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History

From the powerful civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, to the fearsome yet sophisticated society of the Vikings, the ancient world was a surprising and challenging place. Here we feature some of the most seminal and influential events and people throughout history, that have helped shape the world we know today.

Moses striking the rock by Murillo after Bartolomé Esteban Perez (style) – (1666-1670) (Public Domain)
16 November, 2019 - 13:13 Roberto Volterri

Hit the Rock and Water Must Come Out of It: Was Moses a Dowser?

" Then Yahweh said to Moses: 'Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel and your rod with which you struck the river Nile. Take it in your hand and you must walk. Behold,...
King Leonidas and the Epic Battle of the 300 at Thermopylae
16 November, 2019 - 02:01 dhwty

King Leonidas of Sparta and the Epic Battle of the 300 at Thermopylae

Zack Snyder’s 2007 fantasy historical film, 300 , has probably made the Battle of Thermopylae one of the most famous battles of the ancient world. However, the film has more fantasy than history in...
Augustus. Source: Ded Pixto / Adobe Stock.
15 November, 2019 - 14:06 T.P. Wiseman

Understanding Augustus: A Historical Detective Story

The first subject of our enquiry must be Caesar Augustus himself. He is often described as the first Roman emperor, but that is a wholly misleading description. What causes the misunderstanding is...
Folk-tales of Bengal, illustration by W. Goble (1912) (Public Domain)
14 November, 2019 - 01:20 MartiniF

Deep-Rooted Mythology of Sacred Trees of the World

Numerous myths, ubiquitous to great civilizations spanning the globe, reflect a deep-rooted belief in an intimate connection between a human being and a tree. The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite proclaims...
Roman spa. Source: araraadt / Adobe Stock.
12 November, 2019 - 18:55 dhwty

Ancient Spas: The Lifegiving Power of Water and the Gods

In the world of today, a spa is generally understood to mean a health resort, a place where people visit in order to rejuvenate their body, mind, and spirit. Spas today come in many varieties,...
Posthumous portrait of Queen Isabella I of Castile.
12 November, 2019 - 18:01 dhwty

Queen Isabella of Castile: Drama, Inquisition, and Exploration

Isabella I was a Queen of Castile and León who lived between the middle of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries. Her reign is notable for a number of important events, including the...
Julius Caesar
11 November, 2019 - 18:58 Aleksa Vučković

The Deeds of Julius Caesar, Rome’s Greatest Son

There is hardly a more popular historical figure in the annals of ancient Rome, than one of its most distinguished generals and statesmen – Julius Caesar. The story of the man who managed to...
rusaders (vukkostic / Adobe Stock)
10 November, 2019 - 23:02 dhwty

Richard the Lionheart – The Crusader King

Richard I (more commonly known as Richard Cœur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart ) was a king of England who lived during the 12th century. He is arguably best-known for the role he played in the...
The Fall of Man (detail) by Cornelis van Haarlem (1592) Rijksmuseum (Public Domain)
8 November, 2019 - 23:08 ashley cowie

From Food to Friend: Prehistoric Exotic and Pampered Pets

Anthropologists and archaeologists are still working on compiling the human-pet timeline, but it is known pets have been adopted by humans for possibly tens of thousands of years. Americans keep...
A shofar is sounded under the light of the sun. Source: Rafael Ben-Ari /Adobe Stock.
8 November, 2019 - 22:48 Jonathon Perrin

“Shofar Away”: An Akhenaten Connection to the Jewish New Year

The lone blast of the shofar trumpet stretches out across the hills, illuminated by the first rays of the morning sun. The distinct sonorous call marks the important day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish...
A portrait of the Severan family, with the face of Geta removed due to the damnatio memoriae ordered by Caracalla
8 November, 2019 - 17:47 dhwty

Damnatio memoriae: Purging People from Public Memory

In the United Kingdom, Remembrance Sunday is observed annually on the second Sunday of November. This solemn occasion is meant to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and...
Zeno of Elea shows Youths the Doors to Truth and False. Source: Singinglemon / Public Domain.
7 November, 2019 - 23:07 dhwty

Zeno’s Paradoxes Verses Reality

Zeno’s Paradoxes refers to a set of ingenious philosophical problems attributed to Zeno of Elea, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher . These paradoxes were devised in order to defend the teachings of...
Grand Prince Árpád crossing the Carpathians.Árpád Feszty's cyclorama titled the Arrival of the Hungarians. by Feszty vezerek (1892) (Public Domain)
6 November, 2019 - 22:28 Cam Rea

The Mighty Magyars, a Medieval Menace to the Holy Roman Empire

The eighth to tenth centuries in Europe were turbulent times, as Western Europe was caught in the crossfire of invading foreign entities. Many came from the north, such as the various Viking factions...
Elizabeth Brownrigg and her family abused their child servants. Source: JPRFphotos / Adobe Stock.
5 November, 2019 - 23:02 B. B. Wagner

Elizabeth Brownrigg: Child Abuse and Murder in the 18th Century

On the morning of Monday, September 14th, 1767, in the Tyburn Gallows , a 47 year-old Elizabeth Brownrigg stood in a cart awaiting her execution by a noose. So great was the uproar from angry crowds...
Pushpaka vimana depicted three times, twice flying in the sky and once landed on the ground.(Public Domain)
4 November, 2019 - 21:25 Enrico

Marutsakha Takes Flight: Modern Aviation Based on Ancient Vimana

In 1895 Shivkar Bapuji Talpade (1864-1916), a member of the Maharashtri, launched an unmanned aircraft called Marutsakha , (Sanskrit ‘ Marut ’ means Air and ' Sakha ' means ‘Friend’, so ‘Friend of...
Nayanar statue of the Bhakti movement. Source: Lightofchairat / Adobe Stock.
3 November, 2019 - 19:02 dhwty

Who Were the Tamil Saints of the Bhakti Movement?

Broadly speaking, the Tamil saints refers to the holy men and women of Hinduism who lived in Tamilakam, the geographical area inhabited by the ancient Tamil people which covers the southern tip of...
Bao Zheng in Beijing opera (Shizhao/ CC BY 3.0)
1 November, 2019 - 17:58 MartiniF

Judge Bao, the Chinese Sherlock Holmes Who Became a Legend

How did a humble government official during the reign of Emperor Renzong (AD 1010 – 1063) of the Northern Song dynasty of China, become a legend, and achieve immortality in Chinese operas as a god...
Portrait of Juan Ponce de León.
31 October, 2019 - 00:59 dhwty

The Fake Story of Juan Ponce de León and the Fountain of Youth

Juan Ponce de León was one of the first Europeans known to have set foot on what is today the United States of America. This was due to his expedition to the area now known as Florida (the first one...
Kappa at the Lumber Yard in Fukagawa / kappa repulsed by stench by Yoshitoshi (1839–1892). Famous Places and Humorous Images of Modern Life in Tokyo (Public Domain)
30 October, 2019 - 21:52 ashley cowie

Monstrous Demons of Asian Folklore

Every village, town and city in the world has its array of monsters and mythological creatures, many of whom that have sprung from thousands of years of folkloric traditions. And while dragons are...
The scene at Victoria Hall, the grief-stricken parents having to identify the bodies of their children. Source: wearsideonline / Public Domain
29 October, 2019 - 17:58 dhwty

The Deadly Victoria Hall Stampede Tragedy

The Victoria Hall Stampede was a tragedy that occurred in Sunderland, in the northeast of England, in 1883. The unfortunate incident happened in a concert hall at the end of a children’s...
On the left, the heretic Dominican friar Campanello, (Public Domain), strange torches, mysterious melodies and curious perfumes (anarhja ) and on the right, a very worried Pope Urban VIII (Public Domain) (Image Deriv: compiled by Dr. Roberto Volterri)
28 October, 2019 - 23:36 Roberto Volterri

The Folly of Pope Urban VIII and the Banning of Astrological Prophesies of Papal Fates

A 17th century Pope so feared the astrological prediction that he would exchange his life as pontiff in the Urbs Aeterna or eternal city of Rome for the everlasting life, on a day coinciding with a...
Alexander on horse at the battle of Issos. Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum. (CC BY-SA 3.0)
25 October, 2019 - 22:11 David Grant

Herodotus’ Fish-Eating Horses and Founding Myth of the Macedon Royal Lineage

In Greece, Alexander the Great is coveted as a national hero; the cluster of royal tombs discovered in 1977 at the archaeological site of Vergina , which is thought have housed Alexander’s father,...
Putting a Price on Marriage: The Long-standing Custom of Dowries
23 October, 2019 - 18:02 Theodoros Karasavvas

Putting a Price on Marriage: The Long-standing Custom of Dowries

A dowry is an ancient custom that requires the transfer of parental property to a daughter at her marriage , rather than at her father’s death. It is a tradition in which emotion does not play a role...
Leonidas at Thermopylae by Jacques-Louis David (1814) Louvre Museum (Public Domain)
23 October, 2019 - 15:38 ashley cowie

The Greatest History Movie Blunders Ever Made

Hollywood producers and directors have never once been praised for rigorously sticking to the facts and whether it's a medieval epic or a modern war film they generally fail when it comes to relaying...

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