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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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A modern religious painting shows the Founding-King in similar motifs.

The Legendary Founder of Korea, Dangun Wanggeom

According to Korean tradition, Dangun Wanggeom (known also as Dangun or Tangun) was the legendary founder of Gojoseon (or ‘Old Joseon’), the first recorded state in Korean history. This state...
The Tereshchenko and Hope Diamonds, two rare, blue, and world famous diamonds.

Dazzling and Dangerous? Examining the History of the Exquisite Hope Diamond

The Hope Diamond is one of the most well-known diamonds in the world. This famous diamond has been on exhibition in the National Museum of Natural History (which is administered by the Smithsonian...
On Left – Theban tomb - burial site of Pinedjem II and a Royal Cache, tomb shaft. On Right – Pinedjem II as Theban High Priest of Amun. From his Book of the Dead. Source: Left, CC BY-SA 3.0; Right, CC BY-SA 2.5.

DB320 - Uncovering the Impressive Cache of Hidden Pharaohs

The tomb discovered in the summer of 1881 changed Egyptology forever. It was an assemblage containing the mummified remains and funerary equipment of more than 50 kings, queens, and many other royals...
Royal Maya Burial at El Zotz Ruins in Guatemala

Archaeologists discover Royal Maya Burial at El Zotz Ruins in Guatemala

Archaeologists with the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered a burial chamber in the Five Temples section of El Zotz, an ancient Maya city lying in ruins in Guatemala’s Maya...
The Bayeux tapestry: Harold swears his oath to William.

Five Missing Kings and Queens – and Where We Might Find Them

As 2016 begins, the recent public interest in hunting for royal burials shows no sign of abating. Hardly has the dust begun to settle on Richard III’s expensive new tomb in Leicester than work is...
Toasting the revels: The court of Henry VIII, as depicted by the Italian artist Fortunino Matania.

Lavish banquet hall where Henry VIII entertained visiting royalty is discovered beneath playground

Archaeologists are excavating the ruins of a 480-year-old luxuriously decorated banquet house of King Henry VIII of England that was built next to a jousting field. Workers discovered the site of the...
The stone sarcophagus containing the mummy of King Tut is seen in his underground tomb.

Press Announcement: Radar Scans Reveal Hidden Chamber in Tutankhamun Tomb with 90 Percent Certainty

A press conference held this morning in Luxor with Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty revealed the results of a three-day operation to scan behind the walls in the burial chamber of...
Scans of the north wall of King Tutankhamun's burial chamber have revealed features beneath the intricately decorated plaster (highlighted) a researcher believes may be a hidden door, possibly to the burial chamber of Nefertiti.

Hidden Chamber Theory to be Confirmed or Denied by Radar Scans beginning Thursday in Tutankhamun Tomb

A three-day operation to scan behind the walls in the burial chamber of Tutankhamun is set to begin this Thursday with the results being announced by press conference on November 28. The official...
The mysterious whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant has long captured the attention of archaeologists and treasure-seekers alike.

The Lost and Coveted Treasures of King Solomon

In the Hebrew Bible, the third king of Israel, Solomon, is depicted as a wise, powerful, and immensely wealthy king, who ruled between 965 BC and 925 BC. It is written that he reigned over a...
A pecked petroglyph of a reed boat I the Nag el-Hamdulab cycle in Egypt.

Ancient Symbols of Power: Royal Egyptian Rock Art of Nag el-Hamdulab Depict Rule of State and Military Might

An ancient king—heralded by standard bearers and trailing a retinue of soldiers, fan bearers, powerful beasts and deities—projects power and military might in elaborate scenes carved into the very...
Scans of the north wall of King Tutankhamun's burial chamber have revealed features beneath the intricately decorated plaster (highlighted) a researcher believes may be a hidden door, possibly to the burial chamber of Nefertiti.

Excitement Mounts as New Infrared Scan in Tomb of Tutankhamun Suggests Hidden Chamber

Following a dramatic new theory by archaeologist Nicholas Reeves that the tomb of Tutankhamun contains two hidden chambers and one of them is the final resting place of Queen Nefertiti, the Ministry...
Ashoka the Great and an Ashoka Pillar at Tilaurakot, Lumbini, Nepal

Ashoka the Great: From Cruel King to Benevolent Buddhist

The emperor Ashoka is considered to be one of India’s greatest monarchs, and was the third ruler of the Mauryan Empire. Whilst Ashoka’s conquests pale in comparison to his illustrious grandfather’s,...
Illustration from the 1920s depicting Alaric parading through Athens after conquering the city in 395 AD.

Archaeologists Launch Official Search for Treasure of King Alaric Sought by the Nazis

The local and provincial administration of Cosenza in Italy has launched a plan to systematically search for the treasure hoard of Alaric, King of the Visigoths, who looted the riches during his sack...
Two pages of Samuel Ward’s notebook showing his translation of part of the King James Version of the Bible

Oldest Known Draft of the King James Bible Discovered in Cambridge

The King James Version (KJV) is the best-selling version of the best-selling book in world history—the Bible. It is estimated that more than 1 billion copies of the KJV have been sold. It was...
The mastaba of Khentkawes I, Giza, Egypt.

Khentkawes I: The Mysterious Mother of two Kings of Egypt and a Forgotten Ruler of the 4th Dynasty

Queens of Ancient Egypt played significant roles throughout history both in life and in death, but the attention is usually given to striking noble women such as: Nefertiti, Hatshepsut, Nefertari,...
Midas and Dionysus by Poussin (1594-1665), showing the end of the myth in which Midas thanks Dionysus for freeing him of the gift/curse previously granted.

Everything he Touched Turned to Gold: The Myth and Reality of King Midas

Almost everyone has heard the story of King Midas, the legendary king who turned everything he touched to gold. But how much myth and how much reality is there around this character? Was there really...
Part of the shrine showing Pharaoh Nectanebo I, who was the last native king to rule Egypt before the Greeks conquered.

Shrine dedicated to King Nectanebo I unearthed in Egypt

An Egyptian and German archaeological team sifting through the ruins of a temple dedicated to the ancient King Nectanebo I has found building blocks and parts of the ceiling, which was decorated with...
The death of King Olaf at the hands of Tore Hund, Viking chief

Viking Chief Tore Hund and his successful resistance against Christian conversion

When Christians made their theological push into Europe, suppressing native religions and supplanting them with a foreign God, some pagans resisted by secretly practicing their old religion, while...
Deriv; Stone statue of Gilgamesh (CC BY 2.0), nebula NGC 1788 Orion constellation (CC BY 4.0), Zodiac of Dendera (CC BY 3.0)

The Ancient Epic of Gilgamesh and the Precession of the Equinox

Gilgamesh is the ancient Sumerian epic, written some 4,000 years ago on cuneiform clay tablets and rediscovered only in the nineteenth century. It is a story that has echoes of the biblical Old...
Bust of Nefertiti, the Egyptian Queen for whom a tomb has yet to be found.

The Search Continues: Scientists to Use Radar in Hunt for the Tomb of Nefertiti

Egyptologists have been given the green light to use non-invasive radar to see if the chamber hidden behind a wall in King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings really does belong to...
Turkey throne

5,000-Year-Old Throne in Turkey May Be First Evidence of Birth of Secular State System

The remaining fragments of what was believed to be a wooden throne in Turkey has archaeologists wondering if they’ve found the world’s first evidence of a secular state governance system. The...
The remains of a Scythian warrior king and his horse.

Archaeologists unearth remains of Scythian warrior in golden cloak and his horse

The remains of an ancient Scythian warrior have been found buried in a cloak covered with gold. Archaeologists believe he ruled an area on what is now the Russian steppes around 2,500 years ago. He...
Hand-colored engraving of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (19th Century)

The Magnificent Constructions of King Nebuchadnezzar II

Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II remains known as the leader of one of the most powerful ancient empires to have preceded that of the Athenians in Greek's Classical period. However, aside from...
The three Jews brought before Nebuchadnezzar (1565), Philip Galle

The Posterity of Neo-Babylonia: The Dramatic Reign of Nebuchadnezzar II

Born in 634 BC in what is now called Neo-Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar II would one day become one of the greatest ancient Babylonian kings. The first-born son of his predecessor Nabopolassar, from a...

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