Exploring 5,000 years of human civilization
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Book of World History

Two thousand years of civilization — one place to explore it

174+ articles on ancient civilizations, battles, empires & cultures

Odysseus Finally Comes Home — And the Suitors Find Out What That MeansHistory

Odysseus Finally Comes Home — And the Suitors Find Out What That Means

Twenty years away. A war, a decade of disasters at sea, eight years on an island with a goddess who

What Was Happening Back in Ithaca While Odysseus Was GoneHistory

What Was Happening Back in Ithaca While Odysseus Was Gone

While Odysseus was fighting at Troy, then drifting across the sea for years, then sitting on Calypso

Nausicaa and Odysseus: The Kindest Chapter in the Odyssey — and the One Nobody Talks About EnoughHistory

Nausicaa and Odysseus: The Kindest Chapter in the Odyssey — and the One Nobody Talks About Enough

He washed up on a beach naked, covered in sea-foam, having swum for two days after his raft was dest

Eight Years on Calypso's Island — And the Storm That Almost Killed Odysseus AnywayHistory

Eight Years on Calypso's Island — And the Storm That Almost Killed Odysseus Anyway

A goddess offered Odysseus immortality. He turned it down every day for eight years, sitting on a be

Sirens, Scylla, and the Cattle Nobody Was Supposed to Touch: The Chapters of the Odyssey That Keep Getting WorseHistory

Sirens, Scylla, and the Cattle Nobody Was Supposed to Touch: The Chapters of the Odyssey That Keep Getting Worse

Odysseus survived the Cyclops. He survived Circe. He made it past the Sirens tied to a mast while hi

Odysseus and Circe — The Enchantress Who Turned Men Into Swine and the One Man She Couldn'tHistory

Odysseus and Circe — The Enchantress Who Turned Men Into Swine and the One Man She Couldn't

After the Cyclops, after Aeolus and the bag of winds that his own men opened within sight of Ithaca,

Odysseus and the Cyclops: The Story That Shows Exactly Why Being Too Clever Is Also a Kind of FlawHistory

Odysseus and the Cyclops: The Story That Shows Exactly Why Being Too Clever Is Also a Kind of Flaw

Twelve men go into a cave to see if a giant will be friendly. Six of them do not come out. The remai

Odysseus Leaves Troy — And Runs Into the One Thing Harder to Fight Than an ArmyHistory

Odysseus Leaves Troy — And Runs Into the One Thing Harder to Fight Than an Army

Ten years of war. Troy finally taken. The ships loaded with plunder and pointed toward home. Odysseu

A Day in the Life of Ramses II — The Most Powerful Man in the Ancient WorldHistory

A Day in the Life of Ramses II — The Most Powerful Man in the Ancient World

Before Moses. Before the exodus. Before any of the events that made the name Ramses II famous in rel

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

— George Santayana