Ancient Civilization

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The First Dynasty

Information about this dynasty is derived from a few monuments and other objects bearing royal names, the most important being the Narmer Palette. No detailed records of the first two dynasties have survived, except for the terse lists on the Palermo stone. The hieroglyphs were fully developed by then, and their shapes would be used with little change for a little more than three thousand years.

Large tombs of pharaohs or kings at Abydos and Naqada, in addition to cemeteries at Saqqara and Helwan near Memphis, reveal structures built largely of wood and mud bricks, with some small use of stone for walls and floors. Stone was used in quantity for the manufacture of ornaments, vessels, and occasionally statues. Human sacrifice, later discontinued, was evidently practiced during this first dynasty, in addition to hundreds of retainers being buried in each pharaoh's tomb with him when he died.

The Second Dynasty

Although Manetho states the capital was at Thinis, the same as during the First Dynasty, at least the first three kings were buried at Saqqara, suggesting the center of power had moved to Memphis. Beyond this, little can be said about the events during this period; the annual records on the Palermo stone only survive for the end of the reign of Raneb and for parts of Nynetjer's. One important event possibly happened during the reign of Khasekhemwy: many Egyptologists read his name ("the Two Powers are Crowned") as commemorating the union of Upper and Lower Egypts.

The Third Dynasty

The first notable pharaoh of the Old Kingdom was Djoser (2630–2611 BC) of the Third Dynasty, who ordered the construction of a pyramid (the Step Pyramid) in Memphis' necropolis, Saqqara. An important person during the reign of Djoser was his vizier, Imhotep.

It was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as nomes, ruled solely by the pharaoh. Subsequently the former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection. Egyptians in this era worshiped their pharaoh as a god, believing that he ensured the annual flooding of the Nile that was necessary for their crops. Egyptian views on the nature of time during this period held that the universe worked in cycles, and the Pharaoh on earth worked to ensure the stability of those cycles. They also perceived themselves as a specially selected people, "as the only true human beings on earth".

The Fourth Dynasty

The Old Kingdom and its royal power reached their zenith under the Fourth Dynasty, which began with Sneferu (2613–2589 BC). Using a greater mass of stones than any other pharaoh, he built three pyramids: a now collapsed pyramid in Meidum, the famous Bent Pyramid in Dahshur (another failure), and the small Red Pyramid, also in Dahshur.

Sneferu was succeeded by his son, Khufu (2589 - 2566 BC) who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. Later Egyptian literature describes him as a cruel tyrant, who imposed forced labor on his subjects to complete his pyramid. After Khufu's death his sons Djedefra (2528–2520 BC) and Khafra (2520–2494 BC) may have quarreled. The latter built the second pyramid and (in traditional thinking) the Sphinx in Giza. Recent reexamination of evidence has suggested that the Sphinx may have been built by Djedefra as a monument to Khufu.

The later kings of the Fourth Dynasty were king Menkaura (2494–2472 BC), who built the smallest pyramid in Giza, Shepseskaf (2472–2467 BC) and Djedefptah (2486–2484 BC) .

The Fifth Dynasty

This began with Userkhaf (2465–2458 BC), who initiated reforms that weakened the Pharaoh and central government. After his reign civil wars arose as the powerful nomarchs (regional governors) no longer belonged to the royal family. The worsening civil conflict undermined unity and energetic government and also caused famines. But regional autonomy and civil wars were not the only causes of this decline. The massive building projects of the Fourth Dynasty had exceeded the capacity of the treasury and populace and, therefore, weakened the Kingdom at its roots.

The final blow was a severe drought in the region that resulted in a drastic drop in precipitation between 2200 and 2150 BC, which in turn prevented the normal flooding of the Nile. The result was the collapse of the Old Kingdom followed by decades of famine and strife. An important inscription on the tomb of Ankhtifi, a monarch during the early First Intermediate Period, describes the pitiful state of the country when famine stalked the land.

The Sixth Dynasty

Considered by many authorities as the last dynasty of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Manetho writes that these kings ruled from Memphis, or Egyptian Mennefer, taken from the name of the pyramid of Unas which was built nearby, and archeologists concur with him on this.

The Sixth Dynasty was founded by Teti, who had married Iput, commonly believed to be the daughter of King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty.

During the reign of Pepi I, expeditions were sent to Wadi Maghara in the Sinai to mine for turquoise and copper, as well as to the mines at Hatnub and Wadi Hammamat. Pharaoh Djedkara sent trade expeditions south to Punt and north to Byblos, and Pepy I sent expeditions not only to these locations, but also as far as Ebla.

Nitiqret, also known by the Greek name (Nitocris), this woman is believed by some authorities to have been not only the first female ruler of Egypt, but the first in the world, although it is currently accepted that her name is actually a mistranslation of Neitiqerty Siptah.

The Seventh & Eighth Dynasties

The three sources which provide our knowledge on these periods are exceedingly difficult to work with. Manetho's full history does not survive intact, but is known through other writers who quoted from it. Unfortunately, the two ancient historians who quote from this section, Sextus Julius Africanus and Eusebius of Caesarea, provide inconsistent accounts of both dynasties.

Two Egyptian documents record the names of the kings of Egypt, however they do not divide them into dynasties. Kings 42 to 56 on the Abydos King List come between the end of the Sixth Dynasty and the beginning of the Eleventh, and do not appear to be from the Ninth or Tenth Dynasties either. The Turin Canon is heavily damaged, and cannot be read without much difficulty. However, the fragment containing what is believed to be the name of Nitocris has two mangled names and a third name on it which is clearly that of Qakare Ibi, the 53rd king on the Abydos King List. There seems to be room for two more kings before the end of the dynasty.Some of the acts of the final four Eighth Dynasty kings are recorded in their decrees to Shemay, a vizier during this period, however only Qakare Ibi can connected to any monumental construction. His pyramid has been found at Saqarra near Pepi II and continues to have the pyramid texts written on the walls.

However many kings there actually were, it is clear that during this time period a breakdown of the central authority of Egypt was underway. The rulers of these dynasties were based in Memphis; with the exception of the final Eighth Dynasty kings, all that is known of most of these rulers is their names. This group of kings was eventually overthrown by a rival group, the Ninth Dynasty, based in Herakleopolis Magna.

The Ninth & Tenth Dynasties

The Ninth Dynasty was founded at Herakleopolis Magna by Meryibra, and the Tenth Dynasty continued there. At this time Egypt was not unified, and there is some overlap between these and other local dynasties.

The Eleventh Dynasty

This period traces its origins to a nomarch of Thebes, "Intef the Great, son of Iku", who is mentioned in a number of contemporary inscriptions. However, his immediate successor Mentuhotep I is considered the first king of this dynasty.

An inscription carved during the reign of Wahankh Intef II shows that he was the first of this dynasty to claim to rule over the whole of Egypt, a claim which brought the Thebeans into conflict with the rulers of Herakleopolis Magna, the Tenth Dynasty. Intef undertook several campaigns northwards, and captured the important nome of Abydos.

Warfare continued intermittently between the Thebean and Heracleapolitan dynasts until the 14th regnal year of Nebhetepra Mentuhotep II, when the Herakleopolitans were defeated, and this dynasty could begin to consolidate their rule. The rulers of the Eleventh Dynasty reasserted Egypt's influence over her neighbors in Africa and the Near East. Mentuhotep II sent renewed expeditions to Phoenicia to obtain cedar. Sankhkara Mentuhotep III sent an expedition from Coptos south to the land of Punt.

The reign of its last king, and thus the end of this dynasty, is something of a mystery. Contemporary records refer to "seven empty years" following the death of Mentuhotep III, which correspond to the reign of Nebtawyra Mentuhotep IV. The only certain details of Mentuhotep's reign was that two remarkable omens were witnessed at the quarry of Wadi Hammamat by the vizier Amenemhat.

The Twelfth Dynasty

Chronology of this period is the most stable of any period before the New Kingdom. Manetho stated that it was based in Thebes, but from contemporary records it is clear that the first king moved its capital to a new city named "Amenemhat-itj-tawy" ("Amenemhat the Siezer of the Two Lands").

The order of its rulers is well known from several sources — two lists recorded at temples in Abydos and one at Saqqara, as well as Manetho's work. Because a recorded date during the reign of Senusret III can be correlated to the Sothic cycle, many events during this dynasty are frequently assigned to a year BC or BCE.

The pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty are credited with the earliest known construction of a canal running through the Wadi Tumilat; it would later be renewed under kings Necho II and Darius I

The Thirteenth Dynasty

This period is usually described as an era of chaos and disorder. Unfortunately, the true chronology of this dynasty is difficult to determine as there are few monuments dating from the period. Many of the kings' names are only known from an odd fragmentary inscription or from scarabs.

Merneferre Ay (Merneferre Ai) was the last king of the dynasty to be mentioned by name on monuments in Upper and Lower Egypt, with the eastern Delta breaking away under its own kings about the time of his death.

After allowing discipline at the southern forts to deteriorate, the government eventually withdrew its garrisons and, not long afterward, the forts were reoccupied by the rising Nubian state of Kush. In the north, parts of Lower Egypt became heavily settled by an immigrant Asiatic population. An independent line of kings created the Fourteenth Dynasty that arose in the western Delta during the later Thirteenth Dynasty.

The Fourteenth Dynasty

This period overlaps partially with either (or both of) the Thirteenth Dynasty or the Fifteenth Dynasty, during the Second Intermediate Period.

It is associated with the Delta region of Egypt, and may have ruled from Xois, though for only little more than 100 years. Its rulers may have been related to the Hyksos, though they are very frequently identified as being of Semitic origin, owing to the distinct origins of the names of some of their Kings, like Yakobaam.

As many as 76 kings are known from various king lists (from Manetho; the Turin Royal Canon gives 32), but only a few are attested in contemporary sources, so some may not have been actual rulers (eg some may be pseudonyms of other rulers). Most likely, many of these ruled concurrently over different parts of the Delta.

The Fifteenth Dynasty

This was the first Hyksos Dynasty, ruling from Avaris, without control of the entire land. The Hyksos preferred to stay in northern Egypt since they infiltrated from the north-east. The names and order of kings is uncertain. The Turin Kinglist indicates that there were six Hyksos kings, with an obscure Khamudi listed as the final king of the Fifteenth Dynasty.

Apepi I, (also Awoserre Apepi or Apophis) was a ruler of Lower Egypt during the fifteenth dynasty and the end of the Second Intermediate Period that was dominated by this foreign dynasty of rulers called the Hyksos. Although his reign only entailed northern Egypt, Apepi was dominant over most of Egypt during the early portion of his reign, and traded peacefully with the native, Theban seventeenth dynasty to the south.

The Sixteenth Dynasty

The Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt covers a period of time when Egypt was split into a set of small Hyksos-ruled kingdoms. It is mainly Theban rulers contemporary with the Fifteenth Dynasty.

These kings are known mainly from their entries in the Turin King List, and are mostly unknown elsewhere. Dates are unknown.

Djehuti, Djehuty or Thuty was an early Pharaoh of Egypt of the Theban 16th or 17th dynasty based in Upper Egypt during the Second Intermediate period. He reigned for 3 years after around 1650 BC according to Kim Ryholt.

The Seventeenth Dynasty

This period covers a time when Egypt was split into a set of small Hyksos-ruled kingdoms. It is mainly Theban rulers contemporary with the Fifteenth Dynasties and Sixteenth Dynasties.

The last two kings of the dynasty opposed the Hyksos rule over Egypt and initiated a war that would rid Egypt of the Hyksos kings and began a period of unified rule, the New Kingdom.

Kamose the second son of Seqenenre Tao II was the the brother of Ahmose I, the first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

The Eighteenth Dynasty

The Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC) is perhaps the best known of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. As well as a number of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, it included Tutankhamun, whose tomb, uncovered by Howard Carter in 1922, was one of the greatest of all archaeological discoveries, being completely undisturbed by tomb robbers. It is sometimes known as the Thutmosid Dynasty because all four of the Thutmosis pharaohs ruled well. Hatshepsut, and perhaps two others of a handful of native women known to be crowned king of Egypt, ruled during this dynasty, as did Akhenaten (also known as Amenophis IV), the "heretic Pharaoh" who with his wife, Nefertiti, instituted what may be the first monotheistic state religion.

The Nineteenth Dynasty

This period was founded by Vizier Ramesses I, whom Pharaoh Horemheb chose as his successor to the throne. This dynasty is best known for its military conquests in modern Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The warrior kings of the early 18th Dynasty had encountered only little resistance from neighbouring kingdoms, allowing them to expand their realm of influence easily.

Towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, the situation had changed radically. Helped by Akhenaten's apparent lack of interest in international affairs, the Hittites had gradually extended their influence into Syria and Palestine to become a major power in international politics. A power that both Seti I and his son Ramesses II would need to deal with.

The Twentieth Dynasty

The period of these rulers is notable for the beginning of the systematic robbing of the Royal Tombs. Many surviving administrative documents from this period are records of investigations and punishment for these crimes, especially in the reigns of Ramesses IX and Ramesses XI.

As happened under the later Nineteenth Dynasty, this group struggled under the effects of the bickering between the heirs of Ramesses III. At this time Egypt was also increasingly beset by a series of droughts, below-normal flooding levels of the Nile, famine, civil unrest and official corruption – all of which would limit the managerial abilities of any king. The power of the last king, Ramesses XI, grew so weak that in the south the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the effective defacto rulers of Upper Egypt, while Smendes controlled Lower Egypt even before Ramesses XI's death. Smendes would eventually found the Twenty-First dynasty at Tanis.

The Twenty-First Dynasty

After the reign of Ramesses III, a long, slow decline of royal power in Egypt followed. The pharaohs of the Twenty-First Dynasty ruled from Tanis, but were mostly active only in Lower Egypt which they controlled. This dynasty is described as 'Tanite' because it's political capital was based at Tanis. Meanwhile, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes effectively ruled Middle and Upper Egypt in all but name.

The Twenty-Second Dynasty

The kings of the Twenty-Second Dynasty of Egypt were a series of Meshwesh Libyans who ruled from circa 943 BC until 720 BC. They had settled in Egypt since the Twentieth Dynasty. Manetho states that the dynasty originated at Bubastis.

Another king who belongs to this group is Tutkheperre Shoshenq, whose precise position in this dynasty is currently uncertain although he is now thought to have ruled Egypt early in the 9th century BC for a short time.

The Twenty-Third Dynasty

This was a separate regime of Meshwesh Libyan kings, who ruled ancient Egypt. There is much debate surrounding this dynasty.

The Twenty-Fourth Dynasty

The Twenty-Fourth Dynasty was a short-lived group of pharaohs who had their capital at Sais in the western Nile Delta.

Tefnakhte I formed an alliance of the Delta kinglets, with whose support he attempted to conquer Upper Egypt; his campaign attracted the attention of the Nubian king, Piye, who recorded his conquest and subjection of Tefnakhte of Sais and his peers in a well-known inscription. Tefnakhte is always called the "Great Chief of the West" in Piye's Victory stela and in two stelas dating to the regnal years 36 and 38 of Shoshenq V.

Tefnkahte's successor, Bakenranef, definitely assumed the throne of Sais and took the royal name Wahkare. His authority was recognised in much of the Delta including Memphis where several Year 5 and Year 6 Serapeum stelas from his reign have been found. This Dynasty came to a sudden end when Shabaka, the second king of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, attacked Sais, captured Bakenrenef and burned him alive.

The Twenty-Fifth Dynasty

The twenty-fifth dynasty originated in Kush (Nubia) presently in north Sudan at the city-state of Napata, whence they invaded and took control of Egypt under Piye, (Piankhi). Manetho does not mention either the first king, Piye, or the last king, Tantamani, although inscriptions exist to attest to the existence of both.

The Twenty-Sixth Dynasty

The Saite or Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest (although others followed), and had its capital at Sais.

This dynasty traced its origins to the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty. Psammetichus I was the great-grandson of Bakenrenef, and following the Assyrians invasions during the reigns of Taharqa and Tantamani, he was recognized as sole king over all of Egypt. While the Assyrian Empire was preoccupied with revolts and civil war over control of the throne, Psammetichus threw off his ties to the Assyrians, and formed alliances with Gyges, king of Lydia, and recruited mercenaries from Caria and Greece to resist Assyrian attacks.

With the sack of Nineveh in 612 BC and the fall of the Assyrian Empire, both Psammetichus and his successors attempted to reassert Egyptian power in the Near East, but were driven back by the Babylonians under Nebuchadrezzar II. With the help of Greek mercenaries, Apries was able to hold back Babylonian attempts to conquer Egypt, but it was the Persians who conquered Egypt, and their king Cambyses II carried Psammetichus III to Susa in chains.


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The Twenty-Seventh Dynasty

The First Persian Period (525 BC - 404 BC), this period saw Egypt conquered by an expansive Persian Empire under Cambyses.

The Persian king Cambyses assumed the formal title of Pharaoh, called himself Mesuti-Re ("Re has given birth"), and sacrificed to the Egyptian gods. He founded the Twenty-seventh dynasty. Egypt was then joined with Cyprus and Phoenicia in the sixth satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire.

Cambyses' successors Darius I the Great and Xerxes pursued a similar policy, visited the country, and warded off an Athenian attack.

The Twenty-Eighth Dynasty

The Twenty-Eighth Dynasty of Egypt had one ruler, Amyrtaeus, who was a descendant of the Saite kings of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, and led a successful revolt against the Persians on the death of Darius II. No monuments of his reign have been found, and little is known of his reign.

The Twenty-Ninth Dynasty

Nepherites I founded the Twenty-ninth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (according to an account preserved in a papyrus in the Brooklyn Museum) by defeating Amyrtaeus in open battle, and later putting him to death at Memphis. Nepherites made his capital at Mendes.

On Nepherites' death, two rival factions fought for the throne: one behind his son Muthis, and the other supporting an usurper Psammuthes; although Psammuthes was successful, he only managed to reign for a year.

Psammuthes was overthrown by Hakor, who claimed to be the grandson of Nepherites I. He successfully resisted Persian attempts to reconquer Egypt, drawing support from Athens (until the Peace of Antalcidas in 386 BC), and from the rebel king of Cyprus, Evagoras. Although his son Nepherites II became king on his death, the younger Nepherites was unable to keep hold on his inheritance.

The Thirtieth Dynasty

The Thirtieth Dynasty of ancient Egypt followed Nectanebo I's deposition of Nefaarud II, the son of Hakor. This dynasty is often considered part of the Late Period.

Nectanebo I had gained control of all of Egypt by November of 380 BC, but spent much of his reign defending his kingdom from Persian reconquest with the occasional help of Sparta or Athens. In 365, Nectanebo made his son Teos co-king and heir, and until his death in 363 father and son reigned together. After his father's death, Teos invaded the Persian territories of modern Syria and Israel and was beginning to meet with some successes when he lost his throne due the machinations of his own son Tjahepimu. Tjahepimu took advantage of Teos' unpopularity within Egypt by declaring his son--and Teos' grandson--Nectanebo II--king. The Egyptian army rallied around Nectanebo which forced Taos to flee to the court of the king of Persia.

Nectanebo II's reign was dominated by the efforts of the Persian rulers to reconquer Egypt, which they considered a satrapy in revolt. For the first ten years, Nectanebo avoided the Persian reconquest because Artaxerxes III was forced to consolidate his control of the realm. Artaxerxes then attempted an unsuccessful invasion of Egypt in the winter of 351/350 BC; the repercussions of his defeat prompted revolts in Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Cilicia. Although Nectanebo gave support to these revolts, Artaxerxes would eventually suppress these rebellions and was once again able to invade Egypt in 343 BC. This second invasion proved successful, and Nectanebo was forced to withdraw from his defenses in the Nile Delta to Memphis, where he saw that his cause was lost. He thereupon fled south to Nubia, where he is assumed to found refuge at the court of King Nastesen of Napata. Nectanebo, however, may have managed to maintain some form of independent rule in the south of Egypt for 2 more years since a document from Edfu is dated to his eighteenth year.

Although a shadowy rebel Khababash proclaimed himself king (338 - 336 BC), Nectanebo has been considered the last pharaoh of Egypt, and his flight marked the end of Egypt as an independent entity.

The Thirty-First Dynasty

There was a Second Persian Period of the Thirty-First Dynasty (343 BC- 332 BC), (Also known as the Achaemenid Dynasty).

Artaxerxes III (358–338 BC) reconquered the Nile valley for a brief period (343–332 BC). In 332 BC Mazaces handed over the country to Alexander the Great without a fight. The Achaemenid empire had ended, and for a while Egypt was a satrapy in Alexander's empire. Later the Ptolemies and then the Romans successively ruled the Nile valley.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

In 332 BC Alexander III of Macedon conquered Egypt with little resistance from the Persians. He was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. He visited Memphis, and went on pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun at the Oasis of Siwa. The oracle declared him to be the son of Amun. He conciliated the Egyptians by the respect which he showed for their religion, but he appointed Greeks to virtually all the senior posts in the country, and founded a new Greek city, Alexandria, to be the new capital. The wealth of Egypt could now be harnessed for Alexander's conquest of the rest of the Persian Empire. Early in 331 BC he was ready to depart, and led his forces away to Phoenicia. He left Cleomenes as the ruling nomarch to control Egypt in his absence. Alexander never returned to Egypt.

Following Alexander's death in Babylon in 323 BC, a succession crisis erupted among his generals. Initially, Perdiccas ruled the empire as regent for Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus, who became Philip III of Macedon, and then as regent for both Philip III and Alexander's infant son Alexander IV of Macedon, who had not been born at the time of his father's death. Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy, one of Alexander's closest companions, to be satrap of Egypt. Ptolemy ruled Egypt from 323 BC, nominally in the name of the joint kings Philip III and Alexander IV. However, as Alexander the Great's empire disintegrated, Ptolemy soon established himself as ruler in his own right. Ptolemy successfully defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC, and consolidated his position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the Wars of the Diadochi (322 BC-301 BC). In 305 BC, Ptolemy took the title of King. As Ptolemy I Soter ("Saviour"), he founded the Ptolemaic dynasty that was to rule Egypt for nearly 300 years.

The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. Hellenistic culture thrived in Egypt well after the Muslim conquest. The Ptolemies had to fight native rebellions and were involved in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the kingdom and its annexation by Rome.


There was much distress in creating an acurate timeline so i detailed individual Dynasties/Periods to create some level of continuity...

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The Teutons

Teutons (Teutones from Proto-Germanic *Þeudanoz) were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani. According to Ptolemy's map, they lived in Jutland, in agreement with Pomponius Mela, who placed them in Scandinavia (Codanonia). In any case, they are believed to have given their name to the region of Thy (Old Norse Thiuthæ sysæl) in northern Denmark.

Earlier than 100 BC, many of the Teutones, as well as the Cimbri, migrated south and west to the Danube valley, where they encountered the expanding Roman Republic. During the late second century BC, the Teutones and Cimbri are recorded as passing west through Gaul and attacking Roman Italy. After several victories for the invading armies, the Cimbri and Teutones divided forces and were then defeated separately by Gaius Marius in 102 BC, and 101 BC. The Teutones defeat was at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (near present-day Aix-en-Provence). Their King, Teutobod, was taken in irons.

The captured women committed mass suicide, which passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism and was noted by Jerome:

"By the conditions of the surrender three hundred of their married women were to be handed over to the Romans. When the Teuton matrons heard of this stipulation they first begged the consul that they might be set apart to minister in the temples of Ceres and Venus; and then when they failed to obtain their request and were removed by the lictors, they slew their little children and next morning were all found dead in each other's arms having strangled themselves in the night."

The Cimbri

Cimbri were a Celtic or Germanic tribe who together with the Teutones and the Ambrones threatened the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC. The ancient sources located their home of origin in Jutland, which was referred to as the Cimbrian peninsula throughout antiquity.

Some time before 100 BC many of the Cimbri, as well as the Teutones and Ambrones migrated south-east. After several unsuccessful battles with the Boii and other Celtic tribes, they appeared ca 113 BC in Noricum, where they invaded the lands of one of Rome's allies, the Taurisci.

On the request of the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, sent to defend the Taurisci, they retreated, only to find themselves deceived and attacked at the Battle of Noreia, where they defeated the Romans. Only a storm, which separated the combatants, saved the Roman forces from complete annihilation.

Now the road to Italy was open, but they turned west towards Gaul. They came into frequent conflict with the Romans, who usually came out the losers. In 109 BC, they defeated a Roman army under the consul Marcus Junius Silanus, who was the commander of Gallia Narbonensis. The same year, they defeated another Roman army under the consul Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was killed at Burdigala (modern day Bordeaux). In 107 BC, the Romans once again lost against the Tigurines, who were allies of the Cimbri.

It was not until 105 BC that they planned an attack on the Roman Republic itself. At the Rhône, the Cimbri clashed with the Roman armies. The Roman commanders, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio and the consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus, hindered Roman coordination and so the Cimbri succeeded in first defeating the legate Marcus Aurelius Scaurus and later cause a devastating defeat on Caepio and Maximus at the Battle of Arausio. The Romans lost as many as 80,000 men, excluding auxiliary cavalry and non-combatants who brought the total loss closer to 112,000.

Rome was in panic, and the terror cimbricus became proverbial. Everyone expected to soon see the new Gauls outside of the gates of Rome. Desperate measures were taken: contrary to the Roman constitution, Gaius Marius, who had defeated Jugurtha, was elected consul and supreme commander for five years in a row (104-100 BC).

The Ambrones

The tribe of the Ambrones appears briefly in the Roman sources relating to the 2nd century BC. Their location at the beginning of their brief history was the coast of north Europe, north of the Rhinemouth, in the Frisian Islands, the region now occupied by what is left of the Zuider Zee, and Jutland, which they shared with their close neighbors, the Cimbri and the Teutones.

As to their ethnicity there is no agreement. The Teutones were most likely to have been Germanic, but there is some evidence that the Ambrones and Cimbri may not have been entirely so. Later in their brief and sanguinary course across Europe, the Cimbri were ruled by Boiorix, a Celtic name, "King of the Boii." The Amb- in Ambrones is an initial segment of many Celtic tribal names. The Ambrones followed a Celtic custom in shouting the name of their tribe going into battle. Yet, the Romans considered them Germanic, not Celtic, and assisted the Celts against them. These circumstances suggest a mixed ethnicity, possibly earlier Celtic assimilated to Germanic. However, they did not only come from an area that had been recently Germanized from the North, this was also a time when the Germanic tribes were influenced by Celtic culture.

The Angles

The Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the cultural ancestral region of Angeln, a modern district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Ancient Angeln preceded all modern national distinctions and was, therefore, probably not coterminous with the modern culture of the same region.

Possibly the first instance of the Angles in recorded history is in Tacitus' Germania, chapter 40, in which the Anglii are mentioned in passing in a list of Germanic tribes. He gives no precise indication of their geographical position but states that, together with six other tribes, they worshipped a goddess named Nerthus, whose sanctuary was situated on "an island in the Ocean." The other tribes are the Reudigni, Aviones, Varini, Eudoses, Suarini and Nuitones, which are together described as being behind ramparts of rivers and woods.

The Saxons

Saxon people were a confederation of Old Germanic tribes. Their modern-day descendants in northern Germany are considered ethnic Germans; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch; and those in southern England ethnic English. Their earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein.

Saxons participated in the Germanic settlement of Britain during and after the 5th century. It is unknown how many migrated from the continent to Britain though estimates for the total number of Germanic settlers vary between 10,000-200,000. Over the past two centuries or so, many continental Saxons settled other parts of the world, especially in North America, Australia, South Africa, and in areas of the former Soviet Union, where some communities still maintain parts of their cultural and linguistic heritage, often under the umbrella categories “German” and “Dutch”.

Because of international Hanseatic trading routes and contingent migration during the Middle Ages, Saxons mixed with and had strong influences upon the languages and cultures of the Scandinavian and Baltic peoples, and also upon the Polabian and Pomeranian West Slavic peoples.

First mentioned by the Ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, the pre-Christian settlement of the Saxon people originally covered an area a little more to the northwest, with parts of the southern Jutland peninsula, Old Saxony and small sections of the eastern Netherlands. During the 5th century AD, the Saxons were part of the people invading the Romano-British province of Britannia. One of these tribes was the Germanic Angles, whose name, taken together with that of the Saxons, led to the formation of the modern term, Anglo-Saxons.

The Saxons long resisted both becoming Christians and being incorporated into the orbit of the Frankish kingdom, but they were decisively conquered by Charlemagne in a long series of annual campaigns, the Saxon Wars (772 – 804). During Charlemagne's campaign in Hispania (778), the Saxons advanced to Deutz on the Rhine and plundered along the river. With defeat came the enforced baptism and conversion of the Saxon leaders and their people. Their sacred tree or pillar, a symbol of phallic, pagan, nature worship, Irminsul, was destroyed.

Saxons, along with Angles, Jutes, Frisians and possibly Franks, invaded or migrated to the island of Great Britain (Britannia) around the time of the collapse of Roman authority in the west. Saxon raiders had been harassing the eastern and southern shores of Britannia for centuries before, prompting the construction of a string of coastal forts called the litora Saxonica or Saxon Shore, and many Saxons and other folk had been permitted to settle in these areas as farmers long before the end of Roman rule in Britannia. In 449, however, following a particularly devastating raid in the north from the Picts and their allies, the Romano-British administration invited two Jutish warlords — traditionally cited as Hengist and Horsa — to occupy the isle of Thanet in north Kent and to act as mercenaries against the Picts at sea. After the Jutes had completed this mission defeating the Picts, they returned with demands for more lands. When this was rejected, they rose in revolt and provoked an insurrection amongst all the settled farming folk of Germanic stock with them.

Four separate Saxon realms emerged:

1. East Saxons: created the Kingdom of Essex
2. Middle Saxons: created the province of Middlesex
3. South Saxons: led by Aelle, created the Kingdom of Sussex
4. West Saxons: led by Cerdic, created the Kingdom of Wessex

During the period of the reigns from Egbert to Alfred the Great, the kings of Wessex emerged as Bretwalda, unifying the country and eventually forging it into the kingdom of England in the face of Danish Viking invasions.

The Jutes

Jutes, Iuti, or Iutae were a Germanic people who are believed to have originated from Jutland (called Iutum in Latin) in modern Denmark, Southern Schleswig (South Jutland) and part of the East Frisian coast.

While Bede places the homeland of the Jutes on the other side of the Angles relative to the Saxons, they have nonetheless been identified with people called the Eucii (or Saxones Eucii) who were evidently associated with the Saxons and dependents of the Franks in 536. A map of Tacitus' portrays a people called the Eudoses living in the north of Jutland and these may have been the later Iutae. They are mentioned in a poem by Venantius Fortunatus (583) as being under the suzerainty of Chilperic I of the Franks.

The Jutes, along with the Angles, Saxons, and small number of Frisians, were amongst the Germanic tribes who sailed across the North Sea to raid and eventually invade Great Britain from the late fourth century onwards, either displacing, absorbing, or destroying the native Celtic peoples there. According to Bede, they ended up settling in Kent (where they became known as the Cantuarii), Hampshire (in Wessex), and the Isle of Wight (where they became known as the Uictuarii). There are a number of toponyms that attest to the presence of the Jutes in the area, such as Ytene, which Florence of Worcester states was the contemporary English name for the New Forest.

The Cumans

Cumans (Byzantine: Kuman or Cuman, Hungarian: Kunok, Turkic: Kumanlar) were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldavia and were involved in the founding of Wallachia. Cuman is an exonym for the western Kipchak tribes living in Central Europe and the Balkans.

The Cumans were nomadic warriors of the Eurasian steppe who exerted an enduring impact on the medieval Balkans. The basic instrument of Cuman political success was military force, which none of the warring Balkan factions could resist. As a consequence, groups of the Cumans settled and mingled with the local population in various regions of the Balkans. The Cumans were the founders of three successive Bulgarian dynasties (Asenids, Terterids, and Shishmanids), and the Wallachian dynasty (Basarabids). They also played an active role in Byzantium, Hungary, and Serbia with Cuman immigrants being integrated into each country's elite.

The people known in Turkic as Kipchaks were the same as the Polovtsy of the Russians, the Komanoi of the Byzantines, the Qumani (Cumans) of the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi, and the Kun (Qoun) of the Hungarians. According to Gadrisi, they originally formed part of the group of Kimak Turks who lived in Siberia along the middle reaches of the Irtysh, or along the Ob. The Kimaks and the Oghuz were closely related.

Originally inhabiting the steppes of southern Siberia and northern Kazakhstan the Cumans entered the lands of present-day southern Ukraine, as well as historic Moldavia, Wallachia, and part of Transylvania, in the 11th century. Having conquered the area, they continued their assaults by attacking and plundering the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and Rus. In 1089, they were defeated by Ladislaus I of Hungary.

Pechenegs, a semi-nomadic Turkic people of the steppes of southwestern Eurasia, were annihilated as an independent force at the Battle of Levounion by a combined Byzantine army under Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Cuman army under Togortok and Maniak in 1091. Attacked again in 1094 by the Cumans, many Pechenegs were slain or absorbed.

In alliance with the Bulgarians and Vlachs during the Vlach-Bulgar Rebellion by brothers Asen and Peter of Tarnovo, the Cumans are believed to have played a significant role in the rebellion's final victory over Byzantium and the restoration of Bulgaria's independence (1185). The Cumans were allies with Bulgarian emperor Kaloyan in Bulgarian-Latin Wars.

The Cumans defeated the Great Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Kievan Rus in the 12th century (at the Battle of the Stugna River) but were crushed by the Mongols in 1238, after which most of them fled Wallachia and Moldova and took refuge in Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Byzantine Empire. After many clashes with the Hungarians, the Cumans were eventually evicted from Hungary to join their kin who lived in Bulgaria. Later, however, a large segment of them were re-invited back to Hungary. The Cumans who remained scattered in the steppe of what is now Russia joined the Golden Horde khanate. In the 11th century the Cumans established their own country named Cumania, in an area consisting of Moldavia and Walachia.

The Hungarian kings claimed supremacy on the territory of Cumania, among the nine titles of the Hungarian kings of the Arpad and Anjou dynasties were the rex Cumaniae.

In the 13th century, the Western Cumans adopted Roman Catholicism (in Hungary they all later became Calvinist) and the Gagauzes Pravoslav/Orthodox, while the Eastern Cumans converted to Islam. The Catholic Diocese of Cumania founded in Milcov in 1227 and including what is now Romania and Moldova, retained its title until 1523. It was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Esztergom.

The Cuman influence in the region of Wallachia and Moldavia was so strong that the earliest Wallachian rulers bore Cuman names. Given that the rulers Tihomir and Bassarab I governed territories formerly ruled by Romanian leaders (mentioned in the Diploma of the Joannites of 1247), and given that there is no archaeological evidence to sustain the continuous presence of a Cuman population (only Hungarian documents mentioning a toll-paying Wallachian population), the ruling elite was gradually assimilated such as in Bulgaria's case by the majority population they governed, which became Romanian.

Basarab I, son of the Wallachian prince Tihomir of Wallachia obtained independence from Hungary at the beginning of the 14th century. The name Basarab is considered as being of Cuman origin, meaning "Father King".

Cuman influence also persisted in the Kingdom of Hungary with the Cuman language and customs persisting in autonomous Cuman territories (Kunság) until the 17th century.

While the Cumans were gradually absorbed into eastern European populations, their trace can still be found in placenames as widespread as the city of Kumanovo in the Northeastern part of the Republic of Macedonia, Comanesti in Romania and Comana in Dobruja (also Romania).

The Cumans settled in Hungary had their own self-government there in a territory that bore their name, Kunság, that survived until the 19th century. There, the name of the Cumans (Kun) is still preserved in county names such as Bács-Kiskun and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and town names such as Kiskunhalas and Kunszentmiklós.

The Cumans were organized into four tribes in Hungary, Kolbasz / Olas in the big Cumania around Karcag, and the other three in the lesser Cumania. The other Cuman group in Hungary is the Palóc group, the name deriving from the Slav Polovetz. They live in the Northern Hungary and current Slovakia and have a specific dialect.


This ended up being a two part deal...

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The Celts

The historical Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age Europe. Proto-Celtic culture formed in the Early Iron Age in Central Europe (Hallstatt period). By the later Iron Age (La Tène period), Celts had expanded over wide range of lands: as far west as Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula, as far east as Galatia (central Anatolia), and as far north as Scotland.

By the early centuries AD, following the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations of Germanic peoples, Celtic culture had become restricted to the British Isles (Insular Celtic), with the Continental Celtic languages extinct by the mid-1st millennium AD.

According to classical era sources, the Celts worshiped the forces of nature and did not envisage deities in anthropomorphic terms. Deities undoubtedly formed a background to everyday life. Both archeology and the literary record indicate that ritual practice in Celtic societies lacked a clear distinction between the sacred and profane in which rituals, offerings and correct behavior maintained a balance between gods and man, and harnessed supernatural forces for the benefit of the group.

The pagan Celts perceived the presence of the supernatural as integral to their world. The sky, the sun, the dark places underground all had their spirits, life-forces and personalities. Every mountain, river, spring, marsh, tree and rocky outcrop was endowed with divinity. While Greek and Roman culture revolved around urban life, Celtic society was predominantly rural. The close link enjoyed with the natural world is reflected in what we know of the religious systems of Celtic Europe during the late first millennium BC and early first millennium AD. Cults focussed upon features of the landscape; mountains, forests and animals. Divine powers associated with the fertility of humans, of livestock and of crops were objects of veneration. Tribal territories were themselves held sacred and the ground and waters which received the dead were imbued with sanctity and revered by their living relatives. Sanctuaries were sacred spaces separated from the ordinary world, often in natural locations such as springs, groves or lakes. Many topographical features were deified as gods: many divine names refer to specific locations or geographical features, a clear indication of how closely Celtic societies identified with place. Small thank offerings were placed in domestic storage pits while more elaborate deposits were left in specially dug ritual shafts and in lakes. These offerings linked the donor to the place in a concrete way, since complex and varied rituals involved the individual in personal contact with the sacred sites devoted to their gods. An image very different from the idea of druids administering a pan-Celtic religion.

Evidence from the Roman period presents a bewildering array of gods and goddesses who are represented by images or inscribed dedications.

The conversion to Christianity inevitably had a profound effect on this socio-religious system from the 5th century onward, though its character can only be extrapolated from documents of considerably later date. By the early 7th century the church had succeeded in relegating Irish druids to ignominious irrelevancy, while the filidh, masters of traditional learning, operated in easy harmony with their clerical counterparts, contriving at the same time to retain a considerable part of their pre-Christian tradition, social status, and privilege. But virtually all the vast corpus of early vernacular literature that has survived was written down in monastic scriptoria, and it is part of the task of modern scholarship to identify the relative roles of traditional continuity and ecclesiastical innovation as reflected in the written texts. Cormac's Glossary (c. 900) recounts that St. Patrick banished those mantic rites of the filidh that involved offerings to "demons", and it seems probable that the church took particular pains to stamp out animal sacrifice and other rituals repugnant to Christian teaching. What survived of ancient ritual practice tended to be related to filidhecht, the traditional repertoire of the filidh, or to the central institution of sacral kingship.

Mythology based on (though, not identical to) the pre-Christian religion is still common place knowledge in Celtic-speaking cultures. Various rituals involving acts of pilgrimage to sites such as hills and sacred wells which are believed to have curative or otherwise beneficial properties are still performed. Based on evidence from the European continent, various figures which are still known in folklore in the Celtic countries up to today, or who take part in post-Christian mythology, are known to have also been worshiped in those areas that did not have records before Christianity.

The Goths

Goths, (Gothic: Gutans) were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, harried the Roman Empire and later adopted Arianism (an early form of unitarian Christianity). In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy, respectively.

Interestingly Old Norse records do not separate the Goths from the Gutar (Gotlanders) and both are called Gotar in Old West Norse. The Old East Norse term for both Goths and Gotlanders seems to have been Gutar (for instance in the Gutasaga and in the runic inscription of the Rökstone). However the Geats are clearly distinguished from the Goths/Gutar in both Old Norse and Old English literature.

Major sources for Gothic history include Ammianus Marcellinus' Res gestae, mentioning Gothic involvement in the civil war between emperors Procopius and Valens of 365 and recounting the Gothic refugee crisis and revolt of 376-382 and Procopius' de bello gothico, describing the Gothic War of 535-552.

In the 3rd century, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi, and the Greuthungi. The Thervingi launched one of the first major "barbarian" invasions of the Roman Empire from 262, sacking Byzantium in 267. A year later, they suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Naissus and were driven back across the Danube River by 271. This group then settled north of the Danube and established an independent kingdom centered on the abandoned Roman province of Dacia. Both the Greuthungi and Thervingi became heavily Romanized during the 4th century by the influence of trade with the Byzantines, and by their membership of a military covenant centered in Byzantium to assist each other militarily. They converted to Arianism during this time. Hunnic domination of the Gothic kingdom in Scythia began in the 370s, and under pressure of the Huns, the king of the Thervingi, Fritigern in 376 asked the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Valens permitted this, and even helped the Goths cross the river,[citation needed] probably at the fortress of Durostorum, but following a famine the Gothic War (376-382) erupted, and Valens was killed at the Battle of Adrianople.

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, (the Ostrogoths being the other) during the fifth century. Together these tribes were among the Germanic peoples who disturbed the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period. A Visigothic force led by Alaric I sacked Rome in 410. Honorius granted the Visigoths Aquitania, where they defeated the Vandals and by 475 ruled most of the Iberian peninsula

The Ostrogoths in the meantime freed themselves of government of the Huns following the Battle of Nedao in 454. At the behest of emperor Zeno, Theodoric the Great from 488 conquered all of Italy. The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early sixth century under Theodoric the Great, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom following the death of Alaric II at the Battle of Vouillé in 507. Procopius, writing at this time, interpreted the name Visigoth to mean "western Goths", and the name Ostrogoth as "eastern Goth" which corresponded to the current distribution of the Gothic realms.

The Ostrogothic kingdom persisted until 553 under Teia, when Italy briefly fell back under Byzantine control, until the conquest of the Langobards in 568. The Visigothic kingdom lasted longer, until 711 under Roderic, when it had to yield to the Muslim Umayyad invasion of Spain Andalusia.

The Gauls

General term for all ancient speakers of the Gaulish language (a derivative of early Celtic) who were widespread in Europe and extended even into central Anatolia by Roman times.

Gauls under Brennus sacked Rome circa 390 BC. In the Aegean world, a huge migration of Eastern Gauls appeared in Thrace, north of Greece, in 281 BC. Another Gaulish chieftain also named Brennus, at the head of a large army, was only turned back from desecrating the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece at the last minute — he was alarmed, it was said, by portents of thunder and lightning. At the same time a migrating band of Celts, some 10,000 warriors, with their women and children and slaves, were moving through Thrace. Three tribes of Gauls crossed over from Thrace to Asia Minor at the express invitation of Nicomedes I, king of Bithynia (which was a small geographical location just south of the Bosphorus and the Euxine (Black Sea) in the northern area of modern-day Turkey, i.e just south and southeast of the latter-day city of Constantinople, or modern-day Istanbul), who required help in a dynastic struggle against his brother. Eventually they settled down in eastern Phrygia and Cappadocia in central Anatolia, a region henceforth known as Galatia.

The early history of the Gauls is predominantly a work in archeology — there being little written information (save perhaps what can be gleaned from coins) concerning the peoples that inhabited these regions. The major source of materials on the Celts of Gaul was Poseidonios of Apamea, whose writings were quoted by Timagenes, Julius Caesar, the Sicilian Greek Diodorus Siculus, and the Greek geographer Strabo.

By the second century BC, France was called Gaul (Gallia Transalpina) by the Romans. In his Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar distinguishes among three ethnic groups in Gaul: the Belgae in the north (in what is present-day Belgium), the Celts in the center, and the Aquitani in the southwest.

The Roman proconsul and general Julius Caesar pushed his army into Gaul in 58BC, on the pretext of assisting Rome's Gaullish allies against the migrating Helvetii. With the help of various Gallic tribes (for example, the Aeudi) he managed to conquer nearly all of Gaul. But the Arverni tribe, under Chieftain Vercingetorix, still defied Roman rule. Julius Caesar was checked by Vercingetorix at a siege of Gergorvia, a fortified town in the center of Gaul. Caesar's alliances with many Gallic tribes broke. Even the Aeudi, their most faithful supporters, threw in their lot with the Arverni. Caesar captured Vercingetorix in the Battle of Alesia, which ended Gallic resistance to Rome.

As many as a million people (probably 1 in 4 of the Gauls) died, another million were enslaved, 300 tribes were subjugated and 800 cities were destroyed during the Gallic Wars. The entire population of the city of Avaricum (Bourges) (40,000 in all) were slaughtered. During Julius Caesar's campaign against the Helvetii (present-day Switzerland) approximately 60% of the tribe was destroyed, and another 20% was taken into slavery. The Gaulish culture then was massively submerged by Roman culture, Latin was adopted by the Gauls, Gaul was absorbed into the Roman Empire, all the administration changed and Gauls eventually became Roman citizens.

The Vikings

Viking refers to a member of the Norse (Scandinavian) peoples, famous as explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates, who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late 8th to the early 11th century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. This period of Viking expansion is known as the Viking Age, and forms a major part of Scandinavian history, with a minor, yet significant part in European history.

The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian History. The Normans, however, were descended from Danish Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France (The Duchy of Normandy) in the 8th century. In that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe. Likewise, King Harold Godwinson, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England who was killed during the Norman invasion in 1066, was descended from Danish Vikings. Many of the medieval kings of Norway and Denmark were married to English and Scottish royalty and Viking forces were often a factor in dynastic disputes prior to 1066.

Viking navigators opened the road to new lands to the north, west and east, resulting in the foundation of independent settlements in the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and L'Anse aux Meadows, a short-lived settlement in Newfoundland, circa 1000 A.D.

From 839, Varangian mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine Empire, notably Harald Hardrada, campaigned in North Africa, Jerusalem, and other places in the Middle East. Important trading ports during the period include Birka, Hedeby, Kaupang, Jorvik, Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev.

Generally speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west to places such as Ireland, Iceland and Greenland; the Danes to England and France, settling in the Danelaw (northern England) and Normandy; and the Swedes to the east. These nations, although distinct, were similar in culture and language. The names of Scandinavian kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age, and only after the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire a distinct identity as nations, which went hand in hand with their Christianization. Thus the end of the Viking Age for the Scandinavians also marks the start of their relatively brief Middle Ages.

Traditionally, the earliest date given for a Viking raid is 789 when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, three ships from Norway sailed to Portland Bay, in Dorset. There, they were mistaken for merchants by a royal official, and they murdered him when he tried to get them to accompany him to the king's manor to pay a trading tax on their goods. The next recorded attack, dated June 8, 793, was on the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, off the east coast of England. The resident monks were killed, thrown into the sea to drown or carried away as slaves along with some of the church treasures. After repeated Viking raids, the monks fled Lindisfarne in AD 875, carrying the relics of Saint Cuthbert with them.

In 840 and 841, Norwegians raided during the winter months instead of summer, as was their usual tactic. They waited on an island off Ireland. In 865 a large army of Danish Vikings, supposedly led by Ivar, Halfdan and Guthrum, arrived in East Anglia. They proceeded to cross England into Northumbria and captured York (Jorvik), where some settled as farmers. Most of the English kingdoms, being in turmoil, could not stand against the Vikings, but Alfred of Wessex managed to keep the Vikings out of his county. Alfred and his successors were able to drive back the Viking frontier and retake York.

A new wave of Vikings appeared in England in 947 when Erik Bloodaxe captured York. The Viking presence continued through the reign of Canute the Great (1016-1035), after which a series of inheritance arguments weakened the family reign.

The Teutonic Knights

The Teutonic Order is a German Roman Catholic religious order. Its members have commonly been known as the Teutonic Knights, since it was a crusading military order during the Middle Ages and much of the modern era.

Formed at the end of the 12th century in Acre, Palestine, the medieval Order played an important role in Outremer, controlling the port tolls of Acre. After Christian forces were defeated in the Middle East, the Order moved to Transylvania in 1211 to help defend Hungary against the Cumans. They were expelled in 1225 after allegedly attempting to place themselves under Papal instead of Hungarian sovereignty.

Following the Golden Bull of Rimini, Grand Master Hermann von Salza and Duke Konrad I of Masovia made a joint invasion of Prussia in 1230 to Christianize the Baltic Old Prussians in the Northern Crusades. The knights were then accused of cheating Polish rule and creating an independent monastic state. The Order lost its main purpose in Europe, when the neighboring country of Lithuania accepted Christianity. Once established in Prussia, the Order became involved in campaigns against its Christian neighbours, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Novgorod Republic (after assimilating the Livonian Order). The Teutonic Knights had a strong urban economy, hired mercenaries from throughout Europe to augment their feudal levies, and became a naval power in the Baltic Sea.

In 1410, a Polish-Lithuanian army decisively defeated the Order and broke its military power at the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg). The Order steadily declined until 1525 when Grand Master Albert of Brandenburg resigned and converted to Lutheranism to become Duke of Prussia. The Grand Masters continued to preside over the Order's considerable holdings in Germany and elsewhere until 1809, when Napoleon Bonaparte ordered its dissolution and the Order lost its last secular holdings. The Order continued to exist, headed by Habsburgs through World War I, and today operates primarily with charitable aims in Central Europe.

The Knights wore white surcoats with a black cross. A cross pattée was sometimes used as their coat of arms; this image was later used for military decoration and insignia by the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany as the Iron Cross.

German nationalism often invoked the imagery of the Teutonic Knights, especially in the context of territorial conquest from eastern neighbors of Germany and conflict with nations of Slavic origins, who were considered by German nationalists to be of lower development and of inferior culture. The German historian Heinrich von Treitschke used imagery of the Teutonic Knights to promote pro-German and anti-Polish rhetoric. Such imagery and symbols were adopted by many middle-class Germans who supported German nationalism. During the Weimar Republic, associations and organizations of this nature contributed to laying the groundwork for the formation of Nazi Germany. Emperor William II of Germany posed for a photo in 1902 in the garb of a monk from the Teutonic Order, climbing up the stairs in the reconstructed Marienburg Castle as a symbol of the German Empire's policy. During World War II, Nazi propaganda and ideology made frequent use of the Teutonic Knights' imagery, as the Nazis sought to depict the Knights' actions as a forerunner of the Nazi conquests for Lebensraum. Heinrich Himmler tried to idealize the SS as a 20th century incarnation of the medieval knights.


This is only an "introduction" to these topics...

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There is much information to be found on Rome, along with its many interpretations & opinions. I encourage the reader to further unravel these topics for themselves. Again, this is a "2 Part Deal"...


Ancient Rome

A civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula in the 9th century BC to a large empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. In its twelve centuries of existence, Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy, to a republic based on a combination of oligarchy and democracy, to an increasingly autocratic empire. It came to dominate Western Europe and the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea through conquest and assimilation. Ancient Roman society was hierarchical. Free-born Roman citizens were divided into several classes, both by ancestry and by property. There were also several classes of non-citizens with different legal rights, along with slaves who had none. The broadest division was by ancestry, between patricians, those who could trace their ancestry to the first Senate established by Romulus, and plebeians, all other citizens. Freeborn women belonged to the social class of their fathers until marriage, at which time they joined the class of their husband. Freedwomen were able to marry but were barred from marriage with senators or knights and did not join their husband's class. Slaves were not allowed to marry.

The insignia of the kings of Rome were twelve lictors wielding the fasces bearing axes, the right to sit upon a Curule chair, the purple Toga Picta, red shoes, and a white diadem around the head. Of all these insignia, the most important was the purple toga. According to legend, Rome was founded on April 21, 753 BC by twin descendants of the Trojan prince Aeneas, Romulus and Remus. The Latin King Numitor of Alba Longa was ejected from his throne by his cruel brother Amulius and Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to Romulus and Remus. Rhea Silvia was a Vestal Virgin who was raped by Mars, making the twins half-divine. The new king feared that Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, so they were to be drowned. A she-wolf (or a shepherd's wife in some accounts) saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. The twins then founded their own city, but Romulus killed Remus in a quarrel over which one of them was to reign as the King of Rome, though some sources state the quarrel was about who was going to give their name to the city. Romulus became the source of the city's name. As the city was bereft of women, legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins and the Sabines.

Early Rome

A monarchy governed by kings (Latin rex). The kings, excluding the legendary Romulus who held office by his virtue as the city's founder, were all elected by the people of Rome to serve for life, with none of the kings relying on military force to gain the throne.

Romulus established the Senate after he founded Rome by hand selecting the most noble men (those of wealth and legitimate wives and children) to serve as a council for the city. As such, the Senate was the King’s advisory council as the Council of State. The Senate was composed of 300 Senators, with 100 Senators representing each of the three ancient tribes of Rome: the Ramnes (Latins), Tities (Sabines), and Luceres (Etruscans) tribes. Within each tribe, a Senator was selected from each of the tribe's ten curiae. The king had the sole authority to appoint the Senators, but this selection was done in accordance with ancient custom.

Under the monarchy, the Senate possessed very little power and authority as the king held most of the political power of the state and could exercise those powers without the Senate's consent. The chief function of the Senate was to serve as the king’s council and be his legislative coordinator. Once legislation proposed by the king passed the Comitia Curiata, the Senate could either veto it or accept it as law. The king was, by custom, to seek the advice of the Senate on major issues. However, it was left to him to decide what issues, if any, before them and he was free to accept or reject their advice as he saw fit. Only the king possessed the power to convene the Senate, except during the interregnum, during which the Senate possessed the authority to convene itself.

The Roman Kingdom

(Latin; Regnum Romanum) was the monarchical government of the city of Rome and its territories. Little is certain about the history of the Roman Kingdom, as no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it written during the Republic and Empire are largely based on legend. The Etruscans, early Italian settlers comprised of city-states throughout central Italy ruled Rome for over a century; the traditional dates are 616 BC for the accession of the first Etruscan King, Tarquinius Priscus, and 510 BC for the expulsion of the last king, Tarquinius Superbus. The king was expelled by a group of aristocrats led by Lucius Junius Brutus. The Tarquins were expelled from Rome, and a constitution devised, whereby power rested in the hands of the Roman senate (the assembly of leading citizens), who delegated executive power in a pair of consuls who were elected from among their number to serve for one year.

The Roman Republic

The phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c. 510 BC and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period.

The Roman Republic was governed by a complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a separation of powers and checks and balances. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the aristocracy and the average Roman. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the founding of the republic. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new aristocracy which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance.

The Roman Republic was established around 509 BC, according to later writers such as Livy, when the last of the seven kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed, and a system based on annually elected magistrates and various representative assemblies was established. A constitution set a series of checks and balances, and a separation of powers. The most important magistrates were the two consuls, who together exercised executive authority in the form of imperium, or military command. The consuls had to work with the senate, which was initially an advisory council of the ranking nobility, or patricians, but grew in size and power over time. Other magistracies in the Republic include praetors, aediles, and quaestors. The magistracies were originally restricted to patricians, but were later opened to common people, or plebeians. Republican voting assemblies included the comitia centuriata (centuriate assembly), which voted on matters of war and peace and elected men to the most important offices, and the comitia tributa (tribal assembly), which elected less important offices.

The early 5th Century BCE saw an influx of Gauls (Gallic Celts) push south of Cisalpine Gaul into Etruscan territory, which they took by force of arms. The Gauls were led by Brennus of the Senones tribe, and the Romans sent an envoy of three delegates to meet with him and determine his intentions and, covertly, the strength of his army. The meeting did not go well, and ended in violence. Brennus, taken aback by what he referred to as a violation of the Laws of War, demanded the three Romans be handed over to him for punishment. The Romans refused, leading the Gauls to march on Rome in July, 387 BC. In response, the Romans, under A.Quintus Sulpicius, attempted to form a defense against the approaching Gauls. The result was a crushing defeat of the Romans near the River Allia, and the subsequent sack of Rome. The Romans retreated to the citadel on the Capitoline Hill, and remained in relative safety as they watched the looting and burning of the city. After a period of seven months of Gallic occupation of the city, the Romans approached Brennus for terms of peace. Brennus settled on the sum of one-thousand pounds of gold, and the Gauls subsequently departed Rome.

The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, including the Etruscans. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italy came when Tarentum, a major Greek colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in 281 BC, but this effort failed as well. The Romans secured their conquests by founding Roman colonies in strategic areas, establishing stable control over the region. In the second half of the 3rd century BC, Rome clashed with Carthage in the first of three Punic Wars. These wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests, of Sicily and Hispania, and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power. After defeating the Macedonian and Seleucid Empires in the 2nd century BC, the Romans became the dominant people of the Mediterranean Sea.

Foreign dominance led to internal strife. Senators became rich at the provinces' expense, but soldiers, who were mostly small-scale farmers, were away from home longer and could not maintain their land, and the increased reliance on foreign slaves and the growth of latifundia reduced the availability of paid work. Income from war booty, mercantilism in the new provinces, and tax farming created new economic opportunities for the wealthy, forming a new class of merchants, the equestrians. The lex Claudia forbade members of the Senate from engaging in commerce, so while the equestrians could theoretically join the Senate, they were severely restricted in terms of political power. The Senate squabbled perpetually, repeatedly blocking important land reforms and refusing to give the equestrian class a larger say in the government. Violent gangs of the urban unemployed, controlled by rival Senators, intimidated the electorate through violence. The situation came to a head in the late 2nd century BC under the Gracchi brothers, a pair of tribunes who attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. Both brothers were killed, but the Senate passed some of their reforms in an attempt to placate the growing unrest of the plebeian and equestrian classes. The denial of Roman citizenship to allied Italian cities led to the Social War of 91–88 BC. The military reforms of Gaius Marius resulted in soldiers often having more loyalty to their commander than to the city, and a powerful general could hold the city and Senate ransom. This led to civil war between Marius and his protegé Sulla, and culminated in Sulla's dictatorship of 81–79 BC.

In the mid-1st century BC, three men, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, formed a secret pact—the First Triumvirate—to control the Republic. After Caesar's conquest of Gaul, a stand-off between Caesar and the Senate led to civil war, with Pompey leading the Senate's forces. Caesar emerged victorious, and was made dictator for life. In 44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by senators who opposed Caesar's assumption of absolute power and wanted to restore constitutional government, but in the aftermath a Second Triumvirate, consisting of Caesar's designated heir, Octavian, and his former supporters, Mark Antony and Lepidus, took power. However, this alliance soon descended into a struggle for dominance. Lepidus was exiled, and when Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, he became the undisputed ruler of Rome.

The Roman Empire

(Latin; Imperium Romanum, "Roman Empire"), probably the best-known Latin expression where the word imperium denotes a territory, indicates the part of the world under Roman rule. Roman expansion began in the days of the Republic, but reached its zenith under Emperor Trajan. At this territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5,900,000 km² (2,300,000 sq mi) of land surface. Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, Roman influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law and government of nations around the world lasts to this day.

"The Roman Empire", was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government with large territorial holdings in Europe and the Mediterranean.

With his enemies defeated, Octavian took the name Augustus and assumed almost absolute power, retaining only a pretense of the Republican form of government. His designated successor, Tiberius, took power without serious opposition, establishing the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which lasted until the death of Nero in 68. The territorial expansion of what was now the Roman Empire continued, and the state remained secure, despite a series of emperors widely viewed as depraved and corrupt (for example, Caligula is argued by some to have been insane and Nero had a reputation for cruelty and being more interested in his private concerns than the affairs of the state). Their rule was followed by the Flavian dynasty. During the reign of the "Five Good Emperors" (96–180), the Empire reached its territorial, economic, and cultural zenith. The state was secure from both internal and external threats, and the Empire prospered during the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace"). With the conquest of Dacia during the reign of Trajan, the Empire reached the peak of its territorial expansion; Rome's dominion now spanned 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million km²).

The period between 193 and 235 was dominated by the Severan dynasty, and saw several incompetent rulers, such as Elagabalus. This and the increasing influence of the army on imperial succession led to a long period of imperial collapse and external invasions known as the Crisis of the Third Century. The crisis was ended by the more competent rule of Diocletian, who in 293 divided the Empire into an eastern and western half ruled by a tetrarchy of two co-emperors and their two junior colleagues. The various co-rulers of the Empire competed and fought for supremacy for more than half a century. On May 11, 330, Emperor Constantine I firmly established Byzantium as the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it Constantinople. The Empire was permanently divided into the Eastern Roman Empire (later known as the Byzantine Empire) and the Western Roman Empire in 395.

In the late 3rd century AD, Diocletian established the practice of dividing authority between two emperors, one in the western part of the empire and one in the east, in order to better administer the vast territory. For the next century this practice continued, with occasional periods in which one emperor assumed complete control. However, after the death of Theodosius I in 395, the two halves were permanently divided. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late fifth century as its territory was seized by Germanic tribes.

The Western Empire was constantly harassed by barbarian invasions, and the gradual decline of the Roman Empire continued over the centuries. In the 4th century, the westward migration of the Huns caused the Visigoths to seek refuge within the borders of the Roman Empire. In 410, the Visigoths, under the leadership of Alaric I, sacked the city of Rome itself. The Vandals invaded Roman provinces in Gaul, Spain, and northern Africa, and in 455 sacked Rome. On September 4, 476, the Germanic chief Odoacer forced the last Roman emperor in the west, Romulus Augustus, to abdicate. Having lasted for approximately 1200 years, the rule of Rome in the West came to an end.

The Eastern Empire, by contrast, would suffer a similar fate, though not as drastic. Justinian managed to briefly reconquer Northern Africa and Italy, but Byzantine possessions in the West were reduced to southern Italy and Sicily within a few years after Justinian's death. In the east the Byzantines were threatened by the rise of Islam, whose followers rapidly conquered territories in Syria and Egypt and soon presented a direct threat to Constantinople. The Byzantines, however, managed to stop Islamic expansion into their lands during the 8th century, and beginning in the 9th century reclaimed the conquered lands. In 1000 AD the Eastern Empire was at its height: Basileios II reconquered Bulgaria and Armenia, culture and trade flourished. However, soon after the expansion was abruptly stopped in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert. This finally lead the empire into a dramatic decline. Several centuries of internal strife and Turkic invasions ultimately paved the way for Emperor Alexius I Comnenus to send a call for help to the West in 1095. The West responded with the Crusades, eventually resulting in the Sack of Constantinople by participants in the Fourth Crusade. The conquest of Constantinople in 1204 would see the fragmentation of what little remained of the empire into successor states, the ultimate victor being that of Nicaea. After the recapture of Constantinople by imperial forces, the empire was little more than a Greek state confined to the Aegean coast. The East Roman or Byzantine Empire endured until Mehmed II (the Ottoman Turks) conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453.


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[Groll Only]

Gladiators

(Latin; gladiatōrēs, "swordsmen" or "one who uses a sword," from gladius, "sword") were professional fighters in ancient Rome who fought against each other, wild animals, and condemned criminals, sometimes to the death, for the entertainment of spectators. These fights took place in arenas in many cities from the Roman Republic period through the Roman Empire.

The origin of the gladiatorial games is not known for certain. There are two theories;

That the Romans adopted gladiatorial fights from the Etruscans, and that the games came from Campania and Lucania. The evidence for the theory of Etruscan origin is a passage by the Greek writer Nicolaus of Damascus in the second half of the first century BCE describing the origins as Etruscan, an account by Isidore of Seville during the 600s relating the Latin word for gladiator manager, lanista, to the Etruscan word for 'executioner', and also likeness of the Roman god of hell, Charon, who accompanied the executed bodies as they exited the arena, to the Etruscan god of death, also named Charon. The theory that the games developed from a Campanian and Lucanian tradition is supported by frescoes dating to the fourth century BCE depicting funeral games in which pair of gladiators fought to the death to commemorate the death of an important individual. The Campanians could also have adapted this tradition from the Greeks who could have introduced funeral games with human sacrifices to the area in the eighth century BCE. Regardless of the origin, the Romans adopted the tradition of funeral games to display important people's status and power.

The earliest known gladiatorial games were held in 310 BC by the Campanians (Livy 9.40.17). These games re-enacted the Campanians' military success over the Samnites.

The first recorded Roman gladiatorial combats took place in Rome in 264 BC, at the start of the First Punic War against Carthage. Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus staged it in honor of his dead father Brutus Pera. It was held between three pairs of slaves chosen from among 22 prisoners of war, and held in the cattle market (Forum Boarium). The ceremony was called a munus or “duty paid to a dead ancestor by his descendants, with the intention of keeping alive his memory” (Baker, Gladiator 10). Roman aristocrats soon took up the practice as an alternative to the earlier custom of sacrificing prisoners on the graves of warriors, with events being held for notable people and repeated every one to five years after the person’s death.

These games became popular throughout the Empire and were especially popular in Greece. So popular that there are many records of people in towns where prominent citizens died virtually extorting promises of gladiatorial games from the survivors. The aristocracy also began to compete in having the best games so that whereas the sons of Brutus Pera offered three matches, a century later, Titus Flamininus offered 74 matches lasting three days for his fathers funeral and by the passing of yet another century Julius Caesar promised 320 matches for his daughter, Julia. As a result the emperors eventually had to regulate how much could be spent on gladiatorial performances to prevent members of the elite from bankrupting themselves.

Gradually, as the connection to funerals faded in the late second century BC, the funeral games gradually transformed into public performances. Julius Caesar eventually owned so many Gladiators that the Senate, fearing the use such a "private army" could be put to, passed a law limiting private citizens to owning no more than 640 Gladiators. The moment when a true split from the funeral backdrop occurred was after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Bad omens plagued the city and the games were seen as a method to please the gods and save Rome. During the first century A.D., giving games even became a requirement of some public offices.

Over time the games had became integrated ever more into the Imperial cult through games financed by the state or by the Emperors as a means to get public approval, and especially so in the provincial towns. After Caesars' death a clear distinction between games organized by public officials (ludi) and those held by private citizens (munera) was set. Although it was still possible for private citizens to organize their own gladiatorial games, Augustus decreed that they could use no more than 120 Gladiators and the days on which such private games could be organized were limited. From December 2 to December 8. During the Saturnalia from December 17 to the 23 (the Winter solstice) and between March 19 and 23 for the Spring celebration of Quinquatria.

The popularity of the games resulted in the construction of proper venues and transformation of others (such as the Roman Forum) into spaces for the spectacles.

Gladiator fights took place in these amphitheaters during the afternoon of a full day event. The amphitheaters built were made of wood and were usually neither structurally sound, often being prone to collapse, nor did they survive the fires of Rome. The first permanent amphitheater in Rome dates to around 30 BC. Not until AD 70 and Vespasian's reign did plans for a purpose built stone venue for the games develop. The Colosseum (Amphitheatrum Flavium) was unveiled in AD 80.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheater in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96). The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).

Originally capable of seating around 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles. It remained in use for nearly 500 years with the last recorded games being held there as late as the 6th century. As well as the traditional gladiatorial games, many other public spectacles were held there, such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building eventually ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such varied purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry and a Christian shrine.

Trajan's Forum

(Latin; Forum Traiani) is chronologically the last of the Imperial fora of Rome. The forum was constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus.

The forum was built on the order of Emperor Trajan with the spoils of war from the conquest of Dacia, which ended in 106. The Fasti Ostiensi (see Fasti) states that the Forum was inaugurated in 112, while Trajan's Column was inaugurated in 113.

To build this monumental complex, extensive excavations were required: workers eliminated the sides of the Quirinal and Capitoline (Campidoglio) Hills, which closed the valley occupied by the Imperial forums toward the Campus Martius.

During the time of the construction, several other projects took place: The Markets of Trajan were constructed, Caesar's Forum (where the Basilica Argentaria was built), and the Temple of Venus Genetrix were renovated.

The Pantheon

(Greek; "Temple of all the gods") is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt circa 125 AD during Hadrian's reign. The intended degree of inclusiveness of this dedication is debated. The generic term pantheon is now applied to a monument in which illustrious dead are buried. It is the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world. It has been in continuous use throughout its history. The design of the extant building is sometimes credited to the Trajan's architect Apollodorus of Damascus, but it is equally likely that the building and the design should be credited to the emperor Hadrian or his architects. Since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Christian church. The Pantheon is currently the oldest standing domed structure in Rome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 meters (142 ft).

In the aftermath of the Battle of Actium (31 BC), Agrippa built and dedicated the original Pantheon during his third consulship (27 BC). Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed along with other buildings in a huge fire in 80 AD. The current building dates from about 125 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, as date-stamps on the bricks reveal. It was totally reconstructed with the text of the original inscription ("M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT", standing for Marcus Agrippa, Lucii filius, consul tertium fecit meaning, "'Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, made it") which was added to the new facade, a common practice in Hadrian's rebuilding projects all over Rome. Hadrian was a cosmopolitan emperor who traveled widely in the East and was a great admirer of Greek culture.


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[Groll Only]

Due to my "Martial Arts Influence", i find that the history of China deserves this much attention. Some dates don't seem to line up perfectly, but with "Ancient History" that seems to happen. As with all topics in my little history thread, it is only an introduction. This is a "4 part deal"...


The recorded history of China began in the 15th century BC when the Shang Dynasty started to use markings that evolved into the present Chinese characters. Turtle shells with markings reminiscent of ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to as early as 1500 BC. Chinese civilization originated with city-states in the Yellow River (Huang He) valley. 221 BC is commonly accepted to be the year in which China became unified under a large kingdom or empire. In that year, Qin Shi Huang first united China. Successive dynasties in Chinese history developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the Emperor of China to control increasingly larger territory that reached maximum under the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and Manchurian Qing Dynasty.

The Paleolithic Period

What is now China was inhabited by Homo erectus more than a million years ago. Recent study shows that the stone tools found at Xiaochangliang site are magnetostratigraphically dated 1.36 million years ago. The archaeological site of Xihoudu in Shanxi Province is the earliest recorded of use of fire by Homo erectus, which is dated 1.27 million years ago. The excavations at Yuanmou and later Lantian show early habitation. Perhaps the most famous specimen of Homo erectus found in China is the so-called Peking Man discovered in 1923.

Two pottery pieces were unearthed at Liyuzui Cave in Liuzhou, Guangxi Province dated 16,500 and 19,000 BC.

The Neolithic Period

The Neolithic age in China can be traced back as early as 10,000 BC. Early evidence for proto-Chinese millet agriculture is carbon-dated to about 7,000 BC. The Peiligang culture of Xinzheng county, Henan was excavated in 1977. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and to support specialist craftsmen and administrators. In late Neolithic times, the Yellow River valley began to establish itself as a cultural center, where the first villages were founded; the most archaeologically significant of those was found at Banpo, Xi'an. The Yellow River was so named because of the loess that would build up on the bank and down in the earth then it would sink creating a yellowish tint to the water.

By 7000 BC, the Chinese were farming millet, giving rise to the Jiahu culture. At Damaidi in Ningxia, 3,172 cliff carvings dating to 6,000-5,000 BC have been discovered "featuring 8,453 individual characters such as the sun, moon, stars, gods and scenes of hunting or grazing." These pictographs are reputed to be similar to the earliest characters confirmed to be written Chinese. Later Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture around 2500 BC.

The Xia Dynasty (2100 BC–1600 BC)

This period of China is the first dynasty to be described in ancient historical records such as Records of the Grand Historian and Bamboo Annals, from ca. 2100 BC to 1600 BC.

The historian Sima Qian (145 BC-90 BC) and the account in Chinese the Bamboo Annals date the founding of the Xia Dynasty to 4,200 years ago.

The Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - ca. 1100 BC)

The earliest discovered written record of China's past dates from the Shang Dynasty in perhaps the 13th century BC, and takes the form of inscriptions of divination records on the bones or shells of animals—the so-called oracle bones. The Shang Dynasty featured 31 kings, from Tang of Shang to King Zhou of Shang; it was the longest dynasty in Chinese history.

The Records of the Grand Historian states that the Shang Dynasty moved its capital six times. The final and most important move to Yin in 1350 BC led to the golden age of the dynasty.

Written records found at Anyang confirm the existence of the Shang dynasty.

The Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC to 256 BC)

The Zhou dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history—though the actual political and military control of China by the dynasty only lasted during the Western Zhou. During the Zhou, the use of iron was introduced to China, while this period of Chinese history produced what many consider the zenith of Chinese bronze-ware making. The dynasty also spans the period in which the written script evolved from the ancient stage as seen in early Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, to the beginnings of the modern stage, in the form of the archaic clerical script of the late Warring States period.

During the Zhou Dynasty, the origins of matured Chinese philosophy developed, its initial stages beginning in the 6th century BC. The greatest Chinese philosophers, those who made the greatest impact on later generations of Chinese, were Kong Fuzi (Latin: Confucius), founder of Confucianism, and Laozi, founder of Daoism. Other philosophers, theorists, and schools of thought in this era were Mozi (Latin: Micius), founder of Mohism, Mengzi (Latin: Mencius), a famous Confucian who expanded upon Kong Fuzi's legacy, Shang Yang and Han Feizi, responsible for the development of ancient Chinese Legalism (the core philosophy of the Qin Dynasty), and Xunzi, who was arguably the center of ancient Chinese intellectual life during his time, even more so than iconic intellectual figures such as Mencius.

In the Chinese historical tradition, the Zhou defeated the Shang and oriented the Shang system of ancestor worship toward a universalized worship away from the worship of Di and to that of Tian or "heaven". They legitimized their rule by invoking the Mandate of Heaven, the notion that the ruler (the "Son of Heaven") governed by divine right but that his dethronement would prove that he had lost the mandate. Such things that proved the ruling family had lost the Mandate were natural disasters and rebellions. The doctrine explained and justified the demise of the Xia and Shang Dynasties and at the same time supported the legitimacy of present and future rulers. The Zhou dynasty was founded by the Ji family and had its capital at Hao ( near the present-day city of Xi'an in the Wei River valley). Sharing the language and culture of the Shang, the early Zhou rulers, through conquest and colonization, established a large imperial territory where in states as far as Shandong acknowledged Zhou rulership and took part in elite culture. The spread of Zhou bronzes, though, was concurrent with the continued use of Shang style pottery in the distant regions and these states were the last to recede during the late Western Zhou.

The early Western Zhou supported a strong military split into two major units: “The Six Armies of the West” and “The Eight Armies of Chengzhou”. The armies campaigned in the northern Loess Plateau, modern Ningxia and the Huanghe floodplain. The military prowess of Zhou peaked during the 19th year of King Zhao's reign, when the Six Armies were wiped out along with King Zhao on a campaign around the Han River. Early Zhou kings were true commanders-in-chief. They were in constant wars with barbarians on behalf of the fiefs called 'guo', namely, statelet or principality. Charles Hucker noted that Zhou had 14 standing royal armies, with 6 stationed in Haojing, near today's Xian, and 8 armies stationed in the east. Zhou Zhaowang (1052–1001 BC) was famous for repeated campaigns in the Yangtze areas and died in his last action. Zhou Muwang (1001–946 BC) was a legendary figure famous for fighting in the west and maybe today's Central Asia where he met and rendezvoused on Kunlun Mountain with so-called Xi Wang Mu, namely, Queen Mother of the West. Mt Kunlun, extending for almost 2000 miles from Kara-Kunlun bordering Tibet in the west to Qilian Mountain in the east, was a source of many Chinese myths and legends. Later kings' campaigns were less effective. King Liwang (878–7 BC) led 14 armies against barbarians in the south but failed to achieve any victory. King Xuanwang (827–782 BC) fought the Jiangrong nomads in vain. King Youwang was killed by Quanrong, and capital Haojing was sacked. Although chariots had been introduced to China since the Shang Dynasty, the Zhou period saw the use of massed chariots in battle, a technology imported from Central Asia.

The Spring and Autumn Period

This was a period in Chinese history, which roughly corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty (from the second half of the 8th century BC to the first half of the 5th century BC). Its name comes from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 BC and 481 BC, which tradition associates with Confucius.

During the Springs and Autumns, China was ruled by a feudal system. The Zhou dynasty kings held nominal power over a small Royal Domain, centered on their capital (modern Luoyang), and granted fiefdoms over the rest of China to several hundreds of hereditary nobles, descendants of members of the Zhou clan, close associates of the founders of the dynasty, or local potentates. The most important feudal princes (known later as the twelve princes) met during regular conferences, where important matters, such as military expeditions against foreign groups or offending nobles were decided. During these conferences, one prince was sometimes declared hegemon, and took the leadership over the armies of all feudal states.

As the era unfolded, larger states annexed or claimed suzerainty over smaller ones. By the 6th century BC, most small states had disappeared, and a few large and powerful principalities dominated China. Some southern states, such as Chu and Wu, claimed independence from the Zhou. Wars were undertaken to oppose some of these states (Wu and Yue). In the state of Jin, six powerful families fought for supremacy, and a series of civil wars resulted in the splitting of Jin into three smaller states by the beginning of the fifth century.

At that time, the control Zhou kings exerted over feudal princes was greatly reduced, the feudal system crumbled, and the Warring States Period began.

The Warring States Period

The Warring States Period, also known as the Era of Warring States, covers the period from some time in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC. It is nominally considered to be the second part of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, following the Spring and Autumn Period, although the Zhou dynasty itself ended in 256 BC, 35 years earlier than the end of the Warring States period. As with the Spring and Autumn Period, the king of Zhou acted merely as a figurehead. The name Warring States Period was derived from the Record of the Warring States, a work historically compiled early in the Han Dynasty. The Warring States Period, in contrast to the Spring and Autumn Period, was a period when regional warlords annexed smaller states around them and consolidated their rule. The process began in the Spring and Autumn Period, and by the 3rd century BC, seven major states had risen to prominence. A sign of this shift in power was a change in title: warlords still considered themselves dukes of the Zhou dynasty king; but now the warlords began to call themselves kings, meaning they were equal to the Zhou king.

The Warring States Period saw the proliferation of iron working in China, replacing bronze as the dominant metal used in warfare. Areas such as Shu (modern Sichuan) and Yue (modern Zhejiang) were also brought into the Chinese cultural sphere during this time. Different philosophies developed into the Hundred Schools of Thought, including Confucianism (elaborated by Mencius), Taoism (elaborated by Lao Zi and to a lesser extent Zhuang Zi, in that it is possible to see the philosophy espoused in the text of the Zhuang Zi as separate from what could be considered "classical Daoism"), Legalism (formulated by Han Feizi) and Mohism (formulated by Mozi). Trade also became important, and some merchants had considerable power in politics. Military tactics also changed. Unlike the Spring and Autumn Period, most armies in the Warring States Period made combined use of infantry and cavalry, and the use of chariots gradually fell into disfavor. Thus from this period on, the nobles in China remained a literate rather than warrior class, as the kingdoms competed by throwing masses of soldiers against each other. Arms of soldiers gradually changed from bronze to unified iron arms. Dagger-axes were an extremely popular weapon in various kingdoms, especially for the Qin who produced eighteen-foot long pikes.

This was also around the time the legendary military strategist Sun Tzu (Sun Zi) wrote The Art of War which is recognized today as the most influential, and oldest known military strategy guide. Along with this are other military writings that make up the Seven Military Classics of ancient China: T'ai Kung's Six Secret Teachings, The Methods of the Sima, Sun Bin's Art of War, Wu Qi, Wei Liaozi, Three strategies of Huang Shigong, and The Questions and Replies of Tang Taizong and Li Weigong (the last being made ±800 years after this era ended). Once China was unified, these seven military classics were locked away and access was restricted due to their tendency to promote revolution.

The Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 207 BC)

This period was preceded by the feudal Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. The unification of China in 221 BC under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (or Shih Hwang-Tih) marked the beginning of Imperial China, a period which lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. The Qin Dynasty left a legacy of a centralized and bureaucratic state that would be carried onto successive dynasties. At the height of its power, the Qin Dynasty had a population of about 40 million people. Also, the massive Terracotta Army at Xi'an was built during the Qin as a royal retinue to guard the First Emperor in the afterlife.

Before it is referred to as the Qin (chin) Dynasty, the Ying were the rulers of the Qin (state). According to Sima Qian, the house of Qin traced its origin to Emperor Zhuanxu (one of the five emperors of the legendary times). One of their ancestors, Dafei received from Emperor Shun the surname Ying. Another ancestor, Feizi served King Xiao of Zhou as the royal horse trainer, was rewarded with a fief in Quanqiu (today's Tianshui, Gansu province); the Qin state grew out from this area, and the Qin name itself is believed to have originated, in part,there.

Qin Shi Huangdi imposed the Qin state's centralized, non-hereditary aristocratic system on his new empire in place of the Zhou's quasi-feudalistic one. The Qin Empire relied on the philosophy of legalism (with skillful advisors like Han Fei and Li Si). Centralization, achieved by ruthless methods, was focused on standardizing legal codes and bureaucratic procedures, the forms of writing and coinage, and the pattern of thought and scholarship. The seal script characters from the former state of Qin became the standard for the entire empire. The length of the wheel axle was also unified and expressways standardized to ease transportation throughout the country. To silence criticism of imperial rule, the emperor banished or put to death many dissenting Confucian scholars and confiscated and burned their books.

To prevent future uprisings, Qin Shi Huangdi ordered the confiscation of weapons and stored them in the capital. In order to prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he also destroyed the walls and fortifications that had separated the previous six states. A national conscription was devised: every male between the ages of seventeen and sixty years was obliged to serve one year in the army. Qin aggrandizement was aided by frequent military expeditions pushing forward the frontiers in the north and south. To fend off a barbarian intrusion (mainly against the Xiongnu in the north), the fortification walls built by the various warring states were connected to make a wall; this is usually recognized as the first Great Wall of China, although the present, 4,856- kilometer-long Great Wall of China was largely built or re-built during the Ming Dynasty. A number of public works projects, including canals and bridges, were also undertaken to consolidate and strengthen imperial rule. A lavish tomb for the emperor, complete with a Terracotta Army, was built near the capital Xianyang, a city half an hour from modern Xi'an. These activities required enormous levies of manpower and resources, not to mention repressive measures.

Qin Shi Huangdi's behavior reportedly became increasingly erratic in the later years of his rule.

During the last trip with his youngest son Huhai in 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang died suddenly at Shaqiu prefecture. Huhai, under the advice of two high officials, the Imperial Secretariat Li Si and the chief eunuch Zhao Gao, forged and altered Emperor's will. The faked decree ordered Qin Shi Huang's first son, the heir Fusu to commit suicide, instead naming Huhai as the next emperor. The decree also stripped the command of troops from Marshal Meng Tian — a faithful supporter of Fusu — and sentenced Meng's family to death.

In the beginning of October 207 BC, Zhao Gao forced Huhai to commit suicide and replaced him with Fusu's son, Ziying . Note that the title of Ziying was "king of Qin" to reflect the fact that Qin no longer controlled the whole of China. The Chu-Han contention ensued. Ziying soon killed Zhao Gao and surrendered to Liu Bang in the beginning of December 207 BC. But Liu Bang was forced to hand over Xianyang and Ziying to Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu then killed Ziying and burned down the palace in the end of January 206 BC. It is said the fire lasted two months before the inferno died down.

The Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)

This period followed the Qin Dynasty and preceding the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the prominent family known as the Liu clan. The reign of the Han Dynasty, lasting over 400 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the history of China. To this day, the ethnic majority of China still refer to themselves as the "Han people."

During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically: agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached over 55 million people. Meanwhile, the empire extended its political and cultural influence over Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Central Asia before it finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures.

The Han Dynasty was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward to the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), with military expeditions as far west as beyond the Caspian Sea, making possible a relatively safe and secure caravan and mercantile traffic across Central Asia. The paths of caravan traffic came to be known as the "Silk Road" because the route was used to export Chinese silk. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Korea (Wiman Joseon) and northern Vietnam toward the end of the 2nd century BC. Han Dynasty control of peripheral regions was generally insecure, however. To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system." Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.

Within the first three months after Qin Dynasty Emperor Qin Shi Huang's death at Shaqiu, widespread revolts by peasants, prisoners, soldiers and descendants of the nobles of the six Warring States sprang up all over China. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, two in a group of about 900 soldiers assigned to defend against the Xiongnu, were the leaders of the first rebellion. Continuous insurgence finally toppled the Qin dynasty in 206 BC. The leader of the insurgents was Xiang Yu, an outstanding military commander without political expertise, who divided the country into 19 feudal states to his own satisfaction.


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Note To The Reader...

There are four periods of Chinese history using the name "Jin";

* Jin Dynasty (266–420), Chinese dynasty, subdivided into the Western and Eastern Jin periods
* Later Jin Dynasty (936-947), Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
* Jin Dynasty (1115–1234), a Jurchen kingdom in northern China
* Later Jīn Dynasty (from 1616), a.k.a. Qing Dynasty or Later Jinn Dynasty, Jurchen-founded in Manchuria


The Jìn Dynasty (266–420)

This period was one of the Six Dynasties, following the Three Kingdoms period and preceding the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China. The dynasty was founded by the Sima family. At its height the Jin Dynasty had a population of about 20 million people.

The first of the two periods, the Western Jìn Dynasty (266–316), was founded by Emperor Wu, better known as Sima Yan. Although providing a brief period of unity after conquering the state of Eastern Wu in 280, the Jìn could not contain the invasion and uprising of nomadic peoples after the devastating War of the Eight Princes. The capital was Luoyang until 311 when Emperor Huai was captured by the forces of Han Zhao. Successive reign of Emperor Min lasted four years in Chang'an until its conquest by Han Zhao in 316.

Meanwhile remnants of the Jìn court fled from the north to the south and reestablished the Jìn court at Jiankang, south-east of Luoyang and Chang'an and near modern-day Nanjing, under Prince of Longya. Prominent local families of Zhu, Gan, Lu, Gu and Zhou supported the proclamation of Prince of Langye as Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jìn Dynasty (317–420) when the news of the fall of Chang'an reached the south. (Because the emperors of the Eastern Jìn Dynasty came from the Langye line, the rival Wu Hu states which did not recognize its legitimacy would at times refer to Jìn as "Langye.")

Militaristic authorities and crises plagued the Eastern Jìn court throughout its 104 years of existence. It survived the rebellions of Wang Dun and Su Jun. Huan Wen died in 373 before he could usurp the throne (which he had intended to do). Battle of Fei turned out to be a victory of Jìn under a short-lived cooperation of Huan Chong, brother of Huan Wen and the Prime Minister (or Imperial Secretariat) Xie An. Huan Xuan, son of Huan Wen, usurped and changed the name of the dynasty to Chu. He was toppled by Liu Yu, who ordered the strangulation of the reinstated but retarded Emperor An. The last emperor and brother of Emperor An, Emperor Gong, was installed in 419. Abdication of Emperor Gong in 420 in favor of Liu Yu, then Emperor Wu, ushered in the Liu Song Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties.

Meanwhile North China was ruled by the Sixteen Kingdoms, many of which were founded by the Wu Hu, the non-Han Chinese ethnicities. The conquest of the Northern Liang by the Northern Wei Dynasty in 439 ushered in the Northern Dynasties.

The Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589 AD)

This period followed the Jin Dynasty and preceded The Sui Dynasty in China. It was an age of civil war and political disunity. However it was also a time of flourishing in the arts and culture, advancement in technology, and the spread of foreign Mahayana Buddhism and native Daoism. Distinctive Chinese Buddhism was also matured during this time and shaped by the northern and southern dynasties alike.

During this period the process of sinicization accelerated among the non-Chinese arrivals in the north and among the aboriginal tribesmen in the south. Many northern Chinese also immigrated to the south. This process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of Buddhism (introduced into China in the first century AD) in both north and south China, along with Daoism gaining influence from the outline of Buddhist scriptures (with two essential Daoist canons written during this period). Although multiple story towers such as guard towers and residential apartments existed in previous periods of China, during this period the distinct Chinese pagoda tower (for storing Buddhist scriptures) evolved from the stupa, the latter originating from Buddhist traditions of protecting sutras in ancient India.

The south and north developed into a relatively stable equilibrium, due to geographical differences. The flat steppes of the north gave a significant edge to cavalry, while the hilly and mountainous riverlands of the south gave a significant edge to naval warfare. A strong navy on the Yangtze River could protect the south from the north, since cavalry was almost useless in the mountainous riverlands. Likewise, logistical difficulties for the horse-poor south made it difficult to maintain a successful northern campaign. Depending on the relative strengths of the states, the Huai River area and the Sichuan basin were the primary areas of significant territorial changes. This barrier was only overcome by the first Emperor of the Sui Dynasty, who built a large invading navy in the Sichuan basin, hence his ability to more easily conquer the south and reunify China.

With the invention of the stirrup during the earlier Western Jin Dynasty, not only were cavalry tactics improved immensely, but heavily armored Chinese cavalry also became the norm in this age. Advances in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and cartography are also noted by historians. The famous Chinese mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi (429–500 AD) belonged to this age, an intellectual and social product of the elite culture shaped and developed in southern China during this period of time.

The Chinese arts of poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music flourished during this period like never before, as Chinese aristocrats mainly in the south were socially expected to master these as their pastimes. Although the north had its cultural achievements, the south (specifically at the capital of Nanjing) was the place for higher cultural achievement, elitist culture, artistic refinement, and new standards of art that ranked artists according to their various abilities.

lthough powerful in the conquest of the Wu Kingdom in 280 AD, the Jin Dynasty was severely weakened after the War of the Eight Princes from 291 to 306 AD. During Emperor Huai of Jin and Emperor Min of Jin, the country was put into grave danger with the invasion of the Xianbei tribe from the north. The sieges and ultimate sacking of Luoyang in the year 311 and Chang'an in the year 316 by invading Xianbei armies almost destroyed the dynasty. However, a scion of the royal house, Prince of Longya, fled south to salvage what was left in order to sustain the empire. Cementing their power in the south, the Jin established modern-day Nanjing (then called Jiankang) as their new capital, renaming the dynasty as the Eastern Jin (317–420 AD) since the new capital was located southeast of older Luoyang.

It was during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period that southern China (below the Yangtze River) was greatly developed from its previous state of early Chinese colonization and settlement. Beforehand, the south was inhabited by small and isolated communities of Chinese in a vast uncolonized wilderness of non-Chinese tribes, starting as a near peripheral frontier and changing into a thriving, urbanized, sinicized region of China.

In the first half of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534 AD), the Xianbei steppe tribesmen who dominated northern China kept a policy of strict social distinction between them and their Chinese subjects. Chinese were drafted into the bureaucracy, employed as officials to collect taxes, etc. However, the Chinese were kept out of many higher positions of power. They also represented the minority of the populace where centers of power were located, such as the first Northern Wei capital at Pingcheng in modern-day northern Shanxi province.

Widespread social and cultural transformation in northern China came with Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (reigned 471–499 AD), whose father was a Xianbei, but whose mother was Chinese. Although of the Tuoba Clan from the Xianbei tribe, Emperor Xiaowen asserted his dual Xianbei-Chinese identity, renaming his own clan after the Chinese Yuan ("primal"). In the year 493 Emperor Xiaowen instituted a new sinification program that had the Xianbei elites conform to many Chinese standards. These social reforms included donning Chinese clothing (banning Xianbei clothing at court), learning the Chinese language (if under the age of thirty), applied one-character Chinese surnames to Xianbei families, and encouraged the clans of high-ranking Xianbei and Chinese families to intermarry. Emperor Xiaowen also moved the capital city from Pingcheng to one of China's old imperial sites, Luoyang, which had been the capital during the earlier Eastern Han and Western Jin dynasties. The new capital at Luoyang was revived and transformed, with roughly 150,000 Xianbei and other northern warriors moved from north to south to fill new ranks for the capital by the year 495. Within a couple decades, the population rose to about half a million residents, and was famed for being home to over a thousand Buddhist temples. Defectors from the south, such as Wang Su of the prestigious Langye Wang family, were largely accommodated and felt at home with the establishment of their own Wu quarter in Luoyang (this quarter of the city home to over three thousand families). They were even served tea (by this time gaining popularity in southern China) at court instead of yogurt drinks commonly found in the north.

The Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD)

This period followed the Southern and Northern Dynasties and preceded the Tang Dynasty in China. It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. The Sui Dynasty, founded by Emperor Wen, or Yang Jian, held its capital at Chang'an.

Marked by the reunification of Southern and Northern China and the construction of the Grand Canal, it was a relatively short Chinese dynasty. It saw various reforms by Emperors Wen and Yang: the land equalization system, initiated to reduce the rich-poor social gap, resulted in enhanced agricultural productivity; governmental power was centralized and the Three Departments and Six Ministries system officially instituted; coinage was standardized and re-unified; defense was improved, and the Great Wall was expanded. Buddhism was also spread and encouraged throughout the empire, uniting the varied people and cultures of China.

This dynasty has often been compared to the earlier Qin Dynasty in tenure and the ruthlessness of its accomplishments. The Sui dynasty's early demise was attributed to the government's tyrannical demands on the people, who bore the crushing burden of taxes and compulsory labor. These resources were overstrained in the completion of the Grand Canal--a monumental engineering feat, and in the undertaking of other construction projects, including the reconstruction of the Great Wall. Weakened by costly and disastrous military campaigns against Goguryeo which ended with defeat of Sui in the early seventh century, the dynasty disintegrated through a combination of popular revolts, disloyalty, and assassination.

When the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty in 577 AD, this was the culminating moment and ultimate advantage for the northern Chinese to face south. The southern dynasties had lost hope in conquering the north, and the situation of conquest from north-to-south was only delayed in 523 with civil war.

The Sui Dynasty began when Wendi's daughter became the Empress Dowager of Northern Zhou, with her stepson as the new emperor. After crushing an army mutiny in the eastern provinces as the prime minister of Zhou, Wendi took the throne by force and claimed himself to be emperor. In a bloody purge, Wendi had fifty-nine princes of the Zhou royal family eliminated, yet nonetheless was known as the 'Cultured Emperor' (581 - 604 AD). He abolished the anti-Han policies of Zhou and reclaimed his Han surname of Yang. Having won the support of the Confucian scholars that had powered previous Han dynasties (abandoning the nepotism and corruption of the Nine-rank system), Wendi initiated a series of reforms aimed at strengthening his empire for the war that would reunify China.

In his campaign for southern conquest, Wendi assembled thousands of boats to confront the naval forces of the Chen Dynasty on the Yangtze River. The largest of these ships were very tall, having five layered decks, the capacity of holding 800 passengers, and were outfitted with six 50-foot-long booms that were used to swing and damage enemy ships, or to pin them down so that Sui marine troops could use grapple-and-board techniques. Besides employing Xianbei and Chinese ethnicities for the fight against Chen, Wendi also employed the service of aborigines from southeastern Sichuan, peoples that Sui had recently conquered.

Buddhism was popular during the Six Dynasties period that preceded the Sui dynasty, spreading from India through Kushan Afghanistan into China during the Late Han period. Buddhism gained prominence during the period, when central political control was limited. Buddhism created a unifying cultural force that uplifted the people out of war and into the Sui Dynasty. In many ways, Buddhism was responsible for the rebirth of culture in China under the Sui Dynasty.

Arguably, the biggest factor that led to the downfall of Sui Dynasty was the series of massive expeditions into the Korean Peninsula to invade Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The war that conscripted the most soldiers was caused by Sui Yangdi. The army was so enormous it was actually recorded in historical texts that it took 30 days for all the armies to exit their last rallying point near Shanhaiguan before invading Korea; in one instance, the soldiers--both conscripted and paid-- listed over 3000 warships, 1.15 million infantry, 50,000 cavalry, 5000 artillery, and more. There were just as many supporting laborers, and an exorbitant military budget that included mounds of equipment and rations (most of which never reached the Chinese vanguard, as they were captured by Goguryeo armies already). The army stretched to "1000 lis (a Chinese unit of length, in modern translation one half-kilometer, though its precision in antiquity may be questioned), or about 410 kilometers, across rivers and valleys, over mountains and hills."

In all 4 main campaigns, the military conquest ended in failure. Nearly all the Chinese soldiers were defeated by the prominent army leader Eulji Mundeok of Goguryeo. For example, of the 305,000 Chinese troops, only 2,700 returned to China, according to the Book of Tang records, soldiers in summer conquests would return several years later, barely living through the cold and famishing winter. Many died of frostbite and hunger. Eventually the resentment for the emperor increased and the wars, coupled with revolts and assassinations, led to the fall of the Sui Dynasty.


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The Tang Dynasty (June 18, 618–June 4, 907)

This was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted briefly by the Second Zhou Dynasty (October 16, 690–March 3, 705) when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, becoming the first and only Chinese empress regnant, ruling in her own right.

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization—equal to or surpassing that of the earlier Han Dynasty—as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han period, and rivaled that of the later Yuan Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The enormous Grand Canal of China, built during the previous Sui Dynasty, facilitated the rise of new urban settlements along its route as well as increased trade between mainland Chinese markets. The canal is to this day the longest in the world. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records stated that the population (by number of registered households) was about 50 million people. However, even when the central government was breaking down and unable to exact an accurate census of the population in the 9th century, it is estimated that the population in that century had grown to the size of about 80 million people. With its large population base, the Tang was able to raise professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with powers such as Tibet in dominating Inner Asia and the lucrative trade routes along the Silk Road. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang also conquered or subdued several regions which it indirectly controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighboring states such as those in Korea and Japan.

In Chinese history, the Tang Dynasty was largely a period of progress and stability, except during the An Shi Rebellion and the decline of central authority in the latter half of the dynasty. Like the previous Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty maintained a civil service system by drafting officials through standardized examinations and recommendations to office. This civil order was undermined by the rise of regional military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century. Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era; it is considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry. Two of China's most famous historical poets, Du Fu and Li Bai, belonged to this age, as well as the poets Meng Haoran, Du Mu, and Bai Juyi. Many famous visual artists lived during this era, such as the renowned painters Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, and Zhou Fang. There was a rich variety of historical literature compiled by scholars, as well as encyclopedias and books on geography. There were many notable innovations during the Tang, including the development of woodblock printing, the escapement mechanism in horology, the government compilations of materia medicas, improvements in cartography and the application of hydraulics to power air conditioning fans. The religious and philosophical ideology of Buddhism became a major aspect of Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects becoming the most prominent. However, Buddhism would eventually be persecuted by the state and would decline in influence. Although the dynasty and central government were in decline by the 9th century, art and culture continued to flourish. The weakened central government largely withdrew from managing the economy, but the country's mercantile affairs stayed intact and commercial trade continued to thrive regardless.

The Li family belonged to the northwest military aristocracy prevalent during the reign of the Sui emperors. The mothers of both Emperor Yang of Sui (604–617) and the founding emperor of Tang were sisters, making these two emperors of different dynasties first cousins. Li Yuan (later to become Emperor Gaozu of Tang, 618–626) was the Duke of Tang and former governor of Taiyuan when other government officials were fighting off bandit leaders in the collapse of the Sui Empire, caused in part by a failed Korean campaign. With prestige and military experience, he later rose in rebellion along with his son Li Shimin (later Emperor Taizong, 626–649) and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang (623) who raised her own troops and commanded them. In 617, Li Yuan occupied Chang'an and acted as regent over a puppet child emperor of the Sui, relegating Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang, or retired emperor. With the news of Emperor Yang's murder by his general Yuwen Huaji (619), on June 18, 618, Li Yuan declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang.

Li Yuan ruled until 626 before being forcefully deposed by his son Li Shimin, Prince of Qin. Li Shimin had commanded troops since the age of 18, had prowess with a bow, sword, lance, and was known for his effective cavalry charges. Fighting a numerically superior army, he defeated Dou Jiande (573–621) at Luoyang in the Battle of Hulao on May 28, 621. In a violent elimination of royal family due to fear of assassination, Li Shimin ambushed and killed two of his brothers, Li Yuanji (603) and Crown Prince Li Jiancheng (589) in the Incident at Xuanwu Gate on July 2, 626. Shortly after, his father abdicated in favor of him and he ascended the throne as Emperor Taizong. Although killing two brothers and deposing his father contradicted the Confucian value of filial piety, Taizong showed to be a capable leader who listened to the advice of the wisest members of his council. In 628, Emperor Taizong held a Buddhist memorial service for the casualties of war, and in 629 had Buddhist monasteries erected at the sites of major battles so that monks could pray for the fallen on both sides of the fight. This was during the campaign against Eastern Tujue, a Göktürk khanate that was destroyed after the capture of Jiali Khan Ashini Duobi by the famed Tang military officer Li Jing (571–649), who later became a Chancellor of the Tang Dynasty. With this victory, the Turks accepted Taizong as their Khagan, or Great Khan, in addition to his rule as the Son of Heaven.

The 7th century and first half of the 8th century is generally considered the zenith era of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Tang Xuanzong brought the Middle Kingdom to its golden age while the Silk Road thrived, with sway over Indochina in the south, and to the west Tang China was master of the Pamirs (modern-day Tajikistan) and protector of Kashmir bordering Persia. Some of the kingdoms paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty included Kashmir, Nepal, Khotan, Kucha, Kashgar, Japan, Korea, southern Vietnam, and kingdoms located in Amu Darya and Syr Darya valley. Turkic nomads addressed the Emperor of Tang China as Tian Kehan. After the widespread Göktürk revolt of Shabolüe Khan (658) was put down at Issyk Kul in 657 by Su Dingfang (591–667), Emperor Gaozong established several protectorates governed by a Protectorate General or Grand Protectorate General, which extended the Chinese sphere of influence as far as Herat in Western Afghanistan. Protectorate Generals were given a great deal of autonomy to handle local crises without waiting for central admission. After Xuanzong's reign, military governors (jiedushi) were given enormous power, including the ability to maintain their own armies, collect taxes, and pass their titles on hereditarily. It was commonly recognized as the beginning of the fall of Tang's central government.

In terms of foreign policy to the east, the Chinese had more unsuccessful military campaigns as compared with elsewhere. Like the emperors of the Sui Dynasty before him, Taizong established a military campaign in 644 against the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo in the Goguryeo-Tang Wars. Since the ancient Han and Jin dynasties once had a commandery in ancient northern Korea, the Tang Chinese desired to conquer the region. Allying with the Korean Silla Kingdom, the Chinese fought against Baekje and their Yamato Japanese allies in the Battle of Baekgang in August of 663, a decisive Tang-Silla victory. The Tang Dynasty navy had several different ship types at its disposal to engage in naval warfare, these ships described by Li Quan in his Taipai Yinjing (Canon of the White and Gloomy Planet of War) of 759. The Battle of Baekgang was actually a restoration movement by remnant forces of Baekje, since their kingdom was toppled in 660 by a joint Tang-Silla invasion, led by notable Korean general Kim Yushin (595–673) and Chinese general Su Dingfang. In another joint invasion with Silla, the Tang army severely weakened the Goguryeo Kingdom in the north by taking out its outer forts in the year 645. With joint attacks by Silla and Tang armies under commander Li Shiji (594–669), the Kingdom of Goguryeo was destroyed by 668. Although they were formerly enemies, the Tang accepted officials and generals of Goguryeo into their administration and military, such as the brothers Yeon Namsaeng (634–679) and Yeon Namsan (639–701). From 668 to 676, the Tang Empire would control northern Korea. However, in 671 Silla began fighting the Tang forces there. At the same time the Tang faced threats on its western border when a large Chinese army was defeated by the Tibetans on the Dafei River in 670. By 676, the Tang army was driven out of Korea by Unified Silla. Following a revolt of the Eastern Turks in 679, the Tang abandoned its Korean campaigns.

Although the Tang had fought the Japanese, they still held cordial relations with Japan. There were numerous Imperial embassies to China from Japan, diplomatic missions that were not halted until 894 by Emperor Uda (r. 887–897), upon persuasion by Sugawara no Michizane (845–903). The Japanese Emperor Temmu (r. 672–686) even established his conscripted army on that of the Chinese model, his state ceremonies on the Chinese model, and constructed his palace at Fujiwara on the Chinese model of architecture. Many Chinese Buddhist monks came to Japan to help further the spread of Buddhism as well. Two 7th century monks in particular, Zhi Yu and Zhi You, visited the court of Emperor Tenji (r. 661–672), whereupon they presented a gift of a South Pointing Chariot that they had crafted. This 3rd century mechanically-driven directional-compass vehicle (employing a differential gear) was again reproduced in several models for Tenji in 666, as recorded in the Nihon Shoki of 720. Japanese monks also visited China; such was the case with Ennin (794–864), who wrote of his travel experiences including travels along China's Grand Canal. The Japanese monk Enchin (814–891) stayed in China from 839 to 847 and again from 853 to 858, landing near Fuzhou, Fujian and setting sail for Japan from Taizhou, Zhejiang during his second trip to China.

The Tang Empire was at its height of power up until the middle of the 8th century, when the An Shi Rebellion (December 16, 755–February 17, 763) destroyed the prosperity of the empire.

In 858, enormous floods along the Grand Canal inundated vast tracts of land and terrain of the North China Plain, which drowned tens of thousands of people in the process. The Chinese belief in the Mandate of Heaven granted to the ailing Tang was also challenged when natural calamities occurred, forcing many to believe the Heavens were displeased and that the Tang had lost their right to rule. Then in 873 a disastrous harvest shook the foundations of the empire, in some areas only half of all agricultural produce being gathered, and tens of thousands faced famine and starvation. In the earlier period of the Tang, the central government was able to meet crisis in the harvest, as it was recorded from 714–719 that the Tang government took assertive action in responding to natural disasters by extending the price-regulation granary system throughout the country. The central government was able then to build a large surplus stock of foods to meet danger of rising famine and increased agricultural productivity through effective land reclamation, yet the Tang government in the 9th century was nearly helpless in dealing with any calamity.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960)

This was an era of political upheaval in China, beginning in the Tang Dynasty and ending in the Song Dynasty. During this period, five dynasties quickly succeeded one another in the north, and more than 12 independent states were established, mainly in the south. However, only ten are traditionally listed, hence the era's name, "Ten Kingdoms." Some historians, such as Bo Yang, count 11, including Yan and Qi, but not Northern Han, viewing it as simply a continuation of Later Han.

Towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial government granted increased powers to the jiedushi, the regional military governors. The Huang Chao Rebellion weakened the imperial government's authority, and by the early 10th century the jiedushi, who commanded de facto independence, were not subject to the authority of the imperial government. Thus, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms ensued.

The Five Dynasties:

* Later Liang Dynasty (June 5, 907-923)
* Later Tang Dynasty (923-936)
* Later Jin Dynasty (936-947)
* Later Han Dynasty (947-951)
* Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960)

The Ten Kingdoms:

* Wu (902-937)
* Wuyue (907-978)
* Min (909-945)
* Southern Han (917-971)
* Chu (927-951)
* Jingnan (924-963)
* The Kingdom of Shu (907-925)
* The Later Kingdom of Shu (935-965)
* Southern Tang (937-975)
* Northern Han (951 – 979)

Unlike the dynasties of northern China, which succeeded one other in rapid succession, the regimes of southern China were generally concurrent, each controlling a specific geographical area. These were known as "The Ten Kingdoms".

Wu (902-937)

The Kingdom of Wu was established in modern-day Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi provinces. It was founded by Yang Xingmi, who became a Tang Dynasty military governor in 892. The capital was initially at Guangling (present-day Yangzhou) and later moved to Jinling (present-day Nanjing). The kingdom fell in 937 when it was taken from within by the founder of the Southern Tang.

Wuyue (907-978)

The Kingdom of Wuyue was the longest-lived and among the most powerful of the southern states. Wuyue was known for its learning and culture. It was founded by Qian Liu, who set up his capital at Xifu (modern-day Hangzhou). It was based mostly in modern Zhejiang province but also held parts of southern Jiangsu. Qian Liu was named the Prince of Yue by the Tang emperor in 902; the Prince of Wu was added in 904. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty in 907, he declared himself king of Wuyue. Wuyue survived until the eighteenth year of the Song Dynasty, when Qian Shu surrendered to the expanding dynasty.

Min (909-945)

The Kingdom of Min was founded by Wang Shenzhi, who named himself the Prince of Min in 909 after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. It was not until his son formally declared himself the Emperor of Min in 933 that Shenzhi was posthumously named as the founding emperor. It was located in Fujian with its capital at Changle (present-day Fuzhou). One of Shenzhi’s sons proclaimed the independent state of Yin in the northeast of Min territory. The Southern Tang took that territory after the Min asked for help. Despite declaring loyalty to the neighboring Wuyue, the Southern Tang finished its conquest of Min in 945.

Southern Han (917-971)

The Southern Han was founded in Guangzhou (also known as Canton) by Liu Yan. His father, Liu Yin, was named regional governor by the Tang court. The kingdom included Guangdong and most of Guangxi & greatly expanded her capital city Hing Wong Fu, namely present-day Guangzhou. Not only did it have interaction with other Chinese kingdoms, but due to its location, it also had relations with the relatively advanced Viet people to the south.

Chu (927-951)

The Chu was founded by Ma Yin with the capital at Changsha. The kingdom held Hunan and northeastern Guangxi. Ma was named regional military governor by the Tang court in 896, and named himself the Prince of Chu with the fall of the Tang Dynasty in 907. This status as the Prince of Chu was confirmed by the Later Tang Dynasty in 927. The Southern Tang absorbed the state in 951 and moved the royal family to its capital in Nanjing, although Southern Tang rule of the region was temporary, as the next year former Chu military officers under the leadership of Liu Yan seized the territory. In the waning years of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the region was ruled by Zhou Xingfeng.

Jingnan (924-963)

The smallest of the southern states, Jingnan, was founded by Gao Jichang. It was based in Jiangling and held two other districts southwest of present-day Wuhan in Hubei. Gao was in the service of the Later Liang Dynasty (the successor of the Tang Dynasty in northern China). Gao’s successors claimed the title of King of Nanping after the fall of the Later Liang in 924. It was a small and weak kingdom, and thus tried to maintain good relations with each of the Five Dynasties. The kingdom fell to advancing armies of the Song Dynasty in 963.

The Kingdom of Shu (907-925)

Founded after the fall of the Tang Dynasty by Wang Jian, who held his court in Chengdu. The kingdom held most of present-day Sichuan, western Hubei, and parts of southern Gansu and Shaanxi. Wang was named military governor of western Sichuan by the Tang court in 891. The kingdom fell when his incompetent son surrendered in the face of an advance by the Later Tang Dynasty in 925.

The Later Kingdom of Shu (935-965)

This period was essentially a resurrection of the previous Shu state that had fallen a decade earlier to the Later Tang Dynasty. Because the Later Tang was in decline, Meng Zhixiang found the opportunity to reassert Shu’s independence. Like the Former Shu, the capital was at Chengdu and it basically controlled the same territory as its predecessor. The kingdom was ruled well until forced to succumb to Northern Song armies in 965.

The Southern Tang (937-975)

This period was the successor state of Wu as Li Bian (Emperor Liezu) took the state over from within in 937. Expanding from the original domains of Wu, it eventually took over Yin, Min, and Chu, holding present-day southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, much of Jiangxi, Hunan, and eastern Hubei at its height. The kingdom became nominally subordinate to the expanding Song Dynasty in 961 and was invaded outright in 975, when it was formally absorbed into the Song Dynasty.

Northern Han (951 – 979)

Founded by Liu Min, formerlly known as Liu Chong, The Shatuo Turks had ruled most of northern China since 923 through the Later Tang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty, and the Later Han Dynasty. The short-lived Later Han Dynasty fell in 950. Liu Min founded the Northern Han Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Han, in 951 claiming that he was the legitimate heir to the imperial throne of the Later Han Dynasty. Liu Min immediately restored the traditional relationship the Shatuo Turks had with the Khitans, who had founded the Liao Dynasty.


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The Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE)

This period succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese polity to establish a permanent standing navy.

The population of China doubled in size during the 10th and 11th centuries. This growth came through expanded rice cultivation in central and southern China, the use of early-ripening rice from southeast and southern Asia, and the production of abundant food surpluses. Within its borders, the Northern Song Dynasty had a population of some 100 million people. This dramatic increase of population fomented and fueled an economic revolution in premodern China. The expansion of the population was partially the cause for the gradual withdrawal of the central government from heavily regulating the market economy. A much larger populace also increased the importance of the lower gentry's role in grassroots administration and maintaining local affairs, while the appointed officials in county and provincial centers relied upon these scholarly gentry for their services, sponsorship, and local supervision.

The Liao Dynasty (907-1125)

Also known as the Khitan Empire, in northern China which ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper. It was founded by the Yelu clan of the Khitan people in the same year as Tang Dynasty collapsed (907), even though its first ruler, Yelü Abaoji, did not declare an era name until 916.

Although it was originally known as the Empire of the Khitan, the Emperor Yelü Ruan officially adopted the name "Liao" (formally "Great Liao") in 947. The name "Liao" was dropped in 983, but readopted in 1066. Another name for China in English, Cathay, is derived from the name Khitan. This is also the origin for the name for China in Russian, and several other East European languages.

The Liao Empire was destroyed by the Jurchen of the Jin Dynasty in 1125. However, remnants of its people led by Yelü Dashi established Xi (Western) Liao Dynasty 1125-1220, also known as Kara-Khitan Khanate, which survived until the arrival of Genghis Khan's unified Mongolian army.

The Western Xia Dynasty (1038 - 1227)

Also known as the Tangut Empire was a state that existed in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi, and Ningxia. It was established in the 11th century by Tangut tribes. Occupying the area along the trade route between Central Asia and the West, the Tangut were neighbors to Northern China, which was ruled by Song Dynasty and later the Jin Dynasty.

The Tanguts called their own state "The Great State of the White and the Lofty". Since it was located in the west, the Chinese name is Xi-Xia, literally "Western Xia", and thus that name is often used in Sinological literature. The English name "Tangut" comes from the Mongolian name for the country, Tanggud or Tangghud, a cognate of the Chinese name Dangxiang, which in Chinese refers to the ethnic group identified with the political entity of the Western Xia.

Jin Dynasty (1115–1234)

Also known as the Jurchen Dynasty, was founded by the Wanyan Clan of the Jurchen, the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later. The name is sometimes written as Jinn to differentiate it from an earlier Jìn Dynasty of China whose name is spelled identically in the Roman alphabet.

The Jin Dynasty was founded in what would become northern Manchuria by the Jurchen tribal chieftan Wányán Āguda in 1115. In 1125, it successfully annihilated the Liao Dynasty which had held sway over northern China, including Manchuria and part of the Mongol region for several centuries.

The Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368)

(Mongolian: Dai Ön Ulus "Дай Юан Улс") was a dynasty founded by the Mongols that ruled China, Mongolia and some adjacent territories. In Chinese history, the Yuan Dynasty followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty. The dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, although Kublai Khan had his grandfather Genghis Khan placed on the official record as the founder of the dynasty. Kublai Khan had also claimed the title of Khagan or Great Khan, i.e. supremacy over the other Mongol khanates (Chagatai Khanate, Golden Horde, Ilkhanate), however this claim was only really recognized by the Il-Khanids.

In 1259 the Great Khan Möngke died while Kublai Khan, his brother, was campaigning against the Song empire and Ariq Boke, his other brother commanded the Mongol homelands. After Möngke's demise, Ariq Boke decided to attempt to make himself Khan. Hearing of this, Kublai aborted his Chinese expedition and had himself elected as Khan in April of 1260. Still, Ariq Boke had his supporters and was elected as a rival khan to Kublai at Karakorum, then the capital of Mongol Empire. The brothers then engaged in a series of battles, ending with Ariq Boke's capture in 1264. Kublai held him prisoner until he died two years later. The khans of the Golden Horde and of the Chagatai Khanate did not recognize Kublai Khan as the Great Khan. The conflict between Kublai Khan and the khanates in Central Asia led by Kaidu (Qaidu) had lasted for a few decades, until the beginning of the 14th century, when both of them had died. Hülegü, another brother of Kublai khan, ruled his Ilkhanate and paid homage to the Great Khan but actually established a separate khanate, and after Ilkhan Ghazan's enthronement in 1295, Kublai's successor Emperor Chengzong sent him a seal in Chinese script, which formally gave him the authority to establish a country and govern its people. The four major successor khanates never came again under one rule.

The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644)

This was the ruling dynasty of China following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Hans (the main Chinese ethnic group), before falling to the rebellion led in part by Li Zicheng and soon after replaced by the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. Although the Ming capital Beijing fell in 1644, remnants of the Ming throne and power (collectively called the Southern Ming) survived until 1662.

Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of 1,000,000 troops. Although private maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He in the 15th century surpassed all others in sheer size. There were enormous projects of construction, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century. Estimates for the population in the late Ming era vary from 160 to 200 million. The University of Calgary states that "the Ming created one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history."

The Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912)

Also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China.

This dynasty was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro in what is today northeast China (Manchuria). Starting in 1644 it expanded into China proper and its surrounding territories, establishing the Empire of the Great Qing. The Qing Dynasty was the last Imperial dynasty of China.

Originally declared as the Later Jin Dynasty in 1616, (Amaga Aisin Gurun) it changed its name to "Qing", meaning "clear" or "pellucid", in 1636 and captured Beijing in 1644. By 1646 it had come into power over most of present-day China, although complete pacification of China would not be accomplished until 1683.

During its reign, the Qing Dynasty became highly integrated with Chinese culture. However, its military power weakened during the 1800s, and faced with international pressure, massive rebellions and defeats in wars, the Qing Dynasty declined after the mid-19th century. The Qing Dynasty was overthrown following the Xinhai Revolution, when the Empress Dowager Longyu abdicated on behalf of the last emperor, Puyi, on February 12, 1912.


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