El Cid: Did you mean...?

Illustration of El Cid's (1043-1099 CE) men plundering the Iberian countryside by Zvonimir Grbasic. Courtesy of Medieval Warfare Magazine / Karwansaray Publishers.

The knights of medieval Europe were meant to be the finest fighting men of their age, even more important, they were expected to be pure in thought and deed, as exemplified in the chivalrous code which they (usually) followed. Here are the...

A statue of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar - 'El Cid' (1043-1099 CE) the famed Spanish knight and general. Arco de Santa Maria, Burgos Spain.

Ignatius of Loyola (l. 1491-1556) was a Basque soldier who became a Catholic priest and theologian after a mystical experience convinced him he was called to the service of Christ. He founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to defend the Church...

Excalibur is the sword of King Arthur in Sir Thomas Malory's iconic work Le Morte D'Arthur published in in 1485 CE. The sword was originally introduced in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136 CE) as Caliburnus (or...

The Reconquista (Reconquest) or Iberian Crusades were military campaigns largely conducted between the 11th and 13th century CE to liberate southern Portuguese and Spanish territories, then known as al-Andalus, from the Muslim Moors who had...

Taifas ("factions" or "camps") were small independent Muslim kingdoms and principalities that emerged after the fall of hegemonic Muslim caliphates in al-Andalus – the Muslim-controlled part of the Iberian peninsula – during the High Middle...

This video is a slideshow of pictures of various artifacts and artworks that detail the visage of ancient Near Eastern women, most of which are royalty. Locations include: Mesopotamia (Sumer and Akkad), Arabia, Phoenicia (Lebanon) and Elam...

The Nabatean Kingdom was a powerful political entity which flourished in the region of modern-day Jordan between the 4th century BCE and c. 106 CE and is best known today for the ruins of its capital city of Petra. Although it is clear that...

In any society, members of the community recognize they are required to restrain certain impulses in order to participate in the community. Every civilization has had some form of law which makes clear that the benefits of peaceful coexistence...