Faisal Of Iraq

Middle East

The Immortals shown holding long spears on a frieze from the palace of Darius the Great

General ancient history

The Persian Immortals: the feared elite guard of the Achaemenid empire

Trading and crusading in the Middle Ages

When were punctuation marks first used? Illustration by Glen McBeth for BBC History Magazine.

General History

Q&AWhen were punctuation marks first used?

Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in mounted combat

Richard the Lionheart: king of war

Turning points1956: The shock of Suez

A 14th-century illustration of a farmer leading a pack animal through the ice and snow

The surprisingly modern Middle Ages

A group of Tunisian Jews are rounded up and marched through the streets of Tunis carrying shovels in December 1942

Holocaust in the Middle East

Michael Wood on Afghanistan“A new world is emerging, reviving older connections”

Anna Whitelock's Talking PointsA history of violence

Afghanistan: a history of instability

A homemade ouija board, a treasure hunt and fake madness: the great escape of World War I

An illustration from The Travels of Marco Polo, showing a teenage Marco on the deck of a ship sailing away from Venice

Why are Marco Polo's travels so famous?

Neil Faulkner reveals how the Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920 helped give rise to the first modern jihad

Jihad and the British empire

An illustration showing a woman 'Arib al-Ma’muniyya, playing an instrument while four men listen. A chess board is in the foreground

'Arib al-Ma’muniyya: the enslaved medieval woman who sang her way to wealth

An Israeli pilot after the raid on Entebbe

Operation Thunderbolt: Was the 1976 'raid on Entebbe' a brilliant rescue?

Concerned that Russia was expanding its influence in the region, Britain invaded Afghanistan in 1839, ousting ruler Dost Mohammad and replacing him with Shah Shuja, who had been king from 1803–10. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Britain's first war in Afghanistan: what happened and why?

The Ottoman empire: everything you wanted to know

Representations of digits from the ninth century, 11th century and the present day

Digital revolution: the evolution of Hindu-Arabic numerals

Kurdish fighters in north-west Iran, 1918

The history of the Kurds in Iraq: "the largest people never to have achieved statehood"

Richard I on a Chertsey tile

Does Richard I deserve his reputation as a martial genius?

Melisende of Jerusalem

Melisende of Jerusalem: the queen of a crusader kingdom

Muslim-Crusader interactions: a clash of civilisations?

The Suez Crisis: everything you wanted to know

Rebels, hostages and diplomats: royal women of the crusader states

Alexander the Great on his horse, Bucephalus

Bucephalus: why is Alexander the Great's horse famous?

A medieval illustration of women fighting and toiling alongside men during a siege

Crusader queens: the formidable female rulers of Jerusalem

A fanciful engraving imagines Peter the Hermit presenting Pope Urban II (centre) with a letter from Simeon II

Launching the First Crusade

Illustration of a mummy with mask

How to make an Egyptian mummy in 6 steps

From the British Isles to Italy and Spain: how the Normans reshaped Europe

Sparta