No, dear reader, this is not Panama City on Spring Break. This is an actual religious festival from ancient Egypt. We have discussed how beer played a part in religious festivals, and that the Sumerians actually had a goddess specifically for it. (For more on Nin-kasi, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/nin-kasi-lady-fills-mouth-beer/ ) There was an […]
Category: Egypt
The Vanishing Persian Army of Cambyses
Egypt, ER, Fertile Crescent, Middle East, Rest of the World
When your dad is Cyrus the Great, you have a lot to live up to. He began the Achaemenid Empire and reigned over the territory from Asia Minor to India. Unfortunately, Cyrus met his match in a warrior queen named Tomyris and went to his long home. (More on her in this post: http://www.historynaked.com/tomyris-the-woman-who-brought-down-cyrus-the-great/ ) […]
The Harem Conspiracy
The royal court is never an easy place. Its full of intrigue and deception and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is true today as it was in ancient times. In Egypt, no one was more powerful than the Pharaoh. However, in the Twentieth Dynasty, Pharaoh Ramses III was getting old. He had ruled Egypt for […]
The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great
Egypt, ER, Greece, Italy, Rest of the World, Southern Europe
Alexander the Great conquered the known world, but died unexpectedly in Babylon in 323 BCE at 32 years old. His death left his empire in disarray, and his generals scrambled to save pieces of it even as Alexander’s funeral preparations drug on for two years. At one point, one of these generals, Ptolemy, took control […]
Ancient Ghost Stories
Ancient (pre BCE), Egypt, ER, Greece, Rest of the World, Rome, Southern Europe
Anyone familiar with Greek myth knows that any hero worth his salt had to make a visit to the underworld. However, the afterlife was not an unfamiliar concept to any of the cultures of the ancient world. In fact, ancient peoples were probably more sure that the soul survived bodily death than some in the […]