Eleusinian Mysteries: Did you mean...?

Tauroctony fresco (depicting Mithras killing a bull) in the mithraeum (temple of Mithras) of Capua (Italy), 2nd century CE.

Statue of Ahriman from a Mithraic Temple Unknown provenance, 1st century BCE - 3rd century CE (not yet on display)

A Roman marble relief depicting Mithras sacrificing a bull. From the Esquiline, Rome, date unknown. (Vatican Museums, Rome)

Hades was both the name of the ancient Greek god of the underworld (Roman name: Pluto) and the name of the shadowy place below the earth which was considered the final destination for the souls of the dead. Perhaps the most feared of the...

Henry Hudson (c. 1570-1611) was an English navigator and maritime explorer. He is known for his four voyages between 1607 and 1610 in search of a northwest passage via the Arctic Ocean to the Far East. The lure of a northwest passage became...

Tutankhamun (also known as Tutankhamen and `King Tut', r. c.1336-c.1327 BCE) is the most famous and instantly recognizable Pharaoh in the modern world. His golden sarcophagus is now a symbol almost synonymous with Egypt. His name means `living...

Ancient Greek comedy was a popular and influential form of theatre performed across ancient Greece from the 6th century BCE. The most famous playwrights of the genre were Aristophanes and Menander and their works and those of their contemporaries...

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 Roman god of wine Liber Pater. He brought joy...

The Predynastic Period in Ancient Egypt is the time before recorded history from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty and is generally recognized as spanning the era from c. 6000-3150 BCE (though physical...

Assyria began as a small trading community centered at the ancient city of Ashur and grew to become the greatest empire in the ancient world prior to the conquests of Alexander the Great and, after him, the Roman Empire. While the Assyrians'...