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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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The Blinding of Vasilko of Terebovl from The Tale of Bygone Years/The Primary Codex. (15th Century).

The Precious Knowledge of the Hypatian Codex: Detailed Chronicle of the Southern Rus

The Hypatian Codex , known also as the Hypatian Chronicle , is said to be the main source of information for the history of the Southern Rus’ (Kyivan Rus’.) The Hypatian Codex was discovered by the...
The Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose (1914) (Wikimedia Commons)

English Nursery Rhymes with Unexpected and Sometimes Disturbing Historical Origins

Many people associate nursery rhymes with reading happy stories to children, or remember being children themselves and chanting them while they play. However, the popular explanations for the origins...
3D renderings of the Jamestown skeletons, Jamestown,USA

Archaeologists Identify Remains of the Early Colonists of Jamestown

Scientists conducting a chemical analysis of four skeletons, with the support of information from historical documents, have now identified them as leaders of the first permanent English settlement...
Walls of the Middle Age city of Dubrovnik, Croatia - one of the filming sites of Game of Thrones (Wikimedia Commons)

The Real History Behind Game of Thrones (Part one)

Game of Thrones is a series of fantasy books by acclaimed author George R.R. Martin and a highly popular television show on HBO. It is a world unto its own, but like other popular fantasy series,...
The dramatic eruption of a volcano – eyewitness accounts, ancient chronicles, and mythical tales have surrounded this terrifying and astounding natural phenomenon since the dawn of man. Vesuvius erupting, painting by Johan Christian Dahl.

Deadly Volcanoes: The Eruptions that Reshaped the World and Became Legends - Part II

Read part 1 . The ancients witnessed the awesome and raw power of erupting volcanos , and sent out warnings through time in the form of religion lessons, myths, legends and chronicles. These amazing...
The dramatic eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

Deadly Volcanoes: The Eruptions that Reshaped the World and Became Legends – Part I

When man grows overconfident and full of hubris in his accomplishments and importance, mother nature, or the gods, remind mankind who is really in charge. Or so it may have seemed to the ancients,...
The Weird Wolds of Yorkshire: Inside the Mysterious Wold Newton Triangle

The Weird Wolds of Yorkshire: Inside the Mysterious Wold Newton Triangle

‘Fold upon fold of the encircling hills, piled rich and golden,’ is how the writer (best known for her posthumous 1936 novel South Riding ) Winifred Holtby, described England’s Yorkshire Wolds...
Image from an illuminated manuscript depicting a Byzantine siege of a citadel. A tactic of ancient biological warfare was to hurl infected dead bodies over city walls.

The Devastating and Diabolical Ancient Origins of Biological Warfare

History paints a bleak picture of the devastating effects that disease, contamination, or poison can have on humans. But with those hard lessons came experience and knowledge, and mankind has...
One of the satellite photographs clearly showing the vast amount of inscriptive material discovered by Archaeoastronomer, William James Veall, on the South Atlantic coastline of Uruguay, South America.

Sea-Farers from the Levant: Do Ancient Inscriptions Rewrite History of the Americas? - Part 2

In this opinion piece exploring proto-Sinaitic inscriptions, guest writer William James Veall challenges the view that Christopher Columbus was the first foreigner to set foot in the Americas by...
One of the many subterranean chambers discovered by Luciano Faggiano during his excavations under Lecce, Italy.

Man Intent on Fixing Toilet Uncovers Centuries-Old Subterranean World Beneath his Basement

An Italian man’s dream to open a modest restaurant became an archaeological obsession when he broke ground in order to repair a faulty toilet. The underground world filled with centuries of history...
Model Kate Keown portraying Beatrice Cenci. 1968.

The Spirit of Beatrice Cenci - A Tale of Terrible Injustice in Ancient Rome

Just a stone’s throw away from St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City is the Ponte Sant’Angelo. Today, this bridge is one of the famous tourist attractions in the city of Rome. Yet, this bridge hides...
Detail of a miniature from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript.

The Sagas of the Icelanders shed light on Golden Age

The Sagas of the Icelanders have long been preserved as the most comprehensive specimen of the literary culture of the 13 th and 14 th centuries of Iceland. In writing these sagas, many attributes of...

Archaeologists Date Prehistoric Temples in Hawaii to establish origins of First Kingdom

The prehistoric religious temples of Hawaii are being dated by researchers with the help of small sea creatures. Indigenous temples of Hawaii, known as heiau , can be found across the islands. Dr...
The Rape of the Sabine Women by Pietro da Cortona

The Rape of the Sabine Women

According to tradition, the city of Rome was founded in the 8 th century B.C. by Romulus. The Roman historian Livy wrote that the city of Rome grew strong quickly, and was able to defend itself...
Marco Polo travelling, Miniature from the Book "The Travels of Marco Polo"

The Life and Adventures of Marco Polo

"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...
Akhenaten depicted as a sphinx at Amarna, solar rays bathing him.

The Art of Amarna: Akhenaten and his life under the Sun

The Amarna period, roughly 1353-1336 BCE, introduced a new form of art that completely contradicted what was known and revered in the Egyptian culture. The pharaoh Amenhotep IV not only changed his...
Neolithic dog-shaped pottery gui, Dawenkou Culture, Shandong

Chinese civilization may have begun 2,400 years earlier than previously thought

The first dynasty of China described in classic texts and historical documents was the Xia Dynasty, established in 2070 BC in the Yellow River valley. However, the origins of Chinese civilization...
A Council at Lanka, an episode from the Ramayana. Color and gold on paper.

Smithsonian releases massive digitized collection of Asian treasures for public use

The Smithsonian Institution has released more than 44,000 images of precious artworks and artifacts from two of their museums of Asian art, many of which have never been shown publicly before. The...
Fireworks on the River Thames

A History of Fireworks From East to West

By Simon Werrett , University College London. On New Year’s Eve fireworks manufacturers the world over will finally be able to relax after their biggest sale of the year. But this day has been a...
The Vision of Saint Eustace, Pisanello, 1438–1442. Rider wearing high heels.

The Ancient Origins of High Heels – Once an Essential Accessory for Men

High heel shoes are today a form of footwear worn almost exclusively by women. Yet, the history of high heels shows us that this was not always the case. On the contrary, high heels were, at various...
Cernunnos,"The Horned One" - Paganism

The true meaning of Paganism

The word "paganism" has come to refer to various pre-Christian religions belonging to a number of ancient cultures—those from Greece, Rome, Egypt, Scandinavia, and so on. It has come to also...
Ten Amazing Artifacts from the Ancient World

Ten Amazing Artifacts from the Ancient World

There are undoubtedly millions of amazing artifacts from the ancient world that have served to shed light on the lives of our ancestors from many millennia ago. But some stand out for their...
The ancient origins of the ceremonial Kava drink of the Pacific

The ancient origins of the ceremonial Kava drink of the Pacific

The ancient origins of Kava drinking is known to trace back at least 3,000 years and is associated with both social and ceremonial function. It was, and is, highly valued for its medicinal uses as a...
8,500-year-old footprints and graves in Istanbul

8,500-year-old footprints and graves are rewriting the history of Istanbul

The discovery of more than 1,500 footprints and a number of graves dating back 8,500 years has shed new light on the Istanbul’s history, which was previously thought to have begun less than three...

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