Ancient Places and/or Civilizations Story Briefs

The very land we call "ours" once belonged to others. How did ancient people live on that land? What was important to them? Are we more alike than we are different? Explore this collection to find answers.

Anglesey, island off the coast of Wales - recently made more famous because the Duke (Prince William) and Duchess of Cambridge lived there - is a plac...

Uncovering Viking ships is like unearthing Pharaonic tombs. And uncovering Viking ancestry, via the Human Genome Project, is just as interesting.

In 793 - about six years after commencing raids - Vikings (probably Norwegians) invaded England. Were they seeking to plunder only - or - did some of ...

This image depicts a fresco which was discovered in a Pompeii home known as the House of the Centenary.

When the discus was part of an Ancient-Olympic event, a votive discus was sometimes created to herald stellar performances of the athletes.

An epic is a story, usually in the form of a narrative poem, featuring a hero who prevails despite terrible odds.

Money in the bank doesn't always mean the same thing to people. Stone money is stored outside, not in a locked bank vault, on the Micronesian island o...

The Gulf of Mexico was once larger than it is today. Algae, growing along its perimeter, provided the first ingredients for the oil formation which oc...

On or about July 21, in 356 B.C., an arsonist deliberately set fire to one of the "wonders of the ancient world," the great temple of Artemis at Ephes...

Xerxes, ruler of the Persian Empire, attempted to conquer Greece.

Zeus was the chief god of Ancient Greece. He was known, to ancient Romans, as Jupiter. What do we know about him?

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