The Dutch create a lake
In 1932 the Dutch completed what they call The Afsluitdijk, which is Dutch for “shut off dike”. It stretched across the top of the Zuiderzee and created a large lake and as several rivers were flowing into it, it soon became a freshwater one. It was completed 89 years ago, even though the project had […]
A village, an independent republic!
The Flag of Perloja Yes, it actually happened, would you believe that a small village in Northern Europe actually became an independent state, a republic and it even had it’s own flag! It was all as a result of the chaos across Europe after World War I. This village was situated in what today we […]
The ‘dancing plague’
Today we dance for fun, we can dance all night, and we think nothing of it, but in the 14th century they thought it was a disease! They called it the “Dancing Plague”. Between the 14th and 17th centuries in European towns people would suddenly start dancing erratically, then others joined them, sometimes this grew […]
Athens, an early democracy
In 510 BC the Athenians overthrew their tyrant King Hippias, with the help of Cleomenes I, King of Sparta. Naturally, he tried to put his own man on the throne, and he chose Isagoras. However, Cleisthenes, an Athenian lawyer, who was supported by the middle class and basically most of the population, opposed him. Isagoras […]
The Ancient Olympics, how did they start?
Do your children know that the Olympics date back to an Ancient Greek festival, which was part of a five day festival held every four years in honour of Zeus, the King of the Gods. It is believed there were similar festivals as far back as the 13th century BC, yes, that long ago! However, […]
Did the people of Pompeii know they lived by a live volcano?
The city of Pompeii was a major resort city during the times of Ancient Rome. However, then everything changed when it was buried in volcanic dust in 79 AD, disaster struck the city when it was buried for 2,000 years under 20 feet of a blanket of ash and pumice when the nearby volcano, Mount […]
Ancient Rome’s Financial Crisis
Did you know that in 2008 they used 2000-year-old solution to save our economy! It was in 33 AD that a financial crisis hit Ancient Rome and the solution Emperor Tiberius used was “quantitative easing”, a phrase yu may have recently, as this izs what they did in 2008. It all happened because in 26 […]
The Olympic truce
If anybody asks you, has there ever been a time when all wars stopped! You can say yes, while the Ancient Olympics were on there was an Olympic truce and, amazingly, it was adhered to! Yes, it was a time when all wars stopped, though it didn’t happen when the modern Olympics were being held […]
The Origin of the Ancient Olympic Games
Now, the games were important to the Ancient Greeks. By this I mean that their Olympic Games had to have originated from mythology. It’s where everything in Ancient Greece came from. Does that mean that the Games we watch today are the result of Greek Mythology? Well, I think, they could be. In Ancient Greece […]
Is the Trojan Horse a True Story?
There appear to be two sources for the story, There are even myths about the Trojan horse itself, some say: Therefore, the Trojan Wars could have been a myth, or at least a story made up of both myth and truth. Ultimately, it is unlikely we will ever know, which is why many suggest […]