1.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
2.
Tyre, Lebanon
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Tyre, sometimes romanized as Sour, is a city in the South Governorate of Lebanon. There were approximately 117,000 inhabitants in 2003, however, the government of Lebanon has released only rough estimates of population numbers since 1932, so an accurate statistical accounting is not possible. Tyre juts out from the coast of the Mediterranean and is located about 80 km south of Beirut, the name of the city means rock after the rocky formation on which the town was originally built. The adjective for Tyre is Tyrian, and the inhabitants are Tyrians, Tyre is an ancient Phoenician city and the legendary birthplace of Europa and Dido. Today it is the fourth largest city in Lebanon and houses one of the major ports. The city has a number of ancient sites, including its Roman Hippodrome which was added to UNESCOs list of World Heritage Sites in 1979. Tyre originally consisted of two urban centres, Tyre itself, which was on an island just off shore. Alexander the Great connected the island to the mainland by constructing a causeway during his siege of the city, the original island city had two harbours, one on the south side and the other on the north side of the island. The harbour on the side has silted over, but the harbour on the north side is still in use. Tyre was founded around 2750 BC according to Herodotus and was built as a walled city upon the mainland. Phoenicians from Tyre settled in houses around Memphis, south of the temple of Hephaestus in a called the Tyrian Camp. Tyres name appears on monuments as early as 1300 BC, philo of Byblos quotes the antiquarian authority Sanchuniathon as stating that it was first occupied by Hypsuranius. Sanchuniathons work is said to be dedicated to Abibalus king of Berytus—possibly the Abibaal who was king of Tyre, there are ten Amarna letters dated 1350 BC from the mayor, Abimilku, written to Akenaten. The subject is often water, wood and the Habiru overtaking the countryside of the mainland, the commerce of the ancient world was gathered into the warehouses of Tyre. The city of Tyre was particularly known for the production of a rare and extraordinarily expensive sort of dye, produced from the murex shellfish. The colour was, in ancient cultures, reserved for the use of royalty or at least the nobility, Tyre was often attacked by Egypt, besieged by Shalmaneser V, who was assisted by the Phoenicians of the mainland, for five years. From 586 until 573 BC, the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar II until it agreed to pay a tribute. The Achaemenid Empire conquered the city in 539 BC and kept it under its rule until Alexander the Great laid siege to the city, in 315 BC, Alexanders former general Antigonus began his own siege of Tyre, taking the city a year later
3.
Middle East
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The Middle East is a transcontinental region centered on Western Asia and Egypt. The corresponding adjective is Middle-Eastern and the noun is Middle-Easterner. The term has come into usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azeris constitute the largest ethnic groups in the region by population. Indigenous minorities of the Middle East include Jews, Assyrians and other Arameans, Baloch, Berbers, Copts, Druze, Lurs, Mandaeans, Samaritans, Shabaks, Tats, in the Middle East, there is also a Romani community. European ethnic groups form a diaspora in the region include Albanians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Crimean Tatars, Franco-Levantines. Among other migrant populations are Bengalis as well as other Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, the history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Most of the countries border the Persian Gulf have vast reserves of crude oil. The term Middle East may have originated in the 1850s in the British India Office, however, it became more widely known when American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the term in 1902 to designate the area between Arabia and India. During this time the British and Russian Empires were vying for influence in Central Asia, Mahan realized not only the strategic importance of the region, but also of its center, the Persian Gulf. Mahan first used the term in his article The Persian Gulf and International Relations, published in September 1902 in the National Review, a British journal. The Middle East, if I may adopt a term which I have not seen, will some day need its Malta, as well as its Gibraltar, it does not follow that either will be in the Persian Gulf. The British Navy should have the facility to concentrate in force if occasion arise, about Aden, India, mahans article was reprinted in The Times and followed in October by a 20-article series entitled The Middle Eastern Question, written by Sir Ignatius Valentine Chirol. During this series, Sir Ignatius expanded the definition of Middle East to include regions of Asia which extend to the borders of India or command the approaches to India. After the series ended in 1903, The Times removed quotation marks from subsequent uses of the term, in the late 1930s, the British established the Middle East Command, which was based in Cairo, for its military forces in the region. After that time, the term Middle East gained broader usage in Europe, the description Middle has also led to some confusion over changing definitions. Before the First World War, Near East was used in English to refer to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, while Middle East referred to Iran, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Turkestan. The first official use of the term Middle East by the United States government was in the 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine, the Associated Press Stylebook says that Near East formerly referred to the farther west countries while Middle East referred to the eastern ones, but that now they are synonymous
4.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
5.
Kition
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Kition was a city-kingdom on the southern coast of Cyprus. It was established in the 13th century BC, the mound gate in the city wall was located in the vicinity northwest of the Phaneromeni Tomb. That the settlements name might once have been Khardihadast, was suggested by E. Gjerstad—and not accepted by scholars studying the Phoenician period, such as Masson, Sznycer. The city-kingdom was originally established in the 13th century BC, new cultural elements appearing between 1200 BC and 1000 BC are interpreted as indications of significant political changes and the arrival of the Achaeans, the first Greek colonists of Kition. Mycenaeans first settled in the area for the purpose of the exploitation of copper, T is early in the 12th century BC that the town was rebuilt on a larger scale, its mudbrick wall was replaced by a cyclopean wall. Around 1000 BC, the part of the city was abandoned. Literary evidence suggests an early Phoenician presence at least at Kition, some Phoenician merchants who were believed to come from Tyre colonized the area and expanded the political influence of Kition. After c.850 BC, the sanctuaries were rebuilt and reused by the Phoenicians, the kingdom was under Egyptian domination from 570 to 545 BC. Persia ruled Cyprus from 545 BC, kings of the city are referred to by name from 500 BC—in Phoenician texts and as inscriptions on coins. Marguerite Yon claims that Literary texts and inscriptions suggest that by the Classical period Kition was one of the local powers. In 499 BC Cypriot kingdoms joined Ionias revolt against Persia, persian rule of Cyprus ended in 332 BC. Ptolemy I kills the Phoenician king of Kition—Poumyathon—and burns the temples, ptolemy I conquers Cyprus in 312 BC. Towards the end of the 4th century BC the Cypriot city-kingdoms were dissolved, following these events the area lost its religious character. A trading colony from Kition, already established at Piraeus, had prospered to the point that, after the end of Ptolemaic rule, there are no records of coins being minted at Kition. Cyprus was annexed by Rome in 58 BC, a curator civitatis, responsible for the financial administration of the city, was sent to Kition from Rome during the rule of Septimius Severus. Strong earthquakes hit the city in 76 AD and the year after, earthquakes of 322 and 342 AD caused the destruction not only of Kition but also of Salamis and Pafos. In modern times Kition was first systematically excavated by the Swedish Cyprus Archaeological Expedition in 1929, seemingly a religious centre, five temples were excavated in close proximity with metal workshops—providing evidence for a connection between metallurgy and religion. Copper metallurgy seems to have placed under divine protection
6.
Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
7.
Sardinia
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Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. It is located in the Western Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica, the regions official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna, and its capital and largest city is Cagliari. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city and its indigenous language and the other minority languages spoken by the Sardinians enjoy equal dignity with Italian under regional law. The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *srd-, later romanised as sardus and it makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone, where the word Šrdn testifies to the names existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to Timaeus, one of Platos dialogues, Sardinia and its people as well might have named after Sardò. There has also been speculation that identifies the ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden, in Classical antiquity, Sardinia was called Ichnusa, Σανδάλιον Sandal, Sardinia and Sardó. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 24,100 square kilometres and it is situated between 38°51 and 41°18 latitude north and 8°8 and 9°50 east longitude. To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea, to Sardinias east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, the nearest land masses are the island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands, and Provence. The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula, the Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone and its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era. Due to long erosion processes, the highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt, sandstone and dolomite limestone. The highest peak is Punta La Marmora, part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of the island. The islands ranges and plateaux are separated by wide valleys and flatlands. Sardinia has few rivers, the largest being the Tirso,151 km long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia, the Coghinas. There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity, the main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas. The only natural lake is Lago di Baratz. A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the 1,850 km of the coastline, the climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. During the year there is a concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring
8.
Carthage
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Carthage was the Phoenician city-state of Carthage and during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC, included its sphere of influence, the Carthaginian Empire. The empire extended over much of the coast of North Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia, Carthage was founded in 814 BC. At the height of the prominence it served as a major hub of trade. The city also had to deal with potentially hostile Berbers, the inhabitants of the area where Carthage was built. In 146 BC, after the third and final Punic War, Roman forces destroyed, redesigned, nearly all of the other Phoenician city-states and former Carthaginian dependencies subsequently fell into Roman hands. According to Roman sources, Phoenician colonists from modern-day Lebanon, led by Dido, Queen Elissa was an exiled princess of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. At its peak, the metropolis she founded, Carthage, came to be called the city, ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean Sea. Elissas brother, Pygmalion of Tyre, had murdered Elissas husband, Elissa escaped the tyranny of her own country, founding the new city of Carthage and subsequently its later dominions. Details of her life are sketchy and confusing, but the following can be deduced from various sources, according to Justin, Princess Elissa was the daughter of King Belus II of Tyre. When he died, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her brother, Pygmalion and she married her uncle Acerbas, also known as Sychaeus, the High Priest of Melqart, a man with both authority and wealth comparable to the king. This led to increased rivalry between the elite and the monarchy. Pygmalion was a tyrant, lover of both gold and intrigue, who desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acerbas, Pygmalion assassinated Acerbas in the temple and kept the misdeed concealed from his sister for a long time, deceiving her with lies about her husbands death. At the same time, the people of Tyre called for a single sovereign, in the Roman epic of Virgil, the Aeneid, Queen Dido, the Greek name for Elissa, is first introduced as a highly esteemed character. In just seven years, since their exodus from Tyre, the Carthaginians have rebuilt a successful kingdom under her rule and her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived by Virgil as even more noble when she offers asylum to Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from Troy. A spirit in the form of the god, Mercury, sent by Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido. Virgil ends his legend of Dido with the story that, when Aeneas tells Dido, her heart broken, as she lay dying, she predicted eternal strife between Aeneas people and her own, rise up from my bones, avenging spirit she says, an invocation of Hannibal. The settlements at Crete and Sicily were in conflict with the Greeks
9.
Dido
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Dido was, according to ancient Greek and Roman sources, the founder and first queen of Carthage. She is primarily known from the account given by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic, in some sources she is also known as Elissa. The person of Dido can be traced to references by Roman historians to lost writings of Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily, historians gave various dates, both for the foundation of Carthage and the foundation of Rome. Timaeus made Carchedons wife Elissa the sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre, archaeological evidence of settlement on the site of Carthage before the last quarter of the 8th century BC has yet to be found. Paucity of material for this period may be explained by rejection of the Greek Dark Age theory and that the city is named
10.
Nora Stone
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The Nora Stone or Nora Inscription is an ancient inscription found at Nora on the south coast of Sardinia in 1773. It is conserved at the Museo archeologico nazionale, Cagliari, a possible reference to Pygmalion of Tyre is inferred by an interpretation of the fragmentary inscription, made by Frank Moore Cross as follows,1. At Tarshish 2. and he drove them out, in this rendering, Cross has restored the missing top of the tablet based on the content of the rest of the inscription, as referring to a battle that has been fought and won. Alternatively, the text honours a god, most probably in thanks for the safe arrival after a storm. According to Cross the stone has been erected by a general, Milkaton, son of Shubna, victor against the Sardinians at the site of TRSS, surely Tarshish. Cross conjectures that Tarshish here is most easily understood as the name of a town in Sardinia. Since there was one king of Tyre with this hypocoristicon in the 9th century BC, Cross restores the name to pmytn or p‘mytn
11.
Frank Moore Cross
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Many of his essays on the latter topic have since been collected in Leaves from an Epigraphers Notebook. Cross was the son of Frank Moore Cross, a pastor of Ensley Highland Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. One of his uncles, the Rev. Laurance L. Cross, was Mayor of Berkeley, Cross graduated from Ensley High School in 1938. He received a BA from Maryville College in 1942 and a BD from McCormick Theological Seminary, Cross went on to study under William F. Albright, the founding father of Biblical Archaeology, at Johns Hopkins University, where he received a PhD in 1950. He also received an MA at Harvard in 1958, Cross was awarded a DPhil from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1984 and a DSc from the University of Lethbridge in 1990. From 1949–1950 Cross was a Junior Instructor in Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins University, Cross was appointed Associate Professor in Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School in 1957. One year later, he was appointed Harvard Universitys Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages and he would hold this position from 1958–1992, then becoming Hancock Professor Emeritus. Cross was Curator of the Harvard Semitic Museum from 1958–1961 and Director of the Museum from 1974–1987, among the most prominent of these are Emanuel Tov, John J. Collins, Jo Ann Hackett, John Huehnergard, William G. Dever, P. Kyle McCarter, Jr. Peter Machinist, Lawrence Stager, Bruce Waltke, Richard Elliott Friedman, Hector Avalos, beginning June 1953, Cross was a member of the international committee responsible for editing the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been discovered at Qumran. On joining the team he was immediately allocated 61 Biblical manuscripts from Cave 4 at Qumran to prepare for publication, initially, this involved cleaning the manuscripts in the Palestine Archaeological Museum where they were being worked on in the Scrollery. As with several others on the team, Cross was financially supported between 1954 and 1960 by a John D Rockefeller subsidy, Cross was one of only two American scholars on the scroll-publication team, and he has since been recognized as a founder of Qumran studies. His general introduction to the topic is The Ancient Library of Qumran, Cross died in Rochester, New York in October 2012 after a long illness. In 1980, Cross received the Percia Schimmel Prize in Archaeology from the Israel Museum, Cross was an Honorary Member of the Israel Exploration Society and the British Society for Old Testament Study. Cross, Frank Moore, Freedman, David Noel, early Hebrew Orthograph, a study of the epigraphic evidence. New Haven, CT, American Oriental Society / Johns Hopkins University, canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, essays in the history of the religion of Israel. OCLC671934. ———, Freedman, David Noel, missoula, MT, Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature. Qumran and the History of the Biblical Text, OCLC1339664. ———, Lemke, Werner E. Miller, Patrick D. eds. Magnalia Dei, the Mighty Acts of God, essays on the Bible, OCLC1975958. ———, ed. Symposia Celebrating the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of the American Schools of Oriental Research
12.
Nora, Italy
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Nora is an ancient Roman and pre-Roman town on a peninsula near Pula, near to Cagliari in Sardinia. The tradition is that this was the first city in the island, and they say that Norax was a son of Erytheia, the area was previously occupied by a village of indigenous Sardinians, but soon became an emporium and then a Phoenician city. Especially after the conquest of Carthage, Nora flourished, as it was the first stage on the sea route from Carthage to Sardinia and its most important city, Cagliari. After a period of domination by Carthage, the town came under Roman control after the conquest of Sardinia in 238 BCE, the city is mentioned in the Tabula Peutingeriana, a Roman-period road map. It went into decline from the 4th century CE after the Vandal conquest of Sardinia, according to the Ravenna Cosmography, after the Arab conquest of Carthage the city lost its economic function and became a simple fort. Nora appears to have been abandoned during the 8th century and its toponym, however, remained in the name of a curadoria of Judicatus of Caralis at the beginning of the second millennium. Nora was an important trading town in its time, with two protected harbours, one on side of the peninsula. Several different building styles can be seen in the excavated buildings, because the southern part of Sardinia is sinking into the Mediterranean Sea, a substantial part of the former town is now under the sea. A similar fate has befallen nearby Bithia, which is now completely submerged, a significant part of the town of Nora situated on land belonging to the Italian Army has not been excavated. The ruins of Nora are a museum, and the remains of the theatre are occasionally used for concerts in the summer
13.
Shalmaneser III
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Shalmaneser III was king of Assyria, and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the tribes, the Babylonians. His armies penetrated to Lake Van and the Taurus Mountains, the Hittites of Carchemish were compelled to pay tribute, and it is in the annals of Shalmaneser III from the 850s BC that the Arabs and Chaldeans first appear in recorded history. In 842 BC, Shalmaneser campaigned against Hadadezers successor Hazael, forcing him to take refuge within the walls of his capital. While Shalmaneser was unable to capture Damascus, he devastated its territory, babylonia had already been conquered, including the areas occupied by migrant Chaldaean, Sutean and Aramean tribes, and the Babylonian king had been put to death. In 836 BC, Shalmaneser sent an expedition against the Tibareni which was followed by one against Cappadocia, civil war continued for two years, but the rebellion was at last crushed by Shamshi-Adad V, another son of Shalmaneser. His reign saw the first appearance in history of the camel-mounted Arabs and his reign is significant to Biblical studies because two of his monuments name rulers from Hebrew Bible. The Black Obelisk names Jehu son of Omri, and the Kurkh Monolith names king Ahab and he had built a palace at Kalhu, and left several editions of the royal annals recording his military campaigns, the last of which is engraved on the Black Obelisk from Calah. The Black Obelisk is a significant artifact from his reign and it is a black limestone, bas-relief sculpture from Nimrud, in northern Iraq. It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, and is significant because it displays the earliest ancient depiction of an Israelite. On the top and the bottom of the reliefs there is a cuneiform inscription recording the annals of Shalmaneser III. It lists the military campaigns which the king and his commander-in-chief headed every year, some features might suggest that the work had been commissioned by the commander-in-chief, Dayyan-Ashur. The second register from the top includes the earliest surviving picture of an Israelite, Jehu severed Israels alliances with Phoenicia and Judah, and became subject to Assyria. It describes how Jehu brought or sent his tribute in or around 841 BC and it was erected as a public monument in 825 BC at a time of civil war. It was discovered by archaeologist Sir Austen Henry Layard in 1846, bronze Reliefs from the Gates of Shalmaneser King of Assyria Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III Babylonian and Assyrian Literature
14.
Josephus
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Josephus claimed the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Roman-Jewish War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a slave and interpreter, after Vespasian became Emperor in 69 CE, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the emperors family name of Flavius. Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship and he became an advisor and friend of Vespasians son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem. Since the siege proved ineffective at stopping the Jewish revolt, the citys destruction, Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century CE and the First Jewish–Roman War, including the Siege of Masada. His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, the Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation. Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience and these works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity. Josephus introduces himself in Greek as Iōsēpos, son of Matthias and he was the second-born son of Matthias. His older full-blooded brother was also called Matthias and their mother was an aristocratic woman who descended from the royal and formerly ruling Hasmonean dynasty. Josephuss paternal grandparents were Josephus and his wife—an unnamed Hebrew noblewoman, distant relatives of each other and he descended through his father from the priestly order of the Jehoiarib, which was the first of the 24 orders of priests in the Temple in Jerusalem. Josephus was a descendant of the high priest Jonathon, born and raised in Jerusalem, Josephus was educated alongside his brother. In his early twenties, he traveled to negotiate with Emperor Nero for the release of 12 Jewish priests, Josephus successfully fought the Roman army in Galilee, until he was captured by the Romans during the height of the war. After the Jewish garrison of Yodfat fell under siege, the Romans invaded, killing thousands, according to Josephus, he was trapped in a cave with 40 of his companions in July 67 CE. The Romans asked the group to surrender, but they refused, Josephus suggested a method of collective suicide, they drew lots and killed each other, one by one, counting to every third person. Two men were left, who surrendered to the Roman forces, in 69 CE, Josephus was released. According to his account, he acted as a negotiator with the defenders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE, in which his parents and first wife died. While being confined at Yodfat, Josephus claimed to have experienced a divine revelation, after the prediction came true, he was released by Vespasian, who considered his gift of prophecy to be divine. In 71 CE, he went to Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen, in addition to Roman citizenship, he was granted accommodation in conquered Judaea and a decent, if not extravagant, pension. While in Rome and under Flavian patronage, Josephus wrote all of his known works, although he uses Josephus, he appears to have taken the Roman praenomen Titus and nomen Flavius from his patrons
15.
Solomon
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Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BC and he is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his descendants ruled over Judah alone. According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets, in the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Quran, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David, the Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power any of the previous kings of the country. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second child of David and his wife Bathsheba. The first child, a son conceived adulterously during Uriahs lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived as a punishment on account of the death of Uriah by Davids order. Solomon had three named full brothers through Bathsheba, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers, according to the First Book of Kings, when David was old, he could not get warm. So they sought a young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, while David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms and he founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration, Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible. Solomon also built the First Temple, beginning in the year of his reign. Solomon was the Biblical king most famous for his wisdom, in 1 Kings he sacrificed to God and prayed for wisdom. God personally answered his prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies. Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon, Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two
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Cothon
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A cothon is an artificial, protected inner harbor such as that in Carthage during the Punic Wars c.200 BC. Cothons were generally found in the Phoenician world, the cothon at Carthage was divided into a rectangular merchant harbor followed by an inner protected harbor reserved for military use only. Each individual docking bay featured a raised slipway, above the raised docking bays was a second level consisting of warehouses where oars and rigging were kept along with supplies such as wood and canvas. On the island there existed a raised cabin where the admiral in command could observe the whole harbor along with the surrounding sea. Altogether the inner docking complex could house up to 220 ships, the entire harbor was protected by an outer wall and the main entrance could be closed off with iron chains
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Pygmalion (mythology)
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Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus. In Ovids narrative, Pygmalion was a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory, according to Ovid, after seeing the Propoetides he was not interested in women, but his statue was so beautiful and realistic that he fell in love with it. In time, Aphrodites festival day came, and Pygmalion made offerings at the altar of Aphrodite, there, too scared to admit his desire, he quietly wished for a bride who would be the living likeness of my ivory girl. When he returned home, he kissed his ivory statue, and he kissed it again, and found that the ivory had lost its hardness. Pygmalion married the ivory sculpture changed to a woman under Aphrodites blessing, in Ovids narrative, they had a daughter, Paphos, from whom the citys name is derived. In some versions Paphos was a son, and they also had a daughter, perhaps he drew on the lost narrative by Philostephanus that was paraphrased by Clement of Alexandria. Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, the moral anecdote of the Apega of Nabis, recounted by the historian Polybius, described a supposed mechanical simulacrum of the tyrants wife, that crushed victims in her embrace. The trope of a sculpture so lifelike that it seemed about to move was a commonplace with writers on works of art in antiquity and this trope was inherited by writers on art after the Renaissance. The basic Pygmalion story has been transmitted and re-presented in the arts through the centuries. At an unknown date, later authors give as the name of the statue that of the sea-nymph Galatea or Galathea, goethe calls her Elise, based upon the variants in the story of Dido/Elissa. In the final scene of William Shakespeares The Winters Tale, a statue of Queen Hermione which comes to life is revealed as Hermione herself, there have also been numerous sculptures of the awakening. Ovids Pygmalion has inspired works of literature, some of which are listed below. The popularity of the Pygmalion myth surged in the 19th century, R. M. D. s Pygmalion Genevieve Taggards Galatea Again Albert G. Millers Pygmalion Harry C. Morris Pygmalion Melvin H. Bernsteins Mr. H. P. Lovecrafts Herbert West–Reanimator Tommaso Landolfis La moglie di Gogol John Updikes Pygmalion E. T. A, douglass novel Invitation To Live William Hazlitts Liber Amoris, or, the New Pygmalion Richard Powerss novel Galatea 2. The sculpture represents the power of a mothers love for a child. Chihiro Watanabes manga series Pygmalion, which started its serialization in 2015 in the magazine Monthly Comic Garden, the story of Pygmalion is the subject of Jean-Philippe Rameaus 1748 opera, Pigmalion. It was also the subject of Gaetano Donizettis first opera, Il Pigmalione, molin produced a ballet-pantomime version of Pygmalion in 1800. Franz von Suppe composed an operetta Die schöne Galathée which is based on the characters of Pygmalion, the ballet Coppélia, about an inventor who makes a life-sized dancing doll, has strong echoes of Pygmalion
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Theodotion
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Theodotion was a Hellenistic Jewish scholar, perhaps working in Ephesus, who in c. AD150 translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek, whether he was revising the Septuagint, or was working from Hebrew manuscripts that represented a parallel tradition that has not survived, is debated. In the 2nd century Theodotions text was quoted in the Shepherd of Hermas and his finished version, which filled some lacunae in the Septuagint version of the Book of Jeremiah and Book of Job, formed one column in Origen of Alexandrias Hexapla, c. Theodotions translation was so widely copied in the Early Christian church that its version of the Book of Daniel virtually superseded the Septuagints, jerome records the rejection of the Septuagints version of that book in Christian usage. Jeromes preface also mentions that the Hexapla had notations in it, however, Theodotions Daniel is closer to the modern Hebrew Masoretic Text version, that is the basis for most modern translations. Theodotions Daniel is also the one embodied in the edition of the Septuagint published by Sixtus V in 1587. Aquila of Sinope Symmachus the Ebionite Septuagint On Weights and Measures Jewish Encyclopedia, the Unknown Aramaic Original of Theodotions Additions to Daniel in Proceedings of the Society for Biblical Archaeology Vol. xvi. Demonstrating that the existing Aramaic text is itself an adaptation from the Greek of Theodotion, not its original
