Collections

Plagues have swept through humanity ever since communities have gathered together in concentrated groups. In this collection of resources, we look at just some of the pandemics that raged throughout Antiquity and the Middle Ages, from the...

Through the 13th and 14th century CE the Mongols forged the largest connected empire the world had ever seen and such figures as Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan were feared as the devil himself, their mounted warriors conquering for their leaders...

The Aztecs of northern Mesoamerica (c. 1345 and 1521 CE) worshipped some of the weirdest, most fantastic and downright scary gods seen anywhere in history. The Aztec civilization and the empire it created revolved around winning special favour...

Winning battles and forging empires was not just about numbers but also the quality of the troops at any commander's disposal. The best-trained, best-equipped and most experienced fighters could be moulded into devastating units that could...

In this collection of resources, we look at ancient societies and examine who was at the top of the social ladder, who were the climbers and who were at the very bottom. In places like ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome men largely dominated...

The ancient and medieval Mediterranean might have been a bustling stage of ever-changing empires but, across the inhospitable barrier of the Sahara Desert, West Africans were equally busy building up and toppling down their own kingdoms and...

Although climate change has today become a much bigger and more globalized problem than in the past, ancient peoples did have to contend with local events that severely disrupted or even ended their way of life as they knew it. A long series...

In the ancient world the gods were often held responsible for one's good health and making offerings to them, reading out spells or wearing amulets was a common way to make sure illness stayed far away but there soon developed a whole body...

The 12 gods of Mount Olympus were the most important deities in ancient Greece. In this collection, we examine each of the 12 in detail. With their all-too-human qualities in Greek mythology, the Olympian gods were capable of displaying great...

One of the lasting contributions ancient cultures have made to modern life is architecture, both in terms of surviving monuments and their influence on contemporary buildings around the world. Ambitious rulers set up pyramids in Egypt and...