Search

‘Unting is all that's worth living for – all time is lost wot is not spent in ‘unting – it is like the hair we breathe – if we have it not we die – it's the sport of kings. The most vital possessions of the plant are the chloroplasts in the cells of its leaves. Through these, the organism can convert, for its own purposes, a fraction of the solar energy that falls upon it. Sunlight is remarkably uniform in its intensity, and a plant has little to gain by moving about. It can thus afford a relatively stationary existence, the only motion being that required to reach regions beyond the shade of its immediate environment and its competitors. Because they have no chloroplast-bearing cells, animals have paid the penalty of having to develop several specialized functions in order to satisfy their energy requirements. They must have a means of locomotion and feeding, and some form of coordination of these faculties, however primitive, is needed. And as insurance against the unsuccessful forage, they should be able to store digested energy. Moreover, unless an animal is so small that the normal process of diffusion is adequate, it must have a circulatory system to distribute dissolved gases and chemical compounds to its various parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter V of the book "Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus," by Xenophon is presented. It relates Cyrus the Persian command to Araspas the Mede and his boyhood comrade to guard the captive wife of Abradatas, until its husband could take her back himself. It narrates how Assyrian infantry turned and fled after they were defeated by Cyrus and his troops in a battle.

Did the ancient Egyptians constitute a ‘nation’, and was ancient Egypt an early form of ‘nation-state’? This question, rarely raised by Egyptologists, let alone by modern historians and social scientists schooled in the post-war modernist orthodoxy of the study of nations and nationalism, is, nevertheless, one that is worth posing for the questions of conceptualisation and comparison that it raises – that is, the problem of the nature of our conceptual categories of human community and identity, and their historical and sociological applicability. Certainly, it is in that spirit that the question is posed here. Nevertheless, we do well to start with the case in hand, because of its special features. After all, the designation of ‘ancient Egypt’ refers to a population subsisting over at least three thousand years in a particular location, one that possessed a collective proper name and self-definition, and whose territory, at once compact and straggling on both banks of the Nile, known to the inhabitants as Kemet, the Black Land, undoubtedly helped to preserve the special character of an Egyptian culture and religion, despite periodic incursions by neighbours from the south or north-east. Add to this the uniqueness of language and of hieroglyphic script, the distinctive repertoire of myths, symbols and memories, and the peculiar position of the head of the Great House, or Pharaoh, as god-king on earth, who together with a centralised bureaucracy ruled most of Egypt from a single place for long periods of time, and a prima facie case for embryonic nationhood becomes apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 10 of book I from "The Antiquities of the Jews," by Flavius Josephus and translated by William Whiston is presented. It highlights how Abram fought with the Assyrians and overcame them to save the Sodomite prisoners. It outlines the life of Abram as he dwelt near the oak called Ogyges, a place belongs to Canaan, not far from the city of Hebron.

Chapter 11 of book 9 from "The Antiquities of the Jews," by Flavius Josephus and translated by William Whiston is presented. It explores how the group of Zachariah Shallum, Menahem Pekahiah and Pekah took the government over the Israelites. It highlights the expedition of Pul and Tiglath-Pileser against the people of Israel. It discusses the domination of Jotham, son of Uzziah, over the tribe of Judah. It reveals the things that Nahum prophesied against the Assyrians.

Chapter 9 of book I from "The Antiquities of the Jews," by Flavius Josephus and translated by William Whiston is presented. It discusses the destruction of the Sodomites by the Assyrian Wall. It states that when the Assyrians had the dominion over Asia, the people of Sodom were in a flourishing condition both in riches and the number of youths. It highlights the five kings of Asia including Ballas, Barsas and Senabar.