Ariel "Arik" Sharon ▶ (help·info) (Hebrew: אריאל שרון) (born February 27, 1928) is the eleventh and current Prime Minister of Israel, serving from March 2001. A long-serving Israeli political and military leader, he was a founding member and former head of the Likud party, and previously served for over thirty years in the Israeli Defense Forces, rising to the rank of Major General, and achieving fame within Israel for his actions in the 1967 Six Day ...
Anachronism is a tabletop game with aspects of both miniatures and collectible card genres. The creators of the game, TriKing Games and The History Channel, have dubbed it "The Greatest Game in History".
Anachronism game - Description.
The game is a contest of arms between two warriors from numerous historical periods. Each game lasts a maximum of five rounds. The game is unusual for a card game in that it does not use shuffling as a randomization technique. Each player places their chosen warrior card on t ...
The Religions of the Ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some early examples of emerging Henotheism (Akhenaton, early Judaism). Especially the Luwian pantheon exerted a strong influence on Ancient Greece, see Greek Paganism, while the religion of Elam influenced the Zoroastrianism of the Achaemenid empire.
Religions of the Ancient Near East - Overview.
There were many different cultures in the Ancient Near East with different languages, different cultures, different religions, and differing myt ...
An aqueduct is an artificial (man-made) channel that is constructed to convey water from one location to another. The word derives from the Latin words aqua, "water", and ducere, "to lead". Many aqueducts are raised above the landscape, resembling bridges rather than rivers. Sufficiently large aqueducts may also be usable by ships. They are similar to viaducts, but carry water instead of a road or railway. While a road bridge often carries the roadway at a more elevated level than the rest of the road, such a variation o ...
Josephus (c. AD 37 – c. 100) - also known as Flavius Josephus - was a 1st century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70. His many works give an important insight into first-century Judaism.
Josephus - Life.
Josephus (who introduced himself as "Joseph, son of Matthias, ... a Hebrew by race, and a priest from Jerusalem", War I.3) fought in the First Jewish-Roman War of 66-73, acting as a military leader in Gal ...
A bow is a weapon that shoots arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. It is useful for hunting and war. The technique of using a bow is called archery while someone who makes bows is known as a bowyer.
Many bow designs have been used in different cultures and time periods. Common designs are; solid wood (the English longbow), laminated wood (Japanese and Sami bows) and bone-wood-hide composite (Middle East, India, Mongols). In modern times, the plastic composite and comp ...
Greco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century CE, ultima ...
Phoenicia was an ancient civilization in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon, between the Lebanon Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread right across the Mediterranean during the first millennium BC. Though ancient boundaries of such city-centered cultures fluctuated, the city of Tyre seems to have been the southernmost. Sarepta between Sidon and Tyre, is the most thoroughly excavated city of the Ph ...
Reflexology, or zone therapy, is the practice of stimulating points on the feet, hands, or ears (termed reflex zones), in the hopes that it will have a beneficial effect on some other parts of the body, or will improve general health. The most common form is foot reflexology, in which the reflexologist applies pressure to points on a person's foot. The foot is believed by practitioners and participants to be divided into a number of re ...
Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning "home of the Fur") is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. It is divided into three federal states within Sudan: Gharb Darfur (West Darfur), Janub Darfur (South Darfur), and Shamal Darfur (North Darfur). The current conflict between the Janjaweed and the non-Arab peoples of the region has led to the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of millions (see Darfur conflict).
Darfur - Geography.
Darfur cove ...
Aries (Latin for Ram, symbol , Unicode ♈) is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It lies between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east.
Aries - Notable features.
Aries' stars are rather faint except for α Ari (Hamal) and β Ari (Sharatan). Other important stars are γ Ari (Mesarthim) and δ Ari (Botein).
Teegarden's star, in Aries, is one of our sun's closest neighbours.
The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Aries, Aries Links on ...
Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. Our surviving sources of mythology are literary reworkings of this oral tradition, supplemented by interpretations of iconic imagery, sometimes modern ones, sometimes ancient ones, as myth was a means for later Greeks themselves to throw light on cult practices and traditions that were no longer explicable. The historian must sometimes deduce from hints in imagery, such as in ...
The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present, starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddharta Gautama. This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. Throughout this period, the religion evolved as it encountered various countries and cultures, adding to its original Indian foundation Hellenistic as well as Central Asian, East Asian, and Southeast Asian cultural elements. In the process, its geographical extent became considerable so as to affect at one time or another most of the Asian continent. ...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system. It is named after Mars, the Roman god of war (Ares in Greek mythology). Its name was chosen because of its red color, a feature that also earned it the nickname "The Red Planet". Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, both are small and oddly-shaped, each possibly being captured asteroids.
The prefix areo- refers to Mars in the same way geo- refers to Earth—for example, areology versus geology. (Areology is also used to refer to the study of Mars as a whole rather than ju ...
Cement is a material for bonding stone or brick. The term cement is most commonly used to refer more specifically to powdered materials which develop strong adhesive qualities when combined with water. These materials are more properly known as hydraulic cements. Hydraulic limes, natural pozzolana and Portland cements are the more common hydraulic cements, with portland cement being the most important in construction. Gypsum plaster and common lime are not hydraulic cements. Cement is an important ingredient in concrete. ...
An obelisk is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. Ancient obelisks were made of a single piece of stone (a monolith). The term stela (plural stelae) is generally used for other monumental standing inscribed sculpted stones not of classic obelisk form.
Obelisk - Ancient obelisks.
Obelisk - Egyptian obelisks.
In 1911, Encyclopædia Britannica wrote, "The earliest TEMPLE obelisk still in position is that of Senwosri I. of ...
A Vitamin is an organic molecule required by a living organism in minute amounts for proper health. An organism deprived of all sources of a particular vitamin will eventually suffer from disease symptoms specific to that vitamin.
Vitamins can be classified as either water soluble, which means they dissolve easily in water, or fat soluble, which means they are absorbed through the intestinal tract with the help of lipids.
In general, an organism must obtain vitamins or their metabolic precursors from outside the body, mo ...
A Sramana (Sramati tapasyatiti Sramanah) is one who performs acts of mortification or austerity. According to the definition, a being is himself responsible for his own deeds. Salvation, therefore, can be achieved by anybody irrespective of caste, creed, color or culture. The Cycle of Rebirth to which every individual is subjected is viewed as the cause and substratum of misery. The goal of every person is to evolve a way to escape from the cycle of rebirth, namely by discounting ritual as a means of a emancipation and establishing fr ...
The Greco-Bactrians were a dynasty of Greek kings who controlled Bactria and Sogdiana, an area comprising today's northern Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, the easternmost area of the Hellenistic world, from 250 to 125 BCE. Their expansion into northern India established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, which was to last until around 10 CE.
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom - Independence from the Seleucid Empire 250 BCE.
The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom was founded by the Seleucid military governor of Bactria Diodotus around ...
Prophecy, in a broad sense, is the prediction of future events. The etymology of the word is ultimately Greek, from pro- "before" plus the root of phanai "speak", i. e. "speaking before" or "foretelling", but prophecy often implies the involvement of supernatural phenomena, whether it is communication with a deity, the reading of magical signs, or astrology. It is also used as a ...
The English suffix -ology or -logy denotes a field of study or academic discipline, and -ologist describes a person who studies that field.
-logy - Etymology.
The word ology is a back-formation from the names of these disciplines. "-logy" basically means "the study of ____". Such words are formed from Greek or Latin roots with the terminal -logy derived from the Greek suffix -λογια (-logia), speaking, from λεγειν (legein), ...
1948 (MCMXLVIII) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).
1948 - Events.
1948 - January-February.
January 1 - Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways. Arab militants lay siege to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. First day of the Italian republican constitution.
January 4 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
January 5 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tou ...