1.
Christianity in the 4th century
–
With Christianity the dominant faith in some urban centers, Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates. Roman Emperor Diocletian launched the bloodiest campaign against Christians that the empire had witnessed, the persecution ended in 311 with the death of Diocletian. The persecution ultimately had not turned the tide on the growth of the religion, Christians had already organized to the point of establishing hierarchies of bishops. In 301 the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity, the Romans followed suit in 380. In April 311, Galerius, who had previously been one of the figures in the persecutions. From 313 to 380, Christianity enjoyed the status of being a legal religion within the Roman Empire and it had not become the sole authorized state religion, however it gradually gained prominence and stature within Roman society. After halting the persecutions of the Christians, Galerius reigned for another 2 years and he was then succeeded by an emperor with distinctively pro Christian leanings, Constantine the Great. Christian sources record that Constantine experienced an event in 312 at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. The accession of Constantine was a point for the Christian Church. In 313 Constantine issued the Edict of Milan reaffirming the tolerance of Christians, Constantine I chose to take a lead role in much of this transformation. In 316 he acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the Donatist controversy, Constantine began to utilize Christian symbols early in his reign but still encouraged traditional Roman religious practices including sun worship. In 330 he established Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire, the city would gradually come to be seen as the center of the Christian world. The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Church, emperors considered themselves responsible to God for the spiritual health of their subjects, and thus they had a duty to maintain orthodoxy. The emperor did not decide doctrine – that was the responsibility of the bishops – rather his role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, the emperor ensured that God was properly worshiped in his empire, what proper worship consisted of was the responsibility of the church. Constantines sons banned pagan State religious sacrifices in 341 but did not close the temples, although all State temples in all cities were ordered shut in 356, there is evidence that traditional sacrifices continued. When Gratian declined the position and title of Pontifex Maximus, his act brought an end to the state religion because of the positions authority. This ended state official practices but not the religious practices. There was not a unity of Christianity however, and Constantius II was an Arian who kept Arian bishops at his court and installed them in various sees
Christianity in the 4th century
–
Emperor Constantine presents a representation of the city of
Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and baby Jesus in this church mosaic.
St Sophia, c. 1000.
Christianity in the 4th century
–
Spread of Christianity to AD 325
Christianity in the 4th century
–
Icon depicting
Emperor Constantine, center, accompanied by the
Church Fathers of the 325
First Council of Nicaea, holding the
Nicene Creed in its 381 form.
Christianity in the 4th century
–
Early manuscript illustration of Council of Constantinople
2.
1st millennium
–
The first millennium was a period of time that began on January 1, AD1, and ended on December 31, AD1000, of the Julian calendar. It was the first period of one years in the Anno Domini or Common Era. In Europe and the Mediterranean, the first millennium was a time of great transition, the 1st century saw the peak of the Roman Empire, followed by its gradual decline during the period of Late Antiquity, the rise of Christianity and the Great Migrations. In Arabia, in the century, a man called Muhammad became the leader. After his death, his companions extended the religion, in East Asia, the first millennium was also a time of great cultural advances, notably the spread of Buddhism to East Asia. In China, the Han dynasty is replaced by the Jin dynasty and later the Tang dynasty until the 10th century sees renewed fragmentation in the Five Dynasties, in Japan, a sharp increase in population followed when farmers use of iron tools increased their productivity and crop yields. In South Asia, the Indian subcontinent was divided among numerous kingdoms throughout the first millennium, in Mesoamerica, the first millennium was a period of enormous growth known as the Classic Era. Teotihuacan grew into a metropolis and its empire dominated Mesoamerica, in South America, pre-Incan, coastal cultures flourished, producing impressive metalwork and some of the finest pottery seen in the ancient world. In North America, the Mississippian culture rose at the end of the millennium in the Mississippi, numerous cities were built, Cahokia, the largest, was based in present-day Illinois, and may have had 30,000 residents at its peak about 1250 AD. The circumference of the 10-story-high Monks Mound at Cahokia was larger than that of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan or the Great Pyramid in Egypt
1st millennium
3.
3rd century
–
The 3rd century was the period from 201 to 300 A. D. In this century, the Roman Empire saw a crisis, marking the beginning of Late Antiquity, in Persia, the Parthian Empire was succeeded by the Sassanid Empire. In India, the Kushan Empire was replaced by the Gupta Empire, China was in the Three Kingdoms period. The Xiongnu formed the Tiefu state under Liu Qubei, Korea was ruled by the Three Kingdoms of Korea. At about this time in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Bantu expansion reached Southern Africa, in Pre-Columbian America, the Adena culture of the Ohio River valley declined in favor of the Hopewell culture. The Maya civilization entered its Classic Era, after the death of Commodus in the previous century the Roman Empire was plunged into a civil war. When the dust settled, Septimius Severus emerged as emperor, establishing the Severan dynasty, unlike previous emperors, he openly used the army to back his authority, and paid them well to do so. The regime he created is known as the Military Monarchy as a result, the majority of these men were assassinated, or killed in battle, and the empire almost collapsed under the weight of the political upheaval, as well as the growing Persian threat in the east. Under its new Sassanid rulers, Persia had grown into a superpower. These reforms were finally realized late in the century under the reign of Diocletian, one of them being to divide the empire into an eastern and western half, early 3rd century – Burial in catacombs becomes common place. 208, the Chinese naval Battle of Red Cliffs occurs,211 –217, Caracalla, Roman Emperor. 212, Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men,212 –217, Baths of Caracalla. 220, The Han Dynasty comes to an end with establishment of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China,220 –280, The Three Kingdoms period. 222 –235, Alexander Severus, Roman Emperor,224, Ardashir I of the Sassanid dynasty conquers the Parthian empire at the Battle of Hormozdgān. 230 –232, Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east,234, Zhuge Liang dies of illness at the standoff of Wuzhang Plains. 235 –284, Crisis of the Third Century shakes Roman Empire,244, Battle of Xingshi in China. 250 –538, Kofun era, the first part of the Kofun period in Japan,260, Roman Emperor Valerian I is taken captive by Shapur I of Persia. 263, Cao Wei conquers the Shu Han Kingdom,265, The Jin Dynasty is founded after the overthrow of the Cao Wei Dynasty by Sima Yan
3rd century
–
Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 3rd century AD.
3rd century
–
The Baths of Caracalla, in 2003
3rd century
–
Caracalla
3rd century
–
Julia Domna
4.
5th century
–
The 5th century is the time period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini / Common Era. The 5th century is noted for being a time of repeated disaster, the Western Roman Empire was ruled by a succession of weak emperors, and true power began to fall increasingly into the hands of powerful generals. Internal instability and the military problem of foreign invaders resulted in the ransacking of Rome by a Visigoth army in 410. Attempts to retake the province were interrupted by the invasion of the Huns under Attila, after Attilas defeat, both Eastern and Western empires joined forces for a final assault on Vandal North Africa, but this campaign was a spectacular failure. Both the north and south claim themselves to be the successor of the ancient Chinese Empire. 380 –415, Chandragupta II reigns over the age of the Gupta Empire. 399 –412, The Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian sails through the Indian Ocean and travels throughout Sri Lanka,401, Kumarajiva, a Buddhist monk and translator of sutras into Chinese, arrives in Changan Early 5th century – Baptistry of Neon, Ravenna, Italy, is built. 5th century - North Acropolis, Tikal, Guatemala, is built,407, Constantine III leads many of the Roman military units from Britain to Gaul and occupies Arles. This is generally seen as Romes withdrawal from Britain,410, Rome ransacked by the Visigoths led by King Alaric. 411, Suebi establish the first independent Christian kingdom of Western Europe in Gallaecia,413, St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, begins to write The City of God. 415 –455, Kumaragupta, Gupta emperor 420, The Jin dynasty comes to an end by Liu Yu.420 –589,426, Kinich Yax Kuk Mo re-established Copan. 430, The Ilopango volcano erupts, thereby devastating the Mayan cities in present-day El Salvador,431, First Council of Ephesus, the third ecumenical council which upholds the title Theotokos or mother of God, for Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. At some point after 440, the Anglo-Saxons settle in Britain, the traditional story is that they were invited there by Vortigern. 450, Several stone inscriptions were made witness to edicts from West Java, amongst others, the Tugu inscription announced decrees of Purnavarman, the King of Tarumanagara, one of the earliest Hindu kingdoms of Java. 451, Council of Chalcedon, the ecumenical council which taught Jesus Christ as one divine person in two natures. 451, The Persians declare war on the Armenians,451, The Huns under Attila facing the Romans and the Visigoths are defeated in the Battle of Chalons. 452, The Metropolis of Aquileia is destroyed by Attila the Hun,452, Pope Leo I meets in person with Attila on the Mincio River and convinces him not to ransack Rome. The Hun Empire is divided between Atillas sons, germanic tribes destroy the main Hun army and do away with the Hun domination
5th century
–
Eastern Hemisphere at the end of the 5th century AD.
5th century
–
Romulus Augustus, Last Western Roman Emperor
5th century
–
Copan
5.
4th century
–
The 4th century was the time period which lasted from 301 to 400. In the West, the part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Great. The last emperor to control both the eastern and western halves of the empire was Theodosius I, as the century progressed after his death it became increasingly apparent that the empire had changed in many ways since the time of Augustus. Late in the century Christianity became the state religion. General prosperity was felt throughout this period, but recurring invasions by Germanic tribes plagued the empire from AD376 onward and these early invasions marked the beginning of the end for the Western Roman Empire. Early 4th century – Former audience hall now known as the Basilica, Trier,301, Armenia first to adopt Christianity as state religion. 306 –337, Constantine the Great, ends persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire,325 –328, The Kingdom of Aksum adopts Christianity. 325, Constantine the Great calls the First Council of Nicaea to pacify Christianity in the grip of the Arian controversy,335 –380, Samudragupta expands the Gupta Empire. 337, Constantine the Great is baptized on his death bed,350, About this time the Kingdom of Aksum conquers the Kingdom of Kush. 350, About this time the Huns begin to invade the Sassanid Empire,350, The Kutai Martadipura phase in East Kalimantan produced the earliest known stone inscriptions in Indonesia. 365, an earthquake with a magnitude of at least eight strikes the Eastern Mediterranean, the following tsunami causes widespread destruction in Crete, Greece, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Sicily. Mid-4th century – Dish, from Mildenhall, England, is made and it is now kept at The British Museum, London. Mid-4th century – Wang Xizhi makes a portion of a letter from the Feng Ju album and it is now kept at National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. 376, Visigoths appear on the Danube and are allowed entry into the Roman Empire in their flight from the Huns,378, Battle of Adrianople, Roman army is defeated by the Visigoth cavalry. 378 –395, Theodosius I, Roman emperor, bans pagan worship,378, Siyaj Kak conquers Waka on January 8. Siyaj Kak conquers Tikal on January 16,381, First Council of Constantinople reaffirms the Christian doctrine of the Trinity by adding to the creed of Nicaea. 383, Battle of Fei River in China,395, The Battle of Canhe Slope occurs. 395, Roman Emperor Theodosius I dies, causing the Roman Empire to split permanently, late 4th century – See The Historia of Arbogast and Bauto
4th century
–
Eastern Hemisphere at the beginning of the 4th century AD.
4th century
–
Contemporary
bronze head of
Constantine I.
4th century
–
Tikal had a population of about 100,000 when it was conquered by
Teotihuacan, less than a fourth of its peak population
6.
Julian calendar
–
The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on 1 January 45 BC, by edict, the Julian calendar gains against the mean tropical year at the rate of one day in 128 years. For the Gregorian the figure is one day in 3,030 years, the difference in the average length of the year between Julian and Gregorian is 0. 002%. The Julian calendar has a year of 365 days divided into 12 months. A leap day is added to February every four years, the Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. It was intended to approximate the tropical year, as a result, the calendar year gains about three days every four centuries compared to observed equinox times and the seasons. This discrepancy was corrected by the Gregorian reform of 1582, consequently, the Julian calendar is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Egypt converted on 20 December 1874/1 January 1875, turkey switched on 16 February/1 March 1917. Russia changed on 1/14 February 1918, Greece made the change for civil purposes on 16 February/1 March 1923 - the national day, which was a religious holiday, was to remain on the old calendar. Most Christian denominations in the west and areas evangelised by western churches have replaced the Julian calendar with the Gregorian as the basis for their liturgical calendars. However, most branches of the Eastern Orthodox Church still use the Julian calendar for calculating the date of Easter, some Orthodox churches have adopted the Revised Julian calendar for the observance of fixed feasts, while other Orthodox churches retain the Julian calendar for all purposes. The Julian calendar is used by the Berbers of the Maghreb in the form of the Berber calendar. In the form of the Alexandrian calendar, it is the basis for the Ethiopian calendar, during the changeover between calendars and for some time afterwards, dual dating was used in documents and gave the date according to both systems. In contemporary as well as texts that describe events during the period of change. The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, in addition, a 27- or 28-day intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was sometimes inserted between February and March. The net effect was to add 22 or 23 days to the year, some say the mensis intercalaris always had 27 days and began on either the first or the second day after the Terminalia. According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with intercalary years, alternately 377 and 378 days long. In this system, the average Roman year would have had 366 1⁄4 days over four years, Macrobius describes a further refinement whereby, in one 8-year period within a 24-year cycle, there were only three intercalary years, each of 377 days
Julian calendar
–
Russian icon of the
Theophany (the baptism of
Jesus by
John the Baptist) (6 January), the highest-ranked feast which occurs on the fixed cycle of the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar.
Julian calendar
–
This is a visual example of the official date change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian
Julian calendar
–
Key concepts
7.
Anno Domini
–
The terms anno Domini and before Christ are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means in the year of the Lord, There is no year zero in this scheme, so the year AD1 immediately follows the year 1 BC. This dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. Traditionally, English followed Latin usage by placing the AD abbreviation before the year number, however, BC is placed after the year number, which also preserves syntactic order. The abbreviation is widely used after the number of a century or millennium. Because BC is the English abbreviation for Before Christ, it is sometimes concluded that AD means After Death. However, this would mean that the approximate 33 years commonly associated with the life of Jesus would not be included in either of the BC, astronomical year numbering and ISO8601 avoid words or abbreviations related to Christianity, but use the same numbers for AD years. The Anno Domini dating system was devised in 525 by Dionysius Exiguus to enumerate the years in his Easter table. His system was to replace the Diocletian era that had used in an old Easter table because he did not wish to continue the memory of a tyrant who persecuted Christians. The last year of the old table, Diocletian 247, was followed by the first year of his table. Thus Dionysius implied that Jesus Incarnation occurred 525 years earlier, without stating the year during which his birth or conception occurred. Blackburn & Holford-Strevens briefly present arguments for 2 BC,1 BC, There were inaccuracies in the list of consuls There were confused summations of emperors regnal years It is not known how Dionysius established the year of Jesuss birth. It is convenient to initiate a calendar not from the day of an event. For example, the Islamic calendar begins not from the date of the Hegira, at the time, it was believed by some that the Resurrection and end of the world would occur 500 years after the birth of Jesus. The old Anno Mundi calendar theoretically commenced with the creation of the based on information in the Old Testament. It was believed that, based on the Anno Mundi calendar, Anno Mundi 6000 was thus equated with the resurrection and the end of the world but this date had already passed in the time of Dionysius. The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius Exiguus, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731. e. On the continent of Europe, Anno Domini was introduced as the era of choice of the Carolingian Renaissance by the English cleric and scholar Alcuin in the late eighth century
Anno Domini
–
Dionysius Exiguus invented Anno Domini years to
date Easter.
Anno Domini
–
Anno Domini inscription at a cathedral in
Carinthia,
Austria.
Anno Domini
–
Statue of
Charlemagne by
Agostino Cornacchini (1725), at
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, Italy. Charlemagne promoted the usage of the Anno Domini epoch throughout the
Carolingian Empire
8.
Common era
–
Common Era or Current Era is a year-numbering system for the Julian and Gregorian calendars that refers to the years since the start of this era, i. e. since AD1. The preceding era is referred to as before the Common or Current Era, the Current Era notation system can be used as a secular alternative to the Dionysian era system, which distinguishes eras as AD and BC. The two notation systems are equivalent, thus 2017 CE corresponds to AD2017 and 400 BCE corresponds to 400 BC. The year-numbering system for the Gregorian calendar is the most widespread civil calendar used in the world today. For decades, it has been the standard, recognized by international institutions such as the United Nations. The expression has been traced back to Latin usage to 1615, as vulgaris aerae, the term Common Era can be found in English as early as 1708, and became more widely used in the mid-19th century by Jewish academics. He attempted to number years from a reference date, an event he referred to as the Incarnation of Jesus. Dionysius labeled the column of the table in which he introduced the new era as Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, numbering years in this manner became more widespread in Europe with its usage by Bede in England in 731. Bede also introduced the practice of dating years before what he supposed was the year of birth of Jesus, in 1422, Portugal became the last Western European country to switch to the system begun by Dionysius. The first use of the Latin term vulgaris aerae discovered so far was in a 1615 book by Johannes Kepler, Kepler uses it again in a 1616 table of ephemerides, and again in 1617. A1635 English edition of that book has the title page in English – so far, a 1701 book edited by John LeClerc includes Before Christ according to the Vulgar Æra,6. A1716 book in English by Dean Humphrey Prideaux says, before the beginning of the vulgar æra, a 1796 book uses the term vulgar era of the nativity. The first so-far-discovered usage of Christian Era is as the Latin phrase aerae christianae on the page of a 1584 theology book. In 1649, the Latin phrase æræ Christianæ appeared in the title of an English almanac, a 1652 ephemeris is the first instance so-far-found for English usage of Christian Era. The English phrase common Era appears at least as early as 1708, a 1759 history book uses common æra in a generic sense, to refer to the common era of the Jews. The first-so-far found usage of the phrase before the era is in a 1770 work that also uses common era and vulgar era as synonyms. The 1797 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the terms vulgar era, the Catholic Encyclopedia in at least one article reports all three terms being commonly understood by the early 20th century. Thus, the era of the Jews, the common era of the Mahometans, common era of the world
Common era
–
Key concepts
9.
Constantine the Great
–
Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
Constantine the Great
–
Colossal marble head of Emperor Constantine the Great, Roman, 4th century, located at the
Capitoline Museums, in Rome.
Constantine the Great
–
Remains of the luxurious residence palace of
Mediana, erected by Constantine I near his birth town of
Naissus
Constantine the Great
–
Head from a statue of
Diocletian, Augustus of the East
10.
Christianity
–
Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
Christianity
–
An
Eastern Christian icon depicting
Emperor Constantine and the Fathers of the
First Council of Nicaea (325) as holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381
Christianity
–
Various
depictions of Jesus
Christianity
–
Crucifixion, representing the death of
Jesus on the
Cross, painting by
Diego Velázquez, 17th century
11.
Byzantium
–
Byzantium was an ancient Greek colony that later became Constantinople, and later still Istanbul. Byzantium was colonised by the Greeks from Megara in c. 657 BC, the etymology of Byzantion is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thraco-Illyrian origin and it may be derived from a Thracian or Illyrian personal name, Byzas. Ancient Greek legend refers to a king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists, the form Byzantium is a Latinisation of the original name. Much later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire and this usage was introduced only in 1555 by the historian Hieronymus Wolf, a century after the empire had ceased to exist. During the time of the empire, the term Byzantium was restricted to just the city, the European side featured only two fishing settlements, Lygos and Semistra. The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend, the traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara founded Byzantium in 667 BC when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. The tradition tells that Byzas, son of King Nisos, planned to found a colony of the Dorian Greek city of Megara, Byzas consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, which instructed Byzas to settle opposite the Land of the Blind. Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location where the Golden Horn and he adjudged the Chalcedonians blind not to have recognized the advantages the land on the European side of the Bosphorus had over the Asiatic side. In 667 BC he founded Byzantium at their location, thus fulfilling the oracles requirement and it was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Seas only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side, Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War. As part of Spartas strategy for cutting off supplies to Athens. The Athenian military later took the city in 408 BC, after siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD. Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity and it was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, after his death the city was called Constantinople. This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinoples role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia and it was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29,1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Turks called the city Istanbul, the name derives from eis-tin-polin
Byzantium
–
O: Head of
Alexander the Great with
Amun's horns.
Byzantium
–
Location of Byzantium
Byzantium
–
Byzantine lamellar klivanium (Κλιβάνιον) - a predecessor of ottoman krug
mirror armour
12.
Diocletian
–
Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, after the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was claimed by Carus other surviving son, Carinus. Diocletians reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and he appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, under this tetrarchy, or rule of four, each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian secured the borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, and usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298, Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the empires traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital, Ctesiphon, Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace. He established new centres in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Antioch. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction increased the states expenditures. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, not all of Diocletians plans were successful, the Edict on Maximum Prices, his attempt to curb inflation via price controls, was counterproductive and quickly ignored. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the office on 1 May 305. He lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast and his palace eventually became the core of the modern-day city of Split in Croatia. Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia, some time around 244 and his parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday,22 December, other historians are not so certain. Diocles parents were of low status, and writers critical of him claimed that his father was a scribe or a freedman of the senator Anullinus, the first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. The Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae, the often-unreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period
Diocletian
–
Laureate head of Diocletian
Diocletian
–
Antoninianus of Diocletian
Diocletian
–
Panorama of amphitheatre in
Salona
Diocletian
–
Head of
Carinus at the
Centrale Montemartini
13.
Milan
–
Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
Milan
–
Milan Cathedral,
La Scala opera house and
Porta Nuova business district
Milan
Milan
Milan
14.
Nicomedia
–
Nicomedia was an ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey. It was founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was known as Astacus. The great military commander Hannibal Barca came to Nicomedia in his final years, the historian Arrian was born there. Nicomedia was the metropolis of Bithynia under the Roman Empire, Nicomedia remained as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire until co-emperor Licinius was defeated by Constantine the Great at the Battle of Chrysopolis in 324. Constantine mainly resided in Nicomedia as his capital city for the next six years. Constantine died in a villa in the vicinity of Nicomedia in 337. Owing to its position at the convergence of the Asiatic roads leading to the new capital, a major earthquake, however, on 24 August 358, caused extensive devastation to Nicomedia, and was followed by a fire which completed the catastrophe. Nicomedia was rebuilt, but on a smaller scale, in the sixth century under Emperor Justinian I the city was extended with new public buildings. Situated on the leading to the capital, the city remained a major military center. In 451, the bishopric was promoted to a Metropolitan see under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The metropolis of Nicomedia was ranked 7th in the Notitiae Episcopatuum among the metropolises of the patriarchate, in the eighth century the Emperor Constantine V established his court there for a time, when plague broke out in Constantinople and drove him from his capital in 746-47. From the 840s on, Nicomedia was the capital of the thema of the Optimatoi, by that time, most of the old, seawards city had been abandoned and is described by the Persian geographer Ibn Khurdadhbih as lying in ruins. The settlement had obviously been restricted to the hilltop citadel, in the 1080s, the city served as the main military base for Alexios I Komnenos in his campaigns against the Seljuk Turks, and the First and Second Crusades both encamped there. The city remained in Byzantine control for over a century after that, the city was twice blockaded by the Ottomans before finally succumbing in 1337. Author of Keter Torah, Gan Eden, and Etz Hayyim 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia Nicaea
Nicomedia
–
This section of a belt depicting medallions honoring Constantius II and Faustina was minted in Nicomedia. The Walters Art Museum.
Nicomedia
–
St. Pantaleon
Nicomedia
–
Arrian
15.
Constantinople
–
Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
Constantinople
–
Constantinople in the Byzantine era
Constantinople
–
Map of Byzantine Constantinople
Constantinople
–
Emperor
Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic.
Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantinople
–
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople
16.
Theodosius I
–
Theodosius I, also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from AD379 to AD395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. On accepting his elevation, he campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the empire. He failed to kill, expel, or entirely subjugate them and he fought two destructive civil wars, in which he defeated the usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius at great cost to the power of the empire. He also issued decrees that effectively made Orthodox Nicene Christianity the official church of the Roman Empire. He neither prevented nor punished the destruction of prominent Hellenistic temples of antiquity, including the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, in 393, he banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. Theodosius was born in Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania or Italica, Baetica, Hispania, to a military officer. Theodosius learned his lessons by campaigning with his fathers staff in Britannia where he went to help quell the Great Conspiracy in 368. In about 373, he became governor of Upper Moesia and oversaw hostilities against the Sarmatians and he was military commander of Moesia, a Roman province on the lower Danube, in 374. However, shortly thereafter, and at about the time as the sudden disgrace and execution of his father. The reason for his retirement, and the relationship between it and his fathers death is unclear and it is possible that he was dismissed from his command by the emperor Valentinian I after the loss of two of Theodosius legions to the Sarmatians in late 374. The death of Valentinian I in 375 created political pandemonium, fearing further persecution on account of his family ties, Theodosius abruptly retired to his family estates in the province of Gallaecia where he adopted the life of a provincial aristocrat. In 378, after the disastrous Battle of Adrianople where Valens was killed, as Valens had no successor, Gratians appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become co-Augustus of the East Roman Empire. After Gratian was killed in a rebellion in 383, Theodosius appointed his own son, Arcadius. By his first wife, the probably Spanish Aelia Flaccilla Augusta, he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius and a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria, Arcadius was his heir in the East, both Aelia Flaccilla and Pulcheria died in 385. His second wife was Galla, daughter of the emperor Valentinian I, Theodosius and Galla had a son Gratian, born in 388 and who died young, and a daughter Aelia Galla Placidia. Placidia was the child who survived to adulthood and later became an Empress
Theodosius I
–
Theodosius
Theodosius I
–
Roman provinces along the Ister (Danube), showing
Dacia,
Moesia and
Thrace, with
Sarmatia to the north and
Germania to the northwest.
Theodosius I
–
Federico Barocci, "Saint Ambrose forces Emperor Theodosius I to make penance for the Thessaloniki massacre" (1603), left-side nave, Saint Ambrose Altar, Milan Cathedral/
Theodosius I
–
The administrative divisions of the
Roman Empire in 395, under Theodosius I.
17.
Augustus
–
Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
Augustus
–
The statue known as the
Augustus of Prima Porta, 1st century
Augustus
–
The Death of Caesar, by
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1867). On 15 March 44 BC, Octavius's adoptive father Julius Caesar was assassinated by a conspiracy led by
Marcus Junius Brutus and
Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Augustus
–
A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC
Augustus
–
Bust of Augustus in
Musei Capitolini, Rome
18.
Germanic peoples
–
The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail. It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, however, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language
Germanic peoples
–
Germanic
Thing (governing assembly), drawn after the depiction in a relief of the
Column of Marcus Aurelius, 193 CE.
Germanic peoples
–
The gilded side of the
Trundholm sun chariot
Germanic peoples
–
The Dejbjerg wagon, National Museum of Denmark
Germanic peoples
–
2nd century to 5th century simplified migrations
19.
Western Roman Empire
–
Theodosius I divided the Empire upon his death between his two sons. As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire, for this reason, provincial governors had de facto rule in the name of the Roman Republic. Antony received the provinces in the East, Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus, Bithynia, Pontus and Asia, Syria, Cyprus and these lands had previously been conquered by Alexander the Great, thus, much of the aristocracy was of Greek origin. The whole region, especially the cities, had been largely assimilated into Greek culture. Octavian obtained the Roman provinces of the West, Italia, Gaul, Gallia Belgica and these lands also included Greek and Carthaginian colonies in the coastal areas, though Celtic tribes such as Gauls and Celtiberians were culturally dominant. Lepidus received the province of Africa. Octavian soon took Africa from Lepidus, while adding Sicilia to his holdings, upon the defeat of Mark Antony, a victorious Octavian controlled a united Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire featured many distinct cultures, all were often said to experience gradual Romanization, minor rebellions and uprisings were fairly common events throughout the Empire. Conquered tribes or cities would revolt, and the legions would be detached to crush the rebellion, while this process was simple in peacetime, it could be considerably more complicated in wartime, as for example in the Great Jewish Revolt. In a full-blown military campaign, the legions, under such as Vespasian, were far more numerous. To ensure a commanders loyalty, an emperor might hold some members of the generals family hostage. To this end, Nero effectively held Domitian and Quintus Petillius Cerialis, governor of Ostia, the rule of Nero ended only with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard, who had been bribed in the name of Galba. The Praetorian Guard, a sword of Damocles, were often perceived as being of dubious loyalty. Following their example, the legions at the increased participation in the civil wars. The main enemy in the West was arguably the Germanic tribes behind the rivers Rhine, Augustus had tried to conquer them but ultimately pulled back after the Teutoburg reversal. The Parthian Empire, in the East, on the hand, was too remote. Those distant territories were forsaken to prevent unrest and also to ensure a more healthy, the Parthians were followed by the Sasanian Empire, which continued hostilities with the Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
–
Tremissis depicting
Flavius Julius Nepos (474-480), the de jure last Emperor of the Western Court
Western Roman Empire
–
The organization of the Empire under the
Tetrarchy.
Western Roman Empire
–
Europe in 477 AD. Highlighted areas are Roman lands that survived the deposition of
Romulus Augustulus.
20.
Three Kingdoms of Korea
–
The concept of the Three Kingdoms of Korea refers to the three kingdoms of Baekje, Silla and Goguryeo, which was later known as Goryeo, from which the name Korea is derived. The Three Kingdoms period was defined as being from 57 BC to 668 AD, the three kingdoms occupied parts of Manchuria, in present-day China and Russia, and the Korean Peninsula. Baekje and Silla only dominated the southern part of the peninsula whereas Goguryeo controlled the Liaodong Peninsula, Manchuria and the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. In the 7th century, allied with China under the Tang dynasty, Silla unified the Korean Peninsula for the first time in Korean history, after the fall of Baekje and Goguryeo, the Tang dynasty established a short-lived military government to administer parts of the Korean peninsula. However, as a result of the Silla–Tang Wars, Silla forces expelled the Protectorate armies from the peninsula in 676, subsequently, Dae Joyeong, a former Goguryeo general, founded Balhae in the former territory of Goguryeo after defeating the Tang dynasty at the Battle of Tianmenling. The predecessor period, before the development of the kingdoms, is sometimes called Proto–Three Kingdoms period. Main primary sources for this period include Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa in Korea, the name Three Kingdoms was used in the titles of the Korean histories Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa, and should not be confused with the Chinese Three Kingdoms. The Three Kingdoms was founded after the fall of Gojoseon, after the fall of Gojoseon, the Han dynasty established four commanderies in present Liaoning. Three fell quickly to the Samhan, and the last was destroyed by Goguryeo in 313, the three polities made the transition from walled-town state to full-fledged state-level societies between 1st – 3rd century AD. All three kingdoms shared a culture and language. Their original religions appear to have been shamanistic, but they were influenced by Chinese culture. In the 4th century, Buddhism was introduced to the peninsula, Goguryeo emerged on the north and south banks of the Yalu River, in the wake of Gojoseons fall. Evidence indicates Goguryeo was the most advanced, and likely the first established, Goguryeo, eventually the largest of the three kingdoms, had several capitals in alternation, two capitals in the upper Yalu area, and later Nangrang which is now part of Pyongyang. At the beginning, the state was located on the border with China, it expanded into Manchuria. The cultural influence of the Chinese continued as Buddhism was adopted as the religion in 372. Goguryeo was a highly militaristic state, it was a powerful empire, the state was at its zenith in the fifth century, during the rule of King Gwanggaeto the Great and his son King Jangsu, and particularly during their campaign against China in Manchuria. For the next century or so, Goguryeo was the dominant nation in Chinese Manchuria, Goguryeo eventually occupied the Liaodong Plains in Manchuria and todays Seoul area. Gwanggaeto achieved a loose unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, Goguryeo controlled not only Koreans but also Chinese and Tungusic tribes in Manchuria and North Korea
Three Kingdoms of Korea
–
Map of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, at the end of the 5th century.
Three Kingdoms of Korea
–
Goguryeo tomb mural
Three Kingdoms of Korea
–
Bangasayusang, 7th century
21.
Baekje
–
Baekje was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo, Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeos founder Jumong and So Seo-no, at Wiryeseong. Baekje, like Goguryeo, claimed to succeed Buyeo, an established in present-day Manchuria around the time of Gojoseons fall. Baekje alternately battled and allied with Goguryeo and Silla as the three kingdoms expanded control over the peninsula and it became a significant regional sea power, with political and trade relations with China and Japan. In 660 it was defeated, by an alliance of Silla and the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Baekje was founded in 18 BC by King Onjo, who led a group of people from Goguryeo south to the Han River basin. According to the Chinese Records of the Three Kingdoms, during the Samhan period, the Samguk Sagi provides a detailed account of Baekjes founding. Jumong had left his son Yuri in Buyeo when he left that kingdom to establish the new kingdom of Goguryeo, Jumong became Divine King Dongmyeong, and had two more sons with So Seo-no, Onjo and Biryu. When Yuri later arrived in Goguryeo, Jumong promptly made him the crown prince, realizing Yuri would become the next king, So Seo-no left Goguryeo, taking her two sons Biryu and Onjo south to found their own kingdoms with their people, along with ten vassals. She is remembered as a key figure in the founding of both Goguryeo and Baekje, Onjo settled in Wiryeseong, and called his country Sipje, while Biryu settled in Michuhol, against the vassals advice. The salty water and marshes in Michuhol made settlement difficult, while the people of Wiryeseong lived prosperously, Biryu then went to his brother Onjo, asking for the throne of Sipje. When Onjo refused, Biryu declared war, but lost, in shame, Biryu committed suicide, and his people moved to Wiryeseong, where King Onjo welcomed them and renamed his country Baekje. King Onjo moved the capital from the south to the north of the Han river, King Gaeru is believed to have moved the capital north of the river to Bukhansanseong in 132, probably in present-day Goyang to the northwest of Seoul. Through the early centuries of the Common Era, sometimes called the Proto–Three Kingdoms Period, during the reign of King Goi, Baekje became a full-fledged kingdom, as it continued consolidating the Mahan confederacy. In 249, according to the ancient Japanese text Nihonshoki, Baekjes expansion reached the Gaya confederacy to its east, Baekje is first described in Chinese records as a kingdom in 345. The first diplomatic missions from Baekje reached Japan around 367, King Geunchogo expanded Baekjes territory to the north through war against Goguryeo, while annexing the remaining Mahan societies in the south. During Geunchogos reign, the territories of Baekje included most of the western Korean Peninsula, Baekje continued substantial trade with Goguryeo, and actively adopted Chinese culture and technology. Buddhism became the state religion in 384. Baekje also became a sea power and continued mutual goodwill relationships with the Japanese rulers of the Kofun period, transmitting continental cultural influences to Japan
Baekje
–
Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje
Baekje
–
Baekje at its height in 375.
Baekje
–
Mireuksa
22.
Goguryeo
–
Goguryeo was an active participant in the power struggle for control of the Korean peninsula and was also associated with the foreign affairs of neighboring polities in China and Japan. The Samguk Sagi, a 12th-century text from Goryeo, indicates that Goguryeo was founded in 37 BCE by Jumong, a prince from Buyeo, after its fall, its territory was divided among the states of Later Silla, Balhae and Tang China. The name Goryeo, a form of Goguryeo, was adopted as the official name in the 5th century. In the geographic monographs of the Book of Han, the word Goguryeo was first mentioned in 113 BCE as a region under the jurisdiction of the Xuantu Commandery, page 33. In the Old Book of Tang, it is recorded that Emperor Taizong refers to Goguryeos history as being some 900 years old, in 75 BCE, a group of Yemaek who may have originated from Goguryeo made an incursion into Chinas Xuantu Commandery west of the Yalu. At its founding, the Goguryeo people are believed to be a blend of people from Buyeo and Yemaek, as leadership from Buyeo may have fled their kingdom and integrated with existing Yemaek chiefdoms. The Records of the Three Kingdoms, in the section titled Accounts of the Eastern Barbarians, implied that Buyeo, the earliest mention of Jumong is in the 4th century Gwanggaeto Stele. Jumong is the modern Korean transcription of the hanja 朱蒙 Jumong, 鄒牟 Chumo, the Stele states that Jumong was the first king and ancestor of Goguryeo and that he was the son of the prince of Buyeo and daughter of the Yellow River deity Habaek. The Samguk Sagi and Samgungnyusa paint additional detail and names Jumongs mother as Yuhwa, Jumongs biological father was said to be a man named Haemosu who is described as a strong man and a heavenly prince. The river god chased Yuhwa away to the Ubal River due to her pregnancy, Jumong was well known for his exceptional archery skills. Eventually, Geumwas sons became jealous of him, and Jumong was forced to leave Eastern Buyeo, the Stele and later Korean sources disagree as to which Buyeo Jumong came from. The Stele says he came from Buyeo and the Samgungnyusa and Samguk Sagi say he came from Eastern Buyeo, Jumong eventually made it to Jolbon, where he married Soseono, daughter of its ruler. He subsequently became king himself, founding Goguryeo with a group of his followers from his native country. A traditional account from the Annals of Baekje section in the Samguk Sagi says that Soseono was the daughter of Yeon Tabal, a wealthy influential figure in Jolbon and married to Jumong. However, the same source states that the king of Jolbon gave his daughter to Jumong. She gave her husband, Jumong, financial support in founding the new statelet, Jumongs given surname was Hae, the name of the Buyeo rulers. According to the Samgungnyusa, Jumong changed his surname to Go in conscious reflection of his divine parentage, Jumong is recorded to have conquered the tribal states of Biryu in 36 BCE, Haeng-in in 33 BCE, and Northern Okjeo in 28 BCE. Goguryeo developed from a league of various Yemaek tribes to an early state, in the time of Taejodae in 53 CE, five local tribes were reorganized into five centrally ruled districts
Goguryeo
–
Goguryeo at its height in 476.
Goguryeo
–
Image of the mythical figure from the Goguryeo-era Ohoe Tomb 4.
Goguryeo
–
Seated
buddhas and
bodhisattvas from Wono-ri, Goguryeo.
23.
Silla
–
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the worlds longest sustained dynasties. Although it was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose, the dynasty was ruled by the Gyeongju Kim clan for most of its 992-year history. It began as a chiefdom in the Samhan confederacies, once allied with China, thereafter, Unified Silla or Later Silla, as it is often referred to, occupied most of the Korean Peninsula, while the northern part re-emerged as Balhae, a successor-state of Goguryeo. After nearly 1000 years of rule, Silla fragmented into the brief Later Three Kingdoms, Silla, Hubaekje, and Taebong, handing over power to its successor dynasty Goryeo in 935. From its founding until its growth into a kingdom, Silla was recorded with various hanja phonetically approximating its native Korean name, 斯盧, 斯羅, 徐那, 徐耶, 徐羅. In 503, King Jijeung standardized on the characters 新羅, which in Modern Korean is pronounced Shilla, in the modern Mongolian language, Korea and Koreans are still known as Солонгос Solongos, which seems to be an alteration of Silla influenced by the Mongolian word for rainbow. Scholars have traditionally divided Silla history into three periods, Early, Middle, and Late. The Park clan held power for three generations before a coup by the Seok clan. During the reign of the first Seok ruler, Talhae of Silla, the Park and Seok clans constantly fought each other for power and both were eventually overthrown by the Kim clan. The Kim clan then ruled over Silla for many generations with the Park, the final ruler of Later Silla, King Gyeongsun, was a member of the Kim clan. During the Proto–Three Kingdoms period, the city-states of central and southern Korea were grouped into three confederacies called Samhan, Silla began as Saro-guk, a statelet within the 12-member confederacy called Jinhan. Saro-guk consisted of six villages and six clans, according to Korean records, Silla was founded by King Park Hyeokgeose in 57 BC, around present-day Gyeongju. Hyeokgeose is said to have hatched from an egg laid from a white horse. He is also the progenitor of the Park clan, now one of the most common names in Korea. The Samguk Sagi and Bei Shi say that the originally Lelang Commandery area which became the Jinhan confederacy was the origin of Silla. By the 2nd century, Silla existed as a state in the southeastern area of the Korean peninsula. It expanded its influence over neighboring Jinhan chiefdoms, but through the 3rd century was no more than the strongest city-state in a loose federation. To the west, Baekje had centralized into a kingdom by about 250, to the southwest, Byeonhan was being replaced by the Gaya confederacy
Silla
–
Gold ornament from early Silla.
Silla
–
Pre-Unified Silla at its height in 576.
Silla
–
A golden inner cap. 5-6th century Silla.
24.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
Roman Empire
–
The
Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)
Roman Empire
–
Aureus of
Augustus, the first
Roman Emperor.
Roman Empire
–
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England
Roman Empire
–
A 5th-century
papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by
Cicero
25.
Honorius (emperor)
–
Honorius was Western Roman Emperor from 393 to 423. He was the son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of Arcadius. Even by the standards of the rapidly declining Western Empire, Honoriuss reign was precarious and his reign was supported by his principal general, Stilicho, who was successively Honoriuss guardian and his father-in-law. Stilichos generalship helped preserve some level of stability, but with his execution in 408, Honorius is widely considered as one of the worst of the emperors, it was during his reign that Rome was sacked for the first time in 800 years. When Theodosius died, in January 395, Honorius and Arcadius divided the Empire, during the first part of his reign Honorius depended on the military leadership of the general Stilicho, who had been appointed by Theodosius and was of mixed Vandal and Roman ancestry. To strengthen his bonds with the emperor, Stilicho married his daughter Maria to him. The epithalamion written for the occasion by Stilichos court poet Claudian survives, Honorius was also greatly influenced by the Popes of Rome, who sought to extend their influence through his youth and weak character. So it was that Pope Innocent I contrived to have Honorius write to his brother, while the new capital was easier to defend, it was poorly situated to allow Roman forces to protect central Italy from the increasingly regular threat of barbarian incursions. It was significant that the Emperors residence remained in Ravenna until the overthrow of the last western Roman Emperor in 476. That was probably the reason why Ravenna was chosen not only as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, Honorius reign was plagued by almost constant barbarian incursions into Gaul, Italy and Hispania. At the same time, a host of usurpers rose up due to the apparent inability of the Emperor to see to the Empires defences. The first crisis faced by Honorius was a led by Gildo, the Comes Africae and Magister utriusque militiae per Africam, in Northern Africa. It was eventually subdued by Stilicho, under the command of Mascezel. The next crisis was the Visigoth invasion of Italy in 402 under the command of their king. Stilicho hurried back to protect Honorius and the legions of Gaul, Honorius, slumbering at Milan, was caught unaware and quickly fled to Asti, only to be pursued by Alaric, who marched into Liguria. Stilicho defeated Alaric at Pollentia, on the river Tanarus on Easter Day, Alaric retreated to Verona, where Stilicho attacked him again. The Visigoths, weakened, were allowed to back to Illyricum. In 405 Stilicho met an invasion of Italy led across the Danube by Radagaisus and they brought devastation to the heart of the Empire, until Stilicho defeated them in 406 and recruited most of them into his forces
Honorius (emperor)
–
Honorius on the
consular diptych of
Anicius Petronius Probus (406)
Honorius (emperor)
–
The Western Roman Emperor Honorius,
Jean-Paul Laurens (1880). Honorius became
Augustus on 23 January 393, at the age of eight.
Honorius (emperor)
–
Inscription honouring Honorius, as florentissimo invictissimoque, the most excellent and invincible, 417–418,
Forum Romanum
Honorius (emperor)
–
Christian pendant of Empress
Maria, daughter of
Stilicho, and wife of Honorius.
Musée du Louvre. The pendant reads, around a central cross (clockwise): HONORI
MARIA SERINA VIVATIS
STELICHO. The letters form a
Christogram
26.
Theodosius II
–
There were also a Theodosius II of Abkhazia, a Patriarch Theodosius II of Alexandria and a Theodosius II of Constantinople. Additionally, Pope Theodoros I of Alexandria is also known as Theodosius II in Coptic history, Theodosius II, commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Eastern Roman Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and he also presided over the outbreak of two great christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism. Theodosius was born in 401 as the son of Emperor Arcadius. Already in January AD402 he was proclaimed co-Augustus by his father, in 408, his father died and the seven-year-old boy became Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire. Government was at first by the Praetorian Prefect Anthemius, under supervision the Theodosian land walls of Constantinople were constructed. In 414, Theodosius older sister Pulcheria was proclaimed Augusta and assumed the regency, by 416 Theodosius was declared Augustus in his own right and the regency ended, but his sister remained a strong influence on him. In June 421, Theodosius married Aelia Eudocia, a woman of Greek origin, the two had a daughter named Licinia Eudoxia. In 423, the Western Emperor Honorius, Theodosius uncle, died, Honorius sister Galla Placidia and her young son Valentinian fled to Constantinople to seek Eastern assistance and after some deliberation in 424 Theodosius opened the war against Joannes. On 23 October 425, Valentinian III was installed as Emperor of the West with the assistance of the magister officiorum Helion, to strengthen the ties between the two parts of the Empire, Theodosius daughter Licinia Eudoxia was betrothed to Valentinian. In 425, Theodosius founded the University of Constantinople with 31 chairs, among subjects were law, philosophy, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music and rhetoric. In 429, Theodosius appointed a commission to collect all of the laws since the reign of Constantine I, and create a fully formalized system of law. The law code of Theodosius II, summarizing edicts promulgated since Constantine, formed a basis for the law code of Emperor Justinian I, the war with Persia proved indecisive, and a peace was arranged in 422 without changes to the status quo. The later wars of Theodosius were generally less successful, the Eastern Empire was plagued by raids by the Huns. Early in Theodosius IIs reign Romans used internal Hun discord to overcome Uldins invasion of the Balkans, the Romans strengthened their fortifications and in 424 agreed to pay 350 pounds of gold to encourage the Huns to remain at peace with the Romans. In 433 with the rise of Attila and Bleda to unify the Huns, when Roman Africa fell to the Vandals in 439, both Eastern and Western Emperors sent forces to Sicily, intending to launch an attack on the Vandals at Carthage, but this project failed. Seeing the Imperial borders without significant forces, the Huns and Sassanid Persia both attacked and the force had to be recalled. During 443 two Roman armies were defeated and destroyed by the Huns, anatolius negotiated a peace agreement, the Huns withdrew in exchange for humiliating concessions, including an annual tribute of 2,100 Roman pounds of gold
Theodosius II
–
Bust of Theodosius II
Theodosius II
–
Theodosius welcomes the relics of
John Chrysostom. Miniature from the early 11th century.
27.
Bronze
–
These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability. The archeological period where bronze was the hardest metal in use is known as the Bronze Age. In the ancient Near East this began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with India and China starting to use bronze around the same time, everywhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BC and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BC, the discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone. It was only later that tin was used, becoming the major ingredient of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BC. Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the process could be more easily controlled. Also, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic, the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to 4500 BCE in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik. Other early examples date to the late 4th millennium BC in Africa, Susa and some ancient sites in China, Luristan, ores of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together, so serious bronze work has always involved trade. Tin sources and trade in ancient times had a influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a source of tin was the British deposits of ore in Cornwall. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artefacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value, in Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes, are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With Chinese ritual bronzes, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources and these were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings. Pure iron is soft, and the process of beating and folding sponge iron to wrought iron removes from the metal carbon. Careful control of the alloying and tempering eventually allowed for wrought iron with properties comparable to modern steel, Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day. Among other advantages, it does not rust, the weaker wrought iron was found to be sufficiently strong for many uses. Archaeologists suspect that a disruption of the tin trade precipitated the transition. The population migrations around 1200–1100 BC reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean, limiting supplies, there are many different bronze alloys, but typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin
Bronze
–
Yoruba bronze head sculpture, Ife, Nigeria c. 12th century AD
Bronze
–
Bronze deer figurine dating from between the 9th and 6th centuries BC,
National Archaeological Museum of
Sofia
Bronze
–
A hoard of bronze socketed axes from the
Bronze Age found in modern Germany. This was the top tool of the period, and also seems to have been used as a store of value.
Bronze
–
Chinese Ding,
Western Zhou (1046–771 BC)
28.
Portrait
–
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person, for this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, nonetheless, many subjects, such as Akhenaten and some other Egyptian pharaohs, can be recognised by their distinctive features. The 28 surviving rather small statues of Gudea, ruler of Lagash in Sumeria between c.2144 -2124 BC, show a consistent appearance with some individuality. Some of the earliest surviving painted portraits of people who were not rulers are the Greco-Roman funeral portraits that survived in the dry climate of Egypts Fayum district. These are almost the only paintings from the world that have survived, apart from frescos, though many sculptures. Although the appearance of the figures differs considerably, they are considerably idealized, the art of the portrait flourished in Ancient Greek and especially Roman sculpture, where sitters demanded individualized and realistic portraits, even unflattering ones. During the 4th century, the portrait began to retreat in favor of a symbol of what that person looked like. In the Europe of the Early Middle Ages representations of individuals are mostly generalized, true portraits of the outward appearance of individuals re-emerged in the late Middle Ages, in tomb monuments, donor portraits, miniatures in illuminated manuscripts and then panel paintings. Moche culture of Peru was one of the few ancient civilizations which produced portraits and these works accurately represent anatomical features in great detail. The individuals portrayed would have been recognizable without the need for other symbols or a reference to their names. The individuals portrayed were members of the elite, priests, warriors. They were represented during several stages of their lives, the faces of gods were also depicted. To date, no portraits of women have been found, there is particular emphasis on the representation of the details of headdresses, hairstyles, body adornment and face painting. One of the portraits in the Western world is Leonardo da Vincis painting titled Mona Lisa. What has been claimed as the worlds oldest known portrait was found in 2006 in the Vilhonneur grotto near Angoulême and is thought to be 27,000 years old. Profile view, full view, and three-quarter view, are three common designations for portraits, each referring to a particular orientation of the head of the individual depicted. Such terms would tend to have greater applicability to two-dimensional artwork such as photography, in the case of three-dimensional artwork, the viewer can usually alter their orientation to the artwork by moving around it
Portrait
–
Rembrandt Peale, Portrait of
Thomas Jefferson, 1805.
New-York Historical Society.
Portrait
–
Roman-Egyptian
funeral portrait of a young boy
Portrait
–
Moche Ceramic Portrait.
Larco Museum Collection. Lima-Peru
Portrait
–
Portrait illustrating three-quarter view.
29.
Constantine I (emperor)
–
Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
Constantine I (emperor)
–
Colossal marble head of Emperor Constantine the Great, Roman, 4th century, located at the
Capitoline Museums, in Rome.
Constantine I (emperor)
–
Remains of the luxurious residence palace of
Mediana, erected by Constantine I near his birth town of
Naissus
Constantine I (emperor)
–
Head from a statue of
Diocletian, Augustus of the East
30.
Trier
–
Trier, formerly known in English as Treves, is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. Trier lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the west of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, near the border with Luxembourg and within the important Moselle wine region. Founded by the Celts in the late-4th century BC as Treuorum, it was conquered by the Romans in the late-1st century BC. Trier may be the oldest city in Germany and it is also the oldest seat of a bishop north of the Alps. In the Middle Ages, the Archbishop-Elector of Trier was an important prince of the church, the Archbishop-Elector also had great significance as one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire. With an approximate population of 105,000, Trier is the fourth-largest city in its state, after Mainz, Ludwigshafen, the nearest major cities are Luxembourg, Saarbrücken, and Koblenz. It is one of the five places of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. A medieval inscription on the façade of the Red House in Trier market stated, trebetas parents were said to have been Ninus, a legendary King of Assyria invented by the ancient Greeks, and an unknown mother who was Ninuss wife before Semiramis. Semiramis took control of the kingdom upon his fathers death and Trebeta was forced into exile and his body was said to have been cremated on Petrisberg. The historical record describes the Roman Empire subduing the Treveri in the 1st century BC, the name distinguished it from the empires many other cities honoring the first emperor Augustus. The city later became the capital of the province of Belgic Gaul, after the Diocletian Reforms, it became the capital of the prefecture of the Gauls, overseeing much of the Western Roman Empire. In the 4th century, Trier was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire with a population around 75,000, the Porta Nigra dates from this era. A residence of the Western Roman Emperor, Roman Trier was the birthplace of Saint Ambrose, sometime between 395 and 418, probably in 407 the Roman administration moved the staff of the Praetorian Prefecture about 2000 from the city to Arles. The city continued to be inhabited but was not as prosperous as before, northern Gaul was held by the Romans along a line from north of Cologne to the coast at Boulogne through what is today southern Belgium until 460. South of this line, Roman control was firm, as evidenced by the operation of the imperial arms factory at Amiens. The Franks seized Trier from Roman administration in 459, in 870, it became part of Eastern Francia, which developed into the Holy Roman Empire. Relics of Saint Matthias brought to the city initiated widespread pilgrimages, the bishops of the city grew increasingly powerful and the Archbishopric of Trier was recognized as an electorate of the empire, one of the most powerful states of Germany. The University of Trier was founded in the city in 1473, in the 17th century, the Archbishops and Prince-Electors of Trier relocated their residences to Philippsburg Castle in Ehrenbreitstein, near Koblenz
Trier
–
View over Trier
Trier
–
The
Porta Nigra
Trier
–
The
Cathedral of Trier
Trier
–
Palace of Trier
31.
Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
–
The Kingdom of Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia, was a monarchy in the Ancient Near East which existed from 321 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into successive reigns by three dynasties, Orontid, Artaxiad and Arsacid. It is widely believed to be the region with which all Armenians descend from and it was one of the largest empires in the history of the Middle East. Under the Seleucid Empire, the Armenian throne was divided in two – Armenia Maior and Sophene – both of which passed to members of the Artaxiad dynasty in 189 BC. The remaining Artaxiad kings ruled as clients of Rome until they were overthrown in 12 AD due to their allegiance to Romes main rival in the region. During the Roman–Parthian Wars, the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia was founded when Tiridates I, throughout most of its history during this period, Armenia was heavily contested between Rome and Parthia, and the Armenian nobility was divided among pro-Roman, pro-Parthian or neutrals. From 114 to 118, Armenia briefly became a province of the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan, the Kingdom of Armenia often served as a client state or vassal at the frontier of the two large empires and their successors, the Byzantine and Sassanid empires. In 301, Tiridates III proclaimed Christianity as the religion of Armenia. During the Byzantine–Sasanian wars, Armenia was ultimately partitioned into Byzantine Armenia in 387, the Kingdoms symbol and most famous icon was Mount Ararat, arguably the tallest mountain in the kingdom. The geographic Armenian Highlands, then known as the highlands of Ararat, was inhabited by Proto-Armenian tribes which did not yet constitute a unitary state or nation. The highlands were first united by tribes in the vicinity of Lake Van into the Kingdom of Van, the kingdom competed with Assyria over supremacy in the highlands of Ararat and the Fertile Crescent. Both kingdoms fell to Iranian invaders from the neighbouring East in the 6th century BC and its territory was reorganized into a satrapy called Armenia. The Orontid dynasty ruled as satraps of the Achaemenid Empire for three centuries until the defeat against Alexander the Greats Macedonian Empire at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. After Alexanders death in 323 BC, a Macedonian general named Neoptolemus obtained Armenia until he died in 321 BC and the Orontids returned, not as satraps, Orontes III also defeated the Thessalian commander Menon, who wanted to capture Spers gold mines. The Seleucid Empires influence over Armenia had weakened after it was defeated by the Romans in the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, a Hellenistic Armenian state was thus founded in the same year by Artaxias I alongside the Armenian kingdom of Sophene led by Zariadres. Artaxias seized Yervandashat, united the Armenian Highlands at the expense of neighboring tribes, according to Strabo and Plutarch, Hannibal Barca received hospitality at the Armenian court of Artaxias I. The authors add a story of how Hannibal planned and supervised the building of Artaxata. The new city was laid on a position at the juncture of trade routes that connected the Ancient Greek world with Bactria, India
Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
–
Roman coin of 141 AD, showing emperor
Antoninus Pius holding a crown on the Armenia King's head
Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
–
Armenia its greatest extent under
Tigranes the Great, 69 BC (including vassals)
Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
–
Armenian foot soldiers wearing the traditional Mithraic caps.
Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
–
Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of Armenian Alphabet, by Francesco Maggiotto (1750–1805)
32.
State religion
–
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. A state with a religion, while not secular, is not necessarily a theocracy – a country whose rulers have in their hands both secular and spiritual authority. Official religions have been known throughout history in almost all types of cultures. They were adopted by most ancient states, both monoethnic and polyethnic, and observing them was a requirement made to all citizens, official religions justified and reinforced the type of government existing in a society. Sanctifying it as the most, or the only, correct one, they put forward and/or supported ideas of its expansion to other lands. Closely related to churches are what sociologists call ecclesiae, though the two are slightly different. The institution of state-sponsored religious cults is ancient, reaching into the Ancient Near East, the relation of religious cult and the state was discussed by Varro, under the term of theologia civilis. The first state-sponsored Christian church was the Armenian Apostolic Church, established in 301 AD, rulers of Saudi Arabia use both secular and religious power, while Irans secular presidents are supposed to follow the decisions of religious authorities since the revolution of 1979. The degree and nature of state backing for denomination or creed designated as a religion can vary. It can range from mere endorsement with freedom for other faiths to practice, to prohibiting any competing religious body from operating, in these cases, state religions are widely seen as efforts by the state to prevent alternate sources of authority. There is also a difference between a church and the broader term of state religion. A state church is a state created by a state for use exclusively by that state. In either case, the state religion has some influence over the ruling of the state. As of 2012, there are five state churches left. Disestablishment is the process of repealing a churchs status as an organ of the state, opponents of disestablishment of the Church of England were known as antidisestablishmentarians. Currently, the following religions have established as state religions in some countries. All are versions of Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, Liechtenstein, the constitution of Liechtenstein describes the Catholic Church as the state religion and enjoying the full protection of the State. The constitution does however ensure that people of other faiths shall be entitled to practise their creeds and to religious services to the extent consistent with morality
State religion
–
Roman Catholicism
33.
Constantinian shift
–
The term was popularized by the Mennonite theologian John H. Yoder. Constantine I adopted Christianity as his system of belief after the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 and his victorious legions fought under the labarum, a standard with the first two Greek letters of Christs name. In 313 the Edict of Milan legalised Christianity alongside other religions allowed in the Roman Empire, but Constantine reinstated Arius just before the heresiarch died in 336 and exiled the Orthodox Athanasius of Alexandria from 335 to 337. In 380 Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the Roman Empires official religion, in 392 Theodosius passed legislation prohibiting all pagan cultic worship. Critics point to shift as the beginning of the phenomenon known as Caesaropapism. Before him, Athanasius believed that violence was justified in weeding out heresies that could damn all future Christians and this continued a line of thought started by Athanasius who felt that any means was justified in repressing the Arian belief. In 385, Priscillian, a bishop in Spain, was the first Christian to be executed for heresy, theologians critical of the Constantinian shift also see it as the point at which membership in the Christian church became associated with citizenship rather than a personal decision. American theologian Stanley Hauerwas names the shift as the foundation for the expression of Christianity in the United States today that is associated with patriotism. Timothy Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius,1981 Theodosian Code, Henry Bettenson, documents of the Christian Church, p.31. See, http, //www. fordham. edu/halsall/source/theodcodeXVI. html Peter Brown, james Bulloch, From Pilate to Constantine,1981 Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine, Library of Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, Vol I, 489-91. Timeline of Fourth-Century Roman Imperial Laws showing the Constantinian shift
Constantinian shift
–
Battle of the Milvian Bridge,
Raphael, Vatican Rooms. The artist depicted the troops of Constantine bearing the
labarum.
Constantinian shift
–
Icon depicting
the Emperor Constantine (centre) and the
bishops of the
First Council of Nicaea (325) holding the
Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.
34.
Tikal
–
Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. Ambrosio Tut, a gum-sapper, reported the ruins to La Gaceta, a Guatemalan newspaper, after the Berlin Academy of Sciences magazine republished the report in 1853, archeologists and treasure hunters began visiting the forest. Today, tourism to the site may protect the rainforest. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization and it is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemalas Tikal National Park, Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD, following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a population decline, culminating with the site’s abandonment by the end of the 10th century. The name Tikal may be derived from ti akal in the Yucatec Maya language, the name was apparently applied to one of the sites ancient reservoirs by hunters and travelers in the region. It has alternatively been interpreted as meaning the place of the voices in the Itza Maya language, Tikal, however, is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s. Hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as Yax Mutal or Yax Mutul, the kingdom as a whole was simply called Mutul, which is the reading of the hair bundle emblem glyph seen in the accompanying photo. The closest large modern settlements are Flores and Santa Elena, approximately 64 kilometres by road to the southwest, Tikal is approximately 303 kilometres north of Guatemala City. It is 19 kilometres south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and 30 kilometres northwest of Yaxha, the city was located 100 kilometres southeast of its great Classic Period rival, Calakmul, and 85 kilometres northwest of Calakmuls ally Caracol, now in Belize. The city has been mapped and covered an area greater than 16 square kilometres that included about 3,000 structures. The topography of the consists of a series of parallel limestone ridges rising above swampy lowlands. The major architecture of the site is clustered upon areas of higher ground, the area around Tikal has been declared as the Tikal National Park and the preserved area covers 570 square kilometres. The ruins lie among the tropical rainforests of northern Guatemala that formed the cradle of lowland Maya civilization, the city itself was located among abundant fertile upland soils, and may have dominated a natural east–west trade route across the Yucatan Peninsula. Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic kapok the sacred tree of the Maya, tropical cedar, jaguars, jaguarundis, and cougars are also said to roam in the park
Tikal
–
Tikal Temple I rises 47 metres (154 ft) high.
Tikal
–
Emblem glyph for Tikal (Mutal)
Tikal
–
Maya civilization
Tikal
–
The great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the
Valley of Mexico appears to have decisively intervened in Tikal politics.
35.
Teotihuacan
–
Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that garnered high prestige and widespread usage throughout Mesoamerica. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC, the city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 AD. Teotihuacan began as a new center in the Mexican Highlands around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas, Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The term Teotihuacan is also used for the civilization and cultural complex associated with the site. The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, the ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is also a subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua, Otomi, or Totonac ethnic groups, scholars have also suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state. The city and the site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México. The site covers a surface area of 83 square kilometres and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is the most visited site in Mexico. The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 A. D, the term has been glossed as birthplace of the gods, or place where gods were born, reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as place of those who have the road of the gods and this is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. The name is pronounced in Nahuatl, with the accent on the syllable wa, by normal Nahuatl orthographic conventions, a written accent would not appear in that position. Both this pronunciation and Spanish pronunciation, are used, and both appear in this article. The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in texts from the Maya region as puh. This naming convention led to confusion in the early 20th century. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement, the early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BC, people of the central and southeastern area of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements, Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch
Teotihuacan
–
View of the Avenue of the Dead and the
Pyramid of the Sun, from the
Pyramid of the Moon.
Teotihuacan
–
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
–
The view from the
Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacan
–
Platform along the Avenue of the Dead showing the
talud-tablero architectural style
36.
Kingdom of Aksum
–
The Kingdom of Aksum or Axum, also known as the Aksumite Empire, was a Habasha trading nation in the modern-day area of Eritrea and the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It existed from approximately 100 AD to 940 AD, the Persian Prophet Mani regarded Axum as one of the four great powers of his time, alongside Persia, Rome, and China. The Axumites erected a number of stelae, which served a religious purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these columns is the largest such structure in the world. In the 7th century, early Muslims from Mecca sought refuge from Quraysh persecution by travelling to the kingdom and its ancient capital, also called Aksum, was in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, tradition claims Axum as the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba. Aksum is mentioned in the 1st-century AD Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as an important market place for ivory, which was exported throughout the ancient world. It states that the ruler of Aksum in the 1st century AD was Zoskales and he is also said to have been familiar with Greek literature. They also cite evidence indicating that the Sabaean settlers resided in the region for more than a few decades. Over 95% of Aksum remains unexplored beneath the city and its surrounding area. The Kingdom of Aksum was an empire centered in Eritrea. It existed from approximately 100–940 AD, growing from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period c. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD, according to the Book of Aksum, Aksums first capital, Mazaber, was built by Itiyopis, son of Cush. The capital was moved to Aksum in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name Ethiopia as early as the 4th century, the Empire of Aksum at its height at times extended across most of present-day Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The capital city of the empire was Aksum, now in northern Ethiopia, today a smaller community, the city of Aksum was once a bustling metropolis, cultural and economic center. Two hills and two lie on the east and west expanses of the city, perhaps providing the initial impetus for settling this area. Along the hills and plain outside the city, the Aksumites had cemeteries with elaborate grave stones called stelae, other important cities included Yeha, Hawulti-Melazo, Matara, Adulis, and Qohaito, the last three of which are now in Eritrea. By the reign of Endubis in the late 3rd century, it had begun minting its own currency and was named by Mani as one of the four powers of his time along with Persia, Rome
Kingdom of Aksum
Kingdom of Aksum
–
Aksum and
South Arabia at the end of
GDRT 's reign in the 3rd century AD.
Kingdom of Aksum
–
The
Ezana Stone records negus Ezana's conversion to Christianity and his subjugation of various neighboring peoples, including
Meroë.
37.
First Council of Nicaea
–
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD325. Constantine I organized the Council along the lines of the Roman Senate and presided over it and this ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the Church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Hosius of Cordoba, who was one of the Papal legates. The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Church, St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position, the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly, through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creeds and canons. This council is considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils in the History of Christianity. The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine the Great upon the recommendations of a synod led by Hosius of Córdoba in the Eastertide of 325 and this synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversy in the Greek-speaking east. To most bishops, the teachings of Arius were heretical and dangerous to the salvation of souls and this was the first general council in the history of the Church summoned by emperor Constantine I. In the Council of Nicaea, The Church had taken her first great step to define revealed doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology. Constantine had invited all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire, Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch estimated about 270. Later, Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300, and Evagrius, Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, Dionysius Exiguus and this number 318 is preserved in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Delegates came from every region of the Roman Empire, including Britain, the participating bishops were given free travel to and from their episcopal sees to the council, as well as lodging. These bishops did not travel alone, each one had permission to bring him two priests and three deacons, so the total number of attendees could have been above 1,800. Eusebius speaks of an almost innumerable host of accompanying priests, deacons, the Eastern bishops formed the great majority. Of these, the first rank was held by the three patriarchs, Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and Macarius of Jerusalem and this position is supported by patristic scholar Timothy Barnes in his book Constantine and Eusebius. Historically, the influence of these marred confessors has been seen as substantial, Athanasius of Alexandria, a young deacon and companion of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, was among the assistants. Athanasius eventually spent most of his life battling against Arianism, Alexander of Constantinople, then a presbyter, was also present as representative of his aged bishop. The supporters of Arius included Secundus of Ptolemais, Theonus of Marmarica, Zphyrius, other supporters included Eusebius of Nicomedia, Paulinus of Tyrus, Actius of Lydda, Menophantus of Ephesus, and Theognus of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
–
Council of Nicea
First Council of Nicaea
–
Eastern Orthodox icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
–
Constantine the Great summoned the bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea to address divisions in the Church (mosaic in
Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), ca. 1000).
38.
Arian controversy
–
The Arian controversy was a series of Christian theological disputes that arose between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. The most important of these concerned the substantial relationship between God the Father and God the Son. Arianism continued to be preached inside and outside the Empire for some time, the early history of the controversy must be pieced together from about 35 documents found in various sources. It therefore necessarily follows, that he had his substance from nothing, bishop Alexander of Alexandria was criticised for his slow reaction against Arius. Like his predecessor Dionysius, he has charged with vacillation. The question that Arius raised had been left unsettled two generations previously, therefore, Alexander allowed the controversy to continue until he felt that it had become dangerous to the peace of the Church. Then he called a council of bishops and sought their advice, once they decided against Arius, Alexander delayed no longer. He deposed Arius from his office, and excommunicated him and his supporters. Arianism would not be contained within the Alexandrian diocese, the Church was now a powerful force in the Roman world, with Constantine I having legalized it in 313 through the Edict of Milan. The emperor had taken a personal interest in several issues, including the Donatist controversy in 316. To this end, the emperor sent bishop Hosius of Corduba to investigate and, if possible, Hosius was armed with an open letter from the Emperor, Wherefore let each one of you, showing consideration for the other, listen to the impartial exhortation of your fellow-servant. All secular dioceses of the empire sent one or more representatives to the council, save for Roman Britain, Pope Sylvester I, himself too aged to attend, sent two priests as his delegates. Arius himself attended the council, but his bishop, Alexander, did not, Athanasius would become the champion of the Trinitarian dogma ultimately adopted by the council and spend most of his life battling Arianism. Also there were Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia, before the main conclave convened, Hosius initially met with Alexander and his supporters at Nicomedia. The council would be presided over by the emperor himself, who participated in and those who upheld the notion that Christ was co-eternal and con-substantial with the Father were led by the young archdeacon Athanasius. Those who instead insisted that God the Son came after God the Father in time, for about two months, the two sides argued and debated, with each appealing to Scripture to justify their respective positions. Arius maintained that the Son of God was a Creature, made from nothing, and he argued that everything else was created through the Son. Thus, said Arius, only the Son was directly created and begotten of God, according to some accounts in the hagiography of Saint Nicholas, debate at the council became so heated that at one point, he slapped Arius in the face
Arian controversy
–
The
Council of Nicaea, with Arius depicted beneath the feet of the Emperor Constantine and the
bishops
39.
Samudragupta
–
Samudragupta was the fourth ruler of the Gupta Empire and the son and successor of Chandragupta I. Much of the knowledge of Samudraguptas military exploits comes from the Allahabad Pillar of Ashoka which includes a prashasti extolling the deeds, Samudragupta was the son of Chandragupta I and the Lichchhavi princess, Kumaradevi. He is believed to have been his fathers chosen successor even though he had several elder brothers, therefore, some believe that after the death of Chandragupta I, there was a struggle for succession in which Samudragupta prevailed. It is said that Samudragupta became the ruler after subduing his rival, Kacha, Samudragupta is depicted on his coins both as a muscular warrior flaunting the marks of hundreds of wounds received in battle as well as a poet and a musician. His reign marked the beginning of what is referred to as the golden age of Indian history. Chandragupta I, a Magadha king, was the ruler of the Gupta Dynasty and married a Lichhavi princess. This enabled him to gain a hold over the Ganges river-basin and he ruled from his capital at Pataliputra for about ten years in north-central India with his son, Samudragupta, as an apprentice. After his death, Samudragupta assumed the throne and did not rest until he had conquered almost the whole of India and his reigning period may be described as a vast military campaign. To begin with, he attacked the kingdoms of Ahichchhatra. He conquered the whole of Bengal, some kingdoms in Nepal and he absorbed some tribal states like the Malvas, the Yaudheyas, the Arjunayanas, the Abhiras and the Maduras. The rulers of what is now Afghanistan and Kashmir were also added to the empire, the main source of Samudraguptas history is an inscription engraved on the Allahabad pillar. In this inscription is detailed Samudraguptas conquests, the inscription to Samudraguptas martial exploits states that its author is Harisena, who was an important poet of Samudraguptas court. Eran Inscription of Samudragupta presently stored in Kolkata National Museum, the beginning of Samudraguptas reign was marked by the defeat of his immediate neighbours, Achyuta, ruler of Ahichchhatra, and Nagasena. Following this Samudragupta began a campaign against the kingdoms to the south and this southern campaign took him south along the Bay of Bengal. Here, however, he did not attempt to direct control. After capturing his enemies he reinstated them as kings, an act which is a testament to his abilities as a statesman. His ambition was inspired by becoming Raja Chakravarti or greatest emperor and Ekrat, in the North, he adopted the policy of Digvijaya which meant the conquest and annexation of all territories. In the South, his policy was Dharma Vijaya which meant conquest, Samudragupta was chosen as emperor by his father over other contenders and apparently had to repress revolts in the early years of his rule
Samudragupta
–
Coin of Samudragupta, with
Garuda pillar, emblem of
Gupta Empire.
Samudragupta
Samudragupta
–
Samudragupta inscriptions on Allahabad pillar.
40.
Gupta Empire
–
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire founded by Sri Gupta. The empire existed at its zenith from approximately 320 to 550 CE, the peace and prosperity created under the leadership of the Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors. Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II were the most notable rulers of the Gupta dynasty, the high points of the period is great cultural developments which took place during the reign of Chandragupta II. Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era, strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. The earliest available Indian epics are also thought to have committed to written texts around this period. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, a minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by Vardhana ruler Harsha, who established his empire in the first half of the 7th century, according to many historians, the Gupta dynasty was a Vaishya dynasty. Historian Ram Sharan Sharma asserts that the Vaishya Guptas appeared as a reaction against oppressive rulers, brannigan, the rise of the Gupta Empire was one of the most prominent violations of the caste system in ancient India. There is controversy among scholars about the homeland of the Guptas. Jayaswal has pointed out that the Guptas were originally inhabitants of Prayaga, Uttar Pradesh, in north India, another scholar, Gayal supported the theory of Jaiswal, suggesting that the original home of the Guptas was Antarvedi embracing the regions of Oudh and Prayag. However another historian of this time in Indian history, Ganguli, has offered a different view about the original Gupta homeland, according to him the Guptas homeland is further south, the Murshidabad region of Bengal, and not Magadha in Bihar. He based his theory on the statement of the Chinese Buddhist monk, Yijing, fleet and other historians however criticize Gangulis theory because Sri Gupta ruled during the end of the 3rd century, but Yijing placed him at the end of the 2nd century. Hence the theory of historians, who have provided their views based on the accounts of Yijing, are considered less valid than theories based on sources such as coinage. From these theories, several conflicting opinions about the original homeland, according to Allan and a few other scholars, the Guptas were initially concentrated in the region of Magadha and from there they extended their sway to Bengal. According to other groups, the homeland of the Guptas was Varendri or the Varendra Bhumi in Bengal. Whatever the theory is, the rule of the Guptas initiated the Golden Age in history of ancient India, bengali historians like HC Raychoudhuri the Guptas originated from the Varendri region which is now part of Rangpur and Rajshahi Division of modern-day Bangladesh. DC Ganguly, on the hand, considers the surrounding region of Murshidabad as the original home of the Guptas. The most likely time for the reign of Sri Gupta is c, the Murundas who were feudal lords of Kushans provided or granted land to Srigupta
Gupta Empire
–
Meditating
Buddha from the Gupta era, 5th century AD.
Gupta Empire
–
The Gupta Empire at its greatest extent.
Gupta Empire
–
Queen Kumaradevi and King
Chandragupta I, depicted on a coin of their son
Samudragupta, 335–380.
Gupta Empire
–
Coin of Samudragupta, with Garuda pillar.
British Museum.
41.
Kingdom of Kush
–
The Kingdom of Kush or Kush was an ancient Nubian kingdom situated on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now Sudan and South Sudan. The Kushite era of rule in Nubia was established after the Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, during Classical antiquity, the Kushite imperial capital was at Meroe. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Aethiopia, by the 1st century AD, the Kushite capital had been captured by the Beja Dynasty, who tried to revive the empire. The Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD, the Kushite capital was eventually captured and burnt to the ground by the Kingdom of Axum. It is also a term for the native population who initiated the kingdom of Kush. The term is also displayed in the names of Kushite persons, geographically, Kush referred to the region south of the first cataract in general. Kush also was the home of the rulers of the 25th dynasty, the name Kush, since at least the time of Josephus, has been connected with the biblical character Cush, in the Hebrew Bible, son of Ham. Ham had four sons named, Cush, Put, Canaan, according to the Bible, Nimrod, a son of Cush, was the founder and king of Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. The Bible also makes reference to someone named Cush who is a Benjamite, some modern scholars, such as Friedrich Delitzsch, have suggested that the biblical Cush might be linked to the Kassites of the Zagros Mountains. Mentuhotep II is recorded to have undertaken campaigns against Kush in the 29th and this is the earliest Egyptian reference to Kush, the Nubian region had gone by other names in the Old Kingdom. During the New Kingdom of Egypt, Nubia was an Egyptian colony, with the disintegration of the New Kingdom around 1070 BC, Kush became an independent kingdom centered at Napata in modern northern Sudan. The Kushites buried their monarchs along with all their courtiers in mass graves, archaeologists refer to these practices as the Pan-grave culture. This was given its due to the way in which the remains are buried. They would dig a pit and put stones around them in a circle, Kushites also built burial mounds and pyramids, and shared some of the same gods worshiped in Egypt, especially Ammon and Isis. With the worshiping of these gods the Kushites began to some of the names of the gods as their throne names. The Kush rulers were regarded as guardians of the religion and were responsible for maintaining the houses of the gods. Some scholars believe the economy in the Kingdom of Kush was a redistributive system, the state would collect taxes in the form of surplus produce and would redistribute to the people. Others believe that most of the society worked on the land and required nothing from the state, northern Kush seemed to be more productive and wealthier than the Southern area
Kingdom of Kush
Kingdom of Kush
Kingdom of Kush
–
Maximum extent of Kush in 700 BC
Kingdom of Kush
–
Sudan Meroe Pyramids –
UNESCO World Heritage.
42.
Huns
–
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia between the 1st century AD and the 7th century AD. In 91 AD, the Huns were said to be living near the Caspian Sea, by 370, the Huns had established a vast, if short-lived, dominion in Europe. In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC. Since Guignes time, considerable effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. However, there is no consensus on a direct connection between the dominant element of the Xiongnu and that of the Huns. Numerous other ethnic groups were included under Attilas rule, including very many speakers of Gothic and their main military technique was mounted archery. The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration, a factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. They formed an empire under Attila the Hun, who died in 453. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century, the Huns were a confederation of warrior bands, ready to integrate other groups to increase their military power, in the Eurasian Steppe in the 4th to 6th centuries AD. Most aspects of their ethnogenesis are uncertain, walter Pohl explicitly states, All we can say safely is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors. Jerome associated them with the Scythians in a letter, written four years after the Huns invaded the eastern provinces in 395. The equation of the Huns with the Scythians, together with a fear of the coming of the Antichrist in the late 4th century. This demonization of the Huns is also reflected in Jordaness Getica, written in the 6th century, otto J. Maenchen-Helfen was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research. Thereafter the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns ancestors became controversial among some, the similarity of their ethnonyms is one of the most important links between the two peoples. A Sogdian merchant described the invasion of northern China by the Xwn people in a letter, Étienne de la Vaissière asserts both documents prove that Huna or Xwn were the exact transcriptions of the Chinese Xiongnu name. Christopher P. Atwood rejects that identification because of the very poor match between the three words. For instance, Xiongnu begins with a velar fricative, Huna with a voiceless glottal fricative, Xiongnu is a two-syllable word. However, according to Zhengzhang Shangfang, Xiongnu was pronounced in Late Old Chinese, the Chinese Book of Wei contain references to the remains of the descendants of the Xiongnu who lived in the region of the Altai Mountains in the early 5th century AD
Huns
–
Huns in battle with the
Alans. An 1870s engraving after a drawing by
Johann Nepomuk Geiger (1805–1880).
Huns
–
Hunnish set of
horse trappings, 4th century;
chamfron, bridle mounts and whip handle,
Walters Art Museum
Huns
–
Hun cauldrons
Huns
–
Detail of Hunnish gold and garnet bracelet, 5th century,
Walters Art Museum
43.
Sassanid Empire
–
The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
Sassanid Empire
–
Normal domains
Sassanid Empire
–
Derafsh Kaviani
Sassanid Empire
–
Ghal'eh Dokhtar (or "The Maiden's Castle") in present-day
Fars,
Firuzabad,
Iran, built by Ardashir in 209, before he was finally able to defeat the Parthian empire.
44.
Kutai
–
Kutai, is a historic region in East Kalimantan in Indonesia on Borneo and also name of the native people on the region with a language of the correlating name and their history. Today the name is preserved in the names of three regencies in East Kalimantan, the Kutai Kartanegara Regency, the West Kutai Regency and the East Kutai Regency, the major river of the region was and is the Mahakam River. The history is divided into two periods, that of the early Kutai Martadipura phase some time around 350–400 and the later Kutai Kartanegara phase beginning around 1300. The first period produced the earliest known inscriptions in Indonesia, Kutai Martadipura is a 4th-century Indianized kingdom located in the Kutai area, East Kalimantan. It is one of the earliest ancient kingdom in Indonesian history, seven stone pillars, or yūpa, have been found in Kutai, Kaman Estuary, near the Mahakam River. The plinths bear an inscription in the Pallava script of India reading A gift to the Brahmin priests, the style of the script has been dated to the last half the 4th century. It is believed these religions were brought to Indonesia around the 2nd and 4th centuries, respectively, the names of three rulers are known from the inscriptions. It was Mūlawarman who let these inscriptions be made, while nothing of the military actions of his two predecessors is known, Raja Mūlawarman is stated to have conquered his neighbours in battle. He is also said to have increased the land of Kutai by a ritual called asvaredjwa. This ritual required a horse released to his land, the footsteps of the freely roaming horse were taken as evidence that this land belonged to Kutai. Mulawarman was also known for his tribute of gold to his God, the name of his kingdom is not mentioned on the inscriptions nor do any other documents in other countries relate to a kingdom at this time in this region. It is not known what became of the kingdom after these pillars had been erected and it may be possible that the name Kutai, as in Tuñjung Kute of the 1365 Javanese Majapahit poem Nāgarakṛtāgama is as ancient and reflects the original name used a thousand years earlier. Around the end of the 13th century the kingdom of Kutai Kartanegara was established in the region of Tepian Batu or Kutai Lama, the first known ruler is Aji Batara Agung Dewa Sakti, who is thought to have ruled from 1300 to 1325. Aji Pangeran Sinum Panji Mendapa, who ruled 1635–1650, was able to conquer the kingdom of Kutai Martadipura, attacked Makassar on the island of Sulawesi leading to the downfall of the Bugis Kingdom of Gowa. This settlement eventually developed into the town of Samarinda. Islam took hold in the region since the 17th century and Aji Muhammad Idris, after a civil war Aji Imbut, after finally becoming the ruler as Aji Muhammad Muslihuddin in 1780, moved the capital in 1782 from Pemarangan to Tepian Pandan. The name of the city eventually developed from Tangga Arung to its present form of Tenggarong. In 1844 the Dutch defeated the Sultan Aji Muhammad Salehudin, forcing him into exile, the Japanese invaded the region in 1942 and acknowledged a Kooti Kingdom, that was a subject of the Tenno
Kutai
–
An ancient yūpa of Mulawarman, king of Kutai
Kutai
–
A Yupa with inscription in the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta
45.
365 Crete earthquake
–
The AD365 Crete earthquake occurred at about sunrise on 21 July in the Eastern Mediterranean, with an assumed epicentre near Crete. In Crete, nearly all towns were destroyed, the quake left a deep impression on the late antique mind, and numerous writers of the time referred to the event in their works. The earthquake is thought to be responsible for an uplift of nine metres of the island of Crete, an earthquake of such a size exceeds all modern ones known to have affected the region. Carbon dating shows that corals on the coast of Crete were lifted ten metres and this indicates that the tsunami of AD365 was generated by an earthquake in a steep fault in the Hellenic Trench near Crete. It is unsure whether one of the contiguous patches might slip in the future, in particular, the virulent antagonism between rising Christianity and paganism at the time led contemporary writers to distort the evidence. Kourion on Cyprus, for example, is known to have been hit then by five strong earthquakes within a period of eighty years, the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus described in detail the tsunami hitting Alexandria and other places in the early hours of 21 July AD365. Thus in the conflict of the elements, the face of the earth was changed to reveal wondrous sights. The tsunami in AD365 was so devastating that the anniversary of the disaster was commemorated annually at the end of the sixth century in Alexandria as a day of horror. Katastrophen-Topoi in nachjulianischer Rhetorik und Annalistik, zu literarischen Reflexen des 21 Juli 365 n. C, JAC35, 47–82 M. Henry, Le temoignage de Libanius et les phenomenes sismiques de IVe siecle de notre ere. Essai dinterpretation, Phoenix 39, 36–61 F. Jacques and B, bousquet, “Le raz de maree du 21 juillet 365“, Mélanges de lÉcole française de Rome, Antiquité, Vol.96, No.1, 423–61 C. Orbis Terrarum 3, 169–201 Ancient Mediterranean Tsunami May Strike Again – National Geographic The 365 A. D
365 Crete earthquake
–
Nile Delta
365 Crete earthquake
365 Crete earthquake
–
Raised beach 2 km west of
Paleochora showing wave-cut notch and sea caves uplifted by about 9 m during the earthquake
365 Crete earthquake
–
Sea advanced close to the baths at
Sabratha.
46.
Mediterranean
–
The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
Mediterranean
–
Circa the 6th century BCE: In ancient times the Mediterranean provided sources of food and local commerce and direct routes for trade and communications, colonisation, and war. Numerous cities and colonies were situated at its shores or within the basin: Greek (red) and Phoenician (yellow)
colonies in antiquity; and other cities (grey), including the provincial
"Rom".
Mediterranean
–
Map of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean
–
With its highly indented coastline and large number of islands, Greece has the longest Mediterranean coastline.
Mediterranean
–
The
Battle of Lepanto, 1571, ended in victory for the European
Holy League against the Ottoman Turks.
47.
Mildenhall Treasure
–
The Mildenhall Treasure is a large hoard of masterpieces of Roman silver tableware from the 4th century AD, and by far the most valuable Roman objects artistically and by weight of bullion in Britain. It was found at West Row, near Mildenhall, Suffolk and it consists of over thirty items and includes the Great Dish weighing over 8kg alone. The collection is on view in the British Museum because of its importance and value. The hoard was discovered while ploughing in January 1942 by Gordon Butcher, many details of the discovery remained uncertain, not least because it took place in wartime. Apparently they did not at first recognise the objects for what they were, Ford cleaned the pieces and displayed them in his house, using some of them as daily utensils and some, such as the Great Dish, on special occasions with the family. Ford declared the hoard to the authorities in 1946 after a friend had seen them in his home. An inquest was held in the summer of year, when the find was legally declared treasure trove. The numerous well documented discoveries of high-quality Roman material in recent decades, more recently, Richard Hobbs drew the attention of the academic world to the importance of the part-fictional account by Roald Dahl, and has addressed the issues surrounding the actual finding. In Dahls version of events, subsequently confirmed by Fords grandson, Ford was fully aware of the significance of the find, but could not bear to part with the treasure. He kept it and restored it in secret, but two of the left out on display were seen by an unexpected visitor, Dr. Hugh Fawcett. Ford and Butcher were awarded each as finders, although not necessarily the full ex gratia reward since the find had not been correctly reported. John W. Brailsford promptly published the first brief, summary catalogue of the find, a somewhat fuller, though still brief, study by Kenneth S. Painter came out in 1977. The most striking object in the treasure, the Great Dish has been illustrated and mentioned in countless publications, however, the treasure still awaits full and detailed scholarly publication. The treasure consists of silver tableware of types current in the 4th century, most of the objects are comparatively large, and all are of very high-quality workmanship. The decoration, which was worked by chasing from the front, is in three concentric zones. In the centre, the head of a deity, probably Oceanus. More specifically, the triumph of Bacchus over Hercules is depicted, Hercules is shown staggering drunkenly and supported by two helpful satyrs. The god Pan also appears in the composition, dancing and brandishing his pan-pipes, as do several dancing Maenads, the devotees of Bacchus
Mildenhall Treasure
–
Mildenhall Treasure in the
British Museum
Mildenhall Treasure
–
The Great Dish, or Great Plate of Bacchus
Mildenhall Treasure
–
One of a pair of silver dishes from the Mildenhall Treasure, decorated with figures of Pan, a nymph and other mythological creatures
Mildenhall Treasure
–
Building
48.
British Museum
–
The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
British Museum
–
British Museum
British Museum
–
The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2001 to become the
Great Court, surrounding the original
Reading Room.
British Museum
–
Sir
Hans Sloane
British Museum
–
Montagu House, c. 1715
49.
Wang Xizhi
–
Wang Xizhi was a Chinese writer and official who lived during the Jin Dynasty, best known for his mastery of Chinese calligraphy. Wang is generally regarded as the greatest Chinese calligrapher in history, emperor Taizong of Tang admired his works so much that the original Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion was said to be buried with the emperor in his mausoleum. In addition to the esteem in which he is held in China, he has been, born in Linyi, Shandong, Wang spent most of his life in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang and Wenzhou. He learned the art of calligraphy from Lady Wei Shuo and he excelled in every script but particularly in semi-cursive script. Unfortunately, none of his works remains today. The original is lost, but the work survives in a number of finely traced copies, 627-650 by Feng Chengsu, and it is located in the Palace Museum in Beijing. Wang Xizhi is particularly remembered for one of his hobbies, that of rearing geese, legend has it that he learned that the key to how to turn his wrist whilst writing was to observe how geese moved their necks. There is a porcelain cup depicting Wang Xizhi walking geese in the China Gallery of the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore. The other side of the cup depicts a scholar taking a zither to a friend, Wang Xizhi had seven children, all of whom were notable calligraphers. The most distinguished was his youngest son, Wang Xianzhi, in 2010, a small Tang reproduction of one of Wangs calligraphy scrolls on silk with four lines was sold in China at an auction for ¥308 million RMB. Knechtges, David R. Wang Xizhi 王羲之, in Knechtges, David R. Chang, Taiping. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature, A Reference Guide, Part Two, encyclopedia of China, 1st ed. Khoo Seow Hwa and Penrose, Nancy L, Behind the Brushstrokes, Tales from Chinese Calligraphy. Animation of Wangs Calligraphy AniGraphy by Marion Tzui Yan
Wang Xizhi
Wang Xizhi
–
Painting of Wang Xizhi by
Qian Xuan (1235-1305 AD).
Wang Xizhi
–
The Calligraphy Model "Sunny after Snow" by Wang Xizhi
50.
Six Dynasties
–
Six Dynasties is a collective term for six Chinese dynasties in China during the periods of the Three Kingdoms, Jin dynasty, and Southern and Northern Dynasties. It also coincides with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and this era immediately followed the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 AD, and was an era of disunity, instability and warfare. The term generally refers to two groupings of dynasties during that period, Six dynasties with capitals in Jiankang, and Six dynasties with legitimate lineage. Xu Song in Tang Dynasty wrote a book, Jiankang Shilu, that provides an account of Jiankang. Later Chinese called this period the Six Dynasties period, or Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Six Dynasties was an important era in the history of Chinese poetry, especially remarkable for its frank descriptions of love and beauty. Also significant, is the Zi Ye, or Lady Midnight style, buddhism, which first reached China in Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in the Six Dynasties and became a major religion in China since then. The Japanese scholar Tanigawa Michio analyzed the Six Dynasty period to test general theories of Chinas historical development and that is, there an argument between those who see unilinear, monistic world history and those who conceive of a two-tracked or multitracked world history. The period established social and political patterns which shaped Chinas history from that point on, Chinese history Chinese sovereign Northern Dynasties Southern Dynasties Nanking Dien, Albert E. Medieval Chinese Society and the Local Community, Chinese Lyricism, Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century. ISBN 0-231-03464-4 http, //as. ff. uni-lj. si/datoteke/6. pdf SIX DYNASTIES CIVILIZATION Intellectual Trends Of The Early Six Dynasties Period Indiana University, ch 1 The Six Dynasties Dien, Six Dynasties Civilization. 300 to 600 CE, CHINA Asia for Educators Columbia University Weatherhead Institute
Six Dynasties
–
History of China
_-_Guatemala-1619.jpg)
_(cropped).JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
