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Folding cardboard:
Cutting of folding cardboard is possible however you need to consider a light discoloration of the edges. In the application this is generally accepted, as lasers will be used for intricate short run designs.
Creasing of folding cardboard is also achievable, by “scoring”/burning away the top layer of material. Mechanical creasing is always preferred as scoring cardboard weakens the crease significantly.
Marking/engraving is easy to achieve.
Corrugated cardboard:
Cutting of corrugated cardboard is possible similar to folding cardboard, however discoloration can be more visible since the smoke can run through the fluting. Thin corrugated board (E-flute e.g.) would be more useful than thicker multi-walled cardboards. Creasing again is more preferred mechanically instead of using a laser. Again a part of the material would be needed to be lasered away to achieve a crease, this is less preferred as carbon and discoloration will always be present.
Another way of creasing is by lasering a perforation line, again weakening the crease.
Marking or engraving of corrugated cardboard is a more common application.
Lasers are more commonly used to create a die. This is due to the fact with CNC machines you are limited to the thickness of the router bit, while on a laser the spot point is a lot smaller (0.1 to 0.25 mm)
Laser on folding cardboards are mainly used for short run intricate designs, especially for greeting cards. It’s a lot less or not used for corrugated cardboard. Mainly because of the discoloration of the material after lasering.
Within the packaging industry, lasers are mainly used for die-making.
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Tavish Srivastava — July 30, 2014
Advanced Algorithm Big data Business Analytics Maths Statistics
In some of my previous articles, I have illustrated how Markov model can be used in real life forecasting problems. As described in these articles, Simple Markov model cannot be used for customer level predictions, because it does not take into account any covariates for predictions. Latent Markov model is a modified version of the same Markov chain formulation, which can be leveraged for customer level predictions. “Latent” in this name is a representation of “Hidden states”. In this article, our focus will not be on how to formulate a Latent Markov model but simply on what do these hidden state actually mean. This is a concept which I have found quite ambiguous in the web world and too much statistics to understand this simple concept. In this article, I will try to illustrate physical interpretation of this concept “Hidden state” using a simple example.
Case Background
A prisoner was trying to escape from the prison. He was told that he will be sent a help from outside the prison, the first day when it rains. But, he was caught having a fight with his cellmate and sentenced for stay in a dark cell for a day. He is good with probabilities and will like to make inference about the weather outside. In case he gets a probability more than 50% of the day being rainy, he will make a move else will not attract attention unnecessarily. The only clue he gets in the dark cell is the accessories, which the policeman carries while coming to the cell. Given that the policeman carries Food plate wrapped in polythene 25% of times, Food plate in packed container 25% times and open food plate 50% of times; what is the probability that it will rain the same day when the prisoner is in the dark cell?
Using case to build analogies
In this case we have two key events. First event is “what accessories does the policeman carry” and second event is that “it will rain on the day when the prisoner is in the dark cell”.
What accessories does the policeman carry : Observation or Ownership
it will rain on the day when the prisoner is in the dark cell : Hidden state
Hidden state and Ownership are commonly used terms in LMM model. As you can see that the observation is something the prisoner can see and accurately determine at any point of time. But the event of raining the day when he is in dark cell is something which he can only infer and not state with 100% accuracy.
Having understood the concept of hidden states, let’s crunch some numbers to come up with the final probability of it raining on the day prisoner is in the dark cell. Prisoner being anxious for last few days about the weather was noting the weather for last few months. Based on these sequence, he has make a Markov chain for the weather next day given the weather of that day. Following is how the chain looks like :
Markov chain
The prisoner knows that it didn’t rain yesterday (Obviously, otherwise he would not have been in jail anymore). If he uses the Markov chain directly, he can conclude with some accuracy whether it will rain today or not. Following is the formulation for such a calculation :
P(Rain today/No Rain yesterday)= 5%
Hence, the chances seem really low that it is raining out today. Now, let’s bring in some amount of information on the observation or ownership. Using some good judgement, the prisoner already knows the following conditional probability Matrix :
Let’s take one cell to clarify the grid. The chances are 90% that it is raining today if we already know that the policeman is carrying the food plate with a polythene without taking into account the weather of last day. The prisoner is keenly waiting for the policeman to come and give the final clue to determine the final set of probability. The policeman actually brings in food with a polythene. Before making calculations, let’s first decide the set of events.
A : It will rain today
B: It did not rain yesterday
C: The policeman brings in food with a polythene
What we want to calculate is P(A/B,C)? Now let’s look at the set of probabilities we know :
P(A/B) = 5% P(C/A) = 90% P(C) = 25%
We now will convert the expression P(A/B,C) into these know 3 parameters.
P(A/B,C) = P(A,B/C)/P(B/C) = P(A,B/C)/P(B) {Using Markov first order principle} …………………………1
P(A,B/C) = P(A,B,C)/P(C) = P(C/A,B)*P(A,B)/P(C) = P(C/A)*P(A,B)/P(C) {Using Markov first order principle}
=> P(A,B/C) = P(C/A) * P(A/B)*P(B)/P(C)
Substituting this in equation 1,
P(A/B,C) = P(C/A) * P(A/B) / P(C) = 90%*5%/25% = 18%
Final inferences
P(It will rain today/no rain yesterday,policeman brings in food with a polythene) = 18%
As you can see, this probability is between 5% and 90% as estimated separately by the two clues we have for prediction. Combination of both the clues reveals a more accurate prediction of the event in focus. Because this probability is less than 50%, the prisoner will not take a chance expecting a rain today.
End Notes
Using Markov chain simplifications , observations and Markov chain transition probability we were able to find out the hidden state for the day when prisoner was in the dark cell. The scope of this article was restricted to understanding hidden states and not framework of Latent Markov model. In some of the future article we will also touch up on formulation of Latent Markov model and its applications.
Did you find the article useful? Did this article solve any of your existing dilemmas? If you did, share with us your thoughts on the topic.
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Tavish Srivastava
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5 thoughts on "How to interpret hidden state in Latent Markov Model"
Amit says: July 31, 2014 at 7:29 am
Hi Tavish, Can this approach be used to predict % of success from un-patterned & real time data? If not please help me with other approach. Best Regards, Amit Desai Reply
Arjun says: September 09, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Nice article ! Reply
prashanth says: October 04, 2014 at 5:14 am
Thanks Tavish for a nice article. I have a couple of doubts. 1. Can you please elaborate on the Markov first order principle. I was able to follow till that point and couldn't comprehend thereon 2. Given that, "The chances are 90% that it is raining today if we already know that the policeman is carrying the food plate with a polythene without taking into account the weather of last day". that would mean the P(A|C) = 90% and not P(C|A) = 90% as outlined in the article. Kindly request you to clarify Reply
Tavish says: October 04, 2014 at 4:46 pm
Amit, Provide more details on the problem statement. Reply
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7 Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep
We all know sleep is important. But do you know what can really happen when you don’t clock in enough zzz’s?
It’s recommended that adults get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night, and things go awry when we consistently miss that target. There are several consequences to not getting enough sleep at night, and today we’re looking at 7 big ones.
Lack of Energy
Probably obvious, but still a big problem…a lack of sleep leads to lack of energy. When you don’t have enough energy, it makes it so difficult to get through day to day tasks. You long for your bed the whole day! And without energy, you may find it difficult to stay focused at school or work. You may end up putting off important tasks or canceling plans due to exhaustion. So while a lack of energy may not sound so bad at first, the details paint a much different picture.
Lowered Immunity
Our bodies need rest. They don’t just want rest; they need it. When we don’t get enough sleep, our immune systems can take a nosedive. This increases the risk of catching a cold or another virus/infection, as your body isn’t prepared to fight off pathogens as readily as it is when you’re sleeping properly.
Increased Cortisol
Cortisol, that sneaky hormone. We need it to help us regulate daily body function (such as sleep/wake times and hunger cues, for example). However, when you regularly don’t get enough sleep, cortisol spikes in the body. This can create a stress response which can lead to problems such as weight gain. The elevated cortisol can cause bloating, but also makes you feel hungrier than usual, giving you the potential to overeat consistently. The truth is that this raised cortisol is largely responsible for many of the negative effects of lack of sleep, but the connection to weight gain is often the most noted!
"Our bodies need rest. They don’t just want rest; they need it."
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Reduced Muscle Recovery
If you have a workout routine, you need time for recovery. Although it’s possible to rest throughout your waking hours, it’s pretty standard to be doing other things during the day. So you need that rest and recovery time during the night to repair the muscle and get your body ready for the next day. When you jeopardize your recovery, your workouts suffer along with your personal progress!
High Blood Pressure
Along with increased cortisol levels also comes higher blood pressure. Although not the case for everyone, a chronic lack of sleep can lead to hypertension, which also increases your risk of heart attack and heart disease. When we think of lowering blood pressure, the focus is usually on diet and exercise. However, sleep plays a key role in maintaining healthy blood pressure.
Diabetes Risk
People who don’t get enough sleep put themselves at risk for higher blood sugar levels than those who get their 7-9 hours per night. Without sleep, your body’s insulin levels are impacted, leading to higher blood sugar. Over time, this can actually turn into Type 2 Diabetes.
Referring back to “lack of energy,” one major consequence of not getting enough sleep is the potential for accidents.
Exhaustion and tiredness from not sleeping can have a huge impact on balance and equilibrium overall, making you more likely to lose your footing and fall. You may notice that you bump into things more often when you’re functioning on 4 hours of sleep.
But even more serious is the risk of falling asleep while driving. Dozing off, even for a second, can cause major accidents and death. Even the dizziness caused by a lack of sleep puts you more at risk of getting into a serious accident.
You know all too well how your mind and body feel when you’re not sleeping well. Although it may take some work to get yourself on a solid sleep schedule, your life really may depend on it. And above all, you deserve the rest!
Do You Keep Track Of Your Sleep? How Has It Changed Or Stayed The Same?
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The Evolution of Pandora
Greek myth is not fiction. There’s a core of truth in each mythological story. Greeks of very ancient times related those stories that later Greek poets and historians incorporated into their work.
Pandora: gift of the gods
One such story describes the coming into being of the first woman, appropriately named Pandora, all gifts, or gifts from all the Olympian gods. Those divine gifts combined the good and the bad. The epic poet Hesiod, writing in the seventh century BCE, reports Pandora became a scourge and tempting snare for men (Works and Days 47-105; Theogony 570-612).
Zeus asked Hephaistos, the technological genius among gods, to create Pandora out of Earth and water. Hephaistos did, sculpting her like the female goddesses around him.
One of those female divinities, Aphrodite, made Pandora sexy and beautiful. Goddess Athena endowed her with intelligence. She taught her weaving and other skills. The rest of the gods gave Pandora other necessary skills and virtues.
Another myth says that Zeus hated the Greeks so much that he used Pandora to make their lives miserable, even destroy them. His secret weapon was a pithos (jar) full of evils handed to Pandora.
Pandora opened the jar and the evils of war, poverty, disease, jealousy, hatred, and cowardliness spread among the early Greeks. Only hope remained in the jar.
Men discovered Pandora (woman) was the cause of their misfortunes and, accordingly, they have been putting her down ever since.We don’t know who came up with Pandora’s jar overflowing with evils. Yet, the mythological stories we know about Zeus and the other Olympian gods challenge the Pandora jar slander.
Zeus and the gods had a family and society like those of the Greeks. Zeus was the father of most of the Olympian gods. Why would Zeus want a Greek society full of wars, poverty, and countless other evils?
Female gods
Some of the children of Zeus (powerful gods Apollo, Artemis and Dionysos) had Greek mothers. Herakles was not different. Zeus was his father and a Greek woman, Alcmena, was his mother. He was the greatest hero of the Greeks who called him Kallinikos (handsome in victory) and Alexikakos (averter of evils).Upon death, he became a god protecting people from evil. In Olympia, he was the god of athletes. Altars in his honor were found all over the Greek world.
Next to Zeus, the greatest of the gods were female. For example, Demeter, was sister of Zeus, and goddess of wheat, peasants, and agrarian culture. Demeter was like Gaia, Earth. She was life itself. Her daughter, Persephone, was the goddess of the season of Spring.
The Greeks celebrated Demeter and Persephone (and Dionysos) in the Panhellenic Eleusinian mysteries, their greatest religious festival for a prosperous harvest and life.
Another female divinity of enormous importance was Athena, daughter of Zeus and goddess of intelligence. She was patron goddess of Athens, which built the magnificent Parthenon in her honor. In addition, the Athenians valued Athena so much that they equated her with their national origins and existence.
Athena gifted the olive tree to the polis of Athens. Every four years, the grateful Athenians sponsored the Great Panathenaea games, an Olympics-like Panhellenic festival celebrating the birth of Athena. Horse races, chariot races, music and poetic contests, and athletic competitions graced the splendid Panathenaea.
There was also Artemis, a goddess of wild animals and the natural world who also protected children. Another female goddess, Hestia, protected the family. Her altar was in every household.
Myths talk and praise the Muses, female divinities of learning. The Nymphs protected rivers, lakes, mountains and forests.
Moreover, goddess Aphrodite defined the Greeks. Aphrodite became divine Pandora. She was the official Olympian equivalent of beauty, love and sex. Sophocles, the fifth century BCE poet, expressed the power of love in his immortal play Antigone 781: no battle can defeat love / Eros (῍Ερως ἀνίκατε μάχαν).
True to form, the Greeks made Eros the most powerful of the gods holding societies and the cosmos together. Today’s cosmic gravitation force evolved from Eros, the almighty love and attraction between the stars and between human beings and between animals.
Some of the greatest Greek festivals honored female goddesses. Women organized those celebrations.
This was the case in honoring Demeter Thesmophoros responsible for order and civilization. The festival, Thesmophoria, lasted for three days and started on October 14th. Mid-October was the time of sowing wheat and barley, as well as onions, garlic, beans, radishes, parsley and leeks.
The festival of sowing these important crops was probably the most popular of all Greek religious, agricultural and cultural celebrations. It took place in Athens and everywhere else in the Greek world.
In Athens, the male Assembly did not meet during the festivities of Thesmophoria. Elected women leaders run Athens. Like the Eleusinian mysteries, Thesmophoria honored Demeter and her Kore (daughter: Persephone).
The idea behind Thesmophoria, however, was much deeper. The purpose of honoring Demeter, seen as the mother of moral law and traditions, was protecting all of society and the natural world. Demeter assured the survival and prosperity of agrarian and ecological civilization.
Female heroines illustrate the powerful feminine part of Hellenic civilization. Iphigenia, Antigone, Electra, and Hypatia suffered defending Greek virtues.
Iphigenia died for Greece. Antigone chose death over ignoring the divine law. Electra spoke passionately about her fatherland.
Medea and Hecuba are not supposed to be Greek, but they symbolize Greek wisdom. Medea, though a princes from Colchis in the eastern region of the Black Sea, challenges man’s pride in military fighting. Medea says it’s all wrong for men to assume women have it made staying home with children while they fight wars. She would rather take her place in the military frontline three times rather than give birth to a child (Euripides, Medea 248-251).
Medea is a controversial woman. She probably exacerbated the views of Jason on women. Jason was a pre-Trojan War hero who led the Argonauts to the land of Medea for bringing back to Greece the Golden Fleece. He married Medea. However, once in Corinth, Jason put Medea aside and married the daughter of the king of Corinth. This did not go well with Medea. She killed the two sons she had with Jason and poisoned Jason’s Greek wife and her father.
Jason called Medea a monstrous barbarian. He was shocked so much by his family tragedy that he turned against women. He wished they did not exist, and that men had a way to bring children into the world (Euripides, Medea 465-1350).
Hecuba, queen of Troy, was blessed and cursed by the gods. She had everything and nothing. She found herself a slave at the end of the Trojan War. She vainly pleaded with Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Greeks, to punish the Thracian killer of one of her sons who had been sent to Thrace for protection. She reminded Agamemnon the world depends on a moral order, which is above the gods. That moral order, she said, defines good and evil. The gods exist by such moral law and humans live by it. Flout that law and allow those who murder in cold blood and defy the gods to go on with their evil acts and human justice and civilization wither (Euripides, Hecuba 799-805).
Who could or can disagree with the Hellenic heroines, including Medea or Hecuba? The Trojan queen suffered like no other human being. She witnessed the killing of her children and, still, she appealed to a higher moral order running the cosmos and civilization. She was Pandora who still speaks to all human beings with authority. Like the other Greek heroines, Hecuba was Hellas; she is us.
After Hypatia
By the time of Hypatia, early fifth century, Greece was a province of Rome, which was under rulers enforcing the Christianization of the entire Roman empire, including Greece. The Christians tore Hypatia to pieces for teaching mathematics, astronomy and Greek philosophy.
The fate of Hypatia signals the eclipse of Hellas for some 1,300 years. All Greeks, men and women, paid a horrendous price during that long night of foreign occupation (by Romans, converted Greek Christians, Western European crusaders, and Turks). Finally, in the 1820s, the Greeks fought their Turkish enemies and won their political independence.
Women in the modern Greek state had less liberties and rights than those they enjoyed in ancient Greece. For one thing, the Greek state was impoverished and in perpetual debt. Whatever wealth it had, went to fighting for the recovery of its territories from Turks and British.
Moreover, external political developments like WWII nearly annihilated Greece. The German occupiers left their bloody barbarian footprints all over the country: it was nearly miraculous my family escaped execution. The Germans (and their Italian and Bulgarian collaborators) spent four years colonizing and killing Greece. The Germans in particular never ceased plundering Greek archaeological treasures, starving Athens, killing farm animals, extirpating hundreds of villages, shooting thousands, leveling Greece.
Greece has yet to recover from the murderous German shock. It is still mired in poverty and debt. However, thanks to the American embrace, Germany, once again, is in charge of Europe, including Greece.
First woman president of Greece
So, when in late January 2020 the Greek parliament elected a woman as the president of the country, it caused international astonishment. According to the Guardian newspaper:
“A high court judge and ardent human rights advocate has been elected Greece’s first female president in a historic vote by parliament.”
The name of this woman is Katerina Sakellaropoulou. “Today a window to the future has opened,” said the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis… “Our country enters the third decade of the 21st century with more optimism.”
Ancient Greek history is full of astonishing stories. Sometimes, that astonishment bubbles up in modern Greek times as well. I see nothing extraordinary in the election of a woman president of Greece.
Virtues of modesty
One of the lessons of Greek history is that of modesty. Pandora is everywhere. She had no evils in her jar.
Just because you are alive in 2020, don’t assume you are the best or that you have the answers to crucial global issues like the role of women in our civilization.
I would hope that the philosophies of Medea and Hecuba touch the Pandoras of our troubled times. Yes, we need to uphold a moral order for inspiration to defeat the anthropogenic and plutocratic barbarisms of inequality and climate change.
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We humans are not perfectly built. We face many minor issues with our body everyday. These issues might not need medical supervision. We will be alright in a few hours or these issues might not even bother us.
But, have we ever thought about what might be the medical terms used to define these minor issues?
From eye twitching to goosebumps, we will see some of the issues our body experiences and the top 10 medical terminologies used to define them in this blog.
Top 10 Medical Terminologies
1. Eye Twitching.
Eye twitching could be very irritating sometimes, it is not a major issue if it goes away within a day or two. Doctor’s supervision is needed if it doesn’t go away within a week.
The medical terminology used to define Eye twitching is ocular myokymia”
Many factors could cause eye twitching, but the main reasons for eye twitching are Stress, Fatigue and consumption of caffeine. Rest and dropping the level of caffeine intake could reduce the symptoms.
2. Numbness in Limbs
We experience numbness in hands or legs when we stay still or have some pressure in a particular limb for a long period of time. This is also not a major issue, it goes away without doing anything.
If the numbness is accompanied by weakness, paralysis or shortness of breath you must seek immediate medical attention.
The medical terminology used to define Numbness in Limbs is obdormition”
Prolonged pressure in your hands or legs could cause numbness if that’s not the reason and you find the symptoms recurring immediate medical help is mandatory.
3.Brain Freeze
We all might have experienced it as kids, suddenly drinking cold water or eating ice cream causes a short headache.
The medical terminology used to define Brain Freeze is “Sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia”
Sudden cooling of our sinus capillaries by the cold food which causes narrowing of the vessels, and a quick rewarming of the vessels by the warm air causes this effect. These changes in a short duration causes a headache.
This Headache is short lived 98% of people experience it for less than 5 minutes. If it persists for a longer duration you should seek medical attention.
4.Tongue Bumps
These bumps usually occur on the surface of our tongue and last for a couple of days to a week.
The medical terminology used to define tongue bumps is “transient lingual papillitis”
Tongue bumps could occur for several reasons from stress to hormonal factors. It is wise to see a doctor if it remains for more than a week.
5.Cheek Biting
When we accidentally bite the inside of our cheek it becomes a bump and we will again bite that bump and it becomes a cycle if we are not careful.
The medical terminology used to define the bumps inside our cheeks due to biting is “morsicatio buccarum”
These will get cleared within a week, if it stays more than a week and hurts a lot seek medical attention.
Hiccups could be more annoying if it doesn’t go away after drinking water. Hiccups are not that much of a serious problem.
The medical terminology used to define Hiccups is “synchronous diaphragmatic flutter”
Sneezing is common in dusty environments and it could also be a symptom of cold. Sneezing is just a reflex action of our body to clear our upper respiratory tract.
The medical terminology used to define Sneezing is “sternutate”
Sneezing is not a serious issue. But it is also the prime means of spreading a communicable disease. Always cover your mouth and nose while sneezing.
8.Eye Floaters
That thread, like floating objects which can be visible when we look at the sky, is called the floaters.
The medical terminology for Eye Floaters is “muscae volitantes”
This does not cause any harm to your eye. But when floaters are combined with eye pain and blurred vision seek medical advice.
9.Stomach Growling
Stomach growling is mainly a signal to our body that it needs food. Most of the time stomach growling is not harmful.
The medical terminology used to define stomach growling is “borborygmi”
Persistent stomach growling and discomfort in stomach could be something serious visit the doctor at the earliest.
Goosebumps could occur to us any time. From hearing a great song to seeing an emotional movie scene we get goosebumps.
The medical term used to define Goosebumps is “horripilation”
This is not a serious condition and only lasts for a few seconds.
So, I think you would have got to know something new. What are your views on Top 10 Medical Terminologies we experience every day? Kindly share it in the comment section below. Read more in our Blogs page.
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What is VPN?
VPN or Virtual Private Network allows you to create a secure connection to another network over the internet. VPNs can be used to access region-restricted websites, protect your searches on public Wi-Fi, and more. Originally used only as a way to securely connect business networks over the internet or allow you to access a business network from home in the past, VPNs are now very popular as they offer many advantages such as bypassing internet censorship. Most operating systems have integrated VPN support.
How can it help people?
In very simple terms, a VPN connects your computer, smartphone or tablet to another computer on the internet (called a server) and allows you to surf the web using that computer's internet connection. So, if that server is in a different country, it will appear as if you're from that country, potentially giving you access to things you wouldn't normally be able to access.
You can use a VPN to:
• Bypass geo-restrictions on websites or streaming audio and video.
• Protecting from browsing on unreliable Wi-Fi hotspots.
• Being anonymous while surfing online by hiding your real location.
• Bypass geo-restrictions or using torrents to watch content in a different country.
How does it work?
When you connect your computer (or another device such as a smartphone or tablet) to a VPN, the computer behaves as if it were on the same local network as the VPN. All your network traffic is sent over a secure VPN connection. Because your computer pretends to be on the network, this allows you to securely access local network resources even when you're on the other side of the world. You can also use the internet as if you were at the VPN location. This provides some advantages if you are using public Wi-Fi or want to access geo-blocked websites. When you surf the Internet while connected to a VPN, your computer communicates with the website over the encrypted VPN connection. The VPN forwards the request for you and forwards the response back from the website over the secure connection. If you use a Europe-based VPN to access Netflix, Netflix will see your connection come from a country in Europe. Therefore, you will be able to access content in this country.
What Are the Types of VPNs?
There are basically 2 types of VPN:
1. Remote Access VPN
Remote Access VPNs are user-to-LAN connections that are used when employees of a company in remote locations need to connect to the company's private network. The connection between the user and the private network takes place over the internet and the connection is secure and private.
2. Site-to-Site VPN
Companies with branches in different locations use Site-to-Site VPN to connect the network of one office location to the network at another office location. Site-to-site VPN requires large-scale encryption and specialized equipment
What Are the Problems and Risks in Using a VPN?
As with any type of technology, there are some downsides to using a VPN. Let's list these disadvantages:
1. Potentially Slower
When you connect to the Internet with a VPN, your web traffic goes through more steps than usual, so your speed will be noticeably slower. This is always the #1 complaint about VPNs.
2. No Cookie Protection
While the VPN does its job of keeping you private and encrypted, it is not possible for a VPN to block cookies.
3. Does Not Provide Complete Confidentiality
While blocking your ISP, governments, hackers, and other snoopers, the VPN provider itself can see your internet activity if it wants to.
Despite the disadvantages above, VPNs are definitely worth it if you care about online privacy.
How to choose VPN?
There are many VPN providers out there, so which one will you choose? The first thing to keep in mind is that free VPN services are of poor quality and should be avoided. Free VPN contains many problems, including: weak security, unwanted ads, download limits, etc.
In summary, you can run into many problems with free VPNs. Many well-paid VPN services, on the other hand, offer a free trial that lets you try before you buy. But how will you know which provider to choose? There are many factors to keep in mind when choosing a good VPN app: speed, shared IP addresses, servers, encryption, protocol, customer support, etc.
If your iPad has a broken screen or any other issue, bring it to us. Our experts at HFix Phones are experienced in resolving any of your iPad issues on the same day.
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what is the best database for your business or project?
Do you already know what the types of databases are? If you are a good programmer, you should think about the scaling of your developments. If you are a marketer or CEO, you will want to store and analyze your customers’ behavior to improve your results. It is where the importance of knowing the types of databases comes in.
Databases are fundamental pieces in the modern world since every platform, website, or application has one behind it. That is why knowing about BBDD (abbreviation of databases) should be basic knowledge among people who consume and create technology.
So what is the best database for your business or project? Make yourself a cup of coffee and find out! In today’s article, you will learn what a database is, how they are classified, and the types of databases.
Also Read: Best Decision Making and Problem Solving Courses in 2021
What is a database?
Types of databases (2)
Technology specialist platform TechTarget explains the concept of databases as follow
“ A collection of information that is organized in a way that can be easily accessed, managed, and updated. Computer databases often contain sets of records or data files, which contain information about sales transactions or interactions with specific customers. ”
In other words, a database is a set of information that has been built to store and process information of different types and dimensions. And also, the databases may be ordered or designed with different types of architectures, depending on the complexity of your information and the uses that you want to give that information.
There is not much difference in the purposes of the different types of databases since most exist to store information. Still, some databases have secondary functions that differentiate them from each other. Data alone is not of much use; however, how they processed and the purpose of the databases will give meaning and potential to the information.
The type of database will dictate how you will have to work with it, be it to consult, add, modify, delete, order, or analyze the information nested. Some databases offer better performance, greater flexibility, and profitability. Still, it will depend on the nature of your project.
And also, the business to choose the best one for you and your goals.
Moreover, knowing what a database is and its types will help you get to know your customers better, analyze their behavior, create sales projections, or predict the success of a new product or service. The possibilities of the different types of databases are many, and you will want to explore them all to exploit them to the fullest!
Database classification
The general database classification is divided into these two broad categories:
1. Dynamic databases
Dynamic databases are those in which the stored data changes over time and can be modified in real-time or automatically. In addition to your query, the information in this database can update, edit, and eliminate.
Dynamic Database Examples
The types of databases for an e-commerce business, where the prices and stocks of the products must constantly update.
The databases of companies such as an airline need to record the flights of its passengers, their personal data, check-in times, and their history.
Another example of dynamic databases is that of a hospital since it stores the information of its patients, such as their medical history, prescription drugs, operations or procedures, etc.
2. Static databases
Static databases are those in which the data is store fixedly and its use later for analysis or any other process. They are handy for making decisions based on historical and statistical information. Also, they a known as read-only databases since they do not allow the modification of their data.
Static Database Examples
In sales reports, static databases store historical information on customers and their purchases, with which projections and other types of analysis related to a company’s income and customers could make.
In web analysis reports, static databases automatically store by tools such as Google Analytics and allow the analysis of user behavior on websites with their historical data.
Database types
Many types of databases focus on specific areas or tasks, and these are the main ones:
1. Hierarchical databases
2. Network databases
3. Deductive databases
4. Relational databases
5. Non-relational databases
6. Multidimensional databases
7. Object database
8. Distributed databases
If you want to know more about the above database types in detail you can also read Types of databases: What is the ideal system for my company?
We hope today’s article has been helpful! Now you have more idea about what types of databases can help you better store and process your business information. It is on your side to make the best decision and take your company or product to the top.
Suppose you are interested in the world of technology and would like to learn more about types of databases and which are the best databases to meet your objectives. In that case, we recommend the online courses on Data. you can learn more about Analytics, Business Intelligence, and Data Engineering.
Review what is the best database for your business or project?.
Related posts
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In The Book Buyer's Guide
Board Books vs Hardcover Books: The Guide
Chances are, before you had kids, you’d never even heard the term “board book” before, but now, you’re probably seeing it everywhere!
So what is the difference between a board book and a hardcover? Here we evaluate the differences, and the potential pros and cons of each.
In general, board books are smaller than hardcovers. Hardcover novels typically range from 6 x 9 inches to 8.5 x 11 inches, while picture books can regularly be A4 size, or occasionally even larger. In contrast, the average size of a square shape board book is 6 x 6 inches (most of our personalised board books are 8 x 5.5 inches). The smaller size of board books makes them easier for even the smallest hands to pick up, hold and manipulate.
Another benefit of a smaller size book is that it allows the reader to focus on one image (i.e. the entire page), rather than them having to scan a larger amount of information across a much larger picture book page. For very young children, this can be very helpful in their mental processing of the concept on show.
board book v hardcover
While there’s not really a limit on the number of pages a hardcover can have (J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for example clocked in at a whopping 766 pages!) most board books fall within the range of 16 and 24 pages (or 8-12 double page spreads).
Age of the Child
This of course makes board books ideal for very young children, who can easily become confused when overloaded with too much information in one go.
The New York Times went as far as to suggest thatbecoming a reader starts as soon as your baby pays attention to board books.” For the slightly older child who is developing a more active memory, as well as a passion for story, a hardcover book is more suitable, as it of course allows for a much longer tale.
Perhaps the greatest difference between board books and hardcover books comes in the materials used to make them. Hardcover books feature a hard cover (believe it or not!) with paper pages. Hardcovers are bound with two rigid block covers, usually made of chipboard or binder’s board, covered in cloth, heavy paper or leather. The stern covers protect the paper pages within, which are usually extremely thin in order to allow them to reach hundreds or even thousands in number.
Board books, on the other hand, are the same material throughout; all of the pages, including the front and back covers, are made from the same thick cardboard. This makes them ideal for the more hands-on child, as while the material might not be quite as firm as a hardcover, it is far tougher than paper, preventing an excited child from tearing or eating the inner pages as they could with a standard hardcover.
board book v hardcover
The same characteristics which make board books more durable in the hands of very small children also make them safer. The cardboard pages prevent paper cuts, and the rounded edges avoid the hazards posed by the sharp corners and edges of a hardcover.
Board books are also lighter than the average hardcover in weight. Simply put, a baby can hit, chew or throw a board book across the room reasonably safely, whereas you probably wouldn’t want them doing any of that with a hardback copy of War and Peace!
So, now that we’ve explored how board books differ from hardcovers (and before you check out our wonderful range of personalised baby books!), let’s have a quick recap:
• Board books are smaller in size and easier to handle
• Board books have cardboard pages, and fewer pages than the average hardcover
• Board books are lighter than hardcovers and have rounded edges
• Board books are ideal for children aged 3 and under
board book v hardcover
back to the full buyer's guide
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SIGALTSTACK(2) UNIX Programmer's Manual SIGALTSTACK(2)
sigaltstack - set and/or get signal stack context
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <signal.h>
struct sigaltstack {
caddr_t ss_base;
int ss_size;
int ss_flags;
sigaltstack(ss, oss)
struct sigaltstack *ss;
struct sigaltstack *oss;
Sigaltstack allows users to define an alternate stack on
which signals are to be processed. If ss is non-zero, it
specifies a pointer to and the size of a signal stack on
which to deliver signals, and tells the system if the pro-
cess is currently executing on that stack. When a signal's
action indicates its handler should execute on the signal
stack (specified with a sigaction(2) call), the system
checks to see if the process is currently executing on that
stack. If the process is not currently executing on the
signal stack, the system arranges a switch to the signal
stack for the duration of the signal handler's execution.
If SA_DISABLE is set in ss_flags, ss_base and ss_size are
ignored and the signal stack will be disabled. Trying to
disable an active stack will cause sigaltstack to return -1
with errno set to EINVAL. A disabled stack will cause all
signals to be taken on the regular user stack. If the stack
is later re-enabled then all signals that were specified to
be processed on an alternate stack will resume doing so.
returned. The ss_flags field will contain the value
SA_ONSTACK if the process is currently on a signal stack and
SA_DISABLE if the signal stack is currently disabled.
The value SIGSTKSZ is defined to be the number of
bytes/chars that would be used to cover the usual case when
allocating an alternate stack area. The following code
fragment is typically used to allocate an alternate stack.
if ((sigstk.ss_base = malloc(SIGSTKSZ)) == NULL)
/* error return */
Printed 11/26/99 September 3, 1997 1
SIGALTSTACK(2) UNIX Programmer's Manual SIGALTSTACK(2)
sigstk.ss_size = SIGSTKSZ;
sigstk.ss_flags = 0;
if (sigaltstack(&sigstk,0) < 0)
An alternative approach is provided for programs with signal
handlers that require a specific amount of stack space other
than the default size. The value MINSIGSTKSZ is defined to
be the number of bytes/chars that is required by the operat-
ing system to implement the alternate stack feature. In
computing an alternate stack size, programs should add MIN-
SIGSTKSZ to their stack requirements to allow for the
operating system overhead.
Signal stacks are automatically adjusted for the direction
of stack growth and alignment requirements. Signal stacks
may or may not be protected by the hardware and are not
``grown'' automatically as is done for the normal stack. If
the stack overflows and this space is not protected
unpredictable results may occur.
Upon successful completion, a value of 0 is returned. Oth-
erwise, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indi-
cate the error.
Sigaltstack will fail and the signal stack context will
remain unchanged if one of the following occurs.
EFAULT Either ss or oss points to memory that
is not a valid part of the process
address space.
EINVAL An attempt was made to disable an active
ENOMEM Size of alternate stack area is less
than or equal to MINSIGSTKSZ .
sigaction(2), setjmp(3)
The predecessor to sigaltstack, the sigstack system call,
appeared in 4.2BSD.
Printed 11/26/99 September 3, 1997 2
Generated: 2016-12-26
Generated by man2html V0.25
page hit count: 928
Valid CSS Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict
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Do you have poor circulation?
Revitive is a drug-free medical device that helps actively improve your circulation and reduce some of the symptoms of poor circulation
Age, diet, lifestyle, medical conditions and immobility can affect your circulation. This can result in foot and leg pain, puffy feet & ankles and cramp. Revitive Circulation Booster may help to reduce pain in feet and legs by improving bad circulation.
Causes of Poor Circulation
A wide range of medical conditions can contribute to poor blood circulation, especially the blood circulation in your legs.
A complex condition where blood glucose in the body is too high, either as a result of your body not producing any insulin, or the insulin that is produced isn’t enough or doesn’t work effectively. Diabetes can affect many parts of your body and may result in reduced feeling in the feet. By increasing circulation Revitive can help to reduce or prevent diabetes symptoms such as blood-pooling (where your body is unable to pump blood up to your heart and it pools in your legs or feet).
High blood pressure
Also called ‘hypertension’, this is a condition in which blood being pumped through the body places too much pressure on the arteries causing damage to your circulatory system and contributing to poor circulation symptoms.
An unhealthy diet can lead to the arteries becoming clogged up with fatty substances – a condition called ‘atherosclerosis’. Affected arteries narrow and harden, which stops blood from flowing through them as well as it normally would. As well as contributing to poor circulation, atherosclerosis increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Eating a healthy diet can reduce the risk, and Revitive can help to increase blood flow.
Smoking harms the circulation in many ways, including making the walls of arteries sticky. The chemicals in cigarettes damage the lining of arteries, making them more likely to clog up with fatty substances and reducing blood flow to the fingers and toes (the parts of the body furthest away from the heart).
As we grow older, we are often less active than we used to be. This, combined with the general ‘wear and tear’ of aging, can cause the circulation to work less effectively than it once did, increasing the risk of vascular disease.
As we walk, muscles in the lower legs and feet operate like a pump, pushing blood back up to the heart. For those with a sedentary lifestyle, who don't move for prolonged periods (especially if we are sitting down), this can reduce circulation in your legs leading to pooling of blood in the feet/legs, which in turn can cause swelling, stiffness and discomfort.
Circulation explained
What is circulation
Facts about circulation
Your legs act as a "second heart"
Returning blood to the heart from lower parts of the body, such as the feet and legs, is hard work for your circulation because the blood has to be pushed ‘uphill’. To do this, the circulation needs help from muscles that surround the veins. When we walk, muscles in the feet and legs help to pump blood upwards. The more the muscles work the greater the squeezing action and the easier it is to push blood back to the heart. In effect, muscles in areas such as the feet and legs work as your "second heart".
Average adult has 8-10 pints of blood
Blood is very important because it carries and delivers many things that the body needs to stay well. It carries oxygen to all parts of the body, and whisks carbon dioxide and other waste materials to the lungs, kidneys and digestive system so that the body can remove them.
Arteries carry blood from the heart
Arteries are blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood away from your heart to the legs, arms and other parts of the body allowing your muscles to work.
Veins carry the used blood back to the heart
Veins carry the used blood back to your heart. Returning blood to the heart from the feet and legs is very difficult as blood has to be pushed ‘uphill’ back to the heart.
Symptoms of poor circulation
There are many symptoms of bad circulation that can be relieved with the use of Revitive. Revitive’s circulation Booster works by stimulating the muscles in your legs and feet using Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) to increase your circulation.
These are some of the main symptoms you might recognise:
Pain in legs and feet
Tired, aching and heavy legs
Swollen feet and ankles
Tingling in the legs and feet
Muscle cramps
Revitive Circulation Booster
Discover the Range
We have designed three Circulation Boosters, each with unique features to treat a wide range of symptoms.
Fight leg aches & pains and swollen feet & ankles
Medic Knee
Fight Knee Pain from the feet up and thigh down
Medic Coach
Personalised Therapy for Maximum Leg Pain Relief
Free Extended Warranty
Buy directly from us and receive a FREE 3-Year Extended Warranty on all new Revitive Circulation Boosters.
Free Delivery
Free Standard delivery on all orders over £50.
90 Day Home-Trial
Due to the current situation, we are extending our risk-free trial from 60 to our 90 Day Home-Trial.
VAT Relief
If you suffer from a long-term health condition you may be able to claim back VAT on Revitive. Not available on 4-easy payments.
We would love to keep in touch
|
Septic shock
4 Interesting Facts of Septic shock
1. Life-threatening systemic syndrome caused by microbial infection and dysregulated physiologic response
2. Presentation varies depending on source of infection, but includes fever, tachypnea, tachycardia, hypotension, and signs of tissue hypoperfusion
3. Rash, lip changes, ocular changes, and edema of hands and feet are not typical
4. Diagnosis is based on recovery of pathogen by culture or other means
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Youth and Racism
Youth and Racism
There are a lot of things that we don't know about our history, even after taking years of courses in school. For instance, did you know that an African American inventor, Henry Sampson, helped create the first cell phone? Did you know that the automatic doors of an elevator were invented and patented by a black man named Alexander Miles? What about the blood plasma bag... Did you know a black man pioneered that as well? Yeah.. Me either! His name was Charles Richard Drew.
At the heart of our "Did You Know" Youth Racial Justice Program, we look to unmask the covert forms of racism that live within our country, and shed light on information that is commonly unknown in the younger generation. These programs are not only offered to youth groups, but they are also offered in a Conference-wide setting where we try to get youth from around the state to engage in conversation around racism, together.
At our last Conference-wide "Did You Know" Youth Racial Justice Program, there were many young people who didn't know. Not only were they unaware of the long term effects of institutional racism and its effect on groups of people of color, but many were also unaware of the ways racism is alive today. However, there was one young man that stood out from the group and here we share his story!
Black Lives Matter
Ramon Schreier
photo by TDM Photography
My fellow black people are being shot down
Even though you white people do the same crimes
You are afraid that we look different
That is what we call discrimination
There once was an incident when two black men were at a Starbucks
And the waitress called 911 and said they were trespassing
If a white man did the same thing she would have done nothing
White people get privilege
Blacks get discriminated against
More of my fellow blacks are being shot to death
All you can hear is “Don’t Shoot, Don’t Shoot!”
The next thing you know they are looking at the top of a casket
Why are you shooting?
Why are you scared?
We are just people
We are all the same
We all have bones and flesh
The only difference is skin tones and beliefs
What are you afraid of?
All over the country, there are white men shooting my fellow blacks
I’m scared to even listen to the news in the mornings
The next time you go to call the cops, stop and get to know the person better
Our lives matter
By: Ramon Schreier, 12 years old
If you are interested in having a Youth Racial Justice Program with your youth group, or hosting one of our conference wide events, visit and fill out our request form!
Isaac Monts
Isaac Monts is responsible for all youth racial justice work and as well as support and development of the ministries programs and initiatives. A native of Hartford, Isaac Monts is the Director of the Joseph D. Clemmons Job Training Program, a paid...
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Fax: 508-875-5485
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866-367-2822 (Toll Free in CT)
General Email:
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: SHUTDOWN opt_log
| CHECKPOINT opt_log
| BACKUP opt_log
The checkpoint is a point in the history of a database where all the state is written on disk as a single, consistent image that contains all the state committed so far and no uncommitted state. A transaction log starts after a checkpoint and contains the information to allow the recreation of the effect of transactions committed since the checkpoint. The checkpoint state and the transaction log together allow recovering the database up to the last committed transaction.
The CHECKPOINT statement forces a checkpoint to be made. Making the checkpoint allows starting a new transaction log. If no new log name is specified the old log is truncated to length 0 and reused for logging transactions. If the CheckpointAuditTrail option is enabled in virtuoso.ini a new log will be started even if no new log is specified in the checkpoint or shutdown statement.
The SHUTDOWN statement performs a CHECKPOINT, and terminates the server upon completion.
BACKUP is an alternate notation for backup().
Example 9.38. Examples:
checkpoint 'new.log';
backup 'bak.log';
shutdown 'new2.log';
The above sequence of commands makes a checkpoint and starts logging subsequent transactions into new.log. The backup statement makes bak.log, which represents the state prior to starting new.log. The shutdown statement makes a new checkpoint and marks new2.log as the log file to be used for logging transactions after the database restarts. The database server exits at the completion of the SHUTDOWN statement.
replay ('bak.log');
replay ('new.log');
These statements executed on an empty database will recreate the state in effect after the last transaction to commit before the SHUTDOWN statement of the previous example.
[Tip] See Also
The Backup section for more backup and recovery information.
Example 9.39. Example for control the transaction logging:
create procedure log_test ()
-- disable the transaction logging
log_enable (0);
-- action code, for ex.:
delete from TAG_REL_INX;
insert into TAG_REL_INX (TR_T1, TR_T2, TR_COUNT) select TR_T1, TR_T2, TR_COUNT from TAG_REL;
-- enable the transaction logging
log_enable (1);
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This painting was based on a photo we shoot at the Bristol Wild Place Project. It’s quite extraordinary to see Geladas in the UK, as they live only in the high mountains of Ethiopia. This high-altitude homeland is replete with steep, rocky cliffs. With their short and stumpy fingers, geladas are adept rock climbers.
Gelada-David Zong
Photo by David Z
Type: Acrylic painting on canvas
Size: 50cm (W) * 60cm (H)
Here are some facts about gelada:
1. Geladas are also known as “bleeding-heart monkeys”, you will know why when you look at them.
2. These baboon-size animals are the world’s most terrestrial primates, except for humans. As mostly grass-eaters, they are the last surviving species of ancient grazing primates that were once numerous.
3. Geladas live in multi-level societies. Sometimes geladas sill form large herds of up to 1200 individuals. These are some of the largest groups observed among any primate. Geladas can form such large groups because they feed mostly on grass, which is widely available. However, a diet of nutrient-poor grasses means 10 hours of grazing per day, compared to just 4 hours a day for the average monkey.
4. Good at communications. Because geladas spend so much time foraging, they are unable to properly bond through grooming, like many other primates. Walk through a band of geladas foraging and you will be deafened by the sounds of grunts, groans, and squeals, over 30 of which have been identified by researchers so far.
Alpaca 999*580
Type: Acrylic painting on canvas
Size: 30cm (W) * 40cm (H)
Alpaca, which originated from South America, has always been a mysterious and exotic mammal for me. Until now, over 90% of alpacas are still live in South America. Luckily, we visited Peru during the 2019 Easter Holiday, and we have absolutely enjoyed our exotic acquaintances. They are very obedient, shy, and cute!
Here are some fun facts about Alpaca, time to test your alpaca knowledge:
1. Alpaca cannot live alone. It is said that alpacas have really strong herding instincts. The best way to keep an alpaca with a companion is to have them all be the same gender. This is because even neutered alpacas can sometimes successfully bond with each other.
2. Alpacas are vegetarian. Alpacas diet mostly consists of grass, but also includes leaves, wood, bark, or stems. Do you know how much they eat? An adult alpaca only eats 0.9 kg per day.
3. Alpacas do not have teeth in the top-front of their mouths. In hindsight, I realized this after I had finished this painting.
4. They always poop in the same spot. Because of their predisposition to pooping in designated areas, some alpacas have been successfully house-trained.
5. Llamas have always been used as beasts of burden, while alpacas are strictly bred for their wool.
6. Alpaca wool is softer and less itchy than sheep’s wool. The best part of it is that their wool is both water and flame-resistant.
Alpaca-by Ouyang
Alpaca-by Ouyang
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Gateway to the Classics: Johann Sebastian Bach by George P. Upton
Johann Sebastian Bach by George P. Upton
A Friend in Need
A T the close of a beautiful Summer day, in the year 1699, subdued and solemn strains of music from the little house of the organist of the market-town of Ohrdruff floated through its quiet streets. A boy sat crying upon the stone steps leading to the house-door. Now and then he lifted his head, looked into the hallway, and saying in a mournfully complaining tone, "False again," or, "The second violin plays most abominably," or making some similar protest of musical sensibility, bowed his head again in sorrow and tears.
As he sat thus, a quick step was heard coming up the street. A lad, somewhat older than the other, approached and said in a clear, cheerful voice: "Why are you crying, Bastian, and what means this funeral music?"
The one addressed raised his handsome eyes, red with weeping, bowed in a dejected manner to his questioner, and said in a low voice: "My brother is dead. Did you not know it?"
"I had not heard a word of it," he replied. "All last week I was at my cousin's in Eisenach, and I have but just returned. Is he dead? And so suddenly! Poor boy, I pity you from my heart. When did it happen?"
"Last evening just about this time. He had not been in his usual health for a week. He often complained of dizziness and difficulty in breathing, and yesterday while cleaning his old violin he suddenly fell and died."
Passionate sobs made his last words almost unintelligible, and the boy for a few seconds gave way to irrepressible grief.
His young friend regarded him in silence for a time, and when he had somewhat recovered from his passionate sobbing delicately sought to divert his attention from his troubles by asking, "Who are these playing so wretchedly? Friends of the deceased?"
"Three of them are. They have engaged the town clerk's assistant for second violin, and he plays badly enough to set one's teeth on edge. If my dead brother could hear him, he would jump out of his coffin and drive the bungler out of his house."
His friend smilingly nodded assent. "He is certainly a slovenly player, but it can't be helped now."
"That is true," sobbed the boy.
A brief pause in the conversation was filled with the tones of the funeral music, during which his friend's gaze rested thoughtfully and sympathetically upon the countenance of his mournful comrade, and his lips moved as if he were talking to himself. At last he resumed reluctantly, but with manifest cordiality and good-will: "Well, Bastian, what is to be done now that your brother, the organist, is dead?"
"The town will install a new organist, I suppose."
"Of course, but that is of little consequence; I mean what will become of you?"
"Of me?" replied Sebastian, thoughtfully. "Who can say? But with God's help I will become a skilful musician, like my good father, and as all the Bachs have been for a hundred years past."
"You mistake my question," said his friend. "I mean where will you live now that this house is henceforth to be closed? You are now a poor orphan. Do you expect that any of your relatives will take you in?"
Sebastian shook his head. "No, Erdmann, I do not. Who can do it? My only remaining brother, Johann Jakob, has left the country and gone into business in Sweden. Both my uncles, my father's brothers, have been dead for some years, and my cousins have trouble enough to get along upon their small chorister's allowance without being burdened with me. Again—"
"It must be very hard for you, my poor Bastian."
Sebastian for a moment regarded his sympathetic friend with moistened eyes, then cordially took his arm and went slowly down the street with him.
"I will tell you about this, Erdmann; they possibly may look at the matter differently. The relatives will come to the funeral ceremonies in the morning, and it may be perhaps that this or that one will take me in until something definite can be arranged; but I am not sure that I wish them to do so. How could I be happy? These poor people have no higher ambition than to get musical education enough to fit them for an ordinary organist's position and enable them to secure a place in some Thuringian country town, and, when they get it, to go on, day after day, practising noble music as if it were a trade, just as if they were cobblers or tailors. If I were to find a home with cousins Tobias Friedrich, Johann Bernhard, Johann Christoph, or Johann Heinrich, what would become of me? All my life I should hear only the music I made myself. I should make no progress, I should never penetrate the noble mysteries of our art; I should remain a town musician like a thousand others."
"But, Bastian, why should you trouble yourself about these matters? Why fix a goal for yourself now? You are still very young."
"I am old enough to know that I must escape from this narrow musical life. Even if my brother had lived, I should not have remained with him much longer."
"Why not? He was a skilful musician."
"Yes, but only for himself. He either could not or would not assist me to advance. I was disgusted with his dry and uninteresting exercises, and he refused to let me practise more useful and difficult ones. He had a manuscript volume of piano studies by famous masters, like Froberger, Fischer, Kerl, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Bruhns, and Böhm—valuable works, I assure you. Do you suppose he allowed me to have them? When I begged for the volume, he refused me and locked it up."
"This is strange. Why should he have acted so? He could not possibly keep you from advancing in the art for which you have such decided talent."
"Certainly not. He could do well for himself, like all the old organists round here, but he had not the faculty of making others progress. There is something forbidding and mysterious in the attitude of these old musicians of this stamp, which makes it very difficult for beginners to acquire even the rudiments."
"That is curious; but did you at last secure those beautiful and difficult musical exercises?"
An arch smile lit up Sebastian's countenance, immediately followed by an indignant expression: "It is a sad story, Erdmann, and it makes me feel angry whenever I think of it. But listen. My brother had locked up the manuscript in a cabinet which did not shut very closely. I determined to get it, for otherwise I should remain an ignorant scholar and make no advance. One night, when my brother was asleep, I squeezed my hands—they are so little—between the wires of the cabinet and pulled the roll out, not, however, without rubbing the skin off my hands pretty badly, and carried my treasure safely away to my little chamber, where, as I had no candle, I copied the whole book by moonlight."
"Why, you little sinner," said Erdmann, laughing and amazed, "I call that perseverance. How long did it take you to copy it?"
"Fully six months, and my eyes are weak in consequence. And after this what do you suppose happened? One day my brother came in, unawares, when I had the exercises, and without saying by your leave carried off my precious treasure. He never brought it back, notwithstanding all my tearful entreaties."
"Dreadful!" exclaimed Erdmann. "Worse than dreadful! How could he do it? I should have hated him."
"No! He is still my brother. He has done me many kindnesses, and I am greatly distressed," his voice trembled again, "greatly distressed at his death, and just as he was cleaning the old violin! He believed it was a genuine Amati and insisted that Antonio Amati's name and symbols were pasted on it in my grandfather's time, but I do not believe it. The tone is much too hard and rasping. I think it is an old Tyrolean country violin."
"So? Will he be buried to-morrow?"
"And then your fate must be decided?"
"Certainly it must. The cousins then must give me my copy of the book."
"They ought to do that at least. But tell me, what else must they give you?"
"I shall only claim what belongs to me. On an upper shelf in the cabinet there is a tin box with my christening-money, two medals inherited from my great-uncle, Heinrich, and a little money left me by my good father, which they must give me, must they not, Erdmann?"
"I suppose so. You are certainly very young yet, Bastian."
"Young!" replied the latter, indignantly. "I am thirteen—almost fourteen years old. It is high time I was learning something useful, hearing good music, becoming acquainted with great compositions, and I cannot do that here or elsewhere in Thuringia. I must go to some great city where the musical life is intense, where famous organists delight congregations on Sunday, and public libraries lend their best books. It is for such reasons as these I cannot stay with my cousins, even if they should cordially invite me. Now, do you understand, Erdmann?"
During this statement his friend had been thoughtfully regarding the little Sebastian—he was very small for his age—and at last tenderly said: "I believe you are right, Sebastian. Were you to remain here you would be in wretched circumstances like all the other Bachs, although they have musical talent by nature. You must get away, and I will make you this proposition: Day after to-morrow I am going to see my mother's brother at Lüneburg. Go with me. Lüneburg is not a great city, but it is a much more important place than Ohrdruff, Arnstadt, or Eisenach. It was for long the residence of the Grand Duke of Brunswick, and it still has many of the advantages of a capital. There is a magnificent organ in the old Gothic Church of St. John, and every Sunday you can hear the best of music there. You would enjoy that, I fancy."
Sebastian stood for a moment with glistening eyes, overcome with joy. "Lüneburg!" he replied with trembling voice, "St. John's Church organ! Oh, Erdmann, the great organist Böhm, whose majestic chorales I copied by moonlight, is the leading player there. Oh, to hear him, to hear him, I would go barefoot to Lüneburg!"
"Yes," said Erdmann, pleased with the acceptance of his proposal, "that will be nice for you, and a few miles from there is Hamburg."
"Where the famous Reinken, Johann Adam Reinken, plays splendidly at St. Katherine's Church," interposed Sebastian, with enthusiasm. "Erdmann, my dear Erdmann, I must go; and if you will take me with you I will thank you all my life long."
"If your relatives consent, I shall not fail to do so," said his friend. "And once you are in Lüneburg, my uncle, if I ask him, will gladly help you to go farther."
"Really?" said Sebastian, overcome with delight. "Oh, dear friend, how fortunate I am to have met you! I am determined to go with you whether my cousins consent or not."
His more considerate friend advised him to keep on good terms with his relatives. "I will come in the morning and inquire," said he. "Only be very judicious, so that they may have confidence in your good judgment and give their consent to your plans."
"Yes, I will. But come, be sure to come," implored Sebastian, in a beseeching tone, as he pressed his friend's hand. "And not too late. The funeral takes place immediately after the noon service, and promptly afterward everything necessary must be done, for most of the guests will wish to leave before evening, so that they may be punctual at their posts on Monday morning. There will not be much time to spare."
"You are right. The procession passes our house and I can then fix the time. Leave it all to me."
"Yes, I will do so, dear Erdmann, and already I give you a thousand thanks. It seems as if a new life were opening for me. Oh! Oh! to hear Böhm play, and perhaps even Reinken, and to hear their works and play them! Could anything be finer?"
"Well," replied his friend, endeavoring to moderate his enthusiasm, "the world has much besides this that is worth living for. But it is nice that you are pleased with your prospects. Doing things by halves will not accomplish much of any value."
"That shall never be said of me," interposed Sebastian, with flashing eyes. "I feel that I can accomplish something of value, but I must do it in the right way and in the right place—in Lüneburg. Lüneburg is now my watchword. I shall not shut my eyes this night. Would it were morning!"
"Have patience. The morning will not fail you. So now, auf wiedersehen."
"I can scarcely wait."
"But you must. Good-bye."
"Good-bye. I will hurry home to pack my things."
Thus the friends separated in the twilight, in the narrow streets of Ohrdruff.
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Asked by: Edson Bjeske
asked in category: General Last Updated: 11th May, 2020
How do you measure for steps?
Click to see full answer.
Similarly, it is asked, how do you calculate rise and run of stairs?
The Total Rise should be not larger than 151 inches (3835 mm) between landings or floor levels. Total Run [G] - The Total Run is the horizontal length of a stair stringer. It is equal to the number of treads multiplied by the typical Tread Depth [B]. Risers - the Step Height [F] is the typical height of each step.
Also Know, what is the formula to build stairs? Determining the Rise You divide the height by 7 inches; if, say, the floor-to-floor distance is 8 feet, 10 inches (or 106 inches), then you'll need 15 treads (106 divided by 7 equals 15.14). Next, you divide the height by the number of treads (15 into 106), producing the exact tread height (7.06 inches).
In this way, how do you measure stair risers?
Part 1 Calculating Rise and Run
1. Determine the overall height of the stairs.
2. Decide how tall each step will be.
3. Divide the height of the stairs by the desired rise.
4. Divide the height again by the number of steps.
5. Multiply the number of steps by their desired width to find the run of the stairs.
How do you figure out rise over run?
Multiply the slope by the run to calculate the rise between subsequent points. In the example, if you wanted to know the rise given a run of 10, multiply 10 times 0.6 to calculate a rise of 6. Divide the rise by the slope to calculate the run.
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Acids Bases and Acidification Worksheet
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Worksheet: Acids, Bases, and Acidification Acids and Bases 1. Select the right word to fill each blank (2 pts) Table1 Acids have a pH that is (greater/less) than 7. Bases have a pH that is (greater/less) than 7. 2. Which of the following is true of an acid-base neutralization reaction? (2 pts) a. Water is produced. b. The resulting solution has a pH less than 7. c. The resulting solution has a pH greater than 7. d. The flask feels cold to the touch. 3. List three examples each of acids and bases found in the household. (3 pts) Table 2 Acids Bases 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. In your own words, describe the acid/base titration experiment we reviewed. Your response must include (1) the names of all relevant equipment, (2) the names of the different solutions used, and (3) a description of key events in the titration. (5 points) Page 1 of 7 Page 2
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MAIA – goddess of birth
Mythology played an important part in ancient Greek society as it attempted to explain the creation of mankind and how the world began. Ancient Greek mythology is made up of gods, demigods and supernatural beings that are closely linked to religion or spirituality and the establishment of certain feasts that celebrate these phenomena. Besides the written word, vase paintings and votive gifts show episodes of the gods and heroes and tell the story of their actions.
pleiades.jpg One such festival is connected with the nymph Maia, who gives her name to the month May. Maia was the eldest of the seven sisters known as the Pleiades. Their father was the god Titan and their mother was Pleione, an Oceanid nymph, whose name means ‘to sail’. The names of the other six Pleiades are: Electra, Alcyone, Taygete, Asterope, Celaeno and Merope. They form the cluster of stars known as the Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus (Greek: Ταύρος). They are not only connected with the beginning of the sailing season after a long harsh winter, but are also important in the agricultural calendar as many of the ancient Greek festivals were linked to the annual planting or harvesting cycle.
Maia, as the giver of life, symbolizes the invisible and the hidden. She is the one that changes things from the invisible (Greek: αόρατα) to the visible (Greek: ορατά). Maia is the giver of life as she is the goddess that protects the pregnant women and helps them give birth. She brings into the world of light the new born from the darkness of the abyss of the womb (Greek: το σκοτάδι της αβύσσου). Therefore, the ‘hidden’ embryo appears to the world of the mortals. Maia is also linked to the flow of water (Greek: ροή), the primordial waters (Greek: αρχέγονο ύδωρ) that help give life to the embryo and help in the giving of birth when the waters burst; it is the water of life (Greek: ύδωρ ζωής). Maia has also given her name to those that bring forth life – the midwives (Greek: μαίες).
Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, was attracted by Maia’s beautmage result for mt cylleney. One night as she was sleeping in her cave in the mountain range of Cyllene in Arcadia, he visited her and their union resulted in the birth of Hermes (Greek: Ερμής). He was not only the god of heraldry, trade, commerce, roads, thieves, trickery, sports, travellers and athletes, but he was also the emissary and messenger of the gods. Hermes inherited his mother’s abilitieImage result for hermes and persephones and is considered to be the conductor of souls in the afterlife (Greek:ψυχοπομπός – psychopomps). He is the one who accompanied Persephone from the dark realm of Hades (Greek: Άδης), god of the Underworld, to the world of light to meet again with her mother, Demeter, goddess of agriculture and of fertility.
Offerings were made to Maia and to her son Hermes in springs and rivers as she was considered to be the curator of the waters. She was also linked to earthquakes as they represent the upheaval that takes place when something new is born. It symbolises what a woman goes through when she is in labour. Ancient people honoured all the strong forces on the first day of May, which they considered came from the sun’s strong rays and influenced the weather of the earth. The spring festival was known as Mounichia (Greek: Μουνιχιών) in honour of Maia as well as Mother Earth (Greek: Μητέρα Γη). The two are often inter-connected. The celebrations were dedicated to the secret strengths of the earth. These festivities also honoured Artemis, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, the wilderness, the Moon and chastity as well as being worshipped as the goddess of childbirth and midwifery. Weddings are not carried out during this month as the month is dedicated to the giving of life. The saying: Marry in May and you’ll rue the day, may be linked to this belief. It can be seen that many of these celebrations are linked to more than one diety, but the festivities refer to the same source. In this case, the giving of life.
Despena Dalmaris
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Spanish/Lesson 6
From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
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Grammar - Object Pronouns[edit | edit source]
Direct Object Pronouns[edit | edit source]
El chico come la manzana.
Él la come.
The boy eats the apple .
He eats it .
The following table shows the six types of direct object pronouns:
Subject Object English
yo me me
te you
él lo him/it
ella la her/it
usted lo/la you
nosotros nos us, we
vosotros os you (plural)
ellos los them (masculine)
ellas las them (feminine)
ustedes los/las you
In spanish tú is used for informal situations, and usted must be used when a formal treatment is needed.
Indirect Object Pronouns[edit | edit source]
An indirect object is an object that would be asked for with To whom...? or From whom...?. It is called indirect because it occurs usually together with a direct object which is affected directly by the action:
La mujer da una manzana al chico.
La mujer le da una manzana.
The woman gives an apple to the boy .
The woman gives him an apple.
The apple is given by the woman (direct). The boy gets the given apple (indirect - depends on the apple being given).
Subject Indirect Object English
yo me to/from me
te to/from you
él/ella/usted le to/from him/her/you
nosotros/nosotras nos to/from us
vosotros/vosotras os to/from you
ellos/ellas/ustedes les to/from them/you
Position Of Object Pronouns (Double Object Pronouns)[edit | edit source]
Te compro una bicicleta .
Te la compro.
I buy you a bike.
I buy it for you.
El profesor le da unos libros.
El profesor se los da.
The professor gives her the books.
The professor gives them to her.
Carmen puede cantar el himno nacional.
Carmen puede cantarlo. or Carmen lo puede cantar.
Carmen can sing the national anthem.
Carmen can sing it.
Quiero mostrarte una casa.
Quiero mostrártela.
I want to show you a house.
I want to show it to you.
Exercise:Object Pronouns
Vocabulario (Vocabulary) - La comida (The food)[edit | edit source]
Las comidas The meals
el desayuno breakfast
desayunar, tomar el desayuno to have breakfast
el almuerzo lunch
almorzar to have lunch
la cena dinner
cenar to have dinner
la comida food, meal
comer to eat
Las comidas The meals
el desayuno breakfast
desayunar, tomar el desayuno to have breakfast
la comida (el almuerzo) lunch, main meal
comer (almorzar) to eat, to lunch
la cena dinner
cenar to have dinner
Las comidas The meals
el desayuno breakfast
desayunar, tomar el desayuno to have breakfast
el almuerzo lunch
almorzar to have lunch
la comida (la cena) dinner, main meal
comer (cenar) to eat, to have dinner
Instead of saying desayuno, comida y cena (Spain) or desayuno, almuerzo y comida (Chile, Colombia), it's safer to say desayuno, almuerzo y cena.
The word comida has several meanings
• food Me gusta la comida mexicana
• meal El desayuno es la principal comida del día
• lunch La comida es a las 2 PM
• dinner La comida es a las 9 PM
Las Frutas Fruits
la banana banana
el plátano (Spain, Chile, Perú)
el banano
la cereza cherry
la guinda
el damasco apricot
el albaricoque (Spain)
el durazno (Sp. Am) peach
el melocotón (Spain)
la fresa strawberry
la frutilla (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay)
el kiwi kiwi fruit
la manzana apple
la naranja orange
la pera pear
la piña pineapple
el ananá
la uva grape
la ciruela plum
Las Verduras Vegetables
la cebolla onion
la lechuga lettuce
la espinaca spinach
la papa (Sp. Am.) potato
la patata (Spain)
el pepino cucumber
el aguacate avocado
la palta (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay)
el tomate tomato
la zanahoria carrot
el zapallo (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) pumpkin, squash
la calabaza (Spain)
los porotos (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) beans
los frijoles (Mexico)
las alubias (Spain)
las caraotas
• Legumbres means the same thing as verduras (vegetables).
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Author Country Media Name Year Topic Translator ,
Column Linda Lemmen – Pakhuis de Zwijger
Not just 5% but the majority of the Dutch economy was rooted in colonialism and slavery
Linda Lemmen questions the research of Pepijn Brandon and Ulbe Bosma
Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam, July 5, 2019, By: Linda Lemmen
When I used to flip through our family albums as a child, I often came across this photo. It is my father and I on Bonaire in front of a house for enslaved people. I remember that I often wondered: why did we take this picture? As I saw it, you take pictures of fun moments and nice places. As a child I probably did not know a lot about the history of that place, but it did not seem ‘fun’ or ‘nice’ to me. Once a bit older I could relate more to why this photo was taken. In the intervening time I have come to understand that slavery is far behind us, to where my father – in contrast to our ancestors – could walk around freely with his daughter. A scene to capture.
I will come back to this later.
Let’s first take a look at June 25, this year. Methodological research on the impact of slavery on the Dutch economy has finally been conducted. The newspapers are full of Pepijn Brandon and Ulbe Bosma’s article. Extensive reports are made about the importance of it. And guess what? The impact was much greater than we thought. In the year 1770, 5,2 percent of the GDP of the Dutch Republic and 10,36 percent of the GDP of the province Holland was based on slavery. In other words: we, ‘the Netherlands’ acknowledge the extent of ‘slavery’ and thereby, I say it carefully, perhaps also indirectly confess guilt? In any case, we search our own conscience. That much is clear.
So, why doesn’t it feel like that?
Well, because beneath the surface something else is happening. Sure, the magnitude of the impact continuously gets emphasized. But what really sticks [in people’s minds] is ‘the five percent’. Despite the comparison with for example the impact of the port of Rotterdam on the Dutch economy, five per cent does not sound like a lot. Therefore, in a while, when the rest of the information from the articles has been forgotten, and someone states: the Netherlands owes its wealth to overseas exploitation, a counter argument can be: it was only five per cent. This way it seems that 95 percent were obtained ‘legitimately’. And indeed, in an article from the NOS, historian and slavery expert Piet Emmer literally states: “So 95 percent had nothing to do with it. I would say that 95 percent is the cork on which the Dutch economy floats in 1770 and not that five percent.”
What I blame the media for is that they fail to outline the wider context. Or do they? The next day, NRC places a column from Professor of European Studies, Paul Scheffer, in which he explains: “The ownership of fellow human beings was also common in Muslim countries.” His column therefore headlines “Slavery is not just a black and white story.” Dear Mister Scheffer, why would you point to others while living in a country in which institutional racism and neo-colonialism are the order of the day? Then he also wonders: “Why did the moral revolution that led to the abolition of slavery begin in the Western world? And why has there been so much less awareness in the Arab world so far?” What I wonder is: how is it possible that this man gets space?
After all, the context that is not mentioned is that slavery in the East is not included in this study. While there was, in what we now call Indonesia, slavery until the second part of the nineteenth century. Something the average reader of the mainstream media probably is not aware of. And besides, what about the income that came from the colonies after the abolition of slavery? An afternoon in the colonial archives quickly reveals that about ninety percent of the archive material is about the Dutch East Indies and only ten percent about the Atlantic colonies. It is perhaps – hopefully – needless to mention, but I will do it anyway: Dutch colonization was not trade. It was not a case of negotiating, with a fair deal in the end, and if you played it smart, possibly an advantage here or there. No, the Dutch colonization was an occupation with the aim of appropriating valuable resources.
Even at the round table discussion in 1949, which eventually led to the transfer of sovereignty, the Netherlands forced Indonesia to pay 4.5 billion guilders. These were debts that the colonial regime had built up before the war. So just to be clear: the Netherlands occupied an archipelago for 400 years, continuously literally robbing whole shiploads of merchandise, followed by – without any shame – demanding the previously colonized to take over the accumulated debts. And make no mistake: despite these debts the Netherlands made ample profit in the Dutch East Indies. In a 2018 report issued by Alec Gordon, he presented his calculation of colonial profits between 1878 and 1941 in the Dutch East Indies. His estimate is that it amounts to 200 billion contemporary dollars. Realize that the 200-year VOC period that preceded these years was not even included.
Hence, not including this area and the colonial income after the abolition of slavery has a considerable impact on the final bill. The media has the ethical responsibility to point out this context. After all, an average layman that occasionally scrolls through a NOS, or NRC app and does not read any further background articles obviously does not realize that Atlantic slavery does not include all slavery. Certainly not when the terms ‘Atlantic slavery’ and ‘slavery’ are used interchangeably in the mainstream media.
My main argument is that by drawing attention to a small part of the larger context while continuously stating that we are horrified by the outcomes of the research, the false image of the Netherlands as reflective and conscience-stricken is being maintained. This discourse exists in a country in which students with a non-Western surname have difficulty finding internships, the established order is predominantly white, and where it is still necessary to explain why ethnic profiling violates human rights. To the point that the Netherlands acknowledges guilt, this is only for a small part of it. That makes it rather easy.
Yet, the media is not the only responsible party. In the report by Pepijn Brandon and Ulbe Bosma there is no clear enough distinction between Atlantic slavery and slavery as a whole. Take as an example the sentence: “By relating our results to earlier estimates of Dutch GDP during this period, we obtain a better picture of the economic weight that the incomes based on slavery represented.” There are more examples in the report. This is confusing to say the least. However, a footnote does state that: “The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was for a long time the most important European power in the region of the Indian Ocean and was frequently involved in both slave trade and (plantation) slavery.” The footnote also states that the East is not addressed because the knowledge about this is still very limited and the research focuses on Atlantic slavery.
Pepijn and Ulbe, I am sorry, but “it is too complicated” is not enough. Certainly not when you are not completely clear throughout the whole text in the use of the term slavery. In a country where predominantly university educated, white men, still determine how we should think about colonial history I think that science also has an ethical responsibility in clarifying the context. I understand that the East did not fall within the framework of your investigation, but to my opinion this means that there is something is wrong in the design. For a complete view, not slavery but colonization should be the starting point.
Back to the picture, I no longer have the illusion that our slavery past is far behind us. Curacao still is forced to tolerate Dutch paternalistic involvement because of agreements made in 2010 in which financial management and supervision were enforced in exchange for debt remission. Hold on… you would think that the Netherlands has built up a considerable moral debt, instead we manage to turn it around.
What I do still believe is that the people who are actually the subject of this debate are increasingly given more space in the public debate. Hopefully in time the academic world also will be forced to change regarding to this matter. In 2020 two studies on the colonial history of Rotterdam will be published. My call to the researchers in question is therefore: make use of this opportunity to do what is right.
Linda Lemmen is an independent researcher, filmmaker and chair of Histori Bersama, she currently follows a master in anthropology at the University of Amsterdam
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/*test3*/ Are Monitors Really a Menace? | iGotOffer
Devices: Electronic Components
Are Monitors Really a Menace?
Are Monitors Really a Menace?
Are Monitors Really a Menace?
Did you ever think about whether your computer emits any sort of radiation? Similar to cellphones when they first appeared, when computers first became available on the market, many people thought that they were harmful. Computer monitors, but not notebooks and laptops, emit ELF (extremely low frequency). People used to buy screen shields which they put on monitors, but today few people still believe that monitors are a real threat. The text discusses the possibilities, as seen through a historical lens.
Are Monitors Really a Menace?
Worries that monitors emit dangerous levels of radiation have made front-page-news. How can you protect yourself?
The type of radiation in question is called extremely low frequency (ELF), which is emitted in low doses from computer monitors. Although no studies have proven that health problems arise directly from using monitors frequently, ELF from other sources (such as electrical transmission and distribution lines) has been likened with increased incidents of childhood cancer.
Should you worry about being exposed to ELF if you use a monitor? Experts disagree. The best tactic is protecting yourself against potentially harmful ELF radiation is to exercise “prudent avoidance” and arm yourself with some facts.
Because ELF’s electromagnetic field is elliptically shaped, the greatest concentration of radiation is emitted not from the front of the monitor, but from the back and sides. Make sure that you’re at least several feet away from monitors on either side and in back of you.
Color monitors generate more ELF than monochrome monitors do. If you buy a color monitor, make sure that it has met the MPR-II Very Low Frequency and Extremely Low Frequency emission standards published by the Swedish government, which exercises the most stringent regulations on monitors of any country. Monitors that have been approved bear the MPR-II seal.
Screen shields – transparent screens that fit over your monitor – block the electrical component of ELF radiation, not true magnetic, about two feet. Even if you use a screen shield, you still need to sit away from your monitor and make sure that you’re several feet away from other monitors around you.
Liquid crystal (LCD) screens, which are used in most notebooks and laptop computers, do not emit any ELF radiation.
See also:
Source of the photograph: ignorethecode.net
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0045 043204434
Nile Monitor
Varanus niloticus
The Nile monitor (Varanus niloticus) is a large member of the monitor family (Varanidae) found throughout much of Africa, but is absent from the west, where it is replaced by Varanus stellatus.Other common names include the African small-grain lizard,water leguaan or river leguaan (leguan, leguaan, and likkewaan mean monitor lizard in South African English, and can be used interchangeably).
Nile monitors can grow to about 120 to 220 cm (3 ft 11 in to 7 ft 3 in) in length, with the largest specimens attaining 244 cm (8 ft). In an average-sized specimen, the snout-to-vent length will be around 50 cm (1 ft 8 in).[7] In body mass, adults have been reported to vary widely, one study claiming only 0.8 to 1.7 kg (1.8 to 3.7 lb), others state weights ranging from 5.9 to 15 kg (13 to 33 lb) in big monitors. Variations may be due to age or environmental conditions.Exceptionally large specimens may scale as much as 20 kg (44 lb), but this species weighs somewhat less on average than the bulkier rock monitor.They have muscular bodies, strong legs, and powerful jaws. Their teeth are sharp and pointed in juvenile animals and become blunt and peg-like in adults. They also possess sharp claws used for climbing, digging, defense, or tearing at their prey. Like all monitors, they have forked tongues, with highly developed olfactory properties. The Nile monitor has quite striking, but variable, skin patterns, as they are greyish-brown above with greenish-yellow barring on the tail and large, greenish-yellow rosette-like spots on their backs with a blackish tiny spot in the middle. Their throats and undersides are an ochre-yellow to a creamy-yellow, often with faint barring.
Their nostrils are placed high on their snouts, indicating these animals are highly aquatic. They are also excellent climbers and quick runners on land. Nile monitors feed on fish, snails, frogs, crocodile eggs and young, snakes, birds, small mammals, insects, and carrion.They are also the second largest reptile in the Nile river.
Fun Facts
Distribution And Habitat
Nile monitors are native to Africa and the species is d Africa, however, as they thrive around rivers.Nile monitors were reported to live in and around the Jordan River, Dead Sea, and wadis of the Judaean Desert in Israel until the late 19th Century, though they are now extinct in the region.They were also introduced to California, where they don't appear to be invasive and have no known negative impact
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Equal Citizens of the Nation
The 24 of you demonstrate the incredible diversity of nationalities helping to mould the identity of a 21st century New Zealand. Governor-General, Dame Patsy Reddy
Another National Day
By Roger Childs
One more Waitangi Day has been and gone. The antics of what happens at the place where a fewNew Zealanders signed the Treaty 177 years ago, is a bore for most Kiwis, but the public holiday is most welcome.
It would be interesting to know what proportion of the population actually reflected on the meaning of the day on the 6th and took part in the various community activities which were organised.
However, one very positive event on Waitangi Day, was the citizenship ceremony at Government House. 24 people from 17 countries officially became New Zealand citizens.
Discriminating who can come?
The welcoming symbol for immigrants in New York harbor
Like the Americans we are a nation of immigrants. However unlike the American government we take people from any country. As the poem on the Statue of Liberty states, the United States has long been a nation for people wanting a fresh start. Tens of millions flowed in, mainly from Europe and Britain, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nevertheless, in the 1920s the government decided to introduce quotas for particular countries.
However only in very recent times have there been restrictions on people of a specific religion and from particular countries immigrating.
In New Zealand we have a quota on refugees, which many regard as very inadequate, but we don’t discriminate on the basis of religion or country of origin.
However money talks, as the recent case of the American billionaire has shown. Promising to bring plenty of investment to New Zealand and create jobs is a big help – so welcome Citizen Thiel!
Ethnicity and equality
For a short time in the mid 1970s our national day was called New Zealand Day, and with the widespread apathy towards celebrating the Treaty of Waitangi, maybe serious consideration should be given to restoring that name. The Australians and Canadians name their day after the nation. We have a very cosmopolitan country and we should celebrate that ethnic diversity.
New Zealanders all!
Like the United States we are “nation of immigrants” either literally as arrivals from other parts of the world, or descended from settlers who came from the Pacific, Britain, Europe, America, Asia, Africa and South America. Regardless of when our ancestors arrived, we are all equally important.
All people of British or European descent and Maori, have mixed ethnic origins, more so that Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Pacific Island migrants who have arrived over the last century. When considering Who do we think we are? all our ancestors are important, regardless of our present ethnicity if we choose to have one.
However what we have in common is being Kiwis or New Zealanders, the latter term being the one the British authorities and missionaries often used to describe the Maori people in the early decades of the 19th century.
So the 24 people who were sworn as citizens of New Zealand last week, are now Kiwis like the rest of us. As the Governor General put it:
Your culture, skills, talents and knowledge enrich our nation … we make a commitment to you – to befriend you, to support you and help you make this a place we can all truly call our home.
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Growing Up
Imagine if you would, a world where vegetables and fruit all climb, twine and grow upward, creating beautiful and bountiful landscapes that save space, require less effort, produce high yields, and reduce pest and disease problems. Whether your goal is self-reliance or the simple satisfaction of growing your own foods, a bountiful vegetable and fruit harvest can be yours regardless of the amount of space you have.
5 Lessons
In This Course:
• Why and How Growing Your Own Food Benefits You
• An Introduction To Vertical Gardening Systems
• The Ultimate Guide to Composting in Confined Spaces
• How and What to Plant Base on Your Hardiness Zone
• Basic Gardening Skills, Tips and Tricks for the Urban Horticulturist
Courses Materials
The In’s and Out’s of Up and Down Gardening
II. What is Vertical Gardening?
III. Do you smell that... ?
IV. Know When to Hold ‘Em and When to Sow ‘Em
V. Green Thumb 101:
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Great students don’t study the way everyone else does. They usually need minimal review before tests, and they never need to pull an all-nighter before an exam. What’s their secret?
The answer is that students who are great at studying are doing it all the time. The most successful students have a consistent, ongoing process of learning that helps them absorb information as it’s presented during class. They put in time and effort during the entire semester, but it pays off when they sail through exams with flying colors.
Unfortunately, students spend their time in high school focused on course content and curriculum. They don't learn how to learn, just what to learn. Some students naturally develop great study habits. The good news is that everybody else can be taught.
Here are the top 7 study tips for high schoolers:
#1 - Anticipate new content and review old content
Has your student ever thought about looking ahead to get a jump on the material the teacher will be covering in class? If that information is available, skimming it in advance could help generate questions they can bring into their teachers. Multiple exposures to course content can also help solidify the material.
While students are in class, they should be taking clear, thorough notes. Then, in order to fully absorb the material and ensure that their notes make sense, they should review their notes that evening while the information is still fresh. If they have questions, they can bring them into class the next day to have the teacher answer them immediately. While this approach does require a few minutes of review each day, it's more efficient in the long run.
Students who struggle to concentrate during class may benefit from recording lectures and listening to them again. If the teacher gives permission, a simple voice recorder or the voice recording function on a smartphone works nicely, as does a LiveScribe pen. Students currently in virtual classrooms may be able to record lectures over Zoom or other platforms. If your student finds that they aren't listening to those recordings, which can be time-consuming, skip them and rely on the other tips we've outlined here.
#2 - Take notes on your notes
Whether it’s math, history, or science, re-typing, rewriting, or at minimum tidying up and annotating notes from class is great for clarifying concepts and building retention. Students don't need to incorporate every detail; rather, they should focus on the most important concepts and identify what they think may be covered on future tests. Students can also take notes on their textbook or handouts by adding explanations and detail in the margins (provided they own the textbook!).
Students should use this note-taking as a time to process the content, which is more than simply rereading or mindlessly retyping. The purpose is to synthesize the information. One good way to synthesize is for a student to rewrite or summarize notes into their own words. These summaries can even be verbal, i.e., spoken aloud to a parent, friend, or tutor. Rereading isn't enough to create retention; the process needs to be active.
Ideally, part of your student's daily routine would include processing their notes from class that day. A student might come home from school, take a quick break, then start a daily homework session by annotating class notes before moving on to the day’s assignments. Whatever your student’s process, regularity is key!
#3 - Return to earlier material
Once a concept has been introduced, your student should thread it into their study and review program on a regular basis. Some classes will require a weekly review of all course notes. Others will require students to consciously work with concepts in other formats, such as response papers or discussions.
Returning frequently to previously covered concepts will keep them fresh as your student progresses through new content. Building connections between concepts helps retention and also helps to broaden understanding of the material. The greater the web of knowledge your student can create, the better.
Students can also keep a running "terms list" or glossary for each class. This is a place to write down any unfamiliar vocabulary words or concepts. Again, for retention, it's important that students write these terms down in their own words and review them often.
Just as with annotating notes, regularity is key for reviewing and consolidating concepts. We recommend students set aside time for review on a weekly basis.
#4 - Treat homework as a learning tool
The goal of homework is NOT to complete homework. What? Yep, it's true. The goal of homework is to help students learn the material that's being taught. Getting through the assignment without developing a deeper understanding of the material is really missing the point.
A student should only consider their homework done when they have completed the assignment AND learned the concepts or skills the homework was designed to practice. A student will need to leave enough time to work through the assignment at a reasonable pace and allow concepts to sink in. Even if the teacher doesn't grade homework, students should treat every assignment as important.
#5 - Create flashcards early in the semester
There's no better study tool than good old-fashioned flashcards. They're an easy way to helps students identify (and remember) important concepts for future studying and review. However, flashcards are most effective when they're reviewed regularly. At their core, flashcards are a memorization tool, and they work best with repetition and a longer period of time. In other words, making flashcards the night before an exam won't do your student much good.
#6 - Clarify what's confusing
If your student doesn’t understand a concept that was covered in class, they should address the issue immediately. Whether it's asking a friend, going to a teacher's office hours, or hiring a tutor, getting clarification as soon as possible is crucial. Going through a semester without understanding a core concept is like building a skyscraper on a shaky foundation. The longer confusion persists, the more your student will fall behind. And that means a whole lot more ground to cover before an exam.
#7 - Schedule regular study sessions
It's helpful to make studying part of a set routine. Perhaps each class gets a dedicated weekly block of review time. If your student doesn't have any new material to go over, they can use that time to annotate their notes, create additional flashcards, look ahead at new material, or review their terms list.
When your student is studying for exams, they should also do the following:
• Reverse engineer a study plan. Work backward from the test date and schedule specific times to review. Broadly speaking, we recommend studying for quizzes two days in advance, studying for tests three days in advance, and studying for exams two to three weeks in advance. This will differ for each class, but these recommendations are a good starting point.
• Redo practice problems. For technical classes (like math), students can start with a previously assigned set of review problems and redo them, making sure they’re comfortable with everything that was assigned. For fact-based classes (like history), they can review notes or flashcards that they’ve made throughout the semester.
• Check out previous exams. Many professors archive and make past exams available to students for practice. If past materials are available, your student should work through them thoroughly. Be careful though, because the current exam will be different—maybe slightly, maybe entirely—so other forms of review are important as well.
It's important that a student’s approach to studying is both comprehensive and sustainable. If your student is overzealous, they won’t continue the process long-term. As your student is implementing these new habits, it's better for them to start slowly than to go overboard and then quit.
Want to help your student become a stellar studier? Signet's academic coaching program is designed to help students develop the skills they need for academic success in high school and beyond.
Interested in learning about Signet's academic coaching? Contact us for a free consultation to see how we can help your student!
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How to move a drawn illustration using the animation function
Hello, this time I'll show you how to move the illustrations were drawn using the animation function of Clip Studio Paint.
1. Prepare the illustration you want to move
This time, the animation of "blink" and "talking" of the girl's illustration will be animated.
2. Draw an illustration of the part you want to move
Separate the parts that do not move from the parts that you want to move.
・ Parts that do not move
・ Parts you want to move → “eyes” and “mouth”
8. Open eyes
7. Middle eye
6. eyes closed
5.Open mouth
4. Middle mouth
3.Closed mouth
Create each layer separately.
Open Animation-> New Layer for Animation-> Animation Folder from the menu.
Create three folders, and put the drawing files for the "unmovable part", "eyes" and "mouth" respectively.
Click Animation-> New Layer for Animation-> New Timeline from the menu. Click OK.
Right-click the red line and click the file number you want to display. The number is displayed on the frame.
Select File-> Export Animation-> Animated GIF and press OK to create a simple animation.
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Module 8: Differential Analysis of Fluid Flow: Conservation of Mass
As we discussed in module 5, conservation of mass requires that the mass, M, of a system remain constant as the system moves through the flow field. That analysis was conducted for a finite control volume. In this module, we apply the conservation of mass principles to a differential element.
Student Learning Outcomes: After completing this module, you should be able to:
* Apply the continuity equation to physical flows to find the velocity gradients
* Determine whether a flow is physically possible by using the continuity equation
* Find velocities given a stream function or find a stream function, streamlines, and volumetric flow rate, given the velocity profiles
* Check whether the flow is irrotational or rotational
* If irrotational, find the corresponding velocity potential
Lecture Videos:
Link to Module 8 Playlist Link to Module 8 Lecture Notes
Links to Individual Module 8 Videos:
Lecture 1 - Derivation and Discussion of Conservation of Mass: In this segment, we cover the derivation of the conservation of mass equation in the differential form. We also discuss the various aspects of the conservation of mass
Lecture 2 - Special Cases of Conservation of Mass Equation: This segment covers common special cases of the conservation of mass or continuity equation. We also go over a simple example to illustrate how to satisfy the conservation of mass. The example will also highlight the differences between integration constants for partial derivative and regular derivative
Lecture 3 - Streamfunction Concept: This segment covers the streamfunction concept, how streamfunction relates to streamlines, and obtaining the volumetric flow rate between two streamlines
Lecture 4 - Streamfunction - An Example: In this segment, we go over an example of obtaining streamfunction when the velocity components are known. The particular example of flow at a corner. Important points to note are the integration constants or functions for partial derivative
Lecture 5 - Velocity Potential Function and Vorticity: This segment covers a brief discussion of the vorticity concept that you need to understand the irrotational flow. It also includes the introduction of velocity potential function, its differences from streamfunction equation
Lecture 6 - Velocity Potential Function - An Example: In this segment, we cover an example of the velocity potential function. We discuss the preliminary step we have to take before delving into the mathematical approach. We also illustrate what issue you will face when trying to find a velocity potential that does not exist.
Lecture 7 - Comprehensive Example of Conservation of Mass, Streamfunction and Velocity Potential: In this segment, we go over a question we prepared that tests the students on conservation of mass, streamfunction, streamline, volumetric flow rate between streamlines, as well as velocity potential concept. This type of question is a good exam question to assess the learning of major topics in fluid mechanics
Lecture 8 - Module 8 Recap
Congratulations, you just finished module 8! Please proceed to module 9
College Fluid Mechanics
An Open Courseware
FE Exam Review and Practice
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Veterans Day 2016
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Ninety-eight years ago today, in a railway car just outside of Compiègne, France, the armistice that ended The Great War, World War I, was signed. Even though the armistice itself was actually signed early in the morning, it officially took effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The first Veterans Day was celebrated a year after that, in 1919, as a way to mark the end of the war.
There are no more World War I survivors left among us, and the number of survivors of other wars continues to dwindle every single day. To that point, the video I've posted above is about the Doolittle Raiders, the men that completed one of the most daring attacks of the War in the Pacific in World War II. At the time that the video was made last year, there were two of the Doolittle Raiders remaining, and they still got together for their reunion as they had done every year.
Today, only one of the Doolittle Raiders is still with us, Colonel Richard E. Cole, who piloted Aircraft #1 in the fight. He's 101 years old. In the video, hosted by Bill Whittle, he concludes with a sentiment that could be applied not just to Colonel Cole, but other veterans as well.
". . .these golden members of the golden generation that saved the world entire. . .and if you know one of them, and have anything you'd like to say to them, you should say it soon. You probably should say it now."
These men and women are connections to pivotal points in our nation's history, and their numbers are dwindling. There's a very good chance you know someone who has served, whether it's in World War II or in more recent conflicts. So today, if you have the opportunity to do so, I urge you to sit down and converse with one of these heroes. They have stories that you likely aren't going to hear of anywhere else, and from my experience they enjoy getting the opportunity to tell them. If you see them at one of your local dining or drinking establish, spot them a meal or their beverage of choice and give them a thank you. They'll appreciate it more than you probably realize.
The other video here, one that I've posted every year since this site came online, is the video for the song "A Pittance of Time" by Canadian musician Terry Kelly. I don't think there's a better song for expressing the importance of this particular day.
To all of our men and women that are serving or have served, thank you.
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Regular consumption of vitamin D can decrease the severity of Covid-19: Study
Published on:2 June 2021, 10:42am IST
According to this PLoS study, understanding the ability of vitamin D to protect against severe Covid-19 illness can be a great boon for public health.
vitamin d and covid
Include vitamin D in your diet to beat Covid-19 blues. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Listen to this article
Observational studies have suggested that increased vitamin D levels may protect against COVID-19. However, these studies were inconclusive and possibly subject to confounding.
A study published in PLOS Medicine by Guillaume Butler-Laporte and Tomoko Nakanishi at McGill University in Quebec, Canada, and colleagues suggests that genetic evidence does not support vitamin D as a protective measure against COVID-19.
Here’s what the study has to say
The ability of vitamin D to protect against severe COVID-19 illness is of great interest to public health experts but has limited supporting evidence. To assess the relationship between vitamin D levels and COVID-19 susceptibility and severity, researchers conducted a Mendelian randomization study using genetic variants strongly associated with increased vitamin D levels.
vitamin d and covid-19
Vitamins are the way to battle covid-19, if this study is to be believed. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
The authors analyzed genetic variants of 4,134 individuals with COVID-19, and 1,284,876 without COVID-19, from 11 countries to determine whether genetic predisposition for higher vitamin D levels was associated with less-severe disease outcomes in people with COVID-19.
The results showed no evidence for an association between genetically predicted vitamin D levels and COVID-19 susceptibility, hospitalization, or severe disease, suggesting that raising circulating vitamin D levels through supplementation may not improve COVID-19 outcomes in the general population.
Go for natural sources of vitamin D
However, the study had several important limitations, including that the research did not include individuals with vitamin D deficiency, and it remains possible that truly deficient patients may benefit from supplementation for COVID-19 related protection and outcomes.
Additionally, the genetic variants were obtained only from individuals of European ancestry, so future studies will be needed to determine the relationship with COVID-19 outcomes in other populations.
vitamin d and covid-19
Don’t underestimate the importance of vitamin D. Image courtesy: Shutterstock
Dr Butler-Laporte told that most vitamin D studies are very difficult to interpret since they cannot adjust for the known risk factors for severe Covid-19 (e.g. older age, institutionalization, having chronic diseases) which are also predictors of low vitamin D.
Therefore, the best way to answer the question of the effect of vitamin D would be through randomized trials, but these are complex and resource-intensive, and take a long time during a pandemic. Mendelian randomization can provide more clear insights into the role of risk factors like vitamin D because they can decrease potential bias from associated risk factors like institutionalization and chronic disease.
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Real Time Detection of Phishing Attacks in Edge Devices
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Real Time Detection of Phishing Attacks in Edge Devices
Ushus Maria Joseph, Dr. Mendus Jacob
Research scholar
Lincoln University College Malaysia
Abstract:- Phishing is the duplicitous use of electronic communications to deceive and take advantage of users. Phishing attacks attempt to gain sensitive, confidential information such as usernames, passwords, credit card information, network credentials, and more. By posing as a legitimate individual or institution via phone or email, cyber attackers use social engineering to manipulate victims into performing specific actionslike clicking on a malicious link or attachmentor willfully divulging confidential information. Phishing is an antisocial and therefore anti sustainable activity, which has an important social and economic dimensions. Mobile devices are popular with hackers because theyre designed for rapid responses based on minimal contextual information. The main objective of this work is to develop a model that can detect and prevent possible phishing attacks in real time. An intelligent phishing attack detection mechanism, when implemented to handheld devices increases the bandwidth of protection in the global digital village. Preventing phishing itself help attain sustainable development. Different algorithms like Decision trees and SVM are used to detect phishing attacks. This type of algorithm needs large computational power to run and the user data is sent to the server for the detection of phishing attacks. The main disadvantage is that our browsing data is sent to another server for analysis. In this situation a third party has access to our browsing data which will lead to a privacy issue and detection can be dependent upon various factors like network bandwidth etc. To overcome the privacy issue we can use real-time prediction on the client-side. For detecting phishing attacks in low computational devices we can use a quantized model.
Keywords:- Neural Networks, Phishing Attacks, Binary cross entropy loss value, Relu Activation function, TensorFlow lite, Quantization
Phishing is the tricky utilization of electronic correspondences to beguile and exploit clients. Phishing assaults endeavor to acquire delicate, private data, for example, usernames, passwords, Visa data, network accreditations, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. By acting like a genuine individual or establishment through telephone or email, digital assailants utilize social designing to control casualties into performing explicit activitieslike tapping on a malignant connection or connectionor determinedly unveiling classified data. Phishing is a kind of friendly designing assault regularly used to take client information like login subtleties, Visa numbers and other delicate data. Aggressors attempt to imitate a genuine organization or an individual to take data.
For example, this can be done by imitating your banking service to send you an email stating your account is in
trouble, you need to change your password with a link to change the password. Someone who is unaware of the threat may click on the link to submit their login credentials to the attacker. This is the most common phishing attack and just one method among a lot of other phishing attacks. Phishing is an antisocial and therefore anti sustainable activity, which has an important social and economic dimensions. Mobile devices are mainstream with hackers since they’re intended for fast reactions dependent on insignificant logical data.
Crooks trust on duplicity and making a desire to move quickly to make progress with their phishing efforts. During an emergency, individuals are tense. They need data and are searching for course from their managers, the public authority, and other important specialists. A great deal of arrangements has been proposed for the identification and avoidance of phishing assaults, still the danger isn’t reduced. Email phishing assaults have spiked because of Corona infection. An effective phishing assault can have appalling ramifications for the casualties prompting monetary misfortunes and wholesale fraud. Be that as it may, ensuring ourselves against phishing is both a possible and fundamental advance. With the consistently expanding utilization of messages and development of advancements, hazard of losing important data to fraudsters has likewise been expanding This work focuses on detecting phishing attacks in real time with the help of neural networks.
Usually, Hackers will influence the users through phishing in order to gain access to the organizations digital assets and networks. With security breaches, cybercriminals execute ransomware attack, get unauthorized access, and shut down systems and even demand a ransom for releasing the access. Anti-phishing software and techniques are circumvented by the phishers for dodging tactics. Though threat intelligence and behavioral analytics systems support organizations to spot the unusual traffic patterns, still the best practice to prevent phishing attacks is defended in depth [1].
Phishing attacks have been increasing recently. Attackers use clever social engineering techniques to convince their victims into clicking a malware or deceptive login-based webpages. Most solutions for this particular problem focus more on helping desktop computer users than mobile device users. Mobile device users are more vulnerable than their desktop counterparts because they are online most of the time and they have device limitations such as smaller screen size and low computational power [2].
Phishing attacks are generally carried on using the four steps listed below:
1. Attackers configure a forged web site that impersonates the legitimate one. They also apply the Domain Name System and configure the web server.
2. A bulk pool of spoofed e-mails are dispatched to end users making them to input their personal details.
3. These victims open or click on the spoofed links assuming that they are from legitimate companies and organizations and provide their personal details.
4. This confidential information from the receivers are acquired and frauds are performed by the phishers [3]. Phishing websites is one such area where administrators need new techniques and algorithms to protect naïve users from getting exploited. Phishing is an attempt of fraud aimed at stealing our information, which is mostly done by emails. These phishing emails mostly come from trusted sources and try to retrieve our valuable information, for instance our passwords, bank details or even SSN. Many a times, these attacks come from sites where we have not even any type of account. [4].
A lot of solutions have been proposed for the detection and prevention of phishing attacks, still the threat is not alleviated. Blacklisting, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) based detection, static detection, and heuristics techniques are various methods used for detecting phishing attacks [5]. Recent years have witnessed the increasing threat of phishing attacks on mobile computing platforms. In fact, mobile phishing is particularly dangerous due to the hardware limitations of mobile devices and mobile user habits. Existing schemes designed for web phishing attacks on PCs cannot effectively address the various phishing attacks on mobile devices. [6].
As compared to desktop users, mobile device users are at least three times more vulnerable to phishing attacks and the reason for this vulnerability is small screen size, lack of identity indicators, inconvenience of user input, switching between applications, habits and preferences of mobile device users. y exploiting the hardware limitations of these devices and careless behaviour of the users, an attacker can easily carry out phishing attack on mobile phones [7].
Traditional machine learning models can be so huge that it runs on cloud servers, which makes it less efficient. The predictions can take so long that it may not be real-time always. This delay in prediction and warning can cause malware to affect the system before we can do anything. Reverse engineering is also affected in machine learning models. Attackers reconstructed the models for extracting design information from them. In order to do this prediction natively in the end-point system, the model must be compact and optimized enough to work in real-time minimizing the system resource usage. With the help of machine learning, each time a threat happens, the algorithm learns by itself and prevents the possibility of being exploited.
To overcome the privacy issue we can use real-time prediction on the client-side. The main issue is that currently using detection algorithms needs large computational power for making predictions and this type of algorithm is not suitable for running on the client-side. For detecting phishing attacks in low computational devices we can use a quantized model. The quantized model size is very low and it is suitable for running in low computational devices and we can detect the phishing attacks in real-time. The main advantage of deploying the model on the client-side is that the user data is not sent to a third party and there is no privacy issue in the system, our browsing data is safe on the client-side. While the model is running on the client-side the speed of the detection is very fast compared to the data sending to the server for detection of phishing attacks.
1. FEATURES
After referring to available literature, we have selected and defined a set of features that capture the characteristics of phishing emails. [8, 9]
1. Using the IP Address
If an IP address is used as an alternative of the domain name in the URL, such as, users can be sure that someone is trying to steal their personal information. Sometimes, the IP address is even transformed into hexadecimal code as shown in the following link http://0x58.0xCC.0xCA.0x62/2/
2. Using URL Shortening Services TinyURL
URL shortening is a method on the World Wide Web in which a URL may be made considerably smaller in length and still lead to the required webpage. This is accomplished by means of an HTTP Redirect on a domain name that is short, which links to the webpage that has a long URL. For example, the URL can be shortened to
3. having @ Symbol
Using @ symbol in the URL leads the browser to ignore everything preceding the @ symbol and he real address often follows the @ symbol.
4. Domain Registration Length
Based on the fact that a phishing website lives for a short period of time, we believe that trustworthy domains are regularly paid for several years in advance. In our dataset,
we find that the longest fraudulent domains have been used for one year only.
5. HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol with SSL) The existence of HTTPS is very important in giving the impression of website legitimacy, but this is clearly not
enough. Certificate Authorities that are consistently listed among the top trustworthy names include: GeoTrust, GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Thawte, Comodo, Doster and VeriSign. Furthermore, by testing out our datasets, we find that the minimum age of a reputable certificate is two years.
6. Favicon
A favicon is a graphic image (icon) associated with a specific webpage. Many existing user agents such as graphical browsers and newsreaders show favicon as a visual reminder of the website identity in the address bar. If the favicon is loaded from a domain other than that shown in the address bar, then the webpage is likely to be considered a Phishing attempt.
7. Port
This feature is useful in validating if a particular service (e.g. HTTP) is up or down on a specific server. In the aim of controlling intrusions, it is much better to merely open ports that you need. Several firewalls, Proxy and Network Address Translation (NAT) servers will, by default, block all or most of the ports and only open the ones selected. If all ports are open, phishers can run almost any service they want and as a result, user information is threatened.
8. The Existence of HTTPS Token in the Domain part of URL
The phishers may add the HTTPS token to the domain part of a URL in order to trick users. For example, http://https-www-paypal-it-webapps-mpp-home.soft-
9. URL of Anchor
An anchor is an element defined by the <a> tag. This feature is treated exactly as Request URL. However, for this feature we examine: If the <a> tags and the website have different domain names. This is similar to request URL feature. If the anchor does not link to any webpage, e.g.:
<a href=#>
<a href=#content>
<a href=#skip>
<a href=JavaScript ::void(0)> 10.Links-tags
Given that our investigation covers all angles likely to be used in the webpage source code, we find that it is common for legitimate websites to use <Meta> tags to offer metadata about the HTML document; <Script> tags to create a client side script; and <Link> tags to retrieve other web resources. It is expected that these tags are linked to the same domain of the webpage.
1. Server Form Handler (SFH)
SFHs that contain an empty string or about: blank are considered doubtful because an action should be taken upon the submitted information. In addition, if the domain name in SFHs is different from the domain name of the webpage, this reveals that the webpage is suspicious
because the submitted information is rarely handled by external domains.
2. Abnormal URL
This feature can be extracted from WHOIS database. For a legitimate website, identity is typically part of its URL.
3. Redirect
The fine line that distinguishes phishing websites from legitimate ones is how many times a website has been redirected. In our dataset, we find that legitimate websites have been redirected one-time max. On the other hand, phishing websites containing this feature have been redirected at least 4 times.
4. On Mouse over
Phishers may use JavaScript to show a fake URL in the status bar to users. To extract this feature, we must dig-out the webpage source code, particularly the onMouseOver event, and check if it makes any changes on the status bar.
5. Using Pop-up Window
It is unusual to find a legitimate website asking users to submit their personal information through a pop-up window. On the other hand, this feature has been used in some legitimate websites and its main goal is to warn users about fraudulent activities or broadcst a welcome announcement, though no personal information was asked to be filled in through these pop-up windows.
A neural network is a computational model that has a network architecture. This design is comprised of counterfeit neurons. This design has explicit boundaries through which one can change it for playing out specific errands. A neural network has numerous layers. Each layer plays out a particular capacity, and the complex the organization is, the more the layers are. That is the reason a neural organization is additionally called a multi-facet perceptron.
The purest form of a neural network has three layers: The input layer
The hidden layer/secret layer The output layer
As the names recommend, every one of these layers has a particular reason. These layers are comprised of hubs. There can be various secret layers in a neural organization as per the prerequisites. The information layer gets the info signals and moves them to the following layer. It assembles the information from the rest of the world.
An example of a neuron showing the input (x1.-xn), their corresponding weights (w1 -wn), a bias (b) and the activation function f applied to the weighted sum of the inputs.
Fig 1: Working of a Simple Neuron
The secret layer plays out all the back-end assignments of estimation. A network can even have zero secret layers. Nonetheless, a neural network has at any rate one secret layer. The output layer communicates the end-product of the secret layer’s estimation.
For computation, each neuron considers weights and bias. Then, the combination function uses the weight and the bias to give an output (modified input). It works through the following equation:
combination = bias +weights * inputs
After this, the activation function produces the output with the following equation:
output = activation(combination)
Information is fed into the input layer which transfers it to the hidden layer. The interconnections between the two layers assign weights to each input randomly. A bias added to every input after weights are multiplied with them individually. The weighted sum is transferred to the activation function. The activation function determines which nodes it should fire for feature extraction. The model applies an application function to the output layer to deliver the output. Weights are adjusted, and the output is back- propagated to minimize error. The model uses a cost function to reduce the error rate. You will have to change the weights with different training models. The model compares the output with the original result. It repeats the process to improve accuracy.
3. ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit) ACTIVATION FUNCTION
The rectified linear activation function or ReLU is a linear function that will output the input directly if it is positive, otherwise, it will output zero.
Fig 2: Representation of ReLU
Equation: f(x) = max (0, x) Range: (0 to infinity)
Advantages of using ReLU are the function and its derivative both are monotonic, due to its functionality it does not activate all the neuron at the same time and
it is efficient and easy for computation.
Binary cross entropy is a loss function that is used in binary classification tasks. These are tasks that answer a question with only two choices (yes or no, A or B, 0 or 1, left or right). model. compile (optimizer=’adam’,
loss=tf.keras.losses.binary_crossentropy, metrics=[‘accuracy’])
Light-weight: Edge devices have limited resources in terms of storage and computation capacity. Deep learning models are resource-intensive, so the models we deploy on edge devices should be light-weight with smaller binary sizes. [9] Low Latency: NN models at the Edge should make faster inferences irrespective of network connectivity. As the inferences are made on the Edge device, a round trip from the device to the server will be eliminated, making inferences faster.
Secure: The Model is deployed on the Edge device, the inferences are made on the device, no data leaves the device or is shared across the network, so there is no concern for data privacy.
Optimal power consumption: Network needs a lot of power, and Edge devices may not be connected to the network, and hence, the power consumption need is low.
Pre-trained: Models can be trained on-prem or cloud for different deep learning tasks like image classification, object detection, speech recognition, etc. and can be easily deployed to make inferences at the Edge.
When we save the TensorFlow Model, it stores as graphs containing the computational operation, activation functions, weights, and biases. The activation function, weights, and biases are 32-bit floating points. Quantization reduces the precision of the numbers used to represent different parameters of the TensorFlow model and this makes models light-weight. Quantization can be applied to weight and activations. Weights with 32-bit floating points can be converted to 16-bit floating points or 8-bit floating points or integer and will reduce the size of the Model. Both weights and activations can be quantized by converting to an integer, and this will give low latency, smaller size, and reduced power consumption. [10]
converter = tf. lite. TFLiteConverter.from_keras_model(model)
tflite_model = converter. Convert ()
3. RESULTS
To evaluate the model accuracy 20% test data is used and the weights of the model are quantized for running in edge devices. Using this quantized model, we can run the model in the edge device and the predictions are real time. Accuracy is defined as the number of correct predictions divided by total number of predictions made. When the model training dataset is small and lightweight architecture there will arise situations like overfitting and underfitting in the model. When the hidden units in the model are increased it will affect the speed of the model running in the edge device and computational cost also increases. This model can be deployed either as a browser extension or an application.
Fig 3:Model Accuracy using ReLU
As the Future works, to diminish the execution time and increment the productivity of the framework, the force of the Bayesian probabilities can be utilized. Also, different methodologies of Deep Learning, like recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks and LSTM can be tried for expanding the presentation of the framework.
1. D. S. F. L. S.-E.-U. H. Mohammad Nazmul Alam, “phishing attacks detection using machine learning approach,” in Third international conference on smart systems and inventive technnology, 2020.
2. Y. K. b. Jema David Ndibwile, “UnPhishMe: Phishing Attack Detection by Deceptive Login Simulation through an Android Mobile App,” in The 12th Asia Joint Conference of Information Security (AsiaJCIS)At: Seoul, South KoreaVolume: 978-1-5386- 2132-5/17 $31.00 © 2017 IEEE, 2017.
3. M. M. K. S. H. S. U. S. N. Dr.Reshma banu, “Phishing Attacks Detection using Machine Learning Approach,” in Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS 2019), 2019.
4. J. S. S. S. J. S. S. S. IshantTyagi, “Detection of Phishing Attacks using Machine Learning,” in 5th International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN), 2018.
5. A. K. J. Diksha Goel, “Mobile phishing attacks and defencemechanisms: State of art and open research: State of art and open research,” computers & s e c u r i t y , vol. 73, pp. 519-544, 2018.
6. X. D. S. M. I. a. J. W. F. I. Longfei Wu, “Effective Defense Schemes for Phishing Attacks on Mobile Computing Platforms,” IEEE
Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 65, no. 8, 2016.
7. X. D. a. J. W. Longfei Wu, “MobiFish: A Lightweight Anti-Phishing Scheme for,” in International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN), 2014.
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11. Y. S. Tianrui Peng.Ian G Harris, “Detecting Phishing Attacks Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning,” in IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing, 2018.
12. S. a. D.Soni, “A security model to detect smishing through sms content analysis and url behavior analysis,” in Future Generation computer systems-the International Journel of Escience, 2020.
13. G. a. K. Kuppusamy, “A phishing detection model with multi-filter approach,” Journel of king saud university-computer and information sciences, vol. 32, no. jan 2020, pp. 99-112, 2020.
14. S. I. B. a. D. B. Ozgur Koray Sahingoz, “Phishing Detection from urls by neural networks,” Computer science and Information Technology, 2019.
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Fundamentally Freund: The first rabbi of the Americas
Would that today's Jews learned from Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca.
michael freund 88 (photo credit: )
michael freund 88
(photo credit: )
Saturday, April 4, marks the 316th anniversary of the passing of a seminal figure in the history of American Jewry. And while Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca's name may not sound familiar to many contemporary North and South American Jews, the heroic example he set of fighting for religious liberty while simultaneously defending the integrity of Judaism remains compellingly relevant. Indeed, as much of Diaspora Jewry struggles to walk the fine line between fidelity to tradition and openness to modernity, it is worth recalling the tenacity and resolve of this very special personality. Da Fonseca was born in 1605 in the town of Castro d'Aire in Portugal to a family of Anousim (whom historians refer to by the derogatory term Marranos). His ancestors had been Jews who were forcibly converted to Catholicism yet continued to practice Judaism in secret, risking the ire of the Inquisition and its henchmen. As the Church intensified its efforts to hunt down and persecute crypto-Jews, da Fonseca's family decided to flee Portugal. After a brief stay in France, they made their way to Amsterdam, where the young boy and his loved ones openly returned to Judaism. Da Fonseca proved to be a prodigy, and by the age of 21 was appointed to serve as the hacham, or spiritual leader, of one of Amsterdam's three synagogues. But it was some 15 years later, in 1642, that he took the fateful, and somewhat perilous, decision to accept the post of rabbi in a community on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. THE PORT CITY of Recife, in northeastern Brazil's Pernambuco state, had recently been captured from Portuguese colonizers by the Dutch. The town's 600 Jews, most of whom were Sephardim of Portuguese origin, invited Da Fonseca to serve as leader of their community. Bravely choosing to leave behind his highly regarded position in Holland for the uncertainties of life in the New World, da Fonseca made the voyage and assumed the post of hacham of the Kahal Zur Israel synagogue. He thus became the first appointed rabbi of the Americas. The community thrived under his leadership, but just four years later, the Portuguese army attacked Recife in an effort to recapture the city. It offered the Jews protection if they agreed not to take part in the fighting, but da Fonseca and the community would hear none of it. Acutely aware of Portugal's intolerance toward the Jews, which contrasted sharply with the relative freedom they enjoyed under Dutch rule, Recife's rabbi and his flock chose to play an active part in the city's defense, courageously siding with the cause of religious liberty. For most of the next decade, while the Portuguese besieged Recife, the Jews took part in the fierce fighting, and da Fonseca led public prayers on behalf of the resistance. In a Hebrew poem that he later penned, the rabbi wrote that "many of the Jewish immigrants were killed by the enemy; many died of starvation. Those who were accustomed to delicacies were glad to be able to satisfy their hunger with dry bread; soon they could not obtain even this. They were in want of everything and were preserved alive as if by a miracle." According to the American Jewish Historical Society, it is the oldest known Hebrew text written in America. FINALLY, IN 1654, the Dutch surrendered, and the Jews were forced to leave Brazil. The rabbi and most of his congregants headed back to Holland, but a boat carrying 24 of them was blown off course and ended up in New Amsterdam (later New York), making them the first Jews to settle in North America. Back in Amsterdam, da Fonseca resumed his post as hacham, and was appointed to serve on the city's Beit Din (rabbinical court). It was there, shortly afterward, that he took part in the sharp controversy surrounding philosopher Baruch Spinoza. After Spinoza had provoked widespread anger in the Jewish community over his views on various subjects such as the eternity of the soul and the nature of God's existence, a writ of excommunication against him was read out publicly on July 24, 1656, from the pulpit of Amsterdam's Talmud Torah synagogue. Among those who consented to the ban on Spinoza was da Fonseca. Modern philosophers, of course, consider Spinoza as something of a hero, hailing him as one of the people who laid the foundations for rationalism, the Enlightenment and biblical criticism. Naturally, they view his excommunication with derision and contempt. How, then, are we to reconcile da Fonseca's participation in the ban, particularly in light of his previously forthright stance on behalf of religious freedom? The answer, I think, is really quite simple, and can be summed up in a single word, one which carries within it the secret to Jewish survival in the Diaspora: boundaries. When it came to preserving a level playing field for all religions in an open society, da Fonseca was a forceful advocate. He understood that freedom to practice one's faith was in everyone's collective interest, including of course the Jews. But when Judaism and its fundamental beliefs came under attack from within, he was no less vigorous in manning the barricades and defending the faith. Because he knew just as well that without a firm anchor, Jews could easily sail off course and assimilate. In other words, open boundaries are key as a basic ground rule for society, but strict boundaries are essential to preserving a faith community. You simply cannot have it any other way. So as important as it may be nowadays to fight for civil rights in the public sphere, it is no less crucial to strengthen the ramparts that keep us Jewish. Centuries later, it is a lesson that the Jews of America would do well to learn from their first spiritual leader, Rabbi Isaac Aboab da Fonseca. May his memory be for a blessing.
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How Far Can You Jump?
This How Far Can You Jump? lesson plan also includes:
Students estimate the distance of student's broad jumps. This activity can take place in the block center with a small group of students. They are explained that they are going to jump from a starting point (marked with the masking tape), keeping both feet together. Students are asked how to determine how far each person can jump?
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Classroom Considerations
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Portuguese is one of the largest languages in the world with 250 million native speakers. Brazil has by far the highest concentration of speakers, making it a great target for Portuguese localization.
The language is spoken in South America, South West Europe and parts of Africa. The countries that recognise Portuguese as an official language are called Lusophones or “Lusófonos” in Portuguese.
The Lusophones tend to speak European Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese. The difference in vocabulary and grammar means the localization process needs to be carried out for each, but Brazilian Portuguese is by far the most popular.
Why focus on Brazilian Portuguese?
Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Portugal are the key Portuguese speaking countries with 207, 29, 26 and 10 million speakers respectively.
Although the Brazilian economy has suffered in the last few years, the decade-long trajectory shows strong growth.
Brazil is ranked number 59 in the world for English speaking and is deemed to have “low proficiency”; Portugal is ranked twelfth.
While it’s always best practice to localize apps and software when you’re launching in new markets, the low level of English spoken in Brazil makes it doubly important.
The difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese
Portugal’s colonization of Brazil began in the 16th century. The time it took to travel between the countries created a lag in their linguistic developments and started the process of two separate dialects evolving.
As a new settlement, Brazilian Portuguese was more open to influence than Portugal. This means it adopted words and grammar from European and Asian immigrants settling in the region.
Brazil got its independence earlier than other Portuguese colonies, helping cement these differences.
The combination of distance, influence and early independence means Brazilian Portuguese is distinct from the mother language.
• Brazilians use open vowels, consonants that end in “s” often sound different and Brazilian accents have a strong cadence. It tends to have an informal tone.
• Words can be taken from English, rather than Latin, and are spelt differently.
• The language code for Brazilian Portuguese is pt-BR. The code for the Portuguese that comes from Portugal is pt-PT.
The differences mean that translations into European Portuguese won’t work well for a Brazilian Portuguese-speaking audience.
Localizing for Brazilian Portuguese
There’s a number of points to consider when localizing for Brazilian Portuguese:
• Uses the informal pronoun “você” for “you”. This is the most common way to address a user (the formal version is used for older people or the authorities).
• Adopted Anglicisms like “e-mail” and brand names.
• Translated text will be longer than English, impacting app and software design.
• Number formats vary between Brazilian and European Portuguese. For example, “million” is “milhão” for both, but “billion” is “bilião” in Brazilian and “mil milhões” in Portugal.
• Like lots of European languages, the decimal separator is a comma, and the thousands separator is a period.
The role of spelling reform
Lusophones agreed to standardise the spelling, capitalisation and hyphen usage in 1990. The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement went into effect in Portugal in 2008 and Brazil in 2009.
The goal was to make written communication and trade easier.
The changes have provided benefits for translation and localization. However, there’s been resistance to the changes and they have not been universally accepted.
So, while the reforms have provided some benefits for translation, effective localization for Brazilian Portuguese is still essential.
Should you localize for Brazilian Portuguese?
Not sure what version of Portuguese to localize for?
Brazil offers a much bigger market opportunity. You probably only want to localize for European Portuguese if you’re specifically targeting Europe.
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Acquired Brain Injury
This covers any insult to the brain where trauma is not involved but is an event of nature.
Stroke or CVA is usually a vessel occlusion in the brain damaging the nerves and therefore the function. Typically there is visual field loss in BOTH eyes. This can be addressed with Peli lenses, yoked prisms and vision training.
The location of the damaged site will dictate the field loss.
Symptoms can be similar to TBI in varying degrees, and can frequently sound quite bizarre.
When you have seen one brain injury, you have seen one brain injury because no two cases are the same. It is a matter of identifying the symptoms and experimenting with wavelengths (colour), prisms (direction of entry of light), BiNasal Occlusion (volume of visual input), and the power of lenses (which dictate the spread of light)
There can be no guarantee but we can do our best to address the symptoms as far as is humanly possible.
Parkinsons Disease
Effects eye control and posture
Multiple Sclerosis
Effects eye control
Myesthenia Gravis
Reduces eye movement
Can cause photophobia, blurry vision & time delay on visual functions
Thyroid disease
Thyroid disease may
result in double vision.
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How to brush your teeth properly?
Comment bien se brosser les dents ?
Whether it's hard, soft, hot or cold food, our teeth help us every day to cut it up into portions that fit our stomachs. In order for teeth to perform this task well into old age, it is necessary to take care of them daily and keep them healthy.
When and how often should we brush our teeth?
A thorough cleaning with a toothbrush is therefore an essential act to maintain and keep your teeth healthy. There are some basic rules to follow:
- Do not forget to brush your teeth after eating: this gives you the ideal frequency at which we should brush our teeth per day. This prevents plaque from forming and ensures good oral hygiene. However, since this is not always possible when you are away from home, a soft chewing gum for the teeth can be a solution. Chewing stimulates the flow of saliva and helps remove acids formed by bacteria. Rinsing your mouth with water after eating also helps remove bacteria.
- Apply the 2X2 rule: Brush your teeth at least twice a day for two minutes each time. Ideally, brush once in the morning after breakfast and once at night before bed.
What is the proper tooth brushing technique?
When brushing your teeth, not only food residue, but also bacterial plaque must be removed. Plaque is formed by bacteria in the mouth within a few hours and is barely visible. Together with bacteria, plaque is responsible for both tooth decay and other dental problems.
To remove plaque, the toothbrush alone is often not enough, because the brush head does not always reach all areas. There will be areas left unbrushed, where tooth decay can easily form. These are often the spaces between the teeth. To ensure that these are also properly cleaned, experts recommend the use of dental floss or interdental brushes. Cleaning the spaces between teeth reduces the possibility of developing cavities, but also other mouth diseases.
However, if you don't floss or brush properly, you can injure your teeth and gums. Let your dentist show you how to use it properly if you need help. Also, you can ask your dentist for advice on which dental products are best for you.
What is the right toothbrush to use?
Good oral hygiene is more than just brushing your teeth daily and using the right brushing technique. The right toothbrush also plays an important role.
When you buy a toothbrush today, you have a wide range to choose from. There are toothbrushes with oscillating heads to short heads, toothbrushes with straight to rounded bristles, manual toothbrushes with vibration to electric toothbrushes. So, what is the right toothbrush?
When buying a toothbrush, special attention should be paid to the bristles and the head of the toothbrush.
Toothbrush bristles:
When buying a toothbrush, the "hardness" of the bristles plays an important role. This characteristic is generally divided into three categories: soft, medium or hard. If the gums are healthy, experts recommend a brush with medium-hard bristles. If the gums are diseased or sensitive, a toothbrush with hard bristles can cause bleeding gums, so it is better to choose soft bristles.
For hygienic reasons, toothbrush bristles should be made of soft plastic. Natural bristles are hollow on the inside and therefore carry bacteria.
Toothbrush head:
The ideal toothbrush has a small head of about two to three centimeters. This allows you to reach difficult areas or narrow interdental spaces.
Our advice:
To protect the toothbrush from germ deposits, it is important to rinse it thoroughly with clean water after each use and place it upside down in a holder or put a small plastic protector on it.
Also, for those who wear braces, there are special toothbrushes and accessories that help with a gentle and thorough cleaning.
How often should I change my toothbrush?
Toothbrushes have a limited lifespan that can range from a few weeks to a few months.
As soon as you notice that the bristles are separating, it should be replaced. Indeed, it will no longer be effective when brushing your teeth. In addition, it can damage your teeth and gums.
Oral health experts recommend changing your toothbrush at least every two months.
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Humanistic Perspective: AP Psychology Study Resource
Everyone has been through something. Whether it’s small or big, positive or negative, the experiences we have growing up shape who we are as adults. The brain comprises many layers of memories. Some of these memories we suppress, while others come back to haunt us from time to time. Some are voluntarily brought out for … Continue reading “Humanistic Perspective: AP Psychology Study Resource”
Everyone has been through something.
The brain comprises many layers of memories.
Some are voluntarily brought out for enjoyment.
As human beings, we are complex.
Our needs and desires have been the center of many psychological debates over the last few decades. What drives our behavior and responses is a fascinating topic that’s unlocked many possible theories.
Let’s take a look at one of these theories.
What is the Humanistic Perspective?
human shadow
So, what is humanistic perspective, then?
Humanistic perspective, otherwise known as humanistic psychology, is the emphasis of an individual’s ability to realize their creativity and capabilities.
Wikipedia explains that the humanistic perspective grew popular in the 20th century. It was an answer to the limitations brought on by Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis and Skinner’s behaviorism model.
The humanistic perspective helps the client to conclude that everybody is inherently good. Through this, it promotes a holistic approach to the human existence and focuses on areas such as free will, creativity, and positive human potential.
The humanistic perspective encourages us as humans to see ourselves as a while being, as opposed to just being the sum of our parts. It helps us to explore ourselves rather than focusing on the behavior of others.
Another interesting aspect of humanistic psychology is its recognition of spiritual aspiration. This psychological theory believes that our spiritual hopes are inherent in our psyche.
The primary goal of this theory in client therapy is to encourage the client to change negative behaviors by replacing them with positive ones. The client does this through becoming more self-aware and practicing mindfulness.
Essentially, this therapeutic approach combines the concept of mindfulness with behavioral therapy.
A Brief History of the Humanistic Perspective
So, where did the humanistic perspective come from, then?
A few key theorists were involved in the development of this theory.
These included Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Very Well Mind also mentions Erich Fromm and Rollo May as influential theorists behind this concept.
In 1943, Maslow published a written article in the Psychological Review journal. This article was titled “A Theory of Human Motivation,” and it specifically described the hierarchy of needs that he was promoting through this theory.
After this article was published, Maslow met with other like-minded psychologists to discuss the possibility of starting an organization that focused on this new-found theory. The organization’s primary goal was to pioneer a more humanistic approach to therapy and psychology.
These like-minded psychologists all agreed on the three fundamental principles that the humanistic perspective exists on. These are self-actualization, individuality, and creativity.
Carl Rogers followed Maslow’s published article with one of his own in 1951, which he called “client-centered therapy.” In 1961, this group of psychologists established the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
Shortly after this journal was created, Maslow published another piece that detailed the three forces of psychology. He believed that these were behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and humanistic psychology.
Fundamental Principles of the Humanistic Perspective
What are the basic principles of the humanistic perspective?
Study reminds us that this revolutionary theory was in contrast to the behaviorist approach, which believed that human beings weren’t entirely aware of the reasoning and motivation behind their own behavior.
• Holistic: As has been mentioned, one of the essential principles of humanistic perspective is that a human being is a whole, not the sum of their parts.
• Environment: The humanistic perspective believes that their environment directly influences a human’s behavior. A side principle of this is that social interactions are inherent to a human’s development.
• Awareness: Humans are aware that they exist, meaning that they are fully conscious of themselves and their surroundings. They have an appreciation of the past and use past experiences to influence present and future behavior.
• Free Will: Humans have free will. This means that they are entirely in charge of the conscious choices they make. Unlike behaviorism, they do not act on impulse or by instinct alone.
• Intention: Human beings are intentional about their behavior. This is evident in their motivation to work on life goals and bring unique meaning to their life.
Personality Aspects of Humanistic Perspective
Ideal Self vs. Real Self
The famous psychologist Carl Rogers, an expert of humanistic perspective psychology, split each human being into two separate categories. These two are the ideal self and the real self. The ideal self is the person you would like to be in a perfect world; the real self is the person you are in this one. Carl Rogers proposed the idea that we need to achieve unity between these two selves.
We experience harmony in self-acceptance when our beliefs about our real self and ideal self are alike— meaning our self-concept is accurate. High congruence (harmony) leads us to a bigger sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life. On the other end, when there is a significant inconsistency between our ideal and actual selves, we experience a situation Carl Rogers called incongruence, which can lead to failure to cope in reality, both socially and personally.
Unconditional Positive Regard vs. Conditional Positive Regard
In the construction of the self-concept, Carl Rogers hoisted the value of unconditional positive regard, also known as unconditional self-love. People who are raised in a setting that offers them unconditional positive regard (where their worth is not challenged), have the opportunity to actualize themselves fully. When people grow up in an atmosphere of conditional positive regard, a reality where value and love are offered only when certain conditions are met, they must reach those conditions to gain the love or positive regard they wish to have.
These are the environments where their best is never enough. Sometimes these standards are given by parents, teachers, or other people in leadership and authority. Others, with influance on them, determine their ideal self based on these conditions, and they are forced to develop apart from their personal and genuine actualizing inclination; this adds to incongruence and puts a more significant gap between the real self and the ideal self.
Achieving an Ideal Life
Carl Rogers described life in illustrations of principles instead of stages of development to reach or achieve; he formed (or put into words) principles we live by as humans. This famous psychologist claimed that a healthy person would steadily strive to meet their potential by using these principles, which gains them the best and healthiest state of being. These people would let personality and self-concept come up from the experiences they have in daily life, allowing them to reach their ideal life and self.
Critical Evaluation of the Humanistic Perspective
While this sounds like a move in the right direction for psychology and therapy practices, the humanistic perspective does have its critics.
Simply Psychology explains that because the humanistic approach has applied to so few areas of psychology, its contributions to branches like abnormality and therapy are somewhat limited.
One potential explanation for this lies in the humanist side of this theory. The humanistic perspective has deliberately taken a non-scientific approach to the study of humans. Psychologists that believe this theory wanted to study the human mind without completely dehumanizing it.
Humanistic psychologists believe that rigorous scientific study around the conscious mind takes richness out of the experience as a whole and doesn’t account for the organic flow of the human consciousness.
As we’ve mentioned previously, much of why the humanistic perspective exists in the first place is as an answer to the dominance of a behaviorist approach in psychology before the middle of the 20th century.
Another challenge that humanistic psychologists face is the simple fact that areas like emotion and consciousness can be difficult to study. The limited outcome of scientific experiments around parts of the human brain that are like this means there’s a lack of evidence to support the proposed theories.
Humanistic Perspective Therapy
We’ve looked at the definition of the humanistic perspective and its limitations as a branch of psychology. How is it applied in a therapeutic setting?
The American Psychological Association explains that there are currently three different types of humanistic therapy:
• Client-centered: Client-centered treatment is a particularly popular method executed under the humanistic perspective umbrella. Client-centered therapy aims at rejecting the idea that the therapist is the final authority on their clients’ inner emotions and experiences. Instead, therapists help their clients change through understanding and empathy.
• Gestalt Therapy: The second approach to the humanistic perspective of therapy is Gestalt therapy. This approach places a strong emphasis on “organismic holism,” which is the importance of being aware of yourself in the present. It also encourages the client to take responsibility for their choices and behaviors based on the theory that they have free will.
• Existential Therapy: This type of humanistic therapy focuses mainly on the concept of free will and the client’s overall search for meaning in life. Existential treatment also addresses the importance of self-determination when overcoming negative behaviors and patterns of thinking.
Humanistic Perspective: Societal Application
How is the humanistic perspective applicable to society?
Wikipedia continues by discussing the importance of social work concerning this theory. Directly after psychotherapy comes social work in the humanistic perspective’s hierarchy of methodology.
In fact, this theory has led the way in revolutionizing the definition of social work itself and how this role impacts on a societal level. The values and principles that humanistic social workers hold include human creativity, developing the self and one’s spirituality, obtaining resilience and security, flexibility and accountability.
The humanistic perspective has also branched out into the corporate world. Its emphasis on wholeness and creativity has encouraged corporate organizations to embrace more of a creative approach to the work environment.
The presence of humanistic perspective in a corporate setting also seeks to encourage more emotional interactions, too.
Previously, in a work situation, the idea of creativity was reserved strictly for artists. However, with an increase in the numbers of people working in the cultural economy over the last few decades, companies have looked to creativity as a way to stand out and become noticed, especially when it comes to branding.
This shift in office environments and attitudes has led to the development of corporate creativity training, executed within the office with a particular focus on employees.
Looking at the Humanistic Perspective
woman standing in front of the window
Psychology has come a long way since the Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and Skinner’s behaviorism approach.
Slowly over time, psychologists have begun to explore different approaches to studying human behavior. When thinking outside the box and wondering where else our reasoning for behavior could come from, they came across the concept of humanistic psychology.
While this approach has its limitations like all other theories, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages.
Seeing a human being from the humanistic perspective means encouraging them to take responsibility for their own behavior.
We are more than just the sum of our parts – in fact, we’re a whole.
We’re a whole with free will who is in charge of how we behave and respond to stimuli. This allows for a much more empathetic approach in modern-day therapy, motivating the individual to participate in their own treatment for a positive outcome.
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What is the difference between chmod u+x and just chmod +x? I have seen a ton of tutorials that say to use u+x to make scripts executable. However, omitting the u doesn't seem to have any effect.
The man page of chmod covers that.
• u stands for user.
• g stands for group.
• o stands for others.
• a stands for all.
That means that chmod u+x somefile will grant only the owner of that file execution permissions whereas chmod +x somefile is the same as chmod a+x somefile.
The chmod man page says:
The format of a symbolic mode is [ugoa...][[+-=][rwxXstugo...]...][,...]. Multiple symbolic operations can be given, separated by commas.
• 1
I have a little question, what is the difference between a+x and let's say 111. It makes both executable
– John K
May 31 '15 at 12:56
• 1
That is because 1 is the octal notation which stands for the execute permission. 111 means executable for user, group and other. Jun 23 '15 at 18:47
• Great clean answer
– m4heshd
May 30 '17 at 22:47
• The umask effect is important, making chmod +x file different from chmod a+x file - see Ravexina's answer for details.
– Cinnam
Dec 1 '17 at 20:50
Just doing +x will apply it to all flags: [u]ser, [g]roup, [o]thers.
Type man chmod for more information.
• I promise I checked the manual first but didn't see it since I skipped the description and jumped down to the options. I see them now though :-) Mar 8 '11 at 23:41
First of all I suggest you to read these questions and the answers linked below:
It helps you understand all the necessary parts you need to know.
Short version
• chmod +x is equal to chmod ugo+x (Based on umask value)
• chmod a+x is equal to chmod ugo+x (Without considering umask value)
The result of chmod a+x is to set the executable bit for everyone (Owner, Group, Others), easy right?
However with chmod +x it's a little bit tricky, it says use umask value and based on that value add the x to everyone that is allowed.
So if the umask of my environment is 0002:
$ umask
$ umask -S
It's going to add x to user (owner), group and others, in this situation (which is the default situation for most systems) it's exactly like chmod ugo+x or the same as chmod a+x, or in a more verbose form:
chmod u+x,g+x,o+x
Can you spot the connection between chmod u+x,g+x,o+x and the output of umask -S?
Now let’s change the umask of the current shell to 0003:
$ umask 0003
$ umask
$ umask -S
As you can see now only owner and group are going to get the executable bit and not the others. It means chmod +x is now equal to chmod u+x,g+x or chmod ug+x.
Question time!
What happens if I run chmod +w on a file after setting umask to 0003?
Same as before, it only affects user and group of the file because 3 also removes the write permission (2).
It has the same effect when you are removing a bit like chmod -w:
$ mkdir test
$ stat -c %A test
$ umask
$ chmod +w test
$ stat -c %A test
$ chmod a+w test
$ stat -c %A test
$ chmod -w test
chmod: test/: new permissions are r-xr-xrwx, not r-xr-xr-x
$ stat -c %A test
chmod u+x will made the file executable for your user (it will only add it for your user, though it may be already executable by the group owner, or "other").
chmod +x or chmod a+x ('all plus executable bit') makes the file executable by everyone.
If you do this to a directory, it makes the directory searchable, instead. I.e., you can list the contents of a directory that you have +x permission on.
• @AnkitGupta I'm not sure what you're saying. My comment wasn't intended to fix a problem in a different Q&A. Try asking for clarification to answers there instead. Edit your question to say what you've tried. Show the output.
– belacqua
Aug 20 '12 at 19:00
• chmod u+x file means add the executable bit to the owner of the file while ignoring the umask (Your mod will be set, no question).
• chmod +x file means add the executable bit to the owner, group and others while considering the umask (First check with umask then apply the mods, it might have different effects based on umask's value ).
let's create two files:
$ touch file1 file2
$ ls -l file1 file2
-rw-rw-rw- 1 ravexina ravexina 0 Aug 5 01:45 file1
-rw-rw-rw- 1 ravexina ravexina 0 Aug 5 01:45 file2
Now I set the umask to "111" to remove executable bits: umask 111.
$ chmod u+x file1
$ chmod +x file2
$ ls -l file1 file2
-rwxrw-rw- 1 ravexina ravexina 0 Aug 5 01:47 file1
-rw-rw-rw- 1 ravexina ravexina 0 Aug 5 01:47 file2
As you can see the chmod ignored the umask and the file1 got executable bit for its owner however the second one did nothing because it's considering umask's value.
Your Answer
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The news keeps talking about the black boxes on aircraft that end up in water, and one thing that keeps coming up is the underwater locator beacon that transmits a signal for 30 days if it gets wet.
What kind of signal does it transmit and what kind of range does it have? I'm guessing that the depth of water that it is in will affect how far away that it can be detected, but by how much?
This excellent explanation is taken from Avionics News in 2006:
FDRs are equipped with an Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB). If you look at a picture of an FDR, you will almost always see a small, cylindrical object attached to one end of the device.
If a plane crashes into the water, this beacon sends out an ultrasonic pulse that cannot be heard by human ears but is readily detectable by sonar and acoustical locating equipment.
There is a submergence sensor on the side of the beacon that looks like a bull's-eye. When water touches this sensor, it activates the beacon.
The beacon sends out pulses at 37.5 kilohertz (kHz) and can transmit sound as deep as 14,000 feet (4,267 m). Once the beacon begins "pinging", it pings once per second for 30 days.
Newer FDRs can now transmit as deep as 20,000 ft.
The following table is taken from a fascinatingly detailed article on Hydro International about the retrieval of black boxes. It shows the radius you can pick up the signal of a pinger from:
Notice that if pingers were replaced with more powerful transponders, the range could be drastically improved!
The article also points out, that in very deep water:
• 1
$\begingroup$ I imagine that the performance characteristics of their underwater passive sonar is something that most Navies are not inclined to discuss openly. In deep water it will also be highly dependent on background noise, halo and thermo-clines the topography etc $\endgroup$ Apr 6 '14 at 16:09
• $\begingroup$ I wonder if the pinger could send one pulse per second for 15 days, one every two seconds for another 15 days, then one every four for 15 days, one every eight for 15, etc., or if factors other than energy capacity are responsible for the 30-day limit? $\endgroup$
– supercat
Jan 19 '15 at 16:35
• $\begingroup$ You says it shows the "radius" in which we can pick up the signal, but then the figure states it's the max "depth"... So is it the radius at the surface of the water, or the depth distance below the surface ?? $\endgroup$
– Matt
Nov 23 '16 at 16:52
3km..just one mile away from the source. They must be right over it, if they heard the ping for 2 hours 20 minutes. But the Chinese guys with the more primitive gear...what were they hearing...maybe the other recorder.
• 1
$\begingroup$ The Haixun 01 and the Ocean Shield are 300 nautical miles apart so it's hard to see how the signals they each detected could be from CVR & FDR from the same aircraft. Also The Ocean Shield is reported to have detected two independent signals in the same vicinity. $\endgroup$ Apr 7 '14 at 8:04
Sound waves travel through water for incredible distances. For example world war two mines were still to be heard many hundreds of miles from the original source of the explosion and more interesting, they were heard several years after the event that caused the sound wave, so it is probable that it was the sound waves of pings rather than the actual ping that has been detected.
I think it does -- per the table in Danny Beckett's answer you have a maximum of 7km range. If the black box is 4km deep in the water, you would have to be no more than 3km from it to hear it.
• 1
$\begingroup$ If you're 4 km up and 3 km to the side, that's only 5 km straight-line distance. With your numbers the surface distance would be more like 5¾ km. $\endgroup$ Apr 6 '14 at 15:33
• $\begingroup$ Per the table, a pinger is only detectable within a max range of 5km in good conditions. $\endgroup$ Apr 6 '14 at 16:10
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Biosphere reserve Flusslandschaft Elbe-Brandenburg
Fog wafts over the land and bathes the awakening landscape in a mystical light. The Elbe, Germany's third most biggest river, passes through the countryside in wide meanders.
Foto: Archiv Tourismusverband Prignitz e.V./Klauke Kleis
The biosphere reserve Flusslandschaft Elbe-Brandenburg is part of the global network of over 600 biosphere reserves. They present model regions in terms of sustainable development in the areas of agriculture, forestry, regional development and tourism. With the help of local people, the cultural landscape is protected and developed. The Prignitz has been first populated by settlers between 6000 – 2000 B.C. By the year 1330, the Elbe has been diked and the towns Wittenberge, Perleberg and Putlitz were founded.
Foto: Archiv Tourismusverband Prignitz e.V./Markus Tiemann
The Brandenburgian part of the biosphere reserve spans the area between Dömitz and the border of Saxony-Anhalt, and is about 74 (river) kilometres long. This cultural landscape offers a mosaic of various habitats that are home to several different animals and plants. Especially important are the big river itself as well as its countless tributary rivers, riparian forests, brackish waters, seeps, flood channels, and pastures. In the near-natural flood plains of the Elbe rare birds feel especially comfortable. Guests can observe black storks, white-tailed eagles, cranes, and white storks. The wetlands offer the white stork the best living conditions which lead to Rühstädt attaining the status of European Stork Village.
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is owned and operated by the Economic History Association
with the support of other sponsoring organizations.
The International Origins of the Federal Reserve System
Author(s):Broz, J. Lawrence
Reviewer(s):Wheelock, David C.
Published by EH.NET (June 1999)
J. Lawrence Broz. The International Origins of
the Federal Reserve System. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997. xiii
+ 269 pp.
$35,ISBN: 0-8014-3332-0.
Review for EH.NET by David C. Wheelock, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Why was the Federal Reserve System established? The common view is that the
Fed was established as a public good to correct deficiencies in the U.S.
banking and payments system that made the system inefficient and prone to
crises. Reform proponents blamed crises on the nation’s “inelastic currency”–
stocks of currency and bank reserves that did not adjust with seasonal or
cyclical fluctuations in demand, let alone in response to bank runs. Other
proponents of reform pointed to the difficulty of making inter-regional
payments, citing long delays and high costs associated with the clearing of
checks and drafts. Still other reformers decried the concentration of bank
reserves in the central money markets and the investment of correspondent
balances in stock market call loans. A less import ant goal of reformers, the
traditional view argues, was to promote use of the dollar in international
trade and finance.
J. Lawrence Broz argues that the goal of promoting the dollar as an
international currency was in fact the primary consideration of reform
proponents, and that reform was achieved only by alignment of strong private
interests for promoting international usage of the dollar with the general
public interest of improving the stability of the U.S. payments system. The
establishment of the
Federal Reserve System thus fits a “joint products” model, in which
institutional change produces a public good, but occurs only because of the
efforts of a narrow interest group seeking private gain.
The United States’ share of world exports, particular ly of manufactured goods,
rose during the last decades of the nineteenth century, and by the early
twentieth century the Untied States enjoyed an increasingly persistent current
account surplus. Despite these gains, the dollar was not used widely in inter
national commerce because, Broz contends, U.S. banks were prohibited from
issuing bankers acceptances to finance international trade and the U.S. lacked
a central bank with the power to create liquidity as needed by re-discounting
commercial paper. Because the dollar was not an international currency,
American exporters faced exchange risk and high transactions costs, while
American banks were largely shut out of the market for financing international
transactions. A coalition of leading bankers and manufacturers thus developed
with the goal of enhancing the dollar’s role as an international currency by
reforming American banking laws and institutions.
For the dollar to be acceptable to international markets, the stability and
efficiency of the U.S. banking and payments system had to be enhanced.
Thus, the interests of large U.S. banks and exporters aligned with the public
interest generally. The creation of the Federal Reserve System, Broz argues,
was an institutional reform that was consistent with both sets of interests.
Various alternatives for improving the domestic payments system, such as
adoption of nationwide branch banking, were insufficient to meet the interests
of internationally-oriented bankers and businessmen, and hence failed
to inspire a
strong coalition to push for their adoption.
Broz points to two features of the Federal Reserve Act that were crucial for
gaining acceptance of the dollar for international payments. First, the act
permitted U.S. banks to issue bankers acceptances to finance foreign trade.
Second, the act established facilities to re-discount acceptances and other
commercial paper, thereby adding depth and liquidity to the U.S.
money market. Other features of the legislation directly benefiting large banks
included a reduction of reserve requirements and authority for banks with
capital of at least $1 million to establish foreign branches. The legislation
thereby solved, apparently, the problems of an inelastic currency and an
inefficient payments system, while promoting the dollar’s use as an
international currency.
While the fundamental reforms embedded in the Federal Reserve Act provided the
key ingredients for promoting the dollar as an international currency,
specific features of the Act reflected give and take among various private and
public interests. Banks outside the central money market, for example,
were strong proponents of a currency backed by commercial paper, while New York
City bankers by and large preferred a currency backed by government bonds.
outside New York City also favored a decentralized system that limited the
ability of New York City banks to dominate. Bankers in general and many in
Congress favored a system controlled by banks themselves, but the Wilson
Administration, and especially
William Jennings Bryan, pushed for strong public oversight in the form of a
Federal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve System was the product of compromise
at every stage and detail.
Broz supports his study of the origins of the Federal Reserve by examining how
well the founding of other central banks fit his joint products model.
The central banks he considers are the Bank of England, and the First and
Second Banks of the United States. In contrast to the Federal Reserve, each of
these banks was created
in part for government revenue. In exchange for providing loans on favorable
terms to the government, the owners of the banks were granted certain monopoly
privileges. The Bank of England was given a monopoly over note issuance, while
the First and Second Banks of the United States profited as the government’s
fiscal agents, as well as from their unique ability to branch nationwide. Broz
argues persuasively that the Bank of England survived, while the two U.S. banks
did not because in the United States federalism created a potent political
opposition that could be exploited by private enemies of the central bank.
While Andrew Jackson’s militant “hard money” philosophy explains his opposition
to the Second Bank, Wall Street bankers also sought to kill the
Bank on the grounds that its monopoly position as the government’s fiscal
agent gave the Bank advantages that state-chartered banks did not have.
I find little to quibble with Broz’s explanation of the origins of the Federal
Reserve System. Clearly the
most ardent proponents of establishing a central bank, especially the New York
bankers, sought to establish a major international money market in the United
States and to promote the dollar in international commerce and finance. There
was, however, strong
opposition to the establishment of a “central bank,” particularly one dominated
by New York bankers, and key players in shaping the Federal Reserve Act, such
as Carter Glass, William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson, sought to limit the
influence on the
System of New York banks.
Nonetheless, Broz has persuaded me that establishment of the Federal Reserve
required the ongoing support of leading banks and others who sought to firmly
establish the U.S. dollar as an international currency. I highly recommend
this book for anyone interested in either the history of the Federal Reserve or
other central banks, or for those interested in the origins of institutions and
institutional change more broadly.
David C. Wheelock is Assistant Vice President and Economist at the Federal
Reserve Bank of St. Louis. His research interests are the history of the
Federal Reserve System and other monetary policy institutions, and the
regulation and performance of commercial banks.
Geographic Area(s):North America
Time Period(s):20th Century: Pre WWII
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Forshadowing in the Lottery
January 5, 2017 General Studies
In The Lottery Shirley Jackson uses subtle foreshadowing to hint at the shocking ending without giving the reader a clear idea of what is going to occur. Throughout the story the reader is made to feel increasingly uncomfortable by bring the events to a head.
At the beginning of the story a pretty picture is painted of a nice summer day. The reader is first aware of the Lottery by saying that other towns have to start a day early due to larger populations. However, in this town she writes that the lottery takes only two hours and that the town’s people can be home by lunch. This is the first clue that something about the lottery is amiss. If the lottery were something that the villagers looked forward to being home or the time wouldn’t be an issue. Shirley Jackson then takes about the children. She says that school has let out but instead of the excitement of the summer “the feeling of liberty sat uneasily with most of them”. This shows that some of the children understand that they are not truly free until some event occurs. It’s very subtle because she does not come out and say why the children are uneasy and not free to romp casually. The boys are also gathering stones. A great emphasis is put on this describing the stones and also that they guard their piles against the other boys. The girls are groups together looking over their shoulder or in some cases holding the hands of holder brothers and sisters. If this was a casual setting the children would not feel the need to have the comfort of physical contact of their siblings. The author is subtly point at the uneasiness of the children without making a big deal of it. .
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The adults and how they behave when they gather is the next step. She states that the men gather away from the stones. In a usual description this would not need to be brought up. Since she specifically states this we suspect that the stones hold a bigger function than just boys playing around.
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Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
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Lead Poisoning Remains a Problem in the United StatesBut it is Preventable
Lead has no known value to the human body and can adversely affect nearly every body system. Because lead poisoning often occurs with no obvious symptoms, it frequently goes unrecognized. Therefore, many children with lead poisoning go undiagnosed and untreated.
Young children are particularly at risk for lead exposure because they have frequent hand-to-mouth activity and absorb lead more easily than do adults. Children’s nervous systems are still undergoing development and thus are more susceptible to the effects of toxic agents. Lead is also harmful to the developing fetuses of pregnant women.
Low levels of lead can cause reduced intelligence and attention span, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. Very high lead levels (blood lead levels 70[micro]g/ dL or greater) can cause severe neurological problems such as coma, convulsions, and even death. Such levels are now rare in the United States.
No safe blood lead level in children has been determined. About 310,000 U.S. children aged 1-5 years have blood lead levels greater than 10[micro]g/dL, the level targeted for elimination by 2010.
What is Lead?
Lead is a naturally occurring, bluish-gray metal found in small amounts in the earth’s crust. Lead contamination is widespread in the modern environment. Much of it comes from human activities including burning leaded gasoline, mining, and manufacturing. Lead is still used in many products today. It is used in batteries, ammunition, metal products (solder and pipes), and devices to shield x-rays. However, lead in paint is the main high-dose source of lead exposure to U.S. children today.
Lead was widely used in paint through the 1940s. That use declined during the 1950s and 1960s, and lead was banned from paint for residential use in 1978. Even so, lead remains a hazard in homes built before the ban, especially in pre-1950 housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, nearly 38 million housing units contain lead-based paint.
The most common sources of lead exposure for children are chips and particles of deteriorated lead paint. Although children may be exposed to lead from paint directly by swallowing paint chips, they are more commonly exposed by ingesting house dust or soil contaminated by leaded paint. Lead paint chips become ground into tiny bits that become part of the dust and soil in and around homes. This usually occurs when leaded paint deteriorates or is subject to friction or abrasion (as on doors and windowsills and wells). In addition, lead can be dispersed when paint is disturbed during demolition, remodeling, paint removal, or preparation of painted surfaces for repainting.
* Traditional home health remedies such as azarcon and greta, which are used for upset stomach or indigestion, and paylooah, which is used for rash or fever
* Some imported candies (specifically those from Mexico)
* Imported toy jewelry
* Some imported cosmetics
* Pottery and ceramics
* Drinking water contaminated by lead leached from lead pipes, solder, brass fixtures, or valves
* Consumer products, including tea kettles and sidewalk chalk
Additionally, a variety of work and hobby activities and products expose adults to lead. This also can result in lead exposure for their families. Activities that are associated with lead exposure include indoor firing range use, home repairs and remodeling, and pottery making. “Take-home” exposures may result when people whose jobs expose them to lead wear their work clothes home or wash them with the family laundry. It also may result when they bring scrap or waste material home from work.
Prevention Strategies:
The goal is to prevent lead exposure to children before they are harmed. There are many ways parents can reduce a child’s exposure to lead. The key is stop children from coming into contact with lead. Lead hazards in a child’s environment must be identified and controlled or removed safely.
Lead-based paint is the major source of exposure for lead in U.S. children. All houses built before 1978 are likely to contain some lead-based paint. However, it is the deterioration of this paint that causes a problem. You should determine the construction year of the house or the dwelling where the child may spend a large amount of time (e.g., grandparents or daycare). In housing built before 1978, assume that the paint has lead unless tests show otherwise.
* Create barriers between living/play areas and lead sources. Until environmental clean-up is completed, parents should clean and isolate all sources of lead. They should close and lock doors to keep children away from chipping or peeling paint on walls. You can also apply temporary barriers such as contact paper or duct tape, to cover holes in walls or to block children’s access to other sources of lead.
* Regularly wet-mop floors and wet-wipe window components. Because household dust is a major source of lead, parents should wet-mop floors and wet-wipe horizontal surfaces every 2-3 weeks. Windowsills and wells can contain high levels of leaded dust. They should be kept clean. If feasible, windows should be shut to prevent abrasion of painted surfaces or opened from the top sash.
* Prevent children from playing in bare soil; if possible, provide them with sandboxes. Parents should plant grass on areas of bare soil or cover the soil with grass seed, mulch, or wood chips, if possible. Until the bare soil is covered, parents should move play areas away from bare soil and away from the sides of the house. If using a sandbox, parents should also cover the box when not in use to prevent cats from using it as a litter box. That will help protect children from exposure to animal waste.
To further reduce a child’s exposure from nonpaint sources:
* Avoid using traditional home remedies and cosmetics that may contain lead.
* Avoid eating candies imported from Mexico.
* Avoid using containers, cookware, or tableware to store or cook foods or liquids that are not shown to be lead-free.
* Shower and change clothes after finishing a task that involves working with lead-based products such as stained glass work, bullet making, or using a firing range.
If you are concerned that your child may have been exposed to lead, ask your doctor for a blood lead test. This simple test is the ONLY way to know for sure that your child does not have an elevated blood lead level. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that children ages 6-72 months who live in or frequently visit older buildings, including day care centers, have a blood lead test. Siblings, housemates, visitors, and playmates of children with confirmed lead poisoning may have similar exposures to lead and should be promptly tested. Children may also be exposed to other sources, such as those mentioned above, and should have a blood lead test. Children who have recently moved to the United States should be tested as well.
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Lewis Structure, Science
SO42- Lewis Structure, Hybridization, Bond Angle and Molecular Geometry
SO42- Lewis Structure, Hybridization, Bond Angle and Molecular Geometry
SO42- is a chemical name of the sulfate ion. It comprises one Sulphur atom, four Oxygen atoms and a charge of -2. It is a polyatomic anion and is used widely to synthesize other sulfates such as Zinc Sulfates, Magnesium sulfates, Iron sulfates and much more. It is also a sulfate salt for sulphuric acids. As this molecule has many applications in various industries today, it is vital to know its Lewis Structure, Molecular Geometry, and more.
Name of molecule Sulfate ion
No of Valence Electrons in the molecule 32
Hybridization of SO42- sp3 hybridization
Bond Angles Approximately 109.5°
Molecular Geometry of SO42- Tetrahedral
In this blog post, we will go through all the details related to this molecule. Right from valence electrons to shape, you will find everything related to SO42- ion here.
SO42- Valence electrons
For determining the Lewis Structure for any molecule, we first need to know the total number of valence electrons. These electrons are the ones that are present in the outermost shell of the atom and participate in forming bonds.
Here we have one Sulphur atom and 4 Oxygen atoms, and both these elements belong to the same group and have six valence electrons in their outermost shell.
But as there is a -2 charge on this molecule, it means that it accepts two additional electrons to attain a stable structure, and hence we have to consider these electrons as well.
Total valence electrons for SO42- = 6 + 6(4)+2 = 32
Hence there are a total of 32 valence electrons for the Sulfate ion.
SO42- Lewis Structure
The Lewis Structure of any molecule helps to understand the bonding of atoms in the structure. Apart from that, it also helps to know the molecular shape, polarity and other properties of the molecule. Generally, while forming bonds with other atoms, every atom tries to follow an octet rule that states that an atom must have eight valence electrons to attain a stable structure. There are some exceptions to this rule certainly, but the majority of the atoms follow this rule.
For determining the Lewis Structure for SO42- molecule, we need to know the feeling:
• Total valence electrons
• The central atom in the molecule
• Arrangement of the atoms in the molecule
• Bonds formed in the molecule
Here as we already have the total number of valence electrons, we can start by determining the central atom. To determine which atom takes the central atom, always remember that the less electronegative atom takes the central position, and more electronegative atoms are arranged around it. This doesn’t apply to Hydrogen atoms, as these atoms never take the central position.
In SO42-, if you compare the electronegativities of Sulphur and Oxygen atom, Oxygen is more electronegative than the Sulphur atom. So as a result of this Sulphur atom will take the central position, and all the Oxygen atoms are arranged around it.
So place a Sulfur atom in the center and Oxygen atoms around it. Now that you have the arrangement of the atoms in the molecule, we can look at the bonding of atoms.
As mentioned above, each atom will try to have eight valence electrons in its outer shell to attain a stable structure. So place a pair of electrons between each Oxygen and Sulphur atom to show a single bond.
Placing four single bonds will use eight valence electrons out of 32, which means we are only left with 24 valence electrons now. Start putting these electrons around the Oxygen atom, as Sulphur has shared four electrons with the Oxygen atoms.
Now doing this, you might wonder that this is the correct way to present the Lewis Structure, but it is suggested to calculate the formal charges to do so. You can either use our Formal charge calculator to find the charges on the atoms or use the following formula:
F.C = Valence electrons – Nonbonding pairs of electrons * ½ bonding pairs of electrons
Using this formula, you will find out that when there are four single bonds in this molecule, each Oxygen atom has a charge of -1, and the Sulphur atom has the charge of -2. So if you add up the charges, it is 4(-1)+ (-2) = -6, which is technically wrong as we have a charge of -2 on this ion.
Besides, the Sulphur atom cannot have a higher negative charge than the Oxygen atom as it is less electronegative than it. So this is not the correct Lewis Structure.
SO42- lewis structure
However, if you shift electrons from the Oxygen atom and form a double bond with the Sulfur atom, it might solve our problem. Repeat the same for another Oxygen atom as well. Now you have two double bonds and two single bonds in the structure.
Sulphur can accommodate more than eight valence electrons in its outer shell; it is okay if it exceeds the limit of 8. So always remember that elements like Phosphorus, sulfur, etc can have expanded octets to accommodate more electrons.
Calculating the formal charges for this Lewis Structure will give you the following values:
Sulfur has a net charge of zero.
Oxygen forming double bonds have a net charge of zero.
And the Oxygen atoms forming single bonds have a -1 charge; in total, there are two such atoms, and hence the ion has an overall charge of -2.
As these charges are now in accordance with the charges mentioned on the ion, this is the accepted Lewis Structure for the sulfate ion. Also, remember always to put brackets and mention the charge while writing the Lewis Structure for the ions.
Hence, this is the Lewis Structure for SO42-.
SO42- Hybridization
There are several ways and techniques to find out the Hybridization for any given atom in the molecule. But in my opinion, the easiest way to do this is by finding out the steric number or counting the number of electron regions around the central atom.
Here, sulfur forms bonds with four oxygen atoms, which means four electron regions are around it. To accommodate the electrons shared in these bonds, it needs to form 4 hybrid orbitals. As a result, there is a formation of one s-hybrid orbital and three p-hybrid orbitals. ( Each s orbital can accommodate 2 electrons, and p orbital can accommodate 6 electrons). Hence SO42- ion has an sp3 hybridization.
SO42- Molecular Geometry
We can determine the molecular geometry of any given molecule using the VSEPR theory model and the AXN notation method. For example, for the Sulphate ion, the AXN notation would be AX4, as it forms bonds with four oxygen atoms. And as a result of this, it has a tetrahedral molecular geometry.
Therefore, SO42- ion has a tetrahedral molecular geometry.
SO42- Bond angles
The bond angles for molecules having a tetrahedral geometry are generally 109.5 degrees, but as there are double bonds, it might be close to this angle but not precisely 109.5 degrees.
SO42- Bond Angle
SO42- Shape
As predicted by the VSEPR theory, a molecule that consists of the central atom forming bonds with four atoms has a tetrahedral shape; a sulfate ion also has a tetrahedral shape.
Concluding Remarks
To conclude this blogpost on SO42- ion we can summarize the following from the information stated above:
• SO42- ion has one Sulfur atom, which takes the central position.
• All the Oxygen atoms are arranged around the central atom.
• Two out of four Oxygen atoms form double bonds with Sulfur atoms.
• There are a total of 32 valence electrons for this ion.
• As all the electrons are used up in bond formation, there are no lone pairs of electrons on the sulfur atom.
• The bond angles are approximately 109.5 degrees.
• It has a tetrahedral molecular shape and -2 charge as it accepts two additional electrons to attain a stable structure.
• The -2 charges are due to the two Oxygen atoms forming a single bond with the Sulfur atom.
About Priyanka
To read, write and know something new every day is the only way I see my day! Well, that rhymed. Hey folks, this is me, Priyanka, writer at Geometry of Molecules where I want to make Chemistry easy to learn and quick to understand. Having an MSc degree helps me explain these concepts better. I write all the blogs after thorough research, analysis and review of the topics. And if not writing you will find me reading a book in some cosy cafe!
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In the notes on programming language syntax page, an example parser
Two powerful List functions provided by F# are List.fold and List.foldBack. These are similar to List.reduce and List.reduceBack, but more general. Both take a binary function f, an initial value i, and a list [x1;x2;x3;...;xn]. Then List.fold returns
(f ... (f (f (f i x1) x2) x3) ... xn)
while List.foldBack returns
(f x1 (f x2 (f x3 ... (f xn i) ... )))
In spite of this complicated behavior, they can be implemented very simply:
> let rec fold f a = function
| [] -> a
| x::xs -> fold f (f a x) xs;;
> let rec foldBack f xs a =
match xs with
| [] -> a
| y::ys -> f y (foldBack f ys a);;
val foldBack : ('a -> 'b -> 'b) -> 'a list -> 'b -> 'b
(Note that they don’t take their arguments in the same order.)
Each of these functions can be used to implement flatten, which “flattens” a list of lists:
let flatten1 xs = List.fold (@) [] xs
let flatten2 xs = List.foldBack (@) xs []
For example,
> flatten1 [[1;2];[];[3];[4;5;6]];;
Compare the efficiency of flatten1 xs and flatten2 xs, both in terms of asymptotic time compexity and experimentally. To make the analysis simpler, assume that xs is a list of the form [[1];[2];[3];...;[n]].
Interpreter 0 In this problem, we begin our exploration of the use of F# for language-oriented programming. You will write an F# program to evaluate arithmetic expressions written in the language given by the following context-free grammar:
E -> n | -E | E + E | E - E | E * E | E / E | (E)
In the above, n is an integer literal, -E is the negation of E, the next four terms are the sum, difference, product, and quotient of expressions, and (E) is used to control the order of evaluation of expressions, as in the expression 3*(5-1).
Rather than working directly with the concrete syntax above, we will imagine that we have a parser that parses input into an abstract syntax tree, as is standard in real compilers. Hence your interpreter will take an input of the following discriminated union type:
type Exp =
Num of int
| Neg of Exp
| Sum of Exp * Exp
| Diff of Exp * Exp
| Prod of Exp * Exp
| Quot of Exp * Exp
Note how this definition mirrors the grammar given above. For instance, the constructor Num makes an integer into an Exp, and the constructor Sum makes a pair of Exp‘s into an Exprepresenting their sum. Interpreting abstract syntax trees is much easier than trying to interpret concrete syntax directly. Note that there is no need for a constructor corresponding to parentheses, as the example given above would simply be represented by
Prod(Num 3, Diff(Num 5, Num 1))
which represents the parse tree which looks like
Your job is to write an F# function evaluatethat takes an abstract syntax tree and returns the result of evaluating it. Most of the time, evaluating a tree will produce an integer, but we must address the possibility of dividing by zero. This could be handled by raising an exception, but instead we choose to make use of the built-in F# type
type 'a option = None | Some of 'a
Thus evaluate will have type Exp -> int option, allowing it to return Some m in the case of a successful evaluation, and Nonein the case of an evaluation that fails due to dividing by zero. For example,
> evaluate (Prod(Num 3, Diff(Num 5, Num 1)));;
val it : int option = Some 12
> evaluate (Diff(Num 3, Quot(Num 5, Prod(Num 7, Num 0))));;
val it : int option = None
Naturally, evaluate e should use recursion to evaluate each of e‘s sub-expressions; it should also use match to distinguish between the cases of successful or failed sub-evaluations. To get you started, here is the beginning of the definition of evaluate:
let rec evaluate = function
| Num n -> Some n
| Neg e -> match evaluate e with
| ...
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What is an appendectomy?
An appendectomy entails surgical removal of an appendix, a tiny tube-shaped bulge linked to the large intestine of every human being. It is normally performed when the appendix gets inflamed.
The jury is, however, divided on the exact function of the appendix. Some say it helps humans in recuperating from diarrhea or when small and large intestines get inflamed or infected. On the other hand, other medical experts aver that a human body does not need an appendix to function normally.
Why it is necessary
But when an appendix is inflamed, it allows bacteria within it to proliferate, causing pus to be formed. Because of the increase in bacteria and the accumulation of pus, people feel pain surrounding the region within the belly button and this can extend to the abdomen’s lower right section.
Patients suffering from appendicitis, therefore, feel much more pain when they walk and cough. They may feel uneasy and also have symptoms like nausea and diarrhea. In fact, it may be life-threatening if not treated immediately, leading to the rupture of the appendix.
After a surgeon performs an appendectomy, the majority of patients recoup immediately without any side-effects. The patients need to rest for a few days after that treatment so that wounds get healed well.
Why proper diet after appendectomy is important
After an appendectomy is performed, the patients need to have a proper diet to improve their gastrointestinal system.
Let us have a look at what the eating regimen of patients should be like after the surgery.
Their foods must contain bromelain – which is an enzyme found predominantly in pineapples. It is renowned for ameliorating pain and treating wounds. Bromelain hastens the process of healing wounds and mitigates possibilities of swelling of tissues and muscles after a surgery
Patients recovering after undergoing an appendectomy need to take vitamin C in high amounts. This vitamin is a crucial element in all facets of healing internal wounds. It is found in lime, lemons, kiwi fruits, guavas, red capsicum, oranges, and grapefruit, among others.
Another vital ingredient for recovering patients is vitamin A which hastens the recompensing process of the human body. It helps activate the cell reproduction procedure. Vitamin A is found in abundant quantities in dark leafy vegetables, carrots, potatoes, papayas, mangoes, chicken liver, milk, and eggs.
It is recommended that patients who are being treated post appendectomy to improve their immune system by having foods that contain inflammation like ginger, broccoli, celery, blueberries, beets, etc. to keep at bay any prospects of perforations in their bodies.
The patients should also take foods that are rich in zinc so that it does not affect their bodies’ normal healing process. Zinc is found in peanuts, legumes, milk products, and egg yolks.
After people are affected by appendicitis, they need to ensure that their stomachs get fully recovered again by having enough probiotic foods. When the patients are being treated after surgery, they are administered an excess of antibiotics and anesthetics that affect their bowels. To make them healthy in these parts of the body again consumption of yogurt, cheese, buttermilk, etc. is encouraged.
These people should also eat foods that are rich in arginine and Omega3. While arginine is found in pumpkin seeds, chicken, dairy products, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, lentils, etc., Omega 3 is found in fish, walnuts, eggs, etc.
Foods to keep off after appendix surgery
Foods to avoid after appendix surgery are those with high-fat content. Foods rich in fat increase pain in the abdomen and are not easy to digest. Onion rings, french fries, and foods without too much salt, sugar, and chemical additives must be strictly avoided. To be on the safe side, they should avoid processed food entirely. On the other hand, increased intake of fiber is encouraged.
If you or your loved ones are exhibiting any signs of appendicitis, do not defer the treatment. Consult Vitality’s Laser Piles clinic in Hyderabad to schedule an appointment.
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I Stood There Alone or the Fall of Troy
December 9, 2020 by Essay Writer
In lines 2.730-2.742 of Virgil’s Aeneid Aeneas is describing the terror that hefelt when he finally realized that Troy was falling to the Greeks. In these ten linesVirgil uses careful diction to create an image of a solitary Aeneas pausing for a briefmoment to observe the demise of his city. By elaborately detailing each of Aeneas’sthoughts Virgil achieves an effect of time slowing down: To the reader, it seems thatthe frenzied action of a city coming to its knees is slowed down while one mancollects his thoughts. On another level, Aeneas is describing his terror to QueenDido and her court, and he is attempting to evoke a strong sense of pity from hislisteners, the Carthaginians, whom he will soon need to help him build boats. In thispassage, Virgil’s wording, imagery and subtle parallel meanings help him to create apassage that can be appreciated for the tremendous mental picture it elicits as wellas the numerous interpretations that can be found within it.
Virgil’s precise choice of words greatly accommodates the metaphoricalmeanings of the passage. In the first line Aeneas says that for the “first time thatnight” he began to realize the dire state of affairs in that had befallen Troy. Thewords “first time” indicate that Aeneas has been in a sort of dream state in theevents that occurred previously. Since Aeneas is relating this story to a crowdstating that it is the “first time” he has felt fear or “inhuman shuddering” it appearsthat he is bragging about his courage; in other words, neither the ominoussnake-signs of the previous day nor his nightmare of Hector, nor awakening to findhis city in flames, nor his dangerous skirmishes with Greeks were enough to scarethe brave Aeneas. In fact, if “night” is interpreted to mean the bad luck of war thathas befallen Troy for the past ten years Aeneas is telling the crowd that he was neverscared throughout the entire war with the Greeks! Either way, Aeneas was notscared and did not even realize the desperateness of his situation until he saw KingPriam killed. Only then did the “inhuman shuddering” take him “head to foot”.
Virgil’s description of Aeneas’s shuddering as “inhuman” is interestingbecause it causes the reader to ask What is inhuman? This adjective lends itself to acouple different interpretations. If “inhuman” is read as “not human” – godlike-then the reader can assume that the gods have filled Aeneas with fear for somereason, possibly to make him flee and save his life. If “inhuman” is read as “nothumane” then it is possible that Virgil is pointing out that the Greeks are acting ininhuman ways and are therefore creating an atmosphere in which Aeneas isquaking with “inhuman shuddering”. Finally, it should be noted that Aeneas didnot willingly shudder. In a brilliant use of a verb Virgil has Aeneas say that”inhuman shuddering took me” implying that Aeneas played a passive role inexperiencing fear: Aeneas didn’t fear, fear took Aeneas.
Virgil’s careful word choice manifests itself again when Aeneas describeshimself standing “unmanned” – a word that has several different connotations. Onthe one hand “unmanned” can be interpreted as meaning that Aeneas is standingalone, without anyone to help him as he watches the blazing conflagration of Troy.On another level “unmanned” can mean that Aeneas himself has been “unmanned”,i.e. he is helpless and no amount of manly bravery will get him out of this disaster.
In the lines that follow, Aeneas gives a dissertation about his loved ones. Heimagines his father dying in the same fashion as King Priam has just died. It ishard to imagine that Aeneas would be more heartbroken by any other event thanseeing his own father killed by a Greek. By comparing Anchises to King PriamVirgil is inferring that Aeneas’s love for his “kingly” father outweighs everything inAeneas’s heart. Aeneas’s first thought when he realizes that his homeland is beingdestroyed is to preserve the life of his father, who represents all of the glory andtradition of Troy in its better days. Next, Aeneas thinks of his wife “left alone”: It ispossible that Aeneas is picturing what Creusa’s life will be like if he dies in a final,pointless battle with the Greeks. Then Aeneas thinks of his “house plundered”which signifies the corruption of the household gods – another symbol of Trojancivilization. Finally he realizes that there might be “danger to little Iulus” whorepresents the hope that one day the surviving Trojans will be able to rise again.”Danger to little Iulus” equals danger to the Trojan race, which will be unable tothrive without a future leader.
In the final lines of this passage Aeneas looks about him to see how hiscomrades are dealing with the destruction of their city. Aeneas says “But all hadleft me” indicating that Aeneas is truly “unmanned”. Aeneas describes his men asbeing “utterly played out” – a phrase which yields an image of men giving up theirlives in absolute despair because there is no reason left to live. It is interesting thatVirgil chooses the word “played out” when perhaps a more appropriate choicewould be “worn out”, “tired out” or “fought out”. By using “played out”, however,Virgil suggests that the ten year long war and its culmination on one dreadful nightis like a game in which whoever is “played out” first loses. Being “played out” isparalleled in the Iliad when the Greeks are happy to play war games even afterwatching dozens of their countrymen die and in the fifth book of the Aeneid whenthe surviving Trojans participate in warlike games after narrowly escaping the realgame of war. Virgil’s use of “played out” gives a morose irony to his next lines inwhich the men are “Giving their beaten bodies to the fire/ Or plunging from theroof”.
The fact that his countrymen are giving up, some even committing suicide,emphasizes the grave situation in which Aeneas finds himself. As he stands andwatches his fellow Trojans kill themselves Aeneas thinks to himself “It came tothis,/That I stood there alone”. These last two lines indicate that Aeneas is totallyalone; no one will help him to fulfil his destiny. In this moment of despair he hasthree choices: to commit suicide like the other men, to make one more fruitlessattempt to save the city and die gloriously at the hands of a Greek, or to run to theunknown path of the future. Virgil subtly commends Aeneas’s character when hehas Aeneas choose the last, smartest, and possibly riskiest option. Aeneassimultaneously commends himself because he is describing all of this to QueenDido’s court, and at that point in the story it is obvious to all that he made the rightdecision.
In conclusion, Virgil makes Aeneas seem even braver than before by havinghim admit that he has been taken by fear. Virgil is also able to point out thestrength of Aeneas’s character by highlighting the fact that unlike other Trojans,Aeneas did not give up by committing suicide. The magnitude of the moment whenAeneas pauses to realize he is scared and think about those whom he loves isenhanced by the vivid imagery Virgil supplies of a lone man standing in the midst ofthe holocaust of his civilization. By choosing the right words at the right timesVirgil is able to show that Aeneas stands apart literally and figuratively from otherTrojans and that he alone has the mental character to pick up the pieces of hisfatherland and start afresh somewhere else.
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The Tragic Example of Doctor Faustus
January 31, 2019 by Essay Writer
Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus depicts a clash between the values of the medieval world and the emerging humanism of the Renaissance. During the Middle Ages in Europe, God is the center of intellectual life, and in art and literature, the emphasis revolves around the lives of the saints and the mighty instead of ordinary people. On the other hand, The Renaissance brings about a new sense of individualism and the pursuit of more secular knowledge. This clash between the old medieval piousness and the humanist Renaissance is the core of Faustus’ character.
Faustus is a contradictory character, greatly ambitious and articulate, but strangely obtuse and willing to waste his costly powers. When Marlowe introduces Faustus, he is readying to recreate himself as a magician. From the very beginning of the play when the Chorus compares Faustus to Daedalus and his waxen wings, it is evident that Faustus’ plight will end badly. Regardless of Marlowe’s foreshadowing, Faustus’ contemplations on the possibilities of his magical powers carry a sense of grandeur that goes far beyond the piousness of his medieval predecessors. His visions of reshaping Europe politically and geographically and acquiring ultimate knowledge show Faustus as the developing ego of the Renaissance humanist. The magician is arrogant and self-aggrandizing, but his ambitions are so amazing that their impressive nature work to create a feeling of sympathy for the misguided Faustus and his impossible dreams.
Early in his gain of magical knowledge, Faustus represents the spirit of the Renaissance, with its rejection of the medieval, God-centered universe, and its embrace of human possibility. The magic itself is the personification of human potentiality and the good or evil that man creates in his thirst for knowledge. With the rejection of God and his sovereignty and the desire for control over the natural world, Faustus embodies the secular spirit of the developing modern era. Marlowe uses Faustus’ rejection of the learned men who have come before him to symbolize the need of Renaissance man to find his own path. Faustus has no need for Aristotle, Galen, or Justinian, because he is his own man and only needs the knowledge he can discover for himself. In speaking out against the wisdom of his predecessors, Faustus puts aside the relics of a bygone era and steps bravely into a new world of discovery.
In spite of his vision and knowledge, Faustus exhibits an almost intentional obtuseness towards his fate. Once he decided a pact with Lucifer is the only way to achieve his goals, Faustus then willingly ignores the realities that such a pact infers. Faustus convinces himself that Hell cannot be as bad as the clerics say it is and that all he needs to survive Hell is fortitude. Even during his congress with Mephastophilis, Faustus has convinced himself that Hell does not exist, even though he is having extensive relations with one of Hell’s major denizens. Marlowe uses Faustus’ refusal to see the consequences of his pact to show how man can make himself ignore the consequences of the unbridled search for knowledge. Despite his lack of concern about his damnation, Faustus still has doubts of his vision of Hell. These doubts set a pattern of near repentance throughout the play. His pride, ambition, and feeling that God will not listen to him cause Faustus to never go through with his repentance. Marlowe seems to use Faustus’ fear of not receiving grace from God to show that forgetting the face of God creates Hell.
Not only does Faustus’ fear of God’s indifference to his plight cause him to not go through with his repentance, but Mephastophilis’ influence also sways him. Swaying Faustus is not as challenging as it should be, because although he has grand plans of power, he has a petty nature. Once he has the powers to fulfill his desires, Faustus does not know how to capitalize on them. This uncertainty is created by the fact that God grants all knowledge and power, and Faustus has turned his back on God, so he cannot truly be powerful. Absolute power corrupts Faustus; when he has the power to do anything he desires, he no longer desires to do anything. Instead of realizing his grand schemes and ambitions, Faustus travels Europe playing tricks on the peasants and performs simple conjuring tricks to impress various heads of state. He wastes his magnificent power for paltry parlor tricks, until Faustus is performing meaningless tricks for meaningless nobles. Thus, the magnificent Faustus reduces himself to nothing but a mediocre huckster; his delusions of grandeur defeated by his own petty ego.
The looming spectre of his damnation rescues Faustus from mediocrity. The knowledge of his fate restores Faustus’ articulate rhetoric, and he again embraces his grand vision. However, the vision he now sees is a vision of the torments that Hell will soon inflict upon his wretched spirit. During his final hours, Faustus’ desire for repentance finally conquers his maddening thirst for power, but it is too late for the magician. Still, Faustus’ original brilliance resurfaces during his final soliloquy, brought about by the pains of his remorse. His remorse and repentance comes to late for poor Faustus; he has seen his folly and once more become a mere man. When he proclaims that he will burn his books, Faustus finally renounces his Renaissance spirit, finally realizing the benefits of being humble and pious like those he spent his first speech renouncing. Marlow shows that Faustus has become undone because his ambitions went against the will of God.
In Marlowe’s final lines, the Chorus proclaims Faustus’ fate as a warning and an example of the dangers of man’s decreasing need for God. This warning seems to make Marlowe an advocate for established religious tenets, counseling against the terrible fate of the Renaissance man who rejects God’s grace. Although, by Faustus’ tragic magnificence Marlow suggests a different lesson: knowledge is not evil, but without wisdom, it will corrupt and destroy. Marlowe’s Faustus pays the price for all people that come after him, showing the modern man that he must hold on to his old moral self, while stepping into the new secular world.
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Possessive s
Possessive. When we want to show that something belongs to somebody or something, we usually add an apostrophe + s ('s) to a singular noun and an apostrophe (') to a plural noun, for example:the boy's ball (one boy); the boys' ball (two or more boys); Notice that the number of balls does not matter We use possessive 's to say that something or someone belongs to a person, is connected to a place, or to show the relationship between people. The possessive 's always comes after a noun . Sam 's bicycl Possessives are forms that we use to talk about possessions and relationships between things and people. They take different forms depending on how they are used. Read clear grammar explanations and example sentences to help you understand how possessives are used. Then, put your grammar knowledge into practice by doing the exercises Apostrohpe, Genitive, Possessive, English Online Exercise. Task No. 3451. Write the correct form of the possessives into the gaps (apostrophe 's)
's (Apostrophe, genitive, possessive) - Exercise 4. Task No. 3453. Write the correct form of the possessives into the gaps. Show example. Example: We have two holiday in October. (weeks) Answer: We have two weeks' holiday in October. Do you need help? s apostrophe, genitive s. Sarah is aunt. (Emily The possessive adjective goes before the noun or before the noun and adjective. I lost my pen. She played football with her brother. We met our new teacher. We say... We don't say... I did my homework. (NOT I did the homework.) She visited her grandma. (NOT She visited she grandma.) My dog sleeps in its basket. (NOT My dog sleeps in it's.
Possessive pronomener kan stå foran eller bak substantivet, men posisjonen har konsekvenser for formen til substantivet. Vi bruker bestemt form når substantivet står først, og ubestemt form når substantivet står sist: Det er faren min. (Substantivet står først og må ha bestemt form. That's correct: 'selection of products' is correct. The possessive 's is not normally used when the possessor is not a person, animal or group of living beings. There are many exceptions to this rule, but 'products' is not one of them. You can see a longer explanation of this, with more examples, in the Cambridge Dictionary. All the best. Kir The possessive form is used with nouns referring to people, groups of people, countries, and animals. It shows a relationship of belonging between one thing and another. To form the possessive, add apostrophe + s to the noun. If the noun is plural, or already ends in s, just add an apostrophe after the s Possessive exercises (s / s' / '/ of). Fill in the correct form of the possessives. Practise your English grammar in the English classroom
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1. utes FREE Downloa
2. Possessive 's Students choose the correct option ID: 209839 Language: English School subject: English as a Second Language (ESL) Grade/level: A2 Age: 10-12 Main content: Saxon genitive Other contents: Add to my workbooks (4) Download file pdf Embed in my website or blo
3. That's simple enough. It's when the car belongs to a person named Chris, or we're talking about the petals of a crocus that the rules get blurry. Most experts and guides say you should add an apostrophe and an S to both proper and common nouns to make them possessive even when they end in S. So, using the examples above, it would be.
4. The possessive 's always comes after a noun. Sam 's bicycle the shop 's customers New York 's museums Emma 's brother When something belongs to more than one person and we give a list of names, we put 's on the last name. Sam and Emma 's house Sam's and Emma's house With regular plural nouns we use ' not 's. They're my parent s' friends. They.
6. This video is about possessive's. There are several rules to turn common nouns into possessives. The most common one is just add 's to who possesses the obje..
7. The s-genitive is used to express a possessive relation between two objects. For example, the sentence: This is my friend's book, expresses the idea that a book belongs to your friend
Here's the rule for nouns: Form the possessive of all singular nouns, even those ending in ‑s by adding apostrophe ‑s. Many writers make the mistake of adding just an apostrophe to form the possessive of singular nouns ending in ‑s. This is rule 1, page 1 of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style. Thus, the following are correct Free Practice Tests for learners of English. Advertisements. Possessive '
Possessive Grammar EnglishClu
Learn how to form possessives in sentences. Explore possessives grammar rules, and get tips for teaching possessives A collection of English ESL worksheets for home learning, online practice, distance learning and English classes to teach about possessive, 's, possessive ' We usually use possessive 's when we are talking about living things, such as people, groups of people, and animals. The possessive form can sound strange if you use it to talk about things that aren't alive (inanimate objects)
Possessive 's and s' Learn and Practise Gramma
Possessives LearnEnglish - British Counci
I wrote this song about possessives as a memorable tool to help my students learn and understand possessives for life. This song explains using apostrophes t.. September 1, 2019. Possessive 'S or OF? Learn which to use and why. by Nicholas Walker, under Grammar. English second language learners find this grammar point difficult. The reason is that possessive 's is a relatively infrequent form in written English, compared to more frequent forms such as plurals and past tense forms. Infrequent forms are harder to learn Using possessive 's to show who things belong to You use noun + 's. with a name: John is Jane's friend. with a singular noun: It's my brother's birthday tomorrow. with an irregular plural noun: Children's toys are cheap. for common places: I need to go to the Doctor's. Words ending in '
Singular Nouns. Most singular nouns define a possessive relationship by adding an 's to the end of the word.. For example: the girl's book or Justin's donut (hands off my donut! Singular common nouns ending in s also define a possessive relationship by adding 's to the end of the word.. For example: the hostess's station or the witness's testimony 49 Responses to Possessive of Proper Names Ending in S Nancy Romness on August 04, 2014 9:37 am. Thanks for this clarification, Maeve. I prefer the CMOS, and I'm glad to know that it now recommends adding 's for plurals ending in s GT2 possessives 's-' possessives + pronouns ID: 122371 Language: English School subject: English as a Second Language (ESL) Grade/level: basic Age: 5+ Main content: Possessive adjectives Other contents: vocabulary Add to my workbooks (90) Download file pdf Add to Google Classroo
Type in the correct genitive form in the plural. Steve has two brothers. Mother said Steve is not allowed to take his (brother) toys without asking. For the regular plural ending s we simply add an apostrophe.; The (woman) national football team won a great victory on Saturday. In the plural, we only use the genitive-s for irregular plural forms.The zoo keeper did his round and put food in all. Toys which belong to Tom's brother. Toys which belong to Tom's sister. skateboard We can use possessives to talk about our things. I - my you - your he - his she - her it - its we - our they - their 2. Choose the answer! Read the sentence. Choose the correct answer. a. I don't like _____ brother. mine my b. She wears _____ red shoes. The possessive case is used to show ownership. The possessive pattern or mark ('s) is generally used when indicating a relation of ownership or association with a person, rather than a thing. (Linguistically speaking it is a form of genitive case.) Singular nouns take -'s. For example:-Bob's presentation. Lynne's web site kept growing larger. Its = The possessive adjective for It. It's = a contraction of it is. More detailed information about Its vs. It's here. See the difference between Your and You're and Their, They're, and There. Next activities. Try our interactive games to practice Possessive Adjective (simple), Possessive Adjectives (a little more difficult)
Apostrophe 's, Possessive 's - Englisch-Hilfe
Chris's or Chris' (name ending in s) Examples of possessive nouns in a sentence: 1) Mark's dog is a Labrador retriever. 2) My sister's phone is lost. 3) Are we going to the Smith's house? 4) The girl's bookbags were left on the gym floor during class. 5) I was sorry to find out that Tom's cat died. 6) The bus driver's hat was crooked The Apostrophe S - ('S) Possessive Case - Genitive Case. Also called the possessive case, the genitive case is when we add apostrophe S ('s) to show possession, that something belongs to another or a type of relationship between things. e.g. Woodward's house, Your brother's friend The possessive case is used for showing possession (i.e., ownership). The possessive case applies to nouns, pronouns, and determiners. With nouns, it is shown by using 'of' or an apostrophe. The possessive pronouns are 'mine,' 'yours,' etc. The possessive determiners are 'my,' 'your,' etc. This page has lots of examples of the possessive case and an interactive exercise
Exercise on Possessives (genitive s) in Englis
Genitive case exercises: saxon genitive and possession in English. English 's and possessive 's It's usually better to write them a different way. For example, instead of Steve's and our beliefs guide our actions, try something like We and Steve let our beliefs guide our actions. But since it's grammatically correct, it's up you what sounds right and what sounds weird. 3. 'I's' Is Not the Possessive Form of 'I
Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns exercise 1 Click here to download this exercise in PDF (with answers) Review the explanation about possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns here. Need more practice? Get more Perfect English Grammar with our courses Possessive case s´ and ´s Level: intermediate Age: 9-17 Downloads: 481 : Possessive case Level: elementary Age: 12-14 Downloads: 451 : POSSESSIVE CASE Level: elementary Age: 9-11 Downloads: 440 : Possessives & Pronouns (2/3) Level: intermediate Age: 11-14 Downloads: 418 : FORMING POSSESSIVES Level: elementary Age: 9-17 Downloads: 408 A possessive noun is a noun that shows ownership (or possession) by adding 's or just ' to the end. A possessive noun shows that the noun has something (e.g., a cat's collar, woman's coat, planet's surface). This page has lots of examples of possessive nouns, shows how to form possessive nouns, and ends with an interactive exercise
Possessives LearnEnglish Kids British Counci
Possessive: -'s / -s' Level Intermediate ANSWER KEY My Notes 1. The student's pen is on the table. 2. The man's car is in the garage. 3. My friends' party was fun. 4. The women's kids are playing. 5. India's population is very large. 6. The children's mother is over there. 7. My sisters' friends are interesting. 8 Under Possessives finner du Find the possessives, Glossary, Worksheet Possessives and possessive Learning English. Start Basic Possessives and possessive Skills Grammar Practise using possessives such as s' or 's. Choose the correct one to complete the sentence. Share this activity. Facebook; Twitter; How difficult was this activity? Too easy Here are 10 exercises to help you practice and learn where to place the possessive apostrophe S to show possession of a noun in Englis possessives exercise. Students are supposed to complete the exercise with ´s or ´. English Exercises > possessives exercises. Possessive ´ or ´s - Genetive Case. Downloadable worksheets: Possessive Adjectives Level: elementary Age: 9-17 Downloads: 4193 : Possessive Adjective
possessive adjectives explanation
Actividad online de Possessive 's para Elementary. Puedes hacer los ejercicios online o descargar la ficha como pdf What to Know. Names are pluralized like regular words. Add -es for names ending in s or z and add -s for everything else. When indicating the possessive, if there is more than one owner add an apostrophe to the plural; if there is one owner, add 's to the singular (The Smiths' car vs. Smith's car). If the possessive involves a last name ending with s or z, you can add either The Possessive The possessive -s is used to show belonging: Kevin's coat But, belonging can be less obvious: A good night's sleep The possessive forms of nouns are formed by adding an apostrophe and in most cases the possessive -s. When in doubt about whether or not your phrase requires the possessive, turn it around and see if i
Use these printable worksheets and activities to teach students about possessive nouns. Singular Possessive Only (Basic) Possessive Noun Scavenger Hunt. Hunt for noun cards hidden around the classroom. Write the possessive form of each noun. 2nd through 4th Grades. View PDF. Filing Cabinet Possessive definition is - of, relating to, or constituting a word, a word group, or a grammatical case that denotes ownership or a relation analogous to ownership. How to use possessive in a sentence
Possessives: nouns LearnEnglish - British Counci
The format and rules for possessive nouns are slightly different between American and British English. For example, in American English the possessive case can be used with an inanimate object - the book's cover. However, in British English the possessive case cannot be used with an inanimate object Define possessive. possessive synonyms, possessive pronunciation, possessive translation, English dictionary definition of possessive. adj. 1. Of or relating to ownership or possession. 2 Possessive nouns show ownership. For example, the boy's ball shows that the ball belongs to the boy. For example: (boy → boy's), (children → children's) and (dogs → dogs'). In this possessive nouns worksheet, students have to create the possessive singular and plural form of nouns Possessive Adjectives - complete the exercise with my, your, his, her, its, our and their
Training Exercises (Shiro x Allura) - TooManyFandoms564
When nouns end in 's' it can be difficult to know where to place the 's' for the possessive noun. For nouns ending in 's', or to use the possessive noun with regular plurals, place the apostrophe directly after the 's'. Do not add another 's' This game replaces the previous game which is now phased out. The old game had the following description: Choose whether to practice possessive adjectives by navigating a treacherous galaxy filled with green monsters, a sea filled with pirates or a river filled with crocodiles. Either way this will keep your heart pounding
Forming the possessive - E
ArtStation - SCP Art: SCP-035 Possessive Mask, Jennifer Swann
Nov 16, 2019 - Explore Reham Mahmoud's board possessive s on Pinterest. See more ideas about Possessives, Possessive nouns, Nouns Introduction. Possessive nouns, also known as the possessive case, expresses ownership.It shows a relationship of possession between two nouns. To form the possessive case, we add -'s or sometimes just an apostrophe (') to a noun. We can also use the preposition of to express possession.. Learn the rules of the possessive 's in English grammar with Lingolia's online lesson As you can see from its, cat's, and country's, it is not necessary to be a person in order to use a possessive.Here are more examples of using possessives with things: Today's meeting will be at 1 PM.; This website's goal is to teach English. = The goal of this website is to teach English. Who do you think this year's skating champion will be?. If we are talking about proper noun, such as names, that already end with an s then you add an apostrophe and another s to show possession. Example: Jesse James's gun If you are, however, talking about a proper noun ending in s because it is plu.. Possessive nouns are nouns that show ownership. To make most proper and common nouns possessive nouns we need only add an apostrophe and then an s like this: Sam's dog has fleas. Sam's dog's fleas are brown. Possessives ending in s still require an apostrophe and another s
Well, there IS a possessive in expressions like two weeks' notice or a year's pay. The idea that there isn't has to do with a renaming that happened in the 1700s. That's when the grammarian Robert Lowth decided to rename the grammatical cases in English, but before I can talk about that, I should explain what grammatical cases are in the first place Possessives. An apostrophe is used in a possessive form, like Esther's family or Janet's cigarettes, and this is the use of the apostrophe which causes most of the trouble.The basic rule is simple enough: a possessive form is spelled with 's at the end. Hence: Lisa's essa It's time to talk about being possessive. Sometimes possessiveness is good, sometimes it's bad. However you look at it, if you're speaking English, then you will need an apostrophe to show who owns what
Possessive exercises ( 's / s' / '/ of) - The English
Possessive? Forums Grammar & Sentence Structure 1 + 0. Hello, Are these form of possessive correct? 1. your dictionary's thickness. 2. John's room's length. I hope to receive your answer. Nov 06 2020 14:24:36. anonymous + 0. Yes, but #2 is clumsy. Better is the length of John's room. Nov 06 2020 14:28:29 Possessive -s Activity for Special Education and Kindergarten.This is a great activity to help students practice using possessive -s in sentences. The are 10 different people and 5 different objects for each for them that could belong to him/her.Have your students complete the sentence at the top o The most common solution—Jane's and his villa—violates the rule about using the possessive form only on the last partner in the ownership. However, most people don't care and using this form won't raise too many eyebrows Possessive/Contraction 's - Possessive 's and of - sylaby z głoską S (świnka Pepa) - Possessive `s - Possessive 's - Pudełka z głoską S (z błędami
Possessive: 's / s' - All Things Gramma
A noun can be made possessive when it could also have of a or of the preceding it.. the bag of a student = a student's bag the orbits of the planets = the planets' orbits. Singular. A singular noun is usually made possessive by adding 's to the end of the word.. The woman's coat is red.. Most proper names are made possessive by adding 's to the end.. Wong's argument is compelling Individual: Mary 's, Beth 's, Phil 's, and Bill 's houses. Nouns Ending is S : When making a possessive of a singular noun that already ends in s , writers can make the possessive by adding 's to the word; however, some writers and editors argue that there's no need to include an s after the apostrophe, since the apostrophe already tells readers that the word is possessive
Possessive 's activity - Liveworksheet
Plural Possessive Nouns Possessives are used to show ownership. To make the possessive of a plural noun ending in s, you just add an apostrophe to the end of the word. Remember that if a plural noun does not end in s, you would add the apostrophe + s to the end. Examples: restroom for ladies = ladies' restroo Possessive ´s. A 3 page ws. On the first page you have all the theory and on the other two you have exercises to practice what you have learned It's functioning as an adjective! Possessive nouns function as adjectives. We even diagram these nouns as adjectives. (That means they go under the noun that they are modifying.) I can't find Mom's keys! The Curveball. Check out the sentence below and focus on the word my In my previous post on apostrophes and possessive nouns, we looked at possessive nouns that end in apostrophe+s (-'s), as seen in possessive phrases such as Mary's car or the dog's tail. I showed you the specific rules for placing this ending on a possessive noun. In this post, we'll look at another apostrophe construction: the use of an apostrophe at the very end of a. 57 people chose this as the best definition of possessive: Showing, or characterized... See the dictionary meaning, pronunciation, and sentence examples
Use the possessive form to indicate ownership of something. For example, The boy's dog chased the girls down the street. The possessive boy's shows that the boy owns the dog that chased the girls. Add an apostrophe and an s to change a word into the possessive form of that word The Macmillan College Handbook has this rule with a slightly weaker stance. According to Macmillan, to make a singular proper noun ending in -s or -z possessive, you may always add -'s. If the proper noun ends in -s or -z and has two or more syllables ending in the same sound, you have the option of using only the apostrophe Possessive pronouns are the main topic of this page so if this is what you are working on with your students, you are in the right place. Currently 119 possessive pronouns worksheets are posted in this section. Let's take a look at an example
If A Word Ends In S, How Do You Make It Possessive
Gerard's is a possessive word. The apostrophe and the S at the end of Gerard's tells people the house belongs to Gerard.. You probably know that instead of saying Gerard's house you could say his house.Words like his, her, our, their, and your tell you who something belongs to, but they don't get an apostrophe. They don't even get an apostrophe if they end in S, like his, hers, ours, yours, or. In cases of separate rather than joint possession, use the possessive form for both. Examples: Cesar's and Maribel's homes are both lovely. They don't own the homes jointly. Cesar and Maribel's homes are both lovely. The homes belong to both of them Apostrophe-S vs. Apostrophe: Forming Possessives of Words Ending in S (or an S Sound) by Karen Yin | 9 comments I'm going to focus on the difference between how The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style handle possessives for words ending in s or an s sound by Tyler Krupa. I don't think that I'm revealing a big grammar secret by letting you know that the possessive of a singular name is formed by adding an apostrophe and an s (e.g., Smith's, 2012, study). But although this rule seems straightforward, one thing that trips up many writers is how to form possessives when the name being used ends with an s Possessive determiners for beginners esl. Index of contents. Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns Home. Worksheets - handouts. Possessive adjectives. Possessive pronouns. Worksheets - handouts. Home. Content. Possessive adjectives Exercises - elementary # not suitable for all phones
Possessive 's and s' Free practice exercise
Possessive (Whose...?) É possível o uso de whose como um determinante ou pronome:. Whose pen is this? Whose is this pen?. Possessive adjectives . Os possessive adjectives são my, your, his, her, its, one's, our e their.Seu uso é bastante simples: That's my car. Is that your mother. Where are our uniforms?. Importante: é muito comum confundir-se its (possessivo) com it's (it is/has) Form the possessive of plural nouns that do not end in an -s or an -s sound by adding an apostrophe and an -s. Form the possessive of plural nouns that end in an -s or an -s sound by adding only the apostrophe. children's books; the people's princess; men's clothing; students' lounge; my two brothers' cars; teachers' union; Make a. Possessive case Example: Whose cat is it? (my neighbour). Correct answer: It's my neighbour's cat Adding an s to many singular nouns makes them plural. But by adding an apostrophe and an s to the end of a singular word, a possessive is formed. These words are used to show that something belongs to a person, place, thing or idea Correct: Joanne's and Todd's cars were bought from the same dealer; both proved useless, even though Joanne's car was an import and Todd's was a domestic model. 5. If a singular noun ends in an s, use 's to create the possessive form only if the noun ends in a s sound
Shingetsu Love Story Extras - R3This Woman Thinks It's Romantic When Her Fiance Walks Her
Possessive 's and pronouns Let's practise possessives ID: 1020153 Idioma: inglés Asignatura: English as a Second Language (ESL) Curso/nivel: Elementary Edad: 12-14 Tema principal: Possessive pronouns Otros contenidos: Possessive adjectives Añadir a mis cuadernos (13 Students > Headway Student's Site > Elementary Fourth Edition > Grammar > Unit 1 > Possessive 's. Grammar; Vocabulary; Everyday English; Audio and Video Downloads; Test Builde possessive: 1 adj serving to express or indicate possession possessive pronouns Synonyms: genitive adj desirous of owning small children are so possessive they will not let others play with their toys Synonyms: acquisitive eager to acquire and possess things especially material possessions or ideas adj having or showing a desire to. When using possessive apostrophes with plural nouns, add the apostrophe after the s. For example: The boy s' classroom was neat and tidy. Possessive Plural Nouns activity shee Possessive nouns presentation 1. Possessive <br />Nouns<br /> 2. Words that show ownership are called possessive nouns.<br />A noun is possessive if a phrase can be changed to say that an item or idea belongs to someone else.<br /> Example:The paintbrush that belonged to the artist was lost.<br />The artist's paintbrush was lost.<br /> Its possessive Every dog has its day. The jury has reached its decision. Stop its momentum! Guess its color. A Good Rule of Thumb: If you can replace it with his or her, there's no apostrophe. A Mnemonic Device: The possessive dog had its tail removed. ITS' Its' is never correct. Ever
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Rise of Nationalism in Europe
In 19 Th Century Europe was divided among monarchical absolutist states with diverse people different speaking languages and belonging to several racial and ethics groups. Between different kinds of groups there was no collective identity received among them. In 19 Th century, the emergence of nationalism rise as a new force which come along with some sweeping changes in political and mental world of Europe.The concept of a modern state with defined territory, with citizens and rulers sharing common bonds and history, which became popular. This popularity was possible only through a process of struggle, and efforts done by leaders and common people.
Making of Nationalism in Europe
European countries rulers in 19th century ruled in region of (Hasburg dynasty ruled over regions of Austria, Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia, speaking Sudetenland and Polish Speaking Galicia). In Hungary most of the people speak Magyar language . Similarly Italy, Germany and Switzerland were divided into various kingdoms where socially and politically landed class known as a dominant class. French language speaks by Elite class which was often connected by marriage. Mostly majority of population made up of peasantry. Europe western and central part were undergoing economic and social changes. It resulted in the emergence of working class population and commercial class, whose existence depended on the production in the market .In 18 th and 19 th centuries new force comes with formation of new social groups; a new middle class which consisted professionals, businessmen and industrialists. It also resulted of working class population and commercial class, whose existence depended on the production in the market. Though the French Revolution released the spirit of liberalism and nationalism conservative powers of Europe made a bid to challenge these forces. Fears of repression forced the liberal minded people to go underground and organize revolutionary activities to overthrow conservative regime. By the end of 19 Th century republics were set up in France and many other countries .All German and Italian states were unified to inform independent states of Italy and Germany. When nationalism was united with imperialism it led to the First World War in 1914. Anti-imperialist movements opposed the domination of imperials. These movements’ were nationalistic in nature. The idea of collective unity and the idea that the societies should be organized into nation states came to be accepted as natural and universal.
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- Press Release Distribution
New insight into "training" highly reactive chemical compounds
Are targeted attacks possible?
New insight into
( Led by Dr Jonas Warneke, researchers at the Wilhelm Ostwald Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at Leipzig University have made a decisive advance in the study of one type of highly reactive particles. Based on their research, they now understand the "binding preferences" of these particles.
Their research serves as the basis for the targeted use of these highly reactive molecules, for example, to generate new molecular structures or to bind hazardous chemical "waste" and in this way dispose of it. The researchers have now published their findings in the journal Chemistry - A European Journal, and their research was featured on the cover thanks to the excellent review they received.
What molecules and people have in common
Molecules and people actually have a lot in common. There are those who are lethargic and prefer to keep to themselves, and there are those who are very active and outgoing. And then there are those who are so dissatisfied with their situation that they haphazardly attack everyone in their surroundings. If you want to get them to behave in a social manner, you must first understand the reason for their attacks. Chemists work with highly reactive compounds in a similar way. Given their exceptional reactivity, targeted syntheses (the production of a specific molecule) with these compounds are extremely difficult. If you want these highly reactive compounds to react with a specific molecule, this usually fails because they instead react with the solvent in their environment. They bind with everything that comes across their path. "But this is, in fact, the huge opportunity that these compounds offer. They are able to induce even very unreactive small molecules and atoms to react in ways that would not have been otherwise possible", explains Warneke.
Directing highly reactive compounds
For several years now, researchers at the Wilhelm Ostwald Institute have investigated a special type of highly reactive compound with twelve boron atoms that can bind even the very unreactive noble gases. Eleven boron atoms have a binding partner (called a substituent), while the twelfth boron atom carries out the attack. How can we direct these highly reactive compounds so that targeted syntheses will be possible in the future? To answer this question, the researchers produced these highly reactive compounds in the solvent-free and airless environment of a mass spectrometer and thus isolated the compounds in such a way that there were no compounds in their environment for them to attack.
In a second step, the highly reactive compounds were selectively fed reaction partners that they attacked. The researchers found that the "aggressiveness" of the compounds changed when the substituents were altered. "This wasn't surprising at first", Warneke says. "However, we then found that the propensity to attack did not simply become stronger or weaker as a result of this exchange of atoms, but instead it depended strongly on which reaction partner was present." The researchers were able to show that the substituents have a strong influence on the reactivity and trace the reaction preferences back to a very specific chemical bond that forms to varying degrees depending on the reaction partner.
This finding surprised the researchers because in chemistry this type of bond is more commonly found with metal compounds and not with the boron compounds studied, which belong to the non-metal compounds. This hypothesis was finally proven beyond reasonable doubt by special experimental and theoretical methods carried out by the early career research group under Warneke in partnership with the working groups led by Prof. Dr. Knut Asmis and Prof. Dr. Ralf Tonner, both from the Wilhelm Ostwald Institute. The group will continue its research together with its partners from Wuppertal. They hope to be able to use molecules such as carbon monoxide or nitrogen from the air in this way for targeted syntheses. But Warneke says there is still a long way to go before that happens.
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New insight into
15,000-year-old viruses discovered in Tibetan glacier ice
15,000-year-old viruses discovered in Tibetan glacier ice
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Scientists who study glacier ice have found viruses nearly 15,000 years old in two ice samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau in China. Most of those viruses, which survived because they had remained frozen, are unlike any viruses that have been cataloged to date. The findings, published today in the journal Microbiome, could help scientists understand how viruses have evolved over centuries. For this study, the scientists also created a new, ultra-clean method of analyzing microbes and viruses in ice without contaminating it. "These glaciers were formed gradually, and along with dust and ...
Automobile class society
In order to correctly separate vehicles into classes, for instance for mobility pricing, one must be able to clearly distinguish mid-sized cars from upper class cars or small cars from compact cars. But this is becoming increasingly difficult: On photos, an Audi A4 looks almost the same as an Audi A6, a Mini One looks similar to a Mini Countryman. To date, there is no independent procedure for doing this. Thus far, the classes in each country have been determined by experts - to a large extend at their own discretion. Empa researcher Naghmeh Niroomand has now developed a system that can classify cars worldwide based on their dimensions. Purely mathematical and fair. Thanks to it, the current classification ...
Fish friends help in a crisis
Fish friends help in a crisis
FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla. - It's good to have friends. Most humans have experienced social anxiety on some level during their lives. We all know the feeling - we show up to a party thinking it is going to be chock full of friends, only to find nearly all total strangers. While we typically attribute the long-lasting bonds of social familiarity to complex thinkers like humans, growing evidence indicates that we underestimate the importance of friendship networks in seemingly "simple" animals, like fish, and its importance for survival in the wild. To better understand how familiarity impacts social fishes, a group of research scientists studied this idea using schooling coral reef fish. "We studied how the presence of ...
SARS-CoV-2: Achilles' heel of viral RNA
FRANKFURT, GERMANY. When SARS-CoV-2 infects a cell, it introduces its RNA into it and re-programmes it in such a way that the cell first produces viral proteins and then whole viral particles. In the search for active substances against SARS-CoV-2, researchers have so far mostly concentrated on the viral proteins and on blocking them, since this promises to prevent, or at least slow down, replication. But attacking the viral genome, a long RNA molecule, might also stop or slow down viral replication. The scientists in the COVID-19-NMR consortium, which is coordinated by Professor Harald Schwalbe from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Goethe University, have now completed an important ...
The environmental toll of disposable masks
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Since the Covid-19 pandemic began last year, face masks and other personal protective equipment have become essential for health care workers. Disposable N95 masks have been in especially high demand to help prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. All of those masks carry both financial and environmental costs. The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to generate up to 7,200 tons of medical waste every day, much of which is disposable masks. And even as the pandemic slows down in some parts of the world, health care workers are expected to continue wearing masks most of the time. That toll could be dramatically cut by adopting reusable masks, according to a new study from MIT that has calculated the financial ...
With the looming threat of climate change, it is high time we embrace renewable energy sources on a larger scale. Photovoltaic systems, which generate electricity from the nearly limitless supply of sunlight energy, are one of the most promising ways of generating clean energy. However, integrating photovoltaic systems into existing power grids is not a straightforward process. Because the power output of photovoltaic systems depends heavily on environmental conditions, power plant and grid managers need estimations of how much power will be injected by photovoltaic systems so as to plan optimal generation and maintenance schedules, among other important operational aspects. In line with modern trends, if something needs predicting, you can safely ...
Enzyme-based plastics recycling is more energy efficient, better for environment
Researchers in the BOTTLE Consortium, including from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Portsmouth, have identified using enzymes as a more sustainable approach for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic in single-use beverage bottles, clothing, and food packaging that are becoming increasingly relevant in addressing the environmental challenge of plastic pollution. An analysis shows enzyme-recycled PET has potential improvement over conventional, fossil-based methods of PET production across a broad spectrum of energy, carbon, and socioeconomic impacts. The concept, if further developed and implemented at scale, could lead to ...
Brain 'noise' keeps nerve connections young
Brain noise keeps nerve connections young
Neurons communicate through rapid electrical signals that regulate the release of neurotransmitters, the brain's chemical messengers. Once transmitted across a neuron, electrical signals cause the juncture with another neuron, known as a synapse, to release droplets filled with neurotransmitters that pass the information on to the next neuron. This type of neuron-to-neuron communication is known as evoked neurotransmission. However, some neurotransmitter-packed droplets are released at the synapse even in the absence of electrical impulses. These miniature release events -- or ...
"Springing forward" affects early birds less than night owls, study finds
Every spring, the Daylight Saving Time shift robs people of an hour of sleep - and a new study shows that DNA plays a role in how much the "spring forward" time change affects individuals. People whose genetic profile makes them more likely to be "early birds" the rest of the year can adjust to the time change in a few days, the study shows. But those who tend to be "night owls" could take more than a week to get back on track with sleep schedule, according to new data published in Scientific Reports by a team from the University of Michigan. The study uses data from continuous sleep tracking ...
DNA assay aids in identifying and protecting North American wolves, coyotes
Forensics specialists can use a commercial assay targeting mitochondrial DNA to accurately discriminate between wolf, coyote and dog species, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The genetic information can be obtained from smaller or more degraded samples, and could aid authorities in prosecuting hunting jurisdiction violations and preserving protected species. In the U.S., certain wolf subspecies or species are endangered and restricted in terms of hunting status. It is also illegal to deliberately breed wolves or coyotes with domesticated dogs. "If ...
Scientists model 'true prevalence' of COVID-19 throughout pandemic
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Improving air quality reduces dementia risk, multiple studies suggest
Misplaced trust: When trust in science fosters pseudoscience
Among effective antihypertensive drugs, less popular choice is slightly safer
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Anticipate a resurgence of respiratory viruses in young children
Oncotarget: Replication-stress sensitivity in breast cancer cells
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The mechanics of puncture finally explained
[] New insight into "training" highly reactive chemical compounds
Are targeted attacks possible?
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SCCAF: machine learning infers putative cell types
We describe SCCAF a computational approach to identify putative cell clusters from single-cell RNA-seq data. SCCAF automatically identifies the “ground truth” cell assignments with high accuracy in various benchmark datasets and captures the discriminative feature genes of the cell types.
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Identifying cell types in multicellular organisms and understanding the relationships between them has been a major aim of biological research since the discovery of cells by Robert Hooke almost 400 years ago. Historically, cell types have been defined by their morphology as assessed by microscopy, by their locations in an organism, by their function in vivo or in vitro, by their and evolutionary history, or by the expression of a small number of molecular markers on the cell surface according to flow cytometry.
Data from single-cell RNA-sequencing is one of the most data-rich and high-dimensional sources of information for the discovery of new putative cell types and refining the classification of existing ones. In spite of many available computational analysis tools, the annotation of cell types (or cell states) according to - data on the expert inspections of cell clusters and marker gene expression. The data annotation is laborious and time-consuming, and is becoming a major bottleneck in high throughput projects, such as the Human Cell Atlas.
How about asking the computer to help us in defining the cell types and annotating the data? If a machine learning model can learn the biological signature of a cell type, perhaps it should be able to do a better job in assigning cell types for a large dataset than a human expert? If so, the machine learning model should encode the essential features of the cell types in the . When cells of the same type are clustered into multiple clusters, machine learning may be able to find that there is a “confusion” between cell types and the clusters. Such cell clusters can be considered as the “same cell type”.
But how to achieve a cell type-related clustering with little human intervention? We can start from an over-clustering status and use the machine learning confusion to merge the cell clusters and achieve the cell clusters. Here we propose an automated method that allows for a potential discovery of novel, not yet annotated putative cell types. Our method, which we call Single Cell Clustering Assessment Framework (SCCAF), is based on the iterative application of machine learning and self-projection to clusters (train and test a model on data split from the same dataset). This involves starting with small “overclustered” groups of cells, and then gradually merging the clusters that correspond to the same putative cell type. Finally, SCCAF a set of defining feature genes to each group of cells. Benchmarking on many well-annotated published datasets, SCCAF is able to restore results identical to manual annotations in most cases.
We aim to automatically identify biologically meaningful groups of cells that can be discriminated from all other cells via models based on the expression of appropriate feature genes. Our approach can be combined with reference-based methods, such as , Moana and , first to identify meaningful clusters, and then to annotate them, e.g., to assign names derived from earlier datasets. Our method is not only implemented as an open-source also has been developed as a part of our implementation of a high-throughput data analysis pipeline in the Galaxy tool kit and will be used in the EBI’s Single Cell Expression Atlas (
Zhichao Miao
Postdoc Fellow, EMBL-EBI
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Radio hits - Sweden Hjältarna April 12, 2020
April 12, 2020 - 832 views
The Battle of Magersfontein ( MAH-kh?rss-fon-tayn) was fought on 11 December 1899, at Magersfontein near Kimberley, South Africa, on the borders of the Cape Colony and the independent republic of the Orange Free State. British forces under Lieutenant General Lord Methuen were advancing north along the railway line from the Cape in order to relieve the Siege of Kimberley, but their path was blocked at Magersfontein by a Boer force that was entrenched in the surrounding hills. The British had already fought a series of battles with the Boers, most recently at Modder River, where the advance was temporarily halted.
Methuen advanced along the Cape-Transvaal railway line because a lack of water and pack animals made the reliable railway an obvious choice. Also, Buller had given him orders to evacuate the civilians in Kimberley and the railway was the only means of mass transport available. But his strategy had the disadvantage of making the direction of his approach obvious.
Nevertheless, his army drove the Boers out of their defensive positions along the railway line at Belmont, Graspan, and the Modder River, at the cost of a thousand casualties. The British were forced to stop their advance within 16 miles (26 km) of Kimberley at the Modder River crossing. The Boers had demolished the railway bridge when they retreated, and it had to be repaired before the army could advance any further. Methuen also needed several days for supplies and reinforcements to be brought forward, and for his extended supply line to be secured from sabotage. The Boers were badly shaken by their three successive defeats and also required time to recover. The delay gave them time to bring up reinforcements, to reorganise, and to improve their next line of defence at Magersfontein.
Boer defences
After the Battle of the Modder River, the Boers initially retreated to Jacobsdal, where a commando from Mafeking linked up with them. The following day, Cronje moved his forces 10 miles (16 km) north to Scholtz Nek and Spytfontein, where they began to fortify themselves in the hills that made up the last defensible position along the railway line to Kimberley. Although closer to the British camp than the Boer camp, Jacobsdal was left poorly defended, and continued to function as the Boers' supply base until 3 December.
The Free State government decided to reinforce Cronje's position after the Battle of Belmont. Between eight hundred and a thousand men of the Heilbron, Kroonstad and Bethlehem commandos arrived at Spytfontein from Natal, accompanied by elements of the Ficksburg and Ladybrand commandos from the Basuto border. Reinforcements were also brought up from the Bloemhof and Wolmaranstad commandos who were besieging Kimberley. The remainder of Cronje's force arrived from the Siege of Mafeking. Their force now numbered 8,500 fighters, excluding camp followers and the African labourers who performed the actual work of digging the Boer entrenchments.
Koos de la Rey had been absent from the army immediately after the Battle of the Modder River, having gone to Jacobsdal to bury his son Adriaan, who had been killed by a British shell during the battle. He arrived at the defensive positions on 1 December and surveyed the Boer lines the following day. He found the defences lacking, and realised that Cronje's position at Spytfontein was vulnerable to long range artillery fire from the hills at Magersfontein. He therefore recommended that they should move their defensive position forward to Magersfontein, to deny the British this opportunity. Cronje, who was the more senior officer, disagreed with him, so De la Rey telegraphed his objections to President Martinus Theunis Steyn of the Orange Free State. After consulting with President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal, Steyn visited the front on 4 December at Kruger's suggestion. Steyn also wished to settle a rift that had developed between the Transvaal and Free State Boers over the poor performance of his Free Staters in the battle on 28 November. He spent the next day touring the camps and defences, then summoned a krijgsraad (council of war).
The Boers had learnt in earlier battles that the British artillery was superior in numbers to theirs, and could pound any high ground where they placed their guns or rifle pits. At Ladysmith, the Boers used rocks to build defensive sangars, but the ground at Magersfontein was sandy and less rocky. De la Rey recommended, contrary to common practice, that they should entrench themselves forward of the line of kopjes, rather than on the facing slopes. The trenches overlooking the receding, open ground sloping down towards the British axis of advance afforded the Boers concealment and protection from fire, and permitted them to use the flat trajectory of their Mauser rifles to greater effect. Since the trenches were concealed, they could thwart the standard British tactic of advancing to within close range under cover of darkness and then storming the Boer position at daybreak. A final consequence of De la Rey's defensive layout was that the troops would not be able to retreat, as Commandant General Marthinus Prinsloo's forces had done at Modder River. Before leaving the front, Steyn raised the morale of the Free State burghers by dismissing Prinsloo, who was seen as the chief reason for the defeats in earlier battles.
The new defensive line occupied a wide crescent-shaped front, extending for 6 miles (10 km) and straddling the road and the railway line that Methuen's advance depended upon. The main trench directly in front of the Magersfontein Hill was 2 miles (3.2 km) long, and protected on the right flank by a single trench. The trenches that were to protect the left flank in the direction of the river were not completed before the battle commenced. Two high wire fences complemented the natural obstacles created by the thick scrub bush. One ran north-northeast and marked the border of the Orange Free State, while a second protected the trenches in front of the Boer position.
British plan
Methuen believed that the Boers were occupying the crests of the line of kopjes, as they had done at Belmont, but he was unable to reconnoitre the position; his mounted scouts could not roam the countryside freely on account of wire farm fences, nor could they approach any closer than 1 mile (1.6 km) to the Boer positions without being driven off by rifle fire. No serviceable maps were available; those in the possession of the British officers had been prepared for the purposes of land registration, with no consideration of military operations. Officers supplemented these maps with hasty sketches based on limited daily reconnaissance. The poor maps and lack of reconnaissance would prove critical to the outcome of the battle.
Advance to attack
A drizzle started by mid-afternoon on 10 December and continued throughout the artillery bombardment, which was delivered by 24 field guns, four howitzers, and a 4.7-inch naval gun. In preparation for the attack, the British soldiers bivouacked in the rain 3 miles (4.8 km) from the Boer lines. Instead of "softening" the Boer positions, the explosions of lyddite shells against the facing slopes above their trenches merely alerted the Boers to the impending attack. As midnight approached, the rain increased to a downpour and the leading elements of the Highland Brigade commenced their advance towards their objective at the southern end of Magersfontein ridge. Wauchope had made a similar night march in his advance on Omdurman in 1898, but this time he was faced not by flat desert terrain and clear skies, but rather by torrential rain, rocky outcrops, and thorn scrub, which caused delays and annoyance. The thunderstorm and the high iron ore content of the surrounding hills played havoc with compasses and navigation.
Highland Brigade trapped
The Highlanders had advanced to within 400 yards (370 m) of the Boer trenches when the Boers opened fire; the British had no time to reform from their compact quarter columns into a fighting formation. Wauchope instructed the brigade to extend its order, but in the face of such close-range Boer fire, the changing formation was thrown into disarray and confusion. General Wauchope was killed by almost the first volley, as was Lieutenant-Colonel G. L. J. Goff, the commanding officer of the Argylls. The men at the head of the brigade disentangled themselves from the dead and most of them fled. Some of the Black Watch at the head of the column charged the Boer trenches; a few broke through, but as they climbed Magersfontein Hill they were engaged by their own artillery and Boer parties, including one led by General Cronje himself, who had been wandering the kopje since 01:00, and were subsequently killed or captured. Others were shot while entangled in the wire fence in front of the trenches. Conan Doyle points out that 700 of the British casualties that day occurred in the first five minutes of the engagement.
An attempt was made to outflank the trenches on the right where a number of Boers were taken prisoner, but this action was soon blocked by the redeployment of Boer elements. After sunrise, the remnants of the four battalions of the Highland Brigade were unable to advance or retreat due to Boer rifle fire. The only movement at that time was a team led by Lt. Lindsay, who managed to bring the Seaforth's Maxim forward to provide a degree of fire support. Later the Lancers were able to bring their Maxim forward and into action as well. Methuen ordered all available artillery to provide fire support; the howitzers engaged at 4,000 yards (3,700 m) and the three field batteries at a range of 1 mile (1,600 m). The Horse Artillery advanced to the southern flank in an attempt to enfilade the trenches. With all guns engaged, including the 4.7-inch naval gun commanded by Captain Bearcroft RN, the Highlanders were given some respite from the Boer small-arms fire, and some men were able to withdraw. As with the preliminary barrage of the previous evening, most of the shot was however again directed at the facing slopes of the hills rather than the Boer trenches at their foot.
Reinforcements arrive
Scandinavian volunteers
The Scandinavian Volunteer Corps (Skandinaviska Kåren) was not a true corps but rather a unit the size of a company, consisting of foreign volunteers. Approximately half of the Corps (refer to the Order of battle) was ordered to hold a forward position in the gap between the high ground held by Cronje and De la Rey's forces during the night of 10-11 December. The rest of the force was entrenched in defensive positions some 1,500 metres (1,600 yd) further north-east. In the early morning hours of 11 December, General Cronje ordered Commandant Tolly de Beer to abandon the outpost, but for some reason the order did not reach the Scandinavian section, which was left on its own. Save for seven men, this section was destroyed while valiantly holding back the attack of the Seaforth Highlanders, who were in the process denied access between the hills and prevented from reaching the Boer guns. Cronje understood the significance of this stand, and said in a subsequent letter to Kruger that "next to God we can thank the Scandinavians for our victory".
Final retreat
The Boer guns, which had not yet seen action that day, opened fire on the cavalry at about 17:30 and the center of the British attack began to fall back. Men instinctively withdrew to beyond the range of the Boer guns; Methuen decided that a total withdrawal was preferable to his troops spending the night near the Boer trenches. Battalions and remnants of battalions retreated throughout the night and were mustered for roll call at the Modder River camp the next morning.
Tactical dispositions
The Boers halted Methuen's advance to relieve the siege of Kimberley, defeated his superior force and inflicted heavy losses, particularly on the Highland Brigade. The British were forced to withdraw to the Modder River to regroup and to await further reinforcements. Unlike previous occasions, where the Boers withdrew after an engagement, this time Cronje held the Magersfontein defence line, knowing that Methuen would again be forced to continue his advance along his logistical railway "lifeline".
The British lost 22 officers and 188 other ranks killed, 46 officers and 629 other ranks wounded, and one officer and 62 other ranks missing. Of this, the Highland Brigade suffered losses of 747 men being killed, wounded, and missing. Among the battalions, the Black Watch suffered the most severely, losing 303 officers and other ranks. On 12 December, when British ambulances again went forward to collect the dead and remaining wounded, they found Wauchope's body within 200 yards (180 m) of Cronjé's trenches. The British camp at Modder River, and subsequently at Paardeberg, created ideal conditions for the spread of typhoid fever. By the time the British reached Bloemfontein, an epidemic had broken out amongst the troops, with 10,000-12,000 taken ill, and 1,200 deaths in the city. The disease ultimately took more British lives during the war than were lost through enemy action.
Boer losses are disputed. The official British account of the battle records 87 killed and 188 wounded, while later accounts record a total loss of 236 men. As with the Boers, several different figures regarding the strength of the Scandinavian outpost exist. British sources quote 80 men and Scandinavian sources between 49 and 52 men. Uddgren records 52 men based on identified names, consisting of 26 Swedes, 11 Danes, 7 Finns, 4 Norwegians, and 4 of unknown nationality, of whom all but five were either killed, wounded or captured.
Strategic consequences
The week from 10 to 17 December 1899 rapidly became known to troops in the field?and to politicians in Britain?as "Black Week", during which the British suffered three defeats: the battles of Stormberg in the Cape Midlands and Colenso in Natal, as well as the Battle of Magersfontein. The defeat at Magersfontein caused much consternation in Britain, particularly in Scotland, where the losses to the Highland regiments were keenly felt. Wauchope was well known in Scotland, having stood as a Parliamentary candidate for Midlothian in the general election of 1892.
Lord Methuen later salvaged his reputation and career through successes he achieved against George Villebois-Mareuil at the Battle of Boschoff. However, he was the only general captured by the Boers during the war.
Victoria Cross awards
Three Victoria Cross citations were made for the action at Magersfontein:
• Lieutenant Henry Edward Manning Douglas. Royal Army Medical Corps
• Corporal John Shaul. Highland Light Infantry
• Captain Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse. Gordon Highlanders
Order of battle
British Forces
Boer Forces
Further reading
External links
• "The Battle of Magersfontein".
Source : Wikipedia
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Heartworm Basics: Disease, Prevention, Treatment
Heather Duncan, D.V.M.
Heartworms are parasites that are carried by mosquitoes. In South Carolina, we see a significant heartworm population due to our increased mosquito problem which is a year round concern. Transmission occurs when mosquitoes bite an infected animal and then bite a dog. At that point they inject heartworms through their bite wounds. Around six months later these larva migrate into the vessels of the lung and heart as adult worms. Since the dog is the primary host, adult heartworms can live up to 5-7 years. Cats are not the primary host but can still be infected. These worms typically live between two to three years. Heartworms can grow to around 12 inches long and can lead to heart failure, significant lung disease and organ damage because they circulate in the bloodstream; therefore, our best defense is prevention.
Prevention is easy and there are multiple options. River Oaks Animal Hospital does require an annual heartworm test in dogs because treatment is best done in the early course of disease and while our preventives are highly effective there is nothing that is 100% effective. If a dose is accidentally forgotten or given late, we are able to diagnose early and then start treatment before any permanent damage to the lungs and heart. There is treatment for dogs but unfortunately there is no treatment for cats. Heartworm treatment is expensive and time-consuming. It’s tiresome for both the pet and owner because it requires a significant time investment. Dogs undergoing treatment need their activity restricted for the entire treatment course. The treatment is a series of 3 injections given over a time period of two months. It is a significant time investment and monetary investment so our best defense is to prevent it from happening. Cats are a little different. They do not grow and reproduce heartworms like dogs do since they are not the primary host . They generally only have one to three heartworms. We do not routinely test cats because annual testing is not straightforward. There are no treatment options available in cats which is why prevention is so important.
The good news is that there are multiple prevention products available. In dogs, we have a monthly chewable that prevents heartworms, fleas, ticks, and intestinal parasites. We also have a great option called ProHeart 12. It is a simple injection given under the skin during a routine wellness examination. ProHeart 12 is the perfect option for the owner who has trouble remembering to give their dog a heartworm chewable each month and ensures that their pet is completely covered for 12 months. For cats, we have a monthly topical product that is applied to the back of the neck directly on the skin and prevents fleas and heartworms.
There is an option for everyone that works for everyone. If you have any questions next time you’re in the office please ask one of our team members. You can also give us a call at (843) 236-6080. Please click on the link below to see our YouTube video about Heartworms Basics.
4016 River Oaks Dr #C2
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
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Deacon-structing the Diaconate | Part 5: Women part 2
Deacon Pedro
July 23, 2017
In case you've just stumbled upon this article because you're curious about the female diaconate, you may want to backup and start where we started a couple of weeks ago: We began first by addressing the event that brought about this whole conversation and then in two parts (part 1 and part 2), briefly, the meaning of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, for I don’t think you can separate the conversation about Church hierarchy outside of the conversation about Ordination. We then looked at the meaning of the diaconate in part 1 and part 2, before looking at the history and tradition of women deacons. Before continuing, let me add that for a different perspectives on the same topic, you should read Sebastian Gomes' Women deacons: Phyllis Zagano on the current debate and the papal commission and watch the two interviews with the leading scholar on the female diaconate, Phyllis Zagano: Subject Matters and Witness with Fr. Rosica
Last week we saw that there is a vast tradition of the female diaconate in both the Eastern and the Western Church. Proponents of the female diaconate say that perhaps the most famous “woman deacon” in the Western Church was St. Radegund, wife of King Clothar I (511-58). Though married, she seemed to have lived a celibate life and served the poor. One night she left her husband and demanded to be consecrated by St. Medard, the bishop. The bishop did. However, it’s hard not to read the description/poem of that event by bishop Venantius Fortunatus without concluding that she was being consecrated into a monastery. At the end of paragraph 12 it says that Medard laid his hands on her and consecrated her as a deaconess, but all throughout, she is referred to as a “monacha”, which is a nun. And she is given a monastic garb.
St Radegund Led before Clothair I. Miniature from the Life of St Radegund. 11th century. Bibliotheque Municipale, Poitiers, France.
There are other references, such as three letters by Pope Gregory II who wrote to “women deacons of St. Eustachius” and also to “Matrona, a religious woman deacon, and her sons and nephews.” There is also Sergius, Archbishop of Ravenna, who in 753 “consecrated his wife Euphemia, a “diaconissa” and other references forbidding the marriage of women deacons by Pope Leo VII (c.937) and during the Council of Rome (826).
There are references to the Rites of Ordination for women deacons in the Eastern Church. There are also references in the Western Church, dating as far back as the 8th century. The 9th century Gregorian sacramentary includes a prayer for the making of a female deacon and in the 10th century Romano-Germanic Pontifical there is a complete liturgy for both the ordination of a woman deacon and a male deacon. It refers to the women as “deaconess.” An almost identical liturgy appears in the 12th century Roman Pontifical, but without instructions so it’s not clear if it was used to ordain women. By the 13th century this rite had completely disappeared.
Where does this leave us?
History records both women called “deacons” and women called “deaconesses”. Some women called “deaconess” were married to men deacons. Some were called “deaconess” merely as a description of the work they were doing. There is a tradition in both the Eastern and Western Church of bishops formally appointing women to perform a type of diaconal (service/charity) ministry. Is it possible that “deaconesses” became what today are women religious and nuns?
It’s clear that in the early Church women were required to serve certain functions that men could not serve – as in baptizing other women (remember people were baptized naked or with little clothing). Even entering the house of a woman may have not been proper for a man. Anyone instructing women in the faith had to have been a woman. These are the particular functions that is given to deaconesses in the 16th chapter of the Didascalia Apostolorum that I mentioned last week. Written in the second century, it is likely the earliest and most specific document that refers to deaconsesses. It says that "let a woman rather be devoted to the ministry of women, and a male deacon to the ministry of men." We see this even up until almost the end of the 1st millennium: Ninth century canonical commentaries describe women deacons as “ordained by the imposition of hands by the bishop... in order to instruct all Christian women in the faith and law of God as they did in the old Law.”
This is likely what the functions of these women were. But, were these women involved in the governance of the Church? Were they allowed to preach in Liturgy? Did they even have a liturgical function at all? No one really knows. The Didascalia is a bit confusing on this point, since, even though it refers to deaconesses for the functions described above, in other sections, it calls upon "bishops and deacons" (not deaconesses) for other functions, even vising the sick and caring for the widows and the orphans and specifically mentions the duties of deacons (not deaconesses) during their assemblies.
Not just a Pope Francis thing.
As the hierarchy considered the restoration of the permanent diaconate, it was Paul VI that asked about women deacons. Pope Benedict XVI also brought up the question. John Paul II also spoke about it. When Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994) said that ordination to the priesthood is reserved to men alone and made no reference to women deacons, is that because he meant that only ordination to the priesthood is reserved to men, or simply because he (like so many) was just not thinking about the diaconate? (I am always amazed when we see prayers for vocations to the priesthood instead of vocations to the ordained life - this is not because we are only praying for priests and not deacons; it's because no one is thinking about deacons!)
It is fair to ask whether we can separate the question of ordination of women to the diaconate from the question of the ordination of women to the priesthood? Even the idea that priests and bishops are ordained to the ministerial priesthood, but deacons to the priesthood of service, does not adequately address the question of the difference of those two. Why are all three major orders? I have yet to find an adequate and clear explanation of this distinction.
The truth is that the theology of the diaconate is still under-developed.
This has been a little scattered, but I hope that it gives you an idea of why many will say when we speak of women deacons or deaconesses in the tradition of the Church, we just don’t know. They existed, yes. But what were they? Were “women deacons” the same as “deaconesses” (a minor order separate from the order of deacons)? Were they merely wives to deacons? Were women deacons widows or consecrated singles? Could they be married or only married if married to a deacon? Sure there were women in the Church that were appointed to the work of caring for the sick and the poor (which is very much diaconal service). That sounds like women religious to me.There were women deacons, but were they ordained in the sense that we understand “ordination” today?
I have to say that, while I find difficulties with this conversation (mainly because of the issue of ordination), in the last weeks that I’ve been researching this, I have grown more and more open to the idea that there is a bigger distinction between a deacon and a priest that I thought. Perhaps some of you brother deacons can help me with this.
What I've always known however, is that the Church can have diaconal-type ministers that are installed to do certain things, preach even (we call them Lectors, actually), or lead certain type liturgies (which again, already exists – lots of women lead para-liturgies every day) and do those things that women in the Church already do, like take Communion to the sick.
But I do not think that the real problem would be addressed by ordaining women to the diaconate. The question has to do with giving women leadership roles in the Church. And so, can the Vicar or Chancellor of a Diocese be a woman? Can the head of a Marriage Tribunal be a woman? How about the Rector of a Seminary? Can the president of a pontifical council be a woman? Can a parish administrator be a woman or the Chancellor of a Diocese? To all of the above, absolutely yes.
Maybe what we need is less clericalism.
Next week let's remember WYD2002 and for more WYD, read, deacon-structing World Youth Day.
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Laws of motion in life.
Principles a and Practice of fundamental
Dr Albert Einstein was once asked “why are we here? He replied,if the universe is an accident,we are accidents.But if there is meaning in the universe, there is meaning in us also”.And he added,the more I study physics,the more I am drawn towards Metaphysics”.
The fundamental laws of motion i.e Newton’s second law of motion States that “Every action in this world has equal and opposite reaction.”I think and personally believe and perceive that this fundamental law of physical world is equally and universally hold true in Real world, i.e “what you give,that you Receive.”Life is like echo.It is nothing but the repetition of sounds by reflection of sound Waves off a surface.At the top of mountain we experience the effect of echo.Our thoughts, actions, behavior,acts and emotions are like Boomerang,we get back in life what we give to this world or universe.Thanks for reading the blog,do give your comments.Namaste and by for Now.
One thought on “Laws of motion in life.
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The U.S. has invested billions of dollars to train the best military in the world, yet the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans hovers around 10%, nearly 3% higher than the national average. Many U.S. Veterans are un- or underemployed, in jobs that don’t truly speak to the military skills and experiences they were trained to utilize. Many more have a continuing desire to serve others, and would benefit profoundly from the opportunity to do that in another capacity—one that would save lives.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of elephants — an average of 96 every day — are being slaughtered to meet a new and extraordinary demand for ivory . The poaching crisis in East Africa is pushing elephants and rhinos to the very brink of extinction. These iconic, ancient species will be gone within the next decade. Game rangers and their communities are overpowered by sophisticated, well-armed poachers, who are often funded by terrorist organizations.
Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife provides meaningful employment to post-9/11 veterans, utilizing their expertise to train and support Tanzanian anti-poaching efforts and prevent the extermination of keystone African wildlife, and the disastrous economic and environmental impact it would have.
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EVERYONE EXPERIENCES some degree of physical decline as they age, but for cancer survivors, the risk of decline can be especially high. A study published Aug. 3, 2021, in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, shows that people who have a history of cancer are more likely to have difficulty gripping objects and to walk more slowly than their peers who never experienced cancer. In light of these findings, experts underscore the role of exercise for cancer survivors who wish to maintain function as they age.
“Combined aerobic and/or resistance training has been found to improve cancer-related outcomes, such as physical functioning and fatigue,” says epidemiologist Sunny Siddique, a Cancer Research Training Award fellow at the National Cancer Institute and an author of the study. Corresponding by email, Siddique shared the importance of continued research about how treatments can impact people with cancer, noting that it can be difficult to tease out functional deficits related to cancer and its treatment from those related to aging itself.
In the study, Siddique and colleagues analyzed data from the National Institutes of Health’s Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), which follows healthy adults over the course of their lives to assess physical and cognitive changes associated with aging. To be included in the BLSA, people with a cancer history must have been cancer-free for at least 10 years before joining the study. People who developed cancer while taking part in the study remained within the BLSA. Of the 1,728 participants whose records were collected from 2006 to 2019, 359 people had a cancer history before enrolling in the cohort or developed cancer while enrolled in the BLSA.
Researchers found that people of all ages with a cancer history were 40% more likely than people without cancer to have weak grip strength, a clinical measure that assesses how well people can hold onto objects. This measure is used to help predict functional disability. In addition, cancer survivors who were 65 years or older were almost twice as likely to walk more slowly than peers in the same age group without a cancer history . While all participants in the BLSA showed some physical decline as they aged, this process was accelerated in people with cancer.
Previously published research shows the benefits of exercise both during and after cancer treatment, says Jennifer Ligibel, a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who was not involved in the study. For example, she points out that regular exercise reduces fatigue and is “the fastest way to get your energy back.”
Ligibel also notes that current evidence suggests cancer survivors who regularly exercise have a reduced risk of cancer recurrence when compared to those who do not regularly exercise. In fact, a 2005 JAMA study showed women who were treated for early-stage breast cancer and who took part in the equivalent of walking three to five hours a week at an average pace had a reduced risk of death from their disease compared to those who exercised an equivalent of walking one hour a week or less.
“Aerobic activity like walking is a very good place for most people to start,” says Ligibel, who recommends that people with cancer start slowly and build up stamina, starting with a 10-minute walk outside, for example. A physical therapist can also help people with cancer or who have a history of cancer to develop suitable exercise routines, Ligibel says.
The BLSA is an aging study rather than a cancer registry, so it did not include information about participants’ cancer stage, pathology or treatment. Other data the authors cited in their research showed cancers survivors reported declines in physical functioning, with more pronounced declines in people with lung cancer. In a study of nonmetastatic prostate cancer survivors, grip strength and self-reported physical functioning declined as early as three months after starting androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), compared to other prostate cancer patients who did not receive ADT and people with no history of cancer.
“Understanding how cancer and its treatment affects natural aging-related functional decline is important in developing interventions to prevent or mitigate accelerated decline among cancer survivors,” Siddique says. This kind of research may eventually yield more precise information about how people with different types of cancer can maintain vitality well into their later years.
Marcus A. Banks is a health journalist in New York City.
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Dr. Steven Were Omamo is the Representative and Country Director for Ethiopia at the UN World Food Programme, as well as the father of Oxy sophomore Clara Richardson-Omamo. After an introduction from his daughter, Dr. Omamo began his talk by showing a series of photos he had taken in Ethiopia alongside the question: “What is good and/or bad about these photos?” The photos depicted varying issues in different communities around the world: natural hazards, food and water insecurity, insufficient feed for livestock, and more. Throughout his talk, Dr. Omamo emphasized the significant impact water security can have in improving a country’s overall development. He used Ethiopia as an example. Despite the country’s high GDP growth, Ethiopia also has high unemployment. The landlocked state’s crop success is dependent on water. Uncontrollable factors like erratic rainfall can significantly cripple harvest seasons. Dr. Omamo made the point that vulnerability to food insecurity is heavily determined by the accessibility of water; Ethiopia is simply one of countless examples of this assertion.
Dr. Omamo explained that state security and water security are two of the largest influences in a country’s stability. He provided a number of studies that demonstrate a strong correlation between water security and reduction in different indicators of poverty. Communities with dependable water access are less likely to fall victim to corruption and violence. Dr. Omamo also noted that the greater the underlying vulnerability to food insecurity a community faces, the more potent the impact aid can have. This means that policies and investments will have the greatest impact for the most vulnerable populations. Dr. Omamo emphasized the importance of water management and control (as opposed to one-time projects),community-based humanitarian food assistance, and money transfers in developing and maintaining food and water security.
At the end of his talk, Dr. Omamo circled back to his Ethiopia example. He posed the question: What if vulnerable people had secure access to and control of water and generally lived in peace? In the case of Ethiopia, the state’s humanitarian requirements would decrease by 22 percent, reiterating the claim that water security significantly affects a country’s stability.
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Who are the Dreamers?
The dreamers are young people between the ages of 15 and 35 who lived their childhood and adolescence in the United States. Even if they entered the country without their documents.
They are people who, at some point, received the benefits of the DACA program, which seeks to allow young immigrants the opportunity to study and work from an early age.
To be a dreamer, you must have arrived in the country before 2007 and be less than 31 years old at the time of DACA approval in 2012.
If a person left the country during that time, the continuity of their stay could be affected.
How many dreamers are there?
It was a popular program for newcomers, so there are currently around 800,000 dreamers in the United States.
Items to consider if you want to be a dreamer?
You must finish high school. If you do not have that being in the military might also help you.
Whatever the case, under no circumstances is it acceptable that you have a criminal record.
Also read: What is the difference between DACA and DREAMERS?
Has the program been carried out continuously?
During these last years, no.
In general, even if the program’s existence has favored many young immigrants to get an education, work, and driver’s licenses, the DACA program has been affected on numerous occasions by political and legal issues, especially concerning the administration’s changes in the country.
However, since June 2020, it was established that the DACA program would start up again, and by 2021 new cases are being received.
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School of Economics | Trade Cycle: Meaning, Features and Theories
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Trade Cycle: Meaning, Features and Theories
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Meaning of Trade Cycle:
A trade cycle refers to fluctuations in economic activities specially in employment, output and income, prices, profits etc. It has been defined differently by different economists. According to Mitchell, “Business cycles are of fluctuations in the economic activities of organized communities. The adjective ‘business’ restricts the concept of fluctuations in activities which are systematically conducted on commercial basis.
The noun ‘cycle’ bars out fluctuations which do not occur with a measure of regularity”. According to Keynes, “A trade cycle is composed of periods of good trade characterised by rising prices and low unemployment percentages altering with periods of bad trade characterised by falling prices and high unemployment percentages”.
Features of a Trade Cycle:
1. A business cycle is synchronic. When cyclical fluctuations start in one sector it spreads to other sectors.
2. In a trade cycle, a period of prosperity is followed by a period of depression. Hence trade cycle is a wave like movement.
3. Business cycle is recurrent and rhythmic; prosperity is followed by depression and vice versa.
4. A trade cycle is cumulative and self-reinforcing. Each phase feeds on itself and creates further movement in the same direction.
5. A trade cycle is asymmetrical. The prosperity phase is slow and gradual and the phase of depression is rapid.
6. The business cycle is not periodical. Some trade cycles last for three or four years, while others last for six or eight or even more years.
7. The impact of a trade cycle is differential. It affects different industries in different ways.
8. A trade cycle is international in character. Through international trade, booms and depressions in one country are passed to other countries.
Phases of a Trade Cycle:
Generally, a trade cycle is composed of four phases – depression, recovery, prosperity and recession.
During depression, the level of economic activity is extremely low. Real income production, employment, prices, profit etc. are falling. There are idle resources. Price is low leading to a fall in profit, interest and wages. All the sections of the people suffer. During this phase, there will be pessimism leading to closing down of business firms.
Recovery denotes the turning point of business cycle form depression to prosperity. In this phase, there is a slow rise in output, employment, income and price. Demand for commodities go up. There is increase in investment, bank loans and advances. Pessimism gives way to optimism. The process of revival and recovery becomes cumulative and leads to prosperity.
Prosperity: It is a state of affairs in which real income and employment are high. There are no idle resources. There is no wastage of materials. There is rise in wages, prices, profits and interest. Demand for bank loans increases. There is optimism everywhere. There is a general uptrend in business community.
However, these boom conditions cannot last long because the forces of expansion are very weak. There are bottlenecks and shortages. There may be scarcity of labour, raw material and other factors of production. Banks may stop their loans. These conditions lead to recession.
Recession: When the entrepreneurs realize their mistakes, they reduce investment, employment and production. Then fall in employment leads to fall in income, expenditure, prices and profits. Optimism gives way to pessimism. Banks reduce their loans and advances. Business expansion stops. This state of recession ends in depression.
Theories of Trade Cycle:
Many theories have been put forward from time to time to explain the phenomenon of trade cycles. These theories can be classified into non-monetary and monetary theories.
Non-Monetary Theories of Trade Cycle:
1. Sunspot Theory or Climatic Theory:
It is the oldest theory of trade cycle. It is associated with W.S.Jevons and later on developed by H.C.Moore. According to this theory, the spot that appears on the sun influences the climatic conditions. When the spot appears, it will affect rainfall and hence agricultural crops.
When there is crop failure, that will result in depression. On the other hand, if the spot did not appear on the sun, rainfall is good leading to prosperity. Thus, the variations in climate are so regular that depression is followed by prosperity.
However, this theory is not accepted today. Trade cycle is a complex phenomenon and it cannot be associated with climatic conditions. If this theory is correct, then industrialised countries should be free from cyclical fluctuations. But it is the advanced, industrialised countries which are affected by trade cycles.
2. Psychological Theory:
This theory was developed by A.C. Pigou. He emphasized the role of psychological factor in the generation of trade cycles. According to Pigou, the main cause for trade cycle is optimism and pessimism among business people and bankers. During the period of good trade, entrepreneurs become optimistic which would lead to increase in production.
The feeling of optimism is spread to other. Hence investments are increased beyond limits and there is over production, which results in losses. Entrepreneurs become pessimistic and reduce their investment and production. Thus, fluctuations are due to optimism leading to prosperity and pessimism resulting depression.
Though there is an element of truth in this theory, this theory is unable to explain the occurrence of boom and starting of revival. Further this theory fails to explain the periodicity of trade cycle.
3. Overinvestment Theory:
Arthur Spiethoff and D.H. Robertson have developed the over investment theory. It is based on Say’s law of markets. It believes that over production in one sector leads to over production in other sectors. Suppose, there is over production and excess supply in one sector, that will result in fall in price and income of the people employed in that sector. Fall in income will lead to a decline in demand for goods and services produced by other sectors. This will create over production in other sectors.
Spiethoff has pointed out that over investment is the cause for trade cycle. Over investment is due to indivisibility of investment and excess supply of bank credit. He gives the example of a railway company which lays down one more track to avoid traffic congestion. But this may result in excess capacity because the additional traffic may not be sufficient to utilise the second track fully.
Over investment and overproduction are encouraged by monetary factors. If the banking system places more money in the hands of entrepreneurs, prices will increase. The rise in prices may induce the entrepreneurs to increase their investments leading to over-investment. Thus Prof. Robertson has successfully combined real and monetary factors to explain business cycle.
This theory is realistic in the sense that it considers over investment as the cause of trade cycle. But it has failed to explain revival.
4. Over-Saving or Under Consumption Theory:
This theory is the oldest explanation of the cyclical fluctuations. This theory has been formulated by Malthus, Marx and Hobson. According to this theory, depression is due to over-saving. In the modern society, there is great inequalities of income. Rich people have large income but their marginal propensity to consume is less.
Hence they save and invest which results in an increase in the volume of goods. This causes a general glut in the market. At the same time, as majority of the people are poor, they have low propensity to consume. Therefore, consumption will not increase. Increase in the supply of goods and decline in the demand create under consumption and hence over production.
This theory is not free from criticism. This theory explains only the turning point from prosperity to depression. It does not say anything about recovery. This theory assumes that the amount saved would be automatically invested. But this is not true. It pays too much attention on saving and too little on others.
5. Keynes’ Theory of Trade Cycles:
Keynes doesn’t develop a complete and pure theory of trade cycles. According to Keynes, effective demand is composed of consumption and investment expenditure. It is effective demand which determines the level of income and employment.
Therefore, changes in total expenditure i.e., consumption and investment expenditures, affect effective demand and this will bring about fluctuation in economic activity. Keynes believes that consumption expenditure is stable and it is the fluctuation in investment expenditure which is responsible for changes in output, income and employment.
Investment depends on rate of interest and marginal efficiency of capital. Since rate of interest is more or less stable, marginal efficiency of capital determines investment. Marginal efficiency of capital depends on two factors – prospective yield and supply price of the capital asset. An increase in MEC will create more employment, output and income leading to prosperity. On the other hand, a decline in MEC leads to unemployment and fall in income and output. It results in depression.
During the period of expansion businessmen are optimistic. MEC is rapidly increasing and rate of interest is sticky. So entrepreneurs undertake new investment. The process of expansion goes on till the boom is reached. As the process of expansion continues, cost of production increases, due to scarcity of factors of production. This will lead to a fall in MEC. Further, price of the product falls due to abundant supply leading to a decline in profits.
This leads to depression. As time passes, existing machinery becomes worn out and has to be replaced. Surplus stocks of goods are exhausted. As there is a fall in price of raw-materials and equipment, costs fall. Wages also go down. MEC increases leading to recovery. Keynes states that, “Trade cycle can be described and analyzed in terms of the fluctuations of the marginal efficiency of capital relatively to the rate of interest”.
The merit of Keynes’ theory lies in explaining the turning points-the lower and upper turning points of a trade cycle. The earlier economists considered the changes in the amount of credit given by banking system to be responsible for cyclical fluctuations. But for Keynes, the change in consumption function with its effect on MEC is responsible for trade cycle. Keynes, thus, has given a satisfactory explanation of the turning points of the trade cycle, “Keynes consumption function filled a serious gap and corrected a serious error in the previous theory of the business cycle”. (Metzler).
Critics have pointed out the weakness of Keynes’ theory. Firstly, according to Keynes the main cause for trade cycle is the fluctuations in MEC. But the term marginal efficiency of capital is vague. MEC depends on the expectations of the entrepreneur about future. In this sense, it is similar to that of Pigou’s psychological theory. He has ignored real factors.
Secondly, Keynes assumes that rate of interest is stable. But rate of interest does play an important role in decision making process of entrepreneurs.
Thirdly, Keynes does not explain periodicity of trade cycle. In a period of recession and depression, according to Keynes, rate of interest should be high due to strong liquidity preference. But, during this period, rate of interest is very low. Similarly during boom, rate of interest should be low because of weak liquidity preference; but actually the rate of interest is high.
6. Schumpeter’s Innovation Theory:
Joseph A. Schumpeter has developed innovation theory of trade cycles. An innovation includes the discovery of a new product, opening of a new market, reorganization of an industry and development of a new method of production. These innovations may reduce the cost of production and may shift the demand curve. Thus innovations may bring about changes in economic conditions.
Suppose, at the full employment level, an innovation in the form of a new product has been introduced. Innovation is financed by bank loans. As there is full employment already, factors of production have to be withdrawn from others to manufacture the new product. Hence, due to competition for factors of production costs may go up, leading to an increase in price.
When the new product becomes successful, other entrepreneurs will also produce similar products. This will result in cumulative expansion and prosperity. When the innovation is adopted by many, supernormal profits will be competed away. Firms incurring losses will go out of business. Employment, output and income fall resulting in depression.
Schumpeter’s theory has been criticised on the following grounds.
Firstly, Schumpter’s theory is based on two assumptions viz., full employment and that innovation is being financed by banks. But full employment is an unrealistic assumption, as no country in the world has achieved full employment. Further innovation is usually financed by the promoters and not by banks. Secondly, innovation is not the only cause of business cycle. There are many other causes which have not been analysed by Schumpter.
Monetary Theories of Trade Cycles:
1. Over-Investment Theory:
Prof. Von Hayek in his books on “Monetary Theory and Trade Cycle” and “Prices and Production” has developed a theory of trade cycle. He has distinguished between equilibrium or natural rate of interest and market rate of interest. Market rate of interest is one at which demand for and supply of money are equal.
Equilibrium rate of interest is one at which savings are equal to investment. If both equilibrium rate of interest and market rate of interest are equal, there will be stability in the economy. If equilibrium rate of interest is higher than market rate of interest there will be prosperity and vice versa.
For instance, if the market rate of interest is lower than equilibrium rate of interest due to increase in money supply, investment will go up. The demand for capital goods will increase leading to a rise in price of these goods. As a result, there will be a diversion of resources from consumption goods industries to capital goods industries. Employment and income of the factors of production in capital goods industries will increase.
This will increase the demand for consumption goods. There will be competition for factors of production between capital goods and consumption good industries. Factor prices go up. Cost of production increases. At this time, banks will decide to reduce credit expansion. This will lead to rise in market rate of interest above the equilibrium rate of interest. Investment will fall; production declines leading to depression.
Hayek’s theory has certain weaknesses:
1. It is not easy to transfer resources from capital goods industries to consumer goods industries and vice versa.
2. This theory does not explain all the phases of trade cycle.
3. It gives too much importance to rate of interest in determining investment. It has neglected other factors determining investment.
4. Hayek has suggested that the volume of money supply should be kept neutral to solve the problem of cyclical fluctuations. But this concept of neutrality of money is based on old quantity theory of money which has lost its validity.
2. Hawtrey’s Monetary Theory:
Prof. Hawtrey considers trade cycle to be a purely monetary phenomenon. According to him non-monetary factors like wars, strike, floods, drought may cause only temporary depression. Hawtrey believes that expansion and contraction of money are the basic causes of trade cycle. Money supply changes due to changes in rates of interest.
When rate of interest is reduced by banks, entrepreneurs will borrow more and invest. This causes an increase in money supply and rise in price leading to expansion. On the other hand, an increase in the rate of interest will lead to reduction in borrowing, investment, prices and business activity and hence depression.
Hawtrey believes that trade cycle is nothing but small scale replica of inflation and deflation. An increase in money supply will lead to boom and vice versa, a decrease in money supply will result in depression.
Banks will give more loans to traders and merchants by lowering the rate of interest. Merchants place more orders which induce the entrepreneurs to increase production by employing more labourers. This results in increase in employment and income leading to an increase in demand for goods. Thus the phase of expansion starts.
Business expands; factors of production are fully employed; price increases further, resulting in boom conditions. At this time, the banks call off loans from the borrowers. In order to repay the loans, the borrowers sell their stocks. This sudden disposal of goods leads to fall in prices and liquidation of marginal firms. Banks will further contract credit.
Thus the period of contraction starts making the producers reduce their output. The process of contraction becomes cumulative leading to depression. When the economy is at the level of depression, banks have excess reserves. Therefore, banks will lend at a low rate of interest which makes the entrepreneurs to borrow more. Thus revival starts, becomes cumulative and leads to boom.
Hawtrey’s theory has been criticised on many grounds:
1. Hawtrey’s theory is considered to be an incomplete theory as it does not take into account the non-monetary factors which cause trade cycles.
2. It is wrong to say that banks alone cause business cycle. Credit expansion and contraction do not lead to boom and depression. But they are accentuated by bank credit.
3. The theory exaggerates the importance of bank credit as a means of financing development. In recent years, all firms resort to plough back of profits for expansion.
4. Mere contraction of bank credit will not lead to depression if marginal efficiency of capital is high. Businessmen will undertake investment in-spite of high rate of interest if they feel that the future prospects are bright.
5. Rate of interest does not determine the level of borrowing and investment. A high rate of interest will not prevent the people to borrow. Therefore, it may be stated that banking system cannot originate a trade cycle. Expansion and contraction of credit may be a supplementary cause but not the main and sole cause of trade cycle.
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Alexander Masters
The windswept German island that inspired quantum physics
Carlo Rovelli describes Werner Heisenberg’s efforts to understand the wayward behaviour of atoms, and ends up questioning whether reality exists
The windswept German island that inspired quantum physics
(Photo by PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
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Carlo Rovelli
Allen Lane, pp. 240, £14.99
Helgoland is a craggy German island in the North Sea. Barely bigger than a few fields, it reaches high above the water on precipitous cliffs and is famous for its sweet air. It has a town and a harbour, and the 1,000-odd inhabitants speak a distinct dialect. In the summer of 1925, the 23-year-old physicist Werner Heisenberg went there to sort out his hay fever and solve the problem of reality.
Helgoland is a slightly misleading title for Carlo Rovelli’s inspiring, chaotic, delightfully unsatisfactory book of popular quantum physics. It isn’t about Heisenberg’s months there or his mathematical insights; ‘Helgoland’ is Rovelli’s shorthand for Heisenberg’s pellucid state of mind. On Helgoland, says Rovelli, Heisenberg almost got the philosophical approach to quantum theory right. Ever since, we’ve been getting it wrong.
The discovery of a quantum world began with experimental results. Certain things were taking place in German physics labs that should not be. Atoms were misbehaving. When scientists in Göttingen and Berlin crouched in front of the latest clever electronic instruments and peered, Alice-like, into the wonderland of the very small, what they saw shocked them bolt upright. Wonderland was ridiculous. There, logic was (and still is) fundamentally different.
Translated up to our size, the following nonsense was apparently perfectly possible: throw a full tankard across the hall in a Bierstube, let somebody notice (as it passes overhead) that this tankard has, say, a picture of a stag on it, and the beer inside turns green. That simple observation — ‘hey, look, there’s a stag on the tankard’ — and ping! the contents of the mug changes colour. But if nobody notices the decoration, the beer stays brown. In the quantum world, two defining qualities that have nothing to do with each other (tankard decoration and beer colour) can influence one another just because somebody’s looked at them. It’s a place for hucksters, not respectable people. Even Einstein, who got his Nobel Prize for figuring out the existence of this strange new world, was appalled: ‘God does not play dice!’ he said. ‘Don’t you tell God what to do,’ retorted the Danish theoretician Niels Bohr, who was less prudish.
Heisenberg worked for Bohr, and on Helgoland started to make sense of this wayward behaviour of small things. The central point was, he discovered, that everything in quantum land works with exactly the same logic as it does up here except in one particular: the order in which you look at things matters. In the quantum world, if the observer had only kept his mind focused on the beer, and paid no attention to the pretty decoration, it would have stayed brown. Some physicists tried to get round the metaphysical implications of this idea by insisting that there were hidden things secretly linking the subatomic equivalents of beer colour and mug decoration. Others have given up all pretence of common sense and believe ideas much more outlandish than God, such as the existence of multiple worlds in which all possible beer mug decorations and beer colours get to exist somewhere, really and truly, all at once.
Rovelli has a different idea. He says reality doesn’t exist. The reason physicists have been led astray by bonkers theories in the 100 years since Helgoland is because they can’t bear the thought of not being real.
It was at this point — a third of the way through the book — that I mimicked Heisenberg and took my first long, befuddled walk. Reality doesn’t exist? What on earth does that mean? Rovelli’s favourite example is a red chair. ‘Red’ doesn’t exist, for sure — everyone knows that philosophical chestnut: it’s just the way our brains make sense of light of a certain wavelength. But Rovelli also insists that nothing else about the chair exists either — its weight, its shape — except in its relationship to the person looking at it. And you can keep banging away at this type of argument until you get to the level of the atoms forming the chair. Insisting that anything about this red chair needs to exist outside of relationships is metaphysical neediness.
Part of the fun of Rovelli’s book is that your immediate reaction to his ideas — repugnance or delight — isn’t meaningless. Without mathematics or experiment, by page 81 your thoughts are at the frontier of quantum theory, and it’s time for your second brain-cudgeling walk. If things exist only by virtue of their interaction with other things, what happens to them between times? Do they vanish? Do instants of time also not exist? Does it even make sense to talk this way? Oh dear, oh dear.
Rovelli devotes a precious chapter to the work of the second-century Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, who also insists there is no ultimate layer of real things. Another chapter — 15 pages, getting on for a tenth of this short book — is as unexpected as green beer: it’s about a fierce philosophical argument Lenin had in 1909 with Aleksandr Bogdanov, the co-founder of the Bolshevik party.
‘I have digressed,’ says Rovelli, once this exuberant and not particularly helpful passage is over, then promptly tips off the other side of his bar stool and quotes Douglas Adams:
In other words, it’s our skewed perspective, not the scientific evidence, that makes us want to believe in the reality of red chairs and atoms.
Rovelli is not a kook. He’s a world-famous professor of quantum gravity. His ‘relational interpretation’ of quantum theory is discussed seriously by leading philosophers and physicists. He’s ebullient about his ideas, not crazed by them. He doesn’t do a particularly good job of describing in layman’s terms the fundamental oddity of quantum theory — he’s too easily distracted and too poetical; his metaphors are a little too breathless. But that shouldn’t put you off. Do what I did after my third Helgoland walk: read the opening pages of Leonard Susskind’s superb popular science book Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum. Anybody who can use fractions can understand them. Then set back to work with Helgoland. What follows is joyous excitement.
It feels exactly right that Rovelli teaches at the University of Marseille. In the same spirit as he’s written this book, I imagine him strolling along the quai, his sleeves rolled up, hailing the devil-may-care crowd by the boats and then, with a quick glance to either side, slipping into that crazy little bar where the tankards are flying and the beer turns green if you look at it funny.
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Here's how Elon Musk's Hyperloop might actually work
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How do you get from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes?
ET3 mockup
ET3 mockup
Elon Musk has made his name on big ideas, whether it's space tourism or the electric car — but his latest project, mysteriously dubbed the Hyperloop, may be more revolutionary than anything he's done. It started with a simple promise: the ability to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in half an hour. As time went on, Musk added more. It would be low-friction, and use such minimal power that the entire thing could be run on electricity from solar panels installed above the tracks. It would use small pods, leaving "whenever you arrive" instead of cleaving to a schedule like an airliner. He's promised to unveil his alpha design for the project in just under a month's time, but already, observers are speculating on exactly how this next-generation transportation scheme would work.
The closest we've got is Japan's bullet train
The details Musk has already hinted at tell us a great deal about the project, and outline a number of the challenges he's likely to face. Based on simple math, we know it will have to travel an average of more than 600 mph. And it will have to do so almost frictionlessly, allowing for the low-power travel Musk envisions. It's a big promise, and one that would have major consequences for the transportation industry and for society at large. For the technically minded, it raises the obvious question: how in the world is this thing going to work?
So far, the closest we’ve got is Japan's superconducting maglev train — best known as the "bullet train." Its official top speed is 361mph, although it usually travels closer to 300 mph. Jim Powell, co-inventor of the bullet train and current director of Maglev 2000, thinks that’s as fast as open-air rail lines will ever go. "Air drag becomes too much of a problem after 300 mph, just from a power point of view," Powell says. "And then that air drag starts to generate noise. You wouldn’t want an airplane flying past your house at 600 mph."
The Hyperloop would solve that by enclosing the craft in a tube, creating a hermetically sealed environment that a car could move through with as little friction as possible. But what’s inside the tube is still unclear. This diagram comes from self-described tinkerer John Gardi, and Musk has described it as "the best guess so far." It shows a column of accelerated air propelling cars through the Hyperloop, providing room on either end for acceleration or deceleration. But air drag is still a problem in Gardi’s model, and maintaining a steady breeze of 600 mph is harder than it might seem. "The air still has friction losses on the walls of the tube," says Powell. "It just doesn’t seem plausible." The friction would occur on the inside of the tube, rather than the outside of the train, but the same basic principle applies. For his part, Gardi says the issue can be addressed through testing, and the friction factors vary greatly when scaled.
The problem could be solved by sucking all the air out of the tube and leaving the cars to travel through a vacuum. "If you have a vacuum in a tube, then you have zero drag," says George Maise, fluid dynamics expert at Maglev 2000. "There's no limit on the speed, really." Musk is on record saying that the Hyperloop isn't a vacuum, but keeping a column of air traveling at nearly supersonic speeds would require a huge amount of energy to maintain — unlikely, for the kind of lightweight, solar-powered transport Musk has described. It's a puzzle, and one we're unlikely to have any firm answers for before August.
"If you have a vacuum in a tube, then you have zero drag. There's no limit on the speed, really."
Beyond what’s inside the tube, Musk also has to worry about where to build it. That means establishing right-of-way for a clear path between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the same problem civil engineers have to deal with when planning out a highway or a rail line. Thanks to the interstate highways, there’s lots of available right-of-way connecting the cities, but it’s much knottier than the straight line that Musk needs for the Hyperloop. Powell has tried out the same route for a possible "bullet train"-style maglev track, and says the the increased speed makes turns extremely difficult. At high speeds, even a gentle turn pulls passengers to the side. If the loop turns too sharply, the force will make passengers sick. Powell's research finds that passengers can withstand about a tenth of a G in lateral force before causing problems. At 600 mph, that gives the Hyperloop a turning radius of 40 miles. That’s an extremely straight line, and it means the project will likely have to travel through some populated areas.
"If somebody other than Musk had proposed this, I would say it's very suspect."
There are some models for how to build this kind of transport without upsetting the neighbors. One proposal comes from ET3, a Colorado-based group that's built a number of vacuum-based transportation prototypes. Their model stacks the tubes vertically on concrete pillars, just a couple meters across. The result looks more like power lines than a super-highway, and could have a similarly small right-of-way requirement. That makes Musk's straight shot seem a lot more plausible, especially if the height of the pillars varies to accommodate changes in elevation.
But even to the experts in the field, the answers are far from clear. "Other than what Musk has announced, I don't think anyone knows what his ideas are," says ET3 founder Daryl Oster. The promise of a half-hour trip across California is genuinely world-changing, and unlike most entrepreneurs, Musk has a track record that suggests he could make it happen. Still, what we know about the Hyperloop suggests a technology that's both magical and near-impossible. "If somebody other than Musk had proposed this, I would say it's very suspect," Maise says. "I really have no idea how you do this."
Read more: Watch robot arms massage a roll of metal into a Tesla Model S
And: Get ready to rent your own research satellite
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Breaking News
Ebola Outbreak in Congo Following the Corona
Ebola Outbreak in Congo Following the Corona
A new pandemic EBOLA have outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the COVID-19 outbreak.Death of five people including a 15 year old girl have reported between 18th and 30th of May, but they were confirmed on Ebola related yesterday. A total of 9 cases have been reported, UNICEF said.
The newly contracted people and all the contacts of the diseased are being treated in isolation .
"The announcement comes as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world's largest measles outbreak," WHO said in a statement.
Its a heartbreaking moment that the country is still struggling to end up the COVID-19 and the World's largest measles virus too.
"This is a reminder that COVID-19 is not the only health threat people face," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General." Although much of our attention is on the pandemic, WHO is continuing to monitor and respond to many other health emergencies."
Actually this is the 11th outbreak of Ebola since the virus was discovered in the country in 1976.
This is very sad thing that the pandemics are emerging one by one. Since 2019 Measles have swallowed 6779 from 369520 cases and since 31 st May 2020 72 deaths have reported from a total of 3195 cases.
Let's pray all together for the better days of relief to come all over the world.
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International Day against Nuclear Tests - US
International Day against Nuclear Tests
Quick Facts - US
Related Hashtags#CTBT, #Nuclear, #NuclearBan, #AgainstNuclearTests, #Nucleartests, #Nuclearweapons
2022 DateAugust 29, 2022
2023 DateAugust 29, 2023
International Day against Nuclear Tests
International Day against Nuclear Tests History
The International Day against Nuclear Tests seeks to raise awareness about the negative effects of nuclear weapons and the need to achieve a nuclear-weapon-free world. The day also serves to educate people everywhere about the need to ban nuclear weapon tests to ensure world safety. Since the first nuclear test in 1945, over 2,000 nuclear tests have been carried out and led to accidents, such as the Chernobyl, Ukraine accident of 1986, ending in tragedy, long-term radiation poisoning, and atmospheric damage.
International Day against Nuclear Tests was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2009. It is observed every year on the 29th of August, a day that commemorates the 1991 closure of the Soviet Semipalatinsk site, the world's largest nuclear testing facility, in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan.
Top Tweets for International Day against Nuclear Tests -
International Day against Nuclear Tests Facts & Quotes
• Over the past 6 decades, the United States, Russia, and France have carried out the most nuclear tests. They have conducted 1,032, 715, and 210 tests respectively.
• The cost of the Manhattan Project, where the first nuclear bomb was ever built, is estimated to have cost $20 Billion.
• The total number of nuclear missiles built from the year 1951 to the present is 67,500.
• There are an estimated total of 16,400 nuclear weapons on Earth today.
• So long as nuclear weapons continue to exist, so will the temptation to threaten others with overwhelming military force – Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist philosopher, educator, author and anti-nuclear activist.
International Day against Nuclear Tests Top Events and Things to Do
• Watch a movie or documentary about nuclear disasters. Some suggestions are: The Day After (1983), Threads (1984), Trinity and Beyond (1995), Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and Seconds from Disaster: Meltdown at Chernobyl.
• Attend the meeting held by the president of the UN General Assembly by either going to the event in person or watching the recorded webcast.
• Read a book about nuclear issues in the world today. Some suggestions are: Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power (2011), In Mortal Hands (2009), and Nuclear or Not? Does Nuclear Power Have a Place in a Sustainable Energy Future? (2007).
• Donate to the Pacific Nuclear Charitable Foundation. Its primary goal is to promote philanthropy and medical research on the specialty of nuclear medicine.
International Day against Nuclear Tests - References and Related Sites
www.un.org: UN Nuclear
www.ctbto.org: CTBTO
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Afformations vs Affirmations : Re-programming the Subconsciousness Mind
Our Inside & Outside Worlds
Everybody must have heard about affirmations and its effects on our brains if we listen it for a long time. Affirmations are simple sentences mostly in present tense like ‘I am Healthy’ or ‘I am Rich’. Actually we have 2 worlds – one inside and one outside. Depends on the strength one will dominate and control our life. It is like setting the air conditioner temperature. For example if your outside world is very normal but there is lots of negativity in your inside world then slowly your life will become miserable as inside world will overpower the peaceful outside world. Similarly if you are in a middle of financial crisis in the outside world and you keep on dreaming, wishing and visualization money and wealth then slowly your financial status will improve outside.
Power of Affirmations
Our subconscious mind is million times powerful than conscious mind and it controls everything in our life – attitude, habits, addictions, behavior etc. Problem is the operating system in the subconscious is very old – mostly developed during our childhood period and no major updates after that. So if you really want to change it you need to rewrite the subconscious mind impressions but conscious mind will not allow everything to enter the subconscious. It acts like a gatekeeper and filter most of the data coming through the senses – mainly seeing and hearing. There is no logical checking in the subconscious mind. It writes to memory whatever comes its way. That is why conscious mind which do a logical check passes only information it feels correct or good. Here comes the importance of affirmations. When you repeat something again and again sometimes it will bypass the conscious mind checking and enter the subconscious.
This is relatively a new thing which many people believe and feel works better than affirmations. In this we will confuse the mind with questions like ‘Why am I so happy ?’. Then our mind will think that it is already happened. So it works better that simple present tense used in affirmations. Here are some examples of afformations.
• Why am I so happy?
• Why am I so lucky?
• Why am I so blessed?
• Why do I always have plenty of money?
• Why is my bank balance always growing?
• Why am I so loved?
• Why am I so healthy now?
• Why am I so confident now?
• Why do I feel so fantastic now?
• Why am I so fearless now ?
• Why am i so courageous now ?
• why do I feel so energetic now ?
• why do I feel so strong now ?
• Why do I wake up every day feeling amazing?
• Why is it okay for me to be happy?
• Why is it okay for me to be so wealthy?
• Why do I have so much energy?
• Why do I have such a happy family life?
• Why am I so calm?
• Why am I so emotionally stable?
• Why is my income rapidly increasing now?
• Why do I feel so loved?
• Why is prosperity attracted to me?
• Why am I such a magnet to success?
• Why am I so emotionally healthy?
• Why am I so rich ?
• Why am I so healthy ?
• Why am I so wealthy ?
• Why do I have so much energy ?
• Why does money come to me so easily ?
• Why am I so happy in my relationships ?
• Why do I have such vibrant health ?
• Why do I live such a blessed life?
How to Make Afformations & Best Time to Listen
In the same way you can also write your own afformations depends on your requirements in life. Make simple questions. Make it very simple and short. Both in affirmations and afformations it is always better to have simple sentences with 6-8 words. Some people use very long sentences in affirmations but that is not a good idea. make it simple and easy to remember. Think about the changes you would like to make in your life and make afformations accordingly. Then record it with your mobile phone in your own voice and listen to it at least 2 times daily. Just after waking up and before sleep are the best times to listen as brain passes through theta brainwaves during these 3 period.
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New Know-how Seminar Topics In Pc Science
New Technology in ComputerComputer science is developed to be the systematic examine of computing system and computation. We now have so as to add progressive internet applications to Gartner’s software know-how tendencies for 2017. Each supply intermediate options in at the least four methods: time needed to design and test, flexibility, efficiency, and power. Correctness and safety calls for on software could trump efficiency in some circumstances, however applications will usually want to mix these properties with excessive performance and parallelism.
The minor in laptop info expertise (CIT) teaches students concerning the improvement and management of business databases, laptop networks, web purposes, and software programs. New, more demanding purposes that solely executed on the latest, highest efficiency hardware drove the marketplace for the newest, fastest, and largest memory machines as they appeared.
As a result of executing software program on simulators requires tens to thousands of more time than executing on precise hardware, software program will lag hardware without cautious system and interface design. The findings of this research resulted within the emergence of a 5-Stage Model for pc expertise integration into instructor education programs: pre-integration, transition, development, expansion, and system-vast integration.
The software engineering focus supplies more depth in business functions, net improvement, and database design. Part of their success is rooted in offering a stage of abstraction during which programmers write sequential elements, while the runtime and system software implement and handle the parallelism.
With new developments making attainable the convergence of cell phone technology and computers, a new breed of absolutely practical palm-high computer systems are going to be launched in near future. The Bitcoin foreign money is traded for the acquisition of a Ransome Key.†Usually, victims have paid the money solely to not get the key to unlock their computers (or) techniques, shedding each their money and their knowledge.
Occasion programming isn’t a kind of expertise or programming language. Programming – or coding – is typically described as software program engineering. In 2016, big strides will be made in the development of new types of nonvolatile memory, which promise to let a hungry world store more knowledge at much less price, utilizing significantly much less power.
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Children Need Healthy Self Esteem
Children Need Healthy Self Esteem Think self esteem doesn't matter? Think again, according to experts who report that maintaining a healthy self of self esteem is particularly critical for kids.
Why? Children who think poorly of themselves are poor problem solvers. They often worry that they are not doing things right or that they are "no good" at things.
Kids who know their strengths and weaknesses and have a positive sense of self do a better job managing conflicts and resisting negative pressures, according to mental health professionals.
And what they think of themselves today, sticks with them well into life.
When success follows a child's effort, he becomes more persistent.
Similarly, when failure follows multiple attempts, a child begin to feel deflated and incapable of achievement.
The following behaviors are reflective of poor self esteem:
1. Hesitant to try new things
2. Negative feelings about themselves
3. Low tolerance for frustration
4. Gives up easily
5. Overly critical of themselves
6. Easily disappointed
Worth Talking About
School children need body image lessons
Worth Talking About
PE can help build a child's self-esteem
Self esteem is the protective armor we shield ourselves in to face life's daily challenges.
Take Action Home
Raise your Child's Self Esteem
Take Action School
How Teaching Girls to Brand Builds Confidence
Bragging Rights?
Don't be too boastful. That's the message many U.S. parents heard as they were growing up. But is it the right message to give our kids today.? Watch this NBC news report detailing why boasting about accomplishments may actually help your kids build critical self-esteem.
Take Action the Community
How To Assess Your Child's Self-Esteem
Assessing your child's self-esteem: What's normal and when should you worry?
Self-esteem, a popular construct used to describe an individual's inner experience, has two parts: how you define yourself, and how you evaluate yourself. It's easier to evaluate your own experience than someone else's subjective experience, even your own child. Here are some signs of healthy self-esteem, some examples of when you should be concerned about your child's self-esteem, and how you can help them develop healthy self-esteem.
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Giraffes are sociable creatures, but do not form herds. Instead, they meet in groups each day, but the composition of a group changes from day to day.
Sexual maturity of the female is at 48-60 months, the male is at 42 months. The giraffe mate at any time of the year with the gestation period being between 453 - 464 days. There is usually only one calf, very rarely twins.
A giraffe cow in season attracts males from all around, but is soon won by a dominant bull. He drives off the subordinate bulls by threatening them; fighting is rarely necessary at this stage. A giraffe's pregnancy lasts fifteen months, after which the cow will go to a traditional calving ground used by females time and time again to have her single calf. Giraffe calves are born with horns, which is unusual. The horns lie flat against the baby's skull when it is born, but pop up during the first week of life.
The calving ground ensures that the young calf is always left in a group of young giraffes of about the same age when its mother goes off to feed in the middle of the day. Even so the calves are heavily predated by hyenas, leopards, and wild dogs, and only about half of them will survive their first six months.
As the calf grows older it joins its mother. Lions become its main enemy, but a female giraffe can kill a lion with a well-aimed kick of its front feet. After the calves are a year old, less than one in ten will die in each year.
Weaning takes fifteen months, although a calf's mother will mate again five months after her calf is born. A young female stays in her mother's home range but young males form all-male 'clubs', and wander away when they are about three years old.
Read More: Food and Feeding
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The Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine: Information for Pregnant Women & Their Partners
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Data are still very limited when it comes to vaccination against COVID-19 during pregnancy, but pregnant women are being vaccinated little by little, because there is no particular reason why any of the COVID-19 vaccines that are available —or soon to be available— should be harmful, either during pregnancy, or breast feeding. This includes the concern about the placenta and infertility that we discussed and debunked, here on The Pulse. Therefore, since we have been making the rounds on the different COVID-19 vaccines, today, let’s take a look at the latest vaccine to release some encouraging news, the vaccine from the Novavax company.
As with previous posts, hold onto your seats, get some popcorn, or coffee, or whatever you enjoy, because again we get to travel through the beautiful world of molecular biology. With all of the vaccines that either have received emergency use authorization (EUA) in the United States, or the equivalent in other countries, there has been a common theme: the spike protein. Recall from my previous posts that the spike protein is one of a handful of proteins on the protein coat of SARS-CoV2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Actually, different versions of the spike protein are on all coronaviruses; this family of viruses gets its name, because the spike protein sticks out kind of like the spikes on the crown of the Statue of Liberty. They actually look like that when the virus is imaged with electron microscopy. They look like a crown —a corona. But not all coronaviruses cause severe disease in humans. With most of them, in fact, they only cause a cold, generally because they don’t survive at temperatures of tissues deep in the respiratory tract; they only go as far as the upper respiratory tract. But in the case of a few coronaviruses, the viruses go down to the lungs, where their spike proteins attach to cell surfaces. In the case of SARS-CoV2, the particular structure of its spike protein enables the virus to attach to a cell surface protein called ACE-2 —leading to all sorts of horrible problems that we have discussed in other posts.
But it turns out that the spike protein is also very immunogenic. It stimulates the immune system and so it it has been the top choice to use in vaccine strategies for creating an immune response against the virus. This does not mean that other SARS-CoV2 surface proteins cannot be used, but all of the vaccines that we have discussed in connection with this disease take a spike protein approach, as does the Novavax vaccine.
But there are different tactics for utilizing the spike protein. One tactic is that you can deliver a piece of DNA into the nucleus of some body cells. This is done with a type of adenovirus —a virus that, unlike coronaviruses, uses DNA as its genetic material— in which the DNA encoding the spike protein is added in place of the adenovirus’ normal DNA. The spike protein DNA gets into a variety of different cell types, including antigen presenting cells (APCs). This starts a process that results in immunity against the spike protein and thus against SARS-CoV2. The AstraZeneca/Oxford and the Johnson and Johnson vaccines for COVID-19 both use this DNA virus tactic.
Another tactic is that you can deliver a piece of RNA, encoding the spike protein, not into the nucleus of body cells, but into the cytoplasm, the part of the cell outside the nucleus. This is done by enclosing the strip of RNA, not in a virus, but in a lipid nanoparticle. Such particles are made of the same material of which cell membranes are composed, so the particles literally become part of the membrane and when they do, the RNA enters the cell. Various types of cells receive the RNA, including myocytes (muscle cells), but some APCs also receive it. Once inside your cells, the RNA is used to make spike protein, which, as with the DNA vaccines, ends up on the surfaces of cells. The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines both work this way.
With both DNA and RNA vaccines, the spike protein is delivered to the surface of affected cells. In all affected cells, the spike protein on the cell surface is attached to a normal cell surface protein called MHC-1. In APCs, the spike protein also ends up on the surface attached to another protein called MHC-2, which is very important for generating immunity by stimulating what’s called a T-cell response.
The Novavax vaccine, which recently was announced to be 89 percent effective (a good result) against the development of COVID-19 disease, contains neither DNA, nor RNA. Rather it is the spike protein itself. It was produced with molecular methods involving DNA and RNA, and what gets injected is an engineered protein. And after it gets into your blood, guess where it ends up. You guessed it, on the surface of APCs, meaning in connection with MHC-2. And that means that the immune system is triggered. As with most of the other vaccines that we have discussed, the Novavax vaccine is a two-dose regimen. You get the first shot and about a month later the second shot. Stay tuned as we learn more.
David Warmflash
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Byzantine Alternate History Series: Chapter IV- Constans II Relocates the Imperial Capital to Sicily
Posted by Powee Celdran
DISCLAIMER: Although this is mostly a work of fiction, it is largely based on true events and characters. It seeks to alter the course of actual events that transpired in the 7th century AD. This story will begin with events that have happened in real history but will become fictional as it progresses.
Previous Story: Byzantine Alternate History Chapter III- 6th Century
I call on you to be advisors and judges for the common welfare of our subjects.” -Emperor Constans II, 641AD
Welcome to the 4th chapter of the Byzantine Alternate History series by the Byzantium Blogger! Last time, in the 3rd chapter, I discussed the reign of the Byzantine Empire’s most influential and most remembered emperor Justinian I the Great and his reign in the 6th century when the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) at its golden age was also at its greatest territorial extent. However, being too massive ruling the entire Mediterranean again as a “Roman lake”, it was far too stretched and left far too exposed for enemies to attack on all sides, most notably their traditional enemy in the east, the Sassanid Persian Empire. In the previous story however, I went with the what if scenario of Justinian I saving his empire and preserving its stability for many more centuries to come by sending the devastating plague that hit his empire in 542 east over to the Sassanids resulting in their total destruction and at the same time Justinian himself personally going to his own military campaign in Italy to restore it to imperial rule and training his own nephew and successor Justin II to be a strong ruler just like him. However, since the stories in this alternate history series are not continuous with each other, this story will go with the course of events in real history meaning that after Justinian died in 565, the plague was still present in the Byzantine Empire, the economy ruined from all the wars and the plague, the Sassanid Empire in the east still alive and strong, and Justinian’s successor Justin II coming to the throne as a not so competent emperor. The main part of this story where the course of history will change happens a full century after Justinian’s reign, therefore unfamiliar territory for me as I still have much to discover about this era of Byzantium, and here the Byzantine Empire ruled by Emperor Constans II (641-668) would literally be a shell of its former self, compared to the glorious state it was under Justinian I. Here in the mid-7th century, Byzantium being devastated from total war, first against the Sassanids and afterwards against a new enemy being the Arabs, it had lost more than 50% of the lands it gained under Justinian and now has to fight on the defensive against the rapidly expanding Arab Caliphate, in which the Byzantines for the longest never knew would pose such a threat. Now Justinian’s legacy in the cathedral of the Hagia Sophia which he had constructed in the imperial capital Constantinople and his code of laws known as the Corpus Juris Civilis which he commissioned may have lived long beyond his time but his legacy in expanding the empire in land did not last long and in the latter half of the 6th century and early 7th century, all his hard work in restoring the old Roman Empire through conquests had begun to fall apart. For instance, after Justinian’s death, Italy which had just recently been put under Byzantine rule quickly began falling to a new Germanic enemy invading through the north which were the Lombards, Byzantine Southern Spain slowly began falling to the Visigoth Kingdom in the north, the Avars and Slavs began frequently raiding the Byzantine Balkans, and the threat of the Sassanids in the east resuming in full scale wars, and the worst part was that the Byzantine treasury was growing increasingly empty. The hard times for Byzantium then began in 602 when the last emperor of Justinian’s dynasty, Maurice was dethroned and executed by his army which resulted in chaos reigning in Byzantium allowing the Sassanids to now invade imperial territory to the point of coming right outside Constantinople! In 610, Heraclius who would be another strong and decisive emperor came to the throne to save the empire and true enough by 628 he was able to finish off the Sassanid threat once and for all by winning the great war against them which totally fractured the Sassanid Empire and though the Byzantine here had won, years of war weakened the empire and its economy that one more war could result in Byzantium’s total annihilation. As for the Byzantines, little did they know that the war with the Sassanids was not yet the end, and little did they know that the new deadly threat to them would come from the Arab people from the deserts of the south who the Byzantines never had thought would ever be much of a threat. Apparently, the Arab tribes of the southern deserts in the early 7th century had all united under the new religion of Islam to form an empire or Caliphate and began expanding north beyond Arabia to conquer both the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires to spread Islam by the sword, and for them the Byzantine capital Constantinople was the ultimate prize. Now, the sudden rise and expansion of the Arab tribes of the desert becoming the Rashidun Caliphate was one of history’s most unexpected moments but at the same time it was also expected that the Byzantines would lose a great amount of their imperial holdings in the east, most notably all of Egypt and Syria to the Arabs very quickly as the previous war with the Sassanids heavily devastated the Byzantine forces and facing a powerful and swift enemy like the Arabs, the Byzantines could not stand a chance but at least with the Byzantines being able to adapt to these challenging times by coming up with new kinds of military and administrative systems and secret superweapons like Greek Fire survived the expansion of the Arabs whereas the Sassanid Empire that had fallen into civil war stood no chance and was soon enough entirely absorbed into the Arab Caliphate by 651. The main part and climax of this story will be on the 27-year reign of Constans II (641-668), the grandson of Heraclius who in 641 at only 11 inherits an empire that had gotten into a war with the Arabs and already at a breaking point. Unlike emperors Justinian I and Heraclius whose reigns and achievements remained well remembered long after their time, Constans II’s does not and remains one of Byzantium’s most underrated emperors despite achieving a lot as emperor and so much happening in his reign as it was under him when the course of Byzantine history had been drastically changing. For instance, it was under Constans II when the Byzantine Empire in an instant lost a large amount of territories most of them being important ones like Egypt and Syria, it was also under Constans II when Byzantium began its shift from Latin to Greek culturally and linguistically, and most importantly it was under Constans II when the new administrative system of Byzantium’s provinces known as the Thematic System was introduced whereas the Byzantines now having to fight constantly on the defensive against the expanding Arabs from the east while at the same time losing large amounts of land had to adapt to the situation and this meant reducing their provinces in size thus creating smaller military provinces called Themes to increase military presence. Under Constans II, the major shift in the course of Byzantine history took place as it was here where they would now from here on for 2 more centuries have to fight on the defensive to protect their empire from the ambitious conquests of the Arabs and in these difficult times, Byzantium had to adapt by coming up with all sorts of creative ideas for their survival including the creation of Thematic System- which you will learn more about how it works when reading this- to make their defenses easier and creating weapons like Greek Fire, a naval superweapon that was to remain a Byzantine state secret, and yes these new solutions the Byzantines came up with in these difficult times did prove effective enough in allowing the Byzantine Empire to live on through these hard times and eventually by the 9th century rise up again to counter-attack the Arabs. As for Constans II on the other hand, others may remember him as the emperor that met a very odd end being killed by a servant using a soap dish when bathing but in the story of his death that took place in the city of Syracuse of Sicily, Constans II did indeed have some kind of secret intention which was to move the Byzantine Empire’s capital to Sicily seeing Constantinople was far too vulnerable to the Arab attacks and having Syracuse as the new capital was more effective as it location was central in the Mediterranean and could help in further defending the Mediterranean and taking back lands such as Egypt and North Africa that were lost to the expanding Arab Caliphate. Now, I actually think here that Constans II did really intend to move west as he was looking to further defend the Mediterranean from the Arabs while at the same time I also see that he had also cared about the west and Byzantium’s Roman heritage, therefore this makes him and not Justinian the last Roman emperor to have some kind of connection to the west and Rome, considering that the Byzantine emperors despite ruling from the east were still considered Roman emperors. This article will be another long one as it covers the very crucial 7th century and the worlds of the Byzantines, Arab Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates, Sassanid Persians, and even the Tang Chinese Empire but a lot of it will focus on Emperor Constans II’s reign and his decision to move the imperial capital to Syracuse being the last Byzantine emperor that still care about Byzantium’s western roots but the real question here is that if Constans II moved the Byzantine capital to Syracuse, could this really change the course of Byzantine history?
Flag of the Byzantine Empire
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Note: Since this story is set in the 7th century after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine characters will be now referred to as Byzantines, not Romans.
The Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent by 555 under Emperor Justinian I the Great
The Byzantine Empire in 650 (orange) under Constans II
Map of the expansion of the Islamic Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates (622-750)
Here, in chapter IV of my Byzantine Alternate History series, this time I am writing the story alone basing it on historical facts from 7th century Byzantium and coming up with my own plots for the characters of the story. Most of the story will be relying on historical facts with an intense amount of research and info from the History of Byzantium Podcast and other history related media online and books as well including my go to book for Byzantine history told through its emperors, The History of the Byzantine Empire by Radi Dikici. However, when we get to the year 668, the year Constans II was killed in his bath in Syracuse, rather than going with the course of real history wherein Constans II met his end at the baths, this story will take a different turn whereas Constans II survived and would continue to build up the empire’s Mediterranean defense as well as continue his war against the Arab forces, this time having united as the Umayyad Caliphate.
Coin of Emperor Constans II (r. 641-668)
Although before getting to this story’s climax of Constans II’s fate in 668 wherein he avoids it, it is important to give some context to the story by discussing the background of the plot of the rise of the Byzantine-Arab conflict which will take us all the way back to Byzantium in the late 6th century following Justinian I’s death. This story then will have a long background section that will discuss Byzantium after Justinian, the total war against the Sassanids, the emperor Maurice, the usurpation and failed reign of the emperor Phocas, the rise and achievements of Emperor Heraclius, the final defeat of the Sassanid Empire, and the sudden rise of the Arabs and expansion of Islam since it would be difficult to understand the Byzantine Empire of Constans II without knowing about how Byzantium changed so much before his time. Once the background of the story and its conflict is explained in the historical context, this article will proceed to the turbulent reign of Constans II from 641 to 668 and then to the climax of the story wherein things will take a totally fictional shift. This story will then proceed and finish off with the reign of Constans II’s son Constantine IV (668-681) with the first Arab Siege of Constantinople in 674 and the invention of the superweapon Greek Fire, despite Constans II still alive except here in this case, after 668, the Byzantine Empire would be split in half to be able to fully defend all its borders properly whereas Constans II would rule permanently from the west in Syracuse while his young son Constantine IV would rule from the east in Constantinople. Now Constans II for me is one of Byzantium’s most underrated yet very important emperors as like mentioned earlier, he ruled Byzantium in a very crucial time when the empire had suddenly downsized in land and population as a large percent was lost to the Arabs, therefore it was in his reign where many important reforms and changes were introduced which would last for many centuries to come such as the introduction of the Thematic System and the shift from Latin to Greek in language and culture which would be the new standard for Byzantium from here onwards with the Latin language and Roman identity of the past slowly but significantly disappearing as for instance, the imperial court began using Greek as the language of administration. Other than the creation of Byzantium’s Theme System that would be the standard of the empire’s governance for many centuries to come, Constans II’s reign was one with many significant moments which included sending an embassy to the Tang Empire of China, almost getting killed in a naval battle against the Arabs, arresting the pope, travelling the empire personally, leading battles himself, settling in Syracuse as if it were the empire’s new capital, and getting assassinated in his bath by a soap dish. Now the 7th century was a very crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium as this was when the empire entered a somewhat dystopian setting which would be its “Dark Ages” where it drastically downsized, therefore losing the imperial power and prestige it had as the all-powerful empire it was from its beginnings in the 4th century to the age of Justinian in the 6th century and also, it was the time when the purpose of war for the Byzantines shifted from one for territory to holy war to defend Christianity, first against the Zoroastrian Sassanid Persians in the first half of the 7th century and against the Muslim Arabs in the 2nd half; and it would not only be the Byzantines fighting for faith but the Arabs too as their purpose for expanding was to spread Islam. This story in the 7th century too will only be the beginning of the wars the Byzantines would have against Islam which they would fight against till the very end while this story too will be the beginning of the Byzantines vs Arabs and Dark Ages phase which the next 2 stories of this series will cover. As for creating a what if story for 7th century Byzantium since each century in Byzantium’s history gets one story in this series, I could have done more popular ones such as if the war against the Sassanids from 602 to 628 had not happened, if the Arab expansion never happened, if Emperor Heraclius lost to the Sassanids, or if Heraclius successfully beat the Arabs, but instead I chose to go deeper into the 7th century and deeper into the Byzantine-Arab conflict, therefore into the complex reign of Constans II as in this alternate history series, I usually like to go for lesser known emperors and events and this article will do just that. Of course, the more popular events of the 7th century like the reign of Heraclius and his wars against the Sassanids and later the Arabs will play a large role in this story giving a background to Constans II and the situation of the empire he ruled and considering Constans II is the grandson of the more famous Byzantine emperor Heraclius, it is impossible to not discuss the heroic yet tragic reign of Heraclius. Now for the main character of the story, I chose Constans II (real name: Heraclius Constantine) who I would consider a very complex person as I always find stories that center on a flawed, unlikeable, and mean-spirited protagonist very interesting and Emperor Constans II is no exception for this kind of character. Unlike the other protagonists I chose for the previous 3 stories like Valentinian I, Anthemius, and Justinian who I portrayed as rather likeable characters, Constans II here as the lead character is the opposite, and just as he recorded in history to have ruled, Constans II here will be portrayed as a young mean-spirited emperor ruling with an iron fist, purging all those who opposed him including family members and even the pope, and falling out with his family which is why I would also say he left for 5 years to settle in Sicily, never to return. As an emperor, Constans II too would be his grandfather Heraclius’ polar opposite as Heraclius is usually portrayed in a heroic fashion being Byzantium’s savior from incompetence and tyranny and from the ultimate destruction of the Sassanids yet at the same time as a tragic hero as even though he achieved so much in finally putting an end to the constant war against the Sassanids, he plainly lived long enough to die a broken man unable to stop the new Arab threat while his grandson Constans II is usually and here will be seen as an unlikeable autocratic ruler in which others may know him as “Constans the Bearded” or the “Bearded Autocrat”- as he is depicted in his coin to have a large beard- and although tyrannical as an emperor and not very effective in religious and foreign policy, he was not incompetent and was actually a visionary with some good intentions for the survival of his empire which is why he introduced the Theme System- though historical sources aren’t that clear about if he exactly created them- and thought of relocating the imperial capital seeing he could use that as a base to save the threatened western provinces. Constans II too being part of the Heraclian Dynasty founded by his grandfather Heraclius would also be the one to set the standard of his dynasty’s ruling style as strong autocratic rulers in which this kind of ruling style Constans II had would be seen with his son Constantine IV as you will also see here, and with Constantine IV’s son Justinian II (r. 685-695) who would be this dynasty’s last emperor and it was also here at this point in time with Byzantium under the Heraclian emperors wherein you would no longer see powerful women running the empire like in the 5th and 6th centuries; instead the 7th century was a time for strong young men running the empire such as Constans II, Constantine IV, and Justinian II. This story too will not be the kind of black and white story wherein the Byzantines are all good and their enemies like the Arabs all bad, instead it will be a very complex one as its lead character Constans II despite being the hero of the story, will be somewhat villainous in nature as a result of the difficult situation the empire was facing as he grew up, but with actually good intentions therefore being an anti-villain with a complete character arc while the Arabs on the other hand like Constans II’s arch-enemy Caliph Muawiyah I would not be seen as pure villains even if it is told through the Byzantine perspective, as true enough the Arab Caliphate’s intention was just to expand and conquer in the name of Islam without any bad intentions yet they had actually been tolerant as rulers at times, thus this story too will do justice to the Arabs who are usually villainized in other stories. At the same time, this story too will give you a full picture of the world of the 7th century by not only telling the story of Constans II but of the collapse of Byzantium’s long-time mortal enemy, the Sassanid Empire wherein the Arabs would replace them as this enemy, the relations of Byzantium with the distant Tang Dynasty Empire of China at this time, the continuation of the endless headache of religious debates, the introduction of Byzantium’s Theme System which would prove effective in the empire’s survival, the Byzantine Exarchates, the development of Greek Fire, and the ultimate change in the course of Byzantine history from fighting to conquer to fighting on the defensive. Of course, in order to be more interesting for a wider range of viewers would not focus to heavily on the religious debates of the time and political situation of the empire but rather on the happenings of the time including the wars and power struggles in which Byzantium would also be forever remembered for. Although at the same time, this story will be one that is more centered on the empire and its political and geographic situation rather than on characters, but the characters and their stories like of Constans II will play a major part too.
Constans II
Emperor Constans II of Byzantium, black and white illustration by Powee Celdran
Guide to the Heraclian Dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, 610-695 (covered heavily in this story)
Related Articles from The Byzantium Blogger:
Byzantine Alternate History Chapter III- The Empire Strikes Back
Byzantine History for Everyday People- Reactions to Quotes from Byzantium
Around the World in the Byzantine Era- Part I (330-1000)
12 Turning Points in Byzantine History
The Art of War in the Byzantine World
A Guide to the Themes of the Byzantine Empire
The Sieges of Constantinople
Lesser Known and Would be Roman and Byzantine Emperors (27BC-695AD)
Related Videos to this era:
Constans II the Bearded (Thersites the Historian)
Early Muslim Expansion- Yarmouk and Al-Qadisiyah (Kings and Generals)
Constans II: Struggle for Survival (Eastern Roman History)
The Leading Characters:
Constans II- Byzantine emperor
Constantine IV- Son and heir of Constans II
Theodore Calliopas- Byzantine Exarch of Ravenna
Mizizios- Byzantine general, Komes of the Opsikion Theme
Muawiyah I- 1st Caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate
Heraclius- Son of Constans II and co-emperor
Tiberius- Son of Constans II and co-emperor
Fausta- Byzantine empress, wife of Constans II, mother of Constantine IV, Heraclius, and Tiberius
Theodosius- Twin brother of Constans II
Kallinikos of Heliopolis- Byzantine engineer, inventor of Greek Fire
Paul II- Patriarch of Constantinople
Pope Martin I- Patriarch of Rome
Saborios- Byzantine general, Strategos of the Armeniac Theme
Yazid- Arab general, son of Muawiyah I
Peroz- Last heir of the Sassanid Empire in exile, Persian general in China
*Alexios- Byzantine senator and diplomat sent to China (real character with not much of a story, his story is expanded here)
Gaozong- Tang emperor of China
Character images below of these selected characters from this story, Illustrated by Powee Celdran
(Credits to AmelianvsSkamandros, Gambargin, Ahmed AbuElnaga, and Marwan Musa for their art on this era which are featured here.)
Background Guide: Byzantine characters (blue), Latin west (light blue), Arabs (yellow), Sassanids (green), Chinese (red-orange)
The Background (From Justinian I to Heraclius)
On November 14, 565 died the most influential ruler of the Byzantine Empire, Justinian I the Great who had ruled for a total of 38 years coming to power back in 527 and with him died the golden age. Under Justinian I, the Byzantines came to rule the entire Mediterranean by conquering North Africa from the Vandal Kingdom, Italy from the Ostrogoth Kingdom, and Southern Spain from the Visigoth Kingdom and though the Vandals and Ostrogoths were destroyed under Justinian I, the Visigoth Kingdom still lived on in Spain as only the south was put under Byzantine rule and despite these conquests, the might of Byzantium was weakened. Certainly, Justinian’s imperial conquests of the former Western Roman provinces needed funds and though the dream to reconquer these provinces had been achieved, the treasury ran low due to all the wars fought to reclaim these lands considering the war to retake all of Italy spanned almost 20 years.
The worst part however was the plague that struck the Byzantine Empire so severely in 542 that killed 1/3 of the empire’s population and as a result of all the deaths crippled the economy but even though all this happened, Justinian I was able to put the entire Mediterranean under Byzantine rule and die at least knowing he was able to fulfil his ultimate dream despite never even taking part in his own conquests but instead staying his entire reign in Constantinople. Though Justinian I died with his ultimate dream of reconquest achieved, little did he know that shortly after his death, all his hard work would fall apart and a lot of this would be due to the leadership of his nephew and successor Justin II (r. 565-578) as Justinian in fact never properly trained a successor and never had children of his own with his wife Theodora and following Theodora’s death in 548, the devastated Justinian vowed to marry again, and little did he know that this would be a terrible decision. Justin II inherited from his uncle a massive empire that controlled the entire Mediterranean but no matter how large it was in territory, he lacked the vision and strong administrative skills his uncle had and the Byzantine Empire Justinian I left behind to Justin II had an economy ruined by the plague and wars and having an empty treasury while facing enemies on all borders particularly the Avars across the Danube border in the Balkans allying with the Slavic tribes across the Danube making attempts to cross the river and settle in Byzantine lands.
The Avars now had been making raids into the Danube borders of Byzantium ever since Justinian I’s reign but part of Justinian’s policy was to pay off the Avars and their allies, the Slavs (Sclaveni in Latin, Sklabenoi in Greek) to stay where they are and not attack but when becoming emperor, Justin II seeing the treasury was too empty to continue paying the Avars annual tribute decided to stop paying tribute therefore making them raid into the Byzantine Balkans with their Slav allies to find land whereas the Avars fought as cavalry and the Slavs as infantry. As for Byzantine Italy which had just been entirely conquered from the Ostrogoth Kingdom, the wars and plague left it a depopulated wasteland and due to pressure from the Avar hordes in Central Europe, the Germanic tribe of the Lombards migrated south to look for land therefore invading Byzantine Italy in 568 meeting very little resistance as not that many troops were left to defend Italy as a result of the deaths from the previous war against the Ostrogoths and in such a short amount of time, the Lombards were able to take over half of Italy leaving only the major cities of Ravenna, Rome, and Naples as well as the south to the Byzantines. In the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire on the other hand, ever since 562 Justinian I agreed to a truce with their mortal enemy, the Sassanid Persian Empire ruled by Shah Khosrow I, King of Kings though the amount of money to be paid off to the Sassanids as tribute was soon to be impossible with the Byzantine state now critically running out of funds and again as Justin II decided to do with the Avars, in 572 he decided to stop the annual tribute to the Sassanids, therefore resuming war and this time to an even more severe level wherein the Sassanids had the upper hand making them able to seize some of Byzantine territory in Syria.
Avar cavalry (left) and Slav infantry (right)
The resumption of the war against the Sassanids and the defeat of the Byzantine forces to them as well as the pressure of running such a massive yet fractured empire in 573 made Justin II break down and lose his sanity and memory that soon enough he became unfit to rule and in 574, he was convinced by his wife the empress Sophia to abdicate and rule in name only and appoint his commander of the palace guard or Comes Excubitorum the Thracian Tiberius to run the empire not as Caesar while Justin II still ruled as Augustus or senior emperor and Tiberius would be the first Byzantine emperor from here on to primarily speak Greek. Justin II then adopted Tiberius as his son and heir despite them being the same age here (54) and from here on Tiberius would be the one effectively running the empire cleaning up the mess Justin II left behind which included continuing the defense of Italy against the Lombards and campaigning against the Sassanids in the east to push them back though the campaigns were left to their generals as Tiberius like Justin II and Justinian I before him again ruled as a palace emperor though luckily one day, out of chance he discovered tons of gold in his new house in Constantinople which was the house of the late Narses, the eunuch general of Justinian I who had died in 573 and apparently Narses had been keeping a large amount of gold for himself and having no children to inherit the wealth, it was passed on to the state and used to continue funding the wars and to resume paying tribute to the Avars.
Tiberius II Constantine, Palace Guard Commander, and successor of Justin II (r. 578-582)
In 578, Justin II had died and Tiberius II adding “Constantine” to his name now ruled as the empire’s sole Augustus though Empress Sophia considering marrying him to continue ruling herself as the Augusta or empress but Tiberius already having a wife refused and banished Sophia from the imperial court and now as emperor, Tiberius would at least rule more competently than Justin II but still lacking the abilities, enthusiasm, and vision of Justinian I but still, Tiberius II was popular with the masses as he relaxed taxes and had managed to keep the fractured empire together by keeping the Avars across the Danube away, containing the Lombard threat in Italy by paying off the Franks of Gaul to distract the Lombards by attacking them from the north, and manage to continue making a truce with Khosrow I’s Sassanid Empire. In the Sassanid Empire in 579, Khosrow I died and was succeeded by his son Hormizd IV who had certainly wanted to continue the war with the Byzantines and Tiberius here decided to again face off the Sassanids at war and luckily, he had appointed a competent general to lead the campaign against the Sassanids which was the Cappadocian Greek Maurice– formerly Tiberius’ secretary and palace guard commander since 574- who in 580 successfully marched the army deep into Sassanid territory as far as Iraq pushing back the Sassanids.
Sassanid Empire flag
However, Tiberius II having pulled out troops from the Balkans in order to launch the Sassanid campaign left the Balkans defenseless allowing the Avars and Slavs to continue their raids facing little resistance to the point of taking over the important city of Sirmium (in today’s Serbia) from the Byzantines. By 582, the conflict with the Sassanids was more or less settled allowing Tiberius to continue focusing on the threat of the Avars in the Balkans and not wanting to resume war against them, Tiberius again agreed to pay tribute to them as well as formally cede the city of Sirmium to the Avars and Slavs but in return the Avars and Slavs destroyed Sirmium. It was also in 582 when Tiberius II Constantine died at 62 most possibly from food poisoning, though it also rumored he was poisoned but when dying he named Maurice his successor.
Start of the Lombard invasion of Byzantine Italy in 568, Lombard lands (blue), Byzantines (orange)
Imperial court of the mentally insane Justin II (seated) with Empress Sophia (left) and Tiberius II as Caesar (right), by Amelianvs
Byzantine Sirmium, ceded to the Avars and Slavs in 582
Here in 582 at the age of 43, the general Maurice after marrying Tiberius II’s daughter Constantia came to rule the empire and would prove to be a competent and worthy emperor with a vision, another one of who primarily spoke Greek, and the first Byzantine emperor since Theodosius I (r. 379-395) 2 centuries earlier- with the exception of Zeno (r. 474-491)- to personally lead the armies in battle as many of his predecessors, most notably Justinian I never led the armies in battle, instead only giving orders to generals to do the job, and here Maurice would set a new standard for emperors to lead their troops in battle. The loss of Sirmium to the Avars and Slavs was a heavy blow to the prestige of the empire giving Maurice a reason to continue the war with them which he did though this ended in total disaster that he had to again continue paying off tribute to them which therefore began bankrupting the empire.
Maurice, Byzantine emperor (r. 582-602)
Other than that, as Maurice having a vision to save and rebuild the strong empire Justinian before him planned to have, he looked into the matter in Italy that was under attack by the Lombards, North Africa threatened by the Berbers of the desert, and Byzantine territory in Southern Spain slowly being taken back by the Visigoths and here he decided to create two semi-autonomous provinces to further protect the provinces too distant to Constantinople. These two semi-autonomous provinces Maurice had created were known as the Exarchates which were to be ruled by an Exarch or a semi-autonomous governor with almost the same authority as the emperor himself but still answering directly to the emperor, and these Exarchates will play an important role in this story. In 584 the Exarchate of Ravenna was created which was to rule all of the remains of Byzantine Italy as a way to continue in the effort of containing the Lombards as Maurice being too busy dealing with problems in the east and Balkans did not have the time and neither could not split himself in half to focus on problems on all sides, therefore he left Italy under the care of an appointed Exarch based in Ravenna, the Byzantine capital of Italy. In 585, it was Byzantine North Africa’ turn to become a Byzantine Exarchate based in Byzantine North Africa’s capital Carthage and here the North African provinces as well as Sardinia and Corsica, and the remains of Byzantine territory in Southern Spain fell under the Exarchate of Africa as again Maurice had no time to focus on the problems but at least he still cared to keep these lands that Justinian worked so hard to conquer for the empire. Not to mention, it was also during Maurice’s reign when the fertile lands of Byzantine North Africa outside Carthage (Tunisia and Algeria) due to over farming and climate change began to dry up turning more and more into a desert, therefore limiting the abundant grain supply for the empire which came from these lands. Meanwhile in the Sassanid Empire, due to the heavy defeat they faced earlier under Maurice’s hands, the shah Hormizd IV was enraged making him insult his defeated general Bahram Chobin for losing but feeling insulted by his king, Bahram in 590 rebelled against, dethroned, and executed Hormizd IV taking over the Sassanid throne as Shah Bahram VI making Hormizd IV’s son and Khosrow I’s grandson Khosrow II flee to Maurice’s court in Constantinople. Maurice however managed to make an alliance with the young Khosrow II and in 591 with the help of Maurice returned to the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon, dethroned and killed Bahram VI, and successfully regained the throne, therefore resuming peace with the Byzantines promising not to attack as Maurice helped him regain the throne.
Khosrow II, Shah of the Sassanid Empire (r. 591-628)
With the peace once again signed with the Sassanid Empire as well as Byzantine lands in Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor previously conquered by the Sassanids returned to Byzantine control, Maurice now focused on continuing the war with the Avars and Slavs in the Balkans and maintaining diplomatic relations with the neighboring kingdoms of the Caucasus as well as with the Arab tribes of the deserts in the far south but little did he know that they would one day erupt as a total threat to the Byzantines. At this time, as Maurice continued fighting his wars against the Avars and Slavs in the Balkans and actually leading the army himself, his famous military manual known as the Strategikon was written and though it is debated if Maurice wrote it himself or if it was his brother Peter or some of his generals that wrote it, I would believe that it was actually Maurice himself since he had a lot of military experience and as an emperor was also a skilled and practical general.
The Strategikon of Emperor Maurice
This military manual here is basically a guide on how to fight particular enemies the Byzantines had at this time whether Franks or Lombards, Avars or Slavs, Sassanids or other eastern enemies, and Nomadic horsemen from the distant steppes of Central Asia and this book discusses not only how to beat the enemy by learning their fighting styles but from learning about their culture and behavior as well and a lot of the information for this book came from Byzantine spies sent to study these people. However, this book has not much mention about the Arabs from the south and their fighting styles as at this point, they were not in any way seen as a big threat though the useful advice given here was when it came to fighting the Slavs, it was best to fight them during winter by camping across the Danube in order to contain them and prevent them from crossing as they were at their weakest during winter, but as it would turn out, this tip from the Strategikon would cause Maurice his downfall. In 602, before winter came, Maurice successfully led his forces in beating back the Avars and Slavs across the Danube and with this success, the army was ordered to camp across the Danube during winter while Maurice returned to the capital. From the beginning, Maurice was already unpopular with Constantinople’s people especially the elite for never being around that much in the capital to please them and for his weakness in economic policy which led to the empire’s near bankruptcy and across the Danube, it was his own army that came to despise him for making them live in harsh conditions at enemy territory especially since they were to do it during winter wherein the cold was much more brutal there than it was within Byzantine territory but more importantly, these soldiers began to rise up due to their lack of pay, although this was not Maurice’s fault as the empire’s treasury was already emptying out. The soldiers camped across the Danube then refused following orders and went in open revolt against Maurice and here their centurion or senior officer Phocas was sent to march to Constantinople and overthrow Maurice in favor of Maurice’s son Theodosius who for the army was seen as a better choice. However, when Phocas arrived in Constantinople, the blue and green factions who were traditionally each other’s enemies united and rioted with support from the Byzantine Senate in favor of Phocas as their new emperor. With the unrest ongoing, Maurice with his family fled Constantinople across the narrow Bosporus Sea to Chalcedon on the Asian side but it was too late as they were caught by Phocas’ men although Maurice’s eldest son Theodosius was already sent away in time to seek help from Khosrow II in the Sassanid Empire, though when caught, Maurice’s wife and daughters were banished to monastery while Maurice and his 5 sons as well as his brother Peter were all sentenced to death. Here on November 27, 602 at one of Constantinople’s harbors, Maurice witnessed his 5 sons beheaded in front of him before he himself was beheaded and when he and his sons were killed with Phocas as the new emperor overseeing the executions, the eldest son Theodosius escaped but was later found though spared and sent to live out his life in the neighboring Kingdom of Lazica (today’s Georgia) in the Caucasus. The execution of Maurice thus ended the Justinian Dynasty founded back in 518 by Justinian’s uncle Emperor Justin I (r. 518-527); some historians too use the event of Maurice’s execution in 602 as the end of antiquity and the Byzantine golden age and the start of the Dark Ages.
Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna (red), established in 584
Byzantine Exarchate of Africa (red), established in 585
Maurice’s troops across the Danube in 600, by Amelianvs
The Byzantine Emperor Maurice about to be executed by the usurper Phocas, having seen his five children killed in front of him, 602
Execution of Emperor Maurice in 602, end of the Justinian Dynasty
The Byzantine Empire in 600 (green) and Sassanid Empire (orange)
Watch this to learn more about the Strategikon of Emperor Maurice (Kings and Generals).
Following the execution of Emperor Maurice and his 5 sons, the 53-year-old centurion Phocas, a Greek speaking Thracian was now emperor but for taking over power by killing off Maurice, he was seen as a usurper. True enough, Phocas had no ties to Maurice or the Justinian Dynasty, therefore making him the first Byzantine emperor to usurp power without having any blood or familial connections with previous emperors, not even a lineage traced back to previous emperors, instead he was a simple and barely educated common soldier rising above the ranks and seizing complete control of the empire by force, though it still remains unclear why the senate still backed him.
Emperor Phocas of Byzantium (r. 602-610)
Phocas though was married but had no children but as emperor, due to his lack of education, he lacked the skill to run an empire and being a low-born usurper, he soon enough became a constant target of conspiracies by the elite of Constantinople. Meanwhile, when hearing of Maurice’s execution, the Sassanid shah Khosrow II broke his peace agreement with Byzantium and again declared war as a way to avenge Maurice who helped him come into power where in fact avenging Maurice’s memory was more of an excuse because with Maurice as emperor, Khosrow II would not dare attack Byzantine lands as Maurice backed him but with Maurice dead, Khosrow II who really intended to conquer Byzantine lands had every reason to now invade and at the end of 602, a massive Sassanid campaign was launched against Byzantium. At the same time, the Sassanids now had the former Arab Lakhmid Kingdom to their south as their own province as well as the lands across the Persian Gulf (today’s Qatar, UAE, and Oman) being the province of Mazun, while Yemen too at the southwest portion of the Arabian Peninsula was also a Sassanid province here, though both were not connected to the main Sassanid Empire by land but with these lands already theirs, the Sassanid Persians were now to gain more by expanding west by conquering Byzantine provinces. Now Phocas would be a great example of tyranny and incompetence as when he ruled, he primarily focused on eliminating the conspiracies targeted against him and executing all those who opposed him especially the remaining family members of Maurice including Maurice’s wife Constantia and the daughters they had who were all put to death in 605 despite them previously being spared and all while Phocas busied himself getting rid of threats against him, little did he know that he left the Balkans even more exposed to the Avars and Slavs and true enough all of Maurice’s hard work to contain them was undone as these enemies raided deep into the Balkans. Phocas when hearing of the Avars and Slavs’ raids decided to let them attack and not pay them off any tribute as the treasury too had already been emptied out but the worst part was at the east, as when Phocas was too busy purging those who opposed him, the Sassanids without much resistance penetrated deep into Byzantine Asia Minor as well as Syria and Phocas seeing nothing could be done about it just let it happen. Soon enough, Phocas would lose support from the senate as they never wanted an incompetent usurper as emperor anyway while his most loyal top general Priscus too was accused to treason so in 608, Priscus fled Constantinople to the Exarchate of Africa to get the help of its exarch, the Armenian Heraclius the Elder in Carthage to overthrow Phocas as it turned out a lot of provincial governors had still been loyal to Maurice even if he was unpopular with the senate and elite of Constantinople especially since a lot of the governors were those that were appointed by Maurice. Heraclius the Elder and his son Heraclius the Younger were no doubt Maurice loyalists especially since the father was appointed exarch by Maurice himself and when Priscus arrived, both father and son were willing to openly rebel against Phocas that in Carthage they started minting coins with their faces and names and named themselves consuls too.
Coin of Consuls in Carthage Heraclius the Elder and Heraclius the Younger
To fully kick start the rebellion, Heraclius the Younger set off to Egypt as his father was too old to journey therefore remaining in Carthage. Heraclius the Younger with his cousin Nicetas then seized Egypt for themselves in rebellion against Constantinople by cutting off the grain supply for the capital, therefore starving the people of Constantinople which was a sure move that turned them against Phocas. In 609, Heraclius the Younger then proceeded with his fleet to Greece and in 610 arrived in Constantinople and once the ship had docked in the harbor, the mob had already turned on Phocas in favor of Heraclius and here as Heraclius arrived, a severely beaten Phocas who’s robes were torn off was brought to Heraclius whereas Heraclius questioned him “is this how you have ruled, wretch?” and in return Phocas said “and will you rule better?” and being so enraged, Heraclius had Phocas beheaded at the spot. Now here on October 5, 610, the 35-year-old Flavius Heraclius the Younger, a native Greek speaker of Armenian and Cappadocian Greek descent was crowned emperor who was yet to face a very heavy burden of ruling a damaged empire.
Khosrow II’s Sassanid imperial court
Heraclius the Younger overthrows and executes Phocas in 610, by Amelianvs
The Byzantine Empire Heraclius came to rule in 610 was heavily fractured and threatened on all sides, first of all the Avars and Slavs raided even deeper into the Balkans, the Lombards still threatened Italy, and in the east the Sassanids had already captured Byzantine Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey) and Heraclius on the other hand who came to power by force was also seen as a usurper as he also had no connections to any of the previous dynasties except that his father was appointed Exarch of Africa by Maurice, though some time after 610, Heraclius the Elder would die at least knowing his son successfully took the throne.
Heraclius the Younger, Byzantine emperor crowned in 610
Meanwhile with Byzantium’s eastern borders left poorly defended under Phocas’ rule, the Sassanids led by their powerful and highly skilled and feared general Shahrbaraz– whose name meant “royal boar” although his real name is unclear- scored major victories that in 611 he captured the major city of Antioch itself for the Sassanids, followed by the capture of Damascus in 613, and afterwards even Caesarea in Cappadocia in Asia Minor fell to the Sassanids which opened the way for the Sassanids to expand westwards to Constantinople. As for Heraclius, before becoming emperor he had married Fabia Eudokia, a patrician woman from North Africa and in 612 their first child who was to later be Emperor Constantine III was born but shortly after Constantine’s birth, Eudokia died and due to her popularity, the whole of Constantinople mourned at her funeral. With his first wife dead, Heraclius decided he needed to marry again in order to have more children and establish a legitimate ruling dynasty, though Heraclius had no choice but to marry his niece Martina, the daughter of his older sister Maria in 613. The marriage between Heraclius and Martina shocked the population of Constantinople and most especially the Church as it was definitely incestuous and illegal but they still married and Martina was still proclaimed Augusta by Heraclius and crowned by the Patriarch of Constantinople Sergius I. The Byzantines again suffered a heavy blow to them in 614 when Jerusalem was captured by the Sassanids, and although Jerusalem and in its location had no strategic importance, as the holy city it did have a lot of spiritual importance and for the Byzantines, losing the city was a heavy loss that angered the people of the empire.
Sassanid general Shahrbaraz, by Gambargin
The Sassanids had turned out to favor the Jews over Christians and when capturing Jerusalem, they assigned the Jewish community to be in charge of the city over the Christians which definitely angered the Christians making them revolt against their Jewish and Sassanid Persian overlords, though the rebellion was brutally crushed by the Sassanid forces and as result of quelling the rebellion, the Sassanids looted the city taking away its most important relics including the True Cross wherein Jesus Christ himself was crucified in and many other relics from the time of Christ over to the Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon. The looting of the relics of Jerusalem truly shocked the people of Constantinople who knowing the oppression of the Christians there were not only due to their Sassanid overlords but by their Jewish allies began having anti-Jewish sentiments that the Byzantine Christians in Constantinople would randomly beat-up Jews in the streets while Heraclius here saw the loss of Jerusalem as God’s punishment for his incestuous marriage to his niece Martina. The Balkans here was still facing a heavy crisis of the raiding Avars and Slavs and it grew even worse there when Heraclius had to pull out its troops to head over to the east to focus on the Sassanid threat but Heraclius himself too did not want to lose the Balkans so even with the Sassanid threat ongoing, he headed north to confront the Avars and Slavs where in 619 he tried to propose peace with the Avar khan or ruler as the Sassanid threat was more important and devastating, but the khan refused Heraclius’ offer and set a trap to kidnap him, although Heraclius escaped the trap almost getting himself killed.
At this point, things would go from bad to worse for the Byzantines as in 619, the Sassanids now managed to invade and capture Byzantine Egypt, thus totally cutting off the empire’s grain supply and triggering riots all over the empire because of this while in 620, almost the entire Byzantine Balkans and half of Greece were lost to the Avars and Slavs as troops needed to be sent over to fight the Sassanids in the east. With all this crisis going on, Heraclius first thought hope was lost and that he had to move the imperial capital to Carthage where he was based in before, but soon he knew he could solve it but in order to do so, he needed to take the greatest of risks and a lot had to do with taxation policies which included increasing taxes and taxing the Church, while the annual pay for the soldiers and court officials had to be cut in half and although this would trigger them to revolt like they did under Maurice, Heraclius at least convinced them it was only temporary, assuring them everything will soon stabilize. In the meantime, it was around this point, more particularly in the year 622 down south in the Arabian Desert when the new religion of Islam was born as here in 622 the prophet Muhammad– an Arabian trader from the Quraysh tribe born back in 570 when Justin II ruled Byzantium- with his followers fled his birth city of Mecca to Medina when the people of Mecca did not accept this new faith, although as early as 610, Muhammad had already been receiving some divine revelations.
Sassanid army captures Byzantine Jerusalem, 614
Greatest extent of the Sassanid Empire (orange) under Khosrow II, by 622
In 622, Heraclius’ holdings were only limited to Constantinople, Thrace, some of Greece, the Aegean Islands, and Western Asia Minor as North Africa and Italy were under the control of the exarchs while the Sassanids had now captured almost all of Asia Minor penetrating all the ways as far as the Asian shore of the Bosporus, right across Constantinople that the people of Constantinople even reported that at night when looking across the Bosporus, they could already see the campfires of the Sassanid army, although no matter how much land they have conquered, the Sassanid Persians did not have a fleet to let them cross into Europe and lay siege to Constantinople. It was here in 622 when the Sassanid Empire under Shah Khosrow II was at its largest territorial extent reaching as far west as across Constantinople, as far south as Egypt and Yemen, as far north as the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, and as far east as the border of India and here Heraclius would make a very bold move by attacking the Sassanids when they were at their most powerful and largest in land.
Emperor Heraclius in full battle gear
By 622, Heraclius’ army was now fully prepared to face off the might of the Sassanids in battle so here they set off from Constantinople by sea landing at the location of Issus in Cilicia, Southern Asia Minor, the same place Alexander the Great had defeated the Achaemenid Persian Empire all the way back in 333BC. In his campaign, Heraclius brought along with him his wife Martina who would give birth to their children as they travelled while Heraclius’ eldest 10-year-old son was left behind in Constantinople to watch over it together with Patriarch Sergius I. After landing at Issus, Heraclius and his army headed north to Sassanid occupied Cappadocia where they actually managed to beat the invincible general Shahrbaraz in battle recapturing the region, afterwards heading north back to the region of Pontus along the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor which was still under Byzantine rule, and here Heraclius made the coastal city of Trebizond as his base for the campaign. It was at this point when the idea of warfare would change from fighting over conquering lands to fighting for faith and as to motivate his soldiers in battle, Heraclius encouraged them they were fighting not to get rid of an enemy but in the name of Orthodox Christianity as they saw the Zoroastrian Sassanids as the enemy of their faith considering they looted the holy sites of Jerusalem and stole the most important Christian relics.
Trebizond, base of Heraclius in his Sassanid campaign
By 623, Heraclius crossed deep into Sassanid territory through Armenia in pursuit of Khosrow II who was believed to be in the Sassanid’s province of Albania (today’s Azerbaijan) although Khosrow II was nowhere to be found but instead it was here in this area where the Zoroastrian holy site of the Fire Temple was found, which had been sacred to the Persians ever since the days of the ancient Persian kingdoms and empires and as Heraclius and his army arrived there, they believed the stolen relics were to be found there, although they were wrong and finding nothing there, Heraclius out revenge for the Sassanids’ looting of Jerusalem ordered the Fire Temple burned down completely.
Persian Zoroastrian Fire Temple sample drawing
In 624, Heraclius had come across the Nomadic Turkic Khazar people of the Caucasus and here made an alliance with their khan against the Sassanids as they both had the Sassanids as a common enemy and with this alliance, Heraclius was able to score more major victories against the Sassanids and it was at this point when the Byzantines were able to reclaim Armenia from the Sassanids and although they had been scoring victories in the east against the Sassanids, it also happened here in 624 in the far west that the Visigoths of Spain completely took over the last remains of Byzantine Southern Spain, which the Byzantines never bothered to care about much. In 625, Heraclius again with the help of the Khazars were able to recapture Mesopotamia forcing Shahrbaraz who was again defeated to flee while also here in 625, Martina gave birth to her only healthy son with Heraclius which was Heraklonas as due to inbreeding, the other children of Martina and Heraclius either died shortly after birth or had physical deformities.
Nomadic Khazar army from the Caucasus
When fleeing Mesopotamia, Shahrbaraz in 626 headed all the way to Sassanid occupied land across Constantinople where he found a way to send word to the same Avar khan that almost captured Heraclius in 619 to form alliance to attack Constantinople and here the Avars and Slavs being at the European side laid siege to Constantinople itself making this the second time Constantinople was attacked by an enemy army, the last one being the Goths in 378 which failed. Using the absence of Heraclius to their advantage, the Avars and Slavs with 80,000 men combined attacked Constantinople’s invincible 5th century Theodosian Walls but using primitive siege weapons, they got nowhere near breaching it and poor communications with the Sassanids across the Bosporus made the coordination of this siege even more difficult. Defending Constantinople here as Heraclius and his best forces away was Heraclius’ 14-year-old son Constantine as well as the patriarch Sergius I and the patrician Bonus who all did not have much military experience and only commanding some 12,000 men, though Heraclius soon got word of the siege and here he split his army in 3 parts where the smallest division under him was to defend Armenia, the division of his brother Theodore was sent over to defend what was recaptured in Mesopotamia, and third one to reinforce Constantinople.
Avar and Slav armies attack the land walls of Constantinople, 626
As the Avars and Slavs attacked by land, Sharbaraz attempted to aid them by sending his forces across the Bosporus using the small boats of the Slavs which failed as these boats were too unstable to carry large armies and soon enough the Byzantine fleet arrived at the Bosporus destroying the Slavic boats killing the Sassanid soldiers that boarded them. The siege of Constantinople was thus broken and the Avars, Slavs, and Sassanids retreated and for the Avars, their loss in this battle broke off their power forcing them to retreat back north never to return again, although leaving their Slav allies behind in the Balkans. Over in Mesopotamia also in 626, Theodore and his forces won a decisive victory over the Sassanid forces led by the general Shahin and with this defeat, Shahin committed suicide while his body was brought over to Khosrow II who enraged with Shahin’s defeat had Shahin’s body disfigured. It was in 627 when Heraclius himself resumed personally leading the army as for 626, he left the job mostly to his Khazar allies as in 627, the alliance with the Khazars broke when their khan died and here Heraclius marched south to the Sassanid heartland in Iraq by stalking the Sassanid forces under the general Razates until both forces met near the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. Here on December 12, 627 when the Byzantine and Sassanid forces clashed at the Battle of Nineveh, Heraclius personally killed Razates and two other Sassanid commanders himself and at the end of the day, the Byzantines won a decisive victory opening the way for them to besiege the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon which unlike Constantinople which was surrounded by water was easier to attack being on flat ground. The shah Khosrow II meanwhile began suspecting Shahrbaraz of treason and when sending a letter to Shahrbaraz, Heraclius intercepted it and forged it ordering Shahrbaraz to remain in Asia Minor which definitely allowed Heraclius and his army to seize, capture, and loot Khosrow II’s palace of Dastagird near Ctesiphon in 628 and when looting the palace, they came across tons of exotic spices and Persian carpets, exotic animals like lions and tigers, and 300 Roman war standards captured over the past 3 centuries by the Sassanids in battle and after taking the loot, the palace was burned to the ground, though since Khosrow II was away, Ctesiphon was left untouched by the Byzantines. Khosrow II on the other hand was still nowhere to be found as he fled further east fearing a prophecy saying he would be killed, although his end did not come from the Byzantines but from his own people. After Heraclius and his army left Ctesiphon, the Sassanid nobles together with Khosrow’s son Sheroe and General Shahrbaraz conspired to overthrow Khosrow II and on February 28, 628 Khosrow II was captured and executed and so were his other sons except of course Sheroe who then was crowned as Shah Kavad II and his first act as the new Sassanid emperor was to finally end the war and make peace with Byzantium.
Execution of Khosrow II, 628
Kavad II acknowledged Heraclius as the victor of the war sending Shahrbaraz to Asia Minor where Heraclius was at to conclude peace and here, the relics looted from Jerusalem including the True Cross were returned to Heraclius. Part of this peace agreement too was for all Sassanid forces in Byzantine territory to retreat back home and to return to the Byzantines all the lands the Sassanids had conquered from them since 602 which included Armenia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt as well as the major cities of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria and right here the long war ended without achieving really anything for the Byzantines despite them penetrating deep into the Sassanid heartland, instead it only resulted in the pre-war borders restored.
Byzantine era sketch of Heraclius in 628 (left) with his family
Heraclius here at 53 at least returned to Constantinople victorious as a war hero celebrating his return with a triumphal march and in it was paraded all their loot taken from the 6-year campaign including 4 Persian war elephants and with all this victory, Heraclius became extremely popular with his people as also winning the war had filled up the empty treasury once again. The following year (629), Heraclius himself journeyed to Jerusalem, which had just been restored to Byzantine rule to return the True Cross and before entering, he felt a kind of divine energy that him feel it wasn’t right to ride into the city, rather he dismounted from his horse and carried the True Cross himself to its rightful place, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, setting a new tradition for those who would conquer Jerusalem in the next centuries to come which was for the conquering ruler to walk into the city by foot.
Heraclius returns the True Cross to Jerusalem, 629
Heraclius too after defeating the Sassanids took the ruling title the Sassanid Persian rulers used which was “King of Kings” as well as dropping the Roman title of Augustus in which all Byzantine emperors before him used, instead replacing it with Basileus which was “emperor” in Greek and for the next 800 years all emperors would use this title, thus here marks the beginning of the Greek age of the Byzantine Empire. As for the Sassanids, right when they thought they came to close to crushing the Byzantines and conquering the world, they were proven wrong here as in 628, their all-powerful emperor Khosrow II was executed, his son and successor Kavad II died the same year from the Plague of Justinian which again returned, and the following year, civil war broke out that would definitely spell the end of the Sassanid Empire.
Byzantines defeat the besieging Sassanid forces at Constantinople, 626
Emperor Heraclius and his Byzantine forces defeat the Sassanids at the Battle of Nineveh, 627
Heraclius and his army loot the Sassanid imperial palace at Dastagird
Ctesiphon, imperial capital of the Sassanid Empire
Watch this to learn more about the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 (Kings and Generals).
The Rise of the Arab Caliphate
As the Byzantines and Sassanids clashed in a full-scale war, the disunited Arab tribes of the southern deserts began to unite and what caused them unite was the new religion of Islam which the prophet Muhammad had successfully spread. By 629, Muhammad and his followers who became his army successfully conquered Mecca which they had been chased away from years earlier and soon enough had united almost all of Arabia under Islam except for the lands still under Sassanid rule.
Muhammad’s Conquest of Mecca, 629
Early Muslim sources say that in 628 before the recapture of Mecca, Muhammad sent letters to both Heraclius of Byzantium who was referred to as the Roman emperor and Khosrow II of the Sassanid Empire encouraging them to join him by converting their empires to Islam and Heraclius here after his triumph received the letter and politely wrote back saying he would consider it but his people would not while Khosrow II already losing his sanity at this point before his death rudely tore the letter which gave a reason for Muhammad’s followers to one day invade the Sassanid Empire.
Muhammad’s letter to Heraclius
The failure to convert Byzantium to Islam led a small Arab army to attack the Byzantine lands that bordered the Arabian Desert (today’s Jordan) and here at the Battle of Mu’tah, the Byzantines aided by the forces of their client kingdom, the Christian Arab Ghassanids that had settled right at this part at the edge of the Arabian Desert were able to defeat this small Arab force. Back in the Sassanid Empire, the civil war after Kavad II’s death got even worse that one ruler just kept coming after the other and in this unstable time, the general Shahrbaraz even took the throne and became shah in 630 but was killed the same year and replaced as ruler by Khosrow II’s daughter Boran, the first and only female Sassanid ruler who was later killed in 632 and in this time of civil war, the Sassanid governors of the provinces of Mazun and Yemen declared independence making these provinces an easy target for the now united Arabs which they soon enough had conquered. In the meantime as Heraclius had won the Sassanid war being more popular than ever, he had been touring the eastern provinces that the Sassanids had just returned to the Byzantines and at this time, being the year 630, he had his first grandson which was the son of his eldest son Constantine with his wife Gregoria, born as Heraclius Constantine on November 7 and was named after both his grandfather and father but not confuse things, historians would refer to him as Constans the nickname he was called which meant “little Constantine” in Latin. It also happened at this time in 632 that the prophet Muhammad died in Medina and at his death, all of Arabia was united under Islam and even though the founder of the rising Empire of Islam had died, his work was to be continued by his close friend and relative Abu Bakr who would succeed Muhammad as the leader of the Islamic people and become the first Caliph or emperor of the first Islamic Empire which here, founded in 632 was the Rashidun Caliphate and it was under the first Caliph Abu Bakr after putting all of Arabia under his rule wherein the Islamic Arab armies would expand beyond Arabia to conquer Byzantine and Sassanid territories.
Flag of the Rashidun Caliphate, the 1st Islamic Empire
All while the Arab armies were set to expand beyond Arabia, Heraclius as most of the emperors did got himself involved in the endless religious debates and controversies which here in the 7th century was again between the Orthodox and Monophysite Christians with the debates being again on the natures of Christ and ever since 622, Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople proposed a new compromise which was to end the debates by concluding a new doctrine saying that Jesus Christ had one energy. This new doctrine was well agreed to by many bishops and patriarchs across the empire even the Patriarch of Rome or the pope, though only the Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius objected to it.
Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople
While Heraclius had been occupied by religious debates, the Arab armies numbering up to 24,000 here in 633 had now made their first full attacks in Byzantine Syria and Palestine invading from the east as previously, the Arabs had already conquered the Sassanid territories along the border of Syria and Palestine. In 634, Caliph Abu Bakr had died and was succeeded by Omar, another follower of Muhammad as the 2nd Rashidun caliph and it was under his rule when Islam would fully expand by force as here too in 634, his forces further defeated the Byzantines and even more in 635 when almost all of Syria including the city of Damascus fell to the Arabs. At this time, Heraclius concluded that he was too old to lead the armies in person but being in Antioch at the time the Arabs began their invasion of Syria, Heraclius sent an army of 40,000 men under a general named Theodore, which was not the same as his brother to push the Arabs back and though the fighting styles of the Arabs were not familiar to the Byzantines at all as it was never mentioned anywhere, not even in Maurice’s Strategikon, Heraclius and his generals at least tried to wing it out thinking the strength of the Arabs was nothing much, as after all they were just desert tribes barely armed and armored and had just began expanding. The Byzantine forces under Theodore and Arab forces under their energetic general Khalid ibn al-Walid, another follower of Muhammad met them at the Battle of the Yarmouk River in the Syrian Desert in August of 636 and here the Byzantines now saw the full strength and capability of the Arab armies that could easily overwhelm them in an instant with the speed of their cavalry consisting of horses and camels as well as their harassing tactics.
Khalid ibn al-Walid, commander of the Arab forces at the Battle of Yarmouk, 636
The Byzantines though had been used to fighting in fixed formations in all their wars especially against the Sassanids, and here they thought they could face off the Arabs this way but the Arabs fought differently by attacking in lose formations and with such speed surrounding the Byzantine forces exhausting them. The battle went on for 5 days and at first, the Byzantines seemed to be having the upper hand but on the 5th day, a sudden sandstorm blew at the directions of the Byzantine forces to the point that they could not see even a meter ahead of them and as a result of this, the Arabs not affected by the sandstorm used it as an opportunity to slaughter the Byzantines, and at the end of the day, not a single Byzantine soldier was left alive including their general Theodore, thus this opened the way for the Arabs to capture everything the Byzantines gained back from the Sassanids in 628.
Cavalry of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate
Battle of Yarmouk, 636- Defeat of the Byzantine forces (left) to the Arabs (right)
In the meantime, while the Byzantine forces were absolutely defeated at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, the Arabs again won another great victory later that year, this time against the Sassanid forces at the Battle of Al-Qadisiya where another division of the Arab army with their speed and harassing tactics totally annihilated the Sassanid forces weakened from the previous war against the Byzantines, and even if the Sassanids had elephants here, they still lost with most of their generals killed. Following this victory, the Arabs proceeded further into the Sassanid Empire with very little resistance and by 637, they had laid siege to Ctesiphon while the very young Sassanid shah Yazdegerd III, grandson of Khosrow II who had come to power in 632 fled Ctesiphon to the north and not surprisingly, Ctesiphon had fallen to the Arabs in very little time. Back in Syria, the way for the Arabs was clear and now their ultimate prize was Jerusalem as they knew it was the holy city for the Byzantine Christians and also a holy city for Islam, though the Arabs knew that capturing Jerusalem would weaken the morale of the Byzantines. The Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius though knew the Arabs would soon attack Jerusalem so before things could get worse, Sophronius had the relic of the True Cross returned by Heraclius in 629 shipped to Constantinople for safekeeping fearing the Arabs would steal it the way the Sassanids did before.
Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem
Now in early 637, the Arabs forces again led by the victor of Yarmouk Al-Walid laid siege to Jerusalem which was poorly defended by the very exhausted and outnumbered Byzantine troops with only Patriarch Sophronius leading them. Seeing the Arab forces outside, Sophronius did want to put up a fight, instead he agreed to surrender the city only if the caliph Omar himself would accept the surrender. At this time, Omar all the way in the Arab Caliphate’s capital Medina in the Arabian Desert travelled himself to Jerusalem in a white camel where doing the same as Heraclius in 629 out of respect for the city got off his camel and entered the city by foot where he was met by Sophronius himself who surrendered the keys of the city to Omar. In Jerusalem, Omar was treated well as Sophronius himself gave him a tour of the city’s holy sites and here they made a deal which was that Omar was allowed to take Jerusalem as long as he allowed Sophronius to keep his position as patriarch and for the Christians and Jews to be left alone to worship freely with their Muslim occupiers. Jerusalem then fell peacefully while the Arabs later conquered all of Syria and Palestine except for Antioch where the emperor was still in but hearing now that Jerusalem and Syria was lost, Heraclius just chose to say goodbye knowing that with the might of the Arabs, it would be too difficult to take them back so he then set sail returning to Constantinople while later in 637, even Antioch had fallen.
Surrender of Jerusalem to Rashidun Caliph Omar (on camel), 637
Over in the Sassanid Empire, the Arabs again severely defeated the Sassanid forces at the Battle of Jalula in Iraq while Shah Yazdegerd III fled even deeper into Iran which the Sassanids still held. Heraclius on the other hand had been losing his popularity after losing all of the east to the Arabs and a lot of people blamed his defeats again all on his incestuous marriage to Martina and when arriving back across the Bosporus from Constantinople, Heraclius had developed a great fear of water that Martina had to have a bridge lined with railings for him to cross so that he would not see the water. In 638, Heraclius here had been losing his sanity that he could no longer rule alone so here he appointed his 26-year-old son Constantine to be his co-emperor Constantine III though Martina also convinced Heraclius to make her son with him Heraklonas who was now 13 as his other co-emperor equal in rank to Constantine III.
Emperor Heraclius of Byzantium (r. 610-641) as an older man
It also happened in 638 that Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem and Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople both died peacefully leaving the new Monothelite doctrine unresolved while Heraclius’ health grew even worse that it was said by the 9th century historian Nikephoros that Heraclius was suffering a kind of prostate cancer as he had difficulties in urinating. By 639, the Arabs now began their invasion of Byzantine Egypt while in 640, they began invading Byzantine Armenia and Heraclius here was now in shock but knowing nothing can be done about it anymore, as here, the dying emperor concluded that God was definitely punishing him for marrying Martina.
Empress Martina, wife and niece of Heraclius, by Skamandros
On February 11, 641 the 66-year-old Emperor Heraclius had died in Constantinople ruling for 30 years through many ups and downs. In his reign, Heraclius began ruling a deeply troubled empire in ruins which grew worse but was able to put it back together, but just as he thought he did, everything he worked so hard on fell apart, thus he died a broken man seeing all the lands he regained after defeating the Sassanids lost to the Arabs, therefore it can simply be said that Heraclius had lived too long that it would be better off that he died shortly after his victory against the Sassanids in 628 as a happy man, but instead he lived long enough to see all his hard work undone unlike Justinian I before him who at least died long before his hard work in expanding the empire would be all shattered. Heraclius though had the legacy of beginning the Greek era of Byzantium by turning Greek into the major language, reorganizing the political-military system of the empire by laying the foundations for the Thematic System that would be operational years later, and seeing the Taurus Mountains of Asia Minor as the empire’s natural defense against the Arabs, which sure enough will soon happen as well.
Battle of Al-Qadisiyah- ultimate defeat of the Sassanid Empire to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate, 636
Coin of Heraclius, Constantine III, and Heraklonas as co-emperors, 638-641
Fullest extent of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate in the 7th century (green), vassal states (light green)
The Reign of Constans II
The year 641 would forever be remembered as the year of the 4 emperors first being Heraclius who died in February of that year and was immediately succeeded by his eldest son Constantine III who was extremely popular with the people of Constantinople as it was him at only age 14 back in 626 who helped successfully defend Constantinople from the Avars, Slavs, and Sassanids. However, Constantine III is not be confused with another Roman emperor who was also Constantine III, a usurper emperor from the Western Roman Empire (r. 407-411) who was mentioned in chapter II of this series, though surprisingly this Byzantine emperor was also Constantine III despite there being another one with his name, and as emperor in 641 at age 29, the Byzantine Constantine III was already in bad health suffering from tuberculosis and the empire he inherited from his father had a very empty treasury that a few weeks after his father’s death, he had to open his father’s coffin, take the crown, and sell it to increase the treasury. After only 2 months of being in power, Constantine III fell deathly ill and here he sent off some money to an Armenian general named Valentinus, a descendant of Armenia’s ancient Arsacid Dynasty that ruled Armenia (54-428AD),to back Constantine’s young son Constans as the new emperor as Constantine did not feel his half-brother Heraklonas who was his co-emperor at an equal level was fit to be emperor as he was under the regency of his mother Martina who Constantine III did not really trust as his step-mother.
Emperor Heraklonas of Byzantium (r. 641), son of Heraclius and Martina
Previously, Martina convinced that her son Heraklonas should be Constantine III’s co-emperor to protect her interests which the old Heraclius had agreed to and although a lot of historians always give a bad image of Martina as the wicked step-mother, it is not entirely true as at that time, ambitious women were usually given a bad image as the standard back then was for women to be content with where they are and true enough in this story’s case, Martina never really had any evil intentions. On May 3, 641, Constantine III died from tuberculosis, though again others suspect Martina and Heraklonas of poisoning him, and Constantine’s son Constans surely believed Martina and Heraklonas envied his father and poisoned him and now the 16-year-old Heraklonas ruled as the sole emperor, though a puppet of his mother Martina. Heraklonas’ actually ruled as “Heraclius II” but to not be confused with his father, he used the name Heraklonas meaning “little Heraclius” just as Constans meant “little Constantine” and already when Heraklonas came to power, he was already unpopular, precisely because he was the child of an incestuous marriage between uncle and niece and his mother Martina was surely unpopular being an ambitious woman. It was here some months after Heraklonas became emperor when the general Valentinus arrived outside Constantinople with orders from the late Constantine III demanding that Heraklonas make young Constans his co-emperor to continue Constantine III’s line but Heraklonas and Martina refused the offer. Sometime later, Valentinus began spreading rumors that Martina and Heraklonas wanted to depose young Constans and the people who were loyal to Constantine III with Constans being his son all revolted in favor of Constans and by September of 641, both Martina and Heraklonas were arrested and the almost 11-year-old Constans was put in the throne reigning as “Constantine IV”, although history would forever remember him by reigning with his nickname as “Constans II” whereas his son who will appear later on would be the Constantine IV and the first Constans being the 4th century Byzantine emperor Constans I (r. 337-350). Martina and Heraklonas were then banished from the palace and young Constans II came to rule the empire under the regency of Valentinus, the senate, his mother Gregoria, and the new Patriarch of Constantinople Paul II. Later that year at only 11, Constans would already show the kind of autocratic style of ruling that would define his reign when he spoke to the senate at the square outside Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia known as the Augusteum where the Column of Justinian was, and here he falsely accusing Martina and Heraklonas of poisoning his father even if he died naturally, yet with his speech, the young emperor would already show how smart, cunning, and articulate he was in the skill of speech, and here is how the speech goes:
After my father Constantine was born, he was emperor with his own father, my grandfather Heraclius for a long time during his life, but after him for a very short while, for the envy of his stepmother Martina ended his high hopes and his life. She did this for the sake of Heraklonas, who was her illegitimate son by Heraclius. It was mostly your decision, which expelled her and her son from the imperial power, and your great dignity knows it well. Therefore, I can call on you to be advisors and judges for the common wealth of our subjects.
-Constans II, 641
The Augusteum of Constantinople with the Hagia Sophia and Column of Justinian
Now Martina and Heraklonas in fact did not commit any crime, rather they just envied Constantine III but with this kind of eloquent speech made by young Constans II, the senate immediately put all the blame on Martina and Heraklonas falsely accusing them as they never saw Heraklonas as legitimate ruler anyway as for them the incestuous marriage between Heraclius and Martina was already illegal, therefore Heraklonas was an illegitimate child and unfit for being an emperor. As Martina and Heraklonas were both condemned as public enemies, the mob seized them and had Martina’s tongue slit while Heraklonas’ nose was cut off, the first time it would happen to an emperor, thus making this a new practice for deposing emperors as having just a single deformity like not having a nose would make someone unfit to rule whereas the Byzantines saw that their emperor had to be perfect in physical form. Both Martina and Heraklonas were then banished to the Island of Rhodes where Heraklonas would die by early 642 possibly from suicide or from the severity of the injury caused by his nose being cut-off while Martina would die possibly peacefully years later. Now back to young Constans II, it is also turned out that he too was a child of an incestuous marriage, although the level of the marriage of Constantine III and Gregoria was not as high as the level of incest between Heraclius and Martina being uncle and niece as Constantine III and Gregoria were only second cousins with Greogria being the daughter of Heraclius’ cousin Nicetas who helped Heraclius seize Egypt back in 608 and one lesser known fact was that Constans II did indeed have a twin brother named Theodosius who looked very similar to him but not exactly making this one of the few rare cases of rulers in world history that actually had a twin. The big question here was why it was Constans that was chosen to be emperor and not Theodosius even if possibly one could not tell which was the older one but answer could be that their father Constantine III certainly knew Constans came out first on November 7 of 630. Constans and Theodosius were born when their grandfather Heraclius was at his height of popularity but as they grew up, they would hear nothing more but tragic news of entire provinces being lost to the Arabs and their grandfather losing his popularity by a lot and as the host of the History of Byzantium podcast Robin Pierson says, the reason why Constans II would end up ruling in such a bitter and paranoid way was the childhood he grew up with as first he grew up hearing stories of his empire’s armies only being defeated, then became emperor at only 11 inheriting a highly troubled empire, therefore he would indeed lose his childhood putting all his attention to his empire. As for Theodosius, due to the fact that he did not become emperor, he would instead enjoy life growing up in the imperial palace while his twin brother ruled, although he secretly did want to claim the empire as he had some kind of idea that he could have been born first, which is why he would later be suspected of plotting, well at least in this story’s case. The empire Constans II had inherited was now having to fight on the defensive against the Arabs in the east with the provinces of Syria and Palestine lost, Egypt now under attack, the Balkans and half of Greece entirely lost to the Slavs who were left behind by their Avar allies there, Italy split in half between the Byzantines and Lombards, all of Byzantine Spain lost, and North Africa soon to be threatened by the Arabs. The biggest mystery for Constans II, which in this story’s case would define his true intention to fully deal with the Arabs by force is how the Arabs expanded out nowhere as just shortly before his birth, they had just been scattered tribes in the southern deserts that did not ever pose much of a threat to the Byzantines that the Strategikon of Maurice even said nothing about their fighting styles, yet now in only less than 20 years they had crushed the Sassanid Empire and took away almost half of Byzantium. The answer to this mystery is that if all the people of this vast desert all unite under a common ideology which here is the religion of Islam, then they would all be fighting with such zeal that would allow them to keep wanting to conquer and this true enough was the case for the Arabs who no one saw their sudden expansion out of the Arabian Desert coming. In addition, the Arabs being people of the desert moved quick and light which allowed them to travel so fast unlike the Byzantines and Sassanids who always moved in formation and always with a plan while the Arabs just moved spontaneously without having much equipment and supplies the way Byzantines and Sassanids did and also unlike the Byzantines and Sassanids who could not cross deserts, the Arabs being from it could which allowed them to quickly take over all of Egypt soon enough.
7th century Arab infantry army charges with full speed
Arab Warriors 7th century
7th century Arab cavalry advances across the desert
Now the year 642 would be a bad year for the Byzantines as this was when Egypt completely fell to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate when the last Byzantine garrison in Alexandria feeling they could no longer hold onto it agreed to surrender the imperial capital of Egypt to the Arabs although the Byzantine authorities back in Constantinople knew it was not yet over and that they could still take it back one day.
Last of the Byzantine forces in Egypt, 642, by Amelianvs
It was also in 642 when Valentinus married off his daughter Fausta to Constans, and though it was not said how old Fausta was, in this story’s case she would be 2 years older than Constans, and as for Valentinus he was appointed as commander of the armies or Magister Militum which was still in use but would soon no longer be, and being only regent and not co-emperor, he was still allowed to wear the imperial purple. In 643, with news of the Arabs attacking Eastern Asia Minor, Valentinus with an army was sent to deal with them while also in this year, the young Constans II would score a great achievement, not only in military matters but in diplomacy, and here is when he would send Byzantine ambassadors far away to the court of the Tang Empire of China itself. There are not much sources on Constans II’s embassy to Tang China, but it is said that it happened here in the year 643, though it is not said who exactly young Constans II sent to China, but in this fan fiction story’s case, the two ambassadors sent all the way there were two senators from the patrician class named Alexios which was the older one and Philippikos the younger one with 2 other attendants- as an illustration of the imperial court of China with them in it depicts- who would travel for a year or more and considering the Sassanid Empire at this point was already in ruins and the Arab Caliphate having not yet reached Central Asia, their journey would be easier.
Byzantine ambassadors of Constans II arrive in the court of the Tang Chinese emperor Taizong in Chang’an
Despite the distance of China, then known as Seres to the Romans (Byzantines), Constans II knew something about it considering that the Byzantine silk industry was something taken from China when a century ago, monks that journeyed there smuggled Chinese silkworms presenting them to the emperor Justinian I also reporting to him how they made their silks and after stealing the Chinese state secret, the Byzantines were true enough able to develop top quality silk just as the Chinese did that was true enough indeed able to once again revive their economy that was ruined by the plague. Apparently, the Old Book of Tang as well as the new Book of Tang from China in this era records an embassy from the Roman (Byzantine) Empire in 643 by Constans II (referred to by the Chinese as King Buduoli) and his empire as Fulin, although even before this, the Roman Empire and China have long been aware of each other. The gifts Alexios and Philippikos sent over to Chinese Empire’s capital of Chang’an in behalf of Constans II included red glass and green gemstones, though it is not clear what their intention was, but in this story’s case I would say these ambassadors came to Tang China asking their emperor Taizong for some military alliance and funds against the expanding Arabs.
Taizong, Tang Chinese emperor (r. 626-649)
Back in Byzantium in 643, a rebellion in Italy rose up against Constans II, this one here was in Rome led by its military commander or Dux Maurikios Chartoularios (his name literally the Greek translation of Maurice) and here he wanted to rule Rome as his own state independent from the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna but the Exarch of Ravenna here which was Isaac soon enough got word about this, thus sending an army to Rome which successfully captured Maurikios, executing him in Ravenna. Meanwhile, Valentinus and his army suffered a defeat to the Arabs in Asia Minor and Valentinus wanting to regain his relevance after this defeat marched back to Constantinople demanding the throne and for Constans II to be deposed. As Valentinus and his army amassed outside Constantinople in 644, the people persuaded by Patriarch Paul II backed Constans II as he was seen as the legitimate ruler, therefore turning on Valentinus who was later killed by the mob as they rushed out of the gates, thus leaving Constans II here at only 14 as the sole ruler of the empire without a regent. Historical sources though do not mention what Constans II’s mother Gregoria had been doing here or his wife Fausta, but let’s just say here that Gregoria refused to run the empire leaving everything behind to her young son, who here would lose his childhood and teenage years plain simple by having to face the burden of the ruling an empire. On the other hand, the Byzantine Christian people of the lands of Syria and Palestine which the Arabs had conquered were actually fine with being under the Arabs and not demanding the Byzantines to reclaim their lands as the Arabs proved to be tolerant rulers that were easy on taxation, therefore no need for rebelling against them. Although in Arab occupied Egypt, things were much different there as there the Arab overlords were harsher in taxation and less tolerant in allowing the Christians there to practice their faith which led the people to rebel wanting Byzantine rule to be restored. Just as the people of Egypt started rising up against their new Arab overlords, a Byzantine fleet from Constantinople with an army on board under the command of the admiral Manuel was to set sail for Egypt to liberate at least Alexandria from the Arabs. In 645, Manuel and his forces occupied Alexandria putting it back again under Byzantine rule using the absence of the Arab governor Amr ibn al-As to his advantage as the governor was recalled to Medina, the Rashidun Caliphate’s capital as here they had new caliph Uthman, another of Muhammad’s followers who had succeeded Omar following Omar’s death in 644.
Amr ibn al-As, Arab general and governor of Egypt
Manuel was seen in Alexandria as their liberator and savior but in 646, the Arab governor Amr arrived back in Egypt and to the surprise of the Byzantines with a full fleet as apparently, in the previous years with the Arabs having captured the Levant (Syria and Palestine), they had been able to amass a fleet using old Byzantine ships and get the locals of the area to sail the fleet for them and here in 646, the Arab fleet defeated the Byzantine fleet and took back Alexandria together with the rest of Egypt while Manuel returned to Byzantine territory, never to be heard from again. This event here in 646 marked the end of Byzantine rule in Egypt which was to be certainly a heavy blow to the empire as the major grain supply was lost, but not all of it as the empire still had Carthage which produced a major amount of grain but losing Egypt too meant allowing the Arabs to take over more ports which blocked off the Byzantines’ trade with the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, and when losing Egypt here in 646, the Byzantines now would never have hopes in taking it back anymore. Prior to the complete fall of Byzantine Egypt in 646, when the Arabs under Amr ibn al-As occupied Alexandria back in 642, Amr had the walls of Alexandria razed and here legends say he had the ancient and highly important Library of Alexandria burned down together with all the books and knowledge kept in it but really, when he occupied Alexandria, the library was already rundown ever since the late 4th century when fanatical Christian mobs ransacked the library wanting to get rid of ancient Pagan knowledge. The truth however was that the Arabs did not want the metropolis of Alexandria as their capital, instead they would rather have a location along the desert and not the sea as this was the life they were used to so back in 642, Amr turned the village of Fustat deeper down the Nile and closer to the Egyptian Desert as the new provincial capital, which would later on become the city of Cairo.
Fustat (Cairo), new imperial capital of Egypt under the Arabs
Fast-forward to 646, now that the Arabs had all of Egypt with Cairo as their capital, they decided next to turn west and conquer the Byzantine Maghreb (Northwest Africa) including Carthage while at the same time in Carthage, the Exarch of Africa Gregory who was a relative of the ruling Heraclian Dynasty, and therefore of Constans II rebelled and declared himself emperor feeling Constans was too underaged but the Arab armies having the ability to cross a desert without much difficulty crossed the Sahara Desert from Egypt arriving near Carthage in 647 forcing Gregory to have to confront them in battle. Being as far west as Carthage, Exarch Gregory did not know that much about how powerful the Arabs were in battle until confronting them and right here, Gregory was killed in battle against the Arabs, therefore ending his rebellion. Though the Arabs defeated the Byzantines here in North Africa and made raids into it, North Africa did not yet fall to the Arabs as the Byzantine authorities of Carthage agreed to pay tribute to the Arabs, now making the Exarchate of Carthage a vassal state to the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. It also happened in 647 that the Arab armies from the east now having occupied most of the Sassanid Empire started raiding deeper into Byzantine Asia Minor into regions such as Cappadocia, Cilicia along the southern coast, and the mountains of Isauria near it and these attacks were being directed by the Arab governor of Syria Muawiyah, a native of the Arabian Deserts coming from the Umayyad clan, meaning he was not part of Muhammad’s clan and before Muhammad united Arabia, Muawiyah and his family opposed Muhammad until Muhammad recaptured Mecca in 629 wherein Muawiyah switched his support to Muhammad, converted to Islam, and became Muhammad’s scribe and in 639 following the Arab conquest of Syria, Muawiyah was appointed as its governor by Caliph Omar and to be based in Damascus and he had turned out to be a very ambitious leader with the ultimate goal of conquering Constantinople.
Byzantine-Arab attackers
Arab forces of the Rashidun Caliphate march across the Sahara Desert to Carthage, 647
Byzantine era Carthage, capital of the Exarchate of Africa
As the Arabs directed by Muawiyah continued their raids into Byzantine territory in 648 wherein they had reached as far west as Phrygia in Asia Minor, Constans II knew it was to time to act in defending the empire and this meant not repeating the past mistakes of emperors which even included his grandfather Heraclius who busied himself too much with creating the new doctrine of Monothelitism and trying to consolidate it across the empire while the Arabs were winning victories against them, so Constans here decided it was time to put all the endless religious debates on the natures of Christ aside as there was an even bigger threat, the Arab expansion.
Coin of Constans II as a young emperor
To solve the entire issue of the religious debates, Constans here in 648 with Patriarch Paul II’s guidance issued a decree known as the Typos that forbade any kind of debates on the natures of Christ that was tearing the religious unity of the empire apart in such a difficult time, but it was to also to stop the persecutions of heretical sects of Christianity that were not seen as Orthodox, though what this decree actually meant was absolutely no more debating on Christ’s natures and what was already ruled by the Patriarch of Constantinople on Christ’s nature which here was the Monothelite doctrine of Christ having one energy was final and those who did not abide by this would get their property confiscated or worse, be jailed. Here at age 18, Constans had already shown the full autocratic nature of his reign and how much he had despised the Byzantine senate even if they were the ones that put him in power as a child and had been acting his regents as he was still quite young, but here at this point, even being only 18, Constans already showed to the senate he was capable of ruling alone with absolute power and did not need them at all. By issuing a decree that was to prohibit all religious debates on Christ’s natures, Constans had now become increasingly unpopular with most of the bishops of the empire- except Patriarch Paul II- as it was their job to debate on religious matters and these bishops included the Patriarch of Rome or the pope himself, which in 649 was Pope Martin I who had just been elected as pope, though illegally according to Constans II, and just as he was elected as pope, Martin I called for a council in Rome to condemn Constans II’s ruling of the Monothelite doctrine and the Typos itself as it did not allow religious leaders to do their job.
Pope Martin I
Meanwhile in 649, Muawiyah had already been making some progress as here he had landed in Byzantine controlled Cyprus partially taking the island leaving the other half still to the Byzantines, and for the next 300 years, the island of Cyprus would remain split between Arab and Byzantine control. Constans here when finding out half of Cyprus was lost to the Arabs, he decided to sign a peace treaty with Muawiyah and the Rashidun Caliphate but little did he know that by signing this, this would allow Muawiyah to build his fleet as his intention to capture Cyprus was to build a fleet there that could attack Constantinople by sea. In 650 on the other hand, Constans II now decided to take action on Pope Martin I for violating the decree of the Typos by holding a council that spoke against Constans’ decree and for Constans, it did not matter who violated this decree, even if it was the pope, so here Constans sent a letter to the reigning Exarch of Ravenna in Italy Olympius ordering him to head over to Rome and arrest the pope who was to be brought to Constans himself in Constantinople. Exarch Olympius then carried out the job and headed to Rome but when there, he failed to arrest the pope as he claimed the pope was too divinely protected as most possibly, Pope Martin successfully convinced him to turn away. Now rather than arresting the pope, Olympius in 650 instead turned on Constans, led his soldiers in rebellion, and declared himself emperor ruling Byzantine Italy as his own state completely independent from the empire. Soon enough, a small Arab army and fleet arrived in Sicily to raid it and here Exarch Olympius headed south to Sicily to counter-attack the Arab force that invaded it but in 652 as Olympius was in Sicily, another episode of the Plague of Justinian from the previous century had broken out killing many including Olympius himself, as well as most of the invading Arab army. In the meantime, it happened in 651 when the Sassanid Empire completely died out and not with a big event like a large battle, instead the Sassanid Persian Empire only died out here when its last ruler Yazdegerd III at age 27 when continuing his flight east to escape the Arab invasion of the Sassanid Empire was killed outside the city of Merv in the Steppes of Central Asia at the edge of their empire.
Yazdegerd III, last shah of the Sassanids (r. 632-651) fleeing from the Arabs
It remains unclear how Shah Yazdegerd III had been killed but some sources say a simple miller killed him to take his jewellery but no matter what was the cause of his death, his death marked the end of the Sassanid Empire that had been around for 4 centuries since the 3rd century and with the Sassanids gone after years of civil war and defeats to the Arabs, it was now time for the Arab Caliphate to replace the Sassanids as Byzantium’s new traditional enemy. Though the last Sassanid emperor had died when actually trying to flee east to the Tang Empire of China, he at least had a wife who though unnamed was said to be a Christian and with her a young son named Peroz who was also a Christian and not a Zoroastrian like his father and young Peroz and his mother would at least survive and make it to China, their final destination to seek refuge in.
Imperial court of Constans II in Constantinople
Hearing about the final dissolution of the Sassanid Empire in 651 was not so much a relief for Constans II as with this happening, he knew the empire of the Arabs would grow even larger and true enough with Sassanid authority crumbling in their last province of Khorasan (Central Asia), the Arabs were able to also take this entire area. Now it is about time to discuss a bit about Constans II’s life as an emperor at a young age and his family, and here Constans was now in his 20s but with all the difficulties he faced in his teenage years, he had aged very fast both in looks and in mentality, but this meant that his bitter nature and autocratic style of ruling would increase even more.
Young Constans II illustration
Historical sources though do not say much about Constans II’s twin brother Theodosius but in this case, let’s just say that now at this point, Constans was growing more suspicious of him even though Theodosius was rather useless and had no potential to be a serious threat, but for Constans- at least in this story’s case- having a twin brother meant potential trouble and even though Theodosius was not really seen as a threat, one day he could when his soldiers might mistake Theodosius as Constans considering that they looked very much alike even if not identical twins and with this, they could even start calling Theodosius their emperor, forgetting Constans is still around, or possibly Theodosius would one day rebel and take the throne with the excuse that it does not matter who is emperor as both were twins. Historical sources too do not mention about the happenings with Constans’ mother Gregoria at this point, so for this story’s case we could just say Gregoria had retired and had completely left the world of politics, though other than Gregoria, historical sources do not also mention much about Constans’ wife the empress Fausta except that here in 652 she gave birth to her first child with Constans and sticking to the naming tradition of the eldest son named after his grandfather- just how Constans with Heraclius as his real name was named after his grandfather- Constans’ first son was named Constantine after Constans’ father Constantine III. Now about Fausta who historical sources do not say much about, in this story’s case as mentioned earlier, she was 2 years older than her husband, and of Armenian descent as her father, the late general Valentinus was an Armenian, though her mother remains unknown, though in appearance Fausta- in this story’s case- had a strong Armenian or eastern look with large piercing green eyes, tanned skin, black hair, and a short and round stature. In the meantime, Constans II was still not yet finished with his plan to arrest Pope Martin I for disagreeing with his doctrine, so here in 653 with the previous exarch of Ravenna Olympius dying the previous year from the plague in Sicily, the new Exarch of Ravenna Theodore I Calliopas– who had already been Exarch of Ravenna from 643 to 643- was again reappointed by Constans and following his appointment was charged by Constans to again head over to Rome and arrest the pope. This time, Exarch Theodore succeeded in arresting Pope Martin I by sending his soldiers to the pope’s palace at the Lateran Basilica who tricked him into shipping him over the Greek island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea where the pope here was thrown into prison, while back in Rome Theodore convinced the Roman bishops to elect someone else as their pope which they did by electing Pope Eugene I the next year (654).
Pope Martin I arrested and brought to Constantinople, 653
Later on, in 653, Martin I was brought over from Naxos to Constantinople where he was paraded in the streets in chains like a prisoner before confronting Constans II at the Hippodrome who sentenced him to be executed for opposing the emperor’s Monothelite decree as well as being elected illegally, although Constans accused Martin I of being elected illegally meant that he was elected without the emperor’s approval. Right when Constans was about to have the deposed pope executed, the dying Patriarch of Constantinople Paul II came to the pope’s rescue and when listening to Martin’s pleas, Paul convinced Constans to not execute Martin but to instead send him to exile in the most remote land of the Byzantine Empire, which was the isolated Peninsula of Cherson or the Crimea (today’s Ukraine), a cold and desolate land in the north coast of the Black Sea, as exiling the pope to a warm Aegean or Ionian island would be sending him to exile in some kind of island paradise while sending him to cold Cherson would be a death sentence. As it would turn out, when Pope Martin I was sent into exile in Cherson, he would die soon enough in 655 at age 57, possibly due to the cold and lack of food there but still become a saint after his death, whereas Patriarch Paul II would die in late 653.
Byzantine ruins of Cherson in the Crimea, Ukraine; exile place of Pope Martin I
On the other hand, Muawiyah here continued his conquests of the Mediterranean islands that in 654, he had conquered the Greek island of Kos and afterwards Rhodes and when in Rhodes, the first thing the Arab army did was to clear out the ruins of the famous Colossus of Rhodes, a massive statue of the Greek sun god Helios build in 280BC standing 30m high but over time after several earthquakes, the statue was reduced to ruins, and though some legends say Mauwiyah and his army tore down the Colossus itself, instead when the Arabs arrived, they found it ruins and decided to scrap it to be made into gold coins, and when taking down the ruins, it was said that the Arabs used up to 900 camels as the statue was literally that large and the metal that heavy. Hearing of the fall of Rhodes to the Arabs, Constans now felt threatened and decided he had enough and so he put an end to the truce he signed with Muawiyah back in 649 and assembled a fleet in Constantinople to attack Muawiyah’s fleet which had at this point been stationed in the southwestern coast of Asia Minor while at the same time here in 654, he appointed his 2-year-old son Constantine as co-emperor. The Byzantine fleet of 500 ships was fully constructed by 655- the same year Pope Martin I died in Cherson- and the 25-year-old Constans II here decided to lead the fleet himself assuring they would score a victory that way and so the fleet sailed south to the Lycian coast of Asia Minor where Muawiyah’s fleet was stationed. The night before the battle, Constans II when sleeping in his luxurious cabin in the emperor’s own ship- according to the Byzantine historian of the next century Theophanes the Confessor– and in this story’s case as well, he had a dream that he was in the city of Thessaloniki and when waking up, he though this meant he would win a victory as Thessaloniki in Greek meant something to do with scoring a victory, but little did he know that the Thessaloniki of his dream meant the other definition of the name which in Greek was thes allo nike meaning “give victory to another”. The next day, the Byzantine and Arab fleets met at a location known as Finike off the Lycian coast of Asia Minor and here the battle was fought as the sea was rough and this battle here would be remembered as the Battle of the Masts, referring to the masts of the ships.
Battle of the Masts, Byzantine vs Arab naval battle, 655
The battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Arabs despite them having only 200 ships compared to the Byzantines having 500, and although it is not clear how the Arabs won, in this story’s case the Arabs ships being smaller in size were able to quickly crash into the larger Byzantine ships which they quickly boarded with their speed and were soon enough able to outnumber the more heavily armored Byzantine troops in them. Constans himself barely escaped the battle, that according to the same Theophanes, and in this story’s case too, he did a trick he was good at, so he exchanged his purple imperial robes with a young sailor who was about the same age and had the same short stature as him and while disguising himself as a sailor, the sailor dressed as the emperor was mistaken for Constans and was killed right at the spot by an Arab soldier whereas Constans retreated back to Constantinople in a small ship that had survived. As it turned out, Constans’ dream meant the opposite of what he thought it meant, therefore meaning “give victory to another” which was the Arabs but the following year (656), the Byzantines would have at least some luck as here when Caliph Uthman was assassinated in Medina, conflict broke out between the ambitious Muawiyah of the Umayyad clan and Uthman’s successor Caliph Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad and this conflict would be the first full civil war in this history of the Islamic Caliphates better known as the First Fitnah.
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Location of Cherson (encircled in black)
Colossus of Rhodes before the Arab conquest of Rhodes in 654
Arab fleet (left) and Byzantine fleet (right) engage each other at the Battle of the Masts, 655
CyclopÌ|dia of Universal History: The modern world. 2 pt
Byzantine and Arab fleets clash with each other at the Battle of the Masts
Birth of the Thematic System and the Move West
With the Arab Caliphate at a civil war with each other, Constans II now used the moment to his advantage in order to focus on restoring some parts of the empire that had been ruined by the previous wars and invasions and these included the Balkans and Eastern Asia Minor while Muawiyah who was here in conflict with the caliph Ali agreed to not bother Constans and instead to even pay tribute to him.
Ali, the last Rashidun caliph (r. 656-661), by Ahmed AbuElnaga
Now focusing on the problems of the empire, the first thing Constans thought about was the economy considering that the loss of Egypt had a heavy blow on the once abundant grain supply for Constantinople and the empire that once a month, this abundant grain supply from Egypt allowed people to get free distribution of bread but with Egypt gone, free bread was no longer possible. Although the second grain source which was Carthage was still around and fortunately for the Byzantines, after the civil war between Muawiyah and Ali broke out, the Exarchate of Africa based in Carthage which had become a vassal of the Caliphate since 647 was fully restored to imperial rule, although unfortunately the land around Carthage had already been drying up turning into a desert from over farming, so the next place the Byzantines looked to for grain supply was Thrace and Asia Minor, although the grain supply in these places weren’t as abundant as Egypt, therefore there would be no more free grain distribution for the people of Constantinople. The next major challenge in the Byzantine Empire Constans II was ruling other than the economy was the cultural shift from Latin to Greek which was now truly evident in Constans’ time than it was in his grandfather’s time, as here the Greek language had almost entirely replaced Latin amongst the people of the empire and in the imperial court, as well as in the army that Latin titles had now been evolving to Greek ones, which was evident even in the imperial court as the emperor was now referred to as the Greek “Basileus” meaning emperor instead of Augustus, or Autokrator instead of the Latin Imperator and a lot of these changes in the Greek language becoming the more dominant one had a lot to do with Heraclius’ reign as he was a native Greek speaker of Cappadocian and Armenian descent, meaning he had more connections to the east and the people he appointed to rule the empire were also native Greek speakers from the eastern provinces rather than before when most high officials of the empire were Latin speakers from the Balkans or western provinces. Constans meanwhile was adapting to the changes in the empire both in geography and of language and culture quite well, but he was still feeling some kind of connection to the west and the empire’s Roman roots- at least for this story- and here in 658 with the conflict against the Arabs in the east at least put to a halt for now, he decided to turn his attention west to the Balkans which was now completely overrun and settled by the Slavs who were left behind there by their Avar allies who retreated back north sometime after they failed to besiege Constantinople in 626. The loss of the Balkans meanwhile was a heavy blow to the Byzantines as for the longest time, all the way back to the era of the Roman Empire, the Balkans played a major role as the major recruitment ground for soldiers, so now with the Balkans gone, this would mean shortage of soldiers, but again with the pressure of the Arabs coming to a halt here in 658, Constans set off from Constantinople to campaign in the still Byzantine territories of the Balkans.
7th century Byzantine soldier clashes with a Slav warrior
Here, Constans managed to win a number of victories against the Slavs by defeating a large Slavic raid and afterwards returned some of Greece to Byzantine rule and after defeating these invading Slavs, his army had captured many prisoners of war which were the Slavic warriors, who were then all stuffed into ships and sent over across the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor to be resettled as the previous wars against the Sassanids and Arabs have resulted in the near depopulation of Asia Minor. In 659, Constans briefly returned to Constantinople to be with his family as by this point his wife Fausta had given birth to two new sons Heraclius and Tiberius, although history does not specify their birth years, so instead for this story Heraclius as the elder one would have been born in 656 and Tiberius in 657 and here in 659 Constans back in Constantinople appointed both sons Heraclius and Tiberius as co-emperors even if they were too young to read and write, so now there were 4 people with the imperial title being Constans II and his 3 sons, and this for sure would have made Constans’ twin brother Theodosius feel threatened as he was put aside in favor of Constans’ very young sons, but Constans on the other hand never really cared as he always saw that having a twin was a threat, so here Constans began his plans in eliminating his twin brother. After his short stay in Constantinople, Constans travelled this time to Asia Minor, this time to drive back the Arab forces that had still remained, and due to the Arab Caliphate in conflict with each other, Constans took advantage of the situation and when leading the army himself, he campaigned far into the east of Asia Minor successfully driving away the Arabs. It was in this 659 campaign in Asia Minor where Constans would make his greatest achievement in the history of Byzantium, which was the creation of the Thematic Systems or to put it short, the Themes (Themata in Greek), and this was another change that marked the transition of the empire from Latin to Greek as the names of these new smaller provinces or Themes would be in Greek. History though is not very clear about the formation of the Theme System or if Constans II exactly created it as others say it was his grandfather Heraclius that did, but many sources still agree that the first 5 Themes or shrunken military provinces of the Byzantine Empire were created under Constans II between 659 and 661, and in this story’s case it will true enough be Constans II that toured Asia Minor between 659 and 661 to create the Thematic System. The word “Theme” here does not really have a literal translation but it simply meant the name of a particular area bearing the name of the mobile army that was stationed in it as each of these new provinces had their own mobile armies assigned to it and these provinces too were under the administration of their army’s general known as the Strategos, basically a Greek title which replaced the former Latin Magister Militum. Now in these new provinces or Themes of Asia Minor, the soldiers stationed in them were given land of their own which their children would inherit as well as succeed their fathers as soldiers as a way to ensure their full loyalty as the empire was sure enough running out of soldier recruits with most of the Balkans lost and the remnants of the Plague of Justinian from the previous century still making comebacks. On the other hand, the Slavic warriors that were previously captured in the Balkans were relocated to Asia Minor to be settled as the soldiers for these Themes wherein here they were to marry locals, though at the same time Constans still encouraged many of the local men of Asia Minor to join the army and had many of the ruined castles of Asia Minor rebuilt as well which were to be the strongholds for each of the Themes’ armies. It was here at this point that Asia Minor became the Byzantine Empire’s new heartland as it was to now provide both soldiers and food supply for the empire and with the creation of these new provinces or Themes, each of the Themes were to produce their own goods for the empire’s survival whether it was minerals, food, wood, or military equipment while each Theme too had its own foundry to manufacture its soldiers’ uniform weapons and armor. Under Constans II, 4 Themes were created in Byzantine Asia Minor (Turkey) with their own generals in charge of it and its own capital and these first 4 Themes were the Anatolic Theme (Anatolikon in Greek) consisting of the central and southern part of Asia Minor in which the eastern army of the empire was stationed in and the city of Amorion; next was the Armeniac Theme (Armeniakon) which was the largest and most of the Themes being located in the eastern part of Asia Minor along the border with the city of Amasea as its capital; next was the Thracesian Theme (Thrakesion) in the western coast of Asia Minor where the Thracian army would be based in, hence the origin of its name; and last would be the Opsikion Theme in the northwest part of Asia Minor which here was to be administered directly from Constantinople, and this Theme would be under the most elite army of the empire or the Praesental army commanded not by a Strategos but by a general with the title of Komes, which was an honorary title for a general. After creating the 4 land Themes in Asia Minor, Constans decided to create a fifth one which was this time to be a naval Theme under the imperial navy and marines which was to be the Karabasian Theme (Kibyrrhaioton) in the southern coast of Asia Minor to further protect the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Asia Minor. The first known generals Constans II appointed to be in charge of these Themes included one of Sassanid Persian descent named Saborios, whose name is the Greek version of the Persian name Shapur who would be the Strategos of the Armeniac Theme and another one named Mizizios, an Armenian general who was made the Komes of the Opsikion Theme, the most elite Theme. Constans on the other hand before even hitting the age of 30 made a very strategic achievement for the empire that was to prove very effective in the next centuries to come, although still it was not entirely him who came up with the idea of these Themes from scratch but rather his grandfather Heraclius when he saw the provinces of Syria and Palestine lost to the Arabs and Asia Minor as the new core of the empire, thought it would be Constans II to put this whole idea into full effect. There is a lot more to explain about the Themes of Byzantium, Thematic System, and its elite armies being the Cataphract cavalry but that would be for the upcoming stories after this one, but to put it short it was effective in the way that when both parts of the empire were under attack, one Theme’s army could focus on one side while the other could focus on the other side without having to march an army from one far end of the empire to the other, therefore these Themes made it quicker for armies to respond to external attacks.
Slavic warriors, resettled into Asia Minor by Constans II
Cataphract cavalry, elite army of the Byzantine Themes
Watch this to learn more about the creation of the Theme System under Constans II (Eastern Roman History).
After being away from Constantinople for 2 years from 659 to 661, Constans returned to the capital wherein he started becoming increasingly unpopular and though it is not really said why, in this story’s case this would be mainly due to his defeat to the Arabs back in 655 at the Battle of the Masts and from being absent from the capital for 2 years despite doing the latter to actually further protect the empire by creating the Themes.
Caliph Muawiyah I, 1st Umayyad Caliph
It also happened in 661 that the caliph Ali was assassinated in a mosque at the city of Kufa (in today’s Iraq) and with his death died the Rashidun Caliphate as with him dead, Muawiyah took over as Caliph ending the civil war and beginning the Umayyad Caliphate wherein he turned the Caliphate into something more politically organized and had moved the caliphate’s capital from Medina in the Arabian Desert to Damascus in Syria which was more of a threat to the Byzantines as it was closer to their borders, although for the meantime, Muawiyah still organizing the new caliphate did not yet have plans to attack Byzantium, thus giving Constans more time to rebuild the ruins of his empire and put the Themes into full effect. Here in 661, Constans II at the age of 30 now had a full and thick square beard in his large face, which was the first thing to be noticed about him as well as his thick and long curly hair as seen in his coin which too will be a new standard for future Byzantine emperors, henceforth his nickname Konstantinos ho Pogonatos meaning “Constantine the Bearded” in Greek as true enough he ruled by his real name Constantine while his family members and those closest to him still referred to him as the Latin Constans or “little Constantine” (Konstas in Greek). Now back to Constans’ growing unpopularity, the people here at this point in 661 started favoring Theodosius over his twin brother and considering that they almost looked a like, the people who hated Constans thought it would not hurt those who favored Constans if they deposed Constans and replaced him with Theodosius as long as Theodosius would grow a longer beard the way Constans has, therefore those who are loyal to Constans would still mistake him for Constans, however it would not really work as Theodosius still did not have Constans’ brutal and autocratic personality whereas as Theodosius was more relaxed. For this story at least, Constans suspected something wrong about his twin so let’s say say the faction loyal to Constans soon enough knew of the plot by those who opposed him to overthrow him and replace him with Theodosius and so when finding out about this, Constans now knew this was the right time to act against his twin brother and get rid of him for good. History too does not say when Constans and Theodosius’ mother Gregoria died but let’s just say that here in 661 she had already died which now gave Constans every reason to get rid of his twin brother as he would most definitely not do it while their mother was still alive. Having enough of the possibility of Theodosius taking over the throne from him with popular support, Constans without any hesitation had some of the palace guards arrest Theodosius at his quarters in Constantinople’s imperial palace and cut off his tongue, again as a way to make sure he would not try to claim the throne as again a single deformity like missing a tongue would render him unable to rule as emperor. Constans too thought of simply executing his twin brother but he soon started to think cutting off his tongue was a better punishment as Theodosius had still done nothing wrong that deserves the death penalty, and so after getting his tongue cut off, Theodosius was forced to take Holy Orders and become a monk in a monastery outside Constantinople but little did Constans know that the injury Theodosius received when getting his tongue cut off cost him his life and later on in 661, Theodosius had died. Constans here would therefore be remembered as the “Bearded Autocrat” or “Constans the Killer” and this would not be it yet for his vicious deeds, although he was at least still very loyal to his wife Fausta and 3 sons but Fausta hearing about Constans’ vicious act that ended up killing his twin brother would soon begin to fall out with him. Each day Constans and Fausta would argue more and more that they would stop eating and sleeping together while Fausta even tried to get her 3 sons Constantine, Heraclius, and Tiberius away from their father fearing that her sons would follow in their father’s footsteps becoming a bloodthirsty tyrant. Now in 662, Constans had grown tired of living in Constantinople being unpopular with the people and ignored by his family, so here is when he decided to leave the capital again and protect the empire but here he also began to think about the rather short life he had lived so far, about how he had lost his childhood and teenage years when having to put aside for the responsibilities of running an empire, about how the difficulties in his early reign of having to face challengers left and right turned him into a bloodthirsty autocratic ruler, and how this kind of personality of his turned his people and family against him. Constans here thought it was time to change his image which is why he decided to head to Greece and protect it as he got word that the Slavs were invading again, and here at this point, the Theme Systems was now more or less fully operational that if Constans pulled out one Theme’s army, the armies of the other Themes could defend that Theme and since the Opsikion Theme was closest to Constantinople with its troops being the elite retinue of the imperial army, he called for this Theme’s army to join him in this campaign. The Opsikion Theme’s general Komes Mizizios, the Armenian noble 8 years older than Constans who was said to be very tall and handsome but at the same time shy and reserved led his troops across the Marmara to meet Constans in Constantinople where he and his troops were to accompany the emperor in his new campaign.
Coin of Mizizios, Komes of the Opsikion Theme under Constans II
Meanwhile- in this story’s case- the senators Constans sent to China, Alexios and Philippikos almost 20 years earlier has returned to Constantinople with Alexios who left Constantinople in his 40s was now in his 60s and Philippikos who was then in his 20s now in his 40s and now when returning, both reported to Constans about their fascinating journey in this far away land, about how sophisticated the imperial court was in their capital of Chang’an with buildings made with crystal and glass, about the colorful silks worn by its people, and the exotic food unknown to the Byzantines such as fisheye that was only reserved for the emperor. The senators had also told Constans that their emperor Taizong had agreed to lend them some money in exchange for Byzantine jewelry, although Taizong had already died back in 649 and was succeeded by his son Gaozong, who at this point was still ruling and Gaozong too had agreed to help Byzantium as he too feared the expansion of the Arabs even if it was still far from China. The senators too had told Constans that the last Sassanid heir, the young Peroz, son of the last shah Yazdegerd III had arrived in China seeking refuge wherein at this point he had already grown up and had built a church there as he was true enough a Christian and there in Tang China, the young Peroz had been training to be a general to command the Chinese imperial forces to one day lead an attack against the Arabs in Central Asia. Constans was intrigued hearing of stories from what he thought was a parallel world of Byzantium but not wanting to waste time, he asked both senators Alexios and Philippikos to join him in his campaign with Mizizios and the Opsikion army.
Illustration of Byzantine era Thessaloniki
After setting off from Constantinople by sea, Constans and his retinue arrived first in Thessaloniki, where Constans having dreamt about being there back in 655 before losing the Battle of the Masts would finally step foot there, as true enough dreams usually do predict a future and as he also remembered that the dream he dreamt to him meant scoring a victory, this time his predication actually came true as here in Thessaloniki, Constans himself leading the Opsikion Theme’s army fought the invading Slavic army with success driving them away from the walls of Thessaloniki. For the rest of 662, Constans together with the Opsikion army, Alexios, and Philippikos for a long time toured the remains of Byzantine Greece as Constans needed this lengthy amount of time to examine the situation in Greece, for he also thought of expanding the Themes beyond Asia Minor by establishing one in Greece too but in his long stay in Greece, Constans recruited more men to the Byzantine army as well which also included the Slavs he had defeated in battle and captured. For the winter of 662-663, Constans set himself up in Athens which at this time was now a ghost town where he would start drafting new plans for creating Themes in Greece but by early 663, Constans had now decided to leave Greece and set sail west for Byzantine Italy whereas Mizizios and the Opsikion army, Alexios, and Philippikos joined him too.
7th century Constantinople street life, by Amelianvs
Chang’an, imperial capital of the Chinese Tang Empire
Full coin of Constans II the Bearded including reverse
In 663, Constans and his men set sail from Athens to Southern Italy arriving some weeks later in the port of Taranto in Southern Italy which was still under the Byzantines but right when arriving, Constans following the example of his grandfather Heraclius and Maurice before him, decided to lead his army north to attack the Lombard’s capital of Benevento taking advantage of the fact that the Lombard king Grimoald I left his capital to head north and fight off a Frankish invasion.
Map of 7th century Italy divided between the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna (orange) and Lombards (blue)
In one swift campaign led by Constans and Mizizios, the Byzantines overwhelmed the Lombards in their holdings in Southern Italy taking over a number of fortress before arriving in their capital, Benevento facing little resistance, also considering the fact that it was the most elite Byzantine army that was brought over to Italy. The Byzantine forces did in fact come so close to taking over Benevento, however a Lombard messenger reached Grimoald I in time to warn him of the Byzantines’ attack and in very little time, the forces of Grimoald arrived to relieve Benevento forcing Constans’ army to retreat, although at least the Byzantines despite losing did not suffer many casualties and were able to retreat to Byzantine held Naples in an orderly way, though a portion of Constans’ army again suffered a heavy defeat when retreating to Naples.
Lombard army of Italy, 7th century
After a short stay in Naples, Constans now joined by his old friend Exarch Theodore Calliopas- in this story’s case- joined him and from Naples, they all headed north and visit Rome making him the first Roman emperor to set foot in Rome since the Western Roman emperors 2 centuries earlier and the last Roman (Byzantine) emperor to do so for several centuries. At some time in 663, Constans had a 12-day visit Rome wherein he was greeted personally by Pope Vitalian, the successor of the former pope Eugene I who personally showed Constans, Theodore, Alexios, and Philippikos around Rome, the eternal city and Vitalian was also pleased with Constans getting rid of Martin I who Vitalian had opposed before. Constans who had still felt Byzantium’s connection to its origins showed a lot of respect for the eternal city that he stopped at every important Roman landmark including the Forum, Trajan’s Column, Baths of Caracalla, and the Palatine Hill Imperial Palace, and wanting to show the people of Byzantine held Rome that he was a much better person than how everyone saw him as, he greeted most of the people he saw in the city in a friendly way, although his soldiers acted differently except for their general Mizizios due to his reserved personality.
Pope Vitalian
When stopping by the Ancient Roman Pantheon, which had been turned into a church by the Byzantine usurper emperor Phocas who Heraclius overthrew in 610, Constans saw his soldiers looting its valuables and stripping off its copper roof, although Constans despite getting angry at them for doing it still allowed them to do it as long as it was to be sent to Constantinople to be minted as coins to further improve the economy and not so long after, Constans’ 12-day stay in Rome was over, so here he proceeded south to Sicily setting himself up in its most important city, Syracuse while Theodore returned north to Ravenna. Constans II’s real intention for setting himself up in Syracuse still remains unclear as some say it could be because he wanted to restore Western Rome’s relevance in Byzantium the way Justinian I a century before him wanted to do as well, or maybe because he remembered his grandfather Heraclius’ possible decision one time to move the capital to Carthage as Constantinople was more at risk to be attacked, and this time by the Arabs and that Sicily would be a safer location as it was easier to defend being at the center of the Mediterranean, or also that Sicily would be a good base to reclaim pats of Byzantine North Africa like Cyrenaica (Northern Libya) and Egypt that were lost to the Arabs, and for this story, it would be for all these reasons why Constans decided to set himself up in Sicily which he would for the next 5 years never thinking of returning to Constantinople. Another possible reason why Constans left his family behind in Constantinople to journey alone was to make up for his lost teenage and young adult years in which he spent nonstop worrying about defending his empire according again to the History of Byzantium podcast, and for this story I would also agree with it that Constans left to at least enjoy life in the warm Mediterranean climate of Sicily, and for this story’s case he true enough would do just that drinking and partying hard with his soldiers. Although when basing himself in Sicily, Constans also decided to raise the taxes to the same levels as taxes were in Constantinople and Byzantine Greece, Asia Minor, and North Africa to make things fair and to increase the army’s pay, though forgetting that the people of Sicily were much poorer than in the other parts of the empire. Constans here in Sicily would again show how much of an apathetic autocratic ruler he was when he started losing his sanity by nonsensically brutalizing the tax collection on the Sicilians that it was said that the Sicilians had to sell their children to slavery and that women were forced into prostitution just so they could pay up Constans’ harsh taxes, although most of these were just written by sources hostile to Constans, but in this story’s case with Constans as a villainous ruler, it would be true that all of these were happening for the next 5 years as Constans was in Sicily. Constans in Sicily on the other hand after a time wrote to Fausta in Constantinople asking her to come over to Sicily with their 3 sons, abandon Constantinople, and all settle in Syracuse as the new imperial capital as Constans also knew that with the Themes set up in Asia Minor, Constantinople will still be protected. In 663 meanwhile, as the months passed with the emperor not present in the capital, the Byzantine senate decided to name the 11-year-old son of Constans, Constantine as emperor in Constantinople knowing Constans would not return, although since Constantine was only 11, the same age his father was when becoming emperor, he was to rule under the senate’s guidance but only as co-emperor as Constans still being around was still the senior one.
White flag of the Umayyad Caliphate
Now back in the newly formed Umayyad Caliphate of Caliph Muawiyah that had just adopted a simple white flag as their symbol, at this point after forming his new caliphate, he resumed his attacks on Byzantine Asia Minor which were carried out by his son and general Yazid, who Muawiyah also named his successor, which was a practice unheard of in the Arab world as a caliph did not inherit his position from his father, but rather was elected by the Caliphate’s leaders but to secure the new Caliphate’s succession, Muawiyah thought it would be better to adopt a hereditary succession like the Byzantines and Sassanids had. With the Arabs back in action again, the newly created Themes in Asia Minor were for the first time be put into their full wartime function and here, the Anatolic and Armeniac Themes were able to hold out against the Caliphate’s attacks for a time though from 665 to 666, the Armeniac Theme had become more and more devastated from the Arab attacks which made their troops and their Strategos Saborios think that Constans being in Sicily gave up on the east allowing the Themes there to suffer defeats to the Arabs. In 667, the general Saborios of the Armeniac Theme decided that with Constans away and unable to protect Asia Minor, it was time for him to declare himself emperor against Constans and his family as there was no emperor to protect the east but rather than continuing the war against the Arabs, Saborios instead asked for an alliance with Muawiyah sending word to Damascus agreeing to even pay tribute to the Umayyad Caliphate and in return Muawiyah agreed to it even sending some Arab troops to back Saborios’ rebellion, and in late 667 Saborios with the Armeniac Theme’s army marched west to Constantinople. In the meantime, the people of Constantinople were beginning to grow worried especially since their senior emperor Constans II had been away for 5 years now and the Arabs were gaining some success in invading Asia Minor but right at the moment when everyone was starting to think hope was lost, an unlikely Byzantine refugee from Arab occupied Syria, Kallinikos of Heliopolis arrived at young Constantine’s imperial court thinking Constans was there as he had plans of a superweapon that could destroy the Arab fleet which only needed the emperor’s approval.
The Pantheon of Rome, parts stripped down by Constans II’s soldiers
Constans II in Sicily, by Amelianvs
Constans II Strikes Back (The Climax)
While Mauwiyah’s Arab armies were again putting pressure on Byzantium’s eastern borders and this time actually gaining an opportunity when allying with the usurping general Saborios, Constans was still in Sicily enjoying himself by again drinking and partying every night with his soldiers as well as with Mizizios, Alexios, and Philippikos as a way to make up for not being able to do this in his younger years while the people of Sicily were suffering by having to pay the heavy taxes Constans imposed on them and with his oppressive way of ruling the Sicilians, they would start referring to Constans as the new Phocas, the usurping emperor Constans’ grandfather deposed. Another thing Constans had done now in Sicily- which is only for this story- is that he started adopting the Chinese imperial practice Alexios and Philippikos had told him which the Tang emperor of China Gaozong had done, eating fisheyes, a dish only reserved for the emperor and that everyone else who ate it was to be executed, and here Constans did just that as the Chinese emperor by having everyone else who ate fisheyes executed that here in 668 he had about 40 people killed whether they were Sicilian fishermen or elites for eating this dish. The real turning point however for Constans’ life was on September 15, 668 when Constans went to the bathhouse of the imperial palace in Syracuse and here as he bathed, the Greek servant who was the only one in the room that was to scrub the emperor grabbed a bucket or rather a soap dish and used it to assassinate the emperor, which is how the contemporary historian of this time Theophilus of Edessa, who worked for the caliph described Constans’ death, therefore a very odd way of assassinating someone.
In this story’s case however, as the 37-year-old Constans was alone to the imperial baths to enjoy himself on the afternoon of September 15, he had noticed something different in the energy around him after this Greek servant put some soap over his eyes as the servant went further away from Constans to grab a soap dish but before the servant could use it against him, Constans got some water to wash his eyes, afterwards when able to see everything, he grabbed the servant by the leg into the pool whereas the heavy marble soap dish fell into the water sinking. While soaking in the pool water, Constans strangled the servant with his arm asking him if he really intended to kill him and the servant replied saying he came into the baths to do just that. While Constans strangled him, the servant told him everything about the plot and that killing Constans in the baths was the easiest was since the palace in Syracuse was heavily guarded and the only way to get to Constans up close was to do it in the baths while no one else was around, not even the guards.
Marble soap dish intended to kill Constans II
The servant too had said that earlier in that day, he got a letter with orders from Caliph Muawiyah in behalf of the Armeniac Theme’s Strategos Saborios who both wanted Constans dead as Muawiyah feared that now with Constans in Sicily, he could easily take back Arab held Egypt from there as Muawiyah knew that when Constans was younger his forces took back Alexandria for a year while Saborios wanted Constans dead so he could fully take the throne without opposition. After Constans learned everything he needed to know form this servant, he strangled the servant to the point of unconsciousness and when knocked out, Constans dragged the servant to the marble ground where Constans killed the servant ironically by smashing his head with the same marble soap dish meant to kill Constans and afterwards the guards rushed into the baths as Constans put on a towel.
Meme of Constans II’s assassination
And now history is fully altered here as Constans II survived his assassination and would continue ruling from Syracuse but the big mystery is why and who directed the assassination attempt on Constans II and others here say it could be the people of Sicily who were totally over with his brutal taxation policy, or it could be some disgruntled soldiers who were tired of being in Sicily for so long and wanting to return to Asia Minor, but the best reason is that it was masterminded by Caliph Muawiyah who was given more insider information on the job by Saborios who knew Constans personally, except that Saborios did not know anything about Sicily but rather he knew Constans’ personal schedule, and for Muawiyah, he could sense that Constans was surely going to take back Egypt with Sicily as his base as Sicily was much closer than Constantinople to Egypt and for the Arabs, Egypt too had proved to be a very valuable asset.
Seal of Caliph Muawiyah I
In this story’s, Constans being in Sicily had now changed his mind as when he was a young ruler, he thought when Egypt was fully lost in 646 there was no more hope in taking it back, but now the much older Constans was fully intent to take it back as it also meant resuming their trade with India and China. With Constans now surviving the assassination attempt unlike in real history, he would meet with Alexios and Philippikos in the Syracuse palace where he would once again ask them to return by land to Tang China, this time to ask for a military alliance with Emperor Gaozong to counter-attack the Arabs from the east as Constans here knew from the servant who tried to kill him that Muawiyah was again set to direct more attacks on Byzantium after allying with the rebellious general Saborios and Constans here even with the Themes did not have much men to face off the Arabs, therefore if the Chinese forces were to attack the Arabs from the east in Central Asia, the farthest the Caliphate extended to in the east, then this would distract the Arabs having to focus their attention east. Alexios and Philippikos then set sail to Constantinople by ship first to inform Constans’ family that he was almost killed but had survived and that they must ready themselves for a full Arab attack and from there they would sail for Cherson in the Crimea where they would journey east by land back to Tang China’s capital Chang’an. Now in real history, following Constans’ assassination, his army in Sicily proclaimed their general Mizizios as emperor against his will while in Constantinople, the 16-year-old Constantine IV became the sole emperor and only when seeing coins with Mizizios’ face on it did he deal with Mizizios by travelling to Sicily himself in 669 to deal with Mizizios’ forces, although the army of the Exarch of Africa loyal to Constans had already sailed north to Sicily where they beat Mizizios’ forces and had already executed Mizizios when Constantine IV arrived there. In this story however with Constans surviving, Mizizios would have no reason to become emperor as he had no ambition anyway as could be seen with his reserved personality, so here Constans with Mizizios would plan their reconquest of the rest of North Africa as well as Cyrenaica and Egypt with the then Exarch of Africa Eleutherios while the Exarch of Ravenna Theodore- who in real history had died in 666- but for this story’s sake would still be alive, would be put in charge of continuing the defense of Italy against the Lombards.
Syracuse in the Byzantine era, Constans II’s new capital
Damascus, capital of the Umayyad Caliphate beginning 661
For the past 5 years now, young Constantine IV had been put in charge of Constantinople’s administration while his father was away in Sicily, and in these 5 years, young Constantine had learned to be a strong and competent emperor. In this story’s case, in 668 rather than getting word that his father had been assassinated, Alexios and Philippikos at their arrival in Constantinople instead told young Constantine that his father now intended to divide the empire whereas Constans II would rule from Syracuse and Constantine IV from Constantinople, so therefore Constans in his letter asked Constantine to crown himself emperor, which he did here in 668 at the age of 16, and now Byzantium had 2 reigning senior emperors as Constantine’s younger brothers Heraclius and Tiberius remained as junior co-emperors.
Emperor Constantine IV, son and successor of Constans II
Apparently, back in 597 when Emperor Maurice got a fatal illness, he thought of this same solution too which was to divide the empire in two parts between his sons, but when recovering shortly after, this plan was scrapped, but here it was Constans who now decided to stick to this which was a strategy a lot of Roman emperors in the past had used and while Constantine IV’s half included the Themes of Asia Minor, and over in the west, Constans II thought of creating Themes in Italy as well and part of it was to make the whole of Sicily an entire Theme too; although by 700 in real history, Sicily too became a Theme. Now like in real history, as Constantine IV came into power, here in this case, the same would happen when some of the soldiers in Asia Minor would here for this story get some fake news that Constans II had died so they marched to Constantinople and demand Constantine IV to rule in equal power with his two younger brothers Heraclius and Tiberius but just as Constantine IV did in real history, here he refused to do so in being manipulated and so he had the leaders of these rebellious troops executed after tricking them to meet with him peacefully, therefore beginning his reign in the same autocratic manner as his father, a trait he sure enough inherited, and rather than ruling with his brothers equally, Constantine remained the senior emperor of the east and his brothers only junior co-emperors. Meanwhile, the larger rebellion of Saborios and the soldiers of the Armeniac Theme had been growing and here by late 668, almost the entire Asia Minor was on his side the moment he was already in the region of Bithynia in the Opsikion Theme very close to Constantinople. Here as Saborios was stationed in the Fortress of Hexapolis drilling his army and waiting for his Arab reinforcement army to arrive, he would meet the same fate as he did in real history, and as Saborios got word that an imperial loyalist army from Constantinople was marching towards them, he mounted his horse right next to the fortress’ main gate but when he got on, his horse suddenly bolted and charged at the gate whereas Saborios slammed his head on the gate as a result of his horse charging. The horse then galloped away while Saborios fell to the ground and since he had not yet put on his helmet when his head was slammed against the gate, he died a few minutes later from the injury while his army with no more leader just defected to the loyalist forces of Constantine IV, thus Saborios’ rebellion was over, though not his Arab allies. Even with Saborios dead, the army led by Muawiyah’s son Yazid was still headed directly to Asia Minor and true enough they were only using Saborios as a way to get to Constantinople themselves wherein if Saborios was emperor, he would only be Muawiyah’s puppet but with Saborios gone, the Arabs had every reason to take Constantinople for themselves. As for Constantine IV here in 669, he would have no reason to head over to Sicily like in real history as his father had not been killed therefore Mizizios not rising up in rebellion, instead he would have to focus with the happenings in Asia Minor as here in 669, 5,000 Arab forces under Yazid’s command reached as far as the Anatolic Theme taking over its capital, Amorion although soon enough like in real history, the army of the Anatolic Theme liberated their capital driving the Arabs away. At the same time, Muawiyah like in real history sent a fleet to attack Sicily and Carthage in 669 and in this story’s case, it would be for the reason of stopping Constans from launching an attack on Egypt, although Constans with Mizizios here would easily defeat the Arab fleet sent against them. Back in the east, Yazid who was still around commanding his fleet in 670, like in real history was able to capture the port of Cyzicus in the Marmara which was very close to Constantinople and intended to be used as a base to construct a larger fleet for the attack on the capital. In 672, the Arabs would now make more progress when the fleet of Yazid had captured the port city of Smyrna in the Aegean to be used as another base to build more ships for their grand assault in Constantinople.
Greek Fire sticking on water
In Constantinople meanwhile, Constantine IV was growing even more worried but here Kallinikos the engineer would demonstrate to him the new weapon he had created which was a kind of brass cannon that was able to blow out some kind of sticky liquid fire that was operated with a kind of pump but the secret was its chemical ingredient being naphtha, sulphur, and resin which was to be ignited with this mechanism, and Constantine only agreed to use it if its exact formula and procedure was a secret to be kept between both of them and the elite naval force that was to operate it. Late one night in 672- in this story’s case at least- both Kallinikos and Constantine tested this weapon on the shores of the Marmara and to their surprise it worked as the fire emitted from the cannon did stick in the water as was intended.
Strategos Saborios leads the army of the Armeniac Theme in rebellion, 667-668
Umayyad army led by Yazid in Asia Minor, by Marwan Musa
Byzantine Smyrna, captured by the Umayyads in 672
For the entire year of 673, both Byzantines and Arabs had been preparing for the grand battle to come, therefore Constantinople was still safe even if the Arabs in 673 had already captured some of the southern coast of Asia Minor including the city of Tarsus; although in this story’s case with Constans II still alive and Syracuse as his capital, he started feeling the need to go back to Constantinople, just to save it from the upcoming Arab attack. Just like in real history, the grand battle would come in 674 when the Arab fleet and army themselves under the command of Yazid besieged Constantinople both by land and sea and this Siege of Constantinople went on for 4 years (674-678) intermittently as the Arab forces would pause every winter retreating back to their naval bases in Cyzicus and Smyrna as winters were something alien to the desert born Arabs, and every time spring came, the Arabs would attack again. There are not that much sources on this 674-678 siege of Constantinople but it was clear that, things had not come to any results until 677 when Constantine IV decided to lead the fleet himself head-on against the Arabs, and this would be where the secret superweapon Greek Fire would first come into use and in 678, the Arabs being unable to continue the attack due to the power of Greek Fire had fully retreated and on their retreat were heavily defeated once again by the Byzantine fleet off the coast of Lycia in southwest Asia Minor. On the other hand, while the siege of Constantinople was ongoing, Constantine IV was too busy defending capital that he could not put his attention to other parts of the empire and true enough Thessaloniki with most its troops having to march to Constantinople was left poorly defended when the Slavs besieged it in 676, although when the Siege of Constantinople was over by 678, the Slavs too have been driven away from Thessaloniki.
11walls of byzantium - article1
Constantinople at the 1st Arab Siege, 674
In this story’s case on the other hand, the Siege of Constantinople would play out in a much different way considering that Constans II here was still alive, although when it would begin in 674 he was still absent from Constantinople, thus leaving the 22-year-old Constantine IV to lead and supervise the defense of the city himself, and here he would be extremely nervous as this would be the first time he was to lead his army in a full scale battle against about let’s 50,000 Arabs while the defending Byzantine forces only numbered up to let’s say 15,000 but luckily in the case of this story, the superweapon of Greek Fire was already built and the engineer Kallinikos was to be by Constantine’s side the whole time as the weapon in this battle was at Constantine’s imperial ship.
Greek Fire operated from the imperial ship
Feeling nervous about what was to come, Constantine motivated himself by remembering how his grandfather Constantine III at only 14 helped lead the defense of Constantinople in 626 against the Avars, Slavs, and Sassanids, and after feeling some sense of motivation, Constantine encouraged his younger brothers Heraclius and Tiberius as well his mother Fausta- in this story only- to all take part in defending the city. By April of 674 like in real history, the Arab fleet from Cyzicus sailed up the Marmara arriving in Constantinople’s south shore and unlike in real history when Constantine IV confronted them only in 677, here he already led the fleet head-on against the incoming Arab fleet of Yazid the moment the Arabs arrived and here is when Greek Fire would first be used against the enemy ships, and is turned out it would be fully effective as the sticky flames would not only stick to the water but burn down the smaller wooden Arab ships too but what was even more devastating was its fear factor as when the flames began to burn the ships and water, the Arab soldiers panicked and jumped off into the water drowning to death. Again like in real history, the battles would go on each day, pausing at night, and again resuming the next day until the point that the Arabs infantry had already disembarked from their ships and began scaling the walls, though Constantinople’s walls as usual would be too impossible for the Arab forces to fully scale due to their height and the number of soldiers defending them as it turned out more troops were assigned to the walls than in the sea, and it was also in the walls where Fausta, Heraclius, and Tiberius would be rallying the troops. As the weeks had gone by, the battles still continued with no result to the point that the Byzantines had been losing hope, but just when they all thought hope was lost, as Constantine looked south into the Marmara, he saw a large fleet consisting of 300 Byzantine ships, and as it would turn out this was his father Constans II himself leading a reinforcement fleet together with Mizizios to relieve Constantinople. In their approach, thousands of flaming arrows fired by Byzantine archers from these ships flew across the sky into Yazid’s ships further burning them and soon enough, these larger Byzantine ships crashed straight into the smaller Arab ships destroying them. Constans would then see the other imperial ship where his son was at and when seeing a streak of flames fired from it against a larger Arab ship, Constans was amazed at the sight but at the same kept cursing in Greek as he could not believe what he just saw.
Coin of Constans II with his son Constantine IV
Having dealt enough damage here and as the days were getting colder as the year progressed, Yazid ordered his entire army and fleet to retreat and as the Arab forces and ships were retreating, Constans now had the chance to get off his ship and board his son’s ship where they would now reunite after not seeing each other for almost 12 years, and here the 44-year-old Constans barely recognized his son who was now fully grown up as the last time they had seen each other, Constantine IV was only 10. As the days would now go by, the Byzantines had noticed that they were no longer under attack, therefore the people of Constantinople had begun rebuilding the damage caused by siege but soon enough they had noticed the days would turn into weeks, and weeks into months with no more attack against them from the Arabs when the year 675 came.
Greek Fire used against an Arab ship at the 674 Siege of Constantinople
Now in this story’s case, the main difference here in the 674-678 Siege of Constantinople was that here it was over in its first year and not having to go one much longer for 4 more years and the reason for this scenario happening in this story was due to the alliance the still alive Constans II made with the Tang Chinese emperor Gaozong.
Gaozong, Tang Chinese emperor (r. 649-683)
Back in 668, after Constans survived the attempt on his life, he sent the senators Alexios and Philippikos to China and as it turned out when back there again, they were able to successfully convince the emperor there to amass an army over the next 6 years and only by 674 were they completely ready to march west and distract the Arabs who were attacking Constantinople by forcing them to turn east and face off an attack by the Chinese forces. At this point, the last member of the Sassanid’s ruling dynasty, Peroz who had been living in Tang China was already grown up in his 30s and now a powerful general in the Chinese army who had been trained to fight in the ways of both the Chinese and of his own Persian people and in this story’s case, it would be Peroz dressed in his Sassanid imperial armor that would lead a total of 100,000 men west from China into the border of the Umayyad Caliphate in Central Asia, and these 100k would consist of Chinese infantry and cavalry including war elephants, as well as Sassanid Persian refugees dressed up once again in their own Persian armor and ready to fight to the Arabs to avenge their fallen empire’s twin defeats at Al-Qadisiya in 636 and Jalula in 637 to the Arabs.
Tang Chinese imperial army
Word of the caliphate’s eastern border under attack would first reach Caliph Muawiyah in Damascus who would then send word about it to his son Yazid who was camped with his army in Smyrna and here in 675 just when Yazid was preparing to set sail to Constantinople again to continue the siege, he got word from his father that the eastern border in Central Asia was under attack and the worst part he heard was that it was under attack by the Sassanids, the very enemy the Arabs thought they had completely crushed. Believing that the Sassanids were planning to reclaim their empire, Yazid with his army instead of continuing on Constantinople would immediately rush east where the Sassanid refugee forces and their Chinese allies were already making progress being already in what is today’s Afghanistan, very close to the Sassanid heartland of Iran which the Arabs now held. Before the winter of 675-676 would arrive, Yazid and his very tired forces after marching for months would confront the fully energized 100k army of Peroz at Bactria (Afghanistan) where due to being exhausted would lose to the combined Sassanid and Chinese forces, although Yazid would still survive retreating back to his father in Damascus never wanting to lead another campaign again after losing almost his entire army in the east. Peroz meanwhile after winning this entirely fictional victory would not anymore try to reclaim the Sassanid Empire even if he was the son of the last Sassanid emperor, instead he would return to China to continue loyally serving Emperor Gaozong as here Peroz never really wanted to reestablish the Sassanid Empire, instead he only chose to fight the Arabs as he wanted to show that the Sassanids would make up for all the harm they caused on the Byzantines for the past centuries and by defeating the Arabs here, the last of the Sassanids did indeed redeem themselves to their old enemy. Although in reality, this kind of battle would happen in the next century (751) where the Arab and Chinese forces would clash in battle. Back in Constantinople, the days would still go by without an Arab attack and as an entire year went by in peace, it was concluded that the Arab siege was over. Constans II meanwhile remained in Constantinople for most of 675 reuniting with his family and although his wife Fausta would still be angry at him for abandoning them back in 662, she would at least forgive him as Constans still came back at the last minute to relieve Constantinople from the Arab siege and as Constans saw his two younger sons Tiberius and Heraclius, he was surprised to see how much they have grown and now as young adults, both brothers looked very different from each other (as they are depicted in Constantine IV’ mosaic in Ravenna) whereas the older one Heraclius very much resembled his mother with tanned skin with thick and curly dark hair while the younger one Tiberius looked a lot more like his father and eldest brother with lighter hair and lighter skin.
Mosaic of Constantine IV (right) with his brothers Heraclius (first to the left) and Tiberius (2nd to the left), Sant’apollinare in Classe, Ravenna
In Constantinople, Constans would congratulate Constantine for his bravery and success in the defence of Constantinople and for the creation of Greek Fire, and at the same time Constans as the most senior emperor would congratulate the weapon’s architect Kallinikos too. Constans too would tell Constantine the whole secret why the Arabs had no longer showed up and this was because if not for Constans asking the Chinese emperor to send an army to attack the Caliphate, then the Arabs would have not turned their attention east and would instead return to attacking Constantinople. Constantine would then thank his father for doing just that and just before Constans was to return back to Sicily, he confirmed with Constantine that the empire was to now be fully divided with two capitals, Constantinople and Syracuse although when Constans would die, Constantinople would remain as the superior capital where Constantine would rule from and Syracuse the inferior one where Heraclius and Tiberius would rule from after the event of Constans’ death. Constans too had settled a divorce with Fausta with the approval of the current patriarch of Constantinople here Constantine I and after concluding the divorce, Constans would leave by ship to Sicily for good while his general Mizizios would return to the Opsikion Theme in Asia Minor he was in charge of to continue being its Strategos, and with Constans gone again, Constantine IV was now the senior emperor of the eastern half of the Byzantine Empire.
Sassanid forces in Central Asia returning to the fight the Arabs, 675 (in this story’s case)
Aftermath and Conclusion
The much older Constans II now was clear that he never wanted to rule from Constantinople again and after returning to Syracuse, he was to never return to the main imperial capital despite being the most senior emperor. However, for Constans when returning to Constantinople coming to the rescue when it was under attack, he knew he had done his part in making up for all those years he was absent from his family, and what was even more honorable of him here was that he came back right in time to save his family at this moment, but now when doing what he needed to do to redeem himself for his family, he returned to Sicily enjoying himself alone away from his family, while he also thought it was for the best to divorce Fausta, as after all his marriage to her when he was only a child was only for a political alliance with Fausta’s father Valentinus who turned out to be a traitor anyway. In this entirely fictional scenario of Constans surviving his assassination back in 668, in the following years as he based himself in Syracuse, he would actually end up turning Sicily itself into a new Byzantine Theme, though back there, Constans would still never really change and continue being oppressive in his ruling style and taxation. By 679, for this story’s case at least, Constans would achieve his greatest dream which was the Byzantine reconquest of Cyrenaica and Egypt using the 300 ships that helped him defeat the Arabs in Constantinople, and here all of Cyrenaica would be recaptured, though for Egypt it would only be Alexandria and the northern coast while the Arabs would still remain in the rest of Egypt, but still, a portion of the abundant grain supply for Constantinople would still resume, though by losing the coast of Egypt, the Arabs deep within Egypt would have a more difficult time communicating with their imperial capital, Damascus.
The Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, built under Caliph Muawiyah I
As for Constantine IV in Constantinople, with the siege not going on until 678 as it did in real history, he would use the following years after 675 to rebuild the imperial capital and due to the success of Greek Fire, he would now make it a permanent wartime weapon and not only that but the state secret he wanted it to be wherein its formula and procedure would be only revealed to members of the elite naval force and to those in the line of succession to the imperial throne, while the weapon’s architect Kallinikos would be appointed as the empire’s chief military scientist working in the imperial court. Like in history, the Arabs would suffer major defeats too after they lost the siege of Constantinople, except here in this case the Arabs were defeated a lot earlier before 678, though here they would do the same as they did in real history after being defeated, which was Caliph Muawiyah in 679 agreeing to the peace terms with Byzantium which included paying an annual tribute of 50 slaves, 50 horses, 3,000 pounds of gold, and returning the Aegean islands including the city port city of Smyrna which were all under the Byzantines not so long before. What would be different for this story though is that with the Arab Umayyad Caliphate losing heavily both at Constantinople and in Central Asia, their weakened armies would no longer have much interest to fight and so would their defeated general Yazid and soon enough with the ports of Mediterranean Egypt lost, the Arabs would eventually lose all of Egypt to the Byzantines. Caliph Muawiyah in this story like in real history would also die in 680 realizing from his failure that it was impossible to breach into Constantinople, and at his death would be succeeded by his son Yazid as caliph just as Muawiyah had planned. As for the diplomat senators Alexios and Philippikos, they would choose to remain in the imperial court of China at Chang’an where they would serve the Chinese emperor Gaozong as Byzantine ambassadors to strengthen relations between both empires and there they would introduce some Byzantine customs to China and vice-versa. Back in Italy, the Exarch of Ravenna Theodore Calliopas who in real history died back in 666, for this story’s case had already died by around 673 while the empire was already split in half. Constans II on the other hand in this story’s case would die in 680 before hitting the age of 50 and ironically, he would die in the same baths of Syracuse’s imperial palace, although this time not anymore by being smashed in the head by a servant like in 668; instead Constans when alone at the baths would suffer a heart attack and pass away in minutes and would only be found later as his servants entered the baths for cleaning. Constans’ body would then be sent to Constantinople where he would be buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles- where he is really buried- and his funeral would be presided over by Constantine IV, although since Constans II was never really popular and had abandoned Constantinople and ruled in an oppressively autocratic way, his funeral would not be mourned by many but due to the fact that he relieved the city from the siege 5 years earlier, there would be at least some mourning for him. Following Constans II’s death, Constantine IV now as the most senior ruling emperor would honor his father’s plan in dividing the empire in order to fully protect all sides of it and continue their holding onto Italy and send both his younger brothers Heraclius and Tiberius to Syracuse to rule together as both were already co-emperors since 659, while Constantine IV would rule as the most superior of them from Constantinople, which was to still remain the main capital.
Coin of Emperor Constantine IV
Court of the Umayyad Caliphs in Damascus
Now with Constans II having survived the assassination attempt on him and therefore successfully moving the capital to Syracuse and coming right in time back to Constantinople to relieve it from the Arab siege and further masterminding a heavy defeat on the Arab armies by conspiring with the Tang Chinese Empire, and later on dying from natural causes, the same happenings too would happen for Byzantium in Constantine IV’s latter reign as it did in real history. A lot of things Constantine IV had done as emperor were still mostly achievements, like for instance the 3rd Council of Constantinople between 680 and 681 which was finally able to solve the controversy of the Monothelite doctrine Constans II and his grandfather Heraclius before him strongly supported that even led Constans II to go as far as arresting Pope Martin I in 653 for opposing it.
3rd Church Council of Constantinople headed by Constantine IV, 680-681
Here in this story, like in real history, Constantine IV would succeed in solving the issue by looking back at the ruling on the natures of Christ from the Council of Chalcedon back in 451 and afterwards reaffirming them, and for both successfully defending Constantinople from the Arabs and solving the Monothelite controversy once and for all, Constantine IV would become more popular than ever- as he was in real history- and gaining so much popularity, he would be hailed as the “New Constantine the Great” and the “New Justinian the Great” and coincidentally, Constantine IV here at this point was married to a certain Anastasia and already had a son named Justinian who he was training to be his successor, but in this story’s case to rule from Constantinople, as tragically for Constantine IV by 681 like in real history, his health already began to fail despite his young age, which historians say he could have been suffering from cancer. In real history however, Constantine IV in 681 following in the footsteps of his father mutilating his twin brother in 661 had both his younger brothers Heraclius’ and Tiberius’ noses cut off to prevent them from succeeding to the throne as a sure way to secure young Justinian’s succession, though in this story’s case, this incident would not happen as Heraclius and Tiberius got their chance to rule the empire already from Syracuse where they would busy themselves continuing the campaign against the Lombards in mainland Italy. The other real event that too would happen in this story’s case was the first major invasion of the Bulgar hordes from the steppes of Russia led by their ruler Khan Asparukh across the Danube into Byzantine territory in 680 while Constantine IV was busy heading the Church Council. Again like in real history, Constantine IV here in would lead the armies of the 5 Themes north to confront the Bulgars in 680 as well but at the middle of the campaign would suffer a bad illness due to his chronic disease and have to retreat back to Constantinople leaving his army to confront the Bulgars and without Constantine commanding them, the army like in real history would suffer a defeat to the Bulgars at the Battle of Ongal in 680 which here would also make Constantine in 681 have to acknowledge the creation of the first Bulgarian state in what was the Byzantine province of Moesia in the south bank of the Danube, and here is when the story of Byzantium’s northern neighbor and greatest enemy and ally at different times, the Bulgarian Empire begins. Constantine IV though would not lose his popularity for his defeat to the Bulgars, but in addition for this story’s case too like in reality, he would create the Theme of Thrace based in Constantinople to further protect the valuable province of Thrace, the empire’s capital region from the rise of the Bulgars who had now gained their own state subjugating the Slavic locals there. History does not say what Constantine IV had been doing after 681 but it is most likely that he had been putting the Themes of Asia Minor his father created and the Theme of Thrace he created into full effect in case the Umayyad Arabs would come back again, but it is highly possible that Constantine was not so active anymore after 681 due to his failing health. In this story, Constantine IV would die just 5 years after his father on September 14, 685 at only 33 like he did in real history and would be succeeded in this story’s case as the emperor in Constantinople by his now 16-year-old son Justinian II while his brothers Heraclius and Tiberius would still remain in Sicily. The reign of the passionate and ambitious yet tyrannical and evil emperor Justinian II now would be a story for another time, although in here like in real history, Constantine IV for successfully defending the capital and finally solving the issue of Monothelitism would become a saint after his death. Now the big question at the end of this story is what will happen to the Umayyad Caliphate after being defeated even more than they were in real history and if the establishment of Syracuse as the second capital was worth it and the answer to both cannot fully be told in a simple way but to put it short, all I can say is that even when defeated, the Umayyad Caliphate was still around and would still one day return to action and for the Byzantines having 2 capitals with their own emperors just as the empire did before 476, they would be able to focus on both sides of their empire as in the east the Theme System would soon enough be fully prepared and functional if ever the Arabs rise again while in the west, the emperor ruling from Syracuse could focus on the problems there and restore Byzantine rule to Italy which had been neglected with the growing threat of the Arabs in the east. Now to simply put it, Constans II’s decision to make Syracuse a capital was to prove effective especially since this would help the Byzantines slowly regain control of the Mediterranean again and therefore not spiral down in the sense of rapidly losing lands and this is how this move could change the course of Byzantine history.
The coming of the Bulgars, Khan Asparukh and his Bulgar hordes arrive in Byzantine territory, 680
Flags of the armies of the Byzantine Empire’s Themes, to be developed from here on
Full mosaic of Constantine IV with his brothers and son Justinian II (leftmost) in Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna
Watch this to learn more about Constantine IV (Eastern Roman History)
And now I have reached the very end of this story but before I finish, I have to mention about creating this and why Constans II is for me such an interesting historical figure that I dedicated an entire fan fiction story to him. Now as you may know, this fan fiction article happens to be an extremely long one and I have to admit it was a very long process writing it as it required an extensive amount of research and considering that my favorite history related Youtube channel Dovahhatty is currently only at Justinian’s era and had not yet reached this part of Byzantine history, I had to go the long way to put this story together by watching several documentary videos on this era from rather more scholarly channels like Kings and Generals, Eastern Roman History, and Thersites the Historian, as well as listening to the History of Byzantium Podcast, and in fact even reading more scholarly research works in order to get the whole story of 7th century Byzantium. When completing this story, I also discovered that I have now entered unchartered territory as in the entire history of Byzantium, I am not entirely familiar with the 7th century which on the other hand is not as well documented as the 6th century Byzantium of Justinian I or the later eras and what made much more challenging to write was that I put it all together. At the end I also realized that there is a lot more to discover about Byzantium even if I am still more or less familiar with its entire 1,100 year history and as it had turned out, the 7th century is surely an interesting but very crucial time for Byzantium as this was when things just changed in a blink of an eye wherein almost half of its imperial territories it had in the 6th century was lost as the Arabs out of the blue expanded and in only a few decades already came so close to ruling almost the whole known world putting Byzantium in the defensive position for the next 2 centuries to come considering the arrival of the Bulgars at the end of the century too. The other crucial part for Byzantium in this century was the changing of their geography with the creation of the Thematic System and the drastic cultural shift from Latin to Greek and more importantly the end of the golden age or rather the age of antiquity and the beginning of the Dark Ages. It is for all these reasons I have mentioned why the 7th century was a very crucial time for the Byzantine Empire not only in the reign of Constans II but with the events long before it such as the execution of Maurice in 602, the Byzantine-Sassanid War from 602-628, the reign of Heraclius, and the rise of the Arabs and it is for this reason why this fan fiction story had to be a really long one but no matter how long, I still wanted it to go full circle, which is why I ended it with the return of the Sassanids to make up for the harm they did to the Byzantines in the past by indirectly helping them against the Arabs. As for the part of Constans II, I had to choose him as the lead character for this story out of all the emperors of this century because I find his story and more particularly his odd choice of suddenly wanting to move the imperial capital to Sicily very interesting. Constans II too is an emperor who I believe has a very complex personality as at the same time as being the kind of strong emperor with a dictatorial style of rule, he was still more or less a visionary who saw the need to take extreme measures to ensure the survival of his empire. At the same time, I cannot also blame Constans for ruling in such an autocratic way by purging all those he saw as a threat including the pope and his twin brother because he ruled the empire in a very difficult time when it was at the verge of extinction to the Arab Caliphates. On the other hand, it is also hard to judge Constans’ character as he grew up with so much stress being only 11 when coming to power yet having to face a very troubled empire, so no matter how much people bash Constans for ruling in such an autocratic way, he should also be admired as he came to throne at such a young age ready to face the burden of ruling an empire at the verge of extinction. I also have to say that it was also exciting to particularly write this chapter (chapter IV) of this Byzantine Alternate History series as this article has somewhat a different approach not just centering on the lives of the Byzantine rulers and people but on the political and geographical situation of a larger world at this time and at the same time not only on the world of the Byzantines but of the Arabs Caliphates, Sassanids, and Imperial China too, and when planning out this alternate history fan fiction series, I always wanted to write about the unknown Chinese angle in Byzantium, and now I got the chance. At the end, the result for this story happened to be a kind of dystopian Byzantine epic featuring a severely weakened, troubled, and shrunken Byzantine Empire at the state of perpetual war, ruled by an autocratic dictator emperor, and having new kinds of unthinkable technology being Greek Fire compared to the past 3 articles featuring a stronger Byzantium being the dominant world power. Now this chapter is only the beginning of this dystopian Byzantine setting as it is the end of the early Byzantine era and entry point to the Byzantine Dark Ages which the next 2 stories of this series will be part of, so the next 2 stories of this series will be when Byzantium will be at its lowest points having to constantly fight on the defensive against the expansion of the Arabs before the coming of the 10th century when the Byzantines would turn the tide of war, this time fighting on the offensive against the Arabs ready to conquer everything they have lost to them. Up next, in chapter V of this Byzantine Alternate History series, in the 8th century the Arab Umayyad Caliphate will strike again this time even stronger than before whereas Carthage will even fall to them while the new power of the Bulgars in the Balkans would rise up as well and Byzantium this time would be very close to extinction due to external pressure and internal conflicts until Leo III, another unlikely savior emperor again with a very complex personality would come to the rescue, although the next story will rather center more on Artavasdos, the man behind Leo III’s rise of power who too will become emperor for only a year (742-743) before meeting his end, though the next chapter of this series will explore what Byzantium would be like if this very unknown emperor would have ruled much longer, but of course as the rule of this series, there will be no continuity from the alternate ending of this story to the where the next will begin. Well, this is all for chapter IV of Byzantine Alternate History, this is Powee Celdran, the Byzantine Time Traveller… thank you for your time!
Byzantine Alternate History Series: Chapter III- The Empire Strikes Back; Justinian the Great Saves his Empire from the Plague and Personally Joins his Campaigns
Posted by Powee Celdran
DISCLAIMER: Although this is mostly a work of fiction, it is largely based on true events and characters. It seeks to alter the course of actual events that transpired in the 6th century AD. This story will begin with events that have happened in real history but will become fictional as it progresses. Fictional scenarios in this story will be marked by footnotes (1). This will be an extremely long article!
Previous Story: Byzantine Alternate History Chapter II- 5th Century
Keep cool and you will command everyone” -Emperor Justinian I the Great (482-565AD)
Welcome to the third chapter of the Byzantine Alternate History series by the Byzantium Blogger! Last time, in the second chapter of my alternate history series, I discussed the events leading up to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century (476 AD) and how their twin empire, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire played a part in the western empire’s story. At the same time, the previous article discussed a lesser-known event in the year 472 that could have helped save the Western Roman Empire from meeting its end just 4 years later and other what if scenarios such as if the Western Roman Empire survived 476, if the last competent Western Roman emperor Anthemius was not killed off in 472, and if in the Eastern Empire the unknown child emperor Leo II who died at only age 7 in 474 instead lived long enough to succeed his father Zeno as emperor. The last article too discussed a possible scenario of an epic world war between the two Roman Empires and their foreign allies against a massive Barbarian Alliance. However, in this new chapter of the alternate history series, again as I said about the background of this series I am making, there will be no continuity from the previous story (chapter II) to this one, so this story will begin with real history taking its course wherein the Western Roman Empire actually fell in 476 leaving the Eastern Roman Empire as the only surviving Roman Empire, now better known as the “Byzantine Empire”. Also keep in mind that this article will be very long because it will cover possibly the most eventful reign in Byzantine history, which is that of its most influential emperor Justinian I the Great. This story will be set in the 6th century AD, where under Emperor Justinian I the Great, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire would be at its greatest extent when North Africa, Italy, and Southern Spain for a time returned to Roman rule from Constantinople, the eastern empire’s capital after they have for a time fell to the hands of several barbarian powers. The Eastern Roman Empire on the other hand was never expected to regain the lost western provinces but this would soon enough become possible when Emperor Justinian I came to rule the eastern empire in 527 but at the same time, his reign was not all victory and imperial glory as we all remember, as it was also one of military and natural disasters but as a capable ruler, Justinian managed to face all the odds and die ruling the massive empire he had dreamt of. It is also timely that I wrote this article because as the COVID-19 pandemic is happening right now, this story will cover the pandemic then known as the “Plague of Justinian” in 542 which was named after Justinian himself who in fact was a victim of it but survived. Also, just recently, my favorite history related Youtube channel Dovahhatty just released his full feature video on Justinian the Great, and I should say that this story will be based a lot on Dovahhatty’s retelling of Justinian and his personality as he sees it. Now, Byzantine history cannot be told without telling the story of its most influential ruler Justinian the Great (aka. Flavius Petrus Sabbatius) who is one of history’s few rulers who came from humble origins but has left behind a very strong legacy in many aspects that are still live on up to this day and some of his greatest legacies include the complete codification of Roman law that still lives on to this day as the basis for the legal systems most countries use and the impressive structure of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople built in the 6th century which is still in its full form today. Having achieved so much in his lifetime, Justinian would not only be remembred as “the great” but as an Orthodox saint as well for doing his part to defend the faith.
As emperor though, Justinian’s greatest feat was the carefully planned reconquests of the lost Western Roman provinces through his policy of what is known as “Intervention Imperialism” or finding reasons to justify a conquest of place especially if it had to do with defending the Orthodox Christian faith, which this story will be covering a lot of, together with the men responsible victories which were particularly his generals Belisarius and Narses, but at the end were all of Justinian’s ambitious conquests of North Africa, Italy, and Hispania worth it? In real history, despite these lands once again returning to Roman rule, it did not really last long as while Justinian ambitiously was masterminding the reconquest of the former Western Roman provinces, another war was being fought in the east with the empire’s long-time mortal enemy, the Sassanid Empire and after Justinian’s death in 565, no matter how much lands were conquered it would be all downhill from here as the empire would undergo a chronic war with the Sassanid Persians in the east and face new enemies raiding into the empire from north such as the Slavs, Avars, Lombards, and more. Others blame Justinian for the downfall of the Byzantines’ imperial power due to his overly ambitious reconquests that drained the empire’s economy thus weakening it, but I would say it was not entirely his fault because there were things that happened which could not be controlled by Justinian no matter how powerful and talented he was, for instance the plague in 542 which undid most of his hard work and almost destroyed the Byzantine economy. Justinian too was one of a one of a kind exceptional ruler and only he could manage a very large empire no matter the odds as his successors in real history, were not as capable as he was. Not to mention, Justinian too, if considering all the Byzantine emperors until 1453 as “Roman emperors”, Justinian would be the last Latin speaking Roman emperor, which leads some to say that the age of Imperial Rome ended with him. In this story however, I will try to change the course of history by creating a fictional scenario of Justinian as emperor finding solutions to fight the plague of 542 by using it as a biological war to destroy the constant headache of the Sassanid Empire in the east since in the entire history of Rome’s wars against the Sassanids, there was no way the Romans could win by military force so I believe that if a biological war was used through the plague against the Sassanids, then the Romans (Byzantines) could end up victorious giving them more time to totally focus on their reconquests of the west. In addition, this story will also tackle one of Justinian’s mistakes which was not properly naming his successor. At the same time, Justinian no matter how energetic and hard-working he was as emperor earning him the title “the emperor that never slept” was a complete “palace emperor” who never left Constantinople in his reign no matter how much his empire expanded, but here I believe that if Justinian took part in his own ambitious conquests himself and got to know his nephew and successor Justin II a bit more by personally training him in his military campaigns in Italy, then then I believe that empire would stand stronger after Justinian’s death. Coincidentally, since this story is about how Byzantium strikes back to regain the west, it was fitting that I used the same title as Star Wars Episode V “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980). Now, if Justinian I was able to control the plague, train his own successor, and join his own military campaigns, would the Golden Age of the Byzantine Empire he worked so hard to attain still live on or were Justinian’s ambitions just plainly worthless?
Flag of the Byzantine Empire
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Note: Since this story is set in the 6th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine characters will be now referred to as Byzantines.
Byzantine era Constantinople, capital of the empire
This article here is the first story in this 12-part series wherein I am working in collaboration with another fellow Byzantine history enthusiast and in this case, I put together this story with the help of my friend, Instagram user who prefers to call herself Justinianus Østromerriket (follow her on Instagram @justinianusthegreat), a Byzantophile or enthusiast of Byzantine history but more significantly as her username and Instagram profile pic suggests, she is an enthusiast of Emperor Justinian I the Great and his ambitious project known as the Renovatio Imperii or “Imperial Restoration” in Latin as stated in her bio. To give a brief background of Justinianus, she has been a fan of Byzantine history ever since the age of 15 and is currently 19 and a student of chemistry, but her true passion is Byzantine history and art. Aside from being a Byzantine history enthusiast, Justinianus is also an artist who makes illustrations of Byzantine characters in her own style, both through handmade drawings and digital art using the software Ibispaint; her artworks of 6th century Byzantines such as Justinian I will appear in this article too. Justinianus too dreams of being a Byzantinist in the future and to visit the places on earth where the Byzantine legacy is very strong including Turkey, Greece, and Italy.
Similarly, what we have in common is that we are both young in age and not academics or historians but we share a strong passion for Byzantine history and want to create some buzz for it and I am honored to do my very first collaboration article with her. When starting my Byzantine history Instagram account Byzantine Time Traveller very early this year, Justinianus was one of the first to follow me and apparently it had turned out that we see Byzantine history in the same way which is more or less a strong passion, so we came to work together in creating this story by doing our own role-playing of 6th century Byzantine history through Instagram chat for the past month and a half and here in this role-playing chat, she played as Justinian the Great himself and as I should say, she totally gets into his character very well, so the cool-headed and wise yet scheming personality and unknown side of Justinian that this story will tackle will be more or less her take of it. This alternate history story was created in our Instagram role-playing, as here in this story there will be events that did not happen in real history, most notably an elderly Justinian joining his military campaign in Italy himself while at the same time in this role playing, Justinianus had filled in the gaps by telling the unknown stories of Justinian’s own origins story, private and family life, and source of his ambitious dreams in both hers and my own point of view and since history does not record much about Justinian’s early life as well as private life, this fan fiction story will do just that even if it may not entirely be accurate to real history, just as how Dovahhatty told it in his most recent video. Our role-playing scenario will take place in the second half of this story set in Justinian’s later reign beginning in the year 550AD following the death of his beloved wife, Empress Theodora wherein Justinian from the hopeful and ambitious emperor he was earlier on in his reign becomes a bitter and sad old man thinking all his hopes were crushed especially due the recent plague until meeting a mysterious general and former wrestler named Andreas who will inspire Justinian to join in the conquest of Italy from the Ostrogoths together with the generals Belisarius and Narses as the conquest of Italy nears its end and almost coming into a victory for the Byzantines. This story though will begin giving a background story to Justinian, his rise to power, and his early reign which will mostly be all based on historical facts, then it will proceed to the main part which will be on the Plague of Justinian beginning 541, then the climax will begin in the year 550 when the plague still around, but at least Justinian has managed to control it, and to get himself over the grief of losing Theodora, he decides to join his army in Italy together with his nephew Justin who he decides to train to be his successor as he is the only choice left as Justinian’s intended heir which was his cousin Germanus had just died. Overall, this story is more of a fan fiction re-write of history than a what-if story but it also includes a what if scenario, especially if Justinian properly trained his nephew who would eventually succeed him, the what if of Justinian using his own intelligence to destroy his mortal enemy, the Sassanid Empire with the plague. The age old problem of succession was surely something that eventually ruined the great legacy Justinian worked so hard on as in real history, he did not properly name his successor so instead the throne was left to his nephew Justin, his sister’s son who lacked the experience in running an empire while at the same time was hot headed but the worst part was that in 565 when coming to the throne, he inherited an extremely massive empire when having no experience in ruling it and as emperor Justin II’s own impulsive actions led to the war against the Sassanids in the east resuming when refusing to pay tribute to them, thus all the war and pressure of running an empire made him insane and unfit to rule that he had to abdicate, thus Justin II’s reign ruined everything his uncle worked so hard on. Now if Justin II was only properly trained by no other than his uncle Justinian the Great who would give him the advise “stay cool and you will command everyone” as the quote by Justinian himself says right at the top of this article, then I believe he would have been as great as his uncle in ruling the empire and this story will rewrite history that way.
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Detailed map of the Byzantine Empire at its fullest extent under Justinian I
Guide to the late Roman army’s structure (by Powee Celdran); this article contains a lot of terms of late Roman army units.
Justinian Dynasty main
Guide to the Justinian Dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, 518-602 (by Powee Celdran)
Related Articles from The Byzantium Blogger:
Byzantine Alternate History Chapter II- Preventing the Fall of the Western Roman Empire 4 years in Advance
The Art of War in the Byzantine World
12 Turning Points in Byzantine History
Around the World in the Byzantine Era Part1 (330-1000)
The Story of 3 Plagues Across Centuries
Natural Disasters in Byzantine History
Constantinople: The Queen of Cities and its Byzantine Secrets
The Ravenna Mosaics and What to Expect
Justinian the Great Related Videos:
Unbiased History: Byzantium II- Justinian the Great (Dovahhatty)
Unbiased History: Byzantium I- The Eastern Empire (Dovahhatty)
Emperor Justinian I (Thersites the Historian)
Justinian I’s Wars (Thersites the Historian)
Justinian the Great: Reconquest and its Legacy (Eastern Roman History)
This story will be extremely long as it spans the reign of Justinian I which was a total of 38 years wherein he was 45 when he became emperor in 527, and 83 at his death in 565, something very unusual for people at their time. This story will be basically focusing on Justinian I as its lead character while it will go in detail as well in going through his thoughts and personality which a lot of it happens to be missing in real history and in addition, this story too will contain some flashbacks of his earlier life told in his perspective. As the main character of this story, Justinian is surely a fascinating character to write about as despite coming from humble origins as a simple peasant in the Balkans born as Flavius Petrus Sabbatius, he had a dream that he never let go of which was not only to be an emperor but to be the best and have a great legacy worth remembering up to this day and no matter how much odds he faced in his reign including a devastating pandemic that nearly destroyed his empire’s economy, a prolonged endless war to retake Italy, and a large number of natural disasters, he was able to achieve so much.
Emperor Justinian I the Great action figure
Though Justinian is this story’s lead character, his nephew and successor Justin II will also play a major part in the story’s second half since a lot are not very familiar with the man who directly succeeded Justinian to the throne and here, Justin would be at first the stereotypical young, hot-tempered, and ignorant man who will go through a journey to be trained to become a wise and strong leader like his uncle by his uncle Justinian himself. History though does not mention what kind of relationship Justinian had with his nephew Justin but this story will do its best to tell that part of history (in a highly fictionalized form). This 12-part series too includes a fictional or unknown historical figure who will have a story built around him right in the middle of all these events, and here it will be Andreas, who appeared in real history as a Byzantine wrestler and soldier serving the general Belisarius back in the Sassanid War of 530 and though history does not mention what happens to Andreas after, in this case he rises up to become a general and personally fights with Justinian himself in the case of this fan fiction when Justinian himself goes over to Italy and in our role-playing, I had the chance of playing the character of Andreas as well as Justin II. Famous people of this age such as the generals Belisarius and Narses, the Ostrogoth king Totila, the Sassanid ruler Khosrow I, and the contemporary historian Procopius will be covered and so will their back stories. The historian Procopius, who was a Byzantine senator and secretary of the general Belisarius meanwhile is another interesting figure being a man with two sides as at first he wrote two books- Wars and On Buildings recording the reign of Justinian I in such great detail with such great praise of him and his administration but at the same time, he secretly he wrote his book The Secret History which totally slanders the image of Justinian as an incompetent and insane ruler while at the same time exposing his wife Empress Theodora’s life as an actress and her sex scandals exaggerating her as a former prostitute. In this case, just like in Dovahhatty’s most recent video, Procopius for ruining his emperor’s image out of pure envy will be this story’s villain together with the Ostrogoth and Sassanid rulers Totila and Khosrow I as Justinian is the protagonist, but no matter how much Procopius has tried to destroy Justinian’s reputation, his works remain a very valuable source of this era and Justinian’s reign as well as on the history of the late Roman age for the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. This story will be more Byzantine centric despite covering some of the happenings with the Ostrogoths of Italy, Visigoths of Spain, and Sassanid Empire though at the same time it will be a mix of the genres of adventure, drama, comedy, romance, politics, and war though no matter how detailed this story will go in the characters and their lives, I would not bother too much in explaining the political structures of the time, such as the imperial system of Byzantium and the names of the provinces of the empire. And of course, I have to say that when it comes to writing an alternate history story for 6th century Byzantium, it is impossible not to do this story of Justinian I as 6th century Byzantium was literally dominated by Justinian I and no one else but in the wider world, I’d say the 6th century was a very challenging time with so much happening especially since this is when Western Europe entered the Dark Ages while Byzantium stood at its finest as the bastion of Greco-Roman civilization.
The Leading Characters:
Justinian I- Byzantine emperor
Justin II- Heir apparent and future Byzantine emperor, nephew of Justinian I
Flavius Belisarius- Byzantine general
Narses- Byzantine eunuch general
*Andreas- Byzantine general and former wrestler (real named character but with not much story, his story was expanded here)
Theodora- Byzantine empress, wife of Justinian I
Vigilantia- Sister of Justinian I, mother of Justin II
Procopius of Caesarea- Chronicler of Justinian I’s reign, secret antagonist
Sophia- Niece of Theodora, wife of Justin II, future Byzantine empress
John (Ioannes) the Cappadocian- Finance Minister of Justinian I
Germanus- Cousin and original heir apparent of Justinian I
Matasuintha- Wife of Germanus, former Ostrogoth princess
Liberius- Elderly Byzantine general
Tribonian- Jurist of Justinian I’s court
John (Ionnes) the Sanguinary- Byzantine general in Italy
Totila- Ostrogoth King of Italy (541-552)
Athanagild- Visigoth rebel leader in Hispania and later king
Khosrow I- Shah of the Sassanid Persian Empire
Character Images Below of Selected Characters from this Story, Illustrated by Powee Celdran
(Credits to AmelianvsAkitku, G. Rava art, Ravesne, Slifer621, Androklos, Foojer, and Justinianus for their art on this era which are featured here.)
Background Guide: Byzantine characters (yellow), Ostrogoths (red), Visigoths (blue), Sassanids (green)
I. Part One
The Background- Before Justinian (The Real History)
Ever since 395, the Roman Empire had been permanently split in half between east and west and while the Western Roman Empire faced catastrophe after catastrophe of barbarian invasions that totally weakened its power while the Eastern Roman Empire better known as the “Byzantine Empire” based in the growing imperial city of Constantinople, founded by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great in 330 still stood strong due to its geographical position as it also controlled several provinces rich in resources such as Egypt, Syria, and those in Asia Minor. The western empire on the other hand had faced the worst and even though it was able to defeat the army of the invading Huns in 451 at the Battle of Chalons with the help of their former enemy, the Visigoths of Gaul, the end was already inevitable. In 472, the assassination of the last competent western emperor, Procopius Anthemius, who was in fact a Greek from the Byzantine Empire was the event that spelled the end for the Western Roman Empire based in Ravenna. 4 years later in 476, the Western Roman Empire died out in a whimper when the barbarian Ostrogoth general Odoacer deposed the last western emperor, the puppet Romulus Augustus and instead of claiming the throne as emperor, Odoacer instead chose to just make himself “King of Italy” as the western empire at this point basically only consisted of Italy. In what was for the Romans the turbulent and dreadful 5th century, Gaul and Hispania were lost to the Visigoths, North Africa to the Vandals, Pannonia to the Ostrogoths, while Northern Gaul fell to the Franks, and Northwest Hispania fell to the Suebi while the eastern provinces on the other hand very much remained intact, though the 5th century too wasn’t entirely all great for the east as it too would have suffered the fate of the western empire’s collapse if it were not for the determination of strong rulers like Leo I (r. 457-474) and Zeno (r. 474-491). The emperor of the east at the time the Western Roman Empire was abolished and turned into the Kingdom of Italy was Zeno, son-in-law of Leo I married to Leo’s daughter Ariadne and following Leo I’s death in 474, his grandson who was Zeno and Ariadne’s 7-year-old son Leo II became the emperor or Augustus being directly related to Leo I though his father Zeno as his co-emperor basically ruled the empire for him but towards the end of 474, young Leo II died from a local epidemic in Constantinople making his father succeed him but shortly after in early 475, Zeno was usurped by his wife’s uncle Basiliscus out of popular pressure as Zeno being an Isaurian, a primitive non-Hellenized and non-Romanized citizen from the mountains of Asia Minor originally named Tarasis Kodisa but renamed Zeno to make his name more acceptable to the civilized Greek speaking people of Constantinople. In the one year the general Basiliscus usurped the eastern throne (475-476), his incompetence in fact made him turn out to be even more unpopular than Zeno and when the army sent by Basiliscus to hunt down Zeno in Isauria defected to Zeno’s side as they consisted of Isaurian warriors, they marched back to Constantinople and deposed Basiliscus who was exiled to Cappadocia wherein he died of starvation the next year when being locked up in a cistern.
Zeno the Isaurian, Byzantine emperor (r. 474-475/ 476-491), illustration by Powee Celdran
Though Zeno came back to power in 476, he still remained as unpopular as he was in his first reign and most of this was due to not coming in time to save the western empire from falling to the hands of Odoacer. When coming back to power, Zeno received the crown of the last western emperor Romulus Augustus who was sent into exile wherein Zeno accepted it acknowledging that the Western Roman Empire was no more though the King of Italy Odoacer was to still answer to Zeno the way the western emperors previously were to answer to the eastern emperors who were their superiors. It was now here in 476 with the loss of the western empire that the Eastern Empire as the only surviving Roman power would be the “Byzantine Empire”. The western empire here may have died out as Italy fell to Odoacer but there were still a few Roman territories in the west namely Dalmatia under the governor Julius Nepos who previously the western emperor (474-475) appointed by Leo I and in Northern Gaul ever since 461, there was a surviving breakaway Roman state known as the “Kingdom of Soissons” ruled independently by a general named Syagrius. However, these 2 breakaway Roman states in the west did not last as in 480, Julius Nepos was assassinated giving Odoacer the opportunity to invade Dalmatia annexing it into his Kingdom of Italy and in 486, the Kingdom of Soissons fell to the new Kingdom of the Franks when Syagrius was defeated in battle by the Frankish king Clovis I. Back in the Byzantine Empire, Zeno’s reign was not only troubled by riots every week as well as usurpers left and right but by a troublemaking Ostrogoth mercenary commander ravaging Thrace named Theodoric Strabo so to combat Strabo, Zeno had the King of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Pannonia Theodoric the Amal, better known as “Theodoric the Great” as well as a new raiding enemy in the Danube being the Bulgars attack Strabo but Strabo managed to beat the Bulgars, though he soon enough met his end by falling off his horse into a spear and with Strabo’s death, his men joined the army of Theodoric the Amal who thus united the Ostrogoths and soon enough became a problem for Zeno himself going as far as making plans to start a rebellion within the Byzantine Empire and establishing his own kingdom there.
Theodoric the Amal “the Great”, King of the Ostrogoths (r. 475-526)
It was also in the reign of Zeno where this story’s protagonist Flavius Petrus Sabbatius was born, and before being known as “Justinian”, this story will call him first as “Petrus”. Now Petrus was born on May 11, 482 in the village of Tauresium somewhere in the Balkans (today North Macedonia) to a simple family of peasants, his mother’s name was unknown while his father was a low-ranking military officer also named Sabbatius but not much is said about him in history, so soon enough in this story’s case he would die possibly in battle. Petrus was a Roman citizen of Thracian and Illyrian origins and coming from a rural area, he did not grow up educated as a child though when it came to language, he was a native Latin speaker coming from a Latin speaking area which is why as emperor, he would be the last Latin speaking one, the rest after him all being native Greek speakers. Before Petrus was born, his uncle Justin, the brother of Petrus’ mother migrated to Constantinople to serve in the army after fleeing an attack on their village by barbarian hordes- in this story’s case the Foederati army of Theodoric Strabo- sometime in 473. History does not say when Justin travelled from his village to Constantinople, but here we will put the date 474 wherein Justin arrived at Constantinople and at the same time, we will go with the version of Dovahhatty’s first Byzantium series video wherein Justin arrives at Constantinople to join the army at the exact time Emperor Leo I was dying in January of 474 from dysentery.
Tauresium, Macedonia, birthplace of Justinian, 482
Justin was born back in 450 and was 24 by the time he arrived in Constantinople with a few friends and as it is said, Justin and his friends came to Constantinople as refugees with nothing but the clothes on their backs and when arriving, they soon enough started a business of selling bread to support themselves and the worst part was that they were doing this in these times of difficulty when Basiliscus usurped Zeno and Zeno took back the throne from Basiliscus1. Eventually, Justin joined the elite palace guard force or Excubitors under Zeno but never got far yet up the ranks. Though Zeno was unsuccessful in Church matters, he was successful in dealing with the new troublemaker King of the Ostrogoths Theodoric the Amal and first to satisfy Theodoric, Zeno in 488 gave him the position of Magister Militum or supreme commander of the army in a certain area but Theodoric would still continue being problem that he almost came so close to besieging Constantinople though Zeno here with the help of his wife Ariadne made a deal with Theodoric asking him to leave and head to Italy instead and be Odoacer’s problem as here Zeno started feeling Odoacer would be problem when hearing Odoacer was planning to invade the Byzantine Empire so to stop this, Theodoric immediately headed west with his army to attack Odoacer at his capital, Ravenna.
Eastern Roman Excubitor (elite palace guard)
As emperor meanwhile, Zeno remained unpopular till his death in 491 due to his Isaurian origins seeming uncivilized to the people of Constantinople, his failure to prevent the western empire’s fall and to keep the Church unity together, and because of his thuggish style of ruling wherein he chose to always strike first thus spending his reign picking fights with everyone rather than using peaceful solutions except with Theodoric. Zeno was at least able to stay in the throne up to his death at age 66 without losing it another time, though his death was not entirely peaceful as it was caused by his epilepsy which he had developed later on in life though a 12th century legend says that Zeno was died by being buried alive by the people seeing an opportunity to kill him when Zeno fell sick, which had been Dovahhatty’s version of Zeno’s death. No matter how unpopular Zeno was as emperor, he was able to save the eastern empire from a full-scale invasion of Theodoric the Amal- who in 491 continued besieging Odoacer at Ravenna- and was able to clean up the political instability that plagued his reign. Since the previous story’s outcome does not continue here wherein Zeno and Ariadne’s son Leo II lived on, in this case here since Zeno and Ariadne had no more children following Leo II’s death, it was up for Ariadne to choose the new emperor and the man she chose was one of the Silentiarii or the court secretaires that worked directly for the empress and knowing this man named Anastasius quite well, Ariadne chose to marry him. Meanwhile with Zeno dead, the people shouted in the streets demanding “give us an Orthodox emperor, give us a Roman emperor” for they were tired of violent rulers which the past 3 being Leo I, Basiliscus, and Zeno were and at the same time they did not want a thuggish Isaurian who compromised with heretics which was Zeno and true enough, the people got what they wished for as their new emperor Anastasius I was well refined man, intelligent, energetic, and cool headed, but also a skilled economist opposite of the warrior Zeno was, and already 60-years-old, Anastasius was still very handsome, tall, and fit with one eye blue and the other one black which is why he has the nickname Dicorus meaning “mismatched eyes”, in other words he had heterochromia.
End of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus surrenders to Odoacer in Ravenna, 476
Constantinople, Eastern Roman Imperial capital
Legend of Zeno’s death by being buried alive, 491
The world after 476, Odoacer’s new kingdom in Italy (brown)
Anastasius was born in the port city of Dyrrachium (today’s Albania) in 431 and was a speaker of Latin and here in this story, going with Dovahhatty’s version, when Anastasius’ mother was pregnant with him, she was struck with a curse but mostly overcame it before giving birth to him but the remains of this curse would stay with Anastasius later on in life and it affected him by secretly being a Monophysite in faith which was unpopular especially with the people of Constantinople which made them previously hate Zeno as he sided with them and thinking Anastasius would be pure Orthodox, little did they know that he was a Monophysite heretic deep inside.
Anastasius I Dicorus, Byzantine emperor (r. 491-518)
At this time, politics in Constantinople was represented by 2 chariot racing teams, the blues and greens and though they cheered for their respective colors during races in the Hippodrome, these factions stood for two different ideologies; the blues stood for the ancient traditions, Orthodox faith, and conservative values while the greens stood for more radical values and the Monophysite faith and Anastasius as a secret Monophysite strongly supported the greens but shortly after becoming emperor, there had been a more legal candidate for the throne, Zeno’s younger brother Longinus who Ariadne previously considered marrying and Zeno’s Isaurian troops still in the city went on a rampage- as they usually did when drunk- in early 492 by bribing off both blues and greens to riot and proclaiming Longinus as their emperor though Longinus’ rebellion failed and he was exiled to Egypt but this led to the outbreak of war against the Isaurians. For the next 5 years, the Byzantine troops of Emperor Anastasius besieged the remaining Isaurian troops at their strongholds in the mountains of Isauria in Asia Minor and in this Isaurian War, Justin who would later be emperor rose up the ranks becoming a general, but here he too would suffer a fatal war wound on his chest. With the Isaurian War over in 497, Justin now promoted to a general returned home to his village in Tauresium seeing his nephew, his sister’s son Petrus for the first time and here Justin decided to adopt him and take him to Constantinople to be educated in the best of ways. It is not clear though when the young Petrus Sabbatius (Justinian) was brought over to Constantinople but it was clear that he was born as a peasant in the village of Tauresium though when creating this story through our role-playing, Justinianus here claims that the young Petrus travelled with his uncle Justin to Constantinople at age 15. No matter what version may be the right one here, Justin being uneducated and in fact illiterate saw hope for his nephew seeing he had potential to be a highly educated person who would bring pride to their family. When moving into Constantinople, Petrus would not only become highly educated, he would develop a dream like no one else had, a dream to restore the provinces of the west that fell to barbarian powers back to Roman rule, a dream to make the Roman Empire great again like it was when it was the supreme world power in the 2nd century. It was in Anastasius I’s reign when the dreadful 5th century ended and so did the 6th century begin in what everyone thought would be hopeful and when ruling the empire, Anastasius’ top priority was the economy so it would one day have enough funds to regain the lost western provinces.
Follis coin issued by Anastasius I
In reforming the economy, Anastasius made policies to make sure everyone paid taxes in coin and to do this he had to devalue the currency in order to make coins of lesser value which led to the creation of the bronze coin or Follis so that everyone could pay up. In addition, he also abolished the unpopular tax for everyone who passed by Constantinople, abolished the unpopular tax that hurt the poor, but to literally save up, Anastasius cracked down on spending on games and public entertainment, which made him quite unpopular. In the meantime, Theodoric the Amal successfully took over Ravenna from Odoacer in 493 and after a failed negotiation, Theodoric killed Odoacer in front of everyone in the palace, thus Theodoric took over Italy founding his Ostrogothic Kingdom under the Amal Dynasty, his dynasty. Back in the east, when everyone thought the new century would be a hopeful one, Byzantium’s eastern neighbor the Sassanid Persian Empire in which they had always been paying tribute to for the longest time to avoid war demanded the Byzantines to double the tribute paid to them as the Sassanids ran out of funds to defend their northern borders against the same nomadic Huns that terrorized both Romans and Persians in the 5th century and here the Huns happened to be the Hephthalites or “White Huns”.
Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths kills Odoacer in Ravenna, 493
Anastasius meanwhile refused to pay double to the Sassanid ruler or Shah Kavad I claiming that he needed to save money, though this triggered a massive war with the Sassanids at the Byzantine-Sassanid border which would be known as the “Anastasian War” named after the emperor which began in 502 when Kavad’s forces invaded Byzantium taking over the cities of Theodosiopolis and Amida in Armenia and this was the first full-scale Roman-Sassanid War since the failed campaign of Emperor Julian in 363. The Byzantine generals that led the armies against the Sassanids were Justin, Celer, Vitalian, and Anastasius’ nephew Hypatius and no matter how hard both sides fought, the war resulted in no conclusions and in 506, the Byzantines and Sassanids signed a peace treaty that only achieved reverting to having the same borders since the war started 4 years earlier. With the war over, Anastasius had the fortress of Dara at the Sassanid border in Syria constructed to further fortify it. While the war happened against the Sassanids in the east, the empire’s Danube frontier in the Balkans were left exposed allowing new enemies, the Slavs and the Bulgars to invade so in 507 to further protect Constantinople from their raids, Anastasius ordered the construction of the Anastasian Wall spanning from the Marmara Sea to the Black Sea which was a structure similar to Hadrian’s Wall in Britain.
Diptych of Anastasius I, victory over the Sassanids, 506
It also happened in 507 that over in Gaul, the Franks led by their king Clovis I had defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouille killing the Visigoth’s king Alaric II, thus taking over Southern Gaul and the Visigoth’s capital, Toulouse forcing the Visigoths down to Hispania which they would continue holding on to as most of Gaul fell to the Merovingian Frankish Kingdom. With Clovis’ victory at the battle, Anastasius seeing some potential in him as a Roman ally awarded him the title of Patrician and Honorary Consul and hearing of the Visigoths’ defeat to the Franks, the Ostrogoth king of Italy Theodoric fearing the expansion of the Franks made the fallen Alaric II’s son Amalaric the King of the Visigoths in Hispania being a puppet of Theodoric as Theodoric wanted to rule an entire Gothic Empire of Visigoths and Ostrogoths and with his puppet Amalaric in charge of Hispania, Theodoric now had control of Italy and Hispania.
Clovis I, King of the Franks (r. 481-511)
Back in the Byzantine Empire, the now old Anastasius’ Monophysite side, which left its mark in his black eye, would be clearly shown when he deposed the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople in 512, though this again caused massive riots by the people and with his turn to the Monophysite faith, the general Vitalian rebelled in 513 taking over most of Thrace in the name of Orthodoxy and would turn out to be a difficult target to fight but in 515, Vitalian’s threat was taken care of as he went into hiding and it also happened in 515, that Anastasius’ wife Empress Ariadne had died. Anastasius himself had no sons except for an illegitimate one killed in a riot years ago so it was left to either of his 3 nephews Hypatius, Pompeius, and Probus to succeed him but being indecisive on who to choose, one day in 518 he summoned all of them to a room in the Imperial Palace and in there he hid a letter beneath one of the couches with the word Regnum or “reign” and whoever sat on it would be the next emperor, but none of them did so Anastasius changed the rule saying that the first person who enters the room the next day will succeed him, and that person was Justin, now the commander of the Excubitor palace guard force. The 87-year-old Anastasius I had died on July 9, 518 and was succeeded by Justin who now went from simple peasant to emperor, the true rags to riches story of the century while his nephew Petrus would now be ready to enter civil service after years of extreme education. Anastasius died after ruling the empire for 27 full years and with him died the dynasty of Leo I founded back in 457 but he had left behind a full treasury and together with the stability the empire achieved at the death of Zeno back in 491, the upcoming emperors had all they needed to make the Eastern Roman Empire a world power and other than stability and funding, all that was needed was one man with the drive and here Petrus was one step closer as his uncle Justin was now in power.
Map of Europe, 510 during the reign of Anastasius I (Byzantium in yellow)
Reconstruction of the Anastasian Wall of Thrace, built in 507
Franks defeat the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouille, 507
In 518, the world changed when the 68-year-old Justin I, a peasant became the Eastern Roman emperor and according to the most notable source of this era, the historian Procopius (who will appear later on), Justin as a peasant in origin was illiterate, uneducated, and unrefined only knowing about war as in career he was nothing but a soldier and though this historian Procopius speaks in such a biased way to the Justinian Dynasty, he seems to be telling the truth here about Justin since having no formal education, the old Justin I was certainly unrefined in character but as emperor he still wanted to do his part in ruling and knowing he cannot rule the empire alone, he depended highly on highly skilled advisors and among them was his now 36-year-old nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius who with his uncle now becoming the emperor he was adopted as his uncle’s successor and from here on, his name would be forever changed to Justinian meaning “son of Justin”.
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Justin I, Byzantine emperor (r. 518-527) by Dovahhatty
The truth behind Justin becoming emperor was that he used the bribe money given to him by Anastasius’ chamberlain to bribe to soldiers to acclaim the chamberlain as emperor, but Justin listening to his nephew’s advice used the bribes to pay off the soldiers to name him emperor and soon enough, Justin at a meeting with the Patriarch of Constantinople, senate, and city council he was recognized by all as emperor and crowned at the Hippodrome. Just 9 days after coming into power, Justin had his potential rivals assassinated and at the same time, the same general Vitalian who rebelled against Anastasius I returned to Constantinople but was soon enough assassinated by the orders of Justinian fearing Vitalian might rebel against Justin as well. The new emperor though lacking education was a devout and fundamental Orthodox Christian and as emperor, the policies he issued himself all had to do with strengthening the faith of Orthodoxy and persecuting the heretical Arian and Monophysite Christians in the army and state but perhaps his greatest achievement shared with his nephew Justinian in 519, the final resolution of the Acacian Schism with the Church of Rome that lasted for 36 years. In his uncle’s reign, Justinian got his chance to rise up the ranks as first he succeeded his uncle in his position as the head of the palace guard force or the Comes Domesticorum, he was then elevated to the rank of patrician, and then consul in 521 and around this time, Justinian finally met the love of his life, the actress Theodora after he spent all his life alone studying jurisprudence, theology, and Roman history day and night on how to be a great emperor, receiving first rate education in Constantinople.
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Justinian as a young man studying, by Dovahhatty
As a young man, Justinian was quite hot tempered especially as an overly enthusiastic fan of the blue faction in the chariot races and being a leading member of the blues faction, a female friend of his who was a belly dancer named Macedonia who served as an informant for him informed him of a young woman of extreme beauty and perfect shape, an actress from the blue faction named Theodora who was her friend whom she met in Antioch. Now the origins of Theodora are conflicting as the 12th century historian Michael the Syrian claims she was born in Syria while another source claims she is a Greek-Cypriot from Cyprus, though in this story’s case, Theodora was originally from Cyprus and a speaker of Greek born there in 500 during the reign of Anastasius I. Theodora’s father Acacius was a bear trainer for Constantinople’s green faction but he died when she was very young leaving her unnamed mother to raise her 3 daughters and Theodora was the middle child as she had an older sister Comito and a younger sister Anastasia and when they were all very young, their mother desperate for work presented them to the leader of the blue faction to accept her and her daughters as actresses for their faction and from here on Theodora would become a strong supporter of the blues. Now again, the historian Procopius had usually slandered Theodora in her years of being an actress as a prostitute sleeping with men of high and low birth and performing sexual acts on stage as a mime actress, although what this meant was that in that time, actresses were seen as equivalent to prostitutes and were at the bottom of society unlike today where actresses have turned into international celebrities with the best treatment.
Theodora as an actress by Jean-Benjamin Constant
At 16, Theodora travelled to North Africa and later to Antioch where she grew closer to the Monophysite faith and in 524, she finally met Justinian in Constantinople and in only a few days they fell in love, and for Justinian here, this was the first time in his life that he would be in love with someone, yet he was already 42 years old2! Now the existing law said that patrician men- in which Justinian was at their rank now- could not marry women from outside their rank which included actresses but Justinian knowing that Theodora was destined to be his empress convinced his uncle to pass a new law which decreed that reformed actresses can marry men outside their rank if approved by the emperor and Justin being old and having no legal experience just passed this new law through his nephew’s guidance and this here was Justinian’s first experience in drafting laws which he would be most famous for later on. As for the emperor Justin, he continued paying tribute to the Sassanids and tried maintaining peaceful relations with the Ostrogoth King of Italy Theodoric the Great that Justin even took in Theodoric’s son-in-law Eutharic to Constantinople and made him a consul in 519 though he died in 522. Though the actual war with the Sassanid shah Kavad I was at a halt, the Byzantines and Sassanids resolved to fighting proxy wars that involved religion and Justin as well as his nephew Justinian were always at it to defend Orthodox Christianity and one of them involved a faraway land in the south of the Arabian Peninsula known as the Kingdom of Himyar (today Yemen), a Sassanid client state wherein the contemporary chronicler John Malalas (491-578) claimed that Byzantine Christian merchants there were robbed and put to death by their Jewish king and seeing the torture victims return to Constantinople, Justin listening to his nephew Justinian’s advise3 sent word to the Christian king Kaleb I of the Kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia to invade the Himyarite Kingdom.
King Kaleb I of Aksum
In 525, the Himyarite Kingdom was destroyed when Kaleb I crossed the Red Sea with the help of Byzantine ships and invaded Himyar annexing it to Aksum and making it Christian. Back with the Sassanids, the shah Kavad I asked if his youngest 12-year-old son Khosrow be adopted by Justin to secure his legitimacy over Khosrow’s older brothers who Kavad did not favor though Kavad also believed that if his son were adopted by Justin then Khosrow would inherit both Sassanid and Byzantine empires as Kavad knew that Justin had no male heir, but little did Kavad know that Justin’s nephew was destined to succeed his uncle. Now the one thing many may not know about was that Justinian had something like a step-brother which would later be his Persian mortal enemy ruler Khosrow although Justin did not adopt Khosrow as a son but instead as a barbarian hostage, and Justin’s treatment of Khosrow insulted Kavad making him begin making preparations to wage war against Byzantium again. Nothing much is said about the time when Justinian grew up with a step-brother he so despised so this part of the story will be made up here and since Justinian was way older than the teenage Khosrow, they had never really gotten along as Justinian was already too busy in actually running the empire for his uncle except that young Khosrow here would learn the art of statecraft the Byzantine way in Constantinople. Since the schism with the Papacy in Rome was already solved back in 519, between 525 and 526, the pope John I visited Constantinople to re-crown Justin I then spending Christmas and Easter with him but when returning to Italy later, Pope John I was immediately thrown in prison by the now extremely paranoid King Theodoric for the reason of favoring the Byzantine emperor over Theodoric, the pope would then die within only a few days of being in prison.
Pope St. John I
Now Theodoric was an extremely devout Arian Christian and he ruled his Kingdom of Italy very successfully even more than it was under Odoacer before him as if it were like the Western Roman Empire again in terms of culture considering Theodoric grew up in Constantinople educated by the general Aspar who basically controlled the empire before his death in 471, except the people of Italy who were mostly Roman resented the rule of Theodoric especially since he and his army were Arian Christians while most of his people were Catholic-Orthodox and now at an old age, the paranoid Theodoric began persecuting Orthodox Christians in his kingdom in order to assert the dominance of his Arian faith in it though in 526, Theodoric the Great died and was succeeded by his grandson Athalaric, the son of Theodoric’s daughter Amalasuintha and the same Eutharic who died in Constantinople in 522 and with Theodoric’s death, the Ostrogoths of Italy lost control over Visigoth Hispania. Around the same time as Theodoric’s death was the massive earthquake of Antioch I 526 that came close to destroying the entire city and killing some 250,000 people though Justin here responded by sending money to have the city rebuilt in which its process would take years. Justin however only named Justinian his successor in April of 527 as Justin was already close to death, though Justinian had already been running the empire for quite some time as Justin had already gone senile and on August 1, 527 the 77-year-old Justin I died of his war wound from back in the Isaurian War of the 490s and now it was Justinian’s time to rule as the sole Roman Augustus with Theodora as his empress.
Map of the Sassanid Empire (yellow) beside the Byzantine Empire (blue)
Map of the Himyarite Kingdom (right in red) annexed to the Kingdom of Aksum (left), 525
Theodoric the Great’s Kingdom (pink), Burgundian and Vandal Kingdoms (dotted), Byzantine Empire (purple)
Theodoric enters Rome in the year AD 500
Theodoric the Amal “the Great” in Ravenna
The Early Reign of Justinian I (527-540)
It was here on August 1, 527 when Justinian I came to the Byzantine throne ruling as a “palace emperor” since for all these years he had trained to be emperor, he met talented people along the way that he knew could run the empire without him having to be everywhere and these talented men he met along the way included a brilliant young general named Flavius Belisarius who here at only age 22 was appointed as Magister Militum or master of the army. Belisarius was born in 505 in Thrace (part of today’s Bulgaria) and like Justinian, was of low birth but already at a young age, he joined the army and soon enough his talents were recognized by both Justinian and his uncle Justin who was still emperor then.
Emperor Justinian I the Great (aka Flavius Petrus Sabbatius)
Belisarius though only became an active commander 3 years later in 530 but prior to that, he had come up with a totally innovative development for the army, the creation of the Bucellarii cavalry unit and making them the core of the army and these cavalrymen were equipped with both composite bows and lances in battle. Right when Justinian came to power in 527, Belisarius now appointed as a general was assigned with a legal assistant and secretary, which is this story’s villain Procopius, a Palestinian Greek from Caesarea born in 500 who would later study law at the academy of Berytus (Beirut) and later at Constantinople and though he admired the talent of Belisarius, he envied Justinian for becoming emperor and not him as Procopius thought that if Justinian who was of low birth could become emperor, and so could Procopius, and in the case of this story, this is why Procopius would slander Justinian and anyone close to him in the works he wrote.
Flavius Belisarius, Byzantine general
It also happened that when Justinian succeeded Justin to the throne, the Sassanid shah Kavad I forced the people of the Kingdom of Iberia (Georgia) at the border of the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires to convert to Zoroastrianism but their king back then fled to Justin I’s Byzantium to make peace though this here insulted Kavad who was later even more insulted when his son Khosrow was adopted by Justin not as a son but a barbarian hostage so in retaliation against the Byzantines, Kavad invaded through Syria and when Justinian became emperor, he immediately sent his generals Belisarius and Sittas east to defend the border. Sittas is someone of obscure origins but together with Belisarius, they had met and became friends with Justinian serving under him as part of the Excubitor imperial guard force in Justin I’s reign and just like with Belisarius, Justinian too saw great talent in Sittas. Initially, Belisarius and Sittas’ forces were defeated by the Sassanids but not giving up, they both expanded their army with the use of Hunnish mercenaries as well as the barbarian people from the far north (probably Scandinavia) which were the Heruli, as well as the Arab people that lived at Byzantium’s border at the Arabian desert which were the Ghassanids who by Justinian’s orders converted to Christianity. Belisarius knew that the Sassanids and in fact all enemies of the empire would lose to fear due to the presence of the Huns as it had been tried and tested in history such as when the Western Roman general of the 5th century Flavius Aetius effectively used them to defeat the barbarian invaders in Gaul and seeing how much fear the Hunnish cavalry could bring, Belisarius made these Huns occupy half of the cavalry with the other half being his Bucellarii.
Belisarius’ Bucellarii cavalry
When heading east, the army split up with Sittas heading to Armenia to fight the Sassanid forces there while Belisarius was to head to Syria where the main forces of Kavad attacked from. In 530, Belisarius and his men set themselves up at the same fortress of Dara built by Anastasius I two decades ago. According to Procopius, before the battle began, the Sassanids sent one of their strongest warriors to challenge Belisarius in single combat but rather than Belisarius, his slave who he personally trained in combat to be a wrestler named Andreas fought and killed this Sassanid warrior and killed another one the next day, and though this may be fictional, in this story’s case it was true and here Andreas rather than being a slave was a simple warrior from the mountains of Isauria working under Belisarius and his feat in single-handedly taking down two of the toughest Sassanid warriors made him make a name for himself. The actual battle soon enough began when the Sassanid forces mostly consisting of their Cataphract cavalry and their allies, their client kingdom being the Lakhmid Arabs of the desert to the south of them charged at Belisarius’ men but Belisarius responded by just laughing as he had his men already dig up trenches to prevent the cavalry from clashing on them and when the Sassanids got trapped in the trenches, the Huns and Heruli cavalry of Belisarius charged straight at the Sassanids, thus the Byzantines and their allies won the Battle of Dara despite this day being extremely hot (45 oc).
Sassanid and Byzantine forces clash at the Battle of Dara, 530
At the same time as Belisarius won this decisive victory, Sittas in the north won another one against the Sassanids at the Battle of Satala in Armenia and both victories further infuriated Kavad so in retaliation, Kavad sent 20,000 of his cavalry forces to attack the now vulnerable Antioch that had just been devastated by the 526 earthquake. Before the Sassanids arrived in Antioch, Belisarius had his men counter-attack them, though some of the older officers that envied his talent charged ahead without orders and got crushed by the Sassanids here at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 leaving Belisarius to take care of the battle but still failed as these officers had already ruined it. Belisarius at least survived while the Sassanid forces had to return east to their empire as their ruler Kavad here in 531 had died. Belisarius then returned to Constantinople while Justinian with Kavad’s death was relieved that he could send his step-brother Khosrow who he despised so much back to his empire to die as Khosrow’s older brothers were all staging a civil war against him.
Khosrow I, Shah of the Sassanid Empire, unknown step-brother of Justinian I
Now in the past years that Khosrow had lived in the imperial palace of Constantinople, despite not being treated as part of the imperial family, he saw it with his own eyes how much gold was left behind in the treasury by Anastasius I which he then saw as the best way to cripple Justinian and his ambitions which Khosrow already knew Justinian had. In 531 when Khosrow returned to his empire, he managed to defeat all his brothers and ruled the empire even stronger than is father did after learning some empire management skills from the Byzantine court and knowing how much gold the treasury had, he demanded that Justinian pay him 11,000 pounds of gold a year as this was to be an “eternal peace”, and Justinian here agreed to it as long as the Sassanids used it to pay off the Huns at the northern border to keep them further away from the Byzantines.
Map of the Battle of Dara, 530
The Fortress of Dara, Byzantine-Sassanid border
Watch this to learn more about the Battle of Dara, 530 (Kings and Generals).
Back in Constantinople, Justinian had a pretty good start as emperor and even if he did not need to be on the battlefield, he knew he could count on his generals like Belisarius and Sittas as well as a barbarian named Mundus, the son of the king of the Gepids, the Germanic tribe settling in Pannonia (Hungary) who in fact was even a descendant of the Scourge of God Attila the Hun from the 5th century. The Gepids here had made peace with Justinian by sending Mundus to him to be appointed as Magister Militum and was charged with fighting off the raiding Slavs and Bulgars in the Balkans and when Belisarius was demoted after his failure at the Battle of Callinicum in 531, Mundus replaced him as commander of the eastern forces.
6th century power couple, Justinian I and Theodora
Justinian meanwhile still continued spending all day and night at meetings, reading up on new strategies, studying his empire’s borders, and inspecting Constantinople seeing what new buildings had to be built that he barely had any time for parties or for a little fun all while his younger sister Vigilantia was his polar opposite. Now, no one would really know that Justinian did indeed have a sister but this story here will try to tell a bit more about her even if history does not say much and in this version, Vigilantia, born in 490, came to Constantinople with her mother some months after Justinian did back in 497, though being only 7 when she moved, she was too young to experience the hard life of a peasant unlike Justinian who did as he was already 15 when he moved to Constantinople. Unlike Justinian who was hard working and ambitious, Vigilantia was a wasteful glutton who spent all day drinking, partying, and sleeping with other men- at least in this version- though she had married a man named Dulcidius, possibly an aristocrat and would have 3 children, the eldest son named Justin the Younger born in 520 in Constantinople and was named after his grand-uncle and founder of the dynasty Justin, the second one being Marcellus, and a daughter named Praejecta. Shortly after becoming emperor, Justinian already launched one of his greatest projects in which he would be most remembered for throughout the ages, the Corpus Juris Civilis or “Body of Civil Laws” completed in 529 by a talented jurist he appointed named Tribonian who had extensive knowledge of Roman laws all the way back to the first emperor Augustus Caesar (r. 27BC-14AD) and this compilation of all laws going back to Augustus’ reign was to codify all Roman laws into one book by removing all conflicting laws and making them all consistent to each other; this book would then be divided into 3 parts first being the Codex which would be all the laws issued by Justinian, the Digest consisting of laws from the past emperors, and the Institutes which would be a handbook for all students of laws.
Justinian I’s Corpus Juris Civilis
Some of the laws made by Justinian here forbade civilians from carrying weapons like axes and spears as they could incite rebellion with it but this happened to be unpopular with many of rural citizens who live to carry weapons, while other laws here stated that no one could make rivers or lakes their private property. These laws at the same time highly favored Orthodox Christians and was to convince all to convert to Orthodoxy as it disapproved of the beliefs of Arians, Monophysites, Pagans, and Jews and Justinian himself indeed hated the Jews for feeling they were above everyone else especially in economic matters and part of his policy was to ban Jews from the army as the army was really made up of Christians- mostly Orthodox- fighting for their faith, on the other hand Justinian had also closed down one of the empire’s last Pagan academies in Athens to stop the spread of their beliefs that contradicted Orthodoxy while at the same time he issued laws for teachers to teach history in the form of Christian propaganda.
Stamp of Tribonian presenting the Code of Laws to Justinian, 529
Justinian not having any ties to the aristocracy of the empire appointed people based on merit and absolute loyalty to him and not by connections and wealth and these included the jurist Tribonian and the finance minister John the Cappadocian, a man of low birth from Cappadocia in Asia Minor but with strong administrative skills and ruthlessness as well and no matter how corrupt he was by torturing rich tax payers forcing them to pay and this sure indeed filled up the treasury more especially since Justinian was to pay 11,000 pounds of gold a year to Khosrow. For the longest time, the rich including Jewish merchants had found ways to get exempted from paying taxes while the poor were usually hurt and Justinian knowing what it was like coming from the lower classes of society knew that the rich could no longer escape this privilege, though this surely made him unpopular with the rich. As for Theodora now as empress, feeling insecure because of her low birth, she wanted to assert her power by strongly promoting court ceremony practices making everyone that met her bow down lying face-down on the floor in front of her and her husband and to kiss their rings and that none could question her, only she could.
Justinian I and Theodora at the imperial court
People that met her and Justinian no matter how high in society they were including senators had to wait in line in a stuffy room in the palace before it was their turn and with such difficulty just to meet the imperial couple, these said officials and senators felt like they were treated as slaves. On the other hand, Theodora took part in almost every meeting Justinian had advising him too in legal matters that Justinian called her his “partner in his deliberations” and part of Theodora’s acts as empress was in making Justinian issue laws that further protected women’s rights especially for actresses like her before. Meanwhile in early 532 at the same time as Justinian and Khosrow settled peace, the chariot races began civil unrest in Constantinople when the blue and green factions continuously beat each other up in the streets and for inciting such violence, Justinian ordered the blue a green faction leaders hanged but the execution true enough failed for 2 leaders who later hid in a church while the mob rushed to Hippodrome for a day of a another chariot race wherein Justinian and Theodora sat in the imperial box but to their surprise the entire mob shouted “Nika!” or “victory!” over and over again, though Justinian at first did not bother, instead he tried negotiating with them but it did not work.
John the Cappadocian, Finance Minister of Justinian I
The mob then in a rampage burned everything in Constantinople, liberated prisoners, and damaged property and part of the buildings burned included the old Hagia Sophia church and the Baths of Zeuxippus, one of the structures that predated Byzantine Constantinople in 330. Wanting to get over the violence, Justinian asked the mob what they wanted and they demanded that John the Cappadocian and Tribonian who they all saw as corrupt be fired though when getting back to the palace, Justinian found out that a number of senators had paid off the people to riot so in return he fired these senators and spoke to the people again that he too fired John and Tribonian in which he actually did not and as the people continued rioting, Justinian resorted to threatening to kill them all if they did not stop. The people true enough did not stop and even chose to elevate the old Hypatius, nephew of Anastasius I as emperor who almost came to power in 518 if he sat on the chair with the note but here Hypatius did not want the throne although once he was lifted in the streets, he had a change of heart.
The Green Faction of Constantinople at the Hippodrome, by Akitku
At the palace, Justinian was more terrified of what was to come that advisors told him to just let go of the throne, leave Constantinople, and take it back one day but Theodora stepped in convincing Justinian that the riot needs to be dealt with once and for all. At this time, Mundus who was in charge of the east returned to Constantinople while Belisarius was in the city too and here another court official of Justinian, the Armenian eunuch Narses who in this story’s case according to Justinianus was originally a slave from Armenia born in 478- like in real history- and bought by Justinian during his uncle’s reign. Narses now possessed a great amount of natural intelligence but lacked education and here in 532 he was assigned to bribe off some of the rioters most of them being blues while Belisarius and Mundus were tasked to put the Hippodrome on lockdown before they send their troops inside it. With the rioters trapped in the Hippodrome, Belisarius’ and Mundus’ men including Hunnish mercenaries killed up 30,000 rioters in a single day while the leaders either got their property and wealth confiscated, exiled, or executed, and Hypatius here was executed while John and Tribonian were reinstated to their positions. Seeing Constantinople in ruin, Justinian was sad but at the same time saw the ruins of the city as an opportunity and making the most of the destruction, he ordered that the city be rebuilt in a grander scale like never before, and the building here he so desired to rebuild was the church of the Hagia Sophia.
Justinian I and Theodora surrounded by senators and courtiers
Chariot racing in Constantinople
Slaughter in the Hippodrome at Constantinople in AD 532
Massacre of the 30,000 at the Hippodrome ending the Nika Riot, 532
Justinian and Theodora inspect the aftermath of the Nika Riot, 532
Watch this to learn more about the Nika Riots, 532 (Invicta).
Over in the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa based in Carthage, their king Hilderic, the son of the Vandal king Huneric (r. 477-484) and the grandson of the Vandal Kingdom’s founder Genseric (r. 428-477) was an ally of the Byzantines and when coming to the throne in 523, he maintained friendly terms with Justin I and later with Justinian following Justin’s death. Hilderic happened to be a half-Roman, his mother was Eudocia, the daughter of the Western Roman emperor Valentinian III (r. 425-455) and a granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II (r. 408-450) making Hilderic one of the last descendants of the Theodosian Dynasty, and the Vandal Kingdom despite being a barbarian power adopted Roman customs and were most famous for their navy as the rulers of the Western Mediterranean waters.
Hilderic, King of the Vandals of North Africa (r. 523-530)
The Vandals had been Arian Christians like many of the barbarian powers, but Hilderic due to his Roman half tolerated the Orthodox-Catholic religion in his kingdom which angered his cousin Gelimer who in 530 deposed and imprisoned Hilderic which angered Justinian in Constantinople even more as Hilderic was his friend who had come to Constantinople a few times before. Gelimer responded to Justinian telling him to mind his own business as North Africa was not his kingdom and as for Justinian, this was a perfect excuse for him to start a war as his reign was marked by the policy of “Intervention Imperialism” meaning that he would invade a land when they were at conflict with each other wherein he would take the side of one faction. To put it short, Justinian despite having the dream to take back all the western provinces the Romans lost to the barbarians would invade these lands if given any reason to do so unlike other rulers of the past who would strike first and invade all because they wanted to, but for Justinian, he thought invading when there is a perfect reason was the smart move. In the past, there had been two attempts to reconquer the Vandal Kingdom and return it to Roman rule and both failed, first was in 460 when the western emperor Majorian (r. 457-460) built a fleet in Southern Hispania but had never even left the port as traitors in his army convinced by the Vandal king Genseric burned the fleet before it even left and in 468, the eastern emperor Leo I launched a fleet of 1,000 ships carrying 100,000 men to invade Carthage but before the battle, the fleet’s commander Basiliscus- who usurped the throne in 475- agreed to a peace with Genseric resulting in half the fleet destroyed and the mission failing. Justinian here in 533 now knew he wouldn’t fail especially since he assigned Belisarius for the job and that he had a full treasury due to John the Cappadocian’s efforts.
Gelimer, King of the Vandals (r. 530-534), by Slifer621
To test Belisarius’ ability, he was only assigned with 15,000 men and even more made the bread supply for the army moldy which was to test even how strong the health of the soldiers was and though a few suffered food poisoning, they survived it which was a sign that the whole army was in good health. Before the fleet left Constantinople, Belisarius had a bad start when two drunk Hunnish mercenaries killed a soldier but Belisarius quickly had these Huns executed and the mission proceeded as the fleet sailed west directly to Carthage. At the same time, Justinian funded a revolt in the Italian island of Sardinia which was under the Vandals to scatter the Vandal army in order to make Belisarius meet little resistance in North Africa and before arriving in the area of Carthage, Belisarius settled in Ostrogothic held Sicily first to resupply as Justinian persuaded the regent ruler Amalasuintha who he was in good terms with to use the island and from there, Belisarius quickly proceeded to North Africa landing there and crushing the Vandal forces. Hearing Belisarius had arrived, the Vandal king Gelimer killed Hilderic in prison thinking Belisarius might reinstate him and afterwards ordered his army of 25,000 men to attack Belisarius’ forces at the salt flats outside Carthage in what would be the Battle of Ad Decimum.
Belisarius and his army in North Africa
Here, Gelimer divided the army with his brother to attack Belisarius on both sides of the salt flats but the brother was soon enough killed by Belisarius’ Bucellarii which therefore distracted Gelimer when the main battle came and as he grieved his brother’s death, Gelimer’s forces were soon easily crushed by Belisarius’ 15,000 men causing Gelimer to flee west as Belisarius without any resistance proceeded to Carthage and took over it taking over the palace right in time for the feast prepared for Gelimer’s victory but since Gelimer had lost, Belisarius sat at the throne for the feast. When taking over Carthage, Belisarius ordered his men not to plunder or kill anyone as Justinian wanted to show the local Roman people of Carthage that the Eastern Romans were to be seen as their liberators not oppressors and true enough when Belisarius took over Carthage, the people cheered as they despised living under the rule of the Vandals, especially Gelimer. However, Gelimer was still around and had grouped up with his other brother Tzazo who was previously in charge of Sardinia but kicked out when the Byzantine captured it and together, they marched to Carthage attempting to take it back, but Belisarius and his men charged out of Carthage clashing again with Gelimer at the Battle of Tricamarum at the end of 533 and again Gelimer lost his brother as Tzazo was killed in battle.
Byzantines take over Carthage from the Vandals, 533
Gelimer attempted to flee to the mountains of Numidia but realized he was in hopeless situation, so instead he turned himself into the Byzantines as Belisarius allowed him to be spared, though Belisarius came in too late to save their ally Hilderic who had just been killed in prison. As 533 ended and 534 began, Belisarius had won the war, recovered all the wealth the Vandals looted from back in 455 when they sacked Rome including the Menorah stolen from the Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70AD. Though the Vandal Kingdom had been destroyed after only less than a century of existing and put under the direct rule of the Byzantines, the parts of North Africa further inland were under independent Moorish states that refused to be ruled by the Byzantines so to deal with them, another general named Solomon was sent to fight them in battle which later in 534 was able to crush the Moors and annex their lands all the way to what is now Morocco to the empire as Belisarius returned to Constantinople to celebrate his triumph. In 534, Northwestern Africa was annexed to the Byzantine Empire and now connected by land to Egypt while Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands too were annexed, the Vandals thus were expelled from North Africa eventually fleeing back to where they came from in today’s Germany. Back in Constantinople, Belisarius was given a triumph and in fact the first one in ages wherein he and his army marched through the city’s main street or the Mese with the spoils of war from North Africa including the Menorah while Gelimer too was paraded here and brought before the feet of Justinian and Theodora wherein Gelimer feeling angry for losing his kingdom whispered to Justinian “vanity of vanities, all is vanity” but was told to shut up, but at least he was able to retire and live out his entire life in Asia Minor. All the wealth taken from the Vandals in North Africa now allowed Justinian to complete his greatest project, the new Hagia Sophia or “Church of Holy Wisdom” in only 5 years since construction began in 532.
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, architects of the Hagia Sophia
In December of 537, with all the wealth taken from North Africa, the complete structure of the Hagia Sophia including its massive dome was completed under the architects Anthemius of Tralles, a Greek-Egyptian and Isidore of Miletus, though the interiors were still bare at its completion as it would take many more years to fill in the mosaics but when entering for the first time, Justinian said out loud “Solomon I have outdone you” referring to the long gone Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem known for its size and beauty and that Justinian’s new creation had outdone it. Now, I would say the hidden meaning to this phrase of Justinian reflected his negative feelings towards the Jews and by building the Hagia Sophia, he could prove that Christianity is more superior but back to the Jewish Menorah, Justinian did not agree to keep it in the Hagia Sophia as it was a Jewish relic, instead he shipped it back to Jerusalem, its original place.
Map of Justinian I’s Vandalic War, 533-534
Map of the Battle of Ad Decimum, 533
Belisarius charges at the Vandals in North Africa
Belisarius defeats the Vandals at the Battle of Tricamarum, 533
Hippodrome of Constantinople
Hagia Sophia of Justinian I, constructed 532-537
Justinian I enters the Hagia Sophia for the first time, 537
Watch this to learn more about Justinian I’s Vandalic War, 533-534 (Kings and Generals).
North Africa may have been restored to Roman rule, but that wasn’t Justinian’s main objective, his main objective was to reconquer Italy, particularly Rome as the fact that the city of Rome, where Roman civilization all began was not under Roman hands was humiliating. For Justinian, he had no reason to invade Italy as its regent ruler Amalasuintha as a loyal ally to him as she heavily practiced Roman customs though it was her son Athalaric that was actually the ruler in name although he did not take his duties seriously and turned to drinking, then in 534 the 18-year-old Athalaric was killed by the Ostrogoth nobility and was replaced by his uncle Theodahad, a nephew of Theodoric the Great. Amalasuintha was later assassinated in her bath later in 535 and this here finally gave a reason for Justinian to invade Italy especially since Theodahad rejected Roman customs making the local Roman population more and more angry thus wanting to be ruled once again by Roman, which was Justinian. In the eastern empire, some of the people of the older generations were alive before the west fell in 476 and therefore wanted to see the west restored to Roman rule, and Justinian was more than happy to please them.
Theodahad, King of the Ostrogoths (r. 534-536)
Now Justinian began his reign quite unpopular that he was almost overthrown in the Nika Riot of 532 but after his conquest of North Africa in 534, he gained the respect and love of all his subjects and putting Italy back under their rule made him think he would gain their respect and admiration even more. Justinian in Constantinople was later informed of Amalasuintha’s death and Theodahad’s usurpation by an official named Liberius, one of the local Romans of Italy living under Ostrogoth rule that had been alive even before 476 and at this moment, Liberius was one of the many Romans who were alive when the western empire was still around, therefore as an old man, he wanted to die seeing his land under Roman rule again. After receiving Liberius, Justinian knew exactly what to do so again he sent Belisarius on another mission, this time to finally retake Italy and in 535, he departed Constantinople by sea this time with only 7,000 men as the rest of his army was needed to secure North Africa although Justinian also sent Mundus who was in charge of Illyria at this point to invade Italy by land first by recapturing Dalmatia, which was still under the Ostrogoths. 536 was then and odd year, and here Procopius who had joined Belisarius again as his secretary writes that in this year, a thick layer of smoke covered the sky and blocked the sun yet he had no idea what caused this, indeed made this year a bad one of the harvests. Only modern studies explain exactly what caused this event, which happened to be that volcanoes around the world erupted and the wind carried the ash the away causing this unnatural event to happen, but no matter how odd this year was, Belisarius continued to push on with the ambitious reconquest of Italy.
Ostrogoth Kingdom flag
As for the barbarian general Mundus in 536, he succeeded in taking back Dalmatia from the Ostrogoths but was killed in battle, although his troops still managed to secure their hold there. Belisarius on the other hand swiftly retook Sicily and Southern Italy but the mission had to be aborted for a moment as news reached Belisarius that some of his soldiers in North Africa together with the surviving Vandals rebelled and named one of their own officers named Stotzas as emperor so Belisarius had to rush back to North Africa and here, he easily crushed the revolt forcing Stotzas to flee deep into the Numidian desert. Belisarius then rushed back to Italy to resume his main objective and luckily his troops still held on to what they have retaken so they proceeded to take back the port city of Naples but was proven too hard to be recaptured especially with very limited men but one day, the same old Isaurian wrestler Andreas from Dara4 found an open waterway at the aqueduct which led straight into the city so Belisarius had the hole widened and true enough the Byzantines were able to reclaim Naples with little resistance.
Belisarius’ army in Italy
Due to Theodahad’s failure to stop the Byzantines’ advance, he was usurped and killed by an Ostrogoth noble named Vitiges who was married to Amalasuintha’s daughter Matasuintha thus ending Theodoric’s Amal Dynasty but as king, he too feared Belisarius’ advance. In Rome itself, Pope Silverius too was tired of having to take orders from the Ostrogoth king, so he sent word to Belisarius inviting him to capture Rome and without a fight, Rome was retaken and put under Roman rule again, but Vitiges was still out there but Rome was no longer the imperial city it was as years under the Ostrogoths as well as 3 attacks on the city in the 5th century (410, 455, and 472) made it a shell of its former self but Belisarius made sure it was to be rebuilt. Vitiges meanwhile marched his army to retake Rome and went as far as cutting off the aqueducts to stop the water supply for the people inside but Belisarius with his brilliance resolved to make a mill on the Tiber River using two boats and was indeed successful in providing grain supply for the people inside. This siege of Rome then went on for an entire year (537-538) and as the Goths tried every trick they could to take the city such as by throwing their dead soldiers to the river to destroy the grain mills or by using siege towers, Belisarius used any trick he could find such as building a chain at the river to stop the bodies and shooting flaming arrows at the siege towers.
Belisarius’ ship mill, Rome
Vitiges meanwhile was tired of the fighting and as all his men slaughtered by Belisarius’ Bucellarii stationed outside the Aurelian Walls, he tried to negotiate with Belisarius but Belisarius just laughed as he wouldn’t agree to a surrender as he wanted the extermination of the Ostrogoths. After a year, the siege ended as thousands of reinforcements sent by Justinian under a younger general named John the Sanguinary broke the siege forcing Vitiges and his forces to flee using the Milvian Bridge, the same place Constantine the Great won a great victory in 312 where most of Vitiges’ men were slaughtered again by Belisarius’ Bucellarii. As Vitiges fled north to the capital Ravenna, John and his forces headed north to pursue Vitiges and managed to reclaim the city of Rimini wherein he was alter surrounded by Ostrogoths.
Vitiges, King of the Ostrogoths of Italy (r. 536-540)
More reinforcements however came under the palace bureaucrat Narses, who now had been fully trained to be a general despite being already 60 here and unlike Belisarius who displayed such charisma to his men, Narses was more of a massive sized man with a very uninteresting personality, mostly a skilled manager in terms of military logistics; simply more like a robot doing his job, considering that in this story’s case according to Justinianus, he was slave that was bought, freed, and trained to become a general. Despite both Belisarius and Narses at odds with each other, they both relieved John who was trapped in Rimini surrounded by Ostrogoths by completely surrounding the Ostrogoth forces while Belisarius here lit several campfires in the hills to make it look like they had a bigger army but true enough did not to scare the Ostrogoths while the Byzantine fleet blocked the sea as well and so the Ostrogoths were again defeated and John being saved chose to thank Narses rather than Belisarius who did more than Narses did.
Narses, Byzantine general
The rest of the Italian cities meanwhile such as Milan (Mediolanum) revolted against their Ostrogoth overlords inspired by the victories of the Byzantines so they requested Belisarius for reinforcements but the Byzantines were too outnumbered to send forces to all these Northern Italian cities. With the people of Milan rebelling, the Burgundians now under the Franks invaded Italy from Gaul to besiege Milan but the people there lacking an army could not hold out against the Burgundians so when getting word of this, Belisarius being too busy in reorganizing Roman control to the parts of Italy that had just been retaken sent John to reinforce Milan and attack the Burgundians but refused to as he only took orders from Narses, although soon enough John caught a fever delaying the mission thus further weakening the people of Milan who then had no choice but to reason with the Burgundians. The Burgundians on the other hand did not agree to the terms and when the gates of Milan were opened to them, they sacked the city killing almost everyone and almost razing the city to the ground while the Burgundians’ overlords, the Franks themselves invaded Northern Italy (the Piedmont region) too but after pillaging the countryside, decided to retreat to Gaul as there was nothing left for them in Italy anyway.
Burgundian army
In 539, after hearing of the sack of Milan, Belisarius wrote to Justinian the whole story that a lot of it was due to John taking orders from the less effective Narses and in return, Justinian recalled Narses to Constantinople while John was to now follow orders from Belisarius alone and now coming so close to taking back the entire Italy, only Ravenna was left under the control of Vitiges as Milan following the sack was ceded to the Byzantines anyway. Tired again of Belisarius constantly winning victories, Vitiges resorted to the ultimate trick of sending envoys to the Sassanid Empire asking Khosrow I to break the eternal peace with Justinian by resuming the war so that the Byzantines would have to pull out of Italy. Back in Italy, Belisarius got word of Khosrow attacking again so he decided to rush the attack on Ravenna before he would be recalled to the east and Vitiges in fear once again came up with another trick, this time asking Belisarius to accept his surrender and at the same time offering Belisarius the position of the “Western Roman Emperor” restored and Belisarius wanting the fight over accepted it, marched into Ravenna but instead of taking the throne, Belisarius arrested Vitiges as well his wife Matasuintha and here in 540 all of Italy was again put under Roman rule and Justinian’s dream finally achieved and Belisarius once again returned to Constantinople as a hero parading Vitiges and Matasuintha in his triumph though despite Italy taken back, the war left it in ruins which could still be repaired.
Map of Justinian I’s Byzantine Reconquest of Italy (Gothic War), 535-540
Procopius’ description of the 536 Dust-Veil
Belisarius enters Rome and meets Pope Silverius, 536
Belisarius defending Rome from the Ostrogoths, 537-538, by Amelianvs
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Belisarius’ campfires outside Rimini
Milan (Mediolanum), attacked by the Burgundians in 539
Belisarius and Narses arguing on the Italian Campaign, by Amelianvs
Watch this to learn about the Siege of Rome, 537-538 (Kings and Generals).
The Plague Years (540-550)
Though Italy had been retaken, Khosrow getting word from the Ostrogoths to attack the Byzantine Empire already made preparations and after only 8 years broke the eternal peace given the reason that the Armenian border people were not satisfied with Justinian’s rule and when the Byzantine forces were sent there to crush the rebellion, the general Sittas from the Persian war a decade ago was killed here in 539 fighting the rebels. Now while the 5-year war at Italy was happening, both Justinian and Khosrow did their own thing whereas as Justinian and Theodora worked on rebuilding Constantinople from the damage caused by the Nika Riots and in the process, they had ordered the decorating of the Hagia Sophia with mosaics and according to Justinianus playing Justinian, she says the Hagia Sophia’s mosaics took over 2,000 men to assemble working 24/7 day and night with one shift consisting of a thousand workers from all over the empire, at the same time too, Justinian ordered the construction of a triumphal column in the square known as the Augusteum outside the Hagia Sophia which had an equestrian statue of him.
Assembling of the Hagia Sophia’s mosaics
At the same time, Justinian had sent explorers to the far-off places of the world such as Scandinavia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Central Asian steppes, and India to give him reports while at the same time he sent Christian missionaries to convert the people of Nubia south of Egypt. Khosrow meanwhile in this 8-year “eternal” peace tried to imitate Justinian’s Byzantium making his rule mirror that of Justinian’s in terms of sophistication but when asked by the Ostrogoths to invade Byzantine territory in 540, Khosrow broke this “eternal” peace and invaded Syria, capturing Antioch which still had not yet recovered from the 526 earthquake, and enslaved its people, bathed in the Mediterranean himself, and bribed off chariot races in different eastern cities to make the green faction win just to backstab Justinian who had been backing the blues his whole life. Khosrow though did not stay long enough as after asking more tribute money from Justinian which Justinian accepted, Khosrow returned to his empire but was now all set to launch another massive scale war against the Byzantines all while Belisarius was still in Italy. Belisarius was still able to bring Vitiges and Matasuintha to Constantinople wherein Vitiges died shortly after and Matasuintha was then married to Justinian’s cousin, the general Germanus.
Column of Justinian I with his equestrian statue outside the Hagia Sophia
Belisarius though only remained in Constantinople for 2 weeks5 as the war had already broken out with Khosrow so again, Belisarius was sent to another campaign again with his Bucellarii and Huns and the area the way would take place in would be in Lazica (Georgia), the kingdom Khosrow wanted to annex in order to gain access to the Black Sea to launch an invasion of Constantinople and here Belisarius was to block Khosrow’s invasion. In 541, a political rivalry grew between Theodora and the finance minister John the Cappadocian and as usual with Theodora always wanting to succeed, she had Belisarius’ wife Antonina meet with John to frame him for plotting against Justinian and Theodora and as Justinian discovered this so-called plot of John, he punished John by sending him to Egypt forcing him to be a priest just to please Theodora. At the same time as John arrived in Egypt, something mysterious meanwhile had occurred there at the Mediterranean port of Pelusium wherein one sailor in a ship delivering wheat harvested from the fields of Egypt to Constantinople and this one ordinary day, this sailor felt some pains in his head, arms, and legs but thought it would go away if he just slept it out but at night he could not sleep as he started experiencing nightmares and as he woke up his eyes turned red and not only did he feel these symptoms, the rest of the crew did as well. At this exact same day, they saw a ship crash straight into the harbor of Pelusium and when this crew went to investigate the ship, they saw the entire crew all dead with black spots on their bodies and soon even the crew investigating died of this sickness. In a matter of weeks, this plague had spread across Egypt through the grain shipments and soon enough to all cities across the Mediterranean such as Jerusalem, Antioch, and a lot more when ships containing grain supply headed that way as little did the people at the port know that the ships carrying off the grain supply carried the fleas that caused the illness.
Justinian I of Byzantium and Khosrow I of the Sassanid Empire, by Justinianus
Empress Theodora with Antonina (Belisarius’ wife, left), and Sophia and Vigilantia (right)
Kingdom of Lazica (Georgia) map
Port of Pelusium, Egypt
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The Plague begins with sailors in Egypt, 541 by Dovahhatty
Back then in the 6th century as this plague spread wherein people quickly started feeling ill, vomit blood, rot from the inside and then died went on, no one knew what it exactly was or what caused it, neither did doctors know the cure for it, and true enough they also caught the illness and died. Procopius here writes that this plague originated in Pelusium, Egypt but modern studies show that it originated far away in the Tian Shan Mountains of Central Asia in Western China as the plague at this time also affected China, India, and the Sassanid Empire and here as Belisarius was preparing to battle the Sassanids in 541, he was met with no fight at all as the Sassanid soldiers were affected by the plague with most of them dying from it.
Belisarius in the Lazic War against the Sassanids, 541
This plague then was transmitted by fleas that sucked the blood of rats and transmitted it to people when biting them and these fleas then had developed inside the warehouses in Egypt wherein harvested grain had been kept for so long allowing rats to infest it, as well as fleas. The year 542 began in a very normal way for Constantinople as Justinian and Theodora did their thing by continuing the passing of laws, the workers still worked 24/7 on the Hagia Sophia’s mosaics, Narses returned to working in the palace training Justinian’s young nephews Justin and Marcellus to be skilled administrators6, while Justinian’s sister Vigilantia who hadn’t been mentioned in a long time still did as she pleased, stuffing herself up at feasts and drinking all night without a care as her brother worked so hard to keep their empire working but everything changed when the grain ships arrived at the port of Constantinople.
Roman-Byzantine grain ship by Kate Eller
At first, people no matter who started experiencing light fevers but were advised by doctors in the city market to just not think about it as it will pass and for some, they were able to get over the fever but for others it was worse causing them to fall into a coma while others developed some acute dementia wherein, they were imagining that people were attacking them making these people jump into the waters of the Bosporus and Marmara to save themselves. The doctors then were most worried about these symptoms of dementia as they have never seen or heard of something like this before but when it came to people’s symptoms such as the swollen spots in their bodies, doctors were curious to know about it so they decided to open up the corpses of those who died from this illness (autopsy) and here they discovered that there was bacteria inside these wounds and it was this bacteria that killed the victims but they also found out that if they cut off the bacteria from the patients, the patients would be cured but would soon enough die days later due to the loss of blood.
Transmission of the Plague of Justinian
As doctors too got infected by cutting up the plague sores, they decided to cover themselves up in full protection cloaks and masks which turned to be working out well for them. In only a few weeks, thousands in Constantinople began dying from this plague that by March of 542, as Procopius had said there had been 5,000 to 10,000 deaths a day in Constantinople alone and the only ones that remained and would forever remain uninfected were the stylites, the hermits living above columns. It was only here when Justinian began to respond to the crisis as at this point, he knew it was not only in Constantinople but in the entire eastern part of his empire and this when he sent word to all the governors around the empire to put all the cities under lockdown forbidding people from leaving their houses in order to stop the spread of the plague but little did Justinian know that the plague did not pass on so much from human to human but from flea to human and when finding out about its source being fleas, he had the a number of grain warehouses set on fire but the plague still kept spreading, and at the same time had the lockdowns lifted after a month as it too did not do anything to stop the plague.
Stylite hermit
In the next few months, the death toll just kept rising in Constantinople and across the eastern provinces that Justinian had to pass new decrees to handle the plague and these included forcing people to wear masks- which many just chose to die rather than be forced to do something inconvenient by the state, assigning people to search houses for dead bodies each day, and to assign people to the city gates to count the number of dead carted out each day. Seeing the death toll in Constantinople rising himself, Justinian further issued an order that people must wear name tags at their wrists so that if they died away from their homes, they could be identified. With the weeks going by, the death toll still continued rising that bodies had to be buried in mass graves but with no more space left for these mass graves, dead bodies had to be kept inside a military fortress across Constantinople’s Golden Horn harbor but again with so much dead, rooms in this fortress were filled up the ceiling and among the victims was the jurist Tribonian who made Justinian’s code of laws back in 529, and though in real history the plague killed him, in this version Justinianus gives an alternate ending to Tribonian wherein he actually survives the plague but became very weak.
Death toll of the Plague of Justinian, 542
Though not exactly said in real history but still definitely in the year 542, in which in this story’s case would be in June, the 60-year-old Justinian himself after inspecting the dead from the plague got a fever and in the next day started vomiting and having the same lymph nodes over his body then fell into a coma, thus he tested positive for the plague. He then remained at his bed not moving a muscle and as his fever kept rising, his doctors concluded that even the most powerful of people could still catch it. Theodora meanwhile did not catch it and so did Justinian’s sister Vigilantia, her sons and daughter, and everyone else in the palace but little did Theodora know that she actually caught the plague but was one of the very few rare asymptomatic cases of it- at least in this story.
Victims of the Plague of Justinian, 542
The Plague of Justinian hits Constantinople, 542
Before the plague hit Constantinople, things did not go very well in Italy which had just been retaken by the Ostrogoths as the governor assigned to Ravenna named Alexander was corrupt when using the war funds given to him by Justinian to fund his own personal expenses making the defeated Ostrogoths scattered around Italy uniting under a leader from one of their own named Totila in 541. Though Vitiges was taken to Constantinople wherein he died, the Ostrogoths were still around in Italy and now under Totila they had grown even stronger and at first, they took back the city of Verona for themselves afterwards defeating the forces of Alexander at the Battle of Faventia wherein Alexander fled never to be heard from again.
Totila, restored King of the Ostrogoths of Italy
Totila and his Ostrogoths won a few more victories before proceeding south in 542, ready to undo everything Belisarius achieved in the past years and although he still failed to take back Rome, he convinced many both Ostrogoths, Roman locals, and even Byzantine soldiers to defect to his side as he convinced them through lies that the Byzantines and Justinian were corrupt when it was only Alexander that was. The plague though hadn’t hit Italy yet but back in Constantinople, Justinian himself was near death that his sister Vigilantia who he was hardly close to him stood by his bedside and so did her 3 children who barely knew him as well7 and of course Theodora and other palace officials including Narses and Liberius were by his bedside too and seeing the worst possible scenarios to come, they were already deciding on who was to succeed Justinian.
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Justinian I as a plague victim, by Dovahhatty
While in a coma, Justinian got a shocking dream which was that Italy again completely fell to the Ostrogoths and this woke Justinian up8 and true enough the first thing he heard when waking came from Narses9 telling him the Ostrogoths have been starting to regain control of Italy under Totila. Justinian had realized he fell into a coma for a month10 but was at first too weak to do anything though as he soon started gaining the control to get out of bed but he came to realize one thing here and this was an effect of the plague which was that his voice changed wherein he started talking with a lisp11, although he at least luckily survived. Theodora here told Justinian that she handled the empire by herself and had successfully prevented all power struggles assuring everyone he would still live but for a total of 6 months including his one-month coma12, Justinian was bedridden and unable to run his empire. By December of 54213, Justinian fully recovered while the plague too had subsided in Constantinople at least, due to the fact that thousands died each day that by this point, there had been about 200,000 deaths in Constantinople alone while in the rest of the empire, the plague still kept spreading. The now recovered Justinian again took a tour of Constantinople fearing he wouldn’t get it again but instead of seeing people suffering from it, he saw dead lying everywhere with their wounds open and puss leaking as well as dead parents holding on to their children that were still alive. On this plague of 542, the contemporary historian John of Ephesus (507-588) writes a more dramatic story of the plague compared to Procopius’ more factual version as here John writes that in the eastern provinces of the empire, there had been villages with only one child surviving, herds of cows running off into wild with no one to herd them, roads completely empty, and ships stuck at sea as their entire crews were dead.
Aftermath of the Plague of Justinian, 542
543 then would be the worst year ever for the Byzantines as though the plague struck in 542, in 543 all the mess had to be cleaned up one by one by a newly recovered Justinian but despite all the hardships, letting go of all his ambitious projects was the last thing he wanted but with all the damage caused by the plague especially on the economy, considering the extreme death toll on the people of the empire that created a scarcity of workers and many businesses to shut down, all Justinian could do was to put all his projects on hold and resume them another time. First of all, many of the workers who have worked in decorating the mosaics of the Hagia Sophia had died of the plague so Justinian had to put the construction on hold, for the army many had suffered died from it too so he had to now resolve to hiring mercenaries from distant lands not affected by the plague, and as for taking back Italy, Justinian decided that at this point it was not important and would return to it another time. In 543 as well, the Plague of Justinian that had plagued the eastern provinces in 542 had totally become a pandemic when ships arrived in Italy bringing the plague there, soon enough it had spread to the Frankish Kingdom in Gaul when ships arrived in Marseilles, later on in Visigoth Spain and Byzantine North Africa as well, and by 547 it had reached Britain now controlled by different Saxon rulers. Now if the Byzantine Empire and the rest of Europe was hit hard, the Sassanid Empire was hit even harder by the plague that Khosrow did not want to continue his war with Byzantines fearing that his soldiers might pass on the plague to him but over in Byzantium, Justinian knew that with Khosrow now idle, this was the perfect opportunity to attack the Sassanids, not by force but by bringing the plague there.
Sassanid Empire flag
Here is when history literally changes as in reality, the war between Byzantium and the Sassanids would continue up to 562 without achieving much results again. Prioritizing the western reconquests again, Justinian now decided to get the plague away from his empire by closing the entire eastern border with Sassanids and sending loads plague victims as well as the infected grain supply over to the Sassanid Empire, definitely enraging Khosrow14 but being too paranoid of the plague, Khosrow was now hopeless in facing this new threat from Justinian. Though the Byzantine Empire survived the plague, 1/3 of its entire population died from it but for the entire world, the plague claimed 10% of its population according to modern studies.
Map of the spread of the Plague of Justinian
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Total death toll of the Plague of Justinian in the Byzantine Empire (1/3 of the population), by Dovahhatty
In 543 as well, Totila managed to retake Naples and again using his tricks to get people to his side, he spared all its citizens when in fact all he wanted was to rule Italy for himself. Justinian in 544 recalled Belisarius from the Persian border- as in this story’s case, the war with the Sassanids was no longer ongoing- and sent him to Italy invading by sea from the south again, except this time Justinian was now growing more jealous of Belisarius’ previous victories and the fact that he had the plague and Belisarius did not as I would think so and due to Justinian’s growing envy, he did not provide Belisarius with funds this time especially since he was using them for the plague’s relief effort in helping citizens affected by it so Belisarius here had to pay for his own soldier’s food and equipment.
Flavius Belisarius in the 540s, by Amelianvs
Procopius too joined Belisarius again this time and had recorded that this long war and the plague created a great famine in Italy but despite everything happening, Belisarius focused on cleaning up Italy from the Ostrogoths and Totila meanwhile laid siege to Rome again, and like Vitiges before took almost 2 years and only by December of 546 was Totila able to retake Rome for the Ostrogoths when he bribed off Belisarius’ Isaurian troops to let them scale the walls at night and when taking over the city, Totila here showed his true intention to completely level the city and afterwards he proceeded south to hunt down the last of the Byzantines including the same old John the Sanguinary who pained Belisarius years earlier. With Totila away from Rome, Belisarius meanwhile used this as an opportunity to retake it again and by the spring of 547, Belisarius took back Rome once again, though Totila returned but failed to take back Rome, instead he took over the other cities nearby such as Perugia.
Belisarius re-enters Rome, 547 by Amelianvs
Belisarius now was short of supplies so he had no choice but to return to Constantinople to ask for supplies from Justinian himself but true enough, it was actually Theodora that had now planned to recall him for it was her that was jealous of him and suspicious that Belisarius due to his popularity will one day be acclaimed emperor by the people thus overthrowing her and Justinian. When Belisarius arrived back in Constantinople in 548 however, he was met with a shocking surprise, which was that Theodora had died. Back in 542, Theodora in this case happened to be an asymptomatic victim of the plague but this did not mean the disease would one day have a toll on her life as by this point in 548, she grew extremely weak due to contracting cancer being a long-term effect of the plague and on June 28, she died at age 48. Though before Theodora died, she arranged for her niece Sophia, the daughter of her older sister Comito and the late general Sittas to marry Justinian’s eldest nephew Justin. Now Sophia who in this case was now 20 at this point and had grown up to be very beautiful just like her aunt Theodora was back in her day in the 520s except Sophia unlike Theodora who was an actress, Sophia was a high-society young lady15. Justinian was deeply affected here as the love of his life had died that in this story’s case, Justinian became vegetarian as eating meat and fish would remind him of his days with Theodora enjoying a full meal.
Last days of Empress Theodora, 548
Though the plague was still going on and off in Constantinople, Justinian decided for once to give up on spending on the plague efforts and instead pour in a lot of gold for a lavish funeral for Theodora and despite how many times Theodora and her Monophysite point of view gave Justinian headaches, there was no other woman than her but strangely the couple despite being married for more than 20 years never had any children but by arranging Justin and Sophia’s marriage, Theodora here considered Justin to be their successor and even if Justinian was not close to him, Theodora thought he was the best choice only because he was the eldest nephew. Now at the funeral at the Church of the Holy Apostles, thousands of mourning citizens- especially women who all thanked her for passing laws protecting their rights- gathered outside while only family members as well as the Patriarch stayed inside for the ceremony and in attendance inside included Germanus with his Ostrogoth wife Matasuintha, Vigilantia again with her 3 children who were now all grown up, Theodora’s sister Comito and her daughter Sophia, and of course Justinian himself who was teared up so much that no one recognized him anymore16. Belisarius who had not trusted Theodora and vice-versa out of respect attended the funeral and so did Narses, Liberius, and Tribonian who in this case survived the plague.
Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople, burial site of the Byzantine emperors
Justinian being so heartbroken refused to speak to anyone, even Belisarius who had been urgently asking for supplies but soon enough when Justinian was able to speak again, Belisarius decided he did not need to ask for help anymore as now he had grown tired of war and had wanted to retire which Justinian accepted. The retirement of Belisarius was another heavy blow for the grieving Justinian as his most competent and trusted general had to go but at least his second most trusted general and younger cousin Germanus was still around who Justinian now counted on to finish off the reconquest of Italy but in this case, if Justinian were to name his own successor at this point, he would have chosen Belisarius17 but since Belisarius retired, Justinian considered it to Germanus or if not Germanus’ son with his first wife also named Justin but later on in 548, a jealous Armenian general named Artabanes and in this story’s case secretly with Procopius and John the Cappadocian who returned from Egypt following Theodora’s death hatched a plot to kill both Justinian and Belisarius in favor of Germanus. On the other hand, Germanus despite being overly talkative18 was completely loyal and had no intention to take the throne and eventually, it was the other Justin and this case with Justinian’s nephew Justin that uncovered Artabanes’ plot reporting it directly to Germanus who then had the Excubitor palace guards arrest Artabanes who instead of being imprisoned was sent to his death to fight against Totila in Italy with a very small army. In this case, Justinian still had not known of Procopius’ secret plotting19 while John the Cappadocian would remain unpunished, although he would die at this point in history (around 549) like in real history. At the same time back in Constantinople, Justinian’s nephew Justin and Theodora’s niece Sophia married in a not so lavish ceremony in the Hagia Sophia as Justinian still depressed over Theodora’s death and still spending on the plague’s relief effort could not spend on such festivities20. Justinian though considered Germanus as his heir even if Theodora earlier on backed Justin and this was because Justinian saw that Germanus had great skill and that his children will carry the blood of both the Justinian and Ostrogoth Amal Dynasty of Theodoric the Great due to Germanus’ marriage to Matasuintha. Germanus was appointed to lead the continued Italian campaign replacing Belisarius but in 550 when Germanus was still in Thrace, he too contracted the plague that still lived on and died while Matasuintha was still pregnant with their child. With Germanus gone, Justinian replaced him with the now 85-year-old Liberius who was sent to Sicily but due to his age, never achieved much except pacifying the island.
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Justinian I at the funeral of Theodora, 548 by Dovahhatty
Watch this to learn more about the Plague of Justinian (Invicta).
II. Part Two
The End of Justinian’s Wars (The Climax, 550-555)- In collaboration with Justinianus
In the year 550, Justinian was now a sad old man at age 68 and now already 2 years after Theodora’s death, he was still extremely bitter also because the plague ruined his dream, he worked so hard on that he sat all day in the palace’s dining hall drinking and eating food that were of course plant based but one day an old general came, and this was the Isaurian wrestler Andreas who after many years was promoted to become a general. Now this is part of the story wherein our role-playing will come in full form and when creating this story, Justinianus came up with the idea of the vegetarian aging Justinian and due to the plague still happening, the wearing of face masks which Justinian I this case had been wearing one since the plague of 542.
Justinian I as an old man and plague victim, 550 by Amelianvs
Andreas after serving Belisarius for many years in the Sassanid border, North Africa, Italy, again in the Sassanid border, and again in Italy went to greet Justinian but at first Justinian did not really have any idea on who he was until Andreas introduced himself and his story in the past 2 decades and as both Justinian and Andreas share some drinks of wine, Justinian begins to lighten up and ask Andreas what he has been up to though Justinian still sad tells Andreas how much the plague ruined all his plans and how Theodora’s death made him not want to think about anything anymore. Andreas however gave some hope to Justinian telling him that at least his code of laws made ages ago was something successful and that Hagia Sophia was a definitely a beauty like no other despite the mosaics still unfinished as Justinian only ordered the decoration of the mosaics to be resumed just a year ago21. The next day, Justinian and Andreas met up again and feeling some more relief after getting know Andreas, Justinian takes him for a tour around Constantinople as Andreas having been in the battlefield for years never really got the chance to fully see the imperial capital and even better, this time seeing all its secrets with the emperor himself. The first place the pair head to is the square with Justinian’s column known as the Augusteum beside the Hagia Sophia Basilica Cistern just near the Hagia Sophia which Justinian had just completed and this here was a water supply supported by hundreds of columns taken from the abandoned and destroyed Pagan temples across the empire.
Basilica Cistern, Constantinople
After this, Justinian brought Andreas over to the now repaired Baths of Zeuxippus that had been destroyed by the Nika Riot in 532 which Andreas remembers being in it helping Belisarius kill off the rioters with his bare hands. Justinian in his usual sadness tells Andreas that it was there in these baths where he and Theodora, still an actress dated privately after they had met back in 524 and Justinian back then being already a high-ranking official in the empire could close down the baths just for him and Theodora to bathe together without seeing them having their intimate moments. In the present setting however, Justinian stopped speaking once he remembered the days he spent with Theodora there and remembering his daily routine to visit Theodora’s tomb, he took Andreas to the Church of the Holy Apostles where Justinian as usual knelt down and wept. At night, both dined at the great palace’s dining hall again where Justinian showed to Andreas his newly developed hobby of writing and singing Orthodox hymns and for Andreas, Justinian surely had a great voice that sang with so much passion yet sadness at the same time. The next day, the pair toured Constantinople again seeing how dead the city had become after the years of plague and by this point, effects of the plague were still felt but at least with 8 years since the height of plague having gone by, people were now more hopeful.
Belisarius as a senator, 550
Andreas then asks to see Belisarius who was now retired from the army, although a senator but later that day, Belisarius himself returned to the palace and though in real history, Belisarius was no longer active after 548, here in this case in 550, regained the feeling of wanting to lead his troops again especially since he was only 45 here while all the other generals in charge of the campaign like Liberius and Narses were so much older than him. Narses on the other hand was already 72 at this point and had already been sent to Italy to replace Liberius in full command of the troops but lacking full Byzantine soldiers as well as the Bucellarii and Huns Belisarius commanded, Narses in Italy resorted to hiring barbarian mercenaries from the lands northeast of Italy, and these people were the Lombards. Back in the palace, Justinian again fell back into his depression staring out into a window while Andreas and Belisarius were catching up and seeing Justinian spaced out, Belisarius whispers to Andreas how Justinian made him fight Italy without providing funds the last time although Belisarius tells Andreas it was all Theodora’s fault and luckily, she had died. Justinian though had been staring out into that window for about 2 hours now and here Belisarius asks him why and Justinian first still does not speak but after a while he says “I miss her so much”. Belisarius then tells Justinian that he should come with him and Andreas to the high-end tavern next to the palace to get relieved of his sorrows. The 3 men head to the tavern wherein the emperor himself actually shows up in a tavern and here Justinian orders some wine and so does Belisarius but Andreas as a tough mountain orders a barbarian drink known as “mead” and here the 3 have a nice and friendly conversion about the wars they have fought in the past years. Justinian here is happy to talk about how much the Sassanid Empire of Khosrow who is still alive is just totally falling apart from the plague that Justinian brought over to the Sassanids intentionally. As they continued drinking, Andreas gives a speech convincing Justinian to not let go of the dream he has been working to achieve as it is for the good of the empire while Belisarius gives a toast saying “to Italy!” making it clear that they want to resume the war and here Justinian after drinking some wine with friends agrees saying something he never would’ve said. For his entire reign, no matter how hard Justinian worked, he was a palace emperor that never left Constantinople even if Italy and North Africa were retaken but now, at his old age he agrees to go to Italy and finish off the war against Totila. The next day, Justinian with Belisarius and Andreas as well as Justinian’s remaining family members attend a Mass at the Hagia Sophia for the good luck of their mission while Belisarius departed ahead by fleet. As for Andreas, it would take 3 more weeks to assemble his army and here he swore to Justinian that he will personally stand by his side in Italy. Justinian later asks his nephew Justin to meet him at the throne room though Justin comes in with a bad mood thinking it is a waste of time though Justinian asks him to accompany him to Italy but Justin refuses saying he hates travelling but Justinian tells him to consider it as it would be good training for Justin to be an emperor or else Justin would end up a useless glutton like his mother, so Justin then considers the offer. 3 weeks have then passed and Justinian with Andreas head over to their ship as now a fleet of 80 ships were set to again invade Italy though Justinian here feels nervous especially since he’s never been on a long trip by sea before. When at sea, Justinian constantly feels sea sick and here Andreas asks about Justinian’s early life he’s heard of and how he travelled to Constantinople for the first time from his village whether it was by sea or land and Justinian said it was by land. Justinian talks about how hard life was in the Balkans wherein barbarians constantly raided his farm which is what gave him his life-long hatred towards them fuelling his desire to conquer their lands. It was only in 497 at age 15 when Justinian back then as Petrus first met his uncle Justin who returned to his village now with some wealth promising him a better life in Constantinople and together, they travelled for kilometers by foot and then by horse. It was during Anastasius I’s early reign when Justinian settled in the capital having top-grade education provided by his uncle who was then already the imperial guard’s commander. At this time, his sister Vigilantia who was then 7 with their mother followed up and also here, Justinian despite not getting to meet Anastasius in person met his wife Empress Ariadne22.
Empress Ariadne, daughter of Leo I, and wife of Zeno and later of Anastasius I
Now I would say what inspired Justinian’s great dreams was meeting the aging empress who was the wife of the former Zeno and daughter of the former emperor Leo I and she did have the honor of seeing the Western Roman empire still around while her father was emperor of the east with the great western emperors like Majorian and Anthemius being her father’s co-emperors and she too had the honor of meeting Anthemius himself when he was still in the east. Now this case wherein young Justinian had met Ariadne may be totally made up but I’d say this was a great source of inspiration for young Justinian especially since he met someone who was there to see the days when there was still hope for the west and it was her that inspired him to dream big. Back in the present setting, Justinian felt a bit of frustration when Andreas reminded him of his peasant background but Andreas told him in return to not see it that way as despite his low birth, Justinian was able to achieve a lot and so Justinian admitted here that he never thought he would go this far.
The Augusteum of Constantinople with the Hagia Sophia and Column of Justinian
Diagram of Byzantine Constantinople’s Imperial District featuring the Hagia Sophia, Imperial Palace Complex, Hippodrome, and Polo Field
At this point, history is again totally altered wherein the palace emperor Justinian the Great himself finally leaves Constantinople and travels by sea for a total of 3 weeks to Italy, the land he always dreamed of holding on for the empire. Now I would say that if Justinian was so fixated in putting Italy back under Roman hands, his intentions would only be very fitting if he actually went to Italy himself to see the land where Roman civilization all began and so in this case, he actually goes to see his cultural motherland. Justinian though may have had no Roman-Italian blood but being a Roman citizen of Illyrian and Thracian blood from the Balkans and a native Latin speaker, Italy and more particularly Rome itself was seen as his spiritual home. Now after 3 weeks at sea, the fleet carrying Justinian arrived at the Bay of Naples in Italy while Belisarius, in this case arrived much earlier on in Italy’s eastern coast to meet up with the same general John the Sanguinary who pained him over the years who here was still commanding the troops in Italy.
6th century Byzantine infantryman, by Foojer
At this point in late 550, Naples had already been liberated from the Ostrogoths but just a year earlier, Rome which Belisarius took back again fell again to Totila who using Belisarius’ return to Constantinople managed to once again retake Rome and sack it. When in Naples, Justinian here personally gave orders to his soldiers in taking back Rome and with so passion in his speech, he encouraged them that they are doing this to preserve the great legacy of Rome, of the great emperors of the past like Augustus, Claudius, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Aurelian, and Constantine and after making his speech, Justinian remembered the words the people shouted when wanting victory “Nika!” even if it reminded him of the horrors of the 532 riots, but all the soldiers too shouted the same thing. Justinian accompanied by Andreas and their Excubitor guards marched north to Rome and Justinian having no experience in fighting battles told Andreas he’d just stay at their camp in Janiculum Hill overlooking Rome while Totila who was not in Rome at this time had its walls strengthened to make any Byzantine attempt to retake it impossible but Andreas remembering how he helped Belisarius recapture Naples almost 2 decades ago when the Gothic War in Italy began by using a tunnel, he remembered that the walls could be breached if his men dug beneath it. Andreas’ men including his Heruli mercenaries dug deep beneath the Aurelian Walls and in only a few hours, a part of the walls collapsed and when Justinian woke up from his nap, he noticed that the walls were breached and seeing it, he had a change of heart, thus he mounted his horse and together with the Bucellarii cavalry charged straight into Rome and to their surprise, Totila’s forces were very limited but still eager to face off the Byzantines, the Ostrogoths charged in a frenzy but were all slaughtered by the arrows fired by the Bucellarii as they rode with full speed while Justinian too managed to kill a number of the Ostrogoths before making it to the Roman Forum where Andreas planted the Byzantine banner to signal victory. Now in real history, Rome only returned to the Byzantines once again when the Gothic War ended in 552 but here by the end of 550 with Justinian fighting the battle himself, Rome came back to Byzantine hands much earlier on thus turning the tide of the Gothic War to the Byzantines’ favor.
Trajan’s Column, Rome
Justinian was overjoyed now that he had finally seen Rome, the eternal city that ruled the greatest empire of its time- in which in reality he never saw- and when in Rome, Justinian and Andreas headed to the Column of Trajan which was now neglected and seeing it, Justinian told Andreas how Trajan has been such an inspiration to him ever since Justinian was barely an adult studying Roman history. What really inspired Justinian most about Trajan was that in his reign (98-117AD), the Roman Empire was at its greatest extent north to south from Britain to Egypt and west to east from Portugal to the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea and Justinian here wanted to achieve just that for his own empire and now with Rome taken back and all of Italy almost theirs again, he knew he could achieve his lifelong dream before he died. As Justinian mentioned his imperial dreams, Andreas reminded him of the question of succession and Justinian here said that he had it under control as he asked for his nephew Justin to come over to Italy in order to train to be an emperor. With Rome back under their hands, Justinian now thought of visiting Ravenna which here was still under Byzantine hands as the Ostrogoths were still scattered around Italy.
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent under Emperor Trajan, 117AD
Now in 551, both Justinian and Andreas travelled north to Ravenna and would stay there for a long time, especially since Justinian had to fix the Byzantine administration of Italy, which was based there and during their stay in Ravenna, Justinian finally saw the mosaics in the church of San Vitale which he had commissioned years earlier which were to depict him and his court together with Belisarius, Narses, John the Cappadocian, senators, priests, and Excubitor guards by his side while across it was the one of Theodora and her court and seeing it, Justinian was in tears especially since he saw Theodora’s face and when seeing his own portrait, he too remembered the good times as he looked very young in it, remembering his early days as emperor when he was still attractive despite being over 40 but now at this point at 68, he was looked far different as he gained so much weight while his hair turned gray, and face started enlarging due to age and seeing Andreas, Justinian told him he will commission of mosaic of him in Ravenna as well- which had never happened in reality due to Andreas not existing anymore after 530.
6th century Church of San Vitale, Ravenna
The pair later toured Ravenna seeing it so dead after years of war and plague and in their walk, they also took a look at the beautifully decorated Mausoleum of the Western Roman empress Galla Placidia, the daughter of the last united Roman emperor Theodosius I (r. 379-395) and seeing more of Ravenna, Justinian was amazed at how beautiful the mosaics were but was disappointed in remembering its shameful history under the incompetent western emperors that resided there like Honorius (r. 395-423) and Valentinian III that contributed to the fall of the west.
Mosaics of the Galla Placidia Mausoleum, Ravenna
It was here in Ravenna where Justinian discovered there was a hidden plot against him all along by Belisarius’ secretary Procopius who was in Constantinople at this time and it was through Andreas where Justinian learned of it as the two were staying in Ravenna. Andreas here told Justinian that Procopius was plotting in a more subtle way which was that he was writing a secret book to slander Justinian and Theodora known as the Secret History which is a very biased account on Justinian’s reign and was only discovered in the 16th century and only made public in 1623, and this source is what gave many others a negative perspective on Justinian’s reign and Theodora’s sexual activities but on the other hand, Procopius in his main source on Justinian’s reign and the history of the Western and Eastern Roman empires entitled Wars, he remains the most valuable source as is very factual here. The truth however was that Procopius strongly envied Justinian for becoming emperor despite coming from humble origins as Procopius thought that if Justinian coming from nothing could come to power23, so could he but not wanting to fall out of favor with the imperial court, Procopius did not want to make his intentions clear so his solution was to write them all down somewhere for no one to see it.
Procopius’ Secret History
Justinian meanwhile never knew of this work by Procopius but in this case, when being revealed of it by Andreas, he knew that Procopius was not to be trusted and what further angered him was how Procopius said Justinian walked around the palace at night in the form of monster similar to a Hydra and worse for Justinian, Theodora the love of his life was slandered. Andreas here told Justinian everything Procopius had told him and one of this- as Procopius did in fact write in is Secret History– was a slanderous accusation on Theodora in her earlier life as not only an actress but a prostitute wherein she performed a very explicit act of Leda and the Swan wherein Theodora as an actress stripped off all her clothing lying on the ground placing bird feed on her naked parts for the swans to feed on; of course this cannot be proven true because Procopius had not yet met Theodora when she was an actress and in this story’s case with Justinian knowing Theodora as an actress, he knew this was all an accusation.
Theodora as an actress performing the act of “Leda and the Swan”
Andreas further tells Justinian24 that Procopius told him that he saw Theodora already as empress in the palace when at functions with other women dressed in something very explicit which Justinian never knew about and this outfit that she dressed in was a very lose dress that looked like it could easily slip off and had exposed too much skin leaving her shoulders completely bare (this here is the outfit Theodora is seen wearing in a 19th century painting by Jean-Benjamin Constant that inspired her look in the game Civilization V and Dovahhatty’s version of her). Justinian on the other hand was a man of strong Orthodox Christian morals but when hearing about all of this about Theodora, he accepted it as she was already gone and this was to be stuck in the past but surely- in Justinianus’ version- he never knew of this dress as he only knew Theodora like him wore purple robes decorated with jewellery but when hearing of it, Justinian knew that this could be a new fashion trend for future women considering that Justinian had just sent monks to the far away empire of China, known to them as Seres to smuggle silkworms in order for the Byzantines to manufacture their own without spending so much on imports.
Empress Theodora in the so-called dress as described by Procopius, by Jane Arts (inspired by Jean-Benjamin Constant’s painting)
Justinian after hearing everything about Procopius was enraged especially hearing what was said about Theodora so he decided he had to punish him when returning to Constantinople but at the same time, he got word that his nephew Justin was going to arrive in Ravenna and the next day, both Justinian and Andreas headed to the harbor to greet Justin. Justinian at first nicely greets his now 30-year-old nephew but Justin rudely answers back that the sea trip made him seasick and that he has no purpose in Italy and therefore just wants to return to Constantinople but Justinian tells him that his first candidate for succession Germanus had died and wanting to honor Theodora’s choice of naming Justin his successor, Justinian believed that this mission in Italy will train Justin to be a strong ruler like his uncle and not a degenerate like his mother25. In the next few days in Ravenna, Justin begins developing a bond with his uncle that he was never really close to as real history too never mentions their bond and here Justin bonded with his uncle by accompanying him during meetings with government officials and military commanders in Ravenna. After a while Justinian remembered his sister Vigilantia who he had not seen and spoken to since Theodora’s funeral back in 548 though Justin tells his uncle that his mother was all fine and still stuffing herself as usual and Justinian hearing about this had some sense of relief.
Justin II, Justinian I’s nephew, selfie style portrait, by Justinianus
Meanwhile, it had already been 16 years since the Gothic War of Italy had started and just as the Byzantine reconquest of Italy had resumed, the same old general John the Sanguinary with his subordinate commander Valerian were to engage the fleet of Totila in the Adriatic Sea just outside the city of Rimini and to assist the Byzantine forces in attacking the Ostrogoths by land, Justinian decided to head south from Ravenna to Rimini with Andreas and Justin and this mission was to train young Justin in military matters. As the Byzantine fleet engaged the Ostrogoth fleet off the Italian coast, the Byzantines had easily won a victory as they had more naval experience than the Ostrogoths, though ship rams weren’t much used anymore here by the 6th century, so instead, both fleets battled each other by boarding each other’s ships. As the naval Battle of Sena Gallica was fought in 551 like in real history, Justinian and his men entered Rimini which was still under Byzantine control awaiting an attack from the Ostrogoths and Justinian recalling his earlier years as a member of the Excubitor palace guard force remembered the basics of sword combat which he would then use here while for Justin, it was the first time he would use a sword though both Justinian and his nephew here had not put on any armor. Justinian meanwhile did not know much about fighting in open battle so he simply told Justin to just follow Andreas here and so the fictional battle begins at this moment as the Ostrogoth army begins firing arrows at them. Justinian not skilled enough to face open battle hides inside a weapons’ storage room while Andreas orders the city gates to be sealed and for their archers to continuously fire back at the advancing Ostrogoths while Justin decides to have the ballistae at the city walls to fire back at the Ostrogoths.
Ostrogoth army, 6th century
Meanwhile, in the hills surrounding Rimini several campfires were lit to make it look like a larger Byzantine army was going to clash at the Ostrogoths but again this was Belisarius pulling out the same old trick he did before exactly here years ago and this forced many of the Ostrogoths to flee, although some still stayed behind and managed to scale the walls. Justinian meanwhile got out of the building to check what was happening and as an Ostrogoth charged at him, Justinian killed him with his sword. Afterwards grabbing his spear and throwing it, killing another Ostrogoth. A number of arrows then fired towards Justinian but despite his old age, he managed to block them while running to pick up a shield inside the same building he came from while Andreas ordered his men to form a shield wall to block off the arrows. As Justinian headed inside the building to grab a shield, the building due to the Ostrogoths’ flaming arrows caught fire and as the flames continued burning the building, Justin as well as Andreas ran straight inside to rescue Justinian and Justin here was able to escape before the ceiling collapsed but Andreas was trapped inside, however a few minutes later Andreas jumped out and fell unconscious at the ground. At around the same time, the Byzantine fleet destroyed the Ostrogoth fleet while in this case, Belisarius outside routed the rest of the Ostrogoths, though Justinian and Justin were at a panic despite their victory as Andreas was knocked out unconscious. Justin then called for doctor for Andreas and Andreas was then brought to Rimini’s governor’s villa to be healed.
Emperor Justinian I and his men mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Empress Theodora and her court mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Drawing of Theodora’s hidden dress according to Procopius (in this story), by Powee Celdran
Naval Battle of Sena Gallica, 551, Byzantine victory over the Ostrogoths
Andreas rested for the next 2 weeks but was at least relieved hearing that the Ostrogoths had been beaten by Belisarius while Narses on the other hand who was already in Italy was continuing the fight and the search for Totila. Justin on the other hand was sent to join both Belisarius and Narses who now at least began getting along with each other especially since the troublemaking John was no longer with them and was instead sent back to Constantinople after his recent naval victory. For a much longer time now, both Justinian and Andreas were doing nothing as the wounded Andreas still had to recover from his burns while Justinian in his spare time wandered off to see the Italian countryside and coastline and seeing the countryside gave Justinian memories of his simple childhood in the Balkans while the coastline gave him memories and here he began to think how far he went in life from just a simple peasant boy in a remote part of the empire to now coming so close to ruling the known world. When meeting Andreas again, Justinian full of inspiration said he is the emperor to be “luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan” or Felicior Augusto, melior Traiano in Latin but knowing he could not achieve the dream alone, Justinian considered turning the Franks of Gaul to his side despite them planning an invasion of Italy before though when thinking if the Franks ever turned against them, he even considered a Roman reconquest of Gaul, though history never specified if Justinian aimed to take back Gaul from the Franks.
Ruins of Aquileia, original city destroyed by Attila the Hun in 552
The year 551 then had passed and now in 552, Andreas was fully recovered from the accident that almost caused him his life and so it was time they headed to Aquileia together with Justin who had returned to them in order to face off the Ostrogoths one more time and after a long ride north, they had arrived in the ruined city of Aquileia right at the 100th year anniversary of when Attila the Hun destroyed it (452) though Justinian also remembered that nearby there was growing community in a lagoon founded by the survivors of the attack on Aquileia (today’s Venice). At Aquileia, the 3 with their small army were met with nothing, instead heavy rain started pouring while at the same time a messenger told them that Totila had headed west so the rest of them decided to escape Aquileia through the sewers as the rain was pouring and due to city being totally destroyed, there was no roof to hide under. The rains got stronger and stronger and so did the wind, thus Justinian concluded this was the worst storm he’s seen in his entire life but not wasting time, all of them including the old emperor crawled through the city’s abandoned sewers despite them almost drowning but at least they were able to get out alive exiting at a farm whereas the sky had already cleared. Justinian thought that everything was over until a spear flew at his direction thus seeing another Ostrogoth army charge at them, Justinian then grabbed that spear and threw it back at the Ostrogoths.
Ostrogothic cavalry
Andreas saw that it was impossible to face this great number of enemies but luckily, he saw a spare carriage which he had Justinian board with him as Andreas drove it while Justin sat behind firing arrows while the rest of the army was to mount the horses stolen from the Ostrogoths. The carriage sped through the Italian countryside for kilometers running over as many Ostrogoths as possible while here Justin suddenly discovered he was skilled with a bow26 while Justinian realized he totally missed on life as he spent so much time indoors and, in the city, when experiencing so much action in this chase. Soon enough, the Hunnish cavalry of Belisarius was spotted and here they were totally crushing the Ostrogoth forces and soon Belisarius himself was spotted doing as he always did, slashing every Ostrogoth that he came across. With the Ostrogoths almost defeated, Andreas stopped the carriage while he together with Justinian and Justin jumped off rolling in the grass of the Italian countryside (in which this would be in the area of Bologna).
Byzantine general Narses, 552
The Byzantines here had won this fictional battle which totally weakened the Ostrogoth forces but Totila had not lost yet, however at the same time another major battle occurred (factual this time) somewhere in Umbria in the village known as Taginae wherein Totila now intent to take the Byzantine throne dressed in the gold armor and purple cloak of a Byzantine emperor led a surprise charge at the army of Narses but the 74-year-old Narses ordered his men mostly consisting of Lombard mercenaries to stay still and wait for the Ostrogoths to charge at them and with his massive size and intimidating presence, Narses was able to crush and rout the Ostrogoths by having his army assemble in a crescent-shaped phalanx formation and in the Ostrogoths’ escape, Totila was killed by the Byzantine forces. Back in the north of Italy, Belisarius after this fictional victory got word of Narses’ victory and Totila’s death making him more energized to continue the war however Andreas stepped up and told Belisarius that the emperor himself was tired after this battle they have gone through.
Totila before the Battle of Taginae, 552
Though Totila was killed, his son Teia succeeded him as the King of the Ostrogoths without a capital and with the Ostrogoths still around, Belisarius told Justinian here that they must station the army all over Italy to enhance their presence and finally finish off the Ostrogoths once and for all by killing of Teia. Justinian, Justin, Belisarius, and Andreas remained at the army camp in this part of Northern Italy for weeks and here messenger came giving word to Belisarius that the Franks hearing about the defeat of Totila were planning to invade Italy to avenge Totila and here Justinian knew that the Franks true enough betrayed him but Justinian knowing that the Franks being barbarians despite being Catholic-Orthodox and not Arian would always take the side of their fellow barbarians so here he did not bother to plan an invasion of Gaul anymore as the war Italy plus the plague effort had already drained the treasury but he still had enough funds for another small reconquest and this would be Visigoth Hispania or at least just the southern coast of it for Justinian. Ever since 549 when the Visigoth king Agila came to power, as a fanatical Arian, he had been persecuting his Catholic-Orthodox subjects causing a rebellion led by a Visigoth noble named Athanagild who supported the oppressed Catholic-Orthodox citizens there even though just like Totila he was eyeing the throne and so here in 552, news got to Justinian that Athanagild was crowned king despite Agila still reigning and seeing this conflict as a reason to defend the Orthodox Christian faith, Justinian agreed to help Athanagild but also because Justinian knew that if he retook Southern Hispania this would create a buffer zone to prevent the ambitious Visigoths from invading Byzantine North Africa knowing that a century ago, the Vandals that took over North Africa crossed the narrow strait from Hispania. The problem now was who to send to reconquer Hispania as Belisarius and Narses were both needed to clean up the mess in Italy while Justinian feeling tired decided to return to Constantinople so without any more choices Justinian asked his nephew Justin to be the one to go over to Hispania with the assistance of the now 87-year-old Liberius and since Liberius was too old to actually lead his men at front, the job was up to the now 32-year-old Justin27. At first Justin with tears objected saying this war in Italy traumatized him- in which this kind of trauma would define his reign in real history- but Justinian with such encouragement told him that to be a great emperor means to face his fears even if means dealing with them with such ruthlessness and here Justinian told his nephew about the time he almost lost to fear yet almost lost his life at the Nika Riot 20 years ago whereas Justin was only 12 here, therefore not at all involved in the events. Back then in 532, when seeing the intensity of the riot to overthrow him, Justinian kept negotiating with them to the point of threatening them with death and when nothing worked, his advisors even told him to just leave the city and let the people’s candidate Hypatius take the throne while Justinian could just one day take back the throne but Theodora stepped up in front of Justinian and his entire court with a very strong and motivating speech ending with the phrase “the royal purple is noblest shroud” meaning that she’d rather die than lose throne and Justinian here took this advice to heart and conquered his fear by having Belisarius, Narses, and Mundus end the violence with violence.
Theodora convinces Justinian to crush the Nika Riot, 532
20 years later in 552, Justinian was still living with that fear28 but this event only made him wiser and so here he told Justin to remember that event when he feels he is about to lose and that Justin should not lose as he has the best and strongest men of the empire with him at all times being Justinian, Belisarius, Narses, and Andreas. Here would also be when Justinian would say one of his most his most famous lines “keep cool and you will command everyone” to Justin as a word of advice. Feeling some encouragement, Justin nodded at his uncle and was told to remain in Italy with Belisarius and Narses until Liberius arrived from Constantinople while Justinian with Andreas by his side was to tour the rest of Italy to see the damage of the war in order to study on how to rebuild it from the ashes before heading back to Constantinople.
Byzantines defeat the Ostrogoths at the Battle of Taginae, 552, by Amelianvs
Watch this to learn more about the final part of Justinian I’s Italian Conquest (Kings and Generals).
After the 17-year Gothic War plus the plague, Italy had turned into a depopulated wasteland that was beyond repair but I believe that if Justinian were there to see the aftermath of the war, he would know how exactly to deal with it although the damage was beyond his control but what he could do to repair Italy is to make sure it will one day be repopulated in this case, seeing the ruins of Italy, Justinian will allow people from more populated parts of the empire like Egypt and Syria to come over to Italy to settle as well as loyal barbarian allies wherein they could settle down as citizens. Before heading back to Constantinople, Justinian and Andreas visited Rome one more time and after a 3 week journey by sea, they finally arrived back in the capital and Justinian now being old, went first to Theodora’s tomb to pay his respects, then to check on the progress on the Hagia Sophia’s mosaics seeing the one with himself already completed, and then finally to bed without doing anything else for 2 full weeks as he now believed that 25 years of hard work since coming to power in 527 had finally paid off despite the reconquest of Italy not completely over and one more mission to back Hispania yet to come but Justinian knew he had done his part in growing the empire and it was now up to his generals and Justin to finish the job.
Mosaic of Justinian I in the Hagia Sophia
After his 2-week break, Justinian met with the very old Liberius- although history is unclear on which general led the reconquest of Hispania beginning 552 but the contemporary historian Jordanes says it was Liberius- and in this story, Justinian asked Liberius to serve the empire once more by heading to Italy first to meet up with Justin and then sail to Hispania. In real history though, Justin had stayed in Constantinople this whole time and so did Justinian of course still ruling as a palace emperor but 552 was also a major year for Justinian back in Constantinople as this was when the monks sent to China finally arrived with the ultimate prize, silkworms. In this story’s case, as Justinian returned to Constantinople, the monks who were originally sent as missionaries to India but later discovered the silk to be from what is the Empire of China, the distant highly advanced empire the Romans have been hearing for centuries. Hearing from the monks of this distant land as superior as the Byzantines to culture, Justinian was highly fascinated but what struck him more was the treasure they brought home and these monks revealed it by pulling it out of their bamboo canes, and here were the silkworms that could produce the finest silk. With the economy ruined from the plague and the war in Italy, Justinian thought the best solution was for the Byzantines to build silk factories and farms in the empire in order to produce their own high-quality silk without having to import them from the Sassanids who imported them from China and in this case with the Sassanid Empire on the verge of collapse due to the plague, there were would be no one to import these silks directly from anymore.
Mulberry silkworm National Sericulture station, Thika, Kenya
Silkworm in a mulberry bush
The monks told Justinian the whole process of making silk which they saw for themselves in China and that these worms would grow in mulberry bushes in which the empire had many of and so Justinian ready for this new ambitious project had mulberry bushes planted across the empire and silk factories built in the distant rural places of the empire so not many would uncover this secret process of silk making. Another issue Justinian had to deal with back at home was course Procopius where in this story’s case he discovered the lies Procopius spread about him and here Justinian confronted him ordering him to burn the Secret History and here Procopius showed his villainous side saying that he indeed deserved the throne. Andreas who was with Justinian here in Procopius’ house tried to kill Procopius but to punish him Justinian just confiscated this book and had Procopius exiled to the Crimea north of the Black Sea to live his entire life while Justinian himself took this book of lies and burned it himself.
Procopius of Caesarea mosaic
Now Justinian here would not have Procopius executed as his previous book Wars wrote about Justinian’s reign very well and factually but Procopius still needed to answer for his false accusations, but in real history, Justinian never knew of Procopius’ accusations and Procopius lived until 570, 5 years passed Justinian’s death. However, the sources for Justinian’s later reign after 552 would no longer come from Procopius but from another contemporary Greek historian here named Agathias who was an eyewitness to all these events in the 550s. Italy meanwhile was still as impoverished as ever and the war still not over but in 553, Narses won one more victory against the Ostrogoths at Mons Lactarius in Southern Italy where the last King of the Ostrogoths Teia was killed, thus earning Narses the title “Hammer of the Goths” and finally the war was over, though the last of the Ostrogoths would go into hiding in the mountains of Italy. As for Justinian in 553, he could now fully function again but the loss of Theodora still saddened him but it was here in 553 when he headed an important Church Council known as the 2nd Council of Constantinople to once again solve the schism with the Monophysites which never really came to any results.
The Hagia Sophia fully completed
Monks present silkworms to the Byzantine Emperor Justinian
Justinian I receives silkworms from monks coming from China, 552
Silk production in 6th century China
Justinian I at the 2nd Council of Constantinople, 553
Final defeat of the Ostrogoths to the Byzantines at the Battle of Mons Lactarius, 553
Watch this to learn more about silk production in Justinian I’s Byzantium (Kings and Generals).
In Italy, Justin and had already departed by sea to Hispania the moment Liberius arrived later on in 552 and this case Belisarius still remained in Italy together with Narses beyond 553 but when thinking the war was all over, the Franks from Gaul invaded Italy in late 553 promising to help the Ostrogoths but were too late, though it not matter anyway as they still wanted a war with the Byzantines. The Franks split themselves up into two groups though the first one when marching south all suffered the plague as it had returned in Italy wherein a large number of them died while the other group charged at Narses’ army at the Volturnus River in Southern Italy where here in this story with Belisarius joining Narses, the phalanx of Narses’ men held back the Franks while Belisarius’ Bucellarii cavalry rushed and destroyed them all, thus Italy was spared from the Frankish attack though some Franks would join the remaining Ostrogoths in their holdouts.
Frankish army, 6th century
Now over in Hispania, the Byzantine fleet with Liberius and Justin in this story’s case with a smaller army that came from Narses’ men in Italy arrived in what is now Malaga in late 552 and for the next year fought beside their ally Athanagild against Agila’s forces in the civil war. History though does not record much about the Byzantine reconquest of Southern Hispania except that they were supported by Athanagild and his rebels while Liberius in 553 returned to Constantinople when the Southern coast was already taken back. Since there is not much records on this conquest of Visigoth Hispania, I would not explain much about it anymore except that Justin now gaining some confidence continued leading his very small army in battle using the knowledge he learned when fighting in Italy and of course keeping to heart the advice his uncle gave him during their time in Italy. The moment the Byzantines had taken the southern coast of Spain in order to block the Visigoths from crossing over to North Africa, Athanagild felt betrayed as he only wanted the Byzantines’ help not for them to take land but since Agila was still around, Athanagild still acknowledged the presence of the Byzantines there.
Athanagild, rebel leader and King of Visigoth Hispania (r. 554-567)
Now if Italy may have been severely damaged by the wars, Hispania was still fresh and Justin here saw that Hispania could be the new frontier for many Byzantines to settle in as it was fertile, spacious, and very significant to Roman history as this was where the great emperors like Trajan and Hadrian originated in. By 554, the Byzantine reconquest of Hispania was over and having at least the southern coast, Justinian in Constantinople ordered the conquests to stop for he had what he already wanted and here Justin would return alone to Constantinople now celebrated as a hero while Liberius at age 89 also died this year in Constantinople. In 555, the supporters of Agila fearing the success of the Byzantines in the south turned on and assassinated him defecting to Athanagild who now became King of the Visigoths. Now in 555, Justinian’s ambitious reconquest of the Meditrranean known as the Renovatio Imperii was all over and now he could focus on securing peace all over his empire. At this point, the Byzantine Empire controlled the entire Mediterranean again as a “Roman lake” and had spanned north to south from the Crimea in Ukraine to Egypt and west to east from Southern Spain to Syria but no matter how large the empire was again, it was in ruin as the plague and wars took the lives of countless that by 555, the population of the empire had dropped by a million since Justinian came to power in 527.
Byzantines defeat the Franks at the Battle of Volturnus in Italy, 554
Byzantine Province of Spania (purple), conquered in 554
World Map, 555AD, end of Justinian I’s conquests (purple)
The Last Years of Justinian, Aftermath, and Conclusion (555-565)
With North Africa, Italy, and some of Hispania under Roman rule again, Justinian could finally enjoy life at his old age with his remaining family members and focus on keeping the peace. The moment all the reconquests were over, Justinian no longer cared about fighting wars as that time had passed and luckier for him 555, at least in this story’s case, he finally received the most relieving news ever from the Sassanid Empire, which was that Khosrow had contacted the plague and died, though in real history the war against Khosrow went on until 562 while Khosrow himself lived until 579. In this case though with Khosrow dead and the plague still ongoing in the Sassanid Empire, there was no more Sassanid Empire as the death of Khosrow broke the empire apart into smaller states ruled by Khosrow’s sons all at war with each other and still suffering heavily from the plague and Justinian here can be indirectly credited for destroying the Sassanid Empire by sending plague victims and fleas there.
Mosaic of the old Justinian I in Ravenna
The final dissolution of the Sassanid Empire that pained the Romans for 3 long decades had come and Justinian with a sigh of relief turned to his new hobby as an old man which was the farming silkworms and the making silks which in a few years became mass produced and a major export of Byzantium. In addition, in this story at least, the monks back in 552 gave Justinian a gift of Chinese herbs which were given to doctors and true enough these proved more effective in healing people who were still affected by the plague as by this point, the plague still kept coming on and off which still deeply worried Justinian since he wanted the population of the empire to grow but the plague’s victims were usually newborn babies. To ensure a population growth to his damaged empire, Justinian working with old jurist friend Tribonian again issued laws to encourage families especially in rural areas to keep producing children. Tribonian meanwhile would die in 556 from the long-term effects of contracting the plague28 while Belisarius too returned to Constantinople again and this time to fully retire in his estate in Thrace.
Byzantine made silk using the Chinese technique
With everything now settled down, Justinian at last had some good time to spend with his remaining family members having frequent get togethers in the imperial palace and here, he would grow his bond with his nephew Justin by continuing to train him more to be an emperor and with his sister Vigilantia, Justinian here now done with all his hard work would finally fix their relationship that they would soon enough grow closer to each other. Out of the family members, Justin’s wife and Theodora’s niece Sophia would be the one to grow very close to Justinian as she would be the one asking for his advice in running an empire as Sophia wanted to imitate her aunt Theodora as well when her time comes to be Justin’s empress. Justinian meanwhile would try to find ways to get over his grief of losing Theodora and a lot of this would be by taking hunting trips and playing Byzantine Polo or Tzykanion with his nephew Justin, the retired Belisarius, and Andreas who was still actively in military service. As for the silk manufacturing, things have been starting to become very successful in such a short time and as the manufacturing began, the first silk product to made was a dress for Sophia, the upcoming empress and apparently the dress custom made for her was exactly the same revealing type Theodora secretly wore as Procopius said, meaning her niece knew about except for Sophia, it fit more perfectly on her as the new silks were sturdier that it would not fall off as it did with Theodora before. Now with Sophia, this dress from becoming a deep secret would become well known to the women of the empire even being introduced as a fashion trend- even if this dress is entirely fictional appearing first in the 19th century by Jean-Benjamin Constant.
Dome of the Hagia Sophia, damaged by the 557 earthquake
The Hagia Sophia’s mosaics too had been completed but in December of 557, a terrible tragedy would happen which was a massive earthquake that struck Constantinople and since the city was so dense with very little open spaces, people had no safe place to take refuge. According to Agathias who documented this event, he says that the earthquake almost “destroyed” the city but it had lasted very quick and luckily did not kill a large number, though it still left many especially in the crowded areas homeless. In the panic as the earthquake struck that December night, people behaved as if disorder reigned but as the earthquake ceased minutes later, they all cheered and embraced each other as the worst was over while Justinian was fast asleep in the palace not noticing anything. Justinian only knew of the earthquake after waking up and when inspecting the city- here in this case with his nephew Justin- seeing so much damage again, he broke down inside as another disaster had come again in his reign. Out of respect for the people, Justinian refused to wear his crown for 40 days and with the money that the state had been generating from the silk production, he decided to use that to pay for repairing the damage caused by the earthquake. In the months following the earthquake, there too had been a change among the people’s attitudes as Agathias states as well wherein the rich who never turned to charity turned to it, while doubters began to pray, and the most vicious of men started helping others out but this only lasted short as a few months later, they all reverted to their usual attitudes. The Hagia Sophia meanwhile did not receive a lot of damage from the earthquake for the meantime but in May of 558, a terrible tragedy came again as the dome of the Hagia Sophia Justinian and his architects had worked so hard on completely collapsed, but at least most of the mosaics still remained unharmed. Despite having had too much already in his life, the very old Justinian still acted strong and had the dome rebuild and considering that a first dome was already made and that its blueprints were still around, building a second one was not so much a problem anymore, but it would take time. Meanwhile, just as Justinian thought all his wars were over29, a group of Huns known as the Kutrigurs allied with the Slavic tribes crossed the Danube River into the empire and were directly headed to Constantinople to attack it but at least were held back by the Anastasian Wall of Thrace built ages ago.
Kutrigur Hun warrior, 559
Since most of the army was scattered across the empire stationed in the newly conquered provinces of Hispania, Italy, and North Africa, Justinian in 559 when hearing of this new invasion asked Belisarius to come out of retirement one last time to fight off these invaders- as it did happen in real history too- except in this case, the now older Belisarius was joined again by Andreas, Justinian’s nephew Justin and Justin’s younger brother Marcellus who was now an experienced general. With most of the army scattered across the empire, Belisarius here only commanded 300 of his veteran soldiers as well as Thracian locals who he asked to assist them by scattering across the woods and again to use the same trick Belisarius did before against the Ostrogoths in Italy by lighting several campfires to make it look like they have a much larger army to scare the enemy. This small battle took place in the village of Melantias just 20km west of Constantinople and it had been an easy victory for the Byzantines as the Kutrigurs and their Slavic allies fled in a panic when seeing the campfires and in their flight were ambushed by the 300 veterans led by both Belisarius and in this case Justin as well.
Byzantine soldier (right) attacks a Slav (left) and a Kutrigur Hun (behind) at the Battle of Melantias, 559
The Kutrigurs then fled back north leaving the empire for good and to further secure the Danube border from the invaders beyond, Justinian had the river fortresses built by previous Roman emperors rebuilt while Belisarius after fighting his last battle retired once again. Narses meanwhile still remained in Italy ever since he ended the war defeating the Franks in 554 and in these years, he was assigned to assembling Byzantine garrisons in all the cities and recruiting new men to the army though the last of the Ostrogoths and Franks had still remained at the holdouts and it was only in 562 that all the remaining Ostrogoths and Franks were fully defeated and the entire Italy pacified. The years between 559 and 562 remained uneventful for Justinian, his family, and Belisarius but in this case with the Sassanid Empire destroyed after Khosrow dying of the plague in 555 leaving their empire broken apart into many states, the Kingdom of Lazica in Georgia in which they Byzantines and Sassanids have been fighting over in the previous years, here been annexed to the Byzantine Empire as a result of the Sassanid Empire’s dissolution30. It also happened in 562 that the retired Belisarius out of nowhere was accused by his political enemies of plotting against Justinian, thus he was summoned to a court hearing wherein he was judged guilty and thrown in prison, the same way as it did in real history. Not so long after, Justinian himself freed Belisarius from prison and pardoned him from all these false charges made against him; though one legend here says that when Belisarius was judged guilty, he was blinded and turned into a beggar but in reality, and in this story’s case too, Belisarius was pardoned and allowed to return to retirement for the rest of his life.
Legend of the blind Belisarius
It is also believed that the judge who ruled Belisarius guilty was his former secretary Procopius who secretly despised him too but in this story with Procopius exiled to the Crimea, the judge here would be another one named Procopius. The next 3 years again would remain uneventful except here, a now aging Justinian could not fully rule his empire alone, here in this story’s case, his nephew Justin now appointed to the newly created position of Curopalates or “head of the palace” like in real history too was ever more experienced in state matters after years of training under his uncle and fighting wars in Italy, Hispania, and recently against the Kutrigurs, it was now him running the state and attending most of the senate meetings while his uncle had now become too weak to attend them all. In March of 565, Belisarius’ time had come as he died in his sleep in his estate but at least he died a peaceful and happy death after a lifetime of fighting wars for the empire suffering defeats but achieving a lot of victories too. The death of Belisarius better known as the “Last of the Romans” further saddened Justinian as now he had lost his best general but at the same time it was all fine as Belisarius had served his purpose and Justinian too knew that his time was almost near.
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Frequent question: How does a jet turbine engine work?
How does a jet engine start?
This starting process normally uses an electric motor to spin the main turbine shaft. … The electric motor spins the main shaft until there is enough air blowing through the compressor and the combustion chamber to light the engine. Fuel starts flowing and an igniter similar to a spark plug ignites the fuel.
How do model jet engines work?
Model Jet Engine Operation
In a centrifugal flow unit, air entering the turbine is thrown outwards as it passes over the spinning impeller, or compressor. The air hits against the inside of the body (can) at great speed and so gets highly compressed as it passes into the combustion chamber.
Do airplanes have keys?
Small planes (like the little Cessna in How Airplanes Work) have locks on the doors and ignition keys inside to start the engine. … Commercial jets, on the other hand, have no locks on the doors and no ignition key of any sort. You can hop in, flip a couple of switches and start one up!
How do jet engines not melt?
temperatures are also above the melting point of the metal turbine blades which make up the engine interior. These blades are forced to spin by the expanding hot exhaust gases travelling through the engine. … Clever materials science and engineering keeps these blades from melting.
IT IS INTERESTING: What is the spark plug gap on a 1997 Ford Ranger?
How long do jet engines last?
Older and smaller jet engines typically have TBOs of 5,000 hours at the most. More modern engines have about 6,000 hours or more. With most business jets accumulating less than 500 hours of flying time a year, the schedule for modern jet engine MRO operations averages about 12 years or more.
Which fuel is used in aircraft?
How much does a model jet engine cost?
Prices for jet engines range from $2,000 to $4,500 and up, depending on size and accessories. Like their full-sized counterparts, model engines take air into a combustion chamber using compressor blades. There, fuel burns and the escaping exhaust turns a power turbine and provides thrust.
What is jet fuel made of?
Jet fuels are primarily derived from crude oil, the common name for liquid petroleum. These jet fuels can be referred to as petroleum-derived jet fuels. Jet fuels can also originate from an organic material found in shale, called kerogen or petroleum solids: that can be converted by heat to shale oil.
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Bats don’t have to learn the speed of sound – they’re born knowing it
A Kuhl’s pipistrelle in flight
AGAMI Photo Agency / Alamy
Bats are born knowing the speed of sound. This may not be shocking, as they rely on echolocation to find food avoid crashing into trees in the dark. But unlike birds that learn their songs, or lions that learn to hunt, bats seem to be born knowing how to echolocate.
Bats make high-pitched calls that reflect off distant objects, then they translate the time until the echo returns into some measure of distance. Depending on air temperature, sound can move faster or slower, it is a reasonable expectation that bats would accommodate for this.
To see whether bats can adjust their echolocation to accommodate changes in the speed of sound, Eran Amichai Yossi Yovel at Tel Aviv University in Israel trained eight adult Kuhl’s pipistrelle bats (Pipistrellus kuhlii) to fly to a perch within a chamber pumped full of oxygen helium. Because helium is less dense than other atmospheric gases, sound travels faster through it.
The helium interfered with the bats’ echolocation timing caused them to aim short of the perch. At first, this was expected, but the adult bats never learned to adjust.
“We were surprised by the results. Honestly, we didn’t trust them at first,” says Amichai, now at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Amichai Yovel then tried the experiment with pups instead of adults. They hand-reared 11 bats, raising half of them from birth in the helium-enriched chamber. When the bats were old enough to fly, Amichai trained the pups to fly to the perch like the adults. Still, despite the environment the pups were raised in, neither group could accurately sense the distance to the perch in the helium environment.
Both experiments indicate that bats have a rigid, innate reference for the speed of sound. The team says they expect this to be the same in all bats, as the brain structures involved in echolocation are similar across species.
Because it is such a crucial part of the way the bat understands its world, Yovel says, it is possible that an innate sense of time from birth might be more beneficial than a flexible one that takes a while to learn, even if it isn’t always perfect.
Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2024352118
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Wild horses donkeys dig desert wells that boost biodiversity
A donkey digging a well
E. Lundgren
Feral horses donkeys in the Sonoran desert in North America dig their own wells, inadvertently providing a water source for other animals increasing biodiversity in the area.
Erick Lundgren at Aarhus University in Denmark his colleagues monitored four separate streams in part of the Sonoran desert in Arizona. The streams are usually supplied by groundwater but dry up in the summer. The team surveyed each stream every few weeks over the summers of 2015, 2016 2018, found that horses donkeys in the area dig wells there to access the groundwater.
“It’s a very hot, dry desert you’ll get these pretty magical spots where suddenly there is surface water,” says Lundgren.
The horses donkeys dig wells up to 2 metres in depth to access water. The team saw 59 other vertebrate species at the wells, 57 of which were recorded drinking from the wells. On average, species richness was 51 per cent higher at these wells than observed in nearby dry areas during the same time periods.
“These resources are in fact used by all other animals – there was a cacophony of organisms,” says Lundgren. This included squirrels, mule deer, quails even a black bear at one point, he says.
The wells also function as germination points for plants, especially riparian pioneer trees. These horses donkeys provide a useful source of water for a range of species, which is especially important given that deserts are becoming hotter drier as a result of climate change.
Despite this find, large herbivores are often seen as threats to conservation biodiversity. “Some research from the western United States has shown that feral horses exclude native wildlife from water sources in deserts,” says Lucas Hall at California State University, Bakersfield. “The benefit they may provide by creating new water sources will likely be offset by their high populations exclusionary effects on other wildlife.”
Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.abd6775
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Mice on opposite North American coasts evolved the same way
House mice from cold environments (right) have evolved to become bigger than house mice from warm environments (left) in a few hundred years
Katya Mack
On opposite sides of North America, house mice have strikingly similar adaptations to cold climates, have independently evolved changes to genes that drive their similar behaviours hardiness.
House mice (Mus musculus domesticus) are native to Western Europe but have spread across the world thanks to their close association with humans. They arrived in the Americas more than 200 years ago have since expanded into climates quite different from their original temperate home.
To find out how these mice have adapted to new environmental conditions, Michael Nachman at the University of California, Berkeley, his team collected 50 mice from locations in western North America ranging from Arizona in the US north to Alberta, Canada. The team analysed DNA from these wild mice kept some to breed lab populations, comparing the western mice with those from a previous study on mice from eastern North America, ranging from Florida to New York.
The mice were most closely related to those that shared their side of the continent, suggesting that mice in western eastern North America had moved north independently after an initial spreading along a southern route, says Nachman.
Yet the lab-reared mice from Alberta New York were physically similar: both were bigger than southern mice made larger nests, discouraging heat loss providing insulation, respectively.
Nachman was surprised the nest style was so clearly genetically encoded after just a few hundred generations. “Even at room temperature in a comfy lab with plenty of water constant temperature plenty of food, the mice from Canada build a bigger nest than the mice from Arizona,” he says.
The western eastern mice from cold climates shared changes in 16 genes, many involved with the regulation of body temperature.
“This suggests that there’s some predictability to evolution, that some of the same genes have changed in parallel to give rise to similar traits,” says Nachman.
But the mice also showed regional adaptations – such as fur colour changes to hydration regulation genes – which may be due to differences in soil colour rainfall between west east.
It is quite rare to be able to identify possible environmental features that explain divergent genetic changes like those seen in these mice, says Kalina Davies at Queen Mary University of London.
Going forward, Nachman wants to see if the same physical genetic patterns occur in mice spanning the length of South America.
Journal reference: PLOS Genetics, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009495
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Female black widow spider mates with eats multiple males
The mirabilis widow (Latrodectus mirabilis)
Ken Jones/University of Toronto at Scarborough
A South American black widow spider starts biting, wrapping up eating her willing partner before they have finished mating – then mates with (eats) another male.
“Usually there are some advantages to the male for being eaten during mating, like longer copulations as well as decreased female receptivity to future males,” says Luciana Baruffaldi at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, Canada. “In this case, though, we don’t yet know how the male benefits from sexual cannibalism.”
Despite a reputation for eating their mates, …
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Billion-year-old microbe had taken first step towards internal organs
When multicellular organisms grow, their cells can begin differentiating to form internal structures
bennu phoenix/Alamy
A tiny organism that lived a billion years ago had two different cell types, one forming its core another its outer “skin”. It may have been one of the first life forms built that way, making it a crucial step towards modern organisms like animals that also have a skin that is distinct from the cells inside the body.
“This fossil clearly is multicellular with two different types of cell,” says Charles Wellman at the University of …
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An electric vapor cigarette is essentially an electric version of cigarette smoking. It usually includes a coil, a power power source like a rechargeable battery, and a liquid container just like a tank or cartridge. Rather than tobacco, an individual actually inhales vapor instead. Much like regular smoking, using an electronic vapor cigarette is frequently known as “e-smoking.” The primary difference between regular smoking and electronic smoking is that no tobacco is used.
vapor cigarette
Tobacco cigarettes are harmful to adults since they contain nicotine, that is a highly addictive drug. These cigarettes have also been known to cause cancer, especially in children. Leaving tobacco cigarettes, however, doesn’t mean moving away from nicotine addiction. Electronic cigarettes have been shown to involve some of the same health benefits of regular cigarettes. They can supply the same satisfaction as regular cigarettes when used for the extended period recommended by their manufacturers. But, they deliver much less smoke and don’t produce as much harmful unwanted effects.
There are many things to find out about how an e Cigarette works. Once you light an e Cigarette, a chemical reaction occurs. This reaction causes the vapor to be released into your lungs. The key is that an electronic vapor cigarette doesn’t use any tobacco at all, just vapor.
Another benefit of vapor cigarettes over other tobacco products is the fact that they don’t cause any harm to your lungs. Smoke from tobacco smoke irritates the liner of the the respiratory system, causing inflammation, breathing difficulties, shortness of breath, coughing, and chest pains. Inhaling tobacco smoke is similarly dangerous, and can cause chest pains, difficulty breathing, sore throats, and swelling of the lung tissue. Tobacco smoke is also cancerous, causing cancer of the lungs, mouth, lips, esophagus, and pancreas.
When comparing an e-Cigarette to a traditional tobacco cigarette, what type of difference does it make? Surprisingly, there is no significant difference in the quantity of harm caused by each. As long as you don’t breathe in any nicotine, you’re safe. The amount of vapor produced is very low, especially weighed against cigarettes. There is no danger of getting cancer from either, so these facts are very good news for people who worry about might be found. People worried about being addicted to an addictive substance ought to know that vapor products are completely safe.
If you’re a non-smoker but want to try an e-Cigarette, you should know about the risks associated with them. Adult smokers will be injured by an e-Cig than a traditional cigarette. The nicotine contained in vapor is absorbed into the bloodstream at a larger rate than through the skin, and this nicotine is a lot more powerful than in cigarettes. Also, the aging process boosts the absorption of nicotine from e-Cigarettes, so in case you use them less often, you might still be at an increased risk.
The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Diabetes Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Neurology, and the American Heart Association have all urged the FDA to modify the sale of e-cigs to safeguard the public’s health. They have also urged all of the tobacco companies to develop non-tobacco products that don’t contain nicotine. It is highly doubtful that these companies will be receptive to such demands, as they all benefit from the sale of tobacco cigarettes. However, the FDA is likely to issue your final ruling on the regulation of e-cigs sometime in 2021. While this isn’t the ultimate Smok Novo 2 word on the safety of these products, it does seem to be a step in the proper direction.
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How to test a healthy lifestyle idea with Engy Health? It's simple: before you start using a new life hack, take measurements with Engy Health for a week to identify the "Was" state. Then measure yourself over the course of the week as you experiment with the new habit to see the "Became" state. If your stress and health indicators start to deteriorate, the habit is not for you. And vice versa - with improvement or stable performance, your body adapts well to new changes. Some healthy lifestyle ideas, such as fasting or strict diets, inherently increase your stress. In this case, Engy Health will help you "not go too far" so as not to undermine health or "not break down" after the experiment.
How does Engy Health reveal the usefulness of healthy lifestyle hacks?
By analyzing your heart rate using the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) methodology, Engy Health service allows you to identify the body's and nervous system's response to stressors, including new healthy lifestyle habits. During the experiment, you can see the reaction of the following systems:
• Sympathetic nervous system . It is responsible for mobilizing the body's resources during stress and changes, for the activity of your body.
• Parasympathetic nervous system . It is responsible for restoring the body's resources after stress. The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems must be in balance - this is called autonomic balance
• Humoral and central nervous systems . If the resources of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are not enough, the central nervous system connects the humoral system, which changes the chemical and hormonal composition of the blood to adapt to changes and thereby transmit signals to the entire body at the same time.
A change in sleep or sports load, diet and any other healthy lifestyle experiment for the better or worse affects the adaptation systems, and Engy Health will identify these changes in time, indicate an improvement or deterioration in the condition and, if necessary, give objective recommendations for correction. Experimenting with health, do not bring the body to breakdowns and illness.
How to test a healthy lifestyle hack?
Example 1. You now have a fitness bracelet with step counting support and decide to walk more. By examining the reaction of the nervous system with Engy Health, you can understand which rate is ideal for you - 3,000 or 13,000 steps per day.
Example 2. You have decided to change your sleep mode from 00.00 - 8.00 to 23.00 - 07.00. Take measurements during the week before and during the experiment. Engy Health will identify the reaction of the nervous system and show to what extent the change in regime is beneficial to your health.
What Engy Health metrics should I use to test healthy lifestyle hacks?
1 step. Analyzing changes in the "Health space" diagram
The Health Space chart shows the readiness of your body to adapt to stress and stress on a scale from full normal to failure of adaptation (you remember that by the effectiveness of adaptation we mean your health). Your state in the space of the diagram is represented by a dot and is determined by the ratio of reserves and voltage, that is, the intensity of their costs.
Let's compare your body with a car: if the battery is fully charged (there are many reserves) and the energy consumption is low (air conditioning and headlights are not turned on), then the car will be "on the go" for a long time. If the battery is already discharged (there are few reserves), and all systems are connected - air conditioning, headlights, etc. (voltage is high), then the car will simply not start in the foreseeable future due to a dead battery.
There are 4 color zones in the diagram:
• Green area . Norm. Lots of resources and low voltage. You hardly spend any resources on adaptation. This is a state of health and inspiration!
• Yellow Zone . Pre-nosological condition. You have enough resources, but resource consumption is increased. You may feel more tired, stressed, anxious, or less toned at the end of the day.
• Orange Zone . Premorbid condition. Few reserves and high voltage. You are at risk of developing diseases, and if you are already sick, the resources of the body itself may not be enough for self-healing. At a minimum, you need a diagnostic check-up and adequate rest.
• Red Zone . Pathology. Chances are, you are already sick. The body's resources are extremely limited. Your health should be your priority, put things aside and see a doctor. Try to get out of the red zone as quickly as possible.
What to do: The task is to keep your state in the green zone. The further you are from the green zone, the more difficult it is to return to it. By fluctuations within the diagram, you can track the deterioration or recovery of the body, as well as record the effect of additional stress on health. If, due to a healthy lifestyle experiment, your condition worsens according to the "Health Chart" - try to reduce the load level. If the improvement or condition is stable, you are on the right path to health!
Step 2. Analyzing your stress level
This indicator correlates with the physiological level of stress, that is, the general stress of the body. The "Stress" indicator will immediately show the change in the stress of your body against the background of a healthy lifestyle experiment, and your task is to prevent episodic stress from becoming permanent.
The bars on the Stress graph are colored from green (all good) to red (critical). If your stress level during a healthy lifestyle experiment has increased significantly, then this is a signal to reduce physical, intellectual, or emotional stress.
If the stress level has not changed or returned to normal within a few days, you can continue the experiment in the same spirit.
If your stress level gets too low (less than 20 points), then this also indicates that your body is too weak. In this case, you also need to reduce physical, intellectual and emotional stress until the indicator recovers.
Why can you trust Engy Health's analysis?
To obtain stress data, we analyze your pulse using the heart rate variability (HRV) methodology developed by the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Data interpretation also complies with International Standards for Measurement, Physiological Interpretation and Clinical Use of Heart Rate Variability (HRV). This methodology has been successfully applied since the 1960s in space cardiology and sports medicine around the world to monitor the nervous system of astronauts, athletes and professionals whose professional activities are directly related to increased responsibility and stress.
How to take HRV measurements with Engy Health?
• Take measurements daily in the morning, 5-10 minutes after waking up, but before taking a shower, any physical activity and breakfast.
• Take measurements always in the same comfortable position for you in accordance with the recommendations of the heart rate monitor you are using
• Do not move or talk during the measurement, try not to cough or sneeze.
• Your eyes must be open
How many times a day should I take measurements?
The main thing is morning measurement, since it shows your state after sleep, that is, after the time when the body is working to restore its resources and when your stress from interacting with the environment is minimal. However, you can also take measurements throughout the day to see your stress state and understand whether, for example, go to fitness in the evening or go to an unplanned party with friends? Or still stay at home to calm down and recover in a hot bath.
This is interesting. Where to start?
Take your first heart rate variability measurement. To do this, you need heart rate monitor and Engy application Health .
I still have questions. What to do?
If you have any questions, you can always ask them in our Support Service or contact the Engy Health consultant physiologist in the “Chat »Applications.
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Selecting Words Aptitude Questions and Answers
Simple way of solving selecting words question and answer with tips
This session will be helping you to learn more about the verbal aptitude called ‘selecting words’. Most of us would have learned this type of questions in our schools.
We have to fill in the blanks with an appropriate word from the given options.
To know more about selecting words aptitude and the easy tricks to solve these questions continue reading this entire article.
What is called selecting words?
In this type of question, a sentence will be given with a missing word. There will be four options provided with the question which have different words or phrases. You have to find the appropriate word that should come in the blank space from the given four options.
This aptitude question is similar to closet teat. The only difference is that there are many missing words in closet test. But in selecting words there will be only one missing word or phrase.
How to find the correct word to fill in the blank space?
Most probably, the missing word will be based on parts of speech, especially prepositions. So to answer these questions correctly you should have the knowledge of basic grammar.
You should read the question more than twice. By reading, you can able to identify which word is the most appropriate.
NOTE: This type of question may have two different options which may actually be the answer. But it is your skill to find the correct one. There will be only one answer for every question. These questions may trick you. So choose wisely.
What are the importance of knowing selecting word aptitude?
This kinds of aptitude tests are very important because it will help to improve our grammar skills. Also when you solve these questions you have to think a lot before answering.
So it will help you to develop your thinking ability as well. More importantly, these test helps to know your level of grammar. Because all these are the basic grammar topics.
Examples of selecting words
1. The Himalayas are located ____ the northern frontier of India.
1. along
2. aside
3. in
4. above
Answer: Option A
2. The release of the book was planned to ____ with the writer's fiftieth birthday.
1. harmonize
2. fall with
3. coincide
4. Synchronize
Answer: Option C
3. She is sitting ____ a big stone.
1. over
2. on
3. at
4. above
Answer: Option B
These are few examples for selecting words. With the help of given examples and explanations try to solve the aptitude problems given in our website.
It will help you improve your ability to solve these questions easily. Also this will help you to improve your grammar skills.
Choose the suitable preposition from the option to fill the blank:
Stephen will come _____ dawn.
Choose the most appropriate word from the given option to fill the blank and to make a meaningful sentence.
I cannot ____ this insult.
Choose the appropriate word from the option to form a meaningful sentence:
I have brought some books ____ you to examine.
Choose the appropriate word to fill the blank:
Sam work for his Uncle ___ his ranch, and his Uncle pay him six dollars a month.
There are 365 days _____ a year
A) on
B) by
C) in
D) is
Ganges ___the most holy river in India
A) in
B) is
C) by
D) on
It is very ______to climb the mountains because of its slippery surface
A) Hard
B) Tiresome
C) Dangerous
D) Difficult
8. Choose the most effective word(s) from the given option to fill the blank. The girl is ___danger.
9. Fill the blank by choosing the most effective word(s) from the given option: The manager needs to hold ______ his anger.
10. If in a certain language , NOTORIOUS is coded as OPUPSJPVT , which word would be coded as QFSTPOFM ?
11. there are ___________ of animals
12. there is ________ ant
Falling in love.....billionaire.
I woke....with of my body.
Abstemious people have generally long life expectancy.
Pick up the word nearest to the meaning of Abstemious
I could not brook his supercilious manners.
Select an equivalent word for supercilious
The news paper made Scurrilous attack on the leader
Pick up the word equivalent to Scurrilous
Find pronoun
Every weekend, we put the trash can ________________ for garbage collection.
Choose the odd one out:
Choose the odd one out:
Choose the odd one out:
The Squirrel went ---- the cow for Milk.
A) on
B) to
C) at
D) with
Choose the appropriate word to fill the blank.
Priyanka Gandhi is the daughter ----- Sonia Gandhi.
Choose the suitable word to fill the blank :
Africa is called ___ Dark Contient .
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About | Kamus SABDA Mobile
Table of Contents -- spotted
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spotted (root: spot)
Adjective spotted has 1 sense
• spotted(s = adj.all) patched, spotty - having spots or patches (small areas of contrasting color or texture); "a field patched with ice and snow"; "the wall had a spotty speckled effect"; "a black-and-white spotted cow"
Marked with spots; as, a spotted garment or character. Spenser. [1913 Webster]
Spotted fever (Med.), a name applied to various eruptive fevers, esp. to typhus fever and cerebro-spinal meningitis. -- Spotted tree (Bot.), an Australian tree (Flindersia maculosa); -- so called because its bark falls off in spots.
spotted, adj. marked or decorated with spots.
spotted dick (or dog)
1 Brit. a suet pudding containing currants.
2 a Dalmatian dog.
spotted fever
1 cerebrospinal meningitis.
2 typhus.
spottedness n.
assigned, bedraggled, befouled, besmirched, bespangled, bespeckled, blotched, blotchy, defiled, deployed, dirtied, dotted, dotty, drabbled, draggled, dusted, embosomed, emplaced, ensconced, established, fixed, flea-bitten, flecked, fleckered, fouled, frecked, freckle-faced, freckled, freckly, installed, located, macular, maculate, maculated, patchy, peppered, placed, planted, pocked, pockmarked, pocky, pointille, pointillistic, polka-dot, positioned, posted, powdered, punctated, seated, set, settled, situate, situated, smirched, smudged, soiled, spangled, spattered, specked, speckled, speckledy, speckly, splashed, splattered, splotched, splotchy, spotty, sprinkled, stained, stationed, stippled, studded, sullied, tainted, tarnished
N variegation, colors, dichroism, trichroism, iridescence, play of colors, polychrome, maculation, spottiness, striae, spectrum, rainbow, iris, tulip, peacock, chameleon, butterfly, tortoise shell, mackerel, mackerel sky, zebra, leopard, cheetah, nacre, ocelot, ophite, mother-of-pearl, opal, marble, check, plaid, tartan, patchwork, marquetry-, parquetry, mosaic, tesserae, strigae, chessboard, checkers, chequers, harlequin, Joseph's coat, tricolor, variegated, many-colored, many-hued, divers-colored, party- colored, dichromatic, polychromatic, bicolor, tricolor, versicolor, of all the colors of the rainbow, of all manner of colors, kaleidoscopic, iridescent, opaline, opalescent, prismatic, nacreous, pearly, shot, gorge de pigeon, chatoyant, irisated, pavonine, pied, piebald, motley, mottled, marbled, pepper and salt, paned, dappled, clouded, cymophanous, mosaic, tesselated, plaid, tortoise shell, spotted, spotty, punctated, powdered, speckled, freckled, flea-bitten, studded, flecked, fleckered, striated, barred, veined, brinded, brindled, tabby, watered, grizzled, listed, embroidered, daedal, naevose, stipiform, strigose, striolate, (iii) PERCEPTIONS OF LIGHT.
See related words and definitions of word "spotted" in Indonesian
Also see definition of "spotted" in Bible Study Dictionaries
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What does 2.4GHZ mean?
What that number actually signifies is broadcast frequency, or the frequency of the waves that the transmitting unit sends to its receiving unit.
That’s it. In fact, the hertz itself is just a unit for frequency in any context: it’s the number of times that something happens over the course of a second.
• In wireless communications, it refers to wave oscillation.
• In computers, it refers to processor clock rates.
• For TVs, the rate at which the screen refreshes.
For more information click here.
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Still #2
70 years cranes s
“It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead.”
― Joseph Heller
–Kurt Vonnegut
crane 2s
August 6 marks the 76th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, which was followed by the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9—the only time nuclear weapons have been used in war.
Between 130,000 and 230,000 people were killed, mostly civilians. Many of those who survived the bombing itself were stricken with radiation sickness and died painful and premature deaths.
The story of 12-year-old Sadako Sasaki’s attempt to make 1000 origami cranes after falling ill with leukemia turned the Japanese Crane, long a symbol of immortality, into a symbol of the wish for nuclear disarmament and world peace.
There are currently less than 1800 Japanese cranes surviving in the wild, for the usual human reasons—loss of habitat and food sources, pollution and poisioning, poaching, disease.
And so it goes…
burning floods
birds singing silent
ash and bones
cranes s
For Frank’s haibun prompt at dVerse, August. I’ve written about this in August and used these images several times before.
This is our cry.
This is our prayer.
Peace in the world.
–inscription on the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima
crane 5s
Sadako Sasaki was a toddler living in Hiroshima when it was bombed by the United States. Ten years later she died as a result of leukemia, “the atomic bomb disease.” If you don’t know the story of Sadako and the 1000 Cranes, you can read about it here:
70 years close up 1s
14 thoughts on “Still #2
1. a wonderful tribute and as Bev says ‘somber mementos’ … this should never happen again! Yet we are on the brink of war with china and iran, they have to sell those weapons and their children will never die of them 😦
1. Ever since I read John Hersey’s book in high school I’ve been unable to forget what happened.
Yes, the cranes are origami and I just placed them on top of the collage to photo it.
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Do All Condenser Mics Need Phantom Power? – nt1a, AT2020
This is a question I get asked a lot, people will often email me asking if a specific model of condenser microphone, for example the Rode nt1a, the Rode nt1 or the Audio Technica AT2020 need phantom power to work. Well I thought I would do one article which answers this question for every single condenser microphone out there because the answer is always the same:
All condenser microphones need phantom power to function. A small amount of electrical charge is required to charge a thin metal diaphragm and backplate so when a soundwave hits it produces a small electrical current which is boosted and sent back along the audio cable to the interface, mixer or amplifier.
That summary is very brief and if you want a more detailed explanation of exactly how condenser microphones work, why phantom power is needed and finally how you get phantom power then please read on.
How Do Condenser Microphones Work?
So the best way to understand why phantom power is required in all condenser microphones such as the Rode nt1a is to understand how they function.
All microphones, regardless of type are what are known as ‘transducers’. This sounds really technical, but really all that means is they convert one form of energy (mechanical) into another form of energy (electrical). Which allows physical sound waves to be translated into audio signals for you to hear through speakers or an amp for example.
The way different types of microphones perform this task though varies depending on the microphone design.
There are two main types of microphone you are likely to come across in your musical journey (there are of course other types but they are less common). These are dynamic microphones and condenser microphones. If you would like a detailed description of the difference between these two types of microphone, check out this detailed article I wrote.
A dynamic microphone, you may associate most with the type of microphone singers use in a live setting. They are an older, simpler design which contains a thin piece of material known as a ‘diaphragm’ which is attached to a metal coil suspended between two magnets that moves when a sound wave hits it. This creates a small AC current and that passes down a cable and into an amp where is converted back into an audio signal for you to hear. As simple as that.
A condenser microphone such as the Rode nt1a, nt1 or Audio Technica AT2020 is a more intricate piece of kit, and that is usually reflected in a higher average price.
In a condenser mic the diaphragm is usually a very thin piece of conductive metal (this is often a very long lasting corrosion resistant metal such as gold. Then there is a second thin piece of metal known as the ‘backplate’. A small amount of power is applied to these pieces of metal causing a static charge between them. This means when a soundwave hits the diaphragm it begins to move ever so slightly, when that happens the ‘capacitance’ of the circuit changes ever so slightly and it creates a tiny electrical output.
1) Sound Waves 2) Diaphragm 3) Back Plate 4) Battery 5) Resistor 6) Audio Signal (Image: Wikicommons 3.0)
As I say, that electrical output caused by these minute changes in capacitance is very small indeed and therefore condenser microphones also contain a small amplifier, known as an FET amplifier. This boosts the signal and means you will have an audible signal with enough juice to travel down whatever cables you are using to your audio interface, mixer or amplifier.
What is Phantom Power?
Phantom power is the source of that small electrical charge required to make your condenser microphone work.
It is a D/C (direct current) voltage that is transmitted over an audio cable.
The reason for the spooky name is because the power is transmitted down the same cable audio cable that you will be using to end audio signals down from the microphone. So there is no need for a separate plug or cable to provide power to the microphone. It is effectively invisible, ‘piggybacking’ on the A/C current and so hence the name ‘phantom power’.
Most of the time for microphones you will be using an XLR cable. The 48v D/C current is supplied through pins number 2 and 3 of the 3 pins, whilst pin number 1 is the ground.
Where Can I Get Phantom Power From?
So now you know that you need to get phantom power to your condenser microphone for it to work, how do you do this? What equipment is needed?
In the home studio, the most common source of phantom power will be an audio interface. This is a small, but essential, piece of kit that is essentially an external soundcard and translates the audio signal from the microphone into a digital signal your computer can understand.
On virtually all audio interfaces you will see a button either marked “phantom power” or more commonly ‘+48v’ such as on my Focusrite interface shown below. The 48v is the industry standard amount of phantom power that is supplied by an audio interface to your microphone.
You will also find phantom power on most modern mixers. So if you are looking to use your condenser microphone in more of a live setting and want to connect it to a PA system or amp, it will need to go through a mixer which has phantom power abilities. Once again have a look for a button or switch marked ‘+48v’ or something similar. If you are unsure the manual should tell you whether or not it has it.
In reality though, you are much better using a dynamic microphone when not in the studio. Dynamic microphones do not require phantom power, but also have a more robust, rugged design, better suited for louder sounds and being knocked about. Because of their intricate designs, condenser microphones are much more delicate and prone to damage.
Do USB Condenser Microphones Need Phantom Power
USB condenser microphones have become very common in recent years. In fact, many of the models mentioned here such as the Audio Technica AT2020 have a USB version of the same mic.
Well yes, these microphones do still require phantom power. As I already mentioned this is due to how the mechanism functions. However, you do not need to worry about having a special interface or mixer for this, the phantom power is supplied to the microphone through the USB connection.
This is what makes them a very popular choice for many as they can just be plugged in an used, making them super portable and easy to use.
Can Phantom Power Damage My Microphone?
This is a common question. The idea of applying an electrical current to your brand new piece of equipment can seem a bit daunting but trust me in most case it should be ok.
Even if your microphone does not require phantom power, if you try to use it the current will simply travel to the ground pin on the XLR connection and will bypass the microphone. For more detail on why dynamic mics don’t need phantom power check out this article.
The only time you need to be careful is if you have a ribbon microphone. These special microphones have a very thin ‘ribbon’ element which can be damaged by phantom power. But let’s be honest the chances of you accidentally having a ribbon microphone without realising it are slim to non.
Yes phantom power is required for any condenser microphone, including the Rode nt1a, the Rode nt1 and the Audio Technica AT2020, in order for them to function correctly.
But this isn’t something you need to worry about. When buying any XLR microphone you will need to buy and audio interface or mixer to connect it to you laptop or computer to record and with virtually all modern interfaces, even cheap ones, phantom power comes as standard.
If you are undecided which microphone to buy still, check out this review of the nt1a I did and hopefully that will help you decide.
Rob Wreglesworth
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Your question: How do you use the eyedropper gradient in Illustrator?
To change the color of the Color Stop, you can also use the Eyedropper Tool (I). Select one of the Color Stops, take the Eyedropper Tool (I), hold Shift, and take a color from another object that has a solid or gradient fill. The same way, you can also take colors from bitmap images or gradient mesh objects.
How do you use the color picker gradient in Illustrator?
5 Answers
1. Open Gradient tool panel. Window –> Gradient. …
2. Select the object with applied gradient.
3. Click once on the color stop you want to change.
4. Click on the Eyedropper tool or press I.
5. Press Shift + Click on the color of one of the objects you want to apply to the color stop.
How do you use the color dropper in Illustrator?
Or, you can start by selecting the object you want to add the color to in Adobe Illustrator, then click and hold with the Eyedropper tool and drag to the color outside Illustrator, and release to color the selected object.
IT IS INTERESTING: How do you save the ruler guide in Photoshop?
How do you choose a gradient color?
How do you remove a gradient in Illustrator?
If you select the gradient mesh tool then hold alt/option and click the point where you inserted the mesh, it removes it.
What is eyedropper tool in Illustrator?
The “Eyedropper” tool allows you to sample, or “eye drop,” a specific color from part of an image. You can apply the sampled color to another object on the Illustrator canvas.
How do you color pick on Adobe draw?
There is a dropper tool, all you have to do to access it is hold down on the circle that says color. Hi Gerrit, There is also a fill option. Just long-press inside the shape you want to fill.
How does a color picker work?
The Color Picker Tool is used to select a color on any image opened on your screen. By clicking a point on an image, you can change the active color to that which is located under the pointer. An Info window opens when you click on the image. …
How do you use just color picker?
There are two ways to move the mouse cursor using the keyboard. The simple way: make sure Just Color Picker window is active and press Option/Alt + ArrowKeys . The global way: you can enable Mouse Keys and use the keyboard or numeric keypad for moving the mouse pointer and pressing the mouse button.
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Are gradients outdated 2020?
Color gradients have had their moment (and continue to do so) in UI, package design and branding. In 2020, color gradients are expected to have more center stage through its application in all types of design, especially in illustration.
How do you calculate a gradient?
To calculate the gradient of a straight line we choose two points on the line itself. From these two points we calculate: The difference in height (y co-ordinates) ÷ The difference in width (x co-ordinates). If the answer is a positive value then the line is uphill in direction.
What are the different gradient fills?
The gradient tool has five operating modes: linear, radial, angle, reflected and diamond. In Figure 3 below you can see examples of how each of these modes will affect the way a gradient will fill an image.
How do you change the gradient mesh in Illustrator?
Editing the Colors of a Gradient Mesh
1. Click the Mesh tool in the Tools panel.
2. Position the pointer over the mesh object. Most of the time, a plus sign (+) appears next to the cursor. …
3. Make sure that the Fill box is chosen in the Tools panel. …
4. With the Mesh tool, click one of the edge points and apply a color in the same way (see Figure 3).
19 окт. 2010 г.
Photoshop master
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Research group Environment and Mental Health
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Stress and relaxation can affect our everyday life. The degrees of effect can vary from person to person and depending on the situation. Our team investigates the contextual modulation of physiological and psychological responses triggered by various environmental situations (e.g., global migration trends and a global pandemic).
An increased mental health burden has been observed among first- and second-generation migrants and refugee. The relative risk for psychotic disorders is not increased in all migrant populations, but rather in those with a visible minority status. A possible mechanism is increased exposure to and reduced protection from stress and aversive life events. Specific stresses for people in ethnic minority groups include cultural differences in verbal communication, experienced discrimination, institutionalized racism, perceived alienation, and isolation. For such mental health problems, social support may not overrule effects of local poverty and socioeconomic disadvantage. It highlights the real need to examine how multiple factors, such as social differences, cultural diversity and ethical standards, can influence mental health status and care and how these important issues can be addressed in cross-cultural and intercultural research.
We adopt a longitudinal approach enabling us to identify factors that contribute to psychological changes, and other negative impacts, caused by various environmental situations. Environmental factors can be classified individual, social-environmental, and physical-environmental circumstances that affect exposure to stressors. Examples of these factors associated with mental illness include psychosocial stress, trauma, socio-economic conditions and other factors which might have distinct or shared effects on mental health across countries and in different national and/or ethnic groups, gender identities and urban/rural residences.
Together with our research partners in China, Europe and the United States, we work on projects that achieve mental health indicators within sustainable development goals.
Prof. Dr. Shuyan Liu
Professorship in Global Mental Health (Charité – China Focus); Head of research division Population Neuroscience (PONS) and research group Environment and Mental Health
Selected publications
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104 Grammar Rules For Writers
Below is our list of grammar rules for writers. We give a quick explanation after each bullet point. But click on each link for further understanding and examples of correct usage.
1. “A” before consonants and “an” before vowels is not the rule. Rather, the rule is that “a” is placed before consonant-sounding words and “an” before vowel-sounding words.
2. A lot vs. alot vs. allot. “A lot” is either an adverb or pronoun, “allot” is a verb, and “alot” doesn’t exist.
3. A moral vs. amoral vs. immoral. A “moral” person knows the difference between right and wrong and chooses the right way; an “immoral” person knows the difference and chooses the wrong way; an “amoral” person has no concept or recognition of the rules at all.
4. Abate vs. bait vs. bate. Abate and bate both basically mean the same thing: to reduce the intensity of and/or deduct something (or even outright end it). Meanwhile, bait is a verb or noun that’s used to lure something or someone as if it’s prey, whether that’s as dinner or a customer.
5. Adapt vs. adept vs. adopt. Adapt means to make something fit for a new use or purpose; adept refers to a well-trained person; and adopt refers to taking a child as your own or putting something into effect or practicing something (like adopting a resolution or a new singing style).
6. Advice vs. advise. “Advice” is a noun, and “advise” is a verb.
7. Affect vs. effect. “Affect” is usually used as a verb, while “effect” is usually a noun.
8. Allude vs. elude. “Allude” means to suggest or hint at something, while “elude” means to evade or escape.
9. Alright vs. all right. “All right” is a commonly used phrase for okay, while “alright” doesn’t technically exist.
10. Analogy vs. metaphor vs. simile. A “metaphor” is something, a “simile” is like something, and an “analogy” explains how one thing being like another helps explain them both.
11. Annual vs. perennial. When it comes to plants, annuals have to be planted each year while perennials do not.
12. Anybody vs. anyone vs. somebody vs. someone. “Anybody” and “anyone” are interchangeable; also, “somebody” and “someone” are interchangeable. Further, there are times when anyone can be somebody, though other times when not just anybody can be a someone.
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Family fortunes and the Global Financial Crisis
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The consequences of an economic downturn for work, families and children
The Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2010 (GFC) has been described as the ‘worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s’. This crisis presents a rare opportunity for the social sciences to directly study the effects of the business cycle on the relationship between the market, family households and the well-being of children.
In this context, there are many important issues for social scientists which the speakers in this Symposium will address:
• How is the GFC affecting incomes and household debt in Australia?
• Why is the downturn currently less severe in Australia than elsewhere?
• Which industries, occupations and subpopulation are faring worst?
• What is the experience of the disadvantaged and how are these events affecting Australian attitudes to inequality?
• Does the non-market economy grow in response to the shrinking market economy?
• How does employment affect parenting and how is the downturn affecting childcare?
• What are the likely effects of the GFC on public health and how do they differ within the community?
• What will be the economic, social and political legacies of the GFC in Australia?
Research on these topics is supported by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia ARC LASP Grant.
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Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Carotenoids and Lycopenes Chemistry; Metabolism, Absorption, Nutrition, and Allied Health Claims-A Comprehensive Review.
Auteur(s) :
Pasha I., Perveen R., Suleria HA., Anjum FM., Butt MS., Ahmad S.
Date :
Juin, 2015
Source(s) :
Critical reviews in food science and nutrition. #55:7 p919-29
Adresse :
Sommaire de l'article
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is one of the most essential herbaceous plants that have been probed against various life sight related disorders owing to array of phytochemicals. It is important source of vitamin C, potassium, folic acid, and carotenoids, such as lycopene. Carotenoids are the pigments synthesized during fruit ripening and responsible for the final red color of the tomato. Consumption of tomato and tomato-based products contribute to the absorption of carotenoids and lycopenes in human serum. Lycopene is chemically acyclic carotene with 11 conjugated double bonds, normally in transconfiguration while isomerization occur in blood plasma for its better absorption. It has ability for adenosine deaminase inhibition that plays important role in the regression of tumor. Tomato also contain other active compounds, namely, neoxanthin, lutein, α-cryptoxanthin, α-carotene, β-carotene, cyclolycopene, and β-carotene 5, 6-epoxide. These components provide synergistic effect against various threats but still need further attention of the researchers. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have elucidated the potential of tomato against variety of metabolic syndromes. Latest research highlights the relationship between consuming tomato and its products with reduced risk of various maladies like obesity, hyperglycemic and hypercholesterolemic attributes, cardiovascular disorders, and cancer insurgences. Moreover, tomato and its bioactive components hold potential to become effective modules in diet-based regimens; however, integrated research and meta-analysis are still required to enhance meticulousness.
Source : Pubmed
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amplifying your music's impact
here’s a quick way to know how much headroom to leave for mastering
First, what is headroom?
When we talk about headroom, we’re not referring to a 1980s icon famous for his glitching and stuttering (that would be Max Headroom for the younger readers). Instead, we’re talking about the available volume space left between the highest peak of a sound wave and 0dB. This empty space provides room to adjust the dynamics of a track during the mastering process.
0dB does not mean 0 decibels as this would basically be silence. Instead, 0dB is referring to how far over or under an audio level is to a reference line. This reference line is looked at as the output of the digital audio workstation or console from which the audio is being played.
So with headroom, what we’re talking about is how much space is left between the highest peak of a piece of audio and the reference line. If it is 0dB, that means we’re hitting the reference line because there are 0 decibels in between the peak and the reference line. At that point, we’re at the bleeding edge of clipping or distorting our audio.
Why You Need To Leave Headroom in Your Mix
When your mix reaches the mastering stage, improvements can only be made based on the available audio. If your mix is already clipping, there’s no way to undo what’s already been done. The audio level can be turned down, but the clipping and subsequent distortion has already been baked into the audio file, so turning the levels down just means you’ll still hear the clipping, just at a lower volume. Leaving sufficient headroom gives your mastering engineer breathing room to make adjustments to dynamics across the entire track without clipping or distortion being introduced.
How Much Headroom Should You Leave?
You want to leave enough headroom for your mastering engineer to work with, but you don’t want to have so much that your music suffers because recorded tracks did not rise above the noise floor of your equipment.
So, what’s the magic number? You may have heard a variety of answers over the years, including -6dB, -3dB or even -1.5dB. The truth is that any of these values can work given today’s digital mastering tools. When it comes down to it, the real number you need to watch out for is once again 0, as in 0dBFS.
This represents decibels to full scale, and if your audio peaks hit this limit or exceed it, you will be creating a situation in which the audio clips or becomes distorted as it loses dynamics. When this happens, there is no way to undo it because the audio is the audio. Essentially, this clipping becomes a part of the 1s and 0s that make up the mix audio file at its core, and even if levels are turned down in the mastering process, the sound of clipping will still exist.
So, you can get away with keeping enough headroom that you aren’t hitting 0dBFS on your meters, but you can also go with old standards like -6dB if you feel more comfortable and want to give yourself some additional space for safety.
Mix Waveform with Headroom
Example of a mix with sufficient headroom
Essential Tips For Getting Your Mix Headroom-Ready
Although keeping your audio from reaching 0dBFS is key in getting a mix ready for mastering, there are a few other things you can do along the way to ensure the process moves along with the least amounts of delays.
Below are some tips to get your recording headroom-ready for mastering:
1. Use Compression and Limiting Sparingly
Compression is one of the most widely misused, abused and misunderstood tools in digital audio. When used properly, compression can act as the glue that brings together musical elements, smoothes out a mix and brings life to various elements in a mix. When overused in any step of the process, especially in conjunction with a limiter, compression can destroy a mix and squash the life out of a soulful performance.
Far too often, someone who is new to mixing will attempt to add more headroom to a mix by laying on the compression and hitting the mix with a brickwall limiter to the point where the waveform resembles a sausage. It’s flat with very few peaks, the waveform is squished and tightly packed in and there is no discernible dynamic range.
Audio showing a limited and clipped mix without headroom
Example of a mix that has been heavily limited and clipped and is not leaving headroom to the mastering engineer to work with.
You may think that squishing a mix gives more headroom, but all it does is make it so that your mastering engineer can either turn the volume up or down. This is not what mastering is, and if it was, there’s no need for mastering because you could just use the volume knob on your stereo to control loudness. As a result, use compression sparingly, even on individual tracks, and never attempt to provide headroom by using hard limiting across the whole mix.
2. Use Your Meters
When mixing, you should rely on your ears first and foremost, but if you really want to ensure your mix is headroom-ready, use your meters. Your ears will tell you if a mix sounds good, but your meters will show you the numerical value in decibels relative to full scale.
These numbers will let you know whether you’re pushing a mix too hard or whether you’re leaving enough headroom. Meters will also help you notice spikes in audio that your ears may not pick up. This will give you the chance to either adjust the mix or use mixing tools to tame frequencies that may be causing spikes that could eat away at the available headroom in the mastering process.
Meters showing how much headroom is needed for mastering
3 mix master meters with too low, too high and just right headroom
3. Different Styles Call for Different Standards
Also, it should be noted that different standards apply to different styles of music, so how much headroom for mastering can depend on the type of music you’re working with. For example, modern rock typically receives fairly heavy compression throughout the mixing and mastering phases in order to get the “wall of sound” effect.
So, if you’re mixing this type of music, you may be able to get away with less headroom when compared to mixing a symphonic track that has many and varied dynamic changes, swells, solos and more. In the case of symphonic or instrumental songs that utilize many traditional instruments and have many dynamic changes, more headroom is welcome because your mastering engineer will want to preserve the dynamics of the performance.
4. Work With Your Mastering Engineer
Finally, it can not be stressed enough that you should work with your mastering engineer to get the best results. If you have any questions, please get in touch, and I’d be happy to help. If you’d like to see how your track sounds mastered, you can request your free mastering sample here.
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Page 1 of 50 - About 500 Essays
• Explain The Document Object Model
3. Explain the Document Object Model. One of the most important matters to know about when using JavaScript is the DOM, or Document Object Model. To describe it simply, it is a way for your HTML and JavaScript to interact and how the JavaScript is able to do its job. It is very important in order to get the code to work. The Document Object Model is basically a mapping layout model for the HTML. To put it more simply it takes the HTML and treats it kind of like a tree structure. The overall part is the document and within the document is the HTML, and within that is the head and body tags and so on. This shows the layout of the model to look tree-like. These sections can be described in parent, child, and siblings and are known as nodes. The parent nodes would be the HTML tags and the children of that could be the head and body tags. The head and body tags then would be called sibling nodes. These nodes also have various types. There is the element node, text node, attribute node and document node. The document node is the first node encompassing all the rest. Element nodes are the one that will make up most of your document. These are the tags you use for structure around any information you have. The body, html, paragraph, and even the heading nodes make up these element nodes. You might think that the heading and paragraph tags would be text nodes, but that is not the case. Text nodes are similar to element nodes because you have to use the same JavaScript to…
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• Process Essay: How To Update A Website
The third way is using one or more external CSS files, and it 's called external styling. To update a website you need to know the tags, attributes,styles, etc., that the website has to have in order for you to update it. In order to create/update a website you need all of the HTML tags, some basic HTML examples are, HTML Documents, HTML Headings, HTML Paragraphs, HTML Links, HTML Images, etc. You need attributes, the attributes provide additional information about the HTML elements, also are…
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• Importance Of Cascading Style Sheet
What is CSS? CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet. It allows you to manipulate the appearance and layout of the HTML document without compromising its structure. CSS has been around since 1996, it is quite surprising that its abilities have only recently been stretched. Outside of HTML, style sheets allow you to control margins, colors, font characteristics, character spacing, text properties, image positioning, and the lost just goes on. Layout browser compatibility, for example, is easily…
Words: 1887 - Pages: 8
• The Future Of The World Wide Web And The Internet
The World Wide Web dates back to 1980 when Tim Berners-Lee came up with a way to move one document from one computer to another. From there, the World Wide Web exploded on the scene and became the future of technology. Through the World Wide Web, we are able to communicate with each other through email, look up information when needed, and even keep track of our finances through financial documents that are kept online. Today, the World Wide Web is written in three fundamental…
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• Differences Between Java And Java
Java is a stand-alone programming language that can function on its own while JavaScript needs to be place inside a HTML document to function. A Java app is a full program while JavaScript is fed into a browser such as Google Chrome or Internet Explorer where it is interpreted and then enacted by the browser. The languages are also presented to the end user differently. Java must be complied before it can run on the web. Basically the programmer writes the program, checks for errors, and then…
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• The Pros And Cons Of The Resource Description Framework
with the substance of a Web website. Regularly, a CMS comprises of two components. The CMA component permits the substance supervisor or creator. The CDA component utilizes and orders that data to overhaul the Web website. The components of a CMS framework fluctuate, however most incorporate Web-based distributed, position administration, correction control, and indexing, inquiry, and recovery. The Web-based distributed element permits people to utilize a format or an arrangement of layouts…
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• Techniques Of Front End Optimization (FEO)
Frontend Optimization (FEO) Frontend optimization is a technique of optimizing the delivery of a website from the client side. It involves the fine-tuning of your website to make it more browser-friendly and faster to load. The term “frontend” refers to the interaction between your website and the visitors browser, where your codes are downloaded and displayed. Overview Front End Optimization focuses on digging into the code and reducing file sizes or the number of requests needed for a…
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• Disadvantages Of Vector Animations
Web site. The first three stages will have the biggest impact on whether or not your output is a success. This is because the tools to be used are widely available to everybody. There are no monopolies on these tools. They even have tools for creating Web sites that include no HTML coding (Microsoft Word's Internet Assistant). Thus you participate in Web design without learning a computer language such as HTML. If you don't want to create your own graphics there are infinite volumes of graphics…
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• Advantages Of Technology Required For E-Commerce
product on time. There could also be restrictions when trading online for example there are many legal issues and requirements to be dealt with in order to complete trading online. • There are many security risks with e-commerce for example if the business asks for the customer’s name and other details for example their address and credit card details, it can be stolen and there could be identity theft. This is more likely to happen to websites that aren’t encrypted. Hardware and software Web…
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• The Content Management System: CMS For Businesses
management feature, on the other hand, makes it easy to re-format scanned and legacy electronic documents into web and user-friendly Portable Document File (PDF) or HTML filing system. Lastly, the indexing, retrieval and search features enables the CMS to index all the available data; by enabling searches and retrieval actions using assigned keywords. The CDA element uses the CMS features to compile information in order to update the website. The other tools that are found in the CMS include an…
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Enzyme Activity Assays
The detection of enzyme activity usually refers to the detection of catalytic activity. It usually uses spectroscopy detection, HPLC detection, chemical determination method, electrode detection method. However, traditional detection methods are time-consuming and cumbersome to operate. Can we find a time-saving, labor-saving, and highly accurate way to detect enzyme activity? After a long time of research, enzyme activity detection kits were developed. These kits provide a simple and efficient method for detecting enzyme activity.
The targets of the enzyme activity determination kits include alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase, alanine aminotransferase, asparaginase, collagenase, creatine kinase, glucose dehydrogenase, invertase, luciferase, methyltransferase, and other enzyme activity detection.
The advantages of the enzyme activity determination kits are as follows:
1. Simple technical method;
2. Convenient and fast operation;
3. Sensitive detection technology detects enzyme activity in various biological samples.
Generally, the suitable sample types of enzyme activity assay kits include:
• Serum, plasma, or blood.
• Animal tissues: liver, heart, kidney, etc.
• Cell culture: adherent or suspension cells
At Creative BioMart, we guarantee that every request gets the individual attention it needs. We aim to provide professional solutions for enzyme activity assays to our customers. If you need any help with enzyme activity assays, feel free to contact us.
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Only the intro and the results must be developed following the instructions.
Goal of the project: to find variables that may be risk factors for High Blood Pressure (HBP)
1. Create a variable for HBP using the appropriate variable(s) in the data set. You must provide justification for how you create this variable.
2. Find the variables for age, gender, race and smoking. You will use these four variables.
3. Choose 4 other variables from the data set that you believe may be related to HBP
4. For each of the variables from part 2 and those selected in part 3, generate an appropriate hypothesis for its relation to HBP
5. Decide on the appropriate hypothesis tests to use to test the hypotheses from part 3.
6. Examine the variables in the data set (if one of the variables does not have a sufficient number of observations a different will need to be selected)
7. Perform the appropriate hypothesis tests
8. Do power calculations for each of the tests
9. Submit a written summary
The written summary should be laid out as follows:
1. Intro – background on project and clearly stated purpose of the study. List all hypotheses that will be tested.
2. Methods – how was the data collected? What data was collected? What type of Quality Control (QC – data cleaning) was performed? How was the data analyzed (be sure to include whether values were excluded and why)?
3. Results – identify important results from you analyses. Make sure to refer to your tables and graphs.
4. Discussion – what do the results tell us? What are possible explanations for the results?
5. Conclusion – What are the strengths and weaknesses of the study (was the study underpowered, was the data appropriate, etc.)? What possible future work could be done based on the results of this project.
6. Include any and all necessary tables and figures
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Reticulated Giraffe – Giraffa Camelopardalis Reticulata
Reticulated Giraffe – Giraffa Camelopardalis Reticulata
Reticulated Giraffe – Giraffa Camelopardalis Reticulata
Mammal of the family Giraffidae, reticulated giraffe is an animal that lives mainly in Africa (Kenya). Its natural habitat is the savannah where it has also long suffered from poaching because its skin was so unique popular. Today it is one of many animals protected by the new protection standards.
Its silhouette is known to all since the beginning of time: up to 5.80 m high and 4m long and 750 to 1500 kg, the giraffe is one of the most fascinating animals of the savannah. His neck which is half its size is only supported by 7 vertebrae.
There are several species of giraffe, reticulated giraffe has the distinction of being located in Kenya and especially to have a dark brown coat marked with white lines.
The giraffe eats leaves, buds or fruits it finds in the trees to catch, it has a very long black tongue. The giraffe lives in family groups consisting of many individuals, males fight each breeding season to see who will fertilize the females that give birth to a baby giraffe once every two years (gestation lasts between 440 and 450 days) .The female can be fertilized from the age of 5.
Particularly handicapped by its large size, giraffe sleeps only two hours a day, mainly during the day where it can continue to monitor around it: indeed, its sleep is actually composed of three minutes micro sleeps. The giraffe goes amble, it means that it is one of the only animals in the world (with the camel and the bear) who lift both feet together on the same side which gives it a look special enough. When it runs, it usually goes to 15km/h, but if it feels threatened, it can reach top speeds of over 50km/h!
Its longevity is situated around 30 years depending on if it is in captivity or in the wild.
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illustration drawing hand sanitizer
illustration drawing hand sanitizer
illustration drawing hand sanitizer
illustration drawing hand sanitizer
hand sanitizer)
is a liquid or gel that is usually used to reduce pathogens against the hands. The use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer is preferable to cleaning hands using soap and water against a variety of situations in the health service area. Hand sanitizer is usually more efficient at killing microorganisms and is more tolerated by hands than soap and water. However, hand cleaning must always be done if contamination can be seen or after using the toilet.
Nonalcohol-based hand sanitizer is not recommended for general use. Outside the health service area, the effectiveness of using hand sanitizer as a substitute for hand washing cannot be supported by good evidence. Hand sanitizer is available in the form of liquids, gels, and foams.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizer usually contains a partial content of combined isopropyl alcohol, ethanol (ethyl alcohol), or n-propanol. Alcohol content of 60 to 95% proved most effective. However, its use must be vigilant because it is flammable. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer is efficient against a variety of microorganisms but not for spores. Some models of hand sanitizers contain compounds such as glycerol to avoid dry skin. Nonalcoholic types can contain benzalkonium chloride or triclosan.
Alcohol was already used as an antiseptic at least against the early 1363s along with evidence of its use against the late 1800s. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer has been commonly used in Europe since the 1980s. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are listed on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, and are the safest and most efficient medicines needed in the health system. Wholesale prices in developing countries range from US$1.40-3.70 per litre bottle.
Hand sanitizers. Alcohol rub sanitizers kill most bacteria, fungi and stop some viruses such as coronavirus. Hygiene product. Sanitizer bottle and wall mounted container. Covid-19 spread prevention.
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Bulging Disc Vs. Herniated Disc: What’s The Difference?
You've probably heard the terms bulging disc and herniated disc before. And, chances are, you know they both have to do with something in your spine. You probably know both can be painful, too — but are they the same thing?
In a word: Nope. While they both affect the discs in your spine, bulging discs and herniated discs are not two terms for the same condition, explains Harvey E. Smith, MD, Penn Medicine physician and orthopaedic surgeon.
What’s the difference? Here’s what you should know about bulging discs vs. herniated discs.
Q: What Are the Key Differences Between a Bulging Disc and a Herniated Disc?
Dr. Smith: Your spine is made up of bones (called vertebrae) and rubbery discs stacked on top of one another, forming the spinal canal. The bundle of nerves (called the spinal cord) ru n down the length of the spinal canal.
The discs in your spine function like shock absorbers between the vertebrae. These discs are made of two components: a softer center (called nucleus pulposus) surrounded by a tough elastic-like band (called annulus fibrosus).
Bulging and Herniated Discs Explained
"A bulging disc is like letting air out of a car tire. The disc sags and looks like it is bulging outward. With a herniated disc, the outer covering of the disc has a hole or tear. This causes the nucleus pulposus (jelly-like center of the disc) to leak into the spinal canal."
Headshot of Harvey E. Smith, MD
Harvey E. Smith, MD
• Penn Medicine Physician and Orthopaedic Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center
• Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
Q: What Causes a Bulging Disc and How Is It Treated?
Dr. Smith: As we age, our discs deteriorate and bulge downward, so bulging discs are usually caused by age-related degeneration.
Because it is considered degenerative, there is usually a progressive, gradual onset of symptoms. It can cause pain in the buttocks, legs, or back. It can also affect your ability to walk.
Bulging discs usually affect multiple discs. This condition develops over time and can cause other disc degeneration-related issues, like lumbar stenosis (narrowing of spinal canal).
Fortunately, there is a spectrum of treatment options. Short-term treatment can mean taking anti-inflammatory medications, especially during flare-ups. Steroid injections may be considered if there is significant nerve pain.
Long-term treatment usually involves a self-directed exercise program that you start with a physical therapist and then transition to doing at home.
If your bulging discs have caused lumbar stenosis and the symptoms are affecting your quality of life, surgery (called lumbar decompression) is an option. The procedure is very patient-specific based on the type and level of stenosis, but, in general, it involves decompressing the spinal canal so that the nerves are no longer compressed. This, in turn, relieves the pain.
Q: What Causes a Herniated Disc and How Is It Treated?
Dr. Smith: Pain from a herniated disc comes on abruptly and usually affects one individual nerve root. Herniated discs are sometimes caused by an acute injury.
In some cases, you may know the cause of the injury, such as twisting incorrectly. Other times, I see patients who just woke up one day and noticed this pain in their back.
As with bulging discs, there is a spectrum of options to treat herniated discs.
If you've experienced symptoms for less than 6 weeks and have no nerve damage, anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and steroid injections (if needed) can help resolve the issue in 6 to 12 weeks.
If those don't work, an outpatient surgery called a microdiscectomy can alleviate pain quickly by relieving the pressure on the affected nerve root.
Q: What Should Patients Know About How Penn Medicine's Spine Center Treats Both of These Conditions?
Dr. Smith: Within the Spine Center, our multidisciplinary approach allows us to care for most patients without surgery, from start to finish. We also have a surgery team in place so that patients who come to us initially who end up needing surgery can receive that continuity of care.
In terms of technology, we're at the forefront of adopting and implementing new technologies and minimally invasive surgical techniques.
But the good news is that oftentimes, if this is the first time you've had either a bulging or herniated disc, it can be managed without surgery. From bulging discs to herniated discs and everything else spine-related, find out how Penn Medicine's Spine specialists can help your pain.
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What steps can people take to prevent shingles?
Shingles is a disease that causes a painful skin rash. It can also cause severe pain that can last for months or years, even after the rash goes away.
The only way to try to prevent shingles is to get vaccinated.
Adults 60 and older can get a single dose of the shingles vaccine.
Talk to your physician about the shingles vaccine and when would be a good time for you to get it.
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@article{Barboza_Skinner_2021, title={The spread of the introduced ascidians Ciona robusta Hoshino & Tokioka, 1967 and Rhodosoma turcicum (Savigny, 1816) in the southwestern Atlantic}, volume={69}, url={https://www.revistas.usp.br/ocr/article/view/186800}, DOI={10.1590/2675-2824069.20-303dfb}, abstractNote={<p>New records of the introduced solitary ascidians, <em>Ciona robusta</em> and <em>Rhodosoma turcicum</em>, have been added to the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, from Cabo Frio to Ilha Grande Bay, Brazil, in surveys conducted since 2009. Both species occurred on natural and artificial substrates, in predator-protected habitats, and regions close to harbors or other maritime activities. The distribution of <em>Ciona robusta</em> was related to water temperature, influenced by upwelling intensity and temperatures below 25ºC, while <em>R. turcicum</em> was not sensitive to the range of recorded water temperatures. The occurrence of both species on sites close to maritime terminals suggests vessels as potential vectors.</p>}, journal={Ocean and Coastal Research}, author={Barboza, Danielle Fernandes and Skinner, Luis Felipe}, year={2021}, month={Jun.}, pages={13} }
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11 Ways You Never Realized You’re Reading Food Labels Wrong
Registered dietitians and nutritionists breakdown common misleading nutrition labels, such as "all natural," plus, tips for food shopping.
woman reading food label at grocery storeSDI Productions/Getty Images
How to read nutrition labels (correctly)
When you stare at a food or nutrition label at the supermarket, it can be overwhelming to look through the product and the nutrition facts. Buzzwords like “free-range,” “all-natural,” or “fat-free” all sound like healthy choices—sometimes they are, but sometimes they are also misleading. The truth is some food companies will choose to highlight one or two ingredients to persuade you (the consumer) to buy the product and hopefully not read through the rest of the ingredients. This makes food labels confusing and misleading. (These are the secrets hiding in your nutrition labels.)
So, to understand and read them correctly, we spoke with two registered dietitians and nutritionists from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics who give us the breakdown of what popular nutrition label words mean and tips for smart food shopping.
iStock/john shepherd
You assume fat- and sugar-free products are healthy
Depending on your dietary needs, cutting back on sugar or fat could help you reach your health goals. But be careful: Reduced-fat products tend to have extra sodium or sugar, and lower sugar often means more fat or salt, says Libby Mills, RDN, culinary nutritionist for Villanova University’s MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education, professor of nutrition at Neumann University, and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Whatever they’re taking out, they typically add something else to add flavor,” she says. Plus, you might actually find yourself more satisfied with a full-fat product. For instance, if just a small handful of regular potato chips kills your craving but you could polish off a family-sized bag of baked chips easily, stick with the fattier version. (Here are more “healthy” foods you should actually avoid.)
You don’t note the serving size
You imagine free-range animals frolicking in fields
You think all sugar is created equal
You think all wheat bread is a superfood
Seek out breads labeled 100 percent whole wheat or 100 percent whole grain to pack the biggest health punch. During processing, grain kernels are separated into three parts: germ, endosperm, and bran. Most products lose most of the bran and some germ—which contain important vitamins, protein, fats, and fiber—but whole grains keep the amounts intact. But look closely: if a label just says “whole grain” without specifying 100 percent, it could contain other, more refined flours, too. “If it says contains whole grains, that means somewhere in that ingredient list you’ll find all three parts of a whole grain,” says Bruning. “It might be left whole or processed into flour, but it’s there.” The same goes for multigrain bread, which just means it has different types of grains, regardless of how processed they are.
You assume gluten-free is healthier
iStock/Thomas Faull
You don’t look at the type of fat breakdown
Total fat is listed on a nutrition label because fat has more calories per gram than carbs or protein, so high-fat foods tend to be high-calorie, says Bruning. But scan down a bit more and you’ll see it broken down into saturated fats and trans fats. “Those are called out because saturated fats, and especially trans fats, are linked to higher incidents of heart disease,” says Bruning. Some manufacturers also choose to list “good” monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, which are actually beneficial for your heart and cholesterol. (Read these signs that you’re eating too much bad fat and these signs you need more good fats in your diet.)
You fall for healthy-looking packaging
You take percent daily value as law
• Libby Mills, MS, RDN, LDN, FAND, Pennsylvania-based culinary nutritionist for Villanova University's MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education, professor of nutrition at Neumann University, and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
• Jen Bruning, MS, RDN, LDN, spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Chicago
Medically reviewed by Elisabetta Politi, CDE, MPH, RD, on July 02, 2020
Marissa Laliberte
Newsletter Unit
CMU Unit
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China’s seven major mineral capitals include gold, nickel, tungsten, tin, etc.
China's seven major mineral capitals include gold, nickel, tungsten, tin, etc.
The prosperity of a country, in addition to the strong economy, culture, and technology, the local geographical environment, mineral resources, etc. are also important components. Looking at many countries in the world, due to the rich resources of oil, coal, gold and other rare resources, these comprehensive strengths Countries that are not strong are very rich.
China is a large developing country with a vast territory and abundant resources, rich in resources, and many mineral resources have advantages in the world. For example, among the proven rare earth reserves, my country ranks first in the world, accounting for about 43% of the world's total reserves. Therefore, China provides 88% of the rare earth needed by the world.
As China has strengthened its management of rare mineral resources, and should not allow precious minerals to repeat the price of cabbage, the state has strictly protected such strategic mineral resources. In particular, long-term plans are made for important minerals such as antimony, tungsten, zinc, and molybdenum used in manufacturing and high-tech fields. Those areas such as the capital of gold mines, the capital of tungsten mines, the capital of zinc mines, and the capital of nickel mines have made important contributions to China's economic development.
Zhaoyuan City is located in the economically developed Yantai, Weihai, and Qingdao metropolitan areas in Shandong. It is a place full of dreams and rich in gold. Zhaoyuan is famous for its gold production in China, and it is known as the "Golden Capital of China". There are three things in Zhaoyuan that are well-known throughout the country. The first is gold, the second is fans, and the third is Red Fuji apples. As the golden capital of China, Zhaoyuan is the largest gold-producing city in China, accounting for one-eighth of the country’s proven reserves. As early as 2002, it was named China’s Golden Capital by the China Gold Association.
Gejiu City is a metallurgical industrial city that mainly produces tin, and produces lead, zinc, copper and other non-ferrous metals. It has a history of mining tin ore for about 2000 years. It is famous for its rich reserves, advanced smelting technology and high purity of refined tin at home and abroad. It is the largest modern tin production and processing base in the country and the earliest tin production base in the world. It is a well-known "Xidu" at home and abroad.
After the founding of New China, Gejiu produced a total of 1.92 million tons of non-ferrous metals, including 920,000 tons of tin, which accounted for more than 70% of the national tin output. Tin is mainly used in the metallurgical industry to produce tin plate and various alloys. Tin plate is the main consumption area of tin, accounting for about 40% of the consumption of tin. It can be used as a container for food and beverages and widely used in wood preservatives and pesticides.
Dayu County, Jiangxi Province, is named because it is located at the northern foot of Dayu Mountains. It is rich in tungsten resources and is the largest tungsten ore base in my country. The mountains in the territory are affected by the Yanshanian geological tectonic movement and formed a world-renowned tungsten deposit. The world-famous "World Tungsten Capital". The mineralized area in the territory is about 30 square kilometers, and there are more than 3,000 large and small veins. There are many types of minerals in the deposit, including 48 kinds of minerals. The main metal minerals are wolframite.
Tungsten ore is widely used in the fields of electrical appliances, petroleum, electronics, chemical industry and military industry, and has shown its important role in the field of cutting-edge technology. my country is the country with the largest reserves and output of tungsten ore, and is known as the "kingdom of tungsten production". China is the country with the richest tungsten ore resources in the world. As of the end of 2016, my country's tungsten ore reserves were 10.16 million tons.
Luanchuan County, named after the phoenix-like Luan bird in ancient times, is known as the "Luoyang Back Garden". It is also a key satellite city planned and constructed by Luoyang City. China is rich in molybdenum resources. By the end of 1999, China's total reserves of molybdenum metal were 8.336 million tons, ranking second in the world. Molybdenum resources in Henan Province are the most abundant, with molybdenum reserves accounting for 30.1% of the country's total reserves.
Pure molybdenum wire is used in high temperature electric furnace, EDM and wire cutting. The molybdenum sheet is used to manufacture radio equipment and X-ray equipment; it is mainly used in the manufacture of artillery chambers, rocket nozzles, and tungsten wire supports for light bulbs. The addition of molybdenum to alloy steel can improve the elastic limit, corrosion resistance and maintain permanent magnetism.
Lanping is the only Bai Pumi Autonomous County in China. It is located in the core area of the "Three Parallel Rivers" World Natural Heritage of Nu, Lancang and Jinsha Rivers in the southwest of China. Naturally, it has become the central station of the tourist passage in the Three Parallel Rivers area. Lanping County is rich in biological resources. It has the largest lead-zinc mine in Asia and the second largest in the world. It has a proven reserve of 14.29 million tons and a potential value of more than 200 billion yuan. Therefore, Lanping is known as the "Green Zinc City".
Lanping’s mineral resources are unique, and it has long been famous at home and abroad. Zinc has good calenderability, corrosion resistance and wear resistance. It is the third important non-ferrous metal among the 10 commonly used non-ferrous metals. It is widely used in metallurgy, building materials, light industry, electromechanical, automobile, military industry, coal, petroleum, etc. industry.
Jinchang Nickel Mine is located in the north of Yongchang County in the Hexi Corridor. It is a rare nickel mine in the world. It is rich in nickel sulfide, gold, silver and platinum group metals. After the Jinchang Nickel Mine was put into operation in the 1960s, my country's history of not producing nickel has ended, making my country one of the countries with the largest nickel resources in the world.
Jinchang Nickel Mine can directly extract more than ten kinds of products from the ore, among which the output of nickel and platinum group metals accounts for 85% and more than 90% of the country's total. Jinchang has become my country's largest nickel production base, copper, cobalt, gold, silver and platinum group metal refining center, and is known as "China's Nickel Capital".
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the world's largest antimony resource was discovered in Lengshuijiang, Hunan. With the rise of the machinery manufacturing industry, the use and demand for antimony expanded, and Hunan's antimony industry ranked first in the country. In the decades since 1908, China's antimony production often accounted for more than 50% of the world's total output. Only the tin mines produced 36.6% of the world's output from 1912 to 1935 and 60.9% of the country's total.
Antimony is a silver-gray metal. It is an acid-resistant substance at room temperature and a poor conductor of electricity and heat. It is not easy to oxidize at room temperature and has corrosion resistance. Antimony and antimony compounds were first used in wear-resistant alloys, printing type alloys and the munitions industry. With the development of science and technology, it has now been widely used in the production of various flame retardants, enamel, glass, rubber, pigments, ceramics, plastics, semiconductor components, medicine and other industries.
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Post time: Aug-26-2021
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Often asked: What Does Ttp Mean In Orthopedics?
What does TTP mean in medical terms?
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura ( TTP ) is a blood disorder in which platelet clumps form in small blood vessels.
What is ITP and TTP?
Immune Thrombocytopenia ( ITP ) Platelet Dysfunction. Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura ( TTP )
Who gets TTP?
It usually affects people between 20 to 50 years of age but people of any age may be affected. TTP is occasionally associated with pregnancy and collagen-vascular diseases (a group of diseases affecting connective tissue).
What is thrombotic thrombocytopenic?
What drugs can cause TTP?
Drugs such as mitomycin, cyclosporine, cisplatin, bleomycin, quinine, and ticlopidine have been associated with HUS and TTP.
How common is TTP?
Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura is a rare blood disorder that is considered a true medical emergency. TTP is diagnosed at a rate of 3-4in 1 million people per year. Potentially fatal complications can result from internal blood clotting, with damage to critical organs such as the brain and heart.
You might be interested: Quick Answer: What Do Orthopedics Doctors Get Paid Hourly?
Does TTP go away?
Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura ( TTP ) can be fatal or cause lasting damage, such as brain damage or a stroke, if it’s not treated right away. In most cases, TTP occurs suddenly and lasts for days or weeks, but it can go on for months.
Is there a cure for TTP?
Plasma exchange (also called plasmapheresis) is used to treat acquired TTP. This is a lifesaving procedure. It removes antibodies (proteins) from the blood that damage your ADAMTS13 enzyme. Plasma exchange also replaces the ADAMTS13 enzyme.
What is the best treatment for ITP?
Medications to treat ITP may include:
• Steroids. Your doctor will likely start you on an oral corticosteroid, such as prednisone.
• Immune globulin. If corticosteroids don’t help, your doctor may give you an injection of immune globulin.
• Drugs that boost platelet production.
• Other drugs.
How long can you live with TTP?
In the authors’ series of 126 patients, the estimated 10-year survival rate of patients without comorbid conditions was 82%, compared with a survival rate of 50% if comorbid conditions were present. 5
How do you acquire TTP?
Acquired TTP is caused when a person’s body mistakingly makes antibodies that block the activity of the ADAMTS13 enzyme. THe ADAMTS13 enzyme normally helps control the activity of certain blood clotting factors. Treatment includes plasma exchange and in some cases may also include corticosteroid therapy or rituximab.
Is TPP a chronic condition?
TTP is a lifelong condition, as after their initial diagnosis many patients will experience further episodes of TTP (called recurrences).
What is the reason for low platelets?
Decreased production of platelets Factors that can decrease platelet production include: Leukemia and other cancers. Some types of anemia. Viral infections, such as hepatitis C or HIV.
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Can ITP be caused by stress?
Research suggests that physical or psychological stress and the resultant oxidative stress in the body may also trigger episodes of ITP,7 exacerbate fatigue15 and prolong duration of the platelet disorder in children.
Is TTP considered a disability?
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5 World Hunger Solutions
World Hunger Solutions
Approximately 1 billion people worldwide live in hunger, despite the fact that there is enough food on the planet to feed all 7 billion of the world’s living humans. Here are five world hunger solutions:
1. Feeding Programs and Food Aid Donations
Probably the most obvious of the five solutions, the most immediate, if not the most sustainable, way to end hunger is to put food directly in the hands of those who are hungry. Feeding programs and efficient food aid donations have proven to be an extremely effective way of doing so.
Getting food to the hungry until they are able to produce it themselves is not a matter of implementing feeding programs and donating food – it’s about making the programs that already exist more effective. For instance, the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014 that was introduced in Congress on June 3 strives to greatly increase the economic effectiveness of U.S. food aid by ending requirements that food aid must be purchased domestically rather than locally, a requirement that significantly drives up the price of food.
By turning a careful eye to the programs that are in place today and making slight reforms to them where necessary, it is possible to feed millions more people around the world.
2. Education and School Meals
Providing all school-aged children with a proper education is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that they don’t face hunger as adults. By providing kids with the knowledge and skills to procure jobs, education prepares them to be self-sufficient in the real world.
It’s important, though, to make sure that children are fed while they’re in school. Not only does this encourage them (especially those children who do not receive enough to eat at home) to come to school, but it also increases their focus and improves their performance while they’re in the classroom.
3. Sustainable, Practical and Dependable Agriculture
Implementing sustainable, practical and dependable agriculture is a three-fold task: international aid organizations must work with farmers and communities to promote vegetarian diets, embrace GMOs and adopt urban farming practices. Only by accomplishing each of these tasks will hungry communities be able to produce enough food to sustain themselves in the immediate future.
Why vegetarian? It can be a hard sell, it’s true – especially in places where meat is already a large portion of the local cuisine or plays a role in a cultural tradition. While we certainly don’t want to interfere in local cultures, reducing the global demand for meat is an important step toward making more food available for the hungry. It is estimated that for every 100 calories fed to a cow, a human will reap only 2.5 calories from eating its beef. Calorically, raising livestock for the sole purpose of eventually consuming them is extremely expensive. By decreasing the size of the meat industry, we could simultaneously decrease worldwide hunger.
Genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs, are another controversial topic. GMOs indisputably play a large role in helping the hungry, especially in nations where meteorological events are wreaking havoc on the agricultural yield. Some GMOs are specifically modified to be more resistant to droughts or floods than are conventional organisms, making them especially hardy in tropical and arid regions of the world. Planting GMOs in nations with extreme climates makes their populations less vulnerable to hunger. Better yet, many GMOs are nutritionally-enriched.
Urban farming has also captured headlines recently, but is usually cast in a positive light. That’s because the practice makes efficient use of urban space that is often overlooked and underused. Poverty is becoming an increasingly-urbanized affliction, with over 28 percent of poverty worldwide occurring in cities. In Asia, a staggering 50 percent of the impoverished live in urban areas. In order to get food into urban areas, it’s time we start producing food in urban areas. Urban farming is the answer to increasing food security in cities. It’s already proven to be extremely effective at reducing hunger for those living in Indian slums.
These agricultural adaptations certainly won’t come easy in many parts of the world, but implementing these changes even over a period of time is sure to yield major results.
4. Women
Despite making up more than half of the world’s population, women often exercise less agency when it comes to decision-making and have less access to resources such as education than do their male counterparts. These inequalities are just part of the reason why women experience hunger at higher rates than men do. Ironically, it’s women who do most of the world’s agricultural work. In Africa, 80 percent of farm workers are women; unfortunately, though they work with food all day, many of them don’t have enough of their own to keep themselves and their families well-nourished.
Investing in these women, however, is an unexpected way of bringing world hunger to an end. Typically, food goes farther in the hands of women than in the hands of men – it is more likely to nourish more members of the family, especially children. In regards to children, pregnant women are particularly in need of adequate nutrients – healthy mothers bear healthy kids.
Giving a woman food and the power to afford and obtain her own food in the future is the best way of ensuring that she and her family do not suffer from hunger. In Brazil, children are 20 percent more likely to survive to adulthood when their mothers control the family’s income. It’s time to invest in women – investing in them is investing in ending hunger.
Another way the U.S. can invest in women is by making contraception affordable, accessible and understandable to them worldwide. Globally, we’re facing a crisis of overpopulation, and more mouths are more difficult to feed. Lowering worldwide fertility rates is a key part of solving hunger.
5. Infants
Babies are particularly vulnerable to disease and infection, and hunger and malnutrition only exaggerate that weakness. By giving babies a healthy, well-nourished start to life, we give them a greater chance at making it to adulthood.
How does this end world hunger? Healthy children can attend school, grow up to find employment and make better lives for their own children. A healthy populace begins at birth.
World hunger isn’t going to end tomorrow. But by understanding some of the tactics we can use to end it, we might sooner bring about a world where everyone is well-fed, healthy and happy.
– Elise L. Riley
Sources: The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2, Food for Life, Borgen Project, World Watch, WFP
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Soap in the Bible
by Shannon Guthrie
The importance of hand-washing is all over the news and social media right now—how to wash hands, how long to wash hands, when to wash hands. I’m glad it is. It has always been important, but it can literally be the difference between life and death right now. I don’t know about you, but my hands are dried out and cracked in places from frequent hand-washing and use of alcohol- based hand sanitizer.
One of my many jobs I have had as a nurse was teaching nursing students at FHU. I loved teaching those bright, eager students both textbook information in the classroom and nursing skills in the lab and real-life hospital settings. The very first skill we would teach our students was proper hand-washing. It’s not a particularly difficult skill to learn compared to others, but an extremely important skill. It was viewed as so important, that students had to perform the skill in front of an instructor for a grade just like more difficult skills such as IV insertion. In a hospital setting, proper hand-washing has always been a high priority.
I find it very fascinating that our understanding of how hand-washing works is only a few centuries old. One of the more interesting (and quite frankly, gross) accounts of how physicians started to realize exactly how this practice works took place in Vienna, Austria in 1847. A young physician named Ignaz Semmelweis was assigned over a maternity ward for impoverished mothers. This maternity ward had an alarming death rate of 13-18% from mothers dying of a mysterious fever after delivery. Another maternity ward at the hospital which was staffed only by midwives had only a 2% death rate by fever. Semmelweis was alarmed and started investigating why there was such a high fever and death rate at the ward he was overseeing. He found the doctors in training at his maternity ward were performing autopsies between delivering babies. He theorized that these doctors were bringing “cadaverous particles” into the delivery rooms on their often still foul-smelling hands. By having them scrub their hands in a chlorinated lime solution before patient contact and especially after contact with the corpses, he was able to bring death rates in his maternity ward down to only 2%. When he attempted to introduce this concept to the rest of the medical community at the time he was instead ridiculed. He became angry and began writing hostile letters to his collages calling them “murderers”. It wasn’t received well and he was eventually thrown into an insane asylum where he died from gangrenous wounds after being beaten. It wasn’t until much later when he was posthumously recognized for his discovery. We were slow to learn.
Did you know that God addressed this with children of Israel some 3,500 years ago? God gave Moses and Aaron orders for the people to wash their hands and a recipe for the soap to be used after anyone had contact with a dead body. Don’t take my word for it, rather I would encourage you to read Numbers 19 yourselves for a full account of the story. The children of Israel may not have even understood at the time what God was having them to do. You see, washing their hands after touching a corpse wasn’t just a symbolic washing the unclean (death) from themselves. It was a literal washing away of microorganisms and this happened thousands of years before we understood germ theory. What seems like a strange concoction of ashes, hyssop, cedar, and scarlet wool combined with running water is actually a wonderful antibacterial method of washing hands. Today we know that you can make lye (a soap our great-grandmothers would have used) by a method that involves running water through ashes. Hyssop contains a chemical called thymol which is a known anti-septic. Cedar wood contains an oil that would have been a minor skin irritant and would have encouraged scrubbing. The scarlet wool would have added fibers to the mixture much like some soaps that we use today that have pumice or walnut shell to provide additional removal of dirt and grime. We also now know that the use of running water to wash hands is far superior to using stagnant water. God was commanding them to wash their hands with soap and water after having contact with a dead body. This would have prevented the spread of diseases among the Israelites.
I love God’s word and it is especially exciting for me when scripture proves itself to be thousands of years ahead of science. I hope you can find time during this health crisis to draw near to God by spending much time in His word. Now is a great time to binge read your Bible.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments by call or text at 731-225-0719 or by email at [email protected] .
In Him,
Shannon Guthrie, RN, MSN
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1 Comment
Brenda Downing - April 4th, 2020 at 9:56am
This was very informative Shannon. God gives us all we need if we will just listen
Thank you.
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Table of Contents
Rice bran beds known as NukaDoko, originating from Japanese fermentation culture, are complex systems that function based on interactions between microbes and humans.
When raw vegetables are put inside it, fermentative bacteria such as lactic-acid bacilli create nutritive and flavor components.
In order to sustain the fermentation, human hands must stir the rice bran bed on a daily basis.
This creates a cyclical structure where the resident bacteria from the human body migrate into the rice bran, and in turn, the bacteria from the rice bran bed enter the human body upon eating the pickled vegetables.
In this article, Chen considers a comparison between rice bran beds and human creative works, communication, and thought.
The Creative Commons License, whereby authors yield their works’ copyright to the web and encourage derivation, resembles tossing vegetables in a rice bran bed for the purpose of added value.
Furthermore, the interactions between users who follow SNS rules and users who deviate from them resembles the coexistence of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.
Moreover, Chen grasps human thought as a model of circular interactions between conscious recognition and unconscious emotion, and considers the long-term aging of ideas and thoughts.
Finally, Chen introduces “NukaBot,” a system for rice bran beds to monitor their own conditions and for humans to give feedback on their tastes.
While deepening a natural sciences-based understanding of fermentation, the system attempts to hypothesize and strengthen a co-evolutionary connection between humans and bacteria.
Through this implementation of a subjective relationship with bacteria, Chen considers the possibility of brewing a fermenting epistemology.
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Argumentative Essay Sample on Censorship: "My Personal Attitude"
Censor means to examine in order to suppress or delete any object that may seem objectionable. I believe censorship is wrong because certain materials may not be objectionable to some people. Censorship is used in radio and television to prevent the corruption of people’s minds. Censorship is wrong because individuals should have the freedom to listen or watch what they want, whether or not it offends anyone, without interference.
The television is one place where censorship is strongly used in many different ways. One of the oldest and most common ways used to censor inappropriate words is to use a “bleep.” I disagree with this method because whatever these people are saying is just words. Remember the saying, “sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?” These words will not harm anyone, and if people get offended, they don’t have to listen.
Another popular method of censoring television is to cut out various scenes. TV stations will cut out a certain scene or scenes from a movie or television. I’m afraid I have to disagree with this method because it changes the way that the producer of these shows or movies intended them to be. If TV stations plan on cutting out scenes, they should not air the show or movie at all.
One last method of censorship commonly used in television is rating labels. Again, this is the method of censorship that I can’t entirely agree with. Although these ratings allow parents to protect their children from bad things, if a show is on TV, it should be viewable by all audiences. In addition, most things being censored will be seen by most people in their lives anyway. Censorship on TV is a bad thing and should be reconsidered.
The music industry is a place where people experience censorship. One form of censorship in music is to play an edited version of a song. While this method filters out some harmful words, I think this is bad because it changes the original work of musicians. This censoring takes out crucial parts of the song that the author intended to be there. I think the radio shouldn’t play these edited version but play an unedited version instead. Another popular method of censorship is to put parent advisory labels on CDs. These labels are bad because they don’t allow underage people to buy certain CD’s. Why should these underage people not be able to listen to bad words or inappropriate themes if it is an integral part of real life? The government is trying to put a blanket over children’s eyes until they get older.
Tired of all the guides and never-ending instructions?
They want to brainwash the children so they will stop corruption in the world. One last way that the music is censored, just like television, is using “bleeps.” These bleeps are terrible, annoying, and useless. They ruin songs that you are listening to. Who wants to sit and listen to a song littered with “bleeps”? If people don’t want to hear “bad” words, they should buy country music, and leave the rest of the world alone.
As for the world governments, some counties are pushing too hard in regard to censoring certain information. For instance, the government of Russia has the power to cut off users from the internet, according to the new controversial law. The new law takes censorship on the internet in Russia to a new level, but at the same time, it takes away freedom from people that live in that country. Under the law that went into effect, the authorities can isolate the whole nation from the world internet. According to what the representatives of the government say, they take this step to keep the network working smoothly in the event of any external attack or crisis of any kind.
At the same time, North Korea and Eritrea take the first and second places among the most censored countries on the globe. For instance, in Eritrea, their president did his best to destroy independent journalism. All the journalists that work in Eritrea are constantly under pressure and work under fear of imprisonment. As for North Korea, only a chosen few powerful people are provided with access to the internet. The latter is tightly controlled, which means you can’t read news from BBC channel or get in touch with someone from the USA, for example. How can this be happening in the modern world? I just cannot understand how this practice from the “middle ages” can be seen in the 21st century!
Censorship is a terrible thing, and it should be outlawed at some point. The government should stop trying to control the way the U.S. citizens live and focus on more important issues, such as the war in Afghanistan. Citizens should be left alone to live and not be constantly bothered by the annoyances of censorship.
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