The world of Ancient Greece was steeped in religious and cultural traditions of all kinds. Festivals and rituals played a central role in everyday life. The Great Dionysia was one such festival. In ancient Athens, the celebration was a time of revelry, theater, and religious devotion. For several days each spring, the city would come […]
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The Spanish fleet was a symbol of power, wealth, and prestige. It was the foremost symbol of the greatest superpower the world had ever seen – the Spanish Empire. For centuries, the Spanish treasure fleet, with its flotas and galeones, transported European goods to its colonies and returned with vast quantities of gold and silver.
The Flotas and Galeones: Bringing the Riches of the New World to Spain Read More »
Within one of history’s darkest eras, a figure emerged whose name would become synonymous with cruelty, efficiency, and death: Vasily Blokhin, the chief executioner of the Soviet Union. Blokhin is widely acknowledged and infamous for the title of the most prolific executioner in recorded world history. And for good reason. Amidst the shadowy corridors of
Who Was Vasily Blokhin? The Prolific Soviet Executioner Read More »
During a time when slavery had been abolished in most of the world, human zoos remained a popular attraction for millions of Europeans and Americans. They flocked to exhibits showing groups of dark-skinned people from Africa, Asia, and North America surrounded by trappings that were supposed to represent their “natural environment.” Most of these cruel
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Long before the European Union, there was the Kalmar Union. It was a grand experiment in middle-age Scandinavian diplomacy. For over a century, three kingdoms – Denmark, Norway, and Sweden – were united under the same king, bound together by promises of peace and prosperity. It was an era of both great potential and great
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Have you ever been curious about what famous people looked like before they were famous? In this article, we go back in time to see old pictures of famous people when they were younger. We will show you their old school pictures and the first pictures of them when they started acting or singing. It’s
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The incredible life of Robert Smalls is a story of courage and daring. Smalls was born into slavery in the South in the 1800s. He rose from humble beginnings to become a naval hero, a political pioneer, and a champion for civil rights. But it was his incredible escape from the chains of enslavement that
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Evaluating generalship is often a practice of choosing arbitrary values to rank. Military historians will argue infinitely over the relative merits of one leader over another. Ranking Roman generals is not immune to this kind of controversy. Sun Tzu provides us with some guidance: “Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting;
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In 2008, some of the unfinished manuscripts of Cuban anthropologist, historian, and musicologist, Fernando Ortiz were published posthumously as La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre. Historia y etnografía. This work, which deals with Cuba’s patron saint, was devoured by readers all over the island. The book flew off the shelves of bookstores – a
Life of Fernando Ortiz: Cuban Anthropologist and Writer Read More »
In the long and storied history of France, the year 1789 is a demarcation line between the Old Order and what we now know as the modern country. It was a year marked by widespread hunger, protests, violence, and change. It was a year in which centuries-old concepts of social and political institutions were destroyed
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