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The Four-Room House
Definition by Dana Murray

The Four-Room House

The four-room house, also referred to as “Israelite house” and “pillared courtyard house,” emerged in the central highlands of Canaan during the late 13th -early 12th centuries BCE in response to environmental and socio-economic needs. The...
Ghosts in the Ancient World
Definition by Joshua J. Mark

Ghosts in the Ancient World

A belief in an afterlife was central to every major civilization of the ancient world and this encouraged the recognition of the reality of ghosts as the spirits of the departed who, for one reason or another, either returned from the realm...
Fritigern
Definition by Joshua J. Mark

Fritigern

Fritigern (also Fritigernus, died c. 380 CE) was a Visigothic king best known as the victor of the decisive Battle of Adrianople in 378 CE, which decimated the Roman army and haunted Roman military commanders for decades afterwards. He was...
Xibalba
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Xibalba

Xibalba (Shee-bal-ba) was the name the K'iche Maya gave to the underworld. For the Yucatec Maya the underworld was known as Metnal. The name Xibalba translates as 'Place of Fright', which indicates the terror the place had in the Maya imagination...
Athanaric
Definition by Joshua J. Mark

Athanaric

Athanaric (died c. 381 CE) was a king of the Thervingi Goths (better known as the Visigoths) and, according to some sources, the first and greatest king. He was of the noble Balts family of the Thervingi tribe and a relative of the later...
The Goths
Definition by Joshua J. Mark

The Goths

The Goths were a Germanic tribe who are frequently referenced for their part in the fall of the Roman Empire and their subsequent rise to power in the region of northern Europe, initially in Italy. Prior to their contact with Rome they must...
Uxmal
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Uxmal

Uxmal, in north-west Yucatán, Mexico, was an important Maya city which flourished between the 6th and 10th centuries CE. The city, following an extensive restoration programme, is the best preserved of all Maya sites, and it possesses some...
Theodoric the Great
Definition by Joshua J. Mark

Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great (l. c. 454-526 CE, r. 493-526 CE, also known as Flavius Theodoricus) was the king of the Ostrogoths who, at the encouragement and direction of the Roman emperor Zeno, invaded Italy, deposed King Odoacer, and ruled over...
Tikal
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Tikal

Tikal, located in the north of the Petén region of Guatemala, was a major Maya city which flourished between 300 and 850 CE. The city, known to the Maya themselves as Mutul, is one of the grandest in Mesoamerica. Amongst the first Maya cities...
Palenque
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Palenque

Located in the foothills of the Chiapas altiplano of modern Mexico, Palenque was an important Maya city which flourished between c. 600 and 750 CE. The name Palenque derives from the Spanish, meaning 'fortified place', but the original Maya...
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