There are several theories about the origins of the Greek language. One theory suggests that it originated with a migration of proto-Greek speakers into the Greek peninsula, which is dated to any period between 2500 BC and 1700 BC. Another theory maintains that the migration into Greece occurred at a pre-proto-Greek (late PIE) stage, and the characteristic Greek sound-changes occurred later. History of Greek - Linear B. The first known script for writing Greek was the Linear B syllabary, used for the archa ...

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History of Greek, History of Greek - Origins, History of Greek - Linear B, History of Greek - Ancient Greek dialects, History of Greek - Attic Greek, History of Greek - Hellenistic Greek - Koiné, History of Greek - Medieval and Modern Greek

Read more here: » History of Greek: Encyclopedia II - History of Greek - Origins

The map on the right depicts the subdivisions ("languages" or "dialect groups") within Chinese. The traditionally recognized seven main groups, in order of population size are: Mandarin 官話/官话 or 北方方言(old name) Wu 吳/吴 Cantonese 粵/粤 Min 閩/闽 Xiang 湘 Hakka 客家 or 客 Gan 贛/赣 In parentheses above are the culturally dominant or representativ ...

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Chinese language, Chinese language - Spoken Chinese, Chinese language - Language or language family?, Chinese language - Written Chinese, Chinese language - Chinese characters, Chinese language - History, Chinese language - Influence on other languages, Chinese language - Sounds, Chinese language - Romanization, Chinese language - Other Transcriptions, Chinese language - Morphology, Chinese language - Loanwords, Chinese language - Grammar

Read more here: » Chinese language: Encyclopedia II - Chinese language - Spoken Chinese

Since no written records exist from the period the carvings were created, there is no way to know what purposes they were meant to serve and what spurred their creation. Possible explanations include use in shamanistic rituals, totemistic symbols that denoted tribal unity or marked a tribe's territory, a kind of historical record of important events, or even simple artistic pleasure. Since individual carvings show such a wide array of different images and the carvings were created over an extremely long period of time, it seems plausible that individual carvings might have served any of the purposes li ...

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Rock carvings at Alta, Rock carvings at Alta - Cultural and historical background, Rock carvings at Alta - Discovery and restoration, Rock carvings at Alta - Imagery and interpretations, Rock carvings at Alta - Animals, Rock carvings at Alta - Hunting and Fishing scenes, Rock carvings at Alta - Scenes of mundane life and scenes of rituals, Rock carvings at Alta - Geometric symbols

Read more here: » Rock carvings at Alta: Encyclopedia II - Rock carvings at Alta - Imagery and interpretations

What we know of the life of Zoroaster is from the Avesta, the Gāthās, the Greek texts, oral history (which is a significant method of teaching in the tradition), and what can be inferred from archaeological evidence. The 13th section of the Avesta, the Spena Nask, the description of Zoroaster's life, has perished over the centuries. The biographies in the seventh book of the Dēnkard (9th century) an ...

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Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Name, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in History, Zoroaster - Life, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in Historical Context, Zoroaster - Date of Zoroaster, Zoroaster - Zoroastrian teachings, Zoroaster - Zoroaster in the West, Zoroaster - Contemporary views, Zoroaster - Bibliography

Read more here: » Zoroaster: Encyclopedia II - Zoroaster - Life

Modern mail is usually organised by national services (that in recent times are increasingly being replaced by privately owned companies), reciprocally interconnected by international regulations (some of which still in their original 18th-century form, many others of which are set out by the Universal Postal Union), organisations and agreements. Mail - Organization. The world-wide postal system comprising the individual national postal systems of the world's self-governing states is co-ordinated by the Un ...

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Mail, Mail - Early postal systems, Mail - Persia, Mail - China, Mail - Rome, Mail - Other systems, Mail - Modern mail, Mail - Organization, Mail - Payment, Mail - Rules and etiquette, Mail - Rise of electronic correspondence, Mail - Collecting, Mail - Deregulation, Mail - Types of mail, Mail - Letters, Mail - Postal cards and postcards, Mail - Other, Mail - Famous letters, Mail - List of national postal services

Read more here: » Mail: Encyclopedia II - Mail - Modern mail

The early history of Banská Bystrica is connected with the exploitation of abundant deposits of copper (and to a lesser extent of silver, gold, and iron). The tools used by prehistoric miners in a locality called Špania Dolina are dated as early as 2000-1700 BC. In 1255, King Béla IV of Hungary granted Banská Bystrica extensive municipal privileges in order to attract skilled settlers from the Holy Roman Empire. The town, called Neusohl by these Carpathian Germans, flourished as a regional mining center. In th ...

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Banská Bystrica, Banská Bystrica - History, Banská Bystrica - Places of interest, Banská Bystrica - Famous people

Read more here: » Banská Bystrica: Encyclopedia II - Banská Bystrica - History

As early as Akkadian times, Hurrians are known to have lived east of the river Tigris on the northern rim of Mesopotamia, and in the Khabur valley. Hurrians are mentioned in the private Nuzi texts, in Ugarit, and the Hittite archives in Hattushsha (Bogazköy). Cuneiform texts from Mari mention rulers of city-states in upper Mesopotamia with both Amurru (Amorite) and Hurrian names. Rulers with Hurrian names are also attested for Urshum and Hashshum, and tablets from Alalakh (layer VII, from the later part of the old-Babylonian period) ...

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Mitanni, Mitanni - Hurri Mitanni/Maitani and Hanilgalbat, Mitanni - History, Mitanni - Unknown rulers, Mitanni - Barattarna / Parshatatar, Mitanni - Shaushtatar, Mitanni - Artatama I and Shuttarna II, Mitanni - Artasshumara, Mitanni - Tushratta, Mitanni - Shattiwaza, Mitanni - Shattuara I, Mitanni - Wasashatta, Mitanni - Shattuara II, Mitanni - Hanilgalbat as an Assyrian Province, Mitanni - Neo-Assyrian times, Mitanni - Possible connections to Sanskrit and Indo-Aryans, Mitanni - Mitanni rulers, Mitanni - Towns, Mitanni - Excavations, Mitanni - Sources

Read more here: » Mitanni: Encyclopedia II - Mitanni - History

The map on the right depicts the subdivisions ("languages" or "dialect groups") within Chinese. The traditionally recognized seven main groups, in order of population size are: Mandarin 北方 or 官話/官话 (old name) Wu 吳/吴 Cantonese 粵/粤 Min 閩/闽 Xiang 湘 Hakka 客家 or 客 Gan 贛/赣 Chinese linguists have recently distinguished 3 more groups from the traditional seven: Jin 晉/晋 from Mandarin Hui 徽 from Wu ...

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Chinese language, Chinese language - Spoken Chinese, Chinese language - Language or language family?, Chinese language - Written Chinese, Chinese language - Chinese characters, Chinese language - History, Chinese language - Influence on other languages, Chinese language - Sounds, Chinese language - Romanization, Chinese language - Other Transcriptions, Chinese language - Morphology, Chinese language - Loanwords, Chinese language - Grammar

Read more here: » Chinese language: Encyclopedia II - Chinese language - Spoken Chinese

Gods Enlil Ishtar Tiamat and Tablets of Destiny Annunaki Marduk and Babylon Heroes Utnapishtim Tammuz Gilgamesh and Enkidu Monsters Zu Humbaba Kingu Resheph Namtar Related Me, divine decrees Ma, primeval land Irkalla, the underworld Mesopotamian religion The Fertile Crescent

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Deluge mythology, Deluge mythology - Flood myths in various cultures, Deluge mythology - Ancient Near East, Deluge mythology - Europe, Deluge mythology - Americas, Deluge mythology - India, Deluge mythology - China, Deluge mythology - Batak Indonesia, Deluge mythology - Theories of origin, Deluge mythology - Other references

Read more here: » Deluge mythology: Encyclopedia II - Deluge mythology - Flood myths in various cultures

The birth of the state, in the broadest sense of the word, coincides with the rise of civilization. For most of the existence of the human species, people lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. That lifestyle began to change with the invention of agriculture around the 9th millennium BC. The practice of agriculture made it necessary for human beings to build permanent settlements and spend most of their lives in close proximity to the land they cultivated. Thus, control over land became an issue for the first time. To express that control, vario ...

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State, State - Introduction, State - Etymology, State - Nation country and state, State - Formation of the state, State - International point of view, State - The domestic point of view, State - Philosophies of the state

Read more here: » State: Encyclopedia II - State - Formation of the state

The birth of the state, in the broadest sense of the word, coincides with the rise of civilization. For most of the existence of the human species, people lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. That lifestyle began to change with the invention of agriculture around the 9th millennium BC. The practice of agriculture made it necessary for human beings to build permanent settlements and spend most of their lives in close proximity to the land they cultivated. Thus, control over land became an issue for the first time. To express that control, vario ...

See also:

State, State - Introduction, State - Etymology, State - Formation of the state, State - International point of view, State - The domestic point of view, State - Philosophies of the state

Read more here: » State: Encyclopedia II - State - Formation of the state

A great deal of speculation developed around the disc during the 20th century. The Phaistos Disc captured the imagination of amateur archeologists. Alas, some of the more fanciful interpretations of its meaning are living classics of pseudoarchaeology. Many attempts have been made to decipher the code behind the disc's glyphs. Historically, almost anything has been proposed, including prayers, a narrative or an adventure story, a "psalterion", a call to arms, a board game, and a geometric theorem. While many enthusiasts still believe ...

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Phaistos Disc, Phaistos Disc - Discovery, Phaistos Disc - Archaeological context, Phaistos Disc - Physical description, Phaistos Disc - The text, Phaistos Disc - The strokes, Phaistos Disc - Direction of printing and Direction of reading, Phaistos Disc - Attempted decipherment, Phaistos Disc - Uniqueness, Phaistos Disc - Selected bibliography, Phaistos Disc - General, Phaistos Disc - Decipherment claims, Phaistos Disc - New Age speculations

Read more here: » Phaistos Disc: Encyclopedia II - Phaistos Disc - Attempted decipherment

ECK master - Rami Nuri. Rami Nuri is one ECK master, from an unspecified time in the past. According to the religion's beliefs, he now lives in a city called Retz on the planet Venus. Rami Nuri is the guardian of a holy book called the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, which is kept in one of what is called a Temple of Golden Wisdom.[7] ECK master - Lai Tsi. Similarly, Lai Tsi is an ECK master from a time unspecified in either the website or in Twitchell's ...

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ECK master, ECK master - Important ECK masters, ECK master - Rami Nuri, ECK master - Lai Tsi, ECK master - Gopal Das, ECK master - Yaubl Sacabi, ECK master - Fubbi Quantz, ECK master - Rebazar Tarzs, ECK master - Others, ECK master - Women as ECK masters, ECK master - Historical figures as ECK masters, ECK master - Origins of the ECK masters, ECK master - Notes, ECK master - References

Read more here: » ECK master: Encyclopedia II - ECK master - Important ECK masters

The linguistic facts of the situation are little disputed. However, linguistic data alone cannot determine whether this migration was peaceful or invasive. Different linguists have argued for either, or for a combination of both, on extra-linguistic grounds. Most of the languages of northern South Asia belong to a single language family, the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European family of languages. The languages of South India belong to a different language family, the Dravidian languages, which has not been proven to be linked wi ...

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Indo-Aryan migration, Indo-Aryan migration - Overview, Indo-Aryan migration - History, Indo-Aryan migration - Linguistics, Indo-Aryan migration - Philology, Indo-Aryan migration - Rig Veda, Indo-Aryan migration - Vedic and Puranic King lists, Indo-Aryan migration - Puranas, Indo-Aryan migration - Avesta and Airyanem Vaejah, Indo-Aryan migration - Archaeology, Indo-Aryan migration - Indus Valley Civilization, Indo-Aryan migration - Vasishta head, Indo-Aryan migration - Pottery, Indo-Aryan migration - West Asia, Indo-Aryan migration - Astronomical data, Indo-Aryan migration - Physical Anthropology, Indo-Aryan migration - Genetics and Archaeogenetics

Read more here: » Indo-Aryan migration: Encyclopedia II - Indo-Aryan migration - Linguistics

Throughout history Chinese culture and politics has had a great influence on unrelated languages such as Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese. Korean and Japanese both have writing systems employing Chinese characters (Hanzi), which are called Hanja and Kanji, respectively. The Vietnamese term for Chinese writing is Han Tu. It was the only available form to write the Vietnamese until the 14th century, used almost exclusively by Chinese-educated Vietnamese elites. From the 14th till late 19th century, Vietnamese was written with Chu Nom, a ...

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Chinese language, Chinese language - Spoken Chinese, Chinese language - Language or language family?, Chinese language - Written Chinese, Chinese language - Chinese characters, Chinese language - History, Chinese language - Influence on other languages, Chinese language - Sounds, Chinese language - Romanization, Chinese language - Other Transcriptions, Chinese language - Morphology, Chinese language - Loanwords, Chinese language - Grammar

Read more here: » Chinese language: Encyclopedia II - Chinese language - Influence on other languages

For most of historic time, the land area now known as modern Iraq was almost equivalent to Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamian plain between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates (in Arabic, the Dijla and Furat, respectively), is part of the Fertile Crescent. Many dynasties and empires ruled the Mesopotamia region such as Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia. History of Iraq - Mesopotamia. It was in Mesopotamia about 3000 BC where the Sumerian culture flourished. The civilized life that emerged at Sumer was shaped ...

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History of Iraq, History of Iraq - Prehistory, History of Iraq - Ancient Times, History of Iraq - Mesopotamia, History of Iraq - Post-Sumerian civilizations, History of Iraq - Chaldeans, History of Iraq - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon, History of Iraq - Persian Domination; 550 BCE to 652 CE, History of Iraq - Ethnic Diversity & Religion, History of Iraq - The Arab conquest and the early Islamic period, History of Iraq - The Turkish Conquest, History of Iraq - Modern History, History of Iraq - The Iraqi Monarchy, History of Iraq - The Republic, History of Iraq - Rule Under Saddām, History of Iraq - Invasion of Kuwait and the Persian Gulf War, History of Iraq - Iraq under UN Sanction, History of Iraq - 2003 invasion of Iraq, History of Iraq - Coalition occupation of Iraq, History of Iraq - Coalition withdrawal

Read more here: » History of Iraq: Encyclopedia II - History of Iraq - Ancient Times

As Greeks colonized from Asia Minor to Egypt to the Middle East, the Greek language began to evolve into multiple dialects. Alexander the Great (356 BC–323 BC) was instrumental in combining these dialects to form the Koiné (Κοινή; "common"). Imposing a common Greek dialect allowed Alexander's combined army to communicate internally. The language was also learned by the inhabitants of the regions that Alexander conquered, turning Greek into a world language. The Greek language continued to thrive after Alexander, during the Helleni ...

See also:

History of Greek, History of Greek - Origins, History of Greek - Linear B, History of Greek - Ancient Greek dialects, History of Greek - Attic Greek, History of Greek - Hellenistic Greek - Koiné, History of Greek - Medieval and Modern Greek

Read more here: » History of Greek: Encyclopedia II - History of Greek - Hellenistic Greek - Koiné

Since 1906, the Deutsche Orientgesellschaft (the German Institute of Archaeology) has been excavating at Hattusa (with breaks during the two World Wars and the Depression). Archaeological work is still carried out by the German Institute of Archaeology (Deutsche Archäologische Institut). Hugo Winckler und Theodor Makridi Bey conducted the first excavations 1906, 1907 and 1911-13. One of its most important discoveries has been the cuneiform royal archives of clay tablets, consisting of official correspondence and contracts, as well as legal ...

See also:

Hattusa, Hattusa - The surroundings, Hattusa - Early history of the city, Hattusa - The Hittite Imperial City, Hattusa - Discovery of the city, Hattusa - Bibliography

Read more here: » Hattusa: Encyclopedia II - Hattusa - Discovery of the city

Before 2000 BC a settlement of the apparently indigenous Hatti people was established on sites that had been occupied even earlier. The earliest traces of settlement on the site is from the Sixth Millennium BC. In the 19th and 18th centuries BC, merchants from Ashur in Assyria established a trading post here, setting up in their own separate quarter of the city. The center of their trade network was located in Kanesh (Nesha), the archaeological site known as Kültepe near Kayseri. Business dealings required record-keeping: the trade network from Ashur int ...

See also:

Hattusa, Hattusa - The surroundings, Hattusa - Early history of the city, Hattusa - The Hittite Imperial City, Hattusa - Discovery of the city, Hattusa - Bibliography

Read more here: » Hattusa: Encyclopedia II - Hattusa - Early history of the city

In CE 600 the country which in our modern time known as Iraq was a province of the Iranian Empire known as khvarvaran province, to which it had belonged since Cyrus the Great. Intensive irrigation agriculture of the lower Tigris and Euphrates and of tributaries such as the Diyala and Karun formed the main resource base of the Sasanian monarchy. The Arabic term Iraq, a derivative form of Persian Ērāk (lower Iran) was not used at this time; in the mid-6th century the Iranian Empire under Sasanian dynasty was divided by Khosrow I into ...

See also:

History of Iraq, History of Iraq - Prehistory, History of Iraq - Ancient Times, History of Iraq - Mesopotamia, History of Iraq - Post-Sumerian civilizations, History of Iraq - Chaldeans, History of Iraq - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon, History of Iraq - Persian Domination; 550 BCE to 652 CE, History of Iraq - Ethnic Diversity & Religion, History of Iraq - The Arab conquest and the early Islamic period, History of Iraq - The Turkish Conquest, History of Iraq - Modern History, History of Iraq - The Iraqi Monarchy, History of Iraq - The Republic, History of Iraq - Rule Under Saddām, History of Iraq - Invasion of Kuwait and the Persian Gulf War, History of Iraq - Iraq under UN Sanction, History of Iraq - 2003 invasion of Iraq, History of Iraq - Coalition occupation of Iraq, History of Iraq - Coalition withdrawal

Read more here: » History of Iraq: Encyclopedia II - History of Iraq - Persian Domination; 550 BCE to 652 CE

The landscape surrounding the city included rich agricultural fields, hill lands for pasture, as well as woods. Smaller woods are still found outside the city but in ancient times there were much more. This meant the inhabitants had a great supply for timber when building their houses and other structures. The fields provided the people with a subsistence of wheat, barley and lentils. Linen was also grown, but their primary source for clothing was wool from sheep. They also hunted deer in the forest, but this was probably only a pleasure by ...

See also:

Hattusa, Hattusa - The surroundings, Hattusa - Early history of the city, Hattusa - The Hittite Imperial City, Hattusa - Discovery of the city, Hattusa - Bibliography

Read more here: » Hattusa: Encyclopedia II - Hattusa - The surroundings