Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie  ( – ), commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyptology in the United Kingdom, and excavated many of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt in conjunction with his wife, Hilda Urlin. Some consider his most famous discovery to be that of the Merneptah Stele, an opinion with which Petrie himself concurred. Undoubtedly at least as important is his 1905 discovery and correct identification of the character of the Proto-Sinaitic script, the ancestor of almost all alphabetic scripts.

Petrie developed the system of dating layers based on pottery and ceramic findings. He remains controversial for his pro-eugenics views; he was a dedicated believer in the superiority of the Northern peoples over the Latinate and Southern peoples.

He has been referred to as the "father of Egyptian archaeology".

Early life
Petrie was born on 3 June 1853 in Charlton, Kent, England, the son of William Petrie (1821–1908) and Anne (née Flinders) (1812–1892). Anne was the daughter of British Captain Matthew Flinders, who led the first circumnavigation of Australia (and after whom Petrie was named). William Petrie was an electrical engineer who developed carbon arc lighting and later developed chemical processes for Johnson, Matthey & Co.

Petrie was raised in a Christian household (his father being a member of the Plymouth Brethren), and was educated at home. He had no formal education. His father taught his son how to survey accurately, laying the foundation for his archaeological career. At the age of eight, he was tutored in French, Latin, and Greek, until he had a collapse and was taught at home. He also ventured his first archaeological opinion aged eight, when friends visiting the Petrie family were describing the unearthing of the Brading Roman Villa in the Isle of Wight. The boy was horrified to hear the rough shovelling out of the contents, and protested that the earth should be pared away, inch by inch, to see all that was in it and how it lay. "All that I have done since," he wrote when he was in his late seventies, "was there to begin with, so true it is that we can only develop what is born in the mind. I was already in archaeology by nature."

Academic career
The chair of Edwards Professor of Egyptian Archaeology and Philology at University College London was set up and funded in 1892 following a bequest from Amelia Edwards, who died suddenly in that year. Petrie's supporter since 1880, Edwards had instructed that he should be its first incumbent. He continued to excavate in Egypt after taking up the professorship, training many of the best archaeologists of the day.
In 1904, Petrie published Methods and Aims in Archaeology, the definitive work of his time, in which he defined the goals and methodology of his profession along with the more practical aspects of archaeology—such as details of excavation, including the use of cameras in the field. Insights include the contention that research results were dependent on the personality of the archaeologist, who, he felt, needed to possess broad knowledge as well as insatiable curiosity. His own abundance of that characteristic was never questioned.

In 1913, Petrie sold his large collection of Egyptian antiquities to University College, London, where it is now housed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. One of his trainees, Howard Carter, went on to discover the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922.

Petrie's mental capacity

Archaeology career

In Britain
In his teenage years, Petrie surveyed British prehistoric monuments, commencing with the late Romano-British 'British Camp' that lay within yards of his family home in Charlton, in attempts to understand their geometry. At 19 he produced the most accurate survey of Stonehenge.

Giza survey
His father had corresponded with Piazzi Smyth about his theories of the Great Pyramid  and Petrie travelled to Egypt in early 1880 to make an accurate survey of Giza, making him the first to properly investigate how the pyramids there were constructed; many theories had been advanced on this, and Petrie read them all, but none was based on first hand observation or logic.

Petrie's published reports of this triangulation survey, and his analysis of the architecture of Giza therein, was exemplary in its methodology and accuracy, disproving Smyth's theories and still providing much of the basic data regarding the pyramid plateau to this day. On that visit, he was appalled by the rate of destruction of monuments (some listed in guidebooks had been worn away completely since then) and mummies. He described Egypt as "a house on fire, so rapid was the destruction" and felt his duty to be that of a "salvage man, to get all I could, as quickly as possible and then, when I was 60, I would sit and write it all."

Egypt Exploration Fund affiliation
Returning to England at the end of 1880, Petrie wrote a number of articles and then met Amelia Edwards, journalist and patron of the Egypt Exploration Fund (now the Egypt Exploration Society), who became his strong supporter and later appointed him as professor at her Egyptology chair at University College London. Impressed by his scientific approach, the university
offered him work as the successor to Édouard Naville. Petrie accepted the position and was given the sum of £250 per month to cover the excavation expenses. In November 1884, Petrie arrived in Egypt to begin his excavations.

Tanis dig
He first went to a New Kingdom site at Tanis, with 170 workmen. He cut out the middle man role of foreman on this and all subsequent excavations, taking complete overall control himself and removing pressure on the workmen from the foreman to discover finds quickly but sloppily. Though he was regarded as an amateur and dilettante by more established Egyptologists, this made him popular with his workers, who found several small but significant finds that would have been lost under the old system.

Tell Nebesheh dig
In 1886, while working for the Egypt Exploration Fund, Petrie excavated at Tell Nebesheh in the Eastern Nile Delta. This site is located 8 miles southeast of Tanis and, among the remains of an ancient temple there, Petrie found a royal sphinx, now located at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Nile and Sehel Island
By the end of the Tanis dig, he ran out of funding but, reluctant to leave the country in case it was renewed, he spent 1887 cruising the Nile taking photographs as a less subjective record than sketches. During this time, he also climbed rope ladders at Sehel Island near Aswan to draw and photograph thousands of early Egyptian inscriptions on a cliff face, recording embassies to Nubia, famines and wars.

Fayum burials
By the time he reached Aswan, a telegram had reached there to confirm the renewal of his funding. He then went straight to the burial site at Fayum, particularly interested in post-30 BC burials, which had not previously been fully studied. He found intact tombs and 60 of the famous portraits, and discovered from inscriptions on the mummies that they were kept with their living families for generations before burial. Under Auguste Mariette's arrangements, he sent 50% of these portraits to the Egyptian department of antiquities.

However, when he later found that Gaston Maspero placed little value on them and left them open to the elements in a yard behind the museum to deteriorate, he angrily demanded that they all be returned, forcing Maspero to pick the 12 best examples for the museum to keep and return 48 to Petrie, who sent them to London for a special showing at the British Museum. Resuming work, he discovered the village of the Pharaonic tomb-workers.

Palestine, Tell Hesi and Wadi Rababah
In 1890, Petrie made the first of his many forays into Palestine, leading to much important archaeological work. His six-week excavation of Tell el-Hesi (which was mistakenly identified as Lachish) that year represents the first scientific excavation of an archaeological site in the Holy Land. Petrie surveyed a group of tombs in the Wadi al-Rababah (the biblical Hinnom) of Jerusalem, largely dating to the Iron Age and early Roman periods. Here, in these ancient monuments, Petrie discovered that two different types of cubit had been used as units of length.

Amarna
From 1891, he worked on the temple of Aten at Tell-el-Amarna, discovering a  New Kingdom painted pavement of garden and animals and hunting scenes. This became a tourist attraction but, as there was no direct access to the site, tourists wrecked neighbouring fields on their way to it. This made local farmers deface the paintings, and it is only thanks to Petrie's copies that their original appearance is known.

Discovery of the 'Israel' or Merneptah stele
In early 1896, Petrie and his archaeological team were conducting excavations on a temple in Petrie's area of concession at Luxor. This temple complex was located just north of the original funerary temple of Amenhotep III, which had been built on a flood plain. They were initially surprised that this building which they were excavating
 was also attributed to Amenophis III since only his name appeared on blocks strewn over the site...Could one king have had two mortuary temples? Petrie dug and soon solved the puzzle: the temple had been built by Merneptah or Merenptah, the son and successor of Ramesses II, almost entirely from stone which had been plundered from the temple of Amenophis III nearby. Statues of the latter had been smashed and the pieces thrown into the foundations; fragments of couchant stone jackals, which must have once formed an imposing avenue approaching the pylon, and broken drums gave some idea of the splendour of the original temple. A statue of Merneptah himself was found—the first known portrait of this king....Better was to follow: two splendid stelae were found, both of them usurped on the reverse side by Merneptah, who had turned them face to the wall. One, beautifully carved, showed Amenophis III in battle with Nubians and Syrians; the other, of black granite, was over ten feet high, larger than any stela previously known; the original text commemorated the building achievements of Amenophis and described the beauties and magnificence of the temple in which it had stood. When it could be turned over, an inscription of Merneptah was revealed, recording his triumphs over the Libyans and the Peoples of the Sea; [Wilhelm] Spiegelberg [a noted German philologist] came over to read it, and near the end of the text he was puzzled by one name, that of a people or tribe whom Merenptah had victoriously smitten-"I.si.ri.ar?" It was Petrie whose quick imaginative mind leapt to the solution: "Israel!" Spiegelberg agreed that it must be so. "Won't the reverends be pleased?" was his comment. At dinner that evening Petrie prophesied: "This stele will be better known in the world than anything else I have found." It was the first mention of the word "Israel" in any Egyptian text and the news made headlines when it reached the English papers.

During the field season of 1895/6, at the Ramesseum, Petrie and the young German Egyptologist Wilhelm Spiegelberg became friends. Spiegelberg was in charge of the edition of many texts discovered by his British colleague, and Petrie offered important collections of artefacts to the University of Strasbourg. In 1897, the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität Straßburg gratefully conferred to Petrie the title of doctor honoris causa, and in June 1902 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).

Hu and Abadiya cemeteries
From 1889 to 1899, Petrie directed a team excavating over 17 cemeteries containing numerous graves between Hu and Abadiya, Egypt. The dig team included Beatrice Orme, David Randall-MacIver, Arthur Cruttenden Mace, Henrietta Lawes and Hilda Petrie. Predynastic, Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and Roman graves were excavated and published at 'Diospolis Parva'.

Discovery of the Proto-Sinaitic script

In the winter of 1905, Petrie and his wife Hilda were conducting a series of archaeological excavations in the Sinai Peninsula. During a dig at Serabit el-Khadim, an extremely lucrative turquoise mine used during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasty and again between the Eighteenth and mid-Twentieth Dynasty, Petrie discovered a series of inscriptions at the site's massive invocative temple to Hathor, as well as some fragmentary inscriptions in the mines themselves. Petrie immediately recognized hieroglyphic characters in the inscriptions, but upon closer inspection realized the script was wholly alphabetic and not the combination of logograms and syllabics characteristic of Egyptian script proper. He thus assumed that the script showed a script that the turquoise miners had devised themselves, using linear signs that they had borrowed from hieroglyphics. He published his findings in London the following year. He had discovered and correctly identified the character of the Proto-Sinaitic script, the ancestor of almost all alphabetic scripts.

Later life
In 1923, Petrie was knighted for services to British Archaeology and Egyptology.

Palestine: Jemmeh and Ajjul
The focus of his work shifted permanently to Palestine in 1926. From 1927 until 1938, he excavated in Palestine under the auspices of the American School of Research. he discovered ruins of ten cities in Tell el-Hesi. He began excavating several important sites in the south-west of Palestine, including Tell Jemmeh and Tell el-Ajjul.

Luxor and the novel excavation system
In parallel with his work in Palestine, Petrie became interested in early Egypt. In 1928, while digging a cemetery at Luxor, this proved so huge that he devised an entirely new excavation system, including comparison charts for finds, which is still used today.

Move to Jerusalem
In 1933, on retiring from his professorship, he moved permanently to Jerusalem, where he lived with Lady Petrie at the British School of Archaeology, then temporarily headquartered at the American School of Oriental Research (today the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research).

Death and preservation of head

Sir Flinders Petrie died in Jerusalem on 28 July 1942. His body was interred in the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion, but he donated his head (and thus his brain) to the Royal College of Surgeons of London. World War II was then at its height, and the head was delayed in transit. After being stored in a jar in the college basement, its label fell off and no one knew to whom the head belonged. However, it was eventually identified, and is now stored, but not displayed, at the Royal College of Surgeons.

There is a popular legend that Hilda brought back her husband's head in a hat box from Jerusalem after the war. But letters in the Petrie Museum archive illustrate that this legend is not true.

Personal life
Petrie married Hilda Urlin (1871–1957) in London on 26 November 1896. The couple had two children, John (1907–1972) and Ann (1909–1989). The family originally lived in Hampstead, London, where an English Heritage blue plaque has been placed on the building in which they lived at 5 Cannon Place. John Flinders Petrie became a noted mathematician, who gave his name to the Petrie polygon.

Legacy

Scientific excavation methods
Flinders Petrie's painstaking recording and study of artefacts set new standards in archaeology. He wrote: "I believe the true line of research lies in the noting and comparison of the smallest details."

Relative dating through pottery

By linking styles of pottery with periods, he was the first to use seriation in Egyptology, a new method for establishing the chronology of a site.

Teacher and mentor
Petrie was also responsible for mentoring and training a whole generation of Egyptologists, including Howard Carter. On the centennial of Petrie's birth in 1953, his widow Hilda Petrie created a student travel scholarship to Egypt.

Egypt findings
Many thousands of artefacts recovered during excavations led by Petrie can be found in museums worldwide.

Petrie Medal for archaeology
The Petrie Medal was created in celebration of Petrie's seventieth birthday, when funds were raised to commission and produce 20 medals to be awarded "once in every three years for distinguished work in Archaeology, preferably to a British subject". The first medal was awarded to Petrie himself (1925), and the first few recipients included Sir Aurel Stein (1928), Sir Arthur Evans (1931), Abbé Henri Breuil (1934), J.D. Beazley (1937), Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1950), Alan Wace (1953), and Sir Leonard Woolley (1957).

Racist views
Petrie remains controversial for his pro-eugenics racial views, and was a dedicated believer in the superiority of the Northern peoples over the Latinate and Southern peoples. In his 1906 sociological series "Question of the day", he expressed his far right views and racial views, ascribing social problems of England to racial degeneration brought on by communism, trade unionism, and government assistance to people groups he found inferior. These racial views spilled over into his academic opinions. Believing that society is the product of racial biology, he contended that the culture of Ancient Egypt was derived from an invading Caucasoid "Dynastic Race", which had entered Egypt from the south in late predynastic times, conquered the "inferior, exhausted mulatto" natives, and slowly introduced the higher Dynastic civilisation as it interbred with them. Petrie engaged in fierce controversies with the British Museum's Egyptology expert E. A. Wallis Budge, who contended that the religion of the Egyptians was not introduced by invaders, but was essentially identical to that of the people of northeastern and central Africa; however, most of their colleagues judged Petrie's opinion to be more "scientific".

Palestinian archaeology
His involvement in Palestinian archaeology was examined in the exhibition "A Future for the Past: Petrie's Palestinian Collection".

Memorial
In August 2012, more than a hundred people gathered at Petrie's grave, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of his death. His headstone is marked only with his name and an ankh symbol, the Egyptian hieroglyph for "life."

Published work

A number of Petrie's discoveries were presented to the Royal Archaeological Society and described in the society's Archaeological Journal by his good friend and fellow archaeologist Flaxman Charles John Spurrell. Petrie published a total of 97 books.
 Tel el-Hesy (Lachish). London: Palestine Exploration Fund.
 "The Tomb-Cutter's Cubits at Jerusalem," Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly, 1892 Vol. 24: 24–35.

Contributions to the Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed.

Selected works
 Naukratis, Pt. I, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1886.
 Tanis, Pt. I, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1889.
 Egyptian decorative art, London, 1895.
 The Religion of Ancient Egypt (1906)
 Migrations, Anthropological Inst. of Great Britain and Ireland, 1906.
 Janus in Modern Life, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907.

 Eastern Exploration – Past and Future London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1918.
 Some Sources of Human History, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919.
 The Status of the Jews in Egypt, G. Allen & Unwin, 1922.
 The Revolutions of Civilization, Harper & Brothers, 1922.

Gallery

References

Further reading

Callaway, Joseph A. "Sir Flinders Petrie, Father of Palestinian Archaeology." Biblical Archaeology Review, 1980 Vol. 6, Issue 6: 44–55.
Drower, Margaret S. Flinders Petrie: A Life in Archaeology, (2nd publication) University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.
Drower, Margaret S. Letters from the Desert – the Correspondence of Flinders and Hilda Petrie, Aris & Philips, 2004.
Petrie, William Matthew Flinders. Seventy Years in Archaeology, H. Holt and Company 1932
Picton, Janet; Quicke, Stephen; Roberts, Paul C. (eds). "Living Images: Egyptian Funerary Portraits in the Petrie Museum." 2007. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek.
Quirke, Stephen. Hidden Hands, Egyptian workforces in Petrie excavation archives, 1880–1924, London 2010
Schultz, Teresa and Trumpour, Mark, "The Father of Egyptology" in Canada. 2009. Journal of the American Research Centre in Egypt, No. 44, 2008. 159 – 167.
Silberman, Neil Asher. "Petrie's Head: Eugenics and Near Eastern Archaeology", in Alice B. Kehoe and Mary Beth Emmerichs, Assembling the Past (Albuquerque, NM, 1999).
Stevenson, Alice. "'We seem to be working in the same line'. A.H.L.F. Pitt-Rivers and W.M.F. Petrie. Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, 2012 Vol 22, Issue 1: 4–13.
Trigger, Bruce G. "Paradigms in Sudan Archeology", International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 27, no. 2 (1994).
Uphill, E.P. "A Bibliography of Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942)," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1972 Vol. 31: 356–379.

External links

 William Matthew Flinders Petrie: The Father of Egyptian Archaeology, 1853–1942

 Manchester Museum
 Hilda Mary Isobel Petrie born Urlin  (1871–1956)
 The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London

1853 births
1942 deaths
Academics of University College London
Archaeologists from London
English Egyptologists
Knights Bachelor
English Anglicans
People from Charlton, London
Fellows of the Royal Society
Burials at Mount Zion (Protestant)
19th-century British archaeologists
20th-century British archaeologists
Fellows of the British Academy
Historians of weapons
Archaeology and racism

Flinders Petrie


Maybelle "May" Parker-Jameson (née Reilly), commonly known as Aunt May, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. Making her first full appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), the character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, playing an influential role in the Spider-Man comic books.

May is the widow of Ben Parker and the paternal aunt by marriage of Peter Parker, who leads a secret life as Spider-Man. She is nurturing and supportive of Peter as a mother figure, although throughout most of Spider-Man's history, she has not known of his secret life and considered Spider-Man frightening. In modern renditions, May has been known to support the hero and in rare cases is aware that he is her nephew or at least suspecting his identity as Peter. Later in life, she marries J. Jonah "Jay" Jameson Sr., the estranged father of Peter's boss and Spider-Man's harshest critic J. Jonah Jameson, making him her step-son and by extension Peter's step-cousin (and self-declared step-brother); much to Jameson's discomfort.

Since May's conception, the character has appeared in several media adaptations of Spider-Man, often playing a supporting role. May was portrayed by Rosemary Harris in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Sally Field in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man duology and Marisa Tomei in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. The character was voiced by Lily Tomlin in the 2018 animated film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Fictional character biography
May Parker (née Reilly) was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 5. After the death of her brother-in-law and his wife, May and her husband Ben Parker took in their only nephew, Peter, and raised him at their home at 20 Ingram Street, Forest Hills, Queens, having previously cared for mermaid Linda Brown by the beachside in their earlier years. She remained an important influence in Peter's life even during college as she was the only family he had left. Her continued belief that Peter was still the fragile boy he had been before he gained his powers could be frustrating at times.

In the early years of his superhero career, Peter feared for May's well-being and the fatal shock that he believed would end her life if she ever learned about his dual identity as Spider-Man. Consequently, Peter often felt anguish over dealing with major crises while his aunt needed nearly constant care. This conflict took on an unusual turn when May became sweethearts with his enemy, Otto Octavius (also known as Doctor Octopus), and Peter struggled to deal with his enemy's schemes while not hurting his aunt.

During a period of convalescence at a nursing home, May met wheelchair user Nathan Lubensky. Gradually, May and Nathan fell in love with each other. She invited Nathan into her Forest Hills home after converting it into a boarding house, and the couple were briefly engaged. However, May's heart was broken when Nathan suffered a fatal heart attack while protecting her from being taken hostage by Adrian Toomes, the costumed villain known as the Vulture. Some time thereafter, a guilt-stricken Toomes confronted May, begging her to forgive him for his role in Nathan's death. (Ironically, Nathan had befriended Toomes when the two briefly resided at the same nursing home). May refused to do so, stating that only God could provide the villain with the redemption he was seeking.

As part of a plan by Peter's arch-foe Norman Osborn, May was replaced by a "genetically-altered actress" who impersonated her while May was held captive by villains until the actress died, Osborn returning May to Peter with a device planted inside her that would detonate a series of gene bombs if removed, decimating Earth. Mister Fantastic was able to disable the device without removing it, saving the world and May, who apparently retained no memory of her time in captivity. May finally learned about her nephew's secret life when she walked into his room after he had sustained a serious beating from the villain Morlun, the two later talking about May's discovery as May came to accept her nephew's real life.

When Spider-Man joins the Avengers, Peter, Aunt May, and Mary Jane Watson move into Stark Tower after May loses her house to a fire. During the Superhero Civil War, she and Mary Jane convince Peter to unmask himself in front of a press conference. Later, she is targeted by the Chameleon, but outwits the villain by feeding him Ambien-filled oatmeal-raisin cookies.

When Peter changes his mind about the Superhuman Registration Act, he moves his family from Stark Tower to a motel. An assassin hired by the Kingpin tries to kill Peter, but hits May instead. Peter takes May to a hospital where she lapses into a coma and is likely to die. However, Aunt May receives a radioactive blood transfusion from Peter, which he hoped would save her life due to his mutated healing factor.

The demon Mephisto offers to restore May's health in exchange for erasing Peter's marriage from history, and Peter and Mary Jane agree. May lives, and Spider-Man's identity is once again a secret.

At the beginning of Brand New Day, May is doing volunteer work for a homeless shelter, run by Martin Li, the supervillain crime boss Mister Negative. At this point, her knowledge of Peter being Spider-Man was erased. During her work at the shelter, she met John Jonah "Jay" Jameson (the father of J. Jonah Jameson) and started a relationship with him. The following issue, Peter caught the two of them in bed. However, he approved of this relationship, mainly because Jay supports Spider-Man, who had previously saved his life, and saw through Norman Osborn as a thug who holds nothing but contempt for the people.

Jay walked with May in Central Park and asked her to marry him, and May accepted. Despite Doctor Octopus' subconscious efforts to halt his former fiancé's wedding plans, May and Jay were reluctantly wedded by New York Mayor J. Jonah Jameson, who expressed displeasure at Peter calling them stepbrothers (due to May being his adoptive mother).

Aunt May has several blood relatives that are still alive, including a sister named Jan. May's first cousins Sam and Julia are the children of her uncle Bill and his wife Claudia. Peter was attracted to Julia's daughter Alexa. The Reilly family is currently staying in May's house.

Upon her return from her honeymoon, she stops by the FEAST offices, only to accidentally walk in on Martin Li, along with Hammerhead torturing one of Mr. Negative's Inner Demons. Trying to escape, Li touches her with his corrupting touch. She then returns to meet her husband and Peter. When Jay suggests going somewhere nice for dinner, Aunt May sarcastically proceeds to insult Peter over his fluctuating jobs and his dependence on them, culminating with calling her nephew "One damn big disappointment". A heartbroken Peter runs off. Peter returns, after a physically and mentally exhausting battle against the Lizard, tries talking to Aunt May, looking for someone to help give him hope after seeing the death of Curt Connors' humanity. She still continues to act like a bad-tempered teenager and at first, rebuffs him. However, after seeing Peter clearly suffering mentally, she feels guilty and undergoes an intense mind battle, breaking the corruption, and is shown simply sitting next to Peter.

Prior to the events of Spider-Island, after Martin Li's secret identity is exposed to the public, May and Jay formally announce their intention to leave New York for good, for their own safety, and move to Boston. Jay explains this was the result of all the recent major incidents towards them and their friends and family. They put May's old house up for sale and leave once the moving van is packed. After spending their last night in New York at Jay's apartment, the following day she and Jay head to an airport in New Jersey with Peter and Carlie and they say their goodbyes before flying off. Following the Ends of the Earth storyline, when May and Jay are returning home to New York on their private jet, but the irresponsible superhero Alpha uses his powers without care in his battle with Terminus causes many aircraft to shut down. The Avengers rescue everybody and Spider-Man saves his May and Jay from Jameson's malfunctioning private jet just before it crashes. Later Peter arrives at the hospital to see that his Aunt May and Jay are okay, although she has sustained minor nerve damage to her leg that will require the use of a cane for the rest of her life. In The Superior Spider-Man storyline, Aunt May's leg is fully healed from operation and completion surgery with gratitude of Doctor Wirtham.

As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, May and Jay became part of the Parker Industries's foundation, a charity focused on providing help for the less fortunate and raise the quality of life wherever it could be possible. However, her husband Jay had coughed up blood and collapsed. Aunt May is heartbroken after her husband Jay had later died in the hospital. Aunt May, Peter and J. Jonah Jameson held a moment of silence.

After Peter Parker had his doctorate revoked for "copying" Doctor Octopus' thesis and getting fired from the Daily Bugle, May confronted her nephew about his actions. While stating that he should take responsibility for his actions, May leaves stating that Uncle Ben should have raised him better. Shortly afterwards, she was diagnosed with cancer and does not tell Peter to avoid overwhelming him.

Other versions

Original appearance
Lee and Ditko introduced the character of "Aunt May" alongside "Uncle Ben" in the June 1962 issue of Strange Tales #97, four months before her Amazing Fantasy debut. In the story "Goodbye to Linda Brown", the characters are given no surname. They care for a young woman named Linda Brown who develops a sleepwalking habit, just like May and Ben used to have. When Linda sleepwalks to the sea in her wheelchair, she becomes a mermaid.

Golden Oldie
May Parker was transformed by Galactus into the cosmically powered being Golden Oldie to serve as his herald. Rather than lead him to populated worlds, Oldie discovered an extraterrestrial baker who bakes planet-sized snack cakes that sate Galactus's hunger. May's transformation is ultimately revealed as a dream. The issue, a parody of an old Hostess snack cake advertising campaign, was part of Marvel's "Assistant Editors Month" series of humorous issues.

May also appeared as "Golden Oldie" (this time an Iron Man parody) as well as "The Astonishing Aunt Ant" and "Auntie Freeze" in an issue of What If?.

MC2
In the alternate timeline known as MC2, May Parker's death in The Amazing Spider-Man #400 was valid. It was May who died in this continuum, rather than an actress. Peter's daughter, May "Mayday" Parker, was named for her. Mayday became the super-heroine Spider-Girl and met the original May when she found herself displaced in time, although Mayday makes no attempt to explain who she really was.

When Spider-Girl was trapped in an illusion by her enemy, Misery, she was given encouragement from a familiar spirit. She recognised the spirit as being Aunt May.

In the final arc of Amazing Spider-Girl, Aunt May acts a spiritual advisor to May to help her grandniece reclaim her identity and save Peter from Norman Osborn. In this form, she initially appears as a younger version of herself, which prevents May from recognizing her. However, May finally figures it out when she sees Aunt May through her father's eyes.

Spider-Man: Life Story
In this continuity, the characters age naturally after Peter Parker became Spider-Man in 1962. Sometime before 1977, May married Otto Octavius, but she later divorced him due to his anger management problems. In the 1980s, Mary Jane struggles to take care of May as she shows early signs of dementia around the time Mary Jane and Peter's twins are born. It puts a further rift in Peter and Mary Jane's marriage as Peter refuses to put her in a senior's home while Mary Jane is sick of being the sole caretaker of May and their children. Mary Jane later leaves Peter and takes the twins with her as Peter looks after May. May later dies sometime before 1995. When Otto attempts to destroy Peter's mind in 2019, Peter uses a memory of May to convince Otto to stop fighting Spider-Man and accept his life's limitations. The conjured memory version of May has one final talk with Peter before he saves the world from Doctor Doom's reign at the cost of his life.

Spider-Verse
During the "Spider-Verse" storyline, there are different versions of Aunt May that are featured:

 An alternate Aunt May from Earth-14512 appears in a flashback along with her version of Uncle Ben. They are depicted as scientists and the ones who informed Peni Parker that she was the only person able to carry on the SP//dr project after her father, the original pilot, died in battle. Peni accepted the responsibility, allowing the radioactive spider that formed the other half of SP//dr's CPU to bite her. When Addy Brock lost control of the VEN#m, May flew in to the mech in order to manually shut it down, only to be consumed by it. After SP//dr defeats VEN#m, she finds Addy and May gone.
 In an unknown reality, Aunt May and Uncle Ben are with their nephew Peter at the hospital after he suffers an allergic reaction to the radioactive spider bite, leaving him in a coma. Because of this, they are out of their house when it is burgled by the thief that killed Ben in the 616 universe. Peter transforms into Man-Spider and attacks May and Ben, but gets stopped by Spider-Man Noir. Six-Armed Spider-Man creates a cure for this Peter, allowing him to live a normal life with May and Ben.
 On Earth-803, May Reilly is a young woman living in a 19th-century steampunk-inspired New York. Her father studied animals, and one day when she let a spider out of its cage to get it comfort and to pet it, she got bit and learned that it was important not to let anyone cage her. After her father died, she used spare parts to create a suit with four mechanical arms that allowed her to climb walls as well as web shooters. While attending a ball, the mayor was kidnapped by the Six Men of Sinestry, so she stepped in to stop them; making her debut as the Lady Spider. Though the villains manage to get the mayor's plans, she defeats them and forces them to retreat. Following this, she is recruited into the Spider-Army. The Inheritors attacked them, separating her from the rest, though she accompanied Spider-Man 2099 to his dimension to fend off the Inheritor Daemos. They then traveled to Earth-13 before going back to her dimension to fix the Japanese Spider-Man's Leopardon before they piloted it into battle against the Inheritors in Loomworld.
 Earth-11's May Parker is the aunt of Penelope Parker, who told her about the spider bite she received during an accident at Osborn Labs, how she developed spider-like abilities, and how she wanted to hide her powers so people would think she was normal. However, Aunt May convinced her niece being normal was overrated and that she should embrace what happened to her in order to help people.
 On Earth-3123, Aunt May is known as Spider-Ma'am. She ended up getting bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter as she showed up to the science demonstration to give Peter his lunch. After revealing her identity to Ben and Peter, Peter develops web shooters and the two help May with her heroic activities on the sidelines. During the events of Spider-Verse, she and her family were confronted by Karn of the Inheritors. Sensing that he was too strong for her, she proposed to offer her life for the sake of her family, causing Karn to temporarily hesitate as she reminded him of his mother. He nearly killed her, but several multiversal Spider-Men intervened and convinced him to join them. During the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, Spider-Ma'am joined the fight against the Inheritors. When the villains are defeated, Superior Spider-Man cloned them as babies. After talking with her husband, Spider-Ma'am agreed to take them in as foster children.

Spider-Geddon
During the "Spider-Geddon" storyline, an unidentified Earth has a Hispanic version of May who is unaware that her husband and nephew have spider powers after a blood transfusion saved Uncle Ben's life.

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows
In this Secret Wars Warzone, when Peter is captured by Regent and his life is flashing before his eyes, one of his memories was him standing in front of Aunt May's open casket at her funeral, confirming that she died sometime before the events of the comic.

Ultimate Marvel
In the Ultimate Marvel universe Aunt May is based on writer Brian Michael Bendis' mother. This version of the character is a strong and independent woman in her late forties or early fifties, significantly younger than her original Marvel Universe counterpart. She is the biological sister of Mary Parker, and wife to Ben Parker.

Peter reveals his secret identity to May after he finds Gwen Stacy's clone at her old house, resulting in May evicting Peter from her home, as she despises Spider-Man. This coincides with the appearance of a man who appears to be Richard Parker, Peter's father. Peter learns that May had known this man, actually an artificially-aged clone of Peter, and she kept this secret from Peter to "protect him". After a long talk between Peter and his "father", Nick Fury and a team of Spider Slayers surround the Parker home, which triggers a transformation in Gwen, turning her into Carnage. May then suffers a heart attack. She is rescued from dying by Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four, reconciles with Peter and accepts his life as Spider-Man, though she is not at all fond of his costume. Peter later explains to May why he became Spider-Man, and May tells him that Ben would be proud of him for doing so. Aunt May is by Peter's side when he dies following a battle with the Green Goblin.

Although angry at the Ultimates for belittling Peter's accomplishments in life when attending her nephew's funeral, May is nevertheless comforted when she met some of the people that Peter had saved during his career as Spider-Man, one little girl even offering her a comforting hug as thanks for raising the man who saved her. After the funeral, May and Gwen decide to take up Tony Stark's offer to set themselves up for a new life in France.

However, following the emergence of a new Spider-Man, May and Gwen return to New York. Though Captain America threatens to arrest Miles' parents and expose his secret to them unless he retires the Spider-Man identity, May and Gwen are more supportive of Miles, and May gives him Peter's old web-shooters, along with the formula for the web-fluid, encouraging him to carry on Peter's legacy.

During the Spider-Men miniseries, May and Gwen are back in the United States, presumably to oversee the selling of the Parker Residence and to finish Gwen's term at Midtown High. They encounter someone wearing a red-and-blue Spider-Man costume and believe he is a lunatic who is disrespecting Peter's memory. They become angry and threaten to call the police. When the person unmasks himself, they are stunned beyond belief to see the older, more mature Peter Parker, from the Marvel 616 universe. She initially is unconvinced that this Peter is who he says he is, but both she and Gwen later realize he is being truthful when he knows Uncle Ben's admonishment about power and responsibility. May is greatly moved at realizing that she has now been given the chance for closure that she had missed when her Peter died, and concludes that she had made the right choices concerning her nephew, before the adult Peter is returned to his universe.

When Green Goblin escapes custody after S.H.I.E.L.D. was shut down, he arrives at the front yard of Aunt May's house and confronts Miles. Aunt May and Gwen are inside watching the television where the battle of Miles and Green Goblin was being broadcast. Soon, a very much alive Peter emerges to aid Miles in the fight, to the surprise of Aunt May and Gwen. Green Goblin flees at his arrival and the two Spider-Men depart. Gwen is unsure of the identity of the original Spider-Man, but Aunt May assures her that his motives show that it is him. Later, Aunt May and Gwen walk over to Mary Jane's house and overhear Peter's unknown resurrection. Aunt May sprints over and joyfully reunites with her nephew. After the two Spider-Men defeat Green Goblin, Peter tells Aunt May that he intends to go on a quest to find out the truth of his mystery resurrection.

In other media

Television
 May Parker appears in Spider-Man (1967), voiced by Peg Dixon.
 May Parker appears in Spider-Man (1977) and its follow-up television series The Amazing Spider-Man (1978), portrayed by Jeff Donnell and Irene Tedrow respectively.
 May Parker appears in Spider-Man (1981), voiced by Morgan Lofting.
 May Parker appears in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, voiced by June Foray. This version's house serves as the Spider-Friends' headquarters, though she remains unaware of their activities.
 May Parker appears in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, voiced by Linda Gary in the first three seasons and Julie Bennett in the final two seasons. This version displays a strong dislike of Spider-Man, but loves Peter Parker dearly. Additionally, she is friends with Keane Marlowe and Anna Watson, despite the latter's lack of respect for Peter, and goes on to give her and her husband Ben's wedding rings to Peter and Mary Jane Watson.
 May Parker appears in The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Deborah Strang. In the first season, she suffers a heart attack while seeing a show on Broadway with her friend Anna Watson amidst Spider-Man's first fight with the Sinister Six. Due to the Venom symbiote's influence, Peter remains unaware of what happened until Mary Jane Watson tells him May was hospitalized. By the season finale, May is released and has Thanksgiving dinner with Peter, her physician Doctor Bromwell, and Captain George and Gwen Stacy. In the second season, May has fully recovered, though Peter remains concerned for her, and has taken a mutual liking to Bromwell.
 May Parker appears in Ultimate Spider-Man, voiced by Misty Lee. This version is in her late 40s and is less fragile than traditional depictions. Additionally, she is involved in various hobbies such as yoga and cooking classes. In the third season, May reveals that she knew Peter Parker's secret identity as Spider-Man and assures him of her pride in him. In the fourth season, May helps reform the Scarlet Spider and suggests naming him Ben.
 An alternate reality variant of May from Miles Morales' universe appears in the episode "Return to the Spider-Verse" Pt. 4, also voiced by Lee. After Morales is stranded in Peter's universe, she helps Spider-Woman fight crime.
 May Parker appears in Marvel's Spider-Man (2017), voiced by Nancy Linari. This version is younger than traditional depictions.
 May Parker appears in Spidey and His Amazing Friends, voiced by Melanie Minichino.

Film
 May Parker appears in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, portrayed by Rosemary Harris. This version is a housewife who encourages Peter Parker with words of wisdom like her husband Ben had before his death.
 In Spider-Man (2002), May and Ben care for Peter until Ben is shot and killed, seemingly by a robber. After mourning for Ben, Peter moves into an apartment with his friend Harry Osborn, though May comes to visit him on Thanksgiving. She is later attacked by the Green Goblin and temporarily hospitalized.
 In Spider-Man 2 (2004), May continues to look after Peter. However, due to financial difficulties following Ben's death, she is forced to sell her home and move into a small apartment. She initially holds a low opinion of Spider-Man until she is kidnapped by Otto Octavius. After helping Spider-Man defeat him, she changes her mind about the web-slinger. When Peter's powers begin to wane and he quits being Spider-Man, May encourages him to resume his heroic activities and expresses guilt for contributing to Ben's death. Peter reveals the part he played in it, leaving May initially stunned and saddened, though she later thanks Peter for telling the truth and it is implied that she deduced his superhero identity. Following this, Peter uses May's words to help Octavius see the error of his ways.
 In Spider-Man 3 (2007), Peter tells May he plans on proposing to Mary Jane Watson, so May provides advice and gives him her engagement ring to use in his proposal. She and Peter later learn that Flint Marko had killed Ben, leading to Peter seeking revenge due in part to his black suit's influence. When he tells her of Marko's apparent demise, May warns him of the dangers of taking vengeance as she had already forgiven Marko and Ben would not have wanted Peter to seek revenge. After removing the black suit, a guilt-ridden Peter attempts to return the ring, but May refuses, knowing he will make things right.
 May Parker appears in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, portrayed by Sally Field. This version is slightly younger than previous depictions. Additionally, in the latter film, she has become a nursing student to support herself and her nephew Peter Parker financially after he graduates from high school.
 May Parker appears in films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Marisa Tomei. This version is much younger than previous depictions and is Italian American.
 In Captain America: Civil War (2016), May is visited by Tony Stark, who came to her apartment to recruit her nephew Peter Parker, and is initially unaware of Peter's activities as Spider-Man.
 In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), May expresses concern over the criminal activity that Spider-Man is involved in and assists Peter in preparing for his Homecoming dance. She later witnesses Peter changing into his Spider-Man suit and learns his secret identity, reacting in shock.
 In Avengers: Endgame (2019), May is revived off-screen along with other victims of the Blip by Bruce Banner and attends Stark's funeral with Peter.
 As of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), May became a prominent figure in a local charity drive that supports others who were revived following the Blip, citing her own experience when she found herself homeless and reappeared in her apartment with its new residents. Additionally, she fully supports Peter's activities as Spider-Man and enters a brief relationship with Happy Hogan.
 In Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), after Mysterio publicly reveals Peter's secret identity, May is taken into the Department of Damage Control's custody, though Matt Murdock has the charges dropped. Later, as a result of Peter's attempt to have Doctor Strange undo Mysterio's actions, several alternate universe-displaced supervillains arrive in their world. May befriends Norman Osborn and encourages her nephew to cure the villains to change their fates by convincing him that they still deserve a second chance in life. After the Green Goblin takes over Osborn's body, he mortally wounds May, who dies in Peter's arms after telling him "with great power, there must also come great responsibility."
 May Parker appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, voiced by Lily Tomlin. After her nephew Peter Parker dies, she ends up housing "Spider-People" from across the multiverse and gives them access to her Peter's underground hideout. She later assists Miles Morales in creating his own Spider-Man suit and provides him with modified versions of Peter's web shooters.
 Alternate universe variants of May Parker, such as an Earth-65 counterpart and Lady Spider, make minor appearances in the sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, with the former voiced by Elizabeth Perkins while the latter has no dialogue.

Video games
 May Parker makes a cameo appearance in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter.
 May Parker appears in the Spider-Man 2 film tie-in game, voiced by Mindy Sterling.
 May Parker appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, voiced by Kari Wahlgren.
 May appears in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 film tie-in game, voiced by Diane Michelle.
 May Parker's Spider-Ma'am and Lady Spider counterparts appear as playable characters in Spider-Man Unlimited.
 May Parker appears as a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, with her Lady Spider counterpart appearing later as a DLC character.
 May Parker appears in Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), voiced again by Nancy Linari. This version volunteers at Martin Li's homeless assistance group F.E.A.S.T. and is later put in charge of one of its centers after Li turns into Mister Negative to seek revenge on Mayor Norman Osborn. After Otto Octavius releases the Devil's Breath virus on New York as part of his own plans to seek revenge on Osborn, May falls victim to it, but continues to help others until she is left bed-ridden. While her nephew Peter Parker procures an anti-serum, there is not enough to mass-produce it in time to save her and the rest of New York. Despite this, she urges him not to use it on her, admits she knew of his work as Spider-Man, and expresses how proud she is of him before dying. Following this, May is buried next to Ben Parker and a standing commemorative plaque is added to the F.E.A.S.T. center in her honor.
 May Parker appears in a flashback depicted in Spider-Man 2, voiced again by Nancy Linari.

See also
 Spider-Man: Back in Black
 Spider-Man: One More Day
 Spider-Man: Brand New Day
 One Moment in Time (comics)

References

External links

Comic Bfugutook Awards Almanac
The Women of Marvel Comic's Aunt May Page
 Aunt May's Profile at Spiderfan.org
 May Reilly at Marvel Wiki

Fictional characters from New York City
Comics characters introduced in 1962
Spider-Man characters
Marvel Comics film characters
Characters created by Stan Lee
Characters created by Steve Ditko
Marvel Comics female characters
Marvel's Spider-Man characters

Aunt May


The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1875 was unanimously adopted on 23 June 2009.

Resolution
The Security Council this morning renewed the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has supervised the ceasefire between Israel and Syria since 1974, for the six months ending 30 December 2009.

Unanimously adopting resolution 1875 (2009), the Council also called for the implementation of its resolution 338 of 1973, which required immediate negotiations between the parties with the aim of establishing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

In conjunction with the adoption of today's resolution, a statement was also read out by Council President Baki İlkin(Turkey), reiterating that tension would remain until such a just and lasting peace in the region could be reached (to be issued as document S/PRST/2009/18).

In his latest report on UNDOF (see document S/2009/295), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended the extension of the Force, noting that, while the situation in the Golan Heights has been "generally quiet", the overall region is tense.  Mr. Ban encourages the parties to resume the indirect peace talks, initiated under the auspices of Turkey and aimed at a comprehensive peace ‑‑ in accordance with the Madrid Conference terms of reference of peace ‑‑ and also drew attention to $17 million in unpaid assessments for UNDOF's funding.

See also
List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1801 to 1900 (2008–2009)

References

External links

Text of the Resolution at undocs.org

 1875
June 2009 events


A window box (sometimes called  a window flower box or window box planter) is a type of flower container for live flowers or plants in the form of a box attached on or just below the sill of a window. It may also be used for growing herbs or other edible plants.

Description
A window box is usually placed on a window sill, or fixed to the wall immediately below it, so the owner(s) can easily access the plants in it. When installed under a window, it is usually supported by brackets on the wall below. Some materials, such as PVC or fibreglass, use a cleat mounting system from behind to attach it to the building, or it may be bolted directly to the building without the use of support brackets.

Wood, brick, terracotta, metal, fibre glass, vinyl, and cellular PVC may all be used in window box construction. A typical wooden window box lasts 3–5 years before showing deterioration, though with painting and maintenance can last 10–15 years.

Window boxes are usually accessed from indoors, and are often used by people who live on upper floors without access to gardens or other plantable areas. They enable plants to be seen by those inside as well as outside. Larger boxes, 10–12 inches in height, can be used to plant items that need more root space, and to allow flowers and plants to be grown in multiple rows.

Images

See also

 Container (flowers)
 Container garden
 Flower box
 Flower pot
 List of gardening topics
 Urban horticulture
 Windowfarm

References

Bibliography

External links

 Winning Window Boxes

Garden vases
Types of garden
Garden features
Gardening aids
Windows
Urban agriculture

Window box


TimeShift is a first-person shooter developed by Saber Interactive and published by Vivendi Games for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in late 2007. It was developed using the Saber3D Engine.

Plot
Scientists from the near future have begun work on creating a viable time machine. The project results in the creation of two devices, the Alpha Suit, a prototype jumpsuit, and the Beta Suit, a more advanced, military-grade model with features the Alpha Suit lacks such as combat-related timeshifting abilities and an integrated artificial intelligence named Strategic Systems for Adaptable Metacognition (or S.S.A.M.) to prevent the creation of temporal paradoxes.

The director of the project, Dr. Aiden Krone, takes the Alpha Suit and travels into the past. Once there he alters the timeline, placing himself as the ruler of the Krone Magistrate that controls a dystopic world.

The protagonist, an unnamed fellow scientist (originally intended to be called Michael Swift), takes the Beta Suit and follows Dr. Krone back to the year 1939 in an alternate timestream to a place called Alpha District. During the transport, parts of the Beta suit are damaged (an "auto-return" which allows for a "checkpoint" system, and the ability to revert to the original timeline) forcing the protagonist to assist the Occupant Rebellion against Dr. Krone in hopes of salvaging parts from the Alpha suit.

The protagonist fights alongside the Occupants in Alpha District, saving many of their members and supporting their raids. He meets Commander Cooke, leader of the Occupants, and is tasked with rescuing Delta Battalion, an Occupant unit that was presumed dead some time ago. After freeing Delta Battalion from a prison, the protagonist later heads to Krone's munitions plant and destroys it. The protagonist meets up with Commander Cooke, who informs him that his efforts have left Krone's military in complete disarray due to a lack of resources and supplies, and that Krone himself is retreating to Alpha District. The Occupants raid a Zeppelin factory and steal a Zeppelin to pursue the rogue scientist.

The protagonist returns to Alpha District in an altered version of when he first arrived, only things are going in favor of the Occupants. He is confronted by Krone in a giant war machine named the Sentinel, which nearly destroys the Occupant Rebellion, but he succeeds in destroying the Sentinel. As an incapacitated Krone emerges from the wreckage, the protagonist kills him and retrieves the part required to repair the Beta suit. He is thanked by Commander Cooke and returns to the original timeline to save his girlfriend, Dr. Marissa Foster, who had been killed by the explosion Krone had caused. He shuts down the bomb and walks up to Foster, who begins to wake up. She reaches out to him although not sure of who he is. As he begins to remove his mask the computer in the suit warns that a paradox is imminent and transports him away.

Gameplay
The key feature of TimeShift is the player's ability to control time: slowing, stopping or even rewinding time more or less at will. This allows a player to stop time to dodge an incoming projectile or steal an enemy's weapon. Specific time-related puzzles also require these abilities. The player's abilities also affect the color of their environment in such that slowing time produces a blueshift, rewinding it produces a yellow haze, and stopping time creates a white filter "haze". The player must use them wisely to make its way through the game. In some parts of the game the time powers are lengthened.

Development
The game was originally going to be published by Atari, but publishing rights switched to Sierra on April 20, 2006. On August 31, 2006, TimeShift was delayed for a second time.

Because the game had been delayed several times and was not mentioned very much in gaming news, the press thought that the project had been abandoned - later attributed to a highly negative reception of the 2006 demos. However, on April 10, 2007, Vivendi Games announced that they were giving TimeShift a complete overhaul and were fixing many bugs.

One of a number of changes is that Michael Swift, the game's original protagonist, does not appear in the game. After the retooling of the game, Saber introduced "the suit" as the time control device, making the protagonist anonymous. Saber said that this change was to let the player imagine that "you are the protagonist".

Initially, TimeShift was announced for Windows and Xbox 360, but at the 2007 SCEA Gamer's Day, it was announced that the game would also be appearing on the PlayStation 3. All iterations of the revamped game came out on time or early, on all platforms, world-wide in holiday 2007.

Demo
A playable version of the original concept was released online for PC and in the May 2006 issue of Official Xbox Magazine for the Xbox 360.

A single-player demo of the revamped game for Windows was released on October 11, 2007. The demo contains one level and four weapons from the full game. An Xbox 360 demo was also released on Xbox Live. A demo for the PlayStation 3 was released on November 1, 2007.

On November 9, 2007, IGN announced a multiplayer demo scheduled to be released on November 14, 2007 on Xbox Live Marketplace. It has been released. The multiplayer demo for PlayStation 3 was released on December 6, 2007. Both of these demos and the single player were combined at that time. Thus the demo runs in both single and multiplayer.

Reception

TimeShift has received mixed to positive reviews. The PC version received 71/100 on Metacritic and 72.20% on GameRankings.

Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions scored 70/100 on Metacritic and grades of 70.63% and 70.19% on GameRankings.

Critics found the gameplay derivative of other titles released before and close to Timeshift and found the plot underwhelming. However, the core gameplay and mechanics were praised for their polish.

Notes

References

External links
 TimeShift at GameRankings
 Interview with Matthew Karch (CEO at Saber Interactive) on April 14, 2008

2007 video games
Alternate history video games
Video games about artificial intelligence
Dieselpunk video games
First-person shooters
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Video games about multiple time paths
PlayStation 3 games
Science fiction video games
Sierra Entertainment games
Saber Interactive games
Video games about time travel
Video games set in 1939
Video games with time manipulation
Vivendi Games games
Windows games
Xbox 360 games
Video games using Havok
Video games developed in Russia

TimeShift


The 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry (113th Volunteers) was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service
The 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry was organized at Camp McReyonlds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania November 1861 through April 1862. The regiment was accepted for state and federal service as the "113th Volunteers" and its designation changed to the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry on November 13, 1861. It mustered in for three years service under the command of Colonel William Frishmuth.

The regiment was attached to Military District of Washington, to September 1862. 4th Brigade, Pleasanton's Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac, to October 1862. Averill's Cavalry Command, VIII Corps, Middle Department, to November 1862. Defenses Upper Potomac, VIII Corps, to February 1863. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, VIII Corps, to June 1863. Pierce's Brigade, Department of the Susquehanna, to July 1863. McReynold's Command, Department of the Susquehanna, to August 1863. Martinsburg, West Virginia, Department of West Virginia, to October 1863. 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Department of West Virginia, to February 1864. Reserve Division, Department of West Virginia, to July 1864. 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, West Virginia, to August 1864. Reserve Division, Department of West Virginia, to January 1865. 3rd Infantry Division, West Virginia, to April 1865. Cavalry, Army of the Shenandoah, to July 1865.

The 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry mustered out July 20, 1865.

Detailed service
Ordered to Washington, D.C., April 1862. Duty at Washington, D.C., until June 20, 1862. Moved to Manassas Junction, Va., and guard Orange & Alexandria Railroad until August. Moved to Bristoe, then to Alexandria, and picket north bank of the Potomac River from Chain Bridge to Edward's Ferry until September. Maryland Campaign September-October. Frederick, Md., September 12. Battle of Antietam, September 16-17. Assigned to duty on line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Headquarters at Sir John!s Run and Bath. Martinsburg, W. Va., November 6. Moorefield November 9. Newtown November 24. Kearneysville December 26. Bunker Hill January 1, 1863. Near Smithfield and Charlestown February 12. Millwood Road near Winchester April 8. Reconnaissance from Winchester to Wardensville and Strasburg April 20. Operations in the Shenandoah Valley April 22-29. Strasburg Road, Fisher's Hill, April 22. Scout to Strasburg April 25-30. Cedarville and Winchester June 12. Winchester June 13-15. McConnellsburg, Pa., June 24 Cunningham's Cross Roads July 5. Greencastle, Pa., July 5 (detachment). Near Clear Springs, Md., July 10. Moved to Sharpsburg, Md., then to Martinsburg August 3, and duty there until July 1864. Jeffersonton, Va., October 10, 1863. Near Winchester February 5, 1864. Middletown February 6. Winchester April 26. Affair in Loudoun County June 9 (detachment). Charlestown and Duffield Station June 29, Bolivar Heights July 2. Near Hillsboro July 15-16. Charlestown July 17. Snicker's Ferry July 17-18. Ashby's Gap and Berry's Ford July 19. Near Kernstown July 23. Winchester July 24. Bunker Hill and Martinsburg July 25. Cherry Run July 28. Winchester July 29. Guard and garrison duty at Charlestown, covering railroad from Harpers Ferry to Winchester until March 1865. Charlestown September 27, 1864. Halltown November 12. Mount Zion Church November 12. Newtown November 24. Charlestown November 29 (detachment). Affair at Harpers Ferry February 3, 1865 (detachment). Scout from Harpers Ferry into Loudoun County March 20-23. Near Hamilton March 21. Goose Creek March 23. Duty at Winchester and in the Shenandoah Valley until July.

Casualties
The regiment lost a total of 142 men during service; 2 officers and 32 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 1 officer and 107 enlisted men died of disease.

Commanders
 Colonel William Frishmuth - resigned April 20, 1862
 Colonel Lewis B. Pierce - discharged by Special Order, December 15, 1864
 Colonel Marcus A. Reno
 Major James Adams Congdon - commanded at the Battle of Antietam

See also

 List of Pennsylvania Civil War regiments
 Pennsylvania in the American Civil War

References
 Black, John H. A Yankee Horseman in the Shenandoah Valley: The Civil War Letters of John H. Black, Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry (Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press), 2012.
 Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Pub. Co.), 1908.
 Maier, Larry B. Leather & Steel: The 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War (Shippensburg, PA: Burd Street Press), 2001.
Attribution

External links
 Regimental flag of the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry
 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry monument at Antietam Battlefield

Military units and formations established in 1861
Military units and formations disestablished in 1865
Units and formations of the Union Army from Pennsylvania

12th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment


Hondeklip Bay (, which translates as dog stone bay) is a coastal village in the Namakwa district of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It lies about 95 km south west of the district capital Springbok.

This village was originally used as a harbor to export copper ore from the mines around Springbok but was later surpassed by Port Nolloth, which had a safer harbor as well as a railway line.

Today Hondeklip Bay is a popular regional holiday destination and serves the fishing and diamond-mining community.
Holiday accommodation ranges from camping at the municipal caravan park to self-catering chalets at the Honnehokke Resort.

Attractions include ship wrecks like the Jahleel and the Aristea which ran aground in 2003 and 1945 respectively. In July 2016, the Jahleel started breaking up and split in two. For tourism information, visit the Hondeklip website.

The mouth of the Spoeg River is located about 18 km SSE down the coast from Hondeklip Bay. There are caves of archaeological interest there.

Demographics (2001)

 Area:
 Population: 540:
 Households: 166:

References

Populated places in the Kamiesberg Local Municipality
Namaqualand

Hondeklip Bay


Showcase is a compilation album by American rock and roll singer Buddy Holly. The album was released as an LP record in both mono and stereo formats in May 1964 (see 1964 in music).

Showcase was Buddy Holly's fourth posthumously released album and the third album to feature previously unreleased material. The original recordings were overdubbed by the Fireballs in 1963.

The album was released on CD for the first time in 1992 by Castle Communications in the UK.

Track listing
Side A
 "Shake, Rattle and Roll"
 "Rock Around with Ollie Vee"
 "Honky Tonk"
 "I Guess I Was Just a Fool"
 "(Ummm, Oh Yeah) Dearest"
 "You're the One"
Side B
 "Blue Suede Shoes"
 "Come Back Baby"
 "Rip It Up"
 "Love's Made a Fool of You"
 "Gone"
 "Girl On My Mind"

Charts

Album

References

External links

Buddy Holly compilation albums
1964 compilation albums
Compilation albums published posthumously
Coral Records compilation albums
albums produced by Norman Petty

Showcase (Buddy Holly album)


Khudabad (, ) is a city in Dadu District, Sindh, Pakistan. It served as capital of the Kalhora dynasty between 1719 and 1768, when the capital was shifted to Hyderabad.

Geography
It is located at 26°39'0N 67°45'0E with an altitude of 31 metres (104 feet) and lies to the south of the district capital Dadu.

Demography
The population of Khudabad is 75,000. The ethnic groups are Sindhis and Balochis. The population is predominantly Muslim with a small Hindu minority.

History
Beginning with the conquest of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim and Habbari dynasty, and later under the influence of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empires which ruled the region, Sindh became predominantly Muslim due to missionary activity of Sufi saints who converted Hindus en masse to Islam. There are a large number of dargah shrines which dot the landscape of Sindh.

Around 1710 AD Yar Muhammad Kalhoro along with his army, captured Khudabad from the Panhwar. Around 1718 or 1719, Mian Yar Muhammad died and was buried there. After his death, Mian Noor Mohammad Kalhoro became the ruler of Sindh (1719–1755) and chose Khudabad as his capital in 1719. He developed the city rapidly, which led to many Hindus of Amils and Bhaibands castes migrating there for employment and trade. He also built the Jamia Masjid.

In 1755, Mian Noor Mohammad Kalhoro died and was buried in a tomb, built by him before his death, about a kilometre from Khudabad. Mourners would to come to tomb and offer sticks as symbols of respect, and which are now house in his tomb. Many a times, Hindus perform mundane ceremony of their children there and offer sticks as rituals as well.

After the death of Mian Noor Mohammad, Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro's claim to rule was challenged by his brothers Muradyab Khan and Attar Khan. The latter was able to obtain Sanad (Authority to Rule) from Ahmed Shah Durrani and so Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro vacated the seat in his favour. Mian Attar Khan could not manage the state of affairs. Taking advantage of political uncertainty, Khosa tribe invaded and looted local population and burnt the Khudabad city down by tying fire crackers with the feet of birds and let fly them throughout the city after setting fire the fire crackers.

In 1759, Baloch chiefs reinstalled Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro, who defeated his two brothers and assumed the throne. He started, once again, the settlement of Khudabad on nearby new lands, by the new course of the river Indus.

Fateh Ali Khan (Talpur) defeated the Kalhora (Mian Abdul Nabi Kalhora) in 1783 and took over as the new ruler of Sindh. Khudabad City continued to remain his capital till it was inundated by river Indus in 1789, when Mir Fateh Ali Khan chose Hyderabad (old Nayrun Kot) as his capital. The change of capital no doubt induced a large number of the population of Khudabad to migrate to the new seat of royalty, and Khudabad city's decline may be said to have commenced from that date.

It is said that people around the city still find old coins among the ruins of Khudabad. Around 1908, a charcoal seller on his horse passed through Khudabad and collided with a wall of an old building and saw some silver coins. With the help of some labourers, he found many old silver coins worth about thirteen thousand rupees, which he kept for himself. After some time, the story leaked out and he was charged under Indian Treasure-Trove Act in the court of Resident Magistrate of Dadu.

Architecture
The tomb of Mian Yar Muhammad Kalhoro of ruler of Kalhora Dynasty is Khudabad, Dadu, Sindh.

The Jamia Masjid Khudabad or Badshahi Masjid, is situated in Khudabad, Dadu, Sindh and was built during the reign of Yar Mouhammed Kalhoro between 1700 and 1718. The mosque served as a schools as well as for military training.

Khudabadi script

Education
There are many school, colleges in Khudabad. The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) campus is located at Khudabad.

See also
Khudabadi script
Panchayati Hall
Bhaiband
Purswani
Jamia Mosque (Khudabad)

References

Sources
Bherumal Mahirchand Advani, "Amilan-jo-Ahwal" - published in Sindhi, 1919
 Amilan-jo-Ahwal (1919) - translated into English in 2016 ("A History of the Amils") at sindhis

Populated places in Dadu District
Cemeteries in Sindh
Islamic architecture

Khudabad


A didactic method is a teaching method that follows a consistent educational style to present information to students.
The discipline of didactics is interested in both theoretical knowledge and practical activities related to teaching, learning and their conditions. It is concerned with the content of teaching (the "what"), the method of teaching (the "how") and the reasons of curricular choices (the "why"). It focuses on the individual learner and their cognitive functioning when they learn. It uses cognitive psychology and the theory of teaching, and sometimes social psychology.
In continental Europe, as opposed to English-speaking research cultures, pedagogy and didactics are distinct areas of study. Didactics is a knowledge-based discipline concerned with the descriptive and rational study of all teaching-related activities before, during and after the teaching of content in the classroom, which includes the "planning, control and regulation of the teaching context" and its objective is to analyze how teaching leads to learning. On the other hand, pedagogy is a practice-oriented discipline concerned with the normative study of the applied aspects of teaching in real teaching contexts inside the classroom.
Learning
Education

Didactic method


The 1995 NBA Expansion Draft was the tenth expansion draft in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 24, 1995, so that the newly founded Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies could acquire players for the upcoming . Toronto was awarded an expansion team on September 30, 1993, while Vancouver was awarded the league's 29th franchise on April 27, 1994. They were the first NBA teams based in Canada since the  Toronto Huskies.

In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the twenty-seven other NBA teams had protected eight players from their roster, and the Raptors and the Grizzlies selected fourteen and thirteen unprotected players respectively, one from each team.

Prior to the draft, the league conducted a coin flip between the Raptors and the Grizzlies to decide their draft order in this expansion draft and in the 1995 NBA draft. The Grizzlies won the coin flip and chose to have the higher pick in the 1995 Draft, allowing the Raptors to receive the first selection and the right to select fourteen players in the expansion draft.

The Raptors were formed and owned by a group headed by Toronto businessman John Bitove. Brendan Malone was hired as the franchise's first head coach. The Raptors used their first pick to select three-time NBA champion B. J. Armstrong from the Chicago Bulls. However, Armstrong refused to report for training and was traded to the Golden State Warriors for five other players. The Raptors' other selections included four-time NBA champion John Salley and six other former first-round picks, Doug Smith, Willie Anderson, Ed Pinckney, Acie Earl, B. J. Tyler and Oliver Miller. Seven players from the expansion draft joined the Raptors for their inaugural season, but only Miller, Earl and Žan Tabak played more than one season for the team. Tabak and Andrés Guibert were the only international players in the draft.

The Grizzlies were formed and owned by Vancouver sports magnate Arthur Griffiths. Former Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Brian Winters was hired as the franchise's first head coach. The Grizzlies used their first pick to select former first-round pick Greg Anthony from the New York Knicks. The Grizzlies' other selections included three-time NBA champion Byron Scott and three other former first-round picks, Benoit Benjamin, Doug Edwards and Blue Edwards. On draft day, the Grizzlies acquired a second-round draft pick from the Orlando Magic in exchange for selecting Rodney Dent, who had never played in the NBA. Eight players from the expansion draft joined the Grizzlies for their inaugural season, but only Anthony and Blue Edwards played more than one season for the team.

Key

Selections

Notes
 Number of years played in the NBA prior to the draft
 Career with the expansion franchise that drafted the player
 Never played a game for the franchise
 Never played in the NBA prior to the expansion draft
 Andrés Guibert defected from Cuba to Puerto Rico in 1993.
 Žan Tabak represented SFR Yugoslavia national team prior to the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia in 1992.

Trades
Prior to the day of the draft, the following trades were made and resulted in exchanges of future draft picks between the teams, along with a particular agreement in the expansion draft.
 The Vancouver Grizzlies agreed to select Rodney Dent from the Orlando Magic in exchange for a future second-round pick.

References
General

Specific

External links
NBA.com
NBA.com: NBA Draft History

Expansion
Toronto Raptors lists
Memphis Grizzlies lists
National Basketball Association expansion draft
National Basketball Association lists
NBA expansion draft

1995 NBA expansion draft


In Italy the temporary residence permit is controlled by the Polizia di Stato, who are under the tutelage of the Ministry of the Interior. It must be requested by the immigrant to be allowed to reside in the country for more than eight days, or more than ninety days if having a travel visa (visto d'ingresso) for tourism. It is not required for European Union citizens.

Permessi are governed by the legislative decree 25 July 1998 n. 286 and the related implementation regulation pursuant to Presidential Decree no. 179 of 14 September 2011.

Duration
A permesso must be requested within eight working days of the foreigner's entry into Italy. The duration of the residence permit is different depending on the reasons for the stay. A permesso can also have an unlimited duration in the case of a permit for domicile in Italy, obtainable by demonstrating that the applicant has a constant and sufficient source of income to be able to live comfortably in Italy, for example a pension or relevant real estate.

The limited duration is foreseen for the following types:
reasons of subordinate employment , the duration is that of the relative employment contract (which from 2002, under the law of Bossi-Fini , takes the name of residence contract), with a maximum of two years, renewable until the foreigner retains that or another job (with a maximum of six months of unemployment status);
reasons of seasonal work, the duration varies from twenty days to nine months (depending on the type of work performed);
self-employment lasts two years;
family reunification has a duration of two years if the family member to whom one rejoins has a two-year permit, otherwise the shorter duration of the permit of the family source of support;
for study or training purposes may last up to one year.

Obtention
According to Italian legislation, the permesso must be requested from the immigration office of the Italian province police headquarters where the foreigner resides. At the aforementioned office, the official complies with the requirement to take the applicant's fingerprints, performing the photo-fingerprint surveys required by law. The office also issues a copy of the request, which is stamped with an indication of the date and the day on which the residence permit can be withdrawn; up to this event, the regularity of the stay is attested by the receipt of the application, which must be shown to the Questura of residence when the document is collected.

The following types of residence permits can be presented at post offices:
Residence permit for adoption;
Residence permit for custody;
Updating the Charter or residence permit;
Residence permit for Waiting Occupation;
Residence permit for Expected repurchase citizenship;
Residence permit for political renewal;
Residence card for foreigners;
Conversion of residence permit;
Duplicate card or residence permit;
Residence permit for family reasons;
Residence permit for self-employment;
Residence permit for subordinate work;
Residence permit for scientific research;
Residence permit for study;
Residence permit for business (Lavoro autonomo);
Residence permit for professional training Internship;
Residence permit for Tourism.
Residence permit for Long Term Residents of the EU

Renewal
The expiring residence permit must be renewed, with a special request, at least 60 days before the expiry. The validity of the residence permit is the same as the entry visa, but it can be renewed. In any case, currently (after the Bossi-Fini law comes into force - 2002) the permit has a maximum duration of two years and is linked to the existence of an employment contract (so much so that it is also defined as a residence contract) or for self-employment. One-year or shorter permits can be issued for study, training, illness, pregnancy, unemployment, etc.

Motives for non-renewal
If the applicant has a criminal record, for certain crimes established by law and deemed particularly serious or related to the request of the permit itself (such as for example murders, drug or human trafficking), the permesso may not be renewed. Likewise if he loses his job or last studies for which the permit was issued (except for the possibility of issuing a short permit for unemployment and job search).

References

Polizia di Stato
International travel documents
Italian immigration law
Identity documents of Italy
Immigration documents
Residence permit

Permesso di soggiorno


"Cross The Track (We Better Go Back)", often wrongly attributed as "Cross The Tracks (We Better Go Back)", is a 1975 single by Maceo and the Macks. It made #54 on the UK Singles Chart.

Sampling
In 1987, the song was re-released and made #1 on the UK Dance Chart.

In 1988, it was sampled for Kid 'N Play's "Do This My Way" and Stetsasonic's "DBC Let the Music Play".

In 1989, it was sampled for "D.E.F. = Doug E. Fresh (Dance, Party Get-Up Remix)" by Doug E. Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew and "Do It to the Crowd" by Twin Hype.

In 1997, it was sampled by the Korean group Sechskies on the track "연정 (Heartbreak)" in their debut album, School Anthem (학원별곡).

In 2006  "Surround U" by Fantasia Barrino sampled this song.

In 2010, the track was sampled by A Skillz on their track "Twang Banger".

In other media
The original track appeared in the 2000 film Snatch, as well as its soundtrack.

In 2004, it appeared in the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack

In 2006, it appeared in the Driver: Parallel Lines soundtrack.

References

1974 singles
1975 singles
1987 singles
1974 songs
Songs written by James Brown

Cross the Track (We Better Go Back)


Thomas Alan Pagnozzi (born July 30, 1962) is an American former professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, from  through . A three-time Gold Glove Award winner, Pagnozzi was named to the National League All-Star team in 1992. Besides catcher, Pagnozzi also made 40 appearances at first base and seven at third base during his career.

Baseball career
Pagnozzi was born in Tucson, Arizona. He attended University of Arkansas where he played for the Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team. Initially a backup catcher and utility player for the Cardinals, in 1990. Pagnozzi impressed Cardinals manager Joe Torre enough to move Todd Zeile, then the Cardinals' hot catching prospect, to third base to make room for him. Pagnozzi remained the Cardinals' regular catcher until 1996. While he had moderate power and was considered a run batted in (RBI) threat, he was primarily regarded for his defense, for which he won the Gold Glove Award in , , and . Pagnozzi made the National League All-Star team in 1992.

From 1986 to 1990, Pagnozzi played in the Puerto Rican Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente with the Indios de Mayagüez (Mayagüez Indians).

Pagnozzi retired from MLB as a player in 1998 at the age of 36 after having been released by the Cardinals in August. However, he signed a short-lived minor-league contract with the New York Yankees in December 1999. His offensive career totals included a batting average of .253 with 44 home runs and 320 RBI. He placed in the top five in Cardinals franchise history in catcher defensive categories such as games caught, innings, putouts, stolen bases allowed, caught stealing, and fielding percentage.

Tom Pagnozzi's nephew, Matt Pagnozzi, was also a catcher, and made his debut with the Cardinals on September 29, 2009.

See also
 List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise
 List of St. Louis Cardinals team records
 St. Louis Cardinals award winners and league leaders

References

External links

Pagnozzi Charities

1962 births
Living people
Arkansas Razorbacks baseball players
Arkansas Travelers players
Baseball players from Arkansas
Central Arizona Vaqueros baseball players
Erie Cardinals players
Gold Glove Award winners
Louisville Redbirds players
Macon Redbirds players
Major League Baseball catchers
National League All-Stars
Peoria Chiefs players
Baseball players from Tucson, Arizona
Springfield Cardinals players
St. Louis Cardinals players

Tom Pagnozzi


A figure eight is anything that is in the shape of the number 8 or the infinity symbol ∞.

Movement in the shape of a figure eight is done in ice skating, auto racing, sailing, horse riding, and dancing. Some roller coasters are shaped like a figure eight.

A figure-eight knot is a type of knot in knot theory. Another type of figure-eight knot, and the similar figure-eight loop and figure-eight bend, can be tied on a rope.

Shapes

Figure-eight


An aspergillum ("little sprinkler", less commonly, aspergilium or aspergil) is a Christian liturgical implement used to sprinkle holy water. It comes in three forms: a freshly cut hyssop branch, a brush-like bundle that is dipped in the holy water and shaken, and a perforated, mace-like metal ball with a handle. Some have sponges or internal reservoirs that dispense holy water when shaken, while others must periodically be dipped in an aspersorium (holy water bucket, known to art historians as a situla).

Uses

Christianity
An aspergillum is used in Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican ceremonies, including the Rite of Baptism and during the Easter Season. In addition, a priest will use the aspergillum to bless the candles during Candlemas services and the palms during Palm Sunday Mass. At a requiem, if a coffin is present, the priest will sprinkle holy water on the coffin. The aspergillum can be used in other manners where sprinkling of holy water is appropriate, as in a house blessing, in which the priest might bless the entry to the home, during the Blessing of the Fleet, or as part of the ceremony consecrating an altar and a church building. The priest holds the aspergillum in his right hand while an acolyte holds the aspersorium. The name derives from the Latin verb aspergere 'to sprinkle'.

The form of the aspergillum differs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In the Greek Orthodox Church the aspergillum (randistirion) is in the form of a standing vessel with a tapering lid. The top of the lid has holes in it from which the agiasmos (holy water) is sprinkled. In the Russian Orthodox Church the aspergillum is in the form of a whisk made of cloth or hair. Sometimes, sprigs of basil are used to sprinkle holy water. In some of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, no aspergillum is used, but the priest will pour holy water into the palm of his right hand and throw it on the faithful.

History

Origin

The origin is found in the Book of Leviticus Chapter 14 in the Old Testament:

And the priest goes out of the camp and the priest looks, and beholds that the sore of the leprosy of the leper is healed. And the priest commands, and takes, for the one healed, two unblemished live birds, cedar wood, Coccus scarlet, and hyssop. And the priest commands, and slaughters the one bird in a pottery vessel upon living water. He takes the live bird and the cedar wood and the Coccus scarlet and the hyssop and dips them and the live bird in the blood of the bird slaughtered upon the living water. And sprinkle seven times upon him purified of leprosy, and he is purified, and sends the live bird upon the face of the field.

Adam Clarke's commentary:

Of the cedar wood, hyssop, clean bird, and scarlet wool or fillet, were made an aspergillum, or instrument to sprinkle with. The cedarwood served for the handle, the hyssop and living bird were attached to it, by means of the scarlet wool or crimson fillet. The bird was so bound to this handle, as that its tail should be downwards, in order to be dipped in the blood of the bird that had been killed. The whole of this made an instrument for the sprinkling of this blood, and when this business was done, the living bird was let loose, and permitted to go whithersoever it would.

Clarke again, of Verse 5:

Over running water – Literally "living", that is, spring water. The meaning appears to be this; some water (about a quarter of a log, an egg shell and half full, according to the rabbis) was taken from a spring, and put in a clean earthen vessel, and they killed the bird over this water, that the blood might drop into it...

Further, these ceremonies conducted by the priest did not cure skin disease. According to Luke, the diseased person came to the priest after he had been healed (Luke 5:14). The task of the priest was to make the person who had been excluded from the camp, from his people, and from God, ceremonially clean. Through these ceremonial cleansings, which took place in two stages, a week apart, the diseased individual was restored to fellowship with God and with His people.

The procedure was a first stage of cleansing which took place outside the camp. The man washed himself and his clothes, and shaved. Two birds were taken. The blood of one was used to purify the man. The death of that bird portrayed the end of the man's old life outside the camp, and the flight to freedom of the other pictured his liberation from the effects of the disease. Then the man might enter the camp again."

Medieval Period
Since the 9th century it became tradition for the priest to sprinkle ("asperse") holy water on altar, worshippers, and the dead, in coffin or grave. During mass, this ceremony would take place before Holy Communion, usually accompanied by singing of psalm 51. For this, the priest would use either a sprig of hyssop in reference or the aspergillum would be dipped into the situla, a small bucket made of metals such as bronze, wood or ivory.

Other uses
Aspergilla are also used in modern paganism, particularly to cleanse a ritual area in Wicca, as part of a spell, or during a Wheel of the Year festival in Neopagan witchcraft. Lunarized water, saltwater, or rainwater are most typically used.

Aspergillus, a genus of mold, was named in 1729 by the Italian priest and biologist Pietro Antonio Micheli. When viewed under a microscope, the mold cells were said to resemble an aspergillum.

Gallery

See also
Altar cruet
Ciborium (container)
Paten
Pyx
Stole (vestment)

References

Anglican liturgy
Catholic liturgy
Eastern Christian liturgical objects
Eucharistic objects
Religious objects

Aspergillum