The Nusayris in Medieval Syria

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Winter
Keyword(s):  
Normal Mode ◽  
Early Development ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Historical Sources

This chapter re-examines the early development of the ʻAlawi community and its situation in western Syria in the medieval period in the wider context of what might be termed Islamic provincial history. It starts from the premise that the conventional image of the “Nusayris” has largely been fashioned by elite historical sources whose discourse on nonorthodox groups is a priori negative but which, when read against the grain and compared with other sources, can yield a less essentializing, less conflicting account of the community's development. In particular, the chapter aims to show that the ʻAlawi faith was not the deviant, marginal phenomenon it has retrospectively been made out to be but, on the contrary, constituted, and was treated by the contemporary authorities as, a normal mode of rural religiosity in Syria.

The overlooked influence of personality, idiosyncrasy and eccentricity in corporate mergers and acquisitions

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Marshall Park ◽  
Anthony M. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Inductive Reasoning ◽  
Share Price ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Corporate Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Corporate Personality

Purpose Merger waves have typically been viewed through the prism of either corporate strategy or macro-economics. This paper aims to broaden debate about factors that cause – or are associated with – mergers/merger waves over a 120-year period. It ascribes “personalities” to six distinct waves and draws an overarching conclusion about how merger architects are viewed. Design/methodology/approach Databases and interviews are used to piece together detail about CEOs associated with six distinct and recognized merger-waves during a 120-year focal period. The study establishes and defends, a priori, principles for interrogating data to get a sense of each wave-era’s corporate personality/idiosyncrasy. For each era, two exemplar CEO-profiles are presented and – through inductive-reasoning – held out as representative. Findings Distinct personalities are associated with six merger waves. Each wave is given a summary anthropomorphic description which conveys a sense that it may be viewed as the non-rationale expression of aggregate and historically distinct CEO behavior within a circumscribed timeframe. Research limitations/implications The work’s key limitation – explicitly acknowledged – is that it amassed data/evidence from disparate historical sources. However, the authors have developed and defended principles for addressing this concern. Practical implications Improved investment analyses, in particular. The work prefigures formal establishment of a new variable-set impacting share-price prediction. Social implications The paper offers a perspective on how psychological/personality-related variables impact management decision-making, creating something of a bridge between mostly non-overlapping research disciplines. Originality/value The paper broadens debate about how and why merger waves occur. It removes the exclusive analysis of merger waves from the hands of economic historians and strategic management theorists.

Optimum exciter placement for normal mode force appropriation

1998 ◽  
Vol 212 (5) ◽  
pp. 325-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
J R Wright ◽  
P S Holmes ◽  
M J Desforges ◽  
J E Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Normal Mode ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Exhaustive Search ◽  
Test Structure ◽  
Effective Number ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Aircraft Structure

A method of predicting optimum exciter placement for normal mode testing using an a priori mathematical dynamic model of the test structure is presented and compared to other approaches. A genetic algorithm is used to perform the search for an optimum where the number of possible combinations is too large for an exhaustive search. The proposed methodology is also shown to provide an estimate of the effective number of modes in a given frequency range. The technique is demonstrated using a mathematical model of a benchmark rectangular perspex plate and the results validated experimentally. The technique is also applied to a model of a representative aircraft structure. Finally, an extension of this methodology, suitable for mid-test exciter optimization, is described.

scholarly journals Czeladź city gate and walls in light of archaeological research

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 379-388
Author(s):  
Alan Jaskot ◽  
Jacek Pierzak ◽  
Krzysztof Rak
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Compact Layer ◽  
City Wall ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
The Face ◽  
First Time ◽  
Face Side

Up until recently, Czeladź (Silesia, Poland) was generally believed to have been an “open” city, with no stone or brick fortifications. This belief persisted due to lack of historical sources from the period and insufficient archaeological research. In 2016, the authors of this article carried out archaeological investigations 70 m east of the Market Square. The investigations led to the discovery of two wall remains. The width of the first one was 1.40 m. The wall was built from stones of various sizes, hewn only on the face side. The wall was added to another wall, 0.60 m wide at the foundation; however, the second wall was sunk into a compact layer of marl and clay, which reinforced it from its inner side. It was over 0.80 m wide, 2.07 m long and was preserved up to a height of 0.47 m. Five layers of stone have survived. Two fragments of earthenware were discovered in the fill of this cut, dated to, respectively, between the 15th/16th centuries and the 16th century. A lime and sand mortar was used in the construction of both walls. This mortar is characterized by a grey and beige colouration and admixture of significant amounts of sand, limestone lumps, small brick fragments and charcoals. Such admixtures were used in the Medieval Period, and date the mortar to the 14th/15th century. Through architectural and cartographic analysis it can be said that these wall remains are remnants of an element of city fortifications, namely a city wall and a fragment of the eastern city gate. The opening of the presumed gate lies on the same axis as the exit from Rynkowa Street. The investigations provided further evidence for the fact that Czeladź had defensive walls. The research also proved, for the first time in source archaeological material, the existence of a city gate.

Notes on the dialect of the Āl Murra of eastern and southern Arabia

1986 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Ingham
Keyword(s):  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
Geographical Origin ◽  
Immigrant Workers ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Racial Origin ◽  
The North ◽  
Southern Arabia ◽  
North Western

It is widely held belief among bedouins that common linguistic characteristics point to a common genealogical origin. Bearing in mind the importance attached to racial origin amongst bedouins, it is not surprising that they should be keen observers of the dialect of their own and neighbouring tribes. My investigations of the bedouin dialects of the North and East of Arabia do indicate that a common geographical origin is often reflected in a uniform dialect. In this area many bedouin tribes seem to have left an original homeland in the west some 200 years ago, so that in the somewhat isolated conditions of bedouin life their dialect retains the characteristics of the speech of their homeland. A particularly striking case of this is the Rashāyida, a tribe which ‘Arab tradition allies to the Hutaim of north-western Arabia. At some time this tribe broke up and many of them moved east to become clients of the Muṭair. Many others however crossed by sea to the Sudan when they acquired new camels and resumed the nomadic way of life. At present, with the increasing prosperity of Saudi Arabia, many of these have returned as immigrant workers or have been repatriated. Their dialect, however, after a period of perhaps 150 years' separation, is still recognizably of the Najdī type. It would not be possible for dialectology to verify bedouin genealogies; nevertheless, it can be seen that it might support traditions about the earlier location of tribes, since historical sources are not very informative for the medieval period in the Arabian peninsula.

scholarly journals “Far more fair than black”: Othellos on the Chilean Stage

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (37) ◽  
pp. 139-170
Author(s):  
Paula Baldwin Lind
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Skin Colour ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Exact Date ◽  
Visual Dimension ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shakespearean Tragedy

This article reviews part of the stage history of Shakespeare’s Othello in Chile and, in particular, it focuses on two performances of the play: the first, in 1818, and the last one in 2012-2020. By comparing both productions, I aim to establish the exact date and theatrical context of the first Chilean staging of the Shakespearean tragedy using historical sources and English travellers’ records, as well as to explore how the representation of a Moor and of blackness onstage evolved both in its visual dimension — the choice of costumes and the use of blackface—, and in its racial connotations alongside deep social changes. During the nineteenth century Othello became one of the most popular plays in Chile, being performed eleven times in the period of 31 years, a success that also occurred in Spain between 1802 and 1833. The early development of Chilean theatre was very much influenced not only by the ideas of the Spaniards who arrived in the country, but also by the available Spanish translations of Shakespeare; therefore, I argue that the first performances of Othello as Other — different in origin and in skin colour — were characterised by an imitative style, since actors repeated onstage the biased image of Moors that Spaniards had brought to Chile. While the assessment of Othello and race is not new, this article contrasts in its scope, as I do not discuss the protagonist’s actual origin, but how the changes in Chilean social and cultural contexts can reshape and reconfigure the performance of blackness and turn it into a meaningful translation of the Shakespearean Moor that activates audiences’ awareness of racism and fears of miscegenation.

Parallel Planetary Astrologies in Medieval China and Inner Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-203
Author(s):  
David W. Pankenier
Keyword(s):  
Mutual Influence ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Early China ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Cultural Contact ◽  
Inner Asia ◽  
Sasanian Empire ◽  
Medieval China ◽  
History Of

Abstract Portentous clusters of the five visible planets are repeatedly implicated in historical sources in connection with dynastic transitions in early China. In the medieval period, which is the focus of this investigation, the History of the Three Kingdoms records how timely planetary portents during the decline of the Later Han dynasty (184–220 CE) were exploited as the celestial signs justifying usurpation and the founding of the (Cao-)Wei 曹魏 dynasty by Cao Pi 曹丕 (ca. 187–226). Half a millennium later, in mid-Tang 唐 dynasty, the impetus for the devastating rebellion of An Lushan 安祿山 (703–757) that nearly brought down the Tang can likewise be shown to have been strongly influenced by the historical precedents, and more immediately by a conjunction of all five visible planets that occurred in 750. That ominous astral omen, coupled with portentological speculations based on Han dynasty apocryphal texts, together with the parallels between An Lushan’s and Cao Cao’s 曹操 (155–220) careers, played a role in prompting An Lushan to attempt to overthrow the Tang. In Inner Asia, the founding of the Sasanian Empire in 224 CE in parallel with the Cao-Wei, and the emergence of a political astrology based on the periodicity of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions suggested the possibility of mutual influences in planetary astrology. However, incompatibility between the two astrological traditions may have militated against mutual influence on a theoretical level. In the absence of detailed information concerning the foundations of Sasanian planetary astrology, to all appearances, and notwithstanding extensive cultural contact, the imperial political astrologies of China and Inner Asia in the medieval period remained resistant to infiltration in either direction.

Reconsidering the tomb of Aulus Hirtius

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 145-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Gerding
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Point ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Historical Sources

Since its discovery, the tomb of Aulus Hirtius in Rome has been regarded as a firmly dated monument and, thus, constituted a widely used fixed point for those tracing the early development of Roman brick architecture. However, several peculiarities regarding the construction of the tomb and its inscriptions strongly indicate that the present dating, which is based on historical sources, may not be correct. In this note it is suggested by the author that the original tomb was destroyed and thoroughly remodelled in the early or mid-Augustan period. Some general implications of this regarding the introduction of brick architecture in Rome are also considered.

scholarly journals Some contemporary Ukrainian views on urbanonymic problem (pre-modern period)

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Linguistic Classification

Historians insist that names of places (urbanonyms) are historical sources. There were no description of the methodology and the methods of historical researching of urbanonyms. Though, some interesting publications with a lot of data on the theme in Ukraine have appeared during the last years. The scholar from Odesa (Ihor Hulianovych) published the paper about middle 19th century urbanonyms of the South Bessarabia’s towns (Ackerman, Ismail and Cilia). The author tried to use the linguistic classification of toponyms (by Natalia Podolskaya), but he described places names without this technique and ignoring facts of the historical topography. The conclusions to the article are some disappointing – the start and the finish are similar: the author concluded that the data show the same criteria he had a priori laid down to investigate places` names in three towns. Two papers (the article by Maria Takhtaulova and Liudmyla Savchenko and Maria Takhtaulova`s thesis) from Kharkiv are dedicated to main problems of the characteristics of a complex historical study of the cities` toponymy on the example of Kharkiv. The authors have done careful and deep analysis of the genesis and development of names in the territory of modern Kharkiv, but there is some lack of a systematic approach in these publications. There is no description how to use urbanonyms (places` names of town or city) as a historical source in these article and thesis. A review of these articles shows that scholars have to agree to consider such points: The research of the historical urbanonymy is impossible without the knowledge of historical topography 2. The doubled structure of each urbanonym (a proper noun + denotatum), allowed us to receipt a town`s proper names by their denotatums (topographic terms), more precisely by using items instead of proper noun classification. In sum, it causes the proposal to classify items and draw their hierarchical graph, which should show all manner of a town`s items (natural, manmade and demarcated) and connections of their levels. As well, common terminology needs to be developed.

The Christianization of Western Baetica

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeronimo Sanchez Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Medieval Period ◽  
Umayyad Caliphate

The province of Baetica, in present-day Spain, was one of the most important areas in the Roman Empire in terms of politics, economics, and culture. And in the late medieval period, it was the centre of a rich and powerful state, the Umayyad Caliphate. But the historical sources on the intervening years are limited, and we lack an accurate understanding of the evolution of the region. In recent years, however, archaeological research has begun to fill the gaps, and this book-built on more than a decade of fieldwork-provides an unprecedented overview of urban and rural development in the period.

scholarly journals НЕКРОПОЛЬ ФАНАГОРИИ – ПЕРВЫЕ РЕЗУЛЬТАТЫ РАДИОУГЛЕРОДНОГО ДАТИРОВАНИЯ

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Strokov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Historical Periods

In Russian archaeology radiocarbon dating is used in very rare cases when antiquities from historical periods are studied based on coin finds and historical sources which have their own historical chronology. However, this arrangement does not always work, as some graves do not contain items that can be dated to a narrow time span while a great number of graves often have no funerary offerings at all. The State Historical Museum in Moscow houses archaeological materials from the Phanagoria necropolis excavated in 1936. Phanagoria is is the largest city of the Classical period and the early medieval period (540 BC–10th century). The collection from the necropolis excavations has preserved organic carbon-containing finds from grave 21 (the wood served to make a coffin – juniper, and sea algae). These materials were selected for AMS-dating. The following results were obtained: wood: 342–420 calAD, sea algae – 132–241 calAD. Of particular interest is the impression of the coin of the Roman Emperor Valens (364–378) found in this grave. The AMS-date of the coffin wood fully confirms the traditional archaeological dating of the finds whereas the coin offers an opportunity to narrow down the timeline of the grave to several decades (375–420). The older age of sea algae is caused by a marine reservoir effect which must be taken into account during the verification of the radiocarbon age of the consumers the food intake of which probably included algae.

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