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Riley Winters

Riley Winters is a Pre-PhD art historical, archaeological, and philological researcher who holds a degree in Classical Studies and Art History, and a Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor from Christopher Newport University. She is also a graduate of Celtic and Viking Archaeology at the University of Glasgow.

History

Member for: 9 years 7 months

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Posts

10 April, 2018 - 18:53 Riley Winters

How to Win Love and Ruin A Marriage in 5 Easy Steps: ‘Ars Amatoria’ by Ancient Love Guru, Ovid

Before Tinder and Plenty of Fish took over the dating world , men and women used to resort to meeting each other the old-fashioned way—in person, or not at all. Before the internet, dating advice...

Ancient Greek warriors with armor and weapons.

12 March, 2018 - 18:00 Riley Winters

Weapons Control in Ancient Greece: When an Accident was Deadly

Weapons control is a hot topic in the United States. With the recent shooting in Florida in February 2018, discussions of gun control are at an all-time high. Yet this discussion is not limited to...

25 February, 2018 - 22:52 Riley Winters

Where is Vanaheimr, Land of the Norse Nature Gods?

In a realm of nine worlds, one might assume that the gods would be satisfied with one. One world where they could live away from humans and watch over their antics as one might watch a TV show. In...

A curse tablet wrapped around a chicken bone.

24 February, 2018 - 18:48 Riley Winters

Ancient Sex Curse Revealed: May Your Penis Hurt When You Make Love!

Curse tablets in the ancient world are like Facebook posts today—they were everywhere, created by almost everyone, and can still be found in the strangest of places. They could be broadly vague or...

21 February, 2018 - 18:38 Riley Winters

After 300: The Posthumous Vengeance of King Leonidas of Sparta

Mythologically descended from the hero Herakles, the Agiad dynasty of ancient Sparta reigned alongside the Eurypontids almost since the beginning of the city-state. When war was on the borders of...

17 February, 2018 - 19:20 Riley Winters

Magic into Myth: Avalon, Mystical Isle of Medieval Arthurian Literature

The Isle of Apples, Isle of the Blessed, and the Otherworld. These titles have long been associated with the magical resting place of the early medieval king, Arthur Pendragon. A realm imbued with...

Inbuilt rock house of Monsanto, Portugal.

30 January, 2018 - 18:59 Riley Winters

Monsanto: The Thriving Medieval Town Built Around Giant Boulders

In most parts of Europe, the medieval period ended around the fourteenth century, right around the time Giotto introduced perspective into the art of pre-Renaissance Italy. Yet for the twelfth...

Venus and Mars, c 1485. Tempera and oil on poplar panel, National Gallery, London.

10 January, 2018 - 18:48 Riley Winters

Trial by Public Performance: The Impotence Trials of Pre-Revolutionary France

The impotence trials of prerevolutionary France sound a bit like a political joke. France had mostly squelched the ability for couples to divorce, and it was in the wake of this that the impotence...

‘Ariadne in Naxos’ (1877) by Evelyn De Morgan.

9 January, 2018 - 18:52 Riley Winters

The Descent of Ariadne: Minoan Queen of the Dead to Mistress of the Labyrinth?

"Mistress of the Labyrinth", "the Great Goddess", "The Potnia ." These three terms have long been used, somewhat interchangeably, to describe the original forms of Ariadne, a Cretan princess who has...

3 January, 2018 - 13:55 Riley Winters

Castle in the Sand: Arg-e Bam as a Pillar of Middle-Eastern Longevity

Iran’s Arg-e Bam, Bam Citadel, once stood as a pillar of longevity in the Middle East. Created upon the beginnings of the Achaemenid Empire (6th-4th centuries BC), and building on the commercial...

‘The Slave Market’ (1886) by Gustave Boulanger.

30 December, 2017 - 14:32 Riley Winters

Skin Color Didn’t Matter to the Ancient Greeks and Romans

The term “racism” refers to a phenomenon of group hatred or bigotry based on ethnic and cultural prejudice. In the United States, the term is most often heard in conjunction with the descriptors “...

The Colosseum in Rome, once home to the most brutal games in history.

3 December, 2017 - 02:01 Riley Winters

The Colosseum – From Gladiator Fights to Gory Executions and Sea Battles

Gladiatorial fights, sea battles, criminal (and Christian?) executions. These are only a few of the events, if they can even be called such, that happened in the walls of the Colosseum. Known during...

Virtual recreation by Charles Chipiez. A panoramic view of the gardens and outside of the Palace of Darius I of Persia in Persepolis.

24 November, 2017 - 23:03 Riley Winters

An Empire in Death: The Extensive Remains of Persepolis

Once the stunning capital of the Persian Empire (also known as the Achaemenid Empire), Persepolis was lost to the world for almost nineteen hundred years, buried in the dirt of southwestern Iran...

10 November, 2017 - 22:58 Riley Winters

A Succinct Timeline of Roman Emperors—400 Years of Power Condensed

To say that the Roman Empire had its ups and downs would be the understatement of all understatements. No “nation” was more abruptly destabilized or even more abruptly stabilized than that of ancient...

31 October, 2017 - 12:57 Riley Winters

“Veni, Vidi, Scripsi”: The Literary Conquests of Gaius Julius Caesar

A man who needs no introduction, Gaius Julius Caesar is more than well known for the stories he spearheads—namely, his numerous military victories. (Although, even his defeats somehow sound rather...

‘A Player with a Hermit’ by Moritz von Schwind

28 October, 2017 - 02:07 Riley Winters

Revealing the Recluse: The Sad and Secret Lives of Hermits

The word “hermit” often elicits thoughts of men with long, scraggly hair and beards, eyes lined with wrinkles and filled with wisdom, and clothes a bit torn and dirty but otherwise, no worse for wear...