title: Ionian Revolt

text: Myres was using sea-power in a specifically British sense for the times. The Americans had their own idea of sea power, expressed in Alfred Thayer Mahan’s great strategic work, ‘’The Influence of Sea Power upon History’’. which advocated maintaining a powerful navy and using it for strategic purposes, such as “command of the sea,” a kind of domination. The United States Naval Academy used this meaning for its motto, ‘’ex scientia tridens’’, “sea-power through knowledge.” It named one of its buildings, Mahan Hall.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: Far different is Myres’ “sea-power” and the meaning of thalassocracy, which means “rule of the seas.“ In contrast to “tridens,” rule of the seas is not a paternalistic but democratic arrangement. Where there are rulers, there are the ruled. A kind of exclusivity is meant, such as in Rule, Britannia!. Specifically, in a thalassocracy, the fleets of the ruler may go where they will and do as they please, but the ruled may go nowhere and engage in no operation without express permission of the ruler. You need a license, so to speak, to be on ruled waters, and if you do not have it, your ships are attacked and destroyed. “Shoot on sight” is the policy. And so Carthaginian ships sank any ships in their waters, etc.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: Thalassocracy was a new word in the theories of the late 19th century, from which some conclude it was a scholarly innovation of the times. It was rather a resurrection of a word known from a very specific classical document, which Myres calls “the List of Thalassocracies.” It occurs in the Chronicon of Eusebius, the early 4th century Bishop of Caesarea Maritima, the ruins now in Israel. In Eusebius, the list is a separate chronology. Jerome, 4th-century theologian and historian, creator of the Vulgate, interspersed the same items, translated into Latin, in his Chronicon of world events. The items contain the words “obtinuerunt mare,” strictly speaking, “obtained the sea,” and not “hold sea power,” although the latter meaning may be implied as a result. Just as Jerome utilised the chronology of Eusebius, so Eusebius utilised the chronology of Castor of Rhodes, a 1st-century BC historian. His work has been entirely lost except for fragments, including his list of thalassocracies. A thousand years later, the Byzantine monk, George Syncellus, also used items from the list in his massive "Extract of Chronography".


title: Ionian Revolt

text: Over the centuries the realisation grew that all these references to sea-power in the Aegean came from a single document, a resource now reflected in the fragments of those who relied on it. C Bunsen, whose translator was one of the first to use thalassocracy, attributed its discovery to the German scholar, Christian Gottlob Heyne In a short work composed in 1769, published in 1771, Eusebius’ Chronicon being known at that time only through fragments in the two authors mentioned, Heyne reconstructed the list in their Greek and Latin (with uncanny accuracy), the whole title of the article being "Super Castoris epochis populorum thalattokratesanton H.E. (hoc est) qui imperium maris tenuisse dicuntur", “About Castor's epochs of thalattocratizing peoples; that is, those who are said to have held the imperium over the sea.” To thalattokratize is “to rule the sea,” not just to hold sea power like any other good fellow with a strong navy. The thalattokratizer holds the imperium over the watery domain just as if it were a country, which explains how such a people can “obtain” and “have” the sea. The list presented therefore is one of successive exclusive domains. No two peoples can hold the same domain or share rule over it, although they can operate under the authority of the thalassocrat, a privilege reserved for paying allies.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: According to Bunsen, the discovery and translation of the Armenian version of Eusebius’ Chronicon changed the nature of the search for thalassocracy. It provided the original document, but there was a disclaimer attached, that it was in fact “an extract from the epitome of Diodorus,” meaning Diodorus Siculus, a 1st-century BC historian. The disclaimer cannot be verified, as that part of Diodorus’ work is missing, which, however, opens the argument to another question: if Eusebius could copy a standard source from Diodorus, why cannot Diodorus have copied it from someone else?


title: Ionian Revolt

text: It is at this point that Myres picks up the argument. Noting that thalassokratesai, “be a thalassocrat,” meaning “rule the waves,” was used in a number of authors: elsewhere by Diodorus, by Polybius, 2nd century BC historian, of Carthage, of Chios by Strabo, 1st century BC geographer and some others, he supposes that the source document might have been available to them all (but not necessarily, the cautious Myres points out). The document can be dated by its content: a list of 17 thalassocracies extending from the Lydian after the fall of Troy to the Aeginetan, which ended with the cession of power to Athens in 480 BC. The Battle of Salamis included 200 new Athenian triremes plus all the ships of its new ally, Aegina. Despite various revolts Aegina went on to become part of the Delian League, an imperial treaty of the new Athenian thalassocracy. Thucydides writes of it after 432 BC, but Herodotus, who visited Athens “as late as 444 B.C.” does not know a thing about it. This tentative date for the Eusebian list does not exclude the possibility of an earlier similar document used by Herodotus.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: The order of thalassocracies in the various versions of the list is nearly fixed, but the dates need considerable adjustment, which Myres sets about to reconcile through all historical sources available to him. He discovers some gaps. The solidest part of the list brackets the Ionian Revolt. The Milesian thalassocracy is dated 604-585 BC. It was ended by Alyattes of Lydia, founder of the Lydian Empire, who also fought against the Medes. The latter struggle was ended by the Eclipse of Thales at the Battle of the Halys River in 585 BC, when the combatants, interpreting the phenomenon as a sign, made peace. The Lydians were now free to turn on Miletus, which they did for the next 11 years, reducing it. When the Persians conquered Lydia in 547/546 they acquired the Ionian cities.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: After 585 BC there is a gap in the list. Lesbos and one or more unknown thalassocrats held the sea in unknown order. In 577 BC began the thalassocracy of Phocaea. Breaking out of its Anatolian cage, it founded Marseilles and cities in Spain and Italy, wresting a domain away from Carthage and all other opponents. Their thalassocracy ended when, in the revolt of the Lydian Pactyas, who had been instructed to collect taxes by the Persians, but used them to raise an army of revolt, the Ionian cities were attacked by the Persians. The Phocaeans abandoned Phocaea about 534 BC and after much adventuring settled in the west.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: The thalassocracy of Samos spans the career of the tyrant, Polycrates, there. The dates of the tyrant are somewhat uncertain and variable, but at some time prior to 534 BC, he and his brothers staged a coup during a festival at Samos. Samos happened to have a large navy of pentekonters. Becoming a ship collector, he attacked and subdued all the neighbouring islands, adding their ships to his fleet. Finally he added a new model, the trireme. His reign came to an end about 517 BC when, taking up the Great King's invitation to a friendly banquet for a discussion of prospects, he was suddenly assassinated. There were no prospects.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: However, if he had chosen not to attend, he was doomed anyway. Some of his trireme captains, learning of a devious plot by him to have them assassinated by Egyptian dignitaries while on official business, sailed to Sparta to beg help, which they received. The adventurous young king, Cleomenes I, was spared the trouble of killing Polycrates, but led an expedition to Samos anyway, taking the thalassocracy for two years, 517-515. Adventure and piracy not being activities approved by the Spartan people, they tagged him as insane and insisted he come home. The sea was now available to Naxos, 515-505.


title: Ionian Revolt

text: Gore Vidal describes the Ionian Revolt in his historical novel "Creation", presenting events from the Persian point of view. Vidal suggests that the Ionian Revolt might have had far-reaching results not perceived by the Greeks, i.e., that King Darius had contemplated an extensive campaign of conquest in India, coveting the wealth of its kingdoms, and that this Indian campaign was aborted due to the Persians needing their military resources on the western side of their empire.


title: Pendolino

text: Pendolino (from Italian "pendolo" "pendulum", and "-ino," a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, Switzerland, China and Greece. Based on the design of the Italian ETR 401 (itself being based on British Rail innovations), it was further developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was taken over by Alstom in 2000.


title: Pendolino

text: The idea of a tilting train became popular in the 1960s and 1970s when various rail operators, impressed by the high-speed rail services being introduced in France and Japan, wondered how they could similarly speed up travel without building a dedicated parallel rail network (as those two countries were doing). By tilting, the train could go around curves designed for slower trains at higher speeds without causing undue discomfort to passengers.


title: Pendolino

text: In Italy, various possibilities were explored (including one early design for fixed carriages with tilting seats). A number of prototypes were built and tested, including an "automotrice" (self-propelled) derived from ALn 668 diesel car and provided with tilting seats. The first working prototype using a tilting carbody was ETR Y 0160, an electrically powered car launched by FIAT in 1969. This was the first to be christened "Pendolino".


title: Pendolino

text: It led to the construction of a whole EMU in 1975, the ETR 401, built in two units by FIAT. One was put into public service on 2 July 1976 on the Rome-Ancona (later extended to Rimini) line, operated by Italian State Railways. Between Roma and Ancona (km. 295) the train took 2 hours and 50 minutes while the ordinary trains took 3 hours and 30 minutes. The train had four cars and was mostly considered a travelling laboratory for the new technology. The second unit was adapted for service to the broad gauge RENFE Spanish lines.


title: Pendolino

text: In 1982, FS retired the ETR 401 from service, due to high maintenance cost, and FIAT transformed it in a train-laboratory, to test the parts for the successor of the ETR 401, ETR 450. After 1988, the trainset went around Europe to demonstrate the greatness of the tilting revolutionary technology and between 1994 and 2001 it was utilised as a charter train. In 2001 the ETR 401 was put aside in Ancona and since 2013, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first official pendolino service, it has been partly restored.


title: Pendolino

text: On 29 May 1988, the ETR 450 became the first pendolino to enter in a high-speed regular service in the world. The project of the new train was really similar to the predecessor, but it utilised many electronic parts, as the chopper and the automatic gear.


title: Pendolino

text: Characterized by a 9-car configuration, the 15 trainsets ETR 450 could run the Rome-Milan line in under four hours, at speeds up to , with a comfort level as the best TEE's cars at the speed of .


title: Pendolino

text: In 1994, the next generation, the ETR 460, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, began service. Though plagued by technical teething problems, the ETR 460 introduced several innovations, such as more powerful AC asynchronous motors. Further, the pistons actuating the anti-tilting action were placed in the bogie instead of on the carbody sides: this permitted the reorganisation of the vestibules and passenger compartment areas, improving comfort. The bogie-to-body connection is extremely simple and easy to make, with clear advantages for maintenance.


title: Pendolino

text: ETR 460 keeps axle load to an extremely low level (14.5 ton/axle) to allow the train to negotiate curves up to 35% faster than conventional intercity trains (loco plus coaches). The body, which exploits large aluminium extrusion technology, has substantial modularity and allows for extremely low axle weight, whilst fully respecting the highest safety standards, and allows the best exploitation of the space with different loading gauges.


title: Pendolino

text: FIAT Ferroviaria built only 10 ETR 460 trainsets. Improved versions include 9 ETR 470 built for the Italo-Swiss Cisalpino company and 15 ETR 480 / 485 used by Trenitalia under AC lines such as those in France and Switzerland. A total of 34 EMUs of the ETR 460/470/480 - 485 series were built.


title: Pendolino

text: FIAT Ferroviaria was sold to the French Alstom company in 2000. The development of the Pendolino technology continued in Alstom’s Italian factories and the next generation, the New Pendolino, was delivered to Trenitalia and Cisalpino, as the ETR 600 and the ETR 610, from 2006.


title: Pendolino

text: Even before the first Pendolino EMU was built in Italy, in 1972, Fiat and RENFE signed an agreement for cooperation in tilting-train development. The first fruit of the cooperation was the equipment of a RENFE Class 432 EMU with the active tilting suspension in September 1972. After successful tests, Spanish trainmaker Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles and Fiat built a prototype similar to the ETR 401, which was delivered in 1976 as RENFE Class 443, nicknamed "Platanito" (Little banana) for its yellow livery. The four-car train had a commercial top speed of and achieved a then speed record for Spain of on 6 May 1987. However, the train remained a unique specimen, as RENFE favoured the entirely domestic Talgo Pendular, a tilting train with passive suspension introduced in 1980. After revenue service in 1979-1982, the train was used for charter and test runs.


title: Pendolino

text: Two decades later, to speed up services along its Madrid-Valencia conventional line, Renfe ordered ten Pendolini in 1996. The trains, based on the ETR 460 and ETR 470, were delivered by a joint consortium of Fiat Ferroviaria and GEC-Alsthom from 1998 as RENFE Class 490. The three-car trains are suited for on RENFE's conventional lines electrified with 3 kV DC. The Class 490 took up the new Madrid-Valencia Alaris services in 1999. With growing demand, the capacity of the Class 490 was no longer sufficient, and from February 2008, the trains were transferred to the Mediterráneo line between Valencia and Barcelona.


title: Pendolino

text: For medium-distance services along its high-speed lines, RENFE ordered a non-tilting variant of the Pendolino, based on the ETR 480, in 2001. The 20 four-car trains with a service top speed of were built jointly by Alstom and CAF and delivered as the RENFE Class 104. RENFE deployed them for the new Avant services along the Madrid-Seville high-speed line from 29 December 2004.


title: Pendolino

text: RENFE ordered another 30 non-tilting medium-distance high-speed trains from Alstom/CAF in a follow-on order, which was later reduced to 13 units. However, these trains are based on the New Pendolino design. The first train of the new class designated RENFE Class 114 was presented in autumn 2008.


title: Pendolino

text: The West German federal railways DB experimented with tilting technology in the 1970s, but abandoned it. Then in 1987, DB commissioned a study on whether electrification or purchasing diesel tilting trains would be the better option for the Nuremberg-Hof line, and decided for the latter. In 1988, DB ordered 10 tilting DMUs, and another 10 in 1990. All 20 trains of the new DB Class 610 were delivered in 1992. The two-car trains with a top speed of were produced by a consortium of five German companies and Fiat Ferroviaria. Fiat supplied the bogies, the hydraulic tilting suspension, and the other parts of the tilting technology, thus the trains could be called "Pendolino" (a Fiat trademarked brand name).


title: Pendolino

text: Deutsche Bahn ordered more regional and express tilting DMUs with other technology (class 611 and class 612: Adtranz/Bombardier, ICE TD/class 605: Siemens). However, for the electric ICE T trains ordered in 1994 for service on conventional lines, Pendolino technology was chosen again. Fiat (Alstom) supplied the bogies and tilting technology for the 32 7-car class 411 and 11 5-car class 415 express trains that entered service from 1999. In 2002, DB placed another order for slightly modified class 411 trains, Alstom Ferroviaria was again supplier of bogies and tilt technology when the 28 trains were delivered from 2004 to 2006.


title: Pendolino

text: Since the failure of Cisalpino, a joint venture between the Italian Trenitalia and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the Pendolinos used for transalpine transport between Switzerland and Italy, on the Gotthard and Lötschberg axis routes, were split between Trenitalia (5 ETR 470 and 7 ETR 610) and SBB (4 ETR 470 and 7 ETR 610). The low reliability of the timetable and of the ETR 470 has led SBB and Trenitalia to always have a reserve train ready at each terminus of the Milan-Zürich route.


title: Pendolino

text: In 2012 SBB ordered 8 new ETR 610 with delivery in 2015 to be operated on the routes Milan - Geneva and Milan - Zürich.


title: Pendolino

text: The Finnish model, the class Sm3, is based on the ETR 460 but was adapted to the specific requirements of VR Group (formerly the Finnish State Railways) and to the cold climatic conditions. The first two units were assembled in 1995 by Rautaruukki-Transtech. A total of sixteen additional units were purchased from Alstom and shipped to Finland between 2000 and 2006. Sm3 trains operate from Helsinki to the cities of Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Kouvola, Joensuu and Vaasa.


title: Pendolino

text: The trains are composed of six carriages. Four cars are fitted with two asynchronous three-phase AC motors (one for each bogie); two are unpowered but are fitted with pantographs. One of these coaches is a restaurant carriage. The motors deliver a continuous power of and propel the train at a maximum speed of .


title: Pendolino

text: The Sm3 has received a lot of bad publicity in Finland for its reliability issues, mostly caused by technical problems in cold weather with the tilting system and couplers. VR has tried to mitigate the problem by coupling trains only at termini instead of intermediate stations and switching the tilting system off during winter. The trains were expected to receive significant maintenance between 2012 and 2014, to improve reliability of couplers and the tilting system.


title: Pendolino

text: Karelian Trains, a 50-50 joint venture between Finnish VR and Russian Railways, operates four 1522 mm gauge seven-car Pendolinos for use on Saint Petersburg–Helsinki services. Branded "Allegro" (). Service started on 12 December 2010, reducing travel time between the cities from five and a half hours to three and a half hours at first and later to three hours. The bogies are specially constructed to allow for speed both at the Finnish gauge and the Russian gauge .


title: Pendolino

text: In Portugal the Pendolino is named Alfa Pendular and is operated by the Portuguese state railway company CP. It connects the cities of Guimarães, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Santarém, Lisbon, Albufeira and Faro, among others, and has a top speed of . The bogies had to be redesigned for operation on Portugal's broad gauge track, and the trains were assembled by Adtranz Portugal at the Amadora plant (former Sorefame).


title: Pendolino

text: Main contractor was Fiat Ferroviaria later acquired by Alstom with two main subcontractors Adtranz and Siemens that was responsible for the traction and train control.


title: Pendolino

text: Ten six-car train sets were produced between 1998 and 2001, with commercial operation from early 1999. Based on the ETR 460 the Portuguese Pendolino differs mainly from its predecessor from the carbody width that takes advantage of the Iberian gauge .


title: Pendolino

text: Slovenian Railways ordered three Pendolino tilting trains for its main lines. The 3-car trains, delivered as SŽ series 310, were derived from the ETR 460. The series 310 can reach a maximum speed of , but in revenue service on the Slovenian railway network, the maximum it reaches is between Maribor and Pragersko stations, as well as between Grobelno and Celje stations.


title: Pendolino

text: Since 24 September 2000, the series 310 runs the InterCitySlovenija (ICS) service, linking the major cities of Slovenia in one line: Koper (only in summer), Ljubljana, Zidani Most, Celje and Maribor, with a frequent service that acts as a high-speed shuttle. Until April 2008, once per day the route from Maribor to Ljubljana was extended as international train to Venice via Monfalcone serving Trieste.


title: Pendolino

text: 1st Class offers leather seats in 1-2 configuration, 220 V Power Outlet (all seats), Wi-Fi, electric blind, recline (By moving lower part forward you may recline by 15"), every seat has a table which can be extended to (100 cm x 80 cm) for business meetings or eating, air conditioning outlet, reading light and wider seats (20 cm).


title: Pendolino

text: 2nd Class offers plush seats in 2-2 configuration, 220 V power outlet (Some seats), Wi-Fi, electric blinds, foot rest (most seats), most have a tray table and some have a conference table which can extend to (100 cm x 80 cm) for working or eating, air conditioning outlet and a reading light.


title: Pendolino

text: In 1999, 53 Class 390 "Pendolinos" were ordered by Virgin Trains West Coast to operate services on the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom. All were built by Alstom with the body shells built at its Savigliano factory in Italy and fitted out at its former Metro-Cammell factory in Washwood Heath, England.


title: Pendolino

text: Owing to cutbacks by Railtrack to the West Coast Main Line upgrade to provide in-cab signalling, these are limited in service to operation rather than their design speed.


title: Pendolino

text: In 2008, the Department for Transport announced that 31 of the existing 9-car sets would be lengthened to 11 cars to increase capacity. Four new 11-car sets were also to be built. The longer units required major infrastructure changes to allow stations and depots to accommodate the 11-car units. With the closure of the Washwood Heath works, the additional vehicles were manufactured at Savigliano. The first new sets were built with 11 cars and delivered in December 2010. The lengthening project was completed in December 2012.


title: Pendolino

text: In the early 1980s, British Rail had planned to bring tilting train technology to the same line with the Class 370 "Advanced Passenger Train" project. Technical problems caused by pressure to launch the service early and lack of the political will to provide sufficient funding to overcome them forced the abandonment of this early attempt, although much of the technology was used to design and build Pendolino trains.


title: Pendolino

text: On 23 February 2007, a Virgin Trains Pendolino train derailed in the Grayrigg rail crash, Virgin chairman Richard Branson credited the robust construction of the Pendolino with saving lives in the crash. Although only some carriages were damaged, the set was written off.


title: Pendolino

text: All remaining 56 sets passed to Avanti West Coast with the West Coast Partnership franchise in December 2019.


title: Pendolino

text: In 1995 consortium consisting of ČKD, MSV Studénka, FIAT Ferroviaria and Siemens won tender for the construction of ten tilting trains for the Czech Railways ČD, intended for international service Berlin - Prague - Vienna. After ČKD bankruptcy in 2000 Alstom (as new owner of FIAT Ferroviaria) took over whole order, reducing number of sets to seven and raising total price, while provided an improved version of ETR 470, equipped to work on , and 3,000 V DC, thus suitable to operate in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The first set was delivered in 2004 as Pendolino ČD 680. While testing between Brno and Břeclav on 18 November 2004, the Pendolino reached a speed of and created a new Czech railway speed record.


title: Pendolino

text: During the testing period, the train had problems with the Czech signalling system. The problems were said to be solved and the trains entered regular service in December 2005 between Prague and Ostrava. As of late January 2006, all five Czech Pendolino trains in service suffered from software and functional problems, which were later fixed, but the trains still did not receive permission to operate abroad. In December 2006, the trains were given permission to operate in Slovakia and Austria, but as of 2010 permission for Germany has not yet been granted.


title: Pendolino

text: A Czech Pendolino train appeared in the 2006 James Bond film" Casino Royale" and in Timur Bekmambetov's 2008 film "Wanted" starring Angelina Jolie.


title: Pendolino

text: Czech Railways ČD has been operating Pendolino as an international train between the Czech Republic and Slovakia for many years. At first it started operating trains from Prague to Bratislava in December 2005 and later also trains from Prague to Košice in December 2014.


title: Pendolino

text: Polish state railways PKP ordered 14 Pendolinos in 1998, but the order was cancelled in 2000 due to a shortage of funds.


title: Pendolino

text: In 2010 Alstom won a PKP Intercity tender for high-speed trains with an offer of 20 New Pendolino trains. Similarly to the CRH5, these are non-tilting. Like the ČD class 680, the Pendolinos are equipped to operate on 15 kV 16·7 Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz as well as 3 kV DC for operation in Poland, and have the train control systems needed to operate in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. However, certification for international operation is not seen as a priority, as the trains are restricted to domestic services for an initial 10 years under the terms of a grant from the EU Cohesion Fund which covered 22% of the project cost.


title: Pendolino

text: On 30 May 2011 the Polish state railways PKP signed an agreement with Alstom for 20 Pendolinos ETR 610 for delivery in 2014. The first Pendolino was delivered on 12 August 2013. Each seven-car Class ED250 trainset has seats for 57 first class and 345 second class passengers, with a buffet/bar and three four-seat business or family compartments. The Pendolinos were to operate on the high-speed CMK Central Rail Line from Kraków/Katowice to Warsaw, and on the routes from Gdynia to Warsaw and from Wrocław to Warsaw.


title: Pendolino

text: High speed tests using the new Pendolino ED250 on the CMK Central Rail Line began in November 2013. On the first day of tests, 16 November, the Pendolino reached . On 17 November 2013 a new speed record for Polish railways was set at km 184.000 of Polish Line No. 4 when Pendolino ED250 reached a speed of , breaking the 19-year record of . On 24 November 2013 the final day of tests on the CMK Central Rail Line the Pendolino reached .


title: Pendolino

text: The contract between the Polish operator PKP Intercity and Alstom called for the first eight Pendolino ED250 trainsets to be delivered on 6 May 2014, tested ('homologated') for operation at using European Train Control System Level 2 signalling. The tests had not been performed by May, and PKP announced that Alstom had failed to meet the contract terms and would be charged penalties as of 6 May. Alstom responded that homologation in Poland at using ETCS Level 2 was impossible, since ETCS Level 2 was not operational anywhere in Poland, and the Central Rail Line (Poland) where the first ED250 Pendolino had reached in testing was equipped with ETCS Level 1, not Level 2. On 26 June 2014 a compromise was reached between PKP and Alstom under which the Pendolinos would be delivered under a two-stage homologation, first homologated for operation using ETCS Level 1 and eventually to be homologated for ETCS Level 2. The Pendolinos were put in service on 14 December 2014.


title: Pendolino

text: In addition to the Central Rail Line from Warsaw to Kraków and Katowice, and from Warsaw to Wrocław, the Pendolinos also operate on the 350 km (221 miles) route from Warsaw to Gdańsk and Gdynia on the Baltic Sea. In 2011-2015 the Warsaw-Gdańsk-Gdynia route underwent a major upgrading costing $3 billion, partly funded by the European Investment Bank, including track replacement, realignment of curves and relocation of sections of track to allow speeds up to , and modernization of stations. Installation of European Train Control System Level 2 was under way in 2016. When Pendolino services started on 14 December 2014 the previous Warsaw–Gdańsk rail travel time of 4-1/2 to 6 hours was reduced to 2 hours 58 minutes by Pendolino, and reduced further to 2 hours 39 minutes in December 2015.


title: Pendolino

text: Introduction of the fast, modern Pendolinos in December 2014 had a major effect on rail ridership in Poland. In the first five months of 2015, Warsaw–Kraków rail ridership rose by 50 percent. In May 2015 alone, Warsaw–Kraków ridership was 70 percent higher than a year earlier.


title: Pendolino

text: After the initial delays Polish Pendolinos were upgraded to provide the access to wireless internet. As of September 2021, all 19 trainsets actually operating have got the equipment installed.


title: Pendolino

text: China Railway High-speed (CRH) purchased technologies from Alstom to assemble 60 sets of high speed EMU trains, which have been named CRH5 and are based on the New Pendolino trains. The CRH5 are non-tilting trains. 30 additional sets were ordered in 2009 and 20 additional sets was ordered in 2010 to complete the current fleet operating on China's northern and eastern lines.


title: Pendolino

text: In August 2016, Amtrak and Alstom unveiled the new Avelia Liberty that will take passengers between Washington D.C. and Boston, MA as part of a Northeast Corridor rehabilitation project starting in 2021, replacing the aged Acela Express. The train has safety features that comply with Federal Railroad Administration standards, along with greater comfort, more capacity, built in Wi-Fi, Tiltronix, and with speeds up to .


title: Pendolino

text: In 2019, Greek railway operator company TrainOSE, a subsidiary of Italian company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, purchased 5 ETR 470 high-speed trains, previously used on Frecciabianca railway services in Italy, to be deployed on the Athens-Thessaloniki high-speed railway. The trains originally had a 3 kV DC equipment, which was replaced by a 25 kV 50 Hz equipment, to match Greek railway standards and were fitted with ETCS onboard equipment. The first unit arrived in Greece in January 2021. Express passenger services started in early 2022 on the Athens-Thessaloniki mainline.


title: Pendolino

text: In 1998, CFR of Romania announced its intent to order two Pendolinos by the end of the year, and wanted to sign another agreement about the local production of 19 more units under a license agreement the next year. However, these plans were not followed up.


title: Pendolino

text: In 2002, ZSSK of Slovakia considered purchasing four Pendolinos, in close cooperation with ČD of the Czech Republic. The trains were to run as ZSSK class 650. This project was given up in 2004 for lack of funds.


title: Pendolino

text: The Ukrainian Railways announced its intent to buy 7 Pendolinos for the UEFA Euro 2012 in 2008, but failed to secure the financing later on. Consequentialy, in 2011, ten South Korean-built HRCS2 trains were later purchased by Ukraine.


title: Austin Crute

text: Austin Crute (born October 24, 1995) is an American actor and singer best known for his roles in the Netflix series "Daybreak" and the films "Booksmart" and "They/Them".


title: Austin Crute

text: Crute was born into a religious family, the son of a pastor in Norcross, Georgia. In 2011-2012, at age 15, Crute appeared as a contestant on the reality competition "Majors & Minors" and subsequently, the musical album which arose out of the show. He graduated high school from Greater Atlanta Christian School in 2014. He graduated from New York University in 2018. He portrayed Alan in the 2019 coming of age film "Booksmart", Olivia Wilde's directorial debut and Wesley Fists in the post-apocalyptic Netflix series "Daybreak". He previously had a guest appearance as "Black Justin Bieber" in an episode of the FX series "Atlanta.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Tourism in Turkey is focused largely on a variety of historical sites, and on seaside resorts along its Aegean and Mediterranean Sea coasts. Turkey has also become a popular destination for culture, spa, and health care.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: At its height in 2019, Turkey attracted around 51 million foreign tourists, ranking as the sixth-most-popular tourist destination in the world. The total number fluctuated between around 41 million in 2015, and around 30 million in 2016. However, recovery began in 2017, with the number of foreign visitors increasing to 37.9 million, and in 2018 to 46.1 million visitors


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Istanbul is one of the most important tourism spots not only in Turkey but also in the world. There are thousands of hotels and other tourist-oriented industries in the city. Turkey's largest city, Istanbul has a number of major attractions derived from its historical status as capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. These include the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the "Blue Mosque"), the Hagia Sophia, the Topkapı Palace, the Basilica Cistern, the Dolmabahçe Palace, the Galata Tower, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, and the Pera Palace Hotel. Istanbul has also recently become one of the biggest shopping centers of the European region by hosting malls and shopping centers, such as Metrocity, Akmerkez and Cevahir Mall, which is the biggest mall in Europe and seventh largest shopping center in the world. Other attractions include sporting events, museums, and cultural events.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: In January 2013, the Turkish government announced that it would build the world's largest airport in Istanbul. The operation has an invested 7-billion euros and was planned to have the first part of a four-part plan completed by 2017.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: As a consequence of the continuous fall in tourism to Turkey in recent years, as of October 2016 in Istanbul's famous bazaar once crowded shopping streets are not as crowded as before, "the streams of tourists who used to visit the market each day have trickled to a halt". The number of foreign tourists visiting Istanbul declined to 9.2 million in 2016, a 26 percent decrease compared to 2015.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Ankara, the capital of Turkey, is the second most populated city in Turkey. It is rich with Turkish history and culture that have roots in the founding of Turkey along with the history of ancient civilizations. The most popular landmark is the Anıtkabir as it has visitors from all around the country and the world, especially during national holidays. The Anıtkabir is a mausoleum for Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Another landmark would be the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, a museum that possesses works from Paleolithic, Neolithic, Hatti, Hittite, Phrygian, Urartian, and Roman civilizations.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Izmir is a city with historical and geopolitical importance in ancient civilizations such as Macedonia, Persia, Lydia, and the Ottomans. The city has a memorable history in the early years of Turkey as it was the main city that was affected by the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). Izmir is home to many ancient cities such as Ephesus, Pergamon, and Klazomenai. Besides historical significance, Izmir also possesses many locations for coastal tourism for international travelers. Frequently visited regions that have tourist beaches for local and international tourists would be Çeşme, Mordoğan, and Foça.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Beach vacations and Blue Cruises, particularly for Turkish delights and visitors from Western Europe, are also central to the Turkish tourism industry. Most beach resorts are located along the southwestern and southern coast, called the Turkish Riviera, especially along the Mediterranean coast near Antalya. Antalya is also accepted as the tourism capital of Turkey. Major resort towns include Bodrum, Fethiye, Marmaris, Kuşadası, Didim and Alanya. Also Turkey has been chosen second in the world in 2015 with its 436 blue-flagged beaches, according to the Chamber of Shipping.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Attractions elsewhere in the country include the sites of Ephesus, Troy, Pergamon, House of the Virgin Mary, Pamukkale, Hierapolis, Trabzon (where one of the oldest monasteries is the Sümela Monastery), Konya (where the poet Rumi had spent most of his life), Didyma, Church of Antioch, ancient Pontic capital and king rock tombs with its acropolis in Amasya, religious places in Mardin (such as Deyrülzafarân Monastery), and the ruined cities and landscapes of Cappadocia.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Diyarbakır is also an important historic city, although tourism is on a relatively small level due to waning armed conflicts.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Gallipoli and Anzac Cove – a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula, which became known as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) on 25 April 1915. Following the landing at Anzac Cove, the beach became the main base for the Australian and New Zealand troops for the eight months of the Gallipoli campaign.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: As of 2021, Turkey accommodates 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 17 cultural and 2 mixed. The last addition is Arslantepe being added in 2021.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Göbekli Tepe is a historical site that dates back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic age. The site possesses megalithic structures that were composed of massive stone pillars that were detailed with anthropological details, clothing, and wild animals. The structures give insights into the lifestyles of hunter-gatherers that date back to 11,500 years ago. It is theorized that the site was created with religious intent as a sanctuary whilst more recent findings show the existence of domestic buildings that were used for rain collection and harvesting.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Troy is an archeological world heritage site that was added to the list in 1998. The site dates back 4000 years. Troy showcases the cultural development of ancient Greece as it is a recurring city in ancient Greek literature. In the area, many historical and archeological sites can be found such as burial mounds, cemeteries, settlements, and monuments that are linked to the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Ottomans.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: An emerging branch of tourism in Turkey is medical tourism. Commonly performed medical procedures are hair transplant operations, rhinoplasty and cosmetic dentistry as it draws in thousands of foreigner tourists every year. In 2021, the revenue generated from medical tourism was given as $1.05 billion with 642,000 people that visited for the purpose of getting medical service. This is due to Turkey offering high-quality clinics for affordable pricing compared to the rest of Europe and its central location between Asia and Europe. Other reasons for the high demand for healthcare in Turkey are foreigners having easy visa procedures and immediate scheduling for operations.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Foreign tourist arrivals increased substantially in Turkey between 2000 and 2005, from 8 million to 25 million, which made Turkey a top-10 destination in the world for foreign visitors. 2005 revenues were billion which also made Turkey one of the top-10 biggest revenue owners in the world. In 2011, Turkey ranked as the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world and 4th in Europe, according to UNWTO World Tourism barometer. See World Tourism rankings. At its height in 2014, Turkey attracted around 42 million foreign tourists, still ranking as the 6th most popular tourist destination in the world. From 2015, tourism to Turkey entered a steep decline. In 2016, only around 30 million people visited Turkey. 2016 is described as the second year of huge losses on both visitor numbers and income, a "year of devastating losses", with Turkish tourism businesses stating that they "cannot remember a worse time in the sector". The number of foreign visitors started recovering in 2017 with 37.9 million visitors being recorded. The recovery was partly due to intense security campaigns and advertising. The number of Russian tourists increased by 444% after the recovery of bilateral relations, resulting in Russia becoming the top tourism market for Turkey once again. Increases were also recorded in the British, Dutch and Belgian markets.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: In early 2017, the Turkish government urged Turkish citizens living abroad to take their vacations in Turkey, attempting to revive the struggling tourism sector of an economy that went into contraction from late 2016. After the April 2017 constitutional referendum, another sharp drop in tourist bookings from Germany was recorded. In 2018, however, the German Tourism Industry Association recorded a growth in German tourist bookings for Turkey, with a 70% increase being recorded by the TUI Group alone.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: The AKP government has been promoting "halal tourism" for years, politically reaffirming this stance over the course of 2016. In March 2017, a Turkish court banned global travel fare aggregator website Booking.com from offering services to Turkish tourists for lack of a national licence, while the Hoteliers Association of Turkey campaigns for a lifting the ban of the enterprise on which its members relied for up to 90 percent of their turnover. In April 2017, the police department of the prime resort city of Antalya issued a directive banning the consumption of alcohol outside of buildings.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: Prostitution is legal and regulated in Turkey. The secularization of Turkish society allowed prostitution to achieve legal status during the early 20th century. Sex tourism has been part of Turkey's tourism industry and has been growing over the decades both for foreigners and locals. Many foreigners come to Turkey to work for local Turks in the prostitution business, while many Turks travel abroad as consumers of sex tourism, mostly to Eastern Europe for the purpose.


title: Tourism in Turkey

text: During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of tourists arriving in Turkey declined to around 16 million in 2020. This was the lowest number of tourists in the last decade. The revenue from international travel was reduced to $13.7 billion which only made up 1.91% of the total economy in 2020. In 2021, Turkey's tourism recovered from the pandemic as it contributed $59.3 billion to the GDP, which made up 7.3% of the total economy.


title: Cephalic vein

text: In human anatomy, the cephalic vein is a superficial vein in the arm. It originates from the radial end of the dorsal venous network of hand, and ascends along the radial (lateral) side of the arm before emptying into the axillary vein. At the elbow, it communicates with the basilic vein via the median cubital vein.


title: Cephalic vein

text: The cephalic vein is situated within the superficial fascia along the anterolateral surface of the biceps.


title: Cephalic vein

text: The cephalic vein forms over the anatomical snuffbox at the radial end of the dorsal venous network of hand.


title: Cephalic vein

text: Near the shoulder, the cephalic vein passes between the deltoid and pectoralis major muscles (deltopectoral groove) and through the clavipectoral triangle, where it empties into the axillary vein.


title: Cephalic vein

text: The cephalic vein is often visible through the skin, and its location in the deltopectoral groove is fairly consistent, making this site a good candidate for venous access. Permanent pacemaker leads are often placed in the cephalic vein in the deltopectoral groove. The vein may be used for intravenous access, as large bore cannula may be easily placed. However, the cannulation of a vein as close to the radial nerve as the cephalic vein can sometimes lead to nerve damage.


title: Cephalic vein

text: Ordinarily the term "cephalic" refers to anatomy of the head. When the Persian Muslim physician Ibn Sīnā's Canon was translated into medieval Latin, "cephalic" was mistakenly chosen to render the Arabic term "al-kífal", meaning "outer".


title: Singampuli

text: Singampuli is an Indian actor and director. After making "Red" (2002) and "Maayavi" (2005), he has made a career appearing in supporting roles in films.


title: Singampuli

text: Singampuli was born and brought up in Theni, Periyakulam and after studying engineering in Bangalore, he arrived in Chennai looking for a career in films. During his stint as an assistant director with Sundar C, Singampuli suggested the original plot point of "Unnaithedi" to the director and Sundar wrote the script of the film within a week, before discussing the line with actor Ajith Kumar. Ajith was initially unimpressed but agreed to do the romantic story anyway, mentioning that if the film became a success he would feature in a future film to be directed by Singampuli. Subsequently, he agreed terms to work in the 2002 action film "Red", a story telling the tale of a Madurai-based revolutionary. The film opened to mixed reviews upon release and eventually the film had an average run at the box office but went on to gain cult status among ajith fans after some years. In 2005, he made the kidnap comedy film "Maayavi" featuring Suriya and Jyothika, winning acclaim for his work.


title: Singampuli

text: Director Bala cast him in an acting role as a beggar in "Naan Kadavul" (2009) and since Singampuli has appeared in several films in supporting roles. His recent appearance in the Mysskin's directorial 'Psycho' earned a very good reputation in the filmy community.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Edward Tevis Wheeler (born August 31, 1962) is an American politician who has served as the mayor of Portland, Oregon since 2017. He was Oregon State Treasurer from 2010 to 2016.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler was elected in the 2016 Portland mayoral election and reelected in 2020. Formerly a registered Republican, he has been described as a moderate Democrat.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: A sixth-generation Oregonian, Wheeler was born in Portland to a family with roots and wealth in the Oregon timber industry. His father, Sam Wheeler, was executive vice president at Willamette Industries, a Fortune 500 lumber company formed in 1967 by mergers and acquisitions of timber companies (Sam Wheeler sold Wheeler Lumber Company, incorporated in 1900 by his great-grandfather, Coleman Wheeler, in Wheeler, Tillamook County, Oregon.) Sam Wheeler divorced his mother, Leslie, in 1972; Ted was 10 years old at the time. He later discussed his father's alcoholism.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Ted Wheeler attended Portland Public Schools, graduating from Lincoln High School. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Stanford University in 1985. He also earned an MBA from Columbia University in 1989 and a master's in public policy from Harvard University. Wheeler worked for several financial services companies, including the Bank of America and Copper Mountain Trust.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler's political career began with a campaign for the Boston City Council. He finished 11th in a field of 12 candidates in the 1993 Boston City Council election. Wheeler was registered as a Republican until 2001 and described as "the wealthy heir to a timber fortune controlled by social and fiscal conservatives". In 2006, he defeated incumbent Multnomah County chair Diane Linn to become chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, taking office in January 2007.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Shortly after his election as chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, Wheeler worked with his colleagues to balance a county budget that had called for $22.3 million in cuts in 2009. Wheeler also fought to preserve social safety net programs and to eliminate hidden fees from state-issued debit cards.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Following the loss of nearly $16 million in Oregon Common School Fund and Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund investments, Wheeler co-filed a class-action lawsuit with Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to recover the money after firms misled investors.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Building, preserving and updating public space and infrastructure was a focus during Wheeler's time as County Commissioner. He led efforts to construct new libraries in Kenton and Troutdale and to construct the new East County Courthouse in Multnomah County. Wheeler also fought to fund repairs for the crumbling Sellwood Bridge.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Under Wheeler Portland became Oregon's first municipality to "Ban the Box", which reduces employment discrimination against residents with a criminal record by removing the criminal history check box on forms.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: On March 7, 2010, incumbent Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund died of lung cancer. Two days later Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed Wheeler to the office. Wheeler defeated fellow Democrat Rick Metsger in the Democratic primary election on May 18, 2010, and defeated Republican Chris Telfer, Progressive Walt Brown and Michael Marsh of the Constitution Party in the November special election for the rest of Westlund's term, which ended in 2013. He was elected to a second full term in the Oregon state elections, 2012.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler practiced aggressive financial management, achieving more than $172 million in cash flow savings since 2013. He promoted environmental stewardship, committing to double Oregon's investments in renewable energy resources by January 2020, and double them again by 2030. Wheeler also pledged not to pursue new investments in coal. He promoted the use of ESG (Environmental Social Governance) for all state investments to improve long-term performance, and urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to institute tougher reviews of carbon asset risk disclosures from 45 major corporations.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler was chair of the Oregon Retirement Savings Task Force, which developed what became the OregonSaves program to assist state residents in saving for retirement. It grew Oregon's pension fund to more than $72 billion, one of the country's five strongest state pension funds.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler launched a run for mayor on October 14, 2015. He campaigned on addressing income inequality and ensuring government accountability. During his speech, Wheeler promised to build a government that worked "for every person."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In October 2015, former Portland mayors Vera Katz, Tom Potter, and Sam Adams endorsed Wheeler. Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis also endorsed him, as did State Representatives Lew Frederick and Tobias Read, former State Senators Ron Cease, Jane Cease, and Avel Gordly, and 2012 mayoral candidate Eileen Brady. Wheeler was also endorsed by Basic Rights Oregon, the Portland Business Alliance, and the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler was sworn in on December 30, 2016, and his term began on January 1, 2017. One of his first actions was to make initial assignments of city departments (known as bureaus) to the five commissioners, of which the mayor is one. He assigned to himself the Portland Police Bureau, the Portland Development Commission, and the Portland Housing Bureau, among others. He said he intended to reconsider the initial assignments during the annual budget process in April.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In July 2018 "The Oregonian" newspaper reported that half of arrests in Portland were of people who were homeless. Wheeler, who oversaw the police department, said he saw this as a problem and that it would influence his budgeting decisions. In September 2018, Portland residents who found Wheeler's response to the growth of homeless encampments inadequate petitioned his office and other local agencies to take stronger action.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In September 2020, Wheeler announced his intention to withdraw the city from the Joint Office of Homeless Services partnership with the Multnomah County in a push to get campers on downtown streets into shelters. In 2018, the city auditor found that the city regularly ignored citizen complaints about transient camps. The "Oregonian" reported the city's lack of response was inconsistent with crackdown on illegal camps instituted earlier in Wheeler's term.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In 2017, after white supremacist Jeremy Joseph Christian murdered two people on a Portland train, Wheeler called for a halt to far-right rallies in Portland. He declined to grant a city permit for an event to be staged by far-right provocateur Joey Gibson, and called on the federal government to revoke a rally permit granted to far-right groups in the federally owned Terry Schrunk Plaza. In asking the federal government to revoke that permit, Wheeler incorrectly stated that "hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment." The U.S. General Services Administration declined to revoke the permit. In that rally and subsequent ones in Portland in 2017 and 2018, violence erupted as far-right activists (including Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys) repeatedly brawled with antifa and other left-wing counter-demonstrators on Portland streets. In October 2018, Wheeler sought greater power to regulate protests, proposing an ordinance that would give him (in his role as police commissioner) greater powers to control the location, duration, timing, and size of protests in Portland and to keep opposing groups physically separated. Wheeler described the measure as an attempt to stop people from "beating the bejesus out of each other on the streets of our city." He described the proposal as a valid time, place, and manner restriction, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) opposed it, arguing that it would impinge on constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly, and indicating that it would legally challenge the ordinance if adopted. In November 2018, the council voted down Wheeler's proposal, 3–2. In August 2019, Wheeler requested that Governor Kate Brown keep the National Guard ready to respond in anticipation of a potentially explosive standoff between far-right groups and antifa demonstrators. Brown and state adjutant general Michael E. Stencel denied the request.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: On May 30, 2020, Wheeler imposed a curfew on Portland during the Black Lives Matter protests (sparked by the murder of George Floyd, the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, and the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, earlier in the year). Critics of the curfew argued that police officers would have an incentive to restrict free speech and incite violence on peaceful protesting using crowd-control methods such as tear gas and stun grenades, both of which were deployed on crowds of demonstrators in Portland and nationwide. This earned him the nickname "Tear Gas Teddy." On June 2, Wheeler lifted the curfew due to his perception of a "significant [peaceful] shift in the tenor." Wheeler also requested the deployment of the Oregon National Guard to Portland in response to protests following the murder of George Floyd, but Governor Kate Brown refused.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In response to the Portland Police Bureau's use of tear gas on protesters, Portland organization Don't Shoot PDX filed a class-action lawsuit against the city on June 5, 2020. On June 6, Wheeler said that he supported nonviolent demonstrations for "meaningful reform and restorative justice" and had "serious concerns about the use of CS gas for crowd management"; he said he would not ban police from using tear gas, but that he had "directed Portland Police Chief Jami Resch that gas should not be used unless there is a serious and immediate threat to life safety, and there is no other viable alternative for dispersal."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: On June 15, Wheeler called for an overhaul of Portland's police oversight system, which he said doesn't have "any real teeth."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Nightly protests at the federal courthouse in Portland were followed by the deployment of federal agents to the city in July 2020, and there were episodes of violent confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement. After videos showed masked, camouflaged federal agents without identification arresting protesters, Wheeler said, "This is not the America we want. This is not the Portland we want. We're demanding that the President remove these additional troops that he sent to our city. It is not helping to contain or deescalate the situation. It's obviously having exactly the opposite impact." Oregon Governor Brown, and U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, also called the federal deployment an authoritarian abuse of power; the U.S. Attorney for Oregon, Billy J. Williams, called for an investigation, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed a federal lawsuit against DHS.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: On July 22, Wheeler addressed nightly protesters, but was booed by them for his actions as Portland Police Commissioner and the Portland Police's own response to the protests. The crowd chanted "Fuck Ted Wheeler" and "Quit Your Job" as he spoke. After speaking, Wheeler and at least five security guards went to the front of the protest area. Wheeler was caught in tear gas released by federal agents. Wheeler left after the first round of tear gas, after which Portland police declared a riot.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: At the end of July, in accordance with a deal made between Governor Kate Brown and the federal government, federal agents withdrew from Portland and calm was largely restored in the city, with largely peaceful protests. On August 6 and 7, there were a number of peaceful rallies in the city, but—despite Wheeler urging demonstrators to stay off the street—also renewed violence from demonstrators, including attacks on local police precincts (such as an attempt to set it ablaze); there were also two reports of assaults against elderly women. Police arrested 13 people. Police in Portland used tear gas for the first time since federal forces withdrew from the city. Directly addressing those who had committed violent acts, Wheeler said, "You are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder. Don't think for a moment that you are if you are participating in this activity, you are not being a prop for the reelection campaign of Donald Trump—because you absolutely are. You are creating the B-roll film that will be used in ads nationally to help Donald Trump during this campaign."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: On August 31, protesters gathered outside Wheeler's condo, demanding that he resign. Police responded after the group lit fires, broke windows, and set a small fire in a nearby business. Police declared the assembly a riot after a fire was lit in the street. 19 protesters were arrested, mainly for disorderly conduct and interfering with a peace officer. On September 2 Wheeler said he was leaving his apartment building due to safety concerns posed by the ongoing protests; he apologized to fellow building residents "for the damage to our home and the fear that you are experiencing due to my position".


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Throughout the protests, local activists called for Wheeler's resignation, for various reasons. Some believed that he had not spoke up strongly enough against excessive use of force against protesters; others were frustrated he hasn't done more to end the nightly demonstrations and the property damage, small fires and provocations of police that usually accompany them; and some felt that he had not sufficiently handled issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and related recession, homelessness, a lack of affordable housing, a spike in gun crime, race relations, and economic inequality. "The Oregonian" reported: "Critics and observers largely fault Wheeler not for what he's said or done as much as the tepid manner in which he's addressed key issues and the steps and stands he hasn't taken."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: During the Portland foreclosure protest, Wheeler said, "There will be no autonomous zone in Portland."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: By the end of 2020, the number of protest actions had dwindled, but those who remained were radicalized. On New Year's Day 2021, Wheeler—angered by repeated vandalism of downtown shops as well as violence on New Year's Eve (in which a few dozen shot fireworks at the Multnomah County Justice Center and smashed windows in downtown Portland)—vowed zero tolerance for criminal behavior by "violent antifa and anarchists ... rampaging through Portland" and called upon the Oregon Legislature to impose harsher sentencings for repeat offenses of vandalism and destruction. Wheeler said that his "good-faith efforts at deescalation have been met with scorn by antifa and anarchists bent on destruction"; said that the acts of those responsible were "height of selfishness"; and pledged that he would "push back harder" against violent agitators.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In March 2021, after marchers started to smash windows at night in the Pearl District, Portland police used kettling tactics to herd about 100 people onto a single, enclosed city block, and detained the crowd, stating that they were doing so due to suspicion of criminal conduct. Police ordered those detained to sit on the ground, required each one to identify themselves, and took photographs of each person. Police arrested those who refused to cooperate, and charges were brought against 13 people on various charges. Police reported seizing crowbars, knives, hammers, bear spray, and firearms from those detained. Wheeler strongly supported the police tactic as appropriate and lawful, and many Pearl District residents and business owners supported it. Conversely, the tactic was condemned by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups as "aggressive and indiscriminate." In a heated exchange at an subsequent event, Wheeler rejected an attendee's defense of the vandalism as "protest" and rejected the attendee's demand for police defunding and Wheeler's resignation. Wheeler said, "I was elected through a democratic process and I still believe in democracy. I don’t believe in anarchy."


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In the 2020 election, Wheeler won a second term, defeating Sarah Iannarone (who outraised him) and various write-in candidates, including Teressa Raiford. It was the first time since 2000 that a Portland mayor had been reelected. Iannarone, an urban policy consultant and Portland State University employee, ran to Wheeler's left. Despite appearing politically vulnerable in the lead-up to the election, Wheeler won the support of the Portland Business Alliance, labor unions, and conservationist groups. He received 46.07% of the vote, Iannarone 40.76%, and various write-in candidates collectively 13.17%.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: As treasurer, Wheeler relaunched the Oregon College Savings Program, which reached a record $2.3 billion in January 2015. The 529 savings plan allows money saved for college to grow tax-free and gives the donor a deduction on their taxable income.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: As mayor, Wheeler supported dissolving ACCESS Academy, an alternative program for gifted children not served by their neighborhood school due to disabilities or other challenges that prevented their learning.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler is a proponent of increasing Oregon's investments in renewable energy funds. He commissioned a study to determine whether Oregon can replace fossil fuel companies in its fixed income portfolio. Wheeler does not support new coal investments. He supported the City of Portland's ban on expanding fossil fuel infrastructure.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In 2018, Wheeler opposed an initiative that would impose a 1% gross receipts tax on retailers with U.S. revenue over $1 billion and Portland revenue over $500,000, with an exemption for grocery and medicine companies, to provide revenue for a Clean Energy Fund. Wheeler argued that the proposal would be redundant to the statewide Energy Trust of Oregon. The measure passed by a wide margin.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler advocates for increased gun control and supports requiring rigorous background checks for people attempting to buy guns. On March 14, 2018, he released a letter in support of The National School Walkout against gun violence. On April 20, Wheeler told hundreds of students outside Portland city hall that he would work on a ban of assault-style weapons in Portland.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler and his ex-wife Katrina are involved with Basic Rights Oregon. Wheeler won the group's Fighting Spirit Award in 2008 following his executive order in 2007 enacting full healthcare benefits for transgender workers, and has been endorsed by the organization. He supports same-sex marriage and signed and supported the 2013 Oregon United for Marriage initiative, which advocated the legalization of same-sex marriage in Oregon.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: During his first three years as Mayor of Portland, Wheeler oversaw an increase of the police budget from $215 million to $242 million. He allows police to cover their name badges at protests. He supports abolition of a provision in the Portland Police Association's contract known as the "48-hour rule", which gives officers who have employed deadly force a 48-hour buffer before they have to answer questions.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: In November 2017, Wheeler met with other city leaders and local business owners several times to discuss shared security concerns. The meetings were by invitation only and moderated by the Portland Business Alliance. They resulted in Wheeler advocating "no sit zones" in downtown Portland, which was criticized by the Oregon ACLU and other social justice advocates and praised by the Portland Business Alliance. Protesters organized a sit-in to oppose the city policy with signs that read "Mayor for Sale".


title: Ted Wheeler

text: Wheeler lived in Southwest Portland with his wife and daughter. After his divorce, he moved into an apartment in Northwest Portland. An Eagle Scout and avid outdoorsman, he summited Mount Everest in 2002.


title: Ted Wheeler

text: On January 24, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wheeler pepper-sprayed a man who confronted him and former mayor Sam Adams as they left a bar in Southwest Portland. The man, identified by police as Cary Cadonau, a Alpenrose Dairy heir and Portland lawyer, was not wearing a mask and shouted at the mayor from less than away; after he refused to back off when asked to do so, Wheeler pepper-sprayed him.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer", "wise woman" and "sorceress", and they are frequently called "witches" or "priestesses" both in early sources and in modern scholarship.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: They were an expression of the pre-Christian shamanic traditions of Europe, and they held an authoritative position in Germanic society. Mentions of Germanic seeresses occur as early as the Roman era, when, for example, they at times led armed resistance against Roman rule and acted as envoys to Rome. After the Roman Era, seeresses occur in records among the North Germanic people, where they form a reoccurring motif in Norse mythology. Both the classical and the Norse accounts imply that they used wands, and describe them as sitting on raised platforms during séances.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Ancient Roman and Greek literature records the name of several Germanic seeresses, including Albruna, Veleda, Ganna, and, by way of an archaeological find, Waluburg. Norse mythology mentions several seeresses, some of them by name, including Heimlaug völva, Þorbjörg lítilvölva, Þordís spákona, and Þuríðr Sundafyllir. In North Germanic religion, the goddess Freyja has a particular association with seeresses, and there are indications that the Viking princess and Rus' saint, Olga of Kiev, was one such, serving as a "priestess of Freyja" among the Scandinavian elite in Kievan Rus' before they converted to Christianity.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Archaeologists have identified several graves that appear to be the remains of Scandinavian seeresses. These graves contain objects such as wands, seeds with hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac properties, and a variety of items indicating high status.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Societal beliefs about the practices and abilities of seeresses would contribute to the development of the European concept of "witches", because their practices survived Christianization, although the practitioners became marginalized, and evolved into north European mediaeval witchcraft. Germanic seeresses are mentioned in popular culture in a variety of contexts. In Germanic Heathenry, a modern practice of Germanic pagan religion, seeresses once again play a role.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Aside from the names of individuals, Roman era accounts do not contain information about how the early Germanic peoples referred to them, but sixth century Goth scholar Jordanes reported in his "Getica" that the early Goths had called their seeresses "haliurunnae" (Goth-Latin). The word also appears in Old English (OE), "hellerune" ("seeress" or "witch") and in Old High German (OHG) as "hellirûna" ("necromancy") and "hellirunari" ("necromancer"), and from these forms an earlier Proto-Germanic form *"χalja-rūnō(n)" has been reconstructed, in which the first element is *"χaljō", i.e. "Hel", the abode of the dead, and the second is *"rūnō" ("mystery, secret"). At this time the word *"rūnō" still referred to chanting and not to letters ("rune"), and in the sense "incantation" it was probably borrowed from Proto-Germanic into Finnish where "runo" means "poem".


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: In OE, "hellerune" ("seeress" or "witch"), or "helrūne", has the synonym "hægtesse", a term that is also found in Old Dutch, "haghetisse" ("witch") and in OHG "hagazussa", "hagzussa" or "hagzissa". These West Germanic forms are probably derived from a Proto-Germanic word with positive connotations, *"χaʒaz", from which are also derived Old Norse (ON) "hagr" ("skillful") and Middle Hight German (MHG) "be-hac" ("of pleasure"). However, it is sometimes proposed that the first element is a term corresponding to Swedish "hage" ("wooded paddock") in the sense of "fence", i.e. PGmc *"χaʒōn" ("pasture", "enclosure"), from whence also English "hedge" (through *"χaʒjaz"). In that case it would be etymologically related to ON "túnriða" and OHG "zûnrite" ("fence rider"), where "tún"/"zûn" does not refer to an enclosure but metonymically to the fence surrounding it. In the "Westrogothic law ", it was a punishable offence to accuse a woman of having ridden a fence-gate, in the appearance ("hamr") of a troll. Kluge reconstructs the PGmc form as *"haga-tusjō", where the last element *"tusjō" could mean "spirit", from PIE *"dwes"-.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The various names in North Germanic sources may give the impression that there were two types of sorceress, the staff-bearers, or seeresses ("vǫlva"), and the women who were named for performing magic ("seiðkona"). However, there is little that the scholar could use to differentiate them, if such a distinction ever existed, and the two types of names are often used synonymously and about the same women.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The term "vǫlva" means "staff bearer" and is related etymologically to the names of the early Germanic seeresses "Ganna", "Gambara" and "Waluburg". The use of wands in divination and clairvoyance appears to have lived on from the classical era into the Viking Age. The name "vǫlva" and derivations of the name appear 23 times in the sources, and "seiðkona" ("seiðr woman/wife") appears eight times; the two terms are often used interchangeably. The second most common term is "spákona" ("prophecy woman/wife") with the variants "spákerling" ("old prophecy woman") and "spámey" ("prophecy maiden"), which appears 22 times, again interchangeably with "vǫlva" and "seiðkona" to refer to the same woman. There is also the name "vísendakona" ("wise woman" or "knowing woman"), which appears eight times in the sources. Þorbiorg in "Eiríks saga rauða" is called both a "vísendakona", "vǫlva" and a "spákona". It is possible that the names once had different meanings, but at the time of the saga's composition, they were no longer distinguished in meaning, just as the words "sorceress" and "witch" are interchangeable in modern popular language. There are also five instances of a group of rarer names having the element "galdr" ("incantation"), with the names "galdrakonur" ("galdr women"), "galdrakerling" ("old galdr woman") and "galdrasnót" ("galdr lady"). In addition there is the word "galdrakind" ("galdr creature") with negative connotations.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: There is also the reconstructed word *"vitka" which may be connected to the "Wecha" in "Gesta Danorum, book III" and refer to a kind of sorceress. It seems to be the feminine form of "vitki" ("sorcerer"), and it is only attested from "Lokasenna" 24, where Loki accuses Odin of having travelled around the world "vitka líki" (in the "guise of a vitka").


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The personal name "Heiðr" appears 66 times as a word for sorceress in the prose sources. It appears twice in the "Poetic Edda", in "Hyndluljóð" and in "Vǫluspá", where it is a name assumed by Gullveig in connection with the War of the Gods. In a study by McKinnell of Norse sagas and "Landnámabók", there is only one instance of a woman named "Heiðr" who does not act as a seeress. The name has been connected to "heath" and "heathen", but it has also been explained with meanings that connote "radiance and golden light, honour and payment".


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Lastly, there is the term "fjolkyngiskona" that only meant "sorceress", and a number of derogatory names that correspond to "witch" with many negative connotations, and these terms include "skass" ("ogress"), "flagð(kona)" ("ogress"), "gýgr" ("ogress"), "fála" ("Giantess"), "hála" and "fordæða" ("evil doer").


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: There has long been an academic debate on whether the seeresses' practice should be regarded as shamanism. However, this does not pertain to the concept of shamanism in a wider definition (see e.g. the definitions of the OED), but rather to what degree similarities can be found between what is preserved about them in Old Norse literature and the shamanism of northern Eurasia in a more restricted sense. The majority of scholars support the "shamanic interpretation, and the presence of ecstatic rituals" (e.g. Ellis Davidson, Ohlmarks, Pálsson, Meulengracht Sørensen, Turville-Petre and de Vries), while a minority is sceptic (e.g. Bugge, Dillmann, Dumézil, Näsström and Schjødt), but there are divergent opinions within the two camps. Clive Tolley, who is among the sceptics, writes that if shamanism is defined as "tundra shamanism" as represented by the Sámi of Scandinavia and as defined by Edward Vajda, then the differences are too great. He allies himself with the position of Ohlmarks, who was familiar with a wide range shamanism and rejected it in 1939, in a debate with Dag Strömbäck who found similarities with Sámi practices. However, Tolley concedes that if shamanism is defined in line with the words of (1993) as "[...] direct contact with spiritual beings and guardian spirits, together with the mediating role played by a shaman in a ritual setting [...] The presence of guardian spirits during the trance and following shamanic actions [...]" then it is correct to define their practices as "broadly shamanic". However, he considers that in this case shamanism also includes traditional practices from a large part of Europe, such as the witchcraft of medieval Europe and the practices of ancient Greece. An opposing view is held by Neil Price, who has studied circumpolar shamanism, and argues that he finds enough similarities to define the North Germanic seeresses as shamans also in the stricter sense.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Fate is central in Germanic literature and mythology, and men's destiny is extricably linked to supernatural women and seeresses. Morris comments that the importance of fate can not be overstressed, and the seeresses were feared and revered by gods and mortals alike. Even the god Odin himself consulted them. The Norns are an example of the link between women and fate, which was elevated in Germanic society, and the association was incarnated by the seeresses.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The political role that the seeresses played was always present when the Romans were dealing with the Germanic tribes, and the Romans had to take their opinion into account. Ganna's political influence was so considerable that she was taken to Rome together with Masyos, the king of her tribe, where they had an audience with the Roman emperor Domitian and were treated with honours, after which they returned home.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The Roman historian Tacitus, who appears to have met Ganna and to have been informed by her of most of what we know of early Germanic religion, wrote:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Another telling account by Tacitus about their power was a statement by the Batavian tribe to the Romans:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: However, the seeresses do not appear to have been just any women, but were those who occupied a special office. Both Mogk and Sundqvist have commented that although the seeresses were referred to as "priestesses" by the Romans, they probably should not be so labelled in a strict sense. As for the later North Germanic version, Näsström writes that the völva did not perform any sacrifices, but her roles as a prophetess and as a sorceress were still important aspects of the spiritual life of her society. Price comments that Katherine Morris has usefully defined these women:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Germanic seeresses are first described by the Romans, who discuss the role seeresses played in Germanic society. A gap in the historical record occurs until the North Germanic record began over a millennium later, when the Old Norse sagas frequently mention seeresses among the North Germanic peoples. It is noteworthy that Veleda, who prophesied in a high tower in the first century, finds an echo in the thirteenth-century account of Þorbjörg lítilvölva who prophesied from a raised platform in "Eiríks saga rauða". Simek comments that the saga's account of Þorbjörg's raised platform and her wand conveys authentic practices from Germanic paganism.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: In his ethnography of the ancient Germanic peoples, "Germania", Tacitus expounds on some of these points. In chapter eight, he reports the following about women in then-contemporary Germanic society and the role of seeresses:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Writing also in the first century AD, Greek geographer and historian Strabo records the following about the Cimbri, a Germanic people, in chapter 2.3 of volume seven of his encyclopedia "Geographica":


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Writing in the second century CE, Roman historian Cassius Dio describes in chapter 50 of his "Roman History" an encounter between Nero Claudius Drusus and a woman with supernatural abilities among the Cherusci, a Germanic people. According to Diorites Cassius, the woman foresees Drusus's death, and he dies soon thereafter:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: In the first and second centuries CE, Greek and Roman authors—such as Greek historian Strabo, Roman senator Tacitus, and Roman historian Cassius Dio—wrote about the ancient Germanic peoples, and made note of the role of seeresses in Germanic society. Tacitus mentions Germanic seeresses in book 4 of his first century CE "Histories".


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: A seeress named "Ganna" is mentioned by the Roman historiographer Cassius Dio in the early 3rd century. The context is the campaign east of the Rhine by Emperor Domitian in the 80s of the 1st century CE. Ganna belonged to a tribe called the "Semnones" who were settled east of the river Elbe, and she appears to have been active in the second half of the 1st century, after Veleda's time. Ganna's political influence was considerable enough that she was taken to Rome together with Masyos, the king of her tribe, where they had an audience with the Roman emperor and were treated with honours, after which they returned home. This probably happened in 86 AD, the year after his final war with the Chatti, when he made a treaty with the Cherusci, who were settled between the rivers Weser and the Elbe.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: During their stay in Rome, Ganna and Masyos appear also to have met with the Roman historian Tacitus who reports that he discussed the Semnoni religious practices with informants from that tribe, who considered themselves the noblest of the Suebi. Bruce Lincoln (1986) discusses Tacitus' meeting with Ganna and what the Roman historian learnt of the mythological traditions of the early Germanic tribes, and of the Semnoni's ancestral relationships with the other tribes from "Ing" (Yngvi), "Ist" and "Irmin" (Odin), the sons of Mannus, the son of Tuisto. The Semnoni reenacted the "horrific origins" of their nation with a human sacrifice, with each victim representing Tuisto (the "twin") and being cut up to repeat the "acts of creation", which can be compared to how Odin and his brothers cut up the body of the primordial giant Ymir (the "twin") to form the world in Norse mythology. Rudolf Simek notes that Tacitus also learnt that the Semnoni performed their rites at a holy grove that was the cradle of the tribe's inception, and that could only be entered when they were fettered. The god who was worshiped was probably Odin, and being fettered may have been an imitation of Odin's self-sacrifice. This grove has for a long time been identified with the Grove of Fetters, where the hero was sacrificed to Odin in the Eddic poem, "Helgakviða Hundingsbana II".


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: It is notable that Ganna is not referred to as a "sibylla", but as a "theiázousa" in Greek, which means "someone making prophesies". Her name "Ganna" is usually interpreted as Proto-Germanic "Gan-no" and compared with Old Norse "gandr" in the meaning "magical staff" (for the meanings of "gan"- and "gandr", see the section on magical "Projection"); Ganna would mean the "one who carries the magical staff" or "she who controls the magical staff or something similar". Her name is thus grouped with other seeresses with staff names, like Gambara ("wand-bearer") and Waluburg from "walu"-, "staff" (ON "vǫlr"), and the same word is found in the name of North Germanic seeresses, the "vǫlur". Simek analyses "gandr" as a "magic staff" and the "insignia of her calling", but in a later work he adds that it meant "magic object or being" and instead of referring to a wand as her tool or insignia, her name may instead have been a reference to her function among the Germanic tribes (like Veleda's name). Sundqvist suggests that the name may have referred instead to her abilities, like de Vries who connects her name directly to the ablaut grade "ginn"- ("magical ability"), also treated further down in the section on magical "Projection".


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Dating from the second century CE, an ostracon with a Greek inscription reading "Waluburg. Se[m]noni Sibylla" (Greek 'Waluburg, sibyl from the Semnones') was discovered in the early twentieth century on Elephantine, an Egyptian island. The name occurs among a list of Roman and Graeco-Egyptian soldier names, perhaps indicating its use as a payroll.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The first element *- is probably Proto-Germanic * 'staff', which could be a reference to the seeresses' insignia, the magic staff, and which connects her name semantically to that of her fellow tribeswoman, the seeress Ganna, who probably taught her the craft and who had an audience with emperor Domitian in Rome. In the same way, her name may also be connected to the name of another Germanic seeress, Gambara, which can be interpreted as 'staff bearer' (* or *), see . The staffs are also reflected in the North Germanic word for seeress, 'staff bearer'. In North Germanic accounts, the seeresses were always equipped with a staff, a "vǫlr", from the same Proto-Germanic root *.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Schubart proposes that she may have been a war prisoner accompanying a Roman soldier in his career that led to him being stationed in Egypt at the first cataract. Simek considers her to have been deported by the Roman authorities, and he writes that it is uncertain how she arrived at Elephantine, but it is not surprising considering the significant and obvious influence that the Germanic seeresses wielded politically. Clement of Alexandria who lived in Egypt at the same time as Waluburg, and the earlier Plutarch, mentioned that the Germanic seeresses also could predict the future while studying the eddies, the whirling and the splashing of currents, and Schubart suggests that this is the reason why Waluburg found herself at the swirling waters of the First Cataract of the Nile.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The "Origo Gentis Langobardorum" ("Origin of the Lombard/Langobard people"), a seventh-century Latin account, and the "Historia Langobardorum" ("History of the Lombard/Langobards"), from the 8th c., relate the legend that before, or after, the Langobard people, then known as the Winnili, emigrated from Scandinavia, led by the brothers Ibor and Agio, their neighbours, the Vandals, demanded that they pay tribute, but their mother Gambara advised them not to. Before the battle, the Vandals called on Odin ("Godan") to give them victory, but Gambara invoked Odin's wife Frigg ("Frea") instead. Frigg advised them to trick Odin, by having the Winnili women spread their hair in front of their faces so as to look bearded and stand before the window from which Odin looked down on Earth. Odin was embarrassed and asked who the "long-beards" ("longobarbae") were, and thus naming them he became their godfather and had to grant them victory.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Gambara is called "phitonissa" in Latin which means "priestess" or "sorceress", and in the "Chronicum Gothanum", she is also specifically called "sibylla", i.e. "seeress". Pohl comments that Gambara lived in a world and era where prophecy was important, and not being a virgin like Veleda, she combined the roles of priestess, wise woman, mother and queen. Her name may mean "wand-bearer" (*"gand-bera" or *"gand-bara") with the same meaning as Old Norse "vǫlva", while the name of her son "Ibor" means "boar", the animal sacred to the Norse god Freyr, the god of fertility and the main god of the Vanir clan of the gods. argues that the legend goes back to a time when the early Lombards primarily worshiped the mother goddess Freyja, as part of the Scandinavian Vanir worship, and he adds that a Lombard counterpart of Uppsala has been discovered in Žuráň, near Brno in the modern day Czech republic.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: In Lombard, Odin and Frigg were called "Godan" and "Frea", while they were called "Uodan" and "Friia" in Old High German and "Woden" and "Frig" in Old English. The window from which Odin looked down on earth recalls the "Hliðskjálf" of Norse mythology, from where he could see everything, and where Frigg also conspires against Odin in the poem "Grímnismál", in a parallel with the Lombard myth. Frigg's infidelity and connection with prophecy normally belong to Freyja, and her association with magic ("seiðr"), but there are many similarities between them, and Freyja and Frigg may originally have been the same goddess. Scholars may identify Frea as Frigg/Freyja, or simply as Freyja.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: "Getica", a 6th century work on the history of the Goths, reports that the early Goths had called their seeresses "haliurunas" (or "haliurunnae", etc.) (Goth-Latin). They were in the words of Wolfram "women who enganged in magic with the world of the dead", and they were banished from their tribe by Filimer who was the last pre-Amal dynasty king of the migrating Goths. They found refuge in the wilderness where they were impregnated by unclean spirits from the Steppe, and engendered the Huns, which Pohl compares with the origin of the Sarmatians as presented by Herodotus. The account serves as an explanation for the origins of the Huns.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The account may be based on a historic event when Filimer banished his seeresses as scapegoats for a defeat when their prophesy had proved wrong, They may also have represented the conservative faction and resisted change. This change may have been the rise of the Amal clan and their claims of ancestry from the "anses" (the Aesir clan of gods). As in the case of the early Lombards, this would have taken place after a decisive victory that saved a tribe whose existence had been threatened by enemies. Odin was still a new god, and the Goths worshiped instead the "old" god Gaut who was made the Scandinavian great-grandfather of Amal, the founder of the new ruling clan.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Wagner argues that the demonization of both the women and the Huns shows that the account was written in a Christian context. Morris (1991) comments that it was a precedent for future Christian tradition, where demonic women have intercourse with the Devil or with demons. In the Anglo-Saxon "Leechbook" from the 10th century, there is a prescription for a salve against "women with whom the Devil has sexual intercourse," and in the 11th century, there appeared the idea that witches and heretics had sexual orgies during their meetings at night.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Few records of myths among the Germanic peoples survive to modern times. The North Germanic record is an exception, containing the vast majority of material that survives about the mythology of the Germanic peoples. These sources mention numerous seeresses among the North Germanic peoples, including the following:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: "Eiríks saga rauða" provides a particularly detailed account of the appearance and activities of a seeress. For example, regarding the seeress Þorbjörg Lítilvölva:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: When she arrived one evening, along with the man who had been sent to fetch her, she was wearing a black mantle with a strap, which was adorned with precious stones right down to the hem. About her neck she wore a string of glass beads and on her head a hood of black lambskin lined with white catskin. She bore a staff with a knob at the top, adorned with brass set with stones on top. About her waist she had a linked charm belt with a large purse. In it she kept the charms which she needed for her predictions. She wore calfskin boots lined with fur, with long, sturdy laces and large pewter knobs on the ends. On her hands she wore gloves of catskin, white and lined with fur.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: When she entered, everyone was supposed to offer her respectful greetings, and she responded by according to how the person appealed to her. Farmer Thorkel took the wise woman by the hand and led her to the seat which had been prepared for her. He then asked her to survey his flock, servants and buildings. She had little to say about all of it.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: That evening tables were set up and food prepared for the seeress. A porridge of kid’s milk was made for her and as meat she was given the hearts of all the animals available there. She had a spoon of brass and a knife with an ivory shaft, its two halves clasped with bronze bands, and the point of which had broken off.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: There are indications that the Viking princess and Russian saint Olga of Kiev may have served as a Völva, and as a "priestess of Freyja", before converting to Christianity. In the "Primary Chronicle", she is described by the noblemen as the "wisest of all women", where "wise" has several meanings and her reputation as being "wise" goes back to her pre-conversion years. Her wisdom is also reported by "Óláfs saga Tryggvassonar", where she is called "Allogia" and mistaken for Vladimir the Great's old mother, although she was his grand-mother. There she is described as "very wise" and her main function at the court was as a prophetess, one whose predictions also came true. When the king of Kievan Rus' celebrated Yule, he asked her to predict the future and to do so she was carried to him on a chair which recalls the elevated platforms of the seeresses. Although he may not have a transmitted a historical event, Oddr Snorrason, who wrote the saga in the 12th c., clearly identified Olga as a völva.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Olga is strongly associated with birds in the sources, which also was true of the goddess Freyja, the goddess of magic (seiðr). The goddess was popular among Scandinavian women in general, and especially among aristocratic women who profited from corollary authority and power. Older scholarship believed that the aristocratic Norse women passively waited at home for their husbands, but the modern view is that they actively took part in warfare from home with seiðr, a magic reflected in the Norse poem "Darraðarljóð". Consequently, Olga may have been regarded as a high priestess of Freyja, a status which would not only have appealed to her Scandinavian kinsmen but also to her Slavic subjects who would have identified Freyja with the Slavic goddess Mokosh, who was represented as the only goddess among the six raised idols in Kiev.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: In 2008, a Scandinavian chamber grave called N°6 was excavated in Pskov, where Olga was born. It was a syncretic grave containing elements from Norse paganism and from Christianity; it has been dated to c. 960. It contained an object called a "jartegn", a token given to officials by Scandinavian kings and Rus' rulers, indicating that the buried man had political influence. On the front side it has a bident, which later evolved into a trident and was a symbol of the Rurik dynasty. Above the bident there is a key, and keys were a symbol of the Scandinavian mistress, as Scandinavian women carried the keys of the homestead; Kovalev (2012) argues that the key was also a symbol of Freyja. According to Kovalev, during her regency, before Sviatoslav I came of age, Olga may have chosen to add the key to the seal of the ruler of Kievan Rus', the key being a symbol whose significance would have been understood all over northern Europe, not only as the symbol of a woman who has authority, but also as a symbol of guardianship. On the reverse side the "jartegn" has the image of a falcon, a bird not only associated with the Swedish and Rus' elite of the Viking Age, but also especially associated with the goddesses Freyja and Frigg, who can transform themselves into falcons.). The falcon also appears to wear a cloak of the type worn by Scandinavian women. There is a cross above the falcon; coins bearing the falcon and the cross are dated to Olga's time in the 950s and the 960s. Images of women with a bird's head have also been found on the Norwegian 9th c. Oseberg tapestry fragments, and the women have been identified as priestesses of Freyja wearing bird masks. Several scholars consider the woman who was buried with the tapestry to have been a völva.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The archaeological record for Viking Age society features a variety of graves that are identified as those of North Germanic seeresses. A notable example occurs at Fyrkat, in the northern Jutland region of Denmark. Fyrkat is the site of a former Viking Age ring fortress; the cemetery section of the site contains, among about 30 others, the grave of a woman buried within a horse-drawn carriage and wearing a red and blue dress embroidered with gold thread, all signs of high status. While the grave contains items commonly found in female Viking Age graves such as scissors and spindle whorls, it also contains a variety of other rare and exotic items. For example, the woman wore silver toe rings (otherwise unknown in the Scandinavian record) and her burial contained two bronze bowls originating from Central Asia.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The grave also contained a small purse with seeds from henbane, a poisonous plant, inside it, and a partially disintegrated metal wand, used by seeresses in the Old Norse record. According to the National Museum of Denmark:


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: Henbane's aphrodisiac properties may have also been relevant to its use by the seeress. At the feet of the corpse was a small box, called a box brooch and originating from the Swedish island of Gotland, which contained owl pellets and bird bones. The grave also contained amulets shaped like a chair, potentially a reflection of the long-standing association of seeresses and chairs (as described in Strabo's "Geographica" from the first century CE, discussed above).


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: A ship setting grave in Köpingsvik, a location on the Swedish island of Öland, also appears to have contained a seeress. The woman was buried wrapped in bear fur with a variety of notable grave goods: the grave contained a bronze-ornamented staff with a small house atop it, a jug made in Central Asia, and a bronze cauldron smithed in Western Europe. The grave contained animals and humans, perhaps sacrificed.


title: Seeress (Germanic)

text: The Oseberg ship burial also may have contained a seeress. The ship contained the remains of two people, one a woman of elevated status and the other possibly a slave. Along with a variety of other objects, the grave contained a purse containing cannabis seeds and a wooden wand.