Early life.

Ferres was born in Solingen. She grew up as the youngest child and only daughter of Peter Ferres, a coal and potato merchant, and his wife Katharina.  She completed her abitur at the Gymnasium Schwertstraße in Solingen, and then studied Germanistik, Theatre studies and Psychology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Personal life.

From 1990 till 1999 Ferres was liaised with Helmut Dietl. They worked together on movies like "Schtonk!" (1991),'(1997),'(1999) and many others of the director. In February 2000 they announced their separation. With her ex-husband Martin Krug she has one daughter. The marriage lasted from 2001 until their divorce in 2010. In 2014, Ferres married Carsten Maschmeyer.

Career.

Ferres was born in Solingen, Germany and studied German Literature, Psychology and Drama at the University of Munich before taking up acting. In Germany she had her breakthrough with the title role in the hit comedy, "The Superwife", followed by starring roles in hits such as the Oscar-nominated "Schtonk!", ', "Klimt" (alongside John Malkovich) and ', making her a household name in Germany. Her TV productions include "The Manns", ', ', ', ', and "", among many others. Her awards include the Grimme-Preis, the German Television Award, the Bavarian TV Award, the Golden Camera Award, and the Bambi Award. She played the female lead in "Jedermann" ("Everyman"), the traditional opening play of the Salzburg Festival, considered the highest honor in German stagecraft.  In 2013, she shot the international feature ""Hector and the Search for Happiness" with Simon Pegg and Jean Reno, and played the main role in the feature film "Casanova Variations", again with John Malkovich. Her 13th international production, "The Devil's Violinist", was released theatrically in the fall of 2013. In 2015, she starred opposite Nic Cage in the thriller "Pay the Ghost", directed by Uli Edel. In 2016, she had the leading role in Werner Herzog's film "Salt and Fire", co-starring Michael Shannon and Gael Garcia Bernal. Veronica is also co-starring in "The Comedian", her 17th English feature film, along with Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, and Danny DeVito. The film was slated to hit theaters in 2017.  Veronica founded her own production company, Construction Film GmbH, in 2012.

Awards.

for awards listed

Veronica Maria Cäcilia Ferres (born 10 June 1965) is an award-winning German producer and actress of film, television, and stage. Her 2007 portrayal of Sara Bender in "Die Frau vom Checkpoint Charlie", based on the true story of Jutta Fleck, earned her the award for Best Actress at the "Deutscher Fernsehpreis" (German Television Awards).

Veronica Ferres (* 10. Juni 1965 als Veronika Maria Cäcilia Ferres in Solingen) ist eine deutsche Schauspielerin. Mit der Hauptrolle in Sönke Wortmanns Kinofilm "Das Superweib" wurde sie 1996 einem größeren Publikum bekannt. Für ihre Darstellung der Nelly Mann in der Fernsehproduktion "Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman" von Heinrich Breloer wurde sie 2002 mit dem Grimme-Preis ausgezeichnet.


History.

The origin of sake is unclear. The earliest reference to the use of alcohol in Japan is recorded in the "Book of Wei" in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms". This 3rd-century Chinese text speaks of the Japanese drinking and dancing. Alcoholic beverages () are mentioned several times in the "kōjiki", Japan's first written history, which was compiled in 712. Bamforth (2005) places the probable origin of true sake (which is made from rice, water, and "kōji" mold (, "Aspergillus oryzae") in the Nara period (710–794). In the Heian period, sake was used for religious ceremonies, court festivals, and drinking games. Sake production was a government monopoly for a long time, but in the 10th century, temples and shrines began to brew sake, and they became the main centers of production for the next 500 years. The "Tamon-in Diary", written by abbots of Tamon-in (temple) from 1478 to 1618, records many details of brewing in the temple. The diary shows that pasteurization and the process of adding ingredients to the main fermentation mash in three stages were established practices by that time. In the 16th century, the technique of distillation was introduced into the Kyushu district from Ryukyu. The brewing of shōchū, called "Imo–sake" started, and was sold at the central market in Kyoto. In the 18th century, Engelbert Kaempfer and Isaac Titsingh published accounts identifying sake as a popular alcoholic beverage in Japan; but Titsingh was the first to try to explain and describe the process of sake brewing. The work of both writers was widely disseminated throughout Europe at the beginning of the 19th century.  During the Meiji Restoration, laws were written that allowed anybody with the money and know-how to construct and operate their own sake breweries. Around 30,000 breweries sprang up around the country within a year. As time passed, the government levied increasing taxes on the sake industry and the number of breweries dwindled to 8,000.  Most of the breweries that grew and survived this period were established by wealthy landowners. Landowners who grew rice crops would have surplus rice at the end of the season. Rather than letting these leftovers go to waste, they shipped it to their breweries. The most successful of these family breweries still operate today.  During the 20th century, sake-brewing technology advanced. The government opened the sake-brewing research institute in 1904, and in 1907 the first government-run sake-tasting competition was held. Yeast strains specifically selected for their brewing properties were isolated and enamel-coated steel tanks arrived. The government started hailing the use of enamel tanks as easy to clean, lasting forever, and being devoid of bacterial problems. (The government considered wooden barrels to be unhygienic because of the potential bacteria living in the wood.) Although these things are true, the government also wanted more tax money from breweries, as using wooden barrels means that a significant amount of sake is lost to evaporation (approximately 3%), which could have otherwise been taxed. This was the end of the wooden-barrel age of sake and the use of wooden barrels in brewing was completely eliminated.  In Japan, sake has long been taxed by the national government. In 1898, this tax brought in about ¥5 million out of a total of about ¥120 million, about 4.6% of the government's total direct tax income.  During the Russo-Japanese War in 1904–1905, the government banned the home brewing of sake. At the time, sake comprised 30% of Japan's tax revenue. Since home-brewed sake is tax-free, the logic was that by banning the home brewing of sake, sales would increase, and more tax revenue would be collected. This was the end of home-brewed sake, and the law remains in effect today even though sake sales now contribute only 2% of government income.  When World War II brought rice shortages, the sake-brewing industry was hampered as the government discouraged the use of rice for brewing. As early as the late 17th century, it had been discovered that small amounts of alcohol could be added to sake before pressing to extract aromas and flavors from the rice solids. During the war, pure alcohol and glucose were added to small quantities of rice mash, increasing the yield by as much as four times. 75% of today's sake is made using this technique. There were a few breweries producing "sake" that contained no rice at all. The quality of sake during this time varied greatly.  Postwar, breweries slowly recovered, and the quality of sake gradually increased. New players on the scene—beer, wine, and spirits—became popular in Japan, and in the 1960s beer consumption surpassed sake for the first time. Sake consumption continued to decrease while the quality of sake steadily improved.  Today, sake has become a world beverage with a few breweries in China, Southeast Asia, South America, North America, and Australia. More breweries are also turning to older methods of production.  While the rest of the world may be drinking more sake and the quality of sake has been increasing, sake production in Japan has been declining since the mid-1970s. The number of sake breweries is also declining. While there were 3,229 breweries nationwide in fiscal 1975, the number had fallen to 1,845 in 2007.

Oldest sake brewery.

The oldest known sake brewery is from the 15th century near an area that was owned by Tenryū-ji, in Ukyō-ku, Kyoto. Unrefined sake was squeezed out at the brewery and there are about 180 holes (60 cm wide, 20 cm deep) for holding storage jars. A hollow (1.8 meter wide, 1 meter deep) for a pot to collect drops of pressed sake and 14th-century Bizen ware jars were also found. It is estimated to be utilized until the Onin War (1467–1477). Sake was brewed at Tenryū-ji during the Muromachi Period (1336–1573).

Production.

Rice.

The rice used for brewing sake is called "saka mai" (sake rice), or officially "shuzō kōtekimai" (sake-brewing suitable rice). There are at least 80 types of sake rice in Japan. Among these, Yamadanishiki, Gohyakumangoku, Miyamanishiki and Omachi rice are popular. The grain is larger, stronger (if a grain is small or weak, it will break in the process of polishing), and contains less protein and lipid than ordinary table rice. Sake rice is used only for making sake, because it is unpalatable for eating.  Sake rice is usually polished to a much higher degree than rice that is used as food. The reason for polishing is a result of the composition and structure of the rice grain itself. The core of the rice grain is rich in starch, while the outer layers of the grain contain higher concentrations of fats, vitamins and proteins. Since higher concentration of fat and protein in the sake would lead to off-flavors and contribute rough elements to the sake, the outer layers of the sake rice grain is milled away in a polishing process, leaving only the starchy part of the grain (some sake brewers remove over 60% of the rice grain in the polishing process). That desirable pocket of starch in the center of the grain is called the shinpaku (心白). It usually takes two to three days to polish rice down to less than half its original size. The rice powder by-product of polishing is often used for making rice crackers, or Japanese sweets (i.e. Dango), and other food stuffs.  If the sake is made with rice that has a higher percentage of its husk and outer portion of the core milled off, then more rice will be required to make that particular sake, and it will take longer to produce. Thus, sake made with rice that has been highly milled is usually more expensive than a sake that has been made with less-polished rice. This does not always mean that sake made with highly-milled rice is of better quality than sake made by rice that has been milled less.  Rice polishing ratio, called "Seimai-buai" (see Glossary of sake terms) measures the degree of rice polishing. For example, rice polishing ratio of 60% means that the 60% of the original rice grain remains and the 40% has been polished away.

Water.

Water is one of the important ingredients for making sake. It is involved in almost every major process of sake brewing, from washing the rice to dilution of the final product before bottling. The mineral content of the water can be important in the final product. Iron will bond with an amino acid produced by the kōji to produce off flavors and a yellowish color. Manganese, when exposed to ultraviolet light, will also contribute to discoloration. Conversely potassium, magnesium, and phosphoric acid serve as nutrients for yeast during fermentation and are considered desirable. The yeast will use those nutrients to work faster and multiply resulting in more sugar being converted into alcohol. While soft water will typically yield sweeter sake, hard water with a higher nutrient content is known for producing drier-style sake.  The first region known for having great water was the Nada-Gogō in Hyōgo Prefecture. A particular water source called "Miyamizu" was found to produce high quality sake and attracted many producers to the region. Today Hyōgo has the most sake brewers of any prefecture.  Typically breweries obtain water from wells, though surface water can be used. Breweries may use tap water and filter and adjust components.

Kōji-kin.

"Kōji-kin" ("Aspergillus oryzae") spores are another important component of sake. Kōji-kin is an enzyme-secreting fungus. In Japan, kōji-kin is used to make various fermented foods, including "miso" (a paste made from soybeans) and "shoyu" (soy sauce). It is also used to make alcoholic beverages, notably sake. During sake brewing, spores of kōji-kin are scattered over steamed rice to produce "kōji" (rice in which kōji-kin spores are cultivated). Under warm and moist conditions, the kōji-kin spores germinate and release enzymes called amylases that convert the rice starches into glucose. This process of starch conversion into simpler sugars (e.g. glucose or maltose) is called saccharification. Yeast then turns this glucose into alcohol via fermentation. Saccharification also occurs in beer brewing, where malt is used to convert starches from barley into maltose. However, whereas fermentation occurs "after" saccharification in beer brewing, saccharification (via kōji-kin) and fermentation (via yeast) occur "simultaneously" in sake brewing (see "Fermentation" below).  As kōji-kin is a microorganism used to manufacture food, its safety profile with respect to humans and the environment in sake brewing and other food-making processes must be considered. Various health authorities, including Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consider kōji-kin ("A. oryzae") generally safe for use in food fermentation, including sake brewing. When assessing its safety, it is important to note that "A." "oryzae" lacks the ability to produce toxins, unlike the closely related "Aspergillus flavus". To date, there have been several reported cases of animals (e.g. parrots, a horse) being infected with "A. oryzae". In these cases the animals infected with "A. oryzae" were already weakened due to predisposing conditions such as recent injury, illness or stress, hence were susceptible to infections in general. Aside from these cases, there is no evidence to indicate "A. oryzae" is a harmful pathogen to either plants or animals in the scientific literature. Therefore, Health Canada considers "A. oryzae" “unlikely to be a serious hazard to livestock or to other organisms,” including "healthy or debilitated humans." Given its safety record in the scientific literature and extensive history of safe use (spanning several hundred years) in the Japanese food industry, the FDA and World Health Organization (WHO) also support the safety of "A. oryzae" for use in the production of foods like sake. In the US, the FDA classifies "A.oryzae" as a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) organism.

Fermentation.

Sake fermentation is a 3-step process called "sandan shikomi". The first step, called "hatsuzoe", involves steamed rice, water, and kōji-kin being added to the yeast starter called "shubo": a mixture of steamed rice, water, kōji, and yeast. This mixture becomes known as the "moromi" (the main mash during sake fermentation). The high yeast content of the shubo promotes the fermentation of the "moromi."  On the second day, the mixture is allowed to stand for a day to allow the yeast to multiply.  The second step (the third day of the process), called "nakazoe", involves the addition of a second batch of kōji, steamed rice, and water to the mixture. On the fourth day of the fermentation, the third step of the process, called "tomezoe", takes place. Here, the third and final batch of kōji, steamed rice, and water is added to the mixture to complete the 3-step process.  The fermentation process of sake is a multiple parallel fermentation, which is unique to sake. Multiple parallel fermentation is the conversion of starch into glucose followed by immediate conversion into alcohol. This process distinguishes sake from other liquors like beer because it occurs in a single vat, whereas with beer, for instance, starch to glucose conversion and glucose to alcohol conversion occur in separate vats. The breakdown of starch into glucose is caused by the kōji-kin fungus, while the conversion of glucose into alcohol is caused by yeast. Due to the yeast being available as soon as the glucose is produced, the conversion of glucose to alcohol is very efficient in sake brewing. This results in sake having a generally higher alcohol content than other types of liquor.  After the fermentation process is complete, the fermented moromi is pressed to remove the sake lees and then pasteurized and filtered for color. The sake is then stored in bottles under cold conditions (see "Maturation" below).  The entire process of making sake can range from 60–90 days (2–3 months), while the fermentation alone can take two weeks.

Maturation.

Like other brewed beverages, sake tends to benefit from a period of storage. Nine to twelve months are required for sake to mature. Maturation is caused by physical and chemical factors such as oxygen supply, the broad application of external heat, nitrogen oxides, aldehydes and amino acids, among other unknown factors.

Tōji.

is the job title of the sake brewer, named after Du Kang. It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society, with tōji being regarded like musicians or painters. The title of tōji was historically passed from father to son. Today new tōji are either veteran brewery workers or are trained at universities. While modern breweries with cooling tanks operate year-round, most old-fashioned sake breweries are seasonal, operating only in the cool winter months. During the summer and fall most tōji work elsewhere, commonly on farms, only periodically returning to the brewery to supervise storage conditions or bottling operations.

Varieties.

Special-designation sake.

There are two basic types of sake: and. "Futsū-shu" is the equivalent of table wine and accounts for the majority of sake produced. "Tokutei meishō-shu" refers to premium sake distinguished by the degree to which the rice has been polished and the added percentage of brewer's alcohol or the absence of such additives. There are eight varieties of special-designation sake.  The four main grades of sake are "junmai", "honjozo", "ginjo" and "daiginjo". Generally "junmai" () is a term used for sake that is made of pure rice wine without any additional alcohol. The listing below has the highest quality at the top:

Others.

Some other terms commonly used in connection with sake:

Taste and flavor.

The label on a bottle of sake gives a rough indication of its taste. Terms found on the label may include "nihonshu-do" (), "san-do" (), and "aminosan-do" ().  "Nihonshu-do" () or Sake Meter Value (SMV) is calculated from the specific gravity of the sake and indicates the sugar and alcohol content of the sake on an arbitrary scale. Typical values are between −3 (sweet) and +10 (dry), equivalent to specific gravities ranging between 1.007 and 0.998, though the maximum range of "Nihonshu-do" can go much beyond that. The "Nihonshu-do" must be considered together with "San-do" to determine the overall perception of dryness-sweetness, richness-lightness characteristics of a sake (for example, a higher level of acidity can make a sweet sake taste drier than it actually is).  "San-do" () indicates the concentration of acid, which is determined by titration with sodium hydroxide solution. This number is equal to the milliliters of titrant required to neutralize the acid in of sake.  "Aminosan-do" () indicates a taste of umami or savoriness. As the proportion of amino acids rises, the sake tastes more savory. This number is determined by titration of the sake with a mixture of sodium hydroxide solution and formaldehyde, and is equal to the milliliters of titrant required to neutralize the amino acids in 10 ml of sake.  Sake can have many flavor notes, such as fruits, flowers, herbs, and spices. Many types of sake have notes of apple from ethyl caproate, and banana from isoamyl acetate, particularly.

Serving sake.

In Japan, sake is served chilled ("reishu" ), at room temperature ("jōon" or "hiya" ), or heated ("atsukan" ), depending on the preference of the drinker, the quality of the sake, and the season. Typically, hot sake is a winter drink, and high-grade sake is not drunk hot, because the flavors and aromas will be lost. This masking of flavor is the reason that low-quality and old sake is often served hot. There are gradations of temperature both for chilling and heating, about every, with hot sake generally served around, and chilled sake around, like white wine. Hot sake that has cooled ("kanzamashi" ) may be reheated.  Sake is traditionally drunk from small cups called "choko" or "o-choko" () and poured into the choko from ceramic flasks called "tokkuri". This is very common for hot sake, where the flask is heated in hot water and the small cups ensure that the sake does not get cold in the cup, but may also be used for chilled sake. Traditionally one does not pour one's own drink, which is known as "tejaku" (), but instead members of a party pour for each other, which is known as "shaku" (). This has relaxed in recent years, but is generally observed on more formal occasions, such as business meals, and is still often observed for the first drink.  Another traditional cup is the "masu", a box usually made of "hinoki" or "sugi", which was originally used for measuring rice. The masu holds exactly, so the sake is served by filling the masu to the brim; this is done for chilled or room temperature sake. In some Japanese restaurants, as a show of generosity, the server may put a glass inside the masu or put the masu on a saucer and pour until sake overflows and fills both containers.  Saucer-like cups called "sakazuki" are also used, most commonly at weddings and other ceremonial occasions, such as the start of the year or at the beginning of a kaiseki meal. In cheap bars, sake is often served room temperature in glass tumblers and called "koppu-zake" (). In more modern restaurants wine glasses are also used, and recently footed glasses made specifically for premium sake have also come into use.  Sake is traditionally served in units of (one "gō"), and this is still common, but other sizes are sometimes also available.  Traditionally sake is heated immediately before serving, but today restaurants may buy sake in boxes which can be heated in a specialized hot sake dispenser, thus allowing hot sake to be served immediately, though this is detrimental to the flavor. There are also a variety of devices for heating sake and keeping it warm, beyond the traditional tokkuri.  Aside from being served straight, sake can be used as a mixer for cocktails, such as tamagozake, saketinis or nogasake. Outside of Japan, the sake bomb, the origins of which are unclear, has become a popular drink in bars and Asia-themed karaoke clubs.  The Japanese Sake Association encourages people to drink chaser water for their health, and the water is called Yawaragi-mizu.

Seasonality.

Traditionally sake was brewed only in the winter. While it can now be brewed year-round, there is still seasonality associated with sake, particularly artisanal ones. The most visible symbol of this is the "sugitama" (), a globe of cedar leaves traditionally hung outside a brewery when the new sake is brewed. The leaves start green, but turn brown over time, reflecting the maturation of the sake. These are now hung outside many restaurants serving sake. The new year's sake is called "shinshu" ("new sake"), and when initially released in late winter or early spring, many brewers have a celebration, known as "kurabiraki" (warehouse opening). Traditionally sake was best transported in the cool spring, to avoid spoilage in the summer heat, with a secondary transport in autumn, once the weather had cooled, known as "hiyaoroshi" ("cold wholesale distribution")—this autumn sake has matured over the summer.  There is not traditionally a notion of vintage of sake—it is generally drunk within the year, and if aged, it does not vary significantly from year to year. Today, with influence from wine vintages, some breweries label sake intended for aging with a vintage, but this is otherwise rare.

Storage.

Sake is sold in volume units divisible by (a "gō"), the traditional Japanese unit for cup size: sake is traditionally sold by the gō-sized cup, or in a (one "shō," ten gō) sized flask. Today sake is also often sold in (four gō) bottles – note that this is almost the same as the standard for wine bottles, but is divisible into 4 gō. Particularly in convenience stores, sake may be sold in a single serving glass with a pull-off top ( "kappu-zake") – this is generally cheap sake – or in a small bottle.  In general, it is best to keep sake refrigerated in a cool or dark room, as prolonged exposure to heat or direct light will lead to spoilage. Sake stored at relatively high temperature can lead to formation of dicetopiperazine, a cyclo (Pro-Leu) that makes it bitter as it ages Sake has high microbiological stability due to its high content of ethanol, but incidences of spoilage have occurred. One of the microorganisms implicated in this spoilage is lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that has grown tolerant to ethanol and is referred to as hiochi-bacteria. Sake stored at room temperature is best consumed within a few months after purchase.  After opening a bottle of sake, it is best consumed within two or three hours. It is possible to store sake in the refrigerator, but it is recommended to consume it within two days. When premium sake is opened it begins to oxidize, which affects the taste. If the sake is kept in the refrigerator more than three days, it will lose its "best" flavor. This does not mean it should be disposed of if not consumed. Generally, sake can keep very well and taste good after weeks in the refrigerator. How long a sake will remain drinkable depends on the quality of the product, and whether it is sealed with a vacuum top to decrease oxidation.

Ceremonial use.

Sake is often consumed as part of Shinto purification rituals. Sake served to gods as offerings prior to drinking are called or.  In a ceremony called "kagami biraki", wooden casks of sake are opened with mallets during Shinto festivals, weddings, store openings, sports and election victories, and other celebrations. This sake, called "iwai-zake" ("celebration sake"), is served freely to all to spread good fortune.  At the New Year many Japanese people drink a special sake called toso. Toso is a sort of iwai-zake made by soaking "tososan", a Chinese powdered medicine, overnight in sake. Even children sip a portion. In some regions, the first sips of toso are taken in order of age, from the youngest to the eldest.

Sake, also spelled "saké" (, also referred to as "Japanese rice wine)", is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name, unlike wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit (typically grapes), sake, and indeed any East Asian rice wine, is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars, which ferment into alcohol.

Sake () ist ein aus poliertem Reis gebrautes alkoholisches Getränk aus Japan. Das klare oder weißlich-trübe Getränk enthält ca. 15–20 Volumenprozent Alkohol.


Organization.

Bid.

Beijing was elected as the host city for the 2008 Summer Olympics on 13 July 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, defeating bids from Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities (Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and Seville) had submitted bids to the IOC, but failed to make the short list chosen by the IOC Executive Committee in 2000. After the first round of voting, Beijing held a significant lead over the other four candidates. Osaka received only six votes and was eliminated. In the second round, Beijing was supported by a majority of voters, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds. Toronto's bid was their 5th failure since 1960 (failed bid for 1960, 1964, 1976 and 1996

Costs.

The "Oxford Olympics Study 2016" estimates the outturn cost of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics at US$6.8 billion in 2015-dollars and cost overrun at 2% in real terms. This includes sports-related costs only, that is, (i) "operational costs" incurred by the organizing committee for the purpose of staging the Games, e.g., expenditures for technology, transportation, workforce, administration, security, catering, ceremonies, and medical services, and (ii) "direct capital costs" incurred by the host city and country or private investors to build the competition venues, the Olympic village, international broadcast center, and media and press center, which are required to host the Games. Indirect capital costs are "not" included, such as for road, rail, or airport infrastructure, or for hotel upgrades or other

Venues.

By May 2007 the construction of all 31 Beijing-based Olympic Games venues had begun. The Chinese government renovated and constructed six venues outside Beijing as well as 59 training centres. The largest structures built were the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Center, Peking University Gymnasium, Olympic Green Convention Center, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. Almost 85% of the construction budget for the six main venues was funded by $2.1 billion (RMB¥17.4 billion) in

Transport.

To prepare for Olympic visitors, Beijing's transportation infrastructure was expanded. Beijing's airport underwent a major renovation with the addition of the new Terminal 3, designed by architect Norman Foster. Within the city itself, Beijing's subway was doubled in capacity and length, with the addition of 7 lines and 80 stations to the previously existing 4 lines and 64 stations. Included in this expansion was a new link connecting to the city's airport. A fleet of thousands

Marketing.

The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem was known as Dancing Beijing. The emblem combined a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic character "jīng" (京, "national capital", also the second character of Beijing's Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolized the invitation from China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was very happy with the emblem, saying, "Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people."  The official motto for the 2008 Olympics was ""One World, One Dream"" (同一个世界

Colours.

Four primary colours were used in the branding of the games. China

Media coverage.

The 2008 Games were the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in high definition by the host broadcaster. In comparison, American broadcaster NBC broadcast only half of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics in HD. In their bid for the Olympic Games in 2001, Beijing stated to the Olympic Evaluation Commission that there would be "no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games." However, some media outlets claimed that organizers ultimately failed to live up to this commitment.  According to Nielsen Media Research, 4.7 billion viewers worldwide tuned into some of the television coverage, one-fifth larger than the 3.9 billion who watched the 2004 Olympic Games

Theme song.

The theme song of the 2008 Summer Olympics was "You and Me," which was composed by Chen

Torch relay.

The design of the 2008 Olympic Torch was based on traditional scrolls and used a traditional Chinese design known as the "Propitious Clouds" (祥云). The torch was designed to remain lit in 65 km/h (40 mph) winds, and in rain of up to 50 mm (2 in) per hour.  The relay, with the theme "Journey of Harmony", was met with protests and demonstrations by pro-Tibet supporters throughout its journey. It lasted 130 days and carried the torch —the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition began at the 1936 Berlin Games. The torch relay was described as a "public relations disaster" for China by "USA Today", with protests against China's human rights record, particularly focused on Tibet. The IOC subsequently barred future Olympics organizers from staging international torch relays.  The relay began 24 March 2008, in Olympia, Greece. From there, it traveled across Greece to Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on 31 March. From Beijing, the torch followed a route passing through every continent except Antarctica. The torch visited cities on the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. A total of 21,880 torchbearers were selected from around the world by various organizations

Calendar.

In the following calendar for the 2008 Summer Olympics, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport were held. Each bullet in these

Olympic and world records.

125 Olympic records including 37 world records were set in various events at the Games. In swimming, sixty-five Olympic swimming records including 25

Games.

Opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony officially began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on 8 August 2008 in the Beijing National Stadium. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture, and here it was a triple eight for the date and one extra for time (close to 08:08:08 pm). The ceremony was co-directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and Chinese choreographer Zhang Jigang and featured a cast of over 15,000 performers. The ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce. UNGA President Miguel d’Escoto

Sports.

The program for the Beijing Games was quite similar to that of the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. There were 28 sports and 302 events at the 2008 Games. Nine new events were held, including two from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women competed in the 3000 metre steeplechase for the first time. Open water swimming events for men and women, over the distance of, were added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and women) in table tennis replaced the doubles events. In fencing, women's team foil and women's team sabre replaced men's team foil and women's team épée. Two sports were open only to men, baseball and boxing, while

Closing ceremony.

The 2008 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony concluded the Beijing Games on 24 August 2008. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8), and took place at the Beijing National Stadium.  The Ceremony included handover of the Games from

Medal table.

Of the 204 nations that participated in the 2008 Games, 87 earned medals and 54 of those won at least one gold medal, both of these figures setting new records for Olympic Games. There were 117 participating countries that did not win any medals. Athletes from China won the highest number of gold medals of any nation at these Games, with 48, thus making China the seventh nation to rank top in the medal table in the history of the modern Olympics, along with the United States (fifteen times), France (in 1900), Great Britain (in 1908), Germany (in 1936), the Soviet Union (six times), and the Unified Team (in 1992).  The United States team won

Participating National Olympic Committees.

All but one of the 205 recognized National Olympic Committees (NOCs) that existed participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics, the exception being Brunei. Three countries participated in the Olympic Games for their first time: the Marshall Islands, Montenegro and Tuvalu.  While not a full member recognized by the IOC and thus not allowed to compete formally in the Olympics, the Macau Sports and Olympic Committee sent a delegation to participate in the Wushu Tournament Beijing 2008, being the only unrecognized National Olympic Committee to have taken part in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It also coordinated efforts with the Chinese Olympic Committee to organize the torch relay through Macau.  The Marshall Islands and Tuvalu gained National Olympic Committee status in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and 2008 was the first games in which they were eligible to participate. The states of Serbia and Montenegro, which participated at the 2004 Games jointly as Serbia and Montenegro, competed separately for the first time. The Montenegrin Olympic Committee was accepted as a new National Olympic Committee in 2007. Neighboring Kosovo, however, did not participate. After the declaration of independence in Kosovo, the IOC specified requirements that Kosovo needs to meet before being recognized by the IOC; most notably, it has to be recognized as independent by the United Nations.  More than 100 sovereigns, heads of state and heads of government as well as 170 Ministers of Sport attended the Beijing Olympic Games.

National participation changes.

Athletes from the Republic of China (Taiwan) competed at the 2008 Games as Chinese Taipei (TPE) under the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag and used the National Banner Song as their official anthem. The participation of Taiwan was briefly in doubt because of disagreements over the name of their team in the Chinese language and concerns about Taiwan marching in the Opening Ceremony next to the special administrative region of Hong Kong. A compromise on the naming was reached, and Taiwan was referred to during the games as "Chinese Taipei," rather than "Taipei, China," as the mainland China government had proposed. In addition, the Central African Republic was placed between Chinese Taipei and the Special Administrative Regions during the march of nations.  Starting in 2005, North Korea and South Korea held meetings to discuss the possibility of sending a united team to the 2008 Olympics. The proposal failed, because of disagreements about how athletes would be chosen; North Korea was demanding a certain percentage representation for its athletes. A subsequent attempt to broker an agreement for the two

Participation of athletes with disabilities.

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated following a motor scooter accident, qualified to compete at the Beijing Olympics. The five time gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics in 2004 made history by becoming the

Concerns and controversies.

A variety of concerns over the Games, or China's hosting of the Games, had been expressed by various entities, including claims that China violated its pledge to allow open media access, various supposed human rights violations, its alleged continuous support of repressive regimes (such as Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Sudan and North Korea), air pollution in both the city of Beijing and in neighbouring areas, proposed boycotts, warnings of the possibility that the Beijing Olympics could be targeted by terrorist groups, disruption from pro-Tibetan protesters, and religious persecutions.  There were also claims that several members of China's women's gymnastics team, including double gold medal winner He Kexin, were too young to compete under the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique's rules for Olympic eligibility, but all were exonerated after an official IOC investigation.  Collectively, the Beijing Olympics are associated with a variety of problematic topics: the ecological impact, residential displacement due to construction, treatment of migrant

Legacy.

The 2008 Summer Olympics have been generally accepted by the world's media as a logistical success. Many of the worst fears about the games failed to materialize: no terrorists struck Beijing; no athlete protested at the podium (though Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian tossed his bronze medal in disgust over judging), and the air quality – due largely to favorable weather patterns – was not as bad as many had feared beforehand despite being the worst in Olympics history. Hopes that hosting the Games would lead to improvements in human rights protections and rule of law in China, however, went unfulfilled.  Many in China viewed the Olympics as "an affirmation of a single nationalistic dream" and saw protests during the international torch relay as an insult to China. The Games also bolstered domestic support for the Chinese government, and for the policies of the Communist Party, giving rise to concerns that the Olympics would give the state more leverage to suppress political dissent, at least temporarily. Efforts to quell any unrest before and during the Games also contributed to a rapid expansion in the size and political clout of China's internal security forces, and this growth continued through the following years. Reports also indicated that the Olympics boosted the political careers of pro-Beijing politicians in Hong Kong, as many Chinese gold medal winners campaigned on behalf of the pro-Beijing DAB during the 2008 election, although any trend towards greater identification by Hong Kongers with Mainland China appears to have been short-lived.  The long-term economic impact of the games on China and Beijing in particular is not yet clear. Some sectors of the economy may have benefited from the influx of tourists, and other sectors such as manufacturing lost revenue because of plant closings related to the government's efforts to improve air quality. Four years after the Games, many of the specially constructed facilities were underused or even deserted. It is generally expected by economists that there will be no lasting effects on Beijing's economy from the games.  One 2009 study found that countries which host the Olympics experience a significant boost in trade. But this is also the case for countries which merely bid to host. "The benefit, in other words, came from the signal that a country was open for business, not from the spending itself." Seven years after the 2008 Games, Beijing was awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics. It will thus be the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Games.

The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (), and commonly known as Beijing 2008 (), was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8 to 24 August 2008 in Beijing, China.

Die Olympischen Sommerspiele 2008 (offiziell "Spiele der XXIX. Olympiade" genannt) wurden vom 8. bis zum 24. August 2008 hauptsächlich in der chinesischen Hauptstadt Peking ausgetragen. Es waren die ersten Olympische Sommerspiele in China. Den Zuschlag des Internationalen Olympischen Komitees (IOC) erhielt Peking am 13. Juli 2001.


Liste der Kurfürsten, Herzöge und Könige von Sachsen

Dukes of Saxony.

The original Duchy of Saxony comprised the lands of the Saxon people in the north-western part of present-day Germany, namely, the contemporary German state of Lower Saxony as well as Westphalia and Western Saxony-Anhalt, not corresponding to the modern German state of Saxony.

Younger Stem Duchy.

With the removal of the Welfs in 1180, the Duchy of Saxony was sharply reduced in territory. Westphalia fell to the Archbishop of Cologne, while the Duchy of Brunswick remained with the Welfs. The Ascanian Dukes had their base further east, near the Elbe, in what is sometimes called the "younger Duchy of Saxony", resulting in the name Saxony moving towards the east.  In the 10th century the Emperor Otto I had created the County Palatine of Saxony in the Saale-Unstrut area of southern Saxony. The honour was initially held by a Count of Hessengau, then from the early 11th century by the Counts of Goseck, later by the Counts of Sommerschenburg, and still later by the Landgraves of Thuringia. When the Wettin landgraves succeeded to the Electorate of Saxony, the two positions merged.

The "Younger" Saxony: The Duchy and the Electorate.

The new dukes replaced the Saxon horse emblem () and introduced their Ascanian family colours and emblem () added by a bendwise crancelin, symbolising the Saxon ducal crown, as new coat-of-arms of Saxony (20px). The later rulers of the House of Wettin adopted the Ascanian coat-of-arms.  After the division, the counting of the dukes started anew. Though the first Ascanian duke is counted either as Bernard III (because of two predecessors of the same name before 1180) or as Bernard I, his successor, Albert I is counted as the first, although before 1180 he had one predecessor of the same name, Albert the Bear.

House of Ascania.

Table of rulers.

The male line of the Saxe-Lauenburgish Ascanians was extinguished in 1689, after Julius Francis' death. In spite of having left two daughters to inherit the rights to the duchy, the House of Welf usurped the duchy, preventing the succession of the legitimate heiress, Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, and resucceeded with its Brunswick and Lunenburg-Celle line. In fact, George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was a great-great-grandson of Magnus I through his great-grandmother Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. His descendants became Monarchs of Great Britain from 1714 on. In 1814, after being deposed by various occupations in the Napoleonic Wars, George III's son, Regent George agreed to pass Saxe-Lauenburg to his Danish cousin in a general territorial realignment at the Congress of Vienna. This cousin was Frederick VI of Denmark, who changed the official colours of Saxe-Lauenburg to red and gold. The duchy changed hands again when, in 1865, Christian IX of Denmark was deposed in Second Schleswig War and resigned by Treaty of Vienna; Saxe-Lauenburg passed to William I of Prussia, to whom the Estates of Saxe-Lauenburg offered the ducal throne. The coat-of-arms of Saxe-Lauenburg was changed to the colours red and silver, with a border in the Prussian colours of black and white. Both duke and estates decided to merge Saxe-Lauenburg into Prussia, as district Duchy of Lauenburg, with effect from 1 July 1876.

House of Wettin.

The Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg became extinct with the death of Elector Albert III in 1422, whereafter Emperor Sigismund bestowed the country and electoral dignity upon Margrave Frederick IV of Meissen, who had been a loyal supporter in the Hussite Wars. Late Albert's Ascanian relative Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg protested in vain. Frederick, now one of the seven Prince-electors, was a member of the House of Wettin, which since 1089 had ruled over the adjacent Margraviate of Meissen up the Elbe river, established under Emperor Otto I in 965, and since 1242 also over the Landgraviate of Thuringia. Thus, in 1423, Saxe-Wittenberg, the Margraviate of Meissen and Thuringia were united under one ruler, and the unified territory. gradually received the name of (Upper) Saxony (or simply Saxony).

Kingdom of Saxony.

The Holy Roman Empire came to an end in 1806. The Elector of Saxony, allied to Napoleon I, anticipated its dissolution by becoming the ruler of an independent Kingdom of Saxony in 1806.

Heads of the House of Wettin since 1918.

The lineage of the House of Wettin is extant, although the family no longer exercises an official role in Saxony. For heads of republican Saxony, see List of Ministers-President of Saxony.

This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 9th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918.

Die Liste der Kurfürsten, Herzöge und Könige umfasst in chronologischer Reihenfolge die (ober-)sächsischen Herrscher von der Erhebung des alten Teilherzogtums Sachsen-Wittenberg unter den Askaniern in den Kurfürstenstand (1356) über deren Aussterben und den Übergang der kurfürstlichen Rechte und Territorien zum Besitzstand der Wettiner bis hin zum Ende der Monarchie (1918) im zum Königreich erhobenen Sachsen als dem Vorgänger des heutigen Freistaats. Beide Adelsgeschlechter praktizierten dabei eine patrilineare Thronfolge, d. h. als Thronerben kamen nur die Söhne eines Herrschers oder – falls keine vorhanden waren – seine Brüder in Frage. Kurfürstinnen, Herzoginnen und Königinnen von Sachsen gab es folglich nicht aus eigenem Recht, sondern als Ehrentitel der Gemahlinnen des jeweiligen Herrschers. Sie finden sich in der Liste der Kurfürstinnen, Herzoginnen und Königinnen von Sachsen.


Hardware.

Although it uses 32-bit instructions, the SE/30 ROM, like the IIx ROM, includes some code using 24-bit addressing, rendering the ROM "32-bit dirty". This limited the actual amount of RAM that can be accessed to 8 MB under System 6.0.8. A system extension called MODE32 enables access to installed extra memory under System 6.0.8. Under System 7.0 up to System 7.5.5 the SE/30 can use up to 128 MB of RAM. Alternatively, replacing the ROM SIMM with one from a Mac IIsi or Mac IIfx makes the SE/30 "32-bit-clean" and thereby enables use of up to 128 MB RAM and System 7.5 through OS 7.6.1.  A standard SE/30 can run up to System 7.5.5, since Mac OS 7.6 requires a 32-bit-clean ROM.  Additionally, the SE/30 can run A/UX, Apple's older version of a Unix that was able to run Macintosh programs.  Though there was no official upgrade path for the SE/30, several third-party processor upgrades were available. A 68040 upgrade made it possible to run Mac OS 8.1, which extended the SE/30's productive life for many more years. The Micron Technology Xceed Gray-Scale 30 video card fit into the SE/30's PDS slot, enabling it to display greyscale video on its internal display, the only non-color compact Mac able to do so.

Reception.

Bruce F. Webster wrote in "Macworld" in March 1989 that the SE/30 did not "break new ground. It does, however, establish Apple's commitment to the classic Mac product line, and it provides users with an Apple-supported alternative to either a small, slow Mac or a large, powerful one. More important, it fills a gap in the Macintosh family... a new level of power and portability for the Macintosh community".  In a January 2009 "Macworld" feature commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Macintosh, three industry commentators – Adam C. Engst of TidBITS, John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and John Siracusa of Ars Technica – chose the SE/30 as their favorite Mac model of all time. "Like any great Mac," wrote Gruber, "the SE/30 wasn't just a terrific system just when it debuted; it remained eminently usable for years to come. When I think of the original Mac era, the machine in my mind is the SE/30."  The SE/30 remains popular with hobbyists, and has been described as “the best computer Apple will ever make,” with used models selling for a significant premium to other machines of the era. Contemporary PDS upgrades allowed an SE/30’s internal monitor to be upgraded to support 256 shades of gray (the only original-design Macintosh to support such an upgrade) or a 68040 processor, and the SE/30’s standard RAM limit of 128MB greatly exceeded that of even much later models such as the Color Classic and Macintosh LC II. In 2018, add-ons and software became available to add WiFi and even streaming Spotify support to the SE/30.

Popular culture.

In the NBC TV series "Seinfeld", Jerry has an SE/30 sitting on his desk during the first seasons. This would be the first of many Macs to occupy the desk, including a PowerBook Duo and a Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh.  In the FX series "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia", the Waitress is seen with a Macintosh SE/30 on her bedroom desk in the episode "The Gang Gives Back".  In the film "Watchmen," Ozymandias has an all-black TEMPEST-shielded SE/30 on his desk.

The Macintosh SE/30 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from January 1989 to October 1991. It is the fastest of the original black-and-white compact Macintosh series.

Der Macintosh SE/30 war ein Rechnermodell der Firma Apple. Er wurde im Januar 1989 eingeführt und war bis Oktober 1991 im Programm. Trotz der recht kurzen Produktionszeit verkaufte sich der SE/30 gut.


Description.

Ziggurats were built by ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Elamites, Eblaites and Babylonians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included other buildings. The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the sixth millennium. The ziggurats began as a platform (usually oval, rectangular or square), the ziggurat was a mastaba-like structure with a flat top. The sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. Each step was slightly smaller than the step below it. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of floors ranged from two to seven.  According to archaeologist Harriet Crawford, "It is usually assumed that the ziggurats supported a shrine, though the only evidence for this comes from Herodotus, and physical evidence is non-existent. It has also been suggested by a number of scholars that this shrine was the scene of the sacred marriage, the central rite of the great new year festival. Herodotus describes the furnishing of the shrine on top of the ziggurat at Babylon and says it contained a great golden couch on which a woman spent the night alone. The god Marduk was also said to come and sleep in his shrine. The likelihood of such a shrine ever being found is remote. Erosion has usually reduced the surviving ziggurats to a fraction of their original height, but textual evidence may yet provide more facts about the purpose of these shrines. In the present state of our knowledge it seems reasonable to adopt as a working hypothesis the suggestion that the ziggurats developed out of the earlier temples on platforms and that small shrines stood on the highest stages..." Access to the shrine would have been by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods and each city had its own patron god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base, and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests were very powerful members of Sumerian and Assyro-Babylonian society.  One of the best-preserved ziggurats is Chogha Zanbil in western Iran. The Sialk ziggurat, in Kashan, Iran, is the oldest known ziggurat, dating to the early 3rd millennium BCE. Ziggurat designs ranged from simple bases upon which a temple sat, to marvels of mathematics and construction which spanned several terraced stories and were topped with a temple.  An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer. The ziggurat itself is the base on which the White Temple is set. Its purpose is to get the temple closer to the heavens, and provide access from the ground to it via steps. The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramids temples connected heaven and earth. In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as Etemenankia or "House of the Platform between Heaven and Earth".  An example of an extensive and massive ziggurat is the Marduk ziggurat, of Etemenanki, of ancient Babylon. Unfortunately, not much of even the base is left of this massive 91-meter tall structure, yet archeological findings and historical accounts put this tower at seven multicolored tiers, topped with a temple of exquisite proportions. The temple is thought to have been painted and maintained an indigo color, matching the tops of the tiers. It is known that there were three staircases leading to the temple, two of which (side flanked) were thought to have only ascended half the ziggurat's height.  Etemenanki, the name for the structure, is Sumerian and means "temple of the foundation of heaven and earth". The date of its original construction is unknown, with suggested dates ranging from the fourteenth to the ninth century BCE, with textual evidence suggesting it existed in the second millennium.

Interpretation and significance.

According to Herodotus, at the top of each ziggurat was a shrine, although none of these shrines have survived. One practical function of the ziggurats was a high place on which the priests could escape rising water that annually inundated lowlands and occasionally flooded for hundreds of kilometers, for example, the 1967 flood. Another practical function of the ziggurat was for security. Since the shrine was accessible only by way of three stairways, a small number of guards could prevent non-priests from spying on the rituals at the shrine on top of the ziggurat, such as initiation rituals like the Eleusinian mysteries, cooking of sacrificial food and burning of carcasses of sacrificial animals. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex that included a courtyard, storage rooms, bathrooms, and living quarters, around which a city spread.

A ziggurat ( ; Akkadian: ', D-stem of''to build on a raised area') is a type of massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. It has the form of a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, the now destroyed Etemenanki in Babylon, Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān and Sialk.

Eine Zikkurat (auch "Schiggorat, Ziqqurrat, Zikkurrat, Ziggurat," babylonisch „hoch aufragend/aufgetürmt, Himmelshügel, Götterberg“) ist ein gestufter Tempelturm in Mesopotamien. Die biblische Überlieferung des Turmbaus zu Babel geht nach heutiger Erkenntnis auf einen solchen Bau zurück. Die frühsumerische Dichtung "Enmerkar und der Herr von Aratta" erwähnt ebenfalls eine Sprachverwirrung in Zusammenhang mit großen Bauvorhaben.


Taxonomy and evolution.

Over 2,400 species of mantis in about 430 genera are recognized. They are predominantly found in tropical regions, but some live in temperate areas. The systematics of mantises have long been disputed. Mantises, along with stick insects (Phasmatodea), were once placed in the order Orthoptera with the cockroaches (now Blattodea) and rock crawlers (now Grylloblattodea). Kristensen (1991) combined the Mantodea with the cockroaches and termites into the order Dictyoptera, suborder Mantodea. The name "mantodea" is formed from the Ancient Greek words ("mantis") meaning "prophet", and ("eidos") meaning "form" or "type". It was coined in 1838 by the German entomologist Hermann Burmeister. The order is occasionally called the mantes, using a Latinized plural of Greek "mantis". The name mantid properly refers only to members of the family Mantidae, which was, historically, the only family in the order. The other common name, praying mantis, applied to any species in the order (though in Europe mainly to "Mantis religiosa"), comes from the typical "prayer-like" posture with folded forelimbs. The vernacular plural "mantises" (used in this article) was confined largely to the US, with "mantids" predominantly used as the plural in the UK and elsewhere, until the family Mantidae was further split in 2002.  One of the earliest classifications splitting an all-inclusive Mantidae into multiple families was that proposed by Beier in 1968, recognizing eight families, though it was not until Ehrmann's reclassification into 15 families in 2002 that a multiple-family classification became universally adopted. Klass, in 1997, studied the external male genitalia and postulated that the families Chaeteessidae and Metallyticidae diverged from the other families at an early date. However, the Mantidae and Thespidae are still both considered polyphyletic, so the Mantodea will have to be revised.  The earliest mantis fossils are about 135 million years old, from Siberia. Fossils of the group are rare: by 2007, only about 25 fossil species were known. Fossil mantises, including one from Japan with spines on the front legs as in modern mantises, have been found in Cretaceous amber. Most fossils in amber are nymphs; compression fossils (in rock) include adults. Fossil mantises from the Crato Formation in Brazil include the long "Santanmantis axelrodi", described in 2003; as in modern mantises, the front legs were adapted for catching prey. Well-preserved specimens yield details as small as 5 μm through X-ray computed tomography.  Because of the superficially similar raptorial forelegs, mantidflies may be confused with mantises, though they are unrelated. Their similarity is an example of convergent evolution; mantidflies do not have tegmina (leathery forewings) like mantises, their antennae are shorter and less thread-like, and the raptorial tibia is more muscular than that of a similar-sized mantis and bends back further in preparation for shooting out to grasp prey.

Families.

The "Mantodea Species File" lists the following living (with at least 2 extinct) families:

Biology.

Anatomy.

Mantises have large, triangular heads with a beak-like snout and mandibles. They have two bulbous compound eyes, three small simple eyes, and a pair of antennae. The articulation of the neck is also remarkably flexible; some species of mantis can rotate their heads nearly 180°. The mantis thorax consists of a prothorax, a mesothorax, and a metathorax. In all species apart from the genus "Mantoida", the prothorax, which bears the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoracic segments. The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movements of the head and fore limbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile.  Mantises have two spiked, grasping forelegs ("raptorial legs") in which prey items are caught and held securely. In most insect legs, including the posterior four legs of a mantis, the coxa and trochanter combine as an inconspicuous base of the leg; in the raptorial legs, however, the coxa and trochanter combine to form a segment about as long as the femur, which is a spiky part of the grasping apparatus (see illustration). Located at the base of the femur is a set of discoidal spines, usually four in number, but ranging from none to as many as five depending on the species. These spines are preceded by a number of tooth-like tubercles, which, along with a similar series of tubercles along the tibia and the apical claw near its tip, give the foreleg of the mantis its grasp on its prey. The foreleg ends in a delicate tarsus used as a walking appendage, made of four or five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no arolium.  Mantises can be loosely categorized as being macropterous (long-winged), brachypterous (short-winged), micropterous (vestigial-winged), or apterous (wingless). If not wingless, a mantis has two sets of wings: the outer wings, or tegmina, are usually narrow and leathery. They function as camouflage and as a shield for the hind wings, which are clearer and more delicate. The abdomen of all mantises consists of 10 tergites, with a corresponding set of nine sternites visible in males and seven visible in females. The abdomen tends to be slimmer in males than females, but ends in a pair of cerci in both sexes.

Vision.

Mantises have stereo vision. They locate their prey by sight; their compound eyes contain up to 10,000 ommatidia. A small area at the front called the fovea has greater visual acuity than the rest of the eye, and can produce the high resolution necessary to examine potential prey. The peripheral ommatidia are concerned with perceiving motion; when a moving object is noticed, the head is rapidly rotated to bring the object into the visual field of the fovea. Further motions of the prey are then tracked by movements of the mantis's head so as to keep the image centered on the fovea. The eyes are widely spaced and laterally situated, affording a wide binocular field of vision and precise stereoscopic vision at close range. The dark spot on each eye that moves as it rotates its head is a pseudopupil. This occurs because the ommatidia that are viewed "head-on" absorb the incident light, while those to the side reflect it.  As their hunting relies heavily on vision, mantises are primarily diurnal. Many species, however, fly at night, and then may be attracted to artificial lights. Mantises in the family Liturgusidae collected at night have been shown to be predominately males; this is probably true for most mantises. Nocturnal flight is especially important to males in locating less-mobile females by detecting their pheromones. Flying at night exposes mantises to fewer bird predators than diurnal flight would. Many mantises also have an auditory thoracic organ that helps them avoid bats by detecting their echolocation calls and responding evasively.

Diet and predation.

Mantises are generalist predators of arthropods. The majority of mantises are ambush predators that only feed upon live prey within their reach. They either camouflage themselves and remain stationary, waiting for prey to approach, or stalk their prey with slow, stealthy movements. Larger mantises sometimes eat smaller individuals of their own species, as well as small vertebrates such as lizards, frogs, small birds and fishes.  Most mantises stalk tempting prey if it strays close enough, and will go further when they are especially hungry. Once within reach, mantises strike rapidly to grasp the prey with their spiked raptorial forelegs. Some ground and bark species pursue their prey in a more active way. For example, members of a few genera such as the ground mantises, "Entella", "Ligaria", and "Ligariella" run over dry ground seeking prey, much as tiger beetles do. The fore gut of some species extends the whole length of the insect and can be used to store prey for digestion later. This may be advantageous in an insect that feeds intermittently. Chinese mantises live longer, grow faster, and produce more young when they are able to eat pollen.

Antipredator adaptations.

Mantises are preyed on by vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, and birds, and by invertebrates such as spiders, large species of hornets, and ants. Some hunting wasps, such as some species of "Tachytes" also paralyse some species of mantis to feed their young. Generally, mantises protect themselves by camouflage, most species being cryptically colored to resemble foliage or other backgrounds, both to avoid predators and to better snare their prey. Those that live on uniformly colored surfaces such as bare earth or tree bark are dorsoventrally flattened so as to eliminate shadows that might reveal their presence. The species from different families called flower mantises are aggressive mimics: they resemble flowers convincingly enough to attract prey that come to collect pollen and nectar. Some species in Africa and Australia are able to turn black after a molt towards the end of the dry season; at this time of year, bush fires occur and this coloration enables them to blend in with the fire-ravaged landscape (fire melanism).  When directly threatened, many mantis species stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide. The fanning of the wings makes the mantis seem larger and more threatening, with some species enhancing this effect with bright colors and patterns on their hind wings and inner surfaces of their front legs. If harassment persists, a mantis may strike with its forelegs and attempt to pinch or bite. As part of the bluffing (deimatic) threat display, some species may also produce a hissing sound by expelling air from the abdominal spiracles. Mantises lack chemical protection, so their displays are largely bluff. When flying at night, at least some mantises are able to detect the echolocation sounds produced by bats; when the frequency begins to increase rapidly, indicating an approaching bat, they stop flying horizontally and begin a descending spiral toward the safety of the ground, often preceded by an aerial loop or spin. If caught, they may slash captors with their raptorial legs.  Mantises, like stick insects, show rocking behavior in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behavior include the enhancement of crypsis by means of the resemblance to vegetation moving in the wind. However, the repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of animals with simpler sight systems. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field. As ants may be predators of mantises, genera such as "Loxomantis", "Orthodera", and "Statilia", like many other arthropods, avoid attacking them. Exploiting this behavior, a variety of arthropods, including some early-instar mantises, mimic ants to evade their predators.

Reproduction and life history.

The mating season in temperate climates typically takes place in autumn, while in tropical areas, mating can occur at any time of the year. To mate following courtship, the male usually leaps onto the female's back, clasping her thorax and wing bases with his forelegs. He then arches his abdomen to deposit and store sperm in a special chamber near the tip of the female's abdomen. The female lays between 10 and 400 eggs, depending on the species. Eggs are typically deposited in a froth mass-produced by glands in the abdomen. This froth hardens, creating a protective capsule, which together with the egg mass is called an ootheca. Depending on the species, the ootheca can be attached to a flat surface, wrapped around a plant, or even deposited in the ground. Despite the versatility and durability of the eggs, they are often preyed on, especially by several species of parasitoid wasps. In a few species, mostly ground and bark mantises in the family Tarachodidae, the mother guards the eggs. The cryptic "Tarachodes maurus" positions herself on bark with her abdomen covering her egg capsule, ambushing passing prey and moving very little until the eggs hatch. An unusual reproductive strategy is adopted by Brunner's stick mantis from the southern United States; no males have ever been found in this species, and the females breed parthenogenetically. The ability to reproduce by parthenogenesis has been recorded in at least two other species, "Sphodromantis viridis" and "Miomantis" sp., although these species usually reproduce sexually. In temperate climates, adults do not survive the winter and the eggs undergo a diapause, hatching in the spring.  As in closely related insect groups in the superorder Dictyoptera, mantises go through three life stages: egg, nymph, and adult (mantises are among the hemimetabolous insects). For smaller species, the eggs may hatch in 3–4 weeks as opposed to 4–6 weeks for larger species. The nymphs may be colored differently from the adult, and the early stages are often mimics of ants. A mantis nymph grows bigger as it molts its exoskeleton. Molting can happen five to 10 times before the adult stage is reached, depending on the species. After the final molt, most species have wings, though some species remain wingless or brachypterous ("short-winged"), particularly in the female sex. The lifespan of a mantis depends on the species; smaller ones may live 4–8 weeks, while larger species may live 4–6 months.

Sexual cannibalism.

Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity. It has sometimes been observed in natural populations, where about a quarter of male-female encounters result in the male being eaten by the female. Around 90% of the predatory species of mantises exhibit sexual cannibalism. Adult males typically outnumber females at first, but their numbers may be fairly equivalent later in the adult stage, possibly because females selectively eat the smaller males. In "Tenodera sinensis", 83% of males escape cannibalism after an encounter with a female, but since multiple matings occur, the probability of a male's being eaten increases cumulatively.  The female may begin feeding by biting off the male's head (as they do with regular prey), and if mating has begun, the male's movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by a ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male's head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilization while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behavior appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behavior is natural in the field or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual organisms and notice any disturbance in the laboratory or field, such as bright lights or moving scientists. Chinese mantises that had been fed "ad libitum" (so that they were not hungry) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in a courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Under such circumstances, the female has been known to respond with a defensive deimatic display by flashing the colored eyespots on the inside of her front legs.  The reason for sexual cannibalism has been debated; experiments show that females on poor diets are likelier to engage in sexual cannibalism than those on good diets. Some hypothesize that submissive males gain a selective advantage by producing offspring; this is supported by a quantifiable increase in the duration of copulation among males which are cannibalized, in some cases doubling both the duration and the chance of fertilization. This is contrasted by a study where males were seen to approach hungry females with more caution, and were shown to remain mounted on hungry females for a longer time, indicating that males that actively avoid cannibalism may mate with multiple females. The same study also found that hungry females generally attracted fewer males than those that were well fed. The act of dismounting after copulation is dangerous for males, for at this time, females most frequently cannibalize their mates. An increase in mounting duration appears to indicate that males wait for an opportune time to dismount a hungry female, who would be likely to cannibalize her mate.

Relationship with humans.

In literature and art.

One of the earliest mantis references is in the ancient Chinese dictionary "Erya", which gives its attributes in poetry, where it represents courage and fearlessness, and a brief description. A later text, the ("Great History of Medical Material Annotated and Arranged by Types, Based upon the Classics and Historical Works") from 1108, gives accurate details of the construction of the egg packages, the development cycle, anatomy, and the function of the antennae. Although mantises are rarely mentioned in Ancient Greek sources, a female mantis in threat posture is accurately illustrated on a series of fifth-century BC silver coins, including didrachms, from Metapontum in Sicily. In the 10th century AD, Byzantine era "Adages", Suidas describes an insect resembling a slow-moving green locust with long front legs. He translates Zenobius 2.94 with the words "seriphos" (maybe a mantis) and "graus", an old woman, implying a thin, dried-up stick of a body.  Western descriptions of the biology and morphology of the mantises became more accurate in the 18th century. Roesel von Rosenhof illustrated and described mantises and their cannibalistic behavior in the "" ("Insect Entertainments"). Aldous Huxley made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantises mated in the sight of two characters in his 1962 novel "Island" (the species was "Gongylus gongylodes"). The naturalist Gerald Durrell's humorously autobiographical 1956 book "My Family and Other Animals" includes a four-page account of an almost evenly matched battle between a mantis and a gecko. Shortly before the fatal "dénouement", Durrell narrates:  M. C. Escher's woodcut "Dream" depicts a human-sized mantis standing on a sleeping bishop. The 1957 film "The Deadly Mantis" features a mantis as a giant monster.  A cultural trope imagines the female mantis as a "femme fatale". The idea is propagated in cartoons by Cable, Guy and Rodd, LeLievre, T. McCracken, and Mark Parisi, among others. It ends Isabella Rossellini's short film about the life of a praying mantis in her 2008 "Green Porno" season for the Sundance Channel.

Martial arts.

Two martial arts separately developed in China have movements and fighting strategies based on those of the mantis. As one of these arts was developed in northern China, and the other in southern parts of the country, the arts are today referred to (both in English and Chinese) as 'Northern Praying Mantis' and 'Southern Praying Mantis'. Both are very popular in China, and have also been exported to the West in recent decades.

In mythology and religion.

The mantis was revered by the southern African Khoi and San in whose cultures man and nature were intertwined; for its praying posture, the mantis was even named "" ("god of the Khoi") in the Afrikaans language that had developed among the first European settlers. However, at least for the San, the mantis was only one of the manifestations of a trickster-deity who could assume many other forms, such as a snake, hare or vulture. Several ancient civilizations did consider the insect to have supernatural powers; for the Greeks, it had the ability to show lost travelers the way home; in the Ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead" the "bird-fly" is a minor god that leads the souls of the dead to the underworld; in a list of 9th-century BC Nineveh grasshoppers ("buru"), the mantis is named necromancer ("buru-enmeli") and soothsayer ("buru-enmeli-ashaga").

As pets.

Mantises are among the insects most widely kept as pets. Because the lifespan of a mantis is only about a year, people who want to keep mantises often breed them. In 2013 at least 31 species were kept and bred in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. In 1996 at least 50 species were known to be kept in captivity by members of the Mantis Study Group. "The Independent" described the "giant Asian praying mantis" as "part stick insect with a touch of Buddhist monk", and stated that they needed a vivarium around 30 cm (12 in) on each side. "The Daily South" argued that a pet insect was no weirder than a pet rat or ferret, and that while a pet mantis was unusual, it would not "bark, shed, [or] need shots or a litter box".

For pest control.

Gardeners who prefer to avoid pesticides may encourage mantises in the hope of controlling insect pests. However, mantises do not have key attributes of biological pest control agents; they do not specialize in a single pest insect, and do not multiply rapidly in response to an increase in such a prey species, but are general predators. They eat whatever they can catch, including both harmful and beneficial insects. They therefore have "negligible value" in biological control.  Two species, the Chinese mantis and the European mantis, were deliberately introduced to North America in the hope that they would serve as pest controls for agriculture; they have spread widely in both the United States and Canada.

Mantis-like robot.

A prototype robot inspired by the forelegs of the praying mantis has front legs that allow the robot to walk, climb steps, and grasp objects. The multi-jointed leg provides dexterity via a rotatable joint. Future models may include a more spiked foreleg to improve the grip and ability to support more weight.

Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 430 genera in 15 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.

Die Fangschrecken oder Gottesanbeterinnen (Mantodea) sind eine Ordnung der Insekten und gehören zu den Fluginsekten (Pterygota). Häufig werden sie auch als Mantiden bezeichnet.


Life.

Philo was probably born with the name Julius Philo. His ancestors and family were contemporaries to the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the rule of the Seleucid Empire. Although the names of his parents are unknown, it is known that Philo came from a family which was noble, honourable and wealthy. It was either his father or paternal grandfather who was granted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar. Jerome wrote that Philo came "de genere sacerdotum" (from a priestly family). His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea, the Hasmonean dynasty, the Herodian dynasty and the Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome.  Philo had two brothers, Alexander the Alabarch and Lysimachus. Through Alexander, Philo had two nephews Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander. The latter was the first husband of the Herodian princess Berenice. Marcus died in 43 or 44.  Philo visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime. Philo would have been a contemporary of Jesus and his Apostles. Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. They were educated in the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria and Roman culture, to a degree in Ancient Egyptian culture and particularly in the traditions of Judaism, in the study of Jewish traditional literature and in Greek philosophy.  Philo's dates of birth and death are unknown but can be judged by Philo's description of himself as "old" when he was part of the delegation to Gaius Caligula in 38 CE. Jewish history professor Daniel R. Schwartz estimates his birth year as sometime between 20 and 10 BCE. Philo's reference to an event under the reign of Emperor Claudius indicates that he died sometime after 41 CE.

"Embassy to Gaius".

In ("Embassy to Gaius"), Philo describes his diplomatic mission to Gaius Caligula, one of the few events in his life which is known specifically. He relates that he was carrying a petition describing the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews and asking the emperor to secure their rights. Philo gives a description of their sufferings, more detailed than Josephus's, to characterize the Alexandrian Greeks as the aggressors in the civil strife that had left many Jews and Greeks dead.  Philo lived in an era of increasing ethnic tension in Alexandria, exacerbated by the new strictures of imperial rule. Some expatriate Hellenes in Alexandria condemned the Jews for a supposed alliance with Rome, even as Rome was seeking to suppress Jewish nationalism in Judea. In "Against Flaccus", Philo describes the situation of the Jews in Egypt, writing that they numbered not less than a million and inhabited two of the five districts in Alexandria. He recounts the abuses of the prefect Aulus Avilius Flaccus, who he says retaliated against the Jews when they refused to worship Caligula as a god. Daniel Schwartz surmises that given this tense background it may have been politically convenient for Philo to favor abstract monotheism instead of overt pro-Judeanism.  Philo considers Caligula's plan to erect a statue of himself in the Second Temple to be a provocation, asking, "Are you making war upon us, because you anticipate that we will not endure such indignity, but that we will fight on behalf of our laws, and die in defence of our national customs? For you cannot possibly have been ignorant of what was likely to result from your attempt to introduce these innovations respecting our temple." In his entire presentation, he implicitly supports the Jewish commitment to rebel against the emperor rather than allow such sacrilege to take place.  Philo says he was regarded by his people as having unusual prudence, due to his age, education, and knowledge. This indicates that he was already an older man at this time (40 CE).  In "Antiquities of the Jews", Josephus tells of Philo's selection by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philo agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews in regard to civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks. Josephus also tells us that Philo was skilled in philosophy, and that he was brother to the alabarch Alexander. According to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues in honor of the emperor, and to build altars and temples to the emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God actively supported this refusal.  Josephus' complete comments about Philo: This event is also described in Book 2, Chapter 5 of Eusebius' "Ecclesiastical History."

Works.

Some of Philo's works have been preserved in Greek, while others have survived through Armenian translations, and a smaller amount survives in a Latin translation. Exact date of writing and original plan of organization is not known for much of the text attributed to Philo.  Most of Philo's surviving work deals with the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). Within this corpus are three categories:  Philo is also credited with writing:

Philosophy.

Philo represents the apex of Jewish-Hellenistic syncretism. His work attempts to combine Plato and Moses into one philosophical system. His ethics were strongly influenced by Aristotelianism and Stoicism, preferring a morality of virtues without passions, such as lust/desire and anger, but with a "common human sympathy".

View of scripture.

Philo bases his doctrines on the Hebrew Bible, which he considers as the source and standard not only of religious truth but of all truth. Its pronouncements are the,, and (holy word, godly word, righteous word), uttered sometimes directly and sometimes through the mouth of a prophet, and especially through Moses, whom Philo considers the real medium of revelation. Although he distinguishes between the words uttered by God Himself, as the Decalogue, and the edicts of Moses, as the special laws, he does not carry out this distinction, since he believes in general that everything in the Torah is of divine origin, even the letters and accents.  Philo regards the Bible as the source not only of religious revelation, but also of philosophic truth; for, according to him, the Greek philosophers also have borrowed from the Bible: Heraclitus, according to "Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit" § 43 [i. 503]; and Zeno, according to "Quod Omnis Probus Liber", § 8 [ii. 454].  Philo's allegorical interpretation of scripture allows him to grapple with morally disturbing events and impose a cohesive explanation of stories. Specifically, Philo interprets the characters of the Bible as aspects of the human being, and the stories of the Bible as episodes from universal human experience. For example, Adam represents the mind and Eve the senses. Noah represents tranquility, a stage of "relative" (incomplete but progressing) righteousness.

View of God.

In brief: Philo affirms a transcendent God without physical features or emotional qualities resembling those of human beings. In Philo, God exists beyond time and space and does not make special interventions into the world because He already encompasses the entire cosmos.  Philo's notion is even more abstract than that of the Monad of Pythagoras or the Good of Plato. Only God's existence is certain, no appropriate predicates can be conceived. Following Plato, Philo equates matter to nothingness and sees its effect in fallacy, discord, damage, and decay of things. This view enables Philo to combine the Jewish belief in creation with the Greek conviction about the formation of all things from the permanent matter.

View of Man.

Philo seems to look at man as a trichotomous mind/spirit-soul-body, common to the Hellenistic view of mind-soul-body. In Philo's writings, however, mind and spirit are used interchangeably.

Logos.

Philo wrote that God created and governed the world through mediators. Logos is the chief among them, the next to God, demiurge of the world. Logos is immaterial, an adequate image of God, his shadow, his firstborn son. Being the mind of the Eternal, Logos is imperishable. He is neither uncreated as God is, nor created as men are, but occupies a middle position. He has no autonomous power, only an entrusted one.  Philo probably was the first philosopher who identified Plato's Ideas with Creator's thoughts. These thoughts make the contents of Logos; they were the seals for making sensual things during world creation. Logos resembles a book with creature paradigms. An Architect's design before the construction of a city serves to Philo as another simile of Logos. Since creation, Logos binds things together. As the receptacle and holder of ideas, Logos is distinct from the material world. At the same time, Logos pervades the world, supporting it.  Logos has the function of an advocate on behalf of humanity and also that of a God's envoy to the world. He puts human minds in order. The right reason is an infallible law, the source of any other laws. The angel closing Balaam's way (Numbers XXII, 31) is interpreted by Philo as manifestation of Logos, which acts as man's conscience.

Numbers.

Philo frequently engages in Pythagorean-inspired numerology, explaining at length the importance of religious numbers such as six, seven, and ten.

Politics.

Commentators can infer from his mission to Caligula that Philo was involved in politics. However, the nature of his political beliefs, and especially his viewpoint on the Roman Empire, is a matter of debate.  Philo did suggest in his writings that a prudent man should withhold his true opinion about tyrants:

Knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.

Philo was more fluent in Greek than in Hebrew and read the Jewish Scriptures chiefly from the Septuagint, a Koine Greek translation of Hebraic texts later compiled as the Hebrew Bible and the Deuterocanonical books.  The Septuagint translates the phrase (, ) as (, ). Philo identified the angel of the Lord (in the singular) with the Logos. Peter Schäfer argues that Philo's Logos was derived from his understanding of the "postbiblical Wisdom literature, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon". The Wisdom of Solomon is a Jewish work composed in Alexandria, Egypt, around the 1st century CE, with the aim of bolstering the faith of the Jewish community in a hostile Greek world. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books included within the Septuagint.  The extent of Philo's knowledge of Hebrew is debated. His numerous etymologies of Hebrew names—which are along the lines of the etymologic "midrash" to Genesis and of the earlier rabbinism, though not modern Hebrew philology—suggest some familiarity. Philo offers for some names three or four etymologies, sometimes including the correct Hebrew root (e.g.,,, as the origin of the name Jordan). However, his works do not display much understanding of Hebrew grammar, and they tend to follow the translation of the Septuagint more closely than the Hebrew version.

The name of God.

In the text attributed to Philo, he "consistently uses as a designation for God". According to David B. Capes "the problem for this case, however, is that Christian scholars are responsible for copying and transmitting Philo's words to later generations" and add that "George Howard surveys evidence and concludes: 'Although it is improbable that Philo varied from the custom of writing the Tetragram when quoting from Scripture, it is likely that he used the word when making a secondary reference to the divine name in his exposition'." James Royse concludes: "(1) the exegete [Philo] knows and reads biblical manuscripts in which the tetragram is written in palaeo-Hebrew or Aramaic script and not translated by "kyrios" and that (2) he quotes scriptures in the same way he would have pronounced it, that is, by translating it as "kurios"."

Influence and interpretations.

For a long time, Philo was read and explained mostly by Christian authors.  Azariah dei Rossi's "Me'or Enayim: Imre Binah" (1575), one of the first Jewish commentaries on Philo, describes four "serious defects" of Philo: reading the Torah in Greek, not Hebrew; belief in primordial matter rather than ; unbelief in the Lord as evidenced by excessively allegorical interpretation of scripture; and neglect of the Jewish oral tradition. Dei Rossi later gives a possible defense of Philo and writes that he can neither absolve nor convict him.

Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.

Philon von Alexandria (griechisch Φίλων "Phílōn", latinisiert "Philo Alexandrinus" oder "Philo Iudaeus"; ; * um 15/10 v. Chr.; † nach 40 n. Chr.) war ein einflussreicher jüdischer Philosoph und Theologe. Er ist der bekannteste Denker des hellenistischen Judentums.