Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ is a novel by Lew Wallace, published by Harper and Brothers on November 12, 1880, and considered "the most influential Christian book of the nineteenth century". It became a best-selling American novel, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) in sales. The book also inspired other novels with biblical settings and was adapted for the stage and motion picture productions.

Ben-Hur remained at the top of the U.S. all-time bestseller list until the 1936 publication of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. The 1959 MGM film adaptation of Ben-Hur is considered one of the greatest films ever made and was seen by tens of millions, going on to win a record 11 Academy Awards in 1960, after which the book's sales increased and it surpassed Gone with the Wind. It was blessed by Pope Leo XIII, the first novel ever to receive such an honour. The success of the novel and its stage and film adaptations also helped it to become a popular cultural icon that was used to promote numerous commercial products.

The story recounts the adventures of Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince from Jerusalem, who is enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the first century and becomes a charioteer and a Christian. Running in parallel with Judah's narrative is the unfolding story of Jesus, from the same region and around the same age. The novel reflects themes of betrayal, conviction, and redemption, with a revenge plot that leads to a story of love and compassion.

Plot summary
Ben-Hur is a story of a fictional hero named Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish nobleman who was falsely accused and convicted of an attempted assassination of the Roman governor of Judaea and consequently enslaved by the Romans. He becomes a successful charioteer. The story's revenge plot becomes a story of compassion and forgiveness.

The novel is divided into eight books, or parts, each with its own subchapters. Book one opens with the story of the three magi, who arrive in Bethlehem to hear the news of Christ's birth. Readers meet the fictional character of Judah for the first time in book two, when his childhood friend Messala, also a fictional character, returns to Jerusalem as an ambitious commanding officer of the Roman legions. The teen-aged boys come to realize that they have changed and hold very different views and aspirations. When a loose tile is accidentally dislodged from the roof of Judah's house during a military parade and strikes the Roman governor, knocking him from his horse, Messala falsely accuses Judah of attempted assassination. Although Judah is not guilty and receives no trial, he is sent to the Roman galleys for life, his mother and sister are imprisoned in a Roman jail where they contract leprosy, and all the family property is confiscated. Judah first encounters Jesus, who offers him a drink of water and encouragement, as Judah is being marched to a galley to be a slave. Their lives continue to intersect as the story unfolds.

In book three, Judah survives his ordeal as a galley slave through good fortune, which includes befriending and saving the commander of his ship, who later adopts him. Judah goes on to become a trained soldier and charioteer. In books four and five, Judah returns home to Jerusalem to seek revenge and redemption for his family.

After witnessing the Crucifixion, Judah recognizes that Christ's life stands for a goal quite different from revenge. Judah becomes Christian, inspired by love and the talk of keys to a kingdom greater than any on Earth. The novel concludes with Judah's decision to finance the Catacomb of San Calixto in Rome, where Christian martyrs are to be buried and venerated.

Detailed synopsis

Part One
Biblical references: Matthew 2:1–12, Luke 2:1–20

Three magi have come from the East. Balthasar, an Egyptian, sets up a tent in the desert, where he is joined by Melchior, a Hindu, and Gaspar, a Greek. They discover they have been brought together by their common goal. They see a bright star shining over the region, and take it as a sign to leave, following it through the desert toward the province of Judaea.

At the Joppa Gate in Jerusalem, Mary and Joseph pass through on their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They stop at the inn at the entrance to the city, but it has no room. Mary is pregnant and, as labor begins, they head to a cave on a nearby hillside, where Jesus is born. In the pastures outside the city, a group of seven shepherds watches their flocks. Angels announce the Christ's birth. The shepherds hurry towards the city and enter the cave on the hillside to worship the Christ. They spread the news of the Christ's birth and many come to see him.

The magi arrive in Jerusalem and inquire for news of the Christ. Herod the Great is angry to hear of another king challenging his rule and asks the Sanhedrin to find information for him. The Sanhedrin delivers a prophecy written by Micah, telling of a ruler to come from Bethlehem Ephrathah, which they interpret to signify the Christ's birthplace.

Part Two
Biblical references: Luke 2:51–52

Judah Ben-Hur, son of Ithamar, is a prince descended from a royal family of Judaea. Messala, his closest childhood friend and the son of a Roman tax collector, leaves home for five years of education in Rome. He returns as a proud Roman. He mocks Judah and his religion and the two become enemies. As a result, Judah decides to go to Rome for military training to use his acquired skills to fight the Roman Empire.

Valerius Gratus, the fourth Roman prefect of Judaea, passes by Judah's house. As Judah watches the procession from his rooftop, a loose roof tile happens to fall and hit the governor. Messala betrays Judah, who is quickly captured and accused of attempting to murder Gratus. No trial is held; Judah's entire family is secretly imprisoned in the Antonia Fortress and all their property is seized. As he is taken away, Judah vows vengeance against the Romans. He is sent as a slave to work aboard a Roman warship. On the journey to the ship, he meets a young carpenter named Jesus, who offers him water, which deeply moves Judah and strengthens his resolve to survive.

Part Three
In Italy, Greek pirate ships have been looting Roman vessels in the Aegean Sea. The prefect Sejanus orders the Roman Quintus Arrius to take warships to combat the pirates. Chained on one of the warships, Judah has survived three hard years as a Roman slave, kept alive by his passion for vengeance. Arrius is impressed by Judah and decides to question him about his life and his story. He is stunned to learn of Judah's former status as a son of Hur. Arrius tells the slave-master not to lock Judah's shackles. In battle, the ship is damaged and starts to sink. Judah saves the Roman from drowning. They share a plank as a makeshift raft until being rescued by a Roman ship, whereupon they learn that the Romans were victorious in the battle; Arrius is lauded as a hero. They return to Misenum, where Arrius adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman and a Roman citizen.

Part Four
Judah Ben-Hur trains in wrestling for five years in the Palaestra in Rome before becoming the heir of Arrius after his death. While traveling to Antioch on state business, Judah learns that his real father's chief servant, the slave Simonides, lives in a house in this city, and has the trust of Judah's father's possessions, which he has invested so well that he is now wealthy. Judah visits Simonides, who listens to his story, but demands more proof of his identity. Ben-Hur says he has no proof, but asks if Simonides knows of the fate of Judah's mother and sister. He says he knows nothing and Judah leaves the house. Simonides sends his servant Malluch to spy on Judah to see if his story is true and to learn more about him. Shortly afterwards, Malluch meets and befriends Judah in the Grove of Daphne, and they go to the games stadium together. There, Ben-Hur finds his old rival Messala racing one of the chariots, preparing for a tournament.

The Sheik Ilderim announces that he is looking for a chariot driver to race his team in the coming tournament. Judah, wanting revenge, offers to drive the sheik's chariot, as he intends to defeat Messala and humiliate him before the Roman Empire. Balthasar and his daughter Iras are sitting at a fountain in the stadium. Messala's chariot nearly hits them, but Judah intervenes. Balthasar thanks Ben-Hur and presents him with a gift. Judah heads to Sheik Ilderim's tent. The servant Malluch accompanies him, and they talk about the Christ; Malluch relates Balthasar's story of the magi. They realize that Judah saved the man who saw the Christ soon after his birth.

Simonides, his daughter Esther, and Malluch talk together, and conclude that Judah is who he claims to be, and that he is on their side in the fight against Rome. Messala realizes that Judah Ben-Hur has been adopted into a Roman home and his honor has been restored. He threatens to take revenge. Meanwhile, Balthasar and his daughter Iras arrive at the Sheik's tent. With Judah they discuss how the Christ, approaching the age of 30, is ready to enter public leadership. Judah takes increasing interest in the beautiful Iras.

Part Five
Messala sends a letter to Valerius Gratus about his discovery of Judah, but Sheik Ilderim intercepts the letter and shares it with Judah. He discovers that his mother and sister were imprisoned in a cell at the Antonia Fortress, and Messala has been spying on him. Meanwhile, Ilderim is deeply impressed with Judah's skills with his racing horses and accepts him as his charioteer.

Simonides comes to Judah and offers him the accumulated fortune of the Hur family business, of which the merchant has been steward. Judah Ben-Hur accepts only the original amount of money, leaving the property and the rest to the loyal merchant. They each agree to do their part to fight for the Christ, whom they believe to be a political savior from Roman authority.

A day before the race, Ilderim prepares his horses. Judah appoints Malluch to organize his support campaign for him. Meanwhile, Messala organizes his own huge campaign, revealing Judah Ben-Hur's former identity to the community as an outcast and convict. Malluch challenges Messala and his cronies to a large wager, which, if the Roman loses, would bankrupt him.

The day of the race comes. During the race, Messala and Judah become clear leaders. Messala deliberately scrapes his chariot wheel against Judah's, causing Messala's chariot to break apart. He is trampled by other racers' horses. Judah is crowned the winner and showered with prizes, claiming his first strike against Rome. Messala is left with a broken body and the loss of his wealth.

After the race, Judah Ben-Hur receives a letter from Iras asking him to go to the Roman palace of Idernee. When he arrives, he sees that he has been tricked. Thord, a Saxon hired by Messala, comes to kill Judah. They duel, and Ben-Hur offers Thord 4000 sestertii to let him live. Thord returns to Messala claiming to have killed Judah, so he collects money from them both. Supposedly dead, Judah Ben-Hur goes to the desert with Ilderim to plan a secret campaign.

Part Six
For Ben-Hur, Simonides bribes Sejanus to remove the prefect Valerius Gratus from his post; Valerius is succeeded by Pontius Pilate. Ben-Hur sets out for Jerusalem to find his mother and sister. Pilate's review of the prison records reveals great injustice, and he notes Gratus concealed a walled-up cell. Pilate's troops reopen the cell to find two women, Judah's long-lost mother and sister, have developed leprosy. Pilate releases them, and they go to the old Hur house, which is vacant. Finding Judah asleep on the steps, they give thanks to God that he is alive, but do not wake him. As lepers, they are considered less than human. Banished from the city, they leave in the morning.

Amrah, the Egyptian maid who once served the Hur house, discovers Ben-Hur and wakes him. She reveals that she has stayed in the Hur house for all these years. Keeping touch with Simonides, she discouraged many potential buyers of the house by acting as a ghost. They pledge to find out more about the lost family. Judah discovers an official Roman report about the release of two leprous women. Amrah hears rumors of the mother and sister's fate.

Romans make plans to use funds from the corban treasury, of the Temple in Jerusalem, to build a new aqueduct. The Jewish people petition Pilate to veto the plan. Pilate sends his soldiers in disguise to mingle with the crowd, who at an appointed time, begin to massacre the protesters. Judah kills a Roman guard in a duel, and becomes a hero in the eyes of a group of Galilean protesters.

Part Seven
Biblical references: John 1:29–34

At a meeting in Bethany, Ben-Hur and his Galilean followers organize a resistance force to revolt against Rome. Gaining help from Simonides and Ilderim, he sets up a training base in Ilderim's territory in the desert. After some time, Malluch writes announcing the appearance of a prophet believed to be a herald for the Christ. Judah journeys to the Jordan to see the prophet, meeting Balthasar and Iras traveling for the same purpose. They reach Bethabara, where a group has gathered to hear John the Baptist preach. A man walks up to John, and asks to be baptized. Judah recognizes Him as the man who gave him water at the well in Nazareth many years before. Balthasar worships Him as the Christ.

Part Eight
Biblical references: Matthew 27:48–51, Mark 11:9–11, 14:51–52, Luke 23:26–46, John 12:12–18, 18:2–19:30

During the next three years, that Man, Jesus, preaches his gospel around Galilee, and Ben-Hur becomes one of his followers. He notices that Jesus chooses fishermen, farmers, and similar people, considered "lowly", as apostles. Judah has seen Jesus perform miracles, and is now convinced that the Christ really had come.

During this time, Malluch has bought the old Hur house and renovated it. He invites Simonides and Balthasar, with their daughters, to live in the house with him. Judah Ben-Hur seldom visits, but the day before Jesus plans to enter Jerusalem and proclaim himself, Judah returns. He tells all who are in the house of what he has learned while following Jesus. Amrah realizes that Judah's mother and sister could be healed, and brings them from a cave where they are living. The next day, the three await Jesus by the side of a road and seek his healing. Amid the celebration of his Triumphal Entry, Jesus heals the women. When they are cured, they reunite with Judah.

Several days later, Iras talks with Judah, saying he has trusted in a false hope, for Jesus had not started the expected revolution. She says that it is all over between them, saying she loves Messala. Ben-Hur remembers the "invitation of Iras" that led to the incident with Thord, and accuses Iras of betraying him. That night, he resolves to go to Esther.

While lost in thought, he notices a parade in the street and falls in with it. He notices that Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' disciples, is leading the parade, and many of the temple priests and Roman soldiers are marching together. They go to the olive grove of Gethsemane, and he sees Jesus walking out to meet the crowd. Understanding the betrayal, Ben-Hur is spotted by a priest who tries to take him into custody; he breaks away and flees. When morning comes, Ben-Hur learns that the Jewish priests have tried Jesus before Pilate. Although originally acquitted, Jesus has been sentenced to crucifixion at the crowd's demand. Ben-Hur is shocked at how his supporters have deserted Christ in his time of need. They head to Calvary, and Ben-Hur resigns himself to watch the crucifixion of Jesus. The sky darkens. Ben-Hur offers Jesus wine vinegar to return Jesus' favor to him, and soon after that Jesus utters his last cry. Judah and his friends commit their lives to Jesus, realizing He was not an earthly king, but a heavenly King and a Savior of mankind.

Five years after the crucifixion, Ben-Hur and Esther have married and had children. The family lives in Misenum. Iras visits Esther and tells her she has killed Messala, discovering that the Romans were brutes. She also implies that she will attempt suicide. After Esther tells Ben-Hur of the visit, he tries unsuccessfully to find Iras. A Samaritan uprising in Judaea is harshly suppressed by Pontius Pilate, and he is ordered back to Rome a decade after authorizing the crucifixion of Jesus.

In the 10th year of Emperor Nero's reign, Ben-Hur is staying with Simonides, whose business has been extremely successful. With Ben-Hur, the two men have given most of the fortunes to the church of Antioch. Now, as an old man, Simonides has sold all his ships but one, and that one has returned for probably its final voyage. Learning that the Christians in Rome are suffering at the hands of Emperor Nero, Ben-Hur and his friends decide to help. Ben-Hur, Esther, and Malluch sail to Rome, where they decided to build an underground church. It will survive through the ages and comes to be known as the Catacomb of Callixtus.

Characters
 Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish prince of Jerusalem who is descended from a royal family of Judaea, son of Ithamar, enslaved by the Romans, and later becomes a charioteer and follower of Christ. (See article Judah Ben-Hur for a discussion of the name etymology.)
 Miriam is the mother of Judah Ben-Hur.
 Tirzah is Judah's younger sister.
 Simonides is a loyal Jewish servant to Ithamar, Judah's birth father; he becomes a wealthy merchant in Antioch.
 Esther, the modest daughter of Simonides, becomes Judah's wife and the mother of his children.  Wallace named this fictional character after his own mother, Esther French (Test) Wallace.
 Malluch, Simonides's servant, becomes Judah's friend.
 Amrah is an Egyptian slave and former maid in the Ben-Hur household family.
 Messala is a Roman nobleman and the son of a Roman tax collector; he is Judah's boyhood friend and rival.
 Ishmael – Roman governor
 Valerius Gratus is the fourth imperial (Roman) procurator of Judea. Judah is falsely accused of attempting to assassinate him.
 Quintus Arrius is a Roman warship commander; Judah saves him from drowning; Arrius adopts Judah as his son, making him a freedman, a Roman citizen, and Arrius's heir.
 Balthasar, an Egyptian, is one of the biblical magi, along with Melchior, a Hindu, and Gaspar, a Greek, who came to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
 Iras, the beautiful daughter of Balthasar, is  one of Judah's love interests, who later betrays and rejects him; she becomes Messala's mistress and eventually kills him.
 Sheik Ilderim – an Arab who agrees to let Judah race his chariot at Antioch.
 Pontius Pilate replaces Valerius Gratus as procurator (prefect), and releases Judah's mother and sister from imprisonment in a Roman prison.
 Thord is a Northman hired by Messala to kill Judah; he double-crosses Messala and lets Judah live.
 Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, the Christ, and King of the Jews; He is the son of Mary.
 Mary is the mother of Jesus and wife of Joseph of Nazareth.
 Joseph of Nazareth is a Jewish carpenter, husband of Mary, and the foster father of Jesus Christ.
 John the Nazarite is a disciple of Christ.

Major themes
Ben-Hur is a tale of vengeance and spiritual forgiveness that includes themes of Christian redemption and God's benevolence through the compassion of strangers. A popular theme with readers during Gilded Age America, when the novel was first published, was the idea of achieving prosperity through piety. In Ben-Hur, this is portrayed through Judah's rise from poverty to great wealth, the challenges he faces to his virtuous nature, and the rich rewards he receives, both materially and spiritually, for his efforts.

Style
Wallace's adventure story is told from the perspective of Judah Ben-Hur. On occasion, the author speaks directly to his readers. Wallace understood that Christians would be skeptical of a fictional story on Christ's life, so he was careful not to offend them in his writing. Ben-Hur "maintains a respect for the underlying principles of Judaism and Christianity". In his memoirs, Wallace wrote:

Wallace only used dialogue from the King James Bible for Jesus's words. He also created realistic scenes involving Jesus and the main fictional character of Judah, and included a detailed physical description of the Christ, which was not typical of 19th-century biblical fiction. In Wallace's story, Judah "saw a face he never forgot ... the face of a boy about his own age, shaded by locks of yellowish bright chestnut hair; a face lighted by dark-blue eyes, at the time so soft, so appealing, so full of love and holy purpose, that they had all the power of command and will."

The historical novel is filled with romantic and heroic action, including meticulously detailed and realistic descriptions of its landscapes and characters. Wallace strove for accuracy in his descriptions, including several memorable action scenes, the most famous of which was the chariot race at Antioch. Wallace devoted four pages of the novel to a detailed description of the Antioch arena. Wallace's novel depicts Judah as the aggressive competitor who wrecks Messala's chariot from behind and leaves him to be trampled by horses, in contrast to the 1959 film adaptation of Ben-Hur, where Messala is a villain who cheats by adding spikes to the wheels of his chariot. Wallace's novel explains that the crowd "had not seen the cunning touch of the reins by which, turning a little to the left, he caught Messala's wheel with the iron-shod point of his axle, and crushed it".

Background
By the time of Ben-Hurs publication in 1880, Wallace had already published his first novel, The Fair God; or, The Last of the 'Tzins (1873), and Commodus: An Historical Play (1876) that was never produced. He went on to publish several more novels and biographies, including The Prince of India; or, Why Constantinople Fell (1893), a biography of President Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and The Wooing of Malkatoon (1898), but Ben-Hur remained his most significant work and best-known novel. Humanities editor Amy Lifson named Ben-Hur as the most influential Christian book of the 19th century, while others have identified it as one of the best-selling novels of all time. Carl Van Doren wrote that Ben-Hur was, along with Uncle Tom's Cabin, the first fiction many Americans read. Wallace's original plan was to write a story of the biblical magi as a magazine serial, which he began in 1873, but he had changed its focus by 1874. Ben-Hur begins with the story of the magi, but the remainder of the novel connects the story of Christ with the adventures of Wallace's fictional character, Judah Ben-Hur.

Influences
Wallace cited one inspiration for Ben-Hur, recounting his life-changing journey and talk with Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, a well-known agnostic and public speaker, whom he met on a train when the two were bound for Indianapolis on September 19, 1876. Ingersoll invited Wallace to join him in his railroad compartment during the trip. The two men debated religious ideology, and Wallace left the discussion realizing how little he knew about Christianity. He became determined to do his own research to write about the history of Christ. Wallace explained: "I was ashamed of myself, and make haste now to declare that the mortification of pride I then endured… ended in a resolution to study the whole matter, if only for the gratification there might be in having convictions of one kind or another." When Wallace decided to write a novel based on the life of Christ is not known for certain, but he had already written the manuscript for a magazine serial about the three magi at least two years before his discussions with Ingersoll. Researching and writing about Christianity helped Wallace become clear about his own ideas and beliefs. He developed the novel from his own exploration of the subject.

Ben-Hur was also inspired in part by Wallace's love of romantic novels, including those written by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter, and The Count of Monte Cristo (1846) by Alexandre Dumas, père. The Dumas novel was based on the memoirs of an early 19th-century French shoemaker who was unjustly imprisoned and spent the rest of his life seeking revenge. Wallace could relate to the character's isolation of imprisonment. He explained in his autobiography that, while he was writing Ben-Hur, "the Count of Monte Cristo in his dungeon of stone was not more lost to the world."

Other writers have viewed Ben-Hur within the context of Wallace's own life. Historian Victor Davis Hanson argues that the novel drew from Wallace's experiences as a division commander during the American Civil War under General Ulysses S. Grant. Hanson compares Wallace's real-life experience in battle, battle tactics, combat leadership, and jealousies among American Civil War military commanders to those of Wallace's fictional character of Judah, whose unintentional injury to a high-ranking military commander leads to further tragedy and suffering for the Ben-Hur family. Wallace made some controversial command decisions, and he delayed arriving on the battlefield during the first day of the battle of Shiloh, when Grant's Union army sustained heavy casualties. This created a furor in the North, damaged Wallace's military reputation, and drew accusations of incompetence.

John Swansburg, deputy editor of Slate, suggests that the chariot race between the characters of Judah and Messala may have been based on a horse race which Wallace reportedly ran and won against Grant some time after the battle of Shiloh. The Judah character's superior horsemanship helped him beat Messala in a chariot race that earned Judah great wealth. F. Farrand Tuttle Jr., a Wallace family friend, reported the story of the horse race between Grant and Wallace in the Denver News on February 19, 1905, but Wallace never wrote about it. The event may have been a Wallace family legend, but the novel which includes the action-packed chariot race made Wallace a wealthy man and established his reputation as a famous author and sought-after speaker.

Research

Wallace was determined to make the novel historically accurate and did extensive research on the Middle East that related to the time period covered in his novel. However, he did not travel to Rome or the Holy Land until after its publication. Wallace began research for the story in 1873 at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and made several additional research trips to Washington, Boston, and New York.

To establish an authentic background for his story, Wallace gathered references on Roman history, as well as the geography, culture, language, customs, architecture, and daily life in the ancient world from libraries across the United States. He also studied the Bible. Wallace intended to identify the plants, birds, names, architectural practices, and other details. He later wrote: "I examined catalogues of books and maps, and sent for everything likely to be useful. I wrote with a chart always before my eyes—a German publication showing the towns and villages, all sacred places, the heights, the depressions, the passes, trails, and distances." Wallace also recounted traveling to Boston and Washington, DC, to research the exact proportions for the oars of a Roman trireme. Wallace found that his estimations were accurate in the mid-1880s, during a visit to the Holy Land after Ben-Hur was published, and that he could "find no reason for making a single change in the text of the book."

An example of Wallace's attention to detail is his description of the fictional chariot race and its setting at the arena in Antioch. Using a literary style that addressed his audience directly, Wallace wrote:

Wallace's religious beliefs
It is ironic that an acclaimed biblical novel, one that would rival the Bible in popularity during the Gilded Age, was inspired by a discussion with a noted agnostic and written by an author who was never a member of any church. Its publication prompted speculation about Wallace's faith. Wallace claimed that when he began writing Ben-Hur, he was not "in the least influenced by religious sentiment" and "had no convictions about God or Christ", but he was fascinated by the biblical story of the three magi's journey to find Jesus, king of the Jews. After extensive studies of the Bible and the Holy Land, and well before he had completed the novel, Wallace became a believer in God and Christ. In his autobiography, Wallace acknowledged:

Composition and publication history
Most of the book was written during Wallace's spare time in the evening, while traveling, and at home in Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he often wrote outdoors during the summer, sitting under a favorite beech tree near his home. (The tree has since that time been called the Ben-Hur Beech.) Wallace moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico after his appointment as governor of the New Mexico Territory, where he served from August 1878 to March 1881. He completed Ben-Hur in 1880 at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. Wallace wrote mostly at night after his formal duties had concluded, in a room in the palace that was once described in tours as the birthplace of Ben-Hur. In his memoirs, Wallace recalled how he composed the climactic scenes of the Crucifixion by lantern light: "The ghosts, if they were about, did not disturb me; yet in the midst of that gloomy harborage I beheld the Crucifixion, and strove to write what I beheld."

In March 1880, Wallace copied the final manuscript of Ben-Hur in purple ink as a tribute to the Christian season of Lent. He took a leave of absence from his post as New Mexico's territorial governor and traveled to New York City to deliver it to his publisher. On April 20, Wallace personally presented the manuscript to Joseph Henry Harper of Harper and Brothers, who accepted it for publication.

At the time of Ben-Hurs publication, the idea of presenting Christ and the Crucifixion in a fictional novel was a sensitive issue. Wallace's depiction of Christ could have been considered by some as blasphemy, but the quality of his manuscript and his assurances that he had not intended to offend Christians with his writing overcame the publisher's reservations. Harper praised it as "the most beautiful manuscript that has ever come into this house. A bold experiment to make Christ a hero that has been often tried and always failed." Harper and Brothers offered Wallace a contract that would earn him 10% in royalties, and published Ben-Hur on November 12, 1880. It initially sold for $1.50 per copy, an expensive price when compared to other popular novels published at the time.

Initial publication

When Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ first appeared in 1880, it was bound in a cadet blue-gray cloth with floral decorations on the front cover, spine, and back cover.

It was copyrighted October 12, 1880, and published November 12 (as noted in a letter to Wallace from Harper dated November 13, 1880). The earliest autographed copy noted bears Wallace's inscription dated November 17, 1880, in the collection of the Indiana Historical Society Library. The first printed review appeared in The New York Times, November 14, 1880, and noted that it is "printed and in the hands of book dealers."

According to Russo and Sullivan, Mrs. Wallace objected to the floral decorative cloth. She wrote to Harper on January 3, 1885, in answer to a question about the true first edition: "I incline to the belief that the volume seen was one of the first issue of Ben-Hur, which would explain the gay binding." (Original letter is in the Eagle Crest Library.) Further, the Harpers Literary Gossip printed an article, "How the First 'Ben-Hur' Was Bound": "Inquiries have reached the Harpers concerning the binding of the first edition of Ben-Hur, which appeared in 1880. The first edition was issued in a series which the Harpers were then publishing. It was 16mo form, bound in cadet-blue cloth, and decorated with clusters of flowers in red, blue, and green on the front cover and a vase of flowers in the same colors on the back cover. The lettering on the cover is black." (Excerpt in the Eagle Crest Library.)

Harpers apparently retaliated at Susan Wallace's objections over the binding. In the next two binding states (all first editions), the text was bound in drab, brown mesh cloth (seen occasionally today as a faded gray) over beveled boards [Binding State 2] and brown pebbled cloth over beveled boards [Binding State 3].

The book is dedicated "To the Wife of My Youth". This dedication appears in the first printing run of about 5,000 copies, all either in the first edition, first state binding, or in two alternate bindings. In an 1887 printing of Ben-Hur at the Rare Books Department of the Cincinnati Public Library, Lew Wallace wrote to Alexander Hill: "My Dear Friend Hill—When Ben-Hur was finished, I told my wife it was to be dedicated to her, and that she must furnish the inscription. She wrote 'To the Wife of My Youth' / The book became popular; then I began to receive letters of sympathy and enquiries as to when and of what poor Mrs. Wallace died. I laughed at first, but the condolences multiplied until finally I told the good woman that having got me into the trouble she must now get me out, which she did by adding the words--'Who still abides with me.' / The device was perfect." Wallace apparently also received many marriage proposals due to the misunderstanding.

Sales and subsequent publication

Initial sales of Ben-Hur were slow; only 2,800 copies were sold in the first seven months, but within two years, the book had become popular among readers. At the beginning of its third year, 750 copies were sold each month, and by 1885, the monthly average was 1,200 copies. By 1886, the book was earning Wallace about $11,000 in annual royalties, a substantial amount at the time, and began to sell, on average, an estimated 50,000 copies per year. By 1889, Harper and Brothers had sold 400,000 copies. Ten years after its initial publication, the book had reached sustained sales of 4,500 per month. A study conducted in 1893 of American public library book loans found that Ben-Hur had the highest percentage (83%) of loans among contemporary novels. In addition to the publication of the complete novel, two parts were published as separate volumes: The First Christmas (1899) and The Chariot Race (1912).

In 1900, Ben-Hur became the best-selling American novel of the 19th century, surpassing Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. By that time it had been printed in 36 English-language editions and translated into 20 other languages, including Indonesian and Braille. Literary historian James D. Hart explained that by the turn of the century, "If every American did not read the novel, almost everyone was aware of it." Between 1880 and 1912, an estimated one million copies of the book were sold, and in 1913, Sears Roebuck ordered another one million copies, at that time the largest single-year print edition in American history, and sold them for 39 cents apiece.

Within 20 years of its publication, Ben-Hur was "second only to the Bible as the best-selling book in America", and remained in second position until Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (1936) surpassed it. A 1946 edition of Ben-Hur published by Grosset and Dunlap boasted that 26 million copies of the novel were in print. With the release of the 1959 film adaptation of the book, Ben-Hur returned to the top of the bestseller lists in the 1960s. At the time of the book's 100th anniversary in 1980, Ben-Hur had never been out of print and had been adapted for the stage and several motion pictures.

Reception
Ben-Hur was popular in its own day despite slow initial sales and mixed reviews from contemporary literary critics, who "found its romanticism passé and its action pulpy". Century magazine called it an "anachronism" and The Atlantic panned its descriptions as "too lavish". For its readers, however, the book "resonated with some of the most significant issues in late Victorian culture: gender and family; slavery and freedom; ethnicity and empire; and nationhood and citizenship". With the chariot race as its central attraction and the character of Judah emerging as a "heroic action figure", Ben-Hur enjoyed a wide popularity among readers, similar to the dime novels of its day; however, its continued appearance on popular lists of great American literature remained a source of frustration for many literary critics over the years.

The novel had millions of fans, including several influential men in politics. U.S. president and American Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. president James Garfield, and Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, were enthusiastic fans. Garfield was so impressed that he appointed Wallace as U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire, based in Constantinople, Turkey. Wallace served in this diplomatic post from 1881 to 1885.

Ben-Hur was published at a time when the United States was moving away from war and reconstruction. One scholar argues that Ben-Hur became so popular that it "helped to reunite the nation in the years following Reconstruction". It has been suggested that the Southerners' positive reception of a book written by Wallace, a former Union general, was his message of compassion overcoming vengeance and his sympathetic description of slaveholders. Poet, editor and Confederate veteran Paul Hamilton Hayne described Ben-Hur as "simple, straightforward, but eloquent".

Critics point to problems such as flat characters and dialogue, unlikely coincidences driving the plot, and tedious and lengthy descriptions of settings, but others note its well-structured plot and exciting story, with its unusual mix of romanticism, spiritual piety, action, and adventure. A New York Times review in 1905 referred to Ben-Hur as Wallace's masterwork, further noting it "appealed to the unsophisticated and unliterary. People who read much else of worth rarely read Ben-Hur".

Popular novels of Christ's life, such as Reverend J. H. Ingraham's The Prince of the House of David (1855), preceded Wallace's novel, while others such as Charles M. Shedon's "In His Steps": What Would Jesus Do? (1897) followed it, but Ben-Hur was among the first to make Jesus a major character in a novel. Members of the clergy and others praised Wallace's detailed description of the Middle East during Jesus's lifetime and encouraged their congregations to read the book at home and during Sunday School. One Roman Catholic priest wrote to Wallace: "The messiah appears before us as I always wished him depicted".

Readers also credited Wallace's novel with making Jesus's story more believable by providing vivid descriptions of the Holy Land and inserting his own character of Judah into scenes from the gospels. One former alcoholic, George Parrish from Kewanee, Illinois, wrote the author a letter crediting Ben-Hur with causing him to reject alcohol and find religion. Parrish remarked: "It seemed to bring Christ home to me as nothing else could". Others who were inspired by the novel dedicated themselves to Christian service and became missionaries, some of them helping to translate Ben-Hur into other languages. This kind of religious support helped Ben-Hur become one of the best-selling novels of its time. It not only reduced lingering American resistance to the novel as a literary form, but also later adaptations were instrumental in introducing some Christian audiences to theater and film.

Adaptations

Stage

After the novel's publication in 1880, Wallace was deluged with requests to dramatize it as a stage play, but he resisted, arguing that no one could accurately portray Christ on stage or recreate a realistic chariot race. Dramatist William Young suggested a solution to represent Jesus with a beam of light, which impressed Wallace. In 1899, Wallace entered into an agreement with theatrical producers Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger to turn his novel into a stage adaptation. The resulting play opened at the Broadway Theater in New York City on November 29, 1899. Critics gave it mixed reviews, but the audience packed each performance, many of them first-time theater-goers. It became a hit, selling 25,000 tickets per week. From 1899 until its last performance in 1921, the show played in large venues in U.S. cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Baltimore, and traveled internationally to London and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. The stage adaptation was seen by an estimated 20 million people, and William Jennings Bryan claimed it was "the greatest play on stage when measured by its religious tone and more effect." Its popularity introduced the theater to a new audience, "many of them devout churchgoers who'd previously been suspicious of the stage."

The key spectacle of the show recreated the chariot race with live horses and real chariots running on treadmills with a rotating backdrop. Its elaborate set and staging came at a time "when theatre was yearning to be cinema."
After Wallace saw the elaborate stage sets, he exclaimed, "My God. Did I set all of this in motion?"

When the play was produced in London in 1902, The Era's drama critic described how the chariot race was achieved with "four great cradles"  long and  wide, that moved "back and front on railways", while horses secured with invisible steel cable traces galloped on treadmills towards the audience. The horses also drove the movement of a vast cyclorama backdrop, which revolved in the opposite direction to create an illusion of rapid speed. Electric rubber rollers spun the chariot wheels, while fans created clouds of dust. The production had imported 30 tons of stage equipment from the United States, employed a cast of more than 100, and featured sets with fountains, palm trees, and the sinking of a Roman galley. A critic for The Illustrated London News described the London production in 1902 as "a marvel of stage-illusion" that was "memorable beyond all else", while The Sketch critic called it "thrilling and realistic ... enough to make the fortune of any play" and noted that "the stage, which has to bear 30 tons' weight of chariots and horses, besides huge crowds, has had to be expressly strengthened and shored up."

In 2009, Ben Hur Live was staged at the O2 arena on the Greenwich peninsula in London. It featured a live chariot race, gladiatorial combat, and a sea battle. The production used 46 horses, 500 tons of special sand, and 400 cast and crew. All of the show's dialogue was in Latin and Aramaic of the period, with voiceover narration. However, despite its massive staging, a critic for The Guardian remarked that it lacked the theatrical spectacle to inspire the imagination of its audience. In contrast, London's Battersea Arts Centre staged a lower-key version of Ben-Hur in 2002 that featured a limited cast of 10 and the chariot race.

In 2017, South Korea adapted it into a musical.

Film, radio, and television
The development of the cinema following the novel's publication brought film adaptations in 1907, 1925, 1959, 2003, and 2016, as well as a North American TV miniseries in 2010.

In 1907, Sidney Olcott and Frank Oakes Ross directed a short film for the Kalem Company that was based on the book, but it did not have the Wallace heirs' or the book publisher's permissions. The author's son Henry Wallace, stage producers Klaw and Erlanger, and the book's publisher Harper and Brothers sued the film's producers for violating U.S. copyright laws. The landmark case Kalem Co. v. Harper Bros. went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911, and set a legal precedent for motion picture rights in adaptations of literary and theatrical works. The court's ruling required the film company to pay $25,000 in damages plus expenses.

Wallace's son continued to receive offers to sell the film rights to the book after his father's death. Henry refused all offers until 1915, when he changed his mind and entered into an agreement with Erlanger for $600,000 ($ in  dollars). Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer later obtained the film rights. The 1925 film adaptation of Ben-Hur under director Fred Niblo starred Ramon Novarro as Ben-Hur and Francis X. Bushman as Messala. Filming began in Italy and was completed in the United States. It cost MGM $3.9 million ($ in  dollars), "making it the most expensive silent film in history." The film premiered on December 20, 1925, at the George M. Cohan Theater in New York City. It received positive reviews and became a top-grossing silent film of the era.

In 1955, MGM began planning for a new version of the film with William Wyler as its director, who had worked as an assistant director of the chariot race in the 1925 film. The 1959 film adaptation of Ben-Hur starred Charlton Heston as Judah, with Stephen Boyd as Messala. It was shot on location in Rome. Filming wrapped up on January 7, 1959, at a cost of an estimated $12.5 to $15 million; it became the most expensive motion picture made up to that time. It was also among the most successful films ever made. The film premiered at Loews State Theater in New York City on November 18, 1959. It earned more than $40 million at the box office and an estimated $20 million more in merchandising revenues.

Wallace's novel was eclipsed by the popularity of Wyler's 1959 film adaptation, a "blockbuster hit for MGM", that won a record 11 Academy awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and became the top-grossing film of 1960. Heston won the Oscar for Best Actor, and called it his "best film work"; Wyler won the Academy Award for Best Director. In 1998, the American Film Institute named Wyler's film one of the 100 best American films of all time. The screenplay is credited solely to Karl Tunberg. Christopher Fry and Gore Vidal also made significant contributions during production. Vidal stated that he had added a homoerotic subtext, a claim disputed by Heston.

A BBC Radio 4 dramatization of the book in four parts was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in March–April, 1995, starring Jamie Glover as Ben-Hur, with a cast that included Samuel West and Michael Gambon.

Selected film and stage adaptations
 Ben-Hur (play) debuted on Broadway in New York City on November 29, 1899.
 Ben Hur (1907 film) is a silent film short.
 Ben-Hur (1925 film) is an MGM silent film starring Ramon Novarro; it premiered in New York City on December 20, 1925.
 Ben-Hur (1959 film) is an MGM sound film starring Charlton Heston; it premiered in New York City on November 18, 1959.
 Ben Hur (2003 film) is an animated direct-to-video film featuring the voice of Charlton Heston
 Ben Hur Live is a 2009 stage adaptation.
 Ben Hur (TV miniseries) is a 2010 adaptation.
 Ben-Hur (2016 film) is a film adaptation for MGM and Paramount Pictures, released worldwide after August 17, 2016.

Books
Ben-Hurs success encouraged the publication of other historical romance stories of the ancient world, including G. J. Whyte-Melville's The Gladiators: A Tale of Rome and Judea (1870), Marie Corelli's Barabbas (1901), and Florence Morse Kingsley's Titus, A Comrade of the Cross (1897).
In 1884 William Dennes Mahan published The Archko Volume, including Eli's Story of the Magi as a translation of ancient manuscripts.
Large portions were copied from Ben-Hur.
Other novels adapted Wallace's story: Herman M. Bien's Ben-Beor (1891), J. O. A. Clark's Esther: A Sequel to Ben-Hur (1892), Miles Gerald Keon's Dion and Sibyls (1898), and J. Breckenridge Ellis's Adnah (1902). Esther and other unauthorized uses of Wallace's characters led to court cases initiated by Wallace and his son Henry, to protect authors' copyrights.

At least eight translations of the book into Hebrew were made between 1959 and 1990. Some of these versions have involved wholesale restructuring of the narrative, including changes to character, dropping of Christian themes, and plot.

In 2016, Wallace's great-great-granddaughter, Carol Wallace, published a version of Ben-Hur which was released to coincide with the new film version, using prose for 21st-century readers.

In popular culture

Ben-Hurs success also led to its popularity as a promotional tool and a prototype for popular culture merchandising. It was not the only novel to have related popular culture products, but Wallace and his publisher were the first to legally protect and successfully promote the use of their literary work for commercial purposes. In the decades following its publication, Ben-Hur and its famous chariot race became well-established in popular culture as a "respected, alluring, and memorable" brand name and a recognizable icon that had mass market appeal.

The novel was linked to commercial products that included Ben-Hur flour, produced by the Royal Milling Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a line of Ben-Hur toiletries, including Ben-Hur perfume from the Andrew Jergens Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Other consumer goods included Ben-Hur bicycles, cigars, automobiles, clocks, and hair products. The Ben-Hur name and images also appeared in magazine advertisements for Honeywell, Ford, and Green Giant products. After MGM released the 1959 film adaptation of the novel, the studio licensed hundreds of companies to create related products, including Ben-Hur-related clothing, household goods, jewelry, food products, crafts, and action figures.

In Alfred Bester's short story "Disappearing Act" (1953), one of the characters, an apparent time traveler, has Ben-Hur among her lovers, which serves as one of the hints the "time travel" is actually a form of reality manipulation.

A character named Ben Gor, a former Galilean slave and chariot racer who is obviously based on Juda Ben Hur, appears in the final volume of Henry Winterfeld's Caius children's book trilogy, Caius in der Klemme.

Tributes
More than one tribute to Wallace's most famous book and its fictional hero have been erected near Wallace's home in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The  General Lew Wallace Study and Museum honors the character of Judah Ben-Hur with a limestone frieze of his imagined face installed over the entrance to the study. Wallace's grave marker at the cemetery in Crawfordsville includes a line from the Balthasar character in Ben-Hur: "I would not give one hour of life as a soul for a thousand years of life as a man."

See also
 Tribe of Ben-Hur – fraternal organization based on the book, known some time later as the Ben-Hur Life Association, an insurance company

References

Further reading

 Mayer, David, Playing Out the Empire: Ben-Hur and Other Toga Plays and Films, 1883–1908, A Critical Anthology, Publisher: Clarendon Press (Oxford University), 1994

External links

 Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, 1887 printing, scanned book via Internet Archive

1880 American novels
Novels about slavery in ancient Rome
American novels adapted into plays
Novels set in ancient Israel
Novels set in the 1st century
American novels adapted into films
American Christian novels
Harper & Brothers books
Novelistic portrayals of Jesus
Cultural depictions of Mary, mother of Jesus
Cultural depictions of Pontius Pilate
American novels adapted into television shows
Novels adapted into radio programs

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ


John Fitzwilliam Stairs, also known as John Fitz William Stairs (January 19, 1848 – September 26, 1904) was an entrepreneur and statesman, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a member of the prominent Stairs family of merchants and shippers founded by William Machin Stairs (1789–1865) that included the Victorian era explorer, William Grant Stairs.

Known as "John F.", he studied at Dalhousie University and then entered the management of the family's vast business empire. He was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1879, resigning in 1882 to successfully run for election to the House of Commons of Canada in Ottawa where he served as a Conservative Party member until 1896.

Stairs was president of many companies, including Nova Scotia Steel, Eastern Trust, Trinidad Electric (B.W.I.) and Royal Securities Corporation. He served as director of the Dartmouth and Halifax Steamboat Company, Nova Scotia Sugar Refining, the Union Bank of Halifax, Consumer Cordage, and during his lifetime, came to dominate the financial elite of the Maritime provinces.

He also employed Max Aitken (later, Lord Beaverbrook) at the beginning of Aitken's business career, hiring him in 1902 when he set up Royal Securities, the first investment firm in Eastern Canada. Max Aitken was at Stairs' bedside when he died in Toronto, Ontario.  His remains were sent to Halifax where he was buried in the Fairview Cemetery.

Electoral history

References
 Frost, James. Merchant Princes, Halifax's First Family of Finance, Ships and Steel. (2003 - James Lorimer & Co.)

External links
Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

1848 births
1904 deaths
Canadian people of American descent
Canadian businesspeople
Stock and commodity market managers
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia
Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia MLAs
Politicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia
Burials at the Cimetière du Grand Jas
Nova Scotia political party leaders

John Fitzwilliam Stairs


Prokaryotes (or Monera) are some of the simplest living things.  They are unicellular organisms and they include two major divisions of simple living beings: bacteria, and Archaea.  They generally do not have a cell nucleus, nuclear membrane or cell organelles, however a small number of exceptions have been found.  Prokaryotes possess genetic material in the form of a single DNA loop called a Nucleoid that floats around freely inside the cell. Bacteria include the Cyanobacteria (formerly known as blue-green algae due to their photosynthetic capacity).

Some form biofilms that are somewhat like multicellular organisms.

Besides a nucleus, prokaryotes lack other things eukaryotes (cells with a true nucleus) have. They reproduce without fusion of gametes. They do not have membranes. This means that there are no vacuoles, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticula or other organelles inside the cell. However, they do have ribosomes, though of a simpler kind than eukaryotes. Eukaryote cells include organelles which were once free-living prokaryotes.

Taxonomy
In 1977, Carl Woese proposed dividing prokaryotes into the Bacteria and Archaea (originally Eubacteria and Archaebacteria) because of the major differences in the structure and genetics between the two groups of organisms. This arrangement of Eukaryota (also called "Eukarya"), Bacteria, and Archaea is called the three-domain system, replacing the traditional two-empire system.

The Archaea include simple organisms which were first discovered in extreme environments. Most of them can survive at very high or very low temperatures. Some of them can also survive in highly salty, acidic or alkaline water. Some have been found in geysers, black smokers or oil wells.

The prokaryotes may not be a monophyletic, taxonomic group of common descent, but merely a group of similar organisms. The relationships between Archaea, Eubacteria and Eukaryota are assessed differently by different scientists. The three-domain system of Carl Woese treats them as one monophyletic group.

References

Cell biology

Prokaryote


The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international agreement to protect the rights and freedom of people with disabilities. The convention was based on international human rights laws that were made after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the convention on 13 December 2006. It has been in effect since 3 May 2008. As of October 2023, 188 countries have ratified the convention (they have promised the United Nations they will obey the convention). As of 23 December 2010, the European Union has collectively ratified the convention.

Part of the Convention includes meetings to make sure the convention is being followed. People with disabilities can also take part in these meetings.

Main Contents
You can find an Easy Read explanation about the Convention here. Easy Read is written in Simple English and has pictures to help people understand.

Preamble
The preamble (beginning) of the Convention recognizes these things:
 The Convention follows the rules set down by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, other conventions based on the Declaration, and the main idea of the Vienna Declaration (including sustainable development)
 Many people with disabilities suffer from domestic violence, bullying, neglect and poverty
 Everyone is responsible for protecting the rights of people with disabilities. Each person has a duty to every other person and to their community.

Article 1. Purpose

Article 1 sets out the purposes or goals of the convention:
 To promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities
 To make sure people with disabilities enjoy the same human rights and freedoms as people without disabilities
 To respect the dignity of people with disabilities

Article 1 also says that there are many types of disabilities: physical disabilities, mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities, muteness, deafness, and blindness. According to Article 1, all of these people should be protected by the convention.

Article 2. Meaning of Words

Article 2 explains what certain words in the Convention mean. For example:
 Communication means any sort of communication, not just spoken language. It can also mean display of text, Braille, communication by touch, large writing, audio, simple languages, human-readers, information technology, and other ways of nonverbal communication.
 Language includes sign language, and other non-spoken languages, as well as spoken ones.
 Discrimination on the basis of disabilities means that:
 A person with a disability has been limited or excluded from doing something a non-disabled person could do, just because they have a disability; or
 A reasonable accommodation could have been made for people with disabilities, but was not
 Reasonable accommodation means the aid and support people with disabilities may need to enjoy all human rights.
 Universal design is a way of designing products and services so that all people can use them.

Article 3. General Principles

Article 3 says the convention is based on these values and goals:
 Respect for dignity and autonomy, including the freedom to make one's own choices
 Non-discrimination
 Full acceptance of people with disabilities into society
 Respect and acceptance for people with disabilities as human beings
 Social equality between people with disabilities and people without disabilities
 People with disabilities should have the same chances and opportunities that people without disabilities have
 Fair accessibility
 Social equality between men and women
 Respect and acceptance for children with disabilities

Article 4. General Obligation

Article 4 says that countries must make sure people with disabilities have full human rights by:
 Changing national laws
 Getting rid of laws which discriminate against people with disabilities
 Stopping practices which go against the Convention

Article 5. Social Equality

Countries must forbid all discrimination because of disability. Countries must also protect all persons against discrimination.

Article 6. Women

Countries must understand that women and girls with disabilities suffer from double discrimination (they face discrimination both because they are disabled and because they are female). Countries must protect them so that they can enjoy human rights equally.

Article 7. Children

Countries must take action to make sure children with disabilities enjoy the same rights and freedoms as children without disabilities. In all actions about children with disabilities, the most important thing is the child's best interests  what is best for the child. Children with disabilities should be able to have a say in decisions that affect them.

Article 8. Raising Awareness

Countries must raise awareness and increase respect toward persons with disabilities. They must work to correct stereotypes and prejudice against people with disabilities.

Article 9. Accessibility
Countries must make changes (reasonable accommodations) and laws so people with disabilities can:
 Access the physical environment (for example, using public transportation or getting into public buildings)
 Access information (for example, through the Internet)
 Communicate (whether through spoken words, Braille, sign language, or some other way)

Article 10. Right to Life
Every human being has the right to live. Countries must do everything they can to make sure people with disabilities can enjoy life as fully as people without disabilities can.

Article 11. Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergency

When war, a natural disaster, or any other kind of emergency happens, countries must protect and save persons with disabilities. This is in line with international law on humanitarian aid and human rights.

Article 12. Equal Recognition Before the Law

Countries should give people with disabilities the support they need to exercise their legal rights  for example, by:
 Owning property
 Controlling their own money
 Having access to bank loan and credit

Countries should also make sure that nobody takes advantage of people with disabilities.

Article 13. Access to Justice

People with disabilities have the right to access the justice and court systems just like people without disabilities. Countries must give special training on dealing with individuals with disabilities to people working in the justice system, including police and prison guards.

Person with disabilities has the right to access to the justice and court equally with other persons. To help this countries must do training for police and staff in prison. This Ariticle is cited with Article 12 by UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Article 14. Liberty and Security of the Person

People with disabilities have the right to liberty and safety. A person's freedom can never be taken away just because they have a disability. Countries must make sure people with disabilities are free and safe, even if this means making reasonable accommodations.

Article 15. Freedom from Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

All people are free from:
 Torture
 Cruel or inhuman treatment or punishment
 Degrading (humiliating) treatment or punishment
 Scientific testing done on them without their permission

Article 16. Freedom from Violence and Abuse

Countries must do everything they can to protect people with disabilities from violence and abuse.

Article 17. Protecting the Integrity of the Person

Every person with disabilities has a right to be given respect for his or her physical integrity and mental integrity, the same way people without disabilities are.

Article 18. Liberty of Movement and Nationality

People with disabilities have the right to move about freely, without being restricted. They have the right to choose their nationality and where they want to live.

Article 19. Living Independently and Being Accepted In the Community

People with disabilities have the right to choose where they want to live, and who they want to live with. They cannot be forced to live in a certain place just because they are disabled. They should have supports and services to help them live independently at home and participate in their communities. Community activities should be accessible to people with disabilities. People with disabilities should not be isolated or segregated from society.

Article 20. (Personal moving)

Countries must do any policy for persons with disabilities to get personal moving aides and support at cheap cost.

Article 21. (Freedom of expression, opinion and access to information)

Countries must do all policy for person with disabilities to be able to express, to state opinion and to seek, receive and share information and ideas through Braille, sign languages and Internet.

Article 22. (Respect for private life)

Countries must protect the private life of persons with disabilities about their own health and rehabilitation information.

Article 23. (Respect for home and family)

Countries must do all policy to abolish discrimination against persons with disabilities about marriage, family, adoption, being parents and relationships. Any compulsory sterilization must be prohibited.

Article 24. (Education)

Countries must admit that persons with disabilities have the right to inclusive education without discrimination and with equal chance, also education for adult and lifelong learning. The aim of education is to develop human dignity, self-worth, self-esteem, and respect for human rights and human diversity, and for person with disabilities to develop their personality, talents, and creative nature. And for their full and equal participation in education as members of the community, countries must make it easy to learn Braille and sign language and also employ teachers with disabilities for this end.

Article 25. (Health)

Countries must admit that persons with disabilities have the rights to enjoy the highest possible standard of health without discrimination and with informed consent.

Article 26. (Habilitation and rehabilitation)

Counties must do habilitation and rehabilitation, that is aid to help independence and full physical, mental, social and vocational ability for the persons with disabilities, as early as possible with consideration of the individual needs and strengths of the persons, and also through peer support.

Article 27. (Right to work )

Countries must admit the right of person with disabilities to work in just, good, safe and healthy condition and do policy that forbid all discrimination and bullying because of disability, and further must promote chance for person with disabilities to do self-work, entrepreneur and start one's own business. They must make more jobs for persons with disabilities also in public sector. Any unfree labour must be prohibited.

Article 28. (Good standard of living)

Countries must admit that person with disability have the right to an adequate standard of living including right to housing without discrimination and must give social protection or welfare, especially for women and girls, and also financial aid for person in poverty.

Article 29. (Taking part in political and public life)

Countries must admit that person with disabilities have the rights to take part in political and public life, also rights to be elected.

Article 30 (Taking part in culture)

Countries must admit that persons with disabilities have the right to take part in cultural life and enjoy recreation, leisure and sports without discrimination and with reasonable support. And persons with disabilities must be given the chance to grow and use their own creative and intellectual or artistic capacity, not only for themselves but for better society, and their own identity on culture and language including sign language and culture of persons with disabilities.

Article 33 (Application in national level)

Countries must make a national human rights institution to realise this convention and to watch the condition of the application of this, and make persons with disabilities enable to participate the institution.

Article 34 (Committee on the rights of persons with disabilities)

United Nations will make the committee on this convention by countries to realise this convention.

Article 49 (Format accessible for all)

This Convention must be published in a way accessible for all.

Optional Protocol
This convention has also have an agreement that can accept a claim of a single person who has got an offense by a country where the person lives. That is called Optional Protocol but until October 2023, 105 countries have ratified to United Nations to realize that. (see data of other websites)

Related pages
 Disability
 Discrimination
 Reasonable accommodation
 Accessibility
 inclusive education
 Human rights
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
 Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Notes

Other websites
 Text of the Convention
 Full texts of the Convention with Optional Protocol and data of countries about the Convention
 Handbook on prisoners with special needs, pp. 47-48

Disability
Human rights
Rights


Giovanni Gabrieli (probably born Venice (date unknown), about 1553 - 57; died 21 August 1612, in Venice) was an Italian organist and composer.

He was very famous in his day and composed a great deal of church music; motets and madrigals. He lived at the end of the Renaissance period and beginning of the Baroque.

About 1575, Giovanni began working for Orlando di Lasso at the Bavarian court, as his uncle Andres Gabrieli had before him. Little is known of his time in Munich, and he left in 1579 after the death of his patron, Duke Albrecht. There is no record of Gabrieli's activities until 1584 when he'd returned to Venice. That year he replaced organist Claudio Merulo at Basilica di San Marco, church of Venice's patron saint. Due to Merulo's resignation, a contest was eventually held January 1, 1585 to fill his post, which Gabrieli won, having already occupied the position anyway. Giovanni and his uncle, who had raised him and taught him music, worked together only a short time at the church before Andres died in August 1585. Giovanni held his post until he died in 1612.

Also in 1585 Giovanni had been appointed as organist of Scuola Grande di San Rocco, where he composed ceremonial music.

During all this, he was also a music teacher. Heinrich Schutz was one of his students.

Giovanni is well known for being one of the first composers who specified volume markings and instrumentation in music.

Other websites
http://www.goldbergweb.com/en/history/composers/10946.php
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/composers/G/GiovanniGabrieli.html

1557 births
1612 deaths
16th-century Italian composers
Baroque composers
Italian organists
17th-century Italian composers

Giovanni Gabrieli


Electrochemistry is a branch o chemistry that studies chemical reactions which tak place in a solution at the interface o an electron conductor (the electrode: a metal or a semiconductor) an an ionic conductor (the electrolyte).  These reactions involve electron transfer atween the electrode an the electrolyte or species in solution.

If a chemical reaction is driven bi an externally applied voltage, as in electrolysis, or if a voltage is creatit bi a chemical reaction as in a battery, it is an electrochemical reaction. In contrast, chemical reactions whaur electrons are transferred atween molecules are cried oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions. In general, electrochemistry deals wi situations whaur redox reactions are separatit in space or time, connectit bi a fremmit electric circuit.

Physical chemistry

Electrochemistry


Noatak National Preserve  is a United States National Preserve in northwestern Alaska that was established to protect the Noatak River Basin. The Noatak River system, located just north of the Arctic Circle, is thought to be the last remaining complete river system in the United States that has not been altered by human activities. The roadless basin was proclaimed a United States National Monument in 1978 and a National Preserve in 1980 through the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Noatak National Preserve borders Kobuk Valley National Park on the south and Gates of the Arctic National Park on the east. Unlike the national parks that it borders, sport hunting is allowed in Noatak National Preserve.

All of the preserve, except for about  east of the village of Noatak, has been designated the  Noatak Wilderness. The wilderness is the fourth-largest in the United States, following the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness, the Mollie Beattie Wilderness, and the Gates of the Arctic Wilderness.

Ecology and geology
The preserve includes the transition zone from boreal forest to tundra near the southern edge of the preserve. The Noatak Basin is a transition zone for plants and animals between Arctic and subarctic environments. The lower portion of the Noatak valley has areas of boreal forest, but most vegetation is low-growing tundra species. Alpine tundra occurs at high elevation, and moist tundra, the most common condition, supports cottongrass, willows, Labrador tea, mountain alder, dwarf birch and other tundra species at lower elevations. Boggy areas support cranberry, bog rosemary and salmonberry.

Wildlife of the Noatak tundra includes Alaskan moose, grizzly bears, black bears, wolf packs, Arctic foxes, lemmings, Dall's sheep, vast herds of caribou numbering more than 230,000 individuals, and a variety of birds. Larger birds include Canada geese, tundra swans, white-fronted geese and common, Arctic, yellow-billed and Pacific loons. Predatory birds include rough-legged hawks, gyrfalcons and golden eagles.

The central feature of the preserve is the Noatak River, and is a breeding ground for a variety of commercially important fish. The most widespread salmon species is chum, and pink, chinook and sockeye salmon are found as well. Several kinds of trout are found in deep lakes, with Arctic char and Arctic grayling the most common salmonids in the preserve. Burbot are also found, as are nelma or sheefish, an important species for subsistence fisheries.

The Brooks Range has existed since Cretaceous time, and is composed mainly of shales, limestone and chert, with intrusions of igneous rocks from more recent volcanism. The valleys are composed of limestone, sandstone and siltstone, with deposits of sand, gravel, silt and clay. During the Wisconsonian glaciation the area was incompletely covered by ice, with higher regions glaciated. Permafrost exists in higher regions, becoming patchy at lower levels.

Activities
Since Noatak is a national preserve, both subsistence hunting by local residents and sport hunting by outsiders are permitted in the preserve. If Noatak was a national park, only subsistence hunting would be allowed. Float trips on the Noatak River are a popular way to see the preserve. However, most trips on the Noatak River take place high on the river in Gates of the Arctic National Park, typically from Twelve Mile Creek to Lake Matcherak. Longer trips can continue through the preserve, although the lower river's braided stream presents difficulties beyond Noatak village. There are a few rapids on the river of Class II+, although most of the river is Class I or Class II. Float trip season runs from June or July, when the river thaws, to September. Biting insects are most prevalent in June and July.

Geography
The  preserve extends westward from Gates of the Arctic National Park along the Brooks Range to the north and the Baird Mountains to the south, enclosing the valley of the Noatak River. It is bordered to the north by the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska. The lower valley of the Noatak is not part of the preserve, separating the preserve from Cape Krusenstern National Monument on the coast. The southeast corner of the preserve runs almost to the coastline at Hotham Inlet. The distance from the headwaters in Gates of the Arctic National Park to Noatak, Alaska is about . Land ownership within the preserve is mostly federal, with  owned by native corporations or under easements.

The entire preserve is above the Arctic Circle. Summer weather can have high temperatures of , although snow can occur at any time. The climate is more maritime and temperate on the western side of the park, with harsher, more extreme conditions in the east.

History

Human occupation
Archaeological investigations of the Noatak Valley have found artifacts at sites mostly outside of the preserve. Relatively little has been found within the preserve boundaries. A site just outside the preserve has been dated to 11,700 years before present. Discoveries at Bering Land Bridge National Preserve imply human occupation as far back as 13,000 years ago. Similar extrapolation from sites at Cape Krusenstern and at Onion Portage in the Kobuk Valley imply occupation in later times. In historical times the Naupaktomiut portion of the Inupiat people lived in the lower Noatak valley and the Noatagmuit occupied the middle and upper valley. Hunters from the area of Kotzebue and the Kobuk valley visited the Noatak valley as well. Archaeological remains indicate the presence of villages at lake shores in the preserve during the 1600s, which are believed to have been disrupted by disease-induced population decline brought about by contact with Europeans. The lower Noatak was first explored in 1850 by men from the British survey ship HMS Plover. More surveys took place in 1885. Prospectors arrived in 1898 as a consequence of the Klondike gold rush. In the early 1900s nearly all of the remaining people in the valley concentrated at Noatak.

Administration and designations
Noatak National Monument was proclaimed on December 1, 1978 by President Jimmy Carter using his authority under the Antiquities Act. Carter took the action after the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) was held up in Congress. In 1980 ANILCA was passed, and was signed into law by Carter on December 2, 1980, converting the monument into a national preserve. No roads enter the preserve. Access is solely by air, boat or walking.

The preserve's headquarters are at the Northwest Arctic Heritage Center in Kotzebue to the west of the park on the Bering Sea coast. Offices and visitor services for Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Kobuk Valley National Park are in the same facility. The units are managed together as the Western Arctic National Parklands, with a single Park Service superintendent in charge.

A  portion of the Noatak valley was designated a World Biosphere Reserve in 1976, prior to the preserve's establishment, and was withdrawn from the program in June 2017.  of the Noatak, from its source in Gates of the Arctic National Park to the Kelly River in the Noatak National Preserve, were designated a National Wild and Scenic River as part of the ANILCA legislation.

References

External links
Noatak National Preserve National Park Service site
Noatak National Preserve at the National Park Service Alaska Regional Office
Guide to Surficial Geology and River-bluff Exposures, Noatak National Preserve, Northwestern Alaska United States Geological Survey

National Preserves in Alaska
Protected areas of North Slope Borough, Alaska
Protected areas of Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska
Chukchi Sea
Former biosphere reserves of the United States
Protected areas established in 1978
Western Arctic National Parklands
ANILCA establishments

Noatak National Preserve


A control premium is an amount that a buyer is sometimes willing to pay over the current market price of a publicly traded company in order to acquire a controlling share in that company.

If the market perceives that a public company's profit and cash flow is not being maximized, capital structure is not optimal, or other factors that can be changed are impacting the company's share price, an acquirer may be willing to offer a premium over the price currently established by other market participants. A discount for lack of control, sometimes referred to as a minority discount, reflects the reduction in value from a firm's perceived optimal or intrinsic value when cash flow or other factors prevent optimal value from being reached.

Overview of concept
Transactions involving small blocks of shares in public companies occur regularly and serve to establish the market price per share of company stock. Acquiring a controlling number of shares sometimes requires offering a premium over the current market price per share in order to induce existing shareholders to sell. It is made through a tender offer with specific terms, including the price. Higher control premiums are often associated with classified boards.

The amount of control is the acquirer's decision and is based on its belief that the target company's share price is not optimized. An acquirer would not be making a prudent investment decision if a tender offer made is higher than the future benefit of the acquisition.

Control premium vs. minority discount
The control premium and the minority discount could be considered to be the same dollar amount. Stated as a percentage, this dollar amount would be higher as a percentage of the lower minority marketable value or, conversely,
lower as a percentage of the higher control value.

Source:

Size of premium
In general, the maximum value that an acquirer firm would be willing to pay should equal the sum of the target firm's intrinsic value, synergies that the acquiring firm can expect to achieve between the two firms, and the opportunity cost of not acquiring the target firm (i.e. loss to the acquirer if a rival firm acquires the target firm instead). A premium paid, if any, will be specific to the acquirer and the target; actual premiums paid have varied widely. In business practice, control premiums may vary from 20% to 40%. Larger control premiums indicate a low minority shareholders' protection.

Example
Company XYZ has an EBITDA of $1,500,000 and its shares are currently trading at an EV/EBITDA multiple of 5x. This results in a valuation of XYZ of $7,500,000 (=$1,500,000 * 5) on an EV basis. A potential buyer may believe that EBITDA can be improved to $2,000,000 by eliminating the CEO, who would become redundant after the transaction. Thus, the buyer could potentially value the target at $10,000,000 since the value expected to be achieved by replacing the CEO is the accretive $500,000 (=$2,000,000–$1,500,000) in EBITDA, which in turn translates to $2,500,000 (=$500,000 * 5 or =$10,000,000–$7,500,000) premium over the pre-transaction value of the target.

See also
Business valuation
Divestment
Equity value
Enterprise value
Goodwill (accounting)
M&A
Takeover

References

External links
Control Premiums, Minority Discounts & Marketability Discounts
Marketability Discounts and Control Premium Example

Corporate finance
Equity securities
Stock market
Mergers and acquisitions

Control premium


An architect is a person who designs buildings and prepares plans to give to a builder. What he designs is called architecture. Stafans  make drawings with pens, pencils, and computers, and this is also called drafting. Sometimes he first make small toy-sized buildings called models to show what the building will look like when it is done. Some of these models survive for hundreds of years, such as O.S Moamogo, South Africa.

Architects decide the size, shape, and what the building will be made from. Architects need to be good at math and drawing. They need imagination. They must go to university and learn how to make a building's structure safe so that it will not collapse. They should also know how to make a building attractive, so that people will enjoy using it.

Although there has been architecture for thousands of years, there have not always been architects. The great European cathedrals built in the Middle Ages were designed by a Master Builder, who scratched his designs on flat beds of plaster. Paper did not exist in Europe at this time and vellum or parchment were very expensive and could not be made in large sizes.

Some cathedrals took hundreds of years to build, so the Master Builder would die or retire and be replaced and often plans changed. Some cathedrals were never finished, like Notre Dame in Paris or Sagrada Família in Barcelona.

An architect has a very important job, because his or her work will be seen and used by many people, probably for a very long time. If the design, materials and construction are good, the building should last for hundreds or even thousands of years. This is rarely the case.

Usually building cost is what limits the life of a building, but fire, war, need or fashion can also affect things. As towns and cities grow, it often becomes necessary to make roads wider, or perhaps to build a new train station. Architects are employed again and so the city changes. Even very important buildings may get knocked down to make way for change.

Famous architects include: Frank Lloyd Wright, Fazlur Khan, Bruce Graham, Edward Durell Stone, Daniel Burnham, Adrian Smith, Frank Gehry, Gottfried Böhm, I. M. Pei, Antoni Gaudí, and Oscar Niemeyer.

References

Other websites

 The Society of Architectural Historians web site
 The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain web site
 The Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand web site
 European Architectural History Network web site
 Western Architecture Timeline

Construction occupations

Architect


Sunday is the day o the week atween Setturday an Monanday, an the seicont day o the weekend in some culturs. It is thocht on as a haliday in kintras wi a Christian tradeetion, an is the day that Christians maist aften gangs tae the Kirk.

In the Gregorian calendar, nae century can stairt on a Sunday. In the Hebrew calendar, ae towmond can stairt on a Sunday. Ony month that begis wi a Sunday will hae a Friday the 13t in't.

The name Sunday
In Scots, Sunday comes fae Sunne, the Germanic sun goddess.

In the aforegane Jewish tradeetion Setturday is the sawbath. Mony leids disnae hie sindert wirds for "Setturday" an "sawbath". The Eastren Orthodox kirks maks a differ atween the sawbath (Setturday) an the Laird's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics pits sicna wee bit emphasis on that disteenction that mony amang them follaes — at least in iveryday langage — the Protestant practice o cryin Sunday the sawbath. Quakers tradeetionally cries Sunday the "First Day" eschewing the "heathen" oreegin o the name.

Poseetion athin the week
In mony kintras, includin the maist o Europe an Sooth Americae (but Brazil), Sunday is hauden tae be the hindermaist day o the week. In ithers, includin the Unitit States, it is seen as the first day, a tradeetional view that comes fae auncient Jews, Egyptians an the Haly Roman Empire. ISO 8601 defines Monanday as the first day o the week, makkin Sunday the sievent.

Common Sunday Ongauns
Sunday is thocht on as bein haly amang maist Christians an aftentimes a day o rest an for gangin tae the kirk. Houiver, fae Friday gloamin tae Setturday gloamin is whan God made it a haly day o rest, Sawbath.

In orthodox Christian families an communities some activities isna duin, e.g. wirkin, daein somethin at needs anither body tae wirk sic as buyin guids or services (includin the uiss o public transport), drivin a caur, gairdenin, giein the caur a wash, etc. Some exceptions is alloud, an thay are makkin uiss o releegious services, an, for ordinar, uisin electricity, an urgent medical maiters.

In the Unitit States, perfaisonal fitba is for ordinar played on Sunday, tho Setturday an Monanday haes some professional gemmes an aw. Varsity fitba for ordinar gaes on on Setturday, an saicontary schuil fitbaw tends tae happen on on Friday. It isna uncommon for kirk-gangin tae muive on days whan a late mornin or early efternuin gemme is anticipatit bi a local commonty.

Aside thon in the United States, mony federal govrenment biggins is steekit on Sunday. Privately awned businesses tends tae close or is open for shorter periods o the day than on ither days o the week an aw.

Mony American an Breetish telly netwerks an stations braidcasts thair poleetical interview shaws on Sunday mornins an aw.

Mony American an Breetish daily newspapers sets furth a lairger edeetion on Sundays that aften haes colour comic strips in it, a magazine, an a coupon section.

Named days
 Law Sunday, first Sunday efter Easter, kent as Whit Sunday an aw, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, an Divine Mercy Sunday.
 Paum Sunday is the Sunday afore Easter.
 Passion Sunday, uisst tae denote the fift Sunday o Lent, but sin 1970 the term applees tae the follaein Sunday, kent as Paum Sunday an aw.
 Septuagesima Sunday, afore 1970, wis the thrid fae the last Sunday afore Lent.
 Stir-up Sunday, is the last Sunday afore Advent.
 Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday efter Pentecost.
 Laetare Sunday
 Gaudete Sunday
 Whitsunday

Quotes
 In the popular rhyme, "The bairn born on Sunday is fair an wice an guid an gey".

Fremmit airtins
 Whaur Sunday's name comes fae

Days

References

Sunday


The Oval is a place in London, England where important cricket matches are played. The Oval is the home place for Surrey County Cricket Club when they play other counties and England often play their last home test matches there at the end of the summer.

The Oval is located in Kennington, South London. The nearest tube station is also called Oval but you can get to the place easily from Vauxhall station.

Cricket
1845 establishments in England

The Oval


A snowball is a ball of snow. They are usually made by a person picking snow up in their hands and pressing it together in the ball the size of their hand. Snowballs are usually thrown at people or objects as a game called a snowball fight. Making snowballs is a common activity for children when it snows.

Larger snowballs are made by using a ball the size of a hand and rolling it on the ground. As more snow sticks to it, the ball grows larger. Larger snowballs are often used to make Snowmen. The term "Snowball effect" comes from this. It means as things go on, they get more serious in the same way that a snowball gets larger as it rolls.

Snow

Snowball


Marta Kubišová (1 November 1942 České Budějovice, then in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia) is a Czech singer most popular in Czechoslovakia in 1960s. She won Zlatý slavík TV award in 1967.

Life
Family

Marta Kubišová's father was a cardiologist and her mother a housewife. Her family moved to Poděbrady in 1952. She married Jan Něměc, who later emigrated and they got divorced. Her second husband was director Jan Moravec. Her daughter Kateřina was born on 1 June 1979.

Career
Her singing career started with a dance group in Nymburk. She reached the finals in Hledáme nové talenty in 1961. In 1963 she moved to Plzeň to perform. In September 1964 she performed in theater Rokoko. She won Silver Lyre of Bratislava with Helena Vondráčková in 1966. She created the group 'Golden Kids' with Václav Neckář and Vondráčková in 1967. Her song Prayer for Marta became a symbol of national resistance against the occupation of Warsaw Pact troops in 1968. During the Prague Spring, she recorded over 200 SP records and one LP (Songy a Balady), which was immediately banned from stores. The government unjustly banned her from performing in February 1970. She signed the Charter 77 and she became their speaker.

She suffered a miscarriage and survived clinical death. Marta was also an actress and she met her husband Jan Němec while filming. In 1990s and 2000s she also took part in concerts to promote human rights. She was awarded the Honorary Medal of T. G. Masaryk in 1998 and in October 2002 she got the St. Wenceslas Honours.

1942 births
Living people
Czech singers

Marta Kubišová


Kastamonu University () is a public university located in Kastamonu and some of its districts, Turkey. It was established in 2006 after some colleges and schools in Kastamonu, which were administered by Ankara University and Gazi University, were gathered under one institution.

History
The university was founded under the Turkish law no. 5467, which was enacted on March 1, 2006. The university initially had Faculty of Science and Arts, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Forestry, School of Health, School of Physical Education and Sports and Vocational School of Higher Education to open in 2006. The university started its education in Fall 2006. First class with baccalaureate degrees will graduate in May 2010.

Academics
Today, the university employs 748 faculty (professors, associate professors, assistant professors and lecturers), and 159 administrative personnel. It currently has about 21.378 students. Kastamonu University's expansion is under way and many construction works are still ongoing. It currently has four faculties, four schools, three vocational school, two institutes.

Faculties
 Faculty of Education
 Faculty of Forestry
 Faculty of Arts and Sciences
 Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Science
...

Schools
 School of Health
 School of Physical Education and Sports

Vocational Schools
 Kastamonu Vocational School of Higher Education

Institutes
 Institute of Science
 Institute of Social Sciences

Expansion
With the regulation of the University Senate and approval of The Higher Education Council; works related to the foundation of Faculty of Communication, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, School of Tourism and Hotel Management and vocational schools in the districts of Kastamonu (Abana, Araç, Cide, İnebolu, Taşköprü and Tosya) are being carried on.

Campus life and student clubs
Social and cultural activities in Kastamonu University are performed both in university and in the faculties and school of higher education. In order for the students to spend their spare time in the best way, artistic activities are exhibited and amateur works are promoted and supervised. Works prepared and exhibited by the students are open to public. Spring festival and the Newroz/Nevruz festival are regularly celebrated at the university. During these festivals, students' stand for sales and presentation, sports activities, movies and theatre shows, various contests, panels, conferences, symposiums, fashion shows and concerts attract many visitors. In addition, Kastamonu University hosts entertainment programmes, concerts, exhibitions, movies, productions and other cultural activities throughout the year. Entertainment activities include musical and theatrical performances, folk dances and live concerts. The students can attend these activities free of charge. Cultural activities take place in the conference hall in Kuzeykent Campus.

 south of campus, Kastamonu has Ilgaz Mountains which hosts one of the best winter sports centers in Turkey. Besides other sports, much importance is given to winter sports. Students and trainers who have an interest in skiing, snowboarding, sledding, mountaineering, camping and rock climbing can make good use of the facilities nearby. There are several mountains of 2000+ meters (6000 ft+) altitude in Kastamonu which attract many enthusiasts of skiing and mountaineering. The university organizes weekend trips to the Ilgaz Mountain Ski Resort. Basketball, volleyball, indoor and outdoor football (soccer) fields, tennis, table-tennis and athletics are among the activities provided in our sports center. Sports fields are located in the campus and there are trainers for almost any type sports.

Student Union
Student Union is made of five elected student officials and six representative students from each of the six faculties and schools.

Dormitories and accommodation
There are two dormitories belonging to Turkish Scholarships and Dormitories Institution (Kredi ve Yurtlar Kurumu, KYK), one near the Kuzeykent Campus and the other in the Kastamonu city center. The capacity of the former is 312 male and 400 female students and the capacity of the latter is 244 female students. Both dormitories have such facilities as canteen, cafeteria and restaurant where the students can have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Apart from these dormitories there are many private dorm-style and apartment-style accommodation options available, especially in the city center and near the campus. The construction of a new dormitory building with a capacity of 500 students is still undergoing. The building, which also belongs to KYK, is expected to be completed by mid 2010.

International Office
Kastamonu University International Relations Office serves coordination and consultancy in international platform through coordinating with academic and administrative units of the university. The university participates in the European Union Education and Youth Programmes (Erasmus Programme, Leonardo da Vinci Programme, Grundtvig Programme, Youth Programme). The university has about 10 international students, with the number increasing every semester.

Affiliations
The university is a member of the Caucasus University Association.
The university is a member of International Association of Universities -   IAU-010164

References

External links
 official website

Kastamonu Province
State universities and colleges in Turkey
Educational institutions established in 2006
Buildings and structures in Kastamonu Province
2006 establishments in Turkey

Kastamonu University


The Beech is a large tree in the genus Fagus in the plant family Fagaceae. There are about 10 species, all native to Europe, Asia, and North America.

The flowers are small and single-sex (monoecious), the female flowers are carried in pairs, the male flowers are wind-pollinating catkins, produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear. The bark is smooth and light grey. The fruit is a small, sharply three–anglend nut 10–15 mm long. The nuts are edible, though bitter (though not nearly as bitter as acorns). They have a high tannin content, and are called beechnuts or beechmast.

Beech grows on a wide range of soil types, acid or basic, provided they are not wet for long periods. The tree canopy casts a heavy shade, and the leaves, when dropped, cover the ground thickly. Few plant grow under beech trees.

In North America, they often form Beech-Maple forests by growing together with the Sugar Maple.

Uses of Beechwood
The beech has been used for its wood by man for thousands of years. The wood is white, or reddish if grown on acid soil, but fine grained, smooth and heavy when first cut. It may split as it dries. It is a good wood for making ornaments, tool handles, kitchen utensils, furniture and parts of buildings. Beechwood burns well and is used, among other woods, to smoke herrings in Scotland. It can also be made into charcoal.

Southern Beech
The southern beeches Nothofagus previously thought closely related to beeches, are now treated as members of a separate family, Nothofagaceae. They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Argentina and Chile (mostly on the southern tip in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego).

Pests and Diseases
The beech blight aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator) is a common pest of beech trees. Beeches are also used as food plants by some species of butterflies and moths (see List of moths and butterflies that feed on beech trees).

References

Fagales

Beech