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• 
  

• 
  Achaemenid Empire
  The Achaemenid Empire (/ækəˈmɛnɪˌdi/; Old Persian: Parsā, name of ruling dynasty: Haxāmanišiya) (c. 550–330 BCE), sometimes known as First Persian Empire, was an Iranian empire in Southwest Asia, founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation. It expanded to eventually rule over significant portions of the ancient world which at around 500 BCE stretched from the Indus Valley in the east, to Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece making it the biggest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenid Empire would eventually control Egypt as well. It was ruled by a series of monarchs who unified its disparate tribes and nationalities by constructing a complex network of roads.
  Calling themselves the Parsa after their original Aryan tribal name Parsua, Persians settled in a land which they named Parsua, bounded on the west by the Tigris River and on the south by the Persian Gulf. This became their heartland for the duration of the Achaemenid Empire. It was from this region that eventually Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) would advance to defeat the Median, the Lydian, and the Babylonian Empires, opening the way for subsequent conquests into Egypt and Asia minor.
  
  wn.com/Achaemenid_Empire
• 
  Anatolia
  Coordinates: 39°N 32°E / 39°N 32°E / 39; 32
  Anatolia (from Greek Ἀνατολή Anatolē — "east" or "(sun)rise"; also Asia Minor, from Greek: Μικρὰ Ἀσία Mikrá Asía "small Asia"; in modern Turkish: Anadolu) is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Iskenderun and the Black Sea, approximately corresponding to the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. However, since Anatolia is now often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey, its eastern and southeastern borders are widely taken to be the Turkish borders with the neighboring countries, which are Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, in clockwise direction.
  
  wn.com/Anatolia
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  Attalid dynasty
  The Attalid dynasty was a Hellenistic dynasty that ruled the city of Pergamon after the death of Lysimachus, a general of Alexander the Great. The Attalid kingdom was the rump state left after the collapse of the Lysimachian Empire. One of Lysimachus' officers, Philetaerus, took control of the city in 282 BC. The later Attalids were descended from his father, and they expanded the city into a kingdom. Attalus I proclaimed himself King in the 230s BC, following his victories over the Galatians. The Attalids ruled Pergamon until Attalus III bequeathed the kingdom to the Roman Republic in 133 BC to avoid a likely succession crisis.
  On the interior of the Pergamon Altar is a frieze depicting the life of Telephus, son of Herakles, whom the ruling Attalid dynasty associated with its city and utilized to claim descendance from the Olympians. Pergamon, having entered the Greek world much later than its counterparts to the west, could not boast the same divine heritage as older city-states, and retroactively had to cultivate its place in Greek mythos.
  
  wn.com/Attalid_dynasty
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  Constantinople
  Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis; Ottoman Turkish: قسطنطینیه, Qostantiniyye; and modern Turkish: İstanbul) was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empires. It was founded in AD 330, at ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine I, after whom it was named. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages, and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire, which was eventually reduced to the city and its environs.
  Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. An inner wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a triple wall of fortifications, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Bosporus, and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes and towers. The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.
  
  wn.com/Constantinople
• 
  Darfur
  Darfur (Arabic: دار فور‎ Dār Fūr, English: Realm of the Fur) is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into five federal states: Central Darfur, East Darfur, North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur. Because of the war in Darfur between Sudanese government forces and the non-Arab indigenous population, the region was in a state of humanitarian emergency between 2003 and 2010.
  Darfur covers an area of some 493,180 square kilometers (190,420 sq mi)—approximately the size of Spain. It is largely an arid plateau with the Marrah Mountains (Jebel Marra), a range of volcanic peaks rising up to 3,042 meters (9,980 ft) of topographic prominence, in the center of the region. The region's main towns are Al Fashir, Nyala, and Geneina.
  
  wn.com/Darfur
• 
  Dolmabahçe Palace
  Dolmabahçe Palace (Turkish: Dolmabahçe Sarayı, IPA: [doɫmabahˈtʃe saɾaˈjɯ]) located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coastline of the Bosphorus strait, served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1922, apart from a 22-year interval (1887–1909) in which Yıldız Palace was used.
  Dolmabahçe Palace was ordered by the Empire's 31st Sultan, Abdülmecid I, and built between the years 1843 and 1856. Hacı Said Ağa was responsible for the construction works, while the project was realized by architects Garabet Balyan, his son Nikoghayos Balyan and Evanis Kalfa. The construction cost five million Ottoman mecidiye gold coins, the equivalent of 35 tonnes of gold. Fourteen tonnes of gold in the form of gold leaf were used to gild the ceilings of the 45,000 square metre monoblock palace, which stands on an area of 110,000 m².
  The design contains eclectic elements from the Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical styles, blended with traditional Ottoman architecture to create a new synthesis. The palace layout and décor reflect the increasing influence of European styles and standards on Ottoman culture and art during the Tanzimat period. Functionally, on the other hand, it retains elements of traditional Ottoman palace life, and also features of traditional Turkish homes. It is the largest palace in Turkey, considering that the area of the monoblock building occupies 45,000 m². Previously, the Sultan and his family had lived at the Topkapı Palace, but as Topkapı was lacking in up-to-date luxury and style, Abdülmecid decided to build the Dolmabahçe Palace near the site of the former Beşiktaş Palace on the Bosporus, which was demolished. Whereas the Topkapı has exquisite examples of Iznik tiles and Ottoman carving, the Dolmabahçe palace contains much gold and crystal. Tourists are free to wander Topkapı at their leisure, while the only way to see the interior of Dolmabahçe is with a guided tour.
  
  wn.com/Dolmabahçe_Palace
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  Forbidden City
  Coordinates: 39°54′53″N 116°23′26″E / 39.91472°N 116.39056°E / 39.91472; 116.39056
  The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.
  Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 720,000 m² (7,800,000 sq ft). The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere. The Forbidden City was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, and is listed by UNESCO as the largest collection of preserved ancient wooden structures in the world.
  Since 1925, the Forbidden City has been under the charge of the Palace Museum, whose extensive collection of artwork and artifacts were built upon the imperial collections of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Part of the museum's former collection is now located in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Both museums descend from the same institution, but were split after the Chinese Civil War.
  
  wn.com/Forbidden_City
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  Gansu
  Coordinates: 38°0′N 102°20′E / 38°N 102.333°E / 38; 102.333
   Gansu (help·info) (simplified Chinese: 甘肃; traditional Chinese: 甘肅; pinyin: Gānsù; Wade–Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.
  It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east. The Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province.
  Gansu has a population of 26 million (2009) and has a large concentration of Hui Chinese, and the historical home, along with Shaanxi of the dialect of the Dungans, who are Hui who migrated to Central Asia. The southwestern corner of Gansu is home to a large Tibetan population. The capital is Lanzhou, located in the southeast part of the province. Gansu is abbreviated as "甘" (Gān) or "陇" (Lǒng), and is also known as Long West or Long Right, in reference to the Long Mountain east of Gansu.
  
  wn.com/Gansu
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  Goryeo
  The Goryeo Dynasty or Koryŏ (Hangul: 고려; Hanja: 高麗; 918–1392) was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by Emperor Taejo. This kingdom later came to be pronounced Korea. It united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until it was removed by the leader of the Joseon dynasty in 1392. Goryeo expanded its borders to present-day Wonsan in the north-east (936–943) and the Amnok River (993) and finally almost the whole of the Korean peninsula (1374).
  Two of this period's most notable products are Goryeo celadon pottery and the Tripitaka Koreana — the Buddhist scriptures (Tripitaka) carved onto roughly 80,000 woodblocks and stored, and still in, Haeinsa. Goryeo also created the world's first metal-based movable type in 1234 and the oldest surviving movable metal type book, the Jikji, was made in 1377.
  In 668, Silla conquered Baekje and Goguryeo with alliance of Tang Dynasty, but by the late 9th century it was tottering, its monarchs being unimaginative and pressed by the power of powerful statesmen. Many robbers and outlaws agitated and in 900 Gyeon Hwon revolted from Silla control in the Jeolla region as Hubaekje and next year Gung Ye revolted from the northern regions as Hugoguryeo (Taebong). A son of a regional lord, Wang Geon went into Hugoguryeo as a general.
  
  wn.com/Goryeo
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  Han Dynasty
  The Han Dynasty (simplified Chinese: 汉朝; traditional Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn Cháo; Wade–Giles: Han Ch'ao; IPA: [xân tʂʰɑ̌ʊ̯]) (206 BCE – 220 CE) was an imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BCE) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE). It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty (9–23 CE) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han into two periods: the Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE). Spanning over four centuries, the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to itself as the "Han people" and Chinese characters are referred to as "Han characters".
  
  wn.com/Han_Dynasty
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  Han dynasty
  The Han Dynasty (simplified Chinese: 汉朝; traditional Chinese: 漢朝; pinyin: Hàn Cháo; Wade–Giles: Han Ch'ao; IPA: [xân tʂʰɑ̌ʊ̯]) (206 BCE – 220 CE) was an imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BCE) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms (220–280 CE). It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty (9–23 CE) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han into two periods: the Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE) and Eastern Han (25–220 CE). Spanning over four centuries, the period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to itself as the "Han people" and Chinese characters are referred to as "Han characters".
  
  wn.com/Han_dynasty
• 
  Istanbul
  Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, forming the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.4 million, the city is at the center of the second-largest urban area in Europe after Moscow, and among the world's largest cities by population within city limits. Istanbul's vast area of 5,343 square kilometers (2,063 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province, of which the city is considered capital. Straddling the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, Istanbul is a transcontinental city, with one third of its population living in Asia but its commercial and historical center in Europe.
  Founded around 660 BC as Byzantium on the Seraglio Point, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history. For nearly sixteen centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 AD, it served as the capital of four empires — the late classical Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). It was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times, before the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 and transformed it into an Islamic stronghold from which the last caliphate ruled. Although the Republic of Turkey established its capital elsewhere, in Ankara, remnants of Istanbul's previous central role still remain highly visible across the city, with palaces and imperial mosques lining its hills.
  
  wn.com/Istanbul
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  Kingdom of Sicily
  The Kingdom of Sicily (Italian: Regno di Sicilia, Latin: Regnum Siciliae, Sicilian: Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy. Until 1282 the Kingdom (sometimes called the regnum Apuliae et Siciliae) covered not only the island of Sicily, but also the whole Mezzogiorno region of southern Italy and the Maltese archipelago. The island was divided into three regions: Val di Mazara, Val Demone and Val di Noto.
  In 1282 a revolt against the Angevin rule, known as the Sicilian Vespers, threw off Charles of Anjou's rule of the island of Sicily. The Angevins managed to maintain control in the mainland part of the kingdom, which became a separate entity also styled Kingdom of Sicily, although it is commonly referred to as the Kingdom of Naples, after its capital. The island became a separate kingdom as a kingdom of the Crown of Aragon. After 1302 the island kingdom was sometimes called the Kingdom of Trinacria. Often the kingship was vested in another monarch such as the King of Aragon, the King of Spain or the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1816 the island Kingdom of Sicily merged with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1861 its areas were united with the Kingdom of Italy.
  
  wn.com/Kingdom_of_Sicily
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  Lagash
  Coordinates: 31°24′41″N 46°24′26″E / 31.41139°N 46.40722°E / 31.41139; 46.40722
  Lagash (Sumerian: Lagaš^ki; cuneiform logogram: 𒉢𒁓𒆷𒆠, [NU₁₁.BUR].LA^KI or [ŠIR.BUR].LA^KI, "storehouse;"Akkadian: Nakamtu; modern Tell al-Hiba, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq) is located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres (14 mi) east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East. The ancient site of Surghul/Nina is around 6 miles (9.7 km) away. Nearby Girsu, about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Al-Hiba, was the religious center of the Lagash state. Lagash's temple was E-Ninnu, dedicated to the god Ningirsu.
  From inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe (24th century BC) and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of "Kienĝir" and Kish on the north. Some of the earlier works from before the Akkadian conquest are also extremely interesting, in particular Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures and Entemena's great silver vase ornamented with Ningirsu's sacred animal Anzu: a lion-headed eagle with wings outspread, grasping a lion in each talon. With the Akkadian conquest Lagash lost its independence, its ruler or ensi becoming a vassal of Sargon of Akkad and his successors; but Lagash continued to be a city of much importance and above all, a centre of artistic development.
  
  wn.com/Lagash
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  Lanzhou
  Lanzhou (simplified Chinese: 兰州; traditional Chinese: 蘭州; pinyin: Lánzhōu; Postal map spelling: Lanchow) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country. Lanzhou is home to 3,616,163 inhabitants at the 2010 census and 2,177,130 in the built-up area (urban) on 1,088 km².
  Originally in the territory of the Western Qiang peoples, Lanzhou became part of the territory of Qin (state) in the 6th century BC.
  In 81 BC, under the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), it was taken from the Huns' Huandi Chanyu and made the seat of Jincheng commandery (jùn), and later of the Jincheng county (xiàn), later renamed Yunwu. The city used to be called the Golden City, and since at least the first millennium BC it was a major link on the ancient Northern Silk Road, and also an important historic Yellow River crossing site. To protect the city, the Great Wall of China was extended as far as Yumen.
  
  wn.com/Lanzhou
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  Ming Dynasty
  The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China for 276 years (1368–1644) following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, described by some as "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. Although the Ming capital Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the Shun Dynasty, soon replaced by the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty), regimes loyal to the Ming throne—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.
  Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy and a standing army of one million troops. Although private maritime trade and official tribute missions from China had taken place in previous dynasties, the tributary fleet under the Muslim eunuch admiral Zheng He in the 15th century far surpassed all others in size. There were enormous construction projects, including the restoration of the Grand Canal and the Great Wall and the establishment of the Forbidden City in Beijing during the first quarter of the 15th century. Estimates for the late-Ming population vary from 160 to 200 million.
  
  wn.com/Ming_Dynasty
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  Qing Dynasty
  The Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China.
  The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in contemporary Northeastern China. The Aisin Gioro leader, Nurhachi, who was originally a vassal of the Ming emperors, began unifying the Jurchen clans in the late sixteenth century. By 1635, Nurhachi's son Hong Taiji could claim they constituted a single and united Manchu people and began forcing the Ming out of Liaoning in southern Manchuria. In 1644, the Ming capital Beijing was sacked by a peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official who became the leader of the peasant revolt, who then proclaimed the Shun dynasty. The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor, committed suicide when the city fell. When Li Zicheng moved against Ming general Wu Sangui, the latter made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Manchurian army. Under Prince Dorgon, they seized control of Beijing and overthrew Li Zicheng's short-lived Shun Dynasty. Complete pacification of China was accomplished around 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor.
  
  wn.com/Qing_Dynasty
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  South Korea
  South Korea ( listen), officially the Republic of Korea (Hangul: 대한민국; Hanja: 大韓民國; Daehan Minguk  listen), is a sovereign state in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The name "Korea" is derived from Goryeo, a dynasty which ruled in the Middle Ages (an initial "G" in Korean is pronounced like an English "K").
  Its neighbors are China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the Korea Strait to the south. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone with a predominantly mountainous terrain. It covers a total area of 99,392 square kilometers and has a population of almost 50 million. The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 9,794,304.
  Archaeological findings show that the Korean Peninsula was occupied by the Lower Paleolithic period.Korean history begins with the founding of Gojoseon in 2333 BC by the legendary Dan-gun. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under Silla 668 AD, Korea went through the Goryeo Dynasty and Joseon Dynasty as one nation until the end of the Korean Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by Japan. After liberation and occupation by Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of World War II, the nation was divided into North and South Korea. The latter was established in 1948 as a democracy, though political turmoil and times of military rule and martial law characterized much of the period until the foundation of the Sixth Republic in 1987.
  
  wn.com/South_Korea
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  Sudan
  Sudan (ⁱ/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان‎, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان‎, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
  The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
  
  wn.com/Sudan
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  Terracotta Army
  The Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, and to make sure that he had people to rule over.
  The figures, dating from 3rd century BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Chinese: 秦始皇陵; pinyin: Qín Shǐhuáng Ling).
  The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.
  
  wn.com/Terracotta_Army
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  Topkapı Palace
  The Topkapı Palace (Turkish: Topkapı Sarayı or in Ottoman Turkish: طوپقپو سرايى) is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years (1465-1856) of their 624-year reign.
  As well as a royal residence, the palace was a setting for state occasions and royal entertainments. It is now a major tourist attraction and contains important holy relics of the Muslim world including the Prophet Muhammed's cloak and sword. The Topkapı Palace is among the monuments contained within the "Historic Areas of Istanbul", which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and is described in Criterion iv as "the best example[s] of ensembles of palaces [...] of the Ottoman period."
  Construction began in 1459, ordered by Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Byzantine Constantinople. The palace complex consists of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings. At its peak, the palace was home to as many as 4,000 people, and covered a large area with a long shoreline. The complex was expanded over the centuries, with major renovations after the 1509 earthquake and the 1665 fire. The palace contained mosques, a hospital, bakeries, and a mint. The name translates as "Cannon gate Palace" from a nearby gate which has since been destroyed.
  
  wn.com/Topkapı_Palace
• Tumu Crisis
  Coordinates: 40°23′N 115°36′E / 40.383°N 115.6°E / 40.383; 115.6
  The Tumu Crisis (Mongolian: Тумугийн тулалдаан) (simplified Chinese: 土木之变; traditional Chinese: 土木之變; pinyin: Tŭmù zhī Bìan); also called the Crisis of Tumu Fortress (simplified Chinese: 土木堡之变; traditional Chinese: 土木堡之變; pinyin: Tǔmùbǎo zhī Biàn) or Battle of Tumu (Chinese: 土木之役; pinyin: Tǔmù zhī Yì), was a frontier conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 1, 1449, and the defeat of an army of 500,000 men by a much smaller force. This outcome was largely due to the Chinese army's remarkably bad deployment. The Ming expedition is regarded as the greatest military debacle of the dynasty.
  In July 1449 Esen Tayisi (Chinese: 也先台吉) of the Oirat Mongols launched a large-scale, three-pronged invasion of China with his puppet khagan Toqtaq-Buqa. He personally advanced on Datong (in northern Shanxi province) in August. The eunuch official Wang Zhen, who dominated the Ming court, encouraged the 22-year-old Zhengtong Emperor to lead his own armies into battle against Esen. The size of Esen's army is unknown but a best guess puts it at some 20,000 men. The Ming army of about 500,000 was hastily assembled; its command was made up of 20 experienced generals and a large entourage of high-ranking civil officials, with Wang Zhen acting as field marshal.
  
  wn.com/Tumu_Crisis
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  Tunisia
  Tunisia (US ⁱ/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس‎ Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية‎ al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
  Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
  Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
  
  wn.com/Tunisia
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  Vietnam
  Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam;  listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
  The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
  
  wn.com/Vietnam
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  Yuan Dynasty
  The Yuan Dynasty (Chinese: 元朝, p Yuán Cháo; Mongolian: Их Юань улс) was the branch of Mongol Borjigin dynasty established by Kublai Khan. Although the Mongols had ruled northern China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan officially proclaimed the dynasty in the traditional Chinese style. His realm – the Great Yuan Empire (t 大元帝國, s 大元帝国, p Dà Yuán Dìguó) – was by this point isolated from the other khanates and controlled only most of present-day China and its surrounding areas including modern Mongolia. It was the first non-Han dynasty to rule all of China and lasted until 1368, after which its remnants in Mongolia were known as the Northern Yuan.
  The Yuan is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and as an imperial Chinese dynasty. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan Dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song Dynasty and preceding the Ming Dynasty. Although the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty as Taizu.
  
  wn.com/Yuan_Dynasty
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  Yunnan
  Coordinates: 24°30′N 101°30′E / 24.5°N 101.5°E / 24.5; 101.5
  Yunnan (simplified Chinese: 云南; traditional Chinese: 雲南; pinyin: Yúnnán; IPA: [y̌nnǎn] ( listen)) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers (152,000 sq mi) and with a population of 45.7 million (2009). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.
  Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the relative height from mountain peaks to river valleys can be as much as 3,000 m.^{[citation needed]} Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more.^{[citation needed]} Yunnan's reserves of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel.^{[citation needed]} Yunnan has over 600 rivers and lakes, which provide an annual water supply of 222 billion cubic meters.^{[citation needed]} Projected hydropower reserves stand at 103 GW, with an exploitable capacity of 90 GW.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Yunnan
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  Çatalhöyük
  Çatalhöyük (Turkish pronunciation: [tʃaˈtaɫhøjyc]; also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük, or any of the three without diacritics; çatal is Turkish for "fork", höyük for "mound") was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500 BCE to 5700 BCE. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date.
  Çatalhöyük is located overlooking wheat fields in the Konya Plain, southeast of the present-day city of Konya (ancient Iconium) in Turkey, approximately 140 km (87 mi) from the twin-coned volcano of Mount Hasan. The eastern settlement forms a mound which would have risen about 20 m (66 ft) above the plain at the time of the latest Neolithic occupation. There is also a smaller settlement mound to the west and a Byzantine settlement a few hundred meters to the east. The prehistoric mound settlements were abandoned before the Bronze Age. A channel of the Çarşamba river once flowed between the two mounds, and the settlement was built on alluvial clay which may have been favourable for early agriculture.
  
  wn.com/Çatalhöyük

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  Abdul Hamid II
  His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful (also known as Abdul Hamid II , Abd Al-Hamid II Khan Ghazi and The Crimson Sultan) (Ottoman Turkish: عبد الحميد ثانی `Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî, Turkish: İkinci Abdülhamit) (21/22 September 1842 – 10 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He was the last Sultan to exert effective control over the Ottoman Empire. He oversaw a period of decline in the power and extent of the Empire, ruling from 31 August 1876 until he was deposed on 27 April 1909. He was succeeded by Mehmed V. His deposition following the Young Turk Revolution was hailed by most Ottoman citizens, who welcomed the return to constitutional rule.
  Abdülhamid II was born in Topkapı Palace in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople). He was the son of Sultan Abdülmecid I and one of his many wives, the Valide Sultan Tirimüjgan, 16 August 1819 – Constantinople, Feriye Palace, 3 October 1852), originally named Virjin. He later also became the adoptive son of another of his father's wives, Valide Sultan Rahime Perestu. He was a skilled carpenter and personally crafted most of his own furniture, which can be seen today at the Yıldız Palace and Beylerbeyi Palace in Istanbul. Abdülhamid II was also interested in opera and personally wrote the first-ever Turkish translations of many opera classics. He also composed several opera pieces for the Mızıka-ı Hümayun which he established, and hosted the famous performers of Europe at the Opera House of Yıldız Palace which was recently restored and featured in the film Harem Suare (1999) of the Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Özpetek, which begins with the scene of Abdülhamid II watching a performance. Unlike many other Ottoman sultans, Abdülhamid II traveled to distant countries. Nine years before he took the throne, he accompanied his uncle Sultan Abdülaziz on his visit to Austria, France and England in 1867.
  
  wn.com/Abdul_Hamid_II
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  Alauddin Khilji
  Ali Gurshap Bam better known by his titular name as Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji (Urdu: علاء الدین الخلجی; died 1316) was the second ruler of the Turkic AfghanKhilji dynasty in India. He is considered the most powerful ruler of the dynasty, reigning from 1296 to 1316.
  His historic attack on Chittor in 1303 CE, and the folklore of him hearing of the beauty of queen of Chittor, Rani Padmini, the wife of King Rawal Ratan Singh and the subsequent story has been immortalized in the epic poem Padmavat, written by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in the Awadhi language in the year 1540.
  He was a brilliant strategist and an outstanding military commander who commanded forces in the length and breadth of Indian subcontinent. Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji is also noted in history for being one of the few rulers in the world to have repeatedly defeated the invasions of the Mongols.
  When Kublai Khan died in 1294, the former Mongol Empire was divided into independent Khanates. One such Khanate was the Chagatai Khanate which covered Central Asia and its leader at that time was Duwa Khan. Duwa was active in Afghanistan, and attempted to extend Mongol rule to India, but there he was defeated by a formidable foe, General Zafar Khan of the Delhi Sultanate in 1296–1297. The two armies met at Jalandhar in 1297. Zafar Khan defeated the Mongols in this first invasion.
  
  wn.com/Alauddin_Khilji
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  Alessandro Moreschi
  Alessandro Moreschi (November 11, 1858 - April 21, 1922) was a castrato singer of the late 19th century, and is the only castrato to make sound recordings.
  Alessandro Moreschi was born into a large Roman Catholic family in the town of Monte Compatri, near Frascati. Perhaps he was born with an inguinal hernia, for which castration was still a "cure" in nineteenth-century Italy. Or he could have been castrated later, around 1865, which would have been more in line with the centuries-old practice of castrating vocally talented boys well before puberty. In any case, much later in life, he referred to his enjoyment singing as a boy in the chapel of the Madonna del Castagno, just outside his native town.
  
  wn.com/Alessandro_Moreschi
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  Alexander the Great
  Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας, Aléxandros ho Mégas from the Greek αλέξω alexo "to defend, help" + ανήρ aner "man"), was a king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from the Ionian Sea to the Himalayas. He was undefeated in battle and is considered one of history's most successful commanders.
  Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II of Macedon, to the throne in 336 BC after Philip was assassinated. Upon Philip's death, Alexander inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. He was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire. At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
  
  wn.com/Alexander_the_Great
• Arsinoe IV of Egypt
  Arsinoë IV (Greek: Ἀρσινόη, betw. 68 and 56 BC – 41 BC) was the youngest daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes, and one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt. Arsinoe IV was the half-sister of Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII, sharing a father (Ptolemy XII Auletes) but having a different mother.
  When their father died, he left Ptolemy and Cleopatra as joint rulers of Egypt, but Ptolemy soon dethroned Cleopatra and forced her to flee Alexandria. When Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria in 48 BC and sided with Cleopatra's faction, Arsinoë escaped from the capital with her mentor, the eunuch Ganymedes, and joined the Egyptian army under Achillas that was besieging Alexandria, assuming the title of pharaoh. When Achillas and Ganymedes clashed, Arsinoë had Achillas executed and placed Ganymedes in command of the army. Ganymedes initially enjoyed some success against the Romans, but the leading Egyptian officers were soon dissatisfied with the eunuch. Under a pretext of wanting peace, they negotiated with Caesar to exchange Arsinoë for Ptolemy XIII, who was subsequently released. However, Ptolemy continued the war, but soon the Romans received reinforcements and inflicted a decisive defeat upon the Egyptians.
  
  wn.com/Arsinoe_IV_of_Egypt
• Artabanus of Persia
  Artabanus the Hyrcanian was a Persian political figure during the Achaemenid Dynasty who was reportedly Regent of Persia for a few months (465 BC – 464 BC).
  Artabanus probably originated from the province of Hyrcania and reportedly served as the chief official of Xerxes I. He is considered to have served either as his vizier or as his head bodyguard.
  According to Aristotle, Artabanus was responsible for the death of Crown Prince Darius. He then became afraid that Xerxes would seek revenge and proceeded to assassinate the King. On the other hand Junianus Justinus reported that Artabanus had personal ambitions for the throne. He first secretly murdered Xerxes and then accused Darius of parricide, resulting in his execution. The order of events remain uncertain but Xerxes and Darius certainly left the throne vacant.
  Artabanus' course of action is also uncertain. Some accounts have him usurping the throne for himself. Others consider him to have named young Artaxerxes I as King and to have acted as Regent and power behind the throne. This state of affairs would not last more than a few months. Artaxerxes reportedly slew him with his own sword, either in battle or by surprise. Artabanus is occasionally listed among the Kings of the Achaemenid dynasty though he was not related to them. As Artaxerxes is believed to be the inspiration for King Ahasuerus in the story of Purim, Artabanus may have been the inspiration for Haman in the same story.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Artabanus_of_Persia
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  Artaxerxes III
  Artaxerxes III of Persia (c. 425 BC – 338 BC) (Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠, transliterated as Artaxšaçā), was the Great King (Shah) of Persia and the eleventh Emperor of the Achaemenid Empire, as well as the first Pharaoh of the 31st dynasty of Egypt. He was the son and successor of Artaxerxes II and was succeeded by his son, Arses of Persia (also known as Artaxerxes IV). His reign coincided with the reign of Philip II in Macedon and Nectanebo II in Egypt.
  Before ascending the throne Artaxerxes was a satrap and commander of his father's army. Artaxerxes came to power after one of his brothers was executed, another committed suicide, the last murdered and his father, Artaxerxes II died at the age of 86. Soon after becoming king, Artaxerxes murdered all of the royal family to secure his place as emperor. He started two major campaigns against Egypt. The first campaign failed, and was followed up by rebellions throughout the western empire. In 343 BC, Artaxerxes defeated Nectanebo II, the Pharaoh of Egypt, driving him from Egypt, stopping a revolt in Phoenicia on the way.
  
  wn.com/Artaxerxes_III
• Artoxares
  Artoxares (^{[pronunciation?]}; Old Persian *Artaxšara) (c. 465 BC - after 419 BC) was a Paphlagonian eunuch, who played a central role during the reigns of Artaxerxes I and Darius II of Persia.
  According to Ctesias, when he was twenty years old, he participated in an embassy to the rebel satrap Megabyzus. King Artaxerxes I and the rebel reconciled c. 445 BC. Nevertheless, Megabyzus fell again in disgrace and was exiled to a Persian Gulf town. Artoxares, who had helped Megabyzus to get the favour of the king, was expelled from the court to Armenia. It has been argued that he actually was appointed to the charge of satrap of Armenia, but it is not explicitly stated by Ctesias.
  When Artaxerxes died (424 BC), his sons Xerxes II, Sogdianus and Darius II Ochus started a civil war. As well as Arbarius, cavalry commander, and Arsames, satrap of Egypt, Artoxares followed Darius. When Darius defeated his brothers, Artoxares became one of the most powerful members of the court. Nevertheless, after a short time he plotted against the new king, and was executed by the order of queen Parysatis. Artoxares' plot took place just after the revolts of Arsites and Artyphius, and of the satrap Pissuthnes.
  
  wn.com/Artoxares
• Bagoas
  Bagoas (or Βαγώας, Greek transcription of Old Persian Bagoi; died 336 BC) was a eunuch who became the vizier (Chief Minister) to Artaxerxes III. In this role, he allied himself with the Rhodian mercenary general Mentor, and with his help succeeded in once again making Egypt a province of the Persian Empire (probably from 342 BC). Mentor became general of the maritime provinces, suppressed the rebels in Egypt and sent Greek mercenaries to the king, while Bagoas administered the satrapies and gained such power that he was the real master of the Persian Empire towards the end of Artaxerxes III's reign (Diod. xvi. 50; cf. Didymus, Comm. in Demosth. Phil. vi. 5).
  Artaxerxes IV Arses was the youngest son of King Artaxerxes III and Atossa and was not expected to succeed to the throne of Persia. His unexpected rise to the throne came in 338 BC as a result of the murder of his father and most of his family by Bagoas, when the vizier fell our of favour with Artaxerxes III. Bagoas sought to remain in office by replacing Artaxerxes with his son Arses (Artaxerxes IV), whom he thought easier to control. Arses remained little more than a puppet-king during the two years of his reign while Bagoas acted as the power behind the throne. Eventually, disgruntled by this state of affairs and possibly influenced by the nobles of the Royal Court, who generally held Bagoas in contempt, Arses started planning Bagoas' murder. However, Bagoas again acted first in order to protect himself and managed to poison and kill Arses. Bagoas then raised a cousin of Arses to the throne as King Darius III of Persia.
  
  wn.com/Bagoas
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  Boston Corbett
  Thomas P. "Boston" Corbett (1832 – presumed dead 1894) was the Union Army soldier who shot and killed Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. He disappeared after 1888, but circumstantial evidence suggests that he died in the Great Hinckley Fire in 1894, although this remains impossible to substantiate.
  Corbett was born in London, England. His family emigrated to New York City. He became a hatter in Troy, New York. It has been suggested that the fumes of mercury used in the hatter's trade caused Corbett's later mental problems.
  Corbett married, but his wife died in childbirth. Following her death, he moved to Boston, and continued working as a hatter. He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church and changed his name to Boston, the name of the city where he was converted. In an attempt to imitate Jesus, he began to wear his hair very long. On July 16, 1858, in order to avoid the temptation of prostitutes, Corbett castrated himself with a pair of scissors. He then ate a meal and went to a prayer meeting, before going for medical treatment.
  
  wn.com/Boston_Corbett
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  Cai Lun
  Cai Lun (simplified Chinese: 蔡伦; traditional Chinese: 蔡倫; pinyin: Cài Lún; Wade–Giles: Ts'ai Lun) (ca. 50 AD – 121), courtesy name Jingzhong (敬仲), was a Chinese eunuch. He is traditionally regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process, in forms recognizable in modern times as paper (as opposed to Egyptian papyrus). Although paper existed in China before Cai Lun (since the 2nd century BC), he was responsible for the first significant improvement and standardization of paper-making by adding essential new materials into its composition.
  Cai Lun (蔡伦) was born in Guiyang (modern day Leiyang, Hunan) during the Eastern Han Dynasty. After serving as a court eunuch from AD 75, he was given several promotions under the rule of Emperor He of Han. In AD 89 he was promoted with the title of Shang Fang Si, an office in charge of manufacturing instruments and weapons; he also became a Regular Palace Attendant (中常侍). He was involved in palace intrigue as a supporter of Empress Dou, and in the death of her romantic rival, Consort Song. After the death of Empress Dou in AD 97, he became an associate of Consort Deng Sui.
  
  wn.com/Cai_Lun
• Category Eunuchs
  wn.com/Category_Eunuchs
• Cen Hun
  Cen Hun (died 280) was a minister under Eastern Wu during the later years of the Three Kingdoms Period of China. Cen Hun was a close friend of Wu's last emperor, Sun Hao.
  In the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cen Hun was made into an eunuch, and was credited with inciting Sun Hao's tyranny, and considered one of the two most corrupt and useless officials taking significant responsibilities in the elimination of Shu Han and Eastern Wu, the other being Shu's Huang Hao. Following the surrender of Wu to Jin, many subjects under the fallen state cried out "Cen Hun is to blame for everything!". He was then executed by slow slicing.
  
  wn.com/Cen_Hun
• Chrysaphius
  Chrysaphius (Greek: Χρυσάφιος) was a eunuch at the Eastern Roman court, who became the chief minister of Theodosius II (r. 408–450). Effectively the ruler of the empire during his ascendancy, he pursued a policy of appeasement towards the Huns, which cost the empire far more gold than any military campaign, while amassing a vast fortune in bribes himself. He is depicted as a sinister figure in all the ancient accounts and is pilloried by Gibbon.
  The Byzantine historians give us a considerable amount of information on Chrysaphius. His real name was Taiouma (Theophanes 151) or Tumna (Cedrenus I 601) or Tzoumas (Patria II 182; George Codinus 47) or even Ztommas (Malalas 363-6). Chrysaphius exercised a considerable influence on Theodosius II at the end of his reign. According to Malalas, Theodosius II loved Chrysaphius for his beauty (Malalas id and 368). He seems to have risen from among the ranks: according to Malalas, he was a mere cubicularius (servant of the imperial bedchamber); according to the Chronicon Paschale, he was a spatharios (p. 390).
  
  wn.com/Chrysaphius
• 
  Darius II
  Darius II (Dārayavahuš), was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 405 BC.
  Artaxerxes I, who died on December 25, 424 BC, was followed by his son Xerxes II. After a month and a half Xerxes II was murdered by his brother Secydianus or Sogdianus (the form of the name is uncertain). His illegitimate brother, Ochus, satrap of Hyrcania, rebelled against Sogdianus, and after a short fight killed him, and suppressed by treachery the attempt of his own brother Arsites to imitate his example. Ochus adopted the name Darius (Greek sources often call him Darius Nothos, "Bastard"). Neither the names Xerxes II nor Sogdianus occur in the dates of the numerous Babylonian tablets from Nippur; here effectively the reign of Darius II follows immediately after that of Artaxerxes I.
  Historians know very little about Darius II's reign. A rebellion by the Medes in 409 BC is mentioned by Xenophon. It does seem that Darius II was quite dependent on his wife Parysatis. In excerpts from Ctesias some harem intrigues are recorded, in which he played a disreputable part.
  
  wn.com/Darius_II
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  Darius III
  Darius III (the Great) (c. 380 – 330 BC), also known by his given name of Codomannus, was the last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia from 336 BC to 330 BC.
  After Artaxerxes III of Persia and all of his sons were killed by the vizier Bagoas, the vizier installed a cousin of Artaxerxes III, Codomannus, to the Persian throne as Darius III. When Darius tried to act independently of the vizier, Bagoas tried to poison him, but Darius was warned and forced Bagoas to drink the poison himself. The new king found himself in control of an unstable empire, large portions of which were governed by jealous and unreliable satraps and inhabited by disaffected and rebellious subjects. However, he lacked the skills and experience to deal with these problems.
  In 334 BC, Alexander the Great began his invasion of the Persian Empire and subsequently defeated the Persians in a number of battles before looting and destroying the capital Persepolis, by fire, in 331 BC. With the Persian Empire now effectively under Alexander's control, Alexander then decided to pursue Darius, but Darius was killed by a satrap Bessus before Alexander reached him.
  
  wn.com/Darius_III
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  Diocletian
  Diocletian (Latin: Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus; c. 22 December 244  – 3 December 311), was a Roman Emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed Emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus' other surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus. With his accession to power, Diocletian ended the Crisis of the Third Century. He appointed fellow officer Maximian Augustus his senior co-emperor in 285.
  
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  Ephraim Chambers
  Ephraim Chambers (c. 1680, Kendal – 15 May 1740, Islington) was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or a Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.
  Chambers was born in Kendal, Westmorland, England, and attended Heversham Grammar School there. Little is known of his early life, other than that he was apprenticed to a globe maker, John Senex, in London from 1714-1721. It was here that he developed the plan of the Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. After beginning the Cyclopaedia, he left Senex's service and devoted himself entirely to the encyclopedia project. He also took lodging in Gray's Inn, where he remained for the rest of his life. Chambers was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.
  The first edition of the Cyclopaedia appeared by subscription in 1728, in two vols. fol., and was dedicated to the king. In addition, Chambers wrote for, and possibly edited, the Literary Magazine (1735–1736), which mainly published book reviews. Chambers worked on translating other works in French on perspective and chemistry from 1726 to 1727, including the Practice of Perspective from the French of Jean Dubreuil. He also worked with John Martyn to translate the History and Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris (1742).
  
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  Ethiopian eunuch
  The Ethiopian eunuch is a figure in the New Testament of the Bible. The story of his conversion to Christianity is recounted in Acts 8.
  Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he met the Ethiopian eunuch. He had been to Jerusalem to worship (Acts 8:27), and was returning home. The eunuch was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah, and had come to Isaiah 53:7-8. Philip asked the Ethiopian, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He said he did not, and asked Philip to explain the text to him. Philip told him the good news about Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. They went down into some water and Philip baptized him.
  In the King James Version, the Ethiopian says, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (verse 37), but this is omitted in most modern versions. Hubbard suggests that confession is "not supported in the better manuscripts," although the Ethiopian is still "one of the outstanding converts in Acts."
  
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  Farinelli
  Farinelli (Italian pronunciation: [fariˈnɛlːi]) (24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782), was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (pronounced [ˈkarlo ˈbrɔski], celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera.
  Broschi was born in Andria (in what is now Apulia) into a family of musicians. As recorded in the baptismal register of the church of S. Nicola in Andria, his father Salvatore was a composer and maestro di cappella of the city's cathedral, and his mother, Caterina Barrese, a citizen of Naples. The Duke of Andria, Fabrizio Carafa, a member of one of the most prestigious families of the Neapolitan nobility, honoured Maestro Broschi by taking a leading part in the baptism of his second son, who was christened Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola (in later life, Farinelli wrote: "Il Duca d'Andria mi tenne al fonte" - "the Duke of Andria held me at the font"). In 1706 Salvatore also took up the non-musical post of governor of the town of Maratea (on the western coast of what is now Basilicata), and in 1709 that of Terlizzi (some twenty miles south-east of Andria). Unlike many castrati, who came from poor families, Farinelli was well-to-do, and was related to minor nobility on both sides of the family.
  
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  Femminiello
  Femminielli or femmenielli (singular femminiello, cf. Standard Italian femmina, "a female," -ello, masculine diminutive suffix) is a term used to refer to a population of homosexual males with markedly feminine gender expression in traditional Neapolitan culture. It may be hard to define this term within modern Western notions of "gay men" versus "trans women" since both these categories overlap to a degree in the case of femminielli (see: Third gender.) It has been noted that this term is not derogatory and does not carry stigma, instead femminielli are traditionally believed to bring luck. Ironically Achille della Ragione suggests that recent surveys have shown that Neapolitans have a generally negative view of what he calls "the politically correct model of homosexuality of a hypocritical do-gooder society" (implying the mainstream Western gay culture), yet he contrasts femminielli as enjoying a favorable attitude from the part of Neapolitan society. Indeed, it would be very reductive to insert the Neapolitan Femminiello within the macro-category of Transgender or Transexual, usually adopted in Anglo-Saxon and North-American contexts. The femminiello, instead, could be considered as a peculiar gender expression, despite a widespread sexual binarism. The cultural roots, this phenomena is embedded in, confer to the Femminiello a cultural and even socially legitimized status. For the historical and symbolic coordinates of Naples, the identity construct of the Femminiello is not superimposable to more common european and euro-centric transgender clusters.
  
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• Gang Bing
  Gang Bing (simplified Chinese: 刚秉; traditional Chinese: 剛秉; pinyin: Gāng Bǐng; Wade–Giles: Kang Ping) was a Chinese general and eunuch who served under Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.
  General Gang Bing is most notable for his act of self-castration as a display of loyalty to his emperor. He served under Emperor Yongle, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled over China from 1402 to 1424. Historical accounts describe the brave and loyal General Gang Bing as Yongle’s favorite general. Because of this Yongle placed Gang Bing in charge of the palace in Beijing while he left for a hunting expedition.
  At this point political intrigue within the walls of the Forbidden City forced Gang Bing to make a drastic choice. The Emperor possessed a large harem of concubines; sexual contact with a concubine by anyone other than the emperor was a severe offense. Fearing that rivals within the palace may accuse him of sexual improprieties with one of the seventy three imperial concubines, Gang Bing decided to execute a plan of terrible self-infliction the night before the emperor left for his trip: he severed his own penis and testicles with a knife. The general then placed his severed organs into a bag under the saddle of the emperor’s horse.
  
  wn.com/Gang_Bing
• Gao Lishi
  Gao Lishi (Chinese: 高力士; pinyin: Gāo Lìshì) (684–762), formally the Duke of Qi (齊公), was a eunuch official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty and Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty, becoming particularly powerful during Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's reign. He is believed^{[by whom?]} to have been in charge of many decisions that were supposed to be the emperor's responsibility during Emperor Xuanzong's later years, and was believed to have been richer than many of the nobility of the era. Despite this, however, he was often viewed as a positive example of eunuch participation in politics for his personal loyalty to Emperor Xuanzong, which withstood despite its putting himself in personal danger later, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong's son Emperor Suzong (when Emperor Xuanzong was Taishang Huang (retired emperor)) as it drew jealousy from fellow eunuch Li Fuguo. Further, during the years of his highest power, he was also said^{[by whom?]} to make no improper influences on governance, and therefore drew no anger from the intelligentsia. Late in Emperor Suzong's reign, he was exiled upon Li Fuguo's urging. After a pardon in 762, he was returning from exile, when he heard of Emperors Xuanzong's and Suzong's deaths. Mourning Emperor Xuanzong bitterly, he grew ill and died.
  
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  Habesha people
  The term Habesha (Ge'ez: ሐበሻ Ḥabaśā, Amharic (H)ābešā, Tigrinya: ^? Ḥābešā; Arabic: الحبشة ‎ al-Ḥabašah) refers to the South Semitic-speaking group of people whose cultural, linguistic, and in certain cases, ancestral origins trace back to those people who ruled the Axumite Empire and the kingdom known as DʿMT (usually vocalized Diʿamat).
  Peoples referred to as "Habesha" today include the Amhara, Tigray-Tigrinya and Tigre ethnic groups of Ethiopia and Eritrea, who are predominantly Oriental Christians and have been since AD 332, with exception to Tigre who are predominantly Muslim. The Amhara and Tigray ethnicities combined make up about 33% of Ethiopia's population (ca. 24.6 million Amhara, 5.5 million Tigray), while the Tigrinya & Tigre combined make up 85% (55% plus 30% respectively) of Eritrea's population (ca. 5 of 5.9 million).
  The term also includes the Semitic-speaking Gurage and Harari people in Ethiopia, due to their common descent from the Ge'ez speaking Axumite civilization, and strong historical links to the Amhara and Tigray. While the term Habesha has come to be associated with adherents of the Orthodox Christian faith, the term actually predates the conversion of Axum to Christianity, and refers generally to speakers of Ethiopic (Ethiosemitic) regardless of religion. Thus the Harari who are almost exclusively Muslim are still considered Habesha.
  
  wn.com/Habesha_people
• Hebrews
  Hebrews (Hebrew: עברים or עבריים, Tiberian ʿIḇrîm, ʿIḇriyyîm; Modern Hebrew ʿIvrim, ʿIvriyyim; ISO 259-3 ʕibrim, ʕibriyim) is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible. It is mostly taken as synonymous with the Semitic Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still nomadic, but in some instances it may also be used in a wider sense, referring to the groups known as Habiru or Shasu on the eve of the Bronze Age collapse.
  By the Roman era, Greek Hebraios could refer to the Jews in general, but more specifically to the Jews living in Judea. In Early Christianity, the Greek term refers to Jewish Christians, as opposed to the gentile Christians (Acts 6:1).
  The origin of the term remains uncertain. The biblical word Ivri (Hebrew: עברי), meaning to traverse or pass over, is usually rendered as Hebrew in English, from the ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος and Latin Hebraeus. In the plural it is Ivrim, or Ibrim.
  In Genesis 10:21 Shem, the elder brother of Ham and Japheth, first born son of Noah, is referred to as the father of the sons of Eber (עבר), which may have a similar meaning.
  
  wn.com/Hebrews
• Huang Hao
  Huang Hao was a eunuch serving Liu Shan, second and last emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China. Highly favoured by Liu Shan, he was commonly blamed for misguiding the latter into surrendering to the Kingdom of Wei and considered one of the most corrupt and worthless officials in the Three Kingdoms era along with Cen Hun.
  Huang Hao entered the service of Liu Shan as a eunuch some time in the 220s. According to the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Huang Hao was favoured by Liu Shan as he was shrewd and full of flattering words. While the chief attendant to the emperor Dong Yun was still alive, he often advised Liu Shan on the danger of flattery on one hand, and admonished Huang Hao for misguiding the young emperor on the other.
  After Dong Yun died in 246, he was replaced by Chen Qi (Shu Han), who collaborated with Huang Hao to influence court affairs. Henceforth Huang Hao became increasingly powerful. Even the senior ministers such as Zhuge Zhan and Dong Jue could do nothing to remove him. The General-in-Chief, Jiang Wei, once advised Liu Shan to execute Huang Hao since Huang easily fell for a ruse by Wei's Sima Yi to spread false rumours about Jiang wanting to rebel and told the emperor, which resulted in Jiang retreating back into the capital despite the initial victories against Sima Yi. However the emperor denied the request, saying that the eunuch was but a servant who ran errands. Fearing retaliation, Jiang Wei then left the capital of Chengdu to garrison troops at Tazhong (沓中, northwest of present day Zhouqu County, Gansu). As he had not achieved any significant gain over the Kingdom of Wei for years, Jiang Wei was also almost replaced by the another general Yan Yu (閻宇), at the suggestion of Zhuge Zhan and Huang Hao, who was close friends with Huang.
  
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  Irene of Athens
  Irene Sarantapechaina (Greek: Ειρήνη Σαρανταπήχαινα), known as Irene of Athens or Irene the Athenian (Greek: Ειρήνη η Αθηναία) (c. 752 – 9 August 803) was a Byzantine empress regnant from 797 to 802, having previously been empress consort from 775 to 780, and empress dowager and regent from 780 to 797. It is often claimed she called herself "basileus" (βασιλεύς), 'emperor'. In fact, she normally referred to herself as "basilissa" (βασίλισσα), 'empress', although there are three instances of the title "basileus" being used by her.
  Irene was born to a noble Greek family of Athens, the Sarantapechos family. Although she was an orphan, her uncle, Constantine Sarantapechos, was a patrician and possibly strategos of the theme of Hellas. She was brought to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine V on 1 November 769, and was married to his son Leo IV on 17 December. Although she appears to have come from a noble family, there is no clear reason as to why she would have been chosen as Leo's bride, leading some scholars to speculate that she was selected in a bride-show, in which eligible women were paraded before the bridegroom, until one was finally selected.
  
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  Jesus
  Jesus ( /ˈdʒiːzəs/; Greek: Ἰησοῦς; 7–2 BC/BCE to 30–36 AD/CE), also referred to as Jesus Christ or simply Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and most Christian denominations venerate him as God the Son incarnated. In Islam, Jesus (in Arabic: عيسى‎ in Islamic usage, commonly transliterated as Isa) is considered one of God's important prophets.
  Most modern historians agree that Jesus existed and was a Jewish teacher from Galilee in Roman Judaea, who was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate. Scholars have offered competing descriptions and portraits of Jesus, which at times share a number of overlapping attributes, such as a rabbi, a charismatic healer, the leader of an apocalyptic movement, a self-described Messiah, a sage and philosopher, or a social reformer who preached of the "Kingdom of God" as a means for personal and egalitarian social transformation. Scholars have correlated the New Testament accounts with non-Christian historical records to arrive at an estimated chronology of Jesus' life.
  
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  Jia Xian
  Jia Xian (贾宪) (approximately 1010-1070 AD) was a Chinese mathematician from Kaifeng of the Song Dynasty, in the first half of the 11th century.
  According to the history of the Song Dynasty, Xian was a palace eunuch of the Left Duty Group. He studied under the mathematician Chu Yan, and was well versed in mathematics, writing many books on the subject. Jia Xian invented the Jia Xian triangle around the first half of the 11th century, about six centuries before Pascal. Jia Xian used it as a tool for extracting square and cubic roots. The original book by Jia Xian titled Shi Suo Suan Shu was lost; however, Jia's method was expounded in detail by Yang Hui, who explicitly acknowledged his source: "My method of finding square and cubic roots was based on the Jia Xian method in Shi Suo Suan Shu." A page from the Yongle Encyclopedia preserved this historic fact.
  Jia Xian's additive-multiplicative method implemented the "Horner" rule.
  
  
  
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  John Wilkes Booth
  John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was a famous American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor. He was also a Confederate sympathizer vehement in his denunciation of the Lincoln Administration and outraged by the South's defeat in the American Civil War. He strongly opposed the abolition of slavery in the United States and Lincoln's proposal to extend voting rights to recently emancipated slaves.
  Booth and a group of co-conspirators originally plotted to kidnap Lincoln, but later planned to kill him, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Secretary of State William Seward in a bid to help the Confederacy's cause. Although Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered four days earlier, Booth believed the war was not yet over because Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army was still fighting the Union Army. Of the conspirators, only Booth was completely successful in carrying out his respective part of the plot. Seward was wounded but recovered; Lincoln died the next morning from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
  
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  Joseph Bringas
  Joseph Bringas (Greek: Ὶωσῆφ Βρίγγας) was an important Byzantine eunuch official in the reigns of Emperor Constantine VII (r. 945–959) and Emperor Romanos II (r. 959–963), serving as chief minister and effective regent during the latter. Having unsuccessfully opposed the rise of Nikephoros Phokas to the imperial throne in 963, he was exiled to a monastery, where he died in 965.
  The contemporary historian Leo the Deacon reports that Bringas hailed from Paphlagonia. He gradually rose in imperial service to the rank of patrikios and the court post of praipositos. Emperor Constantine VII appointed him first as sakellarios and then as droungarios (admiral) of the imperial fleet, the position he held at the time of the Byzantine emperor's death. When Emperor Constantine VII's son, Romanos, assumed the Byzantine throne, he appointed Bringas as his parakoimomenos (chamberlain). The young Byzantine emperor preferred to spend his time hunting, and largely left affairs of state to him. In this capacity, Bringas foiled a plot against Romanos led by a group of nobles around the magistros Basil Peteinos. The plotters were arrested, tortured, and exiled, although most of them, with the exception of Peteinos, were soon recalled.
  
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• Judar Pasha
  Judar Pasha was a Moroccan military leader and the conqueror of the Songhai Empire.
  Born a Spaniard, Judar had been captured by Muslim slave-raiders as a baby. As a young boy he joined the service of Moroccan Sultan Ahmad I al-Mansur Saadi. Like many of Ahmad's officers, Judar was a eunuch, having been castrated as a boy by his owners.
  In 1590, Ahmad I made Judar a pasha and appointed him the head of an invasion force against the Songhai Empire of what is now Mali. In October of that year, Judar set out from Marrakesh with a force of 1,500 light cavalry and 2,500 arquebusiers and light infantry. He also carried eight English cannon in his supply train, and assembled eighty Christian bodyguards for his personal detail.
  After an arduous crossing of the Sahara desert, Judar razed the desert salt mines of Taghaza and advanced on the Songhai capital of Gao.
  Meanwhile, Songhai ruler Askia Ishaq II assembled a force of more than 40,000 men and moved north against the Moroccans; the two armies met at Tondibi in March 1591. Despite their inferior numbers, the Moroccan gunpowder weapons easily carried the day, resulting in a rout of the Songhai troops. Judar sacked Gao and then moved on to the trading centers of Djenné and Timbuktu.
  
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  Justinian I
  Justinian I ( /dʒʌˈstɪniən/) (Latin: Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus, Ancient Greek: Φλάβιος Πέτρος Σαββάτιος Ἰουστινιανός) (c. 482 – 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.
  One of the most important figures of Late Antiquity and the last Roman Emperor to speak Latin as a first language, Justinian's rule constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire. The impact of his administration extended far beyond the boundaries of his time and domain. Justinian's reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire. His general Belisarius swiftly conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, extending Roman control to the Atlantic Ocean. Subsequently Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic Kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the Empire after more than half a century of barbarian control.
  
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  Le Van Duyet
  Lê Văn Duyệt (1763 or 1764 – 3 July 1832) was a Vietnamese general who helped Nguyễn Ánh—the future Emperor Gia Long—put down the Tây Sơn rebellion, unify Vietnam and establish the Nguyễn Dynasty. After the Nguyễn came to power in 1802, Duyệt became a high-ranking mandarin, serving under the first two Nguyễn emperors Gia Long and Minh Mạng.
  Born into a family of peasants near Tiền Giang, Duyệt joined Prince Nguyễn Ánh in fighting the Tây Sơn rebellion. Because of Duyệt's military ability, he quickly rose through the ranks of the Nguyễn army and became a marshal when the Tây Sơn-Nguyễn war ended. After the foundation of the Nguyễn Dynasty, Duyệt served as a high-ranking mandarin and, later, viceroy of the southern part of Vietnam.
  His governance greatly stabilized and helped develop the southern third of Vietnam, turning it into a wealthy and peaceful region. In addition, Duyệt opposed Emperor Minh Mạng's ascension and defended Christian missionaries and converts from the emperor's isolationist and Confucian policies. These attitudes brought Duyệt into conflict with Minh Mạng and led to the posthumous desecration of Duyệt's tomb, which provoked his adopted son Lê Văn Khôi to revolt against the court. Later, Emperor Thiệu Trị, the successor of Minh Mạng, rehabilitated Duyệt and restored his tomb.
  
  wn.com/Le_Van_Duyet
• Li Fuguo
  Li Fuguo (李輔國; 704 – November 8, 762), né Li Jingzhong (李靜忠), known from 757 to 758 as Li Huguo (李護國), formally Prince Chou of Bolu (博陸醜王), was a eunuch official during the reign of Emperor Suzong (Li Heng) of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. He had served Li Heng while Li Heng was crown prince under Li Heng's father Emperor Xuanzong and later supported Li Heng in ascending the throne during Anshi Rebellion, when Emperor Xuanzong's realm was thrown into confusion. He later became exceedingly powerful, in alliance with Emperor Suzong's wife Empress Zhang, but broke with her and killed her in 762 when Emperor Suzong died. He briefly became the paramount figure in the administration of Emperor Suzong's son and successor Emperor Daizong, but was removed and then killed by assassins sent by Emperor Daizong later that year.
  Li Jingzhong was born in 704, during the reign of Wu Zetian. He was castrated early in his childhood, and became a servant at the imperial stables. He was said to be ugly in appearance, but knew how to read and write, and eventually became a servant of the powerful eunuch Gao Lishi. When he was in his 40s, he became in charge of the imperial stables' financial accounts. During the Tianbao era (742–756) of Wu Zetian's grandson Emperor Xuanzong, the official Wang Hong (王鉷), who oversaw the imperial stables, was impressed with Li Jingzhong's management of the stables and recommended him to serve on the staff of Emperor Xuanzong's crown prince Li Heng. He soon became a trusted servant of Li Heng's.
  
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  Li Lianying
  Li Lianying (simplified Chinese: 李连英; traditional Chinese: 李連英; pinyin: Lǐ Liányīng; November 12, 1848 - March 4, 1911) was an imperial eunuch during the Qing Dynasty who rose to power during the rule of Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the de facto ruler of China for thirty-nine years from 1869–1908. He served as the Head Eunuch (总管太监) until getting deposed in 1908. Li Lianying was known to be dominant in court affairs, controlling everything from the actions of other eunuchs, to which officials could be granted an audience by the Empress Dowager. Such things often involved large amounts of bribery, and Li Lianying made a fortune from it.
  Ever since the Guangxu Emperor was poisoned in 1908, Li has been one of the main people suspected by historians of murdering the Emperor.Li Lianying was murdered in 1911, possibly by Yuan Shikai, implying that they had conspired in the Emperor's murder. Puyi proposed this theory in his biography, which he claimed he heard from an old eunuch.
  The 1991 film Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch, directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang presents a portrait of Li Lianying.
  
  wn.com/Li_Lianying
• Li Si
  Li Si (Chinese: 李斯; pinyin: Lǐ Sī; Wade–Giles: Li Ssu) (ca. 280 BC – September or October 208 BC) was the influential Prime Minister (or Chancellor) of the feudal state and later of the dynasty of Qin, between 246 BC and 208 BC. A famous Legalist, he was also a notable calligrapher. Li Si served under two rulers: Qin Shi Huang, king of Qin and later First Emperor of China—and his son, Qin Er Shi. A powerful minister, he was central to the state's policies, including those on military conquest, draconian centralization of state control, standardization of weights, measures and the written script, and persecution of Confucianism and opponents of Legalism. His methods of administration of China is seen by some as being an early form of totalitarianism.
  Li Si was originally from Shang Cai (上蔡) in the State of Chu. As a young man he was a minor functionary in the local administration of Chu. According to the Records of the Great Historian, one day Li Si observed that rats in the outhouse were dirty and hungry but the rats in the barnhouse were well fed. He suddenly realized that "there is no set standard for honor since everyone's life is different. The values of people are determined by their social status. And like rats, people's social status often depends purely on the random life events around them. And so instead of always being restricted by moral codes, people should do what they deemed best at the moment." He made up his mind to take up politics as a career, which was a common choice for scholars not from a noble family during the Warring States Period.
  
  wn.com/Li_Si
• Liu Jin
  Liú Jĭn (simplified Chinese: 刘瑾; traditional Chinese: (劉瑾) (? -1510) was a well-known Chinese eunuch during the reign of the Chinese Ming Dynasty Zhengde Emperor (r. 1506-1521). Liu was famous for being one of the most corrupt officials in Chinese history and the emperor in all but name for some time. He was the leader of the "Eight Tigers", a powerful group of eunuchs who controlled the imperial court.
  The Zhengde Emperor 's dissolute lifestyle placed a heavy burden on the people of the empire. He would refuse to receive all his ministers and ignored all their petitions whilst sanctioning the growth of the eunuch community in the imperial palace. Liu made some reforms such as encouraging widows to remarry, a move which went against the Neo-Confucianism views of the time. Many officials and other eunuchs opposed Liu - the uprising of Prince Zhu Zhifan (安化王朱寘鐇) was a failed attempt to assassinate Liu and seize power. After officials suppressed the uprising an official called Yang Yiqing (楊一清) persuaded another eunuch Zhang Yong (张永/張永) to report Liu's plotting of rebellion. The Zhengde Emperor did not believe this report at first but took it seriously enough to consider expelling Liu to Fengyang County (凤阳县/鳳陽縣) in Anhui Province but Zhang's discovery of many weapons in Liu's houses sealed his fate.
  
  wn.com/Liu_Jin
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  Ly Thuong Kiet
  Lý Thường Kiệt (李常傑; 1019–1105) was a Vietnamese general during the Lý Dynasty in Vietnam. He penned what is considered the first Vietnamese declaration of independence and is regarded as a Vietnamese national hero.
  Lý Thường Kiệt was born into a Ngô family in Thăng Long, the capital of Đại Việt. His real name was Ngô Tuấn. His father was a low-ranking general. In 1036, he served the Emperor as a captain in cavalry and later lead the imperial guard force. Because of his bravery, intelligence and loyalty, he was granted a royal name, Lý Thường Kiệt, and given an important position in the Court.
  In 1075, Wang Anshi, the prime minister, told the Song Dynasty emperor that Đại Việt was being destroyed by Champa, with less than ten thousand soldiers surviving, hence it would be a good occasion to annex Đại Việt. The Song emperor mobilized troops and passed decrees to forbid all the provinces to trade with Đại Việt. Upon hearing the news, the Lý ruler sent Lý Thường Kiệt and Nùng Tôn Đản with more than 100,000 troops to China to carry out a pre-emptive attack against the Song Dynasty troops. In the ensuing 40-day battle near modern-day Nanning, the Đại Việt troops were victorious, capturing the generals of three Song armies.
  
  wn.com/Ly_Thuong_Kiet
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  Mohammad Khan Qajar
  Agha Muḥammad Khān Qājār (1742–1797) (Persian: آغا محمد خان قاجار‎)‎‎ was the chief of the Qajar tribe, succeeding his father Mohammad Hassan Khan, who was killed on the orders of Adil Shah. He became the Emperor/Shah of Persia in 1794 and established the Qajar dynasty. He was succeeded by his nephew, Fat′h Ali Shah Qajar.
  At the age of six Agha Muhammad was castrated on the orders of Adil Shah to prevent him from becoming a political rival, but this loss did not hinder his career. Despite being a eunuch, he became the chief of his tribe in 1758. In 1762 he was captured by a rival tribe and sent to Shiraz as a prisoner to Karim Khan's court. Agha Muhammad spent the next 16 years as a hostage, until he escaped in 1779. That same year, the death of Shah Karim Khan Zand plunged the country into a series of civil wars and disputes over the succession, with many members of the Zand dynasty acceding to the Peacock Throne in the space of only ten years. Agha Muhammad took the opportunity to launch a rebellion which, in 1794, succeeded in capturing Lotf Ali Khan, the last Zand ruler. Two years later he proclaimed himself Shahanshah (King of Kings).
  
  wn.com/Mohammad_Khan_Qajar
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  Narses
  Narses (also sometimes written Nerses) (Armenian: Նարսես; Greek: Ναρσής; 478–573) was, with Belisarius, one of the great generals in the service of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I during the "Reconquest" that took place during Justinian's reign. Narses was a Romanized Armenian from the noble Kamsarakan family, which claimed descent from the royal Arsacid dynasty. He spent most of his life as an important eunuch in the palace of the emperors in Constantinople.
  Narses was of Persarmenian descent. His first mention in a primary source is by Procopius in CE 530. The year of Narses' birth is unknown; historians have given dates including 478, 479 and 480. The year of his death is also unknown, with dates given between 566 and 574, making him eighty-six to ninety-six years old at his death. His family and lineage is also completely unknown, with many different stories told about his origins and how he became a eunuch.
  Agathias Scholasticus of Myrina described him thus: “He was a man of sound mind, and clever at adapting himself to the times. He was not versed in literature nor practiced in oratory, [but] made for it by the fertility of his wits,” and as “small and of a lean habit, but stronger and more high-spirited than would have been believed.”
  
  wn.com/Narses
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  Normans
  The Normans (in French: Normands) were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock. Their identity emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, and gradually evolved over succeeding centuries.
  They played a major political, military, and cultural role in medieval Europe and even the Near East. They were famed for their martial spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They quickly adopted the Romance language of the land they settled, their dialect becoming known as Norman or Norman-French, an important literary language. The Duchy of Normandy, which they formed by treaty with the French crown, was one of the great fiefs of medieval France. The Normans are famed both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture, and their musical traditions, as well as for their military accomplishments and innovations. Norman adventurers established a kingdom in Sicily and southern Italy by conquest, and a Norman expedition on behalf of their duke, William the Conqueror, led to the Norman Conquest of England. Norman influence spread from these new centres to the Crusader States in the Near East, to Scotland and Wales in Great Britain, and to Ireland.
  
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  Nubian people
  The Nubians (Arabic: نوبي‎, Nuubi) are an ethnic group originally from Nubia northern Sudan, and southern Egypt now inhabiting North Africa and some parts of East Africa.
  The Nubian people in Sudan inhabit the region between Wadi Halfa in the north and Aldaba in the south. The main Nubian groups from north to south are the Halfaweyen, Sikut, Mahas, and Danagla. They speak different dialects of the Nubian language.
  In ancient times Nubians were depicted by Egyptians as having very dark skin, often shown with hooped earrings and with braided or extended hair. Ancient Nubians were famous for their vast wealth, their trade between Central Africa and the lower Nile valley civilizations, including Egypt, their skill and precision with the bow, their 23-letter alphabet, the use of deadly poison on the heads of their arrows, their great military, their advanced civilization, and their century-long rule over the united upper and lower Egyptian kingdoms.
  Nubians are the people of southern Egypt and northern Sudan, settling along the banks of the Nile from Aswan. Their Nubian language is an Eastern Sudanic language, part of the Nilo-Saharan phylum.
  
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  Origen
  Origen ( /ˈɒrɪdʒən/; Greek: Ὠριγένης Ōrigénēs), or Origen Adamantius (184/185 – 253/254), was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, largely because he believed in the pre-existence and apokatastasis, or universal reconciliation, ideas acknowledged to be beyond the pale of Christianity. Today he is generally regarded as one of the Church Fathers.
  Origen excelled in multiple branches of theological scholarship, including textual criticism, biblical interpretation, philosophical theology, preaching, and spirituality. Some of his teachings, however, quickly became controversial. Notably, he frequently referred to his hypothesis of the pre-existence of souls. As in the beginning all intelligent beings were united to God, Origen also held out the possibility, though he did not assert so definitively, that in the end all beings, perhaps even the arch-fiend Satan, would be reconciled to God in what is called the apokatastasis ("restitution"). Origen's views on the Trinity, in which he saw the Son of God as subordinate to God the Father, became controversial during the Arian controversy of the fourth century, though a subordinationist view was common among the ante-Nicene Fathers. A group who came to be known as Origenists, and who firmly believed in the preexistence of souls and the apokatastasis, were declared anathema in the 6th century. This condemnation is attributed to the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, though it does not appear in the council's official minutes. Few scholars today believe that Origen should be blamed, as he commonly was in the past, for tentatively putting forward hypotheses, later judged heretical, on certain philosophical problems during a time when Christian doctrine was somewhat unclear on said problems.
  
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  Pharaoh
  Pharaoh ( /ˈfeɪ.roʊ/ or /fɛ.roʊ/) is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace. The title of Pharaoh started being used for the king during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of the eighteenth dynasty.
  Pharaoh, meaning "Great House", originally referred to the king's palace, but by the reign of Thutmose III (ca. 1479-1425 BC) in the New Kingdom, had become a form of address for the person of the king.
  The term pharaoh ultimately was derived from a compound word represented as pr-`3, written with the two biliteral hieroglyphs pr "house" and `3 "column". It was used only in larger phrases such as smr pr-`3 'Courtier of the High House', with specific reference to the buildings of the court or palace itself. From the twelfth dynasty onward the word appears in a wish formula 'Great House, may it live, prosper, and be in health', but again only with reference to the royal palace and not the person.
  
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  Philetaerus
  Philetaerus (^{[pronunciation?]}; Greek: Φιλέταιρος, Philétairos, ca. 343 BC–263 BC) was the founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon in Anatolia.
  He was born in Tieium (Greek: Tieion), a small town which is situated in the geographical region of Pontus Euxinus on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia between Bithynia to the west and Paphlagonia to the east. His father Attalus (Greek: Attalos) was Greek (perhaps from Macedon) and his mother Boa was Paphlagonian.
  After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Philetaerus became embroiled in the struggle for supremacy, called the Wars of the Diadochi (diadochi means "successors" in Greek) between Alexander's regional governors, Antigonus in Phrygia, Lysimachus in Thrace and Seleucus in Babylonia (among others). Philetaerus served first under Antigonus. He then shifted his allegiance to Lysimachus (ruler of Pergamon from 323 BC to 281 BC), who, after Antigonus was killed at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, made Philetaerus commander of Pergamon, where Lysimachus kept a treasury of nine thousand talents of silver.
  
  wn.com/Philetaerus
• Philip of Mahdia
  Philip of Mahdia, of Greek origin, was the emir of Palermo, the second ammiratus ammiratorum, and successor of the great George of Antioch. He was a eunuch who rose through the ranks of the royal curia in Palermo until he was eventually one of King Roger II's most trusted men. On George's death in year 546 of the Hegira (AD 1151 or 1152), Roger appointed him to the highest post in the kingdom.
  In summer 1153, he was sent on an expedition to conquer Tunisia. The governor of Bône (ancient Hippo Regius, modern Annaba) had appealed to Roger for aid against the Almohads. Philip captured the city, treated the populace well, and then returned whence he had come. He was welcomed in Palermo as a hero cum triumpho et gloria (with triumph and glory) according to Romuald, Archbishop of Salerno. Following Romuald's account, he was then charged with converting to Islam and promptly imprisoned and eventually admitted guilt and the was executed by orders of the king, who would have forgiven such an offence against his person, but not against God. This account is probably a later interpolation and its authenticity is debated. Arab chroniclers, like Ibn al-Athir, suggest that it was because Philip had allowed several prosperous and learned families to leave Bône after capture. Norwich finds that incredible and suggests that Roger, just months away from death, was either prematurely senile (echoing Hugo Falcandus) or incapacitated by poor health and so his ministers had Philip executed, probably for apostasy.
  
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• Pothinus
  Pothinus (early 1st century BC to 48 or 47 BC), a eunuch, was regent for Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He is most remembered for turning Ptolemy against his sister and co-ruler Cleopatra VII, thus starting a civil war, and for having Pompey decapitated and presenting the severed head to Julius Caesar.
  When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC his will stated that Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII were to become co-rulers of Egypt, with the Roman Republic as their guardians. Ptolemy XIII was underage and Pothinus was appointed as his regent. The general Achillas and the rhetorician Theodotus of Chios were also guardians of the Egyptian king. When Ptolemy and Cleopatra were elevated to the status of senior rulers, Pothinus was maintained as the former's regent. Most Egyptologists believed that Pothinus used his influence to turn Ptolemy against Cleopatra, and in spring of 48 BC Ptolemy, under Pothinus's guidance, attempted to depose Cleopatra in order to become sole ruler, while Pothinus planned to act as the power behind the throne. They gained control of Alexandria, then the capital of Egypt, and forced Cleopatra out of the city. She soon organized her own army and a civil war began in Egypt, while Arsinoe IV also started to claim the throne for herself.
  
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  Potiphar
  Potiphar or Potifar /ˈpɒtɨfər/ is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph. Potiphar is said to be the captain of the palace guard and is referred to without name in the Quran. Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave. Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar's wife, furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him into sleeping with her, accuses him falsely of attempting to rape her. Potiphar casts Joseph into prison, where he comes to the notice of Pharaoh through his ability to interpret the dreams of other prisoners.
  Potiphar's wife is named in neither the Bible nor the Quran. The mediaeval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives it as Zuleikha, as do many Islamic traditions and thus the Persian poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha (from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones")). Because of the Egyptian location wherein the scene is staged, it is not impossible to scope in this biblical tale also a more recent echo of the very old Egyptian fable of the two brothers Bata and Anpu.
  
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• Ray Huang
  Ray Huang (simplified Chinese: 黄仁宇; traditional Chinese: 黃仁宇; pinyin: Huáng Rényǔ; June 25, 1918–January 8, 2000) was a Chinese historian and philosopher. He was an officer in the Nationalist army and fought in the Burma campaigns. He earned a Ph.D in history from the University of Michigan, worked with Joseph Needham and is a contributor of Needham's Science and Civilisation in China. Huang taught in the U.S., and is best known in his later years for the idea of macro history.
  Ray Huang was born in Changsha, Hunan Province, in 1918. He was the oldest of three children. His father, Huang Zhenbai (黄震白), was an early member of the revolutionary group, Tongmenghui, who became less active in the group over the years. Ray Huang grew up in Hunan and went to study electrical engineering at Nankai University, Tianjin in 1936. At the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, he returned to Changsha and wrote for the Japanese War Report (《抗日战报》).
  Afterwards, he entered the Republic of China Military Academy (中華民國陸軍官校) at Chengdu, Sichuan, graduating in 1940. He was appointed Second Lieutenant Platoon Leader in 1941; he was a staff First Lieutenant stationed in India in 1942, and a Staff Major in the New First Army in the Burma theater from 1943-1945. While in Burma, he was shot through the thigh, but he made a complete recovery. After the war he attended the American Army Staff College (graduating in 1947), and was part of a military delegation to Japan from 1949-1950. However, with the loss of mainland China in 1949, the Nationalist army in Taiwan was downsized (and purged of political opponents) and as a result, Huang was discharged from the Nationalist Army in 1950. His military career was over.
  
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  Romanos II
  Romanos (or Romanus) II (Greek: Ρωμανός Β΄, Rōmanos II) (938 – 15 March 963) was a Byzantine Emperor. He succeeded his father Constantine VII in 959 at the age of twenty-one, and died suddenly in 963.
  Romanos II was a son of Emperor Constantine VII and Helena Lekapene, the daughter of Emperor Romanos I and his wife Theodora. Named after his maternal grandfather, Romanos was married, as a child, to Bertha, the illegitimate daughter of Hugh of Arles, King of Italy, who changed her name to Eudokia after her marriage. On April 6, 945, after the fall of the Lekapenoi, Constantine VII crowned his son Romanos co-emperor.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]} With Hugh out of power in Italy and dead by 947, and Bertha herself dying in 949, Romanos secured the promise from his father that he would be allowed to select his own bride. Romanos' choice fell on an innkeeper's daughter named Anastaso, whom he married in 956 and renamed Theophano.
  In November 959 Romanos II succeeded his father on the throne, among rumors that he or his wife had contributed to the death of Constantine VII by poisoning him. Romanos purged his father's courtiers of his enemies and replaced them with his friends and those of his wife. Among the persons removed from court were the Empress Mother, Helena, and her daughters, all of them being sent to a nunnery. Nevertheless, many of Romanos' appointees were able men, including his chief adviser, the eunuch Joseph Bringas.
  
  wn.com/Romanos_II
• Samuel Finer
  Professor Samuel Edward Finer (22 September 1915 – 9 June 1993) was a political scientist and historian who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom, pioneering the study of UK political institutions. His most notable work is The History of Government from the Earliest Times – a three-volume comparative analysis of all significant government systems. He was also a major contributor to the study of civil-military relations with the publication of his book, The Man on Horseback.
  Samuel Finer, the youngest of six children, was born 22 September 1915 to Romanian-Jewish immigrant parents who had emigrated to the United Kingdom, and who ran a greengrocer's stall at Chapel Street market, Islington. His parents were killed in London in January 1945 by V-2 rockets. One of his brothers, Herman, was also a distinguished political scientist. Although Herman emigrated to the USA, his achievement was, according to Finer, an early source of inspiration.
  
  wn.com/Samuel_Finer
• Senesino
  Senesino (Francesco Bernardi) (31 October 1686 – 27 November 1758) was a celebrated Italian contralto castrato, particularly remembered today for his long collaboration with the composer George Frideric Handel.
  Senesino was the son of a barber from Siena (hence his stage-name). He joined the cathedral choir there in 1695 and was castrated at the comparatively late age of thirteen. His debut was at Venice in 1707, and during the next decade he acquired a European reputation and, by the time he sang in Lotti's Giove in Argo in 1717 at Dresden, a commensurately enormous salary.
  As with many castrati, reports of Senesino's acting were not always positive, to say the least. The impresario Count Francesco Zambeccari wrote of his performance in Naples in 1715: "Senesino continues to comport himself badly enough; he stands like a statue, and when occasionally he does make a gesture, he makes one directly the opposite of what is wanted". Of the singer's vocal abilities, however, there was no doubt. In 1719, the composer Quantz heard him in Lotti's Teofane at Dresden, and stated: "He had a powerful, clear, equal and sweet contralto voice, with a perfect intonation and an excellent shake. His manner of singing was masterly and his elocution unrivalled. … he sang allegros with great fire, and marked rapid divisions, from the chest, in an articulate and pleasing manner. His countenance was well adapted to the stage, and his action was natural and noble. To these qualities he joined a majestic figure; but his aspect and deportment were more suited to the part of a hero than of a lover."
  
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  Sima Qian
  Sima Qian (ca. 145 or 135 BC – 86 BC) (pinyin: Sīmǎ Qiān; Wade–Giles: Ssu-ma Ch'ien) was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes (太史公 taishigong) of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian, a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to Emperor Wu of Han. His definitive work laid the foundation for later Chinese historiography.
  Sima Qian was born and grew up in Longmen, near present-day Hancheng to a family of astrologers. His father, Sima Tan, served as the Prefect of the Grand Scribes of Emperor Wu of Han (Emperor "Han Wudi"). His main responsibilities were managing the imperial library and maintaining or reforming the calendar. Due to intensive training by his father, by the age of ten, Sima Qian was already well versed in old writings. He was a student of the famous Confucians Kong Anguo (孔安國) and Dong Zhongshu. At the age of twenty, with the support of his father, Sima Qian started a journey throughout the country, collecting useful first-hand historical records for his main work, Shiji. The purpose of his journey was to verify the ancient rumors and legends and to visit ancient monuments, including the renowned graves of the ancient sage kings Yu and Shun. Places he visited include Shandong, Yunnan, Hebei, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Hunan.
  
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  Songhai Empire
  The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city of Gao, where a Songhai state had existed since the 11th century. Its base of power was on the bend of the Niger River in present day Niger and Burkina Faso.
  The Songhai state has existed in one form or another for over a thousand years if one traces its rulers from the first settlement in Gao to its semi-vassal status under the Mali Empire through its continuation in Niger as the Dendi Kingdom.
  The Songhai are thought to have settled at Gao as early as 800 CE, but did not establish it as the capital until the 11th century, during the reign of Dia Kossoi. However, the Dia dynasty soon gave way to the Sonni, proceeding the ascension of Sulaiman-Mar, who gained independence and hegemony over the city and was a forbear of Sonni Ali. Mar is often credited with wresting power away from the Mali Empire and gaining independence for the small Songhai kingdom at the time.
  
  wn.com/Songhai_Empire
• Sun Yaoting
  Sun Yaoting (Traditional Chinese: 孫耀庭, Simplified Chinese: 孙耀庭, Hanyu Pinyin: Sūn Yàotíng, Wade-Giles: Sun Yao-t'ing; December 29, 1902 – December 17, 1996) was the last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history.
  
  
  
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  Tertullian
  Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD), was a prolific early Berber Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy. Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity" and "the founder of Western theology." Though conservative, he did originate and advance new theology to the early Church. He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the term Trinity (Latin trinitas), and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian theology. Other Latin formulations that first appear in his work are "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "tres Personae, una Substantia" (itself from the Koine Greek "treis Hypostases, Homoousios"). He wrote his trinitarian formula after becoming a Montanist; his ideas were at first rejected as heresy by the church at large, but later accepted as Christian orthodoxy.
  
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  Theodosius II
  Theodosius II (Latin: Flavius Theodosius Junior Augustus; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople. He also presided over the outbreak of two great christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism.
  Theodosius was born in 401 as the only son of Emperor Arcadius and his Frankish-born wife Aelia Eudoxia. In 408, his father died and the seven-year-old boy became Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire.
  Government was at first by the Praetorian Prefect Anthemius, under whose supervision the Theodosian land walls of Constantinople were constructed.
  In 414, Theodosius' older sister Pulcheria was proclaimed Augusta and assumed the regency. By 416 Theodosius was capable of ruling himself, but his sister remained a strong influence on him. In June 421, Theodosius married Aelia Eudocia, a woman of Greek origin. The two had a daughter named Licinia Eudoxia.
  
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  Tian Zhuangzhuang
  Tian Zhuangzhuang (simplified Chinese: 田壮壮; traditional Chinese: 田壯壯; pinyin: Tián Zhuàngzhuàng; born April 1952 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese film director and producer.
  Tian was born to an influential actor and actress in China. Following a short stint in the military, Tian began his artistic career first as an amateur photographer and then as an assistant cinematographer at the Beijing Agricultural Film Studio. In 1978, he was accepted to the Beijing Film Academy, from which he graduated in 1982, together with classmates Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. The class of 1982 collectively would soon gain fame as the so-called Fifth Generation film movement, with Tian Zhuangzhuang as one of the movement's key figures.
  Tian's early career was marked both with avant-garde documentary infused films (On the Hunting Ground (1985), The Horse Thief (1986)) to more commercial fare (Li Lianying: The Imperial Eunuch (1991)). In 1991, Tian began work on a quiet epic about one of modern China's darkest moments. This film, The Blue Kite (1993), would eventually result in Tian's nearly decade long exile from the film industry, an exile he returned from with Springtime in a Small Town (2001). Throughout the 2000s, Tian Zhuangzhuang returned to the fore of Chinese cinema, directing films like the biopic The Go Master (2006) and the historical action film The Warrior and the Wolf (2009). Since his banning after the release of The Blue Kite, Tian has also emerged as a mentor for some of China's newest film talents, and he has helped produce several important films for these new generations of directors.
  
  wn.com/Tian_Zhuangzhuang
• Wei Zhongxian
  Wei Zhongxian (Chinese: 魏忠賢) (1568 – October 19, 1627) is considered by most historians as the most powerful and notorious eunuch in Chinese history. Originally a hoodlum^{[citation needed]} and gambler, his initial name was Wei Si (魏四, literally, Wei Fourth). He took the step of becoming a eunuch and entering palace service to escape from his creditors, taking the name Li Jinzhong (李进忠). After entering the palace, he got into the service of Madam Ke (客氏), the wet-nurse of the future Ming emperor. The couple began manipulating the Tianqi Emperor, who renamed him Wei Zhongxian. The emperor's favour later gave Wei absolute power over the court.
  Wei persecuted anyone who opposed his decisions, resulting in the death and imprisonment of many officials. He later proclaimed himself to be Nine-Thousand Years (九千歲) which meant that he was symbolically the second most important person in the country, just after the emperor, who is called the Ten-Thousand Years (萬歲). Wei also built many shrines (生祠) and erected god-like statues of himself in them. In 1627, his control of the court ended with the death of the Tianqi Emperor, whose brother and successor promptly eliminated him. He was forced to commit suicide (some sources say executed by strangulation) and his corpse was disembowelled.
  
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  Xerxes I of Persia
  Xerxes I of Persia (/ˈzɜrksiːz/; Old Persian: Xšayaršā IPA: [xʃajaːrʃaː] meaning "ruling over heroes",Greek: Ξέρξης, Hebrew: אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, Modern Aẖashverosh Tiberian ʼĂḥašwērôš), also known as Xerxes the Great (519 BC-465 BC), was the fourth king of the Achaemenid Empire.
  Immediately after seizing the kingship, Darius I of Persia (son of Hystaspes) married Atossa (daughter of Cyrus the Great). They were both descendants of Achaemenes from different Achaemenid lines. Marrying a daughter of Cyrus strengthened Darius's position as king. Darius was an active emperor, busy with building programs in Persepolis, Susa, Egypt, and elsewhere. Toward the end of his reign he moved to punish Athens, but a new revolt in Egypt (probably led by the Persian satrap) had to be suppressed. Under Persian law, the Achaemenian kings were required to choose a successor before setting out on such serious expeditions. Upon his great decision to leave (487-486 BC), Darius prepared his tomb at Naqsh-e Rostam and appointed Xerxes, his eldest son by Atossa, as his successor. Darius's failing health then prevented him from leading the campaigns, and he died in October 486 BC.
  
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  Xuande Emperor
  The Xuande Emperor (宣德 [ɕɥántɤ̌]; Beijing, 16 March 1399 – 31 January 1435) was Emperor of China from 1425 to 1435. His era name means "Proclamation of Virtue".
  Born Zhu Zhanji, he was the eldest son of the Hongxi Emperor and Empress Cheng Xiao Zhao. Xuande was also fond of poetry and literature. Unlike his father, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426-35) decided to keep Beijing as the capital and rule the dynasty in the style of his grandfather, Yongle. He ordered Zheng He to lead another maritime expedition to continue the Yongle Emperor's golden age.
  Xuande's uncle Zhu Gaoxu, Prince of Han had been a favorite of Yongle for his military successes, but he disobeyed imperial instructions and in 1417 had been exiled to the small fief of Le'an in Shandong. When Zhu Gaoxu revolted, the new emperor Xuande took 20,000 soldiers and attacked him at Le'an. Zhu Gaoxu surrendered soon afterward. Zhu Gaoxu was reduced to a commoner and died from torture. Six hundred rebelling officials were executed, and 2,200 were banished. The Emperor did not wish to execute his uncle at the start, but later events angered the Emperor so much, that Zhu Gaoxu was executed through fire torture, and all Zhu Gaoxu's sons were executed as well. It is very likely that Zhu Gaoxu's arrogance, which is well detailed in many historic texts, offended the Emperor. A theory states that when the Emperor went to visit his uncle, Zhu Gaoxu intentionally tripped the Emperor.
  
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  Yaqub Beg
  Muhammad Yaqub Bek (Persian: یعقوب بیگ‎) was a Tajik adventurer who became head of the kingdom of Kashgaria.
  In English-language literature, the name of Yaqub Beg has also been spelt as Yakub Beg (Encyclopædia Britannica), Yakoob Beg (Boulger, 1878), or Ya`qūb Beg (Kim Hodong, 2004). Authors using Russian sources have also used the spelling Yakub-bek (Paine, 1996). A few publications in English written by Chinese authors spell his name Agubo, which is the Pinyin transcription of the Chinese transcription of his name, 阿古柏.
  The first name, Muhammad, is subject to the usual variations in spelling as well.
  Yakub Beg was born in the town of Pskent, in the Khanate of Kokand (now Piskent in the Tashkent Province of Uzbekistan). He rose rapidly through the ranks in the service of the Khanate of Kokand; by the year 1847 he was commander of the fort at Ak-Mechet until a few months before its fall to the Russian army under the command of General Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky in 1853. After the fall of the fort he fled to Bukhara.
  
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  Yishiha
  Yishiha (Chinese: 亦失哈, Wade-Giles: Ishiha or I-shih-ha; also Išiqa or IsihaJurchen: i ʃï xa) (fl. 1409–1451) was a eunuch in the service of the Ming Dynasty emperors of China who carried out several expeditions down the Sungari and Amur Rivers, and is credited with the construction of the only two Ming Dynasty Buddhist temples ever built on the territory of today's Russia.
  It is believed that Yishiha was a Haixi Jurchen by origin, and was captured by the Chinese forces in the late 14th century. He worked under two important eunuchs, Wang Zhen and Cao Jixiang. It is speculated by modern historians that he rose to prominence by participating in the court politics and serving Yongle's concubines of Manchurian (Jurchen) origin.
  Yishiha's Amur expeditions belong to the same period of the Yongle Emperor's reign (1402–1424) which saw another eunuch admiral, Zheng He, sail across the Indian Ocean, and Chinese ambassadors reach the Timurid capital Herat (in today's Afghanistan) overland.
  By 1409, Yongle's government, who had already established relations with the Haixi and Jianzhou Jurchens in southern Manchuria, ordered Yishiha to start preparations for an expedition to the lower Amur River region, to demonstrate the power of the Ming Empire to the Nurgan Jurchen populating the area and induce them to enter into relations with the empire, and to ensure that they would not create trouble for the Ming state when the latter went to war with the Eastern Mongols.
  
  wn.com/Yishiha
• 
  Yongle Emperor
  The Yongle Emperor (Traditional Chinese: 永樂帝; Simplified Chinese: 永乐帝; pinyin: Yǒnglèdì; Wade-Giles: Yung-lo Ti; IPA: [jʊ̀ŋlɤ̂]) (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), born Zhu Di (朱棣), was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His Chinese era name Yongle means "Perpetual Happiness".
  He was the Prince of Yan (燕王), possessing a heavy military base in Beijing. He became known as Chengzu of Ming Dynasty (明成祖 also written Cheng Zu, or Ch'eng Tsu (Cheng Tsu) in Wade-Giles) after becoming emperor (self title). He became emperor by conspiring to usurp the throne which was against Hongwu Emperor's wishes.
  He moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing where it was located in the following generations, and constructed the Forbidden City there. After its dilapidation and disuse during the Yuan Dynasty and Hongwu's reign, the Yongle Emperor had the Grand Canal of China repaired and reopened in order to supply the new capital of Beijing in the north with a steady flow of goods and southern food supplies. He commissioned most of the exploratory sea voyages of Zheng He. During his reign the monumental Yongle Encyclopedia was completed. Although his father Zhu Yuanzhang was reluctant to do so when he was emperor, Yongle upheld the civil service examinations for drafting educated government officials instead of using simple recommendation and appointment.
  
  wn.com/Yongle_Emperor
• Zhang Rang
  Zhang Rang (pinyin: Zhāng Ràng) (died 189) was a eunuch of the late Han Dynasty, who served Emperor Ling of Han; he was also the leader of the Ten regular attendants (Also known as the Ten Eunuchs), a group of court eunuchs who held great influence in the Han imperial court. Such was Zhang Rang's power that Lingdi referred to him as 'foster father' and allowed him control of most matters in court. The people and the officials, including He Jin, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, all agreed that Zhang Rang's power was too great. After Emperor Ling died and was succeeded by his son Liu Bian in 189, these individuals invaded the capital for the purpose of defeating the Ten Attendants, leading to He Jin's beheading in the palace courtyard by the Ten Attendants. Zhang kidnapped the emperor and his brother, the future Emperor Xian. However, Zhang was soon surrounded by enemy soldiers and so jumped in the river and drowned himself.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Zhang_Rang
• Zhao Gao
  Zhao Gao (Chinese: 趙高; died 207 BC) was the chief eunuch during the Qin Dynasty of China. Considered as one of the most corrupt, villainous, violent and powerful eunuchs in Chinese history, Gao played an instrumental role in the downfall of the Qin Dynasty.
  Zhao Gao was distantly related to the ruling house of the state of Zhao. According to the Shiji, Zhao Gao's parents committed crimes and were punished. Both Zhao Gao and his brother were made eunuchs.^{[dubious – discuss]} However Qin Shi Huang valued Zhao Gao since he was an expert in law and punishment.^{[clarification needed]} This was very useful to Qin Shi Huang since he himself was always looking for ways to control the people by laws and punishments. Zhao Gao enjoyed a steady rise in position.^{[clarification needed]}
  When Zhao was a minor official, he committed a crime punishable by death. Meng Yi was the official in charge of sentencing and he sentenced Zhao to death and removed him from the officials list as instructed by Qin Shi Huang.^{[citation needed]} Zhao was later pardoned by Qin Shi Huang and returned to his official status.
  
  wn.com/Zhao_Gao
• 
  Zheng He
  Zheng He (1371–1433; simplified Chinese: 郑和; traditional Chinese: 鄭和; pinyin: Zhèng Hé), also known as Ma Sanbao (simplified Chinese: 马三宝; traditional Chinese: 馬三寶) and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin (Arabic: حاجي محمود شمس الدين‎) was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and the Horn of Africa collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from 1405 to 1433.
  Zheng, born as Ma He (馬和 / 马和), was the second son of a Muslim family which also had four daughters, from Kunyang, present day Jinning, just south of Kunming near the southwest corner of Lake Dian in Yunnan.
  He was the great great great grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a Persian who served in the administration of the Mongolian Empire and was appointed governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan Dynasty. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather carried the title of Hajji, which indicates they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca. His great-grandfather was named Bayan and may have been a member of a Mongol garrison in Yunnan.
  
  wn.com/Zheng_He

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