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Shaman inhaling psychoactive substance ( Adobe Stock /  Ammit)

Hallucinogenic Trip Of The 1000-Year-Old Shamanic Pouch Into Another Galaxy

Since the mid-1950s, experimentalists, scientists, artists, musicians and psychonauts have been indulging in the “jungle alchemy” that is the ayahuasca, or DMT, experience. From 2008 – 2010...
Milky way seen from a grassy summit in, Nantlle Valley in Gwynedd, Wales.( Chin / Adobe Stock)

Astrophysics - The Origins Of The Zodiac In Wales

Astrophysics indicate the origin of the Zodiac may just be found within the Star Maps of Gwynedd, one of several counties or administrative districts in North Wales. Thousands of years ago Gwynedd...
Amazonomachy - Annihilation Of The Amazons

Amazonomachy - Annihilation Of The Amazons

It was love at first sight when Achilles locked eyes with the famed Amazon warrior queen, Penthesilea . Romance, however, was the last thing on his mind. Alas, poor Penthesilea—Achilles would realize...
Archaeo-astronomy Of The Ancient Nabataeans In Petra

Archaeo-astronomy Of The Ancient Nabataeans In Petra

Adoration of the Sun and alignment of monuments to its annual path through the skies was universal in the ancient world. Evidence of that devotion has been uncovered in sacred architecture across...
The First Meeting of Vortigern and Rowena/ Renwein painted by William Hamilton (Public Domain)

The Shadowy Reign of Vortigern, The King Who Gave Away Britain

Vortigern was a semi-mythical fifth century king most famous for inviting the Saxons to Britain to help him vanquish the invading Picts of Scotland. A disagreement compelled the Saxons to break their...
Ancient cheesemaking (Jacques Ribieff / Adobe Stock)

Gods, Goats And Cheesemakers In Ancient Times

During a trip to France, cheesy pasta dishes were served to America’s President Thomas Jefferson. Enthralled by the dish, the president went on to have both the pasta and Parmesan cheese imported to...
Coronation of Queen Victoria 28 June 1838 by Sir George Hayter (Public Domain)

Coveted Imperial Titulature, Emperors and Empresses: Don’t Blame Queen Victoria

The title of “emperor” is commonly seen as superior to that of “king”. But that has not always been the case. Ironically, what is now translated as “emperor” started out not as a title at all but as...
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: The Extraordinary Adventure of a Compassionate Conquistador

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: The Extraordinary Adventure of a Compassionate Conquistador

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer, born in 1490 in the town of Jerez, a place famed for its sweet wines. Although his name, which meant ‘Cow’s Head,’ was amusing to some, it placed...
A Maya lord forbids an individual from touching a container of chocolate. (Public Domain)

Six Sexy Semi-Divine Superfoods Of Ancient South America

One need not search too long ago into South American history to identify a range of consumable drinks that would challenge and defeat, hands down, any of their modern derivatives - which are mostly...
Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, Fragile Hinge Between East And West

Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, Fragile Hinge Between East And West

The continents of Europe and Asia shake hands across Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait, connecting the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara which in turn connects to the Mediterranean Sea through the Dardanelles...
Caratacus, King of the Silures, delivered up by Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes to Roman General  Ostorius by Francesco Bartolozzi (Public Domain)

Britain’s Stanwick Oppidum: Capital Of Queen Cartimandua And The Brigantes?

Britain's Iron Age landscape conceals many secrets and has many tales to tell and few stories are more dramatic than that of the Brigantes and their queen Cartimandua, when the Romans arrived in...
The Arch of Drusus (Rabax63 /CC BY-SA 4..0)

A Hero’s Send-Off To Rome’s General Drusus The Elder, First Germanicus

When word of his younger brother’s life-threatening illness reached him, Roman General Tiberius (later Emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus) who was in Pavia at the time, crossed the Alps like a man...
Odysseus escaping from the cave of Polyphemus by Flemish Jacob Jordaens (1635) (Public Domain)

Giants Among Men Who Walked The Earth

Today, overachievers are often called “giants in their field" and “giants among men”- terms which define talent, ability and zeal. However, in the ancient world, the word “giant” applied to the...
Artist’s impression of a woman caught up in the crusades. (  master1305/ Adobe Stock)

The Exploits Of Margaret Of Beverley, Caught In The Crusades

The Medieval Crusades were a series of important historical events largely told through the perspective of men. Almost all the contemporary commentators, crusader knights, and Christian generals and...
Life size bronze portrait head believed to be of Sargon, restored (Public Domain)

King Sargon Of Akkad As The Second-Coming Dumuzi

Sargon the Great of Akkad (fl. c. 2370-2314) is one of the greatest heroes of ancient Mesopotamian history , the one who founded the Akkadian Empire (c. 2370-2190), the very first world empire. The...
Night Time over Hagia Sophia or Hagia Sophia Church of the Holy Wisdom in Istanbul, Turkey  (Savvapanf Photo / Adobe Stock)

The Many Incarnations Of Hagia Sophia In Istanbul

Towering over Istanbul atop one of its highest hills, Hagia Sophia has stood for over 1,500 years as an architectural wonder, one of the largest and most remarkable Christian churches ever built. Its...
Rainbow over Sophievsky Cathedral in Kiev, Ukraine (panaramka / Adobe Stock)

Triumph, Rebellion And The Ancient History Of Ukraine

Ukraine has always been a complicated place, with one foot in the West and the other in the East, resulting in a unique tension as a constantly contested borderland, a battleground, pitting the...
Remains of Knowlton church and henge (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Measuring Up The Mega And Mini-Henges Of Neolithic Britain

The dictionary description of a ‘henge’ as “ a circular area, often containing a circle of stones or sometimes wooden posts, dating from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages ,” fails to depart that these...
Night view of Topkapi Palace from across the Bosphorus (Lefteris Papaulakis  / Adobe Stock)

Topkapi Palace, Showcasing Ottoman Splendor And Opulence

Centuries before Versailles, Buckingham Palace and the Kremlin Palace, on the shore where the Western world meets the East, cupped by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn,...
Loch Ness Monster by Hugo Heikenwaelder (1999) (CC BY-SA 2.5)

Unmerciful Diets of Ancient Sea Monsters Of The Northern Abyss

Unless having been to sea, far enough out to lose sight of land on an open wooden craft, no-one would quite understand the terror endured by ancient seafarers braving the unknown oceans. Mariners...
Medieval Colonialism: The Danish Duchy Of Estonia

Medieval Colonialism: The Danish Duchy Of Estonia

Within the pantheon of great empires, the Kingdom of Denmark has received very little attention, yet this small European civilization was one the most enterprising of its day following its...
Sacrifice of a lamb on a Pitsa Panel, Corinth, 540–530 BC (Public Domain)

The Furry Ones Slain And Sacrificed To Bloodthirsty Deities

It is beyond many people to even consider the killing of an animal, the sacrifice of the innocent in the name of a deity, but this was not the case in ancient times, and even in some parts of the...
Sudeley Castle as visible from the Cotswold Way (Ethan Doyle White / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sudeley Castle’s ‘Footprints’ Of The Tudors

Awarded the accolade as “one of England’s most picturesque castles”, the manor of Sudeley Castle lies just to the east of the picturesque River Isbourne, a few miles from Cheltenham, on the edge of...
Anatolia’s Mighty Phrygia, The Kingdom Of Myth And Midas

Anatolia’s Mighty Phrygia, The Kingdom Of Myth And Midas

In the western-central arid heartland of ancient Anatolia, the river Sangarios snaked through the ancient Iron Age Kingdom of Phrygia , once a rival to Assyria in the south-east and Urartu in the...

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