1.
Latvian people
–
Latvians are a Baltic ethnic group, native to what is modern-day Latvia and the immediate geographical region. They are occasionally referred to as Letts, although this term is obsolescent. The Latvian people share a common Latvian language, the Germanic settlers referred to the natives as Letts and the nation to Lettland, naming their colony Livonia or Livland. The Latin form, Livonia, gradually referred to the territory of the modern-day Latvia as well as southern Estonia. Latvians and Lithuanians are the surviving members of the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family. Paternal haplogroups N1c-Tat and R1a are the two most frequent, reaching 39. 9% each among ethnic Latvians, balts, however, differ from Finno-Ugrics by the predominance of the N1c-L550 branch of N1c-Tat. Haplogroup R1a is associated with the spread of Indo-European languages, a recent autosomal study has shown that among other European populations, Latvians are genetically related to Lithuanians, followed distantly by Estonians. Latvians share a language and have a unique culture with traditions, holidays, customs. The culture and religious traditions have been influenced by Germanic, Scandinavian. Latvians have an ancient culture that has been dated back to 3,000 B. C. Latvians maintained a connection and trade with their neighbors, and near ethnic cousins the Finno-Ugrians, otherwise known contemporarily as Estonians. Colonizers from the south arrived quickly, driving many of the hunters northward as polar ice caps melted further, or east, into modern-day Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. The Roman author Tacitus remarked upon the Aestii peoples, thought to be inhabitants of the modern Baltic lands, suggesting that they were abound with formidable, yet peaceful and hospitable people. The Latvian peoples remained relatively undisturbed until Papal intervention via the Germanic, Teutonic Order colonized Kurzeme, Papal decrees ordered the Teutonic Order to spread the Word of the Lord and the Gospel of Christianity throughout uncivilized, Pagan lands. Though these attempts to Christianize the population failed, and the Teutonic Order eventually redeployed southward, south-Eastern Latvia, due to having a relatively large ethnic Russian population, has maintained a large Russian influence. The national language of the Latvian people is Latvian, Latvian is part of a unique linguistic branch of Indo-European languages, the Baltic languages. List of Latvians Demographics of Latvia Latvian American Latvian Australian Latvian Brazilian Latvian Canadian Baltic people in the United Kingdom
Latvian people
–
The
Basilica of the Assumption in
Aglona, the most important
Roman Catholic church in
Latvia.
Latvian people
–
In 1649 settlement of the Latvian speaking
Kursenieki spanned from
Memel (Klaipėda) to
Danzig (Gdańsk).
2.
Northern Crusades
–
The crusades took place mostly in the 12th and 13th centuries and resulted in the conversion and baptism of indigenous peoples. Most notable campaigns were Livonian and Prussian crusades, some of these wars were called crusades during the Middle Ages, but others, including most of the Swedish ones, were first dubbed crusades by 19th-century romantic nationalist historians. And 1293, Livonians, Latgallians, Selonians, and Estonians, Semigallians and Curonians, the campaigns started with the 1147 Wendish Crusade against the Polabian Slavs of what is now northern and eastern Germany. The crusade occurred parallel to the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, the Swedish crusades were campaigns by Sweden against Finns, Tavastians, and Karelians during period from 1150 to 1293. The Danes are known to have made two crusades to Finland in 1191 and in 1202, the latter one was led by the Bishop of Lund Anders Sunesen with his brother. The difference in creeds was one of the reasons they had not yet been effectively converted. During a period of more than 150 years leading up to the arrival of German crusaders in the region, Estonia was attacked thirteen times by Russian principalities, Estonians for their part made raids upon Denmark and Sweden. There were peaceful attempts by some Catholics to convert the Estonians, starting with missions dispatched by Adalbert, however, these peaceful efforts seem to have had only limited success. Although the crusaders won their first battle, Bishop Berthold was mortally wounded, in 1199, Albert of Buxhoeveden was appointed by the Archbishop Hartwig II of Bremen to Christianise the Baltic countries. By the time Albert died 30 years later, the conquest and formal Christianisation of present-day Estonia, although he landed in the mouth of the Daugava in 1200 with only 23 ships and 500 soldiers, the bishops efforts ensured that a constant flow of recruits followed. The first crusaders usually arrived to fight during the spring and returned to their homes in the autumn, to ensure a permanent military presence, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword were founded in 1202. The founding by Bishop Albert of the market at Riga in 1201 attracted citizens from the Empire, at Alberts request, Pope Innocent III dedicated the Baltic countries to the Virgin Mary to popularize recruitment to his army and the name Marys Land has survived up to modern times. This is noticeable in one of the given to Livonia at the time. In 1206, the crusaders subdued the Livonian stronghold in Turaida on the bank of Gauja River. In order to control over the left bank of Gauja. By 1211, the Livonian province of Metsepole and the mixed Livonian-Latgallian inhabited county of Idumea was converted to the Roman Catholic faith, the last battle against the Livonians was the siege of Satezele hillfort near to Sigulda in 1212. The Livonians, who had been paying tribute to the East Slavic Principality of Polotsk, had at first considered the Germans as useful allies, the first prominent Livonian to be christened was their leader Caupo of Turaida. As the German grip tightened, the Livonians rebelled against the crusaders and the christened chief, Caupo of Turaida remained an ally of the crusaders until his death in the Battle of St. Matthews Day in 1217
Northern Crusades
–
Ruins of the castle in
Sigulda.
Northern Crusades
–
Norway
Northern Crusades
–
Kuressaare Castle, Estonia, constructed by the Teutonic Order
Northern Crusades
–
Tērvete castle hill in 2010.
3.
Greek mythology
–
It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama
Greek mythology
–
Bust of
Zeus,
Otricoli (Sala Rotonda,
Museo Pio-Clementino,
Vatican).
Greek mythology
–
Greek Mythology
Greek mythology
–
Prometheus (1868 by
Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested by
Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of
Prometheus Bound,
Prometheus Unbound, and
Prometheus Pyrphoros.
Greek mythology
–
The Roman poet
Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the
Vergilius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.
4.
Roman Mythology
–
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Romes legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. Roman mythology may also refer to the study of these representations. The Romans usually treated their traditional narratives as historical, even when these have miraculous or supernatural elements, the stories are often concerned with politics and morality, and how an individuals personal integrity relates to his or her responsibility to the community or Roman state. When the stories illuminate Roman religious practices, they are concerned with ritual, augury. Romes early myths and legends also have a relationship with Etruscan religion. In particular, the versions of Greek myths in Ovids Metamorphoses, written during the reign of Augustus, because ritual played the central role in Roman religion that myth did for the Greeks, it is sometimes doubted that the Romans had much of a native mythology. This perception is a product of Romanticism and the scholarship of the 19th century. From the Renaissance to the 18th century, however, Roman myths were an inspiration particularly for European painting, the Roman tradition is rich in historical myths, or legends, concerning the foundation and rise of the city. These narratives focus on human actors, with only occasional intervention from deities, in Romes earliest period, history and myth have a mutual and complementary relationship. As T. P. Wiseman notes, The Roman stories still matter, as they mattered to Dante in 1300 and Shakespeare in 1600, what does it take to be a free citizen. Can a superpower still be a republic, how does well-meaning authority turn into murderous tyranny. Major sources for Roman myth include the Aeneid of Vergil and the first few books of Livys history as well as Dionysius s Roman Antiquities. Other important sources are the Fasti of Ovid, a six-book poem structured by the Roman religious calendar, scenes from Roman myth also appear in Roman wall painting, coins, and sculpture, particularly reliefs. The Aeneid and Livys early history are the best extant sources for Romes founding myths, material from Greek heroic legend was grafted onto this native stock at an early date. By extension, the Trojans were adopted as the ancestors of the Roman people. Rape of the Sabine women, explaining the importance of the Sabines in the formation of Roman culture, numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome who consorted with the nymph Egeria and established many of Romes legal and religious institutions. Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, whose mysterious origins were freely mythologized. The Tarpeian Rock, and why it was used for the execution of traitors, lucretia, whose self-sacrifice prompted the overthrow of the early Roman monarchy and led to the establishment of the Republic
Roman Mythology
–
Romulus and Remus, the
Lupercal,
Father Tiber, and the
Palatine on a
relief from a pedestal dating to the reign of
Trajan (AD 98–117)
Roman Mythology
–
In this wall painting from
Pompeii,
Venus looks on while the physician
Iapyx tends to the wound of her son,
Aeneas; the tearful boy is her grandson
Ascanius, also known as Iulus, legendary ancestor [
citation needed] of
Julius Caesar and the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
Roman Mythology
–
Mucius Scaevola in the Presence of Lars Porsenna (early 1640s) by
Matthias Stom
Roman Mythology
–
Capitoline Triad
5.
Andrejs Pumpurs
–
Andrejs Pumpurs was a poet who penned the Latvian epic Lāčplēsis and a prominent figure in the Young Latvia movement. Working in the land before volunteering to fight in Serbia against the Ottoman Empire in 1876, he became an officer in the Russian army. Growing up on both banks of the Daugava river, he was one of three children from the civil parish chosen by the Lutheran minister for the German class of the school in Lielvārde. His first poems and early sketches for the epic were written in Piebalga, after a brief period in Riga, he left for Moscow in 1876 and was introduced to the Slavophile Ivan Aksakov and the editor Mikhail Katkov by Fricis Brīvzemnieks. Pumpurs became the third Latvian to volunteer to fight with the Serbs and their Russian allies against the Turks and his military career took him to Sevastopol and he received an officers education in Odessa. In 1882 he returned to the Governorate of Livonia in what became the Ust-Dvinsk Regiment, from 1895 he worked for the quartermaster in Dvinsk, traveling widely to supply the Russian army, until he died of rheumatism after a trip to China. Vikors Hausmanis, ed. Latviešu rakstniecība biogrāfijās, anita Rožkalne, project manager, Latviešu rakstniecība biogrāfijās. Rīga, 1922—available at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Latvia website
Andrejs Pumpurs
–
Andrejs Pumpurs
Andrejs Pumpurs
–
Andrejs Pumpurs commemorated on a Soviet Union postage stamp.
Andrejs Pumpurs
–
Pumpurs' Monument (1929) by
Kārlis Zāle in Riga's
Great Cemetery
6.
Second World War
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
Second World War
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
Second World War
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
Second World War
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
Second World War
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
7.
Eastern religions
–
The Eastern religions are the religions originating in the Eastern world— East, South and Southeast Asia —and thus having dissimilarities with Western religions. This includes the East Asian and Indian religious traditions, as well as indigenous religions. This East-West religious distinction, just as with the East-West culture distinction, furthermore, the geographical distinction has less meaning in the current context of global transculturation. While many Western observers attempt to distinguish between Eastern philosophies and religions, this is a distinction that does not exist in some Eastern traditions, Religions originating on the Indian subcontinent include Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. The theologies and philosophies of these religions have several concepts in common, such as dharma, karma, maya, Hinduism originated on the Indian subcontinent. It is considered by some to be the worlds oldest extant religion, Hinduism contains a vast body of scripture, divided as revealed and remembered, expounding on dharma, or religious living. Hindus consider the Vedas and the Upanishads as being among the foremost in authority, importance, the Bhagavad Gītā, a treatise excerpted from the Mahābhārata, is sometimes called a summary of the spiritual teachings of the Vedas. It is difficult to identify any universal belief or practice in Hinduism, although prominent themes include, Dharma, Samsara, Karma, Hinduism is sometimes called a polytheistic religion, but this is an oversimplification. Hinduism includes a collection of schools whose beliefs span monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, monism. A number of scholars consider the Samkhya school of thought to have atheistic leanings. Buddhism is a nontheistic Indian religion and philosophy, Buddhism was founded around the fifth century BCE in India by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, with the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as its central principles. According to the scriptures, the Four Noble Truths were revealed by the Buddha in his first sermon after attaining enlightenment, the schools of Buddhism are typically divided into Theravada and Mahayana. In academic circles, Mahayana is further divided into East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhism teaches that someone who becomes enlightened without instruction is a buddha. The primary goal of Buddhism is the liberation of the practitioner from samsara, Buddhists hold this to be the solution to the problem of suffering. Jainism is the religion of the followers of Mahavira and he is said to be the 24th Tirthankara, or the 24th in a line of teachers espousing Jain principles. Jains reject the Vedas and highlight the practice of austerity, Jain faith states that the jiva, or soul, can escape the cycle of rebirth and death through strict ethical behavior. When nothing remains but the purity of the jiva, that person is called a jina, or winner, Karma is viewed as an accumulation that burdens the soul, causing attachment and suffering. Ahimsa, or non-violence, is central to Jain faith and practice and it is interpreted very strictly as prohibiting all forms of harm to other living beings
Eastern religions
–
A
Hindu temple in
Sri Lanka.
Eastern religions
–
A 13th century
Cambodian statue of
Vishnu.
Eastern religions
–
The
Tian Tan Buddha statue in
Hong Kong.
Eastern religions
–
A Shinto priest kneeling before a shrine.
8.
Goddess of the sun
–
A solar deity is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms, the Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios. The English word sun stems from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ, the Neolithic concept of a solar barge is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the sun-god and Horus as a god of the sky, as the Old Kingdom theocracy gained power, early beliefs were incorporated with the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris-Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting sun, Osiris became the divine heir to Atums power on Earth and passes his divine authority to his son Horus. Early Egyptian myths imply the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet, at night and is reflected in her eyes, or that it is within the cow, Hathor, during the night, being reborn each morning as her son. Mesopotamian Shamash plays an important role during the Bronze Age, similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of Sun worship, as with the Incan Inti. Proto-Indo-European religion has a chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in a chariot. In Germanic mythology this is Sol, in Vedic Surya, and in Greek Helios, svarog is the Slavic solar deity, represented as a spirit of fire. During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun was celebrated on the winter solstice—the rebirth of the sun—which occurred on December 25 of the Julian calendar. In late antiquity, the centrality of the sun in some Imperial religious systems suggest a form of a solar monotheism. The religious commemorations on December 25 were replaced under Christian domination of the Empire with the birthday of Christ, the Tiv people consider the Sun to be the son of the supreme being Awondo and the Moon Awondos daughter. The Barotse tribe believes that the Sun is inhabited by the sky god Nyambi, some Sara people also worship the sun. Even where the sun god is equated with the supreme being, the Ancient Egyptian god of creation, Amun is also believed to reside inside the sun. So is the Akan creator deity, Nyame and the Dogon deity of creation, also in Egypt, there was a religion that worshiped the sun directly, and was among the first monotheistic religions, Atenism. Sun worship was prevalent in ancient Egyptian religion, the earliest deities associated with the sun are all goddesses, Wadjet, Sekhmet, Hathor, Nut, Bast, Bat, and Menhit. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and nurse Horus, Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-nurse to Horus. From at least the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the sun was worshipped as the deity Re, and portrayed as a falcon headed god surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent
Goddess of the sun
–
The
Trundholm sun chariot
Goddess of the sun
–
Statue of
Hathor – Luxor Museum
Goddess of the sun
–
A solar representation on an anthropomorphic stele dated from the time period between the
Copper Age and the
Early Bronze Age, discovered during an archaeological excavation on the Rocher des Doms,
Avignon.
Goddess of the sun
–
Taiyang Shen, the Chinese solar deity
9.
Cosmic ocean
–
A cosmic ocean is a mythological motif found in the Creation myth of many cultures and civilizations. The cosmic ocean is often seen as the universe in a dim and nonspecific past. The cosmic ocean is often seen as still surrounding the present world
Cosmic ocean
–
"The Cosmic Ocean Reveals Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva
10.
Dying god
–
Dying God is a 2008 Argentinian–French horror-science fiction film directed by Fabrice Lambot. Sean Fallon, a cop, attempts to solve a series of unexplainable rapes that have resulted in the brutal deaths of prostitutes. Fallon discovers that the rapes are the work of a creature worshiped as a god by South American tribes, aided by a local pimp, Fallon attempts to stop the creature while dealing with his own issues. Green Apple released Dying God on DVD on 28 December 2010, scott Foy of Dread Central rated it 1. 5/5 stars and called it a cheap, dull, ugly-looking movie with ugly characters and a monster that remains uninspired despite the unsavory nature of this beast. Adam Arseneau of DVD Verdict wrote that both the premise and execution are bad and it currently holds a 2.6 rating on IMDB. Dying God at the Internet Movie Database
Dying god
–
Theatrical release poster
11.
World tree
–
The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European religions, Siberian religions, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a tree which supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the terrestrial world, and, through its roots. It may also be connected to the motif of the tree of life. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree, Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The Æsir go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts, creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the harts Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór, the giant in eagle-shape Hraesvelgr, the squirrel Ratatoskr and the wyrm Níðhöggr. Scholarly theories have proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasil, the potential relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr. The world tree is represented in the mythologies and folklore of Northern Asia and Siberia. In the mythology of the Samoyeds, the world tree connects different realities together, in their mythology the world tree is also the symbol of Mother Earth who is said to give the Samoyed shaman his drum and also help him travel from one world to another. The symbol of the tree is also common in Tengriism. The world tree is visible in the designs of the Crown of Silla, Silla being one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea and this link is used to establish a connection between Siberian peoples and those of Korea. Among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, the concept of trees is a prevalent motif in Mesoamerican mythical cosmologies. The Temple of the Cross Complex at Palenque contains one of the most studied examples of the tree in architectural motifs of all Mayan ruins. Among the Maya, the world tree was conceived as, or represented by. The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in Mesoamerican calendars, and the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and it is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept. World trees are depicted with birds in their branches. The central world tree has also interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way
World tree
–
From Northern Antiquities, an English translation of the
Prose Edda from 1847. Painted by Oluf Olufsen Bagge.
12.
Axis mundi
–
The axis mundi, in certain beliefs and philosophies, is the world center, or the connection between Heaven and Earth. As the celestial pole and geographic pole, it expresses a point of connection between sky and earth where the four directions meet. At this point travel and correspondence is made higher and lower realms. Communication from lower realms may ascend to higher ones and blessings from higher realms may descend to lower ones, the spot functions as the omphalos, the worlds point of beginning. The image is viewed as feminine, as it relates to the center of the earth. It may have the form of an object or a product of human manufacture. Its proximity to heaven may carry implications that are religious or secular. The image appears in religious and secular contexts, the axis mundi symbol may be found in cultures utilizing shamanic practices or animist belief systems, in major world religions, and in technologically advanced urban centers. In Mircea Eliades opinion, Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre, that is to say, the axis mundi is often associated with mandalas. The symbol originates in a natural and universal psychological perception, that the spot one occupies stands at the center of the world and this space serves as a microcosm of order because it is known and settled. Outside the boundaries of the microcosm lie foreign realms that, because they are unfamiliar or not ordered, represent chaos, from the center one may still venture in any of the four cardinal directions, make discoveries, and establish new centers as new realms become known and settled. Within the central known universe a specific locale-often a mountain or other elevated place, a spot where earth and sky come closest gains status as center of the center, high mountains are typically regarded as sacred by peoples living near them. Shrines are often erected at the summit or base, Mount Kunlun fills a similar role in China. For the ancient Hebrews Mount Zion expressed the symbol, sioux beliefs take the Black Hills as the axis mundi. Mount Kailash is holy to Hinduism and several religions in Tibet, the Pitjantjatjara people in central Australia consider Uluru to be central to both their world and culture. In ancient Mesopotamia the cultures of ancient Sumer and Babylon erected artificial mountains, or ziggurats and these supported staircases leading to temples at the top. The Hindu temples in India are often situated on high mountains, the pre-Columbian residents of Teotihuacán in Mexico erected huge pyramids featuring staircases leading to heaven. Jacobs Ladder is an axis mundi image, as is the Temple Mount, for Christians the Cross on Mount Calvary expresses the symbol
Axis mundi
–
Mount Kailash, depicting the holy family:
Shiva and
Parvati, cradling
Skanda with
Ganesha by Shiva's side
Axis mundi
–
Mount Fuji,
Japan
Axis mundi
–
Yggdrasil, the World Ash in Norse myths
Axis mundi
–
Vitruvian Man by
Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1492)
13.
Polar star
–
USCGC Polar Star is a United States Coast Guard heavy icebreaker. Commissioned in 1976, the ship was built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington along with her sister ship, USCGC Polar Sea. Homeported in Seattle, Polar Star operates under the control of Pacific Area, after the Polar Sea was deactivated in 2010, the Polar Star became the USs only heavy icebreaker. Its current commanding officer is Captain Michael Davanzo, the extensive use of automation and low maintenance materials have greatly reduced staffing requirements. Polar Stars three shafts are turned by either a diesel-electric or gas turbine prime mover, each shaft is connected to a 16-foot diameter, four-bladed, controllable-pitch propeller. The diesel-electric plant can produce 18,000 shaft horsepower, Polar Star has sufficient hull strength to absorb the high-powered ice breaking common to her operations. The shell plating and associated support structure are fabricated from steel that has especially good low-temperature strength. The portion of the designed to break ice is 1.75 inches thick in the bow and stern sections. The hull strength is produced almost entirely from the internal support structure. The curved bow allows Polar Star to ride up on the ice, Polar Star has other unique engineering features designed to aid in icebreaking. At one point, an installed heeling system could rock the ship to prevent getting stuck in the ice, the system consisted of three pairs of connected tanks on opposite sides of the ship. Pumps transferred a tanks contents of 35,000 US gallons to a tank in 50 seconds. This system has since removed due to maintenance issues. Duty on an icebreaker is long and strenuous, especially when it involves being away from homeport for up to eight out of the year. Careful consideration has been given to meet the needs of Polar Stars crew of 15 officers and 126 enlisted, the ship has four sizable lounges, a library, a gymnasium, and a small ships store. The ship also has its own U. S, post Office, satellite pay telephones, amateur radio equipment, a computer lounge, and movie library. Bright colors and modern decor differ sharply from traditional military shipboard drabness, Polar Star can accommodate two HH-65 Dolphin helicopters during major deployments. They support scientific parties, do ice reconnaissance, cargo transfer, Polar Star has a variety of missions while operating in polar regions
Polar star
–
History
Polar star
–
USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) alongside her sister ship
USCGC Polar Sea near
McMurdo Station,
Antarctica.
Polar star
–
The upward angle of Polar Star 's bow is designed so that the hull rides up onto the ice surface during icebreaking operations. Subsequently the ship's weight and forward motion combine to crush the ice.
14.
Milky Way
–
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The descriptive milky is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. The term Milky Way is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610, until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies, the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with a diameter between 100,000 light-years and 180,000 light-years. The Milky Way is estimated to contain 100–400 billion stars, there are probably at least 100 billion planets in the Milky Way. The Solar System is located within the disk, about 26,000 light-years from the Galactic Center, on the edge of one of the spiral-shaped concentrations of gas. The stars in the inner ≈10,000 light-years form a bulge, the very center is marked by an intense radio source, named Sagittarius A*, which is likely to be a supermassive black hole. Stars and gases at a range of distances from the Galactic Center orbit at approximately 220 kilometers per second. The constant rotation speed contradicts the laws of Keplerian dynamics and suggests much of the mass of the Milky Way does not emit or absorb electromagnetic radiation. This mass has been termed dark matter, the rotational period is about 240 million years at the position of the Sun. The Milky Way as a whole is moving at a velocity of approximately 600 km per second with respect to frames of reference. The oldest stars in the Milky Way are nearly as old as the Universe itself, the Milky Way has several satellite galaxies and is part of the Local Group of galaxies, which is a component of the Virgo Supercluster, which is itself a component of the Laniakea Supercluster. The Milky Way can be seen as a band of white light some 30 degrees wide arcing across the sky. Dark regions within the band, such as the Great Rift, the area of the sky obscured by the Milky Way is called the Zone of Avoidance. The Milky Way has a low surface brightness. Its visibility can be reduced by background light such as light pollution or stray light from the Moon. The sky needs to be darker than about 20.2 magnitude per square arcsecond in order for the Milky Way to be seen and it should be visible when the limiting magnitude is approximately +5.1 or better and shows a great deal of detail at +6.1
Milky Way
–
The Milky Way's
Galactic Center in the night sky above
Paranal Observatory (the laser creates a
guide-star for the telescope).
Milky Way
–
A view of the Milky Way toward the constellation
Sagittarius (including the
Galactic Center) as seen from an area not polluted by light (the
Black Rock Desert, Nevada)
Milky Way
–
The Milky Way arching at a high inclination across the night sky (
fish-eye mosaic shot at
Paranal, Chile).
Milky Way
–
A photograph of galaxy
NGC 6744, which might resemble the Milky Way.
15.
Auseklis
–
Auseklis was a Latvian god, and the personification of the celestial body Venus. He is third most popular deity in Latvian mythology after Saulė and Mēness, Auseklis is closely associated with Mēness. They both are Dieva dēli, and are confused with each other and with other male deities. Auseklis is the groom of Saules meita, despite this Auseklis is often referred to as being very young. Auseklis is also the name of eight-pointed star and it is also known as one of the crosses of Lietuvēns. The other cross of Lietuvēns is the pentagram, which symbolizes Venus in other cultures, suggesting that both signs might have originally been symbols of Auseklis. Modernly the pentagram is seen as a symbol of evil. Both signs had to be drawn without lifting the hand to ensure that protection is effective, in the 1980s, the octagram became the symbol of the third Latvian National Awakening. Latvijas Enciklopēdija, Rīga 2002, ISBN 9984-9482-0-X Dainuskapis. lv Aušrinė Triquetra
Auseklis
–
Crosses of Lietuvēns: Auseklis (above) and the pentagram (below) had to be drawn without lifting one's hand.
16.
Devil
–
The Devil is, according to Christianity, the primary opponent of God. Islam identifies the Devil with all those who oppose Allah, some non-Abrahamic religions contain figures similar to the Devil, such as the Buddhist demon Mara and the Zoroastrian spirit Angra Mainyu. The Modern English word devil descends from the Middle English devel, from Old English dēofol, that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus. This in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek Greek, διάβολος, slanderer, from Greek, διαβάλλειν to slander, διά- across, through + βάλλειν to hurl, probably akin to the Sanskrit gurate he lifts up. In the New Testament, Satan occurs more than 30 times in passages alongside diábolos, in mainstream Judaism there is no concept of a devil as in mainstream Christianity or Islam. Texts make no direct link between the serpent that tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the references to Satan are in Zechariah. For the Hasidim of the century, ha-satan was Baal Davar. In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the one who brought death into the world, a similar story is found in 1 Enoch, however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori is called Semjâzâ. In the apocryphal literature, Satan rules over a host of angels, mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature. The Book of Enoch contains references to Sathariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satanel, the similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, previous to his expulsion from Heaven. In mainstream Christianity the devil is usually referred to as Satan, some modern Christians consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described as hating all humanity, opposing God, spreading lies, other modern Christians consider the devil in the Bible to refer figuratively to human sin and temptation and to any immoral human system. Satan is often identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the fruit, thus. He is also identified as the dragon in the Book of Revelation, beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god but is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan. A corrupted version, Belzeboub, appears in The Divine Comedy, in Islam the Devil is referred to as Iblis or sometimes the Shaytan. Etymologically, Iblis means the desperate in Arabic, thus, the name Iblis can be seen as a sobriquet given to Shaitan after falling from Grace. The primary characteristic of the Devil, besides hubris, is that he has no other than the power to cast evil suggestions into the hearts of men and women. He was of the jinn and departed from the command of his Lord, then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you
Devil
–
Depiction of the devil as seen in the
Codex Gigas.
Devil
–
The
Baphomet, adopted symbol of some
Left-Hand Path systems, including
Theistic Satanism.
Devil
–
Devils – a fresco detail from the
Rila Monastery.
Devil
–
The devil depicted in the
Temptation of Christ, by
Ary Scheffer, 1854.
17.
Chthonic
–
The translation of meaning discusses deities or spirits of the underworld, especially in Greek religion. The Greek word khthon is one of several for earth, it refers to the interior of the soil, rather than the living surface of the land. These include, but are not strictly limited to, Demeter. Nocturnal ritual sacrifice was a practice in many chthonic cults. When the sacrifice was a creature, the animal was placed in a bothros or megaron. In some Greek chthonic cults, the animal was sacrificed on a raised bomos, offerings were usually burned whole or buried rather than being cooked and shared among the worshippers. C. He does, however, note that this may be somewhat of an overgeneralization, the myths associating the underworld chthonic deities and fertility were not exclusive. Myths about the later Olympian deities also described an association with the fertility, thus Demeter and Persephone both watched over aspects of the fertility of land, yet Demeter had a typically Olympian cult while Persephone had a chthonic one. Also, Demeter was worshiped alongside Persephone with identical rites, and yet occasionally was classified as an Olympian in late poetry, the absorption of some earlier cults into the newer pantheon versus those that resisted being absorbed is suggested as providing the later myths. The categories Olympian and chthonic were not, however, completely separate, some Olympian deities, such as Hermes and Zeus, also received chthonic sacrifices and tithes in certain locations. The deified heroes Heracles and Asclepius might be worshipped as gods or chthonic heroes, depending on the site, moreover, a few deities are not easily classifiable under these terms. Hecate, for instance, was typically offered puppies at crossroads—a practice neither typical of an Olympian sacrifice nor of a sacrifice to Persephone or the heroes. Because of her roles, Hecate is generally classed as chthonic. As well, the chthonic has connotations with regard to gender, in cultural anthropology, men associated with the above, the sky, and women associated with the below, with the earth, water of the underground, and the chthonic deities. This was by no means universal, in Ancient Egypt the main deity of the earth was the male god Geb, his consort was Nut. The term allochthon in structural geology is used to describe a large block of rock which has moved from its original site of formation. From the Greek allo meaning other and chthon designating the process of the mass being moved under the earth. Chthonic law Earth mother Geomancy Life-death-rebirth deities Sky father The dictionary definition of chthonic at Wiktionary
Chthonic
–
Greek Mythology
18.
Hell
–
Hell, in many mythological, folklore and religious traditions, is a place of torment and punishment in an afterlife. Religions with a divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations while Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions locate hell in another dimension or under the Earths surface, other afterlife destinations include Heaven, Purgatory, Paradise, and Limbo. Hell is sometimes portrayed as populated with demons who torment those dwelling there, many are ruled by a death god such as Nergal, Hades, Hel, Enma or Satan. Subsequently, the word was used to transfer a pagan concept to Christian theology, Some have theorized that English word hell is derived from Old Norse hel. However, this is unlikely as hel appears in Old English before the Viking invasions. Furthermore, the word has cognates in all the other Germanic languages and has a Proto-Germanic origin, Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited by demons and the souls of dead people, a fable about hell which recurs in folklore across several cultures is the allegory of the long spoons. Hell is often depicted in art and literature, perhaps most famously in Dantes Divine Comedy, punishment in Hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life. In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, Hell is often depicted as fiery, painful and harsh, despite these common depictions of Hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray Hell as cold. Buddhist - and particularly Tibetan Buddhist - descriptions of hell feature a number of hot. Among Christian descriptions Dantes Inferno portrays the innermost circle of Hell as a lake of blood. At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges, if they had led a life in conformance with the precepts of the Goddess Maat, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the Two Fields. If found guilty the person was thrown to a devourer and would be condemned to the lake of fire, the person taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian, purification for those considered justified appears in the descriptions of Flame Island, where humans experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits but there is no suggestion of eternal torture, the weighing of the heart in Egyptian mythology can lead to annihilation. The Tale of Khaemwese describes the torment of a man, who lacked charity. Divine pardon at judgement always remained a concern for the Ancient Egyptians
Hell
–
Medieval illustration of Hell in the
Hortus deliciarum manuscript of
Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180)
Hell
–
Hell - detail from a fresco in the medieval church St. Nicolas in Raduil,
Bulgaria
Hell
–
Hel (1889) by
Johannes Gehrts.
Hell
–
An illustration by
Doré of
Dante ’s 6th circle of
Hell, from the
Divine Comedy
19.
Grave goods
–
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a type of votive deposit, most grave goods recovered by archaeologists consist of inorganic objects such as pottery and stone and metal tools but organic objects that have since decayed were also placed in ancient tombs. Funerary art is a term but generally means artworks made specifically to decorate a burial place. Where grave goods appear, grave robbery is a potential problem, etruscans would scratch the word śuθina, Etruscan for from a tomb, on grave goods buried with the dead to discourage their reuse by the living. The tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun is famous because it was one of the few Egyptian tombs that was not thoroughly looted in ancient times, Grave goods can be regarded as a sacrifice intended for the benefit of the deceased in the afterlife. Closely related are customs of worship and offerings to the dead, in modern western culture related to All Souls Day, in East Asia the hell bank note. Also closely related is the custom of retainer sacrifice, where servants or wives of a deceased chieftain are interred with the body, evidence for intentional burial is found in Neanderthal sites from 130,000 years ago or earlier. In Homo sapiens burials beginning about 100,000 years ago, the body of the deceased was sprinkled with red ochre, and offerings of food, tools, and fresh flowers may have been deposited in the grave. Beads made of basalt deposited in graves in the Fertile Crescent date to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, the distribution of grave goods are a potential indicator of the social stratification of a society. It is also possible that burial goods indicate a level of concern and consciousness in regard to an afterlife, the expression of social status in rich graves is taken to extremes in the royal graves of the Bronze Age. In the Theban Necropolis in Ancient Egypt, the pyramids and the graves in the Valley of the Kings are among the most elaborate burials in human history. This trend is continued into the Iron Age, an example of an extremely rich royal grave of the Iron Age is the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang. In the sphere of the Roman Empire, early Christian graves lack grave goods, in the Christian Middle Ages, high-status graves are marked on the exterior, with tomb effigies or expensive tomb stones rather than by the presence of grave goods. The importance of goods, from the simple behavioural and technical to the metaphysical. However, care must be taken to avoid naive interpretation of grave goods as a sample of artefacts in use in a culture. Because of their context, grave goods may represent a special class of artifacts. Burial Grave field Necropolis Mingqi, the traditional Chinese burial goods The Earliest Beads, Treasures From the Ancient World, Museum of Ancient and Modern Art, at muma. org
Grave goods
–
The
gilded throne of
Pharaoh Tutankhamun is but one of the treasures found within his tomb.
Grave goods
–
Warrior's burial from Hamburg-Marmstorf Grave
Grave goods
–
A
Copper Age grave group including a stone wristguard, copper dagger and bone belt fitting found at
Sittingbourne
20.
Witch trials in the Early Modern period
–
Those accused of witchcraft were portrayed as being worshippers of the Devil, who engaged in such acts as malevolent sorcery at meetings known as Witches Sabbaths. Many people were accused of being witches, and were put on trial for the crime, with varying punishments being applicable in different regions. Though some of the earliest trials are from the Late Medieval period, an estimated total of 40, 000-60,000 people were executed during the witch trials. Among the best known of these trials were the Scottish North Berwick witch trials, Swedish Torsåker witch trials, among the largest and most notable were the Trier witch trials, the Fulda witch trials, the Würzburg witch trial, the Bamberg witch trials and the Salem witch trials. The sociological causes of the witch-hunts have long been debated in scholarship, the work of Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century was instrumental in developing the new theology which would give rise to the witch hunts. Because sorcery was judged by secular courts, it was not until maleficium was identified with heresy that theological trials for witchcraft could commence. e, the recognition of the existence of witchcraft as a form of Satanic influence, and its classification as a heresy. Early Modern Europe and its North American colonies were replete with a belief in the reality of magic, belief in the witch, an individual who practiced malevolent magic, was not new to Modern Europe. Many Early Modern communities contained professional or semi-professional practitioners of folk magic, in contrast to this low magic was the high magic practiced by learned men of the Renaissance. It was also during the Medieval period that the concept of Satan, in particular, he was often viewed as a goat, or as a human with goat-like features, such as horns, hooves and a tail. As Thurston noted, By about 1200, it would have been difficult to be a Christian, by 1500 scenes of the devil were commonplace in the new cathedrals and small parish churches that had sprung up in many regions. The field of demonology had emerged in Medieval Christendom as certain members of the clergy began to focus in particular on the actions of demons in the world, in the 14th and 15th centuries, the concept of the witch in Christendom underwent a relatively radical change. Instead they became the all-out malevolent Devil-worshiper, who had made a pact with him in which they had to renounce Christianity, as a part of this, they gained, new, supernatural powers that enabled them to work magic, which they would use against Christians. It was believed that they would fly to their meetings, known as the Witches Sabbath. On their death, the souls, which then belonged to the Devil. For many educated Christians in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including theologians and judges, the inquisition had the office of protecting Christian against the internal threat of heresy. An important turning-point was the Black Death of 1348–1350, which killed a large percentage of the European population, Witchcraft had not been considered a heresy during the High Medieval period. Indeed, since the Council of Paderborn of 785, the belief in the possibility of witchcraft itself was considered heretical, the anti-semitic sentiment prevalent in the Medieval era would also influence the later witch trials, with the alleged witches meetings being termed sabbaths and synagogues. The historian Richard Kieckhefer suggested that the late medieval trials paved the way for more dramatic prosecutions to come, there had been a growth in the number of sorcery trials in Europe during the fourteenth century
Witch trials in the Early Modern period
–
Punishments for witchcraft in 16th-century
Germany. Woodcut from Tengler's
Laienspiegel,
Mainz, 1508.
Witch trials in the Early Modern period
–
A late-sixteenth-century illustration of a witch feeding her familiars from England. A number of historians believe that the familiar spirit is a pre-Christian idea.
Witch trials in the Early Modern period
–
The Obscene Kiss, an illustration of witches kissing the Devil's anus from
Francesco Maria Guazzo 's Compendium Maleficarum (1608).
Witch trials in the Early Modern period
–
Witches by
Hans Baldung Grien (Woodcut, 1508)
21.
Burtnieki
–
Burtnieki is a village in Burtnieki parish, North Latvia, near the Lake Burtnieks. Burtnieki was first mentioned in Indrikis chronicles in 1208 and has historic sites, Burtnieki castle-ruins, Burtnieki manor. Burtnieki was a site of a Livonian Order castle, built in 1284, the house was burned down in the 16th century, during the Livonian War. A part of wall on the Southern side remains. In the 14th century, an estate was built near the castle ruins. In 1860s, baron J. F. von Schroder created a park near the estate with about 70 species of trees and bushes, the Lutheran church of Burtnieki is located on the Eastern bank of the lake. The first church was there in 1234. It was a Catholic church, built from wood and it burned down and was replaced by a stone wall church between 1283-1287. It was destroyed in 1654, during the Polish-Russian War, the current church was built in 1688. Near the church is located a minister estate building complex, renovated in 1992, the estate building has been defined as a protected architectural monument. Burtnieki has a horse-farm, first established in 1941, several notable horses have been bred here. Burtnieki-bred horse Rusty, with the rider Ulla Salzgeber of Germany, won bronze medal in individual dressage, after Olympics, Rusty and Ulla Salzgeber have won two European Championships and World Cup. The former Briedes pub hosts a breeding and agriculture museum. It was one of the sites of 2000 European Heritage Days, Burtnieki school was established in 1685 and was one of the first 15 rural schools in Latvia. It is currently known as Burtnieki Auseklis Secondary School, Burtnieki - from In Your Pocket city guide
Burtnieki
–
This article includes a
list of references, related reading or
external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
inline citations. Please
improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2013)
22.
Demon
–
A demon is a supernatural, mythological and often malevolent being prevalent in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology and folklore. The original Greek word daimon does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine δαιμόνιον, the Ancient Greek word δαίμων daimōn denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latin genius or numen. Daimōn most likely came from the Greek verb daiesthai, the Greek conception of a daimōn notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. To distinguish the classical Greek concept from its later Christian interpretation, the Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. In fact, εὐδαιμονία eudaimonia, means happiness, far into the Byzantine period Christians eyed their cities old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested, the term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament, the Western medieval and neo-medieval conception of a demon derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity. The Hellenistic daemon eventually came to include many Semitic and Near Eastern gods as evaluated by Christianity, the supposed existence of demons remains an important concept in many modern religions and occultist traditions. Demons are still feared largely due to their power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition, a demon is a metaphor for certain inner psychological processes. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, storm-demons and they were represented as winged bulls, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective jinn of royal palaces. From Chaldea, the term shedu traveled to the Israelites, the writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dialogism to Canaanite deities. There are indications that demons in popular Hebrew mythology were believed to come from the nether world, various diseases and ailments were ascribed to them, particularly those affecting the brain and those of internal nature. Examples include catalepsy, headache, epilepsy and nightmares, there also existed a demon of blindness, Shabriri who rested on uncovered water at night and blinded those who drank from it. Demons supposedly entered the body and caused the disease while overwhelming or seizing the victim, to cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which the Essenes excelled. In mythology, there were few defences against Babylonian demons, the mythical mace Sharur had the power to slay demons such as Asag, a legendary gallu or edimmu of hideous strength. As referring to the existence or non-existence of shedim there are converse opinions in Judaism, there are practically nil roles assigned to demons in the Jewish Bible. In conclusion, Jews are not obligated to believe in the existence of shedim, the word shedim appears only in two places in the Tanakh
Demon
–
Lilith, by
John Collier, 1892
Demon
–
Buer, the 10th spirit, who teaches "Moral and Natural Philosophy" (from a 1995 Mathers edition. Illustration by Louis Breton from
Dictionnaire Infernal).
Demon
–
The classic
Japanese demon, an ogre-like creature which often has horns.
Demon
–
Human-headed winged bull, otherwise known as a
Lamassu
23.
Werewolves
–
Early sources for belief in lycanthropy are Petronius and Gervase of Tilbury. From the early period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle Ages, during the early period, accusations of lycanthropy were mixed with accusations of wolf-riding or wolf-charming. The case of Peter Stumpp led to a significant peak in both interest in and persecution of supposed werewolves, primarily in French-speaking and German-speaking Europe, the trappings of horror literature in the 20th century became part of the horror and fantasy genre of modern pop culture. The word werewolf continues a late Old English werwulf, a compound of were man, the only Old High German testimony is in the form of a given name, Weriuuolf, although an early Middle High German werwolf is found in Burchard of Worms and Berthold of Regensburg. The word or concept does not occur in medieval German poetry or fiction, Middle Latin gerulphus Anglo-Norman garwalf, Old Frankish *wariwulf. Old Norse had the cognate varúlfur, but because of the importance of werewolves in Norse mythology. In modern Scandinavian also kveldulf evening-wolf, presumably after the name of Kveldulf Bjalfason, use of lycanthropy for supposed shape-shifting is much later, introduced ca. Slavic uses the term vlko-dlak, literally wolf-skin, paralleling the Old Norse ulfhéðinn, however, the word is not attested in the medieval period. The Slavic term was loaned into modern Greek as Vrykolakas, baltic has related terms, Lithuanian vilkolakis and vilkatas, Latvian vilkatis and vilkacis. The name vurdalak for the Slavic vampire is a due to Alexander Pushkin. Tolstoy in his novella The Family of the Vourdalak, Greek λυκάνθρωπος and Germanic werewulf are parallel inasmuch as the concept of a shapeshifter becoming a wolf is expressed by means of a compound wolf-man or man-wolf. Their underlying common origin can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European mythology and this is reflected in Iron Age Europe in the Tierkrieger depictions from the Germanic sphere, among others. The standard comparative overview of this aspect of Indo-European mythology is McCone, such transformations of men into wolves in pagan cult were associated with the devil from the early medieval perspective. In his Man into Wolf, Robert Eisler tried to cast the Indo-European tribal names meaning wolf or wolf-men in terms of the European transition from fruit gathering to predatory hunting, a few references to men changing into wolves are found in Ancient Greek literature and mythology. In the second century BC, the Greek geographer Pausanias related the story of Lycaon, in accounts by the Bibliotheca and Ovid, Lycaon serves human flesh to Zeus, wanting to know if he is really a god. Lycaons transformation, therefore, is punishment for a crime, considered variously as murder, cannibalism, Ovid also relates stories of men who roamed the woods of Arcadia in the form of wolves. In addition to Ovid, other Roman writers also mentioned lycanthropy, virgil wrote of human beings transforming into wolves
Werewolves
–
Dolon wearing a wolf-skin. Attic red-figure vase, c. 460 BC.
Werewolves
–
Woodcut of a werewolf attack, by
Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1512
Werewolves
–
Vendel period depiction of a warrior wearing a wolf-skin (
Tierkrieger)
Werewolves
–
Zeus turning
Lycaon into a
wolf, engraving by
Hendrik Goltzius.
24.
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum
–
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum is an open-air museum located just outside Riga, the capital of Latvia, on the lightly wooded shores of Juglas Lake. In 1924, the Latvian Council of Monuments signed an order to create the museum in Riga. The idea for the new museum was inspired by open-air museums in Scandinavia, the plan was to relocate a homestead from all four regions of Latvia – Courland, Zemgale, Vidzeme and Latgale – to the museum. Each of the buildings would represent the different crafts of each area, the new museum acquired land from a state land fund in the sandy dunes near Juglas Lake, just outside the city. In 1928, the first building, a barn from Vestiena parish was relocated, in 1932, the museum was opened to the public with six buildings. In 1939, there were already 40 buildings erected in the museum, every region had its homestead and several other buildings of architectural or cultural value represented here. In the 1930s the museum became a popular place and the community actively participated in the development of the museum. Several buildings were relocated and rebuilt, funded by private donations, during the Second World War, the museum remained mostly undamaged, but most of its pre-war personnel were unavailable after having been repressed or forced into exile. Many documents were also lost during this period, after the war, the new Soviet power didnt understand the nature of the museum and even declared it ideologically incorrect. Only in the late 1960s did the museum see a renaissance, as communication with other countries was improved, the territory of the museum was expanded and many new and high-value objects were placed into the museum. As a result, a new complex of farmers homesteads from the 1930s was opened in 1997, today, the museum organizes many cultural events, such as folk concerts and traditional and craft festivals. The museum promotes traditional Latvian culture and lifestyle with these cultural events, the annual traditional craft fair has been organized by the museum since 1971. The annual crafts fair become the museums most famous annual event, the museum currently occupies 87 hectares and displays 118 buildings, as well as more than 3,000 items. Most of Latvias historical ethnic groups are represented in the museum, the museums collection holds approximately 150,000 artifacts
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum
–
Interior of the Usma lutheran church
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum
–
Latvian postage stamp issued 1994 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the museum.
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum
–
Fishermens dwelling house Lurķi from the Rucava parish, Courland.
Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum
–
Dwelling house of the russian peasant from Latgale
25.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
Our Lady of Vladimir, one of the medieval representations of the
Theotokos
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
Virgin and Child with angels and Sts. George and Theodore. Icon from around 600, from
Saint Catherine's Monastery.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
The
Annunciation by
Eustache Le Sueur, an example of 17th-century
Marian art. The
Angel Gabriel announces to Mary her pregnancy with Jesus and offers her
White Lilies.
Mary (mother of Jesus)
–
The Virgin's first seven steps, mosaic from
Chora Church, c. 12th century
26.
Titles of Mary
–
Mary is known by many different titles, epithets, invocations and other names. All of these refer to the same individual named Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ and are used variably by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox. Many of the given to Mary are dogmatic in nature. Other titles are poetic or allegorical and have lesser or no canonical status, yet more titles refer to depictions of Mary in the history of art. There are several stories on the significance of the large number of titles given to Mary. Some titles grew due to geographic and cultural reasons, e. g. through the veneration of specific icons, others were related to Marian apparitions. Marys help is sought for a spectrum of human needs in varied situations. This led to the formulation of many of her titles, moreover, meditations and devotions on the different aspects of the Virgin Marys role within the life of Jesus led to additional titles such as Our Lady of Sorrows. Still further titles have been derived from dogmas and doctrines, such as the Immaculate Conception, Marys cultus or devotional cult consolidated in the year 431 when, at the Council of Ephesus, the Theotokos, or Mary as bearer of God, was declared dogma. Henceforth Marian devotion—which centered on the subtle and complex relationship between Mary, Jesus, and the Church—would flourish, first in the East and later in the West, the Reformation diminished Marys role in many parts of Northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Council of Trent and Counter Reformation would intensify Marian devotion in the West, following the Reformation, as of the 17th century, the baroque literature on Mary experienced unforeseen growth with over 500 pages of Mariological writings during the 17th century alone. Mother of God, The Council of Ephesus decreed in 431 that Mary is Theotokos because her son Jesus is both God and man, one Divine Person with two natures and this name was translated in the West as Mater Dei or Mother of God. From this derives the title Blessed Mother, Virgin Mary, The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary developed early in Christianity and was taught by the early Fathers, such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and others. In the fourth century became a popular title for Mary. Variations on this include the Virgin Mary, the Blessed Virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary was declared a dogma by the Lateran Council of 649. Immaculate Conception, The dogma that Mary was conceived without original sin was defined in 1854 and this gave rise to the titles of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception and Queen Conceived Without Original Sin. The Immaculate Conception is also honored under the titles of Our Lady of Caysasay, Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius, Our Lady of Guidance, the titles Our Lady of Assumption and Queen Assumed Into Heaven derive from this. This dogma is also reflected in devotion to Our Lady of Ta Pinu on Malta, “Our Lady” is a common title to give to Mary as a sign of respect and honor
Titles of Mary
–
Our Lady of Good Counsel by
Pasquale Sarullo, 19th century.
Titles of Mary
–
Hodegetria "She Who Shows the Way"
Titles of Mary
–
Sedes Sapientiae "Throne of Wisdom"
Titles of Mary
–
" Gothic Madonna "
27.
Wreaths
–
For the wreath used in heraldry, see torse. A wreath is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, in English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, mainly as an Advent and Christmas decoration. They are also used in events in many cultures around the globe. Wreaths have much history and symbolism associated with them and they are usually made from evergreens and symbolize strength, as evergreens last even throughout the harshest winters. Bay laurel may also be used, and these wreaths are known as laurel wreath, the word wreath comes from Middle English wrethe and from Old English writha, band. Wreaths were a used in ancient times in southern Europe. The most well-known are pieces of Etruscan civilization jewelry, made of gold or other precious metals, symbols from Greek myths often appear in the designs, embossed in precious metal at the ends of the wreath. Ancient Roman writers referred to Etruscan corona sutilis, which were wreaths with their leaves sewn onto a background and these wreaths resemble a diadem, with thin metal leaves being attached to an ornamental band. Wreaths also appear stamped into Etruscan medallions, the plants shown making the wreaths in Etruscan jewelry include ivy, oak, olive leaves, myrtle, laurel, wheat and vines. Wreaths were worn as crowns by Etruscan rulers, the Etruscan symbolism continued to be used in Ancient Greece and Rome. Roman magistrates also wore golden wreaths as crowns, as a testament to their lineage back to Romes early Etruscan rulers. Roman magistrates also used several other prominent Etruscan symbols in addition to a golden crown, fasces, a curule chair, a purple toga. In the Greco-Roman world, wreaths were used as an adornment that could represent a person’s occupation, rank, their achievements, the wreath that was commonly used was the laurel wreath. The use of this comes from the Greek myth involving Apollo, Zeus’ son and the god of life and light. When he pursued her she fled and asked the river god Peneus to help her, Peneus turned her into a laurel tree. From that day, Apollo wore a wreath of laurel on his head, Laurel wreaths were used to crown victorious athletes at the original Olympic Games and are still worn in Italy by university students who just graduated. Other types of plants used to make wreath crowns also had symbolic meaning, for example, oak leaves symbolized wisdom, and were associated with Zeus, who according to Greek mythology made his decisions while resting in an oak grove. The Twelve Tables, dating to 450 BC, refer to funeral wreaths as a long-standing tradition, olive wreath was the prize for the winner at the ancient Olympic Games
Wreaths
–
A
Christmas wreath on a house door in England.
Wreaths
–
A golden wreath and ring from the burial of an
Odrysian Aristocrat at the Golyamata Mogila in the
Yambol region of
Bulgaria. Mid 4th century BC.
Wreaths
–
Wreath with ivy leaves and berries, a
satyr 's head at either end. Gold sheet, Etruscan artwork, 400–350 BC. From a tomb near
Tarquinia.
Wreaths
–
A replica bust of
Apollo wearing a laurel wreath.
28.
Saint George
–
Saint George, according to legend, was a Roman soldier of Syrian origin and officer in the Guard of Roman emperor Diocletian, who ordered his death for failing to recant his Christian faith. As a Christian martyr, he became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity. In hagiography, as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and one of the most prominent military saints, he is immortalised in the myth of Saint George and his memorial, Saint Georges Day, is traditionally celebrated on April 23. Numerous countries, cities, professions and organisations claim Saint George as their patron, accounts differ regarding whether George was born in Cappadocia or Syria Palaestina, but agree that he was raised at least partly in Lydda. There is little information on the life of Saint George. Two stories tell of his possible origins, one says that he was born in the region of Cappadocia, which is now located in central Turkey. Georges parents were both Christian, and they brought him up to be a Christian and his father died when he was fourteen, and his mother took George back to her homeland of Palestine. At seventeen, he joined the Roman army, a second story says that Georges father came from Cappadocia. His mother was from Lydda, in Palestine, and George was born in Lydda, both of his parents were from noble Syrian families and gave him the Greek name of Georgios. Georges father had been an officer in the Roman army, so George joined the Roman army as soon as he could, an earlier work by Eusebius, Church history, written in the 4th century, contributed to the legend but did not name George or provide significant detail. A critical edition of a Syriac Acta of Saint George, accompanied by an annotated English translation, was published by E. W. Brooks in 1925. Pope Gelasius I stated that George was among those whose names are justly reverenced among men. The traditional legends have offered a narration of Georges encounter with a dragon. The modern legend that follows below is synthesised from early and late hagiographical sources, chief among the legendary sources about the saint is the Golden Legend, which remains the most familiar version in English owing to William Caxtons 15th-century translation. At the age of 14, George lost his father, a few years later, George then decided to go to Nicomedia and present himself to Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with arms, as he had known his father. By his late twenties, George was promoted to the rank of military tribune, however, George objected, and with the courage of his faith, approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best tribune, but George loudly renounced the Emperors edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian
Saint George
–
Portrait by
Hans von Kulmbach, circa 1510
Saint George
–
Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1434/35, by
Martorell
Saint George
–
St George the dragon-slayer
Saint George
–
The martyrdom of Saint George, by
Paolo Veronese, 1564
29.
Grass snake
–
The grass snake, sometimes called the ringed snake or water snake, is a Eurasian non-venomous snake. It is often found near water and feeds almost exclusively on amphibians, the name natrix is probably derived from the Latin nare or natare to swim. The grass snake is typically green or brown in colour with a characteristic yellow collar behind the head. The colour may also range from grey to black, with darker colours being more prevalent in colder regions, the underside is whitish with irregular blocks of black, which are useful in recognizing individuals. In Great Britain, the snake is the largest reptile, reaching up to 190 cm total length. Females are considerably larger than males, typically reaching a size of 90–110 centimetres when fully grown, males are about 50 cm shorter and significantly smaller in girth. The grass snake is widely distributed in mainland Europe, ranging from mid Scandinavia to southern Italy and it is also found in the Middle East and northwestern Africa. British grass snakes belong to the subspecies N. n. helvetica, grass snakes prey mainly on amphibians, especially the common toad and the common frog, although they may also occasionally eat ants and larvae. Captive snakes have been observed taking earthworms offered by hand, the snake will search actively for prey, often on the edges of water, using sight and sense of smell. They consume prey live without using constriction, grass snakes are strong swimmers and may be found close to fresh water, although there is evidence individual snakes often do not need bodies of water throughout the entire season. Pond edges are also favoured and the high chance of observing this secretive species in such areas may account for their perceived association with ponds. Grass snakes, as with most reptiles, are at the mercy of the thermal environment, thus, they typically spend the winter underground where the temperature is relatively stable. As spring approaches, the males emerge first and spend much of the day basking in an effort to raise body temperature and thereby metabolism. This may be a tactic to maximise production, as the males mate with the females as soon as they emerge up to two weeks later in April, or earlier if environmental temperatures are favourable. The leathery-skinned eggs are laid in batches of eight to 40 in June to July, to survive and hatch, the eggs require a temperature of at least 21 °C, but preferably 28 °C, with high humidity. Rotting vegetation, such as compost heaps, are preferred locations, the young are about 18 centimetres long when they hatch and are immediately independent. After breeding in summer, snakes tend to hunt and may range widely during this time, prey items tend to be large compared to the size of the snake, and this impairs the movement ability of the snake. Snakes which have recently eaten rarely move any significant distance and will stay in one location, individual snakes may only need two or three significant prey items throughout an entire season
Grass snake
–
Grass snake
Grass snake
–
A 1-m specimen in
Great Britain
Grass snake
–
Eating
Bufo bufo,
Czech Republic
Grass snake
–
Playing dead, also in
ecdysis
30.
Stoats
–
Originally from Eurasia, it crossed into North America some half million years ago, where it naturalized and joined the notably larger closely related native long-tailed weasel. The name ermine is often, but not always, used for the stoat in its white winter coat. In the late 19th century, stoats were introduced into New Zealand to control rabbits, the stoat is classed by the IUCN as least concern, due to its wide circumpolar distribution, and because it does not face any significant threat to its survival. It was nominated as one of the worlds top 100 worst invaders, Ermine luxury fur was used in the 15th century by Catholic monarchs, who sometimes used it as the mozzetta cape. It was also used in capes on images such as the Infant Jesus of Prague, the root word for stoat is likely either the Dutch word stout or the Gothic word stautan. This seems to come from the Lithuanian word šarmu, in Ireland, the stoat is referred to as a weasel, while in North America it is called a short-tailed weasel. A male stoat is called a dog, hob, or jack, the collective noun for stoats is either gang or pack. The stoat is the product of a process begun 5–7 million years ago, the stoats ancestors were larger than the current form, and underwent a reduction in size as they exploited the new food source. The stoat first arose in Eurasia, shortly after the long-tailed weasel arose as its image in North America 2 million years ago. The stoat thrived during the Ice Age, as its size and long body allowed it to easily operate beneath snow. The stoat and the long-tailed weasel remained separated until half a million years ago, combined phylogenetic analyses indicate the stoats closest living relative is the mountain weasel, though it is also closely related to the least weasel and long-tailed weasel. Its next closest relatives are the New World Colombian weasel and the Amazon weasel, as of 2005,37 subspecies are recognized. The stoat has a neck, the head being set exceptionally far in front of the shoulders. The trunk is cylindrical, and does not bulge at the abdomen. The greatest circumference of body is more than half its length. The skull, although similar to that of the least weasel, is relatively longer. The projections of the skull and teeth are developed. The eyes are round, black and protrude slightly, the whiskers are brown or white in colour, and very long
Stoats
–
Stoat
Stoats
–
Middle Russian stoat M. e. aestiva
Stoats
–
Irish stoat M. e. hibernica
Stoats
–
M. e. nippon
31.
Wolf
–
The gray wolf or grey wolf, also known as the timber wolf or western wolf, is a canine native to the wilderness and remote areas of Eurasia and North America. It is the largest extant member of its family, with males averaging 43–45 kg, like the red wolf, it is distinguished from other Canis species by its larger size and less pointed features, particularly on the ears and muzzle. Its winter fur is long and bushy, and predominantly a mottled gray in color, although pure white, red. As of 2005,37 subspecies of C. lupus are recognised by MSW3 and it is nonetheless closely related enough to smaller Canis species, such as the eastern wolf, coyote, and golden jackal to produce fertile hybrids. It is an animal, travelling in nuclear families consisting of a mated pair. The gray wolf is typically an apex predator throughout its range, with only humans and it feeds primarily on large ungulates, though it also eats smaller animals, livestock, carrion, and garbage. The gray wolf is one of the worlds best known and well researched animals, although the fear of wolves is pervasive in many human societies, the majority of recorded attacks on people have been attributed to animals suffering from rabies. The English wolf stems from the Old English wulf, which is thought to be derived from the Proto-Germanic *wulfaz. The Latin lupus is a Sabine loanword, both derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *wlqwos/*lukwos. The species Canis lupus was first recorded by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758, the thirty-seven subspecies of Canis lupus are listed under the designated common name of wolf in Mammal Species of the World third edition that was published in 2005. The nominate subspecies is the Eurasian wolf, also known as the common wolf, the subspecies includes the domestic dog, dingo, eastern wolf and red wolf, but lists C. l. italicus and C. l. communis as synonyms of C. l. lupus. However, the classification of several as either species or subspecies has recently been challenged, ecological factors including habitat type, climate, prey specialization and predatory competition will greatly influence the wolfs genetic population structure and cranio-dental plasticity. The domestic dog is the most widely abundant large carnivore and a descendant from one of those now-extinct wolf populations, in 2013, a genetic study found that the wolf population in Europe was divided along a north-south axis and formed five major clusters. Three clusters were identified occupying southern and central Europe in Italy, the Carpathians, another two clusters were identified occupying north-central Europe and the Ukrainian steppe. The Italian wolf consisted of a population with low genetic diversity. Wolves from Croatia, Bulgaria, and Greece formed the Dinaric-Balkans cluster, the wolves from the Carpathians were more similar to the wolves from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe than they were to wolves from north-central Europe. These clusters may have been the result of expansion from glacial refugia, an adaptation to environments, and landscape fragmentation. These six wolf ecotypes were named West Forest, Boreal Forest, Arctic, High Arctic, Baffin, the studies found that precipitation and mean diurnal temperature range were the most influential variables
Wolf
Wolf
–
33,000-year-old skull of a dog-like canid from Siberia
Wolf
–
Gray wolf/Alaskan malamute hybrid
Wolf
–
F1 hybrid coyote-gray wolf hybrid, conceived in captivity
32.
Ladybird
–
Coccinellidae is a widespread family of small beetles ranging from 0.8 to 18 mm. They are commonly yellow, orange, or red with black spots on their wing covers, with black legs, heads. However such colour patterns vary greatly, for example, a minority of species, such as Vibidia duodecimguttata, a twelve-spotted species, have whitish spots on a brown background. Coccinellids are found worldwide, with over 6,000 species described, coccinellids are known as ladybugs in North America, and ladybirds in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world. Entomologists widely prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as these insects are not classified as true bugs, the majority of coccinellid species are generally considered useful insects, because many species prey on herbivorous homopterans such as aphids or scale insects, which are agricultural pests. Many coccinellids lay their eggs directly in aphid and scale insect colonies in order to ensure their larvae have a food source. However, some species do have unwelcome effects, among these, the most prominent are of the subfamily Epilachninae, in such situations, they can do major crop damage. They occur in all the major crop-producing regions of temperate. The name coccinellids is derived from the Latin word coccineus meaning scarlet, the name ladybird originated in Britain where the insects became known as Our Ladys bird or the Lady beetle. Mary was often depicted wearing a red cloak in early paintings, in the United States, the name was adapted to ladybug. Common names in other European languages have the association, for example. Most coccinellids have round to elliptical, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs, depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all. Seven-spotted coccinellids are red or orange with three spots on each side and one in the middle, they have a head with white patches on each side. Conversely, non-entomologists might easily mistake many other small beetles for coccinellids, non-entomologists are prone to misidentify a wide variety of beetle species in other families as ladybirds, i. e. coccinellids. Beetles are particularly prone to such misidentification if they are spotted in red, orange or yellow, examples include the much larger scarabaeid grapevine beetles and spotted species of the Chrysomelidae, Melyridae and others. Conversely, laymen may fail to identify unmarked species of Coccinellidae as ladybirds, other beetles that have a defensive hemispherical shape, like that of the Coccinellidae, also are often taken for ladybirds. A common myth, totally unfounded, is that the number of spots on the insects back indicates its age, in fact, the underlying pattern and colouration are determined by the species and genetics of the beetle, and develop as the insect matures. In some species its appearance is fixed by the time it emerges from its pupa, though in most it may take days for the colour of the adult beetle to mature
Ladybird
–
Ladybird
Ladybird
–
Brumoides suturalis is an example of a longitudinally striped member of the Coccinellidae.
Ladybird
–
Unusually for a Coccinellid, the mature Rhyzobius chrysomeloides is brown and unspotted.
33.
Lithuanian mythology
–
Lithuanian mythology is a type of Baltic mythology, developed by Lithuanians throughout the centuries. Surviving information about Baltic paganism in general is incomplete, most of the early written accounts are very brief and made by foreigners, usually Christians, who disapproved of pagan traditions. Some academics regard some texts as inaccurate misunderstandings or even fabrications, in addition many sources list many different names and different spellings, thus sometimes it is not clear if they are referring to the same thing. The Evangelical religion, established in Prussia by Albert of Brandenburg-Prussia, promised to preach to people in their own language, duke Albert established the Albertina University in Königsberg, where languages of the neighboring countries were taught and the first books in those languages were printed. The last conceptions of the old religion survived approximately until the beginning of the 19th century, however, as it was the tradition, they were never documented by followers of the religions themselves, and all known facts are from documents left by outsiders. Although the pre-Christian religions in Lithuania died out later than in any other European country, actual information on Lithuanian mythology is scattered. Interest in it has increased since the beginning of the 19th century, the relics of the old religions were interwoven with other stories of folkloric mythology, and were subsequently documented quite well, including many testimonies written by storytellers themselves. However, the more syncretic character of this mythology raised some uncertainties and, subsequently, hypotheses and discussions, because of this view, many scholars preferred to write their own reconstructions of Lithuanian mythology, based also on historical, archaeological, and ethnographic data. The first such reconstruction was written by the Polish-speaking Lithuanian historian Theodor Narbutt at the beginning of the 19th century, two well-known attempts at reconstruction have been attempted more recently by Marija Gimbutas and Algirdas Julien Greimas. This method of reconstruction is thorny, and none of the attempts has been satisfactory, the most modern academics exploring Lithuanian mythology in the second half of the 20th century were Norbertas Vėlius and Gintaras Beresnevičius. Their works are considered as the most objective and they are very critical and careful about mythological sources. On the other hand, individual elements have much in common with other mythological systems, there is a Finnic Mordvin/Erza thunder god named Pur’ginepaz which in folklore has themes resembling Lithuanian Perkunas. Sparks fly from the cartwheels and the hooves of fiery-red horses of Pur’ginepaz, the Erza thunder god, in several mythical songs the thunder god Pur’ginepaz marries an earthly girl Litova These also closely resemble the Vedic Parjanya. It is reflected in folk tales, such as Jūratė and Kastytis, the next period of Lithuanian mythology started in the 15th century, and lasted till approximately the middle of the 17th century. The myths of this period are mostly heroic, concerning the founding of the state of Lithuania, many stories of this kind reflect actual historical events. In general, these myths are coloured by patriotism, the third period began with the growing influence of Christianity and the activity of the Jesuits, roughly since the end of the 16th century. The earlier confrontational approach to the pre-Christian Lithuanian heritage among common people was abandoned and this also led to the inclusion of Christian elements in mythic stories. The last period of Lithuanian mythology began in the 19th century, when the importance of the old cultural heritage was admitted, not only by the upper classes, but by the nation more widely
Lithuanian mythology
–
Romuva sanctuary in
Prussia
Lithuanian mythology
–
Goddess Milda by
Kazimierz Alchimowicz (1910),
National Museum in
Warsaw
Lithuanian mythology
–
Samogitian Alka, a reconstruction of paleoastronomic observatory
34.
Latvia
–
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language
Latvia
–
Turaida Castle near
Sigulda, built in 1214 under
Albert of Riga.
Latvia
–
Flag
Latvia
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Kārlis Ulmanis
Latvia
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Red Army troops enter
Riga (1940).
35.
History of Latvia
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The History of Latvia began around 9000 BC with the end of the last glacial period in northern Europe. Ancient Baltic peoples arrived here during the second millennium BC, in the early medieval period, the regions peoples resisted Christianisation and became subject to attack in the Northern Crusades. Latvias capital city Riga, founded in 1201 by Germans at the mouth of the Daugava and it was to be the first major city of the southern Baltic and, after 1282, a principal trading centre in the Hanseatic League. By the 16th century, Baltic German dominance in Terra Mariana was increasingly challenged by other powers, the last period of external hegemony began in 1710, when control over Riga and parts of modern-day Latvia switched from Sweden to Russia during the Great Northern War. The increasing social problems and rising discontent that this meant that Riga also played a leading role in the 1905 Russian Revolution. The Constitution of Latvia was adopted in 1922, political instability and effects of the Great Depression led to the May 15,1934 coup détat by Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis. Latvias independence was interrupted in June–July 1940, when the country was occupied and incorporated into the Soviet Union, in 1941 it was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany, then reconquered by the Soviets in 1944–45. From the mid-1940s Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was subject to Soviet economic control, since then, under restored independence, Latvia has become a member of the United Nations, entered NATO and joined the European Union. Latvias economy suffered greatly during the Great Recession which caused the 2008 Latvian financial crisis, worsening economic conditions and better job opportunities in Western Europe have caused a massive Latvian emigration. The Ice Age in Latvia ended 14, 000–12,000 years ago, the first human settlers arrived here during the Paleolithic Age 11, 000–12,000 years ago. They were hunters, who following the reindeer herds camped along the rivers, as geology of the Baltic Sea indicates, the coastline then reached further inland. The earliest tools found near Salaspils date to the late Paleolithic age, circa 12,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic Age permanent settlements of hunter-gatherers were established. They hunted and fished, establishing camps near rivers and lakes,25 settlements have been found near Lake Lubāns and these people from the Kunda culture made weapons and tools from flint, antler, bone and wood. The early Neolithic was marked by beginnings of pottery-making, animal husbandry, a local Narva culture developed in the region during the Middle Neolithic. Inhabitants of this age were Finno-Ugric peoples, forefathers of Livonians who are related to Estonians and Finns. At the beginning of the Late Neolithic, arrived people belonging to the Corded Ware culture and they were Balts, forefathers of Latvians, who have inhabited most of Latvian territory since the third millennium BCE. Baltic languages are ones of the oldest in Europe, retaining many connections to the Proto-Indo-European language, with introduction of iron tools during the early Iron Age agriculture was greatly improved and emerged as the dominant economic activity. Bronze, which was traded from foreigners because Latvia has no copper or tin, was used for making a variety of decorative ornaments
History of Latvia
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Baltic bronze necklace from the village of
Aizkraukle, Latvia dating to 12th century AD now in the British Museum.
History of Latvia
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Baltic Tribes, about 1200 CE.
History of Latvia
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Europe, 1550
History of Latvia
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Hinrich Lohse in the
Riga Central Railway Station.
36.
Balts
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One of the features of Baltic languages is the number of conservative or archaic features retained. German medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen in the part of the 11th century CE was the first writer to use the term Baltic in its modern sense to mean the sea of that name. This is the first reference to the Baltic or Barbarian Sea, the Germanics, however, preferred some form of East Sea until after about 1600, when they began to use forms of Baltic Sea. Around 1840 the German nobles of the Governorate of Livonia devised the term Balts to mean themselves and they spoke an exclusive dialect, Baltic German. For all practical purposes that was the Baltic language until 1919, scandinavians begin settling in Western Baltic lands in Lithuania and Latvia during Vendel Age and with interruptions their presence in Baltic lands continued most of Viking Age. In 1845 Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann proposed a language group for Latvian and Lithuanian to be called Baltic. It found some credence among linguists but was not generally adopted until the creation of the Baltic states as part of the settlement of World War I in 1919, estonia and Finland, however, also became counted among the Baltic states in the geopolitical sense. Because the thousands of lakes and swamps in this area contributed to the Balts geographical isolation and it is possible that around 3, 500–2,500 B. C. there was massive migration of peoples representing the Corded Ware culture. They came from the southeast and spread all across Eastern and Central Europe and it is believed that Corded Ware culture peoples were Indo-European ancestors of many Europeans, including Balts. It is thought that those Indo-European newcomers were quite numerous and in the Eastern Baltic assimilated earlier indigenous cultures, over time the new people formed the Baltic peoples and they spread in the area from the Baltic sea in the west to the Volga in the east. This information is summarized and synthesized by Marija Gimbutas in The Balts to obtain a likely proto-Baltic homeland, a possible early reference to a Baltic people occurs in 98 CE, when Tacitus names a tribe living near the Baltic Sea as the Aesti and describes them as amber gatherers. However, it is not clear if the Aesti mentioned by Tacitus were, a Baltic people, or, the Aesti appear to have inhabited the Sambian peninsula (in or near the present Kaliningrad Oblast. Over time, the area of Baltic habitation shrank, due to assimilation by other groups, finally, according to Slavic chronicles of the time, they warred with Slavs, and perhaps, were defeated and assimilated some time in the 11th to 13th centuries. Balts became differentiated into Western and Eastern Balts in the late centuries BCE, the eastern Baltic region was inhabited by ancestors of the Western Balts, Brus/Prūsa, Sudovians/Jotvingians, Scalvians, Nadruvians, and Curonians. The Eastern Balts, including the hypothesised Dniepr Balts, were living in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, many other Eastern and Southern Balts either assimilated with other Balts, or Slavs in the 4th–7th centuries and were gradually slavicized. Gradually Old Prussians became Germanized or some Lithuanized during period from the 15th to the 17th centuries, the cultures of the Lithuanians and Latgalians/Latvians survived and became the ancestors of the populations of the modern countries of Latvia and Lithuania. Old Prussian was closely related to the other extinct Western Baltic languages and it is more distantly related to the surviving Eastern Baltic languages, Lithuanian and Latvian. Compare the Prussian word seme, the Latvian zeme, the Lithuanian žemė, Old Prussian contained a few borrowings specifically from Gothic and even North Germanic
Balts
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Map of eastern Europe in 3-4th century AD with archeological cultures identified as Baltic-speaking in purple. Their area extended from the Baltic Sea to modern Moscow.
37.
Kunda culture
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The oldest known Kunda culture settlement in Estonia is Pulli settlement. The Kunda Culture is succeeded by the Narva culture who use pottery, most Kunda settlements are located near the edge of the forests beside rivers, lakes, or marshes. Elk were extensively hunted, perhaps helped by trained domestic hunting-dogs, on the coast seal hunting is represented. Pike and other fish were taken from the rivers, there is a rich bone and antler industry, especially in relation to fishing gear. Tools were decorated with geometric designs, lacking the complexity of the contemporary Maglemosian Culture communities to the southwest. The Kunda culture appears to have undergone a transition from the Palaeolithic Swiderian culture located previously over much of the same range, one such transition settlement, Pasieniai 1C in Lithuania, features stone tools of both Late Swiderian and early Kunda. One shape manufactured in both cultures is the retouched tanged point, the final Swiderian is dated 7800–7600 BC by calibrated radiocarbon dating, which is in the Preboreal period, at the end of which time with no gap the early Kunda begins. Evidently the descendants of the Swiderians were the first to settle Estonia when it became habitable, other post-Swiderian groups extended as far east as the Ural mountains. Kunda, Estonia Pulli, Estonia Luga Pasieniai, Lithuania Ristola, Finland Velizh Zvejnieki, Latvia
Kunda culture
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Tools of Kundra Culture
38.
Narva culture
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A successor of the Mesolithic Kunda culture, Narva culture continued up to the start of the Bronze Age. The technology was that of hunter-gatherers, the culture was named after the Narva River in Estonia. The people of the Narva culture had little access to flint, therefore, they were forced to trade, for example, there were very few flint arrowheads and flint was often reused. The Narva culture relied on local materials, heavy use of bones and horns is one of the main characteristics of the Narva culture. The bone tools, continued from the predecessor Kunda culture, provide the best evidence of continuity of the Narva culture throughout the Neolithic period, the people were buried on their backs with few grave goods. The Narva culture also used and traded amber, a few hundred items were found in Juodkrantė, one of the most famous artifacts is a ceremonial cane carved of horn as a head of female elk found in Šventoji. The people were primarily fishers, hunters, and gatherers and they slowly began adopting husbandry in middle Neolithic. They were not nomadic and lived in same settlements for periods as evidenced by abundant pottery, middens. The pottery shared similarities with Comb Ceramic culture, but had specific characteristics, one of the most persistent features was mixing clay with other organic matter, most often crushed snail shells. The pottery was made of 6-to-9 cm wide clay strips with minimal decorations around the rim, the vessels were wide and large, the height and the width were often the same. The bottoms were pointed or rounded, and only the latest examples have narrow flat bottoms, from mid-Neolithic Narva pottery was influenced and eventually disappeared into the Corded Ware culture. For a long time believed that the first inhabitants of the region were Finno-Ugric. In 1931, Latvian archeologist Eduards Šturms was the first to note that artifacts found near Zebrus Lake in Latvia were different, in early 1950s settlements on the Narva River were excavated. Lembit Jaanits and Nina Gurina grouped the findings with similar artifacts from eastern Baltic region, at first it was believed that Narva culture ended with appearance of the Corded Ware culture. However, newer research extended it up to the Bronze Age, as Narva culture spanned several millenniums and encompassed a large territory, archaeologists attempted to subdivide the culture into regions or periods. For example, in Lithuania two regions are distinguished, southern and western, there is an academic debate what ethnicity represented the Narva culture, Finno-Ugrians or other Europids, preceding arrival of the Indo-Europeans. It is also unclear how the Narva culture fits with the arrival of the Indo-Europeans, overview of Neolithic sites on Narva River in Estonia
Narva culture
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Pottery of the Narva culture
39.
Corded Ware culture
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Corded Ware culture encompassed a vast area, from the Rhine on the west to the Volga in the east, occupying parts of Northern Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The Corded Ware was genetically related to the Yamnaya culture. The Corded Ware culture may have disseminated the Proto-Germanic and Proto-Balto-Slavic Indo-European languages, the Corded Ware Culture also shows genetic affinity with the later Sintashta culture, where the proto-Indo-Iranian language originated. The term Corded Ware culture was first introduced by the German archaeologist Friedrich Klopfleisch in 1883 and he named it after cord-like impressions or ornamentation characteristic of its pottery. The term Single Grave culture comes from its burial custom, which consisted of inhumation under tumuli in a position with various artifacts. Battle Axe culture, or Boat Axe culture, is named from its characteristic grave offering to males, at the same time, they had several shared elements that are characteristic of all Corded Ware groups, such as their burial practices, pottery with cord decoration and unique stone-axes. The contemporary Beaker culture overlapped with the extremity of this culture, west of the Elbe. The origins and dispersal of Corded Ware culture was for a time one of the pivotal unresolved issues of the Indo-European Urheimat problem. Its wide area of distribution indicates rapid expansion at the time of the dispersal of Indo-European languages. Some archaeologists believed it sprang from central Europe while others saw an influence from nomadic societies of the steppes. In favour of the first view was the fact that Corded Ware coincides considerably with the earlier north-central European Funnelbeaker culture, according to Gimbutas, the Corded Ware culture was preceded by the Globular Amphora culture, which she regarded to be an Indo-European culture. The Globular Amphora culture stretched from central Europe to the Baltic sea, however, in other regions Corded Ware appears to herald a new culture and physical type. The degree to which cultural change generally represents immigration were matter of debate, according to controversial radiocarbon dates, Corded Ware ceramic forms in single graves develop earlier in the area that is now Poland than in western and southern Central Europe. The earliest radiocarbon dates for Corded Ware indeed come from Kujawy and Lesser Poland in central and southern Poland, whereas in the area of the present Baltic states and East Prussia, it is seen as an intrusive successor to the southwestern portion of the Narva culture. However, today Corded Ware is now seen as intrusive, though not necessarily aggressively so. A Genetic study conducted by Haak et al, about 75% of the DNA of late Neolithic Corded Ware skeletons found in Germany was a precise match to DNA from individuals of the Yamnaya culture. Haak et al. also note that their results suggest that haplogroups R1b and R1a spread into Europe from the East after 3,000 BCE.5 In terms of phenotypes, Wilde et al. and Haak et al. Autosomal DNA tests also indicate that the Yamnaya migration from the steppes introduced a component of ancestry referred to as Ancient North Eurasian admixture into Europe
Corded Ware culture
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Boat-shaped battle axe from
Närke
Corded Ware culture
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Corded Ware culture
Corded Ware culture
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Corded ware pottery in the
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Berlin). Ca. 2500 BC
Corded Ware culture
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Late battle axe from
Gotland
40.
Terra Mariana
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Terra Mariana was the official name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia, which was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade in the territories comprising present day Estonia and Latvia. It was established on 2 February 1207, as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1346 the Order bought Danish Estonia. Following its defeat in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410 the Teutonic Order, in 1561, during the Livonian war, Terra Mariana ceased to exist. The island of Saaremaa became part of Denmark, since the beginning of the 20th century Terra Mariana has been used as a poetic name or sobriquet for Estonia. In 1995 the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, a decoration, was instituted to honor the independence of Estonia. The lands on the shores of the Baltic Sea were the last part of Europe to be Christianized by the Roman Catholic Church. In 1193 Pope Celestine III called for a crusade against the pagans in Northern Europe and this crusade is often compared to the crusade of the Franks and Charlemagne. However, this crusade was not officially announced until 1197 or 1198, at the beginning of the 13th century, German crusaders from Gotland and the northern Holy Roman Empire conquered the Livonian and Latvian lands along the Daugava and Gauja rivers. The stronghold of Riga was established in 1201, and in 1202 the Livonian Brothers of the Sword was formed as a branch of the Knights Templar, in 1218 Pope Honorius III gave Valdemar II of Denmark free rein to annex as much land as he could conquer in Estonia. The last to be subjugated and Christianised were Oeselians, Curonians and Semigallians and this crusade differed from many other crusades because, in this case, the Pope allowed people intending to go on a crusade to the Holy Land to go instead to crusade in Livonia. Members of this crusade were made to wear the insignia of the cross as well, after the success of the crusade, the German- and Danish-occupied territory was divided into feudal principalities by William of Modena. Medieval Livonia was intermittently ruled first by the Brothers of the Sword, since 1237 by the branch of Teutonic knights called Livonian Order. By the mid 14th century, after buying the Duchy of Estonia from Christopher II, the Livonian Order controlled about 67,000 square kilometers of the Old Livonia, the lands of the Order were divided into about 40 districts governed by a Vogt. The largest ecclesiastical state was the Archbishopric of Riga followed by the Bishopric of Courland, Bishopric of Dorpat, the nominal head of Terra Mariana as well as the city of Riga was the Archbishop of Riga as the apex of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In 1240 Valdemar II created the Bishopric of Reval in the Duchy of Estonia by reserving the right to appoint the bishops of Reval to himself and his successor kings of Denmark. The decision to nominate to the See of Reval was unique in the whole Catholic Church at the time and was disputed by bishops. Two major civil wars were fought in 1296–1330, 1313–1330, technically, the Archbishop of Riga was the feudal and ecclesiastical superior, first over the Teutonic Knights, later over the Livonian Order. But the Archbishop did not become the dominant political power, already the Knights had thrown off the episcopal dominion, the bishops of Dorpat, Courland and Ösel-Wiek were lesser powers
Terra Mariana
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Three Mighty Ladies from Livonia by
Albrecht Dürer (1521)
Terra Mariana
Terra Mariana
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Coins of Medieval Livonia, 15th–16th century
41.
Kingdom of Livonia
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The Kingdom of Livonia was a nominal state in what is now the territory of Estonia and Latvia. The Russian Tsar Ivan IV declared the establishment of the kingdom during the Livonian War of 1558-1583, on June 10,1570 the Danish Duke Magnus of Holstein arrived in Moscow, where he was crowned King of Livonia. Magnus took the oath of allegiance to Ivan as his overlord, the treaty between Magnus and Ivan IV was signed by an oprichnik and by a member of the zemskii administration, the diak Vasiliy Shchelkalov. The territories of the new kingdom still had to be conquered. The new king Magnus of Livonia departed from Moscow with 20,000 Russian soldiers for the conquest of Swedish-controlled Reval, Ivans hope for the support of King Frederick II of Denmark, the older brother of Magnus, failed. By the end of March 1571 Magnus gave up the struggle for Reval, in 1577, having lost Ivans favor and getting no support from his brother, Magnus called on the Livonian nobility to rally to him in a struggle against foreign occupation. Ivans forces attacked him and took him prisoner, on his release he renounced his royal title. Magnus spent the last six years of his life at the castle of Pilten in the Bishopric of Courland where he died as a pensioner of the Polish crown. The end of the Livonian War in August 1583 saw most of the territory of Old Livonia under the control of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with Swedish control established in the Duchy of Estonia, møntfund i Estland med danske Vikingemønter Die Münzen von Herzog Magnus
Kingdom of Livonia
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Livonia, as shown in the map of 1573 of Joann Portantius.
42.
Swedish Livonia
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Swedish Livonia was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. The minority part of the Wenden Voivodeship retained by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was renamed the Inflanty Voivodeship, riga was the second largest city in the Swedish Empire at the time. Together with other Baltic Sea dominions, Livonia served to secure the Swedish dominium maris baltici, the territory in turn was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War and, following the Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, formed the Governorate of Livonia. Formally, it was ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, together with Swedish Estonia, the dominion was ruled by appointed Governors-General, but retained its own diet
Swedish Livonia
Swedish Livonia
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Flag
Swedish Livonia
43.
Inflanty Voivodeship
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The Inflanty Voivodeship was one of the few territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to be ruled jointly by Poland and Lithuania. The seat of the voivode was Dyneburg, the name Inflanty is derived through Polonization of Livland, the German name for Livonia. In modern times the region is known as Latgalia in the Republic of Latvia, miles It was inhabited by the Latvians, whose language is similar to Lithuanian, but still differs from it, as the Latvians interacted and mixed with the Estonians in central and northern Inflanty. The province, together with Courland, was in the 13th century conquered by the Germans of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. Later on, however, facing three powerful neighbours, Muscovy, Swedish Empire, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the found it difficult to keep their independence. After Estonia had been seized by Sweden, Great Master Gotthard Kettler voluntarily decided to seek for help from Polish king, with permission of Livonian towns and knights, on 28 November 1561 in Vilnius, a document was signed, which turned Livonia into a Polish-Lithuanian fief. The post-1660 Inflanty Voivodeship was divided into four so-called tracts, named after seats of starostas and these were Dyneburg, Rzezyca, Piltyn, Marienhaus, and Lucyn. Local sejmiks took place at Dyneburg, while starostas resided at Dyneburg, Lucyn, Rzezyca and Marienhaus. The voivodeship had six deputies to the Sejm, but only two of them came from Inflanty, the four were symbolically named by the king. Two deputies were elected to the committee at Grodno Inflanty had several noble families
Inflanty Voivodeship
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Inflanty in the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1635.
44.
Governorate of Livonia
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The Governorate of Livonia, was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, now divided between the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia. Sweden formally ceded Swedish Livonia to Russia in 1721 with the Treaty of Nystad, in 1722 Tartu County was added to Riga Governorate. In 1726 Smolensk Governorate was separated from Governorate, which now had five provinces - Rīga, Cēsis, Tartu, Pärnu, in 1783 the Sloka County was added. On July 3,1783 Catherine the Great reorganized Governorate into Riga Lieutenancy, only in 1796, after the Third Partition of Poland this territory was renamed as the Governorate of Livonia. Until late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russian laws but was administered autonomously by the local German Baltic nobility through feudal Landtag, German nobles insisted on preserving their privileges and use of German language. After the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the part of the Governorate of Livonia was combined with the Governorate of Estonia to form a new Autonomous Governorate of Estonia. The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence on 24 February 1918, the Governorate of Livonia was divided into 9 counties. However the new border between the Governments of Estonia and Livland was never properly demarcated, by the Imperial census of 1897. In bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language, administrative divisions of Russia in 1713-1714 Baltic governorates Courland Governorate Estonia Governorate Livonian Confederation
Governorate of Livonia
Governorate of Livonia
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Flag
45.
New Current
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The New Current in the history of Latvia was a broad leftist social and political movement that followed the First Latvian National Awakening and culminated in the 1905 Revolution. Participants in the movement were called jaunstrāvnieki, the beginning of the New Current is usually given as 1886, when the movements newspaper, Dienas Lapa, was founded by Pēteris Bisenieks, who ran the Riga Latvian Craftsmens Credit Union. Pēteris Stučka, who headed the Latvian Bolsheviks, became the editor of Dienas Lapa in 1888. From 1891 to 1896, the paper was edited by Bisenieks, the historian Arveds Švābe describes the New Current as connected to the political awakening of the Latvian working class, its first organizations, and the propagandization of socialist ideas. Rainis smuggled German Marxist literature into Latvia in two pieces of luggage in 1893, the work of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and this luggage with the dangerous contents, as the historian Uldis Ģērmanis called it, was the seed of the Latvian Social Democratic Party
New Current
46.
Latvian Riflemen
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Latvian riflemen were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic territories against Germans in World War I. Initially the battalions were formed by volunteers, and from 1916 by conscription among the Latvian population, a total of about 40,000 troops were drafted into the Latvian Riflemen Division. Towards the end of the 19th century, Riga, the capital of Latvia, the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party was well organised and its leading elements were increasingly sympathetic to the Bolsheviks by the time of the 1905 Revolution. When punitive expeditions were mounted by the state following this, armed resistance groups - often affiliated to the LSDRP - were set up to conduct warfare against the Tsarist regime. Many of these fighters were subsequently recruited into the Latvian Rifles. At the outbreak of war Indriķis Lediņš, the Latvian chief of police in Vladivostok, had called for the establishment of Latvian Cavalry units, as Germany was advancing into Latvia, they argued, such units would be particularly effective. Latvians knew the area and had high morale because despite the policy of Russification, at Jelgava two battalions of the Latvian Home Guard had already held back the German advance guard. Following increasing German advances, the Russian Stavka approved the measure, on the same day Latvian deputies Jānis Goldmanis and Jānis Zālītis published a patriotic appeal Pulcējaties zem latvju karogiem in Riga. First volunteers started to apply on August 12 at Riga and it was planned to form two battalions but volunteers were so many that actually three battalions were formed. The first battalions consisted mainly from volunteers, especially refugees from Courland, later a number of Latvians from other Russian units joined or were transferred to the Latvian Rifles. From 1915 to 1917, the Latvian Riflemen fought in the Russian army against the Germans in positions along the Daugava river, in 1916 Latvian battalions were transformed to regiments as conscription started among the local population. Also many new units were formed. In total eight combat and one regiment were formed. In December 1916 and January 1917, the Latvian riflemen suffered heavy casualties in the month-long Christmas Battles, suffering heavy casualties, Latvian riflemen managed to break the German line of defence but the effort was wasted as the attack was not followed through. The Russian Army lost over 26,000 soldiers in the failed attack, the casualties included 9,000 Latvian riflemen, about a third of the total number at that time. The heavy casualties resulted in a strong resentment against the Russian generals and this resentment led to an increased support for the Bolsheviks, who were advocating an end to the war. Structure of the United Latvian Riflemen division, in May 1917 the Latvian Regiments transferred their loyalty to the Bolsheviks. They became known as Red Latvian Riflemen and actively participated in the Russian Civil War, the Riflemen took an active part in the suppression of anti-Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow and Yaroslavl in 1918
Latvian Riflemen
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1916 Uniform of Latvian Riflemen
Latvian Riflemen
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Latvian volunteers from 3rd. Kurzeme rifleman battalion (1915)
Latvian Riflemen
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Latvian Rifleman in the trenches during Christmas Battles
Latvian Riflemen
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Soviet era monument for the Latvian Riflemen in Riga, Latvia.
47.
Latvian War of Independence
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The war involved Latvia against the Russian SFSR and the Bolsheviks short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic. Germany and the Baltic nobility added another level of intrigue, initially being nominally allied to the Nationalist/Allied force, eventually tensions flared up after a German coup against the Latvian government, leading to open war. Following a cease-fire, the Germans developed a ploy, nominally dissolving into the West Russian Volunteer Army led by Gen. Pavel Bermont-Avalov, certain episodes of the Latvian Independence War were also part of the Polish-Soviet War, particularly the Battle of Daugavpils. 11 November, The German Empire and Allies of World War I sign the armistice, the British Empire recognizes de facto independence of Latvia. 17 November, The first legislative institution of Latvia, the Peoples Council, Jānis Čakste becomes the chairman of the People’s Council, while Kārlis Ulmanis becomes prime minister. 18 November, Republic of Latvia is proclaimed in Riga,28 November, The Regency Council of the United Baltic Duchy dissolved. 1 December, The Red Army invades Latvia,17 December, The government of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic, headed by Pēteris Stučka, is formed in Russia. 5 January, The first armed unit of Latvia—the 1st Latvian Independent Battalion, the provisional government retreats from Jelgava to Liepāja. 31 January, Most of Latvia is under the control of the Red Army,18 February, Agreement is signed between Estonia and Latvia, starting formation of North Latvian Brigade led by Jorģis Zemitāns on Estonian territory. 3 March, United German and Latvian forces commence counterattack against the forces of Soviet Latvia,6 March, Oskars Kalpaks, commander of all Latvian forces subordinated to German headquarters, is killed by German friendly fire. He is replaced by Jānis Balodis,10 March, Saldus comes under Latvian control. 21 March, 1st Latvian Independent Battalion is reformed into the Latvian Independent Brigade,16 April, The puppet Latvian Government established by the Baltic nobility organizes a coup detat in Liepāja, the provisional national government of Latvia takes refuge aboard steamship Saratow. 16 May, The Estonian Army starts a major offensive against the Soviets in north Latvia,22 May, The Baltische Landeswehr captures Riga. 23 May, The Latvian Independent Brigade marches into Riga,3 June, The Baltische Landeswehr reaches Cēsis. 6 June, The Landeswehrs North Latvian campaign begins, commanded by Maj. Alfred Fletcher,23 June, The Estonian 3rd Division commanded by Gen. Ernst Põdder, including the 2nd Latvian Cēsis regiment of the North Latvian Brigade defeats the Landeswehr. 3 July, Estonia, Latvia and the pro-German Provisional Government of Latvia sign the Ceasefire of Strazdumuiža,6 July, The North Latvian Brigade enters Riga. 5 October, The German mission secretly leaves Riga for Jelgava,8 October, The West Russian Volunteer Army attacks Riga, taking the Pārdaugava district. 3 November, The Latvian Army, supported by Estonian armored trains,11 November, The Latvian Army, supported by Estonian armored trains and the Royal Navy, defeats the West Russian Volunteer Army in Riga
Latvian War of Independence
48.
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
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In July 1989 the country stepped on the road of the restoration of its independence, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Latvias sovereignty was fully restored in 1991. On August 22,1996, the Latvian parliament adopted a declaration which stated that the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 was a military occupation, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Latvia declared its independence on November 18,1918. After a prolonged War of Independence, Latvia and Soviet Russia signed a treaty on August 11,1920. The independence of Latvia was diplomatically recognised by the Allied Supreme Council on January 26,1921, on September 22,1921 Latvia was admitted to membership in the League of Nations and remained a member until the formal dissolution of the League in 1946. On June 7,1939 German–Latvian Non-Aggression Pact was signed, on September 1,1939, the day World War II began, Latvia declared its neutrality. Article II defines forms of aggression, fourth — a naval blockade of coasts or ports of another State. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, signed August 23,1939 contained secret protocols to split up territories between Germany and the Soviet Union. According to these protocols, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia were within the Soviet sphere of interest, Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939. France and Britain, which were obligated by treaty to protect Poland, following French-British indecision, Britain acted alone moving forward with a two-hour ultimatum at 9, 00am on September 3, which France was then forced to follow, issuing its own ultimatum. France subsequently requested Britain not bomb Germany, fearing retaliation against the French populace. It was determined to do nothing, so as to not provoke a transfer of German forces to the western front, chamberlain declared on September 12 There is no hurry as time is on our side. The abandonment of Poland was complete, Stalin then suggested a trade to Hitler to solve the Baltic problem. The Soviet Union now occupied just over half of all Polish territory, There were no impediments remaining to Stalin, in concert with Hitler, achieving his aims in the Baltics. On September 24,1939, warships of the Red Navy appeared off Latvias northern neighbour, Estonian ports, Soviet bombers began a patrol over Tallinn. USSR then violated the air space of all three Baltic states, flying massive intelligence gathering operations on September 25, Moscow demanded that Baltic countries allow the USSR to establish military bases and station troops on their soil for the duration of the European war. During talks in Moscow, on October 2,1939, Stalin told Vilhelms Munters, the Latvian foreign minister, I tell you frankly, as far as Germany is concerned we could occupy you. The Baltics took this threat seriously, the government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum signing the corresponding agreement on September 28. 1939, Latvia following on October 5,1939, and Lithuania shortly thereafter, at face value, this pact did not impinge upon Latvian sovereignty
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
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Red Army tank and truck in
Riga (1940)
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
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Molotov signing the
German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
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A joint parade of Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest at the end of the invasion of Poland. On the tribune are Major General
Heinz Guderian (center) and Brigadier
Semyon Krivoshein (right)
Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
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Schematics of the Soviet naval military blockade of Estonia and Latvia in 1940. (Russian State Naval Archives)
49.
Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
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The occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on July 10,1941 by Germanys armed forces. Latvia became a part of Nazi Germanys Reichskommissariat Ostland — the Province General of Latvia, the killings were committed by the Einsatzgruppe A, and the Wehrmacht. Latvian collaborators, including the 500–1,500 members of the Arājs Commando,30,000 Jews were shot in the autumn of 1941 with most of the remaining Jewish people being rounded up and put into ghettos. Germany, Austria and the present-day Czech Republic Jews, now located in the Riga ghetto were put to work, the Kaiserwald concentration camp was built in 1943 at Mežaparks on the edge of Riga which took most of the inmates from the ghetto. In the camp the inmates were put to work by large German companies, before the Soviet forces returned, all Jews under 18 or over 30 were shot, with the remainder moved to Stutthof concentration camp. During the years of Nazi occupation, special campaigns killed 90,000 people in Latvia and those who were not Jews or Gypsies were mostly civilians whose political opinions and activity were unacceptable to the German occupiers. Jewish and Gypsy civilians were eliminated as a result of the Nazi theory of races as set out in the Nazi Generalplan Ost plan. And lastly there were people who felt persecuted, mainly the Jews, many resistance people ended up joining either the German and some, the Soviet armies, as a means of fighting. Very few were able to live as independent bands in the forests, when the Germans first arrived in Latvia they found anti Soviet guerrilla bands operating in may areas, of varying quality, some swollen by deserters from Soviet units. The largest and most effective was led by Kārlis Aperāts who moved on to become a Standartenführer, some Latvians resisted the German occupation undertaking solo acts of bravery, like Žanis Lipke who risked his life to save more than 50 Jews. The Latvian resistance movement was divided between the units under the Latvian Central Council and the pro-Soviet forces under the Central Staff of the Partisan Movement in Moscow. Their Latvian commander was Arturs Sproģis, the Latvian Central Council published the outlawed publication Brīvā Latvija. The periodical promoted the idea of renewing democracy in Latvia after the war, public displays of resistance such as the 15 May 1942 in Riga resulted in the young nationalists being arrested, others were prevented when their plans were discovered. However much partisan activity was centred of forcing civilians to provide food and these reports were used as propaganda by the Soviets. Resistance continued at a level after the return of the Red army in July 1944, with perhaps 40,000 Latvians involved. Many Latvian soldiers deserted when Germany attacked Latvia, a few, especially Jews, continued to serve happily with the Soviet forces. 130th Latvian Rifle Corps of the Order of Suvorov and this Red Army national formation was formed, for the third time, on June 5,1944, shortly before the Red Army attacked Latvia. Their strength was about 15,000 men, which consisted three divisions – 43rd Guards, 308th Latvian Rifle Division and a Soviet division, the Corps units fought against Latvian Legion 19th Division units
Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
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German soldiers enter Riga July 1941
Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany
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Nazi murders of women and children on the beach at Liepaja, Latvia, December 15, 1941
50.
Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944
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The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the re-occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1991. During World War II Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, Army Group Centre was in tatters, and the northern edge of the Soviet assault threatened to trap Army Group North in a pocket in the Courland region. Strachwitz had been needed elsewhere, and was back to acting as the Army Groups fire brigade. Strachwitzs Panzerverband was broken up in late July, by early August, the Soviets were again ready to attempt to cut off Army Group North from Army Group Centre. A massive Soviet assault sliced through the German lines and Army Group North was completely isolated from its neighbour. Inside the trapped pocket, the panzers and StuG IIIs of the Hermann von Salza. On 19 August 1944, the assault, which had been dubbed Unternehmen Doppelkopf got underway and it was preceded by a bombardment by the cruiser Prinz Eugens 203mm guns, which destroyed forty-eight T-34s assembling in the square at Tukums. Strachwitz and the Nordland remnants meet on the 21st, and contact was restored between the army groups, the 101. Panzerbrigade was now assigned to the army detachment Narwa active at the Emajõgi River Front, bolstering the defenders armour strength. Disaster had been averted, but the warning was clear, Army Group North was extremely vulnerable to being cut off. In 1944, the Red Army lifted the siege of Leningrad and re-conquered the Baltic area along with much of Ukraine, however, some 200,000 German troops held out in Courland along with Latvian forces resisting Soviet reoccupation. They were besieged with their backs to the Baltic Sea, the Red Army mounted numerous offensives at massive losses but failed to take the Courland Pocket. He believed them necessary to protect German submarine bases along the Baltic coast, on January 15,1945, Army Group Courland was formed under Colonel-General Dr. Lothar Rendulic. Until the end of the war, Army Group Courland successfully defended the Latvian peninsula and it held out until May 8,1945, when it surrendered under Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, the army groups last commander. He surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov, the commander of opposing Soviet forces on the Courland perimeter, at this time the group still consisted of some 31 divisions of varying strength. After May 9,1945 approximately 203,000 troops of Army Group Courland began moving to Soviet prison camps in the East, more than 200,000 people are estimated to have been deported from the Baltic in 1940–1953. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulag,10 percent of the entire adult Baltic population was deported or sent to labor camps. Many soldiers evaded capture and joined the Latvian national partisans resistance that waged unsuccessful guerilla warfare for several years, the precedent under international law established by the earlier-adopted Stimson Doctrine, as applied to the Baltics in U. S. Under Secretary of State Sumner Welless declaration of July 23,1940, despite Welless statement, the Baltics soon reprised their centuries-long role as pawns in the conflicts of larger powers
Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944
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Soviet operations 19 August 1944 to 31 December 1944.
Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944
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The
evacuation from
Ventspils, October 19, 1944.
Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944
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Memorial to deported Latvian children who died in exile, 1941–1949.
