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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.

Horseback archery is seeing a comeback in Malaysia. Source: lisheng2121 / Adobe Stock

Horseback Archery Sees Revival Amongst Elite Malaysian Muslims

Horseback archery was commonly used in hunting and warfare in Malaysia for thousands of years. While the ancient discipline declined with the introduction of firearms, it is now seeing something of a...
Adi Shankara, 788-820 AD, founder of the Advaita Vedanta, the oldest extant sub-school of Vedānta, a tradition of interpretation of the Upanishads, by Raja Ravi Varma.	Source: Raja Ravi Varma / Public domain

India’s Vedic Sanskrit Upanishads: Foundation of Religions and Karma!

The Upanishads are a genre of texts that form the final and last section of the Vedas. The Upanishads were composed orally in Sanskrit, and the earliest surviving ones dating to the 1st millennium BC...
Arctic explorer Bernard Buigues contemplates the Jarkov woolly elephant tusks emerging from the frozen landscape in Siberia, 1998. These tusks are about three meters (10ft) and over 45kg (100lbs) each.  There is a growing body of evidence that overhunting is the main cause of the extinction of the mammoths. (Francis Latreille / ©The World As It Once Was)

The World As It Once Was: The Shifting Baseline In Iconic Megafauna

Centuries of trophy and commercial hunting, isolation in captivity and poaching, have caused a baseline shift in the perception of iconic megafauna such as Asian and African elephants, which should...
The House of Borgia is depicted here as “A glass of wine with Cesare Borgia,” a painting that clearly shows the wealth and power (church power) of this illustrious and infamous family. Photo source: John Collier /  Public domain

The Classical Influences Behind The Works Of Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli, a 16th-century man, is today still feared and yet revered. Machiavelli has come to represent the archetype of a scheming and conniving mastermind and even modern psychology...
Commodus the Roman Emperor

Commodus: The Outrageous Emperor Who Fought as a Gladiator

Roman Emperor Lucius Aurelius Commodus was a corrupt ruler who was not well-received by the Roman people during his reign. He also believed himself to be a reincarnation of Hercules and enjoyed...
Fireworks at the Opet festival at Luxor’s Sphinx Avenue opening. Source: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities – Egypt

Opet Festival Extravaganza Marks Reopening of Avenue of Sphinxes

Egypt hosted the re-enactment of the ancient Egyptian Opet festival last night. The grand ceremony was held to mark the reopening of the 1.7-mile-long (2.7 km) road which links the Temples of Karnak...
Deriv; Sculpture depicting the King Tutankhamun as a child, gold plate with Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun.

The Twin Tragedy of Tutankhamun: Death of a Dynasty

Tossed away callously in a dark corner of the lavish Treasury in the subterranean tomb of Tutankhamun was possibly the most poignant remnant of the boy king’s short life. Positioned next to the...
18th Century Post-Mortem Punishment: Gibbets ‘Hanging In Chains’ In England

18th Century Post-Mortem Punishment: Gibbets ‘Hanging In Chains’ In England

The curious English have a predilection for heaping abuse upon the corpses of the unfortunate dead, including a cruel and unusual punishment the bodies of executed murderers were subject to in the...
St. Sebastian pleads for those afflicted with plague during the 7th century Plague of Justinian in a painting by South Netherlandish painter Josse Lieferinxe. 		Source: Josse Lieferinxe / Public domain

Study Demonstrates Terrible Toll of Sixth Century Plague of Justinian

In a new study appearing in the journal Past & Present , Cambridge University history professor Peter Sarris argues that recent scholarship has badly underestimated the true impact of the sixth-...
The Tower of London, where King Edward V, and the Duke of York were killed by Richard III or someone else.		Source: rpbmedia / Adobe Stock

Why Did Richard III Spare Edward, Earl of Warwick?

We’ve all heard the tale of the Princes in the Tower, the young sons of Edward IV who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Tower of London in 1483, presumed murdered, only to be...
Taş Tepeler: Anatolia’s Land Of Great Transformation

Taş Tepeler: Anatolia’s Land Of Great Transformation

Taş Tepeler means “Stone Hills” and refers to an area covering some 200 kilometers (124 miles) in ancient Anatolia, now Turkey, in the vicinity of present day Şanlıurfa . The Turkish Tourist Board...
Nicole Wilson had Ötzi the Iceman’s tattoos replicated on her body. Source: TJ Proechel / Nicole Wilson. Inset: Two tattooed bands can be seen around Ötzi the Iceman’s wrist. (South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology)

Artist Recreates Tattoos of Ötzi the Iceman in Her Own Blood

In an unusual performance, even by today’s standards of contemporary, process-driven art, artist Nicole Wilson has been replicating on her own body and in her own blood the tattoos discovered on the...
fosterage Source: trafa / Adobe Stock

Why Fostering Kids Was So Popular in Ancient Ireland

There were many complex laws and customs prevalent in the Celtic-speaking world of ancient times. In Ireland and the British Isles in general, these customs survived for many centuries, some as late...
Are the Yumbo lost forever? Source: Ammit / Adobe Stock.

Pre-Inca Tulipe and the Yumbo: Traders Ahead of their Time?

The Yumbo of Ecuador first came to their Sacred Valley of Tulipe in around 800 BC. They were at that time peace-loving farmers. But what they left behind showed that, with their skills as merchants...
Mayan sculpture. Deciphering the story of Maya warrior Siyah K’ak’ at Tikal. Source: Marco Govel / Adobe Stock

Siyah Kʼakʼ, Warlord of Teotihuacan and his Conquest of Tikal

The pre-Colombian cities, monuments, and pyramids, found deep within the jungles and valleys of Mesoamerica are still shrouded in mystery. While academics are still trying to piece together the...
Yacouba Sawadogo planting.

The Man Who Stopped a Desert Using Ancient Farming

Desertification is a serious problem facing numerous countries in the world today. Various measures have been taken to counter the negative effects, with some providing better results than others. A...
Jonah and the Whale  by Pieter Lastman, (1621) (Public Domain)

How Jonah Was Swallowed By The Celestial Sea Serpent Cetus

The Old Testament saga of Jonah and his dreadful, three day and night confinement within the “belly of a whale” and disgorgement onto the shore remains one of the Bible’s most enthralling mysteries...
Woman practicing molybdomancy for New Year’s Eve. (Source: Gina Sanders / Adobe Stock

Molybdomancy: Divination and the Search for Omens in Molten Lead

Throughout history people have been looking for answers and salvation, seeking the assistance of the gods, the spirits of nature, and looking to them for help. When looking for answers about what lay...
Could the Mercury poisoning spike discovered in Iberian Copper Age bones be evidence that cinnabar powder was ingested during rituals? The healing art in pre-historic times, by Ernest Board. Source: Wellcome Trust / CC BY 4.0

Did Ritual Use of Cinnabar Cause Mercury Poisoning in Ancient Iberia?

A team of 14 biologists, chemists, physical anthropologists and archaeologists from the University of Seville have published a new study in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology . The...
The Last Will and Testament of Alexander the Great: Its Appearance, Disappearance And Legacy

The Last Will and Testament of Alexander the Great: Its Appearance, Disappearance And Legacy

“…the uncomfortable fact remains that the Alexander Romance provides us, on occasion, with apparently genuine materials found nowhere else, while our better-authenticated sources, per contra, are all...
Amy Bailey as Queen Cynethryth in the TV series Vikings. 		Source: The HISTORY Channel

Queen Cynethryth of Mercia: Victim of a Medieval Smear Campaign?

The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia was unique because the queens of Mercia left enough of an impact on their world as to be worthy of remembrance. History has not been so kind, however, to some of...
Garden of the Hesperides

Garden of Eden Depicted in Ancient Greek Religious Art

If the early chapters of the Book of Genesis present a true account of human origins, then ancient secular human history must connect in significant ways to that account. In fact, ancient Greek...
Caricatures by Katsushika Hokusai (Wellcome Images/Public Domain)

From Frescos to Manga: The Ancient History of Comic Books

Debuted in 1825, The Glasgow Looking Glass - later renamed The Northern Looking Glass - was a satirical publication which lampooned the fashions and politics of the time. The Glasgow Looking Glass...
Statue of Tycho Brahe, characteristically looking up. Source: Sven Rosborn / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Who was Tycho Brahe? Astronomy with a Naked Eye (and a Missing Nose)

The name Tycho Brahe is not a familiar one to most people. And those who have heard the name, perhaps in the same sentence as Copernicus, or Galileo, may struggle to remember what the man himself was...

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