Colosseum

Following, a text, in english, from the Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia:

The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started between 70 and 72 AD[1] under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus,[2] with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96).[3] The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).

Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[1][4][5] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[6]

The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.

The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheater. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, hence its original name, after the reign of Emperor Nero.[7] This name is still used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name Amphitheatrum Caesareum; this name could have been strictly poetic.[8][9] This name was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed an amphitheater of the same name in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli).[10]

The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby.[3] (the statue of Nero itself being named after one of the original ancient wonders, the Colossus of Rhodes[citation needed]. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Helios (Sol) or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero's head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome.

In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus ("as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world").[11] This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre.

The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze. By the year 1000 the name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.[12]

The name further evolved to Coliseum during the Middle Ages. In Italy, the amphitheatre is still known as il Colosseo, and other Romance languages have come to use similar forms such as le Colisée (French), el Coliseo (Spanish) and o Coliseu (Portuguese).

Construction of the Colosseum began under the rule of the Emperor Vespasian[3] in around 70–72AD. The site chosen was a flat area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran. By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited. It was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain. He built the grandiose Domus Aurea on the site, in front of which he created an artificial lake surrounded by pavilions, gardens and porticoes. The existing Aqua Claudia aqueduct was extended to supply water to the area and the gigantic bronze Colossus of Nero was set up nearby at the entrance to the Domus Aurea.[12]

Although the Colossus was preserved, much of the Domus Aurea was torn down. The lake was filled in and the land reused as the location for the new Flavian Amphitheatre. Gladiatorial schools and other support buildings were constructed nearby within the former grounds of the Domus Aurea. According to a reconstructed inscription found on the site, "the emperor Vespasian ordered this new amphitheatre to be erected from his general's share of the booty." This is thought to refer to the vast quantity of treasure seized by the Romans following their victory in the Great Jewish Revolt in 70AD. The Colosseum can be thus interpreted as a great triumphal monument built in the Roman tradition of celebrating great victories[12], placating the Roman people instead of returning soldiers. Vespasian's decision to build the Colosseum on the site of Nero's lake can also be seen as a populist gesture of returning to the people an area of the city which Nero had appropriated for his own use. In contrast to many other amphitheatres, which were located on the outskirts of a city, the Colosseum was constructed in the city centre; in effect, placing it both literally and symbolically at the heart of Rome.

The Colosseum had been completed up to the third story by the time of Vespasian's death in 79. The top level was finished and the building inaugurated by his son, Titus, in 80.[3] Dio Cassius recounts that over 9,000 wild animals were killed during the inaugural games of the amphitheatre. The building was remodelled further under Vespasian's younger son, the newly designated Emperor Domitian, who constructed the hypogeum, a series of underground tunnels used to house animals and slaves. He also added a gallery to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity.

In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire (caused by lightning, according to Dio Cassius[13]) which destroyed the wooden upper levels of the amphitheatre's interior. It was not fully repaired until about 240 and underwent further repairs in 250 or 252 and again in 320. An inscription records the restoration of various parts of the Colosseum under Theodosius II and Valentinian III (reigned 425–455), possibly to repair damage caused by a major earthquake in 443; more work followed in 484[14] and 508. The arena continued to be used for contests well into the 6th century, with gladiatorial fights last mentioned around 435. Animal hunts continued until at least 523, when Anicius Maximus celebrated his consulship with some venationes, criticised by King Theodoric the Great for their high cost.

The Colosseum underwent several radical changes of use during the medieval period. By the late 6th century a small church had been built into the structure of the amphitheatre, though this apparently did not confer any particular religious significance on the building as a whole. The arena was converted into a cemetery. The numerous vaulted spaces in the arcades under the seating were converted into housing and workshops, and are recorded as still being rented out as late as the 12th century. Around 1200 the Frangipani family took over the Colosseum and fortified it, apparently using it as a castle.

Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvional terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. A religious order moved into the northern third of the Colosseum in the mid-14th century and continued to inhabit it until as late as the early 19th century. The interior of the amphitheatre was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make quicklime.[12] The bronze clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.

During the 16th and 17th century, Church officials sought a productive role for the vast derelict hulk of the Colosseum. Pope Sixtus V (1585–1590) planned to turn the building into a wool factory to provide employment for Rome's prostitutes, though this proposal fell through with his premature death.[15] In 1671 Cardinal Altieri authorized its use for bullfights; a public outcry caused the idea to be hastily abandoned.

In 1749, Pope Benedict XIV endorsed as official Church policy the view that the Colosseum was a sacred site where early Christians had been martyred. He forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry and consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who perished there (see Christians and the Colosseum). However there is no historical evidence to support Benedict's claim, nor is there even any evidence that anyone prior to the 16th century suggested this might be the case; the Catholic Encyclopedia concludes that there are no historical grounds for the supposition. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects, removing the extensive vegetation which had overgrown the structure and threatened to damage it further. The façade was reinforced with triangular brick wedges in 1807 and 1827, and the interior was repaired in 1831, 1846 and in the 1930s. The arena substructure was partly excavated in 1810–1814 and 1874 and was fully exposed under Benito Mussolini in the 1930s.

The Colosseum is today one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions, receiving millions of visitors annually. The effects of pollution and general deterioration over time prompted a major restoration programme carried out between 1993 and 2000, at a cost of 40 billion Italian lire ($19.3m / €20.6m at 2000 prices). In recent years it has become a symbol of the international campaign against capital punishment, which was abolished in Italy in 1948. Several anti–death penalty demonstrations took place in front of the Colosseum in 2000. Since that time, as a gesture against the death penalty, the local authorities of Rome change the color of the Colosseum's night time illumination from white to gold whenever a person condemned to the death penalty anywhere in the world gets their sentence commuted or is released,[16] or if a jurisdiction abolishes the death penalty. Most recently, the Colosseum was illuminated in gold when capital punishment was abolished in the American state of New Mexico in April 2009.

Because of the ruined state of the interior, it is impractical to use the Colosseum to host large events; only a few hundred spectators can be accommodated in temporary seating. However, much larger concerts have been held just outside, using the Colosseum as a backdrop. Performers who have played at the Colosseum in recent years have included Ray Charles (May 2002),[18] Paul McCartney (May 2003),[19] Elton John (September 2005),[20] and Billy Joel (July 2006).

Exterior

Unlike earlier Greek theatres that were built into hillsides, the Colosseum is an entirely free-standing structure. It derives its basic exterior and interior architecture from that of two Roman theatres back to back. It is elliptical in plan and is 189 meters (615 ft / 640 Roman feet) long, and 156 meters (510 ft / 528 Roman feet) wide, with a base area of 6 acres (24,000 m2). The height of the outer wall is 48 meters (157 ft / 165 Roman feet). The perimeter originally measured 545 meters (1,788 ft / 1,835 Roman feet). The central arena is an oval 87 m (287 ft) long and 55 m (180 ft) wide, surrounded by a wall 5 m (15 ft) high, above which rose tiers of seating.

The outer wall is estimated to have required over 100,000 cubic meters (131,000 cu yd) of travertine stone which were set without mortar held together by 300 tons of iron clamps.[12] However, it has suffered extensive damage over the centuries, with large segments having collapsed following earthquakes. The north side of the perimeter wall is still standing; the distinctive triangular brick wedges at each end are modern additions, having been constructed in the early 19th century to shore up the wall. The remainder of the present-day exterior of the Colosseum is in fact the original interior wall.

The surviving part of the outer wall's monumental façade comprises three stories of superimposed arcades surmounted by a podium on which stands a tall attic, both of which are pierced by windows interspersed at regular intervals. The arcades are framed by half-columns of the Tuscan, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, while the attic is decorated with Corinthian pilasters.[21] Each of the arches in the second- and third-floor arcades framed statues, probably honoring divinities and other figures from Classical mythology.

Two hundred and forty mast corbels were positioned around the top of the attic. They originally supported a retractable awning, known as the velarium, that kept the sun and rain off spectators. This consisted of a canvas-covered, net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center.[3] It covered two-thirds of the arena, and sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors, specially enlisted from the Roman naval headquarters at Misenum and housed in the nearby Castra Misenatium, were used to work the velarium.[22]

The Colosseum's huge crowd capacity made it essential that the venue could be filled or evacuated quickly. Its architects adopted solutions very similar to those used in modern stadiums to deal with the same problem. The amphitheatre was ringed by eighty entrances at ground level, 76 of which were used by ordinary spectators.[3] Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. The northern main entrance was reserved for the Roman Emperor and his aides, whilst the other three axial entrances were most likely used by the elite. All four axial entrances were richly decorated with painted stucco reliefs, of which fragments survive. Many of the original outer entrances have disappeared with the collapse of the perimeter wall, but entrances XXIII (23) to LIV (54) still survive.[12]

Spectators were given tickets in the form of numbered pottery shards, which directed them to the appropriate section and row. They accessed their seats via vomitoria (singular vomitorium), passageways that opened into a tier of seats from below or behind. These quickly dispersed people into their seats and, upon conclusion of the event or in an emergency evacuation, could permit their exit within only a few minutes. The name vomitoria derived from the Latin word for a rapid discharge, from which English derives the word vomit.

Interior

According to the Codex-Calendar of 354, the Colosseum could accommodate 87,000 people, although modern estimates put the figure at around 50,000. They were seated in a tiered arrangement that reflected the rigidly stratified nature of Roman society. Special boxes were provided at the north and south ends respectively for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins, providing the best views of the arena. Flanking them at the same level was a broad platform or podium for the senatorial class, who were allowed to bring their own chairs. The names of some 5th century senators can still be seen carved into the stonework, presumably reserving areas for their use.

The tier above the senators, known as the maenianum primum, was occupied by the non-senatorial noble class or knights (equites). The next level up, the maenianum secundum, was originally reserved for ordinary Roman citizens (plebians) and was divided into two sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. Specific sectors were provided for other social groups: for instance, boys with their tutors, soldiers on leave, foreign dignitaries, scribes, heralds, priests and so on. Stone (and later marble) seating was provided for the citizens and nobles, who presumably would have brought their own cushions with them. Inscriptions identified the areas reserved for specific groups.

Another level, the maenianum secundum in legneis, was added at the very top of the building during the reign of Domitian. This comprised a gallery for the common poor, slaves and women. It would have been either standing room only, or would have had very steep wooden benches. Some groups were banned altogether from the Colosseum, notably gravediggers, actors and former gladiators.

Each tier was divided into sections (maeniana) by curved passages and low walls (praecinctiones or baltei), and were subdivided into cunei, or wedges, by the steps and aisles from the vomitoria. Each row (gradus) of seats was numbered, permitting each individual seat to be exactly designated by its gradus, cuneus, and number.

The arena itself was 83 meters by 48 meters (272 ft by 157 ft / 280 by 163 Roman feet).[12] It comprised a wooden floor covered by sand (the Latin word for sand is harena or arena), covering an elaborate underground structure called the hypogeum (literally meaning "underground"). Little now remains of the original arena floor, but the hypogeum is still clearly visible. It consisted of a two-level subterranean network of tunnels and cages beneath the arena where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. Eighty vertical shafts provided instant access to the arena for caged animals and scenery pieces concealed underneath; larger hinged platforms, called hegmata, provided access for elephants and the like. It was restructured on numerous occasions; at least twelve different phases of construction can be seen.[12]

The hypogeum was connected by underground tunnels to a number of points outside the Colosseum. Animals and performers were brought through the tunnel from nearby stables, with the gladiators' barracks at the Ludus Magnus to the east also being connected by tunnels. Separate tunnels were provided for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins to permit them to enter and exit the Colosseum without needing to pass through the crowds.[12]

Substantial quantities of machinery also existed in the hypogeum. Elevators and pulleys raised and lowered scenery and props, as well as lifting caged animals to the surface for release. There is evidence for the existence of major hydraulic mechanisms[12] and according to ancient accounts, it was possible to flood the arena rapidly, presumably via a connection to a nearby aqueduct.

The Colosseum and its activities supported a substantial industry in the area. In addition to the amphitheatre itself, many other buildings nearby were linked to the games. Immediately to the east is the remains of the Ludus Magnus, a training school for gladiators. This was connected to the Colosseum by an underground passage, to allow easy access for the gladiators. The Ludus Magnus had its own miniature training arena, which was itself a popular attraction for Roman spectators. Other training schools were in the same area, including the Ludus Matutinus (Morning School), where fighters of animals were trained, plus the Dacian and Gallic Schools.

Also nearby were the Armamentarium, comprising an armory to store weapons; the Summum Choragium, where machinery was stored; the Sanitarium, which had facilities to treat wounded gladiators; and the Spoliarium, where bodies of dead gladiators were stripped of their armor and disposed of.

Around the perimeter of the Colosseum, at a distance of 18 m (59 ft) from the perimeter, was a series of tall stone posts, with five remaining on the eastern side. Various explanations have been advanced for their presence; they may have been a religious boundary, or an outer boundary for ticket checks, or an anchor for the velarium or awning.

Right next to the Colosseum is also the Arch of Constantine.

he Colosseum was used to host gladiatorial shows as well as a variety of other events. The shows, called munera, were always given by private individuals rather than the state. They had a strong religious element but were also demonstrations of power and family prestige, and were immensely popular with the population. Another popular type of show was the animal hunt, or venatio. This utilized a great variety of wild beasts, mainly imported from Africa and the Middle East, and included creatures such as rhinoceros, hippopotamuses, elephants, giraffes, aurochs, wisents, barbary lions, panthers, leopards, bears, caspian tigers, crocodiles and ostriches. Battles and hunts were often staged amid elaborate sets with movable trees and buildings. Such events were occasionally on a huge scale; Trajan is said to have celebrated his victories in Dacia in 107 with contests involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days.

During the early days of the Colosseum, ancient writers recorded that the building was used for naumachiae (more properly known as navalia proelia) or simulated sea battles. Accounts of the inaugural games held by Titus in AD 80 describe it being filled with water for a display of specially trained swimming horses and bulls. There is also an account of a re-enactment of a famous sea battle between the Corcyrean (Corfiot) Greeks and the Corinthians. This has been the subject of some debate among historians; although providing the water would not have been a problem, it is unclear how the arena could have been waterproofed, nor would there have been enough space in the arena for the warships to move around. It has been suggested that the reports either have the location wrong, or that the Colosseum originally featured a wide floodable channel down its central axis (which would later have been replaced by the hypogeum).[12]

Sylvae or recreations of natural scenes were also held in the arena. Painters, technicians and architects would construct a simulation of a forest with real trees and bushes planted in the arena's floor. Animals would be introduced to populate the scene for the delight of the crowd. Such scenes might be used simply to display a natural environment for the urban population, or could otherwise be used as the backdrop for hunts or dramas depicting episodes from mythology. They were also occasionally used for executions in which the hero of the story — played by a condemned person — was killed in one of various gruesome but mythologically authentic ways, such as being mauled by beasts or burned to death.

The Colosseum today is now a major tourist attraction in Rome with thousands of tourists each year paying to view the interior arena, though entrance for EU citizens is partially subsidised, and under-18 and over-65 EU citizens' entrances are free.[24] There is now a museum dedicated to Eros located in the upper floor of the outer wall of the building. Part of the arena floor has been re-floored. Beneath the Colosseum, a network of subterranean passageways once used to transport wild animals and gladiators to the arena opened to the public in summer 2010.[25]

The Colosseum is also the site of Roman Catholic ceremonies in the 20th and 21st centuries. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI leads the Stations of the Cross called the Scriptural Way of the Cross (which calls for more meditation) at the Colosseum[26][27] on Good Fridays.

In the Middle Ages, the Colosseum was clearly not regarded as a sacred site. Its use as a fortress and then a quarry demonstrates how little spiritual importance was attached to it, at a time when sites associated with martyrs were highly venerated. It was not included in the itineraries compiled for the use of pilgrims nor in works such as the 12th century Mirabilia Urbis Romae ("Marvels of the City of Rome"), which claims the Circus Flaminius — but not the Colosseum — as the site of martyrdoms. Part of the structure was inhabited by a Christian order, but apparently not for any particular religious reason.

It appears to have been only in the 16th and 17th centuries that the Colosseum came to be regarded as a Christian site. Pope Pius V (1566–1572) is said to have recommended that pilgrims gather sand from the arena of the Colosseum to serve as a relic, on the grounds that it was impregnated with the blood of martyrs. This seems to have been a minority view until it was popularised nearly a century later by Fioravante Martinelli, who listed the Colosseum at the head of a list of places sacred to the martyrs in his 1653 book Roma ex ethnica sacra.

Martinelli's book evidently had an effect on public opinion; in response to Cardinal Altieri's proposal some years later to turn the Colosseum into a bullring, Carlo Tomassi published a pamphlet in protest against what he regarded as an act of desecration. The ensuing controversy persuaded Pope Clement X to close the Colosseum's external arcades and declare it a sanctuary, though quarrying continued for some time.

At the instance of St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) forbade the quarrying of the Colosseum and erected Stations of the Cross around the arena, which remained until February 1874. St. Benedict Joseph Labre spent the later years of his life within the walls of the Colosseum, living on alms, prior to his death in 1783. Several 19th century popes funded repair and restoration work on the Colosseum, and it still retains a Christian connection today. Crosses stand in several points around the arena and every Good Friday the Pope leads a Via Crucis procession to the amphitheatre.

 

Coliseu (Colosseo)

A seguir, um texto, em português, da Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre:

 

O Coliseu, também conhecido como Anfiteatro Flaviano, deve seu nome à expressão latina Colosseum (ou Coliseus, no latim tardio), devido à estátua colossal de Nero, que ficava perto a edificação. Localizado no centro de Roma, é uma excepção de entre os anfiteatros pelo seu volume e relevo arquitectónico. Originalmente capaz de albergar perto de 50 000 pessoas, e com 48 metros de altura, era usado para variados espetáculos. Foi construído a leste do fórum romano e demorou entre 8 a 10 anos a ser construído.

O Coliseu foi utilizado durante aproximadamente 500 anos, tendo sido o último registro efetuado no século VI da nossa era, bastante depois da queda de Roma em 476. O edifício deixou de ser usado para entretenimento no começo da era medieval, mas foi mais tarde usado como habitação, oficina, forte, pedreira, sede de ordens religiosas e templo cristão.

Embora esteja agora em ruínas devido a terremotos e pilhagens, o Coliseu sempre foi visto como símbolo do Império Romano, sendo um dos melhores exemplos da sua arquitectura. Actualmente é uma das maiores atrações turísticas em Roma e em 7 de julho de 2007 foi eleita umas das "Sete maravilhas do mundo moderno". Além disso, o Coliseu ainda tem ligações à igreja, com o Papa a liderar a procissão da Via Sacra até ao Coliseu todas as Sextas-feiras Santas.

O coliseu era um local onde seriam exibidos toda uma série de espectáculos, inseridos nos vários tipos de jogos realizados na urbe. Os combates entre gladiadores, chamados muneras, eram sempre pagos por pessoas individuais em busca de prestígio e poder em vez do estado. A arena (87,5 m por 55 m) possuía um piso de madeira, normalmente coberto de areia para absorver o sangue dos combates (certa vez foi colocada água na representação de uma batalha naval), sob o qual existia um nível subterrâneo com celas e jaulas que tinham acessos diretos para a arena; Alguns detalhes dessa construção, como a cobertura removível que poupava os espectadores do sol, são bastante interessantes, e mostram o refinamento atingido pelos construtores romanos. Formado por cinco anéis concêntricos de arcos e abóbadas, o Coliseu representa bem o avanço introduzido pelos romanos à engenharia de estruturas. Esses arcos são de concreto (de cimento natural) revestidos por alvenaria. Na verdade, a alvenaria era construída simultaneamente e já servia de forma para a concretagem. Outro tipo de espetáculos era a caça de animais, ou venatio, onde eram utilizados animais selvagens importados de África. Os animais mais utilizados eram os grandes felinos como leões, leopardos e panteras, mas animais como rinocerontes, hipopótamos, elefantes, girafas, crocodilos e avestruzes eram também utilizados. As caçadas, tal como as representações de batalhas famosas, eram efetuadas em elaborados cenários onde constavam árvores e edifícios amovíveis.

Estas últimas eram por vezes representadas numa escala gigante; Trajano celebrou a sua vitória em Dácia no ano 107 com concursos envolvendo 11 000 animais e 10 000 gladiadores no decorrer de 123 dias.

Segundo o documentário produzido pelo canal televisivo fechado, History Channel, o Coliseu também era utilizado para a realização de naumaquias, ou batalhas navais. O coliseu era inundado por dutos subterrâneos alimentados pelos aquedutos que traziam água de longe. Passada esta fase, foi construída uma estrutura, que é a que podemos ver hoje nas ruínas do Coliseu, com altura de um prédio de dois andares, onde no passado se concentravam os gladiadores, feras e todo o pessoal que organizava os duelos que ocorreriam na arena. A arena era como um grande palco, feito de madeira, e se chama arena, que em italiano significa areia, porque era jogada areia sob a estrutura de madeira para esconder as imperfeições. Os animais podiam ser inseridos nos duelos a qualquer momento por um esquema de elevadores que surgiam em alguns pontos da arena; o filme "Gladiador" retrata muito bem esta questão dos elevadores. Os estudiosos, há pouco tempo, descobriram uma rede de dutos inundados por baixo da arena do Coliseu. Acredita-se que o Coliseu foi construído onde, outrora, foi o lago do Palácio Dourado de Nero; O imperador Vespasiano escolheu o local da construção para que o mal causado por Nero fosse esquecido por uma construção gloriosa.

Sylvae, ou recreações de cenas naturais eram também realizadas no Coliseu. Pintores, técnicos e arquitectos construiriam simulações de florestas com árvores e arbustos reais plantados no chão da arena. Animais seriam então introduzidos para dar vida à simulação. Esses cenários podiam servir só para agrado do público ou como pano de fundo para caçadas ou dramas representando episódios da mitologia romana, tão autênticos quanto possível, ao ponto de pessoas condenadas fazerem o papel de heróis onde eram mortos de maneiras horríveis mas mitologicamente autênticas, como mutilados por animais ou queimados vivos.

Embora o Coliseu tenha funcionado até ao século VI da nossa Era, foram proibidos os jogos com mortes humanas desde 404, sendo apenas massacrados animais como elefantes, panteras ou leões.

O Coliseu era sobretudo um enorme instrumento de propaganda e difusão da filosofia de toda uma civilização, e tal como era já profetizado pelo monge e historiador inglês Beda na sua obra do século VII "De temporibus liber": "Enquanto o Coliseu se mantiver de pé, Roma permanecerá; quando o Coliseu ruir, Roma ruirá e quando Roma cair, o mundo cairá".

A construção do Coliseu foi iniciada por Vespasiano, nos anos 70 da nossa era. O edifício foi inaugurado por Tito, em 80, embora apenas tivesse sido finalizado poucos anos depois. Empresa colossal, este edifício, inicialmente, poderia sustentar no seu interior cerca de 50 000 espectadores, constando de três andares. Aquando do reinado de Alexandre Severo e Gordiano III, é ampliado com um quarto andar, podendo suster agora cerca de 90 000 espectadores. A grandiosidade deste monumento testemunha verdadeiramente o poder e esplendor de Roma na época dos Flávios.

Os jogos inaugurais do Coliseu tiveram lugar ano 80, sob o mandato de Tito, para celebrar a finalização da construção. Depois do curto reinado de Tito começar com vários meses de desastres, incluindo a erupção do Monte Vesúvio, um incêndio em Roma, e um surto de peste, o mesmo imperador inaugurou o edifício com uns jogos pródigos que duraram mais de cem dias, talvez para tentar apaziguar o público romano e os deuses. Nesses jogos de cem dias terão ocorrido combates de gladiadores, venationes (lutas de animais), execuções, batalhas navais, caçadas e outros divertimentos numa escala sem precedentes.

O Coliseu, como não se encontrava inserido numa zona de encosta, enterrado, tal como normalmente sucede com a generalidade dos teatros e anfiteatros romanos, possuía um “anel” artificial de rocha à sua volta, para garantir sustentação e, ao mesmo tempo, esta substrutura serve como ornamento ao edifício e como condicionador da entrada dos espectadores. Tal como foi referido anteriormente, possuía três pisos, sendo mais tarde adicionado um outro. É construído em mármore, pedra travertina, ladrilho e tufo (pedra calcária com grandes poros). A sua planta elíptica mede dois eixos que se estendem aproximadamente de 190 m por 155 m. A fachada compõe-se de arcadas decoradas com colunas dóricas, jónicas e coríntias, de acordo com o pavimento em que se encontravam. Esta subdivisão deve-se ao facto de ser uma construção essencialmente vertical, criando assim uma diversificação do espaço.

 

Os assentos eram em mármore e a cavea, escadaria ou arquibancada, dividia-se em três partes, correspondentes às diferentes classes sociais: o podium, para as classes altas; as maeniana, sector destinado à classe média; e os portici, ou pórticos, construídos em madeira, para a plebe e as mulheres. O pulvinar, a tribuna imperial, encontrava-se situada no podium e era balizada pelos assentos reservados aos senadores e magistrados. Rampas no interior do edifício facilitavam o acesso às várias zonas de onde podiam visualizar o espectáculo, sendo protegidos por uma barreira e por uma série de arqueiros posicionados numa passagem de madeira, para o caso de algum acidente. Por cima dos muros ainda são visíveis as mísulas, que sustentavam o velarium, enorme cobertura de lona destinada a proteger do sol os espectadores e, nos subterrâneos, ficavam as jaulas dos animais, bem como todas as celas e galerias necessárias aos serviços do anfiteatro.

O monumento permaneceu como sede principal dos espetáculos da urbe romana até ao período do imperador Honorius, no século V. Danificado por um terremoto no começo do mesmo século, foi alvo de uma extensiva restauração na época de Valentinianus III. Em meados do século XIII, a família Frangipani transformou-o em fortaleza e, ao longo dos séculos XV e XVI, foi por diversas vezes saqueado, perdendo grande parte dos materiais nobres com os quais tinha sido construído.

Os relatos romanos referem-se a cristãos sendo martirizados em locais de Roma descritos pouco pormenorizadamente (no anfiteatro, na arena...), quando Roma tinha numerosos anfiteatros e arenas. Apesar de muito provavelmente o Coliseu não ter sido utilizado para martírios, o Papa Bento XIV consagrou-o no século XVII à Paixão de Cristo e declarou-o lugar sagrado. Os trabalhos de consolidação e restauração parcial do monumento, já há muito em ruínas, foram feitos sobretudo pelos pontífices Gregório XVI e Pio IX, no século XIX.

Self Portrait

 

©Nourhan Refaat Maayouf

 

All rights reserved. My work is not to be edited, distributed, sold or uploaded anywhere without my written permission.

© 2013 Lechatbon/LGS All Rights Reserved

This photo taken in the (downtown) Seattle Public Library Evelyn W. Foster Learning Center, which houses the library's literacy, ESL and world languages collection.

 

The maple-wood floor was created by artist Ann Hamilton. It contains 556 lines of text (in reverse) from the first sentences of books in 11 languages and alphabets found in the collection.

 

A mosaic of images from the One Letter group, arranged by luminance & color.

 

Image created in Perl using the Flickr API and ImageMagick.

 

This will be much nicer when we get a larger assortment of letters in the pool If you like this, help us out by adding more licensed letter photos to this image pool.

 

Text: Lewis Carroll, "Jabberwocky"

--

More stuff by jbum:

Sudoku Puzzles by Krazydad

Wheel of Lunch

Whitney Music Box

The Joy of Processing

 

{telling me a joke after his shower}

 

my favorite portrait crop is square. something good about it, no?

 

oh...and i know...one post a day, but i couldn't hold back on this one after i processed. he's just so cute (says his biased momma).

its deadpool in a sentence

Sentenced to Life without parole for stabbing a stranger to death

One of the oldest techniques in psychology, Sentence Completion often has been used to understand creativity, imagination, and personality.

 

How would you fill in the blank?

 

Inside gaol

Western Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) profile, highlighting the distinctive silvery-grey nape and striking pale iris. These social corvids possess remarkable intelligence, and researchers have discovered that their bright white eyes serve an important communication function beyond sight. Unlike most dark-eyed crows, jackdaws are cavity nesters. Because they face intense competition for limited nesting sites, they use their conspicuous pale gaze as a warning signal to deter rivals from approaching their territory.

More absurdity.

Members and supporters of the Children’s Crusade for Amnesty pose in front of the White House April 29, 1922 on their first day of demonstrations seeking to meet with U.S. President Warren Harding to plea for the release those convicted of opposing World War I and the draft.

 

Picket signs include "Democracy and Political Prisoners Don't Mix," "Shall Justice Die?" "We are Innocent Victims,"

 

The U.S. passed the sedition, espionage and conscription acts during World War I that were in turn used to suppress dissent against the war. Any public opposition to the war could result in imprisonment and thousands received long prison sentences and/or were deported and/or had citizenship revoked for violating different provisions of the laws.

 

Among the most famous was Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party leader who campaigned for president from his jail cell and received nearly one million votes. Debs had been jailed for an antiwar speech in Canton, Ohio. He was released in December 1921 after a campaign to free him though his citizenship was not restored until 1976 when it was done posthumously.

 

Another well-known prisoner was Emma Goldman, a prominent anarchist who was jailed and deported to the Soviet Union for her views, despite being a naturalized citizen.

 

The “Children’s Crusade” was organized in St. Louis, Mo. during March and April 1922 by Kate Richards O’Hare who was herself imprisoned for fourteen months for war opposition and eventually involved relatives of the 132 political prisoners still sentenced for federal crimes. An unknown number of others had been jailed on state charges.

 

The crusade traveled by train to rallies in Chicago, Cleveland, Rochester, New York City and Philadelphia before arriving in the District of Columbia April 29th.

 

Over the next two months they would meet with various members of Congress and the U.S. Attorney General to plead their case. On May 3rd, the delegation presented formal petitions on behalf of the imprisoned to the White House.

 

The group also attended church services at Calvary Baptist Church at the same time as President Harding.

 

On June 1st the group began picketing the White House as Harding refused to meet with them and continued daily until August 3rd when the group suspended their picketing and issued a statement:

 

“We have been picketing the White House for almost two months because the President refused to receive our plea in person, and there was no other method open to us to call it to his attention. On July 19th he received a delegation of citizens representing appeals signed by over a million persons, and to them he gave assurance that the cases in which reconsideration had been applied for would be decided in sixty days. We are confident that an examination of the records will convince him that not a single man should be held any longer.”

 

Harding would release some additional prisoners just prior to Christmas that year, but others still remained imprisoned.

 

Background and outcomes

 

The U.S. First Amendment protecting free speech was abandoned during World War I as several thousand people were arrested for speaking out against the war or conscription into the armed forces and these jailings in turn spurred an amnesty movement.

 

U.S. involvement in the war only lasted from April 2, 1917 until the armistice in November 1918.

 

An amnesty movement for all war resisters gained strength, particularly after the war was ended and after President Woodrow Wilson left office in January 1921.

 

Leading up to 1917 and the declaration of war against Germany, many labor unions, socialists, members of the so-called Old Right, and pacifist groups in the United States publicly denounced participation. However when the U.S. entered the war, most segments of American society rallied around the war.

 

However, left wing socialists, anarchists and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) denounced the war as an imperialist squabble between the wealthy of different nations over how to divide up the world. Quakers and other pacifists opposed the war on moral grounds

 

The military draft was introduced shortly after the U.S joined the war, which the anti-war movement bitterly opposed.

 

The Espionage Act of 1917 was passed to address spying but also contained a section which criminalized inciting or attempting to incite any mutiny, desertion, or refusal of duty in the armed forces, punishable with a fine of not more than $10,000, not more than twenty years in federal prison, or both.

 

Thousands of Wobblies (IWW members) and anti-war activists were prosecuted on authority of this and the Sedition Act of 1918, which tightened restrictions even more. Among the most famous was Eugene Debs, chairman of the Socialist Party of the USA for giving an anti-draft speech in Ohio. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld these prosecutions in a series of decisions.

 

An unknown additional number of people were prosecuted under state laws and jailed.

 

Conscientious objectors were punished as well, most of them Christian pacifist inductees into the armed services. They were placed directly in the armed forces and court-martialed, receiving log sentences and brutal treatment. A number of them died in Alcatraz Prison, then a military facility.

 

Vigilante groups were formed which suppressed dissent as well, such as by rounding up draft-age men and checking if they were in possession of draft cards or not.

 

Around 300,000 American men evaded or refused conscription in World War I. Immigrants, including naturalized citizens such as leading anarchist Emma Goldman, were deported, while native-born citizens, including Debs, lost their citizenship for their activities.

 

Perhaps 2,000 civilians convicted of sedition or under the Espionage law were held in military prisons at Fort Oglethorpe in Tennessee and Fort Douglas in Utah. They were mostly ordinary workers, including unemployed, and many whose only "crime" was to have been involved in radical politics or labor unrest. They were held along with German nationals suspected of disloyalty to the U.S. and German prisoners of war. Others convicted of political crimes were dispersed to the regular federal prison system.

 

After the war ended, other nations began to issue amnesty or commute the sentences of those convicted of political crimes during the war and pressure began to build in the U.S.

 

Delegations visited the White House in the ensuing years, including a 1920 group that included Basil M. Manly, former joint chair of the War Labor Board who said, “Washington pardoned the Tories and Lincoln pardoned the rebels. We believe President Wilson will not hesitate to grant general amnesty to the political prisoners of the world war.” Wilson, however, was unmoved.

 

The Sedition Act was repealed in 1921, but the Espionage Act remained, though U.S. Supreme Court decisions since then have substantially, but not explicitly, gutted the provisions used to squelch dissent.

 

Another delegation called on the White House April 18, 1921, along with meeting other top officials, marching by threes along the sidewalks and holding a mass meeting that evening at the Masonic Temple.

 

Among the delegation that met with President Warren Harding were Morris Hillquit of the Socialist Party; Rev. Norman Thomas, a later Socialist Party standard bearer; Jackson Ralston, attorney for the American Federation of Labor; and Albert DeSilver of the American Civil Liberties Union. A special appeal was made for Debs.

 

Debs, serving a 10-year sentence for sedition for his speech, had his sentenced commuted in December 1921 by President Warren Harding who had succeeded Wilson that year. Some 17 other prisoners also had their sentences commuted by Harding at that time.

 

The movement for amnesty began to gain steam as dozens of others remained imprisoned.

 

As 1922 began individuals and organizations around the country began to join the call for amnesty: the Georgia American Federation of Labor issued an appeal for amnesty, 50 member of Congress signed a petition for the same, socialist meetings demanding amnesty were held across the country while Quakers and other pacifists and socialists held public demonstrations.

 

In April 1922, the American Civil Liberties Union leader Roger Baldwin organized the Joint Amnesty Committee to coordinate activities across the country.

 

That same month, a million signatures on a massive petition gathered by the General Defense Committee of Chicago were delivered to the White House by Hillquit, who had also been an Socialist Party antiwar candidate for mayor of New York during the war in 1917 and drew 100,000 votes; the wife of Robert LaFollette, senator from Wisconsin; and James H. Maurer, president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Labor.

 

A Children’s Crusade comprised of the wives and children of some of those imprisoned and their supporters staged a well-publicized train trip across the country ending in Washington, D.C. where they picketed the White House and held meetings with government officials for a four-month period from April through August of 1922.

 

In August, Harding issued a statement refusing general amnesty, but committing to an expedited case-by-case review of anti-war prisoners.

 

The White House statement said in part, “he would never, as long as he was President, pardon any criminal who preached the destruction of the government by force.”

 

The idea that people were permitted free speech unless they committed or advocated “overt acts” would not be accepted as law until the late-1950s through the mid-1960s U.S. Supreme Court decisions on the imprisonment of Communist Party members during the second red scare.

 

The Children’s Crusade suspended their demonstrations after Harding’s statement feeling they had won as much as they would win at that time. However, other protest continued.

 

In December 1922, Harding issued another series of pardons and commutations, but many contained conditions of deportation and loss of citizenship.

 

In December 1923, President Calvin Coolidge commuted the sentences of all prisoners who had been convicted for opposing the government and Selective Service during World War I. By this point that commutation affected only 31 prisoners.

 

In March 1924, Coolidge restored the citizenship to those who had been convicted of desertion between the time of the Armistice of November 1918 and the war’s official end by the U.S. in 1921.

 

Coolidge’s successor Herbert Hoover refused to pardon or commute the sentences of any remaining prisoners or restore former prisoners citizenship in a 1929 letter to social activist Jane Adams, saying that any such decision would result in “acrimonious discussion” within the country.

 

It wouldn’t be until 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt, 15 years after the end of fighting, issued a proclamation restoring civil rights to about 1,500 war resisters. The proclamation applied only to those convicted of violating the draft and espionage acts. There was no reduction in prison sentences, however, because all had already been released by that time and no restoration of rights for those convicted under the Sedition Act.

 

After a nationwide campaign involving petitions and resolutions, Debs’ citizenship was restored posthumously in 1976.

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHBqjzCcJd

 

This image is a Harris and Ewing photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress, Call Number: LC-H234- A-4379 [P&P]

 

The Painter mused on whether we might meet up at the railway station, spend some time over lunch then venture to the court where she has been framed.

 

Unremarkably, we met at the bus station. The court is The High Court, Australia's constitutional court. She is hung in the foyer, not literally, but as one of the artists to embellish its brutalist concrete walls. How was she framed? In wood. Her complaint was that the unfinished linen edge of her work was raw and undignified. Now was her opportunity to see how the framing sat with her work.

 

For such a momentous and solemn building, the attendants are charming and welcoming. Once The Painter introduced herself, it was as though we were old friends. They hold that the figure on the ramp is the lady who each morning rubs the smudges from the brass railing. It's true! This scene captures the morning light; the polishing hour.

 

We didn't use the terms rectilinear and orthorhombic as such, but when we ascended to the balcony that is the viewpoint for this work, The Painter did admit to taking liberties in the composition and perspective of her rendering of this scene. It's none the worse for taking on her expression.

 

For the curious, and just for fun, this was shot in "Pro" mode, cropped and "deskewed" in the device and posted as I watch the cycling on the idiot box… The white balance was set to daylight despite being indoors because, well, all the glass means that provides the most true colour rendering of this scene.

A mosaic of images from the One Letter group, arranged by luminance.

 

Image created in Perl using the Flickr API and ImageMagick.

 

If you like this, help us out by adding more licensed letter photos to this image pool.

 

Text: William Blake, "The Tyger"

 

All images licensed.

 

Tyger Tyger. burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes!

On what wings dare he aspire!

What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

 

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp,

Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

 

When the stars threw down their spears

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger, Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

--

More stuff by jbum:

Sudoku Puzzles by Krazydad

Wheel of Lunch

Whitney Music Box

The Joy of Processing

 

Philadelphia 2008

 

Today at work I was listening to one of the rock stations and they were having some kind of contest that involved spelling. I knew I shouldn't have listened but I couldn't help it! A young man was asked to spell "leopard." You know, that member of the cat family? The letters he uttered bore no resemblance to the word at all. The next guy was a bit better. He was asked to spell "nocturnal. Nocturnal means things that occur at night. It was even used in a sentence to describe what happens to us guys when we have, um... have dreams. I knew he would get it! Wrong! From his mouth came the letters k-n-o-c-t-e-r-n-a-l. Can you believe that!?

 

I had put that out of my mind until I was leaving work for home. I take the PATCO line from Jersey over to Philly. PATCO recently installed a new fare system that makes it easy to pay to get on the train and go. That is if you ever bother to understand

how it operates. A young lady with a cast shoe on purchased a paper ticket and dropped it on the ground and I picked it up for her. She never said thanks or anything and just kept singing in gibberish with her iPOD plugged into her ears.

 

I have the new card that you tap at the turnstile and let's you into the system and transfers a pre-paid balance to the card simultaneously. It tracks where you entered the system and where you exited and charges the appropriate fare. With the

paper ticket you have to insert it in a slot for this fare tracking to work. You buy your ticket based on where you have purchased and where you choose to go. Well, as I tapped my card to get in she rushed in right behind me before the turnstile closed. I tried to warn her that she would not be able to get out at her destination but she looked at me like I was crazy, still mumbling to her music.

 

I know this is not nice, but I hoped with all I had in me that she would get off the train at the same stop that I did. Keep that in mind. This takes us to story number two…

 

There are signs all over that tell you when and where you can bring a bike onto the train. It clearly states that: Onboard trains, cyclist must hold the bicycle firmly, with kickstand up, between windscreens of the non-platform side doorway. Well this dude was sitting 2-3 rows away from his bicycle, not holding it. In fact it was wedged between an upright bar and screen. Picture the back tire of a bicycle wedged in a gap between a pole and windscreen partition at the door. This bike was totally across the door blocking entry and exit into the car. As people got up they realized that this bike was blocking the door and they couldn't get out at their stop. The kid jumps out of his seat to move the bike but can't because it is wedged and people are literally trying to step over the bike to get off.

 

After a few seconds of confusion the bike is not freed. Some people get out. One man is almost trapped between the closing doors. He has to fight to get out. One old lady who couldn't get out in time punches the stupid bike rider in the shoulder as the train takes off and she has to ride to the next station to board a train going in the opposite direction to get back to her stop.

 

Remember the young lady who pushed behind me to get through the turnstile without inserting her ticket? Well, I had to see this. She made her way up to the main concourse as I tapped my card to get to the other side. I waited ever so patiently for her to get up to the turnstile so I could watch her get snagged. With the most puzzled look on her face she tried every turnstile and like on a game show, big red X's let her know she was oh so wrong!

 

I walked over to the attendant and that is when she finally took her headphones out. I said, "Miss that happened because you snuck in behind me without using your ticket in Camden. The attendant nodded a knowing nod. The system charges you the highest fare because it doesn’t know where you really got on. So it charges you from the furthest station to the station you try to exit after you convert your ticket with a machine that sits nearby the turnstiles. It’s just so happened our stop was the end of the line, so she had to pay from end to end.

 

In a way, these events were funny, almost laughable. At least one event was dangerous. Blocking entry and exits on mass transit could spell disaster. All of this though is really scary. Could this be the dumbing down of America that I keep hearing about? I hope today was just an anomaly! If this is the norm, we are all doomed!

 

The inscription reads:

"The Struggle Is My Life"

NELSON MANDELA Gaoled 5th August 1962

Sentenced to life Imprisonment 12th June 1964 for his actions against Apartheid.

Erected by the Greater London Council.

Unveiled by Oliver Tambo President of the African National Congress 28th October 1985"

"Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years imprisonment

11th February 1990. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 10th December 1993. Inaugurated President of the Republic of South Africa and its Government of National Unity 10th May 1994."

_______________________________

 

§ "Nelson Mandela sculpture returns to South Bank. The bronze sculpture of Nelson Mandela has been returned to its plinth alongside the Royal Festival Hall.

Source: London SE1 Community website. Friday 16 February 2007.

§ The sculpture is by Ian Walters who died in August 2006. Tony Benn wrote an obituary in The Guardian.

§ Google Street View of the Mandela Sculpture.

Death sentence, December 23, 1941 Poventsa.

••••••••

Kuolemantuomio, 23.12.1941, Poventsa.

••••••••

[ sa-kuva | A.Viitasalo | 68127 ]

texture by smackandtoss Ty!

For SW Factions. Mato has a moment of clarity, and makes a choice.

 

Story below:

  

“Take the woman before the Hutt Lords.”

 

It was a death sentence. He had carried it out before.

His life was three things: putrid smells, fear of death, and orders from the Hutts. Mostly orders to kill.

He had killed people for talking back. He had killed people for failing Baga’s orders. He had even killed other enforcers, when the Hutts demanded entertainment during dinner. And now he would probably have to kill this woman.

The girl walked proudly in front of him. She was some sort of spy, trying to undermine the Hutts. He shook his head; he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She’d gotten in over her head.

“Have you lived on Nal Hutta long?”

The young woman’s question came out casual, almost flippant. Before he realized what he was doing, he stammered a reply.

“My whole life,” he said, then he corrected himself, twisting his weathered face into a snarl. “. . . Shut up and keep walking!”

The girl kept walking, but she kept talking too.

“My name is Yigs. I’m from a planet called Wayland. It’s beautiful there. The rain is fresh, there’s cool breezes . . . nothing like this toilet. You should see it, if you get the chance.” She frowned back, a sympathetic look that startled him. “I’m sorry that you’re stuck here.”

He growled. “There’s nothing to see. Nal Hutta is where the Hutt Lords rule. It’s an honor to even be in the same system.”

Even as he said it, he thought of his quarters. Swamp water pooling on the floor from the drain overhead. The smell of garbage rising from under the door. He had to keep a constant eye on his stained blankets, otherwise they’d be stolen. You couldn’t trust anyone. But that was just the way life was.

“You don’t even know, do you? You’ve never seen anything better than this stinkhole.”

He was silent.

She went on. “That’s why I’m here. There’s so many beautiful worlds out there, but they’re being ruined by the Hutts. People are free, and happy. They laugh at jokes and watch the sunrise. They have friends.”

The Weequay snarled. “Friends. Useless.”

“Hah!” her laugh was clear, strong. She wasn’t afraid, even though she must have known what was ahead for her. “Have you ever had a friend?”

It wasn’t condescending. She meant it.

He grumbled a non-committal answer, then said, “You should shut up. The Hutt Lords want a word with you. You can talk then.”

“What’s your name?”

“What?”

“What do people call you?”

“. . . Enforcer,” he joked, a bitter edge creeping into his voice. “Or wrinkle-head. Leatherskin. Sometimes just trash. Take your pick.”

“What did your parents call you? You had parents, right?”

What was he doing, talking to this dead woman? She was getting into his head. He’d be lashed if anyone heard them.

“Mato,” he heard himself say.

“Mato,” she said, her voice full of a fire and surety and fierceness he’d only seen in the Hutts themselves. But there was something else there that the slugs never had; genuine care. He figured either she had never had a boot on her neck, or she threw it off the moment it was placed there. Both boggled his mind.

“Give me your blaster,” she said seriously. “I can get us both out of here. I can get you to free skies, to friendly people. You don’t have to serve the slugs.”

He felt something new, bright, and frightening rising in his chest. He tried to push it away. “You’re a slave,” he spat. “What could you possibly do?”

“No,” she said firmly. “You’re a slave. And I’m going to free you.”

“No,” he said again, and his voice gave out. “Even if you could, I’ve . . . done too much. No one wants to help a Hutt enforcer.”

A sad smile twisted her mouth. “Really? I’m helping you right now, and you’ll probably have to kill me soon.” She caught his gaze, which had been set dully on the floor.

“Please, Mato,” she said. “Give me your gun, and I promise to get us both out of here.”

When he met her eyes, he was suddenly shocked with clarity. It was a moment of destiny, like a waking dream, where he saw two courses of life stretch forward. One was a stream of steaming swamp water. It was killing for the Hutts, eventually dying alone.

The other was what he imagined clean water might look like. He’d heard it was blue. That stream was helping the girl. With her, either he would die, or he would be free. No more Hutts. No more orders. No more slime.

When he compared the two streams, what did he have to lose? All he had to do was trust. To put his life in someone else’s hands. Could he do that?

He’d seen her fire. The light in her eyes. The care in her voice. Unlike anything he’d ever seen or heard.

He undid her cuffs, unbuckled his holster, pulled his blaster, and held it out to her.

“I hate the Hutts. I hate this killing. I’m done,” he snarled. “I choose the blue water.”

She nodded.

He felt sweat roll down his temple. He’d been so sure of his choice, but now there was no going back. “W-What now?” he asked.

She primed the blaster. A reassuring grin—confident, but not cocky—played on her face.

“Now, Mato, we ditch this place forever.”

He tried to smile back, but he was too nervous. He took a deep breath, and hefted his vibroaxe.

“Okay,” he exhaled, and nodded. “Okay.”

They turned to face the fight ahead. He felt so much better that she was in it with him.

Was this what having a friend was like? It was a brand new feeling. And he had a sneaking suspicion—though it was still just a hunch—that she wouldn’t even try to steal his blankets when he wasn’t looking.

Life would be different from now on.

  

Part 2 is here: www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/178764-s...

A hand-made collage for a love. it is on watercolor paper.

To complete my sentence for stealing ponies, I have to complete a 50 step flower pattern with no mistakes and obtain the flower 'pin' achievement being thrown down in the picture.

Sentenced to 14 years of kim jang!

Visit my website for my portfolio! | Facebook

Photo, stylist, edit: Zen

Model: Hưng xù, Vỹ lạt

 

The Story about E-dam and A-ve

Third Gender version 6

 

Introduction

 

I've always wanted to use "chandelier earrings" in a sentence.

 

These ancient earrings represent - what else - fanged felines and snakes, the principal iconographic preoccupation among the elite of Kuntur Wasi.

 

Wikipedia says:

 

Kuntur Wasi (Quechua kuntur condor, wasi house, "condor house") is the name given to the ruins of a religious center with complex architecture and stone sculptures, located in the Andean highlands of Peru.

 

It is believed the inhabitants had a link with the Chavín culture.

 

Kuntur Wasi is located in the Northern Mountain Range of Peru, specifically at the headwaters of the Jequetepeque River, in the region of the city of Cajamarca near the small town of San Pablo. The Jequetepeque valley provided a transportation corridor between the coastal region and the highlands.

 

Kuntur Wasi was a center where people congregated.

 

It is thought to have been constructed around 1000-700 BCE, during the Initial Period. The architecture consists of a hill-top temple, quadrangular platforms, a sunken courtyard, and series of rooms.

 

In the floor of one room there is an anthropomorphic figure made of clay, about 30 inches (75 cm) in height. It is painted with cinnabar red, malachite green, and black, yellow, and pink. Its face has big square eyes and a wide mouth with prominent canine teeth. There are also stepped platforms and funeral structures.

 

Lithosculptures have been found, similar to the Chavín style.

 

Kuntur Wasi was occupied between the years 1200-50 BC.

 

It was first discovered in 1945 by Julio C. Tello. In 1989, scientists from the University of Tokyo excavated four tombs at Kuntur Wasi. Valuable items, such as pectoral necklaces (decorative breastplates), gold crowns, ornamental stone beads, earrings, sets of dishes and iconographies of people were discovered in the burial area.

 

Since the beginning of the University of Tokyo's archaeological mission, eight tombs have been found in the area.

 

The Kuntur Wasi Museum, managed by local citizens, opened in 1994.

---------------

Según Wikipedia:

 

Kuntur Wasi es un sitio arqueológico que data del Formativo Inferior, se encuentra ubicado en el centro poblado del mismo nombre, en la provincia de San Pablo, en el departamento de Cajamarca, en el Perú.

 

En la lengua quechua Kuntur Wasi significa "Casa del Cóndor". Según el arqueológo japonés, Yoshio Onuki, estudioso principal de este sitio arqueológico, Kuntur Wasi es una expresión prechavín pero que posteriormente posee una gran influencia no solo de Chavín sino también de Cupisnique especialmente en la orfebrería y la cerámica.

  

Kuntur Wasi pasó por los siguientes periodos:

 

Fase Ídolo: Construcción del centro ceremonial con pisos enlucidos con cal de color blanco. En esta fase hay una cierta relación con Huacaloma y Pacopampa.

 

Fase Kuntur: Construcción de un nuevo complejo ceremonial en forma de U. Se desarrolla la cerámica fina y la orfebrería.

 

Fase Copa: Modificación del complejo arquitectónico ceremonial y la renovación del sistema de canales de drenaje.

 

Fase Sotera: Existe una relación con la Fase Layzón del valle de Cajamarca. Corresponde a la decadencia de Kuntur Wasi.

William Badger was sentenced to 6 months at Newcastle Gaol for stealing a watch in 1872.

 

Age (on discharge): 20

Height: 5.0

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Bluish Grey

Place of Birth: Newcastle

Status: Single

Occupation:Shoemaker

 

These photographs are of convicted criminals in Newcastle between 1871 - 1873.

 

Reference:TWAS: PR.NC/6/1/1133

 

(Copyright) We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk.

 

To purchase a hi-res copy please email archives@twmuseums.org.uk quoting the title and reference number.

 

Three men and a woman have been sentenced after being rumbled by our detectives in Tameside investigating a drugs line that profited around £80k from the criminal exploitation of teenage boys.

 

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard today (18 November 2021) how Ryan Wall, 24, Claire Daniels, 36, Christopher Thornton, 20, and Leigh Sleddon, 38, were involved in an organised crime group that trafficked class A drugs as well as vulnerable young people from Tameside to Blackpool.

 

Wall, of Lakenheath Road, Liverpool and Thornton, of Barlow Road, Dukinfield, were sentenced to a total of 17 years after admitting arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploitation under the Modern Slavery Act - becoming GMP's first county lines offenders guilty of this offence.

 

Despite not being charged with the same offence, the court also accepted that Daniels - herself a mother - of Fitzroy Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, was aware and complicit in the movement of the teenagers in order for them to deal drugs and she was given a one year and two month suspended sentence.

 

Sleddon, of Claremont Court, Blackpool, admitted that the children had stayed at his address in return for him being supplied with drugs. He was given a two year suspended sentence.

 

The verdicts conclude an eighteen-month investigation into the transportation of drugs and children - aged between 13 and 16 - led by detectives in GMP Tameside's Complex Safeguarding Team.

 

Investigators began the operation - codenamed 'Fairview' - following the report of a boy missing from the Hyde area. After close work with Lancashire Police, it was identified that he had been moved to Blackpool and that he was being used by the gang to supply class 'A' drugs on the streets.

 

Enquiries confirmed that two other teenage boys who had been missing from the nearby Ashton area had been in contact with a number associated with Ryan Wall - who was jailed for nine years today.

 

Already a picture was starting to develop of a group conspiring to supply class A drugs - namely heroin and crack cocaine - and also transporting the young boys to Blackpool to deal these drugs on the streets, often leaving them to fend for themselves for days.

 

While it is not thought the two boys - and a third boy also found to be exploited - were ever injured, detectives believe by leaving the boys alone to be involved in illicit enterprises in towns miles away from home was exposing them to a real and significant danger.

 

Officers ensured the boys were immediately referred to relevant specialist agencies and safeguarded away from further harm, and have pursued with a victimless prosecution to ensure that the gang are still held to account for their crimes.

 

A strike day was executed at the start of October 2020 where eight people - aged 16 to 67 - were arrested, before Wall, Thornton and Daniels were charged and eventually admitted two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug. The detectives were also able to prove to the court that Thornton, who was jailed for eight years today, was also controlling a 'drug line' local to the Tameside area supplying heroin, cocaine and cannabis. He had also entered guilty pleas for these matters.

 

Wall and Thornton pleaded guilty of four modern slavery offences between them while Sleddon pleaded guilty to participating in the activities of an organised crime group.

 

While similar charges have been secured in other complex safeguarding teams in Greater Manchester for offences relating to Child Sexual Exploitation, the unit in Tameside is the first to land a conviction under the Modern Slavery Act in relation to Child Criminal Exploitation 'county lines' gangs - with support from the Crown Prosecution Service.

 

Comprising of specially-trained detectives, safeguarding officers, and partners from Tameside Council; the Complex Safeguarding Team currently has nine ongoing investigations and a number of suspects have been arrested. Children who have been identified as needing to be safeguarded have in some cases been re-homed.

 

Detective Constable Matthew Elliot, from Operation Fairview, said: "Today, this group has been jailed for their roles in a county line gang - wrecking lives along the way through the dissemination of illegal drugs.

 

"But what we've been able to prove to the court during this investigation, is that Wall and Thornton - in particular - were not just trafficking drugs but also trafficking people.

 

"They were running their drugs line to Blackpool by deliberately targeting teenage boys, and exploiting them for their own illicit gains.

 

"These were boys who were identified by the group as vulnerable, and groomed into travelling between counties - left to fend for themselves and exposed to danger - to do the dirty work on the ground that these offenders didn’t wish to do themselves.

 

"The act of exploiting children and peddling them for such selfish and criminal ways is an abhorrent crime - but one that is complex and wide-ranging which makes today's outcome all the more of a success.

 

"And it isn’t just putting offenders behind bars that makes this operation a great result. The fact we have been able to work with partners and ensure victims have been safeguarded and away from harm is just as - if not more - significant.

 

"I would like to thank our partners at Tameside Council, Lancashire Police, and the Crown Prosecution Service, for the extensive support they have offered to this investigation and helping us ensure these historic convictions for GMP.

 

"This has been a tireless eighteen-month investigation by our Complex Safeguarding Team in Tameside, and hopefully the first good result of many.

 

"We have demonstrated how by working with local police forces, local authority, and other relevant supporting agencies, that we are able to target and dismantle those involved in this truly despicable criminal activity - while identifying and protecting victims in the process.

 

"If you feel you are being criminally exploited, or know someone who is, then please come forward to the police or Crimestoppers, knowing information will be treat with the strictest confidence."

 

Tameside Council Executive Member for Children and Families, Councillor Bill Fairfoull, said: “Superb partnership working has resulted in this first conviction of Modern Day Slavery in Greater Manchester. We have removed these drug dealers from our streets and stopped them from exploiting our children. Our Children’s Services staff have worked tirelessly with the police to secure this result and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work.

 

“All of the children involved are being supported by our Tameside Complex Safeguarding Team and Tameside Youth Justice Service. I’m also pleased that the learning from this successful operation with be shared across Greater Manchester Complex Safeguarding Teams as a model of best practice.”

Sentenced to Life without parole for stabbing a stranger to death

A gibbet is any instrument of public execution (including guillotine, executioner's block, impalement stake, hanging gallows, or related scaffold). Gibbeting is the use of a gallows-type structure from which the dead or dying bodies of criminals were hanged on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. Occasionally, the gibbet was also used as a method of execution, with the criminal being left to die of exposure, thirst and/or starvation. The practice of placing a criminal on display within a gibbet is also called "hanging in chains".

 

Display

Gibbeting was a common law punishment, which a judge could impose in addition to execution. As a sentence for murder, this practice was codified in England by the Murder Act 1751. It was most often used for traitors, robbers, murderers, highwaymen, and pirates and was intended to discourage others from committing similar offenses. The structures were therefore often placed next to public highways (frequently at crossroads) and waterways.

 

Exhibiting a body could backfire against a monarch, especially if the monarch was unpopular. The rebels Henry of Montfort and Henry of Wylynton, enemies of Edward II, were drawn and hanged before being exhibited on a gibbet near Bristol. However, the people made relics of these bloody and mutilated remains out of respect and later used the relics in violent protest. Miracles were even reported at the spot where the bodies were hanging.

 

Although the intention was deterrence, the public response was complex. Samuel Pepys expressed disgust at the practice. There was Christian objection that prosecution of criminals should end with their death. The sight and smell of decaying corpses was offensive and regarded as "pestilential", so it was seen as a threat to public health.

 

Pirates were sometimes executed by hanging on a gibbet erected close to the low-water mark by the sea or a tidal section of a river. Their bodies would be left dangling until they had been submerged by the tide three times. In London, Execution Dock is located on the north bank of the River Thames in Wapping; after tidal immersion, particularly notorious criminals' bodies could be hung in cages a little farther downstream at either Cuckold's Point or Blackwall Point, as a warning to other waterborne criminals of the possible consequences of their actions (such a fate befell Captain William Kidd in May 1701). There were objections that these displays offended foreign visitors and did not uphold the reputation of the law, though the scenes even became gruesome tourist attractions.

 

Variants

In some cases, the bodies would be left until their clothes rotted or even until the bodies were almost completely decomposed, after which the bones would be scattered.

 

In cases of drawing and quartering, the body of the criminal was cut into four or five portions, with the several parts often gibbeted in different places.

 

So that the public display might be prolonged, bodies were sometimes coated in tar or bound in chains. Sometimes, body-shaped iron cages were used to contain the decomposing corpses. For example, in March 1743 in the town of Rye, East Sussex, Allen Grebell was murdered by John Breads. Breads was imprisoned in the Ypres Tower and then hanged, after which his body was left to rot for more than 20 years in an iron cage on Gibbet Marsh. The cage, with Breads's skull clamped within the headframe, is still kept in the town hall.

 

Another example of the cage variation is the gibbet iron, on display at the Atwater Kent Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The cage, created in 1781, was intended to be used to display the body of convicted pirate Thomas Wilkinson, so that sailors on passing ships might be warned of the consequences of piracy; Wilkinson's planned execution never took place, so the gibbet was never used.

 

Historical examples

Antiquity

The Old Testament and Torah law forbid gibbeting beyond sundown of the day that the body is hanged on the tree. Public crucifixion with prolonged display of the body after death can be seen as a form of gibbeting. Gibbeting was one of the methods said by Tacitus and Cassius Dio to have been used by Boudica's army in the massacre of Roman settlers in the destruction of Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St. Albans) in AD 60–61.

 

Bermuda

During the 17th and 18th centuries, gibbets were a common sight in Bermuda. Located in Smith's Parish at the entrance to Flatt's Inlet is Gibbet Island, which was used to hang the bodies of escaped slaves as a deterrent to others. The small island was used for this purpose because it was not on the mainland and therefore satisfied the beliefs of locals who did not want gibbets near their homes.

 

Canada

The gibbet in which Marie-Josephte Corriveau was exhibited after her execution, the "cage" of La Corriveau

 

Marie-Josephte Corriveau (1733–1763), better known as "La Corriveau", is one of the most popular figures in Québécois folklore. She lived in New France, was sentenced to death by a military tribunal of twelve British officers for the murder of her second husband, was hanged for it, and her body hung in chains. Her story has become legendary in Quebec, and she is the subject of numerous books and plays.

 

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy used Hangman's Beach on McNab's Island in Halifax Harbour to display the hanged bodies of deserters, in order to deter the crews of passing warships.

 

Colony of New South Wales

A rocky outcrop not far into Port Jackson – originally called Mat-te-wan-ye in the local Aboriginal language, later renamed Rock Island by Governor Arthur Phillip but today known as Pinchgut Island and the location of Fort Denison – was a gibbeting site. It took its name after a convict, Thomas Hill, was sentenced to a week on the rock in iron chains sustained by only bread and water; the conditions literally pinched his gut, hence the name. The rock was levelled in the 1790s, and a gibbet installed in 1796. Francis Morgan, transported for life to New South Wales after being convicted of murder in 1793, killed again in 1796 and was hanged in chains on Pinchgut in November 1796. His dead body, later a skeleton, remained on display on the island for four years.

 

England

The head of Oliver Cromwell was displayed on a spike after his death, after monarchists disinterred his body during the restoration of the monarchy.

 

Robert Aske, who led the rebellion against Henry VIII known as Pilgrimage of Grace, was hanged in chains in 1537.

 

Germany

The leaders of the Anabaptist movement in Münster were executed in 1536; their dead bodies were gibbeted in iron cages hanging from the steeple of St. Lambert's Church, and the cages are still on display there today. Similarly, following his execution by hanging in 1738, the corpse of Jewish financier Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was gibbeted in a human-sized bird cage that hung outside of Stuttgart on the so-called Pragsattel (the public execution place at the time) for six years, until the inauguration of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, who permitted the hasty burial of his corpse at an unknown location.

 

The Netherlands

After the siege and capture of the city of Zutphen in 1591 by the Anglo-Dutch army, the English dug up the body of the former English commander Rowland York and hanged and gibbeted it as a reminder of York's treachery in 1587. He had handed over the Zutphen sconce to the Spaniards after the English army under the Earl of Leicester was defeated by the Spaniards in the Battle of Zutphen.

 

Iran

In 838, the Iranian hero Babak Khorramdin had his hands and feet cut off by the Abbasid Caliphate and was then gibbeted alive while sewn into a cow's skin with the horns at ear level to crush his head gradually as the skin dried out.

 

Malta

On 4 February 1820, six British pirates were hanged on their vessel in the middle of the harbour at Valletta. Thereafter, their bodies were hung in gibbets erected at the bastions of Fort Ricolli. Lieutenant Hobson of HMS Spey, in the tender Frederick, had apprehended them and their vessel in the harbour at Smyrna.

 

United States

During the colonial era, Bird Island and Nix's Mate island in Boston Harbor were used for gibbeting pirates and sailors executed for crimes in Massachusetts. Their bodies were left hanging as a warning to sailors coming into the harbor and approaching Boston. In 1755, a slave named Mark was hanged in Cambridge, Massachusetts and then gibbeted in chains in Charlestown, Massachusetts; twenty years later, Paul Revere passed the remains of Mark on his famous ride.

 

Six men were executed by gibbeting under civil authority in the Southern Colonies.[18] In Virginia, three men accused of piracy were executed by gibbeting in 1700. In South Carolina, three men were executed by gibbeting: one accused of poisoning in 1744, and two accused of murder in 1754 and 1759.

 

There have been no recorded executions using this method under the authority of the United States. However, a gang of Cuban pirates were gibbeted in New York c. 1815.

Last recorded gibbetings

 

Afghanistan

The January 1921 issue of National Geographic Magazine contains two photographs of gibbet cages, referenced as "man-cages," in use in Afghanistan. Commentary included with the photograph indicates that the gibbet was a practice still in active use. Persons sentenced to death were placed alive in the cage and remained there until some undefined time weeks or months after their deaths.

 

Australia

In 1837, five years after the practice had ceased in England, the body of John McKay was gibbeted near the spot where he had murdered Joseph Wilson near Perth, in the colony of Van Diemen's Land. There was a great outcry, but the body was not removed until an acquaintance of Wilson passed the spot and, horrified by the spectacle of McKay's rotting corpse, pleaded with the authorities to remove it. The place where this occurred was just to the right (when travelling towards Launceston, not to be confused with the private road with the same name) on the Midlands Highway on the northern side of Perth.

 

In the Colony of Western Australia, gibbeting of executed Indigenous people continued into the mid-1850s. In 1855, Aboriginal men Yandan and Yoongal were executed in Perth for separate murders, with their bodies then "conveyed under escort to York, there to be suspended in some conspicuous part of the district, where such a spectacle would be likely to prove a warning, and prevent a repetition of the murders which have of late been prevalent in the neighbourhood".

United Kingdom

 

The Murder Act 1751 stipulated that "in no case whatsoever shall the body of any murderer be suffered to be buried"; the cadaver was either to be publicly dissected or left "hanging in chains". The use of gibbeting had been in decline for some years before it was formally repealed by statute in 1834. In Scotland, the final case of gibbeting was that of Alexander Gillan in 1810. The last two men gibbeted in England were William Jobling and James Cook, both in 1832. Their cases are good examples of the changing attitudes toward the practice.

 

William Jobling was a miner hanged and gibbeted for the murder of Nicholas Fairles, a colliery owner and local magistrate, near Jarrow, Durham. After being hanged, the body was taken off the rope and loaded into a cart and taken on a tour of the area before arriving at Jarrow Slake, where the crime had been committed. Here, the body was placed into an iron gibbet cage. The cage and the scene were described thus:

 

The body was encased in flat bars of iron of two and a half inches in breadth, the feet were placed in stirrups, from which a bar of iron went up each side of the head, and ended in a ring by which he was suspended; a bar from the collar went down the breast, and another down the back, there were also bars in the inside of the legs which communicated with the above; and crossbars at the ankles, the knees, the thighs, the bowels the breast and the shoulders; the hands were hung by the side and covered with pitch, the face was pitched and covered with a piece of white cloth.

 

The gibbet was a one-foot (30 cm) in diameter with strong bars of iron up each side. The post was fixed into a one-and-a-half-long-ton (1,500 kg) stone base sunk into the Slake. The body was soon removed by fellow miners and given a decent burial.

 

James Cook was a bookbinder convicted of the murder of his creditor Paas, a manufacturer of brass instruments, in Leicester. During an attempted robbery, Cook beat Paas to death, and then took the body to his home, where he cut it into pieces and burned it to try to hide the evidence of the crime. He was executed on Friday, 10 August 1832, in front of Leicester prison. Afterwards:

 

The head was shaved and tarred, to preserve it from the action of the weather; and the cap in which he had suffered was drawn over his face. On Saturday afternoon his body, attired as at the time of his execution, having been firmly fixed in the irons necessary to keep the limbs together, was carried to the place of its intended suspension.

 

His body was to be displayed on a purpose-built gallows 33 feet (10 m) high in Saffron Lane near the Aylestone Tollgate. According to The Newgate Calendar:

 

Thousands of persons were attracted to the spot, to view this novel but most barbarous exhibition; and considerable annoyance was felt by persons resident in the neighbourhood of the dreadful scene. Representations were in consequence made to the authorities, and on the following Tuesday morning instructions were received from the Home Office directing the removal of the gibbet.

 

Hanging a body in chains was a post execution punishment that was used for those criminals who had committed heinous crimes. Smugglers were not usually hung in chains post execution. However during the mid nineteenth century a smuggling gang known as the Hawkhurst Gang, operated along the South coast of England between Kent and Dorset; their violent crimes coincided with the authorities desire to punish smugglers on the South coast and deter others from smuggling. Of the 75 members of the gang that were caught and convicted 14 were sentenced to gibbeting. Unusually the bodies were distributed around the area as a deterrent, rather than near where they lived, or the scene of the crime.

 

Although the practice of gibbeting had been abandoned by 1834 in Britain, during the British Raj of India in 1843, Charles James Napier threatened to have such structures built in parallel to any attempt to practice Sati, the ritualized burning of widows, to execute the perpetrators.

In popular culture

 

Works of art depicting gibbeting include:

 

Known as "Le Gibet", the second movement of composer Maurice Ravel's piano suite Gaspard de la nuit is based on the poems of Aloysius Bertrand.

The 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest features a prisoner in a gibbet in one of the opening scenes, where he is graphically pecked to death by crows.

In the 1988 fantasy classic Willow, Val Kilmer's character Madmartigan is suspended in a gibbet at the beginning of the film.

Crow cages and other forms of gibbeting are shown in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian.

Sweeney Todd the Barber, sung by Stanley Holloway in his album, 'Ere's 'Olloway, refers to Sweeney Todd's demise: "And there on the gibbet/He hangs in his chains..."

 

South Shields is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman times as Arbeia and as Caer Urfa by the Early Middle Ages. It is the fourth largest settlement in Tyne and Wear, after Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland and Gateshead.

 

Historically within the ceremonial county of Durham, South Shields is south of North Shields and Tynemouth across the River Tyne; and east of Newcastle upon Tyne and Jarrow.

 

The first settlers of the South Shields area were the Brigantes, although there is no evidence they built a settlement at South Shields. The Romans built a fort there to help supply Hadrian's Wall. Many ruins still exist today. The fort was abandoned as the empire declined.

 

In the 6th century, northeast England became a centre of education as part of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The Vikings raided the area in the 9th century, establishing settlements and controlling most of northern England.

 

The town was founded in 1245, and developed as a fishing port. Salt-panning became began in 1499. During the Civil War, parliament's Scottish allies captured the town, leading the royalists to flee south, leading to the Battle of Boldon Hill.

 

In the Victorian era, coal mining led to a boom in the town, increasing from 12,000 in 1801 to 75,000 by the 1860s. The rapid growth made sanitation a problem. In the 1850s, shipbuilding became a prominent industry.

 

Zeppelin airships attacked the town in World War I, and Nazi air raids caused damage and death in World War II. Throughout the 20th century, industry declined and services and tourism played an increasing role in the economy.

Foundation and Roman Times

 

The earliest inhabitants of the area were the Brigantes, a strong and fiercely independent Briton tribe however there is no evidence to suggest they built a settlement where the present day town now stands. It was John Leland in the 16th century who first suggested the town had been known as 'Caer Urfa.' The Brythonic word 'Caer' meaning a fortified place or seat of royal power, 'Urfa' is suggested to be a simple corruption of 'Vide Infra' the Aramaic name for the Roman stronghold.[1] (broken link)

 

A large Roman fort has been excavated in South Shields on the Lawe Top, overlooking the River Tyne; it has been the setting for an investigation by the Channel 4 archaeological television programme Time Team. Founded c. AD 120 the fort is mentioned in The Notitia Dignitatum (a list of forts and bases compiled in the 4th century) where it is referred to as Arbeia. Arbeia, meaning "place of the Arabs" (one of the garrisons being the Tigris Boatmen from modern day Iraq), was intended as the maritime supply fort for Hadrian's Wall, and contains the only permanent stone-built granaries yet found in Britain. It was occupied until the Romans left Britain in the 5th century. A Roman gatehouse and barracks have been reconstructed on their original foundations, while a museum holds artefacts such as an altarpiece to a previously unknown god, and a Roman-era gravestone set up by a native Palmyrene to his freedwoman and wife, a Briton of the Catuvellauni tribe. There is also a tablet with the name of the emperor Alexander Severus (died 235) chiselled off. The fort was at the end of a road named Wrekendike, connected to a larger road which led between Newcastle (Pons Aelivs) and Chester-Le-Street (Congangis); parts of this road are still visible in Wrekenton near Gateshead. The Romans also built a small wharf in nearby Marsden Bay for the purposes of loading sandstone from a quarry. The wharf's remnants are still extant, although time and tide have left little to see. Arbeia was abandoned by the Romans c. 400, when Emperor Honorius informed the people of Britain that they must look to their own country's defence. One of the many peoples to take advantage of the Roman Empire's collapse were the Anglo-Saxons.

Dark Ages

 

Britain in the 6th century is often considered a confused and violent place, the Romans taking their laws, gods and legions with them, when they left. However, the north east of England became a centre of learning and education, a beacon of light throughout Europe. King Oswald of Northumbria united the kingdoms of Bernicia to the north of the River Tees and Deira to the South creating the powerful and influential Kingdom of Northumbria. In AD 647 King Oswy of Northumbria (Oswald's Brother)[2] at the request of St. Aidan allowed a monastery to be built. The site today is in the very town centre of South Shields and is named St. Hilda's Church although the original Anglo-Saxon building is but a remnant under the present Norman nave. St. Hilda's was one of many monastic institutions along the coast of north east England including Jarrow, where the Venerable Bede lived and worked.

 

C. AD 865 the monastery at St. Hilda's was raided by the Vikings . However the Vikings or Danes weren't just raiders; they created settlements, brought new customs, laws and Gods, effectively controlling all of northern England. This form of government was known as the Danelaw. The Anglian (or Danish) influence can be seen to this day; the Geordie accent which contains words of Danish origin and has many more Anglo-Saxon pronunciations than standard English.

Middle Ages

 

In 1100 the Normans built St Hilda's church where the nunnery once stood, in the town's market place. The church remains one of the oldest churches in the UK.

 

The first reference to 'Scheles' (fishermens' huts) occurs in 1235, and the town proper was founded by the Prior and Convent of Durham in 1245 . On account of the complaints of the burgesses of Newcastle upon Tyne, an order was made in 1258, stipulating that no ships should be laden or unladen at Shields, and that no shoars or quays should be built there. However, South Shields subsequently developed as a fishing port.

 

Salt panning along the Tyne began in 1499 and achieved major importance; Daniel Defoe speaks of the clouds of smoke being visible for miles, while a witness in 1743 mentions two hundred boiling-pans. Glass manufacturing was begun by Isaac Cookson in the 1730s and there were eight glass works by 1827 . Coal mining and chemical manufacture also became important. South Shields had the largest alkali works in the world.

 

In 1644, during the English Civil War, Parliament's Scottish allies under Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven wanted to capture the Tyne and Newcastle upon Tyne. Leslie captured the fort on the Lawe Top, following a lengthy siege. After the capture, the Royalist forces retreated to the south and evidence suggests a consequential skirmish may have occurred in the small town of Boldon, the ensuing skirmish is known as the Battle of Boldon Hill, though the topography of Boldon is not favourable for a battle.

19th century

 

Following the Reform Act of 1832, championed by Lord Grey and the Whigs, County Durham was able to return two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of Gateshead and South Shields acquired representation.

 

The coal industry flourished in Victorian times, drawing immigrants from far and wide. In South Shields the population soared from approximately 12,000 in 1801 to 75,000 by the late 1860s. Collieries in South Shields included:

 

Templetown (1805–1826)

St. Hilda's (1810–1940)

West Harton (1844–1969)

Boldon (1869–1982)

Marsden (1879–1968)

Whitburn (1879–1968)

Westoe (1909–1993)

 

Coal mining was very hazardous. Shafts could collapse at any time and before the safety lamp was invented in 1815 naked flames carried by miners to light their way could ignite gas underground causing explosions and many deaths. Some mines even had shafts that stretched several miles out under the sea.

 

Overcrowding in the town made sanitation a problem, partly solved by Cleadon Water Pumping Station (a large tower erected in 1858 above the town following an outbreak of cholera).

 

South Shields' place at the mouth of the Tyne with shifting and unpredictable sand bars and channels into the river meant that ships frequently ran aground. Following one such incident the world's first self-righting lifeboat was designed by William Wouldhave in 1790.

 

In the 1850s, with the Tyne's growing shipbuilding industry and the mouth of the Tyne. South and North Shields needed to stop the flow of sand that threatened shipping. In 1854 the first foundations were laid of the North and South Piers. They were both completed in 1885.

 

An engineering problem was encountered in managing the new piers. The sand on Littlehaven Beach was now flowing up the Tyne through the incoming tide. As a solution the Herd Groyne Pier was erected in 1882.

 

South Shields-born Charles Palmer opened his shipyard in 1851 at Jarrow, at first building wooden ships and then moving onto iron. His shipyard patented rolled armour-plate for warships. In 1865 Alderman John Readhead founded his shipyard John Readhead & Sons in South Shields, which built small cargo ships and colliers for clients the world over until the yard was closed in 1968. Various slipways and dry docks can still be seen today stretching from Tyne Dock towards the mouth of the Tyne.

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851. 'Shields on the River Tyne' 1823

 

Turner made an engraving of Shields on the River Tyne in 1823. This is now in Tate Britain in London. He also painted Keelmen Hauling Coals by Night in 1835, having himself rowed out into the Tyne at Jarrow Slake in order to do so.

 

The town became famous for its maritime industries and the Marine School was founded by Dr. Thomas Winterbottom in 1837. Originally in Ocean Road, it is now part of South Tyneside College in Westoe Village and has an international reputation. From the late 1980s to 2008 it possessed the nationally unique combined public observatory and planetarium, which has provided education and entertainment for twenty thousand children a year. During the industrial boom years of the 19th century, many notable public buildings were built across the town, reflecting its wealth. These included the Customs House of 1848.

 

South Shields was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1850 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. It became a county borough in 1889 with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, and remained as such until 1974 when it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside in the (now former) county of Tyne and Wear.

 

The Shields Gazette, founded in 1849, is the oldest provincial evening newspaper in the United Kingdom.

20th century

 

In 1908–1909, The Harton Coal Company (which by this time owned all of the collieries in South Shields and the surrounding area, as well as the Marsden limestone quarries) embarked on a scheme to almost completely electrify their collieries, both above and below ground, including the network of lines connecting the collieries at St. Hilda, Harton and Westoe (then known as Benthouse) to staithes on the river. Wagons of coal from Boldon and Whitburn were steam-hauled to sidings in the town, where they could be collected by electric locomotives. Siemens carried out the electrification work, as well as supplying the locomotives for use on the electrified sections of the railway. When this work was completed, the electricity used by the HCC at the five collieries amounted to around 6% of that available to the coal industry as a whole, which for a time made it one of the largest single users of electricity in the entire country. The last of the "Harton Electrics" were retired in 1989. Four of the locomotives are preserved: E4 at the Stephenson Railway Museum, E2 at Beamish Museum, with E10 and the AEG-built E9 at the Tanfield Railway. The Rattler pub on the seafront is named after the passenger service run primarily for miners by the HCC between Westoe Lane Station and Whitburn Colliery, using a motley collection of second-hand rolling stock, which gave a very rough ride and resulted in its rather unflattering nickname. Most of the trackbed of the colliery railway has either been built on or turned into footpaths.

 

The impressive South Shields Town Hall of 1910 bears a copper weather vane in the form of a galleon. The town's crest (pre-1974) featured the lifeboat and the associated motto – Always Ready – which was later adopted as the motto of South Tyneside.

 

Zeppelin airships raided the Tyne in World War I and the town's seafront amusement park was attacked in 1915. In World War II, South Shields suffered well over 200 air raid alerts and 156 people were killed. Many houses were damaged, particularly by incendiary bombs and parachute mines. One direct hit on the market place killed more than 40 people who had taken shelter in tunnels below the square. There was a memorial to them in the form of a cobbled Union Flag on the ground of the market square, however, this was removed as part of an overhaul of the town centre in the late 1990s.

 

South Shields lost more seafarers than any other port in Britain during World War II.

 

The celebrated artist L S Lowry spent frequent periods at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland, and painted a number of works in South Shields.

 

Historically the town was part of County Durham, but it became part of Tyne and Wear in 1974.

 

In 1977 the town was visited by boxer Muhammad Ali, whose wedding was blessed in the local mosque at Laygate. The visit has since been the subject of a BBC documentary. Ali visited the town after receiving an invitation from a local boys' boxing club.

 

On 1 September 1987, Johnny Cash performed an open-air concert at Bents Park. Recently a 'lost' interview was discovered, the only interview granted by Cash just before this show.

 

South Shields has undergone significant economic change in the light of de-industrialisation. Service industries, including tourism and retail, play an increasing role in the economic make-up of the town and indeed across the wider area.

Sentenced to crutches

 

Photo featured here:

www.ehow.com/facts_5765847_soft-ice-therapy.html

Title: Prisoners Awaiting Sentence, Juarez Prison. [No. 821]

Creator: Horne, Walter H., 1883-1921

Date: ca. 1910-1918

Part of: Elmer and Diane Powell collection on Mexico and the Mexican Revolution

Place: Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, New Mexico

Description: A real photographic postcard featuring an image of a prison guard sitting outside of Juarez Prison, with prisoners looking out of a barred window behind him.

Physical Description: 1 photographic print (postcard): gelatin silver; 9 x 14 cm

File: ag2014_0005_01_005_03_horne_079_prisoners_r_opt.jpg

Rights: DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University

For more information, see: digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/pwl/id/732

View the Elmer and Diane Powell Collection on Mexico and the Mexican Revolution: sites.smu.edu/cdm/cul/pwl/

Miss u

يقول علماء النفس إن 99 بالمائة من مخاوفنا وهمية

لا توجد إلا بخيالنا و ليس لها أي أساس من الصحة

الخوف ليس إلا مجرد حالة ذهنية و الحالة

الذهنية قابله للسيطرة و التوجيه إذا وجدت الدوافع

نجد هذا الطفل دوافعه للركوب كانت أكبر من مخاوفه

ربي يحفظه وهو كاتب وصيته بجيبه

خخخخخ

 

Photograph by: Ryan Nyenhuis

 

Sunday June 15th 2008, Fathers Day. Ryan and I woke with a plan. The plan being to sneak into the abandon R.L. Hearn Thermal Generation Power Plant which is located in the south east area of downtown Toronto. We wanted to photograph the beauty of decay.

 

We had made a trip over to the power plant a week prior to scout out the area, to see where guards were located and to find easy access inside.

 

Sneaking past the guard house located at the front of the property and making our way along the north west section of property towards the back of the plant where the barbed wire fence was weakest.

 

We then smoked three quarters of a joint together before working up the nerve to hop the fence. Ryan went first, watching him hop the fence and dart out into the yard and hiding behind scrap metal for cover then finally making it to the back of the building. Then it was my turn. What excitement that was, knowing your breaking the law to do something adventurous.

 

After getting onto the property we were standing at the back of the Hearn and looking for our way inside. To do so we had to hop up onto a metal fence post and from there had to reach up and grab a hold of plywood that covered up the tall entrance area. A good 15 foot climb up, over and in.

 

Once inside the first photo that was taken was the one of Ryan and I standing together, titled "final hours".

 

This place was like no other we had ever explored together. The shear size of it all was breathtaking and mind blowing at the same time. The beauty of destruction.

 

After the first photo was taken we started exploring the plant. Taking the necessary precautions we had come prepared with asbestos masks and flashlights.

 

We had made our way around on the ground floor, through locker rooms, showers, storage rooms. Then we started making our way up stairs to the 2nd and 3rd level offices, had the remainder of our joint together.

 

From the office levels we went back onto the factory area and started climbing the metal stairs up further still. Some photos show how high up we were in that building.

 

We then made ourselves up onto the roof. What a view from there looking out over the city core. Looking out over Lake Ontario we saw really dark storm clouds. Ryan pulled out a cigarette and had a smoke.

 

We were up on the roof for about a half hour before Ryan asked me "what do you want to do now man?". "Do you want to go home now or stay a bit longer and explore?". My camera battery had died at this point and being there any longer served no purpose for me. I was hesitant on a response because at the same time I wanted to keep exploring because the plan was to keep coming back weekend after weekend to explore and document the old structure.

 

I then agreed to keep exploring. We came in off the roof, coming down a level, walked through a doorway into a long looking dark room. All across the top level of The Hearn runs conveyor belts that run coal from one end to the other. Walking together along the metal grating flooring. Ryan was 2 feet in front of me.

 

I then ended up tripping over a small extruded piece of metal on the floor, and from that second on I pointed my flashlight directly onto the floor to see where I was walking.

 

Very shortly after this happens, in mid sentence Ryan just falls into blackness. All I see is from his waist up as he plunges into complete blackness and followed by about 4-5 seconds before hearing a sick crash far below.

 

I then look 2 feet in front of me and see there is no more floor. My imediant thought is that he is dead. Then my brain clicks "I have to get my best friend out of here".

 

I then tried my best to back track to get out of the building, taking a route that he and I had not taken to get to this point. All I knew is I had to get out of The Hearn and find someone that could help.

 

I don't even know how I got out of that place. When I did I came out on the back side of the building, ran around to the guard house screaming for help.

 

I screamed to the guard that my best friend just fell in there and is hurt really bad, he asked what we were doing in there and I told him we were just taking photos.

 

The guard then called like every paramedic, fire and police officer in the city. About 10 minutes after the call was made all I could hear were the sirens. Scared and relived at the same time I was.

 

Once they all showed up I told them Ryan was in there, that we were up high in the building and he fell. All the cops were telling me to retrace my steps, they wanted to see where we came in from. I screamed at them "we don't have time for that right now, my best friend is dying in there". I then started leading them to the front of the Hearn because I knew it was the closet way inside. We get to the front and all entrances were boarded up. One cops said to me "Ian there is no way in through this way, you have to show us where you came in from". I then demanded to the fire fighters that they bust this plywood down to get inside.

 

Once inside the cops started fucking with my mind, me being in total shock at the time they started asking me where we had explored, they wanted me to take them on what would have been a few hours of exploration, which we didn't have time for.

 

Then an officer finds his asbestos mask and glasses. My first thought is he was okay, that he somehow managed to crawl out under his own power. I was wrong. His mask and glasses had bounced off of objects on the fall and Ryan was nowhere to be found.

 

The police tried getting a hold of Rogers Communication to see if they could pin point his location with the cell phone he had on him. They ended up using thermal vision to locate him. He was trapped in a coal hopper located high up in the building.

 

I was escorted out at this point in time because I was too "hysterical" for the cops liking.

 

Two and a half hours went by, a fierce thunderstorm was passing through.

 

While they were working on getting Ryan out I was giving my statement to the police. Never gave one of those in my life. I told them everything that I am writing here right now, everything, even the joint smoking. I had Nothing to hide.

 

We went in undetected but I didn't care if the whole world was watching at this point, I was doing what any best friend would do. I was trying to save him. City Pulse News was there and I was trying to hide from them. I was scared that this is how his family would find out and how my family would find out, being Fathers days and all.

 

After two and a half hours of hell they finally got Ryan out. I watched them carry him out on a backboard and I yelled to him that I loved him.

 

Ryan was rushed to St. Micheal's Hospital, the best in all the city for trauma.

 

I followed about an hour after him, being escorted in a police car. On the drive one officer said to me "this is going to cost you and your buddy about a hundred thousand dollars for all that had to be done here today". What a jackass thing to say. I responded by saying "I don't give a fuck about money, take all I have from me I don't care, I'm loosing the most important person in my life right now".

 

We get to the hospital, I enter the trauma wing of St. Micheal's. They told me that I was going to be the one to call the home of the Nyenhuis'. I thought that was insane, and told them I could not make that call, that they would have to.

 

I then went into the waiting room, sat down. I remember the NBA finals were on the televisions in there and I ended up falling asleep somehow.

 

Waking to Stevie and Tammy's faces hours later (Stevie being Ryan's room mate and Tammy being Ryan's girlfriend).

 

Stevie told me that John and Cheryl were on their way and that we could go up stairs to the trauma ward to see Ryan.

 

The trauma centre, located on the 9th floor of St. Micheal's Hospital.

 

Hours passed by, as the night went on the news kept getting worse and worse about his condition.

 

I ended up leaving to come back to my apartment at 6am the following morning, I had to talk to my parents and try and shovel some food into my system. Still being in shock and never got treatment for shock when it happened.

 

I returned to the hospital at 3pm that day. Only to find nothing had changed with his condition.

 

Then came the worst words I ever had to hear, Ryan's father coming in the room and telling me it was time to say goodbye to Ryan.

 

We made our way into where he was being cared for. To see my best friend in the state he was in broke my heart. Blood coming out the back of his head, body black and blue bruised from head to toe, internal damage that could not be repaired, feeling his forehead and it being ice cold. He was laying there in front of us, dead. Machines were the only thing keeping him "alive".

 

I said my goodbyes to him, telling him that he can't leave me here, he can't leave the creation of Studies In Comfort behind, something that is so brilliant, that we were supposed to take over the world together and do all that was planned. I told him to haunt me.

 

I then looked at his eyes and saw tears. He may have been brain dead but I know he heard every word I said. Doctors did not give an explanation to what was coming out of his eyes.

 

If only I had said to Ryan "hey man watch your step" he might still be alive today. I have been told over and over again that I can not blame myself for what happened that day. I sometimes still do.

 

Ryan and I once had a conversation that if something ever happened to one of us that Studies In Comfort would stop, without a core creator there is no sense to continue it. Well I am going against those wishes. I can't lose what he and I created even before it took off the ground.

 

I now know my purpose in life. To carry on Studies In Comfort. I must continue on for him, finish off the 3 studio albums we had in the works and continue on with this art form.

 

Ryan died at the wheel and I have moved his lifeless body to the passengers seat and now a fucking insane madman is driving.

 

Ryan Nyenhuis, whos favourite artist was Nine Inch Nails, who lived on floor number 9, who wore a roman numeral 9 on his right arm, who died on the 9th floor at St. Micheal's Hospital, Toronto.

 

Thank you to 55 Division and all the paramedics and fire fighters who helped get Ryan out of that terrible dark place.

 

Ryan Nyenhuis is survived by his father, John, mother Cheryl, sisters, Jennifer and Leah, their beautiful children, myself and Studies In Comfort.

  

Ryan John Nyenhuis

July 28th 1981 - June 15th 2008

 

We love and miss you.

___________________________

 

All photographs were taken by Ryan Nyenhuis & Ian Levack with a Casio EX-Z1050 camera.

Sentenced to Life without parole for stabbing a stranger to death

I just learned that Violet Hobaugh, who lived in the house I documented in the set "conviction" passed away this week.

 

read more about it here

 

© laura kicey

Sentenced to Life without parole for stabbing a stranger to death

Santo Domingo de la Calzada és una població situada al costat del riu Oja, que dóna nom a la regió, en el trajecte del camí de Santiago.

 

El seu nom i fundació provenen de Domingo García, després canonitzat com a Santo Domingo de la Calzada, qui creà un pont, un hospital i un alberg de peregrins, per a facilitar el seu pas cap a Santiago de Compostela, al voltant de l'any 1045.

 

És famosa la dita de "Santo Domingo de la Calzada, donde cantó la gallina después de asada", gràcies a un miracle atribuït al sant. En record d'aquesta llegenda es guarda permanentment a la catedral un gall i una gallina, en un galliner construït amb forja.

 

La Catedral va ser començada, segons els "Anales Compostelanos", l'any 1158, amb la finalitat d'acollir les restes d'un dels sants més coneguts i venerats en el Camí de Santiago, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, mort en l'any 1109.

 

El mestre Garçión, possiblement d'origen francès, va projectar un gran temple tardorromànic d'acord amb la importància del lloc, i del que encara es conserven importants vestigis, en concret la capçalera i el disseny de la resta del temple. Des del punt de vista arquitectònic destaca la seva estructura, amb una capçalera amb deambulatori que circumda el presbiteri, i tres capelles absidals de les que només la central és de les originals. Pel que fa a l'escultura d'aquesta part de la catedral, cal destacar per la seva importància tota la sèrie de capitells historiats del deambulatori i sobretot les quatre pilastres decorades que donen al presbiteri. En elles s'ha vist representat un arbre de Jessè destacant per la seva qualitat les imatges de la Santíssima Trinitat i d'un Rei David músic.

 

El cor de la catedral és una gran peça plateresca realitzada en la dècada de 1520 per Andrés de Nájera i Guillén d'Holanda, entre d'altres. La qualitat de les seves talles s'aprecia en els treballs de delicats calats o en la marqueteria dels seus setials. Els relleus de les cadires representen figures de sants i santes. Presidint, a la cadira abacial, es troba Santo Domingo. També és digne de ressenyar l'interessant programa simbòlic de tot el conjunt, reafirmat per una sèrie de sentències inscrites en molts dels respatllers.

 

El sepulcre de Santo Domingo de la Calzada és una obra en la qual conflueixen diversos estils per ser possiblement fruit de la unió de peces de tres sepulcres diferents. Romànica és la lauda sepulcral en la qual es representa al Sant jacent, gòtica és la taula en la qual es narren els seus miracles, i tardogòtic és el templet. Aquest va ser dissenyat per Felipe Vigarny i realitzat per Juan de Rasines en 1513.

 

El galliner, on s'aixopluguen el gall i la gallina com a record del famós miracle, és d'estil gòtic del segle XV.

 

Altres obres importants de la catedral són les capelles funeràries de Santa Teresa i de la Magdalena. La primera conté diversos sepulcres gòtics, el del centre de Pedro Suárez de Figueroa, i un bell retaule de pintura sobre taula de finals del segle XV. La segona és força menor en grandària però igualment interessant ja que és d'un estil proper al del gran escultor Felipe Vigarny. És d'estil gòtic tardà i en ella està enterrat Pedro de Carranza, maestrescola de la Catedral de Burgos. Destaca el sepulcre, la reixa i el petit retaule del pintor de l'època León Picardo.

 

El claustre és una obra gòtic-mudèjar en el qual destaca la sala capitular pel seu cadirat del segle XVII i per la seva enteixinat mudèjar com a sostre. S'hi exposen valuoses obres d'art com tríptics flamencs, orfebreria i altres importants peces escultòriques.

 

La llegenda del gall i la gallina

 

Al segle XIV pelegrina a Compostela Hugonell, un jove alemany de 18 anys que va acompanyat pels seus pares. En la fonda on s'allotgen treballa una noia jove que s'enamora d'ell i li requereix d'amors, al que el noi es nega. Despitada i amb ànsies de venjança, guarda al sarró del jove una copa de plata i després l'acusa de robatori.

 

El jove Hugonell i els seus pares es disposen a partir per seguir el pelegrinatge, quan arriba la justícia i comproven l'acusació registrant el sarró del noi. El declaren culpable i és condemnat a la forca. Els pares no poden fer res per ell més que resar a Santiago. De retorn a Alemanya, a l'acostar-se al cos penjat del seu fill per acomiadar-se senten com aquest els parla des de la forca i els diu que està viu per la gràcia del Sant.

 

Feliços i contents van a comunicar la notícia al corregidor que, just en aquest moment, està sopant opíparament unes aus. El corregidor naturalment es burla del que sent i llança la frase coneguda: «El vostre fill està tan viu com aquest gall i aquesta gallina que em disposava a menjar abans que em importunarais». I en aquest moment, les aus salten del plat i es posen a cantar i cloquejar alegrement.

 

D'aquesta llegenda va néixer la dita popular: «En Santo Domingo de la Calzada, donde cantó la gallina después de asada». Es tracta d'una llegenda molt similar a la Llegenda del Gall de Barcelos i probablement les dues tinguin un origen comú.

 

Pàgina a la UNESCO World Heritage List.

 

A Google Maps.