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The Life of Diogenes of Sinope in Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes of Sinope (c. 404-323 BCE) was a Greek Cynic philosopher best known for holding a lantern to the faces of the citizens of Athens claiming he was searching for an honest man. He was most likely a student of the philosopher Antisthenes...
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Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were five laws passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1774 to punish the Thirteen Colonies of British North America for the Boston Tea Party. Though the acts primarily targeted...
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Pirate Havens in the Golden Age of Piracy
The buccaneers who roamed the Spanish Main and the pirates who plundered the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) needed a place of refuge where they could share out and enjoy their loot. Pirate havens...
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Portrait of a Man Said to Be Christopher Columbus
Portrait of a man said to be Christopher Columbus (1446 - 1506). Oil on Canvas. Created in 1519. Christopher Columbus was a Genoese explorer (identified as Italian) who became famous in his own time as the man who discovered the New...
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The Life of Aristippus in Diogenes Laertius
Aristippus of Cyrene (l. c. 435-356 BCE) was a hedonistic Greek philosopher who taught that the meaning of life was pleasure and that the pursuit of pleasure, therefore, was the most noble path one could pursue. Along with Plato, Xenophon...
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Henry Morgan
Sir Henry Morgan (c. 1635-1688) was a Welsh privateer who operated in the Caribbean against the Spanish Empire and then became Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. Morgan was a charismatic and able military leader who masterminded devastating...
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The Report of Wenamun: Text & Commentary
The literature of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE) is justly famous as some of the best the culture ever produced. Great works like The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor and The Tale of Sinuhe stand among the great literary masterpieces...
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Flood at Port-Marly by Sisley
An 1876 oil on canvas, Flood at Port-Marly, by Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), the Franco-British impressionist painter. The artist produced a series of six canvases capturing the flooding of the Seine at Port-Marly, a catastrophe that occurred...
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The Port of Calicut in 1572
An illustration showing the port of Calicut on the southwest coast of India in 1572. Calicut was a major trade hub for the Eastern spice trade. From Georg Braun and Franz Hogenbergs atlas Civitates orbis terrarum.
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Representation of the Port of Eridu
An illustration representing the port of the Sumerian city of Eridu, founded c. 5000 BCE in modern-day Iraq.