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A Medieval Mass Battle ( AIGen/ Adobe Stock)

The Anarchy: England’s War Of The Two Matildas

Few periods in history have brought women to the fore, to the centre of events, as the Anarchy did in England. From 1135 to 1154, conflict raged when Stephen of Blois usurped the throne that...
King Charles I as a victorious and chivalrous Saint George in an English landscape, by Peter Paul Rubens (1629–30) (Public Domain)

Changing England’s History: Sudden Death Of The Heirs Apparent

The English crown is hereditary. Over the centuries, the succession has been largely determined by both blood and the accidents of birth. This has given rise to some glorious reigns, such as that of...
Seth God Statue (Catmando / Adobe Stock)

The Rise And Fall Of Seth, Egyptian God Of Volcanism

Numerous papers have been written about the Egyptian god Seth in recent years, but his essential identity seems to have evaded modern commentators. Seth's role is pivotal in determining the...
Vespasian, Founder of the Flavian dynasty built the Colosseum in Rome (  rpbmedia/ Adobe Stock)

Legacy Of Vespasian Founder Of The Roman Flavian Dynasty

The death of Emperor Nero in 68 AD ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman Emperors. It also initiated a succession crisis which degenerated into a short but deadly civil war. This was the first...
Twelfth Night Revelries: Myrrh, Mirth And Making Merry, 5 – 6 January

Twelfth Night Revelries: Myrrh, Mirth And Making Merry, 5 – 6 January

In the Christian church, January 6 is commemorated as the feast of Epiphany, the day on which the three wise men, or three kings, arrived at the stable in Bethlehem to visit the newborn baby Jesus...
Virgil reading the Aeneid to Emperor Augustus, his wife Livia and fainting sister Octavia by Antonio Zucchi (1767) (Public Domain)

Remarkable Early Life Of Livia, Destined To Become Empress And Deified Augusta

In 29 AD, Livia, the Empress of Rome and the widow of Emperor Augustus, died at the age of 86. Although she was the mother of Tiberius, the current Emperor of Rome , and an Empress through her own...
The Siege of the Acropolis, by Georg Perlberg (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Ancient Origins Of Modern Greece

Nationhood is a figment of the collective imagination, actualized by a cluster of symbols and ideas – flags, anthems, sports teams, traditional dress (sometimes), a common religion (often), shared...
Old City of Girona, Catalonia Spain ( Deyan/ Adobe Stock)

Secret Gardens Of Angels, The Occult, Kabbalah, And Miracles In Catalonia’s Girona

Girona in Catalonia, Spain, is an experience in polarities, capturing the romance of Paris but also a tinge of foreboding prevalent in Moscow. Girona is both a very popular modern destination and an...
Dickens’ Dream by Robert William Buss (1875) Charles Dickens Museum (Public Domain)

Did Charles Dickens Really Invent Christmas – Ask His Descendant

The year 1843, was to mark a turning point in how the British – and eventually much of the wider world – celebrated Christmas. Not only was it the year in which Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas...
The Pilar Shrine a Karahan Tepe with the portal entrance at the back and the face in the middle of the right wall . ( Image: © Hugh Newman)

Can Winter Solstice At Karahan Tepe Explain A Shamanic Christmas Origin?

Ancient megalithic sites all over the world are still visited in celebration of winter solstice , to welcome the sunrise on the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. From Newgrange in...
Apollo and the Nine Muses by Simon de Vos (1630) (Public Domain)

Sing O Goddess, Timeless Inspiration Of The Muses

Once upon a time, Zeus spent nine consecutive nights sleeping with Mnemosyne, the Titan goddess of memory. These passionate nights gave birth to the nine Muses. The Muses are Erato, Euterpe,...
Terror Antiquus depicting the destruction of Atlantis, Lion Gate of Mycenae, Tiryns and Acropolis of Athens, with Kore presiding over to symbolize chaos and inevitability of human force by Leon Bakst (1908) Russian Museum (Public Domain)

Asia Minor: Atlantis, Asteroids And The Birth Of Athena

“ Every word of it is true,” declares Plato in his Timaeus regarding the existence of Atlantis. Something in excess of 20,000 books have been published on the topic of Atlantis. Mainstream academia...
Pope Leo the Great attempts to persuade Gaiseric, prince of Vandals, to abstain from sacking Rome, by Maïtre François (c. 1475) (Public Domain)

Desperate Lesser-Known Emperors Facing A Disintegrating Western Roman Empire: 455-476 AD

The assassination of Emperor Valentinian III in March 455 AD, heralded the last phase of the Western Roman Empire’s political existence. By then, large parts of its territory were either occupied by...
Lewis and Clark Statue in Seaside, Oregon (pngstudio / Adobe Stock)

Conspiracy: Meriwether Lewis And Thomas Jefferson’s Missing Documents

Some lost treasures do not consist of gold, silver, or precious gems, yet their value exceeds monetary reckoning. Some even consider these lost treasures priceless, and a few seem to be cursed,...
12th century Romanesque apse wall fresco, St Clement de Taüll, Catalonia, Spain, by the Master of St Clement. Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. (Image: Author provided)

The Mysterious Identity Of The Eastern Pyrenean Lady With The Flaming Grail

Deep in the eastern Pyrenean valleys of Catalonia, Spain, lies a 900-year-old mystery. For some unknown reason, in the 12th century (between 1100-1170) at least nine medieval church apses were...
AI generated image of a ship in a storm (Stream Skins / Adobe Stock)

The Curse Of The 1715-Spanish Plate Fleet: Run Aground On The Coast Of Treasure

On July 24, 1715, a convoy of 11 Spanish ships and one French merchantman set sail from Havana, Cuba to Spain. It was called a “Plate Fleet” because their cargo consisted of valuable treasure looted...
Marie de France from an illuminated manuscript (Public Domain)

Anglo Saxon Women’s Wills: Freeing The Enslaved As Testimony Of Piety

Women’s wills which so miraculously have survived from late Anglo-Saxon times deliver some surprising bequests such as the enslaved, which is shocking, but they mirror the societal values which...
Perseus and Andromeda by Peter Paul Rubens (1622) Hermitage Museum (Public Domain)

Perseus, The Greek Variant Of Sumerian Gilgamesh

Perseus is one of the greatest heroes of Greek tradition, venerated as a demigod. But is Perseus really of Greek origin or was his legend brought from elsewhere to Greece? According to the Greek...
Hercules and Iolaus, Fountain mosaic from the Anzio Nymphaeum, Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome. (Public Domain)

No Happy-Ever-After For The Doomed Lovers Of Hero Heracles

Heracles, born of the mortal woman Alcmene by Zeus, King of the Gods, is the greatest of the Greek heroes, yet he was not fated to an everlasting happy love life, until after his death. His...
The Beggars of Burgos by Gustave Dore (1875) (Public Domain)

How The Other 99 Percent Lived In The Ancient World

The Victorian essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle wrote, “ No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men .” Carlyle died half a century before women in...
The Favorites of the Emperor Honorius, by John William Waterhouse (1883) (Public Domain)

The Fall Of The Western Roman Empire - A Military Perspective (405-455 AD)

In 376 AD, an alarming number of Visigoths erupted on the Danube frontier and overflowed into the northern Roman provinces of the Balkans. The recent arrival of a new invader in Eastern Europe,...
Facade of Temple (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hatra, Iraqi Sanctuary Of Deities Withstanding Assault Over 2,000 Years

The ruins of Hatra, located 290 kilometers (180 miles) northwest of modern Baghdad, tell the story of a second century AD Kingdom, whose rulers walked hand-in-hand with the reigning Arsacid Dynasty...
Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry Plantagenet and their children in a mural found the chapel of Saint Radegund in Chinon, France. (Chinpat / CC BY-SA)

Formidable Medieval Queens Triumphing Kings And Popes

In January 1077 a king came to the mountain fortress of Canossa in northern Italy to beg forgiveness from a Pope. In September 1141 two rival armies surrounded Winchester in southern England as...
Sir Geoffrey Luttrell and his wife, Agnes Sutton entertaining. On the table are knives, spoons, dishes, and plates or trenchers of bread. (CC0)

Be It Known: Women’s Wills Mirroring Anglo-Saxon Times

Anglo-Saxon England was a wealthy world with a gold and silver coinage from the early 600s, beginning in Kent and East Anglia. It had been pagan in the 400s but by the ninth and tenth century it was...

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