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Aspidochelone
According to the tradition of the ''Physiologus'' and medieval bestiary, bestiaries, the aspidochelone is a fabled sea creature, variously described as a large whale or vast sea turtle, and a giant sea monster with huge spines on the ridge of its back. No matter what form it is, it is always described as being so huge that it is often mistaken for a rocky island covered with sand dunes and vegetation. The name ''aspidochelone'' appears to be a compound word combining Greek language, Greek ''aspis'' (which means either "wikt:asp, asp" or "shield"), and ''chelone'', the turtle. It rises to the surface from the depths of the sea, and entices unwitting sailors with its island appearance to make landfall on its huge shell and then the whale is able to pull them under the ocean, ship and all the people, drowning them. It also emits a sweet smell that lures fish into its trap where it then devours them. In the moralistic allegory of the ''Physiologus'' and bestiary tradition, the aspidoche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Two Fishermen On An Aspidochelone, C
2 (two) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a Dualistic cosmology, duality, it has Religion, religious and Spirituality, spiritual significance in many Culture, cultures. Mathematics The number 2 is the second natural number after 1. Each natural number, including 2, is constructed by succession, that is, by adding 1 to the previous natural number. 2 is the smallest and the only even prime number, and the first Ramanujan prime. It is also the first superior highly composite number, and the first colossally abundant number. An integer is determined to be Parity (mathematics), even if it is Division (mathematics), divisible by two. When written in base 10, all Multiple (mathematics), multiples of 2 will end in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8; more generally, in any even base, even numbers will end with an even digit. A dig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Of Naples
Leo of Naples (floruit, fl. 950s), also called Leo the Archpriest (), was a diplomat and translator in the service of Dukes John III of Naples, John III and Marinus II of Naples, Marinus II of Duchy of Naples, Naples. He undertook a diplomatic mission to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, during the joint reign of Constantine VII and Romanus II between 945 and 959. During his time in the capital, he came across the ''Alexander Romance'', a collection of Greek language, Greek stories about Alexander the Great, and had a copy made for Theodora, the wife of John III. After Theodora's death, John commissioned Leo to translate the ''Romance'' into Latin. The date of Theodora's death is unknown, but she was still living in 951. John died in 968 or 969. All that is known of Leo comes from the prologue he wrote to this translation, in which he calls himself an ''archipresbyter''. Leo entitled his work ''Nativitas et victoria Alexandri Magni regis'' (''The Birth and Victori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A True Story
''A True Story'' (, ''Alēthē diēgēmata''; or ), also translated as ''True History'', is a long novella or short novel written in the second century AD by the Syrian author Lucian of Samosata. The novel is a satire of outlandish tales that had been reported in ancient sources, particularly those that presented fantastic or mythical events as if they were true. It is Lucian's best-known work. It is the earliest known work of fiction to include travel to outer space, alien lifeforms, and interplanetary warfare. It has been described as "the first known text that could be called science fiction". However, the work does not fit into typical literary genres: its multilayered plot and its characters have been interpreted as belonging to science fiction, fantasy, satire or parody, and have been the subjects of scholarly debate. Plot The novel begins with an explanation that the story is not at all "true", and that everything in it is a complete and utter lie. The narrative b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstition, religious practices, and belief in the paranormal. Although his native language was probably Syriac, all of his extant works are written entirely in ancient Greek (mostly in the Attic Greek dialect popular during the Second Sophistic period). Everything that is known about Lucian's life comes from his own writings, which are often difficult to interpret because of his extensive use of sarcasm. According to his oration ''The Dream'', he was the son of a lower middle class family from the city of Samosata along the banks of the Euphrates in the remote Roman province of Syria. As a young man, he was apprenticed to his uncle to become a sculptor, but, after a failed attempt at sculpting, he ran away to pursue an educati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History (Pliny)
The ''Natural History'' () is a Latin work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite the work's title, its subject area is not limited to what is today understood by natural history; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life". It is encyclopedic in scope, but its structure is not like that of a modern encyclopedia. It is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published. He published the first 10 books in AD 77, but had not made a final revision of the remainder at the time of Pliny the Elder#Death, his death during the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. The rest was published posthumously by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger. The work is divided into 37 books, organised into 10 volumes. These cover topics including astronomy, mathematics, geography, ethn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliny The Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic (''Natural History''), a comprehensive thirty-seven-volume work covering a vast array of topics on human knowledge and the natural world, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field. Among Pliny's greatest works was the twenty-volume ''Bella Germaniae'' ("The History of the German Wars"), which is Lost literary work, no longer extant. ''Bella Germaniae'', which began where Aufidius Bassus' ''Libri Belli Germanici'' ("The War with the Germans") left off, was used as a source by other prominent Roman historians, including Plutarch, Tacitus, and Suetonius. Tacitus may have used ''Bella Ger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonah
Jonah the son of Amittai or Jonas ( , ) is a Jewish prophet from Gath-hepher in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE according to the Hebrew Bible. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, one of the minor prophets, which details his reluctance in delivering the judgment of God to the city of Nineveh (near present-day Mosul) in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. After he is swallowed by a large sea creature () and then released, he returns to the divine mission. In Judaism, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of repentance in Judaism, the ability to repent to God for forgiveness. In the New Testament of Christianity, Jesus calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the Pharisees "the sign of Jonah" when referring to his resurrection. Early Christian interpreters viewed Jonah as a ''type'' of Jesus. Jonah in Islam is regarded as a prophet and the narrative of Jonah appears in a surah of the Quran named after him, Yūnus. Many modern Bibl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commentary On The Hexameron
The ''Commentary on the Hexameron'' of Pseudo-Eustathius is an anonymous commentary on the ''Genesis'' creation narrative written in Greek between 375 and 500 AD. More than 26 medieval manuscripts exist containing it, all of which give Eustathius of Antioch as the author. The work contains rather more material than a typical commentary on creation, including historical material down to the time of Alexander the Great, all excerpted from earlier Christian writers. Consequently, it has been given the Latin title ''Liber chronicorum'' ('book of chronicles'). The ''Commentary'' includes extracts from the lost writings of Alexander Polyhistor, and the author appears to have had direct access to copies of Polyhistor. It is also a useful early witness to the ''Physiologus''. That it could not have been written by Eustathius of Antioch, who was deposed in 330, is clear from the material it draws from the ''Homilies on the Hexameron'' of Basil the Great, delivered around 370. In add ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Remora
The remora (), sometimes called suckerfish or sharksucker, is any of a family (Echeneidae) of ray-finned fish in the order Carangiformes. Depending on species, they grow to long. Their distinctive first dorsal fins take the form of a modified oval, sucker-like organ with slat-like structures that open and close to create suction and take a firm hold against the skin of larger marine animals. The disk is made up of stout, flexible membranes that can be raised and lowered to generate suction. By sliding backward, the remora can increase the suction, or it can release itself by swimming forward. Remoras sometimes attach to small boats, and have been observed attaching to divers as well. They swim well on their own, with a sinuous, or curved, motion. Evolution Remoras are thought to be most closely related to the cobia and the dolphinfish, two other elongate members of the suborder Carangoidei. Together, they are thought to comprise the superfamily Echeneoidea. In some treatm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tannin (monster)
Tannin ( ''tannīn''; ''tannīnā'' plural: ''tannīnē''; ', ultimately from Akkadian language, Akkadian 𒆗𒉌𒈾 ''dannina'') or Tunnanu (Ugaritic: 𐎚𐎐𐎐 ''tnn'', likely vocalized ''tunnanu'') was a sea monster in Ancient Canaanite religion, Canaanite and Jewish faith, Hebrew mythology used as a symbol of chaos (cosmogony), chaos and evil. Canaanite mythology Tannin appears in the Baal Cycle as one of the servants of Yam (god), Yam () defeated by Baal, Baʿal () or bound by his sister, Anat. He is usually depicted as snake, serpentine, possibly with a double tail. Hebrew mythology The ''tanninim'' () also appear in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis,. Book of Exodus, Exodus, Book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Psalms, Book of Job, Job, Book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Book of Isaiah, Isaiah, and Book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah. They are explicitly listed among the creatures created by Elohim, God on the Genesis creation narrative#Fifth day, fifth day of the Genesis creation narr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hexaemeron (Basil Of Caesarea)
The ''Hexaemeron'' of Basil of Caesarea (d. 379) is a fourth-century Greek commentary on the Genesis creation narrative (or a '' Hexaemeron''). It is the first known work in this genre by a Christian, following Jewish predecessors of the genre like Philo of Alexandria's '' De opificio mundi'' and a now lost work by Aristobulus of Alexandria. Basil's Hexaemeron was composed over the course of nine homilies on the topic of the six days of creation, moving line by line through Genesis 1:1–26. His Hexaemeron originated as a lecture series that he delivered to the congregation of Caesarea Maritima over the course of three days in the year 378 AD. The audience was likely a group of "average" Christians, as opposed to fellow Christian intellectuals or a group that he would have considered to have been spiritually advanced. Influences In his homilies on the Hexaemeron, Basil covers a wide variety of subjects: the preexistence of matter and eternity of the world, the purpose of the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great (330 – 1 or 2 January 379) was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370 until his death in 379. He was an influential theologian who supported the Nicene Creed and opposed the heresies of the early Christian church such as Arianism and Apollinarianism. In addition to his work as a theologian, Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. Basil established guidelines for monastic life which focus on community life, liturgical prayer, and manual labor. Together with Pachomius, he is remembered as a father of communal monasticism in Eastern Christianity. He is considered a saint by the traditions of both Eastern and Western Christianity. Basil, together with his brother Gregory of Nyssa and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus, are collectively referred to as the Cappadocian Fathers. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches have given him, tog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
