View allAll Photos Tagged committed
This guy was very committed to the character as he was running round at different shoots (well, not exactly running but I saw him all over the con) in what had to be a costume that did not breath vey well (held in heat).
Blurring effect created in Analog Efex with one of the motion/blur setting.
You know, the rag flown by those state officials who broke their oath of office, committed treason against the Constitution, and started a civil war that killed almost a million Americans. The Confederate flag is as despicable symbol of violent, right wing, racist oppression as the swastika flag of Nazi Germany. The Confederate flag is also the flag of treason against the United States of America. Those were my comments to a petition to the South Carolina State Legislature to remove the Confederate flag of treason from the flagpole on their statehouse grounds.
It’s time to take down the racist Confederate flag from all public spaces like schools, city halls, state capitals, and license plates in every single state. When Germany regained its national sovereignty several years after World War II, its basic laws made the public display of Nazi flags and symbols illegal and outlawed all Nazi organizations and gatherings. “The Confederate flag was born out of a government defending the enslavement of Black people and resurrected as an emblem for whites violently opposing racial integration. Any government that recognizes the flag is declaring that it cherishes a history of racial terror.” This was from a statement by Bree Newsome explaining why she climbed the flagpole and took down the Confederate flag over the SC capitol grounds. She is my hero! Of course she was arrested, and the rag of treason was back up on the flagpole an hour later for a scheduled white supremacist rally. A few weeks later the South Carolina State Legislature voted to remove that cursed flag.
Bree Newsome pulled the damned rag of treason down because it had been flying overhead while the funeral procession went past carrying the bodies of those African Americans murdered by the white TERRORIST attack in the old African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, SC. Make no mistake, it was a terrorist attack regardless of whether or not the Right Wing Nut Job gunman was a member of a recognized terrorist group. His statements to the survivors made it clear he meant to create and spread terror.
My ancestors fought on both sides of our bloody Civil War. That war ended just over 150 years ago and killed more Americans than we lost in both world wars and all of our medium-sized and little wars combined. Yes, the United States flag is my flag, not that other rag that needs to be trampled down and buried. When I marched behind the US flag, there was a rainbow assortment of people working and fighting alongside me. If I awoke and stood in a formation where everybody looked just like me, I'd feel completely naked without my black and brown brothers and sisters standing beside me..
In my other hand is a copy of the United States Constitution given to people serving on juries. That is the document I swore an oath "to protect and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Nut job terrorists come and go, but the greatest danger to my Constitution are nut job lawmakers that misrepresent me in government.
Construction, Week 59
You've likely been wondering, as I know I have (!), how Kroger managed to remove the hand-painted schoolchildren's tiles from the Committed to Excellence wall: well, now you know! You may have even seen a glimpse of this in the background of the last pic, too. Looks like they carefully removed some, then just got tired of it and ripped the entire wall out, haha! That's one way to ensure they'd all get down in one piece, anyway :P
(c) 2016 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
These birds haves committed to the drop down to the pond in a steep descent... more a free fall drop (i.e., parachute) than a glide-in. This shot against a cloudy western sunset sky results in a silhouette view of the crane against the clouds... but if you're familiar with these birds such shots offer no difficulty regarding their ID. The sky colors change so rapidly and the bird groups arrive constantly... you need to be constantly shooting to capture the ever changing spectacle! All of the subsequent shots this evening will be of silhouettes of the Cranes against the sky.
IMG_8247; Sandhill Cranes
Praha - 80
--------------------------------------------
Jan Zajíc (July 3, 1950 – February 25, 1969) was a Czech student who committed suicide by self-immolation as a political protest. He was a student of the Střední průmyslová škola železniční technical college in Šumperk, specializing in railroads, and was also interested in poetry and humanities.
In 1969 he took part in a hunger strike and a commemoration ceremony by students for Jan Palach near the statue of Saint Wenceslas in Prague.
On the day of the twenty-first anniversary of the Communist takeover (25 February 1969), he travelled to Prague accompanied by three other students. His intention was to warn the public against the forthcoming political "normalization" of the country. He had several letters challenging the people to fight against the Soviet military occupation of the Czechoslovak Republic. Around 1:30 in the afternoon he walked into the passageway of the building at No. 39 on Wenceslas Square and ignited his chemical-soaked clothes. He was unable to run out of the door, and collapsed and died in the hallway.
In a letter he left behind he wrote:
"Mother, father, brother, little sister!
When you read this letter, I will already be dead or close to death. I know what a severe blow my act will be to you, but don't be angry at me. Unfortunately, we are not alone in this world. I am not doing this because I would be tired by life, on the contrary, because I cherish it too much. Hopefully my act will make life better. I know the price of life and I know it is the most precious thing. But I want a lot for you, for everyone, so I have to pay a lot. Do not lose your heart after my sacrifice, tell Jacek to study harder and Marta too. You must never accept injustice, be it in any form, my death will bind you. I am sorry that I will never see you or that, which I loved so much. Please forgive me that I fought with you so much. Do not let them make me a madman.
Say hi to the boys, the river and the forest."
The secret state police prohibited his burial in Prague because they feared demonstrations, such as the ones that followed the burial of Jan Palach. He was later buried in his hometown of Vítkov.
From Wikipedia
Once you've committed yourself to a particular wave, it's too late to take advantage of the bigger one behind it ...
*********************************
I'm spending the winter months of 2014-2015 in a warm spot on the beach in Indialantic, FL (if I have Internet access, it doesn't matter too much where I'm physically located).
In addition to my sunrise walks along the beach, I’m also shooting various other afternoon scenes that look interesting — especially during the “golden hour” that extends from roughly an hour before sunset to an hour afterwards. The view in all of these shots is basically eastwards (sometimes northeast or southeast), so the sun is always setting behind me in the west. Thus, I’ll sometimes see some pink skies, or some interesting mixtures of late-afternoon sunlight and blue/purple colors — but not the fiery red/yellow/pink skies that accompany the sunsets in the west ...
These are some of the shots that I thought were somewhat interesting ...
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Austrian Air Force in its current form was created in May 1955 by the victorious Allied powers, subject to restrictions on its use of guided missiles. The Austrian State Treaty of 1955 committed Austria to permanent neutrality. Pilot training started out with a four Yak-11 Moose and four Yak-18 Max aircraft donated by the Soviet Union, and Austria purchased further light trainer types under the Military Assistance Program. Until 1960 Austria purchased training and support aircraft under the MAP, but no modern fighter aircraft; the role of a fighter was rather inadequately filled by thirty already outdated Saab 29 Tunnan, bought second-hand from the Swedish Air Force in the early 1960s which equipped two fighter bomber squadrons.
To expand its capabilities and modernize the fleet, Austria purchased from 1970 on a total of 40 Saab 105 lightweight multi-role aircraft from Sweden with the intention to deploy them in trainer, reconnaissance, ground attack and even interception roles. As it became clear in the 1980s that the light sub-sonic aircraft were inadequate for air combat and airspace interdiction, Austria started looking for a more capable aircraft. In 1984, Austria had devised a two-phase solution to its problem: buying 30 interim aircrafts cheaply as a stopgap and then trading them back for a new generation aircraft in the early or mid-Nineties.
International response was quick and manifold: Bristol Aerospace offered initially ex RAF Jaguars to be replaced by Tornado F.3 or even Eurofighters; Saab-Scania offered between 24 and 30 former Royal Swedish Air Force J 35D Draken, followed by Saab J 39 Gripen as future substitutes; General-Electric suggested downgraded F-16/79 or F-16A for phase one and an option for the same aircraft in a more modern variant for phase two; Northrop’s numberF-5E was another alternative for phase one. Dassault was also present with refurbished Mirage III initially, followed by Mirage 2000.
Finding the most suitable option in this mass was not easy, and eventually a surprising deal materialized: In 1985 the contract for the sale of twenty-four Lightning F.56 fighters plus four T.55 trainers was signed by the SPÖ/FPÖ government under Fred Sinowatz. The background: Saudi Arabia had been operating thirty-four F.53 single-seaters and six T.55 trainers since 1967 and was about to retire its fleet, which was still in very good condition and with a reasonable number of flying hours left on many airframes. The aircraft would be refurbished directly at BAe in Great Britain with the option to switch to the Tornado ADV or its successor, the Eurofighter Typhoon, later.
The Lightning F.53 was an export version of the RAF’s F.6, but with a multi-role mission profile in mind that included, beyond the primary interceptor mission with guided missiles or internal guns, the capability to carry out interdiction/ground attacks and reconnaissance missions. To carry a suitable ordnance load, the F.53 featured additional underwing pylons for bombs or unguided rocket pods. Instead of the standard Firestreak/Red Top AAM missile station in the lower front fuselage, two retractable panniers with a total of forty-four unguided 50 mm rockets, which were effective against both ground and aerial targets, could be installed, or, alternatively, two camera packs (one with five cameras and another with a rotating camera mount) was available for tactical photo reconnaissance missions. Overwing hardpoints, adapted from the Lightning F.6, allowed to carry auxiliary fuel tanks to increase range/endurance, additional rocket pods or even retarded bombs.
The Lightning T.55 was also an export variant, a two-seat side-by-side training aircraft, and virtually identical to the T.5, which itself was based on the older F.3 fighter variant, and fully combat-capable.
The Saudi Arabian multi-role F.53s had served in the ground-attack and reconnaissance roles as well as an air defense fighter, with Lightnings of No. 6 Squadron RSAF carrying out ground-attack missions using rockets and bombs during a border dispute with South Yemen between December 1969 and May 1970. Saudi Arabia received Northrop F-5E fighters from 1971, which resulted in the Lightnings relinquishing the ground-attack mission, concentrating on air defense, and to a lesser extent, reconnaissance. Until 1982, Saudi Arabia's Lightnings were mainly operated by 2 and 6 Squadron RSAF (although a few were also used by 13 Squadron RSAF), but when 6 Squadron re-equipped with the F-15 Eagle from 1978 on, all the remaining aircraft were concentrated and operated by 2 Squadron at Tabuk. In 1985, as part of the agreement to sell the Panavia Tornado (both IDS and ADV versions) to the RSAF, the Lightnings were traded in to British Aerospace, returned to Warton for refurbishment and re-sold to Austria.
While the Saudi Arabian Lightnings’ hardware was in very good shape, the Austrian Bundesluftwaffe requested some modifications, including a different missile armament: instead of the maintenance-heavy British Firestreak/Red Top AAMs, the Lightnings were to be armed with simpler, lighter and more economical IR-guided AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs which were already in the Austrian Air Force’s inventory. Two of these missiles were carried on single launch rails on the lower forward fuselage; an additional pair of Sidewinders could also be carried on the outer underwing stations, for a total of four. The F.53s’ optional retractable unguided rocket panniers were dropped altogether in favor of a permanent avionics bay for the Sidewinders in its place. However, to carry out tactical reconnaissance tasks (formerly executed by J 29Fs with a removable camera pod instead of the portside gun bay), four Austrian Lightnings frequently had one of the optional camera compartments installed, thereby losing the capability to deploy Sidewinders, though.
Among other things, the machines were furthermore upgraded with new bird strike-proof cockpit glazing, avionics were modernized, and several other minor customer requests were adopted, like a 0.6-megacandela night identification light. This spotlight is mounted in the former portside gun bay in front of the cockpit, and an anti-glare panel was added under the windscreen.
The fixed in-flight refueling probe was deleted, as this was not deemed necessary anymore since the Lightnings would exclusively operate within neutral Austria’s borders. The probes could, however, be re-installed, even though the Austrian pilots would not receive on-flight refueling training. The Lightnings' optional 260 imp gal overwing tanks were retained since they were considered to be sufficient for extended subsonic air patrols or eventual ferry flights.
The refurbished Lightnings were re-designated F.56 and delivered in batches of four between 1987 and 1989 to the Austrian Air Force’s 1st and then 2nd Fighter Squadrons, carrying a grey air superiority paint scheme. At that time, the airframes had between 1,550 and 2,800 flight hours and all had a general overhaul behind them. In 1991, the Lightings were joined by eighteen German ex-NVA-LSK MiG-23s, which were transferred to Austrian Air Force's ‘Fliegerwerft B’ at Nittner Air Base, where they'd be overhauled and updated with NATO-compatible equipment. As MiG-23Ö they were exclusively used as interceptors, too.
Shortly after their introduction, the Austrian Lightnings saw their first major use in airspace interdiction starting 1991 during the Yugoslav Wars, when Yugoslav MiG-21 fighters frequently crossed the Austrian border without permission. In one incident on 28 June a MiG-21 penetrated as far as Graz, causing widespread demands for action. Following repeated border crossings by armed aircraft of the Yugoslav People's Army, changes were suggested to the standing orders for aircraft armament.
With more and more practice and frequent interceptions one of the Lightning's basic flaws became apparent: its low range. Even though the Lightning had a phenomenal acceleration and rate of climb, this was only achieved in a relatively clean configuration - intercepting intruders was one thing but escorting them back to the Austrian border or an assigned airfield, as well as standing air patrols, were a different thing. With more tactical experience, the overwing tanks were taken back into service, even though they were so draggy that their range benefit was ultimately zero when the aircraft would use its afterburners during a typical interception mission. Therefore, the Austrian QRA Lightnings were typically operated in pairs: one clean and only lightly armed (typically with the guns and a pair of AIM-9s), to make a quick approach for visual intruder identification and contact, while a second aircraft with extra fuel would follow at high subsonic speed and eventually take over and escort the intruder. Airspace patrol was primarily executed with the MiG-23Ö, because it had a much better endurance, thanks to its VG wings, even though the Floggers had a poor service record, and their maintenance became ever more complicated.
After more experience, the Austrian Lightnings received in 1992 new ALR-45 radar detectors in a fairing on the fin top as well as chaff and flare dispenser systems, and the communication systems were upgraded, too. In 2004 the installation of Garmin 295 moving map navigation devices followed, even though this turned out to be a negligible update: on December 22, 2005, the active service life and thus military use of the Lightnings in general ended, and Austria was the last country to decommission the type, more than 50 years after the first flight of the prototype on August 4, 1954.
The Austrian Lightnings’ planned service period of 10 years was almost doubled, though, due to massive delays with the Eurofighter’s development: In 2002, Austria had already selected the Typhoon as its new “Phase II” air defense aircraft, having beaten the F-16 and the Saab Gripen in competition, and its introduction had been expected to occur from early 2005 on, so that the Lightnings could be gradually phased out. The purchase of 18 Typhoons was agreed on 1 July 2003, but it would take until 12 July 2007 that the first Typhoon would eventually be delivered to Zeltweg Air Base and formally enter service with the Austrian Air Force. This operational gap had to be bridged with twelve F-5E leased from Switzerland for EUR 75 mio., so that Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties for the Austrian airspace could be continued.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 55 ft 3 in (16.84 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)
Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m²)
Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel
Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two AIM-9B, cannon, ammunition, and internal fuel
Max takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines,
12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)
Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)
Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius
Range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) with internal fuel
1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external overwing tanks
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)
Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)
Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m)
Zoom climb: 50,000 ft/min
Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m²) with two AIM-9 and 1/2 fuel
Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon with 120 RPG in the lower fuselage
2× forward fuselage hardpoints for a single AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM each
2× underwing hardpoints for 1.000 lb (454 kg) each
2× overwing pylon stations for 2.000 lb (907 kg each),
typically occupied with 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 l) ferry tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This was another submission to the “Hunter, Lightning and Canberra” group build at whatifmodellers.com in 2022 and intended as a rather simple build since it was based on an alternate reality plot: the weird story that Austria was offered a revamped fleet of ex-Saudi Arabian Lightnings is true(!), but the decision eventually fell in favor of revamped Saab J 35Ds from Sweden. For this what-if build I used the real historic timeline, replaced the aircraft, and built both story and model around this – and the result became the BAC Lightning F.56 in Austrian Air Force service.
Initially I wanted to use an Airfix BAC Lightning in The Stash™, a really nice model kit and a relatively new mold, but it turned out to be the kit’s F.2A variant. While very similar to the F.6, changing it into a F.53 analogue with the OOB parts turned out to be too complex for my taste. For instance, the F.2A kit lacks the ventral gun bay (it just comes with the auxiliary tank option since the guns are already located in front of the cockpit) and the cable conduits on the lower flanks. Procuring a suitable and priceworthy Airfix F.6 turned out to be impossible, but then I remembered a Hasegawa Lightning F.6 in The Stash™ that I had shot at ev!lbay many moons ago for a laughable price and without a concrete plan. However, this kit is pretty old: it has raised (yet quite fine, less robust than the Matchbox kit) panel lines and even comes with a pilot figure, but also many weak spots like the air intake and the jet exhausts that end in flat walls after some millimeters depth and a very basic cockpit. But for this rather simple what-if project the kit appeared to be a suitable basis, and it would eventually find a good use.
The Hasegawa Lightning was basically built OOB, even though I made some cosmetic amendments like a better seat for the pilot, hydraulic fluid lines on the landing gear made from wire or opening the flat walls inside of the air intake opening and the jet nozzles. Behind the radome, a simple splitter plate was added as well as a recessed bulkhead in front of an implanted Me 262 cockpit tub (the Hasegawa kit just offers a bare floor panel, nothing else!), the afterburners were extended inwards with parts from a Matchbox A.W. Meteor night fighter.
The Red Top AAMs and the in-flight refueling probe were omitted. Instead, I added extra F.53-style forward-swept pylons under the outer wings, scratched from 1.5 mm styrene sheet due to their odd, raked shape, and I added Sidewinder launch rails plus suitable missiles from a Hasegawa air-to-air weapons set to all four stations. After long consideration I also retained the ‘overburger’ tanks, partly because of the unique layout on the Lightning, and also because of operational considerations.
Chaff dispensers were scratched from styrene profiles and placed at the fin’s base. A fairing for the retrofitted radar warning sensor was added to the fin tip, created from 1.5 mm styrene sheet.
Painting and markings:
To reflect the “alternate reality” role of the Lightning I gave the model a livery similar to the Saab J 35Ö that were actually procured: an adaptation of the USAF “Egypt One” scheme, carried primarily by the USAF F-16s. Adapting this simple three-tone camouflage from the flat F-16 to the Draken was easy and straightforward, but applying it to a Lightning with its many vertical surfaces turned out to be a tough challenge. I eventually came up with a paint scheme that reminds of the late RAF low-viz Lightning liveries, which existed in a wide range of patterns and graduations of grey.
The colors were authentic, FS 36118, 36270 and 36375 (using Humbrol 125, 126 and 127), and I decided to emphasize the camouflage of the flanks against the horizon, so that the vertical surfaces and the fin became FS 36270. The undersides of wings, stabilizers and fuselage became FS 36375. The dark FS 36118 was only applied to the upper sides of the wings and the stabilizer, and to a high dorsal section, starting at the wing roots. As a small contrast, the tank area on the spine was painted in light grey, simulating unpainted fiber glass. The radome was painted with a streaky mix of Humbrol 155 and 56.
As usual, the model received a light black ink washing, some post-panel-shading in lighter tones, and, due to the raised panel lines, was very lightly rubbed with graphite. The cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Revell 47) with an olive drab fabric fairing behind the black pilot seat, which received ejection handles made from thin wire as eye candy. The landing gear and the respective wells were painted in Humbrol 56 (Aluminum Dope).
The decals are a wild mix: The fuselage roundels are actually wing markings from a Hasegawa J 35OE, as well as the huge orange "06" on the wings (I could not resist; they will later be partly obscured by the overwing tanks, but the heck with it!). The roundels on the wings come from a generic TL Modellbau sheet - I found that I needed larger markings than those on the Draken.
Both unit and individual aircraft identifiers are single black DIN font digits, also from TL Modellbau. The unit badges on the fin are authentic, even though from an earlier era: they came from an Austrian J 29 of Fliegerregiment 2 from a PrintScale sheet, and all stencils were taken from the OOB low-viz RAF markings sheet, plus four small warning triangles for the underwing pylons.
A ‘what-if’ model in the purest sense, since this model depicts what could really have been: ex Saudi-Arabian export BAC Lightnings over the Austrian Alps! However, refurbished Saab J 35D Draken made the race (and later followed by the Eurofighter Typhoon at ‘Stage 2’), so that this Lightning remains fictional. It does not look bad in the ‘Egypt One’ paint scheme, though, better than expected!
These birds haves committed to the drop down to the pond in a steep descent... more a free fall drop (i.e., parachute) than a glide-in. This shot against a cloudy western sunset sky results in a silhouette view of the crane against the clouds... but if you're familiar with these birds such shots offer no difficulty regarding their ID. The sky colors change so rapidly and the bird groups continually arrive... you need to be constantly shooting to capture the ever changing spectacle! All of the subsequent shots this evening will be of silhouettes of the Cranes against the sky.
IMG_8253; Sandhill Cranes
An image from streets .
The boy is a street cobbler and was so dedicated to his work with a big smile on his face.
Beauty and dignity of his character personified. .
Well I tried to do some Portraits of this group this year, and I did them in B&W as it fits their motif. This is my first time doing a portrait session like this, so I am grateful for the chance to do this.
Strobist info:
ISO 200
f 4
Shutter 1/10th
Ambient light to the right, a Canon 480 EXII flash to the left with a Firefly Softbox fired using a Hahnel Trigger.
Committed to expired Fujifilm Superia 100 using a Leica M6 and 28 mm Summicron ASPH lens. Developed using a C-41 kit from Ars-Imago and scanned using an Epson V850 using Silverfast. Positive conversion, colour and levels done with Negative Lab Pro.
Committed to the removal of every single stone sett from the roadways of Preston - the contractors involved in this dastardly assignment have overlooked these nestling under the protection of Ringway
I'm sorry if this is too dark or personal, but I found out my half-brother committed suicide and it's been difficult to process.
On the outside he seemed like he had the perfect life. None of us expected anything like this from him. It's horrific. He left behind a daughter who's just a child.
I've always hated it when people write off suicide (or any depression-related symptoms) as the ultimate selfishness. It's a sickness just like anything else wrong with your body. It changes the way you think. But I can't help wishing he would've just told someone. Maybe talking about it would have meant that people didn't think he was perfect anymore, but at least he might be here.
It's okay not to be perfect. It's okay not to have answers. There are people out there to help. Talk about it. Tell someone.
Please.
Events on the stage of Shonan area of Japan, aimed at the development of the Hawaiian culture. Dancers of about 1,000 people gathered from Kanagawa prefecture, I committed showcase technology of hula daily, polished.
Above all, she is beautiful, smile was a very nice lady at all times.
Stockwell.
Land was subdivided by Samuel Stockwell in 1856 to create a private town. He later committed suicide in 1870. The town school opened in 1867 and became a state school in 1875 with the current building erected a few years after that around 1880. The Stockwell School closed in 1971 and became a private residence. It is interesting as the school room was left with protruding bluestones ready to add another classroom which was obviously never required.
A Lutheran church was built in Stockwell in 1863. This was replaced with the current church in 1904. Like many Barossa Valley Lutheran churches a tower with a witch’s hat type spire was added some years later. A roller flourmill driven by steam thus requiring a very tall chimney to produce the steam was opened in 1890. It still stands in Stockwell as a reminder of the grain growing rather than vine growing days of the Valley. It is probably the only flourmill with a tall chimney stack left in the Barossa Valley from the 19th century. A small Institute opened in Stockwell in 1911. The town got a railway siding when the Nuriootpa to Truro railway spur line was opened in 1917. Stockwell still has a hotel and grain silos although there is no longer a railway station there.
Finally, Someone has committed this character to Lego form.
Another brilliant figure and a perfect example of where John truly stands out amongst other customisers which is the face designs. His prints seem to convey so much character in their expressions and i think he does this better than anyone :).
GENEVA – Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said in a new report today. The Commission urges Israel and all States to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible for it.
The Commission has been investigating the events on and since 7 October 2023 for the last two years, and concluded that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
Explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities and the pattern of conduct of the Israeli security forces indicate that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.
Repsol is committed to being a responsible operator in all areas of our business. Our values of flexibility, transparency, responsibility, integrity and innovation are at the core of everything we do. Repsol holds an interest in 170,000 net acres in the Marcellus, which is one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. Our acreage is primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga counties.
Learn more about our U.S. exploration and production business at www.repsolusa.com.
Repsol se compromete a actuar con responsabilidad a lo largo de toda la cadena de valor. Nuestros valores de flexibilidad, transparencia, responsabilidad, integridad e innovación marcan nuestra manera de trabajar. Repsol tiene un interés de 170.000 acres netos en el Marcellus, es uno de los mayores campos de gas natural en el mundo. Nuestra área de operación se encuentra principalmente en el noreste de Pennsylvania en Bradford, y en los condados de Susquehanna y Tioga.
Más información sobre nuestro negocio de exploración y producción en EE.UU. www.repsolusa.com .
You and Your Health
Tell Me the Truth, Doctor
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm MDT on Monday, July 1, 2013
(Tickets Required) Recognizing the astonishing amount of misinformation that many important health decisions are based upon, Dr. Richard Besser is committed to delivering the truth. He isn't afraid to challenge the status quo or the interests within the health care industry to provide the knowledge you need to take control of your health.
Richard Besser Ezekiel Emanuel
Limelight Hotel
Axis Industries remains committed to rebuilding the plentiful life of a past Earth with the latest Organic Replacement Bot Type 36. Detailed after archived scientific drawings and biological bone fragments and designed with next-gen actuators and cabling, Type 36 will contribute just what Nature intended 30,000 years ago. Each unit contains an AXL reactor to power itself for over a millennium, no matter the challenges faced.
Enjoy Nature Revisited (TM). Units shipping now.
Written by my sister:
I am so COMMITTED to dolls. I think, instead of losing interest in dollies, my fascination for them gets stronger with each passing year. The simplest things can inspire me to spend oodles of money. Take this pretty festive picture, for example. Okay, it didn't really make me spend a lot of money, as the dresses were on clearance for about $14 each, but still--the idea of putting Bitty, a Wellie, and an 18 inch doll together in matching blue dresses was super enticing. We bought the Truly Me dress shortly after Christmas 2020, not knowing it was one of three, when we spotted it in the Last Chance Outlet. It was very inexpensive and we knew we'd get a lot of use out of it. A few months later, in March or April 2021, Shelly was perusing the same clearance section and realized there were matching outfits available for Bitty and the Wellies! At the time, we didn't have a Wellie and there wasn't a lot in the clearance section that we had reason to buy, so, though we wanted/had immediate use for Bitty's dress, there just wasn't much point ordering it on its own (because of shipping costs). It was at this point that I REALLY thought about Wellies for the first time in months. Sure, it was just a passing thought, "We really need to get a Wellie, just so that we have an excuse to buy matching outfits and I can take a group shot for our Collections and Lines album on Flickr." It didn't turn into a full blown Wellie obsession (yet), but it did continue to linger in my mind, particularly every time I happened to go into Shelly's room and look at Valerie, who was currently wearing the Truly Me Star & Snow dress. When we first adopted Camille and Willa, a tiny part of me hoped the Bitty and Wellie dresses were still available--but I figured they might not be. Shelly was thinking about it, well, not specifically these outfits, just wanting Wellie clothes in general, even more than me--she went onto the American Girl website within an hour of forking over the cash for Willa and Camille at the flea market. (Like, she was perusing the website before we even ate lunch.) It made me immensely happy that it worked out as though it were meant to be--shortly after I wished for a Wellie (or two) to put in this dress, two miraculously appeared at my flea market and both Bitty and Wellie sized dresses were still on clearance! It doesn't get better than that. These dresses are enchanting--together and on their own. I feel that the Truly Me dress and the Wellie dress are accessorized more similarly with glittery headbands and shoes. Bitty's headband has a bow that is similar to the waistband of the dress and her shoes are more wearable than the other two pairs. (When I swapped the dress over from Val to Angela, so Angela could model it here, I got silver glitter all over Shelly's bed. I also found a large sprinkling of glitter under the table Valerie and Angela sit at.) I love the embroidered designs on the dresses--it's festive, but also good marketing because it's a subtle play on AG's star logo. I love the tartan print on the skirts too! I chose blue eyed blondes (well, Bitty's eyes are actually gray) for this photo because I think their eyes really pop in this. These girls look like snow angels! These dresses are awesome--We have four female babies (counting Billie Jean the Bitty Twin), two Wellies, eight Girl of the Years, three Girl of Todays, one My American Girl, and one Truly Me. Every year, we take a photo of some of our dolls by our gingerbread house and the dolls all wear holiday/winter clothes. These dresses are guaranteed to feature in future holiday photos because there are so many dolls who could potentially model them!
Dolls in photo (from left to right):
-Girl of Today #3
-Wellie Wishers Camille
-Bitty Baby #3
I finally committed to getting my old 450D converted for IR. This is just a test shot really, so that I could experience the novelty of shooting a living, moving thing in IR (I'm used to exposures of several minutes when shooting IR). The coverted camera is not a replacement to shooting IR through a filter - I'll still be doing that too. The conversion uses a stronger filter than I'm used to (colour will be very limited - this hasn't been converted to b/w), and should make for some interesting shots once I've got to grips with it. This was taken at 1/60 sec at ISO100.
Carte de visite by N.A. and R.A. Moore of Hartford, Conn. By the time the Civil War began, the man pictured here, Henry Eugene Burton, had committed himself heart and soul to the party of Abraham Lincoln and the cause of human rights. Gene, as he was known to his family and friends in Hartford, Connecticut, did not join the army until late 1863, when he reported to the Union base at Folly Island, South Carolina, with a second lieutenant’s commission in the newly formed 1st Regiment North Carolina Colored Volunteers, which mustered into federal service as the 35th U.S. Colored Infantry.
The first engagement in which he and his men participated was the February 1864 Battle of Olustee in Florida, a loss for the Federals. Burton suffered a severe wound to his leg in the thick of the fray. He told a newspaper correspondent the story of the fight, telling the journalist “of the fierce rage that gripped him as he saw his ego soldiers falling around him; of how he faced the enemy with a ‘damn you, you have killed my men! Kill me, too!’”
Burton’s wound ended his combat career. He returned to active duty as an aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. David Bell Birney, but eventually fell ill and resigned in February 1865.
Burton returned to his home in Hartford, Conn., and practiced law for many years. Active in the Grand Army of the Republic and a tireless campaigner for progressive causes, including anti-government corruption, good citizenship, and the state’s humane society, he was also a talented writer, contributing to the local newspaper, the Hartford Courant. Burton lived until 1904, dying at age 63. He outlived his wife, Mary, who died in 1886. A daughter survived him.
His legacy includes an essay he wrote on the occasion of Memorial Day 1894. Published in the Courant, Burton honors the plain, working-class men who fought for the Union—farmers, laborers, clerks—whose heroism was built on devotion, endurance, and love for family and country. Their service, marked by hardship, sacrifice, and quiet faith, is described as the nation’s chief glory.
I want to share it with you. Listen for a reference to Capt. Valentine B. Chamberlain of the 6th Connecticut Infantry, who was captured during the assault on Fort Wagner in July 1863—the same attack in which the 54th Massachusetts Infantry distinguished itself.
Burton’s essay is titled:
HATS OFF TODAY.
He begins:
Heroism has been truly said to be homely work in the doing. It is good and comforting to remember, on this day of memories, and to never forget that heroic work is mostly done by homely men, by men who are not rich, or famous, or great. The heroes of the Union were, in the phrase of Lincoln, of the plain people, as was he himself, the greatest of them all. They began their education in the common school, and frequently finished it there.
They were laborers and wayfarers like their fathers and like ourselves. They worked in the fields, in factories, in offices, and shops, for self-respect and for the respect of others and for wives, children and friends. They were glad at the weddings and sorry at the funerals of their neighborhoods. They had, and showed, a personal interest in politics, local and general. They went to town meetings and caucuses, voted at elections and stood by their candidates, in victory and in defeat, as later they stood by their guns. They were not perfect, all had their faults, and some the vices of their race and time. They had their private ambitions and disappointments, temptations and triumphs, like every man since Adam. And for joy or grief, and mostly in secret, of course, after the manner of men, they cried sometimes; how else could they have been heroes? A man who is never good for a cry is not good for a fight; his feelings cannot rise to the occasion and stay there. Mere intellect or mere courage or both together, never made a real man, much less a hero. Heroism is of the heart and so wins all hearts. It is tender with the love and dewy with the tears of all mankind. And so it was that our heroes loved their babies and their country and were ready to fight for both at the first flicker of a hostile flag.
Their work was homely in the doing; none but themselves could know how homely. It was homesickness, weariness and dirt, disease and death, from year's end to year's end. But for their cause, and their heroism in it, there was no debasing work. In that cause and with their devotion to it, their work was the chief glory of their country and century. Year by year, on land and sea, by night and day, through heat and winter wind, scourged by life and racked by death, they fought their starry way to happy peace.
And they builded better than they knew. Heroes always do that. They lived by faith, not by knowledge; and no man's faith was ever yet big enough to divine a hero's estate. Sometimes they die in the mid stress of their endeavor, knowing nothing of its results; sometimes they live to know a little of the reward of their sacrifices; but, however long they stay, they finally go hence, half knowing and half known, leaving an unclaimed heritage to unborn heirs.
The world does not pay its debt to its benefactors themselves, partly because it is not payable in material things, partly because only the slow ages can at all compute it, and partly because it is not altogether payable by mortals. These continents are not all the world, nor their living inhabitants all its people. Sadly doubting, as men may, of the undiscovered country, they, nevertheless, cannot doubt of the millions who forelived them, or think in their hearts that those millions are no more. From those millions come earth’s heroes, and to them, at last, return. What a welcome theirs must be! Perhaps one who remembers the return of our regiments in 1865 may guess something about it; but it can be quite revealed only to those who go home on their shields. This is the way in which so many of our boys went home a generation ago, and in that way, also, have gone many of their survivors. What a tear-blurred list those names would make today.
And, of all those names, none could be dearer than that of Captain Valentine B. Chamberlain. One year ago next month he died. Many of his comrades, with a multitude of his friends and neighbors, gathered around him in his funeral services. They saw and shared the griefs of the people, to whom he had come in his youth, a citizen soldier, and among whom he lived, as he died, a soldier citizen. They went with him to his final resting place, and, standing there, saw, near and far, around his grave, green mounds glorified by the flag he had followed over the parapet of Wagner, as though his comrades, long at rest, had roused to give him welcome. And into that gallant company, in the soft brightness of that June afternoon, with the sorrowing eyes of hundreds fixed upon him he disappeared forever. The flags that followed him there were sad with crape; but the flags that paved his coming were glad with sunlight. The comrades who stayed with him to the end turned homeward with the sunlit flags awave in their hearts, like Chamberlain’s good by to his friends and God-speed to his country. Happy in the number as in the character of his children, he will long survive in their loving memory, and will be born to honor and gratitude again and again, in the multiplying generations of his descendants.
How measureless the inheritance which our heroes leave to their children. They may add to their patrimony houses and lands and all the winged riches which fortune gives to labor; and all these things they may lose. They can but keep while life remains one thing which moth and rust cannot corrupt or thieves break through and steal, the priceless treasure of heroic blood. A man with Gettysburg in his veins is richer than the Indies, though the Indies drained the wealth of all the zones. Emerson was right:—
“A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs.”
Our old soldiers know the truth. They have seen it in the service of heavy fights and the valley of the shadow of death. They have felt it in all the personal reverses, and civil turmoils of these last thirty years and they feel it more and more, as in faded blue, they face their fading west.
Hats off today, for the war of the Union marches past! Hats off to its old men and its old flag! Hats off to its flag lit by new flame, to its men, now forever young who fell at the front or died at their homes! Hats off to Liberty, sweet Mother of us all, who mourns among our dead her sons of many lands! None but the dead could name them all. But there are black men among them, who melted the chains of their people with the flame of their muskets. There are Native Americans there, who were worthy of their country and her crown of lyric death. There are Irishmen there, who illustrate anew their freedom-loving ancestry and the martial fame of their race. There are Scotchmen there, born of Bruce and Burns. There are Englishmen there, children of Shakespeare and Waterloo. There are Germans there, beloved heirs of fame and victory, who marched, hot foot, to the sound of our guns. There are Frenchmen there, sons of that race who, twice within a century, brought their valor of Marengo to our banners of the free.
Now that the battle roar dies away in the distance, what choral harmonies flood in from thirty years ago—pipes of the Scottish border, sounds of the English lanes, strains of the Marseillaise, songs of the fatherland, chants of the Emerald Isle, and, rising above all, like a soul let free, the roll of Appomattox drums chanting for the ages our litany of the knights.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.
I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I've come through
And we mean to go on and on and on and on
We are the champions, my friends
And we'll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World
- We Are The Champions, Queen
HER
♰ Featured/Event/Sale Items ♰
>>-----Get it Here - April 22nd - May 7th-----> Reborn Event
Mesh Body:
eBODY - Reborn Body
• Fits: ANYONE!
• Bonuses: So many add-ons and customization options available!
Outfit:
Niko - Mela - Fatpack
• Fits: Reborn, Reborn Rolls
• HUD Options: 8 Colors
>>-----Get it Here - April 22nd - May 7th-----> Reborn Event
Location:
MadPea - Ghostly Gaol Escape Room
•Do you dare to enter the Ghostly Gaol? Join us on a spine-chilling ghost tour of the old Southern State Penitentiary, where thousands of disturbed criminals once lived and died.
• Features: Game HUD, Achievements, Hours of Immersive Adventure Gaming
• Prizes: 3 prizes available if you succeed in escaping!
>>-----Get it Here-----> MadPea
Bracelets:
Vahalla - Lorin Bracelets
- Fits: Gianni, Jake, Legacy F/M/Athletic, Reborn, & Malevolent(LegacyF/M/Athletic/Reborn)
- HUD Options: 4 Metals + 6 leathers + Shine + Hide/Show Options
>>-----Get it Here-----> Man Cave Event
Makeup:
Hexumbra - Gwen Eye Makeup
• Fits: BOM, Lelutka EvoX
• Options: 9 Colors + Tintable Eyeliner
>>-----Get it Here-----> >>-----Get it Here-----> Hexumbra @ Fantasy Faire 2024
Hexumbra - Mary Jane Lipstick
• Fits: BOM, Lelutka EvoX
• Options: 12 Colors
♰ Base & Extras ♰
Head - LeLutka
Face Skin - Heaux
Body Skin - Velour
Skin Extras - Izzie's
Piercings - LeLutka & Little Fish
Eyes - Avi-Glam
Hair - Stealthic
Earrings - Garmonbozia
Tattoo - Macabra
Shine/Scar/Eye Shine - This is Wrong
HIM
Look not disclosed per avatar request.
WEEK 32.2 – Oakland Kroger, Pre-Remodel (II)
The wall directly next to the pharmacy in the former Hernando millennium Kroger once housed a very nice, large display of elementary schoolers' hand-painted tiles, beneath the caption “Committed to Excellence” and the emblem of DeSoto County Schools. Here in Oakland, we find a similar “Committed to Education” display, again featuring the local school district's emblem, this time placed alongside a collection of images of various school events (including one that appears to be a ribbon cutting!).
As you can tell, those five images have sadly faded quite a considerable amount since this store's opening in 2003, but I guess that's to be expected after 15 years' time. (Thankfully the rest of the décor aged much better, lol!) This display was removed with the remodel, I'm sure... but it was nice while it was here.
(c) 2018 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
---- a young devotee committed to set up the lateral altar ----
---------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
This is a long-short report on the feast of the Three Brothers Martyrs Saints Alfio, Filadelfo and Cirino, that the town of Saint Alfio (Sicily) is dedicating the first Sunday in May to its Three Patron Saints.
On Sunday the Feast is celebrated at 10.00 with a sung Mass in the Mother Church, at 15:00 preparations begin to go down the statues of the Saints on float. At 16.00 the float looks out from the main door of the Mother Church where starts a joyful sound of bells toghether a spectacular shoot of bombs and a spontaneous chorus of faithfuls who perform the anthem of the Three Saints, the famous "Sung".
Subsequently, the float travels the streets of the town of Saint Alfio, accompanied in procession from the large crowd of faithful, to return to the mother church.
Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Blog
Once upon a time… Joyce told me that my recent blogs were becoming less story like and more instructional. At first I was alarmed at this statement! Have I lost my linguistic cunning? Am I no longer taking you on a literally roller coaster through my vast imagination? I must sincerely apologize to those of you who come back day after day waiting to be swept away to some far off location most likely no further than 10 minutes from my home. I find myself stuck between two demographics. On one hand I have fellow photographers, either professionals or aspiring amateurs. Either way you are my "bread and butter" if I must put a term to it. On the other hand I hand I have a loyal base of readers that actually enjoy my literary stylings. My sick, twisted and sarcastic brand of humor. I've tried to balance the blogs so that each group can enjoy, but perhaps I've slipped a bit and left the second group hanging. To that I apologize once again and only hope I can lure you back into my weird world. I only have 53 days left and I'd hate to alienate this late in the game.
Speaking of my "sick, twisted and sarcastic brand of humor", I apparently offended Shawn's lady friend the other day! We were in the line for the COD launch and she had stopped by to check out the commotion. Shawn, mentioned that she is a hard core COD fan, to which I quickly and to what Shawn described as "stone faced" looked her in the eye and said "you probably don't even know what a PS3 controller even looks like! its the small one with the little buttons" I didn't even sense any offense when she quickly announced she was going to leave. Hey, you can't please a crowd without pissing a few off! I'll admit I don't appeal to everyone! Hell, if I did then I'd be like Ice Cube being all gangsta in the 90's and all family fun films in the 2000's! This situation brings me back a few years when my friend James came over to a giant house party we were throwing. I had already drank enough to be legally stupid when he had walked in with his brand new girlfriend. He introduced her and the first thing out of my mouth was "wow! you have a small head" from that day forth, she didn't like me!" for what reason… I have NO idea! I will never live that one down!
So, COD… an addiction that may even rival WOW. I'm not what you say, addicted as I can go weeks without playing. However, I will admit that the game does kick its own special brand of ass! There is no denying that it is a cultural phenomenon! The pre-sale and launch party were evidence of that, albeit a small, inkling of that evidence. At 5:00pm people started lining up just to get a door ticket to hold their place in line for the midnight release. I went over all this yesterday so I'll just fast forward to Midnight… ready. (insert crazy fast forward sound)
12:00am Tuesday, November 8th 2011
Joyce's cooperation was contingent on a 96 ounce Mountain Dew from 7-11. She said if she had to deal with a crowd of people with way too much time on there hands, she required her drug… the thick, syrup like substance once rumored in my high school to make your balls shrink! I opted for a red bull which would later prove in combination with my headache/hangover induced nap, to keep me up until well after sunrise! The crowd was significant yet not nearly as massive as I had envisioned (a, "thats what she said" line would fit there!) I'd say in all there must of been about 300 people there. Out of the 300 I'm sure only 150 were buying the game as it appeared that people were bringing there brothers, sisters, grandmothers, dogs and pet snails. Earlier I had recruited the fully geared up Josh to become part of the project. I had first noticed this man looking like he was straight out of the game when we came for the door tickets. Turns out he doesn't even work at Game Stop. Being friends with some of the employees, and a fan of the game, he stepped up to make this particular locations launch just a little bit more authentic! I love when people take the extra step and Josh most definitely did.
With the line as long as it was I was worried if Josh would be able to pull away for the 5 minutes I needed. I approached him and he seemed unconfident that he'd be able to pull away before 1 or 2am. I wasn't going to wait that long and after inquiring as to shooting later in the day, he offered to step away once I was setup. I was happy as I really was looking forward to not having to shoot at 7pm. I'm actually, writing this when I'd typically be saying… what the hell I'm I going to shoot tonight!
After Josh committed to pulling away, I snuck around the side of the building and setup the lights. Not having the Vagabond I was left to find power. Luckily the store had a long extension cord left from when they had the 4 big screen TV's setup from the launch party earlier. I just borrowed a little power and quickly set the lights up.
The line was dwindling drastically and too my surprise, it looked like Josh wouldn't have to "pull" away, but instead just walk away. On a side note, as per my awesome brotherly advise, Shawn had purchased a second copy of COD, in the event that it sold out before everyone got a copy. We planned on having a heated bidding war in the parking lot, with the hopes of making a small profit. The demand obviously wasn't that large and we weren't going to be making any money tonight.
Ok, back to the topic at hand. Josh was ready and it was time to capture some COD inspired awesomeness!
Posing was made easy by Josh's previous experience. Corp. Josh, Fire Team Leader of the 3rd infantry division did his "Call of Duty" from January of 2005 - January of 2006. Stationed with 2nd Marine Devision he did his tour in Ramadi Iraq in what was called the Triangle of Death. With a name like that you can bet it was pretty dangerous.
So, with his experience and actual time spent in the military, he was familiar with what I was looking for. This made the shoot very quick. A full 5 minutes of shooting was all it took to get what I was looking for. I thanked Josh and we packed up. From here we headed back to 7-11 for some very much unneeded caffeine. I really really didn't need anymore but had no idea of just how much I didn't need it for a few hours. Once home, we immediately popped in COD MW3 and proceeded to get our asses handed to us for the next hour! You'd of thought Shawn and I had never played the game by the way we were getting lit up every 2 seconds. Shawn got so frustrated he considered not playing the game! Common sense kicked in and he sucked it up like a good addict or would that be snorted it up like a good addict.
Ok, for those who have been patiently waiting… on to the technical part.
The image was shot using two lights. with Josh in the middle I had one light at 3:00 and the other 10:00. with him facing 4:00 he was very dramatically lit. I had set the backlight about 3 stops lower than the main light in the attempt to only softly illuminate his outline. I didn't want him to disappear into oblivion but at the same time I didn't want him to stand out like he was pasted over black. The lighting setup was perfect for the effect I was going for. In post I simply added the smoke to give it a little character. Photoshop was a very minimal part of today's shot. Not a half bad outcome for such little PS time. I'll have to try shooting more in camera again. Hell, if I can shoot 50% in camera I could not reduce the PS time but drastically increase the amount of tweaking I can do, thus giving me a more amazing outcome. Sounds good to me!
With the photo and blog finished I'm free to do something else… Wow, thats odd… what do do? I'll be sure to let you all know what I figure out.
Lighting:
AB800 Med Gridded Softbox 10:00 1/8 power
AB800 Med. Gridded Softbox 3:00 1/2 power
Triggered Via Cyber Syncs and Commander.
A rivulet of the Tyburn runs through the basement of a Mayfair building.
Tyburn River. Originating in Hampstead, flowing through Regents Park under Buckingham Palace and flowing into the Thames near Vauxhall Bridge. This is my take which I felt would suit a good frame.
Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in northeastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.
The word Buddha means "awakened one" or "the enlightened one". "Buddha" is also used as a title for the first awakened being in a Yuga era. In most Buddhist traditions, Siddhartha Gautama is regarded as the Supreme Buddha (Pali sammāsambuddha, Sanskrit samyaksaṃbuddha) of the present age. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region. He later taught throughout regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala.
Gautama is the primary figure in Buddhism and accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later.
CONTENTS
HISTORICAL SIDDHARTA GAUTAMA
Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order during the Mahajanapada era during the reign of Bimbisara, the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajasattu, who was the successor of Bimbisara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddha's lifetime coincided with the flourishing of other influential śramaṇa schools of thoughts like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Ajñana. It was also the age of influential thinkers like Mahavira, Pūraṇa Kassapa , Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesakambalī, Pakudha Kaccāyana, and Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, whose viewpoints the Buddha most certainly must have been acquainted with and influenced by. Indeed, Sariputta and Moggallāna, two of the foremost disciples of the Buddha, were formerly the foremost disciples of Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta, the skeptic. There is also evidence to suggest that the two masters, Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, were indeed historical figures and they most probably taught Buddha two different forms of meditative techniques. While the general sequence of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" is widely accepted, there is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies.
The times of Gautama's birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha's death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet been accepted by all historians.
The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch. According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, nowadays in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilavastu, which may have been in either present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar.
No written records about Gautama have been found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, commemorates the Emperor's pilgrimage to the Buddha's birthplace in Lumbini. Another one of his edicts mentions several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era and which may be the precursors of the Pāli Canon. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts are the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, reported to have been found in or around Haḍḍa near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan and now preserved in the British Library. They are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE.
TRADITIONAL BIOGRAPHIES
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES
The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE. The Nidānakathā is from the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka and was composed in the 5th century by Buddhaghoṣa.
From canonical sources, the Jataka tales, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) which include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from the Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.
NATURE OF TRADITIONAL DEPICTIONS
In the earliest Buddhists texts, the nikāyas and āgamas, the Buddha is not depicted as possessing omniscience (sabbaññu) nor is he depicted as being an eternal transcendent (lokottara) being. According to Bhikkhu Analayo, ideas of the Buddha's omniscience (along with an increasing tendency to deify him and his biography) are found only later, in the Mahayana sutras and later Pali commentaries or texts such as the Mahāvastu. In the Sandaka Sutta, the Buddha's disciple Ananda outlines an argument against the claims of teachers who say they are all knowing while in the Tevijjavacchagotta Sutta the Buddha himself states that he has never made a claim to being omniscient, instead he claimed to have the "higher knowledges" (abhijñā). The earliest biographical material from the Pali Nikayas focuses on the Buddha's life as a śramaṇa, his search for enlightenment under various teachers such as Alara Kalama and his forty five year career as a teacher.
Traditional biographies of Gautama generally include numerous miracles, omens, and supernatural events. The character of the Buddha in these traditional biographies is often that of a fully transcendent (Skt. lokottara) and perfected being who is unencumbered by the mundane world. In the Mahāvastu, over the course of many lives, Gautama is said to have developed supra-mundane abilities including: a painless birth conceived without intercourse; no need for sleep, food, medicine, or bathing, although engaging in such "in conformity with the world"; omniscience, and the ability to "suppress karma". Nevertheless, some of the more ordinary details of his life have been gathered from these traditional sources. In modern times there has been an attempt to form a secular understanding of Siddhārtha Gautama's life by omitting the traditional supernatural elements of his early biographies.
Andrew Skilton writes that the Buddha was never historically regarded by Buddhist traditions as being merely human:
It is important to stress that, despite modern Theravada teachings to the contrary (often a sop to skeptical Western pupils), he was never seen as being merely human. For instance, he is often described as having the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks or signs of a mahāpuruṣa, "superman"; the Buddha himself denied that he was either a man or a god; and in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta he states that he could live for an aeon were he asked to do so.The ancient Indians were generally unconcerned with chronologies, being more focused on philosophy. Buddhist texts reflect this tendency, providing a clearer picture of what Gautama may have taught than of the dates of the events in his life. These texts contain descriptions of the culture and daily life of ancient India which can be corroborated from the Jain scriptures, and make the Buddha's time the earliest period in Indian history for which significant accounts exist. British author Karen Armstrong writes that although there is very little information that can be considered historically sound, we can be reasonably confident that Siddhārtha Gautama did exist as a historical figure. Michael Carrithers goes a bit further by stating that the most general outline of "birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death" must be true.
BIOGRAPHY
CONCEPTION AND BIRTH
The Buddhist tradition regards Lumbini, in present-day Nepal to be the birthplace of the Buddha. He grew up in Kapilavastu. The exact site of ancient Kapilavastu is unknown. It may have been either Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, present-day India, or Tilaurakot, present-day Nepal. Both places belonged to the Sakya territory, and are located only 15 miles apart from each other.
Gautama was born as a Kshatriya, the son of Śuddhodana, "an elected chief of the Shakya clan", whose capital was Kapilavastu, and who were later annexed by the growing Kingdom of Kosala during the Buddha's lifetime. Gautama was the family name. His mother, Maya (Māyādevī), Suddhodana's wife, was a Koliyan princess. Legend has it that, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side, and ten months later Siddhartha was born. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya became pregnant, she left Kapilvastu for her father's kingdom to give birth. However, her son is said to have been born on the way, at Lumbini, in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak. Buddha's Birthday is called Buddha Purnima in Nepal and India as he is believed to have been born on a full moon day. Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning "he who achieves his aim". During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great sadhu. By traditional account, this occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodana held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight Brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man. Kondañña, the youngest, and later to be the first arhat other than the Buddha, was reputed to be the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.
While later tradition and legend characterized Śuddhodana as a hereditary monarch, the descendant of the Suryavansha (Solar dynasty) of Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka), many scholars think that Śuddhodana was the elected chief of a tribal confederacy.
Early texts suggest that Gautama was not familiar with the dominant religious teachings of his time until he left on his religious quest, which is said to have been motivated by existential concern for the human condition. The state of the Shakya clan was not a monarchy, and seems to have been structured either as an oligarchy, or as a form of republic. The more egalitarian gana-sangha form of government, as a political alternative to the strongly hierarchical kingdoms, may have influenced the development of the śramanic Jain and Buddhist sanghas, where monarchies tended toward Vedic Brahmanism.
EARLY LIFE AND MARRIAGE
Siddhartha was brought up by his mother's younger sister, Maha Pajapati. By tradition, he is said to have been destined by birth to the life of a prince, and had three palaces (for seasonal occupation) built for him. Although more recent scholarship doubts this status, his father, said to be King Śuddhodana, wishing for his son to be a great king, is said to have shielded him from religious teachings and from knowledge of human suffering.
When he reached the age of 16, his father reputedly arranged his marriage to a cousin of the same age named Yaśodharā (Pāli: Yasodharā). According to the traditional account, she gave birth to a son, named Rāhula. Siddhartha is said to have spent 29 years as a prince in Kapilavastu. Although his father ensured that Siddhartha was provided with everything he could want or need, Buddhist scriptures say that the future Buddha felt that material wealth was not life's ultimate goal.
RENUNCIATION AND ASCETIC LIFE
At the age of 29, the popular biography continues, Siddhartha left his palace to meet his subjects. Despite his father's efforts to hide from him the sick, aged and suffering, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. When his charioteer Channa explained to him that all people grew old, the prince went on further trips beyond the palace. On these he encountered a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. These depressed him, and he initially strove to overcome aging, sickness, and death by living the life of an ascetic.
Accompanied by Channa and riding his horse Kanthaka, Gautama quit his palace for the life of a mendicant. It's said that, "the horse's hooves were muffled by the gods" to prevent guards from knowing of his departure.
Gautama initially went to Rajagaha and began his ascetic life by begging for alms in the street. After King Bimbisara's men recognised Siddhartha and the king learned of his quest, Bimbisara offered Siddhartha the throne. Siddhartha rejected the offer, but promised to visit his kingdom of Magadha first, upon attaining enlightenment.
He left Rajagaha and practised under two hermit teachers of yogic meditation. After mastering the teachings of Alara Kalama (Skr. Ārāḍa Kālāma), he was asked by Kalama to succeed him. However, Gautama felt unsatisfied by the practice, and moved on to become a student of yoga with Udaka Ramaputta (Skr. Udraka Rāmaputra). With him he achieved high levels of meditative consciousness, and was again asked to succeed his teacher. But, once more, he was not satisfied, and again moved on.
Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya are then said to have set out to take their austerities even further. They tried to find enlightenment through deprivation of worldly goods, including food, practising self-mortification. After nearly starving himself to death by restricting his food intake to around a leaf or nut per day, he collapsed in a river while bathing and almost drowned. Siddhartha was rescued by a village girl named Sujata and she gave him some payasam (a pudding made from milk and jaggery) after which Siddhartha got back some energy. Siddhartha began to reconsider his path. Then, he remembered a moment in childhood in which he had been watching his father start the season's ploughing. He attained a concentrated and focused state that was blissful and refreshing, the jhāna.
AWAKENING
According to the early Buddhist texts, after realizing that meditative dhyana was the right path to awakening, but that extreme asceticism didn't work, Gautama discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way - a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, or the Noble Eightfold Path, as was identified and described by the Buddha in his first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. In a famous incident, after becoming starved and weakened, he is said to have accepted milk and rice pudding from a village girl named Sujata. Such was his emaciated appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a spirit that had granted her a wish.
Following this incident, Gautama was famously seated under a pipal tree - now known as the Bodhi tree - in Bodh Gaya, India, when he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth. Kaundinya and four other companions, believing that he had abandoned his search and become undisciplined, left. After a reputed 49 days of meditation, at the age of 35, he is said to have attained Enlightenment. According to some traditions, this occurred in approximately the fifth lunar month, while, according to others, it was in the twelfth month. From that time, Gautama was known to his followers as the Buddha or "Awakened One" ("Buddha" is also sometimes translated as "The Enlightened One").
According to Buddhism, at the time of his awakening he realized complete insight into the cause of suffering, and the steps necessary to eliminate it. These discoveries became known as the "Four Noble Truths", which are at the heart of Buddhist teaching. Through mastery of these truths, a state of supreme liberation, or Nirvana, is believed to be possible for any being. The Buddha described Nirvāna as the perfect peace of a mind that's free from ignorance, greed, hatred and other afflictive states, or "defilements" (kilesas). Nirvana is also regarded as the "end of the world", in that no personal identity or boundaries of the mind remain. In such a state, a being is said to possess the Ten Characteristics, belonging to every Buddha.
According to a story in the Āyācana Sutta (Samyutta Nikaya VI.1) - a scripture found in the Pāli and other canons - immediately after his awakening, the Buddha debated whether or not he should teach the Dharma to others. He was concerned that humans were so overpowered by ignorance, greed and hatred that they could never recognise the path, which is subtle, deep and hard to grasp. However, in the story, Brahmā Sahampati convinced him, arguing that at least some will understand it. The Buddha relented, and agreed to teach.
FORMATION OF THE SANGHA
After his awakening, the Buddha met Taphussa and Bhallika — two merchant brothers from the city of Balkh in what is currently Afghanistan - who became his first lay disciples. It is said that each was given hairs from his head, which are now claimed to be enshrined as relics in the Shwe Dagon Temple in Rangoon, Burma. The Buddha intended to visit Asita, and his former teachers, Alara Kalama and Udaka Ramaputta, to explain his findings, but they had already died.
He then travelled to the Deer Park near Varanasi (Benares) in northern India, where he set in motion what Buddhists call the Wheel of Dharma by delivering his first sermon to the five companions with whom he had sought enlightenment. Together with him, they formed the first saṅgha: the company of Buddhist monks.
All five become arahants, and within the first two months, with the conversion of Yasa and fifty four of his friends, the number of such arahants is said to have grown to 60. The conversion of three brothers named Kassapa followed, with their reputed 200, 300 and 500 disciples, respectively. This swelled the sangha to more than 1,000.
TRAVELS AND TEACHING
For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha is said to have traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to servants, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Although the Buddha's language remains unknown, it's likely that he taught in one or more of a variety of closely related Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, of which Pali may be a standardization.
The sangha traveled through the subcontinent, expounding the dharma. This continued throughout the year, except during the four months of the Vāsanā rainy season when ascetics of all religions rarely traveled. One reason was that it was more difficult to do so without causing harm to animal life. At this time of year, the sangha would retreat to monasteries, public parks or forests, where people would come to them.
The first vassana was spent at Varanasi when the sangha was formed. After this, the Buddha kept a promise to travel to Rajagaha, capital of Magadha, to visit King Bimbisara. During this visit, Sariputta and Maudgalyayana were converted by Assaji, one of the first five disciples, after which they were to become the Buddha's two foremost followers. The Buddha spent the next three seasons at Veluvana Bamboo Grove monastery in Rajagaha, capital of Magadha.
Upon hearing of his son's awakening, Suddhodana sent, over a period, ten delegations to ask him to return to Kapilavastu. On the first nine occasions, the delegates failed to deliver the message, and instead joined the sangha to become arahants. The tenth delegation, led by Kaludayi, a childhood friend of Gautama's (who also became an arahant), however, delivered the message.
Now two years after his awakening, the Buddha agreed to return, and made a two-month journey by foot to Kapilavastu, teaching the dharma as he went. At his return, the royal palace prepared a midday meal, but the sangha was making an alms round in Kapilavastu. Hearing this, Suddhodana approached his son, the Buddha, saying:
"Ours is the warrior lineage of Mahamassata, and not a single warrior has gone seeking alms."
The Buddha is said to have replied:
"That is not the custom of your royal lineage. But it is the custom of my Buddha lineage. Several thousands of Buddhas have gone by seeking alms."
Buddhist texts say that Suddhodana invited the sangha into the palace for the meal, followed by a dharma talk. After this he is said to have become a sotapanna. During the visit, many members of the royal family joined the sangha. The Buddha's cousins Ananda and Anuruddha became two of his five chief disciples. At the age of seven, his son Rahula also joined, and became one of his ten chief disciples. His half-brother Nanda also joined and became an arahant.
Of the Buddha's disciples, Sariputta, Maudgalyayana, Mahakasyapa, Ananda and Anuruddha are believed to have been the five closest to him. His ten foremost disciples were reputedly completed by the quintet of Upali, Subhoti, Rahula, Mahakaccana and Punna.
In the fifth vassana, the Buddha was staying at Mahavana near Vesali when he heard news of the impending death of his father. He is said to have gone to Suddhodana and taught the dharma, after which his father became an arahant.The king's death and cremation was to inspire the creation of an order of nuns. Buddhist texts record that the Buddha was reluctant to ordain women. His foster mother Maha Pajapati, for example, approached him, asking to join the sangha, but he refused. Maha Pajapati, however, was so intent on the path of awakening that she led a group of royal Sakyan and Koliyan ladies, which followed the sangha on a long journey to Rajagaha. In time, after Ananda championed their cause, the Buddha is said to have reconsidered and, five years after the formation of the sangha, agreed to the ordination of women as nuns. He reasoned that males and females had an equal capacity for awakening. But he gave women additional rules (Vinaya) to follow.
MAHAPARINIRVANA
According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Pali canon, at the age of 80, the Buddha announced that he would soon reach Parinirvana, or the final deathless state, and abandon his earthly body. After this, the Buddha ate his last meal, which he had received as an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda. Falling violently ill, Buddha instructed his attendant Ānanda to convince Cunda that the meal eaten at his place had nothing to do with his passing and that his meal would be a source of the greatest merit as it provided the last meal for a Buddha. Mettanando and Von Hinüber argue that the Buddha died of mesenteric infarction, a symptom of old age, rather than food poisoning. The precise contents of the Buddha's final meal are not clear, due to variant scriptural traditions and ambiguity over the translation of certain significant terms; the Theravada tradition generally believes that the Buddha was offered some kind of pork, while the Mahayana tradition believes that the Buddha consumed some sort of truffle or other mushroom. These may reflect the different traditional views on Buddhist vegetarianism and the precepts for monks and nuns.
Waley suggests that Theravadin's would take suukaramaddava (the contents of the Buddha's last meal), which can translate as pig-soft, to mean soft flesh of a pig. However, he also states that pig-soft could mean "pig's soft-food", that is, after Neumann, a soft food favoured by pigs, assumed to be a truffle. He argues (also after Neumann) that as Pali Buddhism was developed in an area remote to the Buddha's death, the existence of other plants with suukara- (pig) as part of their names and that "(p)lant names tend to be local and dialectical" could easily indicate that suukaramaddava was a type of plant whose local name was unknown to those in the Pali regions. Specifically, local writers knew more about their flora than Theravadin commentator Buddhaghosa who lived hundreds of years and kilometres remote in time and space from the events described. Unaware of an alternate meaning and with no Theravadin prohibition against eating animal flesh, Theravadins would not have questioned the Buddha eating meat and interpreted the term accordingly.
Ananda protested the Buddha's decision to enter Parinirvana in the abandoned jungles of Kuśināra (present-day Kushinagar, India) of the Malla kingdom. The Buddha, however, is said to have reminded Ananda how Kushinara was a land once ruled by a righteous wheel-turning king that resounded with joy:
44. Kusavati, Ananda, resounded unceasingly day and night with ten sounds - the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the rattling of chariots, the beating of drums and tabours, music and song, cheers, the clapping of hands, and cries of "Eat, drink, and be merry!"
The Buddha then asked all the attendant Bhikkhus to clarify any doubts or questions they had. They had none. According to Buddhist scriptures, he then finally entered Parinirvana. The Buddha's final words are reported to have been: "All composite things (Saṅkhāra) are perishable. Strive for your own liberation with diligence" (Pali: 'vayadhammā saṅkhārā appamādena sampādethā'). His body was cremated and the relics were placed in monuments or stupas, some of which are believed to have survived until the present. For example, The Temple of the Tooth or "Dalada Maligawa" in Sri Lanka is the place where what some believe to be the relic of the right tooth of Buddha is kept at present.
According to the Pāli historical chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Dīpavaṃsa and Mahāvaṃsa, the coronation of Emperor Aśoka (Pāli: Asoka) is 218 years after the death of the Buddha. According to two textual records in Chinese (十八部論 and 部執異論), the coronation of Emperor Aśoka is 116 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore, the time of Buddha's passing is either 486 BCE according to Theravāda record or 383 BCE according to Mahayana record. However, the actual date traditionally accepted as the date of the Buddha's death in Theravāda countries is 544 or 545 BCE, because the reign of Emperor Aśoka was traditionally reckoned to be about 60 years earlier than current estimates. In Burmese Buddhist tradition, the date of the Buddha's death is 13 May 544 BCE. whereas in Thai tradition it is 11 March 545 BCE.
At his death, the Buddha is famously believed to have told his disciples to follow no leader. Mahakasyapa was chosen by the sangha to be the chairman of the First Buddhist Council, with the two chief disciples Maudgalyayana and Sariputta having died before the Buddha.
While in the Buddha's days he was addressed by the very respected titles Buddha, Shākyamuni, Shākyasimha, Bhante and Bho, he was known after his parinirvana as Arihant, Bhagavā/Bhagavat/Bhagwān, Mahāvira, Jina/Jinendra, Sāstr, Sugata, and most popularly in scriptures as Tathāgata.
BUDDHA AND VEDAS
Buddha's teachings deny the authority of the Vedas and consequently [at least atheistic] Buddhism is generally viewed as a nāstika school (heterodox, literally "It is not so") from the perspective of orthodox Hinduism.
RELICS
After his death, Buddha's cremation relics were divided amongst 8 royal families and his disciples; centuries later they would be enshrined by King Ashoka into 84,000 stupas. Many supernatural legends surround the history of alleged relics as they accompanied the spread of Buddhism and gave legitimacy to rulers.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
An extensive and colorful physical description of the Buddha has been laid down in scriptures. A kshatriya by birth, he had military training in his upbringing, and by Shakyan tradition was required to pass tests to demonstrate his worthiness as a warrior in order to marry. He had a strong enough body to be noticed by one of the kings and was asked to join his army as a general. He is also believed by Buddhists to have "the 32 Signs of the Great Man".
The Brahmin Sonadanda described him as "handsome, good-looking, and pleasing to the eye, with a most beautiful complexion. He has a godlike form and countenance, he is by no means unattractive." (D, I:115)
"It is wonderful, truly marvellous, how serene is the good Gotama's appearance, how clear and radiant his complexion, just as the golden jujube in autumn is clear and radiant, just as a palm-tree fruit just loosened from the stalk is clear and radiant, just as an adornment of red gold wrought in a crucible by a skilled goldsmith, deftly beaten and laid on a yellow-cloth shines, blazes and glitters, even so, the good Gotama's senses are calmed, his complexion is clear and radiant." (A, I:181)
A disciple named Vakkali, who later became an arahant, was so obsessed by the Buddha's physical presence that the Buddha is said to have felt impelled to tell him to desist, and to have reminded him that he should know the Buddha through the Dhamma and not through physical appearances.
Although there are no extant representations of the Buddha in human form until around the 1st century CE (see Buddhist art), descriptions of the physical characteristics of fully enlightened buddhas are attributed to the Buddha in the Digha Nikaya's Lakkhaṇa Sutta (D, I:142). In addition, the Buddha's physical appearance is described by Yasodhara to their son Rahula upon the Buddha's first post-Enlightenment return to his former princely palace in the non-canonical Pali devotional hymn, Narasīha Gāthā ("The Lion of Men").
Among the 32 main characteristics it is mentioned that Buddha has blue eyes.
NINE VIRTUES
Recollection of nine virtues attributed to the Buddha is a common Buddhist meditation and devotional practice called Buddhānusmṛti. The nine virtues are also among the 40 Buddhist meditation subjects. The nine virtues of the Buddha appear throughout the Tipitaka, and include:
- Buddho – Awakened
- Sammasambuddho – Perfectly self-awakened
- Vijja-carana-sampano – Endowed with higher knowledge and ideal conduct.
- Sugato – Well-gone or Well-spoken.
- Lokavidu – Wise in the knowledge of the many worlds.
- Anuttaro Purisa-damma-sarathi – Unexcelled trainer of untrained people.
- Satthadeva-Manussanam – Teacher of gods and humans.
- Bhagavathi – The Blessed one
- Araham – Worthy of homage. An Arahant is "one with taints destroyed, who has lived the holy life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the true goal, destroyed the fetters of being, and is completely liberated through final knowledge."
TEACHINGS
TRACING THE OLDEST TEACHINGS
Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts. The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute. According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.
According to Schmithausen, three positions held by scholars of Buddhism can be distinguished:
"Stress on the fundamental homogeneity and substantial authenticity of at least a considerable part of the Nikayic materials;"
"Scepticism with regard to the possibility of retrieving the doctrine of earliest Buddhism;"
"Cautious optimism in this respect."
DHYANA AND INSIGHT
A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36
CORE TEACHINGS
According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.
According to the Mahāsaccakasutta, from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to. "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism. The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating:
[T]hey do not teach that one is released by knowing the four noble truths, but by practicing the fourth noble truth, the eightfold path, which culminates in right samadhi.
Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.
According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.
According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."
The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiar to his listeners.
The Brahma-vihara was in origin probably a brahmanic term; but its usage may have been common to the Sramana traditions.
LATER DEVELOPMENTS
In time, "liberating insight" became an essential feature of the Buddhist tradition. The following teachings, which are commonly seen as essential to Buddhism, are later formulations which form part of the explanatory framework of this "liberating insight":
- The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an ingrained part of existence; that the origin of suffering is craving for sensuality, acquisition of identity, and fear of annihilation; that suffering can be ended; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path is the means to accomplish this;
- The Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration;
- Dependent origination: the mind creates suffering as a natural product of a complex process.
OTHER RELIGIONS
Some Hindus regard Gautama as the 9th avatar of Vishnu. The Buddha is also regarded as a prophet by the Ahmadiyya Muslims and a Manifestation of God in the Bahá'í Faith. Some early Chinese Taoist-Buddhists thought the Buddha to be a reincarnation of Lao Tzu.
The Christian Saint Josaphat is based on the Buddha. The name comes from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva via Arabic Būdhasaf and Georgian Iodasaph. The only story in which St. Josaphat appears, Barlaam and Josaphat, is based on the life of the Buddha. Josaphat was included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November) — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August).
Disciples of the Cao Đài religion worship the Buddha as a major religious teacher. His image can be found in both their Holy See and on the home altar. He is revealed during communication with Divine Beings as son of their Supreme Being (God the Father) together with other major religious teachers and founders like Jesus, Laozi, and Confucius.
In the ancient Gnostic sect of Manichaeism the Buddha is listed among the prophets who preached the word of God before Mani.
WIKIPEDIA
Scots Illustrator Angus McBride:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
www.theguardian.com/news/2007/may/26/guardianobituaries.a...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brennus or Brennos (Gaulish: Brano "raven") is the name of two Gaulish chieftains, famous in ancient history:
Brennus, chieftain of the Senones, a Gallic tribe originating from the modern areas of France known as Seine-et-Marne, Loiret, and Yonne; in 387 BC, in the Battle of the Allia, he led an army of Cisalpine Gauls in their attack on Rome.
This one . Another Brennus was one of the leaders of the army of Gauls who attempted to invade and settle in the Greek mainland in 278 BC. After a looting spree and after managing to pass Thermopylae by encircling the Greek army and forcing it to retreat he made his way to the rich treasury at Delphi but he was defeated by the re-assembled Greek army. Brennus was heavily injured at the battle of Delphi and may have committed suicide there. This Brennus invaded Greece in 281 BC with a huge war band and was turned back before he could plunder the temple of Apollo at Delphi. At the same time, another Gaulish group of men, women, and children were migrating through Thrace. They had split off from Brennus' people in 279 BC, and had migrated into Thrace under their leaders Leonnorius and Lutarius. These invaders appeared in Asia Minor in 278–277 BC.
John T. Koch, "Brân, Brennos: an instance of Early Gallo-Brittonic history and mythology'", Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 20 (Winter 1990:1-20).
______________________________________________
The Athenian Treasury at Delphi would have been one of the more wealthy there for the ancient pilgrims.
www.flickr.com/photos/celtico/23240585430/
Delphi was founded in the 'navel' of the known world by the Greek father god Zeus , he released two eagles that circumnavigated the world, where the two eagles met became the place to talk to their gods via the oracles or pythos. Apollo had a temple here. Before this, the major ancient site, a place of pilgrimage for Greeks
had been the Gates of Hades or the Underworld.
These Gauls (later some became Galatians) reached Delphi, to attack the Temple of Apollo in mid winter.An inscription near the oracle perhaps from older times was 'Know Thyself'.Delphi became the site of a major temple to Phoebus Apollo, as well as the Pythian Games and the famous prehistoric oracle. Even in Roman times, hundreds of votive statues remained, described by Pliny the Younger and seen by Pausanias.
www.livius.org/sources/content/pausanias-guide-to-greece/...
Carved into the temple were three phrases: γνῶθι σεαυτόν (gnōthi seautón = "know thyself") and μηδέν άγαν (mēdén ágan = "nothing in excess"), and Ἑγγύα πάρα δ'ἄτη (eggýa pára d'atē = "make a pledge and mischief is nigh"), In ancient times, the origin of these phrases was attributed to one or more of the Seven Sages of Greece.
Additionally, according to Plutarch's essay on the meaning of the "E at Delphi"—the only literary source for the inscription—there was also inscribed at the temple a large letter E.Among other things epsilon signifies the number 5.
According to one pair of modern scholars, "The actual authorship of the three maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."
A great actual and mythic battle began, recorded well after Greece was under Rome's dominion.
The Greeks had asked the gods for help to protect their sacred temple and treasury which was a focal point of their lives. Accordingly ,the pleas were 'answered' and there were earthquakes and thunderbolts and even rock slides from nearby Mount Parnassus upon the enemy. Still the Celts or Gauls fought on , a famous earlier story to Alexander the Great when he went north of the Danube briefly and met chieftains of the Gauls or Celts , who implied they were only fearful of the sky falling in....so he might have considered them too reckless rather than brave ...he may have thought they might fear him?
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcbsidHvJH1qaxacfo1_500.jpg
The Greeks again asked for divine help. During the night, the Celts were said to 'panic' and fight each other. Pausanias, writing over 300 years later in Roman times ,described the mayhem as "causeless terrors are said to come from the god Pan". Eventually the Celts retreated after suffering grievous losses, 26,000 dead, according to the Greek historian Pausanias in later times. Here is Pausanias describing the battle which was fought with symbolic divine aid (or knowledge of a primal fear of the Celts) as mentioned earlier to Alexander the Great of Macedonia :
Pausanias (geographer), Greek traveller, geographer, and writer (Description of Greece) of the 2nd century AD. As a Greek writing under the auspices of the Roman empire, he found himself in an awkward cultural space, between the glories of the Greek past he was so keen to describe and the realities of a Greece beholden to Rome as a dominating imperial force. His work bears the marks of his attempt to navigate that space and establish an identity for Roman Greece.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias_(geographer)
Pausanias has the instincts of an antiquary.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias_%28geographer%29
Ptolemy Keraunos (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Κεραυνός, died 279 BC) was the arrogant ,murderous King of Macedon from 281 BC to 279 BC. His epithet Keraunos is Greek for "Thunder" or "Thunderbolt". See more on him here:
However, although Keraunos was at the zenith of his power, he did not live long afterwards. In 279 BC he was captured and killed (beheaded) during the wars against the Gauls led by Bolgios ("Lightening" ) who conducted a series of mass raids against Macedon and the rest of Greece.His death brought anarchy to the Greek states, since none of his successors were able to bring stability. This situation lasted about two years, until Antigonos Gonatas defeated the Gauls in the battle near Lysimachia, Thrace, in 277 BC, After this victory he was recognized king of Macedon and his power extended eventually also to south Greece.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antigonus_Gonatas_British_Muse...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AntigonusGonatas.jpg
The Antigonid dynasty was a dynasty of Hellenistic kings descended from Alexander the Great's general Antigonus I Monophthalmus ("the One-eyed"). It was one of four dynasties established by Alexander's successors, the others being the Seleucid dynasty, Ptolemaic dynasty and Attalid dynasty. The last scion of the dynasty, Perseus of Macedon, who reigned between 179-168 BCE, proved unable to stop the advancing Roman legions and Macedon's defeat at the Battle of Pydna signaled the end of the dynasty.
skyelander.orgfree.com/celts4.html
Spanish language source internet illustration on ancient tribal attire.
www.housebarra.com/EP/ep04/15celtclothes.html
Several versions out there, if copyrighted please let me know.
Source is likely to be.... from an interesting book called 'Rome's Enemies 2 Gallic and British Celts', #158 in the Ospreys , Men-At-Arms Series, by Peter Wilcox and Angus MacBride (ISBN: 0850456061), 1985. The paintings, done by McBride, (see his picture here)
www.flickr.com/photos/roondorozhand/3234794396/
are based on literary descriptions and archeological finds and are said to be as accurate as possible at this time. www.flickr.com/photos/ancientgreekmapsandmore/2133688042/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZPd2DS5sq4
(NO , Not a~vik~ing, they who came from the north, hundreds of years later).See theTaking of the Temple at Delphi by the Gauls, 1885 by Alphonse Cornet a French Academic Classical artist born 1814 - died 1874.
The earliest directly attested examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic .Lepontic is an extinct Alpine language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul between 550 and 100 BC. It is generally regarded as a Celtic language, although its exact classification within Celtic, or even within the western Indo-European languages, has been the object of debate...
inscriptions, beginning from the 6th century BC.The Continental Celtic languages were spoken by the people known to Roman and Greek writers as Keltoi,...
are attested only in inscriptions and place-names. Insular Celtic is attested from about the 4th century AD in ogham inscriptions, although it is clearly much earlier. Literary tradition begins with Old Irish from about the 8th century. Coherent texts of Early Irish literature. Early Irish literature-The earliest Irish authors:It is unclear when literacy first came to Ireland. The earliest Irish writings are inscriptions, mostly simple memorials, on stone in the ogham alphabet, the earliest of which date to the fourth century..., such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse)...(The Cattle Raid of Cooley), survive in 12th-century recensions. According to the theory of Professor John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages....
and others.The Tartessian language, also known as Southwestern or South Lusitanian, is a Paleohispanic language once spoken in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula: mainly in the south of Portugal , but also in Spain...may have been the earliest directly attested Celtic language with the Tartessian written script used in the inscriptions based on a version of a Phoenician script in use around 825 BC.
GREEK RELIEF writing on tablet 3RD BCE
Decree of the town of Cos, Greece. Inscription on stone about the conquest of Delphi by the Gauls under Brennus in March 278 BCE, followed by news of the expulsion of the Gauls from Delphi in the Archaeological Museum, Istanbul, modern Turkey.
www.lessing-photo.com/dispimg.asp?i=10010366+&cr=1679...
Synonyms: Bryth, Gaul: The Raven King
A Brennos , Brennos of the Senones, first appears as the Celtic or Gaulish hero who led the Celtic sack of Rome. During the third century BCE the Celtic expansion led them to the Po valley in Italy. Fearful of this expansion the Etruscans called , on their adversaries, Rome for assistance. The Romans sent three envoys to meet the Celtic leaders. However, one of the Roman envoys killed a Celtic chief and Rome sent an army of 40 000 to meet these 'barbarians'. When the Celts learned of the Roman army moving towards them, Brennos (most likely a chiefly title rather than a real name, like a Duke, see below) marched the Celts off to meet the Romans. The Celts met the Romans at the River Allia, the Romans panicked at the sight of all those crazed Celts, and many Roman soldiers even drowned in the River in attempt to escape. A few made it back to Rome and informed the Senate about the battle at Allia (the date of the battle, July 18, became known as Alliaensis, and was considered thereafter to be a very bad day to do any public activity). The Roman citizens, rightfully fearing that the Celts were headed toward Rome, fled in a panic (much like the soldiers at Allia). By the time the Celts/ Gauls arrived, Rome had been deserted, with the exception of several elderly patricians. These old patricians were sitting in a courtyard, believing that if they were to sacrifice their lives for Rome in its most dire hour of need, Rome's enemies would then be thrown into panic and confusion, and Rome thereby saved. This nearly worked, but the spell of quietude was broken and Rome was looted and the old men killed. They advanced on the Capitol, but were thwarted by plague and a night-time attack was spoiled by cackling of geese. However, about seven months, later the Romans decided to negotiate and the Celts agreed to leave if the Romans would pay them 1,000 pounds of gold. The Celts were accused of using false weights, upon which Brennos (the Celtic chieftain) is said to have thrown his sword on the scales and loudly declare, "Vea victus", or "woe to the defeated".
www.flickr.com/photos/96490373@N02/14550761807/
cgi.ebay.com/Ancient-Roman-Dictator-Brennus-c1915-Card-/3...
www.flickr.com/photos/summoning_ifrit/4211154813/
The early 4th century BCE a vast group of Gauls sacked the city of Rome. Romans gave it up rather easily, actually. Most fled to neighbouring cities like Veii while the Senate, priests, and what was left of the Roman army migrated to the Capitol - defending and taking refuge in the temples there. The Gauls made easy pickings of what they found in the city. According to Livy:
For several days they had been directing their fury only against bricks and mortar. Rome was a heap of smouldering ruins, but something remained - the armed men in the Citadel, and when the Gauls saw that, in spite of everything, they remained unshaken and would never yield to anything but force, they resolved to attempt an assault. At dawn, therefore, on a given signal the whole vast horde assembled in the Forum; then, roaring out their challenge, they locked shields and moved up the slope of the Capitol." (5.43)
The Romans, however, used the advantage of being at the top of the hill and managed to beat the Gauls back. Yet the Gauls were determined and even though they had destroyed most of the food and supplies in their initial sack of the city, they began a siege on the hill.
During all of this, officials in Veii were determined to get a message through to the Roman Senate - despite the fact that the Senate was under siege. As the old saying goes, 'if there's a will, there's a way', and a young Roman soldier named Pontius Cominus managed to do it. "Floating on a life-buoy down the river to Rome, he took the shortest way to the Capitol up and over a bluff so steep that the Gauls had never thought of watching it." (5.46) But the Gauls did find out about it and figured if he could do it, then they should all be able to do it too.
One starlit night, they made the attempt. Having first sent an unarmed man to reconnoitre the route, they began the climb. It was something of a scramble: at the awkward spots a man would get a purchase for his feet on a comrade below him, then haul him up in his turn - weapons were passed up from hand to hand as the lie of the rocks allowed - until by pushing and pulling on another they reached the top. What is more, they accomplished the climb so quietly that the Romans on guard never heard a sound, and even the dogs - who are normally aroused by the least noise in the night - noticed nothing. It was the geese that saved them - Juno's sacred geese, which in spite of the dearth of provisions had not been killed. The cackling of the birds and the clapping of their wings awoke Marcus Manlius - a distinguished officer who had been consul three years before - and he, seizing his sword and giving the alarm, hurried, without waiting for the support of his bewildered comrades, straight to the point of danger. (5.46)
And that is either Roman spin or real history of how the sacred geese of Juno saved Rome - since after that last attempt, the lack of food forced the Gaul to accept payment from the Romans to leave the city alone.
www.mmdtkw.org/AU0308bJunoMonetaGeese.jpg
www.mmdtkw.org/AU0308gBrennerPass.jpg
www.mmdtkw.org/AU0308gBrennusFrenchMaritimeSculpture.jpg
While Brennus I was evil personified to the Romans, he was a hero to transalpine people.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Allia
"Other Greek and Roman synchronisms have a more obvious historical symbolism, as may be the casewith the Polybian synchronism we saw above, between Dionysius’s siege of
Rhegium and the Gallic sack of Rome."
wxy.seu.edu.cn/humanities/sociology/htmledit/uploadfile/s...
www.unrv.com/empire/gallic-sack-of-rome.php
REFOUNDING THE CITY:
ENNIUS, LIVY, AND VIRGIL
The city of Rome has now been successfully founded in historical time—whether
that time is focalized as Greek or Roman—but we have not yet reached the end of
the story. As everyone knows, the city of Rome kept having to be re-founded, and
the patterns of refoundation drastically reconfigure the trajectory of movement
from myth to history that we have been following so far.188
Ennius’s most explicit surviving allusion to the date of the foundation of the city
in fact comes at the moment when the city had just been virtually destroyed, and
was on the verge of vanishing from history, after the sack by the Gauls in 387/6
b.c.e.189 The context is a speech in which Camillus persuades the Senate not to
move to Veii, but to refound the city instead (154–55 Skutsch):
Septingenti sunt paulo plus aut minus anni
augusto augurio postquam incluta condita Roma est.
It is seven hundred years, a little more or a little less,
since famous Rome was founded by august augury.
How this seven-hundred-year period between Romulus’s foundation and the sack
of Rome by the Gauls actually worked remains a mystery, at least to me.190 Still, we
should not overlook the symbolic significance of this number in its own right. The
importance of the seven-hundred-year period has been very well illustrated in the
fascinating book Die rhetorische Zahl, written by a scholar with the gloriously apt
name of Dreizehnter.191 Dreizehnter does not mention this passage of Ennius, but
he collects a great deal of interesting material about seven hundred years as the life
span of a city or an empire from foundation to extinction, or from foundation to
virtual extinction or only just-escaped extinction. In various traditions that he
examines there were seven hundred years from the foundation to the destruction
of Melos, Carthage, and Macedonia, or from the foundation to the virtual extinc-
(Myth into History I: Foundations of the city)
tion of Sparta.192 What we see in the Ennius passage, in other words, is that the city
was virtually destroyed and came within an ace of fulfilling the seven-hundred year
doom. The point will have been accentuated by Ennius’s book divisions.
Camillus’s speech comes at the end of book 4, and the regal period ended with
book 3, so that up to this point in the Annales we have had only one self-contained
volume of Republican history, and if things had gone differently that might have
been all we had.193
Livy activates the power of this Ennian symbolic numeral, even as he corrects
Ennius’s dating, with his allusion to the seven hundred years of Rome (Pref. 4):
Res est praeterea et immensi operis, ut quae supra septingentesimum annum
repetatur et quae ab exiguis profecta initiis eo creuerit ut iam magnitudine
laboret sua.
In addition, the matter is of immeasurable scope, in that it must be taken back
past the seven hundredth year, and having started from small beginnings has
grown to the stage that it is now laboring under its own size.194
Chaplin has argued that Livy’s preface is constructing recent Roman history as a
death, with a possible rebirth to come:195 the Republic has been destroyed, and the
Romans of Livy’s time are like the Romans of Camillus’s time, faced with the task
of refounding the city after it has only just escaped its seven-hundred-year doom.
In Livy’s treatment of the Roman response to the sack of the city by the Gauls,
we can see him returning to the Ennian theme of rebirth from destruction,
although this time using different significant numbers. Having exploited the numinous
associations of Ennius’s seven hundred years in his preface, Livy now produces
another numinous numeral for the span from foundation to sack, one that
conforms with the modern orthodox chronology. Livy has Camillus deliver a
mighty speech to convince his fellow citizens not to abandon Rome for the site of
Veii (5.51–54).196When Livy’s Camillus echoes Ennius’s by counting off the years
since the foundation, it appears that some kind of great year has gone by. From
Romulus’s foundation down to the sack by the Gauls there have been as many
years as there are days in a year: Trecentensimus sexagensimus quintus annus urbis,
Quirites, agitur (“This is the 365th year of the city, Quirites,” 5.54.5). This is of
course a calculation that fully resonates only after Caesar’s reform of the calendar,
when a Roman year for the first time had 365 days.This counting places
Camillus’s refounding of the city at a pivotal point in time, precisely halfway
(Refounding the City: Ennius, Livy, Virgil . 101)
between the first founding of the city, in 753, and the refounding that faces Livy
and his contemporaries 365 years after Camillus, in the 20s b.c.e.198 Exactly the
same structuring appears to underpin the panorama of Roman history on Virgil’s
Shield of Aeneas, where the barely averted destruction of Rome by the Gauls (Aen.
8.652–62) comes midway in time between the foundation of the city (8.635) and
the barely averted destruction of Rome by Antonius and Cleopatra (8.671–713).199
In all of these authors, city destruction, whether achieved or barely averted,
leads to refoundation and consequent reconfiguring of identity, in a process that
begins with Troy and continues through the fates of Alba Longa, Veii, and Rome
itself.200 As Kraus has shown, when Livy begins his next book after the Gallic sack,
he refounds his narrative along with the city, capitalizing on the annalistic tradition’s
identification of the city and history.201 In an extraordinary moment, the
opening sentences of book 6 tell us that only now is real history beginning. All of
the material in the first five books, Livy now declares, has been “obscure because
of its excessive antiquity” (uetustate nimia obscuras), and because there were few
written records in those early days, while the ones that did exist “for the most part
were destroyed when the city was burnt” (incensa urbe pleraeque interiere, 6.1.2).
Everything up until this point, from Troy to the Gallic sack, is suddenly reconfigured
as prior, prefoundational. In his preface Livy had drawn a line between myth
and history around the time of the Romulean foundation of the city (ante conditam
condendamue urbem, 6), but “the fresh start in 390 redraws the limits of the historically
verifiable.”202We now have a new entry into history, with a newly rebuilt city
and a newly solid evidential base for its written commemoration (6.1.3):
Clariora deinceps certioraque ab secunda origine uelut ab stirpibus laetius
feraciusque renatae urbis gesta domi militiaeque exponentur.
From here there will be a more clear and definite exposition of the domestic
and military history of the city, reborn from a second origin, as if from the
old roots, with a more fertile and fruitful growth.203
Livy here is picking up on the annalistic history of Claudius Quadrigarius, who
had written about fifty years earlier. We know that Claudius began his history with
the sack of Rome by the Gauls, no doubt on the grounds we see alluded to in Livy,
that no history was possible before then, thanks to the destruction of monuments
and archives.204
We have already seen how the Roman tradition picks up demarcations that are
102 . Myth into History I: Foundations of the City
crucial from the Greek tradition—Troy and the first Olympiad—and recasts
them as transitions into a new, Roman, phase of history. The Gallic sack is a vital
addition to this series of watersheds. The first key fixed synchronistic point in
Timaeus and Polybius that makes it possible for Roman history to be properly connected
with Greek history, the Gallic sack is itself made to serve as the “beginning
of history” in Claudius Quadrigarius and Livy book 6.205 The very event that almost
expunged Rome altogether is the one that put the city on the world stage—
just as the destruction of Troy led to the city’s existence in the first place.206
Ovid intuited the power of these associated watersheds of foundation and Gallic
sack, and his subtle deployment of them in the Metamorphoses is proof of their
understood significance. Before he arrives at the foundation of Rome in book 14,
he has a very small number of proleptic references to the as yet nonexistent city.
Book 1 contains two forward references to his own day, with the poem’s first simile
referring to the reign of Augustus (1.199–205), and the story of Apollo and
Daphne likewise anticipating the reign of Augustus, as Apollo prophesies the use
of his sacred laurel to grace Roman triumphs and adorn Augustus’s house (1.560–
63). His only other proleptic references to the city before the foundation in book
14 occur in book 2, and they are both references to the city only just escaping total
catastrophe, catastrophes that would have ensured the city was never part of world
history. One is in a cosmic setting, when the natural site of the city is almost
expunged, as the Tiber is dried up along with other rivers by Phaethon’s chariot
(2.254–59); the other is an allusion to the geese that “were to save the Capitol with
their wakeful cry” (seruaturis uigili Capitolia uoce/ . . . anseribus, 2.538–39).207
Again, in the Fasti, when the gods meet in council to deliberate how to save Rome
from the Gauls, Ovid takes as his template the Ennian council that deliberated over
the foundation of the city: in both cases, Mars expostulates with his father, Jupiter,
and is assured that all will be well.208
It is highly significant that these two events, the city’s foundation and near
destruction by the Gauls, are the only “historical” events commemorated on the
Republican calendar, the Fasti Antiates.209 Calendrical fasti from the Principate
mention all kinds of events, but the Fasti Antiates, the only calendar we have surviving
from the Republic, mark only two historical events: 21 April, the Parilia and
the foundation of the city, and 18 July, the dies Alliensis, the day of the battle of the
Allia, when the Roman army was scattered by the advancing Gauls on their way
to the city, which they entered on the next day.210
The foundation of the city and its near extinction by the Gauls are symbolically
joined events, linked by significant numbers, either 700 or 365, linked by themes of
Refounding the City: Ennius, Livy, Virgil . 103
refoundation and rebirth. The history of the city keeps getting restarted at such
crucial transition moments, when repetitive patterns of quasi-cyclical destruction
and refoundation replay themselves, in a fascinating interplay between a drive for
onward narrative continuity and the threat of eddying, repetitious, circularity.211 It
is poignant to observe the power of this theme still persisting in the fifth century
c.e., when Rutilius Namatianus, six years after the sack of Rome by the Visigoths
in 410 c.e., can hail Rome’s potential to bounce back from disaster, citing its eventual
defeat of Brennus, who led the Gauls to the sack of Rome, and of the Samnites,
Pyrrhus, and Hannibal:212 “You, Rome, are built up,” he claims, “by the very thing
that undoes other powers: the pattern of your rebirth is the ability to grow from
your calamities” (illud te reparat quod cetera regna resoluit:/ordo renascendi est
crescere posse malis, 139–40). Each of these key marker moments in time may become
a new opportunity for the community to reimagine itself, as the epochal moment
produces a new beginning point from which the community may imagine its
progress forward into time, measured against its backward extension into time.213
_______________________________ __________________________
The Gauls in the Italia peninsula .Clusium was reached by the Gauls, who had invaded most of Etruria already, and its people turned to Rome for help. However, the Roman embassy provoked a skirmish and, then, the Gauls marched straight for Rome (July, 387 BC). After the entire Roman army was defeated at the Allia brook (Battle of the Allia), the defenseless Rome was seized by the invaders. The entire Roman army retreated into the deserted Veii whereas most civilians ended at the Etruscan Caere. Nonetheless, a surrounded Roman garrison continued to resist on the Capitoline Hill. The Gauls dwelt within the city, getting their supplies by destroying all nearby towns for plunder.When the Gauls went for Ardea, the exiled Camillus, who was now a private man, organized the local forces for a defense. Particularly, he harangued that, always, the Gauls exterminated their defeated enemies. Camillus found that the Gauls were too distracted, celebrating their latest spoils with much 'crapulence' at their camp. Then, he attacked during a night, defeating the enemy easily with great bloodshed.He is thus considered the second founder of Rome.Camillus was hailed then by all other Roman exiles throughout the region. After he refused a makeshift generalship, a Roman messenger sneaked into the Capitol and, therein, Camillus was officially appointed dictator by the Roman Senators, to confront the Gauls.At the Roman base of Veii, Camillus gathered a 12,000-man army whereas more men joined out of the region. The occupying Gauls were in serious need, under quite poor health conditions. As the Roman Dictator, Camillus negotiated with the Gallic leader Brennus, and the Gauls left Rome, camping nearby at the Gabinian road. A day after this, Camillus confronted them with his refreshed army and the Gauls were forced to withdraw, after seven months of occupation (386 BC).
Camillus sacrificed for the successful return and he ordered the construction of the temple of Aius Locutius. Then, he subdued another claim of the plebeian orators, who importuned further about moving to Veii. After ordering a Senate debate, Camillus argued for staying and the Roman house approved this unanimously. The reconstruction extended for an entire year.
By this one-year office, Camillus was the longest of all Roman dictators. Basically, the Senators had been persuaded by the disturbing social clashes, which could be better managed by Camillus. Instead, Camillus disliked this and, vainly, he requested the dismissal.
Roman dictator (367 BC)
As the Gauls were, again, marching toward Latium, all Romans reunited despite their severe differences. Camillus was named Roman dictator for the fifth time then (367 BC). He organized the defense of Rome actively. By the commands of Camillus, the Roman soldiers were protected particularly against the Gallic main attack, the heavy blow of their swords. Both smooth iron helmets and brass rimed shields were built. Also, long pikes were used, to keep the enemy's swords far.
The Gauls camped at the Anio river, carrying loads of recently gotten plunder. Near them, at the Alban Hills, Camillus discovered their disorganization, which was due to unruly celebrations. Before the dawn, then, the light infantry disarrayed the Gallic defenses and, subsequently, the heavy infantry and the pikemen of the Romans finished their enemy. After the battle, Velitrae surrendered voluntarily to Rome. Back in Rome, Camillus celebrated with another Triumph.
ancientimes.blogspot.co.nz/2007/06/brennus-and-first-sack...
A deadly pestilence struck Rome and it affected most Roman public figures. Camillus was amongst them, passing away in 365 BC.
Source: Plutarch, The Parallel Lives - The Life of Camillus:
In popular culture
Marcus Furius Camillus was played by Massimo Serato in the 1963 film 'Brennus, Enemy of Rome'.
www.flickr.com/photos/ggnyc/1405297848/
BC 400's Celts from the Alps flowed into Italy ....
Herodotus of Halicarnassus reported a merchant from Samos named Colacus was driven off course by tides and winds when trading off the African shore. He landed at the Tartessus (modern River Guadalquivir in southern Spain) where he found tribes of Keltoi working the silver mines
396 BC Celts defeated the Etruscans at Melpum (Melzo, west of Milan)
390 Senones Celts ('the veterans') led by Brennos (Latinate: Brennus) defeated the Romans in Rome (July 19) so badly it took the Romans 200 years to recover from the 'terror Gallicus'. After seven months and a ransom of 100 pounds of gold, the Celts moved along to Picenum on Italy's eastern seaboard.
Ephoros of Cyme reported the Celts occupied an area the size of the Indian sub-continent.
334-335 Alexander of Macedonia met the Celts on the Danube banks to make an agreement: The Celts would not attack his empire while he was off conquering in the east. Only after his death they expanded to Moravia and Thrace .
----------- ----------
Along with Bolgios, Brennos II was the legendary leader of other Celts on their invasion of Macedonia in the second century BCE. Though Bolgios led the invasion of Macedonia , Brennus succeeded in crossing his whole army over the river Sperchios into Greece proper, where he laid seige to the town of Heraclea and, having driven out the garrison there, marched on to Thermopylae where he defeated an army raised by a confederation of Greek cities. Brennus then avanced across Greece, where he decided to go on to Delphi, which was reported as the treasure house of Greece. Brennus and his army of 30,000 set off to attack the temple of Apollo, the ultimate goal of his expedition. Here it is said that Brennos was defeated by earthquakes and thunderbolts that reduced the soldiers to ashes; snow storms, showers of great stones, and "ancient heroes appearing from the heavens". In the midst of this snowstorm, Brennos and his men were attacked near the Parnassus mountains. The Celts were soundly defeated and Brennos was mortally wounded. As he lay dying, he gave the order for all of the wounded to be killed, and all the booty to be burned, as the army would never make it home if they had to carry the wounded warriors and their plunder. After giving the order, Brennos drank some wine and then took his own life. (? Source)
www.maryjones.us/ctexts/classical_pausianas.html
The Description of Greece
Pausanias (fl. 2nd c. CE) XIX.
[5] "I have made some mention of the Gallic invasion of Greece in my description of the Athenian Council Chamber. But I have resolved to give a more detailed account of the Gauls in my description of Delphi, because the greatest of the Greek exploits against the barbarians took place there. The Celts conducted their first foreign expedition under the leadership of Cambaules. Advancing as far as Thrace they lost heart and broke off their march, realizing that they were too few in number to be a match for the Greeks. "...........
10]" When the Gallic horsemen were engaged, the servants remained behind the ranks and proved useful in the following way. Should a horseman or his horse fall, the slave brought him a horse to mount; if the rider was killed, the slave mounted the horse in his master's place; if both rider and horse were killed, there was a mounted man ready. When a rider was wounded, one slave brought back to camp the wounded man, while the other took his vacant place in the ranks.
[11] I believe that the Gauls in adopting these methods copied the Persian regiment of the Ten Thousand, who were called the Immortals. There was, however, this difference. The Persians used to wait until the battle was over before replacing casualties, while the Gauls kept reinforcing the horsemen to their full number during the height of the action. This organization is called in their native speech trimarcisia, for I would have you know that marca3 is the Celtic name for a horse. "
(Addit :we know from Celtic myth this was indigenous to the confederacy of Celtic tribes as on Gundestrup Cauldron ,warrior plate)
[12] "This was the size of the army, and such was the intention of Brennos, when he attacked Greece. The spirit of the Greeks was utterly broken, but the extremity of their terror forced them to defend Greece. They realized that the struggle that faced them would not be one for liberty, as it was when they fought the Persian, and that giving water and earth would not bring them safety. They still remembered the fate of Macedonia, Thrace and Paeonia during the former incursion of the Gauls, and reports were coming in of enormities committed at that very time on the Thessalians. So every man, as well as every state, was convinced that they must either conquer or perish. "
Attalus I (Greek: Ἄτταλος), surnamed Soter (Greek: Σωτὴρ, "Savior"; 269 BC – 197 BC) ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis (what is now Bergama, Turkey), first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the second cousin and the adoptive son of Eumenes I, whom he succeeded, and was the first of the Attalid dynasty to assume the title of king in 238 BC.He was the son of Attalus and his wife Antiochis.
Attalus won an important victory over the Galatians, newly arrived Celtic tribes from Thrace, who had been, for more than a generation, plundering and exacting tribute throughout most of Asia Minor without any serious check. This victory, celebrated by the triumphal monument at Pergamon, famous for its 'Dying Galatian' or 'Gaul' statue , and the liberation from the Gallic "terror" which it represented, earned for Attalus the name of "Soter", and the title of "king". A courageous and capable general and loyal ally of Rome, he played a significant role in the first and second Macedonian Wars, waged against Philip V of Macedon.
Etymologically Brennos is related to Brân and is related to the reconstructed proto-Celtic lexical elements *brano- (raven) -n- (the deicific particle) and os (the masculine ending). Thus Brennos is literally the 'Raven God'. However, the bren part of the name is also the root for one Cymric word for king brenhin and Brennos can be rendered as 'Raven King'. Which also leads to the supposition that 'Brennos', rather than being a proper name is actually an honorific denoting 'battle lord'. Raven gods being tribal leaders in the time of war so a Celtic war leader would take-on the name of such a deity. Indeed, the modern Cymric for king is brenin a word derived from 'Brennos'.
An actual late Iron Age helmet like this has been located in ancient Dacia , Translyvania , now modern Roumania/ Romania the Helmet of Ciumeşti.
www.flickr.com/photos/42003310@N05/4886860352/
As one of the styles depicted on the Celtic Gundestrup Cauldron.
Wilcox and McBride mentioned that their illustration of the iron Gallic warrior's helmet of the middle La Tene period had been reconstructed the on the basis of the Ciumesti helmet.[45]
The Greek offensive under King Constantine as Supreme Commander of the Greek Forces in Asia was committed on July 16. 1921, and was skilfully executed. A feint towards the Turkish right flank at Eskişehir distracted Ismet Pasha just as the major assault fell on the left at Kara Hisar. The Greeks then wheeled their axis to the north and swept towards Eskişehir, rolling up the Turkish defence in a series of frontal assaults combined with flanking movements.[21]
Eskişehir fell on July 17, despite a vigorous counter-attack by Ismet Pasha who was determined to fight to the finish. The saner counsels of Mustafa Kemal prevailed, however, and Ismet disengaged with great losses to reach the comparative safety of the Sakarya River, some 30 miles (48 km) to the north and only 50 miles (80 km) from Ankara.[22]
The battle took place along the Sakarya River around the vicinity of Polatlı, stretching a 62 miles long battle line.
The determining feature of the terrain was the river itself, which flows eastward across the plateau, suddenly curves north and then turns back westwards describing a great loop that forms a natural barrier. The river banks are awkward and steep, and bridges were few, there being only two on the frontal section of the loop. East of the loop, the landscape rises before an invader in rocky, barren ridges and hills towards Ankara. It was here in these hills, east of the river that the Turks dug in their defensive positions. The front followed the hills east of the Sakarya River from a point near Polatlı southwards to where the Gök River joins the Sakarya, and then swung at rightangles eastwards following the line of the Gök River. It was an excellent defensive ground.[23]
For the Greeks, the question on whether to dig in and rest on their previous gains, or to advance towards Ankara in great effort and destroy the Army of the Grand National Assembly was difficult to resolve, posing the eternal problems that the Greek Staff had to deal since the beginning of the War. The dangers of extending the lines of communications still further in such an inhospitable terrain that killed horses, caused vehicles to break down and prevented the movement of heavy artillery were obvious. The present front that gave the Greeks the control of the essential strategic railway was tactically most favourable. But because the Army of the Grand National Assembly had escaped encirclement at Kütahya, nothing had been settled; therefore the temptation of achieving a “knock-out-blow” became irresistible.[24]
Battle[edit]
The Greek 9th infantry division marches through the steppe
Turkish prisoners of war during the battle of Sakarya
On August 10, Constantine finally committed his forces to an assault against the Sakarya Line. The Greeks marched hard for nine days before making contact with the enemy. This march included an outflanking manoeuvre through the northern part of Anatolia through the Salt Desert where food and water scarcely existed, so the advancing infantry had to rifle the poor Turkish villages for maize and water or obtain meat from the flocks which were pastured on the fringe of the desert.[25]
On August 23, battle was finally joined when Greeks made contact with advanced Turkish positions south of the Gök River. The Turkish Staff had made their headquarters at Polatlı on the railway a few miles east of the coast of the Sakarya River and the troops were prepared to resist.
On August 26, the Greeks attacked all along the line. Crossing the shallow Gök, the infantry fought its way step up onto the heights where every ridge and hill top had to be stormed against strong entrenchments and withering fire.
By September 2 the commanding heights of the key Mount Chal were in Greek hands and once a Greek enveloping movement against the Turkish left flank had failed, the Battle of the Sakarya River descended to a typical head-on confrontation of infantry, machine-guns and artillery.[21] The Greeks launched their main effort in the centre, pushing forward some 10 miles (16 km) in 10 days, through the Turkish Second Line of defense. Some Greek units came as close as 31 miles (50 km) to the city of Ankara.[26] This was the summit of their achievement in the Asia Minor Campaign.[25]
For days during the battle neither ammunition nor food had reached the front, owing to successful harassment of the Greek lines of communications and raids behind the Greek lines by Turkish cavalry. All the Greek troops were committed to the battle, while fresh Turkish drafts were still arriving throughout the campaign in response to the Nationals mobilization. For all these reasons the impetus of the Greek attack was gone. For a few days there was a lull in the fighting in which neither exhausted army could press an attack.[27] The Greek king Constantine I, who commanded the battle personally, was almost taken prisoner by a Turkish patrol.[28]
Astute as ever at the decisive moment, Mustafa Kemal assumed personal command and led a small counter-attack against the Greek left and around the Mount Chal on September 8. The Greek line held and the attack itself achieved a limited military success,[27] but in fear that this presaged a major Turkish effort to outflank their forces as the severity of winter was approaching, Constantine broke off the Greek assault on September 14. 1921.[29]
Consequently, Anastasios Papoulas ordered a general retreat towards Eskişehir and Kara Hisar. The Greek troops evacuated the Mount Chal which had been taken at such cost and retired unmolested across the Sakarya River to the positions they have left a month before, taking with them their guns and equipment. In the line of the retreating army nothing was left that could benefit the Turks. Railways and bridges were blown up, the same way villages were burnt.[30]
Aftermath[edit]
Map of Greek and Turkish offensives.
The retreat from Sakarya marked the end of the Greek hopes of imposing settlement on Turkey by force of arms. In May 1922 General Papoulas and his complete staff resigned and was replaced by General Georgios Hatzianestis, who proved much more inept than his predecessor.[29]
On the other hand, Mustafa Kemal returned in triumph to Ankara where the Grand National Assembly awarded him the rank of Field Marshal of the Army, as well as the title of Gazi rendering honours as the saviour of the Turkish nation.[31]
According to the speech that was delivered years later before the same National Assembly at the Second General Conference of the Republican People's Party which took part from October 15 to October 20, 1927; Kemal said to have ordered that " ... not an inch of the country should be abandoned until it was drenched with the blood of the citizens...," upon realizing that the Turkish army was losing ground rapidly, with virtually no natural defenses left between the battle line and Ankara.[32][33]
Lord Curzon argued that the military situation became a stalemate with time tending in favour of the Turks. The Turkish position within the British views was improving. In his opinion, the Turkish Nationalists were at that point more ready to treat.[34]
After this, the Ankara government signed the Treaty of Kars with the Russians, and the most important Treaty of Ankara with the French, thus reducing the enemy's front notably in the Cilician theatre and concentrating against the Greeks on the West.[35]
For the Turkish troops it was the turning point of the war, which would develop in a series of victorious clashes against the Greeks, driving out the invaders from the whole Asia Minor in the Turkish War of Independence.[36] The Greeks could do nothing but retreat and this would almost inevitably decline into a rout characterized by the most appalling atrocities: rape, pillage and arson rendering up to one million Turks homeless.[29]
As by August 26. 1922 Turkish offensive started with Battle of Dumlupınar. Kemal dispatched his army on a drive to the coast of the Aegean Sea pursuing the shattered Greek army, which would culminate in the direct assault of Smyrna between September 9 and 11th 1922.
The war would be over and sealed with the defeat of the Greeks, formalized by the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24. 1
Repsol is committed to being a responsible operator in all areas of our business. Our values of flexibility, transparency, responsibility, integrity and innovation are at the core of everything we do. Repsol holds an interest in 170,000 net acres in the Marcellus, which is one of the largest natural gas fields in the world. Our acreage is primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna and Tioga counties.
Learn more about our U.S. exploration and production business at www.repsolusa.com.
Repsol se compromete a actuar con responsabilidad a lo largo de toda la cadena de valor. Nuestros valores de flexibilidad, transparencia, responsabilidad, integridad e innovación marcan nuestra manera de trabajar. Repsol tiene un interés de 170.000 acres netos en el Marcellus, es uno de los mayores campos de gas natural en el mundo. Nuestra área de operación se encuentra principalmente en el noreste de Pennsylvania en Bradford, y en los condados de Susquehanna y Tioga.
Más información sobre nuestro negocio de exploración y producción en EE.UU. www.repsolusa.com .
Repsol is committed to developing the world’s energy resources safely and responsibly. In the Eagle Ford Shale, we are part of a joint venture with Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil. Repsol holds an interest in 41,700 net acres (37% net working interest) in the Eagle Ford, which is one of the most prolific shale oil structures in the world.
Learn more about our U.S. exploration and production business at www.repsolusa.com.
Repsol se compromete a desarrollar recursos energéticos globales con seguridad y responsabilidad. En Eagle Ford Shale, formamos parte de una empresa conjunta con la compañía noruega Statoil. Repsol tiene 41.700 acres netos ( 37 % volumen neto de participación directa) en Eagle Ford, que es uno de las estructuras de shale oil más prolíficas del mundo.
Más información sobre nuestro negocio de exploración y producción en EE.UU. www.repsolusa.com .
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
The scriptures teach that God is committed to one major objective in the lives of all His people, conforming us to the image of His Son. What is the “image of His Son?” It is found in the words of Jesus, Himself, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
It makes sense then to say that God desires the same for us. After bringing us into His family through faith in His Son, the Lord sets His sights on building into us the same qualities that made Jesus distinct—a servant’s heart and a giving spirit. It’s so easy to lose sight of our primary calling as Christians. Even those who lead must do so with an attitude of genuine humility and an authentic desire to help others.
The best-known symbols of Christianity are the cross, the icthus (fish symbol), and the dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Probably the least known, yet most appropriate for the Christian, is the symbol of the towel and basin. The towel Jesus used when in humility and service, he washed and wiped his disciples dirty feet. Jesus instructed his disciples after washing their feet, that they were to wash one another’s feet.
J. Dudley Woodbury tells a poignant true story that occurred in the dismal refugee camps of Peshawar, Pakistan. The fighting between the Majahideen in post-Soviet Afghanistan, and the rise of the Taliban, resulted in thousands of refugees flooding into the camps near the border. Most of the children in the camps ran around barefoot in both the intense heat and intense cold.
A Christian organization brought in hundreds of sandals for the children but decided not to just distribute them but care for the children’s feet as well. So they utilized as many Christian volunteers as possible who washed the children’s filthy feet, put medication on their sores and prayed for them silently as they gave out the sandals.
As he tells the story, some months later a Muslim primary school teacher in the camp asked her students who the best Muslims were. One little girl raised her hand and responded, “The kafirs (unbelievers).”
After the teacher recovered from cardiac arrest, she asked, “Why?”
The little girl said, “The Mujahideen killed my father, but the kafirs washed my feet!”
Missions to the Muslims, he concludes, will be affected less by the flames of 9/11, or even the flames that started the Arab Spring, than by the inner flames that are ignited if we so follow our Lord.
RESPONSE
Today I will look for ways to serve others in
genuine humility as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
PRAYER
Lord, help me love as You did, serve others as
You did and give of myself as You did!
Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS)
A daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks
===============================================
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbour as yourself."
(Galatians 5:13-14)
In the mid-1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev committed to the Conventional Force in Europe (CFE) Treaty that restricted the number of combat aircraft stationed west of the Ural mountains. Production Su-27 fighters delivered to the Air Force had a secondary strike role. The Su-27 fell under the terms of this treaty. To reduce the Soviet Air Force’s overall offensive capability, the Su-27s assigned to Soviet Air Defence Forces (Voyska Protivovozdushnoy Oborony, or PVO) regiments were designated as pure interceptors with no strike capabilities. These aircraft were designated Su-27P (perekhvatchik, or interceptor). The aircraft’s avionics suite was changed by downgrading the Izdeliye 10PM fire control system to the Izdeliye 10PMP and later the 10PMD. The Su-27P began production at the KnAAPO plant in late 1989. Many of the in-service Su-27s were progressively modified to this new standard. While the designation Su-27P was official, many front-line PVO units still referred to them as simply the Su-27.
In this image, a Su-27P (“38 Red”) of the 33rd AE, 941st Fighter Aviation Regiment (IAP) of the 10th Independent Air Defence Army (OA PVO) at Kilpyavr Air Base on the Kola Peninsula dives to intercept an intruding aircraft. The first new Su-27s arrived in December 1985, and by the end of 1986, the regiment had 26 Flankers in service. The 941st IAP became famous for having the first Flanker photographed close-up with a full weapons load and for the collision between a Royal Norwegian Air Force Lockheed P-3B Orion maritime aircraft from 333 Sqn at Bodø AB. The P-3B had been shadowing a group of Soviet Navy ships in the Barents Sea. Lt. (SG) Vasiliy Tsymbal, flying Su-27 “36 Red,” was ordered to make a practice intercept. The P-3B pilot, 1st Lt. Jan Salvesen, reduced speed and tried to squeeze the Su-27 out of its intended flight path by flying over the top of it. The Flanker’s excellent low-speed handling characteristics allowed it to keep formation, but Tsymbal manoeuvered the Flanker too close, and the port tail fin clipped the No. 4 propeller. The collision shattered the dielectric fin cap of the Flanker and the propeller of the Orion, sending debris through the Norwegian aircraft’s fuselage and causing decompression. Both aircraft returned to their respective bases safely.
A massive investigation was launched and three days later, the Soviet Union officially apologized for the incident, and Tsymbal was expelled from the Communist Party (a very severe punishment by Soviet standards). However, the next day Tsymbal was awarded the Order of the Red Star and transferred to another unit based in Rostov along with a promotion. 36 Red was re-coded 38 Red to avoid unwanted interest in this aircraft from Western observers. Plus, it also gave Soviet officials plausible deniability since no aircraft coded 36 Red served with the 941st IAP. In this image, 38 Red plots an intercept course toward an unidentified aircraft penetrating Soviet air space. For three consecutive days in the summer of 1988, a Norwegian pilot, Andreas Sommers, would fly along the border and then penetrate Soviet air space for 2-3 km (1.25-1.87 mi) and make a hasty retreat once the fighters scrambled to intercept. The 941st received orders to shoot him down if he did it again. Sommers never returned to Soviet air space.
oooooold shot
A major faux pas was committed after this shoot. It's hard to find good unique shooting spots in this area that aren't on private property or patrolled by rent-a-cops. Reeeeeeeally hard. Not saying this is great but it's not too widely visited other than by fisherman and hikers, but not shooters. Anyway, she'd never been here before and... I was a lot less than pleased to see that she'd taken a GWC back to that spot the next week to shoot. That's a bit of a no no. At least wait several months or something, yanno??? We photogs take time to scout and get spots that will be unique for who we're shooting. I know it's a free country and all but there's some etiquette to it all, yanno? I wouldn't have a different model in the exact same spot in the same clothes after I shot YOU there. Maybe much later on and with a completely different look, but not immediately! LOL And flaking on a shoot even after all that... not cool.
The tog, model/client, and location have a bit of a relationship to be respected. Shoot, unless a client BEGS, I try not to take ANY client to the exact same places I've shot other clients (it'd have to be a really frequented public place like a canal walk or monument or something). Time fades, she's a nice person and all, I think. And like in the photo, it's water under the bridge (I was standing under a bridge when this was shot).
Still a contact, if she asked to shoot, I'd be glad to. My life experiences says to let the little things stay little and stay behind!
Anyway, that's how these things go. Flaking and pulling stuff is built in to the DNA of most models, as sure as the sun rises.
Other than a friend who happens to pose, I haven't shot with a 'model' since then. It's not that I WOULDN'T... it's just that I haven't found it worth the time to coordinate, scout, and plan a shoot for a non-paying client who's not likely to show up.
That may change if the weather cooperates this week. My man Bujudar aka Mr. Signature is in town and ever since "I done knowned" him, we've shot a pretty lady or two whenever he visits. 2013 can't be any different. Now... if we can just get the weather... doesn't look good. And our subject has been reliable twice in the past so we'll see what happens.
580EXII through white umbrella on light stand high camera left. RF-602 trigger.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Austrian Air Force in its current form was created in May 1955 by the victorious Allied powers, subject to restrictions on its use of guided missiles. The Austrian State Treaty of 1955 committed Austria to permanent neutrality. Pilot training started out with a four Yak-11 Moose and four Yak-18 Max aircraft donated by the Soviet Union, and Austria purchased further light trainer types under the Military Assistance Program. Until 1960 Austria purchased training and support aircraft under the MAP, but no modern fighter aircraft; the role of a fighter was rather inadequately filled by thirty already outdated Saab 29 Tunnan, bought second-hand from the Swedish Air Force in the early 1960s which equipped two fighter bomber squadrons.
To expand its capabilities and modernize the fleet, Austria purchased from 1970 on a total of 40 Saab 105 lightweight multi-role aircraft from Sweden with the intention to deploy them in trainer, reconnaissance, ground attack and even interception roles. As it became clear in the 1980s that the light sub-sonic aircraft were inadequate for air combat and airspace interdiction, Austria started looking for a more capable aircraft. In 1984, Austria had devised a two-phase solution to its problem: buying 30 interim aircrafts cheaply as a stopgap and then trading them back for a new generation aircraft in the early or mid-Nineties.
International response was quick and manifold: Bristol Aerospace offered initially ex RAF Jaguars to be replaced by Tornado F.3 or even Eurofighters; Saab-Scania offered between 24 and 30 former Royal Swedish Air Force J 35D Draken, followed by Saab J 39 Gripen as future substitutes; General-Electric suggested downgraded F-16/79 or F-16A for phase one and an option for the same aircraft in a more modern variant for phase two; Northrop’s numberF-5E was another alternative for phase one. Dassault was also present with refurbished Mirage III initially, followed by Mirage 2000.
Finding the most suitable option in this mass was not easy, and eventually a surprising deal materialized: In 1985 the contract for the sale of twenty-four Lightning F.56 fighters plus four T.55 trainers was signed by the SPÖ/FPÖ government under Fred Sinowatz. The background: Saudi Arabia had been operating thirty-four F.53 single-seaters and six T.55 trainers since 1967 and was about to retire its fleet, which was still in very good condition and with a reasonable number of flying hours left on many airframes. The aircraft would be refurbished directly at BAe in Great Britain with the option to switch to the Tornado ADV or its successor, the Eurofighter Typhoon, later.
The Lightning F.53 was an export version of the RAF’s F.6, but with a multi-role mission profile in mind that included, beyond the primary interceptor mission with guided missiles or internal guns, the capability to carry out interdiction/ground attacks and reconnaissance missions. To carry a suitable ordnance load, the F.53 featured additional underwing pylons for bombs or unguided rocket pods. Instead of the standard Firestreak/Red Top AAM missile station in the lower front fuselage, two retractable panniers with a total of forty-four unguided 50 mm rockets, which were effective against both ground and aerial targets, could be installed, or, alternatively, two camera packs (one with five cameras and another with a rotating camera mount) was available for tactical photo reconnaissance missions. Overwing hardpoints, adapted from the Lightning F.6, allowed to carry auxiliary fuel tanks to increase range/endurance, additional rocket pods or even retarded bombs.
The Lightning T.55 was also an export variant, a two-seat side-by-side training aircraft, and virtually identical to the T.5, which itself was based on the older F.3 fighter variant, and fully combat-capable.
The Saudi Arabian multi-role F.53s had served in the ground-attack and reconnaissance roles as well as an air defense fighter, with Lightnings of No. 6 Squadron RSAF carrying out ground-attack missions using rockets and bombs during a border dispute with South Yemen between December 1969 and May 1970. Saudi Arabia received Northrop F-5E fighters from 1971, which resulted in the Lightnings relinquishing the ground-attack mission, concentrating on air defense, and to a lesser extent, reconnaissance. Until 1982, Saudi Arabia's Lightnings were mainly operated by 2 and 6 Squadron RSAF (although a few were also used by 13 Squadron RSAF), but when 6 Squadron re-equipped with the F-15 Eagle from 1978 on, all the remaining aircraft were concentrated and operated by 2 Squadron at Tabuk. In 1985, as part of the agreement to sell the Panavia Tornado (both IDS and ADV versions) to the RSAF, the Lightnings were traded in to British Aerospace, returned to Warton for refurbishment and re-sold to Austria.
While the Saudi Arabian Lightnings’ hardware was in very good shape, the Austrian Bundesluftwaffe requested some modifications, including a different missile armament: instead of the maintenance-heavy British Firestreak/Red Top AAMs, the Lightnings were to be armed with simpler, lighter and more economical IR-guided AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs which were already in the Austrian Air Force’s inventory. Two of these missiles were carried on single launch rails on the lower forward fuselage; an additional pair of Sidewinders could also be carried on the outer underwing stations, for a total of four. The F.53s’ optional retractable unguided rocket panniers were dropped altogether in favor of a permanent avionics bay for the Sidewinders in its place. However, to carry out tactical reconnaissance tasks (formerly executed by J 29Fs with a removable camera pod instead of the portside gun bay), four Austrian Lightnings frequently had one of the optional camera compartments installed, thereby losing the capability to deploy Sidewinders, though.
Among other things, the machines were furthermore upgraded with new bird strike-proof cockpit glazing, avionics were modernized, and several other minor customer requests were adopted, like a 0.6-megacandela night identification light. This spotlight is mounted in the former portside gun bay in front of the cockpit, and an anti-glare panel was added under the windscreen.
The fixed in-flight refueling probe was deleted, as this was not deemed necessary anymore since the Lightnings would exclusively operate within neutral Austria’s borders. The probes could, however, be re-installed, even though the Austrian pilots would not receive on-flight refueling training. The Lightnings' optional 260 imp gal overwing tanks were retained since they were considered to be sufficient for extended subsonic air patrols or eventual ferry flights.
The refurbished Lightnings were re-designated F.56 and delivered in batches of four between 1987 and 1989 to the Austrian Air Force’s 1st and then 2nd Fighter Squadrons, carrying a grey air superiority paint scheme. At that time, the airframes had between 1,550 and 2,800 flight hours and all had a general overhaul behind them. In 1991, the Lightings were joined by eighteen German ex-NVA-LSK MiG-23s, which were transferred to Austrian Air Force's ‘Fliegerwerft B’ at Nittner Air Base, where they'd be overhauled and updated with NATO-compatible equipment. As MiG-23Ö they were exclusively used as interceptors, too.
Shortly after their introduction, the Austrian Lightnings saw their first major use in airspace interdiction starting 1991 during the Yugoslav Wars, when Yugoslav MiG-21 fighters frequently crossed the Austrian border without permission. In one incident on 28 June a MiG-21 penetrated as far as Graz, causing widespread demands for action. Following repeated border crossings by armed aircraft of the Yugoslav People's Army, changes were suggested to the standing orders for aircraft armament.
With more and more practice and frequent interceptions one of the Lightning's basic flaws became apparent: its low range. Even though the Lightning had a phenomenal acceleration and rate of climb, this was only achieved in a relatively clean configuration - intercepting intruders was one thing but escorting them back to the Austrian border or an assigned airfield, as well as standing air patrols, were a different thing. With more tactical experience, the overwing tanks were taken back into service, even though they were so draggy that their range benefit was ultimately zero when the aircraft would use its afterburners during a typical interception mission. Therefore, the Austrian QRA Lightnings were typically operated in pairs: one clean and only lightly armed (typically with the guns and a pair of AIM-9s), to make a quick approach for visual intruder identification and contact, while a second aircraft with extra fuel would follow at high subsonic speed and eventually take over and escort the intruder. Airspace patrol was primarily executed with the MiG-23Ö, because it had a much better endurance, thanks to its VG wings, even though the Floggers had a poor service record, and their maintenance became ever more complicated.
After more experience, the Austrian Lightnings received in 1992 new ALR-45 radar detectors in a fairing on the fin top as well as chaff and flare dispenser systems, and the communication systems were upgraded, too. In 2004 the installation of Garmin 295 moving map navigation devices followed, even though this turned out to be a negligible update: on December 22, 2005, the active service life and thus military use of the Lightnings in general ended, and Austria was the last country to decommission the type, more than 50 years after the first flight of the prototype on August 4, 1954.
The Austrian Lightnings’ planned service period of 10 years was almost doubled, though, due to massive delays with the Eurofighter’s development: In 2002, Austria had already selected the Typhoon as its new “Phase II” air defense aircraft, having beaten the F-16 and the Saab Gripen in competition, and its introduction had been expected to occur from early 2005 on, so that the Lightnings could be gradually phased out. The purchase of 18 Typhoons was agreed on 1 July 2003, but it would take until 12 July 2007 that the first Typhoon would eventually be delivered to Zeltweg Air Base and formally enter service with the Austrian Air Force. This operational gap had to be bridged with twelve F-5E leased from Switzerland for EUR 75 mio., so that Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) duties for the Austrian airspace could be continued.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 55 ft 3 in (16.84 m)
Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)
Height: 19 ft 7 in (5.97 m)
Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m²)
Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel
Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two AIM-9B, cannon, ammunition, and internal fuel
Max takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines,
12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner
Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)
Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)
Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius
Range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) with internal fuel
1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external overwing tanks
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)
Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)
Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m)
Zoom climb: 50,000 ft/min
Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)
Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m²) with two AIM-9 and 1/2 fuel
Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)
Armament:
2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon with 120 RPG in the lower fuselage
2× forward fuselage hardpoints for a single AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM each
2× underwing hardpoints for 1.000 lb (454 kg) each
2× overwing pylon stations for 2.000 lb (907 kg each),
typically occupied with 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 l) ferry tanks
The kit and its assembly:
This was another submission to the “Hunter, Lightning and Canberra” group build at whatifmodellers.com in 2022 and intended as a rather simple build since it was based on an alternate reality plot: the weird story that Austria was offered a revamped fleet of ex-Saudi Arabian Lightnings is true(!), but the decision eventually fell in favor of revamped Saab J 35Ds from Sweden. For this what-if build I used the real historic timeline, replaced the aircraft, and built both story and model around this – and the result became the BAC Lightning F.56 in Austrian Air Force service.
Initially I wanted to use an Airfix BAC Lightning in The Stash™, a really nice model kit and a relatively new mold, but it turned out to be the kit’s F.2A variant. While very similar to the F.6, changing it into a F.53 analogue with the OOB parts turned out to be too complex for my taste. For instance, the F.2A kit lacks the ventral gun bay (it just comes with the auxiliary tank option since the guns are already located in front of the cockpit) and the cable conduits on the lower flanks. Procuring a suitable and priceworthy Airfix F.6 turned out to be impossible, but then I remembered a Hasegawa Lightning F.6 in The Stash™ that I had shot at ev!lbay many moons ago for a laughable price and without a concrete plan. However, this kit is pretty old: it has raised (yet quite fine, less robust than the Matchbox kit) panel lines and even comes with a pilot figure, but also many weak spots like the air intake and the jet exhausts that end in flat walls after some millimeters depth and a very basic cockpit. But for this rather simple what-if project the kit appeared to be a suitable basis, and it would eventually find a good use.
The Hasegawa Lightning was basically built OOB, even though I made some cosmetic amendments like a better seat for the pilot, hydraulic fluid lines on the landing gear made from wire or opening the flat walls inside of the air intake opening and the jet nozzles. Behind the radome, a simple splitter plate was added as well as a recessed bulkhead in front of an implanted Me 262 cockpit tub (the Hasegawa kit just offers a bare floor panel, nothing else!), the afterburners were extended inwards with parts from a Matchbox A.W. Meteor night fighter.
The Red Top AAMs and the in-flight refueling probe were omitted. Instead, I added extra F.53-style forward-swept pylons under the outer wings, scratched from 1.5 mm styrene sheet due to their odd, raked shape, and I added Sidewinder launch rails plus suitable missiles from a Hasegawa air-to-air weapons set to all four stations. After long consideration I also retained the ‘overburger’ tanks, partly because of the unique layout on the Lightning, and also because of operational considerations.
Chaff dispensers were scratched from styrene profiles and placed at the fin’s base. A fairing for the retrofitted radar warning sensor was added to the fin tip, created from 1.5 mm styrene sheet.
Painting and markings:
To reflect the “alternate reality” role of the Lightning I gave the model a livery similar to the Saab J 35Ö that were actually procured: an adaptation of the USAF “Egypt One” scheme, carried primarily by the USAF F-16s. Adapting this simple three-tone camouflage from the flat F-16 to the Draken was easy and straightforward, but applying it to a Lightning with its many vertical surfaces turned out to be a tough challenge. I eventually came up with a paint scheme that reminds of the late RAF low-viz Lightning liveries, which existed in a wide range of patterns and graduations of grey.
The colors were authentic, FS 36118, 36270 and 36375 (using Humbrol 125, 126 and 127), and I decided to emphasize the camouflage of the flanks against the horizon, so that the vertical surfaces and the fin became FS 36270. The undersides of wings, stabilizers and fuselage became FS 36375. The dark FS 36118 was only applied to the upper sides of the wings and the stabilizer, and to a high dorsal section, starting at the wing roots. As a small contrast, the tank area on the spine was painted in light grey, simulating unpainted fiber glass. The radome was painted with a streaky mix of Humbrol 155 and 56.
As usual, the model received a light black ink washing, some post-panel-shading in lighter tones, and, due to the raised panel lines, was very lightly rubbed with graphite. The cockpit interior was painted in medium grey (Revell 47) with an olive drab fabric fairing behind the black pilot seat, which received ejection handles made from thin wire as eye candy. The landing gear and the respective wells were painted in Humbrol 56 (Aluminum Dope).
The decals are a wild mix: The fuselage roundels are actually wing markings from a Hasegawa J 35OE, as well as the huge orange "06" on the wings (I could not resist; they will later be partly obscured by the overwing tanks, but the heck with it!). The roundels on the wings come from a generic TL Modellbau sheet - I found that I needed larger markings than those on the Draken.
Both unit and individual aircraft identifiers are single black DIN font digits, also from TL Modellbau. The unit badges on the fin are authentic, even though from an earlier era: they came from an Austrian J 29 of Fliegerregiment 2 from a PrintScale sheet, and all stencils were taken from the OOB low-viz RAF markings sheet, plus four small warning triangles for the underwing pylons.
A ‘what-if’ model in the purest sense, since this model depicts what could really have been: ex Saudi-Arabian export BAC Lightnings over the Austrian Alps! However, refurbished Saab J 35D Draken made the race (and later followed by the Eurofighter Typhoon at ‘Stage 2’), so that this Lightning remains fictional. It does not look bad in the ‘Egypt One’ paint scheme, though, better than expected!