title: Buddha's Birthday

text: Buddha's birthday is a public holiday in Bangladesh and the event is called Buddho Purnima(বুদ্ধ পূর্ণিমা). On the days preceding Purnima, Buddhist monks and priests decorate Buddhist temples with colourful decorations and candles. On the day of the festival, the President and Prime Minister deliver speeches addressing the history and importance of Buddhism, and of religious harmony in the country. From noon onwards large fairs are held in and around the temples and viharas, selling Bengali food (largely vegetarian), clothes, and toys. Performances of Buddha's life are also presented. Buddhist monks teach celebrants about the Dharma and the Five Precepts (panchashila). Buddhists then attend a congression inside the monastery where the chief monk delivers a speech discussing the Buddha and the Three Jewels (tri-ratna), and about living the ideal life. Afterwards, a prayer to the Buddha is offered, and people then light candles and recite the Three Jewels and Five Precepts.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Bhutan, Buddha Parinirvana is a national holiday and is also celebrated as Saga Dawa on the 15th day of the Saga Dawa (fourth month of the Tibetan calendar). Observation of the holy month begins from 1st day of the Saga Dawa, Vesak Month that culminates on the full moon day 15th of the month with celebrations of three holy events of Buddha's life; birth, enlightenment and Death (Mahaparinirvana). Throughout the Saga Dawa Vesak Month holy, virtuous and morally ethical activities flows in homes, temples, monasteries and public places. Devotees and followers follow strict vegetarian meals throughout the Saga Dawa month and avoid consumption of any non-vegetarian food. The Buddha parinirvana day also sees devotees visiting monastery to offer prayers and light butter lamps. People of various walk of life wear their national dress and go to monasteries to receive blessings from their guardian deity.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Cambodia, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated as "Visak Bochea" and is a public holiday where monks around the country carry the Buddhist flag, lotus flowers, incense, and candles to acknowledge Vesak. People also take part in alms-giving to the monks.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In China, this day is generally and commonly called in Chinese, 佛誕 ("Fódàn"), but also called ""Yùfú Jié" (浴佛節, "Bathing (Purifying) Buddha Festival"), "Guànfó Huì" (灌佛會, "Pouring on the Buddha Congregational Assembly"), "Lóng-huá Huì" (龍華會), "Huáyán Huì" (華嚴會)" or even " 衛塞節 ("Wèisāi jié," "Vesak Day), 偉大的衛塞節花節偉大的滿月 ("Wěidà de Wèisāi-jié Huā-jié Wěidà de Mǎnyuè", "Great Vesak Day Flower Festival Full Moon of Flower Moon")". Celebrations may occur in Buddhist temples where people may light incense and bring food offerings for the monks.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Hong Kong, Buddha's birthday is a public holiday. Lanterns are lit to symbolise the Buddha's enlightenment and many people visit the temple to pay their respects. The bathing of statues of the Buddha is a major feature of Buddha's birthday celebrations in the city. In Macau, All Buddhist temples in Macau will hold the ""Lóng-huá Huì" (龍華會)" ritual ceremony, bathing the Buddha with ""Wǔ Xiāng-Shuǐ" (五香水 "Five Scented-Perfumed Water")", which the festival is also a public holiday in Macau.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: The public holiday for Buddha Purnima in India was initiated by B. R. Ambedkar when he was the minister of law and justice. It is celebrated especially in Sikkim, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bodh Gaya, Lahaul and Spiti district, Kinnaur, various parts of North Bengal such as Kalimpong, Darjeeling, and Kurseong, and Maharashtra (where 77% of total Indian Buddhists live), as well as other parts of India as per Indian calendar. Buddhists go to common Viharas to observe a rather longer-than-usual, full-length Buddhist sutra, akin to a service.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In the followers of Theravada style the dress code is pure white, others don't follow particular dress code. Kheer, sweet rice porridge is commonly served to recall the story of Sujata, a maiden who, in Gautama Buddha's life, offered the Buddha a bowl of milk porridge. Informally called "Buddha's Birthday," it actually commemorates the birth, enlightenment (nirvāna), and death (Parinirvāna) of Gautama Buddha in the Theravada tradition.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: At the Mahabodhi Temple of Bodhgaya in India, Buddha Purnima is celebrated with great enthusiasm. This temple gets decorated with colored decorations. At the Bodhi Tree, under which Gautama Buddha obtained enlightenment, devotees of Gautam Buddha do special prayers. At the National Museum in Delhi, Lord Buddha’s holy remaining's are open for public viewing.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: Tibetans in exile and Tibet celebrate holy Vesak day Saga Dawa on the 15th day of the Saga Dawa (fourth month of the Tibetan calendar). Observation of the holy month begins from 1st day of the Saga Dawa, Vesak Month that culminates on the full moon day 15th of the month with celebrations of three holy events of Buddha's life; birth, enlightenment and Death (Mahaparinirvana). Throughout the Saga Dawa Vesak Month holy, virtuous and morally ethical activities flows in homes, temples, monasteries and public places. Devotees and followers take special precepts Mahayana Posadha during the holy month and especially on the full moon day, therefore consumption of semi-vegetarian or Non-vegetarian food is avoided during the holy month of Vesak Saga Dawa in Tibetan and Himalayan villages and communities. Yogis also choose to do special types of meditation on this day as it is said to be quite conducive for spiritual growth.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Indonesia, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated as "Waisak" and is a public holiday. A large procession beginning in Mendut in Java, and ends at Borobudur – the largest Buddhist temple in the world.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Japan, Buddha's Birthday is known as "Kanbutsu-e" () or "Hanamatsuri" (Flower Festival) () and is held on April 8. Buddha's birth is also celebrated according to the Buddhist calendar but is not a national holiday. On this day, all temples hold 降誕会 ("Gōtan-e"), 仏生会 ("Busshō-e"), 浴仏会 ("Yokubutsu-e"), 龍華会 ("Ryūge-e") and 花会式 ("Hana-eshiki"). Japanese people pour "ama-cha" (a beverage prepared from "Hydrangea serrata", a variety of hydrangea) on small Buddha statues decorated with flowers, as if bathing a newborn baby. The tradition of bathing the Buddha originated in China and was introduced to Japan where it was first held in Nara in 606. Lion dancing is also a major tradition practiced during Buddha's Birthday and has become associated with the festival in Japan.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Malaysia, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated as "Wesak Day" and is a public holiday celebrated by the sizeable minority Buddhist population in the country. Temples across the country are decorated, and caged animals are set free. People engage in prayers, chanting, and alms-giving across the country.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Mongolia, Buddha's Birthday is called (Mongolian Cyrillic: Багшийн Их Дүйцэн Өдөр, "Burkhan Bagshiin Ikh Düitsen Ödör", "Lord Buddha's Great Festival Day"), is celebrated as ""Ikh Duichen"" and its date is determined by the Mongolian lunar calendar. As a result, the date falls in line with celebrations of Buddha's Birthday/Vesak in South and Southeast Asian countries as opposed to neighbouring East Asian countries. In December 2019, the popularly celebrated festival by many Mongolian Buddhists, is made a public holiday.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Myanmar, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated as "Full Moon of Kasun" and is a public holiday. It is celebrated by watering the Bodhi tree and chanting. In large pagodas, music and dance is also performed as part of the celebrations.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Nepal, Buddha's birthday is celebrated on the full moon day of May. The festival is known by various names, Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, Vaishakh Purnima, Saga Dawa, and Vesak. Purnima means full moon day in Sanskrit. Among the Newars of Nepal, especially from the Shakya clan of Newars, it is of great importance because they consider it as a continuation of the sage of the Śākyas- the clan that Lord Buddha's family belonged to. Thus, they celebrate the festival which is in their language known as Swānyā Punhi (स्वांया पुन्हि), the full moon day of flowers. The day marks not just the birth of Shakyamuni Gautama Buddha, but also the day of his Enlightenment and Mahaparinirvana.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: The event is celebrated by gentle and serene fervour, keeping in mind the very nature of Buddhism. People, especially women, go to common Viharas to observe a rather longer-than-usual, full-length Buddhist sutra, something like a service. The usual dress is pure white. Non-vegetarian food is normally avoided. Kheer, sweet rice porridge is commonly served to recall the story of Sujata, a maiden who offered the Buddha a bowl of milk porridge.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: Buddha Purnima is the biggest day for Buddhists because on this day, it is believed three important events of the Buddha's life took place: his birth, his attaining enlightenment, and his death, Paranirvana. This day is known as "Thrice Blessed Festival."


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: Buddha's Birthday is occasionally designated as a public holiday in North Korea and is known as "Chopail" ( "Chopa-il"; Hanja: 初八日, "the first 8th day (of the month in the Lunar Calendar)"""). Designation of traditional Korean holidays as public holidays in North Korea are determined by the Cabinet a few days before the traditional holiday begins. Buddha's Birthday is a traditional festival in Korean culture, and was celebrated in Korea long before the division of the country. As a result, the festival is still celebrated in North Korea by the country's Buddhist population.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In the Philippines, Buddha's Birthday is known as "Kaarawan ni Buddha" and usually has Chinese elements via its Chinese community. It is not a public holiday as most Filipinos are Christian. However, it can be celebrated by people of all religions. Like in China and Japan, Filipino people bathe statues of the Buddha.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Singapore, Buddha's birthday is celebrated as "Vesak" or "Vesak Day" and is a public holiday in the country. Buddhist temples hold celebrations and are decorated with Buddhist flags and flowers. Devotees also bring offerings to the temples.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In South Korea, the birthday of Buddha is celebrated according to the Korean lunar calendar and is a national holiday. This day is called ""Bucheo-nim o-shin nal"" (Hangul: ) meaning "the day when the Buddha ("Bucheo-nim") came", which is also called ""Seok-ga T'an-shin-il"" (Hangul: 석가탄신일, Hanja: 釋迦誕辰日), i.e. "the Birthday of "Sakyamuni Buddha"" and sometimes also called "Chopail" ( "Chopa-il"; Hanja: 初八日, "the first 8th day (of the month in the Lunar Calendar)"). Lotus lanterns hang in temples throughout the month and lanterns are hung in homes and in the streets. On the day of Buddha's birth, many temples provide free meals and tea to all visitors and organise large lantern festival called Yeondeunghoe (Hangul: 연등회, Hanja: 燃燈會, "Lotus Lantern Festival"). Breakfast and lunch are also provided, which often includes sanchae bibimbap. Buddha's Birthday is a popular holiday and folk celebration in Korea, and is often celebrated by people of all religious faiths.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Sri Lanka, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated as "Vesak" and is a public holiday celebrated on the first full moon day of the month of May. Its date is determined by the Buddhist lunar calendar. People engage in religious observances and decorate houses and streets with candles and paper lanterns as well as bamboo-framed lanterns. "Dansalas" is practised and refers to the free offering of food and drink to people. Devotional songs known as "Bakthi Gee" are sung, and decorative gateways called "pandols" are erected throughout the country. Temples around the country also hold celebrations, and devotees bring offerings and burn incense. Electric light displays that depict stories from the Buddha's life are also a notable part of Vesak celebrations in the country.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Taiwan, after the initiation by the Buddhists and the general public, the ""Guódìng Fúdàn Jié" (Chinese: 國定佛誕節, "National Buddha's Birthday")" was jointly signed. Then in 1999, the Ministry of the Interior (Taiwan) officially announced the "Anniversary of the Buddha's Birthday (Chinese: 佛陀誕辰紀念日 "Fótuó Dànchén Jìniàn Rì")" in the ""Guódìng Jìniàn Rì" (Chinese: 國定紀念日, "National Memorial Day")". Buddha's birthday is a national holiday. Devotees pour fragrant water over Buddha statues to symbolise the beginning of a fresh start in life.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Thailand, Buddha's birthday is celebrated as "Visakha Puja" and is a public holiday. People gather at temples to hear sermons, give donations and chant prayers.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Vietnam, Buddha's birthday is called in Vietnamese, ""Lễ Phật Đản"/ "Phật Đản" (佛誕, "Birthday of the Buddha"), or ""Ngày Hội Hoa Phật"" (Buddha's Lord Flower Festival Day)""" and is celebrated throughout Vietnam. Many Buddhist temples hold celebrations that attract people from around the country, while pagodas around the country are decorated. From 1958 to 1975, the birthday of Buddha (on the 8th day of the 4th month in the Lunar calendar) was recognized as a national public holiday in South Vietnam, enjoyed with floats and lantern parades on the streets. Currently Buddha's Birthday is still a popular celebrated festival in Vietnam, but not a public holiday.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Sydney, Buddha's birthday is celebrated at the Nan Tien Temple in Wollongong, while another celebration also organised by Nan Tien Temple is held at Darling Harbour, which features Buddha's birthday ceremony. A variety of vegetarian food is served, and culture stalls and multicultural performances are held, celebrating cultures from China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia. Other temples in the Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple group in Australia also hld celebrations on the eighth day of the fourth month of the China lunar calendar. In Brisbane, the "Buddha's Birthday Festival" is held annually and features a variety of pan-Asian food, and performances from various cultures are held. It is a weekend-long festival which draws over 200000 visitors. In Melbourne, the weekend-long festival called "Buddha's Day and Multicultural Festival" is held at Federation Square around April/May. In Perth, a two-day celebration also known as "Buddha's Day and Multicultural Festival" is held at Langley Park. Local Buddhist temples and smaller towns around the country such as Bendigo, Victoria also hold celebrations.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: On the Australian external territory of Christmas Island, Buddha's Birthday is celebrated as "Vesak Day" and is celebrated alongside many other celebrations common in Australia and Malaysia as well as local celebrations of the island.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: Vesak (Hanamatsuri) is widely known and celebrated in Brazil due to the country's large Japanese community. Hanamatsuri has grown in popularity and also attracts interest from the wider non-Japanese Brazilian population. As a result, Hanamatsuri has become a consumerist culture phenomenon in the country and is sometimes locally known as "Festa das Flores". Hanamatsuri is celebrated in the São Paulo neighbourhood of Liberdade which is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. Hanamatsuri celebrations in Liberdade began in 1966 and includes a parade on Galvão Bueno street. Celebrations are also held at the suburb's major shopping centre, Liberdade Plaza.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In Toronto, three Buddhist temples representing the three main branches of Buddhism organize an annual event known as "Vesak: Buddha's Birthday". It is held at Mississauga Celebration Square, and features a number of Buddhist-themed events and activities, as well as cultural acts from Asia, including China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: The celebration of Buddha's Birthday in the United States differs from community to community, depending on ethnicity and nationality.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: The Japanese celebration on 8 April has been significant in the Bay Area of California for some decades. In 1968 the first circumambulation of Mt. Tamalpais to celebrate Buddha's Birthday was conducted. Starting in 1969 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, "Hana-Matsuri (花ーまつり - flower festival)" was celebrated each spring. Dressed in formal black robes, the roughly 70 monks and students form a formal procession to the Horse Pasture with the leader periodically ringing a small, clear bell. A temporary stone altar was built under a huge oak tree in a gorgeous field of green grass and abundant wildflowers; a small statue of a baby Buddha was placed upon it in a metal basin. Then each person, in turn, approaches the altar, and ladle one thin-lipped bamboo dipperful of sweet green tea over the statue, bow, and walk to one side.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: In New York, the "International Lotus Lantern Parade" has been a notable and successful annual event held at Union Square Park. The event celebrates the Buddha's birthday and "Yeon Deung Hoe" (연등회,燃燈會), a Korean lantern celebration that is held during Vesak. The festival features a number of Buddhist themed events and is started off by numerous Buddhist centres of Japanese, Korean and Sri Lankan origins for example.


title: Buddha's Birthday

text: Since 1963, the state of Hawaii has recognized April 8 of each year as "Buddha Day", which celebrates the birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The Prophecy of the Popes (, "Prophecy of Saint-Archbishop Malachy, concerning the Supreme Pontiffs") is a series of 112 short, cryptic phrases in Latin which purport to predict the Catholic popes (along with a few antipopes), beginning with Celestine II. It was first published in 1595 by Benedictine monk Arnold Wion, who attributed the prophecy to Saint Malachy, a 12th-century archbishop of Armagh.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: Given the accurate description of popes up to around 1590 and lack of accuracy for the popes that follow, historians generally conclude that the alleged prophecy is a pseudepigraphic fabrication written shortly before publication. The Catholic Church has no official stance, though some Catholic theologians have dismissed it as forgery.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The prophecy concludes with a pope identified as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will allegedly precede the destruction of the city of Rome.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The alleged prophecy was first published in 1595 by a Benedictine named Arnold Wion in his "Lignum Vitæ", a history of the Benedictine order. He attributed it to Saint Malachy, the 12th‑century Archbishop of Armagh. He explained that the prophecy had not, to his knowledge, ever been printed before, but that many were eager to see it. Wion includes both the alleged original prophecy, consisting of short, cryptic Latin phrases, as well as an interpretation applying the statements to historical popes up to Urban VII (pope for thirteen days in 1590), which Wion attributes to historian Alphonsus Ciacconius.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: According to an account put forward in 1871 by Abbé Cucherat, Malachy was summoned to Rome in 1139 by Pope Innocent II to receive two wool palliums for the metropolitan sees of Armagh and Cashel. While in Rome, Malachy purportedly experienced a vision of future popes, which he recorded as a sequence of cryptic phrases. This manuscript was then allegedly deposited in the Vatican Secret Archives, and forgotten about until its rediscovery in 1590, supposedly just in time for a papal conclave occurring at the time.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: Several historians have concluded that the prophecy is a late 16th‑century forgery. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a contemporary biographer of Malachy who recorded the saint's alleged miracles, makes no mention of the prophecy. The earliest known reference to them dates to 1587. Spanish monk and scholar Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro wrote in his "Teatro Crítico Universal" (1724–1739), in an entry called "Purported prophecies", that the high level of accuracy of the verses up until the date they were published, compared with their high level of inaccuracy after that date, is evidence that they were created around the time of publication. The verses and explanations given by Wion correspond very closely to a 1557 history of the popes by Onofrio Panvinio (including replication of errors made by Panvinio), which may indicate that the prophecy was written based on that source. In 1694, Claude-François Menestrier argued the additional interpretive statements were not written by Ciacconius, as the prophecy was not mentioned in any of Ciacconius' works, nor were the interpretive statements listed among his works.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: One theory to explain the prophecy's creation, put forward by 17th-century French priest and encyclopaedist Louis Moréri, among others, is that it was spread by supporters of Cardinal Girolamo Simoncelli in support of his bid to become pope during the 1590 conclave to replace Urban VII. In the prophecy, the pope following Urban VII is given the description ""Ex antiquitate Urbis"" ("from the old city"), and Simoncelli was from Orvieto, which in Latin is "Urbevetanum", old city. Moréri and others proposed the prophecy was created in an unsuccessful attempt to demonstrate that Simoncelli was destined to be pope. However, the discovery of a reference to the prophecy in a 1587 letter has cast doubt on this theory. In this document the entourage of the Cardinal Giovanni Girolamo Albani interprets the motto ""De rore coeli"" ("From the dew of the sky") as a reference to their master, on the base of the link between ""alba"" ("dawn") and Albani, and the dew, as a typical morning atmospheric phenomenon.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The interpretation of the entries for pre-publication popes provided by Wion involves close correspondences between the mottos and the popes' birthplaces, family names, personal arms, and pre-papal titles. For example, the first motto, "Ex castro Tiberis" (from a castle on the Tiber), fits Celestine II's birthplace in Città di Castello, on the Tiber.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: Efforts to connect the prophecy to historical popes who were elected after its publication have been more strained. For example, Clement XIII is referred to as "Rosa Umbriae" (the rose of Umbria), but was not from Umbria nor had he any but the most marginal connection with the region, having been briefly pontifical governor of Rieti, at the time part of Umbria.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: One writer notes that among the post-publication (post-1595) popes there remain "some surprisingly appropriate phrases", while adding that "it is of course easy to exaggerate the list's accuracy by simply citing its successes", and that "other tags do not fit so neatly". Among the reported "successes" are "Light in the sky" for Leo XIII (1878–1903), with a comet in his coat of arms; "Religion depopulated" for Benedict XV (1914–22) whose papacy included World War I and the atheistic communist Russian Revolution; and "Flower of flowers" for Paul VI (1963–78), with fleur-de-lys in his coat of arms.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: M. J. O'Brien, a Catholic priest who authored an 1880 monograph on the prophecy, provided a more scathing assessment:


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: In recent times, some interpreters of prophetic literature have drawn attention to the prophecy due to its imminent conclusion; if the list of descriptions is matched on a one-to-one basis to the list of historic popes since publication, Benedict XVI (2005–13) would correspond to the second to last of the papal descriptions, "Gloria olivae" (the glory of the olive).


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: Several historians and interpreters note the prophecy leaves open the possibility of unlisted popes between "the glory of the olive" and the final pope, "Peter the Roman". In the "Lignum Vitae", the line "In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit." forms a separate sentence and paragraph of its own. While often read as part of the "Peter the Roman" entry, other interpreters view it as a separate, incomplete sentence explicitly referring to one or more popes between "the glory of the olive" and "Peter the Roman".


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The list can be divided into two groups; one of the popes and antipopes who reigned prior to the appearance of the prophecy c. 1590, for whom the connection between the motto and the pope is consistently clear. The other is of mottos attributed to popes who have reigned since its appearance, for whom the connection between the motto and the pope is often strained or totally absent and could be viewed as shoehorning or postdiction.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The list has most commonly been divided between mottos 74 and 75, based on the mottos that were explained by Wion and those that were not. Lorenzo Comensoli Antonini divides the list between mottos 73 and 74, based on the loose connection between Urban VII and the motto "From the dew of the sky", and the reference to the prophecy in a 1587 letter, prior to Urban VII's papacy.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: René Thibaut divides the table at a different point, between the 71st and 72nd motto, asserting that there is a change in style at this point. He uses this distinction to put forward the view that the first 71 mottos are post-dated forgeries, while the remainder are genuine. Hildebrand Troll echoes this view, noting that mottos 72–112 use a symbolic language related to the character of the pope and his papacy, in contrast to the more literal mottos for earlier popes.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The text on the silver lines below reproduces the original text (including punctuation and orthography) of the 1595 "Lignum Vitae", which consisted of three parallel columns for the popes before 1590. The first column contained the motto, the second the name of the pope or antipope to whom it was attached (with occasional errors), and the third an explanation of the motto. There are some indications that both the mottos and explanations were the work of a single 16th-century person. The original list was unnumbered.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: For this group of popes, the published text only provides names for the first three (i.e., those who were popes between the appearance of the text c. 1590, and its publication in 1595) and provides no explanations.


title: Prophecy of the Popes

text: The Prophecy of the Popes is referred to in several works of fiction, including several works of apocalyptic fiction.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: Albert François Lebrun (; 29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance (ARD).


title: Albert Lebrun

text: Born to a farming family in Mercy-le-Haut, Meurthe-et-Moselle, he attended the École Polytechnique and the École des Mines de Paris, graduating from both at the top of his class. He then became a mining engineer in Vesoul and Nancy, but left that profession at the age of 29 to enter politics.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: Lebrun gained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1900 as a member of the Left Republican Party, later serving on the cabinet as Minister for the Colonies from 1912–1914, Minister of War in 1913 and Minister for Liberated Regions, 1917–1919. Joining the Democratic Alliance, he was elected to the French senate from Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1920, and served as Vice President of the Senate from 1925 through 1929. He was president of that body from 1931–1932.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: Lebrun was elected President of France by the newly elected Chamber of Deputies following the assassination of President Paul Doumer by Pavel Gurgulov on 6 May 1932. Re-elected in 1939, largely because of his record of accommodating all political sides, he exercised little power as President.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: In June 1940, with the military collapse of France imminent, Lebrun wrote "the uselessness of the struggle was demonstrated. An end must be made." With the Cabinet wanting to ask for an armistice, on 17 June 1940 Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned, recommending to President Lebrun that he appoint Marechal Philippe Petain in his place, which he did that day. British General Sir Edward Spears, who was present with the French cabinet during this crisis wrote "it is clear that the President had made up his mind that France was free of her obligations to Britain, and was at liberty to ask for an armistice [with Germany] if she deemed it to be in her interests to do so."


title: Albert Lebrun

text: On 10 July 1940, Lebrun enacted the Constitutional Law of 10 July 1940, which the National Assembly had voted for by 569 votes to 80, allowing Prime Minister Philippe Pétain to promulgate a new constitution. On 11 July, Lebrun was replaced by Pétain as head of state.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: Lebrun then fled to Vizille (Isère) on 15 July, but was later captured, on 27 August 1943, when the Germans moved into the region and was sent into captivity at the Itter Castle in Tyrol. On 10 October 1943 he was allowed to return to Vizille due to illness, but was kept under constant surveillance.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: On 11 October 1944, Lebrun met with Charles de Gaulle and acknowledged the General's leadership, and conveniently forgetting the new Constitutional Law he had enacted in 1940, said that he had not formally resigned as President because the dissolution of the National Assembly had left nobody to accept his resignation. Whether or not de Gaulle accepted this lie is unknown. During the post-war Petain trial "all the available celebrities of the Third Republic testified, including Lebrun, all whitewashing themselves". Lebrun argued again that he had never officially resigned. De Gaulle made no mystery of his low opinion of Lebrun, and wrote about him in his memoirs "As a head of state he lacked two things: there was no state, and he wasn't a head."


title: Albert Lebrun

text: Lebrun was married to Marguerite Lebrun (née Nivoit). Together they had two children: a son Jean and a daughter Marie.


title: Albert Lebrun

text: After the war, Lebrun lived in retirement. He died of pneumonia in Paris on 6 March 1950 after a protracted illness.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, are the two epic poems the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", set in an idealized archaic past today identified as having some relation to the Mycenaean era. These two epics, along with the Homeric Hymns and the two poems of Hesiod, "Theogony" and "Works and Days", constituted the major foundations of the Greek literary tradition that would continue into the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The lyric poets Sappho, Alcaeus, and Pindar were highly influential during the early development of the Greek poetic tradition. Aeschylus is the earliest Greek tragic playwright for whom any plays have survived complete. Sophocles is famous for his tragedies about Oedipus, particularly "Oedipus the King" and "Antigone". Euripides is known for his plays which often pushed the boundaries of the tragic genre. The comedic playwright Aristophanes wrote in the genre of Old Comedy, while the later playwright Menander was an early pioneer of New Comedy. The historians Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides, who both lived during the fifth century BC, wrote accounts of events that happened shortly before and during their own lifetimes. The philosopher Plato wrote dialogues, usually centered around his teacher Socrates, dealing with various philosophical subjects, whereas his student Aristotle wrote numerous treatises, which later became highly influential.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Important later writers included Apollonius of Rhodes, who wrote "The Argonautica", an epic poem about the voyage of the Argonauts; Archimedes, who wrote groundbreaking mathematical treatises; and Plutarch, who wrote mainly biographies and essays. The second-century AD writer Lucian of Samosata was a Greek, who wrote primarily works of satire. Ancient Greek literature has had a profound impact on later Greek literature and also western literature at large. In particular, many ancient Roman authors drew inspiration from their Greek predecessors. Ever since the Renaissance, European authors in general, including Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, John Milton, and James Joyce, have all drawn heavily on classical themes and motifs.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: This period of Greek literature stretches from Homer until the fourth century BC and the rise of Alexander the Great. The earliest known Greek writings are Mycenaean, written in the Linear B syllabary on clay tablets. These documents contain prosaic records largely concerned with trade (lists, inventories, receipts, etc.); no real literature has been discovered. Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, the original decipherers of Linear B, state that literature almost certainly existed in Mycenaean Greece, but it was either not written down or, if it was, it was on parchment or wooden tablets, which did not survive the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces in the twelfth century BC.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Greek literature was divided in well-defined literary genres, each one having a compulsory formal structure, about both dialect and metrics. The first division was between prose and poetry. Within poetry there were three super-genres: epic, lyric and drama. The common European terminology about literary genres is directly derived from the ancient Greek terminology. Lyric and drama were further divided into more genres: lyric in four (elegiac, iambic, monodic lyric and choral lyric); drama in three (tragedy, comedy and pastoral drama). Prose literature can largely be said to begin with Herodotus. Over time, several genres of prose literature developed, but the distinctions between them were frequently blurred.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two monumental works of Homer, the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". The figure of Homer is shrouded in mystery. Although the works as they now stand are credited to him, it is certain that their roots reach far back before his time (see Homeric Question). The "Iliad" is a narrative of a single episode spanning over the course of a ten-day-period from near the end of the ten years of the Trojan War. It centers on the person of Achilles, who embodied the Greek heroic ideal.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The "Odyssey" is an account of the adventures of Odysseus, one of the warriors at Troy. After ten years fighting the war, he spends another ten years sailing back home to his wife and family. Penelope was considered the ideal female; Homer depicted her as the ideal female based on her commitment, modesty, purity, and respect during her marriage with Odysseus. During his ten-year voyage, he loses all of his comrades and ships and makes his way home to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. Both of these works were based on ancient legends. The Homeric dialect was an archaic language based on Ionic dialect mixed with some element of Aeolic dialect and Attic dialect, the latter due to the Athenian edition of the 6th century BC. The epic verse was the hexameter.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The other great poet of the preclassical period was Hesiod. Unlike Homer, Hesiod refers to himself in his poetry. Nonetheless, nothing is known about him from any external source. He was a native of Boeotia in central Greece, and is thought to have lived and worked around 700 BC. Hesiod's two extant poems are "Works and Days" and "Theogony". "Works and Days" is a faithful depiction of the poverty-stricken country life he knew so well, and it sets forth principles and rules for farmers. "Theogony" is a systematic account of creation and of the gods. It vividly describes the ages of mankind, beginning with a long-past Golden Age.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The writings of Homer and Hesiod were held in extremely high regard throughout antiquity and were viewed by many ancient authors as the foundational texts behind ancient Greek religion; Homer told the story of a heroic past, which Hesiod bracketed with a creation narrative and an account of the practical realities of contemporary daily life.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Lyric poetry received its name from the fact that it was originally sung by individuals or a chorus accompanied by the instrument called the lyre. Despite the name, the lyric poetry in this general meaning was divided in four genres, two of which were not accompanied by cithara, but by flute. These two latter genres were elegiac poetry and iambic poetry. Both were written in the Ionic dialect. Elegiac poems were written in elegiac couplets and iambic poems were written in iambic trimeter. The first of the lyric poets was probably Archilochus of Paros, 7th century BC, the most important iambic poet. Only fragments remain of his work, as is the case with most of the poets. The few remnants suggest that he was an embittered adventurer who led a very turbulent life.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Many lyric poems were written in the Aeolic dialect. Lyric poems often employed highly varied poetic meters. The most famous of all lyric poets were the so-called "Nine Lyric Poets". Of all the lyric poets, Sappho of Lesbos (c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was by far the most widely revered. In antiquity, her poems were regarded with the same degree of respect as the poems of Homer. Only one of her poems, "Ode to Aphrodite", has survived to the present day in its original, completed form. In addition to Sappho, her contemporary Alcaeus of Lesbos was also notable for monodic lyric poetry. The poetry written by Alcman was considered beautiful, even though he wrote exclusively in the Doric dialect, which was normally considered unpleasant to hear. The later poet Pindar of Thebes was renowned for his choral lyric poetry.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: All surviving works of Greek drama were composed by playwrights from Athens and are written exclusively in the Attic dialect. Choral performances were a common tradition in all Greek city-states. The Athenians credited a man named Thespis with having invented drama by introducing the first actor, whose primary purpose was to interact with the leader of the chorus. Later playwrights expanded the number of actors to three, allowing for greater freedom in storytelling.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: In the age that followed the Greco-Persian Wars, the awakened national spirit of Athens was expressed in hundreds of tragedies based on heroic and legendary themes of the past. The tragic plays grew out of simple choral songs and dialogues performed at festivals of the god Dionysus. In the classical period, performances included three tragedies and one pastoral drama, depicting four different episodes of the same myth. Wealthy citizens were chosen to bear the expense of costuming and training the chorus as a public and religious duty. Attendance at the festival performances was regarded as an act of worship. Performances were held in the great open-air theater of Dionysus in Athens. The poets competed for the prizes offered for the best plays.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: All fully surviving Greek tragedies are conventionally attributed to Aeschylus, Sophocles or Euripides. The authorship of "Prometheus Bound", which is traditionally attributed to Aeschylus, and "Rhesus", which is traditionally attributed to Euripides, are, however, questioned. There are seven surviving tragedies attributed to Aeschylus. Three of these plays, "Agamemnon", "The Libation-Bearers", and "The Eumenides", form a trilogy known as the "Oresteia". One of these plays, "Prometheus Bound", however, may actually be the work of Aeschylus's son Euphorion.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Seven works of Sophocles have survived, the most acclaimed of which are the three Theban plays, which center around the story of Oedipus and his offspring. The Theban Trilogy consists of "Oedipus the King", "Oedipus at Colonus", and "Antigone". Although the plays are often called a "trilogy," they were actually written many years apart. "Antigone", the last of the three plays sequentially, was actually first to be written, having been composed in 441 BC, towards the beginning of Sophocles's career. "Oedipus the King", the most famous of the three, was written around 429 BC at the midpoint of Sophocles's career. "Oedipus at Colonus", the second of the three plays chronologically, was actually Sophocles's last play and was performed in 401 BC, after Sophocles's death.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: There are nineteen surviving plays attributed to Euripides. The most well-known of these plays are "Medea", "Hippolytus", and "Bacchae". "Rhesus" is sometimes thought to have been written by Euripides' son, or to have been a posthumous reproduction of a play by Euripides. Euripides pushed the limits of the tragic genre and many of the elements in his plays were more typical of comedy than tragedy. His play "Alcestis", for instance, has often been categorized as a "problem play" or perhaps even as a work of tragicomedy rather than a true tragedy due to its comedic elements and the fact that it has a happy ending.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Like tragedy, comedy arose from a ritual in honor of Dionysus, but in this case the plays were full of frank obscenity, abuse, and insult. At Athens, the comedies became an official part of the festival celebration in 486 BC, and prizes were offered for the best productions. As with the tragedians, few works still remain of the great comedic writers. The only complete surviving works of classical comedy are eleven plays written by the playwright Aristophanes. These are a treasure trove of comic presentation. He poked fun at everyone and every institution. In "The Birds", he ridicules Athenian democracy. In "The Clouds", he attacks the philosopher Socrates. In "Lysistrata", he denounces war. Aristophanes has been praised highly for his dramatic skill and artistry. John Lemprière's "Bibliotheca Classica" describes him as, quite simply, "the greatest comic dramatist in world literature: by his side Molière seems dull and Shakespeare clownish." Of all Aristophanes's plays, however, the one that has received the most lasting recognition is "The Frogs", which simultaneously satirizes and immortalizes the two giants of Athenian tragedy: Aeschylus and Euripides. When it was performed for the first time at the Lenaia Festival in 405 BC, just one year after the death of Euripides, the Athenians awarded it first prize. It was the only Greek play that was ever given an encore performance, which took place two months later at the City Dionysia. Even today, "The Frogs" still appeals to modern audiences. A commercially successful modern musical adaptation of it was performed on Broadway in 2004.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The third dramatic genre was the satyr play. Although the genre was popular, only one complete example of a satyr play has survived: "Cyclops" by Euripides. Large portions of a second satyr play, "Ichneutae" by Sophocles, have been recovered from the site of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Two notable historians who lived during the Classical Era were Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides. Herodotus is commonly called "The Father of History." His book "The Histories" is among the oldest works of prose literature in existence. Thucydides's book "History of the Peloponnesian War" greatly influenced later writers and historians, including the author of the book of Acts of the Apostles and the Byzantine Era historian Procopius of Caesarea.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: A third historian of ancient Greece, Xenophon of Athens, began his "Hellenica" where Thucydides ended his work about 411 BC and carried his history to 362 BC. Xenophon's most famous work is his book "The Anabasis", a detailed, first-hand account of his participation in a Greek mercenary army that tried to help the Persian Cyrus expel his brother from the throne. Xenophon also wrote three works in praise of the philosopher Socrates: "The Apology of Socrates to the Jury", "The Symposium", and "Memorabilia". Although both Xenophon and Plato knew Socrates, their accounts are very different. Many comparisons have been made between the account of the military historian and the account of the poet-philosopher.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Many important and influential philosophers lived during the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Among the earliest Greek philosophers were the three so-called "Milesian philosophers": Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Of these philosophers' writings, however, only one fragment from Anaximander preserved by Simplicius of Cilicia has survived.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Very little is known for certain about the life of the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos and no writings by him have survived to the present day, but an impressive corpus of poetic writings written by his pupil Empedocles of Acragas has survived, making Empedocles one of the most widely attested Pre-Socratic philosophers. A large number of fragments written by the philosophers Heraclitus of Ephesus and Democritus of Abdera have also survived.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Of all the classical philosophers, however, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are generally considered the most important and influential. Socrates did not write any books himself and modern scholars debate whether or not Plato's portrayal of him is accurate. Some scholars contend that many of his ideas, or at least a vague approximation of them, are expressed in Plato's early socratic dialogues. Meanwhile, other scholars have argued that Plato's portrayal of Socrates is merely a fictional representation intended to expound Plato's own opinions who has very little to do with the historical figure of the same name. The debate over the extent to which Plato's portrayal of Socrates represents the actual Socrates's ideas is known as the Socratic problem.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Plato expressed his ideas through dialogues, that is, written works purporting to describe conversations between different individuals. Some of the best-known of these include: "The Apology of Socrates", a purported record of the speech Socrates gave at his trial; "Phaedo", a description of the last conversation between Socrates and his disciples before his execution; "The Symposium", a dialogue over the nature of love; and "The Republic", widely regarded as Plato's most important work, a long dialogue describing the ideal government.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Aristotle of Stagira is widely considered to be one of the most important and influential philosophical thinkers of all time. The first sentence of his "Metaphysics" reads: "All men by nature desire to know." He has, therefore, been called the "Father of those who know." His medieval disciple Thomas Aquinas referred to him simply as "the Philosopher". Aristotle was a student at Plato's Academy, and like his teacher, he wrote dialogues, or conversations. However, none of these exist today. The body of writings that have come down to the present probably represents lectures that he delivered at his own school in Athens, the Lyceum. Even from these books, the enormous range of his interests is evident: He explored matters other than those that are today considered philosophical; the extant treatises cover logic, the physical and biological sciences, ethics, politics, and constitutional government. Among Aristotle's most notable works are "Politics", "Nicomachean Ethics", "Poetics", "On the Soul", and "Rhetoric".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: By 338 BC all of the Greek city-states except Sparta had been united by Philip II of Macedon. Philip's son Alexander the Great extended his father's conquests greatly. Athens lost its preeminent status as the leader of Greek culture, and it was replaced temporarily by Alexandria, Egypt.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The city of Alexandria in northern Egypt became, from the 3rd century BC, the outstanding center of Greek culture. It also soon attracted a large Jewish population, making it the largest center for Jewish scholarship in the ancient world. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible was reputed to have been initiated in Alexandria. Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, operated out of Alexandria at the turn of the Common Era. In addition, it later became a major focal point for the development of Christian thought. The Musaeum, or Shrine to the Muses, which included the library and school, was founded by Ptolemy I. The institution was from the beginning intended as a great international school and library. The library, eventually containing more than a half million volumes, was mostly in Greek. It was intended to serve as a repository for every work of classical Greek literature that could be found.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The genre of bucolic poetry was first developed by the poet Theocritus. The Roman Virgil later wrote his "Eclogues" in this genre. Callimachus, a scholar at the Library of Alexandria, composed the "Aetia" ("Causes"), a long poem written in four volumes of elegiac couplets describing the legendary origins of obscure customs, festivals, and names, which he probably wrote in several stages over the course of many years in the third century BC. The "Aetia" was lost during the Middle Ages, but, over the course of the twentieth century, much of it was recovered due to new discoveries of ancient papyri. Scholars initially denigrated it as "second-rate", showing great learning, but lacking true "art". Over the course of the century, scholarly appraisal of it greatly improved, with many scholars now seeing it in a much more positive light. Callimachus also wrote short poems for special occasions and at least one short epic, the "Ibis", which was directed against his former pupil Apollonius. He also compiled a prose treatise entitled the "Pinakes", in which he catalogued all the major works held in the Library of Alexandria.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The Alexandrian poet Apollonius of Rhodes is best known for his epic poem the "Argonautica", which narrates the adventures of Jason and his shipmates the Argonauts on their quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the land of Colchis. The poet Aratus wrote the hexameter poem "Phaenomena", a poetic rendition of Eudoxus of Cnidus's treatise on the stars written in the fourth century BC.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: During the Hellenistic period, the Old Comedy of the Classical Era was replaced by New Comedy. The most notable writer of New Comedy was the Athenian playwright Menander. None of Menander's plays have survived to the present day in their complete form, but one play, "The Bad-Tempered Man", has survived to the present day in a near-complete form. Most of another play entitled "The Girl from Samos" and large portions of another five have also survived.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The historian Timaeus was born in Sicily but spent most of his life in Athens. His "History", though lost, is significant because of its influence on Polybius. In 38 books it covered the history of Sicily and Italy to the year 264 BC, which is where Polybius begins his work. Timaeus also wrote the "Olympionikai", a valuable chronological study of the Olympic Games.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Ancient biography, or "bios", as distinct from modern biography, was a genre of Greek (and Roman) literature interested in describing the goals, achievements, failures, and character of ancient historical persons and whether or not they should be imitated. Authors of ancient "bios", such as the works of Nepos and Plutarch's "Parallel Lives" imitated many of the same sources and techniques of the contemporary historiographies of ancient Greece, notably including the works of Herodotus and Thucydides. There were various forms of ancient biographies, including 1) philosophical biographies that brought out the moral character of their subject (such as Diogenes Laertius's "Lives of Eminent Philosophers" 2) literary biographies which discussed the lives of orators and poets (such as Philostratus's "Lives of the Sophists") 3) school and reference biographies that offered a short sketch of someone including their ancestry, major events and accomplishments, and death, 4) autobiographies, commentaries and memoirs where the subject presents his own life and 5) historical/political biography focusing on the lives of those active in the military, among other categories.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Eratosthenes of Alexandria ( 276 BC –  195/194 BC), wrote on astronomy and geography, but his work is known mainly from later summaries. He is credited with being the first person to measure the Earth's circumference. Much that was written by the mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes has been preserved. Euclid is known for his "Elements", much of which was drawn from his predecessor Eudoxus of Cnidus. The "Elements" is a treatise on geometry, and it has exerted a continuing influence on mathematics. From Archimedes several treatises have come down to the present. Among them are "Measurement of the Circle", in which he worked out the value of pi; "The Method of Mechanical Theorems", on his work in mechanics; "The Sand Reckoner"; and "On Floating Bodies". A manuscript of his works is currently being studied.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Very little has survived of prose fiction from the Hellenistic Era. "The Milesiaka" by Aristides of Miletos was probably written during the second century BC. "The Milesiaka" itself has not survived to the present day in its complete form, but various references to it have survived. The book established a whole new genre of so-called "Milesian tales," of which "The Golden Ass" by the later Roman writer Apuleius is a prime example.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The ancient Greek novels "Chaereas and Callirhoe" by Chariton and "Metiochus and Parthenope" were probably both written during the late first century BC or early first century AD, during the latter part of the Hellenistic Era. The discovery of several fragments of Lollianos's "Phoenician Tale" reveal the existence of a genre of ancient Greek picaresque novel.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: While the transition from city-state to empire affected philosophy a great deal, shifting the emphasis from political theory to personal ethics, Greek letters continued to flourish both under the Successors (especially the Ptolemies) and under Roman rule. Romans of literary or rhetorical inclination looked to Greek models, and Greek literature of all types continued to be read and produced both by native speakers of Greek and later by Roman authors as well. A notable characteristic of this period was the expansion of literary criticism as a genre, particularly as exemplified by Demetrius, Pseudo-Longinus and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The New Testament, written by various authors in varying qualities of Koine Greek also hails from this period, the most important works being the Gospels and the Epistles of Saint Paul.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The poet Quintus of Smyrna, who probably lived during the late fourth century AD, wrote "Posthomerica", an epic poem narrating the story of the fall of Troy, beginning where "The Iliad" left off.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The poet Nonnus of Panopolis wrote "The Dionysiaca", the longest surviving epic poem from antiquity. He also wrote a poetic paraphrase of The Gospel of John. Nonnus probably lived sometime during the late fourth century AD or early fifth century AD.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The historian Polybius was born about 200 BC. He was brought to Rome as a hostage in 168. In Rome he became a friend of the general Scipio Aemilianus. He probably accompanied the general to Spain and North Africa in the wars against Carthage. He was with Scipio at the destruction of Carthage in 146.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who lived in the 1st century BC, around the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus. He wrote a universal history, "Bibliotheca Historica", in 40 books. Of these, the first five and the 11th through the 20th remain. The first two parts covered history through the early Hellenistic era. The third part takes the story to the beginning of Caesar's wars in Gaul, now France. Dionysius of Halicarnassus lived late in the first century BC. His history of Rome from its origins to the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) is written from a Roman point of view, but it is carefully researched. He also wrote a number of other treatises, including "On Imitation", "Commentaries on the Ancient Orators", and "On the Arrangement of Words".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The historians Appian of Alexandria and Arrian of Nicomedia both lived in the second century AD. Appian wrote on Rome and its conquests, while Arrian is remembered for his work on the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Arrian served in the Roman army. His book therefore concentrates heavily on the military aspects of Alexander's life. Arrian also wrote a philosophical treatise, the "Diatribai", based on the teachings of his mentor Epictetus.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Best known of the late Greek historians to modern readers is Plutarch of Chaeronea, who died about AD 119. His "Parallel Lives" of great Greek and Roman leaders has been read by every generation since the work was first published. His other surviving work is the "Moralia", a collection of essays on ethical, religious, political, physical, and literary topics.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: During later times, so-called "commonplace books," usually describing historical anecdotes, became quite popular. Surviving examples of this popular genre include works such as Aulus Gellius's "Attic Nights", Athenaeus of Naucratis's "Deipnosophistae", and Claudius Aelianus's "De Natura Animalium" and "Varia Historia".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The physician Galen lived during the 2nd century AD. He was a careful student of anatomy, and his works exerted a powerful influence on medicine for the next 1,400 years. Strabo, who died about AD 23, was a geographer and historian. His "Historical Sketches" in 47 volumes has nearly all been lost. His "Geographical Sketches" remain as the only existing ancient book covering the whole range of people and countries known to the Greeks and Romans through the time of Augustus. Pausanias, who lived in the 2nd century AD, was also a geographer. His "Description of Greece" is a travel guide describing the geography and mythic history of Greece during the second century. The book takes the form of a tour of Greece, starting in Athens and ending in Naupactus.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The scientist of the Roman period who had the greatest influence on later generations was undoubtedly the astronomer Ptolemy. He lived during the 2nd century AD, though little is known of his life. His masterpiece, originally entitled "The Mathematical Collection", has come to the present under the title "Almagest", as it was translated by Arab astronomers with that title. It was Ptolemy who devised a detailed description of an Earth-centered universe, a notion that dominated astronomical thinking for more than 1,300 years. The Ptolemaic view of the universe endured until Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and other early modern astronomers replaced it with heliocentrism.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Epictetus ( 55 AD – 135 AD) was associated with the moral philosophy of the Stoics. His teachings were collected by his pupil Arrian in the "Discourses" and the "Encheiridion" (Manual of Study).


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Diogenes Laërtius, who lived in the third century AD, wrote "Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers", a voluminous collection of biographies of nearly every Greek philosopher who ever lived. Unfortunately, Diogenes Laërtius often fails to cite his sources and many modern historians consider his testimony unreliable. Nonetheless, in spite of this, he remains the only available source on the lives of many early Greek philosophers. His book is not entirely without merit; it does preserve a tremendous wealth of information that otherwise would not have been preserved. His biography of Epicurus, for instance, is of particularly high quality and contains three lengthy letters attributed to Epicurus himself, at least two of which are generally agreed to be authentic.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Another major philosopher of his period was Plotinus. He transformed Plato's philosophy into a school called Neoplatonism. His "Enneads" had a wide-ranging influence on European thought until at least the seventeenth century. Plotinus's philosophy mainly revolved around the concepts of "nous", "psyche", and the "One."


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: After the rise of Christianity, many of the most important philosophers were Christians. The second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr, who wrote exclusively in Greek, made extensive use of ideas from Greek philosophy, especially Platonism. Origen of Alexandria, the founder of Christian theology, also made extensive use of ideas from Greek philosophy and was even able to hold his own against the pagan philosopher Celsus in his apologetic treatise "Contra Celsum".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The Roman Period was the time when the majority of extant works of Greek prose fiction were composed. The ancient Greek novels "Leucippe and Clitophon" by Achilles Tatius and "Daphnis and Chloe" by Longus were both probably written during the early second century AD. "Daphnis and Chloe", by far the most famous of the five surviving ancient Greek romance novels, is a nostalgic tale of two young lovers growing up in an idealized pastoral environment on the Greek island of Lesbos. "The Wonders Beyond Thule" by Antonius Diogenes may have also been written during the early second century AD, although scholars are unsure of its exact date. "The Wonders Beyond Thule" has not survived in its complete form, but a very lengthy summary of it written by Photios I of Constantinople has survived. "The Ephesian Tale" by Xenophon of Ephesus was probably written during the late second century AD.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The satirist Lucian of Samosata lived during the late second century AD. Lucian's works were incredibly popular during antiquity. Over eighty different writings attributed to Lucian have survived to the present day. Almost all of Lucian's works are written in the heavily Atticized dialect of ancient Greek language prevalent among the well-educated at the time. His book "The Syrian Goddess", however, was written in a faux-Ionic dialect, deliberately imitating the dialect and style of Herodotus. Lucian's most famous work is the novel "A True Story", which some authors have described as the earliest surviving work of science fiction. His dialogue "The Lover of Lies" contains several of the earliest known ghost stories as well as the earliest known version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." His letter "The Passing of Peregrinus", a ruthless satire against Christians, contains one of the earliest pagan appraisals of early Christianity.


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: "The Aethiopica" by Heliodorus of Emesa was probably written during the third century AD. It tells the story of a young Ethiopian princess named Chariclea, who is estranged from her family and goes on many misadventures across the known world. Of all the ancient Greek novels, the one that attained the greatest level of popularity was the "Alexander Romance", a fictionalized account of the exploits of Alexander the Great written in the third century AD. Eighty versions of it have survived in twenty-four different languages, attesting that, during the Middle Ages, the novel was nearly as popular as the Bible. Versions of the "Alexander Romance" were so commonplace in the fourteenth century that Geoffrey Chaucer wrote that "...every wight that hath discrecioun / Hath herd somwhat or al of [Alexander's] fortune."


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Ancient Greek literature has had an enormous impact on western literature as a whole. Ancient Roman authors adopted various styles and motifs from ancient Greek literature. These ideas were later, in turn, adopted by other western European writers and literary critics. Ancient Greek literature especially influenced later Greek literature. For instance, the Greek novels influenced the later work "Hero and Leander", written by Musaeus Grammaticus. Ancient Roman writers were acutely aware of the ancient Greek literary legacy and many deliberately emulated the style and formula of Greek classics in their own works. The Roman poet Vergil, for instance, modeled his epic poem the "Aeneid" on the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: During the Middle Ages, ancient Greek literature was largely forgotten in Western Europe. The medieval writer Roger Bacon wrote that "there are not four men in Latin Christendom who are acquainted with the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic grammars." It was not until the Renaissance that Greek writings were rediscovered by western European scholars. During the Renaissance, Greek began to be taught in western European colleges and universities for the first time, which resulted in western European scholars rediscovering the literature of ancient Greece. The "Textus Receptus", the first New Testament printed in the original Greek, was published in 1516 by the Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus also published Latin translations of classical Greek texts, including a Latin translation of Hesiod's "Works and Days".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: The influence of classical Greek literature on modern literature is also evident. Numerous figures from classical literature and mythology appear throughout "The Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri. Plutarch's "Lives" were a major influence on William Shakespeare and served as the main source behind his tragedies "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra", and "Coriolanus". Shakespeare's comedies "A Comedy of Errors" and "The Twelfth Night" drew heavily on themes from Graeco-Roman New Comedy. Meanwhile, Shakespeare's tragedy "Timon of Athens" was inspired by a story written by Lucian and his comedy "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" was based on an adaptation of the ancient Greek novel "Apollonius of Tyre" found in John Gower's "Confessio Amantis".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" is written using a similar style to the two Homeric epics. It also makes frequent allusions to figures from classical literature and mythology, using them as symbols to convey a Christian message. Lucian's "A True Story" was part of the inspiration for Jonathan Swift's novel "Gulliver's Travels". "Bulfinch's Mythology", a book on Greek mythology published in 1867 and aimed at a popular audience, was described by Carl J. Richard as "one of the most popular books ever published in the United States".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" is a modern, rationalized retelling of the ancient Greek legend of Pygmalion. James Joyce's novel "Ulysses", heralded by critics as one of the greatest works of modern literature, is a retelling of Homer's "Odyssey" set in modern-day Dublin. The mid-twentieth-century British author Mary Renault wrote a number of critically acclaimed novels inspired by ancient Greek literature and mythology, including "The Last of the Wine" and "The King Must Die".


title: Ancient Greek literature

text: Even in works that do not consciously draw on Graeco-Roman literature, authors often employ concepts and themes originating in ancient Greece. The ideas expressed in Aristotle's "Poetics", in particular, have influenced generations of Western writers and literary critics. A Latin translation of an Arabic version of the "Poetics" by Averroes was available during the Middle Ages. Common Greek literary terms still used today include: "catharsis", "ethos", "anagnorisis", "hamartia", "hubris", "mimesis", "mythos", "nemesis", and "peripeteia".


The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese: Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth ("Comunidade Lusófona"), is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language. The CPLP operates as a privileged, multilateral forum for the mutual cooperation of the governments, economies, non-governmental organizations, and peoples of the "Lusofonia". The CPLP consists of 9 member states and 32 associate observers, located in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, totaling 37 countries and 4 organizations.


title: Community of Portuguese Language Countries

text: The history of the CPLP began when it was founded in 1996, in Lisbon, by Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe, nearly two decades after the beginning of the decolonization of the Portuguese Empire. Following the independence of Timor-Leste in 2002 and the application by Equatorial Guinea in 2014, both of those countries became members of the CPLP. Macau (a Special Administrative Region of China), Galicia (an Autonomous Community of Spain), and Uruguay are formally interested in full membership and another 17 countries across the world are formally interested in associate observer status.


text: The idea of a type of international community or political union of Portuguese language countries had been proposed and studied numerous times in history. However, the idea for what would become the CPLP came about in 1983, during a state visit to Cabo Verde by Jaime Gama, Foreign Minister of Portugal, when he first proposed a biennial summit of heads of state and government of Lusophone countries of the world and the idea of regular meetings between ministerial counterparts of the member states.


text: The Community of Portuguese Language Countries was officially founded on 17 July 1996 at the 1st CPLP Heads of State & Government Summit, in Lisbon, Portugal.


text: In 2005, during a meeting in Luanda, the ministers of culture of the member states declared the 5 May as the ("Dia da Cultura Lusófona" in Portuguese).


text: Through successive enlargements, the Union has grown from the seven founding states—Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe—to the current nine, with the self-determination of Timor-Leste in 2002 and the accession of Equatorial Guinea in 2014 at the 10th CPLP Summit in Dili, Timor-Leste with the issuance of the Dili Declaration.


text: The community has grown beyond its mission in fostering cultural ties between the Portuguese language countries into facilitating trade and political cooperation between the Lusophone countries of the world, with the CPLP is the fourth-largest producer of oil in the world and its citizens totalling more than 270 million people.


text: In 2017, in Brasilia, the nine-member states agreed to enlarge cooperation in matters of the seas, tourism, economy and more ambitious defense and cooperation mechanisms. More rights to the observer states were also approved, which Argentina planned to join.


text: The CPLP's guidelines and priorities are established by a biannual Conference of Heads of State and Government (known as the CPLP Summits) and the Organization's plan of action is approved by the Council of Foreign Ministers, which meets every year. Special summits can be requested at any time by 2/3 of the member states, usually for the purpose of pressing matters or incidents at the moment. There are also monthly meetings of the Permanent Steering Committee that follow specific initiatives and projects.


text: The headquarters of the CPLP is in Penafiel Palace in Lisbon, Portugal, but the organization maintains dedicated bureaus in all of the foreign ministries of the CPLP member states.


text: CPLP is a multilateral forum created to deepen cultural, economic, and political cooperation among the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) nations of the world. The prime objectives of the CPLP are:


text: The Executive Secretary of the CPLP () is the executive head and highest representative of the CPLP. The Executive Secretary is charged with leading the Executive Secretariat ("Secretariado Executivo"), the CPLP's executive branch responsible for creating and implementing the CPLP's agenda of projects and initiatives. The Executive Secretary, who must be a high-ranking diplomat or politician from one of the member states, is elected for a mandate of two years at the biennial CPLP Summit, and can be reelected once to a second term. The Executive Secretariat is headquartered at Penafiel Palace in Lisbon, Portugal.


text: The Council of Ministers is made up of the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the nine Member States. The powers of the Council of Ministers are:


text: Make recommendations to the Conference of Heads of State and Government on matters of general policy, as well as the efficient and harmonious functioning and development of the CPLP;


text: To recommend to the Conference of Heads of State the candidates for the positions of Executive Secretary and Deputy Executive Secretary;


text: Convene conferences and other meetings with a view to promoting the objectives and programs of the CPLP; Carry out other tasks entrusted to it by the Conference of Heads of State and Government. The Council of Ministers elects, from among its members, a President on a rotating basis and for a term of two years (usually, the Minister of the host country). The Council of Ministers ordinarily meets once a year and, extraordinarily, when requested by two-thirds of the member states.


text: The Council of Ministers reports to the Conference of Heads of State and Government, to which it must present its reports. Decisions by the Council of Ministers are taken by consensus.


text: The Executive Secretary is assisted in his duties by the Director General. The Statutes establish, since the Summit of Bissau in 2006, the existence of a Director General, and the position of Deputy Executive Secretary ceased with his appointment.


text: The Director General is recruited from among the nationals of the Member States, through public examination, for a period of 3 years, renewable for an equal period. The Director General is responsible, under the guidance of the Executive Secretary, for the day-to-day management, financial planning and execution, preparation, coordination and guidance of the meetings and projects activated by the Executive Secretariat. The current director general of CPLP is Armindo Brito Fernandes, from São Tomé and Príncipe, who took office on February 10, 2020.


text: At the VI Summit of CPLP Heads of State and Government (Bissau, 2006) the first CPLP Goodwill Ambassadors were also appointed, who, according to the approved regulation, are appointed for a two-year term and must be personalities of merit. recognized and distinguished themselves in promoting the values defended by the CPLP.


text: The chosen personalities were three former Heads of State, Jorge Sampaio (Portugal), José Sarney (Brazil) and Joaquim Chissano (Mozambique). A prime minister and a minister, Fernando Van-Dunen (Angola) and Albertino Bragança (São Tomé and Príncipe); the musician Martinho da Vila (Brazil) and Gustavo Vaz da Conceição, president of the Angolan Basketball Federation and member of the Angola Olympic Committee.


text: At the XV Council of Ministers, on 22 July 2010, in Luanda, Ambassador Luís Fonseca, former CPLP Executive Secretary, was appointed.


text: In 2016, CPLP revised its cooperation protocol in defense, affirming the organization in the promotion of peace and security.


text: The 2017 Exercício Felino military exercise taking place in Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras, Resende, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aims for the increased interoperability of the armed forces of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste. The first phase of the exercise, known as "Carta" (chart) took place in Cape Verde in 2016, in which the operation was planned and executed using computer networks as a war game. The Exercício Felino was established in the year 2000.


text: The 2021 Summit in Luanda saw the creation of the "CPLP Mobility", a system that seeks to facilitate the entry and permanence of citizens of one country in another.


text: The Youth Forum of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (FJCPLP) is the Community instance responsible for the protection and promotion of the rights of youth internationally. Created in 1997, its objective is to bring together representative platforms of civil society youth organizations (Youth Councils) in the Member States to strengthen the protagonism and participation of youth in the development of their countries and the world.


text: For its intervention, the Conference instituted as anchor activities the CPLP Sports Games and the CPLP Young Creators Biennial, to be held interpolated each year. In addition to these activities, sectorial Action Plans for two years are instituted, which seek to meet the priorities identified for the period in question.


text: As part of its action, the Conference establishes partnerships with national or international organizations for activities in areas of clear interest to members. Its current president is Bissau-Guinean Aissatu Forbs Djaló.


text: The Parliamentary Assembly of Lusophony is the body that brings together the representations of all the Parliaments of the Member States, constituted on the basis of the respective electoral results of the legislative elections.


text: The Parliamentary Assembly, founded on the principle of one language - the Portuguese language - and common values, constitutes a space for strengthening ties of cooperation, solidarity and exchange between member Parliaments, with a view to contributing to the consolidation of peace, democracy and the rule of law in the respective countries. These are the pillars on which the objectives enshrined in the Statute and Regulations are based, instruments approved right at its first meeting. The rotating presidency of the CPLP Parliamentary Assembly was assumed in July 2021 by Guinea-Bissau, whose executive secretary is Cipriano Cassamá.


text: The Network of Women Parliamentarians of the AP-CPLP (RM-AP-CPLP) is an organism of the Parliamentary Assembly considered a space for consultation and cooperation that watches over issues of gender equality and equity, with specific objectives and competences.


text: This body is governed by its own Statute and integrates all the Deputies in effective functions in the Parliaments of the member countries of the CPLP. The President belongs to the country that holds the presidency of the AP-CPLP, being currently chaired by the Brazilian Rosângela Gomes.


text: Among the competences attributed to the functioning of this Network, the defense and promotion of gender equality and equity in social, political and economic life in the CPLP universe are distinguished; encouraging the formation and training of women parliamentarians; support for the candidacy of Women for the exercise of leadership; encouraging the implementation of public policies and legislation aimed at combating the feminization of poverty, sexually transmitted infections and the education of young people; the encouragement of behavior that is against practices that are likely to cause physical harm; and also, the improvement of the participation of women parliamentarians in conflict prevention and electoral processes.


text: The Community of Portuguese Language Countries relies on six operating agencies to carry out its mandate: Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira, União das Cidades Capitais Luso-Afro-Américo-Asiáticas, Associação das Universidades de Língua Portuguesa, Instituto Internacional da Língua Portuguesa, União dos Advogados de Língua Portuguesa and TV CPLP via Web.


text: The UNILAB is a public federal university located in Redenção, Ceará, Brazil. The major courses offered are preferentially the ones included in the mutual interest of all countries in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries. They are: Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Mozambique, Portugal and East Timor. Looking for international integration, 50% of the seats in the University are for international students from those countries. The UNILAB is a private postgraduate institution that trains managers and high-level trainers in areas that are a priority for development in Lusophone Africa, but also includes Timor-Leste and Macau. Its political-pedagogical project is innovative, as are those of Unila and Uniam, aiming at international integration.


text: The Union of Luso-Afro-Americo-Asian Capital Cities (União das Cidades Capitais Luso-Afro-Américo-Asiáticas, UCCLA) is an international organization formed by cities in Lusophony. It was founded in Lisbon on June 28, 1985, at the Centro Cultural das Descobertas. On that date, the constitutive document was signed by the presidents of the municipalities of Lisbon (Nuno Abecasis), Bissau (Francisca Pereira), Maputo (Alberto Massavanhane), Praia (Felix Gomes Monteiro), Rio de Janeiro - that ceased being the capital of Brazil in 1960 -(Laura de Macedo), São Tomé (Gaspar Ramos) and Macau (Carlos Algéos Ayres). Its current secretary general is the Portuguese politician .


text: Then came the remaining capital cities of Portuguese official expression and other non-capital cities, such as Brasília - capital of Brazil since 1960 - (1986), Cacheu and Luanda (1989), Guimarães (1990), Taipa and Coloane islands (1991), Santo António do Príncipe (1993), Ilha de Moçambique (1994), Salvador (1995), Belo Horizonte (1998), Belém (1999), Bolama, Huambo, Porto Alegre and Mindelo (2000), Dili (2002), São Filipe, Oecusse (2004), Angra do Heroísmo (2013) and Santiago de Compostela (2016).


text: The international intermunicipal association focuses on cooperation projects in the areas of companies, immigrants, culture, promotion of the Portuguese language and urban issues such as garbage, the road system, heritage conservation, public health and water supply.


text: Founded in 1986 in Lisbon, Portugal, the Association of Portuguese Language Universities (AULP) is an international NGO that promotes cooperation and information exchange between universities and higher institutes. With around 140 members from the eight Portuguese-speaking countries (Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor) and Macau, its mission is to facilitate communication between members for the benefit of collective development of teaching and the Portuguese language in the world. It aims to stimulate research and exchange between students and teachers and also proposes continuous reflection through the daily dissemination of news and the organization of conferences and events. The president of the AULP is usually the vice-rector of the university elected to preside over the organization, and it is currently headed by the University of Coimbra, whose vice-rector is the Portuguese João Nuno Calvão da Silva.


text: The International Portuguese Language Institute is the Community of Portuguese Language Countries's institute supporting the spread and popularity of the Portuguese language in the world. The institute's headquarters is located in Praia, Cabo Verde. Its history starts in 1989 when the countries of Portuguese language gathered in São Luís do Maranhão in Brazil to create a base for a Portuguese language community. The Brazilian president, José Sarney, proposed the idea of an international institute to promote the language. Only 10 years later in a meeting in São Tomé and Príncipe, a small island-nation in the Gulf of Guinea, the institute's objectives, implementation and location (Cape Verde) were set.


text: The IILP's fundamental objectives are "the promotion, the defence, the enrichment and the spread of the Portuguese language as a vehicle of culture, education, information and access to scientific and technologic knowledge and of official use in international forums".


text: The UALP – Union of Portuguese Language Lawyers was created in 2002 under the designation of “Association of Bar Associations and Lawyers of Portuguese Speaking Countries", thus formalizing the alliance that existed between the Lawyers of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea- Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor. The designation for UALP was adopted in 2005. Currently, UALP represents more than 1 000 000 Lawyers.


text: UALP's main vectors of action are centered on cooperation in terms of training, internships, the way of practicing law and the relevant legislation applicable to Lawyers, as well as the sharing of experiences in the scope of management, organization of events and forms of contact and participation of lawyers registered with the respective Orders and Associations. Its current president is the Angolan lawyer Luís Paulo Monteiro.


text: TV CPLP is a proposal for a television channel made within the Community of Portuguese Language Countries to be broadcast internationally. Its costs will be borne by UNESCO and the Portuguese Government. All your programs will be broadcast in Portuguese, in their different ways of speaking and all accents. At CPLP, the proposal was discussed at the Workshop on the Television Content Sharing Platform, between Public Televisions of Portuguese Speaking Countries and CPLP TV, in Lisbon on October 16, 2007; as well as at the Round Table for a Television Content Sharing Platform between Public Television Operators from Portuguese-speaking Countries and TV CPLP, in Lisbon from March 5 to 7, 2007.


text: It will be created by the following Portuguese-speaking TV channels and will be broadcast by the 8 founding countries and also to other countries.


text: As a Lusophone Content Exchange Platform, the proposal was presented in Brazil as a project by the Instituto Cultural Brasil Plus (ICBrPLus) called "TV CPLP Via Web" exposed in a commission of the Federal Senate of Brazil and approved by Ordinance No. 416 of the Secretariat Executive of the Ministry of Culture.


text: There are nine full member states of the CPLP. Seven were founding members of the CPLP: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe; Timor-Leste joined in 2002, after achieving independence and Equatorial Guinea joined in 2014.


text: Macau was the last Portuguese colony to be decolonized, and returned to China in 1999 after more the four centuries under Portuguese control. It still retains traces of Lusophone culture and Portuguese is one of the official languages of the territory. Despite that, the majority of the population in Macau do not speak and understand Portuguese; rather, Cantonese is the main language. In 2006, during the II Ministerial meeting between China and Portuguese Speaking Countries, the CPLP Executive Secretary and Deputy ambassador Tadeu Soares invited the Chief Executive of the Government of the Macau Special Administrative Region, Edmund Ho, to request the Associate Observer status for Macau. The Government of Macau has not yet formalized this request.


text: When the CPLP was formed, Equatorial Guinea asked for observer status. Equatorial Guinea () was a Portuguese colony from the 15th to 18th centuries and has some territories where Portuguese-based creole languages are spoken and cultural connections with São Tomé and Príncipe and Portugal are felt. In the 21st century, the country has cooperated with Portuguese-speaking African countries and Brazil at an educational level. At the CPLP summit of July 2004, in São Tomé and Príncipe, the member states agreed to change the statutes of the community to accept states as associate observers. Equatorial Guinea then engaged in discussion for full membership. In June 2010, Equatorial Guinea asked to be admitted as full member. At its eighth summit in Luanda in July 2010, the CPLP decided to open formal negotiations with Equatorial Guinea about full membership in the CPLP. At its 10th summit in Dili in July 2014, Equatorial Guinea was admitted as CPLP member.


text: In July 2006, during the Bissau summit, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritius were admitted as Associate Observers along with 17 International associations and organizations considered as Consultative Observers. On 23 July 2014, Equatorial Guinea was admitted as a CPLP member.


text: Mauritius, which was discovered by Portuguese explorers and maintains strong connections with Mozambique, is an Associate Observer. In 2008, Senegal, with historical connections to Portuguese colonisation in Casamance, was admitted as Associate Observer.


text: In July 2014, during the Dili summit, the Heads of State and Government approved a resolution that grants Georgia, Japan, Namibia and Turkey the status of Associate Observers. Japan has had historical contacts with the Portuguese language in the 16th and 17th century, and today has connections to the Lusophone world through Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan. Namibia has had extensive contact with the Lusophone world due to its location just south of Angola.


text: Three European nations, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, were admitted as observers along with Uruguay at the 2016 summit. Uruguay has historical ties to Brazil and Portugal and has some speakers of Portuñol, a Spanish–Portuguese pidgin. In January 2018 and prior to the 2018 summit, Italy requested the observer status as an effort for the consolidation of bilateral relations with all of the Portuguese-speaking countries. In its request, the Italian government referred that due to the increasing number of associated observers in the community, CPLP is becoming a forum for countries in various geographical regions. Earlier in January, Andorra also formalized its candidacy for the same status. Italy shares a legacy of Ancient Rome and Italy is the non-lusophone nation with the greatest number of university chairs in the Portuguese language. Because of immigration and geographic proximity, Portuguese is one of the most spoken languages in Andorra.


text: In the 2018 summit with all the heads of state present, with the exception of East Timor due to national policies issues, several observers joined the organization: Luxembourg, Andorra, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Serbia, Chile, France, Italy and the Organization of Ibero-American States joined as observers. Uruguay, an observer nation since 2016, admitted in early 2018 a candidacy to become full member of the CPLP.


text: The 2021 summit in Luanda, Angola saw the admission of ten new state observers to the organization: Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, Greece, India, Ireland, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Spain and the United States. They were joined by the organizational observers of the G7+, the Ibero-American Summit and the European Public Law Organization.


text: The status of "consultative observer" is granted to organizations of civil society throughout the Lusofonia and pan-Lusophone bodies, as well as Lusophone institutions based outside of the Lusofonia, which serve a consultative status to the CPLP.


text: The Portuguese-speaking countries are home to 267 million people located across the globe but having a common language, a shared history, and some cultural similarities. The CPLP nations have a combined area of about , which is more than twice as large as the European Union , but with a little more than half of the population.


text: Since its formation, the CPLP has helped to solve problems in São Tomé and Príncipe and in Guinea-Bissau, because of coups d'état in those countries. The CPLP helped these two countries to take economic reforms (in the case of São Tomé) and democratic ones (in the case of Guinea-Bissau).


text: In the early 21st century, the leaders of the CPLP believed that peace in Angola and Mozambique, as well as East Timor's independence, favored the development of the CPLP and a strengthening of multilateral cooperation.


text: Since many children in rural areas of Lusophone Africa and East Timor are out-of-school youth, the education officials in these regions seek help from Portugal and Brazil to increase the education to spread Portuguese fluency (like establishing Instituto Camões language center branches in main cities and rural towns), as Portuguese is becoming one of the main languages in Southern Africa, where it is also taught in Namibia and South Africa.


text: Angola has not yet signed the most recent accord on the orthography of the Portuguese language, and has asked other PALOP countries to support it in discussions on various points of that accord with Portugal.


text: In many developing Portuguese-speaking nations, Portuguese is the language of government and commerce which means that Portuguese-speaking people from African nations can work and communicate with others in different parts of the world, especially in Portugal and Brazil, where the economies are stronger. Many leaders of Portuguese-speaking nations in Africa are fearful that language standards do not meet the fluency required and are therefore making it compulsory in schools so that a higher degree of fluency is achieved and young Africans will be able to speak a world language that will help them later in life.


text: Easing citizens' cross-border movement between the member states was proposed at the 2017 CPLP Summit. This proposal by Portugal and Cape Verde to Brazil was thought by some to conflict with Europe's Schengen area. However, this free movement is based on a different model: as residence permits, associated with the recognition of academic degrees and professional qualification, and maintenance of social rights including pension systems. It would henceforth establish the Lusophone citizenship, the "cidadania lusófona".


text: The Conference of Heads of State and Government of the CPLP (; CCEG), commonly known as the CPLP Summit ("Cimeira da CPLP") is a biennial meeting of heads of state and heads of government of the member states of the CPLP. It is considered one of the fundamental pillars of the CPLP's structure.


title: Pompano

text: Pompanos ( ) are marine fishes in the genus Trachinotus in the family Carangidae (better known as "jacks"). Pompano may also refer to various other, similarly shaped members of the Carangidae, or the order Perciformes. Their appearance is of deep-bodied fishes, exhibiting strong lateral compression, with a rounded face and pronounced curve to the anterior portion of their dorsal profile. Their ventral profile is noticeably less curved by comparison, while their anterior profile is straight-edged, tapering sharply to a narrow caudal peduncle. Their dorsal and anal fins are typically sickle-shaped, with very long anterior rays and a succession of much shorter rays behind, with a similarly long & curved, deeply forked tail which has a narrow base. They are typically overall silvery in color, sometimes with dark or yellowish fins, and one or a few black markings on the side of their body. They are toothless and are relatively large fish, up to about long, although most species reach no more than half or two-thirds of that size. They are found worldwide in warmer seas, sometimes also entering brackish waters.


title: Pompano

text: Of the 21 recognized species, most are valued as food and some are considered game fish, including the permit ("T. falcatus"). Several United States Navy submarines have been named after this genus: USS "Pompano" and USS "Permit".


title: 6 Days (2017 film)

text: 6 Days is a 2017 action thriller film directed by Toa Fraser and written by Glenn Standring. A British-New Zealand production, it is based on the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London and stars Jamie Bell, Abbie Cornish, Mark Strong and Martin Shaw.


title: 6 Days (2017 film)

text: The siege situation is presented from three perspectives: that of negotiator Max Vernon (Mark Strong), SAS leader Rusty Firmin (Jamie Bell) and BBC news reporter Kate Adie (Abbie Cornish). The film was released on 4 August 2017 to mixed reviews and was subsequently streamed by Netflix.


title: 6 Days (2017 film)

text: On Day 1, 30 April 1980, six Iranian Arabs storm the Iranian Embassy located at 16 Princes Gate, Kensington in London and hold at least 26 hostages. Notable persons have been summoned by the incident, including SAS members led by Lance Corporal Rusty Firmin, BBC reporter Kate Adie, and Chief Inspector Max Vernon of the Metropolitan Police. The authorities receive a call from the terrorists' leader, Salim, demanding the release of 91 Arab prisoners in Iran, or else they will kill a hostage at noon the following day.


title: 6 Days (2017 film)

text: On Day 2, Max negotiates with Salim by phone, saying that Max will help him by any means to avoid violence. The SAS team prepares to storm the building just before noon, but Salim releases one hostage, due to illness. After Max brings food to the terrorists, Salim reluctantly agrees to extend the deadline by 48 hours, demanding safe passage to Heathrow Airport accompanied by ambassadors from the Arab League.