Tag: world history

Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra Written by Edith Hamilton, W.W. Norton Inc. 1986 now in the Library of Congress and reprinted by permission b. 69 BCd. Aug. 30, 30 BC, Alexandria "She captivated the two greatest Romans of her day, and because of the third she destroyed herself." Cleopatra Ptolemy was the d...

Sumerian Legend of Creation ENUMA ELISH TABLET I When skies above were not yet namedNor earth below pronounced by name,Apsu, the first one, their begetterAnd maker Tiamat, who bore them all,Had mixed their waters together,But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds;When yet no gods were ma...

Attila FLAGELLUM DEI (LATIN: SCOURGE OF GOD), king of the Huns from 434 to 453 (ruling jointly with his elder brother Bleda until 445). He was one of the greatest of the barbarian rulers who assailed the Roman Empire, invading the southern Balkan provinces and Greece and then Gaul and Italy. In lege...

An American Song Early in the Revolutionary War, the British attacked the Americans who were holed up in a fort along the Hudson River. The Americans fought bravely but were so outnumbered that they were forced to surrender. The British general demanded that the Americans lay down their arms and wal...

Ancient History Sourcebook:Suetonius: De Vita Caesarum--Domitianus, c. 110 C.E. I. DOMITIAN was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of November of the year when his father was Consul-elect and was about to enter on the office in the following month [October 24, 51 C.E.], in a street of the sixt...

Heinrich Schliemann Youth and early career Schliemann was the son of a poor pastor. A picture of Troy in flames in a history book his father had given him when he was seven years old remained in his memory throughout his life and sustained his fervent belief in the historical foundations of the Home...

FLOOD LEGENDS In the traditions of most ancient civilizations there can be found a legend concerning a flood of such enormous proportions that it is believed to have covered the whole Earth. Such was the destructive force of this flood that few land animals and plants survived it. For readers in Wes...

Persia Cyrus' conquests Author: Grote, George After inheriting the empire of the Medes, Cyrus first had to consolidate his power over Iranian tribes on the Iranian plateau before expanding to the west. Croesus, king of Lydia in Asia Minor (Anatolia), had enlarged his domains at the expense of the Me...

The Akkadians Portions of this work contributed by Robert A. Guisepi and F. Roy Williams, University of California Akkad from 2350 to 2000 BC There are several reasons for taking the year 2350 as a turning point in the history of Mesopotamia. For the first time, an empire arose on Mesopotamian soil....

The Agrarian Revolution and the Birth of Civilization: Part Two The Neolithic Transition The advent of agriculture marked a transformative era in human history, as societies began to reshape their environments dramatically. Humans transitioned into sedentary cultivators, clearing land, controlling p...

The Akkadians Contributed by Robert A. Guisepi and F. Roy Williams, University of California Akkad and the Arts Akkadian PeriodSargon of Akkad (reigned c. 2334–c. 2279 BC) unified the Sumerian city-states and created the first Mesopotamian empire, profoundly influencing the art, language, and politi...

LENIN (1870-1924). Few individuals in modern history had as profound an effect on their times or evoked as much heated debate as the Russian revolutionary Lenin. To his supporters, Lenin appeared as the individual who, through the sheer force of his will and dedication to the revolutionary struggle,...