Pontic-Caspian steppe
–
It is a part of the Palearctic temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. The area corresponds to Cimmeria, Scythia, and Sarmatia of classical antiquity, across several millennia the steppe was used by numerous tribes of nomadic horsemen, many of which went on to conquer lands in the settled regions of Europe and in western and southern Asia. The term Ponto-Caspian region is used in biogeography for plants and animals of these steppes, and animals from the Black, Caspian, genetic research has identified this region as the most probable place where horses were first domesticated. The Pontic steppe covers an area of 994,000 square kilometres, extending from eastern Romania across southern Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, the Pontic steppe is bounded by the East European forest-steppe to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. The Kazakh Steppe bounds the Pontic steppe
Utigurs
–
Utigurs were nomadic equestrians who flourished in the Pontic-Caspian steppe in the 6th century AD. They were similar to the Kutrigurs to their west, lajos Ligeti proposed utur-, while Louis Bazin uturkar, Quturgur and qudurmaq. No evidence has been presented that the Guti moved from their homeland in the Zagros Mountains to the Steppes, and they are widely believed to have spoken an Indo-European language. The Udi were mentioned by Pliny the Elder, in connection with the Aorsi, the Sarmatians and a Scythian caste/tribe known as the Aroteres, who lived above the maritime coast of Albania, udini on the western shores of the Caspian Sea. Neither is there general acceptance of Edwin G. Pulleyblanks suggestion that the Utigurs may be linked to the Yuezhi – an Indo-European people that settled in Western China during ancient times, the origin of relative tribes Utigurs and Kutrigurs is obscure. Procopius wrote that Beyond the Sagins dwell many Hunnish tribes, the land is called Evlisia and
1.
Eastern Hemisphere in c. 600 AD.
Turkic tribal confederations
–
The Turkic term oğuz or oğur is a historical term for military division, clan, or tribe among the Turkic peoples. With the Mongol invasions of 1206–21, the Turkic khaganates were replaced by Mongol or hybrid Turco-Mongol confederations, onogur ten tribes Toquz Oghuz nine tribes Uyghur The Old Turkic stem uq-, oq- kin, tribe is from a Proto-Turkic *uk. To the leader of tribe, he sent an arrow. The name was the ten she, but they were called the ten arrows. An oguz was in origin a military division of a Nomadic empire, karoly Czeglédy, On the Numerical Composition of the Ancient Turkic Tribal Confederations, Acta Orient. Orda Turkic peoples Oghuz Turks Turkic migration Huns Xiongnu Khaganate Turco-Mongol Zubu
Gutian people
–
The Guti or Quti, also known by the derived exonyms Gutians or Guteans, were a nomadic people of the Zagros Mountains during ancient times. Their homeland was known as Gutium The Guti are often regarded as precursors of the modern Kurds, conflict between people from Gutium and the Akkadian Empire has been linked to the collapse of the empire, towards the end of the 3rd Millennium BCE. The Guti subsequently overran southern Mesopotamia and formed a dynasty in Sumer. The Sumerian king list suggests that the Guti ruled over Sumer for several generations, by the 1st Millennium BCE, usage of the name Gutium, by the peoples of lowland Mesopotamia, had expanded to include all of western Media, between the Zagros and the Tigris. Various tribes and places to the east and northeast were often referred to as Gutians or Gutium, for example, Assyrian royal annals use the term Gutians in relation to populations known to have been Medes or Mannaeans. As late as the reign of Cyrus the Great of Persia,
Udi people
–
The Udis are an ancient native people of the Caucasus. Currently, they live in Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, the total number is about 10,000 people. Some also speak Azerbaijani, Russian, Georgian and Armenian languages depending on where they reside, the Udi people are one of the Caucasian Albania tribes, whose language is within that language family. Today the Udi live mostly in Azerbaijan, in the village of Nij of the region of Kabala, Oğuz, the Udi are considered to be the descendants of the people of Caucasian Albania. Today, most Udis belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church, centuries of life in the sphere of Turco-Persian society influenced their culture, as is expressed in Udi folk traditions and the material culture. The Udi are first mentioned in Herodotus Histories, describing the Battle of Marathon, during the Greek-Persian war, the author noted that Udi soldiers also were at war as a part of nine satrapy of the Persian army. The Udis are mentione
Southwest Asia
–
Western Asia, West Asia, Southwestern Asia or Southwest Asia is the westernmost subregion of Asia. The concept is in limited use, as it overlaps with the Middle East. The term is used for the purposes of grouping countries in statistics. The total population of Western Asia is an estimated 300 million as of 2015, in an unrelated context, the term is also used in ancient history and archaeology to divide the Fertile Crescent into the Asiatic or Western Asian cultures as opposed to ancient Egypt. As a geographic concept, Western Asia almost always includes the Levant, Mesopotamia, the term is used pragmatically and has no correct or generally agreed-upon definition. In contrast to this definition, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in its 2015 yearbook also includes Armenia and Azerbaijan, unlike the UNIDO, the United Nations Statistics Division excludes Iran from Western Asia and include Turkey, Georgia, and Cyprus in the region. These four countries are listed in th
Caucasus
–
The Caucasus /ˈkɔːkəsəs/ or Caucasia /kɔːˈkeɪʒə/ is a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europes highest mountain, politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts. The southern parts consist of independent sovereign states, and the parts are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. The region is known for its diversity, aside from Indo-European and Turkic languages, the Kartvelian, Northwest Caucasian. Pliny the Elders Natural History derives the name of the Caucasus from Scythian kroy-khasis, German linguist Paul Kretschmer notes that the Latvian word Kruvesis also means ice. According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the South Caucasus region and southern Dagestan were the furthest points of Persian expansions, with areas to the north of Caucasus Mountains practically impregnable. The mythological mountain of
2.
Caucasus mountain range
3.
View of the Caucasus Mountains in
Dagestan, Russia
Bulgars
–
The Bulgars were semi-nomadic warrior Turkic tribes who flourished in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. Emerging as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region, according to some researchers their roots can be traced to Central Asia, during their westward migration across the Eurasian steppe the Bulgars absorbed other ethnic groups and cultural influences, including Hunnic, Iranian and Indo-European people. Modern genetic research on Central Asian Turkic people and ethnic groups related to the Bulgars points to an affiliation with western Eurasian and European populations, the Bulgars spoke a Turkic language, i. e. Bulgar language of Oghuric branch. They preserved military titles, organization and customs of Eurasian steppes, as well as pagan shamanism, the Bulgars became semi-sedentary during the 7th century in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, establishing the polity of Old Great Bulgaria c. 635, which was absorbed by the Khazar Empire in 668 AD,679, Kh
2.
Bulgars subsequent migrations from
Central Asia and Western Eurasia to the Europe.
3.
The
Madara Rider, an example of Bulgar art in Bulgaria, dated to the beginning of the 8th century
Josef Markwart
–
Josef Markwart, December 9,1864 in Reichenbach am Heuberg – February 4,1930 in Berlin, was a German historian and orientalist. He specialized in Turkish and Iranian Studies and the history of the Middle East, the Encyclopædia Iranica wrote that His books are full of profound and nearly inexhaustible erudition, revealing that their author was a learned historian, philologist, geographer, and ethnologist. The encyclopedia cited his 1901 book Ērānšahr as still an authoritative work and he attended Tübingen University in Germany, where he studied Catholic theology, and then later switched his studies to classical philology and history. In 1889 he worked as an assistant to Eugen Prym, an orientalist author and his doctoral thesis Assyriaka des Ktesias was accepted and he graduated in 1892. In 1897 he began as a lecturer in ancient history, in 1900 he moved to Leiden, The Netherlands and became a curator at the Museum Volkenkunde. In 1902 he was appointed to the position of assistant profess
1.
Josef Markwart, Leiden
Procopius
–
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent late antique scholar from Palaestina Prima. He is commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient Western world, apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius life is an entry in the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopaedia, written sometime after 975, which tells everything about his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the Roman Province Palaestina Prima and he evidently knew Latin, as was natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of Eastern Roman Emperor Justinians reign, he became the adsessor for Belisarius, Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January,532, which Belisarius, Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535–536, although these were presented as a backdrop to Roman military activities, such as a mutiny, in and near Carthage. He
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 4
Cimmerians
–
The Cimmerians are an ancient people, first mentioned in the late 8th century BC in Assyrian records. Likely originating in the Pontic steppe and invading by means of the Caucasus, they probably assaulted Urartu and they were defeated by Assyrian forces under Sargon II in 705 and turned towards Anatolia, conquering Phrygia in 696/5. They reached the height of their power in 652 after taking Sardis, soon after 619, Alyattes of Lydia defeated them. There are no mentions of them in historical sources. The origin of the Cimmerians is unclear and they are mostly supposed to have been related to either Iranian or Thracian speaking groups which migrated under pressure of the Scythian expansion of the 9th to 8th century BC. This association is controversial, or at best conventional, and is not to be taken as a claim that specific artifacts are to be associated with the Cimmerians of the Greek or Assyrian record. The term Thraco-Cimmerian was first introduced by I, sir Henry Layards discoveries
1.
Cimmerian invasions of Colchis, Urartu and Assyria 715–713 BC
Zacharias Rhetor
–
Zacharias of Mytilene, also known as Zacharias Scholasticus or Zacharias Rhetor, was a bishop and ecclesiastical historian. The life of Zacharias of Mytilene can be reconstructed only from a few scattered reports in contemporary sources, Zacharias was born and raised in a Christian family near Gaza, which hosted a significant school of rhetorics in late antiquity. That was also where he received his initial education, in 485, he travelled to Alexandria, where he studied philosophy for two years. In Alexandria, he was embroiled in a conflict between Christians and Pagans in connection with the Horapollo affair and it was also there he met Severus, who was later to become a notable patriarch of Antioch. Zacharias travelled in 487 to Beirut to study law at its law school and he stayed there, leading a very ascetic life, until 491, but he also made several journeys to different parts of Palestine in search for religious knowledge. He finally moved to Constantinople, where he worked as a la
Onogurs
–
The Onoğurs or Oğurs, were Turkic nomadic equestrians who flourished in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and the Volga region between 5th and 7th century, and spoke Oğhuric language. The name Onoğur is most often derived as On-Oğur ten Oğurs, modern scholars consider Turkic tribal terms oğuz and oğur to be derived from Turkic *og/uq, meaning kinship or being akin to. The terms initially were not the same, as oq/ogsiz meant arrow, while oğul meant offspring, child, son, oğuš/uğuš was tribe, clan, and this tangle of events indicates that the Oğuric tribes are related to the Ting-ling and Tiele people. It is considered they belonged to the westernmost Tiele tribes, which included the Uyghurs-Toquz Oghuz and the Oghuz Turks. In early 7th century Theophylaktos Simokattes recorded that certain Onoğur city Βακάθ was destroyed by an earthquake before his lifetime, the Sogdian name indicates it was situated in the vicinity of Iranian Central Asia. Scholars also relate the Hyōn to this account, the Oğu
Sabirs
–
The Sabirs were numerous Turkic tribes who lived in the north of the Caucasus, on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, in the Kuban area, and possibly came from Western Siberia. They were skilled in warfare, used siege machinery, had an army and were boat-builders. They switched sides in the Byzantine–Sasanian wars, as they favored the Byzantines, it laid the basis for the later Khazars-Byzantine alliance. Al-Masudi recorded that the Khazars name is in Persian, while in Turkic it is Sabir, implying the same semantic meaning, walter Bruno Henning considered to have found them in the Sogdian Nafnamak long after the 5th century. Some scholars related their name to the name of Siberia, with the far Eastern Xianbei, the ancient historians related and differed them from the Huns, implying their mixed descent. Possibly some Hungarian group derived from the Sabirs as their name is reflected in Szavard, and personal clan name Zuard. In 463 AD, Priscus mentions that the Sabirs attacked the Sarag
1.
Near East in 500, showing the Sabirs and neighboring peoples.
Hephthalite Empire
–
Hephthalites was the Latinised exonym for a people commonly known in Chinese sources by names such as Yada. They were a confederation of peoples in Central Asia who expanded their domain westward and southward during the 5th century and they included both nomadic and urban, settled communities. It is not clear whether the Hephthalites or a related people, the modern Abdali or Durrani, a Pashtun tribal confederation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are widely believed to descend from the Hephthalites. The stronghold of the Hephthalites was Tokharistan on the slopes of the Hindu Kush. By 479, the Hephthalites had conquered Sogdia and driven the Kidarites westwards, and by 493 they had captured parts of present-day Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin in what is now Northwest China. India was invaded during the 5th century by a known in South Asia as the Hunas – possibly an alliance broader than the Hephthalites and/or Xionites. The Hunas were initially defeated by Emperor Skandagupta of the Gupta E
1.
Hephthalite coin of King Khingila, 5th century, legend: "Khiggilo Alchono".
2.
The Hephthalites (green), c. 500.
3.
Asia in 500, showing the Hephthalite Khanate at its greatest extent.
Agathias
–
Agathias was a native of Myrina. A brother of Agathias is mentioned in sources, but his name has not survived. Their probable sister Eugenia is known by name, the Suda clarifies that Agathias was active in the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I, mentioning him as a contemporary of Paul the Silentiary, Macedonius of Thessalonica and Tribonian. Agathias mentions being present in Alexandria as a law student at the time when an earthquake destroyed Berytus, the law school of Berytus had been recognized as one of the three official law schools of the empire. Within a few years, as the result of the earthquake of 551. The dating of the event to 551, as a law student, Agathias could be in his early twenties and he mentions leaving Alexandria for Constantinople shortly following the earthquake. Agathias visited the island of Kos, where he witnessed the devastation caused by the earthquake and he returned to Constantinople in 554 to finish his training, and practised as an advocatus in the
1.
A game of
τάβλη (tabula) played by Zeno in 480 and recorded by Agathias in circa 530 because of a very unlucky dice result for Zeno. The game is nearly identical to
backgammon; Zeno (red) threw 2, 5 and 6 and was forced to leave eight pieces alone and thus exposed to capture. See "Zeno's Game of τάβλη".
Leo I the Thracian
–
Leo I was an Eastern Roman Emperor from 457 to 474. A native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace, he was known as Leo the Thracian, ruling the Eastern Empire for nearly 20 years, Leo proved to be a capable ruler. He oversaw many ambitious political and military plans, aimed mostly for the aid of the faltering Western Roman Empire and he is notable for being the first Eastern Emperor to legislate in Greek rather than Latin. He is commemorated as a Saint in the Orthodox Church, with his feast day on January 20 and he was born Leo Marcellus in Thracia or in Dacia Aureliana province in the year 401 to a Thraco-Roman family. His Dacian origin is mentioned by Candidus Isaurus, while John Malalas believes that he was of Bessian stock and he served in the Roman army, rising to the rank of comes. Leo was the last of a series of emperors placed on the throne by Aspar, the Alan serving as commander-in-chief of the army, instead, Leo became more and more independent from Aspar, causing tension
2.
Gold
solidus of Leo I, struck 462–473 AD at Constantinople.
Sea of Azov
–
The Sea of Azov is a sea in Eastern Europe. To the south it is linked by the narrow Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea, the sea is bounded in the north by mainland Ukraine, in the east by Russia, and in the west by the Crimean Peninsula. The Don and Kuban are the rivers that flow into it. The Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world, there is a constant outflow of water from the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. The sea is affected by the inflow of numerous rivers, which bring sand, silt, and shells, which in turn form numerous bays, limans. Because of these deposits, the sea bottom is relatively smooth, also, due to the river inflow, water in the sea has low salinity and a high amount of biomass that affects the water colour. Abundant plankton results in high fish productivity. The sea shores and spits are low, they are rich in vegetation, the name likely derives from the settlement of an area around Azov, whose name comes from the Kipchak Turkish asak or azaq. A Russian folk etymolog
2.
Gravure showing the first attack on Taganrog.
3.
Satellite image of Sea of Azov. The shallow Sea of Azov is clearly distinguished from the deeper Black Sea. Numbers: 1.
Dnieper River, 2.
Kakhovka Reservoir, 3.
Molochna River, 4.
Molochny Liman, 5.
Arabat Spit, 6.
Sivash lagoon system, 7.
Karkinit Bay, 8. Kalamitsky Bay, 9.
Crimea, 10. Fedosiysky Bay, 11.
Strait of Kerch, 12.
Black Sea, 13. Sea of Azov, 14.
Don River (Russia), 15.
Taganrog Bay, 16. Yeysk Liman, 17. Beisug Liman
4.
A spit in the Sea of Azov.
Gepids
–
The Gepids were an East Germanic tribe. They were closely related to, or a subdivision of, the Goths and they are first recorded in 6th-century historiography as having been allied with the Goths in the invasion of Dacia in c. In the 4th century, they were incorporated into the Hunnic Empire, under their leader Ardaric, the Gepids united with other Germanic tribes and defeated the Huns at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Gepids then founded a kingdom centered on Sirmium, known as Gepidia, remnants of the Gepids were conquered by the Avars later in the 6th century. Jordanes reports that their name is from gepanta, an insult meaning sluggish, an Old English form of their name is recorded in Widsith, as Gefþ-, alongside the name of the Wends. The Gepids were the most shadowy of all the major Germanic peoples of the migration period, neither Tacitus nor Ptolemy mentioned them in their detailed lists of the barbarians, suggesting that the Gepids emerged only in the 3rd century AD. The first
2.
Polities in South-Eastern Europe c. 520 AD; post Huns & before the Byzantine invasion of Gothic Italy.
3.
Gold ring with the inscription Omharus found at
Apahida.
Lombards
–
The Lombards or Longobards were a Germanic people who ruled large parts of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. In the 1st century AD, they formed part of the Suebi, the Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, his successor Alboin eventually destroyed the Gepids at the Battle of Asfeld in 567. The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons, Heruls, Gepids, Bulgars, Thuringians, and Ostrogoths, by late 569 they had conquered all north of Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central Italy and they established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, later named Regnum Italicum, which reached its zenith under the 8th-century ruler Liutprand. In 774, the Kingdom was conquered by the Frankish King Charlemagne, however, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula, well into the 11th century when they were conquered by the Normans and added
1.
The Lombard possessions in Italy: The Lombard Kingdom (Neustria, Austria and Tuscia) and the Lombard Duchies of Spoleto and Benevento
2.
Wodan (Godan) and
Frigg (Frea) looking out of a window in the heavens...
3.
...and spot the Lombard women with their long hair tied as to appear as beards
Justinian I
–
Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Ju
Thermopylae
–
Thermopylae is a place in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur springs, the Hot Gates is the place of hot springs and in Greek mythology it is the cavernous entrances to Hades. Thermopylae is the land route large enough to bear any significant traffic between Lokris and Thessaly. This passage from north to south along the east coast of the Balkan peninsula requires use of the pass and for this reason Thermopylae has been the site of several battles. In ancient times it was called Malis which was named after the Malians, the Malian Gulf is also named after them. In the western valley of the Spercheios their land was adjacent to the Aenianes and their main town was named Trachis. In the town of Anthela, the Malians had an important temple of Demeter, the land is dominated by the coastal floodplain of the Spercheios River and is surrounded by sloping forested limestone mountains. There is continuous deposition of sediment fro
1.
View of the Thermopylae pass from the area of the Phocian Wall. In ancient times, the coastline would have been much closer to the mountain, near the road to the right. This is a result of sedimentary deposition.
2.
The hot springs from which Thermopylae takes its name.
3.
Map of 1876, depicting the coast line in the time of
Herodotus, and the coast line at the time of the map (1876). Thermopylae pass is between Alpeni and
Anthela.
Gallipoli
–
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name Καλλίπολις, meaning Beautiful City, in antiquity, the peninsula was known as the Thracian Chersonese. The peninsula runs in a direction into the Aegean Sea. Near Agora it was protected by a wall running across its full breadth, the isthmus traversed by the wall was only 36 stadia in breadth, but the length of the peninsula from this wall to its southern extremity, Cape Mastusia, was 420 stadia. In ancient times, the Gallipoli Peninsula was known as the Thracian Chersonesus to the Greeks and it was the location of several prominent towns, including Cardia, Pactya, Callipolis, Alopeconnesus, Sestos, Madytos, and Elaeus. The peninsula was renowned for its wheat and it also benefited from its strategic importance on the main route between Europe and Asia, as well as from i
2.
Satellite image of the Gallipoli peninsula and surrounding area
4.
The Sphinx overlooking Anzac Cove
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 Rom
1.
Constantinople in the Byzantine era
2.
Map of Byzantine Constantinople
3.
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
4.
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople
Pannonian Avars
–
The Pannonian Avars /ˈævɑːrz/ also known as the Obri, the Abaroi and Varchonitai, and the Pseudo-Avars and Varchonites, were a group of Eurasian nomads of unknown origin during the early Middle Ages. The name Pannonian Avars, is used to them from the Avars of the Caucasus – who may or may not have been an unrelated people. They established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and considerable areas of Central and they were ruled by a khagan, who was assisted by an entourage of professional warriors. The language or languages spoken by the Avars are now unknown, denis Sinor states that most of the Avar words used in contemporaneous Latin or Greek texts, appear to have their origins in Siberian languages, especially Tungusic languages and Mongolian. There is also evidence, however, that ruling and subject clans spoke a variety of languages, proposals by scholars include Caucasian, Iranian, Tungusic, Hungarian and Turkic. A few scholars suggest that Proto-Slavic became th
1.
Warrior with captive, from a golden ewer of the
Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós. There is no agreement as to whether he represents an Avar, a Bulgar or a Khazar warrior.
2.
Gold Avar bowl, found in modern
Albania.
3.
Avar territory in the 6th century.
4.
Avar findings from Ozora-Tótipuszta, Hungary
Sava
–
The Sava is a river in Central and Southeastern Europe, a right tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia, along the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its central part is a border of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. The Sava forms the border of the Balkan Peninsula. The Sava is 990 kilometres long, including the 45-kilometre Sava Dolinka headwater rising in Zelenci and it is the greatest tributary of the Danube by volume of water, and second-largest after Tisza in terms of catchment area and length. It drains a significant portion of the Dinaric Alps region, through the tributaries of Drina, Bosna, Kupa, Una, Vrbas, Lonja, Kolubara, Bosut. The Sava is one of the longest rivers in Europe and among a handful of European rivers of that length that do not drain directly into a sea. The population in the Sava River basin is estimated at 8,176,000, the Sava is navigable for larger vessels from the confluence of the Kupa River in Sisak, Croatia, approximately two-thirds of it
4.
Save gorge between Ljubljana and Trbovlje
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial
1.
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
Vasil Zlatarski
–
Vasil Nikolov Zlatarski was a Bulgarian historian-medievalist, archaeologist, and epigraphist. Zlatarski obtained his education in Veliko Tarnovo and in the Peter and Paul Seminary at Liaskovets, after the early death of his father, he went to his brother in Russia, where in 1887 he graduated the First Classical Lyceum in St. Petersburg. Studied History at the University of St. Petersburg in 1891, then he returned to Bulgaria and became a secondary school teacher in Sofia and Lecturer in the Higher School. He was promoted to the rank of professor in 1906. Between 1926 and his death Zlatarski was vice-president of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Zlatarski is a historical objectivist, close to the positivist school. Zlatarski popularised historical research in the country and established contacts with major Russian and he was the chairman of the Fourth International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Sofia,1934. Works by or about Vasil Zlatarski in libraries
1.
Prof. Vasil Zlatarski
2.
Vasil Zlatarski's Grave in Sofia (42°42.754′N 23°20.025′E / 42.712567°N 23.333750°E / 42.712567; 23.333750)
Wiesbaden
–
Wiesbaden is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. In July 2016, it had about 288,000 inhabitants, the Wiesbaden urban area is home to approx. The city, together with nearby Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Mainz, is part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to meadow baths, making reference to the hot springs and it is internationally famous for its architecture, climate, and its hot springs. At one time, Wiesbaden boasted 26 hot springs, fourteen of the springs are still flowing today. In 1970, the hosted the tenth Hessentag state festival. The city is considered the tenth richest in Germany with 113. 3% of gross domestic product, every citizen has an average annual buying power of €24,798. Wiesbaden is situated on the bank of the Rhine River, below the confluence of the Main. The city is across the Rhine from Mainz, the capital of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Frank
1.
Wiesbaden
2.
Aerial view of Wiesbaden
3.
Satellite view of Wiesbaden (north of Rhine river) and Mainz
4.
View of Wiesbaden from the Topographia Hassiae by
Matthäus Merian in 1655.
