Throughout history, many rulers have turned to drastic measures to ensure success. But how many have created a museum of corpses to frighten their subordinates into following their commands? So far,...
When one looks at the state of the world today, one could be forgiven for thinking that some, if not all of our leaders are at least a little bit loopy. Rest assured: this feeling is nothing new...
New evidence, helping to form a 15th century reconstruction of part of Westminster Abbey, demonstrates how a section of the building was once the focus for the royal family’s devotion to the cult of...
Britain has had more than sixty monarchs over the centuries. Some have been good; some have been bad, but few are held in as high regard as King Athelstan. King Athelstan, often described as the...
Researchers conducting excavations in Mexico City found a series of boxes containing Aztec treasures. Inside they discovered a cache of Aztec ritual offerings, including child remains, precious...
In the hieroglyphic records they left behind, the rulers of the Classic Period Maya city known as Tamarindito bragged about their exalted status as “divine lords” chosen by the gods to rule over...
Thanks to Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, there is no Pharaoh more well-known and well-loved than King Tut, the boy king , who died in 1323 BC at the age of 20. November...
In 1953, 8,251 guests from 181 countries and territories participated in the coronation of Elizabeth II. With her passing, her oldest son, Charles, takes over as monarch and be formally proclaimed...
The first Norman king of England met an untimely and turbulent death, although, to be fair, the situation really ‘exploded’ after his death. William the Conqueror, sometimes known as William the...
An ancient, fortified settlement known as Rabana-Merquly, which was located high in the north-central Zagros Mountains of modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan, was protected by impenetrable fortifications...
Brian Boru was Ireland’s greatest conqueror and the first man to unite the Emerald Isle into one realm, rising above the divisions of the squabbling Irish elite and their 150 kings. As well as...
The lost tomb of the 10th century Viking King, Harald Bluetooth, has “probably” been identified “again.” When Old King Gorm died around 935 AD, the new Viking ruler of Denmark and Norway became...
For several centuries, beginning around the 14th century AD, a strange affliction known as the ‘glass delusion’ spread around Europe, particularly amongst nobles, royals and elite members of society...
Xerxes I, also known as Xerxes the Great, was a 5th century Achaemenid king of the Persian empire. He is best known for leading the massive invasion of Greece, marked by the battles of Thermopylae,...
The kings of the Sena Empire, who were part of the Brahmin top-echelon caste in India, originally came from Karnata in southern India before they moved to the Bengali region. The history of the Sena...
Hidden under the floor in St George’s Chapel in Windsor, England where thousands of people walk every day, a forgotten tomb lies. Its inhabitant was once one of England’s most exuberant kings, yet...
You’ve probably heard of a Minotaur (half-man, half-bull), but what about a Quinotaur? In early Frankish history there was a “beast of Neptune” which was said to look like a creature called a...
Pop culture usually depicts the relationship between Greeks and the East as tumultuous. This is due mainly to the three wars Greece fought against Persia, featured in films like 300 by Zack Snyder...
The Akitu festival was one of the oldest Mesopotamian festivals, dating back to the middle of the third millennium BC. It was during this twelve-day ceremonial event, which began at the first New...
The deep, emotional relationship that bonded David and Jonathan is related in the books of Samuel. The two are said to have formed a covenant of friendship, even though their situation essentially...
In his seminal work entitled Anglo-Saxon England published in 1943, Sir Frank Stenton states that “the overthrow of Penda meant the end of militant heathenism and the development of civilization in...
February 24, 1525. A day that is not marked in infamy but in the blood of France. On this date, the Battle of Pavia occurred – the decisive event in a longstanding war and rivalry, and the crushing...
It might almost be a shocking moment from a Shakespeare play or even a plot-line from Game of Thrones, but the murder of an ancient Irish king, Crimthann mac Énnai, is an event which actually took...
For centuries, a commonality across the various monarchies of the world was a direct association between the ruler and a higher power. Kings and queens were seen either as God’s Chosen One or, in...