Most Read
The articles readers return to most
A ranking of the five most-read essays, filtered by time period.
Initial ranking shown until this browser records its first article views.
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1
Mesopotamia / Bronze Age
Enheduanna: The First Named Author in History
From Ur's ziggurats to Inanna's hymns: Enheduanna, high priestess and the world's first named author, speaks across four millennia.
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2
Ancient Egypt / Third Intermediate Period
Wenamun: Egypt's Humbling Odyssey to Byblos
Around 1070 BCE, Wenamun sailed from Thebes to Phoenicia for cedar wood, revealing an Egypt forced to negotiate where it once commanded.
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3
Greek World / Classical Greece
Thermopylae 480 BC: Leonidas, the 300 Spartans, and the Memory of Sacrifice
At Thermopylae, 480 BC, Leonidas and his allies halted the Persian advance: history, archaeology, and the memory of sacrifice.
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4
Roman World / Roman Republic
Spartacus and the Slave Revolt Against Rome: From Capua to the Via Appia
From night over Campania to the Via Appia crucifixions, Spartacus's revolt against Rome: discipline, defiance, and an immortal legacy.
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5
Roman World / Late Antiquity
Sol Invictus in Ancient Rome: December 25, the Unconquered Sun, and the Origins of Christmas
Sol Invictus rises in the 3rd century. In the 4th, December 25 takes on the Nativity: rivalry, calculation, and symbolic light in Late Rome.