Search Results: Song Dynasty

In ancient China warfare was a means for one region to gain ascendancy over another, for the state to expand and protect its frontiers, and for usurpers to replace an existing dynasty of rulers. With armies consisting of tens of thousands...

Dragonfly Song, a middle-grade novel by Wendy Orr is set during the Bronze Age in the Aegean. Working with both archaeological evidence, research and her own imagination, Wendy has produced a brilliant book and in this interview, we chat...

The Tughlaq dynasty (also spelt Tughluq), ruled the Delhi sultanate from 1320 to 1413. Followed by the Khalji dynasty and preceded by the Sayyids, the Tughlaq dynasty formed an important period in the history and culture of the Sultanate...

Ancient Chinese writing evolved from the practice of divination during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE). Some theories suggest that images and markings on pottery shards found at Ban Po Village are evidence of an early writing system but...

The Pushyabhuti Dynasty (c. 500 CE - 647 CE) rose after the downfall of the Gupta Empire (3rd century CE - 6th century CE) in the 6th century CE in northern India. Also known as the Vardhana or Pushpabhuti Dynasty, the core area of their...

A map illustrating the rise and expansion of the Bronze Age Shang dynasty of China in the second millennium BCE following the overthrowing of the Xia dynasty. Established around 1600 BCE, on the North China Plain, the Shang ruled by a single...

The Predynastic Period in Ancient Egypt is the time before recorded history from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty and is generally recognized as spanning the era from c. 6000-3150 BCE (though physical...

Religious practices in ancient China go back over 7,000 years. Long before the philosophical and spiritual teachings of Confucius and Lao-Tzu developed or before the teachings of the Buddha came to China, the people worshipped personifications...

Egyptian mythology was the belief structure and underlying form of ancient Egyptian culture from at least c. 4000 BCE (as evidenced by burial practices and tomb paintings) to 30 BCE with the death of Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic...

Egyptian burial is the common term for the ancient Egyptian funerary rituals concerning death and the soul's journey to the afterlife. Eternity, according to scholar Margaret Bunson, “was the common destination of each man, woman and child...