The Persians came from the Central Asian steppe The Persians and the Medes Around 1200 BC, some Indo-European people from Central Asia moved south into West Asia. These people were [...]
Scythian history: A Scythian milking a sheep (Tolstaja Mogila kurgan, Ukraine, 400 BC) Scythians lived in Central Asia The Scythians were a large group of loosely connected people who lived in [...]
Ukrainian landscape In 500 BC, we might have called the people living in Russia Scythians. But then between about 300 and 800 AD, a lot of people passed through Russia. Most of them were [...]
A drawing of a plaque made by Huns Who were the Huns? The Huns probably came from western China, where they were known as the Xiong-nu. They were part of the [...]
Yamnaya get around: Map of the spread of Indo-European languages Who were the Yamnaya? People we call the Yamnaya (Ukrainian for "People who lived in pits") seem to have been [...]
Achilles and Penthesileia, on an Athenian vase painted by Exekias Penthesileia (pen-tha-sill-AY-ah) was the Queen of the Amazons, in Greek mythology. The Amazons were a group of warriors who were all [...]
A Greek depiction of an Amazon (Athens, ca. 420 BC; Wikimedia) The Greek story of the Amazons The Amazons, in Greek mythology, were a group of warriors who were all women [...]
A story from the historian Herodotus: Stone statues of Kleobis and Biton Herodotus: "Father of History" Who was Herodotus? People sometimes call Herodotus the "father of history." Classical Athens More [...]
Theater of Miletus Cyrus the Great In 539 BC, Cyrus the Great made himself the King of Kings. He ruled all of West Asia. Along the coast of Anatolia (modern [...]
Archaic Greek economy: A black-figure vase showing a blacksmith at work (Athens, about 550 BC) Not much trade in the Dark Ages During the political collapse of the Greek Dark [...]
