Society of Mary (Marists)
The Society of Mary known as the Marist Fathers, is an international Roman Catholic religious congregation, founded by Father Jean-Claude Colin and a group of other seminarians in Lyon, France, in 1816. The society's name derives from the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom the members attempt to imitate in their spirituality and daily work; the idea of a new Marian body to fill the vacuum left by the suppression of the Society of Jesus had been widespread for some time and had arisen in the post-revolutionary diocese of Lyons. In the diocesan seminaries there, one seminarian, Jean-Claude Courveille, had an initial inspiration regarding the foundation of a specific congregation to be called the "Society of Mary", but the leading role in bringing the plan to fruition was taken up by Father Jean-Claude Colin, who emerged as the real founder though he was the most retiring of the group; the context was in part the fall of Napoleon in 1815 and the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty, which seemed to offer an opportunity for a revival of the Catholic Church and a return to evangelisation of the de-Christianized population.
Colin was assigned after ordination to Cerdon where he was assistant to the pastor, his elder brother Pierre. There Jean-Claude began drafting a tentative rule for the group of priests and with Jeanne-Marie Chavoin founded the Sisters of the Holy Name of Mary called Marist Sisters. Another member of the same group of former seminarians, the priest Saint Marcellin Champagnat, established at La Valla-en-Gier the Little Brothers of Mary; the reception from the ecclesiastical authorities in Lyon was decidedly cool since the diocese was afraid of losing priests from its control, given the dramatic local needs. For this reason, little progress could be made toward the foundation of the priests' branch as a religious congregation until Cerdon, Colin's parish, passed from the jurisdiction of Lyon Diocese to a revived diocese of Belley. In 1823, Bishop Devie of Belley authorised Colin and a few companions to resign their parish duties and form into a travelling missionary band for the rural districts.
Their zeal and success in that difficult work moved the bishop to entrust them with the conduct of his minor seminary, thus enlarging the scope of their work. However, little progress could be made toward the foundation of a true religious congregation, since like the Lyons authorities, Bishop Devie wanted at most a diocesan institute only, while Fr. Colin was averse to such a limitation; this came near placing the nascent institute in jeopardy. By the beginning of the 19th century Christian churches were well established in the Americas and Australia. Christian evangelization efforts turned to Africa and Oceania; the Holy See, keen to establish the Catholic faith in this area, entrusted its evangelization efforts of Oceania to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Subsequently the territory was divided, so that the Holy See assigned a Vicariate Apostolic of Eastern Oceania to the Picpus Fathers, established a Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania, assigned to the Society of Mary.
It was as a result of some preliminary contacts with Rome that this missionary task was proposed to the Marists, upon their acceptance Pope Gregory XVI, by a Brief of April 29, 1836, formally approved the "Priests of the Society of Mary" or Marist Fathers as a religious institute with simple vows and under a Superior General. The Little Brothers of Mary and the Sisters of the Holy Name of Mary called Marist Brothers and Marist Sisters, were not included but were to be separate institutes. Father Colin was elected Superior General on September 24, 1836, on that same day the first Marist religious professions took place. Along with Colin the first professed included two who would become saints: Saint Peter Chanel, S. M. martyred on the island of Futuna, Saint Marcellin Champagnat, S. M. founder of the Marist Brothers. From its definitive organisation the Society of Mary developed in and out of France, along the various lines of its constitutions. In France it did mission work in various centres.
When educational liberty was restored to French Catholics, it entered the field of secondary or "college" education, its methods being embodied in Montfat's "Théorie et pratique de l'education chrétienne". It assumed the direction of a few diocesan seminaries together with professorships in Catholic universities; the French province supplied men for the various missions undertaken abroad by the Society of Mary. Outside France, the first field of labour was the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania, comprising New Zealand, Samoa, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Guinea, the Solomon and the Caroline Islands. Under vicar apostolic Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier who took up residence in New Zealand, the Marists successively moved to Wallis in 1837, soon converted by Father Pierre Bataillon; the immense area of the vicariate, together with the presence of a diocesan bishop as its head, soon necessitated the creation of smaller districts under Marist bishops: Central Oceania under Bishop Bataillon and Micronesia under Bishop Epalle, New Caledonia under Bishop Douarre, Wellington under Bishop Viard.
Bishop Pompallier retained Auckla
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. He lived in the city of Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt, wrote in Koine Greek, held Roman citizenship; the 14th-century astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes gave his birthplace as the prominent Greek city Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. This attestation is quite late, and, according to Gerald Toomer, the translator of his Almagest into English, there is no reason to suppose he lived anywhere other than Alexandria, he died there around AD 168. Ptolemy wrote several scientific treatises, three of which were of importance to Byzantine and Western European science; the first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest, although it was entitled the Mathematical Treatise and known as the Great Treatise. The second is the Geography, a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world; the third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
This is sometimes known as the Apotelesmatika but more known as the Tetrabiblos from the Greek meaning "Four Books" or by the Latin Quadripartitum. Ptolemaeus is a Greek name, it occurs once in Greek mythology, is of Homeric form. It was common among the Macedonian upper class at the time of Alexander the Great, there were several of this name among Alexander's army, one of whom made himself pharaoh in 323 BC: Ptolemy I Soter, the first king of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. All male kings of Hellenistic Egypt, until Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC ending the Macedonian family's rule, were Ptolemies; the name Claudius is a Roman nomen. It would have suited custom if the first of Ptolemy's family to become a citizen took the nomen from a Roman called Claudius, responsible for granting citizenship. If, as was common, this was the emperor, citizenship would have been granted between AD 41 and 68; the astronomer would have had a praenomen, which remains unknown. The ninth-century Persian astronomer Abu Maʿshar presents Ptolemy as a member of Egypt's royal lineage, stating that the descendants of Alexander's general Ptolemy I, who ruled Egypt, were wise "and included Ptolemy the Wise, who composed the book of the Almagest".
Abu Maʿshar recorded a belief that a different member of this royal line "composed the book on astrology and attributed it to Ptolemy". We can evidence historical confusion on this point from Abu Maʿshar's subsequent remark "It is sometimes said that the learned man who wrote the book of astrology wrote the book of the Almagest; the correct answer is not known." There is little evidence on the subject of Ptolemy's ancestry, apart from what can be drawn from the details of his name. Ptolemy can be shown to have utilized Babylonian astronomical data, he was a Roman citizen, but was ethnically either a Greek or a Hellenized Egyptian. He was known in Arabic sources as "the Upper Egyptian", suggesting he may have had origins in southern Egypt. Arabic astronomers and physicists referred to him by his name in Arabic: بَطْلُمْيوس Baṭlumyus. Ptolemy's Almagest is the only surviving comprehensive ancient treatise on astronomy. Babylonian astronomers had developed arithmetical techniques for calculating astronomical phenomena.
Ptolemy, claimed to have derived his geometrical models from selected astronomical observations by his predecessors spanning more than 800 years, though astronomers have for centuries suspected that his models' parameters were adopted independently of observations. Ptolemy presented his astronomical models in convenient tables, which could be used to compute the future or past position of the planets; the Almagest contains a star catalogue, a version of a catalogue created by Hipparchus. Its list of forty-eight constellations is ancestral to the modern system of constellations, but unlike the modern system they did not cover the whole sky. Across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the Medieval period, it was the authoritative text on astronomy, with its author becoming an mythical figure, called Ptolemy, King of Alexandria; the Almagest was preserved, in Arabic manuscripts. Because of its reputation, it was sought and was translated twice into Latin in the 12th century, once in Sicily and again in Spain.
Ptolemy's model, like those of his predecessors, was geocentric and was universally accepted until the appearance of simpler heliocentric models during the scientific revolution. His Planetary Hypotheses went beyond the mathematical model of the Almagest to present a physical realization of the universe as a set of nested spheres, in which he used the epicycles of his planetary model to compute the dimensions of the universe, he estimated the Sun was at an average dis
Discalced Carmelites
The Discalced Carmelites or Barefoot Carmelites is a Catholic mendicant order with roots in the eremitic tradition of the Desert Fathers and Mothers. The order was established in 1593, pursuant to the reform of the Carmelite Order of the Ancient Observance by two Spanish saints, Saint Teresa of Ávila and Saint John of the Cross; the Discalced Carmelite order is now known by the initials "O. C. D"; the older branch of the order, Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, has the initials "O. Carm." The secular branch of the order, has the initials "O. C. D. S." The Discalced Carmelites are men and women, in religious consecration and lay people, who dedicate themselves to a life of prayer. The Carmelite nuns live in cloistered monasteries and follow a contemplative life; the Carmelite friars while following a contemplative life engage in the promotion of spirituality through their retreat centres and churches. Lay people, known as the Secular Order, follow their contemplative call in their everyday activities.
Devotion to the Virgin Mary is a characteristic of Carmelites and is symbolised by wearing the brown scapular. Carmelites trace their name to Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. There, in the 13th century, a band of European men gathered together to live a simple life of prayer, their first chapel was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. They called themselves the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel; the first Carmelites came as pilgrims to Mount Carmel to live a solitary lifestyle. These early hermits were laity, who lived an unofficial religious life of poverty and prayer. Between 1206 and 1214, St. Albert, Patriarch of Jerusalem, brought the hermits on Mount Carmel together, at their request, into community, he wrote them a formula for living, which expressed their own intention and reflected the spirit of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and of the early community of Jerusalem. They were inspired by the prophet Elijah, associated with Mount Carmel; that influence can be seen by the words of Elijah, "I have been zealous for the Lord, God of armies" on the Carmelite crest.
Within fifty years of receiving their rule the Carmelite hermits were forced to leave Mount Carmel and settled in Europe. A combination of political and social conditions that prevailed in Europe in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries – the Hundred Years' War, Black Plague, the Reformation and the Humanist revival – adversely affected the Order. Many Carmelites and whole communities succumbed to contemporary attitudes and conditions diametrically opposed to their original vocation. To meet this situation the Rule was "mitigated" several times; the Carmelites bore less and less resemblance to the first hermits of Mount Carmel. St. Teresa of Avila considered the surest way to prayer to be a return to the Primitive Rule embodying Carmel's authentic vocation. A group of nuns assembled in her cell one September evening in 1560, taking their inspiration from the primitive tradition of Carmel and the discalced reform of St. Peter of Alcantara, a controversial movement within Spanish Franciscanism, proposed the foundation of a monastery of an eremitical kind.
With little resources and bitter opposition, St. Teresa succeeded in 1562 in establishing a small monastery with the austerity of desert solitude within the heart of the city of Ávila, combining eremitical and community life. On 24 August 1562, the new Convent of St. Joseph was founded, her rule, which retained a distinctively Marian character, contained exacting prescriptions for a life of continual prayer, safeguarded by strict enclosure and sustained by the asceticism of solitude, manual labor, perpetual abstinence and fraternal charity. In addition to this, St. Teresa envisioned an order dedicated to poverty. Working in close collaboration with St. Teresa was St. John of the Cross, who with Anthony of Jesus founded the first convent of Discalced Carmelite friars in Duruelo, Spain on 28 November 1568; the Discalced Carmelites were established as a separate province of the Carmelite Order by the decree "Pia consideratione" of Pope Gregory XIII on 22 June 1580. By this decree the Discalced Carmelites were still subject to the Prior General of the Carmelite Order in Rome, but were otherwise distinct from the Carmelites in that they could elect their own superiors and author their own constitutions for their common life.
The following Discalced Carmelite Chapter at Alcala de Henares, Spain in March 1581 established the constitutions of the Discalced Carmelites and elected the first provincial of the Discalced Carmelites, Fr. Jerome Gratian, OCD; this office was translated into that of Superior General of the Discalced Carmelites. According to the Irish Province of the Order of Carmelites, with regard to a religious order, the term charism refers to a characteristic which inspires the group and distinguishes it from other religious orders; the charism of each Christian religious family is the particular way in which its members are called to follow Christ. Since all Christians follow Christ, the charisms will have many elements in common, but the way in which these elements are emphasised gives each religious group its unique feel; the heart of the Carmelite charism is contemplation. The quality of prayer determines the quality of the community life and the quality of the service, offered to others. Prayer and contemplation for the Carmelite are not private matters between the individual and God but are to be shared with others since the charism is given for the whole world.
Therefore, there is an emphasis in the order on the ministry of teaching prayer and giv
Sheep
Domestic sheep are quadrupedal, ruminant mammals kept as livestock. Like most ruminants, sheep are members of the even-toed ungulates. Although the name sheep applies to many species in the genus Ovis, in everyday usage it always refers to Ovis aries. Numbering a little over one billion, domestic sheep are the most numerous species of sheep. An adult female sheep is referred to as a ewe, an intact male as a ram or a tup, a castrated male as a wether, a younger sheep as a lamb. Sheep are most descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleeces and milk. A sheep's wool is the most used animal fiber, is harvested by shearing. Ovine meat is called lamb when from younger animals and mutton when from older ones in Commonwealth countries, lamb in the United States. Sheep continue to be important for wool and meat today, are occasionally raised for pelts, as dairy animals, or as model organisms for science.
Sheep husbandry is practised throughout the majority of the inhabited world, has been fundamental to many civilizations. In the modern era, New Zealand, the southern and central South American nations, the British Isles are most associated with sheep production. Sheepraising has a large lexicon of unique terms which vary by region and dialect. Use of the word sheep began in Middle English as a derivation of the Old English word scēap. A group of sheep is called a herd or mob. Many other specific terms for the various life stages of sheep exist related to lambing and age. Being a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a entrenched place in human culture, find representation in much modern language and symbology; as livestock, sheep are most associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions the Abrahamic traditions. In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals; the exact line of descent between domestic sheep and their wild ancestors is unclear.
The most common hypothesis states. Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by humankind. C in Mesopotamia; the rearing of sheep for secondary products, the resulting breed development, began in either southwest Asia or western Europe. Sheep were kept for meat and skins. Archaeological evidence from statuary found at sites in Iran suggests that selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BC, the earliest woven wool garments have been dated to two to three thousand years later. Sheep husbandry spread in Europe. Excavations show that in about 6000 BC, during the Neolithic period of prehistory, the Castelnovien people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues near present-day Marseille in the south of France, were among the first in Europe to keep domestic sheep. From its inception, ancient Greek civilization relied on sheep as primary livestock, were said to name individual animals. Ancient Romans kept sheep on a wide scale, were an important agent in the spread of sheep raising.
Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, speaks at length about wool. European colonists spread the practice to the New World from 1493 onwards. Domestic sheep are small ruminants with a crimped hair called wool and with horns forming a lateral spiral. Domestic sheep differ from their wild relatives and ancestors in several respects, having become uniquely neotenic as a result of selective breeding by humans. A few primitive breeds of sheep retain some of the characteristics of their wild cousins, such as short tails. Depending on breed, domestic sheep may have no horns at all, or horns in both sexes, or in males only. Most horned breeds have a single pair. Another trait unique to domestic sheep as compared to wild ovines is their wide variation in color. Wild sheep are variations of brown hues, variation within species is limited. Colors of domestic sheep range from pure white to dark chocolate brown, spotted or piebald. Selection for dyeable white fleeces began early in sheep domestication, as white wool is a dominant trait it spread quickly.
However, colored sheep do appear in many modern breeds, may appear as a recessive trait in white flocks. While white wool is desirable for large commercial markets, there is a niche market for colored fleeces for handspinning; the nature of the fleece varies among the breeds, from dense and crimped, to long and hairlike. There is variation of wool type and quality among members of the same flock, so wool classing is a step in the commercial processing of the fibre. Depending on breed, sheep show a range of weights, their rate of growth and mature weight is a heritable trait, selected for in breeding. Ewes weigh between 45 and 100 kilograms, rams between 45 and 160 kilograms; when all deciduous teeth have erupted, the sheep has 20 teeth. Mature sheep have 32 teeth; as with other ruminants, the front teeth in the lower jaw bite against a hard, toothless pad in the upper jaw. These are used to pick off vegetation the rear
Notitia Dignitatum
The Notitia Dignitatum is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Eastern and Western Empires. It is unique as one of few surviving documents of Roman government and describes several thousand offices from the imperial court to provincial governments, diplomatic missions, army units, it is considered to be accurate for the Western Roman Empire in the AD 420s and for the Eastern or Byzantine Empire in the AD 390s. However, the text itself is not dated, omissions complicate ascertaining its date from its content. There are several extant 15th- and 16th-century copies of the document, plus a colour-illuminated iteration of 1542. All the known, extant copies are derived, either directly or indirectly, from Codex Spirensis, a codex known to have existed in the library of the Chapter of Speyer Cathedral in 1542, but, lost before 1672 and has not been rediscovered; the Codex Spirensis was a collection of documents, of which the Notitia was the final and largest document, occupying 164 pages, that brought together several previous documents of which one was of the 9th century.
The heraldry in illuminated manuscript copies of the Notitia is thought to copy or imitate only that illustrated in the lost Codex Spirensis. The iteration of 1542 made for Otto Henry, Elector Palatine, was revised with "illustrations more faithful to the originals added at a date", is preserved by the Bavarian State Library; the most important copy of the Codex is that made for Pietro Donato in 1436 and illuminated by Peronet Lamy, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. For each half of the Empire, the Notitia enumerates all the major "dignities", i. e. offices, that it could bestow with the location and specific officium enumerated, except for the most junior members, for each. The dignities are ordered by: Court officials, including the most senior dignitaries such as praetorian prefects; the Notitia presents four primary problems as regards the study of the Empire's military: The Notitia depicts the Roman army at the end of the AD 4th century. Therefore, its development from the structure of the Principate is conjectural because of the lack of other evidence.
It was compiled at two different times. The section for the Eastern Empire dates from circa AD 395 and that for the Western Empire from circa AD 420. Further, each section is not a contemporaneous "snapshot", but relies on data pre-dating it by as many as 20 years; the Eastern section may contain data from as early as AD 379, the beginning of the reign of Emperor Theodosius I. The Western section contains data from as early as circa AD 400: for example, it shows units deployed in Britannia, which must date from before 410, when the Empire lost the island. In consequence, there is substantial duplication, with the same unit listed under different commands, it is impossible to ascertain whether these were detachments of the same unit in different places or the same whole unit at different times. It is that some units were nominal or minimally staffed. According to Roger Collins, the Notitia Dignitatum was an archaising text written circa AD 425, whose unreliability is demonstrated by "the supposed existence of traditional units in Britain and Spain at a time when other evidence shows they were not there."
The Notitia has many sections missing and lacunae within sections. This is doubtless due to accumulated textual losses and copying errors, because it was copied over the centuries: the earliest manuscript possessed today dates from the 15th century; the Notitia can not therefore provide a comprehensive list of all units. The Notitia does not record the number of personnel. Given that and the paucity of other evidence of unit sizes at that time, the size of individual units and the various commands cannot be ascertained. In turn, this makes it impossible to assess the total size of the army. Depending on the strength of units, the late AD 4th century army may, at one extreme, have equaled the size of the AD 2nd century force, i. e. over 400,000 men. For example, the forces deployed in Britain circa AD 400 may have been 18,000 against circa 55,000 in the AD 2nd century; the Notitia contains symbols similar to the diagram which came to be known as yin and yang symbol. The infantry units armigeri defensores seniores and Mauri Osismiaci had a shield design which corresponds to the dynamic, clockwise version of the symbol, albeit with red dots, instead of dots of the opposite colour.
The emblem of the Thebaei, another Western Roman infantry regiment, featured a pattern of concentric circles comparable to its static version. The Roman patterns predate the earliest Taoist versions by seven hundred years, there is no evidence for a connection between the two. Laeti Tabula Peutingeriana List of Late Roman provinces Notitia Dignitatum, edited by Robert Ireland, in British Archaeological Reports, International Series 63.2. Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte contains many precise maps Pauly-Wissowa. A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284-602. A Social and Administrative Survey, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-8018-3285-3 The Compilation'notitia dignitatum', extensive links and resources Placenames from Notitia Dignitatum GIS from Pelagios/Pleiades. 1505 toponyms. 1164 matches. Bodleian Library: full scan of 1436 edition Bavarian State Library: Notitia Dignitatum
Israel
Israel the State of Israel, is a country in Western Asia, located on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the east and west and Egypt to the southwest; the country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israel's economic and technological center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, although the state's sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial recognition. Israel has evidence of the earliest migration of hominids out of Africa. Canaanite tribes are archaeologically attested since the Middle Bronze Age, while the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age; the Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel around 720 BCE. Judah was conquered by the Babylonian and Hellenistic empires and had existed as Jewish autonomous provinces.
The successful Maccabean Revolt led to an independent Hasmonean kingdom by 110 BCE, which in 63 BCE however became a client state of the Roman Republic that subsequently installed the Herodian dynasty in 37 BCE, in 6 CE created the Roman province of Judea. Judea lasted as a Roman province until the failed Jewish revolts resulted in widespread destruction, expulsion of Jewish population and the renaming of the region from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina. Jewish presence in the region has persisted to a certain extent over the centuries. In the 7th century CE, the Levant was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099, followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187; the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 19th century, national awakening among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement in the diaspora followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman Syria and British Mandate Palestine.
In 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency, rejected by Arab leaders; the following year, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the State of Israel, the subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War saw Israel's establishment over most of the former Mandate territory, while the West Bank and Gaza were held by neighboring Arab states. Israel has since fought several wars with Arab countries, since the Six-Day War in 1967 held occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip, it extended its laws to the Golan East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories is the world's longest military occupation in modern times. Efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in a final peace agreement. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have been signed.
In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a democratic state. The country has a liberal democracy, with a parliamentary system, proportional representation, universal suffrage; the prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature. Israel is a developed country and an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development member, with the 32nd-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2017; the country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. Israel has the highest standard of living in the Middle East, has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Furthermore, Israel ranked 11th in the UN's 2018 World Happiness Report. Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel" after other proposed historical and religious names including Eretz Israel and Judea, were considered but rejected.
In the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term "Israeli" to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have been used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel and the entire Jewish people respectively; the name "Israel" in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was given the name after he wrestled with the angel of the Lord. Jacob's twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. Jacob and his sons had lived in Canaan but were forced by famine to go into Egypt for four generations, lasting 430 years, until Moses, a great-great grandson of Jacob, led the Israelites back into Canaan during the "Exodus"; the earliest known archaeological artifact to mention the word "Israel" as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith.
Under British Mandate, the whole region was known as Palestine (Hebre
Ajloun
Ajloun spelled Ajlun, is the capital town of the Ajloun Governorate, a hilly town in the north of Jordan, located 76 kilometers north west of Amman. It is noted for its impressive ruins of the 12th-century Ajlun Castle; the Ajlun Governorate has a population of over 176,080 widespread in 27 villages and towns over an area of about 420 km². The population is composed of the following Muslim tribes: Al-Qudah, Al-Share, Al-Zghoul, Al-Momani, Al-Smadi, Al-Shwayyat, Al-Freihat, Al-Khatatbah, Alnawateer, Al-Karraz, others. Rabadi, Iwais and Muqattash are the main indigenous Christian tribes in Ajloun. Although Christians are a minority in the overall governorate, they form about more than half of the population in Ajloun city. Other tribes are distributed in the other districts of the governorate. Ajloun Governorate has four seats in the national parliament, one of, dedicated for the indigenous Christian minority. There are five districts in the Greater Ajloun Municipality: According to the Jordan national census of 2015, the population of the town of Ajloun was 9990.
For Ajloun Governorate as a whole, the population was about 176,080 in 2015. Muslims make up the majority of Ajloun's population, they live alongside the indigenous Christian population. The governorate of Ajloun is agricultural, as the population distribution tells. There is a theory that the town's name is connected with the Moabite King Eglon mentioned in the Bible, though the precise derivation is obscure. Ajlun Castle is located on the site of an old monastery, it was renovated as a fort in 1184 by a general in the army of Saladin. The castle controlled traffic along the road connecting Egypt; the fortress marks the furthest limit of Frankish incursions during the Crusades. The Mamluks added a prominent tower to the castle, it was captured by the Mongols in 1260 and was destroyed in the process. Great damage was done by the Galilee earthquake of the 1927 Jericho earthquake. Located in the center of Ajloun is the Great Ajlun Mosque; this mosque dates back around 800 years. This edifice was a Byzantine Christian church.
The prayer tower is called "the filter" by some locals. In 2007 work began on improving the mosque to allow tourists to visit it. There are reports that when the west wall fell apart in the heavy rains and snow in January 2013 a Bible and crosses were found in the old section. Tell Mar Elias is located just outside the city limits; this site contains Byzantine church mosaics which were uncovered during the summer months for tourists. T tohis location for Saint Elijah has been a shrine for centuries – people would go there and walk around the shrine singing ancient songs to cure a disease called "Rigeh". There are folk songs. However, prior to the Pope's visit in 2000. A scholar on both Mar Elias and Ajlun Castle is Mohammad Abu-Abeileh in Jordan; the Ajloun Forest Reserve is located nearby. The whole area had been reputed to be the largest forested area in the Middle East – however, the area was deforested by the Turks to secure fuel for their railroad to Mecca. Ajloun, has a mediterranean climate.
The average annual temperature is 16.7 °C, around 467 mm of precipitation falls annually. The Ajlun mountains are famous for their lush vegetation and thick green forests and a good place for hikes, its highest mountain peaks reach around 1268 meters above sea level and Ajloun mountains receive a few snow storms every year in winter season from December to March. It's one of the country's most beautiful regions. Ajlun has pleasant in the summer time. Ajlun Castle Tell Mar Elias Great Ajlun Mosque Ajloun Holy Spirit Church Shrine for Al-Khadir Birthplace of the Prophet Elijah http://www.visitjordan.com/visitjordan_cms/MajorAttractions/Ajlun/HistoryCulture/tabid/173/Default.aspx Dobrzańska-Bzowska, Magdalena. Praktyczny przewodnik – Bliski Wschód. Bielsko-Biała: Wydawnictwo Pascal. Pp. 157–158. ISBN 978-83-7513-146-8. Jordan Tourism Board Middle East Travel Guide Ajlun Discussion Forum
