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Cults

This relief on a fourth-century sarcophagus from Gaul depicts scenes from the Bible, including the famous miracle of Christ multiplying the loaves (center).

A Cult Grew Around the First Emperor of Rome in 27 B.C. A New Book Argues His Followers Might Have Created the Template for Christianity

Augustus was seen as a descendant of the gods who would go on to redefine authority. New research posits that his rule paved the way for Jesus

The frescoes in Pompeii's House of Thiasus

Cool Finds

See the Stunning Frescoes of a Mysterious Dionysian Cult Discovered in Ancient Pompeii

Created more than a century before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E., the wall paintings provide rare insights into secret rituals conducted in the Roman city

The mustatils' monumental size and similarities are suggestive of "significant social organization and a common goal or belief," says lead author Hugh Thomas.

Cool Finds

Did a Neolithic Cattle Cult Build These Sprawling Structures in Saudi Arabia?

The roughly 7,000-year-old mustatils, or rectangular monuments, predate both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids

A photo of David Koresh rests beside a wooden cross as part of a monument erected in Waco, Texas, by supporters of the Branch Davidian leader and founder, Friday, April 30, 1993.

The True Story of ‘Waco’ Is Still One of Contention

A new mini-series hopes to humanize those in and outside the doomed compound