Middle: Did you mean...?

The monastic orders of the Middle Ages developed from the desire to live a spiritual life without the distractions of the world. Men and women who took religious vows were seeking a purity of experience they found lacking as lay people. Their...

Dogs have played a prominent role in the lives of humans going back thousands of years and, more than any other domesticated animal, this role has remained relatively unchanged. In the present day, dogs serve as guardians, perform tricks...

Antisemitism is a modern term that describes prejudice and hostility to Jews and Judaism. The origins of Christian antisemitism in the gospels are based on the story of a 1st-century itinerant Jewish preacher, Jesus of Nazareth, in the Roman...

Olaudah Equiano (l. c. 1745-1797, also known as Gustavus Vassa) was an African of the Igbo village of Essaka, of the Kingdom of Benin (modern Nigeria), who was enslaved around the age of ten, bought his freedom around the age of 20, and became...

In this gallery, we showcase images of 30 influential women from the Middle Ages. Usually dated from c. 500 to c. 1500, this was a complex and transformative period in European history filled with political turmoil and dynamic social and...

Hand axe from the site of Lyndford Quarry (near Mundford, Norfolk, UK), which dates to around 60,000 years ago and falls within the Middle Palaeolithic industry.

Peoples, cities and states have traded since antiquity but in the medieval period, things escalated so that goods travelled ever greater distances by land, river and sea. Great cities arose thanks to commerce and international trade such...

Arsenical copper axe-head, dating to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. It has nine binding-holes, three in each tang. Traces of the original wooden haft survive and the remains of some organic material are preserved in the corrosion product on...

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...

The Middle Assyrian Empire emerged amid the dynamic political realignments of the Ancient Near East during the Late Bronze Age, as Assyria reasserted its independence and rose from a regional kingdom into a formidable imperial power. Following...