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Ancient History Papyrusposting Memes about ancient history with context/explanations

08/10/2022

During the Second Persian Invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, the Persian emperor Xerxes I ordered the construction of pontoon bridges over the Hellespont (Dardanelles), from Abydos to Sestos, as that’s where the strait was the narrowest, so that his massive army could be easily transported from Asia to Europe. The distance of this bridge was about 1.3 kilometers (though it could have been as long as 2.5 km, depending on where exactly it was) so it was still quite a challenge to construct it.

However, the first bridge was destroyed by a storm – which made Xerxes pretty mad and he beheaded a bunch of his men for that – and so another one had to be constructed so that the army could pass. The second attempt had the Persians lashing together over 600 of their ships together in total (for two bridges), using cables made of flax and papyrus, and placing planks over the ships for easier passage. Small opening were left for ships to pass through the strait as well. Once the bridges were complete, the Persian soldiers began their march over them and arrived in Europe to now begin their campaign, first against the local Thracians, and then against the Greeks themselves.

Fast forward to 479 BCE, when the Persians were in full retreat, after they had been defeated in the Battle of Salamis at sea and the Battle of Plataea on land. The navy fled back to Anatolia, but it was pursued by the Greeks, mostly Athenians, who destroyed what remained of it during the Battle of Mycale in Ionia. The Persians lost about 300 ships and thousands of soldiers, though the Athenian losses were also considerable.

However, the Athenians weren’t done yet. There was still the matter of the army retreating from Europe. Thus, to prevent the Persians escaping to Asia, the Athenians sailed to the Hellespont to destroy the bridges. They arrived at the scene but it is said that they found the bridges already destroyed, possibly by some storm again. In any event, the bridges were now no more and the Persians were trapped on the K̵e̵r̵c̵h̵ Chersonesos peninsula (Gallipoli). They entrenched themselves in Sestos and the Athenians laid siege to it (by now they were the only ones pursuing the Persians, as the Peloponnesians had went home), and, after a few months, the city surrendered. In the following months, the remaining Persian units were hunted down by the Athenians and the Thracians and by 478 BCE the Persian Empire has lost all of its gains in Europe, as well as any access to it. However, this would be far from the end of the war, as the Athenians would continue pursuing the Persians even further, now in their previously conquered regions such as Cyprus, Egypt, and Anatolia, in what is known as the Wars of the Delian League.

-Sobekhotep IX

Probably didn't expect a new post from me, huh? Well, don't count on it being a regular occurrence, though at this rate I may make another post on Alexander sacking Persepolis in a month or so, if you know what I'm saying.

Reminder that AHP is now moving to Ancient History Papyrusposting Reforged. Be sure to follow the new page if you want t...
02/08/2022

Reminder that AHP is now moving to Ancient History Papyrusposting Reforged. Be sure to follow the new page if you want to continue along with it.

This message will repeat until there are none to read it

Originally posted on 2021-07-27

While the main contenders in the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BCE) were of course Athens and Sparta, Achaemenid Persia also had a hand in this conflict. From around 414 BCE it started secretly supporting Sparta, as Persia saw Athens as the greater threat and wanted Sparta to win. This would help the empire because the situation in Greece would then be more balanced and also Sparta was more isolationist and so less likely to later attack Persia.

Persia funded the creation of the Spartan fleet so that it could compete with the Athenian one, sent some troops, some more money, and seized the Greek cities in Ionia (western Anatolia), which were part of the Delian League (aligned with Athens). At first it was more discreet, but from around 408 BCE Persia became more directly involved. The war was ultimately won by Sparta, as Athens was taken over by it and the Delian League disbanded in 404 BCE.

However, now that Sparta became the new powerhouse in Greece instead of Athens, Persia turned against it and began supporting opposition to it, to make sure that the Greeks were once again fighting each other and not the empire. During the Corinthian War (395 – 387 BCE), Sparta and its Peloponnesian League fought a coalition which included Athens, Argos, Corinth, Thebes (the latter two having been allied with Sparta during the Peloponnesian War), and other cities, and was supported by the Achaemenids. The only winner of this conflict was indeed Persia, as it fully annexed the rest of western Anatolia and prohibited Greek cities from forming alliances or coalitions, thus making sure that the Greek world was kept down and could not pose a threat to the Persian Empire.

-Sobekhotep IX

19/07/2022

Our homeboy really took the L this time.

Reminder that AHP is now moving to Ancient History Papyrusposting Reforged. Be sure to follow the new page if you want t...
15/07/2022

Reminder that AHP is now moving to Ancient History Papyrusposting Reforged. Be sure to follow the new page if you want to continue along with it.

This message will repeat until there are none to read it

Originally posted on 2021-01-18

The Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe, which existed in the Bronze Age on the island of Crete. It emerged around 2000 BCE (the time of Middle Kingdom Egypt and Ur III in Mesopotamia for reference) and flourished on and off until around 1200 BCE. There were four phases in its history. First (2000 - 1700 BCE, known as the Old Palace Period) the island was divided between many city-states, with the main ones being Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, and Chania. They all had palaces, which acted as local administrative, trading, religious, and political centers as well as the capitals of these small kingdoms. It is said that the Minoan civilization emerged as a result of interaction with Egypt, which traded quite a bit with it since the Middle Kingdom.

The second phase (1700 - 1450 BCE, the New Palace Period) began after some sort of natural cataclysm around 1700 BCE occurred (most likely an earthquake) and destroyed most of these palaces. However, some were rebuilt, new ones were founded, and Crete returned to its former glory. Similarly to the other civilizations in the region at the time, the Minoans were advanced in terms of architecture, art, pottery, road-building, writing, and trade. It is also said that women were quite prominent in Minoan society and had more rights than in many other civilizations of the time.

Also, in 1600 BCE there was another calamity, this time probably the eruption of the Thera volcano, yet this was not as devastating and the same order remained. But the disaster (again, earthquakes or volcanic eruption) around 1450 BCE was greatly devastating and destroyed most of the cities again. Yet Knossos survived this time and because of it managed to take over the island and basically unite it into a single kingdom (this is the Knossos or Final Palace Period). By now they had neighbors to the north, those being the Mycenaeans (starting around 1600 BCE), who were influenced a lot by the Minoans during their trade expeditions and potential colony building there.

And so by 1300 BCE the fourth phase had begun, that being the Mycenaean one, as the student had surpassed its master and defeated it. Now, it is unclear whether the Myceneans conquered Crete or just influenced it indirectly, but either way the Minoan culture was starting to be replaced before then. There were still some traces of it for a while and some even call it a part of the Final Palace Period, as the Mycenaean society was rather decentralized and resembled a confederation, so the king at Knossos could have been an autonomous vassal. However, this too ended around 1200 BCE, when the Late Bronze Age Collapse began. Crete received its usual dose of climate disasters but now was also invaded by the Sea Peoples and collapsed, just like most of the other states in the Eastern Mediterranean.

-Sobekhotep IX

Reminder that AHP is now moving to Ancient History Papyrusposting Reforged. Be sure to follow the new page if you want t...
02/07/2022

Reminder that AHP is now moving to Ancient History Papyrusposting Reforged. Be sure to follow the new page if you want to continue along with it.

This message will repeat until there are none to read it

Originally posted on 2021-11-14

The Sumerian King List is an ancient text in the Sumerian language, listing the supreme rulers of the region from the mythological times all the way to around 1900 BCE when the Amorites arrived and began replacing the local kings. It begins with the Antediluvian rulers, who are basically mythological semi-divine kings, who succeeded the gods themselves (similarly to the sons of Horus later semi-divine rulers in Egyptian mythology). There are 8 of these, and their reigns lasted anywhere between 18 000 and 43 000 years (in total just over 240 000 years). Their seats of power are listed as the cities of Eridu (which is actually said to be the first city in Mesopotamia, so there might be some truth to even this part of the list), Bad-tibira, Larak, Sippar, and Shurrupak, in this order. The List then talks about the Great Mesopotamian Flood (thought to have occurred around 5700 - 4700 BCE, this was the inspiration for the Flood myth), which ended this era.

Next comes the First Dynasty of Kish, which also doesn't have much basis in reality, and whose rulers now only ruled for a measly 300 - 1200 years. More interesting is the following First Dynasty of Uruk, where the first few rulers have similarly long reigns (the last being Gilgamesh with over 100 years), but the later ones have actually believable years. Also, Uruk is historically significant since it is thought that writing and the wheel were invented there, and the city had great influence all over Mesopotamia. Then follows the First Dynasty of Ur, which kinda makes sense since Ur was growing prominent as well during this time. Then we have the Dynasty of Awan, which is actually in Elam, so this might mean that they had great influence in Mesopotamia around that time. We return to Kish, where the Second Dynasty kings for some reason now reign for centuries again instead of decades. Followed by the Dynasty of Hamazi and the the Second dynasty of Uruk, which could mean its resurgence after the attested collapse of the first around 3000 BCE. Following that, we have the Second dynasty of Ur and the Dynasty of Adab. All this, if we tried to make historical sense of it, should take place around 4000 - 2500 BCE.

We are now once again back to normal length reigns (up to 30 years), and the first here is the Dynasty of Mari. Mari was a city in middle Euphrates, north of Sumer, and was the most important city for a while around this period. Next, the Third dynasty of Kish, which only has one ruler but it's actually a woman (the only one in the king list, but there still might have been more women rulers not mentioned). Then come the Dynasty of Akshak and the Fourth dynasty of Kish. And then we have the Third dynasty of Uruk, which had one king Lugal-zage-si, who actually came from Umma, so not really sure why it says Uruk. But he was a real ruler and he is said to have been the first king to conquer and unify a large portion of Mesopotamia. Yet he was overthrown by Sargon of Akkad around 2330 BCE (more like Sargon of Kish, since that was his city of origin and Akkad was founded later in his reign), who expanded the kingdom much more, taking over Elam, Assyria, and Syria, and establishing the first empire in history.

After Sargon's death around 2280 BCE, his successors of the Dynasty of Akkad followed, and at one point four rulers contended for the throne apparently. The Akkadian Empire fell around 2150 BCE, but before talking about the Gutians (barbarians who had invaded Akkad), the list mentions the Fourth Dynasty of Uruk, which might have seceded from Akkad before its fall. The Gutians apparently established themselves in the region and so are mentioned in this list as well, but they were soon kicked out. Fifth Dynasty of Uruk is supposedly responsible for this, but they are soon replaced by none other than the Third Dynasty of Ur, about which I'm sure you all veterans of the page already know. They rule around 2100 - 2000 BCE, and after their collapse the final rulers are listed as the Dynasty of Isin, which rules at least part of Mesopotamia until 1900 BCE. And so we get to the Amorites who arrive around then from Syria and establish their own dynasties like that of Babylon and Mari (check out yesterday's post). They were foreigners and so the list didn't include them. This is considered the end of Sumerian or Akkadian period, since after ~1900 BCE only foreigners would rule the region, including Amorites, Kassites, Assyrians, Elamites, Neo-Assyrians, Chaldeans, and eventually the Persians.

-Sobekhotep IX

28/06/2022

Hello everyone once again, this is Sobekhotep IX. As part of the whole reconstruction of the AHP sphere (such as the ongoing purge in the discord), the page will also be reforged, to have a good fresh start. It will feature the greatest AHP posts, posted every few days, hopefully, with slight edits to correct mistakes and what now. It 𝘮𝘢𝘺 also feature some brand new posts by me, as I sometimes still get some ideas for new memes, but don't count on it being a regular occurrence. But anyways, if you want to continue this journey with AHP, be sure to join me in the establishment of this colony and follow this page - the factual successor to Ancient History Papyrusposting.

https://www.facebook.com/AncientHistoryMemesReforged

-Sobekhotep IX

A remastered version of the Ancient History Papyrusposting page, featuring its best posts - ancient history memes and the lore surrounding the events. Possibly some new posts as well.

25/06/2022

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1041181536772884/

Gramps here.

Ancient History Papyrusposting is likely undergoing changes or will soon cease to be active.

Given that. I am starting a new community that is intended to provide a place for memes, discussion, and community and events related to not just ancient history but all of history.

I currently have a Facebook group and discord server. I will be developing them and fleshing them out over the next few days and adding a page and some other aspects. But I wanted to get everyone who was interested in the community so we have a way to keep in touch.

I will continue to post OC memes there and add more features and projects as time goes on.

So here is the Facebook group for anyone who might be interested.

The March of Deshret, the second installment in The Bronze Horus, my alternate history novel series where the Bronze Age...
24/06/2022

The March of Deshret, the second installment in The Bronze Horus, my alternate history novel series where the Bronze Age Collapse never happens, is now LIVE, in eBook, paperback, and hardcover formats, available in most regional amazon sites! This epic Bronze Age saga of the OFK-EC War continues and culminates in this sequel, so don't wait any longer and pick it up right now! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3L4VN7B

And, if you haven't read the first novel The Rise of Kemet yet - do not fret, for I have a surprise for you. The Rise of Kemet is FREE in eBook format for the following 5 days, so if you want to get into the series, right now is the best time.

And as always, I'll be very much looking forward to all your ratings, reviews, and comments on the books, as every input is appreciated.

If you want to learn more, check out the page for the series https://www.facebook.com/TheBronzeHorus/ and my ancient history discord server where I post frequent updates on the series https://discord.gg/u4PRxhq.

-Sobekhotep IX

The war continues. The eastern emperor continues his march west, along with his newly formed Eastern Coalition of Elam, Babylonia, Assyria, Hatti, and the Kingdom of the Levant. Opposing them stands the Organization of Free Kingdoms – Egypt, the Mycenaean Confederation, Alashiya, and the H...

Since The March of Deshret, my second novel in The Bronze Horus, an alternate history novel series where the Bronze Age ...
19/06/2022

Since The March of Deshret, my second novel in The Bronze Horus, an alternate history novel series where the Bronze Age Collapse never happened, is about to release in 5 days, here are some memes from the discord I made about the series.

Be sure to pre-order the sequel now at amazon.com/dp/B0B3L4VN7B and also buy the first novel if you don't have it yet. Also, follow the official page facebook.com/TheBronzeHorus and join the discord discord.gg/n4jAXmG to keep up with news about the series.

-Sobekhotep IX

The hardcover version is now also available for my first alternate history novel The Rise of Kemet! -Sobekhotep IX
12/06/2022

The hardcover version is now also available for my first alternate history novel The Rise of Kemet!

-Sobekhotep IX

In our world, in the 12th century BCE the Late Bronze Age Collapse devastated the Near East, putting an end to many prosperous civilizations, and beginning the dark ages, setting the region back by centuries. But not in this timeline. Here, disaster is averted. The civilizations survive – Egyptia....

The second novel in The Bronze Horus, my alternate history series where the Bronze Age Collapse never happens, is now av...
09/06/2022

The second novel in The Bronze Horus, my alternate history series where the Bronze Age Collapse never happens, is now available to pre-order! Pick it up now, and if you haven't read the first part - be sure to buy it as well, there's still time before the release of the sequel!

-Sobekhotep IX

The war continues. The eastern emperor continues his march west, along with his newly formed Eastern Coalition of Elam, Babylonia, Assyria, Hatti, and the Kingdom of the Levant. Opposing them stands the Organization of Free Kingdoms – Egypt, the Mycenaean Confederation, Alashiya, and the H...

Hello again, Sobekhotep here for the 3rd and final part of my book review series. This time I will continue reviewing an...
27/05/2022

Hello again, Sobekhotep here for the 3rd and final part of my book review series. This time I will continue reviewing ancient history books by modern authors. And, just like last time, they will be categorized by civilization or region.

Rome:

SQPR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard – One of the more famous history books on Rome. Can’t say it left much of an impression on me though, but that may be due to me already knowing most of the stuff that was there before I started reading it. Probably better if you’re just getting started in the Roman sphere. 8/10

Pax Romana: War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World by Adrian Goldsworthy – This one is more focused on Roman foreign policy, their wars and all that. However, again, just like with the previous entry, I already knew everything that was here, so also seems like more of a beginner book. 8/10

Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe by Peter Heather – Now this one is actually awesome. It goes into great detail about the late Roman period, all the specific barbarian groups and their migrations, the detailed timeline of the fall of western Rome, and the very early medieval period in Europe. Would really recommend it, but I must warn you that it is pretty massive and packed tight (over 700 pages, just look how much space it takes up on my shelf). Also worth getting the paperback version due to all the maps and other images present, which would be missed in audio format. 10/10

Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles – Probably the best book on Carthage on the market. Talks about the Phoenicians, their founding of Carthage, and the history of Carthage up to its destruction. However, much of it is written in Roman perspective, as we don’t have many Carthaginian sources, which is why I put this book in this category. Still, gives pretty good insight into the civilization and its history and origins. 9/10

The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Mike Duncan – That’s right, the same Mike Duncan who made the legendary History of Rome podcast. This book deals with the late Roman Republic, you know, Marius, Sulla, and the like, and how it all led to the end of the Republic and the start of the Empire. Pretty short but interesting read and also a great way to support the guy. 9/10

The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World by Catherine Nixey – Another pretty controversial pick, but I really liked it. The title says it all really, it’s about how Christians did a little bit too much trolling and began the dark ages. Of course, your rating and whether you would even read I, will heavily depend on your own views on the topic, but I can’t not recommend it. 10/10

A Writer’s Guide to Ancient Rome by Carey Fleiner – A more meta book here, which was quite useful to me, since I’m a writer writing fiction set in the ancient world myself. Basically talks mostly about Roman, and in some cases generally ancient world, culture, traditions, religion, society, food, clothing, and all that. Stuff often overlooked in more general books which only talk about wars and politics. Useful for those who want to write about Rome, but can easily be extrapolated for other ancient civilizations, and can be interesting even to non-writers. 9/10

Mesopotamia:

Nabonidus and Belshazzar: A Study of the Closing Events of the Neo-Babylonian Empire by Raymond Phillip Dougherty – A very dry and kinda boring book on the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire and its last rulers. It’s very academic and not much fun, and doesn’t even contain that much readable text since like half the pages are just notes and references. Also very expensive compared to others. 5/10

Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek – A great starting point for reading about Mesopotamia. It mostly focuses on the early civilizations, including Sumer, early Assyria, Akkad, the Old Babylonian Empire, and, of course, the infamous Ur III. I got all the memes from this book. Very interesting stuff and very detailed at least at the start. Even if you know some things about the region, still worth picking up. 10/10

Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City by Gwendolyn Leick – A pretty similar book to the first one, except this one focuses on specific cities and their development. Uruk, Ashur, Akkad, Babylon, Isin, Nippur, and others. Talks about their founding, growth, importance in the various stages of Mesopotamian history, and more. Great companion to the previous entry, but does not contain that much information compared to it. 9/10

Well, that’s it for ancient history stuff, but as a bonus I might as well throw in the post-classical books I have too.

Bonus:

Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations by Norman Davies – The first real history book I’ve read. But nothing too interesting here, just talks about former countries, from the Visigoth Kingdom to the USSR, but I didn’t see almost any connection between them, so just seems like some Wikipedia pages thrown together. Really didn’t see the point in it. 5/10

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan – Again, a pretty general history book which tries to be about everything but ends up being about nothing. If you’re already on this page, you probably know more than enough at this level and this book won’t provide anything interesting to you. 4/10

Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom by Tom Holland – Same guy as in the two books last time. But nothing too special here. Discusses various events around the year 1000, but the overall narrative seems too forced, as he’s trying to connect all these events and make it into something bigger than it is. 7/10

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford – It’s about Genghis Khan and his empire and how it influenced the centuries to come. Nothing too special here either, but it’s alright and gives some insight into lesser known things about the period and the Mongol Empire. 8/10

The Thirty Years War by C. V. Wedgwood – And older work, around 80 years by now, but it’s still good. Discusses the Thirty Years War, its causes, participants, battles, treaties, and effects. Written pretty well and is an interesting story while also being mostly factually accurate. Would recommend if you’re interested in the period. 9/10

(If you’re wondering why I had these non-ancient books in the first place, it was because I needed some for my history class while I was still in school, and our course started with medieval times, so my ancient history books wouldn’t cut it for the assignments.)

That’s it for my book review series, hopefully it was useful to some of you and now you can add some books to your buying list or do the opposite and remove others.

-Sobekhotep IX

Sobekhotep here again, with part 2 of my history book review series. Like I said last time, today I will be reviewing mo...
24/05/2022

Sobekhotep here again, with part 2 of my history book review series. Like I said last time, today I will be reviewing modern books on ancient history. Which means that usually they are less fun, but more factually accurate. I’ll also categorize them by the civilizations they focus on. So, without further ado, let’s continue.

Egypt:

1177 BC.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline – This one clearly needs no introduction. The best modern book on the Late Bronze Age and the Bronze Age Collapse, and, if I do say so myself, the foundational text of AHP. Cline explains the situation in the Near East during the Late Bronze Age and how it led to the collapse and how that went on, including all the possible causes, at the end constructing an explanation for it by combining those causes. This is simply the best starting point if you’re interested in the Bronze Age or any civilization within it. Also, it doesn’t focus just on Egypt obviously, Mycenae, Hatti, and other affected areas are also discussed in great detail, but I put it under this category since it was the Egyptians who originally wrote most about the event and so we know the most from their perspective. 10/10

War and Trade With the Pharaohs: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Egypt’s Foreign Relations by Garry J. Shaw – A great work on ancient Egyptian foreign policy. Discusses Egyptian political, economic, and military ties with surrounding civilizations and how these relationships evolved. Mostly focuses on the Old, Middle, and New Kingdom periods, that is, before the Bronze Age Collapse, so goes along nicely with the previous book. 10/10

Poisoned Legacy: The Fall of the Nineteenth Egyptian Dynasty by Aidan Dodson – As the title implies, this work discusses the end of the Egyptian Nineteenth Dynasty, around 1210 – 1190 BCE, also right around the time of the collapse. It begins with the end of the reign of Ramesses II and continues through his various rather unsuccessful successors and how the situation continued deteriorating and eventually led to the collapse of New Kingdom Egypt itself. 9/10

Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch – A great introduction of Egyptian mythology. Includes descriptions of the major and lesser-known gods, the main myths, Egyptian religious traditions, foundational texts, and more. Has lots of great stuff within and is a great jumping off point to reading about more specific Egyptian religion topics. 9/10

Early Agricultural Civilizations:

The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony – This work is about the emergence of the Indo-Europeans and their early spread throughout Eurasia. It’s also boring as hell. It’s an archeological book, so 90% of the time will be spent reading about the remains of pots or horse bit. If that’s something you’re into, more power to it, but for me watching paint dry on a wall would seem more exciting than reading this. 4/10

Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States by James C. Scott – This one discusses the start of agriculture and the creation of the first civilizations. It also sucks. Not so much in the boring sense as the previous one, in that it seemed like a propaganda work authored by a hunter-gatherer PAC. I don’t remember much of it except that this was probably the first history book I read that I actually hated. Impressive, not in a good way though. 3/10

China:

The Early Chinese Empires by Mark Edward Lewis – You wonder where I got all my jokes about Qin China from? This is the book. It quickly goes over the Shang and Zhou dynasties but most of the focus is on the Qin and the succeeding Han dynasties. Discusses all of their aspects in detail, including religion, foreign policy, wars, economy, and much more. Great start if you want to research China right from its first imperial dynasties. 9/10

China Between Empires by Mark Edward Lewis – The sequel to the first book (the series in total has 6 books and goes all the way to the end of the Qing dynasty). Talks about the Three Kingdoms period, and everything surrounding this chaotic period. The Sui dynasty is also quickly discussed in the end, as the book stops right before the emergence of the Tang dynasty. Written just as well as the previous one, so if you read and liked that, you will probably want to continue the story. But you can start here too if you feel you know enough about Qin and Han, of course. 9/10

Greece:

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West by Tom “No, not the Spiderman actor” Holland – This author is quite an interesting character and not only because of the name. His style is quite different from that of the typical historian and he writes his books more in the style of an actual story rather than just giving dry historical data, which I really like, though some are not fans of this approach. Anyways, this is basically the retelling of the stuff Herodotus wrote about, except now supported with modern historical facts. So you still have the emergence of Persia and its descriptions, the First Invasion of Greece, and the Second Invasion, which is the main focus here, just that it’s now actually historically accurate but still maintains the format of an epic tale, I would say. Definitely an interesting work, and while not as fun and wacky, it’s a good companion piece to Herodotus Histories for comparison purposes. 8/10

Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire by Robin Waterfield – Good read on the start of the Diadochi period. Goes in detail about the conferences after Alexander’s death and the territorial divisions and, of course, the ensuing wars after that. It goes right until around 270 BCE, when the last of Alexander’s companions die and so the original cast is now fully replaced. Explains this complicated period pretty well and discusses all the main characters and their, often short-lived, realms. 9/10

Early Islamic Civilizations:

In God’s Path: The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire by Robert G. Hoyland – Not related to Holland in any way fyi. It’s a pretty dry but good story of the decline of the Eastern Roman and the Sassanid empires, the rise of Arabs, their early conquests, and the emergence of Islam. Goes from around 590s to 750s CE or so, the end of the Umayyad Caliphate. Nothing too special, but if you’re interested in the period, might as well pick it up. 8/10

In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire by Tom Holland – Or, if you want something much spicier than the previous one, check this out. Basically discusses same topics, decline of East Rome, its wars with Persia, emergence of Arabs, their conquests, and so on. However, told in a more story like structure, like in the aforementioned Persian Fire. However, that’s not the end of it. It contains some rather interesting theories on the emergence of Islam (like its location and founder), and how it influenced (or didn’t) the early Arab caliphate. I won’t go into too much detail here, but I’d definitely recommend picking it up if you have an open mind on the topic… And if it isn’t banned in your country yet. 9/10

That’s it for today, I will have the third and final part of the series up in a few days.

-Sobekhotep IX

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