The Abbasid Caliphate (Arabic: العبّاسيّون, al-‘Abbāsīyūn) was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but Al Andalus.
Achaea Province
Achaea was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the modern-day Peloponnese in southern Greece and bordered on the north by the provinces of Epirus and Macedonia. The region was annexed to the Roman Republic in 146 BC following the sack of Corinth by the campaign of Roman general Lucius Mummius. L. Mummius was awarded the cognomen "Achaicus" as "conqueror of Achaea" for his actions.
Africa Province
The Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, north-eastern Algeria and the Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor. The Arabs later named roughly the same region as the original province Ifriqiya, a rendering of Africa.
Aksumite Empire
The Aksumite Empire or Axumite Empire (sometimes called the Kingdom of Aksum or Axum), (Ge'ez: አክሱም), was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from the proto-Aksumite period ca. 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. Its ancient capital is found in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name "Ethiopia" as early as the 4th century.[2][3] It is also the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba. Aksum was also the first major empire to convert to Christianity.
Alans
The Alans or Alani (occasionally termed Alauni or Halani) were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.[1][2][3]
Alaric I
Alaric I (Alareiks in the original Gothic; Alarik or Alarich in modern Germanic languages; Alaricus in Latin; and Alarico in Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish), was likely born about 370 on an island named Peuce (the Fir) at the mouth of the Danube in present day Romania. He was king of the Visigoths from 395–410 and the first Germanic leader to take the city of Rome. Having originally desired to settle his people in the Roman Empire, he finally sacked the city, marking the decline of imperial power in the west.
Alexander Severus
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (October 1, 208–March 18, 235 AD), commonly called Alexander Severus, was the last Roman emperor (11 March 222–235) of the Severan dynasty. Alexander Severus succeeded his cousin, Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222 AD, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century—nearly fifty years of disorder, Roman civil wars, economic chaos, regional rebellions, and external threats that brought the Empire to near-collapse.
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 BC), popularly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος, Mégas Aléxandros), was a Greeki[›] king (basileus) of Macedon who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander received a classical Greek education under the tutorship of famed philosopher Aristotle, succeeded his father Philip II of Macedon to the throne in 336 BC after the King was assassinated, and died thirteen years later at the age of 32. Although both Alexander's reign and empire were short-lived, the cultural impact of his conquests lasted for centuries. Alexander is one of the most famous figures of antiquity, and is remembered for his tactical ability, his conquests, and for spreading Greek civilization into the East.
American Empire
American Empire (American Imperialism) is a term referring to the political, economic, military and cultural influence of the United States. The term has become very controversial in the United States. The concept of an American Empire was first popularized in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War of 1898. The sources and proponents of this concept range from classical Marxist theorists of imperialism as a product of capitalism, to modern liberal and conservative theorists opposed to what they take to be aggressive U.S. policy. From its founding, key American leaders viewed with distrust "foreign entanglements" finding safety in non-interventionism.
Ancient Roman music
Less is known about Ancient Roman music than is known about the music of ancient Greece. There is a number of at least partially extant sources on the music of the Greeks. For example, much is known about the theories of Pythagoras and Aristoxenus (some of it from Greek sources and some through the writings of later Roman authors), and there exist about 40 deciphered examples of Greek musical notation. Very little survives about the music of the Romans, however. There are various reasons for this, one of which is that early fathers of the Christian church were aghast at the music of theatre, festivals, and pagan religion and suppressed it once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire.[1][page needed]
Ancient Rome and wine
Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the history of wine. The earliest influences of viticulture on the Italian peninsula can be traced to Ancient Greeks and Etruscans. The rise of the Roman Empire saw an increase in technology and awareness of winemaking which spread to all parts of the empire. The influence of the Romans has had a profound effect of the histories of today's major winemaking regions of France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. In the hands of the Romans, wine became "democratic" and available to all, from the lowly slave to the simple peasant to the aristocrat. The Romans' belief that wine was a daily necessity of life promoted its widespread availability among all classes. This led to the desire to spread viticulture and wine production to every part of the Roman empire, to ensure steady supplies for Roman soldiers and colonists. Economics also came into play, as Roman merchants saw opportunities for trade with native tribes such as those from Gaul and Germania, bringing Roman influences to these regions before the arrival of the Roman military .[1] The works of Roman writers—most notably Cato, Columella, Horace, Palladius, Pliny, Varro and Virgil—give insights on the role of wine in Roman culture and contemporary understanding of winemaking and viticultural practices. Many of the techniques and principles first developed in Roman times can be found in modern winemaking.[2]
Angevin Empire
The term Angevin Empire is a neologism describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty. The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries. This "empire" extended over roughly half of medieval France, all of England, and nominally all of Ireland. However, despite the extent of Plantagenet rule, they were defeated by the King of France, Philip II Augustus of the House of Capet, which left the empire split in two, having lost the provinces of Normandy and Anjou. This defeat, after which the ruling Plantagenets retained their English territories and the French province of Gascony, set the scene for the Saintonge and the Hundred Years' War.
Angli
The Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The Angles were one of the main groups that settled in Britain in the post-Roman period, founding several of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, and their name is the root of the name "England".
Anglo-Saxon law
Anglo-Saxon law (Old English ǽ, later laȝu "law"; dóm "decree, judgement") is a body of written rules and customs that were in place during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, before the Norman conquest. This body of law, along with early Scandinavian law and continental Germanic law, descended from a family of ancient Germanic custom and legal thought. However, Anglo-Saxon law codes are distinct from other early Germanic legal statements - known as the leges barbarorum - in part because they were written in the vernacular, instead of in Latin. As such, the laws of the Anglo-Saxons were the first laws in medieval Western Europe to be expressed in a people's native language.
Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius (Constantinople, c. 420 – Rome, 11 July 472) was a Western Roman Emperor from 12 April 467 until his death. Perhaps the last able emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain straddled the Pyrenees; and the unvanquished Vandals, under Geiseric, in undisputed control of North Africa. He failed, killed by Ricimer, his own general of German descent, who contested power with him.
Apuleius
Apuleius (sometimes called Lucius Apuleius; c. 125 – c. 180) was a Latin prose writer. He was a Romanized Berber,[1] from Madaurus. He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of a wealthy widow. He declaimed and then distributed a witty tour de force in his own defense before the proconsul and a court of magistrates convened in Sabratha, near Tripoli. This is known as the Apologia.
Arabic numerals
The Arabic numerals are the ten digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9). They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, by which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a whole number. The Indian numerals were adopted by the Persian mathematicians in India, and passed on to the Arabs further west. The numerals were modified in shape as they were passed along; developing their modern European shapes by the time they reached North Africa. From there they were transmitted to Europe in the Middle Ages. The use of Arabic numerals spread around the world through European trade, books and colonialism. Today they are the most common symbolic representation of numbers in the world.
Arbogast (general)
Flavius Arbogastes (died September 6, 394), or Arbogast was a Frankish general in the Roman Empire. It has been stated by some ancient historians that he was the son of Flavius Bauto, Valentinian II's former magister militum and protector before Arbogast, but modern scholars largely discount this claim [1].
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching of Arius (ca. AD 250–336), a Church priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre[1], and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381[2]. The Roman Emperors Constantius II (337-361) and Valens (364-378) were Arians or Semi-Arians.
Aristocracy
Aristocracy is a form of government in which a few of the most prominent citizens rule. The term is derived from the Greek aristokratia, meaning 'the rule of the best'.[1] See Aristocracy for the historical roots of the term. The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, where rule by a council of prominent citizens was commonly used and contrasted with monarchy, in which an individual king held the power.[2] Later, aristocracies primarily consisted of an elite aristocratic class, privileged by birth and wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold political power.[2]
Armatus
Flavius Armatus[1] (died 477) was a Byzantine military commander, magister militum under Emperors Leo I, Basiliscus and Zeno, and consul. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his subsequent fall.
Asia (Roman province)
The Roman province of Asia or Asiana (Greek:Ασιανή), in Byzantine times called Phrygia, was an administrative unit added to the late Republic. It was a Senatorial province governed by a proconsul. The arrangement was unchanged in the reorganization of the Roman Empire in 211.
Attila
Attila (pronounced /ˈætɨlə/ or /əˈtɪlə/; 406 – 453), widely known as Attila the Hun, was the Emperor of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the River Danube to the Baltic Sea (see map below). During his rule, he was one of the most fearsome of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires' enemies: he invaded the Balkans twice and marched through Gaul (modern France) as far as Orleans before being defeated at the Battle of Chalons. He refrained from attacking either Constantinople or Rome. His story, that the Sword of Attila had come to his hand by miraculous means, was reported by the Roman Priscus.
Auctoritas
Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century changed the use of the word substantially.
Augustus
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 31 BC until his death in AD 14.[note 1] Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 31 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus ("the revered one"), and thus consequently he was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.[note 2] Because of the various names he bore, it is common to call him Octavius when referring to events between 63 and 44 BC, Octavian (or Octavianus) when referring to events between 44 and 27 BC, and Augustus when referring to events after 27 BC. In Greek sources, Augustus is known as Ὀκτάβιος (Octavius), Καῖσαρ (Caesar), Αὔγουστος (Augustus), or Σεβαστός (Sebastos), depending on context.