HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-06-13T19:37:15.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Why is Friday 13th unlucky?
items: How are popes elected? Here's what happens after a pope dies
items: Monsters of Rome: do emperors such as Nero and Caligula deserve their reputations?
items: Why should we beware the Ides of March?
items: Michelangelo: the Renaissance polymath who transformed Western art
items: A hill to die on: why the Allies almost failed in the battle of Monte Cassino in WW2
items: Roman gods and goddesses: 17 of the most important deities of ancient Rome
items: SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 preview: "They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority"
items: Caracalla and Geta: the real lives of the mad emperors of Gladiator II
items: Blood, guts and spectacle: 6 shocking events from the history of ancient Roman gladiators

Why is Friday 13th unlucky?
type: item
date: 2025-06-13T09:09:00.000Z
subject: General ancient history
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Trends-Anniversary
description: Might Jesus and his 12 apostles have something to do with it? Discover the medieval history behind triskaidekaphobia – the fear of the number 13 – and why it is considered an unlucky number
encoded: Forget the Ides of March and Halloween – for some, a Friday that also happens to be the 13th of the month is scariest and unluckiest day of the year. The fear of Friday 13th is very real. It's even been given a scientific name, paraskevidekatriaphobia, from the Greek words Paraskeví, meaning Friday, and dekatreís, meaning 13. But what is it about this day and date combo that has given millions the heebie jeebies. Here's what we know of we know about Friday 13th's hazy history. When did people start believing Friday 13th was unlucky? It's believed that this superstition began in the Middle Ages. Some think it's related to the Last Supper, when 13 people were present at the meal before Jesus's crucifixion on Good Friday. Others think it's related to the Knights Templar, who were arrested for heresy on Friday 13 October 1307. But fear of 13 predates Christianity. The number 13 has been considered unlucky for millenia, and by many different cultures around the world. Why is the 13th unlucky? The ancient Romans believed that the number 13 was a bad omen, foretelling ill-fortune and death. The Vikings also hated 13, because in Norse mythology a banquet was held for 12 of the Norse gods during which the trickster god, Loki, appeared uninvited, like the wicked fairy in Sleeping Beauty, and as a result the beloved god Balder died. The Mayans thought that the 13th 'baktun' (a period equivalent to almost 400 years) would spell the end of the world – however, this came and went in 2012. For centuries, hosts avoided having 13 people seated around a dining table, convinced that the first person to leave would die within the year. Indeed, 16th-century witch-hunters often tried to claim there had been 13 people at a gathering – proof that the accused were witches in league with the devil. Why is Friday the 13th unlucky? Why Friday the 13th is considered especially unlucky isn't entirely clear. The first written record we have of the number 13 and Friday being unlucky in conjunction…

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How are popes elected? Here's what happens after a pope dies
type: item
date: 2025-04-21T09:09:01.000Z
creator: Nige Tassell
subject: General History
subject: Period
description: What comes after a pope dies? Step through the doors of Vatican into the conclave – the secretive, ritualistic and sometimes scandalous process that turns a cardinal into the next pontiff
encoded: From the death (or more rarely, resignation) of a pope to the famous white smoke drifting out of a Sistine Chapel chimney, the centuries-old process of electing a new pope is defined by ritual and ceremony, but also secrecy. Taking place behind closed doors, it falls to an assembly of cardinals – a conclave – to vote for the new head of the Catholic Church. What happens when a pope dies? The death of a pope has to be confirmed by a medic, but it is only official once a particular action is taken by the camerlengo – the cardinal who oversees the running of the Vatican’s property and revenue. The camerlengo calls out the pope’s baptismal name three times and only when he receives no response can he declare the death. Traditionally, the camerlengo have also tapped the pontiff’s head with a silver hammer. He then notifies both senior church officials and the general public. The pope’s apartment will be locked – according to a historic practice that prevented looting – and preparations are made for the symbolic destruction of the pope’s ring and seal, signalling the end of his authority. The pope must be buried between four and six days after the death, while the official period of mourning is observed for nine days. Not long after that, the cardinals gather for the conclave. How is a new pope chosen? The conclave explained A conclave is the gathering of cardinals summoned to the Vatican to elect a new pope. Not all members of the College of Cardinals, the most senior clergy of the Catholic Church below the papacy itself, are eligible to participate due to age restrictions. The word derives from the Latin for ‘with a key’, referring to how the cardinals are literally shut away from the wider world while they vote. Conclaves nearly always take place in the event of a pope’s death. Since Gregory XII in 1415, there has only been one papal resignation: Benedict XVI, who, in 2013, left the Holy See citing his advanced age. Read more | Holy smoke, antipopes and power struggles…

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Monsters of Rome: do emperors such as Nero and Caligula deserve their reputations?
type: item
date: 2025-03-26T11:00:02.000Z
creator: Rob Attar
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Roman rulers
description: Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars, a key source for the early Roman emperors, has just been translated anew by historian Tom Holland. He reveals what insights it yields into these titans of ancient history
encoded: Rob Attar: Could you please begin by introducing Suetonius and his best-known work, The Lives of the Caesars? Tom Holland: Suetonius is probably the most famous of all the ancient biographers. He was secretary to the emperor Hadrian, so was right at the heart of imperial power. He’d also worked as an archivist and librarian in the imperial palace, and therefore had access to all kinds of historical documents. He drew on these to write [in around AD 121] the biographies of the rulers who had come to be known as the 12 Caesars: the 11 emperors from Augustus to Domitian and, before them all, Julius Caesar – the adoptive father of Augustus. The Lives has had a massive influence on how people understand the Roman empire. Read more | Everything you wanted to know about the Roman emperors Of all ancient classical texts, this is probably also the most influential on modern culture. It inspired Robert Graves, who would later translate the Lives for Penguin Classics, to write I, Claudius (1934) and Claudius the God (1935), which were then adapted into the celebrated 1976 BBC drama series [starring Derek Jacobi]. And that series inspired all kinds of US dramas, ranging from Dynasty in the 1980s, to The Sopranos in the nineties and noughties, and Game of Thrones in the 2010s. You could say that Suetonius is the godfather of the murderous dynastic drama. As a historian yourself, do you consider that Suetonius was doing something similar to what you do today? It’s important to say that Suetonius wasn’t actually a historian – he was a biographer. He was not aiming to do what Tacitus, his great contemporary, was doing – creating a record of the whole sweep of Roman history. But of course, because the emperors are so important to our understanding of how the Roman world operated, his work does offer a sense of the Roman empire in the first century BC and the first century AD. That was a period of convulsive change: the Republic collapsed, Augustus established an autocracy, and then …

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Why should we beware the Ides of March?
type: item
date: 2025-03-14T11:03:00.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Roman rulers
description: The 15th of March – known as the Ides of March – was just another day in the Roman calendar. In 44 BC however, the date took on a sinister new meaning...
encoded: In 44 BC, the Ides of March took on a new meaning. Julius Caesar, who had seized power from the Roman Republic and made himself a dictator, was murdered by a group of 60 dagger-wielding Senators led by his friends, Brutus and Cassius. What does the 'Ides of March' mean? The term ‘Ides’ had a perfectly practical – and in no way sinister – meaning to the Romans. Their calendar, in connection with the phases of the Moon, used three terms to mark the passage of a month. A ‘Kalend’ was the first day of the month; a ‘None’ signified the first quarter of the Moon (the fifth or seventh day) and an ‘Ide’ was the full Moon (the 13th or 15th day). Therefore the Ides of March simply meant: 15 March. On this day in history | More events that happened on 15 March Why should we beware the Ides of March? Caesar had known that many wished him dead and a soothsayer allegedly warned him that harm would come to him before the Ides of March. On 15 March, Caesar reportedly passed the soothsayer joking, “The Ides of March have come,” but was met with the ominous reply, “Aye, Caesar, but not gone.” This moment has been immortalised by William Shakespeare in his play, Julius Caesar, first performed in 1599. It is from Shakespeare that we have the famous warning given by the soothsayer: “Beware the Ides of March.” Caesar’s murder failed to bring back the Republic, but triggered the start of the Roman empire under his adopted heir, Octavian (known as Augustus). Before the assassination, the Ides of March was best known as a festival. The popular time for feasting and drinking marked the festival of Roman deity Anna Perenna. It was also traditionally the time to settle debts – Julius Caesar certainly paid his. Read next | What if Julius Caesar hadn't been assassinated? This Q&A was taken from a 2014 issue of BBC History Revealed

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Michelangelo: the Renaissance polymath who transformed Western art
type: item
date: 2025-02-13T10:12:02.000Z
creator: Matt Elton
subject: Period
subject: Renaissance
subject: Evergreen
description: Sculptor, painter, architect: Michelangelo was the archetypal Renaissance man who found immense fame in his lifetime and is still remembered as one of the most influential artists in world history. Matt Elton explores the creator of such iconic works as David and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
encoded: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni – better known simply as Michelangelo – was an Italian Renaissance polymath whose iconic sculptures, paintings, architecture and poetry had a profound influence on Western art. Works like the marble statue of David or his awe-inspiring ceiling for the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican, cemented his status as one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. Arguably, the only names that can come close are those of his rivals, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. So revered was he in his lifetime that he became known as ‘Il Divino’ (The Divine One). What was Michelangelo’s early life like? Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in the small town of Caprese, Italy, not too far from Florence. He had quite a turbulent childhood. “His mother died when he was six,” says Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, who was speaking to HistoryExtra on this episode of our Life of the Week podcast series. “He spent some of his early life in the care of a nanny living near a marble quarry that his father owned.” Far from setting the young boy back, however, Fletcher suggests this upbringing in the town of Settignano may have been one of the factors that contributed to his later success. “Michelangelo went on to become a great sculptor in marble, having grown up seeing stone being cut and dug every day. It was a great start to his future life.” What are Michelangelo’s most famous works? Pietà, a marble sculpture of the grieving Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus Christ, now in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. It is the only piece that Michelangelo ever signed The statue of David, sculpted between 1501 and 1504 and depicting the Biblical figure of David. More than five metres tall, it is the centrepiece of the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence The Sistine Chapel ceiling, a monumental artwork of scenes from the Book of Genesis – most famously, The Creation of Adam – created in the Vatican chapel between 1508 and 1512 The Laurentian Library in…

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A hill to die on: why the Allies almost failed in the battle of Monte Cassino in WW2
type: item
date: 2025-01-23T09:59:43.000Z
creator: James Holland
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Second World War battles
subject: Soldiers
description: In early 1944, the Allied advance in Italy was brought to a halt at a rocky outcrop called Monte Cassino. And at the heart of the bloodbath that followed, writes James Holland, was flawed leadership
encoded: For the men of the US 34th ‘Red Bulls’ Infantry Division, just getting up onto the Monte Cassino massif was an achievement. To reach this rocky outcrop, in late January 1944 those troops had crossed a two-mile-wide flooded valley, an area laced with enemy mines and overlooked by German troops in the mountains above. The weather was cold, wet and miserable, and the Americans’ route had taken them across a badly smashed causeway that offered an easy target for enemy artillery. Those troops had then traversed the bed of the Rapido river, which was impossible for tanks to cross, and clambered up into the hills and gulleys that comprise the lower reaches of the towering massif. Finally, they had slipped and scrambled their way up onto two of the ridges that cross Monte Cassino. By 6 February, the Second Battalion of the 135th Infantry, one of the three regiments of the Red Bulls, was within a stone’s throw of Point 593, the rocky outcrop at the end of one of these long ridges dubbed ‘Snakeshead Ridge’ by the Americans. The Germans launched a frenzied assault to displace them, only for the Red Bulls to counter-attack. Read more | Hell in Italy: the Allies' hardest fight of WW2? Bayonets fixed, shooting from the hip, they moved from rock to rock, picking their way through the increasingly loose and stony terrain along the narrow ridge. Bullets were zipping and pinging all around, mortars and grenades were exploding, and shrapnel and lethal shards of razor-sharp rock were fizzing through the air. “There was a lot of screaming and cursing,” recalled 23-year-old Sergeant Ralph Schaps from Minnesota. “We were not going to let the goddam krauts push us off the hill.” So close was the fighting that a rifle butt smashed into Schaps’ jaw but, somehow, he survived. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2024/12/GettyImages-1193060764-bf5e784.jpg" width="4516" height="3009" alt="The Benedictine abbey on Monte Cassino, established in the sixth century an…

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Roman gods and goddesses: 17 of the most important deities of ancient Rome
type: item
date: 2024-12-28T09:44:16.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Evergreen
subject: Gods
description: With every aspect of Roman life having a specific deity to call upon, it can be tricky to make sense of the ancient pantheon – and that’s before you even take the Greek gods and goddesses into account. Here is a guide to the key divine figures and their importance to those who worshipped them
encoded: Looking at the ancient Roman religion, you’ll find a rich and diverse collection of gods and goddesses. Peer a little closer and you’ll realise that the pantheon has more than a glancing resemblance to those worshipped in Greece. As the Romans expanded their territory into the Hellenistic world, they took many things they liked and made them their own – whether it was art and culture, or their religious beliefs. As a result, the Greek gods and goddesses went through a rebranding. Suddenly, the Twelve Olympians were Dii Consentes. Worshipping these gods was a multi-faceted business in Roman society, from attending temples, shrines and sanctuaries to making offerings or paying private reverence to individual deities within the household. Every need was catered for and, while some held more sway than others, all had their place. Here are some of the most important names in the Roman religion. Who are the most famous Roman gods and goddesses? Jupiter – King of the gods, and god of the sky and thunder Juno – Queen of the gods, goddess of marriage and childbirth Mars – God of war Venus – Goddess of love, sex and beauty Neptune – God of the sea Pluto – God of the dead and the underworld Saturn – God of time, agriculture and seed-sowing Janus – God of beginnings, transition and doorways Vesta – Goddess of the hearth, home and family Mercury – God of commerce, merchants and travellers Ceres – Goddess of agriculture and harvest Apollo – God of the Sun, music, archery, healing and prophecy Diana – Goddess of the hunt and wild animals Minerva – Goddess of craftsmanship, wisdom, justice and war Vulcan – God of fire and forges Bacchus – God of wine, vines, fertility and revelry Sol Invictus – God of the Sun Jupiter: king of the Roman gods Known as: Ruler of the Roman pantheon, and god of the sky and thunder Family: Son of Saturn and Ops, husband (and brother) of Juno, father of Mars, Minerva, Vulcan and more Greek equivalent: Zeus When the Romans came across Zeus, the king of the…

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SAS Rogue Heroes season 2 preview: "They’re very much thumbing their noses at authority"
type: item
date: 2024-12-27T10:30:10.000Z
creator: Jonathan Wright
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Trends-Entertainment
subject: TV interest
description: With SAS Rogue Heroes making a big, brash and brilliant return to our screens, Jonathan Wright sat down with the show’s director Stephen Woolfenden and producer Stephen Smallwood to get a sneak preview of what’s to come…
encoded: Fans of the hit Second World War military drama, SAS Rogue Heroes, which aired on the BBC in 2022, may be asking: how do you have a second series when the hero, David Stirling (Connor Swindells) has been captured and is now a prisoner of war? Show creator Steven Knight (the man also behind Peaky Blinders) has an elegantly straightforward answer for its imminent return. Without losing any of the espionage and political machinations that made the first series so compelling, the focus has shifted to another founder member of the Special Air Service, Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell). The narrative action – with the emphasis very much on action – opens in 1943, at a time with the future of the SAS in doubt. After it gets reorganised into two separate parts, it would be Mayne, a former British and Irish Lions international rugby player with a wholly justified reputation for insubordination, who took command of the newly formed Special Raiding Squadron. Read more | The original rogue heroes of the SAS Previously, the SAS had operated behind enemy lines in the vast emptiness of the desert, but the second series of SAS Rogue Heroes sees Mayne and his motley crew of hard-as-nails misfits face new challenges in the invasion of Sicily, which would then be followed with Italy. Director Stephen Woolfenden and producer Stephen Smallwood talk to HistoryExtra about how they went about bringing this story to life… The new series of SAS Rogue Heroes begins with David Stirling having been captured. But his brother, Bill Stirling (Gwilym Lee), emerges as a key character. Who was he? Stephen Woolfenden: Bill was the older brother of the two siblings and we learn that he has been in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the last couple of years. He’s supportive of his brother’s endeavours in the desert, and breaks out of the SOE to come and sort out the SAS. Stephen Smallwood: I think Ben Macintyre [the author of the book on which the series is based] stated that Bill was a more consider…

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Caracalla and Geta: the real lives of the mad emperors of Gladiator II
type: item
date: 2024-11-15T16:27:33.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Roman rulers
subject: Trends-Entertainment
description: The first Gladiator movie had a despicably deranged and dangerous antagonist in Commodus, but the upcoming sequel has a pair of emperors more than fit to take up that mantle. Jonny Wilkes explores the stories of Caracalla and Geta, brothers who rose up to the throne, but refused to share it
encoded: The sword-and-sandals epic Gladiator II promises a triumphant return to the half-historical, half-fictionalised ancient Rome of Ridley Scott’s original blockbuster. There is a new gladiator (Lucius, played by Paul Mescal), new thrilling battles in the Colosseum (featuring Pedro Pascal’s Marcus Acacius) and new behind-the-scenes plotting (headed by Macrinus, played by Denzel Washington). But stealing the show are not one, but two new megalomaniacal Roman emperors, Caracalla and Geta (Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn respectively). Framing the action around their shared reign means that it is possible to pinpoint exactly when the sequel takes place: AD 211. Caracalla and Geta – who did not get on as well as Gladiator II’s trailers suggest – ruled together for just 10 months, before their fractious relationship ended in fratricide. After having his brother murdered, Caracalla then ruled alone for another six years and earned a reputation as one of Rome’s more cruel, callous and changeable emperors. View Green Video on the source website The early lives of Caracalla and Geta As the sons of Septimius Severus, a rising statesman from North Africa serving as a provincial governor in Upper Pannonia (in modern-day Austria and Hungary), and his wife, Julia Domna, they were never meant for the imperial throne. Caracalla was born in AD 188 and named Septimius Bassianus. The name Caracalla was actually a pejorative nickname that came later, referring to a type of heavy, hooded cloak that he used to wear, which was used in the far reaches of the empire. The following year, Geta was born. Their paths changed in AD 193, the so-called ‘Year of the Five Emperors’ following the assassination of the much-despised Commodus. Out of that bitter period of rival claimants and fighting across the Roman empire, Severus – who had widespread support within the army – came out on top. Caracalla and Geta’s rise to power An imperative of Severus’s rule was to establish his own Severan dynasty. To t…

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Blood, guts and spectacle: 6 shocking events from the history of ancient Roman gladiators
type: item
date: 2024-11-14T17:12:59.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Gladiators
subject: Life in ancient Rome
description: How did gladiators supercharge the rise of Julius Caesar? And why were they seen as sex symbols? As Gladiator II arrives in cinemas, Guy de la Bédoyère tells the story of this brutal form of mass entertainment through six of its most significant (and surprising) moments
encoded: Julius Caesar turns death into mass entertainment Of all Roman pastimes, gladiators excite the most fascination and horror to this day – not least because of the sneaking suspicion that, if revived, they would rapidly pick up a fervent following. Yet, ironically, this most Roman of entertainments wasn’t the brainchild of the Romans. That dubious honour goes to the Etruscans, an ancient Italian people that emerged near the beginning of the first millennium BC. Gladiators used to fight in bouts to the death at Etruscan funerals – in short, they served as a form of human sacrifice. The Romans derived many of their customs from the Etruscans. And so it was perhaps inevitable that, as they grew into the dominant force on the Italian peninsula, they would adopt gladiatorial combat with gusto. Decimus Junius Brutus, later a consul, was said to have been the first to lay on a gladiatorial show – in honour of his deceased father, in c264–262 BC. Yet, as was the case with so many aspects of ancient Roman history, the concept of fighting to the death as mass entertainment was profoundly shaped by one Julius Caesar. In 65 BC, Caesar used his position as aedile (junior magistrate) to initiate a programme of public shows to secure, in the words of the historian Suetonius, “the good will of the masses”. He laid on 320 gladiatorial bouts and animal fights – and did so both in his name and in association with the other aedile, Marcus Bibulus, but in a way that ensured it was widely assumed the occasions were all his work. That, of course, was precisely his intention. Curiously, the 320 gladiatorial bouts represented a reduction of Caesar’s intentions. He had organised such a large number that his political opponents in the senate were terrified by the thought of so many armed men in Rome on Caesar’s payroll. And so they passed a law putting a cap on the numbers. The fears were well-grounded. Gladiators supplied muscle for thug politicians in the late Republic. By the 50s BC, when Ro…

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