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Stone Tower (Ptolemy)
Ptolemy, the Greco-Egyptian geographer of Alexandria, wrote about a "Stone Tower" (λίθινος πύργος in Greek, ''Turris Lapidea'' in Latin) which marked the midpoint on the ancient Silk Road – the network of overland trade routes taken by caravans between Europe and Asia. It was the most important landmark on this route, where caravans stopped on their difficult and dangerous journeys to allow travelers to take on provisions, rest, and trade goods before continuing on. Ptolemy's famous treatise on cartography, ''Geography'', written around 140 CE, is the only book on this subject to have survived from classical antiquity, and has had a profound influence right through the ages. In it, he set the coordinates of the Stone Tower at longitude 135 and latitude 43 degrees north on his gradation system, but its actual location has been vigorously debated by researchers and historians over the centuries. This is because the information that he, and other scholars from his e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2,909,500 (2022). It is in northeastern Uzbekistan, near the border with Kazakhstan. Tashkent comes from the Turkic ''tash'' and ''kent'', literally translated as "Stone City" or "City of Stones". Before Islamic influence started in the mid-8th century AD, Tashkent was influenced by the Sogdian and Turkic cultures. After Genghis Khan destroyed it in 1219, it was rebuilt and profited from the Silk Road. From the 18th to the 19th century, the city became an independent city-state, before being re-conquered by the Khanate of Kokand. In 1865, Tashkent fell to the Russian Empire; it became the capital of Russian Turkestan. In Soviet times, it witnessed major growth and demographic changes due to forced deportations from throughout the Sov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. With a population of over 500,000, Kashgar has served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East and Europe for over 2,000 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the World. At the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of a number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes. Now administered as a county-level unit, Kashgar is the administrative center of Kashgar Prefecture, which has an area of and a population of approximately 4 million as of 2010. The city itself has a population of 506,640, and its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claude Rapin
Claude Rapin (born 19??) is an archaeologist and specialist of Central Asia, with special attention to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. He is research director at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and director of the ("Franco-Uzbek Archaeological Mission of Sogdiana"). Career Rapin studied archaeology, ancient history and Greek language at the University of Lausanne, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Letters by writing a thesis on the royal treasury of the Hellenistic palace at Ai-Khanoum in Afghanistan, under the direction of Paul Bernard. After a period of archaeological excavations in Europe (Great Britain, Romania and Switzerland), he began to concentrate his field activities on Central Asia, first in Afghanistan, then in Uzbekistan. He has participated in the excavations of Samarkand, Koktepe and Derbent relating to activities of the Franco-Uzbek Archaeological Mission of Sogdiana. Since 1995, he has been a research fellow of the team at CNRS ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rasht Valley
The Rasht Valley (russian: Раштская долина; tg, Водии Рашт) is located in Tajikistan and composes a significant portion of the Region of Republican Subordination, including the six districts of Lakhsh, Rasht, Roghun, Tavildara, Tajikobod and Nurabad. Historically the Rasht Valley has been called Karotegin or Karategin. During the 1992-1997 Tajikistan Civil War, the region was a stronghold for forces opposed to the government of Emomalii Rahmon and became the site of numerous battles. Notably, four members of the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan were murdered in the Garm district in 1998. From the 1920s until 1955 the Rasht Valley was within the Gharm Oblast. History Karotegin is the historic name of the Rasht Valley and a historic political region in pre-Soviet Central Asia that is today part of Tajikistan. The Karotegin region was also named Garm, though Garm is also the name of a city and the Garmi ethnic group. Karotegin frequently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aurel Stein
Sir Marc Aurel Stein, ( hu, Stein Márk Aurél; 26 November 1862 – 26 October 1943) was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities. Stein was also an ethnographer, geographer, linguist and surveyor. His collection of books and manuscripts bought from Dunhuang caves is important for the study of the history of Central Asia and the art and literature of Buddhism. He wrote several volumes on his expeditions and discoveries which include ''Ancient Khotan'', ''Serindia'' and ''Innermost Asia''. Early life Stein was born to Náthán Stein and Anna Hirschler, a Jewish couple residing in Budapest in the Kingdom of Hungary. His parents and his sister retained their Jewish faith but Stein and his brother, Ernst Eduard, were baptised as Lutherans. At home the family spoke German and Hungarian, Stein attended Catholic and Lutheran gymnasiums in Budapest, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Herrmann
Albert Herrmann (20 January 1886 – 19 April 1945) was a German archaeologist and geographer. His specialty was the geography of the ancient Mediterranean and Chinese geography. He also published a number of works theorizing on the location of Atlantis. Career The son of Konrad Herrmann (1844-1910), Albert studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. He took his doctor's degree under H. Wagner, studying the course of the Silk Road. He furthered his studies at the Berlin's Oriental Institute, earning the Diploma of Oriental Languages in 1915. He became a member of the Geographical Society of Berlin and the German Oriental Society. In 1923 he obtained a Chair of Historical Geography at the University of Berlin. Besides his fundamental research in the field of Chinese Geography, his most famous work is ''Historical and commercial Atlas of China'' (1935), which was in use worldwide. He died on 19 April 1945, due to wounds received during an air bombardment of the railwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tashkurgan Town
Tashkurgan ( ug, تاشقورغان بازىرى; zh, s=塔什库尔干镇, p=Tǎshíkù'ěrgān Zhèn; ) is a town in the far northwest of China, close to the country's border with Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It is the principal town and seat of Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, in the autonomous region of Xinjiang. Name Tashkurgan means "Stone Fortress" or "Stone Tower" in the Turkic languages. The historical Chinese name for the town was a literal translation, Shitoucheng ( zh, s=石头城, p=Shítouchéng, labels=no). The official spelling (per the Chinese government) is Taxkorgan, while Tashkorgan and Tashkurghan appear occasionally in literature. The town's name is written in the Uyghur Arabic alphabet as and in the Uyghur Latin alphabet as ''Tashqurghan baziri''. Historically, the town was also called Sarikol (), also spelled Sariqol () or traditionally Sariq Qol (). History Pre-1900s Tashkurgan has a long history as a stop on the Silk Road. Major cara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Hackin
Joseph Hackin (8 November 1886, Boevange-sur-Attert – 24 February 1941) was a French archaeologist and Resistance member. He was a curator at the Musée Guimet and explored Afghanistan in 1923 with Alfred Foucher and Andre Godard. Biography Born in Luxembourg, he graduated from the Ecole libre des sciences politiques and the École des langues orientales, Paris. He acquired French nationality in 1912. Initially, he was an assistant curator of the Musée Guimet and later became the curator. In 1931, he participated in the Yellow Expedition. After several archaeological missions in Afghanistan, he was appointed director of the Délégation archéologique française en Afghanistan in 1934. During the excavations conducted by Hackin and his team in Begram, between 1937 and 1940, an exceptional treasure of the Kushan period (1st–2nd century A.D.) was unearthed. It included a large number of Roman bronze, alabaster, Syrian glass, coins, Chinese lacquer bowls, and the famous "Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Bunbury
Sir Edward Herbert Bunbury, 9th Baronet (8 July 1811 – 5 March 1895), known as Edward Bunbury until 1886, was an English Barrister and a British Liberal Party politician. Biography Bunbury was the second son of Sir Henry Bunbury, 7th Baronet, and the grandson of Henry Bunbury; his mother was Louisa Emilia Fox, daughter of Henry Edward Fox. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1841. In 1847 Bunbury was elected to the House of Commons for Bury St Edmunds, a seat he held until 1852. In 1886, he succeeded his elder brother in the baronetcy. Bunbury died of pneumonia in March 1895, aged 83. He never married and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew, Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k .... Work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Smith (lexicographer)
Sir William Smith (20 May 1813 – 7 October 1893) was an English lexicographer. He became known for his advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools. Early life Smith was born in Enfield in 1813 to Nonconformist parents. He attended the Madras House school of John Allen in Hackney. Originally destined for a theological career, he instead became articled to a solicitor. Meanwhile, he taught himself classics in his spare time, and when he entered University College London carried off both the Greek and Latin prizes. He was entered at Gray's Inn in 1830, but gave up his legal studies for a post at University College School and began to write on classical subjects. Lexicography Smith next turned his attention to lexicography. His first attempt was ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', which appeared in 1842, the greater part being written by him. Then followed the ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' in 1849. A parallel '' Dictionary of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Latham Bevan
William Latham Bevan (1 May 1821 – 24 August 1908) was a Welsh churchman, archdeacon of Brecon from 1875. Life He was born at Beaufort, Breconshire, the eldest of three sons of William Hibbs Bevan (1788–1846), then of Beaufort, but later of Glannant, Crickhowell (high sheriff for Breconshire 1841), by Margaret, daughter of Joseph Latham, also of Beaufort, but originally from Boughton-in-Furness. With a stepbrother, Edward Kendall, the father carried on the Beaufort Iron Works, trading as Kendall & Bevan, until 1833. The youngest brother, George Phillips Bevan (1829–1889) was known as a writer. After Bevan's education at Rugby School under Dr. Thomas Arnold, he matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 14 December 1838; but he almost immediately removed to Magdalen Hall, on being elected Lusby scholar there. He graduated B.A. in 1842, with a second class in the final classical school, and M.A. in 1845. In 1844 Bevan was ordained deacon, and in 1845, after a short curacy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Yule
Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Oriental studies, Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican Order, Dominican Friar Jordanus. He was also the compiler of a dictionary of Anglo-Indian terms, the ''Hobson-Jobson'', with Arthur Coke Burnell. Early life Henry Yule was born at Inveresk near Edinburgh in Scotland on 1 May 1820. He was the youngest son of Major William Yule (1764–1839) and his wife Elizabeth Paterson (died circa 1827). William Yule had served as an officer in Bengal Army#Under East India Company, the Bengal army of the East India Company and had retired in 1806. William's uncle was the botanist John Yule (botanist), John Yule FRSE. Elizabeth died before Henry was eight and William moved to Edinburgh with his sons, where Henry attended the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Royal High School. In 1833 he was sent to be coach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_of_Kashgar%2C_73_CE.jpg "Click for more on -> Kashgar")
_circa_650_CE.jpg "Click for more on -> Tashkurgan Town")
