Jealous, vengeful, cruel, foreign, and with a fondness for snakes, Olympias has often been portrayed as a malevolent figure. More than two thousand years after she lived and died, it is impossible to know what she was actually like, but the actions of the mother of Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) were rarely without […]

From the highest praise of some critics to the lowest execrations comparing his painting to “dung,” Rembrandt’s later art was provocative in the 17th-century Dutch Golden Age. Today, his status is justly assured as an exquisite and intuitive handler of light and shadow as a vehicle for the intensification of meaning and expression. This […]

The fall of Rome may be seen as irreversible in hindsight. However, several significant Roman leaders of the 5th century were able to bring the empire to the brink of salvation. It was a betrayal that prevented the general Flavius Aetius from being able to complete the restoration of Rome’s former glory.   The […]

David’s slaying of Goliath is one of the Bible’s most well-known stories. But the story’s plot line in the Hebrew Bible contains three confusing wrinkles. First, the reader is introduced to David twice in the narrative. Second, David meets Saul, the king of Israel, twice in the story, apparently for the first time in […]

Evolving from the Roman Republic, Rome became an empire in 27 BCE and seemed to be off to a good start with Augustus, who had a posthumous reputation for a high moral character and effective rule. Some Roman emperors seem to have followed in his footsteps, such as the “five good emperors” of the […]