The tenth century is usually regarded as a low point in European history. In China it was also a period of political upheaval. In the Muslim World, however, it was a cultural zenith, especially in Spain. Also it was the zenith for the Byzantine and Bulgarian Empires.
Medievalist and historian of technology Lynn White said that "to the modern eye, it is very nearly the darkest of the Dark Ages", but concluded that ". . . if it was dark, it was the darkness of the womb."[1] Similarly, Helen Waddell wrote that the tenth century was that which "in the textbooks disputes with the seventh the bad eminence, the nadir of the human intellect."[2] Even in the fifteenth century, Lorenzo Valla described it as the Century of Lead and Iron.
Events
This statue of a yogini goddess was created in Kaveripakkam in Tamil Nadu, India, during the 10th century.
In 932, the first use of gunpowder in battle occurred with the Chinese Battle of Lang-shan Jiang (Wolf Mountain River), where the naval fleet of the Wen-Mu King was defeated by Qian Yuan-guan because he had used 'fire oil' (huo yóu, ??) of gunpowder-fuse ignited flamethrowers to burn his fleet.
Half-section of the Night Revels of Han Xizai, by Chinese artistGu Hongzhong, 10th century. A women is seen entertaining guests with a pipa on the right-hand side.
Zhang Sixun of China uses for the first time liquid mercury (element) instead of water to power the escapement mechanism rotating an armillary sphere, since liquid mercury does not freeze easily like water during winter, and doesn't rust metal parts
Fire Arrows are invented by the Chinese, along with the use of the first blackpowder impregnated fuses for igniting the blast of double-piston flamethrowers which employed Greek Fire, an imported good from Arabia in the early part of the century.
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