History.

Novara was founded around 89 BC by the Romans, when the local Gauls obtained the Roman citizenship. Its name is formed from "Nov", meaning "new", and "Aria", the name the Cisalpine Gauls used for the surrounding region.  Ancient "Novaria", which dates to the time of the Ligures and the Celts, was a municipium and was situated on the road from Vercellae (Vercelli) to (Mediolanum) Milan. Its position on perpendicular roads (still intact today) dates to the time of the Romans. After the city was destroyed in 386 by Magnus Maximus for having supported his rival Valentinian II, it was rebuilt by Theodosius I. Subsequently, it was sacked by Radagaisus (in 405) and Attila (in 452).  Under the Lombards, Novara became a duchy; under Charles the Fat, a countship. Novara came to enjoy the rights of a free imperial city. In 1110, it was conquered by Henry V and destroyed, but in 1167 it joined the Lombard League. At the end of the 12th century, it accepted the protection of Milan and became practically a dominion of the Visconti and later of the Sforza. In the Battle of Novara in 1513, Swiss mercenaries defending Novara for the Sforzas of Milan routed the French troops besieging the city. This defeat ended the French invasion of Italy in the War of the League of Cambrai.  In 1706, Novara, which had long ago been promised by Filippo Maria Visconti to Amadeus VIII of Savoy, was occupied by Savoyard troops. With the Peace of Utrecht, the city, together with Milan, became part of the Habsburg Empire. After its occupation in 1734, Novara passed, in the following year, to the House of Savoy. After Napoleon's campaign in Italy, Novara became the capital of the Department of the Agogna, but was then reassigned to the House of Savoy in 1814. In 1821, it was the site of a battle in which regular Sardinian troops defeated the Piedmontese constitutional liberals. In the even larger Battle of Novara in 1849, the Sardinian army was defeated by the Austrian army of Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz. This defeat led to the abdication of Charles Albert of Sardinia and to the partial occupation of the city by the Austrians. The defeat of the Sardinians can be seen as the beginning of the Italian unification movement.  A decree in 1859 created the province of Novara, which then included the present-day provinces of Vercelli, Biella, and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.  The city of Novara had a population of 25,144 in 1861. Industrialisation during the 20th century brought an increase in the city's population to 102,088 in 1981. The city's population has changed little in subsequent years.  Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, former president of Italy and Italian senator for life, was born in Novara in 1918.

Architecture.

Novara's sights can be divided into two groupings. The city's most important sights lie within its historic centre, the area once enclosed by the city walls. However, several important sights also lie outside the line of the former city walls.

Historic centre.

The old urban core makes up the "Historic centre", situated in the district of the same name. Novara once had an encircling wall, which was demolished to permit urban development. Of the old wall there remains only the "Barriera Albertina", a complex of two neo-classical buildings that constituted the gate of entry to the city, the required passageway for those who traveled from Turin to Milan. After their removal, the walls were replaced by the present-day "baluardi", the broad, tree-lined boulevards that surround the Historic Centre.  The most imposing monument in the city is the Basilica of San Gaudenzio, with a cupola high, designed by Alessandro Antonelli and constructed in 1888. The bell tower is also of particular interest; it was designed by Benedetto Alfieri, uncle of the more famous Vittorio Alfieri.  The centre of the religious life of the city is the Novara Cathedral, in the neo-classical style, also designed by Alessandro Antonelli. It rises exactly where the temple of Jupiter stood in the time of the Romans. Facing the Duomo is the oldest building in Novara today: the early Christian "Battistero" (Baptistry).  Close to the Duomo is the courtyard of the "Broletto" (the historic meeting place of the city council), the centre of the political life of the imperial free city of Novara. Overlooking the courtyard of the Broletto are the "Palazzo del Podestà" ("Palace of the Podestà"), "Palazzetto dei Paratici" ("Little Palace of the Paratici Family"), site of the Civic Museum and of the Gallery of Modern Art, the Palace of the City Council, and a building of the 15th century.  Not far from the Piazza della Repubblica (formerly Piazza Duomo) is the Piazza Cesare Battisti (known to Novaresi as the "Piazza delle Erbe", "Herbs square"), which constitutes the exact centre of the city of Novara.  In Piazza Giacomo Matteotti stands the "Palazzo Natta-Isola", seat of the province and of the prefecture of Novara. The landmark feature of this palace is its clock tower. Extending from this square is the via Fratelli Rosselli, along which is the "Palazzo Cabrino", the official seat of the administrative offices of the city. As it was a Roman city, the street network of Novara is characterized by a cardo and a Decumanus Maximus, which correspond respectively to the present-day Corso Cavour and Corso Italia. The two streets cross at the so-called "Angolo delle Ore" (Corner of the Hours).  The largest square is Piazza Martiri della Libertà (formerly Piazza Castello) dominated by the equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy. Overlooking the Piazza Martiri are the "Castello Visconteo-Sforzesco", built by the Milanese dukes Visconti and Sforza, and the Teatro Coccia. The Castello Visconteo-Sforzesco, once much larger than the complex that remains today, is surrounded by the "Allea", one of the largest public gardens in Novara.  Other important squares are:

Outside the "Baluardi".

Places of interest situated outside the belt of the "baluardi" include the Church of San Nazzaro della Costa, with its attached abbey, restored in the 15th century by Bernardino of Siena, and the Ossuary of Bicocca, in pyramidal form, which stands in the neighbourhood of Bicocca, in memory of the fallen soldiers of the historic battle of 23 March 1849, between the Piedmontese (Sardinia) and Austrians. Worthy of note are the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Saints Martino and Gaudenzio), built beginning in 1477 by the Augustinians, whose interior consists of a single nave with lateral chapels and paintings attributed to artists of the 15th century, among them Daniele de Bosis.

Demographics.

In 2007, there were 102,862 people residing in Novara, of whom 49% were male and 51% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 16.35% of the population compared to pensioners who number 21.6%. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06% (minors) and 19.94% (pensioners). The average age of Novara residents is 44 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Novara grew by 1.64%, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85%. The birth rate in Novara is 9.15 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births. , 92.37% of the population was Italian. The largest immigrant group comes from other European nations: 2.94%, North Africa: 2.23%, and Latin America: 0.71%. Like most of Italy, Novara is predominantly Roman Catholic.

Economy.

Novara is an important commercial centre of the Padan plain and is the seat of the Centro Intermodale Merci (CIM: Goods Intermodal Centre). Economically, it is affected by the proximity of Milan, and in fact many Milanese firms have offices in Novara.  The main economic products and services are:  The city of Novara is a member of the TOP-IX (Torino-Piemonte Exchange Point) internet exchange consortium, a consortium to create an Internet Exchange Point for northwestern Italy.  Companies based in Novara include the publishing company De Agostini.

Transport.

The local public transport agency is the SUN.

Railways.

The city is served by three railway stations:

Motorways and main roads.

Novara is linked to Turin and Milan by the A4 motorway (via the junctions Novara Ovest and Novara Est). The A26 motorway crosses most of Novara province, but there is not a junction that links it directly with Novara. To reach Novara from the A26, one must exit at Vercelli Est, but one can also reach Novara by way of the A4, which crosses the A26 at a junction. Novara is served by a system of dual-carriageway bypasses. The oldest such bypass is the Tangenziale Est, directly linked with the motorway junction Novara Est. In 2003, road works were completed on the Tangenziale Sud.  The S11 trunk road from Milan and Magenta passes through Novara on its way to Vercelli and Turin. Trunk roads to the north and south also link Novara to the motorway network.

Sports.

Novara Calcio is an association football club based in Novara. There is also a professional women's Serie A1 team. AGIL Volley - Igor Novara Volley

Government.

The current mayor of Novara is Alessandro Canelli, elected in June 2016, representing a centre-right coalition.

Administrative subdivisions.

Novara is divided into thirteen wards ("circoscrizioni"); several of these are formed of a number of quarters ("quartieri"), zones, and/or "frazioni"  According to changes in local electoral laws, from June 2011 elections they were stripped of their elective bodies (council and president), thus remaining as a simple internal partition of the Comune.

Twin towns – sister cities.

Novara is twinned with:

External links.

<br

Novara (; in the local Lombard dialect) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 104,268 inhabitants (as of 30 April 2019), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is an important crossroads for commercial traffic along the routes from Milan to Turin and from Genoa to Switzerland. Novara lies between the rivers Agogna and Terdoppio in northeastern Piedmont, from Milan and from Turin.

诺瓦拉(意大利语:)是位于意大利西北部皮埃蒙特大区诺瓦拉省的一个城市,诺瓦拉省的首府所在地;2006年共有人口102,846。诺瓦拉是从米兰到都灵和热那亚到瑞士的商业路线上重要的交通枢纽。


Design and development.

In 1942, the U.S. War Department needed to transport war materiel and personnel to Britain. Allied shipping in the Atlantic Ocean was suffering heavy losses to German U-boats, so a requirement was issued for an aircraft that could cross the Atlantic with a large payload. Wartime priorities meant the aircraft could not be made of strategic materials (e.g., aluminum).  The aircraft was the brainchild of Henry J. Kaiser, a leading Liberty ship builder and manufacturer. Kaiser teamed with aircraft designer Howard Hughes to create what would become the largest aircraft yet built. It was designed to carry, 750 fully equipped troops or two 30-ton M4 Sherman tanks. The original designation "HK-1" reflected the Hughes and Kaiser collaboration.  The HK-1 aircraft contract was issued in 1942 as a development contract and called for three aircraft to be constructed in two years for the war effort. Seven configurations were considered, including twin-hull and single-hull designs with combinations of four, six, and eight wing-mounted engines. The final design chosen was a behemoth, eclipsing any large transport then built. It would be built mostly of wood to conserve metal (its elevators and rudder were fabric-covered), and was nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" (a name Hughes disliked) or the "Flying Lumberyard".  While Kaiser had originated the "flying cargo ship" concept, he did not have an aeronautical background and deferred to Hughes and his designer, Glenn Odekirk. Development dragged on, which frustrated Kaiser, who blamed delays partly on restrictions placed for the acquisition of strategic materials such as aluminum, and partly on Hughes' insistence on "perfection." Construction of the first HK-1 took place 16 months after the receipt of the development contract. Kaiser then withdrew from the project.  Hughes continued the program on his own under the designation "H-4 Hercules", signing a new government contract that now limited production to one example. Work proceeded slowly, and the H-4 was not completed until well after the war was over. The plane was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company at Hughes Airport, location of present-day Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California, employing the plywood-and-resin "Duramold" process – a form of composite technology – for the laminated wood construction, which was considered a technological "tour de force". The specialized wood veneer was made by Roddis Manufacturing in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Hamilton Roddis had teams of young women ironing the (unusually thin) strong birch wood veneer before shipping to California.  A house moving company transported the airplane on streets to Pier E in Long Beach, California. They moved it in three large sections: the fuselage, each wing—and a fourth, smaller shipment with tail assembly parts and other smaller assemblies. After Hughes Aircraft completed final assembly, they erected a hangar around the flying boat, with a ramp to launch the H-4 into the harbor.  Howard Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee in 1947 over the use of government funds for the aircraft. During a Senate hearing on August 6, 1947 (the first of a series of appearances), Hughes said: The Hercules was a monumental undertaking. It is the largest aircraft ever built. It is over five stories tall with a wingspan longer than a football field. That's more than a city block. Now, I put the sweat of my life into this thing. I have my reputation all rolled up in it and I have stated several times that if it's a failure, I'll probably leave this country and never come back. And I mean it.  In all, development cost for the plane reached $23 million (equivalent to more than $283 million in 2016).

Operational history.

Hughes returned to California during a break in the Senate hearings to run taxi tests on the H-4. On November 2, 1947, the taxi tests began with Hughes at the controls. His crew included Dave Grant as copilot, two flight engineers, Don Smith and Joe Petrali, 16 mechanics, and two other flight crew. The H-4 also carried seven invited guests from the press corps and an additional seven industry representatives. In total, thirty-six people were on board.  Four reporters left to file stories after the first two taxi runs while the remaining press stayed for the final test run of the day. After picking up speed on the channel facing Cabrillo Beach the Hercules lifted off, remaining airborne for 26 seconds at off the water at a speed of for about one mile (1.6 km). At this altitude the aircraft still experienced ground effect. Nevertheless, the brief flight proved to detractors that Hughes' (now unneeded) masterpiece was flight-worthy—thus vindicating the use of government funds.  The H-4 never flew again. Its lifting capacity and ceiling were never tested. A full-time crew of 300 workers, all sworn to secrecy, maintained the aircraft in flying condition in a climate-controlled hangar. The company reduced the crew to 50 workers in 1962, and then disbanded it after Hughes' death in 1976.

Display.

Ownership of the H-4 was disputed by the U.S. government, which had contracted for its construction. In the mid-1970s, an agreement was reached whereby the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum would receive the Hughes H-1 Racer and section of the H-4's wing, the Summa Corporation would pay $700,000 and receive ownership of the H-4, the U.S. government would cede any rights, and the aircraft would be protected "from commercial exploitation." In 1980, the H-4 was acquired by the Aero Club of Southern California, which later put the aircraft on display in a very large geodesic dome next to the "Queen Mary" ship exhibit in Long Beach, California. The large dome facility became known as the Spruce Goose Dome. The very large enclosed indoor dome area around the H-4 consisted of meeting and special event space, elaborate audio visual displays about Howard Hughes and the aircraft itself, and dining areas for tourists. Many convention groups held large dinners, sales meetings, and even concerts under the wings of the aircraft at night when the Spruce Goose Dome was closed to tourists. In 1986, a secondary simulator-style attraction named Time Voyager was constructed next to the H-4, at a cost of $2.5 million. In 1988, The Walt Disney Company acquired both Long Beach attractions and the associated Long Beach real estate by Pier J. In 1991, Disney informed the Aero Club of Southern California that it no longer wished to display the Hercules aircraft after its highly ambitious Port Disney plan was scrapped. After a long search for a suitable host, the Aero Club of Southern California arranged for the Hughes Hercules flying boat to be given to Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in exchange for payments and a percentage of the museum's profits. The aircraft was transported by barge, train, and truck to its current home in McMinnville, Oregon (about southwest of Portland), where it was reassembled by Contractors Cargo Company and is currently on display. The aircraft arrived in McMinnville on February 27, 1993, after a 138-day, trip from Long Beach. The Spruce Goose geodesic dome is now used by Carnival Cruise Lines as its Long Beach terminal.  By the mid-1990s, the former Hughes Aircraft hangars at Hughes Airport, including the one that held the Hercules, were converted into sound stages. Scenes from movies such as "Titanic", "What Women Want" and "End of Days" have been filmed in the aircraft hangar where Howard Hughes created the flying boat. The hangar will be preserved as a structure eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Buildings in what is today the large light industry and housing development in the Playa Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.  The Western Museum of Flight in Torrance, California has a large collection of construction photographs and blueprints of the Hercules H-4.

Specifications (H-4).

"Performance specifications are projected."

The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the Spruce Goose; registration NX37602) is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight transport for use during World War II, it was not completed in time to be used in the war. The aircraft made only one brief flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced.

休斯H-4大力神(英语:Hughes H-4 Hercules,别称「云杉之鹅(英语:Spruce Goose)」)是美国休斯航空公司在1940年代末生产的一架巨型水上运输机。


Early life and career.

Born Lucius Ceionius Commodus on 15 December 130, Verus was the first-born son of Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Emperor Hadrian. He was born and raised in Rome. Verus had another brother, Gaius Avidius Ceionius Commodus, and two sisters, Ceionia Fabia and Ceionia Plautia. His maternal grandparents were the senator Gaius Avidius Nigrinus and the unattested noblewoman Ignota Plautia. Although Hadrian was his adoptive paternal grandfather, his biological paternal grandparents were the consul Lucius Ceionius Commodus and either Aelia or Fundania Plautia.  When his father died in early 138, Hadrian chose Antoninus Pius (86–161) as his successor. Antoninus was adopted by Hadrian on the condition that Verus and Hadrian’s great-nephew Marcus Aurelius be adopted by Antoninus as his sons and heirs. By this scheme, Verus, who was already Hadrian's adoptive grandson through his natural father, remained as such through his new father, Antoninus. The adoption of Marcus Aurelius was probably a suggestion of Antoninus himself, since Marcus was the nephew of Antoninus' wife.  Immediately after Hadrian's death, Antoninus approached Marcus and requested that his marriage arrangements be amended: Marcus' betrothal to Ceionia Fabia would be annulled, and he would be betrothed to Faustina, Antoninus' daughter, instead. Faustina's betrothal to Ceionia's brother Lucius Commodus would also have to be annulled. Marcus consented to Antoninus' proposal.  As a prince and future emperor, Verus received careful education from the famous "grammaticus" Marcus Cornelius Fronto. He was reported to have been an excellent student, fond of writing poetry and delivering speeches. Verus started his political career as a quaestor in 153, became consul in 154, and in 161 was consul again with Marcus Aurelius as his senior partner.

Emperor.

Accession of Lucius and Marcus, 161.

Antoninus died on 7 March 161, and was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius bore deep affection for Antoninus, as evidenced by the first book of "Meditations". Although the senate planned to confirm Marcus alone, he refused to take office unless Lucius received equal powers.  The senate accepted, granting Lucius the "imperium", the tribunician power, and the name Augustus. Marcus became, in official titulature, Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; Lucius, forgoing his name Commodus and taking Marcus's family name, Verus, became Imperator Caesar Lucius Aurelius Verus Augustus. It was the first time that Rome was ruled by two emperors.  In spite of their nominal equality, Marcus held more "auctoritas", or authority, than Verus. He had been consul once more than Lucius, he had shared in Pius' administration, and he alone was "Pontifex maximus". It would have been clear to the public which emperor was the more senior. As the biographer wrote, "Verus obeyed Marcus...as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor."  Immediately after their senate confirmation, the emperors proceeded to the Castra Praetoria, the camp of the praetorian guard. Lucius addressed the assembled troops, which then acclaimed the pair as "imperatores". Then, like every new emperor since Claudius, Lucius promised the troops a special donative. This donative, however, was twice the size of those past: 20,000 sesterces (5,000 denarii) per capita, more to officers. In return for this bounty, equivalent to several years' pay, the troops swore an oath to protect the emperors. The ceremony was perhaps not entirely necessary, given that Marcus' accession had been peaceful and unopposed, but it was good insurance against later military troubles.  Pius's funeral ceremonies were, in the words of the biographer, "elaborate". If his funeral followed the pattern of past funerals, his body would have been incinerated on a pyre at the Campus Martius, while his spirit would rise to the gods' home in the heavens. Marcus and Lucius nominated their father for deification. In contrast to their behavior during Pius's campaign to deify Hadrian, the senate did not oppose the emperors' wishes.  A "flamen", or cultic priest, was appointed to minister the cult of the deified Pius, now "Divus Antoninus". Pius's remains were laid to rest in Hadrian's mausoleum, beside the remains of Marcus's children and of Hadrian himself. The temple he had dedicated to his wife, Diva Faustina, became the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. It survives as the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda.

Early rule, 161–62.

Soon after the emperors' accession, Marcus's eleven-year-old daughter, Annia Lucilla, was betrothed to Lucius (in spite of the fact that he was, formally, her uncle). At the ceremonies commemorating the event, new provisions were made for the support of poor children, along the lines of earlier imperial foundations. Marcus and Lucius proved popular with the people of Rome, who strongly approved of their "civiliter" (lacking pomp) behavior.  The emperors permitted free speech, evinced by the fact that the comedy writer Marullus was able to criticize them without suffering retribution. At any other time, under any other emperor, he would have been executed. But it was a peaceful time, a forgiving time. And thus, as the biographer wrote, "No one missed the lenient ways of Pius."  Fronto returned to his Roman townhouse at dawn on 28 March, having left his home in Cirta as soon as news of his pupils' accession reached him. He sent a note to the imperial freedman Charilas, asking if he could call on the emperors. Fronto would later explain that he had not dared to write the emperors directly. The tutor was immensely proud of his students. Reflecting on the speech he had written on taking his consulship in 143, when he had praised the young Marcus, Fronto was ebullient: "There was then an outstanding natural ability in you; there is now perfected excellence. There was then a crop of growing corn; there is now a ripe, gathered harvest. What I was hoping for then, I have now. The hope has become a reality." Fronto called on Marcus alone; neither thought to invite Lucius.  Lucius was less esteemed by his tutor than his brother, as his interests were on a lower level. Lucius asked Fronto to adjudicate in a dispute he and his friend Calpurnius were having on the relative merits of two actors. Marcus told Fronto of his reading—Coelius and a little Cicero—and his family. His daughters were in Rome, with their great-great-aunt Matidia Minor; Marcus thought the evening air of the country was too cold for them.  The emperors' early reign proceeded smoothly. Marcus was able to give himself wholly to philosophy and the pursuit of popular affection. Some minor troubles cropped up in the spring; there would be more later. In the spring of 162, the Tiber flooded over its banks, destroying much of Rome. It drowned many animals, leaving the city in famine. Marcus and Lucius gave the crisis their personal attention. In other times of famine, the emperors are said to have provided for the Italian communities out of the Roman granaries.

War with Parthia, 161–66.

Origins to Lucius's dispatch, 161–62.

On his deathbed, Pius spoke of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him. One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161. Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own—Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself.  At the time of the invasion, the Governor of Syria was Lucius Attidius Cornelianus. Attidius had been retained as governor even though his term ended in 161, presumably to avoid giving the Parthians the chance to wrong-foot his replacement. The Governor of Cappadocia, the front-line in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters. But living in the east had a deleterious effect on his character.  Severianus had fallen under the influence of Alexander of Abonoteichus, a self-proclaimed prophet who carried a snake named Glycon around with him, but was really only a confidence man. Alexander was father-in-law to the respected senator Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus, then-proconsul of Asia, and friends with many members of the east Roman elite. Alexander convinced Severianus that he could defeat the Parthians easily, and win glory for himself.  Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX Hispana) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general, Chosrhoes, at Elegia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates. Severianus made some attempt to fight Chosrhoes, but soon realized the futility of his campaign, and committed suicide. His legion was massacred. The campaign had only lasted three days.  There was threat of war on other frontiers as well—in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the "limes". Marcus was unprepared. Pius seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Pius's twenty-three-year reign at his emperor's side—and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers. Marcus made the necessary appointments: Marcus Statius Priscus, the Governor of Britain, was sent to replace Severianus as Governor of Cappadocia. Sextus Calpurnius Agricola took Priscus's former office.

Strategic emergency.

More news arrived: Attidius Cornelianus's army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians, and retreated in disarray. Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. Publius Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with detachments from the Danubian legions. Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany, II Adiutrix from Aquincum, and V Macedonica from Troesmis.  The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible. Attidius Cornelianus himself was replaced by Marcus Annius Libo, Marcus's first cousin. He was young—his first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirties—and, as a mere patrician, lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.  Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the Etrurian coast. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday. Fronto replied ironically: "What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking and complete leisure for four whole days?" He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Pius had enjoyed exercise in the "palaestra", fishing, and comedy), going so far as to write up a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening—Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of at leisure. Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off," he wrote back. Marcus put on Fronto's voice to chastise himself: "'Much good has my advice done you', you will say." He had rested, and would rest often, but "—this devotion to duty. Who knows better than you how demanding it is?"  Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, including Cicero's "pro lege Manilia", in which the orator had argued in favor of Pompey taking supreme command in the Mithridatic War. It was an apt reference (Pompey's war had taken him to Armenia), and may have had some impact on the decision to send Lucius to the eastern front. "You will find in it many chapters aptly suited to your present counsels, concerning the choice of army commanders, the interests of allies, the protection of provinces, the discipline of the soldiers, the qualifications required for commanders in the field and elsewhere [...]" To settle his unease over the course of the Parthian War, Fronto wrote Marcus a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled "De bello Parthico" ("On the Parthian War"). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes, at Allia, at Caudium, at Cannae, at Numantia, Cirta, and Carrhae; under Trajan, Hadrian, and Pius; but, in the end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: "always and everywhere [Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs".

Lucius's dispatch and journey east, 162–63?

Over the winter of 161–62, as more troubling news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian War in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, more suited to military activity. Lucius's biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius's debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, to realize that he was an emperor. Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and Lucius left. Marcus remained in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor".  Furius Victorinus, one of the two praetorian prefects, was sent with Lucius, as were a pair of senators, M. Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus and M. Iallius Bassus, and part of the praetorian guard. Victorinus had previously served as procurator of Galatia, giving him some experience with eastern affairs. Moreover, he was far more qualified than his praetorian partner, Cornelius Repentinus, who was said to owe his office to the influence of Pius's mistress, Galeria Lysistrate. Repentinus had the rank of a senator, but no real access to senatorial circles—his was merely a decorative title. Since a prefect had to accompany the guard, Victorinus was the clear choice.  Laelianus had been governor of both Pannonias and Governor of Syria in 153; thus he had first-hand knowledge of the eastern army and military strategy on the frontiers. He was made "comes Augustorum" ("companion of the emperors") for his service. Laelianus was, in the words of Fronto, "a serious man and an old-fashioned disciplinarian". Bassus had been Governor of Lower Moesia, and was also made "comes". Lucius selected his favorite freedmen, including Geminus, Agaclytus, Coedes, Eclectus, and Nicomedes, who gave up his duties as "praefectus vehiculorum" to run the commissariat of the expeditionary force. The fleet of Misenum was charged with transporting the Emperor and general communications and transport.  Lucius left in the summer of 162 to take a ship from Brundisium; Marcus followed him as far as Capua. Lucius feasted himself in the country houses along his route, and hunted at Apulia. He fell ill at Canosa, probably afflicted with a stroke, and took to bed. Marcus made prayers to the gods for his safety in front of the senate, and hurried south to see him. Fronto was upset at the news, but was reassured when Lucius sent him a letter describing his treatment and recovery. In his reply, Fronto urged his pupil to moderate his desires, and recommended a few days of quiet bedrest. Lucius was better after three days' fasting and a bloodletting. It was probably only a mild stroke.  Verus continued eastward via Corinth and Athens, accompanied by musicians and singers as if in a royal progress. At Athens he stayed with Herodes Atticus, and joined the Eleusinian Mysteries. During sacrifice, a falling star was observed in the sky, shooting west to east. He stopped in Ephesus, where he is attested at the estate of the local aristocrat Publius Vedius Antoninus, and made an unexpected stopover at Erythrae. The journey continued by ship through the Aegean and the southern coasts of Asia Minor, lingering in the famed pleasure resorts of Pamphylia and Cilicia, before arriving in Antioch. It is not known how long Verus's journey east took; he might not have arrived in Antioch until after 162. Statius Priscus, meanwhile, must have already arrived in Cappadocia; he would earn fame in 163 for successful generalship.

Luxury and logistics at Antioch, 162?–65.

Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch, though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne, a resort just outside Antioch. He took up a mistress named Panthea, from Smyrna. The biographer calls her a "low-born girl-friend", but she was described as a "woman of perfect beauty" by Lucius. One biographer has postulated that Panthea may have been more beautiful than any of Phidias and Praxiteles' statues. The mistress was musically inclined and spoke Ionic Greek, spiced with Attic wit.  Panthea read Lucian's first draft, and criticized him for flattery. He had compared her to a goddess, which frightened her—she did not want to become the next Cassiopeia. She had power, too. She made Lucius shave his beard for her. The Syrians mocked him for this, as they did for much else.  Critics declaimed Lucius' luxurious lifestyle. He had taken to gambling, they said; he would "dice the whole night through". He enjoyed the company of actors. He made a special request for dispatches from Rome, to keep him updated on how his chariot teams were doing. He brought a golden statue of the Greens' horse Volucer around with him, as a token of his team spirit. Fronto defended his pupil against some of these claims: the Roman people needed Lucius' bread and circuses to keep them in check.  This, at least, is how the biographer has it. The whole section of the "vita" dealing with Lucius' debaucheries ("HA Verus" 4.4–6.6) is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source. Some few passages seem genuine; others take and elaborate something from the original. The rest is by the biographer himself, relying on nothing better than his own imagination.  Lucius faced quite a task. Fronto described the scene in terms recalling Corbulo's arrival one hundred years before. The Syrian army had turned soft during the east's long peace. They spent more time at the city's open-air cafés than in their quarters. Under Lucius, training was stepped up. Pontius Laelianus ordered that their saddles be stripped of their padding. Gambling and drinking were sternly policed. Fronto wrote that Lucius was on foot at the head of his army as often as on horseback. He personally inspected soldiers in the field and at camp, including the sick bay.  Lucius sent Fronto few messages at the beginning of the war. He sent Fronto a letter apologizing for his silence. He would not detail plans that could change within a day, he wrote. Moreover, there was little thus far to show for his work: "not even yet has anything been accomplished such as to make me wish to invite you to share in the joy". Lucius did not want Fronto to suffer the anxieties that had kept him up day and night. One reason for Lucius' reticence may have been the collapse of Parthian negotiations after the Roman conquest of Armenia. Lucius' presentation of terms was seen as cowardice. The Parthians were not in the mood for peace.  Lucius needed to make extensive imports into Antioch, so he opened a sailing route up the Orontes. Because the river breaks across a cliff before reaching the city, Lucius ordered that a new canal be dug. After the project was completed, the Orontes' old riverbed dried up, exposing massive bones—the bones of a giant. Pausanias says they were from a beast "more than eleven cubits" tall; Philostratus says that it was "thirty cubits" tall. The oracle at Claros declared that they were the bones of the river's spirit. These bones would later be understood to be that of large animals. In the middle of the war, perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164, Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus' daughter Lucilla. Lucilla's thirteenth birthday was in March 163; whatever the date of her marriage, she was not yet fifteen. Marcus had moved up the date: perhaps stories of Panthea had disturbed him. Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, the half-brother of Lucius' father.  Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna (the biographer says he told the senate he would); this did not happen. Marcus only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium, where they boarded a ship for the east. Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter, and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception. Lucilla would bear three of Lucius' children in the coming years. Lucilla became Lucilla Augusta.

Counterattack and victory, 163–66.

I Minervia and V Macedonica, under the legates M. Claudius Fronto and P. Martius Verus, served under Statius Priscus in Armenia, earning success for Roman arms during the campaign season of 163, including the capture of the Armenian capital Artaxata. At the end of the year, Verus took the title "Armeniacus", despite having never seen combat; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year. When Lucius was hailed as "imperator" again, however, Marcus did not hesitate to take the "Imperator II" with him. The army of Syria was reinforced by II Adiutrix and Danubian legions under X Gemina's legate Geminius Marcianus. Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms. In 164, a new capital, Kaine Polis ('New City'), replaced Artaxata. On Birley's reckoning, it was thirty miles closer to the Roman border. Detachments from Cappadocian legions are attested at Echmiadzin, beneath the southern face of Mount Ararat, 400 km east of Satala. It would have meant a march of twenty days or more, through mountainous terrain, from the Roman border; a "remarkable example of imperialism", in the words of Fergus Millar.  A new king was installed: a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent, Gaius Julius Sohaemus. He may not even have been crowned in Armenia; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch, or even Ephesus. Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend : Verus sat on a throne with his staff while Sohaemus stood before him, saluting the emperor.  In 163, while Statius Priscus was occupied in Armenia, the Parthians intervened in Osroene, a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia, just east of Syria, with its capital at Edessa. They deposed the country's leader, Mannus, and replaced him with their own nominee, who would remain in office until 165. (The Edessene coinage record actually begins at this point, with issues showing Vologases IV on the obverse and "Wael the king" (Syriac: W'L MLK') on the reverse). In response, Roman forces were moved downstream, to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point.  On the evidence of Lucian, the Parthians still held the southern, Roman bank of the Euphrates (in Syria) as late as 163 (he refers to a battle at Sura, which is on the southern side of the river). Before the end of the year, however, Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern, Parthian bank. Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates, other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia, taking Anthemusia, a town south-west of Edessa. There was little movement in 164; most of the year was spent on preparations for a renewed assault on Parthian territory.

Invasion of Mesopotamia (165).

In 165, Roman forces, perhaps led by Martius Verus and the V Macedonica, moved on Mesopotamia. Edessa was re-occupied, Mannus re-installed. His coinage resumed, too: 'Ma'nu the king' (Syriac: M'NW MLK') or Antonine dynasts on the obverse, and 'King Mannos, friend of Romans' (Greek: "Basileus Mannos Philorōmaios") on the reverse. The Parthians retreated to Nisibis, but this too was besieged and captured. The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris; their general Chosrhoes swam down the river and made his hideout in a cave. A second force, under Avidius Cassius and the III Gallica, moved down the Euphrates, and fought a major battle at Dura.  By the end of the year, Cassius' army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia: Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris and Ctesiphon on the left. Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame. The citizens of Seleucia, still largely Greek (the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the Seleucid empire, one of Alexander the Great's successor kingdoms), opened its gates to the invaders. The city got sacked nonetheless, leaving a black mark on Lucius' reputation. Excuses were sought, or invented: the official version had it that the Seleucids broke faith first. Whatever the case, the sacking marks a particularly destructive chapter in Seleucia's long decline.  Cassius' army, although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague contracted in Seleucia, made it back to Roman territory safely. Iunius Maximus, a young "tribunus laticlavius" serving in III Gallica under Cassius, took the news of the victory to Rome. Maximus received a generous cash bounty ("dona") for bringing the good news, and immediate promotion to the quaestorship. Lucius took the title Parthicus Maximus, and he and Marcus were hailed as "imperatores" again, earning the title 'imp. III'. Cassius' army returned to the field in 166, crossing over the Tigris into Media. Lucius took the title 'Medicus', and the emperors were again hailed as "imperatores", becoming 'imp. IV' in imperial titulature. Marcus took the Parthicus Maximus now, after another tactful delay.  Most of the credit for the war's success must be ascribed to subordinate generals. The forces that advanced on Osroene were led by M. Claudius Fronto, an Asian provincial of Greek descent who had led I Minervia in Armenia under Priscus. He was probably the first senator in his family. Fronto was consul for 165, probably in honor of the capture of Edessa. P. Martius Verus had led V Macedonica to the front, and also served under Priscus. Martius Verus was a westerner, whose "patria" was perhaps Tolosa in Gallia Narbonensis.  The most prominent general, however, was C. Avidius Cassius, commander of III Gallica, one of the Syrian legions. Cassius was a young senator of low birth from the north Syrian town of Cyrrhus. His father, Heliodorus, had not been a senator, but was nonetheless a man of some standing: he had been Hadrian's "ab epistulis", followed the emperor on his travels, and was prefect of Egypt at the end of Hadrian's reign. Cassius also, with no small sense of self-worth, claimed descent from the Seleucid kings. Cassius and Martius Verus, still probably in their mid-thirties, took the consulships for 166.  Vologases IV of Parthia (147–191) made peace but was forced to cede western Mesopotamia to the Romans. Lucius is reported to have been an excellent commander, without fear of delegating military tasks to more competent generals.

Years in Rome.

The next two years (166–168) were spent in Rome. Verus continued with his glamorous lifestyle and kept the troupe of actors and favourites with him. He had a tavern built in his house, where he celebrated parties with his friends until dawn. He also enjoyed roaming around the city among the population, without acknowledging his identity. The games of the circus were another passion in his life, especially chariot racing. Marcus Aurelius disapproved of his conduct but, since Verus continued to perform his official tasks with efficiency, there was little he could do.

Wars on the Danube and death.

In the spring of 168 war broke out in the Danubian border when the Marcomanni invaded the Roman territory. This war would last until 180, but Verus did not see the end of it. In 168, as Verus and Marcus Aurelius returned to Rome from the field, Verus fell ill with symptoms attributed to food poisoning, dying after a few days (169). However, scholars believe that Verus may have been a victim of smallpox, as he died during a widespread epidemic known as the Antonine Plague.  Despite the minor differences between them, Marcus Aurelius grieved the loss of his adoptive brother. He accompanied the body to Rome, where he offered games to honour his memory. After the funeral, the senate declared Verus divine to be worshipped as "Divus Verus".

Lucius Verus (; Lucius Aurelius Verus; born Lucius Ceionius Commodus; 15 December 130 – 23 January 169) was the co-emperor of Rome with his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius from 161 until his own death in 169. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. Verus' succession together with Marcus Aurelius marked the first time that the Roman Empire was ruled by multiple emperors, an increasingly common occurrence in the later history of the Empire.

路奇乌斯·维鲁斯(Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus Armeniacus,130年-12月15日-169年)是罗马帝国五贤帝时期的皇帝。罗马元老院本意是要他哥哥马尔库斯·奥列里乌斯做皇帝,但后者拒绝居于其弟之上,因此元老院授予维鲁斯“imperium”的头衔,并给予其名“奥古斯都”。由此他与其兄共同统治罗马帝国,这也是罗马帝国首度出现两帝共治。但实际还是以奥列里乌斯为最高领导者。维鲁斯于161年至169年在位,后来因病在169年死于返回罗马的途中。


Biography.

He was born in Batna and joined the National Liberation Army in 1957, at the age of 16, to fight French rule of Algeria. After independence, he received training in Cairo, Egypt, then Moscow, Soviet Union (1965-1966) and finally Paris. In 1975, he took command of a military school in Batna, then in 1981 of the Cherchell Military Academy. He was then made commander of the Tamanrasset military region in 1982, then the 3rd Military Region on the Moroccan border in 1984, then that of Constantine in 1987. He became a general in 1988, then head of ground forces in 1989.  After disagreeing with President Chadli Bendjedid about proposals for army reorganisation, he left the ANP in 1989, and briefly became ambassador to Romania. However, after Bendjedid's forced resignation in January 1992, his career prospects became more promising. In July 1993, he became Minister of Defense; in January 1994 he was promoted to head of the High Council of State. In November 1995, he was elected President, a post which he retained until the next elections. He was reputed to be politically dialoguist, supporting a partly negotiated solution to the Algerian Civil War. On December 25, 1994, Zéroual reluctantly allowed hijacked Air France Flight 8969 to leave Algerian territory after 3 civilians, including a French embassy chef, were murdered by the four hijackers.  Although some urged Zéroual to run in the 2009 presidential election, he said in a published statement on 14 January 2009 that he would not run, while also suggesting that it was not in the best interests of democracy for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.

Liamine Zéroual ( ALA-LC: "al-Yamīn Zarwāl"; Berber: Lyamin Ẓerwal; born 3 July 1941) is an Algerian politician who was the sixth President of Algeria from 31 January 1994 to 27 April 1999.

利亚米纳·泽鲁阿勒(Liamine Zéroual) (; 柏柏尔语: Lyamin Ẓerwal; 1941年-7月3日) 第四任阿尔及利亚总统(1994年1月31日—1999年4月27日)。


Background.

Very little is known about Boumédiène's life; even the year of his birth is contested. Most sources state 1932 and Héliopolis as the date and place of his birth, but others say he was born in Guelma on August 23, 1927, or Clauzel near Guelma on August 23, 1927, or August 16, 1925 What is known with reasonable certainty of Boumedienne is that he was born in August 23 1932 near Guelma with the name of Mohammed Ben Brahim Boukharouba, and that his father was an impoverished small wheat-farmer with seven children, an Arab and strict Muslim speaking no French. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, his family is Arabic speaking of Berber origins.  He was educated at the Islamic Institute in Constantine. He joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) in the Algerian War of Independence in 1955, adopting "Houari Boumédiène" as his nom-de-guerre (from Sidi Boumediène, the name of the patron saint of the city of Tlemcen in western Algeria, where he served as an officer during the war, and Sidi El Houari, the patron saint of nearby Oran). He reached the rank of colonel, then the highest rank in the FLN forces, and from 1960 he was chief of staff of the ALN, the FLN's military wing.  He was married to Anissa al-Mansali.

After independence.

In 1961, after its vote of self-determination, Algeria declared independence and the French announced it was independent. Boumédiène headed a powerful military faction within the government, and was made defence minister by the Algerian leader Ahmed Ben Bella, whose ascent to power he had assisted as chief of staff. Boumédiène was also appointed as Vice President of Algeria in September 1963. He grew increasingly distrustful of Ben Bella's erratic style of government and ideological puritanism, and in June 1965, Boumédiène seized power in a bloodless coup.  The country's constitution and political institutions were abolished, and he ruled through a Revolutionary Council of his own mostly military supporters. Many of them had been his companions during the war years, when he was based around the Moroccan border town of Oujda, which caused analysts to speak of the "Oujda Group". One prominent member of this circle was Boumédiène's long-time foreign minister, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who served as Algeria's president from 1999 until 2019.  Initially, he was seen as potentially a weak leader, with no significant power base except inside the army, and it was not known to what extent he commanded the officer corps. He remained Algeria's undisputed leader until his death in 1978. No significant internal challenges emerged from inside the government after the 1967 coup attempt.

Domestic policy.

Economically, Boumédiène turned away from Ben Bella's focus on rural Algeria and experiments in socialist cooperative businesses ("l'autogestion"). Instead, he opted for a more systematic and planned programme of state-driven industrialization. Algeria had virtually no advanced production at the time, but in 1971 Boumédiène nationalized the Algerian oil industry, increasing government revenue tremendously (and sparking intense protest from the French government). He then put the soaring oil and gas resources—enhanced by the oil price shock of 1973—into building heavy industry, hoping to make Algeria the Maghreb's industrial centre. His years in power were in fact marked by a reliable and consistent economic growth, but after his death, in the 1980s, the drop in oil prices and increasingly evident inefficiency of the country's state-run industries, prompted a change in policy towards gradual economical liberalization.  In the 1970s, along with the expansion of state industry and oil nationalization, Boumédiène declared a series of socialist revolutions, and strengthened the leftist aspect of his administration. A side-effect of this was the rapprochement with the hitherto suppressed remnants of the Algerian Communist Party (the PAGS), whose members were now co-opted into the government, where it gained some limited intellectual influence, although without formal legalization of their party. Algeria formally remained a single-party state under the FLN.  Political stability reigned, however, as attempts at challenging the state were generally nipped in the bud. As chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Boumédiène and his associates ruled by decree. During the 1970s, constitutional rule was gradually reinstated and civilian political institutions were restored and reorganized. Efforts were made to revive activity within the FLN, and state institutions were reestablished systematically, starting with local assemblies and moving up through regional assemblies to the national level, with the election of a parliament. The process culminated with the adoption of a constitution (1976) that laid down Algeria's political structure. This was preceded by a period of relatively open debate on the merits of the government-backed proposal, although the constitution itself was then adopted in a state-controlled referendum with no major changes. The constitution reintroduced the office of president, which Boumédiène entered after a single-candidate referendum in 1978.  At the time of his death, later that year, the political and constitutional order in Algeria was virtually entirely of FLN design. This structure remained largely unchanged until the late 1980s, when political pluralism was introduced and the FLN lost its role as dominant single party. (Many basic aspects of this system and the Boumédiène-era constitution are still in place.) However, throughout Boumédiène's era, the military remained the dominant force in the country's politics, and military influence permeated civilian institutions such as the FLN, parliament and government, undercutting the constitutionalization of the country's politics. Intense financial or political rivalries between military and political factions persisted, and was kept in check and prevented from destabilizing the government mainly by Boumédiène's overwhelming personal dominance of both the civilian and military sphere.  Algeria is experiencing significant economic and social development under its government. Between 1962 and 1982, the Algerian population increased from 10 to 20 million people and, massively rural before independence, 45% of the population was urbanized. Annual per capita income, which did not exceed 2,000 francs in 1962, exceeds 11,000 francs twenty years later, while the enrolment rate varies from 75 to 95% depending on the region, far from the 10% of French Algeria. However, it maintains a one-party system and the priority given to industrial development makes it neglect agriculture.

Foreign policy.

Boumédiène pursued a policy of non-alignment, maintaining good relations with both the communist bloc and the capitalist nations, and promoting third-world cooperation. In the United Nations, he called for a unity built on equal status for western and ex-colonial nations, and brought about by a socialist-style change in political and trade relations. He sought to build a powerful third world bloc through the Non-Aligned Movement, in which he became a prominent figure. He unconditionally supported freedom fighters, justice and equality seekers. He offered logistic assistance to anti-colonial movements and other militant groups across Africa and the Arab world, including the PLO, ANC, SWAPO and other nations.  A significant regional event was his 1975 pledge of support for Western Saharan self-determination, admitting Sahrawi refugees and the Polisario Front national liberation movement to Algerian territory, after Morocco and Mauritania claimed control over the territory. This ended the possibility of mending relations with Morocco, already sour after the 1963 Sand War, although there had been a modest thaw in relations during his first time in power. The heightened Moroccan-Algerian rivalry and the still unsolved Western Sahara question became a defining feature of Algerian foreign policy ever since and remains so today.

Death.

In 1978, his appearances became increasingly rare. After lingering in a coma for 39 days, he died in Algiers of a rare blood disease, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, following unsuccessful treatment in Moscow. Rumors about his being assassinated or poisoned have surfaced occasionally in Algerian politics, especially after two other participants of the 1975 Algiers Agreement events, The Shah and his Minister of Court Asadollah Alam, also died of the same rare disease. The death of Boumédiène left a power vacuum in Algeria which could not easily be filled; a series of military conclaves eventually agreed to sidestep the competing left- and right-wing contenders, and designate the highest-ranking military officer, Colonel Chadli Bendjedid, as a compromise selection. Still, factional intrigue mushroomed after Boumédiène's death, and no Algerian president has since gained the same respect from the Algerians.

Houari Boumédiène, also transcribed Boumediene, Boumedienne etc. ( ; ALA-LC: "Hawwārī Būmadyan"; 23 August 1932 – 27 December 1978), served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Algeria from 19 June 1965 until 12 December 1976 and thereafter as the second President of Algeria until his death on 27 December 1978.

胡阿里·布迈丁(,拉丁化:Houari Boumediène,1932年-8月23日-1978年-12月27日)阿尔及利亚革命委员会主席、共和国总统。原名穆罕默德·布哈鲁巴。


安东·斯蒂凡诺维奇·阿连斯基

Biography.

Arensky was born in a music-loving, affluent family in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine. With his mother and father, he moved to Saint Petersburg in 1879, after which he studied composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  After graduating from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1882, Arensky became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students there were Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Gretchaninov.  In 1895 Arensky returned to Saint Petersburg as the director of the Imperial Choir, a post for which he had been recommended by Mily Balakirev. He retired from this position in 1901, living off a comfortable pension and spending his remaining time as a pianist, conductor, and composer.  Arensky died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Perkjärvi, in what was then the Russian-administered Grand Duchy of Finland, at the age of 44. While very little is known about his private life, Rimsky-Korsakov alleges that drinking and gambling undermined his health. He was buried in the Tikhvin Cemetery.  The Antarctic Arensky Glacier was named after him.

Music.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was the greatest influence on Arensky's musical compositions. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov said, "In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me; later the influence came from Tchaikovsky. He will quickly be forgotten." The perception that he lacked a distinctive personal style contributed to long-term neglect of his music, though in recent years a large number of his compositions have been recorded. Especially popular are the "Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky" for string orchestra, Op. 35a - arranged from the slow movement of Arensky's 2nd string quartet, and based on one of Tchaikovsky's "Songs for Children", Op. 54.  Arensky was perhaps at his best in chamber music, in which genre he wrote two string quartets, two piano trios, and a piano quintet.

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (; – ) was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music.

安东·斯蒂凡诺维奇·阿连斯基(,1861年-7月12日-1906年-2月25日),俄罗斯作曲家,钢琴家,音乐教育家。早年在圣彼得堡音乐学院师从里姆斯基-科萨科夫,1882年起任莫斯科音乐学院和声学教授。1895年经巴拉基列夫推荐到圣彼得堡指挥帝国合唱团,1901年因健康原因退休,1906年因肺结核死于芬兰的疗养地。


History.

In the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa E. Rhine conducted investigation into extrasensory perception. While Louisa Rhine concentrated on collecting accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the laboratory, carefully defining terms such as ESP and "psi" and designing experiments to test them. A simple set of cards was developed, originally called Zener cards – now called ESP cards. They bear the symbols circle, square, wavy lines, cross, and star. There are five of each type of card in a pack of 25.  In a telepathy experiment, the "sender" looks at a series of cards while the "receiver" guesses the symbols. To try to observe clairvoyance, the pack of cards is hidden from everyone while the receiver guesses. To try to observe precognition, the order of the cards is determined after the guesses are made. Later he used dice to test for psychokinesis.  The parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked criticism from academics and others who challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. A number of psychological departments attempted, unsuccessfully, to repeat Rhine's experiments. W. S. Cox (1936) from Princeton University with 132 subjects produced 25,064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded "There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the 'average man' or of the group investigated or in any particular individual of that group. The discrepancy between these results and those obtained by Rhine is due either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the difference in the subjects." Four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhine's results.  In 1938, the psychologist Joseph Jastrow wrote that much of the evidence for extrasensory perception collected by Rhine and other parapsychologists was anecdotal, biased, dubious and the result of "faulty observation and familiar human frailties". Rhine's experiments were discredited due to the discovery that sensory leakage or cheating could account for all his results such as the subject being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle clues.  In the 1960s parapsychologists became increasingly interested in the cognitive components of ESP, the subjective experience involved in making ESP responses, and the role of ESP in psychological life. This called for experimental procedures that were not limited to Rhine's favored forced-choice methodology. Such procedures have included dream telepathy experiments, and the ganzfeld experiments (a mild sensory deprivation procedure).  Second sight may have originally been so called because normal vision was regarded as coming first, while supernormal vision is a secondary thing, confined to certain individuals. "An dà shealladh" or "the two sights", meaning "the sight of the seer", is the way Gaels refer to "second sight", the involuntary ability of seeing the future or distant events. There are many Gaelic words for the various aspects of second sight, but "an dà shealladh" is the one mostly recognized by non-Gaelic speakers, even though, strictly speaking, it does not really mean second sight, but rather "two sights".

Skepticism.

Parapsychology is the study of paranormal psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research. The scientific community rejects ESP due to the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a theory which would explain ESP and the lack of positive experimental results; it considers ESP to be pseudoscience.  The scientific consensus does not view extrasensory perception as a scientific phenomenon. Skeptics have pointed out that there is no viable theory to explain the mechanism behind ESP, and that there are historical cases in which flaws have been discovered in the experimental design of parapsychological studies.  There are many criticisms pertaining to experiments involving extrasensory perception, particularly surrounding methodological flaws. These flaws are not unique to a single experimental design, and are effective in discrediting much of the positive research surrounding ESP. Many of the flaws seen in the Zener cards experiment are present in the Ganzfeld experiment as well. First is the stacking effect, an error that occurs in ESP research. Trial-by-trial feedback given in studies using a “closed” ESP target sequence (e.g., a deck of cards) violates the condition of independence used for most standard statistical tests. Multiple responses for a single target cannot be evaluated using statistical tests that assume independence of responses. This increases likelihood of card counting and in turn, increases the chances for the subject to guess correctly without using ESP. Another methodological flaw involves cues through sensory leakage. For example, when the subject receives a visual cue. This could be the reflection of a Zener card in the holder's glasses. In this case, the subject is able to guess the card correctly because they can see it in the reflection, not because of ESP. Finally, poor randomization of target stimuli could be happening. Poor shuffling methods can make the orders of the cards easier to predict, or the cards could’ve been marked and manipulated, again, making it easier to predict which cards come next. The results of a meta-analysis found that when these errors were corrected and accounted for, there was still no significant effect of ESP. Many of the studies only appeared to have significant occurrence of ESP, when in fact, this result was due to the many methodological errors in the research.

Dermo-optical perception.

In the early 20th century, Joaquin María Argamasilla, known as the "Spaniard with X-ray Eyes", claimed to be able to read handwriting or numbers on dice through closed metal boxes. Argamasilla managed to fool Gustav Geley and Charles Richet into believing he had genuine psychic powers. In 1924, he was exposed by Harry Houdini as a fraud. Argamasilla peeked through his simple blindfold and lifted up the edge of the box so he could look inside it without others noticing.  Science writer Martin Gardner has written that the ignorance of blindfold deception methods has been widespread in investigations into objects at remote locations from persons who claim to possess second sight. Gardner documented various conjuring techniques psychics such as Rosa Kuleshova, Lina Anderson and Nina Kulagina have used to peek from their blindfolds to deceive investigators into believing they used second sight.

Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, includes claimed reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition.

超感官知觉(英语:extrasensory perception、ESP、sixth sense),俗称第六感,是一种某些人认为存在的能力。此能力能透过正常感官之外的管道接收讯息,能预知将要发生的事情,与当事人之前的经验累积所得的推断无关。普通人的感官(五感)包括眼(视觉)、耳(听觉)、前庭(平衡感)、鼻(嗅觉)、舌(味觉)、肌肤(触觉)或是其他现今科学熟悉的感官。


Etymology.

The name "yakuza" originates from the traditional Japanese card game "Oicho-Kabu", a game in which the goal is to draw three cards adding up to a score of 9. If the sum of the cards exceeds 10, its second digit is used as the score instead, and if the sum is exactly 10, the score is 1. If the three cards drawn are 8-9-3 (pronounced ya-ku-sa in Japanese), the sum is 20 and therefore the score is zero, making it the worst possible hand that can be drawn.

Origins.

Despite uncertainty about the single origin of "yakuza" organizations, most modern "yakuza" derive from two social classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo period (1603–1868): "tekiya", those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen, or shoddy goods; and "bakuto", those who were involved in or participated in gambling.  "Tekiya" (peddlers) ranked as one of the lowest social groups during the Edo period. As they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities. During Shinto festivals, these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security. Each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and protection during the fair.  The "tekiya" were a highly structured and hierarchical group with the "oyabun" (boss) at the top and "kobun" (gang members) at the bottom. This hierarchy resembles a structure similar to the family - the "oyabun" was often regarded as a surrogate father, and the "kobun" as surrogate children. During the Edo period, the government formally recognized the "tekiya". At this time, the "oyabun" were appointed as supervisors and granted near-samurai status, meaning they were allowed the dignity of a surname and two swords.  "Bakuto" (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edges of towns and villages all over Japan. Most of these gambling houses ran loan-sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. Society at large regarded the gambling houses themselves, as well as the "bakuto", with disdain. Much of the undesirable image of the Yakuza originates from "bakuto"; this includes the name "Yakuza" itself.  Because of the economic situation during the mid-period and the predominance of the merchant class, developing Yakuza groups were composed of misfits and delinquents who had joined or formed Yakuza groups to extort customers in local markets by selling fake or shoddy goods.  The roots of the Yakuza survive today in initiation ceremonies, which incorporate tekiya or bakuto rituals. Although the modern Yakuza has diversified, some gangs still identify with one group or the other; for example, a gang whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may refer to themselves as "bakuto".

Organization and activities.

Structure.

During the formation of the Yakuza, they adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun where "kobun" (子分; lit. foster child) owe their allegiance to the. In a much later period, the code of was developed where loyalty and respect are a way of life.  The oyabun-kobun relationship is formalized by ceremonial sharing of sake from a single cup. This ritual is not exclusive to the Yakuza—it is also commonly performed in traditional Japanese Shinto weddings, and may have been a part of "sworn brotherhood" relationships.  During the World War II period in Japan, the more traditional tekiya/bakuto form of organization declined as the entire population was mobilised to participate in the war effort and society came under strict military government. However, after the war, the Yakuza adapted again.  Prospective Yakuza come from all walks of life. The most romantic tales tell how Yakuza accept sons who have been abandoned or exiled by their parents. Many Yakuza start out in junior high school or high school as common street thugs or members of bōsōzoku gangs. Perhaps because of its lower socio-economic status, numerous Yakuza members come from Burakumin and ethnic Korean backgrounds.  Yakuza groups are headed by an "oyabun" or who gives orders to his subordinates, the "kobun". In this respect, the organization is a variation of the traditional Japanese senpai-kōhai (senior-junior) model. Members of Yakuza gangs cut their family ties and transfer their loyalty to the gang boss. They refer to each other as family members - fathers and elder and younger brothers. The Yakuza is populated almost entirely by men and the very few women who are acknowledged are the wives of bosses, who are referred to by the title. When the 3rd Yamaguchi-gumi boss (Kazuo Taoka) died in the early 1980s, his wife (Fumiko) took over as boss of Yamaguchi-gumi, albeit for a short time.  Yakuza have a complex organizational structure. There is an overall boss of the syndicate, the "kumicho", and directly beneath him are the "saiko komon" (senior advisor) and "so-honbucho " (headquarters chief). The second in the chain of command is the "wakagashira", who governs several gangs in a region with the help of a "fuku-honbucho" who is himself responsible for several gangs. The regional gangs themselves are governed by their local boss, the "shateigashira".  Each member's connection is ranked by the hierarchy of sakazuki (sake sharing). Kumicho are at the top, and control various. The saikō-komon control their own turfs in different areas or cities. They have their own underlings, including other underbosses, advisors, accountants and enforcers.  Those who have received sake from oyabun are part of the immediate family and ranked in terms of elder or younger brothers. However, each kobun, in turn, can offer sakazuki as oyabun to his underling to form an affiliated organisation, which might in turn form lower ranked organizations. In the Yamaguchi-gumi, which controls some 2,500 businesses and 500 Yakuza groups, there are fifth rank subsidiary organizations.

Rituals.

Yubitsume, or the cutting off of one's finger, is a form of penance or apology. Upon a first offense, the transgressor must cut off the tip of his left little finger and give the severed portion to his boss. Sometimes an underboss may do this in penance to the oyabun if he wants to spare a member of his own gang from further retaliation. This practice has started to wane amongst the younger members, due to it being an easy identifier for police.  Its origin stems from the traditional way of holding a Japanese sword. The bottom three fingers of each hand are used to grip the sword tightly, with the thumb and index fingers slightly loose. The removal of digits starting with the little finger moving up the hand to the index finger progressively weakens a person's sword grip.  The idea is that a person with a weak sword grip then has to rely more on the group for protection—reducing individual action. In recent years, prosthetic fingertips have been developed to disguise this distinctive appearance.  Many Yakuza have full-body tattoos (including their genitalia). These tattoos, known as irezumi in Japan, are still often "hand-poked", that is, the ink is inserted beneath the skin using non-electrical, hand-made and handheld tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel. The procedure is expensive, painful, and can take years to complete.  When Yakuza members play Oicho-Kabu cards with each other, they often remove their shirts or open them up and drape them around their waists. This enables them to display their full-body tattoos to each other. This is one of the few times that Yakuza members display their tattoos to others, as they normally keep them concealed in public with long-sleeved and high-necked shirts. When new members join, they are often required to remove their trousers as well and reveal any lower body tattoos.

Syndicates.

Four largest syndicates.

Although Yakuza membership has declined since the implementation of the Anti-Boryokudan Act in 1992, there are still approximately 28,200 active Yakuza members in Japan as of 2019. The Yakuza does not consist of just one group, rather there are many different syndicate groups that together form one of the largest organized crime groups in the world.

Designated bōryokudan.

A is a "particularly harmful" Yakuza group registered by the Prefectural Public Safety Commissions under the enacted in 1991.  Under the Organized Crime Countermeasures Law, the Prefectural Public Safety Commissions have registered 21 syndicates as the designated boryokudan groups. Fukuoka Prefecture has the largest number of designated boryokudan groups among all of the prefectures, at 5; the Kudo-kai, the Taishu-kai, the Fukuhaku-kai, the Dojin-kai and the Namikawa-kai.  Designated boryokudan groups are usually large organizations (mostly formed before World War II, some before the Meiji Restoration of the 19th century); however, there are some exceptions such as the Namikawa-kai, which, with its blatant armed conflicts with the Dojin-kai, was registered only two years after its formation.

Current activities.

Japan.

Yakuza are regarded as semi-legitimate organizations. For example, immediately after the Kobe earthquake, the Yamaguchi-gumi, whose headquarters are in Kobe, mobilized itself to provide disaster relief services (including the use of a helicopter), and this was widely reported by the media as a contrast to the much slower response by the Japanese government. The Yakuza repeated their aid after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, with groups opening their offices to refugees and sending dozens of trucks with supplies to affected areas. For this reason, many Yakuza regard their income and hustle ("shinogi") as a collection of a feudal tax.  The yakuza and its affiliated gangs control drug trafficking in Japan, especially methamphetamine. While many Yakuza syndicates, notably the Yamaguchi-gumi, officially forbid their members from engaging in drug trafficking, some other Yakuza syndicates, notably the Dojin-kai, are heavily involved in it.  Some Yakuza groups are known to deal extensively in human trafficking. The Philippines, for instance, is a source of young women. Yakuza trick girls from impoverished villages into coming to Japan, where they are promised respectable jobs with good wages. Instead, they are forced into becoming sex workers and strippers. Yakuza frequently engage in a unique form of Japanese extortion known as "sōkaiya". In essence, this is a specialized form of protection racket. Instead of harassing small businesses, the Yakuza harass a stockholders' meeting of a larger corporation. They simply scare the ordinary stockholder with the presence of Yakuza operatives, who obtain the right to attend the meeting by making a small purchase of stock.  Yakuza also have ties to the Japanese realty market and banking, through "jiageya". Jiageya specialize in inducing holders of small real estate to sell their property so that estate companies can carry out much larger development plans. Japan's bubble economy of the 1980s is often blamed on real estate speculation by banking subsidiaries. After the collapse of the Japanese property bubble, a manager of a major bank in Nagoya was assassinated, and much speculation ensued about the banking industry's indirect connection to the Japanese underworld.  Yakuza have been known to make large investments in legitimate, mainstream companies. In 1989, Susumu Ishii, the Oyabun of the Inagawa-kai (a well known Yakuza group) bought US$255 million worth of Tokyo Kyuko Electric Railway's stock. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has knowledge of more than 50 listed companies with ties to organized crime, and in March 2008, the Osaka Securities Exchange decided to review all listed companies and expel those with Yakuza ties.  As a matter of principle, theft is not recognised as a legitimate activity of Yakuza. This is in line with the idea that their activities are semi-open; theft by definition would be a covert activity. More importantly, such an act would be considered a trespass by the community. Also, Yakuza usually do not conduct the actual business operation by themselves. Core business activities such as merchandising, loan sharking or management of gambling houses are typically managed by non-Yakuza members who pay protection fees for their activities.  There is much evidence of Yakuza involvement in international crime. There are many tattooed Yakuza members imprisoned in various Asian prisons for such crimes as drug trafficking and arms smuggling. In 1997, one verified Yakuza member was caught smuggling 4 kilograms (8.82 pounds) of heroin into Canada.  Because of their history as a legitimate feudal organization and their connection to the Japanese political system through the "uyoku dantai" (extreme right-wing political groups), Yakuza are somewhat a part of the Japanese establishment, with six fan magazines reporting on their activities. Yakuza involvement in politics functions similarly to that of a lobbying group, with them backing those who share in their opinions or beliefs. One study found that 1 in 10 adults under the age of 40 believed that the Yakuza should be allowed to exist. In the 1980s in Fukuoka, a Yakuza war spiraled out of control and civilians were hurt. It was a large conflict between the Yamaguchi-gumi and Dojin-kai, called the "Yama-Michi War". The police stepped in and forced the Yakuza bosses on both sides to declare a truce in public.  At various times, people in Japanese cities have launched anti-Yakuza campaigns with mixed and varied success. In March 1995, the Japanese government passed the "Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members", which made traditional racketeering much more difficult. Beginning in 2009, led by agency chief Takaharu Ando, Japanese police began to crack down on the gangs. Kodo-kai chief Kiyoshi Takayama was arrested in late 2010. In December 2010, police arrested Yamaguchi-gumi's alleged number three leader, Tadashi Irie. According to the media, encouraged by tougher anti-Yakuza laws and legislation, local governments and construction companies have begun to shun or ban Yakuza activities or involvement in their communities or construction projects. The police are handicapped, however, by Japan's lack of an equivalent to plea bargaining, witness protection, or the United States' Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Laws were enacted in Osaka and Tokyo in 2010 and 2011 to try to combat Yakuza influence by making it illegal for any business to do business with the Yakuza.

Yakuza's aid in Tōhoku catastrophe.

Following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011, the Yakuza sent hundreds of trucks filled with food, water, blankets, and sanitary accessories to aid the people in the affected areas of the natural disaster. CNN México said that although the Yakuza operates through extortion and other violent methods, they "[moved] swiftly and quietly to provide aid to those most in need." Such actions by the Yakuza are a result of their knowing of what it is like to "fend for yourself," without any government aid or community support, because they are also considered "outcasts" and "dropouts from society". In addition, the Yakuza's code of honor ("ninkyo") reportedly values justice and duty above anything else, and forbids allowing others to suffer.

United States.

Yakuza activity in the United States is mostly restricted to Hawaii, but they have made their presence known in other parts of the country, especially in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Seattle, Las Vegas, Arizona, Virginia, Chicago, and New York City. The Yakuza are said to use Hawaii as a midway station between Japan and mainland America, smuggling methamphetamine into the country and smuggling firearms back to Japan. They easily fit into the local population, since many tourists from Japan and other Asian countries visit the islands on a regular basis, and there is a large population of residents who are of full or partial Japanese descent. They also work with local gangs, funneling Japanese tourists to gambling parlors and brothels.  In California, the Yakuza have made alliances with local Korean gangs as well as Chinese triads. They allied with Vietnamese gangs to use them as muscle, as they had potential to become extremely violent as needed. The Yakuza saw their potential following the constant Vietnamese cafe shoot-outs and home invasion burglaries throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In New York City, they appear to collect finder's fees from Russian, Irish and Italian gang members and businessmen for guiding Japanese tourists to gambling establishments, both legal and illegal.  Handguns manufactured in the US account for a large share (33%) of handguns seized in Japan, followed by China (16%) and the Philippines (10%). In 1990, a Smith & Wesson.38 caliber revolver that cost $275 in the US could sell for up to $4,000 in Tokyo. By 1997 it would sell for only $500 due to the proliferation of guns in Japan during the 1990s.  The FBI suspects that the Yakuza use various operations to launder money in the U.S.  In 2001, the FBI's representative in Tokyo arranged for Tadamasa Goto, the head of the group Goto-gumi, to receive a liver transplant at the UCLA Medical Center in the United States, in return for information of Yamaguchi-gumi operations in the US. This was done without prior consultation of the NPA. The journalist who uncovered the deal received threats by Goto and was given police protection in the US and in Japan.

North Korea.

In 2009, Yakuza member Yoshiaki Sawada was released from North Korea after spending five years in the country for attempting to bribe a North Korean official and smuggle drugs.

Constituent members.

According to a 2006 speech by Mitsuhiro Suganuma, a former officer of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, around 60 percent of Yakuza members come from burakumin, the descendants of a feudal outcast class and approximately 30 percent of them are Japanese-born Koreans, and only 10 percent are from non-burakumin Japanese and Chinese ethnic groups.

Burakumin.

The burakumin are a group that is socially discriminated against in Japanese society, whose recorded history goes back to the Heian period in the 11th century. The burakumin are descendants of outcast communities of the pre-modern, especially the feudal era, mainly those with occupations considered tainted with death or ritual impurity, such as butchers, executioners, undertakers, or leather workers. They traditionally lived in their own secluded hamlets.  According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, burakumin account for about 70% of the members of Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest Yakuza syndicate in Japan.

Ethnic Koreans.

While ethnic Koreans make up only 0.5% of the Japanese population, they are a prominent part of Yakuza because they suffer severe discrimination in Japanese society alongside the "burakumin". In the early 1990s, 18 of 90 top bosses of "Inagawa-kai" were ethnic Koreans. The Japanese National Police Agency suggested Koreans composed 10% of the Yakuza proper and 70% of "burakumin" in the "Yamaguchi-gumi". Some of the representatives of the designated Bōryokudan are also Koreans. The Korean significance had been an untouchable taboo in Japan and one of the reasons that the Japanese version of Kaplan and Dubro's "Yakuza" (1986) had not been published until 1991 with the deletion of Korean-related descriptions of the "Yamaguchi-gumi".  Japanese-born people of recent Korean ancestry are considered resident aliens because of their nationality and are often shunned in legitimate trades, and are therefore embraced by the Yakuza precisely because they fit the group's "outsider" image. Notable Yakuza members of Korean ancestry include Hisayuki Machii, the founder of the Tosei-kai, Tokutaro Takayama, the president of the 4th-generation Aizukotetsu-kai, Jiro Kiyota, the president of the 5th-generation Inagawa-kai, Makoto Suehiro, the president of the 7th-generation Goda-ikka, Shinichi Matsuyama, the president of the 5th-generation Kyokuto-kai, Torao Nagaoka the president of the 3rd-generation Fukuhaku-kai, Chojiro Murakami the president of the 1st-generation Kyushu Seido-kai, Masahiro Namikawa the president of the 2nd-generation Kyushu Seido-kai & Namikawa-kai, Yoshinori Oda the president of the Kizuna-kai, Hirofumi Hashimoto, the head of the Kyokushinrengo-kai, and the bosses of the 6th / 7th Sakaume-gumi.

Indirect enforcement.

Since 2011, regulations that made business with members illegal as well as enactments of Yakuza exclusion ordinances led to the group's membership decline from its 21st century peak. Methods include that which brought down Al Capone: checking the organization's finances. The Financial Services Agency ordered Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. to improve compliance and that its top executives report by 28 October 2013 what they knew and when about a consumer-credit affiliate found making loans to crime groups. This adds pressure to the group from the U.S. as well where an executive order in 2011 required financial institutions to freeze Yakuza assets. As of 2013, the U.S. Treasury Department has frozen about US$55,000 of Yakuza holdings, including two Japan-issued American Express cards.

Legacy.

Yakuza in society.

The Yakuza have had mixed relations with Japanese society. Despite their pariah status, some of their actions may be perceived to have positive effects on society. For example, they stop other criminal organisations acting in their areas of operation. They have been known to provide relief in times of disaster. These actions have at times painted Yakuza in a fairly positive light within Japan. However, gang-wars, and the use of violence as a tool have caused their approval to fall with the general public. See Murder of Junko Futura.

Film.

The Yakuza have been in media and culture in many different fashions. Creating its own genre of movies within Japan's film industry, the portrayal of the Yakuza mainly manifests in one of two archetypes; they are portrayed as either honorable and respectable men or as criminals who use fear and violence as their means of operation. Movies like "Battles Without Honor and Humanity" and "Dead or Alive" portray some of the members as violent criminals, with the focus being on the violence, while other movies focus more on the "business" side of the Yakuza.  The 1992 film Minbo, a satirical view of Yakuza activities, resulted in retaliation against the director, as real-life Yakuza gangsters attacked the director Juzo Itami shortly after the release of the film.  Yakuza films have also been popular in the Western market with films such as the 1975 film The Yakuza, the 1989 film Black Rain, the 2005 film Into the Sun, and the 2018 film, The Outsider.

Television.

The Yakuza make an appearance outside 742 Evergreen Terrace in the episode of the TV series "The Simpsons" called "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson". Marge's Pretzel rivals ask the Yakuza to appear outside the Simpson family house, where they fight a Mafia family led by Fat Tony.  The Yakuza play a very important role in the "Hawaii Five-0" remake. Lead character Kono Kalakaua's husband Adam Noshimuri was the former head of the Yakuza who took over after his father Hiro Noshimuri died. Adam's brother Michael Noshimuri was also part of the Yakuza.  The Yakuza are also the basis for the 2019 BBC TV Series Giri/Haji, which features a character whose life is put in danger after he comes under suspicion for a murder tied to the Yakuza.  The Yakuza were also a prominent force in the Amazon prime series The Man In The High Castle. They appeared in all 4 seasons of the popular series.

Video games.

The video game series "Yakuza", launched in 2005, portrays the actions of several different ranking members of the Yakuza, as well as criminal associates such as dirty cops and loan sharks. The series addresses some of the same themes as the Yakuza genre of film does, like violence, honor, politics of the syndicates, and the social status of the Yakuza in Japan. The series has been successful, spawning sequels, spin-offs, a live action movie, and a web TV series.  "Grand Theft Auto III" features a Yakuza clan that assists the protagonist in the second and third act after they cut their ties with the Mafia. The Yakuza derive most of their income from a casino, Kenji's, and are currently fighting to keep other gangs from peddling drugs in their territory while seeking to protect their activities from police interference. Towards the end of the third act, the player assassinates the leader of the clan, and the other members are later executed by Colombian gangsters.  "" features a mission set in Japan that sees Agent 47 assassinating the son of a wealthy arms dealer during his dinner meeting with a Yakuza boss at his private estate. A mission in a later game, "Hitman", set at a secluded mountaintop hospital, features a notorious Yakuza lawyer and fixer as one of two targets to be assassinated.

, also known as, are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them, while the "yakuza" call themselves. The English equivalent for the term "yakuza" is gangster, meaning an individual involved in a Mafia-like criminal organization. The "yakuza" are notorious for their strict codes of conduct, their organized fiefdom nature, and several unconventional ritual practices such as "yubitsume", or amputation of the left little finger. Members are often described as males, wearing "sharp suits" with heavily tattooed bodies and slicked hair. This group is still regarded as being among "the most sophisticated and wealthiest criminal organizations." At their height, the "yakuza" maintained a large presence in the Japanese media and operated internationally. At their peak in the early 1960s, police estimated that the "yakuza" had a membership of more than 200,000. However, this number has drastically dropped, a decline attributed to changing market opportunities and several legal and social developments in Japan which discourage the growth of "yakuza" membership. The "yakuza" still regularly engage in an array of criminal activities, and many Japanese citizens remain fearful of the threat these individuals pose to their safety. However, there remains no strict prohibition on "yakuza" membership in Japan today, although much legislation has been passed by the Japanese government aimed at increasing liability for criminal activities and impeding revenue.

极道()俗称,指日本社会里从事暴力或有组织犯罪活动的人士或团体。“”这一俗称来自日本纸牌游戏花札(玩法一说是「」)的一个最坏组合「八九三」(ヤクザ),或说是指乡里仲裁纠纷的单位「役座」()而来(因江湖人士总处于纠纷之中),还有说法是「役者」()转音而成(指黑道人士作风高调如歌舞伎演员「役者」)。