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Definition
Athenian Democracy
Athenian democracy refers to the system of democratic government used in Athens, Greece from the 5th to 4th century BCE. Under this system, all male citizens - the dēmos - had equal political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to participate directly in the political arena. In Athenian democracy, not only did citizens participate...
Featured
Definition
Omaha Beach - D-Day's Deadliest Beach
Omaha Beach was one of two beaches attacked by the US armed forces on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Strong German defences on the bluff overlooking the beach made this area the most...
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Twelve Spices That Changed the World - Trade, Empire, and the Global Age of Spices, 1450–1650
Between c. 1450 and 1650, demand for spices and other high-value plant commodities became an important catalyst for European...
Featured
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Map of the Korean War, 1950–1953 - Major Campaigns and Front-Line Movements
The Korean War (1950–1953) began on 25 June 1950 when communist North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), invaded South...
Latest Content
Article
The Debate Between Sheep and Grain - A Sumerian Argument Between Animal Husbandry & Agriculture
The Debate Between Sheep and Grain (circa 2000 BCE) is one of the best-known Sumerian literary debates in a genre that was...
Definition
Korean War - How the Cold War Became a Hot War
The Korean War was a Cold War conflict that took place between North and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. It pitted US-led United Nations (UN) forces against the communist...
Article
G. H. Thomas's Account of the Battle of Mill Springs - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
At the Battle of Mill Springs (19 January 1862) in Kentucky, Union Brigadier General George H. Thomas had originally planned...
Definition
Franklin Pierce - The Tragic US President
Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the fourteenth president of the United States. An unremarkable politician prior to his...
Article
The Home of the Fish - A Sumerian Poem of a Trap or a Welcome
The Home of the Fish is a Sumerian poetic monologue, most likely from the Ur III period (circa 2112 to circa 2004 BCE), in which the speaker tries to...
Definition
Manhattan Project - How the Atomic Bomb Was Built
The Manhattan Project was the code name for the secret US-led programme to develop an atomic bomb during the Second World War (1939-45). Hugely expensive and employing...
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Twelve Spices That Changed the World - Trade, Empire, and the Global Age of Spices, 1450–1650
Between c. 1450 and 1650, demand for spices and other high-value plant commodities became an important catalyst for European...
Image
Map of the East India Company's Rise to Power, c. 1765 - Robert Clive and the Making of Company Power in India
The British East India Company's (EIC) rise to power in India accelerated between 1757 and 1765 as a commercial...
Image
Map of the Ancient Near East after Hammurabi, c. 1700 BCE - Kingdoms, Cities & Shifting Power in the Bronze Age
By c. 1700 BCE, the political landscape of the Ancient Near East had been reshaped by the rapid rise and fragmentation...
For You
Definition
Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution (1500-1700), which occurred first in Europe before spreading worldwide, witnessed a new approach to knowledge gathering – the scientific method – which utilised...
Definition
Thebes (Egypt)
Thebes was the capital of Egypt during the period of the New Kingdom (c.1570-c.1069 BCE) and became an important center of worship of the god Amun (also known as Amon or Amen, a combination...
Definition
Charlemagne
Charlemagne (Charles the Great, also known as Charles I, l. 742-814) was King of the Franks (r. 768-814), King of the Franks and Lombards (r. 774-814), and Holy Roman Emperor (r. 800-814). He...
Article
The Delian League, Part 6: The Decelean War and the Fall of Athens (413/2-404/3 BCE)
This text is part of an article series on the Delian League. The sixth and last phase of the Delian League begins with the Decelean...
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
The House with the Golden Door (Wolf Den Trilogy, Volume 2)
Elodie Harper has once again produced a captivating historical fiction novel that takes you right into the streets and the homes of ancient Pompeii. Set...
Book Review
Egyptian Art
Ancient Egyptian art is as recognizable as that of ancient Egypt's most enduring monuments, the Pyramids of Giza. Elegant forms clothed in bright colors, pleasant scenes of the populace active...
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| 2,624 | videos |
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| 1,330 | contributors |
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Ancient Period
Article
Monotheism in the Ancient World
Monotheism is simply defined as the belief in one god and is usually positioned as the polar opposite of polytheism, the belief in many gods. However, the word monotheism is...
Article
The Report of Wenamun: Text & Commentary
The literature of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE) is justly famous as some of the best the culture ever produced. Great works like The Tale of the Shipwrecked...
Article
Inca Mummies
The Inca civilization of Peru, as with many other ancient Andean cultures, mummified many of their dead and buried them with valuable materials such as precious metal jewellery, fine pottery...
Article
The Delian League, Part 6: The Decelean War and the Fall of Athens (413/2-404/3 BCE)
This text is part of an article series on the Delian League. The sixth and last phase of the Delian League begins with the Decelean...
Definition
Agathocles of Syracuse
Agathocles of Syracuse (c. 361 - 289 BCE) ruled as tyrant of the Sicilian city for over 25 years. Ambitious, unprincipled, and seeing himself as a new Alexander, he famously attacked...
Definition
Malia
Located near a fertile plain in northern Crete and with its own harbour, Malia was one of the major settlements and palaces of the Minoan civilization. Inhabited since Neolithic times (6000 BCE...
Article
Skulls, Temples & Churches: A Visit to the Walled City of Evora
The sunbaked plain of the Alentejo region in central Portugal is called planicie dourada (golden plain) by the Portuguese, and it is dotted with cork...
Definition
Ancient Indian Warfare
War was the chief means by which territory was annexed or rulers defeated in ancient India, which was divided into multiple kingdoms, republics and empires. Often one empire predominated...
Medieval Period
Article
Inca Food & Agriculture
The Inca empire controlled four climate zones and, consequently, their agricultural produce was diverse. Ancient Andean people were largely vegetarian, supplementing their diet with...
Article
A Brief History of Veterinary Medicine
The English word 'veterinarian' as defining one who provides medical care to animals, comes from the Latin verb veheri meaning “to draw” (as in "pull") and was first applied...
Definition
Manorialism
Medieval European Manorialism (Manorial System) was the system where rural society was arranged around a manor house or castle on an estate. The smallest units of these estates were called manors...
Interview
Interview: Bejeweled Sri Lanka
The first comprehensive survey of Sri Lankan art organized by an American museum, The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka, on show now at the LACMA in Los Angeles, California, presents...
Interview
Interview: Super/Natural: Textiles of the Andes
Over the course of several millennia, textiles were the primary form of aesthetic expression and communication for the diverse cultures that developed throughout...
Definition
Malcolm III of Scotland
Malcolm III of Scotland (aka Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) reigned as king from 1058 to 1093 CE. He took the throne after his young predecessor Lulach (r. 1057-1058 CE), the stepson of...
Definition
Donation of Constantine
The Donation of Constantine (Donatio Constantini or the Donatio) is a medieval forgery dated to the 8th century purporting to be an original 4th-century document in which the Roman...
Definition
Derrynaflan Hoard
The Derrynaflan Hoard is a collection of Irish altar vessels dating between the 8th and 9th centuries CE. Discovered on the island of Derrynaflan, in the townland of Lurgoe, Co. Tipperary...
Early Modern Period
Article
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby in Northamptonshire on 14 June 1645 was one of the most important battles of the English Civil Wars (1642-1651). The Royalists, led in person by King Charles, were soundly...
Article
4 Lesser-Known Elizabethan Playwrights and Poets
The Elizabethan era is often regarded as a golden age for English culture, language, and literature. Though William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson...
Collection
British House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a royal house that first ruled Hanover and then Great Britain from 1714 to 1901. The British Hanoverians began with George I when he succeeded the last of...
Article
How the World Was Made: A Cherokee Creation Story
How the World Was Made is a creation story of the Cherokee nation, which, like many such tales of the Native peoples of North America, begins with a world covered...
Article
Agriculture in the British Industrial Revolution
Agriculture, like most other areas of working life, was greatly affected by the machines invented during the Industrial Revolution. Agriculture in Britain and elsewhere...
Article
Education in the Elizabethan Era
Besides the traditional option of private tuition, Elizabethan England (1558-1603 CE) offered formal education to those able to pay the necessary fees at preparatory schools...
Definition
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman and political thinker. His most famous work is Reflections on the Revolution in France a critique of the social and political turmoil in...
Definition
Queen Anne's War - When Europe's Succession Dispute Ignited American Frontiers
Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) was the second major colonial conflict in North America, fought between the colonies of England – Great Britain...
Modern Period
Article
The Prophecy of Bear Man
The Prophecy of Bear Man is a war story from the Cheyenne nation relating their response to a Pawnee horse-raiding party and how they defeated their enemy, regaining most of the horses...
Article
The River of Separation, a Navajo Creation Story
The River of Separation is one of the many versions of the Navajo creation story detailing how the people first came up from below the earth, learned to live on...
Definition
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) was a self-styled holy man and faith healer from Siberia who ingratiated himself with the family of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917). Rasputin was particularly...
Definition
Arapaho
The Arapaho are a North American Native nation originally from the Red River Valley in modern-day Manitoba, Canada, and Minnesota, USA. They migrated south in the early 18th century and established...
Definition
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) was a Czech composer best known for his symphonies, symphonic poems, operas, and chamber music. Dvořák's best-loved works include his 9th Symphony (From The New...
Article
Battle of Moscow in 1941-2 - The USSR's First Victory
The Battle of Moscow (Oct 41 to Jan 42) was Germany's first major land defeat in the Second World War (1939-45). Although Axis panzer divisions reached within...
Definition
Germ Theory
The germ theory, which emerged in the late 19th century, demonstrated that microscopic germs caused most human infectious diseases. The germs involved included bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa...
Article
Black Elk on the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Black Elk (l. 1863-1950) of the Oglala Lakota Sioux was twelve years old at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on 25 June 1876. He gives his account of the famous conflict...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Clava Cairns - Monuments to Memory and More
Clava Cairns is an early Bronze Age site in Scotland, located east of the city of Inverness, consisting of three well-preserved cairns (two of which are passage graves...
Image Gallery
Paleolithic Art
The first non-functional human-made objects that could be clearly classified as art date back to the Upper Paleolithic (c. 50,000 to c. 12,000 years ago) in Europe. Although Upper Paleolithic...
Image Gallery
A Gallery of Historical Maps
This gallery of 30 maps traces the history of cartography, with examples of maps made by cultures from the Paleolithic to the early modern period. The maps cover cities, states...
Definition
Locmariaquer
Locmariaquer is a Stone Age site in north-west France distinguished by its two large stone tombs and massive granite standing stone or menhir. The monumental structures, all built within metres...
Definition
Homo Naledi
Homo naledi is an extinct species of human discovered in Rising Star Cave in South Africa in 2013 CE in what has become the biggest single-species hominin find in Africa to this day, which is...
Article
Dolmens of Ancient Korea
Dolmens (in Korean: koindol or chisongmyo) are simple structures made of monolithic stones erected during the late Neolithic period or Korean Bronze Age (1st millennium BCE). In ancient...
Article
The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art
Rock art (also known as parietal art) is an umbrella term which refers to several types of creations including finger markings left on soft surfaces, bas-relief...
Definition
Homo Heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of human that is identified in both Africa and western Eurasia from roughly 700,000 years ago onwards until around 200,000 years ago – fitting...
