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Agia Kryiaki Church. Inset: Saint Paul’s Column.

Saint Paul’s Column: Ancient Pillar Where Paul the Apostle Was Scourged with Hundreds of Lashes

Saint Paul’s Column is a historically significant landmark situated in the Cypriot city of Paphos . According to local accounts, this was the place where Paul the Apostle was tortured when he first...
The Hallaton Helmet

The Helmet That Shows Celtic Warriors Helped the Roman Army Conquer Briton

In 2001, there was a very important find at an old Iron Age shrine in England. It included coins and other items from both the Iron Age and the Roman era. Among the discoveries was a remarkable 2,000...
Early man looking up at the stars (Kovalenko I / Adobe Stock)

Translation of 5,500-Year-Old Babel Text from China Reveals Oldest Known Map of Inner Solar System

It is obvious to any astronomer that some of the brightest objects in the night sky are the planets. It is thus mysterious that there are so few references to the planets in ancient literature. Prior...
Design on Vase from Chama representing Mayan Deities

Can the Mayans be Dated to the Younger Dryas Ice Age?

How does a story one is told, or that one has read in a textbook, become irrefutable historical fact? Everyone knows the Mayans were a terrifying civilization, steeped in long range calendars,...
Wax diptycha or tablet, forming a schoolboy's Greek exercise book. The tablet contains two lines, written neatly above as a model and then copied twice betwen the ruled lines; the first line, and possibly the second, are from the poet Menander.

Egyptian Child’s Greek Homework from 1,800 Years Ago Goes on Display

An ancient wax tablet has recently surfaced, shedding light on the educational practices of children from almost two millennia ago. This remarkable artifact, which serves as a testament to the past,...
Queen’s Head Rock

Yehliu Geopark Holds Natural Wonders in a Fantasy Landscape

There are many astounding geological formations in the world that are almost works of art. Some of the most remarkable natural formations in all of the Asia-Pacific region are to be found in Yehliu...
Representational image of a war elephant. The recently-discovered fortress at Berenike guarded a port that supplied war elephants

2300-Year-Old Fortress Which Guarded Port That Supplied War Elephants Found in Egypt in Major Discovery

A Polish-American archaeological team have discovered the ruins of a 2,300-year-old fortress that once protected the Ancient Egyptian port of “Berenike”, situated strategically on the coast of the...
Jean Baptiste Marc Bourgery and Nicholas Henri Jacob, ‘Iconografia d'anatomia chirurgica e di medicina operatoria,’ Florence, 1841.

The Ugly History of Cosmetic Surgery

Reality television shows based on surgical transformations, such as The Swan and Extreme Makeover , were not the first public spectacles to offer women the ability to compete for the chance to be...
Royal Palaces of Abomey.

Royal Palaces of Abomey, Benin: The Cultural Epicenter of One of Africa’s Greatest Empires Was Stained with Blood

Africa has many outstanding historic sites and one of the most remarkable of all is that of the Royal Palaces of Abomey in Benin, West Africa. This site is an amazing complex of palaces which has...
Castle at Al Sela in Tafila, Jordan

Ancient Shards Discovered at 3000-Year-Old Nabatean Mountain Top City of Sela

A team of researchers in Amman exploring the 3000-year-old Edomite-Nabataean mountain stronghold, Sela, located on the Edom Plateau, south of Jordan, between Tafila and Busayra have discovered Iron...
Symbol of the Order of Santiago.

Order of Santiago: The Knights of Spain and Their ‘Holy War’

The Order of Santiago is a Christian religious-military order of knights that was founded in Spain during the Middle Ages. Like the Templars and Hospitallers, the order was established to protect...
Soaba Stone pillars

The Saoba Stone Pillars of Taiwan Present A Peinan Culture Conundrum

Taiwan is a modern and dynamic country, but it also has a rich culture and history, which is often forgotten by the wider world. The island has been home to a variety of communities and cultures...
One of the Tring Tiles.

The Tring Tiles: Medieval Comics of Murder and Miracles in Jesus’ Childhood

The Tring Tiles are a set of earthenware tiles associated with the Tring Church in Hertfordshire, England. The tiles date to the Late Medieval period and depict scenes of Jesus’ childhood as recorded...
The excavated burial of the ancient woman in Nicaragua.

Super Strong Woman Found in Lower Central America’s Earliest Human Burial

Nicaragua is a country which is not associated with many archaeological finds, unlike other nations in Central America. However, recently archaeologists in the country have found the oldest human...
Magic Wand of hippopotamus ivory (Middle Kingdom-Second Intermediate) depicting a procession of deities. The curve of this wand follows that of the hippopotamus tusk from which it was made, but its flat form is reminiscent of the curved throwing sticks used to catch fowl. Powerful protective deities, such as Taweret and Bes, are depicted together with protective uraeus serpents and other mythical creatures. Many of the figures brandish knives to dispel evil spirits.

Think Egypt Think Magic: Essence of Spells, Incantations, Amulets and Absolute Faith – Part II

Popular stories from different eras of ancient Egyptian history reveal staggering and incredible tales of magical feats that were performed by lector priests, sorcerers and even kings. How much of...
Seth (Set)Left, and Horus

Were The Worshipers of the Egyptian God Set Following a God or a Demon?

Set, sometimes known as Seth, but also as Sutekh or Seteh is an ancient Egyptian god depicted with the head of an unknown animal and referred to by Egyptologists as a ‘Set animal’. The ancient...
The remains of the hospital at Port Arthur, Tasmania

Why Archaeology Is So Much More Than Just Digging

By Richard Tuffin and Martin GIbbs /The Conversation It is our experience that most people think archaeology mainly means digging in the dirt. Admit to strangers that you are of the archaeological...
Penteli cave, 2009.

The Penteli Cave Enigma – A Place of Unexplained Phenomena Since Ancient Times

Mount Pentelicus, a mountain near Athens, Greece, has been an important area for thousands of years. It is the location of the ancient quarry from which marble was cut to build the Parthenon and...
Head and torso of god Xipe Totec found at Ndachjian–Tehuacán archaeological site

Gruesome Sacrificial Temple of the Macabre Fertility God Xipe Totec Discovered in Mexico

Delighted archaeologists in Mexico have found the first temple dedicated to the ‘Flayed Lord’ or Xipe Tótec, one of the most important Pre-Columbian deities. The find, which included a stone...
Patrician Ladies with Plebeian Slave in background.

The Patricians and the Plebeians: A Very Roman Social Struggle

During the time of the Roman Kingdom and the Roman Republic, Roman society was divided between two important classes – the patricians and the plebeians. Originally, the patricians were part of the...
 Flat Earth in space

Flat Wrong: The Misunderstood History of Flat Earth Theories

By Chris Fleming /The Conversation For most people, being described as a “flat Earther” is an insult. The idea of the Earth being flat is considered not only wrong, but a model of wrongness, the gold...
God the Father’ (1510-1520) by Ludovico Mazzolino.

Dyeus Pater—The Original All-Father of the Gods

The ancestors of the Indo-European peoples looked up into the sky and saw a father, a cosmic patriarch with authority over the realm of daylight. Many Indo-European pantheons contain gods associated...
The astronomical ceiling at the Pronaos, Detail of the first Band west from the center. From left to right: two wind creatures (the winged ram with four heads personifies the south wind), the snake- and frog-headed eight goddesses and gods of the Ogdoad who ruled the cosmos before the creation of the world and Osiris seated on a throne sails across the sky as personification of the full moon accompanied by the seated goddesses Nephtys (left) and Isis on the right (Maat stands near the bow of the ship). Siri

Changing Colors and Scampering Across the Night Sky: What Did the Ancients Say about Sirius?

In Egypt, Sirius was the Star of Isis, Isis being the companion and rescuer of the god Osiris. In a very deep way, Osiris was Egypt. His body was believed to be the body of Egypt, an actual overlay...
This dwarf-like, protective deity was very popular in ancient Egypt. Bes is represented with the nude body of a dwarf, grotesque facial features, and the ears and mane of a lion. He wears a tall feather-crown and usually rests his hands on his hips. Known from as early as the Middle Kingdom circa 2000 BC.

Think Egypt Think Magic: The Power of Heka in the Life of King and Commoner – Part I

Ancient Egypt was renowned and respected for her wisdom, art and architecture by all those who came into contact with her. What also caught the attention of these admirers was the practice of magic...

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