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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!

Roman Street Scene by Ettore Forti (late 19th century) (Public Domain)

Matrons, Plebeians And Prostitutes, The Women Of Ancient Rome

Rome was the very essence of a male dominated society, being militaristic, proud, go-getting and determined on expansion. The man of the house, the Paterfamilias, was the head of the family with...
AI Illustration of Eridu, close to the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Euphrates River ( Rick/ Adobe Stock)

Eridu and Ubaid: Temples of the God Enki and His Consort Ninhursag

Ancient Sumerian mythology tells that Eridu, considered one of the most southern of the settlements close to the Persian Gulf, was inhabited before the flood when, according to the Sumerian King list...
An illustration of Christine de Pizan writing in her study, from The Book of the Queen (Harley MS 4431, f. 4r) (Image source: The British Library/ Public Domain)

Women’s Wills From Anglo-Saxon Times To Post War Feminists

Since ancient times, wills and inheritance have a long, recorded history and Britain is no different. A history of a thousand years of the wills of women offer a rare but rich glimpse into their...
Panoramic view of Stonehenge with rainbow - United Kingdom (muratart / Adobe Stock)

Roman Origins Of A Pot At The End Of The Rainbow

Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what's on the other side? Rainbows are visions, but only illusions, and rainbows have nothing to hide. So we've been told and some choose to believe it...
Sumerian City with ziggurat Water colour. (AlexaSokol83/ Adobe Stock)

Larsa: Cult City State Basking Under The Sumerian Sun

The fall of the Third Dynasty of Ur at end of the third millennium echoed over the land of Sumer, between the Tigris and Euphrates in ancient southern Mesopotamia and it opened the landscape for the...
Aftermath of Romans Conquering (furyon/ Adobe Stock)

The Roman Empire’s Pragmatic Puzzle Of Provinces

The popular conception of the Romans, mainly fostered by movies and television, extends to their all-conquering dominance, their armies, gladiators, blood and gore, sex and violence, mad emperors,...
Artist’s impression of ancient Ur on the Euphrates. (anibal / Adobe Stock)

Mesopotamia’s Ur, A City Of Ziggurat Temples, Royal Tombs And Death Pits

Where the Euphrates River once opened its mouth into the Persian Gulf, on the southern floodplain of Mesopotamia, lies Ur, dating from the Ubaid period, circa (6500 -3800 BC), and host to the...
A Roman soldier keeping a lookout over the misty hills of Britannia. (Justinas / Adobe Stock)

The Legacy Of Emperor Magnus Maximus, Despite His Damnatio Memoriae

In Roman times, a decree of Damnatio memoriae was the chief way of obliterating the memory, nearly always posthumous, of those perceived as having transgressed in some way, as was the case of Emperor...
Adam clutches a child in the presence of the child-snatcher Lilith, by Filippino Lippi (1502) Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Florence (Public Domain)

Seeking Lilith, Adam’s Ex-Wife

Lilith was Adam’s first wife, and after a messy divorce, he married Eve, thus giving birth to the more commonly known Old Testament story of creation, featuring the famous Biblical characters Adam...
Marriage of Guinivere (Public Domain)

King Henry I’s Illegitimate Daughters, Pawns In A Dynastic Strategy

Familial identity and affinity were crucial factors in the establishment of an aristocrat’s social and political contexts, defining to a significant extent their place and interactions within the...
Behold the Handmaiden of the Lord. The Annunciation on the stained glass in church St Etheldreda by Charles Blakeman (1953) (Renáta Sedmáková/ Adobe Stock)

Translating Saint Etheldreda, A Tawdry Tale Of Medieval England

Etheldreda – St Audrey - is a familiar figure, especially so in Ely, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire district, England. 2023 commemorates the 1,350th anniversary of her founding her monastery...
AI generated Alexander with full head of hair. ( Worldillustrator/ Adobe Stock)

Lysippos, Sculptor Hairdresser Of Alexander The Great

Lysippos was known as one of the three best Classical Greek sculptors of the fourth century BC. He, along with sculptors Scopas of Paros and Praxiteles of Athens, were instrumental in ushering in the...
Reproduction of a depiction of Cimmerian mounted archers from a Greek vase. (Shams bahari /CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Enigmatic Cimmerians Crisscrossing The Caspian And Caucasian Steppes

The Cimmerians remain one of the most mysterious and obscure peoples of the ancient world. They make their debut in the Odyssey , written by Homer, the great Greek bard, in the eight century BC. To...
The Dynamic Dance Of The Earth, Solar System, And Precession

The Dynamic Dance Of The Earth, Solar System, And Precession

Long before the dark ages, history recalls the myth and folklore of a higher age. Hesiod, the famed Greek historian (circa 700 BC), tells it was a time of peace and plenty when mankind lived in tune...
True Democracy? Oligarchy Versus Ochlokratia In Athens

True Democracy? Oligarchy Versus Ochlokratia In Athens

If what is taken to matter most is the power of decision-making, and, as part of that, the power to call executive office-holders to account by judicial or other means, then the first democracy...
Medieval battle (INK/ Adobe Stock)

12th-Century Royal Succession Turmoil: Societal Taboo Against Fratricide

In 1106, King Henry I of England captured his elder brother, Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, during their decisive clash at the Battle of Tinchebray. While Robert Curthose’s capture provided Henry...
Cavemen puzzled by a mobile phone  ( Blue Planet Studio/Adobe Stock)

Collective Learning: So Easy, Even A Caveman Could Do It

Ever since Darwin brought up the fact that the human race had apes as distant ancestors, modern humans have been uneasy and a little defensive. They mocked the simian nature of Australopithecus ,...
The Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal, a Maya observatory, under a starry sky which includes the constellation of Orion, to the left. (Image: © Jonathon Perrin)

Chasing The Heavens: Ancient Observatories of the Yucatán Maya

Centuries ago, Maya astronomer-priests charted the heavens from huge stone observatories. From above the jungles of the Yucatán in modern-day Mexico, they carefully recorded the motions of the gods...
South Church of Subeita (Felix Tchvertkin / Adobe Stock)

Excavating Subeita, Byzantine City In The Negev Desert

The Byzantine town of Subeita (Shivta) in the Negev Desert , was an integral part of the Byzantine province of Third Palestine. The Romans had first incorporated it into their Empire in 106 AD, and...
Cicero Denounces Catiline in the Roman Senate by Cesare Maccari (1889) (Public Domain)

Conspiracy in Rome: Catiline The Eternal Villian?

L. Sergius Catilina (106 BC to 62 BC) was a Roman soldier and politician who attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the Roman Republic following his second defeat for consul due to the efforts of his...
Aspasia surrounded by Greek philosophers, by Michel Corneille the Younger  (1670) Versailles (Public Domain)

Elusive Epicurus, Hellenistic Greek Philosopher In Search Of Happiness

Epicurus was a fourth-third century BC Hellenistic philosopher who established his school, called The Garden, in Athens, where even women and slaves were welcomed. Epicureanism opposed Platonism and...
Celestial hairlock of Queen Berenice II of Egypt (de Art / Adobe Stock)

The Celestial Hairlock Of Berenice II, Queen Of Egypt And Cyrene

Not long after the passing of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, one of his generals, Ptolemy - who went on to found the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt and later known as Ptolemy I Soter - annexed Cyrene (in...
Women Gladiators: Sensational Spectator Sport For Roman Audiences

Women Gladiators: Sensational Spectator Sport For Roman Audiences

It may all have started when female sword fighters performed at funerals in the very early days of Rome. There may also be some connection between women participating in chariot racing and women...
Mercator world map Public Domain and Gerardus Mercator of Rupelmonde at the age of 62 by Frans Hogenburg (1574) (Public Domain)

16th-Century Maps Reveal 1800 BC Ice Free Greenland And Antarctica

There is a large body of maps of the Americas which cannot be explained by known explorations. Mercator’s 1569 World Map shows all of Greenland without ice at its coasts. Finaeus’ 1531 World Map...

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