Featured
Definition
Literature - The Artistic Expression of the Human Experience
Literature (from the Latin Littera meaning "letters" and referring to an acquaintance with the written word) is the written work of a specific culture...
Featured
Article
The Origins of British Pub Names
Pubs remain a prominent feature of the rural and urban landscapes of Britain, but their names very often date back to medieval times. Red lions, white horses, and colourful...
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Alexander the Great’s Eight Bodyguards - The Somatophylakes and the Macedonian Empire
Under Philip II of Macedon (reign 359–336 BCE) and Alexander the Great (reign 336–323 BCE), the somatophylakes (“bodyguards”) formed...
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10 Crowned Monarchs on Crusade for the Holy Land (1107–1254) - Kings and Emperors Who Personally Led Crusades to Jerusalem
Between 1107 and 1254, ten crowned European monarchs personally led or joined major Crusades to the Holy...
Latest Content
Article
Eyewitness Accounts of the Pacific War - From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
The Pacific War (1941-45) was the theatre of the Second World War that saw Imperial Japan and the United States, with its allies, fight for control...
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...
Article
Battle of Okinawa - WWII's Last Major Battle
The Battle of Okinawa (April to June 1945) was the largest amphibious assault and last major battle of the Second World War (1939-45). A massive naval fleet landed...
Article
Sectional Divisions of the Civil War - The Correspondence of A. Nicholas and J.M. McCue
Sectional divisions between the North and South in the United States began long before the American Civil War (1861 to 1865) and...
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
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (24 February 1500 to 21 September 1558) reigned from 1519 until his abdication in 1556 and was one of the most powerful rulers in the history of...
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Map of the Caucasus after the Peace of Nisibis 299 CE - Roman and Sasanian Power on the Caucasian Frontier
The Peace of Nisibis (299 CE) ended the Roman–Sasanian War of 296–299 CE after Galerius, Caesar under the Roman emperor...
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Map of the African Slave Trade Networks, c. 1750 - Atlantic, Trans-Saharan, Red Sea & Indian Ocean Routes
By c. 1750, the slave trades affecting Africa were entering a period of major transformation. Long-established trans-Saharan...
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Map of the Holy Roman Empire under Otto the Great c. 972 - The Formation of Imperial Rule in Medieval Europe
The Holy Roman Empire emerged from the fragmentation of the Carolingian world during the 9th and 10th centuries...
For You
Article
Ancient Egyptian Medicine: Study & Practice
In Europe, in the 19th century CE, an interesting device began appearing in graveyards and cemeteries: the mortsafe. This was an iron cage erected over a grave to keep...
Definition
Late Period of Ancient Egypt - The End of Egyptian Rule of Egypt
The Late Period of Egypt (525-332 BCE) is the era following the Third Intermediate Period (1069-525) and preceding the brief Hellenistic period (332-323...
Definition
Muhammad Ghori
Shihab al-Din (also Muʿizz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam), popularly known as Muhammad Ghori (r. 1173-1206 CE), was the Muslim ruler who laid the foundation for the subsequent Islamic ruling dynasties...
Definition
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer (l. 1491-1551) was a German reformer and theologian who had been a Dominican friar and priest until converted to the Protestant vision by Martin Luther (l. 1483-1546) c. 1518...
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
The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt
The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt, by Dr. Steven Snape, instructor of Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, reveals the astonishing urban world of ancient...
Book Review
The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy
The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (2009) was written by Dr. Adrienne Mayor, a Research Scholar at...
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| 2,621 | videos |
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Ancient Period
Collection
Queens of Ancient Egypt
Women were given greater respect in Egypt than in most other civilizations of the ancient world. There were female doctors, scribes, business owners, and even rulers. Although kings...
Definition
Nike - Greek Goddess of Victory
The ancient Greek goddess Nike was the personification of the ideal of victory. Such personifications of ideal terms were common in ancient Greek culture; other examples include...
Definition
Gortyn
Gortyn is located on the Mesara plain of central Crete and was an important settlement throughout antiquity from the Minoan to Hellenistic periods. In Roman times the city went on to gain even more...
Definition
Justinian I
Justinian I reigned as emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 527 to 565 CE. Born around 482 CE in Tauresium, a village in Illyria, his uncle Emperor Justin I was an imperial bodyguard who reached...
Definition
Maya Government
Ancient Maya government was formed on the basis that rulers were thought to have been god-like, which to some might suggest one unified state. However, the consensus amongst anthropologists...
Article
Upanishads: Summary & Commentary
The Upanishads are among the best-known philosophical-religious works in the world and also among the oldest as the earliest texts are thought to have been composed between...
Definition
Manyoshu
The Manyoshu or 'Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves' is an anthology of ancient Japanese poems compiled c. 759 CE during the Nara Period but including many earlier works. The most likely person...
Definition
Orichalcum
Orichalcum ("mountain copper") or aurichalcum ("gold copper") was a metal used in coins during ancient times. Orichalcum was a golden-yellow coloured mixture consisting of both copper and zinc...
Medieval Period
Article
Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon
It is a breathtaking flight with dramatic sweeps over fertile valleys and blue pine forests. You fly past Mt. Everest, Mt. Kanchenjunga and Mt. Gangkhar Puensum, which is...
Definition
Ull
Ull (also known as Ullr), with his bow and skis, is such an elusive presence in Norse mythology that no conclusive remarks can be made about him. The 13th-century Icelandic author Snorri describes...
Definition
Islamic Caliphates
Caliphate (“Khilafat” in Arabic) was a semi-religious political system of governance in Islam, in which the territories of the Islamic empire in the Middle East and North Africa and the...
Article
Battle of Brunanburh
The Battle of Brunanburh, fought in the autumn of 937 at an unknown location, saw the English king, Aethelstan (r. 924-939), defeat a coalition of invading armies led by Constantine...
Definition
Merovingian Dynasty
The Merovingian Dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from roughly 481 when Clovis I ascended the throne of the Salian Franks until 751 when Childeric III was deposed and the Merovingians...
Collection
Ancient Chinese Philosophers
The philosophers of ancient China developed diverse systems of thought, often in conflict with each other, all aiming to provide people with the means to live in harmony with themselves...
Definition
Nok Culture
The Nok culture, named after the settlement of the same name, flourished in southern West Africa (modern Nigeria) during the Iron Age from the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Famous for...
Article
Norse-Viking Diet
In many depictions of Vikings, whether in film or other media, a group is often seen gathered around a flaming pit while an animal of some type – usually a boar – turns on a spit above...
Early Modern Period
Article
The Impact of the British Industrial Revolution
The consequences of the British Industrial Revolution (1760-1840) were many, varied, and long-lasting. Working life in rural and urban settings was changed forever...
Definition
Anne Hutchinson - Spiritual Visionary and Champion of Faith
Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) was a religious reformer, Puritan dissident, midwife, and alleged prophetess whose beliefs and influence brought her into conflict...
Collection
17 Campaigns & Battles of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), Emperor of the French, was one of the most successful military commanders of the modern era. From relatively humble beginnings, he rose to...
Definition
Tsar
Tsar (also czar) is a Slavic term derived from the Latin caesar. Ivan III (Ivan the Great) (r. 1462-1505) was the first Russian ruler to begin using the title of tsar during his reign instead of...
Article
White Buffalo Calf Woman
White Buffalo Calf Woman (Ptesan-Wi) is a supernatural entity of the Sioux religion, who serves as an intermediary between Wakan Tanka (Great Mystery or Great Spirit) and the people...
Definition
Alexander Selkirk - The Inspiration For Robinson Crusoe
Alexander Selkirk (or Selcraig, 1676-1721) was a Scotsman famously marooned for four years and four months on a desert island in the Pacific Ocean until his...
Article
Cibola - The Seven Cities of Gold & Coronado
The Seven Cities of Cibola are the mythical lands of gold that the Spanish of the 16th century believed existed somewhere in the southwest of North America, comparable...
Article
Battle of Fleurus
The Battle of Fleurus (26 June 1794) was the climax of the Flanders Campaign of 1792-95 and was one of the most decisive battles in the War of the First Coalition (1792-1797). A French...
Modern Period
Definition
Portuguese Brazil
With a wealth of natural resources, Brazil was by far the most important colony in the Portuguese empire and was, at one time or another, the world’s leading producer of sugar, diamonds...
Article
Key German Weapons of World War I
Superior weapons can win wars, and during the First World War (1914-18) all sides attempted to gain an advantage over the enemy by producing more and more destructive devices...
Article
Origin of the Sweat Lodge
The sweat lodge is a temporary or permanent structure integral to Native American culture and frequently used in spiritual ceremonies. The lodge is often a low, dome-shaped, structure...
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...
Article
5 Top Aces of World War I - The Fighter Pilots Who Became National Heroes
WWI saw the birth of an entirely new form of combat: lone men engaging the enemy in aerial dogfights. The victors became heroes back home, but...
Definition
Bleeding Kansas - Dress Rehearsal for the American Civil War
Bleeding Kansas' was a term coined by the New York Tribune in 1856, referring to the escalating hostilities in the Kansas Territory between pro-slavery...
Article
Ivory & the Colonization of Africa
European colonising powers sought to exploit Africa's resources from the 15th century onwards. Arab traders had been doing the same in North Africa and East Africa through...
Article
The Pre-WWI Alliance System - Triple Entente v. Triple Alliance
The alliance system in Europe was one of the causes of the First World War (1914-18), although it did not make war inevitable. In the first decade of...
Prehistoric Period
Definition
Woolly Mammoth
The woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius, is an extinct herbivore related to elephants who trudged across the steppe-tundras of Eurasia and North America from around 300,000 years ago until...
Definition
Banpo Village
Banpo Village is a Neolithic site in the Yellow River Valley, east of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, in the People's Republic of China. The site was occupied from c. 4500-3750 BCE and covers almost...
Definition
Homo Naledi
Homo naledi is an extinct species of human discovered in Rising Star Cave in South Africa in 2013 CE in what has become the biggest single-species hominin find in Africa to this day, which is...
Article
Early Human Migration
Disregarding the extremely inhospitable spots even the most stubborn of us have enough common sense to avoid, humans have managed to cover an extraordinary amount of territory on this...
Article
Lost Civilisations of Anatolia: Göbekli Tepe
Göbekli Tepe is the world's oldest example of monumental architecture; a 'temple' built at the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 years ago. It was discovered in 1995...
Definition
Ҫatalhöyük
Ҫatalhöyük is one of the largest Neolithic settlements ever discovered. Built more than 9000 years ago in modern Konya Plain, central Turkey, it is known in archaeology as a proto-city, a link...
Definition
Knap of Howar
The Knap of Howar is a Neolithic site on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland. The name is Old Norse for `mound of mounds' or `large barrow'. The building preserved at the site...
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...
