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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Historian

Montage of Roman Empire imagery including statue representative of Livy.	Source: Freesurf/Adobe Stock

Has Livy’s History of Rome Skewed Our View of the Early Empire?

Titus Livius, or just Livy for short, was one of the most famous historians in all of history. One of the three great Roman historians, his masterpiece, Ab Urbe Condita, made him a legend in his own...
Pastel style drawing of Anna Komnene writing the Alexiad in the monastery of the Virgin Mary Full of Grace.	Source: Midjourney AI / Public Domain

Anna Komnene: The Byzantine Biographer Princess and First Female Historian

These days, it seems that if an author wants to go straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, all they need to do is release a tell-all memoir or biography aimed at a famous...
The Venerable Bede and the Origins of the English ‘Nation’

The Venerable Bede and the Origins of the English ‘Nation’

How do you define a nation? Most people would probably think of a nation as being a defined geographical area governed by a political body of some sort which acts on behalf of its citizens, who are...
Pseudo-History or Famed Fiction? Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia

Pseudo-History or Famed Fiction? Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia

Geoffrey of Monmouth has gone down in history for his classic epic, the Historia Regum Britanniae , known in English as The History of the Kings of Britain . This masterpiece of medieval literature...
Saxo Grammaticus: Warrior Historian of the Danes and a Medieval Influencer

Saxo Grammaticus: Warrior Historian of the Danes and a Medieval Influencer

Saxo Grammaticus was a Danish historian whose writings were instrumental for the preservation of the ancient history of the Danes and their nations. Considered to be one of the major historical...
Author Details Institutionalized Murder and Violence in Ancient Rome

Author Details Institutionalized Murder and Violence in Ancient Rome

Shocking, disturbing and wholly ungodly methods of murder in ancient Rome have been brought together in a brutally graphic new book. Dr. Emma Southon is a historian at the University of Birmingham in...
Study Unveils Just How Scribes Compiled the Famous Domesday Book

Study Unveils Just How Scribes Compiled the Famous Domesday Book

New research has cast light on how and why the iconic Domesday Book was created. The study shows that the work of the medieval scribes was so efficient and sophisticated that they accomplished what a...
Detail of the manuscript which Queen Elizabeth I is believed to have translated. (Lambeth Palace Library) Insert: Detail of the Sieve Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1583) by Quentin Metsys the Younger. (Public Domain)

Queen Elizabeth I Unveiled As ‘Messy’ Translator of Roman Text

A famous 16th century work from the reigns of Tiberius through to Nero (14-68 AD) has been preserved at Lambeth Palace Library for over 400 years at the official London residence of the Archbishop of...
Kreka was Attila’s first wife. (matiasdelcarmine / Adobe Stock)

The Wives Who Made Attila the Hun

In 448 AD, Priscus , a Roman diplomat and a Greek historian , and Maximus , the head of the Byzantine embassy, were on a mission by Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II to meet with the infamous...
Pliny the Elder

The Illustrious Life of Pliny the Elder, Ancient Historian and Roman Commander

Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known in history as Pliny the Elder, was an influential administrator, officer, and author during his life. Although he was only fifty-six years old at the time of his...
Detail of a relief of Herodotus by Jean-Guillaume Moitte, 1806. Cour Carrée in the Louvre Palace, Paris, France.

Picking Apart the Words of Herodotus: Was He a Father of Histories or Lies?

“I owe it to tell what is being told, but I by no means owe it to believe it”. Herodotus, [Book 7.153-2] Herodotus was an ancient Greek writer who lived during the 5th century BC. He was born in what...
Julius Caesar by Peter Paul Rubens.

“Veni, Vidi, Scripsi”: The Literary Conquests of Gaius Julius Caesar

A man who needs no introduction, Gaius Julius Caesar is more than well known for the stories he spearheads—namely, his numerous military victories. (Although, even his defeats somehow sound rather...
Scene of destruction in the film “Pompeii 3d” (2014). (La Stampa/CC BY NC ND) Insert: Remains of a skull attributed to Pliny the Elder from the Museo di Storia dell'Arte Sanitaria in Rome.

Researchers Look to Crowdfunding to Identify the Skull of Pompeii Hero Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, was an influential administrator, officer, and author in ancient Rome. His life ended suddenly with the deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius in...
Battle between the Xiongnu (Hun) and the Han Dynasty

Victory Over the Hun: Famous Lost Account of Han Dynasty Triumph Found Carved onto Mongolian Mountain

Archaeologists claim to have rediscovered a triumphant account of China’s ancient military which had been inscribed in cliff face. According to the experts, the inscription narrates how the Han...
Herodotus, by Jean-Guillaume Moitte, relief 1806.

Herodotus, Cato the Censor and Josephus: Understanding the Life and Times of Historians of the Ancient World

For thousands of years, we turned to history to explain the what, why and how an event happened. Although “historian” did not become a professional occupation until the late nineteenth century, the...
Thucydides: General, Historian, and the Father of Scientific History

Thucydides: General, Historian, and the Father of Scientific History

Thucydides was an Athenian general and historian, most notable for his work known as the History of the Peloponnesian War . Whilst Herodotus, a near-contemporary of his, is often hailed as the Father...
Peter Marshall

Peter Marshall

Peter Marshall is a philosopher, historian, biographer, travel writer and poet. He has written sixteen highly acclaimed books which have been translated into 15 different languages. Two have been...