1.
Novi Velia
–
Novi Velia is a town and comune of the Province of Salerno, in the southern Cilento region. It is in the Campania region, of southern Italy, the town takes its name from the ancient Greek town of Velia, whose archaeological remains are located nearby. Novi Velia is within Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, pruno Cilento — largest forest in the Cilento. Cilentan Coast Media related to Novi Velia at Wikimedia Commons
Novi Velia
–
The town of Novi Velia
2.
Province of Salerno
–
The Province of Salerno is a province in the Campania region of Italy. The largest towns in the province are, Salerno, the capital, the province has an area of 4,923 km2, and a total population of about 1.1 million. There are 158 comuni, the one with the largest area being Eboli, see Comuni of the Province of Salerno. One of the features of the rugged country-side is Gole del Calore di Felitto and this area is of great geological interest and is rich in flora and fauna. One of the historical buildings in the province is the chapter house belonging to the Certosa di Padula. The building has evolved over centuries, the earliest parts were constructed in the early 14th century, a mannerist cloister leads to the church, and a later 17th-century cloister has loggias supported by rusticated columns. These features add to the baroque character of the building. The chapter house has been adapted for the Museo Archeologico della Lucania Occidentale, the Monti Picentini area is home to the eponymous regional park, which is home to several natural preserves
Province of Salerno
–
Palazzo Sant'Agostino, home to the provincial seat.
3.
Campania
–
Campania is a region in Southern Italy. Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands, Campania was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was part of Magna Græcia. During the Roman era, the area maintained a Greco-Roman culture, the capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Velia. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, the rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece, known as Cumaeans, another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, moved down from central Italy into Campania. The Roman consul Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC, the Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south. Campania was a part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC, valued for its pastures. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, during the Pyrrhic War the battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum, which grew in stature until it was only to Capua in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua, in a bid for equality with Rome, the rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained allies of Rome. Naples resisted Hannibal due to the imposing walls, Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious. The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised. As part of the Roman Empire, Campania, with Latium, Roman Emperors chose Campania as a holiday destination, among them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri. It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania, Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time. Unfortunately, the period of calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, under the Normans, the smaller independent states were brought together as part of the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period elements of Spanish, French
Campania
–
Temple of Hera,
Paestum, built 550 BC
Campania
–
Campania
Campania
–
The Last Day of Pompeii –
Karl Briullov
Campania
–
Early kings ruled from
Castel Nuovo
4.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
5.
Magna Graecia
–
The settlers who began arriving in the 8th century BC brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, such as in the culture of ancient Rome. Most notably the Roman poet Ovid referred to the south of Italy as Magna Graecia in his poem Fasti, according to Strabo, Magna Graecias colonization started already at the time of the Trojan War and lasted for several centuries. Also during that period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Eastern Libya and they included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of Italy Magna Graecia since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks, the ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria, Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions. With colonization, Greek culture was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites, an original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic civilisations. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis, Syracuse, Acragas Paestum, other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum, Epizephyrian Locri, Rhegium, Croton, Thurii, Elea, Nola, Ancona, Syessa, Bari and others. Following the Pyrrhic War in the 3rd century BC, Magna Graecia was absorbed into the Roman Republic, a remarkable example of the influence is the Griko-speaking minority that still exists today in the Italian regions of Calabria and Apulia. Griko is the name of a language combining ancient Doric, Byzantine Greek, there is a rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now but once numerous, to around 30,000 people, most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Some scholars, such as Gerhard Rohlfs, argue that the origins of Griko may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia, one example is the Griko people, some of whom still maintain their Greek language and customs. For example, Greeks re-entered the region in the 16th and 17th century in reaction to the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Ottoman Empire, especially after the end of the Siege of Coron, large numbers of Greeks took refuge in the areas of Calabria, Salento and Sicily. Greeks from Coroni, the so-called Coronians, were nobles, who brought with them substantial movable property and they were granted special privileges and tax exemptions. Other Greeks who moved to Italy came from the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese, the Maniots were known for their proud military traditions and for their bloody vendettas, many of which still continue today. Another group of Maniot Greeks moved to Corsica, Ancient Greek dialects Greeks in Italy Italiotes Graia Graïke Graecus Griko people Griko language Hellenic civilization Names of the Greeks Cerchiai L. Jannelli L. Longo F. The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily, in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 21 June,2005,17,19 GMT18,19 UK, salentinian Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece. Traditional Griko song performed by Ghetonia, traditional Griko song performed by amateur local group. Second Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Southern Italy, the Greeks in the West, genetic signatures of the Hellenic colonisation in southern Italy and Sicily
Magna Graecia
–
Cities of Magna Graecia and other Greek settlements in Italy (in red)
Magna Graecia
–
Northwestern
Magna Graecia
–
Greek temples of
Paestum,
Campania
Magna Graecia
–
Mosaic from
Caulonia,
Calabria
6.
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
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
7.
Phocaea
–
Phocaea, or Phokaia was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC, Phocaea was the northernmost of the Ionian cities, on the boundary with Aeolis. Phocaea had two natural harbours within close range of the settlement, both containing a number of small islands, Phocaeas harbours allowed it to develop a thriving seafaring economy, and to become a great naval power, which greatly influenced its culture. Recent archaeological surveys have shown that the city of Phocaea was large for the archaic period, Herodotus gives an idea of the size of Phocaea by describing the walls of Phocaea as having a length of several stadia. A 4th century BC Persian Tomb, known as Tas Kule and this funerary monument was carved out of solid rock with a lower 2.7 meter high rectangular story surmounted by a second 1.9 meter high story. Four steps between the two levels suggest strong Persian influence and most archaeologists believe this tomb was built for a Persian aristocrat or local leader serving the Persians, compare the style of the tomb of Cyrus the Great. Pottery remains indicate Aeolian presence as late as the 9th century BC, from this an approximate date of settlement for Phocaea can be inferred. According to Herodotus the Phocaeans were the first Greeks to make long sea-voyages, having discovered the coasts of the Adriatic, Tyrrhenia, to the south they probably conducted trade with the Greek colony of Naucratis in Egypt, which was the colony of their fellow Ionian city Miletus. To the north, they helped settle Amisos on the Black Sea. However Phocaeas major colonies were to the west and these included Alalia in Corsica, Emporiae and Rhoda in Spain, and especially Massalia in France. Rather than submit to Persian rule, the Phocaeans abandoned their city, some may have fled to Chios, others to their colonies on Corsica and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, with some eventually returning to Phocaea. Many however became the founders of Elea, around 540 BC, in 500 BC, Phocaea joined the Ionian Revolt against Persia. Indicative of its prowess, Dionysius, a Phocaean was chosen to command the Ionian fleet at the decisive Battle of Lade. However, indicative of its fortunes, Phocaea was only able to contribute three ships, out of a total of three hundred and fifty three. The Ionian fleet was defeated and the revolt ended shortly thereafter, after the defeat of Xerxes I by the Greeks in 480 BC and the subsequent rise of Athenian power, Phocaea joined the Delian League, paying tribute to Athens of two talents. In 412 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, with the help of Sparta, the Peace of Antalcidas, which ended the Corinthian War, returned nominal control to Persia in 387 BC. In 343 BC, the Phocaeans unsuccessfully laid siege to Kydonia on the island of Crete, during the Hellenistic period it fell under Seleucid, then Attalid rule. In the Roman period, the town was a center for ceramic vessels
Phocaea
–
The theatre of Phocaea
Phocaea
–
Map of Aegean showing the location of Phocaea.
Phocaea
–
Electrum coinage of Phocaea, 340-335 BC.
8.
Parmenides
–
Parmenides of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy, the single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides describes two views of reality, in the way of truth, he explains how reality is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging. In the way of opinion, he explains the world of appearances, in which ones sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false, Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, which, according to Herodotus, had been founded shortly before 535 BC. He was descended from a wealthy and illustrious family,450 BC, which, if true, suggests a year of birth of c.515 BC. He was said to have been a pupil of Xenophanes, and regardless of whether they knew each other. Diogenes Laërtius also describes Parmenides as a disciple of Ameinias, son of Diochaites, the Pythagorean, the first hero cult of a philosopher we know of was Parmenides dedication of a heroon to his teacher Ameinias in Elea. Parmenides was the founder of the School of Elea, which also included Zeno of Elea, of his life in Elea, it was said that he had written the laws of the city. His most important pupil was Zeno, who according to Plato was 25 years his junior, Parmenides had a large influence on Plato, who not only named a dialogue, Parmenides, after him, but always spoke of him with veneration. William Smith also wrote in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Reason is our guide, on the latter the eye that does not catch the object and re-echoing hearing. Thought and that which is thought of coinciding, the passages of Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and others. Parmenides is one of the most significant of the pre-Socratic philosophers and his single known work, a poem conventionally titled On Nature, has survived only in fragments. Approximately 160 verses remain today from a total that was probably near 800. The poem was divided into three parts, A proem, which introduced the entire work, A section known as The Way of Truth. The proem is a sequence in which the narrator travels beyond the beaten paths of mortal men to receive a revelation from an unnamed goddess on the nature of reality. Aletheia, an estimated 90% of which has survived, and doxa, in the proem, Parmenides describes the journey of the poet, escorted by maidens, from the ordinary daytime world to a strange destination, outside our human paths. Carried in a chariot, and attended by the daughters of Helios the Sun. The goddess resides in a well-known mythological space, where Night and its essential character is that here all opposites are undivided, or one
Parmenides
–
Parmenides
Parmenides
–
Parmenides. Detail from
The School of Athens by
Raphael.
9.
Zeno of Elea
–
Zeno of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of Magna Graecia and a member of the Eleatic School founded by Parmenides. Aristotle called him the inventor of the dialectic and he is best known for his paradoxes, which Bertrand Russell has described as immeasurably subtle and profound. Little is known for certain about Zenos life, although written nearly a century after Zenos death, the primary source of biographical information about Zeno is Platos Parmenides and he is also mentioned in Aristotles Physics. In the dialogue of Parmenides, Plato describes a visit to Athens by Zeno and Parmenides, at a time when Parmenides is about 65, Zeno is nearly 40 and Socrates is a very young man. Assuming an age for Socrates of around 20, and taking the date of Socrates birth as 469 BC gives a date of birth for Zeno of 490 BC. Plato says that Zeno was tall and fair to look upon and was in the days of his youth … reported to have been beloved by Parmenides, according to Diogenes Laertius, Zeno conspired to overthrow Nearchus the tyrant. Eventually, Zeno was arrested and tortured, when Nearchus leaned in to listen to the secret, Zeno bit his ear. He did not let go until he lost his life and the tyrant lost that part of his body, within Men of the Same Name, Demetrius said it was the nose that was bit off instead. Zeno may have interacted with other tyrants. According to Laertius, Heraclides Lembus, within his Satyrus, said these events occurred against Diomedon instead of Nearchus, valerius Maximus recounts a conspiracy against the tyrant Phalaris, but this would be impossible as Phalaris had died before Zeno was even born. According to Plutarch, Zeno attempted to kill the tyrant Demylus, after failing, he had, with his own teeth bit off his tongue, he spit it in the tyrant’s face. Although many ancient writers refer to the writings of Zeno, none of his works survive intact, the main sources on the nature of Zenos arguments on motion, in fact, come from the writings of Aristotle and Simplicius of Cilicia. Plato says that Zenos writings were brought to Athens for the first time on the occasion of the visit of Zeno and Parmenides. Plato also has Zeno say that work, meant to protect the arguments of Parmenides, was written in Zenos youth, stolen. According to Proclus in his Commentary on Platos Parmenides, Zeno produced not less than forty arguments revealing contradictions, Zenos arguments are perhaps the first examples of a method of proof called reductio ad absurdum, literally meaning to reduce to the absurd. Parmenides is said to be the first individual to implement this style of argument and this form of argument soon became known as the epicheirema. In Book VII of his Topics, Aristotle says that an epicheirema is a dialectical syllogism and it is a connected piece of reasoning which an opponent has put forward as true. The disputant sets out to break down the dialectical syllogism, Zeno is also regarded as the first philosopher who dealt with the earliest attestable accounts of mathematical infinity
Zeno of Elea
–
Zeno shows the Doors to Truth and Falsity (Veritas et Falsitas). Fresco in the Library of
El Escorial, Madrid.
Zeno of Elea
–
Achilles and the tortoise
10.
Statius
–
Publius Papinius Statius was a Roman poet of the 1st century AD. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the Thebaid, a collection of poetry, the Silvae, and an unfinished epic. He is also known for his appearance as a guide in the Purgatory section of Dantes epic poem The Divine Comedy, information about Statius life is almost entirely drawn from his Silvae and a mention by the satirist Juvenal. The poets father was a native of Velia but later moved to Naples, Statius declares in his lament for his father that his father was in his time equal to any literary task, whether in prose or verse. He mentioned Mevania, and may have spent time there, or been impressed by the confrontation of Vitellius, Statius father was a Roman eques, but may have lost his status because of money troubles. At Naples, he was a teacher of Greek and Roman literature who attracted many pupils who were destined for religious offices in Rome, from Pliny the Youngers Letters, it has recently been deduced that Statius also wrote under the pseudonym of Propertius. Less is known of the events of Statius life, for the Alban Festival, Statius composed a poem on the German and Dacian campaigns of Domitian which Juvenal lampoons in his seventh satire. Statius is thought to have moved to Rome c.90 after his fathers death where he published his epic poem the Thebaid c. In the capital, Statius seems to have many connections among the Roman aristocracy and court. He competed in the great Capitoline competition, although it is not known in what year, Statius failed to win the coveted prize, a loss he took very hard. The disappointment may have prompted his return to Naples around 94, in existence is a poem he addressed to his wife, Claudia, the widow of a famous singer who had a musically talented daughter by her first husband, on this occasion. Statius first three books of the Silvae seem to have received criticism, and in response he composed a fourth book at Naples. During this period at Naples, Statius maintained his relations with the court and his patrons, earning himself another invitation to a palace banquet. He seems to have taken an interest in the marriage and career of his stepdaughter and he took a young slave boy under his wing, as he was childless. In that same year Statius embarked on a new epic, the Achilleid, giving recitations of his work only to complete a book. His fifth book of Silvae were published after his death c, as a poet, Statius was versatile in his abilities and contrived to represent his work as otium.94. Based on Statius own testimony, the Thebaid was written c.80 – c.92 AD, beginning when the poet was around 35, the poem is divided into twelve books in imitation of Virgils Aeneid and is composed in dactylic hexameter. In the Silvae, Statius speaks of his work in polishing and revising the Thebaid
Statius
–
The Thebaid describes the siege of Thebes by the seven Argive champions.
Statius
–
Villas not unlike the
Getty Villa are described by Statius in his Silvae.
11.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
World Heritage Site
–
Site #252:
Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Logo of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage Committee
World Heritage Site
–
Site #156:
Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Site #274:
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site
12.
Paestum
–
Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia. The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 600 to 450 BC, the city walls and amphitheatre are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remain, as well as paved roads. The site is open to the public, and there is a national museum within it. After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia it was conquered by the local Lucanians. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name, as Pesto or Paestum, the town became a bishopric, but it was abandoned in the Early Middle Ages, and left undisturbed and largely forgotten until the eighteenth century. Today the remains of the city are found in the frazione of Paestum. The modern settlement, directly to the south of the site, is a popular seaside resort. Much the most celebrated features of the site today are the three temples in the Archaic version of the Greek Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC. All are typical of the period, with massive colonnades having a pronounced entasis. Above the columns, only the second Temple of Hera retains most of its entablature, the two temples of Hera are right next to each other, while the Temple of Athena is on the other side of the town center. There were other temples, both Greek and Roman, which are far less well-preserved, Paestum is far from any sources of good marble. The three main temples had few stone reliefs, perhaps using painting instead, painted terracotta was for some detailed parts of the structure. The large pieces of terracotta that have survived are in the museum, the whole ancient city of Paestum covers an area of approximately 120 hectares. It is only the 25 hectares that contain the three temples and the other main buildings that have been excavated. The other 95 hectares remain on land and have not been excavated. The city is surrounded by walls that still stand. The walls are approximately 4750 m long,5 –7 m thick and 15 m high, positioned along the wall are 24 square and round towers. There may have been as many as 28, but some of them were destroyed during the construction of a highway during the century that effectively cut the site in two
Paestum
–
Paestum contains some of the most well-preserved ancient Greek temples in the world.
Paestum
–
Nomos of Poseidonia, c. 530–500 BC.
Poseidon is seen wielding a
trident with a
chlamys draped over his arms.
Paestum
–
The temples of Hera in Paestum, by Y. Gianni 1898
Paestum
–
Map of Paestum by Costantino Gatta, 1732.
13.
Certosa di Padula
–
Padula Charterhouse, in Italian Certosa di Padula, is a large Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, located in the town of Padula, in the Cilento National Park in Southern Italy. It is a World Heritage site, the monastery is the largest in Italy. Its building history covers 450 years, but the parts of the buildings are in Baroque style. It is a large monastery, comprising 51,500 m², with 320 rooms. Padula Charterhouse was founded by Tommaso di San Severino on 27 April 1306 on the site of an earlier monastery and it is dedicated to Saint Lawrence, and its architectural structure supposedly recalls the griddle-iron upon which the saint was burnt alive. The monastery has the biggest cloister in the world, covering 12,000 m², a famous spiral staircase of white marble inside an annex leads to the large library. The altar frontals in most of the chapels are inlaid, not with marble and this is the highest concentration of such work in one place. One of the centres of production was in Naples, the yards were used for productive activities and for trade between the charterhouse and the external world. The monastery also houses the museum of Western Lucania, which preserves a collection of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at the necropolis of Sala Consilina. This museum represents a period of time ranging from protohistory to the Hellenistic Age
Certosa di Padula
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
14.
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy, the sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian peninsula to the east, and the island of Sicily. The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres, the Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet, therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the part of the sea. On the Southwest, A line running from Cape Lilibeo to the South extreme of Cape Teulada in Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio, A line joining the West extreme of Cape Testa in Sardinia with the Southwest extreme of Cape Feno in Corsica. On the North, A line joining Cape Corse in Corsica, with Tinetto Island and thence through Tino, there are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea, The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins, the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the ridge known as the Issel Bridge. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans, who were said to be emigrants from Lydia, the Etruscans settled along the coast of modern Tuscany and referred to the water as the Sea of the Etruscans. The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are, Naples, Palermo, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Trapani, in France the most important port is Bastia. Note that even though the port of Rome is frequently used. Instead, the port of Rome refers to the facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is an island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground a few metres off the coast of Giglio, the ship was recently removed and towed to Genoa. In Greek mythology, it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed the four winds kept by Aeolus, the winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Monte Argentario
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Tyrrhenian Sea.
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Pizzo
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
Zambrone
15.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
Ancient Greek
–
Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
–
Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
–
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
16.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
17.
Italian language
–
By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
Italian language
–
Dante Alighieri (above) and
Petrarch (below) were influential in establishing their
Tuscan dialect as the most prominent literary language in all of
Italy in the
Late Middle Ages
Italian language
–
The geographic distribution of the Italian language in the world: large Italian-speaking communities are shown in green; light blue indicates areas where the Italian language was used officially during the Italian colonial period.
Italian language
Italian language
–
Pietro Bembo was an influential figure in the development of the Italian language from the Tuscan dialect, as a literary medium, codifying the language for standard modern usage
18.
Cilento
–
Cilento is an Italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important tourist area of southern Italy. The coast is located between Paestum and the Gulf of Policastro, near the town of Sapri, more of touristic towns by the coast are frazioni, as for example Santa Maria di Castellabate, Acciaroli, Velia, Palinuro, Marina di Camerota, Scario and Policastro Bussentino. The inner boundaries are the Alburni mountains and Vallo di Diano, sometimes considered as part of cilentan geographical region, the most important towns in this area are Vallo della Lucania, Sapri and Agropoli, this is the largest town of Cilento and the principal harbour. Most of this area is included in Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, the place is well known for the Mediterranean Diet. The old Cilento is between the town of Agropoli and the river Alento, some cities in this zone are, Rutino, Lustra and Prignano Cilento. Cilento drifts by the Latin word Cis Alentum, On this side of the Alento, Velia was also the seat of Eleatics, a school of pre-Socratic philosophers as Parmenides, Zeno of Elea and Melissus of Samos). In the 1990s it was proposed to make Cilento a new province of Campania and this proposal has never come near to implementation, in particular there was the difficulty of choosing an administrative centre. The four candidates were Vallo della Lucania, Agropoli, Sala Consilina, another more recent proposal was to move Cilento from Campania to Basilicata, as a third province together with the existing provinces of Potenza and Matera. In a great part of the territory of Cilento and Vallo di Diano there was instituted, on 1991, in 1998 the park became a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. Cilento was part of ancient Lucania, and its language is influenced by Lucanian, in the north of Cilento the dialect is more influenced by Neapolitan, but in the south it has many similarities with Sicilian. Italian wine, both red, white and rose, under the Cilento DOC appellation comes from this area, red Cilento wines are a blend of 60-70% Aglianico, 15-20% of Piedirosso and/or Primitivo, 10-20% Barbera and up to 10% of other local red grape varieties. The whites are a blend of 60-65% Fiano, 20-30% Trebbiano, the roses are blends of 70-80% Sangiovese, 10-15% of Piedirosso and/or Primitivo and up to 10% of other local red grape varieties. Edizione del Delfino,1977, Naples Giuseppe Vallone, Dizionarietto etimologico del basso Cilento, editore UPC,2004 Pietro Rossi, Ieri e oggi 1955-2005. Grafiche Erredue,2005 Barbara Schäfer, Limoncello mit Meerblick, unterwegs an der Amalfiküste und im Cilento. Picus,2007, ISBN 978-3-85452-924-8 Peter Amann, Cilento aktiv mit Costa di Maratea - Aktivurlaub im ursprünglichen Süditalien, mankau,2007, ISBN 3-938396-08-3 Peter Amann, Golf von Neapel, Kampanien, Cilento. Reise Know-How,2006, ISBN 3-8317-1526-2 Barbara Poggi, La Cucina Cilentana - Köstlichkeiten aus der Cilento-Küche, mankau,2006, ISBN 3-938396-02-4 Luciano Pignataro, Le ricette del Cilento
Cilento
–
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Cilento
–
National Park nearby
Cannalonga
Cilento
–
Agropoli
Cilento
–
Velia
19.
Ascea
–
Ascea is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. In the communal territory are the Greek ruins of Velia and it is part of the Cilento traditional area and the maritime touristic part of the municipality is the Marina di Ascea. The town is located on the beach and is popular with European tourists in the summer months, Cilento Cilentan Coast Parmenides Elea Media related to Ascea at Wikimedia Commons
Ascea
–
Marina di Ascea.
20.
Acropolis
–
An acropolis is a settlement, especially a citadel, built upon an area of elevated ground—frequently a hill with precipitous sides, chosen for purposes of defense. An example in Ireland is the Rock of Cashel, Acropolis is also the term used by archaeologists and historians for the urban Castro culture settlements located in Northwestern Iberian hilltops. The most famous example is the Acropolis of Athens, which, by reason of its historical associations, although originating in the mainland of Greece, use of the acropolis model quickly spread to Greek colonies such as the Dorian Lato on Crete during the Archaic Period. Because of its classical Hellenistic style, the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistranos Great Stone Church in California, other parts of the world developed other names for the high citadel or alcázar, which often reinforced a naturally strong site. In Central Italy, many small rural communes still cluster at the base of a fortified habitation known as La Rocca of the commune. The term acropolis is also used to describe the complex of overlapping structures, such as plazas and pyramids, in many Maya cities, including Tikal
Acropolis
–
View of the Acropolis of
Pergamon in the background, as seen from Via Tecta at the entrance to the
Asclepeion.
Acropolis
–
Acropolis of
Assos
Acropolis
–
The
Acropolis of Athens as seen from
Mount Lycabettus (to its northeast). The wooded
Hill of the Nymphs is half-visible on its right, and Philopappos Hill on the left, immediately behind. The
Philopappos Monument stands where, in the distant background, the coast of
Peloponnese meet the waters of the
Saronic Gulf.
21.
Middle Ages
–
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
Middle Ages
–
The
Cross of Mathilde, a
crux gemmata made for
Mathilde, Abbess of Essen (973–1011), who is shown kneeling before the Virgin and Child in the
enamel plaque. The body of Christ is slightly later. Probably made in
Cologne or
Essen, the cross demonstrates several medieval techniques:
cast figurative sculpture,
filigree, enamelling, gem polishing and setting, and the reuse of Classical
cameos and
engraved gems.
Middle Ages
–
A late Roman statue
depicting the four Tetrarchs, now in
Venice
Middle Ages
–
Coin of
Theodoric
Middle Ages
–
Mosaic showing
Justinian with
the bishop of
Ravenna, bodyguards, and courtiers
22.
Marina di Casalvelino
–
Marina di Casalvelino, also spelled Casalvelino Marina, is a southern Italian village and hamlet of Casal Velino, a municipality in the province of Salerno, Campania. With a population of 1,263, it is the most populated hamlet of its municipality. The village, located next to the ruins of the Ancient Greek city of Velia, grew in population and urban expansion in the last decated of 20th century, thanks to the tourism in the Cilentan Coast. Marina di Casalvelino is a village located by the Tyrrhenian Coast, in Cilento. It is 4 km from Casal Velino, Velia and Pioppi,7 from Acquavella,8 from Ascea and 20 from Vallo della Lucania. The port of Marina is served by the hydrofoils line MM6W Naples-Sorrento-Marina di Camerota, the village is also crossed by the national highway SS267. Cilentan dialect Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park Media related to Marina di Casalvelino at Wikimedia Commons
Marina di Casalvelino
–
Casal Velino
23.
Marina di Ascea
–
Ascea is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. In the communal territory are the Greek ruins of Velia and it is part of the Cilento traditional area and the maritime touristic part of the municipality is the Marina di Ascea. The town is located on the beach and is popular with European tourists in the summer months, Cilento Cilentan Coast Parmenides Elea Media related to Ascea at Wikimedia Commons
Marina di Ascea
–
Marina di Ascea.
24.
Agropoli
–
Agropoli is a town and comune, former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see located in the Cilento area of the province of Salerno, Campania, Italy. It is situated at the start of the Cilentan Coast, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, as of 2011, its population was of 20,610. The promontory on which Agropoli stands has been inhabited since Neolithic times and it seems, however, that it was not until the later Bronze and Iron Ages that it came to be continuously inhabited by a stable, indigenous population, which lived off hunting and fishing. To the east of the promontory, at the mouth of the River Testene, there is a sheltered bay, called Foce in ancient times. Before and after the foundation of nearby Poseidonia, the Greeks used it for trading with the local people and they gave the promontory the Greek name, Petra, and built a temple on it, dedicated to Artemis, the Goddess of Hunting. Meanwhile, the harbour of neighbouring Poseidonia became progressively silted up by the process of coastal bradyseism, during the 5th century, when the Vandals made life difficult in Ercula, its inhabitants retreated to the overlooking promontory, which offered better prospects for defence. Acropolis remained in the hands of the Byzantines until 882, when the fell to the Saracens. From this base, they set out to plunder and terrorise the surrounding areas, eventually, in 915, they were driven out from their trenched camp at Garigliano. Acropolis was also liberated, and came back under the jurisdiction of the bishops, in fact, in 1412, Pope Gregory XII ceded the feudal territories of Agropoli and Castellabate to King Ladislas of Durazzo in partial payment of some war debts. The first statistics on Agropoli were compiled in 1445, when the town, including its dependent villages, had a total of 202 homes and, therefore, a similar number of families. Agropoli was a target of raids from North Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries. On 21 April 1544, the town was sacked, and about 100 people were taken prisoner, on 30 June 1630, a strong band of men from the surrounding Cilento helped the citizens of Agropoli to repel an attack by 700 Turkish pirates. The pirates managed to escape in their ships with an amount of booty and many prisoners, but were nevertheless heavily defeated. In about 592, Pope Gregory the Great wrote to a Bishop Felix at Acropolis, telling him to visit the neighbouring dioceses, which were then without a bishop. No longer a residential bishopric, Acropolis is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, nicola in Carcere, promoted Cardinal-Priest of the same S. The town is few km far from the Ancient Greek city of Paestum and it includes the hamlets of Frascinelle, Fuonti, Marotta, Mattine, Moio, Muoio, Madonna del Carmine, San Marco, Tarullo and Trentova. The beaches of Trentova Bay contribute to make Agropoli an important seaside resort, the Angevin-Aragonese castle, which was built on the 6th century Byzantine foundations, still stands on top of the promontory. It has a plan with three circular towers and a moat
Agropoli
–
Panoramic view
Agropoli
–
Agropoli within the Province of Salerno
Agropoli
–
Agropoli's port.
Agropoli
–
Old town seen from the coast
25.
Herodotus
–
Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC, a contemporary of Socrates. The Histories is the work which he is known to have produced. Despite Herodotus historical significance, little is known of his personal life and his place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact, of these only fragments of Hecataeuss work survive yet they allow us glimpses into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories. In his introduction to Hecataeus’s work, Genealogies, This points forward to the ‘folksy’ yet ‘international’ outlook typical of Herodotus. Yet, one scholar has described the work of Hecataeus as “a curious false start to history” since despite his critical spirit. It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a recorded by Eusebius. But Hecataeus did not record events that had occurred in living memory, unlike Herodotus, Herodotus claims to be better informed than his predecessors by relying on empirical observation to correct their excessive schematism. For example, He argues for continental asymmetry as opposed to the theory of a perfectly circular earth with Europe. Yet, he retains idealizing tendencies, as in his notions of the Danube. His debt to previous authors of prose ‘histories’ might be questionable, however, this point is one of the most contentious issues in modern scholarship. It is on account of the strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics in early modern times branded him “The Father of Lies”. Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement, similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a “logos-writer”. Moreover, Thucydides developed a historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view, the interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus’s own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, modern accounts of his life typically go something like this, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League, the epic poet Panyassis – a relative of Herodotus – is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos, and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos, Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, yet he was born in Halicarnassus, which was a Dorian settlement
Herodotus
–
A Roman copy (2nd century AD) of a Greek
bust of Herodotus from the first half of the 4th century BC
Herodotus
–
Fragment from the Histories VIII on
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2099, early 2nd century AD
Herodotus
–
Relief of Herodotus by
Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1806),
Louvre, Paris
Herodotus
–
The statue of Herodotus in his hometown of
Halicarnassus, modern
Bodrum, Turkey.
26.
Reggio Calabria
–
Reggio di Calabria, commonly known as Reggio Calabria listen or simply Reggio in Southern Italy, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Reggio is located on the toe of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, about 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2015 by Italian Republic as a metropolitan city. The region has been subject to earthquakes and it is a major economic center for regional services and transport on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Reggio, with Naples and Taranto, is home to one of the most important archaeological museums, Reggio is the seat, since 1907, of the Archeological Superintendence of Bruttium and Lucania. The city center, consisting primarily of Liberty buildings, has a development along the coast with parallel streets. The city was an Italian candidate to become the European Capital of Culture. in 2019, during its 3, 500-year history Reggio has often been renamed. Each name corresponds with the major historical phases, Recion. Erythrà, the pre-Greek settlement populated by the Italic people, Rhégion, the Greek city from the archaic age to the Magna Grecia age, from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BC. Febèa, a period under Dionysius II of Syracuse, in the 4th century BC. Regium, its first Latin name, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, rhègium Julium, as a noble Roman city during the Imperial age. Rivàh, Arabic name under the domination by Emirate of Sicily. Rìsa, under the Normans, between the 11th and 12th centuries, regols, Aragonese name under the Crown of Aragon, in the late 13th century. Reggio or Regio, usual Italian name in the Middle and Modern age, règgio di Calàbria, post Italian Unification. The toponym of the city is derived from Chaldean word Rec or maybe from the Greek one régnȳmi referring to the Straits between Calabria and Sicily as a break in the land. The sculptor Léarchos was at Reggio at the end of the 15th century BC, the land around Reggio was first known as Saturnia, or Neptunia, and later Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole Italian peninsula. After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy, the colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BC on the site of the older settlement, Erythrà, meaning the Red one. This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was established by the Ausones
Reggio Calabria
–
Collage of Reggio di Calabria. Clockwise from top of left to right: Piazza Italia, Lungomare Falcomatà,
Riace bronze statues in Magna Grecia National Museum, View of downtown Reggio, Messina Strait from Rotonda Square, seaside coast in Reggio.
Reggio Calabria
–
Tetradrachm of Rhegion with the
Nemean Lion.
Reggio Calabria
–
Reggio in a medieval engraving.
Reggio Calabria
–
Effects of the
1908 earthquake.
27.
Xenophanes
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Xenophanes of Colophon was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic. Xenophanes lived a life of travel, having left Ionia at the age of 25, some scholars say he lived in exile in Sicily. Knowledge of his views comes from fragments of his poetry, surviving as quotations by later Greek writers. He is the earliest Greek poet who claims explicitly to be writing for future generations, creating fame that will all of Greece. Xenophanes was a native of Colophon, a city in Ionia, some say he was the son of Orthomenes, others the son of Dexius. He is said to have flourished during the 60th Olympiad and his surviving work refers to Thales, Epimenides, and Pythagoras, and he himself is mentioned in the writings of Heraclitus and Epicharmus. In a fragment of his elegies, he describes the Median invasion as an event that took place in his time and he left his native land as a fugitive or exile and went to the Ionian colonies in Sicily, Zancle and Catana. He probably lived for time in Elea, since he wrote about the foundation of that colony. According an elegy reputedly composed when he was 92 years old, he left his land at the age of 25. According to biographer Diogenes Laërtius, Xenophanes wrote in hexameters and also composed elegies and iambics against Homer, laertius also mentions two historical poems concerning the founding of Colophon and Elea, but of these, only the titles have been preserved. There is no authority that says that Xenophanes wrote a philosophical poem. The Neoplatonist philosopher Simplicius tells us he had never met with the verses about the earth stretching infinitely downwards, several of the philosophical fragments are derived from commentators on Homer. It is thus likely that the remarks of Xenophanes were expressed incidentally in his satires. Xenophanes surviving writings display a skepticism that more commonly expressed during the fourth century. He satirized traditional religious views of his time as human projections, sextus Empiricus reported that such observations were appreciated by Christian apologists. Ethiopians say that their gods are snub–nosed and blackThracians that they are pale and red-haired. But mortals think that the gods are born and have the mortals own clothes and voice, regarding Xenophanes theology five key concepts about God can be formed. God is, beyond human morality, does not resemble human form, cannot die or be born, no divine hierarchy exists, and God does not intervene in human affairs. While Xenophanes is rejecting Homeric theology, he is not questioning the presence of an entity, rather his philosophy is a critique on Ancient Greek writers
Xenophanes
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Xenophanes, 17th-century engraving
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Velia". Encyclopædia Britannica. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
