Library

Women weaving fine linen at upright looms in a New Kingdom Egyptian workshop, bolts of finished cloth stacked along a wall.

Where Does Linen Come From? The Ancient Egyptia...

The short answer is that linen comes from the flax plant, but the long answer is more interesting. Linen comes from the Nile Delta, where Egyptian weavers built the first...

Where Does Linen Come From? The Ancient Egyptia...

The short answer is that linen comes from the flax plant, but the long answer is more interesting. Linen comes from the Nile Delta, where Egyptian weavers built the first...

Odin charges Fenrir at Ragnarok, spear raised, ravens overhead, the sun going dark behind them

Norse Mythology: Viking Gods, Ragnarok, and Val...

Every mythology tells you how its gods began. Only one tells you how they end. Somewhere around 1220, a Christian scholar in Iceland sat down to write what his pagan...

Norse Mythology: Viking Gods, Ragnarok, and Val...

Every mythology tells you how its gods began. Only one tells you how they end. Somewhere around 1220, a Christian scholar in Iceland sat down to write what his pagan...

Cerberus, the three-headed hound of Hades, standing guard at the gates of the Greek underworld

Cerberus: The Hound of Hades in Greek Mythology

Cerberus was the monstrous hound stationed at the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology. Cerberus guarded the gates of Hades, not to keep the dead out, but to stop...

Cerberus: The Hound of Hades in Greek Mythology

Cerberus was the monstrous hound stationed at the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology. Cerberus guarded the gates of Hades, not to keep the dead out, but to stop...

The Minotaur Asterion turning to face an intruder in the torchlit corridors of the Cretan labyrinth

The Minotaur: What the Labyrinth Was Built To C...

The Minotaur of Greek mythology was not just a monster in a maze. His real name was Asterion, "the starry one," and his birth involved a god's curse, a queen's...

The Minotaur: What the Labyrinth Was Built To C...

The Minotaur of Greek mythology was not just a monster in a maze. His real name was Asterion, "the starry one," and his birth involved a god's curse, a queen's...

An ironclad Roman quinquireme with paddle wheels and cannon ports, cutting through grey seas under storm clouds

Would Rome Have Ever Reached the Industrial Rev...

In the 1st century AD, a Greek engineer named Hero of Alexandria built a working steam-powered device. It spun, it hissed... and then it was forgotten, not because the Romans...

Would Rome Have Ever Reached the Industrial Rev...

In the 1st century AD, a Greek engineer named Hero of Alexandria built a working steam-powered device. It spun, it hissed... and then it was forgotten, not because the Romans...

Athenian trireme cutting through dark Aegean water at battle speed with bronze ram catching sunlight

Triremes: Inside the Warships of Ancient Greece

The trireme was the warship that defined naval power in the ancient Mediterranean for nearly three centuries. Driven by 170 oarsmen arranged in three stacked tiers, this vessel combined raw...

Triremes: Inside the Warships of Ancient Greece

The trireme was the warship that defined naval power in the ancient Mediterranean for nearly three centuries. Driven by 170 oarsmen arranged in three stacked tiers, this vessel combined raw...