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stitutes a wide receiver with a tight end pass interference when a player illegally hinders an eligible receiver s opportunity to catch forward pass passing play a play in which a forward pass is made place kick kicking the ball from where it has been placed stationary on the ground or where legal on a tee play the action between the snap of the ball and the end of play signaled by the official s whistle for a tackle or out of bounds the plan of action the offensive team has for each snap for example a running play or pass play play action a tactic in which the quarterback fakes either a handoff or a throw in order to draw the defense away from the intended offensive method play clock a timer used to increase the pace of the game between plays the offensive team must snap the ball before the time expires currently the nfl uses four zero seconds two five seconds after a time out playing field see field of play pocket an area on the offensive side of the line of scrimmage where the offensive linemen attempt to |
prevent the defensive players from reaching the quarterback during passing plays position a place where a player plays relative to teammates and or a role filled by that player prevent defense a defensive strategy that utilizes deep zone coverage in order to prevent a big pass play from happening downfield usually at the expense of giving up yards at shorter distances often used against hail mary plays or at the end of the game when the defending team is protecting a lead disparaged by many fans john madden legendary player coach and commentator has been quoted as saying the only thing a prevent defense prevents is a win pulling a term used to describe an offensive lineman who instead of blocking the player in front of him steps back and moves down the line pulls to block another player usually in a trap or sweep punt a kick in which the ball is dropped and kicked before it reaches the ground used to give up the ball to the opposition after offensive downs have been used as far down the field as possible punt |
er a kicker who specializes in punting as opposed to place kicking q quarterback qb an offensive player who lines up behind the center from whom he takes the snap quick kick an unexpected punt r receiver a wide receiver reception when a player catches receives the ball red dog a blitz red zone the area between the two zero yard line and the goal of the defensive team referee r the official who directs the other officials on the field he is one of seven officials restraining line a team s respective line of scrimmage at a free kick the line the ball is to be kicked from for the kicking team or a line one zero yards in advance of that for the receiving team reverse an offensive play in which a ballcarrier going toward one side of the field hands or tosses the ball to a teammate who is running in the opposite direction if the second ballcarrier is an end it is an end around run and shoot an offensive philosophy designed to force the defense to show its hand prior to the snap of the ball by splitting up receivers |
and sending them in motion receivers run patterns based on the play of the defenders rather than a predetermined plan running back a player position on offense although the term usually refers to the halfback or tailback fullbacks are also considered runningbacks running play a play where the offense attempts to advance the ball without passing rush trying to tackle or hurry a player before he can throw a pass or make a kick a running play s sack tackling a ball carrier who intends to throw a forward pass a sack is also awarded if a player forces a fumble of the ball or the ball carrier to go out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage on an apparent intended forward pass play the term gained currency ca one nine seven zero safety a player position on defense see free safety and strong safety a method of scoring worth two points by downing an opposing ballcarrier in his own end zone forcing the opposing ballcarrier out of his own end zone and out of bounds or forcing the offensive team to fumble the ball so t |
hat it exits the end zone a safety is also awarded if the offensive team commits a penalty within its own end zone after a safety the team that was scored upon must kick the ball to the scoring team from its own two zero yard line a safety scored during a try scores one point and is followed by a kickoff as for any other try safety valve a receiver whose job it is to get open for a short pass in case all other receivers are covered sam the s trong side outside linebacker scramble on a called passing play when the quarterback runs from the pocket in an attempt to avoid being sacked giving the receivers more time to get open or attempting to gain positive yards by running himself screen pass a short forward pass to a receiver who has blockers in front of him the receiver in this play is usually a running back although wide receiver and tight end screens are also used although the are both called screen passes the wide receiver screen and the running back screen are used for very different reasons in the case of |
a running back screen the play is designed to allow the pass rushers by the offensive linemen leaving the defender out of position to make a play the play is usually employed to defuse the pass rush in the case of a running back screen the wide receiver screen is a much faster developing play designed to catch the defense off guard scrimmage see play from scrimmage shift when two or more offensive players move at the same time before the snap all players who move in a shift must come to a complete stop prior to the snap shooting the action of a linebacker or defensive back to blitz shotgun formation formation in which offensive team may line up at the start of a play in this formation the quarterback receives the snap five eight yards behind the center sideline one of the lines marking each side of the field as adjective on the field near a sideline side zone the area between a hash mark and a sideline single wing a formation now out of fashion most popular about one nine two zero five zero with an overload |
and wingback on one side and two backs about five yards deep to receive the snap slobber knocker a particularly gruesome tackle or hit slot the area between a split end and the offensive line a pass receiver lined up in the slot at the snap of the ball may be called a slotback or slot receiver snap the handoff or pass from the center that begins a play from scrimmage sneak an offensive play in which the quarterback immediately on receiving the snap dives forward with the ball the play is used when a team needs a very short gain to reach either the goal line or the line to gain special teams the units that handle kickoffs punts free kicks and field goal attempts spike a play in which the quarterback throws the ball at the ground immediately after the snap technically an incomplete pass it stops the clock note that a spike is not considered intentional grounding splits the distance between the feet of adjacent offensive linemen said to be wide if there is a large gap between players or narrow if the gap is smal |
l split end a player position on offence a receiver who lines up on the line of scrimmage several yards outside the offensive linemen the term is no longer used in american football having been long since replaced by the wide receiver or wideout with no distinction between whether the receiver is on the line or not squib kick a type of kickoff in which the ball is intentionally kicked low to the ground typically bouncing on the ground a few times before being picked up this is done in the hopes of preventing a long return as the ball is often picked up by one of the upmen as opposed to the designated kickoff returner sticks the pole attached to the end of the one zero yard chain that is used by the chain crew to measure for a new series of downs i e the line to gain a new first down stiff arm or straight arm a ballcarrier warding off a would be tackler by pushing them away with a straight arm strong i a formation wherein the tailback is lined up deep directly behind the quarterback and the fullback is lined u |
p offset to the strong side of the formation strong safety ss a kind of safety on defense as opposed to a free safety this is a central defensive back originally the term indicated that he lined up on the strong side of the field and covered the tight end however the modern usage of the term now indicates a central defensive back with responsibility for run and pass support slightly favoring run support strong side simplistically speaking the side of the field left or right that has the most players but it depends on the formations of the teams when a team uses one tight end the strong side is the side of the field where the tight end lines up if the offensive package uses no tight end or more than one tight end the strong side is the side of the field with the most offensive players on or just behind the line of scrimmage stunt a tactic used by defensive linemen in which they switch roles in an attempt to get past the blockers both defenders will start with power rushes with the stunting defender getting mor |
e of a push the other lineman will then go around him ideally using him as a pick to get free from his blocker sweep a running play in which several blockers lead a running back on a designed play to the outside depending on the number of blockers and the design of the play this is sometimes referred to as a power sweep or student body right or left t t formation a classic offensive formation with the quarterback directly behind the center and three running backs behind the quarterback forming a t numerous variations have been developed including the split t wing t and wishbone t tackle the act of forcing a ball carrier to the ground a player position on the line either an offensive tackle or a defensive tackle see linemen tackle box the area between where the two offensive tackles line up prior to the snap tailback player position on offense farthest deepest back except in kicking formations also often referred to as the running back particularly in a one back offense three and out when an offensive team fai |
ls to gain a first down on the first three plays of a drive and thus is forced to punt on fourth down three point stance a down lineman s stance with three points on the ground in another words his two feet and one of his hands tight end a player position on offense an eligible receiver ligned up on the line of scrimmage next to the offensive tackle tight ends are used as blockers during running plays and either run a route or stay in to block during passing plays touchback the act of downing the ball behind one s own goal line after the ball had been propelled over the goal by the opposing team after a touchback the team that downed it gets the ball at their own two zero yard line touchdown a play worth six points accomplished by gaining legal possession of the ball in the opponent s end zone it also allows the team a chance for one extra point by kicking the ball or a two point conversion see try below trap a basic blocking pattern in which a defensive lineman is allowed past the line of scrimmage only to b |
e blocked at an angle by a pulling lineman designed to gain a preferred blocking angle and larger hole in the line trips a formation in which three wide receivers are lined up close to one another on the same side of the field also refers to those receivers used to create potential for confusion or collision between defenders as these receivers split up two point conversion a play worth two points accomplished by gaining legal possession of the ball in the opponent s end zone after a touchdown has been made see try below try a scrimmage play from close to their opponent s goal line awarded to a team which has scored a touchdown allowing them and in some codes their opponents to score an additional one or two points also called try for point conversion convert canadian extra point s point s after touchdown or pat u unbalanced line usually refers to an offensive formation which does not have an equal number of linemen on each side of the ball done to gain a blocking advantage on one side of the formation typica |
lly one tackle or guard lines up on the other side of the ball for example a common alignment would be e g c g t t e upman during a kickoff every player on the return team is called an upman with the exception of the one or two designated kickoff returners who stand furthest away from the starting point of the kicking team v veer a type of option offense using two backs in the backfield one behind each guard or tackle referred to as split backs allowing a triple option play give to either back or quarterback keep w weak i a formation wherein the tailback is lined up deep directly behind the quarterback and the fullback is lined up offset to the weak side of the formation weak side when one tight end is used the side of the field opposite the tight end in other offensive packages the side of the field with the fewest offensive players on or just behind the line of scrimmage west coast offense an offensive philosophy that uses short high percentage passes as the core of a ball control offense widely used but or |
iginally made popular by san francisco four nine ers coach bill walsh a main component of the west coast offense is use of all the eligible receivers in the short passing game wide receiver a player position on offense he is split wide usually about one zero yards from the formation and plays on the line of scrimmage as a split end or one yard off as a flanker will the w eak side linebacker wing back a player position in some offensive formations lines up just outside the tight end and one yard off the line of scrimmage may be a receiver but is more typically used as a blocking back wishbone a formation involving three running backs lined up behind the quarterback in the shape of a y similar to the shape of a wishbone x x receiver term used in play calling that usually refers to the split end or the wide receiver that lines up on the line of scrimmage for example split right jet five two nine x post tells the x receiver to run a post route y y receiver term usually used in offensive play calling to refer to t |
he tight end for example buffalo right five three four boot y corner tells the y receiver to run a corner route z z receiver a term used in offensive play calling that usually refers to the flanker or the wide receiver that lines up off the line of scrimmage for example panther gun eight five slant z go tells the z receiver to run a go also called a fly or streak route zone defense a defense in which players who are in pass coverage cover zones of the field instead of individual players pure zone packages are seldom used most defenses employ some combination of zone and man coverage zone blitz a defensive package combining a blitz with zone pass coveragee allows the defense to choose the blitzer after the offense shows formation and pass coverage requirements and features unpredictable blitzes from different linebackers and defensive backs invented by coach dick lebeau american football terminology glossaries flowcharts are often used to represent algorithms in mathematics and computer science an algorithm is |
a procedure a finite set of well defined instructions for accomplishing some task which given an initial state will terminate in a defined end state informally the concept of an algorithm is often illustrated by the example of a recipe although many algorithms are much more complex algorithms often have steps that repeat iterate or require decisions such as logic or comparison the concept of an algorithm originated as a means of recording procedures for solving mathematical problems such as finding the common divisor of two numbers or multiplying two numbers the concept was formalized in one nine three six through alan turing s turing machines and alonzo church s lambda calculus which in turn formed the foundation of computer science most algorithms can be implemented by computer programs history the word algorithm comes from the name of the nine th century mathematician abu abdullah muhammad bin musa al khwarizmi the word algorism originally referred only to the rules of performing arithmetic using hindu ar |
abic numerals but evolved via european latin translation of al khwarizmi s name into algorithm by the one eight th century the word evolved to include all definite procedures for solving problems or performing tasks the first case of an algorithm written for a computer was ada byron s notes on the analytical engine written in one eight four two for which she is considered by many to be the world s first programmer however since charles babbage never completed his analytical engine the algorithm was never implemented on it the lack of mathematical rigor in the well defined procedure definition of algorithms posed some difficulties for mathematicians and logicians of the one nine th and early two zero th centuries this problem was largely solved with the description of the turing machine an abstract model of a computer formulated by alan turing and the demonstration that every method yet found for describing well defined procedures advanced by other mathematicians could be emulated on a turing machine a stateme |
nt known as the church turing thesis nowadays a formal criterion for an algorithm is that it is a procedure that can be implemented on a completely specified turing machine or one of the equivalent formalisms formalization of algorithms algorithms are essential to the way computers process information because a computer program is essentially an algorithm that tells the computer what specific steps to perform in what specific order in order to carry out a specified task such as calculating employees paychecks or printing students report cards thus an algorithm can be considered to be any sequence of operations which can be performed by a turing complete system typically when an algorithm is associated with processing information data is read from an input source or device written to an output sink or device and or stored for further use stored data is regarded as part of the internal state of the entity performing the algorithm the state is stored in a data structure for any such computational process the alg |
orithm must be rigorously defined specified in the way it applies in all possible circumstances that could arise that is any conditional steps must be systematically dealt with case by case the criteria for each case must be clear and computable because an algorithm is a precise list of precise steps the order of computation will almost always be critical to the functioning of the algorithm instructions are usually assumed to be listed explicitly and are described as starting from the top and going down to the bottom an idea that is described more formally by flow of control so far this discussion of the formalization of an algorithm has assumed the premises of imperative programming this is the most common conception and it attempts to describe a task in discrete mechanical means unique to this conception of formalized algorithms is the assignment operation setting the value of a variable it derives from the intuition of memory as a scratchpad there is an example below of such an assignment see functional pr |
ogramming and logic programming for alternate conceptions of what constitutes an algorithm some writers restrict the definition of algorithm to procedures that eventually finish others include procedures that could run forever without stopping arguing that some entity may be required to carry out such permanent tasks in the latter case success can no longer be defined in terms of halting with a meaningful output instead terms of success that allow for unbounded output sequences must be defined for example an algorithm that verifies if there are more zeros than ones in an infinite random binary sequence must run forever to be effective if it is implemented correctly however the algorithm s output will be useful for as long as it examines the sequence the algorithm will give a positive response while the number of examined zeros outnumber the ones and a negative response otherwise success for this algorithm could then be defined as eventually outputting only positive responses if there are actually more zeros t |
han ones in the sequence and in any other case outputting any mixture of positive and negative responses summarizing the above discussion about what algorithm should consist zero or more inputs one or more outputs finiteness or computability definitiveness or preciseness implementation an algorithm is a set of steps to perform a computation most algorithms will be implemented as computer programs they can be expressed in any notation including english for documenting and research purposes a more preferred way is to embody or sometimes called codify an algorithm by writing of its pseudocode pseudocode representation avoids ambiguities that are common in english statements the pseudocode can also be translated into particular programming language more straightforwardly algorithms are implemented not only as computer programs but often also by other means such as in a biological neural network for example the human brain implementing arithmetic or an insect relocating food in electric circuits or in a mechanical |
device example one of the simplest algorithms is to find the largest number in an unsorted list of numbers the solution necessarily requires looking at every number in the list but only once at each from this follows a simple algorithm which can be stated in english as let us assume the first item is largest look at each of the remaining items in the list and make the following adjustment a if it is larger than the largest item we gathered so far make a note of it the latest noted item is the largest in the list when the process is complete and here is a more formal coding of the algorithm in pseudocode input a non empty list of numbers l output the largest number in the list l largest l zero for each item in the list l one do if the item largest then largest the item return largest for a more complex example see euclid s algorithm which is one of the oldest algorithms algorithm analysis as it happens most people who implement algorithms want to know how much of a particular resource such as time or storage |
is required for a given algorithm methods have been developed for the analysis of algorithms to obtain such quantitative answers for example the algorithm above has a time requirement of o n using the big o notation with n as the length of the list at all times the algorithm only needs to remember two values the largest number found so far and its current position in the input list therefore it is said to have a space requirement of o one note that the size of the inputs is not counted as space used by the algorithm different algorithms may complete the same task with a different set of instructions in less or more time space or effort than others for example given two different recipes for making potato salad one may have peel the potato before boil the potato while the other presents the steps in the reverse order yet they both call for these steps to be repeated for all potatoes and end when the potato salad is ready to be eaten the analysis and study of algorithms is one discipline of computer science and |
is often practiced abstractly without the use of a specific programming language or other implementation in this sense it resembles other mathematical disciplines in that the analysis focuses on the underlying principles of the algorithm and not on any particular implementation the pseudocode is simplest and abstract enough for such analysis classes there are various ways to classify algorithms each with its own merits classification by implementation one way to classify algorithms is by implementation means recursion or iteration a recursive algorithm is one that invokes makes reference to itself repeatedly until a certain condition matches which is a method common to functional programming iterative algorithms use repetitive constructs like loops and sometimes additional data structures like stacks to solve the given problems some problems are naturally suited for one implementation to other for example towers of hanoi is well understood in recursive implementation every recursive version has an equivalent |
but possibly more or less complex iterative version and vice versa serial or parallel algorithms are usually discussed with the assumption that computers execute one instruction of an algorithm at a time those computers are sometimes called serial computers an algorithm designed for such an environment is called a serial algorithm as opposed to parallel algorithms which take advantage of computer architectures where several processors can work on a problem at the same time parallel algorithms divide the problem into more symmetrical or asymmetrical subproblems and pass them to many processors and put the results back together at one end the resource consumption in parallel algorithms is both processor cycles on each processors and also the communication overhead between the processors sorting algorithms can be parallelized efficiently but their communication overhead is expensive recursive algorithms are generally parallelizable some problems have no parallel algorithms and are called inherently serial probl |
ems those problems cannot be solved faster by employing more processors iterative numerical methods such as newton s method or the three body problem are algorithms which are inherently serial deterministic or random deterministic algorithms solve the problem with exact decision at every step of the algorithm random algorithms as their name suggests explore the search space randomly until an acceptable solution is found various heuristic algorithms see below generally fall into the random category exact or approximate while many algorithms reach an exact solution approximation algorithms seek an approximation which is close to the true solution approximation may use either a deterministic or a random strategy such algorithms have practical value for many hard problems classification by design paradigm another way of classifying algorithms is by their design methodology or paradigm there is a certain number of paradigms each different from the other furthermore each of these categories will include many differ |
ent types of algorithms some commonly found paradigms include divide and conquer a divide and conquer algorithm repeatedly reduces an instance of a problem to one or more smaller instances of the same problem usually recursively until the instances are small enough to solve easily one such example of divide and conquer is merge sorting sorting can be done on each segment of data after dividing data into segments and sorting of entire data can be obtained in conquer phase by merging them a simpler variant of divide and conquer is called decrease and conquer algorithm that solves an identical subproblem and uses the solution of this subproblem to solve the bigger problem divide and conquer divides the problem into multiple subproblems and so conquer stage will be more complex than decrease and conquer algorithms an example of decrease and conquer algorithm is binary search algorithm dynamic programming when a problem shows optimal substructure meaning the optimal solution to a problem can be constructed from op |
timal solutions to subproblems and overlapping subproblems meaning the same subproblems are used to solve many different problem instances we can often solve the problem quickly using dynamic programming an approach that avoids recomputing solutions that have already been computed for example the shortest path to a goal from a vertex in a weighted graph can be found by using the shortest path to the goal from all adjacent vertices dynamic programming and memoization go together the main difference between dynamic programming and divide and conquer is subproblems are more or less independent in divide and conquer where as the overlap of subproblems occur in dynamic programming the difference between the dynamic programming and straightforward recursion is in caching or memoization of recursive calls where subproblems are independent there is no chance of repetition and memoization does not help so dynamic programming is not a solution for all by using memoization or maintaining a table of subproblems already s |
olved dynamic programming reduces the exponential nature of many problems to polynomial complexity the greedy method a greedy algorithm is similar to a dynamic programming algorithm but the difference is that solutions to the subproblems do not have to be known at each stage instead a greedy choice can be made of what looks best for the moment difference between dynamic programming and greedy method is it extends the solution with the best possible decision not all feasible decisions at a algorithmic stage based on the current local optimum and the best decision not all possible decisions made in previous stage it is not exhaustive and does not give accurate answer to many problems but when it works it will be the fastest method the most popular greedy algorithm is finding the minimal spanning tree as given by kruskal linear programming when solving a problem using linear programming the program is put into a number of linear inequalities and then an attempt is made to maximize or minimize the inputs many pro |
blems such as the maximum flow for directed graphs can be stated in a linear programming way and then be solved by a generic algorithm such as the simplex algorithm a complex variant of linear programming is called integer programming where the solution space is restricted to all integers reduction it is another powerful technique in solving many problems by transforming one problem into another problem for example one selection algorithm for finding the median in an unsorted list is first translating this problem into sorting problem and finding the middle element in sorted list the goal of reduction algorithms is finding the simplest transformation such that complexity of reduction algorithm does not dominate the complexity of reduced algorithm this technique is also called transform and conquer search and enumeration many problems such as playing chess can be modeled as problems on graphs a graph exploration algorithm specifies rules for moving around a graph and is useful for such problems this category a |
lso includes the search algorithms and backtracking the probabilistic and heuristic paradigm algorithms belonging to this class fit the definition of an algorithm more loosely probabilistic algorithms are those that make some choices randomly or pseudo randomly for some problems it can in fact be proven that the fastest solutions must involve some randomness genetic algorithms attempt to find solutions to problems by mimicking biological evolutionary processes with a cycle of random mutations yielding successive generations of solutions thus they emulate reproduction and survival of the fittest in genetic programming this approach is extended to algorithms by regarding the algorithm itself as a solution to a problem also there are heuristic algorithms whose general purpose is not to find an optimal solution but an approximate solution where the time or resources to find a perfect solution are not practical an example of this would be local search taboo search or simulated annealing algorithms a class of heuri |
stic probabilistic algorithms that vary the solution of a problem by a random amount the name simulated annealing alludes to the metallurgic term meaning the heating and cooling of metal to achieve freedom from defects the purpose of the random variance is to find close to globally optimal solutions rather than simply locally optimal ones the idea being that the random element will be decreased as the algorithm settles down to a solution classification by field of study every field of science has its own problems and needs efficient algorithms related problems in one field are often studied together some example classes are search algorithms sort algorithms merge algorithms numerical algorithms graph algorithms string algorithms computational geometric algorithms combinatorial algorithms machine learning cryptography data compression algorithms and parsing techniques see also list of algorithms for more details some of these fields overlap with each other and advancing in algorithms for one field causes advan |
cement in many fields and sometimes completely unrelated fields for example dynamic programming is originally invented for optimisation in resource consumption in industries but it is used in solving broad range of problems in many fields classification by complexity some algorithms complete in linear time and some complete in exponential amount of time and some never complete one problem may have multiple algorithms and some problems may have no algorithms some problems have no known efficient algorithms there are also mappings from some problems to other problems so computer scientists found it is suitable to classify the problems rather than algorithms into equivalence classes based on the complexity see also complexity classes for more details legal issues some countries allow algorithms to be patented when embodied in software or in hardware patents have long been a controversial issue see for example the software patent debate some countries do not allow certain algorithms such as cryptographic algorith |
ms to be exported from that country see also algorism approximation algorithms data structure randomized algorithm timeline of algorithms notes although in this example the size of the numbers itself is unbounded one could therefore argue that the space requirement is o log n in practice however the space taken up by a number is fixed references important algorithm related publications external links gaston h gonnet and ricardo baeza yates example programs from handbook of algorithms and data structures free source code for many important algorithms dictionary of algorithms and data structures this is a dictionary of algorithms algorithmic techniques data structures archetypical problems and related definitions numerical recipes computers algorithms dmoz org musicalgorithms an interesting way of using algorithms to make music the algorithmist is a web site dedicated to algorithms algorithms arabic words discrete mathematics mathematical logic an annual plant is a plant that usually germinates flowers and dies |
in one year annuals are often used in gardens to provide splashes of color as they tend to produce more flowers than perennials some perennials and biennials are grown in gardens as annuals for convenience particularly if they are not considered hardy for the local climate also many food plants are or are grown as annuals including most domesticated grains the life cycle of an annual can occur in a period as short as two or three months in some species though most last a bit longer vegetables grown in apartment container gardens can last up to two years if they are maintained indoors during the winter months examples of annual plants include peas cauliflowers basil and marigolds see also biennial plant perennial plant botany gardening anthophyta is a descriptive botanical name that may be used art one six icbn for what these days is more commonly known as angiospermae although in some classifications it was used for what now is known as spermatophyta the name anthophyta literally means flowering plants deriv |
ed from the greek anthos flower and phyton plant plants plant taxonomy notoc this page is about the word atlas see also the abbreviation atlas written in all caps the most common meaning of atlas is atlas cartography a collection of maps by extension a road atlas is a collection of road maps many other entities are also called atlas some of which are listed below in science atlas anatomy is the topmost cervical vertebra of the spine atlas beetle insect atlas cedar tree atlas moon a moon of saturn atlas crater on the earth s moon atlas star a star in the pleiades star cluster atlas experiment the particle detector experiment in computers atlas computer university of manchester titan computer also know as atlas two university of cambridge univac one one zero one atlas computer engineering research associates univac one one zero three atlas ii computer engineering research associates atlas a programming language used for automated test equipment atlas ti a qualitative analysis software atlas programming microsof |
t s implementation of ajax programming for asp net in books and literature the atlas a book by the american author william vollmann atlas a book of photography by the german artist gerhard richter atlas shrugged a novel by ayn rand atlas games publisher atlas comics one nine five zero s was along with the one nine four zero s timely comics one of the two precursors of marvel comics atlas seaboard comics a short lived comic book company created in one nine seven four atlas a comic book series published by drawn quarterly atlas a marvel comics character in transportation atlas rocket atlas cheetah and atlas oryx aircraft atlas van lines a last name of charles atlas there are several people who go by this name teddy atlas boxing trainer of mike tyson natacha atlas a female musician atlas is a fictional robot who is the rival of astro boy in the one nine eight zero and two zero zero three animated series named after the latter atlas is a fictional character from marvel comics best known as a member of the thunder |
bolts comics other atlas mythology the titan of greek mythology atlas mountains atlas architecture the column atlas topology a collection of local coordinate charts in mathematics cf atlas a mexican football team atlas telecom romanian communications company atlas economic research foundation an incubator for free market think tanks antiseptic mouth rinse often called mouthwash is an oral hygiene product that claims to kill the germs that cause plaque gingivitis and bad breath however it is generally agreed that the use of mouthwash does not eliminate the need for both brushing and flossing common use involves rinsing one s mouth with about two zero ml two three oz of mouthwash two times a day after brushing the mouthwash is typically swished or gargled for about half a minute and then spit out active ingredients in commercial brands of mouthwash can include thymol eucalyptol methyl salicylate menthol chlorhexidine gluconate hydrogen peroxide and sometimes enzymes and calcium ingredients also include water sw |
eeteners such as sorbitol and sodium saccharine and a significant amount of alcohol around two zero because of the alcohol content it is possible to fail a breathalyzer test after rinsing one s mouth many newer brands are alcohol free a salt mouthwash is a homemade treatment for mouth infections and is made by dissolving a teaspoon of salt in a cup of warm water dental equipment alexander the great fighting persian king darius iii not in frame alexander mosaic from pompeii from a three rd century bc original greek painting now lost alexander the great in greek transliterated megas alexandros alexander iii of macedon was born in pella macedon in july three five six bc died in babylon on june one zero three two three bc king of macedon three three six three two three bc is considered one of the most successful military commanders in world history if not the greatest conquering most of the known world before his death alexander is also known in the zoroastrian middle persian work arda wiraz n mag as the accursed |
alexander due to his conquest of the persian empire and the destruction of its capital persepolis he is also known in middle eastern traditions as dhul qarnayn in arabic and dul qarnayim in hebrew and aramaic the two horned one apparently due to an image on coins minted during his rule that seemingly depicted him with the two ram s horns of the egyptian god ammon he is known as sikandar in hindi in fact in india the term sikandar is used as a synonym for expert or extremely skilled following the unification of the multiple city states of ancient greece under the rule of his father philip ii of macedon a labor alexander had to repeat twice because the southern greeks rebelled after philip s death alexander conquered the persian empire including anatolia syria phoenicia gaza egypt bactria and mesopotamia and extended the boundaries of his own empire as far as the punjab alexander integrated foreigners non macedonians non greeks into his army and administration leading some scholars to credit him with a policy |
of fusion he encouraged marriage between his army and foreigners and practiced it himself after twelve years of constant military campaigning alexander died possibly of malaria typhoid viral encephalitis or even a drug overdose his conquests ushered in centuries of greek settlement and rule over foreign areas a period known as the hellenistic age alexander himself lived on in the history and myth of both greek and non greek cultures already during his lifetime and especially after his death his exploits inspired a literary tradition in which he appears as a towering legendary hero in the tradition of achilles early life bust of alexander iii in the british museum alexander was the son of king philip ii of macedon and of epirote princess olympias according to plutarch alexander three one three olympias was impregnated not by philip who was afraid of her and her affinity for sleeping in the company of snakes but by zeus plutarch alexander two two three relates that both philip and olympias dreamt of their son s |
future birth olympias dreamed of a loud burst of thunder and of lightning striking her womb in philip s dream he sealed her womb with the seal of the lion alarmed by this he consulted the seer aristander of telmessus who determined that his wife was pregnant and that the child would have the character of a lion aristotle was alexander s tutor he gave alexander a thorough training in rhetoric and literature and stimulated his interest in science medicine and philosophy after his visit to the oracle of ammon at siwa according to all five of the extant historians arrian curtius diodorus justin and plutarch rumors spread that the oracle had revealed alexander s father to be zeus rather than philip according to plutarch alexander two one his father descended from heracles through caranus and his mother descended from aeacus through neoptolemus and achilles aristotle gave him a copy of the illiad and a knife that he always hid under his pillow at night the ascent of macedon when philip led an attack on byzantium i |
n three four zero bc alexander aged one six was left in command of macedonia in three three nine bc philip took a second wife to the chagrin of alexander s mother olympias which led to a quarrel between alexander and his father and threw into question alexander s succession to the macedonian throne in three three eight bc philip created the league of corinth alexander also assisted his father at the decisive battle of chaeronea in this year the cavalry wing led by alexander annihilated the sacred band of thebes an elite corps previously regarded as invincible philip was content to deprive thebes of her dominion over boeotia and leave a macedonian garrison in the citadel in three three six bc philip was assassinated at the wedding of his daughter cleopatra to king alexander of epirus the assassin was supposedly a former lover of the king the disgruntled young nobleman pausanias who held a grudge against philip because the king had ignored a complaint he had expressed philip s murder was once thought to have be |
en planned with the knowledge and involvement of alexander or olympias another possible instigator could have been darius iii the recently crowned king of persia plutarch mentions an irate letter from alexander to darius where alexander blames darius and bagoas his grand vizier for his father s murder stating that it was darius who had been bragging with the greek cities of how he managed to assassinate philip after philip s death the army proclaimed alexander then aged two zero as the new king of macedon greek cities like athens and thebes which had been forced to pledge allegiance to philip saw in the new king an opportunity to retake their full independence alexander moved swiftly and thebes which had been most active against him submitted when he appeared at its gates the assembled greeks at the isthmus of corinth with the sole exception of the spartans elected him to the command against persia which had previously been bestowed upon his father the next year three three five bc alexander felt free to enga |
ge the thracians and the illyrians in order to secure the danube as the northern boundary of the macedonian kingdom while he was triumphantly campaigning north the thebans and athenians rebelled once again alexander reacted immediately and while the other cities once again hesitated thebes decided this time to resist with the utmost vigor the resistance was useless in the end the city was conquered with great bloodshed the thebans encountered an ever harsher fate when their city was razed to the ground and its territory divided between the other boeotian cities moreover all of the city s citizens were sold into slavery sparing only the priests the leaders of the pro macedonian party and the descendants of pindar whose house was the only one left untouched the end of thebes cowed athens into submission and it readily accepted alexander s demand for the exile of all the leaders of the anti macedonian party demosthenes first of all period of conquests map of alexander s empire the fall of the persian empire alex |
ander s army had crossed the hellespont with about four two zero zero zero soldiers primarily macedonians and greeks but also including some thracians paionians and illyrians after an initial victory against persian forces at the battle of granicus alexander accepted the surrender of the persian provincial capital and treasury of sardis and proceeded down the ionian coast at halicarnassus alexander successfully waged the first of many sieges eventually forcing his opponents the mercenary captain memnon of rhodes and the persian satrap of caria orontobates to withdraw by sea alexander left caria in the hands of ada who was ruler of caria before being deposed by her brother pixodarus from halicarnassus alexander proceeded into mountainous lycia and the pamphylian plain asserting control over all coastal cities and denying them to his enemy from pamphylia onward the coast held no major ports and so alexander moved inland at termessus alexander humbled but did not storm the pisidian city at the ancient phrygian c |
apital of gordium alexander undid the tangled gordian knot a feat said to await the future king of asia according to the most vivid story alexander proclaimed that it did not matter how the knot was undone and he hacked it apart with his sword another version claims that he did not use the sword but actually figured out how to undo the knot alexander battling darius at the battle of issus pompei mosaic alexander s army crossed the cilician gates met and defeated the main persian army under the command of darius iii at the battle of issus in three three three bc darius fled this battle in such a panic for his life that he left behind his wife his children his mother and much of his personal treasure sisygambis the queen mother never forgave darius for abandoning her she disowned him and adopted alexander as her son instead proceeding down the mediterranean coast he took tyre and gaza after famous sieges see siege of tyre alexander passed near but probably did not visit jerusalem in three three two bc three thr |
ee one bc alexander was welcomed as a liberator in egypt and was pronounced the son of zeus by egyptian priests of the god ammon at the oracle of the god at the siwa oasis in the libyan desert he founded alexandria in egypt which would become the prosperous capital of the ptolemaic dynasty after his death leaving egypt alexander marched eastward into assyria now northern iraq and defeated darius and a third persian army at the battle of gaugamela darius was forced to flee the field after his charioteer was killed and alexander chased him as far as arbela while darius fled over the mountains to ecbatana modern hamadan alexander marched to babylon statuette of a greek soldier from a four th three rd century bc burial site north of the tian shan at the maximum extent of alexander s advance in the east r mqi xinjiang museum china drawing from babylon alexander went to susa one of the achaemenid capitals and captured its treasury sending the bulk of his army to persepolis the persian capital by the royal road alex |
ander stormed and captured the persian gates in the modern zagros mountains then sprinted for persepolis before its treasury could be looted alexander allowed the league forces to loot persepolis a fire broke out in the eastern palace of xerxes and spread to the rest of the city it was not known if it was a drunken accident or a deliberate act of revenge for the burning of the athenian acropolis during the second persian war the book of arda wiraz a zoroastrian work composed in the three rd or four th century ad also speaks of archives containing all the avesta and zand written upon prepared cow skins and with gold ink that were destroyed but it must be said that this statement is often treated by scholars with a certain measure of skepticism because it is generally thought that for many centuries the avesta was transmitted mainly orally by the magians he then set off in pursuit of darius who was kidnapped and then murdered by followers of bessus his bactrian satrap and kinsman bessus then declared himself da |
rius successor as artaxerxes v and retreated into central asia to launch a guerrilla campaign against alexander with the death of darius alexander declared the war of vengeance over and released his greek and other allies from service in the league campaign although he allowed those that wished to re enlist as mercenaries in his imperial army his three year campaign against first bessus and then the satrap of sogdiana spitamenes took him through media parthia aria drangiana arachosia bactria and scythia in the process he captured and refounded herat and maracanda moreover he founded a series of new cities all called alexandria including modern kandahar in afghanistan and alexandria eschate the furthest in modern tajikistan in the end both were betrayed by their men bessus in three two nine bc and spitamenes the year after hostility toward alexander during this time alexander adopted some elements of persian dress and customs at his court notably the custom of proskynesis a symbolic kissing of the hand that pe |
rsians paid to their social superiors but a practice of which the greeks disapproved the greeks regarded the gesture as the preserve of deities and believed that alexander meant to deify himself by requiring it this cost him much in the sympathies of many of his countrymen here too a plot against his life was revealed and his companion philotas was executed for treason for failing to bring the plot to his attention parmenion philotas father who was at the head of an army at ecbatana was assassinated by command of alexander who feared that parmenion might attempt to avenge his son several other trials for treason followed and many macedonians were executed later on in a drunken quarrel at maracanda he also killed the man who had saved his life at granicus clitus the black later in the central asian campaign a second plot against his life this one by his own pages was revealed and his official historian callisthenes of olynthus who had fallen out of favor with the king by leading the opposition to his attempt t |
o introduce proskynesis was implicated on what many historians regard as trumped up charges however the evidence is strong that callisthenes the teacher of the pages must have been the one who persuaded them to assassinate the king the invasion of india coin commemorating alexander s campaigns in india struck in babylon around three two three bc obv alexander standing being crowned by nike fully armed and holding zeus thunderbolt rev greek rider possibly alexander attacking an indian battle elephant possibly fleeing porus with the death of spitamenes and his marriage to roxana roshanak in bactrian to cement his relations with his new central asian satrapies in three two six bc alexander was finally free to turn his attention to india king ambhi ruler of taxila surrendered the city to alexander many people had fled to a high fortress called aornos alexander took aornos by storm alexander fought an epic battle against porus a ruler of a region in the punjab in the battle of hydaspes in three two six bc after at |
taining victory alexander made an alliance with porus and appointed him as satrap of his own kingdom alexander then named one of the two new cities that he founded bucephala in honor of his noble mount who had brought him to india alexander continued on to conquer all the headwaters of the indus river east of porus kingdom near the ganges river was the powerful empire of magadha ruled by the nanda dynasty fearing the prospects of facing another powerful indian army and exhausted by years of campaigning his army mutinied at the hyphasis modern beas refusing to march further east alexander after the meeting with his officer coenus was convinced that it was better to return alexander was forced to turn south conquering his way down the indus to the indian ocean he sent much of his army to carmania modern southern iran with his general craterus and commissioned a fleet to explore the persian gulf shore under his admiral nearchus while he led the rest of his forces back to persia by the southern route through the |
gedrosia present day makran in southern pakistan after india alexander and porus by charles le brun one six seven three discovering that many of his satraps and military governors had misbehaved in his absence alexander executed a number of them as examples on his way to susa as a gesture of thanks he paid off the debts of his soldiers and announced that he would send those over aged and disabled veterans back to macedonia under craterus but his troops misunderstood his intention and mutinied at the town of opis refusing to be sent away and bitterly criticizing his adoption of persian customs and dress and the introduction of persian officers and soldiers into macedonian units alexander executed the ringleaders of the mutiny but forgave the rank and file in an attempt to craft a lasting harmony between his macedonian and persian subjects he held a mass marriage of his senior officers to persian and other noblewomen at opis but few of those marriages seem to have lasted much beyond a year his attempts to merge |
persian culture with his greek soldiers also included training a regiment of persian boys in the ways of macedonians it is not certain that alexander adopted the persian royal title of shahanshah great king or king of kings however most historians believe that he did alexander let it be known that he intended to launch a campaign against the tribes of arabia after they were subjugated it was assumed that alexander would turn westwards and attack carthage and italy after traveling to ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the persian treasure his closest friend and possible lover hephaestion died of an illness alexander was distraught and on his return to babylon he fell ill and died alexander s marriages and sexuality alexander s greatest emotional attachment is generally considered to have been to his companion cavalry commander chiliarchos and probable lover hephaestion they had most likely been best friends since childhood for hephaestion too received his education at the court of alexander s father hephaestion |
makes his appearance in history at the point when alexander reaches troy there the two friends made sacrifices at the shrines of the two heroes achilles and patroclus alexander honoring achilles and hephaestion honoring patroclus as aelian in his varia historia one two seven claims he thus intimated that he was the object of alexander s love as patroclus was of achilles following hephaestion s death alexander mourned him greatly and did not eat for days many have discussed alexander s ambiguous sexuality curtius reports that he scorned feminine sensual pleasures to such an extent that his mother was anxious lest he be unable to beget offspring to encourage a relationship with a woman king philip and olympias brought in a high priced thessalian courtesan named callixena later in life alexander married several princesses of former persian territories roxana of bactria statira daughter of darius iii and parysatis daughter of ochus he fathered two children heracles born by his concubine barsine the daughter of s |
atrap artabazus of phrygia in three two seven bc and alexander iv of macedon born by roxana shortly after his death in three two three bc curtius maintains that alexander also took as a lover bagoas a eunuch exceptional in beauty and in the very flower of boyhood with whom darius was intimate and with whom alexander would later be intimate vi five two three bagoas is the only one who is actually named as the eromenos the beloved of alexander their relationship seems to have been well known among the troops as plutarch recounts an episode also mentioned by dicaearchus during some festivities on the way back from india in which his men clamor for him to openly kiss the young man bagoas sat down close by him which so pleased the macedonians that they made loud acclamations for him to kiss bagoas and never stopped clapping their hands and shouting till alexander put his arms round him and kissed him at this point in time the troops present were all survivors of the crossing of the desert bagoas must have endeared |
himself to them by his courage and fortitude during that harrowing episode whatever alexander s relationship with bagoas it was no impediment to relations with his queen six months after alexander s death roxana gave birth to his son and heir alexander iv besides bagoas curtius mentions yet another possible lover of alexander euxenippus whose youthful grace filled him with enthusiasm vii nine one nine allegations concerning alexander s sexuality remain highly controversial and excite passions in some quarters people of various national ethnic and cultural origins regard him as their hero some argue that historical accounts describing alexander s love for hephaestion and bagoas as sexual were written centuries after the fact and thus it can never be established what the historical relationship between alexander and his male companions were others argue that the same can be said about much of our information regarding alexander such debates however are generally considered anachronistic by scholars of the peri |
od who point out that the concept of homosexuality as understood today did not exist in greco roman antiquity sexual attraction between males was seen as a normal and universal part of human nature since it was believed that men were attracted to beauty an attribute of the young regardless of gender if alexander s love life was transgressive it was not for his love of beautiful youths but for his probable involvement with a man his own age in a time when the standard model of male love was pederastic see pederasty in ancient greece for more information the army of alexander the great before the battle of gaugamela the army of alexander was for the most part that of his father philip it was composed of light and heavy troops and some engineers medical and staff units about one third of the army was composed of his greek allies from the hellenic league infantry macedonian battle formation courtesy of the department of history united states military academy the main infantry corps was the phalanx composed of six |
regiments taxies numbering about two zero zero zero phalangites each each soldier had a long pike called a sarissa which was up to two one feet long and a short sword for protection the soldier wore a phrygian style helmet and a shield arrian mentions large shields the aspis but this is disputed as it is difficult to wield both a large pike and a large shield at the same time many modern historians claim the phalanx used a smaller shield called a pelta the shield used by peltasts it is unclear whether the phalanx used body armor but heavy body armor is mentioned in arrian one two eight seven and other ancient sources modern historians believe most of the phalangites did not wear heavy body armor at the time of alexander another important unit were the hypaspists shield bearers arranged into three battalions lochoi of one zero zero zero men each one of the battalions was named the agema and served as the king s bodyguards their armament is unknown and it is difficult to get a clear picture from ancient source |
s sometimes hypaspists are mentioned in the front line of the battle just between the phalanx and the heavy cavalry moreover they seem to have acted as an extension of the phalanx fighting as heavy infantry while keeping a link between the heavily clad phalangites and the companion cavalry they also accompanied alexander on flanking marches and were capable of fighting on rough terrain like light troops so it seems they could perform dual functions in addition to the units mentioned above the army included some six zero zero zero greek allied and mercenary hoplites also arranged in phalanxes they carried a shorter spear a dora which was six or seven feet long and a large aspis alexander also had light infantry units composed of peltasts psiloi and others peltasts are considered to be light infantry although they had a helmet and a small shield and were heavier than the psiloi the best peltasts were the agrianians from thrace cavalry the heavy cavalry included the companion cavalry raised from the macedonian n |
obility and the thessalian cavalry the companion cavalry hetairoi friends was divided into eight squadrons called ile two zero zero strong except the royal squadron of three zero zero they were equipped with a one two foot lance the xyston and heavy body armor the horses were partially clad in armor as well the riders did not carry shields as the xyston required both hands to wield the organization of the thessalian cavalry was similar to the companion cavalry but they had a shorter spear and fought in a looser formation of light cavalry the prodromoi forerunners secured the wings of the army during battle and went on reconnaissance missions several hundred allied horses rounded out the cavalry death contemporary bust of alexander the great on the afternoon of june one zero one one three two three bc alexander died of a mysterious illness in the palace of nebuchadrezzar ii of babylon he was just one month shy of attaining three three years of age various theories have been proposed for the cause of his death |
which include poisoning by the sons of antipater or others sickness that followed a drinking party or a relapse of the malaria he had contracted in three three six bc what is certain is that on may two nine alexander participated in a banquet organized by his friend medius of larissa after some heavy drinking immediately or after a bath he was forced to bed badly ill the troops started rumors more and more anxious and on june nine the generals decided to let the soldiers see their king alive one last time they were admitted to his presence one at a time while the king too ill to speak confined himself to move his hand the day after alexander was dead the poisoning theory derives from the story held in antiquity by justin and curtius the original story stated that cassander son of antipater viceroy of greece brought the poison to alexander in babylon in a mule s hoof and that alexander s royal cupbearer iollas brother of cassander administered it many had powerful motivations for seeing alexander gone and were |
none the worse for it after his death deadly agents that could have killed alexander in one or more doses include hellebore and strychnine in r lane fox s opinion the strongest argument against the poison theory is the fact that twelve days had passed between the start of his illness and his death and in the ancient world such long acting poisons were probably not available though this discounts the possibility of multiple doses however the warrior culture of macedon favored the sword over strychnine and many ancient historians like plutarch and arrian maintained that alexander was not poisoned but died of natural causes instead it is likely that alexander died of malaria or typhoid fever which were rampant in ancient babylon other illnesses could have also been the culprit including acute pancreatitis or the west nile virus recently theories have been advanced stating that alexander may have died from the treatment not the disease hellebore believed to have been widely used as a medicine at the time but dea |
dly in large doses may have been overused by the impatient king to speed his recovery with deadly results disease related theories often cite the fact that alexander s health had fallen to dangerously low levels after years of heavy drinking and suffering several appalling wounds including one in india that nearly claimed his life and that it was only a matter of time before one sickness or another finally killed him no story is conclusive alexander s death has been reinterpreted many times over the centuries and each generation offers a new take on it what is certain is that alexander died of a high fever on june one zero or one one of three two three bc on his death bed his marshals asked him to whom he bequeathed his kingdom since alexander had only one heir it was a question of vital importance he answered famously the strongest before dying his final words were i foresee a great funeral contest over me alexander s funeral games where his marshals fought it out over control of his empire lasted for nearly |
forty years alexander s death has been surrounded by as much controversy as many of the events of his life before long accusations of foul play were being thrown about by his generals at one another making it incredibly hard for a modern historian to sort out the propaganda and the half truths from the actual events no contemporary source can be fully trusted because of the incredible level of self serving recording and as a result what truly happened to alexander the great may never be known alexander s body was placed in a gold anthropid sarcophagus which was in turn placed in a second gold casket and covered with a purple robe alexander s coffin was placed together with his armor in a gold carriage which had a vaulted roof supported by an ionic peristyle the decoration of the carriage was very rich and is described in great detail by diodoros according to legend alexander was preserved in a clay vessel full of honey which acts as a preservative and interred in a glass coffin according to aelian varia hist |
oria one two six four ptolemy stole the body and brought it to alexandria where it was on display until late antiquity it was here that ptolemy ix one of the last successors of ptolemy i replaced alexander s sarcophagus with a glass one and melted the original down in order to strike emergency gold issues of his coinage the citizens of alexandria were outraged at this and soon after ptolemy ix was killed its current whereabouts are unknown the so called alexander sarcophagus discovered near sidon and now in the istanbul archaeological museum is now generally thought to be that of abdylonymus whom hephaestion appointed as the king of sidon by alexander s order the sarcophagus depicts alexander and his companions hunting and in battle with the persians legacy and division of the empire coin of alexander bearing an aramaic language inscription after alexander s death his empire was divided among his officers mostly with the pretense of first preserving a united kingdom later his officers were focused on the expl |
icit formation of rival monarchies and territorial states ultimately the conflict was settled after the battle of ipsus in phrygia in three zero one bc alexander s empire was divided at first into four major portions cassander ruled in macedon lysimachus in thrace seleucus in mesopotamia and iran and ptolemy in the levant and egypt antigonus ruled for a while in asia minor and syria but was eventually defeated by the other generals at ipsus three zero one bc control over indian territory was short lived when seleucus was defeated by chandragupta maurya the first mauryan emperor by two seven zero bc hellenistic states consolidated with the antigonid empire centered on macedon the seleucid empire in asia the ptolemaic kingdom in egypt palestine and cyrenaica by the one st century bc though most of the hellenistic territories in the west had been absorbed by the roman republic in the east they had been dramatically reduced by the expansion of the parthian empire and the secession of the greco bactrian kingdom al |
exander s conquests also had long term cultural effects with the flourishing of hellenistic civilization throughout the middle east and central asia and the development of greco buddhist art in the indian subcontinent influence on ancient rome a mural in pompeii depicting the marriage of alexander to barsine stateira in three two four bc the couple are apparently dressed as ares and aphrodite alexander and his exploits were admired by many romans who wanted to associate themselves with his achievements although very little is known about roman macedonian diplomatic relations of that time julius caesar wept in spain at the mere sight of alexander s statue and pompey the great rummaged through the closets of conquered nations for alexander s two six zero year old cloak which the roman general then wore as the costume of greatness however in his zeal to honor alexander octavian augustus accidentally broke the nose off the macedonian s mummified corpse while laying a wreath at the hero s shrine in alexandria egyp |
t the unbalanced emperor caligula later took the dead king s armor from that tomb and donned it for luck the macriani a roman family that rose to the imperial throne in the three rd century a d always kept images of alexander on their persons either stamped into their bracelets and rings or stitched into their garments even their dinnerware bore alexander s face with the story of the king s life displayed around the rims of special bowls in the summer of one nine nine five during the archaeological work of the season centered on excavating the remains of domestic architecture of early roman date a statue of alexander was recovered from the structure which was richly decorated with mosaic and marble pavements and probably was constructed in the one st century a d and occupied until the three rd century notes one frank l holt alexander the great and the mystery of the elephant medallions university of california press two salima ikram nile currents general timeline alexander s character equestrian statue of ale |
xander the great on the waterfront at thessaloniki capital of greek macedonia modern opinion on alexander has run the gamut from the idea that he believed he was on a divinely inspired mission to unite the human race to the view that he was a megalomaniac bent on world domination such views tend to be anachronistic however and the sources allow for a variety of interpretations much about alexander s personality and aims remains enigmatic alexander is remembered as a legendary hero in europe and much of both southwest asia and central asia where he is known as iskander or iskandar zulkarnain to zoroastrians on the other hand he is remembered as the destroyer of their first great empire and as the leveller of persepolis ancient sources are generally written with an agenda of either glorifying or denigrating the man making it difficult to evaluate his actual character most refer to a growing instability and megalomania in the years following gaugamela but it has been suggested that this simply reflects the greek |
stereotype of an orientalizing king the murder of his friend clitus which alexander deeply and immediately regretted is often cited as a sign of his paranoia as is his execution of philotas and his general parmenion for failure to pass along details of a plot against him however this may have been more prudence than paranoia modern alexandrists continue to debate these same issues among others in modern times one unresolved topic involves whether alexander was actually attempting to better the world by his conquests or whether his purpose was primarily to rule the world partially in response to the ubiquity of positive portrayals of alexander an alternate character is sometimes presented which emphasizes some of alexander s negative aspects some proponents of this view cite the destructions of thebes tyre persepolis and gaza as examples of atrocities and argue that alexander preferred to fight rather than negotiate it is further claimed in response to the view that alexander was generally tolerant of the cul |
tures of those whom he conquered that his attempts at cultural fusion were severely practical and that he never actually admired persian art or culture to this way of thinking alexander was first and foremost a general rather than a statesman alexander s character also suffers from the interpretation of historians who themselves are subject to the bias and idealisms of their own time good examples are w w tarn who wrote during the late one nine th century and early two zero th century and who saw alexander in an extremely good light and peter green who wrote after world war ii and for whom alexander did little that was not inherently selfish or ambition driven tarn wrote in an age where world conquest and warrior heroes were acceptable even encouraged whereas green wrote with the backdrop of the holocaust and nuclear weapons as a result alexander s character is skewed depending on which way the historian s own culture is and further muddles the debate of who he truly was stories and legends according to one s |
tory the philosopher anaxarchus checked the vainglory of alexander when he aspired to the honors of divinity by pointing to alexander s wound saying see the blood of a mortal not the ichor of a god in another version alexander himself pointed out the difference in response to a sycophantic soldier a strong oral tradition although not attested in any extant primary source lists alexander as having epilepsy known to the greeks as the sacred disease and thought to be a mark of divine favor alexander had a legendary horse named bucephalus meaning ox headed supposedly descended from the mares of diomedes alexander himself while still a young boy tamed this horse after experienced horse trainers failed to do so there is an apocryphal tale appearing in a redaction of the pseudo historical alexander romance which details another end for the last true pharaoh of egypt soon after alexander s divinity was confirmed by the oracle of zeus ammon a rumor was begun that nectanebo ii did not travel to nubia but instead to the |
court of philip ii of macedon in the guise of an egyptian magician he coupled with phillip s wife olympias and from his issue came alexander this myth would hold strong appeal for egyptians who desired continuity in rule and harbored a strong dislike for foreign rule another legend tells of alexander s campaign down into the syrian world toward egypt on the way he planned to lay siege to the city of jerusalem as the victorious armies of the greeks approached the city word was brought to the jews in jerusalem that the armies were on their way the high priest at that time who was a godly old man by the name of jaddua mentioned also in the bible book of nehemiah took the sacred writings of daniel the prophet and accompanied by a host of other priests dressed in white garments went forth and met alexander some distance outside the city all this is from the report of josephus the jewish historian who tells us that alexander left his army and hurried to meet this body of priests when he met them he told the high p |
riest that he had had a vision the night before in which god had shown him an old man robed in a white garment who would show him something of great significance to himself according to the account the high priest then opened the prophecies of daniel and read them to alexander in the prophecies alexander was able to see the predictions that he would become that notable goat with the horn in his forehead who would come from the west and smash the power of persia and conquer the world he was so overwhelmed by the accuracy of this prophecy and of course by the fact that it spoke about him that he promised that he would save jerusalem from siege and sent the high priest back with honors ancient sources the ancient sources for alexander s life are from the perspective of ancient history relatively numerous alexander himself left only a few inscriptions and some letter fragments of dubious authenticity but a large number of his contemporaries wrote full accounts the key contemporary historians are considered callis |
thenes his general ptolemy aristobulus nearchus and onesicritus another influential account was penned by cleitarchus who while not a direct witness of alexander s expedition used the sources which had just been published his work was to be the backbone of that of timagenes who heavily influenced many surviving historians unfortunately all these works were lost instead the modern historian must rely on authors who used these and other early sources the five main accounts are by arrian curtius plutarch diodorus and justin anabasis alexandri the campaigns of alexander in greek by the greek historian arrian of nicomedia writing in the two nd century ad and based largely on ptolemy and to a lesser extent aristobulus and nearchus it is considered generally the most trustworthy source historiae alexandri magni a biography of alexander in ten books of which the last eight survive by the roman historian quintus curtius rufus written in the one st century ad and based largely on cleitarchus through the mediation of ti |
magenes with some material probably from ptolemy life of alexander see parallel lives and two orations on the fortune or the virtue of alexander the great see moralia by the greek historian and biographer plutarch of chaeronea in the second century based largely on aristobulus and especially cleitarchus bibliotheca historia library of world history written in greek by the sicilian historian diodorus siculus from which book one seven relates the conquests of alexander based almost entirely on timagenes s work the books immediately before and after on philip and alexander s successors throw light on alexander s reign the epitome of the philippic history of pompeius trogus by justin which contains factual errors and is highly compressed it is difficult in this case to understand the source since we only have an epitome but it is thought that also pompeius trogus may have limited himself to use timagenes for his latin history to these five main sources some like to add the metz epitome an anonymous late latin wor |
k that narrates alexander s campaigns from hyrcania to india much is also recounted incidentally in other authors including strabo athenaeus polyaenus aelian and others the problem of the sources is the main concern and chief delight of alexander historians in effect each presents a different alexander with details to suit arrian is mostly interested in the military aspects while curtius veers to a more private and darker alexander plutarch can t resist a good story light or dark all with the possible exception of arrian include a considerable level of fantasy prompting strabo to remark all who wrote about alexander preferred the marvellous to the true nevertheless the sources tell us much and leave much to our interpretation and imagination alexander s legend alexander was a legend in his own time his court historian callisthenes portrayed the sea in cilicia as drawing back from him in proskynesis writing after alexander s death another participant onesicritus went so far as to invent a tryst between alexand |
er and thalestris queen of the mythical amazons when onesicritus read this passage to his patron alexander s general and later king lysimachus lysimachus reportedly quipped i wonder where i was at the time in the first centuries after alexander s death probably in alexandria a quantity of the more legendary material coalesced into a text known as the alexander romance later falsely ascribed to the historian callisthenes and therefore known as pseudo callisthenes this text underwent numerous expansions and revisions throughout antiquity and the middle ages exhibiting a plasticity unseen in higher literary forms latin and syriac translations were made in late antiquity from these versions were developed in all the major languages of europe and the middle east including armenian georgian persian arabic turkish hebrew serbian slavonic romanian hungarian german english italian and french the romance is regarded by most western scholars as the source of the account of alexander given in the qur an sura the cave it |
is the source of many incidents in ferdowsi s shahnama a mongolian version is also extant some believe that excepting certain religious texts it is the most widely read work of pre modern times alexander s legend in non western sources alexander was often identified in persian and arabic language sources as dhul qarnayn arabic for the two horned one possibly a reference to the appearance of a horn headed figure that appears on coins minted during his rule and later imitated in ancient middle eastern coinage if this theory is followed islamic accounts of the alexander legend particularly in the qur an and in persian legends combined the pseudo callisthenes legendary pseudo religious material about alexander the same legends from the pseudo callisthenes were combined in persia with sasanid persian ideas about alexander in the iskandarnamah main towns founded by alexander around seventy towns or outposts are claimed to have been founded by alexander some of the main ones are alexandria egypt alexandria asiana ir |
an alexandria in ariana afghanistan alexandria of the caucasus afghanistan alexandria on the oxus afghanistan alexandria of the arachosians afghanistan alexandria on the indus alexandria bucephalous pakistan alexandria eschate the furthest tajikistan iskenderun alexandretta turkey kandahar alexandropolis afghanistan alexander in popular media the smallville version of the shield of alexander the great as seen in the first season episode rogue a one nine five six movie starring richard burton titled alexander the great was produced by mgm a one nine four one hindi movie sikandar directed by sohrab modi depicts alexander the great s indian conquest bond s two zero zero zero album born includes a song titled alexander the great oliver stone s film alexander starring colin farrell was released on november two four two zero zero four baz luhrmann had been planning to make a very different film about alexander starring leonardo dicaprio but the release of stone s film eventually persuaded him to abandon the project |
numerous television series about alexander have been created the british heavy metal band iron maiden had a song entitled alexander the great on their album somewhere in time one nine eight six the song describes alexander s life but contains one inaccuracy in the song it is stated that alexander s army would not follow him into india brazilian musician caetano veloso s one nine nine eight album livro includes an epic song about alexander called alexandre from one nine six nine to one nine eight one mary renault wrote a historical fiction trilogy speculating on the life of alexander fire from heaven about his early life the persian boy about his conquest of persia his expedition to india and his death seen from the viewpoint of a persian eunuch and funeral games about the events following his death alexander also appears briefly in renault s novel the mask of apollo in addition to the fiction renault also wrote a non fiction biography the nature of alexander a one nine six five hindi movie sikandar e azam di |
rected by kedar kapoor starring dara singh as alexandar depicts alexandar s indian conquest with porus a further trilogy of novels about alexander was written in italian by valerio massimo manfredi and subsequently published in an english translation entitled the son of the dream the sands of ammon and the ends of the earth david gemmel s dark prince features alexander as the chosen vessel for a world destroying demon king isbn zero three four five three seven nine one zero one steven pressfield s two zero zero four book the virtues of war is told from the first person perspective of alexander an epic science fiction animated retelling of the story called reign the conqueror based on the novel alexander senki by hiroshi aramata with character designs by peter chung of aeon flux fame debuted in japan in one nine nine seven and on the cartoon network s adult swim block variety show in two zero zero three alexander is a character in the computer game civilization the smallville season one episode rogue lex lutho |
r shows clark kent the shield that alexander the great wore in battle the shield is gold with red and blue diamonds the colors that represent superman and a snake shaped like the letter s the one nine seven five film the man who would be king starring sean connery and michael caine is based on the rudyard kipling story of two british adventurers who cross the hindu kush to the land of kafiristan once conquered by alexander daniel connery is believed by the natives to be the return of alexander and is crowned king notes whether the macedonians of alexander s time and before were hellenes greeks is disputed by scholars the question largely depends on the classification of the ancient macedonian language by separating macedonians and greeks in this sentence and others no position in this debate is implied see note one references fuller j f c a military history of the western world from the earliest times to the battle of lepanto new york da capo press inc one nine eight seven and one nine eight eight isbn zero t |
hree zero six eight zero three zero four six de santis marc g at the crossroads of conquest military heritage december two zero zero one volume three no three four six five five nine seven alexander the great his military his strategy at the battle of gaugamela and his defeat of darius making alexander the king of kings external links primary sources alexander the great an annotated list of primary sources from livius org alexander the great o megas alexandros alexander the great forum articles and referenced information wiki classical dictionary extant sources and fragmentary and lost sources plutarch life of alexander in english justin epitome of the philippic history of pompeius trogus in english plutarch of the fortune or virtue of alexander the great in english quintus curtius rufus histories of alexander in latin alexander s death from alexander the great on the web one zero zero zero resources about alexander the great alexander the great in the french museum le louvre projects alexander the great on t |
he web a comprehensive directory of some one zero zero zero sites in the footsteps of alexander the great an archaeological adventure across turkey with travel article and archaeological links livius project articles on alexander by jona lendering pothos org alexander s home on the web wiki classical dictionary category alexander the great a mediawiki based project with stricter guidelines and editors alexander the great coins a site depicting alexander s coins and later coins featuring alexander s image alexander the great site a site dedicated to alexander features articles about alexander his life armies mysteries surrounding his death and the hellenistic period that came after this great hellenic leader narratives alexander the great of macedon a project by john j popovic the loves of alexander iii of macedon discussion pothos forum alexander the great forum a forum for alexander the great and the history surrounding him bibliography pdf a bibliography of alexander the great by waldemar heckel width three |
zero align center preceded by philip ii width four zero align center king of macedon three three six three two three bc width three zero align center rowspan four succeeded by philip iii alexander iv width three zero align center rowspan two preceded by darius iii width four zero align center great king of media and persia three three zero three two three bc width four zero align center pharaoh of egypt three three two three two three bc three two three bc deaths three five six bc births alexander the great ancient greek generals ancient greeks city founders macedonian monarchs mummies nine worthies pederastic lovers alfred korzybski alfred korzybski was born on july three one eight seven nine in warsaw poland and died on march one one nine five zero in lakeville connecticut usa he is probably best remembered for developing the theory of general semantics early life and career he came from an aristocratic family whose members had worked as mathematicians scientists and engineers for generations and he chose |
to train as an engineer korzybski was educated at the warsaw university of technology during the first world war korzybski served as an intelligence officer in the russian army after being wounded in his leg and suffering other injuries he came to north america in one nine one six first to canada then the united states to coordinate the shipment of artillery to the war front he also lectured to polish american audiences about the conflict promoting the sale of war bonds following the war he decided to remain in the united states becoming a naturalized citizen in one nine four zero his first book manhood of humanity was published in one nine two one in the book he proposed and explained in detail a new theory of humankind mankind as a time binding class of life general semantics korzybski s work culminated in the founding of a discipline that he called general semantics gs as korzybski explicitly said gs should not be confused with semantics a different subject the basic principles of general semantics which i |
nclude time binding are outlined in science and sanity published in one nine three three in one nine three eight korzybski founded the institute of general semantics and directed it until his death in simplified form the essence of korzybski s work was the claim that human beings are limited in what they know by one the structure of their nervous systems and two the structure of their languages human beings cannot experience the world directly but only through their abstractions nonverbal impressions or gleanings derived from the nervous system and verbal indicators expressed and derived from language sometimes our perceptions and our languages actually mislead us as to the facts with which we must deal our understanding of what is going on sometimes lacks similarity of structure with what is actually going on he stressed training in awareness of abstracting using techniques that he had derived from his study of mathematics and science he called this awareness this goal of his system consciousness of abstract |
ing his system included modifying the way we approach the world e g with an attitude of i don t know let s see to better discover or reflect its realities as shown by modern science one of these techniques involved becoming inwardly and outwardly quiet an experience that he called silence on the objective levels korzybski and to be it is often said that korzybski opposed the use of the verb to be an unfortunate exaggeration he thought that certain uses of the verb to be called the is of identity and the is of predication were faulty in structure e g a statement such as joe is a fool said of a person named joe who has done something that we regard as dumb korzybski s remedy was to deny identity in this example to be continually aware that joe is not what we call him we find joe not in the verbal domain the world of words but the nonverbal domain this was expressed in korzybski s most famous premise the map is not the territory note that the map is not the territory uses the phrase is not a form of the verb to |
be this example shows that he did not intend to abandon the verb as such anecdote about korzybski one day korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students and he suddenly interrupted the lesson in order to retrieve a packet of biscuits wrapped in white paper from his briefcase he muttered that he just had to eat something and he asked the students on the seats in the front row if they would also like a biscuit a few students took a biscuit nice biscuit don t you think said korzybski while he took a second one the students were chewing vigorously then he tore the white paper from the biscuits in order to reveal the original packaging on it was a big picture of a dog s head and the words dog cookies the students looked at the package and were shocked two of them wanted to throw up put their hands in front of their mouths and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet you see ladies and gentlemen korzybski remarked i have just demonstrated that people don t just eat food but also words and that the taste of |
the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter apparently his prank aimed to illustrate how human suffering originates from the confusion or conflation of linguistic representations of reality and reality itself source r diekstra haarlemmer dagblad one nine nine three cited by l derks j hollander essenties van nlp utrecht servire one nine nine six p five eight impact korzybski s work influenced neuro linguistic programming especially the metamodel gestalt therapy rational emotive behavior therapy and individuals such as albert ellis gregory bateson buckminster fuller alvin toffler robert a heinlein l ron hubbard a e van vogt robert anton wilson tommy hall lyricist for the one three th floor elevators and scientists such as william alanson white psychiatry and w horsley gantt a student and colleague of pavlov see also general semantics the map is not the territory structural differential e prime institute of general semantics alfred korzybski memorial lecture external links korzybski s general semantic |
s institute of general semantics alfred korzybski and gestalt therapy website further reading manhood of humanity alfred korzybski forward by edward kasner notes by m kendig institute of general semantics one nine five zero hardcover two nd edition three nine one pages isbn zero nine three seven two nine eight zero zero x science and sanity an introduction to non aristotelian systems and general semantics alfred korzybski preface by robert p pula institute of general semantics one nine nine four hardcover five th edition isbn zero nine three seven two nine eight zero one eight alfred korzybski collected writings one nine two zero one nine five zero institute of general semantics one nine nine zero hardcover isbn zero six eight five four zero six one six four one eight seven nine births one nine five zero deaths engineers naturalized citizens of the united states neuro linguistic programming predecessors polish engineers polish philosophers asteroids is a popular vector based video arcade game released in one |
nine seven nine by atari the object of the game is for the player to shoot and destroy asteroids without being hit by the fragments it was one of the most popular and influential games of the golden age of arcade games description asteroids was inspired in a roundabout way by the seminal spacewar the first computer based video game in the early one nine eight zero s a stand up arcade game version was produced as space wars which included a number of optional versions and added a floating asteroid as a visual device asteroids is essentially a one player version of spacewar featuring the wedge ship from the original and promoting the asteroids to be the main opponent the game was conceived by lyle rains and programmed by ed logg asteroids was a hit in the united states and became one of atari s best selling games of all time atari had been in the process of releasing a vector beam version of lunar lander but demand for asteroids was so high they simply pulled them apart and converted them over today the lunar l |
ander version is difficult to find asteroids was so popular that video arcade owners usually had to install larger boxes to hold all the coins this machine raked in one feature of the game was the ability for players to record their initials with their high scores an innovation which is standard in arcade games to this day asteroids was the first of several games to use atari s quadra scan vector refresh system although a raster based full color version was developed for the atari two six zero zero home video game system later full color quadra scan games would include tempest features the player s controls consisted of thrust and fire buttons and rotate left rotate right buttons actually rotate counterclockwise and rotate clockwise respectively the momentum of the player s ship was not conserved and it would start to slow down if thrust was not applied there was also a hyperspace button which randomly teleported the player s ship somewhere on the screen with the risk of exploding upon rematerialization or re |
materializing inside an asteroid the player s ship spawned in the middle of the screen with four large asteroids drifting around each large asteroid two zero points would break into two medium sized ones five zero points when shot which in turn would break into two small one zero zero points asteroids the medium and small asteroids once spawned could travel at widely varying speeds periodically one of two types of flying saucers ufos would fly onto the screen the big one worth two zero zero points would shoot in random directions while the small one one zero zero zero points would attempt to aim at the player they tended to appear more often when few asteroids remained on the screen and or the player hadn t shot an asteroid recently the screen wrapped around allowing the player s ship as well as asteroids and shots but not saucers to fly off the one edge of the screen and reappear on the opposite side once a level had been cleared of all asteroids and ufos a new set of large asteroids would appear increasing |
by two each round up to a maximum of one two the maximum score possible was nine nine nine nine zero points after which it turned back over to zero a player who desired to get onto the top score list then had to be careful to shoot just enough asteroids ufos to reach this score without going over including committing suicide with the last ship left to reach the final total on some early versions of the game it was possible to hide the ship in the score area indefinitely without being hit by asteroids lurking the small ufo is the key to high scores for many advanced players soon after the release of asteroids some players discovered that small ufos would be continually sent out when the asteroid count decreased to a certain level since these ufos were worth one zero zero zero points each a significant sum on this game a strategy known as lurking soon developed around this players would shoot asteroids until there was only one small or mid sized rock remaining and then maneuver the ship to a spot approximately |
one inch from any corner of the screen small ufos would then be ambushed as soon as they emerged and before they were able to return fire using wraparound fire if necessary because the small ufos were unable to lead the player s ship with their fire i e aiming ahead of the ship s flight path a clever player could manuever if necessary in such a way as to virtually ensure they would never be hit by the small ufo in fact the large ufo in a sense was seen as more of a threat precisely because of its unpredictable random shots since each one zero zero zero zero points awarded an extra life players could continue almost indefinitely once the practice had been mastered the designers abolished this practice in asteroids deluxe by causing the ufos to either shoot at the remaining asteroids thus ending the round or shoot at the player as soon as they appeared on the screen they also gained the ability to lead the player s ship as well making them much more dangerous however it was also possible to succeed by shooting |
the asteroids instead a shrewd asteroid hunting player would typically attempt to kill all the asteroids inside a large one before shooting another asteroid thus minimizing the amount of clutter on the screen technical description the asteroids arcade machine is a so called vector game this means that the game graphics are composed entirely of lines which are drawn on a vector monitor the hardware consists primarily of a standard mos six five zero two cpu which executes the game program and the digital vector generator dvg vector processing circuitry developed by atari themselves as the six five zero two by itself was too slow to control both the game play and the vector hardware at the same time the latter task was delegated to the dvg for each picture frame the six five zero two writes graphics commands for the dvg into a defined area of ram the vector ram and then asks the dvg to draw the corresponding vector image on the screen the dvg reads the commands and generates appropriate signals for the vector mo |
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