Inspiring millions to understand
our shared human past

Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.

  • AHE is now on Pinterest!

    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…

  • Yoga in Indian Visual Art and Culture

    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…

  • Reimagining The Epic of Kings: The Shahnameh of Ancient Iran

    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…

  • Byzantine Beauty in Berlin

    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…

  • Ancient History Encyclopedia in 2013

    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…

  • Paint It Black? Understanding Black Figure Pottery

    Welcome to our third post on AHEtc! This week we welcome Ancient History Encyclopedia Editor Ms. Karen Barrett-Wilt. Karen is a freelance editor, writer, and blogger who loves to tap into her inner history nerd at AHE.  She holds a BA in English, an MA in the History of Art (focusing on Medieval and Islamic…

  • The Veil of Promise: A Novel on the Life of St. Helena

    The life of St. Helena — Roman empress, Christian saint, and mother to the celebrated Constantine the Great — remains shrouded in mystery, controversy, and intrigue. To commence the start of the holiday season, James Blake Wiener of the Ancient History Encyclopedia speaks to Dr. María Lara Martínez — a talented Spanish historian and writer —…

  • The Horses of St. Mark’s

    Welcome to the second post on our new blog AHEtc! This time we welcome Ms. Jennifer Brown (Jaunting Jen) of the blog Jaunting Jen. Jen is an Army veteran, archaeologist, photographer, and historian working on her MA in ancient and classical history. We hope you enjoy her post as much as we do! Beauty Reigns…

  • The Puzzling Ancient Picts of Scotland

    The ancient Picts of northern and eastern Scotland were as enigmatic to their contemporaneous neighbors as they are to modern-day scholars. Nevertheless, despite the shadowy and wild stereotypes that still abound in popular imagination, recent archaeological excavations across Scotland have revealed astonishing works of art, impressive fortifications, and evidence of strong links with continental Europe. In…

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