General ancient history

The ancient Greek physician Dioscorides

General ancient history

Happy plants and laughing weeds: how people of the ancient world used – and abused – drugs

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A C Grayling. (Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images)

AC Grayling on the history of philosophy . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Charlton Hetson races a chariot in Ben-Hur

Wacky races: 10 weird and wonderful contests through history

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The beautiful courtyard of the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and university, founded in the 850's (Izzet Keribar/Getty Images)

Explore Fès, Morocco: Morocco’s spiritual capital . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The food served at the wedding of Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell may be inspired by accounts of ancient Roman excess, says Ayelet Haimson Lushkov. (© Home Box Office, Inc/Sky Atlantic)

Power plays and scheming queens: the ancient history behind Game of Thrones

Towards the end of the third century BC, the First Emperor of China sought to make his new state immortal by shielding it with what would be the earliest predecessor to the Great Wall. (Photo by Jean-Luc PETIT/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

A brief history of border walls – from 2,000 BC to Trump’s Mexico wall

Miniature from a Persian manuscript depicting Genghis Khan's funeral

General ancient history

Q&A Where was Genghis Khan buried?

Relief showing lion hunt on horseback.

General ancient history

Ashurbanipal ‘the Great’, the Lion of Assyria

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Max Adams. (Photo by Kona Macphee/Royal Literary Fund)

Remarkable women through history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Wat Pra Singh is among the most visited temples in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (Photo by Getty Images)

General ancient history

My favourite place: Chiang Mai, Thailand

A counting of goats and rams in cuneiform script, ancient Ngirsu, Iraq, 2360 BC. (DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

Cuneiform: 6 things you (probably) didn’t know about the world’s oldest writing system

Professor Kathleen Burk and Simon Jenkins discuss Jenkins's new book, 'A Short History of Europe'. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC World Histories magazine)

Simon Jenkins and Kathleen Burk on the history of Europe

Professor Kathleen Burk and Simon Jenkins discuss Jenkins's new book, 'A Short History of Europe'. (Photo by David Hampton for BBC World Histories magazine)

Great wars were started by young men with “jangling hormones”, argues Simon Jenkins

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&A How many people did the Aztecs sacrifice?

The Fountain of Arethusa on Ortygia, the historical heart of Syracuse, separated from the main city by a small channel. (Photo by Alamy)

General ancient history

My favourite place: Syracuse, Sicily