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Religious History

The Beckery monastery as it would have looked in the fifith century

Cool Finds

Oldest Community of Monks in U.K. Discovered

The find was thanks to a community training dig

Cool Finds

What Pilgrims Heard When They Arrived in America

They came to America seeking religious freedom, but what did their prayers, and those of the local Native Americans, sound like?

American soldiers in Nimrud in 2008, with the Ziggurat in the background.

Trending Today

ISIS Has Destroyed a Nearly 3,000-Year-Old Assyrian Ziggurat

The ziggurat of Nimrud was the ancient city’s central temple

The historic St. Anne's Well after it was rediscovered and excavated.

Cool Finds

A “Cursed” English Well Has Been Rediscovered

An old photograph led archaeologists to the long-lost well

The Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo sits atop a hillside overlooking Lake Alban.

Trending Today

Pope Francis Isn’t Using His Summer House, so the Vatican Is Letting the Public in

Get a rare look at the pope’s luxurious vacation home

One of the world's oldest-known carvings of the Ten Commandments will soon go up for auction.

Cool Finds

The Oldest-Known Carving of the 10 Commandments Is Going up for Auction

But the buyer won’t be able to take it home

A 19th century illustration of the zodiacal constellation Ophiuchus.

Trending Today

NASA Didn’t Change Your Astrological Sign, Blame It on Earth’s Wobbly Rotation

Astrology is not a science

A Hindu temple painted yellow.

Cool Finds

This Group Celebrates Kenya’s Religious Diversity by Painting Religious Centers Yellow

Painting for pluralism

An artist's representation of the Akelarre.

Visit the Site of the Biggest Witch Trial in History

Over 7,000 people were accused of witchcraft in Basque Spain

The remains of a teenage boy found near an altar dedicated to Zeus at Mt. Lykaion

Cool Finds

Did the Ancient Greeks Engage in Human Sacrifice?

The remains uncovered at an altar to Zeus on Mount Lykaion may confirm legends about human sacrifice at the shrine

A cartoon from the magazine The Judge, where "Democracy" is portrayed as the devil overlooking Washington, D.C., and looks very much like Grover Cleveland.

Trending Today

Lucifer Has Long Had His Hands in Politics

Since the earliest days of Christianity, people have accused their political rivals of being in league with the Devil

The historical flag of Prague's Jewish community.

Cool Finds

How Did the Six-Pointed Star Become Associated With Judaism?

The connection between the two goes back centuries

This 98-foot-long figure appears to represent an animal sticking out its tongue.

Cool Finds

“New” 2,000-Year-Old Geoglyph Spotted in Peru

There’s always more to learn about the mysterious Nazca lines

A print of Lake Suwa from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.

Trending Today

Japanese Priests Collected Almost Seven Centuries of Climate Data

Historic records from “citizen scientists” in Japan and Finland give researchers centuries of data on ice conditions

A statue of Julian of Norwich at Norwich Cathedra. She is one of the first-known women writers in the English language.

Cool Finds

For the First Time, See Two Early Medieval Books Written By Women On Display Together

The manuscripts detail the authors’ experiences

For the first time in hundreds of years, some seders might include rice and beans.

Trending Today

For the First Time in 800 Years, Rice and Beans Are Kosher for Passover

The Jewish Conservative movement relaxes a 13th-century ban on rice, corn and beans during Passover

New Research

Machine Learning May Help Determine When the Old Testament Was Written

Using computer algorithms to analyze handwriting, researchers discover citizens of ancient Judah were much more literate than previously thought

Cool Finds

Geometric Shapes Inspire New, Stretchy Materials

Intricate designs drawn from Islamic art could help make materials that stretch in new ways

Mother Teresa stands with children at her Calcutta mission.

Trending Today

Mother Teresa Will Become an Official Saint

The champion of India’s poorest has sprinted to sainthood since her 1997 death

Overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Bethsaida was a day’s walk from Nazareth. When Jesus returned to his boyhood hometown to preach, the Gospels say he was rejected by a mob.

Unearthing the World of Jesus

Surprising archaeological finds are breaking new ground in our understanding of Jesus’s time—and the revolution he launched 2,000 years ago

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