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Featured
Definition
Golden Fleece
The golden fleece is the fleece of a flying, winged ram named Crius Chrysomallos, or 'Golden-fleeced Ram', in Greek mythology. It is best known from the story of Jason and the Argonauts, who were sent by Pelias, the ruler of Iolcos, to retrieve it from Aeëtes, the king of Colchis. According to the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE to 17 CE) in his Metamorphoses, Chrysomallos, the...
Featured
Definition
Castle Keep - The Safest Place in a Medieval Castle
The keep, located within a courtyard and surrounded by a curtain wall, was the heart of a medieval castle. The hall keep was a low building while the tower keep...
Featured
Image
Map of Hadrian’s African Journey, 128 CE - Military Discipline and the Roman Frontier in North Africa
Hadrian’s African journey (128 CE) was a concentrated inspection of Rome’s military establishment and southern frontier...
Featured
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The Bayeux Tapestry: The Story of 1066 - Conquest, Propaganda, and the Norman Claim to England
The Bayeux Tapestry, created in the late 11th century, probably in England for a Norman patron, is one of the most important...
Latest Content
Definition
Macedon - Birthplace of Alexander the Great
Macedon was an ancient kingdom located in the north of the Greek peninsula first inhabited by the Mackednoi tribe whose identity was challenged by some southern Greeks...
Definition
Gettysburg Address - Lincoln's Most Important Speech
The Gettysburg Address was a speech delivered by US President Abraham Lincoln on 19 November 1863. It was given during the formal dedication of the Soldiers’...
Article
The Rise of the Christian Cult of the Saints - Relics, Tombs, and Pilgrimages
Many world religions have elevated individuals with the title of "saint," which often simply means "pious one," "devout," or "holy one." The...
Article
Battle of Midway - Japan's First Naval Defeat in WWII
The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942, was the turning point of the Pacific War. The US Pacific fleet sank four Japanese aircraft carriers for the loss of only...
Definition
Strabo of Amasia - Author of the 1st-Century Geography
Strabo of Amasia (c. (c. 64 BCE - c. 24 CE) was the author of Geography, a 17-book geography of the world as it was known to the Greeks and Romans of the time...
Article
The Myth of Etana - Faith and Kingship in Ancient Mesopotamia
The Myth of Etana is the story of the Sumerian antediluvian King of Kish who ascends to heaven on an eagle to request the Plant of Birth from the gods...
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Map of the Sultanate of Rum & Anatolia, c. 1200 - From Manzikert to Köse Dağ - Seljuk Expansion and Fall
The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (1077–1308) emerged amid the political fragmentation of Anatolia following the Great Seljuk...
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Map of Japanese Expansion in Asia & the Pacific, 1875–1942 - Japanese Empire at Its World War II High-Water Mark
Japan’s imperial expansion developed over several decades rather than from a single fixed plan. Modernization...
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Map of Hadrian’s African Journey, 128 CE - Military Discipline and the Roman Frontier in North Africa
Hadrian’s African journey (128 CE) was a concentrated inspection of Rome’s military establishment and southern frontier...
For You
Article
Mark Antony's Oration at Caesar's Funeral
Amid the chaos and strife following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE, Mark Antony (83-30 BCE), with the advice of Cicero, persuaded the Roman Senate to declare...
Definition
Alexandra David-Néel
Alexandra David-Néel (l. 1868-1969) was a world traveler, writer, and Buddhist spiritualist who wrote over 30 books on her journeys which took her 18,641.136 miles (30,000 km) around...
Definition
Sepoy Mutiny
The 1857-8 Sepoy Mutiny (aka Sepoy Rebellion, Indian Mutiny, The Uprising or First Indian War of Independence) was a failed rebellion against the rule of the British East India Company (EIC...
Article
The Nerge: Hunting in the Mongol Empire
The peoples of the Mongol Empire (1206-1368 CE) were nomadic, and they relied on hunting wild game as a valuable source of protein. The Asian steppe is a desolate, windy...
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
Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Empire
Eckart Frahm's Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire is a remarkable scholarly work and a masterful exploration of one of the most intriguing...
Book Review
Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years
Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years by Paula Fredriksen conveys precisely written ideas from the result of meticulously analyzing a great deal...
Statistics
| 2,963 | definitions |
| 1,738 | articles |
| 19,658 | illustrations |
| 2,618 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
| 15,451 | translations |
| 47 | languages |
| 1,324 | contributors |
| 15,277 | keywords |
| 51,393 | registered users |
Ancient Period
Definition
Mount Athos - The Byzantine Holy Mountain
Mount Athos, located on the Chalkidike peninsula near Thessalonica, Greece, is a holy site which first saw hermit monks living there in the 9th century CE. Regarded as...
Article
12 Great Cities of Ancient Mesopotamia - The Rise and Fall of the Earliest Cities in the World
The great cities of Mesopotamia ("the land between two rivers") developed prior to the late 4th millennium BCE along two rivers...
Article
Traveling Classroom History Exhibit
The best way to learn ancient history is not by memorizing dates and facts but, rather, through critical thinking and analysis. When studying ancient history, the key is...
Definition
Pankration
Pankration is an ancient martial art which mixes wrestling and boxing. The sport can be traced as far back as the second millennium BCE in the territory of ancient Greece. Its name derives from...
Definition
Herodotus
Herodotus (l. c. 484 – 425/413 BCE) was a Greek historian famous for his work Histories. He was called The Father of History by the Roman writer Cicero, who admired him, but has also been rejected...
Definition
Hippocrates
Hippocrates was born on the Greek island of Kos in the 5th century BCE, and he became the most famous physician in antiquity. He established a medical school on the island, wrote many treatises...
Article
Roman Walls
The many Roman walls still visible today throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, be they defensive walls such as the Servian Wall or house and monument walls, tell us a great deal about the...
Image Gallery
Same-Sex Love & Courtship in the Ancient Mediterranean
This gallery explores the expression of same-sex love in the ancient Mediterranean through art. The Mediterranean was home to many cultures and societies...
Medieval Period
Article
Ten Great Stupas from Around the World
A stupa is a reliquary containing the remains (relics) of an individual associated with great spiritual power and insight, most often (since the 3rd century BCE) with the...
Definition
Gisela of France
Gisela of France was a legendary 10th-century CE Francian princess, who, according to tradition, was married off to Viking leader Rollo of Normandy. Her name, Gisela or Gisla, comes from...
Definition
Grossmunster
Grossmünster (“large cathedral” in German) is a Romanesque ex-cathedral situated in the heart of Zürich, Switzerland, which was built over the course of the 11th and 13th centuries CE. According...
Definition
Chlothar I
Chlothar I (l. c. 498-561) was a Merovingian king of the Franks, the second to rule over a unified Frankish kingdom after his father, Clovis I (l. c. 466-511). When Clovis died in 511, his kingdom...
Article
The Mayan Pantheon: The Many Gods of the Maya
The pantheon of the Maya is a vast collection of deities worshipped throughout the regions of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and...
Definition
Guntram I of Orléans
Guntram I (also given as Gontrand, Gunthram, or Gunthchramn) was a Merovingian king who ruled over the Frankish kingdom of Orléans, later referred to as Burgundy, from 561 to 592. He...
Article
Norse Ghosts & Funerary Rites
In Norse belief, the soul of the deceased might wind up in any one of a number of afterlife realms. There was Valhalla, the realm of Odin where the dead warriors drank, fought...
Definition
Fraumunster
Fraumünster Church (“Women's church” in German) is a former Benedictine abbey situated in the heart of Zürich, Switzerland that was founded in the mid-9th century CE by Louis the German and...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German organist and composer whose work is today regarded as amongst the finest of mature baroque music (c. 1600-1750). More famous as an organist...
Article
Battle of Germantown
The Battle of Germantown (4 October 1777) was a major battle of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) in which General George Washington launched an unsuccessful assault on the...
Article
Argula von Grumbach's To the University of Ingolstadt
To the University of Ingolstadt (1523) is an open letter by the German reformer Argula von Grumbach (l. 1490 to c. 1564) protesting the dismissal, arrest, and...
Definition
Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga (Baba Jaga) is a witch or ogress from Slavic folklore who lives in a magical hut in the forest and either helps, imprisons, or eats people (usually children). She is among the most...
Article
Reformation & Repression under Bishop Briçonnet of Meaux
As the Protestant Reformation emerged in France in the early 16th century, the city of Meaux became one of the first centers of controversy. Bishop Guillaume...
Definition
Thomas Cavendish
Thomas Cavendish (1560-1592 CE) was an Elizabethan mariner and privateer who famously circumnavigated the globe in 1586-88 CE, only the third voyage to do so and the first to set sail with...
Article
Tobacco & Colonial American Economy
The most important cash crop in Colonial America was tobacco, first cultivated by the English at their Jamestown Colony of Virginia in 1610 CE by the merchant John Rolfe...
Collection
Women of the Protestant Reformation
The contributions of women to the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) were frequently marginalized in the past but have gained wider recognition in the present era. Many women...
Modern Period
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
Battle of Kiev in 1941
The Battle of Kiev (Kyiv) in July-September 1941 was a major Axis victory in Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler's attack on the USSR during the Second World War (1939-45). Hitler wanted...
Definition
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was an impressionist painter based in France who focussed on landscapes but frequently changed his style and subjects. He was an instrumental figure in the new...
Article
Black Elk on the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Black Elk (l. 1863-1950) of the Oglala Lakota Sioux was twelve years old at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on 25 June 1876. He gives his account of the famous conflict...
Collection
17 Key Figures of the French Revolution
The French Revolution (1789-1799) was one of the defining events of Western history. Triggered by economic troubles, political turmoil, and social inequality, the Revolution...
Article
Our Favourite Ancient History Shops
World History Encyclopedia’s main mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. We are achieving this through our definitions...
Article
Mandan Buffalo Dance
The Mandan Buffalo Dance is a ceremonial ritual observed in the modern era to honor the spirit of the buffalo and preserve Native American cultural traditions and was performed in the...
Definition
Zachary Taylor - Old Rough and Ready - the 12th US President
Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) was an American military officer who served as the twelfth president of the United States. Born to a family of prominent Virginian...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Venus Figurine
The term Venus figurine is used to describe the more than 200 small statuettes of voluptuous female figures that have been found at Upper Paleolithic sites across Europe and some parts of...
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...
Article
Dolmens of Ancient Korea
Dolmens (in Korean: koindol or chisongmyo) are simple structures made of monolithic stones erected during the late Neolithic period or Korean Bronze Age (1st millennium BCE). In ancient...
Definition
Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes, a Buddhist cave complex located 13 kilometers south of Luoyang in China's Henan province, form some of the most significant and exquisite representations of ancient...
Definition
Migration Age
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions or German: Völkerwanderung (wandering of the peoples), was a period of human migration that occurred roughly between 300 to 700 CE...
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...
Article
The Dolmens of Sicily
It is a well-known fact that Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean sea, went through a quite complex prehistoric period. So much so that it is difficult to navigate through...
Article
Origins of World Agriculture
Agriculture arose independently at several locations across the world, beginning about 12,000 years ago. The first crops and livestock were domesticated in six rather diffuse areas...
