William Sterling

Introducing

Achilles killing Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons by Exekias of Athens c. 560 BC. This type of pot is called Black Figure ware as the figures were filled in using the liquid or slip clay which miraculously turned black during the firing process. One of the incidents during the Trojan War not recorded by Homer was the fight between Achilles, hero of the Greeks, and Penthesilea, queen of the tribe of warrior women called the Amazons. Achilles won but at the moment he drove his spear into her neck their eyes met for the first time and they fell in love with each other. Exekias shows this ultimate Greek Tragedy by suggesting Achilles is trying to pull the spear out rather than thrust it home but all too late. Image © Trustees of the British Museum
My name is Dr William Sterling ~ welcome to my website. I have degrees in History and Geography with additional qualifications in Music and Education. I taught full-time at an Independent School in Kent for four years before joining the Civil Service. I worked for 16 years in the Department of Transport… Read more »

Look out for…

  • Upcoming Events

    1. British Museum Highlights

      When: March 1 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

      These tours of the British Museum last 90 minutes and take in up to 15 highlights from the museum’s vast collection.  They are at 11:30 am and 2:00 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The tours cover both main floors of the museum plus some of the side rooms and examine objects from Africa, Europe,… Read more »

    2. British Museum Ancient Greek Tour

      When: March 8 @ 11:30 am - 12:10 pm

      This British Museum tour of the Greek Galleries takes place every day at 11:30 am.  We work on a four week rota and mine are on a Sunday.  The dates for my tours in 2020 are January 12th, February 9th, March 8th, April 5th, May 3rd, May 31st, June 28th, July 26th, August 23rd, September 20th,… Read more »

    3. British Museum Mediaeval Tour

      When: March 8 @ 2:45 pm - 3:25 pm

      This British Museum tour of the Mediaeval Galleries takes place every day at 2:45 pm.  We work on a four week rota and mine are on a Sunday.  The dates for my tours in 2020 are January 12th, February 9th, March 8th, April 5th, May 3rd, May 31st, June 28th, July 26th, August 23rd, September 20th,… Read more »

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Featured articles

Robert Schumann

Schumann and Schumann This course examined the music and careers of Robert and Clara Schumann, how they were entwined and the influence on each other.  The course was run thematically with the first week being an overall chronology and then each week concentrating on one type of music such as Piano Muisc, Songs, Choral, Orchestral… Read more »

An introduction to the Etruscan and Roman galleries at the British Museum

This course ran at the City Lit and the British Museum on Monday 27th July 2015. We had some background to Etruscan and Roman myths and history in the morning and a two hour tour of the museum in the afternoon. The handouts included Archaic Etruscan alphabet gods The Twelve Cities Roman timeline 2015

Baltic Cruise Lecture 2

Lectures for Baltic and St Petersburg Cruise on the Ocean Countess July 2011 ANGLO-SAXONS AND VIKINGS – THE MAKING OF ENGLAND Lecture 2 The Coming of Christianity Summary of Lecture 1 In the first lecture we looked at what Britain was like before the Anglo-Saxon invasions, why Celtic Britain was attractive to the Romans but… Read more »

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