Featured
Definition
Nefertiti
Nefertiti (c. 1370 - c. 1336 BCE) was the wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means, `the beautiful one has come' and, because of the world-famous bust created by the sculptor Thutmose (discovered in 1912 CE), she is the most recognizable queen of ancient Egypt. She grew up in the royal palace at Thebes, probably the daughter of the vizier to Amenhotep III, a...
Featured
Article
The 1918 Armistice with Germany - Allied Victory on WWI's Western Front
The armistice that ended the First World War (1914-18) on the Western Front was signed between Germany and the Allies on 11 November 1918. The...
Featured
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The Four Intact Pharaoh Burials of Ancient Egypt - Tutankhamun and the Royal Treasures of Tanis
Ancient Egyptian royal burials were designed to preserve the pharaoh's body, identity, and status for the afterlife. Coffins...
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12 Royal Princes Who Never Reached the Throne - From Germanicus to the Black Prince & Franz Ferdinand
Royal heirs and princes expected to succeed to a throne occupied an unusually precarious position: close enough to power...
Latest Content
Definition
Stakhanovite Movement - Labour Productivity in Stalin's USSR
The Stakhanovite movement took its name from the Soviet coal miner Alexei Stakhanov (1906-1977), who produced a prodigious amount of coal in a single shift...
Article
Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven - Backstory to The Descent of Inanna
Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven is a Sumerian poem relating the event, now famous from the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the goddess Inanna/Ishtar...
Article
Stuart's Ride Around McClellan - J. Esten Cooke's Account of the Famous Expedition
Toward the end of Union Major General George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign (17 March to 1 July 1862) during the American Civil War...
Article
Stalin's Great Purge - State Oppression in the USSR
Joseph Stalin's Great Purge, also known as the Great Terror of 1936-8, was the most manic part of a decade of state oppression in the USSR. The purges saw the...
Definition
Peninsula Campaign - The Invasion Crippled by Fear
The Peninsula Campaign (17 March to 1 July 1862; operation completely ended by 26 August 1862) was the first large-scale Union offensive operation launched in...
Definition
Pax Mongolica - Trade and Cultural Exchange in the Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire was the largest land empire in world history, at about 22,000,000 square kilometers (850,000 square miles). The term Pax Mongolica...
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Map of the Akkadian Empire at Its Height, c. 2250 BCE - Sargon, Naram-Sin, and the Rise of Mesopotamian Empire
The Akkadian Empire (c. 2334–2154 BCE) is widely regarded as one of the earliest territorial empires in recorded...
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Map of the Silk Roads of Eurasia, c. 780–800 - Trade Routes, Empires, and Cultural Exchange
In the late 8th century, the Silk Roads formed an interconnected network of overland caravan routes and maritime connections linking...
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Map of the Roman Republic and the Mediterranean, c. 90 BCE - On the Eve of the Mithridatic Wars
By c. 90 BCE, the Roman Republic had become the dominant power in the Mediterranean following its victories over Carthage and...
For You
Article
Battle of Marj Ayyun
The Battle of Marj Ayyun (10 June 1179, also given as the Battle on the Litani) was a military engagement between Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem (r. 1174-1185) and Saladin, Sultan of...
Article
Fall of the Western Roman Empire
To many historians, the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century CE has always been viewed as the end of the ancient world and the onset of the Middle Ages, often...
Definition
The Wasps
The Wasps is a play written by the lone representative of Ancient Greece's Old Attic Comedy, Aristophanes (c. 445 - c. 386 BCE). It won second place at the Lenaea competition in 422 BCE. Written...
Definition
Roman Forum - The History of Rome's Greatest Public Space
The Roman Forum or Forum Romanum of ancient Rome was the bustling religious, administrative, legal, and commercial heart of the city from the 7th century...
Book Reviews
Book Review
The Army of Alexander the Great
The Army of Alexander the Great (2025) is a highly detailed and insightful examination of one of the most influential military forces in history. Rather than presenting Alexander...
Book Review
Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan
The story of the Mughal Empire is a fascinating one. It has most of the historical elements that one might expect out of an empire: powerful male rulers, wars of succession...
Book Review
Women and the Crusades
Between the 11th and 16th centuries, the idea of 'crusading' was dominant in Europe. Helen J. Nicholson's new book reminds us that crusading during this time had a much broader implication...
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| 1,776 | articles |
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| 2,650 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
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| 15,696 | keywords |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Pausanias (Geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek author, historian, and geographer of the 2nd century CE who journeyed extensively throughout Greece, chronicling these travels in his Periegesis Hellados or Description...
Definition
Titus Quinctius Flamininus
Titus Quinctius Flamininus (229-174 BCE) was a consul and military commander of the Roman Republic during the Second Macedonian War, who decisively defeated Philip V of Macedon (r...
Definition
Lesbos
Lesbos, a Greek island located in the eastern Aegean, had several prosperous city-states which thrived from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine era. Switching many times between independence, Persian...
Article
Nazca Pottery
The pottery of the Nazca civilization, which flourished in ancient Peru between 200 BCE and 600 CE, is amongst the most distinctive art produced by any civilization from antiquity. Endlessly...
Article
Ancient Handicrafts in Rural Lebanon
Traditional Lebanese handicrafts are considered to be a major sector of the living cultural heritage in the rural areas of Lebanon. Transmitted from one generation to another...
Definition
Middle Kingdom of Egypt - Ancient Egypt's Classical Age
The Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) is considered ancient Egypt's Classical Age, during which it produced some of its greatest works of art and literature...
Article
Top 10 Roman Sites in Bulgaria
Roman Bulgaria occupied an important position in the heart of the Balkans, between the Black Sea, the Aegean, and Asia Minor. In the north, the Danube River formed a heavily...
Definition
Syracuse
The city of Syracuse is located on the east coast of Sicily and was originally a Greek colony founded by Corinth in 734 BCE. The city enjoyed a period of expansion and prosperity under the tyrant...
Medieval Period
Definition
Yazdegerd III
Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651) was the last monarch of the Sassanian Empire (224-651), ruling – or attempting to rule – amidst the chaos of its final decline and fall to the invading Muslim Arabs...
Definition
Etowah Mounds
Etowah Mounds (also known as Etowah Indian Mounds) is a National Historic Landmark and archaeological site near Cartersville, Georgia, USA, enclosing the ruins of a prehistoric Native American...
Article
A Medieval Christmas - A History of Seasonal Traditions
Christmas was one of the highlights of the medieval calendar, not only for the rich but also for the peasantry. For the longest holiday of the year, typically...
Definition
Ivan III of Russia
Ivan III of Russia (Ivan the Great) was the Grand Prince of Moscow and Russia from 1462 to 1505. Ivan III was born in 1440 to Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow (r. 1425-1462) and his wife...
Collection
Maya Religion & Culture
Maya religion and culture is among the most advanced and sophisticated of the Pre-Colombian Americas as evidenced by the ruins of their great cities and what remains of their writings...
Article
In Search of the Promised Land: Saint Brendan’s Voyage
Between the 9th and the 10th century CE, in an unknown European abbey, an anonymous author told the story of an Irish monk and his 14 companions who embarked...
Article
The Mongol Invasion of Europe
The Mongol invasions of Russia and Eastern Europe occurred first with a brief sortie in 1223 CE and then again in a much larger campaign between 1237 CE and 1242 CE. The Mongols...
Collection
Trade in the Middle Ages
Peoples, cities and states have traded since antiquity but in the medieval period, things escalated so that goods travelled ever greater distances by land, river and sea. Great cities...
Early Modern Period
Definition
John Rolfe
John Rolfe (l. 1585-1622 CE) was an English merchant and colonist of Jamestown best known as the husband of Pocahontas (l. c. 1596-1617 CE). He is also known, however, for his successful cultivation...
Image Gallery
30 Statues of English Kings & Queens
This statue gallery covers 30 English kings and queens over 1400 years, from the early Anglo-Saxon rulers to Queen Elizabeth II (reign 1952-2022). The statues are primarily...
Definition
John Hawkins
Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595 CE) was an Elizabethan mariner, merchant and naval administrator who has the inglorious (if not wholly accurate) record of being England's first slave trader. In...
Article
Fall of the East India Company
The British East India Company (1600-1874) was the largest and most successful private enterprise ever created. All-powerful wherever it colonised, the EIC's use of its own private...
Definition
King Philip (Metacom)
Metacomet (also known as King Philip and Metacom, l. 1638-1676) was chief of the Wampanoag Confederacy between 1662-1676, best known as the leader of Native American forces during the...
Article
The Resuscitation of the Only Daughter
The Resuscitation of the Only Daughter is a Sioux story about a young maiden who dies and returns to life, helped by a hunter and his wife, and then lives into old age...
Definition
Myles Standish
Myles Standish (l. c. 1584-1656 CE) was the military advisor to the Plymouth Colony who traveled with the colonists (later known as pilgrims) aboard the Mayflower in 1620 CE. The colonists...
Definition
Adam Smith
Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and leading Enlightenment figure. In The Wealth of Nations, he advocates free trade and limited interference in markets by governments...
Modern Period
Definition
Stupa
A stupa (literally “heap” or “pile”) is a reliquary, a shrine containing the remains of a holy or sainted person and/or artifacts (relics) associated with them, originating in India prior to the...
Article
Clarissa Davis & Woman Escaping in a Box - No Happy Slaves and Two Great Escapes
Slaveholders in the United States frequently claimed that Blacks were 'happy' to be slaves and could, in no way, function as free people...
Definition
Sioux
The Sioux are a native North American nation who inhabited the Great Plains region of, roughly, modern Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. They are one of the many...
Definition
Thaddeus Stevens - American Jacobin
Thaddeus Stevens (1792-1868) was a US politician and abolitionist, who rose to prominence in the 1860s during the American Civil War and Reconstruction eras. A leader of the...
Article
US Presidential Election of 1800
The US presidential election of 1800, referred to by Jeffersonians as the Revolution of 1800, was a turning point in the early political history of the United States. It resulted...
Definition
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (1819-1891) was a 19th-century American author of novels, short stories and poetry. He is best known for his novel Moby Dick, published in 1851, and his short stories Bartleby...
Article
Battle of Marengo
The Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800) was one of the most important battles in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). It not only helped bring the French Revolutionary Wars to an...
Article
Fear of Insurrection - Harriet Jacobs on Nat Turner's Rebellion
Fear of Insurrection comes from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) by Harriet Jacobs (l. c. 1813-1897) describing the reaction of the White...
Prehistoric Period
Article
Prehistoric Alpine Stilt Houses
Alpine stilt houses are a unique and fascinating aspect of prehistoric architecture in the Alps, which provide valuable insights into the lives and culture of the ancient communities...
Definition
Carnac
Carnac, located on the north-west coast of France, is the site of the largest concentration of megalithic monuments in the world. Over 100 monuments, which include burial mounds, stone tombs, enclosures...
Definition
Homo Sapiens
Homo sapiens ('wise man'), or modern humans, are the only species of human still around today. Despite having invented countless ways of labelling the world around us, we have so far done a...
Definition
Barnhouse Settlement
The Barnhouse Settlement is a Neolithic village located in Antaness, Orkney, Scotland, which was inhabited between c. 3300 and 2600 BCE. The present designation of 'Barnhouse' comes...
Definition
Homo Habilis
Homo habilis ("handy man") is an extinct species of human that lived in East and South Africa between 2.3 and 1.5 million years ago and plays an interesting role in the discussion surrounding...
Definition
Newgrange
Newgrange is a Neolithic monument located in the region of Bru na Boinne, County Meath, Ireland. The name is fairly modern and comes from the 'newer' grange (farm) of the monks of Mellifont Abbey...
Definition
Migration Age
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions or German: Völkerwanderung (wandering of the peoples), was a period of human migration that occurred roughly between 300 to 700 CE...
Article
The Dolmens of Sicily
It is a well-known fact that Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, went through a quite complex prehistoric period. So much so that it is difficult to navigate through...
