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Religion

Workers discovered the massive complex after coming across a hidden access point during restoration work on a historic house.

Cool Finds

This Huge Underground City May Have Been a Refuge for 70,000 Early Christians

The complex may have been used as a shelter during Roman rule in Turkey

The newly-discovered limestone statuette is over 4,500 years old.

Cool Finds

Palestinian Farmer Digs Up 4,500-Year-Old Goddess Sculpture

While working his land, Nidal Abu Eid uncovered a statue of Canaanite deity Anat

Hieronymus Bosch, The Last Judgment, circa 1515

Inside Hieronymus Bosch’s Surreal Visions of Heaven and Hell

A new exhibition in Budapest features almost 90 works by the Dutch artist and his peers

Pysanky have been a Ukrainian springtime tradition for generations. Creating the intricately decorated eggs requires patience and a steady hand.

Traditionally Dyed Eggs Spring Into Action for Ukraine

The colorful folk art is a centuries-long custom

A waning crescent moon, pictured here, occurs right before a new moon. The second new moon in a single calendar month is often called a black moon.

View a Rare Black Moon This Weekend

The phenomenon will also be marked by a partial solar eclipse

In the ancient Roman world, sexual pleasure was a cause for celebration rather than a source of shame.

Why Was Erotic Art So Popular in Ancient Pompeii?

A new exhibition spotlights 70 examples of sensual imagery discovered in the Roman city

Archeologists work in the ruins of the temple of Zeus Kasios, a deity that merges the Greek god and Mount Kasios. 

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Temple in Egypt Inspired by Greek God Zeus

The deity was honored throughout the ancient world

In 51 B.C.E., Julius Caesar noted that people in Britain did not eat hares due to their religious significance.

The Ancient Origins of the Easter Bunny

A scholar traces the folk figure’s history from the Neolithic era to today

Detail of a carpet of flowers and colored sawdust in Antigua, Guatemala

Good News

This Guatemalan City Rolls Out Colorful Sawdust Carpets for Holy Week

The longstanding tradition brings a dazzling display to the streets of Antigua each spring

The offering consisted of 164 starfish, chunks of coral, seashells, pufferfish, a resin figurine, animal bones and the skeleton of a female jaguar holding a spear in its claw.

Cool Finds

Trove of Starfish Deposited as Offering to Aztec War God Found in Mexico City

Researchers discovered 164 sea stars placed in the Templo Mayor around the turn of the 16th century

For many behind the so-called anti-vax movement, faith is the ultimate protection. At an anti-shutdown rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a protester painted the hood of his truck with the motto “Jesus is my vaccine.”

What the History of Science and Religion Reveals About Today’s Divisive Covid Debates

A new Smithsonian book and exhibition explores the ongoing conflicts and reconciliations between faith and technology in American life

Unlike St. Patrick, St. Brigid was actually born in Ireland.

Meet St. Brigid, Ireland’s Only Woman Patron Saint

The fifth-century abbess is stepping out of the shadow of the better-known St. Patrick

The new Netflix series imagines what would have happened if Harald Hardrada (played by Leo Suter) were best buddies with Norse explorer Leif Erikson (Sam Corlett) and the lover of Leif’s sister, Freydís Eiríksdóttir (Frida Gustavsson).

Based on a True Story

The True History Behind Netflix’s ‘Vikings: Valhalla’

A spin-off of the long-running series “Vikings,” the show follows a fictionalized version of Norwegian king Harald Hardrada

Ruins of a 2,000-year-old Buddhist temple, one of the oldest discovered in Pakistan's Gandhara region.

Cool Finds

2,000-Year-Old Buddhist Temple Unearthed in Pakistan

The structure is one of the oldest of its kind in the Gandhara region

The Shakers, who reached the peak of their popularity in America between 1820 and 1860, loathed the institutions of marriage and family for the sinful “natural affections” that accompanied them.

The Sects That Rejected Sex in 19th-Century America

Why three religious groups traded monogamy for celibacy, polygamy and “complex marriage”

Archaeologists unearth a limestone foundation of one of the buildings of St. Mary's College - an Oxford College left to decay 500 years ago as result of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Foundations of Oxford University’s ‘Lost’ College

Founded for Catholic priests, the institution was destroyed 500 years ago when Henry VIII established the Church of England

Activists in London hold signs urging the BBC to boycott the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Beijing Winter Olympics

Is China Committing Genocide Against the Uyghurs?

The Muslim minority group faces mass detention and sterilization—human rights abuses that sparked the U.S.’ diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics

This 14th-century religious carving of a water spirit was part of a window decoration in a Kathmandu monastery.

Rubin Museum Agrees to Return Stolen Religious Artifacts to Nepal

An investigation launched by the New York cultural institution concluded that the 14th- and 17th-century carvings were “unlawfully obtained”

The newly discovered synagogue is the second found in the ancient community.

Cool Finds

Researchers Unearth 2,000-Year-Old Synagogue in Mary Magdalene’s Supposed Hometown

The religious center is the second of its kind found in Migdal, an ancient community on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee

Excavators discovered the underground ritual site beneath Garibaldi Plaza, formerly part of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.

Cool Finds

Aztec Altar Secretly Built After the Spanish Conquest Discovered in Mexico City

Researchers found incense burners, a vessel containing cremated remains and other artifacts in the former capital of Tenochtitlán

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