|
640 BC
The year 640 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 114 ''Ab urbe condita'' . The denomination 640 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events Europe * Theagenes becomes tyrant at Megara.E.J. Bickerman, ''Chronology of the Ancient World'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1968), p. 198 * Kolaios of Samos reaches the Strait of Gibraltar. Middle East * King Ashurbanipal of Assyria achieves a great victory over Elam. He captures its last king, Khumma-Khaldash III, and lays waste to the country. * King Teispes dies after a 35-year reign in which he has ruled the Elamite city of Anshan after being freed from Median supremacy. Births * Josiah, the sixteenth king of Judah (d. 609 BCE) * Pittacus of Mytilene, one of the Seven Sages of Greece (approximate date) * Stesichorus, Greek lyric poet (approximate da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Calendar
The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. The term often includes the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the Roman dictator, dictator Julius Caesar and Roman emperor, emperor Augustus in the late 1stcenturyBC and sometimes includes any system dated by inclusive counting towards months' kalends, nones (calendar), nones, and ides (calendar), ides in the Roman manner. The term usually excludes the Alexandrian calendar of Roman Egypt, which continued the unique months of that land's Egyptian calendar, former calendar; the Byzantine calendar of the Byzantine Empire, later Roman Empire, which usually dated the Roman months in the simple count of the ancient Greek calendars; and the Gregorian calendar, which refined the Julian system to bring it into still closer alignment with the tropical year. Roman dates were counted inclusively forward to the next of three principal days: the first of the month (the kalends), a day shortly befor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anshan (Persia)
Anshan (Elamite cuneiform: ; sux, , ) modern Tall-e Malyan ( fa, تل ملیان), was an Elamite and ancient Persian city. It was located in the Zagros Mountains in southwestern Iran, approximately north of Shiraz and west of Persepolis in the Beyza/ Ramjerd plain, in the province of Fars. It was one of the earliest urban states to exist, and one of the earliest capitals of Elam from the late 4th millennium BC. It fell under the rule of the Persians in the 7th century BC and then became one of the early capitals of Persia. Most of what is known about Anshan has been discovered through ancient artifacts discovered in archaeological digs at Tall-e Malyan and passages in early Elamite texts. History Anshan is considered to be the origin of one of the world's oldest known civilizations. It was occupied consistently from before 4000 BC to 1000 BC and was politically tied to the Elamites at Susa, as well as the Mesopotamians. Its exact location was unknown to scholars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyrus The Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced all of the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Western Asia and much of Central Asia. Spanning from the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, the empire created by Cyrus was the largest the world had yet seen. At its maximum extent under his successors, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from parts of the Balkans ( Eastern Bulgaria– Paeonia and Thrace– Macedonia) and Southeast Europe proper in the west to the Indus Valley in the east. The reign of Cyrus lasted about thirty years; his empire took root with his conquest of the Median Empire followed by the Lydian Empire and eventually the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He also led an expedit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achaemenes
Achaemenes ( peo, 𐏃𐎧𐎠𐎶𐎴𐎡𐏁 ; grc, Ἀχαιμένης ; la, Achaemenes) was the apical ancestor of the Achaemenid dynasty of rulers of Persia. Other than his role as an apical ancestor, nothing is known of his life or actions. It is quite possible that Achaemenes was only the mythical ancestor of the Persian royal house, but if Achaemenes was a historical person, he would have lived around the end of the 8th century and the beginning of the 7th century BC.. Name The name used in European languages ( grc-gre, Ἀχαιμένης ('), la, Achaemenes) ultimately derives from Old Persian ' (), as found together with Elamite (''Ha-ak-ka-man-nu-iš'' or ''Hâkamannuiš'') and Akkadian (''A-ḫa-ma-ni-iš-ʾ'') in the non-contemporaneous trilingual Behistun Inscription of Darius I. The Old Persian proper name is traditionally derived from ' "friend" and ' "thinking power", yielding "having a friend's mind." A more recent interpretation reads ' as "followe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macedonia (ancient Kingdom)
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, which was followed by the Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties. Home to the ancient Macedonians, the earliest kingdom was centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula,. and bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south. Before the 4th century BC, Macedonia was a small kingdom outside of the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens, Sparta and Thebes, and briefly subordinate to Achaemenid Persia. During the reign of the Argead king PhilipII (359–336 BC), Macedonia subdued mainland Greece and the Thracian Odrysian kingdom through conquest and diplomacy. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the ''sarissa'' pike, PhilipII d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argaeus I Of Macedon
Argaeus ( gr, Ἀργαῖος, Argaios) or Araeus, was according to 5th-century BC Greek writer Herodotus one of six predecessors of his contemporary, King Alexander I of Macedon (r. 498–454). Alexander I's predecessors, starting from the nearest, were according to Herodotus: Amyntas, Alcetas, Aëropus, Philip I, Argaeus, and Perdiccas I. A rival tradition is held by Livy, Pausanias, Suidas and Junianus Justinus, with Caranus as the first Macedonian king. Biography Argaeus was according to 2nd-century AD Macedonian writer Polyaenus the first king of the ancient kingdom of Macedon, who tricked and won over his superior enemies (the Taulantii king Galaurus) with women dressed as men with wreaths and ''thyrsi'' (staffs), closely related to the cult of Dionysus. After the victory, Argaeus founded a temple dedicated to ''Pseudanor'' (Fake-man). Only Alexander I's father, Amyntas, is firmly established in historical record. The eponym Argaeus for the dynasty (the '' Argead d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyric Poetry
Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equivalent to Ancient Greek lyric poetry, which ''was'' principally limited song lyrics, or chanted verse, hence the confusion. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics both derive from a form of Ancient Greek literature, the Greek lyric, which was defined by its musical accompaniment, usually on a stringed instrument known as a kithara. The term owes its importance in literary theory to the division developed by Aristotle among three broad categories of poetry: lyrical, dramatic, and epic. Lyric poetry is also one of the earliest forms of literature. Meters Much lyric poetry depends on regular meter based either on number of syllables or on stress – with two short syllables typically being exchangeable for one long ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stesichorus
Stesichorus (; grc-gre, Στησίχορος, ''Stēsichoros''; c. 630 – 555 BC) was a Greek lyric poet native of today's Calabria (Southern Italy). He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres, and for some ancient traditions about his life, such as his opposition to the tyrant Phalaris, and the blindness he is said to have incurred and cured by composing verses first insulting and then flattering to Helen of Troy. He was ranked among the nine lyric poets esteemed by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria, and yet his work attracted relatively little interest among ancient commentators, so that remarkably few fragments of his poetry now survive. As David Campbell notes: "Time has dealt more harshly with Stesichorus than with any other major lyric poet." Recent discoveries, recorded on Egyptian papyrus (notably and controversially, the Lille Stesichorus),P.J. Parsons, "The Lille Stesichorus", ''Zeitschreift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' Vol. 26 (1977), pages 7 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seven Sages Of Greece
The Seven Sages (of Greece) or Seven Wise Men (Greek: ''hoi hepta sophoi'') was the title given by classical Greek tradition to seven philosophers, statesmen, and law-givers of the 7–6th century BC who were renowned for their wisdom. The Seven Sages Typically the list of the seven sages includes: * Thales of Miletus () is the first well-known Greek philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer. His advice, "Know thyself", was engraved on the front facade of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. * Pittacus of Mytilene () governed Mytilene (Lesbos). He tried to reduce the power of the nobility and was able to govern with the support of the demos, whom he favoured. * Bias of Priene () was a politician and legislator of the 6th century BC. * Solon of Athens () was a famous legislator and reformer from Athens, framing the laws that shaped the Athenian democracy. * The fifth and sixth sage are variously given as two of: Cleobulus, tyrant of Lindos (), reported as either the grandfat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pittacus Of Mytilene
Pittacus (; grc-gre, Πιττακός; 640 – 568 BC) was an ancient Mytilenean military general and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Biography Pittacus was a native of Mytilene and son of Hyrradius. He became a Mytilenaean general who, with his army, was victorious in the battle against the Athenians and their commander Phrynon. In consequence of this victory, the Mytilenaeans held Pittacus in the greatest honour and presented the supreme power into his hands. After ten years of reign, he resigned his position and the city and constitution were brought into good order. When the Athenians were about to attack Sigeion, Pittacus challenged their general to a single combat, with the understanding that the result should decide the war, and much bloodshed be thereby avoided. The challenge was accepted, and he killed his enemy with a broad sword. He was then chosen ruler of his city and governed for ten years, during which time he made laws in poetry, one of which was to this effe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josiah
Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical scholars with having established or compiled important Hebrew scriptures during the "Deuteronomic reform" which probably occurred during his rule. Josiah became king of the Kingdom of Judah at the age of eight, after the assassination of his father, King Amon. Josiah reigned for 31 years, from 641/640 to 610/609 BCE. Josiah is known only from biblical texts; no reference to him exists in other surviving texts of the period from Egypt or Babylon, and no clear archaeological evidence, such as inscriptions bearing his name, has ever been found. Nevertheless, most scholars believe that he existed historically and that the absence of documents is due to few documents of any sort surviving from this period, and to Jerusalem having been occupied, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medes
The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the mountainous region of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia located in the region of Hamadan (Ecbatana). Their consolidation in Iran is believed to have occurred during the 8th century BC. In the 7th century BC, all of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule, but their precise geographic extent remains unknown. Although they are generally recognized as having an important place in the history of the ancient Near East, the Medes have left no written source to reconstruct their history, which is known only from foreign sources such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Armenians and Greeks, as well as a few Iranian archaeological sites, which are believed to have been occupied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
