Iris back issues

The first ever Iris includes:

The Utopia Experiment: Plato and the breakdown of global civilisation

One man's quest to recreate the Academy Casting spells in the ancient world: a look at some of the original wicked witches

“If Ovid and Horace were alive today, they would be the biggest paid executives in Hollywood ” : iris chats to Colin Dexter about Classics and the modern world

Heaven sent: How Iris and Hermes spent their time - equal opportunities and the Olympian messenger system

Cry me a river: a watery fate for the heart-broken. Does Ovid give women an unfair hearing?  

Iris 2 includes:

The search for Ithaca: a businessman, a classicist and a geologist team up to discover the true home of Odysseus

Remixing Rome: a romp through contemporary culture's reflections of the ancient world

Africanising the Classics: how the modern world is causing Classics to rethink its syllabus

How to play a lyre: performing Ancient Greek music

Modernising Monsters: the cyber generation takes on the Classics

Iris 3 centres around the theme of ancient healing, and contents include:

Earthworms and honey: a trip to the Classical chemist

Theatrical Therapy: using ancient theatre in modern hospitals

Diana at Nottingham: breathing new life into ancient body parts

How to throw a party like the ancient Greeks

Travelogue: the healing waters of Bath

An interview with Bettany Hughes, TV historian

Life in Spas: iris' exciting new mystery series

Iris 4 centres around the theme of the ancient city, and features include:

Virtual reality modelling: The villa of the Papyri

Urban Hymns: The influence of city life on Horace

Smart City Types: Solving the problems of urban living

Cheese and the City: A visit to Verulamium

Travelogue: Greeks, bees and mad honey

Chat with Evan Millner, creator of the Latin podcast

Iris 5 is based loosely on the theme of poetry and craft, and include:

Two Ticks for Ovid and Horace: poet Maureen Almond reworks the classics

What Not To Weave: fashions and fabric in the ancient world

"Don't Look Back: poetry, the poet and the tale of Orpheus"

Greeks bearing gifts: the place of pottery in classical society

Ancient magicians: instructions on classical wizardry chat with author Caroline Lawrence about writing and filming her books

Exploring Tunisia: travelogue in North Africa

Iris 6 focuses around the search for truth and meaning in the ancient world, and includes:

Eternal questions: the Classical view of life, the universe and everything

Chat with Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye

Blood and Sacrifice in the Desert: the lost cult of the Nabataeans

Speaking with the gods: the perils of prophecy

The Big Myth: creation stories and graphic design

Sun worshippers: solar power in the Roman empire

Iris 7 looks at re-interpretations of the Classics in modern art, theatre and literature, and includes:

Iris interview: Richard Adams, author of Watership Down

The Many Lives of Venus de Milo: Classical Sculpture and contemporary art

Re-inventing the past in the future: Science Fiction and the Classical world

Someone Else's Dream: Magical Realism, Latin America and Classical literature

Colouring-in the Ancient World: The Classics and contemporary race relations

Travelogue: a weekend in Florence

Iris 8 looks at ancient Greek theatre and politics, and its contents include:

The Age of Revolution: How the Greek world changed after Homer

Iris chat with Martha Kearney, Radio Four 'World at One' Presenter

Megas Adelphos: a modern take on ostracism in ancient Greece

The Tragi-comedy of Plum: P.G. Wodehouse and ancient theatre

Gender in ancient theatre: women, men and the fifth century B.C.

Travelogue: Exploring Samothrace

Iris 9 has a theme of nature, countryside and the ancient world. Its contents include:

Virgil and nature: Professor Jenkyns writes on Virgil and the countryside

iris chat with Ruth Padel, poet and relative of Charles Darwin

Roman gardens and being Roman: how the Romans viewed their green spaces

Pope and the pastoral: the role of Classics in the poetry of Pope

The science of lost sounds: recreating ancient instruments using the Large Hadron Collider

A walk on the wild side: Classical perspectives on nature

Nurturing nature: The Eden Project and the ancient world

Travelogue: Gazing upon Troy

Iris 10 looks at the influences and interpretations of epic, and includes:

Iris chat: Margaret George, author of Helen of Troy

Home Thoughts from Abroad: Virgil's Aeneid

1000 Years Before Homer: The epic of Gilgamesh

Masters of War: Epic battles on film

A Marriage of Minds: Arabic and Classical epic

News feature: A Mosaic for the London Olympics 2012

Travelogue: Ephesus

 Iris 11 looks at travel in the ancient world. Contents include:

Herodotus Earth: The ancient world in Google

Roman Holiday: Following the Classical tourist trail

Perspectives from Xenophon: Ladies, gentlemen and barbarians

Iris chat: Michael Scott, author of 'From Democrats to Kings'

Pausanias: Guide to ancient travelling

Travelogue: Knossos

Iris 12 has a theme of crime and punishment in the ancient world. Contents include:

Romans Behaving Badly: what the Classical wicked did

Iris chat: Andrew Irvine, author of 'Socrates on Trial'

CSI Athens: criminal activity in ancient Greece

Rules and rulers: law making and breaking in ancient Rome

What lies beneath: off the beaten track in Northamptonshire

Redemption and revenge : the story of Philoctetes re-interpreted

Iris 13 is themed around the supernatural in the ancient world! Amidst other spooky contents, you will find:

Iris chat: Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5

Spellcasters: how to curse and enchant in the ancient world

Spooky stories and tales of the dead: eerie fables from ancient Rome

Apuleius: how to make an ass of yourself using magic

Girls are wicked: magic and gender in the ancient world

Travelogue: Visiting Tarragona

Iris 14 looks at women in the ancient world. Contents include:

Under the veil: the case of Aphrodite's tortoise

Bettany Hughes talks to Iris about The Hemlock Cup

Giving poison to the asp: girls' education in the ancient world

Crushed flies and eyeliner: how to look like a Roman goddess

Hotline to the gods: women and the divine in ancient Greece

Travelogue: Merida

Iris 15 is themed around the Roman republic. Its contents include:

Cicero and the Roman Republic

Grand designs: interior decor the republican way

The Birth of Satire: a very Roman art?

New and Old School Poets: poetry at the end of the Roman Republic

Iris chat with Joan Smith, journalist, writer and republican

Travelogue: Dougga

Iris 16 is themed around slavery in the ancient world.  Contents include:

People with a price: slavery in the Roman world

When did ancient Greece become a slave society?

At home with Odysseus: slaves in Homer

Interview with David Meadows of Rogue Classicism

When football and Classics collide: Cafe Calcio and Tacticus

Inscripta feature: the writing on the wall

Travelogue: Colchester