1.
Lisbon Cathedral
–
The Lisbon Cathedral, often called simple the Sé, is a Roman Catholic church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon, since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several times and survived many earthquakes. It is nowadays a mix of different architectural styles and it has been classified as a National Monument since 1910. Lisbon has been the seat of a bishopric since the 4th century AD, in the year 1147, the city was reconquered by an army composed of Portuguese soldiers led by King Afonso Henriques and North European crusaders taking part on the Second Crusade. An English crusader named Gilbert of Hastings was placed as bishop, and this first building was completed between 1147 and the first decades of the 13th century in Late Romanesque style. At that time the relics of St Vincent of Saragossa, patron saint of Lisbon, were brought to the cathedral from Southern Portugal. In 1498, Queen Eleanor of Viseu founded the Irmandade de Invocação a Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia de Lisboa in one of the chapels of the cloister of the cathedral. This brotherhood evolved into the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, earthquakes have always been a problem for Lisbon and its cathedral. During the 14th and 16th centuries there were several of them, but the worst of all was the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the cloisters and many chapels were also ruined by the quake and the fire that followed. The cathedral was rebuilt and, in the beginning of the 20th century, was given the appearance that it has today after a profound renovation. In recent years the central courtyard of the cloister has been excavated and shows signs of the Roman, Arab, Lisbon cathedral is a Latin cross building with three aisles, a transept and a main chapel surrounded by an ambulatory. The church is connected with a cloister on the Eastern side, the main façade of the cathedral looks like a fortress, with two towers flanking the entrance and crenellations over the walls. This menacing appearance, also seen in other Portuguese cathedrals of the time, is a relic from the Reconquista period, when the cathedral could be used as a base to attack the enemy during a siege. From its first building period, Lisbon cathedral has preserved the West façade with a window, the main portal, the North lateral portal. The portals have interesting sculptured capitals with Romanesque motifs, the nave is covered by barrel vaulting and has an upper, arched gallery. Light gets in through the windows of the West façade and transept. The general plan of the cathedral is similar to that of the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. One of the chapels of the ambulatory has an interesting Romanesque iron gate, at the end of the 13th century King Dinis of Portugal ordered the construction of a cloister in Gothic style, which became severely damaged by the 1755 earthquake
Lisbon Cathedral
–
Façade of Lisbon Cathedral
Lisbon Cathedral
–
View of the Romanesque lateral aisle of Lisbon Cathedral.
Lisbon Cathedral
–
Gothic vault of the ambulatory and upper row of windows.
Lisbon Cathedral
–
Gothic tomb of knight Lopo Fernandes Pacheco, 7th Lord of Ferreira de Aves, in the ambulatory of Lisbon Cathedral.
2.
Soffit
–
Soffit, in architecture, describes the underside of any construction element. The wall into which loudspeakers are mounted in a recording studio, a drop-down box used to mount a kitchen ventilation hood under a sloped or high ceiling. When so constructed, the material is typically screwed or nailed to rafters known as lookout rafters or lookouts for short. Soffit exposure profile on a buildings exterior can vary from a few centimetres to 3 feet or more and it can be non-ventilated or ventilated for cooling non livable attic space. A grill that covers the opening on the bottom of the soffit is called a soffit vent. A soffit joist is also a related piece, copper in architecture This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
Soffit
–
Eaves or Soffit lining on a house in Northern Australia. The flat section (underside) would be referred to as a soffit. In this example the soffit is fixed to the slope of the
rafters. The
fascias form the outer edge and have a groove in them to receive the soffit lining sheets.
Soffit
–
Soffit lining a house in Northern
Florida,
USA. In this example the soffit is 12 inches wide and made from center lanced U groove perforated sections of
vinyl in a return fashion and fixed to a
truss roofing system.
Soffit
–
Soffit box providing a level mounting plane for kitchen ventilation hoods.
3.
Clerestory
–
In architecture, a clerestory is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. The purpose is to light, fresh air, or both. Similar structures have been used in vehicles to provide additional lighting, ventilation. The technology of the clerestory appears to originate in the temples of ancient Egypt, Clerestory appeared in Egypt at least as early as the Amarna period. In the Minoan palaces of Crete such as Knossos, by contrast, according to Biblical accounts, the Hebrew temple built by King Solomon featured clerestory windows made possible by the use of a tall, angled roof and a central ridgepole. The clerestory was used in the Hellenistic architecture of the periods of ancient Greek civilization. The Romans applied clerestories to basilicas of justice and to the basilica-like bath-houses and palaces, early Christian churches and some Byzantine churches, particularly in Italy, are based closely on the Roman basilica, and maintained the form of a central nave flanked by lower aisles on each side. The nave and aisles are separated by columns or piers, above which rises a wall pierced by clerestory windows, during the Romanesque period, many churches of the basilica form were constructed all over Europe. Many of these churches have wooden roofs with clerestories below them, some Romanesque churches have barrel vaulted ceilings with no clerestory. The development of the vault and ribbed vault made possible the insertion of clerestory windows. Initially the nave of an aisled and clerestoried church was of two levels, arcade and clerestory. During the Romanesque period a third level was inserted between them, a called the triforium. The triforium generally opens into space beneath the roof of the aisle. This became a feature of later Romanesque and Gothic large abbey. Sometimes another gallery set into the space above the triforium. This feature is found in some late Romanesque and early Gothic buildings in France, in smaller churches, clerestory windows may be trefoils or quatrefoils. In some Italian churches they are ocular, in most large churches, they are an important feature, both for beauty and for utility. The ribbed vaulting and flying buttresses of Gothic architecture concentrated the weight and thrust of the roof, in Gothic masterpieces, the clerestory is generally divided into bays by the vaulting shafts that continue the same tall columns that form the arcade separating the aisles from the nave
Clerestory
–
The church of St Nicolai,
Stralsund. The clerestory is the level between the two green roofs, reinforced here by
flying buttress.
Clerestory
–
The walls of the clerestory of the "basilica" style
Monreale cathedral are covered with
mosaic.
Clerestory
–
Malmesbury Abbey,
Wiltshire,
England. The nave wall is divided into three stages: the upper stage with windows is the clerestory, beneath it is the triforium, and the lowest stage is the arcade.
Clerestory
–
The clerestory of
Amiens Cathedral
4.
Rose window
–
The name “rose window” was not used before the 17th century and according to the Oxford English Dictionary, among other authorities, comes from the English flower name rose. Rose windows are also called Natalie windows after Saint Natalie of Lu who was sentenced to be executed on a spiked wheel, a circular window without tracery such as are found in many Italian churches, is referred to as an ocular window or oculus. Rose windows are particularly characteristic of Gothic architecture and may be seen in all the major Gothic Cathedrals of Northern France and their origins are much earlier and rose windows may be seen in various forms throughout the Medieval period. Their popularity was revived, with other features, during the Gothic revival of the 19th century so that they are seen in Christian churches all over the world. The origin of the window may be found in the Roman oculus. These large circular openings let in light and air, the best known being that at the top of the dome of the Pantheon. Windows with stone tracery make their emergence in Antiquity, but they arrived to us. Geometrical patterns of roses are very developed and common in Roman mosaic, in Early Christian and Byzantine architecture, there are examples of the use of circular oculi. A window of the 8th century, now located in Venice, many semicircular windows with pierced tracery exist from the 6th to the 8th century, and later in Greece. This theory suggests that crusaders brought the design of this window to Europe. But also of the halves editing roses are known, as with the church of San Juan Bautista in Baños de Cerrato, the scarcity and the brittleness of the vestiges of this time does not make it possible to say that complet rose window in tracery did not exist before. In another of these churches, San Miguel de Lillo, is the earliest known example of an axially placed oculus with tracery, several such windows of different sizes exist, and decoration of both Greek Cross and scalloped petal-like form occur, prefiguring both wheel and rose windows. In Germany, Worms Cathedral, has windows in the pedimental ends of its nave and gables. The apsidal western end has a wheel window with smaller oculi in each face. The Church of the Apostles, Cologne has an array of both ocular and lobed windows forming decorative features in the gables and beneath the Rhenish helm spire, the octagonal dome has a ring of oculi with two in each of the curved faces. Oculi were also used in the drums supporting domes and as upper lights in octagonal baptisteries such as that at Cremona. Romanesque facades with oculi include San Miniato al Monte, Florence, 11th century, San Michele, Pavia, c. As the windows increased in size in the later Romanesque period, wheel windows became a feature of which there are fine examples at San Zeno Maggiore, Verona
Rose window
–
Exterior of the rose at
Strasbourg Cathedral,
France.
Rose window
–
Interior of the rose at Strasbourg Cathedral.
Rose window
–
Architectural drawing of the rose window of Strasbourg Cathedral
Rose window
–
The oculus of the
Pantheon, Rome.
5.
The Cloisters
–
The Cloisters is a museum in Upper Manhattan, New York City specializing in European medieval architecture, sculpture and decorative arts. Its early collection was built by the American sculptor, art dealer and collector George Grey Barnard, Rockefeller extended the collection and in 1931 purchased the site at Washington Heights and contracted the design for a new building that was to become the Cloisters. The museum today is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its architectural and artistic works are largely from the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Its four cloisters, the Cuxa, Bonnefont, Trie and Saint-Guilhem cloisters, were sourced from French monasteries, between 1934 and 1939 they were excavated and reconstructed in Washington Heights, in a large project overseen by the architect Charles Collens. They are surrounded by a series of chapels and rooms grouped by period and source location. The design, layout and ambiance of the building is intended to evoke in visitors a sense of the Medieval European monastic life through its distinctive architecture, the area around the buildings contains reconstructed early medieval gardens. Barnards collection was purchased along with a pieces from Rockefellers holdings and these became the foundation and core of the Cloisters collection. The Cloisters and the adjacent 4 acres gardens are situated in Fort Tryon Park, construction took place over a five-year period beginning in 1934. He also bought several hundred acres of the New Jersey Palisades and this land is now part of the Palisades Interstate Park. Rockefeller was impacted by the depression of the early 1930s. The Cloisters building was designed by Charles Collens, and incorporated elements from the five cloistered abbeys of Catalan, Occitan, in 1988, the Treasury Gallery within the Cloisters, containing objects used for liturgical celebrations, personal devotions, and secular uses, was renovated. Other galleries were refurbished in 1998 and 1999, the Cloisters is a well-known New York City landmark and has been used as a filming location. In 1948, the filmmaker Maya Deren used its ramparts as a backdrop for her experimental film Meditation on Violence, in the same year, German director William Dieterle used the Cloisters as the location for a convent school in his film Portrait of Jennie. The 1968 film Coogans Bluff used the sites pathways and lanes for a motorcycle chase. The museum contains architecture elements and settings relocated mostly from four French medieval abbeys, between 1934 and 1939 they were transported, reconstructed and integrated with new buildings, in a project overseen by the architect Charles Collens. The exterior building is influenced by and contains elements from the 13th century church at Saint-Geraud at Monsempron, France and it was primarily designed by Collins, who took influence from Bernards original Cloisters Museum. The exterior contains stone from a number of European sources, and was built from 1935, primarily from limestone and it includes four Gothic windows from the refectory at Sens, and nine arcades from a priory at Firiory. The bulbous Fuentidueña Chapel was especially difficult to fit into the area, the Cuxa Cloisters are located on the south side of the building and structurally and thematically are the museums centerpiece
The Cloisters
–
from the
Hudson River
The Cloisters
–
A view from the south
The Cloisters
–
The building's tower
The Cloisters
–
The garden
6.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
New York City
–
Clockwise, from top:
Midtown Manhattan,
Times Square, the
Unisphere in
Queens, the
Brooklyn Bridge,
Lower Manhattan with
One World Trade Center,
Central Park, the
headquarters of the United Nations, and the
Statue of Liberty
New York City
–
New Amsterdam, centered in the eventual
Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year
England took control and renamed it "New York".
New York City
–
The
Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the
American Revolution, took place in
Brooklyn in 1776.
New York City
–
Broadway follows the Native American Wickquasgeck Trail through Manhattan.
7.
Vault (architecture)
–
Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that requires a counter resistance, when vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required. However, when the vault is built above ground, various replacements are employed to supply the needed resistance, an example is the thicker walls used in the case of barrel or continuous vaults. Buttresses are used to supply resistance when intersecting vaults are employed, the simplest kind of vault is the barrel vault, which is generally semicircular in shape. The barrel vault is an arch, the length being greater than its diameter. As in building an arch, a support is needed while rings of voussoirs are constructed. Until the topmost voussoir, the keystone, is positioned, the vault is not self-supporting, with a barrel vault, the centering can then be shifted on to support the next rings. Amongst the earliest known examples of any form of vaulting is to be found in the village of Khirokitia on Cyprus. Dating from ca.6000 BCE, the circular buildings supported beehive shaped corbel domed vaults of unfired mud-bricks, similar Beehive tombs, called tholoi, exist in Crete and Northern Iraq. Their construction differs from that at Khirokitia in that most appear partially buried, the inclusion of domes, however, represents a wider sense of the word vault. The distinction between the two is that a vault is essentially an arch which is extruded into the third dimension, whereas a dome is an arch revolved around its vertical axis. Pitched-brick vaults are named for their construction, the bricks are installed vertically and are leaning at an angle, examples have been found in archaeological excavations in Mesopotamia dating to the 2nd and 3rd millennium BC which were set in gypsum mortar. A barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault and resembles a barrel or tunnel cut lengthwise in half, the effect is that of a structure composed of continuous semicircular or pointed sections. The earliest known examples of barrel vaults were built by the Sumerians, possibly under the ziggurat at Nippur in Babylonia, which was built of fired bricks cemented with clay mortar. The earliest barrel vaults in ancient Egypt are thought to be those in the built by the 19th dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II. The vault being over 800 feet long,10 feet in span, the enormous Eyvan-e Khosro at Ctesiphon was built over 1,500 years ago during the Persian Sasanian period as a throne room. The arch is about 37 metres high,26 metres across and 50 metres long, built entirely without centering, the rings relieved the centering from the weight imposed, and the two layers of bricks carried the concrete till it had set. As the walls carrying these vaults were built in concrete with occasional bond courses of brick
Vault (architecture)
–
Gothic rib-vault ceiling of the
Saint-Séverin church in Paris
Vault (architecture)
–
In a pitched-brick vault the bricks lean (are pitched) against an existing wall.
Vault (architecture)
–
St Paul's Cathedral Choir looking east, London
Vault (architecture)
–
Pointed barrel vault showing direction of lateral forces.
8.
Arch
–
An arch is a curved structure that spans a space and may or may not support weight above it. Arch may be synonymous with vault, but a vault may be distinguished as a continuous arch forming a roof, an arch is a pure compression form. It can span an area by resolving forces into compressive stresses and. This is sometimes referred to as arch action, as the forces in the arch are carried to the ground, the arch will push outward at the base, called thrust. As the rise, or height of the arch decreases, the outward thrust increases, in order to maintain arch action and prevent the arch from collapsing, the thrust needs to be restrained, either with internal ties or external bracing, such as abutments. The most common true arch configurations are the arch, the two-hinged arch. The fixed arch is most often used in reinforced concrete bridge and tunnel construction, because it is subject to additional internal stress caused by thermal expansion and contraction, this type of arch is considered to be statically indeterminate. The two-hinged arch is most often used to long spans. This type of arch has pinned connections at the base, unlike the fixed arch, the pinned base is able to rotate, allowing the structure to move freely and compensate for the thermal expansion and contraction caused by changes in outdoor temperature. However, this can result in additional stresses, so the two-hinged arch is also statically indeterminate, the three-hinged arch is not only hinged at its base, like the two-hinged arch, but at the mid-span as well. The additional connection at the mid-span allows the arch to move in two opposite directions and compensate for any expansion and contraction. This type of arch is not subject to additional stress caused by thermal change. The three-hinged arch is said to be statically determinate. It is most often used for structures, such as large building roofs. Another advantage of the arch is that the pinned bases are more easily developed than fixed ones, allowing for shallow. Arches have many forms, but all fall into three categories, circular, pointed, and parabolic. Arches can also be configured to produce vaults and arcades, Arches with a circular form, also referred to as rounded arches, were commonly employed by the builders of ancient, heavy masonry arches. Ancient Roman builders relied heavily on the arch to span large
Arch
–
Rossgraben bridge (
Rüeggisberg) near Bern, Switzerland, showing the hinge at mid-span of this three-hinged arch.
Arch
–
A masonry arch 1.
Keystone 2.
Voussoir 3. Extrados 4.
Impost 5. Intrados 6. Rise 7. Clear span 8.
Abutment
Arch
–
Example of semi-circular arches using limestone block construction at the
Great Wall, China.
Arch
–
Roman aqueduct near
Nîmes, France: An example of an arcade, employing the circular arch.
9.
Nave
–
The nave /ˈneɪv/ is the central aisle of a basilica church, or the main body of a church between its western wall and its chancel. It is the zone of a church accessible by the laity, the nave extends from the entry — which may have a separate vestibule — to the chancel and may be flanked by lower side-aisles separated from the nave by an arcade. If the aisles are high and of a width comparable to the central nave and it provides the central approach to the high altar. The term nave is from medieval Latin navis, a ship was an early Christian symbol. The term may also have suggested by the keel shape of the vaulting of a church. The earliest churches were built when builders were familiar with the form of the Roman basilica and it had a wide central area, with aisles separated by columns, and with windows near the ceiling. Old St. Peters Basilica in Rome is a church which had this form. It was built in the 4th century on the orders of Roman emperor Constantine I, the nave, the main body of the building, is the section set apart for the laity, while the chancel is reserved for the clergy. In medieval churches the nave was separated from the chancel by the rood screen, medieval naves were divided into bays, the repetition of form giving an effect of great length, and the vertical element of the nave was emphasized. During the Renaissance, in place of dramatic effects there were more balanced proportions, longest nave in Denmark, Aarhus Cathedral,93 metres. Longest nave in England, St Albans Cathedral, St Albans,84 metres, longest nave in Ireland, St Patricks Cathedral, Dublin,91 metres. Longest nave in France, Bourges Cathedral,91 metres, including choir where a crossing would be if there were transepts, longest nave in Germany, Cologne cathedral,58 metres, including two bays between the towers. Longest nave in Italy, St Peters Basilica in Rome,91 metres, longest nave in Spain, Seville,60 metres, in five bays. Longest nave in the United States, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, highest vaulted nave, Beauvais Cathedral, France,48 metres high but only one bay of the nave was actually built but choir and transepts were completed to the same height. Highest completed nave, Rome, St. Peters, Italy,46 metres high, abbey, with architectural discussion and groundplans Cathedral architecture Cathedral diagram List of highest church naves
Nave
–
The nave of the
Saint-Sulpice Church in Paris, France
Nave
–
Schematical illustration of a plan view of a cathedral, with the coloured area showing the nave.
Nave
–
The Romanesque nave of the abbey church of
Saint-Georges-de-Boscherville, Normandy, France, has a triforium passage above the aisle vaulting.
Nave
–
A fresco showing Old St Peter's Basilica, built in the 4th century: the central area, illuminated by high windows, is flanked by aisles.
10.
Buttress
–
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the forces arising out of the roof structures that lack adequate bracing. The term counterfort can be synonymous with buttress, and is used when referring to dams, retaining walls. Early examples of buttresses are found on the Eanna Temple, dating to as early as the 4th millennium BCE, in addition to flying and ordinary buttresses, brick and masonry buttresses that support wall corners can be classified according to their ground plan. The gallery below shows views of various types of buttress supporting the corner wall of a structure
Buttress
Buttress
Buttress
Buttress
11.
Groin vault
–
A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word groin refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults, sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round. In comparison with a vault, a groin vault provides good economies of material. The thrust is concentrated along the groins or arrises, so the vault need only be abutted at its four corners and it was superseded by the more flexible rib vaults of Gothic architecture in the later Middle Ages. Difficult to construct neatly because of the geometry of the cross groins, the construction method was particularly common on the basement level, such as at Myres Castle in Scotland, or at the ground floor level for the storerooms as at Muchalls Castle in Scotland. The first groin vault in Europe was, however, constructed in Delphi by King Attalos I of Pergamon some time between 241 and 197 BC, quite possibly in 223 BC. Their application of groin vaults to vast halls like the frigidaria in the Baths of Caracalla, a seminal modern design is the largest European train station, Hauptbahnhof in Berlin, which features an entrance building with a glass-spanned groin vault design. The construction of a groin vault can be understood most simply by visualising two barrel vault sections at right angles merging to form a squarish unit, the resulting four ribs convey the stress loading to the four corners, or piers. A common association of vaulting in cathedrals of the Middle Ages involves a nave of barrel vault design with transepts of groined vaulting, rib vaults resemble groin vaults but introduce structural ribs running along the angles which carry much of the weight, making possible much greater variations of proportion. Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy, early 3rd century AD32, basilica Minore de San Sebastián in Quiapo, Manila, Philippines. Tower house Architectural vault types Steinmetz solid Groined Vaulting
Groin vault
–
Renaissance groin vault
loggia at the
Palladio 's
Palazzo della Ragione,
Vicenza.
Groin vault
–
A groin vault (with pointed Gothic profile) viewed from the underside, showing the
arris or 'groin'.
Groin vault
–
Plan of the vault from above showing resultant outward thrust.
Groin vault
–
Santa Maria Maggiore at
Guardiagrele in
Abruzzo
12.
Ancient Egypt
–
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
Ancient Egypt
–
The
Great Sphinx and the
pyramids of Giza are among the most recognizable symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egypt
–
A typical Naqada II jar decorated with gazelles. (Predynastic Period)
Ancient Egypt
–
The
Narmer Palette depicts the unification of the Two Lands.
13.
Roman architecture
–
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but differed from Greek buildings, becoming a new architectural style. The two styles are considered one body of classical architecture. Roman architecture flourished in the Roman Republic and even more so under the Empire and it used new materials, particularly concrete, and newer technologies such as the arch and the dome to make buildings that were typically strong and well-engineered. Large numbers remain in some form across the empire, sometimes complete, Roman Architecture covers the period from the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC to about the 4th century AD, after which it becomes reclassified as Late Antique or Byzantine architecture. Almost no substantial examples survive from before about 100 BC, and most of the major survivals are from the later empire, after about 100 AD. They moved from trabeated construction mostly based on columns and lintels to one based on walls, punctuated by arches. The classical orders now became largely decorative rather than structural, except in colonnades, however, they did not feel entirely restricted by Greek aesthetic concerns, and treated the orders with considerable freedom. Innovation started in the 3rd or 2nd century BC with the development of Roman concrete as a readily available adjunct to, or substitute for, stone, more daring buildings soon followed, with great pillars supporting broad arches and domes. The freedom of concrete also inspired the colonnade screen, a row of decorative columns in front of a load-bearing wall. In smaller-scale architecture, concretes strength freed the floor plan from rectangular cells to a more free-flowing environment, factors such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans to discover new architectural solutions of their own. The use of vaults and arches, together with a knowledge of building materials. Examples include the aqueducts of Rome, the Baths of Diocletian and the Baths of Caracalla and these were reproduced at a smaller scale in most important towns and cities in the Empire. Some surviving structures are almost complete, such as the walls of Lugo in Hispania Tarraconensis. The administrative structure and wealth of the empire made possible very large even in locations remote from the main centres, as did the use of slave labour. Especially under the empire, architecture often served a function, demonstrating the power of the Roman state in general. The influence is evident in many ways, for example, in the introduction and use of the Triclinium in Roman villas as a place, Roman builders employed Greeks in many capacities, especially in the great boom in construction in the early Empire. The Roman Architectural Revolution, also known as the Concrete Revolution, was the use in Roman architecture of the previously little-used architectural forms of the arch, vault. For the first time in history, their potential was fully exploited in the construction of a range of civil engineering structures, public buildings
Roman architecture
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, Italy
Roman architecture
–
An area at the
Ostia Antica archaeological site: at one time, shops were located here
Roman architecture
–
The Roman
Pantheon was the
largest dome in the world for more than a millennium. It is the largest unreinforced solid concrete dome to this day
Roman architecture
–
Dome of the
Pantheon, inner view
14.
Cloaca Maxima
–
The Cloaca Maxima is one of the worlds earliest sewage systems. Constructed in Ancient Rome in order to drain marshes and remove the waste of one of the worlds most populous cities, it carried effluent to the River Tiber. The name literally means Greatest Sewer, according to tradition it may have been initially constructed around 600 BC under the orders of the king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus. The Cloaca Maxima originally was built by the Etruscans as an open-air canal, over time, the Romans covered over the canal and turned it into a sewer system for the city. This public work was achieved through the use of Etruscan engineers. Underground work is said to have carried out on the sewer by Tarquinius Superbus, Romes seventh. Although Livy describes it as being tunnelled out beneath Rome, he was writing centuries after the event and this open drain would then have been gradually built over, as building space within the city became more valuable. The continuous supply of running water helped to remove wastes and keep the sewers clear of obstructions, the aqueduct system was investigated by the general Frontinus at the end of the 1st century AD, who published his report on its state directly to the emperor Nerva. There were many branches off of the sewer, but all seem to be official drains that would have served public toilets, bath-houses. Private residences in Rome, even of the rich, would have relied on some sort of arrangement for sewage. The Cloaca Maxima was well maintained throughout the life of the Roman Empire and even today drains rainwater and debris from the center of town, below the ancient Forum, Velabro and Foro Boario. In more recent times, the passages have been connected to the modern-day sewage system. The Cloaca Maxima was thought to be presided over by the goddess Cloacina, the outfall of the Cloaca Maxima into the River Tiber is still visible today near the bridge Ponte Rotto, and near Ponte Palatino. There is a going down to it visible next to the Basilica Julia at the Forum. Some of it is visible from the surface opposite the church of San Giorgio al Velabro. The system of Roman sewers was much imitated throughout the Roman Empire, the sewer system in Eboracum—the modern-day English city of York—was especially impressive and part of it still survives. Rinne The Waters of Rome, The Cloaca Maxima and the Monumental Manipulation of Water in Archaic Rome by John N. N. Hopkins Rome, Cloaca Maxima
Cloaca Maxima
–
Map of central Rome during the time of the Roman Empire, showing Cloaca Maxima in red
Cloaca Maxima
–
Outfall of Cloaca Maxima as it appears today
Cloaca Maxima
–
View of the Cloaca Maxima as it appeared in 1814. Oil on canvas by
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
15.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
–
A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
–
Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
16.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
–
Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
–
Flag
Turkey
–
The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
–
The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
17.
Morocco
–
Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
Morocco
–
Berber Roman King
Ptolemy of Mauretania.
Morocco
–
Flag
Morocco
–
Roman mosaic of Diana in
Volubilis.
Morocco
–
Morocco, Safi ceramic vessel Jobbana
18.
Medieval
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Medieval
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Medieval
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Medieval
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Medieval
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
19.
Monastery
–
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone. A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church or temple, a monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary. These may include a hospice, a school and a range of agricultural and manufacturing such as a barn. In English usage, the monastery is generally used to denote the buildings of a community of monks. In modern usage, convent tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics, historically, a convent denoted a house of friars, now more commonly called a friary. Various religions may apply these terms in specific ways. The earliest extant use of the term monastērion is by the 1st century AD Jewish philosopher Philo in On The Contemplative Life, in England the word monastery was also applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Most cathedrals were not monasteries, and were served by canons secular, however, some were run by monasteries orders, such as York Minster. Westminster Abbey was for a time a cathedral, and was a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation. They are also to be distinguished from collegiate churches, such as St Georges Chapel, in most of this article, the term monastery is used generically to refer to any of a number of types of religious community. In the Roman Catholic religion and to some extent in certain branches of Buddhism, there is a more specific definition of the term. Buddhist monasteries are generally called vihara, viharas may be occupied by males or females, and in keeping with common English usage, a vihara populated by females may often be called a nunnery or a convent. However, vihara can also refer to a temple, in Tibetan Buddhism, monasteries are often called gompa. In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, a monastery is called a wat, in Burma, a monastery is called a kyaung. A Christian monastery may be an abbey, or a priory and it may be a community of men or of women. A charterhouse is any monastery belonging to the Carthusian order, in Eastern Christianity, a very small monastic community can be called a skete, and a very large or important monastery can be given the dignity of a lavra. The great communal life of a Christian monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the life of an anchorite. In Hinduism monasteries are called matha, mandir, koil, or most commonly an ashram, jains use the Buddhist term vihara
Monastery
–
The
Monastery of Santa María del Parral of the
Hieronymites monks in
Segovia,
Spain
Monastery
–
Monastery of St. Nilus on
Stolbnyi Island in
Lake Seliger near
Ostashkov,
Russia, ca. 1910
Monastery
–
Tengboche Buddhist monastery,
Nepal
Monastery
–
Rumtek Monastery,
Gangtok Sikkim
20.
Castle
–
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. Usage of the term has varied over time and has applied to structures as diverse as hill forts. Over the approximately 900 years that castles were built, they took on a great many forms with different features, although some, such as curtain walls. A European innovation, castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and princes. Although their military origins are often emphasised in castle studies, the structures served as centres of administration. Many castles were built from earth and timber, but had their defences replaced later by stone. Early castles often exploited natural defences, lacking features such as towers and arrowslits, in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire, many new castles were polygonal or relied on concentric defence – several stages of defence within each other that could all function at the same time to maximise the castles firepower. These changes in defence have been attributed to a mixture of castle technology from the Crusades, such as concentric fortification, not all the elements of castle architecture were military in nature, so that devices such as moats evolved from their original purpose of defence into symbols of power. Some grand castles had long winding approaches intended to impress and dominate their landscape, while castles continued to be built well into the 16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no role in civil administration, and country houses that were indefensible. From the 18th century onwards, there was a renewed interest in castles with the construction of castles, part of a romantic revival of Gothic architecture. The word castle is derived from the Latin word castellum, which is a diminutive of the word castrum, meaning fortified place. The Old English castel, Old French castel or chastel, French château, Spanish castillo, Italian castello, the word castle was introduced into English shortly before the Norman Conquest to denote this type of building, which was then new to England. In its simplest terms, the definition of a castle accepted amongst academics is a fortified residence. Feudalism was the link between a lord and his vassal where, in return for service and the expectation of loyalty. Castles served a range of purposes, the most important of which were military, administrative, as well as defensive structures, castles were also offensive tools which could be used as a base of operations in enemy territory
Castle
–
The
Alcázar of Segovia in Spain overlooking the city
Castle
–
Bodiam Castle in
East Sussex, England, surrounded by a water-filled
moat
Castle
–
The
Norman "White Tower", the
keep of the
Tower of London, exemplifies all uses of a castle including city defence, a residence, and a place of refuge in times of crisis.
Castle
–
Windsor Castle in England was founded as a fortification during the
Norman Conquest and today is one of the principal official residences of Queen
Elizabeth II.
21.
Tower house
–
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, at the same time, they were also used as an aristocrats residence, around which a castle town was often constructed. In Italian medieval communes, tower houses were built by the local barons as power centres during times of internal strife. In seventeenth century Scotland these castles became the pleasurable retreats of the upper-classes, while able to adopt a military nature, they were furnished for comfort and social interaction. Tower houses are commonly found in northern Spain, especially in the Basque Country. They were mainly used as residences and were able to provide shelter against several enemies, starting with the Arabs and later Castile. However, due to complex legal charters, few had boroughs attached to them, during the petty wars among the Basque nobles from 1379 to 1456, the upper floors of most of them were demolished. Few have survived unscathed to the present day, since then they have been used only as residences by their traditional noble owners or converted into farm houses. To the west of the Basque Country, in Cantabria and Asturias similar tower houses are found, furthest west in the Iberian peninsula in Galicia, medieval tower houses are in the origin of many Modern Age pazos, noble residences as well as strongholds. The tower house served the purpose of protecting the extended family and these tower houses were typically not intended to be used in any major military actions, for this purpose the crusaders relied on a number of larger order castles. A number of tower houses still exist, well-preserved examples include Purtse, Vao. The Yemeni city of Shibam has hundreds of houses which were the tallest in the world. Many other buildings in the Asir and Al-Bahah provinces of Saudi Arabia also have many stone towers and tower houses, most notable in the New World might be considered a focal element of the Mesa Verde Anasazi ruin in Colorado, United States. There is a prominent structure at that site which is in called the tower house and has the general appearance characteristics of its counterparts in Britain. Aul Svan tower Diaolou Bastle house Castle Keep L Plan Castle Manor house Peel tower The Fortified House in Scotland Fortified house Pazo Qasaba Z-plan castle Johnson Westropp, notes on the Lesser Castles or Peel Towers of the County Clare. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, the Culture of the English People, Iron Age to the Industrial Revolution. Architecture of the Islamic world, its history and social meaning, media related to Tower houses at Wikimedia Commons Cutaway drawing Of Urquhart Castle tower house
Tower house
–
The
Tower of Hallbar in
South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Tower house
–
Aranguren tower house (Orozko,
Biscay)
Tower house
–
Vao tower house, Estonia
Tower house
–
Old architecture in Al Baha
22.
Basement
–
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. However, in cities with high property prices such as London, basements are often fitted out to a high standard, the word cellar or cellars is used to apply to the whole underground level or to any large underground room. A subcellar is a cellar that lies further underneath, a basement can be used in almost exactly the same manner as an additional above-ground floor of a house or other building. However, the use of basements depends largely on factors specific to a geographical area such as climate, soil, seismic activity, building technology. Basements are much easier to construct in areas with soft soils. Adding a basement can also reduce heating and cooling costs as it is a form of earth sheltering, the housing density of an area may also influence whether or not a basement is considered necessary. Historically, basements have become easier to build since the industrialization of home building. For most of its history, the basement took one of two forms. However, beginning with the development of large, mid-priced suburban homes in the 1950s, a daylight basement or a walk-out basement is contained in a house situated on a slope, so that part of the floor is above ground, with a doorway to the outside. The part of the lower than the ground can be considered the true basement area. From the street, some daylight basement homes appear to be one storey, others appear to be a conventional two storey home from the street. Occupants can walk out at that point without having to use stairs, for example, if the ground slopes downwards towards the back of the house, the basement is at or above grade at the back of the house. It is a modern design because of the complexity of uneven foundations, where the basement is above grade. Full-size windows can be installed in a daylight basement and these can provide exits for bedrooms. Ventilation is improved over fully buried basement homes, with less dampness, daylight basements can be used for several purposes – as a garage, as maintenance rooms, or as living space. The buried portion is used for storage, laundry room, hot water tanks. Daylight basement homes typically appraise higher than standard-basement homes, since they include more viable living spaces, in some parts of the US, however, the appraisal for daylight basement space is half that of ground and above ground level square footage. Designs accommodated include split-foyer and split-level homes, garages on both levels are sometimes possible
Basement
–
An unfinished basement used for storage and exercise
Basement
–
Chillon Castle (
Château de Chillon) basement
Basement
–
A
Stasi basement hallway
Basement
–
Old Town medieval basements in
Warsaw
23.
Crypt
–
A crypt is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics, originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a church, such as at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, but were later located beneath chancel, naves and transepts as well. Occasionally churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the level, such as St Michaels Church in Hildesheim. Crypt developed as a form of the Latin vault as it was carried over into Late Latin. It also served as a vault for storing important and/or sacred items, crypta, however, is also the female form of crypto hidden. The earliest known origin of both is in the Ancient Greek κρύπτω, the first person singular indicative of the verb to conceal, first known in the early Christian period, in particular North Africa at Chlef and Djemila in Algeria, and Byzantium at Saint John Studio in Constantinople. Where Christian churches have been built over mithraea, the mithraeum has often been adapted to serve as a crypt, crypts were introduced into Frankish church building in the mid-8th century, as a feature of its Romanization. Their popularity then spread widely in western Europe under Charlemagne. Examples from this period are most common in the early medieval West, for example in Burgundy at Dijon, after the 10th century the early medieval requirements of a crypt faded, as church officials permitted relics to be held in the main level of the church. By the Gothic period crypts were built, however burial vaults continued to be constructed beneath churches. In more modern terms, a crypt is most often a stone chambered burial vault used to store the deceased, crypts are usually found in cemeteries and under public religious buildings, such as churches or cathedrals, but are also occasionally found beneath mausolea or chapels on personal estates. Wealthy or prestigious families will often have a family crypt or vault in which all members of the family are interred, many royal families, for example, have vast crypts containing the bodies of dozens of former royalty. In some localities an above ground crypt is more commonly called a mausoleum, there was a trend in the 19th century of building crypts on medium to large size family estates, usually subtly placed on the edge of the grounds or more commonly incorporated into the cellar. After a change of owner these are often blocked up and the house deeds will not allow this area to be re-developed, catacomb Mausoleum Tumulus Ossuary Tomb Cemetery Media related to Crypt at Wikimedia Commons Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Crypt
Crypt
–
A crypt in
Wola Gułowska,
Lublin Province,
Poland
Crypt
–
Early color photo of the family vault of the
Swedish royal dynasty of
Bernadotte.
Crypt
–
Crypt of
Bayeux Cathedral,
France (11th century)
Crypt
–
Crypt of
Bayeux Cathedral,
France
24.
Hallway
–
In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age, a hall was such a simple building and was the residence of a lord. Later, rooms were partitioned from it, and the next to the front door became the entrance hall. Today, the hall of a house is the next to the front door or vestibule leading to the rooms directly and/or indirectly. Where the hall inside the front door of a house is elongated, it may be called a passage, in warmer climates the houses of the wealthy were often built around a courtyard, but in northern areas manors were built around a great hall. The hall was home to the hearth, and was all the residents of the house would eat, work. One common example of form is the longhouse. Only particularly messy tasks would be done in rooms on the periphery of the hall. Still today the hall is often used to designate a country house such as a hall house, or specifically a Wealden hall house. In later medieval Europe, the room of a castle or manor house was the great hall. In a medieval building, the hall was where the fire was kept, as heating technology improved and a desire for privacy grew, tasks moved from the hall to other rooms. First the master of the house withdrew to private bedrooms and eating areas, over time servants and children also moved to their own areas, while work projects were also given their own chambers leaving the hall for special functions. With time, its functions as dormitory, kitchen, parlour and so on were divided off to separate rooms or, in the case of the kitchen, until the early modern era that majority of the population lived in houses with a single room. In the 17th century even lower classes began to have a room, with the main chamber being the hall. The hall and parlor house was found in England and was a fundamental, historical floor plan in parts of the United States from 1620 to 1860, in Europe as the wealthy embraced multiple rooms initially the common form was the enfilade, with rooms directly connecting to each other. In 1597 John Thorpe is the first recorded architect to replace multiple connected rooms with a rooms along a corridor each accessed by a separate door. Many buildings at colleges and universities are formally titled _______ Hall, typically being named after the person who endowed it, for example, Kings Hall, others, such as Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, commemorate respected people. Between these in age, Nassau Hall at Princeton University began as the building of the then college
Hallway
–
The Marwar Hall at
Umaid Bhawan Palace,
Jodhpur,
India
Hallway
–
Prayer hall of the
Great Mosque of Kairouan, in
Kairouan,
Tunisia
Hallway
–
A hallway at the
Royal York Hotel
Hallway
–
Hallway during and after construction in an
apartment building in
Mississauga,
Ontario,
Canada
25.
Great hall
–
At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence. Great halls were found especially in France, England and Scotland, a typical great hall was a rectangular room between one and a half and three times as long as it was wide, and also higher than it was wide. It was entered through a passage at one end, and had windows on one of the long sides. There was often a gallery above the screens passage. At the other end of the hall was the dais where the table was situated. The lords familys more private rooms lay beyond the end of the hall. Even royal and noble residences had few living rooms until late in the Middle Ages, and a great hall was a multifunctional room. It was used for receiving guests and it was the place where the household would dine together, including the lord of the house, his gentleman attendants, at night some members of the household might sleep on the floor of the great hall. The hearth was used for heating and also for some of the cooking, commonly the fireplace would have an elaborate overmantel with stone or wood carvings or even plasterwork which might contain coats of arms, heraldic mottoes, caryatids or other adornment. In the upper halls of French manor houses, the fireplaces were usually very large, typically, the great hall had the most beautiful decorations in it, as well as on the window frame mouldings on the outer wall. Many French manor houses have very beautifully decorated external window frames on the large mullioned windows that light the hall and this decoration clearly marked the window as belonging to the lords private hall. In western France, the manor houses were centered on a central ground-floor hall. Later, the reserved for the lord and his high-ranking guests was moved up to the first-floor level. This was called the salle haute or upper hall, in some of the larger three-storey manor houses, the upper hall was as high as second storey roof. The smaller ground-floor hall or salle basse remained but was for receiving guests of any social order and it is very common to find these two halls superimposed, one on top of the other, in larger manor houses in Normandy and Brittany. Access from the hall to the upper hall was normally via an external staircase tower. The upper hall often contained the bedroom and living quarters off one end. Occasionally the great hall would have a listening device system
Great hall
–
The Great Hall in
Barley Hall,
York, restored to replicate its appearance in around 1483
Great hall
–
Plan of
Horham Hall, a 16th-century English
manor house. All of the basic features of a great hall are present: a screens passage, leading from the entrance porch; a
dais; a bay window (not essential but very common). The main staircase is at the dais end, and photographs show that the hall was the full height of the two-storey house
Great hall
–
The mid-14th century Great Hall at
Penshurst Place,
Kent, looking towards the wooden screen of the Screens Passage, pierced by two large rectangular doorways. In the far stone wall of the Screens Passage can be seen Gothic arched doorways leading into the service quarters, usually Kitchen, Buttery and Pantry
Great hall
–
The classic layout of an important mediaeval house, showing three doorways to service rooms,
Old Rectory, Warton. These doorways are here seen from inside the Great Hall, but would originally have been hidden by the wooden screen of the screens passage. The central doorway leads into a passage to an outside kitchen. The other two doors are to the pantry and
buttery
26.
Mesopotamia
–
In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
Mesopotamia
–
Known world of the Mesopotamian, Babylonian, and Assyrian cultures from documentary sources
Mesopotamia
–
Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
–
One of 18
Statues of Gudea, a ruler around 2090 BC
Mesopotamia
–
One of the
Nimrud ivories shows a lion eating a man. Neo-Assyrian period, 9th to 7th centuries BC.
27.
Tunnel vault
–
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design, the barrel vault is the simplest form of a vault, effectively a series of arches placed side by side. It is a form of barrel roof, as with all arch-based constructions, there is an outward thrust generated against the walls underneath a barrel vault. There are several mechanisms for absorbing this thrust, one is, of course, to make the walls exceedingly thick and strong - this is a primitive and sometimes unacceptable method. A more elegant method is to two or more vaults parallel to each other, the forces of their outward thrusts will thus negate each other. This method was most often used in construction of churches, where several vaulted naves ran parallel down the length of the building, however, the outer walls of the outermost vault would still have to be quite strong or reinforced by buttressing. The third and most elegant mechanism to resist the lateral thrust was to create an intersection of two barrel vaults at right angles, thus forming a groin vault, Barrel vaults are known from Ancient Egypt, and were used extensively in Roman architecture. They were also used to replace the Cloaca Maxima with a system of underground sewers, other early barrel vault designs occur in northern Europe, Turkey, Morocco, and other regions. In medieval Europe, the vault was an important element of stone construction in monasteries, castles, tower houses. This form of design is observed in cellars, crypts, long hallways, cloisters, Barrel vaulting was known and utilized by early civilizations, including Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. However, it apparently was not a popular or common method of construction within these civilizations. The Persians and the Romans were the first to make significant architectural use of them, the technique probably evolved out of necessity to roof buildings with masonry elements such as bricks or stone blocks in areas where timber and wood were scarce. The earliest tunnel vaults in Egypt are found at Requagnah and Denderah and these were built with sun-dried brick in three rings over passages descending to tombs, in these cases, as the span of the vault was only two metres. Ancient Romans most probably inherited their knowledge of barrel vaulting from Etruscans, after the fall of the Roman empire, few buildings large enough to require much in the way of vaulting were built for several centuries. In the early Romanesque period, a return to stone barrel vaults was seen for the first great cathedrals, their interiors were dark, due to thick. One of the largest and most famous churches enclosed from above by a vast barrel vault was the church of Cluny Abbey, peters Basilica in Rome, where a huge barrel vault spans the 27 m -wide nave. With a barrel vault design the vectors of pressure result in a force on the crown while the lower portions of the arches realise a lateral force pushing outwards. As an outcome this form of design is subject to failure unless the sides are anchored or buttressed to very heavy building elements or substantial earthwork sidings
Tunnel vault
–
Nave of
Lisbon Cathedral with a barrel vaulted
soffit. Note the absence of
clerestory windows, all of the light being provided by the
Rose window at one end of the vault.
Tunnel vault
–
The Cloisters,
New York City
Tunnel vault
–
Roman barrel vault at the villa rustica Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany.
Tunnel vault
–
A
caponier is a large space enclosed by a roof and walls, covered with barrel vaults, as a covered means of access to the outworks
28.
Sumer
–
Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place. Proto-writing in the dates back to c.3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c.5500 and 4000 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language, an agglutinative language isolate. These conjectured, prehistoric people are now called proto-Euphrateans or Ubaidians, some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. Reliable historical records begin much later, there are none in Sumer of any kind that have dated before Enmebaragesi. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia, todays Persian Gulf region, Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period, continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians, who spoke a language isolate, and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a Sprachbund, Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC, but Sumerian continued as a sacred language. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the Neo-Sumerian Empire or Third Dynasty of Ur approximately 2100-2000 BC, the term Sumerian is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Sumer, by the East Semitic-speaking Akkadians. The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùĝ saĝ gíg ga, phonetically /uŋ saŋ gi ga/, literally meaning the black-headed people, the Akkadian word Shumer may represent the geographical name in dialect, but the phonological development leading to the Akkadian term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew Shinar, Egyptian Sngr, and Hittite Šanhar, all referring to southern Mesopotamia, in the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states, which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city. The Sumerian city-states rose to power during the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 23rd century BC. Following the Gutian period, there is a brief Sumerian Renaissance in the 21st century BC, the Amorite dynasty of Isin persisted until c.1700 BC, when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian population, 2500–2334 BC Akkadian Empire period, c. 2218–2047 BC Ur III period, c, 2047–1940 BC The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. It appears that this culture was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia and it is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture
Sumer
–
Map of Sumer
Sumer
–
The
Samarra bowl, at the
Pergamonmuseum, Berlin. The
swastika in the center of the design is a reconstruction.
Sumer
–
Fragment of
Eannatum 's
Stele of the Vultures
29.
Ziggurat
–
A ziggurat was a massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia and the western Iranian plateau. It had the form of a step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Ziggurats were built by the ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BCE, the earliest ziggurats began as a platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside, each step was slightly smaller than the step below it. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance, kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of floors ranged from two to seven, according to archaeologist Harriet Crawford, It is usually assumed that the ziggurats supported a shrine, though the only evidence for this comes from Herodotus, and physical evidence is nonexistent. It has also suggested by a number of scholars that this shrine was the scene of the sacred marriage. Herodotus describes the furnishing of the shrine on top of the ziggurat at Babylon, the god Marduk was also said to come and sleep in his shrine. The likelihood of such a shrine ever being found is sadly remote, erosion has usually reduced the surviving ziggurats to a fraction of their original height, but textual evidence may yet provide more facts about the purpose of these shrines. Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god, only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society, one of the best-preserved ziggurats is Chogha Zanbil in western Iran. The Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases upon which a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction which spanned several terraced stories and were topped with a temple. An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, the ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens, the Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth
Ziggurat
–
The reconstructed facade of the
Neo-Sumerian Great Ziggurat of Ur, near
Nasiriyah,
Iraq
Ziggurat
–
CAD rendering of
Sialk 's largest ziggurat based on archeological evidence.
30.
Nippur
–
Nippur was among the most ancient of Sumerian cities. It was the seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil. Nippur was located in modern Nuffar in Afak, Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Nippur never enjoyed political hegemony in its own right, but its control was crucial, as it was considered capable of conferring the overall kingship on monarchs from other city-states. It was distinctively a sacred city, important from the possession of the shrine of Enlil. According to the Tummal Chronicle, Enmebaragesi, a ruler of Kish, was the first to build up this temple by kish His influence over Nippur has also been detected archaeologically. It also indicates that the practice was revived in Neo-Sumerian times by Ur-Nammu of Ur, on their votive offerings, some of these rulers designate themselves as ensis, or governors. Originally a village of reed huts in the marshes, Nippur was especially prone to devastation by flooding or fire. For some reason, settlement persisted at the spot, and gradually the site rose above the marshes - partly from the accumulation of debris. As the inhabitants began to develop in civilization, they substituted, at least in the case of their shrine, there is evidence of the succession on the site of different peoples, varying somewhat in their degrees of civilization. This people gave way in time to another, markedly inferior in the manufacture of pottery, in one of these earlier strata, of very great antiquity, there was discovered, in connection with the shrine, a conduit built of bricks in the form of an arch. At some point, Sumerian inscriptions began to be written on clay, the shrine at this time stood on a raised platform, and apparently contained a ziggurat. Naram-Sin rebuilt both the temple and the city walls, and in the accumulation of debris now marking the ancient site, his remains are found about half way from the top to the bottom. One of the few instances of Nippur being recorded as having its own ruler comes from a tablet depicting a revolt of several Mesopotamian cities against Naram-Sin, the tablet goes on to relate that Naram-Sin defeated these rebel cities in nine battles, and brought them back under his control. The Weidner tablet suggests that the Akkadian Empire fell as divine retribution, Ur-Nammu gave the temple its final characteristic form. Partly razing the constructions of his predecessors, he erected a terrace of bricks, some 12 m high, near the northwestern edge, towards the western corner, he built a ziggurat of three stages of dry brick, faced with kiln-fired bricks laid in bitumen. On the summit stood, as at Ur and Eridu, a small chamber, access to the stages of the ziggurat, from the court beneath, was by an inclined plane on the south-east side. To the north-east of the ziggurat stood, apparently, the House of Bel, and in the courts below the ziggurat stood various other buildings, shrines, treasure chambers, the whole structure was oriented with the corners toward the cardinal points of the compass. Ur-Nammu also rebuilt the walls of the city on the line of Naram-Sins walls, the restoration of the general features of the temple of this, and the immediately succeeding periods, has been greatly facilitated by the discovery of a sketch map on a fragment of a clay tablet
Nippur
–
Ruins of a temple platform in Nippur—the brick structure on top was constructed by American archaeologists around 1900.
31.
Babylonia
–
Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the city of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, during the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called Māt Akkadī the country of Akkad in the Akkadian language. It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia and it retained the Sumerian language for religious use, but by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis occurred between Sumerian and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian and vice versa is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the millennium as a sprachbund. Traditionally, the religious center of all Mesopotamia was the city of Nippur. The empire eventually disintegrated due to decline, climate change and civil war. Sumer rose up again with the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late 22nd century BC and they also seem to have gained ascendancy over most of the territory of the Akkadian kings of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia for a time. The states of the south were unable to stem the Amorite advance, King Ilu-shuma of the Old Assyrian Empire in a known inscription describes his exploits to the south as follows, The freedom of the Akkadians and their children I established. I established their freedom from the border of the marshes and Ur and Nippur, Awal, past scholars originally extrapolated from this text that it means he defeated the invading Amorites to the south, but there is no explicit record of that. More recently, the text has been taken to mean that Asshur supplied the south with copper from Anatolia and these policies were continued by his successors Erishum I and Ikunum. During the first centuries of what is called the Amorite period and his reign was concerned with establishing statehood amongst a sea of other minor city states and kingdoms in the region. However Sumuabum appears never to have bothered to give himself the title of King of Babylon, suggesting that Babylon itself was only a minor town or city. He was followed by Sumu-la-El, Sabium, Apil-Sin, each of whom ruled in the same manner as Sumuabum. Sin-Muballit was the first of these Amorite rulers to be regarded officially as a king of Babylon, the Elamites occupied huge swathes of southern Mesopotamia, and the early Amorite rulers were largely held in vassalage to Elam
Babylonia
–
The extent of the Babylonian Empire at the start and end of Hammurabi's reign
Babylonia
–
Old Babylonian
Cylinder Seal,
hematite, The king makes an animal offering to
Shamash. This seal was probably made in a workshop at
Sippar.
Babylonia
–
Geography
32.
Clay
–
Clay is a fine-grained natural rock or soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clays are plastic due to water content and become hard, brittle. Depending on the content in which it is found, clay can appear in various colours from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Although many naturally occurring deposits include both silts and clay, clays are distinguished from other fine-grained soils by differences in size, silts, which are fine-grained soils that do not include clay minerals, tend to have larger particle sizes than clays. There is, however, some overlap in size and other physical properties. The distinction between silt and clay varies by discipline, geologists and soil scientists usually consider the separation to occur at a particle size of 2 µm, sedimentologists often use 4–5 μm, and colloid chemists use 1 μm. Geotechnical engineers distinguish between silts and clays based on the plasticity properties of the soil, as measured by the soils Atterberg limits, ISO14688 grades clay particles as being smaller than 2 μm and silt particles as being larger. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. In addition to the process, some clay minerals are formed through hydrothermal activity. There are two types of deposits, primary and secondary. Primary clays form as residual deposits in soil and remain at the site of formation, secondary clays are clays that have been transported from their original location by water erosion and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit. Clay deposits are associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes. Depending on the source, there are three or four main groups of clays, kaolinite, montmorillonite-smectite, illite, and chlorite. Chlorites are not always considered to be a clay, sometimes being classified as a group within the phyllosilicates. There are approximately 30 different types of clays in these categories. Varve is clay with visible annual layers, which are formed by deposition of those layers and are marked by differences in erosion. This type of deposit is common in glacial lakes
Clay
–
Gay Head cliffs in
Martha's Vineyard consist almost entirely of clay.
Clay
–
Electron microscope photograph of smectite clay – magnification 23,500
Clay
–
Quaternary clay in
Estonia
Clay
–
Deforestation for clay extraction in
Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The picture is of Morro da Covanca, Jacarepaguá.
33.
Mortar (masonry)
–
In its broadest sense mortar includes pitch, asphalt, and soft mud or clay, such as used between mud bricks. Mortar comes from Latin mortarium meaning crushed, mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder, and water. The most common binder since the early 20th century is Portland cement, there are several types of cement mortars and additives. The first mortars were made of mud and clay, because of a lack of stone and an abundance of clay, Babylonian constructions were of baked brick, using lime or pitch for mortar. According to Roman Ghirshman, the first evidence of using a form of mortar was at the Mehrgarh of Baluchistan in Pakistan. The ancient sites of Harappan civilization of third millennium BCE are built with kiln-fired bricks, gypsum mortar, also called plaster of Paris, was used in the construction of the Egyptian pyramids and many other ancient structures. It is made from gypsum, which requires a firing temperature. It is therefore easier to make lime mortar and sets up much faster which may be a reason it was used as the typical mortar in ancient, brick arch. Gypsum mortar is not as durable as other mortars in damp conditions, in early Egyptian pyramids, which were constructed during the Old Kingdom, the limestone blocks were bound by mortar of mud and clay, or clay and sand. In later Egyptian pyramids, the mortar was made of gypsum or lime. Gypsum mortar was essentially a mixture of plaster and sand and was quite soft, in the Indian subcontinent, multiple cement types have been observed in the sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, such as the Mohenjo-daro city-settlement that dates to earlier than 2600 BCE. Bitumen mortar was used at a lower-frequency, including in the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro. Historically, building with concrete and mortar next appeared in Greece, the excavation of the underground aqueduct of Megara revealed that a reservoir was coated with a pozzolanic mortar 12 mm thick. This aqueduct dates back to c.500 BCE, pozzolanic mortar is a lime based mortar, but is made with an additive of volcanic ash that allows it to be hardened underwater, thus it is known as hydraulic cement. The Greeks obtained the volcanic ash from the Greek islands Thira and Nisiros, or from the then Greek colony of Dicaearchia near Naples, the Romans later improved the use and methods of making what became known as pozzolanic mortar and cement. Even later, the Romans used a mortar without pozzolana using crushed terra cotta, introducing aluminum oxide and this mortar was not as strong as pozzolanic mortar, but, because it was denser, it better resisted penetration by water. Hydraulic mortar was not available in ancient China, possibly due to a lack of volcanic ash, around 500 CE, sticky rice soup was mixed with slaked lime to make an inorganic−organic composite mortar that had more strength and water resistance than lime mortar. It is not understood how the art of making hydraulic mortar and cement, during the Middle Ages when the Gothic cathedrals were being built, the only active ingredient in the mortar was lime
Mortar (masonry)
–
Mortar holding weathered bricks
Mortar (masonry)
–
Roman mortar on display at
Chetham's School of Music.
Mortar (masonry)
–
Laying bricks with Portland cement mortar
Mortar (masonry)
–
Mortar mixed inside a 5-gallon bucket using clean water and mortar from a bag. When it's the right consistency as in the photo (trowel stands up) it's ready to apply.
34.
Denderah
–
Dendera is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 kilometres south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 kilometres north of Luxor and remains a Latin Catholic titular see, the modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert, which means She of the Divine Pillar. In the Greek era, the town was known as Tentyra and it was once the -modest- capital of the 6th Nome of Upper Egypt, and was also called Nikentori or Nitentori, which means willow wood or willow earth. Some scholars believe the name derives from the sky and fertility goddess Hathor, also associated with the Greek Aphrodite, the official deity of the city was a crocodile. Crocodiles were also venerated as deities in other Egyptian cities, which rise to many quarrels. After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda and its bishopric was a suffragan of Ptolemais Hermiou, the capital and metropolitan see of the province. Pachomius, whose diocese boasted the celebrated convent of Tabennisi, the town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the late Ottoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena district. M. I. André van den Bronk, Society of African Missions Teodoro Bensch Jean-Rosière-Eugène Arnau], the Dendera Temple complex, which contains the Temple of Hathor, is one of the best-preserved temples, if not the best-preserved one, in all of Upper Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick wall and it was once home to the celebrated Dendera zodiac, which is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There are also Roman and pharaonic Mammisi, ruins of a Coptic church, the area around the temple has been extensively landscaped and now has a modern visitor centre, bazaar and small cafeteria. This area has an amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Dendera has a hot desert climate, Dendera light Dendera Herbermann, Charles, ed. Tentyris. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. GigaCatholic, listing the titular bishops Media related to Dendera at Wikimedia Commons
Denderah
–
General view of the temple compound.
Denderah
–
Entrance to the temple.
Denderah
–
Egypt - Denderah., n.d., This slide colored by Joseph Hawkes. Brooklyn Museum Archives
Denderah
35.
Prehistoric Egypt
–
This Predynastic era is traditionally equivalent to the final part of the Neolithic period beginning c.6000 BC and corresponds to the Naqada III period. The Predynastic period is divided into cultural periods, each named after the place where a certain type of Egyptian settlement was first discovered. The Late Paleolithic in Egypt started around 30,000 BC, the Nazlet Khater skeleton was found in 1980 and dated in 1982 from nine samples ranging between 35,100 and 30,360 years. This specimen is the only complete human skeleton from the earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. Excavation of the Nile has exposed early stone tools, the earliest of these lithic industries were located within the 100-foot terrace, and were Chellean, primitive Acheulean and an Egyptian form of the Clactonian. Within the 50-foot terrace was developed Acheulean, originally reported as Early Mousterian but since changed to Levalloisean, other implements were located in the 30-foot terrace. The 15- and 10-foot terraces saw a more developed version of the Levalloisean, finally, tools of the Egyptian Sebilian technology and an Egyptian version of the Aterian technology were also located. Some of the oldest known buildings were discovered in Egypt by archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski along the border near Wadi Halfa. They were mobile structures—easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled—providing hunter-gatherers with semi-permanent habitation, Aterian tool-making reached Egypt c.40,000 BC. The Khormusan industry in Egypt began between 40,000 and 30,000 BC, khormusans developed advanced tools not only from stone but also from animal bones and hematite. They also developed small arrow heads resembling those of Native Americans, the end of the Khormusan industry came around 16,000 B. C. with the appearance of other cultures in the region, including the Gemaian. The Halfan culture flourished along the Nile Valley of Egypt and Nubia between 18,000 and 15,000 BC, though one Halfan site dates to before 24,000 BC, people survived on a diet of large herd animals and the Khormusan tradition of fishing. Greater concentrations of artifacts indicate that they were not bound to seasonal wandering and they are viewed as the parent culture of the Ibero-Maurusian industry, which spread across the Sahara and into Spain. The Halfan culture was derived in turn from the Khormusan, which depended on specialized hunting, fishing, the primary material remains of this culture are stone tools, flakes, and a multitude of rock paintings. Qadan peoples developed sickles and grinding stones to aid in the collecting and processing of plant foods prior to consumption. However, there are no indications of the use of these tools after around 10,000 BC, in Egypt, analyses of pollen found at archaeological sites indicate that the Sebilian culture were gathering wheat and barley. It has been hypothesized that the sedentary lifestyle used by farmers led to increased warfare, continued expansion of the desert forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently and adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. The period from 9000 to 6000 BC has left little in the way of archaeological evidence
Prehistoric Egypt
–
Predynastic artifacts: clockwise from top left: a
Bat figurine, a Naqada jar, an ivory figurine, cosmetic palette, a
flint knife, and a
diorite vase.
Prehistoric Egypt
–
Female Figure, ca. 3500-3400 B.C.E. Terracotta, painted, 11 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (29.2 x 14 x 5.7 cm).
Brooklyn Museum
Prehistoric Egypt
–
A typical Naqada II pot with ship theme
36.
Mudbrick
–
A mudbrick is a brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. In warm regions with little timber available to fuel a kiln. In some cases brickmakers extended the life of mud bricks by putting fired bricks on top or covering them with stucco, the Great Mosque of Djenné, in central Mali, is the worlds largest mudbrick structure. This plaster must be reapplied annually, the South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh constructed, and lived in, mud brick houses between 7000–3300 BC. Mud bricks used at more than 15 reported sites in 3rd millennium BC are attributed as major cultural trait in the ancient Indus valley civilization, mudbricks were in use in the Middle East during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. The Mesopotamians used sun-dried bricks in their city construction, typically these bricks were flat on the bottom and curved on the top, some bricks were formed in a square mould and rounded so that the middle was thicker than the ends. In Ancient Egypt, workers gathered mud from the Nile river, workers then tramped on the mud while straw was added to solidify the mold. In Minoan Crete at the Knossos site there is evidence that sun-dried bricks were used in the Neolithic period. Mudbricks were used to some extent in pre-Roman Egypt, and mudbrick use increased at the time of Roman influence, adobe – Often used in the making of mudbricks. Cob Earth structure Loam Rammed earth Possehl, Gregory L. Mehrgarh in Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Earth Architecture, website whose focus is contemporary issues in earth architecture. Very experienced experts are contactable and there are regular demonstrations in the area, video showing mud brick making, mud brick building and biolytic sewerage in South Africa. CRAterre, Centre de recherche architectural en terre, French university research organisation dedicated to unfired earth construction
Mudbrick
–
New unlaid mudbricks in the Jordan River
West Bank (2011)
Mudbrick
–
Mudbrick was used for the construction of
Sumerian ziggurats —some of the world's largest and oldest constructions.
Choqa Zanbil, a 13th-century BC
ziggurat in
Iran, is similarly constructed from clay bricks combined with burnt bricks.
Mudbrick
–
The Great Mosque of Djenné is a well-known
Mosque located in
Djenné,
Mali, and the largest mudbrick structure in the world.
Mudbrick
–
Production of mudbricks for construction in
Niger, 2007.
37.
Tomb
–
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber and its central feature is a single, prominent pillar or column, often made of stone. Sarcophagus – a stone container for a body or coffin, often decorated and perhaps part of a monument, sepulchre – a cavernous rock-cut space for interment, generally in the Jewish or Christian faiths. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgräber or kurgans, a cairn, might also be originally a tumulus. A long barrow is a tumulus, usually for numbers of burials. As indicated, tombs are located in or under religious buildings, such as churches. However, they may also be found in catacombs, on land or, in the case of early or pre-historic tombs. The tomb of Emperor Nintoku is the largest in the world by area, however, the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt is the largest by volume
Tomb
–
Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah,
Agra
Tomb
–
Tomb of
Akbar in
Akbar's Tomb
Tomb
–
A type of tomb: a mausoleum in
Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Tomb
–
The
Pyramid tomb of Khufu
38.
Sanitary sewer
–
A sanitary sewer or foul sewer is an underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings through pipes to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers are part of a system called sewerage or sewage system. Sewage may be treated to water pollution before discharge to surface waters. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater, separate sanitary sewer systems are designed to transport sewage alone. In municipalities served by sewers, separate storm drains may be constructed to convey surface runoff directly to surface waters. Sanitary sewers are distinguished from combined sewers, which combine sewage with stormwater runoff in the same pipe, sanitary sewer systems are considered beneficial because they avoid combined sewer overflows. To overcome these disadvantages, some cities built separate sanitary sewers to collect only municipal wastewater, the decision between a combined sewer system or two separate systems is mainly based on need for sewage treatment and cost of providing treatment during heavy rain events. Many cities with combined sewer systems built prior to sewage treatment have not replaced those sewer systems, in the developed world, sewers are pipes from buildings to one or more levels of larger underground trunk mains, which transport the sewage to sewage treatment facilities. Vertical pipes, usually made of precast concrete, called manholes, depending upon site application and use, these vertical pipes can be cylindrical, eccentric or concentric. The manholes are used for access to the pipes for inspection and maintenance. They also facilitate vertical and horizontal angles in otherwise straight pipelines, pipes conveying sewage from an individual building to a common gravity sewer line are called laterals. Branch sewers typically run under streets receiving laterals from buildings along that street, larger cities may have sewers called interceptors receiving flow from multiple trunk sewers. Design and sizing of sanitary sewers considers the population to be served over the life of the sewer, per capita wastewater production. Commercial and industrial flows are considered, but diversion of surface runoff to storm drains eliminates wet weather flow peaks of inefficient combined sewers. Pumps may be necessary where gravity sewers serve areas at lower elevations than the treatment plant. A lift station is a gravity sewer sump with a pump to lift accumulated sewage to a higher elevation, the pump may discharge to another gravity sewer at that location or may discharge through a pressurized force main to some distant location. Most of the solids are removed by the tanks, so the treatment plant can be much smaller than a typical plant. In addition, because of the vast reduction in solid waste, because the wastestream is pressurized, they can be laid just below the ground surface along the lands contour
Sanitary sewer
–
PVC Sanitary Sewer Installation. Sanitary sewers are sized to carry the amount of sewage generated by the collection area. Sanitary sewers are much smaller than combined sewers designed to also carry
surface runoff.
Sanitary sewer
–
Schematic of a conventional sanitary sewer to convey
blackwater and
greywater from households to a centralized
sewage treatment facility
Sanitary sewer
–
A
manhole cover for a sanitary sewer access point.
Sanitary sewer
–
View looking down into an open manhole showing two converging sanitary sewer lines. The larger line enters from the right and changes direction within the manhole to exit from the top of the photo. A smaller line enters from the bottom of the photo under the access steps. The concrete floor of the manhole has channels to minimize accumulation of solids.
39.
Mortuary
–
A morgue or mortuary is used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification or removal for autopsy or disposal by burial, cremation or other method. In modern times corpses have customarily been refrigerated to delay decomposition, the facilities contain 20-40 feet long containers where the bodies are refrigerated, but each of these cost a considerable amount of fuel to run and only have so much space to accommodate the body. Mortuary early 14c. of mori to die, meaning place where bodies are kept temporarily first recorded 1865, a euphemism for earlier English term deadhouse. Morgue from the French morgue, which means to look at solemnly, morgue is predominantly used in North American English, while mortuary is more common in British English, although both terms are used interchangeably. The euphemisms “Rose Cottage” and “Rainbow’s End” are sometimes used in British hospitals to enable discussion in front of patients, a person responsible for handling and washing bodies is now known as a diener, morgue attendant, or autopsy technician. There are two types of mortuary cold chambers, Positive temperature Bodies are kept between 2 °C and 4 °C, while this is usually used for keeping bodies for up to several weeks, it does not prevent decomposition, which continues at a slower rate than at room temperature. Negative temperature Bodies are kept at between −10 °C and −50 °C, usually used at forensic institutes, particularly when a body has not been identified. At these temperatures the body is frozen and decomposition is very much reduced. In some countries, the body of the deceased is embalmed before disposal, which makes refrigeration unnecessary. In many countries, the family of the deceased must make the burial within 72 hours of death and this is why some corpses are kept as long as one or two years at a hospital or in a funeral home. When the family has money to organize the ceremony, the corpse is taken from the cold chamber for burial. In some funeral homes, the morgue is in the room, or directly adjacent to, the specially designed ovens, known as retorts. Some religions dictate that, should a body be cremated, the family must witness its incineration, to honor these religious rites, many funeral homes install a viewing window, which allows the family to watch as the body is inserted into the retort. In this way, the family can honor their customs without entering the morgue, a waiting mortuary is a mortuary building designed specifically for the purpose of confirming that deceased persons are truly deceased. Prior to the advent of methods of verifying death, people feared that they would be buried alive. To alleviate such fears, the deceased were housed for a time in waiting mortuaries. The corpses would be allowed to decompose partially prior to burial, waiting mortuaries were most popular in 19th-century Germany, and were often large, ornate halls. A bell was strung to the corpses to alert attendants of any motion, morgue is used in some science fiction books as the name for the armory aboard ships, when they contain some form of powered armour
Mortuary
–
One of the entrances of the Victoria Public Mortuary (域多利亞公眾殮房), in
Hong Kong
Mortuary
–
The first morgue in
New York City, opened in 1866 at
Bellevue Hospital
40.
Palace
–
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which housed the Imperial residences, in many parts of Europe, the term is also applied to ambitious private mansions of the aristocracy. Many historic palaces are now put to uses such as parliaments, museums, hotels. The word is sometimes used to describe a lavishly ornate building used for public entertainment or exhibitions. The word palace comes from Old French palais, from Latin Palātium, the original palaces on the Palatine Hill were the seat of the imperial power while the capitol on the Capitoline Hill was the religious nucleus of Rome. Long after the city grew to the seven hills the Palatine remained a residential area. Emperor Caesar Augustus lived there in a purposely modest house only set apart from his neighbours by the two trees planted to flank the front door as a sign of triumph granted by the Senate. His descendants, especially Nero, with his Golden House, enlarged the house, the word Palātium came to mean the residence of the emperor rather than the neighbourhood on top of the hill. Palace meaning government can be recognized in a remark of Paul the Deacon, AD790 and describing events of the 660s, When Grimuald set out for Beneventum, he entrusted his palace to Lupus. At the same time, Charlemagne was consciously reviving the Roman expression in his palace at Aachen, in the 9th century, the palace indicated the housing of the government too, and the constantly travelling Charlemagne built fourteen. In the Holy Roman Empire the powerful independent Electors came to be housed in palaces and this has been used as evidence that power was widely distributed in the Empire, as in more centralized monarchies, only the monarchs residence would be a palace. In modern times, the term has been applied by archaeologists and historians to large structures that housed combined ruler, court, in informal usage, a palace can be extended to a grand residence of any kind. The earliest known palaces were the residences of the Egyptian Pharaohs at Thebes, featuring an outer wall enclosing labyrinthine buildings. Other ancient palaces include the Assyrian palaces at Nimrud and Nineveh, the Minoan palace at Knossos, the Brazilian new capital, Brasília, hosts modern palaces, most designed by the citys architect Oscar Niemeyer. The Alvorada Palace is the residence of the Brazils president. The Planalto Palace is the official workplace, the Jaburu Palace is the official residence of Brazils vice-president. In Canada, Government House is a given to the official residences of the Canadian monarchy. The use of the term Government House is a custom from the British Empire
Palace
–
Schwerin Palace in
Germany, historical
ducal residence of
Mecklenburg since 1348.
Palace
–
Palace of Versailles, the center of
French absolutism from 1682 on.
Palace
–
Ambavilas Palace, famous as
Mysore Palace, the official residence of
Maharajas of Mysore since 1400.
Palace
–
The
Planalto Palace, in
Brasília,
Brazil
41.
Temple
–
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. It is typically used for such buildings belonging to all faiths where a specific term such as church. These include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism among religions with many modern followers, the form and function of temples is thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be in some sense the house of one or more deities. Typically offerings of some sort are made to the deity, and other rituals enacted, the degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly, often parts or even the whole main building can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings. The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest and it has the same root as the word template, a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the places of a god or gods. Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history, there is evidence of use of sacred ground as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. Hindu temples have been built in countries around the world, including Cambodia, Nepal, Mauritius, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Great Britain. They include the structures called stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions, Temples in Buddhism represent the pure land or pure environment of a Buddha. Traditional Buddhist temples are designed to inspire inner and outer peace, a Jain temple is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Some famous Jain temples are Shikharji, Palitana Jain Temples, Ranakpur Jain Temple, Shravan Belgola, Dilwara Temples, Jain temples are built with various architectural designs. Jain temples in North India are completely different from the Jain temples in South India, additionally, a Manastambha is a pillar that is often constructed in front of Jain temples. The temple of Mesopotamia derived from the cult of gods and deities in the Mesopotamian religion and it spanned several civilizations, from Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the deities to reside on earth, indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means mansion of a god. A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and thus it was the purpose of a temple as well. Ancient Egyptian temples were also of significance to Egyptian society
Temple
–
Temple of Hephaestus, a
Doric Greek temple in
Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted).
Temple
–
Koneswaram Temple a 6th Century BCE Tamil
Saivate temple in
Tirukonamalai,
Sri Lanka
Temple
–
Akshardham Temple, a Hindu temple in
New Delhi,
India.
Temple
–
Wat Phra Kaew, Buddhist temple
42.
Ramesseum
–
The Ramesseum is the memorial temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II. It is located in the Theban necropolis in Upper Egypt, across the River Nile from the city of Luxor. It was originally called the House of millions of years of Usermaatra-setepenra that unites with Thebes-the-city in the domain of Amon, Usermaatra-setepenra was the prenomen of Ramesses II. Surviving records indicate that work on the project shortly after the start of his reign. The design of Ramessess mortuary temple adheres to the canons of New Kingdom temple architecture. Oriented northwest and southeast, the temple itself comprised two stone pylons, one after the other, each leading into a courtyard, beyond the second courtyard, at the centre of the complex, was a covered 48-column hypostyle hall, surrounding the inner sanctuary. An enormous pylon stood before the first court, with the palace at the left. As was customary, the pylons and outer walls were decorated with scenes commemorating pharaohs military victories and leaving due record of his dedication to, and kinship with, the gods. The scenes of the pharaoh and his army triumphing over the Hittite forces fleeing before Kadesh, as portrayed in the canons of the epic poem of Pentaur. Only fragments of the base and torso remain of the statue of the enthroned pharaoh,62 feet high. This was alleged to have been transported 170 miles over land and this is the largest remaining colossal statue in the world. However fragments of 4 granite Colossi of Ramses were found in Tanis, estimated height is 69 to 92 feet. Like four of the six colossi of Amenhotep III there are no longer complete remains so it is based partly on unconfirmed estimates, remains of the second court include part of the internal façade of the pylon and a portion of the Osiride portico on the right. Scenes of war and the rout of the Hittites at Kadesh are repeated on the walls, in the upper registers, feast and honour of the phallic god Min, god of fertility. On the opposite side of the court the few Osiride pillars, scattered remains of the two statues of the seated king can also be seen, one in pink granite and the other in black granite, which once flanked the entrance to the temple. The head of one of these has been removed to the British Museum, thirty-nine out of the forty-eight columns in the great hypostyle hall still stand in the central rows. They are decorated with the scenes of the king before various gods. Part of the ceiling decorated with stars on a blue ground has also been preserved
Ramesseum
–
Aerial view of Thebes' Ramesseum, showing pylons and secondary buildings
Ramesseum
–
Osirid statues
Ramesseum
–
The "other" granite head
Ramesseum
–
Laser scanned point cloud image of a headless Osiris pillar, second court, from a
CyArk /
Supreme Council of Antiquities research partnership
43.
Archaeological
–
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
Archaeological
–
Roman ruins,
Lausanne, Switzerland.
Archaeological
–
An early photograph of Stonehenge taken July 1877
Archaeological
–
Artifacts discovered at the 1808
Bush Barrow excavation by Sir
Richard Colt Hoare and
William Cunnington.
Archaeological
–
Mortimer Wheeler pioneered
systematic excavation in the early 20th century. Pictured, are his excavations at
Maiden Castle, Dorset, in October 1937.
44.
Morgantina
–
Morgantina is an archaeological site in east central Sicily, southern Italy. It is sixty kilometres from the coast of the Ionian Sea, the closest modern town is Aidone, two kilometres southwest of the site. The site consists of a long ridge running southwest-northeast, known as Serra Orlando. Morgantina was inhabited in several periods, the earliest major settlement was made at Cittadella and lasted from about 1000/900 to about 450 BCE. The other major settlement was located on Serra Orlando, and existed from about 450 BCE to about 50 CE, Morgantina has been the subject of archaeological investigation since the early 20th century. Serra Orlando was identified as Morgantina by Kenan Erim following the discovery of a number of bearing the Latin word HISPANORUM. Erim used these coins and passages from Livy to argue that the city found at Serra Orlando was in fact the ancient city of Morgantina, the name is variously written by Latin writers as Murgantia, Murgentia and Morgentia. The inhabitants were called Murgentini by Cicero and Pliny the Elder, according to Strabo Morgantina was founded by a pre-Roman Italian group known as the Morgetes of Rhegium. Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote that the Morgetes were led by a king named Morges, the earliest historical date associated with Morgantina is 459 BCE, when Ducetius, leader of the indigenous Sicel population of central Sicily, attacked the city and captured it. Morgantina was probably still under Ducetius control when he was defeated at Nomai by Syracuse in 449 BCE, thucydides says that Syracuse agreed at the Congress of Gela to give Morgantina to Kamarina in return for payment of an indemnity. Kamarina was destroyed in 405 by the Carthaginians, Morgantina therefore must have been independent from at least this date, although it was soon recaptured by Dionysios of Syracuse in 396. Syracuse retained control of Morgantina until the Second Punic War, in 317, Morgantina received the tyrant Agathocles, then in exile, and offered him help in returning to Syracuse. He was elected praetor at Morgantina, and later dux, as part of the Syracusan kingdom of Hiero II, Morgantina fell under the hegemony of Rome when Hieron became a Roman vassal in 263. In 214, Morgantina switched its allegiance from Rome to Carthage, Morgantina remained autonomous until 211, when it became the last Sicilian town to be captured by the Romans. It was given as payment by Rome to a group of Spanish mercenaries, in 133, Morgantina was the place where Eunus, the leader of the slave rebellion known as the First Servile War, died. In the Second Servile War, Morgantina was besieged and taken by slaves, the final mention of Morgantina comes again from Strabo, who notes that in his own time, the first century CE, the city had ceased to exist. A few literary sources describe Morgantina and its economy, most famous of these are the references to the vitis murgentina, a strain of grape mentioned by Cato, Columella, and Pliny the Elder. These grapes were prized for their wine — Pliny called it the very best among all those that come from Sicily — and had been transplanted from Sicily to mainland Italy by the 2nd century BCE, the earliest excavations at Morgantina were undertaken by Luigi Pappalardo in 1884
Morgantina
–
View of Morgantina's
Hellenistic agora. An
Iron Age settlement was located on the Cittadella hilltop in the background.
Mount Etna is seen in the distance.
Morgantina
–
The Greek theater, the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone and the ekklesiasteron
Morgantina
–
Agora sanctuary dedicated to Divinia chthonic, the sacred area is characterized by a cylindrical altar and a Botros
Morgantina
–
House of the Doric capital, mosaic greeting
45.
Enna
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Enna listen is a city and comune located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towering above the surrounding countryside. It has earned the nicknames belvedere and ombelico of Sicily, at 931 m above sea level, Enna is the highest Italian provincial capital. Until 1926 the town was known as Castrogiovanni, Enna is situated near the center of the island, whence the Roman writer Cicero called it Mediterranea maxime, reporting that it was within a days journey of the nearest point on all the three coasts. The peculiar situation of Enna is described by ancient authors. The ancient city was placed on the summit of a gigantic hill. The few paths were easily defended, and the city was supplied with water which gushes from the face of the rocks on all sides. With a plain or table land of about 5 km in circumference on the summit, it formed one of the strongest natural fortresses in the world, Archaeological excavations have revealed artifacts dating from the 14th century BC, proving human presence in the area since Neolithic times. A settlement from before the 11th century BC, assigned by some to the Sicanians, has identified at the top of the hill. In historical times, Enna became renowned in Sicily and Italy for the cult of the goddess Demeter and her grove was known as the umbilicus Siciliae. Ceres temple in Henna was a site of worship. The origin of the toponym Henna remains obscure, Dionysius I of Syracuse repeatedly attempted to take over Enna. At first he encouraged Aeimnestus, a citizen of Enna, to seize the sovereign power, afterward Dionysius I turned against him and assisted the Ennaeans to get rid of their despot. But it was not till a period that, after repeated expeditions against the neighbouring Sicilian cities. In the Second Punic War, while Marcellus was engaged in the siege of Syracuse, the defection of several Sicilian towns from Rome had alarmed Pinarius the governor of Enna. In order to any treachery, he used the Roman garrison to kill the citizens, whom he had gathered in the theater. The soldiers were allowed to plunder the city, eighty years later Enna was the center of the First Servile War in Sicily, which erupted under the lead of Eunus, a former slave. It was the last place that held out against the proconsul Rupilius, according to Strabo, the city suffered much damage after the Romans regained control. He believed this was the start of its decline, when the Roman Empire was divided in 395AD, Sicily became part of the Western Roman Empire
Enna
Enna
Enna
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Overview of the runway
Enna
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Widerøe de Havilland Canada Dash 8-100
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Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
Sicily
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Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
Sicily
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Sicily Sicilia
Sicily
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Sicilian landscape
Sicily
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Location of the
Salso
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Ancient Greek
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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
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Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
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Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
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The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
