Download or read book Two Arabic Travel Books written by Tim Mackintosh-Smith and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2014-12-08 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In its ports, we find a priceless cargo of information; here are the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, a panorama of unusual social practices, cannibal islands, and Indian holy men--a marvelous, mundane world, contained in the compass of a novella. In Mission to the Volga, we move north on a diplomatic mission from Baghdad to the upper reaches of the Volga River in what is now central Russia. This colorful documentary by Ibn Fadlan relates the trials and tribulations of an embassy of diplomats and missionaries sent by caliph al-Muqtadir to deliver political and religious instruction to the recently-converted King of the Bulghars. During eleven months of grueling travel, Ibn Fadlan records the marvels he witnesses on his journey, including an aurora borealis and the white nights of the North. Crucially, he offers a description of the Viking Rus, including their customs, clothing, tattoos, and a striking account of a ship funeral.

Download or read book A Series of Plays in which it is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind Each Passion Being the Subject of a Tragedy and a Comedy written by Joanna Baillie and published by . This book was released on 1806 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ming written by Craig Clunas and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ask anyone what single object they associate with China and the most common answer will be a Ming vase. Probably without even knowing the dates of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), people are aware of the fragility of its porcelain, its rarity and value. But porcelain is just one part of the story of one of the most glorious epoques of China's past. By focusing on the significant years of the early Ming dynasty and through the themes of court people and their lives, extraordinary developments in culture, the military, religion, diplomacy and trade, this book brings the wider history of this fascinating period to colourful life.

Download or read book Six Dynasties Civilization written by Albert E. Dien and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Six Dynasties, also known as the "Dark Age” of Chinese history, was a period of political disunity and conflict but also one of important developments in the arts, religion, and culture. This comprehensive and extensively illustrated book covers the material culture of the Six Dynasties, A.D. 220 to 589. Albert E. Dien, a foremost expert on the period, draws on the archaeological findings of mainland China journals as well as historical and literary sources to clarify and interpret the database of over 1,800 tombs developed for this volume. During the Six Dynasties, the influences of non-Chinese nomads, the flourishing of Buddhism, and increasing numbers of foreign merchants in the capitals brought about widespread change. The book explores what the archaeological artifacts reveal about this era of innovation and experimentation between the Han and Tang dynasties.

Download or read book Reconfiguring the Silk Road written by Victor H. Mair and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2014-09-08 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Bronze Age through the Middle Ages, a network of trade and migration routes brought people from across Eurasia into contact. Their commerce included political, social, and artistic ideas, as well as material goods such as metals and textiles. Reconfiguring the Silk Road offers new research on the earliest trade and cultural interactions along these routes, mapping the spread and influence of Silk Road economies and social structures over time. This volume features contributions by renowned scholars uncovering new discoveries related to populations that lived in the Tarim Basin, the advanced state of textile manufacturing in the region, and the diffusion of domesticated grains across Inner Asia. Other chapters include an analysis of the dispersal of languages across the Eurasian Steppe and a detailed examination of the domestication of the horse in the region. Contextualized with a foreword by Colin Renfrew and introduction by Victor Mair, Reconfiguring the Silk Road provides a new assessment of the intercultural evolution along the steppes and beyond. Contributors: David W. Anthony, Elizabeth Wayland Barber, Dorcas R. Brown, Peter Brown, Michael D. Frachetti, Jane Hickman, Philip L. Kohl, Victor H. Mair, J. P. Mallory, Joseph G. Manning, Colin Renfrew.

Download or read book Frozen Tombs of Siberia written by Сергей Иванович Руденко and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1970 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko was a prominent Russian/Soviet anthropologist and archaeologist who discovered and excavated the most celebrated of Scythian burials, Pazyryk in Siberia. During the excavation of Pazyryk tombs, he discovered the world's most spectacular tattooed mummy said to belong to the Pazyryk Culture which flourished between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC. Herodotus and other ancient writers referred to the Altay as "the golden mountain". It was there that the impregnable citadel of the Scythians (or Sacae) lay hidden for centuries. Rudenko, however, was cautious enough not to assign his findings to the Scythians. He attributed the kurgan finds to the formidable Iron Age horsemen and warriors, whom he dubbed the "Pazyryks." Although they left no written records, Pazyryk artifacts are distinguished by a sophisticated level of artistry and craftsmanship. The Pazyryk tombs discovered by Rudenko were in an almost perfect state of preservation. They contained skeletons and intact bodies of horses and embalmed humans, together with a wealth of artifacts including saddles, riding gear, a chariot, rugs, clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, amulets, tools, and an "apparatus for inhaling hemp smoke." Also found in the tombs were fabrics from Persia and China, which the Pazyryks must have obtained on journeys covering thousands of miles.

Download or read book Fresh from the Farm 6pk written by Rigby and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ancient Iran written by Howard Baskerville Professor in the History of Iran and the Persianate World Associate Director Dr Samuel M Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture Touraj Daryaee and published by I. B. Tauris. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most influential civilizations in antiquity was that of the Iranian world. The disparate peoples of ancient Iran were remarkable in that their imperial histories proved to be of enduring significance not only for the region from the Oxus to the Euphrates, but also for the Eurasian sphere, and briefly even for that of north Africa. Iran is often encountered through the prism of the classical and biblical worlds, where Cyrus and Darius the Great loom large as rulers of many lands and peoples. However, as Touraj Daryaee shows, neither these great kings, nor Xerxes' military expeditions to Greece, nor Sasanian encounters with the Romans centuries later, are the sum total of ancient Iran. Rather than focusing on the traditional Persian triple empires - Achaemenids, Arsacids/Parthians, and Sasanians (550 BCE-330 CE) - the author explores the much larger expanse of tribes and traditions that culminated in the formation of these great empires of antiquity. The result is a survey that fully reveals ancient Iran to student and non-specialist alike.

Download or read book Cities of the Dead written by and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Kyrgyz cemetery seen from a distance is astonishing. The ornate domes and minarets, tightly clustered behind stone walls, seem at odds with this desolate mountain region. Islam, the prominent religion in the region since the twelfth century, discourages tombstones or decorative markers. However, elaborate Kyrgyz tombs combine earlier nomadic customs with Muslim architectural forms. After the territory was formally incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876, enamel portraits for the deceased were attached to the Muslim monuments. Yet everything within the walls is overgrown with weeds, for it is not Kyrgyz tradition for the living to frequent the graves of the dead. Architecturally unique, Kyrgyzstan's dramatically sited cemeteries reveal the complex nature of the Kyrgyz people's religious and cultural identities. Often said to have left behind few permanent monuments or books, the Kyrgyz people in fact left behind a magnificent legacy when they buried their dead. Traveling in Kyrgyzstan, photographer Margaret Morton became captivated by the otherworldly grandeur of these cemeteries. Cities of the Dead: The Ancestral Cemeteries of Kyrgyzstan collects the photographs she made on several visits to the area and is an important contribution to the architectural and cultural record of this region. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch'v=haaOw6cx1yk

Download or read book Art of the Yellow Springs written by Wu Hung and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2015-02-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We might think the Egyptians were the masters of building tombs, but no other civilization has devoted more time and resources to underground burial structures than the Chinese. For at least five thousand years, from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the early twentieth century, the Chinese have been building some of the world’s most elaborate tombs and furnishing them with exquisite objects. It is these objects and the concept of the tomb as a “treasure-trove” that The Art of the Yellow Springs seeks to critique, drawing on recent scholarship to examine memorial sites the way they were meant to be experienced: not as a mere store of individual works, but as a work of art itself. Wu Hung bolsters some of the new trends in Chinese art history that have been challenging the conventional ways of studying funerary art. Examining the interpretative methods themselves that guide the study of memorials, he argues that in order to understand Chinese tombs, one must not necessarily forget the individual works present in them—as the beautiful color plates here will prove—but consider them along with a host of other art-historical concepts. These include notions of visuality, viewership, space, analysis, function, and context. The result is a ground-breaking new assessment that demonstrates the amazing richness of one of the longest-running traditions in the whole of art history.

Download or read book Nomads Traders and Holy Men Along China s Silk Road written by Annette L. Juliano and published by Brepols Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of papers formed part of the symposium, Nomads, Traders and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, held at the Asia Society in New York on November 9-10, 2001. Although the Silk Road has inspired several important museum exhibitions, none had focused on the Hexi Corridor nor attempted to analyze the complexity of the cross-cultural relationships within China's borders. Nor had any exhibition focused on the nearly four hundred years of political disunity, nomadic incursions and social upheaval, brought about by the collapse of the great Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), that then, after a series of short-lived dynasties, culminated in the reunification of China under the Tang empire (618-906).

Download or read book China and Japan in the Russian Imagination 1685 1922 written by Susanna Soojung Lim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the centuries, as Russia strove to build itself into an imperial power equal to those in the West, China and Japan came to occupy a special place in Russians’ view of the orient. Never colonised by Russia or the West, China and Japan were linked not only to the greatest of Russian imperial fantasies, but also, conversely, to a deep sense of insecurity regarding Russia’s place in the world, a sense of insecurity which deepened as China and Japan began to modernise in the later nineteenth century. Drawing on a wide range of works by Russian writers and thinkers, Lim sets out how Russian perceptions of China and Japan were formed from Muscovy’s first contacts with China in the late seventeenth century, through to the aftermath of Russia’s defeat by Japan in the early twentieth century.

Download or read book The Falconer written by Elizabeth May and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edinburgh, 1844. Beautiful Aileana Kameron only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. In fact, she's spent the year since her mother died developing her ability to sense the presence of Sithichean, a faery race bent on slaughtering humans. She has a secret mission: to destroy the faery who murdered her mother. But when she learns she's a Falconer, the last in a line of female warriors and the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity, her quest for revenge gets a whole lot more complicated. The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller blends romance and action with steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.

Download or read book Kumba Africa written by Sampson Ejike Odum and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘KUMBA AFRICA’, is a compilation of African Short Stories written as fiction by Sampson Ejike Odum, nostalgically taking our memory back several thousands of years ago in Africa, reminding us about our past heritage. It digs deep into the traditional life style of the Africans of old, their beliefs, their leadership, their courage, their culture, their wars, their defeat and their victories long before the emergence of the white man on the soil of Africa. As a talented writer of rich resource and superior creativity, armed with in-depth knowledge of different cultures and traditions in Africa, the Author throws light on the rich cultural heritage of the people of Africa when civilization was yet unknown to the people. The book reminds the readers that the Africans of old kept their pride and still enjoyed their own lives. They celebrated victories when wars were won, enjoyed their New yam festivals and villages engaged themselves in seasonal wrestling contest etc; Early morning during harmattan season, they gathered firewood and made fire inside their small huts to hit up their bodies from the chilling cold of the harmattan. That was the Africa of old we will always remember. In Africa today, the story have changed. The people now enjoy civilized cultures made possible by the influence of the white man through his scientific and technological process. Yet there are some uncivilized places in Africa whose people haven’t tested or felt the impact of civilization. These people still maintain their ancient traditions and culture. In everything, we believe that days when people paraded barefooted in Africa to the swarmp to tap palm wine and fetch firewood from there farms are almost fading away. The huts are now gradually been replaced with houses built of blocks and beautiful roofs. Thanks to modern civilization. Donkeys and camels are no longer used for carrying heavy loads for merchants. They are now been replaced by heavy trucks and lorries. African traditional methods of healing are now been substituted by hospitals. In all these, I will always love and remember Africa, the home of my birth and must respect her cultures and traditions as an AFRICAN AUTHOR.

Download or read book Dear Black Girls written by Shanice Nicole and published by . This book was released on 2021-02-08 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dear Black Girls is a letter to all Black girls. Every day poet and educator Shanice Nicole is reminded of how special Black girls are and of how lucky she is to be one. Illustrations by Kezna Dalz support the book's message that no two Black girls are the same but they are all special--that to be a Black girl is a true gift. In this celebratory poem, Kezna and Shanice remind young readers that despite differences, they all deserve to be loved just the way they are.

Download or read book A Potion to Die For written by Heather Blake and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TROUBLE IS BREWING… As the owner of Little Shop of Potions, a magic potion shop specializing in love potions, Carly Bell Hartwell finds her product more in demand than ever. A local soothsayer has predicted that a couple in town will soon divorce—and now it seems every married person in Hitching Post, Alabama, wants a little extra matrimonial magic to make sure they stay hitched. But when Carly finds a dead man in her shop, clutching one of her potion bottles, she goes from most popular potion person to public enemy number one. In no time the murder investigation becomes a witch hunt—literally! Now Carly is going to need to brew up some serious sleuthing skills to clear her name and find the real killer—before the whole town becomes convinced her potions really are to die for!

Download or read book Yvain written by Chretien de Troyes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1987-09-10 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twelfth-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes is a major figure in European literature. His courtly romances fathered the Arthurian tradition and influenced countless other poets in England as well as on the continent. Yet because of the difficulty of capturing his swift-moving style in translation, English-speaking audiences are largely unfamiliar with the pleasures of reading his poems. Now, for the first time, an experienced translator of medieval verse who is himself a poet provides a translation of Chrétien’s major poem, Yvain, in verse that fully and satisfyingly captures the movement, the sense, and the spirit of the Old French original. Yvain is a courtly romance with a moral tenor; it is ironic and sometimes bawdy; the poetry is crisp and vivid. In addition, the psychological and the socio-historical perceptions of the poem are of profound literary and historical importance, for it evokes the emotions and the values of a flourishing, vibrant medieval past.