C'mon now, Xerxes was alright.bEVEsthda wrote...
Of course, after Cyrus, everything went steeply downhill... Darius, Xerxes,.. <brrr>...But you gotta respect Cyrus.
Wentletrap wrote...
Wow, a lot of Byzantine lovers in this thread.
The Byzantines have always fascinated me too, for their art and architecture, their long history, and their bridging of east / west and Christianity / Islam.
I’ve only read about them on wikipedia while at work, does anyone have any books to recommend?
There’s a lot of sad and colorful little stories sprinkled throughout their history, too. A bunch seem to involve blinding... eww. Glad I didn’t live in medieval times.
- In 1014, Basil II had 15,000 Bulgars blinded after defeating them in battle. Every 100th man was spared an eye, so he could help lead his comrades back home. The Bulgarian king Samuel supposedly had a heart attack upon seeing his blinded army and died a day or two later.
- after defeating the Byzantines at Manzikert, Alp Arslan asked the captured Byzantine Emperor:
Alp Arslan: "What would you do if *I* were brought before *you* as a prisoner?"
Romanos: "Perhaps I'd kill you, or exhibit you in the streets of Constantinople."
Alp Arslan: "My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you, and set you free."
And of course, upon returning home, Romanos was deposed and blinded by his Byzantine subjects and died shortly after.
- A later emperor, John IV Laskaris, was deposed and blinded at the age of eleven by a rival for the throne. (Poor kid). The son of said rival visited him thirty years later at a monastery to ask for forgiveness, which he gave.
- The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, died fighting at the Siege of Constantine in 1453. He cast off his purple cloak, and jumped into the crowd to fight amongst his men, and was never seen again. How sadly romantic!
- When Mehmet II conquered Constantinople for the Turks in 1453, he was all of 21 years old. Before he entered the Hagia Sophia church, he sprinkled some dirt from the ground upon his turban as a show of respect. (but then, he went ahead and destroyed the Church of the Holy Apostles, resting place of the Byzantine Emperors since Constantine,. How amazing it would be if we could visit that church today...)
Also, the poem Sailing to Byzantium, by Yeats, is awesome.
KnightofPhoenix wrote...
Major League wrote...
KnightofPhoenix wrote...
- Ancient Semitic civilizations like Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians / Carthaginians, Canaanites, Israelites, Sabaeans....etc
- The Roman Empire (+ Byzantium)
- Early Islamic Caliphates: Prophet Muhammad's state, Rashidun Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate (+ Umayyads in Spain), Abbasid Caliphate (including fragmentation era) and Fatimid Caliphate.
- Ottoman Empire
- Japan in the pre-Tokugawa era and during The Meiji Restoration.
- Early modern and modern Europe (15-16th century till 20th).
to bad the Romans really were thorough and destroying the Carthiginians. I'd like to learn more about them.
Fun facts:
Carthage's real Phoenician name was "Qart Hadash." Anyone who knows Hebrew and / or Arabic would now that this means "New Town."
Hannibal's family name was Barca. "Barca" means lighting, similar to the Arabic word barq برق.
GodWood wrote...
C'mon now, Xerxes was alright.bEVEsthda wrote...
Of course, after Cyrus, everything went steeply downhill... Darius, Xerxes,.. <brrr>
Sure the Greek/Persian wars were a bit of a **** up but that was only a tiny part of his reign. His management of his empire and his building project were quite successful and by ancient standards his policies were very modern (eg, Female artisans had paid maternity leave)
Modifié par Jedi Sentinel Arian, 26 février 2012 - 05:19 .
Yup, America is the best.bobobo878 wrote...
America (f*** yeah!)
Modifié par Some Geth, 26 février 2012 - 05:29 .
HiddenKING wrote...
The HiddenKINGdom.
Jedi Sentinel Arian wrote...
GodWood wrote...
C'mon now, Xerxes was alright.bEVEsthda wrote...
Of course, after Cyrus, everything went steeply downhill... Darius, Xerxes,.. <brrr>
Sure the Greek/Persian wars were a bit of a **** up but that was only a tiny part of his reign. His management of his empire and his building project were quite successful and by ancient standards his policies were very modern (eg, Female artisans had paid maternity leave)
Almost true. He was better than average roman emperors btw. The Army of Persia wasn't even strong, The empire worked with diplomacy and bureaucracy.
Still the Empire had good emperors like Artaxerxes I, III and Darius III.
Modifié par bandfred, 26 février 2012 - 06:49 .
Modifié par Addai67, 26 février 2012 - 10:51 .
Addai67 wrote...
I'm mostly interested in the vanished empires few have heard of- the Aryans, Avars, Ostrogoths.
GodWood wrote...
C'mon now, Xerxes was alright.bEVEsthda wrote...
Of course, after Cyrus, everything went steeply downhill... Darius, Xerxes,.. <brrr>
Sure the Greek/Persian wars were a bit of a **** up but that was only a tiny part of his reign. His management of his empire and his building project were quite successful and by ancient standards his policies were very modern (eg, Female artisans had paid maternity leave)
Modifié par bEVEsthda, 26 février 2012 - 12:10 .
bEVEsthda wrote...
GodWood wrote...
C'mon now, Xerxes was alright.bEVEsthda wrote...
Of course, after Cyrus, everything went steeply downhill... Darius, Xerxes,.. <brrr>
Sure the Greek/Persian wars were a bit of a **** up but that was only a tiny part of his reign. His management of his empire and his building project were quite successful and by ancient standards his policies were very modern (eg, Female artisans had paid maternity leave)
Main effort of Xerxes reign was to mobilize a huge army to conquer Greeze. For this he taxed the **** out of the empire. When one of his vassals, Pythius, the one who had contributed most to the war, asked for his son to be exempted from the march on Greeze, Xerxes granted the request by having the son split lengthwise, put the parts on stakes and let the army march between the halves when they departed.
When the first floating bridges across the Hellespont were destroyed in storms, Xerxes had the engineers executed and ordered the water of Hellespont to be whipped as punishement.
After the disastrous defeat at Salamis, Xerxes had survivors from his destroyed fleet executed.
After the further disastrous defeats at Plataea and Mycale, war lost, Xerxes then tried to recover his pride and grandeur by building these megalomaniac, imposing construction projects you mention. Eventually, he and his eldest son were murdered in a maze of intrigues that eventually saw Artaxerxes as the new king.
Xerxes father, Darius, was a cruel ruler, but he was a skillful administrator and empire builder/manager. Xerxes just inherited all this. No doubt he was groomed into the role as an emperor by his father, but there's no evidence of any personal greatness or competence in Xerxes. Yes, maybe the war was just an immature display of early arrogance and ignorance. He was cruel and very full of himself. And maybe he recoved to become a more sensible ruler after. But did he accomplish anything but ruin for the empire, besides those expensive, self-glorifying buildings? Xerxes still gets a thumb-down from me.
Addai67 wrote...
The Mongols are interesting to me but their empire shrunk almost as quickly as it expanded so they don't really rate too high in the empire deathmatch. The Huns did as well as them and they were nomadic horsemen, too.
I'm mostly interested in the vanished empires few have heard of- the Aryans, Avars, Ostrogoths. They are finding sites now in Russia for the first time that point to a civilization that could have rivaled the Mediterranean empires. The Soviets didn't allow aerial photography so they've only just spotted them in recent years and they've not been excavated yet.
Major League wrote...
Addai67 wrote...
The Mongols are interesting to me but their empire shrunk almost as quickly as it expanded so they don't really rate too high in the empire deathmatch. The Huns did as well as them and they were nomadic horsemen, too.
I'm mostly interested in the vanished empires few have heard of- the Aryans, Avars, Ostrogoths. They are finding sites now in Russia for the first time that point to a civilization that could have rivaled the Mediterranean empires. The Soviets didn't allow aerial photography so they've only just spotted them in recent years and they've not been excavated yet.
I find the Mongols interesting, in that they would recruit from conquered peoples what they didnt have. For exanple, they didnt have siege weapons, so they took some Chinese engineers. I also find them interesting because they linked Asia with Europe. The Silk Road was actually safe to travel.
The Huns never tried to set up a Empire, they were nomadic and they wanted to stay that way. I think that is the big difference between them and the Mongols.
Vanished empires in Russia?....interesting. Could it be linked to Scythia?
Addai67 wrote...
I'm mostly interested in the vanished empires few have heard of- the Aryans, Avars, Ostrogoths. They are finding sites now in Russia for the first time that point to a civilization that could have rivaled the Mediterranean empires. The Soviets didn't allow aerial photography so they've only just spotted them in recent years and they've not been excavated yet.
LOL Dude, everyone you listed massacred someone at some point.Jedi Sentinel Arian wrote...
I don't find them interesting. They were just savage barbarians who massacred Chinese, Persians, Arabs, Russians and many other folks.
And I dislike their religion and 'totem' and 'taboo' terms.
Modifié par Addai67, 26 février 2012 - 07:35 .
Here's an article on it.DarkDragon777 wrote...
Addai67 wrote...
I'm mostly interested in the vanished empires few have heard of- the Aryans, Avars, Ostrogoths. They are finding sites now in Russia for the first time that point to a civilization that could have rivaled the Mediterranean empires. The Soviets didn't allow aerial photography so they've only just spotted them in recent years and they've not been excavated yet.
Yeah, I don't think so The found one large city, but that's it.
Addai67 wrote...
LOL Dude, everyone you listed massacred someone at some point.Jedi Sentinel Arian wrote...
I don't find them interesting. They were just savage barbarians who massacred Chinese, Persians, Arabs, Russians and many other folks.
And I dislike their religion and 'totem' and 'taboo' terms.
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