Search Results: Mass media

The Behistun Inscription is a relief with accompanying text carved 330 feet (100 meters) up a cliff in Kermanshah Province, Western Iran. The work tells the story of the victory of the Persian king Darius I (the Great, r. 522-486 BCE) over...

The Medes or Medians were a group of Indo-Iranian-speaking people from central Asia who migrated westwards and entered northern Iran around the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. They settled in the highlands of Zagros (Zagreus in Greek) and...

Alexander Helios (40 BCE – c. late 1st century BCE) was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the second oldest son of Cleopatra VII (69 BCE – 30 BCE) and the twin brother of Cleopatra Selene II (40 BCE – 5 BCE). He spent the majority of his...

Western astrology refers to a form of divination based on the motion of astronomical objects such as stars or planets. The belief that astronomical objects are divine or influence events on Earth is found in many cultures, but the practices...

Pope Joan was a legendary female pope of the Middle Ages said to have reigned from 855 to 858. After her story was popularized by Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), a statue of her was placed alongside those of other popes at...

In 36 BCE, Mark Antony (83-30 BCE) invaded Parthia, hoping to render himself one of the great conquerors of the Greco-Roman world, but he was stymied by Parthian forces and obliged to undertake an arduous, costly retreat. What to make of...

The power loom was first invented by Edmund Cartwright in 1785 and it doubled the speed of textile production compared to traditional methods. (The American Textile Museum, Lowell, Mass., USA)

Priscilla and John Alden Linen texture, color postcard by Smith's Inc., Plymouth, Mass. Date issued: c. 1930-1945 CE Boston Public Library, Print Department The Tichnor Brothers Collection

On this celestial globe, made by the Flemish cartographer Gerard Mercator (Louvain, 1551), the Coma Berenices (here called “Cincinnus”) is shown between the constellations Boötes (“Bubulcus”) and Virgo; the globe projects the constellations...

The silphium plant of Cyrene, valued as a seasoning, aromatic, and for its medicinal properties, is referenced by several notable ancient writers, but two of the best-known descriptions come from Theophrastus (l. c. 371 to c. 287 BCE) and...