The Last Blog Post

The Sumerian Kinglist

Dear readers,

This is the last blog post. I had started this blog some years ago as a college project. We were asked to create a blog on something, to help us learn about the web. I chose history because I loved the subject and long after the course had finished, I kept writing.

Over the years it has grown and morphed and changed until it is almost unrecognisable from the earlier posts. What was originally a disjointed set of summaries, eventually became a detailed year-by-year recounting of the history of the world. While the quality of the research is certainly not up to proper professional standards, I am nevertheless proud of the work that I have put in over the years. It will be left here and may be of use to readers in the future.

Because I enjoyed writing it so much, I became somewhat obsessed over the last few years and have poured much of my free time into it. I grew intrigued with the idea of writing a history of the world, year-by-year, covering all regions of the globe in as much detail as possible, up to about 1BC. I was going to focus on the Near East, Greece and Rome to begin with and then to backtrack and focus on India and China, as well as other parts of the world that I had neglected.

In retrospect, this was a foolish pipe-dream. There is so much detail in history, that to do this to the extent that I wished would have taken several lifetimes. Perhaps a collaborative effort between friends might have made this a feasible project, but as a solo project it was too much. It was also unclear how much benefit it was to others. I enjoy helping others, but to spend all my free time on something of marginal value to others was not a sensible use of time. The blog was also beginning to take up all free time and was impinging on other activities in life. It was time to appreciate what had been created, and to walk away.

The remains of the city of Eridu, what may have been
the world's first city

I will spend some time cleaning up some of the earlier blogs perhaps, and I will look at cloning the pages so that if this hosting ultimately disappears, that the work is not lost. It is perhaps possible that at some point in the future I will return to this with more limited goals, but we shall see what the future holds.

I do not often ask for comments, but if anyone has read the blog and found it useful, please leave a comment below. It would be heartening to know if this has helped anyone.

I have learned a great deal from researching these blogs. As I have said many times on these pages, I am not a professional historian. I studied Classics many years ago in college, but have never pursued these studies past an undergraduate level.

Perhaps the field of history that is most fascinating to me is the study of Mesopotamian history. There is much that is unknown about them, but they are the first people whose words can still speak to us today. The long chain of history, in many ways, begins with them. Their culture was long-lasting and durable and their system of writing endured for over three millennia. The last dated cuneiform inscription is an astronomical text from around AD75. The knowledge of this script probably died out in the following century. In a similar fashion, the last known Egyptian hieroglyphs date from AD394, with the knowledge of hieroglyphs being lost shortly thereafter.

Graffito of Esmet-Akhom,
The last known hieroglyph
inscription

It is sad to think that the world’s first writing system disappeared in such a manner. However, cuneiform writing had already allowed Sumerian, a language isolate that would have vanished without trace, to survive as a scholarly language for millennia after it had ceased to be a living language.

This is part of what it means to be human. We remember. We strive to know. The story of the past has shaped what we are and is part of who we are.

But sometimes things are lost. Sumerian, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and so much of what once was that we cannot even fathom, has been lost to human knowledge. Chance, war, ignorance, carelessness, the inevitable passage of time and the slow falling apart of all things, mean that we will always lose more than we remember. Ultimately, on this earth, all will be forgotten.

But for all that is lost, sometimes we rediscover. In the 19th century, scholars were able to reach back and decipher these ancient scripts. The lost millennia began to speak to us again. It is a rare privilege to live in a time and place where we can know these things.

Outside the Solar System, flying through the interstellar medium, are the Voyager spacecraft. They are the fastest man-made objects and they are the farthest from this cosmic speck we call Earth; this mote of dust suspended in a sun-beam that we call home. Soon their communications systems will fail and they will travel silently through the void. It is unknown if they will ever be seen again, by humans or by civilisations yet unknown.

Voyager spacecraft

These spacecraft carry messages, golden records, which could be played by any who find these objects. On these records are images and sounds of our planet, recorded before the launching of these ships.

Among the sounds sent out on this message to the stars are greetings recorded in various languages. Efforts were made by the compilers to include languages that had once been important, but which were now no longer spoken. The very first greetings on our interstellar message are in Sumerian, which is fitting in so many ways. The greeting says “šilim-ma hé-me-en”, meaning, “May all be well”.

As I bid farewell to the blog I can think of no better way to leave it than to thank my readers and to say, may all indeed be well. 

Some South American history from 1000-500BC

Skulls with cranial deformation from the Paracas culture

This is a post about South American history from 1000-500BC. Please remember that I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and still being discovered by archaeologists. However, notwithstanding these caveats, the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world, so the main sources will be entirely archaeological. While oral history is important, this particular time period is too far in the past for oral history to be useful here.

For the purposes of this blog, South America will comprise of the continent of South America, excluding the islands of the Caribbean, which have been dealt with briefly in the blog post about the history of North America.

Site of Chavin de Huantar

By the beginning of this time period pottery usage had become widespread. Thus the civilisations of this time are referred to as ceramic rather than pre-ceramic civilisations.

Around century of the 1000's BC, the site of Sechin Bajo, as part of the Casma-Sechin culture, may have been conquered by outside invaders, leading to a change in the tradition. The Casma-Sechin settlement of Las Haldas appears to have ceased building new monuments from around this time, possibly because of change in political circumstances. But this is mostly unproven however. Both sites continued to be occupied for much of the next millennium.

In the century of the 900's BC because of the change in material remains of the Casma-Sechin culture, the archaeologists assign the previous period as the Initial Period and speak of the Casma-Sechin culture after the possible conquest event as Early Horizon.

Lance idol at Chavin de Huantar

Around this time the religious site of Chavin de Huantar, a religious site further inland in the Andes, became important. It had existed some centuries previously, but began to flourish during this time period. The culture that used this site is referred to as the Chavin. The site was decorated with labyrinthine tunnels and intricate stelas, as well as a large pyramid. The site was probably ceremonial, as it was unwalled and there was no other similar site in the lands of the Chavin culture.

In the mid-800's BC the Chiripa culture along the southern shore of Lake Titicaca was flourishing. The Middle Phase of the Chiripa culture ended and the Late Phase began. The small town of Chiripa, which gives its name to the culture, appears to have expanded around this time, covering an area of around 7 hectares.

In the south of what is now the country of Peru, the Paracas culture began to flourish around this time in the arid deserts of the Ica region. The land is near the coast and mountains and even has rivers flowing through it, but is dry. The Paracas culture appeared to have understood the unforgiving topography and adapted to it. They mummified their dead, created spectacular ceramics and textiles, some of which have survived, and may have pioneered the practice of making geoglyphs in the region. They also practiced cranial deformation and many people in this culture would have very unusually high-shaped skulls as a result. Their culture would later merge into the Nazca culture in the same region, which would take these cultural traits and continue them.

Paracas culture textiles

Around the 700's BC pre-Muisca tribes may have settled in Colombia and engaged in agriculture. We know that the peoples of Colombia began to become more urbanised during this time period, but there were no major historical cultures noted there as yet.

Around the century of the 500's BC, the Cupisnique culture, on the northern Pacific Coast of Peru, began to decline. They may have been the cultural forerunners of the later Moche culture. The Cupisnique culture leave behind large numbers of ceramic objects, including many figures showing decapitators and decapitatees. This was also typical of the later Moche pottery. They may also have had some connections to the more inland Chavin culture and to their religious traditions.

Around this time Chavin de Huantar seems to have undergone major changes. The site itself was still occupied, but the people began to reuse the older monuments and the older temples and plazas were built over and turned into small dwellings. An elaborate relief stela, called the Lanzón Stela was erected around this time. It may have represented a new deity or a new method of worship. There are many interpretations of these events, but it seems reasonable to assume that there were major changes in the Chavin religious tradition around this time.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the rise of new cultures and the decline of older ones. The Paracas culture in particular would prove influential to later cultures in the region.

Paracas culture geoglyph

Related Blogs:
Some South American history from 4000-2000BC
Some South American history from 2000-1000BC
Before the Incas

Some North American history from 1000-500BC

Olmec head sculpture from Tres Zapotes

This is a post about North American history from 1000-500BC. I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists but the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological but I may make some references to the beliefs of later cultures.

For the purposes of this blog, North America will comprise of Alaska, Canada, the continental USA, Mexico, all the Central American countries as far as Panama, the Caribbean Islands and, for good measure and because there was nowhere else to really put it, Greenland.

At the start of the period under discussion, the Olmec culture on the Caribbean coast of Mexico was flourishing. The main settlement here was the city now known as San Lorenzo, but there were also other settlements at La Venta and Tres Zapotes. These were the largest settlements in Mesoamerica, although even the great city of San Lorenzo probably had no more than 20,000 people in it at the highest of estimates. San Lorenzo had a large ceremonial site, complete with pyramid and central plaza.

The pyramid of San Lorenzo was matched by the site at Poverty Point, in what is now the state of Louisiana in the United States. This was a large site with massive prehistoric earthworks and a great mound which was the largest structure in North America for millennia afterwards. The culture that built these earthworks is known unimaginatively as the Poverty Point culture, named after the type site of the civilisation. The dwellers of the Mississippi floodplain were clearly quite organised, but they did not systematically use either agriculture or ceramic pots. They did bake clay, but did not create pottery as we know it.

Olmec stone head from La Venta

Around the century of the 1000’s BC the Woodland Period began in what is now the southern part of the continental US. This was a period where the inhabitants built mounds and engaged in trade, in a fashion quite similar to the Watson Brake and Poverty Point cultures, but covering a much larger area and extending much further northwards. The first of these cultures of note would be the Adena culture in what is now the Ohio region, but these would only flourish some time later.

In the century of the 900’s BC the impressive monuments of the Olmec city of San Lorenzo would be destroyed. The city of San Lorenzo falls into deep decline around this time. The city of La Venta would now become the most prominent Olmec city, with Tres Zapotes also becoming important. The destruction of the monument may have been the result of a natural catastrophe that led to the abandonment of the city. It may well have been an internal rebellion or an attack from the inhabitants of La Venta. We will probably never know exactly why San Lorenzo was damaged so badly, but these seem the most likely explanations. The population declined sharply and within a century barely anyone inhabited the city.

Ruins from the early Mayan
 city of Nakbe

The city of La Venta now began to reach its zenith and expanded, building temples and a great pyramid and carving more of the great stone heads for which the Olmec culture is so famed. It is from La Venta that the first representation of the feathered serpent is found in Mesoamerica.

It is around this time that the Cascajal Block, an early example of what may be proto-writing, was created in the Olmec regions. The stone was found by locals and not in a proper archaeological context, so dating is conjectural. It is also not clear if this was a full writing system, if it is writing at all, or if the artefact itself is even genuine. But it certainly raises the possibility that the Olmec civilisation had made the giant leap forward to becoming a literate civilisation.

Around the century of the 700's BC large structures begin to be built at the settlement of Nakbe, in present day Guatemala on the Yucatan peninsula. This is probably the earliest settlement of the Maya culture to reach the level of a city. The monumental architecture that would characterise later Mayan cities was there in Nakbe, including pyramids, palaces, elaborate tombs and causeways.

Also around this time, the Poverty Point culture in the Mississippi Valley seems to have come to an end. The proto-city of Poverty Point itself, with its great mounds and ridges, seems to have been abandoned and the people gathered there no more.

Far to the north in the lands of Greenland, the Dorset culture appears to have emerged from the previous culture, known as the Independence culture. The Dorset culture appears to have become almost too adapted to the frozen north. They had forgotten how to make drills or bows, but they were skilled at hunting animals in and on the ice. The Dorset later had settlements in Canada on the northern lands of what would now be called the province of Nunavut.

Walrus ivory carving of a polar bear

Around the 600’s BC the Tchefuncte culture existed on the Louisiana coasts. They foraged for shellfish and are known primarily through the shell middens that they left behind. After the decline of the Poverty Point culture, the early Woodland Period along the Mississippi and Ohio basins does not show much sign of urbanisation.

Around the century of the 500's BC Tres Zapotes became the most important of the Olmec cities. Once again, colossal heads, probably wearing the headdresses of ballplayers, were carved from stone.

Around this time, the Zapotec civilisation began in the Oaxaca Valley in the southwestern regions of Mexico. The main settlement was Monte Alban, although there was another important early settlement at San Jose Mogote, which may have been in conflict with the city at Monte Alban. Here again, monumental architecture, the Mesoamerican ballgame and the agriculture based around the Three Sisters of Mesoamerican agriculture were prominent.

And thus the period draws to a close. In Mesoamerica, the Olmec civilisation is still thriving at the cities of Tres Zapotes and La Venta, while newer the newer civilisations of the Mayans and Zapotecs have arisen to the south and the west of the Olmec. Further to the north, in what is now the continental United States, the Poverty Point culture has disappeared, leaving behind less-organised cultures in its place. While to the far north the Dorset culture has begun in Greenland. I will continue the tale in later blogs.

Pyramid from the Olmec city of La Venta

Related Blogs:
Some North American history from 4000-2000BC
Some North American history from 2000-1000BC
Mesoamerica: The Olmecs

Some Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC

Plain of Jars site in Laos

This is a post about Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC. I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists, but the broad outlines of what I will describe here will hopefully be mostly correct. The dates presented here will be very broad estimates and may well be wildly off. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological but I may make some references to later myths and legends.

For the purposes of this blog, Southeast Asia will be held to comprise the lands of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the archipelago of Indonesia and East Timor. There are strong reasons for including Taiwan and southern China within the remit of this piece, but these will be covered elsewhere I think.

From a linguistic perspective, the mainland of Southeast Asia was probably populated by speakers of Proto-Austroasiatic languages, which would later diverge to form language groups such as the Khmer and Vietic languages. The speakers of Austronesia languages had begun their epic migrations that would see their language family stretch from Madagascar to Easter Island. Other languages such as Tai languages group or the Lolo-Burmese portion of Sino-Tibetan were not yet much spoken in the region, as the speakers of these languages came in later migrations to the region. Agriculture had spread to nearly every part of Southeast Asia and bronze working was well known on the mainland, although it had perhaps not spread out to the island archipelagos of Indonesia and the Philippines just yet.

Plain of Jars site in Laos

At the beginning of this period, around the century of the 1000’s BC the Đồng Đậu culture in Vietnam had been replaced by the Gò Mun culture and the Dong Son culture. Further to the south of the Red River basin, in central and southern Vietnam, the Sa Huỳnh culture was beginning.

The Dong Son culture was a Bronze Age culture centred on the Red River Delta in Vietnam. They had used wet-rice agriculture to feed their people. Later Vietnamese chronicles speak of a semi-legendary Van Lang Dynasty that ruled the region around this time and far earlier. It is likely that the Van Lang are legendary, at least around this period. But it is also possible that in the following centuries that there was a kingdom called Van Lang. If this kingdom did exist, it was said to have an important citadel at Cổ Loa, where there is indeed a record of ancient settlement. As I say, I don’t want to credit the legends of the Van Lang too much, but I would not consider them entirely without foundation either.

Distribution of Dong Son drums

The Sa Huỳnh culture further to the south was another Bronze Age culture. This was situated closer to the northern shores of the Mekong Delta. They maintained an extensive trade network and seem to have had trade contacts with the Philippine Archipelago in later centuries, particularly trading for jade, which was precious throughout much of East Asia.

Around the century of the 800’s BC the Gò Mun culture seems to have come to an end. This was a culture in what is now northern Vietnam and either the people of the Gò Mun culture were conquered or assimilated into the Dong Son culture, or the material goods and cultural patterns of the Dong Son culture were perceived as superior and thus adopted by the Gò Mun culture.

Also around this time, the Xieng Khouang Plateau in Laos saw a trading society. This is interesting as it shows that trading networks were spreading into the interior regions, whereas the Sa Huỳnh and Dong Son appear to have been trading by sea.

Around the century of the 700’s BC wet rice cultivation had spread to the Indonesian Archipelago. Or more accurately, it had spread to certain areas thereof, particularly Java.

Dong Son drum

By around the century of the 600’s BC the Dong Son culture began to produce very finely worked drums in bronze. These drums were used by the chieftains and leaders of the Dong Son society and some very large drums have been found at their citadels and fortified sites. But many of these drums were also traded and many of them have found their way to other regions around Southeast Asia, where they were traded or given as gifts to high status individuals across the region.

Around the century of the 500's BC ironworking was beginning to be seen in Mandalay in what is now Burma. Iron-working had now begun to spread throughout much of the region, particularly the regions now referred to as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. It is probable that iron-working was known in what is now the country of Vietnam, but considering that bronze-working was held in such high esteem by the cultures there, it may have delayed the onset of the Iron Age.

In what is now Laos, it is probable that the site known as the Plain of Jars began to be used. The Plain of Jars is an area on the Xieng Khouang Plateau that contains some enigmatic monuments. Great stone jars were placed across the plains. The jars were probably once lidded, but few lids survive. These megaliths, for they are carved out of single large stones, are not easy to date, as stone cannot be carbon-dated. It is suspected that these are connected in some ways with the trade routes through the region, but we cannot tell exactly who built the jars on the Plain of Jars, or why. They are perhaps one of the most fascinating megalithic sites in the world.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the beginning of the Iron Age in Southeast Asia, the long-distance Sa Huỳnh trading network, the elaborate bronze drums for the elites of the Dong Son, and the Plain of Jars for reasons that no one yet knows.

Dong Son drums

Related Blog Posts:
Some Southeast Asian history from 4000-2000BC
Some Southeast Asian history from 2000-1000BC
Some Southeast Asian history from 1000-500BC
The Plain of Jars

Some Japanese and Korean history from 1000-500BC

Dogu figurine from Final Jomon Period

This is a post about Japanese and Korean history from 1000-500BC. I am not an expert on this time period at all and there is much that is still unknown and being discovered by archaeologists but the broad outlines of what I will describe here should be mostly correct. This is a time before writing in this part of the world so the main sources will be entirely archaeological, but I may make some references to later myths and legends.

In Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, to the north of Japan, there is evidence of hunter-gatherers at this time as well. It is presumed that they were related to the Jomon peoples of Japan but the harsher climates faced by these more northerly peoples limited their numbers. To the south, in the Ryukyu Islands, similar conditions prevailed, with the islands being inhabited by hunter-gatherers who relied primarily on gathering fish, especially shellfish, from the sea. The remains of the shellfish were deposited in large shell-middens that are very useful to archaeologists.

In Japan, the Final Jomon Period cultural period was in progress around the time period of 1000BC. This period sees more elaborate pottery being created, but also sees the beginning of stagnation and population decline. It is possible that the hunter-gatherers of Japan were finally beginning to exhaust the land. This is of course speculation. There could be other reasons for the apparent drop in population. Perhaps the sites that have been excavated have not been representative of the Final Jomon settlements.

Liaoning type
bronze dagger

The cultural phase in Korea around the time of 1000BC was known as the Early Mumun Period. This is another archaeological term, and is named after a particular type of pottery vessel that is quite typical of the time. This period was a gradual evolution from the Late Jeulmun and saw the same trends continue. Agriculture was practiced, but not intensively. Extended families would cultivate a small plot of land to grow some foodstuffs, augmenting their diet with hunter-gathering and fishing. Once the land had been exhausted they would move on to another patch of land nearby. This type of agriculture did not permit high population levels so the Korean Peninsula was still fairly sparsely populated.

After a number of centuries the farming practices changed to allow small villages to emerge, which were then probably ruled by chieftains. The important people of these villages began to be buried in megalithic graves. In certain ways, Korea looked quite similar to the Late Neolithic in parts of Ireland, or other parts of Europe or Asia, and one of the types of grave, the dolmen grave, would be seen in Korea as well. Korea would go on to have the largest concentration of dolmens in the world but this would happen later.

Not much more can be said for the next few centuries save that around the century of the 1000’s BC, a Chinese prince is said to have come to Korea. Supposedly a descendant of the conquered Shang Dynasty, named Jizi in later Chinese records or Gija in later Korean records, came to Korea. He was then said to have either founded a kingdom named Gija Joseon or to have been granted lands by the Gojoseon ruler. Gija was said to have brought Chinese learning, culture and technology to Korea. Later Korean writers have disagreed with this on nationalist grounds, arguing that this story was a later legend that was meant to bring Korea under the hegemony of China. This might well have been the case. But the main thing to remember is that there is no archaeological evidence of either the Gojoseon or the Gija Joseon kingdoms at this time.

Dolmens in Korea

Around the mid-900’s BC bronze implements and weapons appear in Korea and the Bronze Age in the region is generally dated to around this time. However, it is not clear if this new metalworking technology brought any political centralisation. There is no real evidence for the kingdoms that are said to flourish in Manchuria and the northern regions of the Korean Peninsula at this time.

Around the year 900BC some believe that the Yayoi people came to Japan. The Yayoi were farmers who brought wet-rice agriculture to Japan. They probably came from outside the Japanese archipelago, most probably from the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. However, it is far from certain that the Yayoi were in Japan at this point. The more traditional date for the beginning of the Yayoi Period is 600 years later, and I am somewhat sceptical that the original dates could have been so wildly wrong. I do not think the Yayoi people were yet in Japan at this point, but I did want to mention that there is a possibility that they might have been.

Dolmen in Korea

Around the mid-800’s BC, the Early Mumun Period in Korea ended and the Middle Mumun Period began. The Middle Mumun Period saw large scale agricultural output and wet-rice farming. The social elites were now buried under dolmen tombs. The Korean Peninsula holds more dolmens than any other similarly sized region on earth. Bronze and jade artefacts were buried with these elites.

The period is also sometimes known as the Songguk-ri Period, after excavations at an important site, called Songguk-ri. This is the type-site for the Middle Mumun Period and seems to have been the headquarters of a chieftain. The settlement was protected with a wooden palisade, suggesting that warfare was known at this time.

Around the century of the 700’s BC the Liaoning Bronze Daggers are found in the regions of eastern Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula. These were daggers that were held as high status items by the cultures in the region. They appear to be locally produced rather than imported and their early distribution roughly matches the conjectured boundaries of the later kingdom of Gojoseon, suggesting that the Gojoseon kingdom may have been in at least partial existence at this time.

Dolmen in Korea

According to traditional Japanese history the first Japanese emperor, Jimmu Tenno, began to regin in the year 660BC. He is said to have ruled until his death in 585BC. This information is taken from a much, much later work called the Kojiki. There is no contemporary evidence of his existence and the archaeological context does not support the hypothesis of a society with emperors. It is probable that this time was still in the Final Jomon Period and that agriculture was not yet known on the Japanese islands. Jimmu Tenno is probably legendary, but no harm to mention the traditional dates. Again, it must be noted that there is a dating controversy over the beginning date of the Yayoi Period, with some placing from 1000BC, others at around 500BC, while the previously unanimous date given was 300BC. In theory, if the Yayoi Period was to be dated earlier, it would make the Jimmu Tenno legend more plausible, but it would still be rather unlikely.

Liaoning daggers

Around the mid-600’s BC the Middle Mumun tribal leaders, who buried their dead in dolmens, created a particularly impressive set of dolmens near the present day region of Gochang. This site contains a staggering 442 dolmens.

Around the mid-500’s BC the Middle Mumun Period in Korea is said to have come to an end and replaced by the Late Mumun Period. The Late Mumun Period saw much greater fortifications surrounding the settlements on the Korean Peninsula at this time and it is hypothesised that there was an increase in warfare at this time.

And thus the period comes to a close. The Japanese archipelago was still populated by the hunter-gatherer culture of the Final Jomon Period, although there is speculation that the Yayoi culture had arrived in Japan at that time. In Korea, the Bronze Age had well and truly begun and there are clear signs that the population was becoming urbanised although it is not entirely clear if there were organised kingdoms on the peninsula. It is likely that there was a kingdom called Gojoseon in the northern regions of the peninsula, but it is difficult to prove.

Jomon Period Vase

Related Blog Posts:
Some Japanese and Korean history from 4000-2000BC
Some Japanese and Korean history from 2000-1000BC
Some Japanese and Korean history from 1000-500BC

Some Central Asian history from 750-500BC

Achaemenid Persian cup

This post will look at the years 750-500BC for the region of Central Asia. Central Asia is a little tricky to describe and for the purposes of this post it will include the Pontic Steppes (referred to in previous European posts), the boreal lands north of Siberia and all the steppe lands from the black soil of the Ukraine, the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau, to the northern steppes on the borders of China. I will also include the history of the Iranian Plateau here. It is not Central Asian, but it does link the northern steppes with the regions of Mesopotamia, Anatolia and India. The post will also be an overview, as many of these topics are covered in more detail elsewhere.

The same caveats that I have mentioned before must be mentioned again. I am not a professional historian, merely someone who finds history interesting. So, all of my data should be questioned heavily.

This period predates much writing, certainly for the areas outside of the Iranian Plateau, so much of what we learn will come from archaeology, with some additional input from linguistics, genetics, biology and geology. Dendrochronology is of less use here than in Europe but we have the great fortune to be close enough to written history to be able to use folklore and legend here in a way that we have not been able to do in the posts about prehistoric Europe. There will however be some writings, mainly from nearby Mesopotamia, and in this period, from Greece, which can shed some light on the kingdoms of what is now Iran.

Scythian gold artifact

Around 750BC, under the reigns of Argishti I and Sarduri II, Urartu reached the zenith of its power, raiding the temporarily weakened Assyrian Empire nearly to the gates of Nineveh itself. The Urartian kings left inscriptions boasting of their greatness and strengthened their well-built citadel at Tushpa, near Lake Van.

Through the greatness of the God Ḫaldi, Argishti, son of Menua, built this canal. The land was uninhabited, no one was to be found here. By the grace of Ḫaldi Argishti made this canal. Argishti son of Menua, mighty King, great King, King of Bianiili, ruler of Tushpa
Urartian Inscription 

The following century, from around 750-650BC saw the resurgence of Assyrian power and the Urartians were humbled, but not destroyed by the revived Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Elamites were also locked in wars with the Assyrians, in one case managing to capture and kill the son of the king of Assyria, but the Assyrian armies seems to have established dominance. During this century the Assyrians inflicted multiple defeats on the Elamites, destroying Susa and looting the ancient capitals, temples and ziggurats of Elam.

Depiction of the destruction of Susa

I conquered the city Susa, a great cult centre, the residence of their gods, a place of their secret lore. … I opened up their treasuries, inside which silver, gold, possessions, and property had been stored —which the former kings of the land Elam down to the kings of this time had collected and deposited — and wherein no other enemy apart from me had laid his hands, … The ziggurat of the city Susa, which had been constructed with baked bricks coloured with lapis lazuli, I destroyed it; I stripped off its horns, which were cast with shiny copper. … As for the deities Inshushinak — the god of their secret lore who lives in seclusion and whose divine acts have never been seen by anyone … I carried off to Assyria those gods and goddesses together with their jewellery, … As for their secret groves, into which no outsider has ever gazed or set foot within their borders, my battle troops entered inside them, saw their secrets, and burned them with fire. … I destroyed and demolished the tombs of their earlier and later kings … I prevented their ghosts from sleeping … I devastated the districts of the land Elam and scattered salt over them. … I allowed beasts of the steppe to dwell in the cities as if on a meadow.
Inscription of Ashurbanipal written around 640 (Inscription 11)

During this time, the Medes and their vassal tribes, including the Persians, established themselves fully on the Iranian Plateau. The Assyrians fought them and forced them into submission. The Assyrians also fought another hostile roving tribe, called the Cimmerians, as well as the tribes that were known as Scythians. Another unknown people group known as the Umman-manda was rampaging in the region as well. The kingdoms of the Urartians and Mannaeans were reduced to pale shadows of their former glory and the Scythians may have raided the western Assyrian Empire as far south as the borders of Egypt. The Assyrian Empire was not toppled by the horse tribes of the Scythians however and the Assyrians were strong enough to bring the Elamite Empire to the brink of destruction.

Scythian gold artifact

However, the strength of the Assyrians was not to last and an internal rebellion led by a Chaldean general named Nabopolassar divided the strength of the last Assyrian armies and Nabopolassar crowned himself king in Babylon. Cyaxares, king of the Medes, allied himself with Nabopolassar and together the two kings defeated the last armies of the Assyrians before besieging the King of Assyria in Nineveh. Nineveh fell in 612BC and the armies of Nabopolassar and Cyaxares looted the accumulated wealth of centuries.

The fallen empire of Assyria was mostly taken over by the Babylonians in the year 609BC, after the final remnants of Assyrian resistance were broken near Carchemish. The Medes on the other hand reduced the last vestiges of the Elamite kingdom to vassalage and seem to have ended the Mannaean kingdom. The Median Empire was now probably the largest state in the world, but for now they were allied with the Neo-Babylonian Empire in Mesopotamia.

Elamite artifact

In central Asia the Scythian peoples now held sway. They were not a single unified people, but rather a collection of tribes with a shared culture. The Scythian cultural influence stretched from the northern shores of the Danube in Europe to the edges of the Gobi Desert.

Around the year 550BC is the last possible date for the prophet Zoroaster, who is said to have founded Zoroastrianism, the religion of the Persians. However Zoroastrianism, like Christianity, Buddhism, or Judaism, has looked different at different times. Much of what we know of Zoroastrianism comes from the Sassanid Persian period, over seven centuries later and their sacred book, the Avesta, was compiled in Sassanid times.

Thus spake Ahura Mazda):
"The one who alone has hearkened to my precepts 
    is known as Zarathushtra Spitama; 
For his Creator and for Truth he wishes to announce 
    the Holy Message, 
Wherefore shall I bestow on him the gift of eloquent speech."
Avesta: Ahunuvaiti Gatha: Yasna 29

Later depiction of Zoroaster

Even the date of their prophet Zoroaster is in great doubt. The Greeks believed that he lived at an absurdly early date, perhaps about 6000BC. This is definitely incorrect. Zoroaster is supposed to have composed some religious writings, called the Gathas. The language of the Gathas is similar to that of the Rig Veda but linguistic analysis would suggest that it is slightly later. So, if the assumption that the Rig Veda is mostly composed before 1200BC is correct and the assumption that Zoroaster wrote the Gathas is correct, it would seem likely that Zoroaster would have lived around maybe 1000BC. Later Zoroastrian sources give a date in the mid 500’s BC, which is the latest possible date that it could be.

The issue is complicated by the fact that there is no concrete evidence of definite Zoroastrian practices evident before around the 520’s BC. Nor are there historical figures mentioned in the Zoroastrian texts who can be linked to known personages. The patron of Zoroaster is Vishtaspa, a tribal chieftain or king, who adopts the new religion. Some people have associated this person with a relative of Cyrus, who was better known in Greek as Hystaspes. Hystaspes was a close relative of Cyrus and, before Cyrus’ revolt, seems to have been an independent ruler of a small state under the suzerainty of the Medes. We know that the son of Hystaspes was a Zoroastrian but we cannot tell if this Hystaspes is indeed the Vishtaspa of Zoroastrian belief.

Let them advance in thought, word, and deed 
Toward the satisfaction of Mazda with reverential worship, 
King Vishtaspa, Frashaoshtra, and the successors of 
    Zarathushtra Spitama.
May they teach all to keep to the established straight path, 
Announced by the spiritual preceptors, and ordained by Ahura,
Avesta: Vahishto-Ishti Gatha: Yasna 53

Later depiction of Ahura Mazda

What we can say is that Zoroaster was born into an Iranian tribal world, one that had not been transformed into a large empire under the Persians. He probably lived to the east, possibly in Bactria or Sogdia (perhaps in present-day Tajikstan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan). The religious beliefs of his contemporaries were probably similar to the beliefs described in the Vedas and probably with similar gods, although we cannot be entirely sure of this. The god Mithra and Mitra were pretty much the same god in both Iranian and Indian religions but we cannot speak with certainty for the others.

Zoroaster came to believe that there was a single good god, who was called Ahura Mazda, meaning Wise Spirit. This god was opposed by an evil spirit, Angra Mainyu (Hostile Spirit). Ahura Mazda symbolised Truth and Angra Mainyu symbolised the Lie. This has sometimes been referred to as the first monotheism or the first dualism but the actual system is not really either monotheist or dualist.

There were a great many other actions that Zoroaster approved of, such as being kind to dogs, or slaying certain animals, like snakes, that were said to be followers of the Lie. There was a belief in an afterlife, where a follower of Ahura Mazda would cross the Chinvat Bridge (the rainbow, or possibly the Milky Way) and reach Paradise (which is itself a Persian word meaning “garden”).

There are many other beliefs that the Zoroastrians have, such as the towers of silence and the purity of fire. But these beliefs are not immediately evidence in the earliest Zoroastrian texts, so they will be dealt with at a later time.

Darius the Great

So, in summary, Zoroaster probably founded the Zoroastrian religion at some point between 1000-550BC but there is no definite material evidence for it. Either he or someone else composed the oldest hymns in the Avesta, known as the Gathas. By linguistic evidence, another set of hymns, known as the Yashts, were composed between 600-500BC, so I am fairly sure that Zoroaster probably predates this period. But because I am not sure of any of this I am giving the reader all of my uncertainty.

May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced! May Angra Mainyu be destroyed by those who do truly what is the foremost wish (of God).
I praise well-thought, well-spoken, and well-done thoughts, words, and deeds. I embrace all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; I reject all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds.
Avesta: Ohrmazd Yasht

Around the year 550BC, in a daring coup, Cyrus, who was the king of one of the Median vassal tribes, took over the kingdom of the Medes. Many of the Median nobility were happy with the takeover, as they had not liked the previous King Astyages and Cyrus promised to treat them benevolently. The Lydian kingdom under Croesus is said to have attacked the new combined empire of the Medes and the Persians. Cyrus defeated the Lydians and counterattacked, laying siege to the Lydian capital city of Sardis and capturing it. After this, the Persians and Medes attacked the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which was ruled by the supposedly unpopular King Nabonidus of Babylon. The Persians and Medes captured Babylon after a short siege in the year

Persian bull column from Susa

On learning of the invasion Nabonnedos met him with an army and opposed him in battle. After being defeated, he fled with a small retinue and took refuge within the city of the Borsippians. Cyrus meanwhile seized Babylon and ordered that the outer walls of the city be thrown down because the city seemed to him to be very formidable and hard to capture. Cyrus then marched on Borsippa to lay siege to Nabonnedos. Nabonnedos, however, did not await the siege but surrendered himself first. Dealing with him in a gracious manner, Cyrus granted him Carmania as his residence and sent him out of Babylonia. King Darius, however, took away a part of his province for himself. Nabonnedos, therefore, died after spending the remainder of his life in this country.
Berossus, Babyloniaca, written around 280BC, quoted by Josephus, writing around AD90 (hence the possible mention of Darius here)

After conquering Media, Lydia and Babylonia and making himself the ruler of the largest empire the world had ever seen, Cyrus, who was later to be known as Cyrus the Great, conquered Bactria and the eastern Iranian speaking provinces. Elam was finally subsumed into the Persian Empire and Susa became one of the capitals of this new empire. He then attacked some of the Scythian tribes in Central Asia, but seems to have died on this campaign.

His son Cambyses II took the throne of the Persia. Cambyses II launched an invasion of Egypt and captured the land of Egypt, one of the wealthiest places on earth. But there was a rebellion against Cambyses II while he was in Egypt and he died on his way back to Persia to quell the rebellion. After a series of confused and uncertain events, including a very eventful empire-wide civil war in the years 522-521BC, Darius I of Persia took the throne.

Persian relief

Darius I organised the Persian Empire into an organised state, with roads, a postal service, a unified coinage system and with an organised system of government. He sent an expedition to scout and conquer the lands surrounding the Indus Valley and brought this into his empire. He launched an expedition into Europe, building a veritable bridge of boats from Europe to Asia across the Bosphorus, subdued the lands south of the Danube and launched an expedition against the Scythians that may have pursued the Scythians around the northern shore of the Black Sea as far as the Don River. However Darius I was unable to conclusively defeat the Scythians. He built a magnificent city at Persepolis, while also beautifying Susa.

Around the time period of 500BC, to the north and east of the Persian Empire, the Zhangshung Kingdom in Tibet seems to have become powerful around this time. This kingdom is little known, as archaeology is difficult in the Tibetan Plateau, but it is said to have had a capital at Khylunglung, which is in the Tibetan region, but is close enough to the Indus Valley to be influenced by Indian culture. The Zhangshung Kingdom is said to have been formative in the Bon religion of Tibet, which was the pre-Buddhist religion of the region.

And thus the period draws to a close, with the Scythians dominant in the plains of Central Asia and the Persians ruling much of the known world from the Iranian Plateau.

Persian soldiers on relief from Persepolis

Primary Sources:
Urartian Inscription written around 750BC
Inscription of Ashurbanipal written around 640BC (Inscription 11)
Avesta: Ohrmazd Yasht (written uncertain date)
Avesta: Ahunuvaiti Gatha: Yasna 29 (written uncertain date)
Avesta: Vahishto-Ishti Gatha: Yasna 53 (written uncertain date)
Berossus, Babyloniaca, written around 280BC, quoted by Josephus, writing around AD90 (hence the possible mention of Darius here)

Related Blog Posts:
Some Central Asian history from 4000-3000BC
Some Central Asian history from 3000-2000BC
Some Central Asian history from 2000-1500BC
Some Central Asian history from 1500-1000BC
Some Central Asian history from 1000-750BC
Some Central Asian history from 750-500BC
The 8th Century BC in the Near East: Part I
750-725BC in the Near East
725-701BC in the Near East
675-650BC in the Near East
650-625BC in the Near East
625-600BC in the Near East
600-575BC in the Near East
575-550BC in the Near East
550-525BC in the Near East
525-500BC in the Near East

Some Central Asian history from 1000-750BC

This post will look at the years 1000-750BC for the region of Central Asia. Central Asia is a little tricky to describe and for the purposes of this post it will include the Pontic Steppes (referred to in previous European posts), the boreal lands north of Siberia and all the steppe lands from the black soil of the Ukraine, the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau, to the northern steppes on the borders of China. I will also include the history of the Iranian Plateau here. It is not Central Asian, but it does link the northern steppes with the regions of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

The same caveats that I have mentioned before must be mentioned again. I am not a professional historian, merely someone who finds history interesting. So, all of my data should be questioned heavily.

This period predates much writing, certainly for the areas outside of the Iranian Plateau, so much of what we learn will come from archaeology, with some additional input from linguistics, genetics, biology and geology. Dendrochronology is of less use here than in Europe, but we have the great fortune to be close enough to written history to be able to use folklore and legend here in a way that we have not been able to do in the posts about prehistoric Europe. There will however be some writings, mainly from nearby Mesopotamia, which shed some light on the kingdoms of what is now Iran.

In the century of the 1000’s BC, towards the end of the millennium, the Dasht-e-Kavir had dried up. This had been a great lake that had survived since the end of the last Ice Age. However, it had become seasonal and relied upon the monsoons. When the monsoons had ceased to come to the region some centuries earlier, the Dasht-e-Kavir, which literally means The Great Salt Desert, dried out completely to become an arid wilderness of dunes. Occasional runoff of winter storms from nearby mountain ranges would occasionally make the desert bloom but the region would no longer support great cities easily.

Gold cup found at Hasanlu

I mentioned in a previous blog about the Yaz culture, on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, being a potential precursor to Zoroastrian religion. It is possible that Zoroaster may have been active around this time. However I am unable to say much with certainty here. Zoroaster may never even have existed. The linguistic analysis of the Gathas are not of much help. Zoroaster’s dates could be as late as 550BC or as early as 1500BC. The truth may never be known unless more is discovered, which we may hope will be the case.

Around century of the 900’s BC the Shutrukid Dynasty in Elam came to an end and was replaced by what is sometimes known as the Humban-Tahrid Dynasty, but which is more often simply called the Neo-Elamite Period. The Elamite kings were murdered too often to speak of a single cohesive dynasty. Unfortunately we know very little of the Elamites at this time save the names of the kings and sometimes not even that.

Around 900BC the ancient city of Tepe Sialk was destroyed. This destruction was perhaps at the hands of migrating tribes speaking Iranian languages, the distant ancestors of what we would now call Farsi. The city was rebuilt and reoccupied, although it was clear that it no longer wielded any substantial power.

The wide-ranging Andronovo culture, which had spread across much of central Asia between the Caspian and the Himalayas, is generally held to have disappeared around this time, subsumed into the Karasuk culture in the Siberian region and the rising Scythian and Median cultures to the west and south of the Andronovo heartlands. Further to the west was the Novocherkassk culture that had its heartland on the Pontic Steppe, but which would itself merge into the Scythian culture.

The Mannaean kingdom, located to the east of Lake Urmia, in what would now be the north-west corner of the present-day country of Iran, was founded around this time. This was a kingdom whose rulers spoke Hurrian, and thus were culturally linked to the lands in the Khabur Triangle along the Euphrates floodplain. Very little of their kingdom survives, but we know the names of several of their kings and have some details of their wars from Assyrian documents.

Around the mid 800’s BC the kingdom of Urartu was founded near Lake Van. The Nairi tribes had been in the region for centuries before, and had been enemies of the Assyrians to the south. They are known not only from Assyrian inscriptions and occasional mentions in the Hebrew sacred writings, but also from their own inscriptions, which are imperfectly understood, but are well enough known to still be interpreted. The first known king of Urartu was Arame/Aramu who ruled in the mid-800’s BC.

Deer Stones of Mongolia

Perhaps around this time, although the dates are extremely uncertain, the Deer Stones of Mongolia were carved. These were carved upright standing stones on the steppe, carved with elaborate patterns using stone tools. Many, but not all, are carved with deer motifs. It is very unclear why these were carved, or who carved them, but they stand to this day, with their decorated sides facing eastwards towards the rising sun.

Around the year 800BC the ancient city of Tepe Sialk was destroyed for the final time. It had been a link to the most archaic past of the Iranian Plateau, but now it’s time had passed. The waters of the great lake that had once been nearby had dried away and a sandy desert was forming in its stead.

The city of Hasanlu, near the Mannaean kingdom, but not necessarily part of it, was attacked and destroyed around this time. The culprits were almost certainly the Urartians, who were expanding their power in the region. The destruction layer has preserved the city of Hasanlu remarkably well, allowing archaeologists to reconstruct the city with some accuracy. A number of artefacts have been found, including a remarkable gold cup, probably made some centuries before the destruction of the city, and a pair of skeletons seemingly locked in an embrace as death took them.

Ruins of Hasanlu

Around 750BC, under the reigns of Argishti I and Sarduri II, Urartu reached the zenith of its power, raiding the temporarily weakened Assyrian Empire nearly to the gates of Nineveh itself. The Urartian kings left inscriptions boasting of their greatness and strengthened their well-built citadel at Tushpa, near Lake Van.

Through the greatness of the God Ḫaldi, Argishti, son of Menua, built this canal. The land was uninhabited, no one was to be found here. By the grace of Ḫaldi Argishti made this canal. Argishti son of Menua, mighty King, great King, King of Bianiili, ruler of Tushpa
Urartian Inscription 

And thus the period draws to a close, with the Iranian migrations into the Plateau that would one day bear their name, the demise of the ancient cities on the plateau and the rise to power of a strong state in Urartu that could challenge even the strongest powers of Mesopotamia. I will continue the story in a later blog.

Luristan bronze bucket

Primary Sources:
Urartian Inscription 

Secondary Sources:
The Fall of Hasanlu in Archaeology.org

Related Blog Posts:
Some Central Asian history from 4000-3000BC
Some Central Asian history from 3000-2000BC
Some Central Asian history from 2000-1500BC
Some Central Asian history from 1500-1000BC
Some Central Asian history from 1000-750BC
Some Central Asian history from 750-500BC
The 10th Century BC in the Near East
The 9th Century BC in the Near East: Part I
The 9th Century BC in the Near East: Part II
The 8th Century BC in the Near East: Part I