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 FROM THE EDITOR

Covering more than 150 square miles, the Angkor complex

in Cambodia is breathtaking to behold—from the sacred spaces of its
temples to the engineering marvels of its waterways. Prior to the COVID-19
pandemic, Angkor was one of Cambodia’s leading tourist attractions,
annually bringing millions of visitors to the province of Siem Reap.

With Angkor’s popularity came problems: threats to the water supply,

increased pollution, and deforestation. Angkor is beloved by the world, but
the world is also harming it.

Visiting Angkor and other historical treasures—like Machu Picchu, Venice,

the Taj Mahal—is easier than ever. Local economies boom from tourism,
and visitors are able to connect to different peoples of the world as well as
to the past. These experiences are precious, but we must be careful not to
love them to death.

Amy Briggs, Executive Editor

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 1

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 VOL. 8 NO. 1

KNIGHTLY IDEAL
The French knight Boucicaut, a
paragon of valor and piety, prays in
a 15th-century miniature. Musée
Jacquemart-André, Paris

Features Departments

18 Beware the Ides of March 6 NEWS

Riled by Julius Caesar’s ambition, on March 15, 44 b.c., an elite group of A new study of footprints in New
Romans stabbed him to death. Piecing together the sources, historians can Mexico dates them to the Ice Age,
recount the intrigue behind the most famous assassination of all time. rolling back the arrival of humans in North
America to as far as 23,000 years ago.

32 Splendor of Angkor 8 PROFILES

Amid the lush forests and waterways of Cambodia, the temples of In 1843 math mastermind Ada
Angkor form the world’s largest religious complex—built as the Khmer Lovelace wrote an algorithm for
Empire began its religious shift from Hinduism to Buddhism. an adding machine, immortalizing herself as
the world’s first computer programmer.
46 Knights in Shining Armor 12 SNAPSHOTS
The “superheroes” of the Middle Ages, European knights acted according
to a code of valor and courtesy and inspired great works of medieval
The pizza Margherita is named
literature, even as new trends in warfare made their military role obsolete. for a queen—or so the tale goes.
Historians suggest the facts behind this
origin story may be a little half-baked.
62 Sofonisba, Superstar
With raw talent that could not be ignored, Sofonisba Anguissola attracted 14 MILESTONES
the attention of Renaissance greats, including Michelangelo. Army officers falsely accused
Her skilled portraiture launched her career as a Alfred Dreyfus for selling secrets
Renaissance court painter for the king of Spain. to the enemy in 1894, a scandal steeped in
anti-Semitism that tore France apart.
78 Saving Nunalleq 92 DISCOVERIES
Rising temperatures are threatening indigenous When a queen’s tomb was
artifacts made of ivory, antler, and wood that found near the Great Pyramid
were once preserved and protected by the in 1925, archaeologists were astounded
permafrost at the Yupik site of Nunalleq, Alaska. at the 4,000-year-old treasures inside.

“IDES OF MARCH,” COIN COMMEMORATING

CAESAR’S ASSASSINATION, CA 43-42 B.C.
 EXECUTIVE EDITOR AMY E. BRIGGS

Deputy Editor JULIUS PURCELL

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 NEWS

MANY SETS OF HUMAN FOOTPRINTS

HAVE BEEN FOUND AT WHITE SANDS
NATIONAL PARK, NEW MEXICO. ONE
GROUP MAY BE 21,000 TO 23,000
YEARS OLD—PUSHING BACK THE
DATE FOR HUMAN HABITATION IN
THE AMERICAS.
PHOTO: DAN ODESS

COLORADO PALEOLITHIC MIGRATION

Santa Fe
Were Humans in North
NEW MEXICO

White Sands
America Before the Ice Age?
National Park
New analysis of fossilized footprints in New Mexico’s White Sands
TEXAS National Park challenges theories about the peopling of the Americas.
NG MAPS

MEXICO

B
WHITE SANDS Na- etween 21,000 and astounding: They could be the England, who published their
tional Park, in southern 23,000 years ago, a oldest evidence of human set- study in the journal Science,
New Mexico, is the group of people walked tlement in North America. believe the discovery could
world’s largest gypsum along a lakeshore in recalibrate when humans first
dune field, formed what is now White Sands Seeds of Proof began living in North America,
when ancient Lake National Park, New Mexico. Analysis of the footprints one of the biggest questions in
Otero evaporated.
The body of water dried up reveals that many belonged paleo-anthropology.
It includes 80,000
acres layered with about 10,000 years ago, but to teenagers and young chil- The researchers identified
thousands of human their footprints remained. dren. Researchers led by geo- 61 sets of human tracks formed
and animal footprints. A recent study of the foot- scientist Matthew Bennett in soft mud and preserved
prints has revealed something of Bournemouth University, in seven layers. Seeds of an

6 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 SPLASHING IN A LAKE, THESE YOUNG
PEOPLE MAY HAVE LIVED ALONGSIDE
MEGAFAUNA SOME 21,000 TO 23,000
YEARS AGO IN WHAT IS TODAY’S WHITE
SANDS NATIONAL PARK, NEW MEXICO.
ILLUSTRATION: KAREN CARR

LAND OF THE LOST

IF FURTHER STUDIES help confirm the White Sands footprints were a paleontologist at Bournemouth University, England, and study
made by people at the peak of the last ice age 21,000 to 23,000 years co-author, said humans arrived as a dominant predator. The lake
ago, it would mean that they lived alongside megafauna: mammoths, was part of a semiarid habitat, likely drawing animals and allowing
giant sloths (pictured above right), dire wolves, and saber-toothed cats. for ambush hunting. As the world warmed, however, the mega-
One set of footprints suggests the site may have been a hunting ground fauna died out. “The extinction of the megafauna may be due to
with human tracks seeming to stalk those of a giant sloth. Sally Reynolds, climate change and human hunting pressure,” she said.

aquatic plant (Ruppia cirrhosa) Last Glacial Maximum), then was needed to verify the ex- prints are being lost to soil
were preserved above and be- humans must have lived in the tent of the reservoir effect erosion,” said David Bustos,
low one set of the footprints. Americas before the Ice Age. “given the impact and im- co-author of the study.“Once
Scientists carbon-dated them portance”of the claims. If the they are gone they will never
to at least 5,000 years earlier Lingering Questions dating holds, it “will change be seen again.”
than existing evidence of hu- Not all scientists consider that archaeological perspectives —Braden Phillips
man settlement there. the dating of the seeds proves on when people arrived
A prevailing theory has the age of the footsteps. They in the Americas,” he
been that human migration point to a phenomenon called said. While the foot-
from Asia to the Americas the freshwater reservoir effect, prints do not settle the
was impossible until Ice Age in which the seeds could have debate, they boost the theory
glaciers had retreated, some- absorbed older carbon from that humans were in North
time between 13,000 and the lake water, making them America earlier than was
16,000 years ago. Evidence seem older than they are. The commonly thought, although
of older settlements has also study’s authors, however, say the exact time of their first ar-
been found in Chile and Texas, they accounted for the reser- rival remains undetermined.
which makes the footprints voir effect and found it to be Looking ahead, the team is
at White Sands the latest negligible. in a race against time.“The
find to weaken that hypoth- Loren Davis, an archaeolo-
esis. If the footprints in New gist at Oregon State Universi- ANCIENT SEEDS (RUPPIA CIRRHOSA)
FOUND AT THE SITE DATED THE FOOTPRINTS
Mexico were made 21,000 to ty (who did not take part in the TO BETWEEN 21,000 AND 23,000 YEARS AGO.
23,000 years ago (during the study), said further research PHOTO: DAVID BUSTOS
PROFILES

Ada Lovelace,
Programming Pioneer
Born to a mathematician and a Romantic poet, Ada Lovelace combined her parents’
gifts into her own unique vision of a future world where computing could be king.

O
n a summer Monday eve- Darwin and Charles Dickens. Its per-
ning in 1833, Ada Byron formance was near miraculous, even to
Words and her mother Anne London’s greatest intellects—an almost
and Isabella “Annabella” sorcerous parlor trick for Babbage.
Numbers Byron went to the home of
English mathematician Charles Babbage.
While the Difference Engine wasn’t
magical to 17-year-old Ada Byron, it was
Twelve days earlier, when the younger By- transformative. Upon seeing the machine
1815 ron met Babbage at a high society soiree, on that fateful evening in 1833, she under-
Ada is born. Her father, the she had been taken with his description stood how it worked. In Ada, 41-year-old
English poet Lord Byron, of a machine he was building. Babbage found his intellectual equal, and
will abandon the family one The hand-cranked apparatus of bronze over the course of the next two decades,
month later and never see
her or her mother again. and steel used stacks of cogs, hammer-like Ada would prove that her understanding
metal arms, and thousands of numbered and vision for such machines went far
1816 wheels to automatically solve mathemat- beyond mere calculation.
ical equations. But the Difference Engine,
Ada’s parents’ marriage is as Babbage called it, was incomplete. He An Analytical Childhood
dissolved. Her childhood
will be spent in England. had finished a small prototype that stood Ada Lovelace was born Augusta Ada
When she is eight, her about two-and-a-half feet tall. The clang- Byron on December 10, 1815, into Vic-
father will die in Greece. ing, whirring showpiece was able to spit torian English high society. Her mother,
out answers to challenging mathematical Annabella Byron, was one of the few
1833 equations. Babbage believed the complete women of her generation to be afforded
product had the potential to solve much an education. She passed her love of
After a rigorous
education, Ada’s gift for more complex problems. The Difference knowledge—and mathematics in partic-
mathematics emerges. Engine’s demonstration piece set Lon- ular—on to her daughter, hiring famous
She meets inventor don’s intel- mathematicians to tutor young Ada and
Charles Babbage.
lectual circles instructing Ada herself when she could
and scientific not find a suitable tutor.
1835 community It wasn’t just the selfless pursuit of
Ada marries William, alight, wow- knowledge that led Annabella to ensure
the eighth Baron ing the likes her daughter had the best education.
King, who will of Charles Annabella was worried that too much
become the first Earl
of Lovelace.

1842-43 By her late teens, Lovelace was more

Commenting on a interested in talking to scientists
paper on Babbage’s
Analytical Engine, and mathematicians than suitors.
Ada pens the first
computer program.
CALCULATING MACHINE, KNOWN AS THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE, DESIGNED BY
CHARLES BABBAGE, 19TH-CENTURY HAND-COLORED WOODCUT
NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY

8 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 LEARNING
TO FLY
LOVELACE COMBINED her moth-
er’s mathematical rigor with her
father’s imagination. When she
was 12 years old, she decided
(as many children do) that she
wanted to fly, but unlike other
children whose attempts may
have been limited to jump-
ing off chairs, she took a more
scientific approach. She stud-
ied birds, assessed materials
for their likelihood to enable
flight, and considered how to
construct wings. In this era be-
fore widespread electricity, she
even drew up plans for a steam-
powered flying machine. Young
Ada Lovelace wrote and illus-
trated a guide on how she may
best be able to achieve flight
and called it “Flyology.”

ADA LOVELACE, ABOUT AGE 20,

IN A PORTRAIT FROM 1835
IAN DAGNALL COMPUTING/ALAMY

unchecked imagination could bring out less than five weeks after Ada’s birth, for mathematics proved enduring. By
the influence of Ada’s absentee father, Annabella quietly gathered the baby the time Ada entered her late teens, her
the poet George Gordon Byron, better and left for her parents’ country home, mother noted (with wry pride) that she
known to the world as Lord Byron. De- moving them away from Byron and his was more interested in talking to scien-
scribed by one of his mistresses as“mad, influence. Within a matter of months, tists and mathematicians than potential
bad, and dangerous to know,”Lord Byron Lord Byron had left England for good. suitors from England’s elite. In 1835 Ada
was famous for his wordsmithery and Ada, Bryon’s only child born in wedlock, married William King, a member of the
infamous for his licentious and tortured never knew her father. He died when Ada English nobility. He soon became the Earl
public life. As a Romantic-era celebrity, was eight years old. of Lovelace, giving Ada the title Count-
his addiction and mental health struggles ess of Lovelace. The two shared a love
were visible for all to see. Intellectual Equals of horses—and her husband appears to
Annabella and he were briefly mar- Lady Byron, fearful that Ada would in- have supported Ada’s intellect and thirst
ried, but when Ada was born, Byron was herit her father’s self-destructive ten- for knowledge.
reportedly quite angry about the sex of dencies, nurtured her daughter’s ana- Perhaps Ada’s most fruitful relationship
the child. On a January morning in 1816, lytical side, and Ada’s childhood passion was her lifelong friendship with Charles

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 9

PROFILES

HORSLEY TOWERS, a mock-Tudor

mansion in Surrey, southern
England, was begun in 1820. Ada
Lovelace’s husband acquired it in
1840 and added a great hall and
towers to the complex.
ALAN SPENCER PHOTOGRAPHY/ALAMY

Babbage. On an evening together in 1834, steam, and its spinning wheels would take In essence, this machine would not just
Babbage explained to Ada and her moth- up as much space as a locomotive. calculate; it would compute.
er an idea he had for another invention. He called the imagined machine the Fascinated with the invention and
Although the Difference Engine—that Analytical Engine, and it would be able its potential, Lovelace stayed in close
clanging, hand-cranked machine he had to do more than simple math; instead, communication with Babbage as he de-
demonstrated for Ada the previous year— it would be able to “[eat] its own tail,” in veloped the machine’s schematics. In
remained unfinished, Babbage was already Babbage’s words, which meant that the 1842 Italian mathematician (and future
envisioning a machine more complicated machine could store its outputs and prime minister) Luigi Federico Menabrea
and more capable. It would be powered by then employ them in other equations. published a paper on Babbage’s proposed
machine, which Lovelace eagerly trans-
lated into English, in hopes of drum-
ming up more support for the invention
FATHER OF COMPUTING in England. She signed her translation
only as “A.A.L.”
ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN and inventor Charles Along with the translated article,
Babbage was born in 1791. Devoted to math and Lovelace submitted her own notes on
science, he helped found the Analytical Society in the Analytical Engine. Her“Translator’s
1812 to introduce European innovations in mathe- Note” dwarfed the translated article
matics to England. His Analytical Engine — though itself, clocking in at well over double
never fully realized — is often considered to be the Menabrea’s word count. In the notes,
first modern computer. Lovelace included her own explanation
CHARLES BABBAGE, PHOTOGRAPHED CIRCA 1860
of how the hypothetical machine would
ALAMY work, expressed in considerably greater
detail than Menabrea’s original paper.

10 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 MINDFUL
MOTHER
LADY BYRON was born Anne Isabel-
la “Annabella” Milbanke on May
17, 1792, the only child of wealthy,
liberal-minded parents in northern
England. Her childhood education
was first rate, and she excelled at
mathematics. During her courtship
with Lord Byron, he referred to her
as the “Princess of Parallelograms.”
Though often publicly regarded as
cold and punishing for stifling her
daughter’s creativity, Lady Byron and
Ada Lovelace appear to have had an
intellectually stimulating relationship
in adulthood, often going to Babbage’s
soirees and scientific exhibitions to-
gether. Lovelace excitedly shared her
translation and notes on the Analyt-
ical Machine with her mother. Lady
Byron was also deeply involved in
many social movements, establish-
ing cooperative schools and providing
aid to those who had escaped slavery.
ANNABELLA BYRON, ADA LOVELACE’S MOTHER,
STIPPLE ENGRAVING, 1833 ALBUM/GRANGER, NYC

Lovelace explained that the machine of Bernoulli numbers—a series of In her work, Lovelace balanced her
would function similarly to the Jac- rational numbers that recur through- mother’s analytical rigor and her father’s
quard loom—an invention that had out mathematics. Her note converted a whimsy. She published detailed, con-
transformed the textile industry in the mathematical calculation into a series crete descriptions of how a hypothetical
19th century. The loom used a series of of instructions that could be executed computer would function while writing
punch cards to partially automate the by the Analytical Engine. With this poetically about the potential of a ma-
mechanical production of woven pat- note, Lovelace had written the first chined future. Her mathematical intellect
terns and images. Rather than a person computer program—for a machine that paired with her creativity allowed her to
manipulating certain threads to create did not even exist, and was known only envision an abstract field that came to
a pattern, the presence or absence of a by description. be known as computing. She called her
punch on the card automatically told the own work “poetical science.”
loom which threads to raise, creating Poetical Science Lovelace died of uterine cancer in
complex designs in a mere fraction of Lovelace’s vision for the device went far 1852 at just 36 years old. She never saw
the time. The cards were a sort of binary beyond just the ability to calculate com- the Analytical Engine completed. In
code, and the Analytical Engine, too, plex equations. In her notes, she argued fact, the machine has never been built.
would run on punch cards. “The Ana- that anything that could be represent- Babbage completed only a small piece of
lytical Engine weaves algebraic patterns ed by numbers—such as musical notes the Analytical Engine before his death in
just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and letters—could also be manipulated 1871. But in 1979—well over 100 years
and leaves,” Lovelace wrote. by such machines. She foresaw an age after Lovelace wrote the first computer
Perhaps the most influential of her in which people worked collaboratively program—a computing language used
notes was titled “Note G.” In this note, with such machines. Her vision for these in transportation and military systems
she wrote a detailed description of how devices went far beyond the ideas of Bab- worldwide was named Ada in her honor.
punch cards could be used in the Ana- bage himself, who believed the machine’s
lytical Engine to output a long sequence usefulness would stop at computation. —Katie Thornton

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 11

SNAPSHOTS

Fit for a Queen

Pizza
Margherita
The iconic Neapolitan dish was allegedly named for
Queen Margherita of Italy after she sampled it in Naples,
but food historians say this origin story, served up for years by FUR
I A /G
ET
TY

O
chefs and authors alike, is more than a little half-baked. LUC
IAN

P
izza is one of the most popular Intrigued, the couple invited the chef coincidence, he had renamed as The
dishes in the whole world. This of the establishment, Raffaele Esposito, Queen of Italy Pizzeria six years be-
simple combination of baked to the city’s Capodimonte Palace to cook fore). Umberto and Margherita were in-
flatbread, tomatoes, and cheese the dish for them there. Esposito prepared deed in Naples when the pizza letter was
flowered in Italy and then spread to the three different kinds of pizza. One option sent on June 11, 1889. Galli was the head
United States in the early 2oth century emulated the colors of the Italian flag: It of the Services of the Table of the Royal
with Italian immigrants. Pizza’s popu- featured red tomatoes, white mozzarella, Household, and the royals did have a mo-
larity exploded in America, becoming and fresh green basil. tive to ingratiate themselves with the Ne-
ubiquitous across the nation. The following day, Esposito received apolitans, who had chafed under the high
There are many different styles of a letter from Camillo Galli, head of the taxes of the new Kingdom of Italy.
pizza, but only one has a royal pedigree. Services of the Table of the Royal House- The movement to free Italy from for-
The origin story began when the queen hold, which read:“Esteemed Signor Raf- eign rule had begun in the early 1800s. In
of Italy visited Naples in 1889. Strolling faele Esposito. I confirm that the three 1861 southern Italy and Naples was
through the streets of the city center, kinds of pizza prepared by you for her wrested from its Bourbon rulers (who
Queen Margherita and her husband Royal Highness the Queen were found were linked to Spain), and the indepen-
smelled a delicious aroma wafting from to be excellent.” Although Margherita dent Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed.
a pizzeria. enjoyed all three pizzas, she declared the The inclusion of Rome in the new king-
red, white, and green to be her favorite. dom in 1870 completed unification. In
Esposito duly named it after her, and a 1878 Italy’s second king was crowned:
classic Neapolitan specialty was born. Umberto I, with Margherita as his queen.
United Italy, its flag, and its monarchy,
Pizza and Patriotism however, were new concepts, and not
This tale, with variations, continues to popular with all. In the first year of his
be told in tourist guides, cookbooks, reign, Umberto survived an assassination
and food histories. It has the right in- attempt in Naples. Food, therefore, could
gredients for popular appeal: the fairy- be a unifier, especially a Neapolitan pizza,
tale motif of a queen sampling the food made with the colors of the flag, praised
of the common people, and the patri- by—and named for—the queen.
otic overtones embodied by the colors
of the pizza and the Italian flag. Cooking up a Myth
Aspects of the story have been verified. Was the pizza Margherita a savvy piece
Historians confirm that in 1889, Esposi- of culinary diplomacy crafted by royal of-
to was the owner of a pizzeria (which, by ficials? Having the royal family sample
the food of the people would be a way to
HUSBAND AND WIFE, RAFFAELE ESPOSITO
win over hearts and minds. Traditionally,
AND MARIA GIOVANNA BRANDI the origin story has been interpreted that
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

12 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 CHANGING
CUISINES
QUEEN MARGHERITA may never
have eaten her namesake pizza
in Naples, as attitudes toward
the dish were somewhat neg-
ative. Journalist Matilde Ser-
ao’s late 19th-century book
The Belly of Naples described
pizza at that time as extremely
cheap fare that “turns yellow
in the sun, eaten by the flies.”
The centrality of tomatoes to
pizza also explains why many
Europeans initially found pizza
unpalatable: A member of the
nightshade family of plants,
the fruit was associated with
poison. In the course of the
1900s, Europeans overcame
their prejudices, clearing the
way for Neapolitan cuisine to
conquer the world.
MARGHERITA OF SAVOY (1851-1926),
CONSORT OF UMBERTO I, KING OF ITALY,
PHOTOGRAPHED LATE 19TH CENTURY
PRINT COLLECTOR/ALBUM

way. According to recent research, how- have been compared to the signature of hoax. Having renamed the establishment
ever, the story is not only just that, a sto- the letter sent to Esposito; they do not the Pizzeria Brandi in 1932, the letter they
ry, but one based on forgery. match. So if Galli did not write the letter allegedly forged had to have a reference
Food historians have found several key on behalf of the queen, who did? A pos- to the Brandi name. Tales of the royals
holes in the account. Probably the most sible clue lies in the name of the letter’s eating street food were widespread in
damning is that the dish existed at least recipient: Raffaele Esposito Brandi. The Italy. In 1880, a decade before the pizza
three decades before any royal visit to Na- inclusion of this second surname is odd. letter was allegedly sent, a similar story
ples. In an 1853 collection of essays about Raffaele Esposito’s wife, Maria Giovanna, appeared in the newspaper Il Bersagliere,
Neapolitan customs, author Emanuele had the maiden name of Brandi. Tradi- in which Queen Margherita praised a
Rocco describes a pizza topped with“ba- tionally, European men do not take their pizza-maker’s wares.
silico, muzzarella, e pomodoro”: basil, moz- wives’ last names, so Esposito would not Esposito’s pizzeria is still in busi-
zarella, and tomatoes. have used Brandi. There were, however, ness today and is still called Pizzeria
Local records reveal no contemporary two people linked to the pizzeria who Brandi. The veracity of the pizza Mar-
reference to the Esposito pizzeria inci- would have: Giovanni and Pasquale Bran- gherita story is still in question, but in
dent. The Gazette of the Kingdom of Italy, di, Maria’s nephews who took over the 1989, to mark the 100th anniversary of
which published royal news, has no men- pizzeria in 1932. the pizza’s naming, a commemorative
tion of the queen’s visit or Galli’s letter to One theory is that the Brandi brothers, plaque was placed on the wall outside.
Esposito. Samples of Galli’s handwriting trying to drum up business, crafted the —Braden Phillips

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 13

DEGRADATION
Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason,
is stripped of his rank and military
insignia before soldiers at the École
Militaire in Paris in January 1895.
BIANCHETT/LEEMAGE/PRISM ARCHIVO

The Dreyfus Affair:

France’s Battle for the Truth
Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer, was wrongly convicted of selling military secrets to France’s
enemies. The controversial case caused a devastating split in France that lingers today.

W
hen Alfred Dreyfus his behalf—a ploy to obtain a sample of War of 1870-71. Suspicions that someone
was summoned to Dreyfus’s handwriting without arous- in their ranks was still passing secrets
the French Ministry ing any suspicion. After examining the to the Germans hardened into certain-
of War on October 15, note, du Paty, an amateur graphologist, ty when the bordereau came to light;
1894, he had no in- concluded that Dreyfus’s handwriting whoever had written it was offering to
kling that his life, and French society as matched that on a bordereau, or memo, sell reports on French artillery to the
a whole, was about to be turned upside that had recently been recovered from Germans. On the basis of his so-called
down. the wastebasket of the German Embas- expertise in handwriting analysis, du Paty
Dreyfus was a promising officer who sy in Paris. accused Dreyfus of betraying France and
believed he had a bright career ahead In 1894 the French military believed arrested him for high treason.
of him. Gen. Armand du Paty de Clam a spy was in their midst. France was still The unsigned bordereau was the on-
greeted him and, due to a bandaged right reeling from its humiliating defeat by ly evidence against Dreyfus, but two
hand, asked Dreyfus to write a note on German forces in the Franco-Prussian other factors put him squarely in the

14 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 MILESTONES

“THE PERIL OF FRANCE.” AMERICAN CARTOONIST LOUIS DALRYMPLE DEPICTED MILITARISM AS AN OCTOPUS WHOSE TENTACLES
OF DISHONOR, DECEPTION, FORGERY, ASSASSINATION, CORRUPTION, FALSEHOOD, AND BLACKMAIL WERE STRANGLING FRANCE.
WORLD HISTORY ARCHIVE/ALAMY

confident of an acquittal. With the court- stripped of his rank while an official
martial coming up in December, army ripped off his military insignia and broke
commanders sought to buttress their his sword in two. He was then led back to
case and turned to another officer, Maj. jail amid jeers of “Judas! Coward!” from
Hubert Henry, to find new evidence. the watching crowds.
At the trial, Henry handed the judges Public opinion was strongly against
a secret dossier which, it was later Dreyfus at this point. Most of France
revealed, contained correspondence believed him a traitor, many expressing
crosshairs. First, he was from Alsace, a between the German military attaché outrage that he hadn’t been executed.
German-speaking French province that in Paris and his Italian counterpart. When he was taken to prison in April
had been annexed by Germany after One of these letters supposedly men- 1895, reports circulated of crowds in Paris
the war. Second, Dreyfus was Jewish, a tioned “this scoundrel of D.” Dreyfus’s shouting, “Death to the Jews!” Dreyfus
fact that confirmed his guilt in a society defense lawyer was neither informed was placed in solitary confinement on
pervaded by anti-Semitism. The mili- of nor allowed to see the dossier. The Devil’s Island, but his family stood fast
tary leaked the story to the anti-Semitic judges considered the evidence strong, in maintaining his innocence.
press, which ran a virulent campaign and Dreyfus was found guilty of high As it turned out, the verdict against
against the Jewish officer. Knowing the treason. He was to serve his sentence on Dreyfus did not end the
evidence of Dreyfus’s guilt was weak, du Devil’s Island, a penal colony off French case. About a year
Paty attempted to secure a confession, Guiana in South America. later, the Minis-
but Dreyfus insisted on his innocence. As part of the sentence, he also had to try of War was
face military degradation, a ritual dis- passed another
Contrived Conviction missal from his position. In a ceremony handwritten
Dreyfus’s wife, Lucie, and his broth- in January 1895 in the courtyard of the document,
er, Mathieu, hired a lawyer who felt École Militaire in Paris, Dreyfus was but this time

In April 1895 Dreyfus was placed in solitary

confinement on Devil’s Island, but his family
stood fast in maintaining his innocence.
ALFRED DREYFUS, PHOTOGRAPHED AFTER HIS DECEMBER 1894 CONVICTION OF TREASON
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 15

MILESTONES

Power of
the Pen
WORDS, in the form of the bordereau
(memorandum), falsely attributed
to Dreyfus, helped convict him. But
words, forming one of the most fa-
mous front pages in the history of
journalism, also helped free him.
Émile Zola’s “J’Accuse . . . !” of Janu-
ary 1898 inveighed against a trav-
esty of justice. “What a cesspool
of folly and foolishness . . . what
corrupt police tactics, what inquis-
itorial, tyrannical practices!” By the
evening, 200,000 copies had been
sold. The article was instrumental
in generating public outcry about
the Dreyfus conviction. Soon af-
ter receiving his pardon from the
French government on September
19, 1899, Dreyfus thanked Zola for
his efforts, calling the letter a “he-
roic act . . . whose greatness will re-
main incomparable when the dust
from the struggle has settled, when ZOLA’S ARTICLE IN L’AURORE, JANUARY 13, 1898 BORDEREAU (MEMORANDUM)
history shall have recorded it.” AGENCE BULLOZ/RMN-GRAND PALAIS BNF/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

it came from the German ambassador. helped procure the original secret dossier, that Dreyfus was doomed, France’s most
It was the draft of a letter addressed to a came forward with another letter from prominent novelist stepped in.
French officer, Ferdinand Esterhazy. The the Italian military attaché that men-
new head of intelligence services, Georges tioned Dreyfus by name. This letter— Zola’s Bombshell
Picquart, who had no prior involvement later known as the “faux Henry”—was, On January 13, 1898, the front page of the
with the Dreyfus case, discovered that in fact, a forgery. socialist newspaper L’Aurore carried an
Esterhazy was in contact with the German Arguing that the secret dossier had not open letter to the president of the repub-
Embassy. Picquart assumed Esterhazy been shown to defense counsel during the lic by Émile Zola, France’s great novelist,
must be a second traitor, but when he trial, Dreyfus’s supporters pushed to re- then at the height of his fame. Written
obtained two handwriting samples from open the investigation. Picquart and a se- under the electrifying banner headline
Esterhazy and compared them with the nior senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner “J’Accuse . . . !,” it fiercely denounced the
bordereau supposedly written by Drey- took up their case. Then came a stroke military for falsely convicting Dreyfus.
fus, he realized that the handwriting was of luck for the Dreyfusards: Esterhazy’s The letter split France into two camps:
identical. The bordereau had been written stockbroker saw a facsimile of the bor- the Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards.
by Esterhazy, he concluded, not Dreyfus. dereau and recognized the handwriting The former, rallying around 18th-
When Picquart insisted on reopening as his client’s. He informed Mathieu century republican ideals of justice and
the Dreyfus investigation during the final Dreyfus, who denounced Esterhazy. In equality, demanded that the case be re-
months of 1896, the army closed ranks. November 1897 the military was forced opened and the true culprits punished.
First, the troublesome Picquart was re- to open an inquest into Esterhazy. The latter, pro-army and mostly Cath-
moved from his post, then transferred Although he was brought to trial in a olic, supported the ideals of the ancien
to Tunis. The army leaked to the press military court in January 1898, Esterhazy régime, and saw the Dreyfus case as
details of the secret dossier given to the was acquitted in a closed session. Soon an effort to damage military prestige.
judges in the military trial of December after, Picquart was arrested for revealing Meanwhile, the Zola letter provoked a
1894. Major Henry, meanwhile, who had official secrets. Just when it appeared backlash of anti-Semitic violence across

16 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 The Real
Traitor
FERDINAND Esterhazy, an officer of
Hungarian origin, had begun selling
French army intelligence to Ger-
many in 1892 to pay off gambling
debts. Following Dreyfus’s convic-
tion, Esterhazy’s stockbroker saw
a reproduction of the bordereau in
the newspaper Le Figaro and recog-
nized the handwriting as Esterhazy’s.
Protected at his trial by military anti-
Dreyfusards, Esterhazy escaped
punishment, and went to England,
where he scraped a living as a trans-
lator and writer. He was interviewed
by the journalist Rachel Beer for the
London Observer, in the course of
which he confessed: “I wrote the
bordereau.” The author of several
anti-Semitic tracts, Esterhazy died
in England in 1923 and was buried
under a false name.
ESTERHAZY’S TRIAL, DEPICTED IN LE PETIT
JOURNAL, PARIS, IN JANUARY 1898
INTERFOTO/ALAMY

France. Zola was sentenced to jail for libel would appear before a new court-martial. degraded 11 years earlier. With the start
but fled to England. After four years on Devil’s Island, Dreyfus of World War I, he reenlisted and fought
Under renewed scrutiny, the lies and returned to France in July for the retrial. at the Battle of Verdun, then returned
falsifications surrounding the Dreyfus Despite the overwhelming evidence home to a quiet retirement. He would
case began to unravel. Esterhazy was of his innocence, the military court still die in Paris in 1935 at the age of 75. The
dismissed from the army for “habitu- found Dreyfus guilty in another show trial army did not publicly declare his inno-
al misconduct” and promptly fled the and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, cence until 1995.
country for England. The minister of reduced to five for time served. The ver- With its explosive combination of
war, Godefroy Cavaignac, who had pre- dict triggered an uproar. The weakened “state collaboration in the miscarriage of
viously been convinced of Dreyfus’s French government, fearing the conse- justice [and] the impact of the media on
guilt, proclaimed that the letter Henry quences of another trial, offered Dreyfus the public perception of events,”the Drey-
produced from the Italian military at- clemency. His health impaired by the fus affair, wrote the late Yale University
taché was a forgery. Henry was sent to jail, years on Devil’s Island, Dreyfus accepted historian Paula Hyman,“raises issues that
where he committed suicide. In January the pardon provided that he could con- still resonate today.” In November 2021
1899 a proposal to have the Dreyfus case tinue his fight to prove his innocence. Éric Zemmour, a prominent far-right
heard by a Supreme Court of Appeals was Shortly afterward, the government political journalist in France, argued that
approved. issued an amnesty on all crimes related Dreyfus’s innocence was“not obvious,”a
As the anti-Dreyfusards lost credi- to the case, except for Dreyfus to allow position criticized by France’s president,
bility, the right-wing and anti-Semitic him to pursue his exoneration, which Emmanuel Macron, among many others.
nationalist group Ligue des Patriotes he finally received in 1906. He was then The passion incited by Zemmour’s words
attemped a failed coup in February 1898. reinstated in the army as a lieutenant- across France shows that the affaire Drey-
With France in crisis, the Supreme Court colonel and made Chevalier of the Le- fus is far from over.
overturned the 1894 verdict against gion of Honor in the same courtyard of
Dreyfus in June 1899, and ruled that he the École Militaire where he had been —Ainhoa Campos

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 17

DAGGERS DRAWN
Before horrified onlookers,
assassins begin attacking
Julius Caesar on March 15,
44 b.c., in a circa 1805
painting by Vincenzo
Camuccini. Museo di
Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
SCALA, FLORENCE. COURTESY OF THE MINISTERO
BENI E ATT. CULTURALI E DEL TURISMO
 The Ides of March

DEATH
COMES TO
CAESAR
Julius Caesar had become the most
powerful man in the Roman Republic. In
the eyes of his enemies, he was all but
king. To protect Rome from tyranny, they
turned to murder.

JOSEP MARIA CASALS

FORUM AND
FUNCTION
When he died, Caesar was
in the midst of building
two major structures in the
Forum: the Basilica Julia and
the Temple of Venus, shown
here in this reconstruction.
ILLUSTRATION: VALOR-LLIMÓS ARQUITECTURA

T
CONSPIRATOR he first blow fell at noon on March 15, “At almost the same instant both cried out,”
CURRENCY 44 b.c. The conspirators “suddenly writes Plutarch, the Greek biographer and his-
Minted by Brutus bared their daggers and rushed upon torian, describing how Caesar and Casca reacted.
in 43-42 b.c., a coin him,” writes Nicholas of Damascus, Caesar, in Latin, asked, “Accursed Casca, what
(below) bears the
inscription “Eid Mar” a first-century b.c. historian. “First does thou?”Casca, in Greek, called to his nearby
(“Ides of March”) [Publius] Servilius Casca stabbed him on the left sibling, Gaius, “Brother, help!”
and commemorates shoulder a little above the collarbone, at which The lethal attack progressed apace. Appian
Julius Caesar’s he had aimed but missed through nervousness.” writes that “Cassius wounded [Caesar] in the
assassination.
After Casca’s glancing blow, Julius Caesar face, Brutus smote him in the thigh, and Bu-
BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE
“snatched his toga from [Tillius] Cimber, seized colianus between the shoulder-blades.” In re-
Casca’s hand, sprang from his chair, turned sponse to Servilius Casca’s cry for help, writes
around, and hurled Casca with great violence,” Nicholas, his brother Gaius “drove his sword
according to the Greek historian Appian of Al- into Caesar’s side.”
exandria. Suetonius, a Roman biographer and The majority of the Roman Senate, not privy to
antiquarian, offers a slightly different account: the assassination plot, sat in horrified silence, too
“Caesar caught Casca’s arm and ran it through scared to flee, though some rushed into the crowd
with his stylus,”a sharp tool used for writing on outside. The frenzied scene that unfolded that
wax tablets that could rip through flesh. fateful Ides of March was a blur of blood and gore.

POWER AND 49 b.c. 46 b.c.

Caesar and Pompey lead In honor of his military
AMBITION rival factions in a civil war. victories, the Senate names
The following year, Caesar Caesar dictator for 10 years
will defeat Pompey, who is and lets him control the
then assassinated in Egypt. election of magistrates.
 PORTRAIT OF
THE FALLEN
This likeness of
Julius Caesar was
fashioned after his
death on the Ides
of March, 44 b.c.
Vatican Museums,
Rome
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

45 b.c. JANUARY 44 b.c. FEBRUARY 44 b.c. MARCH 15, 44 b.c.

In Munda (Hispania), A statue of Caesar on the Caesar is nominated Fearful of Caesar’s
Caesar defeats Pompey’s Rostra, a large platform dictator for life during the influence and ambition,
sons. The Senate grants in the city, is crowned. Lupercalia festival. He Brutus and Cassius carry
him the title pater patriae Caesar is hailed as king rejects a crown offered to out the plot to assassinate
(father of the fatherland). upon entering Rome. him by Mark Antony. Caesar.
 PUBLIC SPEAKING
Remains of the Rostra,
a platform for public
speakers, are still visible
Murderous Details before the Arch of
Septimius Severus in the
The modern understanding of the
Roman forum. Julius Caesar
attack hinges on the accounts of moved it here in 44 b.c.
several ancient sources. Each ver- GUNTER KIRSCH/ALAMY/ACI

sion ends the same way—with Cae-

sar dead and the future of Rome un-
certain—but they differ slightly in their
perspectives and analyses.
Plutarch, for instance, says the ruler fought
back when attacked. “Caesar, hemmed in from
all sides, whichever way he turned, confronting
CAESAR RULES blows of weapons aimed at his face and eyes,
THE WORLD
driven hither and thither like a wild beast, was
Minted just before
the Ides of March entangled in the hands of all; for all had to take
in 44 b.c., a coin part in the sacrifice and taste of the slaughter.”
(above) shows two Appian’s account is similar. After being
joined hands—a sign stabbed several times,“[w]ith rage and outcries
of trust between
Caesar turned now upon one and now upon an-
Caesar and his
army—and a globe, other like a wild animal.”In Suetonius’s version,
a symbol of Rome’s however, Caesar stopped fighting after the first
worldly dominion. two blows. With his right hand he pulled his toga
BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE
up to cover his head; with his left, he loosened
its folds so that they dropped down, and kept
his legs covered as he fell. Caesar died “uttering
not a word but merely a groan at the first stroke.”
Dio Cassius, a Roman historian writing in
the third century, says that Caesar was caught
off guard by the attack and could not put up a
defense. “[B]y reason of their numbers Caesar
was unable to say or do anything, but veiling his
face, was slain with many wounds.”
“Under the mass of wounds,”Nicholas writes,
“[Caesar] fell at the foot of Pompey’s statue. Ev-
eryone wanted to seem to have a part in that
murder, and there was not one of them who simultaneously attacked a single person given
failed to strike his body as it lay there.” the logistics and the venue’s dimensions—a
Yet when a forensics expert recon- space that led to friendly-fire casualties during
structed the crime in 2003, he the attack, with Cassius cutting Brutus’s hand,
concluded that only five to ten and Minucius stabbing Rubrius in the thigh.
assailants could have actu- Caesar himself was stabbed 35 times, in Nich-
ally stabbed Caesar during olas’s telling; Appian, Plutarch, and Suetonius
the fray. It would have been put the figure at 23. Suetonius describes how
impossible for more to have Antistius, a physician, examined the body (in

“Under the mass of wounds [Caesar] fell . . . Everyone

wanted to seem to have a part in that murder.”
—Nicholas of Damascus, The Life of Augustus
MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS, CA 1539-1540 BUST, MICHELANGELO. BARGELLO NATIONAL MUSEUM, FLORENCE
ERICH LESSING/ALBUM
one of the world’s first recorded autopsies) and
found that one wound alone had been fatal:“the
Controlling
second one in the breast”—a blow credited to
Gaius Casca, in Nicholas’s account.
The Message
TO WIN SUPPORT FOR THEIR PLOT, the conspirators played up
Once Caesar was dead, Brutus walked to the
stories of Caesar’s arrogance and desire for power. Plutarch
center of the curia to speak, but no one stayed
reports: “But the most open and deadly hatred towards [Caesar]
to listen. The remaining senators fled in ter- was produced by his passion for the royal power. For the mul-
ror, fearful that they would be pursued. At that titude this was a first cause of hatred, and for those who had
moment it wasn’t clear among the group who long smothered their hate, a most specious pretext for it.” The
was a conspirator, and whether the attack would conspirators seized on this sentiment when they circulated
extend to any of Julius Caesar’s supporters. allegations that Julius Caesar had disrespected the Senate:
Plutarch describes the assassins’sense of ela- Caesar had been seated in the Forum when senators came
tion as they too left the Senate house, “not like before him to confer new honors, but Caesar did not stand to
fugitives, but with glad faces and full of confi- meet them, which was taken as a grave insult. According to
dence.” They hurried to broadcast to the people Plutarch, Caesar realized his mistake and tried to blame his
that Rome was rid of its tyrant. In the suddenly poor health, but few believed him, instead seeing his behavior
silent curia, only a bloody corpse remained. as pure hubris.
 Men and Motives at the pastoral Lupercalia festival by his cousin
By the time Julius Caesar stepped in front of the and close ally Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony),
Senate on that fateful day, the Roman Republic his behavior seemed to corroborate this think-
had been ailing for years. Economic inequality, ing. He had installed his friends in positions of
political gridlock, and civil wars had weakened power, placed his statues in temples, and reacted
the nearly 500-year-old republic in the century with fury when a diadem placed on one of them
prior to Caesar’s rise. was removed. He also wore the high red boots of
Yet Caesar was enormously popular with the Italian kings and donned triumphal dress (sym-
people of Rome—a successful military leader bolizing martial victory) whenever he liked.
who defeated his ally turned adversary Pom- Even his habit of granting clemency to oppo-
pey after a four-year-long civil war; subdued nents could be seen as a reflection of sovereign
Egypt and allied with Cleopatra (their love child, thinking: To show mercy, one had to be in a po-
Caesarian, aka Ptolemy Caesar, later ruled that sition to have power over someone else—one
country with his mother); and expanded the re- had to be a king.
public to include parts of modern-day Germany, Such was the situation in 44 b.c. After his
Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and France. He also stunning victories at the battles of Pharsalus,
passed laws (over the Senate’s objection) that Thapsus, and Munda, between 48 and 45 b.c.,
helped the poor and was a beloved author who Caesar had acted in a way that was largely un-
PROTECTORS OF wrote frequently about his travels, theories, and precedented among the victors of civil wars: He
THE POWERFUL political philosophy. let the losers live, because he hoped to join their
A first-century a.d. Many members of the Senate—a group of power with his.
statuette (above) appointed (not elected) political leaders that in- It was in this way that Brutus, who’d fought
depicts a lictor, an cluded the Optimates, a small elite conserva- against Caesar under Pompey, and Cassius, who
official bodyguard who
tive group of Caesar’s enemies that had backed had commanded Pompey’s fleet against Caesar
would have attended
Julius Caesar and other Pompey—resented Caesar’s popularity and per- at Pharsalus, were pardoned rather than execut-
Roman officials. ceived arrogance. ed. Caesar appointed both men to the position
ALAMY/ACI As they saw it, Caesar’s increasingly au- of praetor in 44 b.c.—a benevolence that riled
tocratic reign threatened the republic. He many. They saw the dictator’s clemency as both
frequently bypassed the Senate on deciding humiliating and arbitrary, running contrary to
important matters, controlled the treasury, the principles of law—the mark of a tyrant.
and bought the personal loyalty of the army by Once Caesar became dictator-for-life—a
pledging to give retiring soldiers public land magistracy that placed the maximum civil and
as property. He stamped his image on coins, military powers in his hands—the political ca-
reserved the right to accept or reject election reer of every Roman rested with him. It was a
results for magistrate and other lower offices, bitter affront to the Optimates who had been
and—perhaps worst of all—was rumored to be pardoned by Caesar but now found themselves
ready to declare himself king. dependent on his whims.
Rome had been stridently anti-monarchist These officials decided to strike the ultimate
since 509 b.c., when Lucius Tarquinius Super- blow against his power. All of the assassins on
bus was overthrown, and prided itself greatly on the Ides of March belonged to Caesar’s inner
its liberty. To be accused of coveting a throne was circle—enemies he had forgiven and friends he
an egregious affront. Opponents worried that had promoted. What brought these“liberators”
Caesar wanted to restore the monarchy, with together was a fear that the concentration of
himself in control. Though he had publicly re- absolute power in a single man threatened the
fused a symbolic golden crown offered to him republic’s democratic institutions.

After his stunning victories at the battles of Pharsalus,

Thapsus, and Munda, Caesar had acted in an unprecedented
way among the victors of civil wars. He let the losers live.
24 MARCH/APRIL 2022
FINAL JOURNEY
Caesar’s residence was on the
Via Sacra— the main artery
through Rome, which also
passed through the Forum.
Caesar would have been carried
along this route to the Theater
of Pompey on the Ides of March.
FRANCESCO IACOBELLI/AWL IMAGES
 The Conspirators
At least 60 people, and perhaps more
than 80, were involved in the plot
against Caesar. The mastermind of the
conspiracy was Cassius, who understood
that he needed to collaborate with someone
who would lend political gravitas to a future
attack, raising it above the level of petty per-
sonal revenge. He chose his brother-in-law
Marcus Junius Brutus, a respected Optimate.
His family claimed to descend, by paternal
line, from Lucius Junius Brutus, who was
said to have founded the Roman Republic.
HIRED With Cassius planning in the background
MUSCLE and Brutus acting as the figurehead, the alliance
Gladiators were was forged. Among the latter group, two men
popular in Rome stand out: Gaius Trebonius and Decimus Junius
and other cities, like Brutus Albinus, both generals who had fought
Pompeii. Excavations
of gladiator barracks alongside Caesar in Gaul and the civil war. The
there yielded weapons latter was a distant cousin of Brutus and a close
and helmets (above) friend of Caesar.
dating to the first Plutarch recounts that a year before, after Cae-
century b.c.
sar’s victory in Munda, Trebonius had sounded
AKG/ALBUM
out Mark Antony about the possibility of joining
an assassination. Nothing more is known of the
plot except that Mark Antony declined to join it,
yet he also failed to inform Caesar that a scheme Temple dedicated
to Venus Victrix,
was being hatched against him. the protective
When Trebonius told the plotters that Mark goddess of Pompey
Antony would not participate, they agitated to
kill the Roman general as well, but Brutus ob-
jected. He believed that getting rid of Caesar
was an act of universal justice, while killing
Mark Antony would be seen as a partisan act.
Instead, they decided that on the day of the had summoned the Senate to meet once more
assassination, they would keep Mark Antony before he left. According to Suetonius, it was
distracted outside the Senate—he was a senator rumored that at this meeting a proposal would
as well as a general—in case he tried to come to be made to proclaim Caesar king of the non-
Caesar’s aid during the attack. Italian provinces, a proposal the conspirators did
Caesar had been due to leave for a long cam- not want to approve. They also knew that once
paign against the Parthians two days after the Caesar left Rome with his legions, he would be
Ides of March—“Ides” was the name given out of their reach.
to the middle day of each month—but According to Cicero—a senator at the time,

When the plotters learned that Mark Antony would

not participate in the assassination of Caesar, they
agitated to kill him as well, but Brutus objected.
MARK ANTONY, A.D. 69-96 BUST, VATICAN MUSEUMS, ROME
ORONOZ/ALBUM
 The curia, or Senate
house, was closed
after Julius Caesar was
assassinated there.

The inner gardens

were enclosed by
colonnades.

THEATER OF POMPEY
Caesar’s former ally commissioned this
structure, which was completed in 55 b.c.
The theater, with
room for up to 17,000
A statue of Pompey the Great stood in the
people, staged shows curia of the complex, where the Senate
with wild beasts and met on the Ides of March in 44 b.c.
gladiators. ILLUSTRATION: VALOR-LLIMÓS ARQUITECTURA

and a very well-informed one—the Senate

meeting had actually been called to finalize a de-
Staging an
cision as to who would replace Caesar as consul
when he left Rome. That year, Caesar and Mark
Assassination
CASSIUS AND BRUTUS, who arrived at the curia before Caesar,
Antony were joint consuls; with Caesar gone,
made a show of carrying out their tasks as praetors. They went
Mark Antony and the new appointee would con-
about their business safe in the knowledge that they would have
stitute the highest authority in Rome. crucial backup for the assassination attempt that was about
In some ways, the stage was set for them. to take place. Under the colonnade of the Theater of Pompey,
Though Caesar had heard rumors of assassina- a group of gladiators owned by Decimus, one of the conspira-
tion plots against him (some of which expressly tors, would be positioned to support them. Their role would
mentioned Brutus), he had decided to ignore be to help the assassins if they were discovered before they
them in the belief that Brutus and others would could strike and to protect them if the mob attacked once their
never act against him out of fear that a new civil work was done. Political leaders at the end of the republic had
war might be unleashed if he were to die. frequently employed gladiators as reinforcements in the city’s
Caesar had also recently dismissed his official frequent street battles. In addition, their presence would not
escort of bodyguards, after the senators vowed have seemed out of the ordinary, as on March 15 gladiatorial
to protect him with their own lives in a pledge games would have been held in the Theater of Pompey.
 of political loyalty. Yet he would be and from which he was at that time suffering.”
far from unprotected on the (The long-held theory is that Caesar had epilep-
Ides. Twenty-four lictors— sy. It is also possible he suffered a mini stroke.)
in charge of safeguarding the As the Ides dawned, Caesar felt exhausted and
magistrates—walked be- nauseated. According to Suetonius, he decided
fore him wherever he went. to stay home and send Mark Antony to the Sen-
He was also accompanied ate to dissolve the session.
around the city by friends and Yet at that critical moment, Decimus Junius
stalwart followers—some seeking Brutus Albinus appeared and convinced his
favors, others just a glimpse of the great man. “friend” Caesar to go to the Senate as planned,
After considering several options, the con- telling the dictator he would appear ridiculous if
spirators decided to make their move during the he changed his plans because of his wife’s dream.
Senate session, where Caesar’s entourage would If the dictator felt genuinely ill, he could avoid
OMENS OF
be reduced (only senators could attend) and the offending the senators by showing up briefly
FORTUNE
In ancient Rome
emperor would be unarmed (weapons were for- at the Senate and then postponing the session.
soothsayers derived bidden inside the Senate, so the conspirators had Decimus Brutus’s reasoning worked, and Cae-
omens from animal to carry theirs carefully concealed). sar left his house at 11 a.m. in a litter borne by
entrails or facsimiles, four slaves, preceded by the lictors. Caesar was
like this bronze sheep Dreams and Omens headed for the Theater of Pompey, a huge com-
liver from 100 b.c.
(above). On the night of March 14-15, Caesar’s wife of 15 plex built by his rival on the outskirts of Rome.
DEA/ALBUM
years, Calpurnia, had vivid nightmares in which Within it was the curia (Senate house), where
she saw her husband covered in blood. The next the meeting would take place.
morning she begged him not to go to the Senate. On the way, a crowd surrounded the litter and
The emperor claimed not to be superstitious, overwhelmed Caesar with petitions. Amid the
but he was disturbed by his wife’s visions—and noise, Caesar overlooked a note that someone
by his own dreams that night of rising above the handed him warning him of the plot. It may have
clouds, leaving Rome at his feet, trembling as Ju- been proffered by Artemidorus of Damascus, a
piter took him by the hand—so in the morning Greek teacher from Brutus’s circle. According
he took her dream seriously. He ordered several to Nicholas of Damascus, the note was found
animal sacrifices to discern the future. near Caesar’s corpse among the other papers.
All the omens were unfavorable. A month ear- Plutarch wrote“[the conspirators] all hastened
lier, a soothsayer, or haruspex, named Spurinna to the portico of Pompey and waited there, ex-
had warned Caesar of the peril before him. On pecting that Caesar would straightway come to
February 15, writes Suetonius, Spurinna had the meeting.”Since it was forbidden to carry arms
“read” sacrificed animal entrails to mean that in the Senate, Brutus’s dagger was hidden under
Caesar faced “danger, which would not come his robe. Other senators concealed their weapons
later than the Ides of March.” in the document boxes that young slaves, called
On top of everything else, Caesar was capsarii, had brought into the compound.
physically ailing. According to Nicholas Caesar arrived. As he walked through the door,
of Damascus, Caesar’s physicians tried the senators rose. The chamber was not much
to stop him from going to the Senate bigger than a modern tennis court, and at least
that day “on account of vertigoes to 200 men had to be present to comprise the quo-
which he was sometimes subject, rum. There was little room to maneuver.

Caesar’s wife, Calpurnia, had vivid nightmares in

which she saw her husband covered in blood. The
next morning she begged him not to go to the Senate.
“CALPURNIA’S DESPAIR,” 19TH-CENTURY OIL PAINTING, ABEL DE PUJOL
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
POISED TO STRIKE
Publius Servilius Casca raises his
dagger as Tillius Cimber distracts
Julius Caesar by grabbing his
toga. Oil painting by Karl von
Piloty, 1865. Landesmuseum
Hannover, Germany
AKG/ALBUM
 The Attack
Not all the conspirators were members of the
Senate, and it’s not clear how many of the stand-
ing senators wished to see Caesar dead. In front
of their seats rose the platform from which Cae-
sar would preside over the session from a gold-
en throne. The conspirators hurried to gather
around the throne.
As soon as Caesar was seated—and while the
rest of the senators were still standing as a show
of respect—the assassins, writes Plutarch,“sur-
rounded him in a body, putting forward Tillius
Cimber of their number with a plea on behalf
of his brother, who was in exile. The others all
joined in his pleas, and clasping Caesar’s hand,
kissed his breast and his head.”
At first Caesar brushed off the requests. But
when the senators would not let him go, he tried
to get up by force. It was then that Tillius, who
may have been kneeling before Caesar, grasped
his toga at the shoulders in a gesture of supplica-
SHARP
AND SHORT tion. This prevented Caesar from standing up and
left his neck exposed. According to Suetonius,
The daggers that SCENE OF THE CRIME
slew Caesar were Caesar then shouted,“Why, this is violence!” The Theater of Pompey, where
compact blades and Appian says Tillius then shouted, “What are Caesar was assassinated, stood
ideal for hand-to- you waiting for?”: The answer, of course, was in the Roman square now called
hand fighting, like Largo di Torre Argentina. Recent
nothing. The rest, as they say, was history.
the one found in a research may have identified the
gladiators’ barracks exact spot where Julius Caesar
in Pompeii (above). Aftermath breathed his last.
SCALA, FLORENCE After Caesar’s death, Mark Antony staged a MANUEL COHEN/AURIMAGES

grand funeral for Caesar. The dictator’s popular-

ity was such that a riot developed, leading to
Caesar’s impromptu cremation in the Forum.
Some of the assassins, including Brutus and
Cassius, took this as a cue to leave Rome, though Roman slaves, with the date shown as the Ides of
neither gave up their official positions. The re- March. It was a celebration of liberty, according
maining assassins put a positive spin on the to historian Mary Beard, that resonated in Rome
events, celebrating it as an end to tyranny. much like Bastille Day does in modern France.
An amnesty was negotiated—through Ultimately, the death of Julius Caesar had
a Senate agreement to ratify all of Cae- the opposite impact of what the assassins
sar’s decisions. A new coin was mint- had hoped. The daggers they thrust into him
ed, showing two daggers and the pi- that March day dealt a fatal blow to the already
leus, the cap of liberty worn by freed wounded Roman Republic and paved the way

“[O]f the power . . . [Caesar] had sought all his life . . .

he had reaped no fruit but the name of it only.”
—Plutarch, Parallel Lives
PLUTARCH, 16TH-17TH CENTURY ENGRAVING
GIBON ART/ALAMY/ACI
for empire. Much of the public turned against
the assassins, and civil wars ensued. Popular
Blood at
sentiment swung back toward Caesar. A comet,
visible during the day for a week, appeared in the
Pompey’s Feet
sky during the games held in his honor—a sure IN SOME ANCIENT SOURCES, Caesar’s death appears framed as a
sign that he was becoming divine. Within two sacrifice. The second-century a.d. historian Florus interprets
years, in fact, he would be fully deified. the manifold honors pinned on Caesar during his lifetime as
Caesar’s death opened the way for his 19-year- infulae, the woolen adornments placed on animals destined
old heir, and adoptive son, Octavian to emerge as for ritual sacrifice. Caesar is depicted as meeting his destiny
Rome’s first de facto emperor (the future Augus- like those animals, with a certain meekness. Plutarch seems
tus). Octavian would spend the next few years to interpret the event as divine retribution: “[Caesar] sank,
hunting down Caesar’s murderers: the ringlead- either by chance or because pushed there by his murderers,
ers Brutus and Cassius fell in 42 b.c., and the last against the pedestal on which the statue of Pompey stood.
one would perish eight years later. And the pedestal was drenched with his blood, so that one
might have thought that Pompey himself was presiding over
this vengeance upon his enemy, who now lay prostrate at his
HISTORIAN JOSEP MARIA CASALS IS A SPECIALIST
ON THE HISTORY OF EARLY IMPERIAL ROME. feet, quivering from a multitude of wounds.”
HEAVENLY TOWERS
The Angkor Wat temple was
erected in the 12th century by
Khmer king Suryavarman II
to replicate Hinduism’s holy
Mount Meru.
ASHIT DESAI/GETTY IMAGES
 VISIONS OF

ANGKOR
The capital of Cambodia’s Khmer Empire was both a sacred
and cosmopolitan city, welcoming religious pilgrims and
merchants alike. Abandoned in the 1400s, Angkor’s splendor
would not fade but endure through the centuries.

VERONICA WALKER
 3

A
ppearing like a fever dream amid
a thick, humid jungle is Angkor
1 ANGKOR WAT
Wat—a soaring, sumptuous city
2 PHNOM BAKHENG TEMPLE
of stone with elegant spires and
elevated towers, covered galleries 3 WEST BARAY (RESERVOIR)
and airy courtyards, ornate walkways and intri- 4 ANGKOR THOM TEMPLE COMPLEX
cate bas-relief carvings. Situated on the shores 5 BAYON TEMPLE 2
of Tonle Sap, a lake in northwest Cambodia, 6 BAPHUON TEMPLE
this temple complex is a nearly 900-year-old 7 PHIMEANAKAS TEMPLE COMPLEX
ruin from the ancient Khmer Empire. Among 8 TERRACE OF THE ELEPHANTS
the hundreds of surviving temples in the re- 9 TERRACE OF THE LEPER KING
gion, the vast complex is easily Cambodia’s 10 V I C T O R Y G A T E

most famous sacred site—it appears on the 11 P R E A H K H A N T E M P L E

nation’s current flag—and is revered for good

reason. Comprising over a thousand buildings
and covering some 400 acres, it is the world’s
largest religious structure—and one of human-
ity’s cultural wonders.
Construction of Angkor Wat began in the
first half of the 12th century by the Khmer king
Suryavarman II (reigned a.d. 1113-circa 1150).
It was probably intended to serve as his vast
funerary temple where his remains would rest
for eternity. Heavily influenced by Hinduism,
1
the site, whose name means “city of temples”
in Khmer, was originally called Vrah Visnuloka
(“sacred dwelling of Vishnu”) and dedicated to
three Hindu deities: the namesake Vishnu, Shi-
va, and Brahma. Hindu deities are recognizable
among the complex’s many bas-relief carvings.
The structure’s most prominent architectural
feature is its central quincunx—five conically
shaped towers (four in the corners, one in the
middle) built on graduated tiers. Rows of lotuses
taper to a point near the top, symbolizing the
peaks of Mount Meru, the dwelling place of the
gods and center of the universe. Indeed, Angkor
Wat was conceived as an earthly model of the
cosmos—a miniature replica of the universe in ca 1116
stone, with its central tower rising nearly 200 Khmer king Suryavarman II
begins construction of the
feet in the air. The outer wall corresponds to Angkor Wat (“city of temples”)
the mountains at the edge of the world; the sur- complex alongside Angkor, a
preexisting Khmer city.
rounding three-mile-long moat symbolizes the
oceans beyond them.
One accesses the site by crossing a 617-foot
bridge and then passing through three galleries
on the way to the temple itself. The inner walls
1177
are covered with bas-relief sculptures repre-
senting Hindu gods and ancient Khmer scenes,
CAPITALS The neighboring Cham (in

AND
present-day Vietnam) invade
as well as episodes from two Sanskrit epics: the and plunder Angkor Wat,

KINGS
Mahabharata and the Ramayana. causing great instability
throughout the empire.

34 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 7 NEAK PEAN
6
9
8
5

4
CITY IN THE JUNGLE
Dense vegetation dominates the
landscape today, and the temples
of Angkor appear isolated, like
islands half subsumed by jungle.
In its heyday in the 12th and 13th
centuries, the Khmer capital was
an urban macro-complex, as
shown here. Some estimate its
peak population in the hundreds
of thousands. Angkor was home
to carved wooden palaces and
sumptuously decorated temples.
Beyond the city walls, dwellings
raised on pillars dotted the rice
paddies, ponds, and canals—the
latter a testimony to the Khmer’s
genius for water engineering.
ILLUSTRATION: RAIDEN STUDIO

EAST BARAY AND TA PROHM

Bagan Hanoi
ca 1200 ca 1431
Luang
Irrawa

Prabang
Jayavarman VII builds Angkor The neighboring kingdom of Sri Ksetra Chiang Mai
dd y

Thom north of Angkor Wat. The Ayutthaya attacks the Khmer. The Vientiane
city centers on the Buddhist capital moves south to Phnom Penh, Bago Sukhothai
Bayon temple, reflecting a shift triggering the decline of Angkor as a Thaton Indrapura
M

away from Hinduism. political center.

e kon

C HA

Andaman Ayutthaya
g

Sea
MPA

Siem Reap Angkor

Tonle
Sap
Phnom
Gulf of Penh
Thailand

1181 14th-15th centuries Khmer Empire

South
Khmer Empire, circa 800
King Jayavarman VII is crowned Severe monsoons and Khmer Empire, circa 1100 China Sea
after he expels Cham forces floods damage the irrigation Khmer Empire, circa 1210
Town with inscriptions and 0 150 300 mi
from Cambodia. The empire infrastructure of the complex. monumental religious buildings 0 150 300 km
NG MAPS

will reach the peak of its Despite depopulation, Angkor

splendor under his reign. Wat will still function as a temple.
Power of the Khmer
The Khmer flourished from the ninth to
the 15th centuries, its rulers presiding over a
sprawling, prosperous, and sophisticated em-
pire that stretched across much of mainland
Southeast Asia, from modern-day Myanmar
(Burma) to Vietnam. It was linked by a net-
work of river routes and elevated roads. Agri-
cultural production thrived during this period,
perhaps thanks to the higher temperatures and
nourishing rains during the so-called Medieval
Warm Period.
The Angkor Wat temple complex was built
alongside the ancient Khmer capital Angkor,
the focus of elaborate building projects since the
dawn of the empire (including the ninth-century
Phnom Bakheng temple that overlooks Angkor
Wat to this day). In the 12th century, as work ad-
vanced on Angkor Wat under Suryavarman II, a
religious shift from Hinduism toward Buddhism
was intensifying across the Khmer lands.
Buddhism had coexisted peacefully with
Hinduism for many years. It was first brought to
Cambodia around the fifth century, carried by
traders and missionaries from India, a culture
that exerted a significant influence on Cambo-
dian history: India had already brought Hindu-
ism to the region, and the Khmer language is
related to Sanskrit.
Some 30 years after Suryavarman II’s death,
King Jayavarman VII came to the throne in 1181.
He revived Khmer fortunes after the kingdom
was invaded by the neighboring Cham, and he
solidified the status of Buddhism by making
it the state religion. Jayavarman VII’s face is
believed to have been the model for the many
visages that decorate the Bayon temple in nearby
Angkor Thom. Built alongside Angkor Wat, this
new fortified Khmer capital marked a new high
in Khmer power. The city’s population swelled
to a then-record 750,000.
Angkor Wat continued to be a Hindu temple
until the 1300s, when it was formally rededicated
as a Buddhist site. In keeping with Buddhist tol-
erance for Hinduism, the iconography of its great
reliefs was not demolished or replaced, although
Buddhist statues were added.
Around this time, the Khmer Empire started
to decline, the result of a complex mixture of fac-
tors. In the 143os the Khmer rulers abandoned
the great complexes of Angkor and relocated to
the newly established Phnom Penh to the south.

36 MARCH/APRIL 2022
PATERNITY AND POSTERITY
The Preah Khan temple, whose name
means “holy sword,” was erected in 1191
by Jayavarman VII in honor of his father,
Dharanindravarman II. The interior
of the vastly scaled structure is a network of
crisscrossing, labyrinthine passageways that
link courtyards and chambers.
ALAIN SCHROEDER/GTRES

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 37

Historians have put forward various theories to
explain the move. An important factor was likely
the military setbacks suffered at the hands of
the neighboring Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya
(in present-day Thailand), which mounted
numerous attacks over the years. Others credit
shifting religious observances. The growing
predominance of Theravada Buddhism during
the 13th and 14th centuries did not sit easily
with the more hierarchical Hinduism of the
Khmer elites.
Environment also likely played a role: Ang-
kor boasted an extensive, advanced system of
artificial canals, dikes, and reservoirs, the larg-
est of which, West Baray, is 5 miles long and
1.5 miles wide—a remarkable feat of hydraulic
engineering for the time. The water harnessed
by this network slaked the thirst of three-
quarters-of-a-million residents in the world’s
largest preindustrial city, as well as irrigating the
rice fields. Historians believe a series of heavy
monsoons, followed by drought, may have dis-
abled the delicate irrigation infrastructure and
so hastened the demise of the site.

‘Lost’ and Found

The jungle reclaimed the area, and the urban
area was soon subsumed by dense vegetation.
Vast cotton silk trees grew up through the fall-
en towers, their silvery roots entwining pillars
and walls, until jungle and ruin became indivis-
ible. But one temple was never abandoned: Ang-
kor Wat itself. Between the end of the 14th cen-
tury and the beginning of the 15th, the complex
was restructured, transformed by Buddhist
monks into a site for pilgrimages.
In the middle of the 16th century, Europeans
began to arrive in Angkor—first Portuguese
merchants around 1555, then missionaries bent
on spreading Catholicism in the region. The
Portuguese merchant and historian Diogo do
Couto described how the Cambodian jungle was
concealing an abandoned city whose walls “are
entirely built with hewn stone, so perfect and
so well arranged that they seem to constitute
just one stone—which is . . . almost like marble.”
After the Portuguese came Spanish merchants
and missionaries. Among them was Fray Gabriel
Quiroga de San Antonio, who, in 1604 published
A Brief and Truthful Relation of Events in the King-
dom of Cambodia. His description reveals a deep
appreciation and respect:

38 MARCH/APRIL 2022
SEEN FROM THE SKY
An aerial view of Angkor Wat offers a fresh
perspective on the 900-year-old complex,
showcasing its intricate shapes and sheer
magnitude. A wall nearly 15 feet high
surrounds the temple, with an entrance
at each cardinal point.
MICHELE FALZONE/AWL IMAGES
 FIRST GLIMPSES
In one of the first images taken of
the Cambodian site, a Buddhist
This city is on the banks of the River monk was photographed in 1866
Meccon, 170 leagues from the sea; the beneath one of the faces that adorn
the Bayon temple at Angkor Thom.
floodwaters and tides of the river lap the MNAAG/RMN-GRAND PALAIS
city as those of the Guadalquivir do Se-
ville. It is marvelously constructed . . .
the houses are made of stone and are
very beautiful, arranged in a very orderly
way along streets, and the craftsman-
ship of their facades and patios, halls
and chambers seems Roman.

Lure of Angkor
Over the next few centuries, Angkor exerted
a magnetic pull on travelers from abroad, as
Cambodia received numerous merchants from
Southeast Asia, especially Muslim Malays, and
Japanese Buddhists. Some even left graffiti on
the walls of Angkor Wat (there are 14 examples
dated between 1612 and 1632). The first known
map of Angkor, an annotated colored plan, was
created by one of these Japanese visitors.
The Spanish and Portuguese presence di-
minished, and the Dutch established a post of
the Dutch East India Company in Cambodia.
Whether representatives visited Angkor itself
is unknown, but the discovery of a Dutch ship
painted on the walls of the main entrance to the
Angkor temple attests to the impact on local life.
The European fascination with Angkor
reached a fever pitch in the 19th century. In late
1859 the French explorer and naturalist Henri
Mouhot visited Angkor under the patronage

L
SIX MEMBERS OF THE
MEKONG EXPEDITION
(1866-1868). GUIMET
MUSEUM, PARIS
MNAAG/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

GRAFFITI. A 17TH-CENTURY DRAWING OF A DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY SHIP

WAS FOUND ON THE WALL OF THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO ANGKOR WAT
V. WALKER
L

EXPLORERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS HENRI MOUHOT.

PORTRAIT, 1863
In 1866 Ernest Doudart de Lagrée led an expedition on the Mekong River. LEONARD DE SELVA/ACI

Under the pretext of scientific and cartographic research, his team sought to
consolidate French dominance of the area. Following in the footsteps of Henri
Mouhot, Doudart made his way to Angkor, taking with him photographer
Émile Gsell, who took some of the first photographs of the ancient Cambodian
capital.
 DEVAS AND ASURAS
Grimacing asuras (demons) line one
side of the approach to the South
of the Royal Geographical Society of London. Gate of Angkor Thom. Opposite
Mouhot had set sail for Bangkok in April 1858, them is a row of devas, benvevolent
Hindu deities. Both the devas and
accompanied by his dog Tine-tine, to gather asuras are perched on the back of a
plant and animal specimens from the region for serpent, called a naga.
TIM LAMAN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
European collectors.
Mouhot spent three months in Angkor, ex-
ploring the ruins, sketching its temples, and re-
cording his impressions in his diaries—not only
of Angkor itself, but of the Khmer people as well:

In the province still bearing the name

of Ongkor . . . ruins of such grandeur . . .
at the first view, one is filled with pro-
found admiration, and cannot but ask
what has become of this powerful race,
so civilized, so enlightened, the authors
of these gigantic works?

This intimate vision of Angkor, accompanied by

Mouhot’s evocative drawings, was published in
1864 and drew European attention to the ancient
Cambodian capital. In 1867 a French expedition
arrived in the area, ostensibly to chart the course
of the Mekong River. One of the members was a
promising young artist named Louis Delaporte.
His idealized illustrations of Angkor—includ-
ed in two publications produced by the expe-
dition—helped cement the popularity of the
temples in the Western mind. Reproductions
of Cambodian art were exhibited at the popular
World Exhibitions between 1867 and 1922. At
the 1931 Paris Colonial Exhibition, a spectacular
replica of the Angkor Wat temple was erected.
The restoration of the temples, which began in
1907, opened the latest chapter in Angkor’s long
story. Since then, the complex called Angkor
Archaeological Park has become one of the rich-
est, most important archaeological sites in the
world. In 1992 it was established as a UNESCO
World Heritage site for its cultural influence.
Today Angkor Wat is also essential to Cambo-
dia’s economic prosperity, as it continues to be
one of the nation’s biggest attractions. Even in
the 21st century, it’s hard not to see the value of
an epic 12th-century vision of eternity.

SPECIALIZING IN ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA, VERONICA

WALKER IS A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI, FINLAND.

Learn more

Angkor and the Khmer Civilization, 2nd Edition

Michael D. Coe, Thames & Hudson, 2018.

42 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 KOSEL SALTO/ GETTY IMAGES

GOLDEN
COMPLEX
built around the year 1200, the Bayon
temple in Angkor Thom comprises a
central tower a hundred feet high with 54
other towers distributed throughout the
enclosure—a stone forest in the midst of the
jungle. King Jayavarman VII, commissioned
the temple be built in the center of Angkor
Thom, his new city to the north of Angkor
Wat. Scholars used to think that the faces
adorning the towers represented various
aspects of Brahma, the Hindu god and creator
of the universe. Today it’s believed that they
represent the bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be)
Avalokiteshvara. King Jayavarman’s likeness
appears to have been used as the model.

chinese diplomat Zhou Da-guan, who visited

the area in 1296, described towers covered
in gold; outer galleries beautifully decorated
with rows of eight gold figures of the Buddha;
and a golden bridge, flanked by two statues
of golden lions, which served as the main
entrance to the enclosure. Today (above)
no trace of the gold coating or the gold
statues remains, but in its heyday, the site
must have been breathtaking, as the artistic
reconstruction (right) shows.
GILDED AGE
This re-creation shows the third
level of the Bayon temple, with
access to the central sanctuary
(right) and several axial towers
(left) that surround the second
level of the enclosure.
ILLUSTRATION: RAIDEN STUDIO
FULL METAL JACKET
A knight’s plate armor consisted
of riveted sections, which offered
greater freedom of movement than
rigid armor. It was widely used in
14th-century combat. Opposite:
The arms of Edward III of England,
the warrior king whose reign was
marked by the culture of chivalry
WARPEDGALERIE/ALAMY/ACI; OPPOSITE: LOOK AND LEARN/BRIDGEMAN/ACI
 BLOOD AND HONOR

THE KNIGHTS’
TALES
Chivalry, faith, and honor were embodied by the
lives of medieval knights, who fought for church
and crown. The lives of these men are filled with
accounts of legendary bravery and bloodshed.

ALBERTO RECHE
K
nights are among the most iconic char-
acters from the Middle Ages. Their
origins harken back to the fall of the
Roman Empire in western Europe
whose last emperor, Romulus Au-
gustulus, was toppled by a Germanic warlord in
a.d. 476. The vacuum left by Rome’s destruc-
tion was partially filled by the Roman Catholic
Church, and also by relationships between the
church and the dominant local lords. The church
supported the lords, in part by anointing kings
and lords as God’s chosen rulers, but also con-
trolled them through fear of cutting off God’s
approval through interdict and excommunica-
tion. The alliances between the papacy and the
king of the Franks lasted 500 years. Over time,
this was replicated across Europe and both led
to and supported the rise of feudalism, a system
dependent on knights to support the realm and
the church, and a way for society to recruit them.
The feudal system was based on a complex
web of rights and obligations among rulers, no-
bles, serfs, peasants, and freemen. With little
or no commerce, land and its produce were the
only forms of wealth and, with it, power. Each
feudal lord held sway over his land grant and its
people. Over time, feudalism was built on the
uniformity that had been previously imposed
by the Roman Empire. Due to a preexisting war-
rior culture, knights became exalted superstars.
They were the product of long training in both
military skills and spiritual and societal matters.
What bound knights together as a social group
was a detailed code of values, behavior, and ac-
complishments, including courtesy, refine-
ment, honesty, largesse, and gallantry. Becom-
ing a knight certainly meant developing skills of
combat and the use of arms, but it also entailed
hunting, learning to read, and playing games like
chess. Knightly ideals can be grouped into three
strands: noble birth, Christian values, and mili-
tary prowess. Literature about knights, such as
those of the legendary King Arthur and his court,
ARTHURIAN KNIGHTS

Becoming a knight meant

not only developing combat
SEATS
skills but also hunting,
learning to read, and
AT THE
playing games like chess. ROUND TABLE
48 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 he Knights of the Round Table were to various origin stories, the Round Table was IN CAMELOT
heroes of the realm in Britain’s created by the magician Merlin, in imitation A young Sir Galahad
Arthurian legend. Dedicated to ensuring peace of the table at Christ’s Last Supper, for Uther is presented to King
in the mythical kingdom of Camelot (hard Pendragon, Arthur’s father. A seat at the table Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table in a
won by Arthur after early wars), the knights was the highest honor to which an Arthurian 14th-century miniature.
represented chivalry in its purest form. These knight could aspire. The table’s circular shape Bibliothèque Nationale
nobles pledged to follow a code of honor in precluded hierarchy and was a potent symbol de France, Paris
service to God, king, and country. According of fraternity and esprit de corps. FINE ART/ALBUM
became popular and would have a profound in-
fluence on the origins of the European novel.
The importance of chivalric culture in storytell-
ing persists today through its extensive use in
fantasy fiction and fandom, gaming, animation,
television shows, and movies.
One way to truly understand the nature of
knighthood in this period is to meet some of the
knights themselves, whether historical figures
like Richard the Lionheart, or literary ones. In
fact, the line between historical record and liter-
ary invention is often blurred. Literary models
influenced the behavior of real knights, while real
knights offered abundant material for writers of
literary accounts.

Godfrey of Bouillon
One of the earliest and most representative ex-
amples of a chivalrous knight was Godfrey of
Bouillon (circa 1060-1100). After the 14th cen-
tury, he was included among the so-called Nine
Worthies: nine men through the ages (some his-
torical, others legendary) deemed to have em-
bodied the ideals of chivalry.
Godfrey was the son of Count Eustace II of
Boulogne and Ida of Lorraine, and together with
his brothers helped lead the First Crusade in
1096. Godfrey’s fame and prestige among the
diverse group of barons commanding the Cru-
sade grew so that, when the crusaders succeed-
ed in reclaiming Jerusalem from Islamic rule in
1099, they offered Godfrey the throne of the new
kingdom of Jerusalem. Godfrey, in a gesture that
ticked all the chivalric boxes, refused and piously
argued that no one should wear a golden crown
in the city where Christ had worn the crown of
thorns. Instead, he agreed to be called the De-
fender of the Holy Sepulcher.
Godfrey was such an exemplary knight that
he became legendary. Embellished tales were
written about his journey to the Holy Land and
established his noble lineage. The best known
of these stories is the legend of the Knight of
the Swan; originally, it was the tale of an anony- ROL E MOD ELS

LESSONS
mous knight who appears in a boat drawn by a
swan to rescue a damsel in distress. By the end
of the 12th century, popular tellings identified
the protagonist with the Bouillon dynasty and
claimed that the mysterious Knight of the Swan
FROM
was none other than Godfrey’s grandfather. It
was a story that wove together fact and fiction THE PAST
50 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 he spread of chivalric ideals led to represented three distinct chapters in chivalric THE NINE
notable historical figures being framed history. The first trio were Trojan hero Hector, WORTHIES
as great knights in the medieval tradition. In Greek conqueror Alexander the Great, and Painted in the 15th century,
western Europe, this popular idea was forged Roman general Julius Caesar. The second were this fresco depicts the
into the canon of the Nine Worthies (Neuf Preux) from the Old Testament: Joshua, King David, Nine Worthies and
can be found in the
in Jacques de Longuyon’s Vows of the Peacock in and Judas Maccabeus. The last trio were King Castello della Manta
1312. These Worthies exemplified chivalric values Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon, in Saluzzo, Italy.
and virtues. Pagan, Jewish, and Christian, they the most recent addition. DEA/ALBUM
around the figure of one of the most recognized
knights of Christendom. This mixture of lit-
erary evocation, embellishment of reality, and
celebration of chivalric values developed over a
long period in medieval Europe, and especially
in the Anglo-French world.

William Marshal
One knight who was well known in both France
and England was William Marshal (circa 1146-
1219). He served as royal adviser to four English
kings: Henry II, Richard I (popularly known as
the Lionheart), John, and Henry III. Even mem-
bers of the French court grudgingly acknowl-
edged that he was the best knight in the world.
William guided these four kings wisely through
numerous crises and dangers, making his name
synonymous with the model of the chivalric
virtues of his time.
The details of Marshal’s life have been pre-
served in a literary account commissioned
by one of his sons, L’histoire de Guillaume le
Maréchal, written in Old French verse. Its lines
chart Marshal’s meteoric career, from leaving his
father’s house to train as a knight (as a second
son, this path was expected) to the final hours
of his life. Although Marshal was no ordinary
knight, the account does offer much insight into
what life was like for knights in general at the
time. There is a description of Marshal’s training
in the house of the powerful Norman nobleman
Guillaume de Tancarville, who was his mother’s
uncle; his investiture as a knight in 1166; and his
first military campaign.
Soon, young Marshal would find an activ-
ity that would shape his life and become a true
passion: the tournament. These contests were
far more brutal than the folk pageant versions
celebrated today: more like battles than games.
Young knights took part, either individually or in
teams, hoping for a chance to demonstrate their
fighting prowess and perhaps win themselves
fame and fortune.
C HA RACTER D EVELO PME N T

Although Marshal was no

ordinary knight, the account
TALE
of his life offers insights into
what life was like for knights
OF THE
in general at the time. SWAN KNIGHT
52 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 erman composer Richard Wagner’s of the Swan”). In this iteration he has become HIGH FANTASY
19th-century opera Lohengrin was the grandfather of Godfrey of Bouillon. This This 16th-century
inspired by the Swan Knight myth, first told in a chanson is part of the so-called Crusade Cycle, Flemish tapestry depicts
late 12th-century text, the Dolopathos, in which an set during and just after the First Crusade. In the several scenes from a
French version of the
anonymous knight appears in a swan-drawn boat 13th century, German authors like Wolfram von Swan Knight tale. The
and rescues a maiden. A few years later, the same Eschenbach and Konrad von Würzburg further knight’s mother, Beatrice,
figure cropped up in a chanson de geste (song of developed the Swan Knight’s story, and their is shown at the center.
heroic deeds), “Le chevalier au cygne” (“Knight work would form the basis of Wagner’s opera. AKG/ALBUM
 During the late 1100s, tournaments were S EE K I N G T H E P R IZE

WINNER
enjoying their heyday, and Marshal excelled
at the jousts. For more than a decade, he was
said to have unhorsed and captured more than
500 combatants as he went from tournament
to tournament. Defeated knights would have TAKES
to pay a ransom. Together with the spoils from
seizing harnesses and saddles, Marshal could
enjoy a highly valued chivalric practice: largesse.
IT ALL
Generosity in distributing the bounty from his illiam Marshal’s knightly career is one of the few
wins allowed him to forge valuable loyalties. that was meticulously documented, albeit in a
As well as excelling on the tournament field, somewhat embellished form. The verse biography L’histoire
Marshal acted as master of arms and confidant de Guillaume le Maréchal was commissioned by Marshal’s
to Prince Henry, son of Henry II of England and son and heir, and relates Marshal’s adventurous life. It is a
heir to the throne. The young prince died before fantastic resource for colorful details about the tournaments
he could wear the crown, and William fulfilled knights competed in. Competitions in the 1100s often featured
the promise he had made to him to travel to the giant melee battles, in which teams of knights would square
Holy Land, where he fought for two years off against each other. At
alongside the Templars. When Marshal the end of a particularly
returned, the king offered him the hand b o i s t e ro u s b a t t l e ,
of Isabel de Clare, Countess of Pem- M a r s h a l ’s h e l m e t
broke, one of the wealthiest heiresses in was so battered and
the kingdom. The union raised Marshal to misshapen that he
the highest ranks of the nobility. His days had to employ the
as a knight-errant were over. services of a blacksmith
to pry him out of it.
Marshal would continue to shine on the
Marshal enjoyed such
battlefields. When Richard the Lionheart
great success on the
was away on the Third Crusade, William
tournament circuit
protected his throne against the maneu-
that in 1179 he even
vering of John Lackland, the king’s brother formed his own battle
and regent. After Richard’s death, when the company. Marshal
same John’s right to the throne was in dis- employed a patient
pute, Marshal was one of the few great no- strategy for his team,
bles to remain on John’s side during the First holding back while
Barons’ War, in which the nobility rebelled allowing other teams to
and forced King John to issue the charter of fight each other at full
rights known as Magna Carta. strength until they were
This uncompromising loyalty to the crown exhausted. Then, his
sealed William Marshal’s reputation as the team could strike and
greatest knight of his time. He died shortly easily win the day—and
after his last great military victory, the Battle all the costly spoils that
of Lincoln, in 1217, where he succeeded in driv- fell to them as victors.
ing the French army out of England, and forc-
ing the French king to give up his claim to the
English throne. ETERNAL REST
A recumbent statue
Ulrich von Liechtenstein has been possibly
While some knights became immortalized identified as William
Marshal, in London’s
through the poems of heroic deeds writ- Temple Church, where
ten about them, others crafted those poems he was buried in 1219.
themselves. A rich tradition of literature and ALAMY/ACI

54 MARCH/APRIL 2022
FERNS CASTLE
This fort was erected
in the early 1200s by
William Marshal in the
Irish county of Wexford,
one of his domains
as Earl of Pembroke.
ALAMY/ACI
illustration developed around the chivalric way
of life. The most notable case is perhaps that of
Ulrich von Liechtenstein (1200-1278), a knight
from Styria (today in Austria), who was known
not only for his military exploits but also for
his role as a Minnesänger, or troubadour. He was
knighted in 1223 by Leopold VI, the Duke of Aus-
tria, one of the most prominent politicians and
patrons of his time. Leopold promoted chivalric
pursuits at his court and soon chose Ulrich from
among the Styrian nobility. Ulrich was granted
the important positions of seneschal and mar-
shal, but it was for his writing that he has been
remembered.
Two of Ulrich’s works survive. In the Frauen-
buch, or Book of Ladies, he laments that courting
ladies, which he considers a cornerstone of chiv-
alry, is in decline. The other, the Frauendienst, or
Service of Ladies, is a poetry collection (appar-
ently autobiographical) in which Ulrich reflects
on conventions of courtly love and chivalric pur-
suits. He frames these reflections through two
adventures in honor of his lady. In the first, the
knight travels disguised as the goddess Venus
and competes in jousts and tournaments from
Venice to Vienna. During his journey, he faces
and defeats several hundred knights. In the sec-
ond adventure, this time disguised as King Ar-
thur, he sets out with the intention of testing
himself against every knight who crosses his
path, to bring honor to his lady.
A miniature of Ulrich von Liechtenstein is
among 137 such illustrations included in the Co-
dex Manesse. The codex brings together ballads
and poems in High Middle German by some
140 Minnesänger and was compiled in the early
1300s. Ulrich appears in the image wearing a suit
of chain mail and galloping on a large horse. In his
right hand he holds a blunted jousting lance, and
in his left, a shield. The poems and illustrations
in the Codex Manesse offer some of the best
surviving sources for understanding chivalric
life at the time.

The knight Ulrich von

Liechtenstein was known
not only for his military
exploits but also for his role
as a troubadour.
56 MARCH/APRIL 2022
TIME FOR A
TOURNAMENT
A 15th-century Flemish
miniature of a jousting scene
appears in an edition of Jean
Froissart’s Chronicles, written
during the previous century.
British Library, London
BRITISH LIBRARY/BRIDGEMAN/ACI
The Second Boucicaut
Later in the 14th century, the chivalric ideals of
heroes on horseback were increasingly at odds
with the military reality in which soldiers en-
gaged on foot. As a result of this change in mili-
tary strategy, the cavalry of knights on horseback
lost the essential role it had played for 200 years.
By the time the 15th century got under way, it
was reduced to more of a court spectacle. As
knights moved away from the battlefield and to
tournaments, the ceremonial forms of combat
became increasingly elaborate. In this transition,
memorable figures emerged, including Jean II le
Meingre (1366-1421), also known as Boucicaut.
Jean inherited his moniker from his father COUNT KRAFT
(Boucicaut either means “fish basket,” associ- VON TOGGENBURG III,
APPROACHING HIS
ated with slyness and greed, or—more flatter- LADY
FINE ART/ALBUM
ingly—“cautious ox,”associated with prudence
and strength). Like his father, he also succeeded
to the office of marshal of France, a position of SERVICE TO THE LADIES
great power. As a child, he was a court page and Courtly love, first developed as a court game, was a template for
rode in his first military expedition when he was chivalric service: The knight promised to serve his lady in the same way
just 12. He left accounts of his grueling training that a vassal promised to serve his king.
schedule to build strength. Boucicaut ran great
distances, perfected jumping from the ground
into his horse’s saddle, and learned to climb
ladders using his arms alone. At age 16, he was
knighted and took part in the Battle of Roose-
beke, Flanders, in which the French won a major
victory. For two decades, he was the hero of the
European battlefields. TANNHÄUSER,
KNIGHT OF THE
And the battles continued. In 1384 Boucicaut TEUTONIC ORDER
AKG/ALBUM
fought alongside the Teutonic order in their cru-
sade against the Lithuanians in the Baltic. He
then went to Spain, where he fought for John I
of Castile against the English invader John of
Gaunt. In the Balkans, he backed the Byzantine
emperor against the Turks. In what is now Leb-
anon, he attacked and sacked cities including
Tripoli, Sidon, and Beirut. With one military
success after another, Boucicaut’s career took off
and, in 1391, he was invested marshal of France,
as his father had been before him. For a brief
period, he was also governor of Genoa.
In the late 14th and early 15th centuries,
Boucicaut became involved in setting up chi-
valric orders. Together with 12 other knights,
he founded the White Lady of the Green Shield DEFENSE OF THE FAITH
to protect the female relatives of knights away Defending Christianity and Christian values was the bedrock of the
in battle, on crusades, or who had died. This chivalric life. Many knights took part in the Crusades between
order would attract the praise of court writer 1095 and 1291 as part of their adherence to these tenets.

58 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 CONRAD II, DUKE ULRICH VON
OF SWABIA, HUNTING LIECHTENSTEIN,
WITH A FALCON DEPICTED
DEA/ALBUM WEARING A
HELMET WITH AN
EFFIGY OF THE
GODDESS VENUS
AKG/ALBUM

HUNTING AND FALCONRY

As a metaphor for the inner perfection of the knight, falcons took flight T HE CODEX MA NESSE

WELL-
and served their master as the knight served his lord, mirroring the ideal
feudal relationship.

ROUNDED
MEN
OTTO IV OF
BRANDENBURG (LEFT), h e Co d e x M a n e s s e i s a r i c h l y
PLAYING CHESS
ERICH LESSING/ALBUM illustrated work from the first half of
the 14th century that brings together many poetic
compositions of the Minnesänger (Germanic
troubadours). Its splendid miniatures, some of
which are displayed at left, showcase an idealized
version of the life that knights aspired to embody.
The codex suggests that the life of the knight was
not limited to combat or practicing with arms,
but was composed of a rich universe of courtly
activities that formed a kind of educational model
of its own. Pastimes such as hunting and falconry;
the playing of games, especially chess; and even
the intricate dance of courtly love had a meaning
and purpose that went beyond merely pleasing
hobbies. Upholding ethical values and defending
the faith underpinned everything.

NOBLE PASTIMES
Chess was introduced to Europe during the Middle Ages and became
one of the most popular chivalric pastimes. There were numerous
treatises on the game in circulation.
Christine de Pisan, who was outspoken about
the rights of women.
The perilous life of a knight often entailed
suffering, and Boucicaut did endure two major
defeats. First, he was among the band of Chris-
tian knights routed by the Ottoman Turks at
Nicopolis in 1396. His second and definitive
defeat came at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
The English captured Boucicaut and took him
to England, where he died in 1421.

The End of Chivalry

The English longbows and trained archers com-
bined to bring victory at Agincourt, along with
the tactics of sneak-attack cavalry charges and
defensive maneuvers of massed, unknighted
foot soldiers. Longbows and new tactics led to
killing an enemy at a distance. Black powder fire-
arms—long-barreled arquebuses, muskets, and
pistols—came on the scene in the late 1400s,
further changing combat. Knights had fought
face-to-face with their foes for so long and con-
sidered doing so a mark of honor, but these
changes made their suits of armor and methods
of combat seem outdated.
Systemic changes also hastened the decline of
knights. Monarchs grew stronger and were able
to develop more modern institutions to collect
taxes, create courts of law, and fund standing
armies. Distance grew between the church and
the state as both competed for power and influ-
ence across western Europe.
The knightly world created by feudalism, with
its articulated values of nobility, an ingrained
social and religious order, and a courtly code of
conduct, was shaken to its foundation by these
developments. The new world order, centered
on a powerful monarchy and its administrators,
radically altered their support system, livelihood,
beliefs, and the very society that had created
them. The age of chivalry was over, but the lives
and legends of these medieval men would endure
for centuries.
‘ U P ON ST. CRI S PIN’S DAY ’

MEDIEVALIST ALBERTO RECHE IS A MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE FOR

MEDIEVAL STUDIES AT THE AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA, SPAIN.
BOUCICAUT’S
Learn more FINAL
The Knight in History
Frances Gies, Harper Perennial, 2011. DEFEAT
60 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 mmortalized in 1599 by William could do little to prevent the loss: There was KNIGHT’S PRAYER
Shakespeare in Henry V, the Battle dissonance in the French chain of command French knight and
of Agincourt proved to be the undoing of the caused by conflict between the Dukes of Orleans military leader
French hero Boucicaut. On October 25, 1415 (St. and Burgundy. Boucicaut suffered the ravages of Boucicaut prays with
his wife in this 15th-
Crispin’s Day), the French suffered a crushing defeat firsthand: He was captured by the enemy century miniature.
defeat at the hands of the English. Together with and taken to England where he was imprisoned Musée Jacquemart-
army commander Charles d’Albret, Boucicaut in Yorkshire. The French knight died there six André, Paris
was one of the leaders of the French side, but he years later. AGENCE BULLOZ/RMN-GRAND PALAIS
SOFONISBA
U NSU NG GEN I US
OF T H E R ENA ISSA NCE
Painting with tenderness and bravura, Sofonisba
Anguissola stunned Michelangelo with her talent.
Appointed as a court painter to the king of Spain, the
Italian artist became Europe’s first female superstar artist.

ALESSANDRA PAGANO

SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA IN A
19TH-CENTURY ITALIAN ENGRAVING
DEA/BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA/GETTY IMAGES
ARTIST AT WORK
Sofonisba Anguissola
created “Self-portrait
While Painting the
Madonna” in Cremona
when she was around
24 years old. Muzeum
Zamek w Lancucie,
Lancut, Poland
ERICH LESSING/ALBUM
A
rtistic ferment bubbled in Italy CA 1532 later, baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi,
in the late 1400s and early 1500s, Sofonisba Anguissola for example, was taught by her artist father).
but despite the later idealization is born to a cultured, Since Amilcare Anguissola was not an artist,
of that period as the Renaissance, noble family in he took the unusual step of allowing Sofonisba
Cremona, Italy.
it was also a time of extreme vi- to study under the painter Bernardino Campi
olence. As the armies of Spain, France, and when she was about 14.
the Holy Roman Empire battled to control the 1546 Sofonisba studied through her late teens
peninsula, Machiavelli was devising his bru- Encouraged by her and early 20s under Campi, and later Ber-
tal ideas about political science, and Leonardo father, Sofonisba nardino Gatti. At 22, she met Michelangelo
da Vinci was juggling his masterpieces with begins to study Buonarroti. Impressed by her talent, he of-
painting under
military designs for guns and cannons. War fered to help her and provided feedback and
Bernardino Campi.
and patriarchal values kept women at home critiques of her work.
and ensured that the names of Renaissance After seeing Sofonisba’s sketch of a laugh-
luminaries almost all belong to men. 1559 ing young girl, Michelangelo challenged her
Born amid the gore and glory of the era, So- Invited to the court with an assignment: draw a child crying. The
of Philip II of Spain,
fonisba Anguissola was exceptional on many result was her famous drawing, “A Boy Bit-
Sofonisba excels as a
levels: She won fame in her own lifetime as one portraitist and forges ten by a Crawfish,” which brilliantly captures
of a tiny number of Renaissance women who royal friendships. the expression of fright and pain on the face
painted their way out of domesticity and, later, of a boy (the model was her younger brother
into the world’s art museums. Her prodigious 1573 Asdrubale). Many years later, this drawing in-
talent dazzled Michelangelo, and at age 27 she At age 40, Sofonisba spired Caravaggio to create “Boy Bitten by a
went to Madrid to become one of Europe’s marries and returns Lizard” (circa 1595).
most brilliant court painters. Her many works to Italy, where she
continues to teach
inspired a later generation of baroque artists,
and paint.
International Career
including Anthony Van Dyck and Caravaggio. The long Italian wars that had dragged on
1625 through Sofonisba’s youth were ended in 1559.
Genius in the Family After having her
The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis drew Cremo-
Sofonisba was born around the year 1532 in portrait painted by na, already a dominion of Spain, deeper into the
Cremona, northern Italy, the eldest child of Van Dyck, Sofonisba Spanish orbit after France renounced its claim
Bianca Ponzoni and Amilcare Anguissola. The dies in Sicily. to the Duchy of Milan.
last of the seven Anguissola children was born Sofonisba’s brilliance had come to the atten-
in 1555, completing a close-knit, cre- tion of the Spanish governor of Milan, the Duke
ative family of six girls and one boy. of Sessa. He recommended her appointment
Amilcare encouraged not only his to the court of the Spanish king, Philip II.
son Asdrubale but also all his While Sofonisba was technically lady-in-
daughters—Sofonisba, Elena, Lu- waiting to Philip II’s new French queen,
cia, Minerva, Europa, and Anna Elizabeth (Isabel, in Spain) of Valois, she
Maria—to obtain a high level of actually served as the drawing mistress
education and to cultivate the and portrait painter of the royal family.
arts. Sofonisba’s talent soon The Madrid court may not have
became too obvious to ignore. seemed a congenial place for a young
In 16th-century Italy, young artist from a close-knit family. Rul-
women who wanted to become er of Spain, its American colonies,
painters were not allowed to swathes of Italy, and the Low Coun-
be apprentices in professional tries, Philip II had a reputation for
studios. The only hope for bud-
ding female artists was to receive THE ARTIST’S MOTHER. BIANCA PONZONI PAINTED BY HER
DAUGHTER,SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA, 1557. GEMÄLDEGALERIE,
tuition from male relatives (the BERLIN STATE MUSEUMS, BERLIN
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

64 MARCH/APRIL 2022
CHILDREN OF CREMONA
From the Torrazzo (bell tower)
of the city’s cathedral is a bird’s-
eye view of Sofonisba Anguissola’s
birthplace, Cremona, in northern
Italy. The city was also home to
the composer Claudio Monteverdi
and the violin maker Antonio
Stradivari.
KAROL KOZLOWSKI/ALAMY
LEGENDARY at the court allowed her to achieve near-
NAMES unprecedented fame for a female artist.
Although many art historians now believe that
ofonisba Anguissola’s name had an-

S
some of her works have been wrongly attrib-
cient origins. Her father traced his an- uted to other painters—notably the chief court
cestors to the Carthaginians, painter, Alonso Sánchez Coello—it is clear
the North African empire that Sofonisba was highly regarded at court. A
that invaded Italy in the third cen-
stream of pensions from the monarch attest to
tury b.c. during the Punic Wars.
her high standing at the palace.
Her first name belonged to a
In 1573 King Philip approved the marriage
virtuous Carthaginian prin-
of Sofonisba to a Sicilian nobleman, Fabrizio
cess. Her surname derives
from a legend told about Moncada, and provided his brilliant court
another ancestor, a Byz- painter with a dowry. The infantas, then six
antine nobleman who and seven, attended the proxy ceremony
pulled off a stunning in Madrid. The couple set up home in Sic-
victory over the Umayy- ily, but their marriage was cut short by
ad Muslims in the eighth Fabrizio’s death, at the hand of pirates,
century. His successors be- in 1579.
came known as “Anguissola” Details of Sofonisba’s life on the island
because his shield featured an are scarce, but it appears she kept working.
eel—in Latin, anguillae. In 2008 researchers confirmed the discovery
of a document proving Sofonisba’s author-
ship of a painting of a Madonna in the Sicil-
ian church of Santa Maria de la Annunziata,
in Paternò. For centuries, the work—one of a
FAMILY PRIDE being gloomy and austere. Nevertheless, So- small number of religious paintings she pro-
In 1556 Sofonisba fonisba’s long sojourn in Madrid was marked duced—had been wrongly attributed to an-
painted a miniature by close friendships, especially with Queen Is- other painter.
self-portrait that abel, who on arrival in Madrid was only 14 years
featured a monogram
of her father’s name old. Sofonisba stayed by her side through her Undimmed by Age
(detail, above). pregnancies, and taught the royal children— Sofonisba returned to northern Italy, possibly
Around the edge, a Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela. to be near her family. After remarrying, she
Latin inscription says These art classes helped forge an intimate lived in Genoa, where she may have painted
“Painted from a mirror
bond with the family. In 1561 an Italian am- the then adult infantas. She lived there for 35
by her own hand,
Sofonisba Anguissola, bassador reported: “Sofonisba the Cremonese years. When she was in her 80s, and nearly
virgin from Cremona.” says that her pupil [Queen Isabel] is very good blind, she moved with her second husband
Museum of Fine Arts, and paints naturally with a crayon in a way that back to Sicily, where, in 1624 she was visited
Boston one recognizes the sitter.” Sofonisba’s royal by painter Anthony Van Dyck.
SCALA, FLORENCE
portraits included her 1565 likeness of King The young baroque artist was deeply im-
Philip. Her familiarity with some of the other pressed by his encounter with the doyenne of
sitters, especially Queen Isabel, and later, her Renaissance art, immortalizing her in a portrait
two daughters, enabled her to blend warmth in which her spirit burns on through her lined
and expressiveness with the rigid canons of face and tired eyes. She died in 1625, around
royal portraiture. age 93. Her husband had these words engraved
In 1568 tragedy struck when Queen Isabel, on her tomb in the church of San Giorgio dei
23, died in childbirth. Italian ambassadors re- Genovesi: “To Sofonisba, one of the illustri-
ported Sofonisba’s intense grief at her friend’s ous women of the world for her beauty and for
death. Even though many of Isabel’s courtiers her extraordinary natural abilities, so distin-
left Madrid after her death, Sofonisba re- guished in portraying the human image that
mained at the request of Philip II, who wanted no-one of her time could equal her.”
her to help educate the young princesses Isa-
bella Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela (in
HISTORIAN ALESSANDRA PAGANO WRITES ON ARTISTS OF THE RENAISSANCE ERA.
Spain, known as the infantas). Her position SHE IS ALSO A SPECIALIST ON ART FROM HER NATIVE ITALIAN REGION OF CALABRIA.

66 MARCH/APRIL 2022
FATHER AND CHILDREN
Sofonisba’s father, Amilcare
Anguissola, is flanked by his
daughter Minerva (about
13 years old) and his son,
Asdrubale. This 1558-59
group portrait was painted
by Sofonisba around the time
she was summoned by Philip II
to the court of Madrid.
ALBUM/FINE ART IMAGES
STR ATEGIC SISTER S
“they appear alive,” wrote Renaissance art critic notion of the time that men were more rational
Giorgio Vasari of “A Portrait of the Artist’s Sisters minded than women, and thus better chess play-
Playing Chess.” Painted in 1555 when Sofonisba ers. She signed the painting “Sofonisba . . . virgo
was about 23, it depicts Lucia (left) looking di- (virgin)” to emphasize her virginity not only as a
rectly at the viewer as she captures a chess piece virtue but also as a means to remain unwed and
from her sister, Minerva (right); younger sister free (Sofonisba would not marry until much later
Europa (center) reacts with glee. Chaperoned by in life, at age 40). The all-female scene has been
an older woman who looks on at their game, So- contrasted with fellow Cremona painter Giulio
fonisba’s sisters are richly but modestly attired. Campi’s “The Chess Game” (1530), which depicts
The artist subtly links the girls’ chastity with the a male and a female player in an eroticized con-
ability to think strategically and retain control over test. Cremona was caught up in the chess craze
their lives. Some critics have interpreted Lucia’s that had swept Spain the century before, and local
triumph in this work as Sofonisba challenging the artists depicted the game as a sign of the times.
“A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST’S SISTERS
PLAYING CHESS,” BY SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA,
1555. NATIONAL MUSEUM, POZNAN, POLAND
BRIDGEMAN/ACI
“A BOY BITTEN BY A CRAWFISH,” BY
SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA, CIRCA 1554.
MUSEO DI CAPODIMONTE, NAPLES
MONDADORI/ALBUM

“THE DAMNED SOUL,” ENGRAVING OF A

DRAWING BY MICHELANGELO. BIBLIOTECA
AMBROSIANA, MILAN
VENERANDA BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA/DEAGOSTINI
PICTURE LIBRARY/SCALA, FLORENCE
TE ACHER S A ND I MITATOR S
in 1562 a friend of Michelangelo wrote to Duke Sofonisba would have been familiar with the
Cosimo I de’ Medici of Florence enclosing one works of Michelangelo, who created works with
of Sofonisba’s sketches, a work titled “A Boy similar emotion. The relationship between the
Bitten by a Crawfish” (left). The work came young woman and aged genius was conducted
about, he explained, “because Michelangelo, via letters, supervised by her father. Despite the
having seen her drawing of a laughing girl, said limitations of her encounters as a woman, the
he would like to see a weeping boy, this being effect of her drawing was profound: Forty years
more difficult. So she sent him this, a portrait of later, its gestures and expression inspired one of
her brother whom she studiously made to cry.” Caravaggio’s most expressive works (below).

“BOY BITTEN BY A LIZARD,” BY CARAVAGGIO,

CA 1595. FONDAZIONE ROBERTO LONGHI, FLORENCE
ALBUM/AKG/RABATTI & DOMINGIE
1 2

LIFE A MONG
K I NGS A ND QUEENS
A 1559 treaty between Spain and France pro- years, Sofonisba gained the trust of the royal family,
foundly changed two women’s lives: Under the especially the king and queen. Sofonisba’s royal
terms of the peace, French princess Elizabeth portraits are more formal than her other works but
(Isabel, in Spain) of Valois was wed to Philip II of still manage to convey warmth. Wearing black pre-
Spain and traveled at age 14 to a new life in Madrid. dominated at the Spanish court, as a show of aus-
Sofonisba (who was 27 years old) was employed terity. After Isabel’s death, Philip took a new wife,
as her companion and royal portraitist. Over 14 Anna of Austria, whom Sofonisba also painted.
 3 4

1 . A n n a o f A u st r i a 2. Is a b e l o f Va l o i s 3. Isabella C. Eugenia 4. K i ng P h i l i p I I
After Queen Isabel’s death Sofonisba painted this Experts disagree as to who Sofonisba’s 1565 portrait
in 1568, Philip wed Anna of portrait in the early 1560s. painted this portrait of Philip originally depicted the king in
Austria. This 1573 portrait The teenaged Queen Isabel and Isabel’s daughter. Dated to a wide, showy cape. In 1573
was once attributed to Alonso holds a small portrait of her 1586, it postdates Sofonisba’s Queen Anna ordered it to be
Sánchez Coello but is now husband, Philip II. Her dress is departure from the court. repainted, to present Philip’s
known to be by Sofonisba. dark yet adorned with rubies The style, however, does not dress austerely, as shown
It reconciles beauty and and diamonds that glitter match that of the official here, and to complement her
modesty, austerity and finery. discreetly. Prado Museum, painter, Sánchez Coello. Prado own portrait (far left). Prado
Prado Museum, Madrid Madrid Museum, Madrid Museum, Madrid
BRIDGEMAN/ACI ALBUM BRIDGEMAN ALBUM/ORONOZ
MYSTERY A RTIST, MYSTERY WOM A N
for many years the painting“Lady in a Fur Wrap” many historians accept this new attribution, others
(left) was attributed to El Greco, the Crete-born continue to insist that the painter was indeed So-
artist who lived in Spain. Reflecting an awareness fonisba, and that her sitter (whose identity is also
that Sofonisba Anguissola’s paintings had often unconfirmed) was the infanta Catalina Micaela.
been wrongly attributed to male painters, histo- This assertion brings another painting under the
rians have suggested this portrait was painted spotlight: The portrait (below) of Princess Catalina.
by her. In 2019 a joint study by Pollok House in The Prado attributes the work to Sánchez Coello
Glasgow—the painting’s owners—and the Prado while acknowledging that others attribute it to So-
Museum in Madrid concluded that “Lady in a Fur fonisba. In 1584, when the picture was painted, the
Wrap” is not by El Greco or Sofonisba, but by Span- infanta left Madrid for Savoy, not far from Genoa,
ish court painter Alonso Sánchez Coello. Although where Sofonisba was then living.

“LADY IN A FUR WRAP,” ATTRIBUTED

TO SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA AND
ALONSO SÁNCHEZ COELLO, 1577-79.
POLLOK HOUSE, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
ALBUM/ORONOZ

THE INFANTA CATALINA MICAELA,

CIRCA 1584. ATTRIBUTED TO
SOFONISBA ANGUISSOLA AND
ALONSO SÁNCHEZ COELLO. PRADO
MUSEUM, MADRID
ARTEFACT/ALAMY
LIFE A ND LEGACY
sofonisba anguissola lived to the advanced age her portrait (opposite). Alongside a line drawing of
of 93. She died in 1625 in Palermo, Sicily, after long the elderly Sofonisba, Van Dyck describes meeting
outliving the siblings whom she had depicted with her in the pages of his sketchbook: “She recounted
such freshness and joy. The young baroque art- how she had been a miraculous painter from life,
ist Anthony Van Dyck visited her sometime in the and the greatest torment she had known was not
year before her death; he was intrigued to meet a being able to paint anymore, because of her failing
woman who had painted the “old” king of Spain and eyesight. Her hand was still steady, without any
corresponded with Michelangelo. He later painted trembling.”
THE CATHEDRAL of
Palermo, Sicily, the
city where Sofonisba
died in 1625. A major
cultural and religious
hub, Palermo was
ruled by Spain until
the early 1700s.
ANTONINO BARTUCCIO/FOTOTECA 9X12

PORTRAIT OF SOFONISBA
ANGUISSOLA BY ANTHONY
VAN DYCK, 1624.
KNOLE HOUSE, ENGLAND
NATIONAL TRUST PHOTOGRAPHIC
LIBRARY/BRIDGEMAN

VAN DYCK’S
SKETCHBOOK SHOWING
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS 1624
VISIT WITH SOFONISBA.
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON
THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM/
SCALA, FLORENCE
 TREASURES OF NUNALLEQ

THREAT
OF THE
THAW
As the seas rise and Alaska’s permafrost melts,
the history of the Yup’ik people is in danger as
archaeological sites and artifacts become exposed
to the ravages of time and climate change.

EDITORS OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

HISTORY AT RISK
Many of the artifacts recovered from
the Nunalleq site are made from
antler, wood, and ivory, materials that
are preserved under the tundra but
decay quickly after exposure.
KIERAN DODDS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION
A WELL-PRESERVED FISHING LINE FRESHLY UNCOVERED AT THE
NUNALLEQ SITE IN COASTAL ALASKA DATES TO THE 1600S.
ERIKA LARSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

T
he archaeological site of Nunalleq on
the southwest coast of Alaska pre-
serves a fateful moment, frozen in
time. The muddy square of earth is
full of everyday things that the In-
digenous Yup’ik people used to survive and to
celebrate life here, all left just as they lay when
a deadly attack came almost four centuries ago.
As is often the case in archaeology, a tragedy
of long ago is a boon to modern science. Ar-
chaeologists have recovered 100,000 artifacts
at Nunalleq, from typical eating utensils to ex-
traordinary things such as wooden ritual masks,
ivory tattoo needles, pieces of finely calibrated
sea kayaks, and a belt of caribou teeth. Beyond
the sheer quantity and variety, the objects are
astonishingly well preserved, having been frozen
in the ground since about 1660.
The ground’s frigid state even preserved rare
organic material such as grass ropes, salmon-
berry seeds, head lice, and grass strands woven
into baskets. “This grass was cut when Shake-
speare walked the Earth,”observed lead archaeol-
ogist Rick Knecht, of the University of Aberdeen
in Scotland.

Land of the Yup’ik

Archaeologists believe the Yup’ik people’s an-
cestors originated in eastern Siberia and Asia.
They first crossed the Bering Sea to North
America around 10,000 years ago and gradually
moved into the coastal areas of western Alaska.

80 MARCH/APRIL 2022
RACE AGAINST TIME
Photographed at Nunalleq in Alaska,
archaeologists work quickly and carefully
to excavate sites that are threatened by
warming temperatures and rising levels of
the Bering Sea.
ERIKA LARSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION
ULUS ARE TRADITIONAL HUNTING KNIVES USED FOR CENTURIES BY THE
YUP’IK PEOPLE TO CLEAN FISH AND SKIN GAME.
ERIKA LARSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

Around a.d. 1400 communities moved up the

coastal rivers, including the Yukon, to form set-
tlements farther inland.
Rather than the frigid northern lands of what
is now Alaska, the climate in these areas was
milder. The waterways supplied the Yup’ik
with food; from the shore or within their kay-
aks, hunters used harpoons or bows and arrows
to catch salmon and hunt mammals. During the
year, people would travel to different seasonal
camps to harvest different food sources. In the
colder months, they would shelter in structures
made out of earth.
It was around the perimeter of what was once
one of these large sod structures that Knecht and
his team of archaeologists made an astonishing
find. They uncovered traces of a centuries-old fire
that was used to smoke out the residents—some
50 people, probably an alliance of extended fami-
lies, who lived here when they weren’t out
hunting, fishing, and gathering
plants. No one, it seems,
was spared.

BOW, ARROWS, QUIVER, AND CASE

19TH CENTURY, YUP’IK PEOPLE, YUKON
RIVER DELTA, ALASKA
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN,
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
LIFE AT SEA
Photographed in the mid-20th century, a
resident of Nunivak Island (which lies about
100 miles west of the present-day Nunalleq
site) gazes out of the cold waters where he
hunts seal and other aquatic mammals.
EDWARD S. CURTIS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION
FROST FAIRS WERE HELD
ON THE RIVER THAMES
WHEN IT FROZE SOLID
DURING ENGLAND’S COLDEST
WINTERS. 18TH-CENTURY
ENGRAVING, JAMES STOW
RKIVE/ALAMY

RETREATING ICE
A 2019 aerial view of the Yup’ik village
of Quinhagak, Alaska, reveals thawing
permafrost and thinning ice. Scientists say
Alaska is warming faster than any other
U.S. state.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

COLDER CLIMATES Archaeologists unearthed the remains of

someone, likely a woman, who appears to have
succumbed to smoke inhalation as she tried to
LASTING FOR CENTURIES, the so-called Little Ice
Age was a period of colder temperatures, mainly dig an escape tunnel under a wall. Skeletons of
experienced in the Northern Hemisphere. It began women, children, and elders were found togeth-
in the 1300s when temperatures around the world er, face down in the mud, suggesting that they
dropped, and glaciers grew. The initial changes were captured and killed.
were gradual, with a steep decline following in the Knecht sees a link between the destruction at
late 1500s. Climates cooled by more than three the site and the old tales that modern Yup’iks
degrees Fahrenheit (roughly two degrees Celsius). remember. Oral tradition preserves memories of
Major bodies of water, including the Baltic Sea a time historians call the Bow and Arrow Wars
and London’s River Thames, repeatedly froze over. Days, when Yup’ik communities fought one an-
From Europe to North America to Asia, growing other in bloody battles some time before Russian
seasons were disrupted, leading to food shortages explorers arrived in Alaska in the 1700s. Nunal-
exacerbated by the colder weather. Archaeologists leq offers the first archaeological evidence, and
believe that the violence at the Nunalleq site was a the first firm date, for this frightful period, which
result of tensions caused by the climate change. affected several generations of Yup’ik.
 Knecht believes the attacks were the result of the rhythm of subsistence hunting cycles, it has
climate change—a 550-year chilling of the plan- also driven Nunalleq to the brink of oblivion. In
et now known as the Little Ice Age—that coin- summer everything looks fine as the land dons
cided with Nunalleq’s occupation. The coldest its perennial robe of white-flowering yarrow and
years in Alaska, in the 1600s, must have been sprigs of cotton grass that light up
a desperate time, with raids probably launched like candles when the morning sun
to steal food. “Whenever you get rapid change, hits the tundra. The scene turns
there’s a lot of disruption in the seasonal cy- alarming come winter when the
cles of subsistence,” says Knecht. “If you get an Bering Sea hurls vicious storms at the
extreme, like a Little Ice Age—or like now— coast. If the waves get big enough, they
changes can occur faster than people can adjust.” crash across a narrow gravel beach and rip away
at the remains of the site.
Retreating Ice
For centuries, Yup’ik people on both sides of the A WOODEN YUP’IK MASK DEPICTS AN ANIMAL WITH A SEAL
Bering Sea have made the Arctic tundra their CAUGHT IN ITS JAWS. MASKS SERVED SACRED PURPOSES
AND WERE USED TO PETITION THE GODS. 19TH CENTURY.
home, but today’s unpredictable and increas- GOODNEWS BAY, ALASKA
ingly violent weather has not only thrown off NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
FISHERMEN’S In Quinhagak, the modern Yup’ik village just bows and arrows in Switzerland to hiking staffs
FRIENDS four miles from Nunalleq, changes brought by from the Viking age in Norway and lavishly ap-
Resembling their the weird weather are a common topic of con- pointed tombs of Scythian nomads in Siberia.
modern equivalents versation.“Twenty years ago the elders began to So many sites are in danger that archaeologists
used to fish today, say the ground was sinking,”says Warren Jones, are beginning to specialize in the rescue of once
ivory fishing lures
(above) were among president of Qanirtuuq, the Yup’ik corporation frozen artifacts.
the centuries-old that owns and manages the community’s prop- In coastal Alaska archaeological sites are now
artifacts found at the erty. “The past 10 years or so it’s been so bad threatened by a one-two punch. The first blow:
Nunalleq site. everybody’s noticed. We’re boating in Febru- average temperatures that have risen more than
ERIKA LARSEN/NG IMAGE COLLECTION
ary. That’s supposed to be the coldest month three degrees Fahrenheit in the past half cen-
of the year.” tury. As one balmy day follows another, the per-
The Arctic wasn’t always like this, but global mafrost is thawing almost everywhere. When
climate change is now hammering Earth’s polar archaeologists began digging at Nunalleq in
regions. The result is a disastrous loss of artifacts 2009, they hit frozen soil about 18 inches be-
from little-known prehistoric cultures—like low the surface of the tundra. Today the ground
the one at Nunalleq—all along Alaska’s shores is thawed three feet down. That means master-
and beyond. A massive thaw is exposing trac- fully carved artifacts of caribou antler, driftwood,
es of past peoples and civilizations across the bone, and walrus ivory are emerging from the
northern regions of the globe—from Neolithic deep freeze that has preserved them in perfect
condition. If not rescued, they immediately be-
gin to deteriorate.
The knockout blow: rising seas. Since 1900
A MASSIVE THAW IS EXPOSING TRACES OF PAST
the global level of oceans has risen about eight
CIVILIZATIONS. SO MANY SITES ARE IN DANGER inches, a figure that experts believe will continue
THAT ARCHAEOLOGISTS ARE SPECIALIZING IN THE to increase. It’s a direct threat to coastal sites
RESCUE OF ONCE FROZEN ARTIFACTS. such as Nunalleq, which is doubly vulnerable to

86 MARCH/APRIL 2022
HERITAGE AND HISTORY. AFTER THE END OF EACH ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG SEASON,
YUP’IK LOCALS VIEW THE LATEST FINDS FROM THE NUNALLEQ SITE.
ERIKA LARSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

RECONNECTING
WITH THE PAST
AT FIRST, Qanirtuuq chairperson Grace Hill
opposed the excavation at Nunalleq because
Yup’ik tradition says ancestors shouldn’t be
disturbed. She came to see the dig as a way to
preserve Yup’ik culture and language. “I’m hoping
this will get the kids interested in their past,”
she says. As artifacts were recovered from the
site, Yup’ik people from the wider area around
Quinhagak were able to see them close-up at the
new culture and archaeology center. Artists also
hold workshops there to demonstrate traditional
arts and crafts, including mask making, hide
sewing, drumming, and dance.

PHOTOGRAPHED NEARLY A CENTURY AGO, AN IMAGE (LEFT) OF

A GROUP OF YUP’IK LOCALS HANGS IN THE COMMUNITY CENTER
IN BETHEL, ALASKA, ON THE YUKON DELTA.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
FINELY CRAFTED JEWELRY, SUCH AS THESE IVORY EARRINGS (ABOVE), WAS A
COMMON FIND AMONG THE ARTIFACTS FROM THE NUNALLEQ SITE.
ERIKA LARSEN/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION

wave damage now that the thawing permafrost

is making the land sink.“One good winter storm
and we could lose this whole site,” says Knecht.
He speaks from experience. Since the start of
the excavation, the relentless action of the sea
has torn about 35 feet from the edge of the site.
The winter after the 2010 dig was particularly
brutal. Residents of Quinhagak remember huge
chunks of ice slamming into the coast. By the
time Knecht and his crew returned, the entire
area they had excavated was gone. Since then, the
sense of urgency has only increased.
Archaeology’s potential to inspire an appreci-
ation for the past is what motivated Jones to start
the dig. When wooden artifacts began washing
up on the beach, he invited Knecht to assess the
eroding site, then helped convince the village’s
board of directors that excavating Nunalleq was
a good idea. Their meeting grew into a unique
collaboration in which the community and the
visiting archaeologists work as partners.
Jones is proud of the partnership that made
this possible. He also looks forward to more
discoveries at the site and sees a promising fu-
ture for the center. “I want
our kids who are in college
now to run [the center] and
be proud that it’s ours.”

Portions of this article appear in Lost Cities,

Ancient Tombs, edited by Ann R. Williams.
Copyright © 2021 by National Geographic
Partners. Reprinted by permission of National
Geographic Partners.

88 MARCH/APRIL 2022
WASHING AWAY
Tribal elder Warren Jones stands where erosion
is eating away at Yup’ik lands in southwest
Alaska. Permafrost and sea ice once formed a
protective barrier, but warming temperatures
have wreaked havoc on local waterways.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
HERITAGE
AT RISK
THE EFFECTS of global climate change even greater danger. Reductions of
are threatening hundreds of sites sea ice, which had protected coastal
that hold clues to Alaska’s past and areas from battering storms, mean
its people’s heritage. The permafrost that a single severe weather event
that once preserved centuries-old can cause erosion as far as 100 feet
artifacts is thawing—quickly. As inland. Flooding has not only caused
artifacts are exposed, they are sus- coastlines to recede; it has also
ceptible to decay and rot. Scientists swept away buried archaeological
estimate that the nine million square sites. Experts predict that sea levels
miles that make up the Arctic are will continue to rise in the coming
warming two to three times faster decades, which means that parts
than the rest of the planet. In south- of Alaska’s western coast will suffer
ern regions of Alaska, rising sea levels storm surges that could regularly top
and the Bering Sea’s winter storms 10 feet. Thawing permafrost in low-
are putting coastal heritage sites in lying areas is causing the land to sink.

AF BB
R
IC

ASIA
A

S S ea
EUROPE
RUSSIA
A
Maximum
RC

extent of
TIC

permafrost
CIRC

1900
ARCTIC
LE

North Greenland 2100

Pole
OCEAN

GLOBAL DECLINE
AREA CANADA Permafrost, ground that is frozen all
ENLARGED
year, is protected by a layer of soil that
ALASKA
(U.S.)
NORTH typically freezes in the winter. In recent
PA C I F I C AMERICA years in many regions, it has not frozen,
O CE A N UNITED allowing underlying layers of permafrost
STATES to thaw. Models based on current levels
0 mi 1,000
of greenhouse gas emissions project
0 km 1,000 that by the year 2100 more than 50
percent of near-surface permafrost
worldwide will be gone.
NG MAPS

90 MARCH/APRIL 2022
 Teshekpuk
Lake
Be a u f o r t S e a
Sagavanirktok

E
O P
T T H S L
le
lvil
Co
E
G
N
A
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cup
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Teedriinj Po
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UNITED

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CANAD TES

Tana
na
A S K A
STA

.
A

ts
M
Denali
(Mt. McKinley) A N G
20,310 ft R E
6,190 m
A
YUP’IK MASK FROM NUNALLEQ DEPICTING
K

A HALF-HUMAN, HALF-WALRUS FACE

Susitna

ERIKA LARSEN/NG IMAGE COLLECTION

S
A
L

Anchorage
t
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BRITISH
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Peninsula Prince
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Archaeological site
Land vulnerable to inundation
by a 10-foot storm surge

0 mi 100

0 km 100

NG MAPS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 91

DISCOVERIES

Giza’s Untouched
Royal Tomb
In 1925 a royal grave from one of Egypt’s earliest dynasties was
found—intact—in the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

H
oward Carter’s The boss had to be in-
sensational 1922 formed, but there was one
discovery of King problem: Reisner was, at
Tutankhamun’s that moment, not in Egypt,
Tomb off
treasure-filled Hetepheres but in Boston, carrying
at Giza
tomb sparked a fascina- out his duties as profes-
tion with all things ancient EGY PT sor of Egyptology at Har-
Egyptian across Europe and vard University. His team
the United States. started digging in his ab- THE INTERIOR of
Hopes were high that sence and found an irreg- Hetepheres’s tomb in
more exciting discover- ularly cut, narrow shaft Giza, near Cairo, was
ies were coming, not least three iconic pyramids, was that went down 85 feet. It packed with grave goods
when it was first seen
among the archaeologists being systematically exca- was filled with rubble. This by George Reisner in
working in sites across vated by an international sign was a strong indication January 1926. Water had
Egypt. A spirit of intense group of scholars. A part of that they had discovered a damaged many of the
rivalry marked relations this vast terrain fell to the tomb—but since Giza had objects, but several items
were later painstakingly
among this group of largely American archaeologist been extensively looted
reconstructed.
Western scholars, who George Reisner. On Febru- over thousands of years, the MUSTAPHA ABU EL-HAMD/
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
all jockeyed for the most ary 2, 1925, Reisner’s pho- chances of an intact burial
promising sites while jeal- tographer, Mohammedani were very low.
ously monitoring their Ibrahim, was working near On Saturday, March 7, as
competitors’ progress. the Great Pyramid, erected Reisner was preparing his
From the early 1900s, the by Pharaoh Khufu in the Monday-morning lecture, At 3:30 p.m. it was ob-
Giza plateau, site of Egypt’s mid-third millennium b.c. thousands of miles away his served that the rock sur-
Ibrahim looked down and team finally excavated the face on the south . . . fell
noticed his tripod was full shaft and were awe- away at an angle, and
resting on a white layer of struck by what they found. immediately afterwards
plaster, possibly the top of T. R. D. Greenlees recorded the top of the door to a
a structure hidden below. the moment in his diary: chamber was revealed.

February 1925 January 1926 April 1926 March 1927

Reisner’s team After nearly a year’s Based on an inscription Reisner opens the
begins excavation of delay, Reisner leads his found in the tomb, tomb’s sarcophagus
a tomb at Giza, but team into the tomb. its owner is revealed: and finds it empty.
Reisner orders work They begin to classify Hetepheres, mother of The fate of the queen
halted in March. its fragile grave goods. Pharaoh Khufu. remains a mystery.

ARCHAEOLOGIST’S SKETCH OF THE GRAVE GOODS IN HETEPHERES’S TOMB, 1926

ALAMY/ACI
 INSIDE THE TOMB
REISNER described the burial chamber and its
contents (below) as follows: “Partly on the sar-
cophagus and partly fallen behind it lay about
One limestone block was For the excavators, it was twenty gold-cased poles and beams of a large
loosened and removed in their moment of triumph, canopy. On the western edge of the sarcoph-
agus were spread several sheets of gold inlaid
order to see in. A large but later that week, Reisner
with faience, and on the floor there was a con-
chamber is visible ex- sent a telegraph from Bos-
fused mass of gold-cased furniture.” ALAMY/ACI
tending up a little to east ton ordering that the work
and west of the door. It is halt in Egypt. The tomb
possible to see what ap- would be resealed.
pears to be a sarcophagus
in the foreground upon Ancient and Modern
which are several staves Born in 1867 in Indianapo-
or maces with gilded lis, George Reisner com-
tops. A good deal of gild- manded huge respect in
ing appears on other ob- Egyptology circles, having
jects upon the ground. It carried out a major archae-
is certain that the burial ological survey of the Nubia
is intact. region (today in southern

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 93

DISCOVERIES

KHUFU’S Great
Pyramid looms
over three smaller
pyramids. The tomb of
Hetepheres (G7000X)
was discovered near
G1a, the small, partially
collapsed pyramid.
ALAMY/ACI

Egypt and Sudan). In 1902 section of the huge site was Tutankhamun’s tomb had a U.S. news photographer
French Egyptologist Gaston awarded to Reisner. made Reisner realize the snap them—led to revela-
Maspero divided out the Reisner was working in power of public relations. tions in the London press
Giza plateau among the best the new era of 20th-century His decision to reseal the of a major new find. Specu-
excavators of the time, in a technology: He could use intact tomb (officially la- lation swirled that the tomb
bid to prevent looting and the telegraph to send trans- beled G7000X) was based was that of 4th-dynasty
deterioration. The central atlantic communiques with on several factors, includ- pharaoh Snefru. From Bos-
his team. ing his belief that he was ton, Reisner countered by
But he was the only person sufficiently asserting his belief that it
modern in competent to undertake the belonged to a royal woman.
another way full excavation. Reisner’s duties in the
to o : Ca r- By delaying the dig un- U.S. delayed the reopening
ter’s stun- til he could travel to Egypt, of Tomb G7000X until Jan-
ning find of Reisner could also control uary 1926. On finally enter-
the narrative. Media rela- ing the chamber containing
tions were a key part of that the sarcophagus, Reisner
GOLD FALCON, TOMB OF HETEPHERES.
EGYPTIAN MUSEUM, CAIRO process. Leaks from Reis- discovered that the gold-
SCALA, FLORENCE ner’s own team—who let cased furniture inside was
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DISCOVERIES

was

The
Queen’s
Chamber
UPON OPENING the tomb of
Hetepheres in January 1926, 1
archaeologists were struck by
the golden funerary furniture
they found. Gilded chairs, a
bed, and a canopy that could 3
be disassembled had been se-
verely damaged by water fil-
tering into the tomb, but they 5
were not beyond repair. Me- 4
ticulous restoration allowed
many of the pieces to be re-
turned to their royal splendor. 2
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON/SCALA, FLORENCE

1 The canopy consists 2 One of several 3 This armchair is 4 The queen’s gilded 5 A silver and
of 25 different pieces and gold chests, this box gilded with gold leaf. bed is masterfully gold headrest,
was found disassembled. may have contained Papyrus flower motifs carved. Each bedpost commonly found
The supports feature the curtains that form the armrests, is shaped like a lion’s in Old Kingdom
carved reliefs of the would once have with feet in the form leg complete with burials, was inside
falcon-headed god Horus. covered the canopy. of lion claws. paws and claws. a gold chest.

damaged by water and in 4th dynasty and builder she was buried in the small
such poor condition of the Great Pyramid. Her pyramid G1a, at the foot of
that he feared it would tomb had lain hidden in the the Great Pyramid.
crumble. The delicate shadow of that monument Following the excavation,
work to retrieve the for over four millennia. the armchair was restored
fragments of wood and and is now displayed at the
inlay was painstaking. Missing Body Egyptian Museum in Cai-
In addition to a Hetepheres’s alabaster sar- ro. After Reisner’s death
canopy and bed, cophagus was opened in in 1942, renewed inter-
an armchair and March 1927, but it contained est in the retrieved frag-
an elaborate car- no human remains. Histori- ments from Tomb G7000X
rying chair were ans still debate what might spurred the mammoth task
re cove re d . T h e have happened to them. of reconstructing the elab-
tomb’s owner was Reisner suggested Heteph- orate carrying chair, in all
inscribed on the carry- eres was originally buried its golden splendor. It is
ing chair, and it confirmed near her husband, Snefru, at housed today at the Harvard
Reisner’s notion that the Dahshur; Khufu then creat- Museum of the Ancient
HETEPHERES’S CARRYING CHAIR, MADE tomb belonged to a wom- ed the new burial site at Gi- Near East in Cambridge,
OF GILDED WOOD WITH INLAID FAIENCE.
DECORATIONS INCLUDE FALCONS PERCHED ON an: “Hetepet-heres,” who za, but the remains of his Massachusetts.
PAPYRUS COLUMNS. HARVARD MUSEUM OF
THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, CAMBRIDGE, MA
was the mother of Khu- mother were never trans-
ALAMY/ACI fu, the second king of the ferred there. Others propose —Irene Cordon

96 MARCH/APRIL 2022
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