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. The Etruscans

      When: December 5 @ 11:00 am - December 12 @ 1:30 pm

      Discover the mysterious people who lived in Central Italy and ended up being enveloped by the Romans. The Etruscans are one of the more mysterious civilisations of Ancient Europe.  The Greeks and Romans are well  known but the influence of the Etruscans on them is less well known.  The course will look at the history… Read more »

    2. England’s Earliest Kings: 3 Alfred the Great and the Vikings

      When: February 13, 2022 @ 11:00 am - February 20, 2022 @ 1:30 pm

      After the Mercian supremacy Wessex became the dominant kingdom in the C9th.  One reason was the kings managed to have capable sons to follow them thus avoiding the succession struggles of the Mercians.  Another was the remoteness from the Viking attacks which concentrated on the North Sea coast targeting Northumbria and East Anglia and pushing… Read more »

    3. England’s Earliest Kings: 4 Athelstan King of All Britain

      When: March 12, 2022 @ 11:00 am - March 19, 2022 @ 1:30 pm

      Athelstan called himself “Rex Totius Britanniae” and should be better known as the first  king to truly be king of the whole of England and was also recognised as overlord in Wales and Scotland. We will examine how Athelstan’s father and aunt went a long way to expelling the Danes from England and how he… Read more »

    View All Events

Featured articles

Etruscan and Roman Mythology

This course ran at the City Lit on Monday 28th July 2014 and was a revised version of Days 2 and 3 of the Introduction to the European Galleries in the British Museum from 2013. We surveyed Etruscan and Roman history in its days of glory and empire illustrated in the afternoon by a visit… Read more »

Music in the Classical Age

Music in Time II – Music in the Classical Age 1750-1805 The course provided students with an understanding of how western classical music styles and techniques evolved during the period 1750-1805. We concentrated on the “Classical” era of the sons of Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and examined the development of new types of composition… Read more »

Image and Portraiture of Augustus – the Meroe Head

I took part in the joint City Lit, University College London and British Museum Annual Classics Study Day at the British Museum on Saturday 1st March 2014 which looked at various aspects of the first Roman emperor Augustus to mark the 2,000th anniversary of his death.  I presented a paper on the Meroe Head and… Read more »

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