Everyday life in an extraordinary empire

Why this great empire believed bloody rites and cannibalism brought order to the cosmos

Maya artefacts are something you’d probably expect to find in an archaeological site in Mexico or hidden in ruins buried deep in the Central American jungle. A startling number of them turn up in Euro

The earth-shattering collapse of the Western Roman Empire was the result of invasions, corruption and cruelty

The normal diet of gladiators was vegetarian, but not through choice or principle. The rations in their barracks consisted of sagina, which literally translates as ‘stuffing’. It was a barley and bean

NEW SEVEN WONDERS / ANTARCTICA / LETTER FROM AMERICA

Igloo-building, pine needle soup and some seriously high-stakes fire building – Anna Richards heads to the Swiss Jura mountains for a course on extreme cold survival