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The Persian Empire is any of a series of imperial dynasties centered in Persia (now Iran). The first of these was established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, with the Persian conquest of Media, Lydia and Babylonia. Persian dynastic history was interrupted by the Islamic conquest (651 AD) and later by the Mongol invasion. The main religion of ancient Persia was Zoroastrianism, but after the 7th century this was replaced by Islam. In the modern era, a series of Islamic dynasties ruled Persia independently of the universal caliphate. Since 1979 Persia (Iran) has been an Islamic republic. Credits: Wikipedia
The Hittites (/ˈhɪtaɪts/) were an Ancient Anatolian people
who established an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around
1600 BC. This empire reached its height during the mid-14th century BC under
Suppiluliuma I, when it encompassed an area that included most of Asia Minor as
well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. After c. 1180 BC,
the empire came to an end during the Bronze Age collapse, splintering into
several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived
until the 8th century BC.
The Hittite language was a distinct member of the Anatolian
branch of the Indo-European language family. They referred to their native land
as Hatti. The conventional name "Hittites" is due to their initial
identification with the Biblical Hittites in 19th century archaeology.
Despite the use of Hatti for their core territory, the
Hittites should be distinguished from the Hattians, an earlier people who
inhabited the same region (until the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC) and
spoke a language possibly in the Northwest Caucasian languages group known as
Hattic.
The Hittite military made successful use of chariots.
Although belonging to the Bronze Age, they were the forerunners of the Iron
Age, developing the manufacture of iron artifacts from as early as the 18th
century BC, when the "man of Burushanda"'s gift of an iron throne and
iron sceptre to the Kaneshite king Anitta was recorded in the Anitta text
inscription.
After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant
conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea
Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent
"Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as
the 8th century BC. The history of the Hittite civilization is known mostly
from cuneiform texts found in the area of their kingdom, and from diplomatic
and commercial correspondence found in various archives in Egypt and the Middle
East.
Europeans destroyed Avaria in AD 807, but Hungarians in Pressburg total
destroyed the paneuropeans in AD 907, and gave back the hunnic dominance
to the basin...
Warrior with captive, from a golden ewer of the Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós. There is no agreement as to whether he represents an Avar, a Bulgar or a Khazar warrior.
The Pannonian Avars /ˈævɑrz/ were a group of Eurasian nomads
of the early Middle Ages of uncertain origins, who
established the Avar Khaganate, which spanned the Pannonian Basin and
considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe from the late 6th to the early
9th century. They were ruled by a khagan, who led a tight-knit entourage of
professional warriors.
Although the name Avar first appeared in the mid-5th
century, the Pannonian Avars entered the historical scene in the mid-6th
century, having formed as a mixed band of warriors in the Pontic-Caspian
steppe who wished to escape the rule of the Göktürks who called them
"Pseudo-Avars" and Varchonites.
Avar linguistic affiliation is uncertain and may
be tentatively deduced from a variety of sources, betraying a variety of
languages spoken by ruling and subject clans. Proposals by scholars include
Oghur Turkic, Tungusic, Caucasian, Mongolic and
Iranian.However, over time, Proto-Slavic became the lingua franca of the
Avar Khaganate.
Kievan Rus: Old Russia, Rus History. The Varangians and Rus' princes, Rurik (Old Norse: Hrörekr). History Documentary: The Varangian and the Rus.
Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route (in red) and the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks (in purple). Other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries shown in orange.
Generally
speaking, the Norwegians expanded to the north and west to places such
as Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and Greenland; the Danes to England and
France, settling in the Danelaw (northern/eastern England) and Normandy;
and the Swedes to the east, founding the Kievan Rus, the original
Russia. However, among the Swedish runestones which mention expeditions
over seas, almost half tell of raids and travels to western Europe. And
in todays Sweden it has been found more Arabic coins from the Viking age
then the Arabs has found themself from this era plus there has been
found tonnes of viking treasures in todays Sweden which made the areas
in todays Sweden to among the most riches places on earth during the
viking age. So its easy due archeology to track the Varangian Rus til
todays Sweden. But also, according to the Icelandic sagas, many
Norwegian Vikings went to eastern Europe. The names of Scandinavian
kings are known only for the later part of the Viking Age. Only after
the end of the Viking Age did the separate kingdoms acquire distinct
identities 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.
According
to the Primary Chronicle, compiled in Kiev about 1100-1200 Ad, one
group of Varangians was Rus' people. Their name became that of the land
of Rus' this happened because one of Rus' princes, Rurik (Old Norse:
Hrörekr) had been recognized by several East Slavic and Finno-Ugric
peoples as their ruler, founding the Rurikid Dynasty, which later would
rule over Rus' and after its fall over Russia for many centuries. Rurik
first came to Staraya Ladoga in 862 and then moved his capital to
Novgorod in 864, while his relative Oleg (Old Norse: Helgi) conquered
Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', later inherited by
Rurik's son Igor (Old Norse: Ingvarr). Sviatoslav was the first
ruler of Rus' who is recorded in the Primary Chronicle with a name of
Slavic origin (as opposed to his predecessors, whose names are
ultimately derived from Old Norse). This name is however not recorded in
other medieval Slavic countries. Even in Rus', it was attested only
among the members of the house of Rurik, as were the names of
Sviatoslav's immediate successors: Vladimir, Yaroslav, Mstislav). Some
scholars speculate that the name of Sviatoslav, composed of the
Slavic roots for "holy" and "glory", was an artificial derivation
combining those of his predecessors Oleg and Rurik (they mean "holy" and "glorious" in Old Norse, respectively).
Engaging
in trade, piracy and mercenary activities, Varangians roamed the river
systems and portages of Gardariki, as Rus' lands were known in Norse
sagas. They controlled the Volga trade route (Route from the Varangians
to the Arabs), connecting Baltic to the Caspian Sea, and the Dnieper
trade route (Route from the Varangians to the Greeks) leading to the
Black Sea and Constantinople. Those were the critically important trade
links at that time, connecting Europe with wealthy and developed Arab
Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire;via those routes most of the silver
coinage came from the East to the West. Attracted by the riches of
Constantinople, Rus' Varangians initiated a number of Rus'-Byzantine
Wars, some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least
from the early 10th century many Varangians served as mercenaries in the
Byzantine Army, comprising the so-called Varangian Guard (the
personal bodyguards of Byzantine Emperors). Eventually most of them,
both in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from paganism
into Orthodox Christianity, culminating in the 988 Christianization of
Kievan Rus'. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age, the
influx of Norsemen to Rus' stopped, and Varangians were eventually
assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century.
