Rising at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Hagia Sophia is more than a marvel of architecture. For over 1,500 years, Istanbul’s international treasure has witnessed the rise and fall of empires and the shifting tides of faith. How did a singular structure survive centuries of political and religious upheaval? The secret to Hagia […]

Marcus Silvius Otho has gone down in history for claiming the position of emperor of Rome for a short three-month period in 69 CE. This was during the year of volatility that followed the death of the last Julio-Claudian emperor, Nero, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. A former friend of the […]

Bede is remembered today chiefly as a historian. Yet he was a dynamic intellectual giant in the Early Middle Ages and his most famous historical work is far more than a dry recounting of events. Let us explore Bede, his History, and the influence that it has had.   Northumbria in the Age of […]

Giorgio Morandi was an Italian artist best known for his still life paintings of bottles and vases. Morandi focused not on bold concepts or bright imagery but on composition and color. He deliberately stripped his objects of their practical functions to focus on pure form. Read on to learn 9 important facts about Giorgio […]

When Howard Carter cracked open a forgotten tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings in 1922, the world met a golden face that would become immortal. But behind the glittering mask of Tutankhamun was a sickly teenage boy, born into chaos and nearly forgotten forever. The life of King Tut was brief, mysterious, and […]