This site is a work of passion that will aim to bridge the gap in Ancient History between the overly academic/scholarly works and the mainstream ‘pop history’. Academic works and sites are obviously fantastic at providing interesting information, but they often end up similar to magnolia wall paint; practical but not exciting. ‘Pop history’ is the antithesis of this. It is the articles written by sites such as Buzzfeed which aim to appeal to as broad a market as possible by people who, it seems, have no knowledge of topic they are actually writing about. Often these articles harbour glaring historical errors and so only serve to frustrate those who actually care about the subject and are looking for an informative, entertaining, little read.

This site is going to attempt to blend these two styles and so reach a middle ground. There will be a blend of essays, which will hopefully appeal to the more academically interested, as well as more brief overviews of historical figures/events for those looking for a more easily accessible, quick injection of information.

Ancient History is my personal passion and the area of which I’m most knowledgeable, specifically Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. If you are looking for a more general historical overview, or for more modern history, then this site is not for you my friend! I will be dealing purely with all things Ancient. On the whole, this will be largely focused on history, but I may well lurch into literature, art or philosophy as need be/when I want to.

The name Historiai is an homage (rip-off) of Herodotus’ seminal work The Histories. Early on his book, Herodotus lays out his motivation for writing:

“so that neither what has come to be from man in time might become faded, nor that great and wondrous deeds…might be without their glory”

My motivation is much the same; the people who towered like titans in the Ancient World, strolling across the ages with the aftershock of their footsteps still felt today. Many of these names are known to us, such as Pericles, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and while I will certainly not neglect these giants, I will also aim to shine a light on those characters in history who often slip between the cracks, but are nonetheless fascinating in their own right.

Whether you read this as an academic, or as someone who is simply interested in Ancient History, I hope you can find something here to sate your appetite!

To somewhat steal a Richard Dawkins quote; “History is interesting, and if you don’t think so, you can fuck off”.