Description.

The Opiliones are known for having exceptionally long legs relative to their body size; however, some species are short-legged. As in all Arachnida, the body in the Opiliones has two tagmata, the anterior cephalothorax or prosoma, and the posterior 10-segmented abdomen or opisthosoma. The most easily discernible difference between harvestmen and spiders is that in harvestmen, the connection between the cephalothorax and abdomen is broad, so that the body appears to be a single oval structure. Other differences include the fact that Opiliones have no venom glands in their chelicerae and therefore pose no danger to humans.  They also have no silk glands and therefore do not build webs. In some highly derived species, the first five abdominal segments are fused into a dorsal shield called the scutum, which in most such species is fused with the carapace. Some such Opiliones only have this shield in the males. In some species, the two posterior abdominal segments are reduced. Some of them are divided medially on the surface to form two plates beside each other. The second pair of legs is longer than the others and function as antennae or feelers. In short-legged species, this may not be obvious.  The feeding apparatus (stomotheca) differs from most arachnids in that Opiliones can swallow chunks of solid food, not only liquids. The stomotheca is formed by extensions of the coxae of the pedipalps and the first pair of legs.  Most Opiliones, except for Cyphophthalmi, have a single pair of eyes in the middle of the head, oriented sideways. Eyes in Cyphophthalmi, when present, are located laterally, near the ozopores. A 305-million-year-old fossilized harvestman with two pairs of eyes was reported in 2014. This find indicates that the eyes in Cyphophthalmi are not homologous to the eyes of other harvestmen. However, some species are eyeless, such as the Brazilian "Caecobunus termitarum" (Grassatores) from termite nests, "Giupponia chagasi" (Gonyleptidae) from caves, most species of Cyphophthalmi, and all species of the Guasiniidae. Harvestmen have a pair of prosomatic defensive scent glands (ozopores) that secrete a peculiar-smelling fluid when disturbed. In some species, the fluid contains noxious quinones. They do not have book lungs, and breathe through tracheae. A pair of spiracles is located between the base of the fourth pair of legs and the abdomen, with one opening on each side. In more active species, spiracles are also found upon the tibia of the legs. They have a gonopore on the ventral cephalothorax, and the copulation is direct as male Opiliones have a penis, unlike other arachnids. All species lay eggs.  The legs continue to twitch after they are detached because 'pacemakers' are located in the ends of the first long segment (femur) of their legs. These pacemakers send signals via the nerves to the muscles to extend the leg and then the leg relaxes between signals. While some harvestman's legs twitch for a minute, others have been recorded to twitch up to an hour. The twitching has been hypothesized to function as an evolutionary advantage by keeping the attention of a predator while the harvestman escapes.  Typical body length does not exceed, and some species are smaller than 1 mm, although the largest known species, "Trogulus torosus" (Trogulidae), grows as long as. The leg span of many species is much greater than the body length and sometimes exceeds and to in Southeast Asia. Most species live for a year.

Behavior.

Many species are omnivorous, eating primarily small insects and all kinds of plant material and fungi; some are scavengers, feeding upon dead organisms, bird dung, and other fecal material. Such a broad range is unusual in other arachnids, which are typically pure predators. Most hunting harvestmen ambush their prey, although active hunting is also found. Because their eyes cannot form images, they use their second pair of legs as antennae to explore their environment. Unlike most other arachnids, harvestmen do not have a sucking stomach or a filtering mechanism. Rather, they ingest small particles of their food, thus making them vulnerable to internal parasites such as gregarines.  Although parthenogenetic species do occur, most harvestmen reproduce sexually. Mating involves direct copulation, rather than the deposition of a spermatophore. The males of some species offer a secretion (nuptial gift) from their chelicerae to the female before copulation. Sometimes, the male guards the female after copulation, and in many species, the males defend territories. In some species, males also exhibit post-copulatory behavior in which the male specifically seeks out and shakes the female's sensory leg. This is believed to entice the female into mating a second time.  The females lay eggs from an ovipositor shortly after mating to several months later. Some species build nests for this purpose. A unique feature of harvestmen is that some species practice parental care, in which the male is solely responsible for guarding the eggs resulting from multiple partners, often against egg-eating females, and cleaning the eggs regularly. Depending on circumstances such as temperature, the eggs may hatch at any time after the first 20 days, up to about half a year after being laid. Harvestmen variously pass through four to eight nymphal instars to reach maturity, with most known species having six instars.  Most species are nocturnal and colored in hues of brown, although a number of diurnal species are known, some of which have vivid patterns in yellow, green, and black with varied reddish and blackish mottling and reticulation.  Many species of harvestmen easily tolerate members of their own species, with aggregations of many individuals often found at protected sites near water. These aggregations may number 200 individuals in the Laniatores, and more than 70,000 in certain Eupnoi. behavior is likely a strategy against climatic odds, but also against predators, combining the effect of scent secretions, and reducing the probability of any particular individual being eaten.  Harvestmen clean their legs after eating by drawing each leg in turn through their jaws.

Antipredator defenses.

Predators of harvestmen include a variety of animals, including some mammals amphibians and arachnids like spiders and scorpions. Opiliones display a variety of primary and secondary defenses against predation, ranging from morphological traits such as body armor to behavioral responses to chemical secretions. Some of these defenses have been attributed and restricted to specific groups of harvestmen.

Primary defenses.

Primary defenses help the harvestmen avoid encountering a potential predator, and include crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry.

Crypsis.

Particular patterns or color markings on harvestmen's bodies can reduce detection by disrupting the animals' outlines or providing camouflage. Markings on legs can cause an interruption of the leg outline and loss of leg proportion recognition. Darker colorations and patterns function as camouflage when they remain motionless. Within the genus "Leiobunum" are multiple species with cryptic coloration that changes over ontogeny to match the microhabitat used at each life stage. Many species have also been able to camouflage their bodies by covering with secretions and debris from the leaf litter found in their environments. Some hard-bodied harvestmen have epizoic cyanobacteria and liverworts growing on their bodies that suggest potential benefits for camouflage against large backgrounds to avoid detection by diurnal predators.

Aposematism and mimicry.

Some harvestmen have elaborate and brightly colored patterns or appendages which contrast with the body coloration, potentially serving as an aposematic warning to potential predators. This mechanism is thought to be commonly used during daylight, when they could be easily seen by any predators.  Other harvestmen may exhibit mimicry to resemble other species’ appearances. Some Gonyleptidae individuals that produce translucid secretions have orange markings on their carapaces. This may have an aposematic role by mimicking the coloration of glandular emissions of two other quinone-producing species. Mimicry (Müllerian mimicry) occurring between Brazilian harvestmen that resemble others could be explained by convergent evolution.

Secondary defenses.

Secondary defenses allow for harvestmen to escape and survive from a predator after direct or indirect contact, including thanatosis, freezing, bobbing, autotomy, fleeing, stridulation, retaliation, and chemical secretions.

Thanatosis.

Some animals respond to attacks by simulating an apparent death to avoid either detection or further attacks. Arachnids such as spiders practice this mechanism when threatened or even to avoid being eaten by female spiders after mating. Thanatosis is used as a second line of defense when detected by a potential predator and is commonly observed within the Dyspnoi and Laniatores suborders, with individuals becoming rigid with legs either retracted or stretched.

Freezing.

Freezing – or the complete halt of movement – has been documented in the family Sclerosomatidae. While this can mean an increased likelihood of immediate survival, it also leads to reduced food and water intake.

Bobbing.

To deflect attacks and enhance escape, long-legged species – commonly known as daddy long-legs – from the Eupnoi suborder, use two mechanisms. One is bobbing, for which these particular individuals bounce their bodies. It potentially serves to confuse and deflect any identification of the exact location of their bodies. This can be a deceiving mechanism to avoid predation when they are in a large aggregation of individuals, which are all trembling at the same time. Cellar spiders (Pholcidae) that are commonly mistaken for daddy long-legs (Opiliones) also exhibit this behavior when their webs are disturbed or even during courtship.

Autotomy.

Autotomy is the voluntary amputation of an appendage, and is employed to escape when restrained by a predator. Eupnoi individuals, more specifically sclerosomatid harvestmen, commonly use this strategy in response to being captured. This strategy can be costly because harvestmen do not regenerate their legs, and leg loss reduces locomotion, speed, climbing ability, sensory perception, food detection, and territoriality.  Autotomized legs provide a further defense from predators because they can twitch for 60 seconds to an hour after detachment. This can also potentially serve as deflection from an attack and deceive a predator from attacking the animal. It has been shown to be successful against ants and spiders.

Fleeing.

Individuals that are able to detect potential threats can flee rapidly from attack. This is seen with multiple long-legged species in the Leiobunum clade that either drop and run, or drop and remain motionless. This is also seen when disturbing an aggregation of multiple individuals, where they all scatter.

Stridulation.

Multiple species within the Laniatores and Dyspnoi possess stridulating organs, which are used as intraspecific communication and have also been shown to be used as a second line of defense when restrained by a predator.

Retaliation.

Armored harvestmen in Laniatores can often use their modified morphology as weapons. Many have spines on their pedipalps, back legs, or bodies. By pinching with their chelicerae and pedipalps, they can cause harm to a potential predator. Also this has been proven to increase survival against recluse spiders by causing injury, allowing the harvestman to escape from predation.

Chemical.

Harvestmen are well known for being chemically protected. They exude strongly odored secretions from their scent glands, called ozopores, that act as a shield against predators; this is the most effective defense they use which creates a strong and unpleasant taste. These secretions have successfully protected the harvestmen against wandering spiders (Ctenidae), wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and "Formica exsectoides" ants. However, these chemical irritants are not able to prevent four species of harvestmen being preyed upon by the black scorpion "Bothriurus bonariensis" (Bothriuridae). These secretions contain multiple volatile compounds that vary among individuals and clades.

Endangered status.

All troglobitic species (of all animal taxa) are considered to be at least threatened in Brazil. Four species of Opiliones are on the Brazilian national list of endangered species, all of them cave-dwelling: "Giupponia chagasi", "Iandumoema uai", "Pachylospeleus strinatii" and "Spaeleoleptes spaeleus".  Several Opiliones in Argentina appear to be vulnerable, if not endangered. These include "Pachyloidellus fulvigranulatus", which is found only on top of Cerro Uritorco, the highest peak in the Sierras Chicas chain (provincia de Cordoba) and "Pachyloides borellii" is in rainforest patches in northwest Argentina which are in an area being dramatically destroyed by humans. The cave-living "Picunchenops spelaeus" is apparently endangered through human action. So far, no harvestman has been included in any kind of a Red List in Argentina, so they receive no protection.  "Maiorerus randoi" has only been found in one cave in the Canary Islands. It is included in the Catálogo Nacional de especies amenazadas (National catalog of threatened species) from the Spanish government.  "Texella reddelli" and "Texella reyesi" are listed as endangered species in the United States. Both are from caves in central Texas. "Texella cokendolpheri" from a cave in central Texas and "Calicina minor", "Microcina edgewoodensis", "Microcina homi", "Microcina jungi", "Microcina leei", "Microcina lumi", and "Microcina tiburona" from around springs and other restricted habitats of central California are being considered for listing as endangered species, but as yet receive no protection.

Misconception.

An urban legend claims that the harvestman is the most venomous animal in the world, but possesses fangs too short or a mouth too round and small to bite a human, rendering it harmless (the same myth applies to "Pholcus phalangioides" and the cranefly, which are both also called a 'daddy longlegs'). This is untrue on several counts. None of the known species of harvestmen has venom glands; their chelicerae are not hollowed fangs but grasping claws that are typically very small and not strong enough to break human skin.

Research.

Harvestmen are a scientifically neglected group. Description of new taxa has always been dependent on the activity of a few dedicated taxonomists. Carl Friedrich Roewer described about a third (2,260) of today's known species from the 1910s to the 1950s, and published the landmark systematic work "Die Weberknechte der Erde" (Harvestmen of the World) in 1923, with descriptions of all species known to that time. Other important taxonomists in this field include: Pierre Latreille (18th century) Carl Ludwig Koch, Maximilian Perty (1830s-1850s) L. Koch, Tord Tamerlan Teodor Thorell (1860s-1870s) Eugène Simon, William Sørensen (1880s-1890s) James C. Cokendolpher, Raymond Forster, Jürgen Gruber, Reginald Frederick Lawrence, Jochen Martens, Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão (20th century) Gonzalo Giribet, Adriano Brilhante Kury, Tone Novak (21st century).  Since the 1990s, study of the biology and ecology of harvestmen has intensified, especially in South America.

Phylogeny.

Harvestmen are ancient arachnids. Fossils from the Devonian Rhynie chert, 410 million years ago, already show characteristics like tracheae and sexual organs, indicating that the group has lived on land since that time. Despite being similar in appearance to, and often confused with, spiders, they are probably closely related to the scorpions, pseudoscorpions, and solifuges; these four orders form the clade Dromopoda. The Opiliones have remained almost unchanged morphologically over a long period. Indeed, one species discovered in China, "Mesobunus martensi", fossilized by fine-grained volcanic ash around 165 million years ago, is hardly discernible from modern-day harvestmen and has been placed in the extant family Sclerosomatidae.

Etymology.

The Swedish naturalist and arachnologist Carl Jakob Sundevall (1801–1875) honored the naturalist Martin Lister (1638–1712) by adopting Lister's term Opiliones for this order, known in Lister's days as "harvest spiders" or "shepherd spiders", from Latin "opilio", "shepherd"; Lister characterized three species from England (although not formally describing them, being a pre-Linnean work).

Systematics.

The interfamilial relationships within Opiliones are not yet fully resolved, although significant strides have been made in recent years to determine these relationships. The following list is a compilation of interfamilial relationships recovered from several recent phylogenetic studies, although the placement and even monophyly of several taxa are still in question.  The family Stygophalangiidae (one species, "Stygophalangium karamani") from underground waters in North Macedonia is sometimes misplaced in the Phalangioidea. It is not a harvestman.

Fossil record.

Despite their long history, few harvestman fossils are known. This is mainly due to their delicate body structure and terrestrial habitat, making them unlikely to be found in sediments. As a consequence, most known fossils have been preserved within amber.  The oldest known harvestman, from the 410-million-year-old Devonian Rhynie chert, displayed almost all the characteristics of modern species, placing the origin of harvestmen in the Silurian, or even earlier. A recent molecular study of Opiliones, however, dated the origin of the order at about 473 million years ago (Mya), during the Ordovician.  No fossils of the Cyphophthalmi or Laniatores much older than 50 million years are known, despite the former presenting a basal clade, and the latter having probably diverged from the Dyspnoi more than 300 Mya.  Naturally, most finds are from comparatively recent times. More than 20 fossil species are known from the Cenozoic, three from the Mesozoic, and at least seven from the Paleozoic.

Paleozoic.

The 410-million-year-old "Eophalangium sheari" is known from two specimens, one a female, the other a male. The female bears an ovipositor and is about long, whilst the male had a discernable penis. Whether both specimens belong to the same species is not definitely known. They have long legs, tracheae, and no median eyes. Together with the 305-million-year-old "Hastocularis argus", it forms the suborder Tetrophthalmi.  "Brigantibunum listoni" from East Kirkton near Edinburgh in Scotland is almost 340 million years old. Its placement is rather uncertain, apart from it being a harvestman.  From about 300 Mya, several finds are from the Coal Measures of North America and Europe. While the two described "Nemastomoides" species are currently grouped as Dyspnoi, they look more like Eupnoi.  "Kustarachne tenuipes" was shown in 2004 to be a harvestman, after residing for almost one hundred years in its own arachnid order, the "Kustarachnida".  Some fossils from the Permian are possibly harvestmen, but these are not well preserved.

Mesozoic.

Currently, no fossil harvestmen are known from the Triassic. So far, they are also absent from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil, a Lagerstätte that has yielded many other terrestrial arachnids. An unnamed long-legged harvestman was reported from the Early Cretaceous of Koonwarra, Victoria, Australia, which may be a Eupnoi.  A fossil of "Halitherses grimaldii", a long-legged Dyspnoi with large eyes, was found in Burmese amber dating from approximately 100 Mya. It has been suggested that this may be related to the Ortholasmatinae (Nemastomatidae).

Cenozoic.

Unless otherwise noted, all species are from the Eocene.

The Opiliones ( or ; formerly Phalangida) are an order of arachnids colloquially known as harvestmen, harvesters, or daddy longlegs., over 6,650 species of harvestmen have been discovered worldwide, although the total number of extant species may exceed 10,000. The order Opiliones includes five suborders: Cyphophthalmi, Eupnoi, Dyspnoi, Laniatores, and Tetrophthalmi, which were named in 2014.

Opiliones, les Opilions, mieux connus sous le nom vernaculaire de « faucheurs », « faucheux » ou « faucheuses » (peut-être en raison du fait qu'ils apparaissent dans les champs à l'époque des moissons et ont des pattes agissant comme des faux) sont un ordre d'arachnides, comme les araignées, les scorpions ou les acariens. Le nom opilion provient du latin "opilio" et signifie « berger de brebis », qui a possiblement comme origine les pâtres qui se tiennent sur des échasses dans certains pays. Le nom a été donné par Martin Lister (1638–1712), en référence au nom vernaculaire anglais "shepherd spider", « araignée bergère ».


Early life.

Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman (spelled "Ulman" by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in his memoirs) in Denver, Colorado, the son of Hezekiah Charles Ullman (September 15, 1833 – February 23, 1915) and Ella Adelaide (née Marsh; 1847–1915). He had two half-brothers, John Fairbanks, Jr. (born 1873) and Norris Wilcox (February 20, 1876 – October 21, 1946), and a full brother, Robert Payne Ullman (March 13, 1882 – February 22, 1948). His father was born in Berrysburg, Pennsylvania, and raised in Williamsport. He was the fourth child in a Jewish family consisting of six sons and four daughters. Charles' parents, Lazarus Ullman and Lydia Abrahams, had immigrated to the U.S. in 1830 from Baden, Germany.  When he was 17, Charles started a small publishing business in Philadelphia. Two years later, he left for New York to study law.  Charles met Ella Adelaide Marsh after she married his friend and client John Fairbanks, a wealthy New Orleans sugar mill and plantation owner. The couple had a son, John, and shortly thereafter John Senior died of tuberculosis. Ella, born into a wealthy southern Roman Catholic family, was overprotected and knew little of her husband's business. Consequently, she was swindled out of her fortune by her husband's partners. Even the efforts of Charles Ullman, acting on her behalf, failed to regain any of the family fortune for her.  Distraught and lonely, she met and married a courtly Georgian, Edward Wilcox, who turned out to be an alcoholic. After they had another son, Norris, she divorced Wilcox, with Charles acting as her own lawyer in the suit. She soon became romantically involved with Charles, and agreed to move to Denver with him to pursue mining investments. They arrived in Denver in 1881 with her son John. (Norris was left in Georgia with relatives and was never sent for by his mother.) They were married; in 1882 they had a son, Robert, and then a second son, Douglas, a year later. Charles purchased several mining interests in the Rocky Mountains, and re-established his law practice. After hearing of his wife's philandering, he abandoned the family when Douglas was five years old. Douglas and his older brother Robert were brought up by their mother, who gave them the family name Fairbanks, after her first husband.

Career.

Early career.

Douglas Fairbanks began acting at an early age, in amateur theatre on the Denver stage, performing in summer stock at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, and other productions sponsored by Margaret Fealy, who ran an acting school for young people in Denver. He attended Denver East High School, and was expelled for cutting the wires on the school piano.  He left school in the spring of 1899, at the age of 15. He variously claimed to have attended Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University, but neither claim is true. He went with the acting troupe of Frederick Warde, beginning a cross country tour in September 1899. He toured with Warde for two seasons, functioning in dual roles, both as actor and as the assistant stage manager in his second year with the group.  After two years he moved to New York, where he found his first Broadway role in "Her Lord and Master", which premiered in February 1902. He worked in a hardware store and as a clerk in a Wall Street office between acting jobs. His Broadway appearances included the popular "A Gentleman from Mississippi" in 1908–09. On July 11, 1907, Fairbanks married Anna Beth Sully, the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully, in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. They had one son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., also a noted actor. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1915.

Hollywood.

After moving to Los Angeles, Fairbanks signed a contract with Triangle Pictures in 1915 and began working under the supervision of D. W. Griffith. His first film was titled "The Lamb", in which he debuted the athletic abilities that would gain him wide attention among theatre audiences. His athleticism was not appreciated by Griffith, however, and he was brought to the attention of Anita Loos and John Emerson, who wrote and directed many of his early romantic comedies.  In 1916, Fairbanks established his own company, the Douglas Fairbanks Film Corporation, and would soon get a job at Paramount.  Fairbanks met actress Mary Pickford at a party in 1916, and the couple soon began an affair. In 1917, they joined Fairbanks' friend Charlie Chaplin selling war bonds by train across the United States. Pickford and Chaplin were the two highest paid film stars in Hollywood at that time. To curtail these stars' astronomical salaries, the large studios attempted to monopolize distributors and exhibitors. By 1918, Fairbanks was Hollywood's most popular actor, and within three years of his arrival, Fairbanks' popularity and business acumen raised him to the third-highest paid.  In 1917, Fairbanks capitalized on his rising popularity by publishing a self-help book, "Laugh and Live" which extolled the power of positive thinking and self-confidence in raising one's health, business and social prospects.  To avoid being controlled by the studios and to protect their independence, Fairbanks, Pickford, Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith formed United Artists in 1919, which created their own distributorships and gave them complete artistic control over their films and the profits generated.  Sully was granted a divorce from Fairbanks in late 1918, the judgment being finalized early the following year. After the divorce, the actor was determined to have Pickford become his wife, but she was still married to actor Owen Moore. Fairbanks finally gave her an ultimatum. She then obtained a rapid divorce in the small Nevada town of Minden on March 2, 1920. Fairbanks leased the Beverly Hills mansion Grayhall and was rumored to have used it during his courtship of Pickford. The couple married on March 28, 1920. Pickford's divorce from Moore was contested by Nevada legislators, however, and the dispute was not settled until 1922. Even though the lawmakers objected to the marriage, the public widely supported the idea of "Everybody's Hero" marrying "America's Sweetheart". That enthusiasm, in fact, extended far beyond the borders of the United States. Later, while honeymooning in Europe, Fairbanks and Pickford were warmly greeted by large crowds in London and Paris. Both internationally and at home, the celebrated couple were regarded as "Hollywood Royalty" and became famous for entertaining at "Pickfair", their Beverly Hills estate.  By 1920, Fairbanks had completed twenty-nine films (twenty-eight features and one two-reel short), which showcased his ebullient screen persona and athletic ability. By 1920, he had the inspiration of staging a new type of adventure-costume picture, a genre that was then out of favor with the public; Fairbanks had been a comic in his previous films. In "The Mark of Zorro", Fairbanks combined his appealing screen persona with the new adventurous costume element. It was a smash success, and parlayed the actor into the rank of superstar. For the remainder of his career in silent films he continued to produce and star in ever more elaborate, impressive costume films, such as "The Three Musketeers" (1921), "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" (1922), "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924), "The Black Pirate" (1926), and "The Gaucho" (1927). Fairbanks spared no expense and effort in these films, which established the standard for all future swashbuckling films.  In 1921, he, Pickford, Chaplin, and others, helped to organize the Motion Picture Fund to assist those in the industry who could not work, or were unable to meet their bills.  During the first ceremony of its type, on April 30, 1927, Fairbanks and Pickford placed their hand and foot prints in wet cement at the newly opened Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. (In the classic comedy "Blazing Saddles", Harvey Korman's villain character sees Fairbanks' prints at Grauman's and exclaims, "How did he do such fantastic stunts...with such little feet?")  Fairbanks was elected first President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences that same year, and he presented the first Academy Awards at the Roosevelt Hotel. Today, Fairbanks also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard.

Career decline and retirement.

While Fairbanks had flourished in the silent genre, the restrictions of early sound films dulled his enthusiasm for film-making. His athletic abilities and general health also began to decline at this time, in part due to his years of chain-smoking. On March 29, 1928, at Pickford's bungalow, United Artists brought together Pickford, Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Gloria Swanson, John Barrymore, D.W. Griffith and Dolores del Río to speak on the radio show "The Dodge Brothers Hour" to prove Fairbanks could meet the challenge of talking movies.  Fairbanks' last silent film was the lavish "The Iron Mask" (1929), a sequel to the 1921 release "The Three Musketeers". "The Iron Mask" included an introductory prologue spoken by Fairbanks. He and Pickford chose to make their first talkie as a joint venture, playing Petruchio and Kate in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (1929). This film, and his subsequent sound films, were poorly received by Depression-era audiences. The last film in which he acted was the British production "The Private Life of Don Juan" (1934), after which he retired from acting.  Fairbanks and Pickford separated in 1933, after he began an affair with Sylvia, Lady Ashley. Pickford had also been seen in the company of a high-profile industrialist. They divorced in 1936, with Pickford keeping the Pickfair estate. Fairbanks and Ashley were married in Paris in March 1936.  He continued to be marginally involved in the film industry and United Artists, but his later years lacked the intense focus of his film years. His health continued to decline. During his final years he lived at 705 Ocean Front (now Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California, although much of his time was spent traveling abroad with his third wife, Lady Ashley.

Death.

On December 12, 1939, Fairbanks suffered a heart attack. He died later that day at his home in Santa Monica at the age of 56. His last words were reportedly, "I've never felt better." His funeral service was held at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather Church in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery where he was placed in a crypt in the Great Mausoleum.  Two years following his death, he was removed from Forest Lawn by his widow, Sylvia, who commissioned an elaborate marble monument for him featuring a long rectangular reflecting pool, raised tomb, and classic Greek architecture in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. The monument was dedicated in a ceremony held in October 1941, with Fairbanks's close friend Charlie Chaplin reading a remembrance. The remains of his son, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., were also interred there upon his death in May 2000.

Legacy.

In 1992 Douglas Fairbanks was portrayed by actor Kevin Kline in the film "Chaplin".  In 1998, a group of Fairbanks fans started the Douglas Fairbanks Museum in Austin, Texas. The museum building was temporarily closed for mold remediation and repairs in February 2010.  In 2002, AMPAS opened the "Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study" located at 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The building houses the Margaret Herrick Library.  On November 6, 2008, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences celebrated the publication of their "Academy Imprints" book Douglas Fairbanks, authored by film historian Jeffrey Vance, with the screening of a new restoration print of The Gaucho with Vance introducing the film.  The following year, opening on January 24, 2009, AMPAS mounted a major Douglas Fairbanks exhibition at its Fourth Floor Gallery, titled "Douglas Fairbanks: The First King of Hollywood". The exhibit featured costumes, props, pictures, and documents from his career and personal life. In addition to the exhibit, AMPAS screened "The Thief of Bagdad" and "The Iron Mask" in March 2009. Concurrently with the Academy's efforts, the Museum of Modern of Art held their first Fairbanks film retrospective in over six decades, titled "Laugh and Live: The Films of Douglas Fairbanks" which ran from December 17, 2008, to January 12, 2009. Jeffrey Vance opened the retrospective with a lecture and screening of the restoration print of The Gaucho.  Recently, due to his involvement with the USC Fencing Club, a bronze statue of Fairbanks was erected in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Courtyard of the new School of Cinematic Arts building on the University of Southern California campus. Fairbanks was a key figure in the film school's founding in 1929, and in its curriculum development.  The 2011 film "The Artist" was loosely based on Fairbanks, with the film's lead portraying Zorro in a silent movie featuring a scene from the Fairbanks version. While thanking the audience in 2012 for a Golden Globe award as Best Actor for his performance in the film, actor Jean Dujardin added, "As Douglas Fairbanks would say," then moved his lips silently as a comedic homage. When Dujardin accepted the 2011 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Fairbanks was cited at length as the main inspiration for Dujardin's performance in "The Artist".  An important accolade given to the Douglas Fairbanks legacy was a special screening of his masterpiece, "The Thief of Bagdad", at the 2012 edition of the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival. On April 15, 2012, the festival concluded with a sold-out screening of the Fairbanks film held at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The evening was introduced by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz and Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance.  The nickname for the sports teams of the University of California-Santa Barbara is The Gauchos in honor of Fairbanks' acting in the eponymous film.

Douglas Elton Fairbanks (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including "The Thief of Bagdad", "Robin Hood", and "The Mark of Zorro", but spent the early part of his career making comedies.

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr, né le à Denver (Colorado) et mort le à Santa Monica (Californie), est un acteur, réalisateur et scénariste de cinéma américain, devenu célèbre pour ses rôles dans des films de cape et d'épée muets comme "Le Signe de Zorro", "Les Trois Mousquetaires", "Robin des Bois" ou "Le Voleur de Bagdad".


Early life.

Ivan Simon Cary Elwes was born on 26 October 1962 in Westminster, London, the youngest of three sons of portrait painter Dominic Elwes and interior designer and socialite Tessa Kennedy. He is the brother of artist Damian Elwes and film producer Cassian Elwes. His stepfather, Elliott Kastner, was an American film producer. His paternal grandfather was painter Simon Elwes, whose own father was the diplomat and tenor Gervase Elwes (1866–1921). His other great-grandfathers include the diplomat Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell and industrialist Ivan Rikard Ivanović. Elwes has English, Irish, Scottish, Croatian Jewish, and Serbian ancestry, the latter two from his maternal grandmother, Daška McLean, whose second husband, Billy McLean, was an operative for Special Operations Executive during World War II.  One of Elwes's relatives is John Elwes, who was believed to be the inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" (1843), having been referenced by Charles Dickens himself in chapter six of his last completed novel, "Our Mutual Friend". Elwes himself played five roles in the 2009 film adaptation of "A Christmas Carol". Through his maternal grandfather, Elwes is also related to Sir Alexander William "Blackie" Kennedy, one of the first photographers to document the archaeological site of Petra following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.  Elwes was brought up as a Roman Catholic and was an altar boy at Westminster Cathedral, although he did not attend denominational schools as most of the men on his father's side of the family had, including his father. His paternal relatives include such clerics as Dudley Charles Cary-Elwes (1868–1932), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Northampton, Abbott Columba Cary-Elwes (Ampleforth Abbey, Saint Louis Abbey), and Father Luke Cary-Elwes (Fort Augustus Abbey). He discussed this in an interview while he was filming the 2005 CBS television film "Pope John Paul II", in which he played the young priest Karol Wojtyła.  Elwes's parents divorced when he was four years old. In 1975, when Elwes was 13, his father died by suicide. He was educated at Harrow School, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In 1981, he moved to the United States to study acting at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. While living there, Elwes studied acting at both the Actors Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute under the tutelage of Al Pacino's mentor, Charlie Laughton (not to be confused with English actor Charles Laughton). As a teenager, he also worked as a production assistant on the films "Absolution", "Octopussy", and "Superman", where he was assigned to Marlon Brando. When Elwes introduced himself to the famous actor, Brando insisted on calling him "Rocky" after Rocky Marciano.

Career.

Film.

Elwes made his acting debut in 1984 with Marek Kanievska's film "Another Country", which was loosely based on the English boarding school exploits of British spies, Burgess, Philby and MacLean. He played James Harcourt, a gay student. He went on to play Guilford Dudley in the British historical drama film "Lady Jane", opposite Helena Bonham Carter. He was then cast as a stable-boy-turned-swashbuckler Westley in Rob Reiner's fantasy-comedy "The Princess Bride", which was based on the novel of the same name by William Goldman. It was a modest box office success, but received critical acclaim, earning a score of 97% on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Since being released on home video and television, the film has become a cult classic.  Elwes continued to work steadily, varying between dramatic roles, such as in the Oscar-winning "Glory" (1989), and comedic roles, as in "Hot Shots!" (1991). In 1993, he starred as Robin Hood in Mel Brooks's comedy, "". Elwes then appeared in supporting roles in such films as Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of "Bram Stoker's Dracula", "The Crush", "The Jungle Book" (1994), "Twister", "Liar Liar", and "Kiss the Girls". In 1999, he portrayed famed theatre and film producer John Houseman for Tim Robbins in his ensemble film based on Orson Welles's musical, "Cradle Will Rock". Following that, he travelled to Luxembourg to work with John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe in "Shadow of the Vampire". In 2001, he co-starred in Peter Bogdanovich's ensemble film "The Cat's Meow" portraying movie mogul Thomas Ince, who died mysteriously while vacationing with William Randolph Hearst on his yacht.  In 2004, Elwes starred in the horror–thriller "Saw" which, at a budget of a little over $1 million, grossed over $100 million worldwide. The same year he appeared in "Ella Enchanted", this time as the villain, not the hero. He made an uncredited appearance as Sam Green, the man who introduced Andy Warhol to Edie Sedgwick, in the 2006 film "Factory Girl". In 2007, he appeared in Garry Marshall's "Georgia Rule" opposite Jane Fonda.  In 2010, he returned to the "Saw" franchise in "Saw 3D" (2010), the seventh film in the series, as Dr. Lawrence Gordon. In 2011, he was selected by Ivan Reitman to star alongside Natalie Portman in "No Strings Attached". That same year, Elwes and Garry Marshall teamed up again in the ensemble romantic comedy "New Year's Eve" opposite Robert de Niro and Halle Berry.  In 2012, Elwes starred in the independent drama "The Citizen". and the following year Elwes joined Selena Gomez for the comedy ensemble, "Behaving Badly" directed by Tim Garrick. In 2014, he starred in John Herzfeld's ensemble comedy "Reach Me". In 2015, he completed four movies: the ensemble drama "Sugar Mountain" directed by Richard Gray; and the dramas "H8RZ", directed by Derrick Borte, "We Don't Belong Here", opposite Anton Yelchin and Catherine Keener directed by Peer Pedersen, and "Being Charlie" which reunited Elwes with director Rob Reiner after 28 years and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.  In January 2016, Elwes portrayed Andy Warhol opposite Kevin Spacey in "The Billionaire Boys Club" directed by James Cox.

Television.

Elwes made his first television appearance in 1996 as David Lookner on "Seinfeld". Two years later he played astronaut Michael Collins in the Golden Globe Award-winning HBO miniseries "From the Earth To the Moon". The following year Elwes was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his portrayal of Colonel James Burton in "The Pentagon Wars" directed by Richard Benjamin. In 1999, he guest starred as Dr. John York in an episode of the television series "The Outer Limits". Shortly afterward he received another Golden Satellite Award nomination for his work on the ensemble NBC Television movie "Uprising" opposite Jon Voight directed by Jon Avnet. Elwes had a recurring role in the final season (from 2001 to 2002) of Chris Carter's hit series "The X-Files" as FBI Assistant Director Brad Follmer.  In 2004, he portrayed serial killer Ted Bundy in the A&E Network film "The Riverman", which became one of the highest rated original movies in the network's history and garnered a prestigious BANFF Rockie Award nomination. The following year, Elwes played the young Karol Wojtyła in the CBS television film "Pope John Paul II", his second time working with Jon Voight. The TV film was highly successful not only in North America but also in Europe, where it broke box office records in the late Pope's native Poland and became the first film ever to break $1 million (GBP 739,075.00 current) in three days.  In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the "" episode "" as a Mafia lawyer. In 2009, he played the role of Pierre Despereaux, an international art thief, in the fourth-season premiere of "Psych". In 2010, he returned to "Psych", reprising his role in the second half of the fifth season, again in the show's sixth season, and again in the show's eighth season premiere. In 2014 Elwes played Hugh Ashmeade, Director of the CIA, in the second season of the BYUtv series "Granite Flats".  In May 2015, Elwes was cast as a series regular in Crackle's first streaming network series drama, "The Art of More", which explores the cutthroat world of premium auction houses. He played Arthur Davenport, a shrewd and eccentric world-class collector of illegal art and antiquities. The series debuted on 19 November and was picked up for a second season.  In April 2018 Elwes was cast as Larry Kline, Mayor of Hawkins, for the third season of the Netflix series "Stranger Things", which premiered in July 2019. In May 2019, it was announced that he would be joining the third season of the Amazon series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" as Gavin Hawk.

Voice-over work.

Elwes's voice-over work includes the narrator in James Patterson's audiobook "The Jester", as well as characters in film and television animations such as "Quest for Camelot", "Pinky and The Brain", "Batman Beyond", and the English versions of the Studio Ghibli films, "Porco Rosso", "Whisper of the Heart" and "The Cat Returns". For the 2004 video game "The Bard's Tale", he served as screenwriter, improviser, and voice actor of the main character The Bard. In 2009, Elwes reunited with Jason Alexander for the Indian film, "Delhi Safari". The following year Elwes portrayed the part of Gremlin Gus in Disney's video game, "". In 2014, he appeared in "" as the voice of scientists Edmond Halley and Robert Hooke.

Motion capture work.

In 2009 Elwes joined the cast of Robert Zemeckis's motion capture adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" portraying five roles. That same year he was chosen by Steven Spielberg to appear in his motion capture adaptation of Belgian artist Hergé's popular comic strip "".

Theatre.

In 2003 Elwes portrayed Kerry Max Cook in the off-Broadway play "The Exonerated" in New York, directed by Bob Balaban (18–23 March 2003).

Literature.

In October 2014 Touchstone (Simon & Schuster) published Elwes's memoir of the making of "The Princess Bride", entitled "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride", which Elwes co-wrote with Joe Layden. The book featured never-before-told stories, exclusive behind-the-scenes photographs, and interviews with co-stars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Fred Savage and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner. The book debuted on "The New York Times Best Seller list".

Other projects.

In 2014, Elwes co-wrote the screenplay for a film entitled "Elvis & Nixon", about the pair's famous meeting at the White House in 1970. The film, which starred Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey, was bought by Amazon as their first theatrical feature and was released on 22 April 2016.

Lawsuit.

In August 2005, Elwes filed a lawsuit against Evolution Entertainment, his management firm and producer of "Saw". Elwes said he was promised a minimum of one percent of the producers' net profits of the film and did not receive the full amount. The case was settled out of court. In 2010, he reprised his role in "Saw 3D".

Personal life.

Elwes met photographer Lisa Marie Kurbikoff in 1991 at a chili cook-off in Malibu, California, and they became engaged in 1997. They married in 2000 and have one daughter together.

Ivan Simon Cary Elwes (; born 26 October 1962) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his leading film roles as Westley in "The Princess Bride" (1987), Robin Hood in "" (1993), and Dr. Lawrence Gordon in the "Saw" film series. He is also known for leading roles in films like "Glory" (1989), "Hot Shots!" (1991), and "The Jungle Book" (1994), as well as supporting roles in films including "Days of Thunder" (1990), "Twister" (1996), "Kiss the Girls" (1997), "Liar Liar" (1997), Michael Collins in "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998), "Cradle Will Rock" (1999), "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000), "The Cat's Meow" (2001), "Ella Enchanted" (2004), "A Christmas Carol" (2009), and "No Strings Attached" (2011). He has had recurring roles in television series including "The X-Files", "Seinfeld", "Psych", and "Stranger Things". He joined the third season of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" as Gavin Hawk, a famed Broadway actor.

Ivan Simon Cary Elwes, dit Cary Elwes, est un acteur, scénariste et producteur de cinéma britannique, né le à Westminster (Londres).


Taxonomy.

Cetti's warbler was described in 1820 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck from specimens collected by Alberto della Marmora in Sardinia. Temminck coined the binomial name "Sylvia cetti". The specific epithet was chosen to commemorate the Italian zoologist Francesco Cetti. Cetti's warbler is now placed in the genus "Cettia" that was erected in 1834 by the French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte with Cetti's warbler as the type species.  Three subspecies are recognised:

Description.

The Cetti's warbler is approximately from bill to tail. The male weighs and the female. Cetti's warbler has a rounded head with a narrow pale grey stripe arching over conspicuous black eyes, and short, rounded wings. The upperparts are a rich chestnut or dark reddish-brown; the throat and breast are pale grey. The tail is longer and broader than many other warblers. The sexes have similar plumage, but males are 26% to 32% heavier than females with a wing-length 11.2% to 13.% longer. The male has a wing longer than 60 mm; the female has a wing shorter than 55 mm. The birds can be aged by their plumage; juveniles look similar to adults but have fresh plumage and two dark or dark grey spots on the tongue. Cetti's warbler is unusual among passerine birds in having ten tail feathers (rectrices) rather than the usual twelve.  Cetti's warblers signal their presence with loud song. Their song is distinct, comes in loud bursts, and has a unique structure that allows the birds to avoid mating with other species.

Distribution and habitat.

The Cetti's warbler usually inhabits damp areas including ponds, lakes, marshes and rivers. It is insectivorous.  The number of Cetti's warblers has greatly increased across Europe since 1990. The current population of Cetti's warblers in Europe is estimated to be about pairs. The populations in Italy and Turkey are known to be stable or increasing. The exception to the general positive European population trend is Greece, where the population decreased slightly between 1990 and 2000. However, overall, Cetti's warblers are evaluated as secure. The Cetti's warbler was first recorded in the United Kingdom in 1961. The UK population of Cetti's warblers fell by over a third between 1984 and 1986. However, populations in milder regions continued to grow.

Behaviour.

Breeding.

During the summer, the males spend most of their time establishing their territories. While doing this, they spend little amount of time caring for the eggs or young. Afterwards, the males usually attract more than one female to their territory. Their song plays an important role.  In Europe the main period for egg laying is from the middle to the end of June. The nest is placed in thick dense vegetation usually at around above the ground. The untidy cup shaped nest is made from leaves and stems and is lined with feathers, hair and other finer material. It is built entirely by the female. The eggs are laid in the early morning at daily intervals and are chestnut red in colour. The clutch consists of 4 to 5 eggs which measure approximately. The eggs are incubated by the female beginning when the clutch is complete and hatch after 16 to 17 days. The young are mainly fed and brooded by the female. They fledge after 14 to 16 days but continue to be fed by the parents for at least another 15 days. The young become independent by 30 days. In Europe Cetti's warblers normally have two broods each year. They first breed when one year of age.

Feeding.

Cetti's warbler preys on arthropods such as small, soft-bodied insects and larvae. Cetti's warblers prefer tiny insects because they can digest them faster.

Cetti's warbler ("Cettia cetti") is a small, brown bush-warbler which breeds in southern and central Europe, northwest Africa and the east Palearctic as far as Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan. The sexes are alike. The bird is named after the 18th century Italian zoologist, Francesco Cetti. This species is very difficult to see because of its skulking habits.

La Bouscarle de Cetti ("Cettia cetti") est une espèce de passereaux de la famille des Cettiidae. Olivier Messiaen a consacré à cet oiseau une pièce, qui en porte le nom, de son "Catalogue d'oiseaux".


Biography.

Origin and early career.

Isaac was the son of Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, who reportedly served as "strategos autokrator" of the East under Emperor Basil II and defended Nicaea against the rebel Bardas Skleros in 978. His mother's name was Maria, about whom nothing else is known. Manuel's native language was Greek and modern scholarship considers the family to have been of Greek origin. It is said that the family name was derived from the city of Komne, near Philippopolis in Thrace. Isaac was born.  As Maria had died early, on his deathbed in 1020, Isaac's father commended his two surviving sons Isaac and John to the care of Emperor Basil II. According to Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger, the two children were raised with the outmost solicitude: they were raised at the Stoudion monastery with the best tutors, while care was taken to teach them how to hunt and military exercises. As soon as they came of age, Isaac and his brother joined the imperial bodyguard, the "Hetaireia".  At a young age, perhaps as early as 1025, Isaac married Catherine of Bulgaria (born ), a daughter of Ivan Vladislav (), the last Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire. From he held the post of "stratopedarches" of the East—likely denoting that he was "domestikos ton scholon", commander-in-chief, of the eastern field army, but this title is not explicitly attested—and the ranks of "magistros" and "vestes". He was dismissed by Empress Theodora in 1054, and replaced by her eunuch confidant, the "proedros" Theodore.

Revolt of the eastern generals.

Michael VI and the military leadership.

When Michael VI Bringas came to the throne in 1056, Isaac was chosen to lead a deputation of eastern generals to the new emperor. Michael VI engaged in mass promotions of individuals—in the eyes of the contemporary courtier Michael Psellos, to an excessive degree—and the military sought to partake in the emperor's bounty. This was not a trivial matter: the debasement of the Byzantine currency under Constantine IX Monomachos () had affected military pay—not coincidentally presided over by none other than Michael Bringas, who was then military logothete—and while civil officials were compensated by being raised to higher dignities (which commanded higher salaries, "rogai"), the army was not. This exacerbated the already simmering dislike of the military aristocracy for the "regime of eunuchs and civilian politicians" that had dominated the empire during the last decades of the Macedonian dynasty. At Easter 1057, the traditional time when the emperor paid title holders their stipends, the delegation presented itself before the emperor. Along with Isaac, the delegation included the "magistros" Katakalon Kekaumenos, who had just been dismissed as "doux" of Antioch; the "vestarches" Michael Bourtzes, whose namesake grandfather had captured Antioch for Byzantium a century earlier; Constantine Doukas, married to a niece of the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Keroularios; his brother John Doukas, a friend of Psellos; and others not explicitly named. As the historian Anthony Kaldellis comments, this was a formidable assemblage, as the families represented in it, all of them descended from military men promoted by the warrior-emperor Basil II, would define "the future of the empire for the next thirty years, indeed for the next century and more".  Psellos himself was an eyewitness at the reception of the generals' delegation, and claims that the emperor began abusing them at once; he then made Isaac, as the leader of the deputation, and his second, Kekaumenos, stand forth, and proceeded to denounce him, claiming that he was responsible for "all but losing Antioch" and "corrupting his army", being a coward and incompetent, and of having misappropriated army funds for his own use. John Skylitzes, who wrote later in the century, reports that the emperor treated the generals courteously, but agrees that he refused outright to consider the honours they claimed for themselves, notably the promotion of Isaac and Kekaumenos to the rank of "proedros".  The effect of the emperor's attitude on the army leadership was profound, and turned them against Michael. A second delegation to the chief minister, the "protosynkellos" Leo Paraspondylos, was received in similar manner, and according to Psellos Isaac could barely restrain his colleagues from attacking the emperor then and there, in his own throne room. At length, a plot was formed against the emperor, and despite Isaac's own reluctance, according to Psellos, he was nominated as its leader.  The conspirators contacted the veteran general Nikephoros Bryennios—who had unsuccessfully tried to usurp the throne from Theodora—but had recently been recalled by Michael VI as commander of the Macedonian army, and he apparently agreed to support them. Soon after, however, Bryennios left with his troops for Asia Minor, to campaign against the Turks. Once in the Anatolic Theme he quarreled with the army treasurer, threw him in prison, and appropriated the funds to pay his soldiers as he saw fit. This was seen by another local commander as a sign of rebellion; Bryennios was arrested and blinded.

Proclamation of Isaac as emperor and the Battle of Hades.

Fearing that their plot was about to be discovered, the eastern generals hastened to act: the conspirators resident in the Anatolic Theme, Romanos Skleros, Michael Bourtzes, Nikephoros Botaneiates and the sons of Basil Argyros, hastened to find Isaac Komnenos at his estates near Kastamon in Paphlagonia, and on 8 June 1057, at a place called Gounaria, proclaimed him emperor. It is unclear whether any of the rebels held command of troops; rather, according to Kaldellis, "they had to canvass for support among the officers and soldiers and forge orders of imperial appointment for themselves". Thus Skylitzes reports that Kekaumenos had to forge imperial letters to mobilize the regiments of the Armeniac Theme. With this force he went to join Komnenos. Leaving his family for safety with his brother at the fortress of Pemolissa on the banks of the Halys River, Komnenos advanced west towards Constantinople.  At the same time, the western regiments, and some of the eastern ones too, remained loyal to Michael VI. The emperor placed them under the command of Theodora's eunuch favourite, the "proedros" Theodore, and Aaron, Isaac's brother-in-law; unlike previously, he now showered his commanders with honours to secure their allegiance. The loyalist army assembled at Nicomedia, controlling the direct route to the capital. Therefore Komnenos turned south and seized Nicaea as his base of operations.  The two armies met at the Battle of Hades, near Nicaea. In a hard-fought battle with many casualties, the loyalist left defeated the right wing of the rebel army. On the other flank, Kekaumenos broke through the loyalists to capture their camp and decide the battle, while Isaac held the centre.

Negotiations and downfall of Michael VI.

Michael VI then attempted to negotiate with the rebels, sending Psellos, Leo Alopos, and the former "mesazon" of Constantine IX, Constantine Leichoudes, to Isaac's camp. Michael offered to adopt Isaac as his son and to grant him the title of "Caesar", making him effectively his successor, but this was rejected in a public audience. Psellos claims that Isaac was inclined to accept, the pressure of the assembled troops, who vocally refused it, forced him to agree with his supporters. At a private meeting afterwards Isaac insisted that he had accepted the title of emperor only under the pressure of his followers, and secretly accepted the offer, provided that Michael would also share "some, at any rate, of his imperial power", so that he could make appointments and reward his followers, especially in the military.  The envoys returned to Constantinople, and rapidly secured Michael's consent to the proposal; the Emperor explicitly agreed to pardon Isaac's followers, and to accord Isaac additional honours above those of "Caesar", setting him up almost as a co-emperor ("symbasileus"). As a sign of good faith, furthermore, Paraspondylos was dismissed from office. When the envoys returned to Isaac with these news, he publicly accepted the proposal and prepared to enter the capital.  Back in Constantinople, however, a crowd of officials assembled in the Hagia Sophia and began protesting that by making a deal, the Emperor was forcing them to renounce their oaths to oppose the rebels. Going a step further, they began themselves acclaiming Isaac as emperor. After a short while, on 30 August, Michael Keroularios and the clergy joined their cause, raising suspicions that this "spontaneous" assembly had been planned by the ambitious and wily Patriarch all along. Pressured by Keroularios and wanting to avoid bloodshed in the city, Michael agreed to abdicate. He was quickly tonsured and retired to a monastery. On the next day, 31 August, Isaac and his entourage crossed the Bosporus into Constantinople and entered the palace; on 1 September, he was crowned emperor by the Patriarch in the Hagia Sophia.

Reign.

The first act of the new emperor was to reward his partisans: his fellow conspirators were named to high offices—his own brother John was named "domestikos ton scholon" of the West and received the high title of "kouropalates", which was also awarded to Kekaumenos and Bryennios. The troops that had followed him received a donative and were quickly sent back east, to avoid any trouble with the populace of Constantinople. Patriarch Michael Keroularios was also rewarded for his support, by receiving sole authority for all personnel and financial matters of the Church, which were previously under the purview of the emperor, while the Patriarch's nephews received high court titles.

Fiscal reforms.

Isaac's rise to power was a turning point in Byzantine history, marking the definitive end of the long-lived Macedonian dynasty. Although powerful generals had previously suborned power, they had ruled alongside the Macedonian emperors; Isaac was the first military strongman to usurp power outright since the 9th century. This was reflected in the coinage struck in his name, which uniquely showed him holding a drawn sword; while it may have simply indicated his intention to restore "capable military rule" (Kaldellis), it came to be understood as a claim to rule by right of conquest, and even as expressing an impious belief "that his accomplishments came not from God but from his own prowess". Certainly it highlighted Isaac's determination to make reforms and restore the effectiveness of the army.  The task he faced was truly herculean, as the politically weak emperors of the previous thirty years had fostered corruption and inefficiency, handing out titles and their attendant state salaries ("rogai") in exchange for support. The devaluation of the coinage under Constantine IX had been a first reaction to the brewing crisis, but Isaac was the first emperor who certainly faced a budget deficit. To fund his cherished army, Isaac was therefore obliged to begin strict economies: he reduced or abolished the "rogai" of those who had been awarded titles, enforced a stricter and more efficient collection of taxes, reclaimed misappropriated imperial estates, and cancelled grants of such lands and tax exemptions made under Constantine IX and Michael VI, particularly those that had been granted to monasteries and churches, using a law of Nikephoros II Phokas. Even though salaries of officials, especially members of the Senate, were cut, Isaac's efforts were enthusiastically received even among some senior members of the civil bureaucracy, judging by the comments of Psellos and Michael Attaleiates.

Downfall of Keroularios.

The only point of criticism raised by Psellos is his haste and severity, judging that by a more gradual and judicious, step by step approach, he would have reaped greater success with far less opposition. Thus his appropriation of Church lands provoked the reaction of Michael Keroularios, with whom Isaac's relations had been steadily deteriorating. The Patriarch's role in Isaac's accession and his extensive new powers over the Church quickly went to his head. He is said to have admonished and berated the emperor, and even going as far as threatening to destroy him "like an oven he had made". He is also alleged to have worn imperial purple boots, a privilege restricted to the emperor, and which may indicate, according to Kaldellis, that Keroularios was influenced by Papal theories and conceived of the secular and clerical powers as co-equal, a traditional Byzantine approach known as a symphonia.  Finally, on 8 November 1058, while Keroularios was visiting a church outside the city walls, and hence was away from his supporters in the urban mob, Isaac sent the Varangian Guard to arrest him and take him to Prokonnesos, where he was placed under house arrest. Isaac applied considerable pressure on Keroularios to resign, but the latter steadfastly refused. In the end, the emperor decided to convene a synod against the Patriarch. This too was to take place away from the capital, somewhere in Thrace, with Psellos, who had himself been earlier persecuted by Keroularios, as the chief accuser. In the event, Keroularios died on 21 January 1059, before the synod could take place. Isaac appointed the bureaucrat Constantine Leichoudes as the new patriarch.

Military situation.

The rebellion and civil war that brought Isaac to the throne had concentrated Byzantium's military might away from its borders. The contemporary Armenian historian Aristakes Lastivertsi reports that the Georgian lord Ivane took advantage of this opportunity to capture two Byzantine frontier forts as well as an imperial tax collector, and lay siege to Theodosiopolis. The Byzantine "doux" at Ani drove him off, but Ivane then called upon some Turks for assistance. About a month after Isaac's coronation, these raiders reached Melitene, whose inhabitants were allowed to depart before the city was plundered by the Turks. Local Byzantine troops managed to blockade the mountain passes, forcing the raiders to winter in the region of Chorzane. In spring 1058, the Turks were ambushed and defeated while they attacked the fort of Mormrans, leaving most of their captives behind. At about the same time or shortly after, another Turkish raid into Taron was heavily defeated by the Byzantine defenders. Melitene was repaired and refortified, and made the seat of a "doux".  Constantine IX had famously abolished the military obligations of the Armenian thematic troops in exchange for cash payments, a step widely regarded, both by contemporaries and modern historians, as having catastrophic consequences for Byzantium's eastern defences, especially against the mounting Turkish threat. While Isaac does not appear to have acted to restore the thematic armies, according to Kaldellis, the reaction of the local forces to these events does not appear to indicate a degradation of Byzantium's defensive abilities in the East, but rather the continued and successful application of old-established counter-raiding principles as codified in Nikephoros Phokas' "De velitatione bellica" a century earlier.  Isaac led only one military expedition, in late summer of 1059, into the Balkan provinces that had been suffering raids by the Hungarians and the Pechenegs. The details of the campaign are obscure, but the two had possibly entered into an alliance. At Serdica, the emperor made a treaty with the Hungarians—who appear to have kept the fortress town of Sirmium—before moving against the Pechenegs in the area of Moesia. Most of the Pechenegs submitted again to imperial authority. The only major combat was against the fortified stronghold of a certain Selte, a recalcitrant Pecheneg leader.  On its return march the army was caught in a sudden storm on 24 September. Many men and supplies were lost, while Isaac barely escaped death when a tree struck by lightning fell next to him. This was followed by the false rumour that a tax assessor in the eastern provinces was plotting rebellion, and Isaac hastened back to the capital. Despite these events, Psellos claims that at this point Isaac's character changed markedly, and that he became "more haughty to such an extent that he held everyone else in contempt", including his own brother.

Illness, abdication, and death.

Isaac was a passionate hunter with both the horse and the falcon, spending much time at a hunting lodge outside Constantinople. On a hunt he fell ill. As the fever lasted for several days, Isaac, fearing he would die soon, named Constantine Doukas as his successor on 22 November 1059, and agreed to resign and retire to a monastery. Psellos claims that he was the main author of this nomination, even against the initial opposition of Empress Catherine.  According to Psellos, Isaac began to recover soon after Doukas' nomination, and started reconsidering his decision. Psellos again took the decisive step of having Doukas publicly acclaimed as emperor on 23 December, with Psellos putting the purple sandals on his feet. Isaac then resigned to his fate, and was tonsured as a monk, retiring to the Stoudion monastery. Psellos' prominent role in these events may simply be exaggeration and self-promotion, especially as he was writing this part of his history during the reign of Constantine Doukas and his son Michael VII Doukas (). No contemporary or later source, not even during the Komnenian dynasty (1081–1180), described or implied a coup by Doukas and his supporters, and the legality of the transition was never questioned.  Empress Catherine remained at the palace, and was even allowed to be mentioned first in the imperial acclamations, with Doukas coming second. This joint reign lasted for a brief while, before she too retired to the Myrelaion monastery under the monastic name of Xene. Isaac lived the remainder of his life as a simple monk in Stoudion, readily performing menial tasks until he died in late 1060.

Family.

Isaac was married to Catherine of Bulgaria, a daughter of Ivan Vladislav, the last ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire. Isaac raised her to the position of "Augusta". The couple had at least two children:

Isaac I Komnenos or Comnenus (, "Isaakios ho Komnēnos"; – 1060) was Byzantine Emperor from 1057 to 1059, the first reigning member of the Komnenian dynasty.

Isaac (grec : ), né vers 1007 et mort en 1061, est un empereur byzantin qui régna du au et fut le fondateur de la dynastie Comnène.


Mythology.

The myth of her transformation begins in Arcadia when she came across a clear stream and began bathing, not knowing it was the river god Alpheus, who flowed down from Arcadia through Elis to the sea. He fell in love during their encounter, but she fled after discovering his presence and intentions, as she wished to remain a chaste attendant of Artemis. After a long chase, she prayed to her goddess to ask for protection. Artemis hid her in a cloud, but Alpheus was persistent. She began to perspire profusely from fear, and soon transformed into a stream. Artemis then broke the ground allowing Arethusa another attempt to flee. Her stream traveled under the sea to the island of Ortygia, but Alpheus flowed through the sea to reach her and mingle with her waters. Virgil augurs for Arethusa a salt-free passage beneath the sea on the condition that, before departing, she grant him songs about troubled loves, not those in her own future, but those of Virgil's friend and contemporary, the poet Cornelius Gallus, whom Virgil imagines dying from unrequited love beneath the famous mountains of Arcadia, Maenalus and Lycaeus.During Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone, Arethusa entreated Demeter to discontinue her punishment of Sicily for her daughter's disappearance. She told the goddess that while traveling in her stream below the earth, she saw her daughter looking sad as the queen of Hades.  The Roman writer Ovid called Arethusa by the name "Alpheias", because her stream was believed to have a subterranean communication with the river Alpheius, in Peloponnesus.  Apart from retellings by classical authors including Ovid and Virgil, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a poem on "Arethusa" in 1820. Anne Ridler's "Evenlode" (1959), which she described as "a fable of rivers designed for broadcasting with music," has Alpheus and Arethusa as its main characters.

Coin of Arethusa.

As a patron figure of Syracuse, the head of Arethusa surrounded by dolphins was a usual type on their coins. They are regarded as among the most famous and beautiful Ancient Greek coins.

In music.

Karol Szymanowski, polish classical music composer named "The Fountain of Arethusa" first of his three poems entitled "Myths" for violin and piano. The Saucy Arethusa is an 18th-century song about a British naval ship named after Arethusa. A song on the album Her Majesty the Decemberists by The Decemberists called "Shanty for the Arethusa" is about a different ship called "Arethusa". A movement of Benjamin Britten's oboe piece "Six Metamorphoses After Ovid" is entitled "Arethusa."  Also Ralph Vaughan Williams, the English classical music composer, composed "Sea Songs", a quick march for both brass band and wind band written in 1923, used a Morris Dance tune 'The Royal Princess' which was also known by the title 'The Arethusa', alongside two other shanty tunes 'Admiral Benbow' and 'Portsmouth'.  'The Princess Royal' is one of the most celebrated of Turlough O'Carolan's compositions, largely because of its association with the words of the song 'The Aretusa', to which it was set by Shield toward the end of the eighteenth century. The song of 'The Aretusa' originally appeared in a small opera or musical entertainment called 'The Lock and Key', which was acted in 1796. The Princess Royal was composed for the eldest daughter in Carolan's time of The MacDermott Roe of Coolavin. It is perhaps worth mentioning that there is an English folk song, of fairly wide distribution in England which is entitled 'The Princess Royal' but has no connection with Carolan's melody.

In Greek mythology, Arethusa (; ) was a nymph and daughter of Nereus (making her a Nereid), who fled from her home in Arcadia beneath the sea and came up as a fresh water fountain on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily.

Dans la mythologie grecque, Aréthuse (en grec ancien ) est une nymphe du cortège d'Artémis. Étant la fille de Nérée, elle est aussi une Néréide.


Description.

The flower bud is ampule-shaped and contains water. These buds are often used by children who play with its ability to squirt the water. The sap sometimes stains yellow on fingers and clothes. The open flowers are cup-shaped and hold rain and dew, making them attractive to many species of birds.

Flower anatomy.

The African tulip tree flower produces large flamboyant reddish-orange flowers that have approximately five petals and are 8-15 cm long. The flowers are bisexual and zygomorphic. These are displayed in a terminal corymb-like raceme inflorescence. Its pedicel is approximately 6 cm long. This flower also has a yellow margin and throat. The pistil can be found at center of four stamens that is inserted on the corolla tube. This flower has a slender ovary that is superior and is two celled. The seeds of this tree are flat, thin, and broadly winged.

Species associations.

In Neotropical gardens and parks, their nectar is popular with many hummingbirds, such as the black-throated mango ("Anthracothorax nigricollis"), the black jacobin ("Florisuga fusca"), or the gilded hummingbird ("Hylocharis chrysura"). The wood of the tree is soft and is used for nesting by many hole-building birds such as barbets.

Geographic distribution.

It has become an invasive species in many tropical areas such as Hawaii, Queensland (Australia), Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and the wet and intermediate zones of Sri Lanka.  "Spathodea campanulata" is a declared class 3 pest species in Queensland, Australia, under the "Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002".

Pests and diseases.

In Uganda, two lepidopteran species, two termite species, and one bark beetle attack "S. campanulata". In Puerto Rico nine insect species in the orders Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Thysanoptera have been reported as feeding on various parts of "S. campanulata". The species is quite susceptible to butt and heart rot; wood of the tree rots quickly when in contact with the ground.

Spathodea is a monotypic genus in the flowering plant family Bignoniaceae. The single species it contains, Spathodea campanulata, is commonly known as the African tulip tree, fountain tree, pichkari or Nandi flame. The tree grows between tall and is native to tropical dry forests of Africa. It has been nominated as among 100 of the "World's Worst" invaders.

Le tulipier du Gabon ("Spathodea campanulata") est une espèce d'arbres de la famille des "Bignoniaceae" originaire d'Afrique. Cette espèce est largement utilisée comme arbre d'ornement en région tropicale en raison de la beauté de sa floraison et de sa facilité d'adaptation à différents milieux. Il se reproduit par des graines ailées très légères et représente pour les flores indigènes une menace très sérieuse comme plante envahissante.


Early life.

Hamilton was born in 1933 and grew up in London. His schooling was interrupted by World War II. As an evacuee, he spent some time in the countryside of Dorset, which inspired some of his work. After the war, Hamilton returned to London and finished his schooling.

Career and later life.

His artistic skills began to emerge during a job at an architect's office. At age 20, he went to Paris, where he worked as graphic designer for Peter Knapp of "Elle" magazine. After becoming known and successful, he was hired away from "Elle" by "Queen" magazine in London as art director. Hamilton soon realised his love for Paris, however, and after returning there became the art director of Printemps, the city's largest department store. While Hamilton was still employed at Printemps, he began doing commercial photography, and the dreamy, grainy style of his images quickly brought him success.  His photographs were in demand by other magazines such as "Réalités", "Twen" and "Photo". By the end of the 1960s, all of Hamilton's photographs appeared to have been snapped as if through a hazy mist. His further successes included dozens of photographic books with combined sales well into the millions; five feature films; countless magazine displays and museum and gallery exhibitions. His work was exhibited in every one of the first three years of The Photographers' Gallery, London, but were roundly condemned by Euan Duff for its "cliched pictorial symbolism, exploiting soft focus, pastel colours, country landscapes and old houses, old fashioned clothes and even white doves to give a phoney impression of heaIth-food ad naturalness; they are a sort of wholemeal stoneground pornography," exhibited "because the gallery needs the money." In December 1977, Images Gallery—a studio owned by Bob Persky at 11 East 57th Street in Manhattan—showed his photographs at the same time that "Bilitis" was released. At that time art critic Gene Thornton wrote in "The New York Times" that they reveal "the kind of ideal that regularly was expressed in the great paintings of the past". Hamilton has said that his work looks for "the candor of a lost paradise". In his book, "Contemporary Photographers", curator Christian Caujolle wrote that Hamilton worked only with two fixed devices: "a clear pictorial intention and a latent eroticism, ostensibly romantic, but asking for trouble".  In 1995, Hamilton said that people "have made contradiction of nudity and purity, sensuality and innocence, grace and spontaneity. I try to harmonize them, and that's my secret and the reason for my success". Besides depicting young women, Hamilton composed photographs of flowers, men, landscapes, farm animals, pigeons and still lifes of fresh fruit. Several of his photographs look like oil paintings. Most of his work gives an impression of timelessness because of the absence of cars, modern buildings and advertisement boards. In 1976, Denise Couttès explained Hamilton's phenomenal success on page 6 of "The Best of David Hamilton". His images, she wrote, "express escapism. People can only escape from the violence and cruelty of the modern world through dreams and nostalgia".  His soft focus style came back into fashion at "Vogue", "Elle", and other fashion magazines beginning around 2003. Hamilton had been in a relationship with Mona Kristensen (b. 1950), a model in many of his early photobooks who made her screen debut in "Bilitis". Later, he married Gertrude Versyp, who co-designed "The Age of Innocence," but they divorced amicably.  Hamilton divided his time between Saint-Tropez and Paris. He had been enjoying a revival in popularity since 2005. In 2006, "David Hamilton", a collection of captioned photographs, and "Erotic Tales", which contains Hamilton's fictional short stories, were published.  At the time of his death, Hamilton was working on another book, "Monography of Montenegro"., the book is about to be realised. He was working with Jelica Bujic, who was his first and last photography assistant.

Reception.

Much of Hamilton's work depicted early-teen girls, often nude, and he was the subject of some controversy including child pornography allegations, similar to those which the work of Sally Mann and Jock Sturges have attracted. For moral reasons, several of Hamilton's books were banned in South Africa.  In the late 1990s, conservative Christian groups in America unsuccessfully protested against bookstores selling Hamilton's photography books. As Chris Warmoll, writing for "The Guardian" in 2005, commented, "Hamilton's photographs have long been at the forefront of the 'is it art or pornography?' debate."  In 2005, a man in the UK was convicted for being in possession of 19,000 images of children, including photos by Hamilton. The images were found to be in the lowest indecency rating. In response, Glenn Holland, Hamilton's spokesman, said: "We are deeply saddened and disappointed by this, as David is one of the most successful art photographers the world has ever known. His books have sold millions".  In 2010, a man was convicted of level 1 child pornography for owning four books, including Hamilton's "The Age of Innocence" as well as "Still Time" by Sally Mann, which he purchased from a bookstore in Walthamstow, London. His conviction was overturned on appeal in 2011, with the judge calling his conviction "very unfair" and criticising the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecuting him. The judge concluded that "If the [CPS] wishes to test whether the pictures in the books are indecent, the right way to deal with the matter is by way of prosecuting the publisher or retailer – not the individual purchaser."

Sexual assault allegations.

On 22 October 2016, Thierry Ardisson, the host of the French talk-show "Salut les Terriens!" on TNT C8 channel, named Hamilton as the alleged rapist of now radio RTL presenter Flavie Flament. According to Flament, the acts were committed in 1987 when she was 13 years old, in Cap d'Agde, a naturist resort in Hérault, southern France. She mentions them in her novel "La consolation", a romanticised story based on her purported life experiences. After Flament publicly identified Hamilton, the book led to Hamilton being exposed as an alleged predatory pedophile. Flament's brother has called certain revelations in her book into question. On 22 November 2016, Hamilton issued a statement threatening legal action against his accusers. When contacted by the French press agency AFP, Hamilton declared that he was not to blame. "I didn't do anything wrong," he affirmed, while confirming only that he took a portrait of Flament, "29 or 30 years ago". Flament put the portrait on the cover of "La consolation".  On 17 November 2016, the weekly news magazine "L'Obs" published anonymous accounts by three other former models who claimed to have been raped by Hamilton. One day later, Flament confirmed that Hamilton was the rapist whom she had not identified in her book.

Death.

On the evening of 25 November 2016, Hamilton's cleaning lady entered the apartment of the 83-year-old photographer at 41 Boulevard Montparnasse in southern Paris and found him dead with a plastic bag over his head and medications close at hand. The autopsy revealed that Asphyxiation was the cause of death. Suicide is the leading hypothesis in the investigation.

David Hamilton (15 April 1933 – 25 November 2016) was a British photographer and film director best known for his photography of young women and girls, mostly in the nude. His signature soft focus style was called the "Hamilton Blur", which was erroneously thought to be achieved by smearing Vaseline on the lens of his camera. It was not created that way. Hamilton's images became part of an "art or pornography" debate.

David Hamilton est un photographe et réalisateur britannique né à Londres le et mort à Paris le. Installé en France dès les années 1950, il se fait connaître par ses photos qui mettent principalement en scène des adolescentes dans des poses érotiques. Il réalise également plusieurs films dans le même style. Dans les années 2000, cependant, son travail passe de mode et se voit soupçonné d'inclinations pédophiles.