Essays

Long-form writing from leading scholars and commentators on history, statecraft, warfare, philosophy and culture.

Alexander Mosaic (detail), House of the Faun, Pompeii.

essays

Did nationalism exist in the classical world?

Nationalism is often thought of as a modern development - but its traces can be found in antiquity.

Robin Lane Fox August 4, 2020

Krishna's Longing for Radha, from the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva, circa 1820-1825. In the lush forests on the banks of India?s Yamuna River, the youthful god Krishna waits to rendezvous with his beloved Radha. The artist has rendered his impatience by showing seven Krishnas, in various attitudes of anxious waiting, as though seeing him over a period of time. Meanwhile Radha, dressed in yellow at top right, confers seemingly endlessly with her confidante, as she tries to decide whether she should meet Krishna for the illicit tryst?she is already married and Krishna is prone to flirting with other girls. This scene is a metaphor for how god waits for us to come to him, while the human devotee frets about the bonds of social norms.

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The gods in love

The Hindu tradition of Radha and Krishna calls us to see passion as the kernel of all religion.

Jessica Frazier August 3, 2020

1960s TWIN BRUNETTE GIRLS EATING SLICES OF BREAD AND JELLY (Photo by H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)

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What does the future of evolution look like?

Talk of genetic modification is often met with a backlash - but is it as dangerous and drastic as we might think?

Lee Silver August 3, 2020

Hilma af Klint, Primordial Chaos, No. 16, The WU/ROSEN Series. Grupp 1, 1906-07

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Painting the invisible

Hilma af Klint's work is saturated in the scientific culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Linda Dalrymple Henderson July 31, 2020

A voluptuary under the horrors of digestion Js. Gy. design et fecit., JAMES GILLRAY. Wiki creative commons.

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George IV: a very decadent Prince

George IV was a dissolute dandy and sybarite - but he was also a brilliant patron of the arts.

Saul David July 31, 2020

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In defence of the Habsburgs

The failure of the Austro-Hungarian order spelt the end of the most cosmopolitan culture in Europe's history.

Richard Swartz July 30, 2020

Portuguese pedestrians walk over a world map on the pavement beneath the Monument of Discoveries, Lisbon. The world's landmass is represented here in a tiled mosaic that Portugal is famous for and citizens walk across this depiction of their planet like giants on a mini-sized map. Located in Bel��m, on the bank of the River Tagus where the monument celebrates an era of adventure, expansion and colonial ambition. Within a circular frame, the ornate map shows an almost ancient world minus its geopolitical borders.

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On the myth of multiculturalism

Without a vision or programme of a different society or future, the left has retreated to pluralism and the idiom of choice as its most radical idea.

Russell Jacoby July 29, 2020

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What makes a man die for his country?

Dying to defend territory is an ancient human need - but war in the 21st century may not follow the script.

Christopher Coker July 28, 2020

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Æthelstan and the forging of a United Kingdom of England

The story of how, over the course of three generations, the royal dynasty of Wessex went from near oblivion to fashioning a kingdom that still endures today is the most remarkable ..

Tom Holland July 28, 2020