The Colossus of Rhodes was a gigantic 33-metre-high statue of the sun god Helios which stood by the harbour of that city from c. 280 BCE, one of the most important trading ports in the ancient Mediterranean. Made by the local sculptor Chares using bronze, the statue soon appeared on contemporary travel writer’s lists of must-see sights and was thus known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient... 

“The Roman Empire did not fall in the fifth century. The Roman Empire fell in the fifteenth century AD. Everyone knew this at the time, but the rewriting of history for political purposes has obscured it for the eyes of the contemporary world.” Livy, the Roman historian that lived around the time of Christ, wrote, ‘I do honestly believe that no country has ever been greater or purer... 

Turkish authorities will allow Koran readings at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, a former Christian church and mosque which now is a secular museum. Greece slammed the move, with some fearing that Erdogan’s government is taking steps to turn the site back into a mosque. Verses from the Islamic sacred book will be read at the Byzantine masterpiece daily during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The readings... 

May 29 marks the 563rd anniversary of the siege and capture of the magnificent Christian Orthodox city of Constantinople, the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, to the forces led by the Ottoman Turkish Sultan, Mohammed (Mehmet) II. A dark day in history, the invading Ottomans defeated the army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos after a 53-day siege. After the conquest, the... 

It is generally believed that mankind of the XXI century is much more progressive than our predecessors, who lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. However, in ancient times, there were technologies that could come in handy in our days. Unfortunately, though, the secrets of those technologies have been irretrievably lost. Mysteries of History: Greek fire Let’s take the period of antiquity.... 

The cemetery in Bavaria, Germany (A). The skeleton of a victim of the Plague of Justinian (C). Objects (E) from the grave (B) that helped scientists to estimate the plague victim’s death as occurring between 525 AD and 550 AD. A tooth from which the genome of the plague was extracted (D). Scientists have reconstructed the genome of the first recorded bubonic plague and compared it to two later pandemics....