I'm a bit busy this week, but I should be able to get to that over the weekend.
The Burning Cauldron: The Neo Assyrian Empire Defended
- Thread starter John7755 يوحنا
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It will be interesting to see how the Akkadians react to the realisation the the world is much bigger than they have realised (and thus the part they rule over is a much lesser part of the whole than they might have hoped). How would they deal with the situation intellectually if they learnt of places like Eastern Zhou China or whatever is going on in India at this point.
A great deal of these texts seem to elevate one god over the rest. Is this normal or does it represent some new development?
Saaru-ushumgallu reminds me of the attempts in the Roman empire to unite all the gods in the person of Isis and to make her a sort of supreme mother goddess.
The world 576 BCE, a review of matters in Eurasia and Northern Africa.
600-576 BCE
In this update, we will check the rest of world and create a comprehensive look at every place in the world that I find to be important to mention. If I leave out a culture that you feel to be interesting/important, do please make a point and I will add it to this list. This will also be a relatively brief description of these different lands and peoples, not exhaustive. The description will begin from east to west.
Far Eastern Asia:
The Development of Predatory Nomadism
In the furthest reaches of East Asia, is a growing collection of powerful confederates to the north of China, two of which are already extant. Prior, in the years of 900-850 BCE, a development in the lands corresponding to Scythia Major (Kazakhstan primarily) began amongst the semi-sedentary folk of a wider Iranic culture. This development was that of a series of more dangerous and deadly composite bows that were used atop mounted horses, rather than chariots as was the prior custom. This led to the intensifying of a nomadic process that contributed to the creation of the so-called predatory nomads that characterized the Scythian culture(s) that seemed to have developed directly from this innovation. This development and innovation did not remain a secret however and spread far and wide. By the year 800 BCE, this model of nomadic life had come to characterize the lands from the Don River as far east as Manchuria and as far south as Bactria, where Indo-European semi-sedentary life characterizing the Bronze Age persisted.
In around 770-680 BCE, there seems to have existed a powerful series of nomadic states who resembled closely the Scythian cultures of the west. This realm may have ruled the entirety of Mongolia and stretched toward the area of Manchuria and west toward the Altai Mountains (Tajagiri in Sanskrit and the Scythian tongues). Massive burial sites are extant in this region, presumably of powerful kings. One of which, possesses approximately 165 sacrificed men and 360 sacrificed horses, made into eccentric shapes and surrounded by hoards of treasure. Following this, is a series of once painted wood structures creating rooms wherein these people/animals were sacrificed. These create corridors leading to a centra location in the center of the tomb complex wherein a man and woman are interred. The mand and woman each possess a fine costume composed of over 10,000 individual golden pieces, amber, jade and other precious stones abounding their body and clothing. Nearby the man and woman is a store of treasure, namely a bronze sword with golden plating, draperies, ornaments of jade, golden blades and a set of bows tipped in gold. Whoever this king was, he held a tomb of such extravagance that it compares surely to the grandest tombs and mortuary cults of the Middle East and Egypt. To create such a tomb, would require vast power and coordination of resources beyond the level of a nomadic realm that did not possess a far-reaching power and acquisition of tribute from sedentary and semi-sedentary folk.
The Donghu Confederates
However, by the year 600 BCE, this realm has disappeared completely. In its wake exist a series of smaller confederates and peoples north of China. Beginning east, the Donghu are a people ranging in Manchuria, north of Korea and China. They are a people possessing a nomadic culture and fearsome warriors. They however are only a collection of tribes in the years of 600-560 BCE and have yet to come together into a cohesive political unit for which to attack others for long periods. However, their armies or raiders more aptly, raid into the sedentary lands near it periodically, but these act as little more than cattle rustling for now.
They despite the similar lifeways, differ significantly from the nearby nomadic peoples to its west. It does not practice widespread display of wealth and fortune in death nor sacrifices of humans as do their western counterparts. Furthermore, gold carries a much less important role in their ritual and ceremonial life as do the at times gold-mania exhibited by their western neighbors. Their clothing also differs aside for the adoption of pants, these pants come in less colorful varieties and typically combine furs and fur caps instead of the wool colored caps of the westerners. Their bows though are equally as deadly, and their ferocity will be tested in the coming centuries.
Korea
To the south of the Donghu is the Gojoseon, a kingdom centered in northeastern Korea at the city of Wanggeom. The kingdom is currently in the year 576 BCE, still in the process of transitioning from the usage of Bronze to Iron and both are simultaneously utilized, especially in the creation of great blades in violin features. As a kingdom, it has minor power beyond the Korean peninsula. The southern areas of which, are inhabited by the Ye and Jin cultures of who the Gojoseon possesses only minor authority over. In its west, it is hemmed by the Donghu to the northwest, who consistently raid the northern fringes of the kingdom and to the direct west by the Zhou Dynasty and its vassal the State of Yan and Qi. The current king of the kingdom of Joseon is that of Deokchang who began his rule in 578 BCE and is in his third year of reign. His reign is fortunately seemingly protected as the Zhou realm faces a period of battles of authority, leaving the amin worry for Joseon being the Dongu peoples to the northwest and potentially the Xiongnu beyond them to the west.
Japan
To the furthest east of Joseon, is the Isles of Japan, inhabited by two different material cultures and surely many different peoples and tribes. In the furthest south, around 800 BCE, arrived a people from the Korean peninsula, whose material culture resembled more closely that of the western lands, namely Korea and China. They likewise brought extensive rice farming to the island and a more sedentary style of life. Originally confined to the island of Kyushu, these peoples have spread to Honshu and have built settlements across the southern portion of Honshu and dominate likewise the areas of Kyushu. To their north and interspersed among them is a minority populace of indigenous peoples, referred to as Jomon. They practice a higher degree of hunting and gathering as their customs and life and likewise possess less in the way of sedentary farming. Despite this, they have adopted as of late, a more sedentary lifestyle with the farming of barley and other similar crops alongside gathering and the fishing of riverways and seas.
These Jomon also have a completey separate form of material culture, more ornate and styled figurines and vases. The new arrivals from the east, have a plainer, yet utilitarian form of pottery, resembling their Korean origins. Similarly, the two peoples while certainly intermingling, exist as separate populations genetically. The earlier inhabitants deriving from a more ancient stock in the isles, arriving perhaps around the year 20,000 BCE. Their features of note are that of long thick body hair, large beards, moderate tan skin tone and often practicing tattooing. Their new arrivals meanwhile brought an appearance essentially alike that of the neighboring Korea, fair skin, eyes common in Korea, lower amounts of body hair and no tattoos.
For the moment, there exists no evidence of warfare between the peoples, however a trend of demographic replacement has occurred by the year 576 BCE, namely in terms of intermingling followed by large population densities and growth exhibited by the new arrivals. Their practice of rice cultivation and a more sedentary lifestyle likely playing the most decisive role in their growth in respect to the Jomon indigenous peoples. Yet, for the time, the two populaces, diverse and expansive, both remain on the isle and continue to develop organically.
China under the Middle Zhou Dynasty
South of the Donghu peoples, between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, there developed in the Middle Bronze Age, a distinct culture and state in the so-called Central Plains. This culture was an extension of older prior periods of sedentary peoples who ranged in the fertile river valleys. To the north, they were hemmed by the semi-sedentary folk, proto-Yiqu and so forth and in that direction by arid steppes. To the west by mountains desert and the arrival of Indo-European charioteers. To the south by the Southern Barbarians, inhabiting mountains, and jungles, which resented the peoples of the Central Valley. However, the fortunes for the Central Valley changed with the founding of the Xia Kingdom in around 2062 BCE, by a supposed mystic whose characteristics were that of a gardener and agriculturalist who controlled the rivers, implying a hydraulic empire formation.
The Xia kingdom ruled in a mysterious haze until 1605 BCE when it transitioned to its successor, the Shang state centered in the Later Song state in the eastern Central Plain. The Shang saw the height of the Bronze age in the Central Valley. Extensive acquisition of jade, amber, gold and bronze from the west characterized this period. As well, large scale centralization, assimilation and expansion of the peoples of the Central Valley and their coalescence into a cohesive people, whom we term, Han. Rule by the Shang was however notorious. Their extravagance resembled the cultures to their northwest, who practiced largescale retainer sacrifice, slavery as status symbols, display of power via diversity and quantity of gems and the Shang reached a height through the creation of massive cauldrons, the greatest of which being the Nine Tier Cauldron that symbolized the kingship transition from the Xia to the Shang, the so-called Mandate of Heaven.
The Shang however declined from 1100-1046 BCE, collapsing in a revolution led by one of its vassals, the Zhou state. The Zhou period began thus in 1046 BCE and continued much of the traits that characterized the Shang. However, it saw the lessening of certain royal displays of extravagance and then the same formalization and expansion of a set of customs, rites and ceremony that would come to define Han culture. Exterior peoples would be recognized principally by their lack of observation of the customs unique and integral to the interior Central Valley, which was exemplified as the center of the cosmological understanding of the Han peoples. The Middle Kingdom.
The Zhou also began a policy of rapid expansionism during the Early Iron Age, consisting of the Zhou central state expanding its territory in all directions and distributing cadet branches in control over new vassal states. This by 800 BCE, created a wide web of subordinates to the central Zhou state in all directions. By 750 BCE, most every area previously held by foreigners to the Shang, had been integrated into a greater Zhou sphere, their people assimilating to the Central Valley’s series of rites, customs and language and their rulers acting as relatives of the Zhou central royal court. The Zhou derived their lineage and right to rule from the Nine Cauldrons, which exemplified the Divine Mandate, that the Heavens had gifted the kingship to a family. This family thus is endowed the duty to rule the Central Valley, see it to prosper, expand and flourish culturally. Hence, through this method, the Zhou held a tight grasp to kingship and nuanced its control over the region through a cosmological basis rather than military prowess. Furthermore, the expanse of relatives as local leaders, created a greater loyalty and centrality to the Zhou, that would have been impossible for the Shang, whose vassals were of different relation, possessed less loyalty to the central Shang regime.
The consequence of the expansion though too existed, and Zhou success acted as a double-edged blade, one to slay a foe and the other to cut the hands that swing. Zhou assimilation of nearby peoples led to an increasingly more demanding series of nearby peoples, whose demand was greater access to the Zhou central state, originally reserved only for those closest, the ring of Central Valley states, that acted as an intricate web surrounding Zhou. Due to the nature of Zhou expansion, states on the exterior, were larger, made up of Zhou cadet branches, they were formed as almost guards of the Central Valley and their realms became massive and militarized as a result. These were however, often inhabited by peoples that the Central Valley referred to as barbarians and backwards, denying them the assimilation process that had been at work for the past 300 years.
These states were on the exterior, Qin in the west, Chu in the south, Jin in the north, Qi in the northeast, Wu and Yue in the southeast. Other smaller realms abounded these on the exterior, but these mentioned, were the dominant exterior realms that protected the heartland of Han civilization, the old domains of the Xia, the Shang and now the Zhou. Realms such as these came to dominate the political life of the Zhou dynasty by around 685 BCE. Zhou central realms, such as Zheng, Dun, Cai, Chen, Wey, Lu, Cao, Song/Shang, Zue, Teng, Zhong, Tan, Ju, Xu, Li and Nie had diversified into tiny statelets often disorganized and militarily divided. They however were the bastions of economy and culture but relied heavily on the Zhou central state and the surrounding guardian realms on the frontier of the Zhou region.
The diversification of the Central Valley led to the ascent of the outlying areas into powerful domineering states that commanded power. This began where the Zhou, in order to shore up its regime and protect the Central Valley from potential incursions from other powerful realms on the exterior, began to proclaim a hegemon, which would in theory represent the Zhou interests militarily, acting as the sword of the Zhou rulers. The first of these, was given to the Duchy of Qi under Huan of Qi. This lasted from 685-642 BCE, when the state of Song under Xiang of Song declared and forced himself as holder of the title in 643 BCE, by attacking Qi and attempting to assert his authority over the Qi realm. His forces managed some success, however his interests lingered elsewhere, and he was obliged to stop Chu interference in the Central Valley. However, a coalition of states joined Chu, leading to the defeat of Song and the slaying of Xiang of Song in 638-637 BCE.
The defeat of Song in 638-637 BCE, and the rise of the Chu as they expanded their influence to seek the title of Hegemon and chain the Zhou to their interests, frightened the states of the Central Valley. Most especially, the state of Zhou, which managed to create a coalition of Jin, Qin, Qi and the weakened Song to halt the advance of Chu under Viscount Cheng of Chu. This culminated in the battle of Chengpu, wherein the Chu were defeated decisively by the coalition led by Jin and its Duke Wen of Jin. Duke Wen thus was given the authority of Hegemon by the Zhou state, which would harbor the period of dominance by Jin from the year 632-597 BCE.
The hegemony of Jin was the most preferred situation for the Zhou central state. Jin possessed less ambition and intents upon the seizing of Zhou authority and due to the proximity of Jin to the Zhou in area, the state had a greater prevalence of Han cultural achievement and was the least barbarian of the non-Central states. However, the power of Jin was increasingly challenged. Despite the defeat in 632 BCE, the state of Chu remained ambitious. It had waged war with the Yue and the Wu states and also subjugated the Shu and Ba states to the southwest and improved its armies from 630-600 BCE under King/Viscount Cheng of Chu, Mu of Chu and Zhuang of Chu (631-591 BCE). The Chu had thus become alarmingly powerful and under Zhuang, the Chu demanded to be accepted as the foremost realm in the region and likewise claimed the title of king and regarded the Zhou as its vassal.
In response Duke Jing of Jin (599-583 BCE) whose family had held the title of Hegemon for several generations, moved to crush the Chu’s insults to the Zhou central court. This culminated in the Battle of Bi in 597 BCE, ending in a massive Chu victory over Jin, which would decline for decades to come. Zhuang would expand his realm to the doorstep of Zhou, leading to a series of confrontation between King Ding of Zhou and Viscount Zhuang of Chu. The result of this standoff was a compromise, Chu would become the new hegemon and dominate the region in place of Zhou, yet Zhou remains the central court and administration of the overall empire.
Nearing the date of our atl, 576 BCE, Chu remains the hegemon over the empire, but an intricate web of alliances to counter the Chu are emerging. In 584 BCE, Duke Jing of Jin formalized an alliance with the emerging power of Wu under Shoumeng of Wu. This alliance continued under the following duke of Jin, Duke Li of Jin, the current ruler of Jin. As it stands, Wu and Jin are in a war of influence with Chu. Meanwhile, the Zhou are losing ever more centrality, Qin is formulating a powerful military regime on the fringes and Qi is recovering from its disasters in the prior century. The stage is set, and the future of the Central Valley remains uncertain.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is a land of mystery generally in the year 576 BCE. What is known, is that rice production exists across the region and large villages and cities exist. Yet, the writing and large-scale states are not yet widely known. In the Irrawaddy Delta, the Mon peoples are already extant in villages, towns and small cities relying on rice cultivation and large-scale fishing enterprises. Trade with the Bengal Delta region is already also existent since around 700 BCE in the later Vedic period. The beginning thus of Hindu influence of Southeast Asia is occurrent and will proceed surely into the future. To the north into the jungles and mountains, the starting sprouts of the Pyu states has coalesced from the growing population of the region since the Bronze Age. Nearby to the west, the peoples in the Mekong Delta are developing very similar, yet with less development as of current. North of the Mekong is even denser jungles, with low population densities, many of known inhabited by somewhat unknown peoples. East of this, is the lands of the early or proto- Nam-Viet, a small kingdom in the Red River Valley of Dai vet. The state is in its very early phases, perhaps without true kings and ruled instead by oligarchs of chiefs, much like the states to its north in the Yunnan and the Pearl River Delta region.
In the furthest southeast of Asia, expansion of peoples from Asia continues as semi-sedentary and agricultural peoples extend against hunter and gatherer peoples on the islands. These peoples of indigenous relation are increasingly contained into smaller and smaller areas of the jungle and the mountains, leaving the lowlands to farming communities from the Asian mainland.
The Xiongnu, the Gara, Tarim and Tibet
As was discussed earlier on the topic of the rise of steppe nomadism, few lands exemplify this innovation more than the peoples of the Tarim, Mongolia and nearby locales. The foremost of these two, is the realm of the Gara and the realm of the Xiongnu.
The Xiongnu inhabit in 576 BCE, the steppe region just north of the Yellow River, beyond the state of Qin and the Yiqu and west of the Donghu. Their range likely extends north into Lake Baikal, which they share strong trade links to. Their lifestyle is that of predatory nomads, herding, warring and existing in tight knit clans of kinsmen that are often subjected to stronger royal caste clans. From around 850 BCE onward, the people in the area took on an increasingly Scythian character after previously having a cultural model of chariot-riding semi-sedentary farmers alongside hunter and gatherers. This coincides with the spread of milk drinking and genetic influence from the European steppe, that coincides with the creation of the Xiongnu people.
As such, our opinion, is that the Xiongnu were a composite people, made up of a possible royal caste from the west intermingled with locals similar to the Donghu. However, the language would have been likely a combination, with clans speaking Yeneisian and Indo-European languages. As a cultural trait, their dress, styles and burials resemble their Scythian neighbors closely, both of whom practicing much the same as each other with some regional differences. Most especially, the Xiongnu do not wear pointed caps and likewise always shave their beards. Chinese sources made a point to note that the Xiongnu shaved, even if they grew large beards otherwise.
Their warriors are some of the fiercest in the region, having exercised many raids on the Zhou dynasty in the Early Iron Age and exercised control over the Donghu and nearby Scythians at varying times. Yet, in the year 576 BCE, the Xiongnu and indeed all the steppe nomads are inferior in the eyes of the Zhou to another power to the south.
In the Tarim Basin, the arrival of Indo-European peoples began around the year 2300-2000 BCE. Said peoples arrived directly to the Tarim, without admixture along the route. Stopping in the Tianshan mountains, they extended into the Tarim valley, settling into towns, herds, and villages. Their spread reached as far west as the western bend of the Yellow River by the year 1200 BCE. By this time, the peoples of the Valley, likely diverse but all generally of a distantly related Indo-European people, were ascendant in the years 1800-900 BCE as merchants. Trade from Europe moved amber, bronze, gold, goods from the Mid-East and horses which were then in turn funneled into the hungry Shang and Zhou states. This trans-Eurasian trade route created earlier than most areas of the world, a series of complex oasis towns and states, which would be referred to by the Vedic peoples as ‘Tokhari’ meaning ‘the people from the snow-lands.’
By the year 650 BCE, the collapse of the hypothesized steppe nomad realm in Mongolia from years 770-650 BCE, led to the rise of a powerful state in the Tarim Basin. This realm was referred to by its royal caste name, the Yuezhi according to the Chinese sources of the Zhou period and resided somewhere in the Western Gansu. From there, they seem to have extended a rough hegemony over the Central Tarim Basin, which they commanded as a series of vassals and tributaries. At the heart of this realm, was the sources of Jade in the Tarim Basin, for which the state formed itself around.
Called in the local Tokhari (its early version, prior to diversification into A, B, C and D varieties) the Gara (Yuezhi in Chinese), the royal caste was known as the masters of jade. Holding the production of jade as a trade secret, they traded jade both east and west and likewise carried goods from west to east, feeding the Chinese resources, yet not divulging sources. As such, around China was a great wall being the Gara and the Xiongnu, which slowed transmission of knowledge of the outside world, but otherwise still transmitted the goods of trade and wealth.
In 576 BCE, the Gara are nearing their zenith, as an entity, commanding one of the largest territories in the world at the time. The realm and its composition are somewhat murky, but it is understood to be a collection of oasis vassals alongside interspersed seasonal nomads traversing distances with trading goods due either west or east. The armies of the Gara are like the Xiongnu, but the state of the Gara is much more of a mix between sedentary town life in oasis and that of steppe nomadic seasonalism. As such, the Gara are described as a checkpoint oasis empire, commanding important locations, rather than a territory per se. Seemingly, the main goal of the state is the acquisition and profit from the trade of the expensive jade and other western goods that are to be carried into China. The army as such only exists to defend these interests and launch incursions into the steppe against the Scythians and the Xiongnu.
To the south in Tibet, coherent state entities do not yet fully exist. However, tribal realms are already commonplace. The people therein are noted for their warlike personality and skill in combat. Warlike gods in these lands inspire warriors form these territories into fearsome charges and defenses of their fortresses and mountain strongholds. To the north, the varied Tibetan tribes possess a good relation and perhaps an alliance with the Gara. To the east, the Tibetan-like peoples existed in prior years, but have been increasingly pushed forth and assimilated or eradicated by the advancing tide of the Zhou dynasty. The Shu and Ba states are some of the best examples of this. The Qin and Chu states both commanding powers nearing the region of Tibet, precariously threatening its sanctity. In the future, the Tibetan tribal realms will need to develop answers to the rising and threatening tide of the Zhou expansion and particularly the Chu power over Tibet’s south and the east.
South Asia
Already discussed elsewhere, the region of Hindustan or South Asia, is divided into essentially into two distinct regions of culture and six or seven geographical areas. The two cultural zones are those of the Vedic influenced Aryan realms and tribes of the Indus and Gangetic Valleys. The other being the Dravidian peoples and realms of the Deccan and the furthest reaches of the subcontinent.
The Aryan realms are in turn divided into two types, those which are fully realized complex regimes and states and those which practice small scale farming and have a more pastoral mode of life. Generally, these are divided regionally. Along the Indus River, the Catarjanau and other pastoralist Aryan folk exist in a state of vicious warfare between each other and their neighbors. Resembling the lifeway of the prior Vedic period, they are noted for their fearsome warrior elites and the speed of their attacks. Otherwise, the other Aryan states that are considered complex regimes are as follows; Kamboja, Gandara (northern ones), Kuru, Panycaala, Kosala, Malla, Vrji, Magadha, Anga, Shurasena, Vetsa (Gangetic states), Matsya, Cedi, Avanti and Ashmaka (southern Aryan states, the expansive Aryan realms).
By 576 BCE, the region is locked into series of coalitions and alliances against one another. Traditionally, Kuru possessed the foremost position amongst the Aryan realms, but years of erosion had dismantled the Kuru position as the dominant state in the area despite prestige. Rather, Panycaala, Kosala, Malla and Magadha stand poised to make gains. Magadha especially, under a new Haryanka dynasty formed by Bhattiya whose reforms in the agriculturally rich lands of the eastern Ganges, may lead to the rise of a highly powerful regime in the coming years.
In prior years, the region had been to some degree isolated from the exterior world. Aggressive expansion from other lands was simply discounted and the Aryan realms existed as powerful and mighty entities without fear of the exterior.
A diverse and strong religious tapestry formed as a result of the Vedic period. Intense worship of the Gods mixed with the assertion of a caste system linked to similar caste system existing across the Indo-European speaking world, especially in Europe and the Steppe region provide the construction of a powerful and influential clergy known as Brahmans. These perform the ritual duties outlined in the texts of the Vedic religion, yet over time, these rituals and their complexity have declined in estimation of the Kaliyuga, supoposedly beginning upon the ascent of Krishna, an aspect of Vishnu in the Bronze Age. As such, the Aryan realms, while possessing a seriously central cosmology based around the assertion of itself and religious affirmations, also understands the age present to be one of decline; lost legend and heroism.
Despite that, the Aryan states strongly assert a cultural continuum and continue their expansions in the subcontinent. Originally in the Vedic period, Aryan tribal occupation was limited to the northwest, but by the year 600 BCE, the Aryan cultural sphere has multiplied considerably. Stretching from the Indus to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalayas to the northern fringes of the Deccan. Aryan princes and expansive men continue to push southward into the ever-declining Dravidian states of the deeper south, who themselves may have constituted at one point in the copper age, an expansive element in the subcontinent.
Fears of external invasion do persist yet in the Aryan mindset. Currently ascendant and ever upon the attack to the South, the Aryan states have still memory of the Dasha and other peoples who had attacked them in the Vedic period. The arrival of the Medes adds another question to this scenario of Aryan isolation and cultural supremacy.
Hindustan has much to offer likewise. While the economic might of the subcontinent is yet to be realized and the introduction of rice has not begun, the region possesses the largest population on the planet. Farming communities are large, warriors numerous, priests powerful and the economy strong for the time. Goods such as spice, fruits, cotton, sugarcane, etc... are yet to find their full potential in a world market, however. The city of Anga is one exception to the rule, with its famous trade relations abroad into the Indian Sea, spreading Aryan culture far and wide and gathering exotic goods from the southeast.
Central Asia and the Pontic Steppe
The areas of Central Asia, otherwise called in Greek common tongues as Scythia, is a vast steppe comprising many different peoples. Herein, Scythian peoples practicing nomadism abound as the dominant political force. These are divided into many different bands, clans and groups, all however sharing a common cultural material and matter that extends far toward the Xiongnu in the east and to the west towards the Don River.
In the eastern section of Scythia, we have many groups of Scythians alongside settled peoples. These settled peoples are, Sogdians, Chorasmi, Bactrians and Ferghani. Each of these peoples are Eastern Iranic speakers, comprising a similar cultural zone. That zone of culture being semi-sedentary urban dwellers whose pastoralism is maintained. They are ruled however by local chiefs and tribal elders and castes, rather than by kings or bureaucratic realms. Farming in this area is of barley and their people grow crops in some seasons, practice herding in the winter and in times of trouble, leave areas and settle elsewhere. Their gods are much akin to the gods of the peoples of the Aryan lands, polytheism of the Indo-European variety, with preference to a certain wind-god identified as Vinyu, common among such people.
Surrounding each of these people is a more nomadic and aggressive element, namely the Scythians. Living amongst tight knit clans, further expanded by tribes and generalized castes, the Scythians live among the settled peoples of Central Asia. Perhaps gaining from the settled peoples regular tribute and service, in exchange for protection, a series of tributary relation pervade Eastern Central Asia.
The Scythians as mentioned earlier, practice a form of extravagant display, through the hoarding of wealth. Such wealth would be gained less through work and more from loot and tribute, of which the Scythians treat less as currency and more as hoarded symbols of status. Such great extravagant symbols of hoards assert caste relations and the authority of Scythian warlords over the subjects, both nomadic and sedentary. These hoards are then interred upon death in elaborate funerary customs and construction, often rivalled only by peoples such as the Aryans or Egypt.
Ritual and acts of display also play a large part in Scythian society. Rituals to the Gods and to the ancestors are especially important, wherein massive amounts of goods may be sacrificed to the gods. These rituals and their complexity, often requiring priests’ months of preparation; asserts the sanctity of a priestly caste within Scythian society and the unlikelihood of transmission of interclass transfer. Scythians further hold in both the east and the west, reincarnation, and the devotion to a collection of polytheistic deities, whom the goddess of fire (Tabiti) is seen to be the chief.
In the west, the Scythians, once more subdivided into many groups, persist as the dominant people group in the region. Little in the way of settlement of sedentary folk exists, with its evidence having dried up between years 1000-700 BCE, permitting the rampant nomadization of the Pontic Steppe by the Scythians and related folk. To the west of the Pontic steppe, exists the heartlands of the Dacian peoples protected by the Capathian mountains, the Proto-Veneti Slavs of the Vistula, northwest of the Scythians, the proto-Germanic Jastorf culture of Northern Germania and the Celtic La Tene Cultural super-sphere.
The Scythians share with the people to its west as it does to its east, shared trade links and cultural traits. These traits of culture include, caste systems, certain martial tactics, the chanting of mantra, nude warrior motifs, dress/fashion, tall bodies, blond hair as the majority color of hair, predominance of light hued eyes, mass use of horses and composite bows. This area corresponds to what will be referred to in the timeline as the Northern Eurasian nucleus, the region wherein originates and comingles many different peoples of similar cultural traits. This differentiates these folks from other Indo-European peoples who correspond to a different sphere of their linguistic branch, such as the Hellenic world, the Aryan lands, the Gara-Tokhari, the Celts of Iberia, Italic folk, etc…
Regarding trade links, the Scythian world comprises the most fundamental example of Eurasian trade and one of the last remnant extant examples of the Bronze Age trade networks linking east and west. Within Scythia, there are many resources of note, the most prestigious being horses and gold. Gold acquired in the Golden Mountains of Mongolia and the Yenisei basin, comprise the main stay of Scythian trading power with the west. Gold, a beloved item in most of the world, but especially amongst those peoples of the Northern Nucleus cultures, offers the Scythian tribes and peoples valuables worth offering to the peoples to their west. In exchange, the Scythians receive fine furs, agricultural product, weapons of iron, timber and most valuable of all, amber. Amber is then taken by the Scythians, alongside tin, timber, furs and so forth to Central Asia, distributed to merchants from Iran, Hindustan and so forth. Likewise, goods are taken afar to the realms of the Tokhari, who carry amber and its allure to China.
In 576 BCE, the Budin tribe is seemingly the strongest of the western Scythian for moment. Their alliance with the Hurrianizing Colchis state has borne fruits in the crushing of Assyrian northern expansions and likewise distributing adventurous youths into the Mid-East as mercenary. In the east, the Scythian states have changed little and there is no large realm among them, rather the Dasha, a people similar to the Scythians have attained some prominence in Bactria and Chorasmi as lords of these regions. Yet, the Dasha, bordered by hyper-aggressive Assyria is ever a worry.
Akkadian world, Anatolia, Egypt, etc.. (already covered)
N/A
The Hellenic World and Europe
In 576 BCE, the Hellenic world is finally emerging from the Dark Age slumber incurred by the Bronze Age Collapse. The new Greek society is one of uncertainty, both of its origins and its future. Prior iterations of its civilization were noted for their aristocratic traditions, caste system, great religious devotion, and legendary warrior feats. Much of these customs were becoming eroded or were destroyed. Hence, few if no states in the Hellenic world embody their ancestor’s legacy and most Greek realms are experimenting with new governments. Most impactful of these is those innovations of Sparta, a reform of the old and Athens, a progressive innovation project.
Athens under Solon of Athens has saw the rise of Democracy in the city and the destruction of the prior monarchy. Its tenets of rule are that of consensus, voting and a form of martial quality gathered by a perceived equality and freedoms shared by all citizens. Under Sparta, maintaining a kingdom, a government is in the progress that emphasizes a cult of twin-kings who rule simultaneously in the city. These twin kings then enact a government based upon strong martial principles, state authoritarian power and aggressive foreign policy. Both of these states exist as visitations upon the prior golden age of the Bronze Age, with each moving in different directions. Agreed however, between both is that of a form of Hellenic nationalism, perhaps borne from the commonality of the Homeric Bronze Age myths, which draw together a diverse set of peoples into a single group in relation to its harsh opposition to those exterior foes from all directions.
A maritime people, the Hellenic world is one of the foremost in the world of navigation of the seas. Greek ships travel far and wide in the Mediterranean and bring their wares and bring new goods to and fro. Most especially, is Hellenic craftsmanship, renowned in Europe as hoarded status symbols amongst the Celts and Scythians. Wine too has spread alongside Greek trade, infiltrating across Europe, leading to the prevalence of mass feasts and drinking contests in Europe amongst the Celts and others.
Not only have the Hellenes expanded the Tradewinds, but also their people and cultural complex. Greek colonies by 576 BCE extend all over the Mediterranean world, most especially Northern Africa, the Adriatic, Iberia, Sicily, Italy, Anatolia, Cyprus, Cilicia and the Black Sea. Most important of these colonies is Syracuse, one of the growing cities in the region, whose prominence is in many cases outpacing its Greek brothers in the homeland. These colonies otherwise, form into an intricate web of trade links made possible by relations to sponsor cities and the ‘call of home’ in regards to Greece, permitting the slorecreation of trade links made defunct by the Bronze Age cataclysm in the Mediterranean Valley.
Connected to this trade network made possible by the Greek maritime system is a diverse set of peoples across Europe.
The closest to Greece, are the Italic peoples inhabiting the Italian peninsula. These peoples of an Indo-European origin likely arrived in Italy around 1600 BCE, replacing prior migrations and other folk existent therein. Ranging from the Po river to the region of Bai, they make up the majority population of the peninsula. These Italic groups are broken into several groupings by 576 BCE. The important of which was the Kingdom of Rome led by a certain Servius Tulius, who ascended to the throne in the year 578 BCE. Rome is centered on a region called Latium on the river Tiber, it is composed of a major Hellenized city, alongside outlining ports, villages and towns. To its north is the Umbri, who are a collection of tribes and towns of sedentary farmers along the interior of central and coastal Italy. North of the Umbri is the similar Picentes, who possess a close relation to the Greek colonial settlements of the Adriatic. South of the Umbri, is the Samnites, who were a collection of 5-7 tribes. Fearsome warriors and fiercely independent, the Samnites remain a thorn in the side of would-be Hellenic colonization of interior Italy. Finally, there was the Messpian cities of the region of Bari, a collection of towns and cities generally arrayed against the Greek colonial cities of Tarentum over trade in the Adriatic Sea. All of these Italic peoples share a generally Hellenizing character, but otherwise stand relatively steadfast against further interior Hellenic settlement and intrusion.
North of the Italic peoples s the land of Etruria, ruled by the Etruscan league. A powerful series of cities and towns allied in a coalition against foes from all sides. The Etruscan cities are the most populated and rich sections of the Italian peninsula, dominating a trade relation with the city of Carthage and hence the trade network connecting European goods by sea to the Akkadian world of Assyria. The rising war tensions in the Akkadian world and its increasing power, have only increased demand for European materials and luxury items, things that Etruscan merchants have managed to furnish for the Carthaginian partners and thence to the Akkadian world.
The Etruscan cities while ascendant for the moment, sit at a precarious location. To their north, the Celtic peoples of the Ligures are shortly followed by more powerful Celtic coalitions, whose relations to the Etruscans have been decreasing. Traditionally, Carthage and the Etruscans traded luxury goods from the south, such as wines, pottery, glasses, dyes, clothing and so forth in exchange with extremely valuable raw materials such as timber, furs, gold, amber, tin, horses, weaponry of iron and so forth. Over time, the Celtic peoples made up of varied tribes and varieties have become increasingly impatient with the trade imbalance and movements southward have already begun from the Celtic nucleus in Northern, central Gaul and western Germany across the Alps and into Southern Gaul. Why not attain these resources by thine own hands is becoming the mantra.
The Celtic cultures reside in the great Central Plains of Europe, where they practice a lifestyle of sedentary farming alongside some level of season migration. Their politics are organized around tribal realms led by chiefs or kings, alongside a caste system of warriors and priests. Their tribes battle intermittently between one another, but in comparison to the vicious Copper and Bronze Age, the Central Plain of Europe has become a peaceful realm of settling peoples, who despite the improving times, seek better lands and opportunities elsewhere.
In the prior Bronze Age, trade connection with the Middle East characterized what is termed Proto-Celtic culture in Europe. The opinion that we take in this atl, is that there is two different types of Celt. One type is the received linguistic Celt, that is peoples who adopted a Celtic language and base cultural exercise during the Late Bronze Age. Then there is a ‘true Celt’ in that it is the peoples who arriving from the east in the Bronze Age or earlier, constitute the nucleus of Celtic culture. Due to the mass trade of tin outward, there was great levels of sophistication of maritime transit and of long-distance trading of the peoples in the region, the largest percentage of such were made up of Celts. These Celts would dominate demographically the areas of Northern Gaul, Britain, Western Germania, and Central Gaul, comprising the dominant share of lands for which tin was transferred. This led to a spread of Celtic as a prestige language into Iberia, creating a distinct form of Celtic people in the ranges of Northwestern and Central Iberia, areas relatively untouched by Celtic migration in the main.
Celtic customs and commonality across the region thus spread as a prestige culture across the Atlantic seaboard of Europe because of the possession of the ultimate Bronze Age goods, amber and tin. This prestige culture is represented by and can be recognized as follows: Celtic language, similar fashion, hoarding of gold, mass celebration with wine and Greek vases, advanced gold crafting, belief in reincarnation, existence of a stratified caste system as a form of governance, predominance of large scale rituals, human sacrifice and headhunting of enemy warriors for preservation.
As time moves forward, the Celtic future seems bright, holding the most fertile agricultural lands in Europe and inheriting one of the largest cultural zones in the world from the Bronze Age, the Celts are poised to create a truly fearsome cultural sphere in the coming centuries.
Opposite of the Celtic cultural sphere of the Bronze Age, was a counter mercantile culture and prestige region. Namely, that of the Iberic cultures and peoples. Situated along the southern and eastern coasts of Iberia, these peoples speak a set of languages likely related to the nearby fishing folk of Aquitaine and non-Indo-European. Their cities along the coast in the east are large and diversified centres of commerce and farming, centered upon the domestication of cows. On the eastern coast, the Iberic cities are locked into disputes with the Greek colonies and with the Celtic intrusion from the interior. Yet, these Eastern Iberic realms garner the favor of Carthage and form a triangle of friendly relations in the Western Mediterranean Sea.
To the south, the Iberic peoples are more numerous than the east. Here, they reside in very large communities of farmers and powerful kingdoms that rule independently of mercantile dependencies. Their relations to the Celts and the Indo-European Lusitani to the northwest, is also better and more in the favor of the Southern Iberic states, of which the city of Tartessos is the foremost, likely commanding a powerful hegemony over Southern Iberia along the River Baetica.
There exists many cultural traits in common between the two Iberic folk, of the south and east, however not enough to truly argue both are truly related. However, the opinion of the atl, is that Tartessos speaks a mixture of languages, one of which is a tongue similar to Lusitanian and another is a language related to Aquitanian. Nevertheless, in recent decades up to 576 BCE, Tartessos has experienced an influx of Celtic speakers and peoples into its realm, possibly signifying a declining state of authority and symbolizing a potential rise of Carthage in Iberia due to the absence of Tartesian power.
To the areas north and east of the Celts, is the proto-Germanic peoples inhabiting the region od Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Saxony. Borne from the Battle Axe Culture of the Bronze Age, these peoples for some time had been relatively minor members of the amber trade. Practicing farming and subsistence fishing enterprises.
However, an inexplicable population growth and expansive tribal peoples, has led to the Germanic peoples to invade nearby lands and expand southward. In the year 600 BCE, these peoples had come to inhabit much of Northern Germania and range toward the area of Norica of the Celts. Their expansion is of so far little consequence as the main areas of the Celts are unaffected, Baltic peoples along the coasts are well east and the Pannonian peoples are well south. However, the assumption of such a central placement in the amber trade and of fertile lands, will have certain consequences for Europe. Especially as these peoples continue to move east and south.
In the Balkans there are equally numerous peoples, all of whom are Indo-European speakers. The largest group is that of the Illyrians and Pannonians. Pannonians being those north of the Adriatic settled along the Danube riverway. They possess large trade connections with the Scythians, the Celts and the Proto-Slavic peoples to their northeast. As such, they are centered as middlemen between the Adriatic trade network and the upland peoples of Northern Europe. They are otherwise divided into a series of divided chiefdoms, often in war with one another.
The Illyrians by respect were a people inhabiting the coastal areas along the Adriatic and inland areas south of the Danube. Their peoples existed as several sedentary kingdoms that displayed a mixture of local customs with Hellenic features. Greek vase culture, vases, Greek pottery, maritime prevalence and so forth. Enmity between the Illyrians and the Greeks is consistent however and the two regions are often at odds, both in terms of home states such as in Macedonia and that of Greek colonial settlements along the Adriatic.
Directly east of the Illyrians, is the Dacians, another people who hold much in common with the Celts and Scythians.They and the Thracians share a wider Daco-Thracian cultural sphere in the lower Danube river valley and now extending into Anatolia. The people therein worship a strong thunder deity and share much religious symbolism and art with their neighbors to the north. However, trends to the south has led to a progressive movement southward of both Dacians and Thracians toward Anatolia and Greece, what will come of this is unknown in the long term. In the short term, we suspect much the same occurrence as that unfolding in Anatolia and the Bithynian kingdom, which as of 576 BCE, rules a large realm straddling the Bosporus strait and commands a series of Greek vassals.
Carthage and Northern Africa
Finally, we arrive at the elephant in the room. Carthage is a Punic city seated in northern Africa along the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded by the Phoenician city of Tyre in the 800s BCE and has maintained this contact with its patron in 576 BCE through trade, festival, and cultural legacy. Carthage, however, has all but surpassed Tyre. Where once many Punic cities dotted Northern Africa and the Mediterranean, most have been brought to a Carthaginian hegemony, that by 576 BCE, includes western Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands and trade allies in Etruria and Iberia. Carthage is an oligarchic republic with a powerful class of merchants that generally command the control over the state.
As such, the hegemony of Carthage is somewhat of a trading empire or league dominating many different outposts. Its armies are composed of Punic citizens, mercenary and levies form the nearby desert to its south. The navies by contrast are composed of free Punic citizens and are regaled as the greatest in the world, whose naval hand stretches across the face of the known world. Carthage may be ascendant as of now, however to remain hegemonic requires that in the future, Carthage deal with the growing presence of its European neighbors and agitation from its south. Carthage had benefitted from the Bronze Age Collapse in Europe and managed to construct a hegemony over the networks of trade. Yet, once the Celtic lands recover somewhat from the devastation and the climate warms, so too does the difficulty of Carthage to maintain its power rise.
To the south of Carthage is a collection of Northern African Berbers, who exist either as hostile foes of Carthage or as feudatories under Carthaginian authority. Both of which chaff under Carthaginian influence and increasingly Carthage has to wage war with these peoples in order to maintain its hegemony to the north. It may come a point that Carthage must choose between Africa or Europe….
In this update, we will check the rest of world and create a comprehensive look at every place in the world that I find to be important to mention. If I leave out a culture that you feel to be interesting/important, do please make a point and I will add it to this list. This will also be a relatively brief description of these different lands and peoples, not exhaustive. The description will begin from east to west.
Far Eastern Asia:
The Development of Predatory Nomadism
In the furthest reaches of East Asia, is a growing collection of powerful confederates to the north of China, two of which are already extant. Prior, in the years of 900-850 BCE, a development in the lands corresponding to Scythia Major (Kazakhstan primarily) began amongst the semi-sedentary folk of a wider Iranic culture. This development was that of a series of more dangerous and deadly composite bows that were used atop mounted horses, rather than chariots as was the prior custom. This led to the intensifying of a nomadic process that contributed to the creation of the so-called predatory nomads that characterized the Scythian culture(s) that seemed to have developed directly from this innovation. This development and innovation did not remain a secret however and spread far and wide. By the year 800 BCE, this model of nomadic life had come to characterize the lands from the Don River as far east as Manchuria and as far south as Bactria, where Indo-European semi-sedentary life characterizing the Bronze Age persisted.
In around 770-680 BCE, there seems to have existed a powerful series of nomadic states who resembled closely the Scythian cultures of the west. This realm may have ruled the entirety of Mongolia and stretched toward the area of Manchuria and west toward the Altai Mountains (Tajagiri in Sanskrit and the Scythian tongues). Massive burial sites are extant in this region, presumably of powerful kings. One of which, possesses approximately 165 sacrificed men and 360 sacrificed horses, made into eccentric shapes and surrounded by hoards of treasure. Following this, is a series of once painted wood structures creating rooms wherein these people/animals were sacrificed. These create corridors leading to a centra location in the center of the tomb complex wherein a man and woman are interred. The mand and woman each possess a fine costume composed of over 10,000 individual golden pieces, amber, jade and other precious stones abounding their body and clothing. Nearby the man and woman is a store of treasure, namely a bronze sword with golden plating, draperies, ornaments of jade, golden blades and a set of bows tipped in gold. Whoever this king was, he held a tomb of such extravagance that it compares surely to the grandest tombs and mortuary cults of the Middle East and Egypt. To create such a tomb, would require vast power and coordination of resources beyond the level of a nomadic realm that did not possess a far-reaching power and acquisition of tribute from sedentary and semi-sedentary folk.
The Donghu Confederates
However, by the year 600 BCE, this realm has disappeared completely. In its wake exist a series of smaller confederates and peoples north of China. Beginning east, the Donghu are a people ranging in Manchuria, north of Korea and China. They are a people possessing a nomadic culture and fearsome warriors. They however are only a collection of tribes in the years of 600-560 BCE and have yet to come together into a cohesive political unit for which to attack others for long periods. However, their armies or raiders more aptly, raid into the sedentary lands near it periodically, but these act as little more than cattle rustling for now.
They despite the similar lifeways, differ significantly from the nearby nomadic peoples to its west. It does not practice widespread display of wealth and fortune in death nor sacrifices of humans as do their western counterparts. Furthermore, gold carries a much less important role in their ritual and ceremonial life as do the at times gold-mania exhibited by their western neighbors. Their clothing also differs aside for the adoption of pants, these pants come in less colorful varieties and typically combine furs and fur caps instead of the wool colored caps of the westerners. Their bows though are equally as deadly, and their ferocity will be tested in the coming centuries.
Korea
To the south of the Donghu is the Gojoseon, a kingdom centered in northeastern Korea at the city of Wanggeom. The kingdom is currently in the year 576 BCE, still in the process of transitioning from the usage of Bronze to Iron and both are simultaneously utilized, especially in the creation of great blades in violin features. As a kingdom, it has minor power beyond the Korean peninsula. The southern areas of which, are inhabited by the Ye and Jin cultures of who the Gojoseon possesses only minor authority over. In its west, it is hemmed by the Donghu to the northwest, who consistently raid the northern fringes of the kingdom and to the direct west by the Zhou Dynasty and its vassal the State of Yan and Qi. The current king of the kingdom of Joseon is that of Deokchang who began his rule in 578 BCE and is in his third year of reign. His reign is fortunately seemingly protected as the Zhou realm faces a period of battles of authority, leaving the amin worry for Joseon being the Dongu peoples to the northwest and potentially the Xiongnu beyond them to the west.
Japan
To the furthest east of Joseon, is the Isles of Japan, inhabited by two different material cultures and surely many different peoples and tribes. In the furthest south, around 800 BCE, arrived a people from the Korean peninsula, whose material culture resembled more closely that of the western lands, namely Korea and China. They likewise brought extensive rice farming to the island and a more sedentary style of life. Originally confined to the island of Kyushu, these peoples have spread to Honshu and have built settlements across the southern portion of Honshu and dominate likewise the areas of Kyushu. To their north and interspersed among them is a minority populace of indigenous peoples, referred to as Jomon. They practice a higher degree of hunting and gathering as their customs and life and likewise possess less in the way of sedentary farming. Despite this, they have adopted as of late, a more sedentary lifestyle with the farming of barley and other similar crops alongside gathering and the fishing of riverways and seas.
These Jomon also have a completey separate form of material culture, more ornate and styled figurines and vases. The new arrivals from the east, have a plainer, yet utilitarian form of pottery, resembling their Korean origins. Similarly, the two peoples while certainly intermingling, exist as separate populations genetically. The earlier inhabitants deriving from a more ancient stock in the isles, arriving perhaps around the year 20,000 BCE. Their features of note are that of long thick body hair, large beards, moderate tan skin tone and often practicing tattooing. Their new arrivals meanwhile brought an appearance essentially alike that of the neighboring Korea, fair skin, eyes common in Korea, lower amounts of body hair and no tattoos.
For the moment, there exists no evidence of warfare between the peoples, however a trend of demographic replacement has occurred by the year 576 BCE, namely in terms of intermingling followed by large population densities and growth exhibited by the new arrivals. Their practice of rice cultivation and a more sedentary lifestyle likely playing the most decisive role in their growth in respect to the Jomon indigenous peoples. Yet, for the time, the two populaces, diverse and expansive, both remain on the isle and continue to develop organically.
China under the Middle Zhou Dynasty
South of the Donghu peoples, between the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, there developed in the Middle Bronze Age, a distinct culture and state in the so-called Central Plains. This culture was an extension of older prior periods of sedentary peoples who ranged in the fertile river valleys. To the north, they were hemmed by the semi-sedentary folk, proto-Yiqu and so forth and in that direction by arid steppes. To the west by mountains desert and the arrival of Indo-European charioteers. To the south by the Southern Barbarians, inhabiting mountains, and jungles, which resented the peoples of the Central Valley. However, the fortunes for the Central Valley changed with the founding of the Xia Kingdom in around 2062 BCE, by a supposed mystic whose characteristics were that of a gardener and agriculturalist who controlled the rivers, implying a hydraulic empire formation.
The Xia kingdom ruled in a mysterious haze until 1605 BCE when it transitioned to its successor, the Shang state centered in the Later Song state in the eastern Central Plain. The Shang saw the height of the Bronze age in the Central Valley. Extensive acquisition of jade, amber, gold and bronze from the west characterized this period. As well, large scale centralization, assimilation and expansion of the peoples of the Central Valley and their coalescence into a cohesive people, whom we term, Han. Rule by the Shang was however notorious. Their extravagance resembled the cultures to their northwest, who practiced largescale retainer sacrifice, slavery as status symbols, display of power via diversity and quantity of gems and the Shang reached a height through the creation of massive cauldrons, the greatest of which being the Nine Tier Cauldron that symbolized the kingship transition from the Xia to the Shang, the so-called Mandate of Heaven.
The Shang however declined from 1100-1046 BCE, collapsing in a revolution led by one of its vassals, the Zhou state. The Zhou period began thus in 1046 BCE and continued much of the traits that characterized the Shang. However, it saw the lessening of certain royal displays of extravagance and then the same formalization and expansion of a set of customs, rites and ceremony that would come to define Han culture. Exterior peoples would be recognized principally by their lack of observation of the customs unique and integral to the interior Central Valley, which was exemplified as the center of the cosmological understanding of the Han peoples. The Middle Kingdom.
The Zhou also began a policy of rapid expansionism during the Early Iron Age, consisting of the Zhou central state expanding its territory in all directions and distributing cadet branches in control over new vassal states. This by 800 BCE, created a wide web of subordinates to the central Zhou state in all directions. By 750 BCE, most every area previously held by foreigners to the Shang, had been integrated into a greater Zhou sphere, their people assimilating to the Central Valley’s series of rites, customs and language and their rulers acting as relatives of the Zhou central royal court. The Zhou derived their lineage and right to rule from the Nine Cauldrons, which exemplified the Divine Mandate, that the Heavens had gifted the kingship to a family. This family thus is endowed the duty to rule the Central Valley, see it to prosper, expand and flourish culturally. Hence, through this method, the Zhou held a tight grasp to kingship and nuanced its control over the region through a cosmological basis rather than military prowess. Furthermore, the expanse of relatives as local leaders, created a greater loyalty and centrality to the Zhou, that would have been impossible for the Shang, whose vassals were of different relation, possessed less loyalty to the central Shang regime.
The consequence of the expansion though too existed, and Zhou success acted as a double-edged blade, one to slay a foe and the other to cut the hands that swing. Zhou assimilation of nearby peoples led to an increasingly more demanding series of nearby peoples, whose demand was greater access to the Zhou central state, originally reserved only for those closest, the ring of Central Valley states, that acted as an intricate web surrounding Zhou. Due to the nature of Zhou expansion, states on the exterior, were larger, made up of Zhou cadet branches, they were formed as almost guards of the Central Valley and their realms became massive and militarized as a result. These were however, often inhabited by peoples that the Central Valley referred to as barbarians and backwards, denying them the assimilation process that had been at work for the past 300 years.
These states were on the exterior, Qin in the west, Chu in the south, Jin in the north, Qi in the northeast, Wu and Yue in the southeast. Other smaller realms abounded these on the exterior, but these mentioned, were the dominant exterior realms that protected the heartland of Han civilization, the old domains of the Xia, the Shang and now the Zhou. Realms such as these came to dominate the political life of the Zhou dynasty by around 685 BCE. Zhou central realms, such as Zheng, Dun, Cai, Chen, Wey, Lu, Cao, Song/Shang, Zue, Teng, Zhong, Tan, Ju, Xu, Li and Nie had diversified into tiny statelets often disorganized and militarily divided. They however were the bastions of economy and culture but relied heavily on the Zhou central state and the surrounding guardian realms on the frontier of the Zhou region.
The diversification of the Central Valley led to the ascent of the outlying areas into powerful domineering states that commanded power. This began where the Zhou, in order to shore up its regime and protect the Central Valley from potential incursions from other powerful realms on the exterior, began to proclaim a hegemon, which would in theory represent the Zhou interests militarily, acting as the sword of the Zhou rulers. The first of these, was given to the Duchy of Qi under Huan of Qi. This lasted from 685-642 BCE, when the state of Song under Xiang of Song declared and forced himself as holder of the title in 643 BCE, by attacking Qi and attempting to assert his authority over the Qi realm. His forces managed some success, however his interests lingered elsewhere, and he was obliged to stop Chu interference in the Central Valley. However, a coalition of states joined Chu, leading to the defeat of Song and the slaying of Xiang of Song in 638-637 BCE.
The defeat of Song in 638-637 BCE, and the rise of the Chu as they expanded their influence to seek the title of Hegemon and chain the Zhou to their interests, frightened the states of the Central Valley. Most especially, the state of Zhou, which managed to create a coalition of Jin, Qin, Qi and the weakened Song to halt the advance of Chu under Viscount Cheng of Chu. This culminated in the battle of Chengpu, wherein the Chu were defeated decisively by the coalition led by Jin and its Duke Wen of Jin. Duke Wen thus was given the authority of Hegemon by the Zhou state, which would harbor the period of dominance by Jin from the year 632-597 BCE.
The hegemony of Jin was the most preferred situation for the Zhou central state. Jin possessed less ambition and intents upon the seizing of Zhou authority and due to the proximity of Jin to the Zhou in area, the state had a greater prevalence of Han cultural achievement and was the least barbarian of the non-Central states. However, the power of Jin was increasingly challenged. Despite the defeat in 632 BCE, the state of Chu remained ambitious. It had waged war with the Yue and the Wu states and also subjugated the Shu and Ba states to the southwest and improved its armies from 630-600 BCE under King/Viscount Cheng of Chu, Mu of Chu and Zhuang of Chu (631-591 BCE). The Chu had thus become alarmingly powerful and under Zhuang, the Chu demanded to be accepted as the foremost realm in the region and likewise claimed the title of king and regarded the Zhou as its vassal.
In response Duke Jing of Jin (599-583 BCE) whose family had held the title of Hegemon for several generations, moved to crush the Chu’s insults to the Zhou central court. This culminated in the Battle of Bi in 597 BCE, ending in a massive Chu victory over Jin, which would decline for decades to come. Zhuang would expand his realm to the doorstep of Zhou, leading to a series of confrontation between King Ding of Zhou and Viscount Zhuang of Chu. The result of this standoff was a compromise, Chu would become the new hegemon and dominate the region in place of Zhou, yet Zhou remains the central court and administration of the overall empire.
Nearing the date of our atl, 576 BCE, Chu remains the hegemon over the empire, but an intricate web of alliances to counter the Chu are emerging. In 584 BCE, Duke Jing of Jin formalized an alliance with the emerging power of Wu under Shoumeng of Wu. This alliance continued under the following duke of Jin, Duke Li of Jin, the current ruler of Jin. As it stands, Wu and Jin are in a war of influence with Chu. Meanwhile, the Zhou are losing ever more centrality, Qin is formulating a powerful military regime on the fringes and Qi is recovering from its disasters in the prior century. The stage is set, and the future of the Central Valley remains uncertain.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is a land of mystery generally in the year 576 BCE. What is known, is that rice production exists across the region and large villages and cities exist. Yet, the writing and large-scale states are not yet widely known. In the Irrawaddy Delta, the Mon peoples are already extant in villages, towns and small cities relying on rice cultivation and large-scale fishing enterprises. Trade with the Bengal Delta region is already also existent since around 700 BCE in the later Vedic period. The beginning thus of Hindu influence of Southeast Asia is occurrent and will proceed surely into the future. To the north into the jungles and mountains, the starting sprouts of the Pyu states has coalesced from the growing population of the region since the Bronze Age. Nearby to the west, the peoples in the Mekong Delta are developing very similar, yet with less development as of current. North of the Mekong is even denser jungles, with low population densities, many of known inhabited by somewhat unknown peoples. East of this, is the lands of the early or proto- Nam-Viet, a small kingdom in the Red River Valley of Dai vet. The state is in its very early phases, perhaps without true kings and ruled instead by oligarchs of chiefs, much like the states to its north in the Yunnan and the Pearl River Delta region.
In the furthest southeast of Asia, expansion of peoples from Asia continues as semi-sedentary and agricultural peoples extend against hunter and gatherer peoples on the islands. These peoples of indigenous relation are increasingly contained into smaller and smaller areas of the jungle and the mountains, leaving the lowlands to farming communities from the Asian mainland.
The Xiongnu, the Gara, Tarim and Tibet
As was discussed earlier on the topic of the rise of steppe nomadism, few lands exemplify this innovation more than the peoples of the Tarim, Mongolia and nearby locales. The foremost of these two, is the realm of the Gara and the realm of the Xiongnu.
The Xiongnu inhabit in 576 BCE, the steppe region just north of the Yellow River, beyond the state of Qin and the Yiqu and west of the Donghu. Their range likely extends north into Lake Baikal, which they share strong trade links to. Their lifestyle is that of predatory nomads, herding, warring and existing in tight knit clans of kinsmen that are often subjected to stronger royal caste clans. From around 850 BCE onward, the people in the area took on an increasingly Scythian character after previously having a cultural model of chariot-riding semi-sedentary farmers alongside hunter and gatherers. This coincides with the spread of milk drinking and genetic influence from the European steppe, that coincides with the creation of the Xiongnu people.
As such, our opinion, is that the Xiongnu were a composite people, made up of a possible royal caste from the west intermingled with locals similar to the Donghu. However, the language would have been likely a combination, with clans speaking Yeneisian and Indo-European languages. As a cultural trait, their dress, styles and burials resemble their Scythian neighbors closely, both of whom practicing much the same as each other with some regional differences. Most especially, the Xiongnu do not wear pointed caps and likewise always shave their beards. Chinese sources made a point to note that the Xiongnu shaved, even if they grew large beards otherwise.
Their warriors are some of the fiercest in the region, having exercised many raids on the Zhou dynasty in the Early Iron Age and exercised control over the Donghu and nearby Scythians at varying times. Yet, in the year 576 BCE, the Xiongnu and indeed all the steppe nomads are inferior in the eyes of the Zhou to another power to the south.
In the Tarim Basin, the arrival of Indo-European peoples began around the year 2300-2000 BCE. Said peoples arrived directly to the Tarim, without admixture along the route. Stopping in the Tianshan mountains, they extended into the Tarim valley, settling into towns, herds, and villages. Their spread reached as far west as the western bend of the Yellow River by the year 1200 BCE. By this time, the peoples of the Valley, likely diverse but all generally of a distantly related Indo-European people, were ascendant in the years 1800-900 BCE as merchants. Trade from Europe moved amber, bronze, gold, goods from the Mid-East and horses which were then in turn funneled into the hungry Shang and Zhou states. This trans-Eurasian trade route created earlier than most areas of the world, a series of complex oasis towns and states, which would be referred to by the Vedic peoples as ‘Tokhari’ meaning ‘the people from the snow-lands.’
By the year 650 BCE, the collapse of the hypothesized steppe nomad realm in Mongolia from years 770-650 BCE, led to the rise of a powerful state in the Tarim Basin. This realm was referred to by its royal caste name, the Yuezhi according to the Chinese sources of the Zhou period and resided somewhere in the Western Gansu. From there, they seem to have extended a rough hegemony over the Central Tarim Basin, which they commanded as a series of vassals and tributaries. At the heart of this realm, was the sources of Jade in the Tarim Basin, for which the state formed itself around.
Called in the local Tokhari (its early version, prior to diversification into A, B, C and D varieties) the Gara (Yuezhi in Chinese), the royal caste was known as the masters of jade. Holding the production of jade as a trade secret, they traded jade both east and west and likewise carried goods from west to east, feeding the Chinese resources, yet not divulging sources. As such, around China was a great wall being the Gara and the Xiongnu, which slowed transmission of knowledge of the outside world, but otherwise still transmitted the goods of trade and wealth.
In 576 BCE, the Gara are nearing their zenith, as an entity, commanding one of the largest territories in the world at the time. The realm and its composition are somewhat murky, but it is understood to be a collection of oasis vassals alongside interspersed seasonal nomads traversing distances with trading goods due either west or east. The armies of the Gara are like the Xiongnu, but the state of the Gara is much more of a mix between sedentary town life in oasis and that of steppe nomadic seasonalism. As such, the Gara are described as a checkpoint oasis empire, commanding important locations, rather than a territory per se. Seemingly, the main goal of the state is the acquisition and profit from the trade of the expensive jade and other western goods that are to be carried into China. The army as such only exists to defend these interests and launch incursions into the steppe against the Scythians and the Xiongnu.
To the south in Tibet, coherent state entities do not yet fully exist. However, tribal realms are already commonplace. The people therein are noted for their warlike personality and skill in combat. Warlike gods in these lands inspire warriors form these territories into fearsome charges and defenses of their fortresses and mountain strongholds. To the north, the varied Tibetan tribes possess a good relation and perhaps an alliance with the Gara. To the east, the Tibetan-like peoples existed in prior years, but have been increasingly pushed forth and assimilated or eradicated by the advancing tide of the Zhou dynasty. The Shu and Ba states are some of the best examples of this. The Qin and Chu states both commanding powers nearing the region of Tibet, precariously threatening its sanctity. In the future, the Tibetan tribal realms will need to develop answers to the rising and threatening tide of the Zhou expansion and particularly the Chu power over Tibet’s south and the east.
South Asia
Already discussed elsewhere, the region of Hindustan or South Asia, is divided into essentially into two distinct regions of culture and six or seven geographical areas. The two cultural zones are those of the Vedic influenced Aryan realms and tribes of the Indus and Gangetic Valleys. The other being the Dravidian peoples and realms of the Deccan and the furthest reaches of the subcontinent.
The Aryan realms are in turn divided into two types, those which are fully realized complex regimes and states and those which practice small scale farming and have a more pastoral mode of life. Generally, these are divided regionally. Along the Indus River, the Catarjanau and other pastoralist Aryan folk exist in a state of vicious warfare between each other and their neighbors. Resembling the lifeway of the prior Vedic period, they are noted for their fearsome warrior elites and the speed of their attacks. Otherwise, the other Aryan states that are considered complex regimes are as follows; Kamboja, Gandara (northern ones), Kuru, Panycaala, Kosala, Malla, Vrji, Magadha, Anga, Shurasena, Vetsa (Gangetic states), Matsya, Cedi, Avanti and Ashmaka (southern Aryan states, the expansive Aryan realms).
By 576 BCE, the region is locked into series of coalitions and alliances against one another. Traditionally, Kuru possessed the foremost position amongst the Aryan realms, but years of erosion had dismantled the Kuru position as the dominant state in the area despite prestige. Rather, Panycaala, Kosala, Malla and Magadha stand poised to make gains. Magadha especially, under a new Haryanka dynasty formed by Bhattiya whose reforms in the agriculturally rich lands of the eastern Ganges, may lead to the rise of a highly powerful regime in the coming years.
In prior years, the region had been to some degree isolated from the exterior world. Aggressive expansion from other lands was simply discounted and the Aryan realms existed as powerful and mighty entities without fear of the exterior.
A diverse and strong religious tapestry formed as a result of the Vedic period. Intense worship of the Gods mixed with the assertion of a caste system linked to similar caste system existing across the Indo-European speaking world, especially in Europe and the Steppe region provide the construction of a powerful and influential clergy known as Brahmans. These perform the ritual duties outlined in the texts of the Vedic religion, yet over time, these rituals and their complexity have declined in estimation of the Kaliyuga, supoposedly beginning upon the ascent of Krishna, an aspect of Vishnu in the Bronze Age. As such, the Aryan realms, while possessing a seriously central cosmology based around the assertion of itself and religious affirmations, also understands the age present to be one of decline; lost legend and heroism.
Despite that, the Aryan states strongly assert a cultural continuum and continue their expansions in the subcontinent. Originally in the Vedic period, Aryan tribal occupation was limited to the northwest, but by the year 600 BCE, the Aryan cultural sphere has multiplied considerably. Stretching from the Indus to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalayas to the northern fringes of the Deccan. Aryan princes and expansive men continue to push southward into the ever-declining Dravidian states of the deeper south, who themselves may have constituted at one point in the copper age, an expansive element in the subcontinent.
Fears of external invasion do persist yet in the Aryan mindset. Currently ascendant and ever upon the attack to the South, the Aryan states have still memory of the Dasha and other peoples who had attacked them in the Vedic period. The arrival of the Medes adds another question to this scenario of Aryan isolation and cultural supremacy.
Hindustan has much to offer likewise. While the economic might of the subcontinent is yet to be realized and the introduction of rice has not begun, the region possesses the largest population on the planet. Farming communities are large, warriors numerous, priests powerful and the economy strong for the time. Goods such as spice, fruits, cotton, sugarcane, etc... are yet to find their full potential in a world market, however. The city of Anga is one exception to the rule, with its famous trade relations abroad into the Indian Sea, spreading Aryan culture far and wide and gathering exotic goods from the southeast.
Central Asia and the Pontic Steppe
The areas of Central Asia, otherwise called in Greek common tongues as Scythia, is a vast steppe comprising many different peoples. Herein, Scythian peoples practicing nomadism abound as the dominant political force. These are divided into many different bands, clans and groups, all however sharing a common cultural material and matter that extends far toward the Xiongnu in the east and to the west towards the Don River.
In the eastern section of Scythia, we have many groups of Scythians alongside settled peoples. These settled peoples are, Sogdians, Chorasmi, Bactrians and Ferghani. Each of these peoples are Eastern Iranic speakers, comprising a similar cultural zone. That zone of culture being semi-sedentary urban dwellers whose pastoralism is maintained. They are ruled however by local chiefs and tribal elders and castes, rather than by kings or bureaucratic realms. Farming in this area is of barley and their people grow crops in some seasons, practice herding in the winter and in times of trouble, leave areas and settle elsewhere. Their gods are much akin to the gods of the peoples of the Aryan lands, polytheism of the Indo-European variety, with preference to a certain wind-god identified as Vinyu, common among such people.
Surrounding each of these people is a more nomadic and aggressive element, namely the Scythians. Living amongst tight knit clans, further expanded by tribes and generalized castes, the Scythians live among the settled peoples of Central Asia. Perhaps gaining from the settled peoples regular tribute and service, in exchange for protection, a series of tributary relation pervade Eastern Central Asia.
The Scythians as mentioned earlier, practice a form of extravagant display, through the hoarding of wealth. Such wealth would be gained less through work and more from loot and tribute, of which the Scythians treat less as currency and more as hoarded symbols of status. Such great extravagant symbols of hoards assert caste relations and the authority of Scythian warlords over the subjects, both nomadic and sedentary. These hoards are then interred upon death in elaborate funerary customs and construction, often rivalled only by peoples such as the Aryans or Egypt.
Ritual and acts of display also play a large part in Scythian society. Rituals to the Gods and to the ancestors are especially important, wherein massive amounts of goods may be sacrificed to the gods. These rituals and their complexity, often requiring priests’ months of preparation; asserts the sanctity of a priestly caste within Scythian society and the unlikelihood of transmission of interclass transfer. Scythians further hold in both the east and the west, reincarnation, and the devotion to a collection of polytheistic deities, whom the goddess of fire (Tabiti) is seen to be the chief.
In the west, the Scythians, once more subdivided into many groups, persist as the dominant people group in the region. Little in the way of settlement of sedentary folk exists, with its evidence having dried up between years 1000-700 BCE, permitting the rampant nomadization of the Pontic Steppe by the Scythians and related folk. To the west of the Pontic steppe, exists the heartlands of the Dacian peoples protected by the Capathian mountains, the Proto-Veneti Slavs of the Vistula, northwest of the Scythians, the proto-Germanic Jastorf culture of Northern Germania and the Celtic La Tene Cultural super-sphere.
The Scythians share with the people to its west as it does to its east, shared trade links and cultural traits. These traits of culture include, caste systems, certain martial tactics, the chanting of mantra, nude warrior motifs, dress/fashion, tall bodies, blond hair as the majority color of hair, predominance of light hued eyes, mass use of horses and composite bows. This area corresponds to what will be referred to in the timeline as the Northern Eurasian nucleus, the region wherein originates and comingles many different peoples of similar cultural traits. This differentiates these folks from other Indo-European peoples who correspond to a different sphere of their linguistic branch, such as the Hellenic world, the Aryan lands, the Gara-Tokhari, the Celts of Iberia, Italic folk, etc…
Regarding trade links, the Scythian world comprises the most fundamental example of Eurasian trade and one of the last remnant extant examples of the Bronze Age trade networks linking east and west. Within Scythia, there are many resources of note, the most prestigious being horses and gold. Gold acquired in the Golden Mountains of Mongolia and the Yenisei basin, comprise the main stay of Scythian trading power with the west. Gold, a beloved item in most of the world, but especially amongst those peoples of the Northern Nucleus cultures, offers the Scythian tribes and peoples valuables worth offering to the peoples to their west. In exchange, the Scythians receive fine furs, agricultural product, weapons of iron, timber and most valuable of all, amber. Amber is then taken by the Scythians, alongside tin, timber, furs and so forth to Central Asia, distributed to merchants from Iran, Hindustan and so forth. Likewise, goods are taken afar to the realms of the Tokhari, who carry amber and its allure to China.
In 576 BCE, the Budin tribe is seemingly the strongest of the western Scythian for moment. Their alliance with the Hurrianizing Colchis state has borne fruits in the crushing of Assyrian northern expansions and likewise distributing adventurous youths into the Mid-East as mercenary. In the east, the Scythian states have changed little and there is no large realm among them, rather the Dasha, a people similar to the Scythians have attained some prominence in Bactria and Chorasmi as lords of these regions. Yet, the Dasha, bordered by hyper-aggressive Assyria is ever a worry.
Akkadian world, Anatolia, Egypt, etc.. (already covered)
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The Hellenic World and Europe
In 576 BCE, the Hellenic world is finally emerging from the Dark Age slumber incurred by the Bronze Age Collapse. The new Greek society is one of uncertainty, both of its origins and its future. Prior iterations of its civilization were noted for their aristocratic traditions, caste system, great religious devotion, and legendary warrior feats. Much of these customs were becoming eroded or were destroyed. Hence, few if no states in the Hellenic world embody their ancestor’s legacy and most Greek realms are experimenting with new governments. Most impactful of these is those innovations of Sparta, a reform of the old and Athens, a progressive innovation project.
Athens under Solon of Athens has saw the rise of Democracy in the city and the destruction of the prior monarchy. Its tenets of rule are that of consensus, voting and a form of martial quality gathered by a perceived equality and freedoms shared by all citizens. Under Sparta, maintaining a kingdom, a government is in the progress that emphasizes a cult of twin-kings who rule simultaneously in the city. These twin kings then enact a government based upon strong martial principles, state authoritarian power and aggressive foreign policy. Both of these states exist as visitations upon the prior golden age of the Bronze Age, with each moving in different directions. Agreed however, between both is that of a form of Hellenic nationalism, perhaps borne from the commonality of the Homeric Bronze Age myths, which draw together a diverse set of peoples into a single group in relation to its harsh opposition to those exterior foes from all directions.
A maritime people, the Hellenic world is one of the foremost in the world of navigation of the seas. Greek ships travel far and wide in the Mediterranean and bring their wares and bring new goods to and fro. Most especially, is Hellenic craftsmanship, renowned in Europe as hoarded status symbols amongst the Celts and Scythians. Wine too has spread alongside Greek trade, infiltrating across Europe, leading to the prevalence of mass feasts and drinking contests in Europe amongst the Celts and others.
Not only have the Hellenes expanded the Tradewinds, but also their people and cultural complex. Greek colonies by 576 BCE extend all over the Mediterranean world, most especially Northern Africa, the Adriatic, Iberia, Sicily, Italy, Anatolia, Cyprus, Cilicia and the Black Sea. Most important of these colonies is Syracuse, one of the growing cities in the region, whose prominence is in many cases outpacing its Greek brothers in the homeland. These colonies otherwise, form into an intricate web of trade links made possible by relations to sponsor cities and the ‘call of home’ in regards to Greece, permitting the slorecreation of trade links made defunct by the Bronze Age cataclysm in the Mediterranean Valley.
Connected to this trade network made possible by the Greek maritime system is a diverse set of peoples across Europe.
The closest to Greece, are the Italic peoples inhabiting the Italian peninsula. These peoples of an Indo-European origin likely arrived in Italy around 1600 BCE, replacing prior migrations and other folk existent therein. Ranging from the Po river to the region of Bai, they make up the majority population of the peninsula. These Italic groups are broken into several groupings by 576 BCE. The important of which was the Kingdom of Rome led by a certain Servius Tulius, who ascended to the throne in the year 578 BCE. Rome is centered on a region called Latium on the river Tiber, it is composed of a major Hellenized city, alongside outlining ports, villages and towns. To its north is the Umbri, who are a collection of tribes and towns of sedentary farmers along the interior of central and coastal Italy. North of the Umbri is the similar Picentes, who possess a close relation to the Greek colonial settlements of the Adriatic. South of the Umbri, is the Samnites, who were a collection of 5-7 tribes. Fearsome warriors and fiercely independent, the Samnites remain a thorn in the side of would-be Hellenic colonization of interior Italy. Finally, there was the Messpian cities of the region of Bari, a collection of towns and cities generally arrayed against the Greek colonial cities of Tarentum over trade in the Adriatic Sea. All of these Italic peoples share a generally Hellenizing character, but otherwise stand relatively steadfast against further interior Hellenic settlement and intrusion.
North of the Italic peoples s the land of Etruria, ruled by the Etruscan league. A powerful series of cities and towns allied in a coalition against foes from all sides. The Etruscan cities are the most populated and rich sections of the Italian peninsula, dominating a trade relation with the city of Carthage and hence the trade network connecting European goods by sea to the Akkadian world of Assyria. The rising war tensions in the Akkadian world and its increasing power, have only increased demand for European materials and luxury items, things that Etruscan merchants have managed to furnish for the Carthaginian partners and thence to the Akkadian world.
The Etruscan cities while ascendant for the moment, sit at a precarious location. To their north, the Celtic peoples of the Ligures are shortly followed by more powerful Celtic coalitions, whose relations to the Etruscans have been decreasing. Traditionally, Carthage and the Etruscans traded luxury goods from the south, such as wines, pottery, glasses, dyes, clothing and so forth in exchange with extremely valuable raw materials such as timber, furs, gold, amber, tin, horses, weaponry of iron and so forth. Over time, the Celtic peoples made up of varied tribes and varieties have become increasingly impatient with the trade imbalance and movements southward have already begun from the Celtic nucleus in Northern, central Gaul and western Germany across the Alps and into Southern Gaul. Why not attain these resources by thine own hands is becoming the mantra.
The Celtic cultures reside in the great Central Plains of Europe, where they practice a lifestyle of sedentary farming alongside some level of season migration. Their politics are organized around tribal realms led by chiefs or kings, alongside a caste system of warriors and priests. Their tribes battle intermittently between one another, but in comparison to the vicious Copper and Bronze Age, the Central Plain of Europe has become a peaceful realm of settling peoples, who despite the improving times, seek better lands and opportunities elsewhere.
In the prior Bronze Age, trade connection with the Middle East characterized what is termed Proto-Celtic culture in Europe. The opinion that we take in this atl, is that there is two different types of Celt. One type is the received linguistic Celt, that is peoples who adopted a Celtic language and base cultural exercise during the Late Bronze Age. Then there is a ‘true Celt’ in that it is the peoples who arriving from the east in the Bronze Age or earlier, constitute the nucleus of Celtic culture. Due to the mass trade of tin outward, there was great levels of sophistication of maritime transit and of long-distance trading of the peoples in the region, the largest percentage of such were made up of Celts. These Celts would dominate demographically the areas of Northern Gaul, Britain, Western Germania, and Central Gaul, comprising the dominant share of lands for which tin was transferred. This led to a spread of Celtic as a prestige language into Iberia, creating a distinct form of Celtic people in the ranges of Northwestern and Central Iberia, areas relatively untouched by Celtic migration in the main.
Celtic customs and commonality across the region thus spread as a prestige culture across the Atlantic seaboard of Europe because of the possession of the ultimate Bronze Age goods, amber and tin. This prestige culture is represented by and can be recognized as follows: Celtic language, similar fashion, hoarding of gold, mass celebration with wine and Greek vases, advanced gold crafting, belief in reincarnation, existence of a stratified caste system as a form of governance, predominance of large scale rituals, human sacrifice and headhunting of enemy warriors for preservation.
As time moves forward, the Celtic future seems bright, holding the most fertile agricultural lands in Europe and inheriting one of the largest cultural zones in the world from the Bronze Age, the Celts are poised to create a truly fearsome cultural sphere in the coming centuries.
Opposite of the Celtic cultural sphere of the Bronze Age, was a counter mercantile culture and prestige region. Namely, that of the Iberic cultures and peoples. Situated along the southern and eastern coasts of Iberia, these peoples speak a set of languages likely related to the nearby fishing folk of Aquitaine and non-Indo-European. Their cities along the coast in the east are large and diversified centres of commerce and farming, centered upon the domestication of cows. On the eastern coast, the Iberic cities are locked into disputes with the Greek colonies and with the Celtic intrusion from the interior. Yet, these Eastern Iberic realms garner the favor of Carthage and form a triangle of friendly relations in the Western Mediterranean Sea.
To the south, the Iberic peoples are more numerous than the east. Here, they reside in very large communities of farmers and powerful kingdoms that rule independently of mercantile dependencies. Their relations to the Celts and the Indo-European Lusitani to the northwest, is also better and more in the favor of the Southern Iberic states, of which the city of Tartessos is the foremost, likely commanding a powerful hegemony over Southern Iberia along the River Baetica.
There exists many cultural traits in common between the two Iberic folk, of the south and east, however not enough to truly argue both are truly related. However, the opinion of the atl, is that Tartessos speaks a mixture of languages, one of which is a tongue similar to Lusitanian and another is a language related to Aquitanian. Nevertheless, in recent decades up to 576 BCE, Tartessos has experienced an influx of Celtic speakers and peoples into its realm, possibly signifying a declining state of authority and symbolizing a potential rise of Carthage in Iberia due to the absence of Tartesian power.
To the areas north and east of the Celts, is the proto-Germanic peoples inhabiting the region od Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Saxony. Borne from the Battle Axe Culture of the Bronze Age, these peoples for some time had been relatively minor members of the amber trade. Practicing farming and subsistence fishing enterprises.
However, an inexplicable population growth and expansive tribal peoples, has led to the Germanic peoples to invade nearby lands and expand southward. In the year 600 BCE, these peoples had come to inhabit much of Northern Germania and range toward the area of Norica of the Celts. Their expansion is of so far little consequence as the main areas of the Celts are unaffected, Baltic peoples along the coasts are well east and the Pannonian peoples are well south. However, the assumption of such a central placement in the amber trade and of fertile lands, will have certain consequences for Europe. Especially as these peoples continue to move east and south.
In the Balkans there are equally numerous peoples, all of whom are Indo-European speakers. The largest group is that of the Illyrians and Pannonians. Pannonians being those north of the Adriatic settled along the Danube riverway. They possess large trade connections with the Scythians, the Celts and the Proto-Slavic peoples to their northeast. As such, they are centered as middlemen between the Adriatic trade network and the upland peoples of Northern Europe. They are otherwise divided into a series of divided chiefdoms, often in war with one another.
The Illyrians by respect were a people inhabiting the coastal areas along the Adriatic and inland areas south of the Danube. Their peoples existed as several sedentary kingdoms that displayed a mixture of local customs with Hellenic features. Greek vase culture, vases, Greek pottery, maritime prevalence and so forth. Enmity between the Illyrians and the Greeks is consistent however and the two regions are often at odds, both in terms of home states such as in Macedonia and that of Greek colonial settlements along the Adriatic.
Directly east of the Illyrians, is the Dacians, another people who hold much in common with the Celts and Scythians.They and the Thracians share a wider Daco-Thracian cultural sphere in the lower Danube river valley and now extending into Anatolia. The people therein worship a strong thunder deity and share much religious symbolism and art with their neighbors to the north. However, trends to the south has led to a progressive movement southward of both Dacians and Thracians toward Anatolia and Greece, what will come of this is unknown in the long term. In the short term, we suspect much the same occurrence as that unfolding in Anatolia and the Bithynian kingdom, which as of 576 BCE, rules a large realm straddling the Bosporus strait and commands a series of Greek vassals.
Carthage and Northern Africa
Finally, we arrive at the elephant in the room. Carthage is a Punic city seated in northern Africa along the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded by the Phoenician city of Tyre in the 800s BCE and has maintained this contact with its patron in 576 BCE through trade, festival, and cultural legacy. Carthage, however, has all but surpassed Tyre. Where once many Punic cities dotted Northern Africa and the Mediterranean, most have been brought to a Carthaginian hegemony, that by 576 BCE, includes western Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands and trade allies in Etruria and Iberia. Carthage is an oligarchic republic with a powerful class of merchants that generally command the control over the state.
As such, the hegemony of Carthage is somewhat of a trading empire or league dominating many different outposts. Its armies are composed of Punic citizens, mercenary and levies form the nearby desert to its south. The navies by contrast are composed of free Punic citizens and are regaled as the greatest in the world, whose naval hand stretches across the face of the known world. Carthage may be ascendant as of now, however to remain hegemonic requires that in the future, Carthage deal with the growing presence of its European neighbors and agitation from its south. Carthage had benefitted from the Bronze Age Collapse in Europe and managed to construct a hegemony over the networks of trade. Yet, once the Celtic lands recover somewhat from the devastation and the climate warms, so too does the difficulty of Carthage to maintain its power rise.
To the south of Carthage is a collection of Northern African Berbers, who exist either as hostile foes of Carthage or as feudatories under Carthaginian authority. Both of which chaff under Carthaginian influence and increasingly Carthage has to wage war with these peoples in order to maintain its hegemony to the north. It may come a point that Carthage must choose between Africa or Europe….
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Yes, except some. Carthage for instance is in a better position atl, due to the enlarged Assyrian state. Traditionally, Carthage came to be a power due to the close trade proximity between Carthage and Tyre, which infers a close relation with Assyria and Karduniash. As such, the revenue annually gathered for merchants in Carthage is greater. By similar points, the Etruscan League is in a more wealthy position, yet the Celts likewise are more hungry than otl, willing to take chances beyond the Alps. The continuation of Levantine will make Europe both a more rich and more complex land, yet will also more volatile than otl as these trade routes will be fought over viciously. Already the varied Proto-Germanic tribes have begun positioning themselves slowly across more strategic routes across the Amber route.
A major point I wished to add, was that the growing complexity of Europe is a returning to the Bronze Age order. The biggest question is which realms develop fast enough and how will Assyria attempt to ensure submission this far away? Does Assyria for instance demand tribute from Carthage via its rulership over Tyre? We shall see.
As far as China, nothing has changed at all. They will have not even noticed the subtle world changes. Their field of diplomacy is hampered by the steppe peoples to the north and west and to the south by the peoples abounding these regions. Nevertheless, as you can tell, China is in a very turbulent period under Chu hegemony, which will be challenged by a growing coalition. Though, we are not making POD changes in China individually, it will change according to events in the west, but otherwise, we will not create a POD in China solely. You may have caught by the way, what will cause changes in China... A certain state has a headstart in causing mass steppe migrations before China or the Xiongnu. Be aware, this timeline explicitly is not solely on Assyria, but as it expands, will focus upon many areas, most special in this project is the Scythians and the steppe nomads and Northern Nucleus of Europe.
I however wish to keep tabs on the Zhou Dynasty, it is a very interesting period of history and will be an interesting backdrop to the Assyrian empire. China itself will gain a greater focus as the tl moves forward, as will South Asia. Trust, I have plans for essentially all regions, except those unaffected by the atl. This includes Australia, various isolated islands, part of Africa and America. As it stands, I am undecided on what to do with America (both continents) I am curious as to what the readers want. I may make a thread asking the readers this question.
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Personally, I'd say to leave them as-is until first contact with the Old World. Adding in butterflies for butterflies' sake in the Americas at this point in time essentially creates a separate parallel TL that won't intersect at all with the main one for centuries, making the whole project bog down and drift away from its initial focus.
I think that Assyria will undoubtedly ask tribute from Carthage through Tyre and try to affirm their overlordship over there as soon as they can, at least in formal documents. They are ideologically bound to do that in some form. In a very notional way, it may even work, such as spinning trade as tribute (a staple in Ancient Mesopotamian internal propaganda; Assyria has a very long history of merchants doubling as political/diplomatic agents in particular). The Carthaginians, for their part, may not even notice the supposed Assyrian suzerainty very much.
Whether Niniveh has the will or ability to actually enforce such a claim, for example by physically sending a qepu to Carthage itself and have him listened to, is more doubtful indeed. I don't think the Assyrian Empire is likely to be anywhere near the position to materially send military forces of note that far for quite a long while, if ever, considering how they have closer and more pressing challenges to deal with.
Also, Assyria is primarily a land power and relies on Phoenician vassals for most of her naval muscle (reaching Carthage overland, on the other hand, may be done theoretically relying on vassal Arabian forces, but is probably a logistical challenge that even the reformed Assyrian army cannot handle).
So, I suppose they'll have to resort to something that, even if couched in terms of Assyrian dominance in internal propaganda, actually requires willing Carthaginians partners who are granted considerable leeway. A more direct approach may come in due time, but geography alone makes it a challenge.
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Understood, I posted a thread on this in fact. Though, your position is much noted! I do agree, that it is possible for it to become bogged down surely. Yet, I also do trust in my abilities to regularly produce these updates and would work even harder should more be added.
Should Carthage accept a notional trade agreement formally and this becomes couched obviously as a tributary state, this could become quite interesting. Imagine Carthage attempting to take advantage of Assyria, seeking to beg Assyrian military might in say Sicily, Northern Africa or so. Assyria might could send a small elite force through its Phoenician vassals to Carthage. Assyria though in such a situation may gain eyes as big a the moon once they discover Europe's true size and depth. They will however see the Sahara Desert as an affirmation of the wastelands covering the world following the Deluge. We might see great myths arise regarding this far into the future.
One thing is assured though, Assyria is far too weak to actually military challenge Carthage beyond Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean. Assyria is currently facing serious issues dealing with Colchis and the Budin Scythians, they will soon place their foot back across the Halys into Anatolia. For now thus, Assyria has bigger problems and also is turned northward. Egypt is a side-issue, similar to Sinsharishkun, Sinbanipal has a greater preference for military campaign in the north, the south has been drifting to the domain of Karduniash and of the Palace Herald, whilst the Great King undertakes prestigious campaigns to the north that entail the acquisition of rare goods, mostly horses at this point.
Nevertheless, we should wonder what power Assyria could project against Carthage if it becomes their enemy. Considering the new notions of real politick in Assyria, an alliance and support of Cyrene or possibly Syracuse could occur in a century or two if Assyrian power still remains as it is. Another note, Assyria is a land power, but it has done a few naval invasions, mostly riverine and two at sea. Phoenician ships carried Assyrian soldiers to Cyprus for instance and Phoenician vassals were ordered to construct a massive fleet on the Tigris during the reign of Sennacherib* for an invasion of Elam. This fleet would later be used by Assurbanipal, the sheer weight of the fleet alongside a ground invasion was enough to destroy any ancient Iron Age realm.
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The last couple of updates have been excellent! I'm extremely excited to see what happens with the Scythians and other step peoples, as well as what your plans are for Carthage.
Apologies if this is nonsense, and I don't know if there's any examples of this happening in OTL although it sounds like the beginnings are there already from the above quote:
I wonder if we could end up with a semi sovereign Phoenicia in Assyria, very loosely similar to the Adeptus Mechanicus in 40k, sort of an empire within an empire responsible for maintaining the tech and production of the wider Imperium. In this situation we could end up with a symbiotic partnership (with the king in Assyria (or Karduniash) as the senior partner of course) where the Phoenicians supply and run the navy, naval exploration (*cough* early Punic contact with Mayans please *cough*) and maybe merchant fleets, while the Mesopotamians supply the
The last couple of posts have also left me with a feeling that we may see a transfer of primacy from Assyria to Karduniash in the not too distant future, hopefully if this does happen it can do so without too much disaster.
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I must say this, the proto “Nam Việt” that you referred to is actually Văn Lang (if the myths and legends are true). Though I won’t count them as a “nation”, since they’re more like a confederation of tribes. Nanyue also should not be considered a “Vietnamese state” since it is formed by a Chinese general (Zhao Tuo). Technically the first “true Vietnamese state” is founded by An Dương Vương ( if you believe the myths). I myself don’t count them, I believe Vietnamese total independence is only achieved when Ngô Quyền defeated the Southern Han and proclaim himself king in 939.
Noted! Thank you for the contribution. I will go back and change accordingly. Any other recommendations for this area?
Northern Vietnam back then is complete mystery . Van Lang is a semi-legendary polity at best. Though most myths tend to have some degrees of truth in them, you should hear what I say with a grain of salt. The area is still pretty unknown, only after the Chinese invasion did we have some historical sources.
Is the name "Viet" etymologically related to (and written with the same character as) the Yue of Warring States era Southern China? Which of course does not necessarily mean closely related languages or direct derivation.
Yeah, “Yue” is basically an umbrella term used by the Chinese to refer to the people living in what is now Southern China in ancient times. Việt is Vietnamese transliteration of that word.
Do I recall correctly that "Việt" reflects more closely the Old/Middle Chinese pronounciation of the term, while modern pinyin transcription "Yue" reflects the phonetically reduced modern Mandarin form?
Well, I am not well versed in linguistic . But Vietnamese has retain some features from traditional Chinese that Mandarin has ditched. So though there are some grounds to what you say, I can’t confirm it. (Or you can search for it on Wikipedia?)
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A rapid search for the relevant character(s) on Wiktionary confirms that. Old Chinese pronounciation is reconstructed as something like "gwat", from which both "Viet" and "Yue" derive, even if the process seems far from straightforward. The word seems to have originally indicated the battle-axes commonly used in Bronze Age southern China and whereabouts (I think they are associated with archaeological Dong Son culture among others).
However, it seems to be used in a way that refers more to the general geographical area (and the ancient state/peoples of Yue and Nanyue) than a specific ethno-linguistic reality, if I get it right.
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Yeah, like I said it's an umbrella term and is just used to describe the people living in that geographical area (the Baiyue). Or I may confuse Yue ( the geographical location) with the people living there (the Baiyue).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiyue
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