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Heraclius (575-641) was son of Heraclius the Elder, exarch of Africa, who led a revolt against the usurper emperor Phocas, deposing him in 610. Heraclius became emperor and was immediately forced to deal with multiple threats on many frontiers.<br/><br/> One of the main frontiers was the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 against King Khosrau II and the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanids managed to fight all the way to the walls of Constantinople before failing to penetrate them, allowing Heraclius to counter-attack and drive them all the way back to the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon. Khosrau was executed by his son Kavadh II, and a peace treaty was agreed. The Sassanid Empire soon fell to the Muslim conquests, another threat Heraclius had to deal with.<br/><br/> Heraclius was credited for making Greek the Byzantine Empire's official language, as well as for his enlarging of the empire and his reorganisation of government and military. Though his attempts at religious harmony failed, he was successful in returning the True Cross to Jerusalem.
Severus Alexander (208-235 CE) was cousin to Emperor Elagabalus, and his heir apparent. When Elagabalus was assassinated in 222 CE, the fourteen-year-old became emperor, under the auspice of his grandmother Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Alexander's accession just as she had done with Elagabalus before him.<br/><br/> Alexander quickly did much to correct the domestic troubles Elagabalus had caused, cleaning up the image of the imperial throne and improving the morals and dignity of the state. His reign was considered prosperous, but militarily, the Empire was faced against the rising threat of the Sassanid Empire in the east, as well as the tribes of Germania. It was during his campaign against the latter that Alexander would meet his end. His attempts to negotiate peace with the Germanic tribes through bribery and diplomacy alienated many in the Roman Army, and ultimately led to his assassination in 235 CE.<br/><br/> His death saw the end of the Severan dynasty and marked the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century, which resulted in nearly 50 years of civil wars, foreign invasions and economic collapse throughout the Empire.
Elagabalus (203-222 CE), also known as Heliogabalus, was a Syrian and a member of the Severan dynasty. Elagabalus was the grandson of Julia Maesa and cousin to Emperor Caracalla. When Caracalla was assassinated in 217 CE, Julia Maesa instigated a revolt against his killer and successor, Macrinus, championing Elagabalus as emperor. Macrinus was defeated and executed in 218 CE, and Elagabalus was proclaimed emperor at barely 14 years old.<br/><br/> His reign was notorious for its numerous religious controversies and sex scandals, with Elagabalus showing a marked disregard for traditional Roman religious and sexual values. He was said to have had been married as many as five times, had many male lovers, and was even reported to have prostituted himself in the imperial palace. He developed a reputation for extreme decadence, eccentricity and zealotry to the god he was named after, Elagabalus, and whom he declared the new head of the Roman pantheon.<br/><br/> His actions and behaviour estranged both commoner and Praetorian Guard, and after four years of rule, Elagabalus was assassinated in 222 CE at the age of 18. The plot was orchestrated by Julia Maesa, the same grandmother that had placed him on the throne, and carried out by the Praetorian Guard, with his cousin Severus Alexander replacing him as emperor. Elagabalus developed one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors in history.
Born as Lucius Septimius Bassianus (188-217 CE) but renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus after his father's union with the families of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty, he gained his agnomen Caracalla from a Gallic hooded tunic which he often wore. Eldest son of Emperor Septimius Severus, he reigned jointly with his father from 198 CE until his father's death in 211 CE. He then became joint emperor with his younger brother Geta, but he quickly murdered his brother less than a year into their joint rule.<br/><br/> Caracalla's reign was marked by continued assaults from the Germanic peoples as well as constant domestic instability. Caracalla was famed for enacting the Edict of Caracalla, also known as the Antonine Constitution, which granted Roman citizenship to almost all the freemen living throughout the Empire. He was also known for his establishment of a new Roman currency, the <i>antoninianus</i>, as well as building the Baths of Caracalla, the second largest in Rome. In terms of infamy, Caracalla was known for his massacres against the Roman people and other citizens of the Empire.<br/><br/> Caracalla's reign ended in 217 CE, after he had instigated a new campaign against the Parthian Empire. Caracalla had stopped briefly to urinate when a soldier approached him and stabbed him to death, incensed by Caracalla's refusal to grant him the position of Centurion. Caracalla would be posthumously known for his savage cruelty and treachery, as well as for murdering his own brother and his brother's supporters.
Born Livia Drusilla (58 BCE - 29 CE) but later known as Julia Drusilla after her adoption into the Julian family in 14 CE, Livia was Emperor Augustus' third wife and his spouse throughout his reign as emperor. She was granted the honorific title of Augusta. The mother of Tiberius, paternal grandmother to Claudius, paternal great-grandmother of Caligula, and maternal great-great-grandmother of Nero, she was deified by Claudius after her death.<br/><br/> She was known throughout her life for her influence and her capacity as privileged advisor and counselor to both Augustus and Tiberius later in life, and her and Augustus became the role model for proper Roman households. She was also ambitious, pushing her sons to power, with rumours that she ordered the assassinations of all rival claimants to emperor.<br/><br/> During Tiberius' early reign, Livius held unofficial but very real power, but their relationship would later sour, Tiberius becoming resentful of the idea that she had given him the throne. She finally died of illness in 29 CE, with Tiberius refusing to attend her funeral and vetoing all honours the Senate wished to grant her posthumously. Her honours would later be restored during the reign of her grandson Claudius.
From an equestrian family that rose to senatorial rank under the Julio-Claudian dyansty, Vespasianus - as he was then called - earned much renown through his military record. He first served during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 CE, and was later sent by Emperor Nero to conquer Judea in 66 CE, during the Jewish rebellion.<br/><br/> During his siege of Jerusalem, news came to him of Nero's suicide and the tumultuous civil war that happened afterwards, later known as the Year of the Four Emperors. When Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69, the Roman legions of Egypt and Judea declared Vespasian the new emperor. Marching to Rome, he defeated and executed Vitellius, becoming emperor and ending the Year of the Four Emperors.<br/><br/> He ruled the Roman empire for 10 years, building the Flavian Amphitheatre, known nowadays as the Roman Colosseum, as well as enacting various reforms to the empire. He died in 79 CE, and his son Titus became the next Roman emperor, starting the Flavian dynasty and making Vespasian the first emperor to be directly succeeded by his own natural son.
The third of the emperors to rule during the tumultuous Year of the Four Emperors, Vitellius first started his career as Consul in 48 CE, and was eventually given command of the armies of Germania Inferior by Emperor Galba. From there he began his bid for power against Galba and the other claimants.<br/><br/> He successfully led a military revolution against Galba's successor Otho in 69 CE, marching into Rome and becoming Emperor, though he was never acknowledged as such in the entire Roman world. His men were said to be licentious and rough, with Rome becoming embroiled in massacres and riots, decadent feasts and gladiatorial shows. Vitellius himself was described as lazy and self-indulgent, an obese glutton and a hedonist.<br/><br/> In July 69 CE, Vitellius learned that the eastern provinces had declared a rival emperor, Commander Vespasian. Following more provinces declaring for Vespasian and mass desertions among his own adherents, Vitellius resigned as emperor in December 69 CE. He was executed by Vespasian's men upon their arrival to Rome. His reign lasted 8 months.
In the Ugaritic Levant, Baal was variously seen as the God of Fertility, Weather, Rain, Wind, Lightning, Seasons, War, Patron of Sailors and sea-going merchants, leader of the Rephaim (ancestral spirits), and finally King of the gods
Heraclius (575-641) was son of Heraclius the Elder, exarch of Africa, who led a revolt against the usurper emperor Phocas, deposing him in 610. Heraclius became emperor and was immediately forced to deal with multiple threats on many frontiers.<br/><br/> One of the main frontiers was the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 against King Khosrau II and the Sassanid Empire. The Sassanids managed to fight all the way to the walls of Constantinople before failing to penetrate them, allowing Heraclius to counter-attack and drive them all the way back to the capital of Ctesiphon. Khosrau was executed by his son Kavadh II, and a peace treaty was agreed to. The Sassanid Empire soon fell to the Muslim conquests, another threat Heraclius had to deal with.<br/><br/> Heraclius was credited for making Greek the Byzantine Empire's official language, as well as for his enlarging of the empire and his reorganisation of government and military. Though his attempts at religious harmony failed, he was successful in returning the True Cross to Jerusalem.
Nok culture appeared in Northern Nigeria around 1000 BCE and vanished under unknown circumstances around 300 CE in the region of West Africa. It is thought to have been the product of an ancestral nation that branched to create the Hausa, Gwari, Birom, Kanuri, Nupe and Jukun peoples.<br/><br/> The Nok social system is thought to have been highly advanced. Nok culture is considered to be one of the earliest African producers of life-sized Terracotta figures.
Geta (189-211 CE) was the younger son of Emperor Septimius Severus, born in Rome during the reign of Emperor Commodus. Geta fought often with his older brother Caracalla, and would require the mediation of their mother Julia Domna. Septimius Severus named Geta 'Augustus' in 209, making him a co-emperor alongside Caracalla, who had been named co-emperor over 10 years ago, in 198 CE.<br/><br/> Septimius Severus died in early 211 CE, with Geta and Caracalla declared joint emperors and ordered back to Rome. Their hatred and rivalry of one another did not abate though, and there were even talks about splitting the empire in two halves so that they could rule peacefully, before their mother talked them out of it. The situation became so hostile that Carcalla tried to unsuccessfully murder Geta once, before finally succeeding a second time when he had his mother arrange a peace meeting and having his centurions murder Geta in his mother's arms.<br/><br/> After Geta's death, Caracalla had him declared 'damnatio memoriae', with every statue, portrait or painting of him destroyed, and his very name was banned from being spoken or written. Over 20,000 people were killed on Caracalla's orders after he attempted to remove any political enemies and those he considered allies of Geta.
Born Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, he became step-son of Octavian (later to become Augustus, first emperor of Rome) after his mother was forced to divorce Nero and marry him.<br/><br/> Tiberius would eventually marry Augustus' daughter from his previous marriage, Julia the Elder, and later be adopted by Augustus, officially becoming a Julian, bearing the name Tiberius Julius Caesar.<br/><br/> In relations to the other emperors of this dynasty, Tiberius was the stepson of Augustus, grand-uncle of Caligula, paternal uncle of Claudius, and great-grand uncle of Nero.<br/><br/> Tiberius was one of Rome's greatest generals, with his conquest of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily, parts of Germania, creating the foundations for the empire's northern frontier. However, he came to be known as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him <i>tristissimus hominum</i>, 'the gloomiest of men'.
Dur-Sharrukin, present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BCE. After the unexpected death of Sargon in battle, the capital was moved 20 km south to Nineveh.<br/><br/> On 8 March 2015 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly started the plunder and demolition of Dur-Sharrukin, according to a Kurdish official from Mosul. The Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry launched the related investigation on the same day.
Dur-Sharrukin, present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BCE. After the unexpected death of Sargon in battle, the capital was moved 20 km south to Nineveh.<br/><br/> On 8 March 2015 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly started the plunder and demolition of Dur-Sharrukin, according to a Kurdish official from Mosul. The Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry launched the related investigation on the same day.
The <i>Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry</i> is the most famous and possibly the best surviving example of French Gothic manuscript illumination, showing the late International Gothic phase of the style. It is a book of hours: a collection of prayers to be said at the canonical hours.<br/><br/> It was created between c. 1412 and 1416 for the extravagant royal bibliophile and patron John, Duke of Berry, by the Limbourg brothers. When the three painters and their sponsor died in 1416, possibly victims of plague, the manuscript was left unfinished. It was further embellished in the 1440s by an anonymous painter, who many art historians believe was Barthelemy d'Eyck. In 1485-1489, it was brought to its present state by the painter Jean Colombe on behalf of the Duke of Savoy.<br/><br/> Acquired by the Duc d'Aumale in 1856, the book is now in the Musee Conde, Chantilly, France.
Third and last emperor of the Flavian dyansty, Domitian (51-96 CE) was the youngest son of Vespasian and most of his youth was spent in the shadow of his more accomplished brother Titus, who earned his renown during the First Jewish-Roman War. When his father became emperor at the end of the Year of the Four Emperors in 69 CE, Titus was given a great many offices while Domitian held honours but no responsibilities. This would go on for many years, until his brother, succeeding his father in 79 CE, himself died unexpectedly from illness in 81 CE. Domitian was suddenly declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard.<br/><br/> During his reign, Domitian strengthened the Roman economy, expanded the Empire's border defenses and initiated a massive building program to restore the debilitated Rome. Further wars were fought in Britain. Domitian ruled more autocratically than previous emperors, seeing himself as the new Augustus, and formed a cult of personality around himself, making him popular with the people but considered tyrannical by the Senate.<br/><br/> After 15 years in power, longer than any emperor since Tiberius, Domitian was assassinated in 96 CE by court officials. His death ended the Flavian dynasty and he was succeeded by his advisor Nerva, his memory condemned to oblivion by the Senate.
Sargon II was an Assyrian king. Sargon II became the ruler of the Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE after the death of Shalmaneser V. <br/><br/> In his inscriptions, he styles himself as a new man, rarely referring to his predecessors; however he took the name Sharru-kinu ('true king'), after Sargon of Akkad — who had founded the first Semitic Empire in the region some 16 centuries earlier. Sargon is the Biblical form of the name.
Joel (Hebrew: יואל‎) was a prophet of ancient Israel, the second of the twelve minor prophets and the author of the Book of Joel. He is mentioned by name only once in the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, in the introduction to his own brief book, as the son of Pethuel (Joel 1:1).<br/><br/> The dates of his life are unknown; he may have lived anywhere from the 9th century BCE to the 5th century BCE, depending on the dating of his book. The book's mention of Greeks has not given scholars any help in dating the text since the Greeks were known to have had access to Judah from Mycenaean times. However, the book's mention of Judah's suffering and to the standing temple has led some scholars to place the date of the book in the post-exilic period, after the construction of the Second Temple. Joel was originally from Judah / Judea, and, judging from its prominence in his prophecy, was quite possibly a prophet associated with the ritual of the Jerusalem temple.
Antonio Canova's statue Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, first commissioned in 1787, exemplifies the Neoclassical devotion to love and emotion. It represents the god Cupid in the height of love and tenderness, immediately after awakening the lifeless Psyche with a kiss, a scene excerpted from Lucius Apuleius' The Golden Ass. A masterpiece of its period, it appeals to the senses of sight and touch, yet simultaneously alludes to the Romantic interest in emotion co-existing with Neoclassicism.<br/><br/> Joachim Murat donated the first version (pictured) to the Louvre Museum in Paris, France in 1824; Prince Yusupov, a Russian nobleman who acquired the piece in Rome in 1796, gave a later version (created in 1796) to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The plaster cast for this later version is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.