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Greek magic is the discourse of magic within the ancient Greek world. Greek magic includes a range of practices, from malevolent curses to benevolent protections, from divinatory practices to alchemical procedures, but what is labelled magic depends on who is doing the labelling and the circumstances in which the label is applied. The discourse of magic pertains to non-normative ritualized activity, in which the deviation from the norm is most often marked in terms of the perceived efficacy of the act, the familiarity of the performance within the cultural tradition, the ends for which the act is performed, or the social location of the performer. Magic is thus a construct of subjective labelling, rather than an objectively existing category. Rituals whose efficacy is perceived as extraordinary (in either a positive or negative sense) or that are performed in unfamiliar ways, for questionable ends, or by performers whose status is out of the ordinary might be labelled (by others or by oneself) as magic in antiquity.

The ancient body emerged as a topic of research in the 1980s, and the discipline has grown dramatically since then. It aims at studying the ways in which people in the ancient world experienced their bodies, and how those experiences might have differed from modern ones. The discipline examines constructions of sex and gender; concepts of beauty and ugliness; the constituent parts of the body, its fluids, its limits, and the role that clothing plays in setting those boundaries; and the senses. Specific attention is paid to bodies that do not conform to ancient ideals of beauty and wellness (such as disabled and ageing bodies) and to bodies that elicited fascination and concern in antiquity (such as non-binary and intersex bodies). In the ancient world, anxieties towards non-normative bodies were addressed by attempting to control the body from infancy onward. That control was exercised both at the level of the family and at that of the state, which established links between the body and political order.

Tarquinii was one of the foremost Etruscan cities. It stood on the high Civita plateau pointing towards the sea between two flat hills. One of these is the Monterozzi plateau, which is the site of the superb painted tombs of its outstanding necropolis (UNESCO site since 2004). Long lasting excavation undertaken on the Civita plateau and at the sanctuary of Gravisca make it possible to recover the features of architectural structures, local artefact production, and related behaviours, including contacts with the other Mediterranean populations. The more than ten centuries of activity discovered at the ‘monumental complex’ offer an extraordinary overview of the history of Tarquinii and of its cultural features. The four phases of the Ara della Regina sanctuary (from the beginning of the 6th century to the Roman period), together with evidence from the ‘monumental complex’, support the reconstruction of the organisation of space, within the circuit of the fortification according to the principle of a sacred topography conceived by the community of Tarquinii from its beginnings.

There is little evidence of conversion to Israelite religion or Judaism in Jewish scriptures. For instance, while later rabbis understood the book of Ruth to portray the conversion of Ruth to Judaism, the book itself repeatedly refers to her as a Moabite, even after she declares to her mother-in-law Naomi that “your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). Similarly, the Hebrew text of Esther 8:17 portrays numerous Gentiles Judaizing: “Many peoples of the land Judaized because fear of the Jews fell upon them.” The Septuagint translation (LXX) adds that this “Judaization” included circumcision. While some scholars believe that this verse refers to conversion, the author claims that this action was taken only out of fear of the Jews. These Gentiles did not Judaize out of religious conviction; rather, they merely pretended to be Jews to avoid Jewish retaliation for the violent machinations of Haman.

Ancient peoples lived in close proximity to the environment and experienced at first hand natural phenomena and landscape features that, while often helpful or indeed essential to life, were also potentially threatening. The land and its produce were crucial to survival, and in a predominantly rural world dotted with towns and cities, many people will have observed at first hand mountains, rivers, and the relationship of landscape to available space for settlement. Rivers expressed the local community’s link with the landscape and sustained river valley communities by providing water for drinking, washing, irrigation, and watering of animals, as well as offering routes of communication. Many rivers were also a fruitful source of fish, especially if the water was clean, such as the high-quality fish from the Pamisos in Messenia (Paus. 4.34.1–2). But of course rivers could also flood a settlement or sweep it away. In addition, popular reaction to the environment around the local area was often influenced by strong cultural and religious feelings associated with landscape. In this context, it is not surprising that some literary works were exclusively devoted to natural features of the landscape, for example describing rivers, their character, history, and legendary associations. Mythology helped to explain natural phenomena. Furthermore, the theme of rivers in various guises appears repeatedly in the work of geographers, ethnographers, teachers, poets, and historians. Philosophers were also interested in the curiosities of riverine conditions, which, by their timeless quality yet constant movement, seemingly offered a comment on the human condition.

Terentia (c. 98 bce–c. 6 ce?) was the first wife of Cicero, to whom she was married for over thirty years, and the mother of his two children Tullia and M. Tullius Cicero. She and Cicero divorced in 46 bce, two years before his death, but she lived on to be 103 years old (Val. Max. 8.13.6, Plin. HN 7.158). She is said to have later married Sallust and M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, but these other marriages to much younger men seem highly dubious. Terentia is well attested in Cicero’s writings, especially his rich correspondence, as well as in other ancient sources, which makes her one of the most frequently mentioned women of the first century bce. Yet her own voice and point of view are hard to recover, since none of her letters to Cicero has survived. She is not attested as having been as independently active in politics or as visible in the public eye as the most prominent women, such as Servilia, Fulvia, or Clodia (the wife of Metellus). She was a wealthy and well-connected woman who worked hard to support Cicero and their children in times of exceptional political and financial turmoil.

Augustus is often labelled as “first emperor of Rome” and “founder of the Principate”. Both descriptions hide a much fa complex and fluid political transformation that affected all areas of Roman society during the period when Augustus was princeps.

Augustus did not owe his success entirely to his name, but his inheritance of Julius Caesar’s wealth and support from the plebs of Rome and the army were key props in his rise to power. He made himself central to the state, and people felt that Augustus was uniquely placed to ensure that the gods remained on Rome’s side. His account of his achievements in his Res Gestae demonstrates that he continued to accumulate fabulous wealth, which he then lavishly spent upon the city of Rome. He did encounter some opposition which tends to be underplayed in the sources, partly because he showed remarkable resilience in recovering from setbacks and partly because none of the incidents seriously undermined him in the long term.