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Definition
Athenian Democracy
Athenian democracy refers to the system of democratic government used in Athens, Greece from the 5th to 4th century BCE. Under this system, all male citizens - the dēmos - had equal political rights, freedom of speech, and the opportunity to participate directly in the political arena. In Athenian democracy, not only did citizens participate...
Featured
Definition
Omaha Beach - D-Day's Deadliest Beach
Omaha Beach was one of two beaches attacked by the US armed forces on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Strong German defences on the bluff overlooking the beach made this area the most...
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Twelve Spices That Changed the World - Trade, Empire, and the Global Age of Spices, 1450–1650
Between c. 1450 and 1650, demand for spices and other high-value plant commodities became an important catalyst for European...
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Map of the Korean War, 1950–1953 - Major Campaigns and Front-Line Movements
The Korean War (1950–1953) began on 25 June 1950 when communist North Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), invaded South...
Latest Content
Definition
Korean War - How the Cold War Became a Hot War
The Korean War was a Cold War conflict that took place between North and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. It pitted US-led United Nations (UN) forces against the communist...
Article
G. H. Thomas's Account of the Battle of Mill Springs - Excerpts From the Official Action Report
At the Battle of Mill Springs (19 January 1862) in Kentucky, Union Brigadier General George H. Thomas had originally planned...
Definition
Franklin Pierce - The Tragic US President
Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the fourteenth president of the United States. An unremarkable politician prior to his...
Article
The Home of the Fish - A Sumerian Poem of a Trap or a Welcome
The Home of the Fish is a Sumerian poetic monologue, most likely from the Ur III period (circa 2112 to circa 2004 BCE), in which the speaker tries to...
Definition
Manhattan Project - How the Atomic Bomb Was Built
The Manhattan Project was the code name for the secret US-led programme to develop an atomic bomb during the Second World War (1939-45). Hugely expensive and employing...
Definition
Almourol Castle - Island Fortress of the Knights Templar
Almourol Castle in Portugal was built on a 310-meter-long and 75-meter-wide granite islet in the middle of the Tagus River. Earlier Roman and Moorish structures...
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Twelve Spices That Changed the World - Trade, Empire, and the Global Age of Spices, 1450–1650
Between c. 1450 and 1650, demand for spices and other high-value plant commodities became an important catalyst for European...
Image
Map of the East India Company's Rise to Power, c. 1765 - Robert Clive and the Making of Company Power in India
The British East India Company's (EIC) rise to power in India accelerated between 1757 and 1765 as a commercial...
Image
Map of the Ancient Near East after Hammurabi, c. 1700 BCE - Kingdoms, Cities & Shifting Power in the Bronze Age
By c. 1700 BCE, the political landscape of the Ancient Near East had been reshaped by the rapid rise and fragmentation...
For You
Definition
Ionia
Ionia was a territory in western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) populated by the Ionians (Greeks who spoke the Ionian dialect) in c. 1150 BCE. It is best known as the birthplace of Greek philosophy...
Article
Plato's Euthyphro: An Overlooked Comedy
Plato's Euthyphro is a Socratic dialogue on the concept of piety whose meaning and purpose continue to be debated. In reading the work only as a serious inquiry into the...
Definition
George Berkeley
George Berkeley (1685-1753) was an Anglo-Irish bishop and an empiricist and idealist philosopher. He infamously claimed that no matter exists outside of God and that things only exist outside...
Article
The Library of Hadrian, Athens
The Library of Hadrian (aka Hadrian's Library) in Athens was constructed circa 132-134 CE as part of Roman Emperor Hadrian's grand re-building plan for the city. The library...
Book Reviews
Book Review
The Army of Alexander the Great
The Army of Alexander the Great (2025) is a highly detailed and insightful examination of one of the most influential military forces in history. Rather than presenting Alexander...
Book Review
Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings
Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings, illustrated by Mr. Hamid Rahmanian, a noted filmmaker and graphic designer, and translated by Dr. Ahmad Sadri, Gorter Professor...
Book Review
Hunting: A Cultural History
From the Stone Age, hunting had certain functional purposes to bringing food for one's community. The adrenaline and excitement that hunting provides continue to attract people...
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Ancient Period
Article
The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields
The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (also known as The Battle of Chalons, The Battle of Maurica) was one of the most decisive military engagements in history between the...
Definition
Yazidism
Yazidism is a syncretic, monotheistic religion practiced by the Yazidis, an ethnoreligious group which resides primarily in northern Iraq, northern Syria, and southeastern Turkey. Yazidism is...
Definition
Hwarang
The hwarang was a state-sponsored organisation for the education of elite young males in the ancient kingdom of Silla, Korea. Variously translated as the 'Flower Boys,' 'Flowering Youth,' or 'Elite...
Definition
Callimachus of Cyrene
Callimachus of Cyrene (l. c. 310-c. 240 BCE) was a poet and scholar associated with the Library of Alexandria and best known for his Pinakes ("Tablets"), a bibliographic catalog of Greek...
Definition
Boreas
Boreas is the god of the violent North Wind in Greek mythology. He is the son of the Titan Astraeus and Eos, the goddess of the dawn, and brother to Zephyrus (the West Wind) and Notus (the South...
Definition
Attila the Hun
Attila the Hun (r. 434-453 CE) was the leader of the ancient nomadic people known as the Huns and ruler of the Hunnic Empire, which he established. His name means "Little Father" and, according...
Definition
Draco's Law Code
Draco was an aristocrat who in 7th century BCE Athens was handed the task of composing a new body of laws. We have no particular clues concerning his life and general biography and the only...
Definition
Korean Pottery
The pottery of ancient Korea stretches back to prehistory when simple brown wares were made and decorated with geometrical incisions. Potters would benefit from the ideas and techniques of...
Medieval Period
Definition
Kappa
A kappa is a Japanese mythological water sprite or, literally, "river child" (河童). One of the more popularly known yōkai (Japanese mythological creature) in Japan, kappa are generally green or yellow...
Article
The Coronation Ceremony of the British Monarchy
The coronation ceremony of the British monarchy as we know it today involves many elements that have been a part of the pageantry ever since the 11th century. Such...
Definition
Bhubaneshwar
Bhubaneshwar (also spelt Bhubaneswar, Bhubanesar, and Bhuvanesvar) is a city located in the Orissa district of north-eastern India and flourished as a centre of Hindu worship from the 7th century...
Article
The Weapons of an English Medieval Knight
The weapons of an English medieval knight in combat included the long sword, wooden lance with an iron tip, metal-headed mace, battle-axe, and dagger. Trained since childhood...
Definition
Battle of Bosworth
At the Battle of Bosworth (aka Bosworth Field) in Leicestershire on 22 August 1485 CE, the Yorkist king Richard III of England (r. 1483-1485 CE) faced an invading army led by Henry Tudor...
Definition
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan (Qubilai-Qan) was the ruler of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294. His accomplishments include establishing Mongol rule in China under the name of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368...
Definition
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...
Definition
Synod of Whitby
The Synod of Whitby was an assembly held in 664 by King Oswiu of Northumbria, with the aim of deciding whether Oswiu's kingdom should follow Roman Christian customs or those of the Irish...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Popham Colony
The Popham Colony (1607-1608 CE, also referred to as the Sagadahoc Colony) was an English settlement established in the present-day town of Phippsburg, State of Maine, USA, in August 1607...
Definition
Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Müntzer (l. c. 1489-1525) was a German theologian and apocalyptic preacher who became one of the leaders of the German Peasants' War (1524-1525). An early follower of the reformer...
Definition
Revolt of the Parlements
The Revolt of the Parlements of 1787-1788, was the climax of a power struggle between the royal authority of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792) and the Parlement of Paris, the...
Definition
John Adams
John Adams (1735-1826) was an American lawyer, statesman, and diplomat who was a prominent leader of the American Revolution (1765-1789) before going on to serve as the first vice president...
Definition
Stephen Hopkins
Stephen Hopkins (l. 1581-1644 CE) was a passenger of the Mayflower on the voyage of 1620 CE which established the Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, USA. He was the only member...
Definition
Squanto
Squanto (l. c. 1585-1622) was the Native American of the Patuxet tribe who helped the English settlers of Plymouth Colony (later known as pilgrims) survive in their new home by teaching them how...
Definition
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (l. 1594-1632; r. 1611-1632) was the King of Sweden who elevated his country to a major power in the 17th century. He also is traditionally recognized as the "Father of...
Article
Blaurock's Origin of the Anabaptists
George Blaurock (l. c. 1491-1529) was one of the three founders of the Swiss Brethren (known by their opponents as Anabaptists) along with Conrad Grebel (l. c. 1498-1526...
Modern Period
Article
Causes of the Boer War
The causes of the Boer War (aka Second Anglo-Boer War, South Africa War, and Second War of Freedom, 1899-1902) stretched back to the early 19th century and competition for land and...
Article
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - The Road to WWI
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) in the Balkans in the summer of 1914 set off a chain of events that led to the First World War...
Definition
US Presidential Election of 1860 - The Election That Caused a Civil War
The election of 1860 was one of the most pivotal moments in the political history of the United States and was one of the direct causes of the...
Definition
James Monroe
James Monroe (1758-1831) was an American statesman who served as the fifth president of the United States (1817-1825). The fourth president to belong to the so-called 'Virginia Dynasty', and...
Article
Italian Colonialism in Libya
One of the most coveted projects of Italian colonial policy was to secure an African colony in the Mediterranean. For this reason, Italy fought and won the Italo-Turkish war of...
Definition
British Somaliland - The Protectorate on the Horn of Africa
The Somaliland Protectorate, more informally and better known as British Somaliland, was created in 1884 and ruled by Great Britain until independence was...
Definition
Sioux
The Sioux are a native North American nation who inhabited the Great Plains region of, roughly, modern Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. They are one of the many...
Article
Jicarilla-Apache Creation Story & Origin of the Animals
The Jicarilla-Apache Creation Story and Origin of the Animals are two origin myths of the Jicarilla-Apache nation of modern-day New Mexico. The Apache people...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Homo Floresiensis
Homo floresiensis, nicknamed 'hobbit' because it only stood about 1 meter tall, is an extinct species of fossil human that lived on the island of Flores, Indonesia during the Pleistocene...
Definition
Denisovan
The Denisovans are an extinct group of fossil humans who, along with their sister group the Neanderthals, also share an ancestor with Homo sapiens. Thus far, they are known only from Denisova...
Definition
Oldowan Tools
The appearance of simple stone tools, widely known as Oldowan tools or the Oldowan industry, marked the beginning of our technological revolution. To our knowledge, these artifacts appeared...
Definition
Clava Cairns - Monuments to Memory and More
Clava Cairns is an early Bronze Age site in Scotland, located east of the city of Inverness, consisting of three well-preserved cairns (two of which are passage graves...
Article
The Megalithic Temples of Malta
The megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo rank amongst the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. Construction of these temples started c. 3500 BCE, an impressive architectural...
Definition
Dolmen
A dolmen is a megalithic structure typically formed from a large horizontal stone slab resting on two or more upright slabs. The oldest European examples are found in Brittany, northern France...
Article
The Megalithic Funerary Art of San Agustín
Beginning approximately 2000 years ago, in a rugged stretch of southwestern Colombia where the Andes split into multiple ranges and the mighty Magdalena River is born...
Definition
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a Neolithic / Bronze Age monument located on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, southern England. The first monument on the site, began around 3100 BCE, was a circular 'henge' earthwork...
