A Quick Survey of Northern Cyprus

Northern Cyprus is another one of those disputed areas of sovereignty that we said we would cover this week on the blog. It has only one state outside of itself that recognizes, Turkey. The rest of the world considers Northern Cyprus to be an occupied territory within the Republic of Cyprus. The question we want to get to the bottom is what is all the kerfuffle about?

It started long ago and with many of our other disputed states this week it has to do with ethnic and religious tensions. In the case of Northern Cyprus we are talking about the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots. The Greek Cypriots occupy most of the island while the Turkish Cypriots live in the Northeastern part of the island called Northern Cyprus. The island of Cyprus has an extensive history, one we're not going to cover on this blog post. So, we'll start with the most recent tensions that began shortly after 1960 when the island became independent from England.

There were two competing thoughts on what to do with the islands new found independence. Many Turkish Cypriots wanted to adopt "takism", the Turkish word for partition. This theory of self-rule wanted to split the island into two sections and possibly two distinct states, one for the Greeks and one for the Turks. Many Greek Cypriots however wanted to adopt the policy of "enosis", the Greek word for union. Under this plan Cyprus would become part of Greece. But, in 1960 delegates from both sides agreed to scrap both policies to make Cyprus its own state. The peace however did not last.

In 1963 the Akritas Plan was enacted that was designed to weaken the position of the Turkish Cypriots in the government and ultimately link Cyprus back with Greece. Violence broke out between the Turkish and Greek Cypriots with the Turks getting the worse end of the violence. Looting of Turkish villages within the island nation caused thousands to either withdraw into what would over time become Northern Cyprus or to emigrate to places like Britain, Australia or Turkey proper. The Turkish Cypriot government withdrew from all official government activities and Turkish paramilitary groups began to form that in effect created the partition of the island that constitutes it today.

The 1970's saw some serious action on the island. In 1974 the military junta of Greece decided to directly involve themselves in Cypriot politics and backed a couple of Greek Cypriot groups to host a coup d'état party. They ousted the presiding president, Makarios III, the president that had basically unilaterally acted back in the early 60's to get the tensions snowballing into the spiral as they did. But, Turkey saw this military intervention by Greece as a reason to send in their own troops. The Turkish Army came in shortly after the coup and established the border between Cyprus proper and Northern Cyprus.

A year later, in 1975 the Turkish Cypriots formed the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus. This however displeased the Republic of Cyprus and no one in the international community outside of Turkey recognized this new designation. The hopeful and nascent Turkish Federated State of Cyprus tried to negotiate with the UN and the leaders of the Greek Cypriots but to no avail. After eight years the Turkish Cypriots declared independence and formed the disputed state that sits atop northeastern Cyprus today, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Since 1983 there has been a whole bunch of bluster about the politics of reunification. In 2004 the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly voted against reunification whereas the Turkish north voted for it. This left Cyprus entering the European Union with the North basically left out of the deal. In spite of all the hope for unification continuing sanctions has disillusioned much of the Northern Cyprus population and they recently voted in a government that prefers independence to unification and links with Turkey rather than the EU. But, while this current government is ideologically at odds with unification it is pragmatic and the current president Derviş Eroğlu is still performing ongoing negotiations with the Republic of Cyprus on unification plans.

That's all we'll cover this time, but look this week for a further explanation on the divisions within Cyprus through a historical lens and more on the disputed states in Europe. Tomorrow, barring something horrible, the podcast will resume with the Chalcolithic podcast. I'm excited. I hope you are!

Prehistoric Nagorno-Karabakh, The Kura-Araxes

As we continue to study the history of some of Europe's disputed states we return to the Caucasus in the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh. Currently Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory claiming independence from Azerbaijan. But, way back when in Prehistory the region was the center of a prehistoric culture that spread out from Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan to Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and four Russian subjects: Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia. It is known today as the Kura-Araxes culture, corresponding to the two rivers that flank its homeland.

The Kura-Araxes culture lasted from roughly 3400 BC - 2000 BC. It began as a humble type of civilization subsisting on some farming and mostly cattle. They original built small, round homes that were often grouped together behind some sort of earth and stone fortifications. Hey, this in the neighborhood of most of the projected Urheimats so they were eventually going to have to deal with those violent Indo-Europeans. You can understand why they built walls.

But, their humble beginnings would give way to a much more lavish lifestyle as the Kura-Araxes people became great traders. They traded with Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. There is even evidence that some offshoots of the Kura-Araxes ended up in the Levant after the fall of the ancient Akkadian Empire. What they had to offer had to pretty good considering some of their artifacts have been found flung between modern Israel and Chechnya in Russia. So what did they bring to the table?

First and foremost they brought pottery. Their pottery was super distinctive. It was black and red with geometric ornamentation all over it. They also produced wheeled-carts which when they weren't hauling awesome pottery to trade all over the Ancient Near East and Eastern Europe were probably being traded themselves. Eventually the Kura-Araxes would take up metallurgy and became pretty good smiths. They worked with copper, gold, silver, tin and bronze, adding metal goods to their already impressive arsenal of trade goods.

We've mentioned the Kura-Araxes before way back on May 6, but I thought since we're studying some disputed regions I'd mention them again. But, we've learned quite a bit about history since May so rather than regurgitating what I wrote earlier I thought I'd add something new. Although we're focusing on the History of Europe it's impossible to look at Europe in complete isolation, especially when you're dealing with either the Mediterranean Cultures or the Caucuses. This is because there was massive cultural exchange between these European Cultures and the Asiatic ones. The Kura-Araxes were intercontinental traders and it might be good to mention some of their Asiatic dealings. As you can see from the map above the Kura-Araxes culture dealt with some heavyweights of the Ancient Near East including the Assyrians, the Hurrians and the Hittites, not to mention all the other unlisted Mesopotamian giants.

Black pot, geometric designs to adorn it. Evidence or conjecture?

The traders would have gone up and down the established trade routes and brought a whole bunch of wealth to the Empires of the day, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Mittani, etc., etc. But as the traders went along the routes they might have become familiar with the areas and liked it enough to eventually settle down. Often in this period we talk about how Asiatic cultures (and Egypt) often influenced later European ones. But, the Kura-Araxes might have flipped the script and decided to settle down in modern day Israel and become the culture known as the Khirbet Kerak. Khirbet Kerak is located on the Sea of Galilee and was established sometime around 3000 BC and lasted for about a thousand years (the end of the Kura-Araxes culture). The site is similar enough to Kura-Araxes cultures that have led some to believe that it was a trading colony at the far end of their world, but still within their world. Basically, some people think that this Caucuses culture settled down in Israel for about a thousand years before abandoning the site in 2000 BC. There's similar pottery, similar circular homes and fortifications that could match the Caucuses sites. But, other than that it is conjectural. Although it isn't known for certain, it's interesting to see that European might have had a big influence on the Near East as the Near East most certainly had a big influence in Europe at the time.

On this day in history, Alexander pulls a Mortal Kombat move on Mithridates of Persia

Today we mark the Battle of the Granicus on this day in the history of Europe. For me the battle shapes up like Mortal Kombat in the arcade version, the one where you fight the guy until you finish him off and then another one flashes into the screen with a high kick behind you. Then you have to fight him, doing the same up right low block high kick moves you did to defeat the first opponent, but this time in reverse order.

The Battle of the Granicus was fought on May 22 (give or take, but that's the day most ancient historians give), 334 BC at what was near the even more ancient site of Troy in Northwest Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Back then the river where the battle was fought was called the Granicus, and hence the named battle. Today the place is called Biga Çayı or without the fancy Turkish symbols, the Biga River. One one side was the eventual victors, Alexander and his Ancient Macedonian army and his allies the League of Corinth against the Achaemenid Empire and its many satraps and mercenaries. The reason it feels like a mid-90's installment of Mortal Kombat is because in spite of Alexander's superior numbers, he had to deal with a much larger contingency of Persian leaders. So when his army would smite one branch of the Persians, another would pop in to take on the fight and continue. Had Alexander lost even one of these minor battles he would have had to put in another two tokens to continue. But luckily, he took them all out, and when it was time to finish him, he didn't do a friendship move to turn them all into snowmen.

The Macedonians and Corinthian League had superior numbers, but the Persians had the stronger cavalry at the battle. The Persians lined up on the east bank of the Granicus but Alexander made a swift crossing and engaged the smaller force immediately. The plan worked initially, but a plethora of Persian satraps pushed back. Spithridates, the satrap of Ionia and Lydia knocked Alexander off his horse and as he was winding up for the death blow and the quick end to Alexander's wars in the east his arm was hacked off by the Macedonian Cletius the Black. After losing his arm he was no match for Cletius and was quickly killed. Alexander hopped back on a horse and led a reinvigorated charge that decimated the middle of the Persian defense. Had Spithridates not been blocked, so much of history would have been different. The Hellenization of the Mediterranean would have halted and it is possible that the nascent Roman Empire would have been crushed by Persian advancement in the west. But, history wasn't altered and Alexander's second charge smashed and killed many of the best Persian generals and allies leaving their army in total disarray.

This is probably similar to what Mithridates' death looked
like. However, considering it happened in 334 BC, the
graphics were probably not Sega's 16 bit, but a 2 bit analog
that would've made Atari's pong look cutting edge.

The befuddled Persians then faced the wrath of a massive infantry force from the Macedonians. The Persian ranks broke and in the retreat most of the Persian forces were killed or captured. A branch of the Persian army, Greek mercenaries led by Memnon of Rhodes were encircled. Memnon tried to broker a peace deal, but Alexander would have none of it. All of the mercenaries were slaughtered. Memnon would escape and retain control of the battle against Alexander until Darius III finally decided that his presence was necessary in the war. In the ensuing slaughters Alexander took out Mithridates, the son-in-law of the aforementioned Darius. It appears that Alexander pinned down the unfortunate Mithridates and then put a spear through his face, a precursor to Scorpion's "get over here" move in the MK games. Mithridates got over there, but there was no counter punch to be had. He, like many of the Persians died en route to Alexander claiming dominance over the Greek cities along the coast of Asia Minor. From this position, Alexander was able to advance troops into Asia without confrontation. Having this ease of access to Asia allowed for a major conquest that stretched all the way into modern day India. In short, the battle was vitally important, because it allowed for so many Macedonian and Greek troops to enter Asia with ease and an eagerness to swallow up all of Persia and her control.

On this day in history: allusions to sex, religion and the trappings of power.

We're again a little behind on the podcast. The conclusion of the Neolithic is written, but I was sick last week during the only time I could have recorded it. My head cold made it sound like I was speaking in a vacuum. Couple that with my already shoddy recording equipment and we're looking at some of the worst sounding podcasts in the history of bad sounding podcast. Thankfully I know my seven listeners love the content and not the technology behind the podcast. But, there could be the sinful Amish guy out there getting his tech-ication on with my podcast. For a technologically deprived human being, my magic speaking box about long long ago might seem downright magical. Hopefully that magic can come out fairly early in the week on iTunes. I will do my best.

Yesterday, had we been faithful to this day in history we would have focused on the execution of Anne Boleyn and all of the scintillating sexual details that went a long way into making her HBO worthy. We would have asked then today, what could have possibly topped such sensationalism? What could ever burn the loins more than love triangles and beheadings? Is there anything that can arouse in man such a fervor as illicit copulation and political intrigue? There is but one thing, religious and political intrigue!

So today on this day in History we'll celebrate the consummation of Church and State in its most modern, Western form, before their estrangement and untimely divorce in the unfortunate aftermath of the Enlightenment. Having over exhausted this innuendo though, we'll move on to the beginning of the 1st Council of Nicea, that began on May 20, 325 AD.  The Council was called Constantine the Great in order to bring a single voice to Christianity in attempt to unify a splintering Empire. Constantine had just won a succession of civil wars and looked to the Cross as a political tool to reunify his disparate peoples. But the problem was as Constantine soon found out, his unifying tool was not very uniform. Basically there were two major veins of Christianity at the time. One that would become a template for future Christological thought within the Church and one that would be labeled a heresy.

The controversy came up when Arius, a Christian thinker and teacher from Alexandria decided that Jesus the Son was essentially different from God the Father. Arius basically taught that Jesus was God the Father's first creation and perfect, but still a creation. Arius and the Arians (his followers) were vehemently opposed by Athanasius, a younger contemporary of Arius and a fellow Alexandria native. Athanasius taught that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit were all of the same essence. This line was followed and proclaimed by the Council of Nicea. It's this decision that led to the Church following a strict Trinitarian view of the nature of God, three persons, but one essence. Arian teachers fled the council in quite a huff and even though their belief was declare a heresy and thus, not part of the orthodoxy, the belief didn't immediately die out. In fact Arianism would linger on long enough for some of the barbarians who would eventually rip the Empire apart to become practitioners of this heretical branch of Christianity. The fact that the Orthodox, Catholic view was held by the Roman establishment and the Arian view held by many Germanic invaders gave the debate renewed political trappings. But, when Clovis became the first barbarian king to become a Catholic and thus, a Trinitarian, ruler, his power would wipe much of Arian theology from the West, leaving the remaining Arians in North Africa. They would linger there until the Muslims swept across the continent and effectively destroyed Arius' teachings.

The 1st Council of Nicea had some other outcomes as well. In addition to declaring Trinitarian views as the only acceptable understanding of the Christian God, it also put together the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed would serve as statement of faith to be repeated by the faithful to express the most fundamental tenants of Christianity. The council also established Constantine's role in the history of the Church. It also helped establish Canon Law. It gave Rome and her bishop an exalted place in the Church. And it led to Christianity becoming fundamentally declared separate from its parent religion, Judaism. Basically the 1st Council of Nicea was a huge step in the long process of formalizing the Christian church. It is for this reason that the Council get's this day in history status.

Thank you for the bacon, Prehistoric Turkey, Part III, the Neolithic

Stone Age Turkey really starts to heat up in the Neolithic. Cultures and sites like the Nevalı Çori, Göbekli Tepe, Mersin, Çatalhöyük and the Çayönü shape up Turkey's Stone Age history.

The Nevalı Çori was an early Neolithic settlement in Eastern Turkey along the Euphrates river. It's known for a number of things, including its early association with temple building. The village at Nevalı Çori consisted of some long houses and a central site for worship. The temple was built into the hillside at the site and contained a number of figurines, indicating an early religious cult. The votive offerings that these figurines probably represent show an advanced technology. Basically the people of Nevalı Çori had figured out how to fire pottery without actually making pottery.

Göbekli Tepe is oldest known religious structure in the world. It is a megalithic structure that was built around 12,000 years ago by some hunter-gatherers. The construction is incredible. It contains giant limestone structures that have carved images of lions, bulls, boars, foxes, gazelles, donkeys, snakes and various reptiles. The site actually predates Neolithic economies, no domestication of plants or animals or pottery is associated with the site. It could be termed a Mesolithic site, but since the megalithic culture of Europe is associated with the Neolithic period, we'll include it here. Only a small portion of the site has been excavated, so more will come out of it as the site is fully discovered. However the immense size of the structure has really shaken up anthropological and archeological theories, pushing dates much further into antiquity than previously imagined.

Mersin is a South-central port city in modern day Turkey that show signs of inhabitation dating back to 6300 BC. The Yumuktepe hill is a a tumulus that has produced both stone and ceramic tools that date back to the earliest period. This Neolithic site would go on to be an important settlement for the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Selucid Empire that covered most of the Classical History of the region.

The Çatalhöyük site flourished from around 7500 BC - 5700 BC in southern Turkey. One of the distinctive features of this site is its mother goddess figurines. The area has produced an immense number of artifacts, cementing its place as an important spot for the evolution of religion. It is among the best preserved and largest Neolithic settlements in all of Europe.

Çayönü is located in Southeastern Turkey. It flourished from around 7200 BC - 6600 BC and was related to the Çatalhöyük site as a possible influence. Unlike the Mersin site that flourished along the Euphrates, the Çayönü was located at the base of mountains near the mouth of the Tigris. It is notable because it might have been the place where pigs were first domesticated. Bacon enthusiasts everywhere  are indebted to the Çayönü. Beyond that the Çayönü domesticated a number of cereals that have continued down to the present day.

If you like Pistachios, you'll like the Prehistoric History of Turkey, Part II, the Mesolithic

We covered Paleolithic Turkey already so we'll focus on their Mesolithic period. The Mesolithic period of Turkey is centered on the practice of cultivating pistachios. Gaziantep, Turkey is the center of this pistachio flavored world and frankly, I am thankful. I love pistachios. Outside of Turkey, the pistachio was introduced to Europe through the observations of Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer. He stated the pistachio was, "well known amongst us" and for that I am thankful. Pistachios were grown in ancient Iraq and Iran and were probably an integral part of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But their cultivation and spread to Europe are Mesolithic contributions from Turkey.

Pistachios are an iron rich food. They have become an integral part of deliciousness in modern cooking. Pistachios have been paired with garlic and basil to create a pistachio-basil butter that is incredible on seafood. It has been mixed with pineapple and cream to create a fantastic pudding. It has been deep-fried with goat cheese and olives to make bite-size fair food that is to die for. This Turkish delight has even been meshed up with coconut and marshmallow to create a variance of the southern staple of ambrosia. If you enjoy the taste of Pistachios then you can thank the Mesolithic inhabitants of Turkey for perfecting their cultivation.

The Prehistoric History of Turkey, Part I, the Paleolithic

Turkey is one of those countries that straddles Europe and Asia. For me, trying to do a European History podcast, Turkey marks a dilemma. I can't leave it out, because the Thracians, Greeks and Byzantines are certainly a part of Europe's heritage. So too are the Seljuk Turks and the Ottomans. But at the same time, it's east of the Bosporus and technically an Asian country. I'm at a loss!!! But, because the peoples of modern day Turkey have had such an impact on Southeastern Europe and the Balkans I have to include them somewhere. Turkey didn't make the cut in the Paleolithic, Mesolithic or Neolithic podcast except through tangential relationships so I'm going to blog about them. While modern day Turkey continues to debate admittance to the European Union, I won't dally any longer. Turkey has a rich European history and we'll include them in our studies. So here is a sweeping overview of her history up to the Chalcolithic period.

The Turkish region of Anatolia is one of the longest, continuously inhabited places in the world. Paleolithic evidence dates to sites like the Karain Cave, the Belbaşi Culture and a whole host of sites we'll not really cover here because of space reasons. The earliest sites of Anatolia, or Asia Minor in Latinized terminology date to around 500,000 BC. While this rich cultural heritage deserves about a hundred thousand pages of a well documented book, we'll do our best with a couple of blog posts. So let's just focus on the two aforementioned Paleolithic sites.

Karain Cave shows evidence of human inhabitation dating from around 200,000 years ago. It's located in the Antalya region of modern day Turkey, near the Southwest coast along the Mediterranean Sea. The artifacts found at this cave are hosted in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations located in Ankara, established in 1921. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, that contains everything from prehistoric hippopotami bones to early Greek inscriptions carved into the walls. Basically the cave complex has a rich million year history that shows some of the earliest human endeavors in Turkey.

The Belbaşi Culture is an ancient Paleolithic/Mesolithic Culture of tool making that spawns from a number of cave sites in the Southwest of modern day Turkey. It has findings of tanged arrowheads and other artifacts. Its artifacts are similar to those of the Kebaran Culture, a site named after the artifacts found near Haifa in modern day Israel and the Natufian Culture, a Levantine Culture that existed from 13,000 - 9,800 years ago in modern Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. But, while the Belbaşi Culture had eastwards roots, it expanded and changed westward. The Belbaşi Culture seems to have taught the cultures of the Balkans and Southeastern Europe how to farm and domesticate animals, making it an important predecessor culture for our studies.

The culture learned to craft tools from obsidian, flint, bone and antler. It coupled this technology with new farming techniques that made it a Neolithic culture. In addition to to adapting to farming techniques it created pottery that would revolutionize Southeastern European pottery in the coming times. These cavemen would eventually build houses in the Balkan countries of Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria before branching north to Romania to follow the Danube and become subsumed by the Danubian Cultures. It's truly fascinating that prehistoric peoples in Turkey would have an impact on those in Germany.

The Early Days of Stara Zagora

Stara Zagora is a city of about 200,000 people, making it Bulgaria's sixth most populated city. Officially, Stara Zagora got its name in 1875, but the city's history stretches back at least 8,000 years. In the meantime the city has had a host of names depending on who was in control. The city was held by Neolithic peoples, who if they had a name for the area weren't kind enough to jot it down for us. Prior to the Roman arrival the city was held variously by Greeks and Thracians, who called the city Beroe. In 106 AD the Roman provincial city was founded and named Augusta Traiana. Some time in the 4th century the city was renamed Beroe and was a center for Christianity in the Balkans. That named lasted until the city caught the eye of the Byzantine princess Irene, and the city became known as Irinopolis. When the Bulgarians broke from the Byzantines the city was re-re-re-re-refounded (give or take 2 re's) as Vereya (or Bereya or Beroya, presumably after the earlier name Beroe). As a city in the Bulgarian Empire, it was an important financial center. In a later installment of the various Bulgarian kingdoms of the Middle Ages it was called Boruy. When the Ottoman Empire captured it, the city was called Eski Zagara, which means the Old Fortress of Zagora. When the Bulgarians gained their independence the city was renamed again to Zheleznik, but was shortly renamed Stara Zagora. During this shuffling of names, one of the areas of the city called the Bereketska Mound was continually inhabited from about 6000 BC - 1200 AD. The Bereketska Mound is just one a whole treasure chest full of archeological sites in one of Europe's longest inhabited city.

The Bereketska Mound is about one of a hundred or so mounds in the area that contain burial items dating back to the Neolithic period. The Azmashka Tomb was one of the earliest sites in Southeastern Europe to receive a full archeological treatment. It has produced a wealth of data and artifacts, including the Venus Figurine to the right. Stara Zagora is also host to the Metchi Kladenets, one of, if not the earliest copper mine in Europe. The copper that was mined there produced copper tools that were traded all over the region, some traveling as far north as the Volga River in Russia. In addition to all these Neolithic Artifacts, there are great collections of Classical Thracian, Roman, Byzantine, Medieval Bulgarian, Russian and Ottoman artifacts, but we'll save these for later.

On this day in history, a tax break on account of Visigothic bullying

On May 8, 413 AD the Roman Emperor Honorius decided to give a tax break to most of the provinces of Italy. It wasn't because he was feeling especially generous or that the Roman coffers were so overstuffed he could afford to grant some largesse. It was because the peninsula had been absolutely ravaged by the Visigoths. Three years prior to the tax break, the Visigoths had marched up to the eternal city and sacked it causing a whole bunch of physical, economic and psychological damage to the empire from which it never really recovered. So, while this day marks the anniversary of a fiscal policy enacted some 1599 years ago, the fiscal policy was in response to a seriously traumatic experience. We'll probably touch on the Visigothic sack of Rome at a later date so we'll just give a bit of blog love to the Visigoths today. Pictured here is the Visgothic wave of invasion from Eastern Europe to become lords of Spain. As you can see they entered into Roman territory around 376 and wreaked havoc down into the Balkans, sacking Athens along the way. But on the way to walking triumphantly on the streets of the brain capital of the ancient Mediterranean the Visigoths managed to completely upend the Eastern Empire in 378 at the battle of Adrianople (modern day Turkey). Then the sauntered on up the coast and down into Italy, sacking Rome in 410. They would go on to establish a kingdom in 418 that would stretch from the South Atlantic coast of Portugal up through most of modern day Spain and into France. After claiming such a big stretch of European soil, the Visigoths would go on a slow, but inevitable retreat until finally Ardo, the last of the Visogothic kings was defeated and killed by the Arab conquest of Spain in the 720's. So there you have it. You earn a tax break when you get invaded. I think I could deal with some unruly Visigoths if it got me off the hook for my income tax.

Kura-Araxes and Maykop mop up

As we mentioned on our last blog post, the Caucusus got excluded from the Neolithic podcasts coming up in the next two weeks primarily because their development was so entrenched with contemporary Mesopotamia. We'll focus on two last Neolithic cultures from this area (that eventually become Chalcolithic and Bronze Age cultures) and then ensure that the Caucusus gets some dap in the podcasts from now on.

First we'll talk about the Kura-Araxes Culture that existed in the southern Caucusus from around 3400 BC - 2000 BC. The culture is known by two very distinct things, both of which were so highly sought after that they spanned a large swathe of the ancient world.

First, they made very distinctive pottery. Like most early cultures we often identify a group by its style of pottery. The Kura-Araxes people made distinctive pottery that was painted with red and black geometric designs and contained Nakhichevan-type lugs, which you can surely see in these pottery shards? As far as I can tell the Nakhichevan-type lug is that circular thing you see on some of the pieces of pottery that is done in a way that is distinctive to the Kura-Araxes Culture. The pieces you see here on the left were found at a site in Iran, a place where the Kura-Araxes culture did not live.

Spear found
in Gegharot,
Armenia.

Second, as they became more settled in the Caucusus regions and pushed north into the present day Russian territories of Chechnya and Dagestan, they began to work copper. They worked it real good. Then they pushed on people. Copper made tools that are distinct to the Kura-Araxes have been found as far north as the Volga, Dnieper, and Seversky Donets rivers. The copperworks have been found as far south as Syria, Palestine, Israel and into central Turkey.

So how did the Kura-Araxes' wares get from all the way north in Russia down into modern day Irsrael? Two ways. First, the Kura-Araxes had extensive trade networks allowing them to spread their goods to a far flung field. Second, they invaded areas. They began to expand their borders outward. That expansion however was abruptly stopped by someone who had been making his way into Europe for some time, but decided to begin its wave after wave of advancement at about this time that would forever change Europe.

But, the Kura-Araxes were not the only players in the Caucusus at this time. They were basically contemporaneous with the Maykop or Maikop Culture (ca. 3700 BC - 2500 BC). They Maykop culture was located in the Ukraine, Southern Russia and the Northern Caucusus. It was highly influenced by the Kura-Araxes culture beneath it and another minor culture to its north, the Novotitorovka Culture.The Novotitorovka culture was a part of the wider Yamna culture, which is very important and we'll attempt to give that a quick summary here as to why.

The Kurgan Hypothesis, which I'm studying a bit more intensely to get a better grasp on and will let you know about later states that the European languages and cultures that we're familiar with today have a common ancestry. Under the kurgan school of thought that culture is the Yamna culture and its predecessors. So under this widely accepted theory of European ancestry the Kura-Araxes and Maykop were the last non-Proto-European groups living in the Caucusus before the Indo-European invasion. The Indo-Europeans brought a pretty different lifestyle to Europe. Some would claim, including the developer of the Kurgan Hypothesis that the change was as drastic a shift from a peacenik, hippy matriarchal society to a warmongering man's world. I think that might be overdoing it a bit, but I'm not a feminist.

While the Kura-Araxes were definitely tied into the south with roots and offshoots in Mesopotamia, the origins of the Maykop are a bit fuzzier. They were either a) indigenous pre-Indo-European Caucasians, b) Mesopotamians or proto-Assyrians who migrated north like the Kura-Araxes, or c) part of the wider Yamna Culture. We're unsure of their origins because they exhibit both Kura-Araxes traits and Indo-European ones. Under the Kurgan Hypothesis they were Indo-Europeans who did not have the willpower to impose their culture on the south, but were rather weak Indo-Europeans that had become Kura-Araxesified. Either way, they produced some incredible metal working, but unlike the Kura-Araxes culture that dabbled and innovated in copper making skills, the Maykop were a refined people and moulded using silver and gold.

The Maykops produced an incredible trove of silver and gold items. Some of which you see here. They have also been called a possible first culture to use the wheel. That alone would make them a culture worth noting...

The Duplicitous Dubrovnikians

Today, I was in Cabarete, Dominican Republic. First, allow me to plug this delightful seaside town. Cabarete is among my favorite places that I have ever been. Even then it is a bit of a backwater, it is incredibly cosmopolitan. I stayed at the Kite Beach Inn, which was unbelievably affordable, well kept and fantastically run. The place is owned by someone from Chicago, but currently run by an Italian couple and they were delightful. We stayed there for two nights for under $65 in an air conditioned room. It is among the best places I've stayed in Cabarete. The only drawback is to the hotel is that it is a bit removed from the center of the town where our favorite places are. However, because of its boonies status, we found this incredible breakfast nook next to the Dare2fly Kite School. The breakfast nook was run by a Yugoslavian refugee that fled to the Dominican Republic after she and her family fled Belgrade after a bombing in 2000. 

The breakfast was excellent. It was the first good bagel I've had since I was in Brooklyn in 2011. As we were leaving the place though I mentioned that I might be going on a honeymoon to Split, Croatia because of its history. She however suggested that we go to Dubrovnik, as it was in her estimation, one of the most gorgeous cities in the world. Interested, I checked the place out and saw that it had a fascinating history. So without further ado, here is the brief history of Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik is currently a Croatian city on the Adriatic coast. There are a couple of theories as to when it was founded. The older theory suggests that it was founded sometime in the 7^th century AD by some refugees. However, another theory suggests that the city is much older and was founded sometime prior to the BC/AD switchover by Greek sailors who would have likely made it a port between two other Greek settlements in the area, Budva and Korčula. This alternate theory is boosted by the presence of a Byzantine basilica from the 8^th century that was large enough to suggest that Dubrovnik was quite populous in its time. It would have been unlikely to grow so rapidly in an hundred years to warrant such a large church.

If the latter theory is to be believed the ancient Greek settlement would have fallen into the hands of the Roman Empire during the conquest of Dalmatia and then became part of the Ostrogothic kingdom upon the fall of the Western Empire. From there it seems to have been protected by the Byzantine Empire in the east and grew to a respectable maritime power in the region. But, another more famous maritime power decided that this little city could not be allowed to grow into a more serious threat. Venice began as early as 948 AD, though with no success. Venice wouldn’t give up on this though and eventually took over the city and its lands in 1205 during the fourth crusade.

Venice ruled over Dubrovnik for about 150 years. When the city finally broke free they became the Republic of Ragusa. Being a smallish kingdom they searched for a big brother to keep them safe. This led them into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Ragusa remained free, but paid some cash to the Ottomans for protection. This fended off the Venetians. It also paid off some dividends. Ragusa got special trade permissions in the Ottoman Empire and did all of the Ottoman’s business along the Adriatic Sea. The Republic became quite wealthy and was a viable alternative and fierce rival of Venice.

It was after it broke free from Venice when it tried its hands at the double game, playing both sides against the middle. Dubrovnik looked initially to the Hungarians for some muscle to back them up. Then, to make sure that Venice wouldn’t try any of its old tricks, the Republic of Ragusa cozied up to the Ottoman Empire, declaring their allegiance to the Sultan. This arrangement worked well for a while, but as the Ottomans pushed to far into Europe it made the Hapsburgs quite cantankerous. The Austrians got their crew together, including Venice and began to push back. For a little while the duplicitous Dubrovnikians found themselves paying homage both the Emperor of Austria and the Sultan of the Ottomans. After the Austrians and their allies defeated the Ottomans and the Ottomans had to give up a large chunk of their eastern European holdings Venice began to make a power play at Ragusa. Venice began to grab up all the land surrounding the republic, which would have given them a chance to attack Ragusa from both land and sea. But, Dubrovnik played another master stroke, giving some of their land to the defeated Ottomans to build a buffer between themselves and Venice. As much as the Austrians loved to quarrel with the Ottomans they weren’t about to start a new war so that Venice could snuff out their old rivals.

The double-dealings of the Ragusans could not save them forever though. After the end of the Austrian – Ottoman conflict simmered down a bit, the rest of Europe decided to duke it out over the 1700s. Ragusa however decided to stay neutral. They used their neutrality to trade between enemies and this somehow worked really well. Until of course Napoleon came along and screwed everything up for everyone. Napoleon pushed down into the Balkans and began to gobble up all of the cities and forts along the way. The Russians who were in the area came up to Dubrovnik and asked to use their very defensible city against the onslaught of Napoleon’s forces. Ragusa balked and the Russians besieged the city. But, it would be the French who eventually occupied the city. Dubrovnik would become a big fish in a small pond as a part of the Illyrian Provinces of the French Empire. But, Napoleon would have his Waterloo, which for Napoleon actually was Waterloo and the Republic of Ragusa would be folded into the Austrian-Hungarian Empire as the Kingdom of Dalmatia. The Hapsburgs decided however that Dubrovnik had been a seat of power for long enough. The capital of the newly created puppet kingdom would be Zadar. Dubrovnik would fall out of fashion and a number of the city’s noble families would move away. Dubrovnik would last in the Austrian Empire until 1918 when it was transferred into the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. This little political experiment wouldn’t last and the city would become a part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia would go from kingdom to socialist republic to bloody civil war and in the end, Dubrovnik would wind up being in the modern state of Croatia.