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Constantine’s Conversion to Christianity
Constantine I (Flavius Valerius Constantinus) was Roman emperor from 306-337 CE and is known to history as Constantine the Great for his conversion to Christianity in 312 CE and his subsequent Christianization of the Roman Empire. His conversion...
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Who's Who in a Pirate Crew
It was all very well pocketing other people’s valuables and roistering at rum parties, but life on a pirate ship involved a surprising amount of hard work. Pirates were first and foremost sailors and in the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730...
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The Women of Athena's Cult
In ancient Athens, women had no life outside the home unless they were prostitutes or were engaged in religious activities such as festivals. Every Greek deity in every city-state had their own cult (sect) but the cult of Athena offered women...
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Justinian's Plague (541-542 CE)
During the reign of the emperor Justinian I (527-565 CE), one of the worst outbreaks of the plague took place, claiming the lives of millions of people. The plague arrived in Constantinople in 542 CE, almost a year after the disease first...
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Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Ceiling
In 1508 CE the Pope commissioned the celebrated Florentine sculptor and painter Michelangelo (1475-1564 CE) to paint scenes on the ceiling of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. The walls of the chapel had already received decoration from some...
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Trench Warfare on WWI's Western Front
The trench warfare of the Western Front during the First World War (1914-18) involved soldiers living and dying in an awful mix of mud, filth, and barbed wire. Trench systems became more sophisticated in layout as the conflict dragged on...
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The World's Oldest Love Poem
The world's oldest love poem is The Love Song for Shu-Sin (c. 2000 BCE) composed in ancient Mesopotamia for use in part of the sacred rites of fertility. Prior to its discovery in the 19th century, and its translation in the 20th, the biblical...
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The Greatest Party Ever Thrown: Ashurnasirpal II’s Kalhu Festival
The greatest party ever thrown in antiquity is the inaugral event thrown by Ashurnasirpal II (r. 884-859 BCE) in 879 BCE at the completion of his new city of Kalhu which was attended by almost 70,000 people who were served, among other treats...
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Martin Luther's 95 Theses
Martin Luther's 95 Theses of 31 October 1517, although they have since come to represent the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, were not written to challenge the authority of the Roman Catholic Church but were simply an invitation to...
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Rome's Response to the Spread of Christianity
During the 1st century CE, a sect of Jews in Jerusalem claimed that their teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, was the 'messiah' of Israel. 'Messiah' meant 'anointed one', or someone chosen by the God of Israel to lead when God would intervene in...