CATEGORIES

BRONZE AGE POWER PLAYERS

How Hittite kings forged diplomatic ties with a shadowy Greek city-state

THE ELEPHANT AND THE BUDDHA

While working in the village of Gada Balabhadrapur on the banks of the Daya River in India's state of Odisha, archaeologists unearthed a three-foot-tall sculpture of an elephant dating to the third century B.C., a time when Buddhism flourished in the area.

DRAMATIC ENTRANCE

Four miniature terracotta masks found in the Roman city of Jerash in Jordan shed light on its theater district in the second century A.D. Excavators from the University of Jordan unearthed the masks in a doorway of a structure.

A MORE COMFORTABLE RIDE

Although the date is much debated, most scholars believe people 5,000 years ago. For thousands of years after that, they did so without saddles. \"In comparison with horse riding, the development of saddles began relatively late, when riders began to care more about comfort and safety in addition to the horse's health,\" says University of Zurich archaeologist Patrick Wertmann.

When Lions Were King

Across the ancient world, people adopted the big cats as sacred symbols of power and protection

UKRAINE'S LOST CAPITAL

In 1708, Peter the Great destroyed Baturyn, a bastion of Cossack independence and culture

A Very Close Encounter

New research has shown that human figures painted in red on a rock art panel in central Montana depict individuals engaged in a life-or-death encounter during an especially fraught historical moment.

A Sword for the Ages

A zigzag pattern, now tinged with the green-blue patina of oxidized metal, adorns the octagonal hilt of a rare sword dating to the Middle Bronze Age in Germany (1600-1200 B.C.) that was recently excavated in the Bavarian town of Nördlingen.

Why So Serious?

The delights of "Harley Quinn," on Max.

Crazy Town

The singular stories of Steven Millhauser.

MOST WANTED

\"Passages\" and \"Lady Killer.\"

The True Margaret

Meera was recalling the tragedy of her first marriage. Married off to an Indian doctor in 1959, she had moved to London only to discover that her new husband, Ravi, already had a wife in the city.

THE GIFT

What should you do with an oil fortune?

YOU HAD TO BE THERE

How a ramshackle street shaped a generation of artists.

HIGH STRUNG

A violinist reinvents her instrument-and her musical persona.

Youth Movement

What happened when the country's schoolgirls took off their veils.

TASTE OF CHERRY

Ann Patchett's pandemic novel

EVOLUTION

Bethany Cosentino's songs of self-actualization

LOVER BOΥ

Erica Schmidt revives Tennessee Williams's \"Orpheus Descending.\"

THE MAKING OF A MUTINY

How the Wagner Group went from fighting in Ukraine to staging an armed uprising at home

HIDDEN DEPTHS

How an amateur diver became a true-crime sensation

THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE

In 1956, a Tennessee high school was desegregated; two years later, it was dynamited. What happened?

DREAMING IN BABYLON

Revisiting a Rastafari childhood in Jamaica

I'M A HACK, BY CHATGPT

Hello and welcome. I’m an artificial intelligence. One of the Writers Guild of America strike issues is me

THE TALK OF THE TOWN

In Israel, the saying goes, there are four seasons: election, war, strike, and summer

Bodies of Work

Lisa Yuskavage's art shows it all

What Is Greta Gerwig Trying to Tell Us?

From Barnard to Barbie, the director has always been interested in female ambition, including her own

A French Doll

Fiction

SICKENING

How bad is processed food?

Ice Cream Is Good for You

According to nutritionists, wine will either extend your life or shorten it