Ancient History and Civilizations at Seven Hills

Spring 2026 - Ancient Greek and Roman Warfare

Meets: January-April

Ancient Greece and Rome existed in a state of near-constant warfare. Sparta famously shaped her entire society around warfare, while Polybius (a Greek) admits, “If any people are worthy to call themselves the descendants of Mars [god of war], it is the Romans.” Warfare shaped Greek and Roman society, and vice versa, in a myriad fascinating ways, from Athens’ naval emphasis driving its creation of democracy to Greek reverence for corpses creating a novel—and rather bizarre—set of rules for inter-Greek warfare that included “no archers!” Watch this interplay through a thousand years of history that saw the Greek heavy phalanx defeat the Persian Empire, the Macedonian phalanx overcome the Greek phalanx, and the Roman manipular formation beat the Macedonians—and more! Taught by our ancient history and languages expert, Joshua. For more information, please complete our availability poll.

Spring 2026 - Ancient Civilizations

Meets: January-April

Students will learn about Mediterranean history from prehistory to the age of European Colonialism, emphasizing shared cultural roots and history, examining the origin of the ideas of "East vs. West," and dispelling the myths and stereotypes in the presentation of several thousand years of Mediterranean history. The goal is to provide students with the knowledge of important cultural touchstones with the proper historical practice and context. Taught by Joshua, our expert teacher in ancient history and languages.For more information, please complete our availability poll.