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Featured
Definition
Golden Fleece
The golden fleece is the fleece of a flying, winged ram named Crius Chrysomallos, or 'Golden-fleeced Ram', in Greek mythology. It is best known from the story of Jason and the Argonauts, who were sent by Pelias, the ruler of Iolcos, to retrieve it from Aeëtes, the king of Colchis. According to the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE to 17 CE) in his Metamorphoses, Chrysomallos, the...
Featured
Definition
Castle Keep - The Safest Place in a Medieval Castle
The keep, located within a courtyard and surrounded by a curtain wall, was the heart of a medieval castle. The hall keep was a low building while the tower keep...
Featured
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Map of Hadrian’s African Journey, 128 CE - Military Discipline and the Roman Frontier in North Africa
Hadrian’s African journey (128 CE) was a concentrated inspection of Rome’s military establishment and southern frontier...
Featured
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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
Definition
Macedon - Birthplace of Alexander the Great
Macedon was an ancient kingdom located in the north of the Greek peninsula first inhabited by the Mackednoi tribe whose identity was challenged by some southern Greeks...
Definition
Gettysburg Address - Lincoln's Most Important Speech
The Gettysburg Address was a speech delivered by US President Abraham Lincoln on 19 November 1863. It was given during the formal dedication of the Soldiers’...
Article
The Rise of the Christian Cult of the Saints - Relics, Tombs, and Pilgrimages
Many world religions have elevated individuals with the title of "saint," which often simply means "pious one," "devout," or "holy one." The...
Article
Battle of Midway - Japan's First Naval Defeat in WWII
The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942, was the turning point of the Pacific War. The US Pacific fleet sank four Japanese aircraft carriers for the loss of only...
Definition
Strabo of Amasia - Author of the 1st-Century Geography
Strabo of Amasia (c. (c. 64 BCE - c. 24 CE) was the author of Geography, a 17-book geography of the world as it was known to the Greeks and Romans of the time...
Article
The Myth of Etana - Faith and Kingship in Ancient Mesopotamia
The Myth of Etana is the story of the Sumerian antediluvian King of Kish who ascends to heaven on an eagle to request the Plant of Birth from the gods...
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Map of the Sultanate of Rum & Anatolia, c. 1200 - From Manzikert to Köse Dağ - Seljuk Expansion and Fall
The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (1077–1308) emerged amid the political fragmentation of Anatolia following the Great Seljuk...
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Map of Japanese Expansion in Asia & the Pacific, 1875–1942 - Japanese Empire at Its World War II High-Water Mark
Japan’s imperial expansion developed over several decades rather than from a single fixed plan. Modernization...
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Map of Hadrian’s African Journey, 128 CE - Military Discipline and the Roman Frontier in North Africa
Hadrian’s African journey (128 CE) was a concentrated inspection of Rome’s military establishment and southern frontier...
For You
Definition
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars (1419 to c. 1434) were a series of conflicts fought in Bohemia (modern-day Czech Republic) between followers of the reformer Jan Hus and Catholic loyalists toward the end of...
Definition
Samson
Samson was one of the last judges in the Hebrew Book of Judges who arose as a leader of the Jews when they settled in Canaan. He was a Nazirite, known for his incredible strength, the secret of...
Article
Norse Alcohol & The Mead of Poetry
Alcohol played an integral part in Norse culture. People drank ale more than water because the brew had to be boiled as part of the process and so was safer to drink. The...
Article
An A to Z of Pirate & Seafaring Expressions
Pirates, especially those of the so-called Golden Age of Piracy (c. 1690-1730), are particularly famous for their pithy expressions which relate to all things nautical...
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
In Praise of Polytheism
Polytheism is superior to monotheism when exchanging religious convictions with others. This is what Maurizio Bettini argues in his brief and clearly written book of short while easily...
Book Review
Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of The Mayan Book of The Dawn of Life and The Glories of Gods and Kings
The Popol Vuh is a religious text of the Maya people. Written down between 1701 and 1703 by the Spanish priest Francisco...
Statistics
| 2,963 | definitions |
| 1,738 | articles |
| 19,658 | illustrations |
| 2,618 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 15,469 | translations |
| 47 | languages |
| 1,324 | contributors |
| 15,277 | keywords |
| 51,565 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
Roman Medicine
Roman medicine was greatly influenced by earlier Greek medicine and literature but would also make its own unique contribution to the history of medicine through the work of such famous experts...
Collection
Twelve Stories of the Plains Indians
The stories of the North American Natives articulate and preserve their culture and history. Although the indigenous Nations of North America were, and remain, diverse, storytelling...
Definition
Nergal - The Mesopotamian God of Death, War, and Destruction
Nergal (also known as Erra and Irra) is the Mesopotamian god of death, war, and destruction. He began as a regional, probably agricultural, god of the...
Definition
Oxus Treasure
The Oxus Treasure is a collection of 180 artifacts of precious metal, dated to the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE), which were discovered on the north bank of the Oxus River near the town...
Definition
Cilicia Campestris
Cilicia Campestris was one of the six districts of the Roman province of Cilicia organized by Pompey the Great (l. c. 106-48 BCE) in 64 BCE. The name translates roughly into “Cilicia of...
Article
Byzantine Monasticism
Monasticism, that is individuals devoting themselves to an ascetic life in a monastery for devotional purposes, was an ever-present feature of the Byzantine empire. Monasteries became...
Definition
Ziggurat - Mountains of the Gods
A ziggurat is a form of monumental architecture originating in ancient Mesopotamia, which usually had a rectangular base and was built in a series of steps up to a flat platform...
Definition
Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is located between Bolivia and Peru and, at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,500 feet), it is the world's highest navigable lake. The tundra plain known as the altiplano stretches...
Medieval Period
Article
Nine Realms of Norse Cosmology
Norse cosmology divided the universe into nine realms. The center of the universe was the great world-tree Yggdrasil and the nine realms either spread out from the tree or existed...
Definition
Pinson Mounds
The Pinson Mounds are a State Archeological Park in Madison County, Tennessee, USA enclosing a prehistoric Native American religious site comprising earthen mounds built during the Middle...
Definition
Abbasid Dynasty
The Abbasids were an Arabic dynasty that initially ruled over most of the Islamic empire (save some western parts) after assuming the caliphate in 750 CE, later on, their empire fragmented...
Definition
Saint Columbanus
Saint Columbanus or “Columbán” (543-615 CE) was one of the greatest missionaries of the early Catholic Church who led the “Hiberno-Scottish mission” of conversion across much of what is...
Definition
Geghard
Geghard (Armenian: Geghardavank or "monastery of the spear") is a medieval monastery located in Armenia's Kotayk province, deep within the Azat Valley, which was built directly out of an adjacent...
Article
Traditional Maori Tattoo of New Zealand
Te Papa Tongawera (or simply Te Papa) is New Zealand's innovative national museum situated near the foreshore of beautiful Wellington harbour. Te Papa Tongawera means...
Definition
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487) was a dynastic conflict between the English nobility and monarchy which led to four decades of intermittent battles, executions, and murder plots. The...
Definition
Religion in the Ancient World - Order and the Spiritual Experience
Religion (from the Latin Religio, meaning "restraint," or Relegere, according to Cicero, meaning "to repeat, to read again," or, most likely, Religionem...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestant Christians, primarily active in the 16th-18th centuries CE, who claimed the Anglican Church had not distanced itself sufficiently from Catholicism and sought...
Definition
Shays' Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion (1786-87) was an armed insurrection by rural farmers in western and central Massachusetts, sparked by the state government's unpopular response to a debt crisis. The insurrection...
Article
Siege of Toulon
The Siege of Toulon (29 August to 19 December 1793) was a decisive military operation during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), conducted by a French Republican army to retake the...
Definition
Portuguese Brazil
With a wealth of natural resources, Brazil was by far the most important colony in the Portuguese empire and was, at one time or another, the world’s leading producer of sugar, diamonds...
Definition
Henry Knox
Henry Knox (1750-1806) was a Boston-born bookseller who became a general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and served as the army's Chief Artillery Officer...
Collection
The History of Christmas Celebrations
In this collection of resources we look at the origins of Christmas and the story of the Nativity, the pagan traditions that have influenced how the holiday has been celebrated...
Definition
Marie Dentière
Marie Dentière (l. c. 1495-1561) was a French theologian, writer, and street preacher who advanced the cause of the Protestant Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland. Her written works were controversial...
Article
Napoleon Bonaparte During the Early French Revolution (1789-1794)
Of all the careers that soared to meteoric heights during the chaotic decade of the French Revolution (1789-1799), none was more spectacular nor impactful...
Modern Period
Article
Graf Zeppelin's Round the World Trip of 1929
The Graf Zeppelin was the most successful of all Zeppelin airships, making several hundred trips across the Atlantic between Europe and the Americas. In 1929, a new...
Definition
Anglo-Zulu War - Britain's Invasion of Zululand
The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 saw British-led armies invade the Zulu Kingdom in Southern Africa as part of a wider plan to unify various territories into a single British-controlled...
Article
Battle of Bentonville - The Fight for North Carolina at the end of the US Civil War
The Battle of Bentonville (19-21 March 1865) was among the last major battles of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Having cut swathes...
Article
Battle of Kursk - Largest Tank Battle in History
The Battle of Kursk (Jul-Aug 1943), which involved nearly 6,000 tanks, was the largest tank battle in history and ended in a decisive victory for the Red Army in...
Definition
James Madison
James Madison (1751-1836) was a statesman, diplomat, and a Founding Father of the United States, who served as the fourth US president from 1809 to 1817. He played an important role in the...
Definition
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher, writer, naturalist, and political activist. He is best known for his book Walden, published in 1854, which recounts his two-year...
Article
Battle of Yellow Tavern - The Death of J. E. B. Stuart
The Battle of Yellow Tavern (11 May 1864) was a pivotal engagement of the American Civil War (1861-1865), not so much for any grand strategic reason than for...
Article
Coronation of Napoleon I
The Coronation of Napoleon I as Emperor of the French took place on Sunday 2 December 1804, in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. A sacred ceremony held to legitimize Napoleon's reign...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Göbekli Tepe
“Göbekli Tepe” (“Hill with a Navel”, or “Potbelly Hill”) is found approximately 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Şanlıurfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey once named “Edessa” and known...
Definition
Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes, a Buddhist cave complex located 13 kilometers south of Luoyang in China's Henan province, form some of the most significant and exquisite representations of ancient...
Article
The Megalithic Funerary Art of San Agustín
Beginning approximately 2000 years ago, in a rugged stretch of southwestern Colombia where the Andes split into multiple ranges and the mighty Magdalena River is born...
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
Stone Age
From the dawn of our species to the present day, stone-made artefacts are the dominant form of material remains that have survived to today concerning human technology. The term “Stone Age”...
Article
Early Human Migration
Disregarding the extremely inhospitable spots even the most stubborn of us have enough common sense to avoid, humans have managed to cover an extraordinary amount of territory on this...
Article
Rock Drawings of Valcamonica
The rock drawings of Valcamonica are prehistoric petroglyphs carved in the glacier-polished, grey-purple Permian sandstone of the Camonica valley that extends for 90 km in the...
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...
