Ancient History

From the rise of the Greek city-states to the fall of Rome: explore Ancient History with tailor-made sessions.

What’s on offer

• Greek history: from the Bronze Age and the Persian Wars to Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic world, trace the rise of the Greek city-states and their clash with the Persian Empire.
• Roman history: from the Republic and its civil wars to the Empire and its eventual fall, follow Rome’s journey from a city on the Tiber to ruler of the Mediterranean.
• Sources and evidence: see how archaeology, inscriptions and ancient writers build our picture of the past, and how historians weigh the evidence they leave behind.
• Reading and discussion: bring key events, peoples and figures to life through close study, debate and lively discussion.

Alexander the Great

Before his death at just thirty-two, Alexander of Macedon conquered the greatest empire the world had ever seen, marching from Greece through Egypt and Persia all the way to the banks of the River Indus, and changing the ancient world forever.

Tutored by the philosopher Aristotle and heir to his father Philip’s formidable army, Alexander crushed the Persian Empire under Darius III, founding city after city in his own name and spreading Greek language, culture and ideas across three continents. His conquests created the Hellenistic world: the fusion of Greek and eastern cultures that would shape the Mediterranean for centuries, and that still echoes in the art, learning and politics of the modern world.

What we can explore together

• The early years: Alexander’s childhood, his education under Aristotle, and the legacy of his father Philip of Macedon.
• The campaigns: follow his conquests from the Battle of the Granicus to the fall of Tyre, Egypt and Persia.
• The man and the myth: explore his character, his generals, his legendary horse Bucephalus and the stories that grew around him.
• The Hellenistic world: see how Alexander’s empire was divided after his death and how Greek culture spread across the East.
• Sources and evidence: meet the ancient historians, Arrian, Plutarch and Curtius, who shaped our image of Alexander.

The Late Roman Republic

The late Roman Republic was one of the most dramatic and violent periods in ancient history: the turbulent century in which Rome’s ancient Republic, ruled by its Senate and assemblies, tore itself apart and gave way to the rule of emperors.

From the land reforms of the Gracchi brothers in the 130s BC, through the rivalry of Marius and Sulla and the revolt of the slave-gladiator Spartacus, to the first triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus and Julius Caesar, the late Republic was a world of civil wars, political murder and ever more powerful warlords. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon and defeated Pompey, the die was cast; his assassination in 44 BC plunged Rome into fresh civil war, until Augustus, the first emperor, finally brought the Republic to an end.

What we can explore together

• The crisis of the Republic: the Gracchi brothers, land reform, and the widening gulf between rich and poor.
• Marius and Sulla: rivalry, the Social War, and the first of Rome’s great civil wars.
• The age of Cicero: oratory, the conspiracy of Catiline, and the last decades of the free Republic.
• Pompey, Crassus and Caesar: the first triumvirate, the conquest of Gaul, and Caesar’s fateful crossing of the Rubicon.
• The fall of the Republic: the assassination of Caesar and the rise of Augustus and the Roman Empire.