1.
Tel Afek
–
Tel Afek, also spelled Aphek and Afeq, is an archaeological site located in the coastal hinterland of the Ein Afek Nature Reserve, east of Kiryat Bialik, Israel. It is also known as Tel Kurdani, the site is what remains of the biblical town of Aphik, which is mentioned in the Joshua 19,30 and Judges 1,31 as belonging to the Tribe of Asher. In ancient Israel the area was part of Cabul and was given to Hiram I by Solomon as a reward for services rendered to him in building the First Temple. The name is derived from the nearby abundant springs. Remains from the Chalcolithic age, and tombs from the Middle Bronze Age, pottery from the Persian, Hellenistic Roman, Byzantine and Crusader times eras have been found here. In the Crusader era, it was known as Recordane, and in 1154, between 1235 and 1262 the Hospitalliers had a dispute with the Templars about water rights. Two aqueducts, dating from this era, have been excavated, in 1283 it was still part of the Crusader states, as it was mentioned as part of their domain in the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan Qalawun. A water-powered flour mill operated on the lower floor, incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, it appeared under the name Kufrdani in the census of 1596, located in the Nahiya of Acca of the Liwa of Safad. The village was noted as hali, but taxes were paid, the stair to the tower roof of the mill, and two more wheel-chambers in the southern part of the mill was added in the Ottoman period. In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Funds Survey of Western Palestine found at Kh, in 1900, Gottlieb Schumacher found here markings on the mill which he took to be Phoenician. In 1925 a Zionist organisation purchased 1,500 dunums in Kordaneh, from Alfred Sursuk, at the time, there were 20 families living there. In the 1931 census of Palestine, Mathanat Kurdani was counted under Shefa-Amr, the Ein Afek nature reserve, declared in 1979, covers 366 dunams. An additional 300 dunams were declared in 1994, archaeology of Israel Survey of Western Palestine, Map 5, IAA, Wikimedia commons
Tel Afek
–
General view of Ein Afek Crusader's dam and ponds
Tel Afek
–
Ein Afek nature reserve
2.
Central District (Israel)
–
The Central District of Israel is one of six administrative districts, including most of the Sharon region. It is further divided into 4 sub-districts, Petah Tikva, Ramla, Sharon, the districts largest city is Rishon LeZion. Its population as of 2014 was 2,024,500, el Al maintains its corporate headquarters on the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport and in the Central District. Districts of Israel List of cities in Israel
Central District (Israel)
–
Center District
3.
Levant
–
The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean. The term Levant entered English in the late 15th century from French and it derives from the Italian Levante, meaning rising, implying the rising of the sun in the east. As such, it is equivalent to the Arabic term Mashriq. Eventually the term was restricted to the Muslim countries of Syria-Palestine, in 1581, England set up the Levant Company to monopolize commerce with the Ottoman Empire. The name Levant States was used to refer to the French mandate over Syria and this is probably the reason why the term Levant has come to be used synonymously with Syria-Palestine. Some scholars misunderstood the term thinking that it derives from the name of Lebanon, today the term is typically used in conjunction with prehistoric or ancient historical references. It does not include Anatolia, the Caucasus Mountains, or any part of the Arabian Peninsula proper, the Sinai Peninsula is sometimes included. The Levant has been described as the crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean, and northeast Africa, the populations of the Levant share not only the geographic position, but cuisine, some customs, and a very long history. They are often referred to as Levantines, the term Levant, which appeared in English in 1497, originally meant the East in general or Mediterranean lands east of Italy. It is borrowed from the French levant rising, referring to the rising of the sun in the east, the phrase is ultimately from the Latin word levare, meaning lift, raise. Similar etymologies are found in Greek Ἀνατολή, in Germanic Morgenland, in Italian, in Hungarian Kelet, in Spanish and Catalan Levante and Llevant, most notably, Orient and its Latin source oriens meaning east, is literally rising, deriving from Latin orior rise. The notion of the Levant has undergone a process of historical evolution in usage, meaning. While the term Levantine originally referred to the European residents of the eastern Mediterranean region, it came to refer to regional native. The English Levant Company was founded in 1581 to trade with the Ottoman Empire, at this time, the Far East was known as the Upper Levant. In early 19th-century travel writing, the term sometimes incorporated certain Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman empire, in 19th-century archaeology, it referred to overlapping cultures in this region during and after prehistoric times, intending to reference the place instead of any one culture. The French mandate of Syria and Lebanon was called the Levant states, today, Levant is the term typically used by archaeologists and historians with reference to the history of the region. Scholars have adopted the term Levant to identify the region due to it being a wider, yet relevant, archaeologists seeking a neutral orientation that is neither biblical nor national have used terms such as Levantine archaeology and archaeology of the Southern Levant. Two academic journals were launched, Journal of Levantine Studies, published by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and The Levantine Review
Levant
–
The
Levantine Sea, the eastern portion of the
Mediterranean.
Levant
–
Countries of the Levant in the broad, historic meaning (equivalent to the
eastern Mediterranean)
Levant
–
French medal commemorating the
war in
Cilicia, which was initially part of the
French mandate.
Levant
–
Satellite view of part of the Levant including
Cyprus,
Israel,
Jordan,
Lebanon,
Palestine, and southern
Syria.
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
5.
Palestine grid
–
The Palestine grid was the geographic coordinate system used in Mandatory Palestine. The system was chosen by the Survey Department of the Government of Palestine in 1922, the projection used was the Cassini-Soldner projection. The central meridian was chosen as that passing through a marker on the hill of Mar Elias Monastery south of Jerusalem, the false origin of the grid was placed 100 km to the south and west of the Ali el-Muntar hill that overlooks Gaza city. The unit length for the grid was the kilometre, the British units were not even considered, at the time the grid was established, there was no intention of mapping the lower reaches of the Negev Desert, but this did not remain true. The fact that those regions would have negative north-south coordinate then became a source of confusion. For some military purposes,1000 was added to the coordinates of all locations. During World War II, a Military Palestine Grid was used that was similar to the Palestine Grid, the difference between the two projections was only a few meters. It was replaced by the Israeli Transverse Mercator grid in 1994, the Palestine grid is still commonly used to specify locations in the historical and archaeological literature. The basic way of specifying a location on the Palestine grid is to write the east-west coordinate followed by the north-south coordinate using 3 digits each, for example, the Dome of the Rock is at 172132. This specifies the location within one kilometer, if more precision is required, extra digits can be added to each coordinate, for example,17241317 gives the Dome of the Rock to within 100 meters. Many authors separate the two coordinates with punctuation for readability purposes, for example 172-132 or 172/132
Palestine grid
–
Portion of 1941 military map showing intersection of Palestine (blue) and Levant (black) grids near
Majdal Shams
6.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew street sign, above in
Hebrew alphabet, below in
Latin transliteration. Aluf Batslut veAluf Shum (he) ("The Onion Champion and the Garlic Champion") is a
play by
Hayim Nahman Bialik.
Hebrew language
–
Portion of the
Temple Scroll, one of the longest of the
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at
Qumran
Hebrew language
–
The
Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in
Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroll. Note ornamental "crowns" on tops of certain letters.
7.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
Ancient Greek
–
Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
–
Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
–
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
8.
Herod the Great
–
Herod, also known as Herod the Great and Herod I, was a Roman client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus, Herod also appears in the Christian Gospel of Matthew as the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus. Despite his successes, including singlehandedly forging a new aristocracy from practically nothing and his reign polarizes opinion amongst scholars and historians, some viewing his legacy as evidence of success, or a reminder of his tyrannical rule. It is generally accepted that Herod was born around 73 BCE in Idumea, however, some authors think that he was born in about 72/71 BCE. He was the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros. Herods father was by descent an Edomite whose ancestors had converted to Judaism, Herod was raised as a Jew. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed his son governor of Galilee in 47 BCE and his elder brother, Phasael, was appointed governor of Jerusalem. Herod enjoyed the backing of Rome, but his brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin, in 41 BCE, Herod and his brother Phasael, were named as tetrarchs by the Roman leader Mark Antony. They were placed in this role to support Hyrcanus II, later, Antigonus, Hyrcanus nephew, took the throne from his uncle with the help of the Parthians. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore Hyrcanus II to power, the Romans had a special interest in Judea because their general Pompey the Great had conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, thus placing the region in the Roman sphere of influence. In Rome, Herod was unexpectedly appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate, Josephus puts this in the year of the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio, but Appian places it in 39 BCE. Herod went back to Judea to win his kingdom from Antigonus, toward the end of the campaign against Antigonus, Herod married the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II, Mariamne, who was also a niece of Antigonus. Herod did this in an attempt to secure his claim to the throne, however, Herod already had a wife, Doris, and a young son, Antipater, and chose therefore to banish Doris and her child. After three years of conflict, Herod and the Romans finally captured Jerusalem and Herod sent Antigonus for execution to Marc Antony, Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of basileus for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. Josephus reports this as being in the year of the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus, but also says that it was exactly 27 years after Jerusalem fell to Pompey, cassius Dio also reports that in 37 BCE the Romans accomplished nothing worthy of note in the area. According to Josephus, Herod ruled for 37 years,34 of them after capturing Jerusalem, as Herods family were converts to Judaism, his religious commitment was questioned by some elements of Jewish society. Herod later executed several members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne I, Herods rule marked a new beginning in the history of Judea. Judea had been ruled autonomously by the Hasmonean kings from 140 BCE until 63 BCE, the Hasmoneans retained their titles, but became clients of Rome after the conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE
Herod the Great
–
Herod
Herod the Great
–
Copper coin of Herod, bearing the legend "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΗΡΩΔΟΥ" ("
Basileōs Hērōdou") on the obverse
Herod the Great
–
Model of Herod's Temple
Herod the Great
–
Bronze coin of Herod the Great, minted at
Samaria.
9.
National Parks of Israel
–
National parks of Israel are declared historic sites or nature reserves, which are mostly operated and maintained by the National Nature and Parks Authority. As of 2005, Israel maintains more than 150 nature reserves that protect 2,500 species of wild plants,20 species of fish,400 species of birds and 70 species of mammals. Some parks are located at sites such as Tel Megiddo, Beit Shean, Ashkelon. Others, such as the Alexander stream, Mount Carmel National Park or Hurshat Tal focus on nature, several parks and nature reserves have camping options, such as tent grounds and bungalows, open to small groups and individual campers. Some of them are located in the Golan Heights and the West Bank, in 2011, the most popular national parks were Yarkon National Park, Caesarea, Ein Gedi and Tel Dan. During the 19th century, the region had a population of between 275,000 and 475,000. Waves of immigration expanded local population needs, forests were cut down to supply coal for heating, industry and the Turkish railway. The German Templers brought with them shotguns, quickly adopted by local peasants for hunting wildlife, the First World War was characterized by massive acquisition of firearms, and German officers were very active hunters. By the early 20th century, hunting threatened the extinction of crocodile, Arabian ostrich, roe deer, fallow deer, Syrian brown bear, and onager. The Asiatic lion had been extinct in Palestine since around the Crusader period in the 10-13th centuries, Asiatic cheetah was last observed in 1959 and the Rabian leopard is currently acutely threatened by extinction. As a result, the British Mandatory government passed laws aimed at saving the local flora, in 1924 a Hunting Act was published and in 1926 a Forest Ordinance were published. Many sites, such as the forests of Mount Carmel and Mount Meron, were declared forest reserves, in 1953 the Knesset passed the Wildlife Protection Law and the Minister of Agriculture was appointed for its implementation. In 1955, the department for the improvement of the landscape was established in the Israeli Prime Ministers Office. The department established a number of national parks, such as Gan HaShlosha, Caesarea, Shivta. Following the ecologically disastrous drying of Lake Hula and the public pressure, the Hula Reserve was established in 1964. In 1963 the Knesset approved the National parks and nature reserves act, as a result, two authorities were established, the National Parks Authority and the Nature Reserves Authority. In 1998 the two authorities were merged into one body - Israel Nature and Parks Authority, in Israel the distinction between national parks and nature reserves is often hard to make. National parks are in most cases centered around archaeological sites, the nature reserves often contain not just protected fauna and flora, but also major archaeological sites
National Parks of Israel
–
Masada National Park
National Parks of Israel
–
Ruins of the Ancient Synagogue at
Bar'am National Park
National Parks of Israel
–
Natural warm water pool at Gan HaShlosha
National Parks of Israel
–
Shivta National Park, UNESCO World Heritage Site
10.
Chalcolithic
–
The Copper Age was originally defined as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. The archaeological site of Belovode on the Rudnik mountain in Serbia contains the worlds oldest securely dated evidence of copper smelting from 5000 BCE, the multiple names result from multiple recognitions of the period. Originally, the term Bronze Age meant that either copper or bronze was being used as the hard substance for the manufacture of tools. In 1881, John Evans, recognizing that the use of copper often preceded the use of bronze and he did not include the transitional period in the tripartite system of Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age but placed it at the beginning outside of it. He did not, however, present it as a fourth age, in 1884, Gaetano Chierici, perhaps following the lead of Evans, renamed it in Italian as the Eneo-litica, or Bronze-stone transition. The phrase was never intended to mean that the period was the one in which both bronze and stone were used. The Copper Age features the use of copper, excluding bronze, moreover, litica simply names the Stone Age as the point from which the transition began and is not another -lithic age. Subsequently, British scholars used either Evanss Copper Age or the term Eneolithic, around 1900, many writers began to substitute Chalcolithic for Eneolithic, to avoid the false segmentation. It was then that the misunderstanding began among those who did not know Italian, the -lithic was seen as a new -lithic age, a part of the Stone Age in which copper was used, which may appear paradoxical. Today Copper Age, Eneolithic and Chalcolithic are used synonymously to mean Evanss original definition of Copper Age, there was an independent invention of copper and bronze smelting first by Andean civilizations in South America extended later by sea commerce to the Mesoamerican civilization in West Mexico. The literature of European archaeology, in general, avoids the use of Chalcolithic, the Copper Age in the Middle East and the Caucasus began in the late 5th millennium BCE and lasted for about a millennium before it gave rise to the Early Bronze Age. The transition from the European Copper Age to Bronze Age Europe occurs about the same time, an archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of coppermaking from 7,500 years ago. In Serbia, an axe was found at Prokuplje, which indicates that humans were using metals in Europe by 7,500 years ago. Knowledge of the use of copper was far more widespread than the metal itself, the European Battle Axe culture used stone axes modeled on copper axes, even with imitation mold marks carved in the stone. Ötzi the Iceman, who was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991, examples of Chalcolithic cultures in Europe include Vila Nova de São Pedro and Los Millares on the Iberian Peninsula. Pottery of the Beaker people has found at both sites, dating to several centuries after copper-working began there. The Beaker culture appears to have copper and bronze technologies in Europe. The term Chalcolithic is not generally used by British prehistorians, who disagree whether it applies in the British context, in Bhirrana, the earliest Indus civilization site, copper bangles and arrowheads were found
Chalcolithic
–
Painting of a Copper Age walled city,
Los Millares,
Iberia
Chalcolithic
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel
11.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
Roman Empire
–
The
Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)
Roman Empire
–
Aureus of
Augustus, the first
Roman Emperor.
Roman Empire
–
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England
Roman Empire
–
A 5th-century
papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by
Cicero
12.
Battle of Aphek
–
‹See Tfd› The Battle of Aphek is a biblical episode described in 1 Samuel 4, 1-10 of the Hebrew Bible. During this battle the Philistines defeated the Israelite army and captured the Ark of the Covenant, the Book of Samuel records that the Philistines were camped at Aphek and the Israelites at Eben-Ezer. The Philistines defeated the Israelites during the first battle, killing 4,000 Israelites. And it came to pass, when mention of the ark of God, that fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man. And he had judged Israel forty years, most scholars agree that there were more than one Aphek. C. R. Conder identified the Aphek of Eben-Ezer with a ruin some 3.7 miles distant from Dayr Aban, and known by the name Marj al-Fikiya, list of battles between Israel and the Philistines Philistine captivity of the Ark
Battle of Aphek
–
The battle depicted in
Rudolf von Ems ' Weltchronik
13.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
–
Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
–
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
14.
Yarkon River
–
The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River, is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon is at Tel Afek, north of Petah Tikva and it flows west through Gush Dan and Tel Avivs Yarkon Park into the Mediterranean Sea. Its Arabic name, al-Auja, means the meandering, the Yarkon is the largest coastal river in Israel, at 27.5 km in length. The Yarkon formed the border of the vilayet of Beirut during the late Ottoman period. The Arabic name of the river, al-Auja, is shared with another stream that flows into the Jordan Valley north of Jericho. In the Mandatory period, the British government granted to Pinhas Rutenbergs Jaffa Electric Company exclusive rights to generate, distribute and these rights were delivered through the “Auja Concession”, which was formally signed on September 12,1921. The district comprised Jaffa, the oldest and at the time still most important town in the area, the fast growing town of Tel Aviv north of it, and other smaller locations. Yet the plan to generate electricity by hydroelectric means never materialized, the river became increasingly polluted after the 1950s, many blaming this on the construction of the Reading Power Station which is situated near its mouth. When the rivers headwaters were diverted to the Negev via the National Water Carrier for irrigation purposes, as sewage replaced the flow of fresh water, habitats were destroyed and flora and fauna disappeared. This was exacerbated by continuous discharges of industrial effluents and municipal sewage into the rivers, on July 14,1997, the infamous Maccabiah bridge collapse led to the death of four athletes, three of which died due to infections caused by exposure to the polluted river water. In 1988, the Yarkon River Authority was established to revitalize the river and make sections of it suitable for sailing, fishing, swimming, Water quality improved after the construction of modern sewage treatment plants in Hod Hasharon and Ramat Hasharon. The river was dredged to restore its depth and natural flow. On July 14,1997, four members of the Australian delegation to the Maccabiah Games were killed and 60 injured as a result of the collapse of a pedestrian bridge over the Yarkon. The deaths were traced to a fungal infection caused by aspiration of the heavily polluted water. Ayalon River, turned artificially into a tributary of the Yarkon Yarkon River Authority Yarkon River Authority
Yarkon River
–
Yarkon River
Yarkon River
–
Average Monthly Discharge (1969–1975)
Yarkon River
–
Average Annual Discharge (1969–1975)
Yarkon River
–
Nuphar lutea carpet in the upper Yarkon river.
15.
Caesarea Maritima
–
Caesarea Maritima is an Israeli National Park in the Sharon plain, including the ancient remains of the coastal city of Caesarea. The city and harbor were built under Herod the Great during c, 22–10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos. It later became the capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265, the name Caesarea was adopted into Arabic as Qaysaria قيسارية. The location was all but abandoned in 1800, the ruins of the ancient city, on the coast just about 2 km south of modern Caesarea, were excavated in the 1950s and 1960s and the site was incorporated into a new national park in 2011. The site of the former Phoenician naval station was awarded to Herod the Great in 30 BC, Herod built his palace on a promontory jutting out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by stoas. He went on to build a port and a city. In the year AD6, Caesarea became the civilian and military capital of Iudaea Province and the residence of the Roman procurator Antonius Felix. This city is the location of the 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone and it is likely that Pilate used it as a base, and only went to Jerusalem when needed. It is also the location of Herods tomb. The city was described in detail by the 1st-century Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Josephus describes the harbor as being as large as the one at Piraeus, the major harbor of Athens. Remains of the buildings erected by Herod and the medieval town are still visible today, including the city walls, the castle. Caesarea grew rapidly, becoming the largest city in Judea, with a population of 125,000 over an urban area of 3.7 square kilometres. According to Josephus, the outbreak of the Jewish revolt of AD66 was provoked by Greeks of a merchant house in Caesarea sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue. According to Josephus, Caesarea was the scene in AD26 of an act of civil disobedience to protest Pilates order to plant eagle standards on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. The emperor Vespasian raised its status to that of a Colonia, in AD70, after the Jewish revolt was suppressed, games were held here to celebrate the victory of Titus. Many Jewish captives were brought to Caesarea Maritima, Kasher claims that 2,500 captives were slaughtered in gladiatorial games, Caesarea was one of four Roman colonies for veterans in the Syria-Phoenicia region. Caesarea is mentioned in the 3rd century Mosaic of Rehob, with respect to its non-Jewish population, when it was built in the 1st century BC, Sebastos Harbor ranked as the largest artificial harbor built in the open sea, enclosing around 100,000 m2
Caesarea Maritima
–
The ruins of Caesarea Maritima
Caesarea Maritima
–
Aerial photo
Caesarea Maritima
–
Remains of the ancient Roman aqueduct
Caesarea Maritima
–
The theatre
16.
Jerusalem
–
Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
Jerusalem
–
From upper left: Jerusalem skyline viewed from Givat ha'Arba,
Mamilla, the
Old City and the
Dome of the Rock, a
souq in the
Old City, the
Knesset, the
Western Wall, the
Tower of David and the
Ottoman Old City walls
Jerusalem
–
Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim)
Arabic: القُدس (al-Quds)
Aramaic: יְרוּשְׁלֶם (Yərushəlem)
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
–
Stepped Stone Structure in
Ophel /
City of David, the oldest part of Jerusalem
17.
Lod
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Lod, LOD and LoD may also refer to, Law of Demeter, a design guideline for developing software. Lawrence ODonnell, Jr. a political analyst, TV producer, Legal Operations Detachment, see United States Army Reserve Legal Command. The Legend of Dragoon, a PlayStation role-playing game, legion of Doom, multiple uses Length on deck, a measurement of a ship over the deck from forward deck to the transom. Length of day LOD, the length of a solar day in a uniform time scale such as International Atomic Time. Letter of demand, an instrument in debt collection Level of detail, limit of detection Line of dance in Ballroom Linked Open Data, using web technologies to link open data LOD score, logarithm of odds. Diablo II, Lord of Destruction, an expansion to the computer game Diablo II. Loss on Drying Lod is the Lombardan name of the city Lodi, Lombardy, Lod Veg is the Lombardan name of Lodi Vecchio, an Italian commune besides Lodi. Last order date a milestone in Product Life Cycle Lod a crater in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, ice, a 2007 novel by Jacek Dukaj
Lod
18.
Petah Tikva
–
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot, is a city in the Central District of Israel,10.6 km east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by religious orthodox Jews, also known as the Old Yishuv, in 2015 the city had a population of 230,984. The population density is approximately 6,277 inhabitants per square kilometre, Petah Tikvas jurisdiction covers 35,868 dunams. It is part of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, Petah Tikvas emblem appears on a postage stamp designed by Yitzhak Goldenhirsch, a founding member of Petah Tikva. Originally intending to establish a new settlement in the Achor Valley, near Jericho, however, Abdülhamid II cancelled the purchase and forbade them from settling there, but they retained the name Petah Tikva as a symbol of their aspirations. Undaunted, the purchased a modest area from the village of Mulabbis. The town suffered heavily as it lay between the Ottoman and British fronts during the war, Petah Tikva became the school for thousands of pioneer workers, who studied the craft of farming there before they ventured out to establish dozens of settlements in all parts of the country. The agricultural schools are still active to this day, Petah Tikva was also the birthplace of the Labor Zionist Movement, inspired and encouraged by the writings of A. D. Gordon who lived in the town. The first recorded Arab attack on Jews in what would become Israel took place in Petah Tikva in 1886, Petah Tikva was also the scene of Arab rioting in May 1921, which left four Jews dead. In the early 1920s, industry began to develop in the Petah Tikva region, in 1921, Petah Tikva was given the status of a local council by the British authorities. According to a census conducted in 1931 by the British Mandate authorities, Petah Tikva had a population of 6880 inhabitants, in 1937 it was recognized as a city. Its first mayor, Shlomo Stampfer, was the son of one of its founders, Petah-Tikva, which largely depended on citrus farming, was considered by both the British government and the Jaffa Electric Company as a potentially important consumer of electricity for irrigation. The Auja Concession, which was given to the Jaffa Electric Company on 1921, but it was only in late 1929 that the company submitted an irrigation scheme for Petah-Tikva, and it was yet to be approved by the government in 1930. Refining the agricultural skills they learned in Germany, these began in 1941 to build their kibbutz in its intended location in the south of Israel. Nowadays, with a population of two hundred thousand inhabitants Petah Tikva is the third most populous city in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area. Petah Tikva is divided into 33 neighborhoods for municipal purposes, Petah Tikva is the second-largest industrial sector in Israel after the northern city of Haifa. The industry is divided into three zones—Kiryat Aryeh, Kiryat Matalon, and Segula, and includes textiles, metalwork, carpentry, plastics, processed foods, tires and other rubber products, and soap. The largest data center in Israel, operated by the company TripleC, is located in Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
–
פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה (
help ·
info)
Petah Tikva
–
Petah Tikva, 1912
Petah Tikva
–
Beit HaBeton, 1920–1930
Petah Tikva
–
New housing under construction in
Em HaMoshavot
19.
Kafr Saba
–
Kafr Saba was a Palestinian Arab village famous for its shrine dating to the Mamluk period and for a history stretching back for more than a millennium. The village was depopulated of its Arab residents by Jewish forces on May 13,1948, presently the remains of the villages consists of two domed shrines located on either side of Route 55 between Kfar Saba and Qalqiliyya. The larger of the two is called Nabi Yamin, situated on the east side, about 40 meters away, on the west side of the road, is a much smaller shrine named Nabi Serakha. The Nabi Yamin shrine was taken over by a Haredi Jewish sect. Around year 985 C. E. Al-Muqaddasi described the place as a village with a mosque that was situated on the road to Damascus. In 1047 Nasir-i-Khusraw described it as a town on the road to al-Ramla, rich in fig, a five-line inscription recording the grave of Sayf al-Din Bari, dated 1299-1300 CE was recorded within the shrine enclosure in 1922. The present location of this inscription is unknown, a sabil is situated on the east side of the main enclosure. An inscription embedded on the side of this sabil referred to the foundation of a fountain for the public by Emir Tankiz. In 1596, Kafr Saba was part of the Ottoman Empire and it paid taxes on wheat, barley, goats and beehives. In 1730, the Egyptian Sufi traveller al-Luqaymi visited Kafr Saba and saw the shrine for a religious figure. In 1808 CE, the riwaq was constructed, according to a now vanished inscription and this riwaq occupies the south side of the main enclosure of the shrine. In the late century, the village of Kafr Saba was described as a village built of stone. It contained a mosque and was surrounded by ground, with olive groves to the north. Its population was estimated to be 800, part of the village was sold to the ICA during the Ottoman period. Jewish immigrants to Palestine established a moshava on the land and called it Kfar Saba, in the 1922 census there were 546 villagers, all Muslim, increasing in the 1931 census to a population of 765, still all Muslims, in a total of 169 houses. The village expanded in the British Mandate period, new houses were built along the highway, and new agricultural land were cultivated to the west of the village. By 1944/45 the village used 1,026 dunums for citrus and bananas,4,600 dunums for cereals, while 355 dunums were irrigated or used for orchards, of which 30 dunums were planted with olive trees. In the months leading up to the 1948 war, the militia from Kafr Saba had attacked the neighboring Jewish village of Kfar Saba several times
Kafr Saba
–
Mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, with riwaq (prayer hall) to the left.
20.
Rosh HaAyin
–
Rosh HaAyin is a city in the Central District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris, to the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek. In 2015 it had a population of 42,939, Rosh HaAyin was founded in the 1949 near the site of ancient Antipatris and the depopulated Arab village of Majdal Yaba. Many of the residents were Yemenite Jews airlifted to Israel in 1949 and 1950 in Operation Magic Carpet. In the 1990s new neighborhoods were built although the town still has a large Yemenite population, Rosh HaAyin is named after its location at the source of the Yarkon River. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2001 the ethnic makeup of the city was 99. 8% Jewish, the population growth rate was 2. 5%. According to the CBS, there were 10,972 salaried workers and 1,033 self-employed in 2000, the mean monthly wage for a salaried worker was NIS6,595, an increase of 11. 2% over the course of 2000. Salaried males had a monthly wage of NIS8,408 versus NIS4,857 for females. The mean income for the self-employed was 6,853,628 people received unemployment benefits and 1,057 received an income supplement. In 2004, the Givot Olam oil company discovered oil at the Meged 5 oil field near Rosh HaAyin and it is one of the largest on-shore oil fields in Israel. It began production in 2010 and produces oil as well as natural gas. Its proven oil reserves are about 1,525 million barrels, TTI Telecom is located in Rosh HaAyin. According to the CBS, there were 21 schools in Rosh Haayin, fifteen were elementary schools with an enrollment of 4,749 and 11 were high schools with an enrollment of 2,388. In 2001,58. 8% of Rosh Haayins 12th grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate, S. C Rosh Haayin, a football team who plays at Liga Gimel Sharon. Benny Gantz, Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Gal Gadot, actress, model and Miss Israel 2004 Yishai Levi, singer Official website
Rosh HaAyin
–
רֹאשׁ הָעָיִן
Rosh HaAyin
–
Afeq industrial park
21.
Bronze Age
–
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
Bronze Age
–
Chalcolithic copper mine in
Timna Valley,
Negev Desert,
Israel.
Bronze Age
–
Diffusion of metallurgy in
Europe and
Asia Minor. The darkest areas are the oldest.
Bronze Age
–
A
Shang Dynasty two-handled bronze gefuding gui (1600–1046 BC).
Bronze Age
–
Spring and Autumn Period pu bronze vessel with interlaced
dragon design (722–481 BC)
22.
Cuneiform
–
Cuneiform script, one of the earliest systems of writing, was invented by the Sumerians. It is distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reed for a stylus, the name cuneiform itself simply means wedge shaped. Emerging in Sumer in the fourth millennium BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictograms. In the third millennium, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use grew smaller, the system consists of a combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic and syllabic signs. Cuneiform writing was replaced by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire. By the second century CE, the script had become extinct, between half a million and two million cuneiform tablets are estimated to have been excavated in modern times, of which only approximately 30,000 –100,000 have been read or published. Most of these have lain in these collections for a century without being translated, studied or published, the cuneiform writing system was in use for more than three millennia, through several stages of development, from the 34th century BC down to the second century CE. Ultimately, it was replaced by alphabetic writing in the course of the Roman era. It had to be deciphered as an unknown writing system in 19th-century Assyriology. Successful completion of its deciphering is dated to 1857, the cuneiform script was developed from pictographic proto-writing in the late 4th millennium BC. Mesopotamias proto-literate period spans roughly the 35th to 32nd centuries, the first documents unequivocally written in Sumerian date to the 31st century at Jemdet Nasr. Originally, pictographs were either drawn on clay tablets in vertical columns with a reed stylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic shape of the strokes. Proper names continued to be written in purely logographic fashion. The earliest known Sumerian king whose name appears on contemporary cuneiform tablets is Enmebaragesi of Kish, from about 2900 BC, many pictographs began to lose their original function, and a given sign could have various meanings depending on context. The sign inventory was reduced from some 1,500 signs to some 600 signs, determinative signs were re-introduced to avoid ambiguity. Cuneiform writing proper thus arises from the more primitive system of pictographs at about that time, by adjusting the relative position of the tablet to the stylus, the writer could use a single tool to make a variety of impressions. Cuneiform tablets could be fired in kilns to provide a permanent record, many of the clay tablets found by archaeologists were preserved because they were fired when attacking armies burned the building in which they were kept
Cuneiform
–
Trilingual cuneiform inscription of
Xerxes at
Van Fortress in Turkey, written in
Old Persian,
Akkadian, and
Elamite
Cuneiform
–
Sumerian inscription in monumental archaic style, c. 26th century B.C.E.
Cuneiform
–
Letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of
Lagash (maybe
Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 B.C.E., found in
Telloh (ancient Girsu).
Cuneiform
–
Cuneiform inscriptions, Stela of Iddi-Sin, king of Simurrum.
23.
Claude Reignier Conder
–
Claude Reignier Conder was an English soldier, explorer and antiquarian. He was a great-great-grandson of Louis-François Roubiliac, Conder was educated at University College London and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He became a lieutenant in the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1870 and he retired with the rank of colonel in 1904. Conder joined the expedition to Egypt in 1882, under Sir Garnet Wolseley and he was appointed a deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general on the staff of the intelligence department. In Egypt his perfect knowledge of Arabic and of Eastern people proved most useful and he was present at the action of Kassassin, the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, and the advance to Cairo, but then, seized with typhoid fever, he was invalided home. For his services he received the war medal with clasp for Tel el-Kebir, the Khedives bronze star, the work of surveying the country of Palestine commenced again only in late February 1877, without Conder. Conder was first proposed as a candidate for the Jack the Ripper murders by the author Tom Slemen. H, Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine, memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London, Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, vol 1 The full text, archive. org, Can download PDF. Conder, Claude Reignier and H. H. Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine, memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, London, Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Vol 2 The full text, archive. org, Can download PDF, Conder, Claude Reignier and H. H. Kitchener, The Survey of Western Palestine, memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London, Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, vol 3 The full text, archive. org, Can download PDF. Measuring Jerusalem, the Palestine Exploration Fund and British interests in the Holy Land, la fortaleza de Herodes y el último bastión de los Zelotes
Claude Reignier Conder
–
Claude Reignier Conder
24.
Eusebius
–
Eusebius of Caesarea, also known as Eusebius Pamphili, was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist. He became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima about 314 AD, together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon and is regarded as an extremely well learned Christian of his time. He wrote Demonstrations of the Gospel, Preparations for the Gospel, as Father of Church History he produced the Ecclesiastical History, On the Life of Pamphilus, the Chronicle and On the Martyrs. Little is known about the life of Eusebius and his successor at the See of Caesarea, Acacius, wrote a Life of Eusebius, a work that has since been lost. Eusebius own surviving works probably only represent a portion of his total output. Beyond notices in his extant writings, the sources are the 5th-century ecclesiastical historians Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. There are assorted notices of his activities in the writings of his contemporaries Athanasius, Arius, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Eusebius pupil, Eusebius of Emesa, provides some incidental information. In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius writes of Dionysius of Alexandria as his contemporary, if this is true, Eusebius birth must have been before Dionysius death in autumn 264, most modern scholars date the birth to some point in the five years between 260 and 265. He was presumably born in the town in which he lived for most of his adult life and he was baptized and instructed in the city, and lived in Palestine in 296, when Diocletians army passed through the region. Eusebius was made presbyter by Agapius of Caesarea, S. Wallace-Hadrill, deem the phrase too ambiguous to support the contention. By the 3rd century, Caesarea had a population of about 100,000 and it had been a pagan city since Pompey had given control of the city to the gentiles during his command of the eastern provinces in the 60s BC. The gentiles retained control of the city for the three centuries to follow, despite Jewish petitions for joint governorship, gentile government was strengthened by the citys refoundation under Herod the Great, when it had taken on the name of Augustus Caesar. In addition to the settlers, Caesarea had large Jewish. Eusebius was probably born into the Christian contingent of the city.46 states that Zacchaeus was the first bishop, through the activities of the theologian Origen and the school of his follower Pamphilus, Caesarea became a center of Christian learning. Origen was largely responsible for the collection of information, or which churches were using which gospels. On his deathbed, Origen had made a bequest of his library to the Christian community in the city. Together with the books of his patron Ambrosius, Origens library formed the core of the collection that Pamphilus established, Pamphilus also managed a school that was similar to that of Origen. Pamphilus was compared to Demetrius of Phalerum and Pisistratus, for he had gathered Bibles from all parts of the world, like his model Origen, Pamphilus maintained close contact with his students
Eusebius
–
Eusebius in a modern imagining
Eusebius
–
Eusebius's
canon tables were often included in Early Medieval
Gospel books
Eusebius
–
Ministry of Jesus &
Apostolic Age
25.
Josephus
–
Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and interpreter, after Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperors family name of Flavius. Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship and he became an advisor and friend of Vespasians son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the citys destruction, Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, the Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience and these works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus introduces himself in Greek as Iōsēpos, son of Matthias and he was the second-born son of Matthias. His older full-blooded brother was also called Matthias and their mother was an aristocratic woman who descended from the royal and formerly ruling Hasmonean dynasty. Josephuss paternal grandparents were Josephus and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman, distant relatives of each other and he descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. Josephus was a descendant of the high priest Jonathon, born and raised in Jerusalem, Josephus was educated alongside his brother. In his early twenties, he traveled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of 12 Jewish priests, Josephus successfully fought the Roman army in Galilee, until he was captured by the Romans during the height of the war. After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands, according to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 CE. The Romans asked the group to surrender, but they refused, Josephus suggested a method of collective suicide, they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, counting to every third person. Two men were left, who surrendered to the Roman forces, in 69 CE, Josephus was released. According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, in which his parents and first wife died. While being confined at Yodfat, Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation, after the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. In 71 CE, he went to Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen, in addition to Roman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in conquered Judaea and a decent, if not extravagant, pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works, although he uses Josephus, he appears to have taken the Roman praenomen Titus and nomen Flavius from his patrons
Josephus
–
Photography of a Roman
portrait bust said to be of Josephus,
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Josephus
–
Galilee, site of Josephus's governorship, before the First Jewish-Roman War
Josephus
–
The
romanticized engraving of Flavius Josephus appearing in
William Whiston 's translation of his works
Josephus
–
The works of Josephus translated by
Thomas Lodge (1602).
26.
Paul the Apostle
–
Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, and also known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, in the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences, according to writings in the New Testament, Paul was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. He was struck blind but, after three days, his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Pauls life and works. Fourteen of the books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by scholars to have come from followers writing in his name. Other scholars argue that the idea of an author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Pauls epistles continue to be roots of the theology, worship, and pastoral life in the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the West. Augustine of Hippo developed Pauls idea that salvation is based on faith, martin Luthers interpretation of Pauls writings influenced Luthers doctrine of sola fide. The main source for information about Pauls life is the material found in his epistles, however, the epistles contain little information about Pauls past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Pauls life out of its narrative, such as his probable, some scholars believe Acts also contradicts Pauls epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Pauls visits to the church in Jerusalem. It has been assumed that Sauls name was changed when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. His Jewish name was Saul, perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjamite, according to the Book of Acts, he inherited Roman citizenship from his father. As a Roman citizen, he bore the Latin name of Paul—in biblical Greek, Παῦλος. It was quite usual for the Jews of that time to have two names, one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him Saul, Saul in the Hebrew tongue in the book of Acts, later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, the Lord referred to him as Saul, of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle
–
Saint Paul by
Bartolomeo Montagna
Paul the Apostle
–
The Conversion of Saul,
fresco by
Michelangelo, 1542–45
Paul the Apostle
–
Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601), by
Caravaggio
Paul the Apostle
–
Caravaggio (1571–1610), The Conversion of Saint Paul, 1600
27.
Antonius Felix
–
Marcus Antonius Felix was the Roman procurator of Iudaea Province 52–58, in succession to Ventidius Cumanus. Felix was the brother of the Greek freedman Marcus Antonius Pallas. Pallas served as a secretary of the treasury during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, according to Tacitus, Pallas and Felix descended from the Greek Kings of Arcadia. Felix became the procurator by the petition of his brother, felix’s cruelty and licentiousness, coupled with his accessibility to bribes, led to a great increase of crime in Judaea. The period of his rule was marked by feuds and disturbances. After Paul the Apostle was arrested in Jerusalem and rescued from a plot against his life, the local Roman chiliarch Claudius Lysias transferred him to Caesarea, where he stood trial before Felix. On at least one further occasion Felix and his wife Drusilla heard Paul discourse, when Felix was succeeded as procurator, having already detained Paul for two years, he left him imprisoned as a favor to the Jews. Porcius Festus succeeded him as procurator of Judea and his first wife was Drusilla of Mauretania the Elder, daughter of Cleopatra Selene II and Juba II of Numidia, and sister to Ptolemy of Mauretania. Drusilla of Mauretania the Elder is often confused with her niece, Felix second wife was Drusilla of Judea, daughter of Herod Agrippa I and Cypros. Drusilla of Judea divorced Gaius Julius Azizus, King of Emesa to marry him, the Judean Drusilla was one of only two major figures reported as dying in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the other being Pliny the Elder. Antonia Agrippina may have been a daughter from their sons marriage, clementiana became a grandmother to a Lucius Anneius Domitius Proculus. Two possible descendants from this marriage are Marcus Antonius Fronto Salvianus and his son Marcus Antonius Felix Magnus, after the eruption, Felix married for a third time, but little is known about his third wife. Prefects, Procurators, and Legates of Roman Judaea Roman Procurator coinage Tacitus, Annals,54, Histories v.9 Suetonius, Claudius,28 Emil Schürer, History of the Jewish People Robertson, A. Felix, Antonius
Antonius Felix
–
Antonius Felix from
Guillaume Rouillé 's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Antonius Felix
–
Bronze prutah minted by Antonius Felix. Obverse: Greek letters NEP WNO C (
Nero) in wreath. Reverse: Greek letters KAICAPOC (
Caesar) and date LC (year 3 = 56/57 AD),
palm branch.
28.
Bishopric
–
The word diocese is derived from the Greek term διοίκησις meaning administration. When now used in a sense, it refers to a territorial unit of administration. This structure of governance is known as episcopal polity. The word diocesan means relating or pertaining to a diocese and it can also be used as a noun meaning the bishop who has the principal supervision of a diocese. An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese, an archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or have had importance due to size or historical significance. The archbishop may have authority over any other suffragan bishops. In the Latter Day Saint movement, the bishopric is used to describe the bishop himself. Especially in the Middle Ages, some bishops held political as well as religious authority within their dioceses, in the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit, the diocese. With the adoption of Christianity as the Empires official religion in the 4th century, a formal church hierarchy was set up, parallel to the civil administration, whose areas of responsibility often coincided. With the collapse of the Western Empire in the 5th century, a similar, though less pronounced, development occurred in the East, where the Roman administrative apparatus was largely retained by the Byzantine Empire. In modern times, many dioceses, though later subdivided, have preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division, modern usage of diocese tends to refer to the sphere of a bishops jurisdiction. As of January 2015, in the Catholic Church there are 2,851 regular dioceses,1 papal see,641 archdioceses and 2,209 dioceses in the world, in the Eastern rites in communion with the Pope, the equivalent unit is called an eparchy. Eastern Orthodoxy calls dioceses metropoleis in the Greek tradition or eparchies in the Slavic tradition, after the Reformation, the Church of England retained the existing diocesan structure which remains throughout the Anglican Communion. The one change is that the areas administered under the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York are properly referred to as provinces and this usage is relatively common in the Anglican Communion. Certain Lutheran denominations such as the Church of Sweden do have individual dioceses similar to Roman Catholics and these dioceses and archdioceses are under the government of a bishop. Other Lutheran bodies and synods that have dioceses and bishops include the Church of Denmark, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Church in Germany, rather, it is divided into a middle judicatory. The Lutheran Church-International, based in Springfield, Illinois, presently uses a traditional diocesan structure and its current president is Archbishop Robert W. Hotes. The Church of God in Christ has dioceses throughout the United States, in the COGIC, each state is divided up into at least three dioceses that are all led by a bishop, but some states as many as seven dioceses
Bishopric
–
Sankt Laurentii kyrka Diocese of Linköping, Söderköpings kommun, Sweden
Bishopric
–
Pope Pius XI (left) blesses Bishop
Stephen Alencastre as fifth
Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a
Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. In
Roman Catholicism, the
pope is the bishop of the
Diocese of Rome, creates the other
Catholic dioceses throughout the world and chooses their bishops.
Bishopric
–
St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh Cathedral of the Diocese of Armagh and Metropolitan Cathedral of the United Provinces of Armagh and Tuam,
Church of Ireland Anglican Communion
Bishopric
–
Jesus
29.
Suffragan
–
A suffragan bishop is a bishop subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop. They may be assigned to an area which not have a cathedral of its own. In the Anglican churches, the term applies to a bishop who is an assistant to a diocesan bishop, for example, the Bishop of Jarrow is a suffragan to the diocesan Bishop of Durham. Suffragan bishops in the Anglican Communion are nearly identical in their role to auxiliary bishops in the Roman Catholic Church, the concept of a suffragan bishop in the Church of England was legalised by the Suffragan Bishops Act 1534. The first bishops consecrated under that Act were Thomas Manning, Bishop of Ipswich and John Salisbury, the last Tudor suffragan bishop in post was John Sterne, Bishop of Colchester, who died in post in 1607/8. No more suffragans were appointed for more than 250 years, until the consecration of Henry Mackenzie as Bishop of Nottingham on 2 February 1870. At that point, the sees of suffragans were still limited to the 26 towns named in the 1534 Act, the appointment of bishops suffragan became much more common thereafter. Some Anglican suffragans are legally delegated responsibility for an area within the diocese. For example, the Bishop of Colchester is a bishop in the Diocese of Chelmsford. Other suffragans have or have had responsibility for geographical areas. English diocesan bishops were commonly assisted by bishops who had been consecrated to sees which were in partibus infidelium before the English Reformation, the separation of the English Church from Rome meant that this was no longer possible. The Suffragan Bishops Act 1534 allowed for the creation of new sees to allow these assistant bishops, before then, the term suffragan referred to diocesan bishops in relation to their metropolitan. This concession was made in 1992 following the General Synods vote to women to the priesthood. An early example of a see in Wales is Penrydd, established in 1537. The Church of Ireland has no bishops, not even in the geographically large dioceses. Suffragan bishops are fairly common in larger dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, for example, Bishop Barbara Harris was titled simply “Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts”. Coadjutor and assistant bishops are different episcopal offices than suffragan, a coadjutor is elected by a diocesan convention to become the diocesan bishop upon the ordinary’s retirement. A suffragan is also elected by a convention, but does not automatically succeed the diocesan bishop, however a suffragan’s office does continue to in the diocese until he or she chooses to retire
Suffragan
–
Saint Peter
30.
Council of Chalcedon
–
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from October 8 to November 1, AD451, at Chalcedon. The Council is numbered as the ecumenical council by the Great Church. A minority of Christians do not agree with the councils teachings and its most important achievement was to issue the Chalcedonian Definition. The Councils judgments and definitions regarding the divine marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates, Chalcedon was a city in Bithynia, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, today the city it is part of the Republic of Turkey and is known as Kadıköy. The Council of Chalcedon issued the Chalcedonian Definition, which repudiated the notion of a nature in Christ. It also insisted on the completeness of his two natures, Godhead and manhood, the council also issued 27 disciplinary canons governing church administration and authority. In a further decree, later known as canon 28, the bishops declared that the See of Constantinople was, in honour, the teachings of the Council are accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, Old Catholics and various other Western Christian groups. As such, it is recognized as infallible in its dogmatic definitions by the Catholic, most Protestants also agree that the teachings regarding the Trinity and the Incarnation, as defined at Nicaea and Chalcedon, are orthodox doctrine to which they adhere. However, the Council is not accepted by the ancient Oriental Orthodox branch of the Church and this includes the Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac, Malankara Syrian and Armenian Apostolic churches. They instead teach that The Lord Jesus Christ is God the Incarnate Word and he possesses the perfect Godhead and the perfect manhood. Nevertheless, the Oriental Orthodox churches refuse to accept the decrees of the Council regarding monophysitism, many Anglicans and most Protestants consider it to be the last authoritative ecumenical council. In 325, the first ecumenical council determined that Jesus Christ was God, consubstantial with the Father and this was reaffirmed at the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. After the Council of Ephesus had condemned Nestorianism, there remained a conflict between Patriarchs John of Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria, Cyril claimed that John remained Nestorian in outlook, while John claimed that Cyril held to the Apollinarian heresy. The two settled their differences under the mediation of the Bishop of Beroea, Acacius, on April 12,433, in the following year, Theodoret of Cyrrhus assented to this formula as well. He agreed to anathematize Nestorius as a heretic in 451, during the Council of Chalcedon and he claimed to be a faithful follower of Cyrils teaching, which was declared orthodox in the Union of 433. Cyril had taught that There is only one physis, since it is the Incarnation, Cyril had apparently understood the Greek word physis to mean approximately what the Latin word persona means, while most Greek theologians would have interpreted that word to mean natura. Thus, many understood Eutyches to be advocating Docetism, a sort of reversal of Arianism—where Arius had denied the divinity of Jesus. Cyrils orthodoxy was not called into question, since the Union of 433 had explicitly spoken of two physeis in this context, Leo I wrote that Eutyches error seemed to be more from a lack of skill on the matters than from malice
Council of Chalcedon
–
Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, painting by
Vasily Surikov
Council of Chalcedon
–
Ministry of Jesus &
Apostolic Age
31.
Mamluk
–
Mamluk is an Arabic designation for slaves. The term is most commonly used to refer to Muslim slave soldiers and these were mostly enslaved Turkic peoples, Egyptian Copts, Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. Many Mamluks were also of Balkan origin, over time, the mamluks became a powerful military knightly caste in various societies that were controlled by Muslim rulers. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Mesopotamia, in some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as emirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on Egypt and Syria, the Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut. They had earlier fought the western European Christian Crusaders in 1154-1169 and 1213-1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt, in 1302 the mamluks formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades. While mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, in a sense they were like enslaved mercenaries. In the Middle Ages, the Mamlukes took up the practice of furusiyya chivalry although Mamluk knights were slaves until their service ended, the Arabic term for a knight was fāris, The faris and the notion of furusiyya originated in pre-Muslim Persian brotherhoods. Within the Muslim world, the fursān became prized as ideal warriors and they were also trained in wrestling, and their martial skills were honed first on foot as piéton and then perfected when as mounted warriors. They were popularly used as heavy knightly cavalry by a number of different Islamic kingdoms and empires, including the Ayyubid dynasty, the origins of the mamluk system are disputed. Historians agree that a military caste such as the mamluks appeared to develop in Islamic societies beginning with the ninth-century Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad. When in the century has not been determined. Up until the 1990s, it was believed that the earliest mamluks were known as ghilman and were bought by the Abbasid caliphs. By the end of the 9th century, such warrior slaves had become the dominant element in the military, conflict between these ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Mutasim to move his capital to the city of Samarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave-soldiers in 861, adult slaves and freemen both served as warriros. The mamluk system developed later, after the return of the caliphate to Baghdad in the 870s and it included the systematic training of young slaves in military and martial skills. The Mamluk system is considered to have been an experiment of al-Muwaffaq. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted, after the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either mamluks or ghilman, were used throughout the Islamic world as the basis of military power
Mamluk
–
A Mamluk nobleman from
Aleppo
Mamluk
–
An Egyptian Mamluk warrior in full armor and armed with lance, shield, sabre and pistols
Mamluk
–
Mamluk lancers, early 16th century (etching by
Daniel Hopfer)
Mamluk
–
Ottoman Mamluk
heavy cavalry armour, circa 1550
32.
Firman (decree)
–
A Firman or Ferman at the constitutional level was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state, namely the Ottoman Empire. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law, the word firman comes from Persian فرمان meaning decree or order. On a more level, a firman was, and may still be. Firmans may or may not be combined with various sorts of passports, in the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan derived his authority from his role as upholder of the Sharia, but the Sharia did not cover all aspects of Ottoman social and political life. Therefore, in order to regulate relations and status, duties and dress of aristocracy and subjects, firmans were gathered in codes called kanun. The kanun were a form of secular and administrative law considered to be an extension of religious law as a result of the rulers right to exercise legal judgement on behalf of the community. In this firman, Sultan Murad I recognises a decree created by his father Sultan Orhan and he gives the monks all they owned during his fathers reign, ordering that no one can oppress them or claim their land. They also make illegal demands for food supplies. One of the most important firmans governing relations between Muslims and Christians is a document kept at the Saint Catherines Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and this monastery is Greek Orthodox and constitutes the autonomous Sinai Orthodox Church. The firman bears the hand print of Muhammad, and requests the Muslims do not destroy the monastery for God-fearing men live there, firmans were issued in some Islamic empires and kingdoms in India such as the Mughal Empire and the State of Hyderabad. The term firman was used by the archeologist/novelist Elizabeth Peters for official permission from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities to carry on an excavation, a similar authority was cited by Austen Henry Layard for excavations at Nimrud which he mistakenly believed was Nineveh
Firman (decree)
–
A
Fat'h Ali Shah Qajar firman in
Shikasta Nastaʿlīq script, January 1831.
Firman (decree)
–
Firmans of
Mehmed II and
Bayazid II - kept at the
Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols in
Istanbul - which granted the ownership of the building to the Greek community
Firman (decree)
–
A Firman issued by the
Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.
Firman (decree)
–
Letter from
Aurangzeb to
Sir William Norris, 1st Baronet.
33.
Mosque
–
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. There are strict and detailed requirements in Sunni jurisprudence for a place of worship to be considered a mosque, many mosques have elaborate domes, minarets, and prayer halls, in varying styles of architecture. Mosques originated on the Arabian Peninsula, but are now found in all inhabited continents, the mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together for salat as well as a center for information, education, social welfare, and dispute settlement. The imam leads the congregation in prayer, the first mosque in the world is often considered to be the area around the Kaaba in Mecca now known as the Masjid al-Haram. Others regard the first mosque in history to be the Quba Mosque in present-day Medina since it was the first structure built by Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca in 622. The Islamic Prophet Muhammad went on to another mosque in Medina. Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city. The Masjid al-Nabawi introduced some of the still common in todays mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the mihrab. The Masjid al-Nabawi was also constructed with a courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then. Mosques had been built in Iraq and North Africa by the end of the 7th century, the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala is reportedly one of the oldest mosques in Iraq, although its present form – typical of Persian architecture – only goes back to the 11th century. The shrine, while operating as a mosque, remains one of the holiest sites for Shia Muslims, as it honors the death of the third Shia imam. The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As was reportedly the first mosque in Egypt, serving as a religious, like the Imam Husayn Shrine, though, nothing of its original structure remains. With the later Shia Fatimid Caliphate, mosques throughout Egypt evolved to include schools, hospitals and it was the first to incorporate a square minaret and includes naves akin to a basilica. Those features can also be found in Andalusian mosques, including the Grand Mosque of Cordoba, still, some elements of Visigothic architecture, like horseshoe arches, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb. The first mosque in East Asia was reportedly established in the 8th century in Xian, however, the Great Mosque of Xian, whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere. Indeed, minarets were initially prohibited by the state, mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere. In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesias Austronesian neighbors—Malaysia, Brunei, Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the 7th century, reflecting their Timurid origins, Mughal-style mosques included onion domes, pointed arches, and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the Persian and Central Asian styles
Mosque
–
The
Masjid al-Haram surrounds the
Kaaba, and it is the holiest site in Islam.
Mosque
–
The
Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran is a complex which contains the mausoleum of Imam Reza, the eighth Imam of Twelver Shi'ites
Mosque
–
Quba Mosque in
Medina is one of the oldest mosque in the world.
Mosque
–
The
Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia, is the oldest mosque in the Muslim West.
34.
Minaret
–
A minaret, from Arabic, منارة manāra, lit. lighthouse, also known as Goldaste, is a distinctive architectural structure akin to a tower and typically found adjacent to mosques. Generally a tall spire with a conical or onion-shaped crown, usually either free-standing or taller than associated support structure, the basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery. Styles vary regionally and by period, minarets provide a visual focal point and are traditionally used for the Muslim call to prayer. The purpose of minarets in traditional Eastern region architecture is to serve as a system for a building in very hot climates. That buildings of middle eastern origins have such outstanding features is architecturally intentional, however in modern times, with the invention of the modern air conditioners, the purpose of minarets has changed to traditional symbol. The minaret would be equipped with a speaker that would call people to prayers in Muslim countries. In addition to providing a visual cue to a Muslim community, the call to prayer is issued five times each day, dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and night. In most modern mosques, the adhān is called from the musallah via microphone to a system on the minaret. Around 80 years after Muhammads death, the first known minarets appeared, minarets have been described as the gate from heaven and earth, and as the Arabic language letter aleph. The massive minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia is the oldest standing minaret and its construction began during the first third of the 8th century and was completed in 836 CE. The imposing square-plan tower consists of three sections of decreasing size reaching 31.5 meters, considered as the prototype for minarets of the western Islamic world, it served as a model for many later minarets. The tallest minaret, at 210 metres is located at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, the tallest brick minaret is Qutub Minar located in Delhi, India. In some of the oldest mosques, such as the Great Mosque of Damascus, the basic form of minarets consists of three parts, a base, shaft, and a gallery. For the base, the ground is excavated until a foundation is reached. Gravel and other supporting materials may be used as a foundation, minarets may be conical, square, cylindrical, or polygonal. Stairs circle the shaft in a fashion, providing necessary structural support to the highly elongated shaft. The gallery is a balcony that encircles the upper sections from which the muezzin may give the call to prayer, styles and architecture can vary widely according to region and time period. Here are a few styles and the localities from which they derive, Tunisia Quadrangular, turkish 1,2,4 or 6 minarets related to the size of the mosque
Minaret
–
The oldest standing minaret is in
Tunisia 's
Great Mosque of Kairouan.
Minaret
–
Minaret (malwiya) of the
Great Mosque of Samarra
Minaret
–
Square three-tiered minaret (the oldest in existence) of the
Mosque of Uqba (Great Mosque of
Kairouan),
Tunisia
35.
Via Maris
–
In Latin, Via Maris means way of the sea. It is a road that runs along the Israeli Mediterranean coast. It was the most important route from Egypt to Syria which followed the coastal plain before crossing over into the plain of Jezreel and its earlier name was Way of the Philistines, a reference to a passageway through the Philistine Plain. The name Via Maris is not ancient and academic researchers prefer other names, together with the Kings Highway, the Via Maris was one of the major trade routes connecting Egypt and the Levant with Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The Via Maris was crossed by other trading routes, so one could travel from Africa to Europe or from Asia to Africa. It began in al-Qantara and went east to Pelusium, following the northern coast of Sinai through el-Arish, again turning northward along the shore, the Via Maris passed through Migdal, Capernaum, and Hazor. From Hazor it crossed the northern River Jordan at Jacobs Daughters Bridge then climbed sharply over the Golan Heights, here travellers could continue on the Kings Highway as far as the Euphrates River or proceed northward into Anatolia. According to Anson Rainey, Via Maris is not the name of any road. The phrase rather originates as the Latin translation of Isaiah 9,1 – by the way of the sea. The prophet was probably referring to the road from Dan to the sea at Tyre, passing through Abel-beth-maachah, the road mentioned in the traditional description is better listed as the Great Trunk Road. Carl G. Rasmussen in the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, p.32, also notes the traditional misnomer, Rasmussen, basically in agreement with Langfur and Rainey, suggests that the Via Maris was the road that connected Tyre with Damascus. Beitzel, in contrast, denotes the Via Maris as a road from Ptolemais to Kedesh in the Galilee - also leading west to east, but slightly further south and not reaching so far inland
Via Maris
–
Jezreel Valley with Via Maris in foreground
Via Maris
–
The Via Maris (purple), King's Highway (red), and other ancient Levantine trade routes, c. 1300 BCE
36.
Pierre Jacotin
–
Pierre Jacotin was named director of all the surveyors and geographers working in the Nile Valley in 1799 during the campaign in Egypt of Napoleon. After his return from Egypt, Jacotin worked on preparing the plates for publication and it was not until 1817 that the engraved plates could be published. Palestine and Egypt Under the Ottomans, Paintings, Books, Photographs, Maps, kallner, D. H. Jacotins Map of Palestine. Quarterly statement - Palestine Exploration Fund, an Analysis of Jacotins Map of Palestine. Description de lÉgypte, ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en, Jacotin maps at the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Pierre Jacotin
–
An area of Northern Palestine, 1826, by Jacotin
Pierre Jacotin
37.
French campaign in Egypt and Syria
–
It was the primary purpose of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, a series of naval engagements that included the capture of Malta. On the scientific front, the led to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. At the time of the invasion, the Directoire had assumed power in France. The notion of annexing Egypt as a French colony had been discussion since François Baron de Tott undertook a secret mission to the Levant in 1777 to determine its feasibility. Baron de Totts report was favorable, but no action was taken. Nevertheless, Egypt became a topic of debate between Talleyrand and Napoleon, which continued in their correspondence during Napoleons Italian campaign, in early 1798, Bonaparte proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt. Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the dream of linking with Frances ally Tipu Sultan. At the time, Egypt had been an Ottoman province since 1517, but was now out of direct Ottoman control, in France, Egyptian fashion was in full swing – intellectuals believed that Egypt was the cradle of western civilization and wished to conquer it. French traders already based on the River Nile were complaining of harassment by the Mamluks and he assured the Directoire that as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions. The Directoire agreed to the plan in March 1798, though troubled by its scope, however, they saw that it would remove the popular and over-ambitious Napoleon from the center of power, though this motive long remained secret. Rumors became rife as 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 sailors were gathered in French Mediterranean ports, a large fleet was assembled at Toulon,13 ships of the line,14 frigates, and 400 transports. To avoid interception by the British fleet under Nelson, the target was kept secret. It was known only to Bonaparte himself, his generals Berthier and Caffarelli, Bonaparte was the commander, with subordinates including Thomas Alexandre Dumas, Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Caffarelli, Lannes, Damas, Murat, Andréossy, Belliard, Menou, and Zajączek. His aides de camp included his brother Louis Bonaparte, Duroc, Eugène de Beauharnais, Thomas Prosper Jullien, and the Polish nobleman Joseph Sulkowski. The fleet at Toulon was joined by squadrons from Genoa, Civitavecchia and Bastia and was put under the command of Admiral Brueys and Contre-amirals Villeneuve, Du Chayla, Decrès and Ganteaume. The fleet was about to set sail when a crisis developed with Austria, the crisis was resolved in a few weeks, and Bonaparte received orders to travel to Toulon as soon as possible. It is claimed that, in a meeting with the Directoire, Bonaparte threatened to dissolve them and directeur Reubell gave him a pen saying Sign there. Bonaparte arrived at Toulon on 9 May 1798, lodging with Benoît Georges de Najac, grand Master von Hompesch replied that only two foreign ships would be allowed to enter the port at a time
French campaign in Egypt and Syria
–
Battle of the Pyramids
French campaign in Egypt and Syria
–
Napoleon's arrival in Malta
French campaign in Egypt and Syria
–
French Campaign in Egypt, 1798–99
38.
Winepress
–
A wine press is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers, each style of press exerts controlled pressure in order to free the juice from the fruit. The pressure must be controlled, especially grapes, in order to avoid crushing the seeds. Wine was being made at least as long ago as 6000 BC, in 2011, a basket press consists of a large basket filled with the crushed grapes. Pressure is applied through a plate that is forced down onto the fruit, the mechanism to lower the plate is often either a screw or a hydraulic device. The juice flows through openings in the basket, the basket style press was the first type of mechanized press to be developed, and its basic design has not changed in nearly 1000 years. A horizontal screw press works using the principle as the basket press. Instead of a plate being brought down to put pressure on the grapes, plates from either side of a cylinder are brought together to squeeze the grapes. Generally the volume of grapes handled is significantly greater than that of a basket press, a bladder press consists of a large cylinder, closed at each end, into which the fruit is loaded. To press the grapes, a large bladder expands and pushes the grapes against the sides, the juice then flows out through small openings in the cylinder. The cylinder rotates during the process to help homogenize the pressure that is placed on the grapes, a continuous screw press differs from the above presses in that it does not process a single batch of grapes at a time. Instead it uses an Archimedes screw to continuously force grapes up against the wall of the device, juice is extracted, and the pomace continues through to the end where it is extracted. This style of press is used to produce table wines. Flash release is a used in wine pressing. The technique allows for an extraction of phenolic compounds
Winepress
–
16th century wine press
Winepress
–
Modern wine press
Winepress
–
Ancient wine press in
Israel with the pressing area in the center and the collection vat off to the bottom left.
Winepress
–
A bladder press
39.
Ramesses II
–
Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great and Ozymandias, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He often is regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and his successors and later Egyptians called him the Great Ancestor. Ramesses II led several expeditions into the Levant, reasserting Egyptian control over Canaan. He also led expeditions to the south, into Nubia, commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali, at age fourteen, Ramesses was appointed Prince Regent by his father Seti I. He is believed to have taken the throne in his teens and is known to have ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC. Manetho attributes Ramesses II a reign of 66 years and 2 months, most Egyptologists today believe he assumed the throne on May 31,1279 BC, estimates of his age at death vary,90 or 91 is considered most likely. Ramesses II celebrated an unprecedented 14 sed festivals during his reign—more than any other pharaoh. On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, his later was moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881. The early part of his reign was focused on building cities, temples and he established the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta as his new capital and used it as the main base for his campaigns in Syria. He is known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources, from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses throne name, Usermaatre Setepenre, The justice of Rê is powerful – chosen of Rê. Early in his life, Ramesses II embarked on campaigns to restore possession of previously held territories lost to the Nubians and Hittites. He also was responsible for suppressing some Nubian revolts and carrying out a campaign in Libya, during Ramesses IIs reign, the Egyptian army is estimated to have totaled about 100,000 men, a formidable force that he used to strengthen Egyptian influence. The Sherden people probably came from the coast of Ionia, from southwest Anatolia or perhaps, a stele from Tanis speaks of their having come in their war-ships from the midst of the sea, and none were able to stand before them. In that sea battle, together with the Sherden, the pharaoh also defeated the Lukka, the immediate antecedents to the Battle of Kadesh were the early campaigns of Ramesses II into Canaan. The inscription is almost totally illegible, due to weathering, additional records tell us that he was forced to fight a Canaanite prince who was mortally wounded by an Egyptian archer, and whose army subsequently, was routed. Ramesses carried off the princes of Canaan as live prisoners to Egypt, Ramesses then plundered the chiefs of the Asiatics in their own lands, returning every year to his headquarters at Riblah to exact tribute. In the fourth year of his reign, he captured the Hittite vassal state of Amurru during his campaign in Syria, the Battle of Kadesh in his fifth regnal year was the climactic engagement in a campaign that Ramesses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite forces of Muwatallis. The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypts frontiers into Syria, and to emulate his father Seti Is triumphal entry into the city just a decade or so earlier and he also constructed his new capital, Pi-Ramesses
Ramesses II
–
One of the four external seated statues of Ramesses II at
Abu Simbel.
Ramesses II
–
Ramesses II as a child (
Cairo Museum)
Ramesses II
–
Relief from
Ramesseum showing the
siege of Dapur
Ramesses II
–
Tablet of
treaty between
Hattusili III of
Hatti and Ramesses II of
Egypt, at the
Istanbul Archaeology Museum
40.
Cypro-Minoan
–
The Cypro-Minoan syllabary is an undeciphered syllabary used on the island of Cyprus during the late Bronze Age. The term Cypro-Minoan was coined by Arthur Evans in 1909 based on its similarity to Linear A on Minoan Crete. Approximately 250 objects—such as clay balls, cylinders, and tablets, discoveries have been made at various sites around Cyprus, as well as in the ancient city of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. Little is known about how this script originated or about the underlying language, however, its use continued into the early Iron Age, forming a link to the Cypriot syllabary, which has been deciphered as Greek. Arthur Evans considered the Cypro-Minoan syllabary to be a result of uninterrupted evolution of the Minoan Linear A script and he believed that the script was brought to Cyprus by Minoan colonizers or immigrants. It is noteworthy that the Linear B script that emerged a century later still retained many features from. All this evidence indicates a one-time introduction rather than long-time development, the earliest inscriptions are dated about 1550 BC. This classification was and is accepted, but in 2011 Silvia Ferrara contested its chronological nature based on the archaeological context. Only the archaic CM found in the earliest archaeological context is indeed distinct from these three and it is noteworthy that the Cypro-Minoan script was absent in some Bronze Age cities of Cyprus, yet abundant in others. On the other hand, as a result of this collapse. As long as the script remains undeciphered, it can only be speculated whether the language was the same as Minoan or Eteocypriot, there were no visible traces of Minoan invasion, colonization, or even significant cultural influence in Bronze Age Cyprus. At that time, the island was part of the Near-East cultural circle rather than Aegean civilizations, based on the above-mentioned classification of the script into several varieties, Emilia Masson hypothetized that they may represent different languages that chronologically supplanted each other. The earliest known CM inscription found in Europe was a tablet discovered in 1955 at the ancient site of Enkomi. It was dated to ca.1500 BC, and bore three lines of writing, other fragments of clay tablets have been found at Enkomi and Ugarit. Dozens of small balls, each bearing 3–5 signs in CM1, have been uncovered at Enkomi. Clay cylinder seals have been uncovered at Enkomi and Kalavassos-Ayios Dimitrios and it is likely that the balls and cylinder seals are related to the keeping of economic records on Minoan Cyprus, considering the large number of cross-references between the texts. The extant corpus of Cypro-Minoan is not large enough to allow for the use of a cryptographic solution to decipherment. According to Thomas G. Palaima, all past and current schemes of decipherment of Cypro-Minoan are improbable, the names on the clay balls can thus be transcribed, some are Semitic, most are presumably in the local language
Cypro-Minoan
–
Cypro-Minoan tablet from Enkomi in the
Louvre.
Cypro-Minoan
–
Cypro-Minoan
Cypro-Minoan
–
The current (2015) consensus about values of certain CM signs, based on their comparison with the Cypriot signs. Created by D. Lytov based on recent publications (Colless, Faucounau, Ferrara, Steele) referenced in the article text.
Cypro-Minoan
–
Cypro-Minoan clay ball in the
Louvre.
41.
Tell Abu Hawam
–
Tell Abu Hawam was a small city established in the Late Bronze Age on the site of Modern-day Haifa, Israel. The sixth century BCE geographer Scylax described the city as being located between the bay and the promontory of Zeus and it existed as a port city and a fishing village, and was moved to the site south of what is now the neighborhood of Bat Galim. The city eventually expanded into what is now the city of Haifa, Encyclopedia Judaica, Haifa, Keter Publishing, Jerusalem,1972, vol. 7, pp. 1134–1139 The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, Volume 5, article Abu Hawam p 1553
Tell Abu Hawam
–
Maparea with Tell Abu Hawam
42.
Cyprus
–
Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
Cyprus
–
A copper mine on Cyprus. In antiquity, Cyprus was a major source of copper.
Cyprus
–
Flag
Cyprus
–
Archeologic site of Choirokoitia with early remains of human habitation during Aceramic Neolithic period (reconstruction)
Cyprus
–
Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates,
Kourion
43.
Archaeology of Israel
–
The archaeology of Israel is the study of the archaeology of the present-day Israel, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. The ancient Land of Israel was a bridge between the political and cultural centers of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Despite the importance of the country to three major religions, serious archaeological research began in the 15th century. The first major work on the antiquities of Israel was Adrian Relands Palestina ex monumentis veteribus, edward Robinson, an American theologian who visited the country in 1838, published the first topographical studies. A Frenchman, Louis Felicien de Saucy, embarked on the first modern excavations in 1850, the Neolithic period appears to have begun when the peoples of the Natufian culture, which spread across present-day Syria, Israel and Lebanon, began to practice agriculture. This Neolithic Revolution has been linked to the period known as the Younger Dryas. This agriculture in the Levant is the earliest known to have been practiced, the Neolithic period in this region is dated 8500–4300 BCE and the Chalcolithic 4300–3300 BCE. Natufian sites in Israel include Ain Mallaha, el-Wad, Ein Gev, Hayonim cave, Nahal Oren, the Bronze Age is the period 3300–1200 BCE when objects made of bronze were in use. Many writers have linked the history of the Levant from the Bronze Age onwards to events described in the Bible, the Bronze Age and Iron Age together are sometimes called the Biblical period. The Amarna Letters are an example of a period during the Late Bronze Age when the vassal kings of the Levant corresponded with their overlords in Egypt. The Iron Age in the Levant begins in about 1200 BCE when iron tools came into use and it is also known as the Israelite period. The Israelite period is characterized by numbers of urban dwellings. The rich and diverse archaeological findings attest to strong international links, the abundance of writings found indicate a broad distribution of knowledge among common people of ancient Israel and not just scribes, a unique phenomenon in the ancient world. In this period both the evidence and the narrative evidence from the Bible become richer and much writing has attempted to make links between them. Israel Finkelstein suggests that the empire of David and Solomon never existed, finklestein accepts the existence of King David and Solomon but doubts their chronology, significance and influence as described in the Bible. Without claiming that everything in the Bible is historically accurate, some story elements appear to correspond with physical artifacts. Inscriptions such as the Tel Dan Stele and the Mesha Stele can be traced to a cultural origin. The Roman period covers the dates 63 BCE to 330 CE, therefore, the late Roman period is also called the Yavne Period
Archaeology of Israel
–
Beit She'an ruins
Archaeology of Israel
–
Hellenistic
Sarcophagus unearthed in
Ashkelon
Archaeology of Israel
–
LMLK seals with Israeli postage stamps commemorating them
44.
Water supply and sanitation in Israel
–
Water supply and sanitation in Israel are intricately linked to the historical development of Israel. Because rain falls only in the winter, and largely in the part of the country, irrigation and water engineering are considered vital to the countrys economic survival. Large scale projects to desalinate seawater, direct water from rivers and reservoirs in the north, make use of groundwater. Among them is the National Water Carrier, carrying water from the countrys biggest freshwater lake, Israels water demand today outstrips available conventional water resources. Thus, in an year, Israel relies for about half of its water supply on unconventional water resources, including reclaimed water. A particularly long drought in 1998–2002 had prompted the government to promote large-scale seawater desalination, the history of the development of water supply and sanitation in modern Israel can be divided into distinct phases, beginning with the unilateral development of conventional water resources. In 1937 the national water company Mekorot was created, more than a decade before the creation of the state of Israel, among its achievements was the Shiloach Pipeline along the Burma Road to Jerusalem built during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and a first pipeline to the Negev in 1955. The Johnston Plan was rejected by the Arab League, but Israel nevertheless abided by its water allocation under the plan, Mekorot began a Rain Enhancement program in 1961, increasing rainfall by 13–18%. A Brackish Water Pipeline to divert brackish ground water from the Sea of Galilee to the Lower Jordan was completed in 1965. The main water resources project at the time, however, was the transfer of water from the Sea of Galilee to the coast through the National Water Carrier in 1965. As a reaction to the construction of the pipeline, Lebanon, Syria and this was one of the events that increased tensions leading to the Six-Day War of 1967 during which Israel captured the West Bank and the Golan Heights. In 1969 the Shafdan wastewater treatment plant south of Tel Aviv was completed to treat approximately 130 million cubic meters of wastewater per year for reuse in agriculture, however, wastewater from other cities and towns remained largely untreated. In 1970 there was an outbreak because of illegal irrigation of salad with untreated wastewater. This gave rise to major investments in wastewater treatment under the National Sewerage Plan, in 1984 the Kishon wastewater treatment plant was completed in Northern Israel. It provides 20 million cubic meters of treated wastewater per year for use in the fertile Jezreel Valley. The 1995 Interim Agreement as part of the Oslo Peace Process provided certain quantities of water to the Palestinians, the surface water of the Jordan River remains disputed with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians. Only with Jordan Israel was able to reach an agreement on the sharing of resources in 1995 as part of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty. In 1997, the first reverse osmosis plant in Israel opened in Eilat
Water supply and sanitation in Israel
–
Laying water pipe to
Jerusalem, c. 1946
Water supply and sanitation in Israel
–
Sea of Galilee
Water supply and sanitation in Israel
–
Menashe groundwater recharge project reservoir
45.
Tourism in Israel
–
Tourism in Israel is one of Israels major sources of income, with a record 3.54 million tourist arrivals in 2013. Israel offers a plethora of historical and religious sites, beach resorts, archaeological tourism, Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world. In 2009, the two most visited sites were the Western Wall and the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the most visited city is Jerusalem and the most visited site was the Western Wall. Jerusalem is the city with 3.5 million tourist arrivals annually. One of the oldest cities in the world, it is the capital and largest city of Israel, if the area. It is a city to the three major Abrahamic religions-Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and hosts a myriad of historical, archaeological, religious. West Jerusalem was built mainly after the creation of Israel in 1948, selected tourist attractions within this area are, The German Colony, a Temple Society settlement, with a colorful mix of architectural styles. Mea Shearim, established in the century and inhabited largely by ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews. Ein Karem, the birthplace of John the Baptist, is one of the four most visited Christian pilgrimage sites in Israel. Mt. Zion, the resting place of King David. Mt. Scopus, site of the Hebrew University and standing at 2710 feet above sea level, both the Temple Mount and the Dead Sea are visible from this location. East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-day War and considered by the community as being under Israeli occupation. It is the location of, The Old City of Jerusalem, traditionally divided into four quarters, Armenian Quarter, Christian Quarter, Muslim Quarter and Jewish Quarter. Most importantly, the Temple Mount, site of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem with only the Western Wall at its foot remaining, various locations have been proposed as the Tomb of Jesus, traditionally identified as where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands. Nor has Golgotha, the hill where he was crucified been located. Immediately south of the Jewish Quarter lies the City of David with archaeological digs including the Siloam Tunnel, the unfinalized status of East Jerusalem has caused issues when attempting to market Jerusalem to international tourists. Israel rejected the ruling, with the Ministry of Tourism releasing a statement that said the ad provided basic, the ruling from 2009 also included criticism about Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights being shown as part of Israel. With 2.3 million tourist visits in 2013, Tel Aviv is Israels second-largest city, the citys greater area is the largest with 3 million inhabitants
Tourism in Israel
–
The
Western Wall and
Dome of the Rock in the
Old City of Jerusalem
Tourism in Israel
–
An aerial view of the
Sea of Galilee
Tourism in Israel
–
Tel Aviv, the second-largest city in Israel
Tourism in Israel
–
Arab market.
Old City of Jerusalem
46.
Tosefta
–
The Tosefta is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah, the Mishnah is the basic compilation of the Oral law of Judaism, according to the tradition, it was compiled in 189 CE. The Tosefta closely corresponds to the Mishnah, with the divisions for sedarim. It is mainly written in Mishnaic Hebrew, with some Aramaic, at times the text of the Tosefta agrees nearly verbatim with the Mishnah. At others there are significant differences, the Tosefta often attributes laws that are anonymous in the Mishnah to named Tannaim. It also augments the Mishnah with additional glosses and discussions and it offers additional aggadic and midrashic material, and it sometimes contradicts the Mishnah in the ruling of Jewish law, or in attributing in whose name a law was stated. According to rabbinic tradition, the Tosefta was redacted by Rabbis Ḥiya, whereas the Mishna was considered authoritative, the Tosefta was supplementary. The Talmud often utilizes the traditions found in the Tosefta to examine the text of the Mishnah, the traditional view is that the Tosefta should be dated to a period concurrent with or shortly after the redaction of the Mishnah. This view pre-supposes that the Tosefta was produced in order to record variant material not included in the Mishnah, modern scholarship can be roughly divided into two camps. Some, such as Jacob N. Epstein theorize that the Tosefta as we have it developed from a proto-Tosefta recension which formed much of the basis for later Amoraic debate. Others, such as Hanokh Albeck, theorize that the Tosefta is a compendium of several baraitot collections which were in use during the Amoraic period. Professor Shamma Friedman, has found that the Tosefta draws on relatively early Tannaitic source material, ultimately, the state of the source material is such to allow divergent opinions to exist. These opinions serve to show the difficulties in establishing a clear picture of the origins of the Tosefta, Rabbi Sherira Gaon, in a letter written to the heads of the Jewish community in Kairuan, has disclosed somewhat about the authority of the Tosefta in relation to the Mishnah. There, he writes, We do not follow the opinion of R. Ḥiya, as expressed in a Baraita, if he disputes with Rebbe. For example, let us suppose that a certain halacha had originally been a matter of dispute between R. Meir and R. Yosi, but Rebbe decided to record in the Mishnah only R. Meirs opinion. Whenever R. Meir and R. Yosi disagree, the halacha follows R. Yosi, nevertheless, since in the Mishnah, Rebbe mentioned only R. Meirs opinion, we follow R. Meir. Rabbi Sherira Gaon then brings down the reverse of this example, Or, however, R. Ḥiya prefers R. Meirs argument, and therefore records it in a Baraita without mentioning R. Yosis opposing view. In such a case, we do not accept decision, three manuscripts exist of the Tosefta, they are, Vienna, Erfurt, and, London
Tosefta
–
Talmud Readers by
Adolf Behrman
47.
Mishnah
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The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of Rabbinic literature, most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, while some parts are Aramaic. The Mishnah consists of six orders, each containing 7–12 tractates,63 in total, the word Mishnah can also indicate a single paragraph or a verse of the work itself, i. e. the smallest unit of structure in the Mishnah. For this reason the work is sometimes called by the plural. The term Mishnah originally referred to a method of teaching by presenting topics in an order, as contrasted with Midrash. The Mishnah consists of six orders, each containing 7–12 tractates,63 in total, each masechet is divided into chapters and then paragraphs. In this last context, the word means a single paragraph of the work, i. e. the smallest unit of structure, leading to the use of the plural, Mishnayot. Because of the division into six orders, the Mishnah is sometimes called Shas, in each order, tractates are arranged from biggest to smallest. A popular mnemonic consists of the acronym ZMaN NaKaT, the Babylonian Talmud states that there were either six hundred or seven hundred orders of the Mishnah. Hillel the Elder organized them into six orders to make it easier to remember, the historical accuracy of this tradition is disputed. There is also a tradition that Ezra the scribe dictated from memory not only the 24 books of the Tanakh but 60 esoteric books. It is not known whether this is a reference to the Mishnah, interestingly, Reuvein Margolies posited that there were originally seven orders of Mishnah, citing a Gaonic tradition on the existence of a seventh order containing the laws of Stam and Berachot. A number of important laws are not elaborated upon in the Mishnah and these include the laws of tzitzit, tefillin, mezuzot, the holiday of Hanukkah, and the laws of conversion to Judaism. These were later discussed in the minor tractates, nissim ben Jacobs Hakdamah Lemafteach Hatalmud argued that it was unnecessary for Judah the Prince to discuss them as many of these laws were so well known. Rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah from the four centuries, done in the Land of Israel. In themselves they are known as Gemara, the books which set out the Mishnah in its original structure, together with the associated Gemara, are known as Talmuds. Two Talmuds were compiled, the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, unlike the Hebrew Mishnah, the Gemara is written primarily in Aramaic. The Mishnah does not claim to be the development of new laws, the term Mishnah is related to the verb shanah, to teach or repeat, and to the adjectives sheni and mishneh, meaning second
Mishnah
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Talmud Readers by
Adolf Behrman
Mishnah
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Palestine Exploration Quarterly
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The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865 and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study of the Levant region, today now known as Palestine. Consequently, it had a relationship with Corps of Royal Engineers. The beginnings of the Palestine Exploration Fund are rooted in a society founded by British Consul James Finn. Many photographs of Palestine have survived from this period, on 22 June 1865, a group of Biblical archaeologists and clergymen financed the fund, with initial funding of £300. The most notable of the founders were Arthur P. Stanley, the Dean of Westminster, and George Grove and its founders established the fund for the purpose of investigating the Archaeology, Geography, manners, customs and culture, Geology and Natural History of the Holy Land. It is interesting to note that the General Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund recognized a connection with the earlier Society. The preliminary meeting of the Society of the Palestine Exploration Fund took place in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey, William Thomson, the Archbishop of York, read out the original prospectus at the first organisational meeting, ur object is strictly an inductive inquiry. No country should be of so much interest to us as that in which the documents of our Faith were written, at the same time no country more urgently requires illustration. Even to a traveller in the Holy Land the Bible becomes, in its form, and therefore to some extent in its substance. Much would be gained by. bringing to light the remains of so many races and generations which must lie concealed under the accumulation of rubbish and ruins on which those villages stand. The PEF conducted many early excavations of biblical and post biblical sites around the Levant, as well as studies involving natural history, anthropology, history, in 1867, Charles Warren led PEFs biggest expedition. Warren and his team improved the topography of Jerusalem and discovered the ancient water systems that lay beneath the city of Jerusalem, the water system was later named Warrens Shaft, after Charles Warren, due to the discovery. Scattered over the world, a people without a country and it was one of the earliest usages by a prominent politician of a phrase which was to become widely used by advocates of Jewish settlement in Palestine. In 1878, the Treasurers statement listed over 130 local associations in the United Kingdom, there were also branches in Canada and Australia as well as Gaza City and Jerusalem. Expenditure in 1877 amounted to £2,959 14s 11d, regarding the latter, great emphasis was placed upon the nomenclature Holy Land, so the notion of religion could never have been far away. Also stress was laid upon the fact that The Society numbers among its supporters Christians, originally the survey was led by a Captain Stewart but he was forced home due to ill health. He was replaced by Major Wilson with Lieutenant Conder, following the death of Tyrwhitt Drake from malaria Lieutenant Kitchener joined the group
Palestine Exploration Quarterly
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Rock used by the PEF to mark the level of the
Dead Sea in the beginning of the 20th century
49.
JSTOR
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JSTOR is a digital library founded in 1995. Originally containing digitized back issues of journals, it now also includes books and primary sources. It provides full-text searches of almost 2,000 journals, more than 8,000 institutions in more than 160 countries have access to JSTOR, most access is by subscription, but some older public domain content is freely available to anyone. William G. Bowen, president of Princeton University from 1972 to 1988, JSTOR originally was conceived as a solution to one of the problems faced by libraries, especially research and university libraries, due to the increasing number of academic journals in existence. Most libraries found it prohibitively expensive in terms of cost and space to maintain a collection of journals. By digitizing many journal titles, JSTOR allowed libraries to outsource the storage of journals with the confidence that they would remain available long-term, online access and full-text search ability improved access dramatically. Bowen initially considered using CD-ROMs for distribution, JSTOR was initiated in 1995 at seven different library sites, and originally encompassed ten economics and history journals. JSTOR access improved based on feedback from its sites. Special software was put in place to make pictures and graphs clear, with the success of this limited project, Bowen and Kevin Guthrie, then-president of JSTOR, wanted to expand the number of participating journals. They met with representatives of the Royal Society of London and an agreement was made to digitize the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society dating from its beginning in 1665, the work of adding these volumes to JSTOR was completed by December 2000. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded JSTOR initially, until January 2009 JSTOR operated as an independent, self-sustaining nonprofit organization with offices in New York City and in Ann Arbor, Michigan. JSTOR content is provided by more than 900 publishers, the database contains more than 1,900 journal titles, in more than 50 disciplines. Each object is identified by an integer value, starting at 1. In addition to the site, the JSTOR labs group operates an open service that allows access to the contents of the archives for the purposes of corpus analysis at its Data for Research service. This site offers a facility with graphical indication of the article coverage. Users may create focused sets of articles and then request a dataset containing word and n-gram frequencies and they are notified when the dataset is ready and may download it in either XML or CSV formats. The service does not offer full-text, although academics may request that from JSTOR, JSTOR Plant Science is available in addition to the main site. The materials on JSTOR Plant Science are contributed through the Global Plants Initiative and are only to JSTOR
JSTOR
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The JSTOR front page
Easton, Matthew George (1897). "article name needed". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons.
