Definitions

Anu (also known as An) is an early Mesopotamian sky god who was later viewed as the Father of the Gods and ruler of the heavens, a position which then passed to his son Enlil. He is the son of the couple Anshar and Kishar (heaven and earth...

Utu-Shamash (also known as Babbar, Samas, Shamash, and Utu) is the Sumerian god of the sun and divine justice. He is the son of the moon god Nanna and the fertility goddess Ningal in the Sumerian tradition, but he was known as Shamash (Samas...

Nanna (also known as Nannar, Nanna-Suen, Sin, Asimbabbar, Namrasit, Inbu) is the Mesopotamian god of the moon and wisdom. He is one of the oldest gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon and is first mentioned at the very dawn of writing in Sumer...

Ereshkigal (also known as Irkalla and Allatu) is the Mesopotamian Queen of the Dead, who rules the underworld. Her name translates as "Queen of the Great Below" or "Lady of the Great Place." She was responsible for both keeping the dead within...

The First Anglo-Boer War (aka Transvaal War, 1880-1) was a conflict between Britain and the Boer Republic of Transvaal in Southern Africa. The Boers were fighting for their independence after the British takeover of Transvaal in 1877. The...

The Synod of Whitby was an assembly held in 664 by King Oswiu of Northumbria, with the aim of deciding whether Oswiu's kingdom should follow Roman Christian customs or those of the Irish Christians at Iona, particularly regarding the calculation...

Inanna is the ancient Sumerian goddess of love, sensuality, fertility, procreation, and also of war. She later became identified by the Akkadians and Assyrians as the goddess Ishtar, and further with the Hittite Sauska, the Phoenician Astarte...

Cylinder Seals were impression stamps used by the people of ancient Mesopotamia. Known as kishib in Sumerian and kunukku in Akkadian, the seals were used by everyone, from royals to slaves, as a means of authenticating identity in correspondence...

The Jameson Raid was an unofficial and failed attempt by the British to take over the Boer Republic of Transvaal in Southern Africa in December 1895. Masterminded by the millionaire imperialist Cecil Rhodes, the raid failed to gain support...

Edmund I ruled the Kingdom of the English from 939 to 946. In his youth, alongside his brother, King Aethelstan (reign 924-939), he defeated a Celtic-Viking alliance at the Battle of Brunanburh (937). Yet when Aethelstan died in 939 and Edmund...