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Julius Caesar: The Faults Behind the Myth
Last March marked the anniversary of Julius Caesar's assassination over 2,000 years ago, and after two millennia, his legendary achievements still linger in today's consciousness just as they have for centuries. He was so revered that in...
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The Pyramid Texts: Guide to the Afterlife
The Pyramid Texts are the oldest religious writings in the world and make up the principal funerary literature of ancient Egypt. They comprise the texts which were inscribed on the sarcophogi and walls of the pyramids at Saqqara in the 5th...
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Illustration of Matilda of Tuscany
12th century CE illustration of Matilda of Tuscany (c. 1046-1115 CE), pictured seated in the center, included in her biography Vita Mathildis, written by Donizone (left). (Vatican Library, Vatican City)
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Beatrice, Mother of Matilda of Tuscany
Beatrice, mother of Matilda of Tuscany (c. 1046-1115) as depicted in the Vita Mathildis by Donizo, 1115.
Ms. Vat. lat. 4922, fol. 30.
Vatican Library.
Definition
Seshat
Seshat (also given as Sefkhet-Abwy and Seshet) is the Egyptian goddess of the written word. Her name literally means "female scribe" and she is regularly depicted as a woman wearing a leopard skin draped over her robe with a headdress of...
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Bragi Playing the Harp, Idunn Standing Behind Him
Idun and Brage, oil on canvas painting by the Swedish artist Nils Blommér, 1846. Malmö Art Museum. Bragi was the Norse god of poetry and Idunn, his wife, a fertility goddess who kept the apples the gods needed to retain their youth...
Definition
Kingdom of West Francia
The Kingdom of West Francia (843-987 CE, also known as The Kingdom of the West Franks) was the region of Western Europe that formed the western part of the Carolingian Empire of Charlemagne (Holy Roman Emperor 800-814 CE) known as Francia...
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Odo of West Francia
Odo of West Francia (also known as Eudes, l. c. 856-898 CE, r. 888-898 CE) was Count of Paris and hero of the Viking Siege of Paris 885-886 CE who was shortly afterwards elected King of West Francia. He was the son of Robert The Strong (c.830-866...
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Antony's Invasion of Parthia (42 to 33 B.C.E.)
Sources: Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus" | https://amzn.to/3g0AKby Appian, "The Civil Wars: Book 3" | https://amzn.to/2PKEBPr Appian, "The Civil Wars: Book 4" | https://amzn.to/2PKEBPr Plutarch, "The Life of Antony" | https://amzn.to/3s9lE6b...
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The Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli
The striking turquoise mask now in the British Museum in London is thought to represent Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire, and dates to the final century of the Aztec empire, c. 1400-1521 CE. It is made from hundreds of small pieces of...