Greek and Roman

One Family Humbles Two Empires

“The princes hesitated over what to do. Should they abandon a great and costly expedition without hope of recovering their losses? Or should they allow the lord pope, the City and the church be cast into slavery, or rather destroyed?” […]

Greek and Roman

An Extreme Act of Loyalty

“When the Babylonians saw the most well-respected man in Persia without his nose and ears and all lurid with blood from the scourging, they were quite convinced that he was telling them the truth and came as their ally, and were ready to give him all that he asked.” […]

Greek and Roman

There’s no Escaping Fate

“Cambyses bitterly lamented the cruelty of his lot, and when the Persians saw the king in tears, they tore their clothes, and showed their sympathy by a great deal of crying and groaning.” […]

Greek and Roman

The Origin of the Amazons

“They appointed a day for meeting once in every year, so that when they should return to the same place on that day in the following year each mother might give over to the father whatever male child she had borne, but should herself keep and train for warfare whatever children of the female sex were born.” […]

Greek and Roman

The Trouble With Cannibals

“It is said to be their custom that when anyone of their fellows, whether man or woman, is sick, a man’s closest friends kill him, saying that if wasted by disease he will be lost to them as meat.” […]