The Wind (1986 film)
The Wind is a 1986 American horror film directed by Nico Mastorakis, starring Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, Robert Morley, David McCallum, Steve Railsback. The plot concerns a novelist, attacked by a murderer during a stormy wind in Monemvasia; the score was composed by early duo Hans Stanley Myers. Novelist Sian Anderson travels to the solitude Greek island Monemvasia from her Los Angeles home to write her newest mystery book. While writing her novel, she witnesses the local handyman Phil murder her landlord Elias Appleby and is soon fallen under attack by the crazed psychopath while the deadly wind continues to occur throughout the night. Meg Foster as Sian Anderson Wings Hauser as Phil Robert Morley as Elias Appleby Steve Railsback as Kesner Dina Giannakou as Elias' Wife John Michaels and Tracy Young as Newlyweds Summer Thomas as Sian's Friend Mihalis Giannatos as Policeman The film had small releases in theaters, starting in the United Kingdom in November 1986, followed by a release in the United States in November 1987.
Afterwards, the film was released direct-to-video in the home video market and had a DVD release in 2003. As of now, the film has yet to be released on Blu-Ray; the Wind on IMDb The Wind at Rotten Tomatoes
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered to the north by Spain; the landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar at the foot of, a densely populated town area, home to over 30,000 people Gibraltarians. In 1704, Anglo-Dutch forces captured Gibraltar from Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne; the territory was ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. During World War II it was an important base for the Royal Navy as it controlled the entrance and exit to the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, only 8 miles wide at this naval choke point, it remains strategically important. Today Gibraltar's economy is based on tourism, online gambling, financial services and cargo ship refuelling; the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations because Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum and, in a 2002 referendum, the idea of shared sovereignty was rejected.
Evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar from around 50,000 years ago has been discovered at Gorham's Cave. The caves of Gibraltar continued to be used by Homo sapiens after the final extinction of the Neanderthals. Stone tools, ancient hearths and animal bones dating from around 40,000 years ago to about 5,000 years ago have been found in deposits left in Gorham's Cave. Numerous potsherds dating from the Neolithic period have been found in Gibraltar's caves of types typical of the Almerian culture found elsewhere in Andalusia around the town of Almería, from which it takes its name. There is little evidence of habitation in the Bronze Age, when people had stopped living in caves. During ancient times, Gibraltar was regarded by the peoples of the Mediterranean as a place of religious and symbolic importance; the Phoenicians were present for several centuries since around 950 BC using Gorham's Cave as a shrine to the genius loci, as did the Carthaginians and Romans after them. Gibraltar was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin.
Mons Calpe was considered by the ancient Greeks and Romans as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. There is no known archaeological evidence of permanent settlements from the ancient period, they settled at the head of the bay in. The town of Carteia, near the location of the modern Spanish town of San Roque, was founded by the Phoenicians around 950 BC on the site of an early settlement of the native Turdetani people. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Gibraltar came under the control of the Vandals, who crossed into Africa at the invitation of Boniface, the Count of the territory; the area formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania for 300 years, from 414 until 711 AD. Following a raid in 710, a predominantly Berber army under the command of Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed from North Africa in April 711 and landed somewhere in the vicinity of Gibraltar. Tariq's expedition led to the Islamic conquest of most of the Iberian peninsula.
Mons Calpe was renamed the Mount of Tariq, subsequently corrupted into Gibraltar. In 1160 the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mu'min ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built, it received the name of Medinat al-Fath. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today. From 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462 Gibraltar was captured by 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia. After the conquest, Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. Six years Gibraltar was restored to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who sold it in 1474 to a group of 4350 conversos from Cordova and Seville and in exchange for maintaining the garrison of the town for two years, after which time they were expelled, returning to their home towns or moving on to other parts of Spain. In 1501 Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, Isabella I of Castile issued a Royal Warrant granting Gibraltar the coat of arms that it still uses.
In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, representing the Grand Alliance, captured the town of Gibraltar on behalf of the Archduke Charles of Austria in his campaign to become King of Spain. Subsequently most of the population left the town with many settling nearby; as the Alliance's campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated, which ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britain's withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence. Gibraltar became a key base for the Royal Navy and played an important role prior to the Battle of Trafalgar and during the Crimean War of 1854–56, because of its strategic location. In the 18th century, the peacetime military garrison fluctuated in numbers from a minimum of 1,100 to a maximum of 5,000; the first half of the 19th century saw a significant increase of population to more t
Nafplio
Nafplio is a seaport town in the Peloponnese in Greece that has expanded up the hillsides near the north end of the Argolic Gulf. The town was an important seaport held under a succession of royal houses in the Middle Ages as part of the lordship of Argos and Nauplia, held by the de la Roche following the Fourth Crusade before coming under the Republic of Venice and, the Ottoman Empire; the town was the capital of the First Hellenic Republic and of the Kingdom of Greece, from the start of the Greek Revolution in 1821 until 1834. Nafplio is now the capital of the regional unit of Argolis; the name of the town changed several times over the centuries. The modern Greek name of the town is Nafplio. In modern English, the most used forms are Nauplia and Navplion. In Classical Antiquity, it was known as Nauplia in Attic Naupliē in Ionian Greek. In Latin, it was called Nauplia. During the Middle Ages, several variants were used in Byzantine Greek, including Náfplion, Anáplion, Anáplia. During the Late Middle Ages and early modern period, under Venetian domination, the town was known in Italian as Napoli di Romania, after the medieval usage of "Romania" to refer to the lands of the Byzantine Empire, to distinguish it from Napoli in Italy.
During the early modern period, but this time under Ottoman rule, the Turkish name of the town was Mora Yenişehir, after Morea, a medieval name for the Peloponnese, "yeni şehir", the Turkish term for "new city". The Ottomans called it Anabolı. In the 19th century and early 20th century, the town was called indiscriminately Náfplion and Nafplio in modern Greek. Both forms were used in official documents and travel guides; this explains why the old form Náfplion still survives up to this day. Nafplio is situated on the Argolic Gulf in the northeast Peloponnese. Most of the old town is on a peninsula jutting into the gulf. Isolated by marshes, deliberate landfill projects since the 1970s, have nearly doubled the land area of the city; the municipality Nafplio was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 4 former municipalities, that became municipal units: Asini Midea Nafplio Nea TirynthaThe municipality has an area of 390.241 km2, the municipal unit 33.619 km2. The area surrounding Nafplio has been inhabited since ancient times, but few signs of this, aside from the walls of the Acronauplia, remain visible.
The town has been a stronghold on several occasions during Classical Antiquity. It seems to be mentioned on an Egyptian funerary inscription of Amenophis III as Nuplija. Nauplia was the port of Argos, in ancient Argolis, it was situated upon a rocky peninsula, connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus. It was a ancient place, is said to have derived its name from Nauplius, the son of Poseidon and Amymone, the father of Palamedes, though it more owed its name, as Strabo has observed, to its harbour. Pausanias tells us that the Nauplians were Egyptians belonging to the colony which Danaus brought to Argos. Nauplia was at first independent of Argos, a member of the maritime confederacy which held its meetings in the island of Calaureia. About the time of the Second Messenian War, it was conquered by the Argives. Argos now took the place of Nauplia in the Calaureian confederacy; as such it is mentioned by Strabo. Pausanias noticed the ruins of the walls of a temple of Poseidon, certain forts, a fountain named Canathus, by washing in which Hera was said to have renewed her virginity every year.
The Acronauplia has walls dating from pre-classical times. Subsequently, Franks and Turks added to the fortifications. In the middle ages Nauplia was called τὸ Ναύπλιον, τὸ Ἀνάπλιον, or τὰ Ἀνάπλια, it became a place of considerable importance in the middle ages, has continued so down to the present day. In the time of the Crusades it first emerges from obscurity. Nafplio was taken in 1212 by French crusaders of the Principality of Achaea, it became part of the lordship of Argos and Nauplia, which in 1388 was sold to the Republic of Venice, who regarded it as one of their most important places in the Levant. During the subsequent 150 years, the lower city was expanded and fortified, new fortifications added to Acronauplia; the city, under Venetian rule twice repelled Ottoman attacks and sieges, first by Mehmed the Conqueror during the Ottoman–Venetian War and by Suleiman the Magnificent. The city surrendered to the Ottomans in 1540, who renamed it Mora Yenişehri and established it as the seat of a sanjak.
At that period, Nafplio looked much like the 16th century image shown below to the right. The Venetians retook Nafplio in 1685 and made it the capital of their "Kingdom of the Morea"; the city was strengthened by building the castle of Palamidi, in fact the last major const
William of Villehardouin
William of Villehardouin was the last Villehardouin prince of Achaea and ruled the principality at the height of its power and influence. William was the son of Geoffrey I Villehardouin. In 1236 he aided the Latin Empire against the Byzantine Empire of Nicaea, was rewarded with the overlordship of the Venetian Duchy of the Archipelago and other Venetian territories in the Aegean Sea. In 1239 he married the daughter of Narjot's first wife. William came to power in Achaea in 1246; as prince he conquered the remaining territory of the Peloponnese and built the fortress of Mistra near Sparta. In 1249 he captured Monemvasia with help from his Euboeote vassals, that year accompanied Louis IX of France on the Seventh Crusade, joining him in Cyprus with 400 knights and 28 ships. Louis gave him a license to mint coins in the style of royal French money. Under William's rule the Duchy of the Archipelago, the Duchy of Athens, the Lombard lords of Euboea recognized him as their lord. In 1255 his Venetian second wife Carintana dalle Carceri died, leading to a dispute over the inheritance of a fief in Euboea, war broke out between Venice and Achaea.
William won the war and defeated the Duke of Athens in 1258, reaffirming his influence over the duchy. In 1259 he married Anna Komnene Doukaina, daughter of Michael II of Epirus, forming an alliance with the Byzantine Despotate of Epirus against Nicaea, an alliance which included Manfred of Sicily. In September of that year he led the Achaean forces at the Battle of Pelagonia against the Nicaeans, but the Epirote army deserted and William was defeated, he fled the hid under a haystack, where he was captured and brought to Nicaea. He remained in captivity until 1262, was forced to hand over Grand Maigne and Mistra to the Byzantine Empire, restored in Constantinople the previous year. William had now lost all of his previous power, as had his former lord, Baldwin II of Constantinople, whose Latin Empire was lost with the Byzantine restoration. William and Baldwin both acknowledged Charles of Anjou as lord of Achaea under the Treaty of Viterbo in 1267; as a vassal of Charles, William and 400 Achaean knights fought against Conradin at the Battle of Tagliacozzo in 1268.
William and Anna had two daughters and Margaret. Charles succeeded William in 1278, ending the Villehardouin dynasty and setting up Angevin rule, with the principality governed as a province of the Kingdom of Naples. With the decreasing power and influence of Achaea, the Duchy of Athens became the most powerful state in Greece. William was noted as a trouvère, the Manuscrit du Roi, containing two of his own compositions, was written in Achaea during his reign, he was fluent in both French and Greek
Mehmed the Conqueror
Mehmed II known as Mehmed the Conqueror, was an Ottoman Sultan who ruled from August 1444 to September 1446, later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, he defeated the crusade led by John Hunyadi after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce Peace of Szeged; when Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451 he strengthened the Ottoman navy and made preparations to attack Constantinople. At the age of 21, he brought an end to the Byzantine Empire. After the conquest Mehmed claimed the title "Caesar" of the Roman Empire, based on the assertion that Constantinople had been the seat and capital of the Roman Empire; the claim was only recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Mehmed continued his conquests in Anatolia with its reunification and in Southeast Europe as far west as Bosnia. At home he made many political and social reforms, encouraged the arts and sciences, by the end of his reign his rebuilding program had changed the city into a thriving imperial capital.
He is considered parts of the wider Muslim world. Among other things, Istanbul's Fatih district, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and Fatih Mosque are named after him. Mehmed II was born on 30 March 1432, in Edirne the capital city of the Ottoman state, his father was Sultan Murad II and his mother Hüma Valide Hatun, born in the town of Devrekani, Kastamonu. When Mehmed II was eleven years old he was sent to Amasya to govern and thus gain experience, per the custom of Ottoman rulers before his time. Sultan Murad II sent a number of teachers for him to study under; this Islamic education had a great impact in molding Mehmed's mindset and reinforcing his Muslim beliefs. He was influenced in his practice of Islamic epistemology by practitioners of science by his mentor, Molla Gürani, he followed their approach; the influence of Akshamsaddin in Mehmed's life became predominant from a young age in the imperative of fulfilling his Islamic duty to overthrow the Byzantine empire by conquering Constantinople.
After Murad II made peace with the Karamanids in Anatolia in August 1444, he abdicated the throne to his 12-year-old son Mehmed II. In Mehmed II's first reign, he defeated the crusade led by John Hunyadi after the Hungarian incursions into his country broke the conditions of the truce Peace of Szeged. Cardinal Julian Cesarini, the representative of the Pope, had convinced the king of Hungary that breaking the truce with Muslims was not a betrayal. At this time Mehmed II asked his father Murad II to reclaim the throne. Angry at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote, "If you are the Sultan and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." It was only after receiving this letter that Murad II led the Ottoman army and won the Battle of Varna in 1444. Murad II's return to the throne was forced by Çandarlı Halil Paşa, the grand vizier at the time, not fond of Mehmed II's rule, because Mehmed II's influential lala, had a rivalry with Çandarlı.
When Mehmed II ascended the throne again in 1451 he devoted himself to strengthening the Ottoman navy and made preparations for an attack on Constantinople. In the narrow Bosphorus Straits, the fortress Anadoluhisarı had been built by his great-grandfather Bayezid I on the Asian side. Having completed his fortresses, Mehmed proceeded to levy a toll on ships passing within reach of their cannon. A Venetian vessel ignoring signals to stop was sunk with a single shot and all the surviving sailors beheaded, except for the captain, impaled and mounted as a human scarecrow as a warning to further sailors on the strait. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the companion and standard bearer of Muhammad, had died during the first Siege of Constantinople; as Mehmed II's army approached Constantinople, Mehmed's sheikh Akshamsaddin discovered the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. After the conquest, Mehmed built Eyüp Sultan Mosque at the site to emphasize the importance of the conquest to the Islamic world and highlight his role as ghazi.
In 1453 Mehmed commenced the siege of Constantinople with an army between 80,000 and 200,000 troops, an artillery train of over seventy large field pieces, a navy of 320 vessels, the bulk of them transports and storeships. The city was surrounded by land. In early April, the Siege of Constantinople began. At first, the city's walls held off the Turks though Mehmed's army used the new bombard designed by Orban, a giant cannon similar to the Dardanelles Gun; the harbor of the Golden Horn was defended by twenty-eight warships. On 22 April, Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland, around the Genoese colony of Galata, into the Golden Horn's northern shore, thus the Byzantines stretched their troops over a longer portion of the walls. About a month Constantinople fell, on 29 May, following a fifty-seven-day siege. After this conquest, Mehmed moved the Ottoman capital from Adrianople to Constantinople; when Sultan Mehmed II stepped into the ruins of
Voies
Voies is a former municipality in Laconia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Monemvasia, of which it is a municipal unit; the municipal unit has an area of 215.527 km2. It is on the southern tip of Cape Malea, it is a predominantly agricultural region with one dominant town. Vatika is the common term for the area, but Voies is used in a more official context for postal situations. Voion, the genitive plural of Voies, is used for description: for example, to differentiate the village of Agios Nikolaos in Voies from other villages and towns of the same name, one would use Agios Nikolaos Voion. Neapoli is the administrative capital of the municipality, is the urban center to the numerous villages that surround the hinterland. In Voies you will find Kastania Cave, one of the most beautiful caves in Europe, with high color and shape density. There is a single mountain range that runs through the center of the municipality dividing it into two parts, both an east and west section.
Adjacent to the west coast of the region lies the island of Elafonisos. The island contains some of the oldest evidence of human inhabitance in the whole of the Peloponnese; the name of the region derives from the initial name of the town of Neapoli, thought to have been founded in the second century BC.. The ancient writer Pausanias wrote that Boiai was founded "...by Boios, one of the Heraclidae, supposed to have gathered the people from three cities: Etis and Side". Neapoli is the largest town of the former municipality, it was an agricultural center, but now has seen a rise in the numbers of tourists. The commercial center of the town is located on the water front. There are ferries to the islands Elafonisos; the town is surrounded by the villages of Faraklo and Lachi in its hinterland, Kambos located on the same plain as Neapoli. Neapoli has a school, a church and a square. Agios Nikolaos is south-east of Neapoli, it has a agricultural population. NeapoliVillages: Velanidia, a Byzantine village about 17 km from Neapoli, it includes several Byzantine churches.
Faraklo Lachi - Site of the Ancient city named Itis. Mesochori - A village with Byzantine origins. Agios Nikolaos - The Agricultural center for the Municipality; the original name of the village dating back in the 17th century was "Panagia" from a homonymous temple of Virgin Mary. Most of the inhabitants trace their ancestry from the Western parts of Crete, occupied by the Ottomans in 1669 resulting to a wide refugee influx in the Vatica area. Moreover, people from the island of Kythera started populating the village from the early 19th century and onwards. Known families include "Nychas" family indigenous since the 17th century, "Pavlakis" Cretan ancestry and "Michaletos" Venetian ancestry coming from Crete as well; the village has a strong diaspora concentrated in Pretoria - South Africa. Paradeisi Ano Kastania - The location of many Byzantine Churches and Monasteries. Kato Kastania Viglafia Elafonisos - A small island just 500 m of the coast of Vatika near Viglafia. Pantanassa VisitVatika,gr, Complete guide of Vatika region Agios Nikolaos Official Website Velanidia Vatika Photos from Vatika and Elafonissos List of settlements in Laconia
Monemvasia (municipal unit)
