Saudi Arabia: Did you mean...?

Finding a maritime route to the East and gaining access to the lucrative spice trade stood at the root of the European Age of Exploration. However, when Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Indian Ocean in 1493, he...

In June of 323 BCE, Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) died in Babylon. His sudden death before his 33rd birthday has long been a point of speculation: was it disease, old wounds, or murder? Regardless of the cause, history ranks him as...

Thanks to their favoured position in life and the labour of the peasants on their estates, nobles in an English medieval castle had plenty of leisure hours which could be frittered away by eating, drinking, dancing, playing games like chess...

The Solomonic Dynasty ruled Ethiopia from the 1270s to the 1970s, and the 14th-century work, the Kebra Nagast (The Glory of the Kings) famously tells of how the dynasty of Ethiopian kings descended from King Solomon himself. The descent from...

Herod's Harbor was a giant port built between 22 and 15 BCE by Herod the Great (r. 37-4 BCE), Rome's client king. Situated on the lower eastern Mediterranean coast north of Alexandria and south of Tyre, with Rome's largess and building skills...

Pepper has long been the king of spices and for almost 2,000 years dominated world trade. Originating in India, it was known in Greece by the 4th century BCE and was an integral part of the Roman diet by 30 BCE. It remained a force in Europe...

This map illustrates the rise and rapid expansion of Islam from the time of the Prophet Muhammad (622–632 CE) through the great caliphates of the 7th to 9th centuries. Beginning in Arabia, the new faith and its armies spread under the Rashidun...

Lamp handle made of bronze in the shape of an ibex. 1st century BCE to 1st century CE. Southern Arabia. Louvre Museum, Paris.

This gallery showcases 20 photos of Petra (Jordan), the former capital of the Nabataean kingdom, which thrived as a trading centre from the 4th century BCE to the 3rd century CE. Petra is an ancient city carved into a canyon by the Nabataeans...

A 19th Century CE drawing of the Mosque of the Prophet (Arabic: Al-Masjid an-Nabawī) in Medina, Saudi Arabia. The Mosque of the Prophet was originally founded in 622 CE by Prophet Muhammad, and underwent numerous expansions and renovations...