Cleopatra VII was the last ruler of Egypt before its annexation by Rome. Her romantic involvement with both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, as well as her intelligence, political acumen, and supposed beauty, have captured the popular imagination for millennia. It is unsurprising then, that whenever World History Encyclopedia posts about Cleopatra on its social media channels, we see high engagement in the comment section. Instead of fascination, most of the engagement stems from discussions about which nation may claim her as their own. Some Greek person will invariably comment: “She wasn’t actually Egyptian, she was Greek.” To that, a Macedonian person will claim that “she wasn’t Greek, she was Macedonian.” Consequently, both will be accused of colonialist attitudes by an Egyptian person. Let’s not even talk about the precise shade of her skin colour! In essence, these are discussions about who owns Cleopatra nowadays. It’s Complicated As always with things in history, it’s not that simple. Cleopatra was certainly of Macedonian Greek descent. She may or may not have had some Egyptian heritage (this …

There is a theory that keeps reappearing in popular culture, each time with slight variations and different names, but the core remains the same: “Those ancient people couldn’t possibly have built this, so someone else must have.”  While the first part of the theory is pretty constant, the “someone else” part changes: In Erich von Däniken’s popular 1968 book Chariot of the Gods he points to extraterrestrials. So does the highly successful Ancient Aliens television series that has been running continuously since 2009 – now in its 19th season! Netflix was heavily criticised by historians and archaeologists for its 2022 docu-series Ancient Apocalypse featuring Graham Hancock and his belief in an Ice Age “Atlantean” civilisation.  It is rather straightforward for historians and archaeologists to discredit beliefs in aliens, Atlantean civilisations, and other supposed high-technology precursors. I will leave the debunking to the experts who have already done so at length. This article is about the other part of the hypothesis: “Those ancient people couldn’t possibly have built this.” While this may seem innocent at first …

If you paid attention in history class, you may remember that the system of Feudalism in Europe broke down after the Black Death because of worker shortages caused by the high death toll. If you haven’t, you can read all about it here at World History Encyclopedia. We’re now living through another pandemic, which I believe also has the potential to change the face of society. A while back Facebook presented me with an ad for Newfoundland and Labrador, telling me: Picture yourself working from here. #WorkRemoteNL Wait, what? This was new! Previously, I had seen ads for cities or regions vying for the attention of businesses, but never had I seen an ad asking educated high-income workers to move to a remote and rural place. We’ve seen so many new things during the pandemic, but I am wondering whether this ad could be emblematic of an inflection point in one of the overarching trends in history? Since the agricultural revolution made concentrated urban centers possible in ancient Mesopotamia, urbanization has been an overarching trend …

Why should we study history? We all have our personal reasons why we love history; some like reading exciting stories that can be stranger than fiction, others let their imaginations transport them to worlds gone by. There are many reasons for loving history, but in this article I want to explore why history actually matters in the here and now. Unfortunately, that belief is not universal. Around the world, budgets for social studies and history in particular are cut, and the focus in curricula is shifted to more practical subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in universities, and English and mathematics in schools. Yet we have to look no further than the top headlines in current affairs to understand why history is extremely important as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can only be understood through the lens of history. The primary reason for Russia’s war is neither economic (as wars so often are) nor religious (as wars so often were). No, it is Putin’s belief that Ukraine is the cradle of Russian civilization …