Historia Nostrum @historianostrum - Tumblr Blog

Hanukkah

According to one of the most central texts to Judaism, the Talmud, Judah Maccabee and those who were also there during the rededication of the Second Temple, Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ soldiers desecrated it after they had abolished Judaism, saw a miracle. Despite there only being enough untainted olive oil to last the temple one day, the flame burned for eight, just enough time for more oil to arrive. This inspired an eight day festival to be proclaimed. This is one of the few Jewish holidays not mentioned in the Torah, because the events happened well after it’s writing, 168 BC.

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#judaism #religion #160bc #168bc #jerusalem #antiochus iv epiphanes #second temple #judah maccabee

historical-nonfiction

From 885 to 1045, the Kingdom of Armenia maintained a fierce independence from the two empires that bordered it. The Byzantines and Abbasids were too preoccupied with each other to stop the local noble families from coming together. In 885, Ashot I Bagratuni asserted himself as the head of the independence movement against the occupying Arab forces, and kicked them out of Armenia. Byzantium and Baghdad both saw the benefit of a buffer state on their borders. Both courted the new state, giving its rulers increasingly elaborate titles like “prince of princes.”

Eventually other Armenia principalities and kingdoms grew up with their own power centers: Taron, Vaspurakan, Kars, Khachen and Syunik. The Byzantines and Abbasids were happy to play the new states off one another. For a time, this lead to thriving cultural and economic centers. Notably, under the reign of Ashot III (952/53-77), Ani became the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, and the region experienced an era of prosperity and cultural flowering. But by the early 1000s, the kingdom was in definite decline. The Byzantines under the strong leadership of Basil II ate away at the kingdom. Though a branch of the kingdom held out until 1045, the combination of internal disorder and outside threats meant that the fall was, in the end, inevitable.

#armenia #byzantine #medival history #885 #800s #1000s. 1045 #abbasid

micdotcom

#HistoricPOC is the hashtag we need this Black History Month

Founded by Mikki Kendall, #HistoricPOC has taken social media by storm this week. Kendall has created a platform to showcase the diversity of multiculturalism and race throughout America’s history and prove that there is so much more for us to learn.

How it demonstrates the one thing we need to remember this month

#history

centuriespast

The Temptation of Sir Percival

by Arthur Hacker

Date painted: c.1894

Oil on canvas, 132.1 x 157.5 cm

Collection: Leeds Museums and Galleries

#the temptation of sir percival #art #arther hacker #1800s #1894 #1890s #victorian

ancientorigins

The Early Temples and Monuments of the Alban People in Ancient Azerbaijan

The pre-Christian tribes of ancient Azerbaijan were diverse and spoke many languages. When Christianity became the official state religion of the territory, known as Caucasian Albania, many distinctive churches, monasteries and temples were constructed which remain standing to this day.

#medicine #ancient #peru #skeleton

black-culture

On September 20, 1958, a surgeon by the name of Dr. Emil Naclerio was called from home to attend to a patient who had been stabbed earlier that day. He rushed to Harlem Hospital. It turned out that the patient was Dr. King. The surgeon was not aware of the life he was saving. He just did what he had to do. Earlier that day, Dr. King was signing his book which detailed the events of the recent Montgomery Bus Boycott, when a deranged woman leaped over the crowd lunging at Dr. King with a 2-inch letter opener. It went so far into his chest that it came within inches of his aorta. He nearly died. See, it’s customary for people to show pictures of Dr. King standing in front of large crowds or on a pulpit. But they stay away from photos like this. We can’t keep hiding the fact that when you take a position, when you stand up for what you believe is right, things sometimes happen. The good thing is this: the righteous always prevail…

#1950s #1958 #Dr. Martin Luther King #MLK #inspopoc

did-you-know

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dat-soldier

back the fuck up

sonnetscrewdriver

There’s another story that I like about a Chinese general who had to defend a city with only a handful of soldiers from a huge enemy horde that was in all likelihood going to steamroll the place flat within hours of showing up.

So when said horde did arrive, they saw the general sitting outside the city’s open gates, drinking tea. The horde sent a couple of emissaries over to see what was what, and the general greeted them cheerfully and invited them all to come and take tea with him.

The horde decided that this was a scenario that had “MASSIVE FUCKING TRAP” written all over it in beautiful calligraphy and promptly fucked off.

Whoever that general was, he was clearly the Ancient Chinese equivalent of Sam Vimes.

dat-soldier

did he just invite us over for tea nah man i’m out

catgoblinchelly

This just keeps getting better

sleepyferret

I fucking love history.

konec0

ok but tbh that story misses a lot of the subtlety of the situation like ok

so this story is the Romance of Three Kingdoms, and essentially takes place between Zhuge Liang, resident tactician extraordinaire, and Sima Yi… OTHER resident tactician extraordinaire.

The two were both regarded as tactical geniuses and recognized the other as their rival. Zhuge Liang had a reputation for ambushing the SHIT out of his opponents and using the environment to his advantage, thus destroying large armies with a small number of men. Sima Yi (who kind of entered the picture later) was a cautious person whose speciality was unravelling his opponent’s plans before they began. So it was natural that the two would butt heads; however, since Sima Yi tended to have more men and resources, he started winning battles against the former. Which, y’know, kinda sucked.

On to the actual story: Zhuge Liang is all like “shit i gotta defend this city with like 10 men.” Literally if he fights ANY kind of battle here, he WILL lose; his only option for survival is not to fight. And that’s looking more and more impossible until he hears that his rival is leading the opposing army. And then he gets this brilliant idea. He basically opens all the gates, sends his men out in civilian clothes to sweep the streets, and sits on top of the gate drinking tea and chilling out and basically makes the whole thing out to be a trap

When Sima Yi comes he’s all like “yo come on in bro”

and Sima Yi is like “yeah he’s never been that obvious about his traps before. this is definitely a bluff” and he’s about to head in when he realizes

wait. he knows that i think he’s bluffing.

and so he gets it in his head that maybe, just MAYBE, Zhuge Liang has this cunning plan that will wipe out his army - recall that he has a pretty good handle on what his rival is capable of. And after a long period of deliberation (which is just like “he know that I know that he knows that etc.”), being the cautious man he is, SIma Yi eventually decides to turn his entire army around and leave.

Zhuge Liang later points out that the plan was based specifically on the fact that he was facing his rival; if it had been anyone else, there’s no way it would have worked. A dumber or less cautious person would have simply charged in and won without breaking a sweat.

and that’s the real genius here: it was a plan formed entirely just to deceive one man, and it worked.

uovoc

Zhuge Liang is the most brilliant, sneaky-ass bastard in history. One time his side’s army was out of arrows, which pretty much meant they were screwed. So Zhuge Liang goes and does the logical thing, which is build a fuck ton of scarecrows and put them all on boats. Then he makes the men hide in the boats and sail them out on the river.

Well, that day was super foggy (which Zhuge Liang had predicted. Did I mention he was also a freakishly accurate meteorologist?). So the enemy across the river sees a fleet of boats armed to the teeth with what appears to be half an army of men. They panic! and start firing arrows like crazy.

Zhuge Liang lets this play out for a while, then he’s like, ”Ok guys that’s enough.” They calmly turn the boats around and go back to base, where they dismantle the scarecrows and pull out all the enemy’s arrows.

Zhuge Liang is legend.

optimysticals

I love this post. It just keeps getting better. Like seriously, I would have adored learning about this in World History.

hokuto-ju-no-ken

Oh man I remember seeing the Scarecrow trick in Red Cliff.

By the way, if y’all think that shit is interesting, watch Red Cliff. It’s a REALLY GOOD movie about these specific people/Romance of the Three Kingdoms era

There’s also the story of Zhang Fei, who acted as rear guard along with 20 other men as his allies retreated away from an army around 5,000 strong. He stopped at a destroyed bridge, turned to the advancing enemy, grabbing his spear and then yelled so damned scarily that all the soldiers just went “nah no thanks” and backed the fuck up

#history #600s #603BC #Romance of the Three Kingdoms #china #xiong yiliao #zhuge liang #sima yi

tracey123224-deactivated2019060

"Previously, researchers had misidentified skeletons as male simply because they were buried with their swords and shields. By studying osteological signs of gender within the bones themselves, researchers discovered that approximately half of the remains were actually female warriors, given a proper burial with their weapons."

mxmmercury

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

#vikings #warriors #scandinavia #imma make a new tag for awesome women #inspoladies

Was Vasco da Gama Really the First Around the World?

Most, if not all, textbooks will tell you that the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was the first to sail around the world. Accounts from Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 B.C.) say that Phoenician sailors, working for Pharaoh Necho (610-595 B.C.), were instead the first to sail around the world.

Because the Phoenicians lived on a few islands and a strip of land on the coast of the Lebanon, they didn't have many resources, but what they did have they made good use of. One of the things they had was a great deal of timber, they used the timber to make the boats that would transport the goods they made and, apparently, sail them around the world.

It was for that fact that Pharaoh Necho chose them to set sail on a voyage that he commissioned around 600 B.C. Herodotus says that Necho sent a Phoenician fleet to sail south from the Arabian Gulf, work westward, and then return to the Mediterranean by going through the Straits of Gibraltar. This voyage took over two years, because twice they had to stop and sow grain and wait to harvest, and then in the third year they returned.

Unfortunately, Herodotus is known as both the "Father of History" and the "Father of Lies", depending on who you ask, so, despite the many details pointing towards the truth, many chose to ignore or disregard this.

James, Peter, and Nick Thorpe. "Voyagers and Discoveries." Ancient Mysteries. New York: Ballantine Group, 1999. 368-369. Print.

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#phoenicia #600s #600BC #600 bc #lebanon #discovery #ancient discoveries #egypt #necho #herodotus #history #africa

thepeoplewillnotstaysilent-deac

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!!!

femmefatalist

I am here for this.

humblepirate

1. Kathleen Cleaver speaking at a Black Panther rally 1969

2. “Yellow Power to Yellow People” in front of the court house in Oakland, CA 1969

3. Flyer for 2011 rally to end Islamophobia (I could find a couple sources for this one, but they’re all horrifically Islamophobic, so best to take it as is)

4. Giving Thanks for 250 Years of Resistance by Melanie Cervantes

5. Hands Off Assata

6. Morning White Dove, Cherokee native

7. Activist Angela Davis, who was targeted by the government for having Communist leanings

8. Brown Berets protest

9. The Gulabi Gang, a group of Indian women who fight violence against women

10. Free Palestine protest