Medieval History
A recent article is examining the possibility that a contingent of soldiers from the Mediterranean fought at the Battle of Talas River in 36 BC, but instead of being Roman forces, new research suggests they may have been descendants of the armies of Alexander the Great.
Christopher A. Matthew?s proposes this idea in his article, ?Greek Hoplite in an Ancient Chinese Siege?, which appears in the latest issue of Journal of Asian History. It re-examines a theory put forward more than 70 years ago by Homer H. Dubs, in which the historian believed that Roman legionaries were serving as mercenaries in a city besieged by Han Chinese nearly 2,000 miles to the east of Roman territory. When the city fell, these men were captured and take east and eventually settled in a town on the fringes to the Han Empire.
Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World
- Mixed Martial Arts Celebrity Recruited For Ancient Roman Army
Millennia before modern-day military recruiters talked up potential soldiers in shopping malls or put up posters, one Roman city took a rather different approach to recruiting soldiers for the emperor's army. A newly translated inscription, dating...
- Deciphered Ancient Tablet Reveals Curse Of Greengrocer
A fiery ancient curse inscribed on two sides of a thin lead tablet was meant to afflict, not a king or pharaoh, but a simple greengrocer selling fruits and vegetables some 1,700 years ago in the city of Antioch, researchers find. Written in Greek, the...
- Decline And Fall: New Book Examines How The Western Roman Empire Collapse
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire: An Archaeological and Historical Perspective is the latest book from Dr Neil Christie of the University of Leicester. The division of the vast Roman Empire can be traced chiefly to the 280s AD when the Empire, wracked...
- Chinese Archaeologists' African Quest For Sunken Ship Of Ming Admiral
It's another chapter in the now familiar story of China's economic embrace of Africa. Except that this one begins nearly 600 years ago. A team of 11 Chinese archaeologists will arrive in Kenya tomorrow to begin the search for an ancient shipwreck...
- The Decline And Fall Of The Mongol Empire
A new article examines how the four Mongol empires collapsed, and concludes "that in all cases, ?fall? was the result of internal factors, about which there was nothing that was inevitable, and that there is little evidence of a long ?decline?." "The...
Medieval History
Descendants of Alexander the Great?s army fought in ancient China, historian finds
A recent article is examining the possibility that a contingent of soldiers from the Mediterranean fought at the Battle of Talas River in 36 BC, but instead of being Roman forces, new research suggests they may have been descendants of the armies of Alexander the Great.
Christopher A. Matthew?s proposes this idea in his article, ?Greek Hoplite in an Ancient Chinese Siege?, which appears in the latest issue of Journal of Asian History. It re-examines a theory put forward more than 70 years ago by Homer H. Dubs, in which the historian believed that Roman legionaries were serving as mercenaries in a city besieged by Han Chinese nearly 2,000 miles to the east of Roman territory. When the city fell, these men were captured and take east and eventually settled in a town on the fringes to the Han Empire.
Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World
- Mixed Martial Arts Celebrity Recruited For Ancient Roman Army
Millennia before modern-day military recruiters talked up potential soldiers in shopping malls or put up posters, one Roman city took a rather different approach to recruiting soldiers for the emperor's army. A newly translated inscription, dating...
- Deciphered Ancient Tablet Reveals Curse Of Greengrocer
A fiery ancient curse inscribed on two sides of a thin lead tablet was meant to afflict, not a king or pharaoh, but a simple greengrocer selling fruits and vegetables some 1,700 years ago in the city of Antioch, researchers find. Written in Greek, the...
- Decline And Fall: New Book Examines How The Western Roman Empire Collapse
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire: An Archaeological and Historical Perspective is the latest book from Dr Neil Christie of the University of Leicester. The division of the vast Roman Empire can be traced chiefly to the 280s AD when the Empire, wracked...
- Chinese Archaeologists' African Quest For Sunken Ship Of Ming Admiral
It's another chapter in the now familiar story of China's economic embrace of Africa. Except that this one begins nearly 600 years ago. A team of 11 Chinese archaeologists will arrive in Kenya tomorrow to begin the search for an ancient shipwreck...
- The Decline And Fall Of The Mongol Empire
A new article examines how the four Mongol empires collapsed, and concludes "that in all cases, ?fall? was the result of internal factors, about which there was nothing that was inevitable, and that there is little evidence of a long ?decline?." "The...