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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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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!

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...
Cicero with his friend Atticus and brother Quintus, at his villa at Arpinum by Richard Wilson (1771) (Public Domain)

Letters From Cicero To Atticus: Insight Into The Lives Of Roman Scribae

“ Every man can tell how many goats and sheep he possesses but not how many friends ”. Marcus Tullius Cicero Titus Pomponius was neutral both in character and in policy. Perhaps this was his natural...
AI Generated image depicting Aztec warrior looking towards the setting sun – (  ivan / Adobe Stock)

Tamoanchan: In Search Of The Origins Of The Aztecs

About 1,800 years ago, a group of people migrating from an unknown northern location began to settle in what is now called the Valley of Mexico. They are called Aztec, a name derived from the word...
Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir or Abbasid palace of Ukhaider in Iraq. Panoramic view from the ramparts ( Janos / Adobe Stock)

Ukhaidir and Samarra: Architectural Legacy Of The Abbasid Dynasty

The Abbasid Dynasty, founded by Abu al-Abbas as-Saffah in 750 AD, marked a significant transition in the Islamic world. It succeeded the Umayyad Caliphate and shifted the Islamic capital from...
Battle Scene with a Roman Army Besieging a Large City by Juan de la Corta (17th century) (Public Domain)

Diocletian’s Utopia: The Tetrarchy Of The Roman Empire (285 – 325 AD)

When Roman General Diocletian was designated Emperor by his army in 284, he followed suit of many General-Emperors before him and engaged in war against the legitimate Emperor in place in order to...

Utopia, Euphoria: Greek Philosophers Searching For The Good Life

To the ancient Greeks, philosophy – literally the love of wisdom - as a therapy or treatment of bodily ailments implied a holistic, psychosomatic understanding of the human mind, body and soul...
Taq-e Kasra at Ctesiphon, Iraq (Анастасия Смирнова/Adobe Stock)

Seleucia And Ctesiphon, Opposite Jewels On the Banks Of The Tigris

On the banks of the Tigris river, not far from the confluence of the Tigris and Diyala rivers, about 35 kilometers (21 miles) southeast of Baghdad, lie the ruins of two ancient cities, who once...
Hephaestus And Thetis Bound In Their Mortal Suffering

Hephaestus And Thetis Bound In Their Mortal Suffering

Infuriated that her husband Zeus gave birth to Athena on his own, Hera, the Queen of Heaven, impregnated herself to have a child independent of Zeus, and thus she gave birth to Hephaestus. Hephaestus...
Samson and the Lion by Luca Giordano (1694) Museo del Prado (Public Domain)

Metallurgical Key Unlocking Samson’s Lion Riddle

Biblical Samson challenged his wedding guests with a riddle: “ Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet ”. The simple answer is Samson was referring to a...
Roman soldiers on the march and their general (vukkostic /Adobe Stock)

Third-Century Roman Empire: Revival From Chaos 270 – 285 BC

During the period designated by modern historians as the era of Roman military anarchy which lasted from 235 to 285 AD, 20 generals unconventionally elected as emperors fought and succeeded each...
Osiris as a pharaoh, real king (NorLife/ Adobe Stock)

Was Osiris A Real Person Deified After Death Or A Mythical God?

Who was Osiris? Was he a mythological God in ancient Egypt before Christianity began, or was he a real person, a King of Egypt? Dr Ken Jeremiah provides his thoughts on the existence of a real person...
Like all Greeks Athenians love to argue (jambulart/ Adobe Stock)

Visiting A Time Capsule Of Periclean Athens

A time-traveler considering taking a stroll through Periclean Athens has a very narrow window of time to visit Athens in its heyday. Pericles, sometimes noted as the greatest statesman of Athens,...
Augustus and Cornelius Cinna Magnus Bozetto by Louis André Gabriel Bouchet (1819) Versailles Musée National du Chateau et des Trianons (Public Domain)

Papyrus Rolls Roling From Egypt To The Roman Empire

By the first century AD, papyrus paper was available throughout the Roman Empire, a market that consisted of the area stretching from Hadrian’s Wall in the northern wilds of Caledonia, east to the...
Roman soldiers treachery and mutiny ( Cridmax / Adobe Stock)

A Crumbling Roman Empire: Treachery, Mutiny And Plague 250 – 270 AD

The Roman Empire during the first half of the third century AD experienced a rapid succession of no less than eight Emperors, battling the Persians in the east and the invading Goths on the northern...
Linear A incised on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini / ancient Thera ( CC BY-SA 3.0)

Accountant Takes An Accurate Shot At Cracking Bronze Age Script, Linear A

The enigmatic script Linear A has long been one of antiquity's most enduring mysteries. Emanating from Bronze Age Crete, its undecipherable cryptic symbols have frustrated researchers, historians,...
Roman Emperor (CEVmemories/ Adobe Stock)

Military Anarchy Period Of The Roman Empire: Descent Into Hades 235-250 AD

Most experts today recognize that the period of the Antonine Imperial Dynasty, which lasted from 96 to 192 AD, corresponded to the zenith of the Roman Empire . Yet, just over 40 years later, the...
Nero after the burning of Rome by Karl von Piloty (before 1886) Lenbachhaus (Public Domain)

The Tainted Love Life Of Nero, Fickle Emperor Of Rome

In 49 BC, Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero sent a letter to his friend Atticus informing him about the current gossip in Rome. This time, the big news involved the famous Mark Antony. “ Marcus...

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