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Cecilia Bogaard

Cecilia Bogaard is one of the editors, researchers and writers on Ancient Origins. With an MA in Social Anthropology, and degree in Visual Communication (Photography), Cecilia has a passion for research, content creation and editing, especially as related to the ability for art to provoke social change, and the dynamics of power in public space throughout history. This has taken her around the world to far-flung places such as Cuba, Spain, Scotland, India, the United States and now southern Ecuador, where she lives with her family.

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Did Pope Gregory IV really start a war on cats in the 13th century? Source: SlothAstronaut / Adobe Stock

1 October, 2022 - 01:57 Cecilia Bogaard

The Cat-Quisition: Pope Gregory IX Started a War on— Wait for It—Cats

Anyone with a thing against cats may get some satisfaction from a weird history “fact” circulating on the internet. Used as widespread clickbait, a frequently repeated story claims that in the 13th...

An Aztec skull of a sacrificed captive used as a mask, encrusted in the nose and mouth with obsidian blades. (Dante / Adobe Stock)

29 September, 2022 - 14:54 Cecilia Bogaard

16 Absolutely Terrifying Aztec Artifacts

The Aztecs emerged in central Mexico around 1300 AD, coming to dominate the surrounding area from their capital city Tenochtitlan , now Mexico City. Stretching across highlands, coastal plains,...

A Hollowed-Out Gourd Contains the Blood of Louis XVI. Or Does it?

29 September, 2022 - 01:54 Cecilia Bogaard

A Hollowed-Out Gourd Contains the Blood of Louis XVI. Or Does it?

While it’s not what I’d do, legend has it that when King Louis XVI was beheaded in 1793, onlookers in Paris rushed to the scene to dip their handkerchiefs in the dead king’s blood. Years later, one...

Composite image cloves layered over map representing the Magellan-Elcano expedition in the Nao Victoria. Source: Benjamin LEFEBVRE / Adobe Stock & Public domain

22 September, 2022 - 01:57 Cecilia Bogaard

The First Circumnavigation of the World Happened by Accident, Not Design

In 2022 Spain went all out to celebrate the quincentennial of the arrival of the so-called ‘Spice Route Armada’ which reached Spain on September 6th, 1522, after completing the first recorded...

Pinned to the side of its cliff face is the Xuan Kong Si, also known as the Hanging Monastery of Mount Heng. (Public domain)

18 September, 2022 - 14:57 Cecilia Bogaard

15 Incredible Cliff Constructions from the Ancient World

Humans have created monumental constructions on cliff faces throughout the world. These striking architectural wonders have often times been inspired by the desire to come closer to the heavens or to...

The Anarchic Mohawk Hairstyle. Source: ArtoPhotoDesigno / Adobe Stock

16 September, 2022 - 01:56 Cecilia Bogaard

The Anarchic ‘Mohawk’ Hairstyle Didn’t Come From the Mohawk Tribe

The ultimate expression of anarchy, the now-mainstream Mohawk hairstyle has a surprisingly ancient history. While most people think the Mohawk hairstyle was created by anti-establishment punks back...

The curious history of the fork. Source: TATIANA / Adobe Stock

14 September, 2022 - 14:54 Cecilia Bogaard

Forks Were Once Seen as Blasphemous and Effeminate

You may not know it, but the fork is a relatively new invention, especially when comparing it to the spoon and the knife. So much so, that it only became popular in the United States in the 19th...

The medieval Bojnice castle in Slovakia is one of many real-life fairytale castles in Europe. Source: radu79 / Adobe Stock

12 September, 2022 - 14:51 Cecilia Bogaard

10 Real-life Fairytale Castles from Across Europe

The castles we see in movies and picture books were not just inspired by fantasy and imagination. In most cases they were based on real-life castles, many of which can be found in Europe. Evolving...

Digital reconstruction of a Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur and a prehistoric Sarcosuchus crocodile or SuperCroc. Source: Michael Rosskothen / Adobe Stock

11 September, 2022 - 22:55 Cecilia Bogaard

Dinosaur-Eating Galloping Crocodiles Once Existed in the Sahara Desert

Believe it or not, but 100 million years ago the area of the present-day scorching hot Sahara Desert was a lush swamp home not just to dinosaurs, but also to several kinds of prehistoric crocodilians...

Queen Elizabeth II, The Second Longest-Reigning Monarch in History Dies

8 September, 2022 - 19:16 Cecilia Bogaard

Queen Elizabeth II, the Second Longest-Reigning Monarch in History, Dies

Today, Thursday 8th of September, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth has passed away peacefully at her country home, Balmoral. The news comes just...

Portrait of Dauphin Louis-Charles of France, Marie Antoinette’s son. Source: Public domain

7 September, 2022 - 01:57 Cecilia Bogaard

Dozens of Imposters Pretended to be Louis XVII, Marie Antoinette’s Son

The executions of both Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI have acquired legendary status. Surprisingly, the fate of their son, and the dozens of imposters who came out of the woodwork claiming to be...

Portrait of Tee Yee Ho Ga Row, baptized as Hendrick Tejonihokarawa, during his visit as part of the Four Indian Kings to Queen Anne in London in 1710, by Jan Verelst. Source: Public domain

4 September, 2022 - 22:45 Cecilia Bogaard

Four Native American Kings Visited Queen Anne in London With a Special Request

The visit of four Native American “Kings” to London in 1710 caused quite a stir. While this wasn’t the first time that Native Americans had been on English soil, it was the first time that they were...

Medieval depiction of Empedocles of Acragas throwing himself into Mount Etna. Source: Public domain

28 August, 2022 - 22:58 Cecilia Bogaard

Empedocles of Acragas Committed Suicide by Jumping into a Volcano

Empedocles of Acragas was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century BC. It is said that wanting to prove he was an all-powerful god, he decided to leap into the volcanic Mount...

A pair of King Tut’s sandals. Source: © Merja Attia

26 August, 2022 - 01:31 Cecilia Bogaard

King Tut Stepped on his Enemies: Learning from Tutankhamun’s Sandals

While Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw has entered popular imagination for her stunning array of shoes and fashion savvy, few know that the young King Tut also enjoyed a vast collection footwear...

Depiction of the ancient Egyptian deity Thoth silhouette, said to have invented the enema, which were performed by a type of physician known as shepherd of the anus. Source: SunFrot/Adobe Stock

24 August, 2022 - 01:59 Cecilia Bogaard

Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs Had a Shepherd of the Royal Anus

History is filled with bizarre, and often degrading, jobs that we can’t imagine doing today. Shepherd of the Royal Anus is up there with the worst of them. The ancient Egyptians have been remembered...

A drawing of a flayed corpse, the fate of Marco Antonio Bragadin at Famagusta in 1571. Source: Wellcome Images / CC BY 4.0

12 August, 2022 - 01:58 Cecilia Bogaard

Marco Antonio Bragadin Was Flayed and his Skin Kept as a Trophy

Tales of massacres, sieges and sadistic executions are common throughout history. Nevertheless, the brutal flaying of Marco Antonio Bragadin, the Venetian commander of Famagusta, and the fall of...

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