National Geographic History

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FROM THE EDITOR

National Geographic History

Stone Age Bog Body Lived Between Two Worlds • New details about Vittrup Man, whose battered body was found in a bog, suggest he was an old-style hunter-gatherer who became a farmer.

SEAFARING IN THE STONE AGE

Journeys to the Ends of the Earth

Cabeza de Vaca: Explorer, Survivor, Historian • Shipwrecked in Texas in 1528, Spanish conquistador Cabeza de Vaca undertook a grueling trek westward, later writing a detailed account of the Indigenous communities he lived among.

STORY BEHIND A SURNAME

OBSERVATIONS

GOOD TREATMENT

A SPECIAL DISCOVERY

Opera in Venice: A Spectacle for the People • Once exclusively created for royalty, opera burst into public theaters in the mid-1600s, captivating the masses.

Dancing Down Into the Underworld

COMPLEX SETTINGS

The Sex Scandal Behind the Hundred Years’ War • Succession squabbles and accusations of infidelity rocked the House of Capet in what came to be known as the Nesle Tower affair, which put France on the path to a devastating conflict.

THE HEAVIEST PENALTIES

TAKING LIBERTIES

MOUNT NEMRUT EIGHTH WONDER OF THE ANCIENT WORLD • King Antiochus I of Commagene’s imposing tomb perches on a steep mountaintop in Turkey, guarded by extraordinary statues of Greco-Roman and Persian divinities.

BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES

Visitors to the Tomb

THE CELESTIAL LION OF NEMRUT DAĞ

Greco-Persian Influences

MONUMENTAL SPLENDOR

BENEATH THE WAVES SUNKEN CITIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD • In recent decades, new technologies have revolutionized underwater archaeology and surfaced the remains of submerged coastal cities from the ancient world.

Pavlopetri The Oldest Sunken City

Imagining Ancient Pavlopetri

Phanagoria Beneath the Black Sea

Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus Egypt’s Lost Seaports

GOLDEN TREASURES OF THE DELTA • Archaeologists were surprised by the large amounts of gold found at Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus. The abundance of coins, jewelry, and gifts to the gods revealed how wealthy these cities were before they sank.

Epidaurus A Home by the Sea

GERMANICUS DEATH OF ROME’S GOLDEN BOY • Young, talented, and beloved, Germanicus was poised to be the next emperor of Rome. When he died unexpectedly, the empire mourned—and whispers of murder soon followed.

LIVING TO SERVE ROME

HOUSE OF CAESAR

THE SENATE OF ROME VS. GOVERNOR PISO • A bronze tablet records the Roman Senate’s condemnation of Piso.

POSTHUMOUS HONORS

THE ASHES OF GERMANICUS

MONGOLS CONQUEST OF THE WEST • In 1236 the great khan Ögödei launched a major offensive against Europe—crushing Kyivan Rus, Poland, and Hungary with his fearsome horsemen and their brilliant military strategies.

MONGOLS ATTACK

APOCALYPTIC VISIONS

SLAVERY IN EUROPE

REBOUND AND RECOVERY

NO HELP FOR HUNGARY

PRINCES IN THE TOWER

VANISHING ACTS

THE TOWER OF LONDON

ILLEGITIMATE CLAIMS

FUNERAL FOR A LOST KING

BONES BENEATH THE STAIRS

SPLIT FATE

MYSTERY MONARCH

ON THE PAPYRUS TRAIL

The Abinnaeus Papers: Life of a Roman Soldier • In 1893 a cache of personal papers found in Egypt revealed the everyday life of a fourth-century Roman officer.

THE PAPYRUS JACKPOT

ABINNAEUS IN COMMAND