Historical Atlas of Eurasia - Second Edition.kmz

Historical Atlas of Eurasia - Second Edition
This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
HISTORICAL ATLAS OF EURASIA - SECOND EDITION
This second edition of the popular "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" has been thoroughly revised.
To view the maps, explanations, photos, and paths, you have to download the entire Post to Google-Earth on your computer.
I added uncounted new photographs of places, maps, art objects, and personalities.
An entirely new first chapter on Early Man lets you admire the skulls of our Ur-Ancestors and their spectacular cave paintings
The next 3 chapters - taken in part from the First Edition - present such diverse subjects as the Indo-European Languages, medieval Judaism, and Greco-Buddhist art in Ghandara and the Swat. The last chapter deals with the early Chinese military and Buddhist expeditions westwards, and a map displaying the journeys of European Explorers in the 19th century from Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Hedin to such Romantics as Alexandra David-Neel and Nicholas Roerich.
Chapter I
Early Man
Contents: The excavation sites, an illustrated chapter on cave art, the migration paths, and a map of the most importanf gentic markers. The second part illustrates the Indo-European languages
The Migrations of the Hominids.out of Africa, 3 Mill - 10 000 BC
Chapter II
The Spresd of Religion
Contents: Early and Medieval Judaism, the Silk Roads, Buddhisms 4 Phases, Christianity, Nestorians, and Manicheans, The Spread of Islam and the sacred sites of Sufism.
The spread of Buddhism, 500 BC - 1500 AD
The Silk Roads
Spread of Islam
Chapter III
The Great Eurasian Empires
Contents: Alexander's expedition to India and the Greek Diadochan Empires, the migrations of the Germannic Peoples, Charlemagne's world, the Byzantine Empire and the Fall of Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire
Alexander's expedition and the Diadochan Empires which followed him.
Chapter IV
Asia Ante Portas
Contents: The invasion of the Huns, the Mongols and Genghis Khan, Timur Tamerlane
Genghis Khan's Forays and Empire
Chapter V
The Explorers
Contents: Early Chinese and Eurpean Travelers, Marco Polo, Eurpean Explorers of the 19th century in Central Asia amd the Arabian Peninsula, the Romantics: Alexandra David-Neel, Anagarika Govinda, Nikolas Roerich, and Yelena Blavatsky.
19th-cent. European Explorers of Central Asia and Arabia

DEDICATION
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
This historical atlas is dedicated to the memory of
Heinrich Kiepert (1818 - 1899)
professor of geography in Berlin, first carthographer of Asia Minor and Persia, and the inventor of the historical map.
My great-grandfather.

How to use the Maps
Do not activate all Maps. Turn them on selectively, one by one !
How to use the maps of this collection.
In creating a historical map the problem arises on how to represent time. Traditionally this is done in the accompanying text or in subtitiles. GE offers the possibility to attach such comments to placemarkers. One could create a slide show, turning on and high-lighting important files and then turn them off again. Unfortunately the free version of GE doesn't permit the construction of such animation. For the time being, the viewer has to do that manually.
The collection is prefaced by a selection of General Placenames many with comments and photos. Turn these on.
Finally expand the individual Placemarkers of the desired subchapter and last expand the Map Folders but do not open the Maps
To expand the Maps open them one by one The subfiles are generally arranged in historical order. Turn off previous map sets before going to the next chapter.
This second edition has been enlarged by a number of new subjects.

GENERAL PLACEMARKERS
These placemarkers are common to all chapters. Additional place names are given in the respective chapters.

Africa

Myos Hormos
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
Myos Hormus, 3rd-1st cent BC
Myos Hormos was a Red Sea port of the Ptolemies in the 3rd cent BC. For many years it was thought to be located in the Gulf of Suez. However, in 1993 it was discovered that it was really located at Quseir. The site of Quseir al-Qadim (old Quseir) lies 8 km north of the modern town of Quseir. It was the subject of exploratory excavations between 1978 and 1982 (Whitcomb and Johnson 1979 and 1982). In 1994, French excavations found ostraca on the road between Quseir and Qift, which showed that beyond doubt, the port at the end of the road was indeed called Myos Hormos. During Roman times it was an important harbor on the sea route to India.
Pots excavated at Myos Hormos

Cairo
This marker is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
Cairo has become a giant metropolis in which the Greek, Roman, Islamic, Jewish (Geniza), and Christian monuments float like islands in a vast sea.
View of Cairo from the Cairo Tower, 2007, photo from Wikipedia

Alexandria
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.

Jherir, Algeria

Djanet, Algeria
Access town and airport to the Tasilli caves.

Arabia

Mecca
This marker is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
The city is revered by Muslims for containing the holiest site of Islam, the Masjid al-Haram (The Sacred Mosque) of Mecca. A pilgrimage to Mecca during the week of the Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, a sacred duty that is required of all able-bodied Muslims who can afford to go, at least once in their lifetime. People of other faiths are forbidden from entering the city.
View of Masjid al-Haram. Photo solcomhouse.com

Medina
This marker is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
Medina is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad. It was also the place where Muhammad and his followers fled after attacks against them in Mecca, now known as the Hijira.
Masjid Nabawi. Medina, photo from Wikipedia

Aleppo
Aleppo 11 000 BC -19th cent AD
Aleppo is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the Near East. It knew human settlement since the 11th millennium B.C. (residential houses discovered on Al-Qaramel Hill). The main role of the city was as a trading place, as it sat at the crossroads of two trade routes and mediated the trade from India, the Tigris and Euphrates regions and the route coming from Damascus in the South, which traced the base of the mountains rather than the rugged seacoast. Although trade was often directed away from the city for political reasons, it continued to thrive until the Europeans began to use the Cape route to India.
The citadel of Aleppo, text and photo from Wikipedia, Aleppo

Aden

Sana'a
Sana, 300 BC - 19th cent AD
Situated in a mountain valley at an altitude of 2,200 m, Sana’a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years. In the 7th and 8th centuries the city became a major centre for the propagation of Islam. This religious and political heritage can be seen in the 103 mosques, 14 hammams and over 6,000 houses, all built before the 11th century. Sana’a’s many-storeyed tower-houses built of rammed earth (pisé) add to the beauty of the site.
View of Old Sana'a, photo by Brian McMorrow

Central Europe

Aquileia
4th-cent floor mosaics in the Cathedral (11th-cent)

Venice
Venice, Cathedral of St Marc 828, 976, 1063
First constructed in 828, when Venetian merchants acquired the relics of Saint Mark in Alexandria. This was replaced by a new church on its present site in 832, which burned in a rebellion in 976, it was rebuilt in 978 to form the basis of the present basilica in 1063. It is a late Byzantine Church much indepted to Islamic architectrure. A demonstration of Venice's mercantile connections to the Orient.
San Marco is the magnificent repository of artifacts from history's biggest loot: Constantinople whewn it was sacked by the Venitian-led Fourth Crusade in 1204. Much of the treasury, a number of architectural pieces, and other objects come from there.
For example:
The horses of the "Quadriga" were installed on the roof of the basilica around 1254. They came from the Hippodrome of Constantinople
"The Tetrarchy", a Byzantine porphyry sculpture (3rd cent AD), was taken from Constantinople and was set into the south-west corner of the basilica The missing foot of one of the figures was discovered in Istanbul in the 1960s.
The "Ciborium", the actual heart of the church dates from the period of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I (491-518). It arrived in Venice in the 1220s.
The "Treasure of St. Mark's" consists of an overall of 283 pieces in gold, silver, glass and other precious materials. It is a part of the booty brought from Constantinople between 1204 and 1261 after the Venetian conquest. To these may be added late-antique vases in glass and semi-precious stone and bowls of Islamic origin (9th - 10th cent).
One of the most precious items is the throne-reliquary of St. Mark in calcareous alabaster, of perhaps 6th century Alexandrian manufacture.
Recently, it has been suggested that the body of St. Mark interred in the Basilica may in fact be that of Alexander the Great ! For an engrossing account of this rather convincing story see Andrew Chugg's The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great
These exerpts were looted from the official ecclesiastical website

Ravenna 430-549 AD
Ravenna deserves a folder of its own. Download the post!

Ravenna
For a discussion of Ravenna see Wikipedia
For a cornucupia of photographs see Adrian Fletcher, Paradox Places

Sant Appolinare in Classe 549
Sant Appolinare in Classe (549)
The apse of Sant Appolinare in Classe 549. Photo from Adrian Fletcher, Parodox Places

Apollinare Nuovo 561AD
Sant Appolinare Nuovo 561 AD. Photo from Adrian Fletcher, Parodox Places

San Vitale 548 AD
San Vitale 548 AD. Photo from Adrian Fletcher, Parodox Places

Mausoleum of Theodorich

Mausoleum Galla Placidia 430 AD
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia 430 AD.
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia 430 AD. Photo from Adrian Fletcher, Parodox Places

Battisterio degli Ariani 500 AD
The dome of the Battisterio. Photo from Adrian Fletcher, Parodox Places

Battisterio dei Neonani
Battisterio dei Neonani.
Dome of the Battisterio. Photo from Adrian Fletcher, Paradox Places

Porec
Porec, Croatia
Porec is the Roman city of Parentium. The cathedral was built by Bishop Euphrasius 553 over the site of an older basilica that dated back to the 4th century. The most striking feature of the basilica are its mosaics, dating from the 6th century, which are considered amongst the finest examples of Byzantine art in the world. The mosaics over the apse represent Christ with the Apostles, with Bishop Euphrasius in the middle holding a model of the church:
Photos from Wikipedia

Ghent
Around 650 Saint Amand founded two abbeys in Ghent: the Saint Peter Abbey and the St. Bavo's Abbey . The city grew from several nuclei, the abbeys and a commercial centre. Around 800 Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, appointed Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne, as abbot of both abbeys. In 851 and 879 the city was however attacked and plundered twice by the Vikings. The city recovered and flourished from the 11th century on. Until the 13th century Ghent was the biggest city in Europe after Paris.
Historical centre of Ghent – from left to right: Old post office, Saint-Nicholas Church, Belfry, and Saint Bavo Cathedral.

Regensburg
Regensburg 179 - 19th cent AD
In 179 AD the Roman fort Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen") was built for Legio III Italica during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.[1] It was an important camp on the most northern point of the Danube: it corresponds to what is today the core of Regensburg's Altstadt ("Old City").
From the early 6th century, Regensburg was the seat of the Agilolfa ruling family, and in 843, Regensburg was the seat of the Eastern Frankish ruler, Louis II the German. From about 530 to the first half of the 13th century, it was the capital of Bavaria.
Panoramic view of Regensburg

Salerno
Salerno 194 BC
We know the Samnites-Etruscans city of Irna, situated across the Irno river, in today's Salernitan quarter of Fratte. This settlement represented an important base for Etruscan trade with the Greek colonies of Posidonia and Elea. With the Roman advance in Campania, Irna began to lose its importance, being supplanted by the new Roman colony (194 BC) of Salernum, developing around an initial castrum.
In 1076 the Norman conqueror Robert Guiscard, who had married Guaimar IV's daughter Sichelgaita, besieged Salerno and defeated his brother-in-law Gisulf. This act put an end to hundreds of years of Lombard dominance, but did not check the city's vitality. In this period the royal palace (Castel Terracena) and the magnificent Arab-Gothic style cathedral were built, and science was boosted as the Salerno Medical School, considered the most ancient medical institution of European West, reached its maximum splendour.
The Scuola Medica Salernitana in a miniature from Avicenna's Canon (1483 AD)
Text and photo from Wikipedia

Palermo
Palermo, Capella Palatina, 1130 - 1143 AD
The Capella Palatina was built by the Norman King Roger II between 1130 and 43 as his private chapel, this golden cave is a wonder of Byzantine mosaique art, Arabic intarsia, and Norman architecture.
The mosaic in the dome shows Christ Pantocartor surrounded by Archangels according to the mystical visions of Dionysius Areopagitus. This composition also appears in the Baptisterio in Florence, the monastery of Ossos Loukas in Greece, and in the Norman cathedral in Cefalu, all before 1150.
The mosaics on the side walls follow the Eastern Orthodox Canon.
Christ between St. Peter and Paul (!), western end-wall of the nave
Photos RWFG
See a complete collection of my photos of the Capella Palatina .

Monreale Cathedral
Monreale, Norman Cathedral, 1180 AD
The splendid cathedral of Monreale was built after 1180 by William I, the son of Roger II. Since Roger II's time and the construction of Cefalu and the Cappella Palatina, the spirit of the mosaics has changed from a neo-platonic mysticism emphasizing the Eastern-Orthodox canon to a depiction of scenes from the Old and New Testament according to Western, Roman tradition.
The left side of the nave now shows New Testament scenes from the life of Christ. The right the Old Testament.
The Door of Paradise, the main, western portal of the cathedral. Scenes from Genesis and the Old Testament. The bronze panels are by Bonanno Pisano (1186), and are signed(!) and dated on the lower left.
Photos RWFG

Granada
Granada, Alhambra, 10th - 15th cent. AD
The Alhambra at Night,

Marseilles
Marseilles, 600 BC
Man has inhabited Marseilles and its environs for almost 30,000 years: palaeolithic cave paintings in the underwater Cosquer cave near the calanque of Morgiou date back to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC; and very recent excavations near the railway station have unearthed neolithic brick habitations from around 6,000 BC. - The city of Marseilles was founded in 600 BC by Greeks from Phocaea.

Cluny
Cluny, 910 AD
Founded in 910 by St. Bernard, the Abbey at Cluny was the center of a monastic reform movement that would spread throughout Europe. The abbey was built on a forested hunting preserve donated by William I the Pious, duke of Aquitaine and count of Auvergne.
The church and most monastic buildings fell vivtims to the destructions of the French Revolution Elevation from Wikipedia, Cluny.

St. Denis
St. Denis, the Burial Cathedral of the French Kings, 486 -1144 AD
St Denis, cathedral with the tombs of the French kings from Chlodvic to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.

Aachen
Aachen, The Cathedral of Charlemangne 685-805 AD
Charlemagne' cathedral (786-805 AD)

Rhodos
Rhodes, Greek coins 408 BC
A post-Alexandrian coin from Rhodos (408 BC)

Lacarna

Rome
Rome 431 BC - 200 AD
The arena of the Colliseum (80 AD). Photo from galen-frysinger,com

Genova
The republic of Genova was the arch rival of Venice in the days of the Levantine trade. Marco Polo dictated his famous memoirs in a Genuese prison. He had been captured in one of the many skirmishes with Venice.

Byzantium

Milano 222 BC-2003 AD
Around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres inhabited Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered this settlement, which received the name Mediolanum. After several centuries of Roman control, Milan was declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 293 AD. However, Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire (capital Nicomedia) and his colleague Maximianus in Milan. Immediately Maximinian built several gigantic monuments, like a large circus, the Thermae Erculee, and a large complex of imperial palaces.
In the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians. The city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, and Constantine Imoved the imperial residence to Ravenna.
Fifty years later (in 452), the Huns overran the city. In 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan in the course of the so-called Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, the Longobards (from which the name of the italian region Lombardy derives) conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzantine army left for its defence.
Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took the title "King of the Lombards". Subsequently Milan was part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Today Milan is the most modern, most trendy city in Italy - even the Dalai Lama spent 10 days there:

Trabzon
Agh. Sofia-Trabzon (1240-1250). Photo RWFG
Originally founded as Trapezus by Greek traders from Miletus in 756 BC. It gained importance under Roman rule in the 1st century BC for its access to the road leading to the Armenian frontier and the Euphrates valley. After the Fourth Crusade in 1204, a Byzantine successor state was founded here with support of Queen Tamar of Georgia, the Empire of Trebizond, which ruled part of the Black Sea coast. It was the last seat of the Byzantine Komenos Emperors until 1461, when it surrendered to the Ottomans.
It had close connections with Venice during the time of the Silk Road and Marco Polo returned here from his journey to Karakoram.

Constantinople
Constantinople-Byzantium, Capital of the East Roman Empire, 328 - 1453 AD
Constantinople is the youngest of the "ancient" cities in the Mediterranean World. This fact is difficult to understand, since its strategic position at the entrance to the Bosphorus is singular. There were no Greek settlements at this location before Emperor Constantine built his capital there in 328 !
The Aghia Sofia, built by Emperor Justinian I, Present building: 532-537
Photo from Wikipeda, Hagia Sofia

Erzerum
Erzerum was the capital of the Seldjuks.
Ince Minaret Medrese or Hatuniye Medresesi, 1275
A Recent photo of the medrese and the Uc Kumbetler Turbe behind it.
Photo by Struifje, Panoramio.

Persia

Hormuz
Old map of the island of Hormuz (Harmozia). From here Alexander's admiral Nearchus sailed exploring the Persian coast to Basra, while Alexander marched through the interior desert.

Camadi

Kerman
Horse head from Kerman

Baghdad
Baghdad 762 - 2002 AD
Baghdad was founded in 762 by Caliph al-Mansur of the Abbasid dynasty, although the Abbasid city was likely built next to an earlier settlement.
Mansur laid it out as an ideal city, a circle of bout 2 km in diameter. The final construction added another ring, inside the first, surrounding the mosque and administrative buildings.
Baghdad eclipsed Ctesiphon, the capital of the Persian Empire, and Babylon, which had been deserted since the 2nd century BC .
Baghdad besieged by Hulegu 1258 AD. Persian miniature from Wikipedia
Baghdad became a hub of learning (Sufis) and commerce (8th-9th cent). By 10th century, the city's population was between 300,000 and 500,000 until February 10, 1258, when it was sacked by the Mongols under Hulegu (a Nestorian-baptized Buddhist and grandson of Genghis Khan, 1216-1265) who had its inhabitants slaughtered. In 1401 Baghdad was again sacked by Timur Tamerlane. From 1534 Baghdad remained under Ottoman rule until the establishment of the kingdom of Iraq under British control in 1921. -
Its latest sacking occured in 2003 at US-Christian hands.... For a sattelite photo of the burning Baghdad open: (the photo is too large for this small bubble) NASA photo, Bagdhad April 2003

Ktesiphon
Seleukia-Ktesiphon, 150 BC - 651 AD
Seleukia-Ktesiphon consisted of two cities Seleukia and Ktesiphon on the Tigris. It was the residence of the Parthian (150 BC-224 AD) and the Sassanid kings (226–651 AD) . Together the cities had a population of 500 000. With the foundation of Bagdhad in the 8th cent AD the city lost its importance. It was an important place during the early centuries of the Silk Road.
Ktesiphon,Taq-i-Kisra 7-8th cent?
Photo from Livius.org

Seleucia
Seleucia 305 BC
Seleucia, the twin city of Ktesiphon, was founded in about 305 BC, when an earlier city was enlarged and dedicated as the first capital of the Seleucid Empire by Seleucus I Nicator.
From Wikipedia, Seleucia.

Samarra
Samarra (Tell Sawwan) 6000 -4800 BC - 13th cent AD
Though the present archaeological site covered by mudbrick ruins is vast, the site of Samarra was only lightly occupied in ancient times, apart from the Chalcolithic Samarran Culture (ca 5500–4800 BC) identified at the rich site of Tell Sawwan. The Samarran Culture was the precursor to the Mesopotamian culture of the Ubaid period.
A city of Sur-marrati, refounded by Sennacherib in 690 BC according to a stele in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, is insecurely identified with a fortified Assyrian site of Assyrian at al-Huwaysh, on the Tigris opposite to modern Samarra.
In 836 AD the Abbasid caliphate's Turkic and Armenian slave soldiers -known as Mamluk- agitated the citizens of Baghdad, provoking riots. The capital of the Caliphate was moved from Baghdad to the new city of Samarra later that year by Caliph Al-Mu'tasim. Samara would remain the capital of the Muslim world until 892 when it was returned to Baghdad by al-Mu'tamid. Al-Mu'tasim's successor, al-Wathiq, developed Samara into a commercial city, and it was further developed under Caliph Al-Mutawakkil.
Photo from users.ox.ac.uk
Al-Mutawakkil built the Great Mosque of Samarra with its spiral minaret or malwiyah, in 847. He also laid out parks and a palace for his son Al-Mu'tazz. Under the rule of Al-Mu'tadid, the Abbassid capital was shifted back to Baghdad and Samarra entered a prolonged decline, which accelerated after the 13th century AD when the course of the Tigris shifted.

Babylon
Babylon, 2500 BC - 19th cent AD
Engraving of Babylon (1736) from see below
Babylon goes back to at least 2500 BC. In 331 BC Alexander conquered the meanwhile Persian city from Darius. In 322 BC he returned after his Indian expedition and died there a year later from pneumonia (he had only one functioning lung).
For an engrossing historical investigation into Alexanders corpse (he may be the corpse in St. Mark's tomb in the cathedral of Venice !!) read Andrew Chugg's The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great
Babylon remained the famed city of Nebukhanedzzar until 1985 when Saddam Hussein decided to rebuild it to his own glory.

Hekatompylos
Hekatompylos, 200 BC
Hecatompylos an ancient city in west Khurasan, Iran, was the capital of the Parthian Arsacid dynasty (200 BC). The Greek name Hekatonpylos means "one hundred gates". It is estimated to have had an area of 28 sq km at its peak, which would indicate a population of around 10 000. After the decline of Ktesiphon it became an important way station on the Silk Road. >BR>The ruins of the ciry are spread out across the deserted plain of Shahr i Qumis. Photo from Livius

Mashad
The holiest city of Shia Moslems. The city was founded around 823 AD. Its name derives from mashhad-e-reza, "place of martyrdom", a reference to the death of Imam Reza, the Eighth Imam of Shiiite Islam, who was poisened here supposedly on orders of the Suni Caliph Al Ma'mun.
View of the mosque from the south, with the blue dome of the Gawhar Shad Mosque and the gold sanctuary dome way in back. As can be seen from outer space the complex is large.

Nishapur
Nishapur, 3rd 13th cent AD
On the Silk Road, Nishapur, founded in the 3rd cent AD, has often defined the flexible frontier between the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. After the husband of Genghis Khan's daughter was killed at Nishapur in 1221, she ordered the death of all in the city (~1.7 million), and the skulls of men, women, and children were piled in pyramids.
The poet Omar Khayyam was born in Nishapur in 1048, and the 12th century poet and mystic Farid al-Din Attar is another native of Nishapur, both are buried nearby.
Farid at-Din Attar mausoleum, from Wikipedia

Persepolis
Persepolis, 559 BC - 330 BC
Persepolis was the ancient ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (559 BC-330 BC). Cyrus the Great around 518 BC chose the site of Persepolis, but it was Darius the Great who built the terrace and the great palaces. It is the most magnificent ruined palace citiy in Iran. It was destroyed by fire by Alexander after he returned from India (330 BC).
The site can be clearly seen in GE-4.
Photo from: oznet.net
Cyrus ordered the construction of the Apadana Palace and the Debation hall (Tripylon or the three-gated hall), the main imperial Treasury and its surroundings, which were completed at the time of the reign of his son, King Xerxes I. (485–465 BC)

Persepolis 5th cent BC Rock Reliefs
Large Iranian rock sculpture which may have influenced the Buddhist sculpture of the 5th-8th centurt AD.
Persepolis Palace of Darius. Rock reliefs probably from the time of Xerxes (486-465 BC) On his return in 323 BC Alexander burnt down the palaces of Persepolis.
Here are a few photos which are particually relevant to our subject from the collection of the Archives of the University of Chicago:
Darius' palace general view. Some of the reliefs are visible.
The staircase
Angra Mainyu kills the primeval bull, whose seed is rescued by Mah, the moon, as the source for all other animals. A motive which appears in all steppe art in contact with Iranian sources down to 13th-cent AD reliefs in the Armenian churches in Lake Van and Georgia.
A carrier from India with perfume bottles. An example of the trade along the "Silk Roads" before the 3rd cent BC.
Persepolis

Taq-i-Bostan
Taq-i-Bostan, 226 - 650 AD
Taq-i-Bostan harbours a collection of large rock reliefs from the Sassanid dynasty which ruled western Asia from 226 to 650 AD. The carvings, some of the finest and best-preserved examples of Persian sculpture include representations of the investitures of Ardashir II (379-383) and Shapur III (383-388).
The investitur of King Ardashir III (628-630 AD).
From Katsumi TANABE

Alamut
The Castle of Alamut
Alamut (1090-1256) was a mountain fortress located in the central Elburz mountains. Only ruins remain of it today.
According to Hamdollah Mostowfi, the fortress was built in 840. It had only one passable artificial entrance that wound its way around the cliff face, making conquering the fortress extremely difficult. In 1090 the castle was infiltrated and occupied by the fabled Assassins, a powerful Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. The stronghold was destroyed in 1256 by the Christian-Buddhist il-Khan Hulagu (grandson of Ginghis Khan) as part of his attack on the Islamic Middle East. Although the fortress itself was impregnable, Ruknuddin Khor-Shah surrendered, in the hope that Hulagu would spare his life. He was promptly executed

Sultaniyya
The central magnet of Soltaniyya's several ruins is the Mausoleum of Mongol Il-khan Oljeitu Khudabanda)..
The structure, erected between 1307 and 1313, is the earliest double-shell dome known. Its importance in Islamic architecture may be compared to that of Brunelleschi's Florentine cupola (1419-1436) for the West. The Dome of Soltaniyya paved the way for more daring Islamic cupola constructions, such asthe Taj Mahal. Much of the exterior decoration has been lost, but the interior retains superb mosaics, faience, and murals.
The mausoleum under reconstruction in 1999.

Tabriz
Tabriz, 740 BC - 16th cent AD
Tabriz was the early capital of the Safavids (1501 - 1587). until Shah Abbas I moved it to the safety of Isfahan (1589)
The mosque, now in ruins, was once a complex which included a tomb, cistern, library and khanqah (mental institution).
Masjid-i Muzaffariyya, Blue Mosque, 1465, Qara Qoyunlu
Text and photo from Archnet.org

Isfahan
Isfahan Shah Abbas' fabled capital, 16th cent AD
Ancient Isfahan was part of the Elamite empire. Under the name of Aspandana it became one of the principal towns of the Median dynasty, when Iranian Medes settled there. Subsequently the province became part of the Achaemenid Empire and after the liberation of Iran from Macedonian occupation by the Arsacids, it became part of Parthian Empire.
The Golden Age of Esfahan arrived in the 16th century under Shah Abbas I (1587-1629) who made it the new capital of the Safavid dynasty.
The center of Shah Abbas city is the Naqshe Jahan Square. It is surrounded by buildings from the Safavid era. The Shah Mosque is situated on the south side of this square. On the west side you can find Ali Qapu Palace. Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque is situated on the eastern side of this square. The northern side opens into the Isfahan Grand Bazaar.
Naghshe Jahan Square looking south towards the Shah Abbas complex
Text and photo from Wikipedia - Isfahan.

Daryal Gorge or the Gates of the Alani
By way of this narrow gorge of the Terek river people have crossed the Caucasus since prehistoric times. - About the only conqueror who didn't was Alexander the Great. - The gorge was too dangerously narrow and the local tribes too fierce, to risk his small army. Photo RWFG

Tbilisi
Founded in the 5th cent AD byi Vakhtang Gorgasal ithe East Georgian King and made into a capital in the 6th century. Archaeological studies have revealed that the territory of Tbilisi was settled in the 4th millennium B.C.
From 570-580 A.D., the Persians ruled Kartli. In 627 A.D. Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and between 736-738, by Arab armies, who established an emirate. The Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until 12th cent. .In 1122, King David the Builder recaptured Tbilisi. David moved his residence from Kutaisi (Western Georgia) to Tbilisi, establishing a unified Georgian Kingdom.
Between 1236 - 1320 Georgia came under Mongol domination. It was completely burnt to the ground in 1386 by TimurTamerlane and again In 1444 by Jahan Shah of Tabriz.
In 1801 the Georgian king sought Russian protection abdicating his position. Georgia flourished until Beria's (a Georgian) dictatorship in 1936.
A photo from the Ermakov Collection.: The town and the Persian Narikala fort (early 1860s).

Konya
Konya, founded by the Greeks as Iconium, was an ancient city in Lycaonia, visited by Saint Paul according to the Book of Acts. The city was captured by the Seljuk Turks following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and from 1097 to 1243 it was the capital of Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate. In 1243 the Christian-Buddhist Hulagu Mongol Khan, following the Seljuk defeat in the Battle of Köse Dag, Konya was captured by Mongols as well. The city remained the capital of Seljuk sultans, vassalized to the Ilkhanate until the end of the century.
Rumi's Mevlevi Tekke. Photo RWFG
Today Konya is famed for the grave of Mavlana ala-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273), the founder of the Melevi Sufi Order (Dancing Dervishes), who fled the advancing Genghis Khan Mongols to Konya from Balkh in 1220. He taught in Konya. One of the great poets of the Persian language.

India

Roman Muziris
Muziris' Roman Past 2nd -1st cent BC
Excavation site near the village of Parur, Cochin. The recent (2000) discovery of Roman coins at this site dates the Roman settlement to around 40 BC (Tiberius). Since that time a Jewish community existed in Muziris.

Simla
Simla, Hill Station, 19-20th cent
Simla was the inofficial summer residence of the Viceroys of th British Raj. Many explorers started or ended their Himalayan expeditions here (Sven Hedin, Younghusband, Tucci).
Viceregal Lodge, Simla. Architect Henry Irvin, 1841 - 1922

Kapilavastu
One of the traditional places of Buddha Gautama's birth (563 BC). The accounts left by the Chinese travellers Xuanzang and Faxian stimulated a number of ardent searches in the late 19th century. Indian guidebooks and historians consider Piprahwa to be the real Kapilavastu, while Nepalese guidebooks and historians consider Tilaurakot to be the real Kapilavastu. A compromise is is that Kapilavastu is a large area which is mainly in Nepal (but partly in India). Kapilavashtu, Western Gate. Photo from Wikipedia.

Khajuraho
Khajuraho, 10th-11th cent AD
Khajuraho Temple, 950 - 1050 AD. Photo RWFG
Khajuraho was once the capital of the Chandela Rajputs, a Hindu dynasty that ruled this part of India from the 10th to the 12th centuries AD. The Khajuraho temples were built over a span of a hundred years, from 950 to 1050 AD. They are either Hindu or Jain. Apparently one Buddhist temple was destroyed in the 13th century. A few Buddhist sculptures from this temple are on exhibit in the museum.
The complex was discovered by a British colonel in Victorian times. They became famous and nototrious at once for their erotic sculpture. - It should be kept in mind, that the Chandela kings were followers of the Bengali-Shivaist Tantric tradition. Tantric erotic sculpture (of a much lesser quality) grace every Shiva temple, e.g., in the Kathmandu Valley.

Ellora Caves
Ellora Caves, 2nd cent BC -11th cent AD
Ellora Caves, 2nd cent BC
While the art of Ajanta is foremost in its paintings, Ellora represents the epitome of Indian rock cut architecture. Ellora's cave complex is multicultural. The caves provide a mixture of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain temples. The Buddhist caves were the earliest (200 BC - 600 AD) followed by Hindu (500 - 900 AD) and Jain (800 - 1000 AD) temples.
Rock-carved architecture predominates in most sacred Buddhist sites in India, China, Gandhara, and Bactria. In Central Asia the sculptures (clay) are augmented by frescoes, (Kizil, Dunhuang, Tibet). For a good article on Indian rock-cut architecture see: Wikipedia

Gandhara

Peshawar
Peshawar, 2000 BC - 4th cent AD
Young Pashtun from Peshawar
Peshawar, "High Fort" in Farsi, Pekhawar in Pashtu. The area of the city has been ruled by numerous empires including the Persian, Greek, Maurya, Scythian, Arab, Turk, Mongol, Mughal, Afghan, Sikh and the British. Located on the entrance to the Khyber Pass the city was one of the main trading centres on the ancient Silk Road and a major crossroads for various cultures between South and Central Asia and the Middle East. The region was affiliated with the ancient kingdom of Gandhara and had links to the Harappan civilization of the Indus River Valley (2000 BC) and to Bactria.
In the 1st millennium BC the Pashtuns arrived in the area from south-western Afghanistan, and Pashtu is still the local language.
In 127 BC Peshawar became the eastern capital of the Kushan Empire of Gandhara. King Kanishka I built the giant stupa outside Peshawar, to house the Buddha's relics. The earliest account of this famous building is by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian, (400 AD).

KASHMIR
Kashmir, 2nd cent BC - 14th cent AD
Kashmir strongly influenced West-Tibetan and Ladakhi Buddhist art, and was a location of Buddhist learning up to the 11th cent. AD. By the 14th century Kashmir had become thoroughly Moslem. The Buddhist sanctuaries are mere piles of rubble. There are no Buddhist communities left in Kashmir - but its beauty is stiil compelling even in Winter: Photo RWFG

LADAKH
Ladakh, 2nd cent BC - 14th cent AD
Ladakh and Mustang are the only Tibetan Buddhist areas which did not come under Chinese rule. Ladakh was an independent kingdom which since the 13th century Ladakh has not been under the authority of the Eastern Tibetan establishment in Lhasa. Yet the early trade routes (2nd cent BC) (part of the Sikl Roads) and the second (11th cent) Buddhist dissemination to Tibet passed along the caravan routes of Ladakh and left their exquisite traces.
Like the Mulbekh Buddha on the border between Kashmir and Ladakh. Photo RWFG (8th-9th cent AD) and a wealth of frescoes after the 10th cent. All of these and the old Tibetan customs are still very much alive today. A certain distrust against Lhasa's rule prevailed until very recently among the Buddhist religious establishments (many Kagyapa) in Ladakh. Only the populariity of the present Dalai Lama has welded the monastic factions to a common Tibetan cause.
Monks on the roof of Tikse Gompa blowing conches for the evening service. Photo Cornelius Gross, 1986

Leh
Leh capital of Ladakh
Leh crowned by the royal castle. Photo RWFG

Kabul
Capital of Afghanistan and the site of the museum which houses many ancient artifacts from Bactria. Some have been recovered, e.g. the gold from Tilia Tepe, see Exhebition Museum Guimet, Paris
For an annotated list of looted artifacts see Afghan Magazine

Fondukistan
Greco-Buddhist sculptures from Fondikistan
Ruins of a Buddhist monastery where unusually beautiful early Greco-Buddhist sculptures and Serindia-influenced frescoes were found.:
Fondukistan, painted Bodhisattva on gilded clay (7th cent AD) from the Nat. Museum of Kabul. This find was believed to be lost, but was recovered from a safe in Kabul in 2006. Photo from National Geographic Magazine
Another Fondukistan Buddha sculpture (painted clay, early 7th century) Kabul Museum. Photo from : Madelleine Hallade, "Indien, Gandhara, Begegnung zwischen Orient and Okzident", Pawlak Verlag, Herrsching, 1975)
This sculpture was also in the Kabul Archeological Museum and may not have survived. - Does anyone know its present whereabouts?

Taxila
Taxila, 6th cent BC - 5th cent AD
Stupa at Taxila-Sirkap, decorated with Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek tsculpturess. Photo and text from Wikipedia
Taxila is an archaeological site in Pakistan containing the ruins of the Gandharan city of Takshashila (also Takkasila or Taxila) an important Vedic/Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th BC century to the 5th cent AD. Taxila lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes: the royal highway from Paṭaliputra; the north-western route through Bactria, Kapisha, and Puskalavatī (Peshawar); and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via Srinigar, Mansehra, and the Haripur valley across the Khunjerab pass to the Silk Road.
In 326 BC Alexander the Great received the submission of Ambhi, king of Taxila.
During the reign of Asoka (3nd cent AD), Taxila became an influential centre of Buddhist learning.
Assorted Greek satraps held sway in Taxila until in 460–470 AD the Ephthalites sweep over Gandhara and the Punjab. - Wholesale destruction of Buddhist monasteries and stupas at Taxila, which never again recovers
For an excellent, detailed article on the art and history of Taxila see Jona Lendering, Livius.com

Bamiyan
Bamiyan before the destruction of the Buddhas. Photo from Wikipedia
The large Buddhas of Bamiyan, newly notorious because of their destruction by Talibans in the 1980s, go back to the Sassanian period (4th cent AD). During the following two centuries this Iranian-Gandharan Buddha style was carried through Gansu (Bingling Si, Maiji Shan, Zhangye ) deep into China (Lomgmen, Yungang, Leshan), where such gigantic sculptures were much appreciated at the time.

Skythia

New Seray Capital of the Golden Horde 1240

Panticapaeum-Kerch
Kerch as a city started its history in 7th century BC, when Greek colonists from Miletus founded a city-state named Panticapaeum. The city located at the intersection of trade roads between Asia and Europe grew rapidly. The city's main exports were grain and salted fish. Panticapaeum minted its own coins. A large portion of the population was ethnically Scythian. - In the 7th cent AD the Turkic Khazars took control of the city and named it Karcha. From the 10th cent AD the city was a Slavic settlement named Korchev. Korchev was a center of trade between Rus, Crimea, Caucasus, and the Orient.

Atil-Astrakhan
Atil, also spelled Itil was the capital of Khazaria from the middle of the 8th until the end of the 10th century. Atil was a multi-ethnic and religious city, inhabited by Jews, Christians, Shamanists, many of them traders from foreign countries.

Syria

Dura-Europos 300 BC - 275 AD
Dura-Europos, 300 BC - 275 AD
Dura-Europo was founded in 303 BC by the Seleucids on the east-west trade route. A new city, commemorating the birthplace of Alexander's successor Seleucus I Nicator. It was captured by the Romans in 165 AD and abandoned after a Sassanian siege in 256-257AD. It was covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight.
Temple of Bel at Dura Europos

Palmyra
Palmyra, 500 BC - 300 AD
Palmyra had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert. Its rich merchants owned ships in Italian waters and controlled the Indian silk trade. It successfully succeeded to be under Roman domination, but escaped its Romanization
When the Seleucids took control of Syria in 323 BC, the city became independent.

Antioch-Orontes
Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch rivaled Alexandria as the biggest city of the near East and the Silk Road. It was destined to be the cradle of Greek Christianity.

Seleucia Pieria
Ancient harbor of Antioch. From here the Silk Road connected to Rome by sea.

Damaskus
Excavations at Tell Ramad on the outskirts of the city have demonstrated that Damascus has been inhabited as early as 8000 to 10,000 BC.
Damascus has a wealth of historical sites dating back to many different periods of the city's history. Since the city has been built up with every passing occupation, it has become almost impossible to excavate all the ruins of Damascus that lie up to 8 feet below the modern level. - One reason why the city is a treasure of buildings from many civilizations.
Three Damascene women; lady wearing qabqabs, a Druze, and two peasants, 1873. Phto from Wikipedia, Damascus.

Laodicea
Laodicea was one of the Mediterranean ports on the Silk Road. The Phoenicians had a city here named Ramitha, and to the Greeks it was known as Leuke Akte 'white cape'. It was re-founded as Laodicea by Seleucus I Nicator who named it after his mother .It was taken by the Byzantine Empire in 969 AD and then by the Seljuks in 1084. In 1097, it was captured by Crusaders and made part of the Principality of Antioch. The Byzantines held it again from 1098 and 1100 and then Saladin took it in 1188. It was captured by the Crusader County of Tripoli in 1260 and by the Qalawun in 1287. From the 16th century to World War I, it was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Acre-Ptolemaic
The siege of Acre. medieval miniature, from inet.net.au
The city goes back to 1500 BC. In 1104 AD the Crusaders made the town their chief port in Palestine. In a bloody siege the Mameluks captured it in 1291. The Ottomans under Sultan Selim I captured the city in 1517, after which it fell into almost total decay.
Together with Tyre, Laodicea, and Seleucia Pieria it seved, depending on the fortunes of these four cities, as port to the eastern teminus of the Silk Road roads on the sea way to Rome.

Sogdiana-Baktria

Balkh
The Ruins of Balkh, clearly visible on GE
Balkh was one of the major cities of Khorasan. It was located in a Persian-speaking area of eastern Persia.
The ancient city of Balkh, the oldest in today's Afghanistan, is associated with the Vedic name Bhakri, which later became Bactra for the Greeks, giving its name to Bactria. It was mostly known as the centre and capital of Bactria or Takharistan. Balkh is now for the most part a mass of ruins It is considered to be the first city to which the Indo-Iranian tribes moved from the North of Amu Darya, approximately between 2000 - 1500 BC.
From the Memoirs of Xuanzang, we learn that, at the time of his visit in the 7th century, there were in the city, or its vicinity, about a hundred Buddhist convents, with 3,000 devotees, and that there was a large number of stupas, and other religious monuments. In 1220 Genghis Khan sacked Balkh, butchered its inhabitants and levelled all the buildings capable of defense — treatment to which it was again subjected in the 14th century by Timur. Notwithstanding this, however, Marco Polo could still describe it as "a noble city and a great."

Alexandria on Oxus-Ai-Khanoum 4th-2nd cent BC
Alexandria on Oxus: town founded by Alexander the Great, now called Ai Khanum in Afghanistan. Alexandria on Oxus (or: in Oxiana) was founded, probably by Hephaestion, during Alexander the Great's campaigns in Bactria and Sogdia (329-327). It was a refoundation of an older, Persian city, and was settled with Greek and Iranian veterans, and native serfs.
Map of Ai Khanum
Today, the town is called Ai Khanum, which means "Lady Moon" in Uzbek It was excavated by French archaeologists and looks surprisingly like a Greek city, including temples, a heroön, palace, colonnaded courts, city wall, gymnasium (sport school), houses, Corinthian columns, free-standing statues, and a theater wth 5,000 seats. The citadel, which is on a 60 m high loess-covered natural mound, has not been investigated yet.
Among the finds are Greek and Indian coins, several inscriptions, sundials, jewelry, a famous plate showing the Phrygian goddess Cybele, the Greek god Helios, and an Iranian fire altar.
Text and images from Livius

Samarkand Registan
The central square of Tamerlane's Samarkand is surrounded by three Islamic colleges (Madrasas) : Ulugbek Madrasa (1417-1420), the Shir-Dor Madrasa (1619-1636) and the Tilya-Kari Madrasah (1646-1660). One of the most magnificent Islamic architectural ensembles of Central Asia.
Photos by RWFG 1977.
Medresa Shir Dor
For more photos from Samarkand go to Rolf's Samarkand 1977 and 1989

Sakmarkand Shakh-i-Zinda
Surrounded by cemeteris Shakh-i-Zinda is the street of theTimurid mausolea. The earliest buildings date back to the 11-12th centuries. Mainly their bases and headstones have remained now. The most part dates back to the 14-15th centuries.

Samarkand Bibi-Khanum
Bibi-Khanum Mosque in Samarkand was built by the wife of Timur Tamerlane (1398-1405) during his absence on one of his military expeditions.
Bibi Hanum Mosque after the latest reconstruction (2006). Photo from Picasa Web

Samarkand Gur-e-Amir
Photo RWFG 1977
Gur-e Amir, the mausoleum of Timur Tamerlane, was originally built 1403 for his grandson Muhammad Sultan. It contains the tombs of Tamerlane, his sons Shah Rukh and Miran Shah and grandson Ulugh Beg and Muhammad Sultan Also honoured with a place in the tomb is Timur's teacher Mir Said Baraka. Timur had built himself a smaller tomb in Shahrisabz near his Ak-Saray palace. However, when Timur died in 1405 on campaign on his way to conquer China, the passes to Shahrisabz were snowed in, so he was buried here instead. Ulugh Beg, another grandson of Tamerlane, completed the work. During his reign the mausoleum became the family crypt of the Timurid Dynasty.

Pendjikent
The origin of Zoastrianism. Pendjikent is a large tell with unexcavated ruins of the city.
The ruins of Pendjikent. Photo from Boris Marshak, The Archeology of Sogdiana

Bukhara
Miri Arab madressah in Bukhara. Photo Wikipedia
Officially the city was founded in 500 BC in the area now called the Arq. However, the Bukhara oasis had been inhabitated long before, since 3000 BC an advanced Bronze Age culture called the Sapalli Culture thrived at such sites as Varakhsha, Vardan, Paykend, and Ramitan. In 1500 BC a combination of factors; climatic drying, iron technology, and the arrival of Aryan nomads triggered a population shift to the oasis from outlying areas. Together both the Sapalli and Aryan people lived in villages along the shores of a dense lake and wetland area in the Zeravshan Fan.
By 1000 BC both groups had merged into a distinctive culture. Around 800 BC this new culture, called Sogdian, flourished in city-states along the Zeravshan Valley. By this time the lake had silted up and small three fortified settlements had been built. By 500 BC these settlements had grown together and were enclosed by a wall, thus Bukhara was born.
In the 4th cent BC it passed into the hands of the Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, the Greco-Bactrians, and the Kushan Empire. During this time Bukhara functioned as a cult center for the worship of Anahita, and her associated temple economy. Approximately once a lunar cycle, the inhabitants of the Zeravshan Fan exchanged their old idols of the goddess for new ones.
Prior to the Arab invasion (7th cent AD), Bukhara was a stronghold for followers of Zurvanite Zoroastrianism, as well as the two other persecuted religious movements within the theocratic Sassanian Empire, Manicheanism and Nestorian Christianity.
The Arabs did not truly conquer Bukhara until after the Battle of Talas in 751 AD. Islam became the dominant religion at this time and remains the dominant religion to the present day.

Ferghana Valley
In 329 BC, Alexander the Great founded a Greek settlement, the city of Alexandria Eschate in the southwestern part of the Ferghana valley. There are indications that from Alexandria Eschate the Greco-Bactrians may have led expeditions as far as Kashgar and Ürümqi in Chinese Turkestan, leading to the first known contacts between China and the West around 220 BC.
Zhang Qian (126 BC) calls the people of Ferghana Dayuan, possibly descendants of the Greek colonists (Da Yuan might be a transliteration of "Great Ionians"). Ferghana-Dayuan was renowned for its Heavenly Horses which the Chinese tried to obtain with little success until they waged war against them in 104 BC.
Zhang Qian describes the Dayuan as unusual in features, with a sophisticated urban civilization, similar to that of the Bactrians and Parthians: "The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana (Dayuan) and the possessions of Bactria and Parthia are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China" (Hou Han Shu).

Alexandria Eschate
Alexandria Eschate was founded by Alexander the Great in 329 BC as his most advanced base in trhe Fergana Valley. Chinese historical records of the Han Dynasty describe the embassy of Zhang Qian to Alexandria Eschate around 130 BC. He encounteredt the Dayuan there, probably the last descendants of Alexander's Greeks. If so, this was the the first major interaction between an urbanized Indo-European culture and the Chinese civilization, which led to the opening up the Silk Road from the 1st century BC.
For an elaborate overlay of the Silk Roads download the post.

Kokand
Kokand at northern rim of the Fergana Valley has existed at least since the 10th century AD. It was frequently mentioned by travelers on the Silk Road. The Mongols destroyed Kokand in the 13th century.

Serindia

TAKLAMAKAN
Taklaman Dessert
Modern Caravan in the Taklamakan Dessert. Photo from belfun.com
>BR>

TURFAN DEPRESSION
Turfan Depression
The Flaming Mountains, the northeastern boundary of the Turfan Depression. From Wikipedia

GOBI
Gobi Dessert
This is the Gobi Desert. It is often confused with the much larger sandbox to the west, which today is the Taklamakan Desert or the Tarim Basin.

CHARCHEN Graves 2000-1600 BC
Recently near here shaft graves yielded several mummified "Western European Giants" from around 2000 BC - fully dressed in knitted woolen garments: a man, three women, and a baby buried togethernear Charchen. They are now in the Urumchi Museum - "the Mummies of Urumchi".
Taklamakan mummy 7a from Charchen Tomb 2: 40-years-old woman, app. 2000 BC.
Taklamakan mummy 13, a 1-year-old boy from the same grave.
Photos from Nova-Online
The location of this site was taken from Aurel Stein's expedition maps.

Kara Shahr
Capital of an an Indo-Eurpean kingdom in the 1st cent AD

Barkul
In 73 AD Barkol was a Xiung-nu (Hsiung-nu) town when it was attacked by the Western Han Chinese. Some eqate the Xiung-nu with the "Huns" who appear in Western Europe 250 years later. There is scanty evidence of this theory. The Xiung-nu disappear from history after their defeat at Barkol.
The history of the Chinese wars with the Xiung-nu is a confusing story that lasted throughout the two Han Dynasties (200BC -220 AD). It is well told by Rene Grousset, "The Empire of the Steppes, a History of Central Asia", Rutgers U Press, New Brunswick, 1970, p.p 33.
The bone of contention was, in short, the control between the Chinese and the Xiung-nu of the European kingdoms on the Northern Silk Road, which had become rich from the steadily increasing caravan trade. Eventually, in the 2nd cent AD, the Chinese gained the upper hand and established a number of military outposts (Barkul, Turfan, Yiwu, Loulan, Khotan, and Yarkand). This greatly enhanced the security along the Silk Road and the vulume of the trade (3rd cent AD)

Turfan

Karakorum Pass
One of the highest (5,575 m) and most difficult passes in Asia, the Karakoram Pass was used by caravans from before the 4th cent AD until the 1950s in trade between Kashmir and Serindia and Tibet. As the 5th century Bamyian Buddha in Mulbekh shows early Budhhism traveled to Serindia along this route.
In 1995 we met in Ladakh an Arab trader from Kashgar, the late Ali Shah, who got stuck in Leh in 1950 during the Chinese expansion into the Ak Serai. His grandfather had already plied this route to Lhasa.

Khocho
Khocho (Chotscho, Gaochang) was a cosmopolitan city where in the 6th - 9th cent. people on the Silk Road met: The population was Mahayana Buddhist, the Kings Manicheans and their wives Nestorians Christians. Syrians also lived there.(Ginghis Khan was a baptized Nestorian Christian!!), and after the 9th century (Tang) Chinese
Here, like in Kizil, Albert Le Coq (1911-12) removed a caravan load of highly interesting murals which are exhibited in the Berlin-Dahlem Museum
Palm Sunday, Khocho, Nestorian Temple, 683–770 CE. Wall painting "rescued" by LeCoq (1912), Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin-Dahlem. From Wikimedia

Kashgar
Most important Silk Road town in Western Xinjiang.

Yarkand
City on the Northern Silk Road through the Wakhang after the 4th cent AD

Eurasian Graves 8th cent BC
These grave sites, known since Stein's and Hedin's explorations (See the facsimile edition of Bergman and Sven Hedin's last expedition 1934-35) have been excavated by the Chinese between 1972 and 1996. In shaft-graves they found well preserved, tall (1.76 m) "Giants" with European features: blond hair, possibly blue eyes, dressed in knitted woolen garments - all well preserved. Embarrassed by their not being Chinese, the archeologists stored them in the basement of the Urumchi Provincial museum - until they were re-discovered by Dr. Mair, professor of Chinese studies at the University of Pennsylvania, who was visiting Urumchi. Closer examination showed that they dated from the around the 8th cent BC. A DNA analysis has confirmed that they are related to the Northern Europeans (like the "Tokharians" in Kucha and Kizil).
Similar "mummies" but from the 18th cent BC were found near Charchen on the southern Silk Road. They have become the sensation of the Urumchi Regional Museum.The mummies are described in the popular book by Elizabeth W. Barber (Occidental College) "The Mummies of Urumchi", W. W. Norton (2000) available at Amazon.com - See also a shortened, popularized version of Barber's book in the internet.

Lopnor
Lopnor is the wandering sink (Lop) of the Tarim River which runs along the northern Taklamakan Desert, explored by Stein and by Sven Hedin.
Lake Lopnor (Mongolian. "Black Sink") occupied this lokation from 1921 to 1971. After the careful exploration of the lakebed by Sven Hedin together with a Chinese group (1927-35) and Folke Bergman (1935) the lake was drained leaving the 50-km diameter circular structure visible in GE. The last salt swamps disappeared in 1971.
See the facsimile edition of Bergman and Sven Hedin's last expedition 1934-35

Korla
The Albuquerque of China's nuclear research. In case you are wondering what Far Western China looks today: Photos from a NJ kid lost in Korla, see the Albuquerque of China anno 2005

Hami
Hami famous for its melons, is an old town at the western entrance to the Hexi Corridor.

Aksu

Kucha
In the 5th - 9th cent AD Khucha was a Buddhist kingdom of red-haired, blue-eyed princes. Recovered manuscripts show that they spoke a Western European language ("centum", close to the Germanic languages) - not an Indo-Iranian ("hatem") dialect. Their language is called Tokharian, after a mythical tribe Herodot mentions. This seems to indicate that they migrated here in more recent times than the Indo-Iranian-European Migrations. Our understanding is incomplete - but look at their red-blond hair and possibly blue eyes in the frescoes of the caves at Kizil.
Several translators of Buddhist scriptures came from here. The most famous was Kumarajiva (344-413) who was born to Indian parents in Kucha.

Subashi
Subashi 6th cent AD
Sarira casket from Subashi. Wood covered with hemp and painted. 6th-7th century. Otani Collection. Tokyo National Museum. Photo from Wikipedia
site was explored by Le Coq and Grünwedel in 1913-14. (See my post on Kizil.)

Loulan
Loulan 2nd - 5th cent AD
View of Loulan from the ruins of a Buddhist stupa.
The site of the ancient city of Loulan which flourished between the 2nd cent BC and the 5th cent AD, when a period of high precipitation produced subtropical conditions in the eastern Taklamakan. Lop Nor was a fresh water lake then. (JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 109, 2004).
Loulan was first mentioned in 176 BC. in a letter to the Chinese emperor Wendi. It was then the capital of the Shanshan kingdom (Xiongnu). In the 2nd cent AD it became a Chinese military outpost, which was given up in the 3rd cent AD because of lack of water. During its last hundert years Loulan was a city on the Middle Silk Road from Dunhuang to Korla.
The site of Loulan was first described by Aurel Stein
He was followed by Sven Hedin who found the Necropolis of Xiaohe. In 1933-35 Hedin returned with Bergman and Chinese Scientists, who surveyed the area before draining Lopnor. ( See the facsimile edition of Bergman and Sven Hedin's last expedition 1934-35) They found innumerable grave sites all over the area with well preserved natural mummies. See Xiaohe for a discussion.

Xiaohe Necropole 8th cent BC-3rd cent AD
Graves (Oerdeks's Necropolis) found by Sven Hedin's Uigur leader Oerdek during the Swedish-Chinese espedition 1927-1933 and investigated and documented by the Swedish explorer Folke Bergman (1935); new name: "Xiaohe Tombs". The graves are above ground and date from before the 3rd cent AD. The graveyard seems to have been in use from the 8th cent BC.
See the facsimile edition of Bergman and Sven Hedin's last expedition 1934-35
Oerdek's Necropolis, photos fom Sven Hedin's last expedition. The sticks are the 14 columns of a "funeral" hall (not dead trees):
Head of a nuturally mummified corpse:

Miran
Mural from Miran
Miran was found by Aurel Stein who also discovered several ruined towns in the vicinity which are only now receiving archeological attention.
Aurel Stein's expedition maps can be downloaded in their full entirety from: Toyo Bunko
Warning! The Google-Earth download found there is very large - and does not fit GE properly in many places!

Tashkurgan
Town where the the two Silk Roads met and the difficult passes of the Pamirs began. Known as the Stone City to Greek and Roman historians.

Stone Tower
Ruins of the "Stone Tower" near Kashkurgan, the entrance to the old Silk Road pass into the Wakhan from China.

Wakhan
The Wakhan, Afghanistan
The Wakhan caravan route in Winter, Phto from Wikipedia>
Valley along which the Silk Road led. Marco Polo traveled through it. During Winter the caravans moved down the frozen Wakhan River, a dangerous but much more convenient route than the mountain passes.

Minfeng-Niya
The location of this site was taken from Aurel Stein's expedition maps who calls it Mingfeng, today its Niya. One of the lost towns on the southern caravan route.

Ruins of Niya 3rd cent AD
Discovered by Aurel Stein the area around Niya has become a favorite excavation site of the Chinese Academy.
The location of this site was taken from Aurel Stein's expedition maps.

SouthEast Asia

Borobudur
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post..
Borobodur Stupa 760-14th cent AD
The mandala stupa at Borobodur. Photo from Indotranslate
Borobudur is a unique Mahayana Buddhist stupa in Central Java. It was probably built between 760 and 830 AD, during the peak of the Sailendra dynasty in Central Java, when it was under the influence of the Srivijayan Empire. Evidence suggests that Borobudur was abandoned following the 14th cent decline of Buddhism and Hinduism in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam.
For an elaborate discription of it history and architecture, see: Wikipedia

Gansu

Dunhuang
Dunhuang flourished as a Buddhist monastery and way station on the Southern Silk Road for 900 years starting around 366 AD. It is an assembly of nearly 1000 man-made caves all painted in glorious colors: the largest open-air art gallery in the world.
Cave 249, part of ceiling, Western Wei, around 550 AD. Caves 249 and 404 show an exhilarating explosion of colors and psychodelic forms. The entire cave space is swirling and the colors could be perceived as intense and saturated as shown here — if the paintings were properly illuminated and freed from dust. I believe that these are the ecstatic visions seen in intense meditation. It is not possible to give a clear interpretation of the iconography especially of the ceiling of Cave 249 above.
Photos RWFG
Besides being magnificent in themselves, the frescoes give a full account of the development of Central Asian Buddhist painting and the people and history of the Silk Road.

Karakhorum
The capital of Genghis Khan until his grandson Kublai Khan became Chinese emperor and moved his capital to Dadu (Beijing) (1267). In 1388 a Chinese army captured the city, killed its inhabitants, and destroyed it.

Yümenzhen

Karakhoto
Kharakhoto (Heicheng) the Black City its city walls are clearely visible even at low resolution. During the 11th century, the city was a thriving centre of Tangut trade and culture. No less than 2,000 books in Tangut language were uncovered there by the Russian explorer P. K. Kozlov in 1907-09. There remain 30-foot-high ramparts and 12-foot-thick outer walls €”as much as 450 yards to a side, and a number of chorten.
Kharakhoto was a cosmopolitan Buddhist city where Buddhists, Manicheans, and a few Nestorians lived together. (Xi-Xia Dynasty 982-1227). It was destroyed by a Ming-Chinese army after a long siege in 1372 and never recovered. Text and photo from Columbia.esu

Jiaohe
Jiaohe, Xinjiang
Ruins of the Tang Chinese military outpost (9th cent AD). Photo from Wikimedia.

Anxi
Non-reproducable photos of the valley of Suoyang Castle near Anxi can be found at Anxi, Suoyang Castle by Asanobu Kitamoto

Tibet

Lhasa
This marker is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post..
The Imperial Chinese Dragon below the Potala.
Photo from Travelblog.org

Russia

Por-Bajin
Por-Bajin - stronghold in Eastern Siberia, built in the 8th cent BC. on an island of lake Tere-Hole. Some consider this stronghold to be a temple and call it 'Russian Shaolin'. Others believe that this construction serves as the northern gates to sacred place Schambala. (Text slightly modified from the original Russian post by RWFG)
Por-Bajin is translated form Tuva language as 'clay house'. It's mostly built of unfired clay bricks. The monument has a complex structure - inside a regular rectangle of walls there is a whole labyrinth of buildings, which look like as a buddhist (or Chinese, RWFG) temple. The walls form a regular rectangle with side sizes 211x158 meters.
In 2007 an archeological expedition will search for clues to the latest archeological find of a tall Europeoid skeleton (height of 1,85 meter)

Omsk

Irkutsk

Semipalatinsk

China

Urumchi
Today's capital of Xinjiang with an interesting provincial archeological museum ("Mummies of Urumchi")

Kumbum-Taersi
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post..
Kumbum-Taersi from the road. Photo RWFG (1983)
Large Tibetan Monastery which played an influential role in Beijing starting in the Yuan Dynasty (14th cent AD)
Alexandra David-Neel spend several years here as a nun-apprentice.

Nanjing
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post..
Processional road to the Ming Tombs on a rainy day. Photo RWFG 1987
Nanjing is one of the earliest established cities in southern China. According to legend, Fu Chai, the Lord of the State of Wu, founded the first city, Yecheng today's Nanjing area in 495 BC. The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang, who overthrew the Yuan Dynasty rebuilt this city and made it his capital in 1368 until he moved back to Beijing. The Ming emperors are buried here. In 1927, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-Shek again established Nanjing as the capital of the Republic of China.

Kaifeng
Kaifeng is one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China. In 364 BC, the state of Wei during the Warring States Period founded a city called Daliang as its capital in this area. In 781 (Tang Dynasty), a new city was constructed and named Bian. Bian was the capital of the Later Jin (936-946), Later Han (947-950), and Later Zhou (951-960) of the Five Dynasties Period. The Song Dynasty made Bian its capital when it overthrew the Later Zhou in 960, and shortly afterward, they further expanded the city.
During the Sung Dynasty, Kaifeng was a city with a population of over 400,000.
Kaifeng served as the Jin's "southern capital" from 1157 and was rebuilt during this time. But they kept their main capital further north, until 1214, when they were forced to move the imperial court southwards to Kaifeng in order to flee the Mongol onslaught. In 1234 they succumbed to forces from the Song Dynasty assisted by the Mongols.

Luoyang
Luoyang is one of the oldest cities of China. Before the 5th cent AD it was the capital of several dynasties.
The original city was founded by the Duke of Zhou in the 11th cent BC as a settlement for the survivorss of the captured Shang nobility and was named Chengzhou. It became the capital of the Zhou Dynasty in 770 BC. In AD 25, Luoyang became the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty. For several centuries, Luoyang was the center of gravity of China. Emperor Wen of the Wei Dynasty declared it his capital in AD 220. The Jin Dynasty, successor to Wei, was also established in Luoyang.
In AD 493 the Northern Wei Dynasty moved their capital from Datong to Luoyang and started the construction of the (man-made) Longmen Grottoes. More than 30,000 Buddhist statues from the time of this dynasty can still be seen in the caves.

Beijing
Houses overhanging the moat of the Forbidden City. Photo RWFG 1983
Beijing, the "Northern Capital" in contradistinction to Nanjing, the "Southern Capital" is the youngest of the imperial capitals of China. In 936, the Jin Dynasty (936-947) lost Northern China to the Khitan Liao Dynasty and moved to Kangfeng. In 1153 the Northern Jin callined Zhongdu, "the central capital." Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the ground in 1215 and rebuilt it to the north of the Jin capital in 1267. Their city was called Tatu or Dato, the Cambuluc of Marco Polo's accounts. After encircling and defeating the Chinese Southern Sung Dynasty, Kublai Khan moved to this city. Finally the Ming Dynasty made it their capital in 1403 and called it Beijing. It was they whose walls (second Ring Road) defined modern Beijing.
The present city still does not fill the combined boundaries of these cities. In its heyday (1425 to 1650) Beijing was the largest city in the world.

Lake Dian Hu
Photo RWFG
This beautiful lake was the center of the Di kingdom bewteen the 6th cent BC and the 1st cent AD.
At present we only have their sophisticated artifacts (in the Yunan Provincial Museum in Kunming). We do not know their origin. Presumably, to judge from their art, they migrated to southern Yunnan from the north-western steppes beyond the Great Wall.
A cowry-shell (money) box from Shizhashan, 100 BC. Photo RWFG.

Datong
First capital of the Turkic Northern Wei Dynasty 460-525 AD .

Taiyuan
Taiyuan the ancient capital Jinyang first built in 500 BC.
A new city was built during the Northern Wei period in 562 AD, which was later linked to the old city during the Tang Dynasty (733 AD).

Wu Tai Shan
Wutai Shan is one of 5 sacred Buddhist Mountains in China.

Jiuhua Shan
One of the five sacred Buddhist mountains in China: Jiuhua Shan, Wutai Shan, Emei Shan, Putuo Shan Dao, Lu Shan.

Xuan-Kong Si
Xuan-Kong Si a hanging Chinese Buddhist Monastery

CHAPTER I - Early Man

The Bones of the Early Hominids 3 Mill-15 000 BC

The Bones of Early Man 3 Mill-15 000 BC
This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
The Bones of Early Man 3rd Millenium - 15 000 BC
Table of Human Phylogeny
References
The data were obtained from Wikipedia.org, List of Hominida Fossils
This list is updated to the latest assignements and datings of the older finds.
Human origins - with many pictures - Smithsonian Institute
Last but not least the highly recommended IBM-National Geographic Atlas of Huminid Migrations

Hominid Excavation Sites

Australopicethus afarensis 3.2 mya

Hadar AL 288 3.2 mya Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy)
Australopithecus afarensis
3.2 mya
Hadar, Ethiopia, Donald Johanson (1974)
"Lucy" was found in the Hadar valley in 1974. A nearly complete skeleton. She walked upright on 2 feet. The fossil is 3 2 million years old. She belongs to the species Australopithecus afarensis, i.e. is not a hominid, but their most spectacular ancestor.

Homo habilis 1.9 - 1.7 Mill BC

Olduvai Gorge 1.8 - 1.7 mya H.habilis
OH 24(Twiggy)
1.8 mya
Homo habilis
Peter Nzube, Olduvai,Tanzania (1968)
from OH 24 Twiggy
A second scull:
OH 13
1.7 mya
N. Mbuika, Olduvai,Tanzania (1963)

Koobi Fora Ridge 1.9 mya H. habilis
KNM ER 1813
1.9 mya Homo habilis
by Kamoya Kimeu
Kenya (1973)
from Wikipedia

Homo ergaster 1.75 - 1.5 Mill BC

Koobi Fora Ridge 1.75 - 1.5 mya H.ergaster
KNM ER 3733
Homo ergaster
Bernard Ngeneo, Koobi Fora, Kenya(1975)

Homo georgicus 1.8 Mill BC

Dmanisi H. georgicus 1.8 mya
D 2700, Skull
Homo georgicus
Dmanisi, Georgia
Homo georgicus is a species of hominin that was suggested in 2002 to describe fossil skulls and jaws found in Dmanisi, Georgia in 1999 and 2001, which seem intermediate between Homo habilis and H. erectus.[1] A partial skeleton was discovered in 2001. The fossils are about 1.8 million years old. The remains were first discovered in 1991 by Georgian scientist, David Lordkipanidze, accompanied by an international team which unearthed the hominin remains. Implements and animal bones were found alongside the ancient hominin remains
The new discovery in Sep 2007 of four fossil skeletons of early human ancestors in Dmanisi has given scientists a revealing glimpse of a species in transition, small in its skull and upper body but with more advanced spines and longer limbs for greater mobility. The hominids of Georgia were small and lithe, barely 1.5m tall but upright and able walkers. Their crania reveal brains of between 650 and 780cc, comparable with the early African hominids, but smaller than later erectus and half that of modern humans.
Lordkipanidze D., et al (2007) Postcranial evidence from early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Nature, 449(7160):305-310.

Homo erectus 1.6- 0.23 Mill BC

Koobi Fora Ridge 1.6 - 1.4 mya H.erectus
KNM WT 15000 (Turkana Boy)
Homo erectus or Homo ergaster
Kamoya Kimeu, Koobi Fora, Kenya (1984)
From KNMR 3733

Sangiran 1.6-0.7 mya H. erectus
Sangiran 2
0.7-1.6 mya
Homo erectus
G. H. R von Koenigswald, Sangiran, Indonesia (1937)
From Sangiran2

Trinil 1.0 - 0.7 mya H. erectus
Trinil 2 "Java Man"
0.7 - 1.0 mya
formerly H. piithecanthropus-1
Reclassified as H. erectus identical with Zhoukoudian
Eugene Dubois, Trinil-1, Indonesia(1891)

Hexian 500-400 kya H. erectus
Hexian
400-500kya
Homo erectus
Hexian, China (1980)

Zhoukoudian 230-460 kya H. erectus
Homo erectus, "Peking Man"
230-460 kya
Zhoukoudian, China
Davidson (1930's)
Previously dated close to 1 mya
This is a reconstruction of the Zhoukoudian skull!

Homo heidelbergensis 400 000 - 90 000 BC

Mauer Germany 500 kya? H.heidelbergensis
Mauer 1 (Heidelberg Man)
Homo heidelbergensis
500 kya?
Mauer, Germany (1930)
From Smithsonian Instutute, Heidelbergensis

Swanscombe H.heidelbergensis? 400-250 kya?
Swanscombe Man
H. heidelbergensis?
400-250 kya?
Swanscombe, England, Alvan T Marston (1935)
This specimen should either be considered a H.Heidelbergensis skull or the age should be less than 100 kya. It is certainly not a H. sapiens!

Tautavel-Arago 400 kya H.heidelbergensis?
Arago 21 (Tautavel Man)
Homo erectus or heidelbergensis 400k Tautavel, France, Henry de Lumley (1971)
This speciem is most likely H. heidelbergensis, although H. erectus or even H. sapiens have been suggested

Steinheim 350 kya H. heidelbergensis
Steinheim Skull
350kya
Homo heidelbergensis
Steinheim, Germany (1933)

Kabwe-Broken Hill, H. heidelbergensis 300-125 kya
Broken Hill 1(Kabwe Cranium or Rhodesian Man)
Homo heidelbergensis
125 - 300kya
Kabwe, Zambia, Tom Zwiglaar (1921)
From Smithsonian Instutute, Heidelbergensis

Homo neanderthaliensis 400 000 -12 000 BC

Kebara Caves 200-90 kya H. neanderthaliensis
Kebara Cave
Homo neanderthaliensis
200-90 kya
Kebara near Tel Aviv, Israel

Qafzeh 100-90 kya H. neanderthalensis
Qafzeh IX
Homo neanderthaliensis
90-100 kya
Qafzeh, Israel
T.. McCown and H. Moivus, Jr. (1933)

Shanidar 80-60 kya Neandethaliensis
Shanidar 1
Homo neanderthalensis
60 - 80kya
Shanidar, Iraq, Ralph Solecki (1961)
From Smithonian Institute, Neanderthal

La Ferrassie 70 kya H. neanderthalensis
La Ferrassie 1
Homo neanderthalensis
70 kya
La Ferrassie, France, R. Capitan and D. Peyrony, (1909)

La Chapelle-aux Saints H. neanderthaliensis 60 kya
La Chappelle- aux-Saints 1
Homo neanderthalensis
60 kya
La Chappelle- aux-Saints, France
A. and J. Bouyssonie and L. Bardon (1908)
From Wikipedia, Neanderthal

Neanderthal 40 kya H. neanderthalensis
Neanderthal 1
40 kya
Neanderthal, Germany, Johann Carl Fuhlrott (1856)

Homo sapiens 190 000 - 4 000 BC

Idaltu H. Sapiens 160 kya
The fossilized remains of H. sapiens-idaltu were discovered at Herto Bouri in the Middle Awash site of Ethiopia's Afar Triangle in 1997 by Tim White, but were first unveiled in 2003. Herto Bouri is a region of Ethiopia under volcanic layers. By using radioisotope dating, the layers date between 154,000 and 160,000 years old. Three well preserved craniums are accounted for, the best preserved being from an adult male (BOU-VP-16/1) having a brain capacity of 1450 cm³. The other crania include another partial adult male and a six year old child.
These fossils differ from those of early (but chronologically later) forms of H. sapiens such as Cro-Magnon found in Europe and other parts of the world in that their morphology has many archaic features not typical of H. sapiens (although modern human skulls do differ across the globe). Despite the archaic features, these specimens are postulated to represent the direct ancestors of modern Homo sapiens sapiens, which according to the recent "Out of Africa" theory developed shortly after this period (Khoisan mitochondrial divergence dated not later than 110,000 B.P.) in Eastern Africa, and as such, to be the oldest representative of the H. sapiens species found so far.

Omo Kibish 190 kya? H. sapiens
Omo 1
Homo sapiens
190 kya ?
Omo Kibish, Ethiopia
Richard Leakey (1967-1974)
H. sapiens dated to 190 kya.
See also the find at Idaltu (2003) dated to 160 000 BC which is now considered the earliest specimen of H. sapiens-sapiens, "Modern Man".

Jebel Irhoud 160 kya H. sapiens
Jebel Irhoud 1
Homo sapiens
Jebel Irhoud, Morocco (1991)

Klasies River Caves 125 ky -75 kya H. sapiens
Klasies River Caves
Homo sapiens
125 - 75 kya
Klasies River, South Africa
Ray Inskeep, Robin Singer, John Wymer, Hilary Deacon (1960s)

Qafzeh 90 kya H. sapiens
Qafzeh VI
Qafzeh VIIage, Nazareth, Israel
T. McCown and H. Moivus, Jr. et alii (1933)
The Qafzeh (Skhul) site was originally thought to be about 40,000 years old based on animal remains and stone tools found. However, with the application of more precise dating techniques, scientists found that the H. sapiens fossils at Skhul were about 90,000 years old. This made the anatomically modern human population (H. sapiens) at Skhuil contemporaries of the Neanderthal population of Tabun.

Ngangdong H. sapiens 50 kya?
Ngandong 7
Ngandong, Indonesia
C. ter Haar and G. H. R. von Koenigswald (1931)
Originally designated as H. erectus

Peyzac-le-Moustier 45 kya H. neanderthaliensis
Le Moustier
Homo neanderthalensis,
Peyzac-le-Moustier, France (1909)
From Smithsonian Institute

Cro-Magnon 30 kya H. sapiens
Cro-Magnon 1
Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France, Louis Lartet (1868)
One of the oldest human finds.

Dali 209 kya (date inflated) H. sapiens?
Dali (fossil)
Homo sapiens? or heidelbergensis?
209k (date inflated)
Dali, China, Shuntang Liu (1978)
Probably its age is inflated. If it were a H. sapiens the date should be below 100 kya. It would then be the only H. sapiens specimen in China.

Dolni Vestonice 26 kya- 20 kya
Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic c. 26,000 - 20,000
Dolni Vestonice refers to an archaeological site nearvillage of that in the Czech Republic. The site is unique in that it has been a particularly abundant source of prehistoric artifacts (especially art) dating from the Gravettian period, which spanned roughly 26,000 to 20,000 B.C. In addition to functional gear, the artifacts found at Dolni Vestonice include carved representations of animals, men, women, personal ornaments, enigmatic engravings. See Wikipedia

Liang Bua Cave on Flores Island H. florensis (sapiens?) 18 kya
LB 1 (Hobbit) "Homo floresiensis"
Homo sapiens(?)
Ling Bua Cave, Flores Island, Indonesia (2003)
This is a find which, like H. georgicus (1.8 mya!), because of its small brain, small height, and frail bone structure cannot be placed in the hominid tree. For reasons of its young age, it shoud be classified as H. sapiens

The Great Hominid Centers

In the Beginning was Australopithecus afarensis 3.2 mya

Australopithecus afarensis 3.2 mya

The Handy Man - Homo habilis 1.8 -1.6 Mill BC

Origin of Homo habilis 1.8 Mill BC
Homo habilis ("handy man", "skillful person") was a species of the genus Homo, which lived from approximately 1.8 million to at least 1.6 million years ago at the beginning of the Pleistocene. Homo habilis is thought to have invented the Olduwan era (Early Paleolithic) tool chest filled with stone flakes. These stone flakes were more advanced than any tools previously used, and gave H. habilis the edge he needed to prosper.
The species was named by Mary and Louis Leakey, who found its fossils in Tanzania, East Africa, between 1962 and 1964. Homo habilis was short and had disproportionately long arms compared to modern humans. He is thought to have descended from australopithecine afarensis. In 2007, new findings suggested that H. habilis coexisted in parallel with H. erectus instead of being a direct ancestor of H. erectus.

H. habilis 1.8-1.6 mya

Fire from Heaven: Homo ergaster 1.75 Mill BC
Homo ergaster is an extinct species who lived in northern Africa with no discernable descendants.
The species name originates from the Greek ergaster meaning "Workman". This name was chosen due to the discovery of various tools such as hand-axes and cleavers near the skeletal remains of H. ergaster. This is one of the reasons that it is sometimes set apart distinctly from other human ancestors. Its use of advanced (rather than simple) tools was unique to this species; H. ergaster tool use belongs to the Acheulean industry. H. ergaster first began using these tools 1.6 million years ago. Charred animal bones in fossil deposits and traces of camps suggest that the species made creative use of fire.

Origin of Homo ergaster 1.75-1.5 Mill BC
Homo ergaster is an extict species in northeastern Africa with no discernable descendants.
Reconstruction of Lucy (San Diego Museum).
The species name originates from the Greek ergaster meaning "Workman". This name was chosen due to the discovery of various tools such as hand-axes and cleavers near the skeletal remains of H. ergaster. This is one of the reasons that it is sometimes set apart distinctly from other human ancestors. Its use of advanced (rather than simple) tools was unique to this species; H. ergaster tool use belongs to the Acheulean industry. H. ergaster first began using these tools 1.6 million years ago. Charred animal bones in fossil deposits and traces of camps suggest that the species made creative use of fire.

H. ergaster 1.75 mya

Walking on Two Feet - Homo erectus - 1.6 - 0.23 Mill BC
Homo erectus originally migrated from Africa during the Early Pleistocene around 2.0 million years ago and dispersed throughout most of the Old World, reaching as far as Southeast Asia.
Fossilized remains 1.8 and 1.0 million years old have been found in Africa (e.g., Lake Turkana and Olduvai Gorge), Europe (Spain), Indonesia (Sangiran and Trinil), Vietnam, and China . H. erectus is dead-end species hominin believed to have been the first to leave Africa. However, H. erectus died out during the late Pleistocene and has left no obvious descendants.
The discovery of the skeleton KNM-WT 15000 (Turkana boy) made near Lake Turkana, Kenya by Richard Leakey and Kamoya Kimeu in 1984 was a breakthrough in interpreting the physiical characteristics of H. erectus. Turkana boy in 1984 has shown that H erectus was not capable of producing sounds comparable to speech.
A site called Terra Amata on the French Riviera, occupied by Homo erectus, contains evidence that H. erectus used fire (300 000 BC. There are older Homo erectus sites in France, China, Vietnam, dating back 500,000 to 1.5 million years ago which reveal the controlled use of fire.

Origin of Homo erectus 1.6 Mill BC
The origin of Homo erectus 1.6 Mill BC
Homo erectus originally migrated from Africa during the Early Pleistocene around 2.0 million years ago and dispersed throughout most of the Old World, reaching as far as Southeast Asia.
Fossilized remains 1.8 and 1.0 million years old have been found in Africa (e.g., Lake Turkana and Olduvai Gorge), Europe (Spain), Indonesia (Sangiran and Trinil), Vietnam, and China . H. erectus is dead-end species hominin believed to have been the first to leave Africa. However, H. erectus died out during the late Pleistocene and has left no obvious descendants.
The discovery of the skeleton KNM-WT 15000 (Turkana boy) made near Lake Turkana, Kenya by Richard Leakey and Kamoya Kimeu in 1984 was a breakthrough in interpreting the physiical characteristics of H. erectus. Turkana boy in 1984 has shown that H erectus was not capable of producing sounds comparable to speech.
A site called Terra Amata on the French Riviera, occupied by Homo erectus, contains evidence that H. erectus used fire (300 000 BC). There are older Homo erectus sites in France, China, Vietnam, dating back 500,000 to 1.5 million years ago which reveal the controlled use of fire.

H. erectus 1.6 mya

H. erectus 1.6-0.7 mya

H. erectus 500-400 kya

H. erectus 460-230 kya

The Odd-Man-Out who walked into Eurasia - H. georgicus 1.8 mya

Origin of Homo georgicus 1.8 Miil BC
Homom georgicus 1.8-1.6 kya
The discoveries, in 1999, 2002 and 2005, of now several skulls and skeletal bones (H. georgicus) at Dmanisi in southern Georgia was a sensation. The archaeological layer in which the human remains, hundreds of stone tools and numerous animal bones were unearthed is dated approximately 1.6-1.8 million years ago (since the underlying basalt lava bed yielded an age of approximately 1.8 million years). The site yields the earliest unequivocal evidence for presence of early humans outside the African continent.
The finds were originally considered a H. erectus, however, newer finds show that H. georgicus was much smaller and had a smaller cranium yet was equipped with very long legs - which may have aided him in walking that far that early. The only comparable species is H. florensis in Indonesia, which is much later (18 kya) and usually classified as H. sapiens.
The most recent publication of David Lordkipanidze's group is not freely available online:
Lordkipanidze D., Jashashvili T., Vekua A., Ponce de Leon M.S., Zollikofer C.P., Rightmire G.P., Pontzer H., Ferring R., Oms O., Tappen M., Bukhsianidze M., Agusti J., Kahlke R., Kiladze G., Martinez-Navarro B., Mouskhelishvili A., Nioradze M., Rook L. . Postcranial evidence from early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia. Nature, 449(7160):305-310, (2007)

He learns to Speak - Homo heidelbergensis 350 000 - 90 000 BC
Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man") may be the direct ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis but not of Homo sapiens in Europe . A similar "Archaic Homo" found in Africa (Homo sapiens idaltu) is thought to be the direct ancestor of the European forms of Homo sapiens.
Homo heidelbergensis fossils were found first in Mauer near Heidelberg, Germany and later in Arago, France and Petralona, Greece. Theearliest evidence found for these hominids date between 400,000 and 350,000 years ago.
H. heidelbergensis is likely descended from the morphologically similar Homo ergaster in Africa. But because H. heidelbergensis had a larger cranial volume of 1100-1400 cc and more advanced tools, it has been given a separate species classification. H. h. was tall, 1.8 m (6 ft.) and muscular.
Recent contested findings in Atapuerca suggest that H. heidelbergensis may have been the first species to bury their dead. Some experts believe that H. heidelbergensis, like its descendant H. neanderthalensis spoke a primitive form of language. No art or sophisticated artifacts other than stone tools have been uncovered.

Origin of Homo heidelbergensis 300 000 BC
Origin of Homo heidelbergensis 300 000
Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man") may be the direct ancestor of Homo neanderthalensis but not of Homo sapiens in Europe . A similar "Archaic Homo" found in Africa (Homo sapiens idaltu) is thought to be the direct ancestor of the European forms of Homo sapiens.
Homo heidelbergensis fossils were found first in Mauer near Heidelberg, Germany and later in Arago, France and Petralona, Greece. The best evidence found for these hominins date between 500,000 and 400,000 years ago.
H. heidelbergensis is likely descended from the morphologically similar Homo ergaster in Africa. But because H. heidelbergensis had a larger cranial volume of 1100-1400 cc and more advanced tools, it has been given a separate species classification. H. h. was tall, 1.8 m (6 ft.) and muscular.
Recent contested findings in Atapuerca suggest that H. heidelbergensis may have been the first species to bury their dead. Some experts believe that H. heidelbergensis, like its descendant H. neanderthalensis spoke a primitive form of language. No art or sophisticated artifacts other than stone tools have been uncovered.

H. heidelbergensis-rhodesiensis? 300-125 kya

H. heidelbergensis 350 kya

H. heidelbergensis? 400 kya

Religion and Art - Homo neanderthalensis 80 000 - 10 000 BC
Homo neanderthaliensis inhabited Europe and parts of western and central Asia. It is the only homo species which does not appear in sub-Sharan Africa. The first proto-Neanderthal traits appeared in the Near East and Europe around 350,000 BC. By 130,000 BC distinct Neanderthal characteristics had appeared and by 50,000 BC they had disappeared from Asia, although they did not reach extinction in Europe until 30,000 BC. No Neanderthal skeletons of younger dating have been found, though it has been suggested that Neanderthals survived until 10 000 BC in Southern Iberia. Neanderthal coexisted with Homo sapiens more than 15,000 years after Homo sapiens had arrived in Europe. It is believed that the population of Neanderthals was never more than 10,000 individuals and did or could not cross-breed with H. sapiens.
Their cranial capacity was larger than that of H. sapiens. On average, Neanderthal males were 1.65 m tall and were heavily built with robust bone structure. Females were about 1.53 to 1.57 m tall. Homo neandertalensis may be the direct descendant of Homo heidelbergensis in Europe, and a similar "Archaic Homo" found in Africa (Homo sapiens idaltu) is thought to be the direct ancestor of the European forms of Homo sapiens.
A recent extraction of DNA from Neanderthal bones indicates that Neanderthals had the same version of the FOXP2 gene as modern humans. This gene is known to play a role in human language. Steven Mithen (2006) proposes that the Neanderthals had an elaborate proto-linguistic system of communication which was more musical than modern human language, and which predated the separation of language and music into two separate modes of cognition.

Origin of Homo neanderthaliensis 200 000 BC
Distribution of Neanderthal fossils. - Text and images from Wikipedia.
Homo neanderthaliensis inhabited Europe and parts of western and central Asia. It is the only homo species which does not appear in sub-Saharan Africa. The first proto-Neanderthal traits appeared in the Near East around 200,000 BC. By 130,000 BC distinct Neanderthal characteristics had appeared in the Near East and by 70,000 BC they had migrated to Western Europe where they survived until 20 000 BC. No Neanderthal skeletons of younger dating have been found, though it has been suggested that Neanderthals may have survived until 10 000 BC in Southern Spain.
Homo neandertalensis may be the direct descendant of Homo heidelbergensis in Europe, and a similar "Archaic Homo" found in Africa (Homo sapiens idaltu) is thought to be the direct ancestor of the European forms of Homo sapiens. Neanderthal coexisted with Homo sapiens more than 15,000 years after Homo sapiens had arrived in Europe. It is believed that the population of Neanderthals was never more than 10,000 individuals and did or could not cross-breed with H. sapiens
.
Their cranial capacity was larger than that of H. sapiens. On average, Neanderthal males were 1.65 m tall and were heavily built with robust bone structure. Females were about 1.53 to 1.57 m tall.
A recent extraction of DNA from Neanderthal bones indicates that Neanderthals had the same version of the FOXP2 gene as modern humans. This gene is known to play a role in human language. Steven Mithen (2006) proposes that the Neanderthals had an elaborate proto-linguistic system of communication which was more musical than modern human language, and which predated the separation of language and music into two separate modes of cognition.
A cursory inspection of the earliests artifacts in Europe (cave paintings in Southern France and Northern Spain) indiicates that H. neanderthaliensis may invented "religion" and painted the famous cave paintings in the Dordogne and Altamira areas.

H. neanderthalensis 200-90 kya

H. neanderthaliensis 80-60 kya

H. neanderthalensis 60 kya

H. neanderthelensis 40 - 20kya

"Modern Man" - Homo sapiens-sapiens 160 000 - 4 000 BC
The Recent African Origin (RAO), or "out-of-Africa", hypothesis proposes that modern humans evolved in Africa and later migrated outwards to replace hominids in other parts of the world. Evidence from Archaeogenetics accumulating since the 1990s has lent strong support to RAO and has marginalized the competing multiregional hypothesis, which proposed that modern humans evolved, at least in part, from independent hominid populations.[13] Geneticists Lynn Jorde and Henry Harpending of the University of Utah proposed that the variation in human DNA is minute compared to that of other species. They also propose that during the Late Pleistocene, the human population was reduced to a small number of breeding pairs — no more than 10,000 and possibly as few as 1,000 — resulting in a very small residual gene pool. Various reasons for this hypothetical bottleneck have been postulated, one of those is the Toba catastrophe theory.

Origin of Homo sapiens 160 000 BC
The Recent African Origin (RAO), or "out-of-Africa", hypothesis proposes that modern humans evolved in Africa and later migrated outwards to replace hominids in other parts of the world.
Evidence from Archaeogenetics accumulating since the 1990s has lent strong support to RAO and has marginalized the competing multiregional hypothesis, which proposed that modern humans evolved, at least in part, from independent hominid populations.
Geneticists Lynn Jorde and Henry Harpending of the University of Utah proposed that the variation in human DNA is minute compared to that of other species. They also propose that during the Late Pleistocene, the human population was reduced to a small number of breeding pairs — no more than 10,000 and possibly as few as 1,000 — resulting in a very small residual gene pool. Various reasons for this hypothetical bottleneck have been postulated, one of those is the Toba catastrophe theory.

H. sapiens 190 kya?

H. sapiens 160 kya

H. sapiens 125-75 kya

H. sapiens 100 kya

? H. sapiens 100 kya?

H. sapiens 50 kya

H. sapiens 20 - 0.5 kya

H. florensis/sapiens 18 kya

H. sapiens 15-9 kya

H. sapiens 11-0.4 kya

Maps Hominid Migrations

Archeologicl Evidence
Connect the dots!
It looks easy to draw migration paths between the evolution sites for the different species of Homo in historical sequence.
I have done that using only the dates of the archeological evidence, and immediately several features of evolution become apparent:
All but one hominid branch evolved in Africa and migrated to Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Australia.
There must have been several migrations out of Africa.
The appearance of Homo georgiensis at 1.8 mya is the great surprise of the paleoanthropology of the past 8 years.
His built - small brain, small size, and long legs - may have faciliiatated his long journey, but these features are contrary to the evolution of all other species.
He seems to have no descendants - unless one considers the similarly built H. florensis (18 kya H. sapiens!) in Java a distant descendent.
The only branch of the phylogenetic tree that does not originate in Africa is H. neandertaliensis. He seems to have split off in the Middle East and to have subsequently migrated into Western Europe. He lived parallel to H. sapiens for almost 15 kya, but seems not to have interbred with him. Some people suggest that sapiens and neanderthaliensis were not mutually fertile.
With the re-evaluation of the age-inflated finds (from the 1930s) in China Homo georgicus is the earliest Eurasian species. The Chinese and Indonesian finds have now been classified as H. erectus - who came from Africa to China around 1.6 mya, never interbred, became isolated, and died out after 200 kya. There is only one questionable find of H. sapiens in China (100 kya) - but 80 kya later there is one in Indonesia (18 kya)!
This is probably due to a lack of scientifically qualified excavation data in China. Lack of credible archeological data also plague other areas.
The conclusion is that my map is incomplete and should not be taken at face value especially what concerns the spatial paths. An additional method is needed to solve the puzzle of the migratory paths.
The puzzle is in part resolved by a mapping of genetic markers, such as Mitochondria and Y-Chromosomes By virtue of the way genetic data are obtained, this turns out to result in a very complex map that does not at once coincide with the archeologicl evidence.

Australopithecus afarensis Ethiopia-Kenya 2 mya

H. georgicus Out of Africa 1.8 mya

H.erectus China - Indonesia 1.6 - 0.5 mya

H. erectus China 500 kya

H erectus China 460 kya

H. heidelbergensis Central Europe 500 kya ?

Alternative H. heidelbergensis Africa 300-125 kya ?

H. sapiens North Africa-Europe 160 kya - 30 kya

H. sapiens South Africa 125 kya

H. Neanderthalensis Asia Minor - Europe 120 - 45 kya

H. sapience Israel Middle East -China 100 kya

H. sapiens North America 20 kya

H sapiens Indonesia Australia 18 kya

H. sapiens Central and South America 11- 0.5 kya

Genetic Evidence
The second piece of information is obtained by mapping the gene pools, called Haplogroups. Genetic information is culled from present day genetic markers which by an assumption of a mutation rate can be dated backwards.
Therefore, a genetic map shows the present distribution of Haplogroups by their specific markers, and estimates their migration from the "genetic clock" built into them. Needless to point out, that only those genetic markers can be assessed, which have survived to the present. - Nevertheless, I have mapped the distributions of some of the most important Haplogroups on GE.
For an exhaustive map of genetic Haplogroup migrations the reader is refered to the IBM-National-Geograpic Genographic Map
Post script:
On February 22, 2008 two papers appeared in Sience and Nature which use variance information from the human genome to track the migrations of the hominids. A new method which should yield more accurate migration paths. Unfortunately these papers do not show an explicit map of the paths and, moreover, are not publicly available on-line:
Worldwide Human Relationships Inferred from Genome-Wide Patterns of Variation, Jun Z. Li, et al, Science Vol 319, p.1100, 22 February 2008
Genotype, haplotype and copy-number variation in worldwide human populations, Mattias Jakobsson, et al, Letter, Nature, Vol. 451, p. 998, 21 February, 2008

Haplogroup L0 (mtDNA) 100kya
Haplogroup L0 (mtDNA)
first appeard around 100 - 200 kya in East Africa. Today Haplo L0 characteristcs are found in Central an Southern Africa

Haplogroup L3 (mtDNA) 80 kya
Haplogroup L3 (mtDNA). First appeared around 80 kya.
Today individuals with Haplogroup L3 markers appear in North Africa including Cabo Verde. Most important is that a branch of L3 headed north. They appear in great percentages in the Middle East from where they spread over many parts of Europe and Asia. Small percentages of the North and South American Indians belong to L3!

Haplogroup N (Y-Chromosome) 60 -45 kya
Haplogroup N (Y-Chromosome)
First appeared around 60 kya in the eastern Mediterranean coastal region. It is considered the predominant European mtDNA mutation. Descendants are today found in Northern Europe, Asia, India, and as far east as North America.

Haplogroup M (mtDNA) 60 kya
Haplogroup M (mtDNA) This old mutation first appeared around 60 kya in East Africa.
It is considered an East-Asian lineage. It is today absent west of Lebanon, though it is found in South Arabia and East Africa (M 1).
It is found in Pakistan and Nothern India and Southeast Asia indicating that these groups expanded in the Paleolithic.

Haplogroup A (mtDNA) 60 -15 kya
Haplogroup A (mtDNA) First aose around 50 kya south of the Caspian Sea. During the migrations east haplogroup A was spread across eastern Asia and into North and South America. It is the only mtDNA mutation among the Eskimos.

Man Invents Religion and Painting 33 000-130 BC

European Cave Paintings 33 000-10 000 BC
The earliest "art" are cave paintings in Southern France and Northern Spain. The 1994 discovered cave of Chauvet, Ardeche, was dated to 32,900±490 BC. There are numerous caves in the Dordogne valley; the most famous being Lascaux (28 000 BC).
These very large and sophisticated rock murals have certainly had shamanic puroses, depicting the animals of this period: bisons, rhinoceros, stags, ibexes, horses, and at least at Chauvet predatory felines and hyenas. Men do not appear, but drawings of females including detailed vulvas exist in Chauvet - but not later.

Sites of cave paintings

Chauvet Cave, Ardeche 32 900 - 30 000 BC
Chauvet possses the earliest cave paintings. They date from the Aurignacian (30-28 kya BC). Moreover the paintings, seen from an artistic perspective, are extraordinary. Their diversity ia greater than in any other cave in Southern France. Here is a collection photos many made by Jean-Marie Chauvet who was one of the discoverers of the cave in 1994.
As of 1999, the dates of 31 samples from the cave had been reported, with the earliest being 32,900±490 BP.[
The study of the superimposition of the traces shows that these horse heads were realized successively from top to bottom. The artistry was focussed on the forequarters, while the bodies were simply sketched. The outline of the last horse was carefully redrawn with a flint burin to accentuate its contours.
A triple representation of horses whose heads are emphasized by shading. A film of calcite colored by iron oxide seals the drawing, thus attesting to its antiquity. We can observe the play of intertwining lines between the horses and the large lion (L. approx. 1.6 m). The feline heads are very expressive
The principal animal of this panel has been interpreted as a hyena due to its spotted coat, although its general form resembles that of a bear. Several other animals accompany this representation. One feline, which could be a panther, has a spotted coat and characteristic tail. There is also a large bear, an ibex head, a small vertical bear, and an acephalous ibex.
In the End Chamber, a pillar facing the entrance is decorated with drawn bison. They are shaded and engraving emphasizes their outlines.
At the back of the Vestibule, there are three drawings of cave bears. The first one was drawn with a sure hand. Its outline is animated by thick and thin strokes. In some areas, shading, achieved by the technique of stump-drawing, adds volume. The hindquarters of the last bear follow the natural contour of the cave wall.
Using a remotely controlled camera a new discovery has been made in the Chauvet Cave in 1999: the Venus of Chauvet. Only the vulva and breasts are depicted framed by two felines and a little further away, a mammoth. They seem to follow a small musk-ox beyond.
Photos and text from culture.gouv.fr

Lascaux 28 000 BC
Recent Carbon 14 dating of samples taken from the animal paintings and drawings in the Chauvet Cave (Ardèche) have shown them to be very old (about 30,000 years old).
In the Périgord, excavations at the beginning of the century brought to light Upper Perigordian (28 000 bc) bas-reliefs of women, in particular at Lascauxl.
Wall paintings and engravings belonging to the same period of the first half of the Upper Palaeolithic are found in other sanctuaries; the rock-shelter at Labattut, the Mouthe and Grèze caves, sites on the sloping basin of the Vézère.

Cosquer's Cave 27,000 - 19,000 BC
Cosquer's cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, France, not very far from Cap Morgiou. This cave, the entrance of which is located underwater nowadays, was discovered by Henri Cosquer in 1991. During the Paleolithic the cave's entrance was above sea level.
This cave contains several dozen paintings and carvings dating back to Upper Paleolithic, matching two different phases of occupation of the cave:
Older drawings of hand stencils and other related motifs, dating back to 27,000 BC (Gravettian). Newer drawings of signs and animals dating back to 19,000 BC (Solutrean), representing both "classical" animals such as bisons, ibexes, and horses but also marine animals such as seals and what appear to be auks and jellyfish.

What is so special about Font de Gaume is that the animals are carved, then painted . It's a great thing, because if the paint disappeared, most of the carving can still be seen. About 3 years ago, they renovated the ground of the cave for tourists. Before doing that, they studied the walls again, to be sure they did not miss any paintings.
They discovered somewhere near 180 new objects, from animals to simple signs. Most of them were behind a layer of calcite, and can be seen only with a UV or IR light.
Text, English corrected, from Don's Maps

Cave de Cougnac 25,000 - 12,000 BC

Les Combarelles 14 000 - 12 000 BC
Les Combarelles 14 000- 12 000 BC
A long, narrow cave near Les Eyzies in Dordogne, France, famous for its prehistoric engravings.
The cave's hundreds of sometimes superimposed engravings, dating to the mid-Magdalenian Period of Paleolithic art (about 14,000 years ago), were discovered in 1901. Most of the images depict horses, bison, deer, and mammoths, but the cave also contains noteworthy images of bears, rhinoceroses.

Rouffignac 12 000 BC
Rouffignac, 12 000 BC
An immense cave, more than 8 kilometers of galleries, that you can explore from the comfort of an electric train. This cave represents the high point of prehistoric art, with drawings and engravings of bison, ibex, rhinoceros and mammoth ' ancient art dating back 130 centuries.

Archaeological excavations in the cave floor found rich deposits of Upper Solutrean ( ~16,500 BC) and Lower Magdalenean (between ~14,500 and 12,000 BC) artifacts. These artifacts are part of the Paleolithic Age, or Old Stone Age.
This art is dated to the Magdelenean occupation and as well as animal subjects also included abstract shapes. Solutrean images include images of horses, goats and handprints created from the artist placing his hand on the cave wall in spraying paint over it leaving a negative image of his palm. Numerous other caves in northern Spain contain Palaeolithic art but none is as advanced or well-populated as Altamira.

Centers

A bear in outline, Chauvet 32 900 BC
The discovery of a new cave outside the Dordogne area with even older paintings than Lascaux was the Paleological senstion of 1994. Beyond its age the Cave of Chauvet is unique in the diversity of animals depicted and in its artistic sophistication.

DORDOGNE CAVE SITES 28 000-10 000BC
Animals from Lascaux (28 000 BC). Photo from Wikipedia
The cave paintings of the Dordogne have been known since the outgoing 19th century, They have bevcome so frequented by visitors that beginning with Lascaux they have been closed to the public to protect the paintings. An artifcial, full-sized replica of the cave gives a reasonable impression.
The paintings in the Dordogne are from the Upper Palaeolithic 28 000 - 10 000 BC.

ALTAMIRA CAVE SITES 16 000- 12 000 BC
Altamira caves 16 000- 12 000 BC
The ceiling at Altamira. Photo from Britannica.com
Discovered and explored between 1879 and 1925 the paintings in the caves of Altamira are among the youngest Paleolithic in Europe. Human occupation was limited to the cave mouth, although paintings were created throughout the length of the cave. The polychrome ceiling is the most impressive feature showing a herd of bison in different poses, two horses, a large doe and possibly a wild boar.
Altamira was completely closed to the public in 1977, and reopened to limited access in 1982. Very few visitors are allowed in per day, resulting in a three-year waiting list. A replica cave and museum were built nearby and completed in 2001.

Altamira Cave Sites

Dordogne

Near and Middle East 9000-1000 BC

Archeological Sites

Göbekli Tepe 9000 BC
Göbekli Tepe ~9000BC
Göbekli Tepe is an early Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey. It is famous for containing the world's oldest known stone temples (dated to before 9000 BC), and because it contradicts the long-held belief that the introduction of agriculture preceded the construction of large buildings. Göbekli Tepe was created by hunter-gatherers, yet is assumed to be a key location for understanding the origins of agriculture.
Economy
While the site formally belongs to the earliest Neolithic (PPN A), up to now no traces of domesticated plants or animals have been found. The inhabitants were hunters and gatherers. Schmidt speculates that the site played a key function in the transition to agriculture; he assumes that the necessary social organization needed for the creation of these structures went hand-in-hand with the organized exploitation of wild crops.
Recent DNA analysis of modern domesticated wheat compared with wild wheat has shown that its DNA is closest in structure to wild wheat found in a mountain 20 miles away from the site. Leading one to believe that this is where modern wheat was first domesticated.
Architecture
The houses or temples are round megalithic buildings. The walls are made of unworked dry stone and include numerous T-shaped monolithic pillars of limestone that are up to 3 m high. Another, bigger pair of pillars is placed in the centre of the structure. The floors are made of terrazzo (burnt lime), and there is a low bench running along the whole of the exterior wall.
The reliefs on the pillars include foxes, lions, cattle, wild boars, herons, ducks, scorpions, ants and snakes. Some of the reliefs have been deliberately erased, maybe in preparation for new pictures. There are freestanding sculptures as well that may represent wild boars or foxes. As they are heavily crusted with lime, it is sometimes difficult to tell. Comparable statues have been discovered in Nevali Cori, Turkey and Nahal Hemar. The quarries for the statues are located on the plateau itself, some unfinished pillars have been found there in situ. The biggest unfinished pillar is still 6.9 m long, a length of 9m has been reconstructed. This is much larger than any of the finished pillars found so far. The stone was quarried with stone picks. Bowl-like depressions in the limestone-rocks have maybe been used as mortars in the epipalaeolithic already. There are some phalli and geometric patterns cut into the rock as well, and their dating is uncertain.

Jericho 8350 BC
Jericho ~8350BC
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, 8350 BC to 7370 BC. Sometimes it is called Sultanian. The site is a 40,000 square metre settlement surrounded by a stone wall, with a stone tower in the centre of one wall. This is so far the oldest wall ever to be discovered, thus suggesting some kind of social organization, even if based on charisma. The town contained round mud-brick houses, yet no street planning. The 400-2000 dwellers used domesticated emmer wheat, barley and pulses and hunted wild animals.
Ancient Jericho from the air. Photo from Jerusalem Perspective.com

Catalhuyuk 7500 BC
View of the excavation site, from Wikipedia
Çatalhöyük was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, dating from around 7500 BC for the lowest layers. It is the largest and best preserved Neolithic site found to date. The prehistoric mound settlements were abandoned before the Bronze Age.
The people of Çatalhöyük buried their dead within the village. Human remains have been found in pits beneath the floors, and especially beneath hearths, the platforms within the main rooms and under the beds. The bodies were tightly flexed before burial, and were often placed in baskets or wrapped in reed mats.
Figurines from Catalhüyuk, Compare to Balkan Culture figures from the same time!

Hacilar 7040 BC
Hacilar ~7040BC
A woman's head from Hacilar. Photo from Transanatolie.com
Hacilar has been dated back to 7040 BC at its earliest stage of development. Archaeological remains indicate that the site was abandoned and reoccupied on more than one occasion in its history.

Izmir Yesilova Hoyu .6500 BC - 5600 BC
Izmir-Yesilova Höyü ~6500BC - 5600BC
The excavation site (2005-06).Text and photo from Yesilova.ege.edu
The cultural history of Izmir has had to be re-defined in the light of the discoveries of Yesilova Hoyuk. It becomes more plausible to advance that the ancient culture of Ä°zmir had been shaped by residents who had lived some 8000-9000 years ago, rather than by those who inhabited the BayraklÄ± Höyük as of the 3rd millenium B.C. YeÅŸilova Höyük is the birth-place of Ä°zmir, and Bornova plain constituted the habitat of early settlers for a few thousand years. The two adjacent mounds of Bornova plain (YeÅŸilova and Yassıhöyük) initiated sedentary life in Ä°zmir, and sedentarization gained a further impetus later with the Old Smyrna mound dating from the 3rd millenium B.C. The culture had developped on the basis of all of these sites.
*The finds indicate that production industries for stone tools, instruments and other goods was developped. These tools, most of which was carved out of flintstone, came in various types such as arrowheads, blades, flakes, scrapers, borers.
The early C14 results for Yesilova Höyük were obtained from the layer III.7. These results point at a date value of 1sq. 6490 calBC (7505 +-37 14 C-BP). Layer III.8 finds indicate that these dates may reach back for at least 200-300 years.
In the light of the above, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate the chronology of the Neolithic period for Turkey's Aegean Region, and re-examine the relations between this region and other regions. Because these finds indicate that the Neolithic period in Turkey's Aegean Region had started, as it was the case for Turkey's Lake Region (Isparta), prior to 6500 BC, and that the same cultural process was pursued without interruption until 5700-5600 BC.

Byblos 5000 BC
It was known to the ancient Egyptians as Keben. The Greeks apparently called it Byblos because it was through Gebal that bublos "Egyptian papyrus"]) was imported into Greece.
The site first appears to have been settled during the Neolithic period, approximately 5000 BC. Neothlithic remains of some buildings can be observed at the site. During the 3rd millennium BC, the first signs of a town can be observed, with the remains of well-built houses of uniform size. This was the period when the Phoenician civilization began to develop, and archaeologists have recovered Egyptian-made artifacts dated as early as the 4th dynasty of Egypt. The growing city was evidently a wealthy one, and seems to have been an ally of Egypt for many centuries. Amarna tablets Byblos of 1350 BC has an extensive sub-corpus of letters-(60) from Rib-Hadda and his successor Ili-Rapih, dealing with the overtaking of neighboring city-states, by the Hapiru. Objects naming the 13th dynasty Egyptian king Neferhotep I have been found there while the rulers of Byblos maintained close rationships with the New Kingdom pharaohs of Ancient Egypt.

Nippur
5000 BC
Nippur ~5000 BC
The ziggurat of Nippur, from tebe.org
The city of Nippur was one of the most ancient of all the Babylonian cities of which we have any knowledge, the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god, Enlil, ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone. Indeed, in Sumerian cuneiform, the signs read 'Nibru' and 'Enlil' are the same.
It was situated on both sides of the Shatt-en-Nil canal, one of the earliest courses of the Euphrates, between the present bed of that river and the Tigris, almost 160 km southeast of Baghdad. It is represented by the great complex of ruin mounds known to the Arabs as Nuffar, divided into two main parts by the dry bed of the old Shatt-en-Nil (Arakhat). The highest point of these ruins, a conical hill rising about 30 m above the level of the surrounding plain, northeast of the canal bed, is called by the Arabs Bint el-Amiror "prince's daughter."

Sidon
4000 BC
Sidon , 4000 BC
The modern city of Sidon, from VirtualTourist.com
Sidon was inhabited as long ago as 4000 BC and was one of the most important Phoenician cities, and may have been the oldest. From here, and other ports, a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass and purple dyes. It was also from here that a colonizing party went to found the city of Tyre. Tyre also grew into a great city, and in subsequent years there was competition between the two, each claiming to be the metropolis ('Mother City') of Phoenicia. Glass manufacturing, Sidon's most important enterprise in the Phoenician era, was conducted on a vast scale, and the production of purple dye was almost as important. The small shell of the Murex trunculus was broken in order to extract the pigment that was so rare it became the mark of royalty.

Mother Goddess with child (Enki?) (4000 BC)
Eridu was the southernmost city of the megalopolis in Sumer which grew around temples, almost in sight of one another. According to Sumerian mythology, Eridu was founded by the Sumerian deity named Enki, later known in Akkadians as Ea.

Tell Brak/Nagar
3700 BC
Tell Brak/Nagar c.3700 BC
Figurine from recent excavations at Tel Brak (3500 BC)
Tel Brak -Nagar was an ancient pre-Akkadian and Akkadian city on the Khabur River in northeastern Syria which is now represented by the mound named Tell Brak. At 40m in height, one of the tallest archaeological mounds in the Middle East, and about a kilometer long, it forms the remains of one of the largest urban sites in northern Mesopotamia. The site sometimes referred to as Brak/Nagar was excavated by the British archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan in the 1930s and reopened by David and Joan Oates, 1976-€“93
.

Shahr-i Sokhta
Shahr-i Sokhta, 3200 - 2100 BC
Shahr-e Sokhte or Shahr-i Sokhta (Persian for "burnt city") is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Jiroft civilization. It is located in Sistan and Baluchistan, the southeastern part of Iran, on the bank of the Helmand River, near the Zahedan-Zabol road. Covering an area of 151 hectares, Shahr-i Sokhta was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era. The settlement appeared around 3200 BCE. The city had four stages of civilization and was burnt down three times before being abandoned in 2100 BC.
A 5,000-year-old golden artificial eye that once stared out mesmerisingly from the face of a female soothsayer or priestess in has been unearthed by Iranian and Italian archaeologists at Shahr-i Sokhta. The eyeball — the earliest artificial eye found — would have transfixed those who saw it, convincing them that the woman — thought to have been strikingly tall — had occult powers and could see into the future, archaeologists said. From the London Times, February 20, 2007.

Urkesh
Urkesh ~3000 BC
Urkesh was a city situated at the base of the Taurus Mountains in what is now northern Syria near the modern city of Qamishli. It was founded during the third millennium BC by the Hurrians on a site which appears to have been inhabited on a small scale for centuries (at least since 5000 BC, the date of the earliest known remains found there). It came under the control of the Akkadian Empire in what is believed to have been a dynastic alliance between the kings of Urkesh and Akkad, with the daughter of the Akkadian king, Naram-Sin, being married to the king of Urkesh.

2600 BC Sumerian cuneiform tablet listing gifts to the high priestess of Adab on the occasion of her election. One of the earliest examples of human writing. From answers.com
Adab, modern day Bismaya, was a city in present day Iraq between Telloh and Nippur.
A group of ruin mounds are what remains of the ancient city. The mounds are about 1.5 km(1 mile) long and two miles wide, consisting of a number of low ridges, nowhere exceeding 12 m(40 ft.) in height, lying in the Jezireh, somewhat nearer to the Tigris than the Euphrates, about a days journey to the south-east of Nippur, a little below 32 N. and about 45 40 E.
Excavations conducted here for six months, from Christmas of 1903 to June 1904, for the University of Chicago, by Dr. Edgar James Banks, proved that these mounds covered the site of the ancient city of Adab (Ud-Nun), hitherto known only from a brief mention of its name in the introduction to the Hammurabi Code (c. 2250 B.C.).
The city was divided into two parts by a canal, on an island in, which stood the temple, E-mach, with a ziggurat, or stage tower. It was evidently once a city of considerable importance, but deserted at a very early period, since the ruins found close to the surface of the mounds belong to Dungi and Ur Gur, kings of Ur in the earlier part of the third millennium B.C. Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found the remains of Naram-Sin and Sar-gon, C. 3000 B.C.
Below these there were still 10.5m(35 ft.) of stratified remains, constituting seven-eighths of the total depth of the ruins. Besides the remains of buildings, walls, graves, Dr. Banks discovered a large number of inscribed clay tablets of a very early period, bronze and stone tablets, bronze implements and the like. But the two most notable discoveries were a complete statue in white marble, apparently the most ancient yet found in Babylonia, now in the museum in Constantinople, bearing the inscription E-mach, King Da-udu, King of, Ud-Nun ; and a temple refuse heap, consisting of great quantities of fragments of vases in marble, alabaster, onyx, porphyry and granite, some of which were inscribed, and others engraved and inlaid with ivory and precious stones. Banks sold cuneiform tablets from the site to private collections.

Tyre
Tyre 2750 BC
Tyre is a city in the South Governorate of Lebanon. With 117,100 inhabitants, Tyre juts out from the coast into the Mediterranean Sea, about 80 km (50 mi) south of Beirut. The name of the city means "rock". The adjective for Tyre is Tyrian, and the inhabitants are Tyrians.
Tyre is an ancient Phoenician city and the legendary birthplace of Europa and Elissa (Dido). Tyre was founded around 2750 BC according to Herodotus and it appears on monuments as early as 1300 BC.
In 332 BC, the city was conquered by Alexander the Great, after a siege of seven months in which he built the causeway from the mainland to the island, but it continued to maintain much of its commercial importance until the Christian era.

Larsa
"Worshipper of Larsa", 2700 BC, Sculpture at the Louvre, from Wikipedia
Larsa (modern Tell as-Senkereh, possibly the Biblical Ellasar), was an important city of ancient Sumer. It lies some 25 km southeast of the ruin mounds of Uruk (biblical Erech), near the east bank of the Shatt-en-Nil canal (modern day southern Iraq).
Larsa is mentioned in Sumerian inscriptions as early as the time of Ur-Gur, 2700 or 2800 BC, who built or restored the ziggurat of E-Babbar, the temple of Shamash. Larsa first became a formidable force in Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period (c. 2000-1600 BCE). After the Third Dynasty of Ur collapsed, a power vacuum arose that many of the larger city-states hurried to fill. In southern Mesopotamia, an official of Ibbi-Sin, the last king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, relocated from Ur to Isin and set up a government there that purported to follow in the Third Dynasty's footsteps. This king, Ishbi-Erra (c. 2017-1985), helped recapture some of the Dynasty's previous land, including the culturally symbolic and commercially crucial towns of Ur and Uruk.
Ishbi-Erra also regained power over the province of Lagash, of which Larsa was a part. The subsequent Isin rulers appointed governors to rule over Lagash; one such governor was an Amorite named Gungunum. He eventually broke with Isin and established an independent dynasty in Larsa. To legitimize his rule and deliver a blow to Isin, Gungunum captured the city of Ur. As the main center of trade with the Arab-Persian gulf, Isin lost an enormously important portal to a profitable trade route, not to mention a city with much cultic significance.
Beyond these few details, the precise reason for Gungunum's break with Isin are largely unknown. One group of scholars theorizes that Isin's internal problems were to blame; it does seem that Isin's rulers allowed the once burgeoning irrigation and agricultural systems to wane. It is possible this was due to sheer neglect, but there is evidence that acquiring access to water in this arid region posed quite a problem for most of southern Mesopotamia in this period.
Gungunum's two successors, Abisare (c. 1905) and Sumu-el (c. 1894), both took steps to cut Isin completely off from access to canals. After this period, Isin quickly lost political and economical force.
Larsa grew powerful, but it never accumulated a huge tract of land. At its peak under king Rim-Sin (c.1822-1763), Larsa controlled only about 10-15 other city-states, nowhere near the territory controlled by other dynasties in Mesopotamian history. Nevertheless, huge building projects and agricultural undertakings can be validated by archaeological evidence.

Elam
Elam 2700 BC - 539 BC
Woman spinning, Elam 2600 BC, Louvre, From Wikipedia
Elam, lasting from around 2700 BC to 539 BC, is one of the oldest recorded civilizations. Elam was centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran (the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, which takes its name from Elam), as well as parts of southern Iraq. It was preceded by what is known as the Proto-Elamite period, which began around 3200 BC when Susa (later capital of Elam) began to be influenced by the cultures of the Iranian plateau to the east.
Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad (modern-day Iraq). In the Old Elamite period, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the Persian Empire, especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it, when the Elamite language remained in official use. The Elamite period is considered a starting point for the history of Iran (although there were older civilizations in Iranian plateau, such as the Mannaeans kingdom in Iranian Azarbaijan and Shahr-i Sokhta (Burned City) in Zabol, and the recently discovered Jiroft civilization to the east. The Elamite language was not related to any Iranian languages, but may be part of a larger group known as Elamo-Dravidian.

Sculpture of a "Ram Caught in a Thicket" from a royal grave in Ur, 2650-2550 BC (Photo © University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the mouth (at the time) of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu. It is considered to be one of the earliest known civilizations in world history. Because of marine regression, the remains are now well inland in present-day Iraq, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, and named Tell el-Mukayyar, near the city of Nasiriyah south of Baghdad.
The site is marked by the ruins of a ziggurat, still largely intact, and by a settlement mound. The ziggurat is a temple of Nanna, the moon deity in Sumerian mythology, and has two stages constructed from brick: in the lower stage the bricks are joined together with bitumen, in the upper stage they are joined with mortar. The Sumerian name for this city was Urim.

Lagash
King Gudea of Lagash, 2120 BC, Louvre, from Wikipedia
Lagash or Sirpurla (Sumerian Å IR.BUR.LAKI; modern Tell al-Hiba), northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, was one of the oldest cities of Sumer and later Babylonia. Nearby Girsu (modern Telloh) was the religious center of the Lagash state.

Assur 2500 BC
Assur 2500BC
Map of Assur from history-book.net
Assur also spelled Ashur, was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria. The remains of the city are situated on the western bank of river Tigris, north of the confluence with the tributary Little Zab river, in modern day Iraq.

Agade-Akkad 2400 BC - 2200 BC
Agade-Akkad 2400BC - 2200BC
King Sargon of Akkad, 2300 BC, From Wikipedia
Akkad was the capital of the Akkadian Empire, and later that of the northern division of the ancient Babylonian empire.
Akkad reached the height of its power between the 24th and 22nd cent BC, following the conquests of king Sargon of Akkad.
Because of the policies of the Akkadian Empire toward linguistic assimilation, Akkad also gave its name to the predominant Semitic dialect: the Akkadian language in the Old Babylonian period to denote the Semitic version of a Sumerian text.

Nineveh
.2000 BC
Nineveh ~2000BC
Plan of Niniveh from history-book.net
Nineveh was an important city in ancient Assyria. This "exceedingly great city", as it is called in the Book of Jonah, lay on the eastern bank of the Tigris in modern-day Mosul, Iraq. Ancient Nineveh's mound-ruins, Kouyunjik and Nabla Yunus are located on a level part of the plain near the junction of the Tigris River and the Khosr River within an 1800-acre (730 ha) area circumscribed by a seven and one-half mile (12 km) brick-rampart. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins overlaid in parts by the city of Mosul.

Isin, Iraq 2000BC - 1730BC
Looters in the ruins of Isin . Photo by special permission from the Italian Carabinieri. Copyright Carabinieri T.P.C. Italia rsponsible for guarding the archeological sites in Iraq during the American occuption (Sep 2003).
Isin was a city of lower Mesopotamia, which flourished during the 20th century BC. No kings of Isin are known from the Sumerian period, and the "Dynasty of Isin" refers to Amorite states in lower Mesopotamia that attained independence with the decline of the Third dynasty of Ur. The dynasty of Isin ended around 1730 BC.

Hattusa 2000 BC
Hattusa 2000BC
Hattusa map from history-book.net
Hattusa was the capital of the Hittite Empire. The site is located near the modern-day town and district center of BogŸazk i Central Anatolia, Turkey. The region is set in a loop of the Halys River

Cultural Centers

MESOPOTAMIA 4000-2000 BC
Sumer, Akkad and Elam the oldest entities of Mesopotamia. From Wikipedia
Mesopotamia (Greek meaning 'between two rivers') is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq and western Iran. Sumer in southern Mesopotamia is commonly, but scarcely justifiedly known as the "Cradle of civilization". Cities in Mesopotamia later served as capitals of the Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Mitanni, Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Parthian, Sassanid and Abbasid empires.
Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, and Babylon as well as major territorial states such as the Akkadian kingdom, Third Dynasty of Ur, and Assyrian empire. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon (who established the Akkadian Kingdom), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire).
Mesopotamian history extends from the emergence of Urban societies in Southern Iraq in the 5th millennium BC to the arrival of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.
The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian, a complex language isolate. Scholars agree that other languages were also spoken in early Mesopotamia along with Sumerian. Later a Semitic language, Akkadian, came to be the dominant language, although Sumerian was retained for administration, religious, literary, and scientific purposes. Different varieties of Akkadian were used until the end of the Neo-Babylonian period. Then Aramaic, which had already become common in Mesopotamia, became the official provincial administration language of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Akkadian fell into disuse, but both it and Sumerian were still used in temples for some centuries.
In Early Mesopotamia (around mid 4th millennium BC) cuneiform script was invented. Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped", due to the triangular tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The standardized form of each cuneiform sign appear to have been developed from pictograms. The earliest texts (7 archaic tablets) come from the Eanna super sacred precinct dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, Level III, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators.
There are linguistic reasons to believe that the names of the Greek gods derive from the complex religious hirarchy of Mesopotamia.
Text and table from Wikipedia

ANATOLIAN CIVILIZATIONS 9000-2000 BC
Anatolian Civilization 9000-2000 BC
Because of its strategic location at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Anatolia has been the center of several civilizations since prehistoric times. Neolithic settlements such as Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori, Hacilar, Göbekli Tepe, and Mersin continue to be explored by archaeologists. Through recorded history, Anatolians have spoken both Indo-European and Semitic languages, as well as many languages of uncertain affiliation.

ORDOS CULTURE 50 000 - 3500 BC
Human fossil remains of the upper Paleolithic "Ordos Man" from Salawusu site are dated between 50,000 and 35,000 BCE showing strong Mongoloid(?) features, specifically on the fore-tooth and occipital bone.
A second flowering during 800-500 BC in the Ordos produced a notable number of bonze andi Iron sculptures comparable to the Luristan bronzes.
For a possible connection between the Ordos and the Dian culture in Yunnan see Wikipedia

Anatolian Civilizations

Mesopotamia

Mediterranean Cultures 8000?-1400 BC

Sicinian Culture 8000 BC?

Addaura Cave 8000 BC?
Addaura Cave, Sicinian Culture, 8000 BC?
The Sicanians were the earliest known peoples to have inhabited Sicily, originally located in the west and central areas of the island. Cave drawings have been discovered in Addaura, near Palermo from the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, around 8000 BC.
Text and Photo from it.Wikipedia.org in Italian

Hagar Qim, Malta 3200 BC
Hagar Qim, a temple was built during the Tarxien phase, between 3000 BC and 2500 BC. The floor plan seems less regular than its predecessor at Ggantija. Six large, circular rooms are connected by an interior passage. Most of the rooms also have outside entrances, and an open-air shrine is set into the outer wall.
Hagar Qim is notable for its impressive and finely-smoothed entrance facade, for the huge stone blocks used in its construction, and for its associated artifacts: the "Venus of Malta" and other female statuettes, and a four-sided altar with plant carvings.
Temple ruins at Hagar Qim, Photo from Malta Vista. net
Plan of Hagar Qim

Minoan Culture 2700 -1200 BC

Kameni Center of Thira Volcano ~1450 BC

Knossos 7000- 1200 BC
The horns of Minos and the palace from the south. Photo RWFG.
The ruins at Knossos were discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos, a Cretan merchant. He conducted the first excavations. After Kalokairinos, several people attempted to continue the excavations, but it was not until 1900 that Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1941), an English gentleman of independent means, was able to purchase the entire site.Knossos' restoration and the discovery of the culture he labelled Minoan, is inseparable from the individual Evans.
The site has had a very long history of human habitation, beginning with the founding of the first Neolithic settlement circa 7000 BC. Over time and during several different phases that had their own social dynamic, Knossos grew until, by the 19th to 16th centuries BC ( 'Old Palace' and 'Neo-palatial' periods), the settlement possessed not only a monumental administrative and religious center (i.e., the Palace), but also a surrounding population of 5000-8000 people.
Bull dancer, ivory sculpture, before 1600 BC. Photo RWFG.
The explosion of the volcano on Thira (1575 BC) ended the classical Minoan civilization. The present ruins of Knossos, reconstructed by Evans, show the palaces of the 15th-12th cent BC (Minoan-Mycenian period).

Phaestos 4000-1200 BC
Palace of Phaestos 4000-1200 BC
Phaistos, the site. Photo from Matala-Holidays.gr
Phaistos was inhabited from about 4000 BC. The palace, dating from the Middle Bronze Age(1900-1600 BC), was destroyed together with Knossos and other Minoan sites by an earthquake during around 1450 BC . The palace was rebuilt toward the end of the Mycenian-Minoan Age (1420 BC-1050 BC ).
Numerous tablets and objects with Linear A (1750-1475 BC) or B (1450-1400 BC) inscriptions have been found at this and other sites. For a concise discussion see Athena Review
The most famous and unique is the Phaestos Disc. It was stamped into clay with movable "types" - but is not written in Linear A or B.
Phaestos disc (17th cent BC(?)). The proto-syllabic script upon the Phaistos Disk is distinctive and may have originated outside of Crete. Some of its symbols (such as a soldier wearing a crested helmet) seem foreign to Minoan culture. Resemblances have been seen with a roughly contemporary Hittite hieroglyphic script from Turkey, which was used for Luvian, an Indo-European language (Duhoux 1977). The 242 figures were stamped with sealstones on both sides of the disk starting from the edge and leading towards the center. The Phaistos Disk, whose content may be literary or ceremonial, probably dates from the MMIIB period (17th century BC). A not always accurate discussion of the Phaestos Disc appeared in Wikipedia

Aghia Triada 2000-1200 BC
A Sarcophagus from Aghia Triada (2040 BC, Heraklion Museum).
This unusual text and the photos are from Michael Lahanas
Enlarged view of the painting
The above side depicts the great two-handled urn which will receive the blood of sacrifice offered by the priest. There follows a woman with a bird-shaped crown, who carries two baskets over her shoulders; these baskets contain the thighs of the bull, which will be burned perhaps on the steps of the columns crowned with the double axes (Minoan signs of resurrection). Behind this woman comes another priestess, the most stately of all, who plucks at a seven-stringed lyre with a plectrum. From these women fall rippling banners in the shape of feathers, announcing they are the servants of the goddess represented by a dark bird.
To the right of the lyre player the scene abruptly changes. Three priests wearing sheepskin skirts are bearing offerings to the dead — two bundled calves and a long curved boat. They are set against a darker background, signifying perhaps a journey into the earth or into darkness which opens out on a sacred grove where another altar stands. In front of this altar, calm, impassive, stands the dead man, wearing a striped shroud. His feet are hidden, so that he gives the impression of slowly emerging from the darkness at the summons of the priests who come with their offerings.
On opposite side of the sarcophagus a bull lies tied with scarlet ropes to an altar. It has just been stabbed. The blood is dropping into a bucket. A priestess blesses the dying bull and a procession moves toward the altar surmounted by a double ax and a tree representing the goddess.
At one end of this perfectly balanced panel … [is] the blood of sacrifice falling in the sacred urn, at the other end … [is] the dead man rising in the sacred grove. As the blood is poured, so life flows into the dead man. Unmistakenly the panel portrays a resurrection, the long-wished-for return of the young prince who died about 2040 B.C.

The palace of Malia is the third largest palace of Minoan Crete after Knossos and Phaistos. It occupies 7500 square meters at the edge of a fertile valley near Hersonissos in Northern Crete. The palace's proximity to the sea was obviously important in the development of the site into a cultural hub for its ancient inhabitants. It was first built around 1900 BC, a time of feverish development for the entire island population. It subsequently followed the same cycle as the other palaces of the time, and it was destroyed by the tsunami wave from the explosion of Thira-Santorini around 1650 before it was immediately rebuilt which lasted until its final destruction by fire in 1450 BC.
Model of the Malia palace. From ancient-greece.org

The Palace of Zakros, originally built around 1900 BC, rebuilt around 1600 BC, and destroyed around 1450 BC along with the other major centers of Minoan civilization by the explosion of the volcano on Thira-Santorini .
Plan of the palace of Zakros. From Athena Review

Anemospilia ~1620 BC
Temple of Anemospilia, early 17th cent BC
The three chambers and an antechamber of the temple. Text and photo from UK.Digiserve.com
The site was excavated by J. Sakellarias in 1979. It turned out to be one of the most significant excavations in Crete. The temple was destroyed early in the 17th century BC, as examples of MM II and MM IIIA pottery styles were found in the temple. It was destroyed by an earthquake. A skeleton of a man was found in the antechamber. He had been holding a vase, possibly containing blood. The position of the body suggests that the person was running from the building when it collapsed and killed him.
In the west room (on the right of the photo) three skeletons were found: a man and a woman, who had been killed by the earthquake -- and a male skeleton lying on an altar. Its feet had been tied. A knife was resting on the skeleton. His body had been partially drained of blood when the earthquake struck. Apparently the young man had been sacrificed.... The site is fenced in and not generally open to the public.
This portentious archeological discovery has been attacked by many people - yet the evidence is clear: Normally the Minoans sacrificed bulls (see the sarcophagus at Agia Triada). In exceptional cases, like impending earthquakes, they would scrifice young men to the Goddess. Similar practices have been reported for Arcadia, Peleponnes by Pausanias in the 3rd cent AD(!), but no archeological evidence has ever emerged.

Amnissos 1550-1450 BC
Villa of Amnissos, 1550-1500 BC
The villa, which was excavated by Marinatos, is popularly known as the House of the Lilies because the walls of the upper floor had been decorated with frescos of red and white lilies. These had fallen from the upper storey at the time of the destruction. Among the other plants illustrated in the frescoes were mint, iris and papyrus.
The villa seen from the north west. The court where the frescos were found is in the centre of the picture. Photo and text from Digiserve.com

Akrotiri 1450 BC
Akrotiri is a Minoan settlement on Santorini. Prof.Spyridon Marinatos (1901 –1974) and his students have, since the 1960s, excavated most remarkable frescoes, pottery, and furniture at the site. Akrotiri was buried by the massive explosion of the Thira-Santorini volcano in 1450 BC. Tsunami waves from this explosion, 100-times more powerful than that of Krakatau in 1815, also destroyed the classical sites of the Minoan culture (Malia, Zakros, Amnisos) on Crete and covered the inland sites with ashes.
The following is an abbreviated picture gallery of some of the frescoes from Akrotiri. From Wikepedia, Akrotiri
The island's harbor and a procession of ships (House of the Sea Farer).
Detail of the harbor
Blue monkeys!
Boxing youths

Mycenian Culture 2100 - 1200 BC

Mycene
The citadel of Mycene in the foreground below Mt. Zakas.
In 2000 BC Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. Mycenae was settled by Indo-Europeans who practiced farming and herding. Scattered sherds have been found from this period, 2100 BC to 1700 BC
The death mask of "Agamemnon" found and named by Schliemann. Photos RWFG, 1986
During the 12th cent BC, Mycenaean power collapsed. It ended in a universal catastrophe. Within a short time around 1250 BC, all the palaces of southern Greece were burned, including the one at Mycenae. This is traditionally attributed to a Dorian invasion of Greeks from the north, although some historians now doubt that such an invasion took place. The citadel was abandoned at the end of the 12th cent BC.

Nestor's Palace
Nestor's Palace burnt down 12th cent. BC
Site Plan of Nestor's Palace from Johnson Classics, siu.edu
In 1952 C.W. Blegen discovered the remains of a Mycenaean palace at Ano Englianos, Pylos. Ano Englianos is a ridge-like acropolis running from northeast to southwest. The palace is dated to the Late Helladic III B period (1300-1200 BC). It is considerably larger than Mycene or Tiryns, and according to a library of administrative records (Linear B) found appears to have ruled over a large area..
Unlike Mycene and Tiryns, Pylos was not heavily fortified: The well-preserved royal apartments include a more-than-adequate bathroom with the tub still in place. The palace, with its central courtyard, was originally two stories high and richly decorated with frescoes, some of which are on display at the small archaeological museum..
Reference: Blegen, C.W. and M., Rawson, The Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Western Messenia. Vol.1, Part 1. Princeton, 1966

Phoenician Culture 2500 - 800 BC

Carthage 3rd cent BC - 6 cent AD
Carthage, 3rd cent BC - 6 cent AD
Founded by Phoenician colonists, Carthage grew into a vast economic and political power, accumulating wealth and influence through its economic (trading) prowess. Carthage was a major power of the Mediterranean, contemporaneously with the Roman Republic of the 3rd and 2nd century BC. In the 5th cent AD it became the capital of the Vandals who plunderded Rome frome here.
Map of Carthagian influence in 220 BC
For more, see Livius.org

SICINIAN CULTURES 8000 BC
Sicanians c. 8000 BC The Sicanians were the earliest known peoples to have inhabited Sicily, originally located in the west and central areas of the island.[4] Cave drawings have been discovered in Addaura, near Palermo from the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, around 8000 BC.

MALTA CULTURES 3600-2000 BC

MINOAN CIVILIZATION 2700 -1200 BC
The Minoan civilization was a bronze age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant on Crete.

MYCENIAN SITES 1600-1200 BC

PHOENICIA 1200 - 900 BC
Phoenicia 1200-900 BC
Phoenician trade routes and outlying mercantile settlements. From Wikipedia
The Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean. Their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to ancient Greece. Each city-state was an independent unit politically, although they could come into conflict, be dominated by another city-state, or collaborate in leagues or alliances. Tyre and Sidon were the most powerful of the Phoenician states in the Levant, but were not as powerful as the North African ones.
Phoenician trade was founded on Tyrian Purple, a violet-purple dye derived from the Murex sea-snail's shell, once profusely available in coastal waters of the eastern Mediterranean Sea but exploited to local extinction. Phoenician glass was another export ware. Phoenicians seem to have first discovered the technique of producing transparent glass.
The Phoenician alphabet was used mainly for commercial notes and was developed around 1200 BC from an earlier Semitic prototype.

Maps

Sicinian Culture 8000 BC

Malta Cultures 3600-2000 BC

Cycladic Sites 3000-2000 BC

Minoan Culture 2500-1500 BC

Mycenian Sites 2300-1200 BC

Proto European Cultures 6850-3500 BC

Proto European Cultures 6850-3500 BC
The Proto-European Cuultures in the Balkans and Greece preceed those of Egypt by 3000 and those of China by 4000 years. The archeological objects found there by Marija Gimbutas and others show a high sophistication and document a vivid matriarchal religion.
There is only one Goddess who has a large number of manifestations as Goddess of fields, birds, bears, butterflies (stylized into the double-ax of Minoa) etc. These manifesttions are represented by facial masks worn by her anthropomorphic forms. The belief system seems to include a trancendence to a life after death.
There are but a few male sculptures invariably depressed thinkers or musicians. In the Cycladic Islands highly stylized images of the Goddess, some of them life-size were laid with the dead in the burial chambers ("Cycladic Idols")

Sesklo 6850 BC
Sesklo, Thessaly Greecec
This settlement gives its name to the first Neolithic culture of Europe, which inhabited Thessaly and parts of Greek Macedonia. The oldest fragments researched at Sesklo place the civilization's development as far back as 6850 BC with a +/- 660 year margin of error. The first settlements, which predate the 6th millennium BC, are known as proto-Sesklo (main group) and pre-Sesklo (secondary groups with differentiated characteristics) and they show an advanced agriculture and a very early use of pottery that rivals in age those of the Near East, in an area geographically close to the Petralona cave and the Archanthropus living environment.
The peoples of Sesklo built their villages on hillsides near fertile valleys, where they grew wheat and barley, also keeping herds of mainly sheep and goats, though they also had cows, pigs and dogs. Their houses were small, with one or two rooms, built of wood or mudbrick in the early period. Later the construction technique becomes more homogeneous and all homes are built of adobe with stone foundations. In the 6th millennium BC, the first houses with two levels are found and there is also a clear intentional urbanism.

Tirnavos-Vrysi 6000 BC
Tirnavos-Vrysi, Thessaly Sesklo Culture, 6000 BC
The Bird-Godess of Vrysi, Sesklo-Culture, 6000 BC.
Photo from Marija Gimbutas, "Goddeses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500 --3500 BC, Myths and Cult Images" Uniniversity of California Press, 1982

Achilleion 6000 BC
See:
Marija Gimbutas "Achilleion: A Neolithic Mound in Thessaly; Preliminary Report on 1973 and 1974 Excavations", Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 1, No. 3/4 (1974), pp. 277-302

Vinca Tell 6000 - 3000 BC
Vinca Tell, Center of the Vinca Culture, 6000-3000 BC
Seated Goddess from Vinca. Photo from Danica Anderson, Awakened Woman

Szegvar-Szentes 5000 BC
Szegvar-Szentes, Tisza Culture 5000 BC
The "Szegvar enthroned Goddess of the Fields", Tisza Culture, 5000 BC.
Photo from Marija Gimbutas, "Goddeses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500 --3500 BC, Myths and Cult Images" Uniniversity of California Press, 1982

Cernavoda 5000 BC
Cernavoda Cemetery, Hamangia-Tisza Culture, 5000 BC

Varna Necropolis 4600-4200 BC
The site was accidentally discovered in October 1972 by Raycho Marinov (1972-1991). 294 graves have been found in the necropolis, many containing sophisticated examples of metallurgy (gold and copper), pottery, high-quality flint and obsidian blades, beads, and shells.
The graves have been dated to 4600-4200 BC (radiocarbon dating, 2004) and belong to the Eneolithic Varna culture. Some graves do not contain a skeleton, but grave gifts (cenotaphs). Interestingly, the symbolic (empty) graves are the richest in gold artifacts. 3000 gold artifacts were found, with a weight of approximately 6 kilograms. Grave 43 (photo) contained more gold than has been found in the entire rest of the world for that epoch.
Richly endowed skeleton with typical scepter (Grave 43). It contained more gold than has been found in the entire rest of the world for that epoch. Photo from inme.bas.bg

Pazardzhik 4500 BC
Pazardzhik, Karanova-Hamangia Culture 4500 BC
The Lady of Pazardzhik
Photo from Marija Gimbutas, "Goddeses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500 --3500 BC, Myths and Cult Images" Uniniversity of California Press, 1982

Tirpesti 4500 BC
Tirpesti, Cucuteni Culture 4500 BC
The Sorrowful God of Tirpisti, Cucuteni Culture 4500 BC

Cycladic Sites 3000-1600 BC
Strictly, the Cycladic Sites should be counted under Mediterranean Cultures. However, stylistically their sculptures are the last examples of the "Proto-European Cultures" lost in the Greek Islands.

Dokathismata 2800 - 2300 BC
Dokathismata is a mountan range on the island of Amorgos where a Cycladic burial site yielded a number of "Cycladic Idols". The site gave its name to a certain style of femal marble figures found lying in the graves.
The vast majority (several hundreds) of Cycladic idols are female, images of the Great Goddess in rigor mortis (Marija Gimbutas). Only about 20 male sculptures have been found, among them 4 spectacular harpists (New York, Getty Los Angeles, Berlin, and Athens). All seem to have come from Amorgos. They were excavated by grave robbers and appeared originally on the international art market in the late 19th and early 20th cent AD.
The Athens Harpist. Photo by RWFG.

Grotta and Saliagos Island between Paros and Antiparos are the two oldest settlements in the Cycladic Islands.

Saliagos Island 4300–3700 BC
Saliagos Island and Grotta on Naxos are the two oldest settlements in the Cycladic Islands. Saliagos was excavated by the British Archeological Institute in Athens between 1964 and 1965.
On Saliango (which in the neolithic was connected to its two neighbours, Paros and Antiparos), houses of stone without mortar have been found, as well as Cycladic statuettes (small, early violin-shaped representations of the goddess).
Estimates based on excavations in the cemetery of Kephala put the number of inhabitants at between forty-five and eighty. Studies of skulls have revealed bone deformations, especially in the vertebrae. They have been attributed to osteoporosis, a sign of a sedentary lifestyle, but it is rarer than on the continent in the same period. Life expectancy has been estimated at twenty years, with maximum ages reaching twenty-eight to thirty. Women tended to live less than men. This wisdom comes from Wikipedia
See the underlying placemarker for a lengthy, differently detailed discussion - in German !

In the 1960s a "hoard" of 350 broken Cycladic Idols from Keros appeared on the art market. They seemr to have been intentionally broken during the early Broze age. Why is not know. The trove is a veritable treasure for the student of Cycladic sculpture. The majortity has been attributed by P. Getz-Prziosi to the Goulandris Master.
For more information see : Pat Getz-Prziosi, Sculptors of the Cycaldes, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 1987.

Phylakopi 2300-2000 BC

Paroikia 2000 -1600 BC

Aghia Irini 2000-1600 BC

SESKLO CULTURE 6850-5500 BC
Sesklo Culture, Thessaly Greece 6850 BC-5500 BC
This is the first Neolithic culture of Europe. The oldest fragments researched at Sesklo place the civilization's development as far back as 6850 BC with a +/- 660 year margin of error. The first settlements, which predate the 6th millennium BC, are known as proto-Sesklo (main group) and pre-Sesklo (secondary groups with different characteristics) and they show an advanced agriculture and a very early use of pottery that rivals in age those of the Near East
"Bird Goddess" of Acheleion, Thessaly, 6000 BC
The peoples of Sesklo built their villages on hillsides near fertile valleys, where they grew wheat and barley, also keeping herds of mainly sheep and goats, though they also had cows, pigs and dogs. Their houses were small, with one or two rooms, built of wood or mudbrick in the early period. Later the construction technique becomes more homogeneous and all homes are built of adobe with stone foundations. In the 6th millennium BC, the first houses with two levels are found and there is also a clear intentional urbanism.

The Vinca culture was an early culture of Europe (6th-3rd millennium BC), stretching around the course of Danube in Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Republic of Macedonia, with traces around the Balkans, parts of Central Europe, and Asia Minor.
The Neolithic settlers of Vinča ascribed great importance to spiritual life as is reflected by their cult objects. Their anthropomorphic figurines have a characteristic dignified stance and their number (over 1000 examples at Vinča alone) exceeds the total number of figurines discovered in the Greek Aegean. Shrines were discovered in Parṭa Transylvania with complex architectural designs.
Bird-masked ritual figurine, Vinca Tell, 4500-4000 BC
Photos from Marija Gimbutas, "Goddeses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500 --3500 BC, Myths and Cult Images" Uniniversity of California Press, 1982
Some figurines and ceramic dishes discovered in the broad region spanning from Gornja Tuzla to Tǎrtǎria bear signs which some scholars suppose to be primitive forms of writing.
The "Tartarian Tablets" (5500 BC, well before Sumerian or Chinese incriptions)
Vinca "script"

KARANOVO-HAMANGIA CULTURE 5500-4500 BC
Karanovo-Hhamangia Cculture 5500-4500 BC
The Goddess and the "Thinker" of Hamangia from the same grave, Cernavoda, Karanovo Culture 5000 BC. Arguably the most expressive sculptures of the Balkan cultures

CUCUTENI-TRIPOLYE CIVILIZATION 5000-3500 BC
Cucuteni-Tripolye Civilization 5000-3500 BC
The Sorrowful God.

BUTMIR CIVILIZATION 2600-2400 BC
Butmir Civilization 2600-2400 BC
The Butmir Culture (2600 to 2400 BC), found on the outskirts of present-day Sarajevo, developed unique ceramics, and was likely overrun by the Illyrians in the Bronze Age.

TISZA-LENGYEL CULTURE 5000-4000 BC
Tisza-Lengyel Culture, Szegvar 5000-4000 BC
Seated masked man holding a sichel, Szegvar, Tisza Culture, 5000 BC. An exceptional photograph of another sophisticated clau skulpture. Photo from Marija Gimbutas, "Goddeses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500 --3500 BC, Myths and Cult Images" Uniniversity of California Press, 1982

CYCALDIC SITES 3000-1600 BC

Sesklo Cuilture 6850-5500 BC

Vinca Culture 5300-3500 BC

Butmir Sites

Tiza-Lengyel Civilization 4000-3000 BC

Karanova-Hamangia Civilization 5500-4500 BC

Cucuteni-Tripolye Civilization 5000-3500 BC

Indus Valley Cultures 7000 - 1600 BC

Mehrgarh
Mehrgarh, 7000BC - 2600BC
Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic (7000 BCE to 3200 BCE) sites in archaeology, lies on the "Kachi plain of Baluchistan, Pakistan, and is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming (wheat and barley) and herding (cattle, sheep and goats) in South Asia."
Located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus River valley and between the present-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi, Mehrgarh was discovered in 1974 by an archaeological team directed by French archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, and was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986. The earliest settlement at Mehrgarh €” in the northeast corner of the 495-acre site ” was a small farming viillage 7000-5000 BC
Early Mehrgarh residents lived in mud brick houses, stored their grain in granaries, fashioned tools with local copper ore, and lined their large basket containers with bitumen. They cultivated six-row barley, einkorn and emmer wheat, jujubes and dates, and herded sheep, goats and cattle. Residents of the later period (5500 BCE to 2600 BCE) put much effort into crafts, including flint knapping, tanning, bead production, and metal working. The site was occupied continuously until about 2600 BC.

Amri is the site of a Pre-Harappa fortified town which flourished from 3600 to 3300 BC.
The site is located in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Situated near foothills of ther Kirthar mountains, this was an important earlier urban center in Lower Sindh. Amri is close to Baluchistan where development of earlier farming communities from 6000 - 4000 BC ultimately led to urbanization. On timeline, Amri is dated after Rehman Dheri.
The ancient mounds of 8 hectares on the west bank of Indus River have been extensively excavated. The pottery discovered here had its own characteristics and known as Amri Ware. Like other Pre Harappa towns, no writings were found at this site. There is evidence of widespread fire at the town around 2500 BC.

Harappa 3300 BC - 1600 BC
Harappa is a city in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about 35km (22 miles) southwest of Sahiwal.
The modern town is located near the former course of the Ravi River and also beside the ruins of an ancient fortifed city, which was part of the Cemetery H culture and the Indus Valley Civilization. The ancient city existed from about 3300 BCE until 1600 BCE and is believed to have had as many as 40,000 residents—considered large for its time. Although the Harappa Culture extended well beyond the bounds of present day Pakistan, its centres were in Sindh and the Punjab.

Surkotada
Surkotada 2100BC - 1700BC The site at Surkotada is located 160 km (99 mi) north-east of Bhuj, in the district of Kutch, Gujarat. The ancient mound stands surrounded by an undulating rising ground clustered by small sandstone hills. These hills are covered with red laterite soil giving the entire region a reddish brown colour. The vegetation is scarce and consists of cactus, small babul and pilu trees and thorny shrubs. These give green patches to the red environment. The mound was discovered in 1964 by Shri Jagat Pati Joshi of the Archaeological Survey of India. The mound is higher on the western side and lower on the eastern side and has an average height of 5 to 8 m (16-26 ft). In the ancient days, a river 750 m (½ mi) wide flowed past the north-eastern side of the site. This river, which emptied into the Little Rann, might have been an important reason for siting the town here. Now this river is only a small nalla (stream).

Mohenjo Daro 2600 BC - 1700 BC
Mohenjo-daro (Urdu: Ù…ÙˆØ¦Ù† Ø¬ÙˆØ¯Ú‘Ùˆ, Sindhi: Ù…ÙˆØ¦Ù† Ø¬Ùˆ Ø¯Ú™Ùˆ, English: Mound of the dead) was a city of the Indus Valley Civilization built around 2600 BC and is located in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. This ancient five thousand year old city is the largest of Indus Valley and is widely recognized as one of the most important early cities of South Asia and the Indus Valley Civilization. Mohenjo Daro was one of the world’s first cities and contemporaneous with ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. It is sometimes referred to as "An Ancient Indus Valley Metropolis".

Lothal
Lothal 2400BC - 1900BC
Lothal (GujarÄtÄ«: àª²à«‹àª¥àª², IPA: [ËˆloËtÊ°É™l], English: Mound of the dead) was one of the most prominent cities of the ancient Indus valley civilization. Located in the modern state of GujarÄt and dating from 2400 BCE, it is one of India's most important archaeological site that dates from that era. Discovered in 1954, Lothal was excavated from February 13, 1955 to May 19, 1960 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Lothal's dock—the world's earliest—connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea. It was a vital and thriving trade centre in ancient times, with its trade of beads, gems and valuable ornaments reaching the far corners of West Asia and Africa. Lothal's people were responsible for the earliest-known portrayals of realism in art and sculpture, telling some of the most well-known fables of today. Its scientists used a shell compass and divided the horizon and sky into 8–12 whole parts, possibly pioneering the study of stars and advanced navigation—2000 years before the Greeks. The techniques and tools they pioneered for bead-making and in metallurgy have stood the test of time for over 4000 years.

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION 3600 BC - 1900 BC

Indus Valley Civilization

Africa 5500 - 30 BC

Archeological sites

Sefar Tassili ~5000 BC
Sefar, Tassili ~5000 BC

Ozaneare, Tassili ~4000-3000 BC

Jabbaren Tassili ~3000 BC
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post. Jabbaren, Tassili ~3000 BC

Tin Teferiest, Tassili 2000 BC
This cave painting in the Tassili N'Ajjers Plateau, shows an archer with bow and arrows. The figure style is archaic, and the use of bow and arrows suggests Cattle Period.

Matelen-Amazar Tassili ~2000 BC
Matelen-Amazar, Tassili ~2000 BC

TASSILI N-AJJER 5500- 1000 BC
This placemarker is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
TASSILI N-AJJER
5500- 1000 BC
At one time the Sahara was fairly moist, and it was populated from the time of human origins. Thirty thousand rock paintings and engravings in all mountainous areas are known, half at Tassili in Algeria.
The earliest phase is called the Bubalus Period (6th-4th Mill BC), for the art shows animals that became extinct in the area, including the buffalo (Bubalus antiquus), elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus.
Men are armed with clubs, throwing sticks, axes and bows, but never spears. Then, in the Cattle Period , the appearance of rams and cattle suggests the beginning of a herding economy. Most of these paintings seem to be intermediate between the Bubalus and Cattle Periods.
This example of a faceless (aniconic) figure from T'in Teferiest, Tassili. The smaller dark figures may have been painted at a different time than the large figure. These faceless paintings are found in shelters without the pottery or grindstones associated with the Cattle Period, and so may be contemporary with the Bubalus work. Some round headed figure painting from the Uan Telocat in the Acacus has been reported to be older than c. 4800 B.C.
Painting by the pastoral people of the Cattle Period (4th -2nd Mill BC)
The periodization based on content suggests a Horse Period (after 1200 BC) following the Cattle Period. The horse seems to have been introduced by the Sea Peoples in about 1200 B.C., and with the horse came Cretan influence. The Sea People from Crete came as allies of the Lybians of Cyrenaica against Egypt. The Horse period is subdivided into a Chariot, Horseman, and Horse-and-Camel sub-periods (700 BC-present) .
The art suggests that the desert pastoralists themselves never got their hands on chariots. The dessication of the Sahara ended the use of chariots, but people continued to use the horse as a mount. The camel may have been introduced in about 700 B.C., but it took a long time to become generalized in Roman times.
Text and images from Haines Brown, uab.edu, Archaic Art from North Africa

ANCIENT EGYPT 3250-30 BC
Ancient Egypt was a long-standing civilization in northeastern Africa. It was concentrated along the middle to lower reaches of the Nile River, reaching its greatest extent in the second millennium BC, during the New Kingdom. It reached from the Nile Delta in the north, as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile. Extensions to the geographic range of ancient Egyptian civilization included, at different times, areas of the southern Levant, the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea coastline, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Western body (focused on the several oases).

NUBIA 3400 BC
c.3400BC
Evidence indicates that the Neolithic in the Nile valley likely came from the Sudan, as well as the Sahara, and shared a common culture between the two areas and Egypt during this time period. Around 3800 B.C., the first "Nubian" culture arose, termed the A-Group, and it was contemporary, and ethnically and culturally very similar to, the polities in predynastic Naqadan Upper Egypt. Around 3300 BC, there is evidence of a unified kingdom, as shown by the finds at Qustul, that maintained substantial interactions (both cultural and genetic) with the culture of Naqadan Upper Egypt, and may have even contributed to the unification of the Nile valley, and very likely contributed some pharaonic iconography, such as the white crown and serekh, later to be used by the famous Egyptian pharaohs. Around the turn of the protodynastic period, Naqada, in its bid to conquer and unify the whole Nile valley, seems to have conquered Ta-Seti (the kingdom where Qustul was located) and harmonized it with the Egyptian state, and thus, it became the first nome of Upper Egypt. At the time of the first dynasty, the A-Group area seems to have been entirely depopulated, most likely due to immigration to areas west and south.
This culture began to decline in the early-28th century BC. The succeeding culture is known as B-Group. Previously, the B-Group people were thought to have invaded from elsewhere. Today most historians believe that B-Group was merely A-Group but far poorer. The causes of this are uncertain, but it was perhaps caused by Egyptian invasions and pillaging that began at this time.
Nubia is believed to have served as a trade corridor between Egypt and tropical Africa long before 3100 BC. Egyptian craftsmen of the period used ivory and ebony wood from tropical Africa which came through Nubia.

KINGDOM OF KERMA 2500 BC - 1520 BC
The Kingdom of Kerma was a state in Nubia from around 2500 BC to about 1520 BC. It was based in the city of Kerma in Upper Nubia and emerged as a major centre during the Middle Kingdom period in Egypt but with a distinct civilization (for example very fine and original ceramics have been found).

Tassili n'Ajjer

Ancient Egypt 3250 -30 BC

Nuba 3400 BC

Northern Eurasia 3000-1300 BC

Andronovo 2000 BC

Arkaim
Settlement 2000-1700 BC
The site is generally dated on the 17th century BC. Earlier dates, up to the 20th century BC, have been proposed. It was a settlement of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

Tepe Fullol
In 1978 the Greek archaeologist Viktor Sarianidis (Iraklia, Crete) discovered a Bactrian gold hoard in Tilia Tepe -Seibergan (1st cent AD). Later excavations at Tepe Fullol , northern Afghanistan yielded surprisingly a gold bowl from 2500-2000 BC. The finds were deposited in the Nat. Museum of Kabul and were believed lost, but they were rediscovered in a safe in Kabul in 2005. They are now, as long as there is no new museum in Kabul, on a tour of the West.
Gold bowl 2000-2500 BC (Tepe Fullol) from the National Museum in Kabul Photo from National Geographic Magazine

Gonur Tepe
.2000BC
Gonur Tepe, Turkmenistan ~.2000 BC
Aereial view od Gonur Tepe. Photo found at turkotek.com
Sarianidi's excavations from the late 1970s onward revealed numerous monumental structures in many different sites, (Tilia Tepe, Tepe Fullol, etc) fortified by impressive walls and gates. Reports on the BMAC were mostly confined to Soviet journals until the last years of the Soviet Union, so the findings were largely unknown to the West until Sarianidi's work began to be translated in the 1990s.

Altyn Tepe
Altyn Depe
Altyn-Depe (ÐÐ»Ñ‚Ñ‹Ð½-Ð”ÐµÐ¿Ðµ, the Turkmen for "Golden Hill") is a Bronze Age (BMAC) site in Turkmenistan, near Ashgabat, inhabited in the 3rd to 2nd millennia BC, abandoned around 1600 BC

PETROVKA SETTTLEMENT 2000 BC

Sintashta Settlement 2000 BC
c.2000BC
The settlement closely resembles in shape and size the nearby site of Arkaim, although the latter has been preserved much better. Sintashta's characteristic feature is its closed fortification consisting of ramparts and ditches, and a fence or wall of unfired clay bricks and wood. The fortified site included between 6,000 and 30,000 square meters. There were towers guarding the entrances. The houses were rectangular, between 25 and 130 square meters. There are also metallurgical furnaces. Pottery found in Sintashta features swastika-like symbols, see here.The burials of horses at Sintashta are quite remarkable, their legs being arranged so as to imitate running. Six chariots dating to ca. 1700-1500 BC were found at Sintashta.

Stonehenge 2200 BC
Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England c. 2200 BC
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. One of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. Archaeologists believe that the standing stones were erected around 2200 BC and the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

Hill of Tara 2500 BC
There are a large number of monuments and earthen structures on the Hill of Tara. The earliest settlement at the site was in the Neolithic, and the Mound of the Hostages was constructed in or around 2500BC.

Newgrange 3300 - 2900 BC
Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland c. 3300 BC - 2900 BC
Newgrange (Irish: Dún Fhearghusa) is one of the passage tombs of the Brú na Bóinne complex in County Meath, one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world and the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. Newgrange was built in such a way that at dawn on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, a narrow beam of sunlight for a very short time illuminates the floor of the chamber at the end of the long passageway.

Knap of Howar, Papa Westray.3500 BC - 3100 BC
Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Scotland c.3500 BC - 3100 BC
At Knap of Howar on the Orkney island of Papa Westray, a Neolithic farmstead has been wonderfully well preserved, and is claimed to be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe, with radiocarbon dating showing that it was occupied from 3500 BC to 3100 BC, earlier than the very similar houses in the settlement at Skara Brae. The farmstead consists of two adjacent rounded rectangular thick walled buildings with very low doorways facing to sea, the larger and older linked by a low passageway to the other which has been interpreted as a workshop or a second house. They were constructed on an earlier midden, and surrounded by midden material which has protected them. There are no windows, and they were presumably lit by a hole in the roof to let out smoke. They stand close to the shore, but when originally built lay inland. The shore shows how the local stone splits into thin slabs, giving a ready source of construction material. The walls still stand to an eaves height of 1.6m, and the stone furniture is intact giving a vivid impression of life in the house. Fireplaces, partition screens, beds and storage shelves are almost intact, and post holes were found indicating the roof structure. Evidence from the middens shows that the inhabitants were keeping cattle, sheep and pigs, cultivating barley and wheat and gathering shellfish as well as fishing for species which have to be line caught using boats.

Skara Brae
Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland
3100BC
Skara Brae (pronounced /ËˆskÉ‘rÉ™ breÉª/) is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3100-2500BC. The level of preservation is such that it has gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status. It is Europe's most complete Neolithic village.

Pazyryk 800-300 BC
Photo from Hermitage Museum
In the remote valleys of the Mongolian Mt. Altay excavations by an international project under the direction of the German DIA are since 2004 unearthing graves of the early iron age (8th - 3rd cent BC).
Single Kurgan in Pazyryk:
More information is available in the DIA Ulan Daba-1 publications
and in

BMAC COMPLEX 2200-1700 BC
The Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (or BMAC, also known as the Oxus civilization) is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia, dated to ca. 2200–1700 BC, located in present day Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centered on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976).
Sarianidi's excavations from the late 1970s onward revealed numerous monumental structures in many different sites, including Namazga-Depe ("governmental centre"), Altyn-Depe ("secondary capital"), Delbarjin, the Dashly Oasis, Toholok 21, Gonur, Kelleli, Sapelli, and Djarkutan. The sites were fortified by impressive walls and gates. Reports on the BMAC were mostly confined to Soviet journals until the last years of the Soviet Union, so the findings were largely unknown to the West until Sarianidi's work began to be translated in the 1990s.
Scholars do not agree on either the origins of the Bactria-Margiana complex, or the reasons for its decline. Its distinctive material culture disappears from the archaeological record a few centuries after it appears.[1] Radiocarbon dating suggests dating the complex to the last century of the 3rd millennium and the first quarter of the 2nd millennium BC.

PETROVKA-ANDRONOVO CULTURES 2100-1300 BC

BACTRIA 2500 BC- 200 AD
The history of Bactria goes back to Iranian, Greek, and Chinese times. New excavations at Tepe Fullol have unearthed a (possibly) Indo-Iranian civilisation (2500 BC) the exsistence of which had been entirely unknown
Alexander the Great spent a winter in Bactria (3rd cent BC) and got married to Oxana in Balkh. Thereafter the area was ruled for a while by Greek satraps. Being fertile and rich many people occupied Bactria subsequently.
Folding gold crown, part of the famed "Bactrian hoard" of treasures from Tilia Tepe, Afghanistan, 1st century AD. The crown was discovered in one of six graves of nomads of the ancient state of Bactria in 1978. The Greek archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (Iraklia, Crete) and a team of Soviet archeogists unearthed the hoard—a crown, necklaces, belts, rings, headdresses set with precious jewels and a treasure of 2000 gold and silver coins.The artifact will be part of the U.S. exhibition “Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul" in 2008 and 2009.
In the conterxt of the spread of early Buddhism it is notable that the archeological finds from the 2rd cernt AD onwards show a strong Buddhist presence. An early stupa (1st cent AD) was found 2005 in the vicinity of Balkh.
The archeological exploration of Bactria has just begun, promising surprises and a considerable enlargement of our historical knowledge. Photo from National Geographic Magazine

BMAC Cultures 2200-1700 BC

Petrovka-Andronovo Nomads 2000-1300 BC

Altai-Pazaryk Culture 800-300 BC

Central Eurasia 600 - 100 BC

Ekbatana-Hamadan 500- 330 BC
Ekbatana was already one of the largest and most influential cities before Achemenid Iran. It was center of the Median power. Therefore it drew the attention of the Achemedian King Kyros II. who conquered it in 6th cent BC.
Achemnid gold rython from Ekbatana, Photo from cais-soas.com
The city became an important town on the royal Persian road to Bactria. In 330 BC. Ekbatana was conquered by Alexander, who decided here to extend his quest to Bactria and India. Under the Sassanids the city's importance gradually waned. The Arabs (8th cent AD) renamed it Hamadan. It remained an important town on the Silk Road.
.

Merv
Plan of Ancient Merv >BR>
The ruins of Merv are an assembly of several walled cities very close to each other. - Cities in Central Asia (e.g. Marakanda-Samarkand) were never rebuilt on the same site so that they consist of a number of distinct, walled compounds each with its own name and from a different period.
Merv goes back to before the 5th cent BC. It enjoyed its historical apogee between the 6th and 12th cent. During this period Merv was home to a wide range of different religions beside the official Zoroastrianism of the Sassanids, including Buddhists, Manichaeans, and Nestorian Christians. During the 5th century AD, Merv was the seat of an archbishop of the Nestorian Church. It was a major city on the Silk Road.
From 1145 to 1153 Merv had a population of 200,000. In 1221 Merv was destroyed by the son of Genghis Khan. It was rebuilt on an adjecent site. Merv was incorporated into Timur Tamelane's empire (1380), but it never recovered its former preeminance. Under the name of Bairam-Ali it lasted as an Uzbek city into the 18th century, when it was razed by an army from Bukhara for the last time.
A British-Turkmen team is presently performing extended archeological excavations there.
Plan and Text from University College of London

Begram
Carved ivory panel (2nd cent AD) depicts scenes of Bactrian royal court life. It comes from Begram, ancient Kapisa the summer capital of the Kushan kings.
Photo from National Geographic Magazine

Balkh-Bactra
The ruins of Kushan Balkh seen from the south.-- Photo from Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (LGPN) at Oxford University
Bactra or Balkh was one of the most romanticized but elusive towns on the Silk Road. Here the marriage of Alexander and Roxane took place in 327 BC.
In 2004 Alfred Foucher uncovered an accumulation of architectural blocks from demolished Greek buildings. 7 meters under the ramparts of the Kushan city, appeared an enclosure wall doubtlessly from the Greek period,with a stupa established by King Mega Soter (Vima Takto), in the middle of the 1st century BC. It is the oldest Bactrian Buddhist monument.
The archeological site of Balkh has suffered badly during the recent Afghan wars. The looting of archaeological treasures continues unabated. Many sites, such as an ancient Greek settlement near Ai Khanoum in northern Afghanistan, have already been completely plundered. Ancient Balkh, another site in the north, is currently seeing much illegal digging, according to observers.

Tilia Tepe
Tilia Tepe Necropolis, Greco-Bactrian -Buddhist gold jewelery find extraordinary (1st cent BC to 1st cent AD) In 1978, Tillia tepe, the "golden hill", was to yield in the course of digs on a citadel dating back to the Iron Age, six tombs from around that time, in the north of Afghanistan, not far from Shebergan - six luxurious "barbarian" tombs, displaying unprecedented wealth. The tombs held five women and one man, and their bodies appeared dressed in clothes sewn with gold and encrusted with turquoise, garnet and lapis lazuli. If the clothes evoked Scythian gold from the banks of the Bosphoros and the Chersonnese, and a Chinese mirror dating back to the Han epoch show a culture open to the whole of Eurasia, including the Far East.
These treasures of the Kabul Museum miraculously survived the Taliban destruction:
This Greco-Baktrian gold pendant with turquoise, garnet, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and pearls depicts a “dragon master.” from Tilia Tepe, Afghanistan (1st cen AD). Photo from National Geographic Magazine
Belt from Tillia Tepe, with depictions of Dyonisus riding a lion. From Tilia Tepe (1st cent AD) Kabul treasure
Photo from the best account on Tilia Tepe with many irreproducible photos taken at the recent exhibition at the Guimet in Paris: Wikipedia

Ai-Khanoum
Greek-Iranian plate depicting Cybele, the Moon Goddess, pulled by lions, 2nd century BC.
Hellenistic Sculpture, Ai Khanoum, 2nd cent AD. Musée Guimet. Photos from Wikipedia
Ai-Khanoum or Ay Khanum (Farsi: Moon Lady, i.e. Sybele !) was founded in the 4th century BC as Eucratidia following the conquests of Alexander the Great and was one of the primary cities of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom and of Hellenism in the East. It lasted for nearly two centuries, until its annihilation by nomadic invaders around 145 BC about the time of the death of Eucratides.
Ai-Khanum was heavily plundered during the recent Afghanistan wars and demolished by the Moslem Talibans. Meanwhile the looting of archaeological treasures continues unabated. Many sites, such as an ancient Greek settlement near Ai Khanoum in northern Afghanistan, have already been completely plundered. Ancient Balkh, another site in the north, is currently seeing much illegal digging, according to observers.

Herat-Alexandria Areta 500-167 BC
Known as Aria (Areia) during the Achaemenid period (5th cent BC). In late 330 BC Alexander the Great, captured the city and rebuilt and the citadel. It was part of the Seleucid Empire but became part of the Parthian Empire in 167 BC. In 1040 AD it fell to the Seljuks.

PARTHIAN EMPIRE 100 BC-100 AD

LURISTAN 800 -600 BC
Top of a standard, 8th–7th century, Photo from honarkade.blogfa
The typical Luristan style bronze artifacts include a great number of weapons, ornaments, tools, and ceremonial objects. The earliest bronze artifacts found in the Luristan area date back to the 4th millennium BC. During the (Iranian) Bronze Age (c. 3000/2900 - 1300/1250 BC), the bronze objects are related to those of neighboring regions in Mesopotamia and on the Iranian plateau. The characteristic Luristan style objects all belong to the (Iranian) Iron Age (c. 1300/1250-650 BC).

ORDOS CULTURE 800 - 500 BC
The human fossil remains of the upper Paleolithic Ordos Man from Salawusu site are dated between 50,000 and 35,000 BCE showing strong Mongoloid(?) features, specifically on the fore-tooth and occipital bone.
A second flowering during 800-500 BC in the Ordos produced a notable number of bonze andi Iron sculptures comparable to the Luristan bronzes.
For a possible connection between the Ordos and the Dian cultures in Yunnan see Wikipedia

SOGDIANA
Sogdians on a Chinese stele 550 AD. From Wikipedia.
The Sogdiana, although never politically united, were centred around their main city of Samarkand. It lay north of Bactria, east of Khwarezm, and southeast of Kangju between the Oxus (Amu Darya) and the Jaxartes (Syr Darya), embracing the fertile valley of the Zarafshan (ancient Polytimetus). Sogdian territory corresponds to the modern provinces of Samarkand and Bokhara in modern Uzbekistan as well as the Sughd province of modern Tajikistan.
In 327 BC Alexander the Great united Sogdiana with Bactria into one satrapy. Subsequently it formed part of the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian kingdom, founded in 248 BC by Diodotus, for about a century. .
The Sogdians occupied a key position along the ancient Silk Road, and played a major role in facilitating trade between China and Central Asia. Their contacts with China were triggered by the embassy of the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian during the reign of Wudi in the former Han Dynasty, 141-87 BC. He wrote a report of his visit in Central Asia, and named the area "Kangju".
The Sogdians dominated the East-West trade from the 4th cent AD to 8th century AD.
Zoroastrianism was the dominant religion among Sogdians and remained so until shortly after the Islamic conquest, when the Arabs made repeated efforts to forcefully suppress it. Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity, and Buddhism had significant followings.

ALTAI-PAZYRYK CULTURE 600-400 BC
Altai- Pazyryk Culture 600 - 400 BC
Saddle from a grave in Pazyryk.
The Pazyryk culture (ca. 5th cent BC) refers to an archaeological culture identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost in the Altay Mountains. The mummies are buried in long barrows (or "kurgans") similar to the tomb mounds of western Scythian culture in modern Ukraine.
The tatooed arm of a tribal chief preserved in the perma frost of one of the Pazyryk graves.
Photos from Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

SKYTHIANS 500 BC- 200 AD
Skythians 500 BC- 200 AD
Phantastic painting of a royal Skythian couple by an unknown artist.
Modern historical accounts of the Scythian wars often assume that the Scythian protagonists were a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas). But earlier Greek and Latin texts suggest that the term Scythians referred to a much more widespread group of Central Asian peoples.
The confusion is caused by the fact tha what was considered Skythian territory covers the vast area from the Caspian to beyond the Pamirs and south into present day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and by the Greeks and Romans calling Sakas and Skythians by the same name:
To Herodotus (484-425 BC), the Sakai were the 'Amurgioi Skuthai' (i.e. Scythians from Ammyurgia). Strabo (Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo, 63 BC-AD 24 circa) suggests that the term Skuthais (Scythians) referred to the Sakai and several other tribes. Arrian (Lucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon' , c 92-175 AD), refers to the Sakai as Skuthon (a Scythian people) or the Skuthai (the Scythians) who inhabit Asia. According Strabo, Bactriana was taken by nomads like Asii/Asio, Pasianoi, Tokhario and Sakarauloi who had originally come from country from other side of Jaxartes (Central Asia). The prologus XLI of Historiae Philippcae also refers to the Scythian invasion of the Greek kingdom of Bactria and Sogdiana---the invaders are described as Saraucae.

SAKA or INDO-SKYTHIANS 100 AD
Indo-Skythian sculpture of a lion from Kunst.Zeit.de.
The Sakas were the Indo-Scythian branch of the Skythians who occupied Sogdiana-Baktria in the 1st cent AD, displacing Greek satrapies and Parthians who lived in the western parets of this region.. The Greek and Roman texts are highly confusing because they use the same name for the Sakas and the Skythians.
According Strabo, Bactriana was taken by nomads like Asii/Asio, Pasianoi, Tokhario and Sakarauloi who had originally come from country from other side of Jaxartes (Central Asia). The prologus XLI of Historiae Philippcae also refers to the Scythian invasion of the Greek kingdom of Bactria and Sogdiana---the invaders are described as Saraucae.
For a further discussion see my placemarker "Skythians" in this post.

KUSHAN EMPIRE (Ahin Posh Tepe) 176 BC-150 AD
Ahin Posh Tepe -- One of the magnificent Gold Coins of Kanishka I, Kushan Empire. (128 AD). Kanishka on one and the Buddha on the reverse side of the coin. Found at Ahin Posh, Pakistan. Sold at a recent auction for: US$ 140,000 ! From Barry P. Murphy, Coin of the Week
The name Kushan derives from the Chinese term Guishuang, used to describe one branch of the Yuezhi, a loose confederation of Indo-European people who had been living in the Xinjiang Province of modern China. Driven west by Xiongnu between 176 and 160 BC, the five groups of the Yuezhi – the Xiumi, Guishuang (Kushans), Shuangmi, Xidun, and Dumi – reached the Hellenic kingdom of Baktria by 135 BC. They expelled the ruling Greek dynasties there, forcing these kings further south to settle along the Indus River. In the following century, the Guishuang forced the other tribes of the Yuezhi into a tight confederation. Now, as the Guishuang was the predominant power, the entire group became known by that name. This appellation was Westernized as Kushan, though the Chinese still referred to them as Yuezhi.
Like the Hellenistic Greeks and Romans, the Kushans were a multi-cultural society, incorporating much of the cultures they ruled into their own. Like their Baktrian predeccesors, early Kushan coins used Greek legends on the obverse, along with a translation in the local Karosthi script on the reverse. Beginning with Kanishka I, however, the Kushan language, written in an adaptation of the Greek alphabet with some local alterations, was used almost exclusively. From the time of Vima Taktu (Soter Megas), the Kushans also began to adopt Indian cultural elements. Embracing a wide variety of local Indian and Central Asian deities, they assimilated them with Greco-Roman types already prevalent in the region. Overall, the Kushan pantheon represented a religious and artistic syncretism of western and eastern elements.
An adept military leader who expanded Kushan power throughout much of Central Asia, Vima Kadphises was the first Kushan ruler to send a diplomatic mission to Rome, during the reign of Trajan. Vima Kadphises was also the first Kushan ruler to strike gold coins. Because the Kushans under his reign had extended their protective control over the Silk Road, the Roman gold they obtained through the trading of luxury items with the Roman Empire–-such as silk, spices, and other exotic goods–-provided the metal for the striking of the first Indian gold coins. In addition to the existing copper and silver denominations, Vima Kadphises introduced three gold denominations: the dinar (struck on an 8g weight standard), the double dinar, and a fractional quarter dinar.
Text from Coin Archives.com

Parthians 100 BC

Saka-Indo Skythians 100 BC

Skythians 500 BC-200 AD

Kushan Empire 176 BC-200 AD

The Bable of Languages

The Bable of Languages
This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.
The confusion of langauages in the world did already impressed the writers of the Bible. Today we are asking for more scientific explanations of their multiplicity and more importantly for the obvious similarities between different languages. The following map - exceeding my project - gives an overview:

Indo-European Languages 3500 - 500 BC

Indo-European Languages
The Proto-Indo-Europeans are a hypothetical group of people whose existence from around 4000 BC is inferred from their reconstructed Prototo-Indo-European language. The genetic phenotypes associated with the group are unknown Although new genetic research (2008) may shed light on this question (see my marker on the Migrations of Prehistoric Man.)
Originally a linguistic construction by 19th-cent German linguists it has long failed to find universal acceptance especially in the English literature (in part due to then Nazi's abuse of this theory). It is simply difficult to extrapolate from archeological finds what language people spoke.
In the 20th century Marija Gimbutas created a modern variation on the traditional invasion theory, the Kurgan hypothesis, named after the Kurgans (burial mounds in the Eurasian steppes) in which the Indo-Europeans were a nomadic tribe in the Eastern Ukraine and southern Russia and expanded on horseback in several waves during the 3rd millennium BC. Their expansion coincided with the taming of the horse.
There exists much archeological and mythological evidence for such an invasion, e.g., in Greece and in Greek mythology. Maybe the appearance of written records in early Greek (1000 BC) even indicates that these invaders spoke a proto-Indo-European language.
There are other theories around (Cavalli-Sforza 2006) based on gentic evidence (Haplogroup R1b) which postulate an expansion of farmers from Anatolia (9500 BC) first to the southern Russian steppes and then (4000-2000 BC) to western Europe. - This research is at present (2008) still very much in flux.
For a discussion (2006) of this subject see Wikipedia

Anatolian 3500 - 100 BC
The Anatolian branch of PIE is generally considered the earliest to split off the Proto-Indo-European language, from a stage referred to either as Indo-Hittite or "Middle PIE", typically a date in the mid-4th millennium BC is assumed. In a Kurgan framework, there are two possibilities of how early Anatolian speakers could have reached Anatolia: from the north via the Caucasus, and from the west, via the Balkans[, with the Balkans route being considered somewhat more likely (Steiner, 1990).
Anatolian comprises the following extinct languages:
Hittite (1600 - 1100 BC), Palaic, extinct around the 1200 BC, Lycian, extinct in the 1st century BC, Carian, ( 7th century - 3rd century BC), Pamphylian, and Milyan. All of these are known only from fragmentary inscriptions.

Proto Indo-European 3500 BC

Proto Balto-Slawic 3000 - 1000 BC
Mainstream historical linguists (Oswald Szemerényi, August Schleicher) postulate that Proto-Slavic in developed from the Proto-Balto-Slavic language (Lithuanian). According to this theory, the origin of Proto-Balto-Slavic lay in the bogs and woods surrounding today's Lithuania (3000 BC). The process of separation of Proto-Slavic speakers from Proto-Baltic speakers presumably occurred around 1000 BC. Although the Slavic languages split from a common proto-language later than any other group of the Indo-European language family, enough differences exist between the various Slavic dialects and languages to make communication between speakers of different Slavic languages difficult.
Slavic falls into three groups:
East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Rusyn)
West Slavic, (Lithuanian, Czech, Slovak, Sorbian, Polish, Pomeranian, Kashubian, Silesian and extinct Prussian)
South Slavic (Serbian, Slovenian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)

Armenian 3500-2000 BC
Linguists typically classify Armenian as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The Armenian language dates to the early period of Indo-European differentiation and dispersion some 3000 BC, or perhaps as early as 5800 BC according to some recent hypothesis. Armenian is regarded by some linguists as a close relative of Phrygian. Many scholars such as Clackson (1994) hold that Greek is the most closely related language to Armenian. On the other hand W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was an early contact between Armenian and the Anatolian languages (Hititite), based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine, the absence of inherited long vowels and its "centum" character. Like some non-Indo-European languages (e.g., Georgian) classical Armenian has no grammatical gender, not even in the pronoun.

Iranian 2500 BC

Indo-Iranian 2500 BC
The hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranian is usually associated with the late 3rd millennium BC Sintashta-Petrovka culture of Central Asia. Their expansion is believed to have been connected with the invention of the chariot, hence the importance of the Wheel in Vedic-Sanscrit religion. Proto Indo-Iranian comprises a large number of languages:
Indic: Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit, Pali, Apabhramsha, Dramatic Prakrits (Magadhi, Maharashtri, Sauraseni), Elu, and Jain
Iranian: Median, Old Persian, Avestan†, Old Scythian†, Parthian†, Middle Persian, Bactrian†, Kwarezmian†, Ossetic, Saka (Sacian),· Scythian, Sodian, Dardic and Nuristani.

Indic 2500 BC

Charchen European Mummies 1600 BC
Charchen European Mummies 2000 BC
Recently near here shaft graves yielded several mummified "Western European Giants" from around 2000 BC - fully dressed in knitted woolen garments: a man, three women, and a baby buried togethernear Charchen. They are now in the Urumchi Museum - "the Mummies of Urumchi".
Taklamakan mummy 7a from Charchen Tomb 2: 40-years-old woman, app. 2000 BC.
Taklamakan mummy 13, a 1-year-old boy from the same grave.
Photos from Nova-Online
The location of this site was taken from Aurel Stein's expedition maps.

Tokharian 1600 BC(?)
Tokharian is considered one of the most obscure branches of the group of Indo-European languages. The name of the language is taken from people known to the Greek historian Ptolemy (VI, 11, 6) as the Tocharians. Phonetically, Tocharian is a "centum" Indo-European language, characterized by the merging of palato-velar consonants with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh), which is generally associated with Indo-European languages of the northwestern European area (Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek) not a derivative of Indo-Iranian ("hatem"- languages).
Tocharian is documented in manuscript fragments, mostly from the 6th- 8th century AD (with a few earlier ones) that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin.
Recent excavations of graves in Charchen and near Lop Nor containing Northern Europeans mummified by the dry climate dated to 1600 BC seem to confirm early Northern (Indo-) European migrations into the Tarim Basin.

Greek 1500 BC
Greek is one of the earliest attested Indo-European languages, with fragmentary records in Mycenaean dating back to the 15th or 14th century BC, making Greek one of the very few living languages (together with the Chinese and West Semitic languages) directly descended from a language recorded in the Bronze Age. >BR>
Greek has been written in the Greek alphabet (the oldest continuously used alphabet, and the first to introduce vowels) since the 9th century BC in Greece (before that in Linear B in Knossos)

Italic 1350 BC
The Italic subfamily is a "centum" branch of the Indo-European language family. It includes the Romance languages (Italian, Catalan, Occitan, French, Corsican, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Arpitan etc.), and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Latin, Umbrian, and Oscan.
The Italic speakers were not native to Italy, but migrated into the Italian Peninsula in the course of the 2nd millennium BC, and were apparently related to the Celtic tribes that roamed over a large part of Western Europe at the time. Archaeologically, the Apennine culture (inhumations) enters the Italian Peninsula from ca. 1350 BC, east to west; the Iron Age reaches Italy from ca. 1100 BC, with the Villanovan culture (cremating), intruding north to south. Before the Italic arrival, Italy was populated primarily by non-Indo-European groups (perhaps including the Etruscans). The first settlement on the Palatine hill dates to ca. 750 BC, settlements on the Quirinal to 720 BC

Celtic 1200-800 BC
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic which in 1000 BC, was probably spoken across Europe (Iron Age), from the Bay of Biscay and the North Sea, up the Rhine and down the Danube to the Black Sea and the Upper Balkan Peninsula, and into Asia Minor (Galatia).

Germanic 500 BC
Proto-Germanic (500 BC-50 BC.) is the hypothetical common ancestor (proto-language) of all the Germanic languages, which include, among others, modern English, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish. - Indo-European speakers arrived on the plains of southern Sweden and Jutland, the center " of the Germanic peoples, prior to the Nordic Bronze Age, which began about 2500 BC.
the earliest Germanic writing occurs in a single instance in the 200 BC on the Negau, Slovenia helmet. It is now accepted that the script is North Etruscan proper, and precedes the formation of the Runic alphabet.

Anatolian

Slawic

Germanic

Tokharian

Iranian

Armenian

Greek

Proto Indo-European

Italic

Celtic

Manuscripts found in the Taklamakan Desert
Manuscripts found in the Takalamakan Desert.
See the Overlay Map in the post. Map from Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities an enormous website on the German Turfan Research which broke new ground in the decipherment of numerous text manuscripts found in Serindia in the early parts of the 20th centrury.

Map Overlay Manuscripts of the Taklamakan

Manuscripts found in the Taklamakan Desert
Note that according to the GE map certain places are off, e.g. Dunhuang (which is clearly seen on GE), Hami (according to GE Search) and others.

Paths of the Indo-European Languages
As in the case of the migration paths of the hominids, this map is controversial. Hopefull ongoing genome research will soon yield a better map

Armenian-Anatolian 5000-3500 BC

Taklamakan 4000-2000 BC

Greece Sea People 3500-2090 BC

Indo-Iranian People 3000 BC

Western Europe 2500-1000 BC

Balto Slavic 3500-2500 BC

Non-IE Languages in Greater Europe
There are but a few Non-Indo-European languages spoken in Europe and they are well researched and with the exception of Finnish of recent, well-documented origin.

Kartvelian-Georgian 6000 BC
The South Caucasian languages (also known as Ibero-Caucasian or Kartvelian) are spoken primarily in Georgia, with smaller groups of speakers in Turkey, Iran, Russia and Israel.
Georgian is written with an original and distinctive alphabet, and the oldest surviving literary text dates from the 5th century AD.
Text from Wikipedia
The Babel of Languages in the Caucasus

Proto Ugric 3000-1000 BC
Ugric include three languages: Hungarian (Magyar), and the Ob-Ugric languages, Khanty (Ostyak) and Mansi language (Vogul). Their common Proto-Ugric language was probably spoken from the end of the 3rd millennium BC until the first half of the 1st millennium BC, in Western Siberia, east from the southern Ural mountains The languages are spoken in the region between the Urals and the Ob River and the Irtysh in central Russia. The forests and forest steppe of the southern Urals is thought to be the original homeland or the Ugric branch. Beginning some 500 years ago the arrival of the Russians pushed the speakers eastward to the Ob and Irtysh.
Hungarian was split off during the 11th century BC. Although the languages are related to Hungarian, the connection is loose and are radically different in phonology, syntax, and vocabulary. Khanty and Mansi on the other hand are closely related, but are not mutually intelligible. The Ob-Ugric languages were later strongly influenced by nearby Turkic languages, especially Tatar

Altay Proto-Turkic 1000-800 BC

Fininsh ~1000 BC?
Finnish ~1000 BC?
The Finno-Ugric languaues in eastern Euripe. From Wikipedia
Finnish is a member of the Baltic-Finnic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of languages which in turn is a member of the Uralic family of languages. The Baltic-Finnic subgroup also includes Estonian and other minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea.
It is believed that the Balto-Finnic languages evolved from a proto-Finnic language, from which Sami was separated around 1500-1000 BC. Current research indicates there were three or more proto-Finnic dialects. The Baltic Finnic languages separated around the 1st century, but continued to influence each other. Therefore, the Eastern Finnish dialects are genetically Eastern proto-Finnic, with many Eastern features, and the Southwestern Finnish dialects have many genuine Estonian influences.

Samoyedan
The Samoyedic languages are spoken on both sides of the Ural mountains, in northernmost Eurasia, by perhaps 30,000 speakers altogether.
The Samoyedic languages derive from a common ancestral language called Proto-Samoyedic, and together with the Finno-Ugric languages the Samoyedic languages form the Uralic language family.

Hungarian-Magyar 453-1000 AD
Hungarian is an Uralic language, more specifically an Ugric language. Connections between the Ugric and Finnic languages were noticed in the 1670s and established, along with the entire Uralic family, in 1717, although the classification of Hungarian continued to be a matter of political controversy into the 18th and even 19th centuries. Today the Uralic family is considered one of the best researched language families. It is spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in seven neighbouring countries.
The original Hungarian variant separated from Ugric probably around 1000 BC in their Uraltaic homeland (see the marker for Ugric).
The language was brought to Europe by the Huns in 453 AD who settled in the Hungarian Pusta around 986 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary was founded in 1000, by Stephen I of Hungary. The first written accounts of Hungarian, mostly personal and place names, are dated back to the 10th century. Hungarians also had their own writing system, the Old Hungarian script, but no significant texts remain from that time.

Estonian
Finnish is a member of the Baltic-Finnic subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of languages which in turn is a member of the Uralic family of languages. The Baltic-Finnic subgroup also includes Estonian and other minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea.
It is believed that the Balto-Finnic languages evolved from a proto-Finnic language, from which Sami was separated around 1500-1000 BC. Current research indicates there were three or more proto-Finnic dialects.[6] The Baltic Finnic languages separated around the 1st century, but continued to influence each other. Therefore, the Eastern Finnish dialects are genetically Eastern proto-Finnic, with many Eastern features, and the Southwestern Finnish dialects have many genuine Estonian influences.

Basque-Euskara
Basque (native name: euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France.
Although geographically surrounded by Indo-European languages, Basque is considered to be an isolated language, with, despite numerous attempts by early linguists, no relatives anywhere,. Its prehistory may not be reconstructible by means of the comparative linguistic,. It is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages.
Basque dialects. From Wikipedia

Eastern Turkish 800 AD
Turkish spoken in Turkey is the western-most branch of the Turkic language family comprising some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia. and Siberia.
Some linguists believe the Turkic languages to be a part of a larger Altaic language family. The characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family and the Altaic languages. Due to the very recent western migration of the Uigur-Turkish people, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Western Turkish and their eastern tribesmen. (Oghuz, Uighur Turkmen, Azeri, Qashqai, and Gagauz)
Distribution of Turk languages in Eurasia.

Western Turkish 1100 AD
Turkish spoken in Turkey is the western-most branch of the Turkic language family comprising some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia. and Siberia.
Some linguists believe the Turkic languages to be a part of a larger Altaic language family. The characteristic features of Turkish, such as vowel harmony, agglutination, and lack of grammatical gender, are universal within the Turkic family and the Altaic languages. Due to the very recent western migration of the Uigur-Turkish people, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Western Turkish and their eastern tribesmen. (Oghuz, Uighur Turkmen, Azeri, Qashqai, and Gagauz)
Distribution of Turk languages in Eurasia.

CHAPTER II - The Spread of Religion

The "Silk" Routes 3rd cent BC-14th cent AD

The "Silk" Routes 3rd cent BC-14th cent AD
The so-called Silk Roads were the routes along which people, trade, and ideas traveled between East and West since prehistoric times. Alexander's expedition to India (3rd cent BC) was the great stimulation in this process. Buddhism spread along these routes. The Huns, Ghengis Khan, and Tamerlane used these routes in their succesive disasterous invasions of Western Europe, China, and India. During the Chinese Yuan Dynasty (13-14th cent AD), the "Pax Mongolica" in Central Asia greatly facilitated travel. Marco Polo traveled to Beijing during that time.
My map is the first detailed map of the SIlk Routes in the literature.

Southern Silk Route

Loulan Silk Route

Northern Silk Route

Laodicea Venice Sea Route

Syria-Rome Sea Route

Kashgar Yarkand Branch

Black Sea Route

Skythian Route

Sogdiana Route

Ferghana Route

Herat Route

Uzbek Route

Arabian Sea Route

Basra-India Sea Route

Indian Buddhist Route

Yunnan Route (Postulated)

Karakhocho Campuchu 13th cent

Karakoram Pass Route

Beijing Karakhorum 13th cent

Buddhist Routes

Yunnan Route (Postulated) 8th cent BC-5th cent AD

Sanchi-Ajanta Route 1st-9th cent

1st-19th cent Nepal Route

2nd-7th cent Loulan Silk Route

2nd-7th cent Southern Route

2nd-9th cent KashmirGuge Route

2nd-17th cent Karakhoram Route

3rd-9th cent Bactrian Route

4th-11th cent Northern Buddha Route

5th-19th cent Zangskar Tabo Ngari

7-11th cent India Sikkim Route

8th-12th cent Ngari Tsang Route

11th cent Atisha's Route to Tholing and Nyetang

Buddhism 500 BC-1500 AD

Buddhism 500 BC-1500 AD
An early Ghandharan statue of Buddha Gautama 1st cent AD. Guimet Museum, Paris.
Buddhism teaches a set of rules, methods and ritual procedures -. some don't consider it a religion - for a way of life. It is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (500 BC), known as Gautama Buddha. who established a monastic guide to "directly experiencing reality".
The Buddha's teaching was subsequently much changed so that many scholars regard it as a plurality rather than a single entity. Siddhartha Gautama lived in the 5th cent BC.
The most frequently used classification of present-day Buddhism among scholars divides present-day adherents into the following three shools or traditions geographically and culturally separated: Theravada, East Asian Buddhism (Mahayana) and Tibetan Buddhism (Tantric Buddhism). Today the numbers of adherents in these three main schools are about 124, 185 and 20 million people, respectively.
The present collection shows places of historical interest in the expansion of Buddhism in general (star-placemarkers). The dates indicate the arrival of Buddhism - Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantric - in the respective areas. A map of "Buddha Routes" ties them together. They often coincide with the "Trade Routes" commonly referred to as "Silk Roads" given separately.

Early Buddhism 2nd BC-7th AD cent

Early Buddhism 2nd BC-7th AD cent
Buddhism 500 BC-1500 AD
Prince Siddharta. Gandhara, 2nd-3rd cent AD, Musée Guimet, Paris.
Early Buddhism, as taught by the historical Buddha Gautama, was a monastic discipline. It's strict discipline was not intended to be imposed on the laymen of the communities. Around the 1st cent AD Mahayana Buddhism split from what was by then referred to as the Theravada. The Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") introduced the concept of Bodisattvas, Saints who remained on earth to teach the lay people unable to follow strict monastic rules. The Mahayana greatly expanded Buddhism from India through central Asia (6th-7th vent AD) into Persia, China, Indonesia, and East Asia.

Historic Sites Early Buddhism

Pataliputra-Patna
Pataliputra-Patna Ashoka's Mauryan Capital
With the rise of the Mauryan empire (273 BC.) the place became the seat of power and nerve centre of the sub-continent. From Pataliputra, the famed emperor Chandragupta Maurya (a contemporary of Alexander) ruled a vast empire, stretching from the Bay of Bengal to Afghanistan. Emperor Ashoka (260-218 BC), the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, transformed the wooden capital into a stone construction around 273 BC.

Lumbini Buddha's Birthplace 563 BC
Offerings at the birth site of Buddha Gautama.

Kushinagar 3rd BC-5th cent AD
Ancient excavated Buddha statue in the Parinirvana Temple, Kushinagar
At the time of the Buddha, Kushinagar was the capital of the Mallas. It was here that Gautama Buddha died..Gautama Buddha attained Parinirvana (or 'Final Nirvana') after falling ill from eating a meal of a species of mushroom which translates as "pig's delight". Another version of this jataka story says that he ate spoiled meat from a boar. He knew that he would die and forbade his disciples to touch the food.
Many of the ruined stupas and viharas here date back to 3rd century BC - 5th century AD when it was at its peak. The Mauryan emperor Ashoka contributed significantly to their construction.

Varanasi 550 BC
Varanasi, the Ghats. Photo RWFG
Varanasi is a city situated on the banks of the river Ganga (Ganges). It is regarded holy by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, and is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. People are coming here to bathe in the Ganges or to die. Cremations take place on certain ghats lining the crowded rive bank. Buddha Gautama taught his Sermon in the Deer Park across the river from the city in 550 BC.

Bodh Gaya 570 BC
Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, after 250 BC
Historically, Bodh Gaya was known as Bodhimanda, ground under the Bodhi-tree where the historical Buddha received his enlightenment. There was a large monastic settlement there. The main monastery of Bodhgaya used to be called the Bodhimanda-vihÄra (Pali). Now it is called the Mahabodhi Temple.
For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha, the other three being Kushinagar, Lumbini, and Sarnath.

Nalanda 427-1197 AD
Ruins of Nalanda University, 427AD - 1197AD
Nalada wasa Buddhist university from 427 AD to 1197 AD partly under the Pala Empire.It was established 450 AD under the patronage of the Gupta emperors, notably Kumaragupta. In 1193. Sacked by Turkic Muslim invaders under Bakhtiyar Khilji;was a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India.
On December 9, 2006, the New York Times detailed a plan in the works to spend $1 billion to revive Nalanda University near the ancient site. A consortium led by Singapore and including China, India, Japan and other nations will attempt to raise $500 million to build a new university and another $500 million to develop necessary infrastructure.

Mathura
Mathura Capital of the Kushan Empire (280-550 AD)
In the 6th cent BC Mathura was the capital of the Shursen republic. It later became part of the Maurya empire (4th to 2nd centuries BC) and the Sunga dynasty (2nd century BC). Between 180 and 100 BC it came under the control of Indo-Greeks. It then briefly reverted to local rule before being conquered by the Indo-Scythians during the 1st cent BC.
Mathuran Art form and cluture reached its Zenith under the Kushan dynasty (280-550 AD) of which it was as one capital, the other being Purushpur( Peshawar). Tthe Kushan Kings - save one - were Buddhists.
Head of a "red-stone" Kushan Buddha (6th cent)
The Kushans were an Indo-European people (chin. Yuezhi) from the eastern Tarim Basin, China. They had contacts with Rome, Persia and China, and for several centuries were at the center of exchange between East and West. Kushan Art was influenced by the Hellenistic culture of Bactria. They adopted the Greek alphabet. Their coins used Greek combined with Pali legends (in Kharoshthi script) until the reign of Kanishka (127-147 AD)
The Mathura Museum has the largest collection of early Buddhist redstone sculptures in Asia. - In 634 AD the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, in search for Buddhist scriptures, visited and described Mathura.

Ajanta 2nd cent BC
Ajanta Caves, 2nd cent BC
The 30 caves at Ajanta are the largest collection of early Buddhist paintings. They caves were dug and painted in two distinct periods: the earliest beween 200 BC and 200 AD (Theravada), the later caves between 462 to 480 AD (Mahayana). During the Theravada period the Buddha is symbolically represented by a stupa (see Sanchi), while he is shown in person in the frescoesn of the later caves.
The influence of Ajanta on Buddhist painting is immense. Dunhuang, Kizil, and all Central Asian Buddhist art cannot be appreciated without a reference to Ajanta.

Sanchi Stupa 2nd cent BC
Sanchi Stupa, before 70 BC
The 'Great Stupa' at Sanchi is the earliest surviving Buddhist temple. It was originally commissioned by Emperor Ashoka in the 2rd century BC. Its nucleus was a simple hemispherical brick structure built over the relics of the Buddha. The stupa was vandalized sometimes in the 2nd century BC. It has been suggested that emperor Pushyamitra Sunga may have destroyed the original stupa, and his son Agnimitra rebuilt it. The gateways and the balustrade were added in 70 BC, and appear to have been built by King Satakarni Satavahana.

Aparantaka -Gujarat 2nd cent BC

Chennai, Thamil Nadu 2nd cent BC

Mysore 2nd cent BC

Maharashtra 2nd cent BC

Lankadipa 2nd cent BC -
The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BC at Asokarama in Patiliputta, under the patronage of Emperor Asoka. It was presided over by the Elder Moggaliputta Tissa and one thousand monks participated in the Council. However, the council is unrecognized and "unknown" to all Buddhist sources outside of the Theravada school
The (later called Theravada) version of the scriptures that had been established at the Third Council, including the vinaya, sutta and the abhidhamma commentaries (collectively known as Tripitaka), was taken to Sri Lanka (and Burma) by Emperor Ashoka's son, the Venerable Mahinda. There it was eventually committed to writing in the Pali language. The Pali Canon remains the only complete set of Nikaya scriptures to survive
For reference see: Wikipedia

Nepal 2nd cent AD

Pagan 2nd cent BC
Pagan. Photo from Madalay Restaurant
According to the Theravada tradition Ashoka (3rd cent BC) sent Sona Thera and Uttara Thera to Suvannabhumi (Pagan) to bring Buddhism to the Mon Kingdom.
See: Wikipedia
The Mon dominated kingdom ( 874-1369) of Pagan had a mixed Mahayana-Tantrayana (in the northern parts) and Hindu population. A situation not unlike that in Nepal today. The kings, however, adhered to and supported the Theravada at least from the 1st cent AD. Due to the widespread distribution of ethnic Mon people over the entire area and their old Theravada-Buddhist tradition, Pagan became the bridge for the spread of the Theravada to Southeast Asia in the 12th cent.

Kasmira 2nd cent BC

Sani Cremation Ground 2nd cent BC
Sani Gompa and Cremation Ground, 200-900 AD
<
Sani Gompa is one of the oldest in the Ladakh-Zanskar. Its stupa goes back to the 3rd cent, its cremation ground is one of the 8 sacred cremation sites of Buddhism.
Mani wall on the way to Sani. Photo from Wikipedia.

Khotan 3rd cent AD
In the 5th-10th cent AD Khotan had a large thriving community of Buddhist monks, described by several Chinese travelers (e.g., Fa Xien). It was destroyed by the Qarakhanid Qaghans after a long siege at the end of the 10th cent. It never recovered, in part because the southern part of the Taklamakan was drying up.

Southern Silk Road 3rd-8th cent AD

Buddhist Presence in Ptolemaic Alexandria 2nd cent BC

Sikkim 4th cent AD

Maps Early Buddhism

Ashoka's Messengers

Gujarat

Deccan

Pagan-Pegu

Orissa-Southeast Asia

Sri Lanka

Alexandria

Bactria

Mauryan Kingdom 322BC –185 BC

272-185 BC Ashoka's Empire
Ashoka's Empire 272-231 BC

Sogdiana Kurasan

Kashmir Khotan

Buddhist Expansions from Pagan 9th cent

Sinhale (Sri Lanka) 500 BC - 1600 AD

Mysore 2nd BC-3rd cent AD

Buddhist Sites of Ghandara

Overlay Map Ghandara Buddhist Sites Overlay

GANDHARA
Ghandara 180 BC- 11th cent AD
The region shows an influx of southern Central Asian culture in the Bronze Age with the Gandhara grave culture showing a continuum between the early neolithic culture of the region with close ties and relations with the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex. This culture survived till 600 BC. Its evidence has been discovered in the Hilly regions of Swat and Dir, and even at Taxila (Malayo, Melanesian, Wabanaki, Nahuatl Cultures)
The Kingdoms of Gandhara (Graeco-Bactrians, Sakas, and Indo-Parthians) lasted from 180 BC to the 11th century. Ghandar attained its height during the 1st - 5th cent AD under the Buddhist Kushan Kings. After it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1021 AD, the area became Moslem and the name Gandhara disappeared.
Gandhara is noted for the distinctive Gandhara style of Buddhist art, a consequence of a unique merger of Hellenistic, Syrian, Persian, and Indian art traditions. This development started in the Parthian Period (50 BC – 75 AD). The visual evidence of the Greco-Gandharan sculptures is most intriguing. Three examples follow (Text and images from Wikipedia)
Head of Buddha, Ghandaran Greco-Buddhist sculpture from Hadda, 1st cent AD
The Buddha with Herakles as Vajrapani, Ghandaran Greco-Buddhist relief, 2nd-3rd cent AD
Buddha in Paranirvana surrounded by Greek disciples, Ghandaran Greco-Buddhist relief, 2ndh-3rd cent AD
Fot a detailed time table see the History of Ghandara and Afghanistan, 50 Millenium BC - 2001 AD

SWAT
The Swat 3000 BC- 800 AD
Rock-carved Buddha near Janabad, Swat, 7th-8th cent. AD
The Swat comprises several valleys which empty into the Swat river. The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times (3rd millenia BC).
Around the 3rd cent AD it became an important Buddhist center (Udayana).Some 1400 stupas and monasteries were spread throughout the valley. The Chinese travelers Faxian (337 - 422 AD) and Xuanzang (602 - 664 AD) have left us detailed descriptions of these times.
The Indo-Buddhist Tantra (9th cent AD) probably originated here and spread from the Swat to Tibet. Padmasambhava is said to have been born in the Swat, the "Guru from Udayana".
In the 11th cent AD Islam was introduced by Mahmud of Ghazni who invaded the area. The Buddhist monuments went into decay and have only recently been excavated. The Swat became part of Pakistan during the Indian division.
For Information on the Harappan culture 3200-2600 BC see Wikipedia, Early Harappan
The Swat Grave Culture 1600 - 500 BC at Aligrama is described in Wikipedia, Gandhara Grave Culture
A cultural history of the Swat is found at Svatvalley.com

Taxila
Taxila lay at the crossroads of three major trade routes: the royal highway from Paliputra; the north-western route through Bactria and Peshawar; and the route from Kashmir and Central Asia, via Srinigar, Mansehir, and the Haripur valley across the Khunjerab pass to Kashgar on the Silk Road.
Taxila is an important archaeological site conprising the ruins of the Gandharan city of Takshashila, an important Vedic and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th century BC to the 5th century AD. Mostly well preserved ruins today with some sculptural remains. The rest is distributed ober the museums of the world.

Takht-i-Bahai 1st - 6th cent AD
Takht-i-Bahai was the center of Greco-Buddhism in Gandhara.
Large ruins of a Buddhist monastery and academy are found in a mountain valley (1st-6th cent AD). Many of the celebrated Greco-Gandharan Buddhist sculptures in Western museums come from here. A few are still in loco. The monastery is relatively well preserved.
Ghandara Buddha Avalokiteshvara from Takht-i-Bahai from Le Coq, "Buddhistische Spätantike"
The miraculous conception and birth of the Buddha

Saidu Sharif
Saidu-i-Sharif, Swat
Skulptural elements from a Buddhist Stupa 200-300 AD. From archart.it

Sahri Bahlol
Greco-Buddhist sculpture: standing, four-armed Hariti with child and trident from Sahri-Bahlol, 2nd - 5th cent AD.

Shaikhan Dheri 2nd cent AD
Greco-Buddhist sculpture: Hariti with children."House of Naradakha," Shaikhan Dheri, early 2nd cent AD.

Mingora
Mingora (also spelled Mangora or Mingaora) is the largest city in Swat district. Many Buddhist remains and carvings have been discovered near Mingora in the Jambill River Valley. At Panr, a stupa and monastery dated to the 1st century AD has been excavated. At Loebanr and Matalai, Italian archaeologists unearthed 475 Aryan graves dated circa 1700 BC.

Aligrama Prehist Graves 1600 BC
Ghandaran Grave Culture 1600 BC

Andan Dheri Stupa, Padmasambhava's Birthplace

Udegram 10th BC - 14th cent AD.
Udegram is located 8 kilometres from Saidu Sharif. Aurel Stein identified this with Ora, a city where Alexander fought one of his battles. Italians excavated this site in 1950’s. This site was occupied from 1000 BC to 14th century AD.

Shah-ji-ki-Dheri (Kanishka's Stupa)
The Kanishka stupa was a monumental building erected by the Kushan king Kanishka in 127 AD. Three Chinese travelers, Faxian in 399-412 AD, Sung Yun in 518 AD, and Xuanzang in 630 AD described it as the largest stupa in India
Today there are only the foundations left. A British team excavating at the site in 1908-09 found a reliquary casket ("Kanishka's Casket") with bone spinters supposed to be Buddha Gautama's.

Nimogram 2nd -6th cent AD
Well preserved Budhist monastery with three stupas in wild and beautiful country. Many Budhist items have been excavated from the site and are displayed in various museums.
Hariti holding child in bracket form. Nimogram (Swat), 3rd cent AD?.

Butkara 2nd cent AD
Butkara Stupa is one of the most important Buddhist shrines of Swat . It was built by the emperor Ashoka in 2nd cen BC. It was enlarged many times. In 1955 it was excavated by Italians. Most of the stone carvings are now displayed in the museum around the world. Stupa was repaired last time in 8th century then it was abandoned and allowed to crumble.

Gogdara 1100 BC
Based on the sherds found, the nearest settlement was inhabited continously between the 12th cent. BC and the Parthian period
Gogdara also has prehistoric(?) rock carvings.

Topdara
The Buddhist stupa at Topdara, 5th cent AD

Gumbat
Buddhist sculpture: Ardokhsho-Hariti with donors and attendants from Gumbat, 2nd cent AD.

Mahayana Buddhism 3rd -13th cent AD

Mahayana Buddhism 3rd -13th cent AD
Around the 1st cent AD Mahayana Buddhism split from what was by then referred to as the Theravada. The Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") introduced the concept of Bodisattvas, "Saints" who remained on earth to teach the lay people unable to follow strict monastic rules. The Mahayana greatly expanded Buddhism from India through central Asia (6th-7th vent AD) into Persia, China, Indonesia, and East Asia.

Mahayana Historical Sites

Samye 9th cent
Samye Gompa 9th cent AD
Samye is the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet founded by Padmasambhava from the Swat. It is laid out in the form of a mandala.
Photo Cornelius Gross

Khotan Buddhist Monasteries 2nd cent AD

Dunhuang 360-1200 AD
Dunhuang Caves, 360-1200 AD
The earliest caves were hewn from the rock around 366 AD (Eastern Jin), the earliest preserved frescoes date from 467AD (Southern Song). All caves, even the smallest, are painted with frescoes bottom to ceiling. The last frescoes, Tantric images now walled-off and not shown to the tourists because of their indecent(!) subject matter, were painted in the 13th-century Yüan Dynasty. An open-air gallery covering 900 years of superb Central Asian painting (i.e., Ladakh, Western Tibet, Xinjiang/Chinese-Turkestan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan). The Dunhuang collection has no parallel in size and importance
An early depiction of Buddha's Paranirvana — the historical Buddha's death The distress of his disciples who at later times assume grotesk expressions — highly un-Chinese! — is accomplished by very effective, mininmal, abstract means. Cave 428, Nothern Zou, around 560 AD. Photos RWFG 1983

Yarkand 4th cent AD

Bamiyan 4th cent AD
Bamyian Budhha before its destruction, 4th cent AD

Ladakh 5th cent AD
Spitok Gompa near the Leh, Ladakh airport. Photo by RWFG

Zhangye 5th cent AD

Bingling Si 5th cent AD
Bingling Si, 5th cent AD
Giant Buddha. The site is now reached by boat. Photo Trekearth.com

Yülin Wan Fo Xia 4th-14th cent AD
Yulin Wa Fo Xia Grottoes
Non-reproducable photos of the valley of the Yulin River can be found at Anxi, Yulin Caves by Asanobu Kitamoto
Photo from a Chinese website.
The site was discovered by Aurel Stein.
"The Yunlin Grottos are chiseled in the cliffs on both the east and west sides of the Yulin River. The east cliff has 30 grottos and the west has 11, with a distance of more than 100 meters between them. It used to be called Ten-Thousand Buddha Gorge. The grottos began to be chiseled and sculpted during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), and was enlarged in the later dynasties such as the Tang (618-907), Five Dynasties (907-960), Song (960-1279), the Western Xia (1038-1227), Yuan (1271-1368) and so on. There are more than 1,000 square meters of frescoes, and more than 100 colored sculptures extant there."
Text from a Chinese website, photo from another.

Maiji Shan 5th cent AD
Maiji Shan — Corn Cob Mountain 450 AD
Photo by RWFG
Way station on the Silk Roads. Built during the Northern Wei Dynasty around 450 AD at the same time as Dunhuang two very large Buddhas and 195 caves have been carved into a steep sandstone rock. They are decorated with a few murals and stone sculptures. An earthquake destroyed the place in the 10th cent.

Yungang Caves 5th cent AD
Yungang Caves 560-525 AD
Large seated Buddha at Yungang. Photo from Wikipedia
The Yungang Grottoes are a largest complex of Buddhist caves in China proper. They are excellent examples of rock-cut architecture and one of the three most famous ancient sculptural sites of China.
The grottoes were mostly constructed in the period between 460-525 AD during the Northern Wei dynasty. - The Northern Wei "dynasty" originated from the Tuoba clan of the non-Han Xianbei tribe. In 494 AD the Northern Wei moved their capital from Datong to Luoyang where they constructed the Longmen Caves. - For a time line of the history of Central Asia from the Chinese point of view see RWFG's website

Chang'an 5th cent AD
Chang'an (Xian) the old Imperial Capital of China was the goal of the commercial Silk Road travellers.: Christian Nestorians, Manicheans, Buddhists all established communities here during the Northern Wei and Tang dynasties (5th-10th cent).

Bezeklik 7th cent AD
Bezeklik, Serindia, 650 AD
Bezeklik is a large Buddhist cave complex north of Toyuk. Here, like in Kizil, Albert Le Coq (1911-12) removed a caravan load of highly interesting murals which were exhibited in the Berlin-Dahlem Museum - only to fall partly victim to the bombings of 1944-45. - After WW II the Chinese closed the site. It is now open again to foreigners.
The murals form Bezeklik in the Berlin Museum before their destruction in the Allied air raids of 1944. From Rare Books, Toyo Bunko

Yunnan 5th cent AD

Longmen Caves 5th cent AD
Longmen Caves
The Longmen Caves near Luoyang. Photo Wikipedia.
Longmen has the largest collection of Buddhist sculptures in Central Asia. The earliest caves go back to 483 AD during the Northern Wei period (386-534 AD) whose capital was at Luoyang, the latest belong to the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) at Changan.
In contrast to Dunhuang Longmen does not have any murals.See Wikipedia
The Northern Wei "dynasty" originated from the Tuoba clan of the non-Han Xianbei tribe. In 494 AD the dynasty moved its capital from Datong (Yungang Caves) to Luoyang. Towards the end of the dynasty they split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei. - For a time line of the history of Central Asia from the Chinese point of view see RWFG's website

Rong Xian Buddha 5th cent AD

Kizil Caves 600-650 AD
The Caves of Kizil near Kucha, Xinjiang
In the 7th-9th century Kucha was ruled by Tokharians, a Western European people (600-800 AD):
For an understanding of early Buddhist art the caves of Kizil are probably the most important find after Dunhuang.
In 1902-1911 three German expeditions under Albert LeCoq and Grünwedel explored the caves of Kizil (which Aurel Stein had not found) and carried home entire murals, including the blue-eyed, red-haired Tokharian princes in their "Gothic medieval"(!) garb, dated 650 AD !
Photos from: Herbert Härtel and Marianne Yaldiz, "Along the Ancient Silk Road". Catalogue of an exhibition of artifacts from the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin-Dahlem at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1982.
The Kizil Caves (LeCoq 1905) seen from the Muzart River.
Photos of frescoes copied from Le Coq and Grünwedel's monumental documentation "Die Buddhistische Spätantike", available in a digital edition at: Toyo Bunko
Two Bodhisattvas. LeCoq's saw-cuts of are clearly visible

Kucha 5th-9th cent AD

Kumtura 6th cent AD
Bodhisattva. Kumtura, 7th/8th century AD. painted clay. Height 62.5 cm. Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin-Dahlem. From Wikipedia.
Discovered by Grünwedel and LeCoq (1913-14). According to Le Coq
"In Komtura Hinyana and Mahayana communities coexisted in the 6th-7th cent AD."

Bodnath 6th cent AD
Bodnath is the Buddhist center of Nepal.
The Bodnath Stupa, 600 AD. From Wikipedia

Khocho 700-900 AD
Albert von Le Coq (1860 - 1930) discovered a major Manichaean library in the ruins of Khotcho.
Manichean Miniature rescued by LeCoq, Chocho. A photocopy of his major work with Illustrations exists in the internet at Toyo Bunko

Pegu 8th cent AD
Pegu-Bagu 8th cent AD
According to legend, two Mon princess from Thaton founded Bago in 573 AD. The earliest mention of this city in history is by the Arab geographer Ibn Khudadhbin around 850 AD. At the time, the Mon capital had shifted to Thaton. The area came under the rule of the Burmese from Bagan in 1056. After the collapse of Bagan to the Mongols in 1287, the Mon regained their independence.
The peaceful reign of Queen Bania Thau (Burmese: Shin Saw Bu; 1453-72) came to an end when she chose the Buddhist monk Dhammazedi (1472-92) to succeed her. Under Dhammazedi Pegu became a centre of commerce and Theravada Buddhism.
The 54-m- long Shwethalyaung Buddha, 994 A.D. by King Migadepa

Zejiang 8th cent

Korea 8th cent

Japan 9th cent

Shrivijaya 8th-13th cent

Borobudur 9th cent AD

Khmer Kingdom 9th-16th cent
The Khmer Empire controlled most of south-east Asia from the 9th to the 13th cent. The first king, Jayavarman II (reigned AD 802 to 850) seems to have come from Java. He was a Mahayana Buddhist Fom 880 Angkor was built as the Khmer capital. In the 13th century the king adopted Theravada Buddhism (from Shri Lanka), which seems to somehow be connected with the decline of the Khmer kingdom. In 1431 a Thai army conquered Angkor. The kings moved to near today's Phnom Penh. Mahayana Angkor, was no longer needed (Theravada) and was finally abandoned in 1546.
From Wikipedia

Datu-Tatu 13th cent
The capital of the Yuan Dynasty founded by the Jin in 936. Two centuries and two separate cities later, now called Tatu or Dato under Khublai Khan, it became the Cambuluc of Marco Polo's accounts. After encircling and defeating the Chinese Southern Sung Dynasty, Kublai Khan moved to this city.

Karakhorum 13th cent

Maps Mahayana

Serindia 300-900 AD

China Expansion 5th-8th cent AD

Bamiyan-Bactria 5th-9th cent

Tang Dynasty 618-907

Buddhist Expansion to Shrivijaya 8th cent

Expansion to Korea 8th cent

Korea 8th-20th cent

Expansion to Japan 9th cent

Japan 9th-20th cent

Shrivijaya 3rd-13th cent

Mysore 4th-10th cent

8th cent Tibet Padmasambhava

11th cent Second Tibetan Attisha

Tantric Buddhism 11th-15th cent

Tantric or Tibetan Buddhism 11th-15th cent
Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana 9th-15th cent.
The Vajrayana is for practical purposes identical with "Tibetan Buddhism", which is considered not Buddhism at all by many Theravadins.
The Vajrayana is a syncretic system which combined Mahayana doctrins with Persian, Christian, and Manichean concepts, Chinese Ch'an meditation techniques, dance rituals from the Swat, and Tibetan Bon animism into a colorful and amasingly viable religious system. While the Theravada solidified into an orthodox dogma, the Vajrayana has succeeded to reinvent itself over and over again. There exist indications that its methods were invented by the royal consorts of the great Tibetan teachers and missionaries of the 10th-11th century: Padmasambhava, Naropa, Milopa, and Milarepa,.
Tibetan Buddhism was propelled into the most influential Buddhist School only in the late 20th century by the unceasing efforts of H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama.

Tantric Buddhism Historic Sites

Lo Mantang 10th-15th cent
This marker is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post..
Lo Mantang
Lo Mantang, Mustang. Photo from pagesperso-orange.fr
Capital of the Kingdom of Mustang (15th cent). Which still exists as part of Nepal. Long closed to Westerners during the Khampa uprising (1960s) (supported by the CIA), it is open since the 1990s.
Mustang was a Sakyapa stronghold since the 14th cent. Its 3 large Lakhangs house rare, preserved examples of Newari-Guge frescoes.- Recently (1991) a number of monastic caves have been discovered near by with more well-preserved 15-cent Buddhist murals.

Alchi 1064
Alchi Gompa 1064 AD
Alcho Gompa's murals are among the earliest Tibetan paintings. They were finished just before the advent of Tantric Buddhism in Ladakh and Tibet.
The Bodhisattva Akshyoba in the Sumtsek (his mandala-circle is barely 20-cm in diameter) sits in the center of close to hundred smaller Akshyobas covering a wall of maybe 3 by 4 meters.... Considering the painstaking detail in the field outside the circle, this is miniature painting on a grand scale. The painters came from Kashmir, where no comparable Buddhist art has survived Islam, except for the lacquer boxes which are still being painted by the Kashmiri artisans. Flashless Photo by RWFG.

Bangala Atisha's Birthplace 11th cent AD

Kye Gompa 11th-12th cent
Kye or Ki Gompa, Spiti, 11th-12th cent
It is the oldest and biggest monastery of the valley and located at (4116 m) above Kye village. It houses beautiful scriptures and paintings of Budha and other goddesses. Lamas practice dance, sing and play on pipes and horns. Many Lamas get religious training here. It has murals and books of high aesthetic value.
See Tucci's travels in Spiti July 1933
See Himachal Tourism
Kye gompa in Spiti. Photo from Wikipedia

Tholing Gompa 11th cent AD
Tholing in Guge, West Tibet was the Gompa where Atisha ( 982-1054 AD) taught <~1040s).
Storm across the Sulej river fromTholing . Photo by RWFG
Tholing Gompa, the old stupa renovated. Photo by Jan Reurink

Mount Kailas Beyul 12th cent AD
Mt. Kailas is arguably the most sacred moutain of Eurasia revered by Buddhists, Hindus and Jains.
Kailas from the north (Korla). Photo by Peter Gross 1995

Tapho/Tabo 11th-14th cent AD
Tabo (Tapho) is the oldest continuously functioning Buddhist monastery in India and the Himalayas with its original decoration and iconographic program intact. Tabo monastery contains the largest number and the best preserved group of Buddhist monuments in Himachal Pradesh. The nine chapels, four decorated stupas, and cave shrines contain paintings datable to the 10-11th c. (Main Temple), 13th-14th c. (Stupas), and 15-20th c. (all other chapels)
Following the tracks of Giuseppe Tucci, a map of the monasteries in Himachal Pradesh.

Maps Tantrayana

Expansion to Beijing -Yuan 13th cent

Expansion to Mongolia 13th cent

Himalayas and Tibet 9th-20th cent

Mongolia 13th-20 cent

Theravada in SE Asia 11th-17th cent

Theravada Buddhism in South-East Asis
Theravada in Southeast Asia
The present Theravada in Southeast Asia is a re-import from Sri Lanka in the 12th-13th century. Before that time the area belonged to the Mahayana. Only the ethnic Mon people (lower Myanmar and parts of Thailand) and Sri Lanka have been Theravadins since since Ashoka's missionaries in the 4th century AD.

SE Theravada Historic Siites

Mysore 8th cent

Singhala-Sri Lanka 8th cent
Buddhism arrived from India in the 3rd century BCE, brought by Bhikkhu Mahinda, who is believed to have been the son of Mauryan emperor Ashoka. Mahinda's mission won over the Sinhalese monarch Devanampiyatissa of Mihintale, who embraced the faith and propagated it throughout the Sinhalese population.
The Buddhist kingdoms of Sri Lanka would maintain a large number of Buddhist schools and monasteries, and support the propagation of Buddhism into Southeast Asia. The main written accounts of the country's history are the Buddhist chronicles of Mahavansa and Dipavamsa.

Capital of the Mon Kingdom 1287=1553

Sukothai 700 - 1238 AD
Floating Images at Sukothai. Photo by RWFG
Sukhotai was originally a Khmer city. Its sculptures are Khmer and Mahayana. From 1238-1378 it was the first capital of the young Thai kingdom. In 1378 the Tahi kings adopted Theravada Buddhism (imported from Shri Lanka) and briefly moved their capital to Ayuttaya (1412,and in 1430 to capital to Phitsanulok.

Ayuttaya 1438
This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post...
Buddha at Ayuttaya. Photo by RWFG
Ayuttaya was the first capital of the Thai Kingdom (1438)

Martaban-Mottama is believed to have been founded in A.D. 573 by the first king of Pegu. In the 13th cent. it was the capital of a Mon Kingdom ruling Lower Burma after the fall of the Pagan dynasty from 1287 to 1539 with a brief revival during 1550-€“53. Its king had joined the Theravada. It is conjectured that owing to the widely scattered ethnic Mon population in northern Thailand and Burma, the Theravada re-entered Thailand and Burma through this kingdom.
Buddha statue under the Bodhi Tree at Wat Padaeng, 1434.

Maps Theravada SE-ASIA

Buddhist Expansion from Khmer Kingdom 13th-15th cent

Mon Kingdom 13-15th cent

Khmer Kingdom 9th-13th cent AD

Judaism 1500 BC - 1700 AD

Judaism after 1500 BC - 1700 AD
This post is a partial collection of information and placemarkers for the distribution of the Jewish people from Antiquity to the 17th cent AD. Histographical information is now plentiful (Wikipedia and elsewhere) but accurate data are scarce. Few traditional Hebrew writings are historical accounts in the modern sense. - I am not Jewish but tried my best and welcome any corrections and additions.
In Judaism, ethnic membership in the Jewish tribes is inherited patrilineally (father to son), as is priesthood (Kohen or Levite status) and royalty (the Davidic line). However, status as a religious Jew is inherited matrilineally (mother to child).
The Jewish Tribes were geographically divided into the:
Eastern Tribes: Tribe of Judah, Tribe of Issachar, Tribe of Zebulun
Southern Tribes: Tribe of Reuben, Tribe of Simeon, Tribe of Gad
Western Tribes: Tribe of Ephraim, Tribe of Manasseh, Tribe of Benjamin
Northern Tribes: Tribe of Dan, Tribe of Asher, Tribe of Naphtali.
In the time of Solomon's son Rehoboam (922-915 BC), ten tribes split off from the United Monarchy to create the northern Kingdom of Israel. Judah, the southern kingdom, had Jerusalem as its capital and was led by King Rehoboam. It was populated by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (and also by some members of Levi and remnants of Simeon).
In 722 BC the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V and then under Sargon II conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed its capital Samaria and sent the Israelites into exile and captivity in Khorason, now part of eastern Iran and western Afghanistan. The Ten Lost Tribes are those who were deported. In Jewish popular culture, the ten tribes disappeared from history, leaving only the tribes of Benjamin, Judah and Levi to become the ancestors of modern day Jews.
In 586 BC the nation of Judah was conquered by Babylon. and the Jews were moved into the Babylonian Captivity. bout 50 years later, in 539 BCE, the Persians (who had recently conquered Babylon) allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. By the end of this era, members of the tribes seem to have abandoned their individual identities in favor of a common one.
The Pashtuns, ethnic Afghans and liguistically Indo-Iranians traditionally claim descent from the Lost Tribes, as do certain tribes in Kashmir. (Christ in Srinagar!)

Placemarkers

Near East

Jerushalayim 957 BC-70 AD
The First Temple was built by King Solomon in seven years in 957 BC. It was the center of ancient Judaism The Temple replaced the Tabernacle of Moses and the Tabernacles at Shiloh, Nov, and Givon as the central focus of Jewish faith. This First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Construction of a new temple was begun in 535 BC; after a hiatus, work resumed in 521, and was completed in 516-515 BC. Five centuries later, this Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Destruction of the Second Temple depicted on the inside wall of the Arch of Titus in Rome. From Wikipedia
All of the outer walls still stand, although the Temple itself has long since been destroyed, and for many years it was believed that the western wall of the complex was the only wall standing.
An Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock, has stood on the site of the Temple since the late 7th cent AD, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, from roughly the same period, also stands on the Temple courtyard.
After the forced Jewish exile from Jerusalem in 70 AD and the complete Roman takeover of Judea following the Bar Kochba rebellion of 132-135 AD the Jews dispersed all ove the Near and Middle East and Europe.

Nablus-Samaria
Jewish settlements in the Near East
All Samaritans see themselves as descendants of the original Hebrews. The Samaritan community in Israel numbers about 600. These people live in what was the capital of Samaria - Nablus and the town of Holon. They claim to be authentic descendants of the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who were not exiled. On Passover the whole community sacrifices on Mount Gerizim. For one day the summit of Mount Gerizim is transformed into a scene from biblical times.

Africa 700 BC- 1500 AD
Medieval Jewish settlements in Africa
Some Jewish communities in Africa are among the oldest in the world, dating back more than 2700 years. African Jews have ethnic and religious diversity and richness. African Jewish communities include:
Beta Israel of Ethiopia. Sephardi Jews and Mizraḥi Jews living in North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt. Jews of the Bilad el-Sudan (West Africa, 17th cent AD)
In the 7th century, many Spanish Jews fled persecution under the Visigoths to North Africa, where they made their homes in the Byzantine-dominated cities along the Mediterranean coast. Some, however, moved further inland and actively proselytized among the Berber tribes. A number of tribes, including the Jarawa, Uled Jari, and some tribes of the Daggatun people, converted to Judaism >BR>

Biblical Egypt 2050 -1600 BC.
Jewish settlements in Africa
During the Middle Kingdom ( 2050 -1800 BC) Egypt's suzerainty reached through Palestine as far north as Syria, and in the subsequent troubles of the Thirteenth Dynasty a large influx of nomadic Semites from these areas settled in the more secure and prosperous land of Egypt.
Biblical accounts of the time of Abraham onward suggest that considerable numbers of Hebrews, among these Semitic groups, also took refuge in Egypt, especially along the eastern frontier of the Delta, called the Land of Goshen.
John Martin's engraving of the plague of hail and fire. From Wikipedia
It is well known - but impossible to date - that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt by way of a "parting of the Sea". At the same time the land of the Pharo was striken by seven "plagues". - One possible explanation for the plagues and the parting of the water is offered by the volcanic ash falling from heaven and the tsunami created by the eruption of the volcano of Thera-Santorini (1550 0r 1650 BC). - A reasonable date!

Achaemenid Egypt 600-200 BC
Jewish settlements in Africa
In the Elephantine papyri (495 -399 BC), caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic, amply document the lives of a community of Jewish soldiers stationed in Egypt for the Achaemenid Empire (559–330 BC). These soldiers assisted Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. Their religious system shows strong traces of Babylonian polytheism, something which suggests to certain scholars that the community was of mixed Judaeo-Samaritan origins.
Further waves of Jewish immigrants settled in Egypt during the Ptolemaic era, especially around Alexandria. Thus, the history of the Jews in Egypt during the Greek and Ptolemaic periods centers almost completely on Alexandria. As early as the 200 BC. one can speak of a widespread diaspora of Jews in many Egyptian towns and cities.

Ethiopia
Medieval Jewish settlements in Africa

Sao Tome 1500 AD
Medieval Jewish settlements in Africa
King Manuel I of Portugal exiled about 2,000 Jewish children to São Tomé and Príncipe around 1500. Most died, but in the early 1600s "the local bishop noted with disgust that there were still Jewish observances on the island and returned to Portugal because of his frustration with them.. Although Jewish practices faded over subsequent centuries, there are people in São Tomé and Príncipe who are aware of partial descent from this population. Similarly, a number of Portuguese ethnic Jews were exiled to Sao Tome after forced conversions to Roman Catholicism.

Carthage 70 BC- 15th cent AD
Original Jewish settlement in Algeria began around 500 B.C.E., with Jews moving into Phoenician towns along the Mediterranean coast. Jews also lived in Carthage during its heyday. Later, the Roman ruler Titus (70-80 C.E.) exiled Jews from Palestine to Carthage. Jews rapidly spread throughout Algeria, joined in the 7th Century by Jews exiled from Arabia by Muhammad in 630. The Arabian Jews arrived via Saharan trade routes, eventually moving from desert oases up to the Mediterranean coast. In the 14th and 15th Centuries, Jews fleeing persecution in Spain sought refuge in Algeria.

Alexandria 332 BC - 117 AD
Jewish settlements in Africa
The history of the Alexandrian Jews dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C.. They were numerous from the very outset, forming a notable portion of the city's population under Alexander's successors. The Ptolemies assigned them a separate section in the city.
The Alexandrian Jews enjoyed a greater degree of political independence than elsewhere. While the Jews elsewhere throughout the later Roman Empire formed private societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phoenician merchants in the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent political community, side by side with that of the indigenous population.
The Jewish community of Alexandria was virtually wiped out by Trajan 's army during a revolt in 115-117 CE., and Josephus [9]puts the figure for those slaughtered in the vast pogrom at 50,000.
See

Fostad 870 - 1880 AD
Fustad or Fostad was the old Jewish quarter of Cairo. During the rule of Sultan Saladin the Magnificent (1169-93) the Jews in Egypt seem to have enjoyed a decent life.
Among them was Abu al-Ma'ali, brother-in-law of Maimonides, who was a physician in Saladin's service. In 1166 Maimonides settled in Fostat, where he gained much renown as a physician, practising in the family of Saladin. He was born in Cordoba, Spain 1135, and died 1204 in Fostad
In the Geniza ("burial site" for sacred Hebrew documents) of the Ben Ezra synagogue (882 AD) in Fostat, an accumulation of almost 200,000 Jewish manuscripts were found. Among them letters by a brother of Maimonides who traveled as trader to Muziris on the Malabar Coast of India.
Under the subsequent Mameluk Sultanate (1250-1517) the Jews led a comparatively quiet existence; although they had at times to contribute heavily toward the maintenance of the vast military of the Mameluks..

Middle East, Central Asia and India
In 722 BC the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V and then under Sargon II conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed its capital Samaria and sent the Israelites into exile and captivity in Khorason, now part of eastern Iran and western Afghanistan. The Ten Lost Tribes are those who were deported. In Jewish popular culture, the ten tribes disappeared from history, leaving only the tribes of Benjamin, Judah and Levi to become the ancestors of modern day Jews.
In 586 BC the nation of Judah was conquered by Babylon. and the Jews were moved into the Babylonian Captivity. bout 50 years later, in 539 BCE, the Persians (who had recently conquered Babylon) allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. By the end of this era, members of the tribes seem to have abandoned their individual identities in favor of a common one.
The Pashtuns, ethnic Afghans and liguistically Indo-Iranians traditionally claim descent from the Lost Tribes, as do certain tribes in Kashmir. (Christ in Srinagar!)

Jemen
Medieval Jewish settlements in the Middle East
Mizrahi Jews are descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East. Included in the Mizrahi category are Jews from the Arab world, as well as other communities from other Muslim countries, including Georgian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Persian Jews, Bukharian Jews, Syrian Jews, Lebanese Jews, Mountain Jews, Yemenite Jews, Indian Jews (including many of Iraqi descent), Maghrebi Jews, Berber Jews and Kurdish Jews.

Babylonian Exile 586-530 BC
Medieval Jewish settlements in the Middle East
Babylonian Exile of the Jews (586-530 BC) Destruction of the Salomon's First Temple and reconstruction after their return under Persian Rule.

Bukhara 6th cent BC-19th cent AD
Medieval Jewish settlements in the Middle East
A minority of Bukharian Jews maintain that some of the Israelites migrated eastwards in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, in the time between the fall of Nineveh to Nabopolassar in 612 BC and the fall of Jerusalem to his successor Nebuchadrezzar II in 597 BC. Jews from other Eastern countries such as Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, and Morocco migrated into Central Asia, as did Jews who were exiled from Spain during the Inquisition.
The term "Bukharian" was coined by European travelers who visited Central Asia around the 16th century. Since most of the Jewish community at the time lived under the Emirate of Bukhara, they came to be known as Bukharian Jews. The name by which the community called itself is "Isro'il" and "Yahudi."
Bukharian Jews used the Persian language to communicate among themselves and later developed "Bukhori", a distinct dialect of the Tajiki-Persian language with certain linguistic traces of Hebrew. The Bukharians Jews are Mizrahi Jews and practice Sephardic Judaism.

Muziris 40 BC
Excavation site near the village of Parur, Cochin. The recent (2000) discovery of Roman coins (Tiberius) at this site dates the Roman settlement from 2nd cenet BC to 1st cent AD . Since that time a Jewish community existed in Muziris.

Dura-Euopos 224 AD
Scenes from the Book of Esther decorate the Dura-Europos synagogue dating from 244 AD. From Wikipedia

Mizrahi Jews of the Middle East
Mizrahi Jews are descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East. Included in the Mizrahi category are Jews from the Arab world, as well as other communities from other Muslim countries, including Georgian Jews, Iraqi Jews, Persian Jews, Bukharian Jews, Syrian Jews, Lebanese Jews, Mountain Jews, Yemenite Jews, Indian Jews (including many of Iraqi descent), Maghrebi Jews, Berber Jews and Kurdish Jews. Despite their heterogeneous origins, Jews from these areas generally practise traditional Sephardic Judaism, with some differences among the minhagim of the particular communities.

Kashmir
The "Lost" Jewish Tribes

Pushtuns
One of the "Lost" Jewish Tribes

Europe

Italy 1st cent BC -16th cent AD

Jews in Italy 1st -16th cent
Medieval Jewish settlements in Italy
The first attested Jews in Italy were the ambassadors sent to Rome by Judah Maccabee in 161 BC. During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, many Greeks, Jews among them, came to Rome as merchants or slaves. After the successive Jewish revolts of 66 and 132 AD, many Judean Jews were brought to Rome as slaves Jews in pre-Christian Rome were very active in proselytising their faith, leading to an increasing number of outright converts, as well as those who adopted some Jewish practices and belief in the Jewish God without actually converting.
At the time of the foundation of the Ostrogothic rule (4th-5th cent AD) under Theodoric, there were flourishing communities of Jews in Rome, Milan, Genoa, Palermo, Messina, Agrigentum, and in Sardinia. The popes of the period were not seriously opposed to the Jews; and this accounts for the ardor with which the latter took up arms for the Ostrogoths as against the forces of Justinian—particularly at Naples, where the remarkable defense of the city was maintained almost entirely by Jews.

Naples
Medieval Jewish settlements in Italy

Salerno
Medieval Jewish settlements in Italy

Agrigento 4th cent AD

Rome 163 B.C
The first attested Jews in Italy were the ambassadors sent to Rome by Judah Maccabee in 161 BC. During the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, many Greeks, Jews among them, came to Rome as merchants or slaves. After the successive Jewish revolts of 66 and 132 AD, many Judean Jews were brought to Rome as slaves Jews in pre-Christian Rome were very active in proselytising their faith, leading to an increasing number of outright converts, as well as those who adopted some Jewish practices and belief in the Jewish God without actually converting.

Palermo 4th-5th cent AD

Venice

Spain
Medieval Jewish settlements in Spain

al-Andalus 6th cent-1492 AD
Jews in al-Andalus, 6th cent-1492 AD
Prior to 1492, a substantial Jewish populations existed in most Spanish provinces. Among the more prominent were Toledo, Córdoba, and Granada. Smaller towns such as Ocana, Guadalajara, Bentrago, and Almazan were founded or inhabited principally by Jews. Castile, Aranda, Ávila, Calahorra, Cuellar, Herrera, Medina, Segovia, Soria, and Villalon were home to large Jewish communities. Aragon and Catalonia had substantial Jewish communities in the famous Calls of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca.
A plethora of prominent Jews came from, wrote and lived in Al-Andalus: Samuel Ha-Nagid (993-1055), Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021-1058), Moses ibn Ezra (1070-1138), Judah Halevi (1085-1140), and formost Moses Maimonides (1135 -1204) .
One of the most compelling products of the symbiosis of Al-Andalus is its poetry: Islamic, Hebrew,and Christian poets competed with each other:
Al-Andalus, my friends, is a miracle:
filled with water, shade, rivers, tall trees.
The Garden of Eden is yours alone;
never would I choose another homeland.
Thus fear not Hell: no one lands
in hell's fire after Paradise
From Georg Bossong, Das Wunder von al-Andalus (The Miracle of Al-Andalus), C.H. Beck Verlag, Munich

Jewish Granada 6th-13th cent
Medieval Jewish communities in Spain
A Jewish community established itself in what was effectively a suburb of the city, called "Gárnata" or "Gárnata al-yahud" (Granada of the Jews) (6th cent AD). Civil conflicts that wracked the Caliphate in the early eleventh century led to the destruction of the city in 1010. In the subsequent reconstruction, the suburb of Gárnata was incorporated in the city, and the modern name in fact derives from this.

Livorno
Medieval Jewish communities in Italy

Sardegna
Medieval Jewish communities in Italy

Taormina
Medieval Jewish communities in Italy

Siracusa

Genova

Sevilla
Medieval Jewish communities in Spain

Jerez de la Frontera
Medieval Jewish communities in Spain

Tarifa

Algeciras

Cadiz

Golden Age of Cordoba 912-1031
Medieval Jewish communitiesd in Spain
After 912, during the reign of Abd-ar-Rahman III and his son, Al-Hakam II, the Jews prospered. 'Abd al-Rahman's court physician and minister was Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, the patron of Menahem ben Saruq, Dunash ben Labrat, and other Jewish scholars and poets.
Jewish thought during this period flourished under famous figures such as Samuel Ha-Nagid, Moses ibn Ezra, Solomon ibn Gabirol Judah Halevi and Moses Maimonides. During 'Abd al-Rahman's term of power, the scholar Moses ben Enoch was appointed rabbi of Córdoba, and as a consequence al-Andalus became the center of Talmudic study, and Córdoba the meeting-place of Jewish savants.

Hafsa bint ar-Hajj ar-Rakuniyya, Granada 1135-1191
The love letters between Hafsa (also written 'Afsa) and Abu Ja'far around 1162
Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Sa'id is one of the best-known poets of 12th-cent Granada, the woman of his love is not. Yet she wrote some of the most beguiling poems of her time, preserved because of the fame of her lover. Here are a few rare examples from Teresa Garulo, Divan de las Poesias de Al-Andalus, Madrid 1986 Hafsa Bint Al-Hajj Ar-Rakuniyya
0 noble son of the Caliph,
of the most excellent imam,
a festival to celebrate yourself
brings what you desire.
She whom you love comes to visit you,
combining ceremony with satisfaction,
and to recapture
pleasures lost and past.
Perhaps this poem and the next were written after 1162, for to Abu Ja'far she writes:
You come first, but enemies,
unjust men who know more and more,
continually say that you do not.
He who has power over other men of his time-
seekers of glory who stop at nothing—
can he be ignored ?
Hafsa is justifying her interest in the governor, whose full name was Abu Sa'id 'Utman ibn Abd al-Mu'min. But Abu Ja'far, though a gallant himself, must have been jealous. To make matters worse, he was 'Utman's secretary, privy councillor to him. The two poems epitomize a dangerous scene: the Almohade governor, 'Ut- man, still young, his position fragile; Abu Ja'far resenting him for reasons political and personal; Hafsa trying to protect Abu Ja'far, while cultivating 'Utman for whatever allures (charm, power, liberality) she might have divined in him.
In 1162 there is a crisis: the Almohade power in Granada is overthrown for a few months by rebel forces led by Ibn Mardanis. The crisis over and Almohade authority restored, Abu Ja'far's father, who had opposed the Alrnohades (and whose brother had been governor of Granada under the previous Almoravide regime) is duly thrown into prison. During the coup, Abu Ja'far himself would have gone over to the rebels.
To none of the following poems (first Abu Ja'far's, then poems 7 through 16) can we assign exact dates within the political scene suggested by poems 3 and 4 and by Abu Ja'far's "Lady, whose name...." All together, however, they indicate a convergence of interests that are by no means ghostly. Passion and politics are set on a collision course.
Abu Ja'far writes to Hafsa about a night in the park called Hawr Mu'ammal:
May God watch over a night spent without anyone watching,
A night which hid us in the Hawr Mu'ammal.
From Nayd an aroma was wafted over,
Shivering with the scent of carnations.
A turtle dove was cooing in the trees.
Myrtle branches stooped over the stream.
And the garden was as if delighted
By what was present: embraces, kisses, caresses.
Hafsa replies with a counterpoem:
(7)
By your life! The garden was not glad because we met.
Rather it showed us rancor and envy.
The river did not clap its hands to have us close,
And the dove sang of its aches and pains.
You're not thinking straight for once:
Everywhere those people are up to no good.
I think the sky showed us its stars
Only to spy on us.
> Hafsa's phrasing remains conventional enough. Her own voice, however, her pulse, the urgency other feelings, become increasingly poignant as the political situation worsens.
(12)
In the still of the night
Ask the cloud with its beating heart
If it has spent the night with my love, remembering me:
Ay, it has given my heart
Its heat and, heavens above,
Given the lids of my eyes this rain
That pours down my cheeks.
(13)
Shall I come to you or will it be my place ?
My heart always gives in to your desire.
You will Ie safe from the sun's heat,
And you will not be thirsty
When you make me welcome:
My lips are water sweet and fresh,
And the branches of my braids give deep shade.
Answer me now: you'll be doing her no favor, Yamil,
If you do what your Butayna is waiting for.
[The names allude to the classic Arabic 'udri ("Platonic") poet Yamil and his beloved—exemplars of spiritual love.]
The throat of a gazelle has come to visit you
Under the black of its hair the moon appears
Its eyes took shape when Babylon was enchanted
Its saliva surpasses wine
Its cheeks put roses to shame
Its teeth have eclipsed pearls
0 you who used to be the most sensitive of men
Before fate lifted you up to let you fall
In love with a black woman
Who is altogether like the night, which hides beauty
And with darkness obscures the radiance of a face,
Nor in that night can any blond thing be seen,
Tell me, you being so well acquainted
With connoisseurs of extrinsic beauty,
By God, would anyone ever fall in love with a garden
Where no roses are, nor blossoms of the orange tree ?
(l6)
I will keep you jealously
where no spies can see you
And from yourself, your time
and from the place you live
And though till the crack of doom
I hide you in my eyes
Still it will not be enough for me.
They threaten me because I wear mourning
For a lover of mine they put to death.
God have mercy on anyone who is liberal with tears
Weeping for a man slaughtered by his rivals,
And may the clouds of the afternoon,
With such generosity as was his,
Water the earth wherever she may go.

Toledo 10th cent
After 912, during the reign of Abd-ar-Rahman III and his son, Al-Hakam II, the Jews prospered. Jewish economic expansion was unparalleled. In Toledo, Jews were involved in translating Arabic texts to the Romance languages, as well as translating Greek and Hebrew texts into Arabic. Jews also contributed to botany, geography, medicine, mathematics, poetry and philosophy.
Several Jewish scholars were involved in what became known as the School of Toledo, which produced some of the first translations into Latin of works from the Arab world, notably the works of Averroes and of the Jewish poet and philosopher Solomon Ibn Gabirol, known in Iberia as Avicebrón.

France
Medieval Jewish settlements in France
French Jews are mostly Sephardic and span a range of religious affiliations, from the ultra-Orthodox Haredi communities.
For an extended History of the Jews in France see Wikipedia

Jews in France 6 AD
In 6 AD Jews are known to have existed in Vienne, In the 3rd-6th cent AD Jews are found in Marseille, Arles, Uzès, Narbonne, Clermont-Ferrand, Orleans, Lyon, Paris, and Bordeaux. Accurate historical dates and information is scarce. The great figure which dominates the second half of the 11th century, as well as the whole rabbinical history of France, is Rashi (Solomon b. Isaac) of Troyes (1040-1106).
Various costumes worn by medieval French Jews (14th cent)

Troyes 11th cent
Medieval Jewish settlements in France
The great figure which dominates the second half of the 11th century, as well as the whole rabbinical history of France, is Rashi (Solomon b. Isaac) of Troyes (1040-1106).

Vienne 6 AD
Mesieval Jewish settlements in France
In the year 6 AD. there were Jews at Vienne and Gallia Celtica; in the year 39 AD at Lugdunum [i.e. Lyon].

Bordeaux
Mesieval Jewish settlements in France

Narbonne 689 AD
Medieval Jewish settlements in France
The earliest known Hebrew inscription in France was found in Narbonne (689)..

Paris

Orleans

Clermont-Ferrand

Uzes

Arles
Mesieval Jewish settlements in France

Marseilles

Lyon 39 AD
In the year 6 C.E. there were Jews at Vienne and Gallia Celtica; in the year 39 at Lugdunum [i.e. Lyon]

Greece
Medieval Jewish settlements in Greece

Jews in Greece 85 BC-
Medieval Jewish settlements in Greece
Jewish presence in Greece dates at least to the mention by Strabo in approximately 85 B.C. that Jews could be found in all the cities of the eastern Mediterranean (VII 7 4). There may well have been Jews, if not Jewish communities, living in Greek cities as far back as the Babylonian Exile (586-530 B.C.). After the wars of the Maccabees, between 170 and 161 B.C., many Hellenized Jews left Judaea and settled in the new commercial centers, such as Alexandria and Antioch, of the Hellenistic world. From these communities smaller groups moved to some of the coastal Aegean cities such as Ephesus, Smyrna, Thessaloniki, and, according to tradition, Chalkis.
The famous 12th century record of the Jews of Greece compiled by Benjamin of Tudela during his travels through Greece indicates a uniform dispersion of Jewish communities.
By the third quarter of the 15th century the Ottoman Empire had supplanted the Byzantine. Ottoman policy toward minorities was based on Islamic law, which recognized both Jews and Christians as a separate millet (nation) with religious and , to an extraordinary extent, legal autonomy within their own communities.
Many of the Sepharadim immegrants were Marranos, Jews who had converted to Christianity in the 14th century, Their reconversion to Judaism was sometimes difficult, and their pride and sense of cultural superiority caused friction in their dealings with Romaniot Jews. Whatever the difficulties, the former Romaniot communities of Constantinople, Edirne (Adrianople), Thessaloniki, and Rhodes were forced by the weight of numbers and cultural superiority to adopt not only the minhag but also the language of the newcomers.

Cyprus
Medieval Jewish settlements in Greece

Rhodos

Ephesus

Corinth
Medieval Jewish settlement s in Greece
St. Paul faced opposition first of all from the Jews and in protest he went to the home of Crispus, the keeper of the synagogue. There the Jews made an attack on Paul and he became the center of much controversy in the city.

Thessaloniki 1st 15th cent AD
Medieval Jewish settlement s in Greece
In 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella proclaimed the Edict of Expulsion for the Jews of Spain, Sultan Bayezid II proclaimed that Jews from Spain would be welcome in the Ottoman Empire, and over 20,000 Sephardic Jews arrived in Thessaloniki the same year.
Thessaloniki was a bizarre city even by Balkan standards. At the turn to the 20th century its population was approximately one-third Greek and more than one-half Jewish, with the balance made up of Turks, Bulgars, and other nationalities.
The language of government and law was Osmanli, but the general commercial life of the city was conducted in the language of the Sepharadim, Ladino. The city’s horizon was spiked with minarets and in its center lay a sprawling Jewish cemetery that reached up to the walls of the old city. On Friday afternoons almost all of the city’s commercial life ceased for most of the stevedores and porters were Jews. Over 32 synagogues, with names like Aragon, Castille, Toledo, and Magrebi provided religious centers for the Sepharadim. The population included Karaites as well as Donmeh, followers of the 17th century pseudo-Messiah Sabbatai Zevi. Hellenization sought to absorb this incredibly medieval city into contemporary Greek life.
As these factors weakened the Thessaloniki Jewish community, more and more of its members left Greece altogether, for Palestine, Europe, South Africa, and the United States. By 1939 the Thessaloniki Jewish community had fallen from approximately 90,000 at the turn of the century to 56,000.

Chalkis 1st cent BC

Thebes 1000 AD
The Jewish community of Thebes was so closely identified with the silk industry that Roger II of Sicily (1095-1154) forcibly moved almost the entire community to Sicily to introduce the silk industry in his Norman kingdom.

Crete 1000 AD

Volos

Kerkyra

Ioannina

Patras

Arta

Germany
Medieval Jewish settlements in Germany
The date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions the Romans called Germania Superior, Germania Inferior, and Germania Magna is not known. The first authentic document relating to a large and well-organized Jewish community in these regions dates from 321, and refers to Cologne on the Rhine; it indicates that the legal status of the Jews there was the same as elsewhere in the Roman empire. They enjoyed some civil liberties, but were restricted regarding the dissemination of their faith, the keeping of Christian slaves, and the holding of office under the government.
When the Black Death swept over Europe in 1348–49, the Jews were accused of well poisoning, and a general slaughter began throughout the Germanic and contiguous provinces, causing a massive exodus east to Poland

Ashkenazi Jews of Germany 100-1348 AD
Medieval Jewish settlements in Germany
Ashkenazi Jews are descends of the medieval Jewish communities of the Rhineland. Ashkenaz is the Medieval Hebrew name for the region. Many later migrated, largely eastward, forming communities in Germany, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Eastern Europe and elsewhere between the 10th and 19th centuries. Although in the 11th century they comprised only 3% of the world's Jewish population, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for (at their highest) 92% of the world's Jews in 1931 and today make up approximately 80% of Jews worldwide.
Although the historical record itself is very limited, there is a consensus of cultural, linguistic, and genetic evidence that the Ashkenazi Jewish population originated in the Middle East. When they arrived in northern France and the Rhineland sometime around 800-1000 AD, the Ashkenazi Jews brought with them both Rabbinic Judaism and the Babylonian Talmudic culture that underlies it. Yiddish, once spoken by the vast majority of Ashkenazi Jewry, is a Jewish language which developed from the Middle High German vernacular, heavily influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic.
In the late Roman Empire (100-300 AD), Jews are known to have lived in Cologne and Trier, as well as in what is now France. However, it is unclear whether there is any continuity between these late Roman communities and the distinct Ashkenazi Jewish culture that began to emerge about 500 years later.
The date of the first settlement of Jews in the regions the Romans called Germania Superior, Germania Inferior, and Germania Magna is not known. The first authentic document relating to a large and well-organized Jewish community in these regions dates from 321, and refers to Cologne on the Rhine; it indicates that the legal status of the Jews there was the same as elsewhere in the Roman empire. They enjoyed some civil liberties, but were restricted regarding the dissemination of their faith, the keeping of Christian slaves, and the holding of office under the government.
When the Black Death swept over Europe in 1348–49, the Jews were accused of well poisoning, and a general slaughter began throughout the Germanic and contiguous provinces, causing a massive exodus east to Poland

Worms
Medieval Jewish settlements in Germany
Aside from Cologne, the earliest communities have been established in Worms and Mainz.

Mainz
Aside from Cologne, the earliest communities have been established in Worms and Mainz.

Cologne 327 AD

Rudesheim

Trier
Jews settled in Trier in the 1st cent AD. The Jews were expelled from Trier in 1418. Many Jews went east; Yiddish has preserved traces of Trier Middle High German up to today. When the Jews were called back after 1600, they settled in a different part of the city.
Old Jewish cemetery in Trier (1620 und 1650). From Wikipedia
Karl Marx, (1818 – 1883) one of the best-known sons of Trier. From Wikipedia

Eastern Europe
Medieval Jewish settlements in Eastern Europe

Khazars 600-1000 AD
The rise of the Khazars 600-850 AD. from geocities.com
In the 7th century AD, the Khazars founded an independent Khaganate in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea. Although the Khazars were initially Tengri shamanists, many of them converted to Christianity, Islam, and other religions. During the 8th or 9th century the state religion became Judaism, and the Jewish religion became widespread among the population. At their height, the Khazar khaganate and its tributaries controlled much of what is today southern Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the Caucasus (including Circassia, Dagestan, Chechnya, and parts of Georgia), and the Crimea
Empresses Theodora (500- 548), Justinian's wife, and Empress Irene (755-802) Leo IV's wife, were according to one source supposedly Khazar princesses.

Jews in Poland 966–20th cent
Medieval Jewish settlements in Poland
The first Jews arrived in the territory of modern Poland in the 10th century. Travelling along the trade routes leading eastwards to Kiev and Bukhara, the Jewish merchants also crossed the areas of Silesia. One of them, a diplomat and merchant from the Moorish town of Tortosa in Al-Andalus, known under his Arabic name Ibrahim ibn Jakub was the first chronicler to mention the Polish state under the rule of prince Mieszko I. The first actual mention of Jews in Polish chronicles occurs in the 11th century. It appears that Jews were then living in Gniezno.
The first extensive Jewish emigration from Western Europe to Poland occurred at the time of the First Crusade (1098). Under Boleslaw III Krzywousty (1102-1139), the Jews, encouraged by the tolerant régime of this ruler, settled throughout Poland, including over the border into Lithuanian territory as far as Kiev. At the same time Poland saw immigration of Khazars, a Turkic tribe that had converted to Judaism. Boleslaw on his part recognized the utility of the Jews it the development of the commercial interests of his country.
The most prosperous period in the life of the Polish Jews began with the reign of Sigismund I (1506-1548). In 1507 the king informed the authorities of Lwow that until further notice its Jewish citizens, in view of losses sustained by them, were to be left undisturbed in the possession of all their ancient privileges (Russko-Yevreiski Arkhiv, iii.79). His generous treatment of his physician, Jacob Isaac, whom he made a member of the nobility in 1507, testifies to his liberal views.
See Wikipedia

Lvov
Medieval Jewish settlements in Poland

Netherlands

Jews in the Netherlands 14th cent
Jews seem not to have lived in the province of Holland before 1593; but a few references to them are in existence which distinctly mention them as present in the other provinces at an earlier date, especially after their expulsion from France in 1321 and the persecutions in Hainaut and the Rhine provinces. After 1492 Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) Jews and Marranos (coverted Jews) fled in great numbers mostly to Amsterdam.

Kaifeng 231 BC -19th cent AD
According to historical records, a Jewish community with a synagogue, built in 1163, existed at Kaifeng from at least the Southern Song Dynasty until the late nineteenth century. A stone monument in the city suggests that they were there since at least 231 BC (during the Warring States Period, 450-221 BC).
According to tradition of the remaining Jews in Kaifeng the were the descendants os Rhadanite (874) traders from Lyon and later Bukhara.
Interior of the Kaifeng synagogue drawn in 1722 by Pere Jean Domenge.
Two 19th century ink rubbings of the 1489 (left) and 1512 (right) stone inscriptions left by the Kaifeng Jews. The 1489 stele mentions how the Jews "abandoned Bianliang" (Kaifeng) after the Jingkang Incident (1125). Except for 7 families still living in Kaifeng today, they may have moved to Hangzhou. From Wikipedia

Hangzhou
Medieval Jewish settlements in China
A Jewish community is documented around 1125 AD.

Christianity and Manicheism 1st - 11th cent AD

Imperial Christianity 1st-6th cent

Imperial Christianity 100-1000 AD
Christ Pantokrator, one of the earliest icons, Moanastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, 550 AD
Christianity reached India in 52 AD (Thomas Christians), Ethiopia, Greece, Malta, Cappadocia, and Rome before 100 AD. By 328 AD Byzantium, Armenia, and Georgia had their "own" churches. Sensing the political power inherent in the totalitarian claim of Christian religion, the Byzantine Emperors made it their state religion - and in due course suppressed all other variants (Monophysits: Armenians, Nestorians, Ehopian Orthodox, Arianis) if necessary with the sword. Until the 11th cent the Church became an instrument of the East-Roman Emperors
It is this "catholic" Church which I call by the uncommon name "Imperial Christianity" (also referred to as Caesaropapism). After the Great Shism (1054) between the Eastern and Western Churches the Roman Papacy assumed these powers in the Latin West. The Eastern "Orthodox" Churches remained the instruments of the governments of their respective countries to this day.
It is a historical fact that the larger eastern half of Eurasia was Christianised by the excommunicated Monophysite Sects who fled prosecution by the Imperial Church after the Council of Chalkedon (453). By the 6th century much of Central Asia as far as China had been baptized by Nestorian missionaries.
Mani's Church is a separate case. His teachings are based on Iranian (Zaroastrian) and Indian (Jain) precepts, not on Jewish concepts and are not Christian. I will discuss Manicheism separately. Manicheism had a strong influence in the Tarim Basin and on the emerging Tibetan Vajrayana. Watered-down versions of Manicheism also persisted in Southern France and the Balkans, persecuted well into the 12th century,.

Christian Historical Sites before 600

Jerusalem

St. Thomas in Muziris-Kondugallu, Malabar 52
The Apostle Thomas, supposedly a brother of Christ, is believed to have brought Christianity to the Jewish community of the Roman settlement of Muziris-Kondugallo in 52 AD. Some accounts maintain that Thomas was sold by Christ to a Jewish merchant sailing for the Malabar Coast. This would constitute the earliest Christian community anywhere. A church, supposedly founded by St Thomas is still in existance, as is a Gospel of St. Thomas.
While this historical account is on the border of legend, the existance of a Roman port on the coast of Kerala is well documented. It is mentioned in the 1st-cent Periplus of the Erythrean Sea (sailing instructions), the 1st-cent Natural History of Pliny, the 2nd-cent Geographia of Ptolemy, and the 2nd-cent Muziris Papyrus. Recent archeological excavations have yielded numerous Roman coins which date the presumed site of Muziris to the 1st-2nd cent AD. Hebrew documents from the Geniza in Cairo - though of later date (10th cent) attest to the existance of a Jewish community there.
Very close to St. Thomas' church also stands a Mosque supposedly founded by an early member from the Prophet's inner circle (625 AD)

St. Paul in Malta 60

St. Paul in Cappadocia 65 AD

St. Paul in Thessalonika 1st cent

St.Paul in Rome 1st cent

Christian Communities Kilikia 2nd cent

Alexandria 2nd cent
Arrival of Christianity

Tipaza 3rd cent
Roman Tipaza
Roman ruins of Tipaza. From pbase.com
Tipaza was founded by the Phoenicians. It was made a Roman military colony by Emperor Claudius, and afterwards became a municipium. The Roman city was built on three small hills which overlooked the sea. Of the houses, most of which stood on the central hill, no traces remain; but there are ruins of three churches

Milan 3rd cent
In the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for all Christians in the Roman Empire.

Christian Carthage 4th
Christian Carthage 4th cent
Christian tomb stone from Carthage.
In 312, the city was recognized as capital of the African Christians. Several important Christian authors lived in Carthage: for example, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Donatus.

325 Aksum
Aksum, Ethiopia, capital of the Kingdom of Aksum and center of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Ethiopian Rock Church in Lalibela
Axum, or Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia named after the long lived Kingdom of Aksum, a naval and trading power that ruled from the region ca. 400 BC into the 10th century.
The kingdom of Aksum had its own written language called Ge'ez, and also developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks, the oldest of which (though much smaller) date from 5,000-2,000 BC. This kingdom (300 BC.–600 AD). was at its height under king Ezana, baptized as Abreha, in the 300s (which was also when it officially embraced Christianity). The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, together with the Alexandrian church, it continued to maintain the Monophysite doctrine after it was branded heretical in 451 by the Council of Chalcedon.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims that the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum houses the Biblical Ark of the Covenant in which lies the Tablets of Law upon which the Ten Commandments are inscribed. This same church was the site Ethiopian emperors were crowned for centuries until the reign of Fasilides, then again beginning with Yohannes IV until the end of the empire. Axum is considered to be the holiest city in Ethiopia and is an important destination of pilgrimages.

Council of Nicea 325
Photos by William Allen, 1975
Remnants of Ag. Sofia, where the Nicean council took place. Once one of the important churches of the Greek-Byzantine era, it was destroyed in 1921 during the retreat of the Greek troops from Asia Minor.
The council of Nicea, convoked by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325, was the first ecumenical[ conference of bishops of the early Christian Church, and most significantly resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed.
The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements in the Church whether Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father.The theologian Arius (250-336), who lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt,denied this doctrin. The council decided against the Arians and excommunicated him and his followers - to which belonged the Visigoths in Ravenna. -

St Nicholas Church Paros 326
Ekatontapyliani, Paros
The olest part of the St. Nichilas Church, 326 AD Ekatontapyliani. Photo by RWFG
Ekatontapyliani the later central nave. 6th cent. Photo by RWFG
The Church of the Panaghia Ekatontapyliani (Mother of God of the Hundred Doors) is one of, possibly the oldest Byzantine churches in Greece! Extensiv archeological work during the past 20 years has revealed that a first church, dedicated to St. Nikolas was built in 326 AD during the time of Emperor Justinian with and inside the ruins of an Artemis temple - 211 years before the Aghia Sofia in Constantinople (537 AD). The baptistery and the nave and apse with a bishop's throne have survived. The central nave was built around 545 AD by one of the architects of the Aghia Sophia on Empress Helena commission.

Council of Ephesos 431
Church of Mary, Ephesus
The Third Council at Ephesus was held in the Church of Mary in Ephesus in 431 under Emperor Theodosius II. It was chiefly concerned with Nestorianism. Patriarch Nestorius taught that Mary gave birth to the incarnate Christ, not the divine Logos who existed before time itself. Consequently, Mary should be called Christotokos, Greek for the "Christ-Bearer" and not Theotokos, Greek for the "God-Bearer." the council decided that Mary was to be called Theotokos because she bore and gave birth to God as a Man. This did not resolve the debate over the union of the two natures of Christ, and related issues were deferred to the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD).

451 Council of Chalkedon
The fourth council repudiated the doctrine of monophysitism, and set forth the Chalcedonian Creed, which describes the "full humanity and full divinity" of Jesus, the second person of the Holy Trinity. It decreed Nestorianism anathema and excommunicated the followers of Nestor. This resulted in the Nestorians, who were persecuted with "fire and sword" by the Byzantine emperors to move to Nisibis and devote themselves to the Christianisation of the East.
This council also affected the Armenian church and the Syrian Orthodox church, both held monophysitic beliefs - and because they soon fell under Islamic control evaded being eradicated by the the Byzantine emperors.

432 Ireland
Arrival of Christianity

Armenia 4th cent
Arrival of Christianity

Georgia 5th cent

Marseille 4th cent
marseille was one of the earliest Christian centers in Gaul

Vienne 4th cent
Vienne was on of the early influential bishopries in Gaul.

Cologne 5th cent

Canterbury Bishopry 597

Cordoba 5th cent

Regensburg Bishopry 739
Arrival of Christianity from Scotland!

Saxons 778
Christianisation of the Saxons, 778 AD
Externsteine. Relief of the Descent from the Cross. The bent tree below the cross has been suggested to represent the Irminsul, humiliated by the triumph of Christianity. From Wikipedia
For many years Charlemagne tried in vain to Christianize the Saxons in northern Germany. He finally used force to subjugate them in 771 AD destroying in the process their sacred site surrounding the Irminsul near the Externsteine

Maps Imperial Christianity

ROMAN EMPIRE 1st - 6th cent

Christian Areas by 600 AD

England Ireland

Asia Minor Palestine

Axum Erithrea

Small Armenia Kilikia

1st-8th cent Spread of Christianity

53 S. Thomas Cochin

1st Cent St Paul

1st cent St. Paul

2nd cent Gaul

3rd cent Byzantium

4th cent Aksum

4th cent St. Nino to Georgia

4th cent Armenia and Georgia

4th cent France and England

4th cent Spain

8th cent German Tribes

Nestorians Christians 4th-12th cent

Nestorian Christians 400-1200 AD
Nestorian Palm Sunday, Khocho, Serindia, Nestorian Temple, 683–770 CE. Wall painting, Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin-Dahlem. From Wikipedia
Nestorians held the doctrine that Christ exists as two natures, the man Jesus and the divine Son of God, or Logos, rather than as a unified person. This doctrine is identified with Nestorius (c. 386–c. 451), Archbishop of Constantinople. This view of Christ was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Nostorians were excommunicated by imperial decree and fleeing prosecution devoted themselves to the Christianisation of Central and East Asia.

Nestorian Historical Sites

386-451 Nestorian Origins
Nestorius (c. 386 -. 451AD) was a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia in Antioch in Syria and later became Patriarch of Constantinople.
He amassed a large following especially in Syria. At the Council of Ephesus in 431 the imperial church excommunicated the Nestorians. To escape persecution they fled first to Nisibis and later Merv and further east. Notwithstanding their "heretic"creed they were the prime agent in spreading Christianity as far as China and Mongolia.

Khotan Nestorian Community 10th cent

Samarkand Nestorian Bishop 10th cent

Kashgar Nestorian Bishop 1137

Nestorian Academy in Nisibis 530-628
Nestorian school at Nisibis the school became even more famous than at Edessa. The main theological authorities of the school have always been Theodore and his teacher Diodorus of Tarsus. Unfortunately, few of their writings have survived. The writings of Nestorius himself were only added to the curriculum of the school of Edessa-Nisibis in 530, shortly before the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 condemned Theodore of Mopsuestia as Nestorius's predecessor. Babai the Great (551-568).

635-846 Nestorians in Chang'an
Nestorian Stele in Changan 781 AD
A stele, written in Chinese and Syriac, documents the acceptance of a Nestorian Christian community in Changan. At the top of the tablet, there is a cross. Calling God "Veritable Majesty", the text refers to Genesis. Nestorians had reached China by 635. The Nestorian Stele grants fhe Syrian Nestorian specific rights in the capital of the Tang Empire
In the 9th century Tang Emperor Wuzong (840-€“846) persecuted all foreign religions, including Buddhism and Nestorians, which spelled the official end of the Nestorian communities in China.

7th-9th cent Nestorians in Khotcho

12th cent Nestorians at Genghiz Khan's Court

Maps Nestorian Christians

4th-7th cent Nestorian Persecution

Nestorians to China 8th-9th cent

8th-12th cent Nestorians in Mongolia

Manicheans 2nd - 8th cent

Manicheans 200-900 AD
Manicheism, 200-900 AD
Fragment of a Manichean Miniature from Kkocho, Serindia, 9th cent AD.
From LeCoq, Chocho, Rare Books, Toyo Bunko
Mani (210-€“276 AD) was the only reformer who intended to create a new reilgion. Mani lived in Babylon except for a brief sojurn in India. The disapproving Zoroastrian clergy, forced the Persian Emperor Bahram I to imprison Mani. Awaiting his execution he diet 276 or 277 A.D.
During the 3rd-4th cent Manicheism spread fast and far. It was a serious competitor to Christianity. St Augustine was a Manichean. He and the Church Fathers finally eradicated Manicheism as a heresy by the 8th century. Splinter groups survived in Southern France until the 12 th cent.
Mani composed seven illustrated writings - the originals are lost - written in Syriac Aramaic.A lengthy quotation by the Syrian Nestorian Theodor bar-Khonai, (8th cent), shows that in the original there was no Zoroastrian influence. Mani maintained that he presented the only partially revealed teachings of Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus.
Accordingly, Manichaeism adapted new religious personages from the religions it came in contact with. For eaxample, one text describes "Christ as the Buddha of Light" (8th cent Khotcho). In the Chinese scriptures the original Aramaic "karia" (the "call" from the world of Light to those seeking rescue from the Darkness), becomes identified with Guan Yin, literally, "hearing sounds", the Bodhisattva of Compassion in Chinese Buddhism.
Text and photo from Wikipedia

Historical Sites Manicheism

Mani in Babylon 210-276 AD
Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of the Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of SÄm, NarÄ«mÄn, etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original edition, written by Mani in the Syriac language. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and of the Manichaean writings of the Uigur Manichaean kingdom in Turfan, Manichaeism won the support of many high-ranking political figures. With the aid of the Persian Empire, Mani initiated missionary excursions. After failing to win the favor of the next generation, and having the disapproval of the Zoroastrian clergy, Mani is reported to have died in prison awaiting execution by the Persian Emperor Bahram I. The date of his death is fixed at 276-€“277 A.D.
The most striking principle of Manichaean theology is its dualism: light and darkness. A key belief in Manichaeism is that there is no omnipotent good power. Man is seen as the battleground for these powers. The soul is incorruptible, waiting for "The Call" of the the spirit. The transmigration of souls became a Manichaean belief, and the quadripartite structure of the Manichaean community, divided between male and female monks (the "elect") and lay followers (the "hearers") who supported them, appears to be based on that of the Buddhist sangha, .proving the centrality of Buddhism in Mani's formulation of Gnosticism.
From Wikipedia

280 AD Manichean Pope in Rome

Manicheism in Southern France 354 AD

Manicheans in Carthage 4th cent
Carthage's most famous inhabitant in Late Antiquity was Augustine, who was a Manichean and operated a small school in Carthage (376-383 AD) before he went to Rome and converted to Christianity.

Manicheans in Khotcho 550-780 AD
Khocho 700-900 AD
Albert von Le Coq (1860 - 1930) discovered a major Manichaean library in the ruins of Khotcho.
Manichean Miniature rescued by LeCoq, Chocho. A photocopy of his major work with Illustrations exists in the internet at Toyo Bunko

Manichean Academy Gundishapur 550-832
The Academy at Gundishapur (Ahzvas) was the intellectual center of the Sassanid empire. The Sassanid Emperor Khosrau I (531-579 AD) gave refuge to various Greek philosophers, Syriac-speaking Christians and Nestorians fleeing religious persecution by the Byzantine empire. Rivalled by Bagdhad it decayed during Islamic times in the 10th century.

7th cent Manicheans in Chang'an

Maps Manicheans

3rd-4th cent Manicheans Rome and S. France

3rd-5th cent Manicheans in North Africa

Manicheans in China 7th cent

Islam 630-850 AD

Islam 630-850 AD
The spread of Islam, covering the Old World between the Atlantic and China in but a few years is a historical phenomenon only comparable to Alexanders march to India.
The changes and fears produced by this rapid conquest are still felt in the 21st century. While Alexander's conquests resulted in a flourishing of early Buddhist art and a few city-state foundations, Islam changed the the mentality and belief system of an entire population.

Moslem al-Andalus 711-1492 AD
In al-Andalus the appearance of Islam created a sophisticated cultural symbiosis of Jews, Arabs, and Christians which we can only admire with romantic envy from our historical distance. No other such multi-ethnical culture has ever been created since, not Charlemgange, nor the Ottomans, nor the Russians, nor the Austrian or the British have ever been able sustain such a cultural high in their empires. Architecture, the arts and above all poetry flourished for 700 years.

The Sufiyya

The Sufiya 9th-13th century
This folder presents a catalogue of the main early Sufi centers. The object of this exercise - and my primary interest - is to gain an oveview of the origins and geographical distribution of the early Sufi orders.
There are two main locations of early Sufism (800-1200), Bagdhad (Sufiyya) and Nishapur in Khorasan (Malamtiyya). Probably under pressure from Genghis Khan's incursions the Khorasan Sufi fled west (Seldjuk/Osman Turkey) and south (India). The best-known example is Rumi who was born in Balkh and ended up in Konya.
From this (incomplete) display it seems that Sufism is a Turco-Islamic phenomenon. Connections to the Buddhists who lived in Khorasan also appears likely. - Any further input is most welcome.
For more detail I recommend the website of goldensufi.org
For a comprehensive historical table see my Timeline

Historic Places

Fathepur Sikri

Zabol - Sistan
The hero of Zabol is Rostam, depicted by Ferdowsi in his epic poem Shahnameh, one of the most important works of Persian literature.

Nishapur

Chisht

Murcia

Tus - Khorasan

Kharaqan

Hacibektas

Ajmer

Sufi Saints and Orders

Origin of the Sufiyya School 9th cent
Sufiyya and Malamatiyya are two terms pertaining to two different early mystical schools in the 9th century: the Baghdadi and the Khurasani schools respectively. Between these two schools there were relationships and communications. From the Tabaqat al-sufiyya we know of disciples who moved from one centre to the other: there were Baghdadis such as Aba Bakr al-Wasiti who moved to Khurasan, and Khurasanis who moved to Baghdad or stayed there for a while on their journey fi talab al-'ilm (in search of knowledge).
Junayd ibn Muhammad Abu al-Qasim al-Khazzaz al-Baghdadi (830-910 AD) was one of the early mystics of the Sufiyya in Baghdad.
From the highly informative article by Sara Sviri

Origin of Chishti Sufi Order 930
The Chishti Sufi Order Chishtiyya was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami ("the Syrian"!) in Chisht, about 930 AD.
The most famous of the Chishti saints is Moinuddin Chishti (also known as Khawaja Baba) who settled in Ajmer, India.
Another famous Chishti was Shaykh Salim, who in 1571-1580 inspired Emperor Akhbar to build Fatehpur Sikri. His tomb is in Fetehpur Sikri.

Abu al-Hasan Kharaqani 964-1033
Abu al-Hasan Kharaqani was born 964 and died 1033. His tomb, a place of Sufi pilgrimage, is in the town of Kharaqan. uga.edu

Ibn al-'Arabi Birthplace Murcia 1165
Ibn al-'Arabi, born in Murcia, Spain in 1165, was an extraordinarily prolific author of sufic theory and practice, although he entered serious Sufic studies in Seville only at the age of 20. In 1200 he set out for Mecca. In Mecca he began writing his monumental al-Fotuhat al-makkiya; the title, "The Meccan Openings," alludes to the inspired nature of the book. In 601/1204 he set off from Mecca on his way to Anatolia. He settled in Damascus in 1223. There he taught and wrote until his death 1223..

Ibn al-'Arbi died 1223
Born in Murcia, Spain in 1165 Ibn al-'Arabi in 1204 he set off from Mecca on his way to Anatolia. He settled in Damascus in 1223. There he taught and wrote until his death 1223. Ibn 'Arabi's ideas became the most significant influence on Sufi literature.

Qadiriyyah Order 1077
Qadiriyyah (also transliterated Qadiri and Qadri), is one of the oldest Sufi tariqas, derives its name from Abdul Qadir Jilani (also transliterated as Gilani) (1077-1166), a native of the Iranian province of Gilan. In 1134 he was principal of a Hanbalite school in Baghdad.

Al-Ghazali's Birthplace 1058
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali al-Tusi was born in Tus 1058. He died in 1111. He was arguably one of the most significant Sufis. His lengthy masterpiece, the The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya 'ulum al-din) clearly expressed the Sufi dimension of Islam.
See Ghazali

Malamtiyya 9th-10th cent
The Malamatiyya School isone of two precursors of Sufism. It flourished in Nishapur in the 9th-10th cent.
The Maamatiyya school of Nishapur during the 9th cet cent. The main principle on which the Malamati Path is based requires that one always behold one's self as blameworthy.
Hakim al-Tirmidhi was the central Shaykh of the Nishapuri school of the Malamatiyya from circa 883 to 910.
The Nishapuri centre reached its zenith during the time of Aba Hafs al-Haddad, Hamdan al-Qassar and Aba 'Uthman al-Hara in the second half of the 9th century.
The sufiyya and malamatiyya are two terms pertaining to two different mystical schools in the 9th century: the Baghdadi and the Khurasani schools respectively. Between these two schools there were relationships and communication. From the Tabaqat al-safiyya we know of disciples who moved from one centre to the other: there were Baghdadis such as Abu Bakr al-Wasiti who moved to Khurasan, and Khurasanis who moved to Baghdad or stayed there for a while on their journey fi talab al-'ilm (in search of knowledge).
After Abu 'Uthman's death, however, it appears that the Nishapuri disciples started to wander off. Many found their way to the Baghdadi centre.
From the highly informative article by Sara Sviri

Kwajagan and Naqshbandi 1200
In 1220 Abd al-Khaliq Ghujdawani died, founder of Khwajagan (Masters of Wisdom) Sufi brotherhood (Bukhara). Baha' al-Din Naqshband (1318-1389), who gave his name to the Naqshbandi order, though he did not found it, was also the 7th leader of the Khwajagan Sufi.

Bektash born Nishapiur 1209
The Bektashi Sufi order was founded in the 13th century by the Islamic saint Haci BektasŸ Veli, a Muslim mystic, humanist and philosopher who was born in Nishapur, Khorasan in 1209. He worked and died 1271 in Hacibektas, Cappadocia.

Bektashi died 1271
The Bektashi are a Sufi order. It was founded in the 13th century by the Islamic saint HacÄ± BektaÅŸ Veli, a Muslim mystic, humanist and philosopher from Nishapur, Khorasan, who lived approximately from 1209-1271 in Anatolia. The Bektashi order was widespread in the Ottoman Empire, their lodges being scattered throughout Anatolia as well as many parts ofthe Balkans and thel city of Istanbul. In 1925 the Bektashi leadership moved to Albania and established their headquarters in the city of Tirana. Hajji Bektash Wali is buried in Hacibektas, Cappadocoa.

Birthplace of Moinuddin Chishti Zabol 1141
Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti was born in Zabol in 1141 and died in Ajmer 1230 AD. Also known as Gharib Nawaz, he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Sufi Order.

Moinuddin Chishti died 1230
Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty was born in 1141 AD, in Sajistan, Khorasan and died in Ajmer 1230 AD. Also known as Gharib Nawaz , he is the most famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order. He was born in Zbol.

Rumi's Birthplace Balkh 1207
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi born 1207 in Balkh. He died in Konya 1237. He wrote poetry in Persian. After his death his followers founded the Mehlevi Sufi Order (Dancing Derwishes) which is today found in Turkey, North Africa. Europe and the US.

Mevlevi Sema
Dancing Mevlevi. Photo by RWFG

Rumi died in Konya 1237
The most important Mevlevi sancturay is Rumi's tomb in Konya.

Ardabil Shaykh Safi al-Din Tomb 1335 (Safaviyya)
Shaykh Safi al-Din Ardabili (1252-1334) was the founder of the "Safawiyyah" Sufi-Order and the father of the Safavid Dynasty. His tomb in Ardabil still shows the Timurid-Il-Khan influence. Next to it stands Sha Ismail I's tomb a true 17th cent Safavid building.

Shayk Salim Chishti Tomb 1571-1580
Fatehpur Sikri, Rajesthan
Shayk Salim Chishti Tomb, Friday Mosque Complex
1571-1580
Mughal
Fatephur Sikri, the abandoned city of Emperor Akhbar's dreams, is the most magnificent complex of Moghul India. It has an unusual foundation history
Shaikh Salim, a Chishti Sufi who lived in the village of Sikri came to imperial notice when he correctly predicted the birth of Akbar's son Jahangir. It was to honor this saint that Akbar, in 1571, established the palatial-religious complex of Fatehpur Sikri on the site of Shaikh Salim's village, making it his capital. The tomb of Shaikh Salim is of white marble, and sits in an enclosure with a pool. The entrance porch is held up by unusual, serpant-like supports. A verandah enclosed by a finely carved perforated screen surrounds the main tomb hall. At its center is the cenotaph, sheltered by a canopy decorated with mother-of-pearl. A wide marble dome covers the structure.
Text and photos from Archnet.org

Historic Sites

Muziris-Kondugallu 625
Kondugallur has a history (see Wikipedia for a poorly written article) It was known as Muziris to Pliny the Elder (23 -€“79 AD) who describes it as primum emporium Indiae.
The Greek explorer, Hippalus (1st cent BC), the discoverer of the monsoon trade winds, describes this port. Some Roman coins seem to have been found here in 2000.
Apparently in the 1st cent BC a small community of Jewish traders existed in Kondugallur, and there are conjectures of a much earlier presence of Jewish traders on the Malabar Coast.
So, the "legend" that Malik Ibn Dinar landed here with 20 Muselmans and built the second earliest mosque after Medina it is not entirely improbable that the oldest Islamic community in India should have been founded in 625 in this tiny village on the Malabar Coast. But then one discovers that the oldest Christian settlement (52) in India is in the same place. There exist a church in which St. Thomas, the Syrian founder of the Christian community is buried and a small mosque resembling the "palm hut of the Prophet" but of no other architectural interest.

Nihawend 642
Arrival of Islam

Merv 641
Formerly an Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road. Several cities have existed at this site .During the3rd cent AD Merv was home to a wide range of different religions beside the official Zoroastrianism of the Sassanids, including many Buddhists, Manichaeans, and Nestorian Christians.
During the 5th century AD, Merv was the seat of a major archbishopric of the Nestorian Church.Wikipedia

Alexandria 642
Arrival of Islam

Cyprus 649
Arrival of Islam

655 Derbent

Damascus 655

Basra 655

Rhodos 664

Constantinople 676
First attempt at storming the ciry

Kerbela 680

Kairuan 670

Carthage 698

Granada 713 AD
A Jewish community established (6th cent AD) itself in what was effectively a suburb of the city, called "Gárnata" or "Gárnata al-yahud" (Granada of the Jews). It was with the help of this community that Moorish forces under Tariq ibn-Ziyad first took the city in 711, though it was not fully secured until 713.
In 1228, with the departure of the Almohad prince, Idris, who left Iberia to take the Almohad leadership, the ambitious Ibn al-Ahmar established the longest lasting Muslim dynasty on the Iberian peninsula - the Nasrids. With the Reconquista in full swing after the conquest of Cordoba in 1236, the Nasrids aligned themselves with Ferdinand III of Castile, officially becoming a tributary state in 1238. The state officially became the Kingdom of Granada in 1238. The Nasrid sultans and kings were responsible for building most of the palaces in the Alhambra.

Seville 712 AD
After successive conquests of the Roman province of Hispania Baetica by the Vandals and Visigoths, in the 5th and 6th centuries, the city was taken by the Moors in 712 and became an important center in Muslim Andalusia. It remained under Muslim control, under the authority of the Umayyad, Almoravid and Almohad dynasties, until falling to Fernando III in 1248.

Xeres la Frontera 711
Jerez was a small independent emirate created c. 1030 after the fall of the Emirate of Cordoba. Some years later was united to Arcos by Aben Jairuan who ruled both c. 1040-1053. In 1053 it was annexed to Sevilla. From 1145 to 1147 the region of Arcos and Jerez was briefly an emirate under the dependency of Granada, led by Aben Garrum.
Alcazar de Jerez de la Frontera. Wikipedia

Multan 711
Multan, one of the oldest cities on the Indian Subcontinent, is famous for its Sufi shrines. In the 711 Multan was conquered along with Sindh by the army of Muhammad bin Qasim. Since bin Qasim's conquest, the city has been securely Muslim.
Mausoleum of the Sufi saint Shah Rukn-i-Alam
Yussuf Gardezi Bohar Gate.

Toledo 712
Toledo had one of the lergest Jewish communities in Spain.
View of Toledo
Interior of "Santa Maria la Blanca" formerly a Synagogue (13th cent) - a splendid example of Mozarab architecture.

Makaranda-Afrasiab 712
Marakanda (Afrasiab) is the pre-Timurid city at Samarkand. A large unexcavated area of low hills clearly visible in GE. Its buildings were made from adobe and simply melted after being abandoned following Jenghis Khan's destruction. An immense archeological treasure. Attempts in 1999 to form an international group with the Uzbek Academy of Sciences to excavate Afrasiab failed.
Founded in the 8th cent BC as the capital of Sogdiana (Achaemenid dynasty). Alexander the Great conquered it in 329 BC. From the 6th to 13th century AD it was controlled subsequently by the Western Turks, Arabs (who converted the area to Islam in the 8th cent), Persian Samanids, Kara-Khanid Turks, Seljuk Turks, Kara-Khitan, and Khorezmshah before being destroyed by the Mongols in 1220.
In 1370, Timur Tamerlane (the Timurids were of Turk origin not Mongols) decided to make Marakanda the capital of his empire. During the next 35 years he built a new city and called it Samarkand. - In Central Asia new cities have not been built on the ruins of the previous one but next to it with new walls etc. (See e.g. Merv)
A non-airconditioned shack posing as a museum on the grounds contains a single room with badly detiriorated but still tantalizing frescoes from 648 AD, excavated in the 1970s by Soviet archeologists:
Today's state (2002): Coracle carrying a Chinese-dressed pricess and 10 lady musicians, northern wall.
The same mural when newly detached from its wall. Reproduced by the Soviet archeologist L. I. Al'baum, Zhivopis' Afrasiaba - Tashkent, 1975.
See: Markus Mode, Frescoes of the Museum of Afrasiab, University of Halle, Germany, 2002

Talas 751
The Battle of Talas in 751 was fought between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty for control of the Syr Darya. The Chinese army was defeated following the routing of their troops by the Abbasids on the bank of the Talas River.
Shortly after the battle of Talas, the domestic rebellion of An Lushan (755－763) and subsequent warlordism of the jiedushi (763 onwards), caused the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia by the end of the 700's. The local Tang tributaries then switched to the authority of the Abbasids, Tibetans, or Uighurs and the introduction of Islam was thus facilitated among the Turkic peoples. Well supported by the Ummayads, the Qarluqs established a state that would be absorbed in the late 9th century by the Kara-Khanid Khanate. With the successful cooperation of Arabs and Turkic peoples, Islam began to exert its influence on the Turkic culture.

Cordoba 784
Cordoba, The Mesquita (784- 987)

Indonesia

Poitiers/Tours 732
The battle of Poitiers/Tours pitted Frankish and Burgundian forces under Charles Martel against an army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by ‘Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-general of al-Andalus. The Franks were victorious, ‘Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi was killed, and Martel subsequently extended his authority in the south.
Modern historians maintain that the Battle of Tours was one of the most important battles during the Almohad conquests. As a devastating defeat for the Almohads, it helped trigger their downfall, halting the spread of Islam in Europe, confirming the power of the Carolingian Franks as Europe's foremost dynasty.
Martel's victory is seen by some (19th-cent) historians to have stopped the northward advance of Umayyad forces from the Iberian peninsula, and to have preserved Christianity in Europe during a period when Muslim rule was overrunning the remains of the old Roman and Persian Empires. Paul K. Davis (1999) estimates the Umayyad forces at 80,000 and the Franks at about 30,000.

Fes 808
Fez, 808 AD
The city was founded on opposite banks of the Fez River by Idris I in 789 and his son Idris II continued the work in 810. The first was the founder of the Idrisid dynasty, his son was born after he was assassinated. During Yahya ibn Muhammad's rule the Kairouyine mosque, one of the oldest and largest in Africa, was built, and the associated University of Al-Karaouine was founded in 859.
In the Medina of Fez. Photo funci.org

Sicily 827
The Arabs conquer Sicily

Sardinia 827
The Arabs conquer Sardina

Corsica 850
The Arabs conquer Corsica

Guangzhou 9th cent
The Great Mosque and Minaret (9th cent) in Quangzhou

Maps Islam

Cyprus 649

Constantinople + Derbent 655

Sassanids - Sogdiana 655

Omajid Empire 661-750

698 Arab Invasion of Sicily

India 711

Constantinople 718

Spain-Poitier 732

Indonesia China 790

Sardinia Corsica 850

CHAPTER III - Eurasian Empires

Alexander and Eurasia

Alexander's Expedition 334-323 BC
This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia". To view these maps download the post
Alexander the Great's Expedition to India 334-323 BC and the Diadochan Empires
Alexander's expedition to India was the defining event in the history of Eurasia. In fact, it was he who gave the concept of Eurasia a coherent meaning. The after effects of the invasion of the Middle East by Greek thinking and statesmanship lasted for 700 years, the influence of Greek art a millenium, and Alexander's presence in mythology and literature survived even the Islamization of the region and is still felt in the 17th century AD. A phenomenon sine qua non. Much of what is to follow in this essay will be concerned with this legacy

Alexander's Expedition 334 - 323 BC

Places on Alexander's Route

1 Greece

Pass at Vale of Tempi
http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/T/Tempe-Va.html
"Without waiting to reorganize his kingdom or to assure himself of the allegiance of the tribes bordering it, Alexander swept like a whirlwind southward along the coast into Thessaly at the head of his army. At Tempe, the Thessalians bade him halt outside the pass while they deliberated whether to admit him. To avoid battle and yet circumvent the pass, he ordered his men to cut steps in the sea-face of Mount Ossa and appeared on the further side of the pass before the Thessalians guessed what he was up to." The Generalship of Alexander The Great by J. F. C. Fuller.

Mt. Ossa

Mount Olympus

Dium
Pydna
Pella
Abdera
Philippi
Amphipolis
Alexandroupolis
Sestus

2 Turkey

Amanian Gate

Bahce

Pillar of Jonah

(333BC) Battle of Issus
Issus

Darius' Route

Halicarnassos
(334 BC) Siege of Halicarnassos
In the 340's, the members of the royal family were quarreling, and some of them were pro-Persian, whereas others were pro-Macedonian. When Alexander the Great approached Caria in 334, Halicarnassus was one of the most important Persian strongholds, defended by the Greek mercenary leader Memnon of Rhodes, and the Macedonian invaders of Asia came very close to defeat. However, a discontent member of the royal family, Ada, sided with Alexander, which gave him sufficient support in Caria to continue the siege.
(334 BC) Battle of Granicus River
Arrian, a 2nd-century Greek historian whose account of the battle is the most comprehensive and reliable, described the hard-fought cavalry action that ensued in the river and on its bank: "At the point where the vanguard under Amyntas and Socrates touched the bank, the Persians shot volleys on them from above, some hurling their javelins into the river from their commanding position on the bank, others going down to the stream on the more level ground. There was a great shoving by the cavalry, as some were trying to get out of the river, others to stop them, great showers of Persian javelins, much thrusting of Macedonian spears. But the Macedonians, much outnumbered, came off badly in the first onslaught; they were defending themselves from the river on ground that was not firm and was beneath the enemy's while the Persians had the advantage of the bank; in particular, the flower of the Persian cavalry was posted here, and Memnon's sons and Memnon himself ventured their lives with them. The first Macedonians who came to grips with the Persians were cut down, despite their valor."
Battle of Granicus River

Burial Mounds of Achillies and Patroclus

Troy

Telmessos

Termessos
Perga
Side
Aspendus
Gordion
Pessinus
Synnada
Celaenae
Sagalassos
Tyana
Misli
Yesilhisar
Incesu
Caesarea-Mazaca
Ancyra
Tavium
Smyrna
Pergamon
Mytilene

Lampascus

Dascy
Sardis
Thyatira
Byzantium
Abydus

Crossing to Anatolia

Ephesos
Alexandretta
Tarsus
Pozanti
Cilician Gates
Adana
Soli
Issus
Magnesia
Myrina
Iassus
Miletus
Tralles
Amuq Plain
Sochoi
Myriandrus
Mylasa
Antioch
Seleucia

3 Syria
Syrian Gates (Beilan Pass)
Syrlan Gates
Nisibis
Thapsacus
Carrhae
Aleppo
Hamah
Homs
Damascus
Latakia
Aradus
Tripolis

4 Lebanon
(332 BC) Siege of Tyre
When the Tyrians saw the size of this fleet, they refused to fight, leaving it to the Macedonians to try to attack the walls. Alexander mounted catapults and siege towers on the decks of the ships but the Tyrians would sink them with huge boulders and would pour scalding liquids and hot sand on them. It took months to complete the causeway and during its progress toward the island, Alexander constructed several one hundred fifty foot tall towers on which he mounted catapults to fire back at the Tyrians. The images shown below are typical of siege machines of this era (circa 300 BC).
Tyre
Byblos
Berytus
Sidon

5 Palestine/Israel
Ashdod
Ascalon
Gaza
Joppa
Acre
Siege of Gaza

6 Egypt

The Pyramids

Paraetonium
Kanayis
Bir el Istabl
Bir Faud
Bir el Nuss
Bir el Basur
Pelusium
(331 BC) Memphis
Memphis
Cairo
Naucratis
Alexandria
Siwa

8 Iraq
(331 BC) Battle of Gaugamela
The battleground at Gaugamela was a sandy plain, and the sand they kicked up would have made it impossible for the Macedonians and Persians to see what was happening. After a day of fighting in a dust storm, Alexander's army emerged in control of the field. No one could say how this had come about, although the Macedonians naturally assumed that their plan of attack had proved successful: an advance by the companion cavalry on the right wing, led by Alexander, while Parmenion's left wing and the second line took up defensive positions. There is also firm evidence that at some point Mazaeus' Babylonian horsemen broke through the Macedonian lines, only to take the Macedonian camp instead of attacking the enemy from the rear.
http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_z7.html
Gaugamela

Zagros Mountains

Nineveh
Arbela
Onis
Abu Wajnam
Baghdad

Babylon

9 Iran
Persepolis

Iran (Sousian Gate)

Susa
Baghdad
Harmozia
Salmous
Alexandria Carmania
Pura

Persian Gate

Alexandria Charax

Susa

Pasargadae
Ispahan
Ecbatana

Teng-i-Suluk (Probably Caspian Gates)

Rhagae

DAMAVAND Mountain
Status: Holocene Type: Stratovol Click here for Google search

Hecatompylus
Damghan
Zadracarta
Susia

10 Afghanistan

Balkh
Balkh was the Arabs' "mother of cities," seat of the satrap and a famous image of Anahita, water goddess of the oxus. At Balkh, the satrap of Bactria held his court.

Sefid Kuh Mountains

Khawak Sar

Oxus River

Artacoana
Alexandria Areia
Farah
Prophthasia

Helmand

(329 BC) Kandahar

Alexandria Arachosia
Kabul
Alexandria (Massaca)
Khushan Pass
Khawak Pass
Drapsaca
Alexandria-by-the-Caucaus

Alexandria of Oxiana

11 Turkmenistan
Alexandria Margiana

12 Uzbekistan
Alexandria Eschate

Maracanda (Samarqand)

Nautaca

13 Pakistan

Jhelum
Pakistan

Bucephala

Battle of Hydaspes
In May 326, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great and his ally, raja Ambhi of Taxila, defeated Porus, a raja who had not been able to surrender himself to Alexander. There were heavy rains -the monsoon seems to have started early- and the river Jhelum, already wide in May because of the melting waters of the Himalayas, became very wide.http://www.livius.org/a/pakistan/jhelum/hydaspes.html

Karachi
Pattala Hyderabad
Rhambacia
Embolima
Attock

Sangala

Quetta
Nicaea
Taxila
Khyber Pass
(Khyber" means "Across the river" or "divide" and is derived from "Habar" in Aramaic, which also translates to the word "Hebrew")
The Khyber Pass is a 53-kilometer (33-miles) passage through the Hindu Kush mountain range. It connects the northern frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan. At its narrowest point, the pass is only 3 meters wide. On the north side of the Khyber Pass rise the towering, snow-covered mountains of the Hindu Kush. The Khyber Pass is one of the most famous mountain passes in the World. It is one of the most important passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is the best land route between India and Pakistan and has had a long and often violent history. Conquering armies have used the Khyber as an entry point for their invasions. It was also been a major trade route for centuries.
Khyber Pass, mountain pass in western Asia, the most important pass connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan, controlled by Pakistan. The Khyber Pass winds northwest through the Sefid Koh Range near Peshawar, Pakistan to Kabul, Afghanistan, varying in width from 3 to 137 m. The mountains on either side can be climbed only in a few places. The pass is walled by precipitous cliffs that vary in height from about 180 to 300 m. The pass reaches its highest elevation at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The history of the Khyber Pass as a strategic gateway dates from 326 B.C., when Alexander the Great and his army marched through the Khyber to reach the plains of India. From their, he sailed down Indus River and led his army across the desert of Gedrosia.
Source: http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/khyber.html

Hindu Kush

Newar Pass

Alexandria Sogdiane

Mulia Pass
Alexandria Port
Alexandria of the Oreitae
Cocala
Gwadar

Alexander's Route Out
From sevenofnine
Greece (Pella)
Turkey (Sestus)
Turkey (Troy)
Turkey (Granicus)
Turkey (Thyatira)
Turkey (Sardis)
Turkey (Ephesos)
Turkey (Halicarnassos)
Turkey (Telmessos)
Turkey (Side)
Turkey (Cilician Gates)
Turkey (Adana)
Turkey (Issus)
Lebanon (Aradus)
Lebanon (Bayrut)
Israel (Tyre)
Israel (Jerusalem)
Israel (Gaza)
Egypt (Cairo)
Egypt (Alexandria)
Egypt (Bir el Basur)
Egypt (Siwa)
Egypt (Memphis)
Syria and Iraq
Iran (Alexandria Charax)
Iran (Shiraz)

Iran (Yasuj)

Iran (Persian Gates)

Iran (Persepolis)
Iran (Ispahan)
Iran (Caspian Gates)
Iran (Hecatompylus)
Iran (Susia)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Areia)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Arachosia)
Afghanistan (Kabul)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Massaca)
Afghanistan (Alexandria Caucaus)
Afghanistan (Balkh)
Uzbekistan (Alexandria Oxiana)
Uzbekistan (Alexandria Eschate)

Alexander's Route Back
From sevenofnine
Afghanistan (Kabul)
Pakistan (Khyber Pass)
Pakistan (Taxila)
Pakistan (Nicaea)
Pakistan/India
Pakistan (Alexander Sogdiane)
Pakistan (Mulia Pass)
Pakistan (Alexandria Oreitae)
Pakistan (Hyderabad)
Iran (Alexandria Carmania)

Iraq (Baghdad)

Greek Diadochan Empires 324 BC-30 AD

SELEUCID EMPIRE 323 - 60 BC
The Seleucid Empire (323 - 60 BC) was a Hellenistic successor state of Alexander the Great's dominion.
Alexander's generals (the Diadochi) jostled for supremacy over parts of his empire, and Ptolemy, one of his generals and satrap of Egypt, was the first to challenge the new rule, leading to the demise of Perdiccas. His revolt led to the "Partition of Triparadisus" in 320 BC.
Seleucus, who had been "Commander-in-Chief of the camp" under Perdiccas since 323 BC but helped to assassinate the latter, received Babylonia, and from that point continued to expand his dominions ruthlessly. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. He ruled over not only Babylonia, but the entire enormous eastern part of Alexander's empire:
Quote
"Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus."
Appian of Alexandria (95- 165 AD), Roman History

PTOLEMAIC EMPIRE 304 BC-30 AD
The Ptolemaic Empire was one of states founded by the Diadochi after the death of Alexander the Great.
The Ptolemaic Empire, founded in 323 BC by Ptolemy I, controlled much of modern Egypt and Israel as well as part of the northern coast of present-day Libya. Ptolemy I and his successors formed the Ptolemaic dynasty. The capital of the Ptolemaic Empire was Alexandria, and its most famous monarch was Cleopatra. The Ptolemaic Empire came to an end when Rome annexed Alexandria in 31 BC. Over the subsequent decades all of the former territory of the Ptolemaic Empire was assimilated by Rome.
After Alexander's death Ptolomy inherited his corpse which in a 2-year treck he transported on a horse-cart to Alexandria. For a 1000 years Alexandrer lay in his mausoleum in Alexandria - and then vanished around 400 AD when Christianity took hold in Alexandria.
Recently, it has been suggested that the body of St. Mark interred in the Basilica in Venice may in fact be that of Alexander the Great ! For an engrossing account of this rather convincing story see Andrew Chugg's The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great

MEDIA-ATROPATENE 220-226 BC
Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, the Macedonian's conquests were divided amongst the diadochi. The former Achaemenid satrapy of Media was divided into two states: The greater (southern) part -- 'Media Magna' -- was assigned to Peithon, one of Alexander's bodyguards. The smaller (northern) region -- which had been the sub-satrapy of Matiene under the Achaemenids -- became 'Media Atropatene', after Atropates, the former Achaemenid governor of Media but who had become father-in-law of Perdiccas, the regent and Alexander's designated successor.
Shortly thereafter, Atropates refused to pay allegiance to Seleucus, and made Media Atropatene an independent kingdom. The Atropates' dynasty would rule the kingdom for several centuries, first independently, then as vassals of the Arsacids (who called it 'Aturpatakan'), then briefly as vassals of the Kingdom of Armenia (who called it 'Atrpatakan'). It was eventually annexed by the Arsacids, who then lost it to the Sassanids.

PONTUS 301- 64 BC
During the troubled period following the death of Alexander the Great, Mithradates Ktistes was for a time in the service of Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors. In 302 BC, Mithidates Ktistis created the Kingdom of Pontus which would be ruled by his descendants till 64 BC.
Pontus continued to be an autonomous state under the Imperial rule of Constantinople through most of the history of the Byzantine Empire. Its fall gave rise to the Empire of Trebizond, which existed from 1204 to 1461. After that, the name Pontus was preserved as a state within the Ottoman Empire.

ANTIGONID EMPIRE 301- 37 BC
In the partition of Alexander's empire among the Diadochi, Alexander's inheritance, Greek Macedonia fell to the Antipatrid dynasty, which was overthrown by the Antigonid dynasty after only a few years, in 294 BC. Macedonia was ruled for a while by Demetrius I (294–288 BC) but fell into civil war.
Antigonus II (277–239 BC) regained his family's position in Macedonia; he successfully restored order and prosperity there, though he lost control of many of the Greek city-states. He established a stable monarchy under the Antigonid dynasty. Antigonus III (239–221 BC) built on these gains by once more establishing Macedonian power across the region.

220 BC Media Kappadokia Armenia

323 BC Seleucos' Empire

301 BC Pontus

301 BC Antigonos's Empire

304 BC-30 AD Ptolemaic Empire

Eurasia 6th-7th cent AD

EPHTALITE EMP. 6TH CENT
How to use the maps of this collection.

INDO - EUROPEAN KINGDOMS 5-8TH CENT
How to use the maps of this collection.

EASTERN WEI 334-550

WESTERN WEI 535-556 AD

ARABS 634 AD

CHINESE TANG EMPIRE 618-907AD

KHANATE OF THE EASTERN TU-CHÜEH 6-7TH CENT AD

KHANATE OF THE WESTERN TU-CHÜEH 6-7TH CENT

PERSIAN SASSANID EMPIRE 5-7TH CENT

GERMAN TRIBES 5TH-8TH CENT

WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRE 6-7TH CENT

EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE 4-7TH CENT

Ephtalites 6rh cent

Eastern Wei Dynasty 535-550 AD

Western Wei 535-550

Eastern Tu-Chueh Khanate (Turkic) 6-7th cent

Western Tu-Chueh Khanate (Turkic) 6-7th cent

Indo-European Kingdoms 6-7th cent

Sassanide Empire 5-6th cent

Roman Empire 5th cent

East Roman Empire 6-8th cent

Arabs 635 AD

Uighur-Turk Khanate 7th cent

Charlemagne's World 9th cent

CHARLEMAGNE'S EMPIRE 751-814
After 800 "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation"
Idealized bust of Charlemagne in the treasury of the Dom in Aachen
Charlemagne's person
The date and place of his birth are not known for certain: 742, 747 or 748. My favorite is the persistent local legend that Charlemagne was born during an inspection tour of his father to Bavaria in April 747 at the Rei(ch)smuhle south of Gauting, Bavaria. The mill was "Reichsbesitz" - Imperial (Crown) property and served the German kings as way station. He died 814 in Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle).
Einhard's description - a monk and Charlemagne's biographer - of the appearance of the kng
Qote:
"Charles was large and strong, and of lofty stature, though not disproportionately tall (his height is well known to have been seven times the length of his foot, 1.93 m ); the upper part of his head was round, his eyes very large and animated, nose a little long, hair fair, and face laughing and merry.
Thus his appearance was always stately and dignified, whether he was standing or sitting; although his neck was thick and somewhat short, and his belly rather prominent; but the symmetry of the rest of his body concealed these defects. His gait was firm, his whole carriage manly, and his voice clear, but not so strong as his size led one to expect.
His health was excellent, except during the four years preceding his death, when he was subject to frequent fevers; at the last he even limped a little with one foot. Even in those years he consulted rather his own inclinations than the advice of physicians, who were almost hateful to him, because they wanted him to give up roasts, to which he was accustomed, and to eat boiled stew instead."
From: Einhard (775 – 840): Vita Caroli Magni (The Life of Charlemagne)
Karolus Magnus' family included a succession of 4 married wives and 4 "concubines". The women, several died early, and his 17 children all ate at his table in Aachen under his benevolent but strict eyes! He allowed his 9 daughters (his sons mostly died early) to sleep with whom they liked but not to marry their men! - And we look askane on oriental harems!
Today he is not only regarded as the founding father of both the French and German kingdoms, but as the father of Europe: his empire united most of Western Europe for the first time, and the Carolingian Renaissance encouraged the formation of a common European identity.

ITALIAN PRINCIPALITIES 752-1870
The Italian Papal Principalities, 752-1870. From answers.com

BYZANTINE EMPIRE 9th cent

PRINCIPALITY NOVGOROD 862
PRINCIPALITY OF NOVGOROD
Normannic Foundation 862
Novgorod in Winter. From Russian Newsletter

PRINCIPALITY KIEV 864
PRINCIPALITY OF KIEV 864
Normannic foundation 864. The birthplace of the Russian Empire.
The Lavra in Kiev. From proairticket.com

SERBS 650
Slavic people displaced by the Vandals and the Gothic tribes migrated into this area after 650.

BULGAR KHANATE 679-1018
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in AD 632 in the lands near the Danube Delta and disintegrated in AD 1018 after its annexation to the Byzantine Empire. At the height of its power it spread between Budapest and the Black Sea and from the Dnieper river in modern Ukraine to the Adriatic. It was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire, established in 1185. The official name of the country since its very foundation was Bulgaria. From Wikipedia

ARAB SICILY 831-1072
The Arabs ruled Sicily only for two centuries but their influence was nothing short of monumental. Under their administration, the island's population doubled as dozens of towns were founded and cities repopulated. The Arabs changed Sicilian agriculture and cuisine. Their scientific and engineering achievements were remarkable. More significantly, they changed society itself. To this day, many Sicilian social attitudes reflect the profound influence --often in subtle ways-- of the Arabs who ruled a thousand years ago but who (with the Greeks and others) are the ancestors of today's Sicilians.
The Church of SS Trinitá di Delia near Castelvetrano. Photo RWFG, 2003

GREAT SELDJUKS

ABBASIDES 750-1258

KINGDOM OF GALICIA
Modern Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia (anciently Gallaecia) was a medieval kingdom in Iberia for two distinct periods. In the first period, it was ruled by the Suebi, a Germanic people. Their kingdom corresponded to the Roman province of Gallaecia, plus a large part of the Lusitania. This kingdom was annexed by the Visigoths. When the later Asturian kingdom was divided in 910, the territory of Galicia gained independence. It remained independent off and on until in 1157 it was united with León in the Ppartition of the Realm .

OMAYYADES 662-750 AD

KHORASAN

RUM SELDJUKS

ABBASID CALIFATES

OMAYYAT EMIRATE AL-ANDALUS 755-1031
Al-Andalus became a Caliphate in 929 AD
the Mesquita of Cordoba, Photo RWFG, 1997

Novgorod

Kiev

KINGDOM OF GALICIA

Sarrdinia

Corsica

Bulgar Khanate 679

Arab Sicily 9th-11th cent

Italian Principalities 8-9th cent

Charlemagne's Empire 751-814

8th-12th Byzantine Empire

Islamic Sultnates 753-1300

Eurasia 9th-11th cent

Eurasia 9th-11th cent
This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia". To view this map download the post.

Roman Empire of the German Nation 800-1200

Byzantine Empire 1261

RUM SELJUKS

Battle of Manzikert 1071

FATEMID SULTANATE 1070-1171

ITALIAN PRINCIPALITIES 10th cent

NORMAN KINGDOMS 1057-1185

TANGUT XI-XIA

SOUTHERN SUNG EMPIRE 1127-1279

MONGOLS

TURKIC UIGHUR KHANATE 745-840 AD

TURKIC YU-CHEN

SELDJUK SULTANATE

GHAZNAVID SULTANATE

Norman Empire 1057-1185

Mongols 12th cent

Uighur Turks 740-1200

Southern Sung Dynasty 1227-1279

Seldjuc Turkic Sultanate

Kingdom of Turkic Ju-chen of Kin

Gaznavid Sultanate

The Crusades and the End of Byzantium 10th-16th cent

The Crusades 1074-1291
Towards the end of the 11th century Europe was drawn into a religious frency, a Holy War against the Infidels. In the beginning the Crusades had the goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and were launched in response to a call from the Byzantine Empiror for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuk Turks into Anatolia. The term is also used to describe contemporaneous and subsequent campaigns conducted into the 16th century against pagans, heretics, Manicheans for a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons.
Because of internal conflicts among the Christian kingdoms and political powers, some of the crusade expeditions were diverted from their original aim, such as the Fourth Crusade (1204), which resulted in the disatrous sack of Christian Constantinople and the division of the Byzantine Empire into a "Latin Empire" and Venitian possessions.
The historians count 9 Crusades. The last 5 were waged against infidels in Europe itself.

The Crusades 1074-1291

Constantinople Sacked 1204
The Crusades 1074-1291

Antiochia

FATIMID SULTANATE

Ayyyubid Sultanate

Seldjuk Sultanate

Norman Kingdom

Byzantine Empire

Italian Principalities

Fench Kingdom

Venice 1202

Ghent 1096

St. Denis 1147

Regensburg 1189

German Empire 11th-12th cent

First Crusade 1096-99

Second Crusade 1147-49

Third Crusade 1189-99
<This post is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia" which can be downloaded from the post.

Fourth Crusade1202-04

Third Crusade 1189-92

Fourth Crusade 1202-04

German Empire 11-12th cent

French Kingdom 10-12th cent

Italian Principalities 10-11th cent

Byzantine Empire 8-11th cent

Seldjuc Sultanate 11th cent

Ayyubid Sultanate 1171-1270

Latin Empire 1204-61

Latin Empire 1204-1261
The Latin Empire 1204-1261
After the Fourth Crusade (1204) in which Christian Constantinople was sacked and plundered by the Venitian-led Crusaders, the Byzantine Empire was divided into a "Latin Empire" and Venitian possessions.

Byzantine Empire of Nicea 1261
In 1204, Byzantine emperor Alexius V Ducas Murtzouphlos fled Constantinople after the Latin Crusaders sacked the town. Emperor Alexius III Angelus, was proclaimed emperor, but he too had to flee the city for Nicaea
In 1260 his 4th successor, Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus began an assault on Constantinople. He allied himself with Genoa, the archenemy of Venice In July of 1261, as most of the Latin army was fighting the Bulgarians, Michael was able to bribe the guards of Constnatinople to open the gates of the city. Once inside he burned the Venetian quarter.
Michael was recognized as emperor a few weeks later, restoring the Byzantine Empire. Achaea (Mystras) was soon recaptured, but Trebizond and Epirus remained independent Byzantine Greek states. The restored empire also faced a new threat from the Ottoman Empire, when it arose to replace the defeated Seljuks.

Venice 1261

Boeothia

Corfu

Kingdom Trapezond

Mount Athos

Crete
See palcemerker for Naxos 1207

Naxos 1207
In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (1207) the Venetian Marco Sanudo ruled the island and most of the Cycladian islands for Venice, the Duchy of Naxos. Twenty-one dukes in two dynasties ruled the Archipelago, until 1566. As a consequence a number of houses of Venitian families, a Castholic Church, and a Venitian castle crown the old acropolis of Naxos.
Naxos Town with the Venitian castle and the Catholic Church on top The arch was the gate of a huge, unfinished, classical Apollo temple. Photo RWFG, Oct 2004

Armenian Cilicia
In 1198, a Union was proclamed between Rome and the Armenian Church by the Cilician-Armenian catholicos of Sis Grigor VI Apirat. This was not followed in deeds however, as the local clergy and populace was strongly opposed to such a union.
Numerous Roman Catholic missions were sent to Cilician Armenia to help with rapprochement. The Franciscans were put in charge of this missions. John of Monte Corvino arrived in Cilician Armenia in 1288 . The Armenian king Hethoum II became a Franciscan monk upon his abdication. He and the historian Nerses Balients, became members of the "Unitarian" muvement advocating unification with the Latin Church.
In 1240 the first Armenian church was erected in Rome, and 1434 the Armenian church of the Holy Cross was established in Venice. San Lazzaro degli Armeni in Venice, was a leper colony from the 12th to 16th centuries, then was abandoned until Mechitar, an Armenian monk, fleeing Turkish persecutions came to Venice in 1715. The Venetian government gave San Lazzaro to Mechitar, who founded an Armenian order there.The Monastero di San Lazzaro degli Armeni has an extraordinary collection of treasures and runs a famous printing press.

Ottomans

Epiros Despotate 1250
The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek states that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond. The term "despotate" is a misnomer, as the rulers of Epirus did not hold the Byzantine title of "despotes".

Despotate of Mystras 1258-1460
Mystras seen from Vale of Laconia. From Wikipedia
In 1249, Mystras became the seat of the Latin Principality of Achaea, established in 1205 after the conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, and Prince William II Villehardouin, a grand-nephew of the Fourth Crusade historian Geoffrey of Villehardouin, built a palace there.
In 1261, the Latins ceded Mystras and other forts in the southeastern Peloponnese as ransom for William II, who had been captured in Pelagonia, and Michael VIII Palaeologus made the city the seat of the new Despotate of Morea. It remained the capital of the despotate, ruled by relatives of the Byzantine emperor, although the Venetians still controlled the coast and the islands. Mystras and the rest of Morea became relatively prosperous after 1261, compared to the rest of the empire. Under the despot Theodore it became the second most important city in the empire after Constantinople, and William II's palace became the second residence of the emperors..
The frescos in the Peribleptos Church, dating between 1348 and 1380, are a very rare surviving late Byzantine cycle, crucial for the understanding of Byzantine art..

Bulgarians 1220
The ancient Bulgars belong to the big Iranian ethno-tribal group with origins that can be traced back to the Balhara region in the foothills of Mount Imeon, a territory roughly corresponding to present northern Afghanistan and most of Tajikistan.
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval state founded in AD 632 in the Danube Delta. It disintegrated in AD 1018 after its annexation by the Byzantine Empire. Between the 7th and the 10th centuries, the Bulgars were gradually absorbed by the Slavs, adopting a Bulgaro-South Slav language and converting to Christianity.
After the Fourth Crusade conquered Constantinople in 1204, Kaloyan, the Bulgarian emperor, tried to establish friendly relations with the crusaders, but the newly created Latin Empire spurned any offer of alliance with the Bulgarians. Kaloyan allied himself with the Byzantine Nicaean emperors. The Byzantine-Bulgarian relations continued to fluctuate until the Ottoman Turks conquered the Bulgarian Empire in 1422 and the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

Venitian Possessions 1261
See placemarker for Naxos.

Constantinople 1204 -1243
See placemerker for Byzantine Empire of Nicea 1261

Latin Empire 1204-1261

Ottomans 1228

Constantinople

Bursa

Bulgarians 1220

Bulgarian Incursions

Armenian Kingdom

Venitian Possesions 1261

Byz. Empire Nicea 1204-1261

Trapezond 1204-1461

Despote Epiros 1215-1261

Mystras

End of Byzantium 1400-1453

Battle of Manzikert 1071
The Battle of Manzikert on August 26, 1071 was the decisive defeat of the Byzantines at the hands of the Seljuk Turkish army led by Alp Arslan. The defeat of the Byzantines and the capture of Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes opened the way for the Seldjuks into Asia Minor and the Byzantine empire.
During the 1060s the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan allowed his Turkish allies to migrate towards Armenia and Asia Minor, where they sacked cities and plundered farmland. In 1064 they destroyed the Armenian capital at Ani. In 1068 Romanus IV led an expedition against them, but his slow-moving infantry could not catch the speedy Turkish cavalry.
In 1070 Romanus led a second expedition towards Manzikert, a city in eastern Turkey's province of Muş, now known as Malazgirt, a Byzantine fortress that had been captured by the Seljuks, and offered a treaty with Arslan.The sultan declined his offer.
The Byzantine army consisted of about 10 000 Byzantine troops; 500 French mercenaries under Roussel de Bailleul; some Turkish, Bulgarian, and Pecheneg mercenaries; a contingent of Armenian troops; and some (but not all) of the Varangian Guard. Turkish sources give the number of troops to be closer to 200 000. Other sources estimate them to be around 40 000.
The march across Asia Minor was long and difficult, and Romanus did not endear himself to his troops by bringing a luxurious baggage train along with him.
On August 25, some of Romanus' Turkish mercenaries came into contact with their Seljuk relatives and deserted. The Byzantines held off an arrow attack by Arslan and captured Arslan's camp by the end of the afternoon. With the Seljuks avoiding battle, Romanus was forced to order a withdrawal by the time night fell. Now that the Byzantines were thoroughly confused, the Seljuks seized the opportunity and attacked. The Byzantine right wing was routed. Romanus was injured, and taken prisoner when the Seljuks discovered him.
Since the battle had not occurred until after nightfall, the Turks did not pursue the fleeing Byzantines, which probably saved most of them. The Turks did not even recapture Manzikert itself at this point. The Byzantine army regrouped and marched to Dokeia, where they were joined by Romanus when he was released a week later. The most serious loss seems to have been the emperor's extravagant baggage train.
It was not the immediate disaster Byzantine historians saw in it. On the other hand, the defeat showed the Seljuks that the Byzantines were not invincible - they were not the unconquerable, millennium-old Roman Empire.
Nevertheless, in hindsight historians are practically unanimous in dating the decline of Byzantine fortunes to this battle. It is also considered one of the root causes for the later Crusades: the West saw Manzikert as a signal that Byzantium was no longer capable of being the protector of Eastern Christianity.

End of Byzantium 1400-1453
Weakend by the destructions during the Fourth Crusade (1204) the city had carried on debauched and corrupt for 250 more years. By 1400 the Ottomans had encircled Constantinople completely, but despite several attempts they were unable to storm its walls. In 1454 they finally breached an entry in the northeastern corner of its fortifications and the city fell within a couple of weeks.
The last Byzantien emperors took refuge in Trabzon and in Mystras which lasted another few years.

Ottoman Empire before 1350

Ottoman Empire 1350-1460

Istanbul Capital of Ottoman Empire 1454-1914

Bursa First Capital of Ottoman Empire
Bursa becomes the Capital of the Osman Empire until the fall of Constantinople. Fall of Nikomedia (Ismid) 1337.

Fall of Adrianople 1361

Battle of the Amselfeld-Kossowo 1389

Fall of Gallipoli 1454

Fall of Constantinople 1453

End of Mystras1460

End of Trapezond 1461

Konstantinople 1453

Ottoman Empire around 1350

Ottoman Empire1350-1454

This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia". To view these maps download the post
During the century after the fall of Constantinople the Ottoman Empire expanded as fare as the gates of Vienna, Baghdad and Mecca and the Straight of Gibraltar, an immense power.

Istanbul Capital of Ottoman Empire 1454-1914
The Ottoman Empire 1453-1914

It was later a major city, located on the westernmost end of the famous Silk Road, and was the capital of the Ottoman Empire in 1326 until the Fall of Constantinople in1453

Gallipoli 1354
After a devastating earthquake in 1354, the Greek city was almost abandoned. The Ottomans occupied it quickly, making Gallipoli their first bridgehead in Europe, and the staging area for their expansion across the Balkans.

Adrianople-Edirne 1365
Edirne- the Greek Adrianopolis fell to the Ottomans in 1365.

Karaman 1467
The Ottoman Empire 1453-1914

Crimean 1475
The Ottoman Empire 1453-1914

Egypt 1517

Syria 1516

Belgrad 1521

Capitulation of Rhodos 1522

Battle of Mohacs 1526

Algiers 1529

Bagdad 1534

Mecca 1538

End of Hungary 1541

Tripolis 1551

Tunis 1574

Attack on Vienna 1683

Gallipoli-Adrianople-Greece-Bulgaria-Crimean 1470-1475

Syria-Egypt-Algiers-Mekka 1516-1538

Belgrad-Hungary 1520-1541

Bosnia and Vienna 1683

Rhodes 1522

Ottoman Empire 1350-1454

Ottoman North Expansion until 1546

Ottoman South expansion until 1574

CHAPTER IV - Asia Ante Portas

Attila's Huns 6th cent

Invasions of the Huns 5th cent AD
The Invasions of the Huns under Attila 5th cent AD

Transural Huns 370 AD

Empire of the Huns 400 AD
Before expanding into Western Europe (Attila's campaingns) and eventually coming to rest in Hungary, the Huns sojourned for about half a century in the southern Russian steppes pushing the Germannic tribes (Goths, Vandals), who had settled there, further westwards. These events set the Migrations of the Germannic Tribes into motion.

Attila's Hungarian Empire 440-570 AD

French Kingdom

ATTILA'S Base 441-454

Battle of Chalons 448 AD
In the battle of Chalons Attila was finally stopped by a Visigothic-Roman army.

EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE 6-7TH CENT

Attila in Ravenna 454

Paths

Huns

Attila's Invasion of Gaul 451

Attila's invasion of Italy 454

German Empire 5th-7th cent

Attila's Hungarian Base

Attila's Empire 441-454

Völkerwanderung-Migrations of Germanic Peoples 300-1000 AD

Migrations of Germanic Peoples 300-1000 AD
The Migrations of the Germannic Peoples 300-1000 AD
Set into motion by the Invasian of the Huns from the Trasural Region, the Germannic People in the Southern Russian steppes wandered westwards.
The Migrations of the Germanic Peoples (Völkerwanderung). For a detailed discussion see Wikipedia
The Germanic migrations can be divided into two phases; the first , between AD 300 and 500, put Germanic peoples in control of most areas of the former Western Roman Empire. The first time that Roman territory was penetrated was by the Visigoths in 376— refugees from the Huns. — Tolerated by the Romans on condition that they defend the Danube frontier, they rebelled, eventually invading Italy and sacking Rome itself (410) before settling in Iberia and founding a 300-year-long kingdom there. They were followed into Roman territory by the Ostrogoths led by Theodoric the Great, settling in Ravenna.
In Gaul, the Frankish kingdom became the nucleus of the future states of France and Germany. Meanwhile Roman Britain was more slowly conquered by Angles and Saxons.
The second phase, between AD 500 and 700, saw Slavic tribes settling in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in eastern Magna Germania, and gradually turning it predominantly Slavic. The Bulgars, who had been present in far eastern Europe since the second century, in the seventh century conquered the eastern Balkan territory of the Byzantine Empire. The Lombards, a Germanic people, settled in northern Italy, in the region now known as Lombardy.

Historic Sites and Poeples

Merovingians 500-800 AD

Franks 450 AD

Transurals Huns 370 AD

Hungary Huns 450-570 AD

England Anglo-Saxons 430-580 AD

Saxony Saxons 500 AD

Jutland Angles 400 AD

Sweden Goths 300 AD

Goths 400 AD

Vandals 400 AD

Osseti Ostrogoths 400 AD

Carthage Vandals 430 AD

Vandals in Rome 455 AD

Iberian Peninsula Visigoths 400-650 AD

Visigoths in Rome 410

Ravenna Ostrogoths 450-775 AD

Migration Paths

Visigoths 400-410

Anglo-Saxons 400 - 580

Vandals 400-430 AD

Ostrogoths 430-775 AD

Franks 450

Eurasia before Genghis Khan 1206

Eurasia before Genghis Khan 1206
This collection is part of a "Historical Atlas of Eurasia". To view these maps download the post

Historical Sites

TUVANS
Joined Genghis Kahn in 1206

KIPCHAK KHANATES
Eurasia before Ginghis Khan (1200)

MONGOLIAN TRIBES
Joined Genghis Kahn in 1206

KHIRGIZ
Eurasia before Ginghis Khan (1200)

TARTARS
Eurasia before Ginghis Khan (1200)

UIGHURS

MARKITS
Joined Genghis Kahn in 1206

NAIMAN

XI XIA - WESTERN TUNGUTS

GHURID SULTANATE

KHWAREZMIAN SHADOM

PAGAN KINGDOM

KHMER EMPIRE

PEGU

BENGAL

NAN CHAO

NEPAL

ARMENIA

AYYUBID EMPIRE

BYZANTINE EMPIRE

RUSSIAN PRINCIPALITIES

TIBET

KINGDOM OF JIN

KARA KITAI

Kara Kitai

Rum Seldjuks

Mongols before 12th cent

Kingdom Jim

Naiman

Xi Xia -Western Tangut

Markits

Kirghiz

Tartars

Uighurs

Tuvans

Ghurid Sultanate

Kipchak Khanates

Khwarezmian Shahdom

Nepal

Pegu

Bengal

Khmer Empire

Pagan

Nan Chao (Dali)

Tibetans

Georgia

Armenia Kilikia

Byzantine Empire 1200

Russian Principalities

The Mongols 1200-1400 AD

Genghis Khan 1167-1227

Genghis Khan's Acquisitions 1167-1227

KARAKORUM
Original capital of the Mongolic tribes united by Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan's Military Expeditions

Genghis Khan's Return 1221

1209 Xi Xia

1215 Tatu

1219-1224 Great Western Excursion

1221 Genghis' Return

1227 Xi Xia

Cities Sacked and Leveled

Multan 1221

1215 Tatu
Sacked and destroyed by Genghis Khan.

Utrar 1219
Sacked and destroyed by Genghis Khan.

Marakanda 1221
Sacked and destroyed by Genghis Khan.

Balkh 1221

Merv 1220

Bukhara 1219

Nishapur 1220

Ningxia 1209 and 1227

Tbilisi 1221

Old Seray 1221

Herat 1221

Genghis Khan's Acquisitions

1227 Genghis Khan's Empire at his Death

1206 Incorporated by Treaty

1209 Xi Xia subjected

1215 Jin conquered by Force

UNIFIED MONGOL TRIBES 1206
Ginghis Khan's acquisitions

NAIMAN 1206
Ginghis Khan's acquisitions

MERKITS 1206
Ginghis Khan's acquisitions

TARTARS 1206

UIGHURS 1206

NORTHERN GHURID SULTANATE 1221

KINGDOM OF JIN 1215

TUVANS 1206

KIRGHIZ

Mongol Empires after Genghis Khan 1255

Mongol Empires after Genghis Khan 1255
Mongol empires after Genghis Khan's 1255

Military Expeditions - Cities Sacked and Destroyed

Batu Goldene Horde 1236-1243

Southern Sung Empire 960 -1279 AD

Kiev 1241
Sacked by Batu's Golden Horde 1236-1243

Liegnitz 1442
Battle after which Batu's Golden Horde returned to Serai

Crimean 1243
Sacked by Batu's Golden Horde 1236-1243

Hungary 1242
Sacked and destroyed by Hulegu
Sacked by Batu's Golden Horde 1236-1243

Bulgaria 1242
Sacked and destroyed by Hulegu

RUSSIAN PRINCIPALITIES 1241
Sacked and destroyed by Hulegu

Moscow 1240

Baghdad 1258

Kwarezmian Shahdom 1255

Alamut 1256

Hamadan 1256

Seray
Capital of Batu's Golden Horde 1236-1243

Aleppo 1259

Damascus 1259

Jerusalem 1260

Post Genghis Khan Empires

SOUTHERN SUNG EMPIRE 1227-1279

HULEGU œIL-KHANATE 1255-1356

Mongke Capital 1251-1259

SAKYA TIBET AFFILIATED 1247-1355

BATU GOLDEN HORDE 1240s-1550s

Tolui-Hulegu-Ilkhanate 1255-1356

Batu Golden Horde 1240s-1550s

Kublai Khan 1260-1294

Tatu Kublai Khan's Capital 1255

Kublai Khan's Empire 1260-1294
Genghis Khan's Acquisitions 1167-1227

Khublai's Military Expeditions

Hangzhou Southern Sung Capital

Sakya 1247
Conquered by Khublai Khan

Nanjing 1276
Conquered by Khublai Khan

Fuzhou 1278
Conquered by Khublai Khan

Hangzhou 1276

Canton 1285

Pagan 1277

Chengdu Kublai's Capital 1238

Kaifeng

Kunming 1253

Chengdu Sichuan 1234

Tibet 1238

Yunnan-Canton 1285

1273 Nanjing Hangzhou

East Coast 12777-78

1280-1386 Kublai Khan Yuan Dynasty

Timurid Tamerlane 1360-1405

Timur Tamerlane's Empire 1396-1405
Timur Tamerlane was the Turco-Mongol conqueror of much of western and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty (1370–1405) in Central Asia, which survived until 1857 as the Mughal dynasty of India.
Timur belonged to the Turkicized Barlas clan of Mongol origin. He was Turkic in identity and language and aspired to restore the Mongol Empires of Genghis Khan's successors. He was also steeped in Persian culture and in most of the territories which he incorporated, Persian was the primary language of administration and literary culture.
Timur was a military genius. His troops were essentially Turkic-speaking. He wielded absolute power, yet never called himself more than an emir, but fanciesd himself an heir to the Gnghis Khanites.
Timur was more ruthless than all the Mongols combined ( ~30 Mill people dead, mostly at Hulegu's hands). In Persia, Iraq and Syria, the population was decimated. In the city of Isfahan, he ordered the building of a pyramid of 70,000 human skulls, which his army had beheaded, and a pyramid of some 20,000 skulls was erected outside of Aleppo. In Damacus Timur herded thousands into the main Mosque before setting it on fire. In Tikrit he had 70,000 people beheaded, and 90,000 more in Baghdad. Conservatively eastimated about 17 million people may have died at his hands - mostly Moslems.
Between his campaigns - wich were merely destructive, he did nothing to restore, organize or even keep the conquered lands - loaded with loot he would return to his creation Samarkand, which he had built next to Afrasiab-Marikanda, which Genghis had leveled. There and in Shakhr-i-Zabs, his place of birth, he began monumental construction programs using Persian (Armenian) captives. His successors continued this work: Samarkand, long before Isfahan, still is one of the marvels of Central Asia. The Ak Serai in Shkh-i-Zabz was described by the Papal messenger Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (1402-1406). Nothing but a huge iwan survives from this palace. - A strange man.
Timur died 1405 on his last campaign to conquer Ming China.

Timur's Military Campaigns

Shakhr-i-Zabz 1336
Timur's Birthplace and his palace Aq Serai

Samarkand 1336-1405
Timur Tamerlane's and his successors' capital

Isfahan 1399
Sacked and destroyed by Timur Tamerlane

Sacked and destroyed by Timur Tamerlane

Herat 1399
Sacked and destroyed by Timur Tamerlane

Al;eppo 1402

Damascus 1402

Astrakhan 1395+1404

Vladimir 1382

Multan 1398

Seray Capital of the Kipchaks 1382,1395+1404
Sacked and destroyed 1395 + 1404 by Timur Tamerlane

Georgia 1400

Dehli 1399

Sacked and destroyed twice by Timur Tamerlane

Ankara 1402

Otrar Timur's Death 1405
Timur died here on the way to Ming China 1405. He was buried in Samarkand.

Khoresmia 1370 - Persia 1380

Bagdad 1380

Ankara-Bursa-Aleppo-Bagdad 1402-04

Last Expedition against China 1405

14th cent Uighur Turks

1360-1405 Timur Tamerlane's Empire

CHAPTER V - Explorers East-West

Explorers East-West 195 BC-19th cent AD
Routes of Chinese, Arabian and Western explorers in Central Asia and Arabia
195 BC-19th cent AD
Excellent Article on East-West exchangea is found in Wikipedia

Early Travelers

Chinese Expeditions Westward

Zhang Qian 195 BC - 114 BC

Zhang Qian 195 - 114 BC
Zhang Qian 195 BC - 114 BC
Zhang Qian leading his troops (painting in Dunhuang)
Zhang Qian, 195 BC - 114 BC
Zhang Qian was an officer of the Han imperial guard. In 138 BC the Han court dispatched Zhang Qian to the Western Regions with a delegation of over one hundred members. The objective of Zhang Qian's mission was to seek a military alliance with the Yuezhi in modern Tajikistan against the Xiongnu (South. Huns) . On route he was captured by the Xiongnu and detained for ten years. There he married a Xiongnu wife and gained the trust of the Xiongnu leader.
When Zhang finally made it to Yuezhi lands, he found that they were too settled to want war against the Xiongnu. He spent about one year in Yuezhi and Bactrian territory, documenting their cultures, lifestyles and economy, before returning to China.
For a detailed account see Wikipedia

Ban Chao 32-102 AD

Ban Chao 32-102 AD
Ban Chao (Pan Ch'ao), 32-102 AD
Ban Chao was a Chinese general and cavalry commander in charge of the "Western Regions" (Central Asia) during the Eastern Han dynasty. His father and brother were higly regarded historians.
He expelled the Xiongnu (South. Huns) from the Tarim Basin (57-75 AD). and brought the kingdoms of Loulan, Khotan and Kashgar under Chinese rule.
In 97 Ban Chao crossed the Tian Shan and the Pamir with an army of 70,000 men and established a Chinese military base on the shores of the Caspian Sea and at Antiochia Margiana (Merv). Moving into Parthia he came within a few days march from Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital. Han forces held the region South of the Caspian for several years. In 116, the Roman Emperor Trajan advanced into Parthia as far as Ctesiphon but did not engage the Chinese expeditionari forces.
For a detailed description of his expeditions see Wikipedia

Faxian 337 - 422 AD

Faxian 337 - 422 AD
Traveler carrying Buddhist scriptures on his back .
Between 399 and 414 AD, the Chinese monk Faxian (Fa-Hsien, Fa Hien) (337 - 422) undertook a trip via Central Asia to India seeking better copies of Buddhist books than were currently available in China. Although cryptic to the extent that we cannot always be sure where he was, his account does provide interesting information on the conditions of travel and the Buddhist sites and practices he witnessed. For example, he indicates clearly the importance of the seven precious substances for Buddhist worship, the widespread practice of stupa veneration, and his aquaintance with several of the jataka tales about the previous lives of the Buddha Sakyamuni, tales which are illustrated in the paintings at the Dunhuang caves.
From Washington University

Xuanzang 602 - 664 AD

Xuanzang 602 - 664 AD
Xuanzang (Táng Seng) was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator of Indian religious texts in the early Tang period. He became famous for his 17 year overland trip to India and back (627-643), which is recorded in detail in his autobiography, born into a family noted for its erudition for generations. He studied both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism for five years at Jingtu Monastery. Ordained in 622. In 627, Xuanzang secretly slipped out of the empire and started his pilgrimage to India:
His detailed travel accounts from the Silk Roads provides reliable information about distant countries whose terrain and customs had been known, at that time, in only the sketchiest way. In later centuries he was immortalized as a saint and his journey popularized in fables and vernacular literature. He is famous for the many Buddhist scriptures he brought back and translated. However, his travel account of the countries along the Silk Road remain most important to the early history of Eurasia to this day.

Xian 627

Xuangzang's Pilgrimage to India 627-643

Western Travelers to China

Ptolemy's Worldmap 2nd cent AD
Claudius Ptolemaeus (83 – 161 AD), known in English as Ptolemy, was a Greek mathematician, geographer, astronomer, and astrologer. He lived in Roman Egypt, and was probably born there at the town in the Thebaid called Ptolemais of Hermias; he died in Alexandria.161 AD
Ptolemy's worldmap 2nd cent AD, from Wikipedia

William Rubruck 1252-1255

William Rubruck 1252-1255
William of Rubruck (aka Willem van Ruysbroeck, Guillaume de Rubrouck (1220 -1293) was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. His account is one of the masterpieces of medieval geographical literature comparable to that of Marco Polo.

Nicolo and Maffeo Polo 1255-1269

Nicolo and Maffeo Polo 1255-1269
Marco Polo's father, Niccolo and his uncle, Maffeo, were prosperous merchants who traded in precious stones. They were partners with a third brother, named Marco il vecchio (the Elder).
In 1252, Niccolo and Maffeo left Venice for Constantinople, where they resided for several years. The two brothers lived in the Venetian quarter of Constantinople, where they enjoyed political preferences and tax relief because of their country's role in establishing the Latin Empire in the Fourth Crusade of 1204.
In 1264, Nicolo and Maffio joined up with an embassy sent by the Ilkhan Hulagu to his brother, the Grand Khan Kublai. In 1266, they reached the seat of the Grand Khan in the Mongol capital Khanbaliq, present day Beijing, China.
After their return in 1260 they set out a second time for Khanbalic in 1271, this time taking the 18-year-old Marco the Younger along.

Marco Polo's Travels to China 1271-1295

Marco Polo's Travels to China 1271-1295
Marco Polo, Il Milione, Title page of Chapters CXXIII and CXXIV. From Wikipedia, Marco Polo.
In 1271 Niccolo Polo took his 18-year-old son Marco Polo (1254 –1324) on a second journey to Kublai Khan's Khanbalic. They would not return home until 1295. Kublai Khan took a liking to the bright, young man and employed him on a number of diplomatic missions throughout his empire. Kublai Khan also made him governor for three years of the large city of Yangzhou.
In 1291 Kublai entrusted Marco with his last duty, to escort the Mongol princess Koekecin (Cocacin in Il Milione) to her betrothed, the Ilkhan Arghun. The party traveled by sea, departing from the southern port city of Quanzhou and sailing to Sumatra, and on to Persia via Sri Lanka and India.
Marco Polo was later captured in a minor clash of the war between Venice and Genoa, or in the naval battle of Curzola (1298). He spent the few months of his imprisonment dictating to a fellow prisoner, Rustichello da Pisa, a detailed account of his travels (in French), "Il Millione". The book made him famous. After his release in 1299 he got married and settled in Venice. Between 1310 and 1320, he wrote a new version of his book, Il Milione, in Italian. Marco Polo died in his home on January 1324, at almost 70 years old. He was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo.

Marco Polo's Cities
Names of cities and ethnicities are given in Marco Polo's spelling. Download the post for their view and his travel paths.

Casem
Names of cities and ethnicities are given in Marco Polo's spelling. Download the post for their view and his travel paths.

Badashan
Names of cities and ethnicities are given in Marco Polo's spelling. Download the post for their view and his travel paths.

Conia

Trapezont

Acre

Basra

Tana

Hili

Colombo

Passangan

Baros

Perla

Singapura

Caracoron

Campuchu

Balc

Lop

Vokhan

Sapurgan

Yasdi

Tauris

Hormuz

Kerman

Karakoram

Ningyuan

Nachi

Sindafu

Carajan

Tenduc

Cuju

Yochang

Yachi-Yunnanfu

Homi-Linjang

Tagalung

Taianfu

Khubilai Khan's Capital Taidu or Cambalu

Linjiu

Coiganju

Chanshan

Tanpiju

Changan

Zayton

Kelinfu

Unken-Fuju

Kinsay

Chianghianfu

Sinjumatu

Tadinfu

Changlu

Suju

Charchan

Cascar

Yarcan

Cotan

Traveled Routes

Locac

Polo's Journey to Taidu

Polo's Journey to Yunnan

Polo's Journey to Caracoron

Polo's Return

Marco Polo 1271-1295

MP's Journey to Yunnan

MP's Journey to Karakorum

Giovanni di Montecorvino 1289-1328

Giovanni di Montecorvino 1289-1328
John of Montecorvino, aka Giovanni di Montecorvino (b.1246 in Montecorvino - d.1328 in Peking), was a Franciscan monk who founded the earliest Roman Catholic missions in India and China, and became the first archbishop of Peking. Montecorvino was not only.a missionary and traveller but an extraordinarily gifted statesman.
He devoted himself - some say zealously - to the East, first to il-Khanid Persia (1275 -1289), then to India (1291-92).
He arrived in Khanbaliq in 1294 as Papal emissary just after Kublai Khan had died. Temur Khan (1294-1307) was less disposed towards foreign missionaries, nevertheless by 1299 he permitted Montecorvina to build a church. H
Montecorvino learned Chinese, preached in it, and translated the New Testament and the Psalms into Chinese. His community grew rapidly. Among the converts were alsoa number of Nestorians, who otherwise opposed him at the imperial court.
In 1308 In 1307 Pope Clement V sent 7 Franciscan bishops who were commissioned to consecrate John of Montecorvino archbishop of Peking. Only 3 survived the trip. Montecorvino was consecrated in 1308.
For the next 20 years the Chinese-Mongol mission continued to flourish under his leadership. When John of Montecorvino died 1328 AD a large community of believers and non-believers mourned him like a saint. He was the only effective European bishop in medieval Peking.

Giovanni di Monte Corvino 1289-1328

Odoric di Pordonone 1318-1330e

Odoric di Pordenone 1286-1331
Odoric of Pordenone (real name Odoric Mattiussi or Mattiuzzi) (c. 1286 1331) was a Franciscan monk and one of the chief travellers of the later Middle Ages. His account of his journay to China (1318-1330) became sufficiently popular that John Mandeville plagarized it exttensively.

Odoric di Pordenone 1318-1330

Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1402-1406

Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo 1402-1406
Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo (d. 1412), who was sent as ambassador to Tamerlane by King Henry III of Castile and Leon in Spain. Clavijo's journey from 1402 to 1406.
Clavijo's account is particularly rich for its information on some of the major commercial and political centers along the way and for the his descriptions of the conditions of travel. No other account of Timur's family home of Kesh (Shahr-i Siabs) and Timur's capital Samarkand provides the kind of interesting detail Clavijo does.
The maps are from the translation by Guy Le Strange, Clavijo. Embassy to Tamerlane 1403-1406 (New York and London: Harper, 1928) and are found online together with extensive text and 3 sketch maps at University of Washington, Silkroads Project

Clavijo's Travel to Shakhr-i-Zabz

Clavijo's Return 1406

Shahr-i-Zabz 1404
Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo in Shahr-i-Zabz 1405 AD
The remaining iwan of Timur Tamerlan's Aq Serai. Photo RWFG, 1989

Samarkand 1405
Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo travels to Samarkand 1402-1406

Cadiz 1402
Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo journey to Samarkand !402-1406

Arab Travelers

Ibn Batuta 1304-1377
Ibn Batuta b. 1304- d. 1377, His adventurous travels to the Far East: 1325-1354.
Often cited but seldom read - he wrote in Arabic - Ibn Batuta is the Arabian Marco Polo (1271-1295). In my estimation he is superior to Polo. Batuta presents the reader with most lively descriptions of his adventures and the local people. He is very open minded, decribing Christians as often as on Moslems. Neither Polo nor Batuta describe the landscape, at best it is "beautiful or fertile", often threatening. Francesco Petrarca's (1304 – 1374) discovery of the landscape (Mount Ventoux) has not reached Batuta yet.
At 21 Batuta left his home town of Tangier with the intention of making the obligatory pilgrimage to the Holy Cities of Islam. Diverted by war and the Black Death he ended up traveling for 29 years alone, with caravans, and by boat all over the Near and Far East.
Like Polo he is hired by local potentates as ambassidor in special missions. At one point he is obliged to accompany a Byzantine princess from the camp of her Uighur husband - the Khan of the Golden Horde - from Serai on the Volga to Constantinople. After she arrives there she refuses to return to her Khan! - He nearly drowns in a storm on the Black Sea, at an other time he is robbed in Central Asia. Black Death is sweeping the cities. His curiosity is insatiable, his observations on Moslem women are priceless.
I only present his journey to East Asia. After his return he also traveled through the Sahara to Mali in Central Africa - where all women walk around naked - and separately to Al Andalus (Andalucia).
For further reading: Wikipedia
For an English translation of excerpts from his travel diaries see: Fordham University
And a "clickable" map of his travels with detailed commentaries in French: Montlucon.planet-allier.com

Travel Paths

Ibn-Batuta's Travels

Ibn Batuta's Cities

Tangier
Ibn Batuta b. 1304- d. 1377, Travels to Beijing 1325-1354.

Ghandara
Ibn Batuta's travels 1325-1354

Beijing
Ibn Batuta's travels 1325-1354

Borneo
Ibn Batuta's travels 1325-1354

Summatra

Canton

Xiamen

Malabar Coast

Exporing the Nile

Pilgrimage to Mecca

Taking a Byzantine princess to Constantinople

Hebron

Bethlehem
>

Damascus
>

Medina

Mecca

Tabris

Jiddah

Taizz

Zabid

Sana'a

Mogadishu

Mombasa

Dhofar

Nazwa

Konya

Nicea

Sinope

Serai

Qipchaq

19th cent European Explorers

Central Asia

Ferdinand von Richthofen 1833-1905

Ferdinand von Richthofen 1833-1905
Ferdinand von Richthofen was professor of Geography at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin (1886). Among his most famous students was Sven Hedin, the Swedish explorer. He is noted for coining the terms "Seidenstraße" (Silk Road).
From 1862 - 1868 he worked as a geologist in the United States discovering Goldfields in California. This was followed by several trips to China, Japan, Burma and Java. He published his geographical, geological, economic, and ethnological findings in three volumes and an atlas.

Richthofen 1869-1870

Lhasa 1846
Abbé Huc, (1813 - 1860) was a French missionary traveller, famous for his accounts of China, Tartary and Tibet. He was one of the first to reach Lhasa tohewther with a Tbetan Christian convert.
Favourably received by the Tibetan regent, they opened a little chapel. They had begun to establish their mission when Ki-Shan, the Chinese resident interceded. Ki-Shan expelled Gabet and Huc from Lhasa February 26, 1846 under guard. They were officially escorted to Canton in October, 1846.

Evariste Regis Huc, or Abbe Huc, 1813 - 1860
Abbé Huc, (1813 - 1860) was a French missionary traveller, famous for his accounts of China, Tartary and Tibet. He was one of the first to reach Lhasa. Favourably received by the Tibetan regent, they opened a little chapel. They had begun to establish their mission when Ki-Shan, the Chinese resident interceded. Ki-Shan expelled Gabet and Huc from Lhasa February 26, 1846 under guard. They were officially escorted to Canton in October, 1846.
Huc's works - Souvenirs d'un voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet, et la Chine pendant les années 1844, 1845 et 1846, Paris in 1850 - are written in a lucid, spicy, picturesque style, secured for them an unusual degree of popularity. However, his esteem for Tibetan manners and religion was not welcomed by his Church: Quote: "The late Abbé Huc pointed out the similarities between the Buddhist and Roman Catholic ceremonials with such a naïveté, that, to his surprise, he found his delightful 'Travels in Thibet' placed on the 'Index'."

Nikolai Przhevalsky 1839 - 1888

Przhevalsky 1839-1888
Nikolai Przhevalsky 1839-1888
Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky was a Russian geographer and explorer of Central and Eastern Asia. Although he never reached his goal, Lhasa, he was the first European to discover the only extant species of wild horse and added immensely to the store of European knowledge on Central Asia.
Nikolai died of typhus at the place of this marker on his last expedition in 1888. The village is now called Przhevalsky. Przhevalsky's work was continued by his disciple Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov
There exists a persuvasive legend in Gori, Georgia (Stalin's birthplace) which maintains that Przhevalsky was Stalin's (1878 – 1953) natural father! Nikolai Mikhailovich (38) vacationed at the estate of a relative near Gori in 1877, and Stalin's mother was his maid there. - The facial similarities between the two are undeniable.
For further reading and a list of his many expeditions, see Wikipedia

9. Przhevalsky 1871-1872

11. Przhevalsky 1879

12. Prezhevalsky 1883

13. Prezhevalsky 1888

Francis Younghusband 1863 - 1942

Lhasa 1904
Younghusband expedition to Lhasa

Younghusband's Expeditions to Tibet 1886-19904
Francis Younghusband 1863 - 1942
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritualist. He is remembered chiefly for his travels in the Far East and Central Asia and his writings on the subject. Younghusband held positions including British commissioner to Tibet and President of the Royal Geographic Society.
In 1886-1887, on leave from his regiment, Younghusband made an expedition through Manchuria, crossing the Gobi Desert and pioneering a route from Kashgar and India through the uncharted Mustagh Pass. For this achievement he was elected the youngest member of the Royal Geographic Society and received the society's gold medal.
Then a Major, he served as British commissioner to Tibet from 1902-1904. In 1903-1904, under orders from the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, he, jointly with John Claude White, the Political Officer for Sikkim, led the infamous British military "Younghusband Expedition" to Lhasa as a result of disputes over the Sikkim-Tibet border. This controversial mission became a de facto invasion and British forces occupied Lhasa. During this brutal campaign on the way to Lhasa, Using superior machine guns Younghusband allowed 1,300 Tibetanss being laughtered in Gyangze. The British force was supported by King Ugyen Wangchuck of Bhutan, who was knighted in return for his services.
Younghusband's religious upbringing had a profound influence on his life. In 1884 he wrote in his diary that "I shall through my life be carrying out God's Divine message to mankind".

Younghusband 1887

Younghusband 1889

Younghusband 1904

Sven Hedin 1865 -1952

Sven Hedin 1865-1942
Sven Anders Hedin 1865 - 1952
Born in Stokholm in 1865 Hedin, between 1886 and 1892, studied geology, mineralogy, zoology, and Latin in Stockholm and Berlin, where he was a student of Ferdinand von Richthofen and my great-grandfather Heinrich Kiepert.
In the 43 years after finishing his doctorate in Berlin (1892) he led numerous expeditions in Central Asia (see the map below). Hedin was the first to unearth the ruins of several ancient Buddhist cities in Serindia. Among them the cemeteries around Loulan, to which he returned, 70-years old, on his last Swedish-Chinese expedition (partly sponsored by Lufthansa) in 1933-35. His most celebrated expeditions explored the Tibetan Transhimalayas (1905-1909) one of the largest white "unexplored regions" in Heinrich Kiepert's "Neuer Handatlas über alle Teile der Erde" (1855 et seq.)
Hedin was one of the first European scientific explorers who used native scientists and research assistants on his expeditions, treating them on an equal footing with his European colleagues. Always full of curiosity, Hedin continued his Asian expeditions late into his retirement years.
One of he best biographies of Sven Hedin in the internet is by Daniel C. Waugh, U. of Washington (Seattle)
A Swedish map showing all of Hedin's travels. From Wikipedia

Sven Hedin 1894-1897

Sven Hedin 1899-1902

Sven Hedin 1906

25. Sven Hedin 1908

Sir Marc Aurel Stein 1862 – 1943

Sir Aurel Stein 1900-1915
Sir Marc Aurel Stein 1862 – 1943)
Sir Marc Aurel Stein was a Hungarian archaeologist in British services. Stein, inspired by Sven Hedin's 1898 explorations, made four major expeditions to Central Asia: in 1900, 1906-8, 1913-16, and 1930. His discoveries were manuscripts in the previously lost Tocharian languages, and numerous archaeological sites in Xinjiang, Iran and Balochistan.
Stein's greatest discovery was a copy of the Diamond Sutra, the world's oldest dated printed text, at the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang, which he puchased there together with 40,000 other scrolls - all now in the museums of London, Srinigar, and New Dehli..
He died in 1943 and is buried in Kabul.
I don't show all of his travels. The clutter would be to large.

Srinagar 1908
Sir Aurel Stein in Srinagar

Dunhuang 1908
Sir Aurel Stein in Dunhuang

Stein 1900

Medain Salih

Sulaijil

Satala

Mukalla

Burkhardt 1812- 1815

Thesinger 1934-1950

The Neo-Romantics

The Neo-Romantics
In a certain sense all of the 19th-century European explorers were neo-romantics. The white, "unexplored" patches on the world maps of their time were an irresistible temptation to exlore them. There existed no airplanes, outomobiles, or satellites, one had to walk on foot - often risking one's heatlth and life.
However, among them were a number of men and women who were primarily driven by a thirst for mystical and religious enlightenment. Their destination was Tibet. Some of them (Alexandra David-Neel, Govinda) where keen observers and brought home much anthropological or artistic knowledge, others were more nearly charlatans whose imagination far exceed their judgement.
Their books, however unbelievable their content, were the best-sellers of their time. Entire movements grew from their 'reverse" missionizing (Blavatsky, Roerich) which influenced European art and popular culture well into the 20th cent (Theosophy, Anthroposophy). Perhaps it is justified to say that only the decision of the 14th Dalai Lama to spread Tibetan Buddhism in the West after 1960 put an end to and substantiated this popular craving for "Tibetan knowledge".

Alexandra David-Neel, 1868 - 1969.

Alexandra David-Neel 1868-1969
Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie - Alexandra David-Neel 1868-1969
Alexandra David-Neel, Tibet 1924
For a loving account of the younger years of this willful woman see Mysterious people
Mysterious to some she was by far the least Romantic of the people in this chapter - a tough lady who reached 101 years.
Educated as an opera singer she eloped an engagement of her company In 1890 and 1891, and traveled through India on her own, returning only when she ran out of money. In Tunis she met the railroad engineer Philippe Néel, whom she married in 1904. Faithful Philippe would support her till his death in 1941.
In 1911 Alexandra traveled a second time to India, to further her study of Buddhism. She was invited to stay at the royal monastery of Sikkim and became the "confidante and spiritual sister" of Maharaj KumarSidkeon, the crown prince orf Sikkim. She also met the 13th Dalai Lama twice in 1912.
1914-1916 she spend in a cave in Sikkim, near the Tibetan border. There she met the young Sikkimese monk Aphur Yongden, who became her lifelong traveling companion and later adopted son. From there they trespassed into Tibetan territory, meeting the Panchen Lama in Shigatse (1916), which earned her a deportation order from the British. Unable to return to Europe in the middle of World War I, they traveled to Japan.
Traversing China from east to west, she and Yongden walked to Lhasa in the Winter of 1924, and spent 2 months there.
In 1941 Alexandra settled in Digne les-Bains. She became a prolific author with 30 celebrated books to her credit.
In 1955 Yongden died. Alexandra continued to study and write till her death in Digne in 1969 at the age of 101.

Kunming 1924
Alaexandra David-Neel on her way to Lhasa

Lhasa 1924
Alaexandra David-Neel in Lhasa

Labrang 1924
Alaexandra David-Neel in Labrang

Kumbum-Taersi 1921
Alaexandra David-Neel in Kumbum-Taersi

Alexandra's Journey to Kham 1921-23

Alexandra's Jouirney to Lhasa 1924

Lama Anagarika Govinda (Ernst Lothar Hoffmann) 1898 -1985

Lama Anagarika Govinda 1898-1985
Lama Anagarika Govinda (Ernst Lothar Hoffmann) 1898 -1985
Lama Anagarika Govinda
Govinda was born Ernst Lothar Hoffmann in Waldheim, Germany, the son of a German father and a Bolivian mother. After spending two years in the German army during World War I, he caught tuberculosis and was discharged. He lived on Capri, Italy from 1920 until 1928, where he became interested in Buddhism. He then moved to Sri Lanka and became a Buddhist monk of the Theravadic tradition. From 1931 he embraced teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and after founding his order (Pali Tibetan Buddhist order of the Arya Maitreya Mandala) in 1933 he lived for three decades in Almora in northern India. As a German by birth, Govinda was interned by the British during World War II. In 1947 he married a Farsi speaking photographer, Li Gotami and travelled to Tibet.
In 1949 he and Li Gotami went on a pillgimage from Leh, Ladak to Tsaparang (Guge) returning to India via the Shipki pass. During this trip Gotami and he spent several weeks copying frescoes and photographing the sculptures in the temples of Tsaparang. The impressions from this pilgrimage he published as "The Way of the White Clouds" (1966), London: Hutchinson, Shambhala
In the 1960s he began travelling around the world to lecture on Buddhism, and settled in the San Francisco Bay area.

Tsaparang 1949
Gifinda and Li Gotami in Tsaparang

Govinda's Route through Guge (approximate) 1948-49

Nicholas Roerich 1874 - 1947

Nicholas Roerich 1874-1947 (Kulu)
Nicholas Roerich 1874 - 1947
Portrait of Nicholas Roerich, ~1940
Nicholas Roerich b. 1874 St. Petersburg; d. 1947, in Kulu, India) was a Russian painter, stage designer, writer, explorer, politician and founder of the "Master Institute of the United Arts" in New York. His father Konstantin, a well-to-do lawyer, came from Lithuania, his mother was of Tartar-Russian ancestry.
Roerich's stage-designs for Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring", in Paris (1913), based on ancient Russian motifs, were highly innovative and influential. The subjects of his colorful later paintings, now in Museums in New York, Moscow and Novosibirsk, deal with mystical visions of Russia, the Hymalayas and Tibet.
In 1920, 1929, and 1935 Roerich visited the US founding or joining several theosophical groups. He entertained good relations with various US Presidents. The pyramid on the reverse of the 1-Dollar bill (and the "Great Seal of the United States") was his suggestion and design (1926)! He initiated the "Roerich Pact" signed between 20 nations in 1935 at the White House. The Roerich Pact is an early international instrument protecting cultural property.
Between 1923 and 1928 Roerich traveled from India through Tibet to Siberian Russia, Serindia, Ladakh and back to Kulu where he founded the "Himalayan Research Institute"
Roerich died 1947 in Kulu.

Roerich's Expeditions 1925-28

Madame Yelena Blavatsky 1831- 1891
A Note on Madame Elena Blavatsky 1831- 1891
Arguably the most influential Romanic of the outgoing 19th century was Yelena Blavatsky, Елена Блаватская, nee Helena von Hahn zu Hahn, the founding lady of the Theosophixal Society, still very much in existence.
She grew up at the house of her grandfather Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeyev, Governor of Tiflis (Tbilisi), who with his wife Helene (nee Princess Dolgoruky) were prominent figures of the Russian enlightenment. To escape her gransparents house before she turned seventeen, she married the forty-year old Nikifor (also Nicephor) Vassilievitch Blavatsky, vice-governor of Erivan. The marriage was unhappy and unconsumed, and she eloped again and sailed away with the skipper of an English bark bound for Constantinople.
According to her own biography, she spent the years 1848 to 1858 traveling the world, and claimed to have visited Egypt, France, Canada (Quebec), England, South America, Germany, Mexico, India, Greece and especially Tibet to study for two years with the men she called Brothers. She claimed to have become a Buddhist while in Sri Lanka and been initiated in Tibet.
My write up is not a counter biography. Her dubiuos second marriage to an opera singer is of no interest here. But I followed her purported travels in Russia, India, and especially in Tibet - from Ladakh to Tashilhumpo-Shigatse ! Suffering from heart disease and rheumatism, being overweight and later tied to a wheel chair, she could never have made that arduous journey. Hers was a flight of fantasy, not to call it an outright swindel.
So I have nothing to show for her earthly journeys on the sober surface of Google-Earth.