Minerva Magazine - September/October 2018

In this issue

Troy story
As the ‘Year of Troy’ is celebrated in Turkey, we revisit the site of Homer’s legendary city which, although located in the 1870s, harbours unanswered questions – such as who exactly laid siege to it? Naoise Mac Sweeney

From Eden to Empire
The work of the great Anglo-American painter, Thomas Cole, including his magisterial series depicting the rise and fall of empire – which has a particular resonance today – is on show in London. Dominic Green

Graven idols
An inspiration for artists, poets and anthropologists, images of the Great Goddess across the world share many similarities, as can be seen in an intriguing exhibition of prehistoric female idols in Venice. Dalu Jones

Frozen in time
A new film is breathing life into Ötzi, the 5000-year-old mummy found in a glacier in the South Tyrol, and the result is a surprisingly convincing drama – despite its deliberately incomprehensible dialogue. David Miles

A visionary artist
It was not only the style and technique of the Italian Renaissance that attracted the eminent Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones – he was also haunted by Classical myths and English folk heroes. Dominic Green

Classical buzz
Traditionally, honey bees symbolise social order and untiring industry but, for the poet Virgil, they also carried a political message – the importance of the collective over the individual – as the Georgics reveal. Lucy Shackleton

The romanitas heritage of Nîmes
Although Nîmes became a solidly Romanised city, many exhibits in its sparkling new museum show that cultural traces of its original Gallic inhabitants persisted long after Rome had fallen. Bijan Omrani