Islamic conquests: Did you mean...?

Scandinavians from the island of Gotland began to spread throughout the Baltic region along the Russian rivers in the 700s. While the Vikings of Norway and Denmark from the 8th to 11th centuries are widely recognized as fearsome raiders and...

The ancient Near East was home to a multitude of civilizations, across Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Levant, each with unique views on medicine, conception, and women’s role in society. Attitudes towards contraception and abortion varied according...

Boran (r. 630, 631-632) and Azarmiduxt (r. 630-631) were the only queens of the Sassanian Empire who ruled with the power of absolute monarchs. Daughters of Shahanshah (king of kings) Khosrow II (r. 590-628), Boran and Azarmiduxt, tried to...

The Five Pillars of Islam, established during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (c. 570–632 CE), form the foundational framework of Islamic faith and practice. They comprise Shahada (faith), Salah (prayer), Zakat (charity), Sawm (fasting...

Ancient Greek philosophy is a system of thought, first developed in the 6th century BCE, which was informed by a focus on the First Cause of observable phenomena. Prior to the development of this system by Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE...

Assyria began as a small trading community centered at the ancient city of Ashur and grew to become the greatest empire in the ancient world prior to the conquests of Alexander the Great and, after him, the Roman Empire. While the Assyrians'...

The Merovingian Dynasty was the ruling family of the Franks from roughly 481 when Clovis I ascended the throne of the Salian Franks until 751 when Childeric III was deposed and the Merovingians were supplanted by the Carolingian Dynasty as...

Ashurnasirpal II (r. 884-859 BCE) was the third king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. His father was Tukulti-Ninurta II (r. 891-884 BCE) whose military campaigns throughout the region provided his son with a sizeable empire and the resources to...

Sargon II (r. 722-705 BCE) was one of the most important kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as founder of the Sargonid Dynasty which would rule the empire for the next century until its fall. He was a great military leader, tactician, patron...

The Gauda Kingdom came into being in the late 6th century CE in eastern India, as a result of the political disintegration of the Gupta Empire (3rd-6th century CE). Its core areas were situated in what is now the state of Bengal in India...