National Geographic History

See how National Geographic History magazine inflames and quenches the curiosity of history buffs and informs and entertains anyone who appreciates that the truth indeed is stranger than fiction with a digital subscription today. And that history is not just about our forebears. It’s about us. It’s about you.

FROM THE EDITOR

National Geographic History

Ancient Greeks Threw Curses Down the Well • At an ancient Athenian cemetery, archaeologists found evidence of people making dark appeals to the gods to bring misfortune to others.

THE CASE OF THE TONGUE-TIED POLITICIAN

Lakshmi Bai, Freedom Fighter of India • In 1858 Lakshmi Bai, ruler of Jhansi in northern India, took on the mighty British East India Company to save her kingdom. Her valor made her an enduring national legend.

Rebel Queen of Jhansi

FACE OF THE QUEEN

Death Train Out of London • As London ran out of burial space in the 1800s, Victorian entrepreneurs funded what they thought would be a profitable enterprise: a railway for the dead.

END OF THE LINE

Revolutionary Measures • As the French Revolution raged in the 1790s, French scientists were replacing the country’s assorted weights and measures with one unified system. They succeeded, but it would take years of political upheaval before the French learned to embrace the meter.

MARKING TIME

INCALCULABLE HARDSHIPS

Meet the Meter

AMENHOTEP AND TIYE • For almost four decades, Amenhotep III and his great royal wife, Tiye, ruled Egypt during one of its greatest eras of splendor.

A BEAUTIFUL PARTNERSHIP

THE ROYAL FEMALE LINE

PARENTS OF THE QUEEN

PHARAOH’S TEMPLE FOR THE SUN

RULING LIKE A KING • In the necropolis of El Assasif, in Upper Egypt, stands the tomb of Kheruef, who was a steward to Great Royal Wife Tiye. Various reliefs within the tomb depict the ceremonies that took place during Tiye and Amenhotep’s first jubilee festival and show the partnership the queen shared with the pharaoh.

LUMBINI BIRTHPLACE OF THE BUDDHA • The influence of Siddhartha Gautama on the world is plain to see, but the facts about his life remain elusive. Archaeologists are exploring one of Buddhism’s most sacred sites, his birthplace in Nepal, for more insight into the life and times of the Buddha.

THE SACRED TREES OF BUDDHISM

SACRED STORIES IN STON • Built in the third century B.C., the Great Stupa at Amaravati was one of Buddhism’s most important monuments in ancient India. Visiting pilgrims could visit the stupa and see elaborate reliefs depicting the Buddha’s life. Some of these artworks, such as this one depicting his birth, can now be seen in the galleries of the British Museum.

CAESARION HEIR TO CLEOPATRA’S EGYPT • Cleopatra’s love affair with Julius Caesar produced one child: a son, best known to the world as Caesarion, “little Caesar.” The young prince stood to inherit his mother’s throne, burgeoned by his blood ties to Rome, but the death of Caesar led to the downfall of his dynasty.

LAST DAYS OF A DYNASTY

Sacred Imagery

Portraits of a Prince

THE CHILDREN’S FATES • After he had their brother Caesarion executed, Octavian took Cleopatra’s three other children (all by Mark Antony) back with him to Rome.

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY • Stretching nearly 230 feet long, the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry chronicles William the Conqueror’s overthrow of the Anglo-Saxon king in 1066. From beginning to end, history unfolds like a movie, as each vivid scene shows how the Normans conquered England.

Stitches in Time

EMBROIDERY BY NUMBERS

IMAGES OF INVASION • The following pages show eight key scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry, which is kept at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Normandy,...