Definitions

Agni is the Hindu god of fire. He is regarded as the friend and protector of humanity, in particular, he safeguards the home. Various forms of fire are associated with Agni and include the sun, lightning, comets, sacrificial fire, domestic...

Brahma is the Hindu creator god. He is also known as the Grandfather and as a later equivalent of Prajapati, the primeval first god. In early Hindu sources such as the Mahabharata, Brahma is supreme in the triad of great Hindu gods which...

“Göbekli Tepe” (“Hill with a Navel”, or “Potbelly Hill”) is found approximately 16 km (10 miles) northeast of Şanlıurfa, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey once named “Edessa” and known...

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c. 90 - c. 20 BCE), better known simply as Vitruvius, was a Roman military engineer and architect who wrote De Architectura (On Architecture), a treatise which combines the history of ancient architecture and engineering...

The Lambayeque civilization (aka Sicán) flourished between c. 750 and c. 1375 CE on the northern coast of Peru, straddling the Middle Horizon and Late Intermediate Period of the ancient Central Andes. Prodigious producers of art objects...

Euripides (c. 484-407 BCE) was one of the greatest authors of Greek tragedy. In 5th century BCE Athens his classic works such as Medeia cemented his reputation for clever dialogues, fine choral lyrics and a gritty realism in both his text...

Sirens were creatures from Greek mythology that enticed sailors to their destruction with their irresistibly beautiful singing. The most famous appearance of sirens in literature is in Homer's Odyssey where the hero Odysseus, on his long...

The Chimu civilization, otherwise called the kingdom of Chimor, flourished on the northern coast of Peru between the 12th and 15th centuries CE. With their capital at Chan Chan, the Chimu were the largest and most prosperous culture in the...

Juno was the Roman goddess who protected the nation as a whole but also kept special watch over all aspects of women's lives. She is often thought of as the Roman version of the Greek goddess of love and marriage, Hera. Juno was the wife...

The Chavin civilization flourished between 900 and 200 BCE in the northern and central Andes and was one of the earliest pre-Inca cultures. The Chavin religious centre Chavin de Huantar became an important Andean pilgrimage site, and Chavin...