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Bacchus by van Dalen

Saturnalia

The Saturnalia was an enduring Roman festival dedicated to the agricultural god Saturn which was held between the 17th and 23rd of December each year during...

Pompeii Fresco with Lares

Pompeii Fresco with Lares

Fresco depicting two Lares (protective deities, sons of the god Mercury) pouring wine from a drinking horn (rhyton) into a bucket (situla). They stand...

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Fruit, Roman Mosaic

Food in the Ancient World

Meals in the ancient Mediterranean revolved around the common staples of cereals, vegetables, fruit and olive oil with an occasional bit of fish and meat...

Medieval Monastery

A medieval monastery was an enclosed and sometimes remote community of monks led by an abbot who shunned worldly goods to live a simple life of prayer...

Four Monks by Rinaldi

The Daily Life of Medieval Monks

Life for monks in a medieval monastery, just like in any profession or calling, had its pros and cons. While they were expected to live simply with few possessions...

The Funeral of a Viking

Norse Ghosts & Funerary Rites

In Norse belief, the soul of the deceased might wind up in any one of a number of afterlife realms. There was Valhalla, the realm of Odin where the dead warriors...

Myth of Iphigenia Mosaic, Empuries

Iphigenia in Aulis

Iphigenia in Aulis (or at Aulis) was written by Euripides, the youngest and most popular of the trilogy of great Greek tragedians. The play was based...

Statue of a Female Sumerian Worshipper from Khafajah [Detail]

Lost Treasures From Iraq: Revisited & Identified

For how long do we build a household? For how long do we seal a document? For how long do brothers share the inheritance? For how long is there to...

Gudrun & Ghost, Laxdale Saga

Norse Ghosts & the Afterlife

The best-known vision of the Norse afterlife is that of Valhalla, the hall of the heroes where warriors chosen by the Valkyries feast with the god...

Medieval Noble Taking His Bath

Medieval Hygiene

People in the Middle Ages have acquired something of a bad reputation when it comes to cleanliness, especially the peasantry. However, despite the general...

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