History

Someone smashed Hatshepsut's statues and buried them in a pit, even though she had ruled Egypt as pharaoh. Her story is one of several below, running from the ancient world onward, where the record is often disputed or damaged. Joan of Arc was convicted of heresy in 1431, and a second court threw out that verdict in 1456. The Library of Alexandria held a number of scrolls that nobody can pin down, with guesses up to 700,000. Mansa Musa ran short of money on his pilgrimage and borrowed from Egyptian merchants. The Rosetta Stone took over twenty years to decode.

• Julius CaesarJulius Caesar was stabbed at least twenty-three times by some sixty conspirators.

  12 min
• Alexander the GreatAt ten, Alexander the Great tamed a horse that his father had ordered taken away.

  11 min
• Knights TemplarKing Philip IV of France had the Knights Templar's Grand Master arrested at dawn on October 13, 1307.

  12 min
• Ernest ShackletonErnest Shackleton and two men crossed South Georgia's mountains on foot to fetch a rescue.

  14 min
• CleopatraCleopatra was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.

  12 min
• Gunpowder PlotGuy Fawkes was caught guarding barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords in 1605.

  11 min
• HistoryThe word history can mean the past itself or a book about it. The past cannot change, but the texts about it do.

  9 min
• HannibalAccording to tradition, Hannibal was nine when his father made him swear never to be Rome's friend.

  12 min
• Genghis KhanGenghis Khan's birth year is still debated, and he may not have known it himself.

  11 min
• Joan of ArcJoan of Arc was convicted of heresy in 1431, but a second court overturned every word of that verdict in 1456.

  10 min
• PompeiiPompeii grew from five Oscan villages into a Roman colony over roughly seven centuries.

  17 min
• Library of AlexandriaNobody can say how many scrolls the Library of Alexandria held. Estimates go as high as 700,000.

  10 min
• Mansa MusaMansa Musa ran out of money on his pilgrimage to Mecca and borrowed from Egyptian merchants.

  11 min
• HatshepsutSomeone smashed Hatshepsut's statues and buried them in a pit. She had ruled Egypt as pharaoh.

  12 min
• Rosetta StoneDecoding the Rosetta Stone took more than two decades and ended in accusations of plagiarism.

  14 min
• Silk RoadThe Silk Road was a web of Asian trade routes spanning over 6400 km, active until the mid-15th century.

  12 min