1.
Turin
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Turin is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region and was the first capital city of Italy. The city is located mainly on the bank of the Po River, in front of Susa Valley and surrounded by the western Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 892,649 while the population of the area is estimated by Eurostat to be 1.7 million inhabitants. The Turin metropolitan area is estimated by the OECD to have a population of 2.2 million, in 1997 a part of the historical center of Torino was inscribed in the World Heritage List under the name Residences of the Royal House of Savoy. Turin is well known for its Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neo-classical, many of Turins public squares, castles, gardens and elegant palazzi such as Palazzo Madama, were built between the 16th and 18th centuries. This was after the capital of the Duchy of Savoy was moved to Turin from Chambery as part of the urban expansion, the city used to be a major European political center. Turin was Italys first capital city in 1861 and home to the House of Savoy, from 1563, it was the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, then of the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the Royal House of Savoy and finally the first capital of the unified Italy. Turin is sometimes called the cradle of Italian liberty for having been the birthplace and home of notable politicians and people who contributed to the Risorgimento, such as Cavour. The city currently hosts some of Italys best universities, colleges, academies, lycea and gymnasia, such as the University of Turin, founded in the 15th century, in addition, the city is home to museums such as the Museo Egizio and the Mole Antonelliana. Turins attractions make it one of the worlds top 250 tourist destinations, Turin is ranked third in Italy, after Milan and Rome, for economic strength. With a GDP of $58 billion, Turin is the worlds 78th richest city by purchasing power, as of 2010, the city has been ranked by GaWC as a Gamma World city. Turin is also home to much of the Italian automotive industry, the Taurini were an ancient Celto-Ligurian Alpine people, who occupied the upper valley of the Po River, in the center of modern Piedmont. In 218 BC, they were attacked by Hannibal as he was allied with their long-standing enemies, the Taurini chief town was captured by Hannibals forces after a three-day siege. As a people they are mentioned in history. It is believed that a Roman colony was established in 27 BC under the name of Castra Taurinorum, both Livy and Strabo mention the Taurinis country as including one of the passes of the Alps, which points to a wider use of the name in earlier times. In the 1st century BC, the Romans created a military camp, the typical Roman street grid can still be seen in the modern city, especially in the neighborhood known as the Quadrilatero Romano. Via Garibaldi traces the path of the Roman citys decumanus which began at the Porta Decumani. The Porta Palatina, on the side of the current city centre, is still preserved in a park near the Cathedral
2.
Piedmont
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Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.6 million, the capital of Piedmont is Turin. The name Piedmont comes from medieval Latin Pedemontium or Pedemontis, i. e. ad pedem montium, meaning “at the foot of the mountains”. Other towns of Piedmont with more than 20,000 inhabitants sorted by population and it borders with France, Switzerland and the Italian regions of Lombardy, Liguria, Aosta Valley and for a very small fragment with Emilia Romagna. The geography of Piedmont is 43. 3% mountainous, along with areas of hills. Piedmont is the second largest of Italys 20 regions, after Sicily and it is broadly coincident with the upper part of the drainage basin of the river Po, which rises from the slopes of Monviso in the west of the region and is Italy’s largest river. The Po collects all the waters provided within the semicircle of mountains which surround the region on three sides, from the highest peaks the land slopes down to hilly areas, and then to the upper, and then to the lower great Padan Plain. 7. 6% of the territory is considered protected area. There are 56 different national or regional parks, one of the most famous is the Gran Paradiso National Park located between Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, Piedmont was inhabited in early historic times by Celtic-Ligurian tribes such as the Taurini and the Salassi. They were later subdued by the Romans, who founded several colonies there including Augusta Taurinorum, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was repeatedly invaded by the Burgundians, the Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Franks. In the 9th–10th centuries there were incursions by the Magyars. At the time Piedmont, as part of the Kingdom of Italy within the Holy Roman Empire, was subdivided into several marks, in 1046, Oddo of Savoy added Piedmont to their main territory of Savoy, with a capital at Chambéry. Other areas remained independent, such as the powerful comuni of Asti and Alessandria, the County of Savoy was elevated to a duchy in 1416, and Duke Emanuele Filiberto moved the seat to Turin in 1563. In 1720, the Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, founding what evolved into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Republic of Alba was created in 1796 as a French client republic in Piedmont. A new client republic, the Piedmontese Republic, existed between 1798 and 1799 before it was reoccupied by Austrian and Russian troops, in June 1800 a third client republic, the Subalpine Republic, was established in Piedmont. It fell under full French control in 1801 and it was annexed by France in September 1802, in the congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Sardinia was restored, and furthermore received the Republic of Genoa to strengthen it as a barrier against France. Piedmont was a springboard for Italys unification in 1859–1861, following earlier unsuccessful wars against the Austrian Empire in 1820–1821 and this process is sometimes referred to as Piedmontisation. However, the efforts were countered by the efforts of rural farmers
3.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
4.
Art of ancient Egypt
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Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization of ancient Egypt in the lower Nile Valley from about 3000 BC to 30 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a level in painting and sculpture. It was famously conservative, and Egyptian styles changed remarkably little over more than three thousand years, much of the surviving art comes from tombs and monuments and thus there is an emphasis on life after death and the preservation of knowledge of the past. Ancient Egyptian art included paintings, sculpture in wood, stone and ceramics, drawings on papyrus, faience, jewelry, ivories and it displays an extraordinarily vivid representation of the ancient Egyptians socioeconomic status and belief systems. This appears as early as the Narmer Palette from Dynasty I, other conventions make statues of males darker than females ones. Egyptian art uses hierarchical proportion, where the size of figures indicates their relative importance, symbolism can be observed throughout Egyptian art and played an important role in establishing a sense of order. The pharaohs regalia, for example, represented his power to maintain order, animals were also highly symbolic figures in Egyptian art. Not all Egyptian reliefs were painted, and less prestigious works in tombs, Stone surfaces were prepared by whitewash, or if rough, a layer of coarse mud plaster, with a smoother gesso layer above, some finer limestones could take paint directly. Pigments were mostly mineral, chosen to withstand sunlight without fading. The binding medium used in painting remains unclear, egg tempera and various gums and it is clear that true fresco, painted into a thin layer of wet plaster, was not used. Instead the paint was applied to dried plaster, in what is called fresco a secco in Italian, small objects including wooden statuettes were often painted using similar techniques. Many ancient Egyptian paintings have survived in tombs, and sometimes temples, the paintings were often made with the intent of making a pleasant afterlife for the deceased. The themes included journey through the afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld, some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity. In the New Kingdom and later, the Book of the Dead was buried with the entombed person and it was considered important for an introduction to the afterlife. Egyptian paintings are painted in such a way to show a profile view, for example, the painting to the right shows the head from a profile view and the body from a frontal view. Their main colors were red, blue, green, gold, black, the monumental sculpture of ancient Egypts temples and tombs is world-famous, but refined and delicate small works exist in much greater numbers. The Egyptians used the technique of sunk relief, which is well suited to very bright sunlight. The distinctive pose of standing statues facing forward with one foot in front of the other was helpful for the balance and it was adopted very early and remained unchanged until the arrival of the Greeks
5.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
6.
Anthropology
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Anthropology is the study of various aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology and cultural anthropology study the norms and values of societies, linguistic anthropology studies how language affects social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the development of humans. The abstract noun anthropology is first attested in reference to history and its present use first appeared in Renaissance Germany in the works of Magnus Hundt and Otto Casmann. Their New Latin anthropologia derived from the forms of the Greek words ánthrōpos and lógos. It began to be used in English, possibly via French anthropologie, various short-lived organizations of anthropologists had already been formed. The Société Ethnologique de Paris, the first to use Ethnology, was formed in 1839 and its members were primarily anti-slavery activists. When slavery was abolished in France in 1848 the Société was abandoned and these anthropologists of the times were liberal, anti-slavery, and pro-human-rights activists. Anthropology and many other current fields are the results of the comparative methods developed in the earlier 19th century. For them, the publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species was the epiphany of everything they had begun to suspect, Darwin himself arrived at his conclusions through comparison of species he had seen in agronomy and in the wild. Darwin and Wallace unveiled evolution in the late 1850s, there was an immediate rush to bring it into the social sciences. When he read Darwin he became a convert to Transformisme. His definition now became the study of the group, considered as a whole, in its details. Broca, being what today would be called a neurosurgeon, had taken an interest in the pathology of speech and he wanted to localize the difference between man and the other animals, which appeared to reside in speech. He discovered the speech center of the brain, today called Brocas area after him. The title was translated as The Anthropology of Primitive Peoples. The last two volumes were published posthumously, Waitz defined anthropology as the science of the nature of man. By nature he meant matter animated by the Divine breath, i. e. he was an animist and he stresses that the data of comparison must be empirical, gathered by experimentation
7.
Bembine Tablet
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The Bembine Tablet, the Bembine Table of Isis or the Mensa Isiaca is an elaborate tablet of bronze with enamel and silver inlay, most probably of Roman origin but imitating Egyptian style. It was named in the Renaissance after Cardinal Bembo, an antiquarian who acquired it after the 1527 sack of Rome. Thereafter it was used by antiquarians to penetrate the meaning of hieroglyphics, owing to these prior misconceptions, the tablet became of importance to western esoteric traditions. The Tablet is now regarded as of Roman rather than Egyptian origin, little is known of its subsequent history until after the sack of Rome in 1527, when Cardinal Bembo acquired it from a certain locksmith or ironworker into whose hands it had fallen. After Bembos death in 1547, the Tablet was acquired by the Gonzaga rulers of Mantua and it then passed through various hands until the French conquest of Italy in 1797. Alexandre Lenoir mentioned in 1809 that it was on exhibition in the Bibliothèque Nationale, after Napoleons downfall it was returned to Italy to become a central exhibit in what is now the Museo Egizio at Turin, where it has remained. The tablet was made of bronze with enamel and silver inlay, the figures cut very shallow, the bases on which the figures sat were covered with silver, later torn away, and these sections are left blank in the engraved reproduction above. It is an important example of ancient metallurgy, its surface being decorated with a variety of metals including silver, gold, copper-gold alloy and various base metals. One of the metals employed is black, made by alloying copper and tin with small amounts of gold and silver and this black metal is possibly a variety of the Corinthian bronze described by Pliny and Plutarch. Although the scenes are Egyptianising, they do not depict Egyptian rites, figures are shown with non-customary attributes, making it unclear which are divinities and which kings or queens. Egyptian motifs are used without rhyme or reason, however, the central figure is recognisable as Isis, suggesting that the Tablet originated in some Roman centre of her worship. One of the earliest scholars to study the tablet was Pierio Valeriano Bolzani and his Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum litteris commentarii seems to have been composed earlier than that, although it was published much later. Avoiding interpretation of the meaning, the author expressed doubt as to whether the images were at all meaningful, in which he was subsequently proved right. Kirchers speculations were used by several occultists, including Eliphas Levi, William Wynn Westcott and Manly P. Hall, platonistic writer Thomas Taylor even claimed that this tablet formed the altar before which Plato stood as he received initiation within a subterranean hall in the Great Pyramid of Giza
8.
Isis
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Isis is a goddess from the polytheistic pantheon of Egypt. She was first worshiped in ancient Egyptian religion, and later her worship spread throughout the Roman Empire, Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship. Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children, as the personification of the throne, she was an important representation of the pharaohs power. The pharaoh was depicted as her child, who sat on the throne she provided. Her cult was popular throughout Egypt, but her most important temples were at Behbeit El Hagar in the Nile delta, and, beginning in the reign with Nectanebo I, on the island of Philae in Upper Egypt. In the typical form of her myth, Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth, and Nut, goddess of the Sky and she married her brother, Osiris, and she conceived Horus with him. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was murdered by Set, using her magical skills, she restored his body to life after having gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Set. This myth became very important during the Greco-Roman period, for example, it was believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of the tears of sorrow which Isis wept for Osiris. Osiriss death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals, the worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era. The popular motif of Isis suckling her son Horus, however, the Greek name version of Isis is close to her original, Egyptian name spelling. Isis name was written with the signs of a throne seat. The grammar, spelling and used signs of Isis name never changed during time in any way, however, the symbolic and metaphoric meaning of Isis name remains unclear. The throne seat sign in her name might point to a role as a goddess of kingship. Thus, her name could mean she of the kings throne, but all other Egyptian deities have names that point to clear cosmological or nature elemental roles, thus the name of Isis shouldnt be connected to the king himself. The throne seat symbol might alternatively point to a meaning as throne-mother of the gods and this in turn would supply a very old existence of Isis, long before her first mentioning during the late Old Kingdom, but this hypothesis remains unproven. A third possible meaning might be hidden in the egg-symbol, that was used in Isis name. The egg-symbol always represented motherhood, implying a role of Isis
9.
Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
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Charles Emmanuel III was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death. He was born a Prince of Savoy in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his maternal grandparents were Prince Philippe of France and his first wife Princess Henrietta Anne, the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. From his birth he was styled as the Duke of Aosta, at the time of his birth, Charles Emmanuel was not the heir to the Duchy of Savoy, his older brother Prince Victor Amadeus John Philip, Prince of Piedmont, was the heir apparent. Charles Emmanuel was the second of three males that would be born to his parents and his older brother died in 1715 and Charles Emmanuel then became heir apparent. As a result of his aid in the War of the Spanish Succession, Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important kingdom of Sardinia in 1720 after objections from an alliance of four nations, including several of his former allies. Yet he retained his new title of King, however, Victor Amadeus in his late years was dominated by shyness and sadness, probably under the effect of some mental illness. In the end, on 3 September 1730, he abdicated and he was not loved by Victor Amadeus, and consequently received an incomplete education. He however acquired noteworthy knowledge in the field along his father. In summer,1731, after having recovered from a fatal illness. The old king was confined to the Castle of Rivoli, where he died without any further harm to Charles. In the War of the Polish Succession Charles Emmanuel sided with the French- backed king Stanislaw I, after the treaty of alliance signed in Turin, on 28 October 1733 he marched on Milan and occupied Lombardy without significant losses. However, when France tried to convince Philip V of Spain to join the coalition, he asked to receive Milan and this was not acceptable for Charles Emmanuel, as it would recreate a Spanish domination in Italy as it had been in the previous centuries. While negotiations continued about the matter, the Savoy-French-Spanish troops attacked Mantua under the command of Charles Emmanuel himself. Sure that in the end Mantua would be assigned to Spain, the Franco-Piedmontese army was victorious in two battles at Crocetta and Guastalla. In the end, when Austria and France signed a peace, in exchange, he was given some territories, including Langhe, Tortona and Novara. Charles Emmanuel was involved in the War of the Austrian Succession, in which he sided with Maria Theresa of Austria, with financial and naval support from England. After noteworthy but inconclusive initial successes, he had to face the French-Spanish invasion of Savoy and, after a failed allied attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples, when the enemy army invaded Piedmont, in 1744 he personally defended Cuneo against the Spanish-French besiegers. The following year, with some 20,000 men, he was facing an invasion of two armies with a total of some 60,000 troops, the important strongholds of Alessandria, Asti and Casale fell
10.
Vitaliano Donati
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Vitaliano Donati, born in Padua in Italy, was an Italian doctor, archeologist, and botanist. He took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1739 and he was interested in the flora and fauna of the Adriatic, and in 1745 he published Della storia naturale marina dellAdriatico. This work was translated into many European languages, in 1750 Charles Emmanuel III, king of Sardinia, offered him a chair of Botany and Natural history at the University of Turin. During his career as a professor, he occupied the chair of Mineralogy and Geology. He occupied the chair of Orto Botanico dellUniversità di Torino from 1750 until his death, in 1757, Donati was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1759 he visited Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Arabia and he died on February 26,1762, in the Indian Ocean, travelling on a Turkish ship to Mangalore in India. The Italian city of Torino has entitled a street to Vitaliano Donati, viaggio mineralogico nella Alpi occidentali di Vitaliano Donati a cura di Giuse Scalva, ed. Editrice Compositori per lIstituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sulla Montagna di Roma. Lectionary 300 Scheda su Vitaliano Donati sul Portale di storia della scienza
11.
Karnak
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The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings. Building at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, the area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, the complex is a vast open-air museum, and the second largest ancient religious site in the world, after the Angkor Wat Temple of Cambodia. It is believed to be the second most visited site in Egypt. It consists of four parts, of which only the largest is currently open to the general public. The term Karnak often is understood as being the Precinct of Amun-Ra only, the three other parts, the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Montu, and the dismantled Temple of Amenhotep IV, are closed to the public. There also are a few temples and sanctuaries connecting the Precinct of Mut, the Precinct of Amun-Re. The Precinct of Mut is very ancient, being dedicated to an Earth and creation deity, the original temple was destroyed and partially restored by Hatshepsut, although another pharaoh built around it in order to change the focus or orientation of the sacred area. Many portions of it may have carried away for use in other buildings. The key difference between Karnak and most of the temples and sites in Egypt is the length of time over which it was developed and used. Construction of temples started in the Middle Kingdom and continued through to Ptolemaic times, approximately thirty pharaohs contributed to the buildings, enabling it to reach a size, complexity, and diversity not seen elsewhere. Few of the features of Karnak are unique, but the size. The deities represented range from some of the earliest worshiped to those worshiped much later in the history of the Ancient Egyptian culture and it also contains evidence of adaptations, using buildings of the Ancient Egyptians by later cultures for their own religious purposes. One famous aspect of Karnak is the Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re,122 of these columns are 10 meters tall, and the other 12 are 21 meters tall with a diameter of over three meters. The architraves on top of columns are estimated to weigh 70 tons. These architraves may have been lifted to these heights using levers and this would be an extremely time-consuming process and also would require great balance to get to such great heights. A common alternative theory regarding how they were moved is that large ramps were constructed of sand, mud, brick or stone, if stone had been used for the ramps, they would have been able to use much less material
12.
Qift
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Qift is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km north of Luxor, on the east bank of the Nile. In ancient Egypt, Qift, known then as Gebtu, was an important center for administration, religion, from Qift and Qus, trading expeditions heading for the Red Sea and many mining expeditions into the Eastern Desert left the Nile Valley. Gebtu was at the starting-point of the two great routes leading to the coast of the Red Sea, the one toward the port Tââou. Gebtu was the most important religious center in the area and its principal male deity was Min, a sky-god whose symbol was a thunderbolt. He became a fertility deity, and also was regarded as the male deity of the desert region to the east. His cult rose to prominence in the Middle Kingdom, at that time, he became associated with Horus as the deity, Min-Horus. Later, he was fused with Amen in the deity Min-Amen-ka-Mut-ef, Gebtu, once politically important, especially under the eleventh dynasty, was overshadowed by Thebes. It recuperated its prominence under the Antonines, it was the camp of Legio III Cyrenaica. It rebelled, but soon was captured in 292 by Diocletian after a siege and almost destroyed. In the 6th century, Qift was renamed Justinianopolis, like other cities. Under the Muslim caliphs and the sultans, Qift remained one of the cities of Upper Egypt. In the 13th century, there still were numerous monasteries around the city, Qift was ruined in the 16th century by the Ottomans. Qift was the focus of an American archaeological project from 1987 to 1992, the undecorated northern temple of Min and Isis dates to the Ptolemaic period. Earlier structures on the date back to the Middle Kingdom. The temple was rebuilt during the Ptolemaic Period, the later work has been attributed to an official named Sennuu-shepsi on behalf of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. This northern temple has some additions by Ptolemy IV Philopator ruling from 221-205 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II of Egypt and was the pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Egypt. More additions were added by Julio-Claudian emperors of Rome, Caligula, the second pylon still carries the dedication text of Nero, and the cartouche of Caligula appears on the north end of this structure
13.
Charles Felix of Sardinia
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Charles Felix was the Duke of Savoy, Piedmont, Aosta and King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831. Carlo Felice di Savoia was born in Turin as the child and fifth son born to Victor Amadeus III of Savoy. His paternal grandparents were Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy and his German wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg and his maternal grandparents were French born King Philip V of Spain and his Italian wife, Elisabeth Farnese. He was a brother of two other rulers of Savoy Charles Emmanuel IV and Victor Emmanuel I. He spent his childhood with his sister Maria Carolina and Count of Moriana where they lived at the Castle of Moncalieri. Carlo Felice was reported as having a character, prone to loneliness, with an almost ascetic and a sacral conception of the monarchy. With the Napoleonic occupation of Piedmont in 1796, he lost the crown of Savoy, Carlo Felice, who was titled Duke of Genoa, obtained the title of Marquis of Susa in compensation for his nominal loss. He was a brother of Charles Emmanuel IV and Victor Emmanuel I. He was not expected to succeed to the throne. However Charles Emmanuel never had any children and abdicated the throne on 4 June 1802, Victor Emmanuel had four living daughters when he abdicated the throne in 1821. As the succession was regulated by the Salic Law, Charles Felix succeeded his brother on the throne, since Charles was in Modena at the time of his succession, he appointed as Regent his cousin, and heir, Charles Albert. Charles Albert was in touch with the revolutionaries at that time. All this occurred between the 6 and 14 March 1821, even before he reached Turin, Charles Felix repudiated the Regents promise and, to help restore order, called in the Austrians, who stayed in Piedmont till 1823. He was married by proxy to Princess Maria Cristina of Naples and she was a daughter of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Carolina of Austria, sister of the famous Marie Antoinette, later Queen of France. Charles Felix died without issue, in Turin at the Palazzo Chablais which had given to him by his sister Princess Maria Anna, Duchess of Chablais. He was succeeded by the male member of his dynastic house. He was the last surviving grandchild of Philip V of Spain, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa is named for him. The principal road of the island of Sardinia, the Strada statale 131 Charles Felix, which connects the towns of Cagliari and Sassari-Porto Torres, constructed in the 19th century, is named for him
14.
Papyrus
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The word papyrus /pəˈpaɪrəs/ refers to a thick precursor to modern paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus. Papyrus can also refer to a document written on sheets of papyrus joined together side by side and rolled up into a scroll, the plural for such documents is papyri. Papyrus is first known to have used in ancient Egypt. It was also used throughout the Mediterranean region and in Kingdom of Kush, the Ancient Egyptians used papyrus as a writing material, as well as employing it commonly in the construction of other artifacts such as reed boats, mats, rope, sandals, and baskets. Papyrus was first manufactured in Egypt as far back as the fourth millennium BCE, the earliest archaeological evidence of papyrus was excavated in 2012 and 2013 at Wadi al-Jarf, an ancient Egyptian harbor located on the Red Sea coast. The papyrus rolls describe the last years of building the Great Pyramid of Giza, in the first centuries BCE and CE, papyrus scrolls gained a rival as a writing surface in the form of parchment, which was prepared from animal skins. Sheets of parchment were folded to form quires from which book-form codices were fashioned, early Christian writers soon adopted the codex form, and in the Græco-Roman world, it became common to cut sheets from papyrus rolls to form codices. Codices were an improvement on the scroll, as the papyrus was not pliable enough to fold without cracking. Papyrus had the advantage of being cheap and easy to produce. Unless the papyrus was of quality, the writing surface was irregular. Its last appearance in the Merovingian chancery is with a document of 692, the latest certain dates for the use of papyrus are 1057 for a papal decree, under Pope Victor II, and 1087 for an Arabic document. Its use in Egypt continued until it was replaced by more inexpensive paper introduced by Arabs who originally learned of it from the Chinese, by the 12th century, parchment and paper were in use in the Byzantine Empire, but papyrus was still an option. Papyrus was made in several qualities and prices, pliny the Elder and Isidore of Seville described six variations of papyrus which were sold in the Roman market of the day. These were graded by quality based on how fine, firm, white, grades ranged from the superfine Augustan, which was produced in sheets of 13 digits wide, to the least expensive and most coarse, measuring six digits wide. Materials deemed unusable for writing or less than six digits were considered commercial quality and were pasted edge to edge to be used only for wrapping, until the middle of the 19th century, only some isolated documents written on papyrus were known. They did not contain literary works, the first modern discovery of papyri rolls was made at Herculaneum in 1752. Until then, the papyri known had been a few surviving from medieval times. The English word papyrus derives, via Latin, from Greek πάπυρος, Greek has a second word for it, βύβλος
15.
Bernardino Drovetti
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Bernardino Michele Maria Drovetti was an Italian antiquities collector, diplomat, and politician. He is best remembered for having acquired the Turin Royal Canon, born in Barbania, a comune near Turin in the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Drovetti later obtained the French nationality and joined the Grande Armée. He also earned Wāli Muhammad Alis trust and had a role in some of the administrative reforms. In 1820 he was awarded the title of Chevalier dans lOrdre de la Legion dHonneur, during his stay in Egypt, Drovetti became a passionate and avid collector of Egyptian antiquities. He engaged several agents and was active in Luxor, shortly he gathered huge amounts of findings which he managed to sell in Europe. His first collection was refused by France, but was acquired by King Charles Felix of Sardinia in 1824 and carried to Turin, another collection was purchased by King Charles X of France and is now stored at the Louvre. A third one was acquired by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1836, later in his life, Drovetti lost his mind and was confined in a lunatic asylum at Turin. He died here in March 5,1852, Drovetti was portrayed by Joseph Long in the 2005 BBC docudrama Egypt. Ridly, Ronald T. Napoleons Proconsul In Egypt, The Life and Times of Bernardino Drovetti
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Egyptian hieroglyphs
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Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. It combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters, cursive hieroglyphs were used for religious literature on papyrus and wood. The later hieratic and demotic Egyptian scripts are derived from hieroglyphic writing, the writing system continued to be used throughout the Late Period, as well as the Persian and Ptolemaic periods. Late survivals of hieroglyphic use are found well into the Roman period, with the closing of pagan temples in the 5th century, knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, and the script remained undeciphered throughout the medieval and early modern period. The decipherment of hieroglyphs would only be solved in the 1820s by Jean-François Champollion, the word hieroglyph comes from the Greek adjective ἱερογλυφικός, a compound of ἱερός and γλύφω, supposedly a calque of an Egyptian phrase mdw·w-nṯr gods words. The glyphs themselves were called τὰ ἱερογλυφικὰ γράμματα the sacred engraved letters, the word hieroglyph has become a noun in English, standing for an individual hieroglyphic character. As used in the sentence, the word hieroglyphic is an adjective. Hieroglyphs emerged from the artistic traditions of Egypt. For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from c.4000 BC have been argued to resemble hieroglyphic writing, proto-hieroglyphic symbol systems develop in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, such as the clay labels of a Predynastic ruler called Scorpion I recovered at Abydos in 1998. The first full sentence written in hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on a seal found in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qaab. There are around 800 hieroglyphs dating back to the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, by the Greco-Roman period, there are more than 5,000. However, given the lack of evidence, no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt. Since the 1990s, and discoveries such as the Abydos glyphs, as writing developed and became more widespread among the Egyptian people, simplified glyph forms developed, resulting in the hieratic and demotic scripts. These variants were more suited than hieroglyphs for use on papyrus. Hieroglyphic writing was not, however, eclipsed, but existed alongside the other forms, especially in monumental, the Rosetta Stone contains three parallel scripts – hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. Hieroglyphs continued to be used under Persian rule, and after Alexander the Greats conquest of Egypt, during the ensuing Ptolemaic and Roman periods. It appears that the quality of comments from Greek and Roman writers about hieroglyphs came about, at least in part. Some believed that hieroglyphs may have functioned as a way to distinguish true Egyptians from some of the foreign conquerors, another reason may be the refusal to tackle a foreign culture on its own terms, which characterized Greco-Roman approaches to Egyptian culture generally
17.
Ernesto Schiaparelli
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He was the author of famous scholarly works and a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy. Schiaparelli was from a family of scholars. His father Luigi Schiaparelli taught history at the University of Turin, between 1903 and 1920 Schiaparelli undertook twelve archaeological campaigns, opening sites in Heliopolis, the cemeteries of Giza, Hermopolis, Assiut, Qaw el-Kebir, Gebelein and Aswan. Del sentimento religioso degli Egiziani Il Libro del Funerali degli antichi Egiziani,3 vols, on the Egyptian Book of the Dead
18.
Nubia
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Nubia is a region along the Nile river located in what is today northern Sudan and southern Egypt. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, with a history that can be traced from at least 2000 B. C. onward, and was home to one of the African empires. Nubia was again united within Ottoman Egypt in the 19th century, the name Nubia is derived from that of the Noba people, nomads who settled the area in the 4th century following the collapse of the kingdom of Meroë. The Noba spoke a Nilo-Saharan language, ancestral to Old Nubian, Old Nubian was mostly used in religious texts dating from the 8th and 15th centuries AD. Before the 4th century, and throughout classical antiquity, Nubia was known as Kush, or, in Classical Greek usage, until at least 1970, the Birgid language was spoken north of Nyala in Darfur, but is now extinct. Nubia was divided into two regions, Upper and Lower Nubia, so called because of their location in the Nile river valley. Early settlements sprouted in both Upper and Lower Nubia, Egyptians referred to Nubia as Ta-Seti, or The Land of the Bow, since the Nubians were known to be expert archers. Modern scholars typically refer to the people from this area as the “A-Group” culture, fertile farmland just south of the Third Cataract is known as the “pre-Kerma” culture in Upper Nubia, as they are the ancestors. The Neolithic people in the Nile Valley likely came from Sudan, as well as the Sahara, by the 5th millennium BC, the people who inhabited what is now called Nubia participated in the Neolithic revolution. Saharan rock reliefs depict scenes that have been thought to be suggestive of a cult, typical of those seen throughout parts of Eastern Africa. Megaliths discovered at Nabta Playa are early examples of what seems to be one of the worlds first astronomical devices, around 3500 BC, the second Nubian culture, termed the A-Group, arose. It was a contemporary of, and ethnically and culturally similar to. The A-Group people were engaged in trade with the Egyptians and this trade is testified archaeologically by large amounts of Egyptian commodities deposited in the graves of the A-Group people. The imports consisted of gold objects, copper tools, faience amulets and beads, seals, slate palettes, stone vessels, and a variety of pots. Around 3300 BC, there is evidence of a kingdom, as shown by the finds at Qustul. The Nubian culture may have contributed to the unification of the Nile Valley. The earliest known depiction of the crown is on a ceremonial incense burner from Cemetery at Qustul in Lower Nubia. New evidence from Abydos, however, particularly the excavation of Cemetery U, around the turn of the protodynastic period, Naqada, in its bid to conquer and unify the whole Nile Valley, seems to have conquered Ta-Seti and harmonized it with the Egyptian state
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World War II
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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
20.
2006 Winter Olympics
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This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter Games in Cortina dAmpezzo in 1956. Italy also hosted the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome in 1960, Turin was selected as the host city for the 2006 games in June 1999. The official logo displayed the name Torino, the Italian name of the city, the Olympic mascots of the games were Neve, a female snowball, and Gliz, a male ice cube. The official motto of the XX Olympic Winter Games was Passion lives here, Turin was chosen as the host of the Olympics on June 19,1999, at the 109th IOC Session in Seoul, South Korea. This was after the IOC had adopted new procedures during the 108th Extraordinary IOC Session in light of the corruption scandals surrounding the votes for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. The full IOC Session then voted on the chosen as finalist cities by the Selection College. The selection of Turin over Sion came as a surprise, since Sion was the favorite in part because the IOC is based in Switzerland. Turins selection came two years after Romes unsuccessful 2004 Summer Olympics bid and those games were ultimately awarded to Athens, Greece. The information below comes from the International Olympic Committee Vote History web page, the Oxford Olympics Study established the outturn cost of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics at USD4.4 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 80% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, operational costs incurred by the committee for the purpose of staging the Games. The competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, average cost for Winter Games since 1960 is USD3.1 billion, average cost overrun is 142%. The Games featured 84 medal events over 15 disciplines in 7 sports, events that made their Olympic debut in Turin included mass start biathlon, team sprint cross country skiing, snowboard cross and team pursuit speedskating. Most of the cross country skiing events at these Games involved different distances from those in Salt Lake City, the following are the sports and disciplines that were contested at the games. The numbers in parentheses after each sport discipline indicate the number of events contested, all dates are in Central European Time Host country To sort this table by nation, total medal count, or any other column, click on the icon next to the column title. Stefania Belmondo, a 10-time Olympic medalist in cross-country skiing, lit the Olympic Flame during the ceremony on February 10. Before that, the ceremony celebrated the best of Italy and Sport including a segment honoring the Alps, the FilmMaster Group K-events created and produced the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the XX Winter Olympic Games in Turin in 2006. Executive Producer Marco Balich, Content Supervisor Alfredo Accatino, Art Direction Lida Castelli, monica Maimone of Studio Festi directed the section From Renaissance To Baroque, part of the Opening Ceremony. The first gold medal of the 2006 Games was awarded in the 20 kilometre biathlon, won by German Michael Greis on the first day of competition, on February 12, Latvia won its first winter Olympic medal when Mārtiņš Rubenis took the bronze in the mens luge
21.
Dante Ferretti
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Dante Ferretti is an Italian production designer, art director and costume designer. He frequently collaborates with his wife, set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo, Ferretti was a protégé of Federico Fellini, and worked under him for five films. He also had a collaboration with Pier Paolo Pasolini and later developed a very close professional relationship with Martin Scorsese. In 2008, he designed the set for Howard Shores opera The Fly, directed by David Cronenberg, Ferretti has won three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, for The Aviator, Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Hugo. In addition, he was nominated for Best Costume Design for Kundun and he has also won three BAFTA Awards. In 2012, he designed the decor for Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto, for the 2015 Expo held in Milan, Italy Ferretti was commissioned to do a series of statues articulating the concept Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. He is member of the Italy-USA Foundation, dante Ferretti at the Internet Movie Database
22.
Ico Migliore
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Lodovico Migliore, nicknamed Ico, is a former Italian professional ice hockey player. He is an architect and businessman and he is currently the chairman of Hockey Milano Rossoblu, an ice hockey team in Elite. A based out of Milan, Italy. His Hockey Team is expected to participate in the Kontinental Hockey League from the season 2014-2015, Ico Migliore started playing ice hockey in Turin, He first joined the Valpellice team, and then he played three seasons for those of Bolzano and Varese. In the meantime, he received his degree in Architecture from Polytechnic University of Turin under the supervision of Professor Achille Castiglioni. He started working with Castiglioni at Polytechnic University of Milan where he moved in 1986 and these projects, diversified as they are, create innovative places that have a major impact on people. He is Professor of Interior Design at the Polytechnic University of Milan and he is also a Visiting Professor at Tokyo Zokei University, and Kuwazawa Design School in Tokyo. Ico Migliore, for his experitse in the field of design, was selected as one of the nine jury members of the Official Participants Awards Expo Milan 2015. His son Tommaso is an ice hockey player, his daughter Carola is a fencing player, XX Olympic Winter Games 2006”, with Italo Lupi XXI ADI Compasso d’Oro,2008, “Look of the City. XX Olympic Winter Games 2006”, Urban Design, with Italo Lupi NOMINATION XXI ADI Compasso d’Oro,2008 and he was the team captain of Mastini Varese and HC Milan Saima. He won two championships A1, both with Bolzano and he gained two promotion with HC Valpellice and HC Milan Saima and he was in the Italian national team for a long time. He participated in Olympics, and four World Cup and he won a bronze medal and a silver medal for. In the World Cup at Canazei Migliore is the team’s captain and he was awarded the bronze Medal of Sporting Honor by Italian National Olympic Committee. Since he stopped playing, Migliore became a manager and he first he worked with HC Milan Saima, until the dissolution in 1998. With Milan Vipers he won 5 championships in a row,3 Italy Cup e 3 Italian Super Cup, after the Vipers’ dissolution by the president Alvise di Canossa, Migliore e Tiziano Terragni created Hockey Milan Rossoblu, which took up Vipers’s legacy. The team started from A2 series, it obtained the promotion in 2012. In 2012 he was awarded the Region of Lombardy’s Rosa Camuna for his engagement in sport’s promotion, in 2014, he was awarded Ambrogino dOro for his role as the president of the Hockey Milan Rosso Blu. Migliore+Servetto Architects Ico Migliore career statistics at EliteProspects. com Dexigner FX International Interior Design Awards http, //www. milanosiamonoi. com/giocatori/migliore. php - Career Stats
23.
Turin Papyrus Map
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The Turin Papyrus Map is an ancient Egyptian map, generally considered the oldest surviving map of topographical interest from the ancient world. It is drawn on a papyrus discovered at Deir el-Medina in Thebes, collected by Bernardino Drovetti in Egypt sometime before 1824 AD. The map was drawn about 1160 BC by the well-known Scribe-of-the-Tomb Amennakhte and it was prepared for Ramesses IVs quarrying expedition to the Wadi Hammamat in the Eastern Desert, which exposes Precambrian rocks of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. The purpose of the expedition was to obtain blocks of bekhen-stone to be used for statues of the king, the top of the map is toward the south and the source of the Nile River. As currently reconstructed in the Turin Museum, the map measures 2.8 m long by 0.41 m wide and this arrangement of the map fragments is currently considered incorrect however. A new and more accurate reconstruction was proposed by Harrell and Brown, the draughtsman clearly and carefully distributed distinctive features in accordance with the reality of a particular area, adding clarity by the use of legends and contrasting colors. In this respect, the Turin Papyrus may be regarded as the earliest known Geographic Information System, the location of the map on the ground has been identified and has been shown to be accurate. Among origami enthusiasts, the map has been considered as the earliest known example of folding, according to origami historian David Lister, the map was mentioned by Profs. Koryo Miura and Masamori Sakamaki, from the University of Tokyo, however, the vertical creases on the papyrus are most likely not folding marks, as believed by Miura and Sakamaki, but just the result of normal wear and aging of a papyrus scroll. Prof. Harrells description of Turin Papyrus, with figures Turin Museum Mining in Ancient Egypt Ancient maps
24.
TT8
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TT8 or Theban Tomb 8 was the site of one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in ancient Egypt. Its discoverers used 250 workers to dig in pursuit of the tomb for several weeks, the pyramidion of the chapel had already been removed by an earlier visitor and was now in the Louvre Museum. The tomb held the equipment of Kha, the overseer of works from Deir el-Medina in the mid-18th dynasty. The items found in the show that Kha and Merit were quite wealthy during their lifetime. The coffins of Kha and Merit had been buried in two nested coffins, Khas mummy had been wrapped with several items of jewelry included within the wrappings. The two anthropoid coffins of Kha are excellent examples of the wealth and technically brilliant workmanship of the arts during the reign of Amenhotep III. Khas outer coffin was covered with bitumen, with the face, hands, alternate stripes of the wig, bands of inscriptions. Meanwhile, Khas inner coffin was, Included in one of Khas coffins is one of the earliest examples of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. An X-ray of Khas mummy shows that it was adorned with a necklace and heavy earrings. Khas wife Merit was buried in an outer coffin with one inner anthropoid coffin. Her mummy was wrapped with funerary jewellery. A tomb of this magnitude would have taken years to prepare, unexpectedly predeceased by his wife Merit, Kha donated his own coffin to his wife. Since it was too big for Merit’s mummy, Kha was forced to pack linens, monogrammed for him, around her mummy. Merits single coffin combines features of Khas inner and outer coffins, the lid is entirely gilded, both Khas and Merits anthropoid coffins were themselves contained within Middle Kingdom style rectangular outer coffins covered with black bitumen and having vaulted, gable-ended lids. Khas own coffin was mounted on sledge runners, notes Ernesto Schiaparelli in his 1927 publication report of the discovery, thus, Kha and Merit’s tomb was furnished with all the objects necessary in the afterlife. Ointments and kohl were regarded as a part of hygiene and these precious materials were held in a variety of lidded alabaster, glass. Egyptians protected themselves from the flies and from sunlight by wearing dark kohl under the eyes, other objects in the tomb include sandels and jar vessels. The Tomb of Kha and Merit also contained more than 100 clothing garments alone for the couple to use in their afterlife, all the funerary objects from Khas tomb, except for two small articles, were subsequently transferred to the Egyptian museum in Turin
25.
Turin King List
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The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list available of kings compiled by the Egyptians, the papyrus is believed to date from the reign of Ramesses II, during the middle of the New Kingdom, or the 19th Dynasty. The beginning and ending of the list are now lost, there is no introduction, the composition may thus have occurred at any subsequent time, from the reign of Ramesses II to as late as the 20th Dynasty. The papyrus lists the names of rulers, the lengths of reigns in years, with months, in some cases they are grouped together by family, which corresponds approximately to the dynasties of Manetho’s book. The list includes the names of rulers or those ruling small territories that may be unmentioned in other sources. The list also is believed to contain kings from the 15th Dynasty, the Hyksos who ruled Lower Egypt, the Hyksos rulers do not have cartouches, and a hieroglyphic sign is added to indicate that they were foreigners, although typically on King Lists foreign rulers are not listed. The papyrus was originally a tax roll, but on its back is written a list of rulers of Egypt – including mythical kings such as gods, demi-gods, and spirits, as well as human kings. As such, the papyrus is not supposed to be biased against certain rulers and is believed to all the kings of Egypt up through at least the 19th Dynasty. The papyrus was found by the Italian traveler Bernardino Drovetti in 1820 at Luxor, Egypt and was acquired in 1824 by the Egyptian Museum in Turin, when the box in which it had been transported to Italy was unpacked, the list had disintegrated into small fragments. Jean-Francois Champollion, examining it, could recognize only some of the larger fragments containing royal names, a reconstruction of the list was created to better understand it and to aid in research. Subsequent work on the fragments was done by the Munich Egyptologist Jens Peter Lauth, in 1997, prominent Egyptologist Kim Ryholt published a new and better interpretation of the list in his book, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. After another study of the papyrus, a version from Ryholt is expected. Despite attempts at reconstruction, approximately 50% of the papyrus remains missing and this papyrus as presently constituted is 1.7 m long and 0.41 m wide, broken into over 160 fragments. In 2009, previously unpublished fragments were discovered in the room of the Egyptian Museum of Turin, in good condition. A new edition of the papyrus is expected, the papyrus is divided into eleven columns, distributed as follows. The names and positions of several kings are still being disputed, List of lists of ancient kings List of pharaohs Palermo stone Alan Gardiner, editor. “Some remarks on Helcks Anmerkungen zum Turiner Konigspapyrus‘. “ Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 81, “The Date of the End of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. ”Journal of Near Eastern Studies 21, no. “A Genealogical Chronology of the Seventeenth Dynasty. ”Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 39, george Adam Smith, Chaldean Account of Genesis p290 Contains a different translation of the Turin Papyrus in a chart about dynasty of gods
26.
Book of the Dead
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The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BCE. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as Book of Coming Forth by Day, another translation would be Book of Emerging Forth into the Light. The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts. Some of the spells included were drawn from older works. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period, a number of the spells which made up the Book continued to be inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as had always been the spells from which they originated. The Book of the Dead was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased, there was no single or canonical Book of the Dead. The surviving papyri contain a selection of religious and magical texts. Some people seem to have commissioned their own copies of the Book of the Dead, the Book of the Dead developed from a tradition of funerary manuscripts dating back to the Egyptian Old Kingdom. The first funerary texts were the Pyramid Texts, first used in the Pyramid of King Unas of the 5th dynasty and these texts were written on the walls of the burial chambers within pyramids, and were exclusively for the use of the Pharaoh. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the Pyramid Texts ceased to be a royal privilege. In the Middle Kingdom, a new funerary text emerged, the Coffin Texts, the Coffin Texts used a newer version of the language, new spells, and included illustrations for the first time. The Coffin Texts were most commonly written on the surfaces of coffins. The Book of the Dead first developed in Thebes towards the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period, by the 17th dynasty, the Book of the Dead had become widespread not only for members of the royal family, but courtiers and other officials as well. At this stage, the spells were typically inscribed on linen shrouds wrapped around the dead, the New Kingdom saw the Book of the Dead develop and spread further. The famous Spell 125, the Weighing of the Heart, is first known from the reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, from this period onward the Book of the Dead was typically written on a papyrus scroll, and the text illustrated with vignettes. During the 19th dynasty in particular, the vignettes tended to be lavish, in the Third Intermediate Period, the Book of the Dead started to appear in hieratic script, as well as in the traditional hieroglyphics. The hieratic scrolls were a version, lacking illustration apart from a single vignette at the beginning. At the same time, many burials used additional funerary texts, during the 25th and 26th dynasties, the Book of the Dead was updated, revised and standardised
27.
Ramesses II
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Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great and Ozymandias, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He often is regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and his successors and later Egyptians called him the Great Ancestor. Ramesses II led several expeditions into the Levant, reasserting Egyptian control over Canaan. He also led expeditions to the south, into Nubia, commemorated in inscriptions at Beit el-Wali, at age fourteen, Ramesses was appointed Prince Regent by his father Seti I. He is believed to have taken the throne in his teens and is known to have ruled Egypt from 1279 BC to 1213 BC. Manetho attributes Ramesses II a reign of 66 years and 2 months, most Egyptologists today believe he assumed the throne on May 31,1279 BC, estimates of his age at death vary,90 or 91 is considered most likely. Ramesses II celebrated an unprecedented 14 sed festivals during his reign—more than any other pharaoh. On his death, he was buried in a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, his later was moved to a royal cache where it was discovered in 1881. The early part of his reign was focused on building cities, temples and he established the city of Pi-Ramesses in the Nile Delta as his new capital and used it as the main base for his campaigns in Syria. He is known as Ozymandias in the Greek sources, from a transliteration into Greek of a part of Ramesses throne name, Usermaatre Setepenre, The justice of Rê is powerful – chosen of Rê. Early in his life, Ramesses II embarked on campaigns to restore possession of previously held territories lost to the Nubians and Hittites. He also was responsible for suppressing some Nubian revolts and carrying out a campaign in Libya, during Ramesses IIs reign, the Egyptian army is estimated to have totaled about 100,000 men, a formidable force that he used to strengthen Egyptian influence. The Sherden people probably came from the coast of Ionia, from southwest Anatolia or perhaps, a stele from Tanis speaks of their having come in their war-ships from the midst of the sea, and none were able to stand before them. In that sea battle, together with the Sherden, the pharaoh also defeated the Lukka, the immediate antecedents to the Battle of Kadesh were the early campaigns of Ramesses II into Canaan. The inscription is almost totally illegible, due to weathering, additional records tell us that he was forced to fight a Canaanite prince who was mortally wounded by an Egyptian archer, and whose army subsequently, was routed. Ramesses carried off the princes of Canaan as live prisoners to Egypt, Ramesses then plundered the chiefs of the Asiatics in their own lands, returning every year to his headquarters at Riblah to exact tribute. In the fourth year of his reign, he captured the Hittite vassal state of Amurru during his campaign in Syria, the Battle of Kadesh in his fifth regnal year was the climactic engagement in a campaign that Ramesses fought in Syria, against the resurgent Hittite forces of Muwatallis. The pharaoh wanted a victory at Kadesh both to expand Egypts frontiers into Syria, and to emulate his father Seti Is triumphal entry into the city just a decade or so earlier and he also constructed his new capital, Pi-Ramesses
28.
Amun
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Amun was a major Ancient Egyptian deity. He was attested since the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amaunet, with the 11th dynasty, he rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Monthu. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I, Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom. Amun-Ra in this period held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity par excellence, he was the champion of the poor or troubled and his position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods, as the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshipped outside of Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece, Amun and Amaunet are mentioned in the Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts. The name Amun meant something like the one or invisible. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, as the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother and the Moon god Khonsu formed a family or Theban Triad. The history of Amun as the god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th dynasty, major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Re took place during the 18th dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have begun during the 18th dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I. Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court and this Great Inscription shows the kings campaigns and eventual return with booty and prisoners. Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famous Israel Stela found in the complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Merenptahs son Seti II added 2 small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and this was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu. The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Res layout was the addition of the first pylon, the local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all their enterprises to Amun. The victory accomplished by pharaohs who worshipped Amun against the rulers, brought him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate
29.
Hathor
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Hathor is an Ancient Egyptian goddess who personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood. She was one of the most important and popular throughout the history of Ancient Egypt. Hathor was worshipped by royalty and common people alike, in tomb paintings, she is often depicted as Mistress of the West, welcoming the dead into the next life. In other roles, she was a goddess of music, dance, foreign lands and she was believed to assist women in childbirth. She was also believed to be the goddess of miners. Hathor is commonly depicted as a cow goddess with horns in which is set a sun disk with Uraeus, twin feathers are also sometimes shown in later periods as well as a menat necklace. The Ancient Egyptians viewed reality as multi-layered in which deities who merge for various reasons, while retaining divergent attributes and myths, were not seen as contradictory but complementary. In a complicated relationship Hathor is at times the mother, daughter and wife of Ra and, like Isis, is at times described as the mother of Horus, the cult of Osiris promised eternal life to those deemed morally worthy. Originally the justified dead, male or female, became an Osiris but by early Roman times females became identified with Hathor, the Ancient Greeks sometimes identified Hathor with the goddess Aphrodite. Hathor is ambiguously depicted until the fourth dynasty, in the historical era Hathor is shown using the imagery of a cow deity. At times they are regarded as one and the goddess, though likely having separate origins. The evidence pointing to the deity being Hathor in particular is based on a passage from the Pyramid texts which states that the Kings apron comes from Hathor, from the Old Kingdom she was also called Lady of the Sycamore in her capacity as a tree deity. Hathor had a relationship with Ra. At times she is the eye of Ra and considered his daughter and she absorbed this role from another cow goddess Mehet-Weret who was the mother of Ra in a creation myth and carried him between her horns. As a mother she gave birth to Ra each morning on the eastern horizon, the Milky Way was seen as a waterway in the heavens, sailed upon by both the sun deity and the moon, leading the ancient Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky. Hathor also was favoured as a protector in desert regions, as Serabit el-Khadim was where turquoise was mined, Hathors titles included Lady of Turquoise, Mistress of Turquoise, and Lady of Turquoise Country. Hathors identity as a cow, perhaps depicted as such on the Narmer Palette, meant that she identified with another ancient cow-goddess of fertility. The assimilation of Bat, who was associated with the sistrum, in this later form, Hathors cult became centred in Dendera in Upper Egypt and it was led by priestesses and priests who also were dancers, singers and other entertainers
30.
Seti II
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Seti II, was the fifth ruler of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt and reigned from c.1200 BC to 1194 BC. His throne name, Userkheperure Setepenre, means Powerful are the manifestations of Re and he was the son of Merneptah and Isetnofret II and sat on the throne during a period known for dynastic intrigue and short reigns, and his rule was no different. The erasures were subsequently repaired by Seti IIs agents and this suggests that Seti IIs reign at Thebes was interrupted by the rise of a rival, king Amenmesse in Upper Egypt. This conforms well with the evidence of Seti IIs control over Thebes in his first two years, which is attested by various documents and papyri. In contrast, Seti II is absent from Upper Egypt during his third and this indicates that the reigns of Amenmesse and Seti II must have partly overlapped with one another and suggests that both rulers were rivals who were fighting each another for the throne of Egypt. Prior to his year, however, Amenmesse was finally defeated by his rival, Seti II. Seti IIs agents completely erased both scenes and texts from KV10, the tomb of Amenmesse. Seti II promoted Chancellor Bay to become his most important state official and built 3 tombs – KV13, KV14 and this was an unprecedented act on his part for Bay, who was of Syrian descent and was not connected by marriage or blood ties to the royal family. Due to the brevity of his reign, Setis tomb was unfinished at the time of his death. Twosret later rose to power herself after the death of Siptah, according to an inscribed ostraca document from the Deir el-Medina workers community, Seti IIs death was announced to the workmen by The police Nakht-min on Year 6, I Peret 19 of Seti IIs reign. Seti II likely died sometime late in IV Akhet or early in I Peret, Wolfgang Helck, demarée have now proposed I Peret 2 as the date of Seti IIs actual death, presumably since it is 70 days before the day of his burial. From a graffito written in the first corridor of Twosrets KV14 tomb, Seti II was buried in his KV15 tomb on Year 1, III Peret day 11 of Siptahs reign. Seti IIs earliest prenomen in his First Year was Userkheperure Setepenre which is written above an inscription of Messuwy, Seti II soon changed his royal name to Userkheperure Meryamun, which was the most common form of his prenomen. Two important papyri date from the reign of Seti II, the second is the records of the trial of Paneb. Neferhotep, one of the two chief workmen of the Deir el Medina necropolis, had replaced by Paneb, his troublesome son-in-law. Many crimes were alleged by Neferhoteps brother—Amennakhte—against Paneb in a violently worded indictment preserved in papyrus now in the British Museum, whatever the truth of these accusations, it is clear that Thebes was going through very troubled times. There are references elsewhere to a war that had occurred during these years, neferhotep had complained of Panebs attacks on himself to the vizier Amenmose, presumably a predecessor of Praemhab, whereupon Amenmose had punished Paneb. This trouble-maker had then brought a complaint before Mose, who acted to remove Praemhab from his office
31.
Sekhmet
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In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet (/ˈsɛkˌmɛt/ or Sachmis is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians and it was said that her breath formed the desert. She was seen as the protector of the pharaohs and led them in warfare. Her cult was so dominant in the culture that when the first pharaoh of the dynasty, Amenemhat I, moved the capital of Egypt to Itjtawy. Religion, the lineage, and the authority to govern were intrinsically interwoven in ancient Egypt during its approximately three millennia of existence. Sekhmet also is a Solar deity, sometimes called the daughter of the sun god Ra and often associated with the goddesses Hathor and she bears the Solar disk and the uraeus which associates her with Wadjet and royalty. With these associations she can be construed as being an arbiter of the goddess Maat in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, associating her with the Wadjet. Sekhmets name comes from the Ancient Egyptian word sekhem which means power or might, Sekhmets name suits her function and means the powerful. She also was given such as the Before Whom Evil Trembles, Mistress of Dread, Lady of Slaughter. In order to placate Sekhmets wrath, her priestesses performed a ritual before a different statue of the goddess on each day of the year and this practice resulted in many images of the goddess being preserved. It is estimated more than seven hundred statues of Sekhmet once stood in one funerary temple alone. She was envisioned as a lioness, and in art, was depicted as such, or as a woman with the head of a lioness, who was dressed in red. Sometimes the dress she wears exhibits a pattern over each breast, an ancient leonine motif. Occasionally, Sekhmet was also portrayed in her statuettes and engravings with minimal clothing or naked, tame lions were kept in temples dedicated to Sekhmet at Leontopolis. To pacify Sekhmet, festivals were celebrated at the end of battle, participation in the festival was great, including the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist and these findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence, Mut absorbed some characteristics of Sekhmet. These temple excavations at Luxor discovered a porch of drunkenness built onto the temple by the Pharaoh Hatshepsut, in a myth about the end of Ras rule on the earth, Ra sends Hathor or Sekhmet to destroy mortals who conspired against him. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the slaughter, Sekhmet later was considered to be the mother of Maahes, a deity who appeared during the New Kingdom period
32.
Ptah
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In Egyptian mythology, Ptah is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the spouse of Sekhmet and he was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep. Ptah is the Creator god par excellence, He is considered the demiurge who existed before all other things, and by his willfulness, thought the world. It was first conceived by Thought, and realized by the Word, Ptah conceives the world by the thought of his heart and that which Ptah commanded was created, with which the constituents of nature, fauna, and flora, are contained. He also plays a role in the preservation of the world and this document has been known as the Memphite Theology, and shows the god Ptah, the god responsible for the creation of the universe by thought and by the word. Ptah is the patron of craftsmanship, metalworking, carpenters, shipbuilders, from the Middle Kingdom onwards, he was one of five major Egyptian gods with Ra, Isis, Osiris and Amun. He is sometimes represented as a dwarf, naked and deformed, frequently associated with the god Bes, his worship then exceeded the borders of the country and was exported throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Thanks to the Phoenicians, we find figures of Ptah in Carthage, from the Old Kingdom, he quickly absorbs the appearance of Sokar and Tatenen, ancient deities of the Memphite region. His form of Sokar is found contained in its white shroud wearing the Atef crown, in this capacity, he represents the god of the necropolis of Saqqara and other famous sites where the royal pyramids were built. Gradually he formed with Osiris a new deity called Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, statuettes representing the human form, half-human, half-hawk, or simply in its falcon form will be systematically placed in tombs to accompany and protect the dead on their journey to the West. His Tatenen form is represented by a young and vigorous man wearing a crown with two tall plumes that surround the solar disk and he thus embodies the underground fire that rumbles and raises the earth. As such, he was revered by metalworkers and blacksmiths. In this form also, Ptah is the master of ceremonies for Heb Sed, in the holy of holies of his temple in Memphis, as well as in his great sacred boat, he drove in procession to regularly visit the region during major holidays. Ptah was also symbolized by two birds with human heads adorned with solar disks, symbols of the souls of the god Re, the two Ba are also identified as the twin gods Shu and Tefnut and are associated with the djed pillar of Memphis. Finally, Ptah is embodied in the bull, Apis. Frequently referred to as a herald of Re, the animal is the link with the god Re from the New Kingdom. He even received worship in Memphis, probably at the heart of the temple of Ptah. As god of craftsmen, the cult of the god Ptah quickly spread throughout Egypt, for this reason, the oratory of Ptah who listens to prayers was built near the site of Deir el-Medina, the village where the workers and craftsmen were confined
33.
Horemheb
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Horemheb was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from either 1319 BC to late 1292 BC, or 1306 to late 1292 BC although he was not related to the royal family and is believed to have been of common birth. Before he became pharaoh, Horemheb was the commander in chief of the army under the reigns of Tutankhamun, after his accession to the throne, he reformed the Egyptian state and it was under his reign that official action against the preceding Amarna rulers began. Due to this, he is considered the man who restabilized his country after the troublesome, Horemheb demolished monuments of Akhenaten, reusing their remains in his own building projects, and usurped monuments of Tutankhamun and Ay. Horemheb presumably remained childless since he appointed his vizier Paramesse as his successor and his parentage is unknown but he is believed to have been a commoner. According to the French Egyptologist Nicolas Grimal, Horemheb does not appear to be the person as Paatenemheb who was the commander-in-chief of Akhenatens army. Grimal notes that Horemhebs political career first began under Tutankhamun where he is depicted at this side in his own tomb chapel at Memphis. In the earliest known stage of his life, Horemheb served as the spokesman for foreign affairs. This resulted in a visit by the Prince of Miam to Tutankhamuns court. Horemheb quickly rose to prominence under Tutankhamun, becoming commander-in-chief of the army, when used alone, the Egyptologist Alan Gardiner has shown that the iry-pat title contains features of ancient descent and lawful inheritance which is identical to the designation for a Crown Prince. This means that Horemheb was the openly recognised heir to Tutankhamuns throne and not Ay, no objects belonging to Horemheb were found in Tutankhamuns tomb, whereas items donated by other high-ranking officials such as Maya and Nakhtmin were found in tomb KV62 by Egyptologists. Further, Tutankhamuns queen, Ankhesenamun, refused to marry Horemheb, a commoner, having pushed Horemhebs claims aside, Ay proceeded to nominate the aforementioned Nakhtmin, who was possibly Ays son or adopted son, to succeed him rather than Horemheb. However, he spared Tutankhamuns tomb from vandalism presumably because it was Tutankhamun who had promoted his rise to power and chosen him to be his heir. Horemheb also usurped and enlarged Ays mortuary temple at Medinet Habu for his own use, Horemheb appointed judges and regional tribunes. Reintroduced local religious authorities and divided legal power between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt between the Viziers of Thebes and Memphis respectively and these deeds are recorded in a stela which the king erected at the foot of his Tenth Pylon at Karnak. Occasionally called The Great Edict of Horemheb, it is a copy of the text of the kings decree to re-establish order to the Two Lands. The stelas creation and prominent location emphasizes the importance which Horemheb placed upon domestic reform. Horemheb was a builder who erected numerous temples and buildings throughout Egypt during his reign
34.
Sphinx
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A sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion and it is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such stories, as they are killed. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus, unlike the Greek sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man. In European decorative art, the sphinx enjoyed a revival during the Renaissance. Sphinxes are generally associated with structures such as royal tombs or religious temples. The oldest known sphinx was found near Gobekli Tepe at another site, Nevali Çori, or possibly 120 miles to the east at Kortik Tepe, Turkey, and was dated to 9,500 BCE. The largest and most famous sphinx is the Great Sphinx of Giza, situated on the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River, the sphinx is located southeast of the pyramids. Although the date of its construction is uncertain, the head of the Great Sphinx now is believed to be that of the pharaoh Khafra, what names their builders gave to these statues is not known. At the Great Sphinx site, a 1400 BCE inscription on a stele belonging to the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose IV lists the names of three aspects of the sun deity of that period, Khepera–Rê–Atum. The theme was expanded to form great avenues of guardian sphinxes lining the approaches to tombs, nine hundred with ram heads, representing Amon, were built in Thebes, where his cult was strongest. Perhaps the first sphinx in Egypt was one depicting Queen Hetepheres II and she was one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of that dynasty. The Great Sphinx has become an emblem of Egypt, frequently appearing on its stamps, coins, from the Bronze Age, the Hellenes had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt. Before the time that Alexander the Great occupied Egypt, the Greek name, the historians and geographers of Greece wrote extensively about Egyptian culture. Herodotus called the ram-headed sphinxes Criosphinxes and called the hawk-headed ones Hieracosphinxes, the word sphinx comes from the Greek Σφίγξ, apparently from the verb σφίγγω, meaning to squeeze, to tighten up. This name may be derived from the fact that the hunters for a pride of lions are the lionesses, There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Orthrus and either Echidna or the Chimera, or perhaps even Ceto, according to others, she was a daughter of Echidna and Typhon. All of these are figures from the earliest of Greek myths
35.
The Italian Job
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The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Subsequent television showings and releases on video have made it known in the United Kingdom. Its soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones, and includes On Days Like These sung by Matt Monro over the opening credits, lead actor Michael Caine is among its singers. In November 2004, Total Film named The Italian Job the 27th greatest British film of all time, the line Youre only supposed to blow the bloody doors off. By Caine was voted favourite film one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1,000 film fans, the popularity of the film has led to parodies and allusions in other films and productions, including a 2003 remake. Charlie Croker, a Cockney criminal, is released from prison with the intention of doing a big job in Italy. He soon meets with the widow of his friend and fellow thief Roger Beckermann, Croker breaks back into his former prison to convince Mr. Bridger, the head of a huge criminal empire, to finance the plan. Bridger, who has bribed almost all of the guards to work for him, initially rejects the plan. With Bridgers backing, Croker recruits computer expert Professor Peach, his girlfriend Lorna, after planning and training, Croker and crew set out for Turin. Mafia boss Altabani and his underlings are waiting in the Alps at the pass where they killed Beckermann. Altabani warns Croker that the Mafia are aware of the intentions and smashes their Jaguar E-Type cars. Croker tells Altabani that Mr. Bridger will avenge their deaths by attacking the Italian community in Britain, Altabani lets them go, ordering them to return to England. Instead, they proceed with the plan, replacing the control systems magnetic tape data storage reels. On the day of the robbery, Croker sends gang member Birkinshaw, disguised as a football fan, the substitute data reel then causes widespread traffic chaos. The gang converge on the convoy, overpower the guards. There, the transfer the gold to the Minis. Altabani recognises that If they planned this jam, they must have planned a way out, the getaway is timed perfectly, and they throw off the police by driving through a large sewer pipe. As Mr. Bridger receives the cheers and adulation of his fellow prison inmates and they then unload the gold and dispose of the Minis by pushing them off the mountainside
36.
Mini
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The Mini is a small economy car produced by the English based British Motor Corporation and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered an icon of 1960s British popular culture and its space-saving transverse engine front-wheel drive layout – allowing 80 percent of the area of the cars floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage – influenced a generation of car makers. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th century, behind the Ford Model T and this distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates – the Mark II, the Clubman and the Mark III, within these was a series of variations, including an estate car, a pick-up truck, a van and the Mini Moke – a jeep-like buggy. The performance versions, the Mini Cooper and Cooper S, were successful as race and rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964,1965 and 1967. In 1966, the first-placed Mini was disqualified after the finish, on introduction in August 1959 the Mini was marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. The Austin Seven was renamed Austin Mini in January 1962 and Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969, in 1980 it once again became the Austin Mini and in 1988 the Rover Mini. BMW acquired the Rover Group in 1994, and sold the part of it in 2000. Designated by Leonard Lord as project ADO15 and the product of the Morris design team, petrol was once again rationed in the UK, sales of large cars slumped, and the market for German bubble cars boomed. Lord, the autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them. Alec Issigonis, who had working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 and. The team that designed the Mini was remarkably small, as well as Issigonis, there was Jack Daniels, Chris Kingham, together, by October 1957, they had designed and built the original prototype, which was affectionately named The Orange Box because of its colour. Almost all small front-wheel-drive cars developed since have used a similar configuration and this location saved vehicle length, but had the disadvantage of feeding the radiator with air that had been heated by passing over the engine. It also exposed the entire system to the direct ingress of rainwater through the grille. The suspension system, designed by Issigoniss friend Dr. Alex Moulton at Moulton Developments Limited, used compact rubber cones instead of conventional springs and this space-saving design also featured rising progressive-rate springing of the cones, and provided some natural damping, in addition to the normal dampers. Initially an interconnected fluid system was planned, similar to the one that Alec Issigonis, the short development time of the car meant this was not ready in time for the Minis launch. The system intended for the Mini was further developed and the system was first used on the Morris 1100, launched in 1962. Ten-inch wheels were specified, so new tyres had to be developed, Issigonis went to Dunlop stating that he wanted even smaller,8 in wheels
37.
Egyptian Museum
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The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with an amount on display. The edifice is one of the largest museums in the region, as of February 2017, the museum is open to the public. The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities contains many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history and it houses the world’s largest collection of Pharaonic antiquities. The Egyptian government established the museum, built in 1835 near the Ezbekeyah Garden, in 1855 Archduke Maximilian of Austria was given all of the artifacts by the Egyptian government, these are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. A new museum was established at Boulaq in 1858 in a former warehouse, the building lay on the bank of the Nile River, and in 1878 it suffered significant damage in a flood of the Nile River. In 1891, the collections were moved to a royal palace. They remained there until 1902 when they were moved, for the last time, during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, the museum was broken into, and two mummies were destroyed. Several artifacts were shown to have been damaged. Since then 25 objects have been found and those that were restored were put on display in September 2013 in an exhibition entitled Damaged and Restored. There are two floors in the museum, the ground floor and the first floor. On the ground there is an extensive collection of papyrus. The numerous pieces of papyrus are generally small fragments, due to their decay over the past two millennia, several languages are found on these pieces, including Greek, Latin, Arabic, and ancient Egyptian. The coins found on floor are made of many different metals, including gold, silver. The coins are not only Egyptian, but also Greek, Roman and this has helped historians research the history of Ancient Egyptian trade. Also on the floor are artifacts from the New Kingdom. These artifacts are generally larger than items created in earlier centuries, two special rooms contain a number of mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom. In the garden adjacent to the building of the museum a memorial to famous egyptologists of the world is located, the Murder of Tutankhamen, A True Story
38.
Egyptian Museum of Berlin
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The Egyptian Museum of Berlin is home to one of the worlds most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, including the iconic Nefertiti Bust. Since October 2009, the collection is part of the reopened Neues Museum on Berlins Museum Island, the museum originated in the 18th century from the royal art collection of the Hohenzollern kings of Prussia. Alexander von Humboldt had recommended that an Egyptian section be created, initially housed in Monbijou Palace, the department was headed by the Trieste merchant Giuseppe Passalacqua, whose extensive collections formed the basis. A Prussian expedition to Egypt and Nubia led by Karl Richard Lepsius in 1842–45 brought additional pieces to Berlin, in 1850, the collections moved to its present-day home in the Neues Museum, built according to plans designed by Friedrich August Stüler. The Nefertiti Bust, discovered during the excavations by Ludwig Borchardt in Amarna, was donated to the museum by the entrepreneur Henri James Simon in 1920, it quickly became its best-known exhibit. After World War II, during which the Neues Museum was heavily damaged by strategic bombing, the main part remained in East Berlin and was displayed at the Bode Museum, while those artifacts evacuated to West Germany, including the Nefetiti Bust, returned to West Berlin. From 1967 to 2005, these items were housed vis-à-vis Charlottenburg Palace, the whole collection was reunited again after the Reunification of Germany, when it returned to Museum Island. The collection contains artefacts dating from between 4000BC to the period of Roman rule, though most date from the rule of Akhenaten, the most famous piece on display is the exceptionally well preserved and vividly coloured bust of Queen Nefertiti. The collection was moved from Charlottenburg to the Altes Museum in 2005 and was rehoused within the newly reconstructed Neues Museum on Berlins Museum Island in October 2009
39.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
40.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Tourism in Italy
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With 48.6 million tourists a year, Italy is the fifth most visited country in international tourism arrivals. People mainly visit Italy for its art, cuisine, history, fashion and culture, its beautiful coastline and beaches, its mountains. Italy also contains more World Heritage Sites than any country in the world. Tourism is one of Italys fastest growing and most profitable industrial sectors, traders and merchants came to Italy from several different parts of the world. Pilgrims, for centuries and still today, would come to the city, the trade empires of Venice, Pisa and Genoa meant that several traders, businessmen and merchants from all over the world would also regularly come to Italy. In the 16th and early 17th century, with the height of the Renaissance, several came to Italy to study Italian architecture. Real tourism only affected in Italy in the half of the 17th century. This was a period in which European aristocrats, many of whom were British, visited parts of Europe, Italy, Greece and this was in order to study ancient architecture and the local culture. The Grand Tour was in essence triggered by the book Voyage to Italy, by Roman Catholic priest Richard Lassels, due to the Grand Tour, tourism became even more prevalent - making Italy one of the most desired destinations for millions of people. Once inside what would be modern-day Italy, these tourists would begin by visiting Turin for a short while. On the way there, Milan was also a stop, yet a trip to the city was not considered essential. If a person came via boat, then they would remain a few days in Genoa, yet, the main destination in Northern Italy was Venice, which was considered a vital stop, as well as cities around it such as Verona, Vicenza and Padua. Tourists rarely, yet occasionally, got to Trieste, as the Tour went on, Tuscan cities were also very important itinerary stops. Florence was an attraction, and other Tuscan towns, such as Siena, Pisa, Lucca. The most prominent stop in Central Italy, however, was Rome, later, they would go down to the Bay of Naples, and after their discovery in 1756, Pompeii and Herculaneum were popular too. Sicily was considered a significant part of the trail, and several, such as Goethe, throughout the 17th to 18th centuries, the Grand Tour was mainly reserved for academics or the elite. Nevertheless, circa 1840, rail transport was introduced and the Grand Tour started to fall out of vogue, hence. The 1840s saw the period in which the Victorian middle classes toured the country, several Americans were also able to visit Italy, and many more tourists came to the peninsula
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Palatine Towers
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The Palatine Gate is a Roman Age city gate located in Turin, Italy. The gate provided access through the city walls of Julia Augusta Taurinorum from the North side and, as a result, the Palatine Gate represents the primary archaeological evidence of the citys Roman phase, and is one of the best preserved 1st-century BC Roman gateways in the world. Together with the ancient theatres remains, located a distance away, it is part of the so-called Archaeological Park. The name Porta Palatina literally refers to a palazzo placed near the gate, a second theory hints to the presence of an alleged adjacent amphitheatre built near present-day Borgo Dora, a historical neighbourhood developing right outside the old city walls. This facility might rapidly have fallen into disrepair and, as a result, over the centuries, however, the Palatine Gate was also known by some other names, such as Porta Comitale, Porta Doranea or Porta Doranica and later as Porta Palazzo. The Porta Principalis Dextra served as an access to the cardo maximus, currently identified in Via Porta Palatina and its impressive remains are currently visible at the center of an open area, todays Piazza Cesare Augusto. Erected on a base, the two angular towers are more than thirty metres high and feature a sixteen-sided structure. The grooves along the inner walls suggest the original presence of the so-called cateractae. On the ground near the gate is part of the guardhouse added in the Roman period. The pair of statues depicting Augustus Caesar and Julius Caesar are not the original statues but copies from the last. However, they are object of discussion as they were placed in the internal area occupied by the statio and not outside the gate. This facility served as a city gate for a time and was turned into a castrum in the 11th century. In 1404, after centuries of incursions and partial decay, the tower was rebuilt. The Palatine Gate was supposed to be torn down in the early 18th century, however, the dismantling was not implemented thanks to the intervention of the architect and engineer Antonio Bertola, who convinced the duke to preserve the ancient architectural work. Torricella, Giuseppe - Torino e le sue vie, Turin, E Symcox, G. - Storia di Torino, Turin, Einaudi,2006. Lintervento di restauro degli anni novanta, in Liliana Mercando, Archeologia a Torino, dalletà preromana allAlto Medioevo, Umberto Allemandi & C. Claudio Franzoni, Le mura di Torino, riuso e potenza delle tradizioni, in Enrico Castelnuovo, prima capitale dItalia, I luoghi dellarte, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, Rome,2010, pp. 13-22. Gruppo Archeologico Torinese, Guida archeologica di Torino, Turin, p.102, politecnico di Torino Dipartimento Casa-Città, Beni culturali ambientali nel Comune di Torino, Società degli Ingegneri e degli Architetti in Torino, Torino 1984, p.286
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Turin Cathedral
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Turin Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Turin, northern Italy. Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, it is the seat of the Archbishops of Turin and it was built during 1491–98 and is adjacent to an earlier campanile built in 1470. Designed by Guarino Guarini, the Chapel of the Holy Shroud was added to the structure in 1668–94, the church lies in the place where the theatre of the ancient Roman city was located. The original Christian sacred house included three churches, dedicated to the Holy Saviour, Saint Mary of Dompno and, the main of three, St. John the Baptist. According to some sources, the consecration was carried on by Agilulf. Here, in 662, Garibald, Duke of Turin was assassinated in the church by a follower of Godepert, the three churches were demolished between 1490 and 1492. The new cathedral, again entitled to St. John the Baptist, was begun in 1491 under design of Amedeo de Francisco di Settignano, also known as Meo del Caprino, the bell tower, however, remained the one erected in 1469, which is still visible today. Filippo Juvarra brought some modifications in the 17th century, pope Leo X officially confirmed it as metropolitan see in 1515. Quadris design was based on a project by Carlo di Castellamonte. In 1667 Guarino Guarini was called in to complete the project, the dome, whose works dragged for 28 years, was completed in 1694 under the direction of Marie Jeanne of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel IIs widow. The cathedral is the place of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Turin native, avid athlete. He was beatified by John Paul II in 1990, while the chapel of the Holy Shroud behind the cathedral was undergoing renovation during 2009, the Shroud was kept in a small chapel within the cathedral. Several royal consorts and princesses are buried here
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