That Day in Rome… and the UK

April Fools is a custom associated with making jokes (Prima Aprilis) and dates back to Roman times. At that time, or more precisely, on March 25, the Hilaria festival took place, which was celebrated on the occasion of the vernal equinox and the worship of the...

The Ancient Art of Listicles

Annoying for some, clickbait for others, listicles are everywhere. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, ChatGPT defines them as follows: A listicle is a type of article or blog post that is presented in the form of a list, with each item on the list...

Khopesh, the Bronze Age’s Superweapon

We are all familiar with swords and spears but what about the formidable khopesh? As Colleen Anne Coyle explains on Quora, the khopesh was more than a symbolic weapon of the Pharaohs and an emblem of Egyptian Deities. A true weapon of war, the khopesh/ sword was...

Forearm Guards: Fiction or Reality?

I always found forearm guards to be rather quaint and decorative rather than effective in battle. Then I came across this answer by Eric Lowe on Quora. Like me, Eric confesses to originally writing off forearm guards as fantasy. His research, however, showed him...

NASA Crashes Spacecraft into Asteroid

And of course, today’s big news is that NASA has successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. It will be a few days before we know if that means that the Agency has passed the first-ever planetary defense test, but navigation was the hardest part of the...

History of the Ferrari Brand

This blog usually deals with Medieval or ancient history, but I’m also interested in more recent history. While researching an article, I recently came across some facts about Ferrari, the legendary sports car brand created by Enzo Ferrari. I hope you’ll...

Helen after Troy

Bradford McCormick, a reader of this blog, mentioned Helen of Troy in a comment and got me thinking. What did happen to that crazy lass after Troy fell? Well, turns out the answer, as told by Steve Theodore on Quora, is both complicated and fascinating. A Happy Ending...

Ancient Surgery

Plenty of ancient resources mention medical procedures such as surgery. The early Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (c. 140-208) is credited with being the first recorded person to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for...

Polishing vs. Painting vs. Seasoning Your Armor

One thing I inherited from my late father is a small house in Evia, an island off of Athens. When I first visited the place, it had been closed for a couple of years, with no one visiting. What struck me was how rusted everything was, including even nickel faucets and...

Short Time Sales

Many of you write romance that includes scenes that range from explicit to implicit. For you, I have this little nugget I came across the other day on Quora, which you may particularly enjoy if your romance takes place in the 19th century. During the 19th century,...