Mar / Apr 2017

Volume 28, issue 2 

Defend or destroy?

The Praetorian Guard was the elite military corps paid handsomely to
protect Roman emperors, but their masters had to be on their guard in
case these too powerful men turned against them. Guy de la Bédoyère

Under the volcano

From Etna and Krakatoa to a tale of Gothic horror, a new exhibition in
Oxford shows the effects of volcanoes, how they have long fascinated us
and how volcanology developed as a science. Theresa Thompson

Rendlesham revealed

Archaeologists, four metal-detectorists and a local landowner, have worked
together to uncover the site of a 7th-century royal Anglo-Saxon settlement
in south-east Suffolk. Faye Minter, Jude Plouviez and Christopher Scull

The ship of death

The burial mounds at Sutton Hoo by the River Deben in Suffolk were first
excavated in 1939 to reveal a haunting ship burial and some of the greatest
Anglo-Saxon treasures ever found in England. Martin Carver

Cultural connections

Professor Lukas Nickel of the University of Vienna talks about the links
between Ancient China and the Hellenistic world, which he deduced after
studying warriors from the 3rd-century BC Terracotta Army. Dalu Jones

Megalith mania

Stonehenge, England’s most famous prehistoric monument, has inspired
artists, writers, advertisers, fashion photographers, comic-book heroes
and a wealth of wonderfully odd souvenirs. Julian Richards

This mysterious monument

The latest crop of books about Stonehenge brings the story of our most
famous megaliths up to date but, although more is now known of its
origins and purpose, it is still something of an enigma. David Miles