Allahabad Museum

The Allahabad Museum is a national-level museum in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1931, it is known for its rich collection and unique objects of art, and is funded by Ministry of Culture. Moreover, it is a premier research centre for archaeologists, historians and academicians and carries out extensive research activities and publications in archaeology, art and literature. Its rock art gallery has the largest collection of prehistoric paintings displayed in India dating from 14,000 B.C to 2000 B.C. The museum, using solar power system, has become the first museum in the country to become self-reliant in power generation. The Allahabad Museum is centrally located in the Civil Lines area of the city in a lush green garden at Chandrashekhar Azad Park, popularly known as Company Bagh. It is about 3 km away from the Allahabad railway junction and almost equidistant from three different Railway Stations such as Prayag, Rambagh and Allahabad junction and about 12 km away from Bamrauli Airport.
History.
A museum was originally set up in Allahabad in 1863 by North-West Province Governor General Sir William Muir, before being shut down for unspecified reasons in 1881. After the initiative to reopen the museum was taken by Jawaharlal Nehru, the then President of the Allahabad Municipal Board, stalwarts like Madan Mohan Malviya and the then leading newspaper The Pioneer, the museum was eventually opened in the Municipal Board building in 1931. Due to space constraint, the museum was shifted to the present building at the Alfred Park. The foundation stone of the present museum building was laid on 14 December 1947 by Jawaharlal Nehru and the museum was opened to the public in 1954. In 1985 it was declared an Institution of National Importance.
Collection.
The museum houses galleries each devoted to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The Gandhi Gallery displays rare pictures of Gandhi from his childhood till death, while the Nehru Gallery features Nehru's original manuscripts called 'In and Out of Prison' which were later published as his autobiography "The Discovery of India". His other collection includes documents, gifts, wedding cards and letters, including some from Gandhi himself. The museum's another valued possession is the Gandhi Smriti Vahan, the 47-Model V-8 Ford truck on which Gandhi's ashes were immersed in the Triveni Sangam on 12 February 1948.
The pistol of Chandrashekhar Azad, a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless semi-auto .32 bore, is displayed and preserved in the entrance hall of the museum. Azad used it to shoot himself after a long firefight with British policemen at the Alfred Park, the same year the museum was established.
The museum boasts 19 exclusive canvasses painted by the Russian painter, Nicholas Roerich. There are 10 Roerich Halls all over the world, including the one at Allahabad Museum.
The museum's library stores 25,000 books, including rare collections of Loeb Classical Library — translated works of ancient Roman and Greek scholars.


Karnataka State Department of Archaeology

Karnataka State Department of Archaeology is a department of the Government of Karnataka which oversees archaeological exploration and maintenance of heritage sites in the state of Karnataka, India. Established in 1885, as the Archaeological Department of the princely state of Mysore, B. Lewis Rice was its first Director General. In the last years of the 19th century, the department published the inscriptions of Mysore as a multiple volume "Epigraphia Carnatica". The most prominent archaeologist associated with the Karnataka State Department of Archaeology was M. S. Nagaraja Rao who later went on to head the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).


League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class

Raahe

Raahe () is a town and municipality of Finland. Founded by Swedish statesman and Governor General of Finland Count Per Brahe the Younger in 1649, it is one of 10 historic wooden towns (or town centers) remaining in Finland. Examples of other Finnish historic wooden towns are Kaskinen (Kaskö), Old Rauma, Porvoo (Borgå), Jakobstad (Pietarsaari), and Vaasa (Vasa). After a devastating fire in 1810, Raahe was rebuilt adhering to new design principles which minimized the risk of fire and enlarged some civic spaces. Old Raahe is noted for its Renaissance-inspired rectilinear town plan featuring an unusual central-square (called Pekkatori) with closed corners.
Raahe is located on the northern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia in the region of North Ostrobothnia . The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Historically an agricultural and maritime region, Ostrobothnia supplied the largest number of immigrants from Finland to the US and other countries such as Canada and Australia during the great migration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Founded as a Swedish-and-Finnish-speaking town, the municipality is now unilingually Finnish.
The asteroid 1786 Raahe was named after this town and municipality.
History.
Seventeenth century history.
Count Per Brahe the Younger, the governor-general of Finland, gave a charter to the town of Salo in the year of 1649 with the purpose of constructing a town at Satamakangas, near the old harbour site. However, the harbour area had become so low that the future town was decided to be transferred. A new and better location was found further to the north, at the bay of Raahe. Having acquired the possession of the parish of Salo in 1652, Per Brahe renamed the town Brahestad or Raahe in Finnish.
The planning of the town for the purpose of building Raahe was given to the surveyor Claes Claesson. His town plan followed the ideals of the regular grid plan of the Renaissance. All of the streets of Raahe were of equal width of 20-21 cubits or 10–11 meters. The market square stood by Rantakatu and the Town Hall behind the square. At the northeast corner of the town stood the church and the schoolhouse. Six blocks were realized of the town plan, i.e. the area surrounded by present-day Koulukatu, Kirkkokatu, Saaristokatu and Rantakatu. The later expansion and changes of the town have held the ambitions of Claesson's town plan in respect until the beginning of the latest century.
The oldest picture still remaining of the town of Raahe, a seventeenth-century drawing, dates back to the year of 1659. It depicts the town as being surrounded by a so-called customs fence with two custom gates, the eastern one located outside of the crossroads of present-day Brahenkatu and Reiponkatu streets and the southern one at the end of Pitkäkatu street (present-day Kauppakatu street) approximately by present-day Koulukatu street. The busy harbour of the town was located on the shore by the customs warehouse, the present museum.
There were two public buildings in Raahe: a handsome, admirable, two-story town hall with a tower, and a wooden church, whose construction had already begun in 1651. The church was given a weather boarding already in 1684-1685. This is one of the earliest examples of boarding known in Finland.
The dwellings and houses were made from logs. As a rule, they were built close to the street facing plot boundary, the long side and the ridge of the roof parallel to the street. The unbuilt portion of the plot against the street was fitted up with a high, solid plank fence and a drive-in gate. The plots inside a block were not separated by fences. The average house usually consisted of one or two rooms, most of which were of the two-room cabin type. Almost every house in the drawing of Raahe has the most remarkable novelty of the seventeenth century, the chimney. At the same time it was still quite common to have whole towns and villages with chimneyless houses, especially in Eastern Finland. Considered from the point of view of architectural history, at the time of its foundation Raahe was a quite modern town. As far as is known today, no buildings exist from the seventeenth century.
Economy.
Raahe was granted Staple port rights in 1791 and was traditionally a harbor town. With industrialization, Raahe was reinvented as a steel and heavy industry city and has further developed with engineering services, ICT and software production. Raahe is known for steel, heavy machinery, engineering works, shipping and ICT. The Rautaruukki steel mill, which up to the 1980s was the largest single industrial site in the Nordic countries, is located in Raahe. The mill produces steel plate, coil and sheeting and semi-finished products for the engineering works.
Traditionally, Raahe was a port city. In the late Age of Sail, the 1850s and on, shipping companies in Raahe owned Finland's largest fleet of sailing vessels, 60 in total at their height. Currently, the port of Raahe is the sixth busiest port in the country, with 700 ships visiting each year. Cargo that is transported through the port includes raw materials and loose cargo, steel, lumber, containers and contract-shipped goods.
With the steel industry, Raahe has grown into the third largest city in the ex-Oulu province, after Oulu and Kajaani. Like Oulu, the city promotes the ICT business, with the help of the steel industry (ProMetal and Steelpolis) and ICT industry (Softpolis) business incubators/business parks.
The municipal tax rate is 19.75%. In 2007, the structure of the economy was as follows: agriculture and forestry 1%, construction 6%, manufacturing 43%, and retail, services and public services 50%. The sub-region includes the municipalities of Pyhäjoki and Siikajoki.
Transportation.
The European route E8 goes through the city, and is the biggest mean of land transportation in Raahe. Raahe also has bus transportation by various companies. The Raahe railway station next to the Raahe Railroad was closed from passenger traffic in 1965. Ticket selling ended in 2000.
International relations.
Twin towns — Sister cities.
Raahe is twinned with:


House of Burke

The House of Burke (; Latinised to "de Burca" or "de Burgo") is the Irish branch of the Anglo-Norman noble family known as de Burgh. The surname Burke has been associated with Connaught for more than seven centuries.
The surname derives from the English village of Burgh, Suffolk. The village's name is of Old English origin and means ‘fortified town’.
The first of the family to settle in Ireland was an Anglo-Norman adventurer and knight William de Burgh (c. 1160 – 1206), who arrived in 1185 with Henry II of England. He was the elder brother of Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, Justiciar of England.
William's descendants include the Anglo-Irish de Burghs (Lords of Connaught, Earls of Ulster, and Earls of Clanricarde).
Family History.
Descendants of William de Burgh (d.1206).
William de Burgh (d. 1206) received a grant of lands from King John (1189). At John's accession (1199) he was installed in Thomond and became Governor of Limerick. Between 1199 and 1201 he was supporting, in turn, Cathal Carrach and Cathal Crovderg for the native throne, but William was expelled from Limerick (1203) and, lost his Connaught (though not Munster) estates.
Lords of Connaught
William's son, Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Lord of Connaught (d. 1243), received the land of "Connok" (Connaught) as forfeited by its king, whom he helped to fight (1227). He was Justiciar of Ireland (1228–32). In 1234, he sided with the crown against Richard, Earl Marshal, who fell in battle against him. Richard Mór's eldest son, Sir Richard de Burgh (d.1248) succeeded him, briefly, as Lord of Connaught.
Earls of Ulster
Richard Mór's second son, Walter de Burgh (d. 1271), continued warfare against the native chieftains and added greatly to his vast domains by obtaining, from Prince Edward, a grant of "the county of Ulster" (c. 1255) in consequence of which he was styled later Earl of Ulster.
Walter, 1st Earl of Ulster was succeeded by his son, Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster. In 1286, he ravaged and subdued Connaught, and deposed the chief native king (Bryan O'Neill), substituting how own nominee. He also attacked the native king of Connaught, in favour of that branch of the O'Conors whom his own family supported. He led his forces from Ireland to support Edward I in his Scottish campaigns, and on Edward Bruce's invasion of Ulster (1315), Richard marched against him, but had given his daughter, Elizabeth, in marriage (c.1304) to Robert Bruce (afterwards Robert I, King of Scots). Occasionally summoned to English parliaments, he spent most of his forty years of activity in Ireland, where he was the greatest noble of his day, usually fighting the natives or his Anglo-Norman rivals. The patent roll of 1290 shows that in addition to his lands in Ulster, Connaught and Munster, he held the Isle of Man, but later surrendered it to the king.
Richard, 2nd Earl's grandson and successor was William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (d. 1333), son of John de Burgh (d. 1313) and Elizabeth, lady of Clare (d. 1360), sister and co-heir of the last Clare Earl of Hertford (d. 1314). William Donn married Maud of Lancaster (daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster) and was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland (1331), but was murdered in his 21st year, leaving his only daughter, Elizabeth de Burgh, as the sole heiress not only of the de Burgh possessions but of the vast Clare estates. She was married in childhood to Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence (third son of Edward III) who was recognized in her right as Earl of Ulster. Their descendant, Edward, 4th Duke of York, ascended the throne in 1461 as Edward IV, since when the Earldom of Ulster has been only held by members of the British Royal Family.
Burke Civil War (1333–38)
On the murder of William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster (1333), his male kinsmen (who had a better right to the succession than his daughter, according to native Irish ideas), adopting Irish names and customs, became virtually native chieftains and succeeded in holding the bulk of the de Burgh territories.
Their two main branches were those of Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) or Clanricarde (in southern Connacht and Galway) and Mac William Íochtar (Lower Mac William) in northern Connacht (Mayo).
Burke/de Burgh of Mac William Uachtar (Earls and Marquesses of Clanricarde)
In 1543, the Mac William Uachtar (Upper Mac William) chief, as Ulick na gCeann "Bourck, alias Makwilliam" surrendered it to Henry VIII, receiving it back to hold, by English custom, as Earl of Clanricarde and Lord Dunkellin. His descendant, Richard, 4th Earl of Clanricarde distinguished himself on the English side in O'Neill's Rebellion and afterwards obtained the English Earldom of St Albans (1628). His son, Ulick, received the Irish Marquessate of Clanricarde (first creation, 1646). His cousin and heir, Richard, 6th Earl of Clanricarde was uncle of Richard, 8th Earl and John, 9th Earl, both of whom fought for James II and paid the penalty for doing so (1691), but the latter was restored (1702), and his great-grandson, Henry, 12th Earl, was created Marquess of Clanricarde (second creation, 1789). He left no son, but his brother, John, 13th Earl was created Earl of Clanricarde (second creation) and the Marquessate was later revived (1825), for John's son, Ulick, 14th and 2nd Earl His heir, Hubert de Burgh-Canning was the 2nd and last Marquess. The Earldom of Clanricarde (second creation) passed by special remainder to the 6th Marquess of Sligo. This family, which changed its name from Bourke to de Burgh (1752) and added that of Canning (1862), owned a vast estate in County Galway.
Bourke of Mac William Íochtar (Viscounts Mayo and Earls of Mayo)
In 1603, the Mac William Íochtar, Tiobóid na Long (Theobald) Bourke (d. 1629), similarly resigned his territory in Mayo, and received it back to hold by English tenure and was later created Viscount Mayo (1627). Miles, 2nd Viscount (d. 1649) and Theobald, 3rd Viscount (d. 1652) suffered at Cromwell's hands, but Theobald, 4th Viscount was restored to his estates (some 50,000 acres) in 1666. The peerage became extinct or dormant on the death of John, 8th Viscount (1767). In 1781, the Mayo man believed to be descended from the line of Mac William Íochtar, John Bourke was created Viscount Mayo and later Earl of Mayo. In 1872, Richard, 6th Earl, Viceroy of India, was murdered in the Andaman Islands.
The baronies of Bourke of Connell (1580) and Bourke of Brittas (1618), both forfeited in 1691, were bestowed on branches of the family which still has representatives in the baronetage and landed gentry of Ireland.
Descendants of Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent.
The Barons Burgh (or Borough) of Gainsborough (1487–1599) were a Lincolnshire family believed to be descended from Hubert de Burgh (younger son of Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent). Thomas, 3rd Baron was Lord Deputy of Ireland (1597), and his younger brother, Sir John (d.1594), was a distinguished soldier and sailor.
Sources.
"Burke: People and Places", Eamonn Bourke, 1995.


2003 in Scotland

Events from the year 2003 in Scotland.


British Mesolithic


Chancellor of Brabant

The Chancellor of Brabant was the head of the civilian government of the late medieval and early-modern Duchy of Brabant as president of the Council of Brabant.


Scratchbury Camp

Scratchbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age univallate hillfort on Scratchbury Hill, overlooking the Wylye valley about 1km northeast of the village of Norton Bavant in Wiltshire, England. The fort covers an area of and occupies the summit of the hill on the edge of Salisbury Plain, with its four-sided shape largely following the natural contours of the hill.
The Iron Age hillfort dates to around 100 BC, but contains the remains of an earlier and smaller D-shaped enclosure or camp. The age of this earlier earthwork is currently subject to debate, and has been variously interpreted due to the inconclusive and incomplete nature of previous and differing excavation records; it may be early Iron Age dating to around 250 BC, but it has also been interpreted as being Bronze Age, dating to around 2000 BC.
There are seven tumuli located within the enclosure of the fort, which were excavated in the 19th century by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington. Finds from excavations at that time included relics of bone, pottery, flint, brass, and amber jewellery, most of which can be seen today at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. Other items of interest have been found in and around the site including Roman artefacts and neolithic flint and jade axe heads.
The site is listed on Wiltshire Council's Sites and Monuments Record with number ST94SW200, and is also a scheduled monument number SM10213. The hillfort falls within a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, designated as "Scratchbury & Cotley Hills SSSI", which encompasses a total of , being first SSSI notified in 1951.
Etymology.
The name of the hill could be derived from a number of old English words and meanings, the etymology of which are ambiguous and open to interpretation, given the differing sources. One possibility is that the name is derived from the words "scratch", an old West Country word for the Devil; and "bury", from the Old English word "beorg", meaning a mound or hill, or sometimes a defense; although it could also be derived from "Crech" or "Crechen" meaning a hill, and "burh", meaning a fortified town or a defended site.
Description.
Iron Age hillfort.
The steeply contoured sides of Scratchbury Hill form natural defences to the north, west and southwestern sides, and in part to a small area of the eastern flank. Elsewhere on the hill the contours are less steep and afford easier access, with the southeastern boundary merging into the adjacent Cotley Hill with only a small change in level. The Iron Age fortifications at Scratchbury Camp consist of a single large ditch and rampart to the most steeply contoured flanks, with some secondary counterscarps to the more accessible sides. The fort, as measured from the ramparts, has a circumference of
The inner earthworks are typical of a "quarry-ditch" formation, whereby the material excavated from the inner ditch is used to create the rampart. Within the quarry ditch numerous curvilinear and circular depressions may represent remains of structures. The fortifications are best preserved on the western side of the hill where the ditch is between wide and up to deep. The banks and ditches are generally uneven in height and depth, which is thought to be evidence for a 'gang dug' construction of the earthworks. Elsewhere, the enclosure is defined by a bank in height above the ditch bottom, the ditch being wide and up to deep. On parts of the eastern side of the fort the ditch is absent and is replaced by a ledge of between wide. There are two original entrances to the fort on the eastern side, and a possible third on the northwest side. The southeastern entrance has earthwork marks representing possible outer fortifications, and is approached from the adjacent Cotley Hill by a narrow ridge of land referred to as "Burberry"
Much of the north and west areas of the interior appear to have been densely settled, as demonstrated by the traces of approximately 100 probable structures. These survive mainly as shallow circular hollows of between in diameter and up to deep. The best preserved is a rectangular platform immediately within the southern terminal of the western entrance. The location and unusual morphology suggests a special function for this structure, and it is perhaps plausible that a 'guard chamber' or sentry was positioned here.
Earlier enclosure.
Within the centre of the hillfort lies the remains of an earlier and smaller D-shaped inner earthwork enclosure of circa , and excavated by E.C.Curwen in 1930. Today, all that really remains of this enclosure is one well defined lynchet of approximately high along the southern section. This feature bears a resemblance to a similar such enclosure at Yarnbury Castle, and was originally interpreted by Curwen to be a Neolithic causewayed enclosure due to its interrupted nature, and the discovery at the site of jade and flint axes.
Subsequent excavations by Grimes in 1957 re-interpreted this feature to be an earlier Iron Age enclosure dating to approximately 250 BC, with Iron Age pottery found within the primary fill. It was therefore speculated that the visible interruptions have been made by post Medieval ploughing. Faint traces of a remnant bank survive along the north and west sections, and an adjoining ditch has a causewayed nature, and survives in short segments varying between in length. There is also evidence of a single original west facing entrance currently discernible as a wide gap in the enclosure boundary. The straight southeastern side of the enclosure is formed by a ditch that is truncated by the main hillfort boundary, and this again has been interpreted as further evidence that the linear ditch and contiguous enclosure pre-date the main hillfort.
However, more recent aerial and photographic surveys have meant that W.F.Grimes' re-interpretation may have been in error. A detailed survey undertaken between 1994 and 1995 by the field survey teams of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England have suggested that the feature is in fact more likely to be a Neolithic causewayed enclosure as originally interpreted by E.C.Curwen. One possible explanation for the apparent confusion in dating this feature is that Grimes may not have excavated fully to the primary fill. The surveys suggest that the feature clearly has causeways, and low winter sun photography shows that the enclosure continues beyond what was previously believed to be its eastern edge, to form a sub-circular rather than D-shaped enclosure feature. The 'crop mark' visible on aerial photographs shows a continuation of the curve to the southeast of the straight side, thus roughly completing a circle. This feature has also been interpreted as a possible base for a palisaded enclosure. There is also a probable link between the likely neolithic causewayed enclosure and the surrounding barrow cemetery, which would have followed later.
Later features.
There is also a Romano-British or later ditch, running east to west, which turns south sharply at the southwest corner of the hillfort, and which partly overlies the earlier Iron Age earthworks. The main ramparts appear to have been built in the 1st century BC.
Construction phases.
The archaeological evidence suggests that Scratchbury Camp was built in at least two but perhaps three phases. It is generally well accepted that the first phase of construction is defined by the curvilinear portion of the interior 'D'-shaped enclosure, but whether there were distinct second and third Iron Age phases, or merely a re-alignment in the second phase, it is unclear. The scarp subdividing the early fort is a possible indication of a second phase, but this may have been the setting out for a bank that was never utilised. In its third and final phase it seems possible that the fort, having been 'laid out' to include the large barrow, was then further extended to encompass the whole of the top of the hill, to make full defensive use of the natural slopes and resulting in the present day configuration.
Archaeology.
Excavations at the site have revealed many items from Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Romano-British periods. Most of the finds are now preserved at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. Most recently, Professor William Francis Grimes partially excavated the inner earthworks on the site in the 1950s. Finds included Iron Age pottery. In 1880 two Bronze Age axes were apparently found on or near Scratchbury Camp. Both are in private collection; one is a socketed type axe and the other resembles a late North European (Montelius 6) type.
Sir Richard Colt Hoare also records the discoveries of a neolithic jade axe and a ground flint axe, along with various 'British and Roman' pottery inside the camp, as excavated by William Cunnington in 1802. The jade axe is described by the archaeologist Kenneth Oakley as resembling Australian Aboriginal implements. The flint axe is of polished white flint, with the end re-chipped, and was found at the entrance to Scratchbury Camp. It measures long, by wide, and high.
The hillfort also contains seven bowl barrow tumuli within its boundaries, and a possible eighth just outside it, referenced as the "Scratchbury Grave group", or the "Scratchbury Hill Group", and which were excavated between 1802 and 1804 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington. However, as the three-age system had not been introduced at that time, they were unable to date their finds and therefore were at a disadvantage when trying to interpret them. The tumuli were re-recorded in the 1957 surveys by W.F. Grimes. Descriptions from the reports and writings of Sir Richard Colt-Hoare and William Cunnington are given in the table below.
Notes on reference numbers/letters:
Nearby.
There are numerous other tumuli and long barrows in the area surrounding Scratchbury Camp, including some located on the adjacent and co-joined Cotley Hill to the southeast, and on Middle Hill to the west. On the crown of Cotley Hill is a further Bronze Age tumulus surrounded by an Iron Age enclosure. Nearby to the northwest, on the side of Middle Hill, is the site of the deserted medieval village of Middleton, whose surviving earthworks consist of building platforms cut into lynchets and enclosed by a boundary bank and ditch, and a hollow-way. There are also signs of strip lynchets immediately to the north of Scratchbury Camp on the side of the hill. A Roman bronze spoon was found on or near Scratchbury Camp in 1804, and a Roman urn was found in the surrounding area before 1856
Geography.
Scratchbury is on the edge of the chalk plateau of Salisbury Plain, and within the area of "Norton Bavant Chalk Downland Edge", as described by the "West Wiltshire Landscape Character Assessment". The hill has extensive views overlooking the Wylye valley to the south.
The Salisbury Plain chalk massif is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group; the landscape is underlain by a combination of Lower, Middle and Upper Chalk supporting shallow well drained calcareous silty soils over chalk on slopes and crests. Escarpments are often formed where layers of chalk have been compressed to form a fold, or where the chalk has been faulted, resulting in accelerated erosion along the line of the weakness.
For the Norton Bavant Chalk Downland Edge, the 'character' of this area encompasses three distinctive, steeply sloping hills (Middle Hill, Scratchbury Hill, and Cotley Hill), which form a distinct and somewhat isolated unit of Chalk Downland Edge. The hills are covered with long fields, which are predominantly arable, with occasional patches of rough remnant chalk grassland and scrub on the tops of the hills. Many chalk grassland slopes in England show the mark of centuries of grazing by sheep, the slopes bearing a stepped or striped appearance formed by a mixture of soil creep and sheep paths, and such erosion is visible on the slopes of Scratchbury Hill. Regular patches and belts of mixed woodland populate parts of the lower slopes. Imber military range perimeter paths run across the top of the hills, providing public access to the area.
Ecology.
Scratchbury is within in an area of unimproved grassland on the edge of Salisbury Plain, which is the largest remaining area of calcareous grassland in north-west Europe. The local area supports a rich and diverse grassland flora along with an important associated butterfly fauna, and this led to it being notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1951. Designated as "Scratchbury & Cotley Hills SSSI", the site encompasses a total of . The ecology and historical agricultural use of the site is such that regular grazing by sheep is required to maintain the balance of the flora, and to control the growth of shrubs.
The grassland is generally dominated by sheep's fescue ("Festuca ovina"), red fescue ("Festuca rubra"), and upright brome ("Bromus erectus"). There are also several varieties of herbs, characteristic to the Wiltshire downland, including for devil's bit scabious ("Succisa pratensis"), saw-wort ("Serratula tinctoria"), and chalk milkwort ("Polygala calcarea"). There are also many other native and site specific plants, including for orchids, meadow grasses, nettles, and other flora. On the steep slopes horseshoe vetch ("Hippocrepis comosa"), "Thymus", and "Asperula" is plentiful
Within the hillfort, a more mesotrophic grassland is present, most probably reflecting past agricultural use and improvement. There are also small areas of hawthorn ("Crataegus monogyna"), and elder ("Sambucus") scrub, particularly along the lower slopes of the downland and on the earthworks. These provide valuable shelter for invertebrates on an otherwise open and exposed site.
The site is of high entomological interest, with 29 varieties of resident breeding species of butterfly recorded. The horseshoe vetch ("Hippocrepis comosa") is locally plentiful and supports both the chalkhill blue ("Lysandra coridon") and the Adonis blue ("Lysandra bellargus") butterflies. Other butterfly species to be found on and around the site include for the Duke of Burgundy ("Hamearis lucina"), the grizzled skipper ("Pyrgus malvae"), the dark green fritillary ("Speyeria aglaja"), and the small blue ("Cupido minimus").
Other insect groups on the site are less well surveyed, but several rare species have been recorded, including for six species of weevil ("Curculionoidea"), eight species of plant bugs ("Hemiptera"), and two species of chrysomelid beetle, "Aphthona herbigrada" and "Mantura matthewsii"; both of which feed on the rock rose ("Helianthemum"). Day-flying moths recorded include for the wood tiger ("Parasemia plantaginis"), and the rare forester moth ("Jordanita globulariae"). Small mammals such as rabbits ("Oryctolagus cuniculus") and badgers ("Meles meles") are common to the site and the surrounding area.
Poetry.
The English poet and author Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), who lived nearby at Heytesbury House, wrote about Scratchbury Camp on a June day in 1942, capturing the ambience of the Wiltshire Downs on a summer's day, whilst touching on the pervasive military presence of that age and the historical timelessness of the area.
Location.
The site is located at , to the east of the town of Warminster and to the north of the village of Norton Bavant, in the county of Wiltshire. The hill has a summit of AOD. Nearby to the northwest lies "Middle Hill", and further northwest the hillfort of Battlesbury Camp, on Battlesbury Hill. To the southeast lies Cotley Hill. The site and surrounding downs are easily accessible by public footpath: the Wessex Ridgeway and the Imber Range perimeter path follow the northern ramparts of the fort, however care must be taken not to stray into the military firing ranges of Salisbury Plain immediately to the northeast. Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty lies to the south.


Italian and Swiss expedition

The Italian and Swiss expeditions of 1799 and 1800 were undertaken by a combined Austro-Russian army under overall command of the Russian General Alexander Suvorov against French forces in Piedmont, Lombardy and Switzerland as part of the Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars in general and the War of the Second Coalition in particular.
Italian campaign.
Although by 1799 he was nearly seventy years old, Suvorov was one of the most competent and experienced commanders of the age. He had won no fewer than sixty-three battles in the course of his long military career and had been appointed field marshal during the reign of Catherine the Great, though he was dismissed by Tsar Paul, her son and successor, after the old soldier had the audacity to criticise the new imperial "Infantry Code." He was only recalled after the Austrians specifically requested that he be appointed to command the combined Austro-Russian army to fight the French in Italy.
Taking command on 19 April, Suvorov moved his army westwards in a rapid march towards the Adda River; covering over in just eighteen days. On 27 April, he defeated Jean Victor Moreau at the Battle of Cassano. Soon afterward, Suvorov wrote to a Russian diplomat: "The Adda is a Rubicon, and we crossed it over the bodies of our enemies." On 29 April he entered Milan. Two weeks later, he moved on to Turin, having defeated Moreau yet again at Marengo. The king of Sardinia greeted him as a hero and conferred on him the rank of "Prince of the House of Savoy", among other honors.
From Naples, General MacDonald moved north to assist Moreau in June. Trapped between two armies, Suvorov took the bold decision to concentrate his whole force against MacDonald, beating the French at the Trebbia River, close to the spot of Hannibal's great victory in 218 BC. Marching back to the north, the indomitable soldier chased the whole French Army of Italy back towards the Riviera, taking the powerful fortress of Mantua on 28 July.
Moreau was relieved of command, to be replaced by Joubert. Pushing through the Bocchetta Pass, Joubert was defeated and killed in battle with Suvorov at Novi to the north of Genoa. Years later when Moreau, who was also present at Novi, was asked about Suvorov, he replied "What can you say of a general so resolute to a superhuman degree, and who would perish himself and let his army perish to the last man rather than retreat a single pace."
Swiss campaign.
In 1798, Paul I gave General Korsakov command of an expeditionary force of 30,000 men sent to Germany to join Austria in the fight against the French Republic. At the beginning of 1799, the force was diverted to drive the French out of Switzerland. Leaving Russia in May, Korsakov reached Stockach in 90 days. With 29,463 men, his command then marched to Zürich to join up with the 25,000-man corps of Austrian general Friedrich von Hotze, who had defeated the French army at the Battle of Winterthur on 27 May 1799. It was expected that Alexander Suvorov's army would join them from Italy after marching through the Alps, but terrain and enemy action held up Suvorov's advance. In the meantime, Korsakov waited near Zurich in a relaxed state of over-confidence. Taking full advantage of this, the French under André Masséna attacked on 25 September 1799, in the Second Battle of Zürich, winning a signal victory and forcing Korsakov to withdraw rapidly to Schaffhausen, despite almost no pursuit by the French and orders from Suvorov for him to hold his ground. Korsakov then took up a position on the east of the Rhine in the Dörflingen Camp between Schaffhausen and Constance, remaining there while Masséna was left free to deal with Suvorov. His left under Condé was driven from Constance on 7 October, on the same day he advanced from Büsingen against Schlatt, but was eventually driven back by Masséna, abandoning his hold on the left bank of the Rhine. He joined Suvorov's survivors at Lindau on 18 October, and was shortly after relieved of command.
Outcome.
Suvorov succeeded in rescuing his army and did not lose a single battle. He was promoted to the rank of Generalissimo, the fourth in all of Russian history, and was recalled to Saint Petersburg by the Emperor Paul.
It was as a consequence of this campaign that Suvorov wrote "Rules for the Conduct of Military Actions in the Mountains". He died in May 1800, having never fulfilled his greatest ambition – to meet Napoleon on the battlefield. A detailed account of the campaign was published in five volumes by Dmitry Milyutin in 1852–53.
Suvorov remains vividly remembered in the parts of the Swiss Alps his army passed through. Even though his famished troops plundered the countryside bare and his campaign was ultimately fruitless, the general is venerated as a liberator from the occupying French. Plaques adorn nearly every spot where he ate or slept in the Alps; chairs and beds he used are preserved as exhibits. A life-size equestrian statue was unveiled in 1999 on the St. Gotthard Pass.


List of years in Latvia

This is a list of years in Latvia.


Samum


Palmi Cathedral

Palmi Cathedral or the Church of Saint Nicholas (, "Chiesa di San Nicola") is the principal church of Palmi in Italy, and co-cathedral of the diocese of Oppido Mamertina-Palmi.
History.
There are no accurate reports on the age in which this parish was established. Between 1310 and 1311, is attested in Palmi a church of St. Nicholas was the only one in the village. The church of St. Nicholas is again reminded in some acts of 1532. The church, in 1586, stood clear of the city walls and inside there was located the "Brotherhood of St. Nicholas." In 1664 was founded instead a "Brotherhood in Purgatory."
In the 18th century, the clergy and the authorities of Palmi strove because the church was elevated to a collegiate church. On 25 August 1741 the Bishop of Miletus Marcello Filomarini, erected 's "illustrious collegiate Palmi", having obtained from Pope Benedict XIII papal bull.
The church, which was rebuilt in the period 1740–1743, was destroyed by the 1783 Calabrian earthquakes. In March 1786 the church was rebuilt.
The church was again damaged by an earthquake in 1894. Then it was provided once again in its reconstruction, but came the 1908 Messina earthquake which caused further serious damage to the structure that prejudiced use. Therefore, in 1909, proceeded to the demolition of the building.
The new and current collegiate church of St. Nicholas, was opened for worship in 1932 and was dedicated to the "Madonna of the Letter", the main protector of the city.
In the main façade, next to the church was completed in 1956 the Civic Tower with clock.
On 10 June 1979, pursuant to Decree "Quo aptius" of the Congregation for Bishops, which redrew the boundaries of the dioceses of Calabria and renamed the Diocese of Oppido Mamertina in the diocese of Oppido Mamertina-Palmi, the collegiate church of St. Nicholas assumed the title of co-cathedral the diocese.
Description.
The building is in Romanesque Revival architecture style. In the main facade is placed an artistic canopy and a porch and a small "portico" with four columns. On the left side there is the civic tower town which functions also as a bell tower of the church.
In its interior, with a Latin cross plan, there is a nave and two aisles on which there are two apses, respectively, to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Palmi, and to the Sacred Heart.
Above the cover are octagonal dome, without windows, and side of the church there is a chapel to officiate minor functions.
In the walls of the aisles you can see a painting of "St. Joseph with the Child Jesus" (1892), a painting of "St. Francis of Assisi in adoration of the Cross" (1932), a wooden statue of "St. Joseph with the Child Jesus" (18th century), a statue a wooden "Assumption of Mary" (18th century).
On the main altar, made of marble, is exposed a precious ancient icon of "Our Lady of the Letter" (1774).
In a chapel, built recently, is a shrine in which is placed the relic of the Holy Hair.


Christoph Hartknoch

Christoph Hartknoch (1644–1687) was a Prussian historian and educator.
Biography.
Hartknoch was born in Jablonken (Jabłonka) near Ortelsburg (Szczytno) in the Duchy of Prussia. In 1650 the family moved to Passenheim (Pasym) and there witnessed the brutality and horrors of the Tatar attacks, fighting for the Kingdom of Poland, in southern Prussia. His life was saved by his teacher, who shoved him out the window. Numerous villages in the region were destroyed, but Hartknoch made it to the ducal capital of Königsberg.
In Königsberg Hartknoch started studying theology at a Protestant institute. Soon after his parents died and he had to take on jobs. He became a private teacher in Kaunas and then a rector in the Protestant school in Vilnius. He soon returned to Königsberg where books and records interested him in history.
In 1679 Hartknoch published a book about Prussian history, "Old and New Prussia", first in Latin and then in German, as well as a history of the church in Prussia. The works are accompanied by descriptions and illustrations of people, history, and culture, as well as copper etching illustrations of towns. He received ethnographical information from the priest Matthäus Prätorius.
Hartknoch's work in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Kaunas, and Vilnius awoke his interest in their history. He wrote a comprehensive work on the Commonwealth spanning 300 years, the first of its kind.
In 1677 the city of Toruń (Thorn) invited Hartknoch to become director at its gymnasium, where he worked for ten years. Wearied by poverty, Hartknoch died and was buried there in 1687 at the age of 43.
Hartknoch's extensive scientific body of works contributed greatly to knowledge of Prussia, Pomerania, Samogitia, Courland, and Poland.
Nicolaus Copernicus portrait.
In his book covering the history of Prussia, Hartknoch features an illustration of Nicolaus Copernicus. Hartknoch wrote: "About the cities and castles. The famous mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus". The book was written later in Hartknoch's life, when he was director at the .


Old Grodno Castle

The Old Grodno Castle (also known as the "Grodno Upper Castle" and "Bathory's Castle") originated in the 11th century as the seat of a dynasty of Black Ruthenian rulers, descended from a younger son of Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev.
The 13th-century keep of the castle belonged to a type of Belarusian defensive tower represented by the Tower of Kamyanyets. Vytautas the Great added five Brick Gothic towers in 1391–98, transforming the castle into one of his main residences. Casimir IV Jagiellon also favoured Grodno over Lithuania's official capital. It was there that the Polish Crown was offered to him, and it was there that he died in 1492.
The next notable tenant of the castle was Stephen Báthory who envisaged Grodno as the capital of his vast empire in Eastern Europe. He engaged Scotto of Parma to replace the Vytautas Castle with his own residence in the advanced Renaissance taste of Northern Italy. After Bathory's death in Grodno in 1586, his pet project was abandoned. The citadel was devastated by the Russians during a Russo-Polish War in 1655.
The castle's revival was owing to Krzysztof Zygmunt Pac who raised sufficient funds to finance the refurbishing of the royal residence. The restored castle was selected by King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki of Poland as the location for every third Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The castle suffered extensive damage during the Great Northern War, forcing the royal court to move into the New Grodno Castle.
After the partitions of Poland the castle was given over to the Russian army and housed a barracks. The authorities of interwar Poland restored the chamber of the ambassadors and the Sejm Hall. At present the castle is classed as a museum.


Stefan Konstantin

Stefan Konstantin (; c. 1283–1322) was the King of Serbia from 29 October 1321 to the spring of 1322. The younger son of King Stefan Milutin (1282-1321), he initially held the appanage of Zeta (with Zahumlje and Travunia), and was the heir to the Serbian throne after his father had exiled his elder brother Stefan. After his father's death, a throne struggle broke out between Konstantin, Stefan and their cousin Vladislav II, evolving into the two years long civil war. He was killed in the battle fighting his brother, who went on to defeat Vladislav, too, and gained the Serbian throne as Stefan Uroš III, better known as Stefan Dečanski.
Life of Konstantin, who may even be canonized in Middle Ages, was obscured even in medieval chronicles while today is almost completely forgotten. Nearly all data on him are approximate and has to be extrapolated from other biographies. Apparently not much valued by his contemporaries, even by his own father who appointed him a successor only when had no other options, he met a cruel death by the hand of his own brother, losing the throne to which he lawfully succeeded.
Early life.
Regarding Konstantin's personal data, the only confirmed information is that he was the son of king Milutin. His mother, birth date or even the birth sequence between him and his brother and sisters are unknown. This is the result of the missing timetable for a string of five marriages king Milutin had, which is among the largest problems in the Serbian medieval biographical research, as Serbian medieval chronologies and genealogies make no mention neither of Milutin's wives nor his daughters. By traditional historiography, Milutin married five times: 1) Jelena, Serbian noblewoman; 2) Helena, Greek noblewoman; 3) Elizabeth, Hungarian princess; 4) Anna, Bulgarian princess; 5) Simonis, Byzantine princess.
Aleksa Ivić placed Konstantin as the youngest child of Milutin, while giving birth dates of c. 1274 for his brother Stefan Dečanski. This is in line with Stefan Dećanski's marriage date of 1299, or 1296 by the Bulgarian sources, to Bulgarian princess Teodora. Especially taking into the account that some sources claim he was already married previously to an unnamed woman, but the union was childless.
Vladimir Ćorović claimed that Konstantin was the older son, while he considered Stefan Dečanski a child of Milutin's fourth wife Anna, who married the king in 1284. As she was only 5 years old when married to Milutin, and was expelled by Milutin in 1299 when she was 19 or 20 years old, it is unlikely that she had (two) children with him, especially considering the dates from Stefan Dečanski's later life. According to the Serbian redaction of the "Troitsky Manuscript", Milutin, Anna and "their children" were mentioned, however, in the original writings she is mentioned as the stepmother to Milutin's children. Bulgarian historian and cleric from the 14th and 15th century, Gregory Tsamblak, was adamant that the royal couple had no children. This leaves Konstantin as the younger son of Milutin.
Ćorović also claims that Konstantin was Milutin's son from his first marriage, but as one of the reason why people sided with Stefan Dečanski during the war, he cited Stefan's fully Slavic origin, referring to his Bulgarian mother. However, Milutin's first wife, Jelena, was not only of Slavic, but of Serbian origin. This leaves Milutin's two foreign wives, Greek Helena and Hungarian Elizabeth, as possible mothers of Konstantin. Sometime in 1282 Milutin expelled his first wife Jelena and married Helena. He then expelled Helena, too, at the end of 1283, and married Elizabeth, who was expelled, too, before August 1284. Given these dates, Konstatin may be born in 1283 by Helena.
Based on his appearance on the fresco in the Gračanica Monastery, which was built from 1315 to 1321, Ječmenica concluded that Konstantin may be born in the final years of the 13th century, since he appears to be "some twenty years old" on the painting. This contradicts Konstantin's 1303 appointment as the administrator of Nevesinje. However it is in line with some modern historians who partially reversed the timetable of Milutin's marriages and corresponding, assigned motherhood of his children, which makes possible for Elizabeth to be Konstantin's mother, but also moves her marriage to the 1290's and prolongs it for years.
Heir.
As a prince, Konstantin held the "župa" (county) of Nevesinje from 1303 to 1306. As this area was part of Hum (or Zahumlje), he was also called the regent of Hum.
As it was common in Serbia at the time for older son and presumable heir ("Young King") to be given the administration over Zeta (modern Montenegro), with the accompanying style of the King of Zeta, Milutin gave the position to Stefan Dečanski. However, Stefan was unsatisfied with his prospects of inheriting the crown since the marriage with his mother was annulled, making him an illegitimate child. Also pushed by the local nobility, Stefan started the rebellion against his father in 1314 which was quickly quashed with Milutin personally heading the army. Stefan fled across the Bojana river but Milutin offered negotiations. Stefan accepted, but Milutin shackled him instead and ordered for Stefan to be blinded (which wasn't conducted properly due to the bribery) and expelled to Constantinople. Milutin then appointed Konstantin to administer Zeta.
Konstantin was declared King of Zeta and minted his own money in Shkodër. Silver coins represented Konstantin sitting on the throne had inscriptions "Dominus rex Constantinus" and "Sanctus Stefanus Scutari" on the obverse and reverse, respectively. He was also sent by his father in diplomatic missions. In October 1321, when Milutin died, Konstantin was in Constantinople, hiring additional military forces for the warfare with the Hungarians.
However, neither the historians, nor Milutin himself, apparently held no high regard for Konstantin. Though his father gave him Zeta to rule, he didn't declare him heir apparent right away. He seemingly had no better opinion on his other son, Stefan, as even during the time when both of his sons were in Serbia, Milutin was prospecting to appoint one of the Byzantine princes as his heir. His last mother-in-law, Byzantine empress consort Irene, mother of Milutin's another child bride Simonis, sent in time two of her sons to Milutin. Younger prince Demetrios refused the post as he disliked Serbia, and the attempt with the older prince, Theodore, also failed. On 12 March 1316, Milutin's older brother, king Stefan Dragutin, died. As per the power-sharing 1282 Deževa Agreement between the brothers, Dragutin's heir, Vladislav II, was to become the paramount king of Serbia and not only of the northern Realm of Stefan Dragutin, while Milutin will accept the vassal position to his nephew. Milutin had no intention of following the agreement. Not only that he didn't accept the kingship of Vladislav, he attacked new king's domain in the north and captured him.
Only after all this, when he was left without other possibilities (blind and expelled Stefan, failed attempts with brothers-in-law, possible pretenders from Dragutin's line), Milutin named Konstantin as his heir, and began to prepare him for succession. Naming happened sometime in 1317 or after, as Milutin mentions Konstantin as his heir in his endowment to the Bari Cathedral which included a silver altar with Konstantin's inscribed name. In his father's major endowment, the Gračanica Monastery, which was built in this period, Konstantin was portrayed twice. On the fresco which represents family tree of the dynasty, he was placed on his father's right side. He is also present on the fresco with his father and grandparents, Stefan Uroš I and Helen of Anjou. His brother Stefan is absent from the paintings.
After 7 years, under the influence of clergy and especially of Serbian archbishop Nikodim I, Milutin allowed Stefan Dečanski to return to Serbia from Constantinople in 1321. He gave him to administer the "župa" of Budimlja, but kept Stefan's oldest son, future emperor Stefan Dušan at his court. Stefan Dečanski's return didn't change anything in Konstantin's designation as the heir. Milutin was already old and ill and certain groups again influenced Stefan to rebel and overthrow his father, but this time Stefan refused. However, he used his father's illness to prepare for the time after Milutin's death, organizing a strong party of followers.
Kingship.
King Milutin died on 29 October 1321. Untrustworthy towards anyone, he didn't arrange the proper transition. Though naming Konstantin as his heir in public at least since 1319, he never actually issued any official decree confirming that or declared him as such in the state assembly, which prompted some historians to refer to Konstantin as the alleged heir. Danilo II, Serbian archbishop and one of the main medieval chroniclers, was the staunch supporter of Stefan Dečanski and wrote that Milutin left no official successor as he lost ability to speak due to his illness.
At the time of Milutin's death, Konstantin was in Constantinople, drafting the army of mercenaries. Stefan Dečanski, who was in Serbia, upon hearing the news of his father's death, took down the bandages from his eyes (which he kept for years, pretending to be blind) and declared that Saint Nicholas miraculously restored his sight. As blindness was one of the reasons he was excluded from the succession, Stefan now reclaimed his right to the throne. Using commotion which followed after the death of Milutin, his imprisoned nephew Vladislav fled and also restored his claim to the throne.
Konstantin returned from Constantinople and continued to mint coins, use the title of king and oppose other two claimants. Venetian chronicles from this period refer to him as "king" ("rex"). Stefan was more popular. He prepared himself well, he was a favorite of the church, his life was seen as an ordeal and martyrdom by the population who believed his miraculous healing, and he was of fully Slavic origin. Konstantin apparently failed to grasp and prevent both the Stefan's popularity and high regard he had in Serbian society. By the next year, the highest ranked members of the clergy officially turned back on Konstantin and archbishop Nikodim II crowned Stefan Dečanski on the Epiphany, 6 January 1322, in the Žiča monastery.
Civil war.
With Vladislav II, claiming the title since 12 March 1316, and Konstantin, succeeding to Milutin on 29 October 1321, Serbia now had three proclaimed kings, which was a situation that couldn't last for long. The first skirmishes began after Stefan's coronation. Stefan offered Konstantin the power-sharing agreement where Konstantin would "accept another dignified realm, as the second son". Though some historians use just the term "power share", it was obvious that what Stefan offered was not an equal, co-ruling status for Konstantin.
Konstantin declined Stefan's offer. He considered himself a rightful heir and seems that he didn't believe Stefan regained his vision, as he stated that "it doesn't suite for blind man to rule". Also, Konstantin thought he will prevail due to the army of foreign mercenaries he organized on his father's orders, starting with his visit to Constantinople in 1321. Some sources point to the possibility that Stefan offered to share the power cause he may be initially reluctant to use force, as they report that Konstantin actually "forced out" the warfare.
The war was described as "lasting long and fought severely". From the outside, Stefan was supported by the Byzantines, as during his exile in Constantinople he was sheltered by the emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and later, after he secured Serbian throne, he married Andronik's great-niece Maria. Vladislav was supported by the gentry in northern Serbia and by the king Charles I of Hungary. According to Serbian epic poetry, in simplified form, Konstantin was supported by the Bulgarians, Vladislav was a Hungarian candidate while Stefan Dečanski was supported by the Byzantines, but there is no evidence that Bulgarians held Konstantin's side. Actually, they indirectly helped Vladislav, which is why bishop Danilo (II), was sent to Veliko Tarnovo in Bulgaria to negotiate peace.
The final battle between the armies of Konstantin and Stefan occurred below the Zvečan fortress, in the Mitrovica field ("Dmitrovačko Polje" or "Mitrovičko Polje"), sometime in the spring of 1322. Stefan Dečanski bribed part of Konstantin's army, so some troops switched sides during the battle, abandoning Konstantin. All available sources agree that Konstantin was heavily defeated in the battle, not surviving it.
After defeating Konstantine, Stefan Dečanski was now able to focus on the northern throne contender, Vladislav II. Having much larger support than Konstantin (rulers of Hungary and Bosnia, local nobility), Vladislav proved out to be also a tougher opponent. The war continued for two more years, until the spring of 1324, when Vladislav was finally defeated. He fled to Hungary, while Stefan Dečanski became the sole ruler Serbia.
Death.
Exact date and circumstances of Konstantin's death are not known, just as those of his birth. Gregory Tsamblak and Serbian 17th-century "Pejatović Chronicle" claim he was killed in the battlefield. Other sources claim he was either captured or killed during the retreat of the remains of his army. That way, Konstantin was the first Nemanjić killed in battle since the Battle of Pantina, dated sometime in 1166-1168, when Tihomir Zavidović perished in fighting. Coincidentally, both battles were fought between two Nemanjić brothers and both took place at Zvečan.
A 1332 work, variously attributed to the Dominican Pseudo-Brocard, or to the Roman Catholic cleric Guillaume Adam, depicts Konstantin's more gruesome ending. Allegedly, Stefan ordered for captured Konstantin to be laid on the plank of wood, with his arms and thighs nailed to the wood. He was then sawed in half. Modern historians disregard such account of events, preferring the Camblak's account as more believable. Also, the entire chronicle has strong anti-Stefan sentiment while Adam was notorious for his negative attitude towards Serbs, calling them the "snake batch". This manner of death resembles the Biblical tale of the Crucifixion of Jesus, and as Stefan had no reason to make a martyr out of Konstantin, it is believed that Adam fabricated the story altogether.
However, several other variants of Konstantin's grisly death survived. Ragusan chronicler Mavro Orbini adopted Adam's account in his 1601 "Kingdom of the Slavs", but makes a point that it was actually Vladislav who captured and tortured Konstantin. According to the folk poetry, recorded by Vuk Karadžić, the mercenaries bribed by Stefan Dečanski were those who nailed him to the plank and sawed him in half, throwing the remains into the river (Ibar ?). Folk myths tell stories of Stefan beheading Konstantin, silver plating his skull into the cup and drinking wine from it.
Resting place of Konstantin is also unknown for sure. Old Serbian chronicles claim he was buried in Zvečan. There were two churches, dedicated to Saint Nicholas and Saint George. Archaeological surveys in the Church of Saint George showed that not only Konstantin, but no one was buried there. Close to Zvečan is the Banjska Monastery, the endowment and planned burial church of his father, king Milutin, so it is believed that Konstantin was buried there. In four of the chronicles, "holy relics" of Konstantin were mentioned, which indicated that, at some point, he was canonized and declared a saint.
Assessment and legacy.
Despite Milutin's final intention to groom Konstantin as his heir, and his willingness for military confrontation against Stefan Dečanski to keep the throne, historians described him as a "little known", "apparently a heir" and an anti-king even though he was a designated successor. He has also been labeled as not having any special treats and values, being a weak man and a person who didn't excel in anything. Danilo's Disciple and Continuators, scholars who continued chronological work of Danilo II, completely ignored the civil war and turmoil after Milutin's death.
Konstantin was mentioned in several Serbian medieval chronologies and genealogies ("rodoslov"): Koporinjski, Studenički, Cetinjski, Vrhobreznički, Senički. His name remains preserved at the altar in Bari, Italy, and his image remained on the frescoes in the Gračanica Monastery. However, in the large Nemanjić family tree fresco in the monastery of Visoki Dečani, built by his brother Stefan who defeated him, Konstantin is not present. Modern writings dealing with Konstantin include works "Comes Constantinus" ["Count Konstantin"] by Mihailo Dinić (1961), "Konstantin, sin kralja Milutina" ["Konstantin, son of king Milutin"] by Marica Malović-Đukić (1985), and "Nemanjići drugog reda" ["Members of the Nemanjić dynasty of the second order"] by Dejan Ječmenica (2018).
A ring from the Banjska Monastery, originating from the early 14th century, is kept in the National Museum in Belgrade. Until recently, it was thought the ring belonged to Stefan Dečanski's first wife, Teodora. Modern historians assigned the ring to Konstantin.
Konstantin provided long lists of Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian monarchs from the 11th century onward, as his father had done before him.
The Vasojevići, one of the Serbian Highland tribes of Montenegro, and their progenitor Vaso, were mentioned for the first time in a document found in an Ragusan archive, dated to 1444. According to the Vasojevići folklore, Vaso was a great-grandson of Stefan Konstantin. The family myth claims that Konstantin had a son, Stefan Vasoje, who in turn, had a son Stefan Konstantin I, also called Stevo Vasojević in folk epic poetry, who was killed on 15 June 1389 in the Battle of Kosovo. Stefan Konstantin I had five sons - Oto, Kraso, Ozro, Pipo and Vaso, founder of the clan. Given the importance of the Vasojevići, especially of their diaspora, and following the myth of their origin which exists only in oral tradition though, the historic and modern descendants of Stefan Konstantin would be rebellion leader Karađorđe, brothers footballers and co-founders of Galatasaray Milija and Pavle Bakić, politician Slobodan Milošević, model and actress Milla Jovovich or tennis player Jelena Janković.


2000 in Belgium

Events from the year 2000 in Belgium


Hospito

Hospito ("Ospitone") was a Christian chief of Barbagia ("dux Barbaricinorum") in Sardinia in the late sixth century. Gregory the Great, in a letter dated to 594, commended Hospito for his Christianity at a time when most of the Sardinians from Barbagia ("Barbaricini") were still pagans "living, all like irrational animals, ignorant of the truth of God and worshiping wood and stone."
Hospito confirmed a peace with the Byzantine "dux" Zabardas and consented to allow the missionaries Felix and Ciriaco to penetrate Barbagia.


First mass transport to Auschwitz concentration camp

The first mass transport of prisoners by Nazi Germany to Auschwitz Concentration Camp was organized in occupied Poland on 14 June 1940 during World War II. The transport departed from the southern Polish city of Tarnów, and consisted of 748 Poles. They were dubbed 'political prisoners' and members of the Polish resistance. Most were Catholics, since the mass deportations of Jews had not yet begun. All were sent to Auschwitz by the German "Sicherheitspolizei" Security Police. They were transported there from a regular prison in Tarnów, where they had been incarcerated as enemies of the Nazi regime. Numbers were tattooed on the prisoners' arms in the order of their arrival at Auschwitz. These inmates were assigned the numbers 31 through 758, with numbers 1 through 30 having been reserved for a group of German criminals, who were brought to Auschwitz from Sachsenhausen, on 20 May and became the first Auschwitz kapos.
Deportation history.
Dubbed political prisoners by Nazi Germans, in reality, many of them including school teachers, lawyers, and priests were caught at the Nazi-Soviet demarcation line trying to cross the border to get to France through Hungary. According to Tarnów historian Aleksandra Pietrzykowa, on the evening before the transport, the 728 Polish prisoners were rounded up based on a previously prepared list, and ordered to take a shower and to disinfect themselves in a public bath. They were then detained until the early hours of 14 June, when the whole group, escorted by the SS, were marched out of the prison and along the deserted Tarnów streets to the railway station. There, all were pushed into the waiting rail cars.
Camp survivor Eugeniusz Niedojadlo, who was one of the group prisoners, recalled later: "The day of our departure was hot and sunny. We were walking in fours, guarded by armed SS men. The inhabitants of Tarnów were ordered to stay in their homes, and we had no idea where we were going".
Niedojadlo described the sprawling group as looking like a giant snake, and it gave him the impression of cattle being led to a slaughterhouse. "The SS were constantly yelling at us, and we were sad and depressed. Even though the streets were empty, here and there I saw curious faces looking at us from behind curtains. At one moment, an unknown hand tossed a bunch of red flowers towards us, but an SS officer trampled on it."
Prison records and survivor testimonies.
Aleksandra Pietrzykowa wrote that 753 inmates were taken out of prison that day, but only 728 of them were interned at Auschwitz. According to Pietrzykowa: "In prison records, under the date June 13, 1940, a transport of 753 persons was mentioned. However, 25 persons less reached the camp. We have established that one person was released at the rail platform, just before departure of the train. According to the testimonies of other inmates — Jan Stojakowski (Auschwitz prisoner number 577) and Wladyslaw Pilat (Auschwitz prisoner number 330), the remaining 24 might have been prisoners from Stalowa Wola, who reached Auschwitz but for unknown reasons were brought back to Tarnów the next day. In Tarnów prison records, under the date June 15, 1940, there is a short entry: 'Transport Stalowa Wola, 24 persons'. We do not know what happened to these inmates and why they were transported back, if they were transported back at all."
The prisoner number 31, which opened the list of political prisoners of Auschwitz I, was given to Stanisław Ryniak, who was the first Polish prisoner in Auschwitz Ryniak, who was 24 years old in 1940, had been arrested by the Germans in his hometown of Sanok at the beginning of May and was accused of being a member of the Polish resistance. He was transported to Tarnów prison on 7 May, together with 18 Poles from Jarosław. (Ryniak survived Auschwitz and the aftermath of the Second World War; he died in Wrocław in 2004, aged 88.)
The prisoner number 243 was assigned to Jerzy Bielecki, a German-speaking Catholic Polish social worker who was 19 years old in 1940. He had been captured and arrested by the Gestapo while crossing the border with Hungary on 7 May 1940, "en route" to join the Polish Army in the West. He survived the ordeal for several years before managing to escape from the camp successfully in 1944, together with his Polish-Jewish girlfriend Cyla Cybulska, who was an inmate of Auschwitz II. (After the war Bielecki received the Righteous Among the Nations award.) He also co-founded and headed the postwar Christian Association of the Auschwitz Families.
The prisoner number 349 was assigned to the well-known Polish artist and Olympic skier Bronislaw Czech, who was captured in his hometown of Zakopane, also in May; he was killed in the camp four years later on 4 June 1944. The prisoner number 758, the last one of the transport, was assigned to Ignacy Plachta from Łódź. Plachta had been caught by the Gestapo in the southern town of Zagórz on 1 February 1940, while trying to escape to Hungary.
Upon arrival, the Poles lined up in five rows and were met by Shutzhaftlagerfuhrer Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, who announced: "You have not come here to a sanatorium, but to a German concentration camp and there is no other way out than through the chimney of the crematorium. If one does not like that they can throw themselves on the wire immediately. If there are Jews in the transport they are allowed to live no more than two weeks, priests one month and the others three months." However, the crematorium did not begin operation until 15 August 1940.
In spite of these dismal prospects, Aleksandra Pietrzykowa established that around 200 members of the first transport survived. Eugeniusz Niedojadlo, who spent almost five years in Auschwitz, said that members of the first transport tried to stick together throughout their internment. The Tarnów inmates also cooperated with other Polish inmates, from the nearby city of Rzeszów.
Today, the square in front of former public bath in Tarnów is called the Square of Auschwitz Inmates, and in 1975, a monument commemorating the departure of the first transport to Auschwitz was unveiled there.
Notable prisoners.
The following notable prisoners were on the transport:


Archduke Ferdinand Karl Viktor of Austria-Este

Ferdinand Karl Viktor (20 July 1821 – 15 December 1849) was Archduke of Austria-Este and Prince of Modena.
Biography.
Born in Modena, he was the second son of Francis IV of Modena and his niece-consort Maria Beatrice of Savoy. His paternal grandmother had been heiress to the Duchy of Modena, because her father Ercole III d'Este had no sons.
Ferdinand married Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria, daughter of Archduke Josef Anton of Austria and his third wife Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg on 4 December 1846 in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Elisabeth and Ferdinand had one daughter:
Ferdinand, who was a Feldmarschalleutnant (Austrian "two stars" general rank), died at Brno a few months later at the age of 28 from typhus. His widow remarried with Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria.
Ferdinand is the link in the Jacobite succession between his brother Francis V, Duke of Modena and his daughter Maria Theresa of Austria-Este.


History of Greek and Hellenistic Sicily

The History of Greek and Hellenistic Sicily () began with the foundation of the first colonies around the mid 8th century BC. The Greeks of Sicily were known as Siceliotes. Attempts were made to put the whole island under Greek rule, but these definitively ended around 276 BC with the departure of Pyrrhus of Epirus, who had managed to conquer the whole island except Carthaginian Lilybaeum. Shortly after this date the island fell into the hands of the Romans.
Territory.
Cities.
The Greek cities of Sicily organised themselves as "apoikìai" (newly-founded cities detached from their cities of origin and led by an oikistes), fruit of the second Greek colonisation.
The first greeks arose in eastern Sicily - in the 8th century BC the Chalcidian Greeks founded Zancle, Naxos, Leontinoi and Katane; in the south-east corner the Corinthians founded Syracuse and the Megareans Megara Hyblaea, while on the western coast the Cretans and Rhodians founded Gela in 689 BC, with which the first Greek colonisation of Sicily ended.
Populations.
Relations with other islanders.
The existing non-Greek inhabitants of the island were the Sicani, the Siculi, the Elimi and above all the Carthaginians. The Greeks' relations often ended in conflict but sometimes (and especially early on) were based on changing strategies. The colonists usually seized women from the existing inhabitants to marry with, which led to both hostile and friendly relations with those inhabitants. From a commercial point of view, the strategy was to place a nucleus of Greeks in an existing Siculan city, which would then focus on acquiring and trading goods and products - this even seems to have occurred with Phoenician cities on the island. The Phoenician capital of Mozia had no defences for almost two centuries - its walls were only built in the 6th century BC, covering the archaic necropoli whose tombs contained 7th century BC Greek ceramics.
This all shows that Graeco-Phoenician relations on the island were initially friendly and largely based on commerce. A community of Greeks definitely lived in Mozia since the accounts of the city's destruction by Dionysius I of Syracuse state that its Greek inhabitants sided with the Phoenicians in the last defence of the city and were thus slaughtered by Dionysius before he left the island.
A nucleus of Greeks, probably Chalcideans, seems to have settled at Grammichele (site of ancient Occhiolà, abandoned after the 1693 earthquake and usually identified with Echetla in the literary sources) and Morgantina in the mid 6th century BC. Existing scholarship argues that Sicily had been colonised by the Greeks as far as Enna by 500 BC. However, the Siculi soon found themselves in a similar position to the helots in ancient Sparta - they were not technically someone's property, but were indissolubly linked to the land. According to Herodotus they were named "killichirioi".
The pressure of the new Greek population pushed the existing Siculi and Sicani further and further into the island's interior - forced to abandon the coast, they often became a problem for the new colonies, with clashes over territory and later full revolts against the colonists.
History.
Origins.
Homeric "Thrinacia" (Θρινακίη from θρῖναξ "trident") is the island of Helios' cattle.
This was later identified with Sicily, and re-interpreted as "Trinakria" (Τρινακρία, from τρεῖς and ἄκραι, as "[island] with three headlands").
Thucydides writes that the first Greek colonies were founded by "aristoi" (exclusive aristocracies) after the internal struggles following the return from the Trojan War - however small the ship, one still needed money to build, equip and rig it. However, the first sites chosen indicated a commercial strategy - Messina, Naxos, Reggio, Catania and Syracuse were all ports on one of the most important trade routes of the era and became points from which to control it
The earliest Greek colonies in Sicily are all on its east coast, showing the importance of the trade route through the Straits of Messina. They were pre-dated by the first Greek colony of Magna Grecia, Cumae, founded around 750 BC on the coast of Campania. Cumae in turn post-dated an 'emporion' at Pithecusae (Lacco Ameno, Ischia). Fragments of Mycenean III A (1425-1300 BC) pottery have been found at Casamicciola-Castiglione on Ischia, giving evidence for settlements there at that time. Locally-made pottery and Mycenean I (1580-1400 BC) pottery has been found at settlements in Vivara on the neighbouring island of Procida - analysis shows that the latter originated on the island of Elba. Cumulatively this shows a sea route along and across the Straits since the Mycenean period, supplying mainland Greece with iron and other metals from Tuscany.
The "metropoleis" from which the Greek colonists came were usually also the source of the new cities' ("poleis") names. Once consolidated, the colonies also produced sub-colonies for military or commercial purposes - Akrai and Casmene, for example, probably originated as military outposts of Syracuse.
The first tyrants.
The 6th century BC proved a period of prosperity and population growth on Sicily, but also saw conflict both within the colonies and between them and the local populations. Some individuals profited from this and took power through despotic and brutal means and expansionist policies. In 570 BC Phalaris became tyrant of Akragas, followed by Cleander in Gela in 505 BC, succeeded by his brother Hippocrates. To secure his power, he conquered the rest of eastern Sicily, subduing Zancle (Messina), Naxos and Leontini, setting up tyrants there loyal to him but ultimately proving unable to conquer Syracuse. Hippocrates then concentrated his troops to march on Ibla (whose site is unknown), but died there and was succeeded by Gelon in 491 BC or 490 BC. After six years, Gelon conquered Syracuse without resistance (485 BC or 484 BC) and made it his capital, becoming its tyrant and leaving his brother Hiero to command Gela.
Gelon's rise to power reinforced the Greek-speaking presence on Sicily. The numbers of Siculi and Sicani were rising and so he fought a series of battles aimed at combating this perceived threat, turning Syracuse into a powerful city with an army and navy, repopulating it by moving people from Gela and adding some of the conquered Megareans. In only ten years Gelon became the richest and most powerful man in the Greek world and - through an alliance with Teron - took control of most of Greek-speaking Sicily other than Selinunte and Messina (then controlled by Anaxilas of Reggio).
Terillus of Himera and Anaxilas sought help from Carthage, but Gelon and Teron gathered all the Siceliot forces on Sicily for a decisive engagement at Himera in 480 BC, where they defeated and killed Hamilcar, burned his ships and sold the captured Carthaginian troops into slavery. The resulting peace treaty also imposed a heavy indemnity on the enemy and - according to Herodotus - forced them to renounce human sacrifice, especially of first-born sons at Tofet. On Gelon's death in 476 BC he was succeeded by his brother Hiero, who in the same year conquered Catania and Naxos, deported their inhabitants to Leontini and refounded Catania as 'Aitna', entrusting it to his son Deinomenes and repopulating it with settlers from the Peloponnesus. In 474 BC his fleet defeated an Etruscan one off Cumae, possibly to counter Etruscan expansion or possibly in response to a request from Cumae for assistance.
Democratic period (466-405 BC).
According to Diodorus Siculus, Trasibulus (Hiero's successor in Syracuse) and Thrasydaeus of Akragas were "violent murderers". Their cruelty seems to have provoked revolts which ended the first period of tyranny among the Greek colonies on Sicily, though Aristotle argues that their fall was mainly caused by internal struggles between powerful families. Trasideus was the first to fall, in his case to a coalition of Syracusan insurgents, Siculan troops and soldiers from Akragas, Gela, Selinunte and Himera.
Only Deinomenes remained in power in Aitna until a Siculan-Syracusan coalition forced its population to flee to the surrounding hills of Centuripe and Inessa (now Etna). Catania therefore re-assumed its former name and was repopulated again, this time with those exiled under Hiero and with Syracusan and Siculi colonists. Messina was freed from the tyranny of Anaxilas' sons around the same time.
In 452 BC a Hellenised Siculan called Ducetius, who had fought in the siege of Etna beside the Syracusans, led a vast Siculan league in revolt. Setting off from his birthplace of Mineo and destroying Inessa-Etna and Morgantina, he founded colonies of his own at strategic points to control the territory, including Palikè near the former sanctuary of the Palici. Around 450 BC he was heavily defeated by the Syracusans and forced into exile in Corinth, though he soon landed a small group of Peloponnesian Greeks back on Sicily and founded Kale Akte, where he remained until his death in 440 BC. In the following years Syracuse reconquered almost all the lands he had removed from the Greek sphere of influence.
The Peloponnesian War had broken out in mainland Greece in 431 BC, heavily involving the colonies on Sicily. In 427 BC groups of Siculi became involved again, this time in the war between Leontini and Syracuse. This also drew in Catania, Naxos and Camarina on Leontini's side and Himera and Gela on Syracuse's side. After three years, in 424 BC a peace treaty was signed under the patronage of the Syracusan Hermocrates, who wished to focus on the Athenian troops who had landed on the island and who left as a result of treaty. In 422 BC, a civil war in Leontini provided a fresh pretext for intervention in Syracuse. The city was razed to the ground and the victorious oligarchs moved to Syracuse.
The conflict also drew in western Sicily - in 416 BC Selinunte (with Syracusan support) declared war on Segesta (who had turned to Athens after Carthage refused to help). In 415 BC Athens sent Alcibiades with a fleet of 250 ships and 25,000 men to assist them, but this Sicilian expedition ended in disaster. Later assistance in 414 BC and 413 BC under Demosthenes was still unable to defeat the coalition which had gathered at Syracuse in the meantime. At the end of 413 BC the Athenians were routed, with 7,000 of their men captured and sent to the stone quarries, where most of them died. The rest were sold into slavery and Demosthenes and Nicias were tried. Syracuse celebrated victory, but this could not guarantee internal peace. Its government was led by one of its generals, Diocles of Syracuse, who put in place a series of reforms on the Athenian model and a code of laws. Such a policy was helped by Hermocrates' absence commanding a fleet sent to help Sparta.
In 410 BC Selinunte attacked Segesta. A small force of Carthaginian mercenaries came to help Segesta and the following year Hannibal Mago landed with another army, obliterating Selinunte and massacring its inhabitants. He then marched on Himera, where he met the Syracusan army under Diocles. After heavy losses the Syracusans retreated. The Imeresi also fled, but half of them were killed. Hannibal quickly returned to Carthage and demobbed his army. Hermocrates had in the meantime been dismissed from the Aegean fleet and returned with five ships and a small army of refugees and mercenaries, with which he settled in what remained of Selinunte and attacked Carthage's vassal cities. Syracuse fell into chaos, Diocles was exiled and Hermocrates was killed trying to resettle.
In spring 406 BC the Carthaginians returned with a large force, razing Akragas and looting its artworks. A young man named Dionysius was appointed supreme commander of Syracuse, which held out for seven months. Gela and then Kamarina fell, at which point Dionysius was able to sign a peace treaty delimiting Syracuse's and Carthage's spheres of influence on the island, leaving the Punic, Sicanian and Elymian cities in the latter. It also imposed a tribute to Carthage on Selinunte, Akragas, Himera, Gela and Camarina and forbade them to build city walls, but Leontini, Messina and the Siculi were freed and Dionysius was left in control of Syracuse. Thus ended the brief period of democracy. The period from 405 BC right up to the conquest by Rome would be marked by the rulers of Syracuse.
Dionysius I of Syracuse.
Dionysios I of Syracuse took power by stages and reigned over the whole of Sicily as far as Solunto, extending his influence as far as the bay of Taranto and into Etruscan territory. He attacked and destroyed the port of Pyrgi (now Santa Severa) and sacked Cerveteri in a 384 BC campaign. As early as 404 BC he renounced Syracuse's treaty with Carthage and began to take over several Siculan colonies, pushing as far as Enna. He then attacked and destroyed Naxos and conquered Catania, deporting its inhabitants. He strengthened his army, adopting new weapons such as catapults and building a powerful fleet by deforesting large areas of Etna.
He declared open war on Carthage in 398 BC. Erice surrendered and after a year's siege Motia was destroyed and its inhabitants slaughtered. In 396 BC the Carthaginians returned to Sicily in force, taking almost the whole island, destroying Messina and menacing Syracuse itself before a plague forced them to make peace with Dionysius, pay him a large indemnity and return to Carthage. Messina was repopulated and Dionysius fought with Carthage again, with varying degrees of success, until his death in 367 BC.
Around 387 BC Dionysius began to establish colonies on the Adriatic coast to obtain wheat from the Po valley without it having to cross Etruscan territory. He also agreed to populate the new colonies with his pro-democratic political opponents and let them set up democratic governments there. This marked the foundation of "Adrìa" (now Adria), "Ankón" (now Ancona), "Issa" (now Vis), "Dimos" (now Hvar), "Pharos" (now Stari Grad) and "Tragyrion" (now Traù).
Dionysius was succeeded by his son Dionysius the Younger, but he was less able than his father and aroused hostility from a faction led by Dion of Syracuse, the brother of his father's Syracusan wife. Dion was exiled in 367 BC but ten years later took 1,000 mercenaries to Minoa to request its assistance. He then marched on Syracuse, which quickly opened its gates and welcomed him, leading to a decade of struggles which drew in Leontini and the other cities and ended with Syracusan control of Sicily weakened. Syracuse was also convulsed by a series of murders, whilst Callipus became tyrant of Catania and Hicetas of Leontini. According to Plutarch, Plato was also caught up in this period.
Timoleon.
In 346 BC Dionysius the Younger returned to Syracuse, though sources on the period are fragmentary. Meanwhile Troina may have taken Leptines's power in Apollonia and Eugione, Mamercus was based in Catania, Nicodemus in Centuripe, Apolloniadas in Agirio, Hippon in Zancle and Andromacus in Taormina.
Political disorder led to a precarious balance. Exiled to Leontini, Iceta sought assistance from Corinth, which sent a small army under Timoleon, landing at Taormina in 344 BC and in six years taking the whole of Sicily and removing all the tyrants, almost all of whom were killed, except his friend Andromacus of Taormina. In 339 BC he routed the Carthaginians at the river Crimiso (possibly the river Caldo, a tributary of the S.Bartolomeo near Segesta) and seized immense amounts of booty. Later that year, old and possibly blind, he retired. According to Diodorus and Plutarch he had restored democracy to Syracuse, even if real power remained in the hands of the Council of Six Hundred. Syracuse and Sicily thus began a new period of prosperity and redevelopment, with Akragas, Gela, the hinterlands, Kamarina, Megara Hyblea, Segesta and Morgantina all flourishing again.
Hellenistic era.
Agathocles.
Timoleon's retirement from politics soon led to another period of instability, mainly marked by internal class conflict between the oligarchs and the people of Syracuse. Wars broke out between the cities, paving the way for the long reign of Agathocles from 317 BC. He played a major part in these wars. The long period of autonomy and self-government for the cities in mainland Greece and Sicily thus ended and the Hellenistic monarchies were born.
Agathocles seized power in Sicily with the aid of veterans from Morgantina and other cities in the interior during two days of popular revolts. According to Diodorus Siculus, 4,000 high-ranking people were killed and 6,000 more exiled. In the end Agathocles was elected sole commander with full powers. Like all demagogues of this period he promised the cancellation of debts and the division and distribution of land, promises which it seems from the limited sources that he kept. According to Polybius, the cruel actions attributed to him were limited to his early days and were solely directed at the oligarchic class and never towards the general population.
Sicily began to prosper again, though Agathocles' first decade was marked by conflicts with the oligarchies of Akragas, Gela and Messina, backed by Carthage which in 311 BC invaded Sicily again. Besieged in Syracuse, in mid-August 310 BC Agathocles entrusted the city's defence to his brother Antandros and escaped with 14,000 men and 60 ships to invade North Africa. He burned his ships after arriving and based himself in Tunis, directly threatening Carthage itself. Forced to send some of his force back from Sicily to defend his homeland, Hamilcar Barca suffered a humiliating defeat after which he was captured, tortured to death and beheaded, with his head sent to Agathocles in Africa. However, Agathocles did not have enough troops to launch an attack on Carthage and so allied himself with Alexander the Great's old officer Ofella, governor of Cyrenaica, who had 10,000 elephants and cavalry at his disposal. Agathocles then murdered Ofella for unknown reasons and took command of the extra forces himself, taking Utica, Hippon Akra and a major naval force with its shipyards and bases. He was still unable to take Carthage itself, however, and news of revolts on Sicily in 307 BC forced him to return there for a time. He then returned to Africa, but his depleted resources and his troops' low morale led him to sue for peace in 306 BC. The settlement left Carthage with Eraclea Minoa, Termini, Solunto, Selinunte and Segesta, but forced it to give up its expansionist aims on Sicily.
It was at this point that Agathocles adopted the Hellenistic-style title of king of Sicily, though this was mainly for a foreign audience, with his style of rule on Sicily remaining unchanged. He turned his ambitions east towards Italy and the outlying Greek islands, conquering Lefkada and Corcyra, the latter given as a dowry when he married off his daughter to Pyrrhus of Epirus. Agathocles then married for a third time, this time to a daughter of Ptolemy I. During his long reign Sicily prospered, as is confirmed by the archaeological record. He was murdered by a family rival in 289 BC, aged 72, but his death quickly led to anarchy and power struggles.
One of those power struggles was between the Syracusans and a group of Italic mercenaries known as the Mamertines. To convince the mercenaries to leave the city, the Syracusans offered them the port of Messina, which the mercenaries seized, massacring the men and enslaving the women and children. The mercenaries then began raids on the area and also attacked Gela and Camarina. In 282 BC, Phintias tyrant of Akragas took advantage of this and finally destroyed Gela and deported its population to Licata, which he rebuilt in pure Greek style with a city wall, temples and agora. Two years later Syracuse attacked and defeated Akragas, raiding the territory but also triggering a new Carthaginian invasion. At this point Pyrrhus of Epirus (fresh from his eponymous 'Pyrrhic victory' against the Romans at Taranto) replied to Sicilian Greek cities' appeal for assistance, landing at Taormina in 278 BC, welcomed by the tyrant Tyndareon. His large army and 200 ships succeeded in neutralising both the Carthaginian and Mamertine threats, but he was unable to take the Carthaginian stronghold at Lilibaeum and soon had to return to Italy.
Hiero II.
In 269 BC Hiero took power in Syracuse, made a treaty with the Carthaginians and launched a new attack on the Mamertines. However, Carthage was wary of letting Syracuse's power from growing too great and thus forbade Hiero from taking Messina. Hiero's next step was to proclaim himself king and he remained so until his death in 215 BC. He built a fortified palace on Ortygia and governed differently from previous sovereigns. From then on he pursued a non-expansionist policy, eschewing military adventures in favour of a focus on trade in the Mediterranean, especially with Ptolemaic Egypt. Concluding the Roman Republic would soon eclipse Carthage, he made a treaty with the Republic in 263 BC and remained faithful to it until his death, sparing his subjects the consequences of the First Punic War. In fact for some years Roman troops had severely damaged the cities in western Sicily.


Tasius

Tasius is the name given by Strabo to the king of the Rhoxolani, a Sarmatian tribal group. Around 100 BCE, Tasius led an invasion of Crimea in support of the Scythian warlord Palacus. He was defeated by the Pontian general Diophantus.