The Majesty of Ancient Macedonia
1 day | £99 per person | 9 October 2026
The Majesty of Ancient Macedonia
The Ancient Greeks continually struggled to make up their minds about the Macedonians, who lived in the transitional area between Northern Greece and barbarian Thrace: were they barbarians or not? It was a question that mattered a great deal to the Macedonians, who firmly believed that they should not be thought of as barbaric, and the stunning artworks found in their royal burials certainly speak of artistic achievements at the highest level. This Lecture Day gives us the chance to explore this fascinating area of the Greek and Roman world, through the personalities of King Philip II and his fabulous grave goods at Vergina, his son Alexander III ‘the Great’ and the royal palaces at Pella and Aigai, and their cultural legacy from the Hellenistic Ages onwards. In his lectures Dr. Steve Kershaw will lead us on a journey through this intriguing region, taking in the heritage of its mighty kings, the extraordinary recent finds at the Kasta Tumulus at Amphipolis, the city of Philippi where Mark Antony and Octavian (later Rome’s first Emperor Augustus) defeated Brutus and Cassius, and to whose inhabitants St Paul wrote, and the great city of Thessaloniki, named after Alexander the Great’s half-sister, which grew to become the heart of the Roman Diocese of Macedonia, with all the majestic monuments that mark out a mighty Roman Imperial capital city.
Dr Steve Kershaw will be leading a tour of Thessaloniki in 2027. More details will be available soon.
This Lecture is held at the Art Workers' Guild in Queen Square London.
TIMETABLE FOR THE DAY
10.30-11.00 Welcome refreshments
11:00-12:00 – Lecture 1
12:00- 12.30 Refreshments
12:30-13:30 – Lecture 2
13:30-14:30 – Lunch
14:30-15:30 Lecture 3
Price: £99
Date:
9 October 2026
Your day includes:
- Three lectures
- Refreshments
- Light lunch
Expert Lecturer
Dr Steve Kershaw
As a Classics Tutor for Oxford University Department for Continuing Education, and as a lecturer for the V&A and The Arts Society, Dr. Steve Kershaw has spent much of the last 40 years travelling extensively in the world of the Ancient Greeks both physically and intellectually. His media appearances include featuring as an expert contributor to the History Channel’s Barbarians Rising series and as a guest on BBC Radio 3’s You’re Dead to Me, and his publications on Greek history include A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths, A Brief Guide to Classical Civilization, Three Epic Battles that Saved Democracy: Marathon, Thermopylae and Salamis, and a children’s book on Greek Mythology entitled Mythologica that was Amazon.com’s Best Children’s Non-Fiction Book of 2019.
