Behind the Scenes: 9 Historical Inspirations for Game of Thrones: Quick Facts

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Sir Francis Walsingham

Two young riders race horses across a grassy plain during the Naadam festival in Ovorkhangai province, Mongolia, both wearing numbered jerseys and traditional clothing.

Great Wall of China

Spanish Inquisition

Oil painting by Antoine Caron showing the arrest and execution of Sir Thomas More, with Henry VIII in red under an archway at left and a small dog at right foreground.

“St. George and the Dragon,” marble relief by Michel Colombe, 1508–09; in the Louvre, Paris

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