Pliny the Younger (c. 61/62-113) was a successful ancient Roman lawyer, bureaucrat, politician, and financial advisor who worked closely with the emperors of his...
By the reign of Emperor Constans II of Constantinople (r. 641-668), the empire had long been plagued by fierce religious debates between the different...
This illustration, by the Norwegian artist Adolph Tidemand (1814-1876), depicts the death of powerful Jarl (or Earl) Hákon Sigurdsson of Lade. Jarl Hákon (also...
Historians (with their written records) and archaeologists or scientists (with their data and tested evidence) often can work in a complementary fashion, with each...
This lithograph, made by Currier & Ives (operational c. 1834–1907) after the work of Dióscoro Teófilo de la Puebla Tolín (1831–1901), envisions the landing...
This painting, by the German artist Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (c. 1609–1684), was inspired by an infamous legend involving the ancient Romans and their unlucky...
Egil Skallagrimsson (10th century semi-legendary Viking Poet from Iceland)
"With its chisel of snow, the headwind,
scourge of the mast, mightily
hones its file by the prow
on...
This curious painting was created by the Spanish artist José de Ribera (c. 1591-1652). It depicts Moses, the lawgiver of the Abrahamic religions, who...
Sun Tzu (Sayings recorded through 6th-3rd Century BCE)
"Never move
Except for gain;
Never deploy
Except for victory;
Never fight
Except in a crisis."
From Sun Tzu's The Art of...
One of the many nicknames for the ancient Greek wine-god, Dionysus, was the title Mitrephorus—meaning “Wearer of mitra”—with the key word, mitra, being a...
This painting, by an unknown 17th-century artist, depicts the sad mythological tale of Apollo and Daphne, encapsulated in a wooded scene with an ornate...
Lucan (c. 39-65)
"Steep calamities
will come suddenly; it's a fast fall from the summits."
From Lucan’s Civil War (Book 5, approximately between lines 744-771), translated...
By the reign of Emperor Constans II of Constantinople (r. 641-668), the empire had long been plagued by fierce religious debates between the different...
Using military posturing and diplomatic negotiations with Norwegian vassals, King Canute (or Knut) the Great—ruler of England since 1016 and Denmark since 1019—was able...
This illustration, by the Norwegian artist Adolph Tidemand (1814-1876), depicts the death of powerful Jarl (or Earl) Hákon Sigurdsson of Lade. Jarl Hákon (also...
William Shakespeare (c. 1564 – 1616)
"Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the...
This painting, by an unknown 18th-century artist from Austria, was inspired by the tales surrounding the death of Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. An impressive...
The Malleus Maleficarum (published in 1487 by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger)
"The preacher should keep as his basic principle and preach to the people this...
Historians (with their written records) and archaeologists or scientists (with their data and tested evidence) often can work in a complementary fashion, with each...
This painting, by the German artist Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (c. 1609–1684), was inspired by an infamous legend involving the ancient Romans and their unlucky...
A certain Maximus was a prominent ancient Roman man who held significant wealth and influence in the region of Verona. While Maximus held impressive...
This illustration, attributed to Adam Brenner (c. 1800-1891), re-creates one of the legends surrounding the Gallic sack of Rome, which occurred sometime between 390-386...
