Cleopatra to Jane Austen: Perfumes of Powerfu...

Dublin in the 18th century was a wealthy colonial capitol, but only for a select few.Amongst this hugely divided and politically charged world was the infamous sex worker Peg Plunkett, who counted some of society's most well to-do as her clients.What was life like for most people ...  Show more

The Renaissance, a period of transformation in art, learning, philosophy and science that brought us Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello (the artists, not the turtles). This era of the Early Modern period seems to have been tinted with reds and golds, it all so ...  Show more

Famed across the ages and around the world - everyone knows the name Cleopatra. But how did she become one of the most infamous women in history?

Born in 69BCE, a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Hellenistic Egypt, Cleopatra VII lived a tumultuous life. Within<stro ...

In preparation for International Women's Day this Wednesday, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb takes a look at a Queen whose reputation has largely been shaped by her husband's midlife crisis. History does not see much further than Katherine of Aragon's so-called failure to provide ...

Queen Guinevere, Morgan le Fey and Nimue, the mystical lady of the lake have been cast as heroins, virtuous women and wicked femme fatals by the many people who have retold the legend of King Arthur over 1500 years. I'll sketch the highlights of the story, galloping past the oft ...  Show more

Princess, Queen, and political influencer - Shirin should be a name as famed as Cleopatra, but how come so few know of her? Coming to influence in Iran during the early 7th Century, Shirin was the Christian wife of the Sasanian King Khosrow II, and was forced to flee to Syria ...