Humans have always loved sports—tests of skill, strength, endurance, and mettle—even before history was recorded. Sports could have a number of purposes: preparing for war, religious or ceremonial significance, a form of self-discipline, or simply something to pass the time. While virtually all sports attract some onlookers, some were organized with the intention of […]

The Rurik and Romanov dynasties of Russia have shaped modern-day Russia’s land and people. From the first dynasty, which began around the 780s, to 1917, when the Romanov dynasty fell to the Bolshevik Revolution, tsars and emperors ruled. With more than 1,000 years of rule between them, the sovereigns of both the municipalities that […]

Julia Domna can stake a claim to being one of the most influential women of the Roman Empire. Aside from perhaps the indomitable Livia or the calculating Agrippina the Younger, there were few women who were so important in Rome’s history. Domna’s ideological importance—as imperial wife, mother, and even great-aunt—provided the platform for the […]

Excavations near the ancient Roman city of Ovilava in Austria have revealed a highly decorated villa complex. Among these decorations are three Roman mosaic floors—one of which bears an uncommon aquatic motif.   The discovery, announced by a joint team from OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH and the University of Salzburg, is being presented as one […]

While Helen may have had the face that launched a thousand ships, the origins of the Trojan War are much more complex than an ill-thought-out love affair in the surviving sources for the mythological Greek battle. While it is still unclear whether the Trojan War was a real historical event, it was a pivotal […]