In 31 BC, Octavian defeated the combined forces of Marc Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt at Actium and became the first Roman emperor, taking title of Augustus. To secure his rule in the provinces, Augustus created several client kingdoms, which in Roman parlance, were kingdoms that were Roman subjects […]
Egyptology as a modern discipline was born with Jean-François Champollion’s decipherment of the Rosetta Stone and the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script in 1822. However, Egypt and its ancient culture had evoked fascination in Europe since Classical Greece, and peaked during the Renaissance. However, we rarely hear about the attitude of […]
Medieval state-level conversions to Christianity often involved rulers embracing Christianity on behalf of their subjects, perhaps for political reasons, and other times out of genuine belief. Such conversions were common in the Early Middle Ages, and became rarer as the number of non-Christian rulers in Europe dwindled. However, it would […]