Riju John

06/12/2025

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons.

The initial page of the Peterborough Chronicle.[1]
The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899). Its content, which incorporated sources now otherwise lost dating from as early as the seventh century, is known as the "Common Stock" of the Chronicle.[2] Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were updated, partly independently. These manuscripts collectively are known as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Almost all of the material in the Chronicle is in the form of annals, by year. The earliest is dated at 60 BC, the annals' date for Julius Caesar's invasions of Britain. In one case, the Chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154.

Nine manuscripts of the Chronicle, none of which is the original, survive in whole or in part. Seven are held in the British Library, one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the oldest in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The oldest seems to have been started towards the end of Alfred's reign, while the most recent was copied at Peterborough Abbey after a fire at that monastery in 1116. Some later medieval chronicles deriving from lost manuscripts contribute occasional further hints concerning Chronicle material.

Both because much of the information given in the Chronicle is not recorded elsewhere, and because of the relatively clear chronological framework it provides for understanding events, the Chronicle is among the most influential historical sources for England between the collapse of Roman authority and the decades following the Norman Conquest;[3] Nicholas Howe called it and Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People "the two great Anglo-Saxon works of history".[4] The Chronicle's accounts tend to be highly politicised, with the Common Stock intended primarily to legitimise the House of Wessex and the reign of Alfred the Great. Comparison between Chronicle manuscripts and with other medieval sources de

06/12/2025

The Wi******er (or Parker) Chronicle is the oldest manuscript of the Chronicle that survives. It was begun at Old Minster, Wi******er, towards the end of Alfred's reign. The manuscript begins with a genealogy of Alfred, and the first chronicle entry is for the year 60 BC.[5] The section containing the Chronicle takes up folios 1–32.[58] Unlike the other manuscripts, [A] is of early enough composition to show entries dating back to the late 9th century in the hands of different scribes as the entries were made.[59]

The first scribe's hand is dateable to the late 9th or very early 10th century; his entries cease in late 891, and the following entries were made at intervals throughout the 10th century by several scribes. The eighth scribe wrote the annals for the years 925–955, and was clearly at Wi******er when he wrote them since he adds some material related to events there; he also uses ceaster, or "city", to mean Wi******er.[59] The manuscript becomes independent of the other recensions after the entry for 975. The book, which also had a copy of the Laws of Alfred and Ine bound in after the entry for 924, was transferred to Canterbury some time in the early 11th century,[5] as evidenced by a list of books that Archbishop Parker gave to Corpus Christi.[58]

While at Canterbury, some interpolations were made; this required some erasures in the manuscript. The additional entries appear to have been taken from a version of the manuscript from which [E] descends.[59] The last entry in the vernacular is for 1070. After this comes the Latin Acta Lanfranci, which covers church events from 1070 to 1093. This is followed by a list of popes and the Archbishops of Canterbury to whom they sent the pallium. The manuscript was acquired by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (1559–1575) and is in the collection of the Parker Library, Corpus Christi College.

06/12/2025

The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Germanic settlers who became one of the most important cultural groups in Britain by the 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period in Britain is considered to have started by about 450 and ended in 1066, with the Norman Conquest.[1] Although the details of their early settlement and political development are not clear, by the 8th century an Anglo-Saxon cultural identity which was generally called Englisc had developed out of the interaction of these settlers with the existing Romano-British culture. By 1066, most of the people of what is now England spoke Old English, and were considered English. Viking and Norman invasions changed the politics and culture of England significantly, but the overarching Anglo-Saxon identity evolved and remained dominant even after these major changes.[2] Late Anglo-Saxon political structures and language are the direct predecessors of the high medieval Kingdom of England and the Middle English language. Although the modern English language owes less than 26% of its words to Old English, this includes the vast majority of everyday words.

06/12/2025

🔍 New discoveries from Tower Beach 🏰

A small group of archaeologists recently undertook a survey of Tower Beach by the Tower of London and we were really excited when they shared some of their finds with us!

In the mid 1900s, the foreshore of the River Thames by the Tower of London was a popular urban beach for Londoners and day trippers alike. But the layers of history found here stretch much further back than the 20th century.

📸 Here are just a few intriguing Roman, medieval and post-medieval artefacts the team found…

1. Bellarmine pottery shard, circa 1550-1650
2. Cheering man
3. Key
4. Medieval bookclasp
5. Roman mortaria
6. The archaeology team outside Traitors’ Gate
7. View of Tower Bridge from Tower Beach

Thanks to Nathalie Cohen, The Portable Antiquities Scheme and Port of London Authority.

05/12/2025

05/12/2025

🔸 The Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus is a theatre in the Greek city of Epidaurus, located on the southeast end of the sanctuary dedicated to the ancient Greek God of medicine, Asclepius. It is built on the west side of Cynortion Mountain, near modern Lygourio, and belongs to the Epidaurus Municipality. Constructed in late 4th century BC.

04/12/2025

Offering Bowl with Bacchus, Hercules, and Coins, Roman, about A.D. 210; gold

04/12/2025

Ancient Gold Unearthed from Irish Soil
Discovered near Ballyshannon, Ireland in the late 1600s, this delicate gold disc is one of the earliest prehistoric treasures ever recorded in the British Isles. Linked to local legends of a giant’s burial adorned in gold, it was later illustrated in the 1695 edition of Britannia.

Crafted over 4,000 years ago during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–2100 BCE), this "sun-disc" is formed from a wafer-thin sheet of gold and decorated with raised geometric patterns and a central cross motif. These rare objects may have once adorned ceremonial garments and are often found in ancient burials—either singly or in pairs.

Now housed in the European Prehistory gallery, the Ballyshannon Disc offers a shimmering glimpse into the symbolic world of early metalwork and ritual in prehistoric Ireland.

04/12/2025

A sculpture so big, architects had to raise the roof of the temple where it would sit: The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, 42 feet tall, was a masterpiece of the famed sculptor Phidias and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. A fire destroyed it, but digital 3D modeling has given archaeologists the chance to envision it again.

archaeology.org/issues/november-december-2025/collection/statue-of-zeus-at-olympia/secrets-of-the-seven-wonders/

(📸 Juan de Lara; Smith Archive/Alamy)

04/12/2025

Ammonia and Ammonite words derive from Amun (the Egyptian God) via the Greek form, Ammon.

The Romans called the ammonium chloride they collected from deposits near the Temple of Jupiter-Amun in ancient Libya sal ammoniacus (salt of Amun).

Ammonites (extinct shelled cephalopods) were called so due to their spiral shells resembling a ram's, and Ammon's, horns.

The regions of the hippocampus in the brain are called the cornu ammonis – literally "Amun's Horns", due to their appearance.

Image: Zeus-Amon, merging the highest deities of two different great cultures, Egyptian and Greek.

04/12/2025

The monumental Statue of Zeus at Olympia in Greece was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World 👑👑👑

Created in the 430s BCE under the supervision of the master Greek sculptor Phidias, the huge ivory and gold statue was bigger even than that of Athena in the Parthenon. Worshipped by pilgrims from across the Mediterranean, the statue inspired countless imitations and defined the standard representation of Zeus in Greek and Roman art in sculpture, on coins, pottery, and gemstones. Lost in later Roman times following its removal to Constantinople, Phidias' masterpiece captivated the ancient world for 1,000 years and was the must-see sight for anyone who attended the ancient Olympic Games.

The statue of mighty Zeus was over 12.4 m (41 ft) high and represented the god seated on a throne. It was bigger even than Phidias' Athena Parthenos in Athens. The Zeus statue, like Athena, was chryselephantine, that is a combination of gold and ivory over a wooden core, with the god's skin (face, torso, arms and legs) being in ivory and his beard, robes, and staff rendered in brilliant gold, applied in hammered sheets. Fine details were picked out using a wide variety of materials: silver, copper, glass (for the decorative lilies of the god's robes), ebony, enamel, paint, and jewels. The clay moulds discovered in Phidias' workshop for a similar statue suggest that it was first erected there in pieces - the size of the workshop is exactly the same dimensions as the inner cella of the temple - and then reassembled at its final destination. The wooden core could not have been fully sculpted or the moulds would have been unnecessary to shape the outer gold pieces.

Zeus' throne - made using ivory, ebony, and gold, and encrusted with glass and gems - was embellished with relief sculpture depicting a wide range of figures from Greek mythology, many of which were considered the offspring of Zeus. There are the Graces (Charites), the Seasons (Horae), various Nikes, sphinxes, Amazons, and the children of Niobe. The screens between the legs of the throne were painted by Phidias' brother Panaenus (Panainos) and depicted the Labours of Hercules, Achilles with Penthesilea, Hippodamia

04/12/2025

In 1787, King George III gave Caroline Herschel an annual salary of £50 to be her brother's astronomical assistant, making her the first woman in history to be paid for scientific work. She would go on to discover eight comets and fourteen nebulae on her own.