Tag Archives: ancient history

Why We Love to Be Scared: Dopamine, Genes and a 2,000 Year Old Horror Story

Posted on October 21, 2014 | 5 comments

Image credit: Barbara on Flickr.

It’s that time of year again. Halloween. What is it about houses moaning with restless spirits and apparitions rising from graveyard mists that so intrigue us? Today we have movies, TV shows, video games and books regaling us with the most horror-filled scenarios. Dystopias with—name your monster—demons and vampires and zombies threatening to eradicate our species (as if we don’t do a good enough job on our own). There are possessions, evil twins, vivified dolls and deranged clowns. We even have self-proclaimed ghost hunters with their own “reality” shows and the ad revenues, market penetration and viewer numbers demonstrating that scary stuff really can rake in the dough. Why is it we are so enthralled and terrified by the supernatural? Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, Blog, Culture, Holidays, Literature, Public Life, Science and Technology

Tagged ancient ghost stories, ancient history, ancient literature, ancient storytelling, AntiquityNOW, David Zald, Halloween, haunted house, Pliny the Younger

AntiquityNOW Introduces the Education Topic Matrix

Posted on October 14, 2014 | Leave a comment

AntiquityNOW is pleased to announce the launch of our Education Topic Matrix, an index of content for educators to use as supplements to their classroom curricula. This matrix includes all our blog posts, Kids’ Blog posts, educational projects, videos, creative writing, arts and crafts, curricula as well as our partner projects, organized by region and era. It’s cross-indexed, covers a wide variety of subjects, is easy to search and is organized under headings that teachers can readily recognize. And the best part? It’s completely free. Continue reading →

In Praise of Teachers—4,000 Years of Preparing the Next Generation

Posted on October 9, 2014 | 4 comments

UPDATE! This post was originally published on May 7, 2013. As long as humans have existed, people have learned from one another. It’s in our DNA. This is the genetic matrix upon which great civilizations evolved and centers of knowledge arose. For those who become the teachers, they take on the mantle of an ancient and noble art. AntiquityNOW is an enthusiastic supporter of teachers and their contributions through the often tumultuous but ever intriguing course of history. In that spirit we will be announcing on Tuesday, October 14 a very special resource tool specifically designed for teachers that can help them demonstrate to their students how the ancient past is not as distant as they may think. Stay tuned!

For more about inspiring and influential educators throughout history, check out our slideshow celebrating World Teachers’ Day 2013.

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Who was your favorite teacher or professor? Can you still remember his or her lectures, an activity you did in class, a lesson that changed the way you think about the world? Great teachers make an indelible mark on their students and are often remembered long after those students leave the classroom. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, we take a look back at some of antiquity’s greatest educators and how we continue to use their teachings and methods today. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Blog, Education, Public Life

Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Buddha, Confucius, education, Jesus, Socrates, Teacher Appreciation, teaching

Bon Appetit Wednesday! Easy, No-Bake Cookies with Quinoa, the Incas’ “Mother of all Grains”

Posted on October 8, 2014 | 6 comments

Last week we celebrated ancient amaranth, superfood of the Aztecs. So this week we decided to explore another ancient “grain” that sustained a great civilization. Quinoa was to the Incas what amaranth was to the Aztecs: a source of strength and life. And just like amaranth, quinoa isn’t really a grain at all. It is a seed from a plant in the goosefoot family, and along with amaranth and buckwheat is often called a “pseudocereal” because it is grown for use as a grain.[1] Let’s take a trip through quinoa’s history before indulging in a delectable recipe for easy, gluten-free, dairy-free, No-Bake Quinoa Cookies. Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture

Tagged ancient cuisine, ancient food, ancient history, ancient recipes, ancient superfood, AntiquityNOW, Bon Appetit Wednesday, gluten free, inca, pseudograin, quinoa

KIDS’ BLOG! Take a Trip Through an Ancient Roman Kitchen

Posted on October 7, 2014 | 2 comments

What would it be like to cook and eat in an ancient Roman kitchen? Would there even be a stove or an oven? Did these ancient people have any way to keep their food cold? Did they have a sink or running water?

Archaeologists, led by Professor Jeroen Poblome, digging at a site in Turkey, have discovered a nearly 2,000 year old kitchen in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Sagalassos. Originally part of the expanded Roman Empire, this city is located in the southwestern part of today’s Turkey. Professor Marc Waelkens and his team from Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium had been digging in this site since 1990, painstakingly uncovering the hidden city. Poblome’s team has joined them, and the archaeologists were delighted this summer to uncover a kitchen dating as early as 200 CE.[1] Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Architecture, Blog, Culinary, Culture, Kids Blog, Kids: Architecture, Kids: Culinary, Kids: Culture

Tagged ancient cooking, ancient history, ancient oven, Ancient Rome, AntiquityNOW, Roman kitchen, Sagalassos, Turkey

Roman Gladiators: How They Compare to Modern Sporting Heroes

Posted on October 2, 2014 | 3 comments

UPDATE! This post was originally published on April 4^th, 2013. American football season is in full swing and the players are back in the news for their behavior on and off the field. As the NFL grapples with scandal, the game goes on and fans all over the country are gathering each week, suiting up in their best team apparel, breaking out the tailgate, switching on the big screen or even traveling to the stadium to cheer on their favorite players and teams. We thought this would be a perfect time to republish this post about the similarities between our modern sporting celebrities and the ancient heroes of the gladiatorial games. You’ll be amazed to learn how much our modern athletes have in common with their ancient counterparts. And don’t miss Part 1 of this 2-part series, Super Bowl XLVII and the Superstars of Ancient Rome, which illuminates even more fascinating comparisons. Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Blog, Celebrities, Public Life, Sports

Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, art history, football, gladiators, Pompeii, sports, Super Bowl

Bon Appetit Wednesday! Popping Up Some Ancient Amaranth

Posted on October 1, 2014 | 7 comments

Image credit: Kurt Stüber [1] – caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/mavica/index.html part of http://www.biolib.de

Today’s recipe is for 5-Minute Amaranth Popcorn—a nutritional, gluten-free snack food to accompany a rousing ballgame or a family movie night. It’s so scrumptiously delicious it will fool even the most hard-core popcorn devotees! The best part about this recipe is that it features one of history’s greatest plants. Popularly referred to as a grain, amaranth is not actually a grain at all. It is a seed from a non-grass family of plants and is often grouped together with other pseudograins such as buckwheat and quinoa. It takes its name from the Greek word amarantos, which aptly means “one that does not whither” or “never fading.”[1] Continue reading →

7 Comments

Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture, Public Life, Religion

Tagged amaranth, ancient history, ancient recipes, AntiquityNOW, Aztecs, Bon Appetit Wednesday, gluten free, Hernan Cortes, paleo

Celebrating National Coffee Day: A Jittery Goat, Political Plots, Slave Labor, Grounds for Divorce—The Coffee Bean Brews Up a Tumultuous World History

Posted on September 29, 2014 | 5 comments

The inimitable coffee bean. Lusciously colored, smooth, glistening, fragrant. It’s a devilish addiction shared by millions of people throughout history. But aside from its robust flavor and energized boost, the bean has given us a history that is eye-opening and colorful, just like the bean itself. Let’s take a step back in time and review a few facts drawn from the nefarious and splendiferous legacy of this enduring brew.

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Continue reading →

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Posted in Blog, Communications, Culinary, Culture, Healing Arts, Politics, Public Life, Recreation, Science and Technology

Tagged ancient coffee, ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Brazilian coffee, coffee and slave labor, Coffee Cantata, first coffee house, Homer, Kaldi goat herd, National Coffee Day

Remembering the 75th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz: The Ancient Voice of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”

Posted on September 25, 2014 | 2 comments

It starts with a single drop of water. As visible light passes through the drop, the light is refracted as through a prism, split into its component wavelengths and reflected back to the eye. Multiplied by thousands of drops in the sky, an arc of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple emerges as if by magic. Rainbows…mystical, splendiferous, mind-bending. Continue reading →

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Posted in Art, Blog, Culture, Literature, Music, Natural Disasters, Public Life, Religion, Science and Technology

Tagged ancient history, ancient rainbows, AntiquityNOW, Australian Aboriginal Rainbow Serpent, Cree Rainbow Serpent, Epic of Gilgamesh, Greek mythology, Iris, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, The Wizard of Oz

Bon Appetit Wednesday! Rosh Hashanah Around the World: Ancient Influences, Modern Recipes

Posted on September 24, 2014 | 5 comments

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is upon us again and AntiquityNOW wants to wish you peace and joy in the coming year. L’Shanah Tovah!

This year the first day of the holiday falls on a Bon Appetit Wednesday, so it’s the perfect time to share some delicious recipes. For those who don’t celebrate Rosh Hashanah, it is easy to assume the food is very uniform, with all observers around the world dining on the same basic dishes year after year. While it is certainly true there are traditional foods with deep meaning and significance that are included in many Rosh Hashanah meals, there also exists a great variety among dishes (read our blog Traditional Meets Modern: Celebrating the Foods of Rosh Hashanah for more information on the traditional menu). The people of each country, region and household have been influenced by their ancient past. And so, a Rosh Hashanah cookie is not just a Rosh Hashanah cookie. It is flavored with unique and sometimes ancient ingredients, prepared and eaten by Jewish families who have planted roots all over the globe, and is passed down to future generations who will add their own twist to the recipes. A cookie becomes a wonderful fusion of past, present and future. Let’s explore two examples of how regional differences can create wonderful variations of favorite dishes. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture

Tagged ancient cuisine, ancient history, ancient recipes, AntiquityNOW, Jews in France, Jews in India, Rosh Hashanah, World War II