Spring and Autumn period

The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 771 to 476 BCE (or according to some authorities until 403 BCE) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives from the "Spring and Autumn Annals", a chronicle of the state of Lu between 722 and 479 BCE, which tradition associates with Confucius (551–479 BCE).
During this period, the Zhou royal authority over the various feudal states eroded as more and more dukes and marquesses obtained "de facto" regional autonomy, defying the king's court in Luoyi and waging wars amongst themselves. The gradual Partition of Jin, one of the most powerful states, marked the end of the Spring and Autumn period and the beginning of the Warring States period.
Background.
In 771 BCE, the Quanrong invasion destroyed the Western Zhou and its capital Haojing, forcing the Zhou king to flee to the eastern capital Luoyi (Chinese: 洛邑). The event ushered in the Eastern Zhou dynasty, which is divided into the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods. During the Spring and Autumn period, China's feudal system of "fengjian" (封建) became largely irrelevant. The Zhou court, having lost its homeland in the Guanzhong region, held nominal power, but had real control over only a small royal demesne centered on Luoyi. During the early part of the Zhou dynasty period, royal relatives and generals had been given control over fiefdoms in an effort to maintain Zhou authority over vast territory. As the power of the Zhou kings waned, these fiefdoms became increasingly independent states.
The most important states (known later as the twelve vassals) came together in regular conferences where they decided important matters, such as military expeditions against foreign groups or against offending nobles. During these conferences one vassal ruler was sometimes declared hegemon (; later, ).
As the era continued, larger and more powerful states annexed or claimed suzerainty over smaller ones. By the 6th century BCE most small states had disappeared and just a few large and powerful principalities dominated China. Some southern states, such as Chu and Wu, claimed independence from the Zhou, who undertook wars against some of them (Wu and Yue).
Amid the interstate power struggles, internal conflict was also rife: six élite landholding families waged war on each other inside Jin, political enemies set about eliminating the Chen family in Qi, and the legitimacy of the rulers was often challenged in civil wars by various royal family members in Qin and Chu. Once all these powerful rulers had firmly established themselves within their respective dominions, the bloodshed focused more fully on interstate conflict in the Warring States period, which began in 403 BCE when the three remaining élite families in Jin—Zhao, Wei and Han—partitioned the state.
Early Spring and Autumn (771–685 BCE).
Court moves east (771 BCE).
After the Zhou capital was sacked by the Marquess of Shen and the Quanrong barbarians, the Zhou moved the capital east from the now desolated Zongzhou in Haojing near modern Xi'an to Wangcheng in the Yellow River Valley. The Zhou royalty was then closer to its main supporters, particularly Jin, and Zheng; the Zhou royal family had much weaker authority and relied on lords from these vassal states for protection, especially during their flight to the eastern capital. In Chengzhou, Prince Yijiu was crowned by his supporters as King Ping. However, with the Zhou domain greatly reduced to Chengzhou and nearby areas, the court could no longer support the six army groups it had in the past; Zhou kings had to request help from powerful vassal states for protection from raids and for resolution of internal power struggles. The Zhou court would never regain its original authority; instead, it was relegated to being merely a figurehead of the feudal states. Though the king "de jure" retained the Mandate of Heaven, the title held little actual power.
With the decline of Zhou power, the Yellow River drainage basin was divided into hundreds of small, autonomous states, most of them consisting of a single city, though a handful of multi-city states, particularly those on the periphery, had power and opportunity to expand outward. A total of 148 states are mentioned in the chronicles for this period, 128 of which were absorbed by the four largest states by the end of the period.
Shortly after the royal family's move to Chengzhou, a hierarchical alliance system arose where the Zhou king would give the title of hegemon to the leader of the state with the most powerful military; the hegemon was obligated to protect both the weaker Zhou states and the Zhou royalty from the intruding non-Zhou peoples: the Northern Di, the Southern Man, the Eastern Yi, and the Western Rong. This political framework retained the "fēngjiàn" power structure, though interstate and intrastate conflict often led to disregard for feudal customs, respect for the Ji family, and solidarity with other Zhou peoples. The king's prestige legitimized the military leaders of the states, and helped mobilize collective defense of Zhou territory against "barbarians".
Over the next two centuries, the four most powerful states—Qin, Jin, Qi and Chu—struggled for power. These multi-city states often used the pretext of aid and protection to intervene and gain suzerainty over the smaller states. During this rapid expansion, interstate relations alternated between low-level warfare and complex diplomacy.
Zheng falls out with the court (722–685 BCE).
Duke Yin of Lu ascended the throne in 722 BCE. From this year on the state of Lu kept an official chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals, which along with its commentaries is the standard source for the Spring and Autumn period. Corresponding chronicles are known to have existed in other states as well, but all but the Lu chronicle have been lost.
In 717 BCE, Duke Zhuang of Zheng went to the capital for an audience with King Huan. During the encounter the duke felt he was not treated with the respect and etiquette which would have been appropriate, given that Zheng was now the chief protector of the capital. In 715 BCE Zheng also became involved in a border dispute with Lu regarding the Fields of Xu. The fields had been put in the care of Lu by the king for the exclusive purpose of producing royal sacrifices for the sacred Mount Tai. For Zheng to regard the fields as just any other piece of land was an insult to the court.
By 707 BCE, relations had soured enough that the king launched a punitive expedition against Zheng. The duke counterattacked and raided Zhou territory, defeating the royal forces in the Battle of Xuge and injuring the king himself. Zheng was the first vassal to openly defy the king, kicking off the centuries of warfare without respect for titles which would characterize the period.
The display of Zheng's martial strength was effective until succession problems after Zhuang's death in 701 weakened the state.
In 692 BCE, there was a failed assassination attempt against King Zhuang, orchestrated by elements at court.
The Five Hegemons (685–591 BCE).
Hegemony of Qi (685–643 BCE).
The first hegemon was Duke Huan of Qi (r. 685–643 BCE). With the help of his prime minister, Guan Zhong, Duke Huan reformed Qi to centralize its power structure. The state consisted of 15 "townships" with the duke and two senior ministers each in charge of five; military functions were also united with civil ones. These and related reforms provided the state, already powerful from control of trade crossroads, with a greater ability to mobilize resources than the more loosely organized states.
By 667 BCE, Qi had clearly shown its economic and military predominance, and Duke Huan assembled the leaders of Lu, Song, Chen, and Zheng, who elected him as their leader. Soon after, King Hui of Zhou conferred the title of "bà" (hegemon), giving Duke Huan royal authority in military ventures. An important basis for justifying Qi's dominance over the other states was presented in the slogan 'supporting the king, and expelling the barbarians' (尊王攘夷" zun wang rang yi"); the role of subsequent hegemons would also be framed in this way, as the primary defender and supporter of nominal Zhou authority and the existing order. Using this authority, Duke Huan intervened in a power struggle in Lu; protected Yan from encroaching Western Rong nomads (664 BCE); drove off Northern Di nomads after they'd invaded Wey (660 BCE) and Xing (659 BCE), providing the people with provisions and protective garrison units; and led an alliance of eight states to conquer Cai and thereby block the northward expansion of Chu (656 BCE).
At his death in 643 BCE, five of Duke Huan's sons contended for the throne, badly weakening the state so that it was no longer regarded as the hegemon. For nearly ten years, no ruler held the title.
Hegemony of Song (643–637 BCE).
Duke Xiang of Song attempted to claim the hegemony in the wake of Qi's decline, perhaps driven by a desire to restore the Shang Dynasty from which Song had descended. He hosted peace conferences in the same style as Qi had done, and conducted aggressive military campaigns against his rivals. Duke Xiang however met his end when, against the advice of his staff, he attacked the much larger state of Chu. The Song forces were defeated at the battle of Hong in 638 BCE, and the duke himself died in the following year from an injury sustained in the battle. After Xiang's death his successors adopted a more modest foreign policy, better suited to the country's small size.
As Duke Xiang was never officially recognized as hegemon by the King of Zhou, not all sources list him as one of the Five Hegemons.
Hegemony of Jin (636–628 BCE).
When Duke Wen of Jin came to power in 636 BCE, he capitalized on the reforms of his father, Duke Xian (r. 676–651 BCE), who had centralized the state, killed off relatives who might threaten his authority, conquered sixteen smaller states, and even absorbed some Rong and Di peoples to make Jin much more powerful than it had been previously. When he assisted King Xiang in a succession struggle in 635 BCE, Xiang awarded Jin with strategically valuable territory near Chengzhou.
Duke Wen of Jin then used his growing power to coordinate a military response with Qi, Qin, and Song against Chu, which had begun encroaching northward after the death of Duke Huán of Qi. With a decisive Chu loss at the Battle of Chengpu (632 BCE), Duke Wen's loyalty to the Zhou king was rewarded at an interstate conference when King Xīang awarded him the title of "bà".
After the death of Duke Wen in 628 BCE, a growing tension manifested in interstate violence that turned smaller states, particularly those at the border between Jin and Chu, into sites of constant warfare; Qi and Qin also engaged in numerous interstate skirmishes with Jin or its allies to boost their own power.
Hegemony of Qin (628–621 BCE).
Duke Mu of Qin had ascended the throne in 659 BCE and forged an alliance with Jin by marrying his daughter to Duke Wen. In 624 BCE, he established hegemony over the western Rong barbarians and became the most powerful lord of the time. However he did not chair any alliance with other states nor was he officially recognized as hegemon by the king. Therefore, not all sources accept him as one of the Five Hegemons.
Hegemony of Chu (613–591 BCE).
King Zhuang of Chu expanded the borders of Chu well north of the Yangtze River, threatening the Central States in modern Henan. At one point the Chu forces advanced to just outside the royal capital of Zhou, upon which King Zhuang sent a messenger to ask how heavy and bulky the Nine Cauldrons were; implying he might soon arrange to have them moved to his own capital. In the end the Zhou capital was spared, and Chu shifted focus to harassing the nearby state of Zheng. The once-hegemon state of Jin intervened to rescue Zheng from the Chu invaders but were resolutely defeated, which marks the ascension of Chu as the dominant state of the time.
Despite his "de facto" hegemony, King Zhuang's self-proclaimed title of "king" was never recognized by the Zhou states. In the Spring and Autumn Annals he is defiantly referred to by the Chu ruler's original title "viscount" (the second-lowest noble rank), even at a time when he dominated most of south China. Later historians however always include him as one of the Five Hegemons.
Late Spring and Autumn (591–453 BCE).
The Six Ministers (588 BCE).
In addition to interstate conflict, internal conflicts between state leaders and local aristocrats also occurred. Eventually the dukes of Lu, Jin, Zheng, Wey and Qi would all become figureheads to powerful aristocratic families.
In the case of Jin, the shift happened in 588 BCE when the army was split into six independent divisions, each dominated by a separate noble family: the Zhao, Wei, Han, Fan, Zhi and Zhongxing. The heads of the six families were conferred the titles of viscounts and made ministers, each heading one of the six departments of Zhou Dynasty government. From this point on, historians refer to "The Six Ministers" as the true power brokers of Jin.
The same happened to Lu in 562 BCE, when the Three Huan divided the army into three parts and established their own separate spheres of influence. The heads of the three families were always among the department heads of Lu.
Rise of Wu (584 BCE).
Wu was a "barbarian" state in modern Jiangsu, where the inhabitants sported short hair and tattoos. Although legend ascribed a Chinese origin to the ruling dynasty, Wu did not participate in the politics and wars of China until the last third of the Spring and Autumn period.
Their first documented interaction with the Spring and Autumn states was in 584 BCE, when a Wu force attacked the small border state of Tan, causing some alarm in the various Chinese courts. Jin was quick to dispatch an ambassador to the court of the Wu king, Shoumeng. Jin promised to supply Wu with modern military technology and training in exchange for an alliance against Chu, a neighbour of Wu and Jin's nemesis in the struggle for hegemony. King Shoumeng accepted the offer, and Wu would continue to harass Chu for years to come.
Attempts at peace (579 BCE).
After a period of increasingly exhausting warfare, Qi, Qin, Jin and Chu met at a disarmament conference in 579 BCE and agreed to declare a truce to limit their military strength. This peace didn't last very long and it soon became apparent that the "bà" role had become outdated; the four major states had each acquired their own spheres of control and the notion of protecting Zhou territory had become less cogent as the control over (and the resulting cultural assimilation of) non-Zhou peoples, as well as Chu's control of some Zhou areas, further blurred an already vague distinction between Zhou and non-Zhou.
In addition, new aristocratic houses were founded with loyalties to powerful states, rather than directly to the Zhou kings, though this process slowed down by the end of the seventh century BCE, possibly because territory available for expansion had been largely exhausted. The Zhou kings had also lost much of their prestige so that, when Duke Dao of Jin (r. 572–558 BCE) was recognized as "bà", it carried much less meaning than it had before.
Hegemony of Wu (506–496 BCE).
In 506 BCE King Helü ascended the throne of Wu. With the help of Wu Zixu and Sun Zi, the author of The Art of War, he launched major offensives against the state of Chu. They prevailed in five battles, one of which was the Battle of Boju, and conquered the capital Ying. However, Chu managed to ask the state of Qin for help, and after being defeated by Qin, the vanguard general of Wu troops, Fugai, a younger brother of Helü, led a rebellion. After beating Fugai, Helü was forced to leave Chu. Fugai later retired to Chu and settled there. King Helü died during an invasion of Yue in 496 BCE. Some sources list him as one of the Five Hegemons.
He was succeeded by his son King Fuchai of Wu, who nearly destroyed the Yue state, imprisoning King Goujian of Yue. Subsequently, Fuchai defeated Qi and extended Wu influence into central China.
In 499 BCE, the philosopher Confucius was made acting prime minister of Lu. He is traditionally (if improbably) considered the author or editor of the Spring and Autumn annals, from which much of the information for this period is drawn. After only two years he was forced to resign and spent many years wandering between different states before returning to Lu. After returning to Lu he did not resume a political career, preferring to teach. Tradition holds that it was in this time he edited or wrote the Five Classics, including the Spring and Autumn.
Hegemony of Yue (496–465 BCE).
In 482 BCE, King Fuchai of Wu held an interstate conference to solidify his power base, but Yue captured the Wu capital. Fuchai rushed back but was besieged and died when the city fell in 473 BCE. Yue then concentrated on weaker neighbouring states, rather than the great powers to the north. With help from Wu's enemy Chu, Yue was able to be victorious after several decades of conflict. King Goujian destroyed and annexed Wu in 473 BCE, after which he was recognized as hegemon.
The Zuo Commentary, Guoyu and Shiji provide almost no information about Goujian's subsequent reign or policies. What little is said is told from the perspective of other states, such as Duke Ai of Lu trying to enlist Yue's help in a coup against the Three Huan. Sima Qian notes that Goujian reigned on until his death, and that afterwards his descendants—for whom no biographical information is given—continued to rule for six generations before the state was finally absorbed into Chu during the Warring States period.
Partition of Jin.
After the great age of Jin power, the Jin dukes began to lose authority over their nobles. A full-scale civil war between 497 and 453 BCE ended with the elimination of most noble lines; the remaining aristocratic families divided Jin into three successor states: Han, Wei, and Zhao. This is the last event recorded in the Zuo Commentary.
With the absorption of most of the smaller states in the era, this partitioning left seven major states in the Zhou world: the three fragments of Jin, the three remaining great powers of Qin, Chu and Qi, and the weaker state of Yan near modern Beijing. The partition of Jin, along with the Usurpation of Qi by Tian, marks the beginning of the Warring States period.
List of states.
A total of 148 states are mentioned in the chronicles for this period.
Important figures.
The Five Hegemons (春秋五霸):
Traditional history lists five hegemons during the Spring and Autumn period:
Alternatively:
Bureaucrats or Officers
Influential scholars
Other people
Interstate relations.
Ancient sources such as the "Zuo Zhuan" and the eponymous "Chunqiu" record the various diplomatic activities, such as court visits paid by one ruler to another (), meetings of officials or nobles of different states (), missions of friendly inquiries sent by the ruler of one state to another (), emissaries sent from one state to another (), and hunting parties attended by representatives of different states ().
Because of Chu's non-Zhou origin, the state was considered semi-barbarian and its rulers—beginning with King Wu in 704 BCE—proclaimed themselves kings in their own right. Chu intrusion into Zhou territory was checked several times by the other states, particularly in the major battles of Chengpu (632 BCE), Bi (595 BCE) and Yanling (575 BCE), which restored the states of Chen and Cai.
Nobility.
King Wu abolished the Shang dynasty title "emperor" (di), making the king the highest office of the Zhou dynasty.
Below the king were five ranks of vassals, which from top to bottom rank were:
The ranks had been assigned by King Wu upon the foundation of the dynasty and were usually not revised to reflect changing levels of military strength. In the Spring and Autumn Period this led to contradictory situations such as the relatively insignificant state of Song being a duchy while a great power like Chu was only a viscounty.
Literature.
Some version of the Five Classics existed in Spring and Autumn period, as characters in the Zuo Commentary and Analects frequently quote the Book of Poetry and Book of Documents. On the other hand, the Zuo Commentary depicts some characters actually "composing" poems that would later be included in the received text of the Book of Poetry. In the Analects there are frequent references to "The Rites", but as Classical Chinese does not distinguish book titles from regular nouns it is not possible to know if what is meant is the Etiquette and Ceremonial (known then as the Book of Rites) or just the concept of ritual in general. The existence of the Book of Changes on the other hand is well-attested in the Zuo Commentary, as multiple characters use it for divination and correctly quote the received text.
Sima Qian claims that it was Confucius who, towards the close of the Spring and Autumn period, edited the received versions of the Book of Poetry, Book of Documents and Book of Rites, wrote the "Ten Wings" commentary on the Book of Changes and wrote the entirety of the Spring and Autumn Annals. This was long the predominant opinion in China, but modern scholarship considers it unlikely that all five classics could be the product of one man.
While many philosophers such as Lao Zi and Sun Zi were active in the Spring and Autumn period, their ideas were probably not put into writing until the following Warring States period.
Religion.
While sources such as the Book of Poetry contain passing references to "The Emperor Above" (Shang Di), there is no proper mythology around supernatural entities preserved in the Confucian Classics. The mythology is instead focused around the founders of the dynasty, kings Wen and Wu, who were worshipped as gods.
The various states also worshipped their respective founders as local patron deities. As such the rulers of Qi worshipped Yu the Great and Song worshipped Tang long after the Xia and Shang dynasties had ceased to exist on a national level.


List of years in Japan

This is a list of years in Japan. See also the timeline of Japanese history. For only articles about years in Japan that have been written, see .


Fujiwara no Tadaie

, also known as Mikohidari Tadaie, was a Japanese statesman, courtier, politician, poet and calligrapher during the Heian period.
In 1090 he ordained as a Buddhist monk and undertook the precepts a year later. He died several months later.
Career at court.
He was a minister during the reigns of Emperor Go-Reizei, Emperor Shirakawa and Emperor Horikawa.
Tadaie did well at court, rising to the Senior Second Rank and the office of "Dainagon" (Major Counselor).
Poet.
In this period of Japanese history, the duties of Imperial courtiers included an expectation that each would create and present poems.
An incident from Tadaie's life is featured in a poem which captured a fleeting moment and a gallant gesture:
Calligrapher.
Examples of calligraphy attributable to Tadaie are identified variously by the Japanese government as a "National Treasure", as an "Important Art Object" and as an "Important Cultural Property".
Genealogy.
Tadaie's grandfather was Fujiwara no Michinaga; and his father was Fujiwara no Nagaie. The son of Tadaie was Fujiwara no Toshitada (1071–1123). This lineage was identified as the "Mikohidari" lineage within the "Hokke" branch of the Fujiwara clan.
Tadaie was the grandfather of the poet Fujiwara no Toshinari (1114–1204), who was also known as Shunzei. Tadaie was the great-grandfather of Fujiwara no Sadaie, also known as Fujiwara no Teika.


Ashikaga Mitsukane

 (1378–1409) was a Nanboku-chō period warrior, and the Kamakura-fu's third Kantō kubō, ("Shōgun" Deputy). Being the eldest son, he succeeded his father Ujimitsu in 1398 at the age of 21 when he died during an epidemic. Like his father, Mitsukane aspired more or less openly to the shogunate and, like him and his successors, failed to obtain it. He died suddenly at the age of 32.
Biography.
In 1399, the year after taking power, Mitsukane dispatched his sons Mitsunao and Mitsusada to Mutsu Province's Sasagawa Gosho and Inamura Gosho to stabilize the situation in the region which, together with Dewa Province, his father had received in 1392 from shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi as a reward for his support against the Yamana clan. This because he realized the importance of the area to control the whole Kantō region. In August of the same year he stayed himself in Southern Mutsu, returning to Kamakura only four months later. This increased immensely the support given by the Yūki Shirakawa family to his brothers, and therefore to himself.
In the same year, when Ōuchi Yoshihiro rebelled in Izumi in the , allying himself with the Southern Dynasty (see article Nanboku-chō period), he planned to join him in the hope of being able to replace his relative, "shōgun" Ashikaga Yoshimochi. The plan however failed because Ōuchi was immediately defeated. Partly because of Uesugi Norisada's advice, Mitsukane then gave up and returned to Kamakura. Because he had not given any help to the Ōuchi clan allowed him to feign innocence with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (formally retired, but "de facto" ruler instead of his son Yoshimochi until his death), preventing an overt clash with Kyoto.
In a left at a Mishima Taisha in Izu, Mitsukane admits attacking superior forces, thanks Uesugi Norisada for his counsel, and swears to mend his ways and never to revolt again. It seems clear that at this stage he had abandoned all hope of prevailing over Kyoto. In 1400 Mitsukane swore fidelity to Yoshimitsu, and peace between Kamakura and Kyoto lasted until Mitsukane's death.
Date Masamune, ancestor of the more famous Tokugawa "tozama", together with some allies had rebelled in Southern and Middle Mutsu against Kamakura, so in 1402 Mitsukane sent Uesugi Ujinori (the future Uesugi Zenshū) to quell the revolt. By that time, in Kyoto circulated a rumor that Mitsukane was insane. Whether the rumor had any basis is unclear but, in that case, it may well have been a consequence of his lack of success in defeating the shogunate. He died of natural causes at the age of 32. As his predecessors, he was buried at Kamakura's Zuisen-ji.


Treaty of Nvarsak

The Treaty of Nvarsak (also spelled Nuarsak) was signed between the Armenian rebel Vahan Mamikonian and the representatives of the Sasanian King of Kings ("shahanshah") Balash () at Nvarsak in 484.
Overview.
The Nvarsak Treaty was concluded after the previous Sasanian "shahanshah" Peroz I () was killed by the Hephthalites amid Armenian guerrilla efforts. This treaty ensured religious freedom and autonomy for Armenians.
The conditions of the treaty were as follows:
Following the treaty, Vahan Mamikonian was appointed as "hazarapet" and later "marzban" ("margrave") of Armenia.


Kumara Kampana

Kumara Kampana, also known as Kampana Udaiyar, was an army commander and the prince in the Vijayanagar Empire. He was the son of king Bukka I. Kumara Kampana led the successful invasion of the Madurai Sultanate. His exploits form the subject of the Sanskrit epic poem "Madhura Vijayam" written by his wife Gangadevi.
According to the poetic legend, it was Ganga Devi who gave Kumara Kampana the goddess' sword to fight and liberate Madurai from the Sultanate, reopen the Meenakshi Temple, and "to undertake the righting of vast wrongs", states William Jackson.


Abdagases I

Abdagases I (Greek: Ἀβδαγάσης, epigraphically ΑΒΔΑΓΑΣΟΥ; Kharosthi: 𐨀𐨬𐨡𐨒𐨮 ', ') was an Indo-Parthian king, who ruled Gandhara and possibly roughly over the Indus region from c. 46 to 60. He was a nephew and successor of Gondophares, who had laid foundations for the Indo-Parthian kingdom after revolting against his Arsacid overlords in c. 19. Abdagases was succeeded by Orthaghnes or Pacores.
Life.
Abdagases belonged to the House of Suren, a prominent and influential family within the Arsacid Empire; he succeeded his uncle Gondophares as the ruler of Gandhara in c. 46, whilst Orthagnes succeeded him at Drangiana and Arachosia. The figure of Abdagases is obscure; according to Gazerani, it is likely that Abdagases may have been the same person as another Abdagases, an influential and powerful Suren noble in the Arsacid Empire, who belonged to a faction of Parthian magnates that were dissatisfied with the Parthian king Artabanus II. The Parthian magnates had at first favoured a grandson of Phraates IV, also named Phraates as a better choice for king. However, he met an abrupt death in Syria. The Parthian magnates then turned to another prince, Tiridates III, who was crowned by Abdagases.
Some of the Parthian magnates, however, were supporters of Artabanus II, due to their concern that Abdagases would become the "de facto" ruler of the Arsacid Empire, with Tiridates as a figurehead. As a result, Abdagases and his son Sinnacus withdrew their support from Tiridates as well. This event seems to have coincided with the declaration of independence in Sakastan by the Suren family under Gondophares. The identification of the two Abdagases figures, although supported by some scholars, nevertheless still remains indecisive, due to the lack of numismatic evidence. Abdagases ruled as king till c. 60, and was succeeded by Orthagnes or Pacores.


Khandesh district

Khandesh District (or Kandesh, Khandeish) was a district, administrative division of Bombay presidency of British India under British rule, which included the present-day Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar districts and a portion of Nashik District in Maharashtra.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Khandesh was part of the Maratha Confederacy, and was ruled by the Maratha Peshwa. The district was annexed to British India at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818. A southern portion of the district was detached to form Nashik District in 1869. In 1906 the district was divided into East Khandesh and West Khandesh districts, with their capitals at Jalgaon and Dhulia (Dhule), respectively. East Khandesh was later renamed Jalgaon District, and West Kandesh, later renamed Dhule District, was split in Dhule and Nandurbar districts in 1998.
Administration.
Dhulia aka Dhule town was administrative center of Khandesh district.
On north west corner of the district Narmada river was natural border of the district and in west the base of the hills out skirt in Shahada was natural border of Khandesh. It separated Khandesh from Akrani territory that was present at north right into the hart of the hills where from Narmada river pass Satpuda. On east and south east rows of pillars and some water streams was mark the boundary of Khandesh from central provinces and Berar. To the south Ajanta, Satmala range was rough boundary between Khandesh and Nizam's territory. On south west Arva or Making, Galna hills separate Khandesh from Nasik.
For administrative purposes the British government distributed Khandesh into 16 sub divisions. Of these subdivision Amalner, Pimpalner, Pachora, Bhusaval, Savada had two petty divisions other each had one petty division.


Tulul adh-Dhahab

The Tulul adh-Dhahab (also: Tall / Telul edh Dhehab, Arabic: تلول الذهب), Jordan, are two adjacent tells in the Zarqa River valley, an affluent of the Jordan Valley about an hour's drive northwest of Jordan's capital city Amman. The western of the twin hills, known as Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi, was populated at least from Bronze Age to Late Antiquity, and a beginning of settlement in the Neolithic period is also possible. After the collapse of the ancient buildings probably by an earthquake in Late Antiquity, there was no subsequent settlement on the site. Because of the unfortunate name ("hill of gold") there have been extensive recent disruptions.
Location.
The double hills (hence the plural 'Tulūl', proper: dual 'Tellan' rather than the singular' Tell 'and' Tall ') are situated - about only 35 km northwest of the Jordanian capital, Amman - in the Zarqa River valley, the biblical Jabbok, at the opening of the southern Wadi Hajjaj. The two twin-like natural hills, both of them bearing ruins, are both app. 120 m above the riverbed and forcing the Zarqa River on a winding course around them. Until the 20th century the twin hills obstructed the way to the Zarqa valley heading east. Ancient hikers had to dodge the way into the Zarqa valley and head to the Wadi Hajjaj, the shortest way to settlement area of the Ammonites. That is the reason why the Tulul adh-Dhahab had, until the construction of the Roman road at the exit of Wadi az-Zarqa in Jordan Valley near the present village of Abu Zighan, a high strategic importance. Only about 6.5 kilometers west of the Tulul adh-Dhahab there is the large Tell of Dayr 'Alla (also written as Deir Alla), dating to the Bronze and Iron Age.
Discovery.
The research of the late 19th and 20th century was confirmed by the descriptions of the Tulul adh-Dhahab by S. Merrill (1878, 1881), G. Gustav Dalman, C. Steuernagel and others. M. North conducted a topographic surveys by 1955. But it were the American archaeologists Robert L. Gordon and Linda E. Villiers who carried out a major survey in the years of 1980 and 1982. They published the first map of the ruins that were still visible at this time.
The excavations since 2005.
A team from the University of Dortmund, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Thomas Pola, investigated in cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities (DoA) the western of the two hills more closely since 2005. Since 2006 a team of the University of Basle is involved in the excavations. They are engaged in the geomagnetic prospection, the tachymetrical 3D surveying and the production of close-range aerial photographs for photogrammetric purposes of the site. In addition to the work of R. L. Gordon in 1980/82, there is now for the first time a detailed map of the entire excavation site available in which all the visible surface artifacts are measured.
On the two highest terraces of the hill so far three settlement phases were detected archaeologically. (I) The earliest settlement dates from the period 1300 - 970 BC (14C data); previously no associated architectural remains were found, but layers and a wide variety of finds. At least one predecessor of the fortified wall that surrounds Terrace I and II is contemporary to this earliest phase. The carved lime rock ashlars that were embedded in the later architecture (II-III) as building material could originate from a cult or representative building of this earliest phase or a little later from the period 900-700 BC. The three largest and most interpretable fragments that were found so far show (a) the head of a decorated lion, (b) a woman or child with a goat, and (c) with a (a-b) stylistically similar illustration of two (seated?) beardless persons, each are holding an instrument in front of them that surmount their heads considerably, maybe a harp. - (II) So far only few sections on the top terrace showed foundations of buildings built in the period 375 - 175 BC. Most of these features were destroyed during the construction of the youngest phase. Additionally, some isolated charcoal fragments from the uppermost terrace have been C14-dated to 1960–1750 v. Chr. - (III) On the highest plateau a palatial building of approximately 30 x 30 meters was built with two adjacent peristyle courts, each about 15 x 15 meters in size and angled eastwards. The fragments of architecture of this palace are stylistically placed in the late Hellenistic period or the early years of Herod I. (73 - 4 BC), coins and 14C data corroborate this time approach. Detailed findings suggest that some of this architecture were two-story buildings. Besides limestone also mud bricks were used as building material. This palace ended with a fire event probably after about 50-25 BC, then the facility was vacated and not used again. Later most of the still standing architecture collapsed in an earthquake. - The top two terraces on the steep eastern and south slope were surrounded by a today about 0.5 - 1.5m high preserved wall, its original height is not known. At its inner line room like foundations are set. The layer and period relationship of these walls with the two successive palaces (II and III) could not be clarified yet.
Furthermore, a Chalcolithic settlement lies at the southeastern foot of the western mound, Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi, only slightly above the Jabbok River (Nahr az-Zarqa), but safely above the flood line.
Identification.
The discussion about the question with what ancient place Tulul adh-Dhahab could be identified is controversial. Sites mentioned in the Old Testament (Pnuël / Penuel, Mahanaim) or mentioned by the ancient historian Flavius Josephus (Amathous, Essa) are discussed.
External links.
 - Album with pictures, videos and audio files


Hilakku

Hilakku was one of the Neo-Hittite states during the Iron Age in southern Anatolia during the 1st millennium BC.
Hilakku was north of the Neo-Hittite state of Tabal, west of Que, and north of the Mediterranean sea. It covered the land of Cilicia Tracheia, (Latin Aspera) of the Classical age, otherwise known as 'Rough Cilicia'. It was also within the south-eastern frontiers of the Hittite appanage domain of Tarhuntassa.
Sources.
Trevor Bryce, The Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia,Routledge, Oxon, 2011,
Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of Hittites,Oxford University Press, New York, 2005,
Trevor Bryce, The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms: A Political and Military History, Oxford University Press, New York, 2012,


2000 in Singapore

The following lists events that happened during 2000 in Singapore.


2008 Ziarat earthquakes

The 2008 Ziarat earthquakes hit the Pakistani province of Balochistan on October 29 with a moment magnitude of 6.4. The US Geological Survey reported that the first earthquake occurred north of Quetta and southeast of the Afghanistan city of Kandahar at 04:09 local time (28 October, 23:09 UTC) at a depth of , at 30.653°N, 67.323°E. It was followed by another shallower magnitude 6.4 earthquake at a depth of approximately 12 hours after the initial shock, at 30.546°N, 67.447°E. 215 people were confirmed dead. More than 200 were injured (according to Mohammed Zaman, assistant to the Balochistan chief secretary, Nasir Khosa), and 120,000 were homeless (according to Dilawar Khan Kakar, Ziarat, Balochistan mayor and chief administrator). "The New York Times" reported that Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, director general of Pakistan Meteorological Department, stated the quake epicenter was north of Quetta, and about southwest of Islamabad.
Tectonic summary.
Western and northern Pakistan lie across the complex plate boundary where the Indian Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. In this area the convergence is highly oblique, with the relative northward movement of the Indian Plate of 40 mm/yr (1.6 inches/yr) being at a low angle to the plate boundary. The main active faults are dominated by sinistral (left-lateral) strike-slip motion, with the Chaman Fault being the most important structure, accommodating a large proportion of the plate boundary displacement. The shortening component of the convergence is mainly accommodated by the Kirthar and Sulaiman fold and thrust belts. There is a sharp change in orientation of these two thrust belts near Quetta, known as the Quetta Syntaxis, where the north-south trending Kirthar ranges meet the west-east trending Sulaiman ranges. This area is the most seismically active part of this oblique segment of the plate margin, producing major earthquakes such as the 1935 Quetta event, which caused at least an estimated 30,000 deaths.
Earthquake sequence.
The earthquake sequence began at 22:33 UTC on October 28, with a magnitude 5.3 foreshock. This was followed just over 30 minutes later at 23:09 by the first of the M 6.4 doublet earthquakes. The second M 6.4 doublet earthquake occurred at 11:32 on October 29. There were five significant aftershocks in the period up to December 12, including three M>5 earthquakes on that day.
The observed focal mechanisms were almost all strike-slip in type, but it remained unclear which faults ruptured during the sequence, with both southwest–northeast trending sinistral (left lateral) and northwest–southeast trending dextral (right lateral) faults being proposed. Investigations using InSAR data supported activity on multiple faults in both of these orientations.
Damage.
Most of the casualties were from two villages on the outskirts of Ziarat town. Balochistan chief minister Nawab Aslam Khan Raisani ordered declaration of emergency in the hospitals of the affected areas. These areas, situated on steep terrain, were badly damaged by landslides caused by the quake. Hundreds of mud houses were destroyed.
The tremors were felt in Quetta, Ziarat, Pishin, Qila Abdullah, Mastung, Sibi, Bolan, Kuchlak and Loralai areas.
Response.
Dilawar Khan, mayor of Ziarat District, stated that his office had requested support from the local government. Pakistani military helicopters and troops were dispatched to assess damage and aid victims.


Jayalakshmi Vilas

Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion is a heritage building in Mysore.
Description.
Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion is a building in Mysore city, Karnataka. It is located in the green surroundings of Manasagangothri, the campus of the University of Mysore. It rises on a hillock on the west side of Kukkarahalli Kere(lake). The Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion houses a museum of priceless collections of artifacts. The Karnataka government classifies it as a heritage structure.
The mansion was built in 1905, during the period of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, for princess Jayalakshmi Ammani, the eldest daughter of the Maharaja Chamaraja Wodeyar, at a cost of Rs. 7 lakhs. The location was intentionally chosen to be on top of a small hillock above Kukkarahalli Kere(lake). It was originally called 'the First Rajkumari Mansion'. The first princess Jayalakshmi, was married to Sirdar M. Kantharaj Urs in 1897, who later became the Dewan of Mysore. Kantharaj Urs had a house in the Fort of the Palace called "Gunamba House" after his mother. The mansion was built to be commensurate with their status of princess and dewan.
The mansion was acquired by the University of Mysore to establish a postgraduate centre in its campus known as Manasagangotri. The building was in a state of neglect for a very long time. The building was restored at a cost of Rs. 1.17 crores with funds from the Infosys Foundation. Renovation began in 2002, and completed in 2006. It was inaugurated by the governor of Karnataka on 16 January 2006 by switching on this new illumination system.
Architectural features.
The renovated mansion has 125 rooms, 300 windows, 287 exquisitely carved doors and it was spread across . There are entrances on each side, different from each other. The entrance on the northern side has an extrusion on the stairs presumably to be used as alighting platform from cars and chariots. The mansion is chiefly built of brick and mortar, timber and iron. Stone was dispensed with considering the amount of delay it would have on construction if it were used. There are separated drainages for rain water and used water.


Iino Domain

 was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture). The domain was centered on Iino Jin’ya, a fortified residence in what is now the city of Futtsu, Chiba. It was ruled for the entirety of its history by a branch of the Hoshina clan (later Matsudaira clan) of Aizu.
History.
Iino Domain was created when a 7000 "koku" "hatamoto," Hoshina Masasada was granted an additional 10,000 "koku" of territory in Settsu Province after his appointment as Justicar of Osaka in 1648. On his death, 2000 "koku" was given to his younger son, Hoshina Masafusa, reducing the domain to 15,000 "koku". However, the domain expanded again to 20,000 "koku" under the tenure of Hoshina Masakage. The 10th (and final) "daimyō" of Iino Domain, Hoshina Masaari, served as "wakadoshiyori," and played an important role as a commander in the Second Chōshū expedition. However, during the Boshin War, he switched sides to the Satchō Alliance and was later appointed to judge the guilt of those who had opposed the Meiji Restoration, including many of his relatives from the Hoshina clan of Aizu. Iino Domain became Iino Prefecture on the abolition of the han system in August 1871, and subsequently part of Kisarazu Prefecture, followed by Chiba Prefecture.
The domain had a population of 21,443 people in 4375 households per the 1869 census. The domain maintained its primary residence ("kamiyashiki") in Edo in Azabu.
Holdings at the end of the Edo period.
As with most domains in the han system, Iino Domain consisted of several discontinuous territories calculated to provide the assigned "kokudaka", based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In the case of Iino Domain, the exclave it controlled in Settsu Province was far larger than its home territory in Kazusa, and the domain maintained a secondary Jin’ya in that province.


Bactria (satrapy)

Bactria ( "Bāxtriš") was a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire. The first mention of Bactria comes in 520 BCE at the Behistun inscription. Bactria was a special satrapy in that it was ruled by a crown prince or an intended heir. The capital of Bactria was Bactra, and the region also sometimes included Sogdia. During the reign of Darius the Great, the Bactrians and the Aeglians were placed in one tax district, which was supposed to pay 360 talents every year.


Cadusii

The Cadusii (, Kadoúsioi; lat.: Cadusii) were an ancient Iranian people living in north-western Iran.
Origin.
The original inhabitants of Gilan were the tribes of Cadusii (heirs of the ancient star-seekers), the area of which was the residence of the mythical kings of the Keyanids. George Rawlinson considers the Cadusii to be a tribe of Aryan origin. Titus Livius considered the Cadusii and Medes to be a people of the same origin. The Cadusii , according to Fuller and Humphrey Prideaux, were Israelites - their name Kedushim in Hebrew means "holy people." Cadusii and Caspians mentioned by Herodotus and located in the same territory, according to some authors, refer to barbarians of Scythian origin. William Smith and some other authors write about the scythian origin of the Cadusii.
Hypothesis of Germanic origin
According to "Georgy Telezhko", the traditions of the Chatti and the Cadusii are similar, according to the tales of Tacitus and Greek historians: both peoples have an election of leaders, a noticeable preponderance of infantry over cavalry, settle in the mountains. The Chatti of Asia Minor are also known - the ancient autochthons of Asia Minor. Presumably the Cadusii are former residents of Hattusa, which was the capital of the kingdom of the Hatti. Perhaps a comparison of the Cadusii and the Chatti of Asia Minor is not a necessary condition for the observed continuity of the Cadusii at the Germanic Chatti”.
Cadusii language.
The Cadusii language("Scythian Gelae"), according to some authors, was identical to the language of the Sakas Sakasene from the Behistun inscription.
Yulian Bromley and some other linguistic historians consider the Cadusii an Iranian-speaking tribe.
Johannes Albrecht Bernhard Dorn in his book ""On the campaigns of the ancient Russians in Tabaristan", guided by the opinion of "Richard Gosche", equates the Cadusii language with the Daylami language.
The names and leaders of the Cadusii.
E.Grantovsky argues that the famous names of the Cadusii were Iranian. Charles Rollin indicates that the cadusii had two leaders.
George Rawlinson, along with Israel Smith Clare, in his book calls one of the leaders of the Cadusii as "Aphern" or "Onaphernes"".
Plutarch cites the name of the leader of the cadusians as "Artathe"
On kinship with the Daylamites.
Ancient authors mistakenly attribute Cadusii to the Elamites,but later writers still point out that the Elamites were mistakenly associated with the Daylamites.
About the attitude to the scythian gelae.
Strabo ("Lib, XI. P.10") said that from the Hyrcanian Sea (Caspian) to the east on the right side to India there are mountains called Taurus by the Greeks. On the northern side of these mountains live Gelae and Cadusii,to the left live the Dahae, to the east the Massagetae and Sacae, and others, called by the common name Scythians.
Pliny (Lib, VI. Sar.XVIII) wrote that the Greeks called the Gelae as Cadusii, as well as on the northern side of the Taurus, next to the gelae and cadusii (dokusini), he supposing Aorsi, which the Greeks also called Cadusii. Probably, dokusini (Docusini from the word Dahae) are the same with Dacians, Aorsi and Gelae.
Theophanes of Mytilene, who took part in a military campaign among the Albanians, noted that the Gelae and Legae are Scythians and they are live between the Amazons and the Albanians.
Geography.
The Cadusii lived in Cadusia – a mountainous district of Media Atropatene on the south-west shores of the Caspian Sea, between the parallels of 39° and 37° North latitude. This district was probably bounded on the North by the river Cyrus (today Kura, in the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, historically known as Arran and Caucasian Albania), and on the South by the river Mardus (today Sefid River), and corresponds with the modern Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil.
They are described by Strabo as a warlike tribe of mountaineers, fighting chiefly on foot, and well skilled in the use of the short spear or javelin. It is possible that the name of the Gelae (Gilites) – a tribe who are constantly associated with the Cadusii, to the point of considering the former the national name for the Cadusii – has been preserved in the modern "Gilan".
No mention of the Cadusii has been found in Caucasian or Middle Eastern sources, and they are known only through Greek and Latin sources.
History.
Before the Persian Empire.
They appear to have constantly been at war with their neighbours. First subjected by the Assyrians, if we believe to Diodorus' doubtful sources, they were then brought in at least nominal subjection to the Medes, until they rebelled at the time of the king of the Medes Artaeus. In Ctesias' tale (reported by Diodorus) the war originated from an offence the king gave to an able powerful Persian, called Parsodes. After the offence Parsodes retired himself in the Cadusii's land with a small force and he attached himself with the most powerful of the local lords by offering his sister in marriage to him. At this point the country, who was subject to at least a nominal subjugation to the Medes, rebelled and chose as its war-leader Parsodes, giving him command of their army. Against these the Medes armed no less than eight hundred thousand men (these are the numbers given by Ctesias, which shouldn't be given much trust). Artaeus failed miserably in his attempt to reconquer the Cadusii and Parsodes was triumphantly elected king by the winners. Parsodes waged continuous raids in Media for all his long kingdom, and so did those who succeeded him, generating a state of perpetual enmity and warfare between Cadusii and Medes that continued until the fall of the Medes in 559 BC. But it must be remembered that all Greek records on the East before Cyrus must be treated with the utmost skepticism. This said, it may be that behind this legend there is a part of truth if we believe some scholars who identify Artaeus with Herodotus' Deioces, or better Duyakku, an important Mede chief in the age of Assyrian hegemony. Another point of interest in this story is that Ctesias here mentions for the first time the Cadusii. What seems more certain (in the report of Nicolaus of Damascus) is that near to the end of the Mede kingdom the Cadusii played an important role in bringing its downfall by allying themselves with the Medes' enemies, the Persians.
Cadusii and Persians.
It does not seem that the Persians had initially great difficulties in submitting the Cadusii; they were immediately loyal allies of Cyrus the Great (559–529 BC), firstly against the Medes and secondly against the Babylonians. And their submission seems to have been something more than nominal considering that Xenophon tells us that Cyrus assigned to a son called Tanaoxares (probably Smerdis) the satrapy of Cadusia. But by the times of Darius the Great Persian full control on the region must have suffered a partial setback, since we never hear their name in Herodotus or in Persian inscriptions in the lists of peoples and territories being part of the empire. In an unknown year they had been, it would seem, successfully submitted and probably added to the satrapy of Media or that of Hyrcania; this because it is told that in 406 BC Cyrus the Younger, a son of the High King Darius II (423–404 BC), had just led an expedition against the Cadusii in revolt. Cyrus' expedition was a success as three years later the Cadusii fought at Cunaxa under the banners of Artaxerxes II (404–358 BC) against Cyrus. But their obedience to Artaxerxes II didn't keep long; we see them rebelling in 385 and 358 BC. The first rebellion was defeated by a great army led by the same Artaxerxes. In the victory paid a key role the king's advisor Tiribazus, who smartly tricked the chief rebels in submitting themselves to the king. Another man who distinguished himself in the campaign was Datames, who would rise to become one of the most brilliant Persian generals. The conflict of 358 under Artaxerxes III (358–338 BC) was the last major clash between Cadusii and Persians; for the last years of the empire the Cadusii remained submissive. This war was important since it gave an occasion for the Persian general Codomannus, to distinguish himself in a sole combat against a Cadusian chief; an action that paved him the road to the throne as Darius III (336–330 BC).
Alexander the Great and aftermath.
In the Macedonian conquest of the east the Cadusii remained loyal to the Persians all the way up to Darius III's bitter end; we read of their cavalry fighting against Alexander at Gaugamela (331 BC) and of preparing to send reinforcements to the High King after the battle. But at the end they were subdued by Alexander's general Parmenion. In the subsequent Eastern wars they are mentioned as the allies of one or other party. After the division of Alexander's empire they became part of the Seleucid empire; in this context we read of them fighting for the Seleucids in the battle of Raphia against the Egyptians (217 BC), and their name is cited by Antiochus III's (223–187 BC) envoys at Aegium to the Achaeans as one of the many people under the sway of the Seleucids. But the crushing Romans victory at Magnesia started the disintegration of Seleucid power and the loss of all eastern territories. From this moment, little is known of Cadusian history; they seem to have been early submitted by the Parthians. As their allies Mark Anthony met them in 36 BC during his Parthian campaign; and two centuries later Caracalla in 216 repeated the campaign also entering in contact with the Cadusii. Excepting a forged letter by a Cadusian chief named Velonus to the Sasanian king Shapur I in 260, this is practically the last source that speaks of the Cadusii as an existing people; at this point they seem to vanish probably merging with other Caspian tribes. Modern day Talysh people generally identify themselves with the ancient Cadusians.


Tsurugi (sword)

A or is a Japanese sword. The word is used in the West to refer to a specific type of Japanese straight, double-edged sword used in antiquity (as opposed to curved, single-edged swords such as the katana). In Japanese the term "tsurugi or ken, " is used as a term for all sorts of international long, double-edged swords.
History.
The term tsurugi (剣) designates a straight, double-edged, bladed weapon from Japan. The tsurugi were usually forged from the 5th century (Kofun period) to the 9th century (Heian period). It is a sword, which means that this weapon has two edges, one on each side of its blade, unlike the tachi, katana, wakizashi or odachi, which have only one cutting edge, on one of the two sides of the blade. From the 9th century, the development of the curved tachi began, from which the katana emerged. After the 10th century, it was occasionally dedicated to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.
Nowadays it is mainly associated with very remote historical times, as well as legends and mythology. There are some similarities with the Chinese Jian (called Chugokuken (中国剣) in Japanese), but the Jian has a different design with a wider shaped blade.
Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.
The most famous example is the legendary sword "Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi" which is one of the Three Imperial Regalia of Japan.
Tsurugi-tachi.
The Tsurugi-tachi -剣太刀, a straight sword with only one side of the blade sharpened throughout, was similar to the Tsurugi or Ken . The other (back) side was only worked into a second cutting edge in the front part near the tip.


Nagatoro Domain

 was a minor feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Nagatoro Jin'ya in what is now part of the city of Higashine, Yamagata.
History.
Nagatoro Domain was established by Yonekitsu Michimasa, daimyō of Kuki Domain in Musashi Province. The Yonekitsu territories were scattered across Musashi, Kazusa, Shimōsa, and Hitachi Provinces in addition to their small holding in Dewa. Yonekitsu Michimasa traded is 6400 "koku" in Musashi for lands in Murayama District of Dewa, and moved his seat from Kuri to Nagatoro in 1798.
The third and fourth daimyō, Yonekitsu Masayasu and Yonekitsu Masaaki, was born as the 10th and 11th sons of Sakai Tadakata of Shōnai Domain and was adopted into the clan.
The domain had a population of 2466 per the 1850 census and maintained its primary Edo residence ("kamiyashiki") in Atago-shita.
During the Bakumatsu period, Yonekitsu Masaaki took the unusual step of arming and training 30 commoners in the domain as an auxiliary military force; however, the Boshin War bypassed the domain. After the Meiji restoration, in November 1869, Yonekitsu Masatoshi, the final daimyō, transferred his seat from Nagatoro to his estates in Kazusa, abolishing Nagatoro Domain and creating the new . After the abolition of the han system in July 1871, the Dewa territories of Ōami Domain was absorbed into Yamagata Prefecture. Yonekitsu Masatoshi subsequently served in the Imperial Japanese Army as a member of the Imperial Guard and in 1884 was granted the title of viscount ("shishaku") in the "kazoku" peerage.


Jabroudian

The Jabroudian culture is a cultural phase of the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant. It broadly belongs to the Mousterian culture, and shows connections with the European facies La Quina.
One of the most noticeable elements is the so-called "Amoudian" elements, that are the first known stone blades ever. Nevertheless, the connection of this "Amoudian" innovations with later Upper Paleolithic blades is most likely null.
Etymology.
German prehistoric archaeologist, Alfred Rust, named the period after Yabroud (spelled as Jabrud in German) in Syria, where caves carved into the cliffs of the wadi (valley) of Skifta found near it.
Tools.
The thick layers of Jabroudian consist mainly in heavy scratchers and hand axes. The proportion of the first type of tools tends to increase as time passes, while the axes show a decrease even totally disappearing in the upper layer of some Jabroudian sites.
"Amoudian" blades.
A most interesting facet of Jabroudian culture are the so-called "Amoudian" blade tools. This is the earliest known stone blade industry ever and it's always found inserted in Jabroudian sites, with both "cultures" being inseparable. As with the hand axes, the proportion of stone blades decreases with time, until it finally vanishes with the end of Yabrudian culture.
There is a gap of c. 10,000 years between the end of this blade tradition and the appearance of Upper Paleolithic technology, based precisely on stone blades.
Human remains.
The only human remain associated with this culture is a skull found in the cave of Zuttiyeh, in the Galilee region of Israel, that belongs to a Neanderthal.
Hunting.
There is evidence that the Jabroudian people hunted a wide array of animals: elephants, rhinoceros, antelopes and small animals are all found in their sites.
End of Jabroudian.
The end of this culture is associated to the introduction of other (also Mousterian) cultural trends, of Levalloisian tradition, that were widely distributed through Western and Central Asia.


Lambardar

Numbardar or Lambardar (, , , ) is a title in the Indian subcontinent which applies to powerful families of zamindars of the village revenue estate, a state-privileged status which is hereditary and has wide-ranging governmental powers: mainly revenue collection and a share in it, the collaboration with the police for maintaining law and order in the village, and it comes with the associated social prestige. In contrast, the Zaildar who was the grand jagirdar and usually had the power over 40 to 100 villages(gao). The Zail and Zaildar system of British Raj was abolished in 1952 in India but the lambardar system still continues in Pakistan and in some places in India.
Etymology.
The compound word "numberdar" is composed of the English word "number" (such as a certain number or percentage of the land revenue) and "dar" (در from the Persian loan word into Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages, meaning the bearer, possessor, holder, keeper or owner), thus in this context it means "the one who holds a certain percentage of the land revenue".
The alternate term "lambardar" is a matter of dialect. Malwa region of Punjab and in the states of Haryana, Himachal, Delhi, Uttra Khand, Uttar Pradesh, etc. the official term in the land revenue acts is "numberdar". In Majha dialect of Punjabi language, the sound "L" become "N", such as "langhna" (pass) and "nambardar" (percentage revenue holder) become "naghna" and "lambardar" respectively. The term "lambardar" is used in the land revenue acts of Jammu and Kashmir state of India and West Punjab (Pakistan) and Pakistan. Currently both terms, are easily substituted across India and Pakistan, including in the land revenue acts of Uttar Pradesh.
History.
During early and medieval times, cultivators just broke the land and cultivated as much they needed. During drought and famine they frequently abandoned the land and moved to other places. Hence, the land ownership was not a permanent concept. They were taxed by the rulers of the day based on the number of the cattle and area of the land cultivated. After the famine of 1783, many cultivators abandoned the villages and migrated elsewhere, and some land was sold by the owners. Slowly prominent farmers came into the possession of large lands, and they acquired the status of proprietors of the village estate and were recorded as such during the settlement of 1840-41 by the British Raj. These estates came to be known as zamindari or pattidari tenures, most influential and the largest estate-holders among them in due time became zaildars and lambardars. The British even used them as a localised dispute ombudsman and gave these big zamindars some moral policing rights. During the settlement of 1840-41, the tenants were classified into three classes: (a) those who had held land continuously for many years at a fixed rent and were not liable to ejectment, (b) the tenants in "bhaiachara" (brotherhood) villages who paid rent at the same rate as the members of brotherhood and who so long as they paid this rate were never ejected, (c) and those who cultivated from year to year under fresh agreement. These tenancies were further classified during 1863 settlement and a definite status was fixed on different classes of tenants. The ordinary division into tenants with or without right of occupancy was adopted. Thus, the concept of the formal permanent ownership of the land came into being, and became a legalized and formally documented.
India.
The Land Revenue System.
Each estate is represented by one or more lambardars in its dealings with the government. Estates are grouped into patwar circles under the charge of a Patwari, while 15 to 20 circles form the charge of a Kanungo, whose duty is to supervise the work of Patwaris. An estate is the unit of land revenue administration for the collection of tax. Each estate is usually equal to a village. Each estate is individually assessed by a Patwari and its record of rights and register of fiscal and agricultural statistics maintained separately. All the proprietors are by law jointly responsible for payment of land revenue.
Land Reforms of India.
After India's independence in 1947, government enacted several land reforms such as the assessment of permissible area in relation to a family instead of an individual, and reduced the permissible area to the set limit (e.g. to 7.25 hectares in Punjab) of land under assured irrigation capable of growing at least 1 crop in a year or 21.8 hectares in respect of any other land including banjar and land under orchards. In addition to legally capping the amount land holding by the government, the voluntary Bhoodan movement of 1950s and 60s also led to the donation of the land ownership from rich owners to the landless tenants. Government also undertook aggressive land consolidation and standardization of "killa" (agricultural plots of one acre each).
Legal description.
In India, each state has its own land acts governing the system of Nambardari. Following acts are applicable to the states of Punjab, Haryana Himachal Pradesh Delhi Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh.
The Land Holdings Tax Act, 1973.
Before the "Land Holdings Tax Act, 1973", was enacted, the lambardar was paid
"pachhotra" (commission) at the rate of 5 per cent of land revenue. In this act various levies were consolidated into land holdings tax and lambardars' share was fixed at 3 per cent of the new tax revenue.
Present remuneration.
Presently, remuneration varies from state to state, some states pay no wages or commission, some pay an honorarium and while others pay nothing.
Under the Digital India initiative, some states have taken to cutting delays in paying honorarium, set as percentage of the revenue collected from the respective estate, via the regular direct electronic transfer, the Government of Haryana is one such example.
In 2019, Government of Haryana raised the monthly honorarium for lambardars from INR1,500 to INR3,000.
Pakistan.
Legal description.
The lambardari system in Pakistan is based on the pre-partition Indian land revenue system. After the 1947, both nations have made changes to the land revenue acts, leading to some differences in the practice and implementation, though the basic concept remains same. India has undertaken aggressive land reforms, capping the ceiling of the area of land holding, and distribution of the ownership of excess land above the ceiling limit to the cultivators tenants thus reducing the percentage of tenants by converting them into the permanent owners. These reforms are pending in Pakistan, leading to the landownership in limited hands.
The West Pakistan Land Revenue Rules, 1968.
Rule 16. Number of headmen.
Feudals in the Senate.
After the independence, unlike India, Pakistan did not undertake the land aggressive land reforms to transfer the land ownership from zamindars to cultivators. As a result, the majority of the agrarian land holding still remains in the hands of very few powerful zamindars, who now hold sway over the political power and refuse to reform the land ownership to continue their hold over wealth and power. Almost all elected leaders of the state have been from the landed and feudal gentry in many cases holding the title of lambardar. That has resulted in a feudal system perpetrating the Pakistan Senate and its elected representatives. Most Presidents and prime ministers also have been from feudal stock, with the exception of martial law administrators and generals, who led coups.
Lambardar is semi hereditary status in Punjab, Pakistan. Zamindar with considerable land holdings and Hereditary status are usually serving as Lambardar. Currently Educated youngsters with Landholdings and Hereditary status are Being appointed by Deputy Commissioners to Replace Old Member of Family Serving as Lambardars in Punjab.
Mr.Jagat Singh Chauhan who belongs to India village Shilla , District Sirmour HimachalPradesh. He took charge of Numberdari at the age of 10 when he was studying in 5th Standard as his father knows Urdu and at that time all the official documentation changes to Hindi.
The first female Lambardar in West Pakistan was Begum Sarwat Imtiaz who took oath in 1959. She was lambardar of village Chak 43/12 L, Chichawatni, District Montgomery (now Sahiwal). Presently her daughter Begum Arshia Azhar is Lambardar of said village. That was recognized as a milestone for women empowerment in patriarchal Pakistan and the Muslim world.


Kamarupa Pithas

Kamarupa Pithas or Kamrup Piths are ancient pithas or geographical divisions of Kamarupa. The division of the Pithas are not consistent in different sources, though the number of pithas are usually four. Since these pithas are not mentioned in the Kamarupa inscriptions, and are found mentioned only in later medieval texts some authors have suggested that these divisions are possible later fabrications. The Yogini Tantra (16th- 17th-century), mentions the Kamarupa Pithas, the same work which gives boundaries of ancient Kamrup kingdom as well.
Number of Pithas.
The number of pithas reported are usually four, though some sources mention just three.
The four Pithas were (i) Ratnapitha, the area from the river Karatoya to the river Sonkosh, (modern day Goalpara region), (ii) Kamapitha , from Sonakosh to the river Rupali (Kamrup region), (iii) Swarnapitha, from the river Rupali to the Bharali river (Central Assam) and (iv) Saumarapitha between the Bhairavi and the Dikarai river (Eastern Assam).
According to the Kamrupar Buranji, the divisions are: (i) Ratnapith from the Maurang kingdom to Sankosh river; (ii) Kampith from Sankosh to Duimunisila; (iii) Bhadrapith from Kallang river to kailash river and (iv) Saumarpith from Duimunisila to Dikkaravasini.
D C Sircar provides three different versions: (A) Kamapitha (Karatoya to Sankosh); Ratnapitha (Sankosh to Rupahi); Suvarnapitha (Rupahi to Bharali); and Saumarpitha (Bharali to Dibang near Sadiya). (B) Ratnapitha (Karatoya to Manas); Kamapitha (from Manas to Silghat on the northbank of Brahmaputra); Bhadrapitha (south bank, south of Kamapitha); and Saumarpitha to the east. (C) This boundary is taken from the "haragaurisamvada": Ratnapitha (Karatoya to Sankosh); Kamapitha (Sankosh to Kapili); Suvarnapitha (Rupika to Bhairavi); and Saumarpitha (Bhairavi to Dibang).


Maeda Toshiaki II


Chichali (archaeological site)

Chichali is an archaeological site located on the left bank of the Narmada River in India, 7 km west of village Nimrani on the Mumbai Agra Highway. The site was discovered in 1996-1997 by the Prehistory Branch of the Archaeological Survey of India, during the course of exploration headed by "Shri S.B. Ota."
Anthropomorphic figurines.
Chichali has produced twenty examples of anthropomorphic figurines, variously on pottery (12), in stone (3), ivory (4) and bone (1) from different levels of Early Historical Period. Two examples were found, having well marked head, torso and legs. These have parallels from comparable levels at Kaundinyapur, Amravati district, in Maharashtra.
Excavation.
Megaliths were constructed after depositing the funerary goods in the natural shallow depressions on the disintegrated bed - rock and covered with cairn heap and surrounded by big boulders. Materially the excavation yielded fragments of post-cremated human bones (skull fragments, long bones, ribs, etc), red ware, dull red ware and black and red ware ceramics. A notable feature of these megaliths is the total absence of iron objects.
Chalcolithic settlements.
Chichali is the historical origin of the Goswamis people who were known as Gosais and currently a single family of this ancient inhabitants currently reside in this area. The collections of the physical remains that were gathered by the archeologists who explored the area include the white painted black and red ware, thick incised red ware, red slipped ware, black furnished ware, black and red ware, dull red ware, grey ware and black on red ware.


Desai Shri


Philoxenus Anicetus

Philoxenus Anicetus (Greek: ; epithet means "the Invincible") was an Indo-Greek king who ruled in the region spanning the Paropamisade to Punjab. Philoxenus seems to have been quite an important king who might briefly have ruled most of the Indo-Greek territory. Bopearachchi dates Philoxenus to c. 100–95 BCE and R. C. Senior to c. 125–110 BCE.
Historians have not yet connected Philoxenus with any dynasty, but he could have been the father of the princess Kalliope, who was married to the king Hermaeus.
Coins of Philoxenos.
Philoxenus struck several series of bilingual Indian silver coins, with a reverse of a mounted king, a type previously used as obverse by Antimachus II sixty years earlier and as reverse on rare types of Nicias. Whether the horseman was a dynastic emblem or a portrait of the king as a cavalryman is unclear. Several Saka kings used similar horsemen on their coinage.
His drachms were square, another feature that was rare among Indo-Greeks but standard for Sakas, and this indicates that Philoxenus had connections with the nomads that had conquered Bactria.
Philoxenus struck bronzes with female deity/bull, or Helios/Nike.
Philoxenus also minted some Attic-type tetradrachms (with Greek legend only), meant for circulation in Bactria.
Overstrikes.
One overstrike is known, of Epander over Philoxenus.


Archaeological sites in Pakistan

Pakistan is home to many archaeological sites dating from Lower Paleolithic period to Mughal empire. The earliest known archaeological findings belong to the Soanian culture from the Soan Valley, near modern-day Islamabad. Soan Valley culture is considered as the best known Palaeolithic culture of Central Asia.
Mehrgarh in Balochistan is one of the most important Neolithic sites dating from 7000 BCE to 2000 BCE. The Mehrgarh culture was amongst the first culture in the world to establish agriculture and livestock and live in villages. Mehrgarh civilization lasted for 5000 years till 2000 BCE after which people migrated to other areas, possibly Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are the best known sites from the Indus Valley civilization (c 2500 - 1900 BCE).
Stone Age.
Lower Paleolithic (Pre-Soanian).
Pre-Soanian culture in Pakistan corresponds to Oldowan culture dating back to the Mindel glaciation. Some findings in Punjab belong to this period.
Lower to Middle Paleolithic (Soanian).
Early Soanian sites correspond to the Acheulean period. Different stone artifacts have been discovered from these sites from all over Pakistan. Sites in Soan Valley and Potohar Plateau from this period include;
Neolithic.
Mehrgarh (c. 7000 BCE - 2000 BCE), from Neolithic age, in Balochistan is one of the earliest sites with evidence of agriculture and village structure.
Ghaggar-Hakra (c. 6000 BCE) Artifacts Found in Hakra Civilization also date back to the same period of Mehrgarh.
Pre-Harappan farming communities date back to Neolithic time which ultimately evolved into urban Harappan civilization. Explorations and archaeological findings establish the dateline of Pre-Harappan culture from 2700 BC to 2100 BC followed by Harappan period from 2100 BC onwards. Some of the regions showing pre-Harappan culture include;
Islamic era.
Islamic influence in the region started as early as 7th Century.


Vagada (Numidia)

Vagada, also known as Vagadensis and Bagatensis, was a town in the Roman-Berber province of Numidia. It was a Roman Catholic diocese.
Location.
Vagada was located in the region of Mauretania Caesariensis. It has been tentatively identified with the ruins at El-Aira in the modern Constantine Province, Algeria (36° 19' 3" North, 6° 49' 43" East), situated between what was Cirta and Thibilis. Vagada was known to be on the Magerada River. Epigraphic remains have given the name of the town as Bagatensis.
Bishopric.
Vagada was also the seat of an ancient Roman Catholic bishopric of the Roman province of Numidia. The only known bishop of this diocese from antiquity is Fulgentius, who took part in the Council of Carthage (484) by the Vandal king Huneric, after which Fulgentius was exiled.
The current titular bishop is Bohdan Dzyurakh, curial bishop of major archbishopric of Kyïv-Halyč who succeeded Robert Camilleri Azzopardi in 2004. Other notable bishops include Paul Bouque (28 May 1934 Appointed – 14 Sep 1955) and Denis James Hart (10 Nov 1997 Appointed – 22 Jun 2001).
Known bishops


2007 Asian heat wave

The 2007 Asian heat wave affected the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as Russia, Japan and the People's Republic of China. The heat wave ran during the months of May and June, which continued to September in Japan.
India.
Heat-related deaths were reported from the capital New Delhi, northern Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. After three days of intense heat with temperatures hovering about 40 °C (104 °F), New Delhi was relieved as the temperature slid down to 37.2 °C (99.0 °F). Meanwhile, the temperature soared to more than 46 °C (115 °F) at several places in northern Madhya Pradesh, with Datia turning out to be the hottest at 48 °C (118 °F).
More than 120 peacocks died in Tughlaqabad Fort and Surajkund due to the heat; additionally, reports of severe water shortages were common. A total of 400 peacocks died in Madhya Pradesh, about 200 of those in Haryana and Punjab alone.
The cotton crop in Punjab was severely affected by the heat wave. Meanwhile, the persisting heat wave in various parts of Chandigarh rendered milk cattle dry. When the day temperature hovered around +48 °C (118 °F), milk supply to various milk plants of cooperative unions went down by per day. In addition, milk collection by private-sector plants was reduced by during the same period.
Bangladesh.
Coming at the end of May, a heat wave left at least 25 people dead. According to hospital sources most victims of the heat were rice farmers working in terraces exposed to the blazing sun for long periods. Nearly 200 people, including several children, were admitted to hospitals with symptoms of heat stroke. According to the meteorological office in Dhaka many northern towns showed day temperatures reaching over +40 °C (104 °F), which is not normal in the Bangladeshi summer. Additionally, there was a high level of humidity.
Nepal.
A heat wave affected the livelihood of a large number of poverty-stricken families who depend on day outdoor labour done outdoors, such as constructing roads, driving rickshaws, selling vegetables, making quilts and farming. According to the government's Department of Meteorology the temperature in Nepalganj got up as high as +44 °C (111 °F). It is estimated that at least 11 people died.
Pakistan.
The heat wave over Pakistan was claimed to have brought the death toll there up to 192. The meteorological department registered a record maximum temperature of +52 °C (126 °F) in Sibi. Four people died as the temperature in Lahore touched +48 °C (118 °F) on 9 June, which was a record for the previous 78 years.
Russia.
The heat waves hit Russia at the end of May. The temperature in Moscow reached +32.9 °C (91.2 °F) on 27 May. The Russian capital had not seen such a sustained heat wave for 128 years. On 28 May an absolute temperature record for May was set, breaking the record of +31.8 °C (89.2 °F) that had been registered back in 1891. The heat also affected agriculture, wiping out about 5,000 km2 of spring sown fields.
Animals at Moscow Zoo found it hard to keep cool. Staff had to prevent walruses from bathing in their pool because the water was too warm for them.
China.
Beijing opened up its warren of old air raid shelters to help people escape from the heat. The heat also set off explosives at a chemical plant in Shanxi. The explosions injured hundreds of people nearby.
Japan.
Most of Japanese cities are highest level of an average temperature, since May to September. According to Meteorological Agency of Japan confirm report, the highest temperature recorded on Celsius 40.9 degrees hitting in Kumagaya, Saitama and Tajimi, Gifu, Celsius 40.3 degrees hitting in Koshigaya, Saitama, on 16 August. And above Celsius 29 degrees of average temperature points are Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Takamatsu, Shikoku. In September, major Japanese cities are recorded to high temperature of Celsius 32 to 37 degrees levels, with highest level of an average temperature in September, since 1868. According to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan confirm report, resulting to 923 people death of hyperthermia by heat wave in around Japan, and worst heat stroke disaster of Japanese and North Esat Asia's history.


Thebais Secunda


Negoyadai Site

The is an archaeological site in the city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan with a Jōmon period settlement trace and necropolis. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1988 by the Japanese government. It is also referred to as the .
Overview.
The Negoyadai Site is located in the Kamikake neighborhood of Utsunomiya, on the right fluvial terrace of the Sugatagawa River, and was discovered during the construction of the modern Utsunomiya Municipal Cemetery. Per excavations carried out from 1982 to 1988, and the remains of pit dwellings, square pillar buildings, and more than 339 grave pits were discovered. The grave pits were grouped in clusters of five to ten pits per group, and are arranged so as to surround a central plaza. Each grave is around one meter in diameter, with a depth of 50-60 centimetres. Several of the pit dwellings were unusually large, over eight meters long and with several hearths, indicating that more than one family unit resided in the same building. Likewise, some of the rectangular raised-floor buildings were unusually large, with a length of 14 to 24 meters. As the size of the necropolis is far larger than the number of buildings would normally indicate, it is assumed that this was more of a ritual site rather than a settlement location.
The grave goods excavated from the grave pits included stone earrings, cylindrical beads, and stone implements. These artifacts were collectively designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 1990.
As a result of the National Historic Site designation, the city of Utsunomiya City has reduced the size of the cemetery and has maintained the area around the ruins as park with four reconstructions of pit dwellings. It is located about 30 minutes by car from Utsunomiya Station on the Tōhoku Shinkansen.


Ionia

Ionia (; Ancient Greek: Ἰωνία /i.ɔː.ní.aː/, "Iōnía" or Ἰωνίη, "Iōníē") was an ancient region on the central part of the western coast of Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionian tribe who, in the Archaic Period (600–480 BC), settled mainly the shores and islands of the Aegean Sea. Ionian states were identified by tradition and by their use of Eastern Greek.
Ionia proper comprised a narrow coastal strip from Phocaea in the north near the mouth of the river Hermus (now the Gediz), to Miletus in the south near the mouth of the river Maeander, and included the islands of Chios and Samos. It was bounded by Aeolia to the north, Lydia to the east and Caria to the south. The cities within the region figured large in the strife between the Persian Empire and the Greeks.
According to Greek tradition, the cities of Ionia were founded by colonists from the other side of the Aegean. Their settlement was connected with the legendary history of the Ionic people in Attica, which asserts that the colonists were led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of Codrus, the last king of Athens. In accordance with this view the "Ionic migration", as it was called by later chronologers, was dated by them one hundred and forty years after the Trojan War, or sixty years after the return of the Heracleidae into the Peloponnese.
Geography.
Physical.
Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding in length from north to south, with a breadth varying from , but to this must be added the peninsula of Mimas, together with the two islands. So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four times the direct distance. A great part of this area was, moreover, occupied by mountains. Of these the most lofty and striking were Mimas and Corycus, in the peninsula which stands out to the west, facing the island of Chios; Sipylus, to the north of Smyrna, Corax, extending to the south-west from the Gulf of Smyrna, and descending to the sea between Lebedus and Teos; and the strongly marked range of Mycale, a continuation of Messogisin the interior, which forms the bold headland of Trogilium or Mycale, opposite Samos. None of these mountains attains a height of more than . The district comprised three extremely fertile valleys formed by the outflow of three rivers, among the most considerable in Asia Minor: the Hermus in the north, flowing into the Gulf of Smyrna, though at some distance from the city of that name; the Caster, which flowed under the walls of Ephesus; and the Maeander, which in ancient times discharged its waters into the deep gulf that once bathed the walls of Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up by this river's deposits. With the advantage of a peculiarly fine climate, for which this part of Asia Minor has been famous in all ages, Ionia enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile of all the rich provinces of Asia Minor.
Political.
The geography of Ionia placed it in a strategic position that was both advantageous and disadvantageous. Ionia was always a maritime power founded by a people who made their living by trade in peaceful times and marauding in unsettled times. The coast was rocky and the arable land slight. The native Luwians for the most part kept their fields further inland and used the rift valleys for wooded pasture. The coastal cities were placed in defensible positions on islands or headlands situated so as to control inland routes up the rift valleys. The people of those valleys were of different ethnicity. The populations of the cities came from many civilizations in the eastern Mediterranean.
Demography.
Ancient demographics are available only from literary sources. Herodotus states that in Asia the Ionians kept the division into twelve cities that had prevailed in Ionian lands of the north Peloponnese, their former homeland, which became Achaea after they left. These twelve cities (aka Ionian League) were (from south to north) Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with Samos and Chios. Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city — an event which had taken place before the time of Herodotus.
These cities do not match those of Achaea. Moreover, the Achaea of Herodotus' time spoke Doric (Corinthian), but in Homer it is portrayed as being in the kingdom of Mycenae, which most likely spoke Mycenaean Greek, which is not Doric. If the Ionians came from Achaea, they departed during or after the change from East Greek to West Greek there. Mycenaean continued to evolve in the mountainous region of Arcadia.
There is no record of any people named Ionians in Late Bronze Age Anatolia but Hittite texts record the Achaeans of Ahhiyawa, of location not completely certain, but in touch with the Hittites of that time. Miletus and some other cities founded earlier by non-Greeks received populations of Mycenaean Greeks probably under the name of Achaeans. The tradition of Ionian colonizers from Achaea suggests that they may have been known by both names even then. In the absence of archaeological evidence of discontinuity at Miletus the Achaean population whatever their name appears to have descended to archaic Ionia, which does not exclude the possibility of another colonizing and founding event from Athens.
In the Indian (e.g.: Sanskrit) historic literary texts, the Ionians are referred to as "yavana" or "yona", and are described as wearing leather and wielding whips. In modern Turkish, the people of that region and the Greeks were called "yunan" (plural "yunanlar") and the country that is now Greece is known as "Yunanistan".
Herodotus expresses some impatience at the ethnic views of his countrymen concerning Ionia: "for it would be foolishness to say that these are more truly Ionian or better born ..." He lists other ethnic populations among the settlers: Abantes from Euboea, Minyans from Orchomenus, Cadmeians, Dryopians, Phocians, Molossians, Arcadian Pelasgians, Dorians of Epidaurus, and others. The presence of Doric Ionians is somewhat contradictory, but Herodotus himself, a major author of the Ionic dialect, was from a Doric city, Halicarnassus. Even " the best born of the Ionians", the Athenians, married girls from Caria. "Yet since they set more store by the name than the rest of the Ionians, let it be granted that those of pure birth are Ionians."
History.
From the 18th century BC the region was a part of the Hittite Empire with possible name Arzawa, which was destroyed by invaders during the 12th century BC together with the collapse of the Empire. Ionia was settled by the Greeks probably during the 11th century BC. The most important city was Miletus (the "Millawanda/Milawata" of Hittites).
Several centuries later Ionia was the place where Western philosophy began and was the homeland of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and Heraclitus. They were natural-philosophers of the Ionian School of philosophy and tried to explain phenomena according to non-supernatural laws. They also searched for a simple material form behind the appearances of things (origin) and this conception had a great influence on the early archaic art in Greece.
Settlement.
During the late 13th century BC the peoples of the Aegean Sea took to marauding and resettling as a way of life and were called by the Egyptians the Sea Peoples. Mycenaean Greeks must have been among them. They settled lightly on the shores of Luwian Anatolia often by invitation. In the background was the stabilizing influence of the Hittites, who monitored maritime movement and suppressed piracy. When that power was gone the Luwian people remained in the vacuum as a number of coastal splinter states that were scarcely able now to defend themselves. Ionian Greeks took advantage of opportunities for coastal raiding: an inscription of Sargon II (ca 709–07, recording a naval expedition of 715) boasts "in the midst of the sea" he had "caught the Ionians like fish and brought peace to the land of Que Cilicia and the city of Tyre". For a full generation earlier Assyrian inscriptions had recorded troubles with the Ionians, who escaped on their boats.
Caria and Lycia came to the attention of Athens, most powerful state remaining in Greece, which also had lost its central government ruling from Mycenae, now burned and nearly vacant. Ionians had been expelled from the Peloponnesus by the Dorians and had sought refuge in Athens. The Athenian kings decided to relieve the crowding by resettling the coast of Lydia with Ionians from the Peloponnesus under native Athenian leadership.
They were not the only Greeks to have such a perception and reach such a decision. The Aeolians of Boeotia contemporaneously settled the coast to the north of the Ionians and the newly arrived Dorians of Crete and the islands the coast of Caria. The Greeks descended on the Luwians of the Anatolian coast in the 10th century BC. The descent was not peaceful and the Luwians were not willing.
Pausanias gives a thumbnail sketch of the resettlement. Miletus was the first city attacked, where there had been some Mycenaean Greeks apparently under the rule of Cretans. After overthrowing the Cretan government and settling there the Ionians widened their attack to Ephesus, Samos and Priene. Combining with Aeolians from Thebes they founded Myus. Colophon was already in the hands of Aeolians who had arrived via Crete in Mycenaean times. The Ionians "swore a treaty of union" with them. They took Lebedos driving out the Carians and augmented the Aeolian population of Teos. They settled on Chios, took Erythrae from the Carians, Pamphylians (both Luwian) and Cretans. Clazomenae and Phocaea were settled from Colophon. Somewhat later they took Smyrna from the Aeolians.
Brief autonomy.
The Ionian cities formed a religious and cultural (as opposed to a political or military) confederacy, the Ionian League, of which participation in the Panionic festival was a distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of Mt. Mycale in a shrine called the Panionium. In addition to the Panionic festival at Mycale, which was celebrated mainly by the Asian Ionians, both European and Asian coast Ionians convened on Delos Island each summer to worship at the temple of the Delian Apollo.
But like the Amphictyonic league in Greece, the Ionic was rather of a sacred than a political character; every city enjoyed absolute autonomy, and, though common interests often united them for a common political object, they never formed a real confederacy like that of the Achaeans or Boeotians. The advice of Thales of Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected.
The colonies naturally became prosperous. Miletus especially was at an early period one of the most important commercial cities of Greece; and in its turn became the parent of numerous other colonies, which extended all around the shores of the Euxine Sea and the Propontis from Abydus and Cyzicus to Trapezus and Panticapaeum. Phocaea was one of the first Greek cities whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean. Ephesus, though it did not send out any colonies of importance, from an early period became a flourishing city and attained to a position corresponding in some measure to that of Smyrna at the present day.
Under the last Anatolian empire.
About 700 BC Gyges, first Mermnad king of Lydia, invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus, and is said to have taken Colophon as his son Ardys did Priene. The first event in the history of Ionia for which there is a trustworthy account is the inroad of the Cimmerii, who ravaged a great part of Asia Minor, including Lydia, and sacked Magnesia on the Maeander, but were foiled in their attack upon Ephesus. This event may be referred to the middle of the 7th century BC. It was not until the reign of Croesus (560–545 BC) that the cities of Ionia fell completely under Lydian rule.
Satrapy of the Achaemenids.
The defeat of Croesus by Cyrus the Great was followed by the conquest of all the Ionian cities in 547 BC. These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other Greek cities of Asia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy, but were for the most part subject to local despots, most of whom were creatures of the Persian king. It was at the instigation of one of these despots, Histiaeus of Miletus, that in about 500 BC the principal cities ignited the Ionian Revolt against Persia. They were at first assisted by the Athenians and Eretria, with whose aid they penetrated into the interior and burnt Sardis, an event which ultimately led to the Persian invasion of Greece. But the fleet of the Ionians was defeated off the island of Lade, and the destruction of Miletus after a protracted siege was followed by the reconquest of all the Asiatic Greeks, insular as well as continental.
Autonomy under the Athenian empire.
The victories of the Greeks during the great Persian war and the liberation of Thrace, Macedon, and Ionia from the Persian Empire had the effect of enfranchising their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean; and the Battle of Mycale (479 BC), in which the defeat of the Persians was in great measure owing to the Ionians, secured their emancipation. They henceforth became the dependent allies of Athens (see Delian League), though still retaining their autonomy, which they preserved until the Peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC once more placed them as well as the other Greek cities in Asia under the nominal dominion of Persia.
Satrapy again (387-335 BC).
Ionian cities appear to have retained a considerable amount of freedom until the conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great.
Hellenistic period.
After the battle of the Granicus most of the Ionian cities submitted to the rule of Alexander the Great and his Diadochi. As such Ionia enjoyed a great prosperity during the Hellenistic times with the notable exception of Miletus, which, being the only city of the Ionian League to deny homage to Alexander, was finally leveled after a long siege at 334 BC, never regaining its splendor.
Under Rome.
Ionia became part of the Roman province of Asia in 133 BC.
Legacy.
Ionia has a long roll of distinguished men of letters and science (notably the Ionian School of philosophy) and distinct school of art. This school flourished between 700 and 500 BC. The great names of this school are Theodorus and Rhoecus of Samos; Bathycles of Magnesia on the Maeander; Glaucus of Chios, Melas, Micciades, Archermus, Bupalus and Athenis of Chios. Notable works of the school still extant are the famous archaic female statues found on the Athenian Acropolis in 1885–1887, the seated statues of Branchidae, the Nike of Archermus found at Delos, and the objects in ivory and electrum found by D.G. Hogarth in the lower strata of the Artemision at Ephesus.
The Persian designation for Greek is "Younan" (یونان), a transliteration of "Ionia", through Old Persian "Yauna". The same is true for the Hebrew word, "Yavan" (יוון) and the Sanskrit word "yavana". The word was later adopted in Arabic, Turkish, and Urdu as well as in other places.
Literary references.
Ionia appears as the major setting in these novels: