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Ancient Writings

There are literally thousands of incredible texts that have survived from the ancient world, which are etched onto copper, beautifully inscribed on papyrus, chipped onto tablets, and even written using the ink of ground down gold and precious stones. Here we feature many ancient writings, which have served to open a window onto the daily lives of our ancestors and enhanced the knowledge we hold about our ancient past.

The Invitation of the Varangians.
23 April, 2016 - 15:04 dhwty

Tracing the Paths of the Vikings Through Their Graffiti

One of the things that the Vikings are renowned for is their seafaring abilities. As a result of their expertise in this field, the Vikings were able to travel around Europe (and beyond) via various...
Page from Serat Babat Tanah Jawi, the Chronicle of Java, Inset: King Jayabaya
8 April, 2016 - 14:48 MartiniF

Jayabaya — The Seer King of Java who Predicted the Dutch and Japanese Occupation of Indonesia

Nostradamus (1503 – 1566) was best known as an author of prophesies. He is credited by some with predicting a number of events in world history, including the French Revolution, the atom bomb, the...
The story of King Tang (Ta Ji), the dynasty, in a 17th-century painting Shang Dynasty (Public Domain)
28 March, 2016 - 14:49 dhwty

Reading Oracle Bones and Writing the Future in the Shang Dynasty

Oracle bones (known in Chinese as 甲骨, transliterated as ‘jiǎ gǔ’, and literally translated as ‘shells and bones’) are a type of artifact best known for its association with the Shang Dynasty (roughly...
A photo showing some stelae found with Arabic inscriptions.
21 March, 2016 - 23:51 Sam Bostrom

Archaeologists Discover that Earliest Known Arabic Writing Was Penned by a Christian

The oldest known Arabic writing found in Saudi Arabia, from ca. 470 AD belong to a Christian context and predates the advent of Islam with 150 years. In December 2015, researchers from a French-Saudi...
Aerial Photograph (Photo Copyright South American Pictures 1978) and Illustration “Mysterious Holes of Peru”
19 March, 2016 - 20:46 William James Veall

Does Socos Pampa Geoglyph Reveal Nasca Lines Were Made Centuries Before Nasca Culture?

Ancient Origins Guest Writer, William James Veall, completes his Opinion Piece trilogy by cementing together two earlier articles concerning " The Mysterious Holes of Peru " and " Seafarers from the...
Traité des Fardements et Confitures, Lyon 1556.
11 January, 2016 - 04:00 dhwty

Treatise on Make-up and Jam: A Bestselling Cookbook by Nostradamus

It is undeniable that Michel de Nostredame (more commonly known as Nostradamus) is most renowned for his published collection of prophecies known as Les Prophéties , or in English as The Prophecies...
“The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone” by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1771.
2 December, 2015 - 14:49 valdar

From Magic to Science: The Intriguing Ritual and Powerful Work of Alchemy

Throughout time, history has recorded numerous rituals and magic practices, some more bizarre than others. While alchemists were preoccupied with finding the Philosopher's Stone and the elixir of...
Burning witches and holding others in the Stocks, 14th century.
29 November, 2015 - 14:46 ancient-origins

The Malleus Maleficarum: A Medieval Manual for Witch Hunters

The Salem witch trials, which began in 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts bay colony, are one of the most well-known and notorious witch trials in history. Yet, this was not the only case of these...
Painting entitled ‘Abulcasis blistering a patient in the hospital at Cordova.’
26 November, 2015 - 14:50 dhwty

Al-Zahrawi: The Legacy of the Father of Modern Surgery

The period from the 8th century until the 13th century AD is commonly referred to as the Islamic Golden Age. During this era, the Islamic world produced numerous scholars who contributed greatly to...
The Laguna Copperplate Inscription.
20 November, 2015 - 21:53 dhwty

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: An Ancient Text That Changed the Perception of the History of the Philippines

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the name of an inscription written on an artifact that has great significance for the understanding of the history of the Philippines during the 10th century AD...
Strange beasts, mythological and real, graced the pages of ancient bestiaries.
19 November, 2015 - 00:45 lizleafloor

Bestiary, The Book of Beasts: Compendiums of Medieval Monsters and Moral Lessons

During the Middle Ages the phoenix rose from its ashes to be reborn, dangerous dragons battled elephants to the death, and the pelican tore out its own breast to feed its young with its life’s blood—...
The world’s first-known abecedary in ancient Egyptian hieratic script has been deciphered by a Dutch Egyptologist.
28 October, 2015 - 23:53 Mark Miller

Scholar deciphers oldest known alphabet primer, in ancient Egyptian

A Dutch Egyptologist recently deciphered the oldest known abecedary or alphabet-like primer on a 3,500-year-old shard of pottery from an Egyptian tomb excavated 20 years ago. The earliest alphabets...
A collection of tablets displaying Indus Valley script.
23 October, 2015 - 14:50 Mark Miller

Decoding the mysterious ancient Indus Valley script will shed light on powerful ancient civilization

Linguists have cracked many tough scripts, from Mesopotamian cuneiform to Egyptian hieroglyphic to Central American Mayan glyphs, but there are a few ancient, mysterious scripts still in the field...
Section of the Derveni Papyrus
17 October, 2015 - 21:41 Alicia McDermott

The Derveni Papyrus: The Most Ancient Book in Europe Involved in a Campaign Against Orpheus?

The Derveni Papyrus has recently been inscribed as one of the works for protection within the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO. Named as the ‘Most Ancient Book in Europe,’ the history of the...
A five-volume treatise concerning medical matters, Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, Byzantium, 15th century.
7 October, 2015 - 21:34 ancient-origins

Could ancient textbooks be the source of the next medical breakthrough?

The discovery that won the latest Nobel Prize for Medicine wouldn’t have been much of a revelation to doctors in ancient China. Pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou established that the compound...
The text resembles Cyrillic letters, according to experts.
28 September, 2015 - 00:32 Mark Miller

Is The Book of Veles a great Slavic text or a charlatan’s forgery?

The Book of Veles is so controversial it is banned in Russia. Its supporters say it lays out cultural, religious and historical facts about Slavs from the 7 th century BC until the 9 th century AD,...
The Blinding of Vasilko of Terebovl from The Tale of Bygone Years/The Primary Codex. (15th Century).
14 September, 2015 - 02:18 dhwty

The Precious Knowledge of the Hypatian Codex: Detailed Chronicle of the Southern Rus

The Hypatian Codex , known also as the Hypatian Chronicle , is said to be the main source of information for the history of the Southern Rus’ (Kyivan Rus’.) The Hypatian Codex was discovered by the...
Fuenta Magna
24 August, 2015 - 00:55 aprilholloway

Fuente Magna, the Controversial Rosetta Stone of the Americas

By April Holloway | The Epoch Times The Fuenta Magna is a large stone vessel, resembling a libation bowl, that was found in 1958 near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It features beautifully engraved...
A segment of the Egyptian papyrus containing a prenuptial agreement.
15 August, 2015 - 00:54 Robin Whitlock

Eight foot long scroll reveals Ancient Egyptian prenup

A rather interesting Ancient Egyptian document is currently being exhibited in the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago , which you might think, at first sight, is an example of Egyptian...
Close-up of the Liesborn Prayer Wheel
11 August, 2015 - 20:55 dhwty

The Liesborn Gospel Book and its Mysterious Prayer Wheel

The Liesborn Prayer Wheel was discovered recently on the blank first page of a copy of the Liesborn Gospel Book. This was an unusual find in an already rare piece of work. This medieval tome is one...
Mixtec Zouche-Nuttall Codex
17 June, 2015 - 04:14 Mark Miller

Treasures of Mexico: The Mixtec, Aztec & Maya Codices that Survived the Conquistadors

When Europeans arrived in the New World, they did not only kill people with war, slavery and disease, they also attempted to destroy the cultures of the native peoples. Among so many cultural...
The Yale world map of "Henricus Martellus Germanus" (Heinrich Hammer). It is the most detailed "Dragon Tail" map by Martellus. It is the only one with a coordinate grid.
15 June, 2015 - 21:40 Robin Whitlock

Hidden secrets revealed in 1491 world map that may have guided Columbus

A map of the world produced in 1491 by Henricus Martellus has been subjected to multispectral imaging, which has revealed hidden details on the map not previously visible, including numerous Latin...
The Mysterious Book of Soyga
15 June, 2015 - 00:17 Riley Winters

Holy Conversations: The Impact of the Mysterious Book of Soyga

The Book of Soyga , or the Aldaraia sive Soyga vocor, was written in the sixteenth century as a possible treatise on magic. The illustrious occultist John Dee of the court of Elizabeth I owned one of...
An unconscious naked man lying on a table being attacked by little demons armed with surgical instruments
4 June, 2015 - 21:51 Riley Winters

Devils, Demons, and Dangerous Creatures of the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum , also known as the False Hierarchy of Demons , is a great compendium from the 16 th century dictating the names of sixty-nine demons. The title itself indicates that the...

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