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Ancient Origins Premium offers a wealth of knowledge and a variety of learning methods (articles, eBooks, webinars, expeditions and more) that will help you embark on a journey you will never forget!

Beware the Greeks bearing gifts, by Henry Paul Motte (19th century) (Public Domain)

The Iliad And The Odyssey: Lessons From Humanities

The Humanities are by definition concerned with humankind’s life-chances and life-fates, and mortality captures humanness from one essential viewpoint – all humans inevitably die. All human life, and...
The Assassination of Julius Caesar by William Holmes Sullivan (1888) (Public Domain)

Ecce Homo - The Julius Caesar Murder Mystery

Julius Caesar’s assassination is the best-documented account of any murder committed in the ancient world, and the Ides of March, the day of his murder, is the only day in Roman antiquity that can be...
Library of Ashurbanipal Mesopotamia 1500-539 BC Gallery, British Museum, London, England (Gary Todd / CC0)

The World’s First Collectors, Museums And Libraries Of Antiquity

People have collected objects, scripts, fossils, specimens, precious stones, artifacts and memorabilia since the dawn of mankind’s memory, for different reasons. Many possible motives come into play...
Incredible orange sunrise at the temple of Philae, a Graeco-Roman construction seen from the Nile river, a temple dedicated to Isis, goddess of love. (unai/Adobe Stock)

The Golden Age of Ptolemaic Egypt (332-14 BC)

Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BC and after his death, his empire was divided. In 305 BC Egypt fell to his general Ptolemy I Soter . The Ptolemaic Dynasty was a powerful Hellenistic state...
Catullo and Clodia, by Giulio Aristide Sartorio (Public Domain)

Cicero Versus Clodia: Stereotyped Roman Character Assassination

Due to the growing independence and complexity of society, the greatest families in Rome met their downfalls. However, the heiresses of those great houses took up the chance to reclaim the power that...
A hunter returning with his kill (fotogurmespb / Adobe Stock)

Living Close To The Bone – A Day In The Life Of A Hunter-Gatherer

At the beginning of Herodotus’ Histories, the Athenian lawgiver Solon, one of the seven sages of ancient Greece, points out to his interlocutor Croesus, King of Lydia, that if a person lives to be 70...
Battle of the Milvian Bridge between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312 AD by Giulio Romano ( 1520-24). Vatican City (Public Domain)

The Constantinian Dynasty - Five Successors, One Victorious Emperor

The Tetrarchy, inaugurated in 285 AD by Emperor Diocletian, had been instituted mainly with the intent of mitigating successions tribulations such as those that had plagued the third century. But the...
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...
Artist’s impression of the Harpole Bed Burial (Image: with permission © MOLA)

Anglo-Saxon Bed Burials And Grandmother’s Featherbed

In April 2022, a ‘once in a lifetime” British archaeological discovery was made of a rare bed burial , accompanied by grave goods, known as the Harpole Treasure. So important and so vital was it to...
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...

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