1.
Gold
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Gold is a chemical element with symbol Au and atomic number 79. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly yellow, dense, soft, malleable. Chemically, gold is a metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions, Gold often occurs in free elemental form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins, and in alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the element silver and also naturally alloyed with copper. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium, golds atomic number of 79 makes it one of the higher numbered, naturally occurring elements. It is thought to have produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, from the collision of neutron stars. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed, almost all of the present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of acid and hydrochloric acid. Gold also dissolves in solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but this is not a chemical reaction, as a precious metal, gold has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. A total of 186,700 tonnes of gold is in existence above ground, the world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. As of 2014, the worlds largest gold producer by far was China with 450 tonnes, Gold is cognate with similar words in many Germanic languages, deriving via Proto-Germanic *gulþą from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-. The symbol Au is from the Latin, aurum, the Latin word for gold, the Proto-Indo-European ancestor of aurum was *h₂é-h₂us-o-, meaning glow. This word is derived from the root as *h₂éu̯sōs, the ancestor of the Latin word Aurora. This etymological relationship is presumably behind the frequent claim in scientific publications that aurum meant shining dawn, Gold is the most malleable of all metals, a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be thin enough to become semi-transparent
2.
Panagyurishte
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Panagyurishte is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia,43 km north of Pazardzhik, the town is the administrative centre of the homonymous Panagyurishte Municipality. As of December 2009, it has a population of 17,959 inhabitants, the root of the name, panagyur, comes from the Greek πανηγύρι, panēgýri, a festival or fair. In the Middle Ages there was a settlement near the modern town, in the course of the Bulgarian-Ottoman Wars large part the population was killed and the rest had to move to a new location. The survivors called themselves levents due to their bravery in the struggle with the invaders, when the Turks seized the village of Asenevtsi near Sliven which guarded the road to the capital Tarnovo, its population moved to Panagyurishte. Another wave of refugees came in the 15th century after rebellions in Albania, even today the population uses language which is characteristic for both eastern and western Bulgarian dialects and the town is in the so-called Yat border. It was also known as Otlukköy during Ottoman rule, Panagyurishte is primarily known for being the center of the April Uprising against the Ottoman rule in Bulgaria in 1876. It was capital of the Fourth Revolutionary District which was the centre of the rebellion. The uprising was suppressed after 10 days of declared freedom. Lady Strangford arrived from Britain later that year with relief for the people of Bulgaria following the massacres that followed the April Uprising and she built a hospital at Batak and eventually other hospitals were built at Radilovo, Panagiurishte, Karlovo, Petrich and here at Perushtitsa. Panagyurishte is overshadowed in tourism by nearby Koprivshtitsa, which has a larger collection of restored Bulgarian Revival style houses. Like Koprivshtitsa, Panagyurishte has a location in the Sredna Gora mountains. Panagyurishte also gained fame for the Panagyurishte gold treasure discovered there in 1949 and it is also near the mineral water spas of Banya, and recreational facilities in Panagyurski kolonii. After the Second World War Panagyurishte was transformed into an industrial center. The Asarel Medet copper extracting and processing plant is by far the largest single employer in the municipality with over 2,500 workers, opticoelectron is an optic producing plant, unique to the country. Recently, a new plant, Optix was launched. There are two big textile plants, Ryton and Bultex, there is also a small plastics factory, Bunai with some 190 workers and a number of smaller enterprises. The town has two big Eastern Orthodox churches, St Georgi and St Bogoroditsa, as well as several chapels, the type of architecture of Sv
3.
Plovdiv Regional Historical Museum
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The Plovdiv Regional Historical Museum is a historical museum in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Established in 1951, it covers the history of Plovdiv from the 15th century until today and it has three departments, each occupying a separate historic building. The History Museum in Plovdiv manages four expositions, the Bulgarian National Revival exposition is situated in the house of the Greek merchant from Thessaloniki, Dimitris Georgiadi. It was built in 1846 and occupies 825 m2, the exhibition traces the history of Plovdiv from the 15th to the 19th century, a period of Ottoman rule. The exhibit also includes a display about Lady Strangford, the Unification of Bulgaria exposition is dedicated to Plovdivs key role in the events of 6 September 1885, as the capital of Eastern Rumelia. It covers the period from the Treaty of Berlin of 1878, the department occupies the former building of the Eastern Rumelian Regional Assembly designed by the Savoy architect, Pietro Montani, and built 1883–1885. The exposition was opened in 1985 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and East Rumelia, five exhibition halls show personal belongings, award tokens, firearms, photos and documents of participants in the unification and the Serbo-Bulgarian War. The book-publishing exposition follows the stages of development of publishing during the Bulgarian National Revival, the department takes up six halls in the house of the noted publisher and enlightener, Hristo G. Danov, from the early 19th century. The Museum Centre of Modern History displays art and photographic exhibitions, presentations, seminars, official website Regional Museum of History, Plovdiv at Google Cultural Institute
4.
Thracians
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The Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting a large area in southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family, the study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology. Thracians are one of the three primary groups of modern Bulgarians. The first historical record about the Thracians is found in the Iliad, the ethnonym Thracian comes from Ancient Greek Θρᾷξ or Θρᾴκιος/Ionic, Θρηίκιος, and the toponym Thrace comes from Θρᾴκη/Ion. These forms are all exonyms as applied by the Greeks, in Greek mythology, Thrax was regarded as one of the reputed sons of the god Ares. In the Alcestis, Euripides mentions that one of the names of Ares himself was Thrax since he was regarded as the patron of Thrace, the origins of the Thracians remain obscure, in the absence of written historical records. Evidence of proto-Thracians in the period depends on artifacts of material culture. Leo Klejn identifies proto-Thracians with the multi-cordoned ware culture that was pushed away from Ukraine by the advancing timber grave culture and we speak of proto-Thracians from which during the Iron Age Dacians and Thracians begin developing. Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not manage to form a political organization until the Odrysian state was founded in the fifth century BC. A strong Dacian state appeared in the first century BC, during the reign of King Burebista, including the Illyrians, the mountainous regions were home to various peoples regarded as warlike and ferocious Thracian tribes, while the plains peoples were apparently regarded as more peaceable. Thracians inhabited parts of the ancient provinces of Thrace, Moesia, Macedonia, Dacia, Scythia Minor, Sarmatia, Bithynia, Mysia, Pannonia, and other regions of the Balkans and Anatolia. This area extended over most of the Balkans region, and the Getae north of the Danube as far as beyond the Bug and including Panonia in the west. Aligning themselves in kingdoms and tribes, they never displayed any form of unity beyond short. Similar to the Celtic and Slavic tribes, most people are thought to have lived simply in small fortified villages, although the concept of an urban center was not developed until the Roman period, various larger fortifications which also served as regional market centers were numerous. Yet, in general, despite Greek colonization in such areas as Byzantium, Apollonia and other cities, the first Greek colonies in Thrace were founded in the eighth century BC. Thrace south of the Danube was ruled for half a century by the Persians under Darius the Great. In the first decade of the sixth century BC, the Persians invaded Thrace, Thracians were forced to join the invasions of European Scythia and Greece. According to Herodotus, the Bithynian Thracians also had to contribute a large contingent to Xerxes invasion of Greece in 480 BC, Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named Megabazus whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans
5.
Patera
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In the material culture of classical antiquity, a phiale or patera is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has an indentation in the center underside to facilitate holding it. It typically has no handles, and no feet, although the two terms may be used interchangeably, particularly in the context of Etruscan culture, phiale is more common in reference to Greek forms, and patera in a Roman setting. Libation was a central and vital aspect of ancient Greek religion and it is one of the basic religious acts that define piety in ancient Greece, dating back to the Bronze Age and even prehistoric Greece. Libations were a part of life, and the pious might perform them every day in the morning and evening. A libation most often consisted of mixed wine and water, but could also be unmixed wine, honey, oil, water, the form of libation called spondē is typically the ritualized pouring of wine from a jug or bowl held in the hand. The most common ritual was to pour the liquid from an oinochoē into a phiale, the Greeks stood when they prayed, either with their arms uplifted, or in the act of libation with the right arm extended to hold the phiale. After the wine offering was poured from the phiale, the remainder of the contents was drunk by the celebrant, in Roman art, the libation is shown performed at an altar, mensa, or tripod. It was the simplest form of sacrifice, and could be a sufficient offering by itself, the introductory rite to an animal sacrifice included an incense and wine libation onto a burning altar. Both emperors and divinities are frequently depicted, especially on coins, scenes of libation and the patera itself commonly signify the quality of pietas, religious duty or reverence. In architecture, oval features on plaster friezes on buildings may be called paterae, parabiago patera, which is actually a platter or plate
6.
Amphora
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An amphora is a type of container of a characteristic shape and size, descending from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products and they are most often ceramic, but examples in metals and other materials have been found. The amphora complements the large container, the pithos, which makes available capacities between one-half and two and one-half tons. In contrast, the amphora holds under a half-ton, typically less than 100 pounds, the bodies of the two types have similar shapes. Where the pithos may have small loops or lugs for fastening a rope harness. The necks of pithoi are wide for scooping or bucket access, the necks of amphorae are narrow for pouring by a person holding it by the bottom and a handle. The handles might not be present, the size may require two or three handlers to lift. For the most part, however, an amphora was tableware, or sat close to the table, was intended to be seen, stoppers of perishable materials, which have rarely survived, were used to seal the contents. Two principal types of amphorae existed, the amphora, in which the neck and body meet at a sharp angle. Neck amphorae were used in the early history of ancient Greece. Most were produced with a base to allow upright storage by embedding in soft ground. The base facilitated transport by ship, where the amphorae were packed upright or on their sides in as many as five staggered layers. If upright, the bases probably were held by some sort of rack, heather and reeds might be used as packing around the vases. Racks could be used in kitchens and shops, the base also concentrated deposits from liquids with suspended solid particles, such as olive oil and wines. Amphorae are of use to maritime archaeologists, as they often indicate the age of a shipwreck. They are occasionally so well preserved that the content is still present, providing information on foodstuffs. Amphorae were too cheap and plentiful to return to their origin-point and so, amphora is a Greco-Roman word developing in ancient Greek during the Bronze Age. The Romans acquired it during the Hellenization that occurred in the Roman Republic, cato is the first known literary person to use it
7.
Oenochoe
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An oenochoe, also spelled oinochoe, is a wine jug and a key form of ancient Greek pottery. There are many different forms of oenochoe, Sir John Beazley distinguished ten types, the earliest is the olpe, with no distinct shoulder and usually a handle rising above the lip. The type 8 oenochoe is what one would call a mug, with no single pouring point, the chous was a squat rounded form, with trefoil mouth. Small examples with scenes of children, as in the illustrated, were placed in the graves of children. Oenochoai may be decorated or undecorated, oenochoai typically have only one handle at the back and may include a trefoil mouth and pouring spout. Their size also varies considerably, most, at up to 25 cm tall, could be held and poured with one hand. Most Greek oenochoe were in painted terracotta pottery but metal oenochoai were probably common among the better off, though as with other vessel shapes. Again as with other shapes, large versions in stone were used as grave markers. In pottery, some oinochoai are plastic, with the body formed as sculpture, typology of Greek vase shapes Corpus vasorum antiquorum Ancient Greek vase painting Pottery of ancient Greece Media related to Oinochoes at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Rhyton
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A rhyton is a roughly conical container from which fluids were intended to be drunk or to be poured in some ceremony such as libation, or merely at table. They are typically formed in the shape of an animals head, the English word rhyton originates in the ancient Greek word ῥυτόν. The conical rhyton form has been known in the Aegean region since the Bronze Age, however, it was by no means confined to that region. Similar in form to, and perhaps originating from, the drinking horn, liddell and Scott give a standard derivation from Greek rhein, to flow, which, according to Julius Pokorny, is from Indo-European *sreu-, flow. As rhutos is stream, the neuter, rhuton, would be sort of object associated with pouring. Many vessels considered rhytons featured a mouth at the top. Smith points out that use is testified in classical paintings and accepts Athenaeuss etymology that it was named ἀπὸ τῆς ῥύσεως. Smith also categorized the name as having been a recent form of a vessel called the keras, horn. The word rhyton is not present in what is known about Mycenaean Greek, however, the bulls head rhyton, of which many examples survive, is mentioned as ke-ra-a on tablet KN K872, an inventory of vessels at Knossos, it is shown with the bull ideogram. Ventris and Chadwick restored the word as the adjective *keraa, with a Mycenaean intervocalic h, rhyta shaped after bulls are filled through the large opening and emptied through the secondary, smaller one. This means that two hands are required, one to close the opening and one to fill the rhyton. This has led scholars to believe that rhytons were typically filled with the help of two people or with the help of a chain or a rope that would be passed through a handle. Rhytons modeled after animals were designed to make it look like the animal was drinking when the vessel was being filled, a bull rhyton weighed about three kilograms when empty and up to six kilograms when full. Other rhytons with animal themes were modeled after boars, lions, some shapes, such as lioness rhyta, could be filled through simple submersion, thanks to the vessel’s shape and buoyancy. Horizontally designed rhyta, like those modeled after lionesses, could be filled by being lowered into a fluid, vertically designed rhyta, like those modeled after boars, required another hand to cover the primary opening and to prevent the liquid from spilling as the vessel was filled. Rhyta were often used to strain liquids such as wine, beer, some rhyta were used in blood rituals and animal sacrifice. In these cases, the blood may have been thinned with wine, some vessels were modeled after the animal with which they were intended to be used during ritual, but this was not always the case. It cannot be supposed that every drinking horn or libation vessel was pierced at the bottom, the scoop function would have come first
9.
Celts
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The history of pre-Celtic Europe remains very uncertain. According to one theory, the root of the Celtic languages, the Proto-Celtic language, arose in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe. Thus this area is called the Celtic homeland. The earliest undisputed examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions beginning in the 6th century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names, Insular Celtic languages are attested beginning around the 4th century in Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century, coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge, survive in 12th century recensions. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a cohesive cultural entity. They had a linguistic, religious and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities. By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use, Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels and the Celtic Britons of the medieval and modern periods. A modern Celtic identity was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival. The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to a group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC. In the fifth century BC Herodotus referred to Keltoi living around the head of the Danube, the etymology of the term Keltoi is unclear. Possible roots include Indo-European *kʲel ‘to hide’, IE *kʲel ‘to heat’ or *kel ‘to impel’, several authors have supposed it to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the group. Yet he reports Celtic peoples in Iberia, and also uses the ethnic names Celtiberi and Celtici for peoples there, as distinct from Lusitani, pliny the Elder cited the use of Celtici in Lusitania as a tribal surname, which epigraphic findings have confirmed. Latin Gallus might stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally and its root may be the Proto-Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται most probably have the same origin, the suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection. Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae and this means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia, though it does refer to the same ancient region
10.
Ancient Macedonians
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The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. They spoke a dialect of Greek, although the lingua franca of the region was at first Attic. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility, similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle. Although composed of clans, the kingdom of Macedonia, established around the 8th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argead dynasty. The dynasty was founded by Perdiccas I, descendant of the legendary Temenus of Argos, while the region of Macedon perhaps derived its name from Makedon. Traditionally ruled by independent families, the Macedonians seem to have accepted Argead rule by the time of Alexander I, under Philip II, the Macedonians are credited with numerous military innovations, which enlarged their territory and increased their control over other areas extending into Thrace. There is also debate over the classification of the native Macedonian language as a dialect of the Greek language or as its own subdivision of the Hellenic languages. With the scant amount of evidence, the extent to which the native Macedonian tongue may have been influenced by the Phrygian, Thracian. The ancient Macedonians participated in the production and fostering of Classical, in terms of visual arts, they produced frescoes, mosaics, sculptures, and decorative metalwork. The performing arts of music and Greek theatrical dramas were highly appreciated, the kingdom also attracted the presence of renowned philosophers, such as Aristotle, while native Macedonians contributed to the field of ancient Greek literature, especially Greek historiography. Their sport and leisure activities included hunting, foot races, and chariot races, the expansion of the Macedonian kingdom has been described as a three-stage process. Macedonia then led a military force against their primary objective—the conquest of Persia—which they achieved with remarkable ease. With Alexanders conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, Macedonians colonized territories as far east as Central Asia, the Macedonians continued to rule much of Hellenistic Greece, forming alliances with Greek leagues such as the Cretan League and Epirote League. In the aftermath of the Third Macedonian War, the Romans abolished the Macedonian monarchy under Perseus of Macedon, a brief revival of the monarchy by the pretender Andriscus led to the Fourth Macedonian War, after which Rome established the Roman province of Macedonia and subjugated the Macedonians. In Greek mythology, Makedon is the hero of Macedonia and is mentioned in Hesiods Catalogue of Women. The first historical attestation of the Macedonians occurs in the works of Herodotus during the mid-5th century BC, the Macedonians are absent in Homers Catalogue of Ships and the term Macedonia itself appears late. The Iliad states that upon leaving Mount Olympus, Hera journeyed via Pieria and Emathia before reaching Athos and this is re-iterated by Strabo in his Geography. Nevertheless, archaeological evidence indicates that Mycenaean contact with or penetration into the Macedonian interior possibly started from the early 14th century BC, in their new Pierian home north of Olympus, the Macedonian tribes mingled with the proto-Dorians
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