Katherine Pangonis for Twilight Cities

Katherine Pangonis is a historian specialising in the medieval world of the Mediterranean and Middle East, and the author of Queens of Jerusalem, which charted the lives of a trailblazing dynasty of royal women in that period. She has a particular interest in rewriting the voices of women into the historical narrative, illuminating understudied areas of history, and bringing her findings into the public eye.

Katherine joins us to give a talk on her new book Twilight Cities, a revelatory new story of the Mediterranean, and a powerful reflection on the sometimes fleeting glory of empires.

To bring these mysterious lost capitals to life, Katherine sets out on a voyage from the dawn of civilisation on the Lebanese coast to a modern-day Turkey wracked by the devastation of the 2023 earthquake.

Combining on the ground research with spellbinding storytelling skills, in Twilight Cities, Pangonis explores five forgotten cities of the Mediterranean: Syracuse, Antioch, Ravenna, Tyre and Carthage.

Their fascinating entwined history takes in Alexander the Great, the Byzantine general Maniakes, and the Roman, Byzantine, Arab and Norman conquests. All were once the heart of a nexus of power that has declined into relative obscurity - but their glory still lingers for those who seek it out.