HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2026-01-02T15:26:08.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: From excess soil to resurrection: the many ways Egyptians used wine
items: Long road to paradise: the life of John Milton and how he created his masterpiece, Paradise Lost
items: Alexandria: the first modern city
items: Alexandria: the ancient world's greatest city

From excess soil to resurrection: the many ways Egyptians used wine
type: item
date: 2025-05-20T08:00:30.000Z
creator: Professor Islam Issa
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: General ancient history
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: To the ancient Egyptians, wine played a pivotal part in mythology, ritual and the natural processes that enabled their survival. Islam Issa explores six key roles it fulfilled in their society over the millennia
encoded: Fermenting change Today we associate it with relaxation and refinement, ritual and religion, even industry and investment. And the varied uses of wine are nothing new. After grapes arrived in Egypt, over 5,000 years ago, wine made major, lasting – and often surprising – impacts on its society and culture. The earliest vineyard remains in Egypt date from the fourth millennium BC. The oldest wine jar yet discovered was made c3000 BC – and jars continue to be found. Following the introduction of grape cultivation from the Levant sometime before 3000 BC, grapes became the main ingredient fermented to make irep (wine), which was typically red. For lengthy periods, wine made from the fruit (dates) or sap of palm trees was more affordable, and other fruits such as figs and pomegranates were also fermented with sugar to make wine. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/05/BAL501122cmyk-16147f1.jpg" width="3420" height="2278" alt="To the left of the image, 5 people are harvesting grapes from the vine, while another person appears on the right, bending over a well" title="Grape harvesting is shown in a tomb painting in Thebes dating from at least the 14th century BC – perhaps two millennia after vines were first cultivated in Egypt" /> Wine was both a staple and a valuable commodity to be bought and sold. Vineyards were largely owned by nobles who could also enjoy wine on an everyday basis, while ordinary people typically drank it only during festivals, or might receive it as a work bonus. Scenes of the grape harvest appear in several tombs, the earliest from the Old Kingdom in the third millennium BC. Some tomb depictions show the whole winemaking process from harvesting, treading and pressing to fermentation. In these illustrations, wine is most often presented in a small round cup. Read more | Life in Ancient Egypt: what was it like? Over time, Egyptian wine began to be exported, particularly after Alexandria, founded in the fourth centur…

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Long road to paradise: the life of John Milton and how he created his masterpiece, Paradise Lost
type: item
date: 2024-12-12T09:00:52.000Z
creator: Professor Islam Issa
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
subject: Historical people
subject: Poetry
description: John Milton was an English radical polemicist and poet, whose magnum opus, Paradise Lost, has influenced artistic endeavours since its publication. On the 350th anniversary of his death, Islam Issa explores the story of the man who lived in revolutionary times, and who lost two wives, his liberty and his sight – but never his hope
encoded: John Milton was an early riser. He woke each morning with poetry in his head, itching for it to be recorded. The verses came to him during the night, he said – a special delivery from his very own lyrical muse. By 1652, he had completely lost his sight, so the disgruntled Milton had to wait patiently for a scribe to arrive. In the popular imagination, one of them was his daughter, Deborah, who has been depicted putting pen to paper as her father dictates his intricate poetry. Milton’s biographer wrote that on some days, when it took longer than usual for someone to begin transcribing, the poet “would complain, saying he wanted to be milked”. That was in the mid-1660s, when Milton – in an effort to evade the Great Plague of London – had relocated to a cottage in Chalfont St Giles, rural Buckinghamshire. The move to the country had worked wonders for his writing, and he set to putting the final touches on a magnum opus that had occupied his thoughts for decades and taken years to complete. It hadn’t always been his intention to compose an epic poem. In the early 1640s he’d had in mind a drama, scribbling the outline for a tragedy titled Adam Unparadised. But the political and social turmoil of the couple of decades before his country sojourn had changed his mind about writing a play. Instead, he decided to compose a lengthy poem of more than 10,000 unrhymed lines. Its title was Paradise Lost. Tumultuous times John Milton was born in 1608 in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, the son of a scrivener and composer, also named John. In early adulthood he had developed a habit of opposing the status quo, especially when it came to religion and politics. The Church of England was too hierarchical, he said, proposing that regular people should be able to read the scriptures without being influenced by religious leaders. As for the Roman Catholic church, its obsession with popery and rituals was a form of heresy. In 1642, Milton went to Oxfordshire to collect an intere…

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Alexandria: the first modern city
type: item
date: 2024-02-12T10:51:44.000Z
creator: Professor Islam Issa
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Islam Issa tells the colourful story of ancient Alexandria, a multicultural city dreamt up by Alexander the Great
encoded: According to legend, when Alexander the Great rocked up on the island of Pharos in northern Egypt, he had a vision of a spectacular city – a vision that later became reality in the form of Alexandria. On the mainland nearby, connected by a new causeway to Pharos, the metropolis grew and thrived, drawing people in from far and wide. Its power was symbolised by the remarkable Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the Great Library, which aspired to be home to all the world's knowledge. Speaking to Rebecca Franks, Islam Issa explores the origin story of this remarkable city. View Green Video on the source website

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Alexandria: the ancient world's greatest city
type: item
date: 2024-02-02T09:51:30.000Z
creator: Professor Islam Issa
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: When Alexander the Great founded a settlement at the junction of three continents in 331 BC, he created a metropolitan powerhouse that would shape global history. Islam Issa hails the genius of ancient Alexandria.
encoded: When the Macedonian king Alexander the Great arrived at the barren island of Pharos in 331 BC, he was still in his mid-twenties and barely five years into his reign. The ambitious young warrior had been drawn to this spot on Egypt’s Mediterranean shore after reading about it in the epic poetry of Homer, most revered of the ancient Greek writers. A lover of literature, Alexander had even styled his hair in long locks to emulate Homer’s hero, Achilles. What he found was a tiny, lifeless island facing a series of small fishing villages scattered across a windswept coast. A few miles to the south on the mainland spread a vast freshwater lake, around which the ancient Egyptians had constructed a canal network. In his unceasing quest for world domination, this was just the location for which Alexander had long searched – at the intersection of Africa, Europe and Asia. Read more | Alternate history: what if Alexander the Great had lived longer? And when he arrived at this strategic hotspot, he dropped to his knees in a state of ecstasy and began scattering barley across the sandy ground, roughly designing the layout of what would soon become the world’s first modern city – a magnificent capital that would change the course of history. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2024/02/GettyImages-1163969991-05e4f01.jpg" width="620" height="413" alt="An aerial drone shot over Alexandria and The Citadel of Qaitbay" title="The 15th-century Citadel of Qaitbay, which is on the site of Pharos island, where Alexander the Great arrived in 331 BC. The city that he founded here has been a powerhouse for more than two millennia. (Photo from Getty Images)" /> Named in honour of its founder, Alexandria was established that very same year, with a causeway measuring seven stadia (around 1.2km) built to connect Pharos to the coast. Alexander himself was soon on his way eastward in search of his next adventure; he didn’t even wait to watch his new city being built…

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Alexandria: the first modern city
type: item
date: 2024-02-02T07:18:42.000Z
creator: Professor Islam Issa
subject: Ancient Egypt
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Islam Issa tells the colourful story of ancient Alexandria, a multicultural city dreamt up by Alexander the Great
encoded: According to legend, when Alexander the Great rocked up on the island of Pharos in northern Egypt, he had a vision of a spectacular city – a vision that later became reality in the form of Alexandria. On the mainland nearby, connected by a new causeway to Pharos, the metropolis grew and thrived, drawing people in from far and wide. Its power was symbolised by the remarkable Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the Great Library, which aspired to be home to all the world's knowledge. Speaking to Rebecca Franks, Islam Issa explores the origin story of this remarkable city. Islam Issa is the author of Alexandria: The City that Changed the World (Sceptre, 2023) Buy now on Bookshop.org Buy now on Amazon Buy now on Waterstones

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