Bruce Dickinson studied for a history degree at London’s Queen Mary College. Steve Harris didn’t go to uni – the bassist founded Iron Maiden instead – but through his lyrics he’s done more to make history come alive for young people than all academic lecturers put together.
Between them (and other Maiden members past and present), they have steered us through millennia, from the discovery of fire to the first atomic bomb. So, we thought it was high time someone collated every chapter in world history that Maiden have ever written a song about, then ordered them chronologically.
You’re welcome.
Pre-history: Quest For Fire (Piece Of Mind, 1983)
Steve’s lyrics were inspired by the 1979 film of the same name, set around a tribal skirmish over flame theft circa 100,000 BC. Many scholars now believe that homo erectus was making and controlling fire over a million years ago. However, they’d all dispute this song’s assertion that mankind’s quest for fire took place “in a time when dinosaurs walked the earth”.
c.2500 BC: Powerslave (Powerslave, 1984)
Powerslave’s title track is told from the perspective of a power-mad pharaoh, who laments having to succumb to death and dreams of resurrection. Judging by the album cover, it’s set bang in the middle of Ancient Egypt’s first Golden Age, called the Old Kingdom. During that period’s Fourth Dynasty, there was widespread peace and trade, and kings were known as the “Golden Horus” in reference to the god of death.
356–323 BC: Alexander The Great (Somewhere In Time, 1986)
Reading like a set of bullet points for a GCSE history essay, Alexander The Great contains only one schoolboy error. “They wouldn’t follow him to India,” writes Steve – but they did! Alexander’s armies conquered much of the subcontinent for the Macedonian Empire. They did however refuse to cross the Ganges river, talking Alex into fucking off home instead.
c.120–63 BC: The Parchment (Senjutsu, 2021)
Though the meaning of The Parchment’s never been fully explained, some Maiden scholars think it alludes to Hellenistic king Mithridates VI Eupator, scourge of the Roman Empire. The parchment itself (the “Parthian skin” of Steve's mighty lyrics) may refer to Mithridates’ epistle requesting military aid from Parthian armies. He was often depicted wearing big cat skins, which would make the line “Fierce as wolf with a leopard skin” make sense.
52 BC: Death Of The Celts (Senjutsu, 2021)
The Celtic warrior dying on the battlefield – and with him the Celts as a race – may be one of the fallen at the battle of Alesia, where Gallic forces under King Vercingatorix were defeated by Julius Caesar. His surrender spelt doom for the Celtic tribes as a major power in Europe, although their culture hung around Britain for centuries.
44 BC: The Ides Of March (Killers, 1981)
A pivotal event in the history of the Roman Empire, the assassination of Julius Caesar occurred on March 15, “ides” referring to the middle days of a month in the Roman calendar. Dozens of senators were implicated in the conspiracy: no wonder Caesar declared, “Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!” (in Carry On Cleo, anyway).
c.500: The Book Of Souls (The Book Of Souls, 2015)
Most of Maiden visited the Mayan pyramids at Teotihuacan, Mexico, in 2008, where they heard of the human sacrifices, mortuary rituals and mysterious civilisational extinction addressed here in Steve’s lyrics. Presumably that ancient, ruined city was where The Book Of Souls’ theme was conceived, most fulsomely expressed on this doom-laden title track. They even got scholar Simon Martin to provide authentic hieroglyphs.
c.537: Isle Of Avalon (The Final Frontier, 2010)
The isle of Avalon is the resting place of King Arthur in English legend, and many historians believe the mythical place was inspired by the former island of Glastonbury Tor. Mediaeval cleric Geoffrey Of Monmouth wrote that Arthur was taken there after his last battle at Camlann in 537; Steve’s evocative lyrics seem to channel the king’s thoughts in his final hours.
991: Invaders (The Number Of The Beast, 1982)
The English coast was overrun with hairy Norsemen from 789 to 1066, but Invaders’ likeliest setting is the Battle Of Maldon in Essex. It happened in August, when the “blazing sun” mentioned in the lyrics was plausible; the Anglo-Saxons were outnumbered and overpowered (“warning must be given, there’s not enough men here for a stand”); and Steve used to live a stone’s throw away from where it happened.
1206–27: Genghis Khan (Killers, 1981)
You’d imagine Maiden would have plenty to say about Genghis Khan. The Mongol warlord single-handedly changed the history of Asia and ended some 40 million lives along the way. However, all he’s received so far is a galloping instrumental on the band’s second album. “It was written to depict the feeling and sound of Genghis Khan’s army going into battle,” Steve once explained.
1243–44: Montségur (Dance Of Death, 2003)
Bruce uncovered the history of this hilltop fortress while holidaying in Southern France. Montségur was the last stronghold of the Cathars, regarded by Catholic authorities as a heretical sect. 10,000 troops besieged the castle for 10 months, after which more than 200 remaining diehards were burnt on a pyre. A mysterious treasure, smuggled away shortly beforehand, was never found.
1281: Senjutsu (Senjutsu, 2021)
Steve hasn’t confirmed which Eastern military campaign gets described in Senjutsu’s lyrics. However, those in the know suggest that the “wall” being defended may be the Genkō Bōrui, constructed after Kublai Khan’s first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274. It was still incomplete when Genghis’ grandson had another crack in 1281, but Genkō Bōrui held firm until a typhoon sent the Mongols packing.
1297: The Clansman (Virtual XI, 1998)
Brooding with windswept intensity, this Virtual XI highpoint places you on a thistly hillside during the First War Of Scottish Independence, claymore in hand, wind up kilt. Scotland’s rebel hero William Wallace routed the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297, but paid for it in 1305 with an execution so brutal even Eddie might find it slightly OTT.
c.1583: The Alchemist (The Final Frontier, 2010)
“I am Dr Dee and this is my house!” sings Bruce, dropping us into the gaff of John Dee: famed alchemist and advisor to Elizabeth I. His occult knowledge inspired such fear that a mob torched his Mortlake home, as the lyrics narrate. Also referenced is the “fortune-teller” Edward Kelly, who swore that an angel told him to sleep with Dr Dee’s wife.
