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Kiwi Hellenist

kiwihellenist.blogspot.com

Many popular beliefs about ancient Greece and Rome are misconceptions. This blog digs into the evidence and looks for the reality behind the myth.

HistoryEssays / personal

’15’16’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25’26
Posts
177 from 21 Oct 2015 to 30 Oct 2026
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monthly (12 in the last year)
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2026 12

  1. Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 4. The Renaissance
  2. Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 3. The Sibylline oracles
  3. Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 2. The Sibylline books
  4. Sibyls and Sibylline oracles. 1. The Sibyls
  5. And the word was God (John 1.1)
  6. Homeric details and other influences in Nolan's The Odyssey (2026)
  7. The cave of the Nymphs: Odyssey 13.96–112
  8. Odysseus’ wanderings
  9. The Odyssey on screen: a catalogue
  10. History and the Odyssey
  11. Problems with Cline on The Trojan War. Ch. 4 ‘The Hittite texts’
  12. Problems with Cline on The Trojan War. Ch. 3 ‘Homeric questions’

2025 1

  1. Gospel citations of scripture

2024 6

  1. Fact-check: Eratosthenes (IBM, 1961) (video)
  2. Naming the days of the week
  3. Did Hesiod influence the book of Daniel?
  4. The Stoics and the Holy Spirit
  5. Aristarchus and the heliocentric theory
  6. Silences in the Homeric Odyssey

2023 17

  1. Percy Jackson, episodes 1 to 3
  2. How fragmentary ancient texts are reconstructed (sometimes)
  3. Ancient Greek puns
  4. The camel, the rope, and the needle's eye
  5. Textual errors in Lassus' Prophetiae Sibyllarum
  6. Who has the highest K/D in the Iliad?
  7. Who is the hero of the Iliad?
  8. How Eratosthenes measured the earth. Part 4
  9. How Eratosthenes measured the earth. Part 3
  10. How Eratosthenes measured the earth. Part 2
  11. How Eratosthenes measured the earth. Part 1
  12. Chrest or Christ
  13. Homer's metre 3. Catalogue and glossary
  14. Homer's metre 2. Hermann’s Bridge
  15. Homer's metre 1. Dactylic hexameter
  16. Translating gender
  17. Doctor Who, ‘The Myth Makers’ (1965)

2022 18

  1. Santa’s reindeer, Odin’s horse, and Siberian shamanism
  2. Hades II
  3. Resources
  4. The library of Alexandria and its reputation
  5. Can we trust mediaeval copies of ancient books?
  6. Latin spells in classic D&D video games
  7. Jesus’ empty tomb and The matron of Ephesus
  8. Was Sirius once red?
  9. How to read an app crit (video)
  10. How to read an app crit
  11. Who designed the Julian calendar?
  12. Pre-Dorian geography in the Iliad’s Catalogue of Ships
  13. The Dorian invasion and the Nazis
  14. Snake Island: in the steps of Achilles
  15. The Aeneid and the Epic Cycle (conference paper, Jan. 2020)
  16. The dates of Jesus (conference paper, ASCS 43, Feb. 2022)
  17. The chronology of Greek myth
  18. Medusa in Libya

2021 14

  1. Unique words in Odyssey 24
  2. The dates of Homer
  3. The dates of Jesus. 4. Sources
  4. The dates of Jesus. 3. Christmas and Easter
  5. The dates of Jesus. 2. Calendars and prophecy
  6. The dates of Jesus. 1. The dates
  7. Mercury isn't named Mercury because it's fast
  8. ‘Archaeologists claim they’ve discovered the Trojan Horse’
  9. By way of an apology ...
  10. Medusa in Gibraltar
  11. Prometheus and liver regeneration
  12. Easter, Yule, and the old English calendar
  13. Drugs and the Mysteries of Eleusis
  14. Final Fantasy VII and the Carmina Burana

2020 21

  1. The Christmas stories: Matthew vs. Luke
  2. Cannabis use in ancient Greece and Rome
  3. The classical elements
  4. Lucian's parody of the book of Revelation
  5. Who founded Rome?
  6. What did Caligula think of his nickname?
  7. Stripping myths down to a historical core (part 2)
  8. Stripping myths down to a historical core (part 1)
  9. Asia and Europe
  10. Who preserved Greek literature? (Part 2)
  11. An experimental translation of Homer
  12. How to make sense of ancient Greek colours
  13. The Odyssey 5. The wanderings
  14. The Odyssey 4. Type scenes
  15. The Odyssey 3. Hospitality and gift exchange
  16. The Odyssey 2. The opening and the Telemachy
  17. The Odyssey 1. What is the Odyssey?
  18. Abaris of Hyperborea and his magic arrow
  19. Did Roman engineers stand under bridges?
  20. The Epic Cycle wasn't as popular as you think
  21. Detecting the earth’s curvature

2019 18

  1. Who preserved Greek literature? (Part 1)
  2. The Archimedes palimpsest
  3. Spartan losers
  4. Ancient languages in Assassin’s creed: origins
  5. Achilles on death
  6. Mythbusters Jr. on Odysseus’ axes
  7. Learning Latin: why conjugations?
  8. Old classics books in film and TV
  9. Why maps have north at the top
  10. The ‘FCM’ scandal: a timeline
  11. Bad Latin in the movies: Life of Brian (1979)
  12. Titans and Olympians
  13. Bad Latin in the movies: Constantine (2005)
  14. Quotations and history
  15. Newly discovered essay by an Analyst scholar
  16. The golden ratio
  17. Upward attribution and ‘Go tell the Spartans’
  18. Shanties in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

2018 23

  1. Concerning Yule
  2. Cosmos #3. Hypatia and the library
  3. Cosmos #2. The Ionians (and others)
  4. Cosmos #1. Eratosthenes
  5. Tiamat ... and other dragons
  6. Modern coins in a Roman market
  7. Fake quotations
  8. The citation problem
  9. Freedom of speech
  10. Thunderbirds in Atlantis
  11. The hanging gardens: ‘seven wonders’ postscript
  12. Not ‘the oldest written record of the Odyssey’
  13. The not-so-cryptic Oracle of Delphi
  14. The number of the beast
  15. The new papyrus of the gospel of Mark
  16. The authoress of the Odyssey
  17. Ancient Greeks climbing Mount Olympus
  18. Why are there no Romans named ‘Quartus’?
  19. Christian scribes interfering with ancient texts?
  20. Easter and paganism. Part 2
  21. Easter and paganism. Part 1
  22. New Year's Day and the Roman calendar
  23. Paying the iron price: Spartan money

2017 19

  1. Christmas reminder 2017
  2. ‘Odysseus is not a hero, he’s a douchebag’
  3. Seven wonders of the world
  4. West's Odyssey
  5. Atlantis
  6. Black Romans
  7. Caesar’s birth and death
  8. Aristotle’s errors
  9. Roman plagiarism of Greek gods
  10. Volcano Day
  11. Greek contempt for archers
  12. Did Thales predict a solar eclipse?
  13. Did Nero fiddle while Rome burned?
  14. Off limits: these theories aren't for debunking (not here, anyway)
  15. Pi Day
  16. The library of Alexandria: vox populi
  17. Getting the Iliad right
  18. Dying and rising gods: are they a thing?
  19. Salt and salary: were Roman soldiers paid in salt?

2016 22

  1. The contents of the library of Alexandria
  2. Salting the earth
  3. Pythagoras and the beans #2: why ban beans?
  4. Pythagoras and the beans #1: hands off beans!
  5. The Eratosthenes video published by Business Insider: a fact-check
  6. Naked Spartans
  7. Did the Romans speak Latin?
  8. The Trojan War #3: Bronze Age evidence
  9. The Trojan War #2: Homer
  10. The Trojan War #1: the consensus
  11. Ancient flat-earthers
  12. Vomiting Romans: or, were the Romans happy chuckers?
  13. Pythagoras and the theorem
  14. Socrates #2. Did Socrates exist?
  15. Socrates #1. Did Socrates die for this shit?
  16. Easter and its supposed pagan links
  17. How far removed are we from ancient testimony?
  18. 'No one knows how ancient languages were pronounced'
  19. Reading silently and reading out loud in antiquity
  20. What year was it for the Romans?
  21. Colours in Homer #2: the wine-dark sea
  22. Colours in Homer #1: the bronze sky

2015 6

  1. Christmas and its supposed pagan links
  2. The library of Alexandria and the loss of knowledge
  3. Eratosthenes and the well
  4. On the ‘losing’ of Troy
  5. Were the Greeks scared of irrational numbers?
  6. ‘Deus ex machina’ - a Roman literary term?