National Geographic History

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FROM THE EDITOR

National Geographic History

Tracing the Ancestry of the Biblical Philistines • Ancient DNA reveals the Israelites’ archenemies originally came from Europe, settling around Ashkelon at the dawn of the Iron Age.

WERE THE PHILISTINES THE SEA PEOPLES?

Ovid: The Poet Exiled by an Emperor • Author of the Metamorphoses, Ovid was one of Rome’s favorite poets, but he died in exile, banished from Rome by Augustus for reasons that history cannot identify.

Loves and Losses

MANY KINDS OF LOVE

AN EXILE LAMENTS

SEDUCTIVE WORDS

The Explosive Plot to Assassinate Napoleon • On Christmas Eve, 1800, a group of monarchist rebels attempted to kill Napoleon Bonaparte, the first consul of France, as he was on his way to a concert.

IN THE NEWS

AN ESCALATION IN TERROR

FROM SPECTACLE TO SCHOLARSHIP • For centuries Europeans viewed Egyptian mummies as lucrative commodities, but attitudes shifted in the 1800s as mummies became scholarly artifacts that could reveal secrets from the distant past.

Examining Ancient Egypt’s Dead

PUBLIC DISPLAY

THE LOST PHARAOHS

PAINTING WITH THE DEAD

ON HOLIDAY

EGYPTOMANIA IN ENGLAND

THE WOMAN BEHIND THE THRONE OLYMPIAS • Ancient historians depict her as ruthless and cruel, but Olympias possessed enough ambition and wits to match the men in her life: Philip II of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. Her savvy and strength brought power to her family.

Wife, Mother, Ruler

OLYMPIAS AND THE THUNDERBOLT OF ZEUS

SORCERY IN THE BEDCHAMBER OF QUEEN OLYMPIAS • OLYMPIAS AND HER SON LIVED ON IN THE LEGENDS KNOWN AS THE ALEXANDER ROMANCE, OF QUEEN OLYMPIAS WHOSE MAGICAL PLOTS BEWITCHED ITS MEDIEVAL READERSHIP.

SNAKE CHARMER AND POISONER?

ROMAN CITIZENSHIP PRIZE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD • From the days of the Republic to the height of the Empire, civitas—full Roman citizenship—was prized by those who had it and coveted by those who did not. As Rome grew, concepts of citizenship expanded as well, causing tension in an expanding empire.

RIGHTS OF ROMANS

UNWRAPPING THE TOGA

WHAT’S IN A NAME

BOYS TO MEN

PROVINCIAL EMPEROR

A CITIZENS’ CHARTER

SACRED SPACES IN THE MIDDLE AGES ROMANESQUE REVOLUTION • PEOPLE AND WEALTH MOVED ALONG THE PILGRIMAGE ROUTES OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE, SPARKING A BOOM IN THE BUILDING OF MAGNIFICENT ROMANESQUE CHURCHES.

SPREAD OF ROMANESQUE SPLENDOR

CLOTILDA THE LAST AMERICAN SLAVE SHIP • Identified in 2019, the wreckage of the Clotilda added another compelling chapter to the story of slavery in the United States and to the legacy of those who survived it.

From Slavery to Freedom

PUNISHABLE BY DEATH

WHEN COTTON WAS KING

JOURNEY’S BEGINNING

THE WRECK OF THE CLOTILDA

THE SMUGGLER’S EXECUTION

STORIES FROM AFRICATOWN

ARRIVAL IN ALABAMA

AFRICATOWN ANCESTOR

The Race to Protect Teyuna, Colombia’s “Lost City” • When looters stumbled on the ancient capital of the Tairona people, archaeologists scrambled to save this repository of Colombia’s past.

ROUND HOUSES

FIRST TO THE NORTH POLE

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN: ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE