Banking: Did you mean...?

Trade and commerce in the medieval world developed to such an extent that even relatively small communities had access to weekly markets and, perhaps a day's travel away, larger but less frequent fairs, where the full range...

The medieval indulgence was a writ offered by the Church, for money, guaranteeing the remission of sin, and its abuse was the spark that inspired Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Luther (l. 1483-1546) claimed the sale...

The long-term goal of the Bolsheviks, who took power by force in Russia in November 1917, was a fairer society where workers and peasants were not exploited by wealthy capitalists. The more immediate consequences...

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 in light industry and agriculture. Contrary...

Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in Judea in the 1st century CE and spread to the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire and beyond. In these cities, non-Jews, Gentiles, wanted to join the movement...

In the ancient world, "religion" and society were not separate entities. Various gods dictated covenants, "law-codes," and social conventions. Such law-codes were most often the responsibility of...

Dion is located at the foot of Mount Olympus in the north of Greece, in what would have been ancient Macedon. It takes its name from the most important Macedonian sanctuary dedicated to Zeus ("Dios” meaning "of Zeus”...

The Battle of Castiglione (5 August 1796) was one of the most important battles of Napoleon's Italian Campaign of 1796-97. After laying siege to the vital fortress of Mantua, General Napoleon Bonaparte and his Army of Italy...

Oheka Castle, built by the industrialist Otto Herman Kahn (l. 1867-1934), is one of the best-known luxury hotels of Long Island, NY, USA today. In its time as a private residence, it was the site of the kind of lavish parties which...

Lorenzo the Magnificent Receives the Tribute of the Ambassadors, fresco painting by Giorgio Vasari, c. 1556-1558. This fresco shows a crowd of ambassadors giving gifts to Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent, as...