Tag: Ancient History
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Jewellery: The Eyewitness of History
Today we have a wonderful guest post by jeweller Samuel Mee, giving us a fascinating tour through some key pieces of jewellery from history. It’s a real great snippet into just how important jewellery could be, and how much we can glean about certain times in the past from the jewellery which was fashionable. Samuel…
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A Brief Moment of History: Humanity’s Worst Year Ever?
Ask anyone on the street when they think the worst year in human history was, and I’m sure there’d be quite a variety of answers offered. Years during the World Wars; when the Black Death swept Europe; or even more recent events like during the Covid pandemic. War and disease are probably the most significant…
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Royal People: Trưng Trắc and the Sisters’ Rebellion
When tracing the lives of women who lived millennia ago, extracting the real history from the subsequent myth and legend can be difficult. This is certainly the case with Trưng Trắc and her sister, Trưng Nhị, two Vietnamese noblewomen who lived in the first century AD. The sisters led a heroic revolt against the Chinese,…
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Historical Objects: The Bees of Childeric I
Objects made in previous centuries hold great power over us today. Whether it is admiring the stunning craftsmanship of people who lived long ago in much harsher times but still wanted to create something beautiful, or forging a connection between people whose lives were so different to our own and yet used the same everyday…
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Medieval Mythbusting: Did People Believe the World was Flat?
The general public knows bits about the medieval period. Unfortunately, the general public think they know a lot about the medieval period. Whilst we start learning about this time in our history at school, a lot of what people pick up comes from popular media, in particular films and television series. And, even worse, from…
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Historic Houses: Sir John Soane’s Museum, a Victorian Wonder
Spring is in the air, and it felt like a perfect time to revisit the Historic Houses series. This tends to be the time of year us Brits start to make plans, as the weather gets (generally) better and the days are now longer again. Years ago I visited Sir John Soane’s Museum in London,…
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Seeing the Dead: The Fayum Mummy Portraits
One unifying thing that people find enjoyable about history is learning about the people who have come before us. We want to feel connected to our ancestors, to understand how they dealt with the trials and tribulations of their times, how wars were started, palaces were built, empires spread – but also the stories of…
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Ancient Wonders: The Mahabodhi Temple
Today we return to our Ancient Wonders series where we look to Bihar state in India and the Mahabodhi Temple. The temple is around 2,200 years old, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major site of Buddhist pilgrimage – so let’s explore Mahabodhi Temple’s fascinating history! The origins of the Mahabodhi Temple lie with…
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From Olmecs to Cadbury: A History of Chocolate
Chocolate is a product that can be found in pretty much every cupboard. It is one of our favourite sweet treats, but few of us probably think twice about the history of chocolate when we’re having a craving. This unassuming product has been consumed for over 3,000 years, and the sweet chocolate bars that we…
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Monthly Round-Up: History in the News, January 2021
As the long month of January ends, and 2021 is firmly here, I thought it was a good time to have another round-up of historical and archaeological news that came out of January. From 3,000-year-old purple fabric, to a Victorian bath house, to an ancient pet dog, there have been plenty of exciting announcements! A…
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