1.
Golden ratio
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In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. The figure on the right illustrates the geometric relationship, expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b >0, a + b a = a b = def φ, where the Greek letter phi represents the golden ratio. Its value is, φ =1 +52 =1.6180339887 …, A001622 The golden ratio is also called the golden mean or golden section. Other names include extreme and mean ratio, medial section, divine proportion, divine section, golden proportion, golden cut, the golden ratio appears in some patterns in nature, including the spiral arrangement of leaves and other plant parts. The golden ratio has also used to analyze the proportions of natural objects as well as man-made systems such as financial markets. Two quantities a and b are said to be in the golden ratio φ if a + b a = a b = φ, one method for finding the value of φ is to start with the left fraction. Through simplifying the fraction and substituting in b/a = 1/φ, a + b a =1 + b a =1 +1 φ, multiplying by φ gives φ +1 = φ2 which can be rearranged to φ2 − φ −1 =0. First, the line segment A B ¯ is about doubled and then the semicircle with the radius A S ¯ around the point S is drawn, now the semicircle is drawn with the radius A B ¯ around the point B. The arising intersection point E corresponds 2 φ, next up, the perpendicular on the line segment A E ¯ from the point D will be establish. The subsequent parallel F S ¯ to the line segment C M ¯, produces, as it were and it is well recognizable, this triangle and the triangle M S C are similar to each other. The hypotenuse F S ¯ has due to the cathetuses S D ¯ =1 and D F ¯ =2 according the Pythagorean theorem, finally, the circle arc is drawn with the radius 5 around the point F. The golden ratio has been claimed to have held a fascination for at least 2,400 years. But the fascination with the Golden Ratio is not confined just to mathematicians, biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects, psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated the basis of its ubiquity and appeal. In fact, it is fair to say that the Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics. Ancient Greek mathematicians first studied what we now call the golden ratio because of its frequent appearance in geometry, the division of a line into extreme and mean ratio is important in the geometry of regular pentagrams and pentagons. Euclid explains a construction for cutting a line in extreme and mean ratio, throughout the Elements, several propositions and their proofs employ the golden ratio. The golden ratio is explored in Luca Paciolis book De divina proportione, since the 20th century, the golden ratio has been represented by the Greek letter φ or less commonly by τ. Timeline according to Priya Hemenway, Phidias made the Parthenon statues that seem to embody the golden ratio, plato, in his Timaeus, describes five possible regular solids, some of which are related to the golden ratio
2.
Religion
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Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities
3.
Maxim (philosophy)
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A maxim is a ground rule or subjective principle of action, in that sense, a maxim is a thought that can motivate individuals. It is defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy as, Generally any simple and memorable rule or guide for living, for example, the maxim of an action is often referred to as the agents intention. In Kantian ethics, the categorical imperative provides a test on maxims for determining whether the actions they refer to are right, wrong, or permissible. The categorical imperative is stated canonically as, Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, now I have a deposit in my hands, the owner of which has died and left no record of it. I at once become aware that such a principle, as a law, also, an action is said to have moral worth if the maxim upon which the agent acts cites the purpose of conforming to a moral requirement. That is, an action has moral worth when he does his duty purely for the sake of duty. Kant himself believed that it is impossible to know whether anyones action has ever had moral worth. It might appear to someone that he has acted entirely from duty and this indicates that agents are not always the best judges of their own maxims or motives. Michael Polanyi in his account of tacit knowledge stressed the importance of the maxim in focusing both explicit and implicit modes of understanding, “Maxims are rules, the correct application of which is part of the art they govern. Maxims can only function within a framework of personal knowledge”. Aphorism Locksley Hall - Alfred Lord Tennyson Online works of Immanuel Kant at Gutenberg Maxims of Action
4.
Culture
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Culture can be defined in numerous ways. In the words of anthropologist E. B, Tylor, it is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. The Cambridge English Dictionary states that culture is the way of life, especially the customs and beliefs. As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a concept in anthropology. The word is used in a sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent experiences with symbols. The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes seen to distinguish civilizations from less complex societies. Mass culture refers to the mass-produced and mass mediated forms of culture that emerged in the 20th century. When used as a count noun, a culture is the set of customs, traditions, in this sense, multiculturalism is a concept that values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the same planet. Sometimes culture is used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a context, meaning something similar. His use, and that of many writers after him, refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human. To be cultural, to have a culture, is to inhabit a place sufficiently intensive to cultivate it—to be responsible for it, to respond to it, thus a contrast between culture and civilization is usually implied in these authors, even when not expressed as such. Cultural invention has come to any innovation that is new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed in their behavior. Humanity is in a global accelerating culture change period, driven by the expansion of commerce, the mass media, and above all. Culture repositioning means the reconstruction of the concept of a society. Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and forces resisting change, Social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a society by altering social dynamics and promoting new cultural models, and spurring or enabling generative action. These social shifts may accompany ideological shifts and other types of cultural change, for example, the U. S. feminist movement involved new practices that produced a shift in gender relations, altering both gender and economic structures. Environmental conditions may also enter as factors, Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce—or inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices
5.
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
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The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans and this legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Western Church. For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities, for public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. For temples see the List of Ancient Roman temples, individual landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list, see Roman temple. The verb abominari was a term of augury for an action that rejects or averts an unfavourable omen indicated by a signum, the noun is abominatio, from which English abomination derives. At the taking of formally solicited auspices, the observer was required to acknowledge any potentially bad sign occurring within the templum he was observing, regardless of the interpretation. He might, however, take actions in order to ignore the signa, including avoiding the sight of them. The latter tactic required promptness, wit and skill based on discipline, thus the omen had no validity apart from the observation of it. The aedes was the place of a god. It was thus a structure that housed the image, distinguished from the templum or sacred district. Aedes is one of several Latin words that can be translated as shrine or temple, for instance, the Temple of Vesta, as it is called in English, was in Latin an aedes. See also the diminutive aedicula, a small shrine, in his work On Architecture, Vitruvius always uses the word templum in the technical sense of a space defined through augury, with aedes the usual word for the building itself. The design of an aedes, he writes, should be appropriate to the characteristics of the deity. Thus in theory, though not always in practice, architectural aesthetics had a theological dimension, the word aedilis, a public official, is related by etymology, among the duties of the aediles was the overseeing of public works, including the building and maintenance of temples. The temple of Flora, for instance, was built in 241 BC by two aediles acting on Sibylline oracles, the plebeian aediles had their headquarters at the aedes of Ceres. In religious usage, ager was terrestrial space defined for the purposes of augury in relation to auspicia, there were five kinds of ager, Romanus, Gabinus, peregrinus, hosticus and incertus. The ager Romanus originally included the space outside the pomerium. According to Varro, the ager Gabinus pertained to the circumstances of the oppidum of Gabii
6.
Morality
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Morality is the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are distinguished as proper and those that are improper. Morality may also be synonymous with goodness or rightness. Moral philosophy includes moral ontology, or the origin of morals, as well as moral epistemology, an example of normative ethical philosophy is the Golden Rule, which states that, One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. Immorality is the opposition to morality, while amorality is variously defined as an unawareness of, indifference toward. Ethics is the branch of philosophy which addresses questions of morality, the word ethics is commonly used interchangeably with morality, and sometimes it is used more narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition, group, or individual. It does not connote objective claims of right or wrong, descriptive ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies morality in this sense. In its normative sense, morality refers to whatever is actually right or wrong, normative ethics is the branch of philosophy which studies morality in this sense. For example, while they might concede that forces of social conformity significantly shape individuals moral decisions and this may be the philosophical view propounded by ethical naturalists, however not all moral realists accept that position. Moral anti-realism, on the hand, holds that moral statements either fail or do not even attempt to report objective moral facts. Some forms of non-cognitivism and ethical subjectivism, while considered anti-realist in the robust sense used here, are considered realist in the sense synonymous with moral universalism, celia Green made a distinction between tribal and territorial morality. She characterizes the latter as predominantly negative and proscriptive, it defines a persons territory, including his or her property and dependents, apart from these proscriptions, territorial morality is permissive, allowing the individual whatever behaviour does not interfere with the territory of another. By contrast, tribal morality is prescriptive, imposing the norms of the collective on the individual, Green relates the development of territorial morality to the rise of the concept of private property, and the ascendancy of contract over status. Some observers hold that individuals apply distinct sets of rules to people depending on their membership of an in-group or an out-group. Some biologists, anthropologists and evolutionary psychologists believe this in-group/out-group discrimination has evolved because it enhances group survival and this belief has been confirmed by simple computational models of evolution. In simulations this discrimination can result in both unexpected cooperation towards the in-group and irrational hostility towards the out-group, falger have argued that nationalism and patriotism are forms of this in-group/out-group boundary. Jonathan Haidt has noted that experimental observation indicating an in-group criterion provides one moral foundation substantially used by conservatives, peterson and Seligman approach the anthropological view looking across cultures, geo-cultural areas and across millennia. They conclude that certain virtues have prevailed in all cultures they examined, the major virtues they identified include wisdom / knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Each of these includes several divisions, for instance humanity includes love, kindness, and social intelligence
7.
Christian ethics
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Christian ethics is a branch of Christian theology that defines virtuous behavior and wrong behavior from a Christian perspective. Systematic theological study of Christian ethics is called moral theology, Christian virtues are often divided into four cardinal virtues and three theological virtues. Christian ethics includes questions regarding how the rich should act toward the poor, how women are to be treated, Christian ethicists, like other ethicists, approach ethics from different frameworks and perspectives. The approach of virtue ethics has become popular in recent decades, largely due to the work of Alasdair MacIntyre. In the Wesleyan tradition, Christian theology are informed by four distinguishable sources known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, the four sources are the Bible and the Christian tradition, philosophical principles and methods, science and other sources of knowledge about the world, and human experience broadly conceived. According to D. Childress and Macquarrie state that Many Christian ethicists have claimed that Jesus Christ is the center of the message in its entirety. Other Christian ethicists prefer a more Trinitarian rendering of the message of scripture, some modern Christians understand liberation or deliverance from oppression to be the message of scripture. Although Christians today do not feel compelled to the whole of the Old Testament Law, the Prophets ground their appeals for right conduct in Gods demand for righteousness. On the other hand, It is not, true to say that for the OT writers righteousness is defined by what God does, i. e. an act is not made righteous by the fact that God does it. Also noted as ethical guidelines adhered to by Old Testament figures is maintenance of the family, safeguarding of the family property, much of Christian ethics derives from Biblical scripture and Christianity have always considered the Bible profitable to teach, reprove, correct, and train in righteousness. The New Testament generally asserts that all morality flows from the Great Commandment, to love God with all heart, mind, strength, and soul. In this, Jesus was reaffirming a teachings of Deut 6, 4-9, Christ united these commands together and proposed himself as a model of the love required in John 13,12, known also as The New Commandment. Paul is also the source of the phrase Law of Christ, though its meaning, the Pauline writings are also the major source of the New Testament household code. The Council of Jerusalem, as reported in Acts 15, may have held in Jerusalem in about 50 AD. Its decree, known as the Apostolic Decree, was held as binding for several centuries and is still observed today by the Greek Orthodox. Christian ethics developed during Early Christianity as Christianity arose in the Holy Land, consequently, early Christian ethics included discussions of how believers should relate to Roman authority and to the empire. Writers, such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Ambrose, Jerome and they made use of philosophical and ethical principles laid down by their Greek philosopher forebears and the intersection of Greek and Jewish thought known as Hellenistic Judaism. Under the Emperor Constantine I, Christianity became a legal religion, with Christianity now in power, ethical concerns broadened and included discussions of the proper role of the state
8.
Empathy
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Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other persons frame of reference, i. e. the capacity to place oneself in anothers position. Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, there are many definitions for empathy which encompass a broad range of emotional states. Types of empathy include cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, and somatic empathy, the English word empathy is derived from the Ancient Greek word εμπάθεια. This, in turn, comes from εν and πάθος, the term was adapted by Hermann Lotze and Robert Vischer to create the German word Einfühlung, which was translated by Edward B. Titchener into the English term empathy, alexithymia is a word used to describe a deficiency in understanding, processing or describing emotions in oneself as opposed to in others. This term comes from the negation of two Ancient Greek words, αλέξω and θυμός, thus alexithymia literally means pushing away your emotions. It also is the ability to feel and share another persons emotions, some believe that empathy involves the ability to match anothers emotions, while others believe that empathy involves being tenderhearted toward another person. Having empathy also can include having the understanding that there are factors that go into decision making. Past experiences have an influence on the making of today. Understanding this allows a person to have empathy for individuals who sometimes make decisions to a problem that most individuals would respond with an obvious response. Broken homes, childhood trauma, lack of parenting and many factors can influence the connections the brain which a person uses to make decisions in the future. Martin Hoffman is a Psychologist who studied the development of empathy, according to Hoffman everyone is born with the capability of feeling empathy. Compassion and sympathy are two terms that many associate with empathy, but all three of these terms are unique, even so, definitions vary, contributing to the challenge of defining empathy. Compassion is often defined as an emotion we feel when others are in need, Sympathy is a feeling of care and understanding for someone in need. It can also be understood as having the separateness of defining oneself, some include in sympathy also an empathic concern, a feeling of concern for another, in which some scholars include the wish to see them better off or happier. Empathy is distinct also from pity and emotional contagion, pity is feeling that another is in trouble and in need of help as they cannot fix their problems themselves, often described as feeling sorry for someone. Emotional contagion is when a person catches the emotions that others are showing without necessarily recognizing this is happening. Since empathy involves understanding the emotional states of people, the way it is characterized is derived from the way emotions themselves are characterized
9.
Reciprocal altruism
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The concept was initially developed by Robert Trivers to explain the evolution of cooperation as instances of mutually altruistic acts. The concept is close to the strategy of tit for tat used in game theory and this concept finds its roots in the work of W. D. Hamilton, who developed mathematical models for predicting the likelihood of an altruistic act to be performed on behalf of ones kin. Putting this into the form of a strategy in a repeated prisoner’s dilemma would mean to cooperate unconditionally in the first period and behave cooperatively as long as the other agent does as well. If chances of meeting another reciprocal altruist are high enough or the game is repeated for a long amount of time. This distinction leads to the fact that in contrast to reciprocal altruism, there are two additional conditions necessary …for reciprocal altruism to evolve, A mechanism for detecting cheaters must exist. A large number of opportunities to exchange aid must exist, the first two conditions are necessary for altruism as such, while the third is distinguishing reciprocal altruism from simple mutualism and the fourth makes the interaction reciprocal. Condition number five is required as otherwise non-altruists may always exploit altruistic behaviour without any consequences, however, it is pointed out that this “conditioning device” does not need to be conscious. Condition number six is required to avoid cooperation breakdown through backwards induction—a possibility suggested by game theoretical models, the following examples could be understood as altruism. However, showing reciprocal altruism in an unambiguous way requires more evidence as will be shown later, the host signals the cleaner it is about to depart the cleaners locality, even when the cleaner is not in its body. The host sometimes chases off possible dangers to the cleaner, the following evidence supports the hypothesis, The cleaning by cleaners is essential for the host. In the absence of cleaners the hosts leave the locality or suffer from injuries inflicted by ecto-parasites, there is difficulty and danger in finding a cleaner. Hosts leave their element to get cleaned, others wait no longer than 30 seconds before searching for cleaners elsewhere. This constraint imposes both a spatial and a condition on the cleaner and on its host. Both individuals must remain in the physical location, and both must have a long enough lifespan, to enable multiple interactions. Surprisingly, there is evidence that individual cleaners and hosts do indeed interact repeatedly. This example meets some, but not all, of the criteria described in Trivers’s model, in the cleaner-host system the benefit to the cleaner is always immediate. However, the evolution of altruism is contingent on opportunities for future rewards through repeated interactions. In one study, nearby host fish observed cheater cleaners and subsequently avoided them, in these examples, true reciprocity is difficult to demonstrate since failure means the death of the cleaner
10.
Golden Rule
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The Golden Rule or law of reciprocity is the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated. It is a maxim of altruism seen in many human religions, the maxim may appear as either a positive or negative injunction governing conduct, One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated, what you wish upon others, you wish upon yourself. The concept occurs in some form in every religion and ethical tradition. It can also be explained from the perspectives of psychology, philosophy, sociology, human evolution, psychologically, it involves a person empathizing with others. Philosophically, it involves a person perceiving their neighbor also as I or self, sociologically, love your neighbor as yourself is applicable between individuals, between groups, and also between individuals and groups. In economics, Richard Swift, referring to ideas from David Graeber and this proverb embodies the do ut des principle. A Late Period papyrus contains a negative affirmation of the Golden Rule, That which you hate to be done to you. The Golden Rule existed among all the philosophical schools of ancient China, Mohism, Taoism. Examples of the include, Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. — Confucius If people regarded other peoples families in the way that they regard their own. For one would do for others as one would do for oneself, — Mozi Regard your neighbors gain as your own gain, and your neighbors loss as your own loss. O king aim for these, may you be steadfast in these qualities and these are the basis of prosperity and rightful living. All worlds are balanced on dharma, dharma encompasses ways to prosperity as well, O King, dharma is the best quality to have, wealth the medium and desire the lowest. Hence, by self-control and by making dharma your main focus, let not a man consent to do those things to another which, he knows, will cause sorrow. He furthermore opined that it is the determination of the not to do evil, even in return, to those who have cherished enmity. The punishment to those who have done evil, is to put them to shame by showing kindness, in return. The Golden Rule in its form was a common principle in ancient Greek philosophy
11.
David Graeber
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David Rolfe Graeber is a London-based anthropologist and anarchist activist, perhaps best known for his 2011 volume Debt, The First 5000 Years. He is Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, as an assistant professor and associate professor of anthropology at Yale from 1998–2007, he specialised in theories of value and social theory. The universitys decision not to him when he would otherwise have become eligible for tenure sparked an academic controversy. He went on to become, from 2007–13, Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths and his activism includes protests against the 3rd Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001, and the 2002 World Economic Forum in New York City. Graeber was a figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Graebers parents, who were in their forties when Graeber was born, were self-taught working-class intellectuals in New York. Graebers mother, Ruth Rubinstein, had been a garment worker and he later worked as a plate stripper on offset printers. Graeber grew up in New York, in an apartment building described by Business Week magazine as suffused with radical politics. Graeber has been an anarchist since the age of 16, according to an interview he gave to The Village Voice in 2005, Graeber graduated from Phillips Academy Andover in 1978 and received his B. A. from the State University of New York at Purchase in 1984. His resulting Ph. D. thesis on magic, slavery, in 1998, two years after completing his PhD, Graeber became assistant professor at Yale University, then became associate professor. In May 2005, the Yale Anthropology department decided not to renew Graebers contract, pointing to Graebers anthropological scholarship, his supporters claimed that the decision was politically motivated. More than 4,500 people signed petitions supporting him, and anthropologists such as Marshall Sahlins, Laura Nader, Michael Taussig, I consider him the best anthropological theorist of his generation from anywhere in the world. The Yale administration argued that Graebers dismissal was in keeping with Yales policy of granting tenure to few junior faculty, in December 2005, Graeber agreed to leave the university after a one-year paid sabbatical. That spring he taught two classes, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology and a seminar entitled Direct Action and Radical Social Theory. The latter was the only explicitly radical-themed course he taught at Yale and this lecture has since been edited into an essay, titled Dead zones of the imagination, On violence, bureaucracy and interpretive labor. That same year, Graeber was asked to present the address in the 100th anniversary Diamond Jubilee meetings of the Association of Social Anthropologists. In April 2011, he presented the anthropology departments annual Distinguished Lecture at Berkeley, from 2008 through Spring 2013, Graeber was a lecturer and a reader at Goldsmiths College of the University of London. In 2013, he accepted a professorship at the London School of Economics, Graeber is the author of Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology and Towards an Anthropological Theory of Value, The False Coin of Our Own Dreams
12.
Anglicanism
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Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising the Church of England and churches which are historically tied to it or hold similar beliefs, worship practices and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to the Magna Carta and before, adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans. As the name suggests, the churches of the Anglican Communion are linked by bonds of tradition, affection and they are in full communion with the See of Canterbury, and thus the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his person, is a unique focus of Anglican unity. He calls the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, chairs the meeting of primates, Anglicans base their Christian faith on the Bible, traditions of the apostolic Church, apostolic succession, and writings of the Church Fathers. Anglicanism forms one of the branches of Western Christianity, having declared its independence from the Holy See at the time of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. Many of the new Anglican formularies of the mid-16th century corresponded closely to those of contemporary Protestantism, the word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English Church. Adherents of Anglicanism are called Anglicans, as an adjective, Anglican is used to describe the people, institutions and churches, as well as the liturgical traditions and theological concepts developed by the Church of England. As a noun, an Anglican is a member of a church in the Anglican Communion, the word is also used by followers of separated groups which have left the communion or have been founded separately from it, although this is sometimes considered as a misuse. The word Anglicanism came into being in the 19th century, although the term Anglican is found referring to the Church of England as far back as the 16th century, its use did not become general until the latter half of the 19th century. Elsewhere, however, the term Anglican Church came to be preferred as it distinguished these churches from others that maintain an episcopal polity, as such, it is often referred to as being a via media between these traditions. Anglicans understand the Old and New Testaments as containing all necessary for salvation and as being the rule. Reason and Tradition are seen as means to interpret Scripture. Anglicans understand the Apostles Creed as the symbol and the Nicene Creed as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith. Anglicans celebrate the sacraments, with special emphasis being given to the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion. Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of services that worshippers in most Anglican churches used for centuries and it was called common prayer originally because it was intended for use in all Church of England churches which had previously followed differing local liturgies. The term was kept when the church became international because all Anglicans used to share in its use around the world, in 1549, the first Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Thomas Cranmer, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury. The founding of Christianity in Britain is commonly attributed to Joseph of Arimathea, according to Anglican legend, Saint Alban, who was executed in 209 AD, is the first Christian martyr in the British Isles. A new culture emerged around the Irish Sea among the Celtic peoples with Celtic Christianity at its core, what resulted was a form of Christianity distinct from Rome in many traditions and practices
13.
Maat
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Maat or Maat was the ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, cuneiform texts indicate that the word mˤ3t was pronounced /múʕʔa/ during the New Kingdom period, having lost the feminine ending t. Sound shifts from u to e later produced the cognate Coptic word ⲙⲉⲉ/ⲙⲉ truth, later, as a goddess in other traditions of the Egyptian pantheon, where most goddesses were paired with a male aspect, her masculine counterpart was Thoth, as their attributes are similar. In other accounts, Thoth was paired off with Seshat, goddess of writing and measure and her feather was the measure that determined whether the souls of the departed would reach the paradise of afterlife successfully. Pharaohs are often depicted with the emblems of Maat to emphasise their role in upholding the laws of the Creator, Maat represents the ethical and moral principle that every Egyptian citizen was expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in manners that involve family, the community, the nation, the environment, Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos and it became the basis of Egyptian law, from an early period the King would describe himself as the Lord of Maat who decreed with his mouth the Maat he conceived in his heart. The ancient Egyptians had a conviction of an underlying holiness. Cosmic harmony was achieved by public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state, an impious King could bring about famine or blasphemy blindness to an individual. In opposition to the order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of Isfet, chaos, lies. In one Middle Kingdom text the Creator declares I made every man like his fellow, a passage in the Instruction of Ptahhotep presents Maat as follows, Maat is good and its worth is lasting. It has not been disturbed since the day of its creator and it lies as a path in front even of him who knows nothing. Wrongdoing has never yet brought its venture to port and it is true that evil may gain wealth but the strength of truth is that it lasts, a man can say, It was the property of my father. There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of ancient Egyptian law, Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules. Maat represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit of truth and fairness. From the 5th dynasty onwards the Vizier responsible for justice was called the Priest of Maat, later scholars and philosophers also would embody concepts from the wisdom literature, or Sebayt. These spiritual texts dealt with social or professional situations and how each was best to be resolved or addressed in the spirit of Maat
14.
Middle Kingdom of Egypt
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Some scholars also include the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt wholly into this period as well, in which case the Middle Kingdom would finish c. 1650, while others only include it until Merneferre Ay c.1700 BC, during the Middle Kingdom period, Osiris became the most important deity in popular religion. The period comprises two phases, the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th Dynasty onwards which was centered on el-Lisht, after the collapse of the Old Kingdom, Egypt entered a period of weak Pharaonic power and decentralization called the First Intermediate Period. Towards the end of period, two rival dynasties, known in Egyptology as the Tenth and Eleventh, fought for power over the entire country. The Theban 11th Dynasty only ruled southern Egypt from the first cataract to the Tenth Nome of Upper Egypt, to the north, Lower Egypt was ruled by the rival 10th Dynasty from Herakleopolis. The struggle was to be concluded by Mentuhotep II, who ascended the Theban throne in 2055 B. C, during Mentuhotep IIs fourteenth regnal year, he took advantage of a revolt in the Thinite Nome to launch an attack on Herakleopolis, which met little resistance. After toppling the last rulers of the 10th Dynasty, Mentuhotep began consolidating his power over all Egypt, for this reason, Mentuhotep II is regarded as the founder of the Middle Kingdom. Mentuhotep II commanded military campaigns south as far as the Second Cataract in Nubia and he also restored Egyptian hegemony over the Sinai region, which had been lost to Egypt since the end of the Old Kingdom. He also sent the first expedition to Punt during the Middle Kingdom, by means of ships constructed at the end of Wadi Hammamat, Mentuhotep III was succeeded by Mentuhotep IV, whose name significantly is omitted from all ancient Egyptian king lists. The Turin Papyrus claims that after Mentuhotep III came seven kingless years, despite this absence, his reign is attested from a few inscriptions in Wadi Hammamat that record expeditions to the Red Sea coast and to quarry stone for the royal monuments. The leader of expedition was his vizier Amenemhat, who is widely assumed to be the future pharaoh Amenemhet I. Mentuhotep IVs absence from the king lists has prompted the theory that Amenemhet I usurped his throne, while there are no contemporary accounts of this struggle, certain circumstantial evidence may point to the existence of a civil war at the end of the 11th dynasty. Inscriptions left by one Nehry, the Haty-a of Hermopolis, suggest that he was attacked at a place called Shedyet-sha by the forces of the reigning king, but his forces prevailed. Khnumhotep I, an official under Amenemhet I, claims to have participated in a flotilla of 20 ships to pacify Upper Egypt, donald Redford has suggested these events should be interpreted as evidence of open war between two dynastic claimants. What is certain is that, however he came to power, from the 12th dynasty onwards, pharaohs often kept well-trained standing armies, which included Nubian contingents. These formed the basis of larger forces which were raised for defence against invasion, however, the Middle Kingdom was basically defensive in its military strategy, with fortifications built at the First Cataract of the Nile, in the Delta and across the Sinai Isthmus. Early in his reign, Amenemhet I was compelled to campaign in the Delta region, in addition, he strengthened defenses between Egypt and Asia, building the Walls of the Ruler in the East Delta region. Perhaps in response to this perpetual unrest, Amenemhat I built a new capital for Egypt in the north, known as Amenemhet Itj Tawy, or Amenemhet, the location of this capital is unknown, but is presumably near the citys necropolis, the present-day el-Lisht
15.
Late Period of ancient Egypt
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It ran from 664 BC until 332 BC. Libyans and Persians alternated rule with native Egyptians, but traditional conventions continued in the arts and it is often regarded as the last gasp of a once great culture, during which the power of Egypt steadily diminished. The Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, also known as the Saite Dynasty after Sais, reigned from 672 BC to 525 BC, canal construction from the Nile to the Red Sea began. One major contribution from the Late Period of ancient Egypt was the Brooklyn Papyrus and this was a medical papyrus with a collection of medical and magical remedies for victims of snakebites based on snake type or symptoms. Artwork during this time was representative of animal cults and animal mummies and this image shows the god Pataikos wearing a scarab beetle on his head, supporting two human-headed birds on his shoulders, holding a snake in each hand, and standing atop crocodiles. The First Achaemenid Period period saw Egypt conquered by an expansive Achaemenid Empire under Cambyses, a total of eight pharaohs from this dynasty ruled over Egypt. The initial period of Achaemenid Persian occupation when Egypt became a satrapy, the Twenty-Eighth Dynasty consisted of a single king, Amyrtaeus, prince of Sais, who rebelled against the Persians. He left no monuments with his name and this dynasty reigned for six years, from 404 BC to 398 BC. The Twenty-Ninth Dynasty ruled from Mendes, for the period from 398 BC to 380 BC, the Thirtieth Dynasty took their art style from the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. A series of three pharaohs ruled from 380 BC until their defeat in 343 BC led to the re-occupation by the Persians. The final ruler of dynasty, and the final native ruler of Egypt until nearly 2,300 years later, was Nectanebo II. There was a Second Achaemenid Period of the Thirty-First Dynasty, and consisted of four pharaohs, Artaxerxes III, Artaxerxes IV, Khababash, gozzoli, The Writing of History in Ancient Egypt During the First Millennium BCE. Trend and Perspectives, London 2006, ISBN 0-9550256-3-X Lloyd, Alan B.2000, the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw. Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 71-74 Primary sources Herodotus Fragments of Ctesias Thucydides Diodorus Siculus Fragments of Manetho Flavius Josephus
16.
Mahabharata
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The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. The Mahābhārata is a narrative of the Kurukṣetra War and the fates of the Kaurava. It also contains philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four goals of life or puruṣārtha, traditionally, the authorship of the Mahābhārata is attributed to Vyāsa. There have been attempts to unravel its historical growth and compositional layers. The oldest preserved parts of the text are thought to be not much older than around 400 BCE, the text probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period. The title may be translated as the tale of the Bhārata dynasty. According to the Mahābhārata itself, the tale is extended from a version of 24,000 verses called simply Bhārata. The Mahābhārata is the longest known epic poem and has described as the longest poem ever written. Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines, and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Rāmāyaṇa. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahābhārata in the context of civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare. The epic is traditionally ascribed to the sage Vyāsa, who is also a character in the epic. Vyāsa described it as being itihāsa and he also describes the Guru-shishya parampara, which traces all great teachers and their students of the Vedic times. The first section of the Mahābhārata states that it was Gaṇeśa who wrote down the text to Vyasas dictation, the epic employs the story within a story structure, otherwise known as frametales, popular in many Indian religious and non-religious works. It is recited by the sage Vaiśampāyana, a disciple of Vyāsa, the text has been described by some early 20th-century western Indologists as unstructured and chaotic. Hermann Oldenberg supposed that the poem must once have carried an immense tragic force. Moritz Winternitz considered that only unpoetical theologists and clumsy scribes could have lumped the parts of disparate origin into an unordered whole, Research on the Mahābhārata has put an enormous effort into recognizing and dating layers within the text. Some elements of the present Mahābhārata can be traced back to Vedic times, the background to the Mahābhārata suggests the origin of the epic occurs after the very early Vedic period and before the first Indian empire was to rise in the third century B. C
17.
Thiruvalluvar
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Thiruvalluvar, known commonly as Valluvar, is a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher whose contribution to Tamil literature is the Thirukkural, a work on ethics. It is believed that he was either in Thiru Mylai Chennai in Tamil Nadu or in ThirunainarKuruchi. Thiruvalluvar is thought to have lived sometime between the 4th century BC and the 1st century BC and this estimate is based on linguistic analysis of his writings, as there is no historical evidence for when and where he lived. Thirukkuṛal itself does not name its author or authors, such was her austerity and dedication towards her husband Thiruvalluvar, 2) Thiruvalluvar used to sit every day for meal with a cup of water and a wooden tooth pick. He did this to any grain of rice spilled out from his leaf when Vaasuki Ammaiyar served food. It was said that Thiruvalluvar could not even pick a grain of rice every day, such was the dedication in serving meal by Vaasuki Ammaiyar. Thiruvalluvar may have spent part of his life in Madurai because it was under the Pandiya rulers that many Tamil poets flourished. There is also the recent claim by Kanyakumari Historical and Cultural Research Centre that Valluvar was a king who ruled Valluvanadu in the tracts of the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. Thirukkural is one of the most revered ancient works in the Tamil language and it is considered a common creed, providing a guide for human morals and betterment in life. Thirukkural has been translated into several languages, including a translation into Latin by Constanzo Beschi in 1699 which helped make the work known to European intellectuals and these books, Pancharathnam and Gnana Vettiyan, contribute to Tamil science, literature and other ayurvedic medicines. A temple-like memorial to Thiruvalluvar, Valluvar Kottam, was built in Chennai in 1976 and this monument complex consists of structures usually found in Dravidian temples, including a temple car carved from three blocks of granite, and a shallow, rectangular pond. The auditorium adjoining the memorial is one of the largest in Asia, there is a 133-foot tall statue of Thiruvalluvar erected at Kanyakumari at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean converge. The 133 feet denote Tirukkuṛaḷs 133 Chapters or athikarams and the show of three fingers denote the three themes Aram, Porul, and Inbam, i. e. the sections on Morals, Wealth and Love. The statue was designed by V. Ganapati Sthapati, an architect from Tamil Nadu. There is also a statue of Thiruvalluvar outside the School of Oriental and African Studies in Russell Square, the government of Tamil Nadu celebrates the 15th of January as Thiruvalluvar Day as part of the Pongal celebrations in his honour. Sarvajna and Tiruvalluvar statue installation Valluvar Kottam Avvaiyar Valluvan Parayi petta panthirukulam Works by or about Thiruvalluvar at Internet Archive Works by Thiruvalluvar at LibriVox
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Ancient Greece
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Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
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Greek philosophy
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Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC and continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Ancient Greece was part of the Roman Empire. Philosophy was used to sense out of the world in a non-religious way. It dealt with a variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric. Many philosophers around the world agree that Greek philosophy has influenced much of Western culture since its inception, alfred North Whitehead once noted, The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. Clear, unbroken lines of lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers to Early Islamic philosophy, the European Renaissance. Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn, was influenced by the wisdom literature. But they taught themselves to reason, Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation. Subsequent philosophic tradition was so influenced by Socrates as presented by Plato that it is conventional to refer to philosophy developed prior to Socrates as pre-Socratic philosophy. The periods following this, up to and after the wars of Alexander the Great, are those of classical Greek, the pre-Socratics were primarily concerned with cosmology, ontology and mathematics. They were distinguished from non-philosophers insofar as they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse, Thales of Miletus, regarded by Aristotle as the first philosopher, held that all things arise from water. It is not because he gave a cosmogony that John Burnet calls him the first man of science, according to tradition, Thales was able to predict an eclipse and taught the Egyptians how to measure the height of the pyramids. He began from the observation that the world seems to consist of opposites, therefore, they cannot truly be opposites but rather must both be manifestations of some underlying unity that is neither. This underlying unity could not be any of the classical elements, for example, water is wet, the opposite of dry, while fire is dry, the opposite of wet. Anaximenes in turn held that the arche was air, although John Burnet argues that by this he meant that it was a transparent mist, the aether. Xenophanes was born in Ionia, where the Milesian school was at its most powerful, Burnet says that Xenophanes was not, however, a scientific man, with many of his naturalistic explanations having no further support than that they render the Homeric gods superfluous or foolish. He has been claimed as an influence on Eleatic philosophy, although that is disputed, and a precursor to Epicurus, a representative of a total break between science and religion. Pythagoras lived at roughly the time that Xenophanes did and, in contrast to the latter. Parmenides of Elea cast his philosophy against those who held it is and is not the same, and all travel in opposite directions, —presumably referring to Heraclitus
20.
Thales of Miletus
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Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek/Phoenician philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from Miletus in Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Thales is recognized for breaking from the use of mythology to explain the world and the universe, and instead explaining natural objects and phenomena by theories and hypothesis, i. e. science. Aristotle reported Thales hypothesis that the principle of nature and the nature of matter was a single material substance. In mathematics, Thales used geometry to calculate the heights of pyramids and he is the first known individual to use deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales theorem. He is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed, the ancient source, Apollodorus of Athens, writing during the 2nd century BCE, thought Thales was born about the year 625 BCE. The dates of Thales life are not exactly known, but are roughly established by a few events mentioned in the sources. According to Herodotus Thales predicted the eclipse of May 28,585 BC. Diogenes Laërtius quotes the chronicle of Apollodorus of Athens as saying that Thales died at the age of 78 during the 58th Olympiad and attributes his death to heat stroke while watching the games. Plutarch had earlier told this version, Solon visited Thales and asked him why he remained single, nevertheless, several years later, anxious for family, he adopted his nephew Cybisthus. Thales involved himself in many activities, taking the role of an innovator, some say that he left no writings, others say that he wrote On the Solstice and On the Equinox. Diogenes Laërtius quotes two letters from Thales, one to Pherecydes of Syros, offering to review his book on religion, Thales identifies the Milesians as Athenian colonists. He was aware of the existence of the lodestone, and was the first to be connected to knowledge of this in history, according to Aristotle, Thales thought lodestones had souls, because iron is attracted to them. According to Hieronymus, historically quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Thales found the height of pyramids by comparison between the lengths of the shadows cast by a person and by the pyramids, several anecdotes suggest Thales was not just a philosopher, but also a businessman. A story, with different versions, recounts how Thales achieved riches from an olive harvest by prediction of the weather, in one version, he bought all the olive presses in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year. Thales’ political life had mainly to do with the involvement of the Ionians in the defense of Anatolia against the power of the Persians. In neighbouring Lydia, a king had come to power, Croesus and he had conquered most of the states of coastal Anatolia, including the cities of the Ionians. The story is told in Herodotus, the war endured for five years, but in the sixth an eclipse of the Sun spontaneously halted a battle in progress. It seems that Thales had predicted this solar eclipse, the Seven Sages were most likely already in existence, as Croesus was also heavily influenced by Solon of Athens, another sage
21.
Isocrates
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Isocrates, an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching, Greek rhetoric is commonly traced to Corax of Syracuse, who first formulated a set of rhetorical rules in the fifth century BC. His pupil Tisias was influential in the development of the rhetoric of the courtroom, within two generations, rhetoric had become an important art, its growth driven by social and political changes such as democracy and courts of law. Isocrates was born to a family in Athens and received a first-rate education. He was greatly influenced by his sophist teachers, Prodicus and Gorgias, after the Peloponnesian War, his family lost its wealth, and Isocrates was forced to earn a living. His professional career is said to have begun with logography, he was a hired courtroom speechwriter, Athenian citizens did not hire lawyers, legal procedure required self-representation. Instead, they would hire people like Isocrates to write speeches for them, Isocrates had a great talent for this since he lacked confidence in public speaking. Around 392 BC he set up his own school of rhetoric, and proved to be not only an influential teacher and his fees were unusually high, and he accepted no more than nine pupils at a time. Many of them went on to be philosophers, legislators and historians, as a consequence, he amassed a considerable fortune. According to Pliny the Elder he could sell a single oration for twenty talents, according to George Norlin, Isocrates defined rhetoric as outward feeling and inward thought of not merely expression, but reason, feeling, and imagination. Like most who studied rhetoric before and after him, Isocrates believed it was used to persuade ourselves and others, Isocrates described rhetoric as that endowment of our human nature which raises us above mere animality and enables us to live the civilized life. Isocrates unambiguously defined his approach in the treatise Against the Sophists and this polemic was written to explain and advertise the reasoning and educational principles behind his new school. Also, while Isocrates is viewed by many as being a rhetor and practicing rhetoric, against the Sophists is Isocrates first published work where he gives an account of philosophia. His principal method is to contrast his ways of teaching with Sophistry, while Isocrates does not go against the Sophist method of teaching as a whole, he emphasizes his disagreement with bad Sophistry practices. Isocrates program of rhetorical education stressed the ability to use language to address practical problems and he emphasized that students needed three things to learn, a natural aptitude which was inborn, knowledge training granted by teachers and textbooks, and applied practices designed by educators. He also stressed civic education, training students to serve the state, students would practice composing and delivering speeches on various subjects. He considered natural ability and practice to be more important than rules or principles of rhetoric, rather than delineating static rules, Isocrates stressed fitness for the occasion, or kairos. His school lasted for fifty years, in many ways establishing the core of liberal arts education as we know it today, including oratory, composition, history, citizenship, culture
22.
Pahlavi scripts
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Pahlavi or Pahlevi denotes a particular and exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The essential characteristics of Pahlavi are the use of a specific Aramaic-derived script, the Pahlavi script, Pahlavi compositions have been found for the dialects/ethnolects of Parthia, Persis, Sogdiana, Scythia, and Khotan. Independent of the variant for which the Pahlavi system was used, Pahlavi is then an admixture of written Imperial Aramaic, from which Pahlavi derives its script, logograms, and some of its vocabulary. Spoken Middle Iranian, from which Pahlavi derives its terminations, symbol rules, Pahlavi may thus be defined as a system of writing applied to a specific language group, but with critical features alien to that language group. It has the characteristics of a language, but is not one. It is a written system, but much Pahlavi literature remains essentially an oral literature committed to writing. If this etymology is correct, Parthav presumably became pahlaw through a semivowel glide rt change to l, the term has been traced back further to Avestan pərəthu- broad, also evident in Sanskrit pŗthvi- earth and parthivi of the earth. Common to all Indo-Iranian languages is a connotation of mighty, the earliest attested use of Pahlavi dates to the reign of Arsaces I of Parthia in early Parthian coins with Pahlavi scripts. There are also several Pahlavi texts written during the reign of Mithridates I, such fragments, as also the rock inscriptions of Sassanid kings, which are datable to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, do not, however, qualify as a significant literary corpus. It is in an archaic script than Book Pahlavi. After the Muslim conquest of Persia, the Pahlavi script was replaced by the Arabic script, except in Zoroastrian sacred literature, the replacement of the Pahlavi script with the Arabic script in order to write the Persian language was done by the Tahirids in 9th century Khurasan. In the present-day, Pahlavi is frequently identified with the dialect of south-west Iran, formerly and properly called Pārsi. This practice can be dated to the immediately following the Islamic conquest. Tables showing the letters and their names or pronunciations are available on line, the Pahlavi script is one of the two essential characteristics of the Pahlavi system. Its origin and development occurred independently of the various Middle Iranian languages for which it was used, the Pahlavi script is derived from the Aramaic script as it was used under the Achaemenids, with modifications to support the phonology of the Iranian languages. It is essentially a typical abjad, where, in general, only vowels are marked with matres lectionis. In addition to this, during much of its later history, similarly, certain words continued to be spelt with postvocalic ⟨s⟩ and ⟨t⟩ even after the consonants had been debuccalized to ⟨h⟩ in the living language. The Pahlavi script consisted of two widely used forms, Inscriptional Pahlavi and Book Pahlavi, a third form, Psalter Pahlavi, is not widely attested
23.
Zoroastrianism
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
24.
Seneca the Younger
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Seneca the Younger, fully Lucius Annaeus Seneca and also known simply as Seneca, was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and—in one work—humorist of the Silver Age of Latin literature. As a tragedian, he is best-known for his Medea and Thyestes and he was a tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. He was forced to take his own life for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, however, some sources state that he may have been innocent. His father was Seneca the Elder, his brother was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus. Seneca was born in Cordoba in Hispania, and raised in Rome, griffin also infers from the ancient sources that Seneca was born in either 8,4, or 1 BC. She thinks he was born between 4 and 1 BC and was a resident in Rome by AD5, Seneca says that he was carried to Rome in the arms of his mothers stepsister. Griffin says that, allowing for rhetorical exaggeration, means it is fair to conclude that Seneca was in Rome as a small boy. Be that as it may, it is clear that he was in Rome at an early stage in his life. Caligula and Fabius were critics of his works, and Columella, Pliny, Tacitus, from AD54 to 62, Seneca acted as Neros advisor, together with the praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus. One byproduct of his influence was that Seneca was appointed consul in 56. Senecas influence was said to have especially strong in the first year. Tacitus and Dio suggest that Neros early rule, during which time he listened to Seneca, however, the ancient sources suggest, over time, Seneca and Burrus lost their influence over the emperor. In 59 they had agreed to Agrippinas murder, and afterward. This may have contributed as well to his own downfall, following Burrus death in 62, Seneca became the subject of criticism by what Tacitus describes as Neros more disreputable advisers. Charges included allegations of excessive wealth, the grandeur of his property, Seneca requested an audience with Nero in which he sought permission to retire from public duties, pleading age and infirmity. The two then parted on apparently warm terms, Seneca subsequently adopted a quiet lifestyle on his country estates, concentrating on his studies and seldom visiting Rome. In AD65, Seneca was caught up in the aftermath of the Pisonian conspiracy, although it is unlikely that Seneca conspired, Nero ordered him to kill himself. Seneca followed tradition by severing several veins in order to bleed to death, a generation after the Julio-Claudian emperors, Tacitus wrote an account of the suicide, which in view of his Republican sympathies is perhaps somewhat romanticized
25.
Stoicism
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Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD. Stoicism is predominantly a philosophy of ethics which is informed by its system of logic. It was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC. Because of this, the Stoics presented their philosophy as a way of life, to live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they taught that everything was rooted in nature. Later Stoics—such as Seneca and Epictetus—emphasized that, because virtue is sufficient for happiness, from its founding, Stoic doctrine was popular during the Roman Empire—and its adherents included the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It later experienced a decline after Christianity became the religion in the 4th century. Over the centuries, it has seen revivals, notably in the Renaissance, the Stoics provided a unified account of the world, consisting of formal logic, monistic physics and naturalistic ethics. Of these, they emphasized ethics as the focus of human knowledge. A primary aspect of Stoicism involves improving the individuals ethical and moral well-being and this viewpoint was later described as Classical Pantheism. Beginning at around 301 BC, Zeno taught philosophy at the Stoa Poikile, Zenos ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founding father, Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates. Zenos most influential follower was Chrysippus, who was responsible for the molding of what is now called Stoicism, later Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony within the universe, over which one has no direct control. Scholars usually divide the history of Stoicism into three phases, Early Stoa, from the founding of the school by Zeno to Antipater, middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius. Late Stoa, including Musonius Rufus, Seneca, Epictetus, no complete work by any Stoic philosopher survives from the first two phases of Stoicism. Only Roman texts from the Late Stoa survive, diodorus Cronus, who was one of Zenos teachers, is considered the philosopher who first introduced and developed an approach to logic now known as propositional logic. This is an approach to logic based on statements or propositions, rather than terms, later, Chrysippus developed a system that became known as Stoic logic and included a deductive system, Stoic Syllogistic, which was considered a rival to Aristotles Syllogistic. New interest in Stoic logic came in the 20th century, when important developments in logic were based on propositional logic, susanne Bobzien wrote, The many close similarities between Chrysippus philosophical logic and that of Gottlob Frege are especially striking. The Stoics held that all being – though not all things – is material and they accepted the distinction between concrete bodies and abstract ones, but rejected Aristotles belief that purely incorporeal being exists. Thus, they accepted Anaxagoras idea that if an object is hot, but, unlike Aristotle, they extended the idea to cover all accidents
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Simon Blackburn
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He is also a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a member of the professoriate of New College of the Humanities. He was previously a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford and has also taught full-time at the University of North Carolina as an Edna J. Koury Professor and he is a former president of the Aristotelian Society, having served the 2009–2010 term. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002 and he has appeared in multiple episodes of the documentary series Closer to Truth. Blackburn attended Clifton College and went on to receive his bachelors degree in philosophy in 1965 from Trinity College, Cambridge and he obtained his doctorate in 1970 from Churchill College, Cambridge. In philosophy, he is best known as the proponent of quasi-realism in meta-ethics and he is a former editor of the journal Mind. He makes occasional appearances in the British media, such as on BBC Radio 4s The Moral Maze, Blackburn was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007. As a patron of the British Humanist Association, he has argued against the existence of God, in 2008 The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, which was authored by Blackburn was published. At the same time, he has argued, in a televised debate. Spreading the Word - a text, - a defense of quasi-realism as applied to ethicsISBN 0-19-508041-6 and ISBN 0-19-508224-9. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy - compiled whole-handedly, ruling Passions A defense of a NeoHumean theory of reasons and moral motivation. Truth - from Oxford Readings in Philosophy series, think, A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. Being Good - an introduction to ethics, reprinted as Ethics, A Very Short Introduction in Oxford University Press Very Short Introductions series. Lust - one of an Oxford University Press series covering the Seven Deadly Sins, platos Republic, A Biography - from Atlantic Books Books That Shook the World series. How to read Hume - Granta Publications, -The Big Questions of Philosophy - from Quercus
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Abrahamic religions
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Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the largest Abrahamic religions in terms of numbers of adherents. As of 2005, estimates classified 54% of the population as adherents of an Abrahamic religion, about 32% as adherents of other religions. Christianity claims 33% of the population, Islam has 21%, Judaism has 0. 2%. It has been suggested that the phrase, Abrahamic religion, may mean that all these religions come from one spiritual source. Christians refer to Abraham as a father in faith, there is an Islamic religious term, Millat Ibrahim, indicating that Islam sees itself as having practices tied to the traditions of Abraham. Jewish tradition claims descent from Abraham, and adherents follow his practices and it is the Islamic tradition that Muhammad, as an Arab, is descended from Abrahams son Ishmael. Jewish tradition also equates the descendants of Ishmael, Ishmaelites, with Arabs, as the descendants of Isaac by Jacob, who was also later known as Israel, are the Israelites. The Báb, regarded by Baháís as a predecessor to Baháulláh, was a Sayyid, or a descendant of Muhammad. Tradition also holds that Baháulláh is a descendant of Abraham through his third wife, while there is commonality among the religions, in large measure their shared ancestry is peripheral to their respective foundational beliefs and thus conceals crucial differences. For example, the common Christian beliefs of Incarnation, Trinity, there are key beliefs in both Islam and Judaism that are not shared by most of Christianity, and key beliefs of Islam, Christianity, and the Baháí Faith not shared by Judaism. Judaism regards itself as the religion of the descendants of Jacob and it has a strictly unitary view of God, and the central holy book for almost all branches is the Masoretic Text as elucidated in the Oral Torah. In the 19th century and 20th centuries Judaism developed a number of branches, of which the most significant are Orthodox, Conservative. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism in the Mediterranean Basin of the first century CE and evolved into a separate religion—Christianity—with distinctive beliefs, Jesus is the central figure of Christianity, considered by almost all denominations to be God the Son, one person of the Trinity. The Christian biblical canons are usually held to be the ultimate authority, over many centuries, Christianity divided into three main branches, dozens of significant denominations, and hundreds of smaller ones. Islam arose in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century CE with a unitary view of God. Muslims hold the Quran to be the authority, as revealed and elucidated through the teachings and practices of a central. The Islamic faith consider all prophets and messengers from Adam through the messenger to carry the same Islamic monotheistic principles. Soon after its founding Islam split into two branches, each of which now have a number of denominations
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Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
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Hillel the Elder
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Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud and he is popularly known as the author of two sayings, If I am not for myself who is for me. And being for my own self, what am I, and the expression of the ethic of reciprocity, or Golden Rule, That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah, the rest is the explanation, go and learn. Hillel was born in Babylon and, according to the Iggeret of Rav Sherira Gaon, Hillel descended from the Tribe of Benjamin on his fathers side, and from the family of David on his mothers side. Only Hillels brother Shebna is mentioned, he was a merchant, Hillel lived in Jerusalem during the time of King Herod and the Roman emperor Augustus. In the Midrash compilation Sifre, the periods of Hillels life are made parallel to those in the life of Moses. Both lived 120 years, and at the age of forty Hillel went to the Land of Israel, forty years he spent in study, a biographical sketch can be constructed, that Hillel went to Jerusalem in the prime of his life and attained a great age. His activity of forty years likely covered the period of 30 BCE to 10 CE, according to the Mishnah Hillel went to Jerusalem with the intention of studying biblical exposition and tradition at the age of 40 in 70 BCE. On that occasion, it is narrated, they resigned their position as Nasi in favor of Hillel. After the resignation of the Benei Betheira, Hillel was recognized as the highest authority among the Pharisees, whatever Hillels position, his authority was sufficient to introduce those decrees handed down in his name. The most famous of his enactments was the Prozbul, an institution that, a likewise tendency is found in another of Hillels institutions, having reference to the sale of houses. These two are the only institutions handed down in Hillels name, although the words that introduce the show that there were others. Of other official acts no mention is found in the sources, some of Hillel the Elders teachings remain commonly known. However, at least two other notable Hillels came after him, and some scholars have suggested that some attributed to Hillel may have originated from them. In mentioning these characteristics, which the Haggadah attributes to Moses brother and he considered love of man the kernel of Jewish teaching. The comparative response to the challenge of a Gentile who asked that the Torah be explained to him while he stood on one foot, illustrates the character differences between Shammai and Hillel. Hillels gentleness and patience are illustrated in an anecdote that describes how two men made a wager on the question of whether Hillel could be made angry, though they questioned him and made insulting allusions to his Babylonian origin, they were unsuccessful
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Torah
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The Torah is the central reference of Judaism. It has a range of meanings and it can most specifically mean the first five books of the twenty-four books of the Tanakh, and it usually includes the rabbinic commentaries. In rabbinic literature the word Torah denotes both the five books and the Oral Torah, the Oral Torah consists of interpretations and amplifications which according to rabbinic tradition have been handed down from generation to generation and are now embodied in the Talmud and Midrash. According to the Midrash, the Torah was created prior to the creation of the world, traditionally, the words of the Torah are written on a scroll by a scribe in Hebrew. A Torah portion is read publicly at least once every three days in the presence of a congregation, reading the Torah publicly is one of the bases for Jewish communal life. The word Torah in Hebrew is derived from the root ירה, the meaning of the word is therefore teaching, doctrine, or instruction, the commonly accepted law gives a wrong impression. Other translational contexts in the English language include custom, theory, guidance, the earliest name for the first part of the Bible seems to have been The Torah of Moses. This title, however, is neither in the Torah itself. It appears in Joshua and Kings, but it cannot be said to refer there to the entire corpus, in contrast, there is every likelihood that its use in the post-Exilic works was intended to be comprehensive. Other early titles were The Book of Moses and The Book of the Torah, Christian scholars usually refer to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible as the Pentateuch, a term first used in the Hellenistic Judaism of Alexandria, meaning five books, or as the Law. The Torah starts from the beginning of Gods creating the world, through the beginnings of the people of Israel, their descent into Egypt, and it ends with the death of Moses, just before the people of Israel cross to the promised land of Canaan. Interspersed in the narrative are the teachings given explicitly or implicitly embedded in the narrative. This is followed by the story of the three patriarchs, Joseph and the four matriarchs, God gives to the patriarchs a promise of the land of Canaan, but at the end of Genesis the sons of Jacob end up leaving Canaan for Egypt due to a regional famine. They had heard there was a grain storage and distribution facility in Egypt. Exodus begins the story of Gods revelation to his people of Israel through Moses, Moses receives the Torah from God, and teaches His laws and Covenant to the people of Israel. It also talks about the first violation of the covenant when the Golden Calf was constructed, Exodus includes the instructions on building the Tabernacle and concludes with its actual construction. Leviticus begins with instructions to the Israelites on how to use the Tabernacle, leviticus 26 provides a detailed list of rewards for following Gods commandments and a detailed list of punishments for not following them. Numbers tells how Israel consolidated itself as a community at Sinai, set out from Sinai to move towards Canaan, even Moses sins and is told he would not live to enter the land
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Conversion to Judaism
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The procedure and requirements for conversion depend on the sponsoring denomination. A conversion in accordance with the process of a denomination is not a guarantee of recognition by another denomination, in some cases, a person may forgo a formal conversion to Judaism and adopt some or all beliefs and practices of Judaism. However, without a conversion, many highly observant Jews will reject a converts Jewish status. There are some groups that have adopted Jewish customs and practices, for example, in Russia the Subbotniks have adopted most aspects of Judaism without formal conversion to Judaism. However, if Subbotniks, or anyone without a conversion, wish to marry into a traditional Jewish community or immigrate to Israel. A male convert to Judaism is referred to by the Hebrew word ger, the word is rendered by the Greek proselyte as used in the Septuagint to denote a stranger. In Karaite Judaism a Ger is a non-Jew who has yet to convert to Judaism. After a Ger converts to Judaism, they are no longer considered a Ger, the word ger comes from the Hebrew verb lagur meaning to reside or to sojourn. In the Hebrew Bible ger is defined as a foreigner, or sojourner, Rabbi Marc Angel writes, The Hebrew ger literally means resident and refers to a non-Israelite who lived among the Israelite community. When the Torah commands compassion and equal justice for the ger, Rabbinic tradition interpreted the word ger as referring to proselytes. The Jews were not converts in Egypt, but rather foreigners, another passage which may be relevant to a process of conversion involves non-Jewish women captured in war who could be adopted forcibly as wives. Another verse which has interpreted as referring to non-Jews converting to Judaism is Esther 8,17. In Modern Hebrew, ger refers to a convert to Judaism, according to Maimonides, converts were accepted since the beginning of Jewish history, and the foreign wives of Jewish leaders - such as Samson and Solomon - were converts. For Rabbinic Judaism, the laws governing conversion are based on codes of law and texts, including discussions in the Talmud, through the Shulkhan Arukh and these rules are held as authoritative by Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism. Jewish law is interpreted as somewhat discouraging proselytizing, and religious gerut is also somewhat discouraged. In the past, rabbis often rejected potential converts three times, and if they remained adamant in their desire to convert, they would allow them to begin the process. However, a rabbi convinced of the prospective converts sincerity may allow him or her to follow the process of conversion and this requires the person to appear before an established three-judge Jewish religious court known as a beth din to be tested and formally accepted. Conservative Judaism takes a lenient approach in application of the halakhic rules than Modern Orthodox Judaism
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Talmud
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The Talmud is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also referred to as Shas, a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the six orders. Talmud translates literally as instruction in Hebrew, and the term may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah, the entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law, Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works, though some may have made private notes, for example of court decisions. It is during this period that rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing, the earliest recorded oral Torah may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant about the year 200 CE, the Oral Torah was far from monolithic, rather, it varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, in general, all valid opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud. The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as the Munich Talmud, each tractate is divided into chapters,517 in total, that are both numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet and given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. A perek may continue over several pages, each perek will contain several mishnayot with their accompanying exchanges that form the building-blocks of the Gemara, the name for a passage of gemara is a sugya. A sugya, including baraita or tosefta, will comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of a Mishnaic statement. A sugya may, and often does, range widely off the subject of the mishnah, in a given sugya, scriptural, Tannaic and Amoraic statements are cited to support the various opinions. In so doing, the Gemara will highlight semantic disagreements between Tannaim and Amoraim, and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the Baraita. Rarely are debates formally closed, in instances, the final word determines the practical law. There is a literature on the procedural principles to be used in settling the practical law when disagreements exist, see under #Logic. The Mishnah is a compilation of legal opinions and debates, statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of the rabbis debating a subject, or recording only an unattributed ruling, apparently representing a consensus view. The rabbis recorded in the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim, the Mishnahs topical organization thus became the framework of the Talmud as a whole. But not every tractate in the Mishnah has a corresponding Gemara, also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the Mishnah. In addition to the Mishnah, other tannaitic teachings were current at about the time or shortly thereafter
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Rabbi Akiva
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Akiva ben Yosef, widely known as Rabbi Akiva, was a tanna of the latter part of the first century and the beginning of the second century. Rabbi Akiva was a contributor to the Mishnah and to Midrash halakha. He is referred to in the Talmud as Rosh la-Hakhamim Chief of the Sages and he was executed by the Romans in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Akiva ben Yosef came of humble parentage, when he married the daughter of Kalba Savua, a wealthy citizen of Jerusalem, Akiva was an uneducated shepherd in Kalba Savuas employ. His wifes first name is not given in the earlier sources and she stood loyally by her husband during that critical period of his life in which Akiva dedicated himself to the study of Torah. Rabbi Akiva has many famous quotes in the Babylonian Talmud, a different tradition narrates that at the age of 40, Akiva attended the academy of his native town, Lod, presided over by Eliezer ben Hurcanus. Hurcanus was a neighbor of Yosef, the father of Akiva, the fact that Eliezer was his first teacher, and the only one whom Akiva later designates as rabbi, is of importance in settling the date of Akivas birth. These legends set the beginning of his years of study at about 75–80, besides Eliezer, Akiva studied under Joshua ben Hananiah and Nahum Ish Gamzu. He was on equal footing with Gamaliel II, whom he met later, Rabbi Tarfon was considered as one of Akivas masters, but the pupil outranked his teacher and he became one of Akivas greatest admirers. Akiva remained in Lod as long as Eliezer dwelt there, and then removed his own school to Beneberak, five Roman miles from Jaffa Akiva also lived for time at Ziphron. For another identification of the place, and other forms of its name, see Neubauer, La Géographie du Talmud, p.391, according to the Talmud, Akiva was a shepherd for Kalba Savua when the latters daughter noticed his modesty and fine character traits. She offered to him if he would agree to begin studying Torah, as at the time he was 40 years old. When her father found out she was betrothed to an unlearned man. He drove his daughter out of his house, swearing that he would never help her while Akiva remained her husband, Akiva and his wife lived in such poverty that they used straw for their bed. The Talmud relates that once Elijah the prophet assumed the guise of a poor man, when Akiva and his wife saw that there were people even poorer than they, Rachel said to him, Go, and become a scholar. By agreement with his wife, Akiva spent twelve years away from home, without crossing the threshold, Akiva went back to the academy. He returned twelve years later escorted by 24,000 disciples, when his wife went out to greet him, some of his students, not knowing who she was, sought to restrain her. But Akiva exclaimed, Let her alone, for what is mine, not knowing who he was, Kalba Savua also approached Akiva and asked him for help annulling his vow to disown his daughter and her husband
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Sifra
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Sifra is the Halakic midrash to Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud, and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah, as appears from Tanḥuma, quoted in Or Zarua, like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called Torat Kohanim, and in two passages also Sifra debe Rab. H. Weiss, in the introduction to his Sifra edition, attempts to support, the question as to authorship has been correctly answered by Malbim, who proves in the introduction to his Sifra edition that R. Ḥiyya was the redactor of the Sifra. Indeed, as Hoffmann shows, in the three passages in which it can with certainty be said that the reference is to R. Ḥiyya, namely, Wayiḳra, Nedabah, v.5, vi. 10, Ḥiyya himself, in referring to preceding interpretations, indicates that he is the editor and it is perhaps doubtful whether Hoffmann is correct in comparing the above-mentioned passages, or the final remark of R. Joshua in Ḳinnim, with Middot ii.5. As regards the sources of Sifra, it is said in the well-known passage Sanh and that the Sifra belongs to R. Akivas school, as the above-mentioned passage in Sanhedrin indicates, is shown by the principles of exposition contained in the Sifra, e. g. Certain peculiarities of phraseology are likewise noteworthy, יכול replaces שומע אני or אקרא, the phrases usually found in the Mekilta, comp. Further הא כיצד, וכי איזה מדה מרובה, ואם נפשך לומר, וכי מאין יצאת מכלל שנאמר, וכי מאין באת, traces of R. Judahs influence are less evident. The fact that the views expressed in some seṭamot may be proved to agree with R. Judahs views has little significance, e. g. Sifra, Aḥare,5, beginning, compared with Menahot 27b, ib. Such seṭamot may be opposed by others that contradict R. Judahs views, e. g. Sifra,1, compared with R. Judah in Neg. ii. 8, compared with R. Judah, Neg. x, all this, however, is no reason for attacking the above-mentioned assumption that the Sifra in its principal parts is a midrash of R. Judahs. 4 et seq. agrees with R. Eliezers view, aside from R. Judahs midrash, R. Ḥiyya may have used also R. Simeons midrash, although some of the passages mentioned there seem to prove little. More doubtful is the relation to R, but to R. Ishmaels school undoubtedly belong the later additions to Arayot, which, according to Ḥag. i.1 and Yer. 1b, were not publicly taught in R. Akivas school, i. e. Aḥare,14, and finally, of course, the so-called Baraita de-Rabbi Yishmael. The so-called Mekilta de-Milluim or Aggadat Milluim to Lev. viii, 1-10 is similarly to be distinguished from the remainder of the Sifra. It exists in two recensions, of which the second, covering mishnayot 14-16 and 29-end, is cited by Rashi as Baraita ha-Nosefet al Torat Kohanim she-Lanu, the Sifra was divided, according to an old arrangement, into 9 dibburim and 80 parashiyyot or smaller sections. As it exists today it is divided into 14 larger sections and again into smaller peraḳim, parashiyyot, the Sifra frequently agrees with the Judean rather than with the Babylonian tradition, e. g. Sifra, Nedabah, xii. Sheḳ. i.7 likewise agrees with the Sifra. g. in Sifra, Ḳedoshim,1 מאתכם is not a later emendation for מאתן according to Yeb
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Genesis Rabba
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Genesis Rabba is a religious text from Judaisms classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis and it is expository midrash to the first book of the Torah, assigned by tradition to the amora Hoshaiah, who flourished in the third century in Christian Palestine. The midrash forms an aggadic commentary on Genesis, in keeping with the midrashic exegesis of that age, in a continuous sequence, broken only toward the end, the Biblical text is expounded, verse for verse, often word for word. Only genealogic passages and passages that no material for exposition are omitted. Genesis Rabba contains many explanations of words and sentences, often in the Aramaic language. It also contains varied haggadic expositions popular in the lectures of the synagogues. The editor of the midrash has strung together various longer or shorter explanations and haggadic interpretations of the passages, sometimes anonymously. The first chapters of Genesis, on the creation of the world and of man, whole sections are devoted to comments on one or two verses of the text. Many references to philosophical thought are made with the purpose of refuting the opinions of nonbelievers. References to contemporaneous conditions and historical events also occur and it is characteristic of the midrash to view the personages and conditions of the Bible by the light of the contemporary history of the time. This midrash is rich in sublime thoughts and finely worded sentences, in parables and this extensive and important midrash, which forms a complete commentary on Genesis, and exemplifies all points of midrashic exegesis, is divided into sections. It is by these means distinguished from the tannaitic midrashim to the books of the Torah, such as Mekilta, Sifra. By various explanations of these texts, a transition is effected to the exposition of the verse of Genesis heading the section. There are in the Genesis Rabba about 230 of these passages, about 70 are cited with the name of the Rabbi with whom they originated or whose explanation of the verse in question was used as an introduction to the section of Genesis Rabba. Most of these passages are anonymous and may perhaps be ascribed in part to the author of Genesis Rabba and they begin with the verse of the text, which often stands at the head of the proem without any formula of introduction. The structure of the prefatory passages varies, in some, only the introductory text is given, its application to the verse of Genesis to be expounded being self-evident or being left to a later working out. The single prefaces, of which there is a large number, for these introductions, which are often quite lengthy, the material for the several expositions was ready at hand. In the manuscripts, as well as in the editions, the sections are consecutively numbered, many quotations in the Shulchan Aruch mention the passage of Genesis Rabba by the number of the section
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Adam in rabbinic literature
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And why was Adam created last of all beings. To teach him humility, for if he be overbearing, let him remember that the little fly preceded him in the order of creation,5,1, which teaches that all men are the offspring of him who was made in the image of God. According to Targum Yer. to Genesis ii,7, God took dust from the holy place and the four parts of the world, mingling it with the water of all the seas, and made him red, black, and white. Rabbi Johanan interprets Adams name as being an acrostic of, there are, however, two points of view regarding mans nature presented in the two Biblical stories of mans creation, and they are brought out more forcibly in the Haggadah. Both worlds, heaven and earth, were to have a share in mans creation, hence the host of angels were consulted by the Lord when He said and his body reached from earth to heaven before sin caused him to sink. He was of beauty and sunlike brightness. His skin was a garment, shining like his nails, when he sinned this brightness vanished. When God said, Let us make man in our image, a creature full of falsehood, hatred, and strife. But Love pleaded in his favor, and the Lord spoke, a midrashic legend relates that the angels were so filled with wonder and awe at the sight of Adam, the image of God, that they wanted to pay homage to him and cry Holy. But the Lord caused sleep to fall upon him so that he lay like a corpse, Adam in paradise had angels to wait upon and dance before him. All creation bowed before him in awe and he was the light of the world, but sin deprived him of all glory. The earth and the bodies lost their brightness, which will come back only in the Messianic time. Death came upon Adam and all creation, the brutes no longer stood in awe of man as their ruler, instead, they attacked him. But while sin was of consequence, and the effect of the poison of the serpent is still felt by all following generations. The deadly effect of sin can be removed by repentance, hence, Adam is represented as a type of a penitent sinner. Another view is that when the sun rose the following morning he offered his thanksgiving, in which the angels joined him, singing the Sabbath Psalm. On account of the Sabbath the sun retained its brightness for the day, then the Lord taught him how to make fire by striking stones together. Thenceforth the fire is greeted with a blessing at the close of each Sabbath day, when Adam heard the curse, Thou shalt eat of the herbs of the earth, he staggered, saying, O Lord, must I and my ass eat out of the same manger
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Adam
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Adam is a figure from the Book of Genesis who is also mentioned in the New Testament, the deuterocanonical books, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, and the Book of Iqan. According to the myth of the Abrahamic religions, he was the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by God, Christian churches differ on how they view Adams subsequent behavior of disobeying God, and to the consequences that those actions had on the rest of humanity. Christian and Jewish teachings sometimes hold Adam and Eve to a different level of responsibility for the Fall, in addition, Islam holds that Adam was eventually forgiven, while Christianity holds that redemption occurred only later through the sacrifice of Jesus. The Baháí Faith, Islam and some Christian denominations consider Adam to be the first prophet, Adam as a proper name, predates its generic use in Semitic languages. Its earliest known use as a name in historicity is Adamu. Its use as a word in the Hebrew language is ׳āḏām. Coupled with the article, it becomes the human. Its root is not attributed to the Semitic root for man --sh, rather, ׳āḏām is linked to its triliteral root אָדָם, meaning red, fair, handsome. As a masculine noun, adam means man, mankind usually in a context as in humankind. The noun adam is also the form of the word adamah which means ground or earth. It is related to the words, adom, admoni, according to a number of observers, the word Adam derives from Sanskrit word Adima, meaning progenitor, first, primitive in Sanskrit. In the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew word ׳āḏām is often rendered mankind in the most generic sense, the use of mankind in Genesis, gives the reflection that Adam was the ancestor of all men. Kabbalistic works indicate that Adam also comes from the Hebrew word Adame, in the first five chapters of Genesis the word אָדָם is used in all of its senses, collectively, individually, gender nonspecific, and male. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, its use in Genesis 1 is generic, while in Genesis 2 and Genesis 3 the generic and personal usages are mixed. In Genesis 1,27 adam is used in the sense, whereby not only the individual Adam. Genesis 2,7 is the first verse where Adam takes on the sense of an individual man, the gender distinction of adam is then reiterated in Genesis 5, 1–2 by defining male and female. A recurring literary motif that occurs, is the bond between Adam and the earth, Gods cursing of Adam also results in the ground being cursed, causing him to have to labour for food, and Adam returns to the earth from which he was taken
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Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 at the Palais de Chaillot, Paris. The full text is available on the United Nations website, in 1966, the General Assembly adopted the two detailed Covenants, which complete the International Bill of Human Rights. In 1976, after the Covenants had been ratified by a sufficient number of individual nations, during World War II, the Allies adopted the Four Freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from fear, and freedom from want—as their basic war aims. A universal declaration that specified the rights of individuals was necessary to effect to the Charters provisions on human rights. In June 1946, the UN Economic and Social Council established the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on Human Rights, a standing body of the United Nations, was constituted to undertake the work of preparing what was initially conceived as an International Bill of Rights. The commission established a special Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting Committee, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the committee met in two sessions over the course of two years. At the time, Humphrey was newly appointed as Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat, other well-known members of the drafting committee included René Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, P. C. Chang of the Republic of China, Humphrey provided the initial draft which became the working text of the Commission. According to Allan Carlson in Globalizing Family Values, the Declarations pro-family phrases were the result of the Christian Democratic movements influence on Cassin, during these discussions many amendments and propositions were made by UN Member States. British representatives were extremely frustrated that the proposal had moral but no legal obligation, a On 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly by a vote of 48 in favor, none against, and eight abstentions. Honduras and Yemen—both members of UN at the time—failed to vote or abstain, south Africas position can be seen as an attempt to protect its system of apartheid, which clearly violated any number of articles in the Declaration. The six communist nations abstentions centred around the view that the Declaration did not go far enough in condemning fascism and Nazism, Eleanor Roosevelt attributed the abstention of the Soviet bloc nations to Article 13, which provided the right of citizens to leave their countries. 48 countries voted in favour of the Declaration, a.8 countries abstained, Later on, the underlying structure of the Universal Declaration was introduced in its second draft, which was prepared by René Cassin. Cassin worked from a first draft, which was prepared by John Peters Humphrey, the structure was influenced by the Code Napoléon, including a preamble and introductory general principles. Cassin compared the Declaration to the portico of a Greek temple, with a foundation, steps, four columns, articles 1 and 2 are the foundation blocks, with their principles of dignity, liberty, equality, and brotherhood. The seven paragraphs of the out the reasons for the Declaration—represent the steps. The main body of the Declaration forms the four columns, the first column constitutes rights of the individual such as the right to life and the prohibition of slavery. Articles 6 through 11 refer to the legality of human rights with specific remedies cited for their defense when violated
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