1.
Oxus Treasure
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The metalwork is believed to date from the sixth to fourth centuries BC, but the coins show a greater range, with some of those believed to belong to the treasure coming from around 200 BC. The most likely origin for the treasure is that it belonged to a temple, how it came to be deposited is unknown. As a group, the treasure is the most important survival of what was once a production of Achaemenid work in precious metal. The British Museum now has all the surviving metalwork, with one of the pair of griffin-headed bracelets on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The group arrived at the museum by different routes, with many items bequeathed to the nation by Augustus Wollaston Franks, the coins are more widely dispersed, and more difficult to firmly connect with the treasure. A group believed to come from it is in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Peterburg, although continuing influences from these sources can often be detected the Achaemenids formed a distinct style of their own. The griffin-headed bracelets from the hoard are typical of the 5th to 4th century BC court style of Achaemenid Persia. Bracelets of a form to ones from the treasure can be seen on reliefs from Persepolis being given as tribute. Glass, enamel or semi-precious stone inlays within the hollow spaces have now been lost. The surviving objects, a proportion of the original finds. There are a number of figurines, some of which may have been detached from larger objects. The single male figures appear to show rather than deities. The largest is most unusual for Persian art in showing a youth standing in a formal pose. The statuette shows Greek influence, in the figure and the fact of being nude, two hollow gold heads of young males, rather crudely executed, probably belonged to composite statues with the main body in wood or some other material. One figure in silver and gold has a headdress that suggests he may be a king, the wheels of the complete chariot would originally have turned freely, and it had received at least one repair in antiquity. It is pulled by four horses and carries two figures, a driver and a passenger, both wearing torcs. The chariot has handrails at the rear to assist getting in and out. A leaping ibex was probably the handle of an amphora-type vase, the two griffin-headed bracelets or armlets are the most spectacular pieces by far, despite lacking their stone inlays
2.
Zoroastrianism
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
3.
Ahura Mazda
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Ahura Mazda is the Avestan name for the creator and sole God of Zoroastrianism, the old Iranian religion which spread across Asia predating Christianity. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest spirit of worship in Zoroastrianism, the literal meaning of the word Ahura is mighty or lord and Mazda is wisdom. Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period under Darius Is Behistun Inscription, until Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was worshipped and invoked alone. With Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was invoked in a triad, with Mithra, images of Ahura Mazda began in the Parthian period, but were stopped and replaced with stone carved figures in the Sassanid period. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhās, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̩sdʰeh₁, literally meaning placing ones mind, the name was rendered as Ahuramazda during the Achaemenid era, Hormazd during the Parthian era, and Ohrmazd was used during the Sassanian era. The name may be attested on cuneiform tablets of Assyrian Assurbanipal, in the form Assara Mazaš, even though Ahura Mazda was a spirit in the Old Iranian religion, he had not yet been given the title of uncreated spirit. This title was given by Zoroaster, who proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the spirit, wholly wise, benevolent and good, as well as the creator. As Ahura Mazda is described as the creator and upholder of Asha, he is a supporter and guardian of justice, as a result of this vision, Zoroaster felt that he was chosen to spread and preach the religion. He stated that source of all goodness was the only Ahura worthy of the highest worship. He further stated that Ahura Mazda created spirits known as yazatas to aid him, Zoroaster proclaimed that all of the Iranian daevas were bad spirits and deserved no worship. These bad spirits were created by Angra Mainyu, the hostile, the existence of Angra Mainyu was the source of all sin and misery in the universe. Zoroaster claimed that Ahura Mazda was not an omnipotent God, nonetheless, Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyus superior, not his equal. Angra Mainyu and his daevas which attempt to attract humans away from the path of righteousness would eventually be destroyed, whether the Achaemenids were Zoroastrians is a matter of much debate. However, it is known that the Achaemenids were worshipers of Ahura Mazda, the representation and invocation of Ahura Mazda can be seen on royal inscriptions written by Achaemenid kings. The most notable of all the inscriptions is the Behistun Inscription written by Darius I which contains references to Ahura Mazda. An inscription written in Greek was found in a late Achaemenid temple at Persepolis which invoked Ahura Mazda, on the Elamite Persepolis Fortification Tablet 377, Ahura Mazda is invoked along with Mithra and Voruna. Artaxerxes III makes this invocation to the three again in his reign
4.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
5.
Fire temple
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A fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians, often called dar-e mehr or agiyari. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire, together with water, are agents of ritual purity. For, one who sacrifices unto fire with fuel in his hand, as of 2010, there were 50 fire temples in Mumbai,100 in the rest of India, and 27 in the rest of the world. First evident in the 4th century BCE, the Zoroastrian cult of fire is much younger than Zoroastrianism itself and it appears at approximately the same time as the shrine cult and is roughly contemporaneous with the introduction of Atar as a divinity. There is no allusion to a cult of fire in the Avesta proper. That the cult of fire was a modification and absent from early Zoroastrianism is also evident in the later Atash Nyash. In the oldest passages of that liturgy, it is the fire that speaks to all those for whom it cooks the evening and morning meal. The temple cult is a later development, from Herodotus it is known that in the mid-5th century BCE the Zoroastrians worshipped to the open sky. The second, the atroshan, were the places of burning fire which became more and more prevalent as the movement gained support. Following the rise of the Sassanid dynasty, the shrines to the Yazatas continued to exist, also, as Schippman observed, there is no evidence even during the Sassanid era that the fires were categorized according to their sanctity. It seems probable that there were only two, namely the Atash-i Vahram, and the lesser Atash-i Adaran, or Fire of Fires. The faith was practiced largely by the aristocracy but large numbers of fire temples did not exist, some fire temples continued with their original purpose although many Zoroastrians fled. The oldest remains of what has been identified as a temple are those on Mount Khajeh. Only traces of the foundation and ground-plan survive and have been dated to the 3rd or 4th century BCE. The temple was rebuilt during the Parthian era, and enlarged during Sassanid times, the characteristic feature of the Sassanid fire temple was its domed sanctuary where the fire-altar stood. This sanctuary always had a ground plan with a pillar in each corner that then supported the dome. Archaeological remains and literary evidence from Zend commentaries on the Avesta suggest that the sanctuary was surrounded by a passageway on all four sides. On a number of sites the gombad, made usually of masonry with courses of stone, is all that survives
6.
Tower of Silence
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A Tower of Silence is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation – that is, for dead bodies to be exposed to carrion birds. Zoroastrian exposure of the dead is first attested in the mid-5th century BCE Histories of Herodotus, the doctrinal rationale for exposure is to avoid contact with earth or fire, both of which are considered sacred. One of the earliest literary descriptions of such a building appears in the late 9th-century Epistles of Manushchihr, another technical term that appears in the 9th/10th-century texts of Zoroastrian tradition is dakhmag, for any place for the dead. This Zoroastrian Middle Persian term is a borrowing from Avestan dakhma, of meaning but related to interment. In the Avesta, the term is pejorative and does not signify a construction of any kind, in the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman, dakhma continues as deme or dema. Yet another term that appears in the 9th/10th-century texts is dagdah, the word also appears in later Zoroastrian texts of both India and Iran, but in 20th-century India came to signify the lowest grade of temple fire. In India the term came into use after a tower of silence was constructed on a hill of that name. The English language term Tower of Silence is a neologism attributed to Robert Murphy and this name is used in the English translation of Around the World on a Motorcycle by author Zoltan Sulkowsky, when he observed a sky-burial at one such tower in India. Zoroastrian tradition considers a body to be nasu, unclean. Specifically, the demon was believed to rush into the body and contaminate everything it came into contact with. To preclude the pollution of earth or fire, the bodies of the dead are placed atop a tower and so exposed to the sun, thus, putrefaction with all its concomitant evils. is most effectually prevented. Zoroastrian ritual exposure of the dead is first known of from the writings of the mid-5th century BCE Herodotus, in Herodotus account, the rites are said to have been secret, but were first performed after the body had been dragged around by a bird or dog. The corpse was embalmed with wax and laid in a trench. The tombs of the Achaemenid emperors at Naqsh-e Rustam and Pasargadae likewise suggest non-exposure, according to legend, Zoroaster is himself interred in a tomb at Balkh. Towers are a later invention, and are first documented in the early 9th century. The ritual customs surrounding that practice appear to date to the Sassanid era and they are known in detail from the supplement to the Sayest ne Sayest, the two Rivayat collections, and the two Saddars. The modern-day towers, which are uniform in their construction, have an almost flat roof. The roof is divided into three rings, the bodies of men are arranged around the outer ring, women in the second circle
7.
Parsi
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Parsi /ˈpɑːrsiː/ is one of two Zoroastrian communities majorly located in India and few in Pakistan. At the time of the Arab conquest of Persia, the dominant religion of the region was Zoroastrianism, Iranians rebelled against Arab invaders for almost 200 years, in Iran this period is now known as the Two Centuries of Silence or Period of Silence. During this time many Iranians who are now called Parsi chose to preserve their religious identity by fleeing from Iran to India, the word پارسیان, pronounced Parsian, i. e. Parsi in the Persian language, literally means Persian. Persian is the language of modern Iran, which was formerly known as Persia, and the Persian languages endonym is Farsi. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Parsi, also spelled Parsee, the Parsis, whose name means Persians, are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to India to avoid religious persecution by the Muslims. They live chiefly in Mumbai and in a few towns and villages mostly to the South of Mumbai, there is a sizeable Parsee population in Pune as well in Hyderbad. A few Parsee families also reside in Kolkata and Chennai, although they are not, strictly speaking, a caste, since they are not Hindus, they form a well-defined community. The exact date of the Parsi migration is unknown, according to tradition, the Parsis initially settled at Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, but finding themselves still persecuted they set sail for India, arriving in the 8th century. The migration may in fact have taken place as late as the 10th century and they settled first at Diu in Kathiawar but soon moved to south Gujarāt, where they remained for about 800 years as a small agricultural community. The term Pārsi, which in the Persian language is a demonym meaning inhabitant of Pārs, until that time, such texts consistently use the Persian-origin terms Zartoshti Zoroastrian or Vehdin the good religion. The 12th-century Sixteen Shlokas, a Sanskrit text in praise of the Parsis, is the earliest attested use of the term as an identifier for Indian Zoroastrians. The first reference to the Parsis in a European language is from 1322, subsequently, the term appears in the journals of many European travelers, first French and Portuguese, later English, all of whom used a Europeanized version of an apparently local language term. For example, Portuguese physician Garcia de Orta observed in 1563 that there are merchants and we Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not so. In an early 20th-century legal ruling, Justices Davar and Beaman asserted that Parsi was also a used in Iran to refer to Zoroastrians. In any case, the term Parsi itself is not necessarily an indication of their Iranian or Persian origin, moreover, if heredity were the only factor in a determination of ethnicity, the Parsis would count as Parthians according to the Qissa-i Sanjan. Zoroaster taught that good and evil were opposite forces and that it was a duty to make a choice between the two. The two paths are of asha or righteousness and of druj, the lie, Good is represented by Ahura Mazda and evil by Angra Mainyu. The Zoroastrian holy book, called the Avesta, was written in the Avestan language, the Qissa-i Sanjan is a tale of the journey of the Parsis to India from Iran
8.
Religion in the United States
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Religion in the United States is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. Various religious faiths have flourished within the United States, a majority of Americans report that religion plays a very important role in their lives, a proportion unique among developed countries. Historically, the United States has always marked by religious pluralism and diversity. In colonial times, Anglicans, Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants, as well as Jews, Eastern Orthodoxy has been present since the Russian colonization of Alaska. Various dissenting Protestants, who left the Church of England, greatly diversified the religious landscape, the Great Awakenings gave birth to multiple Evangelical Protestant denominations, membership in Methodist and Baptist churches increased drastically in the Second Great Awakening. In the 18th century, deism found support among American upper classes, the Episcopal Church, splitting from the Church of England, came into being in the American Revolution. Pentecostalism emerged in the early 20th century as a result of the Azusa Street Revival, Unitarian Universalism resulted from the merge of Unitarian and Universalist churches in the 20th century. Beginning in 1990s, the share of Christians is decreasing due to secularization, while Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam. Protestantism, historically dominant, ceased to be the category of the majority in the early 2010s. The majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians, while close to a claim no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions make up about 6% of the population. According to a 2012 survey by the Pew forum,36 percent of Americans state that they attend services every week or more. From early colonial days, when some English and German settlers came in search of religious freedom and that influence continues in American culture, social life, and politics. It guarantees the free exercise of religion while also preventing the government from establishing a state religion, however the states were not bound by the provision and as late as the 1830s Massachusetts provided tax money to local Congregational churches. The Supreme Court since the 1940s has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as applying the First Amendment to the state and local governments. President John Adams and a unanimous Senate endorsed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797 that stated, the survey report stated that the results showed America having a greater similarity to developing nations than to other wealthy nations, where religion plays a minor role. In 1963, 90% of Americans claimed to be Christians while only 2% professed no religious identity, in 2014, the percentage of Christians was closer to 70% with close to 23% claiming no religious identity. The United States federal government was the first national government to have no official state-endorsed religion, however, some states had established religions in some form until the 1830s
9.
Zagros Mountains
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The Zagros Mountains form the largest mountain range in Iran, Iraq and southeastern Turkey. This mountain range has a length of 1,500 km. The highest point in the Zagros Mountains is Dena, the Zagros fold and thrust belt was formed by collision of two tectonic plates, the Eurasian Plate and the Arabian Plate. This collision primarily happened during the Miocene and folded the rocks that had been deposited from the Carboniferous to the Miocene in the geosyncline in front of the Iranian Plate. The process of collision continues to the present and as the Arabian Plate is being pushed against the Eurasian Plate, the Zagros Mountains, a relatively dense GPS network which covered the Iranian Zagros also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in the southeast Zagros is ~10 mm/yr, the north-south Kazerun strike-slip fault divides the Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, normal shortening in the southeast, the sedimentary cover in the SE Zagros is deforming above a layer of rock salt whereas in the NW Zagros the salt layer is missing or is very thin. This different basal friction is partly responsible for the different topographies on either side of the Kazerun fault. Higher topography and narrower zone of deformation in the NW Zagros is observed whereas in the SE, deformation was spread more, stresses induced in the Earths crust by the collision caused extensive folding of the preexisting layered sedimentary rocks. Subsequent erosion removed softer rocks, such as mudstone and siltstone while leaving harder rocks, such as limestone and this differential erosion formed the linear ridges of the Zagros Mountains. The depositional environment and tectonic history of the rocks were conducive to the formation and trapping of petroleum, salt domes and salt glaciers are a common feature of the Zagros Mountains. Salt domes are an important target for exploration, as the impermeable salt frequently traps petroleum beneath other rock layers. The Zagros Mountains have a totally sedimentary origin and are primarily of limestone. In the Elevated Zagros or the Higher Zagros, the Paleozoic rocks could be found mainly in the upper and higher sections of the peaks of the Zagros Mountains along the Zagros main fault. On the both sides of this fault, there are Mesozoic rocks, a combination of Triassic and Jurassic rocks that are surrounded by Cretaceous rocks on the both sides. The Folded Zagros is formed mainly of Tertiary rocks, with the Paleogene rocks south of the Cretaceous rocks, the mountains are divided into many parallel sub-ranges, and orogenically have the same age as the Alps. Irans main oilfields lie in the central foothills of the Zagros mountain range. The southern ranges of the Fars Province have somewhat lower summits and they contain some limestone rocks showing abundant marine fossils
10.
Tamarix
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The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tamaris River in Hispania Tarraconensis and they are evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees growing to 1–18 m in height and forming dense thickets. The largest, Tamarix aphylla, is an tree that can grow to 18 m tall. They usually grow on soils, tolerating up to 15,000 ppm soluble salt. Tamarisks are characterized by slender branches and grey-green foliage, the bark of young branches is smooth and reddish brown. As the plants age, the bark becomes bluish-purple, ridged and furrowed, the leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long, and overlap each other along the stem. They are often encrusted with salt secretions, the pink to white flowers appear in dense masses on 5–10 cm long spikes at branch tips from March to September, though some species tend to flower during the winter. Tamarix can spread vegetatively, by adventitious roots or submerged stems, and sexually, by seeds. Each flower can produce thousands of seeds that are contained in a small capsule usually adorned with a tuft of hair that aids in wind dispersal. Seeds can also be dispersed by water, Seedlings require extended periods of soil saturation for establishment. Tamarisk trees are most often propagated by cuttings, Tamarix species are fire-adapted, and have long tap roots that allow them to intercept deep water tables and exploit natural water resources. The salt is washed away during heavy rains, Tamarix species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora asthenella which feeds exclusively on T. africana. The tamarisk is used as a shrub, a windbreak. The wood may be used for carpentry or firewood and it is a possible agroforestry species. Plans are being made for the tamarisk to play a role in programs in China. Salt cedars can be planted to mine salts, then be used in the production of fuel, the tamarisk was introduced to the United States as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree in the early 19th century. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, tree-planting was used as a tool to fight soil erosion on the Great Plains, eight species are found in North America. The Athel tree is used for windbreaks on the edge of agricultural fields
11.
Strabo
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Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabos life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus. He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, in 29 BC, on his way to Corinth, he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae and it is not known precisely when Strabos Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 BC, others around 17 or 18 AD, the latest passage to which a date can be assigned is his reference to the death in AD23 of Juba II, king of Maurousia, who is said to have died just recently. He probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, on the presumption that recently means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next, when he died. The first of Strabos major works, Historical Sketches, written while he was in Rome, is completely lost. Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialties throughout his life at different stops along his Mediterranean travels. His first chapter of education took place in Nysa under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus, Strabo was an admirer of Homers poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus. At around the age of 21, Strabo moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus, despite Xenarchuss Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome, he learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, the final noteworthy mentor to Strabo was Athenodorus Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus endowed to Strabo three important items, his philosophy, his knowledge, and his contacts, moreover, from his own first-hand experience, Athenodorus provided Strabo with information about regions of the empire which he would not otherwise have known. Strabo is most notable for his work Geographica, which presented a history of people. Although the Geographica was rarely utilized in its antiquity, a multitude of copies survived throughout the Byzantine Empire. It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469, the first Greek edition was published in 1516 in Venice
12.
Myrtus
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Myrtus, with the common name myrtle, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae, described by Linnaeus in 1753. Over 600 names have been proposed in the genus, but nearly all have either moved to other genera or been regarded as synonyms. The Myrtus genus has three species recognised today, Myrtus communis — Common myrtle, native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, Myrtus nivellei — Saharan myrtle, native to North Africa. Myrtus phyllireaefolia Myrtus communis, the myrtle, is native across the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia, western Asia. The plant is a shrub or small tree, growing to 5 metres tall. The leaf is entire, 3–5 cm long, with a fragrant essential oil, the star-like flower has five petals and sepals, and numerous stamens. The flower is pollinated by insects, the fruit is a round berry containing several seeds, most commonly blue-black in colour. A variety with yellow-amber berries is also present, the seeds are dispersed by birds that eat the berries. Myrtus nivellei, the Saharan myrtle, is endemic to the mountains of the central Sahara Desert and it is found in a restricted range in the Tassili nAjjer Mountains in southern Algeria, and the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad. It occurs in areas of sparse relict woodland at montaine elevations above the central Saharan desert plains. It is a medicinal plant for the Tuareg people. Myrtus communis, the myrtle, is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant for use as a shrub in gardens. It is often used as a plant, with its small leaves shearing cleanly. When trimmed less frequently, it has numerous flowers in late summer and it requires a long hot summer to produce its flowers, and protection from winter frosts. The species and the subspecies M. communis subsp, tarentina have gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit. Myrtus communis, the myrtle, is used in the islands of Sardinia. Many Mediterranean pork dishes include Myrtle berries, and roasted baby pig is often stuffed with myrtle sprigs in the belly cavity, the berries, whole or ground, have been used as a pepper substitute. They contribute to the flavor of Mortadella sausage and the related American Bologna sausage
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