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Between 550 and 520 BC Cyrus the Great had unified the Medes and the Persians and founded an empire that stretched from the Indus River to North Africa and from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf...
Archaeology in modern Iran tracks Alexander the Great’s footprint in ancient Persia as his army crossed the Euphrates, crisscrossed the plateaus, marched along the Royal Road, across the Zagros...
Ironically, Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, written around 370 BC, a narrative describing the education of the ideal ruler centred on Cyrus the Great founder of the Achaemenid Dynasty, was a great inspiration...
For nearly 2,000 years, right up until Captain James Cook’s second voyage to the Pacific in 1775, geographers debated the existence of Terra Australis, a mythical landmass to the south-east said to...
"Man the Hunter," an early 20h-century human origins story, saw hunting as the primary driver of human evolution, emphasizing mankind’s forefathers' bipedalism, large brains, sharp tools, and...
Archaeological excavation and research at Gōbekli Tepe; that incredible ancient megalithic sacred site from an era of at least 12,000 years ago located in modern day Turkey; called by many the world’...
It is widely accepted that Homo sapiens were the first species to develop effective tools, but humans were not the first primate to make or use stone tools. That achievement belongs to an...
Awareness of Nan Madol as a world class archaeological site has grown exponentially over the last decade, especially since achieving World Heritage Site status in 1996. Constructed upon an offshore...
No trace of the medieval Colne Priory in Essex remains above ground, as the site is now occupied by a later building of the same name, and in private ownership. However, for decades archaeologists...
Nestled deep within an obscure crevice of Russian history, the tale of Prince Alexander Nevsky and his battle against Western crusaders at first appears as a highly interesting if half-forgotten turn...
Modern naval history is considered to have commenced in 1616, but the ensuing century between 1715 and 1820 marked an era not only of geopolitical change, but also a time when oceans were turned into...
Has the search for the modern relatives of Flores Island’s Homo floresiensis turned into a hoax-hunt? Everything that scientists thought about human evolution changed in 1856 after the first fossil...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
