History Today

W.L.F. Nuttall describes how, when the Star Chamber was abolished in 1641 it became easier to print home news, and many newspapers appeared, supporting both sides in the Civil Wars.

Tzykanion, or polo, formed part of the ritual of life at the court of the Emperors in Constantinople. Expertise on horseback, writes Anthony Bryer, was one of the requirements of Imperial dignity.

E.R. Chamberlin recounts the Babylonian captivity, as Petrarch described it, which lasted in Avignon for seventy-four years.

Stephen Usher describes how Pericles became the embodiment of Athenian imperialism; which he exalted because, like General De Gaulle, he believed that his own country had a mighty civilizing mission. 

E.A. Smith describes how, immediately after the Seven Years’ War, the young Earl Fitzwilliam became a grand tourist of Europe in the eighteenth-century style.

For two thousand years poets, writes Michael Grant, composers and painters have drawn upon the great archetypal myth of Orpheus—one of the myths that will always stir humanity.

The Nok people of Nigeria were smelters of iron but also agriculturalists. The culture they founded may have a deep effect on the ancient history of Africa.

Derek W. Lawrence portrays 1769 as a fateful year for the world: Napoleon and Wellington were both born in it; and James Watt took out a patent for his momentous steam-engine.

George Woodcock outlines how, by about 515 B.C., architects, sculptors, goldsmiths and silversmiths were assembled from all quarters of the Persian Empire to build a new capital, Parsa, which the Greeks called Persepolis.

Thanks to his gift of foresight, aided by his natural intelligence and a flair for improvization, Themistocles carried through a long-term programme, aimed at making his native city a great imperial power. By Stephen Usher.