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The Kesh Temple Hymn (c. 2600 BCE) is the oldest work of literature in the world, sometimes referenced as the oldest extant religious poem. It is a Sumerian praise song to the goddess Ninhursag and her temple in the city of Kesh, composed...

Pherenike (l. c. 388 BCE, also known as Kallipateira) was an athlete from Rhodes who, because she was a woman, could not compete in the Olympic Games and, as a married woman, was not allowed to even watch them. Defying these rules and risking...

Modern medicine has its origin in the ancient world. The oldest civilizations used magic and herbs to cure their sick people, but they also used religion to free them from harm and to protect their health. The medical care of today has its...

Semiramis is the semi-divine Warrior-Queen of Assyria, whose reign is most clearly documented by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (l. 90-30 BCE) in his great work Bibliotheca Historica ("Historical Library") written over thirty years...

Join World History Encyclopedia as they chat with Dr. Rita Roussos. Dr. Roussos is a native Athenian who has taught archaeology and art history at the American University of Athens and is a trained archaeologist who has worked on sites like...

Map of the main religious sanctuaries of classical Greece. The following gods' sanctuaries are marked in colour: Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Asclepius, Athena, Dionysius, Demeter, Hera, Poseidon, Zeus.

The origin of pictographic & ideographic writing systems are imagined in the first part of this story (proto-writing). The rebus principle is introduced, setting the stage for the development of an alphabet. Featuring some key artifacts from...

The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE. The Inca Empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south. It was the largest empire ever seen in the Americas...

The Persian Wars refers to the conflict between Greece and Persia in the 5th century BCE which involved two invasions by the latter in 490 and 480 BCE. Several of the most famous and significant battles in history were fought during the Wars...

Greek mythology was used as a means to explain the environment in which humankind lived, the natural phenomena they witnessed and the passing of time through the days, months, and seasons. Greek myths were also intricately connected to religion...