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Image Gallery
A Gallery of 40 Portrait Paintings Through History
Capturing in paint for all time the faces of particular people has been an endeavour of artists for millennia. In this gallery, we present in chronological sequence...
Featured
Definition
Richard III of England
Richard III of England ruled as king from 1483 to 1485 CE. Richard succeeded Edward V of England (r. Apr-Jun 1483 CE), the son of Edward IV of England (r. 1461-1470 CE & 1471-1483 CE...
Featured
Image
Nok Sculpture
A terracotta figurine produced by the Nok Culture of southern West Africa (500 BCE - 200 CE). (Louvre Museum, Paris)
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Map of the Seven Years' War in Europe, 1756-1763 - Alliances, Battles, and the Global Balance of Power
The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) was a major European and global conflict driven by the rivalry between Austria and Prussia...
Latest Content
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...
Article
The Ideal of Christendom in Antiquity
The ideal of Christendom is a historical and political vision where society and government are unified under the Christian faith. According to this vision, power on Earth...
Article
Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird - A Sumerian Hero's Journey
Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird is a Sumerian myth dated to the Ur III period (circa 2112 to circa 2004 BCE) featuring the hero-king of Uruk, Lugalbanda, father...
Image Gallery
75 Images of the Pacific War
In this gallery of 75 images, we examine the key features of WWII's Pacific War. After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the US naval base in Hawaii, Japan continued to expand its...
Article
Matter of Aratta - The Great Sumerian Epic
The Matter of Aratta is the modern-day title for a collection of four poems – Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana, Lugalbanda in the Mountain...
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Map of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu, c. 1438–1533) - Expansion Across South America, Cities and Roads
The Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu, c. 1438–1533) grew from a highland kingdom centered on Cusco into the largest empire in...
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Map of the Middle Kingdom Egypt (c. 2050–1800 BCE) - Reunification, Nubian Frontiers & Trade Networks
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2050–1650 BCE) was a period of political reunification, renewed royal authority, and cultural...
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Map of the Seven Years' War in Europe, 1756-1763 - Alliances, Battles, and the Global Balance of Power
The Seven Years' War (1756-1763) was a major European and global conflict driven by the rivalry between Austria and Prussia...
For You
Article
Battle of Hydaspes
For almost a decade, Alexander the Great and his army swept across Western Asia and into Egypt, defeating King Darius III and the Persians at the battles of River Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela...
Definition
Pezhetairoi
The pezhetairoi (foot companions) were part of the imposing army that accompanied the Macedonian commander Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) when he crossed the Hellespont to face the Persian...
Article
The Principate of Augustus
Augustus (r. 27 BCE to 14 CE), as the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE), brought an end to the Roman Republic, and on 16 January 27 BCE, by Senatorial decree, he...
Definition
King Philip's War
King Philip’s War (also known as Metacom’s War, 1675-1678) was a conflict in New England between a coalition of Native American tribes organized under the command of Metacom (also known...
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
Virtuous Bankers: A Day in the Life of the Eighteenth-Century Bank of England
Nicknamed "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street," the Bank of England is probably the most historically influential British financial organization...
Book Review
Thermopylae: The Battle For The West
Ernle Bradford's Thermopylae: The Battle for the West is an exciting book for general enthusiasts of ancient history. This speedy read does not strictly focus on the Battle...
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| 2,642 | videos |
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Ancient Period
Definition
Bacchus
Bacchus was the god of wine and revelry in Roman mythology. Considered the most versatile and elusive of the gods, with a Greek equivalent in Dionysus, Bacchus is frequently associated with the...
Article
Women in the New Testament
Women in the New Testament are presented for the most part along the contours of both Jewish and Greco-Roman concepts of the social construction of gender roles. Women’s value to...
Definition
Diana
Diana was the goddess of childbirth, the fertility goddess, the goddess of the moon as well as the patron goddess of wild beasts in Roman mythology. However, she is best known as the goddess of...
Definition
Roman Fort
The Roman army constructed both temporary and permanent forts and fortified military camps (castrum) across the frontiers of the empire's borders and within territories which required a permanent...
Definition
Ancient India
India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The name 'Bharata' is used as a designation for the country in their constitution referencing the ancient mythological...
Definition
Ariadne
Ariadne is a figure in Greek mythology, best known for her role in helping Theseus to defeat the monstrous half-man half-bull Minotaur, her half-brother, and escape the Labyrinth, the torturous...
Image Gallery
10 Maps of Bronze Age Empires
During the Bronze Age, which spanned roughly from 3300 BCE to 1200 BCE, several powerful empires emerged, shaping the course of early civilization. In this collection of ten maps...
Article
The Tizoc Stone
The Tizoc Stone is a huge stone cylinder from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan which depicts a sun-disk on its flat upper surface and carries a frieze around its outer edge showing Aztec...
Medieval Period
Definition
Edmund I - The Second King of England
Edmund I ruled the Kingdom of the English from 939 to 946. In his youth, alongside his brother, King Aethelstan (reign 924-939), he defeated a Celtic-Viking alliance at the...
Definition
Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta (l. 1304-1368/69) was a Moroccan explorer from Tangier whose expeditions took him further than any other traveler of his time and resulted in his famous work, The Rihla of Ibn Battuta...
Definition
Michael IV the Paphlagonian
Michael IV the Paphlagonian was Byzantine emperor from 1034 to 1041 CE. He had an affair with Empress Zoe, then married her and was crowned emperor after the death of her first...
Article
Maya Food & Agriculture
For the Maya, reliable food production was so important to their well-being that they closely linked the agricultural cycle to astronomy and religion. Important rituals and ceremonies...
Definition
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui - Founder of the Inca Empire
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (often simply Pachacuti or Pachacutec) was the 9th Inca ruler (r. 1438 - 1471 CE) who founded their empire with conquests in the Cuzco...
Definition
Aztec Sacrifice - How the Aztecs Kept Their Gods Happy
The religion of the Aztec civilization which flourished in ancient Mesoamerica (1345-1521 CE) has gained an infamous reputation for bloodthirsty human sacrifice...
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
Krak Des Chevaliers
Krak des Chevaliers (also spelt Cracs des Chevaliers, and known in Arabic as Hisn al-Akrad) is a castle in Syria originally built for the Emir of Aleppo in 1031 CE but acquired and extensively...
Early Modern Period
Definition
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was an American lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. A prominent figure of the American Revolution, he wrote the Declaration...
Definition
Alchemy
Alchemy is an ancient practice aimed at recreating precious substances using recipes and transformative materials such as the philosopher's stone. Alchemists believed that materials like gold...
Definition
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England ruled as king from 1509 to 1547. The second Tudor king after his father Henry VII of England (r. 1485-1509), Henry had inherited a kingdom which enjoyed both unity...
Definition
Sepoy
A sepoy was an Indian soldier in the armies of various states and European trading companies in the Indian subcontinent and then, from the second half of the 19th century, in the British Indian...
Definition
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) was a conquistador who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca civilization from 1532. With only a small group of men, Pizarro took advantage of his superior...
Definition
Cult of the Supreme Being
The Cult of the Supreme Being was a deistic cult established by Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) during the French Revolution (1789-1799). Its purpose was to replace Roman Catholicism...
Definition
Knights' Revolt
The Knight’s Revolt (1522-1523) was a military action led by the German imperial knight Franz von Sickingen (l. 1481-1523) and encouraged by the knight and writer Ulrich von Hutten (l. 1488-1523...
Definition
Charlotte Corday
Charlotte Corday (1768-1793) played a prominent role in the French Revolution (1789-1799) when she assassinated radical activist Jean-Paul Marat in his bathtub on 13 July 1793. Despite her...
Modern Period
Article
Lenin's New Economic Policy - Communism's Flirtation with Capitalism
The New Economic Policy (NEP) of Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), leader of Soviet Russia, was the introduction in 1921 of a limited form of capitalism...
Article
France’s 1905 Law of Separation of Church and State
The 1905 Law of Separation of Church and State was enacted as the climax of decades of conflict between monarchists and anticlerical Republicans who viewed Christianity...
Definition
Mahmud II - Reformist Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Mahmud II was one of the most influential sultans of the Ottoman Empire. As a radical reformer, he strove to implement military and governmental reforms to prevent...
Article
Battle of Omdurman - Britain's Vengeance for the Death of General Gordon
The Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898 saw General Kitchener lead an Anglo-Egyptian-Sudanese army to victory over 50,000 Mahdists in Sudan...
Article
The Woodpecker's Mother-in-Law
The Woodpecker's Mother-in-Law is a Cheyenne tale which, like any other, is open to various interpretations but, among them, highlights the strength and autonomy of Cheyenne...
Definition
Pink and White Terraces of New Zealand
The cascading geothermal pink and white terraces of Aotearoa New Zealand were often referred to internationally and within New Zealand as the eighth wonder of the world...
Definition
P. G. T. Beauregard - The Confederate Advocate for Civil Rights
Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (P. G. T. Beauregard, 1818 to 1893) was an engineer and Confederate general during the American Civil War. He is famous...
Definition
Meiji Period
The Meiji period refers to the period in Japanese history from 1868 to 1912 during which the Meiji Emperor reigned. Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Meiji Restoration...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Paleolithic
The Palaeolithic ('Old Stone Age') makes up the earliest chunk of the Stone Age – the large swathe of time during which hominins used stone to make tools – and ranges from the first known tool...
Definition
Europe
Europe is a continent forming the westernmost part of the land mass of Eurasia and comprised of 49 sovereign states. Its name may come from the Greek myth of Europa, but human habitation of the...
Definition
Long Barrow
A long barrow is a class of Middle Neolithic (approximately 3500-2700 BCE) burial monument which is found extensively throughout the British Isles and is related to other forms of contemporary...
Definition
Ceide Fields
The Ceide Fields, near Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, on the western coast of Ireland, are recognised as one of the oldest and largest Stone Age farming sites in the world, dating back to c. 3700 BCE...
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
Homo Heidelbergensis
Homo heidelbergensis is an extinct species of human that is identified in both Africa and western Eurasia from roughly 700,000 years ago onwards until around 200,000 years ago – fitting...
Definition
Homo Sapiens
Homo sapiens ('wise man'), or modern humans, are the only species of human still around today. Despite having invented countless ways of labelling the world around us, we have so far done a...
Definition
Ice Age
An ice age is a period in which the earth's climate is colder than normal, with ice sheets capping the poles and glaciers dominating higher altitudes. Within an ice age, there are varying pulses...
