A collection of great stories that teach, inform, and inspire millions of readers.
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ANCIENT HISTORY
View All PostsFrom Augustus to Constantine, these six emperors transformed Rome from a crumbling Republic into a global superpower.
The ancient Greek concept of the afterlife was complex, with many places a soul could end up after death.
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HISTORY
View All PostsSpain’s global empire required a network of ports to transport goods and people between the colonies and the Iberian mainland.
Cahokia was the largest pre-Columbian city north of present-day Mexico and the center of trade in North America until its decline in the 13th century.
PHILOSOPHY
View All PostsPeople often turn to Philosophy in order to seek answers to the most mundane questions. In Stoicism, there are guidelines for living a peaceful life.
While love builds worlds, strife breaks them apart. For Empedocles, everything in our lives moves between these two eternal forces.
ART & ARTISTS
View All PostsSandro Botticelli’s Primavera is among the most celebrated and enigmatic allegorical paintings of the Renaissance.
Know your Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven already? Read about some other composers whose lives and works changed the course of music history.
TRAVEL & CULTURE
View All PostsPhoenix, Arizona has history, but the real stories are a short drive away. Discover old mining towns, frontier streets, and landmarks that built Arizona.
Matera's inhabited museum removes the boundary between past and present. Can history truly be lived instead of just observed?

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View MapsReligion
View All PostsCondemned as a heretic but hailed as a genius, Origen of Alexandria mastered Hebrew to create the Hexapla, a 6,000-page ancient masterpiece of the Bible.
Under the highest dome of the Hagia Sophia are the seraphim mosaics. Rediscovered within the last 20 years, these 700-year-old mosaics depict the highest-ranking angels.
Stories
View All PostsDiscover the life, legend, and literature of one of the Romantic era's greatest authors, Frankenstein creator Mary Shelley.
Widely referred to as the queen of textiles in the ancient world, silk helped to transform ancient China in myriad ways.




























