Middle East

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

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1754: Bayeux Tapestry 1667: William the Conqueror's Norman cavalry setting out to meet Harold II's English forces, Battle of Hastings, 14 October 1066. Textile Linen (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

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

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Sculpture dedicated to king Leonidas of the Spartans in Thermopylae, Greece.

Sparta . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Limestone relief depicting a a procession of courtiers paying homage to the Ahiram, king of the Phoenician city of Byblos

General ancient history

Your guide to... the Phoenicians

Michael Wood reveals how Hadrian, a little-known “man of Africa”, helped lay the foundations of English culture

The African who transformed Anglo-Saxon England

Illustration by Joey Guidone

The big question: has terrorism ever achieved its aims?

Illustration for BBC History Magazine.

How potatoes conquered the world

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Dan Jones. (Photograph by Steve Sayers)

Exclusive podcast Dan Jones on the human stories of the crusades . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Selim I

The extraordinary life of Sultan Selim I . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The tomb of Pharaoh Djoser, built at Saqqara

General ancient history

Timeline: the evolution of ancient empires

Colourised print of the Lighthouse of Alexandria as imagined in the 18th century

General ancient history

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: what were they, and what happened to them?

A 16th-century painting of the Tower of Babel

General ancient history

Your guide to... the ancient city of Babylon

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A replica of Jesus' tomb. (Photo by Alamy)

General ancient history

History’s greatest mysteries The fate of Jesus's body . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hadrian's Wall (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1987), near Housesteads, England, United Kingdom, Roman civilization, 2nd century.

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #15: What’s lurking in the background of medieval maps? And what did medieval people really know about the wider world?