When Alexander the Great was already at war in Asia, strange news reached him from his homeland: his tutor Aristotle…
History
The line of demarcation between prehistoric and historical times is crossed when people cease to live only in the present, and become consciously interested both in their past and in their future. History begins with the handing down of tradition; and tradition means the carrying of the habits and lessons of the past into the future. Records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations. (E.H. Carr)
How the Karatepe bilingual inscription from the 8th century B.C. led to the decipherment of Anatolian hieroglyphs
Just as the Rosetta Stone was fundamental in the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, other writing systems followed a similar process,…
Saigō Takamori: the true story of the last samurai
In 1877 the Satsuma Rebellion or Sainan War against the Japanese imperial throne ended with the victory of the latter…
The Chartres Cathedral’s great labyrinth
About 80 kilometers southwest of Paris stands the city of Chartres, one of whose main cultural attractions is its Gothic…
The High Court of Chivalry, a medieval institution still active in the United Kingdom
Heraldry is the science of the coat of arms, the “art of explaining and describing the coats of arms of…
Hippika gymnasia, the Roman cavalry tournaments
We are used, thanks to literature and cinema, to the image of medieval horsemen engaged in chivalry tournaments. Although this…
The Rosenstrasse protest, when German women saved their Jewish husbands by confronting the Nazi regime
In 2003 the German Margarethe von Trotta, director, scriptwriter, actress and wife of the famous writer Volker Schlöndorf, won the…
How Sumerians named substitute kings during eclipses and the custom survived even in Alexander’s time
Between 1805 and 1799 B.C. (according to short chronology) or 1868 and 1861 B.C. (according to medium chronology) King Erra-Imitti…
Beijing-Paris, the automobile race of 1907 that inaugurated the tradition of celebrating victory with champagne
If there is one classic of sports celebrations, it is motor racing, where victories are showered with champagne (including competitors,…
The British Museum objects that no one can see and that Ethiopia claims
Although the British never conquered or colonized Ethiopia, in April 1868 a battle took place there that ended the so-called…
