One of the most visited places in Austria is the Hofburg Palace, the classic residence of the imperial families, although today, paradoxically, it is the residence of the President of the Republic. With more than two and a half thousand rooms decorated in multiple styles and a series of buildings
When did Man first fly? The question can be qualified because it would have to be specified if it refers to free or powered flight; It is curious that in both cases the answer is a pair of brothers, the Montgolfiers or the Wrights respectively. But to reach them, a long list of pioneers was necessar
Although examples are not lacking -and some very famous-, in general women have not been lavished in war history because, traditionally, the trade of arms has been exercised by men. For this reason, the cases in which the so-called weaker sex have starred in battles or led armies usually attract att
We have already spoken on other occasions of women who had a more or less prominent participation in the war. We saw them Viking, Welsh, Breton and, in short, of various nationalities; among them there were several Spanish women and today we are going to insist with the national females remembering
Almost all towns have a book that tells their story in the key of an epic. The Aeneid , commissioned by Augustus to Virgil to narrate a glorious origin of Rome, is perhaps the quintessential example, but there are others and we have seen some here, such as the Secret history of the Mongols . In Sp
Slavery has accompanied Man practically since the beginning of History, probably when he became aware of how practical and profitable the use of prisoners of war as labor could be. The existence of this institution was always assumed to be something natural and, in fact, it formed the basis of the e
Although a rather monolithic and somewhat simplistic image is usually offered of the very long stage of the Reconquest, the truth is that it was a fairly complex process with periods of initiative on both sides and frequent mutual alliances, which is why it lasted for almost eight centuries. Plenty
Here we have already dedicated several articles to analyzing some characters from the Vikings series from a historical perspective. and, on this occasion, we will continue in that line starting with its main character, Ragnar Lodbrok, to whom until now we had not given the deserved attention. The f
Unquestionably the largest wall in the world is the famous Great Wall of China. In Europe there is another very similar, although considerably smaller, the Wall of Ragusa. And among those that no longer exist are the Walls of Benin, in Africa, which were once the longest structure built by Man. Ind
Within that reality halfway between history and legend told by the Viking sagas, the world of warriors occupies a special place. It is true that at this point we already know that these peoples did not spend their lives looting after looting, but that such actions corresponded to a mere complement t
Martyrology Romanum ex Ecumenical Sacred Decree of the Second Vatican Council Instauratum Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II promulgatum is the long title of a catalog of martyrs, beatifics and saints of the Catholic Church first published in 2001 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipl
What is the capital of Egypt? Cairo, of course. Or not, depending on the time we are referring to. Without counting those of the pharaonic period, in which Buto, Busiris, Tinis, Hieracómpolis, Buto, Memphis, Ity-tauy, Avaris, Thebes, Alexandria and some others followed one another, if we go back in
To complete the look we have been taking at the characters of the television series Vikings We were missing this one from Aslaug, who also has a fundamental role because, among other things, she is part of the leading family. Princess, queen, sorceress, visionary, always wrapped in a mythical aura t
When the crowd of devout Catholics that gathers in Saint Peters Square waiting to see the long-awaited fumata The white one is in its place, the black one, indicating that there has been no agreement to elect Pope, he is usually deeply disappointed. Sometimes this situation is repeated more than onc
On August 29, 886 AD. A man died after contracting a fever as a result of a terrible accident during a hunt. His belt had caught on the antlers of a deer and the animal dragged him through the forest for several kilometers until help finally arrived, although the unpleasant experience led to his de
If there is a people associated with a well-defined image, it is the Viking. The image of their drakkars arriving at a beach and its occupants disembarking sword in hand, protected by their shields and giving ferocious war cries constitutes an entire iconography of the Middle Ages, despite being ver
Although they are also popularly known as Alexanders Gates , due to medieval literature (such as the Romance de Alexandre of the Pseudo-Callisthenes) who attributed its construction to the latter following Josephus, it is most likely that the Caspian Gates They were built during the 6th century, by
When we talk about the Crusades We fundamentally think of the nine expeditions that Christianity undertook for two centuries against the Muslims to settle the domain of the Holy Land. However, there were also them in Europe, some carried out in the Iberian Peninsula during the Reconquest and others
Discovered in the year 2000, this codex continues to be studied by experts, who continue to discover layers and layers of hidden texts, accumulated over decades. The Novgorod Codex it is a palimpsest, a type of manuscript that has several layers of text, the result of being reused over and over aga
Osprey, Almena, Tempus, Platea... Military history fans have the publications of a good number of specialized publishers -plus other general ones with specific sections- to satisfy their passion for the subject. Now, more than one will wonder how it is possible to know in such detail the war equipm
The Stratigikon attributed to Emperor Maurice (539-602 AD) is one of the most important military writings of all time. Such a timeless work is naturally still applicable today, despite the fact that Cavalry have been replaced by state-of-the-art tanks. Mauritius, a military man himself, had deve
The Taj Mahal is a sumptuous mausoleum located in India . The building was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and has also been on the list of one of the seven wonders of the modern world since 2007. Currently, the Taj Mahal welcomes millions of tourists throughout the year. It is, withou
Quintus Valerius Soranus was born around 140 B.C. in the town of Sora, a Latin municipality near Rome. Poet and grammarian, he became tribune of the plebs and wrote several works of which only a couple of verses of an elegy to Jupiter have survived. In it Valerio conceives the god as masculine and
The castle of Trebovla was built in the 14th century. in the valley of the small river Hniezna in todays western Ukraine which in 1675 was part of Poland. The castle was small (100 x 40m) but strongly built with walls up to 4m thick. In 1672 the Polish-Turkish War had broken out. After various excha