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ANCIENT HISTORY
View All PostsAt the height of his popularity in Rome, Augustus exiled the poet Ovid to the Black Sea. There, the whimsical author produced a striking series of poems.
A background figure throughout Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus’ father, Laertes, comes to the fore, playing a pivotal role at the end of the epic.
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HISTORY
View All PostsA powerful state in central west Africa, the Kingdom of Kongo remains an integral part of the region’s rich history.
This is the story of Maria Callas, the legendary operatic soprano who wowed worldwide audiences in the 20th century.
PHILOSOPHY
View All PostsIn Sartre’s story, Ève forces herself to believe her mentally ill husband’s delusions. She will go to extreme lengths to maintain this belief.
Spinoza offers us, no more and no less, a philosophy of power, freedom, and joy. Deleuze was one of the first contemporary thinkers to exploit its political implications.
ART & ARTISTS
View All PostsSylvia Plath is one of the 20th century’s most brilliant and original poets. Here are seven visionary works that exemplify her powerful voice.
The long list of famous students of the French art school École des Beaux-Arts included Edgar Degas, Eugene Delacroix, Henri Matisse, and many others.
TRAVEL & CULTURE
View All PostsThe Louvre has the fame, but these five little house-museums have something even better: stories of artists' obsessions.
Before shimmering glass towers, the world’s first skyscrapers pushed boundaries with stone, steel, and ambition.

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View MapsReligion
View All PostsDid Matthew purposely include five women in Jesus’s genealogy who point to irregular unions, outsider status, and looming scandal to foreshadow his boundary-breaking mission?
Let us take a moment to get to know five saints who lived mainly during the 20th century.
Stories
View All PostsHere are ten famous cocktails, listed alongside their origins and ingredients. But which historic figures were they named after, and why?
Jane Austen drew on her family life, social circle, and extensive education to write her beloved novels that reinvented the narrative of morality.




























