title: South Park: Post Covid

text: In Stan and Kyle's absence, Token, Craig, Tweek, Wendy, Jimmy, and Clyde try searching for Kenny's data themselves. They attempt to contact Victor Chouce, Kenny's only surviving associate, but find that he is institutionalized. Clyde refuses to be vaccinated, preventing the group from visiting the asylum. They discover Kenny's secret laboratory in the school and learn that he was attempting to perfect time travel to prevent the pandemic from happening.


title: South Park: Post Covid

text: Stan, Kyle, and Cartman visit the morgue and retrieve Kenny's flash drive from his rectum. They reunite with their friends at the school and discover on the drive a video of Kenny's time travel experiment, in which his colleague reveals that he faulted Stan, Kyle, and Cartman for letting the pandemic drive them apart, indirectly causing the dystopian future. Because Kenny was not wearing a mask, a malfunction occurs which kills all the scientists. Kenny briefly disappears, returning after having contracted COVID-19 in the process. Reflecting on their childhood, Stan and Kyle vow to finish Kenny's work. Cartman also volunteers at first, out of fear for his family. However, he flees with them, not wanting the future to be changed. Meanwhile, Randy finds a small sprout of marijuana and vows to protect it. At the asylum, it is revealed that "Chouce" is a mispronunciation of "Chaos", suggesting him to be Butters Stotch.


title: South Park: Post Covid

text: On August 5, 2021, Comedy Central announced that Parker and Stone had signed a $900 million deal for extending the series to 30 seasons through 2027 and 14 feature films, exclusive to the Paramount+ streaming platform owned and operated by Comedy Central's parent company, ViacomCBS. Two films were confirmed to be released at the end of 2021.


title: South Park: Post Covid

text: South Park Studios, the production company for the series, closed when the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States began in March 2020, forcing the crew to work remotely. Stone stated that the film is a made-for-TV film, and was not on a theatrical budget, an experiment he explained the production sought to continue, because "We're at where a lot of people are at, which is the future kind of sucks. We would like to get back to where each week we can do something totally different."


title: South Park: Post Covid

text: The episode's depiction of the future as a dystopia overrun by consumerism, geisha video billboards and flying cars is a reference to "Blade Runner". The movie also has references to "The Godfather Part II" and "Beverly Hills Cop".


title: South Park: Post Covid

text: Liam Hoofe of Flickering Myth said of the film "In the end, "South Park: Post Covid" feels like it is setting the table for a more interesting feature a little later down the road. The movie/TV special spends most of its runtime introducing us to the new world that the group now inhabits. It has some really nice satirical touches and a lot of the Covid-related jokes land well."


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The Praetorian Guard (Latin: "cohortēs praetōriae") was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials (senators and procurators) and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor and then proclaim his successor as the new "caesar" of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In the period of the Roman Republic (509–27 BC) the Praetorian Guard originated as bodyguards for Roman generals. The first historical record of the praetorians is as bodyguards for the Scipio family, ca. 275 BC. Generals with (command authority of an army) also held public office, either as a magistrate or as a promagistrate, each was provided with lictors to protect the person of the office-holder. In practice, the offices of Roman consul and of proconsul each had twelve lictors, whilst the offices of praetor and of propraetor each had six lictors. In absence of an assigned, permanent personal bodyguard, senior field officers safeguarded themselves with temporary bodyguard units of selected soldiers. In Hispania Citerior, during the Siege of Numantia (134–133 BC), General Scipio Aemilianus safeguarded himself with a troop of 500 soldiers against the sorties of siege warfare aimed at killing Roman field commanders.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: At the end of 40 BC, two of the three co-rulers who were the Second Triumvirate, Octavian and Mark Antony, had Praetorian Guards. Octavian installed his praetorians within the , the religious and legal boundary of Rome; the first occasion when troops were permanently garrisoned in Rome proper. In the Orient, Antony commanded three cohorts; in 32 BC, Antony issued coins in honouring his Praetorian Guard. According to the historian Orosius, Octavian commanded five cohorts at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC; and, in the aftermath of Roman civil war, the victorious Octavian then merged his forces with the forces of Antony as symbolic of their political reunification. Later, as Augustus, the first Roman emperor (27 BC–AD 14), Octavian retained the Praetorians as his imperial bodyguard. In the longer campaigns of the Roman army of the late Republic, the personal bodyguard unit was the norm for a commander in the field. At camp, the , a cohort of praetorians guarding the commander, was posted near the , the tent of the commander.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The legionaries known as the Praetorian Guard were first hand-picked veterans of the Roman army who served as bodyguards to the emperor. First established by Augustus, members of the Guard accompanied him on active campaign, protecting the civic administrations and rule of law imposed by the Senate and the emperor. The Praetorian Guard was ultimately dissolved by Emperor Constantine I in the 4th century. They were distinct from the Imperial German Bodyguard which provided close personal protection for the early Roman emperors. They benefited from several advantages via their close proximity with the emperor: the Praetorians were the only ones admitted while bearing arms in the center of sacred Rome, the .


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Their mandatory service was shorter in duration, for instance: 12 years with the Praetorians instead of 16 years in the legions starting year 13 BC, then carried to, respectively, 16 to 20 years in year 5 BC according to Tacitus. Their pay was higher than that of a legionary. Under Nero, the pay of a Praetorian was three and a half times that of a legionary, augmented by prime additions of , granted by each new emperor. This additional pay was the equivalent of several years of pay and was often repeated at important events of the empire or events that touched the imperial family: birthdays, births and marriages. Major monetary distributions or food subsidies renewed and compensated the fidelity of the Praetorians following each failed particular attempted plot (such as that of Messalina against Claudius in AD 48 or Pisco against Nero in AD 65). The Praetorians received substantially higher pay than other Roman soldiers in any of the legions, on a system known as , or by pay-and-a-half. So if the legionaries received 250 denariingrus, the guards received 375 per annum. Domitian and Septimius Severus increased the (payment) to 1,500 denarii per year, distributed in January, May and September.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Feared and dreaded by the population and by the Roman Senate, the Praetorians received no sympathy from the Roman people. A famous poem by Juvenal recalls the nail left in his foot by the sandal of a Praetorian rushing by him. "Praetorian" has a pejorative sense in French, recalling the often troubling role of the Praetorian of antiquity.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In ancient Rome, "praetors" were either civic or military leaders. The praetorians were initially elite guards for military praetors, under the republic. The early Praetorian Guard differed greatly from that in later times, which came to be a vital force in the power politics of Rome. While Augustus understood the need to have a protector in the maelstrom of Rome, he was careful to uphold the democratic veneer of his regime. Thus, he allowed only nine cohorts to be formed, each originally consisting of 500 men. He then increased them to 1,000 men each but allowed three units to be kept on duty at any given time in the capital. A small number of detached cavalry units () of 30 men each were also organized. While they patrolled inconspicuously in the palace and major buildings, the others were stationed in the towns surrounding Rome. This system was not radically changed with the appointment by Augustus in 2 BC of two Praetorian prefects, Quintus Ostorius Scapula and Publius Salvius Aper, although organization and command were enhanced. Tacitus reports that the number of cohorts was increased to twelve from nine in AD 47. In AD 69 it was briefly increased to sixteen cohorts by Vitellius, but Vespasian quickly reduced it again to nine.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In Rome, their principal duty was to mount the Guard at the house of Augustus on the Palatine, where the centuries and the turmae of the cohort in service mounted the guard outside the emperor's palace (the interior guard of the palace was mounted by the Imperial German Bodyguard, often also referred to as "Batavi", and the Augusti, a sort of military police which were found in the general staff headquarters of the Roman Army). Every afternoon, the would receive the password from the emperor personally. The command of this cohort was assumed directly by the emperor and not by the Praetorian prefect. After the construction of the Praetorian camp in 23 BC, there was another similar serving tribune placed in the Praetorian camp accordingly. Their functions included, among many, the escort of the emperor and the members of the imperial family, and if necessary to act as a sort of anti-riot police. Certain Empresses exclusively commanded their own Praetorian Guard.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: According to Tacitus, in the year 23 BC, there were nine Praetorian cohorts (4500 men, the equivalent of a legion) to maintain peace in Italy; three were stationed in Rome, and the others, nearby.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: An inscription recently discovered suggests that, towards the end of the reign of Augustus, the number of cohorts increased to 12 during a brief period. This inscription referred to one man who was the tribune of two successive cohorts: the eleventh cohort, apparently at the end of the reign of Augustus, and the fourth at the beginning of the reign of Tiberius. According to Tacitus, there were only nine cohorts in 23 AD. The three urban cohorts, which were numbered consecutively after the Praetorian cohorts, were removed near the end of the reign of Augustus; it seemed probable that the last three Praetorian cohorts were simply renamed as urban cohorts.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The first intervention of the Praetorians on a battlefield since the wars of the end of the Republic took place during the "mutinies of Pannonia" and the "mutinies of Germania". On the death of Augustus in AD 14, his successor Tiberius was confronted by mutinies in the two armies of the "Rhine" and "Pannonia", who were protesting about their conditions of service, in comparison with the Praetorians. The forces of Pannonia were dealt with by Drusus Julius Caesar, son of Tiberius (not to be confused with Nero Claudius Drusus, brother of Tiberius), accompanied by two Praetorian cohorts, the Praetorian Cavalry, and Imperial German Bodyguards. The mutiny in Germania was repressed by the nephew and designated heir of Tiberius, Germanicus, who later led legions and detachments of the Guard in a two-year campaign in Germania, and succeeded in recovering two of the three legionary eagles which had been lost at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: It was under Tiberius that Sejanus rose in power and was among the first prefects to exploit his position to pursue his own ambitions. He concentrated under his command all the Praetorian cohorts in the new camp. Sejanus held the title of prefect jointly with his father, under Augustus, but became sole prefect in AD 15. He used that position to render himself essential to the new emperor Tiberius, who was unable to persuade the Senate to share the responsibility of governing the Empire. Sejanus, however, alienated Drusus, son of Tiberius, and when the heir to the throne, Germanicus, died in AD 19, he was worried that Drusus would become the new emperor. Accordingly, he poisoned Drusus with the help of the latter's wife, and then immediately launched a ruthless elimination program against all competitors, persuading Tiberius to make him his heir apparent. He almost succeeded, but his plot was discovered and revealed in AD 31 and he was subsequently killed. Emperor Tiberius used for this purpose the which were not under the control of Sejanus.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In AD 37 Caligula became emperor with the support of Naevius Sutorius Macro, Sejanus' successor as prefect of the Praetorian Guard. Under Caligula, whose reign lasted until AD 41, the overall strength of the Guard increased from 9 to 12 Praetorian cohorts.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In year 41, it was disgust and hostility of a praetorian tribune, named Cassius Chaerea – whom Caligula teased without mercy due to his squeaky voice – which led to the assassination of the emperor by officers of the guard. While the Imperial German Bodyguard sacked all in a search to apprehend the murderers, the Senate proclaimed the restoration of a Republic. The Praetorians, who were pillaging the Palace, discovered Claudius, uncle of Caligula, hidden behind a curtain. Needing an emperor to justify their own existence, they brought him forth to the Praetorian camp and proclaimed him emperor. He is the first emperor proclaimed by the Praetorian Guard and compensated the guard with a prime bonus worth five years their salary. The Praetorians accompanied Emperor Claudius to Britain in 43 AD.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: When Claudius was poisoned, the Guard transferred their allegiance to Nero through the influence of his Praetorian prefect Sextus Afranius Burrus, who exercised a beneficial influence on the new emperor during the first eight years of his reign (Burrus died in 62 AD). Officers of the Guard, including one of the two successors of Burrus as the Praetorian prefect, participated in Piso's conspiracy in year 65. The other Praetorian prefect, Tigellinus, headed the suppression of the conspiracy, and the Guard was compensated with a bonus of 500 denarii for each man.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In AD 68, the new colleague of Tigellinus, Nymphidius Sabinus, managed to have the Praetorian Guard abandon Nero in favor of the contender Galba. Nymphidius Sabinus had promised 7500 denarii per man, but Galba refused to pay that amount because he stated "It is my habit to recruit soldiers and not buy them". This permitted his rival Otho to bribe 23 Speculatores of the Praetorian Guard to proclaim him emperor. Despite the opposition of the cohorts in service in the palace, Galba and his designated successor, the young Piso, were lynched on January 15.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: After supporting Otho against a third contender Vitellius, the Praetorians were restrained following defeat and their centurions executed. They were replaced by 16 cohorts recruited from the legionnaires and auxiliaries loyal to Vitellius, almost 16,000 men. These ex-Praetorians then aided Vespasian, the fourth Emperor, leading the attack against the Praetorian camp.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Under the Flavians, the Praetorians formed 9 new cohorts, of which Titus, son of the emperor Vespasian, became the prefect. Vespasian returned the effective strength of each unit to five hundred men. He also cancelled the guard service of the Praetorians at the entry to the emperor's palace, but retained guards within the palace itself.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Under Vespasian's second son, Domitian, the number of cohorts was increased to 10, and the Praetorian Guard participated in fighting in Germania and on the Danube against the Dacians. It was in the course of these actions that the prefect Cornelius Fuscus was defeated and killed in 86.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Following assassination of Domitian in 96 the Praetorians demanded the execution of their prefect, Titus Petronius Secundus, who had been implicated in the murder.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: At the death of Nerva, at the beginning of 98, the Guard supported Trajan, commander of the Army of the Rhine, as new emperor. He executed the remaining Praetorian prefect and his partisans. Trajan returned to Rome from the Rhine, probably accompanied by the new unit of . The Praetorian Guard had participated in the two Dacian Wars of Trajan (Dacian Wars 101–102 and 105–106). The Praetorian Guard served in the last campaign of Trajan against the Parthians of 113–117.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: During the 2nd century, the Praetorian Guard accompanied Lucius Verus in the Oriental War Campaign of 161–166 AD, as well as accompanying Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in his northern campaigns between 169–175 and 178–180. Two prefects were killed during these expeditions.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: With the accession of Commodus, in 180, the Praetorian Guard returned to Rome. Tigidius Perennis (AD 182–185) and freedman Marcus Aurelius Cleander (AD 186–190) exercised considerable influence on the emperor. Perennis was killed by a delegation of 1500 persons of Britain which came forth to complain about his interference in the affairs of the province (a delegation of Lanciarii of the 3 legions of Britain). Cleander abused his influence to nominate and dismiss prefects.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In 188, Cleander obtained the joint command of the Guard with the two prefects. Cleander ordered a massacre of civilians carried by the which led to an arranged battle with the Urban Cohorts.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Commodus fell victim to a conspiracy directed by his Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus in 192. The new emperor Pertinax, who took part in the conspiracy, paid the Praetorians a premium of 3,000 denarii; however he was assassinated three months later, on March 28 193, by a group of Guards. The Praetorians then put the empire up to auction and Didius Julianus bought the title of emperor. However the armies of the Danube chose instead the governor of Pannonia Superior, Septimius Severus, who besieged Rome and tricked the Praetorians when they came out unarmed. The Praetorian Guard was dissolved and replaced by men transferred from his own army.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The new Guard of Septimius Severus made their mark against his rival Clodius Albinus at the Battle of Lyon in 197, and accompanied the emperor to the Orient from 197 to 202, then to Britannia from 208 until his death at York in 211.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, lost favour with his troops by assassinating his own brother and co-emperor, Geta, immediately after his succession. He also created problems by trying to recreate a Macedonian phalanx witnessed previously in the Roman Army. Finally, in 217, while on campaign in the Orient, he was assassinated at the instigation of his prefect Macrinus.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: After the elimination of the latter, the Praetorians opposed the new emperor Elagabalus, priest of the oriental cult of Elagabal, and replaced him by his 13-year-old cousin Severus Alexander in 222.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In this period the position of Praetorian prefect in Italy came increasingly to resemble a general administrative post, and there was a tendency to appoint jurists such as Papinian, who occupied the post from 203 until his elimination and execution at the ascent of Caracalla. Under Severus Alexander the Praetorian prefecture was held by the lawyer Ulpian until his assassination by the Praetorian Guard in the presence of the emperor himself.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In the spring of 238, under Maximinus Thrax, the bulk of the Praetorian Guard was employed on active service. Defended by only a small residual garrison, the Praetorian camp was attacked by a civilian crowd acting in support of senators and Gordian emperors in revolt against Maximinus Thrax. The failure of Maximinus Thrax to win the civil war against the contenders Gordian I and Gordian II led to his death at the hands of his own troops, including the Praetorians. The senatorial candidates for the throne, Pupienus and Balbinus, recalled the Praetorian Guard to Rome, only to find themselves under attack by the Praetorians. Both were killed on July 29 238 and Gordian III triumphed.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: After 238, literary and epigraphic sources dry up, and information on the Praetorian Guard becomes rare. In 249, the Praetorians assassinated Philippus II, son of the emperor Philip the Arab. In 272, in the reign of the emperor Aurelian, they took part in an expedition against Palmyra. In 284, Diocletian reduced the status of the Praetorians; they were no longer to be part of palace life, as Diocletian lived in Nicomedia, some 60 miles (100 km) from Byzantium in Asia Minor. Two new corps, the Ioviani and Herculiani (named after the gods Jove, or Jupiter, and Hercules, associated with the senior and junior emperor), replaced the Praetorians as the personal protectors of the emperors, a practice that remained intact with the Tetrarchy. In 297 they were in Africa with Maximian. By the time Diocletian retired on May 1, 305, their seems to have housed only a minor garrison of Rome.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: During the early 4th century, "Caesar" Flavius Valerius Severus attempted to disband the Praetorian Guard on the orders of Galerius. In response, the Praetorians turned to Maxentius, the son of the retired emperor Maximian, and proclaimed him their emperor on 28 October 306. By 312, however, Constantine the Great marched on Rome with an army in order to eliminate Maxentius and gain control of the Western Roman Empire, resulting in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. Ultimately, Constantine's army achieved a decisive victory against the Praetorians, whose emperor was killed during the fighting. With the death of Maxentius, Constantine definitively disbanded the remnants of the Praetorian Guard. The remaining soldiers were sent out to various corners of the empire, and the was dismantled in a grand gesture inaugurating a new age in Roman history and ending that of the Praetorians.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: While campaigning, the Praetorians were the equal of any formation in the Roman army. On the death of Augustus in 14 AD, his successor, Tiberius, was faced with mutinies among both the Rhine and Pannonian legions. According to Tacitus, the Pannonian forces were dealt with by Tiberius' son Drusus, accompanied by two Praetorian cohorts, the Praetorian cavalry and some of the German bodyguard. The German mutiny was put down by Tiberius' nephew and adopted son Germanicus, his intended heir, who then led the legions and detachments of the Guard in an invasion of Germany over the next two years. The Guard saw much action in the Year of the Four Emperors in 69, fighting well for Otho at the first battle of Bedriacum. Under Domitian and Trajan, the guard took part in wars from Dacia to Mesopotamia, while with Marcus Aurelius, years were spent on the Danubian frontier during the Marcomannic Wars. Throughout the 3rd century, the Praetorians assisted the emperors in various campaigns.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The Praetorian Guard influenced and intervened in the imperial succession to name the new , which was a political decision that the unarmed Senate accepted, ratified, and proclaimed to the people of Rome. After the death of Sejanus, who was sacrificed for the (imperial gift) promised by Tiberius, the Praetorians became exceptionally ambitious in their influence upon the politics of the Roman Empire. Either by volition or for a price, the Praetorian Guard would assassinate an emperor, bully the Praetorian prefects, or attack the Roman populace. In AD 41, conspirators from the senatorial class and from the Guard killed Emperor Caligula, his wife, and their daughter. Afterwards, the Praetorians installed Caligula's uncle Claudius upon the imperial throne of Rome, and challenged the Senate to oppose the Praetorian decision.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In AD 69, the Year of the Four Emperors, after assassinating the Emperor Galba, because he did not offer them a , the Praetorians gave their allegiance to Otho, whom they named as the new of Rome. To ensure the loyalty of the Praetorian Guard, Emperor Otho granted the Praetorians the right to appoint their own prefects. After defeating Otho, Vitellius disbanded the Praetorians and established a new Guard composed of sixteen cohorts. In his war against Vitellius, Vespasian relied upon the disgruntled cohorts dismissed by Emperor Vitellius, and, as Emperor Vespasian, he reduced the Praetorian Guard to nine cohorts and ensured their political loyalty by appointing his son, Titus, as prefect of the Praetorians.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Despite their political power, the Praetorian Guard had no formal role in governing the Roman Empire. Often after an outrageous act of violence, revenge by the new ruler was forthcoming. In 193, Didius Julianus purchased the Empire from the Guard for a vast sum, when the Guard auctioned it off after killing Pertinax. Later that year Septimius Severus marched into Rome, disbanded the Guard and started a new formation from his own Pannonian legions. Unruly mobs in Rome often fought with the Praetorians in vicious street battles during Maximinus Thrax's reign.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In 271, Aurelian sailed east to destroy the power of Palmyra, Syria, with a force of legionary detachments, Praetorian cohorts, and other cavalry units, and easily defeated the Palmyrenes. This led to the orthodox view that Diocletian and his colleagues evolved the (the field escort of the emperors). The included field units that used a selection process and command structure modeled after the old Praetorian cohorts, but it was not of uniform composition and was much larger than a Praetorian cohort.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Starting in the year 2 BC, the Praetorian prefect was the commanding officer of the Praetorian Guard (previously each cohort was independent and under the orders of a tribune of equestrian rank). This role (chief of all troops stationed in Rome), was in practice a key position of the Roman polity.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: From Vespasian onwards the Praetorian prefecture was always held by an equestrian of the order. ("Equestrians" were traditionally that class of citizens who could equip themselves to serve in the Roman Army on horseback).


title: Praetorian Guard

text: From the year 2 BC, the cohorts were under the control of two prefectures; however cohorts continued to be organized independently, each commanded by a tribune. Tribunes had as immediate subordinates ordinary Centurions, all of equal rank except for the , the first and prime of all centurions of the Praetorian Cohorts, who commanded also the 300 , and with the exception of his second, the "princeps castrorum".


title: Praetorian Guard

text: From the second century the Praetorian prefect oversaw not only the Praetorian Cohorts but also the rest of the garrison of Rome, including the ("urban cohorts") and the , but not the "Vigiles" cohorts.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Following the dissolution of the Praetorian Cohorts by the emperor Constantine after he defeated them at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, the role of the Praetorian prefect in the Empire became purely administrative, ruling large territories () comprising Roman dioceses (geographical subdivisions of the Roman Empire) in the name of the Emperor.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The Praetorian Cohorts were designated as (cavalry) "Turmae" (troops) with centuries formed of infantry, initially of 500 men each.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: In order not to alienate the population of Rome, while conserving Republican civilian traditions, the Praetorians did not wear their armor while in the heart of the city. Instead they often wore a formal toga, which distinguished them from civilians but remained in a respectable civilian attire, the mark of a Roman citizen. Augustus, conscious of risking the only military force present in the city, often avoided concentrating them and imposed this dress code.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: From the reign of Tiberius, their camp was situated on the Quirinal Hill, outside Rome. In 26 AD, Sejanus, Praetorian prefect, and the favorite of emperor Tiberius, united the Urban Cohorts with nine Praetorian Cohorts, dispersed at that time throughout Italy, in one large camp situated beyond the Servian Wall, on the Esquiline Hill, the .


title: Praetorian Guard

text: For the 2nd century, calculations from lists of significant demobilisations suggest an increase in size to nearly 1,500 men per cohort (perhaps a doubling of 800 (since Vespasian), probably organized in 20 centuries) under Commodus in year (187–188) or under Septimius Severus (193–211), which matches the probable numbers of effectives for Urban Cohorts during the time of Cassius Dio. These figures suggest an overall size for the Guard of 4,500–6,000 men under Augustus, 12,800 under Vitellius, 7,200 under Vespasian, 8,000 from Domitian until Commodus or Septimius Severus, and 15,000 later on.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: At the beginning of the 2nd century, Italians made up 89% of the Praetorian Guard. Under Septimius Severus, recruitment evolved to authorize the inclusion of legionaries of the Roman army, as well as of the battle hardened "Army of the Danube". Severus stationed his supporters with him in Rome, and the Praetorian Guards remained loyal to his choices.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Initially each cohort included, as for a Roman legion, a cavalry detachment; this should not be confused with the who appeared under the emperor Trajan. The Praetorian could become a cavalryman () after almost five years service in the infantry. These Praetorians remained listed in their Centuries of origin, but operated in a of 30 men each commanded by an .


title: Praetorian Guard

text: There was probably one of cavalry for two centuries of infantry. Hence, three per cohorts of the "Augustan period", five per cohort in 100 CE–200 CE, and ten per cohort after 200 CE, with a (flag) as emblem for each .


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The were cavalrymen assigned to the same tasks as the of the legions and the auxiliary units (messengers in charge of transmitting intelligence, and clandestine agents).


title: Praetorian Guard

text: About 300 in total (30 per cohort), they formed a unit under the orders of the senior Centurion, the . Selected for their impressive physique, they were used by the Emperor for clandestine operations and tasks such as arrests, imprisonment, and executions.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: One of their roles was to accompany the emperor on his foreign campaign journeys (a role which would later be handled by the ). Claudius was in the habit of surrounding himself with when attending dinners.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The close security protection detail of Galba, of Otho and the dynastic line of the Flavians appear to have been formed of (who replaced the Imperial German Bodyguard disbanded by Galba).


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Following the assassination of emperor Domitian, his successor Nerva was placed under the protection of Trajan, to counter possible revenge attempts and mutinies. Trajan was commander of the most important army of the time, that of the Army of Germania, and he nominated him as his heir. Accordingly, and following such an act, Trajan, aiming to reinforce his security detail in relation to the who had remained loyal to Domitian, replaced them as close protection security detail with the (modelled on the of a provincial governor, a post held by Trajan). The some 300 were reassigned by Trajan to the corps of Praetorian cohorts.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: They were distinguished by a special (but unknown) style of boots, the (according to Suetonius) and they received special honorific diplomas in bronze at demobilization. They had their own Equestrian instructors ().


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Originally, the Praetorian Guard was recruited from the populations of central Italy (Etruria, Umbria and Latium according to Tacitus). Recruits were between 15 and 32 years of age, compared to legionary recruits who ranged from 18 to 23 years of age. According to Cassius Dio, during the first two centuries AD and before the reform of Septimius Severus, the Praetorians were exclusively limited to Italy, Spain (Roman province), Macedonia and Noricum (current Austria).


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Under the reign of Vitellius, and starting from Septimius Severus, men were transferred from the Urban Vigiles, Urban cohorts, and the various legions. This recent method and manner of recruitment at the corps of the legions became the normal procedure to recruit in the 3rd century after Septimius Severus dealt with the undisciplined Praetorians who assassinated Pertinax in 193, and replaced them with men from his own Danube legions.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: At that time, the Praetorians represented the best soldiers from the legions (principally from Illyria). They were a group of elite of soldiers starting from the 3rd century, and not a category of socially privileged soldiers (such as the Italians at the time of Augustus). The Italians formed the base of the recruitment of the , a new legion created and stationed in Italy.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: To be admitted to the Guard, a man had to be in good physical condition, have a good moral character, and come from a respectable family. In addition, he had to make use of all sorts of patronages available to him in order to obtain letters of recommendations from important leading figures in society. Once past the recruitment procedure he was designated as , and assigned as a (soldier) to one of the centuries of a cohort. After two years, if he attracted the attention of his superiors by influence or merit, he could attain the post of (similar to corporal), perhaps as a commis (junior chief) at general headquarters or as a technician. This promotion exempted him from daily chores. After another two years he could be promoted to , with a double salary, in charge of delivering messages () or as an assistant centurion () or standard bearer () at the corps of the century; or, if literate and numerate, he could join the administrative staff of the prefect.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Only a few soldiers could attain the rank of ; however those that did, during the course of their service, were designated by the emperor. This designation allowed them to be promoted to technical administrative posts, or instructors in Rome, or to a century in a legion, and accordingly extend their career. Certain could at the end of their career be promoted to Centurion in the Guard; this would be the peak of his career. Anyone ambitious for further promotion would need to transfer to a legion.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The Military tribunes () at the head of the cohorts were Roman cavalrymen. In contrast to many superior cadres of the Army, who originated from the Equestrian Order, these tribunes started their career in the ranks of the Guard and were promoted from the ranks in the hierarchy. Next after becoming Centurions, they had to serve for a period of one year as superior centurions in one or several legions before achieving the status of (the highest ranked Centurion in a legion). Upon return to Rome, they occupied successively the positions of Tribunes of the Vigiles, Tribune of the Urban Cohort and finally Tribune of the Guard.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Other leading paths towards the tribunate were possible, including service entirely made in the legions, attaining the rank of before departing to Rome. Nevertheless, all tribunes were combat veterans with extensive military experience. Each tribune served in Rome for one year, following which, a certain number of the men would retire.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: A few of them, ranking placement at the top of the hierarchy, could obtain a second term as and advance towards the superior echelons of the equestrian career, possibly becoming the Praetorian prefect.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The majority of the prefects, however, were ordinary men of the equestrian rank by birth. The men who attained the command of the Guard following year 2 BC were equites with an elevated seniority, classifying right behind the prefect of Egypt. Starting from Vespasian, whose son, Titus was himself a Praetorian prefect, they were ranked first.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The Praetorian Guard, like all legionnaires, disposed of various equipment to execute different missions. More particularly as bodyguard, escort or reserve military force, they housed adaptable equipment for each function.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: For heavy packed combat infantry lines (Triplex Acies System), they mounted helmets, armor (Lorica segmentata, Lorica hamata, Lorica squamata specially in the 2nd and 3rd centuries), heavy colorful shields (scuta), heavy javelins (pila), and later even long spears and lighter javelins (hasta, lancea).


title: Praetorian Guard

text: Praetorian Guard helmets included tall Galea with elaborate detail worked into the metal. Shields were ovoid and more robust compared with the regular rectangular shape sometimes used by the legions. Each legion had its own emblem displayed on its Scutum (shield) and the Praetorian Guard were probably the only unit to include additional insignia on their shields. Each cohort had their own version of Praetorian insignia. Praetorian Guard units could wear lion skin capes and their colours were so decorated with awards, that the men had difficulty in carrying them on long marches.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: For escorts, the oval shields and lances replaced the scuta and pila. Missions in Rome at the heart of the city in principle were forbidden to soldiers, so they wore a toga.


title: Praetorian Guard

text: The Praetorian Guard, like all legionaries, shared similar insignia, mainly on their shields. Praetorian Guard shields included wings and thunderbolts, referring to Jupiter, and also uniquely included scorpions, stars and crescents.


title: National Film Awards

text: The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.


title: National Film Awards

text: Every year, a national panel appointed by the government selects the winning entry, and the award ceremony is held in New Delhi, where the President of India presents the awards. This is followed by the inauguration of the National Film Festival, where award-winning films are screened for the public. Declared for films produced in the previous year across the country, they hold the distinction of awarding merit to the best of Indian cinema overall, as well as presenting awards for the best films in each region and language of the country.


title: National Film Awards

text: The Awards were first presented in 1954. The Government of India conceived the ceremony to honor films made across India, on a national scale, to encourage the furthering of Indian art and culture. Since 1973, the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals administers the ceremony along with other major film events in India annually.


title: National Film Awards

text: The National Film Awards are presented in two main categories: Feature Films and Non-Feature Films. The juries are appointed by the Directorate of Film Festivals in India. Neither the Government nor the Directorate has influence over which films are selected for consideration and which films ultimately win awards. There are strict criteria as to whether a film is eligible for consideration by the jury panels. Over 100 films made across the country are entered in each category (Feature and Non-Feature) for the awards and are deemed eligible each year.


title: National Film Awards

text: A list of rules is presented every year in a document of regulations known as the National Film Award Regulations. The criteria for eligibility contain many clauses. Among them, there is a direct requirement for the makers of a film, and particularly the director, to be Indian nationals. Films entering the competition should be produced in India, and in the case of co-production involving a foreign entity, there are as many as six conditions that should be fulfilled in order for the film to qualify. According to the criteria, in order to be eligible for consideration by the jury, a film should be certified by the Central Board of Film Certification between 1 January and 31 December. Whether a film is considered a feature film or a non-feature film shall be decided by the Feature Film jury. The eligibility list includes a section of rules determining which films shall not be eligible for entry in the competition.


title: National Film Awards

text: The Awards are categorized into three sections; Feature Films, Non-Feature Films, and Best Writing on Cinema. With each section having its individual aims, Feature Film and Non-Feature Film sections aim at encouraging the production of films of aesthetic and technical excellence and social relevance, contributing to the understanding and appreciation of cultures of different regions of the country in cinematic form, thereby promoting unity and integrity of the nation. The Best Writing on Cinema section aims to encourage the study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and dissemination of information and critical appreciation of the art form through the publication of various books, articles, reviews, newspaper coverage, and studies.


title: National Film Awards

text: In addition, a lifetime achievement award, named after the father of Indian cinema Dadasaheb Phalke, is awarded to a film personality for the outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema.


title: National Film Awards

text: All the award winners are awarded a Medallion, a cash prize, and a certificate of merit. Six categories from the Feature Films section, two from the Non-Feature Films and Best Writing on Cinema sections each have been made eligible for "Swarna Kamal" (Golden Lotus Award), and the rest of the categories for "Rajat Kamal" (Silver Lotus Award).


title: National Film Awards

text: Best Feature Film in 17 of the 22 languages specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India:


title: National Film Awards

text: Best Feature Film in each of the languages other than those specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India:


title: Meditations

text: Meditations () is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from AD 161 to 180, recording his private notes to himself and ideas on Stoic philosophy.


title: Meditations

text: Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the "Meditations" in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. Some of it was written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia, because internal notes tell us that the first book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron) and the second book was written at Carnuntum.


title: Meditations

text: It is unlikely that Marcus Aurelius ever intended the writings to be published. The work has no official title, so "Meditations" is one of several titles commonly assigned to the collection. These writings take the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs.


title: Meditations

text: The "Meditations" is divided into 12 books that chronicle different periods of Aurelius' life. Each book is not in chronological order and it was written for no one but himself. The style of writing that permeates the text is one that is simplified, straightforward, and perhaps reflecting Aurelius' Stoic perspective.


title: Meditations

text: A central theme to "Meditations" is the importance of analyzing one's judgment of self and others and developing a cosmic perspective:You have the power to strip away many superfluous troubles located wholly in your judgment, and to possess a large room for yourself embracing in thought the whole cosmos, to consider everlasting time, to think of the rapid change in the parts of each thing, of how short it is from birth until dissolution, and how the void before birth and that after dissolution are equally infinite. Aurelius advocates finding one's place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time. Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as "Being a good man."


title: Meditations

text: His Stoic ideas often involve avoiding indulgence in sensory affections, a skill which will free a man from the pains and pleasures of the material world. He claims that the only way a man can be harmed by others is to allow his reaction to overpower him. An order or "logos" permeates existence. Rationality and clear-mindedness allow one to live in harmony with the "logos". This allows one to rise above faulty perceptions of "good" and "bad"—things out of your control like fame and health are (unlike things in your control) irrelevant and neither good nor bad.


title: Meditations

text: There is no certain mention of the "Meditations" until the early 10th century. The historian Herodian, writing in the mid-3rd century, makes mention of Marcus' literary legacy, saying "He was concerned with all aspects of excellence, and in his love of ancient literature he was second to no man, Roman or Greek; this is evident from all his sayings and writings which have come down to us", a passage which may refer to the "Meditations". The "Historia Augusta"'s biography of Avidius Cassius, thought to have been written in the 4th century, records that before Marcus set out on the Marcomannic Wars, he was asked to publish his "Precepts of Philosophy" in case something should befall him, but he instead "for three days discussed the books of his "Exhortations" one after the other". A doubtful mention is made by the orator Themistius in about AD 364. In an address to the emperor Valens, "On Brotherly Love", he says: "You do not need the exhortations () of Marcus." Another possible reference is in the collection of Greek poems known as the "Palatine Anthology", a work dating to the 10th century but containing much earlier material. The anthology contains an epigram dedicated to "the Book of Marcus". It has been proposed that this epigram was written by the Byzantine scholar Theophylact Simocatta in the 7th century.


title: Meditations

text: The first direct mention of the work comes from Arethas of Caesarea (c. 860–935), a bishop who was a great collector of manuscripts. At some date before 907 he sent a volume of the "Meditations" to Demetrius, Archbishop of Heracleia, with a letter saying: "I have had for some time an old copy of the Emperor Marcus' most profitable book, so old indeed that it is altogether falling to pieces.… This I have had copied and am able to hand down to posterity in its new dress." Arethas also mentions the work in marginal notes ("scholia") to books by Lucian and Dio Chrysostom where he refers to passages in the "Treatise to Himself" (), and it was this title which the book bore in the manuscript from which the first printed edition was made in the 16th century. Arethas' own copy has now vanished, but it is thought to be the likely ancestor of the surviving manuscripts.


title: Meditations

text: The next mention of the "Meditations" is in the "Suda" lexicon published in the late 10th century. The "Suda" calls the work "a directing () of his own life by Marcus the Emperor in twelve books," which is the first mention of a division of the work into twelve books. The "Suda" makes use of some thirty quotations taken from books I, III, IV, V, IX, and XI.


title: Meditations

text: Around 1150, John Tzetzes, a grammarian of Constantinople, quotes passages from Books IV and V attributing them to Marcus. About 200 years later Nicephorus Callistus (c. 1295–1360) in his "Ecclesiastical History" writes that "Marcus Antoninus composed a book for the education of his son Marcus [i.e. Commodus], full of all worldly () experience and instruction." The "Meditations" is thereafter quoted in many Greek compilations from the 14th to 16th centuries.


title: Meditations

text: The present-day text is based almost entirely upon two manuscripts. One is the "Codex Palatinus" (P), also known as the "Codex Toxitanus" (T), first published in 1558/9 but now lost. The other manuscript is the "Codex Vaticanus 1950" (A) in the Vatican Library.


title: Meditations

text: The modern history of the "Meditations" dates from the issue of the first printed edition ("editio princeps") by Wilhelm Xylander in 1558 or 1559. It was published at the instigation of Conrad Gesner and printed by his cousin Andreas Gesner at Zurich. The book was bound with a work by Marinus ("Proclus vel De Felicitate", also a first edition). To the "Meditations" was added a Latin translation by Xylander who also included brief notes. Conrad Gesner stated in his dedicatory letter that he "received the books of Marcus from the gifted poet Michael Toxites from the library of Otto Heinrich, Prince Palatine", i.e. from the collection at Heidelberg University. The importance of this edition of the "Meditations" is that the manuscript from which it was printed is now lost, so that it is one of the two principal sources of all modern texts.


title: Meditations

text: The "Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1950" is contained in a codex which passed to the Vatican Library from the collection of Stefano Gradi in 1683. This is a 14th-century manuscript which survives in a very corrupt state, and about forty-two lines have dropped out by accidental omissions.


title: Meditations

text: Other manuscripts are of little independent value for reconstructing the text. The main ones are the "Codex Darmstadtinus 2773" (D) with 112 extracts from books I–IX, and the "Codex Parisinus 319" (C) with 29 extracts from Books I–IV.


title: Meditations

text: Marcus Aurelius has been lauded for his capacity "to write down what was in his heart just as it was, not obscured by any consciousness of the presence of listeners or any striving after effect." Gilbert Murray compares the work to Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Confessions" and St. Augustine's "Confessions". Though Murray criticizes Marcus for the "harshness and plainness of his literary style", he finds in his "Meditations" "as much intensity of feeling...as in most of the nobler modern books of religion, only [with] a sterner power controlling it." "People fail to understand Marcus," he writes, "not because of his lack of self-expression, but because it is hard for most men to breathe at that intense height of spiritual life, or, at least, to breathe soberly."


title: Meditations

text: Rees (1992) calls the "Meditations" "unendingly moving and inspiring," but does not offer them up as works of original philosophy. Bertrand Russell found them contradictory and inconsistent, evidence of a "tired age" where "even real goods lose their savour." Using Marcus as an example of greater Stoic philosophy, he found the Stoic ethical philosophy to contain an element of "sour grapes." "We can't be happy, but we can be good; let us therefore pretend that, so long as we are good, it doesn't matter being unhappy." Both Russell and Rees find an element of Marcus' Stoic philosophy in the philosophical system of Immanuel Kant.


title: Meditations

text: In the Introduction to his 1964 translation of "Meditations", the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth discussed the profound impact of Stoicism on Christianity. Michael Grant called Marcus Aurelius "the noblest of all the men who, by sheer intelligence and force of character, have prized and achieved goodness for its own sake and not for any reward." Gregory Hays' translation of "Meditations" for The Modern Library made "The Washington Post"s bestseller list for two weeks in 2002.


title: Meditations

text: The book has been described as a prototype of reflective practice by Seamus Mac Suibhne. Beatrice Webb, the labor movement leader who coined the term collective bargaining referred to Meditations as her “manual of devotion.” United States President Bill Clinton said that "Meditations" is his favorite book, and former United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis carried his own personal copy of "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" throughout his deployments as a Marine Corps officer in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq.


title: Meditations

text: Wen Jiabao, the former Prime Minister of China, has said that he has read the Meditations over a hundred times. He also stated that he was "very deeply impressed" by the work.


title: Meditations

text: The "editio princeps" (first print edition) of the original Greek was published by Conrad Gessner and his cousin Andreas in 1559. Both it and the accompanying Latin translation were produced by Wilhelm Xylander. His source was a manuscript from Heidelberg University, provided by Michael Toxites. By 1568, when Xylander completed his second edition, he no longer had access to the source and it has been lost ever since. The first English translation was published in 1634 by Meric Casaubon.


title: Gorgon

text: A Gorgon (; plural: Gorgons, Ancient Greek: Γοργών/Γοργώ "Gorgṓn/Gorgṓ") is a creature in Greek mythology. Gorgons occur in the earliest examples of Greek literature. While descriptions of Gorgons vary, the term most commonly refers to three sisters who are described as having hair made of living, venomous snakes and horrifying visages that turned those who beheld them to stone. Traditionally, two of the Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal, but their sister Medusa was not and was slain by the demigod and hero Perseus.


title: Gorgon

text: The name derives from the Ancient Greek word (), which means 'grim or dreadful', and appears to come from the same root as the Sanskrit word (), which means a guttural sound, similar to the growling of a beast, thus possibly originating as an onomatopoeia.


title: Gorgon

text: Gorgons were a popular image in Greek mythology, appearing in the earliest of written records of Ancient Greek religious beliefs such as those of Homer, which may date to as early as 1194–1184 BC. Because of their legendary and powerful gaze that could turn one to stone, images of the Gorgons were put upon objects and buildings for protection. An image of a Gorgon holds the primary location at the pediment of the temple at Corfu, which is the oldest stone pediment in Greece, and is dated to c. 600 BC.


title: Gorgon

text: A marble statue 1.35 m (53 inches) high of a Gorgon, dating from the 6th century BC, was found almost intact in 1993, in an ancient public building in Parikia, Paros capital, Greece (Archaeological Museum of Paros no. 1285, see pictures below). It is thought originally to have belonged to a temple.


title: Gorgon

text: The concept of the Gorgon is at least as old in classical Greek mythology as Perseus and Zeus. Gorgoneia (figures depicting a Gorgon head; see below) first appear in Greek art at the turn of the 8th century BC. One of the earliest representations is on an electrum stater discovered during excavations at Parium. Other early eighth-century examples were found at Tiryns. Going even further back into history, there is a similar image from the palace of Knossos, datable to the 15th century BC. Marija Gimbutas even argues that "the Gorgon extends back to at least 6000 BC, as a ceramic mask from the Sesklo culture ...". She also identifies the prototype of the Gorgoneion in Neolithic art motifs, especially in anthropomorphic vases and terracotta masks inlaid with gold.


title: Gorgon

text: Pausanias (5.10.4, 8.47.5, many other places), a geographer of the 2nd century AD, supplies details of where and how Gorgons were represented in Ancient Greek art and architecture.


title: Gorgon

text: The large Gorgon eyes, as well as Athena's "flashing" eyes, are symbols termed "the divine eyes" by Gimbutas (who did not originate the perception); they appear also in Athena's sacred bird, the little owl. They may be represented by spirals, wheels, concentric circles, swastikas, firewheels, and other images. The awkward stance of the gorgon, with arms and legs at angles is closely associated with these symbols as well.


title: Gorgon

text: Some Gorgons are shown with broad, round heads, serpentine locks of hair, large staring eyes, wide mouths, tongues lolling, the tusks of swine, large projecting teeth, flared nostrils, and sometimes short, coarse beards. (In some cruder representations, stylized hair or blood flowing under the severed head of the Gorgon suggests a beard or wings.)


title: Gorgon

text: Some reptilian attributes such as a belt made of snakes and snakes emanating from the head or entwined in the hair, as in the temple of Artemis in Corfu, are symbols likely derived from the guardians closely associated with early Greek religious concepts at the centers such as Delphi where the dragon Delphyne lived and the priestess Pythia delivered oracles. The skin of the dragon was said to be made of impenetrable scales.


title: Gorgon

text: A number of early classics scholars interpreted the myth of the Medusa as a quasi-historical, or "sublimated", memory of an actual invasion.


title: Gorgon

text: The legend of Perseus beheading Medusa means, specifically, that "the Hellenes overran the goddess's chief shrines" and "stripped her priestesses of their Gorgon masks", the latter being apotropaic faces worn to frighten away the profane. That is to say, there occurred in the early thirteenth century B.C. an actual historic rupture, a sort of sociological trauma, which has been registered in this myth, much as what Freud terms the latent content of a neurosis is registered in the manifest content of a dream: Registered yet hidden, registered in the unconscious yet unknown or misconstrued by the conscious mind.      — J. Campbell (1968)


title: Gorgon

text: While seeking origins others have suggested examination of some similarities to the Babylonian creature, Humbaba, in the Gilgamesh epic.


title: Gorgon

text: Transitions in religious traditions over such long periods of time may make some strange turns. Gorgons are often depicted as having wings, brazen claws, the tusks of boars, and scaly skin. The oldest oracles were said to be protected by serpents and a Gorgon image was often associated with those temples. Lionesses or sphinxes are frequently associated with the Gorgon as well. The powerful image of the Gorgon was adopted for the classical images and myths of Athena and Zeus, perhaps being worn in continuation of a more ancient religious imagery. In late myths, the Gorgons were said to be the daughters of two sea deities: Keto, the sea monster, and Phorcys, her brother-husband.


title: Gorgon

text: Homer, the author of the oldest known work of European literature, speaks only of one Gorgon, whose head is represented in the "Iliad" as fixed in the centre of the aegis of Athena:About her shoulders she flung the tasselled aegis, fraught with terror ... and therein is the head of the dread monster, the Gorgon, dread and awful ...Its earthly counterpart is a device on the shield of Agamemnon:... and therein was set as a crown the Gorgon, grim of aspect, glaring terribly, and about her were Terror and Rout.In the "Odyssey", the Gorgon is a monster of the underworld into which the earliest Greek deities were cast:... and pale fear seized me, lest august Persephone might send forth upon me from out of the house of Hades the head of the Gorgon, that awful monster...Around 700 BC, Hesiod imagines the Gorgons as sea daemons and increases the number of them to three – Stheno (the mighty), Euryale (the far-springer, or of the wide sea), and Medusa (the queen), and makes them the daughters of the sea deities Keto and Phorcys. Their home is on the farthest side of the western ocean; according to later authorities, in Libya. Ancient Libya is identified as a possible source of the deity, Neith, who also was a creation deity in Ancient Egypt and, when the Greeks occupied Egypt, they said that Neith was called Athene in Greece.


title: Gorgon

text: The Attic tradition, reproduced in Euripides (Ion), regarded the Gorgon as a monster, produced by Gaia to aid her children, the Titans, against the new Olympian deities. Classical interpretations suggest that Gorgon was slain by Athena, who wore her skin thereafter.


title: Gorgon

text: The "Bibliotheca" provides a good summary of the Gorgon myth. Much later stories claim that each of three Gorgon sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, had snakes for hair, and that they had the power to turn anyone who looked at them to stone. According to Ovid, a Roman poet writing in 8 AD, whose most famous work was heavily involved in the depiction of Greek myths, Medusa alone had serpents in her hair, and he explained that this was due to Athena (Roman Minerva) cursing her. Medusa had copulated with Poseidon (Roman Neptune) in a temple of Athena after he was aroused by the golden color of Medusa's hair. Athena therefore changed the enticing golden locks into serpents.


title: Gorgon

text: Virgil mentions that the Gorgons lived in the entrance of the Underworld. Diodorus and Palaephatus mention that the Gorgons lived in the Gorgades, islands in the Aethiopian Sea. The main island was called Cerna. Henry T. Riley suggests these islands may correspond to Cape Verde.


title: Gorgon

text: According to Pseudo-Hyginus the "Gorgo Aix" (Γοργώ Aιξ), daughter of Helios, was killed by Zeus during the Titanomachy. From her skin, a goat-like hide rimmed with serpents, he made his famous aegis, and placed her fearsome visage upon it. This he gave to Athena. Then Aix became the goat Capra (Greek: "Aix"), on the left shoulder of the constellation Auriga. A primeval Gorgon was sometimes said to be the father of Medusa and her sister Gorgons by the sea Goddess Ceto. This figure may have been the same as Gorgo Aix as the primal Gorgon was of an indeterminable gender.


title: Gorgon

text: In late myths, Medusa was the only one of the three Gorgons who was not immortal. King Polydectes sent Perseus to kill Medusa in hopes of getting him out of the way, while he pursued Perseus's mother, Danae. Some of these myths relate that Perseus was armed with a scythe from Hermes and a mirror (or a shield) from Athena. Perseus could safely cut off Medusa's head without turning to stone by looking only at her reflection in the shield. From the blood that spurted from her neck and falling into the sea, sprang Pegasus and Chrysaor, her sons by Poseidon. Other sources say that each drop of blood became a snake. Perseus is said by some to have given the head, which retained the power of turning into stone all who looked upon it, to Athena. She then placed it on the mirrored shield called Aegis and she gave it to Zeus. Another source says that Perseus buried the head in the marketplace of Argos.


title: Gorgon

text: According to other accounts, either he or Athena used the head to turn Atlas into stone, transforming him into the Atlas Mountains that held up both heaven and earth. He also used the Gorgon against Cetus (when saving Andromeda) and a competing suitor, Phineas, Andromeda's cousin. Ultimately, he used her against King Polydectes. When Perseus returned to the court of the king, Polydectes asked if he had the head of Medusa. Perseus replied "here it is" and held it aloft, turning the whole court to stone.


title: Gorgon

text: In Ancient Greece a Gorgoneion (a stone head, engraving, or drawing of a Gorgon face, often with snakes protruding wildly and the tongue sticking out between her fangs) frequently was used as an apotropaic symbol and placed on doors, walls, floors, coins, shields, breastplates, and tombstones in the hopes of warding off evil. In this regard "Gorgoneia" are similar to the sometimes grotesque faces on Chinese soldiers’ shields, also used generally as an amulet, a protection against the evil eye. Likewise, in Hindu mythology, Kali is often shown with a protruding tongue and snakes around her head.


title: Gorgon

text: The Ancient Silver Gorgon Coin is a hemidrachm that was struck in the Greek city of Parium in the 5th century B.C. Parium was a major coastal cite in the Mysia region on the Hellespont, the peninsula now known as the Dardanelles in western Turkey. The city was close to the Greek region of Lydia, which produced the first coins in about 650 B.C. The Gorgon coin from Parium was issued only a few generations later, making it one of the world's earliest coins. Ancient Greek coins usually feature images of specific Gods or symbols that represented the issuing city or state, and it is likely that the Parium had a connection to the legends of the Gorgons. The ancient Greeks believed that the Gorgons lived in the west, near the setting sun, and since Parium was near the western limits if the known Greek world, it was an appropriate place for the Gorgon Coin to be issued.


title: Gorgon

text: In some Greek myths, blood taken from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life, yet blood taken from the left side was an instantly fatal poison. Athena gave a vial of the healing blood to Asclepius, which ultimately brought about his demise.


title: Gorgon

text: Heracles is said to have obtained a lock of Medusa’s hair (which possessed the same powers as the head) from Athena and to have given it to Sterope, the daughter of Cepheus, as a protection for the town of Tegea against attack. According to the later idea of Medusa as a beautiful maiden, whose hair had been changed into snakes by Athena, the head was represented in works of art with a wonderfully handsome face, wrapped in the calm repose of death.


title: Gorgon

text: Gorgons, especially Medusa, have become a common image and symbol in Western culture since their origins in Greek mythology, appearing in art, literature, and elsewhere throughout history. In "A Tale of Two Cities", for example, Charles Dickens compares the exploitative French aristocracy to "the Gorgon" — He devotes an entire chapter to this extended metaphor.


title: Gorgon

text: One of the more recent and famous uses of Gorgons comes from the book series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," in which we see Medusa in the first book. Her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, are seen later in the series.


title: Gorgon

text: Another modern depiction of Gorgons is seen in the movie "Clash of the Titans", a movie loosely based on the tale of Perseus.


title: Asphalt

text: Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term asphaltum was also used. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος "ásphaltos". The largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world, estimated to contain 10 million tons, is the Pitch Lake located in La Brea in southwest Trinidad (Antilles island located on the northeastern coast of Venezuela), within the Siparia Regional Corporation.


title: Asphalt

text: The primary use (70%) of asphalt is in road construction, where it is used as the glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to create asphalt concrete. Its other main uses are for bituminous waterproofing products, including production of roofing felt and for sealing flat roofs.


title: Asphalt

text: In material sciences and engineering, the terms "asphalt" and "bitumen" are often used interchangeably to mean both natural and manufactured forms of the substance, although there is regional variation as to which term is most common. Worldwide, geologists tend to favor the term "bitumen" for the naturally occurring material. For the manufactured material, which is a refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils, "bitumen" is the prevalent term in much of the world; however, in American English, "asphalt" is more commonly used. To help avoid confusion, the phrases "liquid asphalt", "asphalt binder", or "asphalt cement" are used in the U.S. Colloquially, various forms of asphalt are sometimes referred to as "tar", as in the name of the La Brea Tar Pits, although tar is a different material.


title: Asphalt

text: Naturally occurring asphalt is sometimes specified by the term "crude bitumen". Its viscosity is similar to that of cold molasses while the material obtained from the fractional distillation of crude oil boiling at is sometimes referred to as "refined bitumen". The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves of natural asphalt in the Athabasca oil sands, which cover , an area larger than England.


title: Asphalt

text: Asphalt properties change with temperature, which means that there is a specific range where viscosity permits adequate compaction by providing lubrication between particles during the compaction process. Low temperature prevents aggregate particles from moving, and the required density is not possible to achieve. Computer simulations of simplified model systems are able to reproduce some of asphalt's characteristic properties.


title: Asphalt

text: The word "asphalt" is derived from the late Middle English, in turn from French "asphalte", based on Late Latin "asphalton", "asphaltum", which is the latinisation of the Greek ("ásphaltos", "ásphalton"), a word meaning "asphalt/bitumen/pitch", which perhaps derives from , "not, without", i.e. the alpha privative, and ("sphallein"), "to cause to fall, baffle, (in passive) err, (in passive) be balked of". The first use of asphalt by the ancients was in the nature of a cement for securing or joining various objects, and it thus seems likely that the name itself was expressive of this application. Specifically, Herodotus mentioned that bitumen was brought to Babylon to build its gigantic fortification wall. From the Greek, the word passed into late Latin, and thence into French ("asphalte") and English ("asphaltum" and "asphalt"). In French, the term "asphalte" is used for naturally occurring asphalt-soaked limestone deposits, and for specialised manufactured products with fewer voids or greater bitumen content than the "asphaltic concrete" used to pave roads.


title: Asphalt

text: The word "bitumen" is from Latin, and passed via French into English. The Latin word traces to the Proto-Indo-European root "*gʷet-" "pitch"; see that link for other cognates.


title: Asphalt

text: In British English, tarmac is used predominantly, which is a generic name, short for tar macadam. "Bitumen" is used instead of "asphalt". The word "asphalt" is instead used to refer to asphalt concrete, a mixture of construction aggregate and asphalt itself (also called "tarmac" in common parlance). Bitumen mixed with clay was usually called "asphaltum", but the term is less commonly used today.


title: Asphalt

text: In Australian English, the word "asphalt" is used to describe a mix of construction aggregate. "Bitumen" refers to the liquid derived from the heavy-residues from crude oil distillation.


title: Asphalt

text: In American English, "asphalt" is equivalent to the British "bitumen". However, "asphalt" is also commonly used as a shortened form of "asphalt concrete" (therefore equivalent to the British "asphalt" or "tarmac").


title: Asphalt

text: In Canadian English, the word "bitumen" is used to refer to the vast Canadian deposits of extremely heavy crude oil, while "asphalt" is used for the oil refinery product. Diluted bitumen (diluted with naphtha to make it flow in pipelines) is known as "dilbit" in the Canadian petroleum industry, while bitumen "upgraded" to synthetic crude oil is known as "syncrude", and syncrude blended with bitumen is called "synbit".


title: Asphalt

text: "Bitumen" is still the preferred geological term for naturally occurring deposits of the solid or semi-solid form of petroleum. "Bituminous rock" is a form of sandstone impregnated with bitumen. The oil sands of Alberta, Canada are a similar material.


title: Asphalt

text: Neither of the terms "asphalt" or "bitumen" should be confused with tar or coal tars. Tar is the thick liquid product of the dry distillation and pyrolysis of organic hydrocarbons primarily sourced from vegetation masses, whether fossilized as with coal, or freshly harvested. The majority of bitumen, on the other hand, was formed naturally when vast quantities of organic animal materials were deposited by water and buried hundreds of metres deep at the diagenetic point, where the disorganized fatty hydrocarbon molecules joined in long chains in the absence of oxygen. Bitumen occurs as a solid or highly viscous liquid. It may even be mixed in with coal deposits. Bitumen, and coal using the Bergius process, can be refined into petrols such as gasoline, and bitumen may be distilled into tar, not the other way around.


title: Asphalt

text: The naphthene aromatics and polar aromatics are typically the majority components. Most natural bitumens also contain organosulfur compounds, resulting in an overall sulfur content of up to 4%. Nickel and vanadium are found at <10 parts per million, as is typical of some petroleum.


title: Asphalt

text: The substance is soluble in carbon disulfide. It is commonly modelled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase. "It is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of asphalt, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large".


title: Asphalt

text: Asphalt may be confused with coal tar, which is a visually similar black, thermoplastic material produced by the destructive distillation of coal. During the early and mid-20th century, when town gas was produced, coal tar was a readily available byproduct and extensively used as the binder for road aggregates. The addition of coal tar to macadam roads led to the word "tarmac", which is now used in common parlance to refer to road-making materials. However, since the 1970s, when natural gas succeeded town gas, asphalt has completely overtaken the use of coal tar in these applications. Other examples of this confusion include La Brea Tar Pits and the Canadian oil sands, both of which actually contain natural bitumen rather than tar. "Pitch" is another term sometimes informally used at times to refer to asphalt, as in Pitch Lake.


title: Asphalt

text: For economic and other reasons, asphalt is sometimes sold combined with other materials, often without being labeled as anything other than simply "asphalt".


title: Asphalt

text: Of particular note is the use of re-refined engine oil bottoms – "REOB" or "REOBs"the residue of recycled automotive engine oil collected from the bottoms of re-refining vacuum distillation towers, in the manufacture of asphalt. REOB contains various elements and compounds found in recycled engine oil: additives to the original oil and materials accumulating from its circulation in the engine (typically iron and copper). Some research has indicated a correlation between this adulteration of asphalt and poorer-performing pavement.


title: Asphalt

text: The majority of asphalt used commercially is obtained from petroleum. Nonetheless, large amounts of asphalt occur in concentrated form in nature. Naturally occurring deposits of bitumen are formed from the remains of ancient, microscopic algae (diatoms) and other once-living things. These natural deposits of bitumen have been formed during the Carboniferous period, when giant swamp forests dominated many parts of the Earth. They were deposited in the mud on the bottom of the ocean or lake where the organisms lived. Under the heat (above 50 °C) and pressure of burial deep in the earth, the remains were transformed into materials such as bitumen, kerogen, or petroleum.


title: Asphalt

text: Natural deposits of bitumen include lakes such as the Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago and Lake Bermudez in Venezuela. Natural seeps occur in the La Brea Tar Pits and the McKittrick Tar Pits in California, as well as in the Dead Sea.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen also occurs in unconsolidated sandstones known as "oil sands" in Alberta, Canada, and the similar "tar sands" in Utah, US.


title: Asphalt

text: The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the world's reserves, in three huge deposits covering , an area larger than England or New York state. These bituminous sands contain of commercially established oil reserves, giving Canada the third largest oil reserves in the world. Although historically it was used without refining to pave roads, nearly all of the output is now used as raw material for oil refineries in Canada and the United States.


title: Asphalt

text: The world's largest deposit of natural bitumen, known as the Athabasca oil sands, is located in the McMurray Formation of Northern Alberta. This formation is from the early Cretaceous, and is composed of numerous lenses of oil-bearing sand with up to 20% oil. Isotopic studies show the oil deposits to be about 110 million years old. Two smaller but still very large formations occur in the Peace River oil sands and the Cold Lake oil sands, to the west and southeast of the Athabasca oil sands, respectively. Of the Alberta deposits, only parts of the Athabasca oil sands are shallow enough to be suitable for surface mining. The other 80% has to be produced by oil wells using enhanced oil recovery techniques like steam-assisted gravity drainage.


title: Asphalt

text: Much smaller heavy oil or bitumen deposits also occur in the Uinta Basin in Utah, US. The Tar Sand Triangle deposit, for example, is roughly 6% bitumen.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen may occur in hydrothermal veins. An example of this is within the Uinta Basin of Utah, in the US, where there is a swarm of laterally and vertically extensive veins composed of a solid hydrocarbon termed Gilsonite. These veins formed by the polymerization and solidification of hydrocarbons that were mobilized from the deeper oil shales of the Green River Formation during burial and diagenesis.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen is similar to the organic matter in carbonaceous meteorites. However, detailed studies have shown these materials to be distinct. The vast Alberta bitumen resources are considered to have started out as living material from marine plants and animals, mainly algae, that died millions of years ago when an ancient ocean covered Alberta. They were covered by mud, buried deeply over time, and gently cooked into oil by geothermal heat at a temperature of . Due to pressure from the rising of the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Alberta, 80 to 55 million years ago, the oil was driven northeast hundreds of kilometres and trapped into underground sand deposits left behind by ancient river beds and ocean beaches, thus forming the oil sands.


title: Asphalt

text: The use of natural bitumen for waterproofing, and as an adhesive dates at least to the fifth millennium BC, with a crop storage basket discovered in Mehrgarh, of the Indus Valley civilization, lined with it. By the 3rd millennium BC refined rock asphalt was in use in the region, and was used to waterproof the Great Bath in Mohenjo-daro.


title: Asphalt

text: In the ancient Middle East, the Sumerians used natural bitumen deposits for mortar between bricks and stones, to cement parts of carvings, such as eyes, into place, for ship caulking, and for waterproofing. The Greek historian Herodotus said hot bitumen was used as mortar in the walls of Babylon.


title: Asphalt

text: The long Euphrates Tunnel beneath the river Euphrates at Babylon in the time of Queen Semiramis () was reportedly constructed of burnt bricks covered with bitumen as a waterproofing agent.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen was used by ancient Egyptians to embalm mummies. The Persian word for asphalt is "moom", which is related to the English word mummy. The Egyptians' primary source of bitumen was the Dead Sea, which the Romans knew as "Palus Asphaltites" (Asphalt Lake).


title: Asphalt

text: In approximately 40 AD, Dioscorides described the Dead Sea material as "Judaicum bitumen", and noted other places in the region where it could be found. The Sidon bitumen is thought to refer to material found at Hasbeya in Lebanon. Pliny also refers to bitumen being found in Epirus. Bitumen was a valuable strategic resource. It was the object of the first known battle for a hydrocarbon deposit – between the Seleucids and the Nabateans in 312 BC.


title: Asphalt

text: In the ancient Far East, natural bitumen was slowly boiled to get rid of the higher fractions, leaving a thermoplastic material of higher molecular weight that, when layered on objects, became hard upon cooling. This was used to cover objects that needed waterproofing, such as scabbards and other items. Statuettes of household deities were also cast with this type of material in Japan, and probably also in China.


title: Asphalt

text: In North America, archaeological recovery has indicated that bitumen was sometimes used to adhere stone projectile points to wooden shafts. In Canada, aboriginal people used bitumen seeping out of the banks of the Athabasca and other rivers to waterproof birch bark canoes, and also heated it in smudge pots to ward off mosquitoes in the summer.


title: Asphalt

text: In 1553, Pierre Belon described in his work "Observations" that "pissasphalto", a mixture of pitch and bitumen, was used in the Republic of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik, Croatia) for tarring of ships.


title: Asphalt

text: An 1838 edition of "Mechanics Magazine" cites an early use of asphalt in France. A pamphlet dated 1621, by "a certain Monsieur d'Eyrinys, states that he had discovered the existence (of asphaltum) in large quantities in the vicinity of Neufchatel", and that he proposed to use it in a variety of ways – "principally in the construction of air-proof granaries, and in protecting, by means of the arches, the water-courses in the city of Paris from the intrusion of dirt and filth", which at that time made the water unusable. "He expatiates also on the excellence of this material for forming level and durable terraces" in palaces, "the notion of forming such terraces in the streets not one likely to cross the brain of a Parisian of that generation".


title: Asphalt

text: But the substance was generally neglected in France until the revolution of 1830. In the 1830s there was a surge of interest, and asphalt became widely used "for pavements, flat roofs, and the lining of cisterns, and in England, some use of it had been made of it for similar purposes". Its rise in Europe was "a sudden phenomenon", after natural deposits were found "in France at Osbann (Bas-Rhin), the Parc (Ain) and the Puy-de-la-Poix (Puy-de-Dôme)", although it could also be made artificially. One of the earliest uses in France was the laying of about 24,000 square yards of Seyssel asphalt at the Place de la Concorde in 1835.


title: Asphalt

text: Among the earlier uses of bitumen in the United Kingdom was for etching. William Salmon's "Polygraphice" (1673) provides a recipe for varnish used in etching, consisting of three ounces of virgin wax, two ounces of mastic, and one ounce of asphaltum. By the fifth edition in 1685, he had included more asphaltum recipes from other sources.


title: Asphalt

text: The first British patent for the use of asphalt was "Cassell's patent asphalte or bitumen" in 1834. Then on 25 November 1837, Richard Tappin Claridge patented the use of Seyssel asphalt (patent #7849), for use in asphalte pavement, having seen it employed in France and Belgium when visiting with Frederick Walter Simms, who worked with him on the introduction of asphalt to Britain. Dr T. Lamb Phipson writes that his father, Samuel Ryland Phipson, a friend of Claridge, was also "instrumental in introducing the asphalte pavement (in 1836)".


title: Asphalt

text: Claridge obtained a patent in Scotland on 27 March 1838, and obtained a patent in Ireland on 23 April 1838. In 1851, extensions for the 1837 patent and for both 1838 patents were sought by the trustees of a company previously formed by Claridge. "Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company"formed in 1838 for the purpose of introducing to Britain "Asphalte in its natural state from the mine at Pyrimont Seysell in France","laid one of the first asphalt pavements in Whitehall". Trials were made of the pavement in 1838 on the footway in Whitehall, the stable at Knightsbridge Barracks, "and subsequently on the space at the bottom of the steps leading from Waterloo Place to St. James Park". "The formation in 1838 of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company (with a distinguished list of aristocratic patrons, and Marc and Isambard Brunel as, respectively, a trustee and consulting engineer), gave an enormous impetus to the development of a British asphalt industry". "By the end of 1838, at least two other companies, Robinson's and the Bastenne company, were in production", with asphalt being laid as paving at Brighton, Herne Bay, Canterbury, Kensington, the Strand, and a large floor area in Bunhill-row, while meantime Claridge's Whitehall paving "continue(d) in good order". The Bonnington Chemical Works manufactured asphalt using coal tar and by 1839 had installed it in Bonnington.


title: Asphalt

text: In 1838, there was a flurry of entrepreneurial activity involving asphalt, which had uses beyond paving. For example, asphalt could also be used for flooring, damp proofing in buildings, and for waterproofing of various types of pools and baths, both of which were also proliferating in the 19th century. One of the earliest surviving examples of its use can be seen at Highgate Cemetery where it was used in 1839 to seal the roof of the terrace catacombs. On the London stockmarket, there were various claims as to the exclusivity of asphalt quality from France, Germany and England. And numerous patents were granted in France, with similar numbers of patent applications being denied in England due to their similarity to each other. In England, "Claridge's was the type most used in the 1840s and 50s".


title: Asphalt

text: In 1914, Claridge's Company entered into a joint venture to produce tar-bound macadam, with materials manufactured through a subsidiary company called Clarmac Roads Ltd. Two products resulted, namely "Clarmac", and "Clarphalte", with the former being manufactured by Clarmac Roads and the latter by Claridge's Patent Asphalte Co., although "Clarmac" was more widely used. However, the First World War ruined the Clarmac Company, which entered into liquidation in 1915. The failure of Clarmac Roads Ltd had a flow-on effect to Claridge's Company, which was itself compulsorily wound up, ceasing operations in 1917, having invested a substantial amount of funds into the new venture, both at the outset and in a subsequent attempt to save the Clarmac Company.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen was thought in 19th century Britain to contain chemicals with medicinal properties. Extracts from bitumen were used to treat catarrh and some forms of asthma and as a remedy against worms, especially the tapeworm.


title: Asphalt

text: The first use of bitumen in the New World was by indigenous peoples. On the west coast, as early as the 13th century, the Tongva, Luiseño and Chumash peoples collected the naturally occurring bitumen that seeped to the surface above underlying petroleum deposits. All three groups used the substance as an adhesive. It is found on many different artifacts of tools and ceremonial items. For example, it was used on rattles to adhere gourds or turtle shells to rattle handles. It was also used in decorations. Small round shell beads were often set in asphaltum to provide decorations. It was used as a sealant on baskets to make them watertight for carrying water, possibly poisoning those who drank the water. Asphalt was used also to seal the planks on ocean-going canoes.


title: Asphalt

text: Asphalt was first used to pave streets in the 1870s. At first naturally occurring "bituminous rock" was used, such as at Ritchie Mines in Macfarlan in Ritchie County, West Virginia from 1852 to 1873. In 1876, asphalt-based paving was used to pave Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, in time for the celebration of the national centennial.


title: Asphalt

text: In the horse-drawn era, US streets were mostly unpaved and covered with dirt or gravel. Especially where mud or trenching often made streets difficult to pass, pavements were sometimes made of diverse materials including wooden planks, cobble stones or other stone blocks, or bricks. Unpaved roads produced uneven wear and hazards for pedestrians. In the late 19th century with the rise of the popular bicycle, bicycle clubs were important in pushing for more general pavement of streets. Advocacy for pavement increased in the early 20th century with the rise of the automobile. Asphalt gradually became an ever more common method of paving. St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans was paved its whole length with asphalt by 1889.


title: Asphalt

text: In 1900, Manhattan alone had 130,000 horses, pulling streetcars, wagons, and carriages, and leaving their waste behind. They were not fast, and pedestrians could dodge and scramble their way across the crowded streets. Small towns continued to rely on dirt and gravel, but larger cities wanted much better streets. They looked to wood or granite blocks by the 1850s. In 1890, a third of Chicago's 2000 miles of streets were paved, chiefly with wooden blocks, which gave better traction than mud. Brick surfacing was a good compromise, but even better was asphalt paving, which was easy to install and to cut through to get at sewers. With London and Paris serving as models, Washington laid 400,000 square yards of asphalt paving by 1882; it became the model for Buffalo, Philadelphia and elsewhere. By the end of the century, American cities boasted 30 million square yards of asphalt paving, well ahead of brick. The streets became faster and more dangerous so electric traffic lights were installed. Electric trolleys (at 12 miles per hour) became the main transportation service for middle class shoppers and office workers until they bought automobiles after 1945 and commuted from more distant suburbs in privacy and comfort on asphalt highways.


title: Asphalt

text: Canada has the world's largest deposit of natural bitumen in the Athabasca oil sands, and Canadian First Nations along the Athabasca River had long used it to waterproof their canoes. In 1719, a Cree named Wa-Pa-Su brought a sample for trade to Henry Kelsey of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was the first recorded European to see it. However, it wasn't until 1787 that fur trader and explorer Alexander MacKenzie saw the Athabasca oil sands and said, "At about 24 miles from the fork (of the Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers) are some bituminous fountains into which a pole of 20 feet long may be inserted without the least resistance."


title: Asphalt

text: The value of the deposit was obvious from the start, but the means of extracting the bitumen was not. The nearest town, Fort McMurray, Alberta, was a small fur trading post, other markets were far away, and transportation costs were too high to ship the raw bituminous sand for paving. In 1915, Sidney Ells of the Federal Mines Branch experimented with separation techniques and used the product to pave 600 feet of road in Edmonton, Alberta. Other roads in Alberta were paved with material extracted from oil sands, but it was generally not economic. During the 1920s Dr. Karl A. Clark of the Alberta Research Council patented a hot water oil separation process and entrepreneur Robert C. Fitzsimmons built the Bitumount oil separation plant, which between 1925 and 1958 produced up to per day of bitumen using Dr. Clark's method. Most of the bitumen was used for waterproofing roofs, but other uses included fuels, lubrication oils, printers ink, medicines, rust- and acid-proof paints, fireproof roofing, street paving, patent leather, and fence post preservatives. Eventually Fitzsimmons ran out of money and the plant was taken over by the Alberta government. Today the Bitumount plant is a Provincial Historic Site.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen was used in early photographic technology. In 1826, or 1827, it was used by French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce to make the oldest surviving photograph from nature. The bitumen was thinly coated onto a pewter plate which was then exposed in a camera. Exposure to light hardened the bitumen and made it insoluble, so that when it was subsequently rinsed with a solvent only the sufficiently light-struck areas remained. Many hours of exposure in the camera were required, making bitumen impractical for ordinary photography, but from the 1850s to the 1920s it was in common use as a photoresist in the production of printing plates for various photomechanical printing processes.


title: Asphalt

text: Bitumen was the nemesis of many artists during the 19th century. Although widely used for a time, it ultimately proved unstable for use in oil painting, especially when mixed with the most common diluents, such as linseed oil, varnish and turpentine. Unless thoroughly diluted, bitumen never fully solidifies and will in time corrupt the other pigments with which it comes into contact. The use of bitumen as a glaze to set in shadow or mixed with other colors to render a darker tone resulted in the eventual deterioration of many paintings, for instance those of Delacroix. Perhaps the most famous example of the destructiveness of bitumen is Théodore Géricault's Raft of the Medusa (1818–1819), where his use of bitumen caused the brilliant colors to degenerate into dark greens and blacks and the paint and canvas to buckle.


title: Asphalt

text: The vast majority of refined asphalt is used in construction: primarily as a constituent of products used in paving and roofing applications. According to the requirements of the end use, asphalt is produced to specification. This is achieved either by refining or blending. It is estimated that the current world use of asphalt is approximately 102 million tonnes per year. Approximately 85% of all the asphalt produced is used as the binder in asphalt concrete for roads. It is also used in other paved areas such as airport runways, car parks and footways. Typically, the production of asphalt concrete involves mixing fine and coarse aggregates such as sand, gravel and crushed rock with asphalt, which acts as the binding agent. Other materials, such as recycled polymers (e.g., rubber tyres), may be added to the asphalt to modify its properties according to the application for which the asphalt is ultimately intended.


title: Asphalt

text: A further 10% of global asphalt production is used in roofing applications, where its waterproofing qualities are invaluable.


title: Asphalt

text: The remaining 5% of asphalt is used mainly for sealing and insulating purposes in a variety of building materials, such as pipe coatings, carpet tile backing and paint. Asphalt is applied in the construction and maintenance of many structures, systems, and components, such as the following:


title: Asphalt

text: The largest use of asphalt is for making asphalt concrete for road surfaces; this accounts for approximately 85% of the asphalt consumed in the United States. There are about 4,000 asphalt concrete mixing plants in the US, and a similar number in Europe.


title: Asphalt

text: Asphalt concrete pavement mixes are typically composed of 5% asphalt cement and 95% aggregates (stone, sand, and gravel). Due to its highly viscous nature, asphalt cement must be heated so it can be mixed with the aggregates at the asphalt mixing facility. The temperature required varies depending upon characteristics of the asphalt and the aggregates, but warm-mix asphalt technologies allow producers to reduce the temperature required.


title: Asphalt

text: The weight of an asphalt pavement depends upon the aggregate type, the asphalt, and the air void content. An average example in the United States is about 112 pounds per square yard, per inch of pavement thickness.


title: Asphalt

text: When maintenance is performed on asphalt pavements, such as milling to remove a worn or damaged surface, the removed material can be returned to a facility for processing into new pavement mixtures. The asphalt in the removed material can be reactivated and put back to use in new pavement mixes. With some 95% of paved roads being constructed of or surfaced with asphalt, a substantial amount of asphalt pavement material is reclaimed each year. According to industry surveys conducted annually by the Federal Highway Administration and the National Asphalt Pavement Association, more than 99% of the asphalt removed each year from road surfaces during widening and resurfacing projects is reused as part of new pavements, roadbeds, shoulders and embankments or stockpiled for future use.


title: Asphalt

text: Asphalt concrete paving is widely used in airports around the world. Due to the sturdiness and ability to be repaired quickly, it is widely used for runways.