A report on Mesopotamia and Achaemenid Empire

The Tigris river flowing through the region of modern Mosul in Upper Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamian Marshes at night, southern Iraq; reed house (Mudhif) and narrow canoe (Mashoof) in the water. Mudhif structures have been one of the traditional types of structures, built by the Marsh people of southern Mesopotamia for at least 5,000 years. A carved elevation of a typical mudhif, dating to around 3,300 BCE was discovered at Uruk.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest territorial extent under the rule of Darius I (522 BC–486 BC)

One of 18 Statues of Gudea, a ruler around 2090 BC

After early starts in Jarmo (red dot, circa 7500 BC), the civilization of Mesopotamia in the 7th–5th millennium BC was centered around the Hassuna culture in the north, the Halaf culture in the northwest, the Samarra culture in central Mesopotamia and the Ubaid culture in the southeast, which later expanded to encompass the whole region.

Overview map in the 15th century BC showing the core territory of Assyria with its two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream and the states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream.

Map of the expansion process of Achaemenid territories

The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed c. 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organised, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hammurabi, sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon.

Cyrus the Great is said, in the Bible, to have liberated the Hebrew captives in Babylon to resettle and rebuild Jerusalem, earning him an honored place in Judaism.

Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature.

The tomb of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. At Pasargadae, Iran.

Clay tablet, mathematical, geometric-algebraic, similar to the Euclidean geometry. From Shaduppum Iraq. 2003-1595 BC. Iraq Museum.

The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent, c. 500 BC

Medical recipe concerning poisoning. Terracotta tablet, from Nippur, Iraq.

The Persian queen Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, sister-wife of Cambyses II, Darius the Great's wife, and mother of Xerxes the Great

The Burney Relief, First Babylonian dynasty, around 1800 BC

Map showing events of the first phases of the Greco-Persian Wars

King Meli-shipak I (1186–1172 BC) presents his daughter to the goddess Nannaya. The crescent moon represents the god Sin, the sun the Shamash and the star the goddess Ishtar.

Greek hoplite and Persian warrior depicted fighting, on an ancient kylix, 5th century BC

The Queen's gold lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. C. 2500 BCE. Iraq Museum

Achaemenid king fighting hoplites, seal and seal holder, Cimmerian Bosporus.

Royal Game of Ur, Ancient Mesopotamian board Game.

Achaemenid gold ornaments, Brooklyn Museum

The Babylonian marriage market by the 19th-century painter Edwin Long

Persian Empire timeline including important events and territorial evolution – 550–323 BC

Relief showing Darius I offering lettuces to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra Kamutef, Temple of Hibis

7th-century BC relief depicting Ashurbanipal ((r. undefined – undefined)669–631 BC) and three royal attendants in a chariot.

The 24 countries subject to the Achaemenid Empire at the time of Darius, on the Egyptian statue of Darius I.

Campaign in the Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Babylonia during the reign of Ashurbanipal. Showing Assyrian soldiers on boat chasing enemies trying to run away; some are hiding in the reeds

The Battle of Issus, between Alexander the Great on horseback to the left, and Darius III in the chariot to the right, represented in a Pompeii mosaic dated 1st century BC – Naples National Archaeological Museum

The Standard of Ur; 2600 BC (the Early Dynastic Period III); shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli on wood; height: 21.7 cm, length: 50.4 cm; discovered at the Royal Cemetery at Ur (Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq)

Alexander's first victory over Darius, the Persian king depicted in medieval European style in the 15th century romance The History of Alexander's Battles

Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler, discovered in Nineveh in 1931, presumably depicting either Sargon of Akkad or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin.<ref>M. E. L. Mallowan, "The Bronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh", Iraq Vol. 3, No. 1 (1936), 104-110.</ref>

Frataraka dynasty ruler Vadfradad I (Autophradates I). 3rd century BC. Istakhr (Persepolis) mint.

Striding lions from the Processional Street of Babylon.

Dārēv I (Darios I) used for the first time the title of mlk (King). 2nd century BC.

$Lamassu, initially depicted as a goddess in Sumerian times, when it was called Lamma, it was later depicted from Assyrian times as a hybrid of a human, bird, and either a bull or lion—specifically having a human head, the body of a bull or a lion, and bird wings, under the name Lamassu.<ref name="GL109">{{cite book |last1=Leick |first1=Dr Gwendolyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pqEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 |title=A Dictionary of Ancient Near Eastern Mythology |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-64102-4 |pages=109–110 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Livius.org">Livius.org</ref>$

Winged sphinx from the Palace of Darius in Susa, Louvre

Assyrian ornaments and patterns, illustrated in a book from 1920

alt=|Detail of Nebuchadnezzar II's Building Inscription plaque of the Ishtar Gate, from Babylon

Volume of annual tribute per district, in the Achaemenid Empire, according to Herodotus.

alt=|Artist's impression of a hall in an Assyrian palace from The Monuments of Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard, 1853

Achaemenid tax collector, calculating on an Abax or Abacus, according to the Darius Vase (340–320 BC).

alt=|A Neo-Assyrian relief of Ashur as a feather robed archer holding a bow instead of a ring (9th-8th century BC)

Letter from the Satrap of Bactria to the governor of Khulmi, concerning camel keepers, 353 BC

alt=|The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. The king, surrounded by his royal attendants and a high-ranking official, receives a tribute from Sua, king of Gilzanu (north-west Iran), who bows and prostrates before the king. From Nimrud

Relief of throne-bearing soldiers in their native clothing at the tomb of Xerxes I, demonstrating the satrapies under his rule.

alt=|Contemporary artwork depicting Babylon at the height of its stature.

Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite. c. 500 BC–475 BC, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

alt=|"Winged genie", Nimrud c. 870 BC, with inscription running across his midriff.

Persian soldiers (left) fighting against Scythians. Cylinder seal impression.

The Ishtar gate was constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II. Pergamon Museum, Berlin

Color reconstruction of Achaemenid infantry on the Alexander Sarcophagus (end of 4th century BC).

Seal of Darius the Great hunting in a chariot, reading "I am Darius, the Great King" in Old Persian (𐎠𐎭𐎶𐏐𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁𐎴 𐏋, "adam Dārayavaʰuš xšāyaθiya"), as well as in Elamite and Babylonian. The word "great" only appears in Babylonian. British Museum.

Achaemenid calvalryman in the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

Armoured cavalry: Achaemenid Dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psiloi, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.

A suggested reconstruction of the appearance of a Sumerian ziggurat

Reconstitution of Persian landing ships at the Battle of Marathon.

Greek ships against Achaemenid ships at the Battle of Salamis.

Iconic relief of lion and bull fighting, Apadana of Persepolis

Achaemenid golden bowl with lioness imagery of Mazandaran

A section of the Old Persian part of the trilingual Behistun inscription. Other versions are in Babylonian and Elamite.

A copy of the Behistun inscription in Aramaic on a papyrus. Aramaic was the lingua franca of the empire.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, was built by Greek architects for the local Persian satrap of Caria, Mausolus (Scale model)

Reconstruction of the Palace of Darius at Susa. The palace served as a model for Persepolis.

Lion on a decorative panel from Darius I the Great's palace, Louvre

Apadana Hall, Persian and Median soldiers at Persepolis

Lateral view of tomb of Cambyses II, Pasargadae, Iran

Plaque with horned lion-griffins. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire.

- Mesopotamia

By the 5th century BC, the Kings of Persia were either ruling over or had subordinated territories encompassing not just all of the Persian Plateau and all of the territories formerly held by the Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia, the Levant, Cyprus and Egypt), but beyond this all of Anatolia and Armenia, as well as the Southern Caucasus and parts of the North Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Bulgaria, Paeonia, Thrace and Macedonia to the north and west, most of the Black Sea coastal regions, parts of Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea, the Oxus and Jaxartes to the north and north-east, the Hindu Kush and the western Indus basin (corresponding to modern Afghanistan and Pakistan) to the far east, parts of northern Arabia to the south, and parts of eastern Libya (Cyrenaica) to the south-west, and parts of Oman, China, and the UAE.

- Achaemenid Empire

18 related topics with Alpha

Neo-Assyrian Empire

6 links

The fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state.

Approximate map of the preceding Middle Assyrian Empire at its height in the 13th century BC

Assyrian borders and campaigns under Ashur-dan II ((r. undefined – undefined)934–912 BC), Adad-nirari II ((r. undefined – undefined)911–891 BC) and Tukulti-Ninurta II ((r. undefined – undefined)890–884 BC)

Annals of Tukulti-Ninurta II ((r. undefined – undefined)890–884 BC), recounting one of his campaigns

Stele of Ashurnasirpal II ((r. undefined – undefined)883–859 BC)

Depiction of Shalmaneser III (right) shaking hands with the Babylonian king Marduk-zakir-shumi I (left)

Stele of Shamshi-Adad V ((r. undefined – undefined)824–811 BC)

Stele of Bel-harran-beli-usur, a palace herald, made in the reign of Shalmaneser IV ((r. undefined – undefined)783–773 BC)

Partial relief depicting Tiglath-Pileser III ((r. undefined – undefined)745–727 BC)

20th-century illustration of Tiglath-Pileser III's capture of Damascus

The Neo-Assyrian Empire at the start (purple) and end (blue) of Tiglath-Pileser's reign

Relief depicting Sargon II, founder of the Sargonid dynasty

20th-century reconstruction of Sargon II's palace at Dur-Sharrukin

Line-drawing of a relief depicting Sennacherib ((r. undefined – undefined)705–681 BC) on campaign in a chariot

19th-century reconstruction of Nineveh, made capital under Sennacherib

20th-century illustration of Sennacherib's destruction of Babylon

Esarhaddon ((r. undefined – undefined)681–669 BC), as depicted in his victory stele

20th-century illustration of the Assyrians capturing Memphis, the Egyptian capital

Relief depicting Ashurbanipal ((r. undefined – undefined)669–631 BC) in a chariot, armed with a bow

The Diversion of an Assyrian King (1876) by Frederick Arthur Bridgman

Impression of a seal possibly belonging to the eunuch usurper Sin-shumu-lishir ((r. undefined – undefined)626 BC)

20th-century illustration of the Battle of Carchemish

20th-century illustration of the Fall of Nineveh

Line-drawing of a relief from Nimrud depicting a Neo-Assyrian king

Seal of Hama, queen of Shalmaneser IV ((r. 783 – 773) BC)

Provinces and vassal kingdoms of the Neo-Assyrian Empire at its height in the 7th century BC

Glazed tile from Nimrud depicting a Neo-Assyrian king, accompanied by attendants

Neo-Assyrian relief depicting eunuchs carrying booty from a war

Relief from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh depicting two Assyrian spearmen

Line-drawing of a Neo-Assyrian relief showing soldiers forming a phalanx

Neo-Assyrian relief from Nimrud depicting a tribute-bearer

Line-drawing of a Neo-Assyrian relief depicting a family of deportees leaving a captured Babylonian city in an ox-cart

Relief from the time of Ashurbanipal, depicting Babylonian prisoners under Assyrian guard

Neo-Assyrian cuneiform tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal listing synonyms

Line-drawing of a relief depicting Neo-Assyrian scribes recording the number of enemies slain by soldiers

Line drawing of an Assyrian lion weight once belonging to the king Shalmaneser V ((r. undefined – undefined)727–722 BC). The inscriptions on the weight are in both Akkadian (on the body) and Aramaic (on the base).

Reconstruction of the Library of Ashurbanipal

Relief depicting the gardens of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (left) with a color reconstruction (right). As can be seen on the right side of the relief, the garden featured sophisticated irrigation aqueducts.

A giant lamassu from Sargon II's palace at Dur-Sharrukin

Egyptian papyrus from c. undefined 500 BC containing the Story of Ahikar

Great Semiramis, Queen of Assyria by Cesare Saccaggi

The Defeat of Sennacherib by Peter Paul Rubens

1861 illustration by Eugène Flandin of excavations of the ruins of Dur-Sharrukin

1849 illustration of a relief from Dur-Sharrukin by Eugène Flandin

1852 illustration by Austen Henry Layard of excavations at Nineveh

Portrait of the Assyrian archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam c. undefined 1854

Chart depicting the ideological translatio imperii, i.e. supposed transfer of the right to universal rule, from the Neo-Assyrian Empire to (rival) early modern states claiming the same right

Relief of Sennacherib, depicting an Assyrian soldier beheading a prisoner

Relief of Ashurbanipal, depicting Elamite chiefs having their tongues removed and being flayed alive

Relief of Ashurbanipal, depicting the beheading of the Elamite king Teumman

At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as portions of Anatolia, Arabia and modern-day Iran and Armenia.

Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Ctesias supported a sequence of three world empires and a successive transfer of world domination from the Assyrians to the Medes to the Achaemenids.

Akkadian language

6 links

Cuneiform writing (Neoassyrian script)
(1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ,
2 = LG "moat",
3 = SG ,
4 = SG ,,, ,
5 = SG kam,
6 = SG im,
7 = SG bir)

The Deluge tablet of the Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.

The first known Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual tablet dates from the reign of Rimush. Louvre Museum AO 5477. The top column is in Sumerian, the bottom column is its translation in Akkadian.

Inscription in Babylonian, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE

Neo-Babylonian inscription of king Nebuchadnezzar II, 7th century BCE

Akkadian (, Akkadian: akkadû) was an East Semitic language, now extinct, that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia (Akkad, Assyria, Isin, Larsa and Babylonia) from the third millennium BC until its gradual replacement by Akkadian-influenced Old Aramaic among Mesopotamians by the 8th century BC.

Under the Achaemenids, Aramaic continued to prosper, but Assyrian continued its decline.

Elam

6 links

Ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of southern Iraq.

Kneeling Bull with Vessel. Kneeling bull holding a spouted vessel, Proto-Elamite period, (3100–2900 BC)

Proto-Elamite (Susa III) cylinder seal, 3150–2800 BC. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 6166

Polities during the Old Elamite period, and northern tribes of the Lullubi, Simurrum and Hurti.

Silver cup with linear-Elamite inscription on it. Late 3rd millennium BC. National Museum of Iran.

Seal impression of King Ebarat, founder of the Sukkalmah Dynasty (also called Epartid Dynasty after his name). Louvre Museum, reference Sb 6225. King Ebarat appears enthroned. The inscription reads "Ebarat the King. Kuk Kalla, son of Kuk-Sharum, servant of Shilhaha".

An ornate design on this limestone ritual vat from the Middle Elamite period depicts creatures with the heads of goats and the tails of fish (1500–1110 BC).

Stele of Untash Napirisha, king of Anshan and Susa. Sandstone, ca. 1340–1300 BC.

The Chogha Zanbil ziggurat site, built circa 1250 BC.

Elamite archer fighting against the Neo-Assyrian troops of Ashurbanipal, and protecting wounded king Teumman (kneeling), at the Battle of Ulai, 653 BC.

Ashurbanipal's campaign against Elam is triumphantly recorded in this relief showing the sack of Hamanu in 647 BC. Here, flames rise from the city as Assyrian soldiers topple it with pickaxes and crowbars and carry off the spoils.

Relief of a woman being fanned by an attendant while she holds what may be a spinning device before a table with a bowl containing a whole fish (700–550 BC).

Elamite soldier in the Achaemenid army circa 470 BC, Xerxes I tomb relief.

Âššina, one of the last kings of Elam circa 522 BC was toppled, enchained and killed by Darius the Great. The label over him says: "This is Âššina. He lied, saying "I am king of Elam.""

Golden statuette of a man (probably a king) carrying a goat. Susa, Iran, c. 1500–1200 BC (Middle Elamite period).

Cylinder seal and modern impression- worshiper before a seated ruler or deity; seated female under a grape arbor MET DP370181

A carved chlorite vase decorated with a relief depicting a "two-horned" figure wrestling with serpent goddesses. The Elamite artifact was discovered by Iran's border police in the possession of historical heritage traffickers, en route to Turkey, and was confiscated. Style is determined to be from "Jiroft".

$Indus round seal with impression. Elongated buffalo with Harappan symbol imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BC. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 5614<ref>{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=13556|website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}</ref>$

$Indian carnelian beads with white design, etched in white with an acid, imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BC. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 17751.<ref>{{cite web |title=Site officiel du musée du Louvre |url=http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=13589 |website=cartelfr.louvre.fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Guimet |first1=Musée |title=Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus: Archéologie du Pakistan |date=2016 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=9782402052467 |pages=354–355 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HpYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA354 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium BC from the Mediterranean to the Indus. |page=395 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ }}</ref> These beads are identical with beads found in the Indus Civilization site of Dholavira.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nandagopal |first1=Prabhakar |title=Decorated Carnelian Beads from the Indus Civilization Site of Dholavira (Great Rann of Kachchha, Gujarat) |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78491-917-7 |url=https://www.academia.edu/37860117 |year=2018 }}</ref>$

$Indus bracelet made of Fasciolaria Trapezium or Turbinella pyrum imported to Susa in 2600–1700 BC. Found in the tell of the Susa acropolis. Louvre Museum, reference Sb 14473.<ref>{{cite web |title=Louvre Museum Official Website |url=http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not&idNotice=13532 |website=cartelen.louvre.fr}}</ref> This type of bracelet was manufactured in Mohenjo-daro, Lothal and Balakot.<ref name="FeniXX réédition numérique"/> It is engraved with a chevron design which is characteristic of all shell bangles of the Indus Valley, visible here.<ref>{{cite book |title=Art of the first cities : the third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. |page=398 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArtOfTheFirstCitiesTheThirdMillenniumB.C.FromTheMediterraneanToTheIndusEditedByJ }}</ref>$

Indus Valley Civilization weight in veined jasper, excavated in Susa in a 12th-century BC princely tomb. Louvre Museum Sb 17774.<ref>{{cite book |title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus |date=2003 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9781588390431 |pages=401–402 |url=https://archive.org/details/artoffirstcities0000unse |url-access=registration }}</ref>

A 4.5 inch long lapis lazuli dove is studded with gold pegs. Dated 1200 BC from Susa, a city later on shared with the Achaemenids.

Elamite reliefs at Eshkaft-e Salman. The picture of a woman with dignity shows the importance of women in the Elamite era.{{Opinion|date=October 2019}}

During its early history, it fluctuated between submission to Mesopotamian and Elamite power.

The Iranian Medes, Parthians, Persians and Sagartians, who had been largely subject to Assyria since their arrival in the region around 1000 BC, quietly took full advantage of the anarchy in Assyria, and in 616 BC freed themselves from Assyrian rule.

Persian Gulf

5 links

Mediterranean sea in Western Asia.

Map of the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Oman leads to the Arabian Sea. Detail from [[:File:MiddleEast.png|larger map of the Middle East]].

A historical map of the Persian Gulf in a Dubai museum with the word Persian removed

Picture depicting extent of early civilizations around the Persian Gulf, including Lackhmids and Sassanids.

Picture depicting the Achaemenid Persian empire in relation to the Persian Gulf.

A painting depicting the British Expeditionary Force off the coast of Ras Al Khaimah in 1809.

The Portuguese Castle on Hormuz Island (Gaspar Correia. "Lendas da Índia", c. 1556)

Operation Earnest Will: Tanker convoy No. 12 under US Navy escort in October 1987

Dugong mother and her offspring in shallow water

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins off the southern shore of Iran, around Hengam Island

Spinner dolphins leaping in the Persian gulf

Critically endangered Arabian humpback whales (being the most isolated, and the only resident population in the world) off Dhofar, Oman

In 550 BC, the Achaemenid Empire established the first ancient empire in Persis (Pars, or modern Fars), in the southwestern region of the Iranian plateau.

The world's oldest known civilization (Sumer) developed along the Persian Gulf and southern Mesopotamia.

Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE

Silk Road

4 links

Network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.

Chinese jade and steatite plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. British Museum.

Achaemenid Persian Empire at its greatest extent, showing the Royal Road.

Soldier with a centaur in the Sampul tapestry, wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.

A ceramic horse head and neck (broken from the body), from the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty (1st–2nd century CE)

Bronze coin of Constantius II (337–361), found in Karghalik, Xinjiang, China

The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism first entered the Chinese Empire (Han dynasty) during the Kushan Era. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".

Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road

A Westerner on a camel, Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)

Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's Southern dynasties period of fragmentation.

Coin of Constans II (r. 641–648), who is named in Chinese sources as the first of several Byzantine emperors to send embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty

A Chinese sancai statue of a Sogdian man with a wineskin, Tang dynasty (618–907)

The empires and city-states of the Horn of Africa, such as the Axumites were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.

After the Tang defeated the Gokturks, they reopened the Silk Road to the west.

Marco Polo's caravan on the Silk Road, 1380

Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870

The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.

A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara

Yuan Dynasty era Celadon vase from Mogadishu.

Map of Marco Polo's travels in 1271–1295

Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the voyages of Zheng He.

Plan of the Silk Road with its maritime branch

The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China

Fragment of a wall painting depicting Buddha from a stupa in Miran along the Silk Road (200AD - 400AD)

A blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching an East-Asian monk, Bezeklik, Turfan, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly Tocharian, although more likely Sogdian.

Bilingual edict (Greek and Aramaic) by Indian Buddhist King Ashoka, 3rd century BCE; see Edicts of Ashoka, from Kandahar. This edict advocates the adoption of "godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma. Kabul Museum.

A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, from Sarnath, 3000 km southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century

Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from Hadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from Kizil, Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century.

Two-Storeyed Caravanserai, Baku, Azerbaijan

Bridge in Ani, capital of medieval Armenia

Medieval fortress of Amul, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel, sancai ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)

The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province

A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns

A Chinese Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) bronze rhinoceros with gold and silver inlay

Han dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang on the Silk Road.

Green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb, Guangxi, southern China

475 BCE), the Royal Road of the Persian Empire ran some 2857 km from the city of Susa on the Karun (250 km east of the Tigris) to the port of Smyrna (modern İzmir in Turkey) on the Aegean Sea.

He also made reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi (Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), Shendu (Indian subcontinent) and the Wusun.

Assyria in the Achaemenid Empire, 500 BCE.

Achaemenid Assyria

3 links

Assyrians lay waste to Hamanu, Elam, 647 BC. In less than 40 years the same fate would befall Assur, Nineveh and Harran.

Inscriptional Pahlavi text from Shapur III at Taq-e Bostan, fourth century. Pahlavi script is derived from the Aramaic alphabet used under Achaemenid rule.

Assyrians of Athura were responsible for the glazing of the Palace of Darius at Susa and have influenced Achaemenid Persian art to some extent.

Assyrian soldier in the Achaemenid army circa 470 BC, Xerxes I tomb, Naqsh-e Rustam.

Coin of Alexander bearing an Aramaic inscription reflect the continuous impact of the Assyrian language after the Achaemenid period.

Athura ( Aθurā), also called Assyria, was a geographical area within the Achaemenid Empire in Upper Mesopotamia from 539 to 330 BC as a military protectorate state.

The Assyrian Empire resorted to a policy of deporting troublesome conquered peoples (predominantly fellow Aramean tribes as well as many Jews) into Mesopotamia.

Ancient Egypt

2 links

Civilization in ancient Northeast Africa, situated in the Egyptian Nile Valley in the country Egypt.

Map of ancient Egypt, showing major cities and sites of the Dynastic period (c. 3150 BC to 30 BC)

A typical Naqada II jar decorated with gazelles (Predynastic Period)

Early tomb painting from Nekhen, c. 3500 BC, Naqada, possibly Gerzeh, culture

The Narmer Palette depicts the unification of the Two Lands.

Amenemhat III, the last great ruler of the Middle Kingdom

Four colossal statues of Ramesses II flank the entrance of his temple Abu Simbel

Statues of two pharaohs of Egypt's Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and several other Kushite kings. From left to right: Tantamani, Taharqa (rear), Senkamanisken, again Tantamani (rear), Aspelta, Anlamani, again Senkamanisken. Kerma Museum.

Assyrian siege of an Egyptian fortified city, a scene from the Assyrian conquest of Egypt, probably referring to the capture of Memphis in 667 BC. Sculpted in 645–635 BC, under Ashurbanipal. British Museum.

Portrait of Ptolemy VI Philometor wearing the double crown of Egypt

The Fayum mummy portraits epitomize the meeting of Egyptian and Roman cultures.

The pharaoh was usually depicted wearing symbols of royalty and power.

Painted limestone relief of a noble member of Ancient Egyptian society during the New Kingdom

The Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Fifth dynasty of Egypt; scribes were elite and well educated. They assessed taxes, kept records, and were responsible for administration.

A tomb relief depicts workers plowing the fields, harvesting the crops, and threshing the grain under the direction of an overseer, painting in the tomb of Nakht.

Measuring and recording the harvest is shown in a wall painting in the tomb of Menna, at Thebes (Eighteenth Dynasty).

Sennedjem plows his fields with a pair of oxen, used as beasts of burden and a source of food.

Hatshepsut's trading expedition to the Land of Punt

Hieroglyphs on stela in Louvre, c. 1321 BC

The Rosetta Stone (c. 196 BC) enabled linguists to begin the process of deciphering ancient Egyptian scripts.

Ostrakon: hunting a lion with spear and dog

Egyptians celebrated feasts and festivals accompanied by music and dance.

Ruins of Deir el-Medina. A UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Bust of Nefertiti, by the sculptor Thutmose, is one of the most famous masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art

The Book of the Dead was a guide to the deceased's journey in the afterlife.

The Ka statue provided a physical place for the Ka to manifest.

Anubis was the ancient Egyptian god associated with mummification and burial rituals; here, he attends to a mummy.

Pharaohs' tombs were provided with vast quantities of wealth, such as the golden mask from the mummy of Tutankhamun.

Ancient Egyptian medical instruments depicted in a Ptolemaic period inscription on the temple at Kom Ombo

Edwin Smith surgical papyrus (c. 16th century BC), written in hieratic, describes anatomy and medical treatments.

Seagoing ship from Hateshepsut's Deir el-Bahari temple relief of a Punt Expedition

Astronomical chart in Senemut's tomb, 18th dynasty

Model of a household porch and garden, c. 1981–1975 BC

The Temple of Dendur, completed by 10 BC, made of aeolian sandstone, temple proper: height: 6.4 m, width: 6.4 m; length: 12.5 m, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

The well preserved Temple of Isis from Philae is an example of Egyptian architecture and architectural sculpture

Illustration of various types of capitals, drawn by the Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius

Egyptian tomb models as funerary goods. Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Kneeling portrait statue of Amenemhat holding a stele with an inscription; c. 1500 BC; limestone; Egyptian Museum of Berlin (Germany)

Fresco which depicts Nebamun hunting birds; 1350 BC; paint on plaster; 98 × 83 cm; British Museum (London)

Portrait head of pharaoh Hatshepsut or Thutmose III; 1480–1425 BC; most probably granite; height: 16.5 cm; Egyptian Museum of Berlin

Falcon box with wrapped contents; 332–30 BC; painted and gilded wood, linen, resin and feathers; 58.5 × 24.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Frontispiece of Description de l'Égypte, published in 38 volumes between 1809 and 1829.

Tourists at the pyramid complex of Khafre near the Great Sphinx of Giza

The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia and of ancient Elam.

Following its annexation by Persia, Egypt was joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

Iron Age

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Final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity.

Europe in the year 700 BC, during the Iron Age

Maiden Castle, Dorset, England. More than 2,000 Iron Age hillforts are known in Britain.

Silla chest and neck armour from the National Museum of Korea in Seoul (3rd century CE)

Lingling-o earrings from Luzon, Philippines

Iron Age finds in East and Southern Africa, corresponding to the early 1st millennium Bantu expansion

This usually does not represent a clear break in the archaeological record; for the Ancient Near East, the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire c. 550 BC is traditionally and still usually taken as a cut-off date, later dates being considered historical by virtue of the record by Herodotus, despite considerable written records from far earlier (well back into the Bronze Age) now being known.

In the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria, the initial use of iron reaches far back, to perhaps 3000 BC. One of the earliest smelted iron artifacts known was a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia, dating from 2500 BC. The widespread use of iron weapons which replaced bronze weapons rapidly disseminated throughout the Near East (North Africa, southwest Asia) by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.