The Greek-Roman author Polyaenus was a younger contemporary of Arrian of Nicomedia, and published a book on the Stratagems of war that was to be used by the Roman emperor Lucius Verus. In this book, he also dealt with the…
Between 570 and 544, Phalaris was tyrant of Acragas, a newly founded city in southern Sicily, which he made very powerful. Our sources portray him as a clever man, and although many stories are probably untrue, they are nice to…
Polybius of Megalopolis (c.200 - c.118) is one of the most important historians from Antiquity. In his World History (a modern title) he describes the rise of Rome, but it contains digressions on other subjects. In the following lines, he…
Founding of Carthage: according to tradition, Carthage was founded in 814 BCE by a Phoenician princess named Elissa.The story of the founding of Carthage is told by a Roman author named Justin, who made an excerpt of the history written…
Q is the name used by scholars to describe a lost source on Jesus' teachings. It can be reconstructed from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, which are based on two earlier sources: the gospel of Mark and Q. Stated…
Even today, the Zoroastrians (that is, the followers of the legendary prophet Zarathustra) tell stories about a serious religious persecution by Alexander the Great, who killed the priests and ordered the holy book of Zoroastrianism, the Avesta, to be destroyed.…
In his History of the Jugurthine War, section 78, the Roman author Sallust (86-34 BCE) informs us about the early history of Lepcis Magna. When he speaks about "Sidon", he probably does not mean the city, but Phoenicia in general;…
Achaemenid Royal Inscriptions: collection of Old Persian cuneiform texts from the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries BCE, left by the Achaemenid kings on their official monuments.A3 Seals
A3 Seal a
By Artaxerxes.
A3 Seal b
I am the great king Artaxerxes.
Literature
Pierre Lecoq, Les inscriptions de la Perse…
Sozomen was a Christian author, who lived in the first half of the fifth century and wrote an Ecclesiastical History. The following story (5.10) may be true, although the remarks about sacred prostitution are probably innuendo. The translator is unknown.
In India, Alexander the Great (or his representative Onesicritus) had an interview with the Brahman sages, who lived near Taxila. One of these people, a man named Calanus (Indian Kalyana), followed the conqueror to the west, where he died. The…