What kinds of narratives about Antiquity do people create at this moment in time, and why? This collection of essays by European and British scholars explores these questions from a variety of perspectives, as can be seen from the titles of the papers.

Preface Kim Beerden

1. “Stop the Steal!,” Frederick G. Naerebout

2. “Whose persecution? Early Christianity as a Metaphor in Contemporary American Political Discourse,” K.P.S. Janssen

3. “Spartans on the Capitol: Recent Far-Right Appropriations of Spartan Militarism in the USA and their Historical Roots,” Stephen Hodkinson

4. “Leonidas Goes North: Swedish Appropriations of Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae and their Wider European Context,” Johannes Siapkas and Thomas Sjösvärd

5. “Pop Culture against Modernity: New Right-Wing Movements and the Reception of Sparta,” Julia Müller

6. “Fato Profugus. Aeneas the Refugee: an Italian Debate,” Marco Gay

7. “The Classicist as a Literary Character in Contemporary Literature: the Depiction of a Discipline,” Barbara Holler

8. “Ancient Death and the Contemporary World: The Role of Graeco-Roman Death in Museum Display,” Patricia Kret

9. “Queering the National Museum of Antiquities,” Suus van den Berg

10. “Dummie de Mummie: an Egyptian Body as the Undead, Oriental Other,” Daniel Soliman

11. “Who Owns the Road to the Roman Past? The Case of the Via Vipsania aka the chaussée romaine, the Römer-strasse, the Romeinse kassei, aka the Via Belgica,” Liesbeth Claes

For readers with an interest in military history, the three essays related to Sparta are likely to be the most relevant parts of this book. Deeply rooted in conservative mainstream “Western tradition” is the glorification of ancient Spartans as paragons of “warrior ethos” and manly virtues. This notion has recently come under increasing critical scrutiny, notably in Myke Cole’s well-researched study, The Bronze Lie: Shattering the Myth of Spartan Warrior Supremacy (2021) and the outstanding critical essay by Bret Devereaux “Spartans Were Losers,” [ https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/22/sparta-popular-culture-united-states-military-bad-history/ ].

As the teaching of ancient history and classical languages falls off a cliff in our failing educational systems, Americans will rapidly lose the connection to Graeco-Roman antiquity which so deeply informed our “Founding Fathers.” It is good to see that this is not happening as quickly in European academia.

Kim Beerden is a lecturer in Ancient History at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Timo Epping is a museum educator at the National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, The Netherlands.

---///---

Our Reviewer: Mike Markowitz is an historian and wargame designer. He writes a monthly column for CoinWeek.Com and is a member of the ADBC (Association of Dedicated Byzantine Collectors). His previous reviews include The Last Viking: The True Story of King Harald Hardrada, Ancient Rome: Infographics, Byzantium and the Crusades, A Short History of the Byzantine Empire, Theoderic the Great, The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium, Battle for the Island Kingdom, Vandal Heaven, The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome, Herod the Great: Jewish King in a Roman World, Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World, Ancient Rome on the Silver Screen, Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint, Persians: The Age of the Great Kings, Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State, At the Gates of Rome: The Battle for a Dying Empire, Roman Emperors in Context, After 1177 B.C., Cyrus the Great, Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, A.D. 400–700, Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It, The Roman Provinces, 300 BCE–300 CE: Using Coins as Sources, The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Archaic Greece, Amazons: The History Behind the Legend, and The Byzantine World .

---///---

Note: Classical Controversies is also available in hardcover & e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

www.nymas.org