1194.

ANCIENT TIMES
Zero - For all its importance, it may surprise you to learn that
zero is a relatively recent concept in human history, though it
still has its roots in ancient times. The idea to use a zero-like CREATING A SPECTACLE
symbol as a placeholder—to show the difference between 10 If you had poor eyesight before
and 100, for example, or to show the absence in one column of the Middle Ages, you just had to
put up with it. Then, in about
another number (e.g. 2015)—emerged sometime after 300
1286, an unknown person in Italy
B.C., when the ancient Babylonians adapted the Sumerian invented spectacles. At first they
counting system. Half a world away, in ancient Mesoamerica, tried to keep the discovery secret.
the Maya came up with the idea of zero as a placeholder But before 1300 a friar from Pisa,
independently, around A.D. 350. They used it in their elaborate Alessandro della Spina, was
calendar systems, but like the Babylonians, didn’t really making spectacles for everyone
A portion of papyrus. (De Agostini Editorial/Getty Images)
conceive of zero as a number in itself or use it in equations. who wanted them, and his
Paper - As early as 3000 B.C., Egyptians had developed a business boomed.
technique for making paper from the pith of the papyrus plant, The more complete vision of zero didn’t emerge until the 7th
a common sight along the bank of the Nile. Long strips were century in India, when the Hindu astronomer Brahmagupta
woven together and weighted down to bind them into a strong, wrote rules for using zero in mathematical operations and
thin sheet. The Egyptians also invented pens made of cut reeds, equations, introducing the concept that zero could be seen as a
which were strong enough to write on the papyrus, and mixed number of its own.
soot or other organic
material with beeswax
and vegetable
gum to make
ancient
ink. These
papermakers MEDIEVAL AGES
knew what they were
doing: Many of these
papyrus sheets inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphics remain
GETTING DEFENSIVE
Castles are probably the most MODERN TIMES
intact and readable, even after more than 5,000years. famous invention of the Middle
Ages. Medieval people lavished
tremendous ingenuity on their
design, making them
progressively deadlier to
attackers and safer and more
pleasant for castle-dwellers.

Granite kohl pots like these were used to mix the ingredients together for ancient
Egyptian make-up. (Credit: SSPL/Getty Images) KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR
Eye make up - Ancient Egyptians knew all about the power of Knights - armoured men on
a smoky eye. Way back in 4000 B.C., they started making kohl horseback - were the most iconic SCIENCE
to line their eyes by mixing soot with galena, a mineral with a invention of the Middle Ages. The early modern period stretches roughly from the 15th
metallic bluish, gray or black hue. In some ancient paintings, The arrival of Norman knights in through the mid-18th centuries. This period includes the
Egyptians are depicted wearing green eye makeup, a shade 1066 signalled the start of the scientific revolution and the birth of modern philosophy and
they achieved by mixing another mineral, malachite, with the medieval period, and over the
galena. Both women and men wore kohl eye makeup in ancient next 450 years their armour and
Egypt. They believed it weapons were ingeniously
had healing properties, as updated to make them more
well as the power to powerful and less vulnerable
protect the wearer from fighting machines.
the evil eye.

WEAPON OF MASS
PRODUCTION
The most feared English weapon
of the Middle Ages was the
longbow. With a range of well also significant transformations in mathematics, mechanics,
over 200 metres, this 'medieval optics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, and medicine.
machine gun', could shoot at
least six arrows a minute. Since
bows date from prehistoric
times, it wasn't exactly a new
invention.
Acropolis in Athens, Greece. (Credit: René Mattes/Corbis)
Democratic government - The word “democracy” comes from
the Greek term demokratia, literally meaning “rule by the
people.” The word—and the concept—was introduced in 507
B.C. by Cleisthenes, ruler of the Greek city-state of Athens. TOILET TALK
This form of popular government consisted of three separate Going to the toilet and washing are
institutions: the ekklesia, or Assembly, which wrote laws and basic human needs. Living before
dictated foreign policy; the boule, the invention of flushing toilets,
a council of representatives efficient sewerage systems and
chosen from the different instant hot water, medieval people
devised some ingenious ways of POLITICS
Athenian tribes; and the
coping without them. the activities associated with the governance of a country or
dikasteria, a popular court
other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals
system. In practice, only a small
or parties having or hoping to achieve power.
minority of the Athenian
population took part in this early
WARFARE
form of democratic government, as participation was limited to
engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict.
male citizens over 18. Athens’ system of popular rule would
last only until around 460 B.C. when an aristocracy began to
emerge under the leadership of the general Pericles. However,
the democratic ideals and processes that originated in ancient FORTUNE IN FLEECE
Greece have influenced politicians and governments ever since. Medieval England's prosperity was
founded on wool and woollen
cloth. Even today, the Lord
Chancellor sits in the House of
Lords on the symbolic 'Woolsack',
a cloth cushion stuffed with wool.
Monasteries like Rievaulx Abbey
and Thornton Abbey grew rich
through the tens of thousands of
sheep they kept, whose wool
helped to ransom Richard the
Lionheart from his enemies in
 TECHNOLOGY
machinery and equipment developed from the application of
scientific knowledge.

GLOBALIZATION
the process by which businesses or other organizations develop
international influence or start operating on an international
scale.