1.
Luxor
–
Luxor is a city in Upper Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate. The population numbers 487,896, with an area of approximately 416 square kilometres, immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. Thousands of tourists from all around the world arrive annually to visit these monuments, the name Luxor comes from the Arabic al-ʾuqṣur, lit. the palaces, from the collective pl. of qaṣr, which may be a loanword from the Latin castrum fortified camp. Luxor was the ancient city of Thebes, the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom. Montuhotep II who united Egypt after the troubles of the first intermediate period brought stability to the lands as the city grew in stature. The city attracted peoples such as the Babylonians, the Mitanni, the Hittites of Anatolia, the Canaanites of Ugarit, the Phoenicians of Byblos and Tyre, a Hittite prince from Anatolia even came to marry with the widow of Tutankhamun, Ankhesenamun. However, as the city of the god Amon-Ra, Thebes remained the capital of Egypt until the Greek period. The main god of the city was Amon, who was worshipped together with his wife, the Goddess Mut, and their son Khonsu, the God of the moon. With the rise of Thebes as the foremost city of Egypt and his great temple, at Karnak just north of Thebes, was the most important temple of Egypt right until the end of antiquity. Later, the city was attacked by Assyrian emperor Assurbanipal who installed the Libyan prince on the throne, the city of Thebes was in ruins and fell in significance. However, Alexander the Great did arrive at the temple of Amun, where the statue of the god was transferred from Karnak during the Opet Festival, Aswan and Luxor have the hottest summer days of any other city in Egypt. Aswan and Luxor have nearly the same climate, Luxor is one of the hottest, sunniest and driest cities in the world. Average high temperatures are above 40 °C during summer while average low temperatures remain above 22 °C, during the coldest month of the year, average high temperatures remain above 22.0 °C while average low temperatures remain above 5 °C. The climate of Luxor has precipitation levels lower than even most other places in the Sahara, the desert city is one of the driest ones in the world, and rainfall does not occur every year. The air is dry in Luxor but much more humid than in Aswan. There is a relative humidity of 39. 9%, with a maximum mean of 57% during winter. In addition, Luxor, Minya, Sohag, Qena and Asyut have the widest difference of temperatures between days and nights of any city in Egypt, with almost 16 °C difference. The hottest temperature recorded was on May 15,1991 which was 50 °C, the Coptic Catholic minority established on November 26,1895 an Eparchy of Luqsor alias Thebes, on territory split off from the Apostolic Vicariate of Egypt
Luxor
–
Top: First pylon in Precinct of Amun-Re, 2nd left: Night view in Luxor Temple, 2nd right: Colossi of Memnon Statue, Middle left: Pillars of Great Hypostyle Hall ancient site, Middle right: Hatshepsut Temple in Deir el-Bchari, 4th left: Statue of Ramses Ⅱ in Karnak Temple, 4th right: Needle Monument in Karnak Temple, Bottom: View of Pillars of Great Hypostyle Hall ancient site
Luxor
–
Luxor Temple
Luxor
–
Streets of Luxor in 2004
Luxor
–
Luxor
souq
2.
Place de la Concorde
–
The Place de la Concorde is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring 8.64 hectares in area, it is the largest square in the French capital and it is located in the citys eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées. The place was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel in 1755 as a moat-skirted octagon between the Champs-Elysées to the west and the Tuileries Garden to the east, decorated with statues and fountains, the area was named Place Louis XV to honor the king at that time. At the north end, two magnificent identical stone buildings were constructed, separated by the rue Royale, these structures remain among the best examples of Louis Quinze style architecture. Initially, the building served as the French Naval Ministry. Shortly after its construction, the building became the opulent home of the Duc dAumont. It was later purchased by the Comte de Crillon, whose family resided there until 1907, the famous luxury Hôtel de Crillon, which currently occupies the building, took its name from its previous owners. During the French Revolution the statue of Louis XV of France was torn down, the new revolutionary government erected the guillotine in the square, and it was here that King Louis XVI was executed on 21 January 1793. In 1795, under the Directory, the square was renamed Place de la Concorde as a gesture of reconciliation after the turmoil of the French Revolution. After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, the name was changed back to Place Louis XV, after the July Revolution of 1830 the name was returned to Place de la Concorde and has remained that way since. To the west of the Place is the famous Champs-Élysées, to the east of the Place are the Tuileries Gardens. The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de lOrangerie, the eastern one houses the French Naval Ministry, and the western one is the Hôtel de Crillon. The Rue Royale leads to the de la Madeleine. The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramesses II and it is one of two the Egyptian government gave to the French in the 19th century. The other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult and heavy to move to France with the technology at that time, in the 1990s, President François Mitterrand gave the second obelisk back to the Egyptians. The obelisk once marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple, the self-declared Khedive of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha, offered the 3, 300-year-old Luxor Obelisk to France in 1829. It arrived in Paris on 21 December 1833, three years later, on 25 October 1836, King Louis Philippe had it placed in the center of Place de la Concorde. The obelisk, a granite column, rises 23 metres high, including the base
Place de la Concorde
–
Place de la Concorde as seen from the Eiffel Tower
Place de la Concorde
–
Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
–
The old plaque, for "Place Louis XVI", and replacement plaque at the corner of
Hôtel de Crillon.
Place de la Concorde
–
The Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation, one of the two
Fontaines de la Concorde (1840) on the Place de la Concorde. Behind: the Hôtel de Crillon; to the left: the embassy of the United States.
3.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
–
In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
–
Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
4.
Tonne
–
The SI symbol for the tonne is t, adopted at the same time as the unit itself in 1879. Its use is also official, for the metric ton, within the United States, having been adopted by the US National Institute of Standards and it is a symbol, not an abbreviation, and should not be followed by a period. Informal and non-approved symbols or abbreviations include T, mT, MT, in French and all English-speaking countries that are predominantly metric, tonne is the correct spelling. Before metrication in the UK the unit used for most purposes was the Imperial ton of 2,240 pounds avoirdupois, equivalent to 1,016 kg, differing by just 1. 6% from the tonne. Ton and tonne are both derived from a Germanic word in use in the North Sea area since the Middle Ages to designate a large cask. A full tun, standing about a high, could easily weigh a tonne. An English tun of wine weighs roughly a tonne,954 kg if full of water, in the United States, the unit was originally referred to using the French words millier or tonneau, but these terms are now obsolete. The Imperial and US customary units comparable to the tonne are both spelled ton in English, though they differ in mass, one tonne is equivalent to, Metric/SI,1 megagram. Equal to 1000000 grams or 1000 kilograms, megagram, Mg, is the official SI unit. Mg is distinct from mg, milligram, pounds, Exactly 1000/0. 453 592 37 lb, or approximately 2204.622622 lb. US/Short tons, Exactly 1/0. 907 184 74 short tons, or approximately 1.102311311 ST. One short ton is exactly 0.90718474 t, imperial/Long tons, Exactly 1/1. 016 046 9088 long tons, or approximately 0.9842065276 LT. One long ton is exactly 1.0160469088 t, for multiples of the tonne, it is more usual to speak of thousands or millions of tonnes. Kilotonne, megatonne, and gigatonne are more used for the energy of nuclear explosions and other events. When used in context, there is little need to distinguish between metric and other tons, and the unit is spelt either as ton or tonne with the relevant prefix attached. *The equivalent units columns use the short scale large-number naming system used in most English-language countries. †Values in the equivalent short and long tons columns are rounded to five significant figures, ǂThough non-standard, the symbol kt is also sometimes used for knot, a unit of speed for sea-going vessels, and should not be confused with kilotonne. A metric ton unit can mean 10 kilograms within metal trading and it traditionally referred to a metric ton of ore containing 1% of metal. In the case of uranium, the acronym MTU is sometimes considered to be metric ton of uranium, in the petroleum industry the tonne of oil equivalent is a unit of energy, the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil, approximately 42 GJ
Tonne
–
Base units
5.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
Ancient Greek
–
Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
–
Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
–
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
6.
Spit (cooking aide)
–
This method is generally used for cooking large joints of meat or entire animals, such as pigs or turkeys. The rotation cooks the meat evenly in its own juices and allows access for continuous self-basting. In medieval and early modern kitchens, the spit was the way of cooking meat in a large household. A servant, preferably a boy, sat near the turning the metal rod slowly and cooking the food. Mechanical turnspits were later invented, first powered by dogs on treadmills, the spit could also be powered by a turbine mounted in the chimney with a worm transmission for torque and speed conversion. Spits are now driven by electric motors. Rotisserie can also refer to a device used for rotisserie cooking. The word comes from French where it first appeared in Paris shops around 1450, additionally, in restaurants employing the Escoffierian brigade de cuisine, the rotisseur is the chef responsible for all spit-roasted, oven roasted, grilled and in some cases fried foods. It is commonly known in Latin America as A la brasa and this style mounts the spit horizontally. They are often used to cook whole chickens or roasts of various meats including beef, the design may include a single spit mounted over an open broiler or grill, a single spit mounted within an otherwise-conventional oven, or many spits mounted within a large industrial oven. The latter are used to mass-produce roasted meats for sale to consumers. In this style of rotisserie, balance is important, if the object to be cooked is far out of balance, it will impose a heavy load on the drive mechanism or cause the mechanism to fail to turn. Loose chicken legs or wings can cause the mechanism to jam. For these two reasons, some skewering skill is required, high-end consumer ovens commonly come with a rotisserie. In these cases, the drive mechanism is usually concealed within the oven. The rotisserie is used by removing the normal cooking racks, a carrier may be needed to provide one or both bearing points for the spit. The speed of rotation can vary, depending on the type of food being cooked, large animals, such as whole pigs, are often cooked at speeds ranging from 3 rpm to 1 rpm. Ron Popeil, inventor of the Ronco Showtime rotisserie oven, claims that 6 rpm is a speed for cooking a variety of food
Spit (cooking aide)
–
Rotisserie chicken cooking on a horizontal rotisserie
Spit (cooking aide)
–
Spitted fowl are rotated by a hand crank and basted with a long-handled spoon in this illustration from the
Romance of Alexander, Bruges, 1338-44 (
Bodleian Library)
Spit (cooking aide)
–
A vertical rotisserie cooking
Döner kebab
7.
Pyramidion
–
A pyramidion is the uppermost piece or capstone of an Egyptian pyramid or obelisk, in archaeological parlance. They were called benbenet in the Ancient Egyptian language, which associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred benben stone. A pyramidion was covered in gold leaf to reflect the rays of the sun, during Egypts Middle Kingdom, they were inscribed with royal titles. Very few pyramidia have survived into modern times, most of those that have are made of polished black granite, inscribed with the name of the pyramids owner. Four pyramidia – the worlds largest collection – are housed in the hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Among them are the pyramidia from the so-called Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III at Dahshur, during the New Kingdom, some private underground tombs were marked on the surface by small brick pyramids that terminated in pyramidia. The four lateral sides included texts and scenes related to the cult of the Sun God. The scenes typically depict the course of the sun, rising on one face, setting on the opposite face. The pyramidion of the scribe Moses depicts himself making an offering, the adjacent opposite faces feature a baboon, Screeching upon the rising of the Sun, and the Day. The pyramidion of Ptahemwia likewise displays sun-related scenes, the Sun God, Re-Horakhti, and the god of the Underworld, Osiris, are shown on one lateral face. Facing the two gods, on the adjacent lateral face, is the deceased Ptahemwia, standing in an offering pose, washington Monument, which has a solid aluminum pyramidion that serves as a lightning rod
Pyramidion
–
Main hall of the
Egyptian Museum, showing four black granite pyramidia.
Pyramidion
–
The restored pyramidion of the
Red Pyramid at Dashur is now on display beside the Pyramid
8.
Stele
–
A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in ancient Western culture as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes, Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. The surface of the stele usually has text, ornamentation, or both, the ornamentation may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Traditional Western gravestones may technically be considered the equivalent of ancient stelae. The most famous example of an inscribed stela leading to increased understanding is the Rosetta Stone, an informative stele of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum. Two steles built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language, unfinished standing stones, set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in the Late Stone Age. The Pictish stones of Scotland, often carved, date from between the 6th and 9th centuries. An obelisk is a kind of stele. The Insular high crosses of Ireland and Britain are specialized steles, totem poles of North and South America that are made out of stone may also be considered a specialized type of stele. Gravestones, typically with inscribed name and often with inscribed epitaph, are among the most common types of stele seen in Western culture. Most recently, in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the memorial is meant to be read not only as the field, but also as an erasure of data that refer to memory of the Holocaust. Steles have been the medium of stone inscription in China since the Tang dynasty. Chinese steles are generally rectangular stone tablets upon which Chinese characters are carved intaglio with a funerary, commemorative and they can commemorate talented writers and officials, inscribe poems, portraits, or maps, and frequently contain the calligraphy of famous historical figures. During the Han dynasty, tomb inscriptions containing biographical information on deceased people began to be written on stone tablets rather than wooden ones, erecting steles at tombs or temples eventually became a widespread social and religious phenomenon. Emperors found it necessary to promulgate laws, regulating the use of funerary steles by the population, Steles are found at nearly every significant mountain and historical site in China. The First Emperor made five tours of his domain in the 3rd century BC and had Li Si make seven stone inscriptions commemorating and praising his work, of which fragments of two survive. One of the most famous mountain steles is the 13 m high stele at Mount Tai with the calligraphy of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commemorating his imperial sacrifices there in 725. A number of stone monuments have preserved the origin and history of Chinas minority religious communities
Stele
–
Stele N from
Copán,
Honduras, depicting King K'ac Yipyaj Chan K'awiil ("Smoke Shell"), as drawn by
Frederick Catherwood in 1839
Stele
–
The
funerary stele of Thrasea and Euandria, c. 365 BC
Stele
–
Chinese ink rubbings of the 1489 (left) and 1512 (right) steles left by the
Kaifeng Jews.
Stele
–
Grave Stela of Nehemes-Ra-tawy, ca. 760-656 B.C.E.,37.588E,
Brooklyn Museum
9.
Inscription
–
Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist, for example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and it is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practiced by the same person, an epigraph is any sort of text, from a single grapheme to a lengthy document. Epigraphy overlaps other competences such as numismatics or palaeography, when compared to books, most inscriptions are short. Typically the material is durable, but the durability might be an accident of circumstance, epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the sciences of history. Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery, epigraphic evidence formed part of the discussion concerning the James Ossuary, the study of ancient handwriting, usually in ink, is a separate field, palaeography. The character of the writing, the subject of epigraphy, is a quite separate from the nature of the text. Texts inscribed in stone are usually for public view and so they are different from the written texts of each culture. Not all inscribed texts are public, however, in Mycenaean Greece the deciphered texts of Linear B were revealed to be used for economic. Informal inscribed texts are graffiti in its original sense, the science of epigraphy has been developing steadily since the 16th century. Principles of epigraphy vary culture by culture, and the infant science in European hands concentrated on Latin inscriptions at first, individual contributions have been made by epigraphers such as Georg Fabricius, August Wilhelm Zumpt, Theodor Mommsen, Emil Hübner, Franz Cumont, Louis Robert. The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, begun by Mommsen and other scholars, has published in Berlin since 1863. It is the largest and most extensive collection of Latin inscriptions, New fascicles are still produced as the recovery of inscriptions continues. The Corpus is arranged geographically, all inscriptions from Rome are contained in volume 6 and this volume has the greatest number of inscriptions, volume 6, part 8, fascicle 3 was just recently published. Specialists depend on such on-going series of volumes in which newly discovered inscriptions are published, often in Latin, Greek epigraphy has unfolded in the hands of a different team, with different corpora. The first is Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum of which four volumes came out, again at Berlin and this marked a first attempt at a comprehensive publication of Greek inscriptions copied from all over the Greek-speaking world
Inscription
–
The
Rosetta Stone in the
British Museum.
Inscription
–
Petroglyphs in
Wadi Rum (
Jordan)
Inscription
–
Trilingual inscription of
Xerxes at
Van Fortress in Turkey
Inscription
–
The high medieval
Prüfening dedicatory inscription, composed in
Latin and stamped in
Roman square capitals
10.
List of obelisks in Rome
–
The city of Rome harbours the most obelisks in the world. There are eight ancient Egyptian and five ancient Roman obelisks in Rome, together with a number of more modern obelisks, the Romans used special heavy cargo carriers called obelisk ships to transport the monuments down the Nile to Alexandria and from there across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome. On site, large Roman cranes were employed to erect the monoliths, at least eight obelisks created in antiquity by the Egyptians were taken from Egypt after the Roman conquest and brought to Rome. At least five obelisks were manufactured in Egypt in the Roman period at the request of the wealthy Romans, there was also an Ethiopian obelisk in Rome, the Obelisk of Axum,24 m, placed in the Piazza di Porta Capena. It had been taken from Axum by the Italian Army during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1937 and it was struck by lightning in May 2002. After being restored, it was disassembled and returned to Ethiopia in April 2005, there are five well-known modern obelisks in Rome, Villa Medici, 19th century copy of the original, found in the gardens and taken to Florence. Two obelisks in the Villa Torlonia,1842, Baveno granite Foro Italico,1932,17,92 panels in white marble contain illustrations of Marconis career and allegorical scenes
List of obelisks in Rome
–
Re-erection of the Vatican Obelisk by the
Renaissance architect Domenico Fontana in 1586
List of obelisks in Rome
–
(32.18 m (45.70 m)
List of obelisks in Rome
–
(25.5 m (41 m)
List of obelisks in Rome
–
The
old Basilica of Saint Peter with the obelisk at the left in its original place.
11.
Pylon (architecture)
–
Pylon is the Greek term for a monumental gateway of an Egyptian temple. It consists of two tapering towers, each surmounted by a cornice, joined by an elevated section which enclosed the entrance between them. The entrance was generally half the height of the towers. Contemporary paintings of pylons show them with long poles flying banners, in ancient Egyptian theology, the pylon mirrored the hieroglyph for horizon or akhet, which was a depiction of two hills between which the sun rose and set. Consequently, it played a role in the symbolic architecture of a cult building which was associated with the place of recreation. Pylons were often decorated with scenes emphasizing a kings authority since it was the face of a cult building. On the first pylon of the temple of Isis at Philae, other examples of pylons can be seen in Luxor and Edfu. Rituals to the god Amun who became identified with the sun god Ra were often carried out on the top of temple pylons. In addition to standard vertical grooves on the face of a pylon wall which was designed to hold flag poles, some pylons also contained internal stairways. The oldest intact pylons belong to mortuary temples from the 13th and 12th century BCE Ramessside period, a pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon. A single stone pillar standing at the Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens is known as the pylon, both Classical Revival and Egyptian Revival architecture employ the pylon form, with Boodles gentlemans club in London being an example of the Classical style. The 19th and 20th centuries saw pylon architecture employed for building with the Sydney Harbour Bridge being one of the largest examples. In 1928 a Pylon was erected by subscription to commemorate the extension of the County Borough of Brighton on 1 April of that same year. The two stone towers known locally as the Pylons still stand and are visible to travellers on either carriageway of the A23. The Patcham Pylon towers flank the southbound carriageway of the A23 just outside the CIty of Brighton and Hove and are listed Grade II, many cathedrals have a similar western end, such as Elgin Cathedral. Obelisk Karnak Media related to Pylons at Wikimedia Commons Second Pylon Karnak
Pylon (architecture)
–
Temple of Isis first pylon, Philae, north-eastern (back) view.
Pylon (architecture)
–
Temple of Karnak, western façade
Pylon (architecture)
–
Elgin Cathedral, western front
Pylon (architecture)
–
Sydney Harbour bridge afternoon - the north pylon is on the right side of the image
12.
Senusret I
–
Senusret I, also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC, and was one of the most powerful kings of this Dynasty and he was the son of Amenemhat I and his wife Nefertitanen. His wife and sister was Neferu and she was also the mother of the successor Amenemhat II. Senusret I was known by his prenomen, Kheperkare, which means the Ka of Re is created and he also organized an expedition to a Western Desert oasis. Senusret I established diplomatic relations with rulers of towns in Syria. He also tried to centralize the countrys political structure by supporting nomarchs who were loyal to him and his pyramid was constructed at el-Lisht. Senusret I dispatched several quarrying expeditions to the Sinai and Wadi Hammamat and built numerous shrines and temples throughout Egypt and he rebuilt the important temple of Re-Atum in Heliopolis which was the centre of the sun cult. He erected 2 red granite obelisks there to celebrate his Year 30 Heb Sed Jubilee, one of the obelisks still remains and is the oldest standing obelisk in Egypt. It is now in the Al-Masalla area of Al-Matariyyah district near the Ain Shams district and it is 67 feet tall and weighs 120 tons or 240,000 pounds. A shrine with fine, high quality reliefs of Senusret I, was built at Karnak to commemorate his Year 30 jubilee and it has subsequently been successfully reconstructed from various stone blocks discovered by Henri Chevrier in 1926. Finally, Senusret remodelled the Temple of Khenti-Amentiu Osiris at Abydos, some of the key members of the court of Senusret I are known. The vizier at the beginning of his reign was Intefiqer, who is known from many inscriptions and he seems to have held this office for a long period of time and was followed by a vizier named Senusret. Two treasurers are known from the reign of the king, Sobekhotep and Mentuhotep, the latter had a huge tomb next to the pyramid of the king and he seems to have been the main architect of the Amun temple at Karnak. Hor is known from several stelae and from an inscription in the Wadi el-Hudi where he was evidently the leader of an expedition for amethyst, one of the stelae is dated to year nine of the king. A certain Nakhr followed in office attested around year 12 of the king, a certain Antef, son of a woman called Zatamun is known again from several stelae, one dates to year 24 another one to year 25 of Senusret I. Another Antef was the son a woman called Zatuser and was most likely also high steward in the kings reign, Senusret was crowned coregent with his father, Amenemhat I, in his fathers 20th regnal year. Towards the end of his own life, he appointed his son Amenemhat II as his coregent, the stele of Wepwawetō is dated to the 44th year of Senusret and to the 2nd year of Amenemhet, thus he would have appointed him some time in his 43rd year. Senusret is thought to have died during his 46th year on the throne since the Turin Canon ascribes him a reign of 45 Years, loyalist Teaching Senusret Kheperkare Sesostris I
Senusret I
–
Heliopolis obelisk (Senusret I)
Senusret I
–
Bust of Senusret I in the Neues Museum, Berlin
Senusret I
–
Osiride statue (Senusret I)
Senusret I
–
Stone weight with Senusret I's cartouche
13.
Al-Matariyyah
–
El Matareya is a district in the northern region of Greater Cairo, east of the Nile, in Egypt. The district is unrelated to the town in the Dakahlia Governorate. The districts location was part of the ancient city of Heliopolis, the name, El Matareya, is thought to come from the Latin word Mater which means mother, and is from the presence of the tree of the Virgin Mary in this district. El Matareya, with the nearby Ain Shams district, had a history during Egypts Pharaonic period as a part of ancient Heliopolis. The district has sites of the period, some only recently discovered. In ancient Roman times Heliopolis belonged to the Augustamnica province, legend tells of the Christian Holy Family sheltering under a tree in Heliopolis, presently known as the tree of the Virgin Mary, now with the Chapel of the Virgin in El Matareya. The French naturalist Pierre Belon du Mans mentions visiting El Matareya in his 1547 journey to Egypt, El Matareya once had the villas of prominent people. The El Masalla area of the district contains the ancient Masalla Obelisk, or Misalla and it is the only surviving element of Heliopolis standing in its original position, and of the great Temple of Re—Atum constructed by Pharaoh Senusret I of the Twelfth Dynasty. The 68 ft tall red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons—240,000 pounds, a pink granite megalithic colossus statue, with features resembling those of the Pharaoh Ramesses II, was found in El Matareya in 2006, weighing five tons—11,023 pounds. It was at the ruins of a sun temple dating back to the reign of Ramses II, the underground tombs of High Priests of Re of the Sixth Dynasty were found in the southeast corner of the Re-Atum Temple archaeological site in El Matareya. The Necropolis of Heliopolis,3 miles east of the Masalla obelisk in El Matareya, dates from the Middle Kingdom, a domed tomb made for a priest during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, was discovered under a construction site in 2004. Many funereal small figure statues were found inside, and hieroglyphic writing was on the walls from the 7th century BCE. In the incoherent district of El-Mataria, in Cairo, there stands an old tree that has been attracting thousands of pilgrims each Christmas. There are many sacred trees in Egypt, trees that have offered shelter for the Holy Family during their stay here, desert Research Center, established by Laszlo Almasy. Ancient Heliopolis Modern Heliopolis Heliopolis style - architecture El Matareya - a town in Dakahlia governorate
Al-Matariyyah
–
Al-Matariyyah, with the Al-Masalla
Obelisk of
Senusret I.
Al-Matariyyah
–
The Masalla
Obelisk, in Al-Matariyyah.
14.
Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)
–
Heliopolis was a suburb outside Cairo, Egypt, which has since merged with Cairo as a district of the city and is one of the more affluent areas of Cairo. It was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company headed by the Belgian industrialist Baron Empain and by Boghos Nubar and it is the location of the Cairo International Airport. Despite losing the contract to the British, Empain stayed on in Egypt. His efforts culminated in 1907 with the building of the new town of Heliopolis, the new city represented the first large-scale attempt to promote its own architecture, known now as the Heliopolis style. Baron Empains own residence adopted a unique south Asian architectural style, alexander Marcel, a French architect and a member of the prestigious French Institute, was commissioned by Empain to build him a Hindu style palace. Modelled on Angkor Wat in Cambodia and the Hindu temples of Orissa and it still stands today, remaining one of the finest examples of early creative use of concrete, of which it was entirely built. The neighborhood had some of the wealthiest Egyptian residences, on the left facing Avenue Baron was the Arabesque palace of Boghos and Marie Nubar Pasha, now a military headquarters. The Pasha assisted Baron Empain in purchasing the 6,000 acres of desert, at one pound each. Diagonally opposite stands the former residence of Sultan Hussein Kamel, who reigned over Egypt between 1914 and 1917, Today, it is a presidential guest house. The Heliopolis War Cemetery is on Nabil el Wakkad street, modern Heliopolis was originally filled primarily with aristocratic Egyptians, as well as some European nationals. Unlike other modern Cairene suburbs around the start of the 20th century, after the 1952 revolution led by Nasser, it became home to much of Cairos educated middle class. As Cairo has expanded, the large distance between Heliopolis and Cairo has vanished and it is now well inside the city. Because of the growth in population, the original gardens that filled the city have mostly been built over. The Catholic Basilica church on Al-Ahram street is a landmark in Heliopolis. Since 1886 it was the see of the Latin Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Heliopolis until its title was merged in 1987 into the Apostolic Vicariate of Alexandria in Egypt and its Marian former Our Lady cathedral remains a Co-cathedral. Heliopolis contains recreational places, as it was established to offer its residents and visitors rest. Heliopolis club is one of the most luxurious sporting clubs in Egypt and it was established along with Heliopolis in 1905. From 1911 until 1915, Heliopolis had Luna Park, Africas first amusement park, the Merryland is also a famous recreational park, it contains a lake and was at the height of its elegance in the 1960s and 70s
Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)
–
The
Baron Empain Palace at 30°5′11.83″N 31°19′48.90″E / 30.0866194°N 31.3302500°E / 30.0866194; 31.3302500
Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)
–
The reverse side of Baron Empain Palace (Qasr Al Baron), on Salah Salem, a main street in Heliopolis.
Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)
–
Al-Gamea (The Mosque) in Al-Gamea Square, Heliopolis
Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)
–
Suburban avenues in Heliopolis
15.
Ancient Egypt
–
Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. It is one of six civilizations to arise independently, Egyptian civilization followed prehistoric Egypt and coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh Narmer. In the aftermath of Alexander the Greats death, one of his generals, Ptolemy Soter and this Greek Ptolemaic Kingdom ruled Egypt until 30 BC, when, under Cleopatra, it fell to the Roman Empire and became a Roman province. The success of ancient Egyptian civilization came partly from its ability to adapt to the conditions of the Nile River valley for agriculture, the predictable flooding and controlled irrigation of the fertile valley produced surplus crops, which supported a more dense population, and social development and culture. Its art and architecture were widely copied, and its antiquities carried off to far corners of the world and its monumental ruins have inspired the imaginations of travelers and writers for centuries. The Nile has been the lifeline of its region for much of human history, nomadic modern human hunter-gatherers began living in the Nile valley through the end of the Middle Pleistocene some 120,000 years ago. By the late Paleolithic period, the climate of Northern Africa became increasingly hot and dry. In Predynastic and Early Dynastic times, the Egyptian climate was less arid than it is today. Large regions of Egypt were covered in treed savanna and traversed by herds of grazing ungulates, foliage and fauna were far more prolific in all environs and the Nile region supported large populations of waterfowl. Hunting would have been common for Egyptians, and this is also the period when many animals were first domesticated. The largest of these cultures in upper Egypt was the Badari, which probably originated in the Western Desert, it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools. The Badari was followed by the Amratian and Gerzeh cultures, which brought a number of technological improvements, as early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. In Naqada II times, early evidence exists of contact with the Near East, particularly Canaan, establishing a power center at Hierakonpolis, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the desert to the west. Royal Nubian burials at Qustul produced artifacts bearing the oldest-known examples of Egyptian dynastic symbols, such as the crown of Egypt. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian-Akkadian civilisation of Mesopotamia, the third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of pharaohs from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today
Ancient Egypt
–
The
Great Sphinx and the
pyramids of Giza are among the most recognizable symbols of the civilization of ancient Egypt.
Ancient Egypt
–
A typical Naqada II jar decorated with gazelles. (Predynastic Period)
Ancient Egypt
–
The
Narmer Palette depicts the unification of the Two Lands.
16.
Egyptian temple
–
Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and in commemoration of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and regions under Egyptian control. Temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated and these rituals were seen as necessary for the gods to continue to uphold maat, the divine order of the universe. Housing and caring for the gods were the obligations of pharaohs, nevertheless, a temple was an important religious site for all classes of Egyptians, who went there to pray, give offerings, and seek oracular guidance from the god dwelling within. The most important part of the temple was the sanctuary, which contained a cult image. These edifices are among the largest and most enduring examples of Egyptian architecture and their typical design consisted of a series of enclosed halls, open courts, and massive entrance pylons aligned along the path used for festival processions. Beyond the temple proper was a wall enclosing a wide variety of secondary buildings. A large temple also owned sizable tracts of land and employed thousands of laymen to supply its needs, temples were therefore key economic as well as religious centers. The priests who managed these powerful institutions wielded considerable influence, temple-building in Egypt continued despite the nations decline and ultimate loss of independence to the Roman Empire. With the coming of Christianity, however, Egyptian religion faced increasing persecution, for centuries, the ancient buildings suffered destruction and neglect. Dozens of temples survive today, and some have become world-famous tourist attractions that contribute significantly to the modern Egyptian economy, Egyptologists continue to study the surviving temples and the remains of destroyed ones, as they are invaluable sources of information about ancient Egyptian society. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the gods to reside on earth, indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means mansion of a god. A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and it was the purpose of a temple as well. Because he was credited with divine power himself, the pharaoh, as a king, was regarded as Egypts representative to the gods. Thus, it was theoretically his duty to perform the temple rites, the pharaoh was nevertheless obligated to maintain, provide for, and expand the temples throughout his realm. Although the pharaoh delegated his authority, the performance of rituals was still an official duty. The participation of the populace in most ceremonies was prohibited. Much of the lay religious activity in Egypt instead took place in private and community shrines, however, as the primary link between the human and divine realms, temples attracted considerable veneration from ordinary Egyptians
Egyptian temple
–
The Temple of
Isis at
Philae, with
pylons and an enclosed court on the left and the inner building at right
Egyptian temple
–
Low relief of
Seti I performing rituals for the god
Amun
Egyptian temple
–
Sunk relief of personified
provinces of Egypt bearing offerings for the temple god
Egyptian temple
–
Reconstruction of an Old Kingdom pyramid temple, with causeway leading out to the valley temple
17.
Herodotus
–
Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC, a contemporary of Socrates. The Histories is the work which he is known to have produced. Despite Herodotus historical significance, little is known of his personal life and his place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact, of these only fragments of Hecataeuss work survive yet they allow us glimpses into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories. In his introduction to Hecataeus’s work, Genealogies, This points forward to the ‘folksy’ yet ‘international’ outlook typical of Herodotus. Yet, one scholar has described the work of Hecataeus as “a curious false start to history” since despite his critical spirit. It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a recorded by Eusebius. But Hecataeus did not record events that had occurred in living memory, unlike Herodotus, Herodotus claims to be better informed than his predecessors by relying on empirical observation to correct their excessive schematism. For example, He argues for continental asymmetry as opposed to the theory of a perfectly circular earth with Europe. Yet, he retains idealizing tendencies, as in his notions of the Danube. His debt to previous authors of prose ‘histories’ might be questionable, however, this point is one of the most contentious issues in modern scholarship. It is on account of the strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics in early modern times branded him “The Father of Lies”. Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement, similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a “logos-writer”. Moreover, Thucydides developed a historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view, the interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus’s own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, modern accounts of his life typically go something like this, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League, the epic poet Panyassis – a relative of Herodotus – is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos, and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos, Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, yet he was born in Halicarnassus, which was a Dorian settlement
Herodotus
–
A Roman copy (2nd century AD) of a Greek
bust of Herodotus from the first half of the 4th century BC
Herodotus
–
Fragment from the Histories VIII on
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2099, early 2nd century AD
Herodotus
–
Relief of Herodotus by
Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1806),
Louvre, Paris
Herodotus
–
The statue of Herodotus in his hometown of
Halicarnassus, modern
Bodrum, Turkey.
18.
Unfinished Obelisk
–
The unfinished obelisk is the largest known ancient obelisk and is located in the northern region of the stone quarries of ancient Egypt in Aswan, Egypt. It was ordered by Hatshepsut, possibly to complement the Lateran Obelisk and it is nearly one third larger than any ancient Egyptian obelisk ever erected. If finished it would have measured around 42 m and would have weighed nearly 1,200 tons, the obelisks creators began to carve it directly out of bedrock, but cracks appeared in the granite and the project was abandoned. The bottom side of the obelisk is still attached to the bedrock, besides the unfinished obelisk, an unfinished partly worked obelisk base was discovered in 2005 at the quarries of Aswan. Also discovered were some rock carvings and remains that may correspond to the site where most of the famous obelisks were worked, all these quarries in Aswan and the unfinished objects are an open-air museum and are officially protected by the Egyptian government as an archeological site
Unfinished Obelisk
–
The unfinished obelisk in its quarry at Aswan, 1990
Unfinished Obelisk
–
The unfinished obelisk of Aswan
19.
Aswan
–
Aswan, formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dams on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city has expanded and includes the separate community on the island of Elephantine. Aswan is the ancient city of Swenett, which in antiquity was the town of Ancient Egypt facing the south. Swenett is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddess with the same name, the ancient name of the city also is said to be derived from the Egyptian symbol for trade, or market. The city stood upon a peninsula on the bank of the Nile, immediately below the first cataract of the flowing waters. Navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier, the stone quarries of ancient Egypt located here were celebrated for their stone, and especially for the granitic rock called Syenite. They lie on either bank of the Nile, and a road,6.5 km in length, was cut beside them from Syene to Philae, Swenett was equally important as a military station as a place of traffic. Under every dynasty it was a town, and here tolls. Around 330, the legion stationed here received a bishop from Alexandria, the city is mentioned by numerous ancient writers, including Herodotus, Strabo, Stephanus of Byzantium, Ptolemy, Pliny the Elder, Vitruvius, and it appears on the Antonine Itinerary. It also is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Isaiah, the latitude of the city that would become Aswan – located at 24° 5′ 23″ – was an object of great interest to the ancient geographers. They believed that it was seated immediately under the tropic, and that on the day of the summer solstice and they noted that the suns disc was reflected in a well at noon. However, Eratosthenes used this information together with measurements of the length on the solstice at Alexandria to perform the first known calculation of the circumference of the Earth. The Nile is nearly 650 m wide above Aswan, from this frontier town to the northern extremity of Egypt, the river flows for more than 1,200 km without bar or cataract. The voyage from Aswan to Alexandria usually took 21 to 28 days in favourable weather, Aswan has a hot desert climate like the rest of Egypt. Aswan and Luxor have the hottest summer days of any city in Egypt, Aswan is one of the hottest, sunniest and driest cities in the world. Averages high temperatures are consistently above 40 °C during summer while averages low temperatures remain above 25 °C, summers are long, prolonged and extremely hot. Averages high temperatures remain above 23 °C during the coldest month of the year while averages low temperatures remain above 8 °C, winters are short, brief and extremely warm
Aswan
–
River Nile in Aswan
Aswan
–
View of from the Tombs of the Nobles on the other side of the Nile
Aswan
–
Archangel Michael's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, built in the
Coptic style
Aswan
–
A view along the street connecting railway station and
Nile
20.
Temple
–
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. It is typically used for such buildings belonging to all faiths where a specific term such as church. These include Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism among religions with many modern followers, the form and function of temples is thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be in some sense the house of one or more deities. Typically offerings of some sort are made to the deity, and other rituals enacted, the degree to which the whole population of believers can access the building varies significantly, often parts or even the whole main building can only be accessed by the clergy. Temples typically have a building and a larger precinct, which may contain many other buildings. The word comes from Ancient Rome, where a templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest and it has the same root as the word template, a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the places of a god or gods. Hindu temples are large and magnificent with a rich history, there is evidence of use of sacred ground as far back as the Bronze Age and later the Indus Valley Civilization. Hindu temples have been built in countries around the world, including Cambodia, Nepal, Mauritius, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Great Britain. They include the structures called stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions, Temples in Buddhism represent the pure land or pure environment of a Buddha. Traditional Buddhist temples are designed to inspire inner and outer peace, a Jain temple is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Some famous Jain temples are Shikharji, Palitana Jain Temples, Ranakpur Jain Temple, Shravan Belgola, Dilwara Temples, Jain temples are built with various architectural designs. Jain temples in North India are completely different from the Jain temples in South India, additionally, a Manastambha is a pillar that is often constructed in front of Jain temples. The temple of Mesopotamia derived from the cult of gods and deities in the Mesopotamian religion and it spanned several civilizations, from Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian. Ancient Egyptian temples were meant as places for the deities to reside on earth, indeed, the term the Egyptians most commonly used to describe the temple building, ḥwt-nṯr, means mansion of a god. A gods presence in the temple linked the human and divine realms and these rituals, it was believed, sustained the god and allowed it to continue to play its proper role in nature. They were therefore a key part of the maintenance of maat, maintaining maat was the entire purpose of Egyptian religion, and thus it was the purpose of a temple as well. Ancient Egyptian temples were also of significance to Egyptian society
Temple
–
Temple of Hephaestus, a
Doric Greek temple in
Athens with the original entrance facing east, 449 BC (western face depicted).
Temple
–
Koneswaram Temple a 6th Century BCE Tamil
Saivate temple in
Tirukonamalai,
Sri Lanka
Temple
–
Akshardham Temple, a Hindu temple in
New Delhi,
India.
Temple
–
Wat Phra Kaew, Buddhist temple
21.
List of Egyptian dynasties
–
In Ancient Egyptian history, dynasties are series of rulers sharing a common origin who are usually of the same family. Ancient Egypts historical period is divided into thirty-one pharaonic dynasties. The thirty-first dynastys name is not due to Manetho and is a later coining, while widely used and useful, the system does have its shortcomings. Some dynasties only ruled part of Egypt and existed concurrently with other dynasties based in other cities. The Seventh might not have existed at all, the Tenth seems to be a continuation of the Ninth and this page lists articles on dynasties of Ancient Egypt. The cities in power was held during these dynasties follow their names
List of Egyptian dynasties
22.
Akhenaten
–
Akhenaten known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV, was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. An early inscription likens the Aten to the sun as compared to stars, Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, yet in the end it would not be accepted. After his death, his monuments were dismantled and hidden, his statues were terminated and he was all but lost from history until the discovery during the 19th century of the site of Akhetaten, the city he built and designed for the worship of Aten, at Amarna. DNA analysis has determined that the man buried in KV55 is the father of King Tutankhamun, the future Akhenaten was a younger son of Amenhotep III and Chief Queen Tiye. The eldest son Crown Prince Thutmose was recognized as the heir of Amenhotep III but he died relatively young, there is much controversy around whether Amenhotep IV succeeded to the throne on the death of his father Amenhotep III or whether there was a coregency. Other literature by Donald Redford, William Murnane, Alan Gardiner, in February 2014, the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities announced what it called conclusive evidence that Akhenaten shared power with his father for at least 8 years. The evidence came from the found in the Luxor tomb of Vizier Amenhotep-Huy. A team of Spanish archeologists have been working at this tomb, Amenhotep IV was crowned in Thebes and there he started a building program. He decorated the entrance to the precincts of the temple of Amun-Re with scenes of his worshiping Re-Harakhti. He soon decreed the construction of a dedicated to the Aten in Eastern Karnak. This Temple of Amenhotep IV was called the Gempaaten, the Gempaaten consisted of a series of buildings, including a palace and a structure called the Hwt Benben which was dedicated to Queen Nefertiti. Other Aten temples constructed at Karnak during this time include the Rud-menu, during this time he did not repress the worship of Amun, and the High Priest of Amun was still active in the fourth year of his reign. The king appears as Amenhotep IV in the tombs of some of the nobles in Thebes, Kheruef, Ramose, in the tomb of Ramose, Amenhotep IV appears on the west wall in the traditional style, seated on a throne with Ramose appearing before the king. On the other side of the doorway, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are shown in the window of appearance with the Aten depicted as the sun disc. In the Theban tomb of Parennefer, Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti are seated on a throne with the sun disk depicted over the king, among the latter-known documents referring to Amenhotep IV are two copies of a letter from the Steward Of Memphis Apy to the pharaoh. The documents were found in Gurob and are dated to regnal year 5, third month of the Growing Season, on day 13, Month 8, in the fifth year of his reign, the king arrived at the site of the new city Akhetaten. A month before that Amenhotep IV had officially changed his name to Akhenaten, Amenhotep IV changed most of his 5 fold titulary in year 5 of his reign. The only name he kept was his prenomen or throne name of Neferkheperure, some recent debate has focused on the extent to which Akhenaten forced his religious reforms on his people
Akhenaten
–
Statue of Akhenaten in the early
Amarna style.
Akhenaten
–
Relief representing Amenhotep IV before he changed his name to Akhenaten,
Neues Museum, Berlin
Akhenaten
–
Bronze plate with the titulary of Amenhotep IV before he changed his name to Akhenaten,
British Museum.
Akhenaten
–
Pharaoh Akhenaten (center) and his family worshiping the
Aten, with characteristic rays seen emanating from the solar disk.
23.
Aten
–
Aten is the disk of the sun in ancient Egyptian mythology, and originally an aspect of the god Ra. The deified Aten is the focus of the religion of Atenism established by Amenhotep IV, in his poem Great Hymn to the Aten, Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. Aten does not have a Creation Myth or family, but is mentioned in the Book of the Dead, the worship of Aten was eradicated by Horemheb. By analogy, the term silver aten was sometimes used to refer to the moon, the solar Aten was extensively worshipped as a god in the reign of Amenhotep III, when it was depicted as a falcon-headed man much like Ra. The full title of Akhenatens god was Ra-Horakhty who rejoices in the horizon, the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god, in particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic form, but as rays of light extending from the suns disk. Furthermore, the name came to be written within a cartouche, along with the titles normally given to a Pharaoh. Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty, is a synthesis of two gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the Amarna period, this synthesis was seen as the source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually, the real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, especially Amun-Ra, prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi-monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu, others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods, he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic, principles of Atens religion were recorded on the rock tomb walls of Akhetaten. In the religion of Aten, night is a time to fear, work is done best when the sun, Aten, is present. Aten cares for every creature, and created a Nile river in the sky for the Syrians, Aten created all countries and people. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the family, everyone else receives life from Akhenaten. When a good person dies, he/she continues to live in the City of Light for the dead in Akhetaten, the conditions are the same after death. Akhenaten judged whether someone should be granted an afterlife, and operated the scale of justice, the explanation as to why Aten could not be fully represented was that the god has gone beyond creation. The cult centre of Aten was at the new city Akhetaten, some other cities include Thebes
Aten
–
Pharaoh
Akhenaten and his family adoring the Aten, second from the left is
Meritaten who was the daughter of Akhenaten.
Aten
–
Small Temple of the Aten at Akhetaten
Aten
–
Pharaohs
24.
Benben
–
Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters Nu upon which the creator god Atum settled in the creation story of the Heliopolitan form of Ancient Egyptian religion. The Benben stone is the top stone of the Egyptian pyramid and it is also related to the Obelisk. In the Pyramid Texts, e. g. Utterances 587 and 600 and it was said to have turned into a small pyramid, located in Heliopolis, within which Atum was said to dwell. Other cities developed their own myths of the primeval mound, at Memphis the god Tatenen, an earth god and the origin of all things in the shape of food and viands, divine offers, all good things was the personification of the primeval mound. The Benben stone, named after the mound, was a stone in the temple of Ra at Heliopolis. It was the location on which the first rays of the sun fell and it is thought to have been the prototype for later obelisks, and the capstones of the great pyramids were based on its design. The capstone or the tip of the pyramid is also called pyramidion, in ancient Egypt, these were probably gilded, so they shone in sunlight. The pyramidion is also called Benben stone, many such Benben stones, often carved with images and inscriptions, are found in museums around the world. The phoenix, the bird, was venerated at Heliopolis. Utterance 600, §1652 of the Pyramid Texts speaks of Atum as you rose up, as the benben, in the Mansion of the Benu in Heliopolis. From the earliest times, the portrayal of Benben was stylised in two ways, the first was as a pointed, pyramidal form, which was probably the model for pyramids and obelisks. The other form was round-topped, this was probably the origin of Benben as a free standing votive object, during the 5th Dynasty, the portrayal of benben was formalized as a squat obelisk. Later, during the Middle Kingdom, this became a long, in the Amarna period tomb of Panehesy, the benben is seen as a large, round-topped stela standing on a raised platform. 88 Katheryn A. Bard Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge 1999, p.205 George Hart Egyptian Myths, University of Texas Press 1990, pp.11,12,16
Benben
–
Reconstructed capstone from one of the pyramids of the
Giza Plateau, symbolizing Benben.
Benben
–
Benben stone from the Pyramid of
Amenemhat III,
12th Dynasty.
Egyptian museum, Cairo.
Benben
–
Bennu bird from an Egyptian papyrus.
25.
Naunet
–
Nu, feminine Nut, is the deification of the primordial watery abyss in the Hermopolitan Ogdoad cosmogony of ancient Egyptian religion. The name is paralleled with nen inactivity in a play of words in, I raised them up out of the watery mass. The name has also been compared Coptic noun abyss, deep, Nut is also the name of the sky goddess of the Ennead of Heliopolis. The Ancient Egyptians envisaged the oceanic abyss of the Nun as surrounding a bubble in which the sphere of life is encapsulated, in Ancient Egyptian creation accounts the original mound of land comes forth from the waters of the Nun. The Nun is the source of all that appears in a world, encompassing all aspects of divine. In the Ennead cosmogony Nun is perceived as transcendent at the point of creation alongside Atum the creator god, beginning with the Middle Kingdom Nun is described as the Father of the Gods and he is depicted on temple walls throughout the rest of Ancient Egyptian religious history. The Ogdoad includes along with Naunet and Nun, Amaunet and Amun, Hauhet and Heh, like the other Ogdoad deities, Nu did not have temples or any center of worship. Even so, Nu was sometimes represented by a lake, or, as at Abydos. In the 12th Hour of the Book of Gates Nu is depicted with upraised arms holding a solar bark, the boat is occupied by eight deities, with the scarab deity Khepri standing in the middle surrounded by the seven other deities. During the late period when Egypt became occupied, the aspect of the Nun became the dominant perception. Abzu Benben stone E. A. Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, Or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology, vol
Naunet
–
Naunet and Nun
26.
Atum
–
Atum, sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Atums name is thought to be derived from the word tem which means to complete or finish, thus he has been interpreted as being the complete one and also the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the substance of the world. In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself, sitting on a mound, early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. To explain how Atum did this, the uses the metaphor of masturbation. Other interpretations state that he has made union with his shadow, in the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead kings soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens. He was also a deity, associated with the primary sun god Ra. Atum was linked specifically with the sun, while Ra or the closely linked god Khepri were connected with the sun at morning. Atum is the god of pre-existence and post-existence, in the binary solar cycle, the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the ram-headed scarab Khepri—the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian hpr to come into existence. Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the solar cycle. Atum was a deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, he created his children—the first deities and he produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the waters that surrounded them, went to explore the waters. Unable to bear his loss, Atum sent a fiery messenger, the tears of joy he shed on their return were the first human beings. He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the white and red crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Sometimes he also is shown as a serpent, the form he returns to at the end of the creative cycle, atums cult centered on the city of Heliopolis. The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla of Al-Matariyyah and it was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position. The 68 ft high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons, band I, Die heiligen Tiere des Atum
Atum
–
The Al-Masalla
obelisk, the largest surviving monument from Heliopolis
27.
Ancient Egyptian creation myths
–
Ancient Egyptian creation myths are the ancient Egyptian accounts of the creation of the world. The Pyramid Texts, tomb wall decorations and writings, dating back to the Old Kingdom have given us most of our information regarding early Egyptian creation myths and these myths also form the earliest religious compilations in the world. The ancient Egyptians had many gods and associated legends. Thus the world or more specifically Egypt was created in diverse ways according to different parts of the country. In all of these myths, the world was said to have emerged from an infinite, lifeless sea when the sun rose for the first time, in a distant period known as zp tpj, the first occasion. While these differing cosmogonies competed to some extent, in ways they were complementary. The different creation myths have some elements in common and they all held that the world had arisen out of the lifeless waters of chaos, called Nu. They also included a pyramid-shaped mound, called the benben, which was the first thing to emerge from the waters, the imagery of the pyramidal mound derived from the highest mounds of earth emerging as the river receded. The sun was also associated with creation, and it was said to have first risen from the mound, as the general sun-god Ra or as the god Khepri. Another common element of Egyptian cosmogonies is the figure of the cosmic egg. One variant of the cosmic egg version teaches that the sun god, as power, emerged from the primeval mound. The different creation accounts were each associated with the cult of a god in one of the major cities of Egypt, Hermopolis, Heliopolis, Memphis. To some degree these myths represent competing theologies, but they represent different aspects of the process of creation. The creation myth promulgated in the city of Hermopolis focused on the nature of the universe before the creation of the world, the inherent qualities of the primeval waters were represented by a set of eight gods, called the Ogdoad. The primeval waters were part of the creation process, therefore. According to the myth, the eight gods were divided into male and female groups. They were symbolically depicted as aquatic creatures because they dwelt within the water, the males were represented as frogs, and these two groups eventually converged, resulting in a great upheaval, which produced the pyramidal mound. From it emerged the sun, which rose into the sky to light the world, in Heliopolis, the creation was attributed to Atum, a deity closely associated with Ra, who was said to have existed in the waters of Nu as an inert potential being
Ancient Egyptian creation myths
–
The sun rises over the circular mound of creation as goddesses pour out the primeval waters around it
28.
New York University
–
New York University is a private nonprofit research university based in New York City. Founded in 1831, NYU is considered one of the worlds most influential research universities, University rankings compiled by Times Higher Education, U. S. News & World Report, and the Academic Ranking of World Universities all rank NYU amongst the top 32 universities in the world. NYU is a part of the creativity, energy and vibrancy that is Manhattan, located with its core in Greenwich Village. Among its faculty and alumni are 37 Nobel Laureates, over 30 Pulitzer Prize winners, over 30 Academy Award winners, alumni include heads of state, royalty, eminent mathematicians, inventors, media figures, Olympic medalists, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and astronauts. NYU alumni are among the wealthiest in the world, according to The Princeton Review, NYU is consistently considered by students and parents as a Top Dream College. Albert Gallatin, Secretary of Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, declared his intention to establish in this immense, a system of rational and practical education fitting and graciously opened to all. A three-day-long literary and scientific convention held in City Hall in 1830 and these New Yorkers believed the city needed a university designed for young men who would be admitted based upon merit rather than birthright or social class. On April 18,1831, an institution was established, with the support of a group of prominent New York City residents from the merchants, bankers. Albert Gallatin was elected as the institutions first president, the university has been popularly known as New York University since its inception and was officially renamed New York University in 1896. In 1832, NYU held its first classes in rented rooms of four-story Clinton Hall, in 1835, the School of Law, NYUs first professional school, was established. American Chemical Society was founded in 1876 at NYU and it became one of the nations largest universities, with an enrollment of 9,300 in 1917. NYU had its Washington Square campus since its founding, the university purchased a campus at University Heights in the Bronx because of overcrowding on the old campus. NYU also had a desire to follow New York Citys development further uptown, NYUs move to the Bronx occurred in 1894, spearheaded by the efforts of Chancellor Henry Mitchell MacCracken. The University Heights campus was far more spacious than its predecessor was, as a result, most of the universitys operations along with the undergraduate College of Arts and Science and School of Engineering were housed there. NYUs administrative operations were moved to the new campus, but the schools of the university remained at Washington Square. In 1914, Washington Square College was founded as the undergraduate college of NYU. In 1935, NYU opened the Nassau College-Hofstra Memorial of New York University at Hempstead and this extension would later become a fully independent Hofstra University. In 1950, NYU was elected to the Association of American Universities, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, financial crisis gripped the New York City government and the troubles spread to the citys institutions, including NYU
New York University
–
Albert Gallatin
New York University
–
New York University
New York University
–
The University Heights campus, now home to
Bronx Community College
New York University
–
The
Silver Center c. 1900
29.
Egyptologist
–
A practitioner of the discipline is an Egyptologist. In Europe, particularly on the Continent, Egyptology is primarily regarded as being a philological discipline, the first explorers were the ancient Egyptians themselves. Thutmose IV restored the Sphinx and had the dream that inspired his restoration carved on the famous Dream Stele, less than two centuries later, Prince Khaemweset, fourth son of Ramesses II, is famed for identifying and restoring historic buildings, tombs and temples including the pyramid. The Ptolemies were much interested in the work of the ancient Egyptians, the Romans too carried out restoration work in this most ancient of lands. A number of their accounts have survived and offer insights as to conditions in their time periods. Abdul Latif al-Baghdadi, a teacher at Cairos Al-Azhar University in the 13th century, similarly, the 15th-century Egyptian historian al-Maqrizi wrote detailed accounts of Egyptian antiquities. In the early 17th century, John Greaves measured the pyramids, having inspected the broken Obelisk of Domitian in Rome, then destined for the Earl of Arundels collection in London. In the late 18th century, with Napoleons scholars recording of Egyptian flora, fauna and history, the British captured Egypt from the French and gained the Rosetta Stone. Modern Egyptology is generally perceived as beginning about 1822, egyptologys modern history begins with the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon Bonaparte. The subsequent publication of Description de lÉgypte between 1809 and 1829 made numerous ancient Egyptian source materials available to Europeans for the first time, jean-François Champollion, Thomas Young and Ippolito Rosellini were some of the first Egyptologists of wide acclaim. The German Karl Richard Lepsius was a participant in the investigations of Egypt, mapping, excavating. Champollion announced his general decipherment of the system of Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time, the Stones decipherment was a very important development of Egyptology. Egyptology became more professional via work of William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Petrie introduced techniques of field preservation, recording, and excavating. Howard Carters expedition brought much acclaim to the field of Egyptology, a tradition of collecting objets-orientales Egyptologists Electronic Forum, version 64. List shows Egyptology societies and Institutes Egyptology at DMOZ Egyptology Books, the University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology. Hawass, Zahi, Brock, Lyla Pinch, eds, Egyptology at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century Proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists. Rare Books and Special Collections Digital Library Underwood & Underwood Egypt Stereoviews Collection, czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague
Egyptologist
–
The
Great Sphinx of Giza against
Khafre's Pyramid at the
Giza pyramid complex
Egyptologist
–
Hieroglyphs and depictions transcribed by
Ippolito Rosellini in 1832
Egyptologist
–
A section of the
Papyrus of Ani showing
cursive hieroglyphs
30.
Astronomy (magazine)
–
Astronomy is a monthly American magazine about astronomy. Targeting amateur astronomers for its readers, it contains columns on sky viewing, reader-submitted astrophotographs, Astronomy is a magazine about the science and hobby of astronomy. Based near Milwaukee in Waukesha, Wisconsin, it is produced by Kalmbach Publishing, astronomy’s readers include those interested in astronomy, and those who want to know about sky events, observing techniques, astrophotography, and amateur astronomy in general. Astronomy was founded in 1973 by Stephen A. Walther, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, the first issue, August 1973, consisted of 48 pages with five feature articles and information about what to see in the sky that month. Issues contained astrophotos and illustrations created by astronomical artists, Walther had worked part time as a planetarium lecturer at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and developed an interest in photographing constellations at an early age. Although even in childhood he was interested to obsession in Astronomy, however he graduated in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, and as a senior class project he created a business plan for a magazine for amateur astronomers. With the help of his brother David, he was able to bring the magazine to fruition, astroMedia Corp. the company Walther had founded to publish Astronomy, brought in Richard Berry as editor. Berry also created the offshoot Odyssey, aimed at young readers, in 1985, Milwaukee hobby publisher Kalmbach bought Astronomy. In 1992, Richard Berry left the magazine and Robert Burnham took over as chief editor, Kalmbach discontinued Deep Sky and Telescope Making magazines and sold Odyssey. In 1996 Bonnie Gordon, now a professor at Central Arizona College, David J. Eicher, the creator of Deep Sky, became chief editor in 2002. The Astronomy staff also produces other publications, there also was, for a time in the mid-2000s, a Brazilian edition – published by Duetto Editora – called Astronomy Brasil. However, due mainly to low numbers, Duetto ceased its publication in September 2007. Astronomy publishes articles about the hobby and science of astronomy, generally, the front half of the magazine reports on professional science, while the back half of the magazine presents items of interest to hobbyists. Science articles cover topics as cosmology, space exploration, exobiology, research conducted by professional-class observatories. Each issue of Astronomy contains a star map showing the evening sky for the current month and the positions of planets. They include science writer Bob Berman, who writes a column called “Bob Berman’s Strange Universe”, Stephen James O’Meara writes “Stephen James O’Meara’s Secret Sky, ” which covers observing tips and stories relating to deep-sky objects, planets, and comets. Glenn Chaple writes Glenn Chaple’s Observing Basics, a beginner’s column, Phil Harrington writes Phil Harrington’s Binocular Universe, about observing with binoculars. Telescope Insider interviews people who are a part of the telescope-manufacturing industry, in each issue of Astronomy Magazine, readers will find star and planet charts, telescope observing tips and techniques, and advice on taking photography of the night sky
Astronomy (magazine)
–
May 2008 cover of Astronomy
31.
Pyramid
–
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single point at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, as such, a pyramid has at least three outer triangular surfaces. The square pyramid, with base and four triangular outer surfaces, is a common version. A pyramids design, with the majority of the closer to the ground. This distribution of weight allowed early civilizations to create stable monumental structures and it has been demonstrated that the common shape of the pyramids of antiquity, from Egypt to Central America, represents the dry-stone construction that requires minimum human work. Pyramids have been built by civilizations in many parts of the world, the largest pyramid by volume is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the Mexican state of Puebla. Khufus Pyramid is built mainly of limestone, and is considered an architectural masterpiece. It contains over 2,000,000 blocks ranging in weight from 2.5 tonnes to 15 tonnes and is built on a base with sides measuring about 230 m. Its four sides face the four cardinal points precisely and it has an angle of 52 degrees and it is still the tallest pyramid. The Mesopotamians built the earliest pyramidal structures, called ziggurats, in ancient times, these were brightly painted in gold/bronze. Since they were constructed of sun-dried mud-brick, little remains of them, ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a complex which included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC, the earliest ziggurats began near the end of the Early Dynastic Period. The latest Mesopotamian ziggurats date from the 6th century BC, built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure with a flat top. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside, the facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks, the number of tiers ranged from two to seven. It is assumed that they had shrines at the top, but there is no evidence for this. Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a ramp from base to summit
Pyramid
–
The
Egyptian pyramids of the
Giza Necropolis, as seen from the air
Pyramid
–
Pyramid of the Moon,
Teotihuacan
Pyramid
–
Prasat Thom temple at
Koh Ker
Pyramid
–
Pyramids of Güímar,
Tenerife (
Spain)
32.
Sunset
–
Sunset or sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon as a result of Earths rotation. The Sun will set exactly due west at the equator on the spring and fall equinoxes, the time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment when the trailing edge of the Suns disk disappears below the horizon. Dusk is at the end of astronomical twilight, and is the darkest moment of twilight just before night. Sunset creates unique atmospheric conditions such as the intense orange and red colors of the Sun. The time of sunset varies throughout the year, and is determined by the position on Earth, specified by longitude and latitude. During winter and spring, the days get longer and sunsets occur later every day until the day of the latest sunset, in the Northern Hemisphere, the latest sunset occurs late in June or in early July, but not on the summer solstice of June 21. This date depends on the viewers latitude, likewise, the earliest sunset does not occur on the winter solstice, but rather about two weeks earlier, again depending on the viewers latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occurs in early December or late November, for a few weeks surrounding both solstices, both sunrise and sunset get slightly later each day. Even on the equator, sunrise and sunset shift several minutes back and forth through the year and these effects are plotted by an analemma. Sunsets occur almost exactly due west on the equinoxes for all viewers on Earth, exact calculations of the azimuths of sunset on other dates are complex, but they can be estimated with reasonable accuracy by using the analemma. As sunrise and sunset are calculated from the leading and trailing edges of the Sun, respectively, and not the center, the duration of a daytime is slightly longer than nighttime. Further, because the light from the Sun is refracted as it passes through the Earths atmosphere, refraction also affects the apparent shape of the Sun when it is very close to the horizon. It makes things appear higher in the sky than they really are, light from the bottom edge of the Suns disk is refracted more than light from the top, since refraction increases as the angle of elevation decreases. This raises the apparent position of the edge more than the top. Its width is unaltered, so the disk appears wider than it is high, the Sun also appears larger on the horizon, an optical illusion, similar to the moon illusion. Because the shorter wavelength components, such as blue and green, scatter more strongly, the remaining reddened sunlight can then be scattered by cloud droplets and other relatively large particles to light up the horizon red and orange. The removal of the wavelengths of light is due to Rayleigh scattering by air molecules and particles much smaller than the wavelength of visible light. The scattering by cloud droplets and other particles with diameters comparable to or larger than the sunlights wavelengths is due to Mie scattering and is not strongly wavelength-dependent
Sunset
–
The
Sun, about a minute before sunset.
Portugal, October 2007.
Sunset
–
Click this image to see the full cycle of a Sunset on the High Plains of the
Mojave Desert
Sunset
–
Evening
Twilight in
Joshua Tree, California, USA displaying the separation of orange colors in the direction from the Sun below the
Horizon to the observer; and the blue components scattered from the surrounding sky.
Sunset
–
Illuminated downdraft wind shear
clouds in the eastern sky near
Dusk, mimic
Aurora Borealis in the
Mojave Desert
33.
Zodiacal light
–
Zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular, diffuse white glow seen in the night sky that appears to extend up from the vicinity of the Sun along the ecliptic or zodiac. It is caused by sunlight scattered by space dust in the zodiacal cloud, the zodiacal light decreases in intensity with distance from the Sun, but on very dark nights it has been observed in a band completely around the ecliptic. In fact, the light covers the entire sky and is responsible in large part for the total skylight on a moonless night. Another phenomenon—a faint, but slightly increased, oval glow directly opposite the Sun—is called the gegenschein, the dust forms a thick pancake-shaped cloud in the Solar System collectively known as the zodiacal cloud, which occupies the same plane as the ecliptic. The dust particles are between 10 and 300 micrometres in diameter, most with a mass around 150 micrograms, the zodiacal light appears as a column, brighter at the horizon, tilted at the angle of the ecliptic. This is why it is most clearly visible near sunrise or sunset, when the sun is blocked, the dust band that causes the zodiacal light is uniform across the whole ecliptic. The dust further from the ecliptic is almost undetectable except when viewed at an angle with the sun. Thus it is possible to see more of the width at small angles toward the sun, the source of the dust has been long debated. Until recently, it was thought that the dust originated from the tails of active comets, many of our meteor showers have no known active comet parent bodies. Over 85 percent of the dust is attributed to occasional fragmentations of Jupiter-family comets that are nearly dormant, Jupiter-family comets have orbital periods of less than 20 years and are considered dormant when not actively outgassing, but may do so in the future. The dust in meteoroid streams is much larger,300 to 10,000 micrometres in diameter, the Poynting–Robertson effect forces the dust into more circular orbits, while spiralling slowly into the Sun. Hence a continuous source of new particles is needed to maintain the zodiacal cloud, cometary dust and dust generated by collisions among the asteroids are believed to be mostly responsible for the maintenance of the dust cloud producing the zodiacal light and the gegenschein. Particles can be reduced in size by collisions or by space weathering, when ground down to sizes less than 10 micrometres, the grains are removed from the inner Solar System by solar radiation pressure. The dust is replenished by the infall from comets. Zodiacal dust around nearby stars is called exozodiacal dust, it is an important source of noise for directly imaging extrasolar planets. It has been pointed out that this exozodiacal dust, or hot debris disks, can be an indicator of planets, Zodiacal light is produced by sunlight reflecting off dust particles in the Solar System known as cosmic dust. Consequently, its spectrum is the same as the solar spectrum, the material producing the zodiacal light is located in a lens-shaped volume of space centered on the sun and extending well out beyond the orbit of Earth. This material is known as the interplanetary dust cloud, since most of the material is located near the plane of the Solar System, the zodiacal light is seen along the ecliptic
Zodiacal light
–
Zodiacal light in the eastern sky before the beginning of morning
twilight
Zodiacal light
–
Zodiacal light seen with a green and red
Orionid meteor striking the sky below the
Milky Way and to the right of
Venus
Zodiacal light
–
Moonlight and zodiacal light over
La Silla Observatory.
Zodiacal light
–
Colorful center of the
Milky Way and the zodiacal light above the
Very Large Telescope.
34.
Sun pillar
–
A light pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon in the form of a vertical band of light which appears to extend above and/or below a light source. The effect is created by the reflection of light from numerous tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere or clouds, the light can come from the Sun in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. It can also come from the Moon or from sources such as streetlights. Since they are caused by the interaction of light with ice crystals, the crystals responsible for light pillars usually consist of flat, hexagonal plates, which tend to orient themselves more or less horizontally as they fall through the air. Their collective surfaces act as a giant mirror, which reflects the light source upwards and/or downwards into a virtual image. As the crystals are disturbed by turbulence, the angle of their surfaces deviates some degrees from the horizontal orientation, the larger the crystals, the more pronounced this effect becomes. More rarely, column-shaped crystals can cause light pillars as well, in very cold weather, the ice crystals can be suspended near the ground, in which case they are referred to as diamond dust. Unlike a light beam, a pillar is not physically located above or below the light source. Crepuscular rays Diamond dust Halo Light beam Sun dog False sunrise False sunset Pillars, Light Pillars, An Introduction to Sun Pillars and Related Phenomena. Another nice explanation, all on one page Fabulous frozen frames - Sydney Morning Herald, november 1,2006 A Sun Pillar Over North Carolina. NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day,15 December 2008
Sun pillar
–
Sun pillar,
Finistère,
Brittany
Sun pillar
–
Pillars from uncovered work lights above
University of Alaska Fairbanks (
J. Hall)
Sun pillar
–
Sunset with prominent sun pillar near Tucson, Arizona.
Sun pillar
–
Sun pillar in San Francisco, California.
35.
Lateran Obelisk
–
It is located in the square across from the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran and the San Giovanni Addolorata Hospital. He intended to bring them both to Constantinople, his new capital for the Roman empire, the obelisk never made it there. After remaining a few decades in Alexandria, Constantius II had the Lateran obelisk shipped to Rome when he made his visit there in 357. They were eventually buried by mud and detritus carried by a stream there over time. First person accounts have the base of the monument still in the Circus Maximus as late as 1589. It contained a narrative of Constantius transport, raising, and dedication of his fathers obelisk inscribed on its four sides as a long epigram, though pieces of the obelisk had been found in the 14th and 15th centuries, serious excavation was only made possible under Pope Sixtus V. The three pieces of the Lateran obelisk were dug up in 1587, and after being restored by architect Domenico Fontana, was made approximately 4 meters shorter. When it was erected near the Lateran Palace and basilica of St. John Lateran on 9 August 1588 and its location was formerly the spot where the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius stood until 1538, when it was relocated to decorate the Piazza del Campidoglio on Capitoline Hill. Pp.273 ISBN0801843006 Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, XVII,4, 6-17 A. Pollet, Virtual Roma - Obelisks part I
Lateran Obelisk
–
Obelisk today across from St. John Lateran
Lateran Obelisk
–
The base of obelisk (covered in
hieroglyphs) with historically incorrect citation was added in 1588 of
Emperor Constantine I 's baptism in the
Lateran Baptistery, but he was actually baptized just before he died in Nicomedia in 337. The base of the obelisk makes no mention of his son who brought the obelisk to Rome.
36.
Lateran Basilica
–
It is the oldest of and has precedence among the four papal major basilicas, all of which are in Rome, because it is the oldest church in the West and houses the cathedra of the Roman Pontiff. It has the title of ecumenical mother church of the Roman Catholic faithful, the current archpriest is Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome. The archbasilica stands over the remains of the Castra Nova equitum singularium, the fort was established by Septimius Severus in AD193. Following the victory of Emperor Constantine I over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the guard was abolished, substantial remains of the fort lie directly beneath the nave. The remainder of the site was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the palace of the gens Laterani, sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, and the Laterani served as administrators for several emperors. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the Emperor, the accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties. The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the Emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, known by that time as the Domus Faustae or House of Fausta, the Lateran Palace was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I. The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope St. Silvester I, eventually becoming the Cathedral of Rome, Pope Sylvester I presided over the official dedication of the archbasilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace in 324, declaring both to be a Domus Dei. The papal cathedra was placed in its interior, rendering it the cathedral of the Pope qua Bishop of Rome, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace were re-dedicated twice. Pope Sergius III dedicated them to St. John the Baptist in the 10th century in honor of the newly consecrated baptistry of the archbasilica, Pope Lucius II dedicated them to St. John the Evangelist in the 12th century. Consequently, the archbasilica remains dedicated to the Savior, and its titular feast is the Feast of the Transfiguration, the archbasilica became the most important shrine of the two St. Johns, albeit infrequently jointly venerated. In later years, a Benedictine monastery was established in the Lateran Palace, and was devoted to serving the archbasilica, the Lateran Palace has also been the site of five ecumenical councils. During the time the papacy was seated in Avignon, France, the Lateran Palace, two fires ravaged them in 1307 and 1361. After both fires the pope sent money from Avignon to pay for their reconstruction and maintenance, nonetheless, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace lost their former splendor. When the papacy returned from Avignon and the pope again resided in Rome, the archbasilica, the popes resided at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and later at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Eventually, the Palace of the Vatican was built adjacent to the Basilica of St. Peter, which existed since the time of Emperor Constantine I, and it has remained the official residence of the pope. The original Lateran Palace was demolished and replaced with a new edifice, on the square in front of the Lateran Palace is the largest standing obelisk in the world, known as the Lateran Obelisk. It weighs an estimated 455 tons and it was commissioned by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III and erected by Thutmose IV before the great Karnak temple of Thebes, Egypt
Lateran Basilica
–
Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
Lateran Basilica
–
Next to the formal entrance is the Archbasilica's claim to be the head, or
Mother Church, of the entire world. Note the
laurel wreath and the
Papal tiara.
Lateran Basilica
–
The
Papal cathedra, which makes the Archbasilica the Cathedral of Rome, is located in the
apse. The decorations are in
cosmatesque style.
Lateran Basilica
–
14th-century Gothic baldacchino
37.
Herod the Great
–
Herod, also known as Herod the Great and Herod I, was a Roman client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus, Herod also appears in the Christian Gospel of Matthew as the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus. Despite his successes, including singlehandedly forging a new aristocracy from practically nothing and his reign polarizes opinion amongst scholars and historians, some viewing his legacy as evidence of success, or a reminder of his tyrannical rule. It is generally accepted that Herod was born around 73 BCE in Idumea, however, some authors think that he was born in about 72/71 BCE. He was the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros. Herods father was by descent an Edomite whose ancestors had converted to Judaism, Herod was raised as a Jew. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed his son governor of Galilee in 47 BCE and his elder brother, Phasael, was appointed governor of Jerusalem. Herod enjoyed the backing of Rome, but his brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin, in 41 BCE, Herod and his brother Phasael, were named as tetrarchs by the Roman leader Mark Antony. They were placed in this role to support Hyrcanus II, later, Antigonus, Hyrcanus nephew, took the throne from his uncle with the help of the Parthians. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore Hyrcanus II to power, the Romans had a special interest in Judea because their general Pompey the Great had conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, thus placing the region in the Roman sphere of influence. In Rome, Herod was unexpectedly appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate, Josephus puts this in the year of the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio, but Appian places it in 39 BCE. Herod went back to Judea to win his kingdom from Antigonus, toward the end of the campaign against Antigonus, Herod married the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II, Mariamne, who was also a niece of Antigonus. Herod did this in an attempt to secure his claim to the throne, however, Herod already had a wife, Doris, and a young son, Antipater, and chose therefore to banish Doris and her child. After three years of conflict, Herod and the Romans finally captured Jerusalem and Herod sent Antigonus for execution to Marc Antony, Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of basileus for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. Josephus reports this as being in the year of the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus, but also says that it was exactly 27 years after Jerusalem fell to Pompey, cassius Dio also reports that in 37 BCE the Romans accomplished nothing worthy of note in the area. According to Josephus, Herod ruled for 37 years,34 of them after capturing Jerusalem, as Herods family were converts to Judaism, his religious commitment was questioned by some elements of Jewish society. Herod later executed several members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne I, Herods rule marked a new beginning in the history of Judea. Judea had been ruled autonomously by the Hasmonean kings from 140 BCE until 63 BCE, the Hasmoneans retained their titles, but became clients of Rome after the conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE
Herod the Great
–
Herod
Herod the Great
–
Copper coin of Herod, bearing the legend "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΗΡΩΔΟΥ" ("
Basileōs Hērōdou") on the obverse
Herod the Great
–
Model of Herod's Temple
Herod the Great
–
Bronze coin of Herod the Great, minted at
Samaria.
38.
Caesarea Maritima
–
Caesarea Maritima is an Israeli National Park in the Sharon plain, including the ancient remains of the coastal city of Caesarea. The city and harbor were built under Herod the Great during c, 22–10 BC near the site of a former Phoenician naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos. It later became the capital of Roman Judea, Roman Syria Palaestina. It was re-fortified by the Crusaders, and finally slighted by the Mamluks in 1265, the name Caesarea was adopted into Arabic as Qaysaria قيسارية. The location was all but abandoned in 1800, the ruins of the ancient city, on the coast just about 2 km south of modern Caesarea, were excavated in the 1950s and 1960s and the site was incorporated into a new national park in 2011. The site of the former Phoenician naval station was awarded to Herod the Great in 30 BC, Herod built his palace on a promontory jutting out into the sea, with a decorative pool surrounded by stoas. He went on to build a port and a city. In the year AD6, Caesarea became the civilian and military capital of Iudaea Province and the residence of the Roman procurator Antonius Felix. This city is the location of the 1961 discovery of the Pilate Stone and it is likely that Pilate used it as a base, and only went to Jerusalem when needed. It is also the location of Herods tomb. The city was described in detail by the 1st-century Roman Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Josephus describes the harbor as being as large as the one at Piraeus, the major harbor of Athens. Remains of the buildings erected by Herod and the medieval town are still visible today, including the city walls, the castle. Caesarea grew rapidly, becoming the largest city in Judea, with a population of 125,000 over an urban area of 3.7 square kilometres. According to Josephus, the outbreak of the Jewish revolt of AD66 was provoked by Greeks of a merchant house in Caesarea sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue. According to Josephus, Caesarea was the scene in AD26 of an act of civil disobedience to protest Pilates order to plant eagle standards on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem. The emperor Vespasian raised its status to that of a Colonia, in AD70, after the Jewish revolt was suppressed, games were held here to celebrate the victory of Titus. Many Jewish captives were brought to Caesarea Maritima, Kasher claims that 2,500 captives were slaughtered in gladiatorial games, Caesarea was one of four Roman colonies for veterans in the Syria-Phoenicia region. Caesarea is mentioned in the 3rd century Mosaic of Rehob, with respect to its non-Jewish population, when it was built in the 1st century BC, Sebastos Harbor ranked as the largest artificial harbor built in the open sea, enclosing around 100,000 m2
Caesarea Maritima
–
The ruins of Caesarea Maritima
Caesarea Maritima
–
Aerial photo
Caesarea Maritima
–
Remains of the ancient Roman aqueduct
Caesarea Maritima
–
The theatre
39.
Judea
–
Judea or Judæa is the ancient Hebrew and Israelite biblical, the exonymic Roman/English, and the modern-day name of the mountainous southern part of Canaan-Israel. As a consequence of the Bar Kokhba revolt, in 135 CE the region was renamed and merged with Roman Syria to form Syria Palaestina by the victorious Roman Emperor Hadrian, a large part of Judea was included in Jordanian West Bank between 1948 and 1967. The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name Judah, nimrud Tablet K.3751, dated c.733 BCE, is the earliest known record of the name Judah. Judea was sometimes used as the name for the entire region, in 200 CE Sextus Julius Africanus, cited by Eusebius, described Nazara as a village in Judea. Judea was the used by English-speakers until the Jordanian occupation of the area in 1948. Jordan called the area ad-difa’a al-gharbiya, yehuda is the Hebrew term used for the area in modern Israel since the region was captured and occupied by Israel in 1967. The classical Roman-Jewish historian Josephus wrote, In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the village Anuath and this is the northern boundary of Judea. The southern parts of Judea, if they be measured lengthways, are bounded by a village adjoining to the confines of Arabia, however, its breadth is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situated in the middle, on which account some have, with sagacity enough. This country begins at Mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan, and reaches breadthways to the lake of Tiberias and its inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I, with all possible brevity, described the country of Judea, Judea is a mountainous region, part of which is considered a desert. It varies greatly in height, rising to an altitude of 1,020 m in the south at Mount Hebron,30 km southwest of Jerusalem, and descending to as much as 400 m below sea level in the east of the region. The climate, accordingly, moves between Mediterranean in the west and desert climate in the east, with a strip of steppe climate in the middle, major urban areas in the region include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Gush Etzion, Jericho and Hebron. Geographers divide Judea into several regions, the Hebron hills, the Jerusalem saddle, the Bethel hills and the Judean desert east of Jerusalem, the hills are distinct for their anticline structure. In ancient times the hills were forested, and the Bible records agriculture, animals are still grazed today, with shepherds moving them between the low ground to the hilltops as summer approaches, while the slopes are still layered with centuries-old stone terracing. The Jewish Revolt against the Romans ended in the devastation of vast areas of the Judaean countryside, regardless, the Northern Kingdom was conquered into the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE. Judea is central to much of the narrative of the Torah, with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, the Babylonian Empire fell to the conquests of Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. Judea lost its independence to the Romans in the 1st century BCE, by becoming first a tributary kingdom, then a province, queen Alexandra Salome had recently died, and a civil war broke out between her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II
Judea
–
The
Judean hills
Judea
–
Map which shows Judea (south of
Samaria and the
Galilee)
Judea
–
Mediterranean oak and
terebinth woodland in the
Valley of Elah, southwestern Judea.
Judea
–
5th-century CE: Byzantine provinces of
Palaestina I (Philistia, Judea and Samaria) and Palaestina II (Galilee and Perea)
40.
Constantinople
–
Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
Constantinople
–
Constantinople in the Byzantine era
Constantinople
–
Map of Byzantine Constantinople
Constantinople
–
Emperor
Constantine I presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic.
Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantinople
–
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople
41.
Emperor Theodosius
–
Theodosius I, also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from AD379 to AD395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. On accepting his elevation, he campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the empire. He failed to kill, expel, or entirely subjugate them and he fought two destructive civil wars, in which he defeated the usurpers Magnus Maximus and Eugenius at great cost to the power of the empire. He also issued decrees that effectively made Orthodox Nicene Christianity the official church of the Roman Empire. He neither prevented nor punished the destruction of prominent Hellenistic temples of antiquity, including the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, in 393, he banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece. Theodosius was born in Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania or Italica, Baetica, Hispania, to a military officer. Theodosius learned his lessons by campaigning with his fathers staff in Britannia where he went to help quell the Great Conspiracy in 368. In about 373, he became governor of Upper Moesia and oversaw hostilities against the Sarmatians and he was military commander of Moesia, a Roman province on the lower Danube, in 374. However, shortly thereafter, and at about the time as the sudden disgrace and execution of his father. The reason for his retirement, and the relationship between it and his fathers death is unclear and it is possible that he was dismissed from his command by the emperor Valentinian I after the loss of two of Theodosius legions to the Sarmatians in late 374. The death of Valentinian I in 375 created political pandemonium, fearing further persecution on account of his family ties, Theodosius abruptly retired to his family estates in the province of Gallaecia where he adopted the life of a provincial aristocrat. In 378, after the disastrous Battle of Adrianople where Valens was killed, as Valens had no successor, Gratians appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become co-Augustus of the East Roman Empire. After Gratian was killed in a rebellion in 383, Theodosius appointed his own son, Arcadius. By his first wife, the probably Spanish Aelia Flaccilla Augusta, he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius and a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria, Arcadius was his heir in the East, both Aelia Flaccilla and Pulcheria died in 385. His second wife was Galla, daughter of the emperor Valentinian I, Theodosius and Galla had a son Gratian, born in 388 and who died young, and a daughter Aelia Galla Placidia. Placidia was the child who survived to adulthood and later became an Empress
Emperor Theodosius
–
Theodosius
Emperor Theodosius
–
Roman provinces along the Ister (Danube), showing
Dacia,
Moesia and
Thrace, with
Sarmatia to the north and
Germania to the northwest.
Emperor Theodosius
–
Federico Barocci, "Saint Ambrose forces Emperor Theodosius I to make penance for the Thessaloniki massacre" (1603), left-side nave, Saint Ambrose Altar, Milan Cathedral/
Emperor Theodosius
–
The administrative divisions of the
Roman Empire in 395, under Theodosius I.
42.
Hippodrome
–
The hippodrome was an ancient Grecian stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words hippos and dromos, the term is used in the modern French language and some others, with the meaning of horse racecourse. Hence, some horse racing tracks also include the word hippodrome in their names, such as the Hippodrome de Vincennes. The Greek hippodrome was similar to the Roman Circus, the hippodrome was not a Roman amphitheatre which was used for spectator sports, games and displays, or a Greek or Roman semi-circular theater used for theatrical performances. The Greek hippodrome was usually set out on the slope of a hill, one end of the hippodrome was semicircular, and the other end square with an extensive portico, in front of which, at a lower level, were the stalls for the horses and chariots. At both ends of the hippodrome there were posts that the turned around. This was the most dangerous part of the track, and the Greeks put an altar to Taraxippus there to show the spot where many chariots wrecked, a large ancient hippodrome was the Hippodrome of Constantinople, built between AD203 and 330. However, since it was built to a Roman design, it was actually a circus
Hippodrome
–
Roman hippodrome in ancient city of
Aphrodisias,
Turkey
Hippodrome
–
Biga chariot rounding a terma:
Attic black-figure amphora, ca. 500 BC, found at
Vulci
43.
Crusade
–
The First Crusade arose after a call to arms in a 1095 sermon by Pope Urban II. Urban urged military support for the Byzantine Empire and its Emperor, Alexios I, the response to Urbans preaching by people of many different classes across Western Europe established the precedent for later Crusades. Volunteers became Crusaders by taking a vow and receiving plenary indulgences from the church. Some were hoping for apotheosis at Jerusalem, or forgiveness from God for all their sins, others participated to satisfy feudal obligations, gain glory and honour, or find opportunities for economic and political gain. Many modern Historians have polarised opinions of the Crusaders behaviour under Papal sanction, to some it was incongruous with the stated aims and implied moral authority of the papacy and the Crusades, to the extent that on occasions that the Pope excommunicated Crusaders. Crusaders often pillaged as they travelled, while their leaders retained control of captured territory rather than returning it to the Byzantines. During the Peoples Crusade thousands of Jews were murdered in what is now called the Rhineland massacres, Constantinople was sacked during the Fourth Crusade rendering the reunification of Christendom impossible. These tales consequently galvanised medieval romance, philosophy and literature, but the Crusades also reinforced the connection between Western Christendom, feudalism, and militarism. Crusade is not a term, instead the terms iter for journey or peregrinatio for pilgrimage were used. Not until the word crucesignatus for one who was signed with the cross was adopted at the close of the century was specific terminology developed. The Middle English equivalents were derived from old French, croiserie in the 13th–15th centuries, croisade appeared in English c1575, and continued to be the leading form till c1760. By convention historians adopt the term for the Christian holy wars from 1095, the Crusades in the Holy Land are traditionally counted as nine distinct campaigns, numbered from the First Crusade of 1095–99 to the Ninth Crusade of 1271/2. Usage of the term Crusade may differ depending on the author, pluralists use the term Crusade of any campaign explicitly sanctioned by the reigning Pope. This reflects the view of the Roman Catholic Church that every military campaign given Papal sanction is equally valid as a Crusade, regardless of its cause, justification, generalists see Crusades as any and all holy wars connected with the Latin Church and fought in defence of their faith. Popularists limit the Crusades to only those that were characterised by popular groundswells of religious fervour – that is, only the First Crusade, Medieval Muslim historiographers such as Ali ibn al-Athir refer to the Crusades as the Frankish Wars. The term used in modern Arabic, ḥamalāt ṣalībiyya حملات صليبية, campaigns of the cross, is a loan translation of the term Crusade as used in Western historiography. The Islamic prophet Muhammad founded Islam in the Arabian Peninsula, the resulting unified polity in the seventh and eighth centuries led to a rapid expansion of Arab power. This influence stretched from the northwest Indian subcontinent, across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, southern Italy, tolerance, trade, and political relationships between the Arabs and the Christian states of Europe waxed and waned
Crusade
–
Madrid Skylitzes illuminated manuscript depicting Byzantine Greeks punishing ninth-century
Cretan Saracens
Crusade
–
Map of the
Eastern Mediterranean in 1135, showing crusader-held and neighbouring territories
Crusade
–
Fifteenth-century illustrated French translation of
Boccaccio 's
De Casibus Virorum Illustrium, showing
Seljuk emperor
Alp Arslan ritually humiliating
Romanos IV in 1071 after Manzikert; Alp Arslan allowed Romanos to return to
Constantinople, where he was killed by the Byzantines.
Crusade
–
Illumination from the Livre des Passages d'Outre-mer (c. 1490) of Urban II at the Council of Clermont (from the
Bibliothèque Nationale)
44.
Seljuks
–
The Seljuk Empire or Great Seljuk Empire was a medieval Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuk Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia, from their homelands near the Aral sea, the Seljuks advanced first into Khorasan and then into mainland Persia before eventually conquering eastern Anatolia. The Seljuk empire was founded by Tughril Beg in 1037, Tughril was raised by his grandfather, Seljuk-Beg, who was in a high position in the Oghuz Yabgu State. Seljuk gave his name to both the Seljuk empire and the Seljuk dynasty, the Seljuks united the fractured political scene of the eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades. Highly Persianized in culture and language, the Seljuks also played an important role in the development of the Turko-Persian tradition, the Seljuqs were allied with the Persian Samanid shahs against the Qarakhanids. The Samanid fell to the Qarakhanids in Transoxania, however, whereafter the Ghaznavids arose, the Seljuqs became involved in this power struggle in the region before establishing their own independent base. Tughril was the grandson of Seljuq and brother of Chaghri, under whom the Seljuks wrested an empire from the Ghaznavids, initially the Seljuqs were repulsed by Mahmud and retired to Khwarezm, but Tughril and Chaghri led them to capture Merv and Nishapur. Later they repeatedly raided and traded territory with his successors across Khorasan and Balkh, in 1040 at the Battle of Dandanaqan, they decisively defeated Masud I of the Ghaznavids, forcing him to abandon most of his western territories to the Seljuqs. In 1055, Tughril captured Baghdad from the Shia Buyids under a commission from the Abbasids, arslans decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 effectively neutralized the Byzantine resistance to the Turkish invasion of Anatolia. He authorized his Turkmen generals to carve their own out of formerly Byzantine Anatolia. Malikshāh moved the capital from Rey to Isfahan and it was during his reign that the Great Seljuk Empire reached its zenith. The Iqta military system and the Nizāmīyyah University at Baghdad were established by Nizām al-Mulk, the Abbasid Caliph titled him The Sultan of the East and West in 1087. The Seljuq power was at its zenith under Malikshāh I, the Seljuq dominion was established over the ancient Sasanian domains, in Iran and Iraq, and included Anatolia as well as parts of Central Asia and modern Afghanistan. The Seljuk rule was modelled after the organization common in Turkic and Mongol nomads. Under this organization, the member of the paramount family assigned family members portions of his domains as autonomous appanages. When Malikshāh I died in 1092, the split as his brother. Malikshāh I was succeeded in Anatolia by Kilij Arslan I, who founded the Sultanate of Rum, and in Syria by his brother Tutush I. In Persia he was succeeded by his son Mahmud I, whose reign was contested by his three brothers Barkiyaruq in Iraq, Muhammad I in Baghdad, and Ahmad Sanjar in Khorasan
Seljuks
–
History of the Turkic peoples Pre-14th century
Seljuks
–
Imperial Symbol
Seljuks
Seljuks
–
Head of male royal figure, 12–13th century, found in
Iran.
45.
Hippodrome of Constantinople
–
The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, the word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos, horse, and dromos, path or way. For this reason, it is also called Atmeydanı in Turkish. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman, although the Hippodrome is usually associated with Constantinoples days of glory as an imperial capital, it actually predates that era. The first Hippodrome was built when the city was called Bysantium, in AD203 the Emperor Septimius Severus rebuilt the city and expanded its walls, endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment. In AD324, the Emperor Constantine the Great decided to move the seat of the government from Rome to Byzantium and this name failed to impress and the city soon became known as Constantinople, the City of Constantine. Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome and it is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 m long and 130 m wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators, the race-track at the Hippodrome was U-shaped, and the Kathisma was located at the eastern end of the track. The Kathisma could be accessed directly from the Great Palace through a passage which only the emperor or other members of the family could use. The Hippodrome Boxes, which had four statues of horses in gilded copper on top, stood at the end. The track was lined with bronze statues of famous horses and chariot drivers. Throughout the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the social life. The Reds and the Whites gradually weakened and were absorbed by the two major factions. A total of up to eight chariots, powered by four horses each and these races were not simple sporting events, but also provided some of the rare occasions in which the Emperor and the common citizens could come together in a single venue. Political discussions were made at the Hippodrome, which could be directly accessed by the Emperor through a passage that connected the Kathisma with the Great Palace of Constantinople. The rivalry between the Blues and Greens often became mingled with political or religious rivalries, and sometimes riots, which amounted to civil wars that broke out in the city between them. The most severe of these was the Nika riots of 532, in which an estimated 30,000 people were killed and many important buildings, the current Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian following the Nika Revolt. Constantinople never really recovered from its sack during the Fourth Crusade and even though the Byzantine Empire survived until 1453, by that time, the Hippodrome was used for various occasions such as the lavish and days-long circumcision ceremony of the sons of Sultan Ahmed III
Hippodrome of Constantinople
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The Hippodrome today, with the
Walled Obelisk in the foreground and the
Obelisk of Thutmose III on the right.
Hippodrome of Constantinople
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Procession of the guilds in front of the Sultan in the Hippodrome, Ottoman miniature from the Surname-i Vehbi (1582).
Hippodrome of Constantinople
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The
Serpent Column (front) with the
Obelisk of Thutmose III (back)
Hippodrome of Constantinople
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The base of the
Obelisk of Thutmose III showing Emperor
Theodosius as he offers a
laurel wreath to the victor from the Kathisma at the Hippodrome.
46.
Istanbul
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Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the countrys economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side, the city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents. Istanbul is one of the worlds most populous cities and ranks as the worlds 7th-largest city proper, founded under the name of Byzantion on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as a capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine, the Latin. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in, arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network, considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years, the first known name of the city is Byzantium, the name given to it at its foundation by Megarean colonists around 660 BCE. The name is thought to be derived from a personal name, ancient Greek tradition refers to a legendary king of that name as the leader of the Greek colonists. Modern scholars have hypothesized that the name of Byzas was of local Thracian or Illyrian origin. He also attempted to promote the name Nova Roma and its Greek version Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Romē, the use of Constantinople to refer to the city during the Ottoman period is now considered politically incorrect, even if not historically inaccurate, by Turks. By the 19th century, the city had acquired other names used by foreigners or Turks. Europeans used Constantinople to refer to the whole of the city, pera was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name Beyoğlu. The name İstanbul is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν and this reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was reflected by its Ottoman name Der Saadet meaning the gate to Prosperity in Ottoman. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from the name Constantinople, with the first, a Turkish folk etymology traces the name to Islam bol plenty of Islam because the city was called Islambol or Islambul as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
Istanbul
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Clockwise from top: View of
Golden Horn between
Galata and
Seraglio Point including the
historic areas;
Maiden's Tower; a
nostalgic tram on
İstiklal Avenue;
Levent business district with
Dolmabahçe Palace;
Ortaköy Mosque in front of the
Bosphorus Bridge; and
Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul
–
Constantine I
Istanbul
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Remains of a Byzantine column found at
Byzantium 's
acropolis, located today within the
Topkapı Palace complex
Istanbul
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Created in 1422 by
Cristoforo Buondelmonti, this is the oldest surviving map of Constantinople.
47.
Circus of Nero
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Not to be confused with the older and larger Circus Maximus. The Circus of Nero or Circus of Caligula was a circus in ancient Rome, the accompanying plan shows an early interpretation of the relative locations of the circus and the medieval and current Basilicas of St. Peter. The plan also suggests the dimensions of the relative to the Basilicas. The more modern interpretation also shows the circus as being much longer, see plan, Outline of St. Peters, Old St. Peters, and Circus of Nero. In both interpretations the circus building is centred on the obelisk, is aligned on a similar east-west line to that of the Basilicas, the major differences are in the relocation of the starting gates to the eastern end, and the change in proportions of the circus itself. It was begun by Caligula on the property of his mother Agrippina on the Ager Vaticanus, the Via Cornelia ran parallel with the north side of the Circus, and its course can be traced with precision, for pagan tombs have been discovered at various times along its edges. There was a medallion in the centre, with a figure in high relief, the door opened on the Via Cornelia, which was on the same level. This tomb is located under the step in front of the middle door of the church. I am told that the now used as a fountain, in the court of the Swiss Guards, was discovered at the time of Gregory XIII in the same place. The circus was the site of the first organized, state-sponsored martyrdoms of Christians in 65, tradition holds that two years later, Saint Peter and many other Christians shared their fate. The circumstances were described in detail by Tacitus in a passage of the Annals. The site for crucifixions in the Circus would have been along the spina and this identification is likely to be genuine given the trauma of the event for the Christian community. The obelisk at the centre of this circuss spina always remained standing, the obelisk was originally brought to Rome by Caligula. The traditional location of Saint Peters tomb is in area, in the cemetery mentioned above. A basilica was erected by Constantine over the site, using some of the structure of the Circus of Nero. The basilica was sited so that its apse was centered on Peters tomb, however it seems most of the ruins of the Circus survived until 1450, when they were finally destroyed by the construction of the new St. Peters Basilica. Index of Vatican City-related articles stpetersbasilica. info - Largest online source of information on St. Peters Basilica, lacus Curtius website, Circus of Nero, plan superposed with the Basilicas, showing the tomb of Peter, and text by Rodolfo Lanciani describing the largely inadvertent archaeology
Circus of Nero
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Drawing of the Circus of Nero (Pietro Santi Bartoli, 1699)
Circus of Nero
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A reconstruction of the Basilica around 1450.
48.
Pliny the Elder
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In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncles now missing work on the History of the German Wars. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event. Plinys dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and a statement of his nephew that he died in his 56th year, Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger nor the elder Pliny mention the names and their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th century Augustinian monk Onofrio Panvinio at Verona. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction, but in all cases the names come through, whether he was an augur and whether she was named Grania Marcella are less certain. Jean Hardouin presents a statement from a source that he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona. Hardouin also cites the conterraneity of Catullus, additional efforts to connect Celer and Marcella with other gentes are highly speculative. Hardouin is the scholar to use his unknown source. He kept statues of his ancestors there, a statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail. In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger details how his uncles breakfasts would be light and simple following the customs of our forefathers. This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the Elder was a good Roman and this statement would have pleased Tacitus. Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the Verona theory, one commemorates the youngers career as imperial magistrate and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como. Another identifies his father Lucius village as Fecchio near Como and it is likely therefore that Plinia was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens and he did not take his fathers cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own, Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, no earlier instances of the Plinii are known. In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Plinys birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to defeat
Pliny the Elder
–
One of the
Xanten Horse-Phalerae located in the
British Museum, measuring 10.5 cm (4.1 in). It bears an inscription formed from punched dots: PLINIO PRAEF EQ; i.e., Plinio praefecto equitum, "Pliny prefect of cavalry". It was perhaps issued to every man in Pliny's unit. The figure is the bust of the emperor.
Pliny the Elder
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Pliny the Elder, as imagined by a 19th-century artist. No contemporary depiction of Pliny is known to survive.
Pliny the Elder
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City and Lake of
Como, painted by
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1834.
Pliny the Elder
–
The temple of
Castor and Pollux in Rome
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
