The pyramids were old for most of Egyptian history. Of the three great kingdoms that this old and powerful civilization spawned, it was the Old Kingdom who were known as the pyramid builders. Such a labor-intensive investment in the afterlife was something which could be justified only in the initial enthusiasm of Egypt’s new religion.
The Bible is a massively misunderstood text. Many will insist on the literal truth behind the stories, and many more will dismiss the entirety of the text as fantasy. But both sides are wrong. The Bible is a far more complex and layered text than either of these oversimplifications would allow. This can clearly be
In the 13th century in Iceland a poet and a scholar named Snorri Sturluson wrote two great masterpieces, texts which cast a shadow to this day. In his Poetic Edda and his Prose Edda his beautiful writing captured much of ancient Norse tradition: their people, their history, and their gods. These texts are a vital
The Bronze Age was a time of immense upheaval for Indo Europeans. As these people came together and took giant steps towards society and civilization there was much to be learned, and many problems to be resolved. The discovery of metallurgy, which supercharged the Stone Age agricultural revolution, changed the world forever. Gone were the
Ask the average person about pre-Columbian South America and you would almost certainly hear about the Inca. This mountain kingdom which carved itself a loose empire that runs the length of the Andes looms large in the modern consciousness. But this can be deceptive. The Inca were hugely successful, but they were a comparatively recent
Hawaii was the last of the fifty states to join the United States of America. And, were you to dig a little deeper, it might seem strange that it did. There is no accident of geography binding it to the union, as there are for the contiguous 48 states that make up most of the