Relics: Did you mean...?

Foot-binding was a practice first carried out on young girls in Tang Dynasty China to restrict their normal growth and make their feet as small as possible. Considered an attractive quality, the effects of foot-binding were painful...

King Sejong the Great (15 May 1397 to 8 April 1450 CE) ruled Korea from 1418 to 1450 CE as the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty (also spelled Choson). One of only two Korean kings called 'the Great' today, Sejong had a major...

The Longshan culture (aka Lung-shan) flourished in parts of late Neolithic northeast China during the third millennium BCE and was an important link in the development of Chinese civilisation from the independent neolithic communities...

Cniva (also given as Kniva, reign circa 250 to possibly 270) was the king of the Goths who defeated Emperor Decius (reign 249-251) at the Battle of Abritus in 251. Little is known of him other than his campaign...

Alexios I Komnenos (Alexius Comnenus) was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1118 CE. Regarded as one of the great Byzantine rulers, Alexios defeated the Normans, the Pechenegs, and, with the help of the First Crusaders...

Leo the V the Armenian was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 813 to 820 CE. He was of Armenian descent and the last ruler of the Isaurian dynasty which had been founded by Leo III (r. 717-741 CE). The emperor's reign, after...

Mount Ararat (Armenian: Masis; Turkish: Ağrı Dağı; Kurdish: Çiyaye Agiri; Azeri: Ağrıdağ; Persian: Kūh-e Nūḥ) is a dormant, compound volcanic mountain, consisting of two ancient volcanic peaks, located in present-day eastern Turkey...

Teishebaini (aka Tesebaini, modern Karmir-Blur, near Yerevan, Armenia) was an important fortress city of the Urartu civilization and excavations at the site, largely undisturbed since its abandonment c. 590 BCE, have provided an invaluable...

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...

Movses Khorenatsi (Moses of Khoren) was a 5th-century CE Armenian historian whose work the History of the Armenians has earned him the title of the “father of Armenian history”. Drawing on ancient sources and ambitiously covering...