An archetypal character who appears in the myths of many different cultures, the Trickster gleefully crosses and breaks physical and societal laws of both humans and gods, destroying norms, while...
In 1493, the invention of the Gutenberg printing press dramatically amplified the gathering and dissemination of news. However, this innovation came with a dark side as it later delivered the Great...
In modern times, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC) is remembered as the greatest Roman orator. A prolific thinker, his writings include books on rhetoric, orations, philosophical and political...
In the ancient world, the early distribution of political power was dictated by the availability of fresh water, fertile soil and a temperate climate, all of which were important for the development...
The Borobudur Temple , the massive Mahayana Buddhist temple in Central Java, Indonesia, was built in the ninth century during the reign of the Shailendra Dynasty, which emerged in eighth-century Java...
The sun god Apollo has been identified as the embodiment of the Hellenic spirit, by Scottish classical scholar W.K. C. Guthrie in his 1950 book, The Greeks and their Gods. An eternally youthful deity...
In 1127, the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) lost control of northern China and, with it, access to the Silk Road and Persia's riches. After overthrowing the Song Dynasty and rising himself to the imperial...
In ancient India, legendary King Udayana was a king of the city of Kaushambi in the north-central India as well as a patron of Shakyamuni Buddha. The Buddhist scripture Samyutta Nikaya records...
Kinryuzan Sensoji Temple, located in Asakusa, Tokyo is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan. Dedicated to Kannon Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of compassion, the temple is one of the most widely...
The modern-day Java Island of Indonesia now boasts diverse ethnic and religious communities, but the island was once divided by the bitter Battle of Bubat, when a royal wedding turned into a blood...
Classic works such as Odyssey by Homer, The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe tell about mysterious distant islands. These islands are usually exotic and inaccessible...
Eucleia, the ancient Greek female personification of glory and good repute, is the youngest of the Charites. She was the daughter of Hephaestus and Aglaea, the goddess of splendor and adoration...
While martial suicide is a practice found in a lot of cultures, the act of seppuku , or ritual self-disembowelment, is peculiar to Japan. The earliest known acts of seppuku were the deaths of samurai...
Commodus, the son and heir of the distinguished ‘ philosopher emperor’ Marcus Aurelius , was a failure as a Roman emperor. He was appointed co-emperor of Rome and ruled alongside his father when he...
Written in the early 11th century Japan, Genji Monogatari (源氏物語, T he Tale of Genji ) vividly describes the complex life and relationships of Genji, a handsome courtier, an excellent lover and a...
The Maenads are often written off simply as ‘mad women’ by historians. However, although the name Maenad literally translates as the ‘raving ones’, these women were much more than that. The Maenads...