Early Roman pottery: Campanian pottery from southern Italy Roman pottery used molds Roman pottery began with Etruscan-style pottery, but soon developed a tradition of its own. What was Etruscan pottery like? More Ancient Rome [...]
A Nestorian cross on a tombstone from Kazakhstan (1300s AD) In 428 AD, when Pulcheria and Eudocia were running the Roman Empire, a bishop named Nestorius became the Patriarch of Constantinople. That's like being the Pope but for people [...]
Bronze horses of St. Mark's, Venice In 1204 AD, Venice agreed to help European soldiers on the Fourth Crusade. They would use their great navy to get the Crusaders to Egypt. But in exchange, the Venetians got the [...]
St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy (about 1100 AD) The Seljuks destabilize Europe's neighbors In 1071 AD, the Byzantine Empire lost most of Anatolia (modern Turkey) to the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert. [...]
St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Italy (about 1100 AD) During the fall of the Roman Empire, in the 400s AD, people who lived along the north-east coast of Italy didn't feel safe. Central [...]
Santa Sophia in Kiev (modern Ukraine) As the new country of Poland got stronger and stronger in the late 900s AD, it became more of a threat to Russia. The powerful Polish king Boleslaw conquered [...]
Republic of Genoa: Medieval drawing of the city of Genoa, Italy (1493) Genoa in the Early Middle Ages Around 900 AD, the Holy Roman Empire began to lose control of Italy, and Genoa was [...]
A Viking ship. Viking trade took the Vikings all over the world. Who were the Vikings? The Vikings were Indo-European people from Scandinavia (modern Denmark, Norway and Sweden). Around the 400s AD the Vikings started to [...]
Medieval economy: A carpenter works in his shop. Collapse of trade After the fall of Rome, people in Europe used money less than they had before. Instead they mostly lived on what they [...]
Yamato Japan: Haniwa seated woman from a kofun tomb, possibly a Shinto religious leader (ca. 500 AD) From Yayoi to Yamato By the end of the Yayoi period (Japan's Iron Age) in 250 [...]
