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FROM THE EDITOR
Chimú Child Sacrifice: An Appeal to the Heavens • In coastal Peru a team of archaeologists have uncovered history’s largest mass child sacrifice, which took place more than 500 years ago.
LIVES FOR THE GODS
A Life in Figures
Madame Tussauds: The House That Wax Built • After surviving the horrors of the French Revolution, Marie Tussaud combined her talent for sculpture and her life experience to create unforgettable wax figures. Her works would captivate Britain and go on to form the core of an empire of museums.
AN EARLY IMPRESSION
A MODEL FAMILY
Bigger Is Better: Rome’s Giant Marble Map • The “Forma Urbis,” a wall-size map of Rome, was a cartographic masterpiece on a scale never before seen.
Mixing Business With Pleasure
MALADIES AND MEDICINES
Killer in the Rye: St. Anthony’s Fire • Signs of St. Anthony’s fire were easy to see: seizures, hallucinations, and blackened limbs. Medieval Europeans believed its cause to be spiritual, but the true cause was far more earthly.
Everyday Life With St. Anthony’s Fire
THE SAINT AND HIS SUFFERERS
FAITH AND FIRE THE TEACHINGS OF ZARATHUSTRA • Three thousand years ago, a powerful creed emerged in ancient Iran when its founder, Zarathustra, began teaching about the one good god, Ahura Mazda. An elusive figure in history, Zarathustra becomes clearly visible as the center of a monotheistic faith whose influence on other major religions is undeniable.
The Fortunes of a Faith
BURNING ZEAL
A ROYAL REFUGE
ZOROASTRIAN RITUALS • As one of the oldest living religions in the world, Zoroastrianism has evolved over time. Some rituals, such as the tending of hearths at fire temples, have endured and changed with the centuries, while others, such as sky burials, have fallen out of favor. Celebrations such as the coming-of-age ceremony maintain the lifeblood of this ancient creed by passing on its teachings and gifts to the next generation.
THE ALEXANDER CONSPIRACIES • Alexander the Great watched his star rising brightly but was blind to the growing darkness in his regime. Plots of murder, both real and imagined, consumed his thoughts, turning Alexander against his former comrades in arms.
GENERATION GAP
PLOTS TO KILL THE KING
A SKILLED NEGOTIATOR
BROTHERS IN ARMS
FATHER AND SONS • Philotas’s father, Parmenio, served Alexander’s father, Philip II, who is said to have called Parmenio his one trustworthy general. After Philip’s death, Parmenio insured Alexander’s smooth accession to the throne by executing his main rival. To reward the faithful old general, Alexander installed two of Parmenio’s sons in his regime: the younger, Nicanor, commanded an infantry regiment, while the elder, Philotas, became commander of the Companion cavalry.
STANDING ON CEREMONY
HORNS, HOOVES, AND HELL • In the Middle Ages European artists and theologians shaped a new terrifying vision of Satan, taking him from a fallen angel to the overlord of hell and archenemy of the divine.
BLUE DEVILS?
LOOKING AHEAD
SPIRIT SUMMONING
1 EVIL’S TRUE COLORS
2 DEVIL’S BARGAINS
3 EXORCISTS AND INTERVIEWS
4 THE LAST JUDGMENT
THE MAYA REVEALED • In the 1840s two archaeologists introduced the grandeur of the Maya to the world. Through compelling words and captivating pictures, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood exposed the complexity and beauty of the...