How two Byzantine princesses scandalized Europe by using a fork

A few years ago I was invited to dinner by some Bengali friends and when we sat down what was…

How did the Persians count their battle casualties?

On April 19, 531 A.D., two fairly evenly matched forces (about 20,000 men on each side) clashed on the banks of the Euphrates near present-day Raqqah in Syria. On one side were the Byzantine troops under the command of Belisarius, and on the other those of the Sassanian Empire led by Azarethes.