HistoryZ

The Herculaneum papyri are often described as a lost library waiting to be opened. That image captures their promise but hides the evidence problem. More than 1,800 papyrus scrolls were…

Pompeii is often presented as a perfectly frozen afternoon. The surviving evidence is more complicated. The Roman town was buried during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, but ash…

Troy is one of the best examples of why historical evidence must be separated from famous story. The Iliad gives a powerful poetic account of conflict, honour and loss, but…

The pyramids at Meroë are often introduced as a surprise: pyramids in Sudan, smaller and steeper than the most famous monuments of Egypt. That framing attracts attention, but it can…

The Dendera Zodiac is useful because it forces a reader to slow down. It is a carved ceiling relief from a chapel connected with Osiris in the Hathor temple complex…

A cat catches birds, fish gather below a boat, and Nebamun stands above the crowded marsh. The scene rewards close looking, but its liveliness does not make it a snapshot…

The Archimedes Palimpsest is not an original manuscript written by Archimedes. Open the surviving book and the most obvious writing belongs to a medieval prayer book. The mathematical text lies…

Linear B tablets are among the most important written evidence for the Mycenaean Greek world, but they are also easy to overread. They are not histories, poems or royal inscriptions.…

A letter from Abi-milku of Tyre shows how loyalty and requests for Egyptian protection worked in the Amarna archive—and why a diplomatic appeal is not proof of its outcome.