Nabonidus & Exaltation of Sîn

Nabû-na’id šar Bābili mārua ana Sîn bēliya apqid adi balṭu lā iḫaṭṭakka Nabonidus, king of Babylon, my son, to Sîn my lord I have devoted. So long as he is alive let him not offend against you.1 These are the words of Adad-gûppî, mother of the Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus. As scholar Beaulieu mentions, Nabonidus (Akkad. …

The Last Sasanian Strive

The downfall of the mighty ancient Persia under the Islamic onslaught was one of the most catastrophic events of history. There seems to be a popular perception about the ancient Persian civilization that after the victory of the Arabic forces over the House of Sasan and death of the Sasanian Emperor Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651 …

A Family Feud & An Exiled King

The history of ancient Near East and its Bronze Age Empires has always been a fascinating subject. These were one of the earliest kingdoms, the culmination of Neolithic and subsequent Chalcolithic Age that transformed the human civilization. The empires of late Bronze Age like the Babylonian empire of ancient Mesopotamia, the Mitannis, the Hittite empire …

House of Egibi: Entrepreneurs in the Neo-Babylonian Empire

It's 560 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian throne had been usurped by Neriglissar. The situation is north-west of the city of Babylon and a purchase is going to be made of a land outside the city by a man named Nabû-ahhē-iddin. Around 24 Kur of land (about 32.4 hectare) situated on either side of the New Canal …

A Stolen King: Alexander III of Macedon

It's June 323 BCE in Babylonia. In the grand palace of one of the most powerful Neo-Babylonian emperor of the past, Nebuchadnezzar II lies the lifeless body of another powerful monarch, Alexander III of Macedon. Apparently, the scorching heat of the Mesopotamian summer does not take its toll on the body of the king. In …

Russia & The Slave Raids

Slavery as abhorrent as it was and still is, has been practiced with varying degrees since the ancient times. From the time of ancient Egyptians to the Indians, the Greeks and the Romans and to the Ottomans, from republics to empires, almost every civilization has had slavery as a recognized and even legal concept with …

The Parthenon Sculptures: Their Journey from Athens to London

A British aristocrat was sent as an ambassador to the Ottoman Sultan -- Selim III. The aristocrat was Lord Elgin, the year was 1799 and what ensued in the following years forms a basis for passionate debate even today between Britain and Greece ever since Greece became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1832. But …

Dive to the Future: from Coal to Oil

There are some occasions in history when, in order to proceed forward, a great push is required. The first jump is very important, never mind the risks involved. One such decision was the conversion of Royal Navy from using coal as fuel to oil. The final decision was of Winston Churchill, this post will explore …

The Crimean War of 1853-56 CE & The Telegraph

Technology has always played a significant role in the business of war. Either the primitive bow and arrows or the average catapults or what the Ajatashatru’s military had used, the innovative weapons called the rathamusala (a chariot with a mace attached, causing much mayhem) and the mahashilakantaga (a siege engine resembling a huge catapult) or …

Molotov Cocktail: Origin of The Moniker

This is not something that we read about usually but, do we know how petrol bombs got into use? How they came to be called the Molotov Cocktail? Well, petrol bomb also called poor man's grenade has been used by all sorts of people for decades now. From criminals and rioters to terrorists and even …