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Quatr.us Study Guides Projects and Articles for early October:

A Cheyenne man named Yellow Horse captures a herd of mules (about 1870).

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S DAY: In celebration of Indigenous People’s Day, let’s remember Native resistors: the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Cherokee and Ostenaco in 1760, the Shawnee and Tecumseh in 1809, the Cheyenne and Paiute in the 1850s, the Apache and Geronimo in 1886, the Shoshone in 1911, and of course especially Sitting Bull and the Sioux, who were also the main leaders at Standing Rock. We also stand in support of Native people in other parts of the world: the Uighurs and Tibetans in western China, the Kurds in Syria, the Armenians, the Khoikhoi, and the Native Australians.

Chinese woman playing polo (ca. 1000 AD)

FOOTBALL: With football season upon us and the baseball playoffs too, here’s a little history of ball games, from the Maya ancestor of lacrosse to Greek field hockey, Roman games of catch; Central Asian polo, Chinese paddle-ball, and finally the history of modern baseball and football.

Poseidon’s also the god of horses

HORSES: Since our top three stories involve horses and donkeys this week, you might also want to check out our article about the evolution of horses. Who first domesticated horses? Why is Poseidon the god of horses? How did horses affect archery? Why do we use horsehair bows? How did horses spread to the Americas? Where do donkeys come from?

This week in history:

Alexander fights Darius at Issus (mosaic from Pompeii)

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: October 1st, 331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia at the Battle of Gaugamela, essentially getting control of the Persian Empire.

WANG MANG: October 4, 23 AD: Wang Mang was the leader of a rebellion against the Han Dynasty, promising to redistribute the land. But once he was emperor he couldn’t actually give people the land he had promised them. A second rebellion, the Red Eyebrows, put the regular Han Dynasty back in power and killed Wang Mang.

VISIGOTHS INVADE SPAIN: October 5, 456 AD: Visigoths invade Spain from southern France. They end up taking over Spain and defeating the Sueves.

Chief Joseph, about 1880 AD

BATTLE OF LEPANTO: October 7, 1571 AD: Following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566, a Spanish and Venetian alliance defeats the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto. This prevents the Ottomans from conquering Italy and Spain in their quest to reunite the Roman Empire.

NEZ PERCE: October 5, 1877 AD: Chief Joseph surrenders to the United States Army and the Nez Perce agree to move to a reservation.

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK: Play a game of bicycle polo or go to a football game

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History Gifts – what to get with your Amazon gift card!

Especially check out the last one: The Silence of the Girls – a new novel giving a voice to the women whose voices we don’t hear in the Iliad, especially Briseis.

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What we’ve been working on:

PANDORA’S BOX: We just updated and improved this article on the Greek story of Pandora’s Box, adding a lot of links so you can explore for more information. We have lots of other Greek myths too, and many other articles about ancient Greece. We’d love a sponsor for this story, so we could stop showing ads on this page!

New discoveries this week:

ROMAN COMIC STRIPS: A newly discovered Roman tomb from Jordan, from the early Roman Empire, has paintings on the walls of people doing daily life things: construction work, farming, and banqueting. The characters on the walls have speech bubbles to show what they are saying to each other, like today’s graphic novels.

WIND CATCHERS: Not really a new discovery, but a nice feature on ancient and medieval air-conditioning methods in Iran and Egypt. People used high towers – ‘wind-catchers’ – to funnel cool breezes down into their houses, and even into their basements to help cool stored food.

EARLY AUSTRALIANS: They keep pushing human history earlier and earlier; this week, it looks like the first humans reached Australia as early as 65,000 years ago, and only 10,000 years later they had left the coasts and were living in the desert inland. Also, they were using resin glue to fasten handles to their stone tools.

Seasonal food of the week:

NUTS: Fall is the season when nuts come ripe, and many delicious recipes show you how to use nuts – almonds, cashews, chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios – in your cooking! (Peanuts aren’t really nuts.) In the mornings, try sprinkling almonds in your oatmeal. For lunch, how about pesto on noodles, or a stir-fry with cashews, or spicy Thai pork salad? For dinner, a great fall recipe of squash with fennel and crushed hazelnuts. Of course crushed hazelnuts or walnuts are delicious in an apple crisp, or in chocolate brownies or in rugelach.