The famous Mayan pyramids of Chichén-Itzá are over 1500 years old and are located only 75 miles from Mérida. The name Chichén-Itzá is a Mayan word: CHI (mouth) CHEN (well) and ITZA (of the Itza tribe). Some believe people were occasionally thrown into the nearby cenote as sacrifices, and those who survived were believed to be seers.

The site is divided into three sections. The North grouping of structures is distinctly Toltec in style. The central group appears to be from the early period. The southern group is known as “The Old Chichén.” All three can be seen comfortably in one day.

As the most famous of the Mayan pyramids on the Yucatán peninsula, Chichén Itzá has been studied extensively and is the most popular Mayan ruin in México. Much has been written about it. Try to visit Chichén Itzá early in the morning or late in the afternoon, as the sun can be punishing at midday. Read the rest of this entry »

In the epoch of Early Iron (1-st millenium B.C.- the middle of the 1-st millenium A.D.) wide Eurasian steppes from Mongolia in the East to Pannonia in the West were inhabited mainly by nomadic Iran-spoken tribes, which had common name - Early(ancient) nomads.

Written sources of ancient authors, mainly Greek and Roman, mention many tribes, which inhabited the steppes of Eurasia in the epoch of Early Iron. Kimmeris, scythians and meots in the North beach of the Black Sea, massagets, sakas and usuns in the steppes of Kazakhstan and Middle Asia were the most famous and numerous among them. the tribes of savromats and their descendants sarmats, which led a normad’s life in the steppes of the South Urals and Low Volga area, were one of great unions of nomads in that period, which were mentioned by ancient authors. Read the rest of this entry »

Alexander the Great
356-323 B.C.

Far away in Macedon Philip 11 (382-336 B.C.) becomes king. He gathers together a large force of infantry and the phalanx to support his cavalry and looks eastward, fired by ambition, to free Asia Minor of the Persian king.

He marries Olympias, the wild, witch-like daughter of the king of Epirus. According to Plutarch in his Life of Alexander (2.3-4) when newly wed, Philip comes upon his wife asleep with a serpent by her side. He is filled with revulsion and fears her as an enchantress.

Alexander, born of their union, is a fair-skinned handsome youth, quick to anger. He studies under Aristotle, the most celebrated philosopher of his time and has Leonidas as a tutor, a man of stern temperament. Alexander thus becomes a great lover of all kinds of knowledge and always puts Homer’s Iliad with his dagger under his pillow when he sleeps. Read the rest of this entry »

Herodotus

Everyone, at some time or another, has read about the Greek and Persian wars fought during the sixth to fourth centuries B.C. What he perhaps does not know is that the Phoenicians played an important role in this great historical drama.

The reason is simple.

Persia is not a sea power and is land locked in Asia Minor and on the East Mediterranean coast with a formidable array of soldiers from many nations.

The Phoenicians, on the other hand, have the fleets, the navigators, the seamen and the “know-how”. Guided by the stars they sail at night over dark, dangerous, uncharted waters, guided only by the stars. An arrangement is therefore reached with the kings of the Phoenician cities to furnish a fleet to the Persians provided they are not bothered by them at home. Read the rest of this entry »

3000 B.C. to 634 A.D., Invasions, Sieges and Plunders

The Phoenicians of the Iron Age (first millennium B.C.) descended from the original Canaanites who dwelt in the region during the earlier Bronze Age (3000-1200 H.C.), despite classical tradition to the contrary.

There is archaeological evidence for a continuous cultural tradition from the Bronze to the Iron Age (1200 -333 s.c.) at the cities of Tyre and Z araphath. In the Amarna age (fourteenth century B.C.) many letters to Egypt emanated from King Rib-Addi of Byblos, King Abi-Milki of Tyre, and King Zimrida of Sidon, and in other New Kingdom Egyptian texts there are references to the cities of Beirut Sidon, Zaraphath, Ushu, Tyre, and Byblos. Read the rest of this entry »

“The Just man shall flourish, like the Cedar of Lebanon shall he grow; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God” (Ps 92:12). The Phoenician galley was built from precious Cedar wood. The rower’s are God’s people rowing towards the Third Millennium.

God created us, as He planted the Cedars of Lebanon, (Ps 104:16), to grow and flourish in His love, So that from a tiny seed, we might reach our full potential. Our Blessed Mother Mary nurtures us, just as she did her own Son, and guides us towards God’s plan for us.

Between the period of 1200 B.C. and 900 B.C. there was no major military power in Mesopotamia. Therefor smaller states like Phoenicia and the Hebrew kingdom were able to prosper. These kingdoms especially the Phoenicians started to trade throughout the Mediterranean region. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian, known as Boru from his birthplace by the river Shannon, is the son of a small local ruler. His family gain power through their successful attacks on the Vikings. In 964 Brian’s elder brother asserts his dominance over the local Irish potentates, the royal dynasty of Munster.

Taking their famous stronghold, the rock of Cashel, he becomes accepted as king of Munster and as leader of resistance to the Vikings in southern Ireland. Brian succeeds him in both roles in 976.

Brian Boru successfully drives the Vikings from the Shannon. In 1002 he is accepted as high king of all Ireland. His final confrontation with the Norsemen follows a plot set in motion in 1013.

In 1013 the Norse king of Dublin spends Christmas in the Orkneys with another Viking ruler - the local earl. They hatch a scheme. The earl of the Orkneys will bring a fleet and army to Dublin, before Easter, to assist the Norse king in overwhelming the king of all Ireland, Brian Boru. Read the rest of this entry »

There is insufficient evidence to determine what Norsemen ate and how their food was prepared. While the raw materials and the cooking utensils are found in archaeological studies, the ways in which foodstuffs were combined, prepared, and presented are largely unknown. In addition, diet probably varied quite a bit across the Norse lands, depending on climate and available resources.

The best available guess is that Norse people primarily ate agricultural products raised on their own farms: meat from cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, goats, and poultry; cereals, such as barley, rye, oats, and (rarely) wheat; dairy produce, such as milk from cows, sheep, or goats, as well as cheese and butter; vegetables, such as peas, beans, cabbage, onions, and an assortment of herbs; and wild fruits, such as apples, pears, cherries, and berries. Sugar was unknown; the only available sweetener was wild honey. Read the rest of this entry »

Wool and linen

Like most people in Europe at the time, the Vikings used wool more than anything else for making clothes. The Vikings brought sheep with them to the islands they settled in the North Atlantic for wool and meat.

“The Faeroe Islands” even means “the Sheep islands”. Clothes were spun and woven by the women. They also dyed the cloth with mineral and vegetable dyes of red, green, brown, yellow or blue.

Linen was also used for clothes. Even today you can find Viking Age place names in Scandinavia like “Lin-åker” (lin= linen/flax, åker= field). Read the rest of this entry »

In the summer months, livestock was driven to pastures at higher elevations, called sel (shieling). During this time, from mid-June through mid-October, most of the livewstock were left to forage freely, while milk cows and ewes were kept close so they could be milked every day. The raw milk from the animals was collected and processed in a shed on site, where the farm family, or their hired hands, lived during the summer while they tended the livestock. Read the rest of this entry »