When Napoleon Bonaparte set his sights on clearing the British out of Egypt in 1798, he took with him 160 savants in his 400-ship invasion fleet. These worthies were scientists, artists and historians who, supposedly, would bring the lost civilization of the Egyptian pharaohs to light, thus ensuring Napoleon’s legacy not only as a conqueror, […]
ancient history
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Not So Dark Ages
“All the objects shone in the sunshine as on the day they were buried.” — Basil Brown’s diary, August of 1939. Britain’s “Dark Ages” may have formally ended in a field in Suffolk, England, on July 21, 1939. That’s when archaeologist Peggy Piggott uncovered a tiny gold pyramid encrusted with garnets from the Sutton Hoo […]
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Warrior Women (Part 2)
“Their marriage law lays it down, that no girl shall wed until she has killed a man in battle.” — Herodotus, circa 600 B.C., writing about the Sauromatae, mythical descendents of Amazons Herodotus, so-called Father of History, had much to say about Amazons, the legendary race of women warriors who nearly bested Greek soldiers while […]