Search
Search Results
Definition
Masada
Masada (“fortress” in Hebrew) is a mountain complex in Israel in the Judean desert that overlooks the Dead Sea. It is famous for the last stand of the Zealots (and Sicarii) in the Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-73 CE). Masada...
Definition
Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam (also given as Umar Khayyam, l. 1048-1131 CE) was a Persian polymath, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher but is best known in the West as a poet, the author of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. His famous work has been embraced...
Definition
Alchemy
Alchemy is an ancient practice aimed at recreating precious substances using recipes and transformative materials such as the philosopher's stone. Alchemists believed that materials like gold, silver, gems, and purple dye could be recreated...
Definition
Ezekiel
Ezekiel was both a priest and a prophet who lived in the 6th century BCE. The prophets of Israel were oracles (a term for a person as well as a place) for ways in which humans communicated with their gods. The oracle was possessed by the...
Definition
Sejong the Great
King Sejong the Great (15 May 1397 to 8 April 1450 CE) ruled Korea from 1418 to 1450 CE as the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty (also spelled Choson). One of only two Korean kings called 'the Great' today, Sejong had a major impact on Korea...
Definition
Early Joseon Period
The Early Joseon Period (1392 - c. 1550 CE) in Korea was bookended by internal power struggles but witnessed major scientific and societal advances and prosperity. The Joseon (Choson) Dynasty ruled Korea from 1392 CE to 1897 CE, and scholars...
Definition
Taejong of Joseon
King Taejong of Joseon (r. 1400-1418) was the third ruler of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea. Taejong was a driving force behind consolidating and strengthening the king’s power, and while he was an effective ruler, his violent means of winning...
Article
Cheyenne Creation Story
The Cheyenne Creation Story is the account of the beginning of the world, the seasons, and the first people in the time before time when all was water, and nothing existed but the Creator and aquatic birds. There are many versions of the...
Article
The Punic Necropolis of Mahdia
The Punic funerary remains of Mahdia, a series of tombs carved into the rock, date back to a period between the 5th and the 2nd century BCE and are located in the northeast of Tunisia. These tombs are useful for us to understand the acculturation...
Article
Wonderful Things: Howard Carter's Discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb
The great discoverer of the treasures of King Tutankhamun, Howard Carter, was born on May 9, 1874 CE to Samuel John and Martha Joyce (Sands) Carter in Kensington, England. A sick, home-schooled child, Carter learned to draw and paint from...