title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In 1820, Carlos Manuel de Silviera arrived from the Portuguese Macau. A treaty was signed in which King Rama II granted a piece of land on the East bank of Chao Phraya river that used to be the residence of Nguyễn Phúc Ánh to be a "feitoria" or Portuguese trading post, which later became the Portuguese Consulate in Bangkok and modern Portuguese Embassy. Carlos Manuel de Silviera was appointed as the Portuguese Consul General to Siam in 1820. This was the first official contact between Siam and a Western nation in the Rattanakosin period. The Portuguese Consulate was the first Western Consulate in Bangkok and the only one before the reign of King Mongkut. The new Portuguese community centreed on the Holy Rosary church or Calvário church. De Silviera was granted the title "Luang" Aphaiwanit by the Siamese king. The Portuguese filled in Siamese court functionaries as shipmasters, translators and harbour master of Paknam.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: However, further development of Portuguese trades with Siam did not succeed as no other official Portuguese missions visited Bangkok. De Silviera left Bangkok in 1829 and the consulate was demoted to mere agency until it was restored in 1832. Several vacancy periods were filled by Portuguese local merchants serving as honorary consuls.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In 1821, Marquess of Hastings the Governor-General of India sent John Crawfurd to Siam. Also in 1821, Phraya Nakhon Noi the "Raja of Ligor" invaded and occupied the sultanate of Kedah resulting in Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah taking refuge in the British-held Penang. The British at Penang were concerning about Siamese presence in Kedah when Crawfurd arrived on the island in 1822. Crawfurd arrived in Bangkok in 1822. There was no English translators in Siamese court so the British messages were translated into Portuguese then into Malay and into Thai. Crawfurd proposed tariff reduction. Phraya Phrakhlang asked to acquire firearms for Siam. Crawfurd, however, said that the British would sell firearms on conditions that Siam "were at peace with the friends and neighbours of the British nation", indirectly referring to Burma. Siamese court, whose main concern in dealings with Western powers was to purchase firearms to be used in Burmese Wars, were dissatisfied. The final straw came when Crawfurd delivered the personal letter of the Kedah sultan to King Rama II, complaining Nakhon Noi as the source of his discontents. The negotiations were effectively soured. Crawfurd eventually departed for Saigon later that year.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Despite the events during his mission in 1822, Crawfurd remained in contact with the Siamese court as the Resident of Singapore. In the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824, Crawfurd informed Siam that the British Empire was at war with Burma and requested Siamese aid. King Rama III then assigned Siamese troops led by the Mon commander Chaophraya Mahayotha to assist the British in Tenasserim Region. However, the 'Mergui Incident' in 1825, in which Siamese and British commanders argued over the deportation of people of Mergui, prompted King Rama III to withdraw all troops from Burma. Lord Amherst then sent Henry Burney to Bangkok in 1825. Henry Burney arrived at Ligor where he was escorted by Nakhon Noi to Bangkok in 1826. Agreements were reached and the Burney Treaty was signed in June 1826. Burney Treaty ended traditional Siamese royal court monopoly by allowing the British to trade freely and privately, in which the British accepted of Siamese domination over Kedah.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Burney Treaty also offered the British some disadvantages. The British in Siam, who were horrified by the "Nakhonban" methods of judiciary tortures, were still subjected to Siamese laws and court. The infamous "Phasi Pak Reua" or the measurement duties were still intact. After the First Opium War in 1842, the British came to dominate maritime trade in Asia and the British pushed for more free trades. James Brooke the governor of Labuan arrived in 1850 to amend the commercial and political agreements for the British. However, King Rama III had been ill and negotiations were not conducted as Brooke left empty-handed. It was not until the Bowring Treaty of 1855 that the British rhetorical demands were achieved.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Edmund Roberts was appointed by President Andrew Jackson as the American envoy to the Far East in 1831. After visiting Canton and Danang, Roberts arrived in Bangkok in 1833 on the US Sloop-of-war "Peacock". Roberts met and negotiated with Chao Phraya Phrakhlang. The draft of Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which became known as the 'Roberts Treaty', was presented to King Rama III in 1833. The Roberts Treaty was the first treaty between United States and an Asian nation and Siam became the first Asian nation to come into official relations with United States. The content of the treaty was largely in the same manner as the British Burney Treaty, in which the Americans were granted the rights of free trade but were still subjected to "Phra Khlang Sinkha" measurement duties collection. The difference between the American Roberts Treaty and British Burney Treaty was that the United States required to be granted the same prospective benefits as other Western nations. If Siam reduced the tariffs of any other Western nations, the United States would be eligible for the same rights. If Siam allowed any other Western nations but the Portuguese to establish a consulate, the Americans would also be allowed. The treaty also stipulated that if an American failed to pay Siamese debts or bankrupted, the Siamese would not punish or hold the American debtor as slave.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Like the British, the Americans later demanded the amendments of the initial treaty. Joseph Balestier, a Frenchman who became American diplomat, arrived in Bangkok in 1850 to propose the amendments. Phrakhlang, the usual receiver of Western envoys, had been away conducting the "Sak Lek" in Southern Siam. Phrakhlang's younger brother Phraya Siphiphat took over the task of receiving Joseph Balestier. However, according to Thai chronicles, Balestier behaved unceremoniously by demanding to meet the king directly. Siphiphat asserted that himself was a delegate of the king and agreements should be reached before presentation to the king. Balestier reportedly picked the presidential letter out of his pocket and handed it directly to Siphiphat. After strong verbal exchanges, Balestier stormed out of Siphiphat's residence. When Phrakhlang returned to Bangkok, Balestier complained to Phrakhlang that his brother had offended him as an envoy of the United States. Eventually, Balestier left Bangkok empty-handed.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Burmese Wars and the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 prompted the Siamese to adopt new tactics. Less defensive strategies and effective manpower control contributed to Siamese military successes against her traditional enemies. Acquisition of Western flintlock firearms through diplomatic and private purchases was crucial.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In wartime, all court officials and ministers, civilian or military, were expected to lead armies in battle. The bureaucratic apparatus would turn into war command hierarchy with the king as supreme commander and ministers becoming war generals. There was a specific martial law regulating the war conducts. A general defeated by the enemy in battlefield would be, in theory, subjected to death penalty. In the offensives, auspicious date and time were set to begin marching. Brahmanistic ceremony of cutting trees with similar names to the enemy was performed, while the army marched through a gate with Brahmins blessing with sacred water.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Siamese armies in the early Bangkok period consisted mostly of conscripted militias, who might or might not go through military training. There was also professional standing army – the "Krom Asa" () – but its role in warfare was largely diminished in comparison to the Ayutthaya period due to the manpower shortage. The "Phrai" militia infantry, who were armed with melee weapons such as swords, spears or javelin or matchlock firearms formed the backbone of Siamese armies. Regiments also indicated social hierarchy, with nobility on horseback and the king on an elephant, while commoners were on foot. "Krom Phra Asawarat" () was responsible for horse-keeping for royal elite troops, while "Krom Khotchaban" () was responsible for taking care of royal elephants.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: There were ethnic regiments that were assigned with special tasks. For example, the "Krom Asa Cham" (), the Muslim Cham-Malay regiment that took responsibilities in naval warfare and the Mon regiment that served as Burmese-Siamese border patrol. The Mon regiment played crucial role in surveillance of the borders with Burma due to their familiarity with the area and would provide timely alerts of imminent Burmese incursion to the Bangkok court. The members of the Mon regiment were usually Mon immigrants who had been escaping the Burmese rule into Siam since the Thonburi period.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Portuguese introduced matchlock arquebus to Siam in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese and other Europeans filled in positions in the arquebusier regiment known as "Krom Farang Maen Peun" (). Though the Siamese were unable to produce firearms, European traders provided unrelenting sources of firearms. Captured enemy ammunition was another source of supply. Firearms usage later spread to native Siamese soldiers who received training from European arquebusiers.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Siamese were exposed to flintlock muskets from French soldiers visiting Siam in the seventeenth century during the reign of King Narai. Flintlock muskets produced twice firing frequency in comparison to matchlock arquebus. However, like other kingdoms in the Far East, flintlock firearms remained rare commodity and were acquired through purchases from Westerners. Francis Light the British merchant, who had been residing in Thalang or Phuket Island from 1765 to 1786 when he moved to Penang, had been a major supplier of firearms to the Siamese court. During the Nine Armies' War in 1785, Light provided the defenders of Thalang with muskets. Light also gave 1,400 muskets to the Siamese court, earning him the title Phraya Ratcha Kapitan. In 1792, the "Samuha Kalahom" asked to buy muskets and gunpowder from Francis Light. Flintlock muskets were usually reserved for the elite troops and those who could afford. "Krom Phra Saengpuen" (), was responsible for the keeping and training of firearms. Royal court strictly controlled the firearm trade in Siam. Firearms could only be purchased by the royal court and unpurchased firearms should be taken back.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Siamese had been able to cast their own cannons since the Ayutthaya period. Native Siamese large muzzleloader cannons were called "Charong" (), which were made of bronze and usually 4-5 inches in calibre. "Charong" cannons were put on city walls or on warships. "Bariam" cannons ( from Malay "meriam") were European-produced cast-iron cannons with relatively larger calibre and shorter barrel. "Barium" cannons inflicted high damages on the battlefields and were sought after to purchase from Westerners by the court. Small breechloader cannons were also used. In the reign of King Rama III, the Siamese learned to produce small cast-iron cannons from the Chinese. In 1834, Christian Vietnamese from Cochinchina immigrated to settle in Bangkok and formed the Vietnamese firearm regiment that specialized in cannons and muskets.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In the early Rattanakosin period, Siam accumulated cannons and firearms. In 1807, there were total 2,500 functioning cannons in Siam, with 1,200 of them stationed in Bangkok, 1,100 distributed to provinces and the last 200 installed on 16 royal warships. The total number of firearms in Siam in 1827 were over 57,000.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Before 1852, Siam did not have a standing navy. Most of the Continental Southeast Asian warfare was land-based or riverine. When a naval warfare was initiated, the authority would gather native Siamese riverine barges and, if possible, Western galleons or Chinese junks. The Siamese relied on either Chinese or Malay junks for seafaring activities. Commercial and war vessels were used interchangeably. The navy was manned by the "Krom Asa Cham" or the Cham-Malay regiment who possessed naval knowledge. The naval commander would be either Phraya Ratchawangsan, the leader of "Krom Asa Cham", or Phrakhlang, the Minister of Trade.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Growing powers of the British and the Vietnamese in the 1820s urged Siam to engage in naval preparations against possible incursions from sea. Siamese temporary fleets composed of sampans, which were for riverine and coastal campaigns and either constructed or levied. Siamese warships were essentially Chinese junks armed with "Charong" cannons. In the 1820s, Chao Phraya Nakhon Noi maintained his dock at Trang and became an important Siamese shipbuilder. In 1828, Nakhon Noi constructed augmented Chinese junks rigged with Western masts. These Chinese-Western fusion war junks were used during the Battle of Vàm Nao in 1833 where they faced large Vietnamese 'mobile fort' "Định Quốc" war junks armed with heavy cannons. King Rama III then ordered the construction of Vietnamese-style mobile-fort junks in 1834. Prince Isaret (later known as Pinklao) and Chuang Bunnag pioneered the construction of western-style seafaring ships. In 1835, Chuang Bunnag successfully constructed "Ariel" (Thai name "Klaew Klang Samutr") as the first native brig, while Prince Isaret constructed "Fairy" (Thai name "Phuttha Amnat") as a barque in 1836. However, the barques and brigantines were already outdated by the mid-nineteenth century in favor of steamships. Robert Hunter, a British merchant in Bangkok, brought a steamboat to Bangkok for the royal court to see in 1844 but King Rama III refused to buy the ship due to overpricing.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Siamese effective manpower had been in decline since the late Ayutthaya period. The Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 was the final blow as most Siamese were either deported to Burma or perished in war. The manpower shortage of Siam was exemplified during the Nine Armies' War in 1785, in which Burma sent the total number of 144,000 men to invade Siam who managed to only gather 70,000 men for defenses. D.E. Malloch, who accompanied Henry Burney to Bangkok in 1826, noted that Siam was thinly populated and the Siamese lands could support about twice the size of its population.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Manpower had been a scarce resource during the early Bangkok period. The Department of Conscription or Registers, the "Krom Suratsawadi" (), was responsible for the record-keeping of able-bodied men eligible for corvée and wars. "Krom Suratsawadi" recorded the "Hangwow" registers () – a list of available "Phrai" commoners and "That" slaves to be drafted into services. However, pre-modern Siam did not maintain an accurate census of its population. The survey by the court focused on the recruitment of capable manpower not for statistical intelligence. Only able-bodied men were counted on that purpose, excluding women and children and those who had escaped from authority to live in the wilderness of jungles.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The authority of Siamese government extended only to the towns and riverine agricultural lands. Most of the pre-modern Siamese lands were dense tropical jungles roamed by wild animals. Leaving the town for jungles was the most effective way to avoid the corvée obligations for Siamese men. The Siamese court devised the method of "Sak Lek" () to strictly control the available manpower. The man would be branded with the heated iron cast to create an imprinting tattoo on the back of his hand in the symbol of his responsible department. The "Sak Lek" enabled prompt identification and prevented the "Phrai" from escaping government duties. The "Sak Lek" was traditionally conducted within Central Siam. King Rama III ordered the "Sak Lek" of Laos in 1824, which became one of the preceding events of the Anouvong's Lao Rebellion in 1827. Chao Phraya Phrakhlang initiated the "Sak Lek" of Southern Siamese people on the Malay Peninsula in 1849. Effective manpower control was one of major policies of the Siamese court in order to maintain stability and security.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Surviving sources on the accurate population of pre-modern Siam does not exist. Only through the estimated projections that the demographic information of pre-modern Siam was revealed. In the first century of the Rattanakosin period, the population of what would become modern Thailand remained relatively static at around 4 million people. Fertility rate was high but life expectancy was averaged to be less than 40 years with infant mortality rate as high as 200 per 1,000 babies. Wars and diseases were major causes of deaths. Men were periodically drafted into warfare. Siamese children died from smallpox yearly and the Cholera epidemics of 1820 and 1849 had claimed 30,000 and 40,000 deaths, respectively.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Bangkok was founded in 1782 as the royal seat and became the primate city of Siam. Bangkok inherited the founding population from Thonburi, which had already been enhanced by the influx of Lao and Cambodian war captives and Chinese and Mon immigrants. Through the early Rattanakosin period, the population of Bangkok was estimated to be around 50,000 people. Chinese immigration was the greatest contributor to the population of Bangkok and Central Siam. By the 1820s, Bangkok had surpassed all other cities in Siam in population size. Others estimated population of major town centres in Central Siam in 1827 included Ayutthaya at 41,350, Chanthaburi at 36,900, Saraburi at 14,320 and Phitsanulok at 5,000 people. Within the Siamese sphere of influence, Chiang Mai was the second most populated city in Rattanakosin Kingdom after Bangkok.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Much of the western provinces of Siam were depopulated for several decades until the early 19th century due to the near-constant state of fighting with Burma. Succeeding Ayutthaya, the major Siamese city of Phitsanulok (another principal city of the former Ayutthaya Kingdom) was razed by the Burmese during the Burmese–Siamese War (1775–1776) in 1775. The Burmese–Siamese War (1809–1812), the last invasion into Siam by Burma, caused the depopulation of Phuket Island for several decades, and the destruction of Thalang, Phuket's then-main town, eventually to be overtaken by the new settlement of Phuket, as the island's resurgence as a tin mine settlement.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Since the Thonburi period, Siam had acquired ethnic population through many campaigns against the neighbouring kingdoms. Ethnic war captives were forcibly relocated. In 1779, when the Siamese forces took Vientiane during the Thonburi period, ten thousands of Lao people from Vientiane were deported to settle in Central Siam in Saraburi and Ratchaburi where they were known as the "Lao Vieng" (). The Lao elite class, including the princes who were the sons of the Lao king, were settled in Bangkok. In 1804, the Siamese-Lanna forces captured the Burmese-held Chiang Saen. Northern Thai inhabitants of Chiang Saen, which were by that time known as "Lao Phung Dam" (, the black bellied Lao), were relocated down south to settle in Saraburi and Ratchaburi. The greatest influx of Lao people came in 1828 after the total destruction of Vientiane, which was estimated to be more than 100,000 people. Through the early nineteenth century, there was a gradual Lao population shift from the Mekong region to the Chi-Mun Basin of Isan, leading to the foundation of numerous towns in Isan. In 1833, during the Siamese-Vietnamese War, the Siamese forces took control of Muang Phuan and its whole Phuan population were deported to Siam in order to curb Vietnamese influence. The Lao Phuan people were settled in Central Siam.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: During one of the civil wars in Cambodia in 1782, King Ang Eng and his Cambodian retinue were settled in Bangkok. In 1783, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh took refuge and settled in Bangkok along with his Vietnamese followers. Cambodians were deported to Siam in Siamese-Vietnamese conflict events of 1812 and 1833. They were settled in Bangkok and the Prachinburi area. In 1833, during the Siamese expedition to Cochinchina, Christian Vietnamese and Cambodians from Cochinchina were taken to settle in Bangkok in Samsen.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Due to the insurgencies of Malay tributary states against Siam, Malays were deported as war captives to Bangkok on several occasions. In 1786, when Pattani was sacked, the Pattani Malays were deported to settle in Bangkok at Bang Lamphu. In the 1830s, Pattani and Kedah rebellions prompted deportations of 4,000 to 5,000 Malays from the south to settle on the eastern suburbs of Bangkok known as Saensaep and at Nakhon Si Thammarat in the aftermath.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: After the Fall of Hanthawaddy Kingdom in 1757, the Mon people of Lower Burma suffered from genocide by the Burmese and had taken refuge in Siam since the late Ayutthaya period. Another failed Mon rebellion caused an influx of Mon people in 1774 in Thonburi period. In 1814, Mon people of Martaban rose up against an oppressive Burmese governor and the 40,000 of Mon people migrated through the Three Pagodas Pass to Siam. King Rama II sent his young son Prince Mongkut to welcome the Mons at Kanchanaburi on that occasion.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Chinese immigration was the greatest contributor to the population growth of Central Siam. They were increasingly integrated into Siamese society over time. Crawfurd mentioned 31,500 male registered Chinese taxpayers in Bangkok in his visit in 1822. Malloch stated that, during his stay in 1826, 12,000 Chinese people arrived in Siam annually from Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. The Chinese settlers were adorned with special treatment by the royal court. Unlike other ethnicities, the Chinese were spared from corvée obligations and wartime drafts on the condition that they paid a certain amount of tax known as "Phuk Pee" (). Once the tax was paid, they were given an amulet to be tied around their wrists as the symbol. The first "Phuk Pee" was conducted in the reign of King Rama II. The Chinese settlers played a very important role in the development of Siamese economy in the early Bangkok period. The unrestricted Chinese were free to move around the kingdom, serving as commercial middlemen and became the first ‘bourgeoisie’ class of Siam.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Despite important political changes, the traditional Siamese society in the early Rattanakosin period remained largely unchanged from the Ayutthaya period. Theravada Buddhism served as the main ideology on which the societal principles were based. The king and the royal dynasty stood atop of the social pyramid. Below him was the common populace who were either the "Nai" (), who were the leader of their subordinates and held official posts, or "Phrai" commoners and "That" slaves, though there were substantial degree of social mobility. Ethnic immigrants became "Phrai" and "That" also, with the exception of the Chinese who had paid the "Phuk Pee" tax.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: "Sakdina" was the theoretical and numerical rank accorded to every men of all classes in the kingdom, except the king himself, as described in the Three Seals Law. "Sakdina" determined each man's exact level in the social hierarchy. For example, the Sakdina of the nobility ranged from 400 "rai" to 10,000 "rai" each. The "Sakdina" of a basic Buddhist monk was 400 "rai". The "Sakdina" of a slave was 5 "rai". The traditional Siamese society was roughly stratified into four distinct social classes;


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The royalty and the nobility, who had authority over and commanded the commoners, were collectively called "Munnai" ().


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Outside the social pyramid were the Buddhist monks, who were revered and respected by the Siamese of all classes including the king. The Buddhist monks were exempted from corvée and any forms of taxation as, according to the "vinaya", monks could not produce or earn wealth on his own.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Maintenance of orthodox Theravadin "Sangha" monkhood was one of the main policies of Siamese royal court in the early Rattanakosin period. King Rama I ordered the high-ranking monks to convene the Buddhist council to recompile the Tripitaka Pāli canon in 1788, which was regarded as the ninth Buddhist council according to Thai narrative. King Rama I renovated many local existing temples of Bangkok into fine temples. Important monastic temples of Bangkok included Wat Mahathat, Wat Chetuphon, Wat Arun and Wat Rakhang. In the reign of King Rama III, massive number of nearly seventy Buddhist temples were either constructed or renovated in Bangkok, including both royal and demotic temples. In Early Bangkok, there were two Theravadin denominations: the mainstream Siamese Theravada and the Mon tradition. Influx of Mon people from Burma brought, along with them, the Mon Buddhist traditions and Mon monks themselves.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: A Siamese man, regardless of social class, was expected to be ordained as a monk at some parts of his life. Usually, a young man at the age of twenty temporarily became a monk as a part of coming-of-age customs. Women could not become monks, though she can shave her hair and wear white robes but would not officially be regarded as a monk. There were two monastic paths: the doctrinal 'city-dwelling' "Khamavasi" () that focused on Theravada philosophy and Pāli learning and the meditational 'forest-dwelling' "Aranyavasi" () that focused on mental exercise and meditation practices. Phra Yanasangvorn Suk was an influential monk in the 1810s who specialized in meditational "Vipatsana" practices, which was interpreted by some modern scholars as the Tantric Theravada.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Monastic governance was organized into a hierarchical ecclesiastic bureaucracy. "Sangharaja" or Buddhist hierophant or Supreme Patriarch, appointed by the king, was the head of Siamese monkhood. "Sangharaja" was treated as a prince with "rachasap" used on him. Below "Sangharaja" was the ecclesiastic hierarchy with ranks and positions nominated by the king. The "Sangharaja" would be entitled "Somdet Phra" Ariyawongsa Katayan and took official residence at Wat Mahathat. Royal court controlled the Buddhist "Sangha" to regulate and preserve traditions that were considered orthodox through the "Krom Sankhakari" () or Department of Monastic Affairs that had authorities to investigate "Vinaya" violations and to defrock monks.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Upon ordination, the Buddhist monk would take the vow of 227 precepts as the "Vinaya" or law regulating daily life conducts. Valid ordination required presentation of existing genuine monks to transmit the monkhood onto the new monk. Buddhist monks traced their lineage of ordinations back to Buddha himself. In the early Bangkok period, the Siamese authority faced dilemma in which Buddhist laws declined as the violations of "Vinaya" were widespread including accumulation of personal wealth and having children. Many attempts by the royal court were made to purify the monkhood and purged any of 'non-conformist' monks.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In 1824, the young Prince Mongkut was ordained as a monk. However, his father King Rama II died fifteen days later and his elder half-brother Prince Chetsadabodin took the throne as King Rama III. Prince Mongkut stayed in monkhood to avoid political intrigues and pursued religious and intellectual life. Prince Mongkut soon found that the mainstream Siamese monkhood was then generally laxed in "Vinaya". He then met Phra Sumethmuni a Mon monk in 1830 and discovered that Mon traditions was more strict and closer to the supposed original Buddha's "Vinaya" and, therefore, the authentic lineage traceable to Buddha. In 1830, Prince Mongkut moved from Wat Mahathat to Wat Samorai and officially began the "Thammayut" or "Dhammayuttika" ( 'adhering to the dharma') movement. He studied and followed Mon traditions. Prince Mongkut re-ordained as a monk in Mon tradition at Wat Samorai, where the "Thammayut" accumulated followers. The mainstream Siamese monks then became known as the "Mahanikai" (). Robes of "Thammayut" monks were brownish-red in colour and worn over both shoulders in Mon style, while the robe colour of "Mahanikai" monks was bright-orange. "Thammayut" forbid the monks to touch money. New Pāli pronunciation and the routine of daily Buddhist chanting were also introduced. Prince Mongkut was appointed as the abbot of Wat Baworn Nivet, which became the headquarter of "Thammayut", in 1836.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The royal court had mixed reactions with the Thammayut. King Rama III tolerated Thammayut but commented on the Mon-style robes. Prince Rakronnaret, who oversaw the "Krom Sankhakari", was the main opponent of Thammayut. Prince Mongkut acquainted himself with Westerners in Bangkok, including Bishop Pallegoix, and learnt Western sciences and philosophy that would later influence Mongkut's rational rethinking and Buddhist realism in his Thammayut ideals. Thammayut emphasized the importance of Pāli learning as the sole doctrinal source and considered meditations, magical practices and folklore syncretism as mythical. In 1851, Prince Mongkut decided to order Thammayut monks to abandon Mon-style robes due to pressures. Prince Mongkut went to become the king in 1851 and the Mon-style monk robes were reinstated. The leadership of Thammayut passed to Prince Pavares Variyalongkorn.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Hindu court brahmins continued to play an important role in Siamese royal ceremonies during the Rattanakosin Kingdom into the present. In 1784, King Rama I built a Hindu temple as the home for the Siamese court brahmins, the Devasathan, which still serves as the home of Hinduism in Thailand to the present day. In that same year, the famous Giant Swing was constructed in front of the Devasathan, nearby to Wat Suthat, which was used in the annual Hindu Triyamphway Ceremony, whose function discontinued in 1935 due to safety reasons.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In 1779, King Taksin of Thonburi ordered the expulsion of three French Catholic priests: Olivier-Simon Le Bon the vicar apostolic of Siam, Joseph-Louis Coudé and Arnaud-Antoine Garnault from Siam for their refusals to drink the sacred water to swear fealty to the king. Le Bon retired to Goa where he died in 1780. Coudé left for Kedah and he was appointed the new vicar apostolic of Siam in 1782. Coudé returned to Bangkok in 1783. Coudé was pardoned by King Rama I and was allowed to skip the lustral water drinking ceremony. Coudé took the vicarate seat at Santa Cruz church in Kudi Chin district. However, as French bishops continued to monopolize vicarate position in Siam, Coudé faced oppositions from the Portuguese who formed the majority of Catholics in Bangkok. Coudé left Bangkok for Kedah where he died in 1785 and was succeeded by Garnault in 1787. Vicars apostolic of Siam in the early Bangkok period usually spent most of tenure in Kedah, Penang, and Mergui due to resistance from the Portuguese in Bangkok who always requested for Portuguese bishops from either Goa or Macau. Chantaburi arose as the centre of immigrated Vietnamese Catholics. Kedah, Malacca, Singapore and Tenasserim were added to the territory of apostolic vicarate of Siam in 1840.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Jean-Paul Courvezy, the vicar apostolic of Siam, chose Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix as his coadjutor in 1838. Courvezy moved to stay permanently in Singapore, leaving Pallegoix in Bangkok. In 1841, in accordance with the papal brief "Univerci Dominici", the apostolic vicarate of Siam was divided into apostolic vicarates of Eastern Siam, corresponding to Siam proper, and Western Siam corresponding to Malay peninsula. Courvezy remained as the vicar apostolic of Western Siam at Singapore, while Pallegoix was appointed the vicar apostolic of Eastern Siam in Bangkok. Pallegoix was the first vicar apostolic to spend most of his time in Bangkok. In 1841, there were total of 4,300 recorded Catholics in Siam with 1,700 Vietnamese Catholics in St. Francis Xavier Church in Bangkok, 700 Portuguese-Cambodian Catholics in Immaculate Conception Church, 500 Portuguese-Siamese Catholics in the Santa Cruz Church and another 500 at Holy Rosary Calvário Church and 800 Vietnamese Catholics in Chanthaburi. In 1849, during the Cholera epidemic, King Rama III ordered the Christian churches to release domesticated animals and feed them to make merits to appease the diseases according to Buddhist beliefs. Missionaries did not comply and incurred the anger of the king. Pallegoix then decided to release the animals per royal orders. King Rama III was satisfied but ordered the expulsions of eight priests who refused to comply. In 1852, King Mongkut personally wrote to the expelled eight missionaries urging them to return and promising not to impose Buddhist beliefs on missionaries in the future. Pope Pius IX issued thanks to King Mongkut by papal briefs "Pergrata Nobis" (1852) and "Summa quidem" (1861).


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: In 1828 saw the arrival of first two Protestant missionaries in Bangkok: British Jacob Tomlin from London Missionary Society and German Lutheran Karl Gützlaff. Tomlin stayed only for nine months and Gützlaff stayed until 1833. Protestant missions in Siam was then very nascent. American Presbyterian missionaries from ABCFM and Baptist missionaries arrived in this period. American missionaries were called 'physicians' by the Siamese because they usually practiced Western medicine. Though their missionary works were largely unclimactic, they contributed to Thai history by the introduction of Western sciences and technologies. These included Presbyterian Dan Beach Bradley (, arrived in 1835), who introduced surgery, printing and vaccination to Siam, Presbyterian Jesse Caswell (arrived in 1839 together with Asa Hemenway), who closely associated with Prince Mongkut, Baptist John Taylor Jones (arrived in 1833) and Baptist J.H. Chandley (, arrived in 1843).


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: After the fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and failed attempts to reacquire the portage route long by the Chakri rulers, Persian and Muslim influence in Siam declined as Chinese influence within the kingdom grew. Despite this, however, the Muslim community remained a sizable minority in Bangkok, particularly in the first hundred years or so.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: After the Fall of Ayutthaya, Shiite Muslims of Persian descent from Ayutthaya settled in the Kudi Chin district. ‘Kudi’ () was the Siamese term for Shiite Imambarah, though it could also refer to a mosque. Muslim communities in Siam were led by Phraya Chula Ratchamontri (), the position that had been held by a single lineage of Shiite Persian descendant of Sheikh Ahmad since 1656 and until 1939. Phraya Chula Ratchamontri was also the Lord of the Right Pier who headed the "Kromma Tha Khwa" () or the Department of the Right Pier that dealt with trade and affairs with Muslim Indians and Middle Easterners. Shiite Persians were elite Muslims who served as officials in "Kromma Tha Khwa". Shiites in Siam were characterized by their ritual of the Mourning of Muharram or "Chao Sen" ceremony (Imam Hussein was called "Chao Sen" in Siamese). King Rama II ordered the Muharram rituals to be performed before him in the royal palace in 1815 and 1816. "Kudi" Mosques were established and concentrated on the West bank of Chao Phraya River in Thonburi. Important "Kudi"s in Thonburi included Tonson Mosque (Kudi Yai or the Great Kudi, oldest mosque in Bangkok), Kudi Charoenphat (Kudi Lang, the Lower Kudi) and Bangluang Mosque (Kudi Khao or the White Kudi).


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The Siamese used the term "Khaek" () for the Islamic peoples in general. In traditional Siam, religion was closely tied with ethnicity. Muslims in Siam included the Sunni "Khaek" Cham and "Khaek" Malayu (Malays) and Shiite "Khaek" Ma-ngon or "Khaek" Chao Sen, referring to Persians.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Due to the raging wars and population dearth, the overall productivity of Siam in the early decades of Rattanakosin remained relatively low. The Siamese economy in the early Bangkok period was based on subsistence agrarian economy. Commoners lived on the production of their lands and the central authority levied taxes as income. Land was abundant, while manpower was in shortage. Taxation and Royal Junk expenditures were the main revenues of the royal court. Traditionally, as in Ayutthaya, the royal court levied four kinds of taxes;


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Taxes were collected in forms of commodities or currency money. Main spending of the royal court went to the "Biawat" or the stipends of all administrative officials and the construction of palaces and temples and firearm purchases. In the early decades of Rattanakosin, the financial situation of the royal court was in strain. In 1796, Prince Maha Sura Singahanat of the Front Palace, who received 1,000 "chang" annually, informed King Rama I that his share was inadequate to be distributed as "Biawat" to his officials. King Rama I replied that the prince should invest more in the Royal Junks to earn money. King Rama I conducted his personal trade with Qing China through the "Samphao Luang" () or Royal Junks, in joint venture with Chinese merchants who provided the crew. Export demands on Siam had been mainly forest products such as agarwood and sappanwood. The royal court acquired valuable products from the hinterland and loaded them on the junks to be traded. Chinese merchants enhanced this process by taking the role as middlemen and shippers.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Qing China had been the main trading partner of Siam since the late Ayutthaya period. In the early nineteenth century, Qing China requested to buy rice from Siam. Traditionally, rice was the forbidden commodity due to the fact that it was the main staple and crucial to stability of the kingdom. King Rama II allowed rice to be exported to China in some rice-surplus years. Chinese settler merchants played very important roles in the development of Siamese economy in the early Rattanakosin period. In the 1810s, the Chinese introduced the technology of sugar production leading to the establishment of numerous Chinese-owned sugarcane plantations in Central Siam. Crawfurd mentioned the Chinese sugarcane plantations in ฺBang Pla Soi, Nakhon Chaisi, Bangkok and Petriu. In 1822, Siam exported more than 8 million pounds of sugar. For the first time, the export-oriented marketization took over native trade of forest products. However, the profits of the these growing agro-industries were limited to the Chinese bourgeoisie and native elite class. The sugar industry remained as the major Siamese export well into the late nineteenth century.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: By the reign of King Rama II, however, the "Samphao Luang" or Royal Junks became less profitable due to competition with growing private sectors. Since the Ayutthaya period in the sixteenth century, the Siamese royal court had monopolized foreign trades through the "Phra Khlang Sinkha" or Royal Warehouse. All incoming foreign ships including European merchants should go through inspection by the "Phra Khlang Sinkha" who collected the "Phasi Pak Reua" or measurement duties and bought goods. Foreign merchants could only trade through the "Phra Khlang Sinkha" and could not trade directly with the private Siamese. The measurement duties had been a major source of revenue to royal court. When the British arrived in the 1820s, they saw traditional royal monopoly as a hindrance and implied that free trade should be the better agreement. This culminated in the arrival of Henry Burney and the promulgation of the Burney Treaty in June 1826, which ended three centuries of royal monopoly by granting the rights to the British to trade privately. However, some trade restrictions remained. Rice and ammunition were not permitted to be traded freely and British merchandise ships were still required to go through the "Phra Khlang Sinkha" for the measurement duties imposition. It took about another thirty years for the Siamese economy to be fully liberalized in the Bowring Treaty of 1855.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: King Rama III, who ascended the throne in 1824, faced major financial problems. The Burney Treaty of 1826, which terminated royal trade monopoly, took drastic effect on the royal court revenue. King Rama III then realized that, instead of relying on the Royal Junks, the royal court should rather invest in tax farming. In his reign, thirty-eight new taxes were enacted to compensate the revenue loss. New taxes required experienced collectors and the Chinese eagerly filled in these roles, leading to the creation of 'Chinese tax collector system'. When a new tax was announced, the Chinese merchants would compete for the rights to collect the tax on behalf of royal court. Those who promised highest amount of income would win this 'tax auction'.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Rattanakosin Kingdom used the silver bullet money known as "Photduang" () as currency until it was officially replaced with flat coins in 1904. "Photduang" originated in the Sukhothai period and had been in use through the Ayutthaya period. A silver bar was cut into discrete units of weight, which were melted and cast into strips that were bent to curve in the form of curled worms – hence the name "Photduang" meaning 'curled worm'. "Photduang" bullet coins were imprinted with the "Chakra" Seal, which was the kingdom seal, on one side and the regal seal of each reign on other side. King Rama I had the "Unalom" Lotus Seal imprinted on the "Photduang" of his reign. King Rama II used the garuda seal. The seal of King Rama III was in the shape of a palace. The weight units of "Photduang" were "Tamleung" (, 60 g of silver), "Baht" (, 15 g), "Salueng" (, quarter of "Baht"), "Fueang" (, half of "Saleung") and "Phai" (, quarter of "Fueang").


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Different currencies were used in Lanna and Lao Kingdoms. In Laos, the "Lat" silver bars were used. "Photduang" were also accepted in those regions.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Though "Photduang" currency existed, the barter exchange remained prevalent. In the reign of King Rama II, the royal court distributed "Biawat" stipends to government officials in the form of white clothes. Some taxes were collected in form of commodity products.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: There was no official institutions for education such as universities in pre-modern Siam. Siamese traditional education was closely tied to the Buddhist religion. Boys went to temples or became novice monks to learn Thai and Pāli languages from monks, who offered tutorships for free as a part of religious works. Princes and young nobles received tuition from high-ranking monks in fine temples. Girls were not expected to be literate and were usually taught domestic arts such as culinary and embroidery. However, education for women was not restricted and upper-class women had more opportunities for literacy. There were some prominent female authors in the early Rattanakosin period. Craftsmanships and artisanships were taught internally in the same family or community.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: The only higher education available in pre-modern Siam was the Buddhist Pāli doctrinal learning – the "Pariyattham" (). Monks took exams to be qualified to rise up in the ecclesiastic bureaucracy. There were three levels of "Pariyattham" exams inherited from Ayutthaya with each level called "Parian" (). In the 1810s, the three "Parian" levels were re-organized into nine "Parian" levels. "Pariyattham" exams were organized by the royal court, who encouraged Pāli learning in order to uphold Buddhism, and were usually held in the Emerald Buddha temple. Examinations involved translation and oral recitation of Pāli doctrines in front of examiner monks. "Pariyattham" exam was the vehicle both for intellectual pursuits and for advancement in monastic hierarchy for a monk.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: King Rama III ordered traditional Thai religious and secular arts, including Buddhist doctrines, traditional medicine, literature and geopolitics to be inscribed on stone steles at Wat Pho from 1831 to 1841. The Epigraphic Archives of Wat Pho was recognized by UNESCO as a Memory of the World and were examples of materials with closer resemblance to modern education. The Epigraphical Archives of Wat Pho (external link)


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Rama VI was the first king of Siam to set up a model of the constitution at Dusit Palace. He wanted first to see how things could be managed under this Western system. He saw advantages in the system, and thought that Siam could move slowly towards it, but could not be adopted right away as the majority of the Siamese people did not have enough education to understand such a change just yet. In 1916 higher education came to Siam. Rama VI set up Vajiravudh College, modeled after the British Eton College, as well as the first Thai university, Chulalongkorn University, modeled after Oxbridge.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Rama II was a lover of the arts and in particular the literary arts. He was an accomplished poet and anyone with the ability to write a refined piece of poetry would gain the favor of the king. This led to his being dubbed the "poet king". Due to his patronage, the poet Sunthon Phu was able to raise his noble title from "phrai" to "khun" and later "phra". Sunthon – also known as the drunken writer – wrote numerous works, including the epic poem "Phra Aphai Mani".


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: Rama II rewrote much of the great literature from the reign of Rama I in a modern style. He is credited with writing a popular version of the Thai folk tale Ramakien and wrote a number of dance dramas such as Sang Thong. The king was an accomplished musician, playing and composing for the fiddle and introducing new instrumental techniques. He was also a sculptor and is said to have sculpted the face of the Niramitr Buddha in Wat Arun. Because of his artistic achievements, Rama II's birthday is now celebrated as National Artists' Day (Wan Sinlapin Haeng Chat), held in honor of artists who have contributed to the cultural heritage of the kingdom


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: As same as Ayutthaya period, both Thai males and females dressed themselves with a loincloth wrap called "chong kraben". Men wore their "chong kraben" to cover the waist to halfway down the thigh, while women covered the waist to well below the knee. Bare chests and bare feet were accepted as part of the Thai formal dress code, and is observed in murals, illustrated manuscripts, and early photographs up to the middle of the 1800s. However, after the Second Fall of Ayutthaya, central Thai women began cutting their hair in a crew-cut short style, which remained the national hairstyle until the 1900s. Prior to the 20th century, the primary markers that distinguished class in Thai clothing were the use of cotton and silk cloths with printed or woven motifs, but both commoners and royals alike wore wrapped, not stitched clothing.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: From the 1860s onward, Thai royals "selectively adopted Victorian corporeal and sartorial etiquette to fashion modern personas that were publicized domestically and internationally by means of mechanically reproduced images." Stitched clothing, including court attire and ceremonial uniforms, were invented during the reign of King Chulalongkorn. Western forms of dress became popular among urbanites in Bangkok during this time period.


title: Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

text: During the early 1900s, King Vajiravudh launched a campaign to encourage Thai women to wear long hair instead of traditional short hair, and to wear (), a tubular skirt, instead of the (), a cloth wrap.


title: Myxedema

text: Myxedema is a term used synonymously with severe hypothyroidism. However, the term is also used to describe a dermatological change that can occur in hyperthyroidism and (rare) paradoxical cases of hypothyroidism. In this latter sense, myxedema refers to deposition of mucopolysaccharides in the dermis, which results in swelling of the affected area. One manifestation of myxedema occurring in the lower limb is pretibial myxedema, a hallmark of Graves disease, an autoimmune form of hyperthyroidism. Myxedema can also occur in Hashimoto thyroiditis and other long-standing forms of hypothyroidism.


title: Myxedema

text: The word myxedema originates from , taken from ancient Greek to convey 'mucus' or 'slimy substance', and for "swelling". It can also be thought as nonpitting edema, in contrast to pitting edema.


title: Myxedema

text: Severe cases, requiring hospitalization can exhibit signs of hypothermia, hypoglycemia, hypotension, respiratory depression, and coma.


title: Myxedema

text: Myxedema is known to occur in various forms of hyperthyroidism, including Graves disease. One of the hallmarks of Grave's disease is pretibial myxedema, myxedema of the lower limb.


title: Myxedema

text: Myxedema describes a specific form of cutaneous and dermal edema secondary to increased deposition of connective tissue components. The connective fibres are separated by an increased amount of protein and mucopolysaccharides. These can include glycosaminoglycans, such as hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate and other mucopolysaccharides. This protein-mucopolysaccharide complex binds water, producing non-pitting boggy edema, in particular around eyes, hands, feet and in the supraclavicular fossae. Myxoedema is responsible for the thickening of the tongue and the laryngeal and pharyngeal mucous membranes, which results in thick slurred speech and hoarseness, both of which are seen commonly in hypothyroidism.


title: Myxedema

text: The increased deposition of glycosaminoglycan is not fully understood, however, two mechanisms predominate:


title: Myxedema

text: It is often possible to diagnose myxedema on clinical grounds alone. Characteristic symptoms are weakness, cold intolerance, mental and physical slowness, dry skin, typical facies, and hoarse voice. Results of the total serum thyroxine and free thyroxine index tests usually will confirm the diagnosis.


title: Myxedema

text: Primary treatment is prompted by the administration of adequate doses of either the thyroid hormone L-thyroxine given intravenously or by giving liothyronine via a nasogastric tube. It is essential to identify and treat the condition precipitating the coma.


title: Myxedema

text: Myxedema coma is rare but often fatal. It occurs most often in elderly women and may be mistaken for one of the chronic debilitating diseases common to this age group.


title: Myxedema

text: Though the exact cause of myxedema is still unclear, a wealth of research has demonstrated the importance of iodine. In an important study the researchers showed that in the myxedematous type of cretinism treatment with iodine normalizes thyroid function provided that the treatment is begun early in the postnatal period. If not, the prognosis remains dismal.


title: Myxedema

text: Myxedema was first treated successfully in 1891 when George Redmayne Murray diagnosed a 46-year-old woman with the disease. He prescribed an extract from sheep thyroid. The patient improved significantly within a few weeks and lived another 28 years while taking the sheep thyroid extract.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Cincinnati Bearcats football program represents the University of Cincinnati in college football. They compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the American Athletic Conference, a "Group of Five" conference, although that will change with the move to the Big 12 for the 2023 season. They have played their home games in historic and renovated Nippert Stadium since 1924. The Bearcats have an all-time record of over .500, having reached their 600th program victory in 2017. The program has had a resurgence in recent years. After joining the Big East for the 2005 season, the Bearcats have gone 146–71, along with 13 bowl game appearances, 7 conference titles, 4 BCS/NY6 Bowl berths, and 29 NFL Draft selections.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Bearcat football program is one of the nation's oldest, having fielded a team as early as 1885. In 1888, Cincinnati played Miami in the first intercollegiate football game held within the state of Ohio. That began a rivalry which today ranks as the eighth-oldest and 11th-longest running in NCAA Division I college football.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Robert Burch served as Cincinnati's head coach from 1909 to 1911, compiling a record of 16–8–2. It was during his tenure that Cincinnati joined the Ohio Athletic Conference, where they would remain until 1927. In March 1927, George Babcock was hired as a professor of athletics and physical training at the University of Cincinnati. From 1927 to 1930, he was the head football coach of the Bearcats football, compiling a 12–21–3 record. Sid Gillman, a member of the College and National Football League hall of fame shrines, was the architect of one of the top eras of Cincinnati football history. He directed the Bearcats to three conference titles and a pair of bowl game appearances during his six seasons (1949–54) before leaving for the professional ranks. Cincinnati, with Gillman developing the passing offenses which would make him successful in the pro ranks, became known for its aerial attack in the early 1950s. George Blackburn served as the Bearcats' head coach from 1955 to 1960, compiling a 25–27–6 record. It was during Blackburn's tenure, in 1957, that the Bearcats joined the Missouri Valley Conference, where they would remain until 1969.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Chuck Studley left UMass and became the Bearcats' 25th head football coach. Under Studley's tutelage, the Bearcats won two conference championships in 1963 and 1964, However, Studley's teams struggled in his other four seasons and Studley was replaced after the 1966 season. Oklahoma assistant coach Homer Rice was hired as Studley's replacement. After Rice accepted the head coaching position at Cincinnati, Oklahoma's head coach Jim Mackenzie died of a massive heart attack. Upon Mackenzie's death, Oklahoma's athletic director and president called Homer Rice to request that he return to replace Mackenzie as head coach at Oklahoma. Rice had already hired his staff at Cincinnati and turned down the Oklahoma job to stay committed to his staff at Cincinnati. Rice compiled an 8–10–1 record in his two seasons at Cincinnati. In 1968, the Bearcats were the nation's top passing team. Quarterback Greg Cook was the NCAA's total offense leader with receiver/kicker Jim O'Brien the national scoring champ. A year later, Cook earned Rookie of the Year honors as a Cincinnati Bengal. Two years later, O'Brien kicked the game-winning field goal for the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl V. Ray Callahan was promoted from assistant coach to head coach after Rice's departure. After a 4–6 campaign in his first season, Callahan's Bearcats posted back to back 7–4 records in 1970 and 1971. However, a 2–9 season in 1972 ended his tenure at Cincinnati.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: UC's fortunes turned around under head coach Tony Mason, who led the Bearcats for four seasons and compiled a 25–19 record. Mason's Bearcats started slow, but enjoyed an 8–3 campaign in 1976, after which Mason was offered the head coaching position at Arizona, which he accepted. Ohio State assistant coach Ralph Staub was hired as Mason's replacement, and the Bearcats stumbled mightily. Staub's Bearcats posted records of 5–4–2, 5–6, 2–9 and 2–9 for a total of 14–28–2. Staub was fired following the 1980 season. Staub was replaced by Mike Gottfried, who had been head coach at Murray State the previous four seasons. Gottfried was able to improve UC's fortunes, posting back-to-back 6–5 records in 1981 and 1982, however, Gottfried left UC for the head coaching position at Kansas after just two seasons. Gottfried's record at UC is 12–10. Due to a NCAA decision to mandate average attendance of 20,000 for Division I-A programs, Cincinnati was relegated to NCAA Division I-AA for the 1983 season due to consistently low attendance figures. Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Watson Brown, brother of legendary coach Mack Brown, replaced Gottfried but he too, left after only a short period of time. Brown's 1983 squad posted a 4–6–1 record. Brown resigned after the 1983 season to accept the position of head football coach at Rice.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Long Beach State head coach Dave Currey was hired as Brown's replacement, and the Bearcats' struggles returned. Currey failed to post a single winning season as UC's head coach and, after a 3–8 campaign in 1988, Currey resigned under pressure.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Maine head coach Tim Murphy was hired to replace Currey in 1989. Despite one-win seasons in both of his first two seasons, Murphy was able to slowly but surely turn things around for the Bearcats, compiling an 8–3 record in 1993.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Murphy elected to leave Cincinnati after the 1993 season for the head coaching position at Harvard University. Murphy left UC with a 17–37–1 record.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Notre Dame defensive coordinator Rick Minter was selected as the Bearcats head coach after Murphy's departure. Minter's Bearcats enjoyed mild success, reaching four bowl games (winning one) and posting six winning seasons in Minter's ten-season tenure. It was during Minter's tenure that Cincinnati joined Conference USA, where they would remain until 2004. Minter remained UC's head coach until after the 2003 season, when he was fired following a 5–7 season. Minter left UC with a 53–63–1 record.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Ohio State defensive coordinator Mark Dantonio was named head coach at Cincinnati on December 23, 2003. Dantonio became the first head coach in 23 years to lead the school to a winning season in his first season at UC. The Bearcats' 7–5 record included a 5–3 record in Conference USA, which was good enough for a second-place finish. The Bearcats finished the season on a winning note with a 32–14 win over Marshall in the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: During Dantonio's time at UC, he led the Bearcats to a bowl game victory and directed the team's transition into the Big East Conference in 2005, where they would remain until 2012. As head coach, Dantonio had 15 players earn all-conference honors and 25 received conference academic recognition. Dantonio's Bearcats posted a 4–7 mark in 2005 which was followed by an 8–5 campaign in 2006.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Central Michigan head coach Brian Kelly was named as the Bearcats head coach on December 3, 2006, following the departure of Mark Dantonio. In an unusual move, Cincinnati elected not to appoint an interim coach and asked Kelly to assume his duties immediately by coaching the Bearcats in their bowl game. Central Michigan was also preparing for a bowl appearance, so while Kelly was in Cincinnati preparing the Bearcats, much of his staff remained at Central Michigan to coach the Chippewas. Following Central Michigan's 31–14 win in the Motor City Bowl on December 26, most of his staff joined him in Cincinnati, where they went on to coach Cincinnati to a 27–24 victory over Western Michigan University in that year's International Bowl on January 6. Cincinnati's victory gave Kelly the unique distinction of having defeated the same team twice in a season as coach of two teams (Central Michigan had defeated Western Michigan 31–7 earlier that season).


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: In his first full season, Kelly led Cincinnati to a competitive position in the Big East, the Bearcats' second ever 10-win season (its first since 1949), and a Top 25 ranking. On December 5, 2007, Kelly was named Big East Coach of the Year after leading the Bearcats to a 9–3 record. Coach Kelly later led the Bearcats to a 31–21 victory in the PapaJohns.com Bowl over Southern Miss.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: In 2008, Kelly led Cincinnati to its first ever outright Big East title with key wins over West Virginia and Pittsburgh. The Bearcats had never defeated either team in Big East conference play. Kelly also became the first coach to win all three of the Bearcats' traveling trophies— the Victory Bell (Miami [OH]), the Keg of Nails (Louisville), and the River City Rivalry Trophy (Pitt). The Bearcats played in the Orange Bowl versus the ACC champion, Virginia Tech, on January 1, 2009 but lost 20–7 to finish the season 11–3.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: After beginning the 2009 season unranked in all polls, Kelly's Bearcats reeled off 12 straight victories and finished the regular season undefeated. Going into the bowl season, they were ranked No. 3 in the BCS Standings and faced the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl. Kelly did not coach the team in the 51–24 loss to Florida because he accepted the head football coaching position at Notre Dame.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Among the honors that Cincinnati football achieved in 2009 was the highest academic rating among teams in the top 10 of the BCS standings, according to the 2009 Graduation Success Rates, released November 18 by the NCAA. Cincinnati, which was fifth in the BCS standings, checked in with a 75 percent NCAA graduation rate and a 71 percent federal government rate, the only team in the BCS top 10 to surpass the 70 percent plateau in both. Kelly finished his tenure at Cincinnati with a 34–6 record.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: On December 16, 2009, Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones was named head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. The hiring was an odd coincidence, as Jones had also replaced Brian Kelly as head coach at Central Michigan.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Jones led the Bearcats to records of 4–8 in 2010 and 10–3 in 2011, including a Big East championship, a Liberty Bowl victory over Vanderbilt, and he was named Big East Coach of the Year. Also in 2011, Cincinnati was the only program to win both its conference championship as well as the league's team academic award.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Jones led the Bearcats to a 9–3 regular season record in 2012, leading them to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte to play against Duke University, a game Cincinnati won. Twenty days prior to the bowl game, on December 7, 2012, Jones announced to the team that he would be resigning to accept the job as head football coach at Tennessee, after declining offers from Colorado, Purdue, and others.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: On December 8, 2012, Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville, formerly head coach at Ole Miss and Auburn accepted the head coaching position at Cincinnati with a $2.2 million contract. Cincinnati's athletic director, Whit Babcock, had previously worked with Tuberville at Auburn; the two have been friends for several years. On December 9 an article in the "Lubbock Avalanche-Journal" pointed out that Cincinnati is only 30 miles from Guilford, Indiana, home of Tuberville's wife, Suzanne.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: In 2013, his first season with Cincinnati, Tuberville led the Bearcats into the American Athletic Conference with an overall record of 9-4 and a 6-2 conference record. His 2014 team was also 9-4 overall, but this time earned an American Athletic Conference co-championship by virtue of their 7-1 league mark. Both years also saw bowl losses, in 2013 to North Carolina and 2014 to Virginia Tech. After a 7-5 season in 2015 the Bearcats were defeated by San Diego State 42-7 in the Hawai'i Bowl


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: On December 4, 2016, after a 4–8 season, Tuberville resigned as head coach of Cincinnati. Tuberville left Cincinnati with an overall record of 29–22 and 18–14 in AAC conference play.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: On December 10, 2016 Ohio State defensive coordinator/associate head coach Luke Fickell was named UC's head coach, replacing Tuberville. Fickell had also served as Ohio State's head coach during the 2011 season after a scandal forced out previous coach Jim Tressel.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: During the 2017 season the Bearcats compiled a record of 4–8. The 2018 season saw a much improved team, with the Bearcats finishing with a 11–2 (6–2 AAC) record, and winning the Military Bowl against Virginia Tech. The 11-win season was only the third such season in the history of the program. Fickell was given the AAC Coach of the Year honor for the season. Under Fickell's direction in 2019, the Bearcats won the AAC East Division and played in the AAC Championship. The Bearcats won the Birmingham Bowl, their 2nd straight bowl win and finished the 2019 campaign with its 2nd consecutive 11 win season. Fickell built on the success of the 2019 season, with the 2020 campaign producing his best yet result despite a season mired with COVID-19 cancellations and postponements. The Bearcats returned to the AAC Championship game, this time defeating Tulsa to end the regular season with an undefeated record. Fickell returned the Bearcats to a NY6 bowl, losing a close game to Georgia in the Peach Bowl. In 2021, the Bearcats went undefeated in the regular season, including a notable road victory against Notre Dame and former coach Brian Kelly. After defeating Houston in the AAC Championship, Cincinnati became the first so-called "Group of Five" team to qualify to the College Football Playoff (debuting in the "final four" of that list on November 26). They lost to Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. In 2022, Cincinnati would finish in the regular season 9–3 and 6–2 in AAC play, but were not able to qualify for the AAC Championship.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: On November 27, 2022, Fickell was hired by Wisconsin to replace Paul Chryst as head coach, and cornerbacks coach and special–teams coordinator Kerry Coombs would be promoted to interim head coach. Fickell would leave Cincinnati as the coach with the most career wins in program history.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: On December 5, 2022 Satterfield was named the head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. Ironically, Satterfield's former team, the rival Louisville Cardinals, were set to play Cincinnati only a few days later in the 2022 Fenway Bowl.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Bearcats have participated in 22 postseason bowl games, with a record of 10–12. The program's first postseason games were by the 1897 Cincinnati football team, which played in two games in New Orleans in January 1898.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Glass Bowl is listed in NCAA records, but was not considered an NCAA-sanctioned bowl; Cincinnati counts the bowl game in their records.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Cincinnati was selected as the fourth seed in the College Football Playoff following the 2021 season.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Keg of Nails is the name of the rivalry between Cincinnati and Louisville. The rivalry has stretched over the span of four conferences from the Missouri Valley Conference, to the Metro Conference to Conference USA, and more recently in the Big East Conference, which in 2013 was renamed to the American Athletic Conference. It is believed to be the oldest rivalry for the Louisville football team and the second oldest for Cincinnati, only behind the annual game with the Miami RedHawks.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The trophy is a replica of a keg used to ship nails. The exchange is believed to have been initiated by fraternity chapters on the UC and U of L campuses, signifying that the winning players in the game were "tough as nails."


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The present keg is actually a replacement for the original award, which was misplaced by Louisville, lost during some construction of office facilities. It is adorned with the logos of both schools and the scores of the series games.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The rivalry went on hiatus following the 2013 season, as Louisville moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, 2014 and continues to remain in hiatus upon Cincinnati's move to the Big 12 Conference which is expected to occur on July 1, 2023.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Cincinnati and Memphis have played a total of 36 times across a number of conferences. After the establishment of the American Athletic Conference in 2013, the series was renewed from the days of Conference USA. Most notably, in the 2019 season the two teams would face off twice in consecutive weeks, with both games being hosted by Memphis. The second game would be the 2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game in which the Tigers would beat the Bearcats for the second straight week. Cincinnati and Memphis met again in 2020 at Nippert with the Bearcats defeating the Tigers 49-10. The series is expected to go on hiatus upon Cincinnati's move into the Big 12 Conference conference on July 1st, 2023.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Victory Bell is the trophy awarded to the winner of the American college football rivalry game played by the Cincinnati and Miami (OH). The Victory Bell is the oldest current non-conference college football rivalry in the United States (though the teams were conference rivals for a few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s).


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Bearcats and RedHawks (formerly the Redskins) square off each fall for the famed Victory Bell. The first game in the series, played on December 8, 1888 in Oxford, Ohio, was the first college football game played in the state of Ohio. The original bell hung in Miami's Harrison Hall (Old Main) near the site of the first game and was used to ring in Miami victories. The traveling trophy tradition began in the 1890s when some Cincinnati fans "borrowed" the bell. The bell went to the winner of the annual game for the next forty years until it mysteriously disappeared in the 1930s. The original bell reappeared in 1946 and is on display in the lobby of Miami's Murstein Alumni Center. The trophy is a replica of the original bell and is kept in the possession of the winning team each year. One side of the bell is painted black with white numbers showing Cincinnati's victories, while the other side is white with red numbers showing Miami's victories. Ties are indicated on the top of the red yoke in white numbers.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Bearcats have won the last 16 meetings, including a 38–17 victory in the 2022 meeting at Paycor Stadium to take the overall series lead at 60–59–7


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The River City Rivalry is the name of the rivalry between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The rivalry itself was relatively brief, played annually from 2005, during which season the rivalry trophy was introduced. Before the rivalry was titled, the two teams played each other in 1921, 1922, 1979, and 1981. The rivalry went on hiatus, like many others throughout the country, in the aftermath of the 2010–13 NCAA conference realignment, which left the programs in separate leagues. However, the two teams are scheduled to meet in a home-and-home series for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The Paddlewheel Trophy is the rivalry trophy that was created in 2005 when the Bearcats joined the Big East Conference to which the Pittsburgh Panthers already belonged. The trophy is designed and named in honor the historic link between the cities from the days in the 19th and early-20th centuries when Paddle wheel-powered boats traveled between the two cities along the Ohio River.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The 2009 match-up between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh was described by one national columnist as the most "fascinating game I've ever seen." The game functioned as a Big East championship game, with Cincinnati entering first in the conference, and Pittsburgh at second. Additionally, the Bearcats entered the game undefeated and trying to earn a spot in the BCS National Championship Game, while the 9–2 Panthers were trying to secure their first BCS bowl since the 2004 season. The Panthers had an early 31–10 lead, however, the ensuing kickoff was returned for a touchdown by Mardy Gilyard to make it a 31–17 game at halftime. Cincinnati completed the comeback, tying the game at 38 late in the 4th quarter. Pittsburgh running back Dion Lewis scored a touchdown with 1:36 left in the game, but a mishandled snap by Andrew Janocko prevented the Panthers from converting the extra point. The Bearcats then drove down the field and scored on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Tony Pike to Armon Binns with 33 seconds left. Bearcats kicker Jake Rodgers converted the extra point attempt, and Cincinnati held on to win 45–44. Following the game, Cincinnati rose to a No. 3 ranking in the final BCS standing while Pitt dropped to No. 17. The game has been described as "one of the most crushing losses in the history of Pitt football." Though the rivalry has gone into hiatus upon Pittsburgh's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference it will be renewed in a Home and Home series starting in 2023. In the aftermath of the 2021–22 NCAA conference realignment the series will once again be a battle of power conference foes as the first game of the series will take place in Cincinnati's first year in the Big 12 Conference.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: The teams met 20 times between 1921 and 2011, every year from 2005 to 2011, as conference foes and members of the Big East Conference. West Virginia leads Cincinnati in the series 13-3-1 since 2011.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Cincinnati and Xavier would first play in 1918, but the series would not become an annual event until 1946. The game would be played each year at Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium as the venue had a larger capacity to accommodate the cross city showdown compared to Xavier's Corcoran Stadium. The series, and Xavier's football program, would come to a close after the 1973 series. Cincinnati leads the historic series, 18–12.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Cincinnati has honored the following players, with their names and numbers displayed in Nippert Stadium.


title: Cincinnati Bearcats football

text: Nippert has been home to the Bearcats football team in rudimentary form since 1901, and as a complete stadium since 1924, making it the fourth oldest playing site and fifth oldest stadium in college football. Nippert has earned a reputation as a tough place to play. One national columnist, visiting the sold-out Keg of Nails rivalry game in 2013, described Nippert Stadium as a "quaint bowl of angry noise sitting under the gaze of remarkable architecture" and went on to compare it to a "baby Death Valley" (referring to LSU's notoriously intimidating Tiger Stadium). In 2012, USA Today called Nippert Stadium the best football venue in what was then the Big East Conference. UC boasted a 14-game home winning streak at Nippert, during a stretch dating from 2008 to 2010. UC has a current home winning streak of 30 games dating back to the 2017 home finale against Connecticut. The stadium received an $86 million renovation for the 2015 season, which was completed just in time for the Bearcats home opener on September 5. The Bearcats played their 2014 home games at Paul Brown Stadium.


title: Laconic phrase

text: A laconic phrase or laconism is a concise or terse statement, especially a blunt and elliptical rejoinder. It is named after Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose ancient inhabitants had a reputation for verbal austerity and were famous for their often pithy remarks.


title: Laconic phrase

text: A laconic phrase may be used for efficiency (as during military training and operations), for emphasis, for philosophical reasons (especially among thinkers who believe in minimalism, such as Stoics), or to deflate a pompous interlocutor.


title: Laconic phrase

text: A prominent example involves Philip II of Macedon. After invading southern Greece and receiving the submission of other key city-states, he turned his attention to Sparta and asked menacingly whether he should come as friend or foe. The reply was "Neither."


title: Laconic phrase

text: The Spartans were especially famous for their dry, understated wit, which is now known as "laconic humor". This can be contrasted with the "Attic salt" or "Attic wit" the refined, poignant, delicate humour of Sparta's chief rival, Athens.


title: Laconic phrase

text: Various groups in more recent history also have a reputation for laconic humor: Icelanders in the sagas, and, in the Anglophone world, Australians ("cf." Australian humor), American cowboys, New Englanders, and people from Northern England.


title: Laconic phrase

text: Spartans paid less attention than other ancient Greeks to the development of education, arts, and literature. Some view this as having contributed to the characteristically blunt Laconian speech. However, Socrates, in Plato's dialogue "Protagoras", appears to reject the idea that Spartans' economy with words was simply a consequence of poor literary education: "... they conceal their wisdom, and pretend to be blockheads, so that they may seem to be superior only because of their prowess in battle ... This is how you may know that I am speaking the truth and that the Spartans are the best educated in philosophy and speaking: if you talk to any ordinary Spartan, he seems to be stupid, but eventually, like an expert marksman, he shoots in some brief remark that proves you to be only a child". Socrates was known to have admired Spartan laws, as did many other Athenians, but modern scholars have doubted the seriousness of his attribution of a secret love of philosophy to Spartans. Still, the Spartans Myson of Chenae and Chilon of Sparta have traditionally been counted among the Seven Sages of Greece; both were famous for many laconic sayings.


title: Laconic phrase

text: In general, however, Spartans were expected to be men of few words, to hold rhetoric in disdain, and to stick to the point. Loquacity was considered frivolous and unbecoming of sensible, down-to-earth Spartan warriors. A Spartan youth was reportedly liable to have his thumb bitten as punishment for too verbose a response to a teacher's question.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: Hitman: Blood Money is a 2006 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released in May 2006 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360. It is the fourth installment in the "Hitman" video game series, and the sequel to 2004's "". The single-player story follows cloned assassin Agent 47's efforts to bring down the Franchise, a rival contract killing organization that is threatening his employers, the International Contract Agency (ICA), and seeking to obtain the same cloning technology that created 47. Meanwhile, a frame story presents 47's life and various contracts he carried out, as narrated by a former FBI director to a journalist.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "Blood Money" was a critical and commercial success, selling more than 2.1 million copies. It has gained a cult following and is now considered by many publications and critics as one of the greatest video games ever made. High-definition ports of "Blood Money" and two of its predecessors, "" and "Contracts", were released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in January 2013 as the "Hitman HD Trilogy". A sequel, "", was released in 2012, and 4K remastered ports of both "Blood Money" and "Absolution" were released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in 2019 on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of the "Hitman HD Enhanced Collection".


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: As with previous installments, "Hitman: Blood Money" has the player control series protagonist Agent 47, who is assigned various targets to assassinate in order to complete missions. Armed guards, security checkpoints, witnesses and other obstacles attempt to prohibit Agent 47's success. The player guides Agent 47 through the game's levels from a third-person perspective. A map showing each topographical area and the location of targets and characters assists the player. To complete his mission, Agent 47 uses multiple methods to eliminate targets, regardless of witnesses or violence to bystanders. "Blood Money" penalizes players for making too much noise or being too violent.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: New features introduced in "Blood Money" included the ability to climb over obstacles, improved unarmed combat, the use of non-player characters (NPC) as shields, the ability to dispose of bodies, improved character animations, a new game engine, and the ability to upgrade weapons and equipment. Seven of the featured weapons in the game, and some pieces of equipment, can be upgraded.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: Every level in "Blood Money" contains a method to make the target's death look like an accident, such as tampering with a grill to make it explode when it is turned on, rigging a chandelier to fall on a target or pushing a target off a balcony. Agent 47 can improvise weapons to complete missions, such as nail guns, toy air rifles, knives, screwdrivers, stilettos, cane swords, fire extinguishers, hammers, and hedge clippers.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "Blood Money" introduced a notoriety system that rises and falls based upon Agent 47's success. The higher Agent 47's notoriety, the easier it is for NPCs to identify him. If Agent 47 is captured on camera surveillance or witnessed committing murder, the character's notoriety will rise. If the player executes a mission perfectly, Agent 47's notoriety will be minimal. "Blood Money" provides players with methods to reduce Agent 47's notoriety, including destroying surveillance equipment and bribery. Notoriety gained in early missions will affect later missions. The player receives payment upon completion of a mission, which can be used to upgrade weapons, or bribe authorities to lower your notoriety score. The amount of money the player receives depends on how cleanly the assassination is carried out, with silent killings with no witnesses receiving the highest payout.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: Upon completion of each mission, a newspaper article is displayed containing the mission's results, Agent 47's notoriety level, the weapon most frequently used and how accurately it was used, the number of police, security, and civilians killed or injured, and the existence of witnesses. Sketches of Agent 47's face are displayed and become more accurate as the character's notoriety grows. Players are awarded ratings based upon the success of the mission, such as a designation of "silent assassin" when the target was assassinated as cleanly and quietly as possible.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "Blood Money" improved the melee weapons system from previous releases, allowing players to lethally throw weapons at NPCs. Unlike previous games, melee weapons cannot be transferred to the player's inventory. "Blood Money" also introduces rival assassins.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: American journalist Rick Henderson visits the estate of former FBI Director Alexander Leland "Jack" Cayne, in hopes of interviewing him over an attack at the White House or his career. However, Cayne reveals that the interview was merely a ruse, and that Rick was invited to be given the details concerning a far greater story - the full details on cloned hitman Agent 47, a contract killer for the International Contract Agency (ICA), a global organisation involved in assassinations. Although sceptical over the existence of 47, who is deemed an urban myth, Rick decides to listen to Cayne's story, reading documents he provides about a number of contracts committed by 47.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: The documents reveal that after 47 had committed an assassination against a bankrupt amusement park owner in Baltimore, Maryland, he went abroad to conduct jobs in Chile and France, assigned to him by his handler Diana Burnwood, before taking on several across the United States. During this time, the ICA found itself being targeted by a rival outfit called "the Franchise", who soon began killing ICA agents while hunting down 47. Although 47 avoids being killed by rival assassins, Diana is forced to shut down the ICA, and divides up its remaining resources between him and herself. Cayne eventually goes on to talk about the White House attack, claiming 47 was involved in the chaos that occurred, but was ultimately brought down by his handler as the law closed in on him.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: Unknown to Cayne, 47 had been made aware that the Franchise was working for a political organization that sought to monopolize on Ort-Meyer's cloning technology. As the current US President was planning to legalize cloning, the Franchise was hired to assassinate him so that their puppet, the U.S. Vice President, would replace them. 47 found himself hired by a CIA agent, whom he rescued in a previous contract, to prevent this. With the Franchise exposed, Diana decided to bring down the outfit with a risky plan by pretending to double-cross 47 and injecting him with poison - in reality a serum to induce a hibernatory state that mimics death, so that he could be brought close to those involved in the Franchise.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: As 47's bone marrow could be used by the organization's rivals, Cayne, the head of the Franchise, was ordered to find him and kill him. To ensure his marrow cannot be recovered, Cayne had him prepared for cremation, and brings Rick to watch the ceremony. However, Diana takes an opportunity in the ceremony to give 47 the antidote to the serum, allowing him to wake and kill everyone present. With his anonymity preserved, Diana steals the Franchise's assets to reopen the ICA, while 47 proceeds to take on his next contract.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "Hitman: Blood Money" was announced in November 2004, with a scheduled release for spring 2005. However, the date was later delayed into 2006. In March 2006, it was revealed that the game would be released on the Xbox 360, making it the first "Hitman" game to be released on the seventh generation of video game consoles. "Blood Money" was released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows on 26 May 2006 in Europe and PAL territories, and 30 May in North America. The game, along with its predecessors, was made available on Steam in March 2007. On 29 January 2013, "Blood Money" was included in the "Hitman HD Trilogy", a compilation also including "" and "", released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In March 2018, the Xbox 360 version of the game was made backwards compatible for the Xbox One. "Blood Money" was also included in another compilation, the "Hitman HD Enhanced Collection", with "", which was released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2019. This version of the game was remastered with updated visuals and could be played in 4K resolution.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: The Hitman: Blood Money Original Soundtrack, composed by Jesper Kyd, was released on 30 May 2006 by Sumthing Else and Eidos. The score was performed with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian Radio Choir. It features Kyd's trademark ambience and dark, foreboding arrangements with the choral parts in deep brooding Latin.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: The soundtrack was nominated for the Best Video Game Score at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to "". It received the "Xbox Game of the Year-Best Original Score" award from IGN.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: Additional music includes a rendition of Franz Schubert's "Ave Maria" sung by Daniel Perret of the Zurich Boys' Choir, a rendition of "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Swan Lee, "White Noise" by The Vacation, "Slasher" by Institute For The Criminally Insane, and a Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: Several advertisements promoting "Blood Money" generated controversy for their violent imagery. The ad that drew the most attention depicted a woman lying on a bed in lingerie, seemingly asleep but with a bullet hole in her forehead. The caption above the picture read, "Beautifully Executed..." Other ads were "Classically Executed" which featured a cellist who has been executed with a garrote, "Coldly Executed" which showed a body in a freezer, and "Shockingly Executed" which depicted a woman electrocuted in a bath by a toaster. These advertisements were criticized for promoting murder, with one commentator saying they were in "extremely poor taste".


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "Hitman: Blood Money" received "generally positive" reviews across all platforms, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "GameSpot" reported that diverse imaginative scenarios gave "Blood Money" its share of violent thrills. "GameSpy" praised the expanded scope and options in each level, such as making kills appear as accidents, saying the game provided enough choices to encourage players to play missions multiple times," but criticized the notoriety system as "underutilized."


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "IGN" praised "Blood Money"s "impressive orchestral compositions." GameTrailers wrote that the soundtrack "drives your emotions" through the missions."


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: In contrary to this praise, "TeamXbox" criticized "Blood Money" for offering no innovations from its predecessor "".


title: Hitman: Blood Money

text: "Hitman: Blood Money" sold more than 1.5 million copies by July 17, 2006. By 2011, it had sold more than 2.1 million copies.


title: History of the telescope

text: The history of the telescope can be traced to before the invention of the earliest known telescope, which appeared in 1608 in the Netherlands, when a patent was submitted by Hans Lippershey, an eyeglass maker. Although Lippershey did not receive his patent, news of the invention soon spread across Europe. The design of these early refracting telescopes consisted of a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece. Galileo improved on this design the following year and applied it to astronomy. In 1611, Johannes Kepler described how a far more useful telescope could be made with a convex objective lens and a convex eyepiece lens. By 1655, astronomers such as Christiaan Huygens were building powerful but unwieldy Keplerian telescopes with compound eyepieces.


title: History of the telescope

text: Isaac Newton is credited with building the first reflector in 1668 with a design that incorporated a small flat diagonal mirror to reflect the light to an eyepiece mounted on the side of the telescope. Laurent Cassegrain in 1672 described the design of a reflector with a small convex secondary mirror to reflect light through a central hole in the main mirror.


title: History of the telescope

text: The achromatic lens, which greatly reduced color aberrations in objective lenses and allowed for shorter and more functional telescopes, first appeared in a 1733 telescope made by Chester Moore Hall, who did not publicize it. John Dollond learned of Hall's invention and began producing telescopes using it in commercial quantities, starting in 1758.


title: History of the telescope

text: Important developments in reflecting telescopes were John Hadley's production of larger paraboloidal mirrors in 1721; the process of silvering glass mirrors introduced by Léon Foucault in 1857; and the adoption of long-lasting aluminized coatings on reflector mirrors in 1932. The Ritchey-Chretien variant of Cassegrain reflector was invented around 1910, but not widely adopted until after 1950; many modern telescopes including the Hubble Space Telescope use this design, which gives a wider field of view than a classic Cassegrain.


title: History of the telescope

text: During the period 1850–1900, reflectors suffered from problems with speculum metal mirrors, and a considerable number of "Great Refractors" were built from 60 cm to 1 metre aperture, culminating in the Yerkes Observatory refractor in 1897; however, starting from the early 1900s a series of ever-larger reflectors with glass mirrors were built, including the Mount Wilson 60-inch (1.5 metre), the 100-inch (2.5 metre) Hooker Telescope (1917) and the 200-inch (5 metre) Hale telescope (1948); essentially all major research telescopes since 1900 have been reflectors. A number of 4-metre class (160 inch) telescopes were built on superior higher altitude sites including Hawaii and the Chilean desert in the 1975–1985 era. The development of the computer-controlled alt-azimuth mount in the 1970s and active optics in the 1980s enabled a new generation of even larger telescopes, starting with the 10-metre (400 inch) Keck telescopes in 1993/1996, and a number of 8-metre telescopes including the ESO Very Large Telescope, Gemini Observatory and Subaru Telescope.


title: History of the telescope

text: The era of radio telescopes (along with radio astronomy) was born with Karl Guthe Jansky's serendipitous discovery of an astronomical radio source in 1931. Many types of telescopes were developed in the 20th century for a wide range of wavelengths from radio to gamma-rays. The development of space observatories after 1960 allowed access


title: History of the telescope

text: to several bands impossible to observe from the ground, including X-rays and longer wavelength infrared bands.


title: History of the telescope

text: Objects resembling lenses date back 4000 years although it is unknown if they were used for their optical properties or just as decoration.


title: History of the telescope

text: Greek accounts of the optical properties of water-filled spheres (5th century BC) were followed by many centuries of writings on optics, including Ptolemy (2nd century) in his "Optics", who wrote about the properties of light including reflection, refraction, and color, followed by Ibn Sahl (10th century) and Ibn Al-Haytham (11th century).


title: History of the telescope

text: Actual use of lenses dates back to the widespread manufacture and use of eyeglasses in Northern Italy beginning in the late 13th century. The invention of the use of concave lenses to correct near-sightedness is ascribed to Nicholas of Cusa in 1451.


title: History of the telescope

text: The first record of a telescope comes from the Netherlands in 1608. It is in a patent filed by Middelburg spectacle-maker Hans Lippershey with the States General of the Netherlands on 2 October 1608 for his instrument ""for seeing things far away as if they were nearby"". A few weeks later another Dutch instrument-maker, Jacob Metius also applied for a patent. The States General did not award a patent since the knowledge of the device already seemed to be ubiquitous but the Dutch government awarded Lippershey with a contract for copies of his design.


title: History of the telescope

text: The original Dutch telescopes were composed of a convex and a concave lens—telescopes that are constructed this way do not invert the image. Lippershey's original design had only 3x magnification. Telescopes seem to have been made in the Netherlands in considerable numbers soon after this date of "invention", and rapidly found their way all over Europe.


title: History of the telescope

text: In 1655 Dutch diplomat William de Boreel tried to solve the mystery of who invented the telescope. He had a local magistrate in Middelburg follow up on Boreel's childhood and early adult recollections of a spectacle maker named "Hans" who he remembered as the inventor of the telescope. The magistrate was contacted by a then unknown claimant, Middelburg spectacle maker Johannes Zachariassen, who testified that his father, Zacharias Janssen invented the telescope and the microscope as early as 1590. This testimony seemed convincing to Boreel, who now recollected that Zacharias and his father, Hans Martens, must have been who he remembered. Boreel's conclusion that Zacharias Janssen invented the telescope a little ahead of another spectacle maker, Hans Lippershey, was adopted by Pierre Borel in his 1656 book "De vero telescopii inventore". Discrepancies in Boreel's investigation and Zachariassen's testimony (including Zachariassen misrepresenting his date of birth and role in the invention) has led some historians to consider this claim dubious. The "Janssen" claim would continue over the years and be added on to with Zacharias Snijder in 1841 presenting 4 iron tubes with lenses in them claimed to be 1590 examples of Janssen's telescope and historian Cornelis de Waard's 1906 claim that the man who tried to sell a broken telescope to astronomer Simon Marius at the 1608 Frankfurt Book Fair must have been Janssen.