Ancient History
The Introduction of Attila the Hun in Edward Gibbon’s “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”
Everybody recognizes the name “Attila the Hun,” but how much do we really know about his rise to infamy? […]
Ancient History
Ancient History
Weird and Wonderful Scientific Achievements of the Islamic Golden Age
Here, you’ll be introduced to a few of the more prolific—if not visionary —scientists who worked and thrived during the Islamic Golden Age. […]
Ancient History
The Role of Women in Ancient Rome—Piecing Together A Historical Picture
Nearly everything we know about Roman women is filtered through the lens of how Roman men viewed them. Here’s what historians have pieced together through this one-sided account of history. […]
Ancient History
The Making of Constantinople: Constantine’s “New Rome”
The Christian emperor Constantine was ever pragmatic; he could only push his pagan subjects so far. One act of his, in the end, ensured the position of Christianity: the establishment of a new capital that would be known as Constantinople. […]
Ancient History
Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Egyptian Pharaohs
Official Egyptian religious culture was centered on temple worship, and temple worship was always carried out in the name of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The concerns of official Egyptian religious culture were expressed in “cult”—that is, in actions of ritual worship. […]
Ancient History
The Democratization of the Hundred Years War
During the first phase of the Hundred Years War, the kings of France and England tended to hire lots of mercenaries who were paid by campaign. When there was no fighting, the pay stopped. This caused serious societal difficulties because one of the last things you want is a lot of unemployed armed individuals. […]
Ancient History
Gothic Migration: Barbarians at the Roman Gate
The western half of the Roman Empire, as a political unit, formally came to an end in A.D. 476 with the deposing of the last Roman emperor in the west. The deposing of the last western emperor was the result of a chain of events set in motion by the Gothic migration of A.D. 376. […]
Ancient History
The Epic Reign of Sargon of Akkad
The rise of Sargon of Akkad, who ruled from 2334 to 2279 B.C., is a story that tells of the creation of a new, powerful dynasty in Mesopotamian history. […]
Ancient History
The Three Kingdoms Period: China’s Golden Age of Adventure
In the year 220 the last Han emperor was set aside and China broke up into three successor states: Shu Han, Wei, and Wu. This sets up a very short but fascinating age in China’s early history known as the Three Kingdoms period. […]
Ancient History
Erecting an Obelisk: A Monument of Egyptian Grandeur
One of the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s greatest achievements were the obelisks that she had quarried and erected at Karnak Temple. Let’s talk about just what a great achievement it was—how difficult it was to quarry an obelisk and to erect it. In some ways erecting an obelisk was harder than building a pyramid. […]