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. Life and Times of Queen Anne

      When: June 7 @ 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

      Queen Anne was the last of the Stuarts and suffered much personal tragedy but she ruled over an increasingly prosperous nation that had unprecedented military success in Europe under the Duke of Marlborough. Although Anne reigned for only 12 years they were momentous years in many ways. In politics they saw the Union between England… Read more »

    View All Events

Featured articles

Maurice Ravel

Unravelling Ravel A study of his life and music and that of his contemporaries. Maurice Ravel was a very private man who wrote some of the best-loved music of the twentieth century although he always dismissed Bolero as merely an academic exercise – but then he never saw Torvill and Dean. Works studied include Pavane pour… Read more »

Mass in G minor

Kyrie Kyrie Gloria

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

Resources

  • The Music Section

  • Composers’ lives

  • Music courses

  • My music

  • Shakespeare

  • The History Section

  • British Museum Tours

  • History courses

  • Kings & Queens

  • Anglo Saxons & Vikings

  • Shakespeare

Top