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 »

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Featured articles

Women in Ancient Greece

Using literary sources and objects in the British Museum and elsewhere we compared and contrasted the attitude of the Ancient Greeks to women in society, as figures in mythology and as goddesses. We examined the position of women in Ancient Greece and the Greek colonies as well as the attitude to women as seen as… Read more »

Baltic Cruise Lecture 3

Lectures for Baltic and St Petersburg Cruise on the Ocean Countess July 2011 ANGLO-SAXONS AND VIKINGS – THE MAKING OF ENGLAND Lecture 3 The Vikings are Coming Summary of Lecture 2 In the first lecture we saw how Roman Britain was transformed by the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons and in Lecture 2 we examined how… Read more »

At The British Museum

I must have fallen in love with the British Museum as a child of nine or ten when my Primary School teacher used to take us on school trips there on frequent occasions.  Sometimes these were for specific exhibitions such as the Captain Cook’s first voyage bicentenary in 1968, but it soon became my first… Read more »

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