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Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire existed from 330 to 1453. It is often called the Eastern Roman Empire or simply Byzantium. The Byzantine capital was founded at Constantinople by Constantine I (r. 306-337). The Byzantine Empire varied in size over the...
Definition
Cathars
The Cathars (also known as Cathari from the Greek Katharoi for “pure ones”) were a dualist medieval religious sect of Southern France which flourished in the 12th century and challenged the authority of the Catholic Church. They were also...
Definition
Empress Irene
Empress Irene was the wife of Leo IV and, on her husband's death, she reigned as regent for her son Constantine VI from 780 to 790 CE. From 797 to 802 CE she ruled as emperor in her own right, the first woman to do so in Byzantine history...
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Division of the Byzantine Empire, 1204 CE.
This map illustrates the rise of the Latin Empire (Imperium Romaniae), a Crusader state founded by Western European forces after the Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople in 1204. It replaced the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire...
Article
Rabbit Tales of the Cherokee
In the lore of the Cherokee nation, the rabbit is a trickster figure living by its wits, who sometimes outsmarts adversaries or predators and sometimes is defeated by them, though, even in defeat, the rabbit usually escapes. The rabbit symbolizes...
Article
Charles A. Eastman on Crazy Horse
Charles A. Eastman's biography of Crazy Horse (l. c. 1840-1877) is among the most significant sources on the great Sioux war chief, as Eastman drew on accounts of those who had known and fought alongside him in writing it. The work differs...
Article
The Boy Who Was Sacrificed
The Boy Who Was Sacrificed is a legend of the Pawnee nation highlighting the belief that everything happens for a reason according to the will of Ti-ra'wa ("Father Above"), the supreme creator, and how even the smallest creatures have an...
Definition
League of Nations
The League of Nations was founded in January 1920 to promote world peace and welfare. Created by the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the First World War (1914-18), the League provided a forum where nations promised to resolve international...
Article
The Women of Athena's Cult
In ancient Athens, women had no life outside the home unless they were prostitutes or were engaged in religious activities such as festivals. Every Greek deity in every city-state had their own cult (sect) but the cult of Athena offered women...
Definition
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566) was a Spanish Dominican friar and former conquistador who revealed the atrocities of the conquests of New Spain and Peru and who strove to protect the basic rights of indigenous peoples in the Spanish Empire...