1.
Croesus
–
Croesus was the king of Lydia who, according to Herodotus, reigned for 14 years, from 560 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 546 BC. Croesus was renowned for his wealth, Herodotus and Pausanias noted that his gifts were preserved at Delphi, the fall of Croesus made a profound impact on the Greeks, providing a fixed point in their calendar. By the fifth century at least, J. A. S, evans has remarked, Croesus had become a figure of myth, who stood outside the conventional restraints of chronology.1, and Ctesias, whose account is also an encomium of Cyrus. Croesus is a descendant of Gyges, of the Myrmnadae Clan, born about 595 BC, Croesus received tribute from the Ionian Greeks but was friendlier to the Hellenes than his father had been. Croesus is credited with issuing the first true gold coins with a standardised purity for general circulation, however, they were quite crude, and were made of electrum, a naturally occurring pale yellow alloy of gold and silver. The composition of these first coins was similar to alluvial deposits found in the silt of the Pactolus river, later coins, including some in the British Museum, were made from gold purified by heating with common salt to remove the silver. King Croesus gold coins follow the first silver coins that had been minted by King Pheidon of Argos around 700 BC, in Greek and Persian cultures the name of Croesus became a synonym for a wealthy man. Croesus wealth remained proverbial beyond classical antiquity, in English, expressions such as rich as Croesus or richer than Croesus are used to great wealth to this day. According to Herodotus, Croesus encountered the Greek sage Solon and showed him his enormous wealth, Solon goes on to explain that Croesus cannot be the happiest man because the fickleness of fortune means that the happiness of a mans life cannot be judged until after his death. The interview is in the nature of a philosophical disquisition on the subject Which man is happy and it is legendary rather than historical. Thus the happiness of Croesus is presented as an exemplum of the fickleness of Tyche. The story was retold and elaborated by Ausonius in The Masque of the Seven Sages, in the Suda. According to Herodotus, Croesus desired to discover which of the well known oracles of his time gave trustworthy omens. Then on the 100th day the envoys entered the oracle of Delphi in order to ask for the omen, the Pythia answered in verse, I know the sands number, I understand the mute and hear him though he does not speak. The smell has come to my senses of a hard-shelled tortoise Being cooked in bronze together with meat, There is bronze beneath it. The envoys wrote down the answer and returned to Sardis, Croesus read all the answers brought by his envoys from all the oracles. As soon as he read the answer of the Pythia he bowed, because he was persuaded that it was the only real oracle, along with that of Amphiaraus. Indeed, on the specific date Croesus had put pieces of a tortoise and lamb to boil together in a bronze cauldron, then, Croesus wanted to thank and take on his side the oracle of Delphi
Croesus
–
Gold coin of Croesus, Lydian, around 550 BC, from modern Turkey
Croesus
–
Croesus on the pyre,
Attic red-figure
amphora,
Louvre (G 197)
2.
Anatolia
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or 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 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. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and 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, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Anatolia
–
The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey
Anatolia
–
The location of
Turkey (within the rectangle) in reference to the
European continent. Anatolia roughly corresponds to the
Asian part of Turkey, except the eastern parts historically known as the
Armenian Highlands
Anatolia
–
1907 map of Asia Minor, showing the local ancient kingdoms
Anatolia
–
Mural of
aurochs, a
deer, and humans in
Çatalhöyük, which is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. It was registered as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
3.
Manisa
–
Manisa is a large city in Turkeys Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Under Ottoman rule in the centuries that followed, the city had already extended into the terrain at the start of the plain. It is also a point for other visitor attractions of international acclaim which are located nearby within Manisas depending region, such as Sardes. Historically, the city was also called Magnesia, and more precisely as Magnesia ad Sipylum to distinguish from Magnesia on the Maeander at a short distance to the south. Traditional view held that the name Magnesia derived from the tribe of Magnetes who would have immigrated here from Thessaly at the dawn of the recorded history. A connection with native Anatolian languages has also been suggested of recent date, the name is rendered as Μαγνησία in ancient and modern Greek language. The names Sipylus or Sipylum in reference to a settlement here are also encountered in some sources, again in reference to the mountain and as abbreviated forms. Traces of prehistory in the Manisa region, although few in number, the second finds are tombs contemporaneous with Troy II and found in the village of Yortan near Kırkağaç district center, north of Manisa. Original burial practices observed in these sepulchres led scholars to the definition of a Yortan culture in Anatolias prehistory, cybele monument by itself represents a step of innovation in Hittite art where full-faced figures in high relief are rare. The first millennium BC saw the emergence in the region of Phrygians and Maeonians, the accounts concerning which are blended with myths. The vestiges from their capital which reached our day bring together remains from successive civilizations. It became a city of importance under the Roman dominion and, though nearly destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius, was restored by that emperor and flourished through the Roman empire. It was an important regional centre through the Byzantine Empire, Magnesia housed the Imperial mint, the Imperial treasury, and served as the functional capital of the empire until the recovery of Constantinople in 1261. Ruins of the Nicean-era fortifications attest to the importance in the Late Byzantine period. In the early 13th century the region of Magnesia was subject to repeated raids by invading Turkish bands, the local population was unable to repulse the Turkish raids. Thus, after an unsuccessful defence lead by the Byzantine Emperor most inhabitants fled to the Aegean coast, as a result of the Turkish invasion in the region and the destruction of the city the area was largely abandoned. His sons held the region until 1390, when the first incorporation of their lands into the expanding Ottoman state took place, after a brief interval caused by the Ottoman interregnum after the Battle of Ankara, Manisa and its surroundings definitely became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1410. Even during the 15th century Magnesia was recorded as being in ruins due to the previous Turkish raids
Manisa
–
General northern view of Mount Sipylus as seen from Manisa plain
Manisa
–
19th century Yeni Han
caravanserai built by Karaosmanoğlu family in Manisa
Manisa
–
Hittite –
Luwian rock carving of Cybele in
Mount Sipylus (13th century BC).
Manisa
–
Students in
Lydian -inspired costumes during
19 May celebrations in Manisa
4.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
–
Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
–
Flag
Turkey
–
The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
–
The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
5.
Sardis
–
Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkeys Manisa Province. Sardis was situated in the middle of Hermus valley, at the foot of Mount Tmolus and it was about 4 kilometres south of the Hermus. Today, the site is located by the present day village of Sart, near Salihli in the Manisa province of Turkey, the part of remains including the bath-gymnasium complex, synagogue and Byzantine shops is open to visitors year-round. It is, however, more probable that Sardis was not the capital of the Maeonians. The city was captured by the Cimmerians in the 7th century BC, by the Persians in the 6th, by the Athenians in the 5th, and by Antiochus III the Great at the end of the 3rd century BC. In the Persian era, Sardis was conquered by Cyrus the Great and formed the end station for the Persian Royal Road which began in Persepolis, during the Ionian Revolt, the Athenians burnt down the city. Sardis remained under Persian domination until it surrendered to Alexander the Great in 334 BC, the early Lydian kingdom was very advanced in the industrial arts and Sardis was the chief seat of its manufactures. The most important of these trades was the manufacture and dyeing of delicate woolen stuffs, the stream Pactolus which flowed through the market-place carried golden sands in early antiquity, which was in reality gold dust out of Mount Tmolus. It was during the reign of King Croesus that the metallurgists of Sardis discovered the secret of separating gold from silver and this was an economic revolution, for while gold nuggets panned or mined were used as currency, their purity was always suspect and a hindrance to trade. Such nuggets or coinage were naturally occurring alloys of gold and silver known as electrum and one could never know how much of it was gold and how much was silver. Sardis now could mint nearly pure silver and gold coins, the value of which could be — and was — trusted throughout the known world and this revolution made Sardis rich and Croesus name synonymous with wealth itself. For this reason, Sardis is famed in history as the place where modern currency was invented and it was one of the great cities of western Asia Minor until the later Byzantine period. Later, trade and the organization of commerce continued to be sources of great wealth, after Constantinople became the capital of the East, a new road system grew up connecting the provinces with the capital. Sardis then lay rather apart from the lines of communication. It still, however, retained its titular supremacy and continued to be the seat of the bishop of the province of Lydia. It was enumerated as third, after Ephesus and Smyrna, in the list of cities of the Thracesion thema given by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century. However, over the four centuries it was in the shadow of the provinces of Magnesia-upon-Sipylum and Philadelphia. When Constantinople was taken by the Venetians and Franks in 1204 Sardis came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire of Nicea, the city continued its decline until its capture by the Turco-Mongol warlord Timur in 1402
Sardis
–
The
gymnasium of Sardis
Sardis
–
Remains of the
Byzantine shops in Sardis
Sardis
–
A recent view of the
Sardis Synagogue
6.
Gyges of Lydia
–
Gyges was the founder of the third or Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and reigned from 716 BC to 678 BC. He was succeeded by his son Ardys II, Gyges was the son of Dascylus. Dascylus was recalled from banishment in Cappadocia by the Lydian king Candaules, on the way Gyges fell in love with Tudo, who complained to Sadyates of his conduct. Forewarned that the king intended to punish him with death, Gyges assassinated Candaules in the night and seized the throne. In his turn, the Lydian king took as his paidika Magnes, one day he was singing poetry to the local women, which outraged their male relatives, who grabbed Magnes, stripped him of his clothes and cut off his hair. According to Plutarch, Gyges seized power with the help of Arselis of Mylasa, the captain of the Lydian bodyguard, whom he had won over to his cause. In the account of Herodotus, which may be traced to the poet Archilochus of Paros, Gyges was a bodyguard of Candaules, finally, in the more allegorical account of Plato, a parallel account may be found. Here, Gyges was a shepherd, who discovered a ring of invisibility, by means of which he murdered the King. This account bears marked similarity to that of Herodotus, in all cases, civil war ensued on the death of the King, which was only ended when Gyges sought to justify his ascendance to the throne by petitioning for the approval of the Oracle at Delphi. According to Herodotus, he plied the Oracle with numerous gifts, Smyrna was besieged and alliances were entered into with Ephesus and Miletus. To the north, the Troad was brought under Lydian control, the armies of Gyges pushed back the Cimmerians, who had ravaged Asia Minor and caused the fall of Phrygia. During his campaigns against the Cimmerians, an embassy was sent to Assur-bani-pal at Nineveh in the hope of obtaining his help against the Cimmerians. But the Assyrians were otherwise engaged, and Gyges turned to Egypt, Gyges later fell in a battle against the Cimmerii under Dugdamme, who had previously advanced as far as the town of Sardis. Gyges was succeeded by his son Ardys II, many Bible scholars believe that Gyges of Lydia was the Biblical figure of Gog, ruler of Magog, who is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation. Like many kings of antiquity, including Midas of Phrygia and even the more historically documented Alexander III of Macedon. The motives for such stories are many, one possibility is that the myths embody religious beliefs or practices. In the second book of Platos philosophical work The Republic, Glaucon recounts the story of the Ring of Gyges to Socrates, using it to illustrate a point about human nature. Some scholars have suggested that Platos story was based on a now-lost older version of the myth and it told of a man named Gyges who lived in Lydia, an area in modern Turkey
Gyges of Lydia
–
A rare depiction of the legend of Gyges finding the magic ring,
Ferrara, 16th century
Gyges of Lydia
–
Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, as She Goes to Bed by
William Etty. This image illustrates
Herodotus 's version of the tale of Gyges (as told by Herodotus, Gyges watched the naked queen secretly, but is seen by her as he is sneaking out of concealment). An earlier artistic treatment of the same subject, by
Dosso Dossi, is now in the
Galleria Borghese [1].
7.
Lydia (satrapy)
–
Lydia, known as Sparda in Old Persian, was a satrapy of the First Persian Empire, with Sardis as its capital. Tabalus, appointed by Cyrus the Great was the first satrap however, the insurrection was suppressed by general Mazares and his successor Harpagus. After Cyrus death, Oroetus was appointed as satrap, Oroetus ruled during the reign of Cambyses and after the chaotic period after the Persian kings death, he conquered the Greek isle of Samos, killing its ruler Polycrates. Due to his power, Darius the Great had Bagaeus kill Oroetus. Bagaeus himself may have become satrap for a period, but the next rulers were Otanes and Darius younger brother. During the Ionian revolt in 499 BC, Sardis was sacked by the Greeks, five years later, the rebellion was suppressed and to the surprise of the Greek world, Artaphernes was very lenient in his treatment of the rebels. After this period, many Persians settled in Lydia, the worship of eastern gods such as Anahita, as well as persified Lydian deities, began. Although members of the Persian aristocracy were given estates in the following the Greek revolt. Artaphernes was succeeded as satrap in 492 BC by his son, from the period of 480 BC to 440 BC, there is little historical information about the satrap of Lydia. In 440 BC, the satrap Pissuthnes attempted to retake Samos, which had rebelled against Athens, in 420 BC, Pissuthnes revolted against the Persian king Darius II. The Persian soldier and statesman Tissaphernes a grandson of Hydarnes, was sent by Darius II to Lydia to arrest, Tissaphernes became satrap of Lydia in 415 BC and continue to fight Amorges, son of Pissuthnes. After Sparta had defeated Athens, the Greeks invaded Lydia, Tissaphernes overcame the invasion of Thibron in 399 BC but was defeated at Sardis by the Spartan King Agesilaus II. The satrap was executed and replaced by Tiribazus who restored order in Lydia and was responsible for a series of treaties between the Persian king and the Greek city states. Autophradates was probably Tiribazus direct successor, and was loyal to the Achaemenid monarch during a series of revolts in 370 BC, the last satrap of Lydia was Spithridates, who was killed by Alexander the Great at the battle of Granicus
Lydia (satrapy)
–
Achaemenid Provinces during the rule of
Darius I
8.
Roman provinces
–
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy, largest territorial and administrative unit of the empires territorial possessions outside of Italy. The word province in modern English has its origins in the used by the Romans. Provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors and this exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings. The territory of a people who were defeated in war might be brought under various forms of treaty, the formal annexation of a territory created a province in the modern sense of an administrative unit geographically defined. Republican provinces were administered in one-year terms by the consuls and praetors who had held office the previous year, Rome started expanding beyond Italy during the First Punic War. The first permanent provinces to be annexed were Sicily in 241 BC, militarized expansionism kept increasing the number of these administrative provinces, until there were no longer enough qualified individuals to fill the posts. The terms of provincial governors often had to be extended for multiple years,241 BC – Sicilia taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed at the end of the First Punic War. 237 BC – Corsica et Sardinia, these two islands were taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed soon after the Mercenary War, in 238 BC and 237 BC respectively. 197 BC – Hispania Citerior, along the east coast of the,197 BC - Hispania Ulterior, along the southern coast of the, part of the territories taken over from the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War. 147 BC – Macedonia, mainland Greece and it was annexed after a rebellion by the Achaean League. 146 BC – Africa, modern day Tunisia and western Libya, home territory of Carthage and it was annexed following attacks on the allied Greek city of Massalia. 67 BC – Creta et Cyrenae, Cyrenaica was bequeathed to Rome in 78 BC, however, it was not organised as a province. 58 BC – Cilicia et Cyprus, Cilicia was created as a province in the sense of area of command in 102 BC in a campaign against piracy. The Romans controlled only a small area, in 74 BC Lycia and Pamphylia were added to the smal Roman possessions in Cilicia. Cilicia came fully under Roman control towards the end of the Third Mithridatic War - 73-63 BC, the province was reorganised by Pompey in 63 BC. Gallia Cisalpina was a province in the sense of an area of military command, during Romes expansion in Italy the Romans assigned some areas as provinces in the sense of areas of military command assigned to consuls or praetors due to risks of rebellions or invasions. This was applied to Liguria because there was a series of rebellions, Bruttium, in the early days of Roman presence in Gallia Cisalpina the issue was rebellion. Later the issue was risk of invasions by warlike peoples east of Italy, the city of Aquileia was founded to protect northern Italy form invasions
Roman provinces
–
Roman Empire under
Augustus (31 BC – AD 14). Yellow: 31BC. Dark Green 31–19 BC, Light Green 19–9 BC, Pale Green 9–6 BC. Mauve: Client states
9.
Asia (Roman province)
–
The Roman province of Asia or Asiana, in Byzantine times called Phrygia, was an administrative unit added to the late Republic. It was a Senatorial province governed by a proconsul, the arrangement was unchanged in the reorganization of the Roman Empire in 211. Antiochus III the Great had to give up Asia when the Romans crushed his army at the battle of Magnesia. After the Treaty of Apamea, the territory was surrendered to Rome. Asia province originally consisted of Mysia, the Troad, Aeolis, Lydia, Ionia, Caria, aegean islands except Crete, were part of the Insulae of Asiana. Part of Phrygia was given to Mithridates V Euergetes before it was reclaimed as part of the province in 116 BC, lycaonia was added before 100 BC while the area around Cibyra was added in 82 BC. The southeast region of Asia province was later reassigned to the province of Cilicia, during, the empire, Asia province was bounded by Bithynia to the north, Lycia to the south, and Galatia to the east. With no apparent heir, Attalus III of Pergamum having been an ally of Rome. Upon Attalus’s passing in 133 BC, Attalid pretender Eumenes III staged a rebellion and he defeated one of the consuls of 131 BC, Crassus Mucianus. The following consul Marcus Perperna, however, soon brought the war to a close and he defeated Eumenes in the first engagement, and followed up his victory by laying siege to Stratonikeia, whither Eumenes had fled. The town was compelled by famine to surrender, and the king fell into the consuls hands. Manius Aquillius formally established the region as Asia province, the bequest of the Attalid kingdom to Rome presented serious implications for neighboring territories. It was during this period that Pontus rose in status under the rule of Mithridates VI and he would prove to be a formidable foe to Rome’s success in Asia province and beyond. Rome had always been reluctant to involve itself in matters to the east. It typically relied on allies to arbitrate in the case of a conflict, very rarely would Rome send delegations to the east, much less have a strong governmental presence. This apathy did not change even after the gift from Attalus in 133 BC. In fact, parts of the Pergamene kingdom were voluntarily relinquished to different nations, for example, Great Phrygia was given to Mithridates V of Pontus. While the Senate was hesitant in involving itself in Asian affairs, others had no such reluctance, a law passed by Gaius Gracchus in 123 BC gave the right to collect taxes in Asia to members of the equestrian order
Asia (Roman province)
–
The Roman conquest of
Asia minor.
Asia (Roman province)
–
The province of Asia highlighted within the Roman Empire.
10.
Assyria
–
Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant. Centered on the Tigris in Upper Mesopotamia, the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. Assyria is named after its capital, the ancient city of Aššur. In the 25th and 24th centuries BC, Assyrian kings were pastoral leaders, Assyria can also refer to the geographic region or heartland where Assyria, its empires and the Assyrian people were centered. The indigenous modern Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christian ethnic minority in northern Iraq, north east Syria, southeast Turkey, in prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria was home to a Neanderthal culture such as has been found at the Shanidar Cave. The earliest Neolithic sites in Assyria were the Jarmo culture c.7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, during the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians throughout Mesopotamia, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian, and vice versa, is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium BC as a sprachbund and it is highly likely that the city was named in honour of its patron Assyrian god with the same name. The city of Aššur, together with a number of other Assyrian cities, however it is likely that they were initially Sumerian-dominated administrative centres. In the late 26th century BC, Eannatum of Lagash, then the dominant Sumerian ruler in Mesopotamia, similarly, in c. the early 25th century BC, Lugal-Anne-Mundu the king of the Sumerian state of Adab lists Subartu as paying tribute to him. Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is known, in the Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya. According to Georges Roux he would have lived in the mid 25th century BC, Tudiya was succeeded on the list by Adamu, the first known reference to the Semitic name Adam and then a further thirteen rulers. The earliest kings, such as Tudiya, who are recorded as kings who lived in tents, were independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers and these kings at some point became fully urbanised and founded the city state of Ashur in the mid 21st century BC. During the Akkadian Empire, the Assyrians, like all the Mesopotamian Semites, became subject to the dynasty of the city state of Akkad, the Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon the Great claimed to encompass the surrounding four quarters. Assyrian rulers were subject to Sargon and his successors, and the city of Ashur became an administrative center of the Empire. On those tablets, Assyrian traders in Burushanda implored the help of their ruler, Sargon the Great, the name Hatti itself even appears in later accounts of his grandson, Naram-Sin, campaigning in Anatolia. Assyrian and Akkadian traders spread the use of writing in the form of the Mesopotamian cuneiform script to Asia Minor, the Akkadian Empire was destroyed by economic decline and internal civil war, followed by attacks from barbarian Gutian people in 2154 BC. The rulers of Assyria during the period between c.2154 BC and 2112 BC once again fully independent, as the Gutians are only known to have administered southern Mesopotamia
Assyria
–
Letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of
Lagash (maybe
Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 BC, found in
Girsu.
Assyria
–
Overview map of the Ancient Near East in the 15th century BC (Middle Assyrian period), showing the core territory of Assyria with its two major cities
Assur and
Nineveh wedged between
Babylonia downstream (to the south-east) and the states of
Mitanni and
Hatti upstream (to the north-west).
Assyria
–
Assyrian attack on a town with archers and a wheeled battering ram, 865–860 BC
Assyria
–
Jehu, king of
Israel, bows before Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 825 BC
11.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
12.
Turkish language
–
Outside of Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official EU language, in 1928, as one of Atatürks Reforms in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was replaced with a Latin alphabet. The distinctive characteristics of Turkish are vowel harmony and extensive agglutination, the basic word order of Turkish is subject–object–verb. Turkish has no classes or grammatical gender. Turkish has a strong T–V distinction and usage of honorifics, Turkish uses second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a person out of respect. Turkic languages belong to the Altaic language group, the Turkic family comprises some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia. Turkish is a member of the Oghuz group of languages, a subgroup of the Turkic language family, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Turkish and the other Oghuz Turkic languages, including Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish. The earliest known Old Turkic inscriptions are the three monumental Orkhon inscriptions found in modern Mongolia, erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khagan, these date back to the second Turk Kaghanate. The Seljuqs of the Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, following the adoption of Islam c. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Divan poetry, was influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters. One of the tasks of the newly established association was to initiate a reform to replace loanwords of Arabic. By banning the usage of imported words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred words from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were newly derived from Turkic roots, owing to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the terms of Arabic or Persian origin. The past few decades have seen the work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have received widespread acceptance, however, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to replace fırka, political party—also failed to meet with popular approval, some words restored from Old Turkic have taken on specialized meanings, for example betik is now used to mean script in computer science
Turkish language
–
Old Turkic inscription with the
Orkhon script (c. 8th century).
Kyzyl, Russia
Turkish language
–
Countries where Turkish is an official language
Turkish language
–
Road signs in
Prizren,
Republic of Kosovo. Official languages are:
Albanian (top),
Serbian (middle) and Turkish (bottom).
Turkish language
–
Map of the main subgroups of
Turkish dialects.
13.
Iron Age
–
The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
Iron Age
–
Archaeological artifact from the work developed in the area of
Citânia de Briteiros
Iron Age
Iron Age
–
Cross or cruzado in Citânia de Breteiros
Iron Age
–
A pedra formosa
14.
Monarchy
–
The actual power of the monarch may vary from purely symbolic, to partial and restricted, to completely autocratic. Traditionally and in most cases, the monarchs post is inherited and lasts until death or abdication, occasionally this might create a situation of rival claimants whose legitimacy is subject to effective election. Finally, there have been cases where the term of a reign is either fixed in years or continues until certain goals are achieved. Thus there are widely divergent structures and traditions defining monarchy, Monarchy was the most common form of government until the 19th century, but it is no longer prevalent. Currently,47 sovereign nations in the world have monarchs acting as heads of state,19 of which are Commonwealth realms that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state. The monarchs of Cambodia, Japan, and Malaysia reign, the word monarch comes from the Greek language word μονάρχης, monárkhēs which referred to a single, at least nominally absolute ruler. In current usage the word usually refers to a traditional system of hereditary rule. Depending on the held by the monarch, a monarchy may be known as a kingdom, principality, duchy, grand duchy, empire, tsardom, emirate, sultanate, khaganate. The form of societal hierarchy known as chiefdom or tribal kingship is prehistoric, the Greek term monarchia is classical, used by Herodotus. The monarch in classical antiquity is often identified as king, the Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese monarchs continued to be considered living Gods into the modern period. Since antiquity, monarchy has contrasted with forms of democracy, where power is wielded by assemblies of free citizens. In antiquity, monarchies were abolished in favour of such assemblies in Rome, much of 19th century politics was characterised by the division between anti-monarchist Radicalism and monarchist Conservativism. Many countries abolished the monarchy in the 20th century and became republics, advocacy of republics is called republicanism, while advocacy of monarchies is called monarchism. In the modern era, monarchies are more prevalent in small states than in large ones, most monarchs, both historically and in the modern day, have been born and brought up within a royal family, the centre of the royal household and court. Growing up in a family, future monarchs are often trained for the responsibilities of expected future rule. Different systems of succession have been used, such as proximity of blood, primogeniture, and agnatic seniority. While most monarchs have been male, many female monarchs also have reigned in history, rule may be hereditary in practice without being considered a monarchy, such as that of family dictatorships or political families in many democracies. The principal advantage of hereditary monarchy is the continuity of leadership
Monarchy
–
Richard I of England being anointed during his coronation in
Westminster Abbey, from a 13th-century chronicle.
Monarchy
–
Thutmose I, the third
Pharaoh of the
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.
Monarchy
–
King George III of the United Kingdom, Portrait by
Allan Ramsay, 1762
Monarchy
–
King
Salman of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarch.
15.
Asia Minor
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or 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 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. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and 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, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Asia Minor
–
The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey
Asia Minor
–
The location of
Turkey (within the rectangle) in reference to the
European continent. Anatolia roughly corresponds to the
Asian part of Turkey, except the eastern parts historically known as the
Armenian Highlands
Asia Minor
–
1907 map of Asia Minor, showing the local ancient kingdoms
Asia Minor
–
Mural of
aurochs, a
deer, and humans in
Çatalhöyük, which is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. It was registered as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
16.
Ionia
–
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements, never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian tribe who, in the Archaic Period, settled mainly the shores and islands of the Aegean Sea. Ionian states were identified by tradition and by their use of Eastern Greek and it was bounded by Aeolia to the north, Lydia to the east and Caria to the south. The cities within the region figured large in the strife between the Persian Empire and the Greeks, according to Greek tradition, the cities of Ionia were founded by colonists from the other side of the Aegean. Their settlement was connected with the history of the Ionic people in Attica, which asserts that the colonists were led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of Codrus. So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at four times the direct distance. A great part of area was, moreover, occupied by mountains. None of these mountains attains a height of more than 1,200 metres, the geography of Ionia placed it in a strategic position that was both advantageous and disadvantageous. Ionia was always a maritime power founded by a people who made their living by trade in peaceful times, the coast was rocky and the arable land slight. The native Luwians for the most part kept their fields further inland, the coastal cities were placed in defensible positions on islands or headlands situated so as to control inland routes up the rift valleys. The people of those valleys were of different ethnicity, the populations of the cities came from many civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean. Ancient demographics are available only from literary sources, Herodotus states that in Asia the Ionians kept the division into twelve cities that had prevailed in Ionian lands of the north Peloponnese, their former homeland, which became Achaea after they left. These Asian cities were Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with Samos and Chios. Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was occupied by Ionians from Colophon. These cities do not match those of Achaea, moreover, the Achaea of Herodotus time spoke Doric, but in Homer it is portrayed as being in the kingdom of Mycenae, which most likely spoke Mycenaean Greek, which is not Doric. If the Ionians came from Achaea, they departed during or after the change from East Greek to West Greek there, Mycenaean continued to evolve in the mountainous region of Arcadia. Miletus and some other cities founded earlier by non-Greeks received populations of Mycenaean Greeks probably under the name of Achaeans, the tradition of Ionian colonizers from Achaea suggests that they may have been known by both names even then. In the Indian historic literary texts, the Ionians are referred to as yavanar or yona, in modern Turkish, the people of that region were called yunan and the country that is now Greece is known as Yunanistan
Ionia
–
Mount Mycale, site of the
Panionium
Ionia
–
One of the earliest
electrum coins struck in
Ephesus, 620-600 BC. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch.
Ionia
–
Northern Ionia, view from space.
Ionia
–
The site of
Miletus, once coastal, now inland. The plain was a bay in
Classical Greece.
17.
Manisa Province
–
Manisa Province is a province in western Turkey. Its neighboring provinces are İzmir to the west, Aydın to the south, Denizli to the south east, Uşak to the east, Kütahya to the north east, the seat of the province is the city of Manisa. Its provincial capital is the city of Manisa, the code is 45. The Mount Sipylus national park near the city of Manisa covers a richly forested area, hot springs, and the famous crying rock of Niobe, the park boasts of having within its boundaries about 120 varieties of native plants, especially wild tulips. The park provides opportunities for mountaineering and camping, sardis, in Salihli, was the ancient capital of Lydia, once ruled by King Croesus, who was renowned for his wealth. Due to numerous earthquakes, most of the remains date back only to Roman times. There are the remains of the temple of Artemis and a restored gymnasium, the splendid synagogue from the 3rd century is worth visiting, with its elaborate mosaics and artfully carved colored-stone panels. Akhisar, the ancient city of Thyatira, was one of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation, more recently, it became an important commercial center in the province and is its second largest after Manisa. The city of Alaşehir is where the remains of the ancient city of Philadelphia, there is little left of the ancient city, except some ruins of a Byzantine church. Kula houses provide beautiful examples of Ottoman architecture, the villages of the Mount Yunt, the towns of Gördes, Kula and Demirci are famous for their precious carpets and kilims. In addition there are thermal springs throughout the area. The province is highly developed in terms of activities which are concentrated especially in the largest four centers of Manisa, Turgutlu, Akhisar
Manisa Province
–
Location of Manisa Province in Turkey
18.
Anatolian languages
–
The Anatolian languages are an extinct family of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language. The list below gives the Anatolian languages in a flat arrangement. This model recognizes only one subgroup, the Luwic languages. Modifications and updates of the order continue, however. A second version opposes Hittite to Western Anatolian, and divides the latter node into Lydian, Palaic, Hittite was the language of the Hittite Empire, dated approximately 1650 to 1200 BC, which ruled over nearly all of Anatolia during that time. The earliest sources of Hittite are the 19th century BC Kültepe texts, the Assyrian records of the kârum kaneš, or port of Kanesh and this collection records Hittite names and words loaned into Assyrian from Hittite. The Hittite name for the city was Neša, from which the Hittite endonym for the language, the records show a gradual rise to power of the Anatolian language speakers over the native Hattians, until at last the kingship became an Anatolian privilege. From then on, little is heard of the Hattians, the records include rituals, medical writings, letters, laws and other public documents, making possible an in-depth knowledge of many aspects of the civilization. Most of the records are dated to the 13th century BC and they are written in cuneiform script borrowing heavily from the Mesopotamian system of writing. However, phonetic syllable signs are present also, representing syllables of the form V, CV, VC, CVC, Hittite is divided into Old, Middle, and New. Fortson gives the dates, which come from the reigns of the relevant kings, as 1570–1450, 1450–1380, all cuneiform Hittite came to an end at 1200 with the destruction of Hattusas and the end of the empire. Palaic, spoken in the north-central Anatolian region of Pala, extinct around the 13th century BC, is only from fragments of quoted prayers in Old Hittite texts. It was extinguished by the replacement of the culture, if not the population, as a result of an invasion by the Kaskas, which the Hittites could not prevent. The term, Luwic, was proposed by Craig Melchert as the node of a branch to include several languages that seem more closely related than the other Anatolian languages. This is not a neologism, as Luvic had been used in the early 20th century to mean the Anatolian language group as a whole, the name comes from Hittite luwili. The earlier use of Luvic fell into disuse in favor of Luvian, meanwhile, most of the languages now termed Luvian, or Luvic, were not known to be so until the latter 20th century. Even more fragmentary attestations might be discovered in the future, Luvian and Luvic have other meanings in English, so currently Luwian and Luwic are preferred. Luwian does not always have the same meaning, for example, Silvia Luraghis Luwian branch begins with a root language she terms the Luwian Group, which logically is in the place of Common Luwian or Proto-Luwian
Anatolian languages
–
The Hittite Empire at its greatest extent under
Suppiluliuma I (ca. 1350–1322 BC) and
Mursili II (ca. 1321–1295 BC)
19.
Old Persian
–
The Old Persian language is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages. Old Persian appears primarily in the inscriptions, clay tablets, recent research into the vast Persepolis Fortification Archive at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago have unearthed Old Persian tablets. This new text shows that the Old Persian language was a language in use for practical recording. As a written language, Old Persian is attested in royal Achaemenid inscriptions and it is an Iranian language and as such a member of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. The oldest known written in Old Persian is from the Behistun Inscriptions. Old Persian is one of the oldest Indo-European languages which is attested in original texts, the oldest date of use of Old Persian as a spoken language is not precisely known. Their language, Old Persian, became the language of the Achaemenid kings. In these records of the 9th century BCE, Parsuwash are first mentioned in the area of Lake Urmia in the records of Shalmaneser III. The exact identity of the Parsuwash is not known for certain and he relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. Old Persian belongs to the Iranian language family which is a branch of the Indo-Iranian language family, the common ancestors of Indo-Iranians came from Central Asia sometime in the first half of the 2nd millennium BCE. The former are the languages in that group which have left written original texts while Median is known mostly from loanwords in Old Persian. Old Persian subsequently evolved into Middle Persian, which is in turn the ancestor of New Persian. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Pashto, Old, Middle and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars and is differentiated by dialectical features, Middle Persian, also sometimes called Pahlavi, is a direct continuation of old Persian, and was used as the written official language of the country. Comparison of the evolution at each stage of the shows great simplification in grammar. However, New Persian is a descendent of Middle and Old Persian. Old Persian presumably has a Median language substrate, the Median element is readily identifiable because it did not share in the developments that were peculiar to Old Persian. Median forms are only in personal or geographical names and some are typically from religious vocabulary
Old Persian
–
An Old Persian inscription in
Persepolis.
Old Persian
–
Geography
20.
Satrap
–
Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The word satrap originates ultimately from Old Persian xšaçapāvan, Sanskrit kshatrapam or kshtrapa, from xšaça, in Greek, the word was rendered as satrápēs —which later borrowed into Latin as satrapes—from a Western Iranian cognate xšaθrapā. In modern Persian the descendant of xšaθrapāvan is shahrbān, but the components have undergone semantic shift so the word now means town keeper. The first large use of satrapies, or provinces, originates from the conception of the First Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great. However, provincial organization originated during the Median era from at least 648 BCE, up to the time of the conquest of Media by Cyrus the Great, emperors ruled the conquered lands, through client kings and governors. The chief difference was that in Persian culture the concept of kingship was indivisible from divinity and he was responsible for the safety of the roads, and had to put down brigands and rebels. But the satrap was allowed to have troops in his own service, the great satrapies were often divided into smaller districts, the governors of which were also called satraps and also hyparchs. The distribution of the great satrapies was changed repeatedly, and often two of them were given to the same man, as the provinces were the result of consecutive conquests, both primary and sub-satrapies were often defined by former states and/or ethno-religious identity. When his office became hereditary, the threat to the authority could not be ignored. Rebellions of satraps became frequent from the middle of the 5th century BCE, darius I struggled with widespread rebellions in the satrapies, and under Artaxerxes II occasionally the greater part of Asia Minor and Syria was in open rebellion. The last great rebellions were put down by Artaxerxes III and they would ultimately be replaced by conquering empires, especially the Parthians. In the Parthian Empire, the power rested on the support of noble families who ruled large estates. City-states within the empire enjoyed a degree of self-government, and paid tribute to the king, shahrabs ruled both the city and the surrounding rural districts. Exceptionally, the East Roman Empire also adopted the title satrap for the princes that governed one of its Armenian provinces. The Western Satraps or Kshatrapas were Saka rulers in the western and central part of the Sindh region of Pakistan, and it is also used in modern times to refer to the loyal subservient lieutenants or clients of some powerful figure, in politics or business. In Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, the word not only carries the aforementioned ancient historical meaning. It can refer as well to living in luxurious and ostentatious conditions or to individuals who act astutely. The College of Pataphysics used the title Transcendent Satrap for certain of its members, including Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard, in the Serbian language, satrap is used to mock a person who displays servile tendencies to an authority figure
Satrap
–
Some of
Achaemenid empire satraps
21.
Achaemenid Empire
–
The Achaemenid Empire, also called the Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia, founded by Cyrus the Great. The empires successes inspired similar systems in later empires and it is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built in a Hellenistic style in the empire as well. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes, Lydia, Alexander, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered the empire in its entirety by 330 BC. Upon his death, most of the former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire. The Persian population of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire, the historical mark of the Achaemenid Empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social, technological and religious influences as well. Many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange. The impact of Cyruss edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire also set the tone for the politics, heritage and history of modern Iran. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details Due to the duration of their reigns, Smerdis, Xerxes II. The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here, the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished, they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as by 6th century BC another group of ancient Iranian peoples had established the short lived Median Empire. The Iranian peoples had arrived in the region of what is today Iran c.1000 BC and had for a number of centuries fallen under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. However, the Medes and Persians, Cimmerians, Persians and Chaldeans played a role in the overthrow of the Assyrian empire. The term Achaemenid means of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes, despite the derivation of the name, Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria. At some point in 550 BC, Cyrus rose in rebellion against the Medes, eventually conquering the Medes and creating the first Persian empire
Achaemenid Empire
–
Standard of Cyrus the Great
Achaemenid Empire
–
Relief of
Cyrus the Great.
Achaemenid Empire
–
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus one of the
Seven wonders of the ancient world was built by Persian satrap of
Caria,
Mausolus (Scale model.)
22.
Cyrus the Great
–
Cyrus II of Persia, commonly known as Cyrus the Great and also called Cyrus the Elder by the Greeks, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. From the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, under his successors, the empire eventually stretched at its maximum extent from parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east. His regal titles in full were The Great King, King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, the reign of Cyrus the Great lasted between 29 and 31 years. Cyrus built his empire by conquering first the Median Empire, then the Lydian Empire, either before or after Babylon, he led an expedition into central Asia, which resulted in major campaigns that were described as having brought into subjection every nation without exception. Cyrus did not venture into Egypt, as he died in battle. He was succeeded by his son, Cambyses II, who managed to add to the empire by conquering Egypt, Nubia, Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. This became a successful model for centralized administration and establishing a government working to the advantage. In fact, the administration of the empire through satraps and the principle of forming a government at Pasargadae were the works of Cyrus. Cyrus the Great is also recognized for his achievements in human rights, politics. Having originated from Persis, roughly corresponding to the modern Iranian province of Fars and this view has been criticized by some historians as a misunderstanding of the Cylinders generic nature as a traditional statement that new monarchs make at the beginning of their reign. The name Cyrus is a Latinized form derived from the Greek Κῦρος, Kỹros, the name and its meaning has been recorded in ancient inscriptions in different languages. This may also point to a relationship to the mythological first king of Persia, Jamshid. Karl Hoffmann has suggested a translation based on the meaning of an Indo-European-root to humiliate, in the Persian language and especially in Iran, Cyruss name is spelled as کوروش. In the Bible, he is known as Koresh, the Persian domination and kingdom in the Iranian plateau started by an extension of the Achaemenid dynasty, who expanded their earlier domination possibly from the 9th century BC onward. The eponymous founder of dynasty was Achaemenes. Achaemenids are descendants of Achaemenes as Darius the Great, the king of the dynasty, traces his genealogy to him. Ancient documents mention that Teispes had a son called Cyrus I, Cyrus I had a full brother whose name is recorded as Ariaramnes. In 600 BC, Cyrus I was succeeded by his son, Cambyses I, Cyrus the Great was a son of Cambyses I, who named his son after his father, Cyrus I
Cyrus the Great
–
Cyrus the Great with a
Hemhem crown
Cyrus the Great
–
"I am Cyrus the king, an
Achaemenid." in
Old Persian,
Elamite and
Akkadian languages. It is carved in a column in Pasargadae.
Cyrus the Great
–
The four-winged guardian figure representing Cyrus the Great, a
bas-relief found at
Pasargadae on top of which was once inscribed in three languages the sentence "I am Cyrus the king, an
Achaemenian."
Cyrus the Great
–
Painting of king
Astyages sending
Harpagus to kill young Cyrus
23.
Roman province
–
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy, largest territorial and administrative unit of the empires territorial possessions outside of Italy. The word province in modern English has its origins in the used by the Romans. Provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors and this exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings. The territory of a people who were defeated in war might be brought under various forms of treaty, the formal annexation of a territory created a province in the modern sense of an administrative unit geographically defined. Republican provinces were administered in one-year terms by the consuls and praetors who had held office the previous year, Rome started expanding beyond Italy during the First Punic War. The first permanent provinces to be annexed were Sicily in 241 BC, militarized expansionism kept increasing the number of these administrative provinces, until there were no longer enough qualified individuals to fill the posts. The terms of provincial governors often had to be extended for multiple years,241 BC – Sicilia taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed at the end of the First Punic War. 237 BC – Corsica et Sardinia, these two islands were taken over from the Carthaginians and annexed soon after the Mercenary War, in 238 BC and 237 BC respectively. 197 BC – Hispania Citerior, along the east coast of the,197 BC - Hispania Ulterior, along the southern coast of the, part of the territories taken over from the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War. 147 BC – Macedonia, mainland Greece and it was annexed after a rebellion by the Achaean League. 146 BC – Africa, modern day Tunisia and western Libya, home territory of Carthage and it was annexed following attacks on the allied Greek city of Massalia. 67 BC – Creta et Cyrenae, Cyrenaica was bequeathed to Rome in 78 BC, however, it was not organised as a province. 58 BC – Cilicia et Cyprus, Cilicia was created as a province in the sense of area of command in 102 BC in a campaign against piracy. The Romans controlled only a small area, in 74 BC Lycia and Pamphylia were added to the smal Roman possessions in Cilicia. Cilicia came fully under Roman control towards the end of the Third Mithridatic War - 73-63 BC, the province was reorganised by Pompey in 63 BC. Gallia Cisalpina was a province in the sense of an area of military command, during Romes expansion in Italy the Romans assigned some areas as provinces in the sense of areas of military command assigned to consuls or praetors due to risks of rebellions or invasions. This was applied to Liguria because there was a series of rebellions, Bruttium, in the early days of Roman presence in Gallia Cisalpina the issue was rebellion. Later the issue was risk of invasions by warlike peoples east of Italy, the city of Aquileia was founded to protect northern Italy form invasions
Roman province
–
Roman Empire under
Augustus (31 BC – AD 14). Yellow: 31BC. Dark Green 31–19 BC, Light Green 19–9 BC, Pale Green 9–6 BC. Mauve: Client states
24.
Coin
–
A coin is a small, flat, round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government, Coins are usually metal or alloy, or sometimes made of synthetic materials. Coins made of metal are stored in large quantities as bullion coins. Other coins are used as money in transactions, circulating alongside banknotes. Usually the highest value coin in circulation is less than the lowest-value note. In the last hundred years, the value of circulation coins has occasionally been lower than the value of the metal they contain. Exceptions to the rule of face value being higher than content value also occur for some bullion coins made of copper, silver, or gold, while the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Sovereign coins have nominal face values, the Krugerrand does not. The first coins were developed independently in Iron Age Anatolia and Archaic Greece, India, Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the Balkans. Standardized Roman currency was used throughout the Roman Empire, important Roman gold and silver coins were continued into the Middle Ages. Fiat money first arose in medieval China, with the paper money. Early paper money was introduced in Europe in the later Middle Ages, the penny was minted as a silver coin until the 17th century. The first circulating United States coins were cents, produced in 1793, Coins were an evolution of currency systems of the Late Bronze Age, where standard-sized ingots, and tokens such as knife money, were used to store and transfer value. In the late Chinese Bronze Age, standardized cast tokens were made and these were replicas in bronze of earlier Chinese currency, cowrie shells, so they were named Bronze Shell. According to Aristotle and Pollux, the first issuer of coins was Hermodike of Kyme The earliest coins are associated with Iron Age Anatolia. Early electrum coins were not standardized in weight, and in their earliest stage may have been ritual objects, such as badges or medals, issued by priests. The first Lydian coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver, most of the early Lydian coins include no writing, only an image of a symbolic animal. Anatolian Artemis was the Πὀτνια Θηρῶν, whose symbol was the stag, a small percentage of early Lydian/Greek coins have a legend
Coin
–
A
Swiss ten-cent coin from 1879, similar to the oldest coins still in official use today
Coin
–
An original Celtic
Biatec coin and its replica on a former Slovak 5-
koruna coin (1993-2008)
Coin
–
An
oxhide ingot from
Crete.
Late Bronze Age metal ingots were given standard shapes, such as the shape of an "ox-hide", suggesting that they represented standardized values.
Coin
–
1/3rd
stater from
Lydia, 6th century BCE
25.
Satrapy
–
Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The word satrap originates ultimately from Old Persian xšaçapāvan, Sanskrit kshatrapam or kshtrapa, from xšaça, in Greek, the word was rendered as satrápēs —which later borrowed into Latin as satrapes—from a Western Iranian cognate xšaθrapā. In modern Persian the descendant of xšaθrapāvan is shahrbān, but the components have undergone semantic shift so the word now means town keeper. The first large use of satrapies, or provinces, originates from the conception of the First Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great. However, provincial organization originated during the Median era from at least 648 BCE, up to the time of the conquest of Media by Cyrus the Great, emperors ruled the conquered lands, through client kings and governors. The chief difference was that in Persian culture the concept of kingship was indivisible from divinity and he was responsible for the safety of the roads, and had to put down brigands and rebels. But the satrap was allowed to have troops in his own service, the great satrapies were often divided into smaller districts, the governors of which were also called satraps and also hyparchs. The distribution of the great satrapies was changed repeatedly, and often two of them were given to the same man, as the provinces were the result of consecutive conquests, both primary and sub-satrapies were often defined by former states and/or ethno-religious identity. When his office became hereditary, the threat to the authority could not be ignored. Rebellions of satraps became frequent from the middle of the 5th century BCE, darius I struggled with widespread rebellions in the satrapies, and under Artaxerxes II occasionally the greater part of Asia Minor and Syria was in open rebellion. The last great rebellions were put down by Artaxerxes III and they would ultimately be replaced by conquering empires, especially the Parthians. In the Parthian Empire, the power rested on the support of noble families who ruled large estates. City-states within the empire enjoyed a degree of self-government, and paid tribute to the king, shahrabs ruled both the city and the surrounding rural districts. Exceptionally, the East Roman Empire also adopted the title satrap for the princes that governed one of its Armenian provinces. The Western Satraps or Kshatrapas were Saka rulers in the western and central part of the Sindh region of Pakistan, and it is also used in modern times to refer to the loyal subservient lieutenants or clients of some powerful figure, in politics or business. In Portuguese, Italian and Spanish, the word not only carries the aforementioned ancient historical meaning. It can refer as well to living in luxurious and ostentatious conditions or to individuals who act astutely. The College of Pataphysics used the title Transcendent Satrap for certain of its members, including Marcel Duchamp, Jean Baudrillard, in the Serbian language, satrap is used to mock a person who displays servile tendencies to an authority figure
Satrapy
–
Some of
Achaemenid empire satraps
26.
Aramaic
–
Aramaic is a language or group of languages belonging to the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic language family. More specifically, it is part of the Northwest Semitic group, the Aramaic alphabet was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic alphabets. During its approximately 3000 years of history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires, therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language, each time and place rather has had its own variation. The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered, Aram is used as a proper name of several people in the Torah including descendants of Shem, Nahor, and Jacob. Ancient Aram, bordering northern Israel and now called Syria, is considered the epicenter of Aramaic. The language is often considered to have originated within Assyria. Interestingly, the Christian New Testament, for which the constituent texts are written in Koine Greek. The Hellenized Jewish community of Alexandria instead translated Aramaic to the Syrian tongue, a related language, Mlahsô, has recently become extinct. Mandaeans living in the Khuzestan Province of Iran and scattered throughout Iraq and it is quite distinct from any other Aramaic variety. Central Neo-Aramaic consists of Turoyo and the recently extinct Mlahsô, very little remains of Western Aramaic. All these speakers of Modern Western Aramaic are fluent in Arabic, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and Samaritan Aramaic are preserved in liturgical and literary usage. Each dialect of Aramaic has its own pronunciation, and it would not be feasible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has a palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. The open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel and it usually has a back counterpart, and a front counterpart. There is much correspondence between these vowels between dialects, there is some evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not distinguish between the short a and short e. In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the long a became the o sound, the open e and back a are often indicated in writing by the use of the letters א alaph or ה he. The close front vowel is the long i and it has a slightly more open counterpart, the long e, as in the final vowel of café. Both of these have shorter counterparts, which tend to be pronounced more open
Aramaic
–
Arāmāyā in Syriac Esṭrangelā script
Aramaic
–
Syriac-Aramaic alphabet
Aramaic
–
Syriac Aramaic inscription at
Syro-Malabar Catholic Major Archbishop's House in
India.
Aramaic
–
Amen in
East Syriac Aramaic
27.
Akkadian language
–
Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a sprachbund, Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-millennium BC. From the second half of the third millennium BC, texts written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the second millennium BC, two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively, for centuries, Akkadian was the native language in Mesopotamian nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. However, it began to decline during the Neo-Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, by the Hellenistic period, the language was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia. The last known Akkadian cuneiform document dates from the 1st century AD, Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to East Africa, which then spread to West, Northwest and Northeast Africa. Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup and this novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order. Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana, other Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə. The origin of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown, in contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant fricative, ḫ. Akkadian lost both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic languages, until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricated. Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to c.2500 BC and it was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian scribes, the cuneiform script could represent either Sumerian logograms, Sumerian syllables, Akkadian syllables. For this reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for the word ilum, additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine names. Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a phonetic value. Certain signs, such as AḪ, do not distinguish between the different vowel qualities, nor is there any coordination in the other direction, the syllable -ša-, for example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the sign NĪĜ. Both of these are used for the same syllable in the same text
Akkadian language
–
An Akkadian inscription
Akkadian language
–
Cuneiform writing (Neoassyrian script) (1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ḫi, 2 = LG "moat", 3 = SG aʾ, 4 = SG aḫ, eḫ, iḫ, uḫ, 5 = SG kam, 6 = SG im, 7 = SG bir)
Akkadian language
–
The
Deluge tablet of the
Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.
Akkadian language
–
Geography
28.
Elamitic
–
Elamite is an extinct language spoken by the ancient Elamites. Elamite was a used in present-day south-western Iran from 2800 to 550 BC. The last written records in Elamite appear about the time of the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great, Elamite has no demonstrable relatives and is usually considered a language isolate. The lack of established relatives is one reason that interpretation of the language is difficult, Elamite cuneiform, adapted from Akkadian cuneiform, was used from ca.2500 to 331 BC. Elamite cuneiform was largely a syllabary of some 130 glyphs at any one time and retained only a few logograms from Akkadian, but over time, the complete corpus of Elamite cuneiform consists of c.20 thousand tablets and fragments. The majority belong to the Achaemenid era, and contain primarily economic records, two earlier scripts of the area remain undeciphered but plausibly have encoded Elamite, Proto-Elamite is the oldest known writing system from Iran. It was used during a period of time, clay tablets with Proto-Elamite writing have been found at different sites across Iran. It is thought to have developed from early cuneiform and consists of more than 1,000 signs and it is thought to be largely logographic. Linear Elamite is attested in a few monumental inscriptions and it is often claimed that Linear Elamite is a syllabic writing system derived from Proto-Elamite, but it cannot be proven. Linear Elamite was used for a brief period of time during the last quarter of the third millennium BC. Elamite was a language, and Elamite grammar was characterized by a well-developed. Animate nouns had separate markers for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, documents from the Old Elamite and early Neo-Elamite stages are rather scarce. Neo-Elamite can be regarded as a transition between Middle and Achaemenid Elamite, with respect to language structure, because of the limitations of the languages scripts, phonology is not well understood. As for the vowels, Elamite had at least /a/, /i/, and /u/ and may also have had an /e/, roots are generally of the forms CV, VC, VCV and, more rarely, CVCCV. Elamite is agglutinative, and predominantly suffixing, the inanimate 3rd singular -me forms abstracts. In noun phrases and pronoun phrases, the suffixes referring to the head are appended to the modifier, sometimes the suffix is preserved on the head as well. g. The suffix -na, which originated from the inanimate agreement suffix -n followed by the nominalizing particle -a. The personal pronouns distinguish nominative and accusative case forms and they are as follows, In general, no special possessive pronouns are needed in view of the construction with the noun class suffixes
Elamitic
–
Tablet of Elamite script
Elamitic
–
Geography
29.
Arzawa
–
Arzawa in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC was the name of a region and a political entity in Western Anatolia. The core of Arzawa is believed to have located along the Kestros River, with its capital at Apasa. It was the state of the Assuwa league, which also included parts of western Anatolia. Arzawa was the neighbour and rival of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms. On the other hand, it was in contact with the Ahhiyawa of the Hittite texts. Moreover, Achaeans and Arzawa formed a coalition against the Hittites, according to Hittite sources, the capital of the Kingdom of Arzawa was Apasa, corresponding with later Greek Ephesus. The languages spoken in Arzawa during the Bronze Age and early Iron Age cannot be determined due to the paucity of indigenous written sources. The zenith of the kingdom was during the 15th and 14th centuries BC, the Hittites were then weakened, and Arzawa was an ally of Egypt. According to Hittite records, in c.1320 BC Arzawa joined an alliance together with the region of Millawanta under the king of Ahhijawa. As a response of this initiative, the Hittite kings Suppiluliuma I, the king of Arzawa managed to escape to Mycenaean controlled territory. Arzawa was then split by the Hittites into vassal kingdoms and these were called, Kingdom of Mira, Hapalla, Seha river land. Seha river is now believed to be the present-day Gediz River, also, Mursilis son Muwatalli added Wilusa as a vassal. In 1998, J. David Hawkins succeeded in reading the Karabel relief inscription, located at the Karabel pass and this has provided evidence that the kingdom of Mira was actually south of the Seha river land, thus locating the latter along the Gediz River. These kingdoms, usually termed simply as lands in Hittite registers, there has been evidence from a British expedition in 1954 to Beycesultan in inner western Anatolia which suggests that the local king had central heating in his home. Nothing more was heard from this invention until Gaius Sergius Orata reinvented it in Ancient Rome around 80 BC, kupanta-Kurunta c. 1440s BC Madduwatta of Zippasla c. 1420s BC Tarhundaradu c. 1370s BC Anzapahhadu c
Arzawa
–
The inscription of the Karabel rock-carved prince-warrior monument in
Mount Nif was read as attributing it to "Tarkasnawa, King of Mira", a part of the Kingdom of Arzawa.
Arzawa
–
Arzawa (light green) is mentioned as a major power in Egyptian accounts of the
Amarna period (14th century BC). Moreover, according to Hittite accounts it formed in various periods an alliance with Ahhiyawa, generally identified by modern scholars with
Mycenaean Greece (purple).
30.
Luwian language
–
Luwian is an ancient language or group of languages of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The two varieties of Luwian are named for the scripts that they were written in, Cuneiform Luwian, as to whether these were one language or two, there is no consensus. Several other languages in Anatolia have been identified as being most similar to Luwian, some linguists name the branch the Luwian Group or just Luwian and, in that sense, Luwian means all of the Luwian languages. Other linguists, following Melchert, prefer to use Luwic for the branch, the name Luwian comes from the name of the land, Luwiya, where the speakers lived. It is mentioned in the Hittite laws, the region was later called Lydia. Luwian is closely related to Hittite, Luwian has been deduced as one of the likely candidates for the language spoken by the Trojans. Some fringe hypotheses rejected by historical linguistics are a relationship with Lemnian, a Thracian connection. According to James Mellaart, the earliest Indo-Europeans in northwest Anatolia were the horse-riders who came to this region from the north and they were ancestors of the Luwians who inhabited Troy II, and spread widely in the Anatolian peninsula. He cited the distribution of a new type of pottery, Red Slip Wares. According to Mellaart, the migrations to Anatolia came in several distinct waves over many centuries. The current trend is to see such migrations as mostly peaceful, Luwian was among the languages spoken during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC by groups in central and western Anatolia and northern Syria. In the Old Hittite version of the Hittite Code, some, if not all, widmer has argued that the Mycenaean term ru-wa-ni-jo, attested in Linear B, refers to the same area. In the post-Hittite era, the region of Arzawa came to be known as Lydia, the name Lydia has been derived from the name Luwiya, which further argues in favour of the location of Luwiya in the west. Beginning in the 14th century BC, Luwian-speakers came to constitute the majority in the Hittite capital Hattusa and it appears that by the time of the collapse of the Hittite Empire ca.1180 BC, the Hittite king and royal family were fully bilingual in Luwian. Cuneiform Luwian is a term refers to the corpus of Luwian texts attested in the tablet archives of Hattusa. In Laroches Catalog of Hittite Texts, the corpus of Hittite cuneiform texts with Luwian insertions runs from CTH 757–773, Cuneiform Luwian texts are written in several dialects, of which the most easily identifiable are Kizzuwatna Luwian, Istanuwa Luwian, and Empire Luwian. The last dialect represents the vernacular of Hattusan scribes of the 14th–13th centuries BC and is attested through Glossenkeil words in Hittite texts. Hieroglyphic Luwian is a term refers to the corpus of Luwian texts written in a native script
Luwian language
–
Luwian hieroglyph
Luwian language
–
Distribution of the Luwian language
Luwian language
–
Stele of Sultanhan,
Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey.
Luwian language
–
Geography
