West Asian games – Mesopotamia and Iran
Earliest known dice (Iran, ca. 2600 BC) See that the six is already opposite the one, as on modern dice? But check out this Harappan die. The people of West Asia really [...]
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09, 2017
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09, 2017
Assyrian and Babylonian art – West Asia
Assyrian prisoners After the Dark Ages, by around 1000 BC, the Assyrians became the biggest power in West Asia, and they created many important works of art. The Assyrians continued the West Asian tradition of relief [...]
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09, 2017
Who are the Arawak? – South American history
Arawak history: Arawak family in Trinidad, ca. 1500 AD The Arawak arrive in Venezuela The Arawak probably first arrived in South America with the second wave of people, around 15,000 BC. They [...]
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08, 2017
Domitian’s palace – Domus Flavia – Roman architecture
This is the facade, or front entrance, to Domitian's palace, the Domus Flavia Why did Domitian build the Domus Flavia? Vespasian, the first emperor of the Flavian Dynasty in Rome, had been [...]
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08, 2017
Roman baths – water and cleanliness in ancient Rome
The big cold swimming pool at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. Why did Romans have public baths? Roman people usually didn't have hot baths in their houses, because it was [...]
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08, 2017
Native American games – lacrosse, swimming, dice
Cherokee lacrosse players from 1888 People who lived in North America played both active games and the kind where you can sit down. Their favorite active game was lacrosse. Or actually lacrosse [...]
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08, 2017
European clothing – 1800s
Italian peasant, about 1850 (by Pierre Louis Dubourcq) At the very end of the 1700s AD, the invention of the cotton gin meant that the new country of the United States of America could produce [...]
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08, 2017
Medieval Europe’s games
Medieval games: Women playing chess Early medieval games: Dice, checkers, chess The games of medieval Europe were mainly the same as those of Egypt, Greece, and Rome: dice, knucklebones, marbles, checkers. But there were some new games, too. [...]
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07, 2017
Rustem swims away – a story in the Shahnameh
The Devil carries Rostem Like Odysseus or Anansi, Monkey or Br'er Rabbit, the Iranian hero Rustem was a trickster. He uses quick thinking to get out of this fix: Once when he was sleeping alone outside [...]
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07, 2017
Rudaba and Zal in the Shahnameh
Rudaba lets down her hair A story from the Shahnameh Rudaba's name means "The River Water Girl". She was a character in the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by the poet Ferdowsi [...]
