Search
Search Results
Image
Traditional Mongol Hunters
Mongol hunters using traditional weapons as used during the Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th century CE.
Definition
Empire
An empire is a political construct in which one state dominates over another state, or a series of states. At its heart, an empire is ruled by an emperor, even though many states in history without an emperor at their head are called "empires"...
Image
Mongol Siege of Baghdad
A painted manuscript of the "Compendium of Chronicles" by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (1247 – 1318 CE). This illumination from a mid 15th Century manscript depicts the siege of Baghdad in 1258 by the army of Hulegu Khan (r. 1256 – 1265 CE), after...
Article
Gibbon's Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
The English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) wrote and published his seminal work History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire between 1776 and 1788. The dominant theme of Gibbon's six-volume work is that the fall of the Roman Empire...
Article
Bureaucracy in the Achaemenid Empire: Learning from the Past
In the early days of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550-330 BCE), the kings came to realise that, if they were to be able to administer the vast mass of land and the multicultural people who inhabited it, they had to create an organizational system...
Image
Mongol Scouts
Artist's impression of scouts of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan discovering a village on the central Asian steppe. Created by Amplitude Studios for the video game Humankind.
Image
Coin of the Mongol Regent Toregene
A silver coin minted during the reign of Toregene as regent of the Mongol Empire (r. 1241-1246 CE). (Private collection)
Definition
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire was established from the 15th century and eventually stretched from the Americas to Japan. Very often a string of coastal trading centres with defensive fortifications, there were larger territorial colonies like Brazil...
Image
Japanese Samurai Attack Mongol Ships
A detail showing Japanese samurai attacking a much larger Mongol ship during the failed invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 CE. From the Mongol Scroll, aka the 'Illustrated Account of the Mongol Invasion of Japan.' Commissioned by Takezaki...
Image
Figure of a Mongol, Yuan Dynasty
A detail of a burnished earthenware figurine of a Mongol. Yuan Dynasty, 14th century CE. H. 11 7/16 in. (29 cm); W. 4 7/16 in. (11.3 cm); D. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm). (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
