The Historian's Hut

Rulers of ancient Rome found that the Roman masses could be contained and pacified through a state-sponsored supply of food and entertainment—Rome’s proverbial bread and circus.

This unsigned illustration, printed by Johann Schöffer (approximately 1468-1531), was inspired by a dramatic and tragic legend from the early history of Rome.

Aristotle (c. 384-322 BCE) “Virtue is the definitive principle of aristocracy, as wealth is of oligarchy, and freedom of democracy.”

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Herbert Krause (c. 1905-1976) “Roads never take you straight where you want to go anyway.

In 1892, a short man named Engelbert Dollfuss (later belittlingly nicknamed Millimetternich) was born in the town of Texing, Austria.

This painting, attributed to an anonymous artist from the workshop of Filippino Lippi (c. 1457-1504), depicts two Muses—patron goddesses of arts, sciences and creativity—from ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

Lucian of Samosata (c. 120-180+) “I didn’t want just to look at cities and mountains as in paintings, but at men themselves and what they are saying and doing.”

Arsinoe IV was an ambitious daughter of King Ptolemy XII of Egypt (r. 80-51 BCE).

This landscape painting by the American artist Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821–1872) alludes to the ancient tale of Odysseus and the land of the Lotus Eaters.

Winston Churchill (c. 1874-1965) “There is nothing like the sympathy of a common cause to make the settlement of other differences easy.”

Emperor Leo III of Constantinople (r. 717-741) gained power due, in large part, to the actions and reign of a former ruler named Emperor Anastasius II (r. 713-715).

This painting, likely depicting the tale of Odysseus and the Sirens, was discovered in the volcanic ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash in the year 79.

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) “[A] carrion crow is a better bird than a mocking thresher.

According to ancient Greek myth and legend, a man named Tereus was once the ruler of a powerful Thracian kingdom.

This photograph of an artwork by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770) shows a pivotal scene that occurred during the Trojan War.

Pliny the Younger (c. 61/62-113) “It is a poor thing if authority can only test its powers by insults to others, and if homage is to be won by terror; affection is far more effective than fear in gaining you your ends.

Ancient Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty was known for its long tradition of incestuous royal marriages.

This painting, attributed to the French artist Louis Licherie de Beurie (1629-1687), re-creates the story of Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) meeting with the captured family of his Persian adversary, Darius III.

Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE) “An official’s job is simply to obey the laws and fulfill the duties of his post and that is all.”

In this narrated review video, an in-depth comparison is made between Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, juxtaposed against the nearly three-millennia-old poetry of Homer.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) “What could be more stupid than to attach the dignity of gods to mean and ugly objects, or to grant a place in the company of gods to men already obliterated in death, so that worship of them would consist of nothing but…

Emperor Constantine V was the son of Emperor Leo III of Constantinople (r. 717-741), a ruler who brought much-needed stability to the Byzantine Empire after a chaotic period of short-lived emperors.

This colorful wallcovering artwork, designed by Xavier Mader and manufactured by Joseph Dufour et Cie (c. 1752–1827), depicts the Greek mythological figures of Calypso (a sea deity) and Telemachus (the son of famed Odysseus).