HISTORY

Qin Shi Huang, original name Yíng Zhèng, eventual name Qin Shi Huangdi, unified the warring states of China under one rule - his rule - in 221 BC, aged 39. He is seen as both a ruthless tyrant and a great visionary leader. Not only was China unified, but so was the Chinese script. He built the precursor to the Great Wall of China in order to keep the ruthless nomadic tribes of the northern provinces out. He also built a massive national road system, as well as a great Terracotta Army to guard over him in the afterlife, and his Tomb is supposed to be the size of a city. All these endeavors make his mark on history but cost many, many lives.

He was obsessed with the idea of immortality and sought it constantly. He sent out hundreds of young men and women out in search of the fabled Mount Penglai, home of the immortals. They never returned, fearing execution, and most probably settled in Japan. After an assassin called Zhang Liang (who would later help found the Han Dynasty) got too close, the Emperor became paranoid about staying in one place for too long and travelled constantly. He hired many doubles who were scattered over China.

Qin Shi Huangdi died after taking mercury pills mixed with his food. His alchemists believed that if mercury could absorb gold, then if eaten the powers of the mercury would be transferred to that person.

The Chinese historian Sima Qian (writing a century after the Emperor's death) said that it took 700,000 men to construct the Emperor's Tomb. He wrote that it includes replicas of palaces and scenic towers, 'rare utensils and wonderful objects', 100 rivers made with mercury, representations of 'the heavenly bodies', and crossbows rigged to shoot anyone who tried to break in. Just a normal Indiana Jones tomb, then.

Sima Qian never mentioned the Terracotta Army that was laid to guard the Emperor, however. This is only discovered in 1974 and archaeologists have still not finished uncovering it. The figures are life size and no two are alike. Most researchers believe that each statue is based on an actual soldier of that time.

In Istanbul, Indy discovers that the Nazis have unearthed a sunken temple of Belisarius. While the palace itself isn't special, the man behind it was.

Flavius Belisarius was one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire in the 6th Century AD. Although less well known than many other great generals of history, his skills and accomplishments match them with ease. He recovered much of the lands of the Western Roman Empire recently lost under the emperor Justinian I.

In 533 AD he sailed to Africa, where his forces battled with the Vandals under their usurper king Gelimer. Despite the Vandals having a superior position Belisarius rallied his forces, defeated the Vandals and captured Carthage. Impressed, the emperor Justinian sent Belisarius to fight the Ostrogoths who had captured Rome and much of Italy. He succeeded, and would continue to successfully defend the reacquired Rome against the Goths and even managed to move north and capture the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna.

However, Justinian would grow jealous of Belisarius' popularity and success, and sent him East to deal with the Persian conquest of Syria. After a long and fruitless campaign, he negotiated a truce and returned to Rome - where he found that under Justinian's inept guidance the Ostrogoths had retaken all that his army had fought for. He briefly retook Rome once more, but the emperor deliberately starved him of supplies, forcing him to retreat.

He was retired by Justinian who replaced him with Narses, who fortunately was a competent choice and managed to reconquer Rome once more. However in 559 Justinian recalled Belisarius to command the Byzantine army against a Bulgar invasion. Belisarius defeated the Bulgars with a grossly outnumbered defending force at his command.

A 12th century inscription on a fountain in Santa Maria in Trivio is the only surviving monument of the great general.

Recently popularised by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and making a surprise cameo appearance in this game, the legendary sea monster called the Kraken has had documented sightings as far back as the 13th century. The Norse Sagas contain monsters called the hafgufa and lyngbakr very similar to Krakens, but it was Carl Linnaeus in 1735 who first documented that the Kraken was a cephalopod.

The name "Kraken" comes from the Scandinavian word 'krake' meaning a twisted, unhealthy animal. The early sightings and legends come from Scandinavian countries like Norway. In 1802, the French malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort categorised two types of giant octopus, the kraken octopus and the colossal octopus. After they proved popular he tried to claim that various British warships were destroyed by Krakens - unfortunately the British knew exactly what happened to the warships he named and so he was disgraced.

It was Alfred Tennyson's sonnet The Kraken (1830) that made the monster one single creature.

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth...

Jules Verne's giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) allowed the Kraken to stay popular until today. Giant squid have always been accepted as fact by scientists, but it wasn't until 2004 that one was caught alive on camera.

LUCASARTS SAYS...

Join daring archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones as he travels to 1935 China to prevent a powerful artifact from falling into evil hands. Indy's latest globe-spanning adventure takes you from the jungles of Ceylon and underwater palaces in Istanbul, to the deadly streets of Hong Kong and beyond. Racing against evil Nazis and the Asian underworld with mysterious, alluring partner Mei Ying, you'll leap, swim, climb and punch your way through exotic locales, fighting hand-to- hand combat from street brawls to martial arts battles. It will take more than just your trusty whip and pistol to avoid deadly traps and navigate through all the dangerous environments. Do you have what it takes to possess the mysterious "Heart of the Dragon?"

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