General ancient history

Sam Willis.

General ancient history

Sam Willis

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1987: Sweden, Gotland, Detail of stone relief representing the divine triad: Odin (chief god), Thor (god of thunder) and Freyr (god of fertility). (Photo By DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini via Getty Images)

Q&A Were the pagan English gods the same as the Viking gods?

"Trying to uncover the noises our ancestors made, what they heard, is key to building a picture of what their lives were really like," says David Hendy. (Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

A noisy history of the world

The call for the First Crusade was initially made by Pope Urban (pictured) in 1095. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Britain and Islam: a matter of faith

Illustration by Jonty Clark.

General ancient history

Ye olde travel guide: Aksum AD 537

Ptolemy World map. Artist: Germanus, Donnus Nicolaus (ca. 1420-ca. 1490)

General ancient history

Ptolemy’s maps: the father of modern Geography

An illustration of Nikephoros II. (Photo by INTERFOTO/Alamy Stock Photo)

General ancient history

A big day in history: the all-conquering Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II loses his head

Illustration by Jonty Clark

General ancient history

Ye olde travel guide: Kiev 978 AD

Bluestones, like these in the Preseli hills, were used to build Stonehenge. (Photo by Paula Connelly via Getty Images)

General ancient history

The Library Britain’s buried secrets

A stone relief depicting men bringing gifts to the king, c500 BC. (Getty Images)

General ancient history

The Persian empire: myth vs reality

A view of Jerusalem's best known landmark the Dome of the Rock, a spectacular shrine on the site where Muhammad is said to have risen to heaven. (Getty Images)

General ancient history

The Library Jerusalem: blood and gold

Mary Wollstonecraft.(Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

100 women: Religion & Philosophy

Sam Willis.

General ancient history

Sam Willis

The Alfred Jewel: gold, rock, crystal and enamel

Objects of affection

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General ancient history

Historical objects – toilets and medicines