Letter from the Editor, Daisy Dunn

The first ever episode of Doctor Who aired on the BBC 60 years ago this November. The programme may look very different now – the props, for one, have changed drastically – but it remains as popular as ever, especially with children. It will nevertheless come as news to many ardent fans that, across four episodes in 1965, the Doctor not only enjoyed an encounter with the heroes of the Trojan War, but played a crucial role in bringing the war to an end.

As David Wills explains in his eyeopening feature on pp. 6-8, this required a major rewriting of literary history. No longer was Odysseus recognised as the mastermind behind the mighty ruse of the Trojan Horse. The big idea, according to this series, originated with none other than the Doctor!

It took just a few lines of Wills’s article to set me googling how to obtain the original tapes. This may not be possible – read on to discover why – but I am very glad that ARGO can play its part in reviving the story with the publication of Wills’s splendid article. Having read it you may never contemplate the horse in quite the same way again… (Continue reading)

Contents

ANCIENT

As Doctor Who celebrates its 60th anniversary, DAVID WILLS asks whether British science fiction’s most enduring hero could possibly have been responsible for the Fall of Troy
JOSH BEER argues that ancient audiences were just as partial as us to elements of surprise – even when a storyline was already familiar
ALEX ROWSON explores the new Polycentric Museum of Aigai
PETER SARRIS weighs up Emperor Justinian’s enduring legacy and assesses where his real contributions lie
ANASTASIA CHRISTOPHILOPOULOU, co-curator of the recent ‘Islanders’ exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, reflects on the allure of island life

PUZZLES

PUZZLES set by Julian Morgan

MODERN

JOSHUA BARLEY pens an appreciation of Oxford’s new Professor of Poetry – and ARGO contributor – A. E. Stallings
GERMÁN CAMPOS MUÑOZ explains why the reception of classical ideas in South America has always been deeper than meets the eye
MEET… MONICA WILLIAMS OF THE HELLENIC BOOKSERVICE
LUCIA PATRIZIO GUNNING and DEBBIE CHALLIS reflect on the life and times of the classical archaeologist and curator Charles Thomas Newton

SOCIETY

HELLENIC SOCIETY
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

REVIEWS

THE RUNCIMAN AWARD
THE LONDON HELLENIC PRIZE
A round-up of recent and forthcoming books
J. W. BONNER is impressed by the depth of a new study that connects the birth of Western philosophy with travel
PAUL CARTLEDGE considers the astonishing scope of cartography
ALICE DUNN is gripped by a novel that places the problems of archaeology at its heart
PAUL CARTLEDGE finds much to delight the classicist in a cricketing legend’s memoirs