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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.

Callanish Stones (spanishjohnny72/ Adobe Stock)
20 August, 2021 - 18:45 ashley cowie

The Ancient Celtic Thresholds Of Liminal Time And Space

The ‘Veil of Isis’ is an ancient metaphor and allegorical motif of mythology where nature is personified as the goddess Isis covered by a veil representing the mystery and inaccessibility of nature's...
King Sahure. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain.
19 August, 2021 - 19:06 dhwty

King Sahure and His Beautiful Pyramid: A Rare Peaceful Pharaoh?

Sahure was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who lived during the Old Kingdom period. He was a ruler of the 5th Dynasty, and his reign was marked by peace and prosperity. Amongst other things, Sahure...
Leonidas at Thermopylae, by Jacques-Louis David (1814). (Public Domain)
18 August, 2021 - 18:09 Myke Cole

Thermopylae A Speedbump for the Persian War Machine

If there is a single event that made Sparta ’ s military legend a seminal moment when the ‘Bronze Lie’ was forged, it is the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, fought 10 years after Marathon . Nearly...
Where's the evidence for Robin Hood?
18 August, 2021 - 01:09 Kerry Sullivan

Why is the Evidence for Robin Hood as Elusive as the Man Himself?

The historic existence of the legendary English hero who ‘stole from the rich and gave to the poor’ is a perennial source of debate. Every few years, new evidence emerges of authenticity and possible...
Ancient ruins and island in water (Nikolai Sorokin / Adobe Stock)
16 August, 2021 - 22:20 Dr. Phil Flambas

Plato’s Prehistoric Athens Destroyed In A Neolithic Landslide

The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote his Atlantis story in two documents called the Timaeus and Critias . These writings date from about 360 BC and are the only known works that describe the...
Sarah Forbes Bonetta. Source: Joseph Langridge / Public Domain.
16 August, 2021 - 14:49 Bipin Dimri

Sarah Forbes Bonetta: Orphan, Slave, African Princess and Queen Victoria’s Goddaughter!

Sarah Forbes Bonetta was born as Omoba Aina in 1843, a princess of West Africa’s Yoruba people. At an early age, Omoba’s parents were killed and she was kidnapped by one of their rival kings. Fate...
Self-Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. Source: MAMJODH / CC BY 2.0.
14 August, 2021 - 18:59 Bipin Dimri

Italian Peasant Or Oriental Slave: Who Was Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mother?

The real identity of da Vinci’s mother has always been shrouded in mystery, with historians remaining confused about Leonardo da Vinci’s maternal family. But now, a scholar has claimed that he found...
Joshua and the walls of Jericho. (Archivist / Adobe Stock)
14 August, 2021 - 00:16 ashley cowie

Beat The Drum, Sound The Bugle, Play The Bagpipe: Music In Warfare

Since prehistoric times when hunters tapped along to the rhythm of drips in caves and carved the first bone flutes and skin drums, music has always been an integral part of the hunt and warfare,...
Eilmer of Malmesbury: Did This Flying Monk Beat Da Vinci by 500 Years?
12 August, 2021 - 14:51 dhwty

Eilmer of Malmesbury: Did This Flying Monk Beat Da Vinci by 500 Years?

Eilmer of Malmesbury was a Benedictine monk who lived in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. Eilmer is remembered today for his flight from the top of a tower. Due to this feat, the monk is considered as...
Nazareth and Mary’s Well by Felix Bonfils, (1880) (Public Domain)
11 August, 2021 - 21:39 micki pistorius

Life Of A First Century AD Rural Nazarene Versus A City Sepphorite

Nazareth was inhabited since the Bronze Age, and pottery dating from 900-600 BC confirms an Iron Age settlement there, but the Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian invasions turned the region into a...
A baroque carved relief (at the Church of Saint Benedict in Venice, Italy) from the life of St. Benedict showing Totila, the king of Ostrogoths, on his knees. During the invasion of Italy, Totila ordered a general to wear his kingly robes to see whether St. Benedict would discover the truth. Immediately Benedict detected the impersonation. Impressed, Totila came to pay his respects to the man of the cloth. Totila was the leader of the Ostrogoths in the Third Siege of Rome. Source: Renáta Sedmáková / Adobe S
11 August, 2021 - 18:48 dhwty

The Third Ostrogothic Siege of Rome: Byzantine Armies Battle the Ostrogoths

The Third Ostrogothic Siege of Rome occurred in 549-550 AD and was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogoths. The former was in control of the city, whilst the latter tried to seize the...
Odalisque by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (1882) (Public Domain)
9 August, 2021 - 23:48 MartiniF

Divine Queen Thea Musa, The Parthian Basilíssa

The victory of the Parthians over the Roman General Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC is perhaps the single most significant event in Rome's engagement with Parthia. The loss of Roman...
This stone cairn and flag marker sits on the very location of the Dyatlov Pass incident tent spot where in 1959 nine experienced hikers died under mysterious circumstances. Source: irinabal18 / Adobe Stock
8 August, 2021 - 18:53 Mark A. Carpenter

The Dyatlov Pass Incident: A Tragic Mystery With Lots of Loose Ends

The Dyatlov Pass incident is one of the most enduring mysteries of the twentieth century. In 1959, nine young explorers perished in Siberia’ s northern Ural Mountains. Ink has been spilt, books...
Holy Sovereignty: How the English Church Resisted a Norman Takeover
7 August, 2021 - 15:00 Meagan Dickerson

Holy Sovereignty: How the English Church Resisted a Norman Takeover

The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 brought enormous social and political upheaval to English society. Structures and institutions that had been in place for centuries were replaced by Norman ones...
The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli (1781) (Public Domain)
6 August, 2021 - 17:24 ashley cowie

Ancient Demonic Shadows Of Today's Alien Body Snatchers

The demons that tormented the people of history were considered to be angels cast out of heaven for defying God, and similarly, today’s aliens are believed to come from distant, incomprehensible,...
The Fall of Phaeton by Peter Paul Rubens (1604) National Gallery of Art (Public Domain)
4 August, 2021 - 20:41 micki pistorius

Hippoi Athanatoi: Immortal Horses of the Gods And Heroes

The gods of Olympus often procreated semi-divine children with morals, but not all of their offspring were human. Especially Poseidon, god of sea and horses, sired a lineage of immortal divine...
Bess of Hardwick: The Second Wealthiest Woman In Tudor England
4 August, 2021 - 18:50 dhwty

Bess of Hardwick: The Second Wealthiest Woman In Tudor England

Bess of Hardwick was one of the most prominent women who lived during the Elizabethan period. Although Bess was born into a respectable family, they were not well-to-do. Nevertheless, through a...
Cassandra of Troy is a tragic figure within Greek mythology. Source: Maksim Šmeljov / Adobe Stock
2 August, 2021 - 19:01 dhwty

The Ignored Prophet of Doom: The Curse of Cassandra of Troy

Best-known for her prophetic powers, within Greek mythology Cassandra is a princess of Troy who lived during the era of the Trojan War. Her gift of prophecy, however, was accompanied by a curse – no...
Boab tree sunset near Derby, Western Australia (Summerdrought / CC BY-SA 4.0)
2 August, 2021 - 17:40 Philip Jamieson

Australia’s Enigmatic Boab Tree Seeding The Out-Of-Australia-Theory

The Out of Africa Theory is the dominant - though not only - model for the geographic origins and subsequent migration of modern humans. While it has been tweaked over time to generally now encompass...
A ghastly death ossuary in Milan that likely also contains many dead from the Massacre of Milan in 1539 AD during the battles to retake Italy by the Byzantine Empire, which was headquartered in Constantinople. Source: Francis Malapris / Adobe Stock
1 August, 2021 - 22:59 Aleksa Vučković

Byzantium Suffers Barbarian Wrath in the Massacre of Milan of 539 AD

“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...
Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen of England’s Religious War Period
31 July, 2021 - 15:00 dhwty

Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen of England’s Religious War Period

Lady Jane Grey was an English queen who lived during the 16th century. More appropriately, she was a claimant to the English throne, but only managed to hold on to it for nine days, hence her...
Noh-Arashiyama by KOMPARU Zempo (Public Domain)
30 July, 2021 - 20:57 MartiniF

The Art Of Noh: 14th-Century Japanese Dance Drama

Since the 14th century AD, Noh has been a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama. It is the oldest major theatre art form that is still performed on a regular basis to this day. Noh , which is...
A painting by Charles Le Brun, French painter and art theorist, depicting Alexander and Porus during the Battle of the Hydaspes (1673) design by Anand N. Balaji (Public Domain); Deriv.
28 July, 2021 - 20:53 anand balaji

Alexander’s Indus Folly: Bizarre Search for the Source of the Nile in India

When the Macedonian monarch Alexander III, popularly known as Alexander the Great , arrived in the northwest of the larger Indian subcontinent in 327 BC following his conquest of the massive...
Holocene Extinction, Anthropocene Extinction, or Merely the Dust in the Wind?
27 July, 2021 - 19:04 B. B. Wagner

Holocene Extinction, Anthropocene Extinction, or Merely the Dust in the Wind?

The Holocene extinction is considered by most scientists to be Earth’s sixth mass extinction event that has been occurring since the last ice age 11,700 years ago. But what exactly does it mean and...

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