Geography.

Prudnik is located in the historic Silesia (Upper Silesia) region at the confluence of the Prudnik river and its Złoty Potok tributary. The city is situated on the border of Opawskie Mountains and the Głubczyce Plateau (a part of the Silesian Lowlands). Prudnik and Vrbno pod Pradědem are headquarters of the Euroregion Praděd.

Etymology.

The name ""Prudnik"" was created after Polish word "prąd" (flow, stream, Czech: "proud", Silesian: "prund") and, like nearby Prężyna, means a river with a fast stream. In the Middle Ages, the city's name was writted with a letter "u", which was Czech counterpart of "ą" (1262 "Pruthenos", 1331 "Prudnik"). Since 17th century, the name "Prudnik" was used along with "Neustadt".  The town's German name was also written in its Latin form "Neostadium". Sometimes its Polish and Czech translations were used ("Nowe Miasto", "Nové Město"). The town's older name also had its Latin form ("Prudnicium"). The town was also called "Polnisch Neustadt" ("Polish New Town"), but in 1708 it got replaced with "Königliche Stadt Neustadt" ("Royal Town New Town"). Its Polish counterpart "Nowe Miasto Królewskie" was used in a Polish document published in 1750 by Frederick the Great.  In the 19th century, the city's name was changed to "Neustadt in Oberschlesien" ("New Town in Upper Silesia"), while the Slavic name "Prudnik" was still used by its Polish inhabitants, which was mentioned in Upper Silesia's topographical description from 1865: ""Der ursprünglische Stadtname „Prudnik" ist noch jetz bei den polnischen Landbewohnern üblich"". In the alphabetic list of cities of Silesia published by Johann Knie in Wrocław in 1830, Polish name "Prudnik" was used along with German "Neustadt" (""Prudnik, polnische Benennung der Kreistadt Neustadt"").  In Polish publications since the 20th century, the city's name was written as "Prądnik". This name was also used formally in 1945. The city's name was changed to "Prudnik" on 7 May 1946.  In Polish, the city name has masculine grammatical gender.

History.

Middle Ages.

The first human traces in the present town area are dated to the Neolithic times. In 1259 the Czech knight Wok of Rosenberg founded in the defensive bend of the Prudnik river a castle, and his son Jindřich obtained the city rights in 1279. In 1337 it became a part of the Duchy of Opole, and remained under the rule of local Polish dukes of the Piast dynasty until the dissolution of the duchy in 1532, when it was incorporated into the Austrian-ruled Bohemian (Czech) Crown. It was located on a trade route between Wrocław and Vienna.

Early modern era.

In 1562, the Austrian-ruled Duchy of Opole and Racibórz passed a resolution that obligated Jews to sell their houses, pay their debts, and leave the duchy in a year. On the basis of this resolution, in 1564, Jews were ordered to leave Prudnik, but Krzysztof Prószkowski, who leased the land there, let them stay until 1570. The town was captured and plundered by the Swedes in 1632, during the Thirty Years' War. In 1645 along with Opole and Racibórz it returned to Poland under the House of Vasa, and in 1666 it fell to Austria again.  In 1742 the town was incorporated into Prussia. During the Seven Years' War it was the scene of a bloody surprise attack upon the Prussians as they were marching out of the city. "The London Gazette" of 25 March 1760 reported "General Laudohn, who had set out from his Quarters on 14th with Palfy's Regiment of Cuirassiers, Lowenstein's Dragoons, 500 Hussars of Nadaski, 500 of Kalnocki, 2000 Croats and 14 Companies of Grenadiers, marched all Night with a View to surprise our Troops at Neustadt. The latter were scarce out of the Gates, when they were surrounded by those of the Enemy. General Jacquemin was posted with the Regiment of Lowenstein near Buchelsdorff on the road to Steinau, General Laudohn followed with the Regiment of Palfy and 2000 Croats, supported by 14 Companies of Grenadiers; a thousand of their Hussars were upon our right flank, the advanced Guard of which consisted of 100 Men under Capt. Blumenthal of the Regiment of Manteuffel. Capt Zitzewitz commanded the Rear Guard, consisting of the same number; and the rest of the aforesaid regiment, with a Squadron of Dragoons of Bareith under Capt. Chambaud, followed with the Baggage. General Laudohn summoned out Troops twice, by Sound of Trumpet, to lay down their Arms; which they not complying with, he ordered all his Cavalry to advance: Whereupon General Jacquemin fell upon the advance Guard, while General Laudohn himself attacked the Rear, and the Hussars, in Platoons, flanked the Baggage. The Captains Blumenthal and Zittzwitz formed their small Force in a Kind of Square, from whence they kept a continual fire. The enemy's Cavalry nevertheless advanced six Times on a Gallop, to within ten Paces of our Troops; but perceiving many fall on their Side, among whom were several Officers, they retreated in great Disorder... The Loss of the Austrians however greatly exceeds ours; they buried above 300 Men, in different Places, and sent 500 Wounded to Neustadt. Besides which we have taken 25 Prisoners, amongst whom are several Officers. We had 35 men killed, and four Officers and 65 private Men wounded, in Manteuffel's Regiment, as also one Lieutenant, with three Dragoons in Bareich's... The Officers, taken Prisoners, by our Troops, commend highly the Bravery of the Regiment of Manteuffel upon this Occasion."  In the subsequent years, the area developed into a significant centre of handcraft, in particular cloth production and shoe-making. In the 19th century, the surrounding factories continued the local tradition of handicraft. The indigenous Polish population was subject to Germanisation policies. Due to the lack of Polish schools, local Poles sent their children to schools in so-called Congress Poland in the Russian Partition of Poland. Local Polish activist, publicist and teacher, was investigated by the local Prussian administration and police for writing about this practice in the "Gazeta Toruńska", a major Polish newspaper in the Prussian Partition of Poland.

Interbellum and World War II.

Prudnik remained part of Germany after Poland regained independence in 1918, however, Polish organizations still operated in the town in the interbellum, including the Union of Poles in Germany and the Polish-Catholic School Society. In a secret "Sicherheitsdienst" report from 1934, Prudnik was named one of the main centers of the Polish movement in western Upper Silesia. Nazi Germany increasingly persecuted local Polish activists since 1937, and carried out mass arrests in August and September 1939. On 7 September 1938, Prudnik was visited by Adolf Hitler along with Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Gerd von Rundstedt, Erhard Milch, Hans-Jürgen Stumpff, Josef Wagner and Hellmut Körner.  During World War II the Germans established four forced labour camps and four working units for British and Soviet prisoners of war. On 26 September 1944, a sub-camp of Auschwitz in Prudnik / Neustadt O.S' was founded in the "Schlesische Feinweberei AG" textile mill (now ZPB "Frotex"). Neustadt was a stopping place on a death march during final months of World War II, for prisoners-of-war transferred by the Nazis from all over Europe to stalags built in occupied Poland. About 30,000 Allied PoWs were force-marched westward across Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany in winter conditions, lasting about four months from January to April 1945. The Red Army captured Neustadt on 18 March 1945.

In modern Poland.

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Neustadt was transferred from Germany to Poland according to the Potsdam Conference, and given its original Polish name of Prądnik. The remaining German population was expelled and replaced by Polish settlers and refugees transferred from the Kresy in the former Polish eastern territories annexed by the Soviet Union. The city's name was changed to Prudnik in 1946.  In September 1980, 1500 workers of ZPB "Frotex" and firefighters from Prudnik's fire brigade went on the biggest anti-communist strike in Opole Voivodeship. The strike lasted 5 days (5–10 September).

Sights.

Prudnik is a town rich in historic architecture from various periods. Among its sights are:

Religion.

Catholic Church.

Prudnik Deanery

Economy.

The biggest corporations in Prudnik were Zakłady Przemysłu Bawełnianego "Frotex", which got closed in 2014 and Prudnickie Zakłady Obuwia "Primus", which got closed in 2007.  Currently, the major industrial plants in Prudnik are:

Twin towns – sister cities.

See twin towns of Gmina Prudnik.

Prudnik (,,, ) is a town in Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitants (2016). Since 2015, Prudnik is a member of the Cittaslow International.

Prudník (také "Proudník", "Nové Město", ; ; ; ) je město v Opolském vojvodství v polském Slezsku. Sídlo okresu a gminy Prudnik. V roce 2018 zde žilo asi 21 170 obyvatel.


History.

The Pocket PC was an evolution from prior calculator-sized computers. Keystroke-programmable calculators which could do simple business and scientific applications were available by the 1970s. In 1982, Hewlett Packard's HP-75 incorporated a 1-line text display, an alphanumeric keyboard, HP BASIC language and some basic PDA abilities. The HP 95LX, HP 100LX and HP 200LX series packed a PC-compatible MS-DOS computer with graphics display and QWERTY keyboard into a palmtop format. The HP OmniGo 100 and 120 used a pen and graphics interface on DOS-based PC/GEOS, but was not widely sold in the United States. The HP 300LX built a palmtop computer on the Windows CE operating system, but not until the form factor and features of the Palm platform were adapted that it was named the Pocket PC.  Prior to the release of Windows Mobile 2003, third-party software was developed using Microsoft's eMbedded Visual Tools, eMbedded Visual Basic (eVB) and eMbedded Visual C (eVC). eVB programs can usually be converted fairly easily to NS Basic/CE. or to Basic4ppc.  According to Microsoft, the Pocket PC is "a handheld device that enables users to store and retrieve e-mail, contacts, appointments, tasks, play multimedia files, games, exchange text messages with Windows Live Messenger (formerly known as MSN Messenger), browse the Web, and more." (src: microsoft buyersguide)  From a technical standpoint, "Pocket PC" is a Microsoft specification that sets various hardware and software requirements for mobile devices bearing the "Pocket PC" label.  For instance, any device which is to be classified as a Pocket PC must:  The Pocket PC/Windows Mobile OS was superseded by Windows Phone on February 15, 2010 when the latter was announced at Mobile World Congress that year. No existing hardware was officially supported for a Windows Phone 7 upgrade. Additionally, not a single one of the thousands of apps available for Windows Mobile would run unaltered on Windows Phone.

Operating system versions.

Windows Mobile 6.5.

The first Windows Mobile 6.5 device was first shown in September 2009. Leaked ROMs surfaced in July 2009 for specific devices. The generic ROM images for Mobile 6.5 are also available as part of the officially distributed and freely downloadable development kit.  Several phones running Windows Mobile 6.1 can be updated to Windows Mobile 6.5.

Windows Mobile 6.1.

Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 was announced on April 1, 2008 and introduced instant messaging-like texting. Windows Mobile 6.1 was built upon Windows CE 5.

Windows Mobile 6.

Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6, internally code-named 'Crossbow', was officially released by Microsoft on February 12, 2007. Mobile 6 was still based on Windows CE 5 and was effectively just a face-lift of Windows Mobile 5. With Mobile 6 also came Microsoft's new naming conventions and devices were no longer called Pocket PCs: devices with no phone abilities were named Windows Mobile Classic, and devices with phone abilities were named Windows Mobile Professional.

Windows Mobile 5.

Windows Mobile 5 for Pocket PC was based on Windows CE 5 and contained many fixes and improvements over Windows Mobile 2003.  Pocket PCs running prior versions of the operating system generally stored user-installed applications and data in RAM, which meant that if the battery was depleted the device would lose all of its data. Windows Mobile 5.0 solved this problem by storing all user data in persistent (flash) memory, leaving the RAM to be used only for running applications, as it would be on a desktop computer. As a result, Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs generally had more flash memory, and less RAM, compared to earlier devices.

Windows Mobile 2003.

Windows Mobile 2003 consisted of the Windows CE.NET 4.2 operating system bundled with scaled-down versions of many popular desktop applications, including Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Word, Excel, Windows Media Player, and others.  Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition added native landscape, square screen and VGA support as well as other fixes and changes to those features already present in the original release of Windows Mobile 2003.

Windows CE 3.0.

Pocket PC 2000.

Pocket PC 2000 was launched April 2000, and ran Windows CE 3.0. Pocket PC 2000 featured a mobile version of Microsoft Office, a chief feature being the ability to password-protect Excel files.

Pocket PC 2002.

Pocket PC 2002 was launched October 2001, and was powered by Windows CE 3.0, as with its predecessor. Some Pocket PC 2002 devices were also sold as "Phone Editions", which included cell phone functionality in addition to the PDA abilities.

Vendors.

Before the Pocket PC brand was launched, there were other Windows-based machines of the same form factor made by HP, Philips, and others called Palm-size PCs. These devices ran Windows CE 2.0–2.11 and had an interface that was similar to the then-current desktop versions of Windows, such as Windows 98.  Pocket PCs were manufactured and sold by several different companies; the major manufacturers include HP (under the iPAQ and now defunct Jornada brands), Toshiba, Acer, Asus, Dell (under the now defunct Axim brand), Fujitsu Siemens, E-TEN, HTC, and ViewSonic. In mid-2003, Gateway Computers and JVC announced they would release Pocket PCs, but the projects were discontinued before a product was released. Prices in 2003 ranged from around for the high-end models, some of which are combined with cell phones, to $200 for low-end models. A $100–$200 model was rumored to be released within 2004 or early 2005, although the lowest price for a just-released Pocket PC never went under $300. Many companies ceased to sell PDA's by 2003–2004 because of a declining market. Major companies such as Viewsonic and Toshiba stopped producing new Pocket PCs.  Companies like O2, T-Mobile and Orange were marketing Pocket PCs that have integrated mobile telephony (smartphones). All users have to do is put in the SIM card and follow the wizard, to put their SIM contacts in the address book. An example is O2's Xda, or T-Mobile's MDA Compact. Both of these devices, while bearing the phone operator's logo, are manufactured by the dominant Pocket PC manufacturer HTC.  One of the more popular high-end consumer-market Pocket PCs was the Dell Axim x51v, which was discontinued in 2007. Hardware specs included 3.7" color TFT VGA display with 640x480 resolution, Intel XScaleTM PXA270 processor at 624 MHz, 336 MB of memory (256 MB flash, 64 MB SDRAM), integrated 802.11b and Bluetooth 1.2, integrated Intel 2700G multimedia accelerator with 16 MB video memory. Expansion was possible via CompactFlash Type II and SD slots (supporting SDIO Now!, SDIO and MMC cards). Included is a 1,100 mAh user replaceable battery (est. 4-6.5 hours, 2200 mAh also available).  Some Pocket PCs featured integrated GPS often combined with mobile phone functionality. Pocket PCs with built-in telephony differ from Windows Mobile Smartphone Edition devices in several respects, including the lack of a touchscreen on the latter. Some examples of current Pocket PCs with GPS integrated are the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox N560, a high-end Pocket PC with a VGA screen and an integrated SiRF Star III GPS; the HTC TyTN, a small communicator with integrated slide in keyboard; the HP hw6945 and HP iPAQ hw6515 with integrated thumb-board, GPS and GSM/GPRS telephony; the HTC top of the line Universal, branded as the QTek 9000 (also branded by various telecommunications companies as the Orange SPV M5000, T-mobile MDA Pro, Vodafone VPA IV, O2 Xda Exec, i-Mate JasJar, Dopod 900).  A newer entrant into the Pocket PC market was Palm which sold devices like the Treo 700w/wx based on Windows Mobile 5.0 and featuring integrated telephony. Previous to this, Palm only produced PDAs running the Palm OS (as did the first versions of the Palm Treo).  HTC manufactures up to 80% of all phone enabled Windows Mobile devices for other companies (including HP and O2), as well as many non-phone Pocket PCs (for companies such as Dell, HP and Fujitsu Siemens). HTC is now marketing Windows Mobile devices under their own brand, as well as that of Dopod.

A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC), also known by Microsoft as a Windows Mobile Classic device, is a kind of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile operating system. It has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs.

Pocket PC (zkráceně též P/PC nebo PPC) je hardwarová specifikace pro kapesní počítače (PDA) s operačním systémem Microsoft Windows Mobile. Mohou být schopny používat alternativní operační systém, jako NetBSD nebo Linux.


Plot.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!" tells the tale of Yugi Mutou, a timid young boy who loves all sorts of games, but is often bullied around. One day, he solves an ancient puzzle known as the, causing his body to play host to a mysterious spirit with the personality of a gambler. From that moment onwards, whenever Yugi or one of his friends is threatened by those with darkness in their hearts, this other Yugi shows himself and challenges them to dangerous which reveal the true nature of someone's heart, the losers of these contests often being subjected to a dark punishment called a. Whether it be cards, dice, or role-playing board games, he will take on challenges from anyone, anywhere. As the series progresses, Yugi and his friends learn that this person inside of his puzzle is actually the spirit of a nameless Pharaoh from Ancient Egyptian times, who had lost his memories. As Yugi and his companions attempt to help the Pharaoh regain his memories, they find themselves going through many trials as they wager their lives facing off against gamers that wield the mysterious and the dark power of the Shadow Games.

Development.

In the initial planning stages of the manga, Takahashi had wanted to draw a horror manga. Although the end result was a manga about games, it was clear that some horror elements influenced certain aspects of the story. Takahashi decided to use "battle" as his primary theme. Since there had been so much "fighting" manga, he found it difficult to come up with something original. He decided to create a fighting manga where the main character doesn't hit anybody, but also struggled with that limitation. When the word "game" came to mind, he found it much easier to work with.  When an interviewer asked Takahashi if he tried to introduce younger readers to real life gaming culture referenced in the series, Takahashi responded by saying that he simply included "stuff he played and enjoyed", and that it may have introduced readers to role-playing games and other games. Takahashi added that he created some of the games seen in the series. The author stressed the importance of "communication between people," often present in tabletop role-playing games and not present in solitary video games. Takahashi added that he feels that quality communication is not possible over the Internet.  Takahashi had always been interested in games, claiming to have been obsessed as a child and is still interested in them as an adult. In a game, he considered the player to become a hero. He decided to base the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" series around such games and used this idea as the premise; Yugi was a weak childish boy, who became a hero when he played games. With friendship being one of the major themes of "Yu-Gi-Oh!", he based the names of the two major characters "Yūgi" and "Jōnouchi" on the word yūjō (友情), which means "friendship". Henshin, the ability to turn into something or someone else, is something Takahashi believed all children dreamed of. He considered Yugi's "henshin" Dark Yugi, a savvy, invincible games player, to be a big appeal to children.  Takahashi said that the card game held the strongest influence in the manga, because it "happened to evoke the most response" from readers. Prior to that point, Takahashi did not plan for the card game to make more than two appearances.  Takahashi said that the "positive message" for readers of the series is that each person has a "strong hidden part" (like "human potential") within himself or herself, and when one finds hardship, the "hidden part" can emerge if one believes in him/herself and in his/her friends. Takahashi added that this is "a pretty consistent theme."  The editor of the English version, Jason Thompson, said that the licensing of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" manga had not been entirely coordinated, so Viz decided to use many of the original character names and to "keep it more or less violent and gory." Thompson said that the manga "was almost unchanged from the Japanese original." Because the core fanbase of the series was, according to Thompson, "8-year-old boys (and a few incredible fangirls)," and because the series had little interest from "hardcore, Japanese-speaking fans, the kind who run scanlation sites and post on messageboards" as the series was perceived to be "too mainstream," the Viz editors allowed Thompson "a surprising amount of leeway with the translation." Thompson said he hoped that he did not "abuse" the leeway he was given. In a 2004 interview, the editors of the United States "Shonen Jump" mentioned that Americans were surprised when reading the stories in Volumes 1 through 7, as they had not appeared on television as a part of the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters" anime. Takahashi added "The story is quite violent, isn't it? "[laughs]""  English release by 4Kids have been subject to censorship to make it more appropriate for children', for example mentions of death or violence were replaced by references to "being sent to the Shadow Realm".  The 遊戯王 ("Yugiō"), which is stylized 遊☆戯☆王, means "king of games". The word 遊戯 ("yugi") is also the name of the protagonist. Kazuki Takahashi has also stated that the character names "Yūgi" and "Jōnouchi" are based on the word 友情 ("yūjō" "friendship"). This pun was represented with a Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game card known 友情 YU-JYO ("Yūjō Yūjō"; in English, "Yu-Jo Friendship"). "Yūjō" is pointed out by Jōnouchi to Yūgi at the end of the first manga chapter, as "something visible yet invisible" (what's visible is the two of them, what's invisible is their friendship), as a way to tell Yūgi that he wants to be his friend.

Publication.

The original "Yu-Gi-Oh!" manga by Kazuki Takahashi was serialized in Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from September 30, 1996 to March 8, 2004. Unlike most other media, it features a variety of different games. The plot starts out fairly episodic and the first seven volumes includes only three instances of "Magic & Wizards". In the sixtieth chapter, the Duelist Kingdom arc starts and instances of "Magic & Wizards" becomes fairly common, and after the DDD arc, it reappears again and becomes part of an important plot point during the Battle City arc. The last arc of the manga focuses on a tabletop role-playing game that replicates the Pharaoh's lost memories, in which the battle system is based on an ancient Shadow Game played in his kingdom (stated in-series to be the precursor of "Magic & Wizards" and the indirect precursor to card games in general). The editors were Yoshihisa Heishi and Hisao Shimada. Kazuki Takahashi credits Toshimasa Takahashi in the "Special Thanks" column.  The English version of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" manga was released in the North America by Viz Media, running in "Shonen Jump" magazine between 2002 and December 2007. The original Japanese character names are kept for most of the characters (Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda, for instance), while the English names are used for a minor number of characters (e.g. Maximillion Pegasus) and for the "Duel Monsters" cards. The manga is published in its original right-to-left format and is largely unedited, although instances of censorship appear such as editing out the finger in later volumes. Viz released the first volume of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" manga up to the end of the Monster World arc under its original title. Starting from the last chapter of the seventh Japanese volume, the Duelist Kingdom, Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Battle City arcs are released under the title "Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist", while the Memory World arc was released as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World".

Other media.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! R".

A spin-off manga titled "Yu-Gi-Oh! R" was illustrated by Akira Ito under Takahashi's supervision. The story is of disputed canonicity and takes place in the original manga's universe, between the Battle City and Millennium World arcs, where Yugi and his friends must stop a man named Yako Tenma who plans to use Anzu Mazaki's body to revive the deceased Pegasus. The spin-off was serialized in "V-Jump" between April 21, 2004 and December 21, 2007 and was compiled into five tankōbon volumes. Viz Media released the series in North America between 2009 and 2010.

Anime.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!" (1998 TV series).

The first "Yu-Gi-Oh!" anime adaptation was produced by Toei Animation and aired on TV Asahi between April 4, 1998 and October 10, 1998, running for 27 episodes and one theatrical movie released on the 6th March, 1999. This adaptation was never released outside Japan.  This series is heavily abridged from the manga, skipping many chapters, and often changes details of the manga stories it does adapt, featuring several key differences from the manga. It also adds a new regular character to the group, Miho Nosaka, who was originally a one-shot minor character in the manga. This adaptation is not related to any other works in the franchise.

"Duel Monsters" (2000 TV series).

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters", known outside Japan as simply "Yu-Gi-Oh!", is the second adaptation of the series. It was produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo, while animation for the show was done by Studio Gallop. Loosely adapting the manga from chapter sixty onwards, the series features several differences from the manga and the Toei-produced series and largely focuses around the game of Duel Monsters, tying in with the real life "Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game". The series aired in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 18, 2000 and September 29, 2004, running for 224 episodes. A remastered version of the series, focusing on specific duels, began airing in Japan from February 7, 2015.  In 2001, 4Kids Entertainment obtained the merchandising and television rights to the series from Nihon Ad Systems, producing an English-language version which aired in North America on Kids' WB! between September 29, 2001 and June 10, 2006, also releasing in various countries outside Japan. The adaptation received many changes from the Japanese version to tailor it for international audiences. These include different names for many characters and monsters, changes to the appearance of the cards to differentiate them from their real-life counterparts and various cuts and edits pertaining to violence, death, and religious references to make the series suitable for children.  An album containing some tracks from the English dub music entitled Yu-Gi-Oh! Music to Duel By was released on October 29, 2002 on DreamWorks Records on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.  An uncut version, featuring an all-new English dub track and the original Japanese audio, began release in October 2004, in association with Funimation Entertainment. Only three volumes, comprising the first nine episodes, were ever released. 4Kids would later release the uncut Japanese episodes on YouTube, in May 2009, but were forced to stop due to legal issues with ADK and Yugi's Japanese voice actor, Shunsuke Kazama. Meanwhile, a separate English adaptation, produced by A.S.N., aired in South East Asia. The names were also Americanized, but the series setting and the original music remained intact.  On March 24, 2011, TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems filed a joint lawsuit against 4Kids, accusing them of underpayments concerning the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" franchises and allegedly conspiring with Funimation, and have allegedly terminated their licensing deal with them. This led to 4Kids filing for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code. Although 4Kids had managed to win the case in March 2012, they ended up selling their rights to the franchise, among other assets, to Konami. Konami currently distributes the series and its spin-offs, in addition to producing English dubs through its renamed subsidiary, 4K Media Inc.  A complete DVD boxset, including all English episodes and the "Bonds Beyond Time" movie, was released on July 15, 2014 via Amazon. On July 11, 2015, 4K Media began releasing subtitled episodes to the Crunchyroll streaming site monthly.

"Capsule Monsters".

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters" is a twelve-episode spin-off miniseries commissioned, produced and edited by 4Kids Entertainment, which aired in North America between September 9, 2006 and November 25, 2006. It is set before the end of "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters", apparently somewhere between episodes 198 and 199, and involves Yugi and his friends being pulled into a world filled with real Duel Monsters they can summon using capsules. It is similar to the Virtual RPG arc in many respects, but it does not seem to have anything to do with the early Capsule Monster Chess game featured in early volumes of the original manga. It is currently the only animated "Yu-Gi-Oh!" media not to be released in Japan, though it is referred to as "Yu-Gi-Oh! ALEX". A DVD containing a condensed version of the "Capsule Monsters" episodes was released in May 2006.

Novel.

A novel adaptation revolves focuses on some of the beginning parts of the manga and the Death-T arc, written by Katsuhiko Chiba (千葉 克彦 "Chiba Katsuhiko"). It was published in Japan by Shueisha on September 3, 1999 and has four sections. The fourth section is an original story, occurring only in the novel. Two weeks after Yugi's battle with Kaiba in Death-T, Yugi gets a call from Kaiba, who tells him to meet for a game at the top floor of Kaiba Corporation. Yugi accepts, and when the game begins, they use a special variation of "Magic & Wizards" called the "Bingo Rule," which prevents the used of a specific card in each player's deck. Mokuba stumbles in on them, and tells Yugi that Kaiba has not yet awoken from his catatonic state. It turns out that the Kaiba that Yugi is playing against is a "Cyber Kaiba", controlled by the KaibaCorp computer, using all of Kaiba's memories.

Other books.

is a guidebook written by Kazuki Takahashi related to characters from the original "Yu-Gi-Oh!" manga universe. It was published in Japan on November 1, 2002 by Shueisha under their Jump Comics imprint and in France on December 12, 2006 by Kana. The book contains profiles for characters, including information which has never been released elsewhere, including birth dates, height, weight, blood type, favorite and least favorite food. It also contains a plethora of compiled information from the story, including a list of names for the various games and Shadow Games that appear in "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and the various Penalty Games used by the Millennium Item wielders.  An art book titled, was illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi under the Studio Dice label. The art book was released on December 16, 2011 and contains a number of illustrations done for the bunkoban releases of the manga, compilations of color illustrations found in the manga, and brand new art drawn for the book. It also contains pictures by Takahashi used for cards with the anniversary layout, pictures he has posted on his website and a number of other original illustrations.  The was released on May 1999 following the release of Toei's "Yu-Gi-Oh!" movie earlier that year. The book includes episode information and pictures regarding the first "Yu-Gi-Oh!" anime and movie, some pictures with the original manga with a section covering the making of certain monsters, and interviews regarding the first film. It also features an ani-manga version of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" movie and is the only supplemental work released for Toei's version of the anime.  The is a book released to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the NAS adaption of the anime (as opposed to the manga), released on January 21, 2010. The book features scenes from the crossover movie, "Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D Bonds Beyond Time", a quick review of the three "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters" series, character profiles, duels and interviews with the staff of the movie. A fold-out double-sided poster is included with the book.

Films.

Four animated films based on the franchise have been released.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!" (1999).

Based on the Toei animated series, the thirty-minute movie revolves around a boy named Shōgo Aoyama, who is targeted by Seto Kaiba after obtaining a powerful rare card; the legendary Red-Eyes Black Dragon. The movie was released by Toei Company in theaters on March 6, 1999 and on VHS on November 21, 1999

"Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie: Pyramid of Light".

"", often referred to as simply "Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie", was first released in North America on August 13, 2004. The movie was developed specifically for Western audiences by 4Kids based on the overwhelming success of the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" franchise in the United States. Warner Bros. distributed the film in most English-speaking countries. Its characters are from the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters" anime. In the movie, which takes place following the Battle City arc, Yugi faces Anubis, the Egyptian God of the Dead. An extended uncut Japanese version of the movie premiered in special screenings in Japan on November 3, 2004 under the title "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: Pyramid of Light". The movie was then aired on TV Tokyo on January 2, 2005. Attendees of the movie during its premiere (United States or Japan) got 1 of 4 free Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game cards. The cards were Pyramid of Light, Sorcerer of Dark Magic, Blue Eyes Shining Dragon, and Watapon. The Home Video Release also gave out one of the free cards with an offer to get all four cards by mail (though the promotion ended in December 2004). In Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom, free promotional cards were also given out, however, they were given out at all screenings of the movie, and not just the premiere.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!: Bonds Beyond Time".

"10th Anniversary Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie: Super Fusion! Bonds that Transcend Time", is a 3-D film released on January 23, 2010 in Japan. The film was released in North America by 4Kids on February 26, 2011 under the name "Yu-Gi-Oh! 3D: Bonds Beyond Time" with additional footage, where it also received an encore screening in Japan. The movie celebrates the 10th anniversary of the first NAS series (as opposed to the anniversary of the manga) and features an original storyline involving Yugi Mutou, Jaden Yuki from "Yu-Gi-Oh! GX", and Yusei Fudo from "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's", fighting against a new enemy named Paradox. It was first teased with short animations featured at the start of episodes of "Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's" during episodes 65–92. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in July 2011, with the UK release by Manga Entertainment being the first bilingual release of the franchise since the Uncut "Yu-Gi-Oh!" DVDs.

"Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions".

4K Media announced that a new film was in development in Japan, celebrating Yu-Gi-Oh's 20th anniversary. The film features an original story by Kazuki Takahashi, set six months after the events of the manga, depicting a duel between Yugi and Kaiba, as well as a new adversary. The film was released on April 23, 2016 in Japan and had an international release in late 2016. The film released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 8, 2017 in Japan, and included the two part manga prequel called "Yu-Gi-Oh!: Transcend Game". The film was released in the United States on January 27, 2017, and was made available on DVD and Blu-ray on June 27, 2017.

Spinoffs.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! GX".

"Yu-Gi-Oh! GX", known in Japan as "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX", is the first spin-off anime series produced by NAS which ran for 180 episodes from October 6, 2004 and March 26, 2008. Taking place a few years after the events of "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters", the series follows a boy named Jaden Yuki as he attends a Duel Academy, built by Seto Kaiba, in the hopes of becoming the next Duel King. Like the previous seasons, 4Kids Entertainment licensed the series outside Japan and aired it in North America between October 10, 2005 and July 12, 2008, though episodes 157–180 were not dubbed. In the Arc-V series, the series was retconned to be set in the "Fusion dimension".  A manga adaptation by Naoyuki Kageyama was serialized in Shueisha's "V-Jump" magazine between December 17, 2005 and March 19, 2011. The manga differs from that of the anime, featuring new storylines and monsters, as well as some personality changes in some of the characters. The series is published in North America by Viz Media.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's".

"Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's" is the second main spin-off series also taking place in the 2000 universe, which aired for 154 episodes between April 2, 2008 and March 30, 2011. It was later licensed by 4Kids and aired in North America between September 13, 2008 and September 10, 2011. This series focuses around a motorcycling duelist named Yusei Fudo and introduces new concepts such as Turbo Duels, duels which take place upon motorbikes called Duel Runners, and Synchro Monsters, which were also added to the real life trading card game. In the Arc-V series, the series was retconned to be set in the "Synchro dimension".  A manga adaptation by Masahiro Hikokubo and Satou Masashi began serialization in "V-Jump" from August 2009 and, like the "GX" manga, differs from the anime in storyline and characterization. The manga is also published in North America by Viz Media.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal".

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal" is the third main spin-off series, which aired in Japan between April 11, 2011 and March 23, 2014, which aired for 146 episodes. The first series aired between April 11, 2011 and September 24, 2012. The story revolves around a boy named Yuma Tsukumo who, joined by an interstellar being known as Astral, must gather the 100 Numbers cards that make up his memory. The series adds yet another monster type, Xyz Monsters, which were added to the trading card game. 4Kids licensed the series and began airing the series in North America on The CW's Toonzai block from October 15, 2011. After a legal battle with TV Tokyo and NAS caused 4Kids to file for bankruptcy, Konami received the rights to the series. The series aired on Saban's Vortexx block, with production done by 4K Media Inc.. A second series, titled "Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal II", aired in Japan between October 7, 2012 and March 23, 2014. In the Arc-V series, the series was retconned to be set in the "XYZ dimension".  The manga adaptation written by Shin Yoshida and illustrated by Naoto Miyashi, began serialization in the extended February 2011 issue of Shueisha's "V Jump" magazine, released on December 18, 2010.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V".

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V" is the fourth main spin-off series, which aired for 148 episodes between April 6, 2014 and March 26, 2017, following "Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal". The series focuses on a new protagonist, Yūya Sakaki, who participates in the world of Action Duels, in which enhanced Solid Vision systems give substance to monsters and environments. The series introduces Pendulum Monsters and Pendulum Summoning, which were added to the trading card game.  This series is set in the "Standard dimension" in the franchise.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS".

"Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS" is the fifth main spin-off series, which aired for 120 episodes between May 10, 2017 and September 25, 2019, following "Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V". The series follows a new protagonist named Yusaku Fujiki who engages in duels on a virtual world under the alias "Playmaker", determined to take down an elusive group of hackers known as the "Knights of Hanoi". The series introduces Link Monsters, which are also added to the trading card game.

"Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens".

On July 21, 2019, it was announced that a new anime spinoff would premiere sometime in 2020.  On December 21, 2019, the title of the series was revealed to be "Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens", in addition to staff and casting. It premiered on April 4, 2020. For the first time since the 1998 "Yu-Gi-Oh!" series, the anime will not be animated by Gallop, with Bridge taking over as head studio in animation production.

Trading Card Game.

The "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Trading Card Game is a Japanese collectible card battle game developed and published by Konami. Based on the Duel Monsters concept from the original manga series, the game sees players using a combination of monsters, spells, and traps to defeat their opponent. First launched in Japan in 1999, the game has received various changes over the years, such as the inclusion of new monster types to coincide with the release of new anime series. In 2011, "Guinness World Records" called it the top-selling trading card game in history, with cards sold worldwide.

Video games.

There are several video games based on the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" franchise which are published by Konami, the majority of which are based on the trading card game, and some based on other games that appeared in the manga. Aside from various games released for consoles and handheld systems, arcade machines known as Duel Terminals have been released which are compatible with certain cards in the trading card game. Outside of Konami's titles, Yugi appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting games "Jump Super Stars", "Jump Ultimate Stars", and "Jump Force".

Reception.

The manga has sold copies. In December 2002, Shonen Jump received the ICv2 Award for "Comic Product of the Year" due to its unprecedented sales numbers and its successfully connecting comics to both the television medium and the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" collectible card game; one of the top CCG games of the year. In August 2008, TV Tokyo reported that over Yu-Gi-Oh! cards had been sold worldwide. By 2011, it had sold cards worldwide.  John Jakala of "Anime News Network" reviewed the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" manga in 2003 as part of reviewing the U.S. "Shonen Jump". Jakala said that while the commercials for the second series anime made the anime appear "completely uninteresting," the comic "is unexpectedly dark and moody." Jakala added that at one moment the series "reminded me of Neil Gaiman's work: Yugi finds himself drawn into a magical world of ancient forces where there are definite rules that must be obeyed." Jakala concluded that the fact the series uses games as plot devices "opens up a lot of story possibilities" and that he feared that the series had the potential to "simply devolve into a tie-in for the popular card game."  Jason Thompson, the editor of the English version of the manga, ranked "Yu-Gi-Oh!" as number three of his five personal favorite series to edit, stating that he thinks "the story is actually pretty solid for a shonen manga" and that "you can tell it was written by an older man because of the obsession with death, and what might come after death, which dominates the final story arc," enjoying all the RPG and card gaming terminology found within the series.  At the time when the manga series started to garner more popularity among Japanese children with the second series anime, video games, and trading card game, because of its somewhat "dark story lines, leggy girls and terrifying monsters", the series was not popular among Japanese parents, who believed that "Yu-Gi-Oh!" was more meant for teenagers than the young kids that make up the audience for franchises such as "Pokémon".  "Yu-Gi-Oh!" was used by Bandai as part of their "Candy Toy" toyline.

Two anime adaptations were produced; one by Toei Animation, which aired from April 4, 1998 to October 10, 1998, and another produced by NAS and animated by Studio Gallop titled "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters", which aired between April 2000 and September 2004. The manga series has spawned a media franchise that includes multiple spin-off manga and anime series, a trading card game, and numerous video games. Most of the incarnations of the franchise involve the fictional trading card game known as "Duel Monsters", where each player uses cards to "duel" each other in a mock battle of fantasy "monsters". This forms the basis for the real life "Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game". As of 2018, "Yu-Gi-Oh" is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Yu-Gi-Oh! je sběratelská karetní hra s tematikou japonských anime a manga, kterou vytvořil Kazuki Takashi. Hra se v některých věcech podobá karetní hře a v dnešní době ji už počtem hráčů a prodaných karet překonala. Dokonce dne 7. července 2009 obdržela Guinessův rekord. I v této karetní hře hráči používají monstra a kouzla na poražení soupeře. Yu-Gi-Oh! se stalo velmi populární a je podle něho vytvořeno anime i manga.


Gaining a tempo.

Gaining tempo may be achieved, for example, by developing a piece while delivering check, though here, too, if the check can be countered by the development of a piece, the net result may be nil. If the check can be blocked by a useful pawn move which also drives the checking piece away, the check may even lose a tempo.  In general, making moves with gain of tempo is desirable. A player is said to have the "" if they are able to keep making moves which force their opponent to respond in a particular way or limit their responses. The player with the initiative has greater choice of moves and can to some extent control the direction the game takes, though this advantage is only relative, and may not be worth very much (having a slight initiative when a rook down in material, for example, may be worthless).  A move that comes "with a tempo on a piece" is a move that gains a tempo by attacking that piece. For example, in the Scandinavian Defense, after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5, White's 3.Nc3 comes "with a tempo on the queen": the knight attacks Black's queen, forcing it to move again, and White gains a tempo. A similar move gains a tempo in the Center Game opening.

Losing a tempo.

In some endgame situations, a player must actually "lose" a tempo to make progress. For example, when the two kings stand in opposition (a form of zugzwang), the player to move is often at a disadvantage because he "must" move. The player to move may be able to triangulate in order to lose a tempo and return to the same position but with the opponent to move (and put him in zugzwang). Kings, queens, bishops, and rooks can lose a tempo; a knight cannot. In the position from Artyom Timofeev–Ernesto Inarkiev, 2008, Black resigned because White will win with a tempo move. (Timofeev won the 2008 Moscow Open with this game.) White is threatening 118.Rh8+. If Black moves his king on move 117, White wins the bishop with 118.Rh8+, which results in a position which has an elementary checkmate. If Black moves 117...Bh5 then 118.Rh8 and Black is in zugzwang, and loses. So Black must move 117...Be2 to avoid immediately getting into a lost position. But then will come 118.Rh8+ Bh5 and now White makes a tempo move with 119.Rh7 (or 119.Rh6), maintaining the pin on the bishop, making it Black's turn to move, and Black must lose the bishop.

Spare tempo.

A spare tempo in an endgame arises when a player has a pawn move that does not essentially change the position but that loses a tempo to put the opponent in zugzwang. In this example, if only the pieces were considered, it would be an instance of full-point reciprocal zugzwang – the player to move would lose. In the full position, White has two spare tempi (f2–f3 and h2–h3) whereas Black has only one (...f7–f6), so White has a spare tempo. By using these moves he can Black into a fatal zugzwang: and any move Black makes will lose.  If the black pawn had been on h7 instead of h6, White and Black would have an equal number of spare tempi, so the player to move would lose.

Reserve tempo.

A pawn may have a "reserve tempo", mainly in endgames involving only kings and pawns. This is especially true of a pawn on the second, where it has the option of moving one or two squares. Pawn moves held in reserve may be used to win a game.  In this position from a 1986 game between John Nunn and Klaus Bischoff, Black resigned because he must lose his pawn on the d- because White has a reserve tempo with his a-pawn. For example, after or  Black must now abandon the d5-pawn (or first move and lose his pawn on f7). White is able to place Black in zugzwang because he has the option of moving the a2-pawn either one or two squares.

References.

Bibliography

In chess and other chess-like games, a tempo is a "turn" or single move. When a player achieves a desired result in one fewer move, the player is said to "gain a tempo"; conversely, when a player takes one more move than necessary, the player is said to "lose a tempo". Similarly, when a player forces their opponent to make moves not according to their initial plan, one is said to "gain tempo" because the opponent is wasting moves. A move that gains a tempo is often called "a move with tempo".

Tempo je v šachu důležitým strategickým pojmem. Na rozdíl od obecného významu "neznamená" šachové tempo "rychlost hry", ale představuje jeden tah. Pokud hráč dosáhne svého cíle rychleji (s menším počtem tahů) než bylo původně nutné, "získává tempo". Pokud je soupeřem donucen (zejména v obraně) udělat navíc některé tahy, které nevedou k plánovanému cíli, "tempo ztrácí".


Early life.

Battista Farina was born in Cortanze, Italy. The tenth of eleven children, his nickname, "Pinin" (the youngest/smallest (brother), in Piedmontese), referred to his being the baby of the family, and in later years it also referred to his short stature of 5 feet (1.52 meters). He started working in his brother Giovanni's body shop at the age of 12, and it was there that his interest in cars was born. He stayed at Giovanni's "Stabilimenti Industriali Farina" for decades, learning bodywork and beginning to design his own cars.

Carrozzeria Pininfarina and career.

He formed Carrozzeria Pinin Farina in 1930 to focus on design and construction of new car bodies, and quickly gained prominence. Only Carrozzeria Touring was more sought-after in the 1930s. His work for Ferrari, starting in 1952, would become his most famous, though much of it was managed by his son, Sergio, who ran the firm until shortly before his death, on 3 July 2012. Some time in the early 1950s, Stabilimenti Farina was absorbed into the by now much larger Carrozzeria Pininfarina.  The last design personally attributed to him was the 1600 Duetto for Alfa Romeo. This was first seen by the public at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966. He died less than a month later, on 3 April.

Personal life and family.

He officially changed his name to "Battista Pininfarina" in 1961. The change was authorized by the President of the Italian Republic, acting on a proposal made by the Minister of Justice.  His nephew, Nino Farina, was the first Formula One world champion.

Battista "Pinin" Farina (later Battista Pininfarina; 2 November 1893, Cortanze, Italy – 3 April 1966, Lausanne, Switzerland) was an Italian automobile designer and the founder of the Carrozzeria Pininfarina coachbuilding company, a name associated with many of the best-known postwar sports cars.

Giovanni Battista „Pinin“ Farina (později Battista Pininfarina, 2. listopadu 1893 – 3. dubna 1966) byl zakladatelem designérské firmy Carrozzeria Pininfarina, která bude navždy spojena s řadou nejznámějších poválečných sportovních automobilů, zejména se značkou Ferrari.


Naming and usage.

Although the island has been known as the North Island for many years, in 2009 the New Zealand Geographic Board found that, along with the South Island, the North Island had no official name. After a public consultation, the board officially named the island North Island or Te Ika-a-Maui in October 2013.  In prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called "the North Island" and "the South Island", with the definite article. It is also normal to use the preposition "in" rather than "on", for example "Hamilton is in the North Island", "my mother lives in the North Island". Maps, headings, tables, and adjectival expressions use "North Island" without "the".

Māori mythology.

According to Māori mythology, the North and South Islands of New Zealand arose through the actions of the demigod Māui. Māui and his brothers were fishing from their canoe (the South Island) when he caught a great fish and pulled it from the sea. While he was not looking his brothers fought over the fish and chopped it up. This great fish became the North Island and thus a Māori name for the North Island is Te Ika-a-Māui ("The Fish of Māui"). The mountains and valleys are believed to have been formed as a result of Māui's brothers' hacking at the fish. Until the early 20th Century, an alternative Māori name for the North Island was Aotearoa. In present usage, Aotearoa is a collective Māori name for New Zealand as a whole.

Economy.

The sub-national GDP of the North Island was estimated at US$102.863 billion in 2003, 79% of New Zealand's national GDP.

Ecology.

The North Island is divided into two ecoregions within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, the northern part being the Northland temperate kauri forest, and the southern part being the North Island temperate forests. The island has an extensive flora and bird population, with numerous National Parks and other protected areas.

Regions.

Nine local government regions cover the North Island and all its adjacent islands and territorial waters.

Cities and towns.

The North Island has a larger population than the South Island, with the country's largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington, accounting for nearly half of it.  There are 28 urban areas in the North Island with a population of 10,000 or more:

Healthcare.

Healthcare in the North Island is provided by fifteen District Health Boards (DHBs). Organised around geographical areas of varying population sizes, they are not coterminous with the Local Government Regions.

The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island's area is, making it the world's 14th-largest island. It has a population of

Severní ostrov (, ) je druhý největší ostrov Nového Zélandu, má rozlohu asi 114 597 km2. Leží zde největší město Auckland (1,3 milionu obyv.) a hlavní město Wellington s 300 000 obyvatel. Zeměpisný úřad Nového Zélandu v roce 2013 doporučil stávající neformální anglický název "North Island" oficiálně kodifikovat a souběžně s ním i maorský název "Te Ika-a-Maui" ("Velká ryba Mauiho"); podle maorské mytologie se bůh Maui vydal se svými staršími bratry na lov ryb a i když měl pověst špatného rybáře, ulovil největší rybu.


Environmental.

Micrococci have been isolated from human skin, animal and dairy products, and beer. They are found in many other places in the environment, including water, dust, and soil. "M. luteus" on human skin transforms compounds in sweat into compounds with an unpleasant odor. Micrococci can grow well in environments with little water or high salt concentrations, including sportswear made with synthetic fabrics. Most are mesophiles; some, like "Micrococcus antarcticus" (found in Antarctica) are psychrophiles.  Though not a spore former, "Micrococcus" cells can survive for an extended period of time, both at refrigeration temperatures, and in nutrient-poor conditions such as sealed in amber.

Pathogenesis.

"Micrococcus" is generally thought to be a saprotrophic or commensal organism, though it can be an opportunistic pathogen, particularly in hosts with compromised immune systems, such as HIV patients. It can be difficult to identify "Micrococcus" as the cause of an infection, since the organism is a normally present in skin microflora, and the genus is seldom linked to disease. In rare cases, death of immunocompromised patients has occurred from pulmonary infections caused by "Micrococcus". Micrococci may be involved in other infections, including recurrent bacteremia, septic shock, septic arthritis, endocarditis, meningitis, and cavitating pneumonia (immunosuppressed patients).

Industrial uses.

Micrococci, like many other representatives of the Actinobacteria, can be catabolically versatile, with the ability to utilize a wide range of unusual substrates, such as pyridine, herbicides, chlorinated biphenyls, and oil. They are likely involved in detoxification or biodegradation of many other environmental pollutants. Other "Micrococcus" isolates produce various useful products, such as long-chain (C21-C34) aliphatic hydrocarbons for lubricating oils.

Micrococcus (mi’ krō kŏk’ Əs) is a genus of bacteria in the Micrococcaceae family. "Micrococcus" occurs in a wide range of environments, including water, dust, and soil. Micrococci have Gram-positive spherical cells ranging from about 0.5 to 3 micrometers in diameter and typically appear in tetrads. They are catalase positive, oxidase positive, indole negative and citrate negative. "Micrococcus" has a substantial cell wall, which may comprise as much as 50% of the cell mass. The genome of "Micrococcus" is rich in guanine and cytosine (GC), typically exhibiting 65 to 75% GC-content. Micrococci often carry plasmids (ranging from 1 to 100 MDa in size) that provide the organism with useful traits.

Micrococcus je rod grampozitivních bakterií z kmene Actinobacteria, které mají buňky asi 0,5–3 μm. Jejich kokovité buňky jsou zpravidla uspořádané v tetrádách (po čtyřech). Je pro ně typický velký obsah GC, až 65–75 %. V buňce bývají často přítomné plazmidy.


Decipherment.

Besides a few inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic (which were discovered only in the 20th century), the Edicts were mostly written in the Brahmi script and sometimes in the Kharoshthi script in the northwest, two Indian scripts which had both become extinct around the 5th century CE, and were yet undeciphered at the time the Edicts were discovered and investigated in the 19th century. The first successful attempts at deciphering the ancient Brahmi script were made in 1836 by Norwegian scholar Christian Lassen, who used the bilingual Greek-Brahmi coins of Indo-Greek king Agathocles to correctly and securely identify several Brahmi letters. The task was then completed by James Prinsep, an archaeologist, philologist, and official of the East India Company, who was able to identify the rest of the Brahmi characters, with the help of Major Cunningham. In a series of results that he published in March 1838 Prinsep was able to translate the inscriptions on a large number of rock edicts found around India, and to provide, according to Richard Salomon, a "virtually perfect" rendering of the full Brahmi alphabet. The edicts in Brahmi script mentioned a King Devanampriya Piyadasi which Prinsep initially assumed was a Sri Lankan king. He was then able to associate this title with Asoka on the basis of Pali script from Sri Lanka communicated to him by George Turnour.  The Kharoshthi script, written from right to left, and associated with Aramaic, was also deciphered by James Prinsep in parallel with Christian Lassen, using the bilingual Greek-Kharoshthi coinage of the Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian kings. "Within the incredibly brief space of three years (1834-37) the mystery of both the Kharoshthi and Brahmi scripts (were unlocked), the effect of which was instantly to remove the thick crust of oblivion which for many centuries had concealed the character and the language of the earliest epigraphs".

The Edicts.

The Edicts are divided into four categories, according to their size (Minor or Major) and according to their medium (Rock or Pillar). Chronologically, the minor inscriptions tend to precede the larger ones, while rock inscriptions generally seem to have been started earlier than the pillar inscriptions:  The Minor Rock Edicts (in which Ashoka is sometimes named in person, as in Maski and ) as well as the Minor Pillar Edicts are very religious in their content: they mention extensively the Buddha (and even previous Buddhas as in the Nigali Sagar inscription), the Samgha, Buddhism and Buddhist scriptures (as in the Bairat Edict).  On the contrary, the Major Rock Edicts and Major Pillar Edicts are essentially moral and political in nature: they never mention the Buddha or explicit Buddhist teachings, but are preoccupied with order, proper behaviour and non violence under the general concept of "Dharma", and they also focus on the administration of the state and positive relations with foreign countries as far as the Hellenistic Mediterranean of the mid-3rd century BCE.

Minor Rock Edicts.

The Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka (r.269-233 BCE) are rock inscriptions which form the earliest part of the Edicts of Ashoka. They predate Ashoka's Major Rock Edicts.  Chronologically, the first known edict, sometimes classified as a Minor Rock Edict, is the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription, in Greek and in Aramaic, written in the 10th year of his reign (260 BCE) at the border of his empire with the Hellenistic world, in the city of Old Kandahar in modern Afghanistan.  Ashoka then made the first edicts in the Indian language, written in the Brahmi script, from the 11th year of his reign (according to his own inscription, "two and a half years after becoming a secular Buddhist", i.e. two and a half years at least after returning from the Kalinga conquest of the eighth year of his reign, which is the starting point for his remorse towards the horrors of the war, and his gradual conversion to Buddhism). The texts of the inscriptions are rather short, the technical quality of the engraving of the inscriptions is generally very poor, and generally very inferior to the pillar edicts dated to the years 26 and 27 of Ashoka's reign.  There are several slight variations in the content of these edicts, depending on location, but a common designation is usually used, with Minor Rock Edict N°1 (MRE1) and a Minor Rock Edict N°2 (MRE2, which does not appear alone but always in combination with Edict N°1), the different versions being generally aggregated in most translations. The Maski version of Minor Rock Edict No.1 is historically particularly important in that it confirmed the association of the title "Devanampriya" with the name "Asoka", thereby clarifying the historical author of all these inscriptions. In the version of Minor Rock Edict No.1 also, the name of Ashoka is used together with his full title: "Devanampiya Piyadasi Asokaraja".  There is also a unique Minor Rock Edict No.3, discovered next to Bairat Temple, for the Buddhist clergy, which gives a list of Buddhist scriptures (most of them unknown today) which the clergy should study regularly.  A few other inscriptions of Ashoka in Aramaic, which are not strictly edicts, but tend to share a similar content, are sometimes also categorized as "Minor Rock Edicts". The dedicatory inscriptions of the Barabar caves are also sometimes classified among the Minor Rock Edicts of Ashoka.  The Minor Rock Edicts can be found throughout the territory of Ashoka, including in the frontier area near the Hindu Kush, and are especially numerous in the southern, newly conquered, frontier areas of Karnataka and southern Andhra Pradesh.

Minor Pillar Edicts.

The Minor Pillar Edicts of Ashoka refer to 5 separate minor Edicts inscribed on columns, the Pillars of Ashoka. These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts and may have been made in parallel with the Major Rock Edicts.  The inscription technique is generally very poor compared for example to the later Major Pillar Edicts, however the Minor Pillar Edicts are often associated with some of the artistically most sophisticated pillar capitals of Ashoka, such as the renowned Lion Capital of Ashoka which crowned the Sarnath Minor Pillar Edict, or the very similar, but less well preserved Sanchi lion capital which crowned the very clumsily inscribed Schism Edict of Sanchi. According to Irwin, the Brahmi inscriptions on the Sarnath and Sanchi pillars were made by inexperienced Indian engravers at a time when stone engraving was still new in India, whereas the very refined Sarnath capital itself was made under the tutelage of crafstmen from the former Achaemenid Empire, trained in Perso-Hellenistic statuary and employed by Ashoka. This suggests that the most sophisticated capitals were actually the earliest in the sequence of Ashokan pillars and that style degraded over a short period of time.  These edicts were probably made at the beginning of the reign of Ashoka (reigned 268-232 BCE), from the year 12 of his reign, that is, from 256 BCE.  The Minor Pillar Edicts are the Schism Edict, warning of punishment for dissent in the Samgha, the Queen's Edict, and the Rummindei Edict as well as the Nigali Sagar Edict which record Ashoka's visits and Buddhist dedications in the area corresponding to today's Nepal. The Rummindei and Nigali Sagar edicts, inscribed on pillars erected by Ashoka later in his reign (19th and 20th year) display a high level of inscriptional technique with a good regularity in the lettering.

Major Rock Edicts.

The Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka refer to 14 separate major Edicts, which are significantly detailed and extensive. These Edicts were concerned with practical instructions in running the kingdom such as the design of irrigation systems and descriptions of Ashoka's beliefs in peaceful moral behavior. They contain little personal detail about his life. These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts.  Three languages were used, Prakrit, Greek and Aramaic. The edicts are composed in non-standardized and archaic forms of Prakrit. Prakrit inscriptions were written in Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts, which even a commoner could read and understand. The inscriptions found in the area of Pakistan are in the Kharoshthi script. Other Edicts are written in Greek or Aramaic. The Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka (including portions of Edict No.13 and No.14) is in Greek only, and originally probably contained all the Major Rock Edicts 1-14.  The Major Rock Edicts of Ashoka are inscribed on large rocks, except for the Kandahar version in Greek (Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka), written on a stone plaque belonging to a building. The Major Edicts are not located in the heartland of Mauryan territory, traditionally centered on Bihar, but on the frontiers of the territory controlled by Ashoka.

Major Pillar Edicts.

The Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka refer to seven separate major Edicts inscribed on columns, the Pillars of Ashoka, which are significantly detailed and extensive.  These edicts are preceded chronologically by the Minor Rock Edicts and the Major Rock Edicts, and constitute the most technically elegant of the inscriptions made by Ashoka. They were made at the end of his reign, from the years 26 and 27 of his reign, that is, from 237-236 BCE. Chronologically they follow the fall of Seleucid power in Central Asia and the related rise of the Parthian Empire and the independent Greco-Bactrian Kingdom circa 250 BCE. Hellenistic rulers are not mentioned anymore in these last edicts, as they only appear in Major Rock Edict No.13 (and to a lesser extent Major Rock Edict No.2), which can be dated to about the 14th year of the reign of Ashoka circa 256–255. The last Major Pillar Edicts (Edict No.7) is testamental in nature, making a summary of the accomplishments of Ashoka during his life.  The Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka were exclusively inscribed on the Pillars of Ashoka or fragments thereof, at Kausambi (now Allahabad pillar), Topra Kalan, Meerut, Lauriya-Araraj, Lauria Nandangarh, Rampurva (Champaran), and fragments of these in Aramaic (Kandahar, Edict No.7 and Pul-i-Darunteh, Edict No.5 or No.7 in Afghanistan) However several pillars, such as the bull pillar of Rampurva, or the pillar of Vaishali do not have inscriptions, which, together with their lack of proper foundation stones and their particular style, led some authors to suggest that they were in fact pre-Ashokan.  The Major Pillar Edicts (excluding the two fragments of translations found in modern Afghanistan) are all located in central India.  The Pillars of Ashoka are stylistically very close to an important Buddhist monument, also built by Ashoka in Bodh Gaya, at the location where the Buddha had reached enlightenment some 200 years earlier: the Diamond Throne. The sculpted decorations on the Diamond Throne clearly echoe the decorations found on the Pillars of Ashoka. The Pillars dated to the end of Ashoka's reign are associated with pillar capitals that tend to be more solemn and less elegant than the earlier capitals, such as those of Sanchi or Sarnath. This led some authors to suggest that the artistic level under Ashoka tended to fall towards the end of his reign.

Languages of the Edicts.

Three languages were used: Prakrit, Greek (the language of the neighbouring Greco-Bactrian kingdom and the Greek communities in Ashoka's realm) and Aramaic (the official language of the former Achaemenid Empire). The Prakrit displayed local variations, from early Gandhari in the northwest, to Old Ardhamagadhi in the east, where it was the "chancery language" of the court. The language level of the Prakrit inscriptions tends to be rather informal or colloquial.  Four scripts were used. Prakrit inscriptions were written in the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts, the latter for the area of modern Pakistan. The Greek and Aramaic inscriptions used their respective scripts, in the northwestern areas of Ashoka's territory, in modern Pakistan and Afghanistan.  While most Edicts were in Prakrit, a few were written in Greek or Aramaic. The Kandahar Rock Inscription is bilingual Greek-Aramaic. The Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka is in Greek only, and originally probably contained all the Major Rock Edicts 1-14. The Greek language used in the inscription is of a very high level and displays philosophical refinement. It also displays an in-depth understanding of the political language of the Hellenic world in the 3rd century BCE. This suggests the presence of a highly cultured Greek presence in Kandahar at that time.  By contrast, in the rock edicts engraved in southern India in the newly conquered territories of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Ashoka only used the Prakrit of the North as the language of communication, with the Brahmi script, and not the local Dravidian idiom, which can be interpreted as a kind of authoritarianism in respect to the southern territories.  Ashoka's edicts were the first written inscriptions in India after the ancient city of Harrapa fell to ruin. Due to the influence of Ashoka's Prakrit inscriptions, Prakrit would remain the main inscriptional language for the following centuries, until the rise of inscriptional Sanskrit from the 1st century CE.

Content of the Edicts.

The Dharma preached by Ashoka is explained mainly in term of moral precepts, based on the doing of good deeds, respect for others, generosity and purity. The expressions used by Ashoka to express the Dharma, were the Prakrit word "Dhaṃma", the Greek word "Eusebeia" (in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription and the Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka), and the Aramaic word "Qsyt" ("Truth") (in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription).  Ashoka's Dharma meant that he used his power to try to make life better for his people and he also tried to change the way people thought and lived. He also thought that dharma meant doing the right thing.  Ashoka showed great concern for fairness in the exercise of justice, caution and tolerance in the application of sentences, and regularly pardoned prisoners.

Moral precepts.

The Mauryan empire was the first Indian empire to unify the country and it had a clear-cut policy of exploiting as well as protecting natural resources with specific officials tasked with protection duty. When Ashoka embraced Buddhism in the latter part of his reign, he brought about significant changes in his style of governance, which included providing protection to fauna, and even relinquished the royal hunt. He was perhaps the first ruler in history to advocate conservation measures for wildlife. Reference to these can be seen inscribed on the stone edicts.  Ashoka advocated restraint in the number that had to be killed for consumption, protected some of them, and in general condemned violent acts against animals, such as castration.  However, the edicts of Ashoka reflect more the desire of rulers than actual events; the mention of a 100 'panas' (coins) fine for poaching deer in royal hunting preserves shows that rule-breakers did exist. The legal restrictions conflicted with the practices then freely exercised by the common people in hunting, felling, fishing and setting fires in forests.  Explicit mentions of Buddhism or the Buddha only appear in the Minor Rock Edicts and the Minor Pillar Edicts. Beyond affirming himself as a Buddhist and spreading the moral virtues of Buddhism, Ashoka also insisted that the word of the Buddha be read and followed, in particular in monastic circles (the Sanghas), in a unique edict (Minor Rock Edict No.3), found in front of the Bairat Temple

Religious precepts.

Ashoka also expressed his devotion for the Buddhas of the past, such as the Koṇāgamana Buddha, for whom he enlarged a stupa in the 14th year of his reign, and made a dedication and set up a pillar during a visit in person in the 20th year of his reign, as described in his Minor Pillar Edict of Nigali Sagar, in modern Nepal.  Far from being sectarian, Ashoka, based on a belief that all religions shared a common, positive essence, encouraged tolerance and understanding of other religions.

Social and animal welfare.

According to the edicts, Ashoka took great care of the welfare of his subjects (human and animal), and those beyond his borders, spreading the use of medicinal treatments, improving roadside facilities for more comfortable travel, and establishing "officers of the faith" throughout his territories to survey the welfare of the population and the propagation of the Dharma. The Greek king Antiochos ("the Yona king named Antiyoga" in the text of the Edicts) is also named as a recipient of Ashoka's generosity, together with the other kings neighbouring him.  In a particularly famous Edict, the Rummindei Edict in Lumbini, Nepal, Ashoka describes his visit in the 21st year of his reign, and mentions Lumbini as the birthplace of the Buddha. He also, for the first time in historical records, uses the epithet "Sakyamuni" (Sage of the Shakyas), to describe the historical Buddha.

Ashoka's proselytism according to the Edicts.

In order to propagate welfare, Ashoka explains that he sent emissaries and medicinal plants to the Hellenistic kings as far as the Mediterranean, and to people throughout India, claiming that Dharma had been achieved in all their territories as well. He names the Greek rulers of the time, inheritors of the conquest of Alexander the Great, from Bactria to as far as Greece and North Africa, as recipients of the Dharma, displaying a clear grasp of the political situation at the time.

Proselytism beyond India.

The distance of 600 yojanas (4,800 to 6,000 miles) corresponds roughly to the distance between the center of India and Greece.  In the Gandhari original Antiochos is referred to as ""Amtiyoge nama Yona-raja"" (lit. "The Greek king by the name of Antiokos"), beyond whom live the four other kings: ""param ca tena Atiyogena cature 4 rajani Tulamaye nama Amtekine nama Makā nama Alikasudaro nama"" (lit. "And beyond Antiochus, four kings by the name of Ptolemy, the name of Antigonos, the name of Magas, the name Alexander".  All the kings mentioned in Ashoka's Major Rock Edict No.13 are famous Hellenistic rulers, contemporary of Ashoka:  It is not clear in Hellenic records whether these emissaries were actually received, or had any influence on the Hellenic world. But the existence of the edicts in a very high-level Greek literary and philosophical language testifies to the high sophistication of the Greek community of Kandahar, and to a true communication between Greek intellectuals and Indian thought. According to historian Louis Robert, it becomes quite likely that these Kandahar Greeks who were very familiar with Indian culture could in turn transmit Indian ideas to the philosophical circles of the Mediterranean world, in Seleucia, Antioch, Alexandria, Pella or Cyrene. He suggests that the famous Ashoka emissaries sent to the Western Hellenistic Courts according to Ashoka's Major Rock Edict No.13 were in fact Greek subjects and citizens of Kandahar, who had the full capacity to carry out these embassies.  Another document, the "Mahavamsa" (XII, 1st paragraph), also states that in the 17th year of his reign, at the end of the Third Buddhist Council, Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to eight parts of Southern Asia and the "country of the Yonas" (Greeks) to propagate Buddhism.  Overall, the evidence for the presence of Buddhists in the west from that time is very meager. But some scholars point to the possible presence of Buddhist communities in the Hellenistic world, in particular in Alexandria. Dio Chrysostum wrote to Alexandrians that there are "Indians who view the spectacles with you and are with you on all occasions" (Oratio.XXXII.373). According to Ptolemy also, Indians were present in Alexandria, to whom he was much endebted for his knowledge of India (As.Res.III.53). Clement of Alexandria too mentioned the presence of Indians in Alexandria. A possible Buddhist gravestone from the Ptolemaic period has been found by Flinders Petrie, decorated with a depiction of what may be Wheel of the Law and Trishula. According to the 11th century Muslim historian Al-Biruni, before the advent of Islam, Buddhists were present in Western Asia as far as the frontiers of Syria.  Colonial era scholars such as Rhys Davids have attributed Ashoka's claims of "Dharmic conquest" to mere vanity, and expressed disbelief that Greeks could have been in any way influenced by Indian thought.  But numerous authors have noted the parallels between Buddhism, Cyrenaicism and Epicureanism, which all strive for a state of ataraxia ("equanimity") away from the sorrows of life. The positions of philosophers such as Hegesias of Cyrene were close to Buddhism, his ideas recalling the Buddhist doctrine of suffering: he lived in the city of Cyrene where Magas ruled, the same Magas under whom the Dharma prospered according to Ashoka, and he may have been influenced by Ashoka's missionaries.  The religious communities of the Essenes of Palestine and the Therapeutae of Alexandria may also have been communities based on the model of Buddhist monasticism, following Ashoka's missions. According to semitologist André Dupont-Sommer, speaking about the consequences of Ashoka's proselytism: "It is India which would be, according to us, at the beginning of this vast monastic current which shone with a strong brightness during about three centuries in Judaism itself". This influence would even contribute, according to André Dupont-Sommer, to the emergence of Christianity: "Thus was prepared the ground on which Christianity, that sect of Jewish origin influenced by the Essenes, which was so quickly and so powerfully to conquer a very large part of the world."

Proselytism within Ashoka's territories.

Inside India proper, in the realm of Ashoka, many different populations were the object of the King's proselytism. Greek communities also lived in the northwest of the Mauryan empire, currently in Pakistan, notably ancient Gandhara, and in the region of Gedrosia, nowadays in Southern Afghanistan, following the conquest and the colonization efforts of Alexander the Great around 323 BCE. These communities therefore seem to have been still significant during the reign of Ashoka. The Kambojas are a people of Central Asian origin who had settled first in Arachosia and Drangiana (today's southern Afghanistan), and in some of the other areas in the northwestern Indian subcontinent in Sindhu, Gujarat and Sauvira. The Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas were other people under Ashoka's rule:

Influences.

Achaemenid inscriptional tradition.

The inscriptions of Ashoka may show Achaemenid influences, including formulaic parallels with Achaemenid inscriptions, presence of Iranian loanwords (in Aramaic inscriptions), and the very act of engraving edicts on rocks and mountains (compare for example Behistun inscription). To describe his own Edicts, Ashoka used the word "Lipī" (𑀮𑀺𑀧𑀺), now generally simply translated as "writing" or "inscription". It is thought the word "lipi", which is also orthographed "dipi" (𐨡𐨁𐨤𐨁 ) in the two Kharosthi versions of the rock edicts, comes from an Old Persian prototype "dipî" () also meaning "inscription", which is used for example by Darius I in his Behistun inscription, suggesting borrowing and diffusion. There are other borrowings of Old Persian terms for writing-related words in the Edicts of Ahoka, such as "nipista" or "nipesita" (, "written" and "made to be written") in the Kharoshthi version of Major Rock Edict No.4, which can be related to the word "nipištā" ("written") from the "daiva" inscription of Xerxes at Persepolis.

Hellenistic inscriptions.

It has also been suggested that inscriptions bearing the Delphic maxims from the Seven Sages of Greece, inscribed by philosopher Clearchus of Soli in the neighbouring city of Ai-Khanoum circa 300 BCE, may have influenced the writings of Ashoka. These Greek inscriptions, located in the central square of Ai-Khanoum, put forward traditional Greek moral rules which are very close to the Edicts, both in term of formulation and content.

Ancestor of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.

The first examples of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system appeared in the Brahmi numerals used in the Edicts of Ashoka, in which a few numerals are found, although the system is not yet positional (the zero, together with a mature positional system, was invented much later around the 6th century CE) and involves different symbols for units, dozens or hundreds. This system is later further documented with more numerals in the Nanaghat inscriptions (1st century BCE), and later in the Nasik Caves inscriptions (2nd century CE), to acquire designs which are largely similar to the Hindu-Arabic numerals used today.  The number "6" in particular appears in Minor Rock Edict No.1 when Ashoka explains he has "been on tour for 256 days". The evolution to the modern glyph for 6 appears rather straightforward. It was written in one stroke, somewhat like a cursive lowercase "e". Gradually, the upper part of the stroke (above the central squiggle) became more curved, while the lower part of the stroke (below the central squiggle) became straighter. The Arabs dropped the part of the stroke below the squiggle. From there, the European evolution to the modern 6 was very straightforward, aside from a flirtation with a glyph that looked more like an uppercase G.

Influence on Indian epigraphy.

Ashokan inscriptions in Prakrit precede by several centuries inscriptions in Sanskrit, probably owing to the great prestige which Ashokan inscriptions gave to the Prakrit language. Louis Renou called it "the great linguistical paradox of India" that the Sanskrit inscriptions appear later than Prakrit inscriptions, although Prakrit is considered as a descendant of the Sanskrit language.  Ashoka was probably the first Indian ruler to create stone inscriptions, and in doing so, he began an important Indian tradition of royal epigraphical inscriptions. The earliest known stone inscriptions in Sanskrit are in the Brahmi script from the first century BCE. These early Sanskrit inscriptions include the Ayodhyā (Uttar Pradesh) and Hāthībādā-Ghosuṇḍī (near Chittorgarh, Rajasthan) inscriptions. Other important inscriptions dated to the 1st century BCE, in relatively accurate classical Sanskrit and Brahmi script are the Yavanarajya inscription on a red sandstone slab and the long Naneghat inscription on the wall of a cave rest stop in the Western Ghats. Besides these few examples from the 1st century BCE, the bulk of early Sanskrit inscriptions were made from the 1st and 2nd-century CE by the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), and the Western Satraps in Gujarat and Maharashtra. According to Salomon, the Scythian rulers of northern and western India while not the originators, were promoters of the use of Sanskrit language for inscriptions, and "their motivation in promoting Sanskrit was presumably a desire to establish themselves as legitimate Indian or at least Indianized rulers and to curry the favor of the educated Brahmanical elite".  The Brahmi script used in the Edicts of Ashoka, as well as the Prakrit language of these inscriptions was in popular use down through the Kushan period, and remained readable down to the 4th century CE during the Gupta period. After that time the script underwent significant evolutions which rendered the Ashokan inscriptions unreadable. This still means that Ashoka's Edicts were for everyone to see and understand for a period of nearly 700 years in India, suggesting that they remained significantly influential for a long time.

Questions of authorship.

According to some scholars such as Christopher I. Beckwith, Ashoka, whose name only appears in the Minor Rock Edicts, should be differentiated from the ruler Piyadasi, or "Devanampiya" Piyadasi (i.e. "Beloved of the Gods Piyadasi", "Beloved of the Gods" being a fairly widespread title for "King"), who is named as the author of the Major Pillar Edicts and the Major Rock Edicts. Beckwith also highlights the fact that Buddhism nor the Buddha are mentioned in the Major Edicts, but only in the Minor Edicts. Further, the Buddhist notions described in the Minor Edicts (such as the Buddhist canonical writings in Minor Edict No.3 at Bairat, the mention of a Buddha of the past Kanakamuni Buddha in the Nigali Sagar Minor Pillar Edict) are more characteristic of the "Normative Buddhism" of the Saka-Kushan period around the 2nd century CE.  This inscriptional evidence may suggest that Piyadasi and Ashoka were two different rulers. According to Beckwith, Piyadasi was living in the 3rd century BCE, probably the son of Chandragupta Maurya known to the Greeks as Amitrochates, and only advocating for piety ("Dharma") in his Major Pillar Edicts and Major Rock Edicts, without ever mentioning Buddhism, the Buddha or the Samgha. Since he does mention a pilgrimage to "Sambhodi" (Bodh Gaya, in Major Rock Edict No.8) however, he may have adhered to an "early, pietistic, popular" form of Buddhism. Also, the geographical spread of his inscription shows that Piyadasi ruled a vast Empire, contiguous with the Seleucid Empire in the West.  On the contrary, for Beckwith, Ashoka himself was a later king of the 1st-2nd century CE, whose name only appears explicitly in the Minor Rock Edicts and allusively in the Minor Pillar Edicts, and who does mention the Buddha and the Samgha, explicitly promoting Buddhism. He may have been an unknown or possibly invented ruler named Devanampriya Asoka, with the intent of propagating a later, more institutional version of the Buddhist faith. His inscriptions cover a very different and much smaller geographical area, clustering in Central India. According to Beckwith, the inscriptions of this later Ashoka were typical of the later forms of "normative Buddhism", which are well attested from inscriptions and Gandhari manuscripts dated to the turn of the millennium, and around the time of the Kushan Empire. The quality of the inscriptions of this Ashoka is significantly lower than the quality of the inscriptions of the earlier Piyadasi.  However, many of Beckwith's methodologies and interpretations concerning early Buddhism, inscriptions, and archaeological sites have been criticized by other scholars, such as Johannes Bronkhorst and Osmund Bopearachchi.

The Edicts of Ashoka are a collection of more than thirty inscriptions on the pillars, as well as boulders and cave walls, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire who reigned from 268 BCE to 232 BCE. Ashoka used the expression "Dhaṃma Lipi" (Prakrit in the Brahmi script: 𑀥𑀁𑀫𑀮𑀺𑀧𑀺, "Inscriptions of the Dharma") to describe his own Edicts. These inscriptions were dispersed throughout the areas of modern-day Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and provide the first tangible evidence of Buddhism. The edicts describe in detail Ashoka's view about dhamma, an earnest attempt to solve some of the problems that a complex society faced. According to the edicts, the extent of Buddhist proselytism during this period reached as far as the Mediterranean, and many Buddhist monuments were created.

Jako Ašókovy edikty či Ašókovy skalní nápisy apod. se označuje sbírka 33 nápisů na sloupech, kamenech a skalních stěnách, které tam nechal vytesat maurjovský král Ašóka v době své vlády, tedy někdy mezi lety 272-231 př. n. l. Jednotlivé nápisy se nacházejí na různých místech Indického subkontinentu, převážně však na jeho severu a poskytují jeden z prvních hmotných dokladů o existenci buddhismu. Nápisy popisují, jak se pod Ašókovou patronací buddhismus rozšiřoval. Podle Ašókových ediktů bylo v jeho době vystavěno mnoho nových buddhistických staveb a buddhismus se rozšířil až ke Středozemnímu moři.