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Ancient Persian Religion
Ancient Persian religion was a polytheistic faith which corresponds roughly to what is known today as ancient Persian mythology. It first developed in the region known as Greater Iran (the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia...
Image Gallery
The Rise of the Holy Roman Empire in 4 Maps
In this gallery of four maps we chart the rise and expansion of the Holy Roman Empire, a pivotal period in European history following the decline of the Roman Empire. Emerging from the ashes of Rome's collapse, the Merovingian Dynasty in...
Definition
Mehmed II
Mehmed II (1432-1481 CE), also known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was the seventh and among the greatest sultans of the Ottoman Empire. His conquests consolidated Ottoman rule in Anatolia and the Balkans, and he most famously triumphed in conquering...
Collection
Battles of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was forged through warfare and in this collection we look at some of the key battles and revolts that shaped its borders from the reign of Augustus onwards. We look at Varus' shocking defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest...
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...
Image
The Byzantine Empire, c.520 - 1204
A map illustrating the Byzantine Empire (the Greek-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire with Constantinople as its capital) from the ascension of Justinian I in 527, through the reign of Basil II until the sacking of Constantinople by...
Article
The Isaurians and the End of Germanic Influence in Byzantium
Germanic influence reigned in the Roman Empire from the end of the 4th century CE through the 5th. Germanic individuals took important posts in the government and the military, and Germanic tribes penetrated ever further into lands that had...
Definition
Persis
Persis (in Greek, derivated from Persian pars) is the ancient name of the approximate area of modern Fars in Central Iran, as well as a state of the Hellenistic and Imperial periods in this same province. Its name is derived from the Persians...
Article
Continuity and Change after the Fall of the Roman Empire
The cataclysmic end of the Roman Empire in the West has tended to mask the underlying features of continuity. The map of Europe in the year 500 would have been unrecognizable to anyone living a hundred years earlier. Gone was the solid boundary...
Article
The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields
The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (also known as The Battle of Chalons, The Battle of Maurica) was one of the most decisive military engagements in history between the forces of the Roman Empire under Flavius Aetius (391-454 CE) and those...