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Definition
Socrates
Socrates of Athens (l. c. 470/469-399 BCE) is among the most famous figures in world history for his contributions to the development of ancient Greek philosophy which provided the foundation for all of Western Philosophy. He is, in fact, known as the "Father of Western Philosophy" for this reason. He was originally a sculptor who seems to have also had a number of other occupations, including soldier...
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Definition
Ming Porcelain
The porcelain of the Ming Dynasty of China (1368-1644 CE) benefitted, as did other arts, from the economic success of the 15th century CE, in particular, and the consequent surge in demand...
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Map of the Spread of the Black Death, c. 1346–1353 - Trade, Transmission & the Second Plague Pandemic
The Black Death was the catastrophic first great wave of the Second Plague Pandemic, caused by the bacterium Yersinia...
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12 Women Rulers of the Ancient World - Queens, Regents & Empresses Who Exercised State Power
Political power in the ancient world rested on dynastic legitimacy, control of court and military institutions, religious authority...
Latest Content
Article
U. S. Grant's Account of the Battle of Fort Donelson - Excerpts from the Official Action Report
Ulysses S. Grant's victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson (11-16 February 1862) during the American Civil War elevated him...
Curriculum Collection
AP World History Unit 5 - Revolutions (c. 1750–1900)
Two major revolutions remade the world between 1750 and 1900. The first was a revolution of the mind: thinkers of the Enlightenment argued that authority was...
Definition
Battle of Fort Donelson - The Victory that Might Have Won the War in the West
The Battle of Fort Donelson (11-16 February 1862) was a Union victory in the Western theater of the American Civil War on the Cumberland River...
Article
Paper Money in Song China
Paper money was invented in China and became widely used by merchants during the Song dynasty (960-1279), principally as proof of cash holdings in state treasuries and for larger...
Definition
Cheka - Lenin's Secret Police
The Cheka (Vecheka) Secret Police was created by Vladimir Lenin's Soviet government in December 1917 to ruthlessly stamp out all opposition to the Bolshevik Revolution. During...
Collection
England's Peasant Uprising of 1381
In this collection of resources, we examine the Peasants' Revolt in England in 1381, a popular uprising that sought dramatic social changes such as the removal of the poll...
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House of Hanover in Britain, 1714–1901 - From George I to Victoria: Monarchy, Reform & Empire
The House of Hanover was the royal dynasty that ruled Great Britain and later the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901. Its accession...
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Map of Edmond Halley’s Scientific Voyages - Exploration, Astronomy & Navigation, 1676–1703
The travels of Edmond Halley (1656–1742) illustrate how the Scientific Revolution increasingly joined theoretical knowledge with...
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Map of Peter the Great and the Russian Empire, c. 1725 - War, Reform, and Russia’s Rise as a Great Power
The Russian Empire under Peter I (reign 1682–1725) emerged from an intensified process of military and state-building...
For You
Article
Top 10 Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
The British Industrial Revolution transformed life at work and at home for practically everyone. Noise, pollution, social upheaval, and repetitive jobs were the price...
Article
The Siege of Cusco in 1536-7
The two sieges of Cusco in 1536-7 were the last great military actions by the Incas as they tried to reclaim their empire from the Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro...
Article
Siege of Charleston
The Siege of Charleston (29 March to 12 May 1780) was a major military operation during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Hoping to establish a foothold in the American South...
Definition
Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE) is regarded as the first Western philosopher and mathematician. He was born and lived in Miletus, a Greek colony in Ionia (modern Turkey) referenced as...
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
Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture)
When Basil II died in 1025 CE, the empire he left behind stretched from Sicily to the Crimea...
Book Review
Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse
Although it was published in 1995, Richard R. John's Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse remains a must-read...
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| 2,641 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 16,094 | translations |
| 48 | languages |
| 1,334 | contributors |
| 15,514 | keywords |
| 58,162 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Article
Maya Writing
The Maya hieroglyphic writing system was a sophisticated combination of pictographs directly representing objects and ideograms (glyphs) expressing more abstract concepts such as actions, ideas...
Definition
Britomartis
Britomartis, also known as Diktynna (Dictynna), was the Cretan goddess of hunting and fishing nets in Greek mythology. Although referred to as a nymph and worshipped locally, she had at least...
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...
Article
Top 10 Archaeological Sites in Caria, Turkey
Located at the crossroads of many ancient civilizations, Turkey is a haven for archaeology lovers. Over the centuries, a succession of empires and kingdoms – Hittite...
Article
The Life of Antisthenes of Athens in Diogenes Laertius
Antisthenes (c. 445-365 BCE) was a Greek philosopher who founded the Cynic School of Athens. He was a follower of Socrates and appears in Plato's Phaedo as...
Article
Falling Star
Falling Star is a Cheyenne tale of the great hero Hotoketana'ohtse ("Falling Star") who came from the heavens to stand up for those who could not defend themselves, slay monsters, and save...
Definition
White Huns (Hephthalites)
The White Huns were a race of largely nomadic peoples who were a part of the Hunnic tribes of Central Asia. They ruled over an expansive area stretching from the Central Asian lands...
Definition
Shahnameh
The Shahnameh (“Book of Kings”, composed 977-1010 CE) is a medieval epic written by the poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi (l. c. 940-1020 CE) in order to preserve the myths, legends, history, language...
Medieval Period
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
Chaucer's The Book of the Duchess Full Text & Summary
The Book of the Duchess is the first major work of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (l. c. 1343-1400 CE), best known for his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales...
Article
Martial Arts in Medieval Japan
There were 18 martial arts (bugei or bujutsu) in medieval Japan, and these included use of weapons, unarmed self-defence techniques, swimming, and equestrian skills. Initially...
Collection
Great African Kingdoms
This collection presents a small sampling of the many great African kingdoms that rose and fell from the ancient period when Punt traded with Egypt up through the common era. Each kingdom...
Definition
Anastasios I
Anastasios I ruled the Byzantine empire from 491 to 518 CE. Although his tax and monetary reforms were both popular and successful, the emperor could not repair the damaging split in the Christian...
Definition
Runes
Runes are letters in the runic alphabets of Germanic-speaking peoples, written and read most prominently from at least c. 160 CE onwards in Scandinavia in the Elder Futhark script (until c. 700...
Definition
Ragnar Lothbrok
Ragnar Lothbrok (Old Norse Ragnarr Loðbrók, also anglicised as Ragnar Lodbrok), whose epithet means 'Hairy-breeches' or 'Shaggy-breeches', was a legendary Viking king, with Old Norse sagas...
Definition
Inca Architecture
Inca architecture includes some of the most finely worked stone structures from any ancient civilization. Inca buildings were almost always practical and pleasing to the eye. They are also...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Antinomian Controversy - Inspiring the Separation of Church and State in the USA
The Antinomian Controversy (1636-1638) was a religious-political conflict that divided the Massachusetts Bay Colony of New England in the...
Definition
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed in July 1790 during the French Revolution (1789-1799), which caused the immediate subordination of the Catholic Church...
Definition
Ship Money - The Unpopular Tax
Ship Money was a tax applied by medieval monarchs to English coastal communities to pay for ships for the Royal Navy and so ward off pirates and enemies of the state. During the...
Definition
Social Contract
The social contract is an idea in philosophy that at some real or hypothetical point in the past, humans left the state of nature to join together and form societies by mutually agreeing...
Article
Arsenale - The Shipyard and Arsenal of Venice
The immense commercial trade, wealth, and sea power of the Republic of Venice was rooted in the ships built in the industrial site known as the Arsenale, or arsenal...
Article
The History of Champagne
Wine has been made for over 7,000 years, and effervescent wine for just as long since sealing wine before the fermentation is complete will naturally produce it. True sparkling wine...
Definition
Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510 CE), real name Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, was an Italian artist of the early Renaissance. A prolific painter, especially of altarpieces and works with...
Definition
US Presidential Election of 1789
The US presidential election of 1789 was the first presidential election to take place after the ratification of the United States Constitution. Held on 4 February 1789, it...
Modern Period
Article
Mondamin
Mondamin (also given as Mon-Daw-Min, The Gift of Corn, and The Origin of Corn) is a tale from the Ojibwe Nation on how the people received corn from the Great Spirit through the vision quest of...
Definition
Cadoudal Affair
The Cadoudal Affair, or the Pichegru Conspiracy, was a failed royalist attempt to kill or kidnap Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), then the First Consul of the French Republic, and restore...
Article
Battle of Franklin - The Death Angel's Last Harvest
The Battle of Franklin (30 November 1864) was a major battle in the western theater of the American Civil War (1861-1865). In his push to liberate Nashville from...
Article
The Origin of Medicine
The Origin of Medicine is a Cherokee story on the theme of balance and respect told from the point of view of the animals and plant life. When the animal world turns against humanity...
Article
Solomonic Descent in Ethiopian History
The Solomonic Dynasty ruled Ethiopia from the 1270s to the 1970s, and the 14th-century work, the Kebra Nagast (The Glory of the Kings) famously tells of how the dynasty...
Article
The Man Who Wrestled with a Ghost
The Man Who Wrestled with a Ghost (also given as The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost) is a Teton Sioux tale on how one should interact with the spirits of the dead in circumstances...
Article
The Bound Children
The Bound Children is a Sioux legend highlighting the importance of proper behavior, not only among family members but within one's community. The widow, who does not properly care for...
Definition
Battle of Fort Henry - The First Ironclad Engagement on a Fortification
The Battle of Fort Henry (6 February 1862) is often referenced as the first major Union victory in the Western theater of the American Civil War...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Venus Figurine
The term Venus figurine is used to describe the more than 200 small statuettes of voluptuous female figures that have been found at Upper Paleolithic sites across Europe and some parts of...
Article
The Megalithic Temples of Malta
The megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo rank amongst the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. Construction of these temples started c. 3500 BCE, an impressive architectural...
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
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
Neolithic Period
The term Neolithic Period refers to the last stage of the Stone Age - a term coined in the late 19th century CE by scholars which covers three different periods: Palaeolithic, Mesolithic...
Article
Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Societies
Hunter-gatherer societies are – true to their astoundingly descriptive name – cultures in which human beings obtain their food by hunting, fishing, scavenging, and gathering...
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...
Definition
Lindow Man
The Lindow Man (officially Lindow III) is the top half of a male body, found preserved in a peat bog in Cheshire, England. The peat bogs at Lindow Moss date back to the last ice age and were...
