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Understanding Heroes and Villains
A reader can better understand and appreciate the virtues of a hero or condemn the crimes of a tyrant if the history of their...
The Focus of Traditional History
History, as it is usually written, often focuses only on causes—the events, decisions, and actions of rulers—without examining their effects on ordinary people. Wars,...
Prefatory Essay War and History
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were a time of constant warfare across Europe. These wars affected almost the entire Christian world. In many ways,...
The Faithful Christians of Sardis
Although the church in Sardis is strongly criticized in the Book of Revelation, St John makes it clear that not all Christians in the...
Unexcavated Remains of Sardis
A part of ancient Sardis still remains hidden underground. One section of the city has not yet been excavated and lies about two metres...
Croesus and the Persian Threat
In the middle of the sixth century BCE, King Croesus of Lydia became ambitious and greedy for lands beyond the Halys River, known today...
Smyrna in the Byzantine and Medieval Periods
The modern city of İzmir is built directly on top of ancient Smyrna. Because of this, only limited archaeological excavation is possible today. Many...
Ancient Smyrna The Beginnings of the City
The earliest settlement of Smyrna was located at the Tepekule tumulus in modern Bayraklı, on a small peninsula along the Aegean Sea. Archaeological evidence...
The Cemetery Above the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers
The ruins of a large cemetery can be seen above the Grotto of the Seven Sleepers in Ephesus. Together with the many graves around...
Rivers and Trade Routes
Western Anatolia is shaped by several important rivers that flow from the interior toward the Aegean Sea. These rivers are dry for most of...
