
Cameos, Prized Since Antiquity
The term “cameo” refers to a method of carving, such as engraving a stone for a piece of jewelry. The cameo features a raised image. As...


What Does She Do About Her Hunch?
June’s latest short story, “The Hunch” appears in the Fall, 2021 issue of The Dark Sire, a quarterly literary magazine for enthusiasts of...


Did He Kill Her?
Carthage and Alexandria were magnificent cities, rivals in the Mediterranean World for second place only to Rome. And so, it’s not...


Alchemy And The Fabrication Of Pearls
In its earliest days, alchemy was a spiritual as well as a material quest for perfection. The goal was to perfect all souls, the souls of...


What Was Hippocrates Famous For? (Did He Really Do That?)
In The Deadliest Lie, Miriam explains to her aunt what the study of alchemy means to her: “Alchemy is the search for both material and...


Playing The Cithara
Playing the cithara was arguably the most popular, most geographically widespread, and longest-running performance genre in Antiquity....


Harvesting Salt
Salt is either mined or harvested by evaporation. In Alexandria, salt is made from the evaporation of weakly saline seawater from ponds...


Building A Web
In THE DEADLIEST HATE, Miriam is suspicious of a man she encounters in Caesarea. She sees he’s come up in the world since he used to...


What Banquet Foods Did The Romans Eat?
In The Deadliest Lie, we learn that Miriam and Phoebe celebrated the Isis festivals at the Flamingo’s Tongue, the smoke-filled restaurant...


Writing On A Wax Tablet
A wax tablet is a wooden frame covered with a layer of wax. It was used as a portable writing surface from Antiquity throughout the...