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This spectacular star-forming region is one of the first images from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.

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The Ming Dynasty was founded in 1368 and brought an end to Mongol rule in China. The dynasty reached its height in the early 15th century when the Yongle Emperor ordered the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing and ordered Zheng Hes voyages of exploration. While the Ming defended itself against threats from pirates and Mongols, it was eventually overthrown by the Manchus. The Qing Dynasty presided over an age of imperial splendor in the 18th century but was weakened by rebellion and European colonialism and fell in 1912.From Peasant to EmperorSeated Portrait of the Hongwu Emperor (Emperor Taizu of Ming). Source: Wikimedia Commons (National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan)Over the course of Chinese history, two men who started life as peasants rose to become the founding emperors of prosperous dynasties. The first was Liu Bang, who defeated his rival Xiang Yu to found the Han Dynasty in 202 BCE. The second was Zhu Yuanzhang, who established the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century and overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.Born in present-day Anhui province in 1328, Zhu was a young Buddhist monk in 1352 when he joined the Red Turban Rebellion after his monastery was pillaged by Yuan troops. He soon acquired a loyal band of followers and operated as an independent warlord from 1355. After capturing and establishing his capital at Nanjing in 1356, Zhu organized a disciplined army and gained ground over his rivals as the Red Turban movement fragmented.In 1363, Zhu defeated his major rival Chen Yuliang at the Battle of Lake Poyang in Jiangxi province, enabling the conquest of the central and lower Yangtze regions by 1367. In January 1368, Zhu proclaimed the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Hongwu Era. An invasion of northern China was already underway, and in September 1368, the Ming general Xu Da captured the Yuan capital of Dadu, which was renamed Beiping, or Northern Peace. This marked the official end of the Yuan Dynasty, although a Northern Yuan state ruled the northern steppe until the 17th century.Guided by Confucian principles, the Hongwu Emperor pursued an economic policy that favored the peasantry and targeted the merchant class. In 1371, he introduced the haijin, an embargo on maritime trade that only allowed for official tribute missions. During the latter years of his reign, the emperor became increasingly paranoid and put to death many officials and generals who had helped him found the dynasty. He divided his empire into principalities ruled by his sons but banned them from returning to Nanjing.Everlasting HappinessSeated Portrait of the Yongle Emperor (Emperor Chengzu of Ming). Source: Wikimedia Commons (National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan)The Hongwu Emperors eldest son predeceased him, so upon his death in 1398, he was succeeded by his grandson, the Jianwen Emperor. The new emperor attempted to curb the power of his uncles and soon faced a rebellion from Zhu Di, Hongwus fourth son, who, as Prince of Yan, had his power base at Beiping. In 1402, Zhu Di conquered Nanjing and proclaimed himself emperor with the era name Yongle, which translates to Everlasting Happiness.The new emperor desired to move his capital to Beiping, and in 1407, he ordered the construction of a palace complex now known as the Forbidden City. After building work was completed in 1420, Yongle formally transferred his court to Beijing, which he renamed Beijing, literally Northern Capital. He also built his mausoleum at a site north of Beijing, which, over time, became the Ming Tombs. Yongle improved transport links to his capital by rebuilding the Grand Canal and connecting it to Beijing.One of the greatest achievements of Yongles reign was the creation of the Yongle Encyclopedia, an immense undertaking that ran to over 11,000 volumes and involved over 2,000 scholars. The encyclopedia was entirely handwritten and kept in the palace. The original was subsequently lost, though a small portion of a 16th-century copy still survives.Between 1410 and 1424, the Yongle Emperor personally led five campaigns against the Mongols. While the Ming armies were unable to extinguish the Northern Yuan state, they managed to conquer new territories. The emperor died in August 1424 while returning from the fifth expedition.Trade and ExplorationThe Return of Zheng He by Vladimir Kosov, 2018. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Yongle Emperor rescinded his fathers embargo on maritime trade and actively sought to project Chinas power overseas by expanding commercial and tributary relationships. To achieve these ambitions, he organized fleets of up to 300 ships under the command of his friend, the Muslim eunuch Zheng He, whom he appointed grand admiral.Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven expeditions around the Indian Ocean, reaching the coast of East Africa for the final three. At every opportunity, the grand admiral sought out diplomatic and tributary relationships with local rulers, most of whom were willing to submit to Chinese terms. Those who were less cooperative were often cowed into submission by the Chinese armada.Although Zheng Hes final voyage took place after Yongles death, the admirals demise during the return passage to China in 1433 spelled the end of Ming Chinas treasure fleets as Confucian traditionalists gained the upper hand at court and reinstated the maritime embargo. Around the same time, Portuguese mariners began exploring the western coast of Africa. In 1513, fifteen years after Vasco da Gama reached India, the Portuguese explorer Jorge Alvares arrived in China.Ming Dynasty jar, Xuande period, 1426-35. Source: ChristiesAfter helping the Chinese authorities suppress local pirates, the Portuguese established a permanent presence in Macau in 1557. Portuguese commercial prospects improved in 1567 when the Hanjin was repealed. Chinese ceramics were highly prized by Europeans, and porcelain production increased significantly during the reign of the Wanli Emperor (1572-1620). The imperial kilns at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province produced iconic blue-and-white porcelain for export.Although Europeans brought new crops from America to China, such as maize, sweet potatoes, and tobacco, on the whole, the Chinese saw little value in European goods. As a result, Europeans bought porcelain and silk from China with large amounts of silver, much of it from the Spanish Americas via the Philippines. While the increase in money supply stimulated economic development and contributed to general prosperity, it also had an inflationary impact.Frontier ThreatsMutianyu Great Wall, China, photograph by Jimmy Chen, 2019. Source: Jimmy ChenThe Ming Dynastys isolationist policies between the 1430s and the 1560s owed much to the continued threat of the Mongols across the northern frontier. In July 1449, the Ming court suffered a major calamity in the so-called Tumu Crisis, when a large Ming army was defeated by the Oirat Mongols at the Tumu Fortress near the Great Wall with heavy casualties. Most humiliatingly of all, Emperor Yingzong was captured by the Mongols, prompting a younger brother to assume the throne as the Jingtai Emperor. Since the new emperor was not particularly concerned about his brothers fate, the Mongols recognized they had little diplomatic leverage and released Yingzong in 1450. The former emperor was imprisoned by his brother until retaking power in a coup in 1457.The Ming Dynastys restrictive trade policies encouraged pirate activity to satisfy the demand for Chinese goods. The term wokou was initially used to refer to Japanese pirates raiding Chinas eastern coast, though, by the 16th century, a large number of pirates were Chinese. Wokou activity peaked during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1521-67). Ming forces struggled to cope with the devastation to coastal provinces until General Qi Jiguang developed new tactics and weapons to defeat the pirates, and the repeal of the haijin in 1567 encouraged many pirates to trade legally. General Qi was then transferred to the northern frontier, where he supervised the strengthening of the Great Wall.The Rise of the ManchuShenyang Imperial Palace, China, photograph by Jimmy Chen, 2019. Source: Jimmy ChenAt the beginning of the 17th century, the Ming Dynasty faced a new threat on its northeastern frontier from Nurhaci, the Jurchen chieftain who reunited his people and organized them into his Eight Banner Army. While Nurhaci initially appeared to be a loyal Ming vassal, he proclaimed himself khan of the Later Jin in 1616, reviving the dynastic name of his ancestors who ruled northern China in the 12th century. He conquered the city of Shenyang in 1621 and moved his capital there in 1625.Nurhaci died in 1626 after being wounded in battle and was succeeded by his son, Hong Taiji. He consolidated his fathers conquests and expanded his realm at the expense of the Mongols in the west and the Ming Chinese to the south. In 1635, Hong Taiji changed the name of his people from Jurchen to Manchu, and the following year, he changed the dynastic name from the Jin to the Qing.Hong Taiji died in 1643, a year before his ambitious younger brother Dorgon captured Beijing while serving as regent to Hong Taijis five-year-old son and successor, the Shunzhi Emperor. Dorgons conquest was facilitated by a peasant rebellion in China that saw the rebel leader Li Zicheng briefly occupy Beijing and extinguish the Ming Dynasty.The Ming official Wu Sangui, who commanded the strategic Shanhai pass at the eastern end of the Great Wall, decided to open the gates to the Manchu prince. The Manchus soon captured Beijing, and in November 1644, the Shunzhi Emperor was enthroned as the Emperor of China. Dorgon masterminded the conquest of the rest of China until his death in a hunting accident in late 1650.Three Great EmperorsPortrait of the Kangxi Emperor, Late Kangxi Period, c. 1700. Source: Wikimedia Commons (The Palace Museum, Beijing, China)The Shunzhi Emperor died of smallpox in 1661 at the age of 22 and was succeeded by his infant son Kangxi. Upon assuming personal power in 1673, Kangxi sought to confiscate the vast territories in southern and western China that had been bestowed upon Ming officials who made major contributions to the Qing conquest of China. This provoked the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, a protracted conflict that was not suppressed until 1681.While he admitted mistakes in his handling of the three feudatories, Kangxi became one of the most popular and celebrated emperors in Chinese history. He made several inspection tours of southern China during his long reign and exhibited understanding and concern for the common people. He encouraged the standardization of written Chinese by commissioning the Kangxi Dictionary, published in 1716. He was interested in Western technology and encouraged the work of Jesuit missionaries, but at the end of his reign, he issued a ban on Christian missions after a controversy over whether Chinese Christians could still perform traditional Chinese rites.Kangxis reign saw the further expansion of the Qing Empire to the west with the conquest of Tibet in 1720. Following a prolonged struggle over the succession during his later years, Kangxi died in 1722 after a reign of 61 years, the longest in Chinese history. He was succeeded by his son Yongzheng, who, despite a brief reign of 13 years, pursued extensive administrative and economic reforms and ruled over a peaceful and prosperous state.The Qianlong Emperor on Horseback by Giuseppe Castiglione, 1758. Source: Wikimedia Commons (The Palace Museum, Beijing, China)Yongzheng died unexpectedly in 1735 and was succeeded by his son, the Qianlong Emperor. Much like his grandfather Kangxi, the Qianlong emperor had considerable military and cultural achievements to his name during a six-decade reign.Qianlongs reign was known for the Ten Great Campaigns. The first three of these took place between 1755 and 1759 and involved the conquest of the Dzungar Khanate and the pacification of the newly incorporated Xinjiang region in the northwest of the empire. The remaining seven campaigns consisted of military action to pacify rebellious provinces in southern China or to bring tributary states in Burma, Vietnam, and Nepal back into the fold. Qianlongs reign saw the Qing Empire reach its greatest territorial extent, with a population of some 400 million.Qianlong was not only a patron of the arts but also an accomplished painter and calligrapher in his own right, as well as a prolific, if mediocre, poet. In 1773, he commissioned the production of a new encyclopedic collection known as the Siku Quanshu, or Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, which collectively ran to over 36,000 volumes. The monumental task was completed within a decade and seven copies were made, of which four survive.Despite the Qianlong Emperors fine reputation, the final years of his reign were associated with stagnation and corruption. Qianlongs favorite Heshen became notorious for abusing his power as grand councilor to enrich himself, and his name remains a byword for corruption in modern China. Qianlong abdicated in 1796 in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor, in order to avoid surpassing his grandfather Kangxis record reign. Nevertheless, he remained the power behind the throne until his death in 1799 at the age of 88, making him the longest-lived Chinese emperor in history.The Empire in RebellionRuins of the Old Summer Palace, Beijing, China. Photograph by Jimmy Chen, 2019. Source: Jimmy ChenIn 1793, Qianlong received an embassy from the British diplomat Lord Macartney, who sought to expand trading rights beyond the port of Canton, present-day Guangzhou. Though both parties exchanged gifts, the emperor claimed that he saw little value in what the British had to offer and refused to establish a formal diplomatic and commercial relationship.In the meantime, vast quantities of opium from British India were imported into China through legal and illegal channels. The sale of opium to Chinese markets ensured that the silver British merchants paid for Chinese goods could flow back to Britain. By the 1830s, the Chinese authorities recognized that opium addiction was a major problem and adopted increasingly aggressive measures to ban the trade.Disputes between British and Chinese authorities led to two opium wars, the first in 1839-42 and the second in 1856-60. The Chinese were defeated in both and were forced to open five more ports to trade and cede the island of Hong Kong to Britain in perpetuity under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking (Nanjing). Further treaty ports were established after the Second Opium War, during which British and French troops sacked the emperors Old Summer Palace near Beijing.The Second Opium War took place during the Taiping Rebellion, a bloody civil war between the Qing Dynasty and rebels led by Hong Xiuquan, a failed imperial examination candidate who claimed to be the brother of Jesus and amassed a large following among marginalized communities in southern China. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom controlled a large part of southern and eastern China and had its capital in Nanjing, but the rebellion was eventually suppressed in 1864.Imperial TwilightHer Imperial Majesty the Empress Dowager of China, Cixi (1835-1908) by Hubert Vos, 1905-1906. Source: Harvard Art Museums, BostonAfter the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing court launched a reform program to strengthen the state. The leading figure in the effort was Empress Dowager Cixi, who engineered her sons succession to the throne in 1861 with the era name Tongzhi, or Joint Rule. Although the Tongzhi Emperor died in 1875, Cixi remained the power behind the throne until her death in 1908.The modernization efforts during the Tongzhi Restoration turned out to be little more than window dressing. During the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, the modernized Beiyang Fleet was destroyed by the Japanese Navy, while Chinese armies suffered heavy defeats on land. China was forced to cede southern Manchuria to Japan, though diplomatic intervention by European powers alarmed by Japans unexpected success led Russia to occupy the region instead.The continued influx of foreign merchants and missionaries into China during the 19th century caused resentment among sections of the Chinese population. In 1899, a group of Chinese nationalists known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known colloquially as Boxers, launched an uprising in the countryside targeting foreign-built railway and telegraph lines and attacking missionaries, merchants, and diplomats. The empress dowager sympathized with the rebels and sided with them in June 1900 as they marched on Beijing to lay siege to the foreign legations. The Eight-Nation Alliance was formed to resist the siege, and in August 1900, allied forces entered Beijing and defeated the Boxers.The defeat of the Boxer Rebellion ensured Chinas continued foreign domination and further weakened the Qing Dynasty, which lingered until February 1912, when the child emperor Puyi abdicated in the wake of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.

When the Neo-Assyrian Empire set its sites on conquering Egypt, the country was in its Third Intermediate Period. Egypt was divided and ruled by regional kings and under Kushite influence. While the Assyrians were successful in their conquest of Egypt in the 7th century BCE, their reliance on vassal kings rather than direct rule created a situation that allowed one Egyptian king to unite Egypt under his rule, ushering in Egypts Late Period. While the new Egyptian kings were Assyrian allies, their power grew as the Neo-Assyrian Empire crumbled.Before the StormReconstruction of the Stele of Piye, Egypt, c. 8th century BCE. Source: Louvre MuseumBefore Assyrias conquest of Egypt, there was a period of tense relations between Egypt and Assyria, and between Egypt and Kush. Egypts 25th dynasty, the final dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period, was often called the Nubian Dynasty. The Kushite Empire was founded when Piye, King of Kush, conquered Egypt 744 BCE.As Upper Egypts competing kings bickered among themselves, Piye seized the opportunity to invade. He conquered Hermopolis and Memphis, and had multiple regional Egyptian kings swear allegiance to him. After he subjugated vast amounts of Egypt, Piye attempted to gain a foothold in the Near East. In 720 BCE Philistia and Gaza rebelled against Assyria. The opportunistic Piye sent an army to aid them, but Sargon II crushed the uprising.During the reign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, tension between Egypt and the Levant continued. In 705 BCE, Hezekiah, King of Judah ceased paying tax to Assyria and conspired with other anti-Assyrian kings in the area. Hezekiah proceeded to launch assaults against Philistine kings loyal to Assyria. By 701 BCE, Egypt and the four kingdoms of Judah, Sidon, Ascalon, and Ekron established an alliance against Assyria. A displeased Sennacherib marched against the rebels and conquered Sidon, Ascalon, and Ekron.His army continued into the Levant and destroyed many cities and settlements on his way to Judahs capital, Jerusalem. However, the Assyrian king was unable to conquer Jerusalem. Sennacheribs accounts say that Judah paid him tribute and he left the city. The Bible states that King Hezekiah prayed to God and an angel killed thousands of Assyrian soldiers.King EsarhaddonVictory Stele of Esarhaddon (left), Ushankhuru (middle), and unknown king (right), Egypt, 671 BCE. Source: Pergamon Museum, BerlinEsarhaddon came to power in Assyria after his father, Sennacherib, was murdered in 681 BCE. The subsequent chaos in the Assyrian court led to unrest across the empire, and many vassal states took the opportunity to break free. One of these states was Sidon, which had been made a vassal under Sennacherib, but was reduced to an Assyrian province after Esarhaddon quashed their most recent rebellion.By 677 BCE, Esarhaddon campaigned up to the Brook of Egypt (the southernmost area of the Levant before Egypt) to defeat Arab tribes around the Dead Sea and subdue rebelling kingdoms such as Sidon. In the following years, Esarhaddon campaigned in Urartu, Anatolia, and against the Elamite-Babylonians.In 673 BCE, Esarhaddon turned his attention to Egypt, which had supported Assyrian rebels for years. He hoped to teach them a lesson. His first assault against Egypt proved one of Assyrias worst defeats ever. The forces of the Nubian pharaoh Taharqa vanquished the Assyrians, who were seemingly exhausted from Esarhaddons desire to march quickly. The Assyrians abandoned the plan of conquering Egypt and returned to Nineveh. Esarhaddon used this period to rethink his attack.When he marched on Egypt again in 671 BCE he stopped in the city of Harran, on the south-eastern edge of modern-day Turkey. Here the Assyrian king received a prophecy that foretold his attack on Egypt would be a success.This time Esarhaddons forces were larger, marched slower, and were victorious in the first clash. Subsequently, Esarhaddon devastated Memphis. Although Taharqa was able to escape, the Assyrians captured many members of the Egyptian royal family, including the pharaohs son and wife, who were taken back to Assyria as hostages.Esarhaddon had a victory stele commissioned showing Taharqas young son Ushankhuru in bondage. The stele may also show Taharqa, but the identity of the second figure is debated and may also be Baal I, King of Tyre. In the aftermath of Esarhaddons conquest, he reconfigured the government of Egypt and appointed men who supported Assyria to important positions.Ascension of AshurbanipalReconstruction of a Statue of Taharqa wearing double-uraeus headdress, Egypt, c. 690-664 BCE. Source: Louvre MuseumEsarhaddon left Egypt in the hands of his chosen vassals, unknowingly sowing seeds of further instability. The Assyrian king had effectively expelled many of the ruling Kushites and Nubians from Lower Egypt, which had been incorporated into the Kushite Empire less than a century earlier. But the population was restless for their independence from both Kush and Assyria.After Esarhaddon left, Taharqa returned to Lower Egypt, took Memphis, and forced the officials appointed by Esarhaddon to abscond in 669 BCE. Esarhaddon almost immediately embarked on a new offensive campaign against Egypt, but swiftly on the way there. Esarhaddons two sons rose to power. Shamash-shum-ukin ascended as king in Babylon and his other son Ashurbanipal assumed the throne of Assyria.Ashurbanipal resumed his fathers assault on Egypt with vigor. He chased Taharqa to Thebes and sacked many cities on his journey there. But he failed to organize direct Assyrian rule and again relied on vassal kingships. The only place Ashurbanipal came to and did not destroy was Sais, as its ruler, Necho I, had maintained loyalty to Assyria. Furthermore, Ashurbanipal returned Necho Is son Psamtik, who had been educated at court in Nineveh under Esarhaddon, to Egypt.Later the Assyrian king learned of a plot between some vassal kings and Taharqa, which included Necho I. The vassal kings implicated were executed, except for Necho I, which historians theorize was due to Ashurbanipals hope that Necho I would view him as benevolent. Additionally, there were now far fewer ruling vassal kings, and this would have given Necho I greater power, which in turn would have bolstered competition between Sais and the Kushites for control. Therefore, it is likely Ashurbanipal spared Necho I to further his own purposes in Egypt, rather than as an act of goodwill.Sack of ThebesRassam Cylinder of Ashurbanipal which contains details on his military exploits, Ninevah, Iraq, 643 BCE. Source: British MuseumTaharqa died in Thebes in 664 BCE and Tatanami, Taharqas nephew and son of the preceding king, Shabaka, assumed control of Kush. Upon ascension, Tatanami marched up from Nubia and took multiple cities on his journey to Memphis, where he met Necho I and his Egyptian-Assyrian troops.The coalition was victorious, but the triumph was bittersweet. Necho I was killed in the battle. His son succeeded him and became Psamtik I of Sais. The victory was further soured because the Egyptians preferred Nubian rule to Assyrian domination. Psamtik I was forced to flee back to Assyria.Psamtik I returned to Egypt with Ashurbanipal and a large army around 40 days later. Tatanami escaped to Thebes, but the coalition followed him and sacked the city. Evidence for the sack of Thebes is controversial. Ashurbanipal states that he deported vast numbers of inhabitants and seized a colossal amount of plunder. But records from the city show that most of the officials who were in power before the sacking remained in their positions afterward. Nevertheless, the significance of the sack of Thebes was monumental. The attack is discussed in the Bible in both the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Nahum, which both attest to Assyrias cruel treatment of Thebes inhabitants.Rise of Psamtik IBust of Psamtik I, Egypt, 664-610 BCE. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtDuring the attack, Tatanami escaped once more, this time further south to Nubia. Tatanami would never again pose a threat to Lower Egypt, and neither would any other Kushite king. Tatanami died around 653 BCE and was buried in El-Kurru, the Kushite royal cemetery. The sack of Thebes effectively led to the end of Kushite rule of Egypt and directly led to the establishment of the 26th dynasty.Psamtik I ruled by the Assyrian arrangements as part of the Egyptian Dodecharcy, the system of government in Egypt established when Necho I was king. Twelve regional kings ruled over the Nile Delta, with the king of Sais as the most powerful. But conflict soon erupted between the kings. According to Herodotus, it started when Psamtik I fulfilled a prophecy that would allow him to become king of all Egypt. In retaliation, the other kings banished Psamtik I. While he was absent, Psamtik I received another prophecy in Buto, which stated he would have his revenge with help from bronze men of the sea.By 662 BCE, Psamtik I consorted with King Gyges of Lydia, who sent mercenaries to aid the Egyptian king to take back Memphis. He also likely received support from Arabs from the Sinai Peninsula. With their help, Psamtik I successfully regained his territory, and many of the opposing kings disappeared into Libya.Back in power, Psamtik I placed his military forces at various strategic points to protect against potential attack from the Kushites. By 657 BCE, Psamtik I was the sole ruler of the Nile Delta and had consolidated most of Lower Egypt into one state again. Then in 655 and 654 BCE, Psamtik successfully fought against Libyan tribes in the north of Egypt and stationed military units in the area. By his tenth regnal year, Psamtik I was fully in control of the whole of Egypt.Assyrian-Egyptian Relations Before the Fall of AssyriaThe Fall of Nineveh, by John Martin, 1829. Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales, AustraliaHistorians often debate the matter of Assyria and Egypts relations during the rest of the reign of Ashurbanipal. It is clear that Psamtik I went against the Assyrian regime by initiating conflict with the other regional kings of the Egyptian Dodecharcy, whom Assyria had also put in power. However, Assyrian sources do not mention these events, and more importantly, Psamtik I never fought against Assyrian power. Furthermore, the Arabs of the Sinai Peninsula were another vassal state of Assyria. Their alliance with Psamtik I may have been brokered by Ashurbanipal.Ashurbanipal may have had less than amicable relations with King Gyges of Lydia, because he refused a pact with Assyria, but the two nations never fought. Gyges had asked Assyria for help against the Cimmerians, but refused to pay tribute and therefore avoided becoming an Assyrian vassal. Nevertheless, when he fought the Cimmerians with no aid and won, Gyges still sent captives to Assyria.Therefore, it appears that the alliance between Ashurbanipal and Psamtik I held up for the rest of the Assyrian kings reign, and even extended into the reigns of his successors. After the death of Ashurbanipal in 631 BCE, Assyria fell into disarray. The following kings could not keep up with the vast empire Assyria had amassed and many vassals took the opportunity to establish their independence. The Scythians, for example, seized the chance to fill the power vacuum left by the Assyrians in the Levant. As they were expanding their territory in the Levant, Psamtik I met them and persuaded them to return home.Psamtik I died in 610 BCE, but not before he had made conclusive efforts to assist Assyrias efforts in the Levant against an affiliation of Babylonians, Medes, and Chaldeans. He was succeeded by his son Necho II, who continued to support Assyria in its period of rapid decline. The Egyptians were present at the Battle of Megiddo and Battle of Harran in 609 BCE, and the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, on the Assyrian side.Although the Egyptian-Assyrian efforts were futile and the Neo-Assyrian Empire collapsed, Necho II went on to have a successful reign. On his return from war in Mesopotamia in 605 BCE, he fought with the new Judean King, Jehoahaz, and took him back to Egypt as his prisoner. This is mentioned in the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles. He spent the rest of his reign fostering positive relations with areas of Anatolia and Greece. In the end, the Assyrian conquest of Egypt resulted in the growth of Egyptian power and security and a strong alliance until the end of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Voin, the Doom meets Dark Souls RPG, expands with a chilling major update As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases and other affiliate schemes. Learn more. The first time I ever played Voin, I was instantly hooked. The first-person dark fantasy RPG deftly blends Dark Souls and Doom into something...

The first time I ever played Voin, I was instantly hooked. The first-person dark fantasy RPG deftly blends Dark Souls and Doom into something completely new, and is well worth playing if you havent yet. On the one hand, Voins got the methodical swordplay and exploration of Fromsoftwares best. On the other, it has ids fast-paced, brutal, and blood-pumping action that refuses to ever slow down. I adore Voin because it manages to jump between these states of being on the fly, turning it into a game unlike any other. Now, its next major update is here alongside a sale, making it the ideal time to dive in. Continue reading Voin, the Doom meets Dark Souls RPG, expands with a chilling major updateMORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best RPG games, Best open-world games, Best fantasy games

When a product fails to cut the mustard, that means it falls short of expectations. In the case of these recalls, the mustard failed to make the cut.

Guillaume CRAQUE pour son Anniversaire sur Brawl Stars !