Featured
Definition
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) was an intermittent conflict between England and France lasting 116 years. It began principally because King Edward III (r. 1327-1377) and Philip VI (r. 1328-1350) escalated a dispute over feudal rights in Gascony to a battle for the French Crown. The French eventually won and gained control of all of France...
Featured
Definition
William Still - Father of the Underground Railroad
William Still (1819-1902) was an African American abolitionist known as the "Father of the Underground Railroad" for his efforts in helping to free between 600...
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Map of the Rise of the Delhi Sultanate: Mamluk Dynasty - State Formation and Conquest in Medieval India, 1206–1290
The Delhi Sultanate's Mamluk (or Slave) period (1206–1290) marked the emergence of a powerful Muslim-ruled state...
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Mongol Warriors in Deel Robes
An illustration of Mongol warriors carrying out an execution. They are wearing the traditional Mongol deel robe. 14th century CE. (From Rashid-ad-Din's Gami' at-tawarih)
Latest Content
Definition
Seven Years' War - The 18th-Century World War
The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) was a global conflict fought between the great powers of Europe in the mid-18th century. The culmination of several decades of conflict...
Article
Top 10 Roman Sites in Bulgaria
Roman Bulgaria occupied an important position in the heart of the Balkans, between the Black Sea, the Aegean, and Asia Minor. In the north, the Danube River formed a heavily...
Definition
Millard Fillmore - The Forgotten US President
Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) was the thirteenth president of the United States. A member of the Whig Party, he was elected vice president in 1849 and assumed the presidency...
Article
The Eternal Life of Gilgamesh - Literary Immortality
The Epic of Gilgamesh is among the most popular works of literature in the present day and has influenced countless readers, but for the greater part of its history...
Article
The Ideal of Christendom in the Middle Ages & Beyond
The ideal of Christendom in antiquity joined separate nations into one single community carrying out the precepts of the God of Israel. Constantine's conversion...
Definition
Gilgamesh - The Historical and Mythical King
Gilgamesh is the semi-mythic King of Uruk, best known as the hero of The Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100 to circa 1200 BCE), the great Babylonian poem that predates Homer's...
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Map of the Rise of the Delhi Sultanate: Mamluk Dynasty - State Formation and Conquest in Medieval India, 1206–1290
The Delhi Sultanate's Mamluk (or Slave) period (1206–1290) marked the emergence of a powerful Muslim-ruled state...
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6 Machines That Shaped World War II - Tanks, Fighters, and the Industrial Power of Total War
The Second World War (1939–1945) pushed industrialized warfare to an unprecedented scale. Military effectiveness depended not...
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Map of the Louisiana Purchase, North America in 1804 - U.S. Expansion, Rival Claims & Indigenous Nations
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was the United States' acquisition of France's territorial claim to approximately 828,000...
For You
Definition
Vejovis
Vejovis (sometimes spelt Vediovis) was an obscure Roman deity. He is poorly attested in both written sources and archaeology, and his nature is debated by scholars. His name is related to Jove...
Article
The Greatest Party Ever Thrown: Ashurnasirpal II’s Kalhu Festival
The greatest party ever thrown in antiquity is the inaugral event thrown by Ashurnasirpal II (r. 884-859 BCE) in 879 BCE at the completion of his...
Definition
Scythian Art
Scythian art is best known for its 'animal art.' Flourishing between the 7th and 3rd centuries BCE on the steppe of Central Asia, with echoes of Celtic influence, the Scythians were known for...
Definition
Fire Temple
Fire Temples are places of worship in the Zoroastrian religion. They were known as ataskada (“house of fire”) by the Persians but are best known today by their Greek name pyratheia (fire temple...
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
Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
The history of the Byzantine Empire covers a timeframe of over a millennium, and this fact alone has caused all kinds of headaches for authors, chief amongst...
Book Review
Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty
Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty by Charles Benn is an excellent resource as well as very entertaining reading. Charles Benn's writing style is...
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| 1,764 | articles |
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| 2,642 | videos |
| 415 | 3D images |
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| 1,340 | contributors |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Confucius
Confucius (Kongzi) was a 6th century BCE Chinese philosopher. His thoughts, expressed in the philosophy of Confucianism, have influenced Chinese culture right up to the present day. Confucius...
Definition
Mesopotamian Government - Helping and Serving the Gods
Ancient Mesopotamian government was based on the understanding that human beings were created to help and serve the gods. The high priest, king, assembly of...
Article
Naval Warfare in Ancient India
The navy in ancient India carried out three roles: it was used to transport troops to distant battlefields, participate in actual warfare, and was primarily meant for protecting...
Article
The Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara
The pyramids are the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt and still fascinate people in the present day. These enormous tributes to the memory of the Egyptian kings have...
Definition
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles is the story of how the movement that became Christianity began in Jerusalem and spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean cities of the Roman Empire. It was...
Article
Ancient Persian Gods, Heroes, and Creatures - The Complete List
The term 'mythology' comes from the Greek mythos (story-of-the-people) and logos (word or speech), meaning the spoken story of a people. Every civilization...
Definition
Etruscan Language
The language of the Etruscans, like the people themselves, has remained somewhat mysterious and has yet to be fully understood. The alphabet used a western Greek script, but the language...
Definition
Ares
Ares was the Greek god of war. He was perhaps the most unpopular of all the Olympian gods because of his quick temper, aggressiveness, and unquenchable thirst for conflict. Ares famously seduced...
Medieval Period
Article
Global Trade in the 13th Century
In the 13th century, astonishing quantities of spices and silk passed from the Far East to Europe. Exact amounts are not known, but spice popularity in both cuisine and medicine...
Article
Zengids & the Crusaders: Race for Egypt (1163-1169 CE)
In the aftermath of the failure of the Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE), which only managed to bring Damascus under Nur ad-Din's (sometimes also given as Nur...
Definition
Kingdom of Northumbria
The Kingdom of Northumbria (c. 604-954 CE) was a political entity in the north of modern-day Britain with Mercia directly to the south, the Kingdoms of the Welsh to the west, and the...
Definition
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire (1206-1368) was founded by Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), first Great Khan or 'universal ruler' of the Mongol peoples. Genghis forged the empire by uniting nomadic tribes of...
Definition
Hilda of Whitby
Hilda of Whitby (also known as Saint Hilda of Whitby, l. 614-680 CE) was the founder and abbess of the monastery at Whitby, Kingdom of Northumbria, Britain. She was a Northumbrian princess...
Definition
Kingdom of Abyssinia
The Kingdom of Abyssinia was founded in the 13th century CE and, transforming itself into the Ethiopian Empire via a series of military conquests, lasted until the 20th century CE. It...
Definition
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also referred to as the Investiture Contest or Investiture Dispute, was a conflict lasting from 1076 to 1122 between the papacy of the Catholic Church...
Article
Religion in the Middle Ages
Religion in the Middle Ages, though dominated by the Catholic Church, was far more varied than only orthodox Christianity. In the Early Middle Ages (c. 476-1000), long-established...
Early Modern Period
Article
Why the Industrial Revolution Started in Britain
The Industrial Revolution saw a wave of technological and social changes in many countries of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries, but it began in Britain...
Definition
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Sultanate (1299-1922 as an empire; 1922-1924 as caliphate only), also referred to as the Ottoman Empire, written in Turkish as Osmanlı Devleti, was a Turkic imperial state that...
Definition
Blackbeard
Blackbeard (d. 1718), otherwise known as Edward Teach (probably an assumed name), was an infamous English pirate who operated in the Caribbean and Atlantic during a surprisingly short career...
Article
The History of Christmas Carols
Christmas carols are a much-loved part of the Christmas season and while many have a long history, others are surprisingly recent. From medieval dancing songs to the 19th-century...
Definition
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first frame of government for the United States of America, establishing a weak federal government to protect the sovereignty...
Article
Mondamin
Mondamin (also given as Mon-Daw-Min, The Gift of Corn, and The Origin of Corn) is a tale from the Ojibwe Nation on how the people received corn from the Great Spirit through the vision quest of...
Article
Death of Admiral Coligny
The assassination attempt on Gaspard II de Coligny, Admiral of France (l. 1519-1572) on 22 August 1572 was the spark igniting the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre beginning on 24 August...
Article
European Discovery & Conquest of the Spice Islands
Clove, nutmeg, and mace are native to only a handful of tiny islands in the middle of the vast Indonesian archipelago – cloves on five Maluku Islands (the Moluccas...
Modern Period
Article
Sojourner Truth's Escape from Slavery
Sojourner Truth's Escape from Slavery comes from the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, an account of the famous abolitionist's life as given to her friend and admirer Olive...
Definition
Roman Nose (Cheyenne Warrior)
Roman Nose (Woqini, "Hook Nose", l. c. 1830-1868) was a Northern Cheyenne warrior known for his courage in battle, who became so famous among white settlers and the US military...
Article
The 1918 Armistice with Germany - Allied Victory on WWI's Western Front
The armistice that ended the First World War (1914-18) on the Western Front was signed between Germany and the Allies on 11 November 1918. The...
Definition
Geronimo
Geronimo (Goyahkla, l. c. 1829-1909) was a medicine man and war chief of the Bedonkohe tribe of the Chiricahua Apache nation, best known for his resistance against the encroachment of Mexican...
Definition
William IV of Great Britain
William IV of Great Britain (r. 1830-1837) succeeded his elder brother George IV of Great Britain (r. 1820-1830) to become the fifth Hanoverian monarch. William had a successful...
Article
Key British Weapons of World War I
The First World War (1914-18) witnessed an arsenal of new weapons as all sides were desperate to gain an advantage, particularly in the static trench warfare of the Western...
Definition
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials (1945-6), held in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany, were a series of trials involving the senior surviving Nazis to hold them accountable for waging war and committing...
Definition
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer of Romantic Music. Liszt first gained international fame as a piano virtuoso, an activity in which he was a pioneer, and then as a composer of...
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...
Definition
First Agricultural Revolution
The First Agricultural Revolution, beginning c. 12-20,000 years ago, was characterized by the emergence of different agricultural systems in different parts of the world, whose...
Definition
Pre-Colonial North America
Pre-Colonial North America (also known as Pre-Columbian, Prehistoric, and Precontact) is the period between the migration of the Paleo-Indians to the region between 40,000-14,000...
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...
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
Göbekli Tepe
“Göbekli Tepe” (“Hill with a Navel”, or “Potbelly Hill”) is found approximately 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Şanlıurfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey once named “Edessa” and known...
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...
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...
