Susa weddings
The Susa weddings was a mass wedding arranged by Alexander of Macedon in 324 BC in the Persian city of Susa. Alexander intended to symbolically unite the Persian and Greek cultures, by taking a Persian wife himself and celebrating a mass wedding with Persian ceremony along with his officers, for whom he arranged marriages with noble Persian wives; the union was not symbolic, as their prospective offspring were intended to be the children of both civilizations. Alexander was married to Roxana, the daughter of a Bactrian chief, but Macedonian and Persian customs allowed several wives. Alexander himself married Stateira, the eldest daughter of Darius, according to Aristobulus, another wife in addition, the youngest daughter of Artaxerxes III. To Hephaestion he gave Drypetis. To Seleucus he gave Apama, the daughter of Spitamenes the Bactrian, to the other Companions the daughters of the most notable Medes and Persians, eighty in all. Ptolemy I Soter married daughter of Artabazus of Phrygia; the weddings were solemnized in the Persian fashion: chairs were placed for the bridegrooms in order of precedence.
The king was the first to be married, for all the weddings were celebrated in the same manner, in this ceremony he showed more than his customary approachability and comradeship. The bridegrooms took their wives back to their homes and Alexander gave each of them a dowry, he ordered all the other Macedonians who had married Persian women to be registered and these were found to number more than 10,000. To all of these, Alexander gave wedding presents. By marrying the daughters of Darius and Artaxerxes, Alexander was both identifying himself with the Persians and making his own position more secure, he could now claim to be the rightful heir of both previous Persian kings. He wanted to honour Hephaestion by making him his brother-in-law. What the Macedonians thought of these marriages is evident from the fact that the nobles all divorced their wives after Alexander's death, except Hephaestion, who died before Alexander, Seleucus. So in spite of Alexander's precedent, the Macedonians were no more inclined to share with the Persians than before.
Ariston
Pella
Pella is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, best known as the historical capital of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and birthplace of Alexander the Great. On the site of the ancient city is the Archaeological Museum of Pella. A common folk etymology is traditionally given for the name Pella, deriving it from the Ancient Greek word pélla, "stone", it appears in some toponyms in Greece like Pallini. With the prefix a - it forms the Doric apella, meaning in enclosure of stone; the word apella meant fold, fence for animals, assembly of people into the limits of the square. Τhe original meaning was "wooden bowl", it meant "stone". R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *πελσα In Antiquity, Pella was a strategic port connected to the Thermaic Gulf by a navigable inlet, but the harbour and gulf have since silted up, leaving the site landlocked. Pella is first mentioned by Herodotus of Halicarnassus in relation to Xerxes' campaign and by Thucydides in relation to Macedonian expansion and the war against Sitalces, the king of the Thracians.
It was built as the capital of the kingdom by Archelaus I, replacing the older palace-city of Aigai although there appears to be some possibility that it may have been created by Amyntas. Archelaus invited the greatest painter of the time, to decorate his palace, he later hosted the poet Timotheus of Miletus and the Athenian playwright Euripides who finished his days there writing and producing Archelaus. Euripides Bacchae was first staged here, about 408 BC. According to Xenophon, in the beginning of the 4th century BC Pella was the largest Macedonian city, it was the birthplace and seats of Philip II, in 382 BC and of Alexander the Great, his son, in 356 BC. It became the largest and richest city in Macedonia and flourished under Cassander's rule; the reign of Antigonus most represented the height of the city's prosperity, as this is the period which has left us most archaeological remains. The famous poet Aratus died in Pella c. 240 BC. Pella is further mentioned by Polybius and Livy as the capital of Philip V and of Perseus during the Macedonian Wars fought against the Roman Republic.
In 168 BC, it was sacked by the Romans, its treasury transported to Rome, Livy reported how the city looked in 167 BC to Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus, the Roman who defeated Perseus at the battle of Pydna:... observed that it was not without good reason that it had been chosen as the royal residence. It is situated on the south-west slope of a hill and surrounded by a marsh too deep to be crossed on foot either in summer or winter; the citadel the "Phacus,", close to the city, stands in the marsh itself, projecting like an island, is built on a huge substructure, strong enough to carry a wall and prevent any damage from the infiltration from the water of the lagoon. At a distance it appears to be continuous with the city wall, but it is separated by a channel which flows between the two walls and is connected with the city by a bridge, thus it cuts off all means of access from an external foe, if the king shut anyone up there, there could be no possibility of escape except by the bridge, which could be easily guarded.
Pella was declared capital of the 3rd administrative division of the Roman province of Macedonia, was the seat of the Roman governor. Activity continued to be vigorous until the early 1st century BC and, crossed by the Via Egnatia, Pella remained a significant point on the route between Dyrrachium and Thessalonika. In about 90 BC the city was destroyed by an earthquake. Cicero stayed there in 58 BC, though by the provincial seat had transferred to Thessalonika. Pella was promoted to a Roman Colony sometime between 45 and 30 BC and its currency was marked Colonia Iulia Augusta Pella. Augustus settled peasants there. But, unlike other Macedonian colonies such as Philippi and Cassandreia, it never came under the jurisdiction of ius Italicum or Roman law. Four pairs of colonial magistrates are known for this period; the decline of the city was rapid, in spite of being a Colonia: Dio Chrysostom and Lucian both attest to the ruin of the ancient capital of Philip II and Alexander, though their accounts may be exaggerated.
In fact, the Roman city was somewhat to the west of and distinct from the original capital, which explains some contradictions between coinage and testimonial accounts. Despite its decline, archaeology has shown that the southern part of the city near the lagoon continued to be occupied until the 4th century.. In about 180 AD, Lucian of Samosata could describe it in passing as "now insignificant, with few inhabitants", it bore the name Diocletianopolis. In the Byzantine period, the Roman site was occupied by a fortified village. Excavations there by the Greek Archaeological Service begun in 1957 revealed large, well-built houses with colonnaded courts and rooms with mosaic floors portraying such scenes as a lion hunt and Dionysus riding a panther. In modern times it finds itself as the starting point of the Alexander The Great Marathon, in honour of the city's ancient heritage; the site was explored by 19th-century voyagers including Holand, Beaujour, Cousinéry, Hahn and Struck, based o
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans 3,700 pages, it is a classic work of 19th-century lexicography. The work is a companion to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography; the work lists thirty-five authors in addition to the editor, an author for some definitions and articles. The authors were classical scholars from Oxford, Rugby School, the University of Bonn, but some were from other institutions. Many of the mythological entries were the work of the German expatriate Leonhard Schmitz, who helped to popularise German classical scholarship in Britain. With respect to biographies, Smith intended to be comprehensive. In the preface, he writes:The biographical articles in this work include the names of all persons of any importance which occur in the Greek and Roman writers, from the earliest times down to the extinction of the Western Empire in the year 476 of our era, to the extinction of the Eastern Empire by the capture of Constantinople by the turks in the year 1453.
Samuel Sharpe thought Edward Bunbury had plagiarised his work, as he wrote of in his diary entry on 3 September 1850: I felt mortified on reading the articles on the Ptolemies in Dr. Smith's "Dictionary of Classical Biography." They were all written by E. H. Bunbury with the help of my "History of Egypt," and with-out any acknowledgment, though he borrowed the volume from my brother Dan for the purpose. Many of the Dictionary's definitions and articles have been referred to in more recent works, Robert Graves has been accused of "lifting his impressive-looking source references straight, unchecked" from it when writing The Greek Myths; the work is now in the public domain, is available in several places on the Internet. While still accurate, much is missing more recent discoveries and epigraphic material. More the context in which ancient evidence is viewed has changed in the intervening century and a half. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
Vol. I online at University of Michigan Library. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. II online at University of Michigan Library. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. III online at University of Michigan Library; the Internet Archive has a derivative work: Smith, William. A new classical dictionary of biography and geography based on the "Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology.". London: Murray. Anthon, Charles. A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and geography: based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology by William Smith. New York: Harper and Brothers
Amastrine
Amastris called Amastrine, was a Persian princess. She was the daughter of Oxyathres, the brother of the Persian King Darius III. Amastris was given by Alexander the Great in marriage to Craterus, however Craterus decided to marry Phila, one of the daughters of Antipater. Still, he first arranged his wife's advantageous marriage to Dionysius, tyrant of Heraclea Pontica, in Bithynia, whom she married in 322 BC, she bore him two sons named: Oxyathres. After the death of Dionysius, in 306, Amastris became guardian of their children. Several others joined in this administration. Amastris married Lysimachus in 302. However, he abandoned her shortly afterwards and married Arsinoe II, one of the daughters of Ptolemy I Soter, the first Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt. After her marriage to Lysimachus ended, Amastris retired to Heraclea, which she governed in her own right, she founded shortly after 300 a city called after her own name Amastris, on the sea-coast of Paphlagonia, by the fusion of the four smaller towns of Sesamus, Cromna and Tium.
Tium regained its autonomy, but the other three remained part of the city of Amastris' territory. She was drowned by her two sons about 284 but the matricide was avenged by Lysimachus, who made himself master of Heraclea, put both Clearchus and Oxyathres to death. Smith, William. "Amastris". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Cohen, Getzel M..
Babylon
Babylon was a key kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia from the 18th to 6th centuries BC. The city was built on the Euphrates river and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Babylon was a small Akkadian town dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c. 2300 BC. The town became part of a small independent city-state with the rise of the First Babylonian dynasty in the 19th century BC. After the Amorite king Hammurabi created a short-lived empire in the 18th century BC, he built Babylon up into a major city and declared himself its king, southern Mesopotamia became known as Babylonia and Babylon eclipsed Nippur as its holy city; the empire waned under Hammurabi's son Samsu-iluna and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the short lived Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, although a number of scholars believe these were in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.
After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanid empires. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world c. 1770 – c. 1670 BC, again c. 612 – c. 320 BC. It was the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the maximum extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares; the remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The main sources of information about Babylon—excavation of the site itself, references in cuneiform texts found elsewhere in Mesopotamia, references in the Bible, descriptions in classical writing, second-hand descriptions —present an incomplete and sometimes contradictory picture of the ancient city at its peak in the sixth century BC; the English Babylon comes from a transliteration of the Akkadian Bābilim. Archibald Sayce, writing in the 1870s, considered Bab-ilu or Bab-ili to be the translation of an earlier Sumerian name Ca-dimirra, meaning "gate of god", based on the characters KAN4 DIĜIR.
RAKI or based on other characters. According to Professor Dietz-Otto Edzard, the city was called Babilla, but by the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur, through a process of etymological speculation, had become Bāb-ili meaning "gate of god" or "god's gate"; the "gate of god" translation is viewed as a folk etymology to explain an unknown original non-Semitic placename. Linguist I. J. Gelb suggested in 1955 that Babil/Babilla is the basis of the city name, of unknown meaning and origin, as there were other similarly-named places in Sumer, there are no other examples of Sumerian place-names being replaced with Akkadian translations, he deduced that it transformed into Akkadian Bāb-ili, that the Sumerian Ka-dig̃irra was a translation of that, rather than vice versa. In the Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted in the Book of Genesis to mean "confusion", from the verb bilbél; the modern English verb, to babble, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection.
Ancient records in some situations use "Babylon" as a name for other cities, including cities like Borsippa within Babylon's sphere of influence, Nineveh for a short period after the Assyrian sack of Babylon. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris; the site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. The river bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the former western part of the city are now inundated; some portions of the city wall to the west of the river remain. Only a small portion of the ancient city has been excavated. Known remains include: Kasr – called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site. Amran Ibn Ali – the highest of the mounds at 25 meters, to the south.
It is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which contained shrines to Ea and Nabu. Homera – a reddish-colored mound on the west side. Most of the Hellenistic remains are here. Babil – a mound about 22 meters high at the northern end of the site, its bricks have been subject to looting since ancient times. It held a palace built by Nebuchadnezzar. Archaeologists have recovered few artifacts predating the Neo-Babylonian period; the water table in the region has risen over the centuries, artifacts from the time before the Neo-Babylonian Empire are unavailable to current standard archaeological methods. Additionally, the Neo-Babylonians conducted significant rebuilding projects in the city, which destroyed or obscured much of the earlier record. Babylon was pillaged numerous times after revolting against foreign rule, most notably by t
Anatolia
Anatolia known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, the Anatolian peninsula or the Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Armenian Highlands to the east and the Aegean Sea to the west; the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. The eastern border of Anatolia is traditionally held to be a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea, bounded by the Armenian Highland to the east and Mesopotamia to the southeast. Thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. Nowadays, Anatolia is often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, which comprises the entire country. By some definitions, the area called the Armenian highlands lies beyond the boundary of the Anatolian plateau.
The official name of this inland region is the Eastern Anatolia Region. The ancient inhabitants of Anatolia spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages, which were replaced by the Greek language starting from classical antiquity and during the Hellenistic and Byzantine periods. Major Anatolian languages included Hittite and Lydian among other more poorly attested relatives; the Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century and continued under the Ottoman Empire between the late 13th and early 20th centuries. However, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Neo-Aramaic, Arabic, Laz and Greek. Other ancient peoples in the region included Galatians, Assyrians, Cimmerians, as well as Ionian and Aeolian Greeks. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to an indefinite line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea, coterminous with the Anatolian Plateau; this traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia.
To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria and the Mesopotamian plain. Following the Armenian genocide, Ottoman Armenia was renamed "Eastern Anatolia" by the newly established Turkish government. Vazken Davidian terms the expanded use of "Anatolia" to apply to territory referred to as Armenia an "ahistorical imposition", notes that a growing body of literature is uncomfortable with referring to the Ottoman East as "Eastern Anatolia". Most archeological sources consider the boundary of Anatolia to be Turkey's eastern border; the highest mountains in "Eastern Anatolia" are Mount Ararat. The Euphrates, Araxes and Murat rivers connect the Armenian plateau to the South Caucasus and the Upper Euphrates Valley. Along with the Çoruh, these rivers are the longest in "Eastern Anatolia"; the oldest known reference to Anatolia – as “Land of the Hatti” – appears on Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from the period of the Akkadian Empire. The first recorded name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula, Ἀσία echoed the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia.
As the name "Asia" broadened its scope to apply to other areas east of the Mediterranean, Greeks in Late Antiquity came to use the name Μικρὰ Ἀσία or Asia Minor, meaning "Lesser Asia" to refer to present-day Anatolia. The English-language name Anatolia itself derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more “sunrise”; the precise reference of this term has varied over time originally referring to the Aeolian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western and central parts of Turkey's present-day Central Anatolia Region; the term "Anatolia" is Medieval Latin. The modern Turkish form of Anatolia, derives from the Greek name Aνατολή; the Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin. The term "Anatolia" referred to a northwestern Byzantine province. By the 12th century Europeans had started referring to Anatolia as Turchia, it has also been called "Asia Minor". In earlier times, it was called" Rûm" by the Seljuqs.
During the era of the Ottoman Empire mapmakers outside the Empire referred to the mountainous plateau in eastern Anatolia as Armenia. Other contemporary sources called the same area Kurdistan. Geographers have variously used the terms east Anatolian plateau and Armenian plateau to refer to the region, although the territory encompassed by each term overlaps with the other. According to archaeologist Lori Khatchadourian this difference in terminology "primarily result from the shifting political fortunes and cultural trajectories of the region since the nineteenth century."Turkey's First Geography Congress in 1941 created two regions to the east of the Gulf of Iskenderun-Black Sea line named the Eastern Anatolia Region and the Southeastern Anatolia Region, the former corresponding to the weste
Jhelum
Jhelum is a city on the right bank of the Jhelum River, in the district of the same name in the north of Punjab province, Pakistan. Jhelum is known for providing a large number of soldiers to the British Army before independence, to the Pakistan armed forces - due to which it is known as City of Soldiers or Land of Martyrs and Warriors. Jhelum is a few miles upstream from the site of the ancient Battle of the Hydaspes between the armies of Alexander and King Porus. A city called Bucephala was founded nearby to commemorate the death of Alexander's horse, Bucephalus. Other notable sites nearby include the 16th-century Rohtas Fort, the Tilla Jogian complex of ancient temples, the 16th-century Grand Trunk Road which passes through the city. According to the 1998 census of Pakistan, the population of Jhelum was 145,647 and in 2012 its population is 188,803; the name of the city is derived from the words Jal and Ham, as the river that flows through the river originates in the Himalayas. There are a number of industries in and around Jhelum city, including a tobacco factory, marble and flour mills.
Anjum Sultan Shahbaz recorded some stories of the name Jhelum in his book Tareekh-e-Jhelum as: Shahbaz, Anjum Sultan. Tareekh-e-Jhelum. History of Jhelum. Book Corner, Main Bazar, Jhelum. P. 92. The Gujjars and Ahirs, who now hold the Salt Range and its northern plateau appear to have been the earliest inhabitants of Jhelum; the next major point in the history of the district was the Battle of the Hydaspes between Alexander and the local ruler, Porus. Abisares, called Embisarus by Diodorus, was an Indian people king of abhira descent beyond the river Hydaspes, whose territory lay in the mountains, sent embassies to Alexander both before and after the conquest of Porus in 326 BC, although inclined to espouse the side of the latter. Alexander not only allowed him to retain his kingdom, but increased it, on his death appointed his son as his successor; the Gakhars appear to represent an early wave of conquerors from the west, who still inhabit a large tract in the mountain north to tilla range. Gakhars were the dominant race during the early Muslim era and they long continued to retain their independence, both in Jhelum itself and in the neighbouring district of Rawalpindi.
In 997 CE, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, took over the Ghaznavid dynasty empire established by his father, Sultan Sebuktegin. In 1005 he conquered the Shahis in Kabul and followed it by the conquests of Punjab region including Jhelum; the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire ruled the region. The Punjab region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of Punjab region; the Mughals were Persianized Turks who claimed descent from both Timur and Genghis Khan and strengthened the Persianate culture of Muslim India. Being few in number,main families of Mughal Barlas, the descent of Ameer-i- Taimoor settled in Mong Rasool and after ward scattered to village chak Nazar, Aima Afghana, Chak sikander, Malhar Muglain, Mota Garbi, they adopted a policy of converting the local jats and Gakhars mandatory as recorded in the Baburnama, thus it is credited to the Mughals, who were responsible for the conversion of the jatts to Islam. With the collapse of the Mughal Empire after the death of Aurangzeb, the Durrani empire had occupied the plains but were ousted by the Sikhs.
After the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Sikh occupied Jhelum District. In 1849 Jhelum passed with the rest of the Sikh territories to the British. In 1857 the 14th Native Infantry stationed at Jhelum town mutinied, displayed a vigorous defence against a force sent from Rawalpindi to disarm them, but decamped for the night following the action, with the main body being subsequently arrested by the Kashmiri authorities, into whose territory they had escaped. During British rule, Jhelum was connected by the North-Western Railway to other cities in the Indian Empire, 1,367 miles from Calcutta, 1,413 from Bombay, 849 from Karachi; the population according to the 1901 census of India was 14,951. According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India: During the Mutiny of 1857, 35 British soldiers of the Regular 24th Regiment of Foot were killed at the Battle of Jhelum by mutineers from the Honourable East India Companies 14th Bengal Native Infantry. Among the dead was Captain Francis Spring, the eldest son of Colonel William Spring.
A lectern inside St. John's Church Jhelum shows the names of those 35 soldiers. St. John's Church is located in the Jhelum Pakistan beside the river Jhelum, it remains a landmark in the city. It was built as a Protestant church, was in use throughout the British period. For the past forty years it has been closed to the public and in poor condition, however it has since been renovated and reopened and is now maintained; the British soldier William Connolly won a Victoria Cross for his bravery during this battle. Mirza Dildar Baig known as Khaki Shah, took part in the mutiny at Jhelum and was celebrated by Indian Nationalists, he was captured and arrested with the remaining mutineers by authorities in Kashmir and hanged near the river Jhelum. His grave is in a shrine in Jhelum Dildarnagar, a small town in Uttar Pradesh is named after him; the railway bridge on the river Jhelum was built in 1873 by the British engineer William St. John Galwey, he made the great Empress Bridge over the river Sutlej.
The predominantly Muslim population supported Pakistan Movement. After the independence of Pakist
