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#roman-villa
#ancient-mesopotamia
Arts
fromHyperallergic
3 days ago

Dice Are 6,000 Years Older Than Previously Believed, Study Says

More than 600 two-sided dice crafted by Native Americans have been identified, dating back over 12,000 years, predating known dice from the Bronze Age.
#pompeii
fromwww.thehistoryblog.com
4 days ago

30 previously unknown verses by Empedocles found on papyrus

The discovery of a few pages from an original edition of Hugo's work would then be a momentous event. This is precisely what specialists in Empedocles are experiencing today.
History
Europe news
fromCN Traveller
2 weeks ago

7 wonders of Greece for 2026

Greece offers stunning beaches and rich cultural experiences, featuring remarkable engineering feats like the Rio-Antirrio Bridge and the Corinth Canal.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 week ago

Truths Wrapped in Fiction: Mesopotamian Naru Literature: Originality in Writing Ancient Bestsellers

Originality in ancient literary works was less valued than in modern times, with authors often assuming identities of famous figures.
#mesopotamia
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 weeks ago

Scientists Confirm Remains of Medieval Emperor Otto the Great - Medievalists.net

Emperor Otto the Great's identity has been confirmed through scientific research, including DNA analysis, after centuries of uncertainty.
Science
fromMail Online
1 month ago

World's oldest map of the night sky is REVEALED after 2,000 years

Scientists use X-rays to reveal a 2,000-year-old star map by Hipparchus hidden beneath a medieval manuscript, recovering ancient astronomical coordinates with remarkable accuracy.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 weeks ago

Mesopotamian Naru Literature: The World's First Historical Fiction

Naru Literature featured historical figures in fictional narratives, shaping perceptions of history and humanity's relationship with the divine.
Science
fromNature
1 month ago

How pollutants and poo paint a picture of past civilizations

Environmental archaeologists extract mud cores from swamps to analyze molecular biomarkers like coprostanol, revealing ancient human population trends and behaviors.
#archaeology
fromNature
2 months ago
Science

Daily briefing: Symbols on ancient pottery could be earliest evidence of mathematics

fromNature
2 months ago
Science

Daily briefing: Symbols on ancient pottery could be earliest evidence of mathematics

Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 month ago

Why Engage with the Past? Philosophy and Its History

Philosophy departments distinguish between contemporary theoretical and practical philosophy addressing current issues, and history of philosophy studying outdated theories from past philosophers.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 weeks ago

Ten Great Ancient Mesopotamian Women: Monarchs, Generals, and Scribes

Women in ancient Mesopotamia held significant roles, including generals and scribes, and some even ruled, despite a patriarchal society.
Medicine
fromArs Technica
1 month ago

What we can learn from scientific analysis of Renaissance recipes

16th-century people used scientific experimentation to create personalized home remedies, leaving protein traces on medical manuals that researchers now analyze to understand Renaissance knowledge construction.
Running
fromiRunFar
1 month ago

Time, the Great Unifier

Dylan Harris's film 'The Cutoff' explores how time functions as both constraint and possibility in ultramarathon running, revealing triumph and heartbreak among runners pursuing the Cocodona 250 Mile cutoffs.
Books
fromNature
1 month ago

Brain mysteries and Bronze Age diplomacy: Books in brief

Lionel Penrose's mid-twentieth century research connected genetic abnormalities to hand creases, establishing the hand as a significant diagnostic tool across multiple medical disciplines.
History
fromwww.dw.com
3 weeks ago

Ancient graffiti reveals scenes of everyday life in Pompeii

Ancient graffiti reveals insights into the lives of everyday people in Pompeii, showcasing spontaneous expressions from various social classes.
History
fromMail Online
3 weeks ago

Roman artifact found in the Americas shatters New World history

A Roman terracotta head discovered in a sealed Mexican tomb in 1933 suggests Roman contact with the Americas around 200 AD, predating Columbus by over a thousand years.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
3 weeks ago

Sargon of Akkad: From Gardener to King of the Four Corners of the World

Sargon of Akkad founded the first multinational empire in history, uniting Mesopotamian kingdoms under central authority and establishing bureaucratic administration standards that influenced rulers for 1,500 years.
Business
fromFast Company
2 months ago

Navigating the ghosts of cultures past

Organizational culture constantly changes; leaders must discern which legacy cultural elements to retain and which to remove while balancing enduring beliefs with adaptive practices.
History
fromTasting Table
4 weeks ago

10 Foods Ancient Romans Loved That We Still Eat Today - Tasting Table

Ancient Romans consumed many foods similar to modern diets, including eggs, fruits, vegetables, and seafood, with dishes like deviled eggs originating from Roman banquets.
Philosophy
fromPhilosophynow
2 months ago

What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us?

Roman thought combined Greek philosophical influences with practical political and engineering practices, producing enduringly useful ideas rooted in pragmatism.
UK news
fromwww.bbc.com
2 months ago

Sifting through the Roman rubbish of 'the London lasagne'

London's archaeology reveals layered remains from prehistory to Victorian times, including rare Roman frescoes, a mausoleum, a luxurious villa, and early theatres.
Medicine
fromwww.npr.org
1 month ago

That ain't perfume! Ancient bottle contained feces, likely used for medicine

Chemical analysis of ancient Roman vessels confirmed a two-millennium-old medicinal recipe by Galen combining human feces and fragrant materials.
fromMedievalists.net
4 weeks ago

New Medieval Books: Approaching Records of the Household and Wardrobe - Medievalists.net

The Household and Wardrobe Accounts are English records that document the daily needs of the king and his family. This book serves as a guide to these sources, showing how they can be used and what valuable insights they offer into medieval government.
History
fromMail Online
2 months ago

Long-lost Egyptian scroll fuels debate over real-life biblical giants

An ancient Egyptian papyrus held by the British Museum has been cited as possible evidence supporting some of the Bible's most controversial claims about giants. The 3,300-year-old document, known as Anastasi I, has been in the museum's collection since 1839 and has recently resurfaced on the Associates for Biblical Research, renewing interest in its possible links to biblical accounts. The papyrus describes encounters with the Shosu people, said to stand 'four cubits or five cubits' tall, up to eight feet in height.
Books
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 month ago

What Defines a Civilization?

Civilization requires a writing system, government, food surplus, labor division, and urbanization, with Mesopotamia recognized as the birthplace of civilization due to its early city construction around 5400 BCE.
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
4 weeks ago

Mesopotamian Literature: The Earliest Works of the Imagination

Writing was created in response to the need to communicate over long distances in trade and, initially, was focused on the purely practical aspects of record-keeping. Scribes in ancient Mesopotamia recorded what commercial goods had been shipped to which destination, their quantity, purpose, and cost.
History
Science
fromFuturism
2 months ago

Scientists Investigating 2,000-Year-Old Artifact That Appears to Be a Battery

A reconstructed Baghdad battery configuration could have produced about 1.4 volts, comparable to a modern AA battery, using a porous clay separator and an electrolyte.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

How Ancient Philosophy Lost Its Mind-Twice

The shift from Classical Attic to Koine Greek correlated with a philosophical simplification from Plato's multipart psyche to the Stoics' unitary rational mind.
fromOpen Culture
1 month ago

Who Would Be Emperor If the Roman Empire Still Existed Today?

Very rare to see this level of tailoring nowadays, even on the wealthy. Even when not attending major sporting events, the king's collars always hug his neck, his lapels are always well-proportioned, the lines of his coat always flow into his trousers, and his four-in-hand always has just the right asymmetry.
History
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 month ago

From Clay to Culture: The Power of Written Language

Cuneiform, invented in Sumer around 3500 BCE, was the first script, enabling civilizations to record human thought and preserve all aspects of human experience through written communication.
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 month ago

Cuneiform: From trade lists to epic tales of gods

Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia circa 3600/3500 BCE. It is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians and the greatest among those of the Sumerian city of Uruk, which further developed and advanced cuneiform circa 3200 BCE and allowed for the creation of literature.
History
History
fromwww.thehistoryblog.com
1 month ago

Origin of repatriated erotic mosaic uncovered

A Nazi-looted mosaic depicting an intimate domestic scene was repatriated to Pompeii, but research revealed it originated in Latium, not Pompeii or its surrounding region.
fromOpen Culture
1 month ago

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: From the Walls of Babylon to the Sewers of Rome

Seven were the strings of the lyre (unless there happened to be eight or nine), seven were the gates of Thebes, and seven were the "wandering stars" in the night sky (if you count the sun and moon). The identity of the wonders was less important than the length of their list, and indeed, additions and changes were proposed since the beginning.
History
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 month ago

12 Great Cities of Ancient Mesopotamia: The Rise and Fall of the Earliest Cities in the World

Twelve major Mesopotamian cities including Nineveh, Uruk, Babylon, and Ur became legendary through Greek writings and yielded significant archaeological discoveries, each connected to a patron deity whose prestige determined the city's fate.
#roman-archaeology
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Ancient time capsule found in Iraq corroborates the Bible

King Nebuchadnezzar II himself 'speaks' in the text, proudly describing how he restored an old, crumbling stepped temple tower in the city of Kish that was dedicated to the Mesopotamian god and goddess of war, Zababa and Ishtar. He explained that earlier kings had built and fixed the ziggurat before, but it had fallen into disrepair again from age and rain.
History
History
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Scholar, seductress, alchemist: who was the real Cleopatra?

Cleopatra VII's legacy has been corrupted by ancient male sources portraying her as exotic and seductive, yet her name endures with greater recognition than her chroniclers, and historical evidence reveals her as a polyglot scholar interested in alchemy and healing remedies.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Clothing Through History: Fashion Across Three Millennia

Clothing across centuries signaled social status, practical needs, and personal identity, varying by materials, colours, and silhouettes across cultures and eras.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

When were the Middle Ages? - Medievalists.net

The Middle Ages lack a single, natural start or end; appropriate boundaries depend on whether political, religious, economic, or cultural changes are prioritized.
#ancient-mathematics
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Ur: the center of the Sumerian Renaissance

Ur was an influential Sumerian port city and ancient trade center in southern Mesopotamia with notable archaeological finds and contested biblical associations.
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: A Crusade Against the Turks as a Means of Reforming the Church - Medievalists.net

This project will focus on the Camaldolese hermits' proposal for achieving what they considered to be the most crucial task in the repair of the church, eliminating Islam and all Muslims. Our study will begin with an examination of the recipient of the Libellus, Giovanni de' Medici, who would become Pope Leo X. Next will be an exploration into the backgrounds of Paolo Giustiniani and Pietro Querini,
History
History
fromwww.thehistoryblog.com
2 months ago

First Roman marching camps discovered in Saxony-Anhalt

Four Roman marching camps found in Saxony-Anhalt prove Roman legions reached the Elbe in the 3rd century, the northeasternmost camps in Germania.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Mesopotamian Government: Helping and Serving the Gods

Ancient Mesopotamian government treated rulers and officials as divinely chosen stewards modeled on family roles, with kings handling civic administration and priests overseeing temple affairs.
fromMail Online
2 months ago

The bone that proves Hannibal really DID cross the Alps with elephants

While the bone was worn and poorly preserved, archaeologists managed to identify its origin by comparing it with modern elephant and mammoth bones. Despite there not being enough DNA to confirm the exact species, the researchers were able to carbon date a tiny sample of the bone. This places the elephant's death between the late fourth and early third centuries BC - right in the middle of the Second Punic War.
History
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
1 month ago

Mesopotamian Education: Creating the First Written Works in History

The Sumerians established formal scribal schools (edubba) after inventing writing, training students in cuneiform, Sumerian and Akkadian, and a broad range of scholarly subjects.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

Reading in Byzantium: Literacy, Books, and a World of Texts - Medievalists.net

Byzantine reading was communal and performative, woven into religious, educational, and administrative life while preserving classical learning within a Christian intellectual framework.
History
fromOpen Culture
2 months ago

The Samurai Who Became A Roman Citizen

In 1613 Date Masamune sent Hasekura Tsunenaga from Japan through New Spain to Europe to seek diplomatic ties with Spain and the Pope.
History
fromOpen Culture
1 month ago

Ten Lost Roman Wonders: The World's Longest Tunnel, Tallest Dam, Widest-Spanning Bridge & More

Many major Roman constructions survive only as ruins or are entirely lost, with once-grand structures like Trajan's Bridge and Nero's Subiaco Dams no longer intact.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Scribes in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Beginning of History

Ancient Mesopotamian scribes mastered cuneiform and broad knowledge to record transactions, administer society, and preserve history across civilizations.
fromMail Online
2 months ago

Mysterious symbols spanning the globe hint at a lost civilization

His investigation began after identifying recurring giant T-shapes, three-level indents, and step pyramids carved into ancient stones worldwide. 'These specific symbols that are built in different size proportions, and the symbols are found in ancient stones around the world, are not supposed to exist; no cultures are supposed to have any cross-platform,' LaCroix explained. The symbols appear in locations ranging from Turkey's Van region to South America and Cambodia.
History
History
fromMail Online
1 month ago

Lost ancient Egyptian technology rewrites the dawn of civilization

Ancient Egyptians used a sophisticated rotary bow drill over 5,300 years ago, the earliest known metal drill, pushing back complex drilling technology by two millennia.
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Festivals in Ancient Mesopotamia: Courting the Goodwill of the Gods

as the gods were understood as the true monarchs and the king as simply their steward. In order to maintain his authority, the king needed to court the goodwill of the gods, and although they made their approval clear through military victories, bountiful harvests, and prosperous trade, events such as the Akitu festival provided an annual opportunity for the divine to continue its relationship with the ruling house or withdraw its favor.
History
#sumer
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Mesopotamian Art and Architecture: The Birth of Art and Architecture in the Ancient World

Mesopotamian art and architecture began over 7,000 years ago, evolving from northern sites into Sumerian innovations and sustained through multiple ancient Mesopotamian periods.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

The Crisis of the Third Century: A Pivotal Era of Ancient Rome

The Roman Empire nearly collapsed during the Third Century due to military intervention, political fragmentation, economic collapse, plague, and external pressures leading to breakaway empires.
fromDiscover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods
2 months ago

The Best Hardcore History Episodes Teach Us About Patterns We're Repeating

Hit me like, as my high school English teacher liked to say, "like a MAC truck." The episode starts with the tale of Icarus. You know, the kid who flew too close to the sun with his wax wings and plummeted into the sea. Or the little cherub NES character. Either way. And I'm sitting there thinking: has anyone in Washington actually read this story? Played the game?
History
History
fromwww.thehistoryblog.com
2 months ago

Sealed bronze medieval reliquary found in Turkey

An intact sealed bronze reliquary cross from 9th–11th century Lystra was found containing shroud-like textile and designed to be worn as a pendant.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

New Online Course: The Americas during the Middle Ages - Medievalists.net

An online six-week course examines indigenous peoples of North America and Mesoamerica (500–1500 CE), emphasizing diverse peoples, environments, lifestyles, and pre-contact historical trends.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Online Course: Medieval Europe 870 - 1300 - Medievalists.net

10-week course starting January 15 offers a panoramic overview of European history (9th–13th centuries), covering politics, economics, gender, technology, warfare, society, and external relations.
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: Interconnected Traditions - Medievalists.net

This open-access book brings together more than thirty essays on languages and the ways they develop, interact, and influence one another. Its main focus is the Middle East, where Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic long existed side by side and often overlapped in everyday use, scholarship, and culture. In line with Geoffrey (Khan)'s commitment to the maximally accessible dissemination of research, this Festschrift has been published in both open-access digital editions and affordable printed formats.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

New Medieval Books: The Medieval Moon - Medievalists.net

In this book of moons, I am writing for people for whom the medieval world and its literatures and arts may be unfamiliar. I hope that in telling the stories of medieval moons, I also introduce these readers to the wonderful, mesmerising realm of medieval texts and images. But I also hope that this book may be useful to those with greater familiarity with medieval languages, literatures, and arts.
History
fromWorld History Encyclopedia
2 months ago

Cities, writing, and governments: Early Dynastic Mesopotamia's revolutionary advances

It should be noted, however, that the advances of Mesopotamia's Early Dynastic period differed from Egypt's in significant ways, notably in that Mesopotamia - even under the rule of Sargon or later empires - was never the cohesive ethnic or political entity Egypt was, and the kinds of cultural development cited for this era were not as uniform as they were in Egypt.
History
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Previously Unknown Medieval Chronicle Discovered - Medievalists.net

A previously unknown 8th-century Maronite chronicle (dated 712–13 CE) offers early Christian perspective on Arab-Islamic expansion and Late Antique religious-political change.
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