Since the beginning of time, cities have been built and abandoned for countless reasons. War, famine, drought, and more have led communities to flee and relocate to regions that better suit their...
We often think of ancient Athens as being the home of democracy, the place where it all started. And this is true. But the shocking truth is that Athens has spent the vast majority of its existence...
The Greek term “ karyatides ” means “maidens of Karyai,” which was an ancient town on the Peloponnese in southern Greece. A “ caryatid ” is a sculpted female figure that forms an architectural...
Almost everyone at the Istanbul Topkapi Palace was a slave, but this is not the only curious attribute the palace had when ruled by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Everyone was forced to learn and...
A recent post from a Hungarian museum curator on Facebook tells of the discovery of “rare treasures of magnitude,” relating to the Turkish devastation following the Battle of Mohács. The news...
Ongoing excavations at a rural spot near the village of Újlengyel in central Hungary recently struck gold, both figuratively and literally. Archaeologists armed with powerful metal detectors found a...
Some ancient artifacts travel from where they were first made to become symbols of other foreign lands. This is certainly the story of the Piraeus Lion. The Piraeus Lion is a marble lion displayed in...
In 1897, Bram Stoker, an Irish writer, wrote a novel called Dracula , which has since become one of the classics of the Gothic horror genre. Despite the fact that Dracula is a fictional character,...
Kosem Sultan was a woman who refused to be just another widow on the Ottoman court - instead she became a real ruler of the empire. Her decisions made such an impact, that after her death noblemen in...
The Ottoman Empire was one of history’s largest and longest-lasting empires. It was founded around the end of the 13th / beginning of the 14th century and lasted for about six centuries. The empire...
Bulgaria is a land that is blessed with a great many important historic and archaeological sites. However, in recent years much of the heritage of the country has been systematically stolen by...
A force of disciplined, elite royal guards of the 15th and 16th century Ottoman Empire grew in size by seizing Christian children and raising them as civil servants and dangerous soldiers. The...
The Janissaries ( yeni-cheri , or “new troops”) were a small elite branch established by the Ottoman military sometime around the 14th century by Orhan Ghazi, second bey (chieftain), of the Ottoman...
Selim I (known also by his epithet ‘Yavuz’, which, translated from Turkish, means ‘the Grim’) was the 9th sultan of the Ottoman Empire who lived during the second half of the 15th century and the...
There is a remarkable sarcophagus that many tourists mistake for an elaborate ancient Egyptian creation. The perception is understandable as this kind of burial is often related to the rulers who...
Aruj Barbarossa, known also in Turkish as Oruc Reis, is one of the most notorious pirates in history. He lived between the 15th and 16th centuries, and was one of the most well-known Barbary corsairs...