What is the importance of the Phaistos Disc?

SHORT ANSWER The ancient treasure may be the key to unlocking an unreadable  script, if it can ever be deciphered

WONDERS OF GOD

In the 19th century, numerous young women on both sides of the Atlantic were alleged to be forgoing food and surviving on faith alone. Felicity Day uncovers the secrets of the so-called fasting girls”, whose stories have inspired a new Netflix drama

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY | A snapshot of 19th-century Parisian nightlife has hints of a darker story lurking just beneath the surface

THE PRICE OF GOLD

Dr Stephen Tuffnell shines a light on the staggering cost that intensive mining practices inflicted upon the natural world

CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM

Being a prospector during the California gold rush was by no means plain sailing, but non-white arrivals had it especially tough

GOING WEST

One man’s chance discovery would put California firmly on the map and change the course of US history

6 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE CROWN JEWELS

With a coronation on the horizon, we reveal some lesser-known facts about the nation’s most precious treasures

Howard Hughes: the troubled tycoon

Every venture the American business magnate undertook was big from his blockbuster movies to the planes he constructed. But how did Hughes go from rubbing shoulders with the stars to living a life of seclusion?

The Great Smog

On 5 December 1952, as Londoners rushed around the city after the start of the festive season, fingers of fog began to unfurl between chimneys. But as night rolled in, the fog thickened, and soon a blanket of smog was choking the capital. Londoners stumbled around the streets, unable to see further than a few metres in front of them.

AFRICAN QUEENS THE WARRIOR 'AMAZONS' OF DAHOMEY

New Hollywood blockbuster The Woman King brings the remarkable story of the female soldiers of 19th-century west Africa to the fore. Jonny Wilkes reveals how this elite fighting force of highly trained and disciplined warriors built such a fearsome reputation

A Man of the Ages

Despite his love of the finer things in life, King Edward VII was a skilled and devoted ruler who modernised Britain's monarchy

The Suez Crisis begins

I 'n early November 1956 the Suez Canal in Egypt was choked with ships. But these vessels weren't sailing down the 120-mile waterway that connected the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

The South Sea Bubble

The South Sea Bubble was a period of speculation frenzy and collapse on the British stock market, revolving around the fate of a single company. For years, the South Sea Company had been at the centre of a complex and tangled web of financial manoeuvrings; deliberately obfuscated dealings around selling shares and government debt; the exploitation of publicity and hype to inflate stock prices; as well as bribery, corruption and the slave trade.

THE MYSTERY OF MISS LAMOND

IN THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF HER NEW MONTHLY COLUMN, CRIME HISTORIAN DR NELL DARBY INVESTIGATES A LEGAL CASE THAT PUT A PRIVATE EYE'S REPUTATION ON THE LINE

How J Edgar Hoover secretly ruled America

The long-serving director of the FBI sat at the centre of a web of surveillance and information gathering for nearly five decades. But how did he come to wield so much power? And why were his agents so feared?

6 DUNKIRK THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT

Military historian James Holland shares some lesser-known facts about the evacuation at Dunkirk, and the fighting that led up to it...

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT POMPEII

Dr Sophie Hay answers key questions about the doomed Roman city and the ongoing efforts to understand the lives of its residents

LIFE BEFORE THE CATASTROPHE

Pre-eruption Pompeii was a busy and affluent place to live, and where new building projects were transforming the local landscape

THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII

We chart the terrifying events of AD 79 that saw Pompeii transformed from a bustling Roman city into an ash-covered hellscape of death and destruction...

EMERGING FROM THE ASH

Pompeii's eventual rediscovery led it to become one of the world's greatest archaeological marvels - and a site visited by millions

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS

Two years after their last collaboration, digital artist Marina Amaral and historian Dan Jones have joined forces once again, this time bringing together a range of colourised images that explore women's lives between 1850-1960

WHAT GREAT PAINTINGS SAY

A visual representation of the anxiety felt by the artist on a busy night in Oslo, this piece was a pivotal moment in his creative outpouring

It can appear as a 'golden age' - and one subject to much mythology

DR JOHN JACOB WOOLF ON THE LEGACY OF THE EDWARDIAN ERA

WORKERS AT WAR

In 1911, overworked and underpaid Britons downed tools and led the biggest industrial dispute the nation had ever seen

FORGOTTEN CONTRIBUTIONS

Lola Jaye reveals how Britain's black population helped to shape the Edwardian period - from medicine to politics

BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

The Edwardian era saw countless courageous women rise up and shatter social mores - at home, at work and in public life

MOVING WITH THE TIMES

While a rigid class system still remained, daily life was paved with exciting new opportunities for Edwardian Britons

6 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ROMAN WOMEN

From breastfeeding to unusual beauty regimes, classicist Dr Annelise Freisenbruch reveals what life was really like for the wives, mothers and daughters of ancient Rome

Constance Markievicz's fight for a free Ireland

In 1916, the countess took up arms in a bid to rid Ireland of British rule, and later made political history as the first woman to win a seat at Westminster. But what shaped Constance Markievicz's beliefs?

The Benin Bronzes

IN A NUTSHELL