The kind folks at NuSphere are now sponsoring us! They have provided our programming team with the latest version of their flagship product PhpED. This is going to help us greatly in programming our website and adding new features, so that our readers can enjoy an ever improving free ancient history website. Thank you very much!
Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) will be collaborating on future projects with Past Preservers, enlarging the creative hub between the media, heritage organizations and academic institutions. AHE’s global reach will increase public attention to archaeology, documentary programming, and educational research. Founded by archaeologists Nigel J. Hetherington and Kelly Krause in 2005, Past Preservers provides a creative space between the heritage and media worlds. They have established a production consulting team with the sole purpose of producing quality history-based, non-fiction programming by focusing on the creative aspect of each project including concept development, production, historical consulting and casting of experts and presenters. Their projects include work for major networks, such as History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and Al-Jazeera International. At the heart of their operation are over 1400 heritage professionals from over twenty countries including archaeologists, historians, Egyptologists, classicists, conservationists, forensic biologists, anthropologists, authors, and heritage specialists.
Ancient History Encyclopedia is now on Pinterest! Pinterest is a fine addition to our existing social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. With over 270K social media followers, AHE has a sizable and influential social media presence, and our numbers will only continue to grow. Pinterest provides AHE a new audience, and we feel strongly that Pinterest redefines the way in which people find and access information through multimedia. Pinterest is a visual discovery and social media tool, which individuals can use to find ideas for personal projects and interests. Pinterest users can browse, upload, save, and manage images –known as “pins– and other media content through collections known as “pinboards.” Not surprisingly, Pinterest is the first social media platform to bring a “curated vibe” to its user experience. Please be sure to follow our Pinterest account and share our pins! We look forward to interacting with you there.
Yoga is practiced daily by millions worldwide, but few are cognizant of its origins and relative importance to Indian culture and identity. Although its history is long and complex, yoga reflects the rich philosophical and cultural currents that traversed the Indian subcontinent over thousands of years. In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener of the Ancient History Encyclopedia speaks to Mr. Jeff Durham, Assistant Curator of Himalayan Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, about Yoga: The Art of Transformation and Enter the Mandala: Cosmic Centers and Mental Maps of Himalayan Buddhism, which are currently on view at the Asian Art Museum.
For hundreds of years, the Shahnameh has been revered in the Near and Middle East as the epic of the Persian-speaking peoples. Written over a thousand years ago by the famed poet Ferdowsi of Tous, the Shahnameh shares tales of adventure, romance, conflict, and betrayal. Although its stories and characters have inspired generations of artists and poets, it is still relatively unknown in the West. In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener of the Ancient History Encyclopedia speaks with Mr. Hamid Rahmanian about Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings, and the process of creating a new edition of this timeless classic (see also AHE’s Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings review).
We are happy to welcome back Jaunting Jen to AHEtc! Surprise! Byzantine at the Bode One would never guess that the main attraction of the Bode Museum in Berlin is a mosaic from Ravenna, Italy. The Bode Museum, on Museum Island, houses a unique collection of Byzantine art, and I went there specifically for their Byzantine collection. I had no idea that a mosaic from Ravenna was waiting for me at the end of the exhibition hall. Ravenna holds a special place in my heart because it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I have not yet been to Turkey to visit the Byzantine splendors there, but I’ve been to Ravenna and the Torcello Church in Venice, and there is just something special about those places and that time period. The Ravenna Mosaic at the Bode Museum came from the Church of San Michele in Africisco in Ravenna, was dedicated by Bishop Vittore in May 545 CE, and was consecrated by Archbishop Maximianus in 547 CE. The mosaic depicts Christ …
The new year is here (at least in many parts of the world). This is, as usual, a good time to look back and examine what we’ve achieved, but also a time to look forward. We would like to share our thoughts on the past and future of Ancient History Encyclopedia with you. Growth The last year has been excellent for Ancient History Encyclopedia. We’ve had our best year ever since we launched in 2009. A whopping 2.6 million people visited our site, viewing 5.6 million pages. In the last few months of the year, we had almost 500,000 people visiting the site every month! Almost 200,000 history enthusiasts follow us on Facebook and tens of thousands more on Twitter and Google Plus. Those are absolutely stunning numbers! Let’s put that into perspective… Encyclopedia Britannica sold 120,000 copies in its best year (that was in 1990). Most history magazines have far fewer monthly readers than we do: Archaeology Magazine has a print circulation of 235,000 copies and 225,000 website visitors, All About History has 151,000 …
