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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...

Chinese warfare involved perhaps the largest and most technologically advanced armies in the ancient world. Chariots, cavalry, swords, bows and crossbows were all staple features of the battles which raged as rulers forever struggled to dominate...

Peoples, cities and states have traded since antiquity but in the medieval period, things escalated so that goods travelled ever greater distances by land, river and sea. Great cities arose thanks to commerce and international trade such...

The Crusades were a series of military campaigns waged between Christians and Muslims, Christians and pagans (the Northern Crusades), and Christians against Christians (the Fourth Crusade and the Albigensian Crusade). This complex series...

Ancient peoples were as curious as ourselves about the wider world and even if the transport at their disposal meant travel could be long, arduous and dangerous, they still managed to get about and visit different cities, sacred sites and...

Pottery is the great survivor of history. Pottery vessels have rarely ever attracted tomb robbers and the material can not be reused like bronze or gold. Even if smashed to pieces, pots can be painstakingly put back together again and clay...