Travel literature: Did you mean...?

The Song of the Hoe is a Sumerian praise poem celebrating the hoe for its many uses and linking it to the creation of the world by the great god Enlil. As the economy of Mesopotamia was almost entirely based on agriculture, it is not surprising...

Homer's Iliad describes the final year of the Trojan War, a legendary conflict between an alliance of Greek cities and the city of Troy in Anatolia. It was probably written in the 8th century BCE after a long oral tradition. The Greeks themselves...

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BCE), better known to most modern readers as Horace, was one of Rome's best-loved poets and, along with his fellow poet Virgil, a member of Emperor Augustus' inner circle at the imperial palace. Despite his...

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (39-65 CE), grandson of Seneca the Elder and nephew of Seneca the Younger, was a Roman statesman and Latin poet. Born in Corduba, he came to Rome as an infant and later held the positions of quaestor and augur. Lucan's...

Women in ancient Persia were not only highly respected but, in many cases, considered the equals of males. Women could own land, conduct business, received equal pay, could travel freely on their own, and in the case of royal women, hold...

Daily life in medieval Japan (1185-1606 CE) was, for most people, the age-old struggle to put food on the table, build a family, stay healthy, and try to enjoy the finer things in life whenever possible. The upper classes had better and more...

Tim Pauketat, author of Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America.

Replica of the Dutch Halve Maen ("Half Moon"), which English navigator Henry Hudson (c. 1570-1611) captained on his third voyage in 1609 in search of a northwest passage. Photographic print by Stereo-Travel Co., c. 1909. Library of Congress...

Saba (also given as Sheba) was a kingdom in southern Arabia (region of modern-day Yemen) which flourished between the 8th century BCE and 275 CE when it was conquered by the neighboring Himyarites. Although these are the most commonly accepted...

Zeno of Elea (l. c.465 BCE) was a Greek philosopher of the Eleatic School and a student of the elder philosopher Parmenides (l.c. 485 BCE) whose work influenced the philosophy of Socrates (l. c. 470/469-399 BCE). Zeno and Parmenides are both...