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Chinese Bronze Mirror (CC BY-SA 1.0)

Unraveling the Miracle of Chinese Magic Mirrors

An ancient oriental miracle, far removed from the religious sphere, and from the western concept of ‘miracle,’ manifested around first century AD China to those who 'had faith', where explanations...
Venetian Carnival Mask of Golden Sun and Silver Moon by allasimacheva. (Adobe Stock)

Moon Tear Hunters and the Quest for Ancient Silver

When the American author, diplomat, inventor, physicist and politician, Benjamin Franklyn, said: “ Genius without education is like silver in the mine , ” he encapsulated an ancient thirst shared by...
Medea by Artemisia Gentileschi (1620)(Public Domain)

Medea, Murderous Mother or Defiant Defender of the Oikos?

In his Argonautica , ancient Greek author Apollonius of Rhodes provides a rather romantic introduction of Medea as a young woman desperately in love. Unfortunately, this introduction quickly takes on...
Kurdish Warriors by Frank Feller (1898) (Public Domain)

Are Zeus’ Curetes the Ancestors of Modern Kurds?

The hypothesis that there is a relationship between the ancient Curetes of Greek mythology and the Kuri or Kuronians, a tribe of warriors and navigators of the Baltic world, where the medieval Danish...
Saber-toothed sparassodont †Thylacosmilus (with †Glyptodon and toxodonts in the background) (Public Domain)

Lucy and the Monstrous Birds, Fanged Beasts and Ferocious Fish of the Pliocene Epoch

In the geologic timescale that extends from 5.33 million to 2.58 million years ago, by universal standards, the Pliocene epoch was relatively recent, and it was at this time, when prehistoric life on...
Battle of the Amazons by Anselm Feuerbach (1873) (Public Domain)

Amazons in the Family of Alexander the Great: Who Was the Mystery Woman Warrior?

November 8 is remembered as Archangels’ Day in Greece, but on that November day in 1977, Professor Manolis Andronikos, head of excavations, was roped down into the gloom of an unlooted Macedonian-...
The Fall of Hera: Demoted from Autonomous Goddess to Wife of Zeus

The Fall of Hera: Demoted from Autonomous Goddess to Wife of Zeus

Constantly battling with Zeus’ infidelity, Hera the ancient Greek goddess of family and marriage, often took swift and cruel revenge - not on her philandering husband, but on his conquests and the...
Thesmophoria by Francis Davis Millet, 1894-1897 (Public Domain)

Thesmophoria: Feminine Consciousness in Ancient Greece

In the most highly anticipated religious festival of the year, women came from far and wide to gather in their cities to celebrate the Thesmophoria, the oldest and most widespread of all ancient...
The Golden Godheads of Human Death Rites

The Golden Godheads of Human Death Rites

Masks are well ingrained in the social zeitgeist and while their use in ancient rituals and ceremonies across the ancient world is well documented, it is generally their protective applications in...

The House of Uruk, Greatest of Sumerian Heroes

The greatest of all Sumerian heroes were said to have belonged to the first House of Uruk. For the Sumerians, this House of Uruk was not just another royal house, for them it was one of the greatest...
Moses and Joshua bowing before the Ark, by James Tissot, (c. 1900) (Public Domain)

Was the Ark of the Covenant an Instrument of Anachronistic Technological Knowledge?

Somewhere in the Negev Desert, Mount Sinai , at dawn on a day of the 13th century BC: "Moses, go and speak to the children of Israel! Tell them that they must make a wooden Ark of Acacia, its length...
Drawing of Omitlan by W Niven (Design deriv by Liz Leafloor Ancient-Origins)

Omitlàn: In Search of a Lost City in Mesoamerica

In 1891, the American geologist and antiquarian William Niven set off on a journey of discovery and exploration through the Mexican state of Guerrero. What he found would change the course of his...
Group portrait of the Piltdown skull being examined by John Cooke in 1915. Back row: (left to right) F. O. Barlow, G. Elliot Smith, Charles Dawson, Arthur Smith Woodward. Front row: A. S. Underwood, Arthur Keith, W. P. Pycraft, and Sir Ray Lankester. Note the painting of Charles Darwin on the wall. (Public Domain).

The Hucksters and Suckers of Archaeological Scams

Hidden among the exhibits of the world’s finest museums and in some of the most famous private archaeological and art collections are forgeries, manufactured supposedly ancient arts and artifacts...
Julius Caesar on Horseback, Writing and Dictating Simultaneously to His Scribes by Jaques de Gheyn II (1629) (Public Domain)

Did Caesar’s Ambition to Conquer Parthia Lead to His Assassination?

In 56 BC, Julius Caesar invited Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus to Luca in Cisalpine Gaul (modern-day Lucca, Italy) in an effort to repair their strained relationship, which had...
Moses striking the rock by Murillo after Bartolomé Esteban Perez (style) – (1666-1670) (Public Domain)

Hit the Rock and Water Must Come Out of It: Was Moses a Dowser?

" Then Yahweh said to Moses: 'Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel and your rod with which you struck the river Nile. Take it in your hand and you must walk. Behold,...
Folk-tales of Bengal, illustration by W. Goble (1912) (Public Domain)

Deep-Rooted Mythology of Sacred Trees of the World

Numerous myths, ubiquitous to great civilizations spanning the globe, reflect a deep-rooted belief in an intimate connection between a human being and a tree. The Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite proclaims...
Odysseus mosaic at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, Tunisia. (2nd century AD) (Public Domain)

Homer in the Baltic: Odysseus a Fair-Haired Dane?

Described by Homer and Pindar as ‘fair haired’, one can ask the perturbing question: Was Odysseus a Dane originating from the Baltic Sea and is Troy located on the Gulf of Finland? Since ancient...
The Fall of Man (detail) by Cornelis van Haarlem (1592) Rijksmuseum (Public Domain)

From Food to Friend: Prehistoric Exotic and Pampered Pets

Anthropologists and archaeologists are still working on compiling the human-pet timeline, but it is known pets have been adopted by humans for possibly tens of thousands of years. Americans keep...
Grand Prince Árpád crossing the Carpathians.Árpád Feszty's cyclorama titled the Arrival of the Hungarians. by Feszty vezerek (1892) (Public Domain)

The Mighty Magyars, a Medieval Menace to the Holy Roman Empire

The eighth to tenth centuries in Europe were turbulent times, as Western Europe was caught in the crossfire of invading foreign entities. Many came from the north, such as the various Viking factions...
Pushpaka vimana depicted three times, twice flying in the sky and once landed on the ground.(Public Domain)

Marutsakha Takes Flight: Modern Aviation Based on Ancient Vimana

In 1895 Shivkar Bapuji Talpade (1864-1916), a member of the Maharashtri, launched an unmanned aircraft called Marutsakha , (Sanskrit ‘ Marut ’ means Air and ' Sakha ' means ‘Friend’, so ‘Friend of...
Bao Zheng in Beijing opera (Shizhao/ CC BY 3.0)

Judge Bao, the Chinese Sherlock Holmes Who Became a Legend

How did a humble government official during the reign of Emperor Renzong (AD 1010 – 1063) of the Northern Song dynasty of China, become a legend, and achieve immortality in Chinese operas as a god...
Kappa at the Lumber Yard in Fukagawa / kappa repulsed by stench by Yoshitoshi  (1839–1892). Famous Places and Humorous Images of Modern Life in Tokyo  (Public Domain)

Monstrous Demons of Asian Folklore

Every village, town and city in the world has its array of monsters and mythological creatures, many of whom that have sprung from thousands of years of folkloric traditions. And while dragons are...
On the left, the heretic Dominican friar Campanello, (Public Domain), strange torches, mysterious melodies and curious perfumes (anarhja ) and on the right, a very worried Pope Urban VIII (Public Domain) (Image Deriv: compiled by Dr. Roberto Volterri)

The Folly of Pope Urban VIII and the Banning of Astrological Prophesies of Papal Fates

A 17th century Pope so feared the astrological prediction that he would exchange his life as pontiff in the Urbs Aeterna or eternal city of Rome for the everlasting life, on a day coinciding with a...
Alexander on horse at the battle of Issos. Alexander Sarcophagus, Istanbul Archaeological Museum. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Herodotus’ Fish-Eating Horses and Founding Myth of the Macedon Royal Lineage

In Greece, Alexander the Great is coveted as a national hero; the cluster of royal tombs discovered in 1977 at the archaeological site of Vergina , which is thought have housed Alexander’s father,...

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