From voyages to battles, gods to monsters, heroics to cowardice, the Viking sagas explore all of these themes in magnificent detail

It’s the pub-quiz question that no one would ever get right. Which medieval nation permitted no-blame divorce, provided a form of consumer protection, and offered illegitimate children the same inheri

THROUGHOUT history, women have paved the way to a brighter future in politics, science, society, the arts, literacy and countless other fields. We’ve had Rosalind Franklin, the chemist responsible for

Mighty Thor, hammer in hand, is one of the most recognisable characters in Norse mythology, synonymous with strength, virility and thunder. In the Viking Age, he was revered as a dependable presence i

Helen Joyce PORTRAIT BY VANESSA DELL It doesn’t ...

There’s plenty to criticise about that ancient approach We wouldn’t recognise the system practised in ancient Athens as democracy in the sense we understand it today. Women did not have the vote, and