1.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome
2.
Saint Peter
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Saint Peter, also known as Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simōn pronunciation, according to the New Testament, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, leaders of the early Christian Great Church. Hippolytus of Rome, a 3rd-century theologian, gave him the title of Apostle of the Apostles, according to Catholic teaching, Peter was ordained by Jesus in the Rock of My Church dialogue in Matthew 16,18. He is traditionally counted as the first Bishop of Rome and by Eastern Christian tradition also as the first Patriarch of Antioch. The ancient Christian churches all venerate Peter as a saint and as founder of the Church of Antioch. The New Testament indicates that Peter was the son of John and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee or Gaulanitis and his brother Andrew was also an apostle. According to New Testament accounts, Peter was one of twelve apostles chosen by Jesus from his first disciples, originally a fisherman, he played a leadership role and was with Jesus during events witnessed by only a few apostles, such as the Transfiguration. According to the gospels, Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah, was part of Jesuss inner circle, thrice denied Jesus and wept bitterly once he realised his deed, according to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar. It is traditionally held that he was crucified upside down at his own request, Tradition holds that he was crucified at the site of the Clementine Chapel. His remains are said to be contained in the underground Confessio of St. Peters Basilica. According to Catholic doctrine, the direct successor to Saint Peter is the incumbent pope. Two general epistles in the New Testament are ascribed to Peter, the Gospel of Mark was traditionally thought to show the influence of Peters preaching and eyewitness memories. Peters original name was Shimon or Simeon and he was later given the name Peter, New Testament Greek Πέτρος derived from πέτρα, which means rock. In the Latin translation of the Bible this became Petrus, a form of the feminine petra. Another version of this name is Aramaic, , after his name in Hellenised Aramaic. The English, Dutch and German Peter, French Pierre, the Italian Pietro, the Spanish and Portuguese Pedro, the Syriac or Aramaic word for rock is kepa, which in Greek became Πέτρος, also meaning rock. He is also known as Simon Peter, Cephas and Kepha, both Cephas and Kepha also mean rock. In the New Testament, he is among the first of the disciples called during Jesus ministry, Peter became the first listed apostle ordained by Jesus in the early church. Peter was a fisherman in Bethsaida and he was named Simon, son of Jonah or John
3.
Aramaic
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Aramaic is a language or group of languages belonging to the Semitic subfamily of the Afroasiatic language family. More specifically, it is part of the Northwest Semitic group, the Aramaic alphabet was widely adopted for other languages and is ancestral to the Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic alphabets. During its approximately 3000 years of history, Aramaic has served variously as a language of administration of empires, therefore, there is not one singular, static Aramaic language, each time and place rather has had its own variation. The Aramaic languages are now considered endangered, Aram is used as a proper name of several people in the Torah including descendants of Shem, Nahor, and Jacob. Ancient Aram, bordering northern Israel and now called Syria, is considered the epicenter of Aramaic. The language is often considered to have originated within Assyria. Interestingly, the Christian New Testament, for which the constituent texts are written in Koine Greek. The Hellenized Jewish community of Alexandria instead translated Aramaic to the Syrian tongue, a related language, Mlahsô, has recently become extinct. Mandaeans living in the Khuzestan Province of Iran and scattered throughout Iraq and it is quite distinct from any other Aramaic variety. Central Neo-Aramaic consists of Turoyo and the recently extinct Mlahsô, very little remains of Western Aramaic. All these speakers of Modern Western Aramaic are fluent in Arabic, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and Samaritan Aramaic are preserved in liturgical and literary usage. Each dialect of Aramaic has its own pronunciation, and it would not be feasible here to go into all these properties. Aramaic has a palette of 25 to 40 distinct phonemes. The open vowel is an open near-front unrounded vowel and it usually has a back counterpart, and a front counterpart. There is much correspondence between these vowels between dialects, there is some evidence that Middle Babylonian dialects did not distinguish between the short a and short e. In West Syriac dialects, and possibly Middle Galilean, the long a became the o sound, the open e and back a are often indicated in writing by the use of the letters א alaph or ה he. The close front vowel is the long i and it has a slightly more open counterpart, the long e, as in the final vowel of café. Both of these have shorter counterparts, which tend to be pronounced more open
4.
Turkish language
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Outside of Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official EU language, in 1928, as one of Atatürks Reforms in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was replaced with a Latin alphabet. The distinctive characteristics of Turkish are vowel harmony and extensive agglutination, the basic word order of Turkish is subject–object–verb. Turkish has no classes or grammatical gender. Turkish has a strong T–V distinction and usage of honorifics, Turkish uses second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a person out of respect. Turkic languages belong to the Altaic language group, the Turkic family comprises some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia. Turkish is a member of the Oghuz group of languages, a subgroup of the Turkic language family, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Turkish and the other Oghuz Turkic languages, including Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish. The earliest known Old Turkic inscriptions are the three monumental Orkhon inscriptions found in modern Mongolia, erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khagan, these date back to the second Turk Kaghanate. The Seljuqs of the Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, following the adoption of Islam c. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Divan poetry, was influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters. One of the tasks of the newly established association was to initiate a reform to replace loanwords of Arabic. By banning the usage of imported words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred words from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were newly derived from Turkic roots, owing to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the terms of Arabic or Persian origin. The past few decades have seen the work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have received widespread acceptance, however, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to replace fırka, political party—also failed to meet with popular approval, some words restored from Old Turkic have taken on specialized meanings, for example betik is now used to mean script in computer science
5.
Antakya
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Antakya, is the seat of the Hatay Province in southern Turkey. In ancient times, Antakya was known as Antioch, and was for one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire. It was an early center of Christianity. It has a population of about 250,000, most of the population speaks Turkish as their native language, while a minority are native Arabic speakers. Antakya is situated in a well-watered and fertile valley, the area of Antioch has been occupied by humans since the Calcolithic era, as revealed by archeological excavations of the mound of Tell-Açana, among others. The King of Macedonia and Greece Alexander the Great, after defeating the Persians in the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, followed the Orontes south into Syria and occupied the area. The city of Antioch was founded in 300 BC, after the death of Alexander, AD with the rise of Islam, and after the 10th c. In 637, during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, the city became known in Arabic as أنطاكيّة. In 969, the city was recovered for the Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas by Michael Bourtzes and the stratopedarches Peter. It soon became the seat of a dux, who commanded the forces of the themes and was the most important officer on the Empires eastern border. In 1078, Philaretos Brachamios, an Armenian rebel seized power and he held the city until the Seljuk Turks captured it from him in 1084. The Sultanate of Rum held it only fourteen years before the Crusaders arrived, the Crusaders Siege of Antioch resulted in its fall and the Crusaders caused significant damage during the First Crusade including a 3-day massacre of its population both Christian and Muslim. Following the defeat of the Turkish garrison, Bohemond I became its overlord and it remained the capital of the Latin Principality of Antioch for nearly two centuries. In 1268 it fell to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan Baibars after another siege, Baibars proceeded to massacre the Christian population. In addition to suffering the ravages of war, the city lost its importance because trade routes to the Far East moved north following the 13th-century Mongol conquests. Antioch never recovered as a city, with much of its former role falling to the port city of Alexandretta. An account of both cities as they were in 1675 appears in the diary of the English naval chaplain Henry Teonge, the city was the center of the Sanjak of Antakya, part of the Damascus Eyalet. In 1822, Antakya was hit by an earthquake and damaged, when Ottoman general Ibrahim Pasha established his headquarters in the city in 1835, it had only some 5,000 inhabitants
6.
Antioch
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Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient Greco-Roman city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. Its ruins lie near the city of Antakya, Turkey. Antioch was founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, the citys geographical, military, and economic location benefited its occupants, particularly such features as the spice trade, the Silk Road, and the Persian Royal Road. It eventually rivaled Alexandria as the city of the Near East. It was also the center of Hellenistic Judaism at the end of the Second Temple period. Most of the development of Antioch was done during the Roman Empire. Antioch was called the cradle of Christianity as a result of its longevity, the Christian New Testament asserts that the name Christian first emerged in Antioch. It was one of the four cities of the Syrian tetrapolis, a single route proceeds south in the Orontes valley. The settlement of Meroe pre-dated Antioch, a shrine of the Semitic goddess Anat, called by Herodotus the Persian Artemis, was located here. This site was included in the suburbs of Antioch. There was a village on the spur of Mount Silpius named Io and this name was always adduced as evidence by Antiochenes anxious to affiliate themselves to the Attic Ionians—an eagerness which is illustrated by the Athenian types used on the citys coins. Io may have been an early colony of trading Greeks. John Malalas also mentions a village, Bottia, in the plain by the river. Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great is said to have camped on the site of Antioch and this account is found only in the writings of Libanius, a 4th-century orator from Antioch, and may be legend intended to enhance Antiochs status. But the story is not unlikely in itself, after Alexanders death in 323 BC, his generals divided up the territory he had conquered. Seleucus I Nicator won the territory of Syria, and he proceeded to found four sister cities in northwestern Syria, one of which was Antioch and he is reputed to have built sixteen Antiochs. Seleucus founded Antioch on a site chosen through ritual means, an eagle, the bird of Zeus, had been given a piece of sacrificial meat and the city was founded on the site to which the eagle carried the offering. Seleucus did this on the 22nd day of the month of Artemisios in the year of his reign
7.
Turkey
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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
8.
Early Christianity
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Early Christianity is the period of Christianity preceding the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It is typically divided into the Apostolic Age and the Ante-Nicene Period, the early Gospel message was spread orally, probably in Aramaic, but almost immediately also in Greek. After the conversion of Paul the Apostle, he claimed the title of Apostle to the Gentiles, Pauls influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author. As the New Testament canon developed, the Pauline epistles, the canonical gospels, Early Christians demonstrated a wide range of beliefs and practices, many of which were later denounced as heretical. The earliest followers of Jesus composed an apocalyptic, Second Temple Jewish sect, the first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is called the Apostolic Age. The relationship of Paul the Apostle and Judaism is still disputed although Pauls influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament author and they think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. The first action taken against Christians by the order of an emperor occurred half a century earlier under Nero after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. During the Ante-Nicene Period following the Apostolic Age, a diversity of views emerged simultaneously with strong unifying characteristics lacking in the apostolic period. Part of the trend was an increasingly harsh anti-Judaism and rejection of Judaizers. Early Christianity gradually grew apart from Judaism during the first two centuries and established itself as a predominantly gentile religion in the Roman Empire. From the writings of early Christians, historians have tried to piece together an understanding of various early Christian practices including worship services, customs, Early Christian writers such as Justin Martyr described these practices. Early Christian beliefs regarding baptism probably predate the New Testament writings and it seems certain that numerous Jewish sects and certainly Jesuss disciples practised baptism, which became integral to nearly every manifestation of the religion of the Jews. John the Baptist had baptized many people, before took place in the name of Jesus Christ. Many of the interpretations that would later become Orthodox Christian beliefs concerning baptism can be traced to such as Paul. On the basis of this description, it was supposed by some modern theologians that the early Christians practised baptism by submersion and this interpretation is debated between those Christian denominations who advocate immersion baptism exclusively and those who practice baptism by affusion or aspersion as well as by immersion. Yet the Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings on liturgical practices, the Orthodox Church continues this practice, submerging the baptized and then pouring water on the head in that formula. Infant baptism was practised at least by the 3rd century. Others believe that infants were excluded from the baptism of households, citing verses of the Bible that describe the baptized households as believing, in the 2nd century, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, may have referred to it
9.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
10.
Church (building)
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A church building, often simply called a church, is a building used for Christian religious activities, particularly worship services. The term in its sense is most often used by Christians to refer to their religious buildings. In traditional Christian architecture, the church is arranged in the shape of a Christian cross. When viewed from plan view the longest part of a cross is represented by the aisle, towers or domes are often added with the intention of directing the eye of the viewer towards the heavens and inspiring church visitors. The earliest identified Christian church was a church founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, a cathedral is a church, usually Roman Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. In standard Greek usage, the word ecclesia was retained to signify both a specific edifice of Christian worship, and the overall community of the faithful. This usage was retained in Latin and the languages derived from Latin, as well as in the Celtic languages. In the Germanic and some Slavic languages, the word kyriak-ós/-ē/-ón was adopted instead, in Old English the sequence of derivation started as cirice, then churche, and eventually church in its current pronunciation. German Kirche, Scottish kirk, Russian церковь, etc. are all similarly derived, according to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings. Instead, they gathered in homes or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues, the earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church, the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256. During the 11th through 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals, in addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was used by the community in other ways. It could serve as a place for guilds or a hall for banquets. Mystery plays were performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs. The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain, a common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross. These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the west end of the church or over the crossing. The Latin word basilica was used to describe a Roman public building
11.
Early centers of Christianity
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Early Christianity, spread from the Eastern Mediterranean throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, reaching as far east as India. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers, in the Holy Land, the first followers of Christianity were Jews or biblical proselytes, commonly referred to as Jewish Christians and Godfearers. The Apostolic Sees claim to have founded by one or more of the Apostles of Jesus. 26–36, perhaps following the Great Commission, many of these Early Christians were merchants and others who had practical reasons for traveling to northern Africa, Asia Minor, Arabia, Greece, and other places. Over 40 such communities were established by the year 100, many in Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor, Jesus and his apostles, disciples, and early followers, being Jewish or Jewish proselytes, traveled from Galilee to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, c. 33, at time the city was under Roman occupation as part of Iudaea province. According to Christian belief, on the day he was resurrected. Jerusalem was the first center of the church, according to the Book of Acts, and according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the apostles lived and taught there for some time after Pentecost. 130, when all Jews were banished from the city, in about 50, Barnabas and Paul went to Jerusalem to meet with the pillars of the church, James, Peter, and John. In roughly the time period Rabbinic Judaism made their circumcision requirement of Jewish boys even stricter. When Peter left Jerusalem after Herod Agrippa I tried to kill him, Clement of Alexandria called him Bishop of Jerusalem. A second-century church historian, Hegesippus, wrote that the Sanhedrin martyred him in 62, in 66, the Jews revolted against Rome. Rome besieged Jerusalem for four years, and the city fell in 70, the city was destroyed, including the Temple, and the population was mostly killed or removed. According to a recorded by Eusebius and Epiphanius of Salamis. P. H. R. van Houwelingen, Fleeing forward, The departure of Christians from Jerusalem to Pella, Westminster Theological Journal 65, 181-200. </ref>According to Epiphanius of Salamis, prophecies of the Second Temples destruction are found in the synoptics, specifically in the Olivet Discourse. In the 2nd century, Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a city called Aelia Capitolina, erecting statues of Jupiter and himself on the site of the former Jewish Temple. Bar Cochba led an unsuccessful revolt as a Messiah, but Christians refused to him as such. When Bar Cochba was defeated, Hadrian barred Jews from the city, except for the day of Tisha BAv, thus the subsequent Jerusalem bishops were gentiles for the first time
12.
Acts of the Apostles
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The Acts of the Apostles, often referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament, it tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a work, Luke–Acts, by the same anonymous author. The first part, the Gospel of Luke, tells how God fulfilled his plan for the salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts continues the story of Christianity in the 1st century, beginning with Jesuss Ascension to Heaven, the early chapters, set in Jerusalem, describe the Day of Pentecost and the growth of the church in Jerusalem. Initially the Jews are receptive to the Christian message, but soon turn against the followers of Jesus. Rejected by the Jews, under the guidance of the Apostle Peter the message is taken to the Gentiles. The later chapters tell of Pauls conversion, his mission in Asia Minor and the Aegean, and finally his imprisonment in Rome, the title Acts of the Apostles was first used by Irenaeus in the late 2nd century. It is not known whether this was a title or one invented by Irenaeus, it does seem clear, however. The Gospel of Luke and Acts make up a work which scholars call Luke–Acts. The author is not named in either volume. )He admired Paul, the earliest possible date for the composition of Acts is set by the events with which it ends, Pauls imprisonment in Rome c.63 AD, but an early date is now rarely put forward. In either case there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century. Luke aligned his work, Luke–Acts, to the narratives which many others had written, Acts, the second part, is widely thought of as a history, but it lacks exact analogies in Hellenistic or Jewish literature. The title Acts of the Apostles would seem to identify it with the telling of the deeds and achievements of great men. By and large the sources for Acts can only be guessed at, but Luke would have had access to the Septuagint, the gospel of Mark and the collection of sayings of Jesus called the Q source. )There are also points of contacts with 1 Peter, the Letter to the Hebrews, and 1 Clement. Other sources can only be inferred from internal evidence—the traditional explanation of the three we passages, for example, is that they represent eye-witness accounts, the search for such inferred sources was popular in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th it had largely been abandoned. Acts was read as a history of the early church well into the post-Reformation era. The mid-19th century scholar Ferdinand Baur suggested that Luke had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul, Baur continues to have enormous influence, but today there is less interest in determining Lukes historical accuracy than in understanding his theological program. Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lords supper, the author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large
13.
Barnabas
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Barnabas /ˈbɑːrnəbəs/, born Joseph, was an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4,36 Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew, named an apostle in Acts 14,14, he and Paul the Apostle undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against the Judaizers. They traveled together making more converts, and participated in the Council of Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul successfully evangelized among the God-fearing Gentiles who attended synagogues in various Hellenized cities of Anatolia. Barnabas story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles, Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but this and other attributions are conjecture. Clement of Alexandria and some scholars have ascribed the Epistle of Barnabas to him, although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus, in AD61. He is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, the feast day of Barnabas is celebrated on June 11. Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of Mark the Evangelist on the basis of Colossians 4, some traditions hold that Aristobulus of Britannia, one of the Seventy Disciples, was the brother of Barnabas. His Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph, but when he sold all his goods and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, they gave him a new name and this name appears to be from the Aramaic בר נביא, bar naḇyā, meaning the son prophet. However, the Greek text of the Acts 4,36 explains the name as υἱός παρακλήσεως, hyios paraklēseōs, a similar link between ”prophecy” and ”encouragement” is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Barnabas appears mainly in Acts, a Christian history of the early Christian church and he also appears in several of Pauls epistles. When the future Apostle Paul returned to Jerusalem after his conversion, easton, in his Bible Dictionary, supposes that they had been fellow students in the school of Rabbi Gamaliel. The successful preaching of Christianity at Antioch to non-Jews led the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to oversee the movement and he found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus in search of Paul, an admirable colleague, to assist him. Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year, at the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem with contributions from the church at Antioch for the relief of the poorer Christians in Judea. They returned to Antioch taking John Mark with them, the cousin or nephew of Barnabas, later, they went to Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. Paul appears as the more eloquent missionary, whence the Lystrans regarded him as Hermes, returning from this first missionary journey to Antioch, they were again sent up to Jerusalem to consult with the church there regarding the relation of Gentiles to the church. This matter having been settled, they returned again to Antioch, after they had returned to Antioch from the Jerusalem council, they spent some time there. Peter came and associated freely there with the Gentiles, eating them, until criticized for this by some disciples of James. Upon their remonstrances, Peter yielded apparently through fear of displeasing them, Paul considered that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel and upbraided them before the whole church
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Tarsus, Mersin
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Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey,20 km inland from the Mediterranean. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 3 million people, Tarsus forms an administrative district in the eastern part of the Mersin Province and lies in the core of Çukurova region. With a history going back over 6,000 years, Tarsus has long been an important stop for traders, during the Roman Empire, Tarsus was the capital of the province of Cilicia. It was the scene of the first meeting between Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and the birthplace of Paul the Apostle, the climate is typical of the Mediterranean region, with very hot summers and chilly, damp winters. Industries include agricultural machinery, spare parts, textiles, fruit-processing, brick-making, agriculture is an important source of income, half the land area in the district is farmland and most of the remainder is forest and orchard. The farmland is mostly well-irrigated, fertilised and managed with up-to-date equipment, first mentioned in historical record in Akkadian texts of the Neo-Assyrian era as Tarsisi. During the Hellenistic era it was known as Antiochia on the Cydnus and it was known as Juliopolis to the Romans, Darson in Western Armenian and Tarson in Eastern Armenian. Excavation of the mound of Gözlükule reveals that the development of Tarsus reaches back to the Neolithic Period and continues unbroken through Chalcolithic. The settlement was located at the crossing of important trade routes, linking Anatolia to Syria. Because the ruins are covered by the city, archaeology has barely touched the ancient city. A Greek legend connects it with the memory of the Assyrian king Sardanapalus, still preserved in the Dunuk-Tach, called tomb of Sardanapalus, much of this legend of the foundation of Tarsus, however, appeared in the Roman era, and none of it is reliable. The geographer Strabo states that Tarsus was founded by people from Argos who were exploring this coast, another legend states that Bellerophon fell off his winged horse Pegasus and landed here, hurting his foot, and thus the city was named tar-sos. Other candidates for legendary founder of the city include the hero Perseus and Triptolemus, son of the earth-goddess Demeter, later the coinage of Tarsus bore the image of Hercules, due to yet another tale in which the hero was held prisoner here by the local god Sandon. Tarsus has been suggested as an identification of the biblical Tarshish, where the prophet Jonah wanted to flee. In historical times, the city was first ruled by the Hittites, followed by Assyria, Tarsus, as the principal town of Cilicia, was the seat of a Persian satrapy from 400 BC onward. Indeed, Xenophon records that in 401 BC, when Cyrus the Younger marched against Babylon, at this period the patron god of the city was Sandon, of whom a large monument existed at Tarsus at least until the 3rd century AD. Alexander the Great passed through with his armies in 333 BC, by this time Tarsus was already largely influenced by Greek language and culture, and as part of the Seleucid Empire it became more and more hellenized. Strabo praises the cultural level of Tarsus in this period with its philosophers, the schools of Tarsus rivaled those of Athens and Alexandria
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Paul the Apostle
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Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, and also known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, in the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences, according to writings in the New Testament, Paul was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. He was struck blind but, after three days, his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Pauls life and works. Fourteen of the books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by scholars to have come from followers writing in his name. Other scholars argue that the idea of an author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Pauls epistles continue to be roots of the theology, worship, and pastoral life in the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the West. Augustine of Hippo developed Pauls idea that salvation is based on faith, martin Luthers interpretation of Pauls writings influenced Luthers doctrine of sola fide. The main source for information about Pauls life is the material found in his epistles, however, the epistles contain little information about Pauls past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Pauls life out of its narrative, such as his probable, some scholars believe Acts also contradicts Pauls epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Pauls visits to the church in Jerusalem. It has been assumed that Sauls name was changed when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. His Jewish name was Saul, perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjamite, according to the Book of Acts, he inherited Roman citizenship from his father. As a Roman citizen, he bore the Latin name of Paul—in biblical Greek, Παῦλος. It was quite usual for the Jews of that time to have two names, one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him Saul, Saul in the Hebrew tongue in the book of Acts, later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, the Lord referred to him as Saul, of Tarsus
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Christian
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A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian derives from the Koine Greek word Christós, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mashiach, while there are diverse interpretations of Christianity which sometimes conflict, they are united in believing that Jesus has a unique significance. The term Christian is also used as an adjective to describe anything associated with Christianity, or in a sense all that is noble, and good. According to a 2011 Pew Research Center survey, there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, by 2050, the Christian population is expected to exceed 3 billion. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center survey Christianity will remain the worlds largest religion in 2050, about half of all Christians worldwide are Catholic, while more than a third are Protestant. Orthodox communions comprise 12% of the worlds Christians, other Christian groups make up the remainder. Christians make up the majority of the population in 158 countries and territories,280 million Christian live as a minority. In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ, in other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French and Cristiano in Spanish. The second mention of the term follows in Acts 26,28, where Herod Agrippa II replied to Paul the Apostle, Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in 1 Peter 4,16, which believers, Yet if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name Christians, had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames, in the Annals he relates that by vulgar appellation commonly called Christians and identifies Christians as Neros scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. Another term for Christians which appears in the New Testament is Nazarenes which is used by the Jewish lawyer Tertullus in Acts 24, the Hebrew equivalent of Nazarenes, Notzrim, occurs in the Babylonian Talmud, and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian. A wide range of beliefs and practices is found across the world among those who call themselves Christian, denominations and sects disagree on a common definition of Christianity. Most Baptists and fundamentalists, for example, would not acknowledge Mormonism or Christian Science as Christian, in fact, the nearly 77 percent of Americans who self-identify as Christian are a diverse pluribus of Christianities that are far from any collective unity. The identification of Jesus as the Messiah is not accepted by Judaism, the term for a Christian in Hebrew is נוּצְרי, a Talmudic term originally derived from the fact that Jesus came from the Galilean village of Nazareth, today in northern Israel. Adherents of Messianic Judaism are referred to in modern Hebrew as יְהוּדִים מָשִׁיחַיים, the term Nasara rose to prominence in July 2014, after the Fall of Mosul to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The nun or ن— the first letter of Nasara—was spray-painted on the property of Christians ejected from the city, where there is a distinction, Nasrani refers to people from a Christian culture and Masihi is used by Christians themselves for those with a religious faith in Jesus. In some countries Nasrani tends to be used generically for non-Muslim Western foreigners, another Arabic word sometimes used for Christians, particularly in a political context, is Ṣalībī from ṣalīb which refers to Crusaders and has negative connotations
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Gospel
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A gospel is an account describing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity places a value on the four canonical gospels, which it considers to be revelations from God. This position however, requires a view of Biblical inerrancy. The word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings, the gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and of redemption through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, the central Christian message. The Greek word euangelion is also the source of the terms evangelist, the authors of the four canonical Christian gospels are known as the Four Evangelists. Paul the Apostle used the term εὐαγγέλιον when he reminded the people of the church at Corinth of the gospel I preached to you, the earliest extant use of gospel to denote a particular genre of literature dates to the 2nd century. Justin Martyr in the Apology wrote of. the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, more generally, gospels compose a genre of early Christian writings. Gospels that did not become canonical also circulated in Early Christianity, many, such as the work known today as Gospel of Thomas, lack the narrative framework typical of a gospel. Scholars hold a wide spectrum of views on the origins and composition of the gospels, for example, the vast majority of material in Mark is also present in either Luke or Matthew or both, suggesting that Mark was a source for Matthew and Luke. He writes that the four gospels were probably all written by the end of the first century. But they did not yet at that time have a consistent narrative, in 170 Tatian sought to find a solution by composing a single narrative out of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, with some additional oral material. Richies concludes that the gospel passages themselves can be unclear, and some of the messages within are straightforwardly ambiguous, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are considered synoptic gospels on the basis of many similarities between them that are not shared by the Gospel of John. Synoptic means here that they can be seen or read together, the fourth gospel, the Gospel of John, presents a very different picture of Jesus and his ministry from the synoptics. Of the many gospels written in antiquity, only four came to be accepted as part of the New Testament. An insistence upon there being a canon of four gospels, and no others, was a theme of Irenaeus of Lyons. Irenaeus was ultimately successful in declaring that the four gospels collectively and he also supported reading each gospel in light of the others. This canon, which corresponds to the modern Catholic canon, was used in the Vulgate, Gospel of Matthew Gospel of John Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark This order is found in the following manuscripts, Bezae, Monacensis, Washingtonianus, Tischendorfianus IV, Uncial 0234. Although there is no set order of the four gospels in patristic lists or discussions, moody Smith suggests that the standard order of Matthew-Mark-Luke-John projects a kind of intention that can scarcely be ignored
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Mosaic
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A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from the assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is often used in art or as interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called pebble mosaics. Others are made of other materials, mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. Pebble mosaics were made in Tiryns in Mycenean Greece, mosaics with patterns and pictures became widespread in classical times, Early Christian basilicas from the 4th century onwards were decorated with wall and ceiling mosaics. Mosaic fell out of fashion in the Renaissance, though artists like Raphael continued to practise the old technique, Roman and Byzantine influence led Jews to decorate 5th and 6th century synagogues in the Middle East with floor mosaics. Mosaic was widely used on buildings and palaces in early Islamic art, including Islams first great religious building, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Mosaic went out of fashion in the Islamic world after the 8th century, modern mosaics are made by professional artists, street artists, and as a popular craft. Many materials other than stone and ceramic tesserae may be employed, including shells, glass. The earliest known examples of made of different materials were found at a temple building in Abra, Mesopotamia. They consist of pieces of colored stones, shells and ivory, excavations at Susa and Chogha Zanbil show evidence of the first glazed tiles, dating from around 1500 BC. However, mosaic patterns were not used until the times of Sassanid Empire, mythological subjects, or scenes of hunting or other pursuits of the wealthy, were popular as the centrepieces of a larger geometric design, with strongly emphasized borders. Pliny the Elder mentions the artist Sosus of Pergamon by name, describing his mosaics of the left on a floor after a feast. Both of these themes were widely copied, most recorded names of Roman mosaic workers are Greek, suggesting they dominated high quality work across the empire, no doubt most ordinary craftsmen were slaves. Splendid mosaic floors are found in Roman villas across North Africa, in such as Carthage. The tiny tesserae allowed very fine detail, and an approach to the illusionism of painting, often small panels called emblemata were inserted into walls or as the highlights of larger floor-mosaics in coarser work. The normal technique was opus tessellatum, using larger tesserae, which was laid on site, there was a distinct native Italian style using black on a white background, which was no doubt cheaper than fully coloured work. In Rome, Nero and his architects used mosaics to cover surfaces of walls and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built 64 AD
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Fresco
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Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly-laid, or wet lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance painting. Buon fresco pigment mixed with water of temperature on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster, for which the Italian word for plaster. Because of the makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the intonaco. The pigment is absorbed by the wet plaster, after a number of hours, many artists sketched their compositions on this underlayer, which would never be seen, in a red pigment called sinopia, a name also used to refer to these under-paintings. Later, new techniques for transferring paper drawings to the wall were developed. The main lines of a drawing made on paper were pricked over with a point, the paper held against the wall, if the painting was to be done over an existing fresco, the surface would be roughened to provide better adhesion. This area is called the giornata, and the different day stages can usually be seen in a large fresco, buon frescoes are difficult to create because of the deadline associated with the drying plaster. Once a giornata is dried, no more buon fresco can be done, if mistakes have been made, it may also be necessary to remove the whole intonaco for that area—or to change them later, a secco. An indispensable component of this process is the carbonatation of the lime, the eyes of the people of the School of Athens are sunken-in using this technique which causes the eyes to seem deeper and more pensive. Michelangelo used this technique as part of his trademark outlining of his central figures within his frescoes, in a wall-sized fresco, there may be ten to twenty or even more giornate, or separate areas of plaster. After five centuries, the giornate, which were nearly invisible, have sometimes become visible, and in many large-scale frescoes. Additionally, the border between giornate was often covered by an a secco painting, which has fallen off. One of the first painters in the period to use this technique was the Isaac Master in the Upper Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. A person who creates fresco is called a frescoist, a secco or fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster. The pigments thus require a medium, such as egg. Blue was a problem, and skies and blue robes were often added a secco, because neither azurite blue nor lapis lazuli. By the end of the century this had largely displaced buon fresco
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Altar
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An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes, and by extension the Holy table of post-reformation Anglican churches. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches, today they are used particularly in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, as well as in Neopaganism and Ceremonial Magic. Judaism used such a structure until the destruction of the Second Temple, many historical faiths also made use of them, including Greek and Norse religion. Altars in the Hebrew Bible were typically made of earth or unwrought stone, altars were generally erected in conspicuous places. The first altar recorded in the Hebrew Bible is that erected by Noah, altars were erected by Abraham, by Isaac, by Jacob, and by Moses. In Catholic and Orthodox Christian theology, the Eucharist is a re-presentation, hence, the table upon which the Eucharist is consecrated is called an altar. The altar plays a role in the celebration of the Eucharist, which takes place at the altar on which the bread. The altar is often on a higher elevation than the rest of the church, in Reformed and Anabaptist churches, a table, often called a Communion table, serves an analogous function. In some colloquial usage, the altar is used to denote the altar rail also. The main altar was also referred to as the high altar, in the earliest days of the Church, the Eucharist appears to have been celebrated on portable altars set up for the purpose. Some historians hold that, during the persecutions, the Eucharist was celebrated among the tombs in the Catacombs of Rome, other historians dispute this, but it is thought to be the origin of the tradition of placing relics beneath the altar. Although in the days of the Jerusalem Temple the High Priest indeed faced east when sacrificing on Yom Kippur, the ministers, celebrated the Eucharist facing east, towards the entrance. Some hold that for the part of the celebration the congregation faced the same way. After the sixth century the contrary orientation prevailed, with the entrance to the west and the altar at the east end. Then the ministers and congregation all faced east during the whole celebration, most rubrics, even in books of the seventeenth century and later, such as the Pontificale Romanum, continued to envisage the altar as free-standing. The rite of the Dedication of the Church continued to presume that the officiating Bishop could circle the altar during the consecration of the church and its altar. Despite this, with the increase in the size and importance of the reredos, most altars were built against the wall or barely separated from it. This diversity was recognized in the rubrics of the Roman Missal from the 1604 typical edition of Pope Clement VIII to the 1962 edition of Pope John XXIII, Si altare sit ad orientem, versus populum
21.
Baptism
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Baptism is a Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally. The canonical Gospels report that Jesus was baptized—a historical event to which a degree of certainty can be assigned. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ. In some denominations, baptism is also called christening, but for others the word christening is reserved for the baptism of infants, Baptism has also given its name to the Baptist churches and denominations. The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the candidate to be immersed, in v.16, Matthew will speak of Jesus coming up out of the water. The traditional depiction in Christian art of John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus head may therefore be based on later Christian practice, other common forms of baptism now in use include pouring water three times on the forehead, a method called affusion. Martyrdom was identified early in Church history as baptism by blood, later, the Catholic Church identified a baptism of desire, by which those preparing for baptism who die before actually receiving the sacrament are considered saved. Today, some Christians, particularly Christian Scientists, Quakers, The Salvation Army, and Unitarians, do not see baptism as necessary, among those that do, differences can be found in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite. Most Christians baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, much more than half of all Christians baptize infants, many others hold that only believers baptism is true baptism. Some insist on submersion or at least partial immersion of the person who is baptized, others consider that any form of washing by water, as long as the water flows on the head, is sufficient. The term baptism has also used to refer to any ceremony, trial, or experience by which a person is initiated, purified. The Greek verb baptō, dip, from which the verb baptizo is derived, is in turn hypothetically traced to a reconstructed Indo-European root *gʷabh-, the Greek words are used in a great variety of meanings. John the Baptist, who is considered a forerunner to Christianity, the apostle Paul distinguished between the baptism of John, and baptism in the name of Jesus, and it is questionable whether Christian baptism was in some way linked with that of John. Christians consider Jesus to have instituted the sacrament of baptism, though whether Jesus intended to institute a continuing, the earliest Christian baptisms were probably normally by immersion, complete or partial. Though other modes may have also been used, at the hour in which the cock crows, they shall first pray over the water. When they come to the water, the water shall be pure and flowing, that is, then they shall take off all their clothes. The children shall be baptized first, all of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, after this, the men will be baptized
22.
First Crusade
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The First Crusade was the first of a number of crusades that attempted to capture the Holy Land, called by Pope Urban II in 1095. An additional goal became the principal objective—the Christian reconquest of the sacred city of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. During the crusades, nobility, knights, peasants and serfs from many regions of Western Europe travelled over land and by sea, first to Constantinople and then on towards Jerusalem. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem, launched an assault on the city and they also established the crusader states of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa. The First Crusade was followed by the Second to the Ninth Crusades and it was also the first major step towards reopening international trade in the West since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The majority view is that it had elements of both in its nature, the origin of the Crusades in general, and particularly that of the First Crusade, is widely debated among historians. The confusion is due to the numerous armies in the first crusade. The similar ideologies held the armies to similar goals, but the connections were rarely strong, the Umayyad Caliphate had conquered Syria, Egypt, and North Africa from the predominantly Christian Byzantine Empire, and Hispania from the Visigothic Kingdom. In North Africa, the Umayyad empire eventually collapsed and a number of smaller Muslim kingdoms emerged, such as the Aghlabids, who attacked Italy in the 9th century. Pisa, Genoa, and the Principality of Catalonia began to battle various Muslim kingdoms for control of the Mediterranean Basin, exemplified by the Mahdia campaign and battles at Majorca and Sardinia. Essentially, between the years 1096 and 1101 the Byzantine Greeks experienced the crusade as it arrived at Constantinople in three separate waves, in the early summer of 1096, the first large unruly group arrived on the outskirts of Constantinople. This wave was reported to be undisciplined and ill-equipped as an army and this first group is often called the Peasants’ or People’s Crusade. It was led by Peter the Hermit and Walter Sans Avoir and had no knowledge of or respect for the wishes of Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The second wave was not under the command of the Emperor and was made up of a number of armies with their own commanders. Together, this group and the first wave numbered an estimated 60,000, the second wave was led by Hugh I, Count of Vermandois, the brother of King Philip I of France. Also among the wave were Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse. It was this wave of crusaders which later passed through Asia Minor, captured Antioch in 1098 and finally took Jerusalem 15 July 1099. ”The third wave, composed of contingents from Lombardy, France. At the western edge of Europe and of Islamic expansion, the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was well underway by the 11th century and it was intermittently ideological, as evidenced by the Codex Vigilanus compiled in 881
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Pope Pius IX
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Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as Pope from 16 June 1846 to his death in 1878. He was the elected pope in the history of the Catholic Church. During his pontificate Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council, which decreed papal infallibility and he was also the last pope to rule as the Sovereign of the Papal States, which fell completely to the Italian Army in 1870 and were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. After this, he was referred to—chiefly by himself—as the Prisoner of the Vatican, after his death in 1878, his canonization process was opened on 11 February 1907 by Pope Pius X and it drew considerable controversy over the years. It was closed on several occasions during the pontificates of Pope Benedict XV, Pope Pius XII re-opened the cause on 7 December 1954, and Pope John Paul II proclaimed him Venerable on 6 July 1985. Together with Pope John XXIII, he was beatified on 3 September 2000 after the recognition of a miracle, Pius IX was assigned the liturgical feast day of February 7, the date of his death. Europe, including the Italian peninsula, was in the midst of political ferment when the bishop of Spoleto. He took the name Pius, after his generous patron and the prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte. Through the 1850s and 1860s, Italian nationalists made military gains against the Papal States, however, concordats were concluded with numerous states such as Austria-Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Tuscany, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti. Many contemporary Church historians and journalists question his approaches, in his Syllabus of Errors, still highly controversial, Pius IX condemned the heresies of secular society, especially modernism. He was a Marian pope, who in his encyclical Ubi primum described Mary as a Mediatrix of salvation, in 1854, he promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, articulating a long-held Catholic belief that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. In 1862, he convened 300 bishops to the Vatican for the canonization of Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan and his most important legacy is the First Vatican Council, which convened in 1869. The council is considered to have contributed to a centralization of the Church in the Vatican, Pius IX was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000. His Feast Day is 7 February, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born on May 13,1792. He was educated at the Piarist College in Volterra and in Rome, as a theology student in his hometown Sinigaglia, in 1814 he met Pope Pius VII, who had returned from French captivity. In 1815, he entered the Papal Noble Guard but was dismissed after an epileptic seizure. He threw himself at the feet of Pius VII, who elevated him, the pope originally insisted that another priest should assist Mastai during Holy Mass, a stipulation that was later rescinded, after the seizure attacks became less frequent. Mastai was ordained priest on April 10,1819 and he initially worked as the rector of the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome
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Napoleon III
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Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the only President of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I and he was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. He remains the longest-serving French head of state since the French Revolution, during the first years of the Empire, Napoleons government imposed censorship and harsh repressive measures against his opponents. Some six thousand were imprisoned or sent to penal colonies until 1859, thousands more went into voluntary exile abroad, including Victor Hugo. From 1862 onwards, he relaxed government censorship, and his came to be known as the Liberal Empire. Many of his opponents returned to France and became members of the National Assembly, Napoleon III is best known today for his grand reconstruction of Paris, carried out by his prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann. He launched similar public works projects in Marseille, Lyon, Napoleon III modernized the French banking system, greatly expanded and consolidated the French railway system, and made the French merchant marine the second largest in the world. He promoted the building of the Suez Canal and established modern agriculture, Napoleon III negotiated the 1860 Cobden–Chevalier free trade agreement with Britain and similar agreements with Frances other European trading partners. Social reforms included giving French workers the right to strike and the right to organize, womens education greatly expanded, as did the list of required subjects in public schools. In foreign policy, Napoleon III aimed to reassert French influence in Europe and he was a supporter of popular sovereignty and of nationalism. In Europe, he allied with Britain and defeated Russia in the Crimean War and his regime assisted Italian unification and, in doing so, annexed Savoy and the County of Nice to France, at the same time, his forces defended the Papal States against annexation by Italy. Napoleon doubled the area of the French overseas empire in Asia, the Pacific, on the other hand, his armys intervention in Mexico which aimed to create a Second Mexican Empire under French protection ended in failure. Beginning in 1866, Napoleon had to face the power of Prussia. In July 1870, Napoleon entered the Franco-Prussian War without allies, the French army was rapidly defeated and Napoleon III was captured at the Battle of Sedan. The French Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris, and Napoleon went into exile in England, charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 20–21 April 1808. His presumed father was Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter by the first marriage of Napoleons wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, as empress, Joséphine proposed the marriage as a way to produce an heir for the Emperor, who agreed, as Joséphine was by then infertile. Louis married Hortense when he was twenty-four and she was nineteen and they had a difficult relationship, and only lived together for brief periods
25.
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
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Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and he became King of Italy in 1155 and was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. Two years later, the term sacrum first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire and he was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. He was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule, Barbarossa means red beard in Italian, in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, before his imperial election, Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia. He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, Frederick therefore descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empires prince-electors. Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empires greatest medieval emperors, in 1147 he became Duke of the southern German region of Swabia, and shortly afterwards made his first trip to the East, accompanied by his uncle, the German king Conrad III, on the Second Crusade. The expedition proved to be a disaster, but Frederick distinguished himself, when Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and the prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdoms princely electors designated him as the next German king and he was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152. Fredericks father was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family, the Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines, which derives from the Italianized name for Waiblingen castle, the family seat in Swabia, the Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelfs. The reigns of Henry IV and Henry V left the status of the German empire in disarray, for a quarter of a century following the death of Henry V in 1125, the German monarchy was largely a nominal title with no real power. The king was chosen by the princes, was given no resources outside those of his own duchy, the royal title was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. When Frederick I of Hohenstaufen was chosen as king in 1152, royal power had been in abeyance for over twenty-five years. The only real claim to lay in the rich cities of northern Italy. The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125, one of the Hohenstaufens gained the throne as Conrad III of Germany. When Frederick Barbarossa succeeded his uncle in 1152, there seemed to be excellent prospects for ending the feud, the Welf duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, would not be appeased, however, remaining an implacable enemy of the Hohenstaufen monarchy. Barbarossa had the duchies of Swabia and Franconia, the force of his own personality, the Germany that Frederick tried to unite was a patchwork of more than 1600 individual states, each with its own prince. A few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large, many were too small to pinpoint on a map. The titles afforded to the German king were Caesar, Augustus, by the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning
26.
Third Crusade
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The Third Crusade, also known as The Kings Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin. After the failure of the Second Crusade, the Zengid dynasty controlled a unified Syria, the Egyptian and Syrian forces were ultimately unified under Saladin, who employed them to reduce the Christian states and recapture Jerusalem in 1187. Spurred by religious zeal, King Henry II of England and King Philip II of France ended their conflict with other to lead a new crusade. The death of Henry in 1189, however, meant the English contingent came under the command of his successor and his death caused tremendous grief among the German Crusaders, and most of his troops returned home. After the Crusaders had driven the Muslims from Acre, Philip in company with Fredericks successor, Leopold V, Duke of Austria, on 2 September 1192, Richard and Saladin finalized a treaty granting Muslim control over Jerusalem but allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and merchants to visit the city. Richard departed the Holy Land on 2 October, the successes of the Third Crusade allowed the Crusaders to maintain considerable states in Cyprus and on the Syrian coast. However, the failure to recapture Jerusalem would lead to the Fourth Crusade, after the failure of the Second Crusade, Nur ad-Din Zangi had control of Damascus and a unified Syria. Eager to expand his power, Nur ad-Din set his sights on the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt, in 1163, Nur ad-Din sent his most trusted general, Shirkuh, on a military expedition to the Nile. Accompanying the general was his nephew, Saladin. With Shirkuhs troops camped outside of Cairo, Egypts sultan Shawar called on King Amalric I of Jerusalem for assistance, in response, Amalric sent an army into Egypt and attacked Shirkuhs troops at Bilbeis in 1164. Nur ad-Din sent the scalps of the Christian defenders to Egypt for Shirkuh to proudly display at Bilbeis for Amalrics soldiers to see and this action prompted both Amalric and Shirkuh to lead their armies out of Egypt. In 1167, Nur ad-Din again sent Shirkuh to conquer the Fatimids in Egypt, Shawar again opted to call upon Amalric to defend his territory. The combined Egyptian-Christian forces pursued Shirkuh until he retreated to Alexandria, Amalric then breached his alliance with Shawar by turning his forces on Egypt and besieging the city of Bilbeis. Shawar pleaded with his enemy, Nur ad-Din, to save him from Amalrics treachery. Lacking the resources to maintain a siege of Cairo against the combined forces of Nur ad-Din and Shawar. This new alliance gave Nur ad-Din rule over all of Syria. Shawar was executed for his alliances with the Christian forces, in 1169, Shirkuh died unexpectedly after only weeks of rule. Shirkuhs successor was his nephew, Salah ad-Din Yusuf, commonly known as Saladin, Nur ad-Din died in 1174, leaving the new empire to his 11-year-old son, As-Salih
27.
Oldest churches in the world
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This article lists some but by no means all of the oldest known church buildings in the world. In most instances, buildings listed here were reconstructed numerous times and these surviving, freestanding buildings were purposely constructed for use by congregations and the dates are the approximate dates when they were first used by congregations for worship. Church may also be used in the sense of Christian denomination, the church is traced to Pentecost and the beginning of the Christian mission in the 1st century and was not used in reference to a building. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia the Cenacle in Jerusalem was the first Christian church, archaeology magazine suggests that the Dura-Europos church in Syria is the oldest surviving church building in the world. While Jordans Aqaba Church is considered to be the worlds first purpose-built church, several authors have cited the Etchmiadzin Cathedral as the oldest cathedral. Church buildings of the 2nd to 4th centuries, either excavated archaeologically or substantially preserved, valkum Built before 433 AD remains of a Bazilika in Hungary near lake Balaton Church buildings dating to between the 5th and 10th centuries. The Dead Cities of Syria feature ruins of churches, all abandoned prior to the 8th century and many dating from the 4th and 5th centuries St. Georges Church, Rihab, Jordan. Dates are contested by experts but area under the church may have used for Christian worship as early as 33 AD Church of Sts. Constantine and Helen, Yabroud, Syria, 5th century, Built from Roman temple, Desecrated in 2014 by extremists in Syrian Civil War Al-Aqiser church, built in 500s, saint Frutuoso Chapel, built in the 7th century, possibly oldest church building in Portugal. Densuş Church, built in 600s, oldest church building in Romania Church of St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, UK,680 Great Church, Elst, Netherlands, church built in the 15th century, built upon and using the remains of two Gallo-Roman temples. St. Marys Forane Church, Kaduthuruthy, India, built in 500 AD, also known as Kaduthuruthy Valiya Palli Church of Ayios Lazaros, Larnaca, built in the 9th century, one of the oldest churches in Cyprus Church of SS. Peter and Paul, built at Budeč fortified settlement between 895 and 905 during rule of Spytihněv I is the oldest extant church building in the Czech Republic, the site is located near village of Zákolany, about 17 kilometres NW of Prague. A selection of notable, extant 11th- to 14th-century churches, an active parish, the church is the oldest existing building in Oslo from 1080. Church of the Holy Sepulchre, rebuilt in 1089, in Jerusalem is venerated as Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, the church building remained mostly unchanged since the 11th century, and qualifies as one of the oldest romanesque buildings in Switzerland. Church of Kish, the oldest extant Armenian church building in Azerbaijan, St. Nicholas Church, Vilnius, Lithuania, is the oldest surviving church in Lithuania. Originally built in the 14th century, Hvalsey Church, located in Hvalsey, Greenland, Kingdom of Denmark, is the oldest surviving church in the Americas. Originally built in the 14th century as a Catholic church, although archaeology suggests it was constructed on the site of a previous church, notable early churches built in the New World between the 15th and 19th centuries. Listed are especially the oldest extant church buildings by country, St. Francis Church, Kochi, India, built 1504–1516, oldest European church building in India Catedral de Santa María la Menor, commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1504, and built 1514–1540
28.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
29.
Aizanoi
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Aizanoi, Latinized as Aezani was an ancient city in western Anatolia. Located in what is now Çavdarhisar, Kütahya Province, its ruins are situated astride the River Penkalas, the city fell into decline in Late Antiquity. Later serving as a citadel, in 2012 the site was submitted for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, settlement in the area is known from the Bronze Age. The city may have derived its name from Azan, one of three sons of Arcas and the nymph Erato, legendary ancestors of the Phrygians. During the Hellenistic period the city changed hands between the Kingdom of Pergamum and the Kingdom of Bithynia, before being bequeathed to Rome by the former in 133 BC and it continued to mint its own coins. Its monumental buildings date from the early Empire to the 3rd century, Aezani was part of the Roman province of Phrygia Pacatiana. It became a Christian bishopric at a stage, and its bishop Pisticus was a participant at the First Council of Nicaea. Pelagius was at a synod that Patriarch John II of Constantinople hastily organized in 518, gregory was at the Trullan Council of 692, John at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and Theophanes at both the Council of Constantinople and the Council of Constantinople. No longer a residential bishopric, Aezani is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, after the 7th century, Aezani fell into decline. Later, in Seljuk times, the hill was converted into a citadel by Çavdar Tatars. The ruins of Aezani/Aizanoi were discovered by European travellers in 1824, survey work in the 1830s and 1840s was followed by systematic excavation conducted by the German Archaeological Institute from 1926, resumed in 1970, and still ongoing. The Temple of Zeus, situated upon a hill, was the main sanctuary. Ceramic finds indicate habitation from the first half of the third millennium BC. According to a recent reading of the inscription, construction of the temple began under Domitian. Inscriptions document imperial assistance from Hadrian relating to the recovery of unpaid rents as well as the euergetism of Marcus Apuleius Eurykles, later the Çavdar Tatars carved equestrian and battle scenes on the temple. The temple is pseudodipteral, with eight columns at the ends and it was damaged by the 1970 Gediz earthquake and has since been restored. Aizanois theatre-stadium are built adjacent to other and this combined complex is said to be unique in the ancient world. Separating the two is the stage building, construction began after 160 A. D. and was complete by the mid-third century
30.
Hecatomnus
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Hecatomnus of Mylasa or Hekatomnos was an early 4th-century BC ruler of Caria. He was the satrap of Caria for the Persian Achaemenid king Artaxerxes II, however, the basis for Hecatomnus political power was twofold, he was both a high appointed Persian official and a powerful local dynast, who founded the hereditary dynasty of the Hecatomnids. Hecatomnus was the son and successor of Hyssaldomus, a ruler of Mylasa. It is likely that Hecatomnus had been a supporter of Tissaphernes, at some time after 395 BC Hecatomnus became the first satrap of Caria, which was until then part of other satrapies, usually that of Lydia. The designation of Caria as a separate satrapy was part of a reorganization of Persian power in western Anatolia by Artaxerxes II in the aftermath of Cyruss revolt, Hecatomnus was the first non-Persian official to be elevated to the position of satrap. He acceded as satrap perhaps in 394 BC, but no later than 390 BC, Isocrates states that he was still ruling in 380 BC. Two ancient sources, Diodorus and Isocrates, report that Hecatomnus secretly supplied Evagoras with sums of money to raise troops and was in fact ready to rise against the Persian King. However, Ruzicka strongly doubts the veracity of these reports, indeed, Hecatomnus had not shown at any other time insubordination or disaffection towards the Persian monarchy. Unlike other rebellious satraps Hecatomnus was not a Persian of noble or royal blood, thus, it seems highly unlikely that he would have engaged in treasonous activity without any tangible hope to benefit from it. Ruzicka offers two explanations for the reports by Diodorus and Isocrates, which must have been based on some contemporary rumours. In both cases he names Evagoras as the source of the rumours. Evagoras might have wanted to compromise Hecatomnus in the eyes of his master, later, he managed to engineer the recall and disgrace of another satrap who was campaigning against him. Evagoras might have wanted to create the impression that Hecatomnus was his ally in order to impress the Egyptian king Hakor with whom he was negotiating for support against Artaxerxes. From Egypt the rumour could have filtered to Athens through the Athenian general Chabrias who was serving with Hakor as a military adviser. Hecatomnus was a native of Mylasa, and made that city his capital, hence the figure of Zeus Labrandenos appears on his coins walking and carrying a labrys over his shoulder, from the celebrated temple of that name near Mylasa. In August 2010, law enforcement officials arresting individuals believed to be digging for antiquities discovered what Turkish officials believe to be the tomb of Hecatomnus. A marble sarcophagus and numerous frescoes were discovered in the tomb, although officials also believed many relics had already taken from the tomb. Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Hecatomnus, Boston, Stephen Ruzicka, the Hecatomnids in the Fourth Century B. C
31.
Laodicea on the Lycus
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Laodicea on the Lycus was an ancient city built on the river Lycus. It was located in the Hellenistic regions of Caria and Lydia and it is now situated near the modern city of Denizli. It contained one of the Seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation, Laodicea is situated on the long spur of a hill between the narrow valleys of the small rivers Asopus and Caprus, which discharge their waters into the Lycus. It was approximately 17 kilometres west of Colossae, and 10 kilometres south of Hierapolis and it was approximately 160 kilometres east of Ephesus and, according to Strabo, it was on a major road. At first, Laodicea was not a place of much importance, in 220 BC, Achaeus was its king. In 188 BC, the city passed to the Kingdom of Pergamon and it suffered greatly during the Mithridatic Wars but quickly recovered under the dominion of Rome. The area often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the shock that occurred in the reign of Nero in which the town was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means and its wealthy citizens embellished Laodicea with beautiful monuments. One of the chief of these citizens, Polemon, became King of Armenian Pontus, the city minted its own coins, the inscriptions of which show evidence of the worship of Zeus, Æsculapius, Apollo, and the emperors. It received from Rome the title of free city, during the Roman period, Laodicea was the chief city of a Roman conventus, which comprised twenty-four cities besides itself, Cicero records holding assizes there ca.50 BC. Antiochus the Great transported 2,000 Jewish families to Phrygia from Babylonia, many of Laodiceas inhabitants were Jews, and Cicero records that Flaccus confiscated the considerable sum of 9 kilograms of gold which was being sent annually to Jerusalem for the Temple. The Byzantine writers often mention Laodicea, especially in the time of the Comneni, in 1119, Emperor John the Beautiful and his lead military aid John Axuch captured Laodicea from the Seljuk Turks in the first major military victory of his reign. It was fortified by the emperor Manuel I Comnenus, in 1206–1230, it was ruled by Manuel Maurozomes. The city was destroyed during the invasions of the Turks and Mongols, with its large Jewish community, Laodicea became at a very early period a seat of Christianity and a bishopric. The Epistle to the Colossians mentions Laodicea as one of the communities of concern for Paul the Apostle and it sends greetings from a certain Epaphras from Colossae, who worked hard for the Christians of the three Phrygian cities of Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. Some Greek manuscripts of the First Epistle to Timothy end with the words, Written at Laodicea, Laodicea is also one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. After these three comes Sagaris, martyr, sisinnius is mentioned in the Acts of the martyr Saint Artemon, a priest of his church. Nunechius assisted at the Council of Nicaea, eugenius, known by an inscription, was probably his successor
32.
Sardis
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Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkeys Manisa Province. Sardis was situated in the middle of Hermus valley, at the foot of Mount Tmolus and it was about 4 kilometres south of the Hermus. Today, the site is located by the present day village of Sart, near Salihli in the Manisa province of Turkey, the part of remains including the bath-gymnasium complex, synagogue and Byzantine shops is open to visitors year-round. It is, however, more probable that Sardis was not the capital of the Maeonians. The city was captured by the Cimmerians in the 7th century BC, by the Persians in the 6th, by the Athenians in the 5th, and by Antiochus III the Great at the end of the 3rd century BC. In the Persian era, Sardis was conquered by Cyrus the Great and formed the end station for the Persian Royal Road which began in Persepolis, during the Ionian Revolt, the Athenians burnt down the city. Sardis remained under Persian domination until it surrendered to Alexander the Great in 334 BC, the early Lydian kingdom was very advanced in the industrial arts and Sardis was the chief seat of its manufactures. The most important of these trades was the manufacture and dyeing of delicate woolen stuffs, the stream Pactolus which flowed through the market-place carried golden sands in early antiquity, which was in reality gold dust out of Mount Tmolus. It was during the reign of King Croesus that the metallurgists of Sardis discovered the secret of separating gold from silver and this was an economic revolution, for while gold nuggets panned or mined were used as currency, their purity was always suspect and a hindrance to trade. Such nuggets or coinage were naturally occurring alloys of gold and silver known as electrum and one could never know how much of it was gold and how much was silver. Sardis now could mint nearly pure silver and gold coins, the value of which could be — and was — trusted throughout the known world and this revolution made Sardis rich and Croesus name synonymous with wealth itself. For this reason, Sardis is famed in history as the place where modern currency was invented and it was one of the great cities of western Asia Minor until the later Byzantine period. Later, trade and the organization of commerce continued to be sources of great wealth, after Constantinople became the capital of the East, a new road system grew up connecting the provinces with the capital. Sardis then lay rather apart from the lines of communication. It still, however, retained its titular supremacy and continued to be the seat of the bishop of the province of Lydia. It was enumerated as third, after Ephesus and Smyrna, in the list of cities of the Thracesion thema given by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century. However, over the four centuries it was in the shadow of the provinces of Magnesia-upon-Sipylum and Philadelphia. When Constantinople was taken by the Venetians and Franks in 1204 Sardis came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire of Nicea, the city continued its decline until its capture by the Turco-Mongol warlord Timur in 1402
33.
Stratonicea (Caria)
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According to Strabo, it was founded by the Seleucid king Antiochus I Soter, who named it after his wife Stratonice. What seems certain is that the city was founded on the site of an old Carian town, Idrias, anciently called Chrysaoris, later it passed under the control of the Achaemenid Empire. According to Athens tribute assessment of 425 BC Idrias was supposed to be responsible for the payment of the sum of six talents. Like many other cities on the 425 BC assessment Idrias is never recorded actually paying any tribute to Athens and was never a member of the Delian League. In early Seleucid times, Stratonikeia was a member of the Chrysaorian League, the Stratonikeians, though not of Carian origin, were admitted into the confederacy, because they possessed certain small towns or villages, which formed part of it. The league is attested by an already in 267 BC. Near the town was the temple of Zeus Chrysaoreus, at which the Leagues assembly met, under the succeeding Seleucid kings, Stratonikeia was adorned with splendid and costly buildings. At a later time in the 3rd century BC it was ceded to the Rhodians, from this point starts the citys independent coinage, which was to last until the times of the emperor Gallienus. Then came in 40 BC the siege sustained against Quintus Labienus and his Parthian troops, and the resistance it offered to him entitled it to the gratitude of Augustus. Pliny enumerates it among cities in Anatolia. Menippus, according to Cicero one of the most distinguished orators of his time, was a native of Stratonikeia, other important ruins are on the acropolis, surrounded by a wall and crowned by a small temple dedicated to the cult of the emperors, and a powerful fortress. Much worse is the state of conservation of the city walls and its agora, the Notitiae Episcopatuum mention the see up to the 13th century among the suffragans of Stauropolis. Only three of its bishops are known, by their signatures at councils, Eupeithus, at the Council of Chalcedon, Theopemptus, at the Council of Constantinople, the ancient bishopric of Stratonicea in Caria is included in the Catholic Churchs list of titular sees. No further titular bishop of this eastern see has been appointed since the Second Vatican Council, the pit is proposed to be transformed into a lake in the coming years, once the reserves there are exhausted. All the exhibits were found locally, Stratonicea from the Catholic Encyclopedia Richard Stillwell, William L. 346–47. Bodrum Pages, Stratoniceia Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, p.326 Over 180 pictures This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. article name needed
34.
Sumela Monastery
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Sumela Monastery is a Greek Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Melá Mountain within the Pontic Mountains range, in the Maçka district of Trabzon Province in modern Turkey. According to another version of decryption of the monastery complex name and it is scheduled to reopen for visitors on Assumption day 2018. The monastery was founded in AD386 during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius I, According to William Miller, Barnabas and Sophronios and it became famous for an icon of the Virgin Mary known as the Panagia Gorgoepekoos, said to have been painted by the Apostle Luke. During its long history, the fell into ruin several times and was restored by various emperors. During the 6th century, it was restored and enlarged by General Belisarius at the behest of Justinian and it reached its present form in the 13th century after gaining prominence during the existence of the Empire of Trebizond. At that time, the monastery was granted an amount annually from imperial funds, during the time of Manuel III, son of Alexios III, and during the reigns of subsequent princes, Sumela gained further wealth from imperial grants. Following the conquest by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1461, it was granted the protection and given rights. The monastery remained a destination for monks and travelers through the years. In 1682 and for the decades, the monastery housed the Phrontisterion of Trapezous. The monastery was abandoned in 1923, following the removal of the Greek population in this region. The departing monks were not allowed to any property with them. A fire was started in 1930 and the parts of the Sumela Monastery were destroyed. In the following years, looters and vandals damaged the parts of the Monastery. Today the monasterys primary function is as a tourist attraction and it overlooks forests and streams, making it extremely popular for its aesthetic attraction as well as for its cultural and religious significance. As of 2012, the Turkish government is funding reconstruction work, on 15 August 2010, Orthodox divine liturgy was allowed to take place in the monastery compound. Only 450 to 500 visitors are allowed inside the monastery, although widescreen televisions are available to observe the event at a cafe some hundred meters away from the monastery. On 22 September 2015, the Monastery was closed to visitors for three years due to restoration and field work. The principal elements of the Monastery complex are the Rock Church, several chapels, kitchens, student rooms, a guesthouse, a library, the large aqueduct at the entrance, which supplied water to the Monastery, is constructed against the side of the cliff
35.
Gordium
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Gordium was the capital city of ancient Phrygia. It was located at the site of modern Yassıhüyük, about 70–80 km southwest of Ankara, Excavations have continued at the site under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania Museum with an international team. Gordium lies where the ancient road between Lydia and Assyria/Babylonia crossed the Sangarius river, in the 12th century BCE, Gordium was settled by Brygians who had migrated from southeastern Europe. During the 9th and 8th centuries BCE, the city grew into the capital of a kingdom that controlled much of Asia Minor west of the river Halys, the kings of Phrygia built large tombs near Gordium called tumuli, which consist of artificial mounds constructed over burial chambers. There are about one hundred of them, covering both cremations and inhumations, in the 8th century, the lower city and the area to the north of the citadel was surrounded by a circuit wall with regularly spaced towers. The most famous king of Phrygia was the quasi-legendary Midas, contemporary Assyrian sources dating between c.718 and 709 BCE call him Mit-ta-a. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, King Midas was the first foreigner to make an offering at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi, dedicating the throne from which he gave judgment. During his reign, according to Strabo, the nomadic Cimmerians invaded Asia Minor, in Strabos account, King Midas committed suicide by drinking bulls blood when the Cimmerians overran the city. Tumulus MM, the Great Tumulus, is the largest burial mound at Gordium, standing over 50 meters high today, with a diameter of about 300 meters. The Tumulus MM funeral ceremony has been reconstructed, and scientists have determined that the guests at the banquet ate lamb or goat stew and it is now generally assumed to be the tomb of Midas father Gordias, and was probably the first monumental project of Midas after his accession. There is ample evidence of burning of the city mound of Gordium. Archaeologists at first interpreted the destruction level as the remains of a Cimmerian attack, the traces were later reinterpreted as dating to c.800 BCE, largely on the basis of dendrochronology and radiocarbon analysis, and with reference to the types of objects found in the burned level. If this reinterpretation is correct, then the destruction would seem to have been caused by a conflagration unrelated to a Cimmerian attack. The earlier date, though, is contested, primarily on the basis of the types and styles of objects excavated in the destruction level, the radiocarbon date seems to have a range wide enough to accommodate both proposed archaeological dates. Although the date of the destruction continues to be debated, a date of c.800 BCE is now most-commonly accepted. According to ancient tradition, in 333 BCE Alexander the Great cut the Gordian Knot, the wagon was associated with Midas or Gordias, and was connected with the dynastys rise to power. A local prophecy had decreed that whoever could loosen the knot was destined to become the ruler of Asia. Peter Grave, Lisa Kealhofer, Ben Marsh, G. Kenneth Sams, Mary Voigt, Keith DeVries, Ceramic production and provenience at Gordion, Central Anatolia, Journal of Archaeological Science,36, Gordion Excavations Final Reports Vol. III, The Bronze Age
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Ince Minaret Medrese
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İnce Minareli Medrese is a 13th-century medrese located in Konya, Turkey, now housing the Museum of Stone and Wood Art. Built between 1258-1279 by the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate vizier Sâhib Ata Fahreddin Ali who later founded the Anatolian beylik of Sâhib Ata, the building has a highly ornamented stone façade which includes relief work of scripts, geometric patterning and vertical ribbon-like lines. The entrance is surrounded by a band of elegant Thuluth, depicting Sura 36, the minaret was damaged by lightning in 1901, and was restored in 1956. The building now houses a museum of stone and wooden objects dating from the Seljuk, many pictures from the Ince Minaret museum
