Timeline
372
AD
The Huns, under Balamir, cross the Volga and
defeat the Ostrogoths in the Ukraine.
Some Ostrogoths join in with the Huns; some penetrate
into the land of the Visigoths, north of the Danube.
1
AD - Beginning of the Christian Era (1 AD, anno domini)
- a system first used by Dionysius Exiguus in
527 AD. Phraates V and the young Gaius Caesar meet on an
island in the Euphrates and Rome recognizes Parthia as a
power of some standing while Parthia renounces the right
to interfere in Armenia
Literature
and Drama
Ovid's Metamorphoses.
159
BC
Statistics
In the space of a century the number of Roman
citizens has grown by about an eighth to 338,314.
215
BC (-212 BC)
The Carthaginians fail to recapture Sardinia. Hannibal
captures Tarentum but is denied any reinforcements from
Spain by the activities of Publius Scipio senior and his
brother Cnaeus. Syracuse revolts against Rome and holds
out for four years.
509
BC
Politics, Government, Law, and Economy
After the expulsion of King Tarquinius Superbus the
Romans draw up a republican constitution. The system of
twin consulate is established along with the twin office
of quaestors as financial and legal officers.
Predictably
power is vested in the landed aristocracy, with their
Senate of much greater importance than the people's
Assembly. The Plebs (i.e., all those other than
aristocratic families, including the growing commercial
class) now begin their long struggle for power, sometimes
known as the Struggle of the Orders, which affects Roman
politics throughout the life of the Republic.
733
BC (-722 BC)
Israel and Syria, with some backing from Van and
the Neo-Hittites, form a confederacy against Assyria,
which King Ahaz of Judah refuses to join. Tiglath-Pileser
III comes to the support of Ahaz and invades Syria and
northern Israel. He extinguishes the Syrian monarchy,
sets up a puppet king, Hosea, in Israel, and deports the
leading citizens of Galilee.
Society,
Education, and Religion
The prophets Micah and Isaiah announce their
warnings and denunciations for action to avoid disaster.
Both regard Assyria as the necessary instrument of God's
displeasure if the people will not mend their ways.
However, Isaiah is by no means without hope, nor can he
conceive of Jerusalem not surviving - hence his later
uncompromising advice to Hezekiah to defy the Assyrians.
1115
BC
Tiglath-Pileser I comes to the Assyrian throne and
consolidates Assyrian power. He takes full opportunity of
the fact that all the neighbouring powers are weak,
rounds off his country's first period of power with a
series of military campaigns coupled with sound and
enlightened administration. He strikes northwest into the
Taurus mountains, relieves the pressure of a combination
of petty princes on his province of Kummukh (Roman
Commegane), and meets and defeats the remnants of the
Hittites. He also reaches the Mediterranean coast and
extracts tribute from the Lebanon, Byblos, and Sidon.
1200
BC
Probable date for the first arrival of the Dorian
Greeks, or at least a new group of Greek speakers, in the
Peloponnese. Their arrival was followed during the
remainder of the century by the destruction of the
Mycenaean palaces. The palaces destroyed are Mycenae
itself, Tiryns (probably caused by an earthquake), and
Pylos where the Linear B tablets appear to tell of the
struggle. This century sees the end of the Bronze Age in
the Middle East and the Aegean and the beginning of a
Dark Age, at least in the latter area. The turmoil caused
by the People of the Sea may have been caused by renewed
pressure, from the north, of Indo-European tribes; as the
century progresses these tribes, in particular the
Phrygians and Dorian Greeks, penetrate into Asia Minor
and Greece.
Society,
Education, and Religion
In China, The Book of Changes, or I Ching, a dissertation
on divination, probably appears in this century.
Humanities
and Scholarship
At Pylos in the Peloponnese (legendary home of the
Homeric Nestor) the Linear B tablets expand from their
traditional function of ration indents and so forth to
record a series of military and naval dispositions -
perhaps made in an effort to stay the invasion of the
Dorian Greeks.
1300
BC
The great city of the Shang Dynasty - An Yang on
the Huan river, north of the Hwang-ho - is founded about
now, although the date could be up to 100 years earlier.
The traditional founder is the tribal chief Pan-Keng.
Archaeological
digging from the beginning of the 20th century has shown
that the traditional claim for a great city is justified,
and that a brilliant but barbaric culture exists for two
and a half centuries.
Politics,
Government, Law, and Economy
(-1250 BC) Mycenaean maritime trade is extensive,
extending into Syria in the east and probably as far as
the British Isles in the west.
The Trojan
War and the Hittite references to the Ahhiyawa lead to
the supposition that the Mycenaeans, besides punishing
the rape of Helen, are seeking to gain commercial
advantages in the control of the entrance to the Black
Sea by war.
Society,
Education, and Religion
'Linear B' tablets found at Mycenaean Thebes and at
Tiryns are thought to date from about this time, thus
bridging the gap between those at Knossos and Pylos.After
the expulsion of King Tarquinius Superbus the Romans draw
up a republic.
1600
BC
In the Aegean, Greek-speaking invaders have
penetrated into the Peloponnese, where they begin to
prosper and grow rich. They evolve the Mycenaean culture,
named after its chief stronghold, Mycenae. Mycenae is
ruled by a dynasty of kings, whose 'shaft graves'
(discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae)
date from this century.
Politics,
Government, Law, and Economy
The Minoans' favourable position on trade routes across
the eastern Mediterranean, extends their influence
throughout the Aegean. Their new palaces develop into
political, economic, administrative, and religious
centres, also containing storehouses and craftsmen's
workshops. Their rulers go down in Greek legend as great
law-makers. The Mycenean 'shaft graves', discovered by
Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae, contain great
wealth and fine art and weaponry, indicating the
Mycenaean princes are rapidly accumulating wealth.
Society,
Education, and Religion
The Minoans change from a largely pictographic
hieroglyphic script to 'Linear A'. This new script is not
so elaborate or efficient as the later 'Linear B'; it has
not yet been deciphered and is presumed to have been in
the unknown Minoan tongue. The 'snake goddess' and other
artefacts found at Knossos and elsewhere in Crete
indicate a Minoan worship of a 'Mother-Earth' goddess.
The 'bull-leap' fresco at Knossos and similar works
demonstrate a great Minoan preoccupation with the bull,
perhaps symbolizing the power of the earthquake. There is
also evidence of both human and animal sacrifice on Crete
around this time. Stonehenge probably reaches its final
form about the end of this century.
4200
BC
The Sumerian civilization begins, though the
Sumerian language may have come with later influxes. The
first move is made to occupy the marshland of the twin
rivers Tigris-Euphrates, probably from the Iranian
plateau to the east. Townships begin to be formed, of
which the first is traditionally Eridu.
There may
have been later influxes of people into the area and the
speakers of the Sumerian language may have been amongst
these.
Settlements
begin to appear on the banks of the Nile. The earliest
cultures, probably lasting for the rest of this
millennium and perhaps beyond, are known as the Tasian
and Badarian.
5000
BC
Society, Education, and Religion
The neolithic way of life strengthens religious
feeling, particularly the belief in the magical
connection between the cycle of seed-time and harvest and
the cycle of human life. Human sacrifice is practised,
particularly of the great, so that their death and
rebirth in their successor may have beneficial influence.
The Urban Revolution also increases the importance of
religion; most towns are ruled by a priest-king.
Everyday
Life
Towns and villages, previously isolated and
exceptional, now proliferate. This 'Urban Revolution'
brings a change of life style.
10000
BC
In northern Europe the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age
begins.
It is a food-gathering way of life, based on fishing and
fowling rather than wide-range hunting; it is adapted to
new conditions, either a forest or a water-side
environment, with humans forced to the periphery by the
all-pervading forest.
Science, Technology, and Discovery
(-7000 BC)
The mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) way of life produces
some important inventions: the barbed fish-hook and
harpoon; the bow and arrow, with its 'microlith' flint
tip; the flint socketed-axe; the woven basket; the
cooking pot of baked clay; and the comb. Some examples of
these tools have been found at Star Carr in Yorkshire.
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Great
battles
490
BC - Battle of Marathon,
Battle at the start of the Persian Wars
Sept 490 BC in which the Athenians and their allies from
Plateae defeated the Persian king Darius' invasion force,
on the Plain of Marathon about 40 km/25 mi northeast of
Athens.
The Greeks,
a combined force of about 10,000 Athenians under
Miltiades supplemented by allied Plataeans, were encamped
overlooking the plain, about a mile away from the Persian
force which was some five to six times their strength.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Persians had their
backs to the sea, the Greek strengthened their wings and
attacked. The Persians held off the Greek attack on their
centre, but Miltiades then wheeled round the Greek wings,
crushing the Persian flanks and putting pressure on their
centre. The Persians were driven back into the sea and
although most managed to re-embark into their ships,
about 6,000 lay dead on the field, while Greek losses
were under 200.
The victory
at Marathon was an enormous boost to Greek morale which
was to be of great value when the Persians mounted a much
more threatening invasion 10 years later.
The battle
has been immortalised by the race named after it in
memory of the runner, Pheidippides, who reputedly ran to
Sparta from Athens to appeal for aid before the battle.
He covered the distance of 200 km/125 mi in a day but the
Spartans failed to provide any assistance. A more recent
legend, that he ran from Athens to Marathon (a distance
of about 40 km/25 mi) to fight in the battle, then ran
back with the news of the victory before dropping dead,
actually gives rise to the name of the modern race but is
considered spurious by scholars.
431-404
BC - Peloponnesian War
... conflict between Athens and Sparta, backed
by their respective allies, 431-404 BC, originating in
suspicions about the ambitions of the Athenian leader
Pericles. It was ended by the Spartan general Lysander's
capture of the Athenian fleet in 405, and his starving
the Athenians into surrender in 404. Sparta's victory
meant the destruction of the political power of Athens.
479
BC - Battle of Plataea
... in which the Greeks defeated the Persians
during the Persian Wars.
48
BC - Battle of
Pharsalus
Julius Caesar's final victory over Pompey's
forces near Pharsalus (now Farsala) in Thessaly 9 Aug 48
BC. After their comprehensive defeat at Pharsalus, the
remainder of Pompey's force surrendered, ending all
organized resistance to Caesar's rule.
The battle
began well for Pompey, who outnumbered Caesar's 22,000
troops two-to-one; his cavalry charged Caesar's cavalry
and forced them back. However, this exposed their flank
to attack by Caesar's foot soldiers who took full
advantage of this weakness, causing the Pompeian cavalry
to fall into total disorder and finally ride clear of the
battle entirely. The Pompeian foot soldiers heard of
their cavalry's panic-stricken flight and themselves
turned and ran, pursued by Caesar's troops. The Pompeians
were totally routed, losing 8,000 troops compared to only
200 of Caesar's.
480
BC - Battle of Salamis
... in the Persian Wars, Greek naval
victory over the Persians 480 BC in the Strait of Salamis
southwest of Athens. Despite being heavily outnumbered,
the Greeks inflicted a crushing defeat on the invading
Persians which effectively destroyed their fleet.
After the
sack of Athens by the Persians, the commanders of some
370 Greek war galleys then lying off the island of
Salamis debated what action they could take; their debate
was ended by the appearance of the Persian fleet in the
Bay of Phalerum. Themistocles, the Athenian commander of
the Greek fleet, sent a fake message, ostensibly from a
spy, to the Persians warning that the Greek fleet was
about to withdraw and that the Persians should blockade
the entrance to the Bay of Eleusis. The Persians fell for
the ruse and spread their 1,000 ships thinly across the
bay.
The Persians
were so confident they could deal with a mere 370 vessels
that they had a throne prepared for their king, Xerxes,
on nearby Mount Aegaleus so that he would have a
grandstand view from which to watch the anticipated
crushing of the Greek fleet. However, the Greeks came out
into the bay at full speed, broke the Persian line, and
then created mayhem in all directions, sinking over 500
Persian ships for the loss of only about 40 of their own.
Xerxes, disgusted at this humiliation, returned to Asia,
leaving a subordinate, Mardonius, to continue the land
campaign.
637
AD - Battle of
Qadisiya
Battle fought in S Iraq 637. A Muslim Arab
force defeated a larger Zoroastrian Persian army and
ended the Sassanian Empire. The defeat is still resented
in Iran, where Muslim Arab nationalism threatens to break
up the Iranian state.
207
BC - Battle of
Metaurus,
In the Second Punic War, Roman victory over the
Carthaginians 207 BC on the Metaurus river (now Metauro)
in Italy, about 65 km/40 mi west of Ancona. This proved
to be the decisive battle of the war, since it wrecked
Hannibal's chances of overthrowing Rome and assured Roman
military supremacy over Carthage. A 40,000-strong
Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal was marching inland to
reinforce Hannibal. The relief force was attempting to
find a ford to cross the river at dawn when they were
surprised by a Roman army of about 50,000 troops. The
Romans attacked immediately; Hasdrubal's force began to
press the Roman right wing back. The Roman commander on
the right wing, Nero, was unable to come to grips with
the enemy due to the ground in front of his position. He
abandoned the right wing, marched his force round the
rear of the Roman line, and reinforced the left wing
which then totally destroyed the Carthaginian force;
Hasdrubal was among the Carthaginians slain.
479
BC - Battle of
Plataea
... in which the Greeks defeated the Persians during the
Persian Wars.
371
BC - Battle of
Leuctra
Theban defeat of the Spartans July 371 BC, southwest of
Thebes (now Thivai, Greece). The defeat finally ended the
30-year period of Spartan dominance over Greece and the
Thebans assumed the hegemony over the Greek states. This
was the first time that Epaminondas, the Theban
commander, used his innovative tactics which foreshadowed
the famous phalanx, later developed so successfully by
Philip of Macedon and then Alexander the Great. Until
this time, hoplite battles had always been fought by the
two sides confronting each other in two long lines;
Epaminondas concentrated hoplites 50 deep at one point in
the line in a wedge formation and used this local
superiority to drive a hole through the Spartan line. As
the other Spartans left their formation to come to the
aid of their overwhelmed companions, the rest of the
Thebans fell upon their disorganized ranks, killing over
1,000 of them.
333
BC - Battle of
Issus
Battle in which Alexander the Great defeated the
Persian king Darius III at the ancient port of Issus in
Cilicia, about 80 km/50 mi west of present-day Adana,
Turkey. Darius' family were captured during the battle
which secured Alexander's supply route in preparation for
his invasion of the Persian Empire. Alexander met Darius'
army, aided by 30,000 Greek mercenaries, drawn up in a
defensive line on the river Pinarus.
Alexander,
with an army of 35,000 Macedonians, launched his cavalry
against the Persian cavalry and routed them. The
Macedonian foot soldiers then crossed the river and
assaulted the Persian centre, while Alexander personally
led his own cavalry against Darius' bodyguard, who fled
from the field. The Persian troops followed and the Greek
mercenaries were left to fight what remained of the
battle.
405
BC - Battle of
Aegospotami
Spartan naval victory over the Athenians at the end of
the Peloponnesian War 405 BC off Aegospotami (now
Gelibolu on the northern shore of the Dardanelles).
Lysander's decisive victory over the Athenian fleet broke
the hitherto unchallenged Athenian naval superiority and
effectively ended the war. An Athenian fleet of some 180
triremes lay at Aegospotami and 170 Peloponnesian ships,
under Lysander, lay at Lampsacus (now Lapseki) on the
southern shore. On four successive days the Athenian
fleet rowed across the strait, hoping to draw Lysander's
force out to give battle, but without success. On the
fifth day Lysander waited until the Athenians made their
usual sortie and returned to their base; once they had
anchored, Lysander's fleet made a sudden dash across the
water, pounced on the anchored Athenians, captured 160
ships, and killed the crews.
31
BC - Battle of Actium
Naval battle in which Octavian defeated the
combined fleets of Mark Antony and Cleopatra 2 Sept 31 BC
to become the undisputed ruler of the Roman world (as the
emperor Augustus). The site of the battle is at Akri, a
promontory in W Greece. Antony had encamped in Greece
with a powerful force of infantry and cavalry, and was
waiting for Octavian's smaller force to attack. However,
engagements on land proved indecisive and in the meantime
Octavian's naval commander Marcus Agrippa had managed to
cut off Antony's supply route by sea, despite commanding
a fleet of only 400 ships against Antony's 500. Antony
and Cleopatra could have escaped overland to continue the
fight but Cleopatra demanded to return to Egypt by sea
and they were defeated in the ensuing sea battle. Having
unsuccessfully requested peace terms, they fled to Egypt
but Octavian pursued them there the following year.
Alexandria surrendered without a fight and they committed
suicide.
378
AD - Battle of Adrianople
Gothic victory over the Roman Empire in the East 9 Aug
378 which marked the beginning of the empire's downfall.
A Gothic settlement was founded within the frontier of
the Roman Empire and Valens, the Eastern Emperor, was
lost in the battle.
216
BC - Battle of Cannae
In
August 2, 216 B.C.. Hannibal - general of Carthago in
Numidia - defeats Terentius Varro - Consul of Rome - at
the Aufidus river near the city of Cannae in southern
Italy.
Hannibal
with his 50.000 men fought with their backs against the
river which at that point flows in a shallow
"U" form. As he had his left flank touching the
Aufidus river, he didn´t have to worry about being
outflanked by the 80.000 Roman troops, in fact his whole
tactic was based on this secure flank. His center
consisted only of a thin line of infantry. Hannibals main
force was concentrated on the flanks. The left and right
wings each contained deep phalanxes of heavy infantry and
eight thousand cavalry next to the river on the left. His
open right flank was guarded by two thousand cavalry. In
the rear his camp was protected by eight thousand men.
Varro,
feeling confident of victrory with his more than 80,000
Roman soldiers, accepted battle, but as he saw that
Hannibals flanks were well protected, Varro decided to
crush the Carthagians by throwing allmost all his men
through Hannibals center. With 65,000 men in his center,
2,400 cavalry on his right and 4,800 cavalry on his left
he sent the remaining 11,000 men to attack Hannibals
camp.
After
some preliminary skirmishes, Hannibal let his light
center advance into a salient against the Romans. When
the Romans reacted by attacking the center of Carthago,
which slowly started an orderly but fighting retreat
under the sheer might of Varros forces, Hannibal let his
heavy cavalry on the left crush the opposing Roman
cavalry. Hannibals cavalry rode after that around the
Roman armys rear and attacked the Roman cavalry on Varros
left flank from behind while Hannibals right flank
attacked the same cavalry from the front. The Roman
cavalry panicked and fled the field, pursued all the way
by Hannibals right flank cavalry.
The
heavy cavalry of Carthago turned back to assault the rear
of the Roman infantry who had pressed back Hannibal's
thin center line. While this happened Hannibal let his
left and right infantry wings turn against the flanks of
the Roman center which had advanced deep due to the weak
center of Carthago. Now the weak center stopped their
retreat and dug their heels in as the encircelment was
complete. Varro, boxed in, unable to maneuver lost
approximatively 60.000 men as his army was thoroughly
destroyed.
A
footnote: During WW1 the same tactics was copied
and used as the Schlieffen Plan in the Ardennes - learn
from history.
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Notorious
people
Alexander Severus (AD 208-235)
Roman emperor from 222, when he succeeded his
cousin Heliogabalus. He attempted to involve the Senate
more closely in administration, and was the patron of the
jurists Ulpian and Paulus, and the historian Cassius Dio.
His campaign against the Persians 232 achieved some
success, but in 235, on his way to defend Gaul against
German invaders, he was killed in a mutiny.
Marcian
(396-457)
Eastern Roman emperor 450-457. He was a general
who married Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II; he became
emperor on Theodosius' death. He convened the Council of
Chalcedon (the fourth Ecumenical Council of the Christian
Church) 451 and refused to pay tribute to Attila the Hun.
Anaximander
(c. 610-c. 546 BC)
Greek astronomer and philosopher. He claimed
that the Earth was a cylinder three times wider than it
is deep, motionless at the centre of the universe, and
that the celestial bodies were fire seen through holes in
the hollow rims of wheels encircling the Earth.
According to
Anaximander, the first animals came into being from
moisture and the first humans grew inside fish, emerging
once fully developed. He was born in Miletus, in what is
now Turkey, and was a pupil of Thales.
He is
thought to have been the first to determine solstices and
equinoxes, by means of a sundial, and he is credited with
drawing the first geographical map of the whole known
world. He believed that the universe originated as a
formless mass containing within itself the contraries of
hot and cold, and wet and dry, from which land, sea, and
air were formed out of the union and separation of these
opposites. Perpetual rotation in the universe created
cosmic order by sorting heavier from lighter matter.
Overall, he seems to have shared the early Greek
philosophical urge to explain the universe with a tiny
number of general laws.
Thucydides
(c. 455-400 BC)
Athenian historian. He exercised military
command in the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, but was
banished from Athens in 424. In his History of the
Peloponnesian War, he gave a detailed account of the
conflict down to 411.
Narses
(478-c. 573 AD)
Byzantine general. Originally a eunuch
slave, he later became an official in the imperial
treasury. He was joint commander with the Roman general
Belisarius in Italy 538-39, and in 552 destroyed the
Ostrogoths at Taginae in the Apennines.
Alexander
the Great (356-323 BC)
King of Macedon from 336 BC and conqueror of the
large Persian empire. As commander of the vast Macedonian
army he conquered Greece 336, defeated the Persian king
Darius in Asia Minor 333, then moved on to Egypt, where
he founded Alexandria. He defeated the Persians again in
Assyria 331, then advanced further east to reach the
Indus. He conquered the Punjab before diminished troops
forced his retreat.
The son of
King Philip of Macedon and Queen Olympias, Alexander was
educated by the philosopher Aristotle. He first saw
fighting 340, and at the battle of Chaeronea 338
contributed to the victory by a cavalry charge. At the
age of 20, when his father was murdered, he assumed
command of the throne and the army. He secured his
northern frontier, suppressed an attempted rising in
Greece by his capture of Thebes, and in 334 crossed the
Dardanelles for the campaign against the vast Persian
empire; at the river Granicus near the Dardanelles he won
his first victory. In 333 he routed Darius at Issus, and
then set out for Egypt, where he was greeted as Pharaoh.
Meanwhile, Darius assembled half a million men for a
final battle at Gaugamela, near Arbela on the Tigris, 331
but Alexander, with 47,000 men, drove the Persians into
retreat.
After the
victory he stayed a month in Babylon, then marched to
Susa and Persepolis and in 330 to Ecbatana (now Hamadán,
Iran). Soon after, he learned that Darius was dead. In
Afghanistan he founded colonies at Herat and Kandahar,
and in 328 reached the plains of Sogdiana, where he
married Roxana, daughter of King Oxyartes. India was his
next objective, and he pressed on to the Indus. Near the
river Hydaspes (now Jhelum) he fought one of his fiercest
battles against the rajah Porus. At the river Hyphasis
(now Beas) his depleted troops refused to go farther, and
reluctantly he turned back down the Indus and along the
coast. They reached Susa 324, where Alexander made
Darius's daughter his second wife. He died in Babylon of
a malarial fever.
Marcus
Vipsanius Agrippa (63-12 BC)
Roman general and admiral, instrumental in the successful
campaigns and rise to power of Augustus. He commanded the
victorious fleet at the battle of Actium and married
Augustus's daughter Julia.
Pericles
(c. 495-429 BC)
Athenian politician who was effective leader of
the city from 443 BC and under whom Athenian power
reached its height. His policies helped to transform the
Delian League into an Athenian empire, but the disasters
of the Peloponnesian War led to his removal from office
430 BC. Although quickly reinstated, he died soon after.
Gaius
Flaminius, ( - )
Roman consul and general. He constructed the Flaminian
Way northward from Rome to Rimini 220 BC, and was killed
at the battle of Lake Trasimene fighting Hannibal.
Lysander,
( -395 BC)
Spartan general, politician and admiral. He brought the
Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta to a
successful conclusion by capturing the Athenian fleet at
Aegospotami 405 BC, and by starving Athens into surrender
in the following year. He set up puppet governments in
Athens and its former allies, and tried to secure for
himself the Spartan kingship, but was killed in battle
with the Thebans 395 BC.
Gnaeus
Julius Agricola, (AD 37-93)
Roman general and politician. Born in Provence,
he became consul 77 AD, and then governor of Britain AD
78-85. He extended Roman rule to the Firth of Forth in
Scotland and won the battle of Mons Graupius. His fleet
sailed round the north of Scotland and proved Britain an
island.
Olympias,
(c. BC 375-316)
Macedonian queen. The daughter of the king of Epirus, she
married Philip II of Macedon 357 BC, and was the mother
of Alexander the Great. When Philip left her for
Cleopatra, niece of Attalus, she instigated his
assassination 337 BC. She gained much influence during
Alexander's reign, and after his death plotted to secure
power for her grandson by killing Alexander's
half-brother and successor. The Macedonian general
Cassander besieged her at Pydna, and executed her on its
surrender.
Origen
, (c. 185-254 AD)
Christian theologian, born in Alexandria, who produced a
fancifully allegorical interpretation of the Bible. He
also compiled a vast synopsis of versions of the Old
Testament, called the Hexpla. Origen taught in Alexandria
and Caesarea. The Palestinian historian Eusebius says
that Origen castrated himself to ensure his celibacy, but
since Origen disapproves of such actions in his biblical
commentaries, it may be just malicious gossip. He was
imprisoned and tortured during the persecution of
Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Decius in 250. By
drawing on Greek philosophy and on Scripture, Origen
produced interpretations of the Bible that disturbed the
more orthodox. For example, he held that the Fall
occurred when spiritual beings became bored with the
adoration of God and turned their attention to inferior
things.
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