Mercenaries and military history
Nubian archers in the Middle Kingdom (from the Nubian museum in Aswan, Egypt). About 2000 BC. What is a mercenary soldier? Mercenaries (MURR-sinn-air-eez) are paid volunteer soldiers: they are soldiers [...]
Nubian archers in the Middle Kingdom (from the Nubian museum in Aswan, Egypt). About 2000 BC. What is a mercenary soldier? Mercenaries (MURR-sinn-air-eez) are paid volunteer soldiers: they are soldiers [...]
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 [...]
Coin of the Sassanian king Hormizd V (ca. 593 AD?) The most important part of the Sassanian economy, as in all other states in Late Antiquity, was farming - most people still were farmers, growing [...]
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 [...]
Ancient India trade: Indian herbal medicines What did most people do for work? Most people in ancient India were farmers. That's the same as in other parts of Asia and Europe at this [...]
Alexander the Great: Gedrosia Desert Alexander in India When Alexander reached the end of the old Persian Empire, he turned back. He did not go further east into India. Who [...]
Alexander in the east: Darius' palace at Persepolis Alexander reaches Afghanistan When Alexander finished conquering Persia (modern Iran), he burned Darius' great palace at Persepolis: only ruins are left today. [...]
History of almonds: Almonds drying after harvest (Southern Spain) Where do almonds come from? Wild almonds are related to peaches and apples. Almonds probably evolved about the same time, around five [...]
Travels of the Buddhist traveller Xuanzang (T'ang Dynasty, 630 AD) Xuanzang was a great Chinese scholar who lived in the 600s AD, under the T'ang dynasty. He was a Buddhist, [...]
Emperor Wuzong Hsuan Tsung's son, the T'ang Emperor Suzong, asked a neighboring power, the Uighur Empire, to help him crush An Lu-shan's rebellion, and by 757 AD, thanks to the [...]