Macroeconomic fiscal policy.

Government spending can be a useful economic policy tool for governments. Fiscal policy can be defined as the use of government spending and/or taxation as a mechanism to influence an economy. There are two types of fiscal policy: expansionary fiscal policy, and contractionary fiscal policy. Expansionary fiscal policy is an increase in government spending or a decrease in taxation, while contractionary fiscal policy is a decrease in government spending or an increase in taxes. Expansionary fiscal policy can be used by governments to stimulate the economy during a recession. For example, an increase in government spending directly increases demand for goods and services, which can help increase output and employment. On the other hand, contractionary fiscal policy can be used by governments to cool down the economy during an economic boom. A decrease in government spending can help keep inflation in check. During economic downturns, in the short run, government spending can be changed either via automatic stabilization or discretionary stabilization. Automatic stabilization is when existing policies automatically change government spending or taxes in response to economic changes, without the additional passage of laws. A primary example of an automatic stabilizer is unemployment insurance, which provides financial assistance to unemployed workers. Discretionary stabilization is when a government takes actions to change government spending or taxes in direct response to changes in the economy. For instance, a government may decide to increase government spending as a result of a recession. With discretionary stabilization, the government must pass a new law to make changes in government spending.  John Maynard Keynes was one of the first economists to advocate for government deficit spending as part of the fiscal policy response to an economic contraction. According to Keynesian economics, increased government spending raises aggregate demand and increases consumption, which leads to increased production and faster recovery from recessions. Classical economists, on the other hand, believe that increased government spending exacerbates an economic contraction by shifting resources from the private sector, which they consider productive, to the public sector, which they consider unproductive.  In economics, the potential "shifting" in resources from the private sector to the public sector as a result of an increase in government deficit spending is called crowding out. The figure to the right depicts the market for capital, otherwise known as the market for loanable funds. The downward sloping demand curve D1 represents demand for private capital by firms and investors, and the upward sloping supply curve S1 represents savings by private individuals. The initial equilibrium in this market is represented by point A, where the equilibrium quantity of capital is K1 and the equilibrium interest rate is R1. If the government increases deficit spending, it will borrow money from the private capital market and reduce the supply of savings to S2. The new equilibrium is at point B, where the interest rate has increased to R2 and the quantity of capital available to the private sector has decreased to K2. The government has essentially made borrowing more expensive and has taken away savings from the market, which "crowds out" some private investment. The crowding out of private investment could limit the economic growth from the initial increase government spending.

Heterodox Economics disagrees.

The above explanation of the impacts of government spending comes from conventional, orthodox economics, a set of models that did not predict the largest economic event of the last 80 years--the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), or sub-prime mortgage derivatives meltdown. Although economics provokes controversy, empirical evidence that orthodox economics is valid in explaining current conditions is at least questionable. See Steve Keen's "Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor Dethroned" for a complete account of its failings. Keen himself won the Revere Prize in economics for correctly predicting the GFC.  Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets Institute, says the point of orthodox economics “is to create a language and methodology for governing that hides political assumptions from the public” Calling it a "science" in the conventional sense of that word is at least open to question.  Among the questionable things orthodox economics promotes are things like Crowding Out, which presumes the economy is a zero-sum game. If that were true, then the assumption is that resources are 100% utilized, and when government employs additional resources, it must do so at the expense of the private sector. But the U.S. economy, as of this writing, is at only 77% of its current capacity (never mind adding capacity), and as the COVID-19 epidemic proceeds, that figure 77% is likely to go lower. A more realistic economics would conclude that government spending would employ idle resources, not "crowd out" private use of those resources.  History demonstrates this conclusion is realistic, too. Historical GDP growth rates increase dramatically when the U.S. government spent for the New Deal and for big public works projects like World War II. One could conclude the additional GDP grown was a result of bringing resources un- or under-employed during the Great Depression back into production.  Orthodox economists contend that government 'borrowing' competes for savings, too. The orthodox model says: "If government tries to borrow more by issuing and selling more bonds, then the competition for finance would push up interest rates [emphasis added]. Some private firms would decide not to borrow at the higher rates and hence investment would be lower. Also, durable consumption expenditure by households will decline because some of it is financed by borrowing.  "However, that model is incorrect. Government fiscal deficits generate non-government surpluses (flows) that accumulate to the non-government sector's net acquisition of financial assets (a stock)... Since there are more savings (as a result of higher income levels arising from the deficits) and greater financial wealth, it is not true that government is competing with private sector borrowers for a limited supply of savings (a flow) to place government bonds into wealth portfolios that are fixed in size. Both savings and portfolios expand as government deficits grow." And contrariwise, as government practices austerity, savings shrink and economic instability grows. Historically, whenever government has succumbed to the siren song of this "fiscal responsibility" and significantly reduced deficits, the economy goes into a tailspin...100% of the time.  Perhaps the clearest evidence of its failings is orthodox economics' prediction for the consequences for larger government 'debt.'  Note: Government 'debt' is nothing like household debt, it's like bank debt. If you have a bank account, that is your asset, but to the bank, it's a liability, a 'debt.' Reducing the bank's 'debt' reduces the size of depositors' accounts. As the above paragraph indicates, what follows reducing people's savings is an economic downturn, replete with waves of asset forfeitures and foreclosures when people are unable to pay their obligations out of (reduced) savings.  Because it discouraged government 'debt,' orthodox economics blessed the Clinton federal budget surplus, deregulated markets, reduced government spending, and encouraged Wall Street's derivatives that led to the GFC in 2007-8. An estimated 8,000,000 people lost their homes in that debacle.  Despite these events, according to orthodox economics, there's a threshold for government debt, beyond which the economy suffers, and bond markets will demand higher interest rates, or they cannot sell government debt. People often point to Greece, which has to pay high interest rates to borrow, as an example. But, unlike the U.S, Greece no longer makes its own currency, so it isn't comparable to a monetary sovereign who can "print" the means to repay such 'debt.' There is no credit risk when monetary sovereigns with floating exchange rates can "print" the means to repay their 'debt,' just as there would be no credit risk banks would be unable to pay depositors if they could print banknotes.  Orthodox economists Reinhart and Rogoff even wrote a study concluding that government 'debt' larger than 90% of GDP impaired economic performance. However, others examined their work found they cherry-picked their examples, and even had a mistake in the spreadsheet formulas they used to calculate this result.  What is comparable to the monetary sovereign U.S.' situation is Japan's. Japan makes its own fiat currency (Yen) and has a floating exchange rate. Its current 'debt'-to-GDP ratio is roughly 240%--far above Reinhart and Rogoff's 90% threshold. The orthodox economics school would conclude that the Japanese have borrowed too much, and they have impaired their ability to repay government 'debt.' Therefore, the orthodox economics prediction is that bond markets would charge a risk premium (higher interest rates) before Japan's central bank could sell Yen-denominated bonds. The truth is that the National debt of Japan sells at near a zero interest rate.  These conclusions stir controversy because they contradict the narrative so widely disseminated by the press and orthodox economic journals. Heterodox economists have had to found their own journals, had to deal with difficulty getting tenure and employment as a result of their conclusions. Nevertheless, the events cited above, the Federal Reserve's response to the GFC (extending $16 - $29 trillion in credit to the financial sector) and the current multi-trillion-dollar response to the COVID-19 pandemic appear to validate the conclusions of the heterodox economists, particularly Modern Money Theory.

Current use: final consumption..

Government acquisition of goods and services for current use to directly satisfy individual or collective needs of the members of the community is called government final consumption expenditure (GFCE.) It is a purchase from the national accounts "use of income account" for goods and services directly satisfying of individual needs ("individual consumption") or collective needs of members of the community ("collective consumption"). GFCE consists of the value of the goods and services produced by the government itself other than own-account capital formation and sales and of purchases by the government of goods and services produced by market producers that are supplied to households—without any transformation—as "social transfers" in kind.

National defense spending.

The United States spends vastly more than other countries on national defense. The table below shows the top 10 countries with largest military expenditures as of 2015, the most recent year with publicly available data. As the table suggests, the United States spent nearly 3 times as much on the military than China, the country with the next largest military spending. The U.S. military budget dwarfed spending by all other countries in the top 10, with 8 out of countries spending less than $100 billion in 2016.

Healthcare and medical research.

Research Australia found 91% of Australians think ‘improving hospitals and the health system’ should be the Australian Government’s first spending priority.  Crowding 'in' also happens in university life science research Subsidies, funding and government business or projects like this are often justified on the basis of their positive return on investment. Life science crowding in contrasts with crowding out in public funding of research more widely: “10% increase in government R&D funding reduced private R&D expenditure by 3%...In Australia the average cost of public funds is estimated to be $1.20 and $1.30 for each dollar raised (Robson, 2005). The marginal cost is probably higher, but estimates differ widely depending on the tax that is increased.”  In the US the total investment in medical and health research and development (R&D) in the US had grown by 27% over the five years from 2013 to 2017, and it is led by industry and the federal government. However, the industry accounted for 67% of total spending in 2017, followed by the federal government at 22%. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) accounted for the lion's share of federal spending in medical and health research in 2017 was $32.4 billion or 82.1%.  Also, academic and research institutions, this includes colleges, and universities, independent research (IRIs), and independent hospital medical research centres also increased spending, dedicating more than $14.2 billion of their own funds (endowment, donations etc.) to medical and health R&D in 2017. Although other funding sources - foundations, state and local government, voluntary health associations and professional societies - accounted for 3.7% of total medical and health R&D expenditure.  On the other hand, global health spending continues to increase and rise rapidly – to US$ 7.8 trillion in 2017 or about 10% of GDP and $1.80 per capita – up from US£ 7.6 trillion in 2016. In addition, about 605 of this spending was public and 40% private, with donor funding representing less than 0.2% of the total although the health spending in real terms has risen by 3.79% in a year while global GDP had grown by 3.0%.  According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the increase in health spending in low-income countries, and it rose by 7.8% a year between 2000 and 2017 while their economy grew by 6.4%, it is explained in the figure. However, the middle-income economies health spending grew more than 6%, and average annual growth in high-income countries was 3.5%, which is about twice as fast as economic growth. In contrast, health spending by the high-income countries continues to represent to be the largest share of global spending, which is about 81%, despite it covers only 16% of world’s population; although it down from 87% in 2000. The primary driver of this change in global spending on healthcare is India and China, which they moved to higher-income groups. Furthermore, just over 40% of the world population lived in low-income countries, which is now they dropped to 10%. Moreover, significant spending increment was in upper-middle-income economies population share has more than doubled over the period of, and share of global health spending nearly also doubled due to China and India’s vast population joining that group. Unfortunately, all other spending share income groups had declined.  From the continent view, North America, Western Europe, and Oceanic countries have the highest levels of spending, and West Central Asia, and East Africa the lowest, which is followed closely by South Asia, it is explained in the figure.  It is also true that fast economic growth is associated with increased health spending and sustained rapid economic growth between 2000 and 2017. Even more, fast economic growth which is generally associated with the higher government revenues and health spending are mostly located in Asia such as China, India and Indonesia followed by the Middle East and Latin America. In these countries, the real health spending per capita grew by 2.2 times and increased by 0.6 percentage point as per a share of GDP from 2000 to 2017.

Infrastructure and investment: gross fixed capital formation.

Government acquisition intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is called gross fixed capital formation, or government investment, which usually is the largest part of the government. Acquisition of goods and services is made through production by the government (using the government's labour force, fixed assets and purchased goods and services for intermediate consumption) or through purchases of goods and services from market producers. In economic theory or in macroeconomics, investment is the amount purchased per unit of time of goods which are not consumed but are to be used for future production (i.e. capital). Examples include railroad or factory construction.  Infrastructure spending is considered government investment because it will usually save money in the long run, and thereby reduce the net present value of government liabilities.  Spending on physical infrastructure in the U.S. returns an average of about $1.92 for each $1.00 spent on nonresidential construction because it is almost always less expensive to maintain than repair or replace once it has become unusable.  Likewise, government spending on social infrastructure, such as preventative health care, can save several hundreds of billions of dollars per year in the U.S., because for example cancer patients are more likely to be diagnosed at Stage I where curative treatment is typically a few outpatient visits, instead of at Stage III or later in an emergency room where treatment can involve years of hospitalization and is often terminal.  Infrastructure and investment: gross fixed capital formation ==  Government acquisition intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is called gross fixed capital formation, or government investment, which usually is the largest part of the government. Acquisition of goods and services is made through production by the government (using the government's labour force, fixed assets and purchased goods and services for intermediate consumption) or through purchases of goods and services from market producers. In economic theory or in macroeconomics, investment is the amount purchased per unit of time of goods which are not consumed but are to be used for future production (i.e. capital). Examples include railroad or factory construction.  Infrastructure spending is considered government investment because it will usually save money in the long run, and thereby reduce the net present value of government liabilities.

Per capita spending.

In 2010 national governments spent an average of $2,376 per person, while the average for the world's 20 largest economies (in terms of GDP) was $16,110 per person. Norway and Sweden expended the most at $40,908 and $26,760 per capita respectively. The federal government of the United States spent $11,041 per person. Other large economy country spending figures include South Korea ($4,557), Brazil ($2,813), Russia ($2,458), China ($1,010), and India ($226). The figures below of 42% of GDP spending and a GDP per capita of $54,629 for the U.S. indicate a total per person spending including national, state, and local governments was $22,726 in the U.S.

As a percentage of GDP.

This is a list of countries by government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) for the listed countries, according to the "2014 Index of Economic Freedom" by The Heritage Foundation and "The Wall Street Journal". Tax revenue is included for comparison. These statistics utilize the United Nations’ System of National Accounts (SNA), which measures the government sector differently than the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). The SNA counts as government spending the gross cost of public services such as state universities and public hospitals. For example, the SNA counts the entire cost of running the public-university system, not just what legislators appropriate to supplement students’ tuition payments. Those adjustments push up the SNA’s measure of spending by roughly 4 percent of GDP compared with the standard measure tallied by the BEA.

Public social spending by country.

Public social spending comprises cash benefits, direct in-kind provision of goods and services, and tax breaks with social purposes provided by general government (that is central, state, and local governments, including social security funds).

Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual or collective needs of the community, is classed as government final consumption expenditure. Government acquisition of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is classed as government investment (government gross capital formation). These two types of government spending, on final consumption and on gross capital formation, together constitute one of the major components of gross domestic product.

Veřejné výdaje jsou souhrnné finanční prostředky vynaložené vládou daného státu na různé účely (obrana, bezpečnost, policie, zdravotnictví, sociální politika, platy státních úředníků, vzdělání, zahraniční politika, apod.).


Types.

Palatalization is sometimes an example of assimilation. In some cases, it is triggered by a palatal or palatalized consonant or front vowel, but in other cases, it is not conditioned in any way.

Consonant.

Palatalization changes place of articulation or manner of articulation of consonants. It may add palatal secondary articulation or change primary articulation from velar to palatal or alveolar, alveolar to postalveolar.  It may also cause a consonant to change its manner of articulation from stop to affricate or fricative. The change in the manner of articulation is a form of lenition. However, the lenition is frequently accompanied by a change in place of articulation.  Palatalization of velar consonants commonly causes them to front, and apical and coronal consonants are usually raised. In the process, stop consonants are often spirantised except for palatalized labials.  Palatalization, as a sound change, is usually triggered only by mid and close (high) front vowels and the semivowel. The sound that results from palatalization may vary from language to language. For example, palatalization of may produce, etc. A change from to may pass through as an intermediate state, but there is no requirement for that to happen.  In some Zoque languages, does not palatalize velar consonants but it turns alveolars into palato-alveolars. In the Nupe language, and are palatalized both before front vowels and, while velars are only palatalized before front vowels. In Ciluba, palatalizes only a preceding,, or. In some variants of Ojibwe, velars are palatalized before, but apicals are not. In Indo-Aryan languages, dentals and are palatalized when occurring in clusters before, but velars are not.

Vowel.

Palatalization sometimes refers to vowel shifts, the fronting of a back vowel or raising of a front vowel. The shifts are sometimes triggered by a nearby palatal or palatalized consonant or by a high front vowel. The Germanic umlaut is a famous example.  A similar change is reconstructed in the history of Old French in which Bartsch's law turned open vowels into or after a palatalized velar consonant. If it was true for all open vowels in Old French, it would explain the palatalization of velar plosives before.  In Erzya, a Uralic language, the open vowel is raised to near-open after a palatalized consonant, as in the name of the language,.  In Russian, the back vowels are fronted to central, and the open vowel is raised to near-open, near palatalized consonants. The palatalized consonants also factor in how unstressed vowels are reduced.

Unconditioned.

Palatalization is sometimes unconditioned or spontaneous, not triggered by a palatal or palatalized consonant or front vowel.  In southwestern Romance, clusters of a voiceless obstruent with were palatalized once or twice. This first palatalization was unconditioned. It resulted in a cluster with a palatal lateral, a palatal lateral on its own, or a cluster with a palatal approximant. In a second palatalization, the was affricated to or spirantized to.  In the Western Romance languages, Latin was palatalized once or twice. The first palatalization was unconditioned: the was vocalized to or spirantized to. In a second palatalization, the was affricated to :  In many dialects of English, the back vowel is fronted to near-back, central, or front. This vowel shift is unconditioned, happening in all cases, and not triggered by another sound.  A similar change is reconstructed for Ancient Greek. In the Attic dialect before the Classical period, the back vowels were fronted to. During the Koine or Medieval Greek period, they were unrounded to, and they finally merged as short, the pronunciation that they have in Modern Greek.

Anticipatory and progressive.

When palatalization is assimilatory or triggered by a consonant or vowel, it is triggered by a following sound (anticipatory) or by a preceding sound (progressive).

Effects.

Allophony and phonemic split.

Palatalization may result in a phonemic split, a historical change by which a phoneme becomes two new phonemes over time through palatalization.  Old historical splits have frequently drifted since the time they occurred and may be independent of current phonetic palatalization. The lenition tendency of palatalized consonants (by assibilation and deaffrication) is important. According to some analyses, the lenition of the palatalized consonant is still a part of the palatalization process itself.  In Japanese, allophonic palatalization affected the dental plosives and, turning them into alveolo-palatal affricates and before, romanized as ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨j⟩ respectively. Japanese has, however, recently regained phonetic and from loanwords, and the originally-allophonic palatalization has thus become lexical. A similar change has also happened in Polish and Belarusian. That would also be true about most dialects of Brazilian Portuguese but for the strong phonotactical resistancy of its native speakers that turn dental plosives into post-alveolar affricates even in loanwords: McDonald's.  For example, Votic has undergone such a change historically, "*keeli" → 'language', but there is currently an additional distinction between palatalized laminal and non-palatalized apical consonants. An extreme example occurs in Spanish, whose palatalized ('soft') has ended up as from a long process where Latin became palatalized to (Late Latin) and then affricated to (Proto-Romance), deaffricated to (Old Spanish), devoiced to (16th century), and finally retracted to a velar, giving (c. 1650). (See History of the Spanish language and Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives for more information).

Examples.

Palatalization has played a major role in the history of English, and of other languages and language groups throughout the world, such as the Romance, Greek, Slavic, Baltic, Finnic, Swedish, Norwegian, Mordvinic, Samoyedic, Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Goidelic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Albanian, Arabic, and Micronesian languages.

English.

Anglo-Frisian.

In Anglo-Frisian, the language that gave rise to English and the Frisian languages, the velar stops and the consonant cluster were palatalized in certain cases and became the sounds,,, and. Many words with Anglo-Frisian palatalization survive in Modern English, and the palatalized sounds are typically spelled,,, and in Modern English.  Palatalization only occurred in certain environments, and so it did not apply to all words from the same root. This is the origin of some alternations in cognate words, such as "speak" and "speech", "cold" and "chill", "burrow" and "bury", "dawn" and "day". Here originates from unpalatalized and from unpalatalized.  Some English words with palatalization have unpalatalized doublets from the Northumbrian dialect and from Old Norse, such as "shirt" and "skirt", "church" and "kirk", "ditch" and "dike". German only underwent palatalization of: "cheese" and ; "lie" and "lay", and ; "fish" and.  The pronunciation of as with a hard is a spelling pronunciation, since the actual Old English pronunciation gave rise to "witch".

Yod-coalescence.

Later in English, another palatalization called yod-coalescence occurred. Alveolar stops and fricatives were palatalized before the palatal approximant so that the clusters,, and changed into,, and respectively, frequently occurring with clusters that would be considered to span a syllable boundary. Yod-coalescence in stressed syllables, such as in "tune" and "dune", occurs in Australian, Cockney, Estuary English, Hiberno-English (some speakers), Newfoundland English, South African English, and to a certain extent in New Zealand English and Scottish English (many speakers). This can lead to additional homophony; for instance, "dew" and "due" come to be pronounced the same as "Jew".  In certain varieties—such as Australian English, South African English, and New Zealand English— and in stressed syllables can coalesce into and, respectively. In Australian English for example, "assume" is pronounced by some speakers. Furthermore, some speakers may palatalize the to a when it comes before the cluster /tr/, so words like "student" and "stress" would be pronounced and, respectively, with the former pronunciation being less common among North American speakers. According to author Wayne P. Lawrence, "this phonemic change seems to be neither dialectal nor regional."

Other.

Others include the following:

Semitic languages.

Arabic.

Historical.

While in most Semitic languages, e.g. Aramaic, Hebrew, Ge'ez the Gimel represents a, Arabic is considered unique among them where the Gimel or Jīm was palatalized to an affricate or a fricative in most dialects from classical times. While there is variation in Modern Arabic varieties, most of them reflect this palatalized pronunciation except in Egyptian Arabic and a number of Yemeni and Omani dialects, where it is pronounced as. It is not well known when this change occurred or if it is connected to the pronunciation of Qāf as a, but in most of the Arabian peninsula which is the homeland of the Arabic language, the represents a and represents a, except in western and southern Yemen and parts of Oman where represents a and represents a, which shows a strong correlation between the palatalization of to and the pronunciation of the as a as shown in the table below:

Modern Arabic dialects.

Some modern Arabic varieties developed palatalization of (turning into,,, or ), (turning into or ) and (turning into ), usually when adjacent to front vowel, though these palatalizations also occur in other environments as well. These three palatalizations occur in a variety of dialects, including Iraqi, rural Palestinian varieties, a number of Gulf Arabic dialects, such as Kuwaiti, Qatari, Bahraini, and Emarati, as well as others in the Arab peninsula like Najdi, the southern dialects of Saudi Arabia, and various Bedouin dialects. Examples:  Palatalization occurs in the pronunciation of the second person feminine singular pronoun in those dialects. For instance :  Classical Arabic ('your [f.] eye') is pronounced:  speakers in these dialects that do not use the palatalization would merge the feminine and masculine suffix pronouns e.g. ('your eye' to a male/female) as opposed to Classical Arabic ('your eye' to a male) and ('your eye' to a female) and most other modern urban dialects (to a male) and (to a female).

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic features the palatalization of kaph (turning into ), taw (turning into ) and gimel (turning into ), albeit in some dialects only and seldom in the standardized version of the language.

Romance languages.

The Romance languages developed from Vulgar Latin, the colloquial form of Latin spoken in the Roman Empire. Various palatalizations occurred during the historical development of the Romance languages. Some groups of the Romance languages underwent more palatalizations than others. One palatalization affected all groups, some palatalizations affected most groups, and one affected only a few groups.

Gallo-Romance.

In Gallo-Romance, Vulgar Latin * became * very early, with the subsequent deaffrication and some further developments of the vowel. For instance:  Early English borrowings from French show the original affricate, as "chamber" "(private) room" < Old French < Vulgar Latin ; compare French "room".

Mouillé.

Mouillé (, "moistened") is a term for palatal consonants in the Romance languages. Palatal consonants in the Romance languages developed from or by palatalization.  "L" and "n mouillé" have a variety of origins in the Romance languages. In these tables, letters that represent or used to represent or are bolded. In French, merged with in pronunciation in the 18th century; in many dialects of Spanish, has merged with. Romanian formerly had both and, but both have merged with : > > Romanian "vineyard"; > > Romanian "woman".

Satem languages.

In certain Indo-European language groups, the reconstructed "palato-velars" of Proto-Indo-European () were palatalized into sibilants. The language groups with and without palatalization are called satem and centum languages, after the characteristic developments of the PIE word for "hundred":

Slavic languages.

In the Slavic languages, two palatalizations took place. Both affected the Proto-Slavic velars. In the first palatalization, the velars before the front vowels and the palatal approximant changed to. In the second palatalization, the velars changed to "c", "dz" or "z", and "s" or "š" before the Proto-Slavic diphthongs, which must have been monophthongized to by this time.

Mandarin Chinese.

In many dialects of Mandarin Chinese, the alveolar sibilants and the velars were palatalized before the medials and merged in pronunciation, yielding the alveolo-palatal sibilants. Alveolo-palatal consonants occur in modern Standard Chinese and are written as in Pinyin. Postal romanization does not show palatalized consonants, reflecting the dialect of the imperial court during the Qing dynasty. For instance, the name of the capital of China was formerly spelled "Peking", but is now spelled ', and "Tientsin" and "Sian" were the former spellings of'and "".

In linguistics, palatalization is a sound change that either results in a palatal or palatalized consonant or a front vowel, or is triggered by one of them. Palatalization involves change in the place or manner of articulation of consonants, or the fronting or raising of vowels. In some cases, palatalization involves assimilation or lenition.

Palatalizace (změkčování) je způsob obměny výslovnosti hlásek, které se vysloví se hřbetem jazyka zdviženým ke tvrdému patru (lat. "palatum durum" = tvrdé patro).


Description.

"Typha" are aquatic or semi-aquatic, rhizomatous, herbaceous perennial plants. The leaves are glabrous (hairless), linear, alternate and mostly basal on a simple, jointless stem that bears the flowering spikes. The plants are monoecious, with unisexual flowers that develop in dense racemes. The numerous male flowers form a narrow spike at the top of the vertical stem. Each male (staminate) flower is reduced to a pair of stamens and hairs, and withers once the pollen is shed. Large numbers of tiny female flowers form a dense, sausage-shaped spike on the stem below the male spike. In larger species this can be up to long and thick. The seeds are minute, long, and attached to fine hairs. When ripe, the heads disintegrate into a cottony fluff from which the seeds disperse by wind.

General ecology.

"Typha" are often among the first wetland plants to colonize areas of newly exposed wet mud, with their abundant wind-dispersed seeds. Buried seeds can survive in the soil for long periods of time. They germinate best with sunlight and fluctuating temperatures, which is typical of many wetland plants that regenerate on mud flats. The plants also spread by rhizomes, forming large, interconnected stands.  "Typha" are considered to be dominant competitors in wetlands in many areas, and they often exclude other plants with their dense canopy. In the bays of the Great Lakes, for example, they are among the most abundant wetland plants. Different species of cattails are adapted to different water depths.  Well-developed aerenchyma make the plants tolerant of submersion. Even the dead stalks are capable of transmitting oxygen to the rooting zone.  Although "Typha" are native wetland plants, they can be aggressive in their competition with other native species. They have been problematic in many regions in North America, from the Great Lakes to the Everglades. Native sedges are displaced and wet meadows shrink, likely as a response to altered hydrology of the wetlands and increased nutrient levels. An introduced or hybrid species may be contributing to the problem. Control is difficult. The most successful strategy appears to be mowing or burning to remove the aerenchymous stalks, followed by prolonged flooding. It may be more important to prevent invasion by preserving water level fluctuations, including periods of drought, and to maintain infertile conditions.  "Typha" are frequently eaten by wetland mammals such as muskrats, which also use them to construct feeding platforms and dens, thereby also providing nesting and resting places for waterfowl.

Accepted species and natural hybrids.

The following names are currently accepted:  The most widespread species is "Typha latifolia", which is distributed across the entire temperate northern hemisphere. It has also been introduced to Australia. "T. angustifolia" is nearly as widespread, but does not extend as far north; it may be introduced and invasive in North America. "T. domingensis" has a more southern American distribution, and it occurs in Australia. "T. orientalis" is widespread in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. "T. laxmannii", "T. minima", and "T. shuttleworthii" are largely restricted to Asia and southern Europe.

Uses.

Culinary.

Many parts of the "Typha" plant are edible to humans. Before the plant flowers, the tender inside of the shoots can be squeezed out and eaten raw or cooked. The starchy rhizomes are nutritious with a protein content comparable to that of maize or rice. They can be processed into a flour with 266 kcal per 100 grams, and are most often harvested from late autumn to early spring. They are fibrous, and the starch must be scraped or sucked from the tough fibers. Baby shoots emerging from the rhizomes, which are sometimes subterranean, can be picked and eaten raw. Also underground is a carbohydrate lump which can be peeled and eaten raw or cooked like a potato. Plants growing in polluted water can accumulate lead and pesticide residues in their rhizomes, and these should not be eaten.  The outer portion of young plants can be peeled and the heart can be eaten raw or boiled and eaten like asparagus. This food has been popular among the Cossacks in Russia, and has been called "Cossack asparagus". The leaf bases can be eaten raw or cooked, especially in late spring when they are young and tender. In early summer the sheath can be removed from the developing green flower spike, which can then be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob. In mid-summer when the male flowers are mature, the pollen can be collected and used as a flour supplement or thickener.

Agriculture.

The seeds have a high linoleic acid content and can be used to feed cattle and chickens. They can also be found in African countries like Ghana.

Building material.

For local native tribes around Lake Titicaca in Peru and Bolivia, "Typha" were among the most important plants and every part of the plant had multiple uses. For example, they were used to construct rafts and other boats.  During World War II, the United States Navy used the down of "Typha" as a substitute for kapok in life vests and aviation jackets. Tests showed that even after 100 hours of submersion, the buoyancy was still effective.  "Typha" are used as thermal insulation in buildings as an organic alternative to conventional insulating materials such as glass wool or stone wool.

Paper.

"Typha" stems and leaves can be used to make paper. It is strong with a heavy texture and it is hard to bleach, so it is not suitable for industrial production of graphical paper. In 1853, considerable amounts of cattail paper were produced in New York, due to a shortage of raw materials. In 1948, French scientists tested methods for annual harvesting of the leaves. Because of the high cost these methods were abandoned and no further research was done. Today "Typha" is used to make decorative paper.

Fiber.

Fibers up to 4 meters long can be obtained from the stems when they are mechanically or chemically treated with sodium hydroxide. The stem fibers resemble jute and can be used to produce raw textiles. The leaf fibers can be used as an alternative to cotton and linen in clothing. The yield of leaf fiber is 30 to 40 percent and "Typha glauca" can produce 7 to 10 tons per hectare annually.

Biofuel.

"Typha" can be used as a source of starch to produce ethanol. Because of their high productivity in northern latitudes, "Typha" are considered to be a bioenergy crop.

Other.

The seed hairs were used by some indigenous peoples of the Americas as tinder for starting fires. Some tribes also used "Typha" down to line moccasins, and for bedding, diapers, baby powder, and cradleboards. One Native American word for "Typha" meant "fruit for papoose's bed". "Typha" down is still used in some areas to stuff clothing items and pillows. "Typha" can be dipped in wax or fat and then lit as a candle, the stem serving as a wick. Without the use of wax or fat it will smolder slowly, somewhat like incense, and may repel insects.  The flower stalks can be made into chopsticks. The leaves can be treated to weave into baskets, mats, or sandals. The rushes are harvested and the leaves often dried for later use in chair seats. Re-wetted, the leaves are twisted and wrapped around the chair rungs to form a densely woven seat that is then stuffed (usually with the left over rush).  One informal experiment has indicated that "Typha" are able to remove arsenic from drinking water. The boiled rootstocks have been used as a diuretic for increasing urination, or mashed to make a jelly-like paste for sores, boils, wounds, burns, scabs, and smallpox pustules.  Cattail pollen is used as a banker source of food for predatory insects and mites (such as "Amblyseius swirskii") in greenhouses.

Typha is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in Australia as cumbungi or bulrush, in Canada as bulrush or cattail, and in New Zealand as raupo. Other taxa of plants may be known as bulrush, including some sedges in "Scirpus" and related genera.

Orobinec ("Typha") je rod jednoděložných rostlin z čeledi orobincovité. Čeleď orobincovité ("Typhaceae") obsahovala ve starších taxonomických systémech pouze rod orobinec. Podle systému APG III byl do čeledi orobincovité přidán rod zevar ("Sparganium"), dříve v samostatné čeledi zevarovité ("Sparganiaceae").


History.

No academic study has been written on the history of the baguette as a type of bread. Thus, much of its history is speculative; however, some facts can be established. Among these are the increased popularity of long, stick-like breads in France starting in the 18th century, the shift among French bakers to using ""gruau"", a highly refined Hungarian high-milled flour in the early 19th century, the introduction of Viennese steam oven baking to Paris in 1839 by August Zang, and the subsequent introduction of the Austrian compact yeast to Paris in 1867 at the Universal Exposition. Finally, there is the first use of the word "baguette" in print, to define a particular type of bread, in a set of laws enacted by the Prefecture of the Seine Department in August 1920: "The baguette, having a minimum weight of 80 g and a maximum length of 40 cm, may not be sold for a price higher than 0.35 francs apiece" While no one of these events is in itself definable as "the invention of the baguette", each of them, the shape, the flour, the fermentation, and the steam baking, contribute to what is today recognized as a "baguette".  To summarize this history, the historian and author Jim Chevallier states that "it seems most accurate to say that the bread which became known as the baguette first appeared in its most primitive form in the eighteenth century, then experienced a number of refinements and variations before being (officially) given that name in 1920."  Although the word "baguette" was not used to refer to a type of bread until 1920, the word itself simply means "wand", "baton" or "stick", as in "baguette magique" (magic wand), "baguettes chinoises" (chopsticks), or "baguette de direction" (conductor's baton).  Though the baguette today is often considered one of the symbols of French culture viewed from abroad, the association of France with long loaves predates any mention of it. Long, wide, loaves had been made since the time of King Louis XIV, long thin ones since the mid-18th century, and by the 19th century, some were far longer than what is today sold as a baguette: "... loaves of bread six feet long that look like crowbars!" "Housemaids were hurrying homewards with their purchases for various Gallic breakfasts, and the long sticks of bread, a yard or two in length, carried under their arms, made an odd impression upon me."  A less direct link can be made, however, with deck ovens, or steam ovens. Deck/steam ovens are a combination of a gas-fired traditional oven and a brick oven, a thick "deck" of stone or firebrick heated by natural gas instead of wood. The first steam oven was brought (in the early 19th century) to Paris by the Austrian officer August Zang, who also introduced Vienna bread ("pain viennois") and the croissant, and whom some French sources thus credit with originating the baguette.  Deck ovens use steam injection, through various methods, to create the proper baguette. The oven is typically heated to well over. The steam allows the crust to expand before setting, thus creating a lighter, airier loaf. It also melts the dextrose on the bread's surface, giving a slightly glazed effect.  An unsourced article in "The Economist" states that in October 1920 a law prevented bakers from working before 4 am, making it impossible to make traditional round loaves in time for customers' breakfasts. Switching from the round loaf to the previously less-common, slender shape of the "baguette", the article claims, solved the problem, because it could be prepared and baked much more quickly.  The law in question appears to be one from March 1919, though some say it took effect in October 1920: It is forbidden to employ workers at bread and pastry making between ten in the evening and four in the morning.  The rest of the account remains to be verified, but the use of the word for a long thin bread does appear to be a 20th-century innovation.

Manufacture and styles.

The "baguette de tradition française" is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, and common salt. It may contain up to 2% broad bean flour, up to 0.5% soya flour, and up to 0.3% wheat malt flour.  While a regular baguette is made with a direct addition of baker's yeast, artisan-style loaves are usually made with a pre-ferment ("poolish") to increase flavor complexity and other characteristics, as well as the addition of whole-wheat flour, or other grains such as rye. Baguettes are closely connected to France, though they are made around the world. In France, not all long loaves are baguettes; for example, a short, almost rugby ball-shaped loaf is a "bâtard" (literally, bastard), or a "torpedo loaf" in English; its origin is variously explained, but undocumented. Another tubular shaped loaf is known as a "flûte", also known in the United States as a "parisienne". Flûtes closely resemble baguettes and weigh more or less than these, depending on the region. A thinner loaf is called a "ficelle" (string). A short baguette is sometimes known as a "baton" (stick), or in the UK referred to using the English translation "French stick". None of these are officially defined, either legally or, for instance, in major dictionaries, any more than the baguette. French breads are also made in forms such as a "miche", which is a large pan loaf, and a "boule", literally ball in French, a large round loaf. Sandwich-sized loaves are sometimes known as "demi-baguettes" or "tiers". In France, a baguette weighs around 250 grams (8.75 ounces), a batard 500 grams (17.5 ounces) and a ficelle 100 grams (3.5 ounces) (No legal text actually establishes any of these weights, which can vary in different places). Baguettes, either relatively short single-serving size or cut from a longer loaf, are very often used for sandwiches, usually of the submarine sandwich type, but also a Panini. They are often sliced and served with pâté or cheese. As part of the traditional continental breakfast in France, slices of baguette are spread with butter and jam and dunked in bowls of coffee or hot chocolate, known as "tartines".  Baguettes are generally made as partially free-form loaves, with the loaf formed with a series of folding and rolling motions, raised in cloth-lined baskets or in rows on a flour-impregnated towel, called a couche, and baked either directly on the hearth of a deck oven or in special perforated pans designed to hold the shape of the baguette while allowing heat through the perforations. American-style "French bread" is generally much fatter and is not baked in deck ovens, but in convection ovens.  Outside France, baguettes are also made with other doughs. For example, the Vietnamese "bánh mì" uses a high proportion of rice flour, while many North American bakeries make whole wheat, multigrain, and sourdough baguettes alongside French-style loaves. In addition, even classical French-style recipes vary from place to place, with some recipes adding small amounts of milk, butter, sugar, or malt extract, depending on the desired flavor and properties in the final loaf.

A baguette (; ) is a long, thin loaf of French bread that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.

Bageta ( baguette – "proutek, hůlka") je druh pečiva, pocházejícího z Francie, které je neobvykle dlouhé v poměru ke své celkové velikosti. Běžná bageta je pět až šest centimetrů široká, tři až čtyři centimetry vysoká, ale může být až metr dlouhá. U čerstvě pečených baget je kůrka obzvláště křupavá.


Summary.

"Sparganium", commonly known as the bur-reed, is a genus of aquatic plants of shallow marshes, ponds and streams. There are 9 species found in the United States and Canada. The stem, which may be floating or emergent, emerges from a buried rhizome, which like many wetland plants, is dependent upon aerenchyma to transport oxygen to the rooting zone. The leaves are strap-like. The flowers are borne in spherical heads, which bear either male or female flowers. The seeds may accumulate in the soil as dense seed banks, which allow the plants to regenerate during low water periods.  Sparganium is an important component of aquatic and marsh vegetation in temperate to arctic regions. It provides food and cover for wildlife and waterfowl.  The genus name Sparganium was published by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753), with two species recognized: S. erectum, and S. natans.  Perhaps the first mention of Sparganium in the English language was made by William Turner (1562). Turner noted that there was no name for the plants in English, and suggested bede sedge or knop sedge. Further, he noted, "the virtues of Sparganium: The roote is good to be geven wyth wyne agaynste the poyson of serpentes."

Fossil record.

Many fossil endocarps and a few seeds of †Sparganium pusilloides have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark. Otherwise the species has been recorded from the Middle Oligocene to the Middle Miocene floras of Central Europe, among these from the Middle Oligocene Haselbacher See clay in Leipzig. Fossils of 20 endocarps of †Sparganium simplex and 1 endocarp of †Sparganium multiloculare have also been described from the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, "S. multiloculare" is also described from the Oligocene of southern England and the Oligocene and Miocene floras of Central Europe and Western Siberia.

Sparganium (bur-reed) is a genus of flowering plants, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread in wet areas in temperate regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The plants are perennial marsh plants that can grow to 3.5 m (depending on the species), with epicene flowers.

Zevar ("Sparganium") je rod jednoděložných rostlin z bývalé čeledi zevarovité. Čeleď zevarovité ("Sparganiaceae") obsahovala pouze 1 rod: zevar ("Sparganium"). V systému APG III není čeleď zevarovitých uznávána a rod zevar je společně s rodem orobinec (Typha) dáván do čeledi orobincovitých ("Typhaceae").


History.

The Ptolemaic reign in Egypt is one of the best-documented time periods of the Hellenistic era, due to the discovery of a wealth of papyri written in Koine Greek and Egyptian.

Background.

In 332 BC, Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, invaded Egypt, which at the time was a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire known as the Thirty-first Dynasty under Emperor Artaxerxes III. He visited Memphis, and traveled to the oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis. The oracle declared him to be the son of Amun.  Alexander conciliated the

Establishment.

Following Alexander's death in Babylon in 323 BC, a succession crisis erupted among his generals. Initially, Perdiccas ruled the empire as regent for Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus, who became Philip III of Macedon, and then as regent for both Philip III and Alexander's infant son Alexander IV of Macedon, who had not been born at the time of his father's death. Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy, one of Alexander's closest companions, to be satrap of Egypt. Ptolemy ruled Egypt from 323 BC, nominally in the name of the joint kings Philip III and Alexander IV. However, as Alexander the Great's empire disintegrated, Ptolemy soon established himself as ruler in his own right. Ptolemy successfully defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC, and consolidated his position in Egypt and the surrounding areas during the Wars of the Diadochi (322–301 BC). In 305 BC, Ptolemy took the title of King. As Ptolemy I Soter ("Saviour"), he founded the Ptolemaic dynasty that was to rule Egypt for nearly 300 years.  All the male

Rise.

Ptolemy I.

The first part of Ptolemy I's reign was dominated by the Wars of the Diadochi between the various successor states to the empire of Alexander. His first objective was to hold his position in Egypt securely, and secondly to increase his domain. Within a few years he had gained control of Libya, Coele-Syria (including Judea), and Cyprus. When Antigonus, ruler of Syria, tried to reunite Alexander's empire, Ptolemy joined the coalition against him. In 312 BC, allied with Seleucus, the ruler of Babylonia, he defeated Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, in the battle of Gaza.  In 311 BC, a peace was concluded between the combatants, but in 309 BC war broke out again, and Ptolemy occupied

Ptolemy II.

Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who succeeded his father as pharaoh of Egypt in 283 BC, was a peaceful and cultured pharaoh, and no great warrior. He did not need to be, because his father had left Egypt strong and prosperous. Three years of campaigning at the start of his reign (called the First Syrian War) left Ptolemy the master of the eastern Mediterranean, controlling the Aegean islands (the Nesiotic League) and the coastal districts of Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia and Caria. However, some of these territories were lost near the end of his reign as a result of the Second Syrian War. In the 270s BC, Ptolemy II defeated the Kingdom of Kush in war, gaining the Ptolemies free access to Kushite territory and control of important gold-mining areas south of Egypt known as Dodekasoinos. As a result, the Ptolemies established hunting stations and ports as far south as Port Sudan, from where raiding parties containing hundreds of

Ptolemy III Euergetes.

Ptolemy III Euergetes ("the Benefactor") succeeded his father in 246 BC. He abandoned his predecessors' policy of keeping out of the wars of the other Macedonian successor kingdoms, and plunged into the Third Syrian War (246-241 BC) with the Seleucid Empire of Syria, when his sister, Queen Berenice and her son were murdered in a dynastic dispute. Ptolemy marched triumphantly into the heart of the Seleucid realm, as far as Babylonia, while his fleets in the Aegean Sea made fresh conquests as far north as Thrace.  This victory marked the zenith of the Ptolemaic power. Seleucus II Callinicus kept his throne, but Egyptian fleets controlled most of the coasts of Anatolia and Greece. After this triumph Ptolemy no longer engaged actively in war, although he supported the enemies of Macedon in Greek politics. His domestic policy differed from his father's in that he patronised the native Egyptian religion more liberally: he left larger traces among the Egyptian monuments. In this his reign

Decline.

Ptolemy IV.

In 221 BC, Ptolemy III died and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy IV Philopator, a weak king under whom the decline of the Ptolemaic kingdom began. His reign was inaugurated by the murder of his mother, and he was always under the influence of royal favourites, male and female, who controlled the government. Nevertheless, his ministers were able to make serious preparations to meet the attacks of Antiochus III the Great on Coele-Syria, and the great Egyptian victory of Raphia in 217 BC secured the kingdom. A sign of the domestic weakness of his reign was the rebellions by native Egyptians that took away over half the country for over 20 years. Philopator was devoted to orgiastic religions and to literature. He married his sister Arsinoë, but was ruled by his mistress Agathoclea.  Like his predecessors, Ptolemy IV presented himself as a

Ptolemy V Epiphanes and Ptolemy VI Philometor.

Ptolemy V Epiphanes, son of Philopator and Arsinoë, was a child when he came to the throne, and a series of regents ran the kingdom. Antiochus III the Great of The Seleucid Empire and Philip V of Macedon made a compact to seize the Ptolemaic possessions. Philip seized several islands and places in Caria and Thrace, while the battle of Panium in 200 BC transferred Coele-Syria from Ptolemaic to Seleucid control. After this defeat Egypt formed an alliance with the rising power in the Mediterranean, Rome. Once he reached adulthood Epiphanes became a tyrant, before his early death in 180 BC. He was succeeded by his infant son Ptolemy VI Philometor.  In 170 BC, Antiochus IV Epiphanes invaded Egypt and captured Philometor, installing him at Memphis as

Later Ptolemies.

After Ptolemy VI's death a series of civil wars and feuds between the members of the ptolemaic dynasty started and would last for over a century. Philometor was succeeded by yet another infant, his son Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator. But Physcon soon returned, killed his young nephew, seized the throne and as Ptolemy VIII soon proved himself a cruel tyrant. On his death in 116 BC he left the kingdom to his wife Cleopatra III and her son Ptolemy IX Philometor Soter II. The young king was driven out by his mother in 107 BC, who reigned jointly with Euergetes's youngest son Ptolemy X Alexander I. In 88

Final years of the empire.

Cleopatra.

Cleopatra VII ascended the Egyptian throne at the age of seventeen upon the death of her father, Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos. She reigned as queen "philopator" and pharaoh with various male co-regents from 51 to 30 BC when she died at the age of 39.  The demise of the Ptolemies' power coincided with the growing dominance of the Roman Republic. With one empire after another falling to Macedon and the Seleucid empire, the Ptolemies had little choice but to ally with the Romans, a pact that lasted over 150 years. By Cleopatra's time, Rome had achieved a massive amount of influence over Egyptian politics and finances to the point that the Roman senate was eventually declared the guardian of the Ptolemaic Dynasty by Cleopatra's father, Ptolemy XII, who had paid vast sums of Egyptian wealth and resources in tribute to the Romans in order to regain and secure his throne following the rebellion and brief coup led by his older daughters, Tryphaena and Berenice IV. Both daughters were

Roman rule.

Under Roman rule, Egypt was governed by a prefect selected by the emperor from the Equestrian class and not a governor from the Senatorial order, to prevent interference by the Roman Senate. The main Roman interest in Egypt was always the reliable delivery of grain to the city of Rome. To this end the Roman administration made no change to the Ptolemaic system of government, although Romans replaced Greeks in the highest offices. But Greeks continued to staff most of the administrative offices and Greek remained the language of government except at the highest levels. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans did not settle in Egypt in large numbers. Culture, education and civic life largely remained Greek throughout the Roman period. The Romans, like the Ptolemies, respected and protected Egyptian religion and customs, although the cult of the Roman state and of the Emperor was gradually introduced.

Culture.

Ptolemy I, perhaps with advice from Demetrius of Phalerum, founded the Museum and Library of Alexandria. The Museum was a research centre supported by the king, located in the royal sector of the city; its scholars were housed in the same sector and funded by the Ptolemaic rulers. The chief librarian served also as the crown prince's tutor. For the first hundred and fifty years of its existence this library and research centre drew the top Greek scholars. It was a key academic, literary and scientific centre.  Greek culture had a long but minor presence in Egypt long before Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria. It began when Greek colonists, encouraged by many Pharaohs, set up the trading post of Naucratis. As Egypt came under foreign domination and decline, the Pharaohs depended on the Greeks as mercenaries and even advisors. When the Persians took over Egypt, Naucratis remained an important Greek port and the colonist population were used as mercenaries by both the rebel Egyptian princes and the Persian kings, who later gave them land grants, spreading Greek culture into the valley of the Nile. When Alexander the Great arrived, he established Alexandria on the site of the Persian fort of Rhakortis. Following Alexander's death, control passed into the hands of the Lagid (Ptolemaic) Dynasty; they built Greek cities across their empire and gave land grants across Egypt to the veterans of their many military conflicts. Hellenistic civilization continued to thrive even after Rome annexed Egypt after the battle of Actium and did not decline until the Islamic conquests.

Art.

Ptolemaic art was produced during the reign of the Ptolemaic Rulers (304–30 BC), and was concentrated primarily within the bounds of the Ptolemaic Empire. At first, artworks existed separately in either the Egyptian or the Hellenistic style, but over time, these characteristics began to combine. The continuation of the Egyptian art style evidences the Ptolemies' commitment to maintaining Egyptian customs. This strategy not only helped to legitimize their rule, but also placated the general population. Greek-style art was also created during this time and existed in parallel to the more traditional Egyptian art, which could not be altered significantly without changing its intrinsic, primarily-religious function. Art found outside of Egypt itself, though within the Ptolemaic Kingdom, sometimes used Egyptian iconography as it had been

Religion.

When Ptolemy I Soter made himself king of Egypt, he created a new god, Serapis, to garner support from both Greeks and Egyptians. Serapis was the patron god of Ptolemaic Egypt, combining the Egyptian gods Apis and Osiris with the Greek deities Zeus, Hades, Asklepios, Dionysos, and Helios; he had powers over fertility, the sun, funerary rites, and medicine. His growth and popularity reflected a deliberate policy by the Ptolemaic state, and was characteristic of the dynasty's use of Egyptian religion to legitimize their rule and strengthen their control.  The cult of Serapis included the worship of the new Ptolemaic line

Society.

Ptolemaic Egypt was highly stratified in terms of both class and ethnicity. More than any previous foreign rulers, the Ptolemies retained or co-opted many aspects of the Egyptian social order, using Egyptian religion, traditions, and political structures to increase their own power and wealth.  As before, peasant farmers remained the vast majority of the population, while agricultural land and produce were owned directly by the state, temple, or noble family that owned the land. Macedonians and other Greeks now formed the new upper classes, replacing the old native aristocracy. A complex state bureaucracy was established to manage and extract Egypt's vast wealth for the benefit of the Ptolemies and the Greek

Coinage.

Ptolemaic Egypt produced extensive series of coinage in gold, silver and bronze. These included

Military.

The military of Ptolemaic Egypt is considered to have been one of the best of the Hellenistic period, benefiting from the kingdom's vast resources and its ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The Ptolemaic military initially served a defensive purpose, primarily against competing "diadochi" claimants and rival Hellenistic states like the Seleucid Empire. By the reign of Ptolemy III (246 to 222 BC), its role was more imperialistic, helping extend Ptolemaic control or influence over Cyrenaica, Coele-Syria, and Cyprus, as well as over cities in Anatolia, southern Thrace, the Aegean islands, and Crete. The military expanded and secured these territories while continuing its primary function of protecting Egypt; its main garrisons were in Alexandria, Pelusium in the Delta, and Elephantine in Upper Egypt. The Ptolemies also relied on the military to assert and maintain their control over Egypt, often by virtue of their presence. Soldiers served in several units of the royal guard and were mobilized against uprisings and dynastic usurpers, both of which became increasingly common. Members of the army, such as the "machimoi" (low ranking native soldiers) were sometimes recruited as guards for officials, or even to help enforce tax collection.

Army.

The Ptolemies maintained a standing army throughout their reign, made up of both professional soldiers (including mercenaries) and recruits. From the very beginning the Ptolemaic army demonstrated considerable resourcefulness and adaptability. In his fight for control over Egypt, Ptolemy I had relied on a combination of imported Greek troops, mercenaries, native Egyptians, and even prisoners of war. The army was characterized by its diversity and maintained records of its troops' national origins, or "patris." In addition to Egypt itself, soldiers were recruited from Macedonia, Cyrenaica (modern Libya), mainland Greece, the Aegean, Asia Minor, and Thrace; overseas territories were often garrisoned with local

Navy.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was considered a major naval power in the eastern Mediterranean. Some modern historians characterize Egypt during this period as a thalassocracy, owing to its innovation of "traditional styles of Mediterranean sea power", which allowed its rulers to "exert power and influence in unprecedented ways". With territories and vassals spread across the eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus, Crete, the Aegean islands, and Thrace, the Ptolemies required a large navy to defend against enemies like the Seleucids and Macedonians. The Ptolemaic navy also protected

Cities.

While ruling Egypt, the Ptolemaic Dynasty built many Greek settlements throughout their Empire, to either Hellenize new conquered peoples or reinforce the area. Egypt had only three main Greek cities—Alexandria, Naucratis, and Ptolemais.

Naucratis.

Of the three Greek cities, Naucratis, although its commercial importance was reduced with the founding of Alexandria, continued in a quiet way its life as a Greek city-state. During the interval between the death of Alexander and Ptolemy's assumption of the style of king, it even issued an autonomous coinage. And the number of Greek men of letters during the Ptolemaic and Roman period, who were citizens of Naucratis, proves that in the sphere of Hellenic culture Naucratis held to its traditions. Ptolemy II bestowed his care upon Naucratis. He built a large structure of limestone, about long and wide,

Alexandria.

A major Mediterranean port of Egypt, in ancient times and still today, Alexandria was founded in 331 BC by Alexander the Great. According to Plutarch, the Alexandrians believed that Alexander the Great's motivation to build the city was his wish to "found a large and populous Greek city that should bear his name." Located west of the Nile's westernmost mouth, the city was immune to the silt deposits that persistently choked harbors along the river. Alexandria became the capital of the Hellenized Egypt of King Ptolemy I (reigned 323–283 BC). Under the wealthy Ptolemaic Dynasty, the city soon surpassed Athens as the cultural center of the Hellenic world.  Laid out on a grid pattern, Alexandria occupied a stretch of land between the sea to the north and Lake Mareotis to the south; a man-made causeway, over three-quarters of a mile long, extended north to the sheltering island of Pharos, thus forming a double harbor, east and west. On the east was the main harbor, called the Great Harbor; it faced the city's chief buildings, including

Ptolemais.

The second Greek city founded after the conquest of Egypt was Ptolemais, up the Nile, where there was a native village called Psoï, in the nome called after the ancient Egyptian city of Thinis. If Alexandria perpetuated the name and cult of the great Alexander, Ptolemais was to perpetuate the name and cult of the founder of the Ptolemaic time. Framed in by the barren hills of the Nile Valley and the Egyptian sky, here a Greek city arose, with its public buildings and temples and theatre, no

Demographics.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom was diverse and cosmopolitan. Beginning under Ptolemy I Soter, Macedonians and other Greeks were given land grants and allowed to settle with their families, encouraging tens of thousands of Greeks to immigrate. Greeks soon became the dominant elite; native Egyptians, though always the majority, generally occupied lower posts in the Ptolemaic government. Many Jews were imported from neighboring Judea by the thousands for being renowned fighters, also establishing an important community. Other foreign groups settled from across the ancient world, usually as "cleruchs" who had been granted land in exchane for military service.  Of the many foreign groups who had come to settle in Egypt, the Greeks, were the most important and privileged. They were partly spread as allotment-holders over the country, forming social groups, in the country towns and villages, side by side with the native population, partly gathered in the three Greek cities, the old Naucratis, founded before 600 BC (in the interval of Egyptian independence after the expulsion of the Assyrians and before the coming of the Persians), and the two new cities, Alexandria by the sea, and Ptolemais in Upper Egypt. Alexander and his Seleucid successors founded many Greek cities all over their dominions.  Greek culture was so much bound up with the life of the city-state that any king who wanted to present himself to the world as a genuine champion of Hellenism had to do something in this direction, but the king of Egypt, ambitious to shine as a Hellene, would find Greek cities, with their republican tradition and aspirations to independence, inconvenient elements in a country that lent itself, as no other did, to bureaucratic centralization. The Ptolemies therefore limited the number of Greek city-states in Egypt to Alexandria, Ptolemais, and Naucratis.  Outside of Egypt, the Ptolemies exercised control over Greek cities in Cyrenaica, Cyprus, and on the coasts and islands of the Aegean, but they were smaller than Greek "poleis" in Egypt. There were indeed country towns with names such as Ptolemais, Arsinoe, and Berenice, in which Greek communities existed with a certain social life and there were similar groups of Greeks in many of the old Egyptian towns, but they were not communities with the political forms of a city-state. Yet if they had no place of political assembly, they would have their gymnasium, the essential sign of Hellenism, serving something of the purpose of a university for the young men. Far up the Nile at Ombi a gymnasium of the local Greeks was found in 136–135 BC, which passed resolutions and corresponded with the king. Also, in 123 BC, when there was trouble in Upper Egypt between the towns of Crocodilopolis and Hermonthis, the negotiators sent from Crocodilopolis were the young men attached to the gymnasium, who, according to the Greek tradition, ate bread and salt with the negotiators from the other town. All the Greek dialects of the Greek world gradually became assimilated in the Koine Greek dialect that was the common language of the Hellenistic world. Generally, the Greeks of Ptolemaic Egypt felt like representatives of a higher civilization but were curious about the native culture of Egypt.

Agriculture.

The early Ptolemies increased cultivatable land through irrigation and introduced crops such as cotton and better wine-producing grapes.

The Ptolemaic Kingdom (; ) was a Hellenistic state based in ancient Egypt. It was ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter, and lasted until the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. The Ptolemies were the longest-lived dynasty in Egyptian history, as well as the last.

Ptolemaiovský Egypt je obecně užívaný termín pro období starověkého Egypta spravovaný helénskou dynastií Ptolemaiovců, tento stát je běžně označován jako Ptolemaiovská říše, přesněji však Ptolemaiovské království (starořecky, "Ptolemaïkḕ basileía"), bylo helénistickou monarchií s centrem v Egyptě vzniklou roku 305 př. n. l., kdy se jí coby král a faron nově ujal Ptolemaios I. Sótér, původně makedonský generál Alexandra Velikého. Ptolemaiovská dynastie vydržela u moci v Egyptě až do roku 30 př. n. l., kdy byl dobyt Gaiem Octavianem a přeměněn v římskou provincii, v latině nazývanou jako "Aegyptus".


History.

In History, the Akans who live in Ghana migrated in successive waves between the 11th and 18th centuries. Other Akans who later migrated from Ghana inhabit the eastern part of Ivory Coast. They migrated from the north to occupy the forest and coastal areas in the south in the 13th century. The Akans have a strong oral history tradition of their past and they're also known in the art history world for symbolic artefacts of wood, metal and terracotta. Their cultural ideas are expressed in stories and proverbs and also in designs such as symbols used in carvings and on clothes. The cultural and historic nature of the Akans in Ghana makes it an area of research for various disciplines such as folklore, literary studies, linguistics, anthropology and history.

Phonology.

Because the Akan dialects' phonologies differ slightly, Asante dialect is used here to represent Akan. Asante, like all Akan dialects, contains extensive palatalization, vowel harmony, and tone terracing.

Consonants.

Before front vowels, all Asante consonants are palatalized (or labio-palatalized), and the stops are to some extent affricated. The allophones of are quite complex. In the table below, palatalized allophones which involve more than minor phonetic palatalization are specified, in the context of the vowel. These sounds do occur before other vowels, such as, though in most cases not commonly.  In Asante, followed by a vowel is pronounced, but in Akuapem it remains. The sequence is pronounced.  The transcriptions in the table below are in the order /phonemic/, <nowiki>[</nowiki>phonetic<nowiki>]</nowiki>,. Note that orthographic is ambiguous; in textbooks, = may be distinguished from with a diacritic: '. Likewise, velar () may be transcribed '. Orthographic is palatalized.

Vowels.

The Akan dialects have fourteen to fifteen vowels: four to five "tense" vowels (advanced tongue root, or +ATR), five "lax" vowels (retracted tongue root, or -ATR), which are adequately but not completely represented by the seven-vowel orthography, and five nasal vowels, which are not represented at all. All fourteen were distinguished in the Gold Coast alphabet of the colonial era. An ATR distinction in orthographic "a" is only found in some subdialects of Fante, but not in the literary form; in Asante and Akuapem there are harmonic allophones of, but neither is ATR. The two vowels written "e" ( and ) and "o" ( and ) are often not distinguished in pronunciation.

ATR harmony.

Akan vowels engage in a form of vowel harmony with the root of the tongue.

Tones.

Akan has three phonemic tones, "high" (/H/), "mid" (/M/), and "low" (/L/). Initial syllable may only be "high" or "low".

Tone terracing.

The phonetic pitch of the three tones depends on their environment, often being lowered after other tones, producing a steady decline known as tone terracing.  /H/ tones have the same pitch as a preceding /H/ or /M/ tone within the same tonic phrase, whereas /M/ tones have a lower pitch. That is, the sequences /HH/ and /MH/ have a level pitch, whereas the sequences /HM/ and /MM/ have a falling pitch. /H/ is lowered (downstepped) after a /L/.  /L/ is the default tone, which emerges in situations such as reduplicated prefixes. It is always at bottom of the speaker's pitch range, except in the sequence /HLH/, in which case it is raised in pitch but the final /H/ is still lowered. Thus /HMH/ and /HLH/ are pronounced with distinct but very similar pitches.  After the first "prominent" syllable of a clause, usually the first high tone, there is a downstep. This syllable is usually stressed.

Relationship to other Central Tano languages.

Akan is a dialect continuum that includes Twi, Fante, and Wasa. Ethnologue, whose classification is based on studies of mutual intelligibility and lexical similarity from a multitude of sources, classifies the varieties of Akan as dialects of the overarching Akan language, which belongs to the Cental Tano language family. Glottolog makes basically the same analysis, with the exception that the Akan dialect continuum is labeled "Akanic".  According to work done by P. K. Agbedor, Fante, Twi (Bono, Asante and Akuapem), Sefwi, Wassa, Asen, Akwamu, and Kwahu belong to Cluster 1 of the speech forms of Ghana, defined as in Ethnologue by the level of mutual intelligibility. Cluster 1 may better be termed r-Akan, which do not have /l/ as a phoneme, while l-Akan refers to the Akan cluster comprising Nzema, Baoulé, Anyin and other dialects spoken mainly in the Ivory Coast, which have /l/ in place of /r/.

Literature.

The Akan language has a rich literature in proverbs, folktales, and traditional drama, as well as a new literature in dramas, short stories, and novels. This literature began to be documented in written form in the late 1800s. Later, Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia collected a number of proverbs and folktales, including "Funeral Dirges of the Akan People" (1969), "Folk Songs of Ghana" (1963), and "Akan Poetry" (1958). Some of the important authors in the language are A. A. Opoku (dramatist), E. J. Osew (dramatist), K. E. Owusu (novelist), and R. A. Tabi (dramatist and novelist). The Bureau of Ghana Languages has been unable to continue printing novels in the language, and the following are out of print: "Obreguo, Okrabiri, Afrakoma, Obeede, Fia Tsatsala, "and "Ku Di Fo Nanawu".

Education.

Primary.

In 1978 the AOC established a common orthography for all of Akan, which is used as the medium of instruction in primary school. The Akan language is recognized for literacy, from at least the lower primary level (primary 1-3).

University.

Akan language is studied in major universities in the United States, including Ohio University, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard University, Boston University, Indiana University, Michigan University, and The University of Florida. Akan has been a regular African language of study in the annual Summer Cooperative African Languages Institute (SCALI) program. The Akan language is studied in these universities as a bachelor or masters program.

Akan is a Central Tano language and the principal native language of the Akan people of Ghana, spoken over much of the southern half of Ghana by 63%. Akans who migrated from the Ashanti Kingdom and were led by Queen Pokou to Côte d'Ivoire make up 35% of the population

Akanština je jedním z hlavních jazyků Ghany. Patří do rodiny nigerokonžských jazyků. Sestává z těchto dialektů: Oba mají psané formy v latinské abecedě. Úřad pro ghanské jazyky sestavil seznam 20 000 jejich slov a jednotný pravopis, jenž však zatím není šířeji používaný.


Etymology.

The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. The first,, "mountain", and the second, represents the "yin" of yin and yang. The name means the northern, shady side of the mountains in contrast to the "yang" "southern, sunny" San'yō region to the south.

History.

Early history.

The San'in region has numerous Paleolithic and Jōmon period (14,000 – 300 BC) remains, but its Yayoi period (300 BC – 250 AD) remains are the largest in Japan. The Mukibanda Yayoi remains in the low foothills of Mount Daisen in the cities of Daisen and Yonago, Tottori Prefecture are the largest in Japan. The site is still only partially excavated, but indicates that the San'in was a regional center of power in the period. The mythology of the Shinto religion is largely based in the Izumo area of the region, and the Izumo-taisha, or Izumo Grand Shrine in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. The eastern part of Shimane Prefecture also had cultural and economic connections to the Asian mainland from an early period.

San'indō.

The San'in region corresponds to, one of the gokishichidō, or five provinces and seven circuits established in the Asuka period (538–710) under the Ritsuryō legal system. San'indō refers not only to the ancient geographic region, but also the main road through the region that connected it to the capitol in Kyoto. The San'in encompassed the pre-Meiji provincial areas of Tanba, Tango, Tajima, Inaba, Hōki, Izumo, Iwami and Oki.

San'indō route.

While the San'indō route was used for military logistics in numerous conflicts after the Asuka period, it more importantly served as a route for the transport of good to and from the region. The route reached its highest period of importance in the Edo period (1603–1867) when the Tokugawa shogunate formalized its route and shukuba post stations. The "daimyō" regional rulers used the San'indō for their "sankin-kōtai" mandatory journeys to Edo (modern Tokyo).

Modern usage.

The San'in region now has no administrative authority. In modern Japanese usage it generally refers to the prefectures of Shimane, Tottori and northern area of Yamaguchi. The northern areas of Hyōgo and Kyōto prefectures are sometimes included in the region as well. Japan Route 9, the San'in Expressway, and the JR West San'in Main Line follow the historical route of the San'indō, and remnants of the shukuba, some well preserved, remain throughout the region.

Geography.

The San'in Region has a long coastline along the Japan Sea that dramatically sweeps south to the Chūgoku Mountains along the length of the region. The area is primarily mountainous with few plains. While the climate of the San'in region is not as harsh as that of the Hokuriku region to the north, winters are characterized by heavy snow and rainfall typical of areas on the Japan Sea.

Economy.

The San'in region is far from the industrial and cultural heartlands of Japan, and the region is consequently economically undeveloped compared to the other regions of Japan. The landscape remains rural and unindustrialized, and the urban areas of the region are decentralized. Tottori and Shimane are the least populated prefectures in Japan, and the population is aging at a rate faster than the rest of Japan. Cities in the region with a population of over 100,000 remain only the prefectural capitols of Tottori and Matsue, the more recently industrialized Yonago, and Izumo, a city formed from numerous smaller cities and villages after World War II. The agricultural output of the San'in region, however, remains very high. Its broad coastal and mountainous areas are protected as national, prefectural, and municipal parks, and these areas are now popular tourist destinations.

Transportation.

The San'in region is connected by several JR West rail lines and some highways, but transportation is relatively undeveloped compared to other regions of Japan. Projects to connect the region to the wider highway network of Japan continue.

The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan.

San'in (山陰地方; "San'in-čihó") je název pro oblast na jihu japonského ostrova Honšú. Tvoří severní část regionu Čúgoku, část přiléhající k Japonskému moři. Název "San'in" znamená „zastíněná strana hory“ a je kladen do protikladu k jižní oblasti "San'jó" neboli „slunné straně hory“. Za součást oblasti "San'in" jsou běžně považovány prefektury Šimane, Tottori a severní část prefektury Jamaguči.


Writings.

Diogenes Laërtius and the Suda report that Sextus Empiricus wrote ten books on Pyrrhonism. The Suda also says Sextus wrote a book "Ethica." Sextus Empiricus's three surviving works are the "Outlines of Pyrrhonism" (Πυῤῥώνειοι ὑποτυπώσεις, "Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis", thus commonly abbreviated "PH"), and two distinct works preserved under the same title, "Adversus Mathematicos" (Πρὸς μαθηματικούς, "Pros mathematikous", commonly abbreviated "AM" and known as "Against Those in the Disciplines," or "Against the Mathematicians"). "Adversus Mathematicos" is incomplete as the text references parts that are not in the surviving text. "Adversus Mathematicos" also includes mentions of three other works which did not survive:  The surviving first six books of "Adversus Mathematicos" are commonly known as "Against the Professors." Each book also has a traditional title; although none of these titles except "Pros mathematikous" and "Pyrrhōneioi hypotypōseis" are found in the manuscripts. The supposed general title of this work is "Skeptical Treatises"' ("Σκεπτικὰ Ὑπομνήματα /Skeptika Hypomnēmata"). "Adversus Mathematicos" "I–VI" is sometimes distinguished from "Adversus Mathematicos" "VII–XI" by using another title, "Against the Dogmatists" ( "Πρὸς δογματικούς, Pros dogmatikous") and then the remaining books are numbered as I–II, III–IV, and V, despite the fact that it is also commonly inferred that the beginning of such a separate work is missing and it is not known how many books might have preceded the extant books.

Philosophy.

Sextus Empiricus raised concerns which applied to all types of knowledge. He doubted the validity of induction long before its best known critic David Hume, and raised the regress argument against all forms of reasoning: Because of these and other barriers to acquiring true beliefs, Sextus Empiricus advises that we should suspend judgment about virtually all beliefs; that is to say, we should neither affirm any belief as true nor deny any belief as false. This view is known as Pyrrhonian skepticism, as distinguished from Academic skepticism, as practiced by Carneades, which, according to Sextus, denies knowledge altogether. Sextus did not deny the possibility of knowledge. He criticizes the Academic skeptic's claim that nothing is knowable as being an affirmative belief. Instead, Sextus advocates simply giving up belief; in other words, suspending judgment (epoche) about whether or not anything is knowable. Only by suspending judgment can we attain a state of ataraxia (roughly, 'peace of mind'). Sextus did not think such a general suspension of judgment to be impractical, since we may live without any beliefs, acting by habit.  Sextus allowed that we might affirm claims about our experience (e.g., reports about our feelings or sensations). That is, for some claim X that I feel or perceive, it could be true to say "it seems to me now that X." However, he pointed out that this does not imply any objective knowledge of external reality. Though I might know that the honey I eat at a certain moment tastes sweet to me, this is merely a subjective judgment, and as such may not tell me anything true about the honey itself.  Interpretations of Sextus's philosophy along the above lines have been advocated by scholars such as Myles Burnyeat, Jonathan Barnes, and Benson Mates.  Michael Frede, however, defends a different interpretation, according to which Sextus does allow beliefs, so long as they are not derived by reason, philosophy or speculation; a skeptic may, for example, accept common opinions in the skeptic's society. The important difference between the skeptic and the dogmatist is that the skeptic does not hold his beliefs "as a result of rigorous philosophical investigation." In "Against the Ethicists", Sextus in fact directly says that "the Skeptic does not conduct his life according to philosophical theory (so far as regards this he is inactive), but as regards the non-philosophical regulation of life he is capable of desiring some things and avoiding others." (XI, 165). Thus, on this interpretation (and as per Sextus' own words), the skeptic may well entertain the belief that God does or does not exist or that virtue is good. But he will not believe that such claims are true on the basis of "reasons" since, as far as the skeptic is aware, no reason for assenting to such claims has yet been shown to be "any more" credible than the reasons for their denial. (XIX)  It must also be remembered that by "belief" (i.e., dogma) Sextus means "assent to something non-evident [ἄδηλος, adēlos]" (PH I, 16). And by "non-evident" he means things which lie beyond appearances (i.e., phantasiai, and thus are beyond proof or disproof, such as the existence and/or nature of causality, time, motion, or even proof itself. Thus, the skeptic will, for example, believe the proposition that "Dion is in the room" if sense-data and ordinary reasoning led to the emergence of such a belief. On the other hand, if he were to "strongly" assert that Dion was "really" in the room, then he may be met with opposing arguments of equal psychological force against the self-same proposition and experience mental disquietude as a result. Thus, the Pyrrhonian does not assent to the proposition "Dion is in the room" in a dogmatic way as that would purport to describe a non-evident reality which lies beyond the "appearance" [φαινόμενον, phainomenon] of Dion being in the room. The Skeptic simply goes along with the appearance just as "a child is persuaded by...his teacher." (PH I, 229). It is for this reason then that Sextus says the Skeptic lives undogmatically in accordance with appearances and also according to a "fourfold regimine of life" which includes the guidance of nature, compulsion of "pathe" (feelings), laws and customs, and instruction in arts and crafts. The Skeptic follows this course of life while suspending judgment concerning the ultimate truth of the non-evident matters debated in philosophy and the sciences (PH I, 17). Thus, the Pyrrhonist achieves ataraxia not by casting certain judgments about appearances but rather through his refined ability to "oppose appearances to judgments" such that he is "brought firstly to a state of mental suspense and next to ataraxia.'" (IV, 8)

The ten modes of Pyrrhonism.

Pyrrhonism is more of a mental attitude or therapy than a theory. It involves setting things in opposition and owing to the equipollence of the objects and reasons, one suspends judgement. "We oppose either appearances to appearances or objects of thought to objects of thought or "alternando."" The ten modes induce suspension of judgement and in turn a state of mental suspense followed by "ataraxia." If ever one is in a position in which they are unable to refute a theory, Pyrrhonists reply "Just as, before the birth of the founder of the School to which you belong, the theory it holds was not as yet apparent as a sound theory, although it was really in existence, so likewise it is possible that the opposite theory to that which you now propound is already really existent, though not yet apparent to us, so that we ought not as yet to yield assent to this theory which at the moment seems to be valid." These ten "modes" or "tropes" were originally listed by Aenesidemus.  Superordinate to these ten modes stand three other modes:  Superordinate to these three modes is the mode of relation.

Similarity with Madhyamaka Buddhism.

Because of the high degree of similarity between the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus and those of the Madhyamaka Buddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna Thomas McEvilley and Matthew Neale suspect that Nagarjuna and Sextus Empiricus were referencing some of the same earlier Pyrrhonist texts in developing their works.

Legacy.

An influential Latin translation of Sextus's "Outlines" was published by Henricus Stephanus in Geneva in 1562, and this was followed by a complete Latin Sextus with Gentian Hervet as translator in 1569. Petrus and Jacobus Chouet published the Greek text for the first time in 1621. Stephanus did not publish it with his Latin translation either in 1562 or in 1569, nor was it published in the reprint of the latter in 1619.  Sextus's "Outlines" were widely read in Europe during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and had a profound effect on Michel de Montaigne, David Hume, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, among many others. Another source for the circulation of Sextus's ideas was Pierre Bayle's "Dictionary". The legacy of Pyrrhonism is described in Richard Popkin's "The History of Skepticism from Erasmus to Descartes" and "High Road to Pyrrhonism". The transmission of Sextus's manuscripts through antiquity and the Middle Ages is reconstructed by Luciano Floridi's "Sextus Empiricus, The Recovery and Transmission of Pyrrhonism" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). Since the Renaissance French philosophy has been continuously influenced by Sextus: Montaigne in the 16th century, Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Pierre-Daniel Huet and François de La Mothe Le Vayer in the 17th century, many of the "Philosophes," and in recent times controversial figures such as Michel Onfray, in a direct line of filiation between Sextus' radical skepticism and secular or even radical atheism.  Sextus is the earliest known source for the proverb "Slowly grinds the mill of the gods, but it grinds fine", alluded to in Longfellow's poem "Retribution".

Sextus Empiricus (; c. 160 – c. 210 AD, dates uncertain), was a Pyrrhonist philosopher and a physician. His philosophical works are the most complete surviving account of ancient Greek and Roman Pyrrhonism, and because of the arguments they contain against the other Hellenistic philosophies they are also a major source of information about those philosophies.

Sextus Empiricus, řecky Σέξτος Ἐμπειρικός (kolem 200 – po 250), byl římský lékař a filosof řeckého původu. Většinu svého života prožil v Alexandrii, ale pobýval taktéž v Athénách nebo Římě.