Evidence-led history, clearly told.
Neo-Babylonian history · evidence guide The fall of Babylon in 539 BCE is often retold as a neat transfer of power from a failing Babylonian king to a liberating Persian…
HistoryZ evidence guide · Late Bronze Age Mediterranean The Uluburun wreck is valuable because it is not a single spectacular object. It is a whole cargo: metals, jars, glass, ivory,…
Ancient sources · evidence review The Cyrus Cylinder: What the Clay Text Says—and What Later Myths Add The Cyrus Cylinder is famous because it sits at the crossroads of archaeology,…
Ancient Judah · source evidence The Lachish Letters: reading the last signals from a city under pressure The Lachish ostraca are often introduced as dramatic letters from the edge of…
Ancient empire · decipherment evidence The Behistun Inscription: How a Cliff Text Opened Cuneiform The Behistun Inscription is often introduced as the “Rosetta Stone of cuneiform.” That comparison is useful,…
Ancient technology · evidence review The Antikythera mechanism: brilliant evidence, careful limits The ancient bronze fragments are often called the world’s first computer. That phrase is useful only if it…
A source-led HistoryZ feature explaining why the Rosetta Stone worked as a decipherment key: not by acting as a dictionary, but by preserving one decree in three scripts.
On October 23, 1826, a wealthy British chemist named James Smithson wrote a will containing one of the strangest gifts in American history. Smithson had never visited the United States.…
How Washington Escaped Brooklyn in 1776: The Night Retreat That Preserved the Continental Army On the night of August 29-30, 1776, George Washington faced a problem more dangerous than the…