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| You Are Here: Home > Essay Topics > History Topics for Essays & Research Papers > Ancient World History |
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|  Essay on A Period of Crisis in Ancient China (A.D. 221-420) |
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| A Period of Crisis in Ancient China (A.D. 221-420) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The years from A.D. 221 to 265 were known as the time of the Three Kingdoms. To the north, in what had been the power center of the Han, was the kingdom of Wei, ruled by the son of Ts'ao Ts'ao. South of the Yangtze was the Sun Dynasty's kingdom of Wu; and westward, in Szechuan, was a third kingdom, Shu. This period might be likened to the Civil War in America (1861-1865): both events were very painful times in China's history that would be remembered with a great deal of emotion on both sides. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a novel written more than a thousand years later, provides a fictionalized account that depicts this as a period of romantic heroism. In A.D. 265, the state of... |
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| Essay on The "Barbarians" of Central Asia |
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| The "Barbarians" of Central Asia Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The term "Central Asia" describes a loosely defined area which stretches from the Aral Sea in the west to the Gobi Desert in the east, and from the Tibetan Plateau in the south to Lake Baikal in the north. Today this region includes the nations of Kazakhstan and Mongolia, as well as southern Siberia (a part of Russia) and northwest China. In ancient times, it was the homeland of various peoples referred to by the Chinese as "barbarians." The word civilization has a very distinct meaning. To say that a group of people is uncivilized does not imply a value judgment, any more than it is a value judgment to say that a circle is not a square. The word "barbarian," on the other hand... |
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| Essay on The "Barbarians" of Central Asia » |
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| Essay on The Han and Hsin Dynasties (207 B.C.-A.D. 220) |
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| The Han and Hsin Dynasties (207 B.C.-A.D. 220) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The Han would rule China for more than 400 years, with an interruption of fourteen years. The first phase of Han rule, known to historians as the "Former Han," lasted from 207 B.C. to A.D. 9. In the latter year, a usurper named Wang Mang took the throne and established the shortlived Hsin Dynasty. Fourteen years later, in A.D. 23, the Han regained control, ushering in the period known as the Later Han, which lasted until A.D. 220. Beginning with the Han, the Chinese adopted a custom of naming their emperors posthumously. Thus during his lifetime, Liu Pang never used the name by which he would become known to Chinese historians: Kao-tzu. Kao-tzu (r. 207-195 B.C.) came from a... |
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| Essay on The Han and Hsin Dynasties (207 B.C.-A.D. 220) » |
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| Essay on Totalitarianism and the Ch'in State |
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| Totalitarianism and the Ch'in State Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Throughout history, kind and enlightened rulers such as Asoka of the Mauryan Empire have been rare. There have been plenty of cruel leaders, but the vast majority have been more like Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia or Darius I of Persia--that is, good in some ways and bad in others. Modern times are no exception, and in fact perhaps the greatest collection of truly heartless leaders came to power in the twentieth century. These included Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany (1889-1945), Josef Stalin of Soviet Russia (1879-1953), China's own Mao Zedong (1893-1976), and Pol Pot (1925-1998) of Cambodia. The first three together were responsible for the deaths of millions upon millions of people. Although Pol Pot... |
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| Essay on The Ch'in Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) |
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| The Ch'in Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. During the Warring States Period, a particularly strong kingdom under the leadership of the Ch'in, or Qin arose in the west, in what is now Szechuan Province. The Ch'in were hard, rugged monarchs, and they treated their people mercilessly. Under their leadership, a huge army of slave laborers dug a canal that joined the Ching and Lo rivers in 246 B.C., thus making possible extensive irrigation. As a result, the area became so lush that its farms outproduced all others. The Ch'in rulers were not merely harsh leaders. There was a system to their iron rule, making their state in some ways a forerunner of modern totalitarianism. A quartercentury after the end of the Chou Dynasty, the Ch'in had built... |
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| Essay on Chou Dynasty - The Age of Great Philosophers |
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| Chou Dynasty - The Age of Great Philosophers Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. In all of history, there have been a handful of individuals whose effect on human affairs was so great that it can truly be said the world would be a different place if they had not lived. Jesus Christ was one of those people, as was the Buddha. In fact, many of these central figures in history have been religious teachers or philosophers--not political leaders or conquerors--who, with few exceptions, led quiet lives. Such was Confucius (551-479 B.C.), a scholar who earned his living as a tutor to young princes. He lived at the same time as Buddha and died not long before another world-changing individual, the Greek philosopher Socrates. He was also a contemporary of Lao-tzu (c. 500s B.C.)... |
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| Essay on The Chou Dynasty (1027-246 B.C.) |
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| The Chou Dynasty (1027-246 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. According to legend, the last king of the Shang was a wicked ruler who by his cruelty lost the Mandate of Heaven; therefore, as some philosophers came to believe, the people were justified in rebelling against him. The rebellion came in 1027 B.C., led by a prince named Wu Wang ("powerful warrior"). Wu belonged to a group of people from the western part of China called the Chou or Zhou. The Chou gave their name to the next phase of Chinese history. The Chou Dynasty would last for a little more than 800 years, making it the longest-lasting dynasty in all of Chinese history. In fact, it would maintain power longer than any system in the history of the world, even longer than the Ottoman Empire... |
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| Essay on The Chou Dynasty (1027-246 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on A Look into the Chinese Mind |
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| A Look into the Chinese Mind Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. At one time or another, many an American child hears a story to the effect that, if one digs deep enough into the ground, one will come out on the other side of the world--in China, to be precise. Because it is on the other side of the world, the rumor goes, in China people walk upsidedown. Of course the Chinese walk rightside up like the rest of humanity, but there is a little truth in the myth: to Americans, China is such a different place that it might as well be upside down. Chinese names, in fact, are "backwards" to Westerners: the family name goes first, and the first name, or given name, second. In its written form, the Chinese language is read from right to left, instead of left to right... |
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| Essay on A Look into the Chinese Mind » |
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| Essay on The Achievements of Shang China |
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| The Achievements of Shang China Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Shang society may not have been a model of social justice, but its areas of achievement were many and ranged from agriculture to the written word. As one might expect in such a rigidly structured society, even farming was organized according to hierarchy, with the king controlling the best lands, where his overseers put prisoners of war to work. Crops grown on Shang farms included rice, soybeans, and millet, the latter a type of grain that they used in making everything from cereals to wines. It appears that Shang farmers employed crop rotation, an important agricultural advancement. Certain crops are particularly hard on soil, requiring a high amount of nutrients, and the land needs to be... |
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| Essay on The Achievements of Shang China » |
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| Essay on The Shang Dynasty (1766-1027 B.C.) |
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| The Shang Dynasty (1766-1027 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The Shang Dynasty ruled a large area in northern China, about 500 miles square, that included the region of the modern Chinese capital, Beijing, at its northern edge. The Shang capital was at Anyang, situated on a plain in the Yellow River Valley, where archaeologists uncovered a vast series of graves that provided a treasure trove of information about Shang society. Much earlier, in A.D. 281, robbers at another tomb accidentally discovered a series of records that also provided considerable details about the Shang. The king buried in the tomb had died in the 200s B.C., but his grave contained records of the much earlier Shang Dynasty written on strips of bamboo. Tied together with ribbons... |
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| Essay on The Shang Dynasty (1766-1027 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Prehistoric China (c. 7000-1766 B.C.) |
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| Prehistoric China (c. 7000-1766 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. People lived in the area of China as far back as half a million years ago. It appears that a Stone Age culture developed in parts of northeastern China, as well as in the southeast of China, in about 7000 B.C. The first culture known to archaeologists was the Yang-shao, which flourished in the western part of the country between about c. 3950 and about c. 1700 B.C. Though they were a Stone Age people, the Yang-shao grew wheat and other grains; made relatively advanced tools out of polished stone, as well as glazed pottery; and even domesticated animals such as pigs, cattle, and dogs. To the north was the Lung-shan culture, which developed between 2000 and 1850 B.C. The Lungshan appear... |
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| Essay on Prehistoric China (c. 7000-1766 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Ancient China |
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| Ancient China Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. China is only about 20,000 square miles (51,800 square kilometers) larger than the United States, a difference smaller than the area of San Bernardino County in southern California. It is enough of a difference, however, to make China the world's third-largest nation, in terms of area, surpassed only by Russia and Canada. China and eastern Russia make up the majority of Asia, the world's largest continent. Before the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the two nations shared a long border, but now they adjoin primarily in the Far East, where northern China meets Siberia. To the northeast is the Korean peninsula, the Sea of Japan, and Japan itself. Farther down the coast lies the island of Taiwan... |
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| Essay on Ancient China » |
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| Essay on Ancient Indian Mathematical Discoveries |
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| Ancient Indian Mathematical Discoveries Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Among the discoveries of Indian mathematicians of the Gupta Empire was the system of ten numerals. Other mathematical ideas that the Gupta mathematicians appeared to understand, though they did not necessarily discover them, included the decimal system, negative numbers, imaginary numbers, and algebra. Ten numerals: It is possible to develop a mathematical system based on just four numerals, or seven, or any other amount; but by far the most practical method is a system based on ten numerals, from 0 to 9. Virtually all types of mathematics in use today involve a "base-10" system of numerals. Decimal system: In a decimal number, each place after the decimal point can be thought... |
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| Essay on Ancient Indian Mathematical Discoveries » |
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| Essay on The Gupta Empire (A.D. c. 320- c. 540) |
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| The Gupta Empire (A.D. c. 320- c. 540) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. For many centuries, the Kushans and various other small principalities controlled the Gangetic Plain, but in about A.D. 320, a great ruler like Chandragupta arose to build a new empire based in Magadha. His name was also Chandra Gupta (r. A.D. 320-335), but the two parts of his name were separated, just like a modern person's: Chandra--sometimes shown as Candra--was his personal name, and Gupta the name of his family, a title which attached to the dynasty he founded. As for whether or not Chandra Gupta was actually descended from Chandragupta, historians are unclear on this point. What is clear is that Chandra Gupta built a great new empire that would usher in what is known as the "Golden Age"... |
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| Essay on The Gupta Empire (A.D. c. 320- c. 540) » |
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| Essay on Westerners' Lingering Fascination with India |
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| Westerners' Lingering Fascination with India Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. For as long as India has existed, Westerners have remained fascinated with it--both with the real India, and with the India they have imagined. When Alexander the Great arrived in 326 B.C., he and his troops expected to find all sorts of strange things: giant ants that could dig for gold, wool that grew on trees, and men with feet so big they could lie on their backs and use them to shade themselves from the sun. The great Italian traveler Marco Polo (1254-1324) became one of a few Westerners to glimpse the splendors of India during the Middle Ages. As the Western desire for learning grew in the period after A.D. 1500, more travelers came. The British were particularly fascinated... |
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| Essay on The Mauryan Empire (324-184 B.C.) |
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| The Mauryan Empire (324-184 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. In 324 B.C., a new king named Chandragupta Maurya (r. 324-301 B.C.) took the throne of Magadha and established a new dynasty. In his capital of Pataliputra, northwest of modern-day Calcutta on the Ganges River, he raised an army of 700,000 soldiers and 10,000 chariots, along with a force unique to the India: 9,000 elephants. Taking advantage of the power vacuum left by Alexander's departure, Chandragupta created an empire that would grow to include virtually all of the Indian subcontinent, except for the Dravidian stronghold in the south. Legend has it that Chandragupta had a brilliant advisor, a Brahman named Kautilya, who authored a book called the Arthashastra. The latter provided advice... |
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| Essay on The Mauryan Empire (324-184 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Classes, Castes, and Segregation in Ancient India |
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| Classes, Castes, and Segregation in Ancient India Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. All societies have classes, and Aryan society at the time of the Indo-Europeans' arrival in India was no exception. There were warriors and nobles, the top rung of the social ladder; then came the priests; and below them were the common people. In virtually every civilization on earth during ancient times and the Middle Ages, there were these same three groups: an upper class of royalty, nobility, knights, and aristocracy; a class of priests, scribes, scholars, and perhaps scientists just below them; and far below these two classes, the great mass of people, who did all the physical work. Sometimes there might be a fourth group, beneath the priests and scholars and above the... |
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| Essay on Classes, Castes, and Segregation in Ancient India » |
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| Essay on The Religions of Ancient India |
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| The Religions of Ancient India Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The literature of the Aryans is full of religious importance. In fact, religion was a central fact of the ancient Indians' lives. The faith that the Aryans brought with them to the Indian subcontinent is called Vedism to distinguish it from Hinduism, which developed from it in about 300 B.C. In fact, however, the two religions are closely linked. Likewise Buddhism developed out of Hinduism, and today the faiths stand side by side, much like Judaism and Christianity. Vedic gods included Agni, the god of fire; Soma, who ruled over the intoxicating drink of the same name; and Indra, a king of the gods. The Rig-Veda refers to three families of gods, with eleven deities in each family. Some of these gods... |
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| Essay on The Religions of Ancient India » |
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| Essay on The Literature of the Indo-Europeans |
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| The Literature of the Indo-Europeans Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Indo-European culture produced a vast body of literature, classified as the Vedas and the Epics. The word Veda means "sacred love." An epic is a long poem that recounts the adventures of heroic figures. So important were these two collections of works that they gave their names to two phases in the ancient history of India: the Vedic Age (c. 1500-c. 1000 B.C.) and the Epic Age (c. 1000-c. 500 B.C.) Like much ancient literature, these began as oral works and were only written down much later. Most important of the Vedas was the Rig-Veda. The word rig in Sanskrit means "hymn." The Rig-Veda is a collection of some 1,000 hymns or sacred songs divided into ten books. Together, they form... |
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| Essay on The Literature of the Indo-Europeans » |
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| Essay on The Caste System in Ancient India |
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| The Caste System in Ancient India Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. As everyone learns in school, when Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, he thought he had reached India, and therefore called the Native Americans "Indians." It was a name that stuck, and it has created confusion ever since; thus people often say "Asian Indian" when referring to the true Indians of India. In fact the Europeans who invaded North and South America in about A.D. 1500 dealt with the natives using methods similar to those of the Indo-Europeans who invaded India in about 1500 B.C. In both situations, a group with greater military strength subdued the natives, killing off many and treating the rest as second-class citizens. The Rig Vega describes battles between the... |
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| Essay on The Caste System in Ancient India » |
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| Essay on Indo-Europeans and Aryans |
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| Indo-Europeans and Aryans Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Lies usually involve at least a little truth; otherwise people would not believe them. So it was with the lies promoted by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)--leader of the Nazi Party and dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945--concerning the Aryans. It is true that there was a group called the Aryans, a term for the Indo-European tribes that invaded Iran and India in about 1500 B.C., and it is also true that they were historically linked with the peoples who later settled Europe. But the Aryans never moved to Europe. More important, they were never what Hitler said they were: a race of blond-haired, blue-eyed people that included the Germans and other western Europeans. The Aryans, Hitler taught, were racially... |
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| Essay on Indo-Europeans and Aryans » |
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| Essay on The Indo-Europeans (c. 1500-c. 500 B.C.) |
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| The Indo-Europeans (c. 1500-c. 500 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. In modern times, it may not seem as though the peoples of India or Iran have much in common with the peoples of Europe or with the descendants of European peoples who live in the Americas. But in fact these groups are all related by race and language. Thus Asian Indians, though their coloring tends to be much darker than that of most Europeans, have facial features similar to those of their Western cousins. More important, the languages of the Indian subcontinent, Europe, Iran, and surrounding areas are all part of the same Indo-European "family of languages." Within this family, certain languages are more closely related than others--much as brothers and sisters are closer... |
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| Essay on The Indo-Europeans (c. 1500-c. 500 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on The Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization |
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| The Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Historians know little about the religion of the Indus Valley, though it appears that the Harappans used fire in their religious rituals (religious ceremonies)--an idea that would later be absorbed into Zoroastrianism. Even less is known about the political organization of the area, but it is safe to guess that the Harappans lived under a powerful government, just as the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom did. The Egyptian pyramids and the great cities of the Indus Valley both seem to suggest a highly organized society, something that does not simply happen by itself. Without a strong ruler or a belief system to unite them (a religion, for instance, or in America... |
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| Essay on The Decline of the Indus Valley Civilization » |
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| Essay on The Establishment of Great Cities in Indus Valley |
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| The Establishment of Great Cities in Indus Valley Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The Indus Valley civilization truly came into its own in about 2500 B.C., when its people established two great cities at Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, which lay about 400 miles south of Harappa along the Indus. These two cities, discovered by British archaeologists in the 1920s, represented a triumph of urban planning. The cities established by the Egyptians and the Sumerians at around the same time seem to have sprung up without any clear plan. In Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, by contrast, the wide, straight streets formed a grid, intersecting one another at right angles as though they had been carefully laid out--as they obviously were. The center of Harappa was a great citadel, or fortress... |
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| Essay on The Establishment of Great Cities in Indus Valley » |
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| Essay on The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2500 B.C.-c. 1500 B.C.) |
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| The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2500 B.C.-c. 1500 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. As early as 6000 B.C., villages began appearing in the valley formed by the Indus River. The town of Mehrgarh, for instance, was a small settlement at the foot of the mountains separating the subcontinent from what is now Iran and Afghanistan. It appears that the people of Mehrgarh domesticated (tamed) sheep, goats, and cattle; grew various grains; used stone tools; and may have engaged in trade (exchange of goods) with peoples in surrounding areas. Eventually these villagers moved southward, into the flood plains created by the Indus, where the soil was better for farming. This better physical environment made possible the establishment of walled cities containing... |
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| Essay on The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2500 B.C.-c. 1500 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Ancient India |
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| Ancient India Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Asia is a continent, the world's largest; but India is commonly called a subcontinent because of its size, its varied terrain, and the high mountains that separate it from the Asian landmass. An area of more than 1.7 million square miles (4.4 million square kilometers), it contains the modern nations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The highest mountain ranges in the world form its northern border: the Himalayas, which separate India from Nepal and other mountain kingdoms, as well as Tibet in China, to the northeast; the Karakorams, at the place where India and Pakistan meet in the north; and the Hindu Kush, which form the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the northwest. South of the... |
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| Essay on Ancient India » |
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| Essay on The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World |
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| The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The Greek historian Herodotus in the 400s B.C. was the first to suggest a list of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. More than a century later, the chief librarian in Alexandria finalized the list. Of the Seven Wonders, there are two statues, two tombs, one temple, one lighthouse, and one set of gardens. Five of the seven are from the Hellenic world or from closely related cultures, though their locations are scattered over Asia Minor, Greece, and Egypt. In addition to the "Greek" Egyptian lighthouse, there is the purely Egyptian Great Pyramid, as well as the Babylonian Hanging Gardens. The lighthouse was the only structure with a practical, everyday use, and the Pyramid is the only... |
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| Essay on Later Empires of Persia (332 B.C.-651 A.D.) |
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| Later Empires of Persia (332 B.C.-651 A.D.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The career of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) was as short as it was brilliant. After conquering more land in less time than any military force had before--or ever has since--he died at the age of thirty-three in Babylon. Afterward, his generals divided his empire: just as Ptolemy took control of Egypt, Seleucus (c. 358-281 B.C.) won Persia, Mesopotamia, and much of the Mediterranean coast. He established the Seleucid Empire in 312 B.C. The next two centuries were a period rich in learning and knowledge, as the Greeks absorbed the vast knowledge of mathematics and astronomy gained by the Babylonians and Indians. The Persians and others enjoyed the influence... |
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| Essay on Later Empires of Persia (332 B.C.-651 A.D.) » |
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| Essay on The Persian Empire (550-330 B.C.) |
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| The Persian Empire (550-330 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Cyrus the Great waged war against Lydia, defeating it and capturing its king, Croesus, in 546 B.C. After a successful campaign against the Ionian city-states of Greece, he turned his attention to Babylonia, and in 539 his armies captured Babylon. This was one of the most important events of ancient history, because now Persia controlled the largest empire that had existed up to that time. In ancient times, only the empire of the Greeks under Alexander, and later the Roman Empire, would be larger. Equally important was the nature of Persian rule under Cyrus. Most conquerors before and since have attempted to impose their way of life on others, but Cyrus was willing to let conquered peoples... |
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| Essay on The Persian Empire (550-330 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Ancient Persia before the Persians (c. 4000 B.C.-550 B.C.) |
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| Ancient Persia before the Persians (c. 4000 B.C.-550 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Iran, which in its ancient version was called Persia, lies to the east of Iraq, or Mesopotamia. Shaped like a snail, the country has a number of frontiers, or borders. On its northwest frontier is Turkey--called Asia Minor in ancient times. Iran is bounded by water on both its northern and its southern edges: to the north is the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake; and to the south are the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Northeastern Iran borders the central Asian republic of Turkmenistan. In ancient times this area belonged to various nomadic (wandering) tribes originating north of China; during much of the twentieth century Turkmenistan was part of the... |
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| Essay on Ancient Persia before the Persians (c. 4000 B.C.-550 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Ancient Lydia (c. 685-546 B.C.) |
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| Ancient Lydia (c. 685-546 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Lydia lay on the far western edge of Asia Minor, facing Greece across the Aegean Sea. Its culture was even more closely tied to that of Greece than that of the Phrygians. According to legend, the dynasty that founded Lydia descended from the Greek hero Heracles, more commonly known as Hercules. This early dynasty ruled for many centuries, but Lydia truly emerged as a civilization only under the Mermnad dynasty, established in about 685 B.C. Its founder was named Gyges, a palace guard who, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, murdered the king, Kandaules, married his wife, and usurped the throne. Gyges made Lydia a great power. His successor, Ardys (r. 651-625 B.C.)... |
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| Essay on Ancient Lydia (c. 685-546 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on Ancient Phrygia (1100s-695 B.C.) |
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| Ancient Phrygia (1100s-695 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The Hittites occupied the central part of Asia Minor, whereas the Phrygians lived on the Black Sea in the northern part of the region. Related to the Greeks, they came into the area from Macedon, the part of Greece from which Alexander the Great would emerge many centuries later. In fact, one of the great events of his early life occurred in the Phrygian city of Gordian. Far to the west of Phrygia was the city-state of Troy, with which the Greeks did battle in the famous Trojan War in about 1260 B.C. The Iliad, the Greek story of the war, mentions the Phrygians. In fact the Phrygians probably settled in the region in about 1200 B.C., or around the time the Hittites' kingdom fell... |
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| Essay on Ancient Phrygia (1100s-695 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on The Hittites (c. 1750-c. 1200 B.C.) |
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| The Hittites (c. 1750-c. 1200 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. For centuries, the principal source of knowledge about the Hittites was the Bible, which refers to them throughout the Old Testament as one of many nations that made war on Israel. Many historians believed that the Hittites never really existed, especially because their neighbors to the west, the Greeks, knew nothing of them. But the Hittite culture flourished and died long before Greek civilization came into being, so the omission is understandable. Beginning in the late A.D.1800s, as archaeological evidence of the Hittites' existence mounted, historians were forced to recognize the truth of the Biblical account. Like the peoples who founded later civilizations in Persia and India... |
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| Essay on The Hittites (c. 1750-c. 1200 B.C.) » |
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| Essay on The Arabian Peninsula in Ancient Times |
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| The Arabian Peninsula in Ancient Times Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Maps of the Middle East in ancient times show a continuing record of settlement and conquest--but not on the Arabian Peninsula, which remained unconquered. Few ancient armies could wage war in the barren desert landscape, nor did many conquerors have any real reason to want to control the region. It was a land good neither for raising crops or flocks, and indeed one of the few animals that could live there was the camel. Not many people lived in Arabia, and the sparse tribes of the interior were nomads. The only settled areas were at the fringes of Arabia. To the north, in what is now Jordan, was Petra, a stunning city of temples and tombs carved out of solid rock... |
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| Essay on The Arabian Peninsula in Ancient Times » |
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| Essay on Ancient Syria |
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| Ancient Syria Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. The Syrians, whose kingdom lay to the north of Phoenicia, shared much common history with their seafaring neighbors. They too were a Canaanite people speaking a Semitic language, and they likewise often found themselves caught between a number of great powers in the region. Syria had been populated since at least 8500 B.C., and for thousands of years it was controlled by a people known to archaeologists as the Halaf civilization. The latter established the city of Ugarit, which would remain an important center until its destruction by the mysterious Sea Peoples in about 1200 B.C. Halaf culture, however, ended in about 4500 B.C., for reasons that are unclear, and over the next few thousand years, Syria was... |
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| Essay on Phoenicia Caught Between Warring Nations |
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| Phoenicia Caught Between Warring Nations Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Phoenician civilization did really die out; rather, the Phoenicians were absorbed into the empires of conquering nations. Assyria had begun threatening Phoenicia as early as 868 B.C., but when the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-Pileser attempted to capture Tyre in 734 B.C., he ran into trouble. Because the city was built on an island about a mile offshore, it was a mighty fortress; in fact its name means "rock." After two years, the Assyrians finally captured Tyre, but they did not attempt to turn the region into a province of their empire--not yet, at least. In 701 B.C., Sennacherib led another Assyrian invasion of Phoenicia. He drove out the king of Tyre, replacing him with a vassal... |
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| Essay on Phoenician Contributions |
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| Phoenician Contributions Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Exploration, trade, and craftsmanship were not the Phoenicians' only achievements. Perhaps the greatest of all their contributions to civilization was the development of the alphabet. Though the Phoenicians did not claim to have invented the alphabet they used, they certainly developed it, and through their many voyages extended it to the known world. The Phoenician alphabet, which appeared between 1700 and 1500 B.C., originally used only nineteen symbols, roughly equivalent to the letters of the English alphabet, except for I and the last six letters, U through Z. Before the alphabet, all writing had been in the form of pictograms, symbols that looked like the thing they represented... |
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| Essay on Phoenician Colonies and Voyages |
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| Phoenician Colonies and Voyages Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. Trade routes alone, however, were not enough: particularly in faraway places, the Phoenicians needed warehouses where they could store goods for later sale as well as trading posts where they could conduct business with the local peoples. For this reason, they established a number of overseas colonies in the period from about 900 to about 600 B.C. To call a place a colony means that it is a territory belonging to another country. When people from the ruling country go to a foreign place in large numbers and begin to bring that place under their control, they are colonizing. For instance, the Egyptians colonized Kush, and the British colonized North America in the 1600s and 1700s A.D... |
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| Essay on Ancient Phoenicia (c. 2000-64 B.C.) |
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| Ancient Phoenicia (c. 2000-64 B.C.) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Ancient World History. On the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea lay Phoenicia, a narrow strip of land just 200 miles (322 kilometers) long and 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide--much smaller, in fact, than modern-day Lebanon. It is not clear how the Phoenicians got their name, though it may have come from a Greek word for red or purple, a reference to the dyed cloth that the Phoenicians wore and sold. The Phoenicians spoke a Semitic language and were probably a Canaanite people; certainly they lived in the same region as the Canaanites, and worshiped Canaanite gods such as Baal and Astarte. Phoenicia was never a single country, but a loose collection of city-states of which the most notable were Tyre... |
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| Essay on Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor |
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| Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Huangdi (huh-wong-dee) is regarded as a patriarch of China, a founding father of an ancient civilization. Moreover, many Han Chinese regard Huangdi as a direct ancestor and worship him as a god. Scholars of Chinese history agree that there is almost no reliable biographical information about Huangdi that can be separated from the mythology. The earliest dynasty of China verified by archaeological evidence is the Shang (1765-1122 BC), about one thousand years after Huangdi's reign. Whether Huangdi is a historical person or a mythological accretion of early accomplishments, his innovations and inventions tell the story of the earliest Chinese civilization. So pervasive is the reputation of Huangdi... |
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| Essay on King Asoka (Ashoka) |
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| King Asoka (Ashoka) Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Asoka (Ashoka) was the third ruler of the Mauryan Empire. Under his long rule the empire that he inherited reached its zenith territorially and culturally. Soon after his death the Mauryan Empire split up and ended. He is remembered as a great ruler in world history and the greatest ruler in India. Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan dynasty in 326 BC. Both he and his son Bindusara were successful warriors, unifying northern India and part of modern Afghanistan for the first time in history. Asoka was not Bindusara's eldest son, and there is a gap of time between his father's death and his succession, due perhaps to war with his brothers. Asoka continued to expand the empire by conquering southward... |
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| Essay on The Aryan Invasion |
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| The Aryan Invasion Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. The conquest and settlement of northern India by Indo-Europeans began c. 1500 BC. The event marked the end of the Indus civilization and altered the civilization of the subcontinent. In ancient times semi-nomadic peoples lived in the steppe lands of Eurasia between the Caspian and Black Seas. They were light skinned and spoke languages that belong to the Indo-European or Indo-Aryan family. They were organized into patrilineal tribes, herded cattle, knew farming, tamed horses and harnessed them to chariots, and used bronze weapons. For reasons that are not clear, the tribes split up and began massive movements westward, southward, and southeastward to new lands around 2000 BC, conquering, ruling over... |
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| Essay on Ancient Armenia |
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| Ancient Armenia Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Located at the flashpoint between the Roman and Persian Empires, "Fortress Armenia" stretched through eastern Anatolia to the Zagros Mountains. Armenia was a kingdom established during the decline of Seleucid control. Its independence ended with its incorporation into the Roman Empire in the third century AD. The region was inhabited after the Neolithic Period, and evidence of high culture is evident from the Early Bronze Age. Urartu was an important regional power in the eighth to the sixth centuries BC. The Indo-Europeans arrived from western Anatolia in this period and formed a new civilization that was Armenian-speaking and based on the local culture. The conversion of Armenia to Christianity... |
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| Essay on Pre-Islamic Arabia |
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| Pre-Islamic Arabia Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Arabia, which spans an area of 1.25 million sq. miles, is a rugged, arid, and inhospitable terrain. It consists mainly of a vast desert, with the exception of Yemen on the southeastern tip, a fertile region with ample rain and well suited for agriculture. The southwestern region of Arabia also has a climate conducive to agriculture. The first mention of the inhabitants of Arabia, or "Aribi," is seen in the ninth century BC, in Assyrian script. The residents of northern Arabia were nomads who owned camels. In pre-Islamic Arabia, there was no central political authority, nor was there any central ruling administrative center. Instead, there were only various Bedu (Bedouin) tribes. Individual... |
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| Essay on Akkad - The First Empire |
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| Akkad - the First Empire Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Mesopotamia's first-known empire, founded at the city of Akkad, prospered from the end of the 24th century BC to the beginning of the 22nd century BC Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BC) established his empire at Akkad; its exact location is unknown but perhaps near modern Baghdad. His standing army allowed him to campaign from eastern Turkey to western Iran. Although it is still unclear how far he maintained permanent control, it probably ranged from northern Syria to western Iran. His two sons succeeded him, Rimush (2278-70 BC) and Manishtushu (2269-55 BC), who hadmilitary success of their own by suppressing rebellions and campaigning from northern Syria to western Iran. Yet it was Manishtushu's... |
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| Essay on City-States of Africa |
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| City-States of Africa Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. The emergence of African city-states began in North Africa with ancient Egypt and then later the formation of the Carthaginian Empire. These civilizations are both heavily documented by written accounts, as are the other North African kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania. However, apart from surviving secondhand accounts from early travelers from Egypt or Carthage, knowledge of city-states in the rest of Africa relies entirely on archaeological evidence. Carthage ruled the area around its capital through direct rule, and the remainder of its areas through client kings such as those of Numidia. The Numidians throwing their support behind the Romans at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC saw the defeat... |
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| Essay on The Earliest Humans |
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| The Earliest Humans Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Written documents provide a window to the distant past. For several thousand years, people have recorded information about their beliefs, activities, and important events. Prehistory, however, dates back to the time before the invention of writing--roughly 5,000 years ago. Without access to written records, scientists investigating the lives of prehistoric peoples face special challenges. Archaeologists are specially trained scientists who work like detectives to uncover the story of prehistoric peoples. They learn about early people by excavating and studying the traces of early settlements. An excavated site, called an archaeological dig, provides one of the richest sources of clues to the prehistoric... |
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| Essay on The Maori World in Pre-Colonial New Zealand |
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| Custom essay on Pre-colonial New Zealand Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Evidently remained uninhabited until late in the human settlement of the Pacific Islands. It lay at a distance Of 1,500 kilometres from the nearest inhabited land, across subtropical ocean fraught with baffling winds, and further still from the tropical islands first settled by seafaring Polynesians. When Polynesian Maori settlers -- whether by design or accident -- at last arrived in New Zealand from the tropics, in the twelfth century A.D. or earlier, they found a pristine land. At the southern shore of New Zealand's North Island is the dividing sea of Raukawa Moana. Here strong winds and tides contend, patrolled by the restless albatross and dolphin. Beyond the blue of this deep sea... |
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| Essay on The Fertile Crescent |
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| The Fertile Crescent Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. The Fertile Crescent is a region in the Middle East incorporating present-day Israel, West Bank, and Lebanon and parts of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, south-eastern Turkey and south-western Iran. The term "Fertile Crescent" was coined by University of Chicago archeologist James Henry Breasted. The Fertile Crescent has an impressive record of past human activity. As well as possessing many sites with the skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early modern humans (e.g. at Kebara Cave in Israel), later Pleistocene hunter-gatherers and Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the Natufians), this area is most famous for its sites related to the origins of agriculture. The western zone... |
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| Essay on History of Babylonia |
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| History of Babylonia Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Babylonia was an ancient state in Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. Its capital was Babylon. The earliest mention of Babylon can be found in a tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad, dating back to the 23rd century BC. During the first centuries of the "Old Babylonian" period (that followed the Sumerian revival under Ur-III), kings and people in high position often had Amorite names, and supreme power rested at Isin. A constant intercourse was maintained between Babylonia and the West - with Babylonian officials and troops passing to Syria and Canaan, while "Amorite" colonists were established in Babylonia for the purposes of trade. One of these Amorites... |
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| Essay on Ancient Babylon |
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| Ancient Babylon Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on History. Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia, modern Al Hillah, Iraq). It was the capital of the Babylonian empire from ca. 600 BC. In the Hebrew Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted by popular etymology to mean "confusion". Akkadian bab-ilu, which means "Gate of God", translating Sumerian Kadingirra. The earliest mention of Babylon is in a dated tablet of the reign of Sargon of Akkad (24th century BC short chr.), who made it the capital of his empire. Over the years its power and population waned. For centuries it was just another provincial town, until it became the capital of Hammurabi's empire (18th century BC). The origin of the city of Babylon... |
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