Middle Ages: Did you mean...?

A detail of the gilded and black bitumen middle sarcophagus of Kha, New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII (1428-1351 BCE). Egyptian Museum, Turin, Italy

Map showing some of the major regional resouces of the eastern Mediterranean, the Near East, East Africa, and Central and South Asia.

Byzantine medallion with the Virgin from an icon frame, gold, silver, and enamel worked in cloisonné, c. 1100. The medallion was originally one of twelve that once surrounded an icon of the archangel Gabriel. Metropolitan Museum of Art...

Did you know that holiday festivities on and around December 25th date back over 2,000 years ago? This video is all about the history of Christmas, and how it has grown and developed as a holiday from its earliest history in the Roman Empire...

Medieval literature is defined broadly as any work written in Latin or the vernacular between c. 476-1500, including philosophy, religious treatises, legal texts, as well as works of the imagination. More narrowly, however, the term applies...

A timeline of world history, chronicling major events and historical eras.

Examines the rise of civilization in the Tigris-Euphrates valley in the Middle East. These early civilizations formed around major rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia and the Nile in northeastern Africa. Explores the history...

In Part 3 of this series on ancient Elam, we continue our study of Elamite history by taking a look at the Middle Elamite Period. Though fascinating, it's also a period that's shrouded in mystery. Still, we know by some of the monuments...

Religious practice in medieval Europe (c. 476-1500) was dominated and informed by the Catholic Church. The majority of the population was Christian, and "Christian" at this time meant "Catholic" as there was initially no other form of that...

Abbeys were a striking feature of medieval urban and rural landscapes. Their layout and architecture reflected their purpose as cut-off monastic retreats which, conversely, also served and inspired their local communities. Although evolving...