Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
From Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The gods had given Heracles every grace of body and mind, but there was one thing he must do for himself: choose how to use them.
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Photo by Jastrow, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Artemis, goddess of the hunt, pursued a bitter and relentless vengeance upon a king who carelessly slighted her.
© Anna Anichkova, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
When he caught his wife with her lover, the ugly blacksmith of the gods showed that he was not without his pride.
© EdSITEment, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
As the Persian Empire’s grip tightened by land and sea, it fell to one man to unite Greece in a last desperate bid to break it.
© Suzanne Knight, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The blessing of trade free from political interference was one of most important insights in British, indeed world history.
© Gobbler, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Horatius Cocles was the last man standing between Rome’s republic and the return of totalitarian government in 509 BC.