Ancient Egypt and the Harlem Renaissance
This year marks the 100th anniversary of a seminal publication that launched the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement led by black writers, thinkers and artists.
Featured posts
Thunder, Perfect Mind
Thunder, Perfect Mind is an ancient poem associated with an early Christian group, but bearing an uncanny similarity to hymns of the goddess Isis.
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Nineteenth century paintings of Ancient Egypt
A look at Ancient Egyptian themed art of the Nineteenth Century.
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Ancient Argos: The most important city you never knew about
Some tales from the history of Greece’s greatest city
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Rhakotis Magazine
The online magazine exploring the history and legacy of the ancient world in all its complexity.
We take our name from Rhakotis, the Egyptian fishing town that developed into Alexandria, the classical city par excellence. Just as that city was both Egyptian and international, so was the ancient world.
We see the ancient world as a complex and cosmopolitan space in which various societies intermingled, creating international and local cultures that changed, merged and ruptured over the centuries. The history and culture of these societies have had and continue to have an impact on later societies which are themselves complex and never neutral.
Recent posts
Exhibitions of the year
The best museum and gallery exhibitions of the last year with an ancient twist.
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Comic books and graphic novels
The Eagles of Rome
Two blood brothers on a path that will lead them to their glory or their doom.
Thermae Romae
A review of Mari Yamazaki’s manga set in the Roman Empire
The Freemasons and Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian symbolism came into freemasonry through Hermetica. Hermes Trismegistus was a powerful magician linked to the two figures of Thoth and Hermes (himself linked with Anubis). Books written by Hermes Trismegistus continued to be read throughout the medieval period and into the Renaissance and beyond. They offered an occult insight into the world.
Gods and goddesses
The Apocalypse of the Psuedo-Methodus
Although relatively little known today the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodius was the equivalent of a bestseller of its day. Originally composed in Syriac around 690-92 CE, it was soon translated and inspired versions of texts in various languages.
Art and the ancient world
Architecture
21 classic buildings in london you really have to see
The Bank of England building is high security classicism. It would be hard to break into this building. There is something slightly dystopian about it. The front is classical piedmont, similar to the Pantheon in Rome, but the back is high blank walls with tasteful ornaments and corniche work.
Apuleius: celebrating 1900 years
Pompeii
Animals in the ancient world
The Bow Sphinx
One of the most extraordinary items in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is a ceramic white sphinx.
Comics and graphic novels
Book Reviews
Exhibition Reviews
Fiction books
Ancient history
Ancient Egyptian themed classical music
Mozart’s most popular work, was profoundly influenced by the composer’s interest in free masonry and its supposed Egyptian origins amongst the Pyramid builders.
Rhakotis 