Ark of the Covenant / Ancient History This object, now in a musuem in Harare, Zumabwe, dates from 1300. Purely indigenous drum? Replica of the Ark of the Covenant? The ways we attach meaning to ancient objects tells us far more about the present than about the past. TagsAncient Egypt (30) ancient greece (74) animals (101) anthropology (87) archaeology (122) architecture (79) art (407) Central/late Middle Ages (84) Central and Late Middle Ages (33) Christian history (174) disease (121) Early Middle Ages (55) economic history (49) environmental history (155) Eurasia/Middle Eastern history (201) evolution (64) fashion history (43) folklore (35) folklore/mythology (102) history of education (54) history of food (41) History of Magic (44) history of race (42) history of sex (59) Islamic history (25) Jewish history (46) literature (242) math (47) medicine (166) medieval (83) military history (104) mythology (29) political history (143) pre-history (57) religion (330) Rome (151) science (63) social history (265) technology (99) U.S. history (105) U.S. natural parks (55) warfare (90) weapons (55) women (26) women's history (213) Categories Africa, Asia and South Asia (133) Ancient History (383) Big History (55) Byzantine History (37) Early Americas (42) Early Modern (213) Fabulous Females (129) History of Science (253) Live Reporting (181) Long 19th- 20th centuries (405) Medieval History (393)
Old Christian Testament Averse to Vulgarity Ancient History / November 12, 2024 / art, Christian history, history of sex, religion The Hebrew Bible or Christian Old Testament was averse to using vulgarity. This applied to basic human anatomy: instead of having the word penis, for…
Medicinally Used Plants in “De Materia Medica” Ancient History, Byzantine History, Medieval History / October 7, 2024 / ancient greece, art, disease, environmental history, literature, medicine Just how important is a single book? In the case of the one featured here, _De materia medica_, the answer is 1500 years: that’s how…
Mosaic of Roman Britain Ancient History / August 4, 2024 / ancient greece, archaeology, architecture, art, literature, Rome Take a moment to ingest the various components of this Late Roman artistic scene, because they’re really weird. This is just one small part of…
The Arthrashastra Africa, Asia and South Asia, Ancient History / September 29, 2023 / literature, political history The Arthrashastra, an Ancient Indian text written in Sanskrit. Dating from as early as the 2nd century BCE, it is the first diplomatic text in…