Throughout time, there are a few instances where the weather became a determining factor in the outcome of a battle. The Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 AD have often been cited as salient...
Marco Polo may be a household name, but few know that his famous literary masterpiece, The Travels of Marco Polo , was not only written while he was in prison, but was penned by somebody else. Marco...
The Mongols attempted two major invasions of Japan during the 13th century, in 1274 and 1281 AD, led by Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan . On both occasions however, a massive typhoon (tropical...
In 2016, Ancient Origins published an article entitled Is Marco Polo a Fictional Characte r? and it led to hate-mail and overall outrage among some readers. It was blown so out-of-proportion that the...
Ancient history and some of its famous faces have inspired countless TV series over recent years, ranging from drama and action, to fantasy and sci-fi. We all know that “based on actual events” or “...
Through history, at least 32 elephant species have existed on planet earth, some became extinct as early as the Miocene epoch (23.03 to 5.333 million years ago), but most species were exterminated by...
The Majapahit Empire was a vast empire on the island of Java from 1293 to 1527 CE, which later became part of modern Indonesia. It was an empire of 98 tributaries, stretching from the island of...
A team of specialists working at the Australian auction house Mossgreen have discovered a rare Ming Dynasty banknote hidden within a Chinese wooden sculpture. The discovery happened unexpectedly as...
Based upon historical analyses, it is unlikely that a person named Marco Polo who visited China in the 1200’s existed. Before presenting this argument, here is an analogy: if people do not know that...
Last month, archaeologists found a hint of an amazing discovery while excavating in the Forbidden City in China. While the researchers were somewhat hesitant then to confirm the finding of Kublai...
Archaeologists working in China have been pretty lucky recently. One of the discoveries they have made may be the oldest wet rice field in the world. Another is the possible location of the imperial...
Archaeologists have found some stunning artifacts during excavations of the famed palace at Xanadu in Inner Mongolia, including three ceramic dragon heads. Xanadu became the summer palace of Kublai...
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, a stately pleasure-dome decree…" Thus begins one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s three great poems, the unfinished “ Kubla Khan” . According to the poet, this poem was...