Ancient civilizations that you are unlikely to find in history textbooks

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The stories of these ancient civilizations are unlikely to be found in history textbooks. But, nevertheless, they deserve our attention:

Yuezhi

Yuezhi, it seems, had time to make war with everyone. A sort of Forrest Gump of ancient history, they took part in an incredible number of important events in Eurasia for several centuries. The Yuezhi formed as a union of several nomadic tribes that lived in the steppes north of China. Their merchants covered considerable distances, exchanging jade, silk, and horses. The flourishing trade became a source of conflict with the Xiongnu, which eventually drove the Yuezhi out of the Chinese market. Having gone west, they stumbled upon the Greco-Bactrians, conquered them and forced them to move to India. The migration of the Yuezhi across the territory of the Greco-Bactrians also touched the tribes called the Saki, as a result of which they flooded the Parthian kingdom. In the end, the tribes of the Scythians and Sakas settled on the territory of Afghanistan. In the first and second centuries of our era, the Yuezhi fought the same Scythians, and also occasionally participated in military clashes with Pakistan and China. During this period, the Yuezhi tribes were able to consolidate and create a powerful sedentary agricultural economy. This Kushan kingdom flourished for three centuries, until the forces of Persia, India and Pakistan reclaimed their former territories.

Axum

There are many legends about the Aksumite kingdom. In the imagination of Europeans, it was reputed to be the birthplace of the mythical presbyter John, and the lost kingdom of the Queen of Sheba, and even the last refuge of the Ark of the Covenant. The real Ethiopian kingdom was a powerful international trade force. Thanks to access to the trade routes of the Nile and the Red Sea, trade flourished, and by the beginning of our era most of the Ethiopian tribes were under the rule of the Aksumites. The growing power of Aksum allowed him to expand his borders all the way to Arabia. In the third century AD, the Persian philosopher named Aksum one of the four greatest kingdoms in the world, along with Rome, China and Persia. Following Rome, Aksum converted to Christianity and flourished until the Middle Ages. It could have remained the most powerful state in East Africa if it had not been for the expansion of Islam. After the Arab conquest of the shores of the Red Sea, Axum lost its trade advantage over its neighbors. Ironically, only a few decades earlier, the Aksumite king had given shelter to the early followers of Muhammad, thus helping to spread the religion that eventually wiped out Aksum from the face of the earth.

Kush or Meroite Kingdom

For almost half a millennium (1500-1000 BC), Kush was ruled by its northern neighbor Egypt, in whose manuscripts it is indicated as a rich source of gold and other valuable natural resources. However, Kush's origins lie in a much deeper past. In the area of its capital Kerma, ceramic artifacts have been discovered dating back to about the eighth millennium BC. Already in 2400 BC. Kush boasted a complex urban society and large-scale agriculture. In the 9th century BC. the instability of Egypt allowed the Kushites to regain their independence, and then in 750 BC. even get the best of him. In the century that followed, the Kushite pharaohs ruled even larger territories than their Egyptian predecessors. It was they who resumed the construction of the pyramids and contributed to their construction in Sudan. Eventually, the invading Assyrians drove the Kushites out of Egypt, ending centuries of cultural exchange between the two countries. The Kushites traveled south and settled at Meroe on the southeastern bank of the Nile. Here, breaking with Egyptian influence, they founded their writing, now called Meroite. However, the language has not yet been deciphered, and most of the history of the Kushites remains a mystery. The last king of Kush died in AD 300. but the reasons for the collapse of the state are hidden in the darkness of history.

Kingdom of Yam

This kingdom undoubtedly existed as a trading partner and a possible rival of Egypt. However, its location is also unclear, as is the location of the mythical Atlantis. According to the records found in the tomb of the Egyptian explorer Harhuf, Yam was a land of "incense, ebony, elephant tusks and boomerangs." Despite the fact that Kharkhuf writes about seven months of travel, Egyptologists have long ago located the land of boomerangs only a few hundred kilometers from the Nile. According to the generally accepted opinion, the ancient Egyptians were not able to cross the inhospitable expanses of the Sahara desert, moreover, if they did not know what awaited them at the end of the journey. However, we seem to have underestimated the Egyptian traders, as hieroglyphics recently found seven hundred kilometers west of the Nile confirm the fact of trade between Egypt and Yam. According to these records, Yam was located somewhere in the northern highlands of Chad. It remains a mystery how the Egyptians traveled hundreds of kilometers of desert before the wheel was invented, but at least their purpose is no longer questioned.

Hunnu

The Hunnu Empire, which united the nomadic tribes, ruled north of China from the third to the first centuries BC. Imagine Genghis Khan's army, but a thousand years earlier. And with chariots. Unfortunately, they didn't leave too many records. We know for sure that the Xiongnu raids on China were so destructive that Emperor Qin Shihuandi ordered the construction of the Great Wall to begin. Half a century later, continued raids forced the Chinese, now under the rule of the Han Dynasty, to fortify and lengthen the Great Wall. In 166 BC. one hundred thousand Xiongnu horsemen invaded so deeply into the territory of China that only 160 kilometers did not reach the capital, and were hardly thrown back. Subsequently, internal disagreements, hereditary disputes and conflicts with other nomads weakened the Xiongnu so much that the Chinese were able to establish some semblance of control over their northern neighbor. And yet the Xiongnu were the first of the nomadic empires of the Asian steppes.