Table of contents for Issue 159 in All About History

The Circus Maximus was the ancient Roman equivalent of a modern-day stadium. This huge sports venue was host to a plethora of exciting, dangerous and exhilarating activities enjoyed by the entire city. The circus was originally built in the 6th century BCE as a chariot racetrack, located in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills. Its main purpose was to host the Roman Games, the oldest and most famous games in the city. Held every September, the event featured 15 days of perilous, heart-pounding chariot races. Chariot racing was no casual pastime; there was huge monetary and personal reward for those brave riders who emerged from the track victorious. Similar to modern footballers, chariot racers were beloved by fans and celebrated for their valiant victories. However, winning was no…

Over the centuries, many sports have come and gone. What ancient sports have survived to the modern day? Many ancient Greek sports have survived to the present day; in fact, most of the sports that made up the Panhellenic festivals (the Olympics, Pythian Games, Isthmian Games and Nemean Games) are still practised, though the specifics may have changed. The ancient Greeks, for example, ran footraces of various distances: the stadion (one length of the stadium, or around 200 metres), the diaulos (two lengths of the stadium) and the dolichos (anywhere from eight to 24 lengths of the stadium). Two of the so-called combat sports, wrestling and boxing, remain popular and have long histories in the modern era. Ancient Greek boxing is similar to modern boxing, except the ancient Greeks did…

In 1940 China was in a state of utter turmoil. The country was overrun with foreign invaders, the government was powerless, and the workers fought among themselves for the scraps falling from the tables of petty warlords. How had the celestial kingdom come to this? The communists knew the answer – through the arrogance and pomposity of China’s noble emperors. Communism changed all that and chased away the ‘foreign devils’, pushed aside their rightist puppets and by 1949 had established a people’s China. The self-styled driving force behind this revolution was Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and a man of the people. Rising from proletariat beginnings in rural Hunan, Mao had grown up with revolutionary fervour in his veins. Having witnessed the destruction of Chinese power…

Director: Steve McQueen Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson Country: UK Year: 2024 The director of 12 Years A Slave attempts to show the good and bad of 1940s London 01 Blitz follows Rita (Ronan) and her son George (Heffernan) as children are being evacuated from London. Rita is an amalgam of the factory-worker women of this time and George was inspired by a photograph from 1940 of a boy with a suitcase. 02 Having sent her son away, Rita volunteers at a bomb shelter. It’s run by Mickey Davies (Leigh Gill), a real figure who was voted to be chief shelter marshal for his area. He ran a free medical service from the shelter, considered a precursor to the NHS. 03 George escapes the train and walks back to…

22 August 2004 MUNCH MUSEUM ROBBERY Two paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, The Scream and Madonna, were stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo during the middle of the day. The heist was carried out by two armed robbers, who tore the works off the wall. As they exited the museum, no alarms were set off. In 2005 six men were charged for their part in the audacious robbery, and the paintings were recovered a year later. Luckily, the artworks had only suffered minimal damage and were returned to the museum. 26 August 1978 JOHN PAUL I ELECTED AS POPE Following the death of Pope Paul VI, a conclave was held at the Vatican to choose the next pontiff. After just two days of voting, Italian cardinal Albino Luciani…

Ancient Greece, 530 BCE In ancient Greece as in the world of contemporary sports, the winners of various athletic competitions were given trophies. And for these ancient athletes no prize was greater than the amphorae – large decorated vases. The vases contained olive oil – the real prize for the athletes –gathered from the sacred groves of Athena herself. Each vase would hold around 40 litres of oil. The amphora shown here was not awarded after any standard contest, but for a very special celebration. Taking place from 566 BCE to some time in the 3rd century CE, the Panathenaic Games were part of the wider Panathenaic festival, arguably the most important event held in Athens. Mixing religion with culture and sport, the festival took place every four years, over…

1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF OLYMPIA ELIS, GREECE The remains of Olympia, the original home of the ancient Greek Olympic Games, sit on the western side of the Peloponnese in southern Greece. This celebration of athletic ability and competition was started in 776 BCE and recurred every four years, just as the modern games. It was complemented by other Hellenistic games in alternate years, taking place in other cities, so there was a major competition held annually. Among the ruins of Olympia you can see temples and other buildings, as well as the remains of many sporting structures. Olympia goes back much further than its sporting legacy, however, with structures dating to about 2000 BCE and reaching forward to the 600s CE. Important buildings include the Heraion, the temple of Hera…

“I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than a poet can help the inspiration to sing”HH Holmes The horrifying crimes of serial killers have long held a macabre grip on the public’s imagination. The United States has seen 3,613 serial murderers between 1900 and 2020, compared to England’s 176, and the first documented case dates from two centuries ago: HH Holmes. He bragged of slaughtering 27 people, but later accounts suggest the number may have been far higher. These victims are said to have met their demise in Holmes’ ‘Murder Castle’ – a labyrinthine nightmare of secret passages, acid baths, gas chambers and basement dissecting tables. Today, Holmes has metamorphosed into a contemporary boogeyman, his crimes…

Tales of witches have existed throughout history and across many different cultures. At one point considered a very real and serious threat, these alleged enchantresses have also permeated popular culture through folklore, myths and fairytales. One of the most fearsome witches originates in the legends of the Slavic peoples: Baba Yaga. This terrifying sorceress with a monstrous visage travels in a flying mortar with a pestle and lives in a house that stands on huge chicken-like legs. Here, folklore expert Willow Winsham tells us all about the history of this mythical – and certainly unique – witch. Who, or what, is Baba Yaga? Baba Yaga is an iconic witch-like figure from Slavic folk and fairytales. She has become one of the most prominent and well-recognised characters in Slavic mythology, and…

One of the most moving scenes in both James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic and the 1958 film A Night to Remember is of Thomas Andrews, the man who designed the ship, standing in despair at the fireplace in the Smoking Room of Titanic and adjusting a clock. He’s taken off his life jacket and is resigned to his fate and the loss of his greatest achievement as a naval architect. Based on the testimony of a steward, who remarked that Andrews looked “stunned”, it’s the iconic image of the only man who was present at the birth and the death of the ill-fated ship. While the stillness of this portrayal of Andrews has almost quasi-religious overtones suitable for the quiet hero of Titanic, it does not reflect his actual indefatigable…

For centuries, pious people have undertaken long, arduous journeys to display their religious devotion and visit sites of spiritual significance. These ventures, known as pilgrimages, also served as spiritual and moral journeys for an individual who wished to bring themselves closer to their god, expunge themselves of sin or heal themselves from a specific malady. Pilgrims travelled to a number of different destinations, from large religious buildings and historic sites, to places of religious significance such as shrines to saints or holy historical figures. It’s unclear when the first Christian pilgrimage in Europe took place, but by the 4th century CE they were a well-established aspect of Christian faith. During the Middle Ages, the Christian Church was one of the main pillars of most communities and religion had a significant role…

DEATH TO ORDER A MODERN HISTORY OF ASSASSINATION A fascinating study of the sharp edge of international diplomacy Author: Simon Ball Publisher: Yale University Press Price: £25 Released: Out now The term assassination in a historical context immediately brings to mind high-profile, sometimes still hotly debated, cases. Today, assassination, being the premeditated killing of an individual for ideological or political reasons, is prohibited under international law. Even so, as Simon Ball’s new examination of assassination through the 20th century makes clear, that doesn’t appear to have stopped it from being important. From Archduke Ferdinand to John F Kennedy, the killing of prominent political figures had a massive impact on the shaping of the 20th century. Ball is a professor at the University of Leeds specialising in the history of international…

Serves: 3-4 Prep time: 15 mins Cooking time: 35 mins 120g flour1 egg2 tbsp water60g breadcrumbs1/2 tbsp celery seedSalt and pepper to taste1 chicken quartered, or equivalent weight of breast, thigh and wings60ml cooking oil8 pieces of streaky bacon BÉCHAMEL SAUCE 1 tbsp butter1 tbsp flour120ml milk120ml stock (vegetable, chicken or mushroom) BANANA 3 tbsp butter3 medium ripe bananas Surviving menus from the Titanic give us a glimpse at what the passengers ate. There are notable differences between the different ticket classes (oysters for first class, smoked herring for third, for example). Among the luncheon options on 14 April 1912, the day before the ship sank, was chicken à la Maryland. The options in first class were largely staples of French cuisine and well-prepared, upscale dishes. Chicken à la Maryland…