1.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
2.
Myrina (Aeolis)
–
Myrina was one of the Aeolian cities on the western coast of Mysia, about 40 stadia to the southwest of Gryneion. The former bishopric is now a Latin Catholic titular see and its site is believed to be occupied by the modern Sandarlik at the mouth of the Koca Çay, near the town of Aliağa in Izmir Province, in the Aegean Region of Turkey, near Kalavasi. It is said to have founded by one Myrinus before the other Aeolian cities. Artaxerxes gave Gryneium and Myrina to Gongylus, an Eretrian, who had banished from his native city for favoring the interests of Persia. Myrina was a strong place, though not very large. Pliny the Elder mentions the fame of its oysters and that it bore the surname of Sebastopolis, while, according to Syncellus, an inscription tells us that Myrina formed part of the Kingdom of Pergamon in the 3rd century BC. For some time Myrina was occupied by Philip V of Macedon, but the Romans compelled him to evacuate it, under Roman rule, Myrina was part of the Roman province of Asia Prima. The town was restored each time, and continued to exist until a late period and it was the birthplace of Agathias, a Byzantine poet and historian of the 6th century. Myrina minted coins in Antiquity, some of which survive, the site of Myrina was discovered at the mouth of the river that was the ancient Pythicos, whose alluvia have covered what was the citys harbour. Most of these may be today in the Museum of the Louvre. Under Roman rule, Myrina was part of the Roman province of Asia Prima, the names of some of its bishops are known, Dorotheus,431 AD, Proterius,451, John,553, Cosmas,787. It still existed as a see in the 14th century. It is now included in the Catholic Churchs list of titular bishoprics, nominally restored in the 18th century. M. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, asiaminorcoins. com, Ancient coins of Myrina Gigacatholic with titular incumbent biography links
3.
Anatolia
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
4.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
5.
Historian
–
A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although historian can be used to describe amateur and professional historians alike, some historians, though, are recognized by publications or training and experience. Historian became an occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany. Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, while ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region, the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who later became known as the father of history. Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men and he was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, while early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, livy records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire. His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history, in Chinese historiography, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts, which is the source for the Apostolic Age. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages and they wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammads life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, to evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the science of biography, science of hadith and Isnad
6.
Justinian I
–
Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. Justinian was born in Tauresium around 482, a native speaker of Latin, he came from a peasant family believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus, which he later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace and his mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology, Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced, another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinians appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, during Justins reign, Justinian was the emperors close confidant. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler, Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justins death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign, as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as the emperor who never sleeps on account of his work habits, nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople and she was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior
7.
Suda
–
The Suda or Souda is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is a lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost. The Suda is somewhere between a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia in the modern sense and it explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the philology of its period, using such earlier authorities as Harpocration and Helladios. The articles on history are especially valuable. These entries supply details and quotations from authors whose works are otherwise lost and they use older scholia to the classics, and for later writers, Polybius, Josephus, the Chronicon Paschale, George Syncellus, George Hamartolus, and so on. This lexicon represents a convenient work of reference for people who played a part in political, ecclesiastical, the chief source for this is the encyclopedia of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and for Roman history the excerpts of John of Antioch. Krumbacher counts two main sources of the work, Constantine VII for ancient history, and Hamartolus for the Byzantine age, the system is not difficult to learn and remember, but some editors—for example, Immanuel Bekker – rearranged the Suda alphabetically. Little is known of the compilation of work, except that it must have been written before it was quoted from extensively by Eustathius who lived from about 1115 AD to about 1195 or 1196. It would thus appear that the Suda was compiled sometime after 975, passages referring to Michael Psellus are considered later interpolations. It includes numerous quotations from ancient writers, the scholiasts on Aristophanes, Homer, other principal sources include a lexicon by Eudemus, perhaps derived from the work On Rhetorical Language by Eudemus of Argos. The work deals with biblical as well as subjects, from which it is inferred that the writer was a Christian. A prefatory note gives a list of dictionaries from which the portion was compiled. Although the work is uncritical and probably much interpolated, and the value of its articles is very unequal and its quotations from ancient authors make it a useful check on their manuscript traditions. A modern translation, the Suda On Line, was completed on 21 July 2014, the Suda has a near-contemporaneous Islamic parallel, the Kitab al-Fehrest of Ibn al-Nadim. Compare also the Latin Speculum Maius, authored in the 13th century by Vincent of Beauvais and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Sūïdas. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. Ancient Greek Scholarship, a guide to finding, reading, and understanding scholia, commentaries, lexica, Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press,2006. Tachypaedia Byzantina, The Suda On Line as Collaborative Encyclopedia, Digital Humanities Quarterly 3.1, an on-line edition of the Ada Adler edition with ongoing translations and commentary by registered editors
8.
Paul the Silentiary
–
Paul the Silentiary, also known as Paulus Silentiarius, was a Greek poet. His contemporary, the historian and poet Agathias, describes him as a rich man, Paul is best known and most admired for his short poems in the classical tradition, about 80 of which have been preserved in the Greek Anthology. Forty of these are love poems, two are replies to poems by Agathias, in another Paul laments the death of Damocharis of Cos, Agathiass favorite pupil. These short poems also contain interesting social information and he also composed in verse an ecphrasis or evocative account of Justinians cathedral of the Holy Wisdom, describing its architecture and decoration after the reconstruction of the dome in 562. Paul sees the church as a meadow of many-coloured marbles, the poem was probably commissioned by Justinian himself, and Paul had to read verses to the emperor through the inauguration. It consists of 1029 verses in Greek, starting with 134 lines of iambic trimeter and he also wrote a poem about the hot springs at Pythia. Paul died some time between 575 and 580, bell Sex and the Civil Servant, Poems by Paul the Silentiary, tr. Graham John Wheeler J. Kostenec, K. Dark, Paul the Silentiarys description of Hagia Sophia in the light of new evidence, in Byzantinoslavica, LXIX3 supplementum. R. Macrides, P. Magdalino, The architecture of ecphrasis, construction and context of Paul the Silentiarys poem on Hagia Sophia, in Byzantine And Modern Greek Studies,12, the Occasion of Paul the Silentiarys Ekphrasis of S. Sophia. Paul the Silentiary, The Magnificence of Hagia Sophia at The Internet Medieval Sourcebook Extracts of his eulogy of the Hagia Sophia
9.
Tribonian
–
Tribonian was a notable Roman jurist and advisor, who during the reign of the Emperor Justinian I, supervised the revision of the legal code of the Roman Empire. Tribonian was born in Side, in Pamphylia, around the year 500 and he was well educated and practiced law before the court of the praetorian prefect. Justinian made Tribonian magister officiorum, although it is not clear when, in 530, after Tribonian had become quaestor, it was natural for Justinian to put him in charge of the next major law reform project, compiling and harmonizing the writings of classical Roman jurists. Justinians main objects in creating this harmonized compilation of writings were to shorten litigation. Both the Digest and the new Institutes of Justinian were promulgated in December of 533. In 534, Justinian decided that so many new laws had been passed, and so many older ones harmonized, since the publication of his first Code in 529, a second edition was needed. Hence, the Codex repetitae praelectionis was published, entirely superseding the edition of 529, in 532 Tribonian was removed as quaestor due to the charges made by his enemies during the Nika riots, but he continued to work on the codification. He was restored to his post as quaestor in 535 and continued in that position until his death, Tribonian continued to help draft new laws for Justinian, these new laws were later combined with the Codex Justinianus, the Digest and the Institutes to comprise the Corpus Juris Civilis. Tribonian died in 542 of a disease, perhaps the plague and he drafted about three-quarters of the surviving constitutions of Justinians reign. He planned and directed the work of the Second Law Commission, which produced the Digest, the Institutes and the Second Codex Iustinianus
10.
Alexandria
–
Alexandria is the second largest city and a major economic centre in Egypt, extending about 32 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country. Its low elevation on the Nile delta makes it vulnerable to rising sea levels. Alexandria is Egypts largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypts imports and exports and it is an important industrial center because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria is also an important tourist destination, Alexandria was founded around a small Ancient Egyptian town c.331 BC by Alexander the Great. Alexandria was the second most powerful city of the ancient world after Rome, Alexandria is believed to have been founded by Alexander the Great in April 331 BC as Ἀλεξάνδρεια. Alexanders chief architect for the project was Dinocrates, Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile valley. The city and its museum attracted many of the greatest scholars, including Greeks, Jews, the city was later plundered and lost its significance. Just east of Alexandria, there was in ancient times marshland, as early as the 7th century BC, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion. The latter was rediscovered under water. An Egyptian city, Rhakotis, already existed on the shore also and it continued to exist as the Egyptian quarter of the city. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt and never returned to his city, after Alexanders departure, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the expansion. Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandrias continuous development, the Heptastadion, inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the center of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage. In a century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and and it became Egypts main Greek city, with Greek people from diverse backgrounds. Alexandria was not only a center of Hellenism, but was home to the largest urban Jewish community in the world. The Septuagint, a Greek version of the Tanakh, was produced there, in AD115, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Kitos War, which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. On 21 July 365, Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami, the Islamic prophet, Muhammads first interaction with the people of Egypt occurred in 628, during the Expedition of Zaid ibn Haritha. He sent Hatib bin Abi Baltaeh with a letter to the king of Egypt and Alexandria called Muqawqis In the letter Muhammad said, I invite you to accept Islam, Allah the sublime, shall reward you doubly. But if you refuse to do so, you bear the burden of the transgression of all the Copts
11.
Beirut
–
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been done but in 2007 estimates ranged from more than 1 million to slightly less than 2 million as part of Greater Beirut. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanons Mediterranean coast, Beirut is the countrys largest and it is one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited more than 5,000 years ago. The first historical mention of Beirut is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters dating from the 15th century BC, the Beirut River runs south to north on the eastern edge of the city. Beirut is Lebanons seat of government and plays a role in the Lebanese economy, with most banks and corporations based in its Central District, Badaro, Rue Verdun, Hamra. Following the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beiruts cultural landscape underwent major reconstruction, identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law, Beirut is ranked as a Beta World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. In May 2015, Beirut was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz. Beirut I, or Minet el Hosn, was listed as Beyrouth ville by Louis Burkhalter and said to be on the beach near the Orent, the site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1900. The flint industry from the site was described as Mousterian and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Beirut II, or Umm el Khatib, was suggested by Burkhalter to have been south of Tarik el Jedideh, where P. E. Gigues discovered a Copper Age flint industry at around 100 metres above sea level, the site had been built on and destroyed by 1948. Beirut III, Furn esh Shebbak or Plateau Tabet, was suggested to have located on the left bank of the Beirut River. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by Lorraine Copeland, P. E. Gigues discovered a series of Neolithic flint tools on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a hut circle. Auguste Bergy discussed polished axes that were found at this site. The area was covered in red sand that represented Quaternary river terraces, the site was found by Jesuit Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen, Raoul Describes and Auguste Bergy. Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, a large number of Middle Paleolithic flint tools were found on the surface and in side gullies that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied bifaces accredited to the Acheulean period, some with a lustrous sheen, Henri Fleisch also found an Emireh point amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings. Levallois flints and bones and similar material were found amongst brecciated deposits. The area has now built on
12.
Law school of Beirut
–
The law school of Beirut was a center for the study of Roman law in classical antiquity located in Beirut. It flourished under the patronage of the Roman emperors and functioned as the Roman Empires preeminent center of jurisprudence until its destruction in A. D.551. The law schools of the Roman Empire established organized repositories of imperial constitutions and institutionalized the study, the archiving of imperial constitutions facilitated the task of jurists in referring to legal precedents. The origins of the law school of Beirut are obscure, the earliest written mention of the school dates to 239, when its reputation had already been established. The school attracted young, affluent Roman citizens, and its professors made major contributions to the Codex of Justinian, the school achieved such wide recognition throughout the Empire that Beirut was known as the Mother of Laws. Beirut was one of the few allowed to continue teaching jurisprudence when Byzantine emperor Justinian I shut down other provincial law schools. The course of study at Beirut lasted for five years and consisted in the revision and analysis of classical texts and imperial constitutions. Justinian took a personal interest in the process, charging the bishop of Beirut, the governor of Phoenicia Maritima. The schools facilities were destroyed in the aftermath of an earthquake that hit the Phoenician coastline. It was moved to Sidon but did not survive the Arab conquest of 635, ancient texts attest that the school was next to the ancient Anastasis church, vestiges of which lie beneath the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Beiruts historic center. As the guarantor of justice, the Roman emperor was expected to devote substantial amounts of time to judicial matters and he was the chief magistrate whose major prerogative was the ordering of all public affairs, for which he could demand assistance from anyone at any time. From the reign of Augustus, jurists began compiling organized repositories of imperial edicts, every new judicial decision was founded on archived legal precedents and earlier deliberations. The edict repositories and the imperially sponsored juristic scholarship gave rise to the earliest law school system of the Western world and it was chosen as a regional center instead of the more prominent Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, which had a history of belligerence against Rome. Beirut was first mentioned in writing as a center for the study of law in the 239 works of Gregory Thaumaturgus. Other early written sources do not mention when the law school was established, Adolf Friedrich Rudorff dated it to the reign of Hadrian, while Franz Peter Bremer suggested that it opened around 200, based on Thaumaturgus. After arriving in Beirut, these were translated into Greek, published and archived and this function was first recorded in 196, the date of the earliest constitutions contained in the Gregorian Codex, but the city is thought to have served as a repository since earlier times. The 3rd-century emperors Diocletian and Maximian issued constitutions exempting the students of the law school of Beirut from compulsory service in their hometowns, on July 9,551, the Phoenician coastal cities were devastated by a high-magnitude earthquake. In Beirut the earthquake was followed by a tsunami and a fire that obliterated the city, in the aftermath,30,000 people lost their lives, including many students from abroad
13.
Sidon
–
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 kilometres north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital, in Genesis, Sidon is a son of Canaan, a grandson of Noah. Its name coincides with the modern Arabic word for fishery, two castles there were cleaned and restored by the French in the early 20th century. Sidon has been inhabited very early in prehistory. It was one of the most important Phoenician cities, and it may have been the oldest, from there and other ports a great Mediterranean commercial empire was founded. Homer praised the skill of its craftsmen in producing glass, purple dyes and it was also from here that a colonizing party went to found the city of Tyre. Tyre also grew into a city, and in subsequent years there was competition between the two, each claiming to be the metropolis of Phoenicia. Glass manufacturing, Sidons most important enterprise in the Phoenician era, was conducted on a vast scale, the small shell of the Murex trunculus was broken in order to extract the pigment that was so rare it became the mark of royalty. In AD1855, the sarcophagus of King Eshmun’azar II was discovered, in this inscription the gods Eshmun and Ba‘al Sidon Lord of Sidon are mentioned as chief gods of the Sidonians. ‘Ashtart is entitled ‘Ashtart-Shem-Ba‘al ‘Ashtart the name of the Lord, a title found in an Ugaritic text. In the years before Christianity, Sidon had many conquerors, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, both Jesus and Saint Paul are said to have visited it, too. The city was conquered by the Arabs and then by the Ottoman Turks. Like other Phoenician city-states, Sidon suffered from a succession of conquerors, at the end of the Persian era in 351 BC, it was invaded by the emperor Artaxerxes III and then by Alexander the Great in 333 BC, when the Hellenistic era of Sidon began. Under the successors of Alexander, it enjoyed autonomy and organized games. When Sidon fell under Roman domination, it continued to mint its own silver coins, the Romans also built a theater and other major monuments in the city. In the reign of Elagabalus a Roman colony was established there, during the Byzantine period, when the great earthquake of AD551 destroyed most of the cities of Phoenice, Beiruts School of Law took refuge in Sidon. The town continued quietly for the century, until it was conquered by the Arabs in AD636. On 4 December 1110 Sidon was captured, a decade after the First Crusade, by King Baldwin I of Jerusalem and it then became the centre of the Lordship of Sidon, an important lordship in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
14.
Constantinople
–
Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
15.
Kos
–
Kos or Cos is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the Anatolian coast of Turkey. Kos is the third largest of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos, it has a population of 33,388, making it the second most populous of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes. The island measures 40 by 8 kilometres, and is 4 km from the coast of the ancient region of Caria in Turkey, administratively, Kos constitutes a municipality within the Kos regional unit, which is part of the South Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Kos town, the name Kos is first attested in the Iliad, and has been in continuous use since. Other ancient names include Meropis, Cea, and Nymphaea, the similar Istanbul, and Stimpoli, Crete. Under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes, it was known as Lango or Langò, in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, the author misunderstands this, and treats Lango and Kos as distinct islands. In Italian, the island is known as Coo, a person from Kos is called a Koan in English. The word is also an adjective, as in Koan goods, Kos is in the Aegean Sea. Its coastline is 112 kilometres long and it extends from west to east, in addition to the main town and port, also called Kos, the main villages of Kos island are Kardamena, Kefalos, Tingaki, Antimachia, Mastihari, Marmari and Pyli. Smaller ones are Zia, Zipari, Platani, Lagoudi and Asfendiou, tourism is the main industry in Kos, the islands beaches being the primary attraction. The seaside village of Kardamena is a resort for young holidaymakers and has a large number of bars. Farming is the principal occupation, with the main crops being grapes, almonds, figs, olives. Cos lettuce may be here, but the name is unrelated. In Homers Iliad, a contingent of Koans fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War, in classical mythology, the island was visited by Heracles. The island was colonised by the Carians. The Dorians invaded it in the 11th century BC, establishing a Dorian colony with a contingent of settlers from Epidaurus. The other chief sources of the islands lay in its wines and, in later days. Its early history–as part of the religious-political amphictyony that included Lindos, Kamiros, Ialysos, Cnidus and Halicarnassus, at the end of the 6th century, Kos fell under Achaemenid domination but rebelled after the Greek victory at the Battle of Mycale in 479
16.
Michael (archangel)
–
Michael is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions, he is called Saint Michael the Archangel, in the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox traditions, he is called Taxiarch Archangel Michael or simply Archangel Michael. Michael is mentioned three times in the Book of Daniel, in the New Testament Michael leads Gods armies against Satans forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. In the Epistle of Jude Michael is specifically referred to as the archangel Michael, by the 6th century, devotions to Archangel Michael were widespread both in the Eastern and Western Churches. Over time, teachings on Michael began to vary among Christian denominations, Michael is mentioned three times in the Hebrew Scriptures, all in the book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel experiences a vision after having undergone a period of fasting, Daniel 10, 13-21 describes Daniels vision of an angel who identifies Michael as the protector of Israel. At Daniel 12,1, Daniel is informed that Michael will arise during the time of the end, the Book of Revelation describes a war in heaven in which Michael, being stronger, defeats Satan. After the conflict, Satan is thrown to earth along with the fallen angels, in the Epistle of Jude 1,9, Michael is referred to as an archangel when he again confronts Satan. A reference to an archangel also appears in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians 4,16 and this archangel who heralds the second coming of Christ is not named, but is often associated with Michael. Michael, is one of the two mentioned in the Quran, alongside Jibreel. In the Quran, Michael is mentioned only, in Sura 2,98, Whoever is an enemy to God, and His angels and His messengers. Then, God is an enemy to the disbelievers, some Muslims believe that the reference in Sura 11,69 is Michael, one of the three angels who visited Abraham. Michaels enmity with Samael dates from the time when the latter was thrown down from heaven, Samael took hold of the wings of Michael, whom he wished to bring down with him in his fall, but Michael was saved by God. But appeal to Michael seems to have more common in ancient times. Thus Jeremiah is said to have addressed a prayer to him, the rabbis declare that Michael entered upon his role of defender at the time of the biblical patriarchs. Thus, according to Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob, it was Michael who rescued Abraham from the furnace into which he had been thrown by Nimrod. It was Michael, the one that had escaped, who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive, and he announced to Sarah that she would bear a son and he rescued Lot at the destruction of Sodom. It is said that Michael prevented Isaac from being sacrificed by his father by substituting a ram in his place, later Michael prevented Laban from harming Jacob
17.
Archangel
–
An archangel /ˌɑːrkˈeɪndʒəl/ is an angel of high rank. The word archangel itself is associated with the Abrahamic religions. The word archangel is derived from the Greek ἀρχάγγελος, Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism, Islam and by most Christians. Protestants recognize Gabriel as an angel but consider Michael to be the only archangel, raphael—mentioned in the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit—is also recognized in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael are venerated in the Roman Catholic Church with a feast on September 29, the named archangels in Islam are Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrael. Jewish literature, such as the Book of Enoch, mentions Metatron as an archangel, called the highest of the angels, some branches of the faiths mentioned have identified a group of seven Archangels, but the actual angels vary, depending on the source. Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael are always mentioned, the other archangels vary, but most commonly include Uriel, in Zoroastrianism, sacred texts allude to the six great Amesha Spenta of Ahura Mazda. An increasing number of experts in anthropology, theology and philosophy, the Amesha Spentas of Zoroastrianism are likened to archangels. They individually inhabit immortal bodies that operate in the world to protect, guide, and inspire humanity. The Avesta explains the origin and nature of archangels or Amesha Spentas, to maintain equilibrium, Ahura Mazda engaged in the first act of creation, distinguishing his Holy Spirit Spenta Mainyu, the Archangel of righteousness. Ahura Mazda also distinguished from himself six more Amesha Spentas, who, along with Spenta Mainyu, then he oversaw the development of sixteen lands, each imbued with a unique cultural catalyst calculated to encourage the formation of distinct human populations. The Amesha Spentas were charged with protecting these holy lands and through their emanation, the Amesha Spentas as attributes of God are, Spenta Mainyu, lit. Immortality The Hebrew Bible uses the ter. מלאכי אלוהים, The Hebrew word for angel is malach, מלאכי י י, בני אלוהים and הקדושים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angelic messengers. Other terms are used in texts, such as העליונים. References to angels are uncommon in Jewish literature except in works such as the Book of Daniel, though they are mentioned briefly in the stories of Jacob. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name and it is therefore widely speculated that Jewish interest in angels developed during the Babylonian captivity. According to Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish of Tiberias, specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, there are no explicit references to archangels in the canonical texts of the Hebrew Bible. In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels came to take on a particular significance, though these archangels were believed to have rank amongst the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy ever developed
18.
John of Epiphania
–
John of Epiphania was a late sixth century Byzantine historian. He was a Christian and served as a counselor to the Patriarch of Antioch. John was also a cousin of the church historian Evagrius Scholasticus, in his role as legal adviser, he was a witness to the Persian king, Khosrau Parvezs retreat into Roman territory, and may have even met the king. Khosrau was restored to the Persian throne by the Roman emperor Maurice, John may have also visited Persia John wrote a history of the Byzantine-Persian wars, from the campaigns of Khosrau I against Justin II, to the flight of his grandson Khosrau II to the Byzantines. The work is lost, but a fragment is preserved, the history was used by Evagrius and Theophylact Simocatta. As with many other Byzantine works, it is written in a form of Greek
19.
Rhetoric
–
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, wherein a writer or speaker strives to inform, persuade or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of study and a productive civic practice. Its best known definition comes from Aristotle, who considers it a counterpart of both logic and politics, and calls it the faculty of observing in any case the available means of persuasion. The five canons of rhetoric, which trace the traditional tasks in designing a persuasive speech, were first codified in classical Rome, invention, arrangement, style, memory, along with grammar and logic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. From Ancient Greece to the late 19th century, it was a part of Western education. Scholars have debated the scope of rhetoric since ancient times, although some have limited rhetoric to the specific realm of political discourse, many modern scholars liberate it to encompass every aspect of culture. Contemporary studies of rhetoric address a diverse range of domains than was the case in ancient times. Many contemporary approaches treat rhetoric as human communication that includes purposeful, Public relations, lobbying, law, marketing, professional and technical writing, and advertising are modern professions that employ rhetorical practitioners. Because the ancient Greeks highly valued public political participation, rhetoric emerged as a tool to influence politics. Consequently, rhetoric remains associated with its political origins, however, even the original instructors of Western speech—the Sophists—disputed this limited view of rhetoric. According to the Sophists, such as Gorgias, a successful rhetorician could speak convincingly on any topic and this method suggested rhetoric could be a means of communicating any expertise, not just politics. In his Encomium to Helen, Gorgias even applied rhetoric to fiction by seeking for his own pleasure to prove the blamelessness of the mythical Helen of Troy in starting the Trojan War. Looking to another key rhetorical theorist, Plato defined the scope of rhetoric according to his opinions of the art. He criticized the Sophists for using rhetoric as a means of deceit instead of discovering truth, in Gorgias, one of his Socratic Dialogues, Plato defines rhetoric as the persuasion of ignorant masses within the courts and assemblies. Rhetoric, in Platos opinion, is merely a form of flattery and functions similarly to cookery, thus, Plato considered any speech of lengthy prose aimed at flattery as within the scope of rhetoric. Aristotle both redeemed rhetoric from his teacher and narrowed its focus by defining three genres of rhetoric—deliberative, forensic or judicial, and epideictic, when one considers that rhetoric included torture, it is clear that rhetoric cannot be viewed only in academic terms. However, the enthymeme based upon logic was viewed as the basis of rhetoric, however, since the time of Aristotle, logic has changed. For example, Modal logic has undergone a major development that also modifies rhetoric, yet, Aristotle also outlined generic constraints that focused the rhetorical art squarely within the domain of public political practice
20.
Roman magistrate
–
The Roman magistrates were elected officials in Ancient Rome. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the King of Rome was the executive magistrate. His power, in practice, was absolute and he was the chief priest, lawgiver, judge, and the sole commander of the army. When the king died, his power reverted to the Roman Senate, during the transition from monarchy to republic, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the executive to the Roman Senate. When the Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC, the powers that had held by the king were transferred to the Roman consuls. Magistrates of the republic were elected by the people of Rome, Dictators had more major powers than any other magistrate, and after the Dictator was the censor, and then the consul, and then the praetor, and then the curule aedile, and then the quaestor. Any magistrate could obstruct an action that was being taken by a magistrate with an equal or lower degree of magisterial powers, during the transition from republic to empire, the constitutional balance of power shifted from the Roman Senate back to the executive. Theoretically, the senate elected each new emperor, in practice each emperor chose his own successor, the powers of an emperor existed, in theory at least, by virtue of his legal standing. The two most significant components to an emperors imperium were the powers and the proconsular powers. In theory at least, the tribunician powers gave the authority over Romes civil government. While these distinctions were clearly defined during the empire, eventually they were lost. The traditional magistracies that survived the fall of the republic were the consulship, praetorship, plebeian tribunate, aedileship, quaestorship, and military tribunate. Mark Antony abolished the offices of Roman dictator and Master of the Horse during his Consulship in 44 BC, while the offices of Interrex, the executive magistrates of the Roman Kingdom were elected officials of the ancient Roman Kingdom. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman King was the executive magistrate. He was the executive, chief priest, chief lawgiver, chief judge. His powers rested on law and legal precedent, and he could receive these powers through the political process of an election. In practice, he had no restrictions on his power. When war broke out, he had the power to organize and levy troops, to select leaders for the army
21.
Smyrna
–
Smyrna was an Ancient Greek city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. This place is today as İzmir, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, two sites of the ancient city are today within the boundaries of İzmir. The first site, probably founded by indigenous peoples, rose to prominence during the Archaic Period as one of the principal ancient Greek settlements in western Anatolia, the second, whose foundation is associated with Alexander the Great, reached metropolitan proportions during the period of the Roman Empire. Most of the remains of the ancient city date from the Roman era. In practical terms, a distinction is made between these. Old Smyrna was the settlement founded around the 11th century BC, first as an Aeolian settlement. Smyrna proper was the new city which residents moved to as of the 4th century BC and this Anatolian settlement commanded the gulf. Today, the site, named Bayraklı Höyüğü, is approximately 700 metres inland. New Smyrna developed simultaneously on the slopes of the Mount Pagos and alongside the coastal strait, the core of the late Hellenistic and early Roman Smyrna is preserved in the large area of İzmir Agora Open Air Museum at this site. Research is being pursued at the sites of both the old and the new cities and this has been conducted since 1997 for Old Smyrna and since 2002 for the Classical Period city, in collaboration between the İzmir Archaeology Museum and the Metropolitan Municipality of İzmir. For further information on etymology of the name, see İzmir#Names. Several explanations have been offered for its name, a Greek myth derived the name from an eponymous Amazon named Σμύρνα, which was also the name of a quarter of Ephesus. This is the basis of Myrina, a city of Aeolis, in inscriptions and coins, the name often was written as Ζμύρνα, Ζμυρναῖος, of Smyrna. The name Smyrna may also have taken from the ancient Greek word for myrrh, smyrna. The region was settled at least as of the beginning of the third millennium BC, or perhaps earlier, as the recent finds in Yeşilova Höyük suggests. It could have been a city of the autochthonous Leleges before the Greek colonists started to settle along the coast of Asia Minor as of the beginning of the first millennium BC, throughout antiquity Smyrna was a leading city-state of Ionia, with influence over the Aegean shores and islands. Smyrna was also among the cities that claimed Homer as a resident, the early Aeolian Greek settlers of Lesbos and Cyme, expanding eastwards, occupied the valley of Smyrna
22.
Latrine
–
The word latrine can refer to a toilet or a simpler facility which is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. It can be a trench in the earth in a camp. Latrines are still used in emergency situations, as well as in army camps. The use of latrines was an advance in sanitation over more basic practices such as open defecation. Until about 1920, when better sanitation practices were adopted, many soldiers died of disease than from wounds. The word latrine is derived from the Latin lavatrina, meaning bath and it is nowadays still commonly used in the term pit latrine. For most people, it has the connotation of something being less advanced and it is typically used to describe communal facilities, such as the shallow-trench latrines used in emergency situations, e. g. after an earthquake, flood or other natural disaster. Latrines are known as aphedrons in Greek, the word occurs three times in the Bible and was unknown in classical texts. Many forms of technology have been used, from very simple to more complex. The more sophisticated the system, the more likely that the toilet is used instead of latrine. A pit latrine is a simple and inexpensive toilet, minimally defined as a hole in the ground, more sophisticated pit latrines may include a floor plate, or ventilation to reduce odor and fly and mosquito breeding. Many military units, if intended for extended use, place basic shelters, a pit is typically sited well away from any water sources to minimize possible contamination. After prolonged use, a pit is typically buried, other types of pit latrines may include the Reed Odourless Earth Closet, the arborloo or treebog, or the twin pit pour-flush pit latrine, popularized by Sulabh International. The shelter that covers such a pit latrine is known in some varieties of English as an outhouse, in a location without longer term sanitation infrastructure, a trench toilet is a workable solution. It typically consists of a pit or a trench in the ground,4 feet to 5 feet deep and 4 feet to 20 feet long, a slit-trench latrine consists of a relatively shallow trench which is narrow enough to stand with one leg on either side. This type is used either by squatting, with the users legs straddling the pit, such support may be simply a log, plank, branch or similar arrangement placed at right angles to the long axis of the pit. This type of latrine is not commonly found in developing countries, the shallow-trench latrine is similar to the slit-trench latrine but is wider than the latter. It is also shallow, with a depth of about 150 mm and this type of latrine is often used in the initial phases of emergencies and is a simple improvement on open defecation fields
23.
Partridge
–
Partridges are medium-sized non-migratory gamebirds, with a wide native distribution throughout the Old World, including Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. They are sometimes grouped in the Perdicinae subfamily of the Phasianidae and these are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to the steppes of Europe, Asia, Africa. Nowadays they are found nesting on agricultural land. They nest on the ground and have a diet consisting of seeds, species such as the grey partridge and the red-legged partridge are popular as game birds, and are often reared in captivity and released for the purpose of hunting. For the same reason, they have been introduced into areas of North America. According to Greek legend, the first partridge appeared when Daedalus threw his nephew, Perdix, supposedly mindful of his fall, the bird does not build its nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights and avoids high places. The most famous reference to the partridge is in the Christmas carol, the first gift listed is a partridge in a pear tree, and these words end each verse. Since partridges are unlikely to be seen in pear-trees it has suggested that the text in a pear tree is a corruption of the French une perdrix. The partridge has also used as a symbol that represents Kurdish nationalism. Sherko Kurmanj discusses the paradox of symbols in Iraq as an attempt to make a distinction between the Kurds and the Arabs. He says that while Iraqis generally regards the palm tree, falcon, and sword as their symbols, the Kurds consider the Oak, Partridge
24.
Lais of Corinth
–
Lais of Corinth was a famous hetaira or courtesan of ancient Greece who was probably born in Corinth. A younger hetaira with the name was Lais of Hyccara. Since ancient authors often confuse them or do not indicate which they refer to, Lais lived during the Peloponnesian War and was said to be the most beautiful woman of the time. Among her clients were the philosopher Aristippus and the Olympic champion Eubotas of Cyrene, Lais of Corinth This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Charles Peter Mason. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
25.
Epigram
–
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. Derived from the Greek, ἐπίγραμμα epigramma inscription from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein to write on, to inscribe, the presence of wit or sarcasm tends to distinguish non-poetic epigrams from aphorisms and adages, which may lack them. These original epigrams did the job as a short prose text might have done. Epigram became a genre in the Hellenistic period, probably developing out of scholarly collections of inscriptional epigrams. Many of the types of literary epigram look back to inscriptional contexts, particularly funerary epigram. Many sympotic epigrams combine sympotic and funerary elements – they tell their readers to drink, epigrams are also thought of as having a point – that is, the poem ends in a punchline or satirical twist. By no means do all Greek epigrams behave this way, many are simply descriptive, Greek epigram was actually much more diverse, as the Milan Papyrus now indicates. A major source for Greek literary epigram is the Greek Anthology, the Anthology includes one book of Christian epigrams as well as one book of erotic and amorous epigrams called the Μουσα Παιδικη. Roman epigrams owe much to their Greek predecessors and contemporaries, Roman epigrams, however, were often more satirical than Greek ones, and at times used obscene language for effect. Its content, of course, makes it clear how popular such poems were, Admiror, O paries, Im astonished, wall, that you havent collapsed into ruins, since youre holding up the weary verse of so many poets. However, in the world, epigrams were most often gifts to patrons or entertaining verse to be published. Authors whose epigrams survive include Catullus, who wrote both invectives and love epigrams – his poem 85 is one of the latter, nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior. Maybe youd like to know why I do, I dont know, but I feel it happening, and Im crucified. Martial, however, is considered to be the master of the Latin epigram and his technique relies heavily on the satirical poem with a joke in the last line, thus drawing him closer to the modern idea of epigram as a genre. Here he defines his genre against a critic, Disce quod ignoras, non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis, sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis. Learn what you dont know, one work of Marsus or learned Pedo often stretches out over a doublesided page, a work isnt long if you cant take anything out of it, but you, Cosconius, write even a couplet too long. Poets known for their epigrams whose work has been lost include Cornificia, in early English literature the short couplet poem was dominated by the poetic epigram and proverb, especially in the translations of the Bible and the Greek and Roman poets. Since 1600, two lines of verse that rhyme with each other, known as a couplet featured as a part of the longer sonnet form
26.
Justin II
–
Justin II was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 to 574. He was the husband of Sophia, nephew of Justinian I and the Empress Theodora and his reign is marked by war with Sasanian Iran and the loss of the greater part of Italy. He presented the Cross of Justin II to Saint Peters, Rome and he was a son of Vigilantia and Dulcidio, respectively the sister and brother-in-law of Justinian. His siblings included Marcellus and Praejecta, Justinian I died on the night of 14 to 15 November 565. The clarification was needed because there was another nephew and candidate for the throne, Justin, modern historians suspect Callinicus may have fabricated the last words of Justinian to secure the succession for his political ally. As Robert Browning observed, Did Justinian really bring himself in the end to make a choice, in any case, Callinicus started alerting those most interested in the succession, originally various members of the Byzantine Senate. Then they jointly informed Justin and Vigilantia, offering the throne, Justin accepted after the traditional token show of reluctance, and with his wife Sophia, he was escorted to the Great Palace of Constantinople. The Excubitors blocked the palace entrances during the night, and early in the morning, John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople, only then was the death of Justinian and the succession of Justin publicly announced in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Both the Patriarch and Tiberius, commander of the Excubitors, had recently appointed, with Justin having played a part in their respective appointments. Their willingness to elevate their patron and ally to the throne was hardly surprising, in the first few days of his reign Justin paid his uncles debts, administered justice in person, and proclaimed universal religious toleration. Contrary to his uncle, Justin relied completely on the support of the aristocratic party, proud of character, and faced with an empty treasury, he discontinued Justinians practice of buying off potential enemies. Immediately after his accession, Justin halted the payment of subsidies to the Avars and they quickly overran the Po valley, and within a few years they had made themselves masters of nearly the entire country. The Avars themselves crossed the Danube in 573 or 574, when the Empires attention was distracted by troubles on the Persian frontier and they were only placated by the payment of a subsidy of 60,000 silver pieces by Justins successor Tiberius. The North and East frontiers were the focus of Justins attention. In 572 his refusal to pay tribute to the Persians in combination with overtures to the Turks led to a war with the Sassanid Empire, after two disastrous campaigns, in which the Persians overran Syria and captured the strategically important fortress of Dara, Justin reportedly lost his mind. Istämi refused the first request, but when he sanctioned the second one and had the Sogdian embassy sent to the Sassanid king, Justin agreed and sent an embassy to the Turkic Khaganate, ensuring the direct silk trade desired by the Sogdians. Previte-Orton continues, In foreign affairs he took the attitude of the invincible, unbending Roman, the temporary fits of insanity into which Justin fell warned him to name a colleague. Passing over his own relatives, he raised, on the advice of Sophia, the general Tiberius to be Caesar in December 574, adopting him as his son, in 574, Sophia paid 45,000 solidi to Chosroes in return for a years truce
27.
Greek Anthology
–
The Greek Anthology is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the Greek Anthology comes from two manuscripts, the Palatine Anthology of the 10th century and the Anthology of Planudes of the 14th century and it contained poems by the compiler himself and forty-six other poets, including Archilochus, Alcaeus, Anacreon, and Simonides. Meleagers Anthology was popular enough that it attracted later additions, prefaces to the editions of Philippus of Thessalonica and Agathias were preserved in the Greek Anthology to attest to their additions of later poems. The scholar Maximus Planudes also made an edition of the Greek Anthology and his anthology was the only one known to Western Europe until 1606 when Claudius Salmasius found in the library at Heidelberg a fuller collection based on Cephalas. The copy made by Salmasius was not, however, published until 1776, the first critical edition was that of F. Jacobs. Since its transmission to the rest of Europe, the Greek Anthology has left an impression on its readers. Its influence can be seen on writers as diverse as Propertius, Ezra Pound, since full and uncensored English translations became available at the end of the 20th century, its influence has widened still further. e. The modern use of the word is a departure from the original sense, the term was soon extended to any piece by which these conditions were fulfilled. These causes came into operation during the Alexandrian era, in which we find every description of epigrammatic composition perfectly developed. About 60 BC, the sophist and poet Meleager of Gadara undertook to combine the choicest effusions of his predecessors into a body of fugitive poetry. The arrangement of his collection was alphabetical, according to the letter of each epigram. In the age of the emperor Tiberius the work of Meleager was continued by another epigrammatist, Philippus of Thessalonica and his collection, which included the compositions of thirteen writers subsequent to Meleager, was also arranged alphabetically, and contained an introductory poem. It was of quality to Meleagers. These and other collections made during the Middle Ages are now lost, of his compilation extant, but who probably lived during the temporary revival of letters under Constantine Porphyrogenitus, at the beginning of the 10th century. His arrangement, to which we shall have to recur, is founded on a principle of classification and his principle of selection is unknown, it is only certain that while he omitted much that he should have retained, he has preserved much that would otherwise have perished. We are, however, indebted to him for the preservation of the epigrams on works of art, the Planudean Anthology was the only recension of the anthology known at the revival of classical literature, and was first published at Florence, by Janus Lascaris, in 1494. The manuscript itself had changed its quarters. In 1816 it went back to Heidelberg, but in an incomplete state and it is now represented at Heidelberg by a photographic facsimile
28.
Maximus Planudes
–
Maximus Planudes was a Byzantine Greek monk, scholar, anthologist, translator, grammarian and theologian at Constantinople. Through his translations from Latin into Greek and from Greek into Latin he brought the Greek East and he is now best known as a compiler of the Greek Anthology. Maximus Planudes lived during the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Michael VIII and he was born at Nicomedia in Bithynia in 1260, but the greater part of his life was spent in Constantinople, where as a monk he devoted himself to study and teaching. On entering the monastery he changed his original name Manuel to Maximus, Planudes possessed a knowledge of Latin remarkable at a time when Rome and Italy were regarded with some hostility by the Greeks of the Byzantine Empire. A more important result was that Planudes, especially by his translations, paved the way for the revival of the study of Greek language, traditionally, a translation of Julius Caesars De Bello Gallico has been attributed to Planudes, but this is much repeated mistake. These translations were not only useful to Greek speakers but were widely used in western Europe as textbooks for the study of Greek. It is, however, for his edition of the Greek Anthology that he is best known. J. W. Mackail in his book Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology, has this to add of him, Among his works were translations into Greek of Augustines City of God, the restored Greek Empire of the Palaeologi was then fast dropping to pieces. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Planudes. Editions include, Fabricius, Bibliotheca graeca, ed. Harles,682, theological writings in Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cxlvii, correspondence, ed. M Treu, with a valuable commentary K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur J. E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, vol
29.
Pausanias (geographer)
–
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the time of Roman emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a work that describes ancient Greece from his first-hand observations. This work provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, andrew Stewart assesses him as, A careful, pedestrian writer. interested not only in the grandiose or the exquisite but in unusual sights and obscure ritual. He is occasionally careless, or makes unwarranted inferences, and his guides or even his own notes sometimes mislead him, yet his honesty is unquestionable, before visiting Greece, he had been to Antioch, Joppa and Jerusalem, and to the banks of the River Jordan. In Egypt, he had seen the pyramids, while at the temple of Ammon, in Macedonia, he appears to have seen the alleged tomb of Orpheus in Libethra. Crossing over to Italy, he had something of the cities of Campania. He was one of the first to write of seeing the ruins of Troy, Alexandria Troas, Pausanias Description of Greece is in ten books, each dedicated to some portion of Greece. He begins his tour in Attica, where the city of Athens, subsequent books describe Corinthia, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boetia, Phocis and Ozolian Locris. He famously leaves out key portions of Greece such as Crete, the project is more than topographical, it is a cultural geography. Pausanias digresses from description of architectural and artistic objects to review the mythological and historical underpinnings of the society that produced them and his work bears the marks of his attempt to navigate that space and establish an identity for Roman Greece. He is not a naturalist by any means, though he does from time to comment on the physical realities of the Greek landscape. He notices the pine trees on the sandy coast of Elis, the deer and the boars in the oak woods of Phelloe. Pausanias is most at home in describing the art and architecture of Olympia. Yet, even in the most secluded regions of Greece, he is fascinated by all kinds of depictions of gods, holy relics, Pausanias has the instincts of an antiquary. Some magnificent and dominating structures, such as the Stoa of King Attalus in the Athenian Agora or the Exedra of Herodes Atticus at Olympia are not even mentioned. While he never doubts the existence of the gods and heroes, he criticizes the myths. His descriptions of monuments of art are plain and unadorned and they bear the impression of reality, and their accuracy is confirmed by the extant remains. He is perfectly frank in his confessions of ignorance, when he quotes a book at second hand he takes pains to say so
30.
Procopius
–
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent late antique scholar from Palaestina Prima. He is commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient Western world, apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius life is an entry in the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopaedia, written sometime after 975, which tells everything about his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the Roman Province Palaestina Prima and he evidently knew Latin, as was natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of Eastern Roman Emperor Justinians reign, he became the adsessor for Belisarius, Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January,532, which Belisarius, Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535–536, although these were presented as a backdrop to Roman military activities, such as a mutiny, in and near Carthage. He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and experienced the Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days and he witnessed Belisarius entry into the Gothic capital, Ravenna, in 540. Book Eight of the Wars of Justinian, and the Secret History, suggest that his relationship with Belisarius seems to have cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths, now led by the able king Totila, Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius staff. As magister militum, Belisarius was a vir illustris, and Procopius, as his adsessor, must and he thus belonged to the middle-ranking group of the ordo senatorius. However, the Suda, which is well informed in such matters. Should this information be correct, then Procopius had a seat in the senate of Constantinople and it is not known when Procopius himself died, and many historians date his death to 554, but in 562 there was an urban prefect of Constantinople who happened to be called Procopius. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect, the writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian. Procopius Wars of Justinian is clearly his most important work, although it is not as known as the Secret History. The first two deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, Lazica and Caucasian Iberia. They also cover the early career of the Roman general Belisarius, Procopius patron, the next two books, the Vandal War, cover Belisarius successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom in Roman Africa. The remaining books cover the Gothic War, the campaigns by Belisarius and others to recapture Italy and this includes accounts of the sieges of Naples and Rome. Later, Procopius added a book, which brings the history to 552/553. This eighth book covers both in Italy and on the Eastern frontier
31.
Narses
–
Narses was, with Belisarius, one of the great generals in the service of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I during the Roman reconquest that took place during Justinians reign. A Romanized Armenian, Narses spent most of his life as an important eunuch in the palace of the emperors in Constantinople. Narses was of Armenian descent and a member of the Kamsarakan Armenian noble family, which was an offshoot of the House of Karen and his first mention in a primary source is by Procopius in AD530. The year of Narses birth is unknown, historians have given dates including 478,479 and 480, the year of his death is also unknown, with dates given between 566 and 574, making him eighty-six to ninety-six years old at his death. His family and lineage is also unknown, with many different stories told about his origins. Agathias Scholasticus of Myrina described him thus, “He was a man of sound mind, evagrius Scholasticus in Ecclesiastica Historia reported that she would tell him the proper time to attack, and Narses would never engage in battle without her consent. Narses also was reported to be generous to the poor. He was so devoted to prayers and vigils that “he obtained victory more by the supplications he poured forth to God, than by arms of war. ”Before accepting supreme command of the army, Narses built a church and monastery in Cappadocia, intent upon going there upon his retirement. How or when Narses arrived in Constantinople, or how he found a footing in the officium of the Grand Chamberlain, the first time he was mentioned by Procopius in 530 AD, Narses was the Emperor Justinian’s steward. He was a treasurer, who dealt with the emperor’s finances. Narses had an involvement in the Nika riots in 532, in that he was instructed by Justinian or Theodora to take, from the treasury. Narses appealed to their party loyalty and he reminded them that Hypatius, the man they were about to declare emperor, was a Green, unlike Justinian, who supported the Blues. Either the money or his words were convincing, so soon the Blues began to acclaim Justinian and turned against Hypatius. Narses himself may have been with the men that dragged Hypatius from the throne on the Imperial Stand, Narses involvement and help in suppressing the Nika Riots suddenly found him in charge of a moderately-sized army that would go to Italy to help Belisarius. The army arrived in June of 538 probably in Ancona and consisted of roughly 7,000 soldiers, Procopius referred to Narses as the eunuch and keeper of the royal treasuries, and described him as “keen and more energetic than would be expected of a eunuch”. Narses met with Belisarius at Firmum where a council of war was held, the council discussed what should happen at Rimini and with the commander of troops, John. Narses commented that he had already been punished for his “insolence”, Belisarius and Narses led a column of troops through inland mountainous routes to descend upon Rimini from the northwest. John owed his thanks to Narses for convincing Belisarius, and according to Procopius, commented on the relationship between the two men
32.
Goths
–
The Goths were an East Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe. In the Gothic language they were called the Gut-þiuda, most commonly translated as Gothic people, gut-þiudai, or Gutans Inferred from gen. pl. gutani in Pietroassa inscription. In Old Norse they were known as the Gutar or Gotar, in Latin as the Gothi, the exact origin of the ancient Goths is unknown. Evidence of them before they interacted with the Romans is limited, Modern academics have generally abandoned this theory. Today, the Wielbark culture is thought to have developed from earlier cultures in the same area, archaeological finds show close contacts between southern Sweden and the Baltic coastal area on the continent, and further towards the south-east, evidenced by pottery, house types and graves. Rather than a migration, similarities in the material cultures may be products of long-term regular contacts. However, the record could indicate that while his work is thought to be unreliable. Sometime around the 1st century AD, Germanic peoples may have migrated from Scandinavia to Gothiscandza, early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of Östergötland suggests a general depopulation during this period. However, there is no evidence for a substantial emigration from Scandinavia. Upon their arrival on the Pontic Steppe, the Germanic tribes adopted the ways of the Eurasian nomads, the first Greek references to the Goths call them Scythians, since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The earliest known material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea is the Wielbark culture, centered on the modern region of Pomerania in northern Poland. This culture replaced the local Oxhöft or Oksywie culture in the 1st century, the culture of this area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture beginning as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In Eastern Europe they formed part of the Chernyakhov culture and it has been suggested that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. In the first attested incursion in Thrace, the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by Zosimus, the first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, in particular the Battle of Abrittus in 251, led by Cniva, at the time, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi and the Greuthungs. Goths were subsequently recruited into the Roman Army to fight in the Roman-Persian Wars. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia, the first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the year by another
33.
Vandals
–
The Vandals are believed to have migrated from southern Scandinavia to the area between the lower Oder and Vistula rivers during the 2nd century BC and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. They are associated with the Przeworsk culture and were possibly the people as the Lugii. Around 400 the Vandals were pushed westwards again, this time by the Huns, in 409, the Vandals crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula, where their main groups, the Hasdingi and the Silingi, settled in Gallaecia and Baetica respectively. In 429, under king Genseric, the Vandals entered North Africa, by 439 they established a kingdom which included the Roman province of Africa as well as Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta and the Balearic Islands. They fended off several Roman attempts to recapture the African province and their kingdom collapsed in the Vandalic War of 533–4, in which Justinian I managed to reconquer the province for the Eastern Roman Empire. Renaissance and Early Modern writers characterized the Vandals as barbarians, sacking and looting Rome and this led to the use of the term vandalism to describe any senseless destruction, particularly the barbarian defacing of artwork. However, modern historians tend to regard the Vandals during the period from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages as perpetuators, not destroyers. The connection would be that Vendel is the homeland of the Vandals prior to the Migration Period. Further possible homelands of the Vandals in Scandinavia are Vendsyssel in Denmark, the etymology of the name may be related to a Germanic verb *wand- to wander. The Germanic mythological figure of Aurvandil shining wanderer, dawn wanderer, evening star, much has forwarded the theory that the tribal name Vandal reflects worship of Aurvandil or the Dioscuri, probably involving an origin myth that the Vandalic kings were descended from Aurvandil. Some medieval authors applied the ethnonym Vandals to Slavs, Veneti, Wends and it was once thought that the Slovenes were the descendants of the Vandals, but this is not the view of modern scholars. The Vandals are believed to have migrated from southern Scandinavia to the area between the lower Oder and Vistula somewhere in the 2nd century BC, and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. The earliest mention of the Vandals is from Pliny the Elder, tribes within this category who he mentions are the Burgundiones, Varini, Carini, and the Gutones. Most archaeologists and historians identify the Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, the bearers of the Przeworsk culture mainly practiced cremation, with occasional inhumation. The Lugii have been identified by historians as the same people as the Vandals. The Lugii are mentioned by Strabo, Tacitus and Ptolemy as a group of tribes living between the Vistula and the Oder. Neither Strabo, Tacitus or Ptolemy mentions the Vandals, while Pliny the Elder mentions the Vandals, according to John Anderson, the Lugii and Vandili are designations of the same tribal group, the latter an extended ethnic name, the former probably a cult-title. By the end of the 2nd century, the Vandals were divided in two main groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi, with the Silingi being associated with Silesia
34.
Franks
–
Some Franks raided Roman territory, while other Frankish tribes joined the Roman troops of Gaul. In later times, Franks became the rulers of the northern part of Roman Gaul. The Salian Franks lived on Roman-held soil between the Rhine, Scheldt, Meuse, and Somme rivers in what is now Northern France, Belgium, the kingdom was acknowledged by the Romans after 357 CE. Following the collapse of Rome in the West, the Frankish tribes were united under the Merovingians, who succeeded in conquering most of Gaul in the 6th century, which greatly increased their power. The Merovingian dynasty, descendants of the Salians, founded one of the Germanic monarchies that would absorb large parts of the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish state consolidated its hold over the majority of western Europe by the end of the 8th century, developing into the Carolingian Empire. This empire would gradually evolve into the state of France and the Holy Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages, the term Frank was used in the east as a synonym for western European, as the Franks were then rulers of most of Western Europe. The Franks in the east kept their Germanic language and became part of the Germans, Dutch, Flemings, the Franconian languages, which are called Frankisch in Dutch or Fränkisch in German, originated at least partly in the Old Frankish language of the Franks. Nowadays, the German and Dutch names for France are Frankreich and Frankrijk, respectively, the name Franci was originally socio-political. To the Romans, Celts, and Suebi, the Franks must have seemed alike, they looked the same and spoke the same language, so that Franci became the name by which the people were known. Within a few centuries it had eclipsed the names of the tribes, though the older names have survived in some place-names, such as Hesse. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English and it has been suggested that the meaning of free was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation. It is traditionally assumed that Frank comes from the Germanic word for javelin, there is also another theory that suggests that Frank comes from the Latin word francisca meaning. Words in other Germanic languages meaning fierce, bold or insolent, eumenius addressed the Franks in the matter of the execution of Frankish prisoners in the circus at Trier by Constantine I in 306 and certain other measures, Ubi nunc est illa ferocia. Feroces was used often to describe the Franks, contemporary definitions of Frankish ethnicity vary both by period and point of view. According to their law and their custom, writing in 2009, Professor Christopher Wickham pointed out that the word Frankish quickly ceased to have an exclusive ethnic connotation. North of the River Loire everyone seems to have considered a Frank by the mid-7th century at the latest. Two early sources describe the origin of the Franks are a 7th-century work known as the Chronicle of Fredegar. Neither of these works are accepted by historians as trustworthy, compared with Gregory of Tourss Historia Francorum, the chronicle describes Priam as a Frankish king whose people migrated to Macedonia after the fall of Troy
35.
Persian people
–
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group that make up over half the population of Iran. They share a cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language. The ancient Persians were originally a branch of the ancient Iranian population who entered modern-day Iran by the early 10th century BC. The English term Persian derives from Latin Persia, itself deriving from Greek Persís, in the Bible, it is referred to as Parás —sometimes Paras uMadai —within the books of Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemya. Although Persis was originally one of the provinces of ancient Iran, varieties of this term were adopted through Greek sources, thus, in the Western world, the term Persian came to refer to all inhabitants of the country. 10th-century Iraqi historian Al-Masudi refers to Pahlavi, Dari and Azari as dialects of the Persian language, in 1333, medieval Moroccan traveler and scholar Ibn Battuta, referred to the people of Kabul as a specific sub-tribe of Persians. Lady Mary Sheil, in her observation of Iran during the Qajar era, describes Persians, Kurds and Leks to identify themselves as descendants of the ancient Persians. On March 21,1935, the king of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking the international community to use the term Iran. However, the term Persian is still used to designate the predominant population of the Iranian peoples living in the Iranian cultural continent. The earliest known written record attributed to the Persians is from the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the inscription mentions Parsua as a tribal chiefdom in modern-day western Iran. The ancient Persians were originally a branch of the Iranian population that, in the early 10th century BC. They were initially dominated by the Assyrians for much of the first three centuries after arriving in the region, however, they played a role in the downfall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The Medes, another branch of population, founded the unified empire of Media as the regions dominant cultural and political power in c.625 BC. Meanwhile, the Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids formed a state to the central Median power. In c.552 BC, the Achaemenids began a revolution which led to the conquest of the empire by Cyrus II in c.550 BC. They spread their influence to the rest of what is called the Iranian Plateau, at its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire stretched from parts of Eastern Europe in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen. The Achaemenids developed the infrastructure to support their growing influence, including the creation of Pasargadae and its legacy and impact on the kingdom of Macedon was also notably huge, even for centuries after the withdrawal of the Persians from Europe following the Greco-Persian Wars. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, until the Parthian era, the Iranian identity had an ethnic, linguistic, and religious value, however, it did not yet have a political import
36.
Huns
–
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia between the 1st century AD and the 7th century AD. In 91 AD, the Huns were said to be living near the Caspian Sea, by 370, the Huns had established a vast, if short-lived, dominion in Europe. In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC. Since Guignes time, considerable effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. However, there is no consensus on a direct connection between the dominant element of the Xiongnu and that of the Huns. Numerous other ethnic groups were included under Attilas rule, including very many speakers of Gothic and their main military technique was mounted archery. The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration, a factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. They formed an empire under Attila the Hun, who died in 453. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century, the Huns were a confederation of warrior bands, ready to integrate other groups to increase their military power, in the Eurasian Steppe in the 4th to 6th centuries AD. Most aspects of their ethnogenesis are uncertain, walter Pohl explicitly states, All we can say safely is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors. Jerome associated them with the Scythians in a letter, written four years after the Huns invaded the eastern provinces in 395. The equation of the Huns with the Scythians, together with a fear of the coming of the Antichrist in the late 4th century. This demonization of the Huns is also reflected in Jordaness Getica, written in the 6th century, otto J. Maenchen-Helfen was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research. Thereafter the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns ancestors became controversial among some, the similarity of their ethnonyms is one of the most important links between the two peoples. A Sogdian merchant described the invasion of northern China by the Xwn people in a letter, Étienne de la Vaissière asserts both documents prove that Huna or Xwn were the exact transcriptions of the Chinese Xiongnu name. Christopher P. Atwood rejects that identification because of the very poor match between the three words. For instance, Xiongnu begins with a velar fricative, Huna with a voiceless glottal fricative, Xiongnu is a two-syllable word. However, according to Zhengzhang Shangfang, Xiongnu was pronounced in Late Old Chinese, the Chinese Book of Wei contain references to the remains of the descendants of the Xiongnu who lived in the region of the Altai Mountains in the early 5th century AD
37.
Khosrow I
–
He was the successor of his father Kavadh I. Khosrow I was the twenty-second Sasanian Emperor of Persia, and one of its most celebrated emperors and he laid the foundations of many cities and opulent palaces, and oversaw the repair of trade roads as well as the building of numerous bridges and dams. His reign is marked by the numerous wars fought against the Sassanids neighboring archrivals. The most important wars under his reign were the Lazic War which was fought over Colchis, during Khosrows ambitious reign, art and science flourished in Persia and the Sasanian Empire reached its peak of glory and prosperity. His rule was preceded by his fathers and succeeded by Hormizd IV and he also introduced a rational system of taxation, based upon a survey of landed possessions, which his father had begun, and tried in every way to increase the welfare and the revenues of his empire. His army was in discipline decidedly superior to the Byzantines, and he was also interested in literature and philosophical discussions. Under his reign chess was introduced from India, and the book of Kalilah and Dimnah was translated. He thus became renowned as a wise king, Khosrow I was born in Ardestan, an ancient town which was built by the Achaemenids, and was to close the major city of Spahan. He was the son of Kavadh I, and had three brothers named Xerxes, Zamasp and Kawus. Khosrows mother was the sister of Bawi, making Khosrow I related to the Parthian House of Ispahbudhan and his father was involved with a group of Zoroastrians called the Mazdakites. The Mazdakites believed in a society and many lower class peasants supported the Mazdakite revolution. Kavadh, wanting to centralize power by taking away from the great noble families. In 531, Kavadh, while on his death-bed, appointed Khosrow as his successor, however, upon Kavadhs death, the Mazdakites gave their loyalty to Kavadhs eldest son, Kawus, while the noble families and the Zoroastrian Magi gave their support to Khosrow I. Khosrow presented himself as an anti-Mazdakite supporter and he, much like his father, believed in a strong centralized government. Khosrow met his brother Kawus in war and defeated him as well as his Mazdakite followers, subsequently, Mazdak, as well as a majority of his followers, were executed for his heretical beliefs and Khosrow took the Sasanian throne. At Khosrows succession, Byzantium and Sasanian Persia were in conflict with each other. Neither empire was able to get an advantage of the other, causing Emperor Justinian, upon learning the plot, Khosrow I executed all his brothers, their offsprings, along with Bawi and the other Persian notables who were involved. Khosrow I also ordered the execution of Kavadh, who was still a child, Khosrow sent orders to kill Kavadh, but Adergoudounbades disobeyed and brought him up in secret, until he was betrayed to the shah in 541 by his own son, Bahram
38.
Tiberius II Constantine
–
Tiberius II Constantine was Eastern Roman Emperor from 574 to 582. Under Justin’s patronage, Tiberius was promoted to the position of Comes excubitorum and he was present during Justin’s Imperial accession on 14 November 565 and also attended the Emperor’s inauguration as Consul on 1 January 566. Justin ceased making payments to the Avars implemented by his predecessor Justinian, in 569, he appointed Tiberius to the post of Magister utriusque militiae with instructions to deal with the Avars and their demands. After a series of negotiations, Tiberius agreed to allow the Avars to settle on Roman territory in the Balkans in exchange for hostages taken from various Avar chiefs. Justin, however, rejected this agreement, insisting on taking hostages from the family of the Avar Khan himself and this condition was rejected by the Avars, so Tiberius mobilized for war. In 570 he defeated an Avar army in Thrace and returned to Constantinople, while attempting to follow up this victory, however, in late 570 or early 571 Tiberius was defeated in a subsequent battle where he narrowly escaped death as the army was fleeing the battlefield. Agreeing to a truce, Tiberius provided an escort to the Avar envoys to discuss the terms of a treaty with Justin, on their return, the Avar envoys were attacked and robbed by local tribesmen, prompting them to appeal to Tiberius for help. He tracked down the responsible and returned the stolen goods. To achieve a measure of breathing space, Tiberius and Sophia agreed to a truce with the Persians. On December 7,574, Justin, in one of his lucid moments, had Tiberius proclaimed Caesar. Tiberius added the name Constantine to his own, although his position was now official, he was still subordinate to Justin. Sophia was determined to remain in power and kept Tiberius tightly controlled until Justin died in 578, the day after his appointment as Caesar, the plague abated, giving Tiberius more freedom of movement than Justin was able to achieve. According to Paul the Deacon, Tiberius found two treasures, the treasure of Narses and 1,000 centenaria, that is 100,000 pounds of gold or 7,200,000 solidi and these treasures were given away to the poor, to the consternation of Sophia. Alongside generous donations, he proceeded to reduce state revenue by removing taxes on wine. He continued the ban on the sale of governorships, which was highly popular. In 575 Tiberius began moving the armies of Thrace and Illyricum to the eastern provinces, buying time to make the necessary preparations, he agreed to a three-year truce with the Persians, paying 30,000 nomismata, though the truce excluded action in the region around Armenia. Not content with making preparations, Tiberius also used this period to send reinforcements to Italy under the command of Baduarius with orders to stem the Lombard invasion. He saved Rome from the Lombards and allied the Empire with Childebert II, unfortunately, Baduarius was defeated and killed in 576, allowing even more imperial territory in Italy to slip away
39.
Maurice (emperor)
–
Maurice was Eastern Roman Emperor from 582 to 602. A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians, Maurice campaigned extensively in the Balkans against the Avars – pushing them back across the Danube by 599. He also conducted campaigns across the Danube, the first Roman Emperor to do so in two centuries. In the West, he established two large provinces called exarchates, ruled by exarchs, or viceroys, of the emperor. In Italy, Maurice established the Exarchate of Ravenna in 584, with the creation of the Exarchate of Africa in 590, he further solidified the power of Constantinople in the western Mediterranean. His reign was troubled by financial difficulties and almost constant warfare, in 602, a dissatisfied general named Phocas usurped the throne, having Maurice and his six sons executed. This event would prove cataclysmic for the Empire, sparking a twenty-six year war with Sassanid Persia which would leave both empires devastated prior to the Muslim conquests and his reign is a relatively accurately documented era of Late Antiquity, in particular by the historian Theophylact Simocatta. The Strategikon, a manual of war which influenced European and Middle Eastern military traditions for well over a millennium, is attributed to Maurice. Maurice was born in Arabissus in Cappadocia in 539, the son of a certain Paul and he had one brother, Peter, and two sisters, Theoctista and Gordia, later the wife of the general Philippicus. He is recorded to have been a native Greek speaker, unlike previous emperors since Anastasius I Dicorus and he may have been a Cappadocian Greek, or a Hellenized Armenian. This issue cannot be determined in any way, the historian Evagrius Scholasticus records a descent from old Rome. Maurice first came to Constantinople as a notarius, and came to serve as a secretary to the comes excubitorum Tiberius, when Tiberius was named Caesar in 574, Maurice was appointed to succeed him as comes excubitorum. At about the time, he was raised to the rank of patricius. He scored a victory against the Persians in 581. A year later, he married Constantina, the Emperors daughter, on 13 August, he succeeded his father-in-law as Emperor. Upon his ascension he ruled a bankrupt Empire, at war with Persia, paying extremely high tribute to the Avars, and the Balkan provinces thoroughly devastated by the Slavs, the situation was tumultuous at best. Maurice had to continue the war against the Persians, in 586, his troops defeated them at the Battle of Solachon south of Dara. Despite a serious mutiny in 588, the managed to continue the war
40.
Catholic Encyclopedia
–
The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index volume in 1914 and later supplementary volumes. It was designed to give its readers full and authoritative information on the cycle of Catholic interests, action. The Catholic Encyclopedia was published by the Robert Appleton Company, a company incorporated at New York in February 1905 for the express purpose of publishing the encyclopedia. The five members of the encyclopedias Editorial Board also served as the directors of the company, in 1912 the companys name was changed to The Encyclopedia Press. Publication of the volumes was the sole business conducted by the company during the projects lifetime. The encyclopedia was designed to serve the Roman Catholic Church, concentrating on information related to the Church and it records the accomplishments of Catholics and others in nearly all intellectual and professional pursuits, including artists, educators, poets and scientists. The volumes came out sequentially the first two in 1907 and the last three in 1912, The editors had their first editorial meeting at the office of The Messenger, on West 16th Street, New York City. The text received a nihil obstat from an official censor, Remy Lafort, on November 1,1908 and this review process was presumably accelerated by the reuse of older authorized publications. A first supplement was published in 1922, a supplement in nine loose-leaf sections was published by The Gilmary Society between 1950 and 1958. In 1912, a special completely illustrated commemorative volume was awarded to patrons who contributed to the start of the enterprise by buying multiple encyclopedia sets early on. The encyclopedia was later updated under the auspices of The Catholic University of America and a 17-volume New Catholic Encyclopedia was first published in 1967, and then in 2002. The Catholic Encyclopedia and its makers states that, The work is entirely new, the editors have insisted that the articles should contain the latest and most accurate information to be obtained from the standard works on each subject. Those who wrote new articles in English include Anthony Maas and Herbert Thurston, under United States copyright law, all works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain. Knight founded the website New Advent to house the undertaking, volunteers from the United States, Canada, France, and Brazil helped in the transcription of the original material. The site went online in 1995, and transcription work ended in 1997, in 2007, Catholic Answers published a watermarked version derived from page scans. This version has since replaced with a transcription of the Encyclopedia similar to that found at the New Advent website. The Catholic Answers transcription, however, is a transcription of the original text, whereas the New Advent version at times modernizes certain words. Other scanned copies of the 1913 Encyclopedia are available on Google Books, at the Internet Archive, wikisource also hosts a transcription project backed by the scans hosted at Commons
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Agathias". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 370. This cites as authorities:
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
