Religious History

Tarlati Altarpiece, Pietro Lorenzetti, circa 1320

See the Breathtaking 14th-Century Sienese Artworks That Helped Set the Italian Renaissance in Motion

This brief chapter of art history is often overlooked. Now, an exhibition in New York City makes a strong argument for the integral role played by four artists in the city of Siena

The cat's ancient paw print measures 1.2 inches across.

This Ancient Paw Print on a Pottery Fragment in Jerusalem Is the Oldest Known Evidence of a Cat Kneading

The deep penetrations suggest that the feline was pressing its claws into the clay, a behavior sometimes known as "making biscuits"

Users of the Sortes Astrampsychi chose a specific question from a list of 92. Then, they randomly picked a number between one and ten, which, when added to the number of the chosen question, directed them to one of 1,030 possible answers.

To Divine the Future, the Ancients Relied on These Chance-Based Fortune-Telling Tools

Texts like the "Sortes Astrampsychi" promised insights on clients' love lives, career prospects, financial woes and families

Medieval women’s lives were “more vibrant than people expect,” says lead curator Eleanor Jackson, “and [visitors] will be surprised by the sheer variety of roles” that they occupied in the fields of politics, religion and the arts.

These Rare Artifacts Tell Medieval Women's Stories in Their Own Words

A new exhibition at the British Library explores the public, private and spiritual lives of such figures as Joan of Arc, Christine de Pizan and Hildegard of Bingen

This digital reconstruction of the church's now-degraded walls shows its original shape.

This Newly Discovered, Octagonal Building in Armenia Is One of the World's Oldest Christian Churches

The structure—also the earliest of its kind in the Asian country—dates to around 350 C.E.

The barracks were designed as a series of mudbrick rooms.

These Ancient Egyptian Barracks Paint a Vivid Picture of Military Life During the Reign of Ramses II

Archaeologists unearthed a series of mudbrick rooms filled with religious tributes, soldiers' personal effects, engraved weaponry and animal bones

The 900-year-old picture stone features a carving that may depict Otto of Bamberg.

Man Discovers 900-Year-Old Stone Carving Beneath His House in Germany

The rare picture stone may depict Otto of Bamberg, the bishop who helped spread Christianity throughout the region

A 17th-century painting of the September 10, 1622, Great Genna Martyrdom, in which 55 Christians were beheaded or burned alive

Why Japan's Shogun Executed Dozens of Christians During the Great Genna Martyrdom of 1622

On September 10, 1622, Japanese officials burned alive or beheaded 55 missionaries and laypeople alike. The violence coincided with Japan's push to expel all foreign influences

An 1851 ink-and-watercolor gift drawing titled A Type of Mother Hannah’s Pocket Handkerchief by Polly Jane Reed, a Shaker in New Lebanon, New York.

These Colorful Drawings Defy Expectations of Shaker Art

Colorful, intricate drawings on view at the American Folk Art Museum are anything but simple

The 700-year-old text is in “exceptionally fine condition,” according to Sotheby’s.

Hebrew Bible From Medieval Spain Could Sell for $7 Million

After years of painstaking work, Rabbi Shem Tov Ibn Gaon finished the illustrated manuscript in 1312

Archaeologists found the bishop's remains in a tomb in Spain in 1955.

Archaeologists May Have Identified the Bones of a Celebrated Ninth-Century Bishop in Spain

Bishop Teodomiro was a central figure in the creation of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage

Excavations underway in the Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome

Ruins of Centuries-Old Palace That Housed Dozens of Popes Discovered in Rome

Before the papacy relocated in the 1300s, first to Avignon and then to the Vatican, pontiffs lived at the Lateran Palace

Alicia Vikander portrays Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, in the new film Firebrand.

The Real Story Behind 'Firebrand' and Henry VIII's Tumultuous Relationship With His Sixth Wife, Catherine Parr

A new film dramatizes how the Tudor queen narrowly avoided execution on charges of heresy

That Mary consigned some 280 Protestants to the flames is both indisputable and indefensible. But as historians have increasingly argued, this number is just one element of a much larger story that warrants contextualization.

The Myth of 'Bloody Mary,' England's First Queen

History remembers Mary I as a murderous monster who burned hundreds of her subjects at the stake, but the real story of the Tudor monarch is far more nuanced

Lali (played by Jonah Hauer-King) and Gita (Anna Próchniak) in "The Tattooist of Auschwitz," a new mini-series based on Heather Morris' 2018 novel of the same name

'The Tattooist of Auschwitz' Demonstrates the Limits of Holocaust Fiction

A new mini-series dramatizes the best-selling 2018 novel that sparked debate over the line between history and memory

The cathedral's collection of Mays paintings includes Aubin Vouet's Le Centurion Corneille aux pieds de Saint Pierre, completed in 1639.

Oil Paintings Rescued From Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire Go on Display

Known as the "Mays," the artworks were created for an annual competition in the 17th century

In 1866, Joseph A. Joel, a Jewish private in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, wrote a detailed account of an 1862 Passover Seder.

How Jewish Soldiers Celebrated Passover in the Midst of the Civil War

A group of Union men from Ohio held a makeshift Seder in the western Virginia woods in 1862

An aerial view of the excavation site in Crowland, a town in Lincolnshire, England

Archaeologists Were Looking for a Medieval Hermitage. They Found a 'Monumental' Prehistoric Henge

The site in eastern England may have served as a sacred space for groups across thousands of years

The Crosby-Schøyen Codex is part of the Schøyen collection, one of the largest private manuscript collections in the world.

One of the World's Oldest Surviving Books Is for Sale

The rare early Christian text was written in a monastery in Egypt between 250 and 350 C.E.

“For me, [Hanuman] was also a hero that lost faith in himself,” says director and star Dev Patel. “He didn’t have courage at one point and needed to be reminded of who he was.” 

How the Hindu Deity Hanuman Inspired Dev Patel's 'Monkey Man'

The story of the half-human, half-monkey god mirrors the journey of the protagonist in Patel's directorial debut

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