1.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
Quadrangle (architecture)
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In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, most quadrangles are open-air, while a few have been roofed over, to provide additional space for social meeting areas or coffee shops for students. The word quadrangle was originally synonymous with quadrilateral, but this usage is now relatively uncommon, some modern quadrangles resemble cloister gardens of medieval monasteries, called garths, which were usually square or rectangular, enclosed by covered arcades or cloisters. However, it is clear from the oldest examples which are plain and unadorned with arcades, grander quadrangles that look like cloisters came later, once the idea of a college was well established and benefactors or founders wished to create more monumental buildings. In North America, Thomas Jeffersons design for the University of Virginia centered the housing, later, some American college and university planners imitated the Jeffersonian plan, the Oxbridge idea, Beaux-Arts forms, and other models. The University of Chicagos Gothic campus is notable for its innovative use of quadrangles. All five barracks at The Citadel feature quadrangles with red-and-white squares, quadrangles are also found in traditional Kerala houses and is known as the Nadumittam
Quadrangle (architecture)
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Quadrangle of
University of Sydney
Quadrangle (architecture)
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Front quad,
Wadham College, Oxford
Quadrangle (architecture)
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An aerial view of Mob Quad,
Merton College, Oxford
Quadrangle (architecture)
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The UCC quadrangle
3.
British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose
British Museum
–
British Museum
British Museum
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The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2001 to become the
Great Court, surrounding the original
Reading Room.
British Museum
–
Sir
Hans Sloane
British Museum
–
Montagu House, c. 1715
4.
Foster and Partners
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Foster + Partners is a British international studio for architecture and integrated design, with headquarters in London. The practice is led by its founder and Chairman, Norman Foster, established by Norman Foster as Foster Associates in 1967 shortly after leaving Team 4, the firm was renamed in the 1990s to more accurately reflect the influence of the other lead architects. In 2007 the private equity company 3i took a stake in the practice and this was bought back by the practice in June 2014 to become wholly owned by the 140 partners. C. The paper cited environmentalists concerns over the impact of the planned 15,000 inhabitant resort facilities. The Bulgarian partner, Georgi Stanishev, is the brother of Sergei Stanishev, Leader of Bulgarian Socialist Party, antoinette Nassopoulos, Foster + Partners Virgin Red Hot Design talk
Foster and Partners
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London
City Hall at night
Foster and Partners
–
The
British Library of Political and Economic Science
Foster and Partners
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The futuristic interior roof of
Hong Kong International Airport
Foster and Partners
–
The
Willis Faber and Dumas Headquarters in
Ipswich was one of Foster's earliest commissions after founding
Foster Associates.
5.
Colin St John Wilson
–
Sir Colin Alexander St John Wilson, FRIBA, RA, was a British architect, lecturer and author. He spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned to be built in Bloomsbury, Wilson was born in Cheltenham, the younger son of Henry Wilson, a Church of England clergyman who became Bishop of Chelmsford from 1929. His father was known as the Red Bishop as a result of his sympathy for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War. Wilson was educated at Felsted School, and he studied history and then architecture at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1940 to 1942 and he served as a lieutenant in a Communication Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm in Europe during the Second World War and then India. He was demobilised in 1946, he completed his studies under Sir Albert Richardson at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, first he married Muriel Lavender in 1955, but they were later divorced in 1971. Then he married the architect Mary Jane Long, a partner of Long & Kentish architects, in 1972, with Long together he has one son. Long and Wilson often collaborated on design projects and he worked for a development company for a year before becoming a lecturer in architecture at Cambridge University in 1956, where Martin had been appointed Professor of Architecture. Wilson met Finnish architect Alvar Aalto through Martin and this had a impact on his following building. He was a Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge from 1962 to 1971 and he retired from teaching in 1969 to concentrate on his architectural practice. Wilson designed his own home in Cambridge on Grantchester Road and he was commissioned to design the proposed Liverpool Civic and Social Centre, but the building was never finished, being deemed fascist by the council. He also designed an extension for the British Museum which was never realised. He described it as his 30-year war, the original scheme would have created a piazza to the south of the British Museum, but would have required the demolition of a large part of Bloomsbury. After a public protest, a new site was further north. A design was approved in 1978, but then delayed by the change of government after the 1979 general election, the building was shortlised for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 1998. Wilson returned to Cambridge to become Professor of Architecture in 1975 and he was a Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge from 1977 to his death in 2007. He retired in 1989, becoming a professor emeritus and he became a trustee of the Tate Gallery in 1974, and a trustee of the National Gallery in 1977, retiring from both positions in 1980. He was a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and he was knighted in 1998 for services to architecture, and was an Honorary Fellow at Churchill College from 1998 to 2007. He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Cambridge, Essex and he was a visiting professor at Yale four times and at MIT from 1970 to 1972
Colin St John Wilson
–
Bust of Colin St John Wilson by Celia Scott on display in the foyer of the British Library
Colin St John Wilson
–
Interior of the British Library, with the
smoked glass wall of the King's Library in the background.
6.
Elizabeth II
–
Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
Elizabeth II
–
The Queen in March 2015
Elizabeth II
–
Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by
Philip de László, 1933
Elizabeth II
–
Elizabeth in
Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
7.
Tessellation
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A tessellation of a flat surface is the tiling of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellations can be generalized to higher dimensions and a variety of geometries, a periodic tiling has a repeating pattern. The patterns formed by periodic tilings can be categorized into 17 wallpaper groups, a tiling that lacks a repeating pattern is called non-periodic. An aperiodic tiling uses a set of tile shapes that cannot form a repeating pattern. In the geometry of higher dimensions, a space-filling or honeycomb is called a tessellation of space. A real physical tessellation is a made of materials such as cemented ceramic squares or hexagons. Such tilings may be decorative patterns, or may have such as providing durable and water-resistant pavement. Historically, tessellations were used in Ancient Rome and in Islamic art such as in the decorative geometric tiling of the Alhambra palace, in the twentieth century, the work of M. C. Escher often made use of tessellations, both in ordinary Euclidean geometry and in geometry, for artistic effect. Tessellations are sometimes employed for decorative effect in quilting, Tessellations form a class of patterns in nature, for example in the arrays of hexagonal cells found in honeycombs. Tessellations were used by the Sumerians in building wall decorations formed by patterns of clay tiles, decorative mosaic tilings made of small squared blocks called tesserae were widely employed in classical antiquity, sometimes displaying geometric patterns. In 1619 Johannes Kepler made a documented study of tessellations. He wrote about regular and semiregular tessellations in his Harmonices Mundi, he was possibly the first to explore and to explain the structures of honeycomb. Some two hundred years later in 1891, the Russian crystallographer Yevgraf Fyodorov proved that every periodic tiling of the features one of seventeen different groups of isometries. Fyodorovs work marked the beginning of the mathematical study of tessellations. Other prominent contributors include Shubnikov and Belov, and Heinrich Heesch, in Latin, tessella is a small cubical piece of clay, stone or glass used to make mosaics. The word tessella means small square and it corresponds to the everyday term tiling, which refers to applications of tessellations, often made of glazed clay. Tessellation or tiling in two dimensions is a topic in geometry that studies how shapes, known as tiles, can be arranged to fill a plane without any gaps, according to a given set of rules
Tessellation
–
Zellige terracotta tiles in
Marrakech, forming edge-to-edge, regular and other tessellations
Tessellation
–
A wall sculpture at
Leeuwarden celebrating the artistic tessellations of
M. C. Escher
Tessellation
–
A temple mosaic from the ancient Sumerian city of
Uruk IV (3400–3100 BC), showing a tessellation pattern in coloured tiles
Tessellation
–
Roman geometric mosaic
8.
Buro Happold
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Originally working mainly on projects in the Middle East, the firm now operates worldwide and in almost all areas of engineering for the built environment, with 23 offices around the world. Edmund, or Ted, Happold worked at Arup before founding BuroHappold, where he worked on such as the Sydney Opera House. Ted Happold died in 1996, but the claims to maintain his views on engineering. BuroHappold was founded on 1 May 1976, with its first office on Gay Street in Bath, United Kingdom. The firm started with eight partners, The Kings Office, Council of Ministers and Majlis Al Shura, Central Government Complex in Riyadh, in 1982 BuroHappold started to work with Future Tents Ltd on a variety of temporary and recreational structures. The firms combined their operations in 1992, but split again in 1997, in 1983, BuroHappold opened an office in Riyadh, and has since opened offices around the UK and internationally, By 1993, BuroHappold had 130 employees and eight partners. In 1998 this had grown to 300 employees and 12 partners, in 2006 the partnership stood at 25 with over 1400 employees and 14 offices. SMART also develops Buro Happolds in-house software Tensyl, a finite element analysis and patterning program for fabric structures. Also notable is its group COSA, which undertakes computational modelling and analysis, in 2007 BuroHappold became a limited liability partnership, and in 2008 appointed 18 new partners. The firm is a limited liability partnership with 52 partners, the Mannheim Multihalle was a timber gridshell of 50 by 50 mm lathes of hemlock of irregular form, depending on the elasticity of spring washers at the joints for its flexible form. It was one of the first major uses of structural gridshells, following the development of fabric structures expertise on the projects with Frei Otto, BuroHappold was instrumental in further developing the knowledge and technology of fabric structures. They also designed the, at the time, largest fabric canopy in Europe at the Ashford Designer Outlet in the UK, the expertise in wooden gridshell structures has resulted in the design of structures such as the Weald and Downland Museum and the Savill Building in Windsor Great Park. The firm has worked with Shigeru Ban on a number of other projects, another design in cardboard was the Westborough School cardboard classroom in Westcliff. One Angel Square in Manchester Arsenal F. C. C, United States, a curved steel grid roof clad in square glass overlapping panels. Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, a four-tiered,50,000 seater national football, philippine Arena, in the Philippines is the largest indoor arena in the world in terms of seating capacity. It can hold up to 60,000 seats, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, a new museum in Dallas The Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, a rail and bus transportation hub in Anaheim, California. The High Line Park in New York City, a park occupying a disused elevated railway line, Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof redevelopment, in Stuttgart, Germany, a project to realign the Deutsche Bahns rail lines so they can be joined to the intra-European network. The sub-terranean station will be roofed with a park, with organically shaped, reinforced concrete shells with petal-shaped sections terminating as skylights
Buro Happold
–
BuroHappold Engineering
Buro Happold
–
Millennium Dome
Buro Happold
–
View of the Great Court, British Museum, London.
Buro Happold
–
Ashford Designer Outlet in
Kent, United Kingdom
9.
Waagner-Biro
–
Waagner-Biro is a Vienna, Austria-based corporation which owns companies in steel and mechanical engineering. It has about 1000 employees in 14 locations in Europe, Asia, Waagner Biro Stahlbau Group has divisions in steel and glass engineering and bridge construction. Waagner-Biro Stage Systems Group is a manufacturer of stage equipment. Qualter, Hall & Co Ltd. builds bridges and also deals with mechanical engineering, on October 16,1854, the Vienna city magistrate granted Rudolph Philipp Waagner an Iron trade authorisation. That same year, Anton Biró and Albert Milde & Co. merged, the company first used the name Waagner-Biro in 1924. In 1906, the company provided the Vienna State Opera with stage equipment, forty years later, the company rebuilt the opera houses roof. Waagner-Biro won another award in 2003 for the British Museums Queen Elizabeth II Great Court, between 1910 and 1932, the company completed Schweden Bridge, Floridsdorf Bridge, Frieden Bridge, Augarten Bridge, and other bridges in Vienna. In 1960, Waagner-Biro worked on stage engineering for Sydney Opera, the Waagner-Biro process for cooling and quenching hot coke was introduced in the 1970s. In 1982, the Dubai branch office opened, in 2000, Waagner-Biro Gulf LLC was established. In 2003, the engineering companies went under the name Stage Systems
Waagner-Biro
–
Tessellated roof of the Great Court of the
British Museum, constructed by Waagner-Biro
Waagner-Biro
–
Inscription of the Bulgarian
St Stephen Church in Istanbul
10.
British Museum Reading Room
–
The British Museum Reading Room, situated in the centre of the Great Court of the British Museum, used to be the main reading room of the British Library. In 1997, this moved to the new British Library building at St Pancras, London. Designed by Sydney Smirke and opened in 1857, the Reading Room was in use until its temporary closure for renovation in 1997. It was reopened in 2000, and from 2007 to 2014 it was used to temporary exhibitions. It has since been closed while its use remains under discussion. The building was designed by Sydney Smirke and was constructed between 1854 and 1857, the building used cast iron, concrete, glass and the latest technology in ventilation and heating. Book stacks built around the room were made of iron to take the huge weight. There were forty kilometres of shelving in the prior to the librarys relocation to the new site. The Reading Room was officially opened on 2 May 1857 with a breakfast laid out on the catalogue desks, a public viewing was held between 8 and 16 May which attracted over 62,000 visitors. Tickets to it included a plan of the library, regular users had to apply in writing and be issued a readers ticket by the Principal Librarian. G. Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in 1997 the British Library moved to its own specially constructed building next to St Pancras Station and all the books and shelving were removed. The Reading Room was reopened in 2000, allowing all visitors and it held a collection of 25,000 books focusing on the cultures represented in the museum along with an information centre and the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre. In 2007 the books and facilities installed in 2000 were removed, the general library for visitors moved to a room accessible through nearby Room 2, but closed permanently on 13 August 2011. This is a library that has also had distinguished users, including Thomas Babington Macaulay, William Thackeray, Robert Browning, Giuseppe Mazzini, Charles Darwin. In 2014, the British Museum opened its new World Conservation, the museum has been consulting on the future of the Reading Room, but as of June 2014, its future is still undecided. The British Museum Reading Room has become iconic and it is the subject of an eponymous poem, The British Museum Reading Room, by Louis MacNeice. Much of the action of David Lodges 1965 novel The British Museum Is Falling Down takes place in the old Reading Room, the Glass Ceiling of Anabel Donalds 1994 novel is the ceiling of the Reading Room, where the denouement is set. Alfred Hitchcock used the Reading Room and the dome of the British Museum as a location for the climax of his first sound film Blackmail
British Museum Reading Room
–
Inside the Reading Room, before its conversion to an exhibition space
British Museum Reading Room
–
Detail of the ceiling with its oculus
British Museum Reading Room
–
A
panorama showing an almost 180-degree view of the interior of the Reading Room
British Museum Reading Room
–
The reading desks
11.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
–
A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
–
Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
12.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
13.
Portland Stone
–
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds and it has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major public buildings in London such as St Pauls Cathedral and Buckingham Palace. It is also exported to many countries—Portland stone is used in the United Nations headquarters building in New York City, Portland stone formed in a marine environment, on the floor of a shallow, warm, sub-tropical sea probably near land. When seawater is warmed by the sun, its capacity to hold dissolved gas is reduced, calcium and bicarbonate ions within the water are then able to combine, to form calcium carbonate as a precipitate. The process of lime scale build up in a kettle in hard water areas is similar, calcium carbonate is the principal constituent of most limestones. Billions of minute crystals of precipitated calcium carbonate accumulated forming lime mud which covered the sea floor, small particles of sand or organic detritus, such as shell fragments, formed a nucleus, which became coated with layers of calcite as they were rolled around in the muddy micrite. The calcite gradually accumulated around the fragments of shell in concentric layers and this process is similar to the way in which a snowball grows in size as it is rolled around in the snow. Over time, countless billions of these balls, known as ooids or ooliths, became partially cemented together by more calcite and this is one of the reasons why Portland stone is so favoured as a monumental and architectural stone. Dr Geoff Townson conducted three years research on the Portlandian, being the first to describe the patch-reef facies. Stone has been quarried on Portland since Roman times and was being shipped to London in the 14th century, Extraction as an industry began in the early 17th century, with shipments to London for Inigo Jones Banqueting House. Wrens choice of Portland for the new St Pauls Cathedral was a great boost for the quarries, the island was connected by railway to the rest of the country from 1865. Albion Stone PLC has been quarrying and mining Portland stone since 1984, Portland Stone Firms Ltd have been quarrying Portland stone since 1994. Jordans is part of the Inmosthay Quarry in the centre of the Island, the quarry has been worked since the late 19th century. Albion Stone leases the section from The Crown Estate and purchased the northern part of the site in 2006. The majority of the southern reserves lie under the grounds of the cricket club. To avoid disturbing the site at surface level, the company has applied and received permission to extract the stone using mining rather than quarrying techniques, the reserves to the north will be quarried using the diamond bladed cutting machines, hydro bags and wire saws to shape the blocks. Albion Stone PLC now extract all their stone through mining which dramatically reduces the impact on the environment, jordans Mine is currently the biggest mine on Portland. Bowers Quarry has been operational since the late 18th century and it has been leased from The Crown Estate since 1979 and in 2002 it became the site of the first Portland stone mine by Albion Stone PLC
Portland Stone
–
The Cenotaph, in
Whitehall, London, is made from Portland stone.
Portland Stone
–
Portland Stone
quarry on the
Isle of Portland
Portland Stone
–
Seafarer's Sculpture (108 pilars in Portland stone),
Portishead marina, by Michael Dan Archer.
Portland Stone
–
Portland Stone quarry on the
Isle of Portland,
Dorset.
14.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
England
–
Stonehenge, a
Neolithic monument
England
–
Flag
England
–
Boudica led an uprising against the
Roman Empire
England
–
Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial
helmet from the
Kingdom of East Anglia, found at
Sutton Hoo
15.
I. M. Pei
–
Ieoh Ming Pei, FAIA, RIBA, commonly known as I. M. Pei, is a Chinese-American architect. In 1948, Pei was recruited by New York City real estate magnate William Zeckendorf, Pei retired from full-time practice in 1990. Since then, he has taken on work as an architectural consultant primarily from his sons architectural firm Pei Partnership Architects and he went on to design Dallas City Hall and the East Building of the National Gallery of Art. He returned to China for the first time in 1975 to design a hotel at Fragrant Hills, and designed Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong, a skyscraper in Hong Kong for the Bank of China fifteen years later. In the early 1980s, Pei was the focus of controversy when he designed a glass-and-steel pyramid for the Musée du Louvre in Paris. He later returned to the world of the arts by designing the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the Miho Museum in Japan, the Suzhou Museum in Suzhou, in 1983, he won the Pritzker Prize, sometimes called the Nobel Prize of architecture. Peis ancestry traces back to the Ming Dynasty, when his family moved from Anhui province to Suzhou, finding wealth in the sale of medicinal herbs, the family stressed the importance of helping the less fortunate. Ieoh Ming Pei was born on April 26,1917 to Tsuyee Pei and Lien Kwun, the family eventually included five children. As a boy, Pei was very close to his mother and she invited him, his brothers, and his sisters to join her on meditation retreats. His relationship with his father was less intimate and their interactions were respectful but distant. Peis ancestors success meant that the family lived in the echelons of society. The younger Pei, drawn more to music and other forms than to his fathers domain of banking. I have cultivated myself, he said later, at the age of ten, Pei moved with his family to Shanghai after his father was promoted. Pei attended Saint Johns Middle School, run by Protestant missionaries, academic discipline was rigorous, students were allowed only one half-day each month for leisure. Pei enjoyed playing billiards and watching Hollywood movies, especially those of Buster Keaton and he also learned rudimentary English skills by reading the Bible and novels by Charles Dickens. Shanghais many international elements gave it the name Paris of the East, the citys global architectural flavors had a profound influence on Pei, from the Bund waterfront area to the Park Hotel, built in 1934. He was also impressed by the gardens of Suzhou, where he spent the summers with extended family and regularly visited a nearby ancestral shrine. The Shizilin Garden, built in the 14th century by a Buddhist monk, was especially influential and its unusual rock formations, stone bridges, and waterfalls remained etched in Peis memory for decades
I. M. Pei
–
in Luxembourg, 2006
I. M. Pei
–
As a child, Pei found the
Shizilin Garden in
Suzhou to be "an ideal playground".
I. M. Pei
–
Pei describes the architecture of Shanghai's
Bund waterfront area (seen here in a 2006 photo) as "very much a colonial past".
I. M. Pei
–
Pei said that "
Bing Crosby 's films in particular had a tremendous influence on my choosing the United States instead of England to pursue my education."
16.
Louvre Pyramid
–
The Louvre Pyramid is a large glass and metal pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the entrance to the Louvre Museum. Completed in 1989, it has become a landmark of the city of Paris, commissioned by the President of France, François Mitterrand, in 1984, it was designed by the architect I. M. Pei. The structure, which was constructed entirely with glass segments and metal poles, reaches a height of 21.6 metres and its square base has sides of 34 metres and a base surface area of 1,000 square metres. It consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments, the pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of Montreal and Rice Francis Ritchie of Paris. Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then re-ascend into the main Louvre buildings, for design historian Mark Pimlott, I. M. Pei’s plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network. Several other museums have duplicated this concept, most notably the Museum of Science, the Dolphin Centre, featuring a similar pyramid, was opened in April 1982, by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The construction work on the base and underground lobby was carried out by the Vinci construction company. In 1839, according to one account, in ceremonies commemorating the glorious revolution of 1830, The tombs of the Louvre were covered with black hangings. In front and in the middle was erected a monument of a pyramidical shape. The construction of the pyramid triggered many years of strong and lively aesthetic, Pei being insufficiently French to be entrusted with the task of updating the treasured Parisian landmark. Meanwhile, Political critics referred to the structure as Pharaoh Francois Pyramid, while some continue to feel the harsh modernism of the edifice is out of place, others consider the juxtaposition of contrasting architectural styles a successful merger of the old and the new. During the design phase, there was a proposal that the design include a spire on the pyramid to simplify window washing, Pei objected, however, and this proposal was eliminated. It has been claimed by some that the glass panes in the Louvre Pyramid number exactly 666, the story of the 666 panes originated in the 1980s, when the official brochure published during construction did indeed cite this number. The number 666 was also mentioned in various newspapers, the Louvre museum, however, states that the finished pyramid contains 673 glass panes. A higher figure was obtained by David A. Shugarts, who reports that the pyramid contains 689 pieces of glass, Shugarts obtained the figure from the Peis offices. The side with the entrance, however, has 11 panes fewer, however, David A. Shugarts reports that according to a spokeswoman of the offices of Pei, the French President never specified the number of panes to be used in the pyramid. La Pyramide Inversée is a skylight in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum and it looks like an upside-down and smaller version of the Louvre Pyramid
Louvre Pyramid
–
Inside the Pyramid: the view of the Louvre Museum in Paris from the underground lobby of the Pyramid.
Louvre Pyramid
–
The large glass pyramid seen at night
Louvre Pyramid
–
The large glass pyramid seen by day
17.
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)
18.
British Library
–
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and the second largest library in the world by number of items catalogued. It holds well over 150 million items from many countries, as a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. The Library is a public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. The Librarys collections include around 14 million books, along with holdings of manuscripts. In addition to receiving a copy of every publication produced in the UK and Ireland, the Library adds some three million items every year occupying 9.6 kilometres of new shelf space. Prior to 1973, the Library was part of the British Museum, the Euston Road building is classified as a Grade I listed building, of exceptional interest for its architecture and history. The British Library was created on 1 July 1973 as a result of the British Library Act 1972. Prior to this, the library was part of the British Museum. In 1983, the Library absorbed the National Sound Archive, which holds many sound and video recordings, with over a million discs, the core of the Librarys historical collections is based on a series of donations and acquisitions from the 18th century, known as the foundation collections. From 1997 to 2009 the main collection was housed in this new building. Construction work on the Newspaper Storage Building was completed in 2013, the collection has now been split between the St Pancras and Boston Spa sites. The British Library Document Supply Service and the Librarys Document Supply Collection is based on the site in Boston Spa. Collections housed in Yorkshire, comprising low-use material and the newspaper and Document Supply collections, the Library previously had a book storage depot in Woolwich, south-east London, which is no longer in use. The new library was designed specially for the purpose by the architect Colin St John Wilson, facing Euston Road is a large piazza that includes pieces of public art, such as large sculptures by Eduardo Paolozzi and Antony Gormley. It is the largest public building constructed in the United Kingdom in the 20th century, in December 2009 a new storage building at Boston Spa was opened by Rosie Winterton. The building was Grade I listed on 1 August 2015, in England, Legal Deposit can be traced back to at least 1610. The other five libraries are, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the University Library at Cambridge, the Trinity College Library at Dublin, in 2003 the Ipswich MP Chris Mole introduced a Private Members Bill which became the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. The Act extends United Kingdom legal deposit requirements to electronic documents, such as CD-ROMs, the Library also holds the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections which include the India Office Records and materials in the languages of Asia and of north and north-east Africa
British Library
–
from the concourse
British Library
–
The British Library at Boston Spa (on
Thorp Arch Trading Estate),
West Yorkshire
British Library
–
The British Library and
St Pancras
British Library
–
Interior of the British Library, with the smoked glass wall of the King's Library in the background.
19.
Nelson Mandela
–
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the countrys first black head of state and the first elected in a representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism, ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress party from 1991 to 1997. A Xhosa, Mandela was born in Mvezo to the Thembu royal family and he studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943, after the National Partys white-only government established apartheid—a system of racial segregation that privileged whites—he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANCs Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he joined the banned South African Communist Party. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, in 1962, he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk negotiated an end to apartheid and organised the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory, internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a presidential term and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy. Mandela became a statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was a figure for much of his life. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours—including the Nobel Peace Prize—and became the subject of a cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba. Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning troublemaker, in later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was king of the Thembu people in the Transkeian Territories of South Africas modern Eastern Cape province, one of Ngubengcukas sons, named Mandela, was Nelsons grandfather and the source of his surname. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrates unreasonable demands
Nelson Mandela
–
Mandela in
Johannesburg, on 13 May 2008
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
–
Mandela c. 1937
Nelson Mandela
–
Mandela and
Evelyn in July 1944, at Walter and Albertina Sisulu's wedding party in the Bantu Men's Social Centre.
20.
BP
–
BP P. L. C. also referred to by its former name, British Petroleum, is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. It also has renewable energy interests in biofuels and wind power, the company has around 17,200 service stations worldwide. Its largest division is BP America in the United States, in Russia BP owns a 19. 75% stake in Rosneft, the worlds largest publicly traded oil and gas company by hydrocarbon reserves and production. BP has a listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has secondary listings on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, BPs origins date back to the founding of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908, established as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company to exploit oil discoveries in Iran. In 1935, it became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and in 1954 British Petroleum, in 1959, the company expanded beyond the Middle East to Alaska and it was one of the the first companies to strike oil in the North Sea. British Petroleum acquired majority control of Standard Oil of Ohio in 1978, formerly majority state-owned, the British government privatised the company in stages between 1979 and 1987. British Petroleum merged with Amoco in 1998, becoming BP Amoco plc, from 2003 to 2013, BP was a partner in the TNK-BP joint venture in Russia. BP has been involved in several major environmental and safety incidents. 1.8 million gallons of Corexit oil dispersant were used in the cleanup response, legal proceedings continued into January 2015 which determined payouts and fines under the Clean Water Act and the Natural Resources Damage Assessment. BP appealed the ruling, which raised concerns about BPs future and they settled in July 2015 in the amount of $19 billion plus the original amount. In May 1908 a group of British geologists discovered a large amount of oil at Masjid-i-Suleiman in Mohammerah and it was the first commercially significant find of oil in the Middle East. William Knox DArcy, by contract with the Emir of Mohammerah, Sheikh Khazal Khan al-Kaabi and this event changed the history of the Middle East. The oil discovery led to petrochemical industry development and also the establishment of industries that depended on oil. On 14 April 1909, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was incorporated as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company, some of the shares were sold to the public. The first chairman and minority shareholder of the company became Lord Strathcona, the refinery was built and began operating in 1912. In 1913, the British Government acquired a controlling interest in the company and at the suggestion of Winston Churchill, the Royal Navy, which projected British power all over the world, came to be run 100% on oil from Iran. In 1919, the became a shale-oil producer by establishing a subsidiary named Scottish Oils which merged remaining Scottish oil-shale industries
BP
–
William Knox D'Arcy
BP
–
BP plc
BP
–
A BP Motor Spirit advertisement from 1922
BP
–
A BP truck from 1967
21.
Stela
–
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
Stela
–
Stele N from
Copán,
Honduras, depicting King K'ac Yipyaj Chan K'awiil ("Smoke Shell"), as drawn by
Frederick Catherwood in 1839
Stela
–
The
funerary stele of Thrasea and Euandria, c. 365 BC
Stela
–
Chinese ink rubbings of the 1489 (left) and 1512 (right) steles left by the
Kaifeng Jews.
Stela
–
Grave Stela of Nehemes-Ra-tawy, ca. 760-656 B.C.E.,37.588E,
Brooklyn Museum
22.
Ashurnasirpal II
–
Ashur-nasir-pal II was king of Assyria from 883 to 859 BC. Ashurnasirpal II succeeded his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, in 883 BC and his harshness prompted a revolt that he crushed decisively in a pitched, two-day battle. According to his monument inscription, while recalling this massacre he says their men young and old I took prisoners. Of some I cut off their feet and hands, of others I cut off the noses and lips, of the young mens ears I made a heap. I exposed their heads as a trophy in front of their city, the male children and the female children I burned in flames, the city I destroyed, and consumed with fire. Following this victory, he advanced without opposition as far as the Mediterranean, on his return home, he moved his capital to the city of Kalhu. Ashurnasirpal IIs father was Tukulti-Ninurta II and his son and successor was Shalmaneser III. The palaces, temples and other buildings raised by him bear witness to a development of wealth. He was renowned for his brutality, using enslaved captives to build a new Assyrian capital at Kalhu in Mesopotamia where he built many impressive monuments. He was also an administrator, who realized that he could gain greater control over his empire by installing Assyrian governors. Like previous Assyrian monarchs Ashurnasirpal campaigned along the Euphrates against Aramaeans, Ashurnasirpal IIs brutal treatment of rebels ensured that even when his army was not present, there would not be further revolts. Further revolts would see the local monarch replaced with a governor loyal only to the Assyrian monarchy, leading his army, which was typically composed of infantry, heavy & light cavalry and chariots, Ashurnasirpal conquered the Hittites and Aramaean states of northern Syria. Ashurnasirpal II did not destroy the Phoenician/Canaanite cities he conquered and he was unsuccessful in his siege of Tyre, which under Ittobaal settled Kition in Cyprus and opened up trade routes throughout the Aegean, at Rhodes and Miletus. Through tribute they became sources for the raw materials of his armies, iron was needed for weapons, Lebanese cedar for construction and gold and silver for the payment of troops. Ashurnasirpal IIs palace was built and completed in 879 BC in Kalhu, the palace walls were lined with reliefs carved in alabaster. These reliefs bore elaborate carvings, many portraying the king surrounded by winged protective spirits, each also had text inscribed in it. This text was the same or very similar on each relief and is called the Standard Inscription. Ashurnasirpal II also built a gateway at Nimrud
Ashurnasirpal II
–
Ashurnasirpal II, with Akkadian cuneiform inscription
Ashurnasirpal II
–
Ashur-nasir-pal II (centre) meets a high official after a successful battle.
Ashurnasirpal II
–
Campaigns and contemporaries of Ashurnasirpal II
Ashurnasirpal II
–
Pair of
Lamassus,
Nimrud, (Metropolitan Museum)
23.
Lion of Knidos
–
The Lion of Knidos is the name for a colossal ancient Greek statue that was discovered in 1858 near the ancient port of Knidos, south-west Asia Minor. Soon after its discovery, the statue was shipped to London where it became part of the British Museums collection, although there is some debate about the age of the sculpture, in general, scholarly opinion dates it to the 2nd century BC. Since 2000, it has been displayed on a plinth under the roof of the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court. This sculpture of a recumbent lion was quarried from Mount Pentelikon near Athens, the lion is substantially complete, only the lower jaw and front legs are missing, its eyes were probably once inlaid with glass. The statue is greater than life-size, it weighs six tonnes and measures 2.89 metres long and 1.82 metres high, in designing the body to be hollowed out from below, the weight of the statue was reduced. The statue stood on top of a monument that is of a style fashionable in 350 BC in Halikarnassos. The monument is square with a pyramidal top. It was hollow on a circular plan, a third opinion is that the architecture of the monument is not typical of 250 BC, but is Doric and dates from 175 BC. This variation is summarised in the British Museums estimate of 200-250 BC as its age, the rest of the monument is still in Turkey where it has been excavated by the British Museum. It was originally 12 metres square, excavations at the site, and similar monuments nearby, have failed to find an artefact or inscription that would more definitely date the statue. The Lion of Knidos was found in 1858 by the British archaeologist Richard Popplewell Pullan as he walked the cliffs near what is now the Turkish town of Datça, three miles away Pullan was helping Charles Thomas Newton excavate the ancient Greek city of Knidos. The statue had crowned an 18-metre high funerary monument, which had commanding views over the sea, the monument may have been destroyed in an earthquake, as the statue was found lying some distance from the tomb. The Knidos Lion was transported with some difficulty further down the coast, smiths role was significant, as he was presented with a large statue that had fallen onto its front face. The limestone core of the monument was still there but the marble facing had either been stolen or lay around where it had fallen. In 2008 the Turkish town of Datça petitioned the British Ministry of Culture, ian Jenkins, The Lion of Knidos, British Museum,2008 C. Bruns-Ozgan, Knidos, A Guide to the Ancient Site, Konya 2004 G. Bean, Cnidus, Turkey beyond the Maeander, London 1980, chapter 12, pp 111–127
Lion of Knidos
–
Lion of Knidos
Lion of Knidos
–
Pullan's sketch of his conjectural reconstruction of the funerary monument as first built. It is estimated to be 18 metres high and faced in marble. The lion weighs 6 tons.
Lion of Knidos
–
Building
24.
Asia Minor
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Asia Minor
–
The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey
Asia Minor
–
The location of
Turkey (within the rectangle) in reference to the
European continent. Anatolia roughly corresponds to the
Asian part of Turkey, except the eastern parts historically known as the
Armenian Highlands
Asia Minor
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1907 map of Asia Minor, showing the local ancient kingdoms
Asia Minor
–
Mural of
aurochs, a
deer, and humans in
Çatalhöyük, which is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. It was registered as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
25.
Amenhotep III
–
Amenhotep III, also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC, Amenhotep III was Thutmoses son by a minor wife, Mutemwiya. His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign, his son initially ruled as Amenhotep IV, but then changed his own royal name to Akhenaten. The son of the future Thutmose IV and a minor wife Mutemwiya and he was a member of the Thutmosid family that had ruled Egypt for almost 150 years since the reign of Thutmose I. Amenhotep III was the father of two sons with his Great Royal Wife Tiye and their first son, Crown Prince Thutmose, predeceased his father and their second son, Amenhotep IV, later known as Akhenaten, ultimately succeeded Amenhotep III to the throne. Amenhotep III also may have been the father of a third child—called Smenkhkare, Amenhotep III and Tiye may also have had four daughters, Sitamun, Henuttaneb, Isis or Iset, and Nebetah. They appear frequently on statues and reliefs during the reign of their father, Nebetah is attested only once in the known historical records on a colossal limestone group of statues from Medinet Habu. Amenhotep III elevated two of his four daughters—Sitamun and Isis—to the office of royal wife during the last decade of his reign. Evidence that Sitamun already was promoted to office by Year 30 of his reign, is known from jar-label inscriptions uncovered from the royal palace at Malkata. The goddess Hathor herself was related to Ra as first the mother and later wife, hence, Amenhotep IIIs marriage to his two daughters should not be considered unlikely based on contemporary views of marriage. Amenhotep III is known to have married several women, Gilukhepa. Tadukhepa, the daughter of his ally Tushratta of Mitanni, Around Year 36 of his reign, a daughter of Kurigalzu, king of Babylon. A daughter of Kadashman-Enlil, king of Babylon, a daughter of Tarhundaradu, ruler of Arzawa. A daughter of the ruler of Ammia, Amenhotep III has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 of his statues having been discovered and identified. Since these statues span his life, they provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign. Their lengthy inscribed texts extol the accomplishments of the pharaoh, for instance,123 of these commemorative scarabs record the large number of lions that Amenhotep III killed with his own arrows from his first regnal year up to his tenth year. Similarly, five other state that the foreign princess who would become a wife to him, Gilukhepa. She was the first of many such princesses who would enter the pharaohs household, another eleven scarabs record the excavation of an artificial lake he had built for his Great Royal Wife, Queen Tiye, in his eleventh regnal year, Regnal Year 11 under the Majesty of
Amenhotep III
–
Colossal statue of Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III
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Vase in the Louvre with the names Amenohotep III and Tiye written in the
cartouches on the left, (and Tiye's on the right).
Amenhotep III
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Queen Tiye, whose husband, Amenhotep III, may have been depicted to her right in this broken statue
Amenhotep III
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One of the many commemorative scarabs of Amenhotep III. This scarab belongs to a class called the "marriage scarabs," which affirm the divine power of the king and the legitimacy of his wife, Tiye.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
26.
Obelisks of Nectanebo II
–
The Obelisks of Nectanebo II are a pair of monumental obelisks that were found in Cairo but were originally located in the ancient city of Hermopolis, central Egypt. They can now be seen in the Great Court of the British Museum, both obelisks were re-discovered by European travellers in the eighteenth century. One was seen in Cairo by the English explorer Richard Pococke in 1737, the other was recorded by the Danish scientist Carsten Niebuhr in 1762. They were later transported to Alexandria by French forces, with the purpose of shipping them to France, the obelisks, along with other objects, were then taken to England and presented to King George III, who in turn donated them to the British Museum in 1802. The pair of Obelisks were originally set up at a complex in Hermopolis, Middle Egypt. The Thirtieth Dynasty witnessed a renaissance in art and culture that had begun under the first King Nectanebo I, the two obelisks were probably erected either side of a ramp leading to the entrance of a temple. They are fragmentary, with half of them extant. A segment of one of the obelisks can be found in the Egyptian Museum, the hieroglyphic inscriptions that envelope each monument record their dedication to the Egyptian god Thoth, who was the chief deity at Hermopolis. N. Strudwick, Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt T. G. H, james, Ancient Egypt, the land and its legacy L. Habachi, The obelisks of Egypt, The skyscrapers of the past E. Iversen, Obelisks in exile
Obelisks of Nectanebo II
–
The Nectanebo II Obelisks on display in the British Museum
27.
Nectanebo II
–
Nectanebo II, ruled in 360—342 BC) was the third and last pharaoh of the Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt as well as the last native ruler of ancient Egypt. During his reign, the Egyptian artists delivered a specific style that left a mark on the reliefs of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Nectanebo II, however, undertook more constructions and restorations than Nectanebo I, for several years, Nectanebo II was successful in keeping Egypt safe from the Achaemenid Empire. However, betrayed by his servant, Mentor of Rhodes, Nectanebo II was ultimately defeated by the combined Persian. The Persians occupied Memphis and then seized the rest of Egypt, Nectanebo fled south and preserved his power for some time, his subsequent fate is unknown. Except for the greywacke statue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the greywacke statue, Nectanebo II is shown in a nemes and his bent arm with the sword stands for the hieroglyph nakht, the falcon represents Horus, while the hieroglyph in Nectanebos right hand stands for heb. In 525 BC Egypt was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire, because of internal struggles for the Persian imperial succession, Egypt managed to regain independence in 404 BC. In 389 BC, Pharaoh Hakor negotiated a treaty with Athens, in the beginning of 360 BC, Nectanebos predecessor Teos started preparations for war against intruders. In the same year, the Egyptian army set off, traveling along the coast by land, Nectanebo II accompanied his uncle Teos in that campaign and was in charge of the machimoi. In an attempt to raise finances for the war quickly, Teos imposed taxes on Egyptians, Egyptians, particularly the priests, resented those measures but supported Nectanebo II. Teos asked Spartan military leader Agesilaus and Athenian general Chabrias to preserve support for him, Agesilaus, however, said he was sent to aid Egypt and not to wage war against it. Chabrias returned home with his mercenaries, Teos decided to flee to the Achaemenid court, where he ultimately died of natural causes. Nectanebo contended with an unnamed pretender to the throne from the town of Mendes, the revolt was probably led by one of the descendants of Nepherites I, whose family had ruled the town before. The claimant sent messengers to Agesilaus in an attempt to persuade Agesilaus to his side, Agesilaus remained loyal to Nectanebo, fearing to become a turncoat. At one of the towns in the Nile Delta the troops of Nectanebo and Agesilaus were besieged by the usurper, despite the enemys numerical superiority, Nectanebo and Agesilaus were victorious and the revolt was put down in the fall of 360 BC. Acknowledging Agesilaus, Nectanebo sent him 220 talents of gold, religion played an important part in Nectanebos domestic policy. He began his reign by officiating over the funeral of an Apis bull in Memphis, there Nectanebo added a relief decoration to the eastern and western temples of Apis
Nectanebo II
–
Head of Nectanebo II,
Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
Nectanebo II
–
Obverse of gold
stater of Nectanebo II.
Nectanebo II
–
Black
siltstone obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II. According to the vertical inscriptions he set up this obelisk at the doorway of the
sanctuary of
Thoth, the Twice-Great, Lord of
Hermopolis. Today, it is located in the
British Museum,
London.
Nectanebo II
–
Papyrus of the Dream of Nectanebo, ca. 160–150 BC
28.
Easter Island
–
Easter Island is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, in 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. However, human activity, the introduction of the Polynesian rat, by the time of European arrival in 1722, the islands population had dropped to 2, 000–3,000 from an estimated high of approximately 15,000 just a century earlier. European diseases and Peruvian slave raiding in the 1860s further reduced the Rapa Nui population, Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. Easter Island is a territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region, and, more specifically, according to the 2012 Chilean census, the island has about 5,800 residents, of whom some 60 percent are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui. Easter Island is considered part of Insular Chile, the islands official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means Easter Island. However, Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl argued that Rapa was the name of Easter Island. William Churchill inquired about the phrase and was told there were three te pito o te henua, these being the three capes of the island. The phrase appears to have used in the same sense as the designation of Lands End at the tip of Cornwall. He was unable to elicit a Polynesian name for the island itself, according to Barthel, oral tradition has it that the island was first named Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka The little piece of land of Hau Maka. However, there are two words pronounced pito in Rapa Nui, one meaning end and one navel, and the phrase can also mean the Navel of the World. This was apparently its actual meaning, French ethnologist Alphonse Pinart gave it the actual translation the Navel of the World, another name, Mata ki te rangi, means Eyes looking to the sky. Islanders are referred to in Spanish as pascuense, however it is common to refer to members of the community as Rapa Nui. Estimated dates of initial settlement of Easter Island have ranged from 300 to 1200, rectifications in radiocarbon dating have changed almost all of the previously posited early settlement dates in Polynesia. Rapa Nui is now considered to have settled in the narrower range of 700 to 1100 CE. Significant ecological impacts and major cultural investments in monumental architecture and statuary thus began soon after initial settlement, according to oral tradition, the first settlement was at Anakena. The island was most likely populated by Polynesians who navigated in canoes or catamarans from the Gambier Islands or the Marquesas Islands,3,200 km away
Easter Island
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Easter Island
–
Flag
Easter Island
–
A View of the Monuments of Easter Island, Rapanui, c. 1775-1776 by
William Hodges. The earliest known painting of Easter Island. [
citation needed]
Easter Island
–
Motu Nui islet, part of the Birdman Cult ceremony
29.
Totem Pole (British Museum)
–
The Kayung totem pole is a 12-metre totem pole made by the Haida people. Carved and originally located in the village of Kayung on Graham Island in British Columbia, Canada, in 1903 it was sold by Charles Frederick Newcombe to the British Museum, where since 2007 it has been a prominent exhibit in the Great Court. The totem pole was obtained by the Museum in 1903, when the pole was about fifty years old, the craft of making totem poles, built as heraldic signs but misinterpreted by missionaries, was at that point in decline. It was purchased from Charles Frederick Newcombe, who sold a number of totem poles to museums in Europe. The provenance of the pole was certain as the Museum already had a model of it, provided by J. H. Keen, before being sold to collectors, the pole was located in a village called Kayung on Graham Island in British Columbias Haida Gwaii archipelago. Kayung had been an important village for the Haida before European contact, after the population was decimated by successive smallpox epidemics in the late 1800s, Henry Wiah, the town chief, encouraged the remaining population to move to nearby Masset. The village was in the process of being abandoned in 1884, due to its size, the 12-metre pole spent most of its time at the British Museum confined to a stairwell, as this was the only space of sufficient height available. After the roof of the Great Court was constructed, it possible to install the pole there in 2007. Weathering on the means that there is no remaining paint on the surface. Chief Wiah told the stories to Charles F. Newcombe, the stories themselves are corroborated by another of the Museums totem poles, which was obtained with a model of a First Nations longhouse provided by Keen. The second pole was almost identical to the first one, the figure at the top represents Yetl, and the design also incorporates Haida crests. Haida guests were present at the museum for the installation of the pole in the Great Court in 2007, and told the story carved into the pole, there are two stories associated with the Kayung pole. The first story was that communicated to Newcombe by Chief Weah when Newcombe obtained the pole, there was a village where, every time they fished, they lost the hooks from their rods, and the fish with them. The hooks and fish were being taken by Yetl, who had originally created life, normally Yetl appeared as a raven, but on this occasion imitated a friend of his who could swim beneath the sea. Using this skill he was feeding his hunger with the villagers fish, the villagers decided to change the hooks they were using to include a type made of wood and bone, with two barbs. Onto one of these hooks they put a piece of devil fish, the bait was taken, and after a long battle struggling with the catch, the fisherman and several of his friends were able to pull it to the surface. Pulling hard, they felt the line go slack, and when they pulled it in only a small unidentifiable item on the end. Unbeknownst to them they had caught Yetl, and pulled off his ravens beak, to get back his beak and obtain food, Yetl took on human shape and was accepted by the villagers as a guest, disguising his wound by only showing the upper half of his face
Totem Pole (British Museum)
–
Being installed in the Great Court
Totem Pole (British Museum)
–
The Kayung pole in 1884
Totem Pole (British Museum)
–
The totem pole is 12 metres (39 ft) high
Totem Pole (British Museum)
–
Building
30.
Ogham
–
Ogham is an Early Medieval alphabet used to write the early Irish language, and later the Old Irish language. There are roughly 400 surviving orthodox inscriptions on monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain. The largest number outside Ireland are in Pembrokeshire, Wales, the vast majority of the inscriptions consist of personal names. According to the High Medieval Bríatharogam, names of trees can be ascribed to individual letters. The etymology of the word ogam or ogham remains unclear, one possible origin is from the Irish og-úaim point-seam, referring to the seam made by the point of a sharp weapon. It has been argued that the earliest inscriptions in ogham date to about the 4th century AD and it appears that the ogham alphabet arose from another script, and some even consider it a mere cipher of its template script. The largest number of scholars favours the Latin alphabet as this template, although the Elder Futhark and even the Greek alphabet have their supporters. Runic origin would explain the presence of H and Z letters unused in Irish, as well as the presence of vocalic and consonantal variants U vs. W, unknown to Latin writing. In Ireland and in Wales, the language of the stone inscriptions is termed Primitive Irish. The transition to Old Irish, the language of the earliest sources in the Latin alphabet, there are two main schools of thought among scholars as to the motivation for the creation of ogham. The Roman Empire, which ruled over neighbouring southern Britain, represented a very real threat of invasion to Ireland. With bilingual ogham and Latin inscriptions in Wales, however, one would suppose that the ogham could easily be decoded by anyone in the Post-Roman world. The argument is that the sounds of Primitive Irish were regarded as difficult to transcribe into the Latin alphabet, so the invention of a separate alphabet was deemed appropriate. In fact, several ogham stones in Wales are bilingual, containing both Irish and British Latin, testifying to the contacts that led to the existence of some of these stones. A third theory put forward by the noted ogham scholar R. A. S. Macalister was influential at one time, but finds little favour with scholars today. According to this theory, the alphabet was transmitted in oral form or on wood only, the supposed links with the form of the Greek alphabet that Macalister proposed can also be disproved. Macalisters theory of hand or finger signals as a source for ogham is a reflection of the fact that the signary consists of four groups of five letters, with a sequence of strokes from one to five. A theory popular among scholars is that the forms of the letters derive from the various numerical tally-mark systems in existence at the time
Ogham
–
An inscription found in 1975 in Ratass Church,
Tralee,
County Kerry
Ogham
–
Fol. 170r of the
Book of Ballymote (1390), the
Auraicept na n-Éces explaining the ogham script
