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Uruk, in southern Iraq, has reached superstar status in the realm of archaeological excavations of ancient civilizations by delivering the Sumerian King Lists among the 5,000 cuneiform tablets...
Since ancient times, ubiquitous to various cultures, humankind has sought to overcome that which they cannot control, such as healing mysterious afflictions and trying to predict the veiled future,...
Rome was the very essence of a male dominated society, being militaristic, proud, go-getting and determined on expansion. The man of the house, the Paterfamilias, was the head of the family with...
Ancient Sumerian mythology tells that Eridu, considered one of the most southern of the settlements close to the Persian Gulf, was inhabited before the flood when, according to the Sumerian King list...
Since ancient times, wills and inheritance have a long, recorded history and Britain is no different. A history of a thousand years of the wills of women offer a rare but rich glimpse into their...
Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what's on the other side? Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide. So we've been told and some choose to believe it...
The fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur at end of the third millennium echoed over the land of Sumer, between the Tigris and Euphrates in ancient southern Mesopotamia and it opened the landscape for the...
The popular conception of the Romans, mainly fostered by movies and television, extends to their all-conquering dominance, their armies, gladiators, blood and gore, sex and violence, mad emperors,...
Where the Euphrates River once opened its mouth into the Persian Gulf, on the southern floodplain of Mesopotamia, lies Ur, dating from the Ubaid period, circa (6500 -3800 BC), and host to the...
In Roman times, a decree of Damnatio memoriae was the chief way of obliterating the memory, nearly always posthumous, of those perceived as having transgressed in some way, as was the case of Emperor...
Lilith was Adam’s first wife, and after a messy divorce, he married Eve, thus giving birth to the more commonly known Old Testament story of creation, featuring the famous Biblical characters Adam...
Familial identity and affinity were crucial factors in the establishment of an aristocrat’s social and political contexts, defining to a significant extent their place and interactions within the...
Etheldreda – St Audrey - is a familiar figure, especially so in Ely, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire district, England. 2023 commemorates the 1,350th anniversary of her founding her monastery...
Lysippos was known as one of the three best Classical Greek sculptors of the fourth century BC. He, along with sculptors Scopas of Paros and Praxiteles of Athens, were instrumental in ushering in the...
The Cimmerians remain one of the most mysterious and obscure peoples of the ancient world. They make their debut in the Odyssey , written by Homer, the great Greek bard, in the eight century BC. To...
Long before the dark ages, history recalls the myth and folklore of a higher age. Hesiod, the famed Greek historian (circa 700 BC), tells it was a time of peace and plenty when mankind lived in tune...
If what is taken to matter most is the power of decision-making, and, as part of that, the power to call executive office-holders to account by judicial or other means, then the first democracy...
In 1106, King Henry I of England captured his elder brother, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, during their decisive clash at the Battle of Tinchebray. While Robert Curthose’s capture provided Henry...
Ever since Darwin brought up the fact that the human race had apes as distant ancestors, modern humans have been uneasy and a little defensive. They mocked the simian nature of Australopithecus ,...
Centuries ago, Maya astronomer-priests charted the heavens from huge stone observatories. From above the jungles of the Yucatán in modern-day Mexico, they carefully recorded the motions of the gods...
The Byzantine town of Subeita (Shivta) in the Negev Desert , was an integral part of the Byzantine province of Third Palestine. The Romans had first incorporated it into their Empire in 106 AD, and...
L. Sergius Catilina (106 BC to 62 BC) was a Roman soldier and politician who attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the Roman Republic following his second defeat for consul due to the efforts of his...
Epicurus was a fourth-third century BC Hellenistic philosopher who established his school, called The Garden, in Athens, where even women and slaves were welcomed. Epicureanism opposed Platonism and...
Not long after the passing of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, one of his generals, Ptolemy - who went on to found the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt and later known as Ptolemy I Soter - annexed Cyrene (in...
