Ionic order: Did you mean...?

Almourol Castle in Portugal was built on a 310-meter-long and 75-meter-wide granite islet in the middle of the Tagus River. Earlier Roman and Moorish structures were completely remodelled in 1171...

The Northern or Baltic Crusades were military campaigns organised by popes and western rulers to convert pagans to Christianity in the 12th to 15th century. Unlike in the Holy Land, where military campaigns were aimed at liberating...

The art of the Carthaginians was an eclectic mix of influences and styles, which included Egyptian motifs, Greek fashion, Phoenician gods, and Etruscan patterns. Precious metals, ivory, glass, terracotta, and stone were transformed...

The Peace of Callias (aka Kallias) refers to a possible peace treaty made in the mid-5th century BCE between Athens and Persia following the Persian Wars. The existence of such a treaty is not agreed upon by all historians, and...

Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554 CE) was an Italian Renaissance architect, painter, and scholar. His most successful building design is the classically-inspired Château d'Ancy-le-Franc in France. Serlio's lifetime of scholarship...

A mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”) is an artistic representation of higher thought and deeper meaning given as a geometric symbol used in spiritual, emotional, or psychological work to focus one's attention. The image first appears in...

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was located on the western coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and built in the 6th century BCE. Such was its tremendous size, double the dimensions of other Greek temples including the...

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey), was a massive tomb built for Mausolus, the ruler of Caria, c. 350 BCE. The marble structure was so immense and decorated with such an array of striking sculptures that it...

A sphinx is a mythical creature with the body of a lion, most often with a human head and sometimes with wings. The creature was an Egyptian invention and had a male head - human or animal; however, in Greek mythology, the creature had...

Naxos, with an area of 430 km², is the largest island in the Cyclades archipelago. The island enjoyed its most prosperous periods in the early Bronze Age and again in the Archaic and Classical periods. Naxos in Mythology In certain...