Sir Thomas Herbert, 1st Baronet

Sir Thomas Herbert, 1st Baronet (1606–1682), was an English traveller, historian and a gentleman of the bedchamber of King Charles I while Charles was in the custody of Parliament (from 1647 until the king’s execution in January 1649). Biography Herbert was born to a Yorkshire family. His birthplace, a timber-framed structure, still stands in York and is known as the Herbert House. Several of Herbert’s ancestors were aldermen and

Sumer

Sumer (/ˈsuːmər/) is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam, it is one of the cradles of civilization, along with Egypt, the Indus Valley, the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain

Suraj Bhan (archaeologist)

Suraj Bhan (1931–2010) was an Indian archaeologist and professor of archaeology. His academic work was said to bear a deep imprint of Marxism. He was also involved with the work of Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Haryana and took particular interest in the People’s Science movement. He was part of a panel of academics which contested the Vishva Hindu

Krishna Rao (archaeologist)

Krishna Rao is an Indian archaeologist and writer born in 1930. He received his master’s degree from Andhra University in 1953, and a postgraduate degree in archaeology in 1967 from the Archaeological Survey of India. For a time he was in charge of the Amaravathi Museum in Andhra Pradesh, India. Published works Indus Script Deciphered (1982) was published by Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi,

M. Athar Ali

M. Athar Ali (18 January 1925 – 7 July 1998) was an Indian historian of medieval Indian history. Throughout his career, he was known for his strong stance against Hindu and Islamic extremism. He was a professor at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Medieval History at his alma mater, Aligarh Muslim University. Early life M. Athar Ali was the

Ram Sharan Sharma

Ram Sharan Sharma (26 November 1919 – 20 August 2011) was an Indian historian and Indologist who specialised in the history of Ancient and early Medieval India. He taught at Patna University and Delhi University (1973–85) and was visiting faculty at University of Toronto (1965–1966). He also was a senior fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was a University Grants Commission

Herat

Herāt (/hɛˈrɑːt/; Pashto; Dari: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (Selseleh-ye Safēd Kōh) in the fertile valley of the Hari River in the western part of the country. An ancient civilization on the Silk Road between West, Central and South Asia, it serves as a

Kishore Kunal

Kishore Kunal (born 1950) is a former officer of the Indian Police Service from the state of Bihar, India. During his police career, he was appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (Ayodhya) by the prime minister V. P. Singh to mediate between the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Babri Masjid Action Committee on the Ayodhya dispute. He continued to serve in this position during the

Hammurabi

Hammurabi (/ˌxæmʊˈrɑːbi/; Akkadian: 𒄩𒄠𒈬𒊏𒁉 Ḫâmmurapi; c. 1810 – c. 1750 BC), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from c. 1792 to c. 1750 BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the city-states of Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari. He ousted Ishme-Dagan I, the king of Assyria, and forced his son Mut-Ashkur to pay tribute, bringing almost all of Mesopotamia under Babylonian rule. Hammurabi is best known for

Babylonia

Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria and Iran). It emerged as an Akkadian populated but Amorite-ruled state c. 1894 BC. During the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was retrospectively called “the country of Akkad” (māt Akkadī in Akkadian), a deliberate archaism