History has a habit of surprising us.

In our recent Classical Wisdom discussion on Pericles and the Myth of the Golden Age, one detail stood out. For all his influence, achievements, and popularity, Pericles, arguably the most famous statesman in Athenian history, once faced the very real possibility of being cast out of the city he helped shape.

Not because he had committed a crime… Not because he had lost a war… But because his fellow citizens feared that any individual could become too powerful.

It’s an idea that feels almost unthinkable today!

Modern politics often seems trapped between two unsatisfying choices: powerful leaders who are difficult to remove and bitter battles over how, and whether, they should be held accountable. Yet the Athenians approached the problem differently.

Indeed, their solution was one of the most unusual political experiments ever created by a democracy...

But then again, the ancient world was filled with institutions that seem strange to modern eyes. Some, I think we can all agree, deserve to remain firmly in the past, while others force us to ask uncomfortable questions about whether our own systems are really any better…

And then there are those rare ideas that sit somewhere in between, provoking debate more than two thousand years later.

Let’s just say the jury’s still out with regards to this one.

Read on to discover the strange process of Ostracism and consider for yourself: is this a historical feature we should bring back?

Please Note: Classical Wisdom Members can enjoy the full article as well as a special Classical Wisdom Ebook dedicated to The Men Who Changed the Face of Athens.

In this Ebook, we take a deep, but diverse, dive into the topic of fifth century BC Athenian hegemony in the Aegean Sea and how this came about due to the formation, and Athens’ manipulation, of the Delian League.

Focusing on Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon and Pericles, readers will come away with a greater understanding… and appreciation of the men who changed the Face of Athens and the Athenian Golden Age.

You can find that below the column.

*Not a member? Make sure to subscribe to unlock all our resources, from event transcripts and Ebooks to exclusive podcasts and in-depth articles.

Each week we explore the ancient world, including history, philosophy, mythology and more… don’t miss your next inspiration, join our growing community today:

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All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. Members: you can also access the recording and transcript from our recent event “Pericles: The Myth of the Golden Age” with Paul Cartledge and Armand D’Angour here:

VIDEO: Pericles Event

Ostracism in the Ancient World

By Van Bryan

In The Politics, Aristotle tells us that ostracism was originally instituted as a means to allow the common people to check the power of the political players who had grown too powerful too fast and were abusing their position.

It was a way to give claws to the hare when he was going up against a lion.

…democratic states have instituted ostracism; equality is above all things their aim, and therefore they ostracise and banish from the city for a time those who seem to predominate too much through their wealth, or the number of their friends, or through any other political influence.

–Aristotle (The Politics, Book III)

The procedure was rather simple.

Plutarch tells us, in his Life of Aristides, that an ostracism vote was held once a year.

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In this captivating conversation, Classical Wisdom founder Anya Leonard is joined by two of the world’s foremost experts on ancient Greece to explore one of history’s most fascinating figures: Pericles, the statesman who ca…

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For nearly three millennia, Homer’s Iliad has captivated audiences with its towering heroes, immortal gods, and unforgettable visions of glory and grief...

Yet the enduring power of the epic lies not only in its legendary battles, but in its remarkable ability to reveal something new each time we return to it, each time we read it once more.

That’s because beneath the bronze armor and battlefield triumphs are other, quieter stories...ones that allow us to look more closely at the human realities hidden within the myth.

One such figure is Briseis.

She is a woman who speaks little, yet whose presence shapes the entire course of the epic. Indeed, examining Briseis more carefully allows us to deepen our understanding of the world the poem emerged from, and the uneasy truths it preserves about honor, power, and the cost of war.

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It’s an important reminder that sometimes the most revealing insights are found not in the loudest voices of an old story, but in the silence surrounding those history almost forgotten.

Classical Wisdom Members: You can delve into the Mycenaean Civilization and the Bronze Age to discover some of the hidden tales inside the Iliad in today’s Member’s-only in-depth article on Briseis, below.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

Don’t miss out on the lessons of the past! Subscribe today and bring the wisdom of the ancients into your life...

From articles like today’s in-depth look at Briseis, to our exclusive podcasts with professors and our extensive E-book library, joining our growing community also brings a wealth of resources to your fingertips.

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Briseis: The Sound of Silence

By Mary Naples, author of Unsung Heroes: Women of the Ancient World

Before Achilles’ fatal war cry shattered her world, Briseis was a princess living a life of privilege. She was married to Mynes, the son of the king of Lyrnessus, a city in the Troad allied with Troy.

In the beat of a heart, everything changed when her city was destroyed during the Greek invasion; she witnessed the massacre of her husband, father, and three brothers, along with most other males—many of whom were mere boys.

As with Mycenaean Greek conquests, the women were spared, but they were treated as possessions, the spoils of war, stripped of their freedom and dignity and forced to serve their captors in whatever way their captors saw fit.

Briseis was no exception, it was in that very way she came to Achilles.

Briseis has intrigued scholars from ancient times to our own.

Although she plays a minor role in Homer’s Iliad, her presence looms large throughout the epic, as she unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a schism within the Greek expedition…

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I’m always wary of politicians. The very word conjures cheesy smiles, hollow promises, and carefully rehearsed sincerity. Too often, the people who crave power most intensely are the least suited to wield it. They are hungry for control over others…an ugly attribute in even the greatest of men.

The opposite of the politician,…

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While not all in this month's issue may live up to his standards, nonetheless every example within this edition should be inspiring, educational or at least, thoroughly entertaining. It is a collection of great minds... and sometimes greater personalities. 
 
Click Below to access your Magazine, dedicated to Statesmen:

Access your Classical Wisdom Litterae Here

Jeremy McInerney explained that myths gave shape to uncertainty and helped communities make sense of the world through storytelling, while Sarah Iles Johnston emphasized that myt…

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Why would wealthy Romans spend fortunes acquiring educated people... sometimes valuing them like priceless works of art… or purchasing them only to free them?

What does it mean when some of the most influential minds in Roman history were technically property?

And who, at the end of the day, was really creating the great works of Roman literature, philosophy, and politics?

In this month’s Podcasts with Professors we spoke with the renowned Princeton Classics Professor, Harriet Flower, to discuss her latest book, Intellectual Property: Learned Slaves and Educated Freemen in Republican Rome. We explored a side of antiquity that most people never imagine: enslaved intellectuals, scholars, editors, teachers, speechwriters, and literary advisors who shaped Roman culture from behind the scenes.

We moved beyond the stereotype of ancient slavery to look at a deeply complex social system where status, intellect, ambition, and power collided in unexpected ways...

Indeed, Harriet Flower gives us some astonishing stories of intellectuals captured during war and carried back to Rome as coveted prizes, educated slaves who advised senators and edited famous works, and freedmen who rose to become wealthy cultural powerbrokers in their own right.

And while Roman slavery may seem like ancient history, the topic actually opens up questions that are certainly worth asking...such as:

Who produces culture and knowledge?

How much of intellectual life depends on work by those who never receive credit, by people unseen and unrecorded?

And, just as importantly, are there modern forms of “invisible intellectual labor” that parallel the hidden contributions of educated slaves and freedmen in Rome?

Classical Wisdom Members: you can access the full recording and complete transcript above. You can also download the audio only version below.

If you are not yet a member, you can subscribe to gain full access to this podcast and our growing library of exclusive content.

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All the best,

Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. Members, don’t forget today’s exciting event, Why Myth Matters, taking place at Noon ET. You can register to join us live here, otherwise keep a lookout for the recording and transcript which we will make available to all members.

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It is easy to explain to a child why myths matter.

These ancient stories are brimming with brave heroes, clever princesses, and terrifying monsters that captivate the imagination. Like sweet ambrosia for the mind, they offer an irresistible escape from the mundane, with characters who embody both lofty ideals and relatable complexity.

And yet, somehow, trying to explain to adults why legends forged thousands of years ago are so critical and profound is trickier: they have often lost the wonder and sympathy that brings the characters and their hardships alive...

Indeed, we have entered an era in which myths have lost their central place in modern society...or at least the myths of the ancient world have. As early as the 18th century, there was a purposeful divergence from religious and mythological explanations of the world toward more scientific and rationalist frameworks.

Myth came to be seen in contrast to the rationality of the Enlightenment, and so the stories of the ancients lost their prominence in education and discourse, along with their deeper meanings.

Nonetheless, the fundamental need for myth in all its multifaceted forms, as social cohesion and as embodiments of human hopes, dreams, and fears, still remains. We continue to seek archetypes and binary plots in superhero films, pop culture icons, and graphic novels.

The study of myth is still profoundly relevant today, even if most are not aware of it.

But how were they created in the first place? And importantly to us today, how were they preserved?

Today’s in-depth member’s article delves into the origins of myth, the ancient memory technique that built civilization and a fascinating lesson from Albania...

In fact, it’s a great precursor to our exciting event taking place next week.

Featuring an incredible lineup, we’ll be hosting three conversations that cover the full breadth of ancient myth and meaning. We’ll begin with myth in the ancient world, its role in society and its purpose then and now, before exploring the sordid story of Medea and concluding with how tragedy explores ethics and moral psychology.

It is a unique opportunity to hear from this impressive collection of philosophers, professors, and authors... and one we hope you won’t miss.

Make sure to secure your spot here:

Why Myth Matters

I hope you can join us!

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

Classical Wisdom Members will receive the full recording of our upcoming event, including all three discussions with James Romm, Agnes Callard, Helene Foley, Natalie Haynes, Sarah Iles Johnston and Jeremy McInerney.

Members can also enjoy the transcript of the entire event.

If you aren’t a member yet, make sure to subscribe today to access all our Classical Wisdom Resources:

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How Myth Survived Before Writing

By Anya Leonard

Nowadays, we live a literate existence; over 87% of the world can read, a remarkable accomplishment in civilization.

Back in the Bronze Age, however, when many of the important codified myths were being created and first inscribed, the literacy rate was exceedingly low, likely under 1–2% of the population. For many of those ancient societies, such as those in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or the Aegean, literacy was primarily used for practical purposes, accounting, inscriptions, bureaucracy, and the like, rather than storytelling.

The existence of the oral tradition, in fact, meant literacy was not essential for the mass of the population.

By the Athenian Classical period, the literacy rate had improved to 10–20% of the population, but it would have consisted mostly of elite men, predominantly in urban areas. So while we see an uptick in those who could read and write (a trajectory that only increased in the Hellenistic and Roman eras), the majority of people, the ones telling stories to their children, passing long evenings with friends and family, or maintaining rituals far from urban centres, still relied on the oral tradition.

As literacy improved, the need to memorize the details of legends, characters, and plots subsided. Just as we rely on computers, calculators, and online resources today, so too did our ancestors outsource the cognitive demand to pen, paper, and papyrus.

Today, oral traditions still exist, but they are often fragmented and faded, replaced by cartoon and pixelated visions, or hidden away in remote places...vestigial communities sought out by anthropologists looking for well-preserved rituals and windows into our past.

Indeed, it was the British philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell who suggested that we can, in fact, travel in time by traversing distances. As described in his Skeptical Essays (1928):

“A European who goes to New York and Chicago sees the future, the future to which Europe is likely to come if it escapes economic disaster. On the other hand, when he goes to Asia he sees the past. In India, I am told, he can see the Middle Ages; in China he can see the eighteenth century.”

The modern traveler who marvels at the streets of the Pudong district in Shanghai or cautiously explores South Shore will no doubt attest to the fact that Mr. Russell’s coupling of countries and centuries is comically outdated...

Nonetheless, his observation that different eras can still be found around the world rings true, and so, with that in mind, we will take a trip to the Balkans... or rather, we will accompany two professors on their journey 100 years ago to travel back two and a half millennia.

Lessons from Albania

One can only imagine the looks of confusion and surprise borne by the local farmers in the remote mountain villages of Bosnia, Macedonia, Hercegovina, and Croatia when, in 1933, a pair of young Americans came to town.

The then 31-year-old Milman Parry from California and his 21-year-old assistant, Albert Lord of Massachusetts, carried with them a strange device: flat phonographs made entirely of aluminum.

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Theater to the ancient Greeks was not mere entertainment.

It wasn’t their equivalent of zoning out in front of Netflix... or taking in the latest flicks at the cinema... it didn’t even correspond to modern rituals of getting dressed up and going to the theater!

Sure, the actual word for theater is derived directly from the Greek word θέατρον (théatron, “a place for viewing”), and yes, we still perform the many wonderful tragedies and comedies written thousands of years ago... their words resonating through the ages and impacting us to this very day.

But theater in the ancient world was much, much more than that. It was part and parcel of the very fabric of their society, interwoven with their religion, threading the community together.

It was entertaining, of course, as well as engrossing, spectacular, shocking and profoundly moving. It was a mirror at times and a window at others. A vehicle for moral lessons as well as cautionary tales. Stories to make the audience cry, scream and laugh...

And at the dawn of this incredible contribution to civilization was a warrior named Aeschylus, a man who would be labeled “The Father of Tragedy”. But who was this figure, so prominent in the history of drama? What inventions did he bring to the art? And how did he see his own legacy?

Read on to discover Aeschylus, the Warring Writer, in today’s member’s in-depth article and bring some much needed drama into your life.

Classical Wisdom Members: the column below comes from our Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazine, dedicated to ancient Theatre. As a member, you can enjoy the full issue, which investigates exciting aspects of Ancient Greek theater and tries to look behind the masks, including:

• The Ancient Greek festivals, and women’s role in them,

• Why tragedy is good for humanity,

• Aristophanes’ evolution over time,

• Ancient theaters, masks and more...

You can find the Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazine at the end of today’s newsletter.

If you aren’t a member, you can subscribe here to enjoy all our resources, including our E-books, Podcasts with Professors, In-depth articles and full access to our Classical Wisdom Litterae Archives. Choose which plans works best for you and bring the ancients into your life:

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All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. If you are keen on learning more about Aeschylus, as well as the other tragedians, the epic poet Homer, the philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, then you are in luck!

Our Essential Greeks Course will begin in LESS THAN A WEEK. Register today to start the 2026 course on May 5th.

It’s an opportunity to either lay down a foundational understanding of the ancients or to cement your own knowledge of these incredibly influential thinkers and authors. Complete with course materials, original texts, quizzes, engaging videos and live webinars, it has been a Classical Wisdom favorite since its inception.

Make sure to secure your spot here:

Discover the Essential Greeks!

If you can’t join us live for our Welcome Webinar, do not worry! We will send through a recording afterwards.

The Warring Writer: Aeschylus

By Anya Leonard

Let’s say you are considered the “father of tragedy”. Even in your own lifetime, everyone knows you have revolutionized drama and changed the theatre game. Do you think it would be mentioned on your tomb? Surely a throwaway reference at least?

But no, not for Aeschylus.

The man who wrote between 70 and 90 plays, won 28 competitions and completely altered the face of the stage, says nothing about it in his eulogy. His tomb engraving, which he wrote himself, only talks about his military accomplishments.

Now, why would a man who has gone down in history as a playwright, only describe himself as a soldier? Why would he actively omit something so fundamental to ancient society, culture, and history itself? Was he just really humble?

It actually makes a lot of sense when you consider his life.

Aeschylus was born of a well-to-do family in 525 B.C., reared in the town of Eleusis, about 27 kilometers northwest of Athens. It was a place best known in all the ancient world as a site for one of the most important religious events of ancient Greece.

It was there, that almost mythical place, where Aeschylus first became a writer.

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The legend goes like this…

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Few periods in history pulse with as much intrigue, ambition, and quiet terror as the early years of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Violence, murder, deceit, along with emperors and queens and civil wars.

It’s sort of like Days of our Lives meets the Godfather meets the Crown. You literally can’t make this stuff up!

But you can try to make sense of it all and get immersed in the sheer intrigue of the story. As such, in Part One, we glimpsed the formidable rise of Livia Drusilla, a woman who stood at the heart of Rome’s transformation from republic to empire.

But if her ascent was remarkable, what followed was nothing short of dramatic...

Behind the marble facades and triumphal processions of Augustus’s reign lay a far more precarious reality: a relentless and tragic struggle for succession. Promising heirs regularly and prematurely gave up the ghost... struck down by illness, misfortune, or perhaps something more sinister.

And with each death, there was a sudden shift in the balance of power, fueling only more intrigue and rumors. At the center of so many of these scandals stood Livia.

Was she the devoted wife and matriarch the Augustan propaganda made her out to be, carefully safeguarding Rome’s future?

Or a calculating force, as described by later historians, quietly shaping destiny in the shadows to secure the rise of her son, Tiberius?

These are not merely ancient questions. I think we all know that in our modern world too, power, perception, and narrative remain deeply intertwined. Trying to sort fact from fiction is no simple task... And too easily does rumor become “history” when repeated often enough...

In Part Two of our Member’s in-depth article on Livia Drusilla, we enter a world of sudden deaths, political marriages, exile, and suspicion, a world where truth is elusive and reputations are forged as much by gossip as by fact.

It is a story that forces us to confront not only what happened in ancient Rome, but how history itself is written… and rewritten.

Read on and contemplate the enduring tension between power and perception, and the stories we choose to believe.

All the best,
Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. If you haven’t yet joined our growing community, do so today to access all our resources, including our extensive E-book library, Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazines, Podcasts with Professors and in-depth articles, like today’s feature piece.

Livia Drusilla: “Mother of the Country” or “Evil Stepmother”? Part Two

By Mary Naples, author of Unsung Heroes: Women of the Ancient World

(If you haven’t already, you can read part one here)

Empress Livia Drusilla, the wife of Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus, was the quintessential matriarch of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Throughout her more than forty years as a steadfast and loyal empress, Livia Drusilla received unprecedented honors; but, she also has long been suspected of hastening the untimely ends of numerous successors to Augustus to secure the throne for her son, Tiberius.

Given that these claims originate from writers who were unfriendly toward her, should we question the validity of the accusations? How can we separate fact from fiction?

After just two years of marriage between Augustus’ daughter Julia and her first cousin, Marcellus, an epidemic swept through Rome that nearly killed Augustus. When Marcellus became ill as well, everyone expected his nineteen-year-old heir to make a full recovery.

But when the promising young Marcellus died, it set off a period of mourning and began the long succession crisis that would plague Augustus’s reign from 23 BCE to 4 CE.

Within a short year, he betrothed his freshly-widowed daughter, Julia, to his close friend and war hero, the mighty general and consul, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a man twenty-five years her senior. There was one pesky detail that had to be attended to, Agrippa was already married… and Augustus himself had arranged the union years ago with Marcellus’s sister, Claudia Marcella Major.

Augustus—ever prioritizing political expediency over marital bonds—dissolved this marriage, allowing Agrippa and Julia to wed shortly thereafter.

Why did Augustus choose Agrippa to be Julia’s husband instead of the young Tiberius? The reason was because General Agrippa had been disappointed in Augustus’s selection of Marcellus as heir two years prior, something that made him a threat. The emperor’s close friend and poet Gaius Maecenas wrote about Agrippa:

“You have made him so great that he must either become your son-in-law or be slain.”

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An expansive and complete anthology of ancient literature is at your fingertips. Spanning one thousand years of literature and history, The Essential Classics is your portal into the days of antiquity.

From Homer to Marcus Aurelius, The Essential Classics finds the most irreplaceable selections from 32 of the ancient worl…

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Who was Livia Drusilla, really?

To some, she was the very embodiment of Roman virtue: a devoted wife, a dignified matron, the steady hand beside the Roman Emperor Augustus as he reshaped the ancient world. The First Empress...

But to others, especially the historians who wrote long after her death, Livia was something else entirely.

Something darker...

She was depicted as a schemer, a manipulator, a woman who, if the rumors are to be believed, cleared a path to power not with speeches or alliances, but with death.

Ancient writers like Tacitus and Cassius Dio painted her as the ultimate “evil stepmother,” a figure so ambitious that she would stop at nothing to see her son rise to the top.

And curiously, or perhaps suspiciously, those who stood in his way had an unfortunate habit of dying young.

Coincidence? Or conspiracy?

Livia’s story is one of those histories where fact is far more interesting than fiction, yet figuring out what is the truth is not an easy task. Her legacy has been shaped by the powerful forces of bias and propaganda.

Was she a loyal partner who helped build an empire?

Or a master strategist who ensured her dynasty would endure, no matter the cost?

This is what we are trying to figure out...

Today, Classical Wisdom Members can enjoy part one of our deep dive into the life of Livia. We’ll look at her story as well as the evidence both for... and against...her role in the many convenient and untimely deaths that paved the way for her dear Tiberius to come to power.

Read on and decide if the First Empress was a hero or a villain...

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. History rarely hands us clear answers, especially when power, family, and ambition collide at the highest level.

What really happened inside Rome’s first imperial household? Why did so many promising heirs never reach the throne? And how much of what we “know” has been shaped by rumor, resentment, and historians writing long after the fact?

If you aren’t a member already, make sure to join to discover the full story of Livia Drusilla, part One today:

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Livia Drusilla: “Mother of the Country” or “Evil Stepmother”?

By Mary Naples, author of Unsung Heroes: Women of the Ancient World

Livia Drusilla (58 BCE–29 CE) was portrayed as the quintessential Roman matrona (mother)—modest, devoted, and virtuous. This image shaped imperial propaganda and earned her an extraordinary amount of public statuary as well as a considerable cult following during her lifetime, particularly in the Greek East, where she was worshipped as a goddess.

Moreover, she received unprecedented public honors, including the honorific title Augusta, significant financial independence, and awarded sacrosanctitas (inviolability) with privileges equivalent to those of the highly revered Vestal Virgins.

Considering the numerous accolades she achieved during her significant lifetime, many of her contemporaries might have been surprised to learn that Livia’s sterling reputation has become tarnished over the years.

Ancient historians, such as Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio depicted Livia as a ruthless, power-hungry schemer, reflecting a common narrative of powerful women in antiquity. But more than that, they also accused her of poisoning potential successors to ensure that her son Tiberius would become emperor.

Indeed, it is regrettable that each time a successor emerged, he eventually met an untimely and tragic end. Was this serendipity merely a coincidence, or could someone have intervened to bring about the demise of these successors?

Although it remains impossible to definitively prove or disprove instances of poisoning in antiquity—a challenge that persists even today–perhaps by looking at the series of premature deaths among Augustus’s potential heirs we can separate fact from fiction and understand if Livia had a hand in poisoning any of them as the ancients so assiduously report…

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Frontinus is not a household name, yet he perhaps should be.

A general, governor, engineer, and author, he embodied a rare fusion of intellect and action. One of his surviving works, Stratagems, is not merely a manual of war, but a treasury of human behavior under pressure...a guide to leadership, decision-making, and adaptability.

In this month’s podcast with professors, I speak with scholar George J. Thomas about his latest translation and his efforts to resurrect the overlooked figure of Sextus Julius Frontinus, a man whose life and work is incredibly relevant today.

As Thomas explains, the text distills centuries of military experience into vivid historical examples, from the cunning of Hannibal to the boldness of Alexander the Great, offering lessons, and questions, that linger far beyond the battlefield.

For instance, what does it mean to lead well? Must a leader stand at the front, as Xenophon did?

How do we maintain morale in times of uncertainty?

And perhaps most intriguingly and pertinent to our current events, can victory be achieved without conflict at all?

We delve into pragmatism versus theory, the psychology of fear and superstition, the delicate balance between discipline and humanity, and the enduring tension between ruthlessness and restraint.

Classical Wisdom Members are invited to enjoy the full video podcast, along with the transcript and the audio only option below. Have a listen and contemplate if strategy is not confined solely to war, but also if it permeates business, politics, and everyday life...

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

P.S. Be strategic about the wisdom and knowledge you learn and live by… let the lessons of the ancient world into your life.

Become a member to access all our resources, from ebooks and in-depth articles to our exclusive podcasts with professors.

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Every year around mid-March, history lovers, classicists, and the occasionally dramatic office worker remember a particular warning: “Beware the Ides of March.”

It’s the line that launched a thousand memes, countless stage productions, and at least a few suspicious glances at coworkers on the 15th.

On that day in 44 BC, Juliu…

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We are doing things a little differently today... We are going much further back than normal, back thousands of years ago to ancient Mesopotamia, to the very beginning of writing itself.

You see, long before keyboards, printing presses, or even alphabets, ancient scribes devoted years of study to mastering systems of writing so complex that they were considered not merely practical skills, but gateways to wisdom itself.

Those clay tablets pressed with tiny wedges by a long-gone hand did not just record, communicate, and preserve knowledge; it was a way of understanding reality. Words were thought to reveal hidden relationships between things, linking language, knowledge, and the structure of the universe.

To master writing, therefore, was to touch the foundations of thought itself.

Today we are surrounded by language, endless news feeds, message notifications, intrusive algorithms, and impressive digital archives, but we rarely pause to consider how these systems we use mold the way we think.

But the ancients did. They understood that writing was not neutral; it shaped knowledge, authority, and even the imagination.

Classical Wisdom Members can enjoy today’s special in-depth article, The Scribal Art, an extract from The Library of Ancient Wisdom. Written by scholar Selena Wisnom, one of only a few hundred experts able to read cuneiform script, it delves into the ancient literary world where complexity was not a bug, but a coveted feature.

Read on to understand the roots of language and thought and consider: when we write today, are we simply exchanging information… or shaping the way we understand reality itself?

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. If you aren’t a Classical Wisdom Member, make sure to subscribe today to enjoy the full in-depth article, along with our podcasts with professors, Ebook library, Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazines and more. Let ancient wisdom and thought help guide you and make sense of the present:

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The Scribal Art

By Selena Wisnom

Ashurbanipal’s sister Sherua-etirat is irked. She holds a letter from her brother’s new wife, Libbali-sharrat, written in sloppy handwriting and simple signs, a tablet full of mistakes that looks like it is from the hand of a child rather than that of the future queen of Assyria. This will simply not do. Ashurbanipal is the crown prince, heir to the greatest kingdom on earth, and needs a wife who is worthy of him in status. His wife’s accomplishments reflect not only on her husband but also on the whole royal family, and Sherua-etirat is embarrassed to have a sister-in-law who is not yet proficient in the scribal art. She will have to tell her to step up.

Sherua-etirat picks up her stylus to compose a reply. She unwraps a ready-made clay tablet, taking it out of the damp cloth it has been stored in to keep it moist, and begins to press signs into its soft surface: ‘Why don’t you write on your tablet and do your homework? For if you don’t, they will say: “Can this be the sister of Sherua-etirat, the eldest daughter of the succession palace of Esarhaddon, the great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria?’

***

The scene is imagined but the letter is real, written perhaps in 672 or 671, shortly after Ashurbanipal became crown prince, a few years before he ascended to the throne. Sherua-etirat really did admonish her brother’s young wife for not working hard enough at her writing, telling her in no uncertain terms.

By Ashurbanipal’s time in the seventh century BC the cuneiform writing system had been in use for around two and a half thousand years, though change was afoot.

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In our modern era which prizes confidence, ambition, and self-assertion, it can seem almost obvious that the best life is the one in which we get what we want.

After all, strength is admired. Success is celebrated. And at all times we should “treat ourselves”.

What most might not realise is that this way of thinking is far older and far more philosophically charged than it first appears.

In classical Athens, questions about power, justice, and self-interest were anything but abstract. As democracy took root and traditional values were questioned, certain thinkers began to wonder whether moral rules were truly grounded in nature or merely invented by society.

If laws change from city to city, why should they bind us absolutely? And if nature itself seems to reward the bold and the capable, might self-interest be not only natural, but right?

These ideas would come to be associated with what we now call ethical egoism…a provocative stance that challenges conventional morality at its core. It promises clarity in a confusing world and confidence in the face of uncertainty.

But it also raises questions that are hard to shake, especially once they’re asked.

What, exactly, should guide our lives: desire or discipline?
Is wanting something enough to justify pursuing it?
And what kind of person do we become when success is the ultimate measure?

In today’s Member’s indepth article, we will look at Ethical Egoism and test a philosophy many of us already live by, often unconsciously.

But by examining Ethical Egoism at its roots, we are given the opportunity to ask difficult but essential questions. “Getting what you want” may feel empowering, but does it actually lead to a life well lived?

Read on to discover a philosophy that is far older than Instagram quotes and productivity podcasts, and discuss whether or not you think it holds...

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

Classical Wisdom

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Ethical Egoism: Getting What You Want

Written by Van Bryan

There are a few advantages we have going for us when we study moral philosophy. The first is that moral philosophy (also known as ethical philosophy) is immediately applicable to our lives. The second is that many of the suppositions seem to be rather easy to confirm.

For instance,

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You’ve definitely seen him… gracing textbooks, museums, logos, coffee mugs, even memes.

He stands with arms outstretched and legs doubled, perfectly balanced between a circle and a square. You’d think he would be uncomfortable honestly, so exposed, and yet he seems defiant or perhaps a bit grumpy.

But when was the last time we stopped to ask why this image still speaks to us? Why, in our modern era of medical imagining, of MRIs and x-rays, does a 500-year-old sketch of the human body matter?

Perhaps it could be because the Vitruvian Man isn’t about anatomy at all….

Indeed, it’s about something far more provocative: the idea that the human body is a kind of measuring stick for the universe itself and that beauty, health, and harmony all depend on understanding our place within a larger, ordered whole…

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Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing is often treated as a symbol of Renaissance genius, a triumph of art fused with science. Yet the image did not emerge from Leonardo’s imagination alone. It is rooted in a much older intellectual tradition, one that believed architecture, philosophy, medicine, and even ethics were inseparable.

Behind that serene (if maybe a bit disgruntled) figure lies a Roman thinker whose ideas quietly survived the fall of an empire and went on to shape how Western culture understands proportion, design, and what it means to live well.

Why did these ideas endure? Why did they matter to Leonardo…and why might they still matter to us, centuries later, as we design our cities, our technologies, and even our own lives?

Read on to discover the deeper story of the Vitruvian Man and uncover a worldview in which nature itself is the master architect and humanity, both its product and its measure.

All the best,
Anya Leonard
Founder and Director
Classical Wisdom

P.S. Curious how an obscure Roman architect became the intellectual bridge between antiquity and Leonardo’s genius? Today’s Member’s in-depth article traces how Vitruvius’s ideas survived the fall of Rome, earned near-mythic authority, and quietly shaped Western thought about design, harmony, and even human health.

As a Classical Wisdom Member, you’ll get the complete story…rich historical context, surprising connections, and insights that reveal why the Vitruvian Man is more than a drawing.

It’s a blueprint for how the ancient world understood what it meant to be human.

And if you haven’t join our Classical Wisdom Community, then there is no time like the present to bring in the lessons of the past. Subscribe today and let the wisdom of the ancients guide you:

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The History Behind the Vitruvian Man

By M. Reed Meyers

The story sounds like a Dan Brown thriller: Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks contain a skillfully executed, albeit curious image. A man with two sets of arms and legs poses in the center of a circle and square. With one set of arms forming a V and one set of legs out-splayed, the figure’s soles and fingertips define the circumference of the circle. With the other set of arms outstretched and legs straight, the figure defines the perimeter of the square.

Known in Italian as L’Uomo Vitruviano—the Vitruvian man—the c. 1490 image is perhaps the most recognizable of all Leonardo’s sketches. A simple internet search reveals literally hundreds of reproductions, adaptations, and parodies. It may come as a surprise that this sketch, unlike others, did not spring from Leonardo’s fertile imagination, but was designed to illustrate someone else’s ideas:

This passage appears in Book III, chapter 1 of De Architectura, the only comprehensive work on architecture to survive from Classical Antiquity, authored by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. It’s an interesting concept, to be sure, but what about it would inspire Leonardo to produce one of his most evocative drawings?

There is indeed much more to this story: behind the Vitruvian man stands an enigmatic builder, a learned manuscript, a legendary name, and cultural prestige.

Vitruvius qui de architectonica

So, who was the original Vitruvian man? Who was Marcus Vitruvius Pollio?

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During this time of year, it is common to see declarations of overflowing love… champions of romance securing sugary-sweet Hallmark salutations… Red and pink hearts rain down upon shopping malls and cafes… Saccharine songs belt over the radios…

After all, Valentine’s Day only comes once a year, and those chocolates and roses aren’t going to sell themselves!

But setting aside commercial cynicism (the modern kind), the topic of love itself is actually an important one... and a deeply ancient one at that.

Indeed, the nature of love has long been a subject of philosophical reflection. No doubt you are thinking of Plato’s Symposium, which devotes an entire dialogue to the subject, or of Aristotle’s reflections on relationships in the Nicomachean Ethics.

Yet what many might not realise is that not ancient thinkers spoke of love in glowing terms.

In fact, some of them openly warned against it.

We are speaking about the Roman philosopher Lucretius, who, actively argued that love could be harmful….Drawing on Epicurean philosophy, he championed the pursuit of a tranquil life free from pain and disturbance. From his perspective, love was not a blessing but a danger...an emotional entanglement capable of disrupting peace of mind.

But are his arguments convincing? This is our task at hand…

If you are feeling inundated with amorous messaging this season, you might find today’s members-only in-depth article a refreshing change of pace: a measured counterbalance to the runaway romance currently in full swing.

But even if you are a devoted follower of Cupid, you will still find something to enjoy here. Lucretius’ critique offers a different lens, adding nuance and depth to a topic many assume requires no questioning at all: the idea that love is always a virtuous and worthy goal.

Perhaps true love isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be… or perhaps Lucretius was simply more than a little bitter...

Either way, we invite you to explore an Epicurean approach to the topic du jour and to reflect on a provocative question: is love something that should be actively pursued, or are casual connections preferable to deep intimacy?

Classical Wisdom Members: Ancient philosophy is rarely one-sided. That is why our Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazine not only features the full article below, but also an exploration of the many different forms of love found in the ancient world...across language, literature, art, and more.

You can enjoy the full Litterae Magazine following today’s article.

All the best,

Anya Leonard

Founder and Director

P.S. If you aren’t a member, but would LOVE to enjoy the Classics more, make today the day you join! Subscribe and gain access to our in-depth articles, Ebook library, Podcasts with Professors, and Classical Wisdom Litterae Magazines:

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Introducing Lucretius’ On The Nature Of Things (And By Things We Mean Love)

By Nicole Saldarriaga

It’s no secret that, historically, human beings have had a particular fascination with romantic love. The topic is explored again and again in everything from art to literature to dinner table conversations—and as long as there have been human societies, this fascination has existed.

It’s especially interesting, then, to examine some more ancient conceptions of romantic love and to realize that in many ways they are not so different from the opinions we have today.

An ancient Roman Epicurean philosopher by the name of Titus Lucretius Carus (popularly known as Lucretius), for example, in his On the Nature of Things, advocated for the avoidance of romantic love in favor of casual sex—an idea that might not seem out of place on many college campuses today.

On the Nature of Things is a treatise on Epicurean philosophy written in verse. Considered a masterpiece by many, it lovingly and rather eloquently espouses and explains the doctrines of Epicurus—all with the ultimate goal of leading the reader to tranquility of mind and spirit.

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According to Epicurean philosophy, humans experience anxiety and discontent when they nurture desires that can’t be satisfied and fears that arise out of blind superstition.

The only way to be freed from these fears (particularly the fear of death) is to

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