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Top ( l-r) Agrippina the Elder, Julia, and Livia. Bottom (l-r) Messalina and Agrippina the Younger

The women who built the Roman Empire.

Vienna's magnificent city hall, built between 1872 and 1883, can be found in the heart of the city. (Picture by Moment/Getty Images)

My favourite place: Vienna, Austria

Historians Sam Willis (left) and James Daybell. "We challenged ourselves to write the histories of things we weren't necessarily even sure had a history," says Willis. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC History Magazine)

Books interview with Sam Willis and James Daybell: "Everything has a history. And we mean absolutely everything".

An elevated view of Cairo's Old City, which is home to a Roman tower, a Greek Orthodox church and an array of historical mosques and madrasas. (Photo by Getty Images)

Battleground of empires: Cairo in 5 cultures.

The LibraryIan Kershaw on the trials of writing modern history.

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the closing bell on 29 September 2008. A record 778 points were wiped off the Dow Jones that day, as the 2008 financial crisis pushed the world's banking system to the edge of collapse. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The credit crunch: "It's a story of hubris followed by a fall".

When we conduct historical research, we encounter terms and concepts that are familiar to us in the present. Yet we should not assume that these concepts possessed the same meaning in the past as they do now, says Dean Blackburn. (Image by Shawshots / Alamy Stock Photo)

5 tips for historical research: from uncovering local history to plotting your family tree.

Student support is key to making your time at university as positive as possible. (Image by Getty Images)

10 tips to choosing a history degree course.

The march for Catalan Independence held in Barcelona, 11 September 2014 (Photo by Jordi Elias Grassot/Alamy)

Scots and Catalans.

The 14th-century Bodiam Castle, Sussex. “All historians and students of history have to think about how the society they are studying functions,” says Dr Alice Taylor. (Picture by Getty Images)

Study history: How looking at the past can equip you for the future

Painting depicting Cromwell at the head of his troops following the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, by Ernest Crofts. (Photo by De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)

Oliver Cromwell: the secret of his military genius.

Notre Dame de la Major church, Arles

ExploreArles, France: 'Little Rome' of Provence.

An engraving from 'The Illustrated Police News', c1889, imagines Jack the Ripper

Your guide to Jack the Ripper

A big day in history: Mary Ann Nichols becomes the first victim of ‘Jack the Ripper’ (31 August 1888).

100 women who changed the world

100 women who changed the world.

A woodcut of a woman thought to be baking bread, printed in 1497. In the Middle Ages baking was a luxury few were able to enjoy, but those who could afford a wood-burning stove would start with bread. In the 15th century Britain saw explosion of expensive spices, such as saffron, and sweetened dough became popular. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

A brief history of baking

Charles de Gaulle reconsidered.

An Aztec priest performing the sacrificial offering of a living human's heart to the war god Huitzilopochtli. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images)

General ancient history

Q&AHow many people did the Aztecs sacrifice?

General prehistory

12 historical places to visit on the August bank holiday weekend

Female spies of the Civil War era.

August Friedrich Kellner, pictured in 1923. (Photo from Kellner family archive)

Opposing the Nazis: the secret diary of a German against the Third Reich.

A view of the Reculver Towers, Reculver, England. (Photo by Loop Images/UIG via Getty Images)

8 of Britain’s most mysterious ruins

Robert the Bruce, famous for beating the English army of Edward II despite having far fewer troops, is commemorated at the 1314 battleground in Bannockburn. (Dreamstime)

Robert the Bruce: champion of Scotland or murderous usurper?.

A scene depicted on the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

The Normans: a timeline

Captain Cook's Endeavour podcast

Captain Cook’s Endeavour.

By the time George II came to the throne in 1727, Britain was a nation addicted to gaming. A Georgian gaming table is shown in this sketch by Thomas Rowlandson. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

“A nation addicted to gaming”: the Georgians’ crackdown on addictive betting.

Reassessing William the Conqueror.

The first baby is born to English settlers in the Americas. (Illustration by Lynn Hatzius)

A big day in history: the first baby is born to English settlers in the Americas.

Dan Jones on the secrets of popular history

Dan Jones on the secrets of popular history.

Beard presents an episode of the BBC's 2018 headline arts series, 'Civilisations'. (Image credit: BBC/Nutopia)

Mary Beard: “I couldn’t give a toss what Roman emperor Donald Trump was most like” plus 3 other things we learned about her.