while Egyptians similarly counted their years based on the years a king ruled. Yet in the sixth century (at least what we’d call the sixth century today), people in power wanted a consistent way to keep track of the
The Anno Domini year-numbering system was introduced by a Christian monk named Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century. The year count starts with year 1 in the Gregorian calendar. This is supposed to be thebirth year of Jesus, although modern historians generally doubt that this is correct. The...
Construction of the Ishtar Gate took place around the sixth century BCE, on the orders of Nebuchadnezzar II, a famous ruler of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar ordered a number of building projects which were designed to honor the Babylonian gods while beautifying the city, and the massive walls and gates...
Another Mid Autumn Festival tradition is the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance. Unique to Hong Kong, it began in the 19th century when Tai Hang villagers held the event to drive away bad luck. It has since made its way onto the national list of intangible cultural heritage. This year’s Tai Ha...
The first known civilization to create a purely phonetic system, completely independent of a pictographic or syllabic system, was the Phoenicians. Around the 15th century BCE, Phoenicians created an alphabet made purely of consonants — an abjad — in which one symbol represented one consonantal ...
the Greeks in the 2nd millennium BCE it had become an important port island. The island was fought over by various Mediterranean civilizations for the next few thousand years. It was an important trading post in the Roman Empire, and later passed to the Byzantine Empire in the 4th century. ...
The early practice of options is outlined through an anecdote by the philosopher Thales In Aristotle’s 4th-century philosophical work, “Politics.” Thales preemptively acquired the rights to all olive presses in Chios and Miletus, believing that a great harvest of olives was on the horizon in ...
Interested in finding out what the Chinese inventions are and “firsts” that the country is known for? For much of the last century, China has earned a reputation of being a copycat with low-quality knockoffs. “Made in China” was not something to be proud of. Justified as this may...
His Gregorian calendar took effect in the late 16th century. It remains in use today and, clearly, isn’t perfect or there would be no need for leap year. But it was a big improvement, reducing drift to mere seconds. Why did he step in? Well, Easter. It was coming later in the ...
Kirsi ValkamaValkama, K. 2010. What do archaeological remains reveal of the settlement in Judah during the mid-sixth century BCE? (In Ben Zvi, E. & Levin, C., eds. The concept of exile in Ancient Israel and its historical contexts. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 39-59)....