National Geographic History

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FROM THE EDITOR

National Geographic History

Stunning Gold Coins Reveal Glimpse of a Turbulent Age • Life on the troubled frontier between Athens and Persia is reflected in a rare coin haul. Who buried the coins, and why were they never retrieved?

CONQUERED BY THE GOLDEN ARCHER

LIVING IN THE BUFFER ZONE

Mary Anning: The Lady Who Built Dinosaurs • A fossil hunter since childhood on England’s Jurassic Coast, Anning’s skills in reassembling dinosaur skeletons won her fame but earned little recognition from scientists.

Jurassic’s Greatest Fossil Hunter

TAKING HER PICK

ENSHRINED ON THE COAST

FAMOUS FIRSTS

Tattoos, the Enduring Body Art of Polynesia • Persecuted by European colonialists and missionaries, the ancestral intricacy of Polynesian body ink almost didn’t survive. Today, from New Zealand to Samoa, it is enjoying a resurgence.

PRECISION TECHNIQUE

INTRICATE DESIGNS

Clues in a Croc Mummy Mystery • A cache of mummified reptiles yields details on how they died—and their unusual embalmment.

REVERED AND FEARED

CYRUS THE GREAT FOUNDER OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE • Ancient Greek sources portrayed the kings of Persia as ruthless despots—all except Cyrus II, whom they lauded as a model leader.

MASTER OF THE EAST

DECREEING TOLERANCE

KING CROESUS ESCAPES THE FLAMES

BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

CLEOPATRA AND MARK ANTONY HISTORY’S FIRST POWER COUPLE • The controversial relationship between the queen of Egypt and the Roman triumvir was not only about erotic love. Shared political interests helped ensure that their alliance stayed strong until the bitter end.

A PAIR SO FAMOUS

ANTONY TAKES CLEOPATRA’S BAIT

BITUMEN AND DATES: CLEOPATRA VS. HEROD

A DIVINE DUO: DIONYSUS AND ISIS • Mark Antony and Cleopatra liked to present themselves in the guise of divinities: Antony with the trappings of Dionysus, and Cleopatra as Venus, Isis, or Selene.

THE SILK ROADS THE FIRST ENCOUNTER BETWEEN CHINA AND ROME • As silk fabrics from the East became all the rage in imperial Rome, explorers and merchants opened up land and sea routes to Central Asia and beyond.

BETWEEN EAST AND WEST

ROME’S SILK OBESSESSION

EXOTIC GLIMPSES OF THE OCCIDENT

ROUTES FROM ROME TO THE EAST

PAUL OF TARSUS THE TRAVELING APOSTLE • A vision on the road to Damascus turned this zealous persecutor of Christians into an apostle who did more than any other to spread the new religion to every corner of the Roman Empire.

FROM SAUL TO PAUL

SAUL AT THE STONING OF STEPHEN

PAUL BREAKS A MAGICIAN’S SPELL

BALD, LONG-NOSED, AND BOWLEGGED?

A PREACHER WHO INSPIRED WOMEN

The Great Smog of London • From December 5 to 9, 1952, the British capital was engulfed in an immense cloud of pollution, which paralyzed the city and led to thousands of deaths. The episode triggered radical clean-air reform and a new era of environmental awareness.

Eridu: First City of the Earliest Known Civilization • Unpromising mounds in the Iraqi desert turned out to be Sumer’s earliest city. Its temple to Enki was built and rebuilt over centuries.

UNDER THE SAND

PASSION FOR THE EAST

The City of Enki

Glimpses of Eridu

BURIED TEMPLES