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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.

Saladin and Guy de Lusignan after battle of Hattin in 1187.
22 July, 2018 - 18:59 ancient-origins

Understanding the Crusades from an Islamic Perspective

What if the Crusades’ history was told from an Arab perspective? In fact, in 2016 al-Jazeera TV did just that. It released a four-episode documentary on the Crusades, and the trailer introduced the...
Statue of Queen Ankhnes-meryre II and Her Son, Pepy II. (Brooklyn Museum) Background: Papyrus with ancient Egyptian writing.
19 July, 2018 - 14:01 Mark Oliver

Explorer Rushes Back to Collect Pygmy Prize After Child Pharaoh’s Golden Letter

Harkhuf the Explorer, while traveling through Nubia, received an urgent message from the Pharaoh himself. “Come to the Palace at once!” the king’s letter read. “Drop everything!” This was unusual...
Marble theater mask depicting a woman from a popular Roman tragedy Pompeii 1st century AD.
14 July, 2018 - 19:17 Mark Oliver

A Failed #MeToo Moment: Just How Horrible Being An Ancient Roman Actress Could Be

When an actress in ancient Rome was brutally gang-raped by a group of young men who’d come to see her show, she started a very public battle for justice. The story of her fight and her failure is...
Detail of ‘God creating the Sun, the Moon and the Stars’ by Jan Brueghel the Younger.
10 July, 2018 - 20:51 Caleb Strom

Is the Universe Only 6,000 years old? Young Earth Creationists Say Yes!

Although most mainstream scientists and most of the developed world now accept the theory of evolution and the scientifically established age of Earth and the universe, there is still a group of...
Fireworks of 14 July 2017 in Paris (David Proteau/CC BY-SA 2.0) and the Bastille Fortress, 1789 (Public Domain);Deriv.
10 July, 2018 - 15:28 lizleafloor

Storming the Bastille – Do French Ghosts Haunt a National Holiday?

Little appeals to the heart of Americans more than a story of a rebellion against a tyrannical government. And so, it’s not entirely surprising that many in America live it up on Bastille Day each...
Ancient farmers - A Neolithic Revolution
30 June, 2018 - 23:32 Caleb Strom

From Hunters to Settlers: How the Neolithic Revolution Changed the World

The archaeological understanding of the Neolithic Revolution (or First Agricultural Revolution) has changed significantly since research on the subject first began in the early 20th century. This...
Apadana Hall, 5th century BC carving of Persian and Median soldiers in traditional costume (Medians are wearing rounded hats and boots). The Magi were a group of immigrants from Media who followed the Zoroastrian faith.
29 June, 2018 - 18:54 Mark Oliver

The Slaughter Of The Magi: How Ancient Persia Made Genocide an Annual Holiday

Long before the Holocaust and the atrocities we see today, history has been littered with genocide . Time and time again, minority groups living in the midst of a culture that isn’t their own have...
Stone temple car in the Vitthala Temple at Hampi. (Vijayanagara).
27 June, 2018 - 01:52 dhwty

The Vijayanagara Empire: Friendly and Feuding Brothers Who Ruled the South of India

For a time, there was a strong divide between political rule in the north and south of India. While the northern part of India was under the rule of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate, the south withstood...
1893 Reconstruction of the Alexander Mosaic.
26 June, 2018 - 18:59 Mark Oliver

Remorseless Chronicles of Slaughter: Fatal First Contact Between Ancient Greece and the Tribes of India

Colonialism hasn’t changed much. More than 2000 years ago, when Alexander the Great conquered the Persia, he sent an ancient explorer named Nearchus to sail down the Indus River and map the lands...
A view of ruined fort of Tughlaqabad, created during the Delhi Sultanate, at sunset.
22 June, 2018 - 14:00 dhwty

The Delhi Sultanate: 300 Years of Muslim Power Over the Indian Subcontinent

The Delhi Sultanate was a Muslim sultanate that was existed between the 13th and 16th centuries. Based in Delhi, the territory of the Delhi Sultanate was mainly confined to the northern part of India...
Detail of a bronze statue presenting Shiva as the Lord of Dance. Nataraja from Tamil Nadu, India. Chola Dynasty.
21 June, 2018 - 01:56 dhwty

The Chola Dynasty: Exploring the Achievements of an Indian Empire Spanning 400 Years

The Chola Dynasty was a dynasty that ruled over the southern part of India for about 400 years. Although there were some up’s and down’s, including a time when Chola princesses were the only ones...
Central shrine decor at Somapura Mahavihara, a Buddhist center of learning from the Pala empire.
19 June, 2018 - 14:01 dhwty

The Pala Empire: An Indian Dynasty Ruled by Protectors of Buddhism

The Pala Empire was an empire that was centered on the area of Bengal and Bihar, in the north and northeastern parts of India. This empire was founded during the 8th century AD and existed for about...
Scene from the Rāmāyaṇa, northwest India, Gupta period, 5th-6th century, terracotta, Honolulu Academy of Arts.
18 June, 2018 - 13:58 dhwty

Gupta Empire of Ancient India Was Golden Age of Goodwill, Artistic Endeavors and Military Might

The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire that existed between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD. During this time India advanced, especially culturally. Achievements in architecture, sculpture, and...
Several mass graves have been found at the site of one of the biggest battles of the Napoleonic Wars, during which some 55,000 soldiers died in July 1809.
12 June, 2018 - 19:00 ashley cowie

The Napoleonic Discovery of Mass Graves in Austria

A team of battlefield archaeologists near Deutsch-Wagram in Austria, working from a “makeshift detective's office inside a shipping container with photos of mass graves,” have discovered one of the...
Viking in a boat
9 June, 2018 - 18:59 ancient-origins

More than Blood and Bling: Our Many Visions of the Vikings

Steven Ashby / The Conversation Does the popularity of the Vikings simply emerge from the romance of mythology and adventure, or is something more interesting at play? The Vikings have an enduring...
‘The Triumph of Bacchus’ (1628-1629) by Diego Velázquez.
9 June, 2018 - 14:03 dhwty

Emblems of the Spanish Golden Age: The Hapsburgs, Cervantes, Diego Velazquez, and El Escorial

The Spanish Golden Age (known in Spanish as ‘Siglo de Oro’) was a period when the arts experienced a great flourishing in Spain. Whilst this period is often remembered as the age when Spanish...
Vedic King Yudhisthira performs the Rajasuya Sacrifice.
9 June, 2018 - 02:00 dhwty

The Janapadas: Tribal Footholds in Bronze and Iron Age India

Changes were underway in India during the period of the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The Vedas were written, and ancient Indian culture, society, and religion were all being transformed. One of...
A Pazyryk horseman from the Asian steppe in a felt painting from a burial around 300 BC. (Public Domain). Krishna with cow. (CC BY 2.0) Hathor as a cow, Papyrus of Ani (Public Domain)
27 May, 2018 - 23:01 Steven Keith

Horses, Cows and Celestial Creatures at the Dawn of Civilizations

When I think of the Aryans of the ancient times, I think of Central Asia, the steppe, a horse culture that could enable their language, Sanskrit to spread, at a gallop, so to speak, westward and...
A ceramic female polo player, from northern China, Tang Dynasty, first half of the 8th century, made with white slip and polychrome. From the Musée Guimet (Guimet Museum), Paris. (Public Domain) Background: ‘Xuanzong's Journey to Shu’, in the manner of the mid-8th century Tang artist Li Zhaodao, an 11th-century Song dynasty remake.
26 May, 2018 - 01:59 dhwty

The Tang Dynasty: The Arts Flourished, Family Ties Broke, and a Concubine Became Empress

While Europe was masked in the Dark Ages, China was flourishing in the Tang Dynasty. Woodblock printing gave them books, testing made government jobs available to common citizens, paper spread...
Attendant figurine (Sui Dynasty, 581 - 618) at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum - Sha Tin, Hong Kong. (CC0) Background: Votive plaque with Seated Buddha Shakyamuni, Attendant Bodhisattvas, and Monks, China, Sui dynasty, 581-618 AD, gilt bronze - Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University.
25 May, 2018 - 01:52 dhwty

The Sui Dynasty: 37 Years, Two Emperors and One Grand Canal

The Sui Dynasty may not have existed very long, but this imperial dynasty made an impact on Chinese culture long after the memories of its rulers faded away. Peasants were both delighted with and...
Modern representation of Sima Yan, the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty. (CC BY SA) Background: Detail of a moulded-brick mural identified as the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove and Rong Qiqi.” (Gary Lee Todd/CC BY SA 4.0)
22 May, 2018 - 01:56 dhwty

The Jin Dynasty: The Sima Clan Fights to Hold China Together

The Jin (晉) Dynasty was an imperial dynasty that ruled China between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD. It was established following the Three Kingdoms period, during which China was fragmented into three...
Re-creation of the port at the Sumerian city of Eridu.
21 May, 2018 - 13:59 Mark Oliver

What Was Life Like in Sumer, History’s First Civilization?

Life went through some incredible changes when the first cities were built. Up until then, nearly every person had to work as a farmer or a hunter, moving from place to place in a constant struggle...
Slaves working in a mine. Corinthian terracotta plaque painting, 5th century BC.
18 May, 2018 - 22:58 ancient-origins

Ice-Core Study Finds Evidence of Ancient European Plagues, Wars, and Imperial Expansion

To learn about the rise and fall of ancient European civilizations, researchers sometimes find clues in unlikely places: deep inside of the Greenland ice sheet, for example. Thousands of years ago,...
Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of Han, or Cao Pi, King of Wei. (Public Domain) Background: Dahuting tomb banquet scene, mural detail, Eastern Han Dynasty. (Public Domain)
18 May, 2018 - 02:02 dhwty

Part II: The End Comes Slowly - The Last Han Dynasty Emperors

Read Part I Here Wang Mang’s usurpation of the throne and the establishment of the Xin Dynasty brought the Han Dynasty to a temporary end. Displeasure with the Xin Dynasty, however, caused rebellions...

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