We are accustomed, thanks to literature and cinema, to the image of medieval horsemen engaged in chivalric tournaments. Although this type of competition and its rules are exclusively a medieval invention, in reality similar exercises existed long before, such as the one practiced by the Roman caval
Between the years 1805 and 1799 B.C. (according to the short chronology) or 1868 and 1861 B.C. (according to the median chronology) ruled in the Sumerian city-state of Isin, in present-day Iraq (about 32 kilometers south of Nippur) King Erra-Imitti. His name comes to mean something like follower of
The great Library of Alexandria was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. by Ptolemy I Soter. At its peak, it housed an impressive 900,000 manuscripts. It was not just a book store, but also a research and teaching center that brought together numerous scholars from different centers of cl
Recently, as a result of the article we published on the origin of the books in the Library of Alexandria, a somewhat fussy reader (and by the way, quite wrong) rebuked us on a social network, assuring us that those were not books, but manuscript scrolls. What he evidently did not know is that the
Astypalea is a small island in the Greek Dodecanese, possibly a colony of Megara, where around 360 B.C. Onesicritus was born, historian and cynical philosopher follower of Diogenes of Sinope (the one who lived like a beggar, in a jar). Of all of them Onesicritus would not stand out for the rigor i
If we were to ask about a metal alloy used since the beginning of history, the unanimous answer would be, most certainly, bronze. And, indeed, this combination of copper and tin gives name to an entire period of Prehistory, so we could consider it perhaps the most important until the appearance of o
Assyria is the ancient region of northern Mesopotamia around the city of Assur, founded around 2600 BC. on the banks of the Tigris (today its ruins are in northern Iraq). It was part of the Akkadian Empire of Sargon of Acad until 2154 BC, which united all the Mesopotamian cities. And from the II mil
Some time ago we published an article on the size of armies throughout history, with a comparison made by the Slovakian cartographer Martin Vargic where it can be seen that, apart from the Chinese case, the number of combatants reached its peak around the year 500 BC and then it was progressively de
Measuring time is a very old obsession, so much so that it originated in Prehistory - in the Mesolithic, to be exact - probably driven by the need to keep track of agricultural cycles. Since then, all cultures and civilizations have developed their calendar, some in an original way and others copyin
Alexander the Great died in Babylon, sometime between June 10 and 13, 323 BC. Approximately one month before reaching the age of 33. His death has always been shrouded in mystery and speculation. Multiple theories have been proposed, from poisoning to alcoholism or various infections, without it bei
In Spanish the term century has the meaning of period of one hundred years , being synonymous with century . The word derives from the Latin saeculum as in the rest of Romance languages (siècle in French, secolo in Italian, século in Portuguese, segle in Catalan, etc). Some Germanic languages, on
Molon labe (ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ, come and take them) was Leonidas reply to Xerxes before the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. at his insistence that the Spartans surrender their weapons. The phrase would be pronounced by many other generals already in modern times, and adopted as a motto by the Greek army. I
It is curious that one of the largest empires of antiquity had such weak foundations that, in reality, it was only sustained by the charisma of its builder. We are talking about Alexander the Great. That giant with feet of clay that he formed with his military genius dissolved as soon as his binder
The ancient Greek city of Cyrene (in present-day Libya), where Eratosthenes was born, was founded by colonists from Thera (Santorini) following the advice of the Oracle of Delphi around 632 BC. It soon prospered and became one of the richest cities in the Mediterranean. A plant, whose trade Cyrene
At the end of the long Valnerina valley, near the town of Marmore in Italian Umbria, there is a 165-meter-high waterfall divided into three falls, one of the highest in Europe. A part of the flow of the Velino River, which flows from Lake Piediluco, rushes down the fall to flow into the Nera River.
The RAE defines the word hitman as hired killer and, in fact, today we tend to apply it in that sense in different contexts. However, the origin of the term is the Latin sicarius (plural sicarii ), a reference to a type of dagger or short sword, the sica, used by a group of Jewish fanatics who in th
The Capitol Square is probably one of the most touristic corners of Rome. In this elegant place, designed by Michelangelo on behalf of Pope Paul III who wanted to impress Emperor Charles V during his visit in 1538, are the Capitoline Museums whose headquarters, the Conservatori palaces y New , deter
As we already commented in previous articles (those dedicated to Sanjuniatón and Megasthenes) many lost works of Antiquity can be reconstructed to a great extent thanks to the extensive quotations of them found in later authors. Another of these cases is the Historical Library of Diodorus of Sicily,
The stereotype of the tyrannical king, capricious and insensitive to the suffering of the people is true to a certain extent and almost always in times after the origin of that institution, when it was the guarantor of the survival of his people. A good example could be the Chinese Shāng Tāng, who e
Algarradas, ballistas, catapults, onagers, trebuchets... All these projectile-launching weapons were used in Antiquity and continued in force later, in the Middle Ages -some were created specifically in that period-, until the spread of gunpowder and the appearance of artillery made them obsolete. T
Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem , German in full Botanical Garden And Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem oldest botanical garden in Germany . Established in the 17th century as a royal garden for flowers, medicinal plants, vegetables and hops (for the royal brewery),
After the defeat of 1870-71 France devoted herself to recovering the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. Politicians, people and the army devoted all their thought and energy to this. The French Army drew up all its plans for a future war with Germany on this prospect. Based on these plans, with
In the early months, the Allies used a motley assortment of aircraft, mostly remnants of World War II. The tracks were generally covered with pierced steel sheets placed on a more or less flat surface; these plates left dangerous holes and stones, which often punctured the tires. The average length
Admiral Thierry dArgenlieu (in religion:Father Louis de la Trinité O.C.D.), born and died in Brest (August 7, 1889 - September 7, 1964), was a sailor, Carmelite religious priest and French resistance fighter. Childhood, training and early career From a bourgeois Picardy family established in Argenl