Definitions

Pelopidas (c. 410 - 364 BCE) was a gifted Theban general and leader of the elite Sacred Band who, along with Epaminondas, is credited with helping Thebes rise to its greatest power. Defeating the mighty Spartans in several battles Pelopidas...

The Second Triumvirate was a political association of convenience between three of Rome's most powerful figures: Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian in the 1st century BCE. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar the three vowed revenge...

Kos (Cos) is a Greek island in the south-east Aegean, part of the Dodecanese (ancient Sporades) group which prospered in antiquity due to its location on trade routes between Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, and Anatolia. Settled from the Bronze Age...

The tophet (also topheth) was a sacred precinct usually located outside cities where sacrifices and burials were made, especially of young children, in rituals of the Phoenician and then Carthaginian religion. The tophet is the most evident...

The prosperity of Phoenician cities such as Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos was based on trade, and it was the search for new commodities and new markets which resulted in the Phoenicians branching out from the narrow coastal strip of the Levant...

Pausanias (c. 510 - c. 465 BCE) was a Spartan regent and general who won glory by leading a combined Greek force to victory over the Persians at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE. Famously immodest regarding his own talent, he was beset by...

Ravana is the mythical multi-headed demon-king of Lanka in Hindu mythology. With ten heads and twenty arms, Ravana could change into any form he wished. Representing the very essence of evil, he famously fought and ultimately lost a series...

Nicias, or Nikias (c. 470-413 BCE), was a wealthy Athenian politician and general during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). He became established as a prominent political leader of the aristocratic faction in Athenian politics and generally...

The Twelve Tables (aka Law of the Twelve Tables) was a set of laws inscribed on 12 bronze tablets created in ancient Rome in 451 and 450 BCE. They were the beginning of a new approach to laws which were now passed by government and written...

Chinese literature is among the most imaginative and interesting in the world. The precision of the language results in perfectly realized images whether in poetry or prose and, as with all great literature, the themes are timeless. The Chinese...