Curated category
Humanities
- LiteratureIn the 4th millennium BC, trade and administration in Mesopotamia grew too complex for human memory alone. Writing emerged as a dependable method to record…
- The artsThe arts, or creative arts, are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation.
- SatireThe word satire comes from the Latin term satur, meaning full. A subsequent phrase lanx satura shifted this definition to miscellany or medley.
- Art historyIn 1992, a student in Virginia opened a textbook titled Art History: A Contextual Inquiry Course. That book defined the field as an academic discipline…
- HistoryThe word history comes from the Ancient Greek term historia, meaning inquiry or investigation. This root established a foundation for studying the human past…
- TragedyIn the 6th century BCE, Athenian tragedy emerged as a dance-drama form during an annual state religious festival honoring Dionysus.
- TragicomedyThe Roman comic playwright Plautus coined the term tragicomoedia in Latin during the prologue to his play Amphitryon. He used the word somewhat facetiously…