Love stories and the history of love
Birth of Aphrodite (from Pompeii, about 50 AD) Stories about love People have been falling in love for hundreds of thousands of years, since they were monkeys and not really [...]
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08, 2017
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08, 2017
Beowulf and Grendel – Medieval Epic
The only surviving manuscript of Beowulf Date of Beowulf Beowulf is a long poem that somebody wrote down around 1000 AD. The poem is in Old English, so whoever wrote it [...]
21
07, 2017
Who is Vishnu? – Hinduism – India
Vishnu and Lakshmi (Kashmir, 1000s AD now in Los Angeles) A Hindu god Vishnu was one of the Hindu gods. He was mentioned in the Rig Veda as a god of light and the sun. But people [...]
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07, 2017
Vessantara Jataka – Buddhism – India
Vessantara and Maddi and their two children (Sanchi stupa, Northern Gateway, ca. 50 BC) - a Jataka story Another Jataka story This Buddhist story is a Jataka tale from about 400 BC. Jataka tales [...]
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07, 2017
Diwali – the Festival of Lights – Hinduism – India
Flowers and Diwali lamps - the Diwali festival What does "Diwali" mean? Diwali is a Sanskrit word originally meaning "a row of lights". "Dipa" is the Sanskrit word for "light". Diwali [...]
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07, 2017
The Ramayana – A Hindu story – India
A scene from the Ramayana: Rama in the forest (a Gupta carving of the 400s AD, now in New Delhi) What is the Ramayana? The Ramayana is a story from [...]
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07, 2017
Stories of ancient India
Harappan Seal One of the earliest known writing systems came from India, probably around 2500 BC. Unfortunately, nobody can read the Harappan writing yet. But we know people were using this writing to [...]
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07, 2017
Mauryan India – history of India
These punch-marked silver coins might be from the time of Chandragupta I, in Mauryan India. Chandragupta I Alexander went back to Babylon in 324 BC. Then a man named Chandragupta overthrew [...]
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07, 2017
Vedic expansion – history of India
Ganges river - wider and slower than the Indus Vedic people become more Indian After the Vedic people moved into the Ganges valley about 800 BC, they were further from West Asia and Central Asia and [...]
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06, 2017
When did people learn to swim?
African swimming (Gilf Kebir cave, Libya, ca. 8000 BC) Many animals can swim. Probably people have always been able to swim too. The very earliest human people lived along the [...]
