Cleopatra VII; the last in a dynasty of Macedonian rulers, a general under Alexander the Great, a lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, but how she maintained her rule is not so glamorous.Cleopatra is often depicted as a beautiful, powerful woman who ruled over Egypt earning her an enduring place in history and popular […]
In 2012, the Richard III Society commissioned an archaeological excavation on a city council park in Leicester. After identification of the skeleton by the University of Leicester research team, the discovery became a huge historical landmark within the East Midlands city. Despite this significant and almost bizarre discovery, there will still be one main discussion […]
With the headaches of revision and hangovers of Pangea still strong in the memory 100 students set off for the History Society’s weekend away to Berlin. Whilst some were after a weekend to forget their January blues, others were keen to celebrate the ending of the dreaded exam period with 5 days of the packed […]
The Asian-Pacific has undeniably been impacted by devastating natural disasters. Investigating from a socio-economic perspective, cases such as the 2004 Tsunami (a natural disaster so big its death toll reached 227,898 across Indonesia and Thailand), can provide an insight into the severity of the chaos wreaked on communities savaged by the natural world. The Mongol […]
The Ordnance Survey is a well-known British institution providing comprehensive geographical data for a multitude of purposes. Utilised during Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and a vital organ of the National Curriculum, Ordnance Survey maps will be familiar to most students through the education system. Weekend exploration in the Lake District, Peak District and other areas […]
Militarism, especially in the US, has long been associated with masculinity and heteronormativity. Between 1993 and 2009, 13,194 gay men and women were discharged from the US Army under the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. However, after widespread campaigns ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was repealed in 2010, allowing openly homosexual and bisexual men and women […]
In the Spring of 2011, chaos and revolts rippled across the Arab world, commonly referred to as ‘The Arab Spring’. The term ‘Arab Spring’ originates from the 1848 revolutions, also called the ‘People’s Spring’, when political upheavals swept across Europe. ‘Spring’ is often used to describe movements against democracy with the Western media leveraging ‘Arab […]
During the Middle Ages, the ability to read and write was enjoyed by only a small minority consisting of the wealthy and ecclesiastics. This caused issues in society, mainly through abuses in tax collecting, as of course the peasants couldn’t read the sheriff’s documents, enabling corruption within this practice. However, where text failed to allow […]
Perpetually denominated as the greatest artist within the Renaissance period, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni’s work is as idolised today as it was 500 years ago. Some of Michelangelo’s most celebrated commissions are the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel 1477-1480, with approximately five million people visiting the site annually today. However, Michelangelo’s artistic skill extended […]
Nominated for four Academy Awards at this year’s Oscars, The Help, based on a novel by Kathryn Stockett, is a story of the racism experienced by black maids working for white households in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. Their plight takes place in the era of the Jim Crow laws and the subsequent push for Civil Rights, […]
The Romans used powdered mouse brains as toothpaste. Julius Caesar gave us our modern calendar of 12 months. Originally there were only 10 months, running from March to December, but then they added two more. This meant that September (from the Latin for seven) became the 9th month. October (from the Latin for eight) is […]
Not unlike the rest of the world, the ‘Ban the Bomb’ movement in Britain emerged in the years after the promethean Trinity Test of July 16th, 1945, had brought the world into the nuclear age. The Trinity Test was the first detonation of a nuclear device; it had instantly provoked conflicting universal responses of revulsion, […]
We are at that point in the semester where students are excited for the upcoming Christmas holidays but are bogged down with assignments. Nights are getting darker, deadlines are getting closer, library sessions are getting longer, and exam revision is looming. Why not take a break from all that stress and have a read of […]
It is difficult to imagine a world without advertising. It is so ingrained in our society that we might not even notice that it is there. It is on our televisions, on our buses, on our social media sites, on our streets, on our radios, in music videos, in films, and all over the internet. […]