Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire known as the Sassanian, Sassanid or Neo-Persian Empire, was the last kingdom of the Persian Empire before the rise of Islam. Named after the House of Sasan, it ruled from 224 to 651 AD; the Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire and was recognised as one of the leading world powers alongside its neighbouring arch-rival the Roman-Byzantine Empire for a period of more than 400 years. 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. At its greatest extent, the Sasanian Empire encompassed all of today's Iran, Eastern Arabia, the Levant, the Caucasus, large parts of Turkey, much of Central Asia and Pakistan. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani; the Sasanian Empire during Late Antiquity is considered to have been one of Iran's most important, influential historical periods and constituted the last great Iranian empire before the Muslim conquest and the adoption of Islam.
In many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilisation. The Sasanians' cultural influence extended far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa and India, it played a prominent role in the formation of both Asian medieval art. Much of what became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture 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 and subsequent rise of the Sassanian Empire in mystery; the Sassanian Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was the ruler of a region called Khir. However, by the year 200 he had managed to overthrow Gochihr and appoint himself the new ruler of the Bazrangids, his mother, was the daughter of the provincial governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power over all of Pars; the subsequent events are due to the elusive nature of the sources.
It is certain, that following the death of Papak, who at the time was the governor of Darabgerd, became involved in a power struggle of his own with his elder brother Shapur. 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 other brothers who were put to death, Ardashir declared himself ruler of Pars. Once Ardashir was appointed shah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars and founded Ardashir-Khwarrah; the city, well protected by high mountains and defensible due to the narrow passes that approached it, became the centre of Ardashir's efforts to gain more power. It was surrounded by a high, circular wall copied from that of Darabgird. Ardashir's palace was on the north side of the city. After establishing his rule over Pars, Ardashir extended his territory, demanding fealty from the local princes of Fars, gaining control over the neighbouring provinces of Kerman, Isfahan and Mesene.
This expansion came to the attention of Artabanus V, the Parthian king, who ordered the governor of Khuzestan to wage war against Ardashir in 224, but Ardashir was victorious in the ensuing battles. In a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where the former met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir went on to invade the western provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. At that time the Arsacid dynasty was divided between supporters of Artabanus V and Vologases VI, which allowed Ardashir to consolidate his authority in the south with little or no interference from the Parthians. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, separated from the rest of Iran. Crowned in 224 at Ctesiphon as the sole ruler of Persia, Ardashir took the title shahanshah, or "King of Kings", bringing the 400-year-old Parthian Empire to an end, beginning four centuries of Sassanid rule. In the next few years, local rebellions occurred throughout the empire.
Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Khorasan, Margiana and Chorasmia. He added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanid's possessions. Sassanid inscriptions claim the submission of the Kings of Kushan and Mekran to Ardashir, although based on numismatic evidence it is more that these submitted to Ardashir's son, the future Shapur I. In the west, assaults against Hatra and Adiabene met with less success. In 230, Ardashir raided deep into Roman territory, a Roman counter-offensive two years ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir I's son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria and the western portion of the Kushan Empire, while leading several campaigns against Rome. 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.
The emperor Gordian III's subsequent advance down the Euphrates was defea
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate or dry summer climate is characterized by rainy winters and dry summers, with less than 40 mm of precipitation for at least three summer months. While the climate receives its name from the Mediterranean Basin, these are located on the western coasts of continents, between 30 and 45 degrees north and south of the equator between oceanic climates towards the poles, semi-arid and arid climates towards the equator. In essence, due to the seasonal shift of the subtropical high-pressure belts with the apparent movement of the Sun, a Mediterranean climate is an intermediate type between these other climates, with winters warmer and drier than oceanic climates and summers imitating sunny weather in semi-arid and arid climates; the resulting vegetation of Mediterranean climates are the garrigue or maquis in the Mediterranean Basin, the chaparral in California, the fynbos in South Africa, the mallee in Australia, the matorral in Chile. Areas with this climate are where the so-called "Mediterranean trinity" of agricultural products have traditionally developed: wheat and olive.
Most large, historic cities of the Mediterranean basin lie within Mediterranean climatic zones, including Algiers, Beirut, İzmir, Marseille, Rome and Valencia. Examples of major cities with Mediterranean climates that lie outside of the historic Mediterranean basin include major examples as Adelaide, Cape Town, Dushanbe, Los Angeles, Perth, San Francisco and Victoria. Under the Köppen climate classification, "hot dry-summer" climates and "cool dry-summer" climates are referred to as "Mediterranean". Under the Köppen climate system, the first letter indicates the climate group. Temperate climates or "C" zones have an average temperature above 0 °C, but below 18 °C, in their coolest months; the second letter indicates the precipitation pattern. Köppen has defined a dry summer month as a month with less than 30 mm of precipitation and with less than one-third that of the wettest winter month. Some, use a 40 mm level; the third letter indicates the degree of summer heat: "a" represents an average temperature in the warmest month above 22 °C, while "b" indicates the average temperature in the warmest month below 22 °C.
Under the Köppen classification, dry-summer climates occur on the western sides of continents. Csb zones in the Köppen system include areas not associated with Mediterranean climates but with Oceanic climates, such as much of the Pacific Northwest, much of southern Chile, parts of west-central Argentina, parts of New Zealand. Additional highland areas in the subtropics meet Cs requirements, though they, are not associated with Mediterranean climates, as do a number of oceanic islands such as Madeira, the Juan Fernández Islands, the western part of the Canary Islands, the eastern part of the Azores. Under Trewartha's modified Köppen climate classification, the two major requirements for a Cs climate are revised. Under Trewartha's system, at least eight months must have average temperatures of 10 °C or higher, the average annual precipitation must not exceed 900 mm. Thus, under this system, many Csb zones in the Köppen system become Do, the rare Csc zones become Eo, with only the classic dry-summer to warm winter, low annual rainfall locations included in the Mediterranean type climate.
During summer, regions of Mediterranean climate are influenced by cold ocean currents which keep the weather in the region dry and pleasant. Similar to desert climates, in many Mediterranean climates there is a strong diurnal character to daily temperatures in the warm summer months due to strong heating during the day from sunlight and rapid cooling at night. In winter, Mediterranean climate zones are no longer influenced by the cold ocean currents and therefore warmer water settles near land and causes clouds to form and rainfall becomes much more likely; as a result, areas with this climate receive all of their precipitation during their winter and spring seasons, may go anywhere from 3 to 6 months during the summer without having any significant precipitation. In the lower latitudes, precipitation decreases in both the winter and summer because they are closer to the Horse latitudes, thus bringing smaller amounts of rain. Toward the polar latitudes, total moisture increases; the rainfall tends to be more evenly distributed throughout the year in Southern Europe, while in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Southern California the summer is nearly or dry.
In places where evapotranspiration is higher, steppe climates tend to prevail, but still follow the weather pattern of the Mediterranean climate. The majority of the regions with Mediterranean climates have mild winters and warm summers; however winter and summer temperatures can vary between different regions with a Mediterranean climate. For instance, in the case of winters and Los Angeles experience mild temperatures in the winter, with frost and snowfall unknown, whereas Tashkent has colder winters with annual frosts and snowfall. Or to consider summer, Athens experiences rather high temperatures in that season. In contrast, San Francisco has cool summers with daily highs around 21 °C due to
Sunshine duration
Sunshine duration or sunshine hours is a climatological indicator, measuring duration of sunshine in given period for a given location on Earth expressed as an averaged value over several years. It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day; the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration and daylight duration in the observed period. An important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites of health resorts; this takes into account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is used to promote tourist destinations. If the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth.
However, there are physical and astronomical effects. Namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, where the apparent Sun spends the most time around the horizon. Places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime, 4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575; because of elliptic nature of the Earth's orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical: the Antarctic Circle, with 4,530 hours of daylight, receives five days less of sunshine than its antipodes. The Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, there is a practical consideration at which point the amount of daylight is sufficient to be treated as a "sunshine hour". "Bright" sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just "visible" hours. "Visible" sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, but is not strong enough to excite the sensor.
Measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, which use a spherical glass lens to focus the sun rays on a specially designed tape; when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the burn trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder. Newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In order to harmonize the data measured worldwide, in 1962 the World Meteorological Organization defined a standardized design of the Campbell–Stokes recorder, called an Interim Reference Sunshine Recorder. In 2003, the sunshine duration was defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². Sunshine duration follows a general geographic pattern: subtropical latitudes have the highest sunshine values, because these are the locations of the eastern sides of the subtropical high pressure systems, associated with the large-scale descent of air from the upper-level tropopause.
Many of the world's driest climates are found adjacent to the eastern sides of the subtropical highs, which create stable atmospheric conditions, little convective overturning, little moisture and cloud cover. Desert regions, with nearly constant high pressure aloft and rare condensation—like North Africa, the Southwestern United States, Western Australia, the Middle East—are examples of hot, dry climates where sunshine duration values are high; the two major areas with the highest sunshine duration, measured as annual average, are the central and the eastern Sahara Desert—covering vast desert countries such as Egypt, Libya and Niger—and the Southwestern United States. The city claiming the official title of the sunniest in the world is Yuma, with over 4,000 hours of bright sunshine annually, but many climatological books suggest there may be sunnier areas in North Africa. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, Upper Egypt, annual sunshine duration is estimated at over 4,000 hours.
There is a smaller, isolated area of sunshine maximum in the heart of the western section of the Sahara Desert around the Eglab Massif and the Erg Chech, along the borders of Algeria and Mali where the 4,000-hour mark is exceeded, too. Some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3,600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually; the largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa. The sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with 23 hours of bright sun daily. Conversely, higher latitudes lying in stormy westerlies have much cloudier and more unstable and rainy weather, have the lowest values of sunshine duration annually. Temperate oceanic climates like those in northwestern Europe, the western coast of Canada, areas of New Zealand's South Island are examples of cool, wet, humid climates where cloudless sunshine duration values are low; the areas with the lowest sunshine duration annually lie over the polar oceans, as well as parts of northern Europe, southern Alaska, northern Russia, areas near the Sea of
Muslim conquest of Persia
The Muslim conquest of Persia known as the Arab conquest of Iran, led to the end of the Sasanian Empire of Persia in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. The rise of Muslims coincided with an unprecedented political, social and military weakness in Persia. Once a major world power, the Sasanian Empire had exhausted its human and material resources after decades of warfare against the Byzantine Empire; the internal political situation deteriorated after the execution of King Khosrow II in 628 AD. Subsequently, ten new claimants were enthroned within the next four years. With civil war erupting between different factions, the empire was no longer centralized. Arab Muslims first attacked the Sassanid territory in 633, when general Khalid ibn Walid invaded Mesopotamia, the political and economic center of the Sassanid state. Following the transfer of Khalid to the Byzantine front in the Levant, the Muslims lost their holdings to Sassanian counterattacks; the second invasion began in 636 under Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas, when a key victory at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah led to the permanent end of Sasanian control west of Iran.
The Zagros mountains became a natural barrier and border between the Rashidun Caliphate and the Sassanid Empire. Due to continuous raids by Persians into the area, Caliph Umar ordered a full invasion of the Sasanian empire in 642, which led to the complete conquest of the Sasanians around 651. Directing from Medina, a few thousand kilometres from the battlefields of Iran, Caliph Umar's quick conquest of Iran in a series of well-coordinated, multi-pronged attacks became his greatest triumph, contributing to his reputation as a great military and political strategist. Iranian historians have defended their forebears vis a vis Arab sources to illustrate that "contrary to the claims of some historians, Iranians, in fact, fought long and hard against the invading Arabs." By 651, most of the urban centers in Iranian lands, with the notable exception of the Caspian provinces and Transoxiana, had come under the domination of the Arab armies. Many localities fought against the invaders. In fact, although Arabs had established hegemony over most of the country, many cities rose in rebellion by killing the Arab governor or attacking their garrisons.
Military reinforcements quashed the insurgency and imposed Islamic control. The violent subjugation of Bukhara is a case in point: Conversion to Islam was gradual as the result of this violent resistance. However, the Persians began to reassert themselves by maintaining Persian culture. Islam would become the dominant religion late in the medieval ages; when Western academics first investigated the Muslim conquest of Persia, they only had to rely on the accounts of the Armenian Christian bishop Sebeos, accounts in Arabic that were written some time after the events they describe. The most significant work was that of Arthur Christensen, his L’Iran sous les Sassanides, published in Copenhagen and Paris in 1944. Recent scholarship has begun to question the traditional narrative: Parvaneh Pourshariati, in her Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, published in 2008, provides both a detailed overview of the problematic nature of trying to establish what happened, a great deal of original research that questions fundamental facts of the traditional narrative, including the timeline and specific dates.
Pourshariati's central thesis is that contrary to what was assumed, the Sassanian Empire was decentralized, was in fact a "confederation" with the Parthians, who themselves retained a high level of independence. Despite their recent victories over the Byzantine Empire, the Parthians unexpectedly withdrew from the confederation, the Sassanians were thus ill-prepared and ill-equipped to mount an effective and cohesive defense against the Muslim armies. Moreover, the powerful northern and eastern Parthian families, the kust-i khwarasan and kust-i adurbadagan, withdrew to their respective strongholds and made peace with the Arabs, refusing to fight alongside the Sassanians. Another important theme of Pourshariati's study is a re-evaluation of the traditional timeline. Pourshariati argues that the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia "took place, not, as has been conventionally believed, in the years 632–634, after the accession of the last Sasanian king Yazdgerd III to power, but in the period from 628 to 632."
An important consequence of this change in timeline means that the Arab conquest started when the Sassanians and Parthians were engaged in internecine warfare over succession to the Sassanian throne. Since the 1st century BC, the border between the Roman and Parthian empires had been the Euphrates River; the border was contested. Most battles, thus most fortifications, were concentrated in the hilly regions of the north, as the vast Arabian or Syrian Desert separated the rival empires in the south; the only dangers expected from the south were occasional raids by nomadic Arab tribesmen. Both empires therefore allied themselves with small, semi-independent Arab principalities, which served as buffer states and protected Byzantium and Persia from Bedouin attacks; the Byzantine clients were the Ghassanids. The Ghassanids and Lakhmids feuded which kept them occupied, but that did not affect the Byzantines or the Persians. In the 6th and 7th centuries, various factors destroyed the balance of power that had held for so many ce
Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia
The Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia from 1219 to 1221 marked the beginning of the Mongol conquest of the Islamic states. The Mongol expansion would culminate in the conquest of all of Asia with the exception of Japan, the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, it was not the intention of the Mongol Empire to invade the Khwarezmid Empire. According to the Persian historian Juzjani, Genghis Khan had sent the ruler of the Khwarezmid Empire, Ala ad-Din Muhammad, a message seeking trade and greeted him as his neighbor: "I am master of the lands of the rising sun while you rule those of the setting sun. Let us conclude a firm treaty of friendship and peace." Or he said "I am Khan of the lands of the rising sun while you are sultan of those of the setting sun: Let us conclude a firm agreement of friendship and peace." The Mongols' original unification of all "people in felt tents", unifying the nomadic tribes in Mongolia and the Turcomens and other nomadic peoples, had come with little bloodshed, no material loss.
The Mongol wars with the Jurchens however had shown. Shah Muhammad reluctantly agreed to this peace treaty; the war started less than a year when a Mongol caravan and its envoys were massacred in the Khwarezmian city of Otrar. In the ensuing war, lasting less than two years, the Khwarezmid Empire was destroyed. After the defeat of the Kara-Khitans, Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire gained a border with the Khwarezmid Empire, governed by Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad; the Shah had only taken some of the territory under his control, he was busy with a dispute with the Caliph An-Nasir. The Shah had refused to make the obligatory homage to the caliph as titular leader of Islam, demanded recognition as Shah of his empire, without any of the usual bribes or pretenses; this alone had created problems for him along his southern border. It was at this junction the expanding Mongol Empire made contact. Mongol historians are adamant that the great khan at that time had no intention of invading the Khwarezmid Empire, was only interested in trade and a potential alliance.
The Shah was suspicious of Genghis' desire for a trade agreement, messages from the Shah's ambassador at Zhongdu in China described the savagery of the Mongols when they assaulted the city during their war with the Jin dynasty. Of further interest is that the caliph of Baghdad had attempted to instigate a war between the Mongols and the Shah some years before the Mongol invasion occurred; this attempt at an alliance with Genghis was made because of a dispute between Nasir and the Shah, but the Khan had no interest in alliance with any ruler who claimed ultimate authority, titular or not, which marked the Caliphate for an extinction which would come from Genghis' grandson, Hulegu. At the time, this attempt by the Caliph involved the Shah's ongoing claim to be named sultan of Khwarezm, something that Nasir had no wish to grant, as the Shah refused to acknowledge his authority, however illusory such authority was. However, it is known that Genghis rejected the notion of war as he was engaged in war with the Jin dynasty and was gaining much wealth from trading with the Khwarezmid Empire.
Genghis sent a 500-man caravan of Muslims to establish official trade ties with Khwarezmia. However Inalchuq, the governor of the Khwarezmian city of Otrar, had the members of the caravan that came from Mongolia arrested, claiming that the caravan was a conspiracy against Khwarezmia, it seems unlikely, that any members of the trade delegation were spies. Nor does it seem that Genghis was trying to initiate a conflict with the Khwarezmid Empire with the caravan, considering he was making steady progress against a faltering Jin empire in northern China at that moment. Genghis Khan sent a second group of three ambassadors to meet the shah himself and demand the caravan at Otrar be set free and the governor be handed over for punishment; the shah had both of the Mongols shaved and had the Muslim beheaded before sending them back to Genghis Khan. Muhammad ordered the personnel of the caravan to be executed; this was seen as a grave affront to the Khan himself, who considered ambassadors "as sacred and inviolable".
This led Genghis Khan to attack the Khwarezmian dynasty. The Mongols crossed the Tian Shan mountains, coming into the Shah's empire in 1219. After compiling information from many intelligence sources from spies along the Silk Road, Genghis Khan prepared his army, organized differently from his earlier campaigns; the changes had come in adding supporting units to his dreaded cavalry, both light. While still relying on the traditional advantages of his mobile nomadic cavalry, Genghis incorporated many aspects of warfare from China in siege warfare, his baggage train included such siege equipment as battering rams and enormous siege bows capable of throwing 20-foot arrows into siege works. The Mongol intelligence network was formidable; the Mongols never invaded an opponent whose military and economic will and ability to resist had not been and scouted. For instance and Batu Khan spent a year scouting central Europe, before destroying the armies of Hungary and Poland in two separate battles, two days apart.
In this invasion, the Khan first demonstrated the use of indirect attack that would become a hallmark of his campaigns, those of his sons and grandsons. The Khan divided his armies, sent one force to find and execute the Shah – so that he was forced to run for his life in his own country
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander and philosopher of the Roman period. The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of Alexander the Great. However, more even though modern scholars have preferred Arrian to other extant primary sources, this attitude towards Arrian is beginning to change in the light of studies into Arrian's method. Arrian was born in the provincial capital of Bithynia. Dio called him Flavius Arrianus Nicomediansis. In respect of his birth date, sources provide similar dates for his birth; the line of reasoning for dates belonging to 85-90 AD is from the fact of Arrian being made a consul around 130 AD, the usual age for this, during this period, being forty-two years of age.. His family was from the Greek provincial aristocracy, his full name, L. Flavius Arrianus, indicates that he was a Roman citizen, suggesting that the citizenship went back several generations to the time of the Roman conquest some 170 years before.
Sometime during the 2nd century AD while in Epirus Nicopolis, Arrian attended lectures of Epictetus of Nicopolis, proceeded within a time to fall into his pupillage, a fact attested to by Lucian. All, known about the life of Epictetus is due to Arrian, in that Arrian left an Encheiridion of Epictetus' philosophy. After Epirus he went to Athens, while there he became known as the young Xenophon as a consequence of the similarity of his relation to Epictetus as Xenophon had to Socrates. For a period, some time about 126 AD, he was a friend of the emperor Hadrian, who appointed him to the Senate, he was appointed to the position consul suffectus around 130 AD, in 132 AD, he was made prefect or legate of Cappadocia by Hadrian, a service he continued for six years. When he retired, Arrian went to live in Athens, where he became archon sometime during 145 or 146, he died in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Arrian referred to himself as the second Xenophon, on account of his reputation and the esteem in which he was held.
Lucian stated him to be: a Roman of the first rank with a life-long attachment to learning Τhis quality is identified as paideia, the quality considered to be of one, known as an educated and learned personage, i.e. one, esteemed and important. There are eight extant works; the Indica and the Anabasis are the only works intact. His entire remaining oeuvre is known as FGrH 156 to designate those collected fragments; this work is the earliest extant work, dated with any confidence. It is a writing addressed to the Emperor Hadrian. Arrian was a pupil of Epictetus around 108 AD, according to his own account, he was moved to publish his notes of Epictetus' lectures, which are known as Discourses of Epictetus, by their unauthorized dissemination. According to George Long, Arrian noted from Epictetus' lectures for his private use and some time made of these, the Discourses. Photius states that Arrian produced two books the Discourses; the Discourses are known as Diatribai and are a verbatim recording of Epictetus' lectures.
The Enchiridion is a short compendium of all Epictetus' philosophical principles. It is known as a handbook, A Mehl considers the Enchiridion to have been a vade mecum for Arrian; the Enchiridion is a summary of the Discourses. JB Stockdale considered that Arrian wrote eight books of which four were lost by the Middle Ages and the remaining ones became the Discourses. In a comparison of the contents of the Enchiridion with the Discourses, it is apparent that the former contains material not present within the latter, suggesting an original lost source for the Enchiridion. Friendly conversations with Epictetus is a 12 book work mentioned by Photius in his Bibliotheca, of which only fragments remain; the Anabasis of Alexander comprises seven books. Arrian used Xenophon's account of the March of Cyrus as the basis for this work. History of the Diadochi or Events after Alexander is a work of ten books. Three extant fragments are the Vatican Palimpsest, PSI 12.1284, the Gothenburg palimpsest, these stemming from Photius.
The writing is about the successors of Alexander the Great, circa 323 – 321 or 319. A lost work of seventeen books, fragments of Parthica were maintained by the Suda and Stephen of Byzantium; the work survives only in adaptations made by Photius and Syncellus. Translated, the title is History of the Parthians. Arrian's aim in the work was to set forth events of the Parthian war of Trajan; the writing mentioned that the Parthians trace their origins to Artaxerxes II. A work of eight books, Bibliotheca states. A work translated a Nicodemian script. Indica is a work on a variety of things pertaining to India, the voyage of Nearchus in the Persian Gulf; the first part of Indica was based on the work of the same name of Megasthenes, the second part based on a journal written by Nearchus. Written 136/137 AD, Techne Taktike is a treatise on Roman cavalry and military tactics, includes information on the nature and disciplin
Neolithic
The Neolithic, the final division of the Stone Age, began about 12,000 years ago when the first development of farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East, in other parts of the world. The division lasted until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic from about 6,500 years ago, marked by the development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. In Northern Europe, the Neolithic lasted until about 1700 BC, while in China it extended until 1200 BC. Other parts of the world remained broadly in the Neolithic stage of development, although this term may not be used, until European contact; the Neolithic comprises a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and of domesticated animals. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, "new" and λίθος líthos, "stone" meaning "New Stone Age"; the term was coined by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. Following the ASPRO chronology, the Neolithic started in around 10,200 BC in the Levant, arising from the Natufian culture, when pioneering use of wild cereals evolved into early farming.
The Natufian period or "proto-Neolithic" lasted from 12,500 to 9,500 BC, is taken to overlap with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of 10,200–8800 BC. As the Natufians had become dependent on wild cereals in their diet, a sedentary way of life had begun among them, the climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas are thought to have forced people to develop farming. By 10,200–8800 BC farming communities had arisen in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa and North Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat and spelt, the keeping of dogs and goats. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, the use of pottery. Not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order: the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery.
In other parts of the world, such as Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, independent domestication events led to their own regionally distinctive Neolithic cultures, which arose independently of those in Europe and Southwest Asia. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC. Early development occurred from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC; the prehistoric Beifudi site near Yixian in Hebei Province, contains relics of a culture contemporaneous with the Cishan and Xinglongwa cultures of about 6000–5000 BC, neolithic cultures east of the Taihang Mountains, filling in an archaeological gap between the two Northern Chinese cultures. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the collection of neolithic findings at the site encompasses two phases.
The Neolithic 1 period began around 10,000 BC in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe, dated to around 9500 BC, may be regarded as the beginning of the period; this site was developed by nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, as evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity, may be the oldest known human-made place of worship. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals and birds. Stone tools were used by as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, West Bank, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, Byblos, Lebanon; the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming. In the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, early seed selection and re-seeding occurred; the grain was ground into flour. Emmer wheat was domesticated, animals were herded and domesticated.
In 2006, remains of figs were discovered in a house in Jericho dated to 9400 BC. The figs are of a mutant variety that cannot be pollinated by insects, therefore the trees can only reproduce from cuttings; this evidence suggests that figs were the first cultivated crop and mark the invention of the technology of farming. This occurred centuries before the first cultivation of grains. Settlements became more permanent, with circular houses, much like those of the Natufians, with single rooms. However, these houses were for the first time made of mudbrick; the settlement had a surrounding stone wall and a stone tower. The wall served as protection from nearby groups, as protection from floods, or to keep animals penned; some of the enclosures suggest grain and meat storage. The Neolithic 2 began around 8800 BC according to the ASPRO chronology in the Levant; as with the PPNA dates, there are two versions from the same laboratories noted above. This system of terminology, however, is not convenient for southeast Anatolia and settlements of the middle Anatolia basin.
A settlement of 3,000 inhabitants was found in th
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Iran
listen); also romanized as Gorgān, Gurgān, and Gurgan), formerly Esterabad (استرآباد [ʔæsˌtæɾɒːˈbɒːd]; also romanized as Astarābād, Asterabad, and Esterābād),[3] is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies approximately 400 km (250 mi) to the north east of Tehran, some 30 km (19 mi) away from the Caspian Sea. In the 2006 census; its population was 269,226, in 73,702 families.[4]
Aktau, Kazakhstan[12]
Samsun, Turkey (2006)
