Religious History

Worshippers, some of them wearing protective masks, take part in the Friday prayers at Mecca's Grand Mosque on March 6, 2020, a day after Saudi authorities emptied Islam's holiest site for sterilization.

This Pandemic Isn't the First Time the Hajj Has Been Disrupted for Muslims

Plague, war and politics have altered the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca throughout history

A team of researchers has discovered carefully buried Iron Age chicken and hare bones that show no signs of butchery.

Hares and Chickens Were Revered as Gods—Not Food—in Ancient Britain

New research indicates that Iron Age Britons venerated brown hares and chickens long before modern Easter celebrations

Ta-Kr-Hb was likely an ancient Egyptian princess or priestess.

Archaeologists Discover Paintings of Goddess in 3,000-Year-Old Mummy's Coffin

Researchers lifted the ancient Egyptian mummy out of her coffin for the first time in 100 years and, to their surprise, uncovered the ancient artworks

This week's offerings include How the South Won the Civil War, The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder, and Heaven and Hell.

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, a History of Hell and Other New Books to Read

The second installment in our weekly series spotlights titles that may have been lost in the news amid the COVID-19 pandemic

19th-century depiction of Thomas Becket, seen with a sword piercing his head

The Fallout of a Medieval Archbishop's Murder Is Recorded in Alpine Ice

Traces of lead pollution frozen in a glacier confirm that British lead production waned just before the death of Thomas Becket

The Baldwins' home was reconstructed in 1966 and is now a museum showcasing the missionary's life in the mid-1800s.

Archaeologists Unearth Remnants of Kitchen Behind Oldest House Still Standing in Maui

The missionary who lived in the house during the mid-1800s delivered vaccinations to locals during a smallpox epidemic

The top of Zagreb Cathedral's southern spire toppled during Sunday's earthquake.

5.4-Magnitude Earthquake Damages Zagreb Cathedral, Museums

The tremors, which arrived in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, was the worst the Croatian capital has seen in 140 years

A chemical analysis of the stone slab has led a modern team of researchers to argue for a far less biblical origin story.

New Analysis Refutes Nazareth Inscription's Ties to Jesus' Death

The marble slab appears to be Greek in origin and may have been written in response to the death of a tyrant on the island of Kos

Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, considered one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the 20th century, are displayed 18 June 2003 at Montreal's Pointe-a-Callieres Archeological Museum

All of the Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scrolls Are Fake, Report Finds

The new findings raises questions about the authenticity of a collection of texts known as the "post-2002" scrolls

That Mary consigned some 280 Protestants to the flames is both indisputable and indefensible. But as historians have increasingly argued, this number is just one element of a much larger story that warrants contextualization.

The Myth of 'Bloody Mary'

History remembers the English queen as a murderous monster, but the real story of Mary I is far more nuanced

A reconstruction image showing the scale and decorated interior of Bishop Bek’s 14th-century chapel at Auckland Castle

Archaeologists Identify Site of Long-Lost Chapel Razed During English Civil War

The "sumptuously constructed" 14th-century chapel was roughly the same size as Sainte-Chapelle in Paris

The tapestries depict scenes from the lives of St. Paul and St. Peter.

For One Week Only, Raphael's Tapestries Return to the Sistine Chapel

This is the first time all 12 of the Renaissance creations have been united in their original home since the 16th century

The remains of a pre-Hispanic temazcal recently found in Mexico City

14th-Century Steam Bath Found in Mexico City

The discovery has helped archaeologists pinpoint the location of the ancient neighborhood of Temazcaltitlan

The Pachacamac Idol, a 1200-year-old wooden carving that held spiritual significance to the Inca

This Inca Idol Survived the Spanish Conquest. 500 Years Later, Archaeologists Are Unveiling Its History

A new analysis suggests the Pachacamac Idol, once thought destroyed, is probably older—and less bloody—than once believed

This illustration of Venice accompanied a manuscript of one friar's journey from Venice to Egypt and Jerusalem.

14th-Century Illustration of Venice Is the Oldest Found Yet

The drawing accompanied one friar's first-person account of a trip from Venice to Jerusalem and Egypt

The floor of one of the coffins of Gua, a physician of the governor Djehutyhotep. The paintings, dated to 1795 B.C., show the “two ways”—land and sea—that the dead could use to navigate the afterlife. An even older “Book of Two Ways” has now been unearthed.

4,000-Year-Old Guide to the Ancient Egyptian Underworld May Be Oldest Illustrated 'Book'

Archaeologists recovered the remnants of an ancient "Book of Two Ways" from a sarcophagus

The shores of Mount Athos, a monastic sanctuary where women have been banned for more than 1,000 years

Possible Female Remains Discovered on Greece's All-Male Monastic Peninsula

The identity and sex of the individual have yet to be confirmed, but could mark a first for the sacred Mount Athos

Left, Giovanni Maria de Agostini, a peripatetic Italian monk who was banished from Brazil, reached northern New Mexico on foot in 1863. He holed up on a mountain that would become known as Hermit Peak, today the object of an annual pilgrimage. Right, view of Hermit Peak.

The Inspiring Monk Who Lived in a New Mexico Cave

The mountaintop home of an Italian hermit who lived in the U.S. in the 1860s still attracts a handful of pilgrims

Unique Salt Coating Helped Preserve 25-Foot-Long Dead Sea Scroll

Analysis shows that the unique processing of the Temple Scroll's parchment kept it intact

Fear of Foreign Food May Have Led to the Death of This Crusader King

A new analysis shows France's Louis IX and much of his army suffered from advanced scurvy during the Eighth Crusade in Tunisia

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