In the 21st century, most people would consider their intimate and sexual relationships to be a private matter. In the Middle Ages however, the division between private and public areas in the lives...
Hera, also known by her Latin title as Juno, is best known in Western culture as the wife of Zeus, king of the gods. While technically subordinate to him, Hera is never a submissive figure, in fact...
The cycle of life and death is an eternal and unchanging truth of human history. Yet, the attitudes around both are influenced and shaped by a number of factors. Today, dying of old age is seen as a...
Ranavalona was the 19th-century ruler of the Kingdom of Madagascar. She lived during a time when there was increasing contact between the island kingdom and Europeans. Ranavalona, however, pursued a...
Dark Age Britain was apparently full of “saints”…well, at least hundreds of people gained membership into the ‘cult of saints’ at that time. Up to 3-4 percent of aristocrats may have been awarded...
Archaeologists exploring a site in southern Egypt unearthed a mixture of ruins and artifacts that chronicle human activity during three separate eras in Egyptian history. During excavations at the...
Ancient legend paints a picture of a magical bird, radiant and shimmering, which lives for several hundred years before it dies by bursting into flames. It is then reborn from the ashes, to start a...
A 1,500-year-old Greek Christ inscription bearing the words “Christ born of Mary” has been discovered at an excavation at the ancient village of Taibe, in northern Israel . This finding has not only...
It has always baffled historians why domestic Japanese winemaking ceased in mid-17th century AD. But now, new research suggests that in 1627 AD a Japanese “war” was waged against Christians in Japan...
The Viking Age in Europe brought a lot of key events and innovations, and greatly shaped the future of things that were to come. But there is a popular misconception that the Vikings were all about...
At one time a cathedral, later a mosque, and now the chief museum of the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia, in the ancient Byzantine imperial capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), was a world-famous...
In this day and age, Christmas has for many become a secular holiday, associated less with the birth of Jesus than with family get-togethers and the eager exchange of presents . Therefore, many...
The Viking era (800 -1066 AD) is arguably one of the most fascinating in history. Runriket, or the Rune Kingdom, is a unique archaeological area in Sweden, containing more than a hundred runestones...
The world of Slavic mythology is of the most mysterious and richest ancient and living traditions in the world. As Slavs are the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe, their beliefs are widespread...
Archaeologists believe that they have uncovered a long-lost Church in the Golan Heights. They found it in the ancient city of Banias, that was known as Caesarea Philippi in the time of Jesus Christ...
Vladimir the Great(or Volodymyr) is a controversial figure. Commemorated as an exemplary leader, saint and statesman by some, the story of his life is also evidence of a vengeful, murderous and...
Archaeologists in Almazán Spain are boxed into a corner with a double-edged mystery in which a missing carved stone holds the answer to why eleven bodies were buried beneath a massive medieval...
The Viking Age has fascinated people for generations and now we have a newly discovered ancient Viking temple that has finally shed some new light on Norse religion . Believe it or not, there is a...
While plowing a field on his family farm in Småland, southern Sweden , Lennart Larsson came across a large stone. Larsson put the stone, which is 6 feet high (2 m) and 3 feet wide (1 m), to one side...
The Horn of Africa is a region with a unique identity and vibrant history. Close to the Arabian Peninsula, it always stood out from the rest of the African continent. Today, the Horn of Africa is...
Mithras the god originated in the east, in Persia (modern day Iran) where he was first worshipped. When soldiers of the Roman Empire came back to the West they brought this cult with them and in time...
The name of the Torah has a complicated history. It has been thought to mean a multitude of things including “instruction”, “law”, and “teaching”. The Torah is often misunderstood to represent the...
Not all of history’s tales have a happy ending. In fact, most of them are rife with sad fates and great turmoil, with the ruthless passage of time erasing entire nations. One of these tales it that...
A team of excavators at an archaeological dig in Chur, Switzerland have unearthed a 1000-year-old double-sided mold that was used to forge Christian jewellery . Or was it? The unusual double-sided...
