Interesting historical cultures/periods/nations/phenomena/people

I am always interested in hearing about this sort of thing, and rpg sites have weird people, who, as a result of their eccentricity, know about weird historical cultures/periods/nations/phenomena/people.

I have always been fasinated by this bit of cultural syncretism:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhist_art
which resulted from the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Bactrian_kingdom and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek_Kingdom







WEIRD. Interesting is the hypothesis that the "toga-clad buddha," which I am sure I have seen plently a time first appeared as a Hellenistic influence. Also suprising is the fact that this pocket of cultural influence is so far removed from mainland Greece, and that Alexander-conquered areas far closer to Greece were far less culturally influenced (supposedly partially because the Persians banished all their unruly Ionian Greeks to modern day Afghanistan). These Hellenistic kingdoms were possibly the first western contacts with China. Anyway, now that I have entertained my self, I look forward to being entertained by obscure/bizzare/fascinating stories.

edit: don't know why the pictures won't display, but whatever, they are all in the wiki article.

Hm. It's hard to top the Greco-Bactrians, for sure. They're as close to a magical Lost Kingdom as any I can think of.

How does a kingdom of Jewish Mongols sound, though? The Khazar Khaganate wasn't anywhere near as remote and lasted for a quite a while. I find it interesting because it violates the stereotypical idea we have of both Mongols/Turks and Jews. I'm fascinated by mixed identities, and they don't get much more mixed than this.

You may appreciate, or heard of, a book written by Milorad Pavić titled Dictionary of the Khazars. It's constructed of cross referenced encyclopedias and it's a sort of false document. I mean it is, I think. It's fiction, all written as if it's true, based on the historical evidence of the mass conversion of the Khazar peoples to Judaism. Only thing I've seen of his but the descriptions of his other literature seem very playful.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
How does a kingdom of Jewish Mongols sound, though? The Khazar Khaganate wasn't anywhere near as remote and lasted for a quite a while. I find it interesting because it violates the stereotypical idea we have of both Mongols/Turks and Jews. I'm fascinated by mixed identities, and they don't get much more mixed than this.

That's pretty neat. I also find mixed identities interesting, and as you say, that's quite unique. The article mentioned quite the array of other religions that some of the Khazars may at one time have practiced, including those of the Norse, which I suppose makes sense looking at this map:



(found in this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_expansion)

In other news this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William…r_(filibuster) is is pretty interesting. American adenturer who invades with a mercenary army central America and establishes a short lived independent state in Nicaragua, which he tried to Americanize. Rampant filibustering, battles with mega corporations, alternating recognition and hostility from other states, quite the badass. Jeez, we need more RPGs and strategy games set in the 19th century.

This guy is a pretty interesting character too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurlane, brutal conquer and patron of the arts.

Also, being a linguistics fan, I find the Turkish whistling language pretty neat: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme…ent/506284.stm

Originally Posted by Mr. H
In other news this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(filibuster) is is pretty interesting. American adenturer who invades with a mercenary army central America and establishes a short lived independent state in Nicaragua, which he tried to Americanize. Rampant filibustering, battles with mega corporations, alternating recognition and hostility from other states, quite the badass. Jeez, we need more RPGs and strategy games set in the 19th century.

Most of his 'adventuring' was just imperialist masquerading (despite his moral convictions). He not only tried to use manifest destiny to help fulfill a popular southern dream of a plantation based empire which included the Caribbean and Central America as colonies of the southern states but he also institutionalized slavery in Nicaragua where it had already been abolished as well as invading parts of Mexico to acquire territory in which to feed the southern states plantation based economy. The Alex Cox movie Walker is absolute absurdity but it seems a totally appropriate way in which to glance, within the span of ninety minutes, the nightmares William Walker sowed. It's all bizarre really but hardly something to romanticise.

Originally Posted by Prime Junta
How does a kingdom of Jewish Mongols sound, though? The Khazar Khaganate wasn't anywhere near as remote and lasted for a quite a while. I find it interesting because it violates the stereotypical idea we have of both Mongols/Turks and Jews. I'm fascinated by mixed identities, and they don't get much more mixed than this.

Speaking of the Khazars, there's an excellent book by Milorad Pаvić, an accomplished Serbian writer, Dictionary of the Khazars. It's fiction, but it describes the religious conversions of the Khazar people from three different sources (Jewish, Muslim and Christian), and is in general quite interesting.

And now back to your regulary scheduled topis, after this obligatory Serbia-pimping.

Damn, now I have to read it -- two separate recommendations in the same thread.

There's a documentary series vaguely similar to what you're getting at called Connections.