General ancient history

Photo of ancient public toilets

General ancient history

Q&A How old is the toilet seat?

Photo of Derinkuyu Underground City

Q&A Have people ever lived underground?

Lion Capital of the Pillars of Ashoka from Sarnath. (iStock / Getty Images Plus)

The many lives of India

The stretch of the Great Wall at Mutianyu, China

General ancient history

My favourite place: The Great Wall of China

Photo of pipe and tobacco

Q&A Did people smoke anything before tobacco was discovered?

Engraving of a brewery

General ancient history

Q&A Who made the first booze?

Photo of archaeologist revealing a skull

General ancient history

Q&A Who was the first archaeologist?

Photo of a salt cellar

Q&A Who do we say 'with a pinch of salt'?

UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1987: Sweden, Gotland, Detail of stone relief representing the divine triad: Odin (chief god), Thor (god of thunder) and Freyr (god of fertility). (Photo By DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini via Getty Images)

Q&A Were the pagan English gods the same as the Viking gods?

Illustration of the Zodiac Man

General ancient history

Q&A Why did physicians ‘bleed’ their patients?

A noisy history of the world

The call for the First Crusade was initially made by Pope Urban (pictured) in 1095. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Britain and Islam: a matter of faith

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Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Aksum AD 537 . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Ptolemy World map. Artist: Germanus, Donnus Nicolaus (ca. 1420-ca. 1490)

Ptolemy’s maps: the father of modern Geography

An illustration of Nikephoros II. (Photo by INTERFOTO/Alamy Stock Photo)

A big day in history: the all-conquering Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II loses his head