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Hammurabi ruled Babylon for 42 years and left behind the most famous legal code in ancient history. But the Code of Hammurabi was not a set of laws in the modern sense. It was a royal monument, a prop...

17 Jun 23min

One man transformed football from a chaotic regional pastime into the most watched sport on earth. His innovations in rules, tactics, and organization created the game as billions know it today, and h...

17 Jun 56min

Aristophanes was the greatest comic playwright of ancient Athens, and his mockery of Socrates in The Clouds may have contributed to the philosopher's trial and execution. He attacked politicians, inte...

17 Jun 21min

Marcus Brutus killed Julius Caesar in the name of the Republic, and Shakespeare turned him into the noblest Roman of them all. The real Brutus was a loan shark who charged 48 percent interest, a polit...

17 Jun 22min

Bjorn Borg won 11 Grand Slam titles, dominated tennis for five years, and retired at 26. He walked away from the sport at the peak of his powers and never came back in any meaningful way. His rivalry ...

17 Jun 23min

Marcus Licinius Crassus was the richest man in Roman history. He built his fortune through slave labor, real estate speculation, and fire brigades that extorted burning homeowners. He bankrolled Caesa...

17 Jun 24min

Seneca preached Stoic simplicity while amassing one of the largest fortunes in the Roman Empire. He tutored Nero, helped govern Rome during the emperor's early years, and was eventually ordered to kil...

17 Jun 21min

Theodora rose from the stage and the streets of Constantinople to become empress of the Byzantine Empire. She co-ruled with Justinian, saved his throne during the Nika riots, and championed laws prote...

17 Jun 22min