4 NEWS
The face of a 4,500-year-old dog
from Scotland has been revealed
by a team of historians and researchers,
as part of a study of Stone Age attitudes
toward canine companions.6 PROFILES
The brothers Grimm collected
folktales for an academic study.
To their surprise, the tales of Cinderella and
Snow White enchanted children and adults
alike and became a popular sensation.12 ENIGMAS
Even after fear of vampires had
faded in eastern Europe, ghoulish
fascination in the bloodsucking undead
lived on in the new genre of vampire fiction,
popularized by novels like Dracula.90 DISCOVERIES
High on a rock in Sri Lanka, the
fifth-century Sigiriya fortress fell
into ruin in the Middle Ages. Later, scholars
combed Buddhist chronicles to locate the
site and its spectacular Lion Paws gate.16 The Myth of the Minotaur
The tale of Theseus and the Minotaur enthralled the people of classical
Athens and Rome, but archaeology has revealed the myth’s deep roots,
which delve further back to the Minoan culture of ancient Crete.
28 Jerash, Oasis City of the East
Remarkably preserved in the desert of Jordan, Jerash bears the marks of
many ruling cultures who shaped this ancient city since its traditional
founding by a general of Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.
46 Under Boudica’s Banner
In A.D. 60 the British queen Boudica, enraged by brutal Roman
treatment of her people, led a revolt, sacked London, and nearly
expelled Rome from its new province of Britannia.60 Marco Polo’s Best Seller
A vivid account of his 24-year odyssey to China, Marco
Polo’s Travels transformed medieval maps and whetted
European appetites for exotic lands and rich markets.
76 Witch Panics in Scotland
After witchcraft became a capital crime in 1563,
Scotland endured nearly 200 years of witch-hunting
that killed a higher rate of the accused than anywhere
else in Europe.
Features DepartmentsA FRESCO FROM THE FIFTH-CENTURY HILLTOP FORTRESS OF SIGIRIYA, SRI LANKA,
POSSIBLY DEPICTING A MEMBER OF THE KING’S HAREMVOL. 5 NO. 4MAKING AN ENTRANCE
First-century visitors to Jerash (in modern
Jordan) would have found themselves in
the city’s Oval Plaza, a symbol of Rome’s
splendor on an eastern border of its empire.