Showing 102 articles
Ulugh Beg of Samarkand
Author: Nataliya PetlevychDecember 30, 2025
In the heart of Central Asia where fertile valleys meet ancient arteries of the Silk Road, lies Samarkand, an enchanting city steeped in legend, adorned with splendid architecture, storied past, vibrant bazaars and serene moments of contemplation beneath a starlit sky. Among its many historical chapters, one shines with particular brilliance – a luminous revival [...]
Sir Philip Sidney: Neoplatonist, Cabalist, Hermeticist and Patron of Giordano Bruno
Author: Julian ScottDecember 30, 2025
Everyone is probably familiar with the image of the glittering court of Elizabeth I, the ‘Virgin Queen’ surrounded by glamorous courtiers like Sir Walter Raleigh (founder of Virginia in America, who brought back the potato and tobacco to England) and Sir Francis Drake, whom the Spanish call ‘El Drake, the Pirate’. One of the most [...]
Giordano Bruno: A Mystic of the Infinite Cosmos
Author: Sofia VenutiDecember 30, 2025
Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) was an Italian philosopher, mathematician and mystic whose radical ideas about the universe, God and human potential placed him at odds with the intellectual and religious authorities of his time – the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. A Dominican friar turned itinerant scholar, Bruno is remembered today as a visionary who challenged the dogmas [...]
Do You Want to Time Travel? Or the Power of Historical Fiction
Author: Gilad SommerJanuary 19, 2025
Since the early days of science fiction, man has been dreaming of building a time machine. But what if I told you time machines are accessible to everyone, and that they require even less energy than a smartphone? I am referring to books, and specifically books of historical fiction. Not only are they time machines, [...]
Travelling Beyond: Egypt Explorations with New Acropolis India
Author: Sukesh MotwaniMay 1, 2024
Part 1 – Upper Egypt. New Acropolis India’s ‘Travelling Beyond’ initiative curated its inaugural exploration, a 10-day journey to Egypt in January 2024. Led by a senior instructor on Egyptian Symbolism and a very good local Egyptologist guide, the trip immersed its 32 participants in the culture, history, mythology, and philosophy of ancient Egypt. While [...]
The Crisis of the West and the Coming of the New Times
Author: Jorge Angel LivragaJanuary 26, 2023
Let us begin by saying that in Greek the word crisis means, in addition to problem, change. So it is not only problems the West is facing today, but also a period of change. To overcome this crisis stage, the first thing we must do is [...]
Heraldic Symbols of Famous Cities
Author: Istvan OrbanJanuary 26, 2023
Heraldry, nowadays an auxiliary science of history, was once connected to armoury and the art of war. The name derives from the heralds, the officers of arms, who were originally messengers of the monarchs (ancestors of the modern diplomats), as well as the organizers of tournaments. This title still exists, even today. Heralds also have [...]
Astrology in the Renaissance
Author: Agostino DominiciJuly 6, 2022
The European Renaissance was a period in history in which important philosophical ideas and teachings derived from antiquity witnessed a rebirth. In this period of eclecticism and creativity in which many ancient ideas were re-formulated the human being took central stage. Thus a sentiment of ‘rebirth of the human spirit’ took form within various disciplines: [...]
Ancient Britain
Author: Paul CummingsJuly 6, 2022
What is the history of the Prehistoric peoples of Britain, how far can we go back, and who were the people of these ancient Isles? Britain’s history of human occupation goes as far back as the Palaeolithic age, which means ‘Old Stone Age’. Archaeologists have uncovered remains of our early human ancestors dating to 40,000 [...]
The Fate of Empires
Author: Gilad SommerJuly 4, 2022
In 1976, at the age of 79, after a lifetime of service in the British army where he held high commands and fraternized with presidents and kings, Lieutenant General John Bagot Glubb, a.k.a Glubb Pasha, wrote a short but penetrating essay about the life cycle of superpowers called “The Fate of Empires”. In this small [...]
History of Education in the Western World
Author: Jim PangApril 30, 2022
The history of education has also been described as the the history of civilisation. Education has a role in perpetuating and passing on knowledge and values to the next generation. Therefore, it has a culturally specific connection -“enculturation” as defined by the cultural historian C. Dawson. The education systems of the world are the product of centuries [...]
Iconology, the Magical World of Emblems
Author: Istvan OrbanApril 18, 2022
Iconology uses images and symbols to express a meaning or an idea. For many centuries, it helped to transmit religious and philosophical messages in an artistic way, when film or photography did not exist. Iconology is closely connected to iconography, which on the one hand is a branch of art history researching the interpretation of [...]