Oil palm: Did you mean...?

The gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt were an integral part of the people's everyday lives for over 3,000 years. There were over 2,000 deities in the Egyptian pantheon, many whose names are well known - Isis, Osiris, Horus, Amun, Ra, Hathor...

The pantheon of the Maya is a vast collection of deities worshipped throughout the regions of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. These gods informed...

Lullaby for a Son of Shulgi is a Sumerian cradlesong from the reign of Shulgi of Ur (2094 to circa 2046 BCE) written for one of his sons. The lullaby follows a standard form of encouraging sleep through repetition coupled with the speaker's...

During the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603 CE), people of all classes greatly looked forward to the many holidays and festivals on offer throughout the year. The vast majority of public holidays were also religious commemorations, and attendance...

Philo of Byzantium's On the Seven Wonders (225 BCE) is the first known list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (though it may have been based on earlier works now lost). Philo's list differs from the standard Seven Wonders in replacing...

Herodotus' section of his Histories on burial in ancient Egypt (Book II.85-90) is an accurate description of Egyptian mummification, but he purposefully omits the spiritual significance of embalming in keeping with his commitment to refrain...

Egyptian burial is the common term for the ancient Egyptian funerary rituals concerning death and the soul's journey to the afterlife. Eternity, according to scholar Margaret Bunson, “was the common destination of each man, woman and child...

The siege of Sevastopol (Oct 41 to Jul 42) was an attack by Axis forces on the base of the USSR's Black Sea Fleet during Operation Barbarossa of the Second World War (1939-45). Sevastopol (aka Sebastopol) had one of the world's strongest...

The ancient Romans left behind a wealth of remains which help archaeologists and historians to understand what daily life was like in the Roman Empire. From ancient frescos of rich table spreads, to broken wine vessels, carbonized loaves...

Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441 CE) was a Netherlandish Renaissance painter who was famous in his own lifetime for his mastery of oil painting, colouring, naturalistic scenes, and eye for detail. Amongst his masterpieces are the 1432 CE Ghent...