One of the great crossroads of ancient civilizations is a broad peninsula that lies between the Black and Mediterranean seas. Called Asia Minor (Lesser Asia) by the Romans, the land is the Asian part of modern Turkey, across Thrace. It lies across the Aegean Sea to the east of Greece and is usually known by its Greek name Anatolia.

Asia Minor juts westward from Asia to within half a mile (800 meters) of Europe at the divided city of Istanbul, where two suspension bridges over the strait of Bosphorus link the two continents. Asia Minor is also bordered by the Sea of Marmara on the northwest. The area of the peninsula is about 292,000 square miles (756,000 square kilometers). Read the rest of this entry »

What was ancient Aztec art like? What influenced it? Art in the Aztec empire, like its culture and religion, came from a long history - a history of many different tribes. Techniques and themes in ancient Aztec art were influenced by hundreds, perhaps thousands of years of artistry in this part of the world.
Few of the local languages actually had a word for “art”. The Aztecs called special things like this toltecat. This word was from a group of people known as the Toltecs, whose city was destroyed in 1168. No doubt the massive statues of the gods in the abandoned city impressed the Aztecs. In fact, the ruling family of the Aztecs claimed to be descended from the Toltecs.

The common people were not generally allowed to even own works of art. If you were creating and selling art, you may be an exception, but some of the art would have to go to the upper classes. They were the ones that generally were the keepers of the precious objects in the empire. Read the rest of this entry »

Ancient Aztec religion was a complex interaction of gods, dates, directions and colours. It seems that most of the preoccupation in the religion had to do with fear of the nature, and a fear of the end of the world.

By the time the Mexica’s Empire (Mexica is the proper name for the Axtecs) was at its height, the political and religions systems were in close interaction. The actions of the ruling classes and common people can be best understood if we look way back to the Mexica understanding of the creation, or rather creations, of the world. Because the religion was a mixture from various peoples, there are variations. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s very interesting to wonder what life would have been like in a normal Aztec society family. There are many things we do know, although the record is frustratingly sparse. Record keepers were more interested in other aspects of society, and family life was considered the sphere of women.

Still, there are many things we do know. Like other aspects of Aztec culture, life in an Aztec society family was permeated by religious beliefs, right from the start. Each decision was ruled by the laws of religion, and often tied to the sacred days in the Aztec calendar.

The life of a new family began at marriage, typically in the early 20s for a man and mid-teens for the woman. Marriages were arranged by the relatives (though the children may have had input). The parents would have to talk to the religious leaders, and discuss the signs under which both of the children had been born. The wedding day, of course, was chosen for similar religious reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

The Celtic empire once ranged across Western Europe, and their armies eclipsed even those of Rome. Who were these mighty people, and what became of them?

The Celts (Kel’tz) were a diverse group of people whose empire once spanned the European continent. Archeological digs from Halstadt, Germany to the Orkney Isles of Scotland have uncovered evidence of Celtic settlements as far back as the late Bronze Age. But where did these brash, nomadic people come from, and what became of them?

Recent archeological digs in Eastern Europe and Asia Minor indicate the possibility that the Celts were not indigenous to Europe at all. The fact that the original Celtic stock were primarily a dark haired people with swarthy complexions only verifies this new theory. This theory is the migratory theory; when applied the Celtics sometime in the millennia of the Bronze Age entered Europe from somewhere in Asia Minor. It wasn’t long before they settled in the region of the Danube River basin and soon began raiding and conquering their neighbors. The Celtic conquest continued until their triballands covered most of Western Europe, from the Danube to Rome and westward as far as current-day Belgium. Read the rest of this entry »

It is convenient to divide Assyrian history into six periods:

1. Emergence: beginnings to 2400 B.C.
2. First Golden Age: 2400 B.C. to 612 B.C.
3. First Dark Age: 612 B.C. to 33 A.D.
4. Second Golden Age: 33 A.D. to 1300 A.D.
5. Second Dark Age: 1300 A.D. to 1918 A.D.
6. Diaspora: 1918 A.D. to the present:

Emergence: beginnings to 2400 B.C. Read the rest of this entry »

The once great city of Babylon, where the Jews were held captive for 70 years, became a symbol of power, materialism, and cruelty.

The city of Babylon was the capital of the ancient land of Babylonia in southern Mesopotamia. It was situated on the Euphrates River about 50 miles south of modern Baghdad, just north of what is now the modern Iraqi town of al-Hillah.

The tremendous wealth and power of this city, along with its monumental size and appearance, were certainly considered a Biblical myth, that is, until its foundations were unearthed and its riches substantiated during the 19th century. Archaeologists stood in awe as their discoveries revealed that certain stories in the Bible were an actual situation that had happened in time. Read the rest of this entry »

In the history of Babylon, Exile was second in importance to the Exodus in Jewish history. The pens of the prophets were silenced in Babylon for 70 years as Israel repented and waited for deliverance.
Deportations of Jews from Judah and Israel took place during several eras in ancient history. The Babylonian exile lasted from 586-538 BC. “Exile” means that they were forced to live outside of the Promised Land. Babylon had replaced Assyria as the reigning world power after defeating Egypt at the battle of Carchemish in 609 BC. They conquered Jerusalem in 586. (All dates are BC – Before Christ) This was the main exile of Israel when the Temple was flattened and Jerusalem was destroyed.

These deportations from the Promised Land actually began under the Assyrians as early as 733. These were deported to Ninevah. More deportations to Babylon occurred in 605, 597 and 582. Many of the Israelites had chosen to flee voluntarily and had settled in Syria, Egypt and Turkey. This was a very dark period in the history of Israel. There was no king and no temple. Read the rest of this entry »

After the Přemyslide line became extinct (1306), John of Luxemburg was elected king in 1310. The reign of his son, Charles IV (1346–78), who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355, was the golden age of Bohemia, and Prague became the seat of the empire. His Golden Bull (1356) permanently established the kings of Bohemia as electors.

In the reigns of his successors, emperors Wenceslaus and Sigismund, religious, political, and social tensions exploded in the movement, both religious and nationalist, of the Hussites against the Holy Roman Empire. The Hussite Wars led to the defeat (1434) of the radical Taborites at the hands of the moderate Utraquists, who were supported by the great nobles. Read the rest of this entry »

The national boundaries of Central and Eastern Europe have changed so many times over the centuries, that for some cities it is quite difficult to tell which nation a city belonged to for any particular period of time. This is especially true of the lands in the corridor between the Baltic and Adriatic seas. Parts of this region have been known as Galicia, Bohemia, Czechoslavakia, The Austrian Empire, Moravia, Prussia, and many other names.

The pink diamond in the northeast of this modern map of the Czech Republic is the location of Landskron, which is about 110 miles NNE of Vienna. Roughly the western 2/3 of the current Czech Republic was once known as Bohemia, and the Eastern 1/3 was known as Moravia. The village of Landskron was located in northeast Bohemia, near the border of Moravia. Read the rest of this entry »