History
Line up the dates side by side and your sense of time starts to wobble.
31 articles
What is the oldest money in Japan?
Generations of Japanese students learned one coin as “Japan’s oldest money.” Then a single excavation shook its claim to the title.
How many meals a day did people eat in Edo-period Japan?
Breakfast, lunch and dinner feel like the natural order of things. But when did that “natural order” actually begin?
Which is older, Oxford University or the Aztec Empire?
Stone temples on one side, a university students still attend on the other. Asked which is older, most people’s instincts lead them astray.
What is the oldest map in the world?
When did people first start drawing the land they lived on as if looking down from the sky? Join us on a journey in search of the oldest map.
Did the Titanic’s lookouts really have no binoculars?
April 1912: in the darkness of the North Atlantic, a lookout spots an iceberg. What did he have at hand that night, and what was missing?
What is the oldest writing in the world?
When, where and why did people first start writing down their words?
Was Cleopatra closer in time to the pyramids or to us?
Say “ancient Egypt” and the queen and the pyramids seem to fit in a single picture. In reality, a staggering stretch of time separates the two.
Did people in the past really die young?
Hear that life expectancy in Edo-period Japan was in the thirties, and it sounds as if 40 was already old age. But was it really?
Did Vikings really wear horned helmets?
Norse warriors who crossed the seas and raided far and wide. Where did the fierce helmet we picture on their heads actually come from?
Did ninja really dress all in black?
A shadowy figure in black, melting into the night and racing silently across the rooftops. How much of the world’s favorite image of the ninja is true?
Were the pyramids built by slaves?
Overseers cracking whips over crowds of slaves dragging huge stones. That scene is familiar from the movies, but did it ever really happen?
Was Napoleon really short?
His name is still shorthand for the short man with big ambitions. But the record of his height hides a surprising trap.
What is the oldest company in the world?
A business that has lasted 100 years is already venerable. So when, and where, was the longest-running company in the world born?
When was the Great Wall of China built?
The Great Wall snakes endlessly over the mountains of northern China. Many credit it to the First Emperor, but the wall we see in photos dates from a much later age.
Where did the stones of Stonehenge come from?
A ring of colossal stones about 5,000 years old stands on an English plain. Where were stones weighing tens of tonnes hauled from? Modern science has been answering that question piece by piece.
Was Einstein bad at math?
Even the great genius was hopeless at school math, or so the encouraging story goes. How much of it is true?
Were mummies really sold as medicine?
The ancient Egyptians preserved their dead for an eternal sleep. Who could have imagined those bodies would end up on apothecary shelves in faraway lands?
Did people in the Middle Ages think the Earth was flat?
Sailors terrified of falling off the edge of the sea, and Columbus insisting the world was round. Everyone knows the picture, but who painted it, and when?
Who really said “Let them eat cake”?
A queen dismissing a starving people with one careless remark: it is one of history’s most famous lines. Trace it to its source, though, and the story stops adding up.
Did the Romans really have a “vomitorium” for throwing up?
Stuffed at a banquet, you slip off to a special room, empty your stomach, and go back for more. A famous tale of Roman excess hides a surprising trap.
Was the Statue of Liberty once copper-colored?
The Statue of Liberty is famous for its blue-green color. But that color was never chosen by the sculptor.
Why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean?
Some people assume the tower was built leaning on purpose. The real story is an 800-year saga of whether it would fall or stand.
What is the world’s oldest joke?
When did people start trying to make each other laugh? Trace the first jokes ever written down, and you land on a surprisingly familiar subject.
Did people in Edo-period Japan bathe every day?
In Japanese period dramas, the cramped tenement houses have kitchens but no bathrooms. Even so, the people of old Tokyo seem to have been remarkably fond of keeping clean.
Why has Roman concrete lasted so long?
Modern concrete can start to crumble within decades, yet ancient Roman buildings are still standing after nearly 2,000 years. The secret was hidden in the material itself.
Was the Palace of Versailles really built without toilets?
Behind the glittering facade, the story goes, courtiers relieved themselves in the gardens and hallways. What was it really like at Versailles?
What is the oldest zoo in the world?
A family day out to see the elephants and giraffes. But when did people first start gathering unusual animals and keeping them?
Why did samurai wear the chonmage topknot?
The familiar samurai hairstyle from period dramas: the top of the head shaved, the rest tied into a topknot. Come to think of it, why shave just part of your head?
Were the pyramid workers paid in beer?
There’s a story that in ancient Egypt, beer served as a paycheck. Peek into the records of the craftsmen who built the royal tombs, and a surprising picture of daily life emerges.
Which is older, the Kojiki or the Nihon Shoki?
Japan’s two oldest books carry its myths and the early history of its emperors. Which of the pair came first? The answer depends a little on how you look at it.
Is the curse of Tutankhamun real?
The tomb of the boy king famous for his golden mask. Have you heard that, after it was opened, the people involved died one after another in mysterious ways?