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Turris Babel
''Turris Babel'' (''The Tower of Babel'') was a 1679 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It was the last of his books published during his lifetime. Together with his earlier work '' Arca Noë'' (''Noah's Ark''), it represents Kircher's endeavour to show how modern science supported the Biblical narrative in the Book of Genesis. The work was also a broad synthesis of many of Kircher's ideas on architecture, language and religion. The book was dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and printed in Amsterdam by the cartographer and bookseller Johannes van Waesbergen. Book one: the generations between Noah and Nimrod In Book One, Kircher resumed the account he had begun in ''Arca Noë'' of the generations that came after Noah. He addressed the question of how, just 275 years after the Flood, Noah's great-grandson Nimrod could command such a large number of people to build the Tower. He demonstrated that, assuming each of Noah's sons had a son and a daughter each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lieven Cruyl - Prospectus Turris Babylonicae Ex Praescripto R
The House of Lieven ( lv, Līveni; russian: Ливен) is one of the oldest aristocratic families of Baltic Germans. History The family claims descent from Caupo of Turaida (Latvian, ''Kaupo''), the Livonian ''quasi rex'' who converted to Christianity in 1186, when Bishop Meinhard attempted to Christianize the region. The ''Livonian Chronicle of Henry'' tells that in the winter 1203–1204 Caupo went to Rome with Theoderich von Treyden, a Cistercian Monk who was later to become the founder of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and the first bishop of Estonia. They were received in Rome by Pope Innocent III who supported their plans to Christianize Livonia. According to feudal records, the Lieven ancestor Gerardus Līvo (1269) and his son Johannes (1296) entered service as vassals to the Archbishop of Rīga. One of Caupo's daughters married an ancestor of the barons, later Counts, of Ungern-Sternberg. Caupo's grandson Nicholas was the first to spell his name Lieven. Notable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colossus Of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes ( grc, ὁ Κολοσσὸς Ῥόδιος, ho Kolossòs Rhódios gr, Κολοσσός της Ρόδου, Kolossós tes Rhódou) was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes (city), Rhodes, on the Greek Rhodes, island of the same name, by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was constructed to celebrate the successful defence of Rhodes city against an attack by Demetrius I of Macedon, Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had besieged it for a year with a large army and navy. According to most contemporary descriptions, the Colossus stood approximately 70 cubits, or high – approximately the height of the modern Statue of Liberty from feet to crown – making it the tallest statue in the ancient world. It collapsed during the 226 BC Rhodes earthquake, earthquake of 226 BC, although parts of it were preserved. In accordance with a certain oracle, the Rhodians did not build it again. John Malal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1679 In Science
The year 1679 in science and technology involved some significant events. Botany * Establishment of Hortus Botanicus (Amsterdam). Mathematics * Samuel Morland publishes ''The Doctrine of Interest, both Simple & Compound'', probably the first tables produced with the aid of a calculating machine. Medicine * Great Plague of Vienna. * Franciscus Sylvius' ''Opera Medica'', published posthumously, recognizes scrofula and phthisis as forms of tuberculosis. Technology * Pierre-Paul Riquet excavates Malpas Tunnel on the Canal du Midi in Hérault, France, Europe's first navigable canal tunnel (165 m, concrete lined). Publications * Publication in Paris of the first of Edme Mariotte's ''Essays de physique'': ''De la végétation des plantes'', a pioneering discussion of plant physiology; and ''De la nature de l'air'', a statement of Boyle's law. * Publication by the Paris Observatory of the world's first national ephemeris almanac, the '' Connaissance des tems'', compiled by Jean Picard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Historicity Of The Bible
The historicity of the Bible is the question of the Bible's relationship to history—covering not just the Bible's acceptability as history but also the ability to understand the literary forms of biblical narrative. One can extend biblical historicity to the evaluation of whether or not the Christian New Testament is an accurate record of the historical Jesus and of the Apostolic Age. This tends to vary depending upon the opinion of the scholar. When studying the books of the Bible, scholars examine the historical context of passages, the importance ascribed to events by the authors, and the contrast between the descriptions of these events and other historical evidence. Being a collaborative work composed and redacted over the course of several centuries, the historicity of the Bible is not consistent throughout the entirety of its contents. According to theologian Thomas L. Thompson, a representative of the Copenhagen School, the archaeological record lends sparse and ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obsolete Scientific Theories
This list catalogs well-accepted theories in science and pre-scientific natural philosophy and natural history which have since been superseded by scientific theories. Many discarded explanations were once supported by a scientific consensus, but replaced after more empirical information became available that identified flaws and prompted new theories which better explain the available data. Pre-modern explanations originated before the scientific method, with varying degrees of empirical support. Some theories are discarded in their entirety, such as the replacement of the phlogiston theory by energy and thermodynamics. Some theories known to be incomplete or in some ways incorrect are still used. For example, Newtonian classical mechanics is accurate enough for practical calculations at everyday distances and velocities, and it is still taught in schools. The more complicated relativistic mechanics must be used for long distances and velocities nearing the speed of light, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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