Chu han contention: Did you mean...?

The hypaspists or hypaspistai were a distinct type of infantry soldier who served as a vital part of the Macedonian armies of both Phillip II of Macedon (r. 359 BCE - 336 BCE) and his son and heir Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE). The...

After Alexander the Great's victory over King Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, he had to contend with small rebellions that broke out across his empire. In the summer of 328 BCE, one such rebellion occurred in the eastern...

Anastasios I ruled the Byzantine empire from 491 to 518 CE. Although his tax and monetary reforms were both popular and successful, the emperor could not repair the damaging split in the Christian Church created by his predecessors. He faced...

Jade (nephrite) was regarded as the most precious stone in ancient China, and it symbolised purity and moral integrity. Prized for its durability and magical qualities, the stone was laboriously carved and polished into all manner of objects...

With zinging arrows, powerful crossbow bolts, stabbing swords, and swinging axes all a staple feature of the Chinese battlefield, it is not surprising that soldiers sought to protect themselves as best they could with armour and shields...

While ancient Chinese warfare was often characterised by large armies in pitched battles, siege warfare and the sacking of cities were also regular features. Huge earth walls with towers and encircling ditches or moats became the normal strategy...

Lacquer was a popular form of decoration and protective covering in ancient China. It was used to colour and beautify screens, furniture, bowls, cups, sculpture, musical instruments, and coffins, where it could be carved, incised, and inlaid...

The network popularly known as the Silk Road refers not to a single route but to a shifting constellation of overland and maritime pathways that connected East and West across more than a millennium. Long before the term was coined in the...

The history of Chinese imperial rule traditionally begins with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty (traditionally dated c. 2070–1600 BCE) and unfolds through a succession of ruling houses that shaped one of the world’s most continuous state traditions...

Map showing the political division in the Eastern hemisphere in 1 CE. The Han dynasty was almost at its peak in terms of geographical expansion.