• soil conservation was first practiced by the Phoenicians, and today it embraces disciplines such as hydrology, microbiology and soil chemistry research?

Facts on topics related to Phoenicia

Alexander the Great

• Alexander the Great was one of the greatest supporters of Homonoia?
• Catherine the Great named the Pella Palace after the birthplace of Alexander the Great, hoping that it would become the favorite lodging of her own grandson Alexander?
• Qabala treasures, monetary treasure troves discovered in Azerbaijan, contain drachmas of Alexander the Great and denarii of four Roman Emperors?
• during the Susa weddings in 324 BCE, Alexander the Great married both Parysatis II and her second cousin's daughter, Stateira II?
• the Volga Tatars believed that the Volga Bulgarian medieval city of Aşlı was founded there by Alexander the Great?
• the Diadochi were generals of Alexander the Great who sought power after his death?
• the figures on the Gonzaga Cameo (pictured) were identified as Alexander the Great and Olympias, Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Nero and Agrippina the Younger, and many other famous couples of antiquity?
• the intended occupant of the empty throne (example pictured) may have been Alexander the Great, Buddha, Julius Caesar, or Jesus Christ?

Roman Empire

• archaeological digs have greatly expanded knowledge of the history of Swindon, uncovering artefacts from separate Roman, Bronze and Iron Age settlements in the area?
• sandstone blocks used in the construction of St John's Church, Crosscanonby, Cumbria, England, might originate from a former Roman building?
• Argentoratum was an important military Roman outpost on the Rhine, and was rebuilt six times?
• Byzantium under the Komnenoi was the Medieval continuation of the Roman Empire, and played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land?
• Gaius Pontius, the Samnite general and victor at the Battle of the Caudine Forks, is believed to be an ancestor of the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate?
• Gessius Florus became the Roman procurator of Judea due to his wife's friendship with Emperor Nero's wife Poppaea?
• Lucceius Albinus had just been appointed Roman procurator and was still on his way to take office in Judea when the High Priest of Israel took advantage of the lack of imperial oversight to assemble a Sanhedrin and had James, the brother of Jesus stoned without Roman authorization?
• Moduin, a poet of the Carolingian Renaissance, characterises his era as a rebirth of "Golden Rome"?
• Portlethen Moss is an acidic bog that played a role in stopping the Roman advance in Scotland and whose traversal was used in the Bishops' Wars?
• a word square found in Mamucium (pictured), a Roman fort in Manchester, may be one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain?

Byzantine Empire

• Byzantine general Peter Phokas was originally born a slave and made a eunuch, but rose to become one of the senior-most commanders of the Byzantine Empire in the 960s and 970s?
• Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos created the Metropolitanate of Lithuania, which was later regarded as an "anomaly" by the Byzantine authorities?
• Byzantine official Peter the Patrician may have been responsible for the murder of Ostrogothic queen Amalasuntha, despite being instructed to secure her safety by emperor Justinian I?
• Istanbul's Vefa Kilise Mosque (pictured) is an example of a Byzantine church since converted into an Ottoman mosque?
• medieval Bulgarian military leader Ivan the Russian defended Plovdiv in a four-month Byzantine siege only for the citizens to let the Byzantines in while he was away?
• Sviatoslav of Kiev was invited by the Byzantine Empire to attack Bulgaria in order to force them to make concessions, but ended up conquering the country?
• Andronikos Kontostephanos was the leading general of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and that his career took him from Hungary to Egypt?
• Leo the Mathematician, called by some the cleverest man in 9th-century Byzantium, invented a system of beacons to warn of Arab raids and a fabled levitating throne for the emperor?
• New England used to be part of the Roman Empire, and China is still part of Japan?
• Ras Ibn Hani, a small cape located 8 km north of Latakia, Syria, was occupied almost continuously from the late Bronze Age until Byzantine times?

Ottoman Empire

• Bulgarian Dobri Zhelyazkov founded the first textile factory in the Ottoman Empire?
• fairy tale collector Nicolae Constantin Batzaria was an Aromanian representative among the Young Turks, an Ottoman government minister, and one of Romania's best-known creators of comic strips?
• Italian Vice Consul Vito Positano saved the future Bulgarian capital Sofia from burning by the Ottoman army?
• Poland–Lithuania and the Ottoman Empire signed a "perpetual" peace in 1533?
• As'ad Pasha al-Azm, governor of Damascus under the Ottoman Empire for 14 years, ordered the construction of the Azm Palace and Khan As'ad Pasha?
• Dolmabahçe Palace was the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1923?
• Jean de La Forêt was the first French ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in 1534, and that he negotiated in 1536 a Franco-Ottoman treaty of alliance?
• Joseph Cornelius O’Rourke, an Irish Count born in Estonia, became a Russian Lieutenant General, and was honoured with a statue in Belgrade for his victory over the Ottoman Empire in 1810?
• Khan al-Harir, built by Darwish Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Damascus, was the first great caravanserai to be built inside the old city walls of Damascus?
• Khotyn Fortress (pictured), site of the Battle of Khotyn between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire in 1621, is one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine?