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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Important Events

Here we feature some of the most seminal, historical, and influential events throughout history – both celebrated and unheralded – from the emergence of powerful civilizations and empires, to famous battles, great achievements, and events that have helped shape the world we currently know.

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

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...
Dark Age Britain is the name given to the post-Roman era, remembered as a time when British kingdoms descended into a fight for supremacy. Source: Stanislav / Adobe Stock

‘Just’ War and Martialism in Dark Age Britain

Dark Age Britain has been remembered as a time of great chaos and constant war. After the Romans withdrew from Britain in 410 AD, taking the stability of their imperial structures and large armies...
The decadence of Rome, as depicted in Thomas Couture's famous painting, is still celebrated today in film and literature. And no event was reported as more scandalous than the Banquet of Chestnuts in 1501, held the night before Halloween.

The Banquet of Chestnuts: A Perverse Pastime at the House of Borgia?

On October 30, 1501, the most decadence of festivals occurred in the papal palace of Cardinal Cesare Borgia. A party that his own father, Pope Alexander VI, not only attended but participated in. The...
Asteroid Day is June 30th

The Younger Dryas Impact Debate - Is It Settled Yet?

Asteroid Day this year, June 30, 2021, is 113 years after the Tunguska impact event in Siberia, which destroyed an area of pristine forest the size of Tokyo. With blasted and burnt tree trunks...
Kenilworth Castle today. Source: Carl / Adobe Stock.

Something in the Water: Kenilworth Castle and a History of Rebellion

Kenilworth Castle is a ruined castle located in the market town of Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, a county in the West Midlands, England. It is believed the site was occupied by a fortified structure...
Chandragupta Maurya (founder of the Mauryan Empire) and his spiritual leader Bhadrabahu moved to Shravanabelagola, where they continued their spiritual practices related to Jainism. Chandragupta’s footsteps have been engraved in this spectacular viewpoint rock hilltop.

Chandragupta Maurya: Storied Founder of the All-India Mauryan Empire

Chandragupta Maurya was an ancient Indian ruler who lived during the 4th century BC. He was the founder of the Mauryan Empire and was the first person to have brought the majority of the Indian...
Scientific Evidence for the Many Myths of the Great Flood

Scientific Evidence for the Many Myths of the Great Flood

Have you ever heard about Noah's Ark story? This story of the great flood is one of the most popular stories from the Bible. But it is far from the only great flood story to be found in history...
Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans

Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans

Hannibal Barca was a Carthaginian general who lived between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. He is perhaps best remembered for his military campaign against the Romans in the Second Punic War. Thanks to...
Templar knight

Secrets of the Knights Templar: The Knights of John the Baptist

Soon after the Knights Templar founded their order in the Holy Land in 1118 AD they assimilated into a very ancient gnostic tradition and lineage known as the Johannite Church, which had been founded...
How did the Greeks Measure the Earth’s Circumference?

How did the Greeks Measure the Earth’s Circumference?

It is considered obvious today that Earth is roughly a sphere and that it can be measured like any spherical object. Scientists technically call it an oblate spheroid, but it is still sphere-like in...
The Sacred Band of Thebes: Elite Fighters… and Lovers!

The Sacred Band of Thebes: Elite Fighters… and Lovers!

The Sacred Band of Thebes was an elite fighting unit consisting of 300 Theban soldiers who were not only warriors but coupled lovers as well. According to the scholar Plutarch, the creation of the...
The Hussites and the Hussite Wars were inspired by the desire for religious reformation and the ideas of Jan Hus.

The Hussites and the Hussite Wars: Religion, Heresy and Reformation

The Hussites were members of a pre-Reformation Christian movement that originated in Bohemia, in the modern-day Czech Republic. Named after Jan Hus, whose teachings were followed by the Hussite...
This painting depicts news of the Battle of Flodden when it reached Edinburgh.

Scotland’s Great Tragedy: The Bloody Battle of Flodden

Throughout history, grand battles were often deemed necessary when ambitious nations were forming. They served as a crucible on which an identity of a people was forged and preserved. The history of...
Bible narratives about Sodom and Gomorrah. Christian bible character. By artinspiring / Adobe Stock

The Sinful Sodom and Gomorrah: Real Historic Cities or Biblical Myth?

Sodom and Gomorrah are two famous cities mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, and there are few who haven’t heard of them at one point in their life. Supposedly obliterated...
The Copper Age: When Metallurgy Came to Rule the World

The Copper Age: When Metallurgy Came to Rule the World

The so-called Chalcolithic - or the Copper Age - is one of the great eras of cultural development, fitting into the main framework of man’s crucial steps towards civilization. This period introduced...
What if Cleopatra and Octavian Had Been Friends?

What if Cleopatra and Octavian Had Been Friends?

While Caesar and Cleopatra have been remembered as the ultimate power couple, Cleopatra and Octavian are among the most famous enemies of ancient history. Both inextricably linked to Caesar,...
Eyam’s Ultimate Sacrifice: Medieval Village Locked Down to Stop the Plague

Eyam’s Ultimate Sacrifice: Medieval Village Locked Down to Stop the Plague

‘Lockdown’ is a word we now see on a daily basis as the 2020 coronavirus pandemic requires limiting the movements and activities of communities during the mass quarantine of most of the world’s...
Details of an ancient Roman bronze statue. Credit: giorgio / Adobe Stock

The Bronze Age - A Spark That Changed the World

The development of civilization was a long and complex process, and it always rested on industry and technology. As our ancestors stepped from one millennium to another, and the Stone Age evolved...
‘The Battle of Culloden’ 1746 by David Morier. Source: Public Domain

9 Reasons for the Tragic Highlander Deaths in the Battle of Culloden

There have been countless significant battles throughout history. Some of them have become infamous – from the Battle of Passchendaele during WWI to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but the majority...
The Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople: Relentless Ottoman Fire Power Finally Pulverizes the Last Vestiges of the Roman Empire

Constantinople stood against sieges and attacks for many centuries, until finally new technology—the big cannons of the Ottoman Empire —brought down the Byzantine Empire’s capital. The fall of...
The Empire of Trebizond: Byzantine Offshoot of Great Power and Wealth

The Empire of Trebizond: Byzantine Offshoot of Great Power and Wealth

The fascinating and exotic history of the Empire of Trebizond, which existed between the 13th and 15th centuries AD, is a great story. This empire occupied the southern coast of the Black Sea, and...
Is There a Right Time to Take Down Your Christmas Decorations?

Is There a Right Time to Take Down Your Christmas Decorations?

In this day and age, Christmas has for many become a secular holiday, associated less with the birth of Jesus than with family get-togethers and the eager exchange of presents . Therefore, many...
Animals are commonly found in creche sets, but surprisingly not in the Bible.

An Ox, an Ass … a Dragon? Sorry, there were no Animals in the Bible’s Nativity Scene

From nativity plays to crèche sets to Christmas cards, animals are ubiquitous in our vision of the birth of Christ – but according to the Bible, not a single animal was there. Where did all these...
Fall of Tenochtitlan - Spanish Conquest of Mexico

The Fall of Tenochtitlan - Truly the End of the Aztec Empire?

The fall of Tenochtitlan is an important event in the history of the Americas as it marks the end of the Aztec Empire. This event took place on August 13, 1521 and was the result of a three-month...

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