Most experts today recognize that the period of the Antonine Imperial Dynasty, which lasted from 96 to 192 AD, corresponded to the zenith of the Roman Empire . Yet, just over 40 years later, the...
We speak the names of gods on a daily basis and most people do not even realize it. Whether its Thor’s Day (Thursday) or Saturn’s Day (Saturday), every day of the week, religious and non-religious...
When word of his younger brother’s life-threatening illness reached him, Roman General Tiberius (later Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus) who was in Pavia at the time, crossed the Alps like a man...
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...
European traditional folklore is full of diverse and mythical creatures both good and bad. Often enough, they become popular again during the time of Christmas or Halloween, when the stories of their...
The history of the British Isles is a colorful patchwork, made up of the diverse tribes and nations that sought to make the island their home. Peoples migrated to the island through the Bronze Age,...
“Woe to the vanquished!” the old saying goes, and it was often showcased in history. During the devastating Gothic War that raged between 535 and 554 AD on the Italian Peninsula, the venerable city...
Odin is the chief deity of the Norse pantheon. Although Odin was worshipped more generally in Germanic paganism, the information we have today about this god is derived mostly from Norse mythology...
The existence of mystery schools in the Viking Age (800-1200 CE) is deduced from myth and folklore. The poems of the Edda display the structure and content of cultic texts used within the framework...
Ancient beliefs are often a complex puzzle and putting the pieces together can often be extremely challenging. Time has its way with unwritten traditions, and little of what wasn’t written down...
Rome, this very name conjures up images of an ancient empire so vast that experts from different ages have been spellbound by the unprecedented magnanimity of its reaches. Ancient Rome defined the...
Over the past two centuries, Europe has become increasingly secular. Scholars in fact no longer talk of the Christian West when they speak of Modern Europe and North America, but of the Secular West...
Nothing continues to be so inspiring and thrilling from early medieval history such as the Viking Age. This exciting historical period turned the nations of Europe upside down, and ushered in a new,...
Hengist and Horsa were a pair of brothers mentioned in British history. According to legend, they were the leaders of the first Germanic settlers (or Anglo-Saxons ) of Britain. They are believed to...
In Berlin , a historic medieval cemetery has been excavated which reveals that medieval people’s lives were blighted by hunger, disease, and extreme violence. Many of the human remains show signs of...
The world of Germanic nations is a diverse and rich cultural ethnosphere whose languages and cultures came to dominate Western Europe and much of the world. Their history is rich and spans centuries...
Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of ancient weapons at a cemetery site in the Suwałki region of eastern Poland . Dating back around 1,000 years, archaeologists have recovered over 500 swords,...
The early medieval and early AD history of Europe saw many emerging nations, and plenty of migrations as well. Tribes were restless, axes sharpened, and old kingdoms were growing weak. And in such...
The Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England began towards the end of the 6 th century AD, and by the end of the succeeding century, all the kings of Anglo-Saxon England were Christian, at least...
Archaeologists in Poland have discovered a 2,000-year-old burial site containing the remains of ancient Germanic warriors. In an effort to protect the archaeological dig site located near Kostrzyn (...
Runes are the characters of the earliest written alphabet used by the Germanic peoples of Europe called Futhark. The runic alphabet was used within Germanic languages but primarily in Nordic...
The earliest histories of many European nations are firmly rooted in the ancient periods of migrations – when all sorts of tribes traveled from their homes in search of new grounds for settlement...
In ancient folklore, the kobold is a small, pointy-eared, goblin-like creature with a short-temper and a mischievous spirit. While generally described as well-intentioned, angering a kobold is said...
In the 5th century AD, the reign of the Roman Empire in the west came crashing down with a series of barbarian invasions. Visigoths, Franks , and other groups laid waste to the villas and cities of...