Ancient Halaria

Ancient Halarian City States
c. 4000 BCE–c. 1400 BCE
Capital		Not specified
Languages		Halarian
Political structure		Confederation
History
•	Established	c. 4000 BCE
•	Disestablished	c. 1400 BCE
b.	...

Halaria was an ancient civilization based around Lake Khuda and the Ekuos River, in what is now Azerin and Barradiwa. It was famously known for its dualist cosmology tied to the monsoon pattern.

Ancient Halaria never unified, remaining as interconnected city states sharing a culture. Scholars tend to either split its 2 millenia long history into 3 periods (Old, Middle, and Late periods), into 6 (with 1 corresponding roughly to the Late Period, 2 and 3 to the Middle Period, and 4-6 to the Old Period), or a comprimise position of splitting period 4 into a "transitionary period" between Old and Middle Periods.

Because of its wide savanna, it never really had any defined borders. Especially because in many periods, it was closely aligned with several pastoralist groups who were not Halarians proper, but did use the Halarian langauge, adopted many hallmarks of Halarian culture, and did settle in Halarian city-states especially in times of crisis.

Old Period (periods 5-6, roughly 4000 BCE to 2450 BCE)

The Old Period started at the beginning of the 4th millenium BCE, and by the middle of the 4th millenium, we see evidence of writing across the Lake Khuda region by about 3500 BCE. Because of the lack of written evidence from this period, some scholars argue that the beginning of the 4th millenium should be considered a separate 7th period.

The Old Period was generally defined by city-states with a strong bifurcated tribal system, wherein citizens would act with their maternal tribe during the wet season, and the their paternal tribe during the dry season. The two sets of tribes would not necessarily overlap, with some tribes only existing in one or the other month. Each tribe had a central tribal god, as well as the collective gods of the city.

Cities were built around a central temple complex, with a House of All Gods, where city wide meetings were held, and priests and elders frequently lived in. In addition, each tribe had a smaller shrine around the city as well.

While the Middle and Late Periods tend to be known for their Cult of the Trickster alongside their gods, there is no evidence from the 6th period, and only a bit of evidence from the 5th period and only in a small number of cities on the southern shore of Lake Khuda for the Trickster getting a special status.

6th and 7th period was mostly focused on the cities of Stalo, Ritkes, Nunkes, Madrana, and the now lost city of Halar, but the 5th period saw an expansion to most of the range of the Halarian core.

Legacy

Later civilizations would tie themselves to the legacy of Ancient Halaria. In the 11th C BCE, the city of Madrana had a “Halarian renaissance,” so Madranite Neo-Halarian became an important language of Early Iovism.