Ancient Traditions

Ancient Origins brings you articles related to Ancient Traditions from all over the world. Find related articles in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends.

29 November, 2024 - 15:10 MartiniF

Educating Claudius: Transforming the Family Outcast into the Emperor of Rome

When the mad Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated in 41 AD, his uncle Claudius ran to one of the palace's apartments and hid behind a curtain. Claudius was soon discovered by the praetorian guards...

28 November, 2024 - 14:48 Gary Manners

How the Thanksgiving Food Favorites Won Their Place at the Table

Thanksgiving, celebrated annually in the United States, is a time-honored tradition marked by a feast that brings together family and friends. It is in essence a harvest festival, to give thanks for...

Statue of Wampanoag Massasoit Ousamequin in Plymouth, Mass.

27 November, 2024 - 19:49 Mark Miller

Thanksgiving Evolved From Fasting and Prayer to Feasting and Mourning

Thanksgiving observances predate the feast of the year 1621 shared by the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Several myths have developed around the holiday feast...

AI image of Slavic male warriors in chain mail.

27 November, 2024 - 12:30 Aleksa Vučković

The Wendish Crusade: Holy War or Political Ambition in the Baltic Frontier?

For centuries, the Polabian Slavs lived in their ancestral homeland around the Elbe River, in what is today Germany. Following their age-old traditional lifestyle, they excelled as largely peaceful...

25 November, 2024 - 12:30 Jessica Nadeau

Murder in the Family: The Ptolemies

For 275 years, the Ptolemies ruled as Egypt’s last, enduring dynasty. Each king carried the name Ptolemy, and each queen carried the name Cleopatra , Berenice, or Arsinoe. They are remembered for...

Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in Belize.

24 November, 2024 - 19:58 Nathan Falde

Earliest Fishing Operation Found in Central America, Dating to 2,000 BC

Even before the rise of the great Maya civilization, the people who occupied Central America’s Yucatan Peninsula were applying their engineering skills to make the land more productive and liveable...

Megiddo Mosaic with its inscription referencing ‘God Jesus Christ.’

24 November, 2024 - 16:59 Sahir

Oldest Statement of Christian Faith (Jesus is God) Found In Israeli Prison

“Jesus is God.” An inscription declaring this to be a reality, the earliest and oldest written expression of the Christian faith, has been deemed 'the greatest discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls'...

Goat’s face with tongue out, ready to torture!

24 November, 2024 - 13:57 Gary Manners

The Gruesome Goat’s Tongue: Greatest Torture of All Time?

History is full of inventive, albeit disturbing, methods of making people squirm, confess, or simply regret their life choices. Among these is the lesser-known but utterly bizarre practice of ‘goat’s...

Interior of the Roman Colosseum, the most famous stadium to host gladiator games.

23 November, 2024 - 20:14 ancient origins

Dedicated Roman Gladiator Superfans Were the Football Hooligans of Their Day

John Pearce /The Conversation In the amphitheatre of Gladiator II , Ridley Scott trains his lens on fighters and emperors – but no account of ancient gladiators is complete without including its...

20 November, 2024 - 12:30 Aleksa Vučković

The Rise and Function of the Polis in Ancient Greece

In the society of Ancient Greece, the polis , or the city-state, was perhaps the most distinctive and important political innovation at the time. Emerging around the 8th century BC, this institution...

The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

18 November, 2024 - 12:30 pkoutoupis

The Nephilim and the Flood

Who are the Nephilim and what do they represent? Are they biblical giants? What does the term literally translate to, and why does the brief mention of them in the Book of Genesis show resemblance to...

Left; Drinking vessel in shape of Bes head; El-Fayūm Oasis, Egypt. Right; Prof. Tanasi with the 3D digital model of the mug.

16 November, 2024 - 13:08 ancient origins

Professor Finds First Physical Evidence Egyptians Drank Hallucinogenic Cocktails

By Cassidy Delamarter A University of South Florida professor found the first-ever physical evidence of hallucinogens in an Egyptian mug, validating written records and centuries-old myths of ancient...

15 November, 2024 - 13:10 Mary Naples

“The First War Between Women”: Olympias and Adea Eurydice

The earth turned on its axis the day Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) died. Notorious for his unrestrained aggressivity and hard drinking, it should have come as no surprise to the Greeks that...

but the invasion by the Spanish conquistadors 65 years later. Top image: Offering 48 contained the skeletal remains of at least 42 children sacrificed in honor of the god Tlaloc

13 November, 2024 - 13:42 Gary Manners

Mass Slaughter of Children Was Desperate Attempt to Combat Drought by Mexica

In a deeply moving revelation about pre-Hispanic life and beliefs, a recent examination of archaeological data links a mass offering of children to the Mexica rain god Tlaloc to a devastating drought...

13 November, 2024 - 13:41 MartiniF

Elagabalus and the Imperial Women: Influence and Power in the Severan Dynasty

During the Severan Dynasty, women from the Julian family of Emesa (modern-day Homs) in Syria, who were married to the Severan men, exerted enormous and often crucial influence over Roman government...

An Akkadian General strategizes with his advisors.

11 November, 2024 - 12:30 Aleksa Vučković

Mythology's Role in Ancient Politics and War

In ancient times, people often viewed the world through the lens of their beliefs and traditions. Mythologies of ancient cultures were much more than collections of old stories and legends - they...

A medieval executioner with executiners ax and block.

9 November, 2024 - 13:55 Aleksa Vučković

The Grim Lives of Famous Executioners in Medieval Society

Justice played an important role in the everyday life of medieval society and into the Early Modern era. Righteousness was held in high regard during these times, and criminals were often punished...

Person bathing themselves in sunlight, AI representation of sun healing.

8 November, 2024 - 21:52 ancient origins

Part Science, Part Magic: An Illuminating History of Healing With Light

Philippa Martyr /The Conversation For millennia, humans had one obvious and reliable source of light – the Sun – and we knew the Sun was essential for our survival. This might be why ancient...

8 November, 2024 - 12:30 ashley cowie

Podcast: History Fuzz: Episode 06: Dr. Robert Weiner. Anasazi ceremonial ways and the Mount Wilson Meridian

In this episode, Dr. Robert Weiner, an archaeologist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, offers a deep dive into the ancient Chacoan road networks in the U.S...

Inhumation grave 26, shown in the original field photograph.

7 November, 2024 - 14:47 Nathan Falde

1,800-Year-Old Body Found in Belgium Included Roman and Neolithic Bones

In the 1970s a skeleton was unearthed at an ancient Roman cemetery in Belgium that was thought to have belonged to a woman who lived between the years 69 and 210, during the Gallo-Roman era. This...

A chastity belt that was probably fabricated in the 1800s.

7 November, 2024 - 11:30 Sarah P Young

Medieval Chastity Belts are a Myth

Chastity belts are items that titillate and fascinate in equal measure, inspiring the image of a medieval knight locking up his loved one’s private parts to ensure her abstinence during his absence...

6 November, 2024 - 19:50 Sahir

Ancient Moroccan Medicinal Herb: Clever Usage 15,000 Years Ago

A fascinating new find from Morocco is set to change how we view ancient medicinal practices and the history of human medicine. Proof of medicinal herb usage has been gleaned from the Grotte des...

A Medieval Doctor examining a bottle filled with a liquid

5 November, 2024 - 11:30 dhwty

What Could Your Urine Tell a Medieval Doctor?

In modern medicine, urine samples are routinely examined in laboratories to obtain clinical information about a patient. This procedure, known as urinalysis, developed from an ancient medical process...

Left; Skull and sickle of skeleton found in 2022. Right; Reconstruction of the woman’s face, by Oscar Nilsson.

4 November, 2024 - 16:40 Gary Manners

Face of the 'Vampire' Woman: A Reconstruction of Pień's Mysterious Burial

In 2022, archaeologists from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń made a startling discovery in Pień, near Dąbrowa Chełmińska, Poland: the grave of a young woman buried with a sickle around...