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

Unlocking the Mystery of a Mummy’s Scream • A new study of the “screaming” woman found in Egypt in 1935 attributes the grimace to a rare bodily reaction at the time of death.

AN ELITE KINSWOMAN?

JAW-DROPPING DISCOVERIES

A LIFE BEHIND THE SCREAM

The Great Compromise • A deadlock over the distribution of power threatened to derail the creation of a constitution for the newly formed United States.

1,000 DAYS IN AMERICA

A Persistent Path to Invention

Louis Braille: Pioneer With a Visionary Touch • Two hundred years ago, the son of a saddler from a rural French village devised a revolutionary writing system of raised dots for blind people—at the age of 15.

A REMARKABLE STRENGTH

A TRAGIC ACCIDENT

AN EAR FOR MUSIC

THE RAPHIGRAPHE

THE NEW ART OF BRAILLE

GLOBAL STAMP OF APPROVAL

THE SYMBOLIC POT

The Janissaries, Source of Ottoman Glory and Decline • The sultan’s shock troops drove Ottoman greatness, but later their mutinies weakened the state on which they depended.

The Börk: An Elaborate Hat of Feathers and Spoons

Drumming Up Fear

NATURE CURE

The Birth of the Drugstore in Medieval Europe • Emerging in monastic institutions, pharmacies were later incorporated into medieval guilds to serve the general public.

A Pharmacist Behind the Counter

From the Garden to the Apothecary’s Shop

BABYLON LAW AND LIFE IN THE GREAT CITY • The kings of the Old Babylonian Empire turned this town into the biggest city the world had seen. Along with the pioneering legal code of Hammurabi, a wealth of tablets provide rich details on how Babylonians settled disputes, managed family life, and celebrated festivals.

CITY OF CITIES

“THE RULE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”

ATTITUDES ON ABORTION

NEW YEAR PRAISE FOR MARDUK

UNDERGROUND TOMB OF NEFERTARI • The magnificent paintings that decorate Nefertari’s tomb in the Valley of the Queens illustrate her ascent from the realm of death toward the light of Re.

THE JEWEL OF EGYPTIAN ART

THE ORIGINS OF THE PHOENICIANS • The Bible states that the great ocean traders of Tyre and Sidon were newcomers. However, the latest archaeological findings show the Phoenicians had deep roots in the region.

TYRE, CARTHAGE, AND CÁDIZ

‘RICHER IN FISHES THAN IN SAND’

TYRE, AN AGE-OLD CITY

THE GODS OF CANAAN • The extensive pantheon of Phoenician cities included many divinities of Canaanite origin. Notable among them were El, god of creation; Baal, god of fertility; Astarte, also associated with renewal and nature; and Resheph, associated with plague and war.

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE • Environmental disasters and devastating epidemics triggered the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late fifth century.

DECLINE AND FALL

BATHING IN GERMS AND PARASITES

THE GERBIL, THE POX, AND THE PLAGUE

MALARIA HOLDS OFF THE HUNS

‘IT DESTROYED MANKIND’: THE PLAGUE OF CYPRIAN • In the middle of the third century, an epidemic spread through swaths of the Roman Empire. A hemorrhagic fever, whose horrific symptoms were vividly recorded by the bishop of Carthage, compounded Rome’s economic and military crises.

BAD KING JOHN England’s Reviled Monarch • A malevolent counterpoint to his brother Richard the Lionheart, King John has gone down in history as a disloyal...