The Ancient Web
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The Ancientweb is an online resource for Students, Teachers, and anyone
interested in the cultures of the ancient world. Please browse the current sites below, and come back often to see more countries and cultures soon to be added!
Before the new world was colonized, America was an amazingly complex patchwork of Indian tribes, confederacies, and nomadic hunters. Unique cultures on the east coast established large farming communties centered on the long house. In the southeast, large mound building confederacies formed America's first major urban centers, while the west was populated by nomadic plains people whose lives centered on the migrations of mllions of Buffalos.
The Arabian peninsula has been at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa since mankind's earliest migrations. A rugged and desolate landscape, nonetheless it became the center of religious awakening that spread out in four directions in the latter part of the first millennium. The rise of Islam centered on the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, to become one of the worlds great monotheistic religions.
The ancient Kingdom of Armenia was among the worlds first nations to convert to Christianity, a fact which has shaped the culture of these people and continues to define them today. First mentioned in the Bible, Sumerians texts, and then becoming in contact with the expanding Roman Empire, the fierce Armenian people have managed to remain an independent and strong race who can trace a continuos national lineage for more the three thousand years.
One of the last regions to be colonized by Europeans, Australia remained a land isolated in time for centuries. In this remote landscape a unique Aboriginal culture flourished and adapted to a land that was both beautiful in its unique diversity, yet extreme in climate. The origin of these people is still up for much speculation, but the stamp they left on the worlds cultural heritage is as unique as the strange land they inhabited.
The city of Ankgor Wat is one of the worlds great cultural archeological sites. perhaps the most famous south east Asian ruins, they were once the pinnacle of the great Khmer Empire of Ankgor which reached it's height in the 14th century. These enigmatic people have only recently come to be studied in greater detail with the opening up of Cambodia, and the new found appreciation of their great ancestry.
The far north of Canada is home to the Inuit people, one of the few ancient cultures that adapted to the remote frozen tundra of the Arctic circle. The last of the North American Indian migrations, the Inuit have become the masters of their domain, brining with them the shamanic origins of the Siberian hunter gather ancestors into the new world, adding a unique color to the fabric of native peoples of this continent.
The world of the Mapuche and Araucanian peoples of Chile were the only people to effectively resist Spanish Colonization during the Conquest and remain a powerful group of people to this day. They have a distinct culture among native americans, which may possibly be one of the oldest in the new world. After taming escaped horses form the spanish, they mastered the art of riding, and even adapted may of the conquistadors fighting techniques. In the face of threat they unified, and in this way were able to maintain their freedom until the 19th century assimilation with Chile.
Possibly no other civilization has such a continued presence in the world then the Chinese. With the unification of China under the Qin Emperor in the 3rd Century B.C., this great nation rose to become a center of artistic and technological skill that has played a role in not only the development of Asia, but indirectly to the west as well. With the fascinating discovery of the Terra-cotta Army of the tomb of the Qin Emperor, we have increased our knowledge of ancient Chinese warfare, and will soon be witness to the excavation of the actual tomb itself.
When the Rosetta stone unlocked the secrets of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, the world became fascinated by a culture unequalled in its time. By the time Romans had conquered Egypt in the first century, the Pharaohs had already ruled for almost Four Thousand years. The Pyramids of Giza stand as a testament to the amazing architectural abilities of these people, and we continue to shed more light on them with each new discovery in the Valley of the Kings, ever since Howard Carter unsealed the Tomb of Tutankhamun.
The rich culture and traditions of the Ancient Ethiopians are little understood outside of their ancient homeland in the horn of Africa. Yet these people can lay claim to having the oldest continuos Kingdom in the world, starting over four thousand years ago with the Kingdom of Axum. Today one can find the ruins of early Christian churches, and huge obelisks that date back to the time of the mythical queen of Sheba that still stand in the this most ancient of places.
The Gauls and Franks were the precursors to the modern day French People. From Clovis, the legendary first King of France, to the brutal Gallic Wars fought against Caesar's Roman Army, the ancestors to the French were a fierce and independent people, and may have been among the most sophisticated metal workers in the ancient world. The French spoken today is not only a language based on the latin of the Romans who conquered them, but also retains many elements form their Gaulish past.
The tribes of Goths and Vandals that fell upon the Roman world after the fall of the Roman Empire were collectively known as Germans. Though ancient Germania was much more then one tribe united by language, it was a complex world that is central to understanding ancient Europe. Their culture and mythology are rich, and to this day our days of the week are named after their ancient gods. As they consolidated their homeland in central Europe, they rose to become the Kings of the first early nation states of Europe.
Anyone living in the western world can trace the influence the ancient Greek world had on their modern day society, from democracy to philosophy, to the advancement sin all the arts. The Greeks rose form their dark age past rising to prominence in an age of feudal city states, and professional standing armies. These are the people who populated the imagination of historians sine even Roman times, and reached their height when thy unified to fight the invading Persians in the last stand of the three hundred.
Home of the ancient Indus Valley civilizations, the Indan subcontinent could possibly be where the earliest cilivilzations originated. The early Hindu Vedas tell stories of amazing deites and celestial battles, and provides the basis for one of the worlds longest reigning religions, Hinduism. Alexander the Great was the first European to come in conflict with the Indian Kingdoms, and left a lasting mark on their culture. Some histotians speculate that the Indus Valley may be the origin of the original western peoples themselves.
The enigmatic Celts that spread across western Europe left their most enduring stamp on Ireland, their last holdout from the migrations that pushed them to the periphery of the British Isles. Their historical origins are very little understood and we can piece together what we can from the Roman historians who first contacted them, to the folklore of their modern day descendants in Ireland.
The lands of Judea and Israel were the ancient worlds first Jewish kingdoms. At the center of three religions, Jerusalem has been a city with a lengthy ancient past, where David and Solomon were kings, and Romans battled for control of one of their far flung provinces. The Jewish rebellions of Palestine, and the subsequent stand off at Masada are epic tales that reflect the character of these devout and proud ancient people.
The Romans spread across europe from their Italian homeland changing the course of history forever. After battling out of Italy and making the Mediterranean a Roman lake, they built roads and cities that truly united the ancient world for the first time. Their language and institutions permeated the cultures of Europe they conquered, and millions of their descendants speak a romance language today. Pax Romana, or Roman Peace lasted over a thousand years, but was in fact a continuos time of change and conquest.
The Japanese people are the custodians of a rich cultural legacy. Their Island Kingdom has remained intact since the unification of these islands during the warring states period. The feudal age brought the advent of the Samurai, the highest skilled warriors in the history of the east. Japan boasts many ancient art forms from theater, to fine arts such as calligraphy and painting, which all achieved unique forms and artistic traditions.
The Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Olmecs, and the other people of Mesoamerica developed the first great city states of North America in ancient times. When the Spanish incursions encountered the first trines of Mexico, it was a profound meeting that resulted in some of the most amazing historical outcomes of the new world. A unique colonial character was forged from this union. Only in the last century have the depths of these civilizations been accurately understood, as archeologist discover there great urban temple complexes and decipher there unique writing systems.
The Polynesians settled New Zealand in the early part of this millennium and created a unique culture that flourished across vast expanses of the pacific. In New Zealand becoming the Maori we know today. Using amazing navigational skills, including the ability to identify wave patterns bouncing off islands, these people then advanced across Oceania, bringing with them a rich culture that spread as far as Easter Island and Hawaii.
The cultures of West Africa created some of the most powerful empires that inhabited the su-saharan regions of this continent. The Kingdoms of Mali, and the Nigerian Songhay and Benin cultures left an artistic legacy that remans till this day in the art and culture of these people. Despite centuries of slavery and assimilation of Islam, this people have retained an important identity unique among the ancient world as having the most refined artistic and architectural achievements in the West of Africa.
After the fall of the earliest civilizations, the Persian Empire rose to become the greatest military force in the ancient world. They established a unique society that tolerated religion and included a diverse army of hundreds of cultures. Xerxes and then later his son Darius continued an expansion that would eventually come face to face with the Greeks ending in an epic confrontation during the Persian Wars. Alexander finally conquered this land creating a culture that shared both Eastern and Western elements to this day.
The Andean mountains were the birthplace of South Americas greatest Empires. First the Chimu, and Wari people built tremendous coastal civilizations that are only recently coming to light. Later the Incas fortified their mountain Kingdom in the Valley of Cuzco, and built roads that rivaled those of the Romans across the four directions of their Empire. Today the ruins of Macchu Pichu and the great citadel of Sacsayhuaman are reminders of what these great people accomplished in the pre-Columbian world.
One of the most ancient and perhaps one of the ancestral slavic tribes, the Polesi unified the plains of eastern europe into a powerful race of warriors and farmers. After establishing a Polish kingdom in the early part of the last millennium, they went on to play an important role in the development of eastern europe, at one time having an empire that spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic coast in the north. The land of Poland is still one of the most primeval places in Europe, and it’s legendary winged horsemen are still celebrated in their folklore and history.
The Dacians fought the Roman expansion and managed to keep a toehold in the Carpathian mountains becoming the modern day Romanian people. Their origins in ancient Thrace are an important chapter in the history of Europe, becoming the only eastern European people to retain a roman heritage in their language and customs. Ancient Romania is a land steeped in folklore and mystery, it’s landscape forged by deep forest on the edges of the Carpathian mountains.
The Highlands, as the Scottish interior is known, is one of places that evokes great passion in the minds of historians. The land of William Wallace, and the heraldic Clans, Scotland retains one of the last Gaelic cultures to survive ancient times. The Roman Emperor Hadrian, built a wall separating their province of Britannia from Scotland, which was then inhabited by fierce Picts. This boundary gave Scotland its formal frontier, north of which was the home of the earliest Scottish Kingdoms.
The Celtiberians were the original inhabitants of Spain, and were a mixture of of a Celtic and indigenous Iberian people. These people developed a unique culture and various tribes that prospered in each corner of the Iberian peninsula. Spain is also home to the basques who have a language that may predate even the first Celtic migrations. They traded with ancient Greeks and Phoenicians until they became in contact with the Roman Empire, who conquered them in a series of wars culminating in the battle of Numantia in eve of the last century BC.
Tunisia is home to the ruins of the great city of Carthage, one of North Africa's greatest ancient empires. Had this people not been defeated in the Punic Wars by Rome, then the history of Europe could have been quite different, with Ancient Tunisia being the cradle of the western world. The Romans transformed this country, and then later the Arabs left their mark on this region during the Islamic invasions.
At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Turkey has always played an important role in the development of the ancient world. It was here that the some of the earliest people, the Hurrians and Hittites, formed the first European military empires. The central plains of Anatolia were the homelands of these and later peoples who conquered them form the east. The coastal west coast of Asia Minor, as Turkey is called in ancient sources, was the home to early Greek kingdoms. Lydia was the famed city that boasted the worlds first coinage under Croesus.
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Bali's most popular ensemble is still the large gamelan gong, consisting of 25 to 30 musicians. The principal melody instruments are metallophones, xylophone-like instruments with bronze keys. Sets of small, tuned gong kettles provide melodic ornaments, while the penetrating bass tones of great gongs punctuate larger phrases. Clashing cymbals add to the overall glitter. A flute or stringed instrument sweetens the melody.