1920s Style for a 1920s Price

I t was a warm summer afternoon and my wife and I

were mingling with the best of them. The occasion
was a 1920s-themed party, and everyone was dressed to
the nines. Parked on the manse’s circular driveway was
a beautiful classic convertible. It was here that I got the
idea for our new 1920s Retrograde Watch.
Never ones to miss an opportunity, we carefully steadied
our glasses of bubbly and climbed into the car’s long front
seat. Among the many opulent features on display was a
series of dashboard dials that accentuated the car’s lavish
aura. One of those dials inspired our 1920s Retrograde
Watch, a genuinely unique timepiece that marries
timeless style with modern technology.
With its remarkable retrograde hour and
minute indicators, sunburst guilloche face
and precision movement, this design is truly
one of a kind. What does retrograde mean?
Instead of displaying the hands rotating on
an axis like most watches, the hands sweep
in a semicircle, then return to their starting
point and begin all over again.
Retrograde watches by the big brands can set
you back thousands; one recent offering from a
big French fashion house is selling for more than
$150,000! But because we’ve designed the 1920s
Retrograde Watch in-house, we can offer it to you
for just $99!
This watch is so wildly popular with our customers that
we’re actually concerned about running out; we only
have 937 729 left for this ad!

Watch Specifications:
• Precision movement
• Stainless steel case, caseback and crown “An elegant and exciting timepiece that
• Retrograde hour and minute indicators every collector will love.”
• Water-resistant to 5 ATM
• Brown genuine leather band — George Thomas, internationally
• Fits wrists up to 8" renowned watch expert
1920s Retrograde Watch
$399 $99* + S&P Save $300 “[A] unique and
*Special price only for customers using the offer code.
beautiful timepiece.”
1-800-333-2045 — Carlos C., Los Banos, CA
Your Insider Offer Code: RGW209-01

Stauer, 14101 Southcross Drive W., Ste 155, Dept. RGW209-01, Burnsville, MN 55337 www.stauer.com
 FROM THE EDITOR

Hatshepsut’s Mona Lisa smile was a

common sight in Egypt some 3,500 years ago. The pharaoh’s
likeness adorned temples, obelisks, and statues—until her
successor, Thutmose III, had her face hacked away from temple
walls, her name removed from official documents, and her
statues broken to bits.

At first, revenge looks like the motive. Hatshepsut kept

Thutmose off the throne for more than 20 years, first by ruling
as his regent and then becoming pharaoh outright. When
Thutmose finally took power, he could vent his rage. Except
Thutmose began erasing Hatshepsut’s reign decades after her
death, which hardly supports the passionate motivation.

Historians have settled on a more rational reason: succession.

As he grew older, Thutmose needed to secure his son’s position
as the next king, and portraying Hatshepsut as a false pharaoh
strengthened the claim. Once Thutmose’s heir took the throne,
the efforts to erase Hatshepsut trailed off, leaving the erasure
incomplete. The remnants of her rule remained for scholars to
find thousands of years later and restore her name to history.

Amy E. Briggs, Editor in Chief

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 1

 W I T N E S S T H E D AY T H AT
L I V E S O N 8 0 Y E A R S L AT E R

As you travel alongside a war historian on the Remembering D-Day: London to the Normandy
Beaches expedition, you’ll discover a place where time is irrelevant. Where the brave actions
of a few were so profound, they’ve become etched in eternity. So, come, and look with your
own eyes into the day that changed our world forever. Into the day that lives on.

N ATG E O E X P E D I T I O N S .C O M | 1 - 8 8 8 -3 51 -3 274
 VOL. 10 NO. 1

GOD’S HOUSE
Surrounded by gold and candlelight, a
high priest worships before the Ark of
the Covenant in Jerusalem’s First Temple,
built by King Solomon according to the
Bible, in this 21st-century illustration by
Balage Balogh.

Features Departments
6 NEWS
20 A Monument for a Million Years
Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s heir tried to erase every trace of her long rule over A 3,000-year-old tomb in the Peruvian
Egypt. But many millennia later, her Temple of a Million Years at Deir el highlands held the remains of a holy man,
Bahri still proclaims her glory in the splendor of its desert setting. believed to be the earliest evidence of an
elite priestly class in the pre-Inca Andes.

34 After the Temple 8 PROFILES

In the Bible, King Solomon builds a glorious temple to house Judaism’s most Porcia was the only woman who knew
sacred relics. Although the building itself no longer stands, the Temple of of the plot to kill Julius Caesar. Her
Jerusalem endures as a cornerstone of the Jewish faith and practice. grisly death made her a Stoic paragon,
but historians still question how she
really died.
50 Glittering Troves of Thrace
Ancient Thracians inspired fear among their Greek neighbors, who 12 DAILY LIFE
wove them into myths and legends, but recent finds of Thrace’s treasure In the 1300s, new textiles and tailoring
hoards are shedding light on the culture’s brilliance and complexity. sparked a European fashion revolution.
Men’s clothes became tighter while
women’s hats soared to greater heights.
62 Murdered for Her Mind
Hypatia of Alexandria was one of fifth-century Egypt’s greatest intellects, 16 MILESTONES
but her brilliance was extinguished because of political strife From the republic to the empire, Rome
between the city’s Christian and pagan powers. was plagued by pandemics. Romans
sought cures in prayers, sacrifices, and
rituals but could never conquer pestilence.
74 Secrets of Templo Mayor
In 1978 Mexico City workmen unearthed the 90 DISCOVERIES
center of the Aztec Empire: the pyramid of In 1983 a Spanish teenager found
Templo Mayor, whose ruins have revealed the stunning Roman mosaics beneath a
sacred rites of this powerful people. farmer’s field in Carranque. They belonged to
a lavish villa built in the empire’s waning years.
Huitzilopochtli, god of war and dedicatee of Templo Mayor, in a
16th-century illustration. Library of the National Assembly, Paris
 EDITOR IN CHIEF AMY E. BRIGGS

Deputy Editor JULIUS PURCELL

Editor TIARA BEATTY
Editorial Consultants JOSEP MARIA CASALS (Managing Editor, Historia)
IÑAKI DE LA FUENTE (Art Director, Historia)
VICTOR LLORET BLACKBURN (Editorial Consultant and Contributor)
Design Editor VERÓNICA MARCARIAN
Photography Editor MERITXELL CASANOVAS
Cartography Editors KATIE ARMSTRONG, CHRISTINE FELLENZ
Production Editor SEAN PHILPOTTS

PAINTED LIMESTONE HEAD OF Contributors

PHARAOH HATSHEPSUT FROM MCKENZIE BAKER, EMILY SHENK FLORY, SARAH PRESANT-COLLINS
HER TEMPLE AT DEIR EL BAHRI.
EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, CAIRO
WERNER FORMAN/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/ PUBLISHER JOHN MACKETHAN
GETTY IMAGES

Advertising ROB BYRNES

Consumer Marketing and Planning LAUREN BOYER, ANDREW DIAMOND, KATHERINE M. MILLER,
ZOLA POLYNICE, ROCCO RUGGIERI, SUSAN SHAW, JANET ZAVREL

Production Services JAMES ANDERSON, REBEKAH A. CAIN, JENNIFER HOFF, KRISTIN M. SEMENIUK
Customer Service SCOTT ARONSON, JORDAN HELLMUTH, TRACY PELT

for subscription questions, visit www.nghservice.com or call 1-800-647-5463.

to subscribe online, visit www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine.
for corrections and clarifications, visit natgeo.com/corrections.
while we do not accept unsolicited materials, we welcome your comments
and suggestions at [email protected].

PRESIDENT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CONTENT COURTENEY MONROE

EVP & GENERAL MANAGER DAVID E. MILLER

SENIOR MANAGEMENT
VICE PRESIDENT, SOCIAL MEDIA TULANI ANDRÉ
VICE PRESIDENT, INTEGRATED PLANNING & OPERATIONS MARCELO GALDIERI
VICE PRESIDENT, GROWTH STRATEGY & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT JULIANNE GALVIN
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR NATHAN LUMP
DIRECTOR, PRINT OPERATIONS JOHN MACKETHAN

COPYRIGHT © 2024 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND YELLOW BORDER DESIGN ARE
TRADEMARKS OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, USED UNDER LICENSE. PRINTED IN U.S.A.

PRESIDENT RICARDO RODRIGO

EDITOR ANA RODRIGO
CORPORATE MANAGING DIRECTOR JOAN BORRELL
MANAGING DIRECTOR ÁUREA DÍAZ
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR SUSANA GÓMEZ MARCULETA
EDITORIAL COORDINATOR MÒNICA ARTIGAS
MARKETING DIRECTOR BERTA CASTELLET
CREATIVE DIRECTOR JORDINA SALVANY

National Geographic History (ISSN 2380-3878) is published bimonthly in January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/
December by National Geographic Partners, LLC, 1145 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Volume 10, Number 1. $39 per year for U.S. delivery. Periodicals postage
paid at Washington, DC, and additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIBER: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation
unless we receive a corrected address within two years. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to National Geographic History, P.O. Box 37545, Boone, IA, 50037. In
Canada, agreement number 1000010298, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to National Geographic History, P.O Box 819 STN Main, Markham, ON L3P 9Z9.

Printed on 100% PEFC-Certified Paper-PEFC/29-31-58

Please recycle.
 On The Trail Of
LEWIS & CLARK
COLUMBIA AND SNAKE RIVERS
Follow Lewis and Clark’s epic 19th-century expedition along
the Columbia and Snake Rivers aboard the newest riverboat in
the region. Enjoy unique shore excursions, scenic landscapes,
and talented onboard experts who bring history to life.
Experience the
Cruise Close To Home® Grandeur of
Multnomah Falls

Spokane

WASHINGTON
Snak e Riv e r
IDAHO Call
800-894-8574
Astoria

Pacific Mount St. Helens Clarkston

Ocean Richland

Fort
Kalama
Stevenson

Colu
mbia River
Lewiston
to request a
Clatsop Hood River Hells
Umatilla
Canyon FREE
Portland The Dalles
Multnomah
Mt. Hood Pendleton
Cruise Guide
Falls
OREGON
AmericanCruiseLines.com
 NEWS

BURIED AROUND
1000 b.c., the Priest
of Pacopampa was
found beneath several
layers of ash and
black earth at the
ceremonial complex
at Pacopampa, Peru.
MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF PERU

COLOMBIA BEFORE THE INCA

ECUADOR

3,000-Year-Old Tomb
A

CAJAMARCA
Pacopampa
BRAZIL

Surprises Scholars
N

PERU
Lima D
BOLIVIA
PACIFIC
E
Lake
In Peru, a high priest’s grave dates to an earlier era than expected,
OCEAN
300 mi
Titicaca yielding a new understanding of the history of the ancient Andes.

A
S

300 km CHILE
rchaeologists in structures that was active be- Buried with him were three
BURIAL COMPLEX northern Peru tween 1200 and 700 b.c. stamps or seals. The first seal
Pacopampa is located have discovered Over nearly 20 years, the resembles a jaguar, indicating
some 8,200 feet a 3,000-year-old Project of Archaeological the priest’s status as a leader
above sea level in the burial. Inside it lay one of the Investigation has discovered who could harness the ani-
Cajamarca region first priests in ancient Andean numerous finds at Pacopampa. mal’s spiritual power. The sec-
of the Andes about
560 miles north of history, a man who lived well The latest one, the skeleton of ond one depicts a human face,
modern Lima, Peru. before the time of the Inca. an ancient religious leader in- and the third is in the shape of
Archaeologists believe The discovery was made in terred there around 1000b.c., a hand. Scholars believe people
the site was first settled the Pacopampa Archaeologi- has been named the Priest dipped the seals in paint and
around 1200 b.c. cal Complex, a 40-acre site of of Pacopampa because of his then stamped the images on
NG MAPS
monumental and ceremonial tomb’s contents. the priest’s skin.

6 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 NEWS

GOLDEN
DISCOVERIES
FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, Japan and Peru’s joint exca-
vation at Pacopampa has made a string of exciting
Three ceramic seals (hand, jaguar, and discoveries of rich burials. According to project
face) were found in the priest’s tomb.
The artifacts suggest the religious power director Yuji Seki, the site was “used for a relatively
of the buried person. long time,” meaning that each discovery reveals
MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF PERU the evolution of ancient Andean social and ritual
behavior over many centuries. The Priest of Paco-
pampa was interred around 900-750 b.c. About a
century after his burial, a high-ranking
woman was buried. When her tomb
was discovered in 2009, she
was dubbed the Lady of
Pacopampa. Around
700 b.c. the serpent
jaguar priests were
laid to rest, confirm- A gold necklace
ing that elite priestly from the serpent
jaguar priests’ tomb
burials—along with was found in 2015.
rich, golden grave The tomb also
goods—were be- contained a vessel
with a serpent’s tail
coming customary and jaguar’s head.
Workers carefully excavate at the site. PACOPAMPA
the tomb of the Priest of ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT
Pacopampa, one of four burials
found at the Pacopampa
Archaeological Complex.
MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF PERU

The find is “extremely with creating the social Gold earplugs, gold earrings,
important,” says Yuji Seki, conditions that allowed the and a small bluish green stone
were discovered in the Tomb
who leads researchers from earliest Andean civilizations of the Lady of Pacopampa
Japan’s National Museum of to rise,” says Seki. in 2009.
PACOPAMPA
Ethnology and Peru’s Nation- Similar burials, such as the ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

al University of San Marcos. Tomb of the Lady of Paco-

pampa (found in 2009) and
Deep Connections the Tomb of the Serpent Jaguar
The discovery of the priest Priests (found in 2015), have
is helping archaeologists at important connections to the ancestral elites visible through Excavations continue at
Pacopampa pinpoint when a Priest of Pacopampa, whose their burials: “I consider this the Pacopampa complex,
powerful priestly class first tomb may be as many as 300 to be evidence of the incor- with new discoveries on the
appeared in the region. Se- years older. poration of ancestor worship horizon. In 2022 a priestly
ki explains that Pacopampa Seki believes that these into the succession of power.” tomb at the site was uncov-
was at one time a pilgrim- later spiritual leaders made Worshipping ancestors was ered. Some believe it could be
age center, where people their relationship with of central importance to later even older than the Priest of
from near and far came Andean cultures in the region, Pacopampa, but analysis of
together to partic- A ceramic stamp (ca 1000 such as the Wari (ca a.d. 500- the tomb and its contents is
ipate in religious b.c.) depicting a human 1000), the Tiwanaku (ca a.d. still under way.
face was found buried with
rites. “These group the Priest of Pacopampa. 600-1000), and ultimately
rituals are credited MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF PERU the Inca (ca a.d. 1200-1533). —Braden Phillips

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 7

 PROFILES

Porcia, Loyal Heroine

of the Republic
A woman of firm political convictions, Porcia was the steadfast wife and staunch ally
of Brutus and a key supporter of his murderous plot against Julius Caesar.

hen Julius Caesar Growing Up Stoic

Woman of seemed increasing-
ly likely to embrace
Much of what is known about Porcia
comes largely from Greek historian
the Roman authoritarian rule, Plutarch (in his books about Brutus
Republic two men emerged as
the Roman Republic’s fiercest defend-
and Cato) and from Cassius Dio’s
Roman History, along with mentions
73 b.c. ers: Cato the Younger, who led resis- in other works. In all ancient refer-
tance to Caesar in the Senate, and his ences, she is “remembered as the
Porcia is born in Rome.
She is the only daughter nephew, Marcus Junius Brutus, who led member of Younger Cato’s family
of Marcus Porcius Cato the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar. who is most committed to her father’s
(Cato the Younger) and But there was another key player in the cause,” according to Judith P. Hallett,
his first wife, Atilia. tumultuous events surrounding Cae- professor emerita of classics at the
sar’s end: A woman who would come University of Maryland and author of
58 b.c. to embody strength under pressure and Fathers and Daughters in Roman Soci-
Porcia marries her unwavering loyalty. Her name was Por- ety: Women and the Elite Family.
first husband, Marcus cia. Daughter of Cato and wife of Bru- Porcia’s father, Cato the Younger (so
Calpurnius Bibulus. tus, Porcia Catonis (ca 73-43 b.c.) was named to distinguish him from his
The pair will have two
children. “the only woman who was privy to the great-grandfather Cato the Elder), was
plot,” as the Roman historian Cassius an old-guard aristocrat and republican.
49 b.c. Dio described her. A devotee of Stoic philosophy, Cato put
Porcia’s courage, logical mind, and virtue and civic responsibility above all
Civil war breaks out in
Rome. Both Porcia’s willingness to sacrifice were celebrat- else, an uncompromising idealism that
father and husband will ed by Roman historians and, centuries deeply influenced his daughter.
die as a result of the later, immortalized in William Shake- Early in the second century a.d.,
conflict. speare’s 1599 tragedy, Julius Caesar. Plutarch wrote that Porcia was “ad-
Many factors shaped this ex- dicted to philosophy” and praised her
45 b.c. traordinary person, but “sober-living and greatness of spirit,”
Porcia marries Marcus two stand out: the vol- in keeping with the Stoic rejection of
Junius Brutus. She will atile political climate luxury and commitment to justice.
support his participation
and the teachings of Based on his depiction, Porcia is often
in the plot to assassinate
Julius Caesar. her father. regarded as the first female Stoic.

ca 43 b.c.
Porcia dies, although
Cato put virtue and civic
historians will debate responsibility above all else, values
whether she dies by
suicide or from natural that imprinted on his daughter.
causes.
Marcus Porcius Cato. Bronze bust from the first century a.d.
Museum of History and Civilizations, Rabat, Morocco. DEA/ALBUM
8 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 A BURNING
QUESTION
THE DEBATE over Porcia’s sui-
cide continues today, as many
physicians doubt that she could
actually have swallowed burning
embers. Some speculate that
she simply died by inhaling
poison gas from lighting a
brazier in an unventilated
room. Others think that the
introduction of red-hot coals
into her mouth would have
caused a cardiorespiratory
arrest almost immediately.
On the other hand, Cato the
Younger died by tearing out
his own entrails with his hands,
so it is not impossible that his
daughter chose an excruciat-
ing method of death to
emulate her father.

“The Suicide of Porcia”

is attributed to baroque
artist Pierre Mignard.
17th century, Lambinet
Museum, Versailles
AGENCE BULLOZ/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

Marriages and Divorces Hortalus, asked to marry her. The aging, Porcia’s high-profile family was
As a very young woman, Porcia was childless widower wanted Porcia as his deeply involved with the Roman civil
wed to a political ally of her father. She wife in order to have an heir with her. war that began in 49 b.c., when Caesar
and Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus would After she gave birth, he promised to refused to yield his armies and territo-
have two children together before their return her to Bibulus. ries to the republic. Rome would split
relationship became complicated by a Bibulus was not a fan of this propos- into two factions, one led by Caesar and
distinctive Roman practice. In addition al and refused it. Cato also disliked the the other led by Pompey.
to arranged marriages, elite Romans idea of breaking his contract with Bib- The conservative Cato and Bibulus
also practiced arranged divorces, ending ulus. To avoid alienating Hortensius, both aligned with Pompey and found
one match in favor of another that was Cato agreed to divorce his own wife, themselves on the losing side of the
more advantageous. Marcia, and offered her instead. Hort- war. Bibulus, leader of Pompey’s fleet
Porcia was about 20 when one such ensius agreed and the plan went ahead. on the Adriatic, died of illness around
proposal came her way. Another of her After Hortensius’s death, Cato would 48 b.c. Cato took his own life in Utica
father’s allies, Quintus Hortensius remarry Marcia. (modern-day Tunisia) when Caesar’s

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 9

 PROFILES

FINAL STAND
Porcia’s husband
Brutus was defeated
by Octavian and
Mark Antony near
the Roman colony
of Philippi, in north-
eastern Greece, in
42 b.c.
GETTY IMAGES

troops won the nearby Battle of Thap- war, Brutus sided with Pompey, but in Plans and Plots
sus in 46 b.c. the aftermath of the war, Caesar In the months that followed, Brutus,
In Rome Porcia watched as Caesar pardoned him and even made him gov- along with other senators alarmed by
amassed power. Rather than resign ernor of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy). Caesar’s ambition, embarked on a plot
herself to a dictatorship, she continued Brutus’s sympathies for the old repub- to assassinate him. Although politics
to believe in the old republic. In 45 b.c. lic, however, had not waned. Marrying was primarily a male domain in Roman
she married Marcus Junius Brutus, a Cato’s daughter (and divorcing his wife culture, Porcia pledged to aid her hus-
onetime ally of Caesar who would Claudia to do so) was a way to reaffirm band because of her family’s beliefs.
famously turn against him. During the his commitment. According to Plutarch, she noticed a
change in her husband and questioned
him. When Brutus wouldn’t answer,
she wounded her own thigh with a
knife. The act was a plea that her
CLOSE CONFIDANT husband show her trust and
respect: “Brutus, I am Cato’s
IN SHAKESPEARE’S Julius Caesar (1599), Portia senses daughter, and I was brought into
her husband Brutus’s distraction and beseeches thy house, not, like a mere con-
him to confide in her: It will not let you eat nor talk nor cubine, to share thy bed and board
sleep, /And could it work so much upon your shape merely, but to be a partner in thy
/ As it hath much prevailed on your condition, / I joys, and a partner in thy troubles.”
should not know you Brutus. Dear my lord, / Make
me acquainted with your cause of grief.
Porcia (Portia) is seen in an engraving from an 1840
edition of Shakespeare’s play. ADOC-PHOTOS/ALBUM

10 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 ‘MY BODY … CAN
KEEP SILENCE’
WHEN BRUTUS resisted telling
Porcia what troubled him, she
decided the only way to win his
trust was to show an ability to
withstand the pain that might
be used to force his secret out
of her. This trial by fire—a self-
inflicted wound in her leg—was a
Stoical response: By facing down
pain, one could find endurance.
“I found that my body also can
keep silence,” she told Brutus, as
recounted by historian Cassius
Dio. “Therefore fear not, but tell
me all you are concealing from
me, for neither fire, nor lashes,
nor goads will force me to di-
vulge a word.” She added that if
he still mistrusted her, she could
no longer see herself as “daugh-
ter of Cato or your wife.”
Porcia demonstrates her resolve to her
husband Brutus (in red). Nicolas-Bernard
Lépicié, 1777. Palais des Beaux-arts, Lille.
PHILIPP BERNARD/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

Her resolve prompted Brutus to re- either by swallowing hot coals or inhal- of his wife: “Though she lacks the
veal his plan to assassinate Caesar. ing carbon monoxide. strength of men, she is as valiant and as
Moreover, wrote Plutarch, she in- In one version, the poet Martial active for the good of her country as the
spired him to see his plot to the end. wrote that Porcia, seeking a weapon to best of us.”
“When he saw the wound, Brutus, end her life (they had been hidden by William Shakespeare in particular
amazed, and lifting his hands to heav- attendants), exclaimed: “‘You know not found great inspiration in the character
en, prayed that he might succeed in his yet that death cannot be denied: I had of Porcia through his reading of
undertaking and thus show himself a supposed that my father had taught you Plutarch. In addition to the historical
worthy husband of Porcia.” this lesson by his fate. She spoke, and character of Porcia (spelled Portia) in
After Caesar’s death on March 15, with eager mouth swallowed the blaz- Julius Caesar, her name also appears
44 b.c., Brutus fled Rome to avoid the ing coals.” Plutarch tells a similar story. in The Merchant of Venice (1596-98), in
wrath of Caesar loyalists, while Porcia which it is given to the brilliant woman
remained in the capital. She followed Symbol of Strength determined to assert herself in a male
her husband’s fortunes as he fought to One key piece of evidence, however, world by impersonating a lawyer.
defend the republic against Octavian, puts Porcia’s suicide in doubt: The Ro- As a symbol of bravery and devotion,
Caesar’s heir, in alliance with Mark man statesman and orator Cicero wrote Porcia has resonated through history.
Antony. Finally, Porcia received the a letter to Brutus in 43 b.c. lamenting Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, the
news that Brutus had been defeated in Porcia’s death, which means that Porcia second U.S. president and first U.S. vice
the Battle of Philippi (42 b.c.) and, like died before her husband. Cicero’s words president, signed letters to him as Por-
her father, Cato, had taken his own life. imply that she died of natural causes. tia, in recognition of the “patriotic sac-
What happened next is not known The legend of a violent suicide ap- rifice” of Brutus’s Stoic wife.
for certain. The more dramatic ending peared later but took root in the popu-
has a devastated Porcia killing herself, lar imagination. Plutarch has Brutus say —Juan Luis Posadas

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 11

 PHILIP THE GOOD and his court are
depicted in a miniature from the mid-
15th-century manuscript Chronicles
of Hainaut, illustrated by Rogier van
der Weyden. Bibliotheque Royale de
Belgique, Brussels
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

Medieval Times Gave

Birth to Modern Fashion
Draped, shapeless garments were replaced by taller, pointier, and tighter clothes in 14th-
century Europe, when newly rich merchants vied with nobles to be in vogue.

P
lague, famine, and war blight- Aristocratic men and wealthy mer- concealed their legs, but the garments
ed the 14th century, but the chants started donning short, tight came in more colors and fabrics. The
period was also marked by an doublets, brightly colored woolen greatest change for women sat atop
exciting revolution in fashion. tights, and elaborate hoods with dan- their heads. Known as hennins, these
Out went the baggy, amorphous robes gling tails. Footwear that had long been headdresses could be a short, flat cap
that had been swathing people for hidden under robes was now revealed to or a tall, pointy cone. Veils often draped
centuries, and in came startlingly lean, the public gaze. These pointed leather off the back, while the hat itself add-
body-conscious styles that revealed the shoes were known for their extremely ed height and accentuated the wearer’s
silhouette (at least for men). The sweep- long toes. forehead.
ing transformation in European elite Although the change was less marked
clothing is regarded by many historians for women, a shift in feminine style was Tailored for Individuals
as the birth of modern Western fashion. also notable. They still wore dresses that Advances in garment construction

12 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 DA I LY L I F E

and soon they grew too expensive for

FASHION people in the lower social orders.
AND POWER Fast Fashion
This sea change in fashion quickly con-
MEN’S FASHION reached a climax of quered western Europe, likely because
splendor at the court of Burgundy of a shared court culture. Expanding
in the mid-15th century, exempli- choice gave rise to markets and indus-
fied in Rogier van der Weyden’s tries in specialized fabrics, ornaments,
painting (left). Under the 48-year and garments. Along with Europe’s well
rule of Philip the Good, the court established woolens industry, exotic
was famed for its short, cinched fabrics like silk, damask, and velvet, pre-
jackets and pointed shoes. Fash- viously imported, were now manufac-
ion, culture, and power meshed:
tured in Italy and northern Belgium.
Philip named Flemish master Jan
With access to greater choice and grow-
van Eyck court painter, and Flan-
ders replaced Paris as the center ing commercialization came another
of polyphonic music, a flowering mainstay of modern fashion: rapid
that rivaled the emerging glories of change. “During the 14th century, men’s
Renaissance Italy far to the south. fashion changed as rapidly as decade by
Philip was also a power broker decade, when before it was over the
who nimbly grew his territories. course of centuries,” Wilson explained.
In 1430 he founded the Order “That system is still with us, only to a
of the Golden Fleece (at left, he greater extreme.”
wears the necklace of the order), Constant sartorial change was not
a military group that celebrated to everyone’s liking, especially those
the chivalric tradition and added with more conservative outlooks. In
prestige to his rule. the 1340s, the anonymous English au-
thor of The Westminster Chronicle took
offense at “changing various deformi-
ties of clothing yearly” and abandoning
played an essential part in changing helped redefine fashion. An emerging “the ancient honesty of long, loose gar-
fashions. Earlier textile manufacture merchant class was seeking social rec- ments.” The “deformities” was a refer-
was shaped by rectangular looms, pro- ognition while, above them, aristocrats ence to the variety of tailoring: “short,
ducing large, square, angular material were evolving gradations of status, both tight, dagged, cut, laced and tied and
that did not conform to the contours of to distinguish themselves from other buttoned everywhere, with sleeves and
the body. But in the 14th century, aristocrats and from the ever wealthier tippets of surcoats and hoods too long,
wealthy men’s clothing started to be merchant class beneath them. These
made from smaller, separate pieces of status wars were expressed through
fabric, which allowed greater construc- their clothes. Tailors were in demand,
tion and more variety in design. Design-
ers began to shift from draping fabric to
cutting, sewing, and tailoring it.
“The idea of clothing which, for the HIDING THE BODY
first time, was truly custom-made to
fit an individual’s body implies a new BEFORE THE 14TH CENTURY, elite men
relationship between the clothing and and women wore long tunics with
the wearer,” said Laurel A. Wilson, a pleats and layers of fabric that fell
researcher in the history of fashion loosely, obscuring the body. Men’s
at the Center for Medieval Studies at tunics were usually somewhat
Fordham University. shorter than women’s.
Wilson points to the 1330s as the A troubadour and his lady in the 12th-century
Codex Manesse. University of Heidelberg
pivotal decade of change. That’s when TARKER/BRIDGEMAN
various social and economic factors
DA I LY L I F E

LORDS AND LADIES

Richly attired French nobles exchange
rings in Très Riches Heures du Duc de
Berry, an early 15th-century illuminated
manuscript. The long, flaring sleeved
garments called houppelandes began to
fall out of fashion over the next decades.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

in their clothes and shoes.” Such work, courts of the Dukes of Burgundy, based the Bedford Book of Hours shows Anne
he concluded, belonged more to “tor- mainly in the wealthy cities of Flanders at prayer while wearing a long gown,
turers and demons than men.” (modern-day Belgium). As the biggest known as a houppelande, made of a
In the 1340s, the French chronicler cloth-making area in Western Europe, richly colored fabric covered with inter-
Jean de Venette added his voice to a Flanders drove fashion trends. Philip twined red branches, green leaves, and
chorus of indignation at the shortness the Good (1396-1467), the most im- blue fruit against a yellow background.
and tightness of men’s clothing, noting portant of the Burgundian dukes, made While his personal style might have
that men cannot bend or kneel without sumptuous black his signature color. In seemed sedate, Philip’s court was
showing “their underwear and what was wearing it, he combined style and spec- known for its extravagance, as a place
inside it.” tacle with an expression of mourning where Europe’s best dressed gathered to
for his father, killed in France in 1419. show off their wares. At court, the sil-
Burgundian Chic His sister Anne was also a fashion houettes of men’s and women’s clothing
Later, in the 15th century, medi- icon, regularly depicted wearing the were elongated and pointed, from the
eval fashion was centered on the day’s latest fashions. Printed in 1430, tops of women’s conical headdresses to
the pointy tips of men’s shoes, or pou-
laines. The tight doublets of the 14th
A fashionable Burgundian lady century changed to an even more exag-
of the later 15th century almost gerated silhouette, with tightly cinched
waists and wide shoulders created by
always wore a headdress. adding padding.
Women wore long gowns with wide
Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482) wears a hennin in a detail from The Hours of V-necks and sleeves with trimming
Mary of Burgundy, late 15th century. National Library of Austria
GETTY IMAGES and a band at the hem. This silhouette
 SIGNATURE
STYLE
THE THIRD WIFE of Philip the Good,
Isabella of Portugal (1397-1471),
was known for her fashion sense,
much like her husband. A Rogier
van der Weyden portrait spares
no detail on her luxurious dress of
ermine and red and gold brocade,
cinched with a green silk sash. Her
dress here reflects the changing
silhouette of women’s clothing in
Burgundy as houppelandes began
to fall out of favor. Positioned at
the cutting edge of fashion, Isa-
bella wears a more tailored gown,
with smaller sleeves. Sitting on her
head like a crown, the distinctive
headpiece is in the shape of a
heart or a butterfly, with a silken
veil draping down over her high
forehead in the front and down
the sides to her shoulders.

Isabella of Portugal, painting (ca 1450)

attributed to Rogier van der Weyden.
Getty Center, Los Angeles
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

culminated in a turret headdress, more sumptuary statutes of 1322-25 In Wilson’s view, the main objective
elaborate even than the hennins of ear- prohibited “clothes with cut, worked, was to preserve class distinctions: “At
lier decades, with a scaffolding of lin- or superimposed images or likenesses bottom, sumptuary laws are an expres-
en veils supported by wires (scholars of trees or flowers, animals or birds, sion of social anxiety over the blurring
compare it with the late Gothic archi- or any other figures.” of classes and statuses.”
tecture of northern Europe). A fash- As clothes became more elaborate, In practice, European sumptuary
ionable Burgundian lady of the later such laws needed refining. Some laws laws were rarely enforced, with the
15th century had to have a headdress. were designed to protect home indus- exception of Italy, which focused on
Parisian clerics likened them to “ram’s tries through restrictions on buying women’s clothing and ornaments.
horns” and “bell towers.” foreign products, or to simply rein in Elsewhere, there is little evidence that
spending. Others looked to curtail the people were dissuaded from sporting
A Futile Backlash social disruption caused by radically the new fashions. The laws were an
Throughout western Europe the sums new fashions; preambles to sumptuary attempt to affirm the values of those in
of money spent on fashion reached such laws often refer to the loss of tradition- power and to reinforce group or national
a height that the authorities updated al virtues. English laws focused on the identities, but over time, Wilson ex-
sumptuary laws to regulate what cloth- maximum cost of permissible cloth, plained, the popularity and availability
ing could be worn by whom. rather than the number of garments. of new fashions evaded all controls: “As
Such laws had been in existence They also targeted shoes with pointed fashion spread down the social scale,
before the 14th century. The earliest, toes. As such footwear became longer, sumptuary laws dwindled, disappear-
from the 13th-century reign of James Parliament passed a law in the mid- ing altogether in the 18th century when
I of Aragon (modern Spain), prohib- 14th century forbidding all but the fashion had become universal.”
ited clothing that had been adorned highest nobles to wear shoes or boots
with slashes and fringes. Florentine with a point longer than two inches. —Ana María Velasco & Braden Phillips

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 15

 MILESTONES

Epidemics:
A Constant Plague
to Rome
From its founding to its imperial heyday, Rome’s politics, religion,
and eventual decline were shaped by the ravages of disease.

T
he plague that spread across was as feared as civil war or a natural
the eastern Mediterranean in disaster: Outbreaks of pestilence dev-
a.d. 542 was unlike any seen astated the economy and triggered
before. It was a pestilence “by widespread famines, civil unrest, and
which the whole human race came near political turmoil. Plague would later be
to being annihilated,” wrote the Byzan- a key contributory factor to the west-
tine historian Procopius. “A calamity ern Roman Empire’s collapse in the
impossible to express in words.” mid-fifth century, and, after Justinian,
By “human race” Procopius meant, the waning of power in the east.
of course, the world he knew—the
eastern Roman Empire centered around Punishment From the Gods
Constantinople (today’s Istanbul). But Founded after the expulsion of the last
the horror that imbues Procopius’s ac- Roman kings in 509 b.c., the Roman
count was no exaggeration: The plague Republic was repeatedly battered by
of Justinian, as it became known, was epidemics. Historians rely on two prin-
likely bubonic plague, whose sufferers cipal sources for early Roman history,
developed swollen lymph nodes and written by Livy and Dionysius of Hali-
vomited blood. It killed more than 25 carnassus. Both were writing in the
million people in the region. early empire under Emperor Augus-
Since the rise of Rome as a republic tus, who supported efforts to chronicle
over a millennium before, and its rapid the history of the long Roman Republic.
growth as an intercontinental empire In book 10 of Roman Antiquities, Di-
after the first century a.d., Romans onysius of Halicarnassus described the calculated to be 451 b.c. Nearly all the
had always lived closely with deadly terrible consequences of an outbreak enslaved people and half the citizens of
epidemics. For Roman leaders, plague during “the eighty-second Olympiad,” Rome died. The plague raged for a year,
wiping out whole families, either from
illness or the secondary effects of fam-
ine. When it abated the following year,
ANCIENT ETYMOLOGY official acts of thanksgiving were made
by the Roman authorities in the hope
THE MOST COMMON word to define a plague was the pestilence would not return.
“pestis,” from which the English “pestilence” is A few years later, it did. The grim
derived. Its usage was similar to the word “epi- cycle was repeated, and the authori-
demic” today: a sickness that rapidly spread and ties came under pressure to act. Lack-
affected a large part of the population. ing a modern understanding of the role
Mosaic with an allegory of the inevitability of death, of microorganisms in the origin and
first century b.c., Pompeii PRISMA/ALBUM spread of plagues, their causes were
attributed to moral and supernatural

16 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 WAVES OF PLAGUE devastated
ancient cities. This 17th-century
painting by Pieter van Halen
re-creates a plague in the city of
Ashdod, as recounted in the Bible.
Wellcome Collection, London
ALAMY

Seeds of Disease
forces. A plague, it was decided, was LUCRETIUS, a Roman philosopher from the first century b.c., is one
the punishment that the gods inflict- of the earliest thinkers to attribute outbreaks of disease to physical,
ed on the city because it had failed to and not strictly spiritual, causes. In his work De Rerum Natura (On the
maintain the pax deorum, the peace Nature of Things) he reflected on the account of the plague of Athens as
between gods and humans dependent described in the fifth century b.c. by Greek historian Thucydides, who
on following religious rituals with the provided the first descriptions of originated from nature. Some
utmost rigor. “The City of Rome, in a person-to-person transmission. epidemics were circumscribed
sudden visitation of divine displeasure, As an Epicurean philosopher, to certain territories, while others
was ravaged by disease,” Livy wrote in Lucretius sought physical, not attacked specific organs. Lucre-
his account of one of the fifth-century divine, explanations for events. tius believed air to be the crucial
b.c. pestilences. He believed that fear of death element in propagating epidem-
This belief in causation could have and the gods made people be- ics. Air, he wrote, contains “seeds
cruel consequences. In 472 b.c., for have irrationally. Reflecting on of disease … and when we inhale
instance, a wave of infectious illness the plague of Athens, Lucre- the air mingled with them, we
proved especially deadly for pregnant tius proposed that epidemics absorb them into our body.”
women. Dionysius described how the

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 17

MILESTONES

Nailing the Plague

ATTEMPTING to reassure the public in times of plague, the start of a new political year. Believing a pious appeal to
Rome’s authorities centered on the most important religious tradition would appease the gods and stop the plague, the
building: the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. During practice was revived. Livy quoted contemporary views as
the epidemic of 365 b.c., elders mentioned an obscure ritual to the antiquity of the nail ritual, whose origins likely stretch
of driving a nail into the temple’s wall in September to mark back deep into the pre-Roman Etruscan culture.
Temple of Jupiter in the Capitolium in Rome RMN-GRAND PALAIS

root cause of the disaster was deemed In 365 b.c., as plague raged again, the First-century b.c. philosopher Lucreti-
to be the loss of the virginity of Urbinia, lectisternium failed to appease the gods. us believed disease was spread through
was a vestal virgin sworn to chastity in According to Livy, Roman statesmen re- seeds in the air. The Augustan writers
service to Vesta, goddess of the hearth. called a ceremony “in which a pestilence were aware of the role of poor hygiene in
As punishment, Urbinia was buried had once been allayed by the driving of prolonging an epidemic. In his account of
alive. The plague abated. a nail by a dictator.” Lucius Manlius Im- a fifth-century b.c. plague, Dionysius as-
When a new epidemic swept periosus was consequently appointed serted that “the pestilence did not quick-
through Rome in 399 b.c., the as a temporary dictator to reestablish ly abate, because of the way in which they
senators devised a ritual of the “peace with the gods.” He drove the cast out the bodies” into the river.
religious atonement to be per- ritual nail into the wall at the Temple of Livy also linked unsanitary condi-
formed in the Capitolium. Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The pesti- tions to transmission. During an elec-
According to Livy, this rite, lence apparently ceased. tion, he wrote, the city filled with people
known as the lectisternium, Despite the widespread belief in the from the countryside, “increasing the
was a banquet offered to divine causes of epidemics, some Ro- virulence of the disease … This conflux
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. man writers reflected on the practical. of all kinds of living things distressed
the citizens with its strange smells …
and mere contact spread the infection.”
The loss of a vestal’s virginity was
believed to cause an epidemic that Plague on the Empire
Although accounts of plagues were, to
ravaged Rome in the fifth century b.c. Livy and Dionysius, part of the fabric of
Rome’s republican history, epidemics
Chief vestal made of marble, second century a.d. National Roman Museum also deeply marked the imperial period.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
 First SIX physicians
surround Galen

Responder (center) in this

frontispiece
of the sixth-
century Vienna
BORN IN TURKEY in a.d. 129, Ga- Dioscurides
len of Pergamon was one of the manuscript, an
greatest physicians of antiquity. early medical
He made great strides in the un- text. Austrian
derstanding of human anatomy. National Library
ALAMY
Although Galen believed that ill-
ness was caused by imbalances
in the body’s humors, a theory
that has long been disproven,
he was a precise observer of the
Antonine plague’s smallpox-like
symptoms. He theorized that vic-
tims with drier pustules tended
to survive, and he
wrote of healing a
victim by drying the
ulcers in his throat.
Galen was born
in Pergamon
(modern-day
Bergama) in
Turkey, where
this statue of
him stands.
SCALA, FLORENCE

The idea of Rome’s imperial great- disease into the empire. Roman troops The center of Roman power shifted
ness placed major emphasis on its “civ- returning from battles in Asia picked up east to Constantinople, the epicenter of
ilizing” influence, in part by spreading the infection, likely carried from China the Justinian plague that, to Procopius,
the building of washing facilities fed by by merchants along the trading routes felt like the death of the human race.
aqueducts. Imperial Rome boasted hun- of the Silk Road. Many factors led to Byzantine decline,
dreds of public baths and 200 public Described by the Roman-Greek phy- but the ravages of the Justinian plague
toilets. Roman officials understood the sician Galen, who witnessed its ravag- lowered the empire’s preparedness
link between hygiene and health, while es, the Antonine plague struck its vic- when the great armies of Islam swept
also acknowledging that the gods played tims with coughing, internal bleeding, in triumph through the Byzantine lands
a role: Statues were placed near public and ulceration. Epidemiologists think in the seventh century.
conveniences to ward off pestilence. it, and the Cyprian plague of the next Epidemics and pandemics contin-
Neither gods nor baths, however, century, were caused by smallpox or ued to cause catastrophic upheaval even
could avert the epidemics that scourged measles, but the exact ailment has not after the 17th century, when scientists
the later empire. Although aqueducts yet been identified. discovered disease-causing micro-
brought clean water, another key piece The effect of recurrent epidemics organisms. In some ways, the effects of
of imperial infrastructure—the road led to a lower population, contributing epidemics that marked a millennium
system—facilitated the rapid spread of to a series of cycles that reduced the of Roman history continue to plague
disease with the movement of goods, empire’s tax base, agriculture output, humanity today, most recently in the
troops, and merchants. and military force. Among other fac- influenza pandemic between 1918-1920
At the end of the second century a.d., tors, epidemics played an important and the COVID-19 outbreak a century
the Antonine plague killed up to five role in the eventual collapse of the later in 2020.
million people. It hampered operation of western Roman Empire in the mid-
the Roman Army, who had brought the fifth century. —Alejandro Valiño

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 19

BENEATH THE
CLIFFS OF THEBES
Sheltered by towering rock walls, the
sacred site now known as Deir el Bahri
is where the commemorative temple
to Pharaoh Hatshepsut was built in
the 15th century b.c.
RATNAKORN PIYASIRISOROST/GETTY IMAGES
 TEMPLE OF
HATSHEPSUT ROCK OF AGES
Nestled in an alcove of rock, Pharaoh
Hatshepsut’s temple had many functions. It has
survived the ravages of time and Hatshepsut’s
successor’s attempts to erase her name
from history.

DAVID RULL RIBÓ

 3
2

RAMPS AND atshepsut ruled Egypt, first as co- from history. Her likeness was chiseled away
GARDENS regent and then as pharaoh, for a from monuments, and her statues and works
Visitors to total of 21 years. She was one of the destroyed. Nevertheless, following a major,
1 Hatshepsut’s
temple proceed up few women in Egyptian history to 20th-century reconstruction, Hatshepsut’s
a grand walkway. retain power for so long. She reigned massive temple at Deir el Bahri (Arabic for
Next door are during one of ancient Egypt’s golden ages, when “northern monastery”) still stands today, shel-
the mortuary
complexes of
Egypt was awash with wealth. Hatshepsut built tered beneath the red rocks of a cliff face. This
2 Mentuhotep II monumental works all over the nation: a myr- architectural wonder captivated the ancient
and 3 Thutmose III. iad of temples and shrines, four giant obelisks world with its beauty and is a testament to
BALAGE BALOGH/RMN-GRAND PALAIS
at the Temple of Amun at Karnak, and countless Hatshepsut’s glory and her devotion to the gods.
artworks celebrating her accomplishments and
immortalizing her prayers. Woman Who Would Be King
But many of these works were defaced and de- Hatshepsut was born around 1507 b.c. to
stroyed after her death in 1458 b.c. Hatshepsut’s Thutmose I and his great royal wife, Queen
successor, Thutmose III, one of Egypt’s great- Ahmose. Hatshepsut would marry her half
est pharaohs, led the charge to erase her name brother and heir to the throne, Thutmose II,

QUEEN ca 1507 b.c.

The future Pharaoh
ca 1493
Around age 14,
BECOMES Hatshepsut is born
to Thutmose I and
Hatshepsut marries her
half brother, Thutmose
KING Queen Ahmose, his
great royal wife.
II. She rules by his side
as queen until his death.

Thutmose III, Hatshepsut’s stepson and co-regent, is seen in a colored

22 MARCH/APRIL 2024
relief from Deir el Bahri from the mid-second millennium b.c. ALBUM
 THE PHARAOH’S GAZE
Hatshepsut appears as a
lion-headed sphinx. She
donned the traditionally male
symbols of a lion’s mane and
a pharaoh’s false beard that
indicate royalty. 18th dynasty,
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
THIERRY OLLIVIER/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

ca 1479 1471-1470 ca 1472-1458 1458

Thutmose III is too young to During the eighth and Construction begins on After ruling Egypt for
rule, so Hatshepsut serves as ninth years of Hatshepsut’s Hatshepsut’s temple in more than two decades,
co-regent. Seven years later, rule, she sponsors a Deir el Bahri, under the Hatshepsut dies, and
she assumes the position of celebrated expedition to supervision of Senenmut, Thutmose III becomes
pharaoh in her own right. the Land of Punt. a steward of the pharaoh. pharaoh in his own right.
Hatshepsut’s sarcophagus was discovered by Howard Carter in tomb K20 in the Valley of the Kings in 1903, but her mummy was not inside.
The sarcophagus was reused for Hatshepsut’s father, Thutmose I. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON/SCALA, FLORENCE

becoming his great royal wife. Thutmose II first mortuary temple here. Perhaps inspired by
TEMPLE died young, leaving behind a two-year-old son Mentuhotep, Hatshepsut installed her massive
BUILDER
(born to a secondary wife) as his heir. The child complex at the foot of a cliff, a site now known
Senenmut, depicted
in a block statue (ca was too young to rule, so Hatshepsut, the boy’s as Deir el Bahri. The sacred location had been
1475 b.c.) below, aunt and stepmother, ruled for him. consecrated to the goddess Hathor, protector
oversaw construction Hatshepsut gradually transformed her role of the dead and an important funerary deity
of Hatshepsut’s from queen regent to outright pharaoh. When in Thebes.
temple. Egyptian
Museum, Berlin Thutmose III was older he became her second- In these temples, pharaohs would be wor-
BPK/SCALA, FLORENCE in-command, but he would not rule outright shipped after their deaths. Their mummies,
as pharaoh until after her death around 1458 meanwhile, rested elsewhere, entombed in
b.c. His reign would be glorious, filled with private underground chambers in the Valley
triumphs all his own. But while he ruled, a sys- of the Kings. As well as being used for royal
tematic campaign attempted to erase Pharaoh funerals, the Temples of Millions of Years were
Hatshepsut. Millennia later, archaeologists the focus for other rituals: some related to roy-
would put the pieces back together to re- alty, others to deities including the Theban god
store Hatshepsut’s place in history. Amun and the sun god Re. Of all the mortuary
temples, Hatshepsut’s would become the main
Million-Year Temples cult structure of the Theban complex.
In the New Kingdom period, Hatshepsut Construction lasted some 15 years and
was one of the first pharaohs who built the was carried out under the supervision of
so-called Temples of Millions of Years on Senenmut, a high official and favorite of the
the western bank of the Nile, opposite the pharaoh. The imposing building incorporated
city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor). Five ramps and courtyards like the nearby Men-
centuries earlier, in Middle Kingdom times, tuhotep temple, but Senenmut introduced a
Pharaoh Mentuhotep II had erected the number of innovations to create a building of
CONSTRUCTING
CONNECTIONS
The Temple of
Hatshepsut, erected
at the foot of the cliff
at Deir el Bahri, was
perfectly aligned with
the Temple of Amun in
Thebes, on the eastern
bank of the Nile. Artistic
reconstruction by Jean-
Claude Golvin.
ALAMY/ACI
THE TEMPLES OF
MILLIONS OF YEARS
In 1955 National Geographic
photographer David Boyer captured
this splendid image of Hatshepsut’s
temple at sunrise, more than 3,000
years after its construction.
DAVID BOYER/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

26 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 Today, the walls and courtyards of Hatshep-
sut’s temple might look somewhat plain. In her
time they would have been filled with vibrant
color, surrounded by lush gardens and pools
and richly decorated with sculpture and reliefs.
Each decorative element conveyed a religious
or political message, in keeping with the cer-
emonial use of the building.

Sacred Alignments
The layout of Hatshepsut’s temple was careful-
ly designed. Most obviously, it was positioned
to align perfectly with the Temple of Amun at
Karnak, on the opposite bank of the Nile. In
addition, the precise east-west alignment of its
central causeway mirrored the daily path of the
sun, or, according to the beliefs of the day, the
path of the god Re.
The temple was also aligned with the Valley
of the Kings, which lies to the west. This royal
necropolis had been inaugurated by Hatshep-
sut’s father, Thutmose I. In fact, tomb KV20, the
burial place of Hatshepsut and Thutmose I, lies
Funeral offerings appear on the walls of the Anubis chapel at Deir el Bahri. ALBUM in a straight line from the sanctuary of Amun,
the innermost chamber of Hatshepsut’s temple.
Some experts have suggested that the original
HATSHEPSUT’S unequaled magnificence. It came to be known plan was to connect KV20 with the sanctuary of
HUSBAND as Djeser-Djeseru: “holy of holies.” Amun via a tunnel through the interposing cliff,
Thutmose II,
Most New Kingdom commemorative tem- but the poor quality of the rock prevented it.
pharaoh before
Hatshepsut, steers ples featured chambers separated by monu- Stone balustrades flank the central ramp,
Amun’s boat. The mental gateways (pylons), like those that can guarded by imposing stone lions. A colonnade
relief is engraved still be seen at Luxor and Karnak. Hatshep- separates the first and second courtyards. To
on a stone that has
been reused from sut’s temple, on the other hand, was arranged highlight Hatshepsut’s piety and devotion,
the Red Chapel of around a central ramp or causeway. Spread reliefs depict two massive obelisks on their
Hatshepsut. along this causeway at different heights were way to the Temple of Amun at Karnak.
ALAMY/ACI
three large courtyards. Around the second courtyard are famous
reliefs showing a trading expedition that
Hatshepsut sent to the Land of Punt, believed
to be located on the Horn of Africa. Myrrh
trees were brought back from this expedition
and planted in the temple complex. Their resin
would later be used in temple rituals.
Other reliefs represent the divine birth of
Hatshepsut, who, according to tradition, had
been begotten by the god Amun-Re during a
visit he made to Ahmose, the wife of Thut-
mose I. Her divine origin was an important tool
in legitimizing Hatshepsut’s rule over Egypt. In
the second courtyard there are also two sanc-
tuaries: one dedicated to Hathor and the other
to Anubis, a funerary god.

28 MARCH/APRIL 2024
A LONG WALK
The processional path stretches west
from the Nile, all the way to the temple’s
terraces and sanctuaries. On the other
side of the cliff walls lies the Valley of
the Kings, where Hatshepsut’s tomb
is located.
JACK MAGUIRE/ALAMY/ACI
 B

D
 Based on a relief from Hathor’s chapel at Deir el Bahri, this reproduction was
drawn by Swiss Egyptologist Édouard Naville and published in London in 1898.
HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Procession of Hathor
H atshepsut had several sa-
cred spaces built within her
temple at Deir el Bahri. Among the
to Hathor. These colorful panels were
defaced after Hatshepsut’s reign
and A many figures scratched out.
Some scholars believe that where
Hatshepsut would be expected to ap-
pear was indicated by the presence of
most famous is the sanctuary hon- What remains nonetheless reveals large fans. The lower panel shows a
oring Hathor, one of Egypt’s oldest the opulence and splendor during her colorful parade of men carrying vari-
goddesses. A splendid procession rule. On the upper panels B numer- ous types of objects. D Some bear
was held in Hathor’s honor, involving ous oarsmen row many boats loaded weapons: axes, shields, and spears.
boats crossing the Nile loaded with with goods intended for the goddess. E Others carry branches, fans, and
sacred images and divine offerings. Smaller vessels served as escorts for banners; they belonged to the pha-
This festive procession was depicted the two main ships. Both boats feature raoh’s guard. Coming up in the rear are
on a four-panel relief in the sanctuary C a throne on deck for the pharaoh. dancers as well as F a leashed lion.

f
 Treasures
From Punt
SPLENDID RELIEFS were carved on the portico
of the second courtyard of the temple at
Deir el Bahri. Some depict Hatshepsut’s ex-
pedition to the Land of Punt in the eighth
and ninth years of her reign. The reliefs pro-
vide a glimpse of the terrain, fauna, flora,
and inhabitants of this enigmatic land,
perhaps located in the Horn of Africa or in
the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
THE EXPEDITION reached Punt by sail-
ing along the shores of the Red Sea. The
Egyptians loaded their ships with a cargo
of ivory, cinnamon, incense, cosmetics, and
animal skins. They also took home myrrh
trees, which were planted in Hatshepsut’s
temple complex. The relief on the portico
highlights these myrrh trees and also de-
picts Hatshepsut presenting the cargo
from Punt to the god Amun as an offering.

Myrrh tree represented in a relief on the portico of Punt at Deir el Bahri KENNETH GARRETT

Twenty-four colossal Osirides—statues of depict the festivities. During the second month
PATRON, Pharaoh Hatshepsut as Osiris, god of the after- of the harvest season (shemu) in early summer,
PROTECTOR life—flanked the entrance to the third court- the pharaoh would lead a procession bearing the
The sanctuary of
Hathor featured yard. She wears the false beard (postiche) and image of Amun followed by a retinue of nobles,
many stone the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt priests, dancers, and soldiers. They would begin
reliefs of the (pschent), and she holds the symbols of royalty. at Karnak Temple, cross the Nile, and visit the
Egyptian goddess This uppermost courtyard had sanctuaries mortuary temples.
(below), who was
the traditional
dedicated to the royal cult, to the solar god After her death, Hatshepsut was intention-
guardian of the Re-Horakhty, and to Anubis. ally consigned to oblivion by Thutmose III. He
Deir el Bahri area. In the central part of this last courtyard ordered the demolition of all statues, monu-
SCALA, FLORENCE
stood the temple’s innermost chambers, a ments, and representations of her, including
sanctuary dedicated to Amun-Re. In- depictions on her temple. Yet the building re-
side were three adjoining chambers mained on the western bank of the Nile. Each
decorated with scenes of Hatshep- year it still hosted the most dazzling festi-
sut and the god Amun. val of the Theban necropolis, standing strong
The sanctuary of Amun-Re was through the millennia, a lasting testament to
the main setting for a ceremony the pharaoh who built it.
that was celebrated every year in
Thebes: the Beautiful Festival of
EGYPTOLOGIST, AUTHOR, AND CULTURAL DISSEMINATOR DAVID RULL RIBÓ IS
the Valley. The celebration dates ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA, SPAIN.
back to the Middle Kingdom and
reached new heights in Hatshep-
Learn more
sut’s time. Badly deteriorated
reliefs that run along the upper The Woman Who Would Be King:
Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt
courtyard of Hatshepsut’s temple Kara Cooney, Crown, 2015
DEDICATED TO HATHOR
Hatshepsut’s temple had a
sanctuary honoring the goddess
Hathor, who was sometimes
depicted as a cow. The exterior
featured stylized capitals
decorated with representations
of the goddess, with horns and
bovine ears.
WOLFGANG KAEHLER/ALAMY/ACI
THE TEMPLE OF
JERUSALEM
FROM KING SOLOMON TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE

According to the Bible, King Solomon built the First Temple to

house the Ark of the Covenant. Over time, the structure became
the spiritual heart of the Jewish faith. Invaders razed it, but the
Temple endured, a symbol of survival, resilience, and sanctity.

JAVIER DEL BARCO

CONQUEST AND DESTRUCTION
Jerusalem’s capture and the Temple’s
destruction by the legions of Titus
are depicted in a chromolithograph
by Louis Haghe, based on an 1848
painting by David Roberts.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
 UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
King Solomon
(left) examines
plans with Hiram,
a Phoenician
craftsman who,
according to the
Bible, directed
the Temple’s
construction.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

THE HOLY
OF HOLIES
The high priest
of Solomon’s
Temple stands
before the Ark
of the Covenant
in the Holy of
Holies (right) in
an image by artist
GRANGER / ALBUM
Balage Balogh.
BALAGE BALOGH/SCALA, FLORENCE

n the First Book of Kings, King Solomon the Hebrew Scriptures’ authors to attribute the
stands before the people of Israel to dedicate building of this First Temple to King Solomon,
a temple in honor of their god, Yahweh. The as the reigns of Solomon and his father, David,
king reminds them that he has fulfilled the are depicted in the Bible as a golden era. The
promise Yahweh had made to Solomon’s fa- idea that King Solomon sponsored the First
ther, King David: “But the Lord said to my fa- Temple bolsters this narrative and connects its
ther David, ‘You did well to consider building construction to the concept of a unified Israel.
a house for my name; nevertheless, you shall
not build the house, but your son who shall be Centralization
born to you shall build the house for my The archaeological and historical picture be-
name’” (1 Kings 8). comes clearer in the time of Josiah, king of Judah
The Bible describes how Solomon’s Temple (ca 648-609 b.c.). At this time, according to
is meant to replace the Tabernacle, a tentlike the Bible, the realm of Solomon had split into
structure that housed the Ark of the Covenant two kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel
and other vessels. The Book of Kings details and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem
the construction, down to the dimensions of belonged to Judah. King Josiah commissioned
different chambers and structures. Measuring
about 120 feet long and 55 feet wide, the Tem-
ple of Jerusalem took seven years to complete.
Scholars have established that a temple to
Yahweh did exist in Jerusalem during the Iron
Age (approximately 12th to sixth centuries ca 960 b.c.
b.c.). According to the Bible, Solomon ruled BEGINNINGS Solomon’s Temple
is thought to have
AND
in the 10th century b.c., but there is no ar-
been built, although
chaeological evidence corroborating that the
no corroborating

ENDINGS
Temple’s construction took place during that archaeological evidence
period. It would have been in the interests of has yet been found.

36 MARCH/APRIL 2024
7th century b.c. ca 586 b.c. ca 539 b.c. 22 b.c. a.d. 70
According to 2 Kings, The troops of Persian ruler Cyrus the Herod the Great, king Putting down
King Josiah carries Nebuchadnezzar II Great allows the exiles of Judaea, greatly rebellions in
out religious reforms conquer Jerusalem. to return to Jerusalem expands the Second Jerusalem, Roman
at the Temple after He exiles its citizens to and sanctions Temple when Judaea legions raze the
the Book of the Law is Babylon and lays waste construction of the is controlled by the city and destroy the
discovered there. to the First Temple. Second Temple. Roman Empire. Second Temple.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 37

The Temple of Solomon is
depicted in a re-creation
by Balage Balogh. Within
the Temple courtyard is
a sacrificial altar (right)
and a huge bronze vessel
(below), known as the
Molten Sea.
BALAGE BALOGH/SCALA
 IMAGINING
SOLOMON’S
TEMPLE
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE, King Solomon, son of
David, ordered the construction of a temple in his
capital, Jerusalem, to house the Ark of the Covenant
containing the Tablets of the Law that Yahweh had
given to Moses. The ark had been housed in a por-
table sanctuary, the Tabernacle, which the Israelites
had employed during their time in the Sinai desert.
The first book of Kings describes the splendor of
Solomon’s Temple in great detail:

[Solomon] lined the walls of the house on the

inside with boards of cedar; from the floor of
the house to the rafters of the ceiling … The
cedar within the house had carvings of gourds
and open flowers; all was cedar, no stone was
seen. The inner sanctuary he prepared … to set
there the ark of the covenant of the Lord … he
overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the
altar with cedar. Solomon overlaid the inside of
the house with pure gold, then he drew chains
of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary,
and overlaid it with gold. Next he overlaid the
whole house with gold, in order that the whole
house might be perfect; even the whole altar
that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid
with gold. (1 Kings 6:15-22)
ILLUSTRATION BELOW: FERNANDO G. BAPTISTA/NG IMAGE COLLECTION

Ark of the Sanctuary Antechamber

Covenant (hekal) (ulam)

Holy of Holies
(debir)

Ritual basins
(mekonot) The Molten Sea,
a large basin for
ritual ablutions
 The Second Temple, depicted on a coin struck
by Bar Kokhba, leader of the anti-Roman great
Jewish revolt of a.d. 132-135
SCALA, FLORENCE

major reforms to the existing Temple,

which had become far more significant in
religious life. In 2 Kings 22, Josiah sends the
high priest Hilkiah to the Temple to “count
the entire sum of the money that has been
brought into the house of the Lord.” The priest
discovers a Book of the Law inside the Temple
and shows it to the king. After he reads it, Josiah
decrees that the Temple would be the one and
only place of worship to Yahweh. Authorized
copies of the Book of the Law would be kept
inside the Temple. Through his reforms, King
Josiah effectively centralized power in Jerusa-
lem, with the Temple at its heart.
That First Temple was destroyed by the
Babylonians when they conquered Jerusalem
in the sixth century b.c. During the period of
Persian rule and after Alexander the Great’s
conquest, the Temple complex was slowly re-
built. Around 515 b.c., the Second Temple was
dedicated in Jerusalem.
SACRIFICIAL Several centuries later, Herod the Great
LAMBS (AND OXEN) (72-4 b.c.), king of Judaea, made important
According to 1 renovations and expansions to the structure.
Kings 8, Solomon Judaea was a vassal province of Rome. Under
sacrificed 22,000
oxen and 120,000 Herod, the Temple became a building of im-
sheep in front of the pressive dimensions. The famous Western
people of Israel as Wall, still visible today, gives an idea of the
part of the Temple’s scale of the Temple precinct.
consecration
ceremony (below). The Temple sat at the very heart of Yahweh
BRIDGEMAN/ACI worship. The main element of worship was ritual
animal sacrifice. These cere-
monies took place there twice Holies, the most sacred place in the Temple.
a day, and all Jews symbolically The high priest was the only person allowed to
participated by paying half a enter the Holy of Holies—and then only once
shekel to the Temple annually. a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
Other acts of worship took
place in the Temple too, such After the Fall
as the reading of hymns and A series of Jewish revolts against Rome be-
psalms and the congregation gan around a.d. 66. In the course of putting
receiving blessings from the them down, the Romans razed Jerusalem and
priests. The tablets bearing destroyed the Second Temple. The Temple’s
the Law that Yahweh had de- treasures were looted and taken to Rome. The
livered to Moses were kept loss marked a radical change in the evolution
in the Temple inside a cabi- of Judaism.
net known as the Ark of the When the Romans destroyed the Temple
Covenant. This cabinet was and dispersed the Sadducees, the priestly class
stored inside the Holy of that had governed it, the Jews lost the main

40 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 LAST REMAINING VESTIGE
The Second Temple was
once surrounded by a great
wall. The Western Wall
(pictured) is the only part
of Herod’s imposing temple
complex that remains
standing.
THOMAS COEX/GETTY IMAGES

element that had united them. It was then

that the Pharisees took charge of the faith. THE WESTERN WALL
The Pharisees were a Jewish group who fo- THE ROMAN EMPIRE controlled Jerusalem when Herod the
cused on the study of the Law as found in the Great was its king. Known for his ambitious construction
Torah (the biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, projects, Herod turned his attention to the Second Temple
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and around 20 b.c. He expanded the centuries-old structure into
applied its teachings to daily life. a magnificent complex. But his grand construction only lasted
Faced with the challenge of the disappear- a few decades. Following a series of revolts in Judaea, Rome
razed the city and destroyed the Temple in a.d. 70. Today, the
ance of the Temple and the competition posed
only remnant is a section of the Temple’s western perimeter
by nascent Christianity, the Pharisees con-
wall. Known as the Western Wall, this place is one of the
vened the Synod of Jamnia, a liturgical meet- holiest sites in Judaism, not only because of its association
ing held in what today is Yavne, Israel. Here with the Second Temple but also because the Holy of Holies
they established a liturgy of prayers to take the is believed to be located behind it. From all over the world,
place of sacrifice and worship at the Temple, millions of visitors come to the wall to pray. It’s traditional to
which were now impossible. The council also insert little pieces of paper bearing petitions to God into the
determined the canon of writings that would cracks between its impressive stone ashlars.
 A shofar (a horn of a ram, goat, antelope, or gazelle) was used
in ancient Israel in ceremonies. This 18th-century shofar was
made in Germany. The Jewish Museum, New York
SCALA, FLORENCE

be added to the original five books of the Torah

to become the Hebrew Bible. Emphasis of wor-
ship shifted from the location of the Temple
to the reading of the text. From this point on
the Torah would be the focus.
The new liturgy of prayers established by the
synod would be celebrated in community syn-
agogues. Before the destruction of the Temple,
synagogues had existed as study centers, but
now their role began to expand. Jews from any
community, wherever it was located in the Di-
aspora, could celebrate the new liturgy simply
by designating a place to serve as a synagogue.
Some elements of the ancient cult in the THE TABERNACLE
Temple were transposed symbolically in A third-century a.d. painting from
the organization of the liturgy. For example, the Dura-Europos synagogue
the main obligatory prayer, the Amidah or in Syria shows Moses’ brother,
HOLY SCROLLS Aaron (top right), during the
Shemoneh Esreh (18 Blessings), included the
A rabbi carefully consecration of the Tabernacle.
handles the blessing given by the priests in the Temple. Aaron had been designated by
Torah as part of The liturgical services that are still celebrated Yahweh as one of his first priests.
synagogue rituals in the synagogue in the morning (shaharith) The mural features many items
during Yom Kippur outlined in Yahweh’s instructions,
in a detail from and the afternoon (minhah) symbolize the two including a menorah and altar.
a 19th-century daily sacrifices that used to be celebrated in ALAMY/ACI

painting by the Temple. The memory of the Temple also

Maurycy Gottlieb. led many congregations to build synagogues
Tel Aviv Museum
of Art so that the wall bearing the cabinet where the
BRIDGEMAN/ACI Torah was kept was oriented toward Jerusalem.
Likewise, during Yom Kippur (Day of Atone- A Faith Transformed
ment) there are two liturgical elements that It was in the Torah that the symbolic force and
directly relate to the Temple. The sanctity of the Temple were most vividly main-
first is the blowing of the sho- tained. Those responsible for this were the rab-
far, or ram’s horn (the shofar is bis, who elevated the Torah and its study above
also blown for Rosh Hashanah, all else. After the Temple’s destruction, the
the New Year, a few days Torah took its place as the focus of Jewish life. In
before). The second is a doing so, Judaism was liberated from depending
service at the end of the on a single geographical location, instead focus-
ceremony, which is called ing on a tangible object that could be present
Ne’ilat She’arim, “clos- in every Jewish community all over the world.
ing of doors.” The act Through the Torah it was possible to galva-
echoes the solemn nize the feeling of belonging among scattered
moment when the communities, especially between the third and
doors of the Temple fifth centuries b.c., when new Jewish com-
were closed at the munities arose in places as far apart as Yemen
end of Yom Kippur. and the Iberian Peninsula. These communities
needed common ties that would unite them
with their brethren in the most important Jew-
THE TEMPLE’S
ish centers of Palestine and Babylon. PREDECESSOR
The reading of the Torah is still at the heart
of the Jewish liturgy celebrated every Satur- DURING THEIR TIME IN THE SINAI DESERT, the Israelites kept
day (Shabbat). Reading aloud from the Torah the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle, a tentlike struc-
is the most important moment of the liturgi- ture that went with them as they traveled, before reaching
cal service. The Torah scroll is removed from the Promised Land in Canaan. As described in the Book of
the Torah ark and carried in procession to the Exodus, Yahweh gave Moses very detailed instructions on
building the Tabernacle, from the exact measurements for
dais (bimah) where the corresponding Torah
the frame to the colors of the curtains. Yahweh began with
portion (parashah) is read aloud. The Torah is
the need for an innermost shrine, the holiest chamber that
divided up in such a way that it is read in its housed the ark. A curtain separated it from the next chamber,
entirety every year. To emphasize the sanc- where a menorah, a table for the showbread, and an incense
tity of the Torah, the scroll from which it is altar were kept. In the outermost room stood a sacrificial altar
read should never be touched directly. This is of acacia wood and a bronze basin for the priests to wash.
why it has a handle at each end of the scroll. The Tabernacle’s divine design would be replicated later in
The reader uses a pointer, called a yad, instead the construction of Solomon’s Temple.
 1. Ya’im
These shovels were used 1. 3.
to collect the ash from
the sacrificial altar.

2. Shofar
A horn of a ram (or similar
animal) was sounded
during ceremonies.

3. Kiyor
Priests washed their hands
and feet in a bronze basin 2.
before services.

4. Tsintsenet ha-man 4.
A jar was filled with
manna, the food that 5.
sustained the Israelites
in the desert after their
escape from Egypt.
6.
5. Mizbeach ha-olah
This is an altar of burnt
offerings where animal
sacrifices were carried 7.
out at the Temple.
10.
6. Chatsotsrot
Silver trumpets were
used to summon the
congregation. 8.

7. Mazlegot
Bronze tools were used
to maneuver animal
sacrifices on the altar.
9.
The Temple’s sacred
8. Mizbeach Ha-ketoret utensils are laid out
The incense altar was on display in the
among the sacred objects Harley Catalan Bible,
made in Catalonia, in
inside the Tabernacle. northeastern Spain, in
the late 1300s. British
9. Sirot and Mizraqot Library, London
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
These basins were for
collecting the blood
from sacrifices.

VESSELS
THE HARLEY CATALAN BIBLE is one of pattern and colorful illustrations
more than 20 lavishly illustrated on top. The Harley Catalan Bible
Sephardi Bibles produced by the contains pages featuring the sa-

OF THE Jews of the Iberian Peninsula be-

tween the 13th and 15th centuries.
cred implements of the Temple
of Jerusalem embossed in gold.

BOOK
Many of them feature so-called Many of these—the menorah, the
carpet pages, which are entirely Ark of the Covenant, the table of
filled with an intricate background showbread, and the incense altar—
 10. Shulchan lechem
Ha-panim
Twelve loaves were placed
on the table of showbread
as offerings to Yahweh and
changed out every week.

11. Aron Ha-brit

Yahweh instructed Moses
to build the Ark of the
Covenant to hold the
Tablets of the Law. The
ark was housed in the
innermost chamber of
the Tabernacle and the
11. Temple, dubbed the Holy
of the Holies.

12. Menorah
One of Judaism’s
most iconic symbols,
the seven-branched
candelabrum was used
12. in the Tabernacle and the
Temple. It was kept alight
during the day, while at
night only one lamp was
13. left burning.

13. Sefale ha-kesef

Silver vessels were used
for pouring out libations
of water and wine on the
sacrificial altar.

14. Pach ha-shemen

This vessel was reserved
for the pure olive oil
that was to be burned
exclusively in the
14. menorah’s seven lamps.
15.
15. Matteh
Moses’ brother, Aaron,
carried a dry almond
stick, which miraculously
blossomed to show that
he had been chosen as
Yahweh’s priest.

are found in the verses of Exodus After the Roman destruction of Harley Catalan Bible was produced,
and Numbers. Other Sephardi Bibles the Temple in a.d. 70, Jews in the the Alhambra Decree called for the
contain similar layouts of the Tem- Diaspora could turn to Scripture. conversion or expulsion of Iberia’s
ple’s most sacred implements and Their centers of worship could be Jews, prompting a mass exodus of
vessels. Religious scholars interpret “housed” in a magnificent illumi- Sephardi Jews across Europe and
their inclusion as a statement of the nated text. More dispersal, destruc- North Africa. Reliance on Scrip-
central importance of the Hebrew tion, and loss, however, were soon to ture grew as communities spread
Scriptures for Jews of the Diaspora: follow: In 1492, a century after the throughout the world.
 Torah scroll made in 1828, with its pointer, or
yad. Parchment miniature preserved in the
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
RMN-GRAND PALAIS

of their own finger which Muslim tradition identified as the Haram

to guide them as al Sharif—the Noble Sanctuary, identified as
they read. the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In this account,
In the synagogue, Muhammad is said to have traveled there in
the Torah is still read one night, prayed with prophets, and briefly
from a scroll, rather ascended to heaven and prayed with Ibrahim
than a book, to recall (Abraham), Musa (Moses), and Isa (Jesus).
how it appeared in When Muslim forces took control of Jeru-
ancient times in the salem in the seventh century a.d., only ruins
Temple. After the 10th remained where the Second Temple once stood.
century, the Torah and The city’s new rulers established their own place
the other sacred texts of worship where the Second Temple had been.
were also copied in co- They built the Dome of the Rock, the third most
dex format. As these codices sacred site in Islam next to Mecca and Medina,
were used for study rather than on Temple Mount. Later the Al Aqsa Mosque
in the liturgy, they could incor- was built nearby.
porate elements that were prohib- Jerusalem is a city of great importance to all
ited in the Torah scrolls, such as illuminations. three faiths. According to tradition, Abraham,
David, Solomon, Jesus, and Muhammad all
Three Faiths in Jerusalem walked here, building up their followings and
SCHOLAR KING After the Romans destroyed the Second Tem- strengthening their faiths. Controlling Jeru-
Created around ple complex, the site lay in ruins for centuries. salem and the Temple Mount has been at the
1280, the North
French Miscellany The area continued to hold great meaning in center of violent conflicts during, and since,
features an Judaism, but the Temple also occupies a sig- the Middle Ages because of the site’s shared
illumination of King nificant place in both Christianity and Islam. significance.
Solomon studying Passages in the canonical Gospels and the Today a respectful yet sometimes uneasy
the Torah. British
Library apocryphal Gospels describe episodes from truce remains in place among the three. There
ALBUM the life of Jesus that took place at the Temple are those who pray to rebuild the Temple of
in Jerusalem. Shortly after Jerusalem one day. They believe that the con-
his birth, Jesus is presented struction of a third Temple will coincide with
at the Temple and later, or bring about the arrival of the Messiah.
while still a child, Jesus But there are others who have embraced the
spends time in the Temple Temple’s role as a symbol of sanctity, wisdom,
debating with teachers of and faith.
Jewish Law. As an adult,
Jesus “cleansed the Tem-
JAVIER DEL BARCO IS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW LANGUAGE AND
ple” driving out merchants LITERATURE AT THE COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID, SPAIN,
AND A SPECIALIST ON MEDIEVAL HEBREW MANUSCRIPTS.
and money changers from
the sacred precinct.
In the Quran, as in the
Bible, Solomon is portrayed
as the builder of the Temple Learn more
and a figure of immense wis-
dom. The Quran includes the Solomon’s Temple: Myth and History
William Hamblin and David Seely, Thames & Hudson, 2007
story of Muhammad’s mi-
The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas
raculous Night Journey from Jean-Pierre Isbouts, National Geographic, 2007
Mecca to “the farther place
The Temple of Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future
of worship” (masjid al-aqsa), John M. Lundquist, Harvard University Press, 2005
SACRED SPACES
During the Middle Ages,
two spaces for Islamic
worship were built on
the area once occupied
by the Temple of
Jerusalem: the Dome of
the Rock (pictured) and
the Al Aqsa Mosque.
LUIGI VACCARELLA/FOTOTECA 9X12
 1230
Solomon thanks Yahweh for the completion
of the Temple. The mosque, built by Caliph
Omar, stands over the rock where Muhammad
is believed to have traveled to heaven and
where Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac.
Miniature from the Bible Moralisée preserved
in the Codex Vindobonensis 2554, National
Library, Vienna
ALBUM

IN THEIR MIND’S EYE

THE IMAGINED
TEMPLE
For centuries the idea of Solomon’s Temple
intrigued artists, who often used the
architecture of their own time as inspira-
tion. During the Middle Ages, the Temple
was sometimes represented with a dome,
because of confusion with the Dome of
the Rock. In the Renaissance, concepts of
the Temple’s architecture changed again,
as newer forms were favored and artists
began to work with three-point perspective.

1500
In this fresco from the “Temptations of Christ”
sequence in the Sistine Chapel, Sandro Botticelli
depicts the Temple as a northern Italian
cathedral. This tendency to represent the
Temple as a contemporary Christian church
began in the Middle Ages. In the foreground the
high priest stands at the sacrificial altar, and in
the background, on the roof of the Temple, the
devil tempts Christ.
ALBUM
 1411
Solomon oversees the construction of
the Temple, which is represented as a
church built in the Gothic style typical
of when this miniature was made.
The illumination appears in the Bible
Historiale (a French translation of the
Bible) by Guyart des Moulins. British
Library, London
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

16th century
An anonymous Flemish
painter is behind this
spectacular oil painting
depicting Solomon’s
Temple. It’s based on
a treatise about the
Temple by Benito Arias
Montano, a Spanish
Jewish scholar, biblical
scholar, and humanist.
Montano’s ideas had a
great influence on later
representations of the
Temple precinct. Baron
Martin Museum, Gray
AURIMAGES

1626
In a 17th-century engraving, attributed by
some to Matthäus Merian the Elder, the
Temple of Solomon features elements of
the baroque style while also reflecting
the traditional description of the Temple
found in the Old Testament. This
engraving would later be repurposed in
an 1811 printing of the Royaumont Bible
(colorized version shown here).
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
BURIED GOLD OF THE BALKANS

THRACIAN
TREASURE
Across Bulgaria, Romania, Greece,
and Turkey, the Thracians buried caches
of treasure. Since the mid-20th century,
these exquisite gold and silver pieces have
been coming to light, revealing unexpected
traits of this ancient people.

ÁNGEL CARLOS PÉREZ AGUAYO

A GOLDEN THRACIAN WARRIOR (above) rides a horse

into battle. Fourth century b.c., Letnitsa Treasure. Regional
Historical Museum, Lovech, Bulgaria. Right, a bowl for
libations from the fourth-century b.c. Panagyurishte
Treasure. Archaeological Museum, Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
HORSE: ALBUM BOWL: GETTY IMAGES
STAROSEL or the longest time, little was known capital of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace and
TOMBS about the ancient Thracians, a group was the personal residence of King Seuthes III.
Chetinyova Mogila of highly diverse tribes of Indo- It proved the Thracians did, in fact, establish
(above) is one of
the many Thracian European origin. At the beginning of lasting political organizations.
tombs discovered the fourth millennium b.c. they set- Additional, stunning finds were uncovered
in modern Bulgaria. tled in what is today European Turkey, eastern between 1948 and 1985. These different hoards
This site contains
several burial
Greece, and Bulgaria. At the start of the Mid- of silver and gold objects were named for the
mounds that date dle Ages, Slavic migrants joined the mix. areas where they were found. They date back
to the fourth Thracians left behind few of their own writ- mainly to the classical period (fifth to fourth
century b.c. ten records. Most documentation comes from centuries b.c.) and to the beginning of the Hel-
ALAMY/ACI
the ancient Greeks, who primarily portrayed lenistic period (third century b.c.), although
the Thracians as barbarians. They appear, for some date from both earlier and later periods.
example, several times in Homer’s Iliad as One of the most recent discoveries came in
allies of Troy. Later in the tale, the Thracian 2004. Archaeologists excavating the Svetit-
king Rhesus makes an appearance. In the fifth sata burial mound in Shipka, central Bulgaria,
century b.c. writers Herodotus, Thucydides, uncovered a solid gold funerary mask weigh-
and Xenophon described them as warriors and ing over a pound and a half. They also found
mercenaries in their accounts. Usually depicted bronze armor, weapons, silverware, and Greek
in battle attire, the Thracians also are believed to ceramics from the fifth century b.c.
appear on Athenian-made, red-figure ceramics. Aside from the immense monetary value
Several relatively recent archaeological dis- of the objects, these discoveries provided
coveries have greatly expanded what is known groundbreaking insights into Thracian soci-
about the Thracians. Their monumental city ety. The Thracians enjoyed a fairly advanced
of Seuthopolis was uncovered in 1948 during culture noted for its exquisite artisans, a rich
the construction of a reservoir near the town heritage of myths and beliefs, and a devel-
of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria. Built between oped economy based on crafts, agriculture,
325 and 315 b.c., the fortified city served as the and trade.

52 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 ATL. E U R O P E
OCEAN Thracian 490 b.c. 325-315 b.c. a.d. 46
settlement After the Persians Seuthes III, king After the Roman
area
withdraw, the of the Odrysians, emperor Claudius
Odrysian king builds a city called and his army
Odrysian Kingdom Teres I unites the Seuthopolis and conquer Thrace in
Thracian tribes makes it his capital. a.d. 46, the entirety
A SIA living between The only known of the Thracian
Mediterranean Sea
the Danube River Thracian capital, territory becomes
A F R I C A and the Rhodope its ruins are now a new Roman
Mountains. beneath a reservoir. province.
CARTOGRAPHY: NG MAPS

1500–1275 b.c. 700 b.c. 513 b.c. 341 b.c.

In the region of The first Greek The Thracian Philip II of Macedon,
Thrace, tombs colonies in the kingdom of the Edoni father of Alexander
for the elite are Thracian territory is conquered by the the Great, conquers
beginning to be are established Persians, led by the Thrace, where he
constructed. along the Black Sea Achaemenid king founds several cities.
They show clear coast, including Darius I, and Edoni The Macedonians
influences from that of Apollonia becomes part of the extract silver and
the dominant (present-day Persian satrapy of gold from the
Mycenaean world. Sozopol, in Bulgaria). Skudra. Pangaion mines.

Orpheus and the Thracians. Attic red-figure krater, fifth century b.c.
ALAMY/ACI
LOCAL SPIN ON
GREEK TRADITIONS
PRECIOUS SILVER
THE MALE SOCIAL GATHERINGS known as symposia became popular Three silver rhytons
wherever the Greeks settled. The Etruscans, Iberians, Romans, and and a silver jug
Thracians who came into contact with Greek colonies tended to adopt (right), decorated
the tableware used at symposia: the large krater for mixing wine with with scenes from
an initiation rite,
water, the jugs for serving it, and vessels for drinking it. This tableware,
belong to the fourth-
however, often was adapted to local preferences. The krater, for example, century b.c. Borovo
was used in some cultures as an urn in which to deposit the ashes of Treasure. Rousse
the deceased—something unthinkable for the Hellenes. Regional Historical
Museum, Bulgaria
BOTTOM LEFT: SCALA, FLORENCE;
ALL OTHERS: DEA/ALBUM

PARTY TIME
A group of relaxed
young men (left)
drink wine during
a Greek-style
symposium.
Red-figured kylix,
490–480 b.c.
Louvre, Paris
ALAMY/ACI

Panagyurishte Treasure They suggest that the pieces were cast in the
In 1949 three brothers digging for clay to make workshops of that city. However, it seems likely
bricks at a tile factory near the city of Panagyur- that the gold itself came from the substan-
ishte, in southern Bulgaria, unearthed nine per- tial gold deposits on Mount Pangaion, located
fectly preserved, solid gold containers weighing in the southern Thracian territory near the
over 13 pounds in total. They had accidentally Aegean coast.
discovered what would become known as the
Panagyurishte Treasure. Borovo Treasure
Pieces included a double-handled amphora, In 1974, while plowing near the town of Borovo
three small jugs for wine with disk-shaped in central-north Bulgaria near the Danube, ag-
mouths (called olpes), a shallow bowl probably ricultural workers unearthed another Thracian
used to make libations for the divinities (called treasure. This hoard consisted of five silver ves-
a phiale), and four ceremonial drinking ves- sels with details applied in gold: three rhytons,
sels shaped like animal horns (called rhytons). an ovoid olpe, and a wide bowl. Restoration work
Zoomorphic or mythological motifs typical brought back the Borovo Treasure’s dazzling ap-
of the Greek figurative repertoire, including pearance, and decorations of Greek mythological
Dionysus, Apollo, and Artemis, decorate the iconography were revealed.
pieces. They are thought to have been the table Other traits, meanwhile, showed the influ-
service for a ceremonial symposium. ence of the great eastern empire of Achaeme-
The vessels date from the end of the fourth nid Persia, into which Darius I, king of Persia
or beginning of the third century b.c. Some between 522 and 486 b.c. , had re-subjugated
experts associate them with King Seuthes III Thrace. One inscription mentions the king
who lived at that time, although the evidence Cotys I, who lived in the first half of the fourth
is not conclusive. The only inscriptions vis- century b.c. and ruled the ancient Thracian
ible on the vessels mention the Greek polis of Odrysian state. While the treasure may have
Lampsacus, located on the southern coast of been his, it could also have been a diplomatic
the Hellespontus, now known as Dardanelles. gift presented to another leader.

54 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 LION HUNT
A silver fibula (left),
a clasp to hold
a cape, from the
fourth century b.c.
is shaped like a lion
hunting a gazelle.
Lukovit Treasure,
Regional Historical
Museum, Lovech,
Bulgaria
DEA/ALBUM

GREEK TALES
Priestess Auge and
Heracles feature
on this magnificent
gold and silver
plate (right) from
the fifth to fourth
centuries b.c.
Rogozen Treasure,
Vratsa Regional
Historical Museum,
Bulgaria
INTERFOTO/AGE FOTOSTOCK

Rogozen Treasure trousseau of a wealthy family, accumulated

In the winter of 1985, a local from the village by several generations over 150 years or more.
of Rogozen in northwestern Bulgaria was For some unknown reason, the treasure was
working in his orchard when he came across buried by its owners and never recovered. It
the first pieces of another huge collection of stayed safely stored underground until its
Thracian treasure. The Rogozen Treasure is discovery at the end of the last century.
the largest of the Thracian hoards found so Other hoards have been discovered, includ-
far and is one of the largest in all of European ing the fourth-century b.c. Lukovit Treasure
antiquity. It consists of 108 phialae, 54 olpes, (1953), whose silver objects include eques-
and three goblets with embossed figurative trian scenes—such as two horsemen chasing
decoration, mostly silver with some gold lions, perhaps representing the glorification
additions. In total, the pieces weigh over of royal power. The Letnitsa Treasure (1963)
44 pounds. included 22 gold and silver gilt appliqués that
It’s striking that the weight of some pieces decorated horse trappings. They were adorned
corresponds exactly to both Macedonian and with scenes that depict the idea of a hero,
Persian units of measurement, which suggests shedding light on the mythological beliefs of
that the pieces could have been produced with the ancient Thracians.
the intention of using them as payments in
metal. There are a notable variety of styles Hidden Away
and design evolution in this hoard, suggesting A fascinating aspect of the Thracian treasure
the pieces were made and collected at differ- hoards is that, unlike most of the other discover-
ent times. The names of Thracian kings from ies found in Bulgaria, they are not related to one
various periods are engraved on the vessels, specific archaeological site. Specialists believe
which suggests the treasure was added to dur- they were deliberately hidden by the Thracians
ing the fifth and fourth centuries b.c. Experts themselves in a variety of locations far removed
believe the collection could be the dynastic from settled sites.

56 MARCH/APRIL 2024
MINGLING ANCIENT
CULTURES FACE OF
A KING
This fifth-century
THE THRACIANS LEFT BEHIND ALMOST no written texts, and the inscrip- b.c. gold mask
tions that have been found are impossible to read, as the Thracian lan- (right), possibly
guage has not yet been deciphered. Instead, the images that decorate that of the Thracian
their hidden treasures and their grave goods give the best clues to their king Teres I, was
found in his tomb at
culture. These images indicate that, at least from
Svetitsata in 2004.
classical times, syncretism was occurring National Museum
between Thracian and Hellenic tradi- of History, Sofia
tions. For example, the physiognomy of ALAMY/ACI

some Greek gods and heroes such as

Dionysus and Heracles is evident in LIONS AND
the representations of some Thra- HEROES
cian divinities. The Thracians, how- A third-century
ever, were not passive recipients b.c. goldwork (left)
decorated with
of Hellenic culture. They exported a human head,
their divinities, too, such as Bendis, possibly Heracles,
a goddess of the hunt, who was wor- wearing a lion’s
shipped in Attica and assimilated with skin was found in
the Greek goddess Artemis. Kralevo in 1979.
National Museum
of History, Sofia
DEA/SCALA, FLORENCE

Experts have come up with various theo- found in Phrygian art from western Anatolia,
ries as to why this might be. Some believe the is also evident.
vessels are ex-votos offered by the Thracians So did the Thracians produce them, or did
to gods or spirits associated with the Earth or someone else? There is evidence that local
the underworld. There are several examples in metallurgical traditions existed in Thrace from
antiquity of this being done after a ritual, per- at least the Copper Age, but the style of that
haps a symposium. Other researchers suggest work is different from that of the treasures.
the pieces were buried in an attempt to keep Some experts believe the treasures must
them safe from an unknown threat—from lo- have been imported from Greece, Persia, or
cal thieves to outside invaders. There are many elsewhere. Others argue they were locally pro-
examples from other cultures of burying valu- duced but based on foreign models, destined
ables to protect them. It’s perhaps the most to provide the Thracian kings with prestigious
plausible explanation given the great worth goods in keeping with the fashion of the time.
of the pieces. Whatever the truth is, the existence of these
treasures demonstrates that Thracian soci-
Mysterious Makers ety was far more complex than ancient Greek
Clearly, skillful metallurgists crafted the Thra- sources suggest.
cian treasures. The question remains: Who were
they? The iconography of the Thracian trea- ARCHAEOLOGIST AND WRITER ÁNGEL CARLOS PÉREZ AGUAYO IS
A SPECIALIST IN GREEK HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY.
sures closely resembles that of classical Greek
art. It’s likely the creators of these pieces were
inspired by Hellenic fireclay models.
Other influences (e.g., Persian) are present in Learn more
the fine craftsmanship. The depiction of ani-
A Companion to Ancient Thrace
mals is similar to that of the nomadic steppe Edited by Julia Valeva, Emil Nankov, and Denver Graninger,
Wiley-Blackwell, 2015
people, the Scythians. And a blend of Near
Ancient Gold: The Wealth of the Thracians
Eastern and Egyptian features, similar to those Edited by Ivan Marazov, Harry Abrams, 1998

58 MARCH/APRIL 2024
RECLUSIVE
TREASURE FROM
PANAGYURISHTE
Nine gold vessels make up the Panagyurishte
Treasure, dating from the fourth century b.c. The
pieces are housed at the Regional Archaeological
Museum in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, but for security
reasons, given their immense value, they are rarely
exhibited to the public.
DEA/GETTY IMAGES

HEIGHT: 5.3 inches

WEIGHT: 1.5 pounds

DE ER ’S HEAD R HYTON
The decoration on the neck of this
sophisticated vessel intended for drinking wine
is taken directly from the iconography of the
heroic Greek world. On one side, Heracles is
depicted carrying out his third labor, capturing
the Ceryneian hind, while on the opposite
side—pictured here—the hero Theseus
confronts the bull of Marathon.
 OLP E W IT H TH E HE A D OF ATH EN A
This small jug designed to serve or drink wine takes the same
form as the head of Athena that was made by Greek sculptor
Phidias for the interior of the Parthenon in Athens. Wearing a
helmet decorated with two griffins and a plume in the
shape of a sphinx, the piece fits the description that
the geographer Pausanias made of Phidias’s work
in the second century a.d.

HEIGHT: 11.4 inches

WEIGHT: 3.7 pounds

HEIGHT: 8.1 inches

WEIGHT: 13.7 ounces

AM P HORA W IT H WAR RIORS

A sophisticated vessel, this amphora clearly reflects an Eastern
influence, while its decorations, notably the handles in the shape of
centaurs, look Greek. A scene from Aeschylus’s play Seven Against
Thebes is depicted on the body of the vessel. The play dates from
a century and a half before the vessel was made and is a subject
that’s rarely depicted.
QUIET CONTEMPLATION
In 1901 painter Alfred
Seifert bucked artistic
trends to depict a pensive
Hypatia holding a papyrus
and a rose. Typically artists
of his era focused on her
violent death rather than
her brilliant mind.
MATTHIEU VERDEIL/GTRES
 THE TRAGIC END OF

OF ALEXANDRIA
In a.d. 415 a mob of Christian fanatics attacked
and murdered the philosopher Hypatia of
Alexandria. That, at least, is the traditional
story. But taking a closer look, does a
strictly religious motive hold up?
CLELIA MARTÍNEZ MAZA

ALEXANDRIAN ORIGINS
Founded by Alexander the Great in
331 b.c., Alexandria, whose seafront
appears on this Roman oil lamp, had
become the main port and cultural
focus of the Mediterranean by
Hypatia’s time.
ALBUM
 LOVE OF LEARNING
Hypatia teaches in
Alexandria, depicted
in a 19th-century
DRAMA ypatia reigned as not only the watercolor by Robert
AND WISDOM greatest philosopher of her native Trewick Bone.
It is believed that AURIMAGES
Alexandria in the late fourth and
the odeum at
Kom el Dikka in early fifth centuries a.d. but also
Alexandria is one as one of late antiquity’s greatest
of the places where thinkers. These feats alone would merit suf-
philosophers such
as Hypatia may ficient preservation of her name through the and brutally murdered. After dismembering
have taught. ages, yet this is not history’s account. her body, the mob burned her remains.
MANUEL COHEN/AURIMAGES Instead, Hypatia is remembered mostly for Other accounts state she was giving a lecture
her horrific murder in a.d. 415 at the hands when the mob found her, and after taking her to
of a fanatical Christian mob. Contemporane- the church, she was dragged through the streets.
ous sources recount the murder in detail. The Cyril, Patriarch (archbishop) of Alexandria,
Christian authors Socrates Scholasticus and plotted her murder and ordered it carried out.
John of Nikiû, as well as pagan authors includ- Whichever version is more accurate, it has long
ing the Greek Neoplatonist philosopher Dam- been believed she was assassinated by a rab-
ascius, agree in their descriptions of her death. ble of Christian fanatics for her philosophical
She was forcibly dragged from her chariot in beliefs—that is, she didn’t support Christianity
Alexandria and brought to a church called Cae- in a world in which Christians and pagans were
sareum. There, she was stripped naked, flayed, at odds. But there’s more to the story.

A.D. 380 391

Theodosius I declares Christians storm the
RELIGIOUS Christianity the official
religion of the Roman
Serapeum of Alexandria
and behead, dismember,
TENSIONS Empire. Hypatia,
daughter of renowned
and burn the image of
Serapis. Hypatia takes no
mathematician Theon, part in defending the city’s
is about 20 years old. great pagan sanctuary.
Theodosius II, eastern Roman emperor at the time of Hypatia’s death
DEA/ALBUM
64 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 ANCIENT POLYMATH

ALEXANDRIA’S
GREATEST MIND

H
ypatia lived at a time when women
were not given status equal to men, no
matter how brilliant they were. Yet this
largely unsung scholar is considered one of
antiquity’s last great philosophers before the
Middle Ages. She is the first known woman
to study and teach mathematics, astronomy,
and philosophy, and she drew students from
far and wide across the Roman Empire. Many
scholars believe she edited the surviving text
of Ptolemy’s Almagest, based on the title of
her father’s commentary on Book III of the
Almagest. She even donned the robes of the
academic elite, even though men only were
allowed this honor at the time. Michael Dea-
kin, in his 2007 book Hypatia of Alexandria,
wrote: “Almost alone, virtually the last aca-
demic, she stood for intellectual values, for
rigorous mathematics, ascetic Neoplatonism,
the crucial role of the mind, and the voice of
temperance and moderation in civic life.”

Ancient Alexandria library, Alexandria began a slow decline. In SYMBOLIC WAR

At the time of Hypatia’s birth around a.d. 360, a.d. 364, the Roman Empire split in two, and This Christian frieze
(below) with a
the important cultural and intellectual center Alexandria remained in the eastern portion, Greek cross over a
of her native Alexandria was waning. Founded controlled by Constantinople (modern Istan- gazelle was made in
by Alexander the Great in 331 b.c., this great bul). Around this time, disputes erupted be- fifth-century Egypt,
city was the site of the Pharos lighthouse, one tween the city’s Christian denominations. One where a battle for
supremacy was
of the ancient world’s seven wonders, and the ancient writer noted that there were no people waged between
Mouseion, which included the famous Library who loved a fight more than those of Alexan- Christians and
of Alexandria, said to have served as a training dria. Then, in a.d. 380, Emperor Theodosius I pagans.
ALBUM
ground for the ancient world’s best writers, doc- declared Christianity the official religion of the
tors, scientists, and philosophers. Roman Empire, including Alexandria, man-
After Julius Caesar conquered Alexandria dating punishment to nonbelievers. Tensions
in 48 b.c. and burned part of the city’s great rose between Christians and non-Christians.

412 414 415

Theophilus, Patriarch of Cyril orders Alexandria’s A Christian mob seizes
Alexandria, dies, and his Jews to be massacred, Hypatia and violently
nephew Cyril takes his their synagogues murders her. Accounts say
place. Cyril continues his destroyed, and their her body is dragged along
uncle’s intolerant stance property expropriated. the Canopic Way before
toward non-Christians Most of the city’s Jewish being dismembered
in the city. population flees. and burned.
Hypatia was a skilled
user of astronomical
instruments such as
astrolabes. The brass
astrolabe shown here
was made in 11th-century
Islamic Spain.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

THROUGH
THE STREETS
Hypatia’s murder, as
described by Socrates
SCOURGE Early Years Scholasticus, 19th-
OF PAGANS Against this backdrop of religious and political century engraving
Before Cyril came strife, Hypatia received an excellent education
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/AGE FOTOSTCOK

to power in a.d.
412, Theophilus under the guidance of her father, the renowned
(seen below in an mathematician and astronomer Theon, who
undated Egyptian taught at the Mouseion. He introduced her to a
Coptic statuette) wide range of subjects, including mathematics, as pagan, Christians identified the One with
was Alexandria’s
Patriarch. He astronomy, philosophy, and literature. Early on, their God, and as such, both pagans and Chris-
engaged in Hypatia demonstrated exceptional intellectual tians could abide this philosophical framework.
attacks against abilities and a passion for learning. She deliv- Hypatia taught at the Neoplatonist School
pagans.
ALAMY/ACI
ered detailed commentaries on the great works of Philosophy and drew large crowds of pagans
of mathematics and astronomy that had been and Christians to her lectures. She doesn’t ap-
produced in Alexandria centuries earlier in the pear to have been a devout pagan and didn’t
times of the Ptolemies (305 b.c. to a.d. 30). practice theurgy, the use of magic and oracles
However, it wasn’t Hypatia’s talent for that many Neoplatonists saw as another path
mathematics and astronomy, or even her in- to the One. While all around her Christians
ventions, that had the greatest impact. She and pagans were involved in clashes that were
would earn renown primarily as a philoso- tearing the city of Alexandria apart, she seem-
pher. Hypatia espoused a school of thought ingly maintained a neutral position.
known as Neoplatonism. Reinterpreting the Hypatia certainly remained distanced from
ideas of ancient Greek philosopher Plato, the events that in a.d. 391 culminated in the
this teaching emerged in the third century ancient Serapeum temple of Alexandria being
a.d. Combining spirituality and science, it destroyed by Christians. Other pagan intel-
applied mathematics and astronomy to phi- lectuals, meanwhile, were active in defending
losophy as a way to understand the universe the great temple dedicated to the god Serapis
and the individual’s place in it. These scientific and even boasted of murdering Christians.
disciplines were all routes to knowledge of the So the traditional view that Hypatia’s vio-
One, the supreme being from which all things lent death was the result of ideological conflict
emanate. While Hypatia’s philosophy was seen between pagans and Christians doesn’t tell the
 Cyril, Patriarch of
A VIOLENT PATRIARCH Alexandria, in a 17th-
century Greek icon;
tempera on panel

CYRIL OF BRIDGEMAN/ACI

ALEXANDRIA

T
he appointment of Cyril as Patriarch
of Alexandria in a.d. 412 was contro-
versial. He had not been expected to
succeed his uncle, so he made a show of his
authority in an attempt to gain the loyalty of
the city’s Christian community. Despite the
opposition of some Christians, he attacked
polytheists and Jews in the city, expelling or
massacring the latter in a.d. 414. Cyril was
initially backed by a band of monks from the
Nitrian Desert, where he had trained in an iso-
lated monastic community. He then used the
parabalani, who originally cared for the sick, to
carry out his acts of violence. He was declared
a Doctor of the Church in 1883.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 67

DESTROYING whole story. Instead, there’s another angle that
A SYMBOL makes more sense.
In a.d. 391, a
Christian mob
ruined the last The Suspects
remnants of One clear thing stands out in regard to Hypa-
the Library of tia’s murder. The act was highly ritualized,
Alexandria. a feature it has in common with the violent deity Serapis itself was subjected to the same
Drawing, early
20th century. deaths of two Alexandrian patriarchs: the ex- ritualized violence.
ALAMY treme Arian George of Cappadocia, who was Seen in this context, Hypatia’s death could
killed in a.d. 361, and Proterius, who was killed be interpreted as a premeditated assassination
in a.d. 457. rather than a spontaneous act by a bloodthirsty
Although the circumstances surround- mob. It’s possible she was used as a pawn in
ing each of the deaths of these bishops differ the political maneuvering of the moment, and
from Hypatia’s, all three murders do fit similar there is one very clear political standoff that
patterns. The patriarchs’ corpses were, like fits. Hypatia became involved in the show-
Hypatia’s, paraded by their murderers along down between two men who were both Chris-
the Canopic Way, Alexandria’s main thor- tians: Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Or-
oughfare. The victims’ bodies were dismem- estes, Alexandria’s Roman governor.
bered and portions of their remains transferred
to each of the city’s districts for subsequent Their Motives
cremation. It’s interesting to note that in At the time, Cyril engaged in ruthless power
a.d.391, after the assault on the ancient Sera- politics to stamp out pagan influences in
peum temple, the statue of the Greco-Egyptian Alexandria. He wasn’t afraid to use violence
to achieve his goals. He also was involved in
the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria fol-
The death of Hypatia could be interpreted lowing their attacks on Christians.
as a premeditated assassination rather Enter the Roman prefect Orestes, who, in
than a spontaneous act of violence. the imperial administration’s efforts to pre-
serve Alexandria’s stability, had to count on

68 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 POMPEY’S PILLAR
Although it is now
associated with Pompey,
the pillar in fact came from
the ruins of the Serapeum,
on which it stands.
DMITRII MELNIKOV/ALAMY/ACI

Bust of Serapis from the

CRISIS IN ALEXANDRIA Serapeum, first to second
century a.d., Greco-Roman
Museum, Alexandria

DEATH DEA/ALBUM

OF A GOD

T
he chain of attacks that culminated in
the Serapeum’s destruction in a.d. 391
started when Christians began erect-
ing a church on an abandoned site. According
to theologian and monk Tyrannius Rufinus,
workers unearthed the remains of grottoes
and ritual objects linked to the Mithras cult.
When they treated the artifacts disrespect-
fully, pagans became infuriated, sparking a
clash that killed several people. The polythe-
ists sought refuge in the Serapeum, and, to
prevent an escalation of violence, the authori-
ties showed clemency to both sides. But the
Christians launched an assault on the temple,
beheading, smashing, and burning the statue.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 69

 In disguise? This
figure is believed
to be Hypatia.

AMONG THE support from the municipal aristocracy who

BEST MINDS mostly worshipped pagan gods. Orestes also
Above, a detail from needed to avoid sparking opposition from the
Raphael’s 1509-
1511 masterpiece Jews while garnering support from the Chris-
“School of Athens” tians who opposed Cyril and his violent meth-
shows a figure that ods. Orestes, unlike Cyril, needed to appeal to
many believe to a diverse group of people. The Plot
be Hypatia. Her
presence in the Orestes turned to his friend Hypatia. She To neutralize Hypatia, it seems that Cyril
picture reportedly was a suitable intermediary because of her mounted a smear campaign accusing Hypatia
sparked controversy status as a philosopher and because she had of black magic and describing her as a dangerous
in the church.
ALAMY
stayed at arm’s length from actively defending witch using spells to lure people to her lectures.
polytheism. She was well regarded by those It was claimed she had ensnared Orestes into
across the Alexandrian elite who were neither skipping Mass and allowing non-Christians into
agitators for one side or the other nor favored his house. Socrates Scholasticus notes that “as
violence. Another aspect that made Hypatia she [Hypatia] had frequent interviews with Or-
stand out was that over many years she had estes, it was calumniously reported among the
cultivated a network. Her contacts included Christian populace, that it was by her influence
former students within powerful Christian he was prevented from being reconciled to Cyr-
circles, both in Constantinople (seat of the il.” All of these clichés, which have been used
Roman Empire) and in Alexandria. Cyril thus through the ages to discredit women who oc-
viewed Hypatia as a possible threat to his hold cupy positions other than the traditional ones
over the city’s Christians. of wife and mother, were intended to frame
Hypatia as a dangerous public enemy.
Cyril couldn’t commit the murder himself,
nor did he have to. He instead relied on his
Cyril seems to have mounted a smear parabalani. Originally, this group of lay Chris-
campaign against Hypatia, accusing her of tians acted as a charitable organization, caring
black magic and of being a witch. for the city’s neediest people. But by the time
Cyril was in charge, the parabalani had become

70 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 PHILOSOPHY AND PAINTING

HIDING IN
PLAIN SIGHT?

W
hen Raphael showed a draft
drawing of his “School of Athens”
fresco to the church fathers in the
16th century, the bishop allegedly asked him
to remove Hypatia, in the front and center.
“Knowledge of her runs counter to the belief
of the faithful!” he said. Raphael obliged, but
in an act of unflinching deception, he covertly
moved her to the left, disguising her face to
resemble that of the ruling pope’s nephew.
But there she sits, the only figure among 50
of the greatest minds staring straight out at
the viewer, as if beseeching you not to forget
that she, too, belongs in this venerable gather-
ing of scholars. Or does she? Raphael never
admitted he did this. Others claim the figure is
actually Margherita Luti, Raphael’s mistress;
Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino;
or even Raphael himself.
“School of Athens” by Raphael. Fresco painted between 1509
and 1511 in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican
ALAMY

more like an armed militia in the patriarch’s pagan philosophy from the city, they did crack
service. Although there is no proof that Cyril down on secular authorities.
ordered Hypatia’s murder, everything suggests
that Cyril had much to gain from her death and Shining Light
that the parabalani did the deed on his behalf. Hypatia’s story lived on. Her character and
Her assassination ended the threat she posed intellect were noted even by hostile Christian
to Cyril through her support for Orestes’ policy writers. In the 18th century, Voltaire wrote
of tolerance. Her death served as the breaking about her to condemn an overzealous church.
point between religious authority embodied by The English clergyman Charles Kingsley
Patriarch Cyril and civil authority embodied by penned a Victorian romance about her. She is
Prefect Orestes. It was Cyril who won the day. the heroine of the 2009 Spanish movie Agora,
Hypatia’s death, however, was not a defeat whose fictitious plot has her saving the Al-
for the pagans. Christians and pagans contin- exandria Library from Christian fanatics. Her
ued to coexist in Alexandria for more than a endurance in a patriarchal society makes her
century. Neoplatonism thrived until the Arab a feminist hero up to the present day, and she
conquest of Egypt in the seventh century and merits more recognition in history beyond the
counted both Christians and pagans among its sensation of her horrific murder.
adherents. In the sixth century, the director of
CLELIA MARTÍNEZ MAZA IS PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY
the school was a pagan, Ammonius Hermiae, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MALAGA, SPAIN.
while his deputy and the editor of his works
was a Christian, John Philoponus. After Hypa- Learn more
tia’s killing, no more was heard of Orestes. Al-
Hypatia: The Life and Legend of an Ancient Philosopher
though the Christian leaders didn’t eradicate Edward J. Watts, Oxford University Press, 2017

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 71

 ROMANTICIZED LEGEND

MURDERED
CARVED
FROM STONE
“Hypatia” by

AND
Italian artist
Odoardo Tabacchi
triumphed at the

MARTYRED
National Exhibition
of Fine Arts in
Naples in 1877.
The philosopher is
portrayed as the
innocent victim During the Enlightenment, a young,
of a sacrifice. Her nubile Hypatia fascinated artists
youth and beauty
are emphasized.
and thinkers—even though she was
ALAMY/ACI in middle age when she died.

he figure of Hypatia was revived

during the Age of Enlightenment,
a time in the 18th and 19th cen-
turies when religious and philo-
sophical disputes were rife. The
brutality of her murder and the notion that
the perpetrators had been violent Christians
egged on by Patriarch Cyril himself made her
a convenient symbol to Enlightenment fig-
ures in their fight against superstition and
obscurantism in the church.
The first appearance of Hypatia in Eu-
ropean literature came thanks to the Prot-
estant convert and rationalist John Toland,
who in 1720 published a work with the ex-
traordinary title Hypatia: Or, the History of a
Most Beautiful, Most Vertuous, Most Learned,
and Every Way Accomplish’d Lady; Who Was
Torn to Pieces by the Clergy of Alexandria, to
Gratify the Pride, Emulation, and Cruelty of
Their Archbishop, Commonly But Undeserv-
edly Styled St. Cyril.
Enlightenment figures turned Hypatia
into an exemplar of Greek rationalism and a
symbol of the need to free man from Catho-
lic dogmatism. Voltaire, in L’examen impor-
tant de Milord Bolingbroke. Ecrit sur la fin de
 THROUGH
THE LENS
In 1868 pioneering
British photographer
Julia Margaret
Cameron created
this portrait of
Hypatia, one of the
many strong female
figures whom
Cameron depicted
in her works. This
was not actually
Hypatia, of course,
but a model and
painter named
Marie Stillman.
Victoria & Albert
Museum, London
V&A IMAGES/SCALA, FLORENCE

1736, describes her death as “an excess of

inhumanity” carried out by “Cyril’s tonsured
hounds,” urged on by a “band of fanatics.”
Voltaire insisted the Christian rabble
killed Hypatia because she defended the
Greek gods, rational laws, and the power of
the human mind free of dogmas. To Voltaire,
her death symbolized the defeat of reason.
The English historian Edward Gibbon took a
WITH A BRUSH
similar stance in his magnum opus, History
In an 1885 oil
of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire painting, artist
(published 1776-1788), in which Hypatia’s Charles William The second key work in consolidat-
death is used to exemplify the triumph of Mitchell depicts ing the 19th-century myth around Hypatia
Hypatia inside
religion that ended Rome. the Caesareum was an influential 1853 novel by the English
church, just clergyman and historian Charles Kingsley.
Hypatia and the Romantics before her In Hypatia: New Foes With an Old Face, he
Gibbon seeded the idea of Hypatia as a woman murder. Laing depicts Hypatia as a victim of the despotic
Art Gallery,
“in the bloom of beauty, and in the maturity of Newcastle and dogmatic Cyril and the machinations of
wisdom.” This conception of her culminated in upon Tyne Prefect Orestes, himself an intriguing and
the 19th century with works such as “Hypatie,” NYPL/AGE FOTOSTOCK
dissolute character.
by French poet Charles Leconte de Lisle, which The Romantic iconography around Hypa-
describes her as having the “spirit of Plato and tia has been perpetuated to this day in litera-
the body of Aphrodite.” The poem ends with ture and the arts. Although she already was
praise of Hypatia’s beauty, which, even after her in middle age when murdered, she’s generally
murder, survives “immutable, eternal.” While depicted as a young woman: beautiful and
trembling universes are scattered by death, virtuous. Her tragic end elevates her story
“Beauty shines, and in it everything is reborn.” to the category of legend.
JEWEL OF TENOCHTITLAN

Rising over the Aztec capital was once an

imposing pyramid dedicated to two gods,
Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. Uncovered in 1978,
the remains of Templo Mayor have revealed
the shocking rituals used to appease them.

ISABEL BUENO
UNEARTHED TEMPLE
Since its discovery in 1978,
archaeologists have succeeded
in exhuming the base of the
great Aztec Templo Mayor. Digs
have revealed several phases of
expansion from 1375 to 1519.
PETER ESSICK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 75

Center of
the Aztec
Cosmos
1325
The Aztec (Mexica) build a
temple in Tenochtitlan to honor
the god Huitzilopochtli. Seven
building phases will expand it
into a massive pyramid.

1440-1469
During the reign of Moctezuma I,
Templo Mayor is expanded
several times. Colorful artworks
and elaborate architectural
elements are added.

1486-1502
Ahuitzotl takes the throne
and begins a large-scale
renovation of the temple. It
is inaugurated in 1487 with
numerous human sacrifices.

1519
Hernán Cortés and his
Spanish forces first set foot
in Tenochtitlan and are FALL OF or centuries, archaeologists searched
impressed by the grandeur TENOCHTITLAN
of Templo Mayor. in vain for Templo Mayor, which they
Templo Mayor rises
knew existed somewhere beneath
in the distance as
Hernán Cortés’s modern-day Mexico City. Once rising some
1521
After the Aztec defeat, stones troops attack the 160 feet above the Aztec (or Mexica, as the
from Templo Mayor are city in 1521. 17th Aztec referred to themselves) ceremonial cen-
robbed from the pyramid and century, anonymous,
private collection ter of Tenochtitlan, the ancient capital of the
used to erect the buildings
BRIDGEMAN/ACI Aztec Empire, the pyramid served as the reli-
of New Spain.
gious focal point and, some say, the center of
the Aztec universe. But then Hernán Cortés,
Growth of the Aztec Empire by ruler head of a joint force of Spanish troops and
Itzcoatl, 1427–1440
Moctezuma I, 1440–1469 hundreds of thousands of Indigenous allies,
NORTH
Axayacatl, 1469–1481 AMERICA conquered the city in 1521, badly damaging the
Ahuitzotl, 1486–1502
Moctezuma II, 1502–1520
pyramid. Over time, it gradually disappeared.
MEXICO
Lake Maps and chronicles indicated that Templo
Texcoco Mayor lay beneath Mexico City Metropolitan
Mexico Tenochtitlan
City G u l f o f Me x i c o Cathedral. Once in a while, when work was car-
Balsa
s
ried out in the city’s subsoil, objects related to
Sie
rra Isthmus of Templo Mayor would appear. In 1790 a large
P Ma
dre M E X I C O statue of the goddess Coatlicue and a 24-ton
A del
Sur
C Te h u a n t e p e c
I F monolith, called the sun stone or Aztec calendar,
I C were found. In 1914 an archaeologist unearthed
100 mi Gulf of
O C
100 km
E A Tehuantepec more remains that he linked to Templo Mayor.
Present-day boundaries are shown. N
NG MAPS GUATEMALA
 A breakthrough came in 1978, when, in the Power and Might SACRED
course of some underground cabling work, The original Templo Mayor was a simple PLAN
A drawing of Templo
electricity company workers made the chance thatched shrine, built during the reign of Itzcoatl
Mayor (above)
discovery of an 11-foot-wide monolith depict- (r. 1427–1440). Subsequent leaders ordered its appears in the
ing Coyolxauhqui. In Aztec mythology, she is enlargement to commemorate their military 16th-century Codex
the goddess of the moon and sister of Huitzilo- victories (or sometimes as the result of flooding Ixtlilxochitl. National
pochtli, the sun, to whom the Templo Mayor or other environmental problems). Excavations Library of France,
Paris
was dedicated. Shockingly, the goddess was have confirmed at least seven expansions. BNF/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

portrayed as decapitated and dismembered. It may be surprising that they preferred to

Archaeologists were riveted by the find and enlarge the old temple instead of
wanted to know more. building a new one, but there is
An excavation team overseen by archae- a reason that has to do with the
ologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma was im- special significance of the site
mediately launched. “What emerged from itself. According to myth, the
these diggings was the ‘Templo Mayor,’ a huge god Huitzilopochtli led the Az-
temple-pyramid that had served as the sacred tec, or Mexica, on their march from
center of the Aztec Empire,” writes archaeolo- their mythical homeland of Aztlan
gist Michael E. Smith in The Aztecs. Over the to Lake Texcoco. There he showed
past 45 years, the team’s painstaking work has
brought to light some of the most breathtak- This eagle warrior (right) was discovered
ing Aztec artifacts ever found. And with them at the House of the Eagles, the military elite’s
headquarters at Templo Mayor. 15th century,
came startling insights into major aspects of Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City
Aztec religion, life, and society. DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES
 Head. The goddess’s
hair is embellished Arms. Bones
with eagle feather are visible in
disks that evoke her shattered
death and sacrifice. arms, which are
adorned with
beads and bells.

Torso. The
goddess is bare-
chested, typical of
depictions of this
deity. She wears a Legs. The double-
belt made out of headed serpent
snakes that holds Maquizcoatl, symbol
a skull in place on of Huitzilopochtli,
her side, depicting a coils around the
terrestrial deity. goddess’s broken legs.

Sibling Rivalry AT THE FOOT OF THE STEPS of the Tem-

plo Mayor was a large monolith that
represented the death of the god-
down the mountain. This mythical
episode was repeated every time
the priests sacrificed a captive on
dess Coyolxauhqui. According to top of Templo Mayor. After ripping
the myth, after the great Aztec god out their heart, they threw the body
Huitzilopochtli was born, he was down the stairs. The dismembered
attacked by his elder siblings. The body of Coyolxauhqui also referred
attackers included his sister Coyolx- to the lunar phases and the cycles
auhqui, whom he dismembered of renewal of nature.
with his flaming sword and threw DAGLI ORITI/AURIMAGES
 Monolith of Coyolxauhqui
was found at the Templo
Mayor site in 1978.
ANDREW RAKOCZY/SCIENCE SOURCE/ALBUM

the priests a small island where an eagle was No doubt the site was magnificent. Tem- EARTH GODDESS
perched on a nopal cactus, called tenochtli in plo Mayor (Huey Teocalli in Nahuatl) stood in This statue of
Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica. The land the eastern part of the ceremonial center of Coatlicue (below),
goddess of the earth
was little more than a swamp, but these hardy Tenochtitlan. There were 78 buildings in this and mother of gods
new inhabitants—“almost totally uncultured” area, including temples, priestly residences, and mortals, was
yet possessing “an indomitable will,” according altars, a ball game court, and tzompantlis, racks found in the Templo
Mayor in 1790.
to renowned scholar Miguel León-Portilla— on which human skulls were displayed. DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES
founded Tenochtitlan and built there the em- At its peak, Templo Mayor’s final itera-
bryo of the Templo Mayor. tion was a truncated pyramid resting on
It took the labor of thousands of people a four-tiered platform. Twin staircases
over many years to construct this magnifi- accessed two smaller temples atop the
cent temple. The workers included not only pyramid, each dedicated to the city’s
the city’s inhabitants but also laborers from main gods, Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli.
other towns that were dominated by the Az- The Coyolxauhqui monolith was
tec. These subjects were forced to work on found at the base of the stairs leading
government projects as part of their tribute to the latter temple.
to the empire. The Aztec also required them
to provide building materials. Refusal to “col- Life and Death
laborate” could trigger a war, with the resulting Templo Mayor was built to symbolically
taking and sacrificing of prisoners. Templo represent Coatepec, the sacred moun-
Mayor of Tenochtitlan thus became a demon- tain where the sun god Huitzilopochtli
stration of the power of the Aztec rulers over was born. The Aztec considered it to be
the surrounding peoples. the center of the world, from which the four
 Popocatépetl
Iztaccihuatl

Templo Mayor,
Tenochtitlan’s
ceremonial complex

City of Tenochtitlan

Shrine to
Huitzilopochtli

Stone on which human sacrifices

Shrine to Tlaloc were performed

Stone of
Coyolxauhqui

Sculptures of snakes that Stone ofTlaltecuhtli, made of

evoke the mythical hill Coatepec, pink andesite brought in from
associated with serpents a quarry six miles away
THE LAYERS
MAJOR RENOVATIONS
Ever since Templo Mayor’s identification in 1978, archaeologists have
thrilled at peeling back successive layers to find 1 the earliest phases

OF TEMPLO at its heart. The pyramid of Tenochtitlan was almost constantly under
renovation, from its initial construction in the 14th century to its de-
struction in the 16th century. 2 Early expansions were begun under

MAYOR the first three rulers of Tenochtitlan (1325–1427). The Aztec rose to
become the region’s dominant power under Itzcoatl (1427–1440),
who greatly enlarged 3 the structure during his reign. His successor,
Templo Mayor was expanded to its Moctezuma I (1440–1469), continued 4 expanding the temple.
Under Axayacatl (1469–1481), 5 the main facade was enlarged.
largest around 1500, when the Aztec
Under the rule of Ahuitzotl (1486–1502), 6 all four sides of the
Empire was at its height. Rulers would pyramid were enlarged. Paradoxically, 7 the outermost layer, built
sometimes renovate the sacred when Moctezuma II (1502–1520) ruled,
complex to commemorate victories. is the worst preserved, because this
layer was dismantled and used to
Work also was carried out because of
construct other buildings after
floods and the instability of the ground the Spanish conquest.
beneath the foundation. NED M. SEIDLER/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

HERNÁN CAÑELLAS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

Present-day
ground level

3 7

6
axes that marked the courses of the universe XIUHTECUHTLI The temple also commemorated the vic-
embarked. The Templo Mayor was thus the A figure of the fire tory of Huitzilopochtli over his innumerable
god was found at
point of intersection through which cosmic brothers who, according to the myth, had con-
Templo Mayor and
energy flowed, enabling communication be- dates to the 14th- spired against him and paid for it with their
tween gods and men. “The sacred mountain is 16th centuries. lives. His sister Coyolxauhqui also rebelled,
as important as the cross in Christianity,” says National Museum and Huitzilopochtli killed her by throwing
of Anthropology,
Harvard historian of religions David Carrasco. Mexico City her from the summit of Mount Coatepec. A
Its pyramidal structure represented the SCALA, FLORENCE monolith representing the goddess’s death
three levels of the Aztec worldview. The was placed at the foot of the staircase leading
square platform on which the temple to Templo Mayor.
stood was the horizontal plane where
all living beings existed, while the pyr- Rites and Rituals
amid represented the celestial level, As the most important temple, Templo May-
and below it was the underworld. or hosted the main ceremonies of Aztec so-
Templo Mayor was a tangible display ciety, from the coronations of new monarchs
of life and death, beginning and end. to varied rituals related to agriculture, rain,
Even the two temples that crowned it and the proper functioning of the heav-
reflected this symbolism. Tlaloc, as enly bodies. The ceremonies were spread
an aquatic divinity, represented life throughout the ritual calendar according to
and sustenance for agricultural peo- the importance of the divinity in the Aztec
ple such as the Aztec, while Huitzilo- pantheon. “Many of the human sacrifices
pochtli was the god of war and death, took place as parts of these monthly celebra-
sunset and sunrise. tions,” Smith writes. “Each year, hundreds or

82 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 Tlaloc, god of rain, is portrayed on a 15th-century ceramic vessel found in the Templo Mayor.
DEA/ALBUM

SACRED VESSEL
Lying at the top of the Templo Mayor,
in front of the sanctuary of Tlaloc, is
a Chacmool figure. These reclining
statues were often used in Aztec rituals
to hold the hearts of sacrificial victims.
KENNETH GARRETT

perhaps thousands of victims had their chests “The captor sponsored the sacrifice, thereby DIVINE ORIGINS
cut open, and their still-beating hearts ripped gaining prestige.” The Aztec founded
out by knife-wielding priests, as throngs of One of the most eagerly awaited Aztec fes- Tenochtitlan, where
they witnessed
spectators looked on.” tivals was Panquetzaliztli, “the raising of ban- an eagle with a
The most solemn events were reserved for ners,” which was celebrated in December, close snake in its beak, as
the most important god, Huitzilopochtli. On to the winter solstice. As dawn broke, a runner illustrated (below)
these days, people were executed on a stone in carrying an image of Huitzilopochtli ,made of in the 1579 History of
the Indies. National
front of Huitzilopochtli’s temple. Their hearts baked dough, sprinted down from the top of Library, Madrid
were then placed on a beautiful polychrome the temple and ran away, pursued by the crowd. DEA/ALBUM

Chacmool, a reclining figure sculpted in stone, He first took the god to the ball game court,
in front of the temple of Tlaloc. where four victims were sacrificed to him
The Aztec believed human sacrifices were
necessary in their religious rituals to placate
the sun god. Through these sacrifices, they
repeated the deaths of the gods who sacrificed
themselves in the sacred hearth of Teotihuacan
so that men could live, feeding the movement
of the sun with their blood. They believed the
sacred deaths ensured the continuity of life on
Earth, while reminding those who opposed the
Aztec that they could die on the bloody altar
of the Templo Mayor. “Most victims were en-
emy warriors captured in battle,” Smith writes.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 83

COLORFUL
PROTECTION
Work at the Templo Mayor site
has revealed colossal stone
snakes, guardians whose original
polychrome is still preserved on
some of the statues.
KENNETH GARRETT
 Offering 125 is a masonry box inside which various objects weree care--
fully placed in layers. 1 The first level contained the skin of a spider
monkey; gold and jade ornaments; eight knives symbolizing lunar divini--
ties; and two royal eagles adorned with copper objects. 2 The second d
level contained the remains of 62 marine species, including crabs, snailss,
and corals. 3 The third and final level contained the remains of a she--
wolf adorned with a jade collar, earrings, and a belt made of shellss. All of
these items had a funerary meaning. On the first level, the eagles facing g
the setting sun symbolize the night of death. On the second levvel, thee
shells evoke the waters that the deceased must cross. And on thee third d
level, the canine may have been a pet, perhaps laid there to guid de thee
deceased on a journey to the afterlife.
KENNETH GARRETT

DIVINE
OFFERINGS 1
In 2006 a huge monolith,
dedicated to the earth goddess
Tlaltecuhtli, was discovered
in front of Templo Mayor.
Underneath was a shaft with 2
numerous offerings inside,
perhaps because the well was
seen as a gateway to the Earth’s
center. Some believe it may even 3
be a tomb, although conclusive
evidence has not yet been found.
ILLUSTRATION: HERNÁN CAÑELLAS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION
 Stone altar where priests
carried out human sacrifices
in the Templo Mayor
KENNETH GARRETT

and he received their hearts as an offering. painted black, and their hair was tied with MIGHTY
The runner then continued the frantic chase leather bands around their heads and little HUITZILOPOCHTLI
through some riverside towns, followed by paper rings on their foreheads. After the cer- The god of war and
the sun is depicted
the faithful, who struggled to catch up with emony, the image of the god was blessed and in a 16th-century
him. The reason he ran had to do with the fact divided among the attendees to be eaten. illustration from the
that Huitzilopochtli was never defeated. The Codex Borbonicus.
Library of the National
entire route was adorned with large triumphal Mother’s Day Assembly, Paris
arches of roses, frangipani, and flags. At each Another important Aztec festival was the one GRANGER/ALBUM

arch, musicians played drums and conch shells dedicated to the goddess Toci (part
to announce the passing of the procession. of Coatlicue), mother of the gods
When the idol returned to Tenochtitlan and heart of the earth, which
along the Iztapalapa road, all the temples’ dig- was celebrated in the Templo
nitaries went out to welcome it with music Mayor on September 16. In
and dances. Before going up the temple steps, this ceremony, a woman of
the image was shown to those kept next to the 40 to 45 years of age was
skull fence, who were waiting their turn to be offered to the goddess.
sacrificed. At the foot of the temple’s steps, They first purified her,
the idol’s image was placed on a platform and washed her, and named
hoisted reverently to the top with thick ropes. her after the divinity.
Four priests held down the feet and hands Before dawn on the feast
of those who were to die. Another held their day, the sanctified woman
throat, and the sixth opened their chest and was taken outside, and a man
extracted their heart. The priests’ bodies were carried her on his back, face
KNIVES OUT up, to the top of the temple. There, a priest held Once the combat was over, the sacrifices
A 15th- or 16th- her by the hair and slit her throat, bathing the in honor of the goddess continued. For this
century sacrificial one who held her in blood. As soon as she was purpose, wooden steps were built at the top of
knife, or tecpatl
(below), was found dead, she was skinned, from her thighs to her the temple, which the two priest-executioners,
at Templo Mayor. elbows, and the skin was used to dress the man climbed up. The man covered with the skin of
The colorful handle who had carried her up, who again represented the first victim would be forced up, held in case
depicts a human
the goddess. He then watched a performance he resisted, and then pushed down the stairs.
figure, and the
blade is made of of a battle between young men dressed for war, His throat was then slit and his blood was col-
chalcedony. British in which many were badly wounded. lected in a bowl in the same way they sacrificed
Museum, London all the victims dedicated to this goddess. The
BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE
blood of the sacrificial victims was placed in a
basin, wrapped in multicolored feathers, and
set before the mother of the gods.

The Aztec Fall

On November 8, 1519, Spanish conqueror
Hernán Cortés and his men set foot in Tenoch-
titlan for the first time. Astonished by the city’s
finely planned grandeur, they spared no praise
in describing it. But it’s the imposing Templo
Mayor that caught their eye. Cortés himself
noted, in his second “Letter of Relation,” that in
spite of the large number of temples in the city,

88 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 WALL OF SKULLS
A skull rack, called a tzompantli,
was uncovered at Templo Mayor
in 2007. It held hundreds of
skulls of sacrificial victims that
were mortared together on a
frame to create a wall.
KENNETH GARRETT

“there is one, the main one, whose greatness of the Eagles (the meeting place of the military DIVINE
and features no human tongue can describe.” elite), a school for priests, and sculptures of OFFERINGS
During the subsequent siege of Tenochtit- snakes and serpents. An Aztec priest
at Templo Mayor
lan, Templo Mayor was badly damaged by the As excavation work continues, a big mystery removes the still
cannon the Spanish used to subdue the city. remains. Historical records state that the re- beating heart of
After the fall of the Aztec capital, the build- mains of three Aztec kings were cremated and a victim to offer
ing was not immediately demolished. Sources their ashes buried at the foot of Templo May- it to the god
Huitzilopochtli. This
confirm it was still standing as late as 1524. or, and yet no emperor’s remains have been illustration (above) is
With the passage of time, all traces of the found. Chief archaeologist Leonardo López from an early 20th-
ancient Aztec place of worship disappeared. Luján believes their discoveries will point to century reproduction
Workers of the new Mexico City used mate- Ahuitzotl’s burial place. “We’re persuaded that of the 16th-century
Codex Magliabecchi.
rials from preexisting buildings. So, little by sooner or later we’ll find [his] tomb,” he says. UIG/ALBUM
little, the stones from temples and other build- “We’re digging deeper and deeper.”
ings in the ancient Aztec ceremonial center, If and when they do succeed in finding the
including Templo Mayor, were taken and used tomb, it will be the culmination of decades of
to build 68 churches within the former bound- work that have shed light on one of the world’s
aries of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. They were most legendary and misunderstood empires.
also used in the countless houses and struc-
ISABEL BUENO IS AN HONORARY MEMBER OF THE VICENTE LOMBARDO
tures erected in the city center. TOLEDANO CENTER IN MEXICO, ON WHOSE HISTORY SHE WRITES EXTENSIVELY.
Since 1978, archaeological excavations of the
ancient temple have revealed more and more of Learn more
the grandeur that was Templo Mayor. They’ve
The Offerings of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan
found palace rooms, built-in baths, the House Leonardo López Luján, University of New Mexico Press, 2005

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 89

 DISCOVERIES

The Magnificent
Roman Mosaics
of Carranque
In 1983 a teenager in a rural Spanish town unearthed a treasure trove
of Roman mosaics crafted during the imperial era in Iberia.

O
n a hot July day in archaeologists for the name
1983, 18-year-old found inscribed on a thresh-
herder Samuel old. Excavations revealed
López made the much larger works of art
find that changed his life and depicting mythological
put the central Spanish town scenes. Large sections were
of Carranque on the world’s ar- intact, including the stun-
chaeological map. “My heart ning mosaic of Oceanus with
was pounding,” he said. “I a long, flowing beard.
started rummaging through Flourishing in a last burst
the straw and found another of glory before Roman Spain
tile and then another … With 1983 exceeded all these oth- was overrun by invaders in the
the stick I used to herd the er finds. Calling on several of fifth century, the Villa Mater-
cows, I scraped the ground and his brothers to help, López nus was clearly the product of
realized I’d found a mosaic.” was stunned to see areas of great power and wealth. The
López’s family had worked elaborate mosaics emerging. mosaics provide rich insight
the land around Carranque López alerted the Museum into this time and place, but
for centuries. A tall stone ru- of Santa Cruz in the nearby the identity of the villa’s owner
in, said to be of ancient or- city of Toledo. After initial is still a mystery.
igin, dominated this parcel examinations, archaeologists
of land. Helping his father as confirmed that the remains of Silver and Oil
a boy, López was no strang- an opulent Roman estate lay After defeating the Carthag-
er to finding objects left be- under the family’s farmland. inians in the second century of southern Spain, whose
hind long ago on the farm. He The stone ruins were part of b.c., the Romans seized the riches financed the Roman
had accrued a collection of a wall from a fourth-century Iberian Peninsula in a signif- Republic’s ongoing transfor-
ceramic fragments and met- Roman palatial structure. To icant victory. They now con- mation into a huge regional
al items near the stones, but the south of it stood a villa, trolled the western Mediter- power and later an empire.
the young man’s discovery in named Villa Maternus by the ranean and the silver mines Among its other important

1983 1985 2003 2013

Samuel López and Archaeological The Carranque After a brief
his brothers discover work begins. The site is declared an closure in 2012,
mosaics to the south mosaics form the archaeological park Carranque reopens
of an ancient ruin in floor plan of a fourth- and opens to the and excavations
Carranque, Spain. century villa. public. continue.

Hercules appears in a detail of a fourth-century Metamorphoses mosaic in the cubiculum of Carranque’s Villa of Maternus.
ALBUM
90 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 FLOWING BEARD
The hirsute splendor of the mosaic
of Oceanus adorns an alcove above
a fountain set into the wall of the
fourth-century Villa of Maternus in
Carranque, Spain.
DAVID BLÁZQUEZ /AGE FOTOSTOCK

MATERNUS’S PLEASURE
AN INSCRIPTION found in mosaic form in the
villa’s cubiculum is thought to name the vil-
la’s wealthy Roman owner at the end of the
fourth century. It also names the artisan re-
sponsible for the mosaic work: “Hirinius, from
agricultural products, Iberia’s of major renovations, giving
the workshop of Ma ... painted this cubicle for
prized olive oil would become the villa the impressive struc-
Maternus’s pleasure.”
a Roman staple, later distrib- tures and floor plan seen to- MUNICIPALITY OF CARRANQUE
uted to every corner of the day. This last phase took place
Roman world. during the fourth-century
The excavations that began reign of Emperor Theodo-
at Carranque in 1985 con- sius I, whose Spanish origins
firmed that the villa López boosted the importance of the
discovered had a complex Hispano-Roman elite.
history. Ceramic remains and Archaeological studies
other structures led archaeol- established that the principal
ogists to date the settlement villa structure consisted of a
to the first to second centuries central garden surrounded by
a.d. Later, in the final decades a columned veranda, or peri-
of the fourth century, the style. Around the garden were
complex underwent a series dining and reception rooms,

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 91

A ROOF NOW PROTECTS the
fourth-century Villa of Maternus
at Carranque. In the foreground
is the portico, whose circular
mosaic once welcomed guests.
The roof’s four supporting pillars
rest in what would have been the
central garden.
MUNICIPALITY OF CARRANQUE
 DISCOVERIES

HALOED WITH GOLD, an elegant

lady forms the centerpiece of the
mosaic in the Villa of Maternus’s
cubiculum. Around her are
portraits of Roman divinities and
mythological scenes from Ovid’s
Metamorphoses.
MUNICIPALITY OF CARRANQUE

many with rounded apses on of the most complex and best threshold mosaic appears the In one, the goddess Diana is
their exterior walls. preserved of all Hispano- name Maternus, and it is gen- bathing while a nymph combs
Costly imported stone- Roman mosaic art, they were erally believed that this was the her hair. The furtive male figure
work, including porphyry produced, evidently at great master of the house’s name. watching is Actaeon, whom Di-
and marble, adorned the expense, by three workshops, The central mosaic dom- ana will punish for his voyeur-
walls. Most stunning of all each with its own style. The inating the room features ism by turning him into a stag
are the mosaic floors. Some masterpieces they created the encircled likeness of a to be hunted down and killed.
include narratives depicting woman. Richly dressed, her The fusion of hunting and
scenes from mythology, as head is surrounded by a halo, eroticism continues in the
well as animal and vegetable denoting greatness and virtue. mosaic of the triclinium, or
details, including partridges, Echoing other mosaic figures dining room, a more public
a boar, dogs, baskets of flowers and themes at Carranque, she space evidently designed to
and fruit, and fishes. could be an allegory of a clas- impress and delight guests.
sical virtue, or the lady of the This mosaic likely depicts
Myths and Ladies house, or both. The panels that Adonis, the beautiful youth
On the eastern corner of the surround her are unmistakably loved by Venus. He fights a
villa is a domestic space classical references: mytho- boar that is about to kill him,
known as a cubiculum. On the logical figures, including Ath- to the horror of the watch-
ena and Hercules, and scenes ing goddess. Below are two
Pallas Athena from the Villa of Maternus
cubiculum, Carranque described in Metamorphoses wounded dogs, perhaps
ALBUM/ORONOZ by first-century poet Ovid. injured, by the boar. They may

94 MARCH/APRIL 2024
 WEB PRICE

OVER 70% OFF

NOW JUST

$49
plus s&h

YOU SAVE
$120

Watch Specifications:
• $49 Special Offer
• Blue & Gold Dial
• Chronograph Movement
• Five Year Movement Warranty
• 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

NG4FTX

The Gold Standard For Winning Style

Your Wrist Today $49 - You Save Over 70%
Meet the Tuxedo Blue Chronograph supported by our trusted 5-Year for money. How do we do it? By cutting
men’s watch – a harmonious blend of Movement Warranty for your peace out the middleman and eliminating
durability and sophistication. Crafted with of mind. The gold-plated stainless steel costly retail overheads, we pass the
a stainless steel case and band, en- bracelet is both brushed and polished, savings directly to you, our loyal
riched by 18k gold plating, this watch is and it boasts a deployment clasp for a customer. It’s the epitome of affordability
built to last while exuding timeless class. VHFXUHDQGFRPIRUWDEOH¿W7KLVZDWFK without compromise.
Its design is characterized by a round, is water-resistant up to 3ATMs, suitable
gold-plated case with a navy blue dial for any occasion, from formal events to For a limited time, you can acquire this
featuring gold-tone hour markers, hands, everyday wear. stunning watch for just $49 (plus S&H)
and a date window at 6 o’clock. when you use the exclusive promotional
What makes this even more exception- code NG4FTX at checkout.
Under the hood, a reliable quartz move- al? The price. At just $49, the Tuxedo 2IIHUOLPLWHGWRWKH¿UVW
ment ensures precise timekeeping, Blue Chronograph offers incredible value respondents to this ad.

CALL NOW TOLL FREE 24/7 ON: 1-800 733 8463

Please quote NG4FTX or order online at: www.timepiecesusa.com/NG4FTX
PAY BY CHECK: Timepieces International Inc. 10701 NW 140th Street, Suite 1, Hialeah Gardens, FL 33018
 DISCOVERIES

THE RUINS of the fourth-century palace

structure at Carranque lie to the north
of where Samuel López first spotted the
Roman mosaics in 1983.
MUNICIPALITY OF CARRANQUE

be portraits of the estate’s flowing beard and somber Some argue that the Mater- was—renovated his villa and
actual hunting dogs. expression have become the nus named in the mosaicked commissioned his mosaics.
Another impressive carpet emblematic image of Carran- inscription was Maternus Cy- Vandals and Visigoths invad-
mosaic adorns the principal que’s mosaic treasures. negius. An Iberian-born ad- ed the peninsula in the fifth
oecus, or reception area, de- viser to Emperor Theodosius, century b.c.
picting the gifting of the en- Mystery of Maternus Maternus Cynegius would The palace structure to the
slaved girl Briseis to Achilles Now in his late 50s and still a certainly have had the wealth north of the villa survived and
during the Trojan War. Cen- resident of Carranque, López and confidence to build such a was adapted as a Christian
tral to the plot of Homer’s has spent his life studying the lavish villa. But there is a catch: building until it was aban-
Iliad, the unhappy story of excavations at the site he un- As a pious Christian, Mater- doned. Much of its stone was
Briseis echoes the fusion of earthed. The ruins are now nus Cynegius facilitated The- removed for use in local build-
eroticism and violence across known to be one of the most odosius’s attacks on pagans ings, until only a portion of the
the mosaics. significant Hispano-Roman across the empire. It is unlike- wall remained. The mosaics
Opposite the entrance to villas yet found. Sited on a key ly that a Christian of such zeal were buried and lay hidden in
the oecus is an alcove that Roman road, it would have would have commissioned so the farmland of Castile until
once contained a fountain. In dominated the countryside many mosaics depicting the that hot day in 1983, when a
the recess above it is a mag- around it in an ostentatious gods, goddesses, and myths young herder with an interest
nificent portrait of the god declaration of wealth. Histo- of ancient Rome. in history bent down to peer
Oceanus. Comprising tiny rians have spent many years Rome’s long rule of Iberia closer at the past.
pieces that create the effect trying to identify who its ended in the decades shortly
of wavelets or ripples, his powerful owner was. after Maternus—whoever he —Rubén Montoya

96 MARCH/APRIL 2024
Survive Just About
2
Anything for Under $20
O n any outdoor adventure, Mother Nature’s job is to present you
with challenges. Some days she’s more demanding than others.
And on those days, you’d better come prepared. The Stauer Survival
Box is a near-guarantee you’ll be up to the challenge. The stainless
steel multitool offers wire cutters, knife, bottle opener, file, a set of
screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and much more. The powerful flashlight has
three different settings, and the tactical loop watch is a reliable, water-
resistant timepiece that clips to your hip and never leaves your side. All
told, opening the Survival Box gives you instant access to nine different
tools for JUST $19.50.
Regularly sold for $99, we’re offering this collection of survival essentials
to you for A FIFTH OF THE NORMAL PRICE! Why? Because
we’ve had an incredible year and we feel like giving back to our valued
customers. As this kit has proven to be one of our all-time best sellers, we
can only extend this offer while supplies last. Of our initial run of 1,737,
more than half have already sold. Your move, Mother Nature. ÌÌÌÌÌ
Survival Box Specifications:
• Multitool: 3 ¼" x 1" folded
• Flashlight: 3 ½" x 1", 260 lumens, takes AA batteries (not included),
three LED light modes: strong, medium and caution flashing
• Watch: 2 ¾" x 1", battery type SR626SW (included)
Survival Box $99 $19.50* + S+P Save $79.50
*You must use Insider Offer Code: SVB247-01 to get this price.
California residents please call regarding Proposition 65 regulations before
purchasing this product.

1-800-333-2045
Your Insider Offer Code: SVB247-01
Stauer, 14101 Southcross Drive W., Ste 155, Dept. SVB24

AFFORD THE EXTRAORDINARY