Landau, or Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town, a long-standing cultural centre, a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the Palatinate forest, Europe's largest contiguous forest, on the German Wine Route, it contains the districts of Arzheim, Godramstein, Mörlheim, Mörzheim, Nussdorf and Wollmesheim. Landau was first mentioned as a settlement in 1106, it was in the possession of the counts of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Landeck, whose arms, differenced by an escutcheon of the Imperial eagle, served as the arms of Landau until 1955. The town was granted a charter in 1274 by King Rudolf I of Germany, who declared the town a Free Imperial Town in 1291; the town did not regain its ancient rights until 1511 from Maximilian I. An Augustinian monastery was founded in 1276. Landau was part of France from 1680 to 1815, during which it was one of the Décapole, the ten free cities of Alsace, received its modern fortifications by Louis XIV's military architect Vauban in 1688–99, making the little town one of Europe's strongest citadels.

In the War of the Spanish Succession it had four Sieges. After the Siege in 1702, lost by the French, an Imperial garrison was installed in Landau. After the 2nd Siege from 13 October to 15 November 1703 the French had regained the city, caused by their victory in the Battle of Speyerbach; the 3rd Siege began on 12 September 1704 by Louis, Margrave of Baden-Baden, ended on 23 November 1704 with the French defeat. During this siege King Joseph I arrived at Landau coming from Vienna in a newly developed convertible carriage, it became popular, named Landau in English, or Landauer in German. The French got Landau back after the 4th Siege which lasted from 6 June to 20 August 1713 by Marshal General Villars. Landau was part of Bas-Rhin department between 1789 and 1815. After Napoleon's Hundred Days following his escape from Elba, which had remained French, was granted to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1815 and became the capital of one of the thirteen Bezirksämter of the Bavarian Rheinkreis renamed Pfalz.

In 1840 famous political cartoonist Thomas Nast was born in Landau. Following World War II, Landau was an important barracks town for the French occupation. Landau's large main square is dominated by the market hall. In the 19th century, the former fortifications gave way to a ring road that encircles the old town centre, from which the old industrial buildings have been excluded. A convention hall, the Festhalle, was built in Art Nouveau style, 1905–07 on a rise overlooking the town park and facing the modernist Bundesamt, the regional government building; the Protestant Collegiate Church in Landau in der Pfalz is one of the oldest buildings in the town. With the construction of the church started in the 14th century, was completed in the mid-16th century; the zoo is located close to the center of Landau alongside the historical fortifications. Animals are held in natural enclosures; the zoo contains numerous exotic species such as tigers and cheetahs, but seals, penguins and flamingos and many more.

Wine-making continues to be an important industry of Landau. The "landau," a luxury open carriage with a pair of folding tops, was invented in the town. A frequent Ashkenazi surname originates in this town, its most famous bearer was Yechezkel Landau, an 18th-century talmudist and halakhist and the chief rabbi of Prague. Landau in der Pfalz travel guide from Wikivoyage Official website Pictures

Tarquin and Lucretia is an oil painting by Titian completed in 1571, when the artist was in his eighties, for Philip II of Spain. It is signed, considered to have been finished by Titian himself, it is one of a series of great works from Titian's last years, but unlike some of these, is finished. It is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in England; the story from early Roman history of the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, her subsequent suicide, was a popular subject in Renaissance art. Tarquin raped Lucretia after threatening to kill her; the next day she exposed him and committed suicide, prompting the Romans to revolt and overthrow Tarquin's father Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome, establish the Roman Republic. This is traditionally dated to 509 BC. Violent subjects are characteristic of Titian's last years drawn from mythology or religion, but the directness of this composition stands out among them; the refinement of the poses of the figures is reflected in other contemporary versions of the painting.

By this late stage in his career, Titian took many years over paintings, setting them aside for long periods, only returning to them later. This painting is finished, had been in progress for several years; as one of the latest documented and finished paintings by Titian, it is evidence for the much-debated question of whether other late Titians were finished or not. Most art depicted either the moment of the rape, or Lucretia is shown alone at the moment of her suicide. In this near life-size late version, which Titian said in a letter of 1568 was "an invention involving greater labour and artifice than anything that I have produced for many years", the drama of the composition is heightened by small touches in pure white at the tip of the dagger and in Tarquin and Lucretia's eyes; the head and hand entering from the left belong to a male slave. The violent attack is closer to Ovid's account of the story, although this is the only painting of a historical subject from Titian's last years, his mythological subjects are all covered by Ovid.

Lucretia wears her jewellery to bed, Tarquin's clothes are modern and rich. Titian's signature is on the slipper at lower right; the painting has been trimmed on all sides. The subject was one of a group showing women from legend or the Bible who were powerless, or only able to escape their situation through suicide, such as Susanna, Dido of Carthage and Verginia; these formed a counterpoint to, or sub-group of, the set of subjects known as the Power of Women, showing female violence against, or domination of, men. These were depicted by the same artists, popular in Northern Renaissance art; the story of Esther lay somewhere between these two extremes. Either Titian or, as is now thought more his brother Francesco Vecellio, had painted the suicide, as "an elegant dance movement in a landscape", some 50 years earlier. Titian, or Palma Vecchio, had painted a typical portrait of Lucretia holding a knife, but with the untypical addition of a male figure in deep shadow, either Tarquin or her husband, standing just behind her.

This comes from 1514–15 and is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, with an early copy in the Royal Collection. Titian's new composition can be shown to have been influenced by Northern prints, was itself popularized by an engraving by Cornelius Cort, dated 1571, "evidently from some authorized modeletto"; this reversed the composition but another print published in Rome pirated, copied the print and so reversed the composition again to restore the original. The exact poses of the individual figures have precedents, with Lucretia drawing from the female figure in the famous Roman sculpture known as the Farnese Bull; the composition evolved as Titian worked on it, as is shown by x-rays of the painting, a workshop copy now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, which reflects an earlier composition where the hand with the dagger is much lower, threatening to thrust upwards not down. Here Lucretia's head is turned away from Tarquin; the x-rays of the Cambridge painting show. There is an unfinished version, or study, with the raised hand but many other differences, now in the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna.

This is believed by some to be by Titian, but for others "the uncertainty of form and anatomy makes it to be the work of an assistant or pasticheur". Like many of the paintings of his last years, it was a commission for Philip II of Spain, was ready for collection by the Spanish ambassador to Venice by August 1571. Titian's own title, from a letter, is Lucretia romana violata da Tarquino, it remained in the Spanish royal collection until 1813, when it was taken to France by Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's older brother, after he lost the Spanish throne. It accompanied him to America from 1817 to 1832. After his death in 1844 it was sold in London in 1845, after several private owners, it was given by Charles Fairfax Murray to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1918, it was back on the market before this, sold in all six times because of its shocking power. Murray had bought it in

Greatest Hit is a compilation album by progressive metal band Dream Theater released in Australia on March 29, 2008, by Rhino Records in the US on April 1. The title alludes to their only top 10 radio hit, "Pull Me Under", it features three songs from their breakthrough album Images and Words remixed by Kevin Shirley: "Pull Me Under", "Take the Time", "Another Day". It features the song "To Live Forever", an Awake-era re-recording of the song from the Images and Words sessions, unreleased on a full-length album. Several single edits of popular Dream Theater songs are featured on this compilation; the songs have been divided in two discs: the first one, dubbed "The Dark Side", features heavy, metal-influenced songs, while the second one, entitled "The Light Side", spotlights the band's melodic side. The set spans the years from 1991 to 2005, therefore it doesn't include any songs from Dream Theater's debut album, When Dream and Day Unite, their A Change of Seasons EP or their 2007 release Systematic Chaos.

Then-drummer Mike Portnoy explained in the album's booklet that the selection of songs were made in order to appease both the newcomer and the existing fan by offering up different versions of songs on other albums to "make the newcomer want to buy the albums from whence they came" and to "give different versions of songs on other albums" to the current fan. He suggests that a third disc should've been included called "The Epic Side". James LaBrie – vocals John Petrucci – guitar, backing vocals John Myung – bass Mike Portnoy – drums, backing vocals Jordan Rudess – keyboards Kevin Moore – keyboards Derek Sherinian – keyboards, backing vocals on "Peruvian Skies" and "Hollow Years" Jay Beckenstein – saxophone on "Another Day" and "Through Her Eyes" Theresa Thomason – additional vocals on "Through Her Eyes" and "The Spirit Carries On" The versions of "As I Am" and the three songs released on Octavarium differ from the original versions, although the album credits do not state this. "As I Am" omits the opening orchestral chord and the use of profanity, while the songs from Octavarium omit the sound effects that served as interludes between songs on the original album.

On the album cover, the "s" in "Greatest" and "hit" in "Hits" are printed in a subtle shade of red, making the word "shit", as a remark on the band's known frustrations with the status of "Pull Me Under". The album artwork continues this theme, with the stain of seagull feces on an armchair printed with the Dream Theater logo