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Image Gallery
History by the Numbers - 12 Visual Stories of Power, Conflict, Discovery & Change
History is filled with numbers: years of rule, distances travelled, armies mobilized, cities besieged, territories conquered, and generations...
Featured
Article
Siege of Detroit
The Siege of Detroit (15-16 August 1812) was one of the first major actions of the War of 1812. After a botched invasion of Canada, a US army retreated to Fort Detroit, where it was besieged...
Featured
Image
Ragnarök: The Complete Timeline - The End and Rebirth of the Norse World
Ragnarök, often translated as the “doom” or “fate of the gods”, is the climactic destruction and renewal of the cosmos in Norse mythology. Its...
Featured
Image
The Bayeux Tapestry: The Story of 1066 - Conquest, Propaganda, and the Norman Claim to England
The Bayeux Tapestry, created in the late 11th century, probably in England for a Norman patron, is one of the most important...
Latest Content
Article
Vienna’s Legacy: The Habsburg Empire on the Intellectual Map
While most people today know about the influence of London, Paris, and New York on modern...
Image Gallery
History by the Numbers - 12 Visual Stories of Power, Conflict, Discovery & Change
History is filled with numbers: years of rule, distances travelled, armies...
Article
Panic at Bull Run - Russell's Account of the Union Retreat
Panic at Bull Run is an excerpt from a longer article, The Battle of Bull Run, by the famous...
Article
The Integration of Church and State in the Roman Empire
In the ancient world, "religion" and society were not separate entities. Various gods dictated...
Definition
First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) - The Wake-Up Call for Both Sides in the American Civil War
The First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas) on 21 July 1861...
Article
Battle of Rich Mountain - The Victory That Created an Army
The Battle of Rich Mountain (11 July 1861), fought in Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia...
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Article
Visitor’s Guide to the Monuments of Hadrian’s Villa
Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli, Italy, is an opulent, sprawling garden-villa covering some 120 hectares (296 acres). It was built by Emperor Hadrian (76-138 CE...
Definition
Xenophanes of Colophon
Xenophanes of Colophon (l. c. 570 to c. 478 BCE) was a Greek philosopher born 50 miles north of Miletus, a city famed for the birth of philosophy and home to the first Western philosopher...
Article
Authority in Ancient Rome: Auctoritas, Potestas, Imperium, and the Paterfamilias
Authority in ancient Rome was complex, and as one can expect from Rome, full of tradition, myth, and awareness of their own storied history...
Article
Causes of the American Revolution
The American Revolution (c. 1765-1789) was a definitive event in Western history that saw the emergence of the United States and helped spawn additional waves of revolutions...
Book Reviews
Book Review
Athelstan
“It was the most terrible conflict that anyone could remember. Entire kingdoms were mobilised for combat. Slaughter fit to stupefy poets was visited on the ranks of the rival combatants" (3...
Book Review
Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar
Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar is a deeply researched book, exploring every avenue of the history of sugar. It is a book that historians, academics, and...
Book Review
Rome and Persia - The Seven Hundred Year Rivalry
Adrian Goldsworthy is one of the most steadily prolific classical antiquarians writing today. Having received his DPhil in ancient history from Oxford, Goldsworthy...
Statistics
| 2,960 | definitions |
| 1,735 | articles |
| 19,637 | illustrations |
| 2,617 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 15,371 | translations |
| 47 | languages |
| 1,326 | contributors |
| 15,240 | keywords |
| 50,878 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
Tairona Civilization
The Tairona civilization - one of the Chibcha family tribes - flourished in northern Colombia between 200 CE and 1600 CE. Like the Muisca of Cundinamarca, the Tairona were known for...
Image Gallery
Cups in Antiquity
Cups were a part of everyday life in the ancient world, just as they are today but craftworkers and artists were often challenged to use their talents to produce especially decorative and...
Definition
Aryan
Aryan is a designation originally meaning “civilized”, “noble”, or “free” without reference to any ethnicity. It was first applied as a self-identifying term by a migratory group of people from...
Definition
Sarpedon
Sarpedon is a figure from ancient Greek mythology, a Lycian prince who was one of the principal heroes during the Trojan War and fought on the side of Troy. According to Homer's Iliad, he was...
Article
Roman Warfare in the Age of Pyrrhus
The Roman army fought many conflicts throughout its long history, though perhaps none so indelible as the Pyrrhic War from 280 to 275 BCE. This war between Rome and a league...
Definition
Ptolemaic Army
The army of Ptolemaic Egypt was a well-organized fighting force trained in Hellenistic warfare. The Ptolemaic dynasty used their considerable wealth to maintain a large standing army of professional...
Collection
Plagues in History
Plagues have swept through humanity ever since communities have gathered together in concentrated groups. In this collection of resources, we look at just some of the pandemics that raged...
Definition
Amber in Antiquity
Amber, the fossilised resin of trees, was used throughout the ancient world for jewellery and decorative objects. The main source was the Baltic region where amber, known to mineralogists...
Medieval Period
Definition
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade (aka Cathars' Crusade, 1209-1229 CE), was the first crusade to specifically target heretic Christians - the Cathars of southern France. Not successful in repressing...
Definition
Cerdic
Cerdic of Wessex (r. 519-534) was King of the West Saxons and the founder of Wessex. His influence was so profound that later genealogies of the English monarchy would claim that all the sovereigns...
Definition
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor (aka Chengzu or Yung Lo, r. 1403-1424 CE) was the third ruler of the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE). Inheriting a stable state thanks to the work of his father, the...
Article
La Rochelle, a Protestant Stronghold of the French Reformation
La Rochelle emerged early in the French Reformation as a Protestant political and military center. The city's fortifications withstood repeated sieges...
Definition
Alchemy
Alchemy is an ancient practice aimed at recreating precious substances using recipes and transformative materials such as the philosopher's stone. Alchemists believed that materials like gold...
Definition
King Stephen of England
King Stephen of England, often called Stephen of Blois, ruled from 1135 to 1154 CE. His predecessor Henry I of England (r. 1100-1135 CE) had left no male heir and his nominated successor...
Collection
Daily Life in a Medieval Monastery
Monasteries and other religious institutions such as priories and nunneries were a quintessential part of the medieval landscape and an important component of a community's...
Interview
Interview: Early Medieval Irish Book Art
Early medieval Irish book art is both beautiful and fascinating. It reflects a flourishing monastic culture which played a key role in the cultural development of Europe...
Early Modern Period
Definition
William Cecil, Lord Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520-1598 CE) was Elizabeth I of England's most important minister for much of her reign (1558-1603 CE). Lord Burghley was Secretary of State...
Definition
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte (also spelt Laffite, c. 1780 to c. 1820 CE) was a Franco-American leader of pirates and privateers who captured merchant vessels of various states in the Gulf of Mexico from 1810...
Definition
Estates-General of 1789
The Estates-General of 1789 was a meeting of the three estates of pre-revolutionary France: clergy, nobility, and commons. Summoned by King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) to deal...
Definition
John Alden
John Alden (l. c. 1598-1687 CE) was a member of the crew of the Mayflower, serving as the ship's cooper (barrel maker), on the historic voyage of 1620 CE which established the Plymouth Colony...
Article
Battle of Hondschoote
The Battle of Hondschoote, fought on 6-8 September 1793, was a major turning point in the Flanders Campaign of 1792-1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). An army of...
Definition
August Decrees
The decrees of 4 August 1789, also known as the August Decrees, were a set of 19 articles passed by the National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution (1789-1799) which abolished...
Definition
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian Renaissance artist, architect, engineer, and scientist. He is renowned for his ability to observe and capture nature, scientific phenomena...
Definition
Stephen Hopkins
Stephen Hopkins (l. 1581-1644 CE) was a passenger of the Mayflower on the voyage of 1620 CE which established the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, USA. He was the only member...
Modern Period
Article
Interview: French Fashion during the German Occupation (1940-1944)
In 2024, France was celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Liberation (1944), and as part of a series of conferences organised by the Société archéologique...
Definition
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was an impressionist painter based in France who focussed on landscapes but frequently changed his style and subjects. He was an instrumental figure in the new...
Article
Ten Native American Legendary Creatures You Need to Know
Native American lore features many legendary creatures and supernatural entities that were understood as beneficial to humanity but just as many that posed...
Definition
Anna Maria Weems - The Girl Who Became a Boy to Escape Slavery
Anna Maria Weems (circa 1840 to circa 1863) was an enslaved African American woman in Rockville, Maryland, who escaped by posing as a young Black livery...
Image Gallery
Claude Monet: A Gallery of 30 Paintings
In this gallery, we showcase 30 paintings by Claude Monet (1840-1926), the French painter who is regarded by many as the master of impressionism. The paintings are presented...
Article
Lakota Sioux Creation Story
The Lakota Sioux, like other tribal nations, had many versions of a creation story but all involved Wakan Tanka (Great Mystery or Great Spirit), the supreme creative power in the...
Definition
Portuguese Angola
Portuguese Angola in southwest Africa was the first European colony on that continent. While settlement from 1571 proved problematic in the interior, the Portuguese did obtain a large number...
Definition
Russian Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905 challenged the absolute power of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917) as ruler of the Russian Empire. Bloody Sunday in 1905 started the year disastrously...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Altamira
Altamira is a Paleolithic cave located in Santillana del Mar (Cantabria region) in northern Spain, containing prehistoric paintings. The cave was inhabited for millennia and so, besides Paleolithic...
Definition
Hill of Tara
The Hill of Tara is an ancient Neolithic Age site in County Meath, Ireland. It was known as the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, the site of coronations, a place of assembly for the enacting...
Article
Lost Civilisations of Anatolia: Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe is the world's oldest example of monumental architecture; a 'temple' built at the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 years ago. It was discovered in 1995...
Definition
Dolmen
A dolmen is a megalithic structure typically formed from a large horizontal stone slab resting on two or more upright slabs. The oldest European examples are found in Brittany, northern France...
Definition
Pre-Colonial North America
Pre-Colonial North America (also known as Pre-Columbian, Prehistoric, and Precontact) is the period between the migration of the Paleo-Indians to the region between 40,000-14,000...
Definition
Homo Floresiensis
Homo floresiensis, nicknamed 'hobbit' because it only stood about 1 meter tall, is an extinct species of fossil human that lived on the island of Flores, Indonesia during the Pleistocene...
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
Woolly Mammoth
The woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, is an extinct herbivore related to elephants who trudged across the steppe-tundras of Eurasia and North America from around 300,000 years ago until...
