The Emperor Caligula’s Unlikely Role Model
Rulers have always idolised and imitated past figures, and Rome's emperors were no different. The emperor Caligula cultivated an affiliation with Alexander the Great. Without a great deal of success.
Alexander Meddings
Based in Rome, Alexander Meddings is a published historian, writer and tour guide. After completing his Roman History MPhil at Oxford University, he moved to Italy to pursue his passion at the source.
Chasing Down the Best Gelato in Florence
No trip to Italy would be complete without indulging in one of the country’s best loved culinary offerings: gelato. Shops that specialize in the stuff – gelaterie – line almost every street of the Renaissance city, drawing tourists and locals…
Gaius Apuleius Diocles: History’s Highest-Paid Athlete
From football stars to tennis maestros, sportsmen and women are often cited as overpaid examples of capitalistic culture gone mad. In 2009 Tiger Woods became the first sports star to gross over $1 billion. In 2017 Cristiano Ronaldo extended a…
Burning Ambitions: The Life and Death of Girolamo Savonarola
Florence's beauty masks a violent past, erupting in outbreaks of factional violence and religious extremism. The story of Giralomo Savonarola captures the latter. And it is as gruesome as it is gripping.
The Tory Whip with a Thirst For Knowledge
In the Spring of 2012, I took part in a seminar about the Black Death. It was part of a course about politics and the arts in Medieval France: compelling, comprehensive. Full of those juicy anecdotes that make history so…
I Can’t Shoot A Scotsman In York, So Why Can An American Run Riot In Las Vegas?
So it’s happened again. Inevitably. The details are still murky, but a terrorist (let’s call him what he is) has shot up a crowd of festival-goers along the Las Vegas Strip in what now appears to be the bloodiest mass…
Idiosyncracies of the English Language
The idiosyncracies of the English language render it as barmy as it is brilliant. This article takes you through examples of the English language at its most idiosyncratic.
