Definitions

Scythian warfare used state-of-the-art recurve bows and hit-and-run tactics against set infantry formations. Working from nimble horses, Scythian warriors could unleash a cloud of lethal arrows. Known, too, for their innovative use of scale...

Atreus was the mythical Greek king of Mycenae. He is perhaps best known for being the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, two heroes of the Trojan War, as well as for the terrible curse placed upon his family. This was a hereditary curse, plaguing...

The story of the ten plagues of Egypt is found in chapters 7-12 of the Book of Exodus. The story depicts the natural disasters sent by the God of Israel to convince Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves leave Egypt. The narrative purpose of the...

The English Civil Wars (1642-1651) witnessed a bitter conflict between Royalists ('Cavaliers') and Parliamentarians ('Roundheads'). The Royalists supported first King Charles I of England (r. 1625-1649) and then his son Charles II, while...

Empedocles (l. c. 484-424 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and mystic whose work harmonized the philosophies of Parmenides (l. c. 485 BCE), Heraclitus (l. c. 500 BCE), and Pythagoras (l. c. 571 to c. 497 BCE) in presenting a unified vision of...

Midgard is the realm of human beings in Norse mythology. The Old Norse word garðr literally means an enclosure (yard), and miðr (middle) refers to its position as a circle with both an interior ocean, and an outer ocean beyond which there...

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 reign of Charles I of England (r. 1625-1649), the tax was used...

Aristarchus of Samos (l. c. 310 - c. 230 BCE) was a Greek astronomer who first proposed a heliocentric model of the universe in which the sun, not the earth, was at the center. Although his theory was noted by other thinkers of his time...

The Parthian cataphract was a heavy cavalry unit of Parthian warfare, an entirely armored, huge fast horse mounted by a completely armored rider, equipped with a long lance and a long sword. Like a modern tank designed to smash through enemy...

A martyr is someone who voluntarily dies for either a religious or secular cause. The word originates from "witness" in Greek and is related to a witness in court testifying to one's beliefs or truth, despite the risk involved. As such, it...