
While Montaigne: A Life by Philippe Desan review Montaigne might include debatable interpretations of his Essays, it is an essential study of the writer's life.
Warfare, Terror, Murder and Bloodshed
A compelling narrative on the machinations of a Borgia pope and his offspring, with the added spice of Machiavelli’s cool observations.