Facts About Eohippus

Facts About Eohippus In paleontology, correctly naming a new genus of extinct animal can often be a long, tortured affair. Eohippus, aka Hyracotherium, is a good case study: this prehistoric horse was first described by the famous 19th-century paleontologist Richard Owen, who mistook it for an ancestor of the hyrax (hence the name he bestowed on it in 1876, Greek for hyrax-like mammal). A few decades later, another eminent paleontologist, Othniel C. Marsh, gave a similar skeleton discovered in North America the more memorable name Eohippus (dawn horse). Since for a long time Hyracotherium and Eohippus were considered to be identical, the rules of paleontology dictated that we call this mammal by its original name, the one bestowed by Owen. Never mind that Eohippus was the name used in countless encyclopedias, childrens books, and TV shows. Now, the weight of opinion is that Hyracotherium and Eohippus were closely related, but not quite identical, the result is that its once again kosher to refer to the American specimen, at least, as Eohippus. Amusingly, the late evolutionary scientist Stephen Jay Gould railed against the depiction of Eohippus in the popular media as a fox-sized mammal, when in fact it was the size of a deer. An Ancestor of Modern Horses Theres a similar amount of confusion about whether Eohippus and/or Hyracotherium actually deserve to be called the first horse. When you go back in the fossil record 50 million years or so, it can be difficult, verging on impossible, to identify the ancestral forms of any given extant species. Today, most paleontologists classify Hyracotherium as a palaeothere, that is, a perissodactyl (odd-toed ungulate) ancestral to both horses and the giant plant-eating mammals known as brontotheres (typified by Brontotherium, the thunder beast). Its close cousin Eohippus, on the other hand, seems to deserve a place more firmly in the equid than the palaeothere family tree, though of course, this is still up for debate! Whatever you choose to call it, Eohippus was clearly at least partly ancestral to all modern-day horses, as well as to the numerous species of prehistoric horse (like Epihippus and Merychippus) that roamed the North American and Eurasian plains of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. As with many such evolutionary precursors, Eohippus didnt look much like a horse, with its slender, deerlike, 50-pound body and three- and four-toed feet; also, to judge by the shape of its teeth, Eohippus munched on low-lying leaves rather than grass. (In the early Eocene epoch, when Eohippus lived, grasses had yet to spread across the North American plains, which spurred the evolution of grass-eating equids.) Facts About Eohippus Eohippus (Greek for dawn horse), pronounced EE-oh-HIP-us; also known as Hyracotherium (Greek for hyrax-like beast), pronounced HIGH-rack-oh-THEE-ree-um Habitat: Woodlands of North America and Western Europe Historical Epoch: Early-Middle Eocene (55-45 million years ago) Size and Weight: About two feet high and 50 pounds Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Small size; four-toed front and three-toed back feet

Pharaoh Hatshepsuts Deir el-Bahri Temple in Egypt

Pharaoh Hatshepsuts Deir el-Bahri Temple in Egypt The Deir el-Bahri Temple Complex (also spelled Deir el-Bahari) includes one of the most beautiful temples in Egypt, perhaps in the world, built by the architects of the New Kingdom Pharaoh Hatshepsut in the 15th century BC. The three colonnaded terraces of this lovely structure were built within a steep half-circle of cliffs on the west bank of the Nile River, guarding the entrance to the great Valley of the Kings. It is unlike any other temple in Egyptexcept for its inspiration, a temple built some 500 years earlier. Hatshepsut and Her Reign The pharaoh Hatshepsut (or Hatshepsowe) ruled for 21 years [about 1473-1458 BC] during the early part of the New Kingdom, before the vastly successful imperialism of her nephew/stepson and successor Thutmose (or Thutmosis) III. Although not quite as much of an imperialist as the rest of her 18h Dynasty relatives, Hatshepsut spent her reign building up the wealth of Egypt to the greater glory of the god Amun. One of the buildings she commissioned from her beloved architect (and probable consort) Senenmut or Senenu, was the lovely Djeser-Djeseru temple, rival only to the Parthenon for architectural elegance and harmony. The Sublime of the Sublimes Djeser-Djeseru means Sublime of the Sublimes or Holy of the Holies in the ancient Egyptian language, and it is the best-preserved part of the Deir el-Bahri, Arabic for Monastery of the North complex. The first temple built at Deir el-Bahri was a mortuary temple for Neb-Hepet-Re Montuhotep, built during the 11th dynasty, but few remains of this structure are left. Hatshepsuts temple architecture included some aspects of Mentuhoteps temple but on a grander scale. The walls of Djeser-Djeseru are illustrated with Hatshepsuts autobiography, including stories of her fabled trip to the land of Punt, considered by some scholars likely to have been in the modern countries of Eritrea or Somalia. The murals depicting the trip include a drawing of a grotesquely overweight Queen of Punt. Also discovered at Djeser-Djeseru were the intact roots of frankincense trees, which once decorated the front faà §ade of the temple. These trees were collected by Hatshepsut in her travels to Punt; according to the histories, she brought back five shiploads of luxury items, including exotic plants and animals. After Hatshepsut Hatshepsuts beautiful temple was damaged after her reign ended when her successor Thutmose III had her name and images chiseled off the walls. Thutmose III built his own temple to the west of Djeser-Djeseru. Additional damage was done to the temple at the orders of the later 18th dynasty heretic Akhenaten, whose faith tolerated only images of the Sun god Aten. The Deir el-Bahri Mummy Cache Deir el-Bahri is also the site of a mummy cache, a collection of pharaohs preserved bodies, retrieved from their tombs during the 21st dynasty of the New Kingdom. Looting of pharaonic tombs had become rampant, and in response, the priests Pinudjem I [1070-1037 BC] and Pinudjem II [990-969 BC] opened the ancient tombs, identified the mummies as best they could, rewrapped them and placed them in one of (at least) two caches: Queen Inhapis tomb in Deir el-Bahri (room 320) and the Tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35). The Deir el-Bahri cache included mummies of the 18th and 19th dynasty leaders Amenhotep I; Tuthmose I, II, and III; Ramses I and II, and the patriarch Seti I. The KV35 cache included Tuthmose IV, Ramses IV, V, and VI, Amenophis III and Merneptah. In both caches there were unidentified mummies, some of which were set in unmarked coffins or stacked in corridors; and some of the rulers, such as Tutankhamun, were not found by the priests. The mummy cache in Deir el-Bahri was rediscovered in 1875 and excavated over the next few years by French archaeologist Gaston Maspero, director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service. The mummies were removed to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where Maspero unwrapped them. The KV35 cache was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898; these mummies were also moved to Cairo and unwrapped. Anatomical Studies In the early 20th century, Australian anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith examined and reported on the mummies, publishing photos and great anatomical detail in his 1912 Catalogue of the Royal Mummies. Smith was fascinated by the changes in embalming techniques over time, and he studied in detail the strong family resemblances among the pharaohs, particularly for the kings and queens in the 18th dynasty: long heads, narrow delicate faces, and projecting upper teeth. But he also noticed that some of the mummies appearances did not match the historical information known about them or the court paintings associated with them. For example, the mummy said to belong to the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten was clearly too young, and the face didnt match his distinctive sculptures. Could the 21st dynasty priests have been wrong? Identifying Mummies Since Smiths day, several studies have attempted to reconcile the identities of the mummies, but without much success. Could DNA resolve the problem? Perhaps, but the preservation of ancient DNA (aDNA) is affected not only by the age of the mummy but by the extreme methods of mummification used by the Egyptians. Interestingly, natron, properly applied, appears to preserve DNA: but differences in preservation techniques and situations (such as whether a tomb was flooded or burned) have a deleterious effect. Secondly, the fact that New Kingdom royalty intermarried may cause a problem. In particular, the pharaohs of the 18th dynasty were very closely related to one another, a result of generations of half-sisters and brothers intermarrying. It is quite possible that DNA family records may never be precise enough to identify a specific mummy. More recent studies have focused on the recurrence of various diseases, using CT scanning to identify orthopedic irregularities (Fritsch et al.) and heart disease (Thompson et al.). Archaeology at Deir el-Bahri Archaeological investigations of the Deir el-Bahri complex were begun in 1881, after objects belonging to the missing pharaohs began to turn up in the antiquities market. Gaston Maspero [1846-1916], director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service at the time, went to Luxor in 1881 and began to apply pressure to the Abdou El-Rasoul family, residents of Gurnah who had for generations been tomb robbers. The first excavations were those of Auguste Mariette in the mid-19th century. Excavations at the temple by the Egyptian Exploration Fund  (EFF) began in the 1890s led by French archaeologist Edouard Naville [1844-1926]; Howard Carter, famous for his work at Tutankhamuns tomb, also worked at Djeser-Djeseru for the EFF in the late 1890s. In 1911, Naville turned over his concession on Deir el-Bahri (which allowed him sole excavators rights), to Herbert Winlock who began what would be 25 years of excavation and restoration. Today, the restored beauty and elegance of Hatshepsuts temple is open to visitors from around the planet. Sources Brand P. 2010. Usurpation of Monuments. In: Wendrich W, editor. UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Los Angeles: UCLA.Brovarski E. 1976. Senenu, High Priest of Amun at Deir El-Bahri. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62:57-73.Creasman PP. 2014. Hatshepsut and the Politics of Punt. African Archaeological Review 31(3):395-405.Fritsch KO, Hamoud H, Allam AH, Grossmann A, Nur El-Din A-H, Abdel-Maksoud G, Al-Tohamy Soliman M, Badr I, Sutherland JD, Linda Sutherland M et al. 2015. The Orthopedic Diseases of Ancient Egypt. The Anatomical Record 298(6):1036-1046.Harris JE, and Hussien F. 1991. The identification of the eighteenth dynasty royal mummies: A biological perspective. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 1:235-239.Marota I, Basile C, Ubaldi M, and Rollo F. 2002. DNA decay rate in papyri and human remains from Egyptian archaeological sites. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117(4):310-318.Naville E. 1907. The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir El-Bahari. London: Egypt Explorati on Fund. Roehrig CH, Dreyfus R, and Keller CA. 2005. Hatshepsut, From Queen to Pharaoh. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.Shaw I. 2003. Exploring Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Smith GE. 1912. Catalogue of the Royal Mummies. Imprimerie de Linstitut Francais Darcheologie Orientale. Le Caire.Vernus P, and Yoyotte J. 2003. Book of the Pharaohs. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Zink A, and Nerlich AG. 2003. Molecular analyses of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology 121(2):109-111.Pharaos: Feasibility of molecular studies in ancient Egyptian material.Andronik CM. 2001. Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself. New York: Atheneum Press.Baker RF, and Baker III CF. 2001. Hatshepsut. Ancient Egyptians: People of the Pyramids. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pros and Cons of Various HRIS Systems Research Paper

Pros and Cons of Various HRIS Systems - Research Paper Example Traditionally, HRIS is considered as an automated record keeping of employees and computerization of the payroll. However, it is now well established that HR managers with information system can greater role beyond the administrative jobs. Today the organizations are besieged with the cost burden. With increased cost competition, the companies have no option but to transfer the cost burden to the customers. Therefore, to maintain stability in the price of the products, the only option is to look within, i.e. cost minimization. Cost minimization without technology support is difficult (Walker, 2001, p. 135). Background of the report Big Boss Security Limited is a company that provides personal security for business executives and high ranking officials. The company has 150 employees. The human resource department has two HR staffs; one HR manager and one part-time employee. The company is facing some problems due to the small number of staffs in the HR department. However, the company does not have any plans to recruit HR personnel at this point in time. Therefore the company has decided to go for IT enablement of the Hr department by introducing HRIS. The system needs to be installed keeping the company objective and budget constraints in mind.   Therefore there is an existence of budget constraint. However, the company has got plans for future expansion. Therefore it is very important for the company to retain the talent and increase efficiency. HRIS Concepts HRIS is the systems to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze and interpret relevant information on human resources. It is not mere computer hardware or some customized standard HR software. It broadly includes people, policies and procedures and of course data. It does not limit the focus on automation of manual HR jobs like record keeping or payroll preparation. It is a service in the form of information. The nature of the information depends upon the user's needs. Users may not be limited to the HR depa rtment; it may even be an MD/President of an organization. For example, the finance manager of a company has to prepare an annual budget. Hence data on the aggregate compensation cost may be required. However, merely depending upon the headcounts may give an inaccurate result. But simulating this with factors like attrition rate, likely DA increase or decrease, absenteeism, man-days lost due to the IT related problems, increments, incentive, promotion, redundancy, etc. will most certainly ensure better projection. Similarly, even HR people may need that information for different purposes. There are different HRIS modules that are in the product profile of all HRIS vendors. There are products on recruitment and management, training and development, attendance, etc. Different HRIS Modules In this section several HRIS modules would be analyzed. Even though all major HRIS vendors provide manpower planning solutions, there are vendors providing exclusive solutions for the overall human r esource management functions. Based on the key organizational issues and objective some modules have been analyzed.

Discuss the role of the courage of children in both Little Woman and Essay

Discuss the role of the courage of children in both Little Woman and Treasure Island - Essay Example â€Å"Treasure Island reflects a deep anxiety about the power imbalance that complicates the adult author-child reader relationship†¦ Stevenson worries that the authors of adventure stories aim to indoctrinate and exploit youngsters like his impressionable boy hero† (Gubar, 2009, pp126-127). Furthermore, both Treasure Island and Little Women were written in the 19th century, which has been labelled the â€Å"Golden Age† of children literature (Gubar, 2009). In considering the novels in their historical context, Gubar’s observation underlines the changing approach of authors to children’s literature towards the end of the nineteenth century in portraying childhood and growing up. A central element of this is through the subversion of societal norms associated with children with the use of strength. For example, in Treasure Island, the novel’s central protagonist Jim Hawkins relays the journey of pirates and hidden treasure and the narrative is rich with action of childhood adventure, which is infused with adult themes such as morality, alcoholism and murder (Jones, 2003). Moreover, it is submitted that Jim’s character arguably fuses the universal quest for adventure conventionally associated with childhood with serious issues impacting child development, development in growing up. This is exemplified by the characterisation of Jim as a boy man in taking the Hispaniola to get the buried treasure: â€Å"the scheme had an air of adventure that inspired me, and the thought of the water breaker beside the fore companion doubled my growing courage† (Stevenson, 1883, p.196). Similarly, Alcott’s â€Å"Little Women† also subverts the contextual norms associated with children growing up, which is arguably attributable to Alcott’s difficult childhood (Clark 2005, p.213). Indeed, Alcott utilises the familiarity of domesticity associated with girls and subverts this to underline the complex issues impacting children’s lives, which was contextually

Deciding my future Essay Example for Free

Deciding my future Essay A dream is not something to scoff at. Dreams always seem out of reach, a siren call that leads you to new, uncharted waters. Achieving one’s dream would be to reach a true pinnacle of life; however, the road to a dream is fraught with risks. To give achieving this dream your all might be the only way to reach one’s true potential, yet it may also lead to a bitter and disappointing end. With this in mind, I have often put off achieving my own dreams. I was so frightened by the possibility of failure that I dared not even try, instead resigning myself to a life of mediocrity. However, my dreams were given life by the encouragement of my parents to not settle for less. My dreams are not a trifle, an easily obtainable goal. My ultimate goal is to be a leading Video Game Designer, to create adventures and stories that resonate with the world and revolutionize storytelling in gaming. The mere immensity of this task was enough to make me shudder in fear. I looked my dream in the eye and thought it too immense. I would have resigned myself to a life of normalcy were it not for my parents, who did not want me to settle for any less then what I was capable of. They had just discovered a college that was about to open up a new major for Video Game Development, and encouraged me to face my fears and try to achieve my dreams. They pushed me to achieve my dreams, knowing that this college would be twice as expensive as a regular school. This encouragement led me to attempting to try and chase my dreams, to have some hope that what I wanted was possible, and to never give up on my dream. Becoming a game designer is not easy. It is even more difficult if you have dreams as large and grand as mine are. The mere thought of the immensity of this task, and my preconceived notions of my own inferiority, drove me away. However, I realized that, although a dream is rarely the easiest path, and instead it is more often than not the hardest path of all, to not even try to reach ones dream is to give up on life. The path I chose may not be the easiest path, and yet I walk down it knowing full well it might end in heartbreak. I do this knowing that, if I had given up, then I would never have known if I could do it, and spend the rest of my life mourning what could have been. Again, were it not for my parents encouragement, I would never have even attempted to chase my dream. No matter how much you want something, it is impossible to achieve it if you have no hope it could succeed. A sense of hope that what you want could be possible is a vital component to making it possible. This was something I had lacked prior to my parents encouragement. I was so frightened by what I wanted to do, I had no hope it was possible. Without hope, I would not even try, for why try when you are certain you will fail? My parents helped me believe that I COULD do it, that there was a chance, and that chance was all I needed. No matter the odds facing me, I had to have hope that it was possible to overcome. Even when you want something and work very hard, it is all too possible you will fail at first. The old adage, â€Å"If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again† works beautifully in this scenario. No matter how many times you are beat down, no matter how many times I fail in convincing people to work to my dream to companies to invest in my dream, I must perspire. If a dream is weak enough to be broken at the first sign of trouble, then it was never truly one of these â€Å"dreams† of which I speak, so much as it was a passing fancy. A true dream is not something one would ever give up on, and neither should I, for although there are many obstacles I must overcome to achieve my dream, to give up my dream would be to give up on my happiness. The dream of which I seek is a lofty one, and there is little chance it will be easy. However, no matter the cost or hurdle I must overcome, I have decided to reach my dream. This courage to face the impossible would not have occurred however without the support of my parents who have helped me and want me to reach my full potential, so thanks to them, even if I do not reach my dream, I will have tried; and the fact that I will try shall be the greatest gift my parents would ever have given me.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

As readers, we saw Scout mature and grow as our narrator and as a person. She learned many things, but also lost many things. As she grew up and changed, she began to see how things really were, and gained the knowledge of the pure hate that one man can show another. Scout lost her innocence when she found this out. She began to see how cruel the world could be to someone who is a little different or strange. She saw this in the prejudice that was shown to Tom Robinson, Walter Cunningham, Miss Maudie and even herself. She gained the wisdom of the world outside her back door and began to see how society works, (it is very cruel and cynical). Although this may not have been a good thing, she could now see how unimportant it was. Atticus taught Jem and Scout to be polite, caring kids. He instilled in them a great sense of love for their neighbor and told them things that would help them get on in life. Scout was very lucky to have someone to guide her along the way. Although she was faced with â€Å"the real world†, she had lots of people who would willingly explain to her and guide her. Scout really matured during the course of this book. She went from a six-year-old child with no knowledge of the real world to a ten year old who had a lot of life’s most important lessons shown to her at a very young age. She had to learn, very quickly, that life would not always be easy and fun. She learned of the horrible ways men can treat other men and of the ugliness of station, poverty and hate. The author, Harper Lee, picked an interesting person to narrate the story. This had some advantages and disadvantages as the story progressed. This writing technique is a very versatile one. When the author uses Scout as the first person, she opens the reader’s eyes to the way children think and act. She also offers a fair opinion of the affairs of Maycomb, and doesn’t dwell on adult matters and make it boring. Some disadvantages of picking Scout for the first person viewpoint were that even though she was smart, she didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about. She was too innocent and young to really grasp the point sometimes and tell the reader, about it.

The Edge and Cassie Jones English

Although, one lady was scared of embarrassment, she knew that she had to say something. She had her own boy at home. â€Å"You boys will be hurt. You'll be killed†, she said. The boys acted like they were going to obey her but instead made a mockery of her. If they would have respected her words and listened, things might have been different. A successful gentleman who witnessed the boys laughing and forbidding to obey decided he would put a stop to it.The story states, â€Å"He walked in a citizenly way to the end of the car, where he pulled the emergency cord†. Some may blame this man because pulling the cord halted the train which sent passengers tumbling. Samuel was then pitched forward and crushed between the two cars. The passengers sat silent. Some may have been thinking they could have prevented this tragedy if only they interfered and not worried about embarrassment. The gentleman ultimately feels guilty because if he had not pulled the cord, maybe Samuel would still be alive.The mother's who sent their four sons off on a train without supervision may feel responsible also. Who's to blame? The four boys, regardless of their ethnic background, are responsible. They are old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. What seems like a fun pastime at the moment can bring many years of sadness to families. No one can be replaced. No matter how many children Samuels mom gave birth to; no other boy could be like Samuel. This story gives a life lesson. Respect authority because their words may save your life.

Jesus Christ and International Leadership

This paper will describe how Jesus himself was an international leader. The format will be as follows: Jesus as a leader, his role as an International leader, and how he still Influences events Internationally. This paper argues that what Jesus taught and how he acted as a leader differed much from other teachings on leadership. Jesus was not just a leader, he was a servant leader. Dale Carnage's teachings on leadership will be the first to be compared with Jesus' teachings. First Carnegie tells his readers In How to Win Friends and Influence People that we should always show appreciation for people.He distinguishes true appreciation from flattery and says that it is only true appreciation that will open doors. [insert quote]. Similarly, Jesus also shows a strong appreciation for people. The story of the Prodigal Son teaches the reader that In addition to loving one's neighbor one should also love one's enemy. When the spendthrift son had wasted all of his father's money on an extrav agant lifestyle and prostitutes, he realized his disastrous lifestyle and come home. Yet his father not only welcomed him back but slaughtered the best pig and organized a feast In his son's honor.The Sermon on he Mount praised those who no one else wanted to praise. â€Å"Blessed are the poor In spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,† said Jesus. Yet Carnegie asks for us to show appreciation for others because we may never know which opportunities and benefits doing so will give us. Jesus taught us to honor and appreciate other, especially those who are not usually receive accolade, because it is part of God's purpose for us. Second Carnegie emphasizes that we should give the there person a reputation to live up to . Insert quote]. Jesus teaches something similar. Before he dies on the cross. Jesus gets down on his knees and washes his disciples feet. When o ne of his disciples disapproved at doing such a demeaning task, Jesus replied, † Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. † On encouraging others, Jesus also teaches us to submit to God's will. The Book of Luke tells us that right before Jesus' arrest he prayed while sweating drops of blood, † Father, if you are willing, take this up from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.Jesus gives us a reputation to live up to showing us his example. He does not motivate us teach us to be prideful or to Instill pride In others. As leaders we should act with humility and encourage others to do so as well. We should Inspire In others a reputation to be a servant. Third Carnegie tells his readers to encourage instead of punishing. [insert quote]. 1 OFF Jesus, as well, rarely Trace toners to accept ml Ana Nils teaching. Ratter en encouraged them by being merciful and voicing his higher expectation. Once when Jesus was at the temple, an adulterous woman was brought in to be stoned.The Pharisees wanted to stone her for breaking one of the Ten Commandments and asked him for his opinion. Jesus demanded, † Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. † After cold-hearted Pharisees had left, the shocked and sincerely grateful women stayed behind. Jesus simply told her to go and leave her life of sin. While Jesus was being beaten by the Roman soldiers and spit upon, bystanders yelled that Peter was one of Jesus' disciples. Peter embarrassed by he bullying and scared for his own well-being, denied the accusers three times.Instead of standing up for Jesus, Peter ran away and wept. However, Jesus understood the importance of encouragement. After his resurrection he comes back to visit Peter and asks Peter to shepherd Jesus' other followers. Carnegie tells his readers to encourage others and praise all of their small accomplishments mostly for the mo tivators own benefit. Jesus on the other hand saw people as the ends and not the means, valuing them not for what they did but for who is were. His disciples went on to influence people all around the world.

Capital City of Tenochtitlan

Capital City of Tenochtitlan Tenochtitln, located in the heart of what is now Mexico City, was the largest city and capital of the Aztec Empire. Today, Mexico City is still one of the largest cities in the world, despite its unusual setting. It sits on a swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco in the Basin of Mexico, a strange place for any  capital, ancient or modern.  Mexico City is ringed by volcanic mountains, including the still-active volcano Popocatà ©petl, and prone to earthquakes, severe flooding, and some of the worst smog on the planet. The story of how the Aztecs selected the location of their capital in such a miserable place is one part legend and another part history.   Although the conquistador Hernn Cortà ©s did his best to dismantle the city, three 16th century maps of Tenochtitlan survive showing us what the city was like. The earliest map is the Nuremberg or Cortes map of 1524, drawn for the conquistador Cortà ©s, possibly by a local resident. The Uppsala Map was drawn about 1550 by an indigenous person or persons; and the Maguey Plan was made about 1558, although scholars are divided about whether the city depicted is Tenochtitlan or another Aztec city. The Uppsala Map is signed by cosmographer Alonso de Santa Cruz [~1500-1567] who presented the map (with the city spelled as Tenuxititan) to his employer, the Spanish Emperor Carlos V, but scholars do not believe he made the map himself, and it may have been by his students at the Colegio de Santa Cruz at Tenochtitlans sister city Tlatelolco. Legends and Omens Tenochtitln was the home of the immigrant Mexica, which is just one of the names for the Aztec people who founded the city in AD 1325. According to legend, the Mexica were one of seven Chichimeca tribes who came to Tenochtitlan from their fabled city of origin, Aztlan (Place of the Herons). They came because of an omen: the Chichimec god Huitzilopochtli, who took the form of an eagle, was seen perched on a cactus eating a snake. The leaders of the Mexica interpreted this as a sign to move their population to an unpleasant, miry, buggy, island in the middle of a lake; and eventually their military prowess and political abilities turned that island into the central agency for conquest, the Mexica snake swallowing most of Mesoamerica. Aztec Culture and Conquest Tenochtitlan of the 14th and 15th centuries A.D. was excellently suited as a place for the Aztec culture to begin the  conquest of Mesoamerica. Even then, the basin of Mexico was densely occupied, and the island city afforded the Mexica a commanding lead over trade in the basin. In addition, they engaged in a series of alliances both with and against their neighbors; the most successful was the Triple Alliance, who as the Aztec Empire overran major portions of what are now the states of Oaxaca, Morelos, Veracruz, and Puebla. By the time of the Spanish conquest in 1519, Tenochtitln contained around 200,000 people and covered an area of twelve square kilometers (five square miles). The city was crisscrossed by canals, and the edges of the island city were covered with chinampas, floating gardens that enabled local production of food. A huge marketplace served nearly 60,000 people daily, and in the Sacred Precinct of the city were palaces and temples the like of which Hernn Cortà ©s had never seen. Cortà ©s was awed, but it didnt stop him from destroying almost all of the citys buildings during his conquest. A Lavish City Several letters from Cortà ©s to his king Charles V described the city as an island city in the center of a lake. Tenochtitlan was laid out in concentric circles, with a central plaza serving as the ritual precinct and the heart of the Aztec empire. The buildings and pavements of the city all barely rose above the level of the lakes and were grouped into clusters by canals and connected by bridges. A densely forested area- the precursor to Chapultepec park- was an important feature of the island, as was water control. Seventeen major floods have struck the city since 1519, one lasting an astounding five years. During Aztec times, a series of aqueducts led from the surrounding lakes into the city, and numerous  causeways connected Tenochtitlan to the other important city-states in the basin. Motecuhzoma II (also known as  Montezuma) was the final ruler at Tenochtitlan, and his lavish main courtyard covered an area measuring 200x200 meters (about 650x650 feet). The palace included a suite of rooms and an open courtyard; around the main palace complex could be found armories and sweat baths, kitchens, guest rooms, music rooms, horticultural gardens, and game preserves. The remnants of some of these are found in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, although most of the buildings are from later times. Remnants of the Aztec Culture Tenochtitlan fell to Cortes, but only after the bitter and bloody siege of 1520, when the Mexica killed hundreds of conquistadors. Only parts of Tenochtitlan are extant in the city of Mexico; you can get into the ruins of the Templo Mayor, excavated beginning in the 1970s by Matos Moctezuma; and there are ample artifacts at the National Museum of Anthropology (INAH). But if you look hard enough, many other visible aspects of the old Aztec capital are still in place. Street names and place names echo the ancient Nahua city. The Plaza del Volador, for example, was an important location for the Aztec ceremony of the new fire. After 1519, it was transformed first into a place for the Actos de Fe of the Inquisition, then into an arena for bull-fighting, then a market, and finally into the current site of the Supreme Court. Sources Aà ±Ãƒ ³n V. 2012. â€Å"En el lugar de las tunas empedernidas†: Tenochtitlan en las crà ³nicas mestizas. Anales de Literatura Hispanoamericana 41:81-97.Berdan FF. 2014. Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. New York: Cambridge University Press.Hill Boone E. 2011. This new world now revealed: Hernn Cortà ©s and the presentation of Mexico to Europe. Word Image 27(1):31-46.Là ³pez JF. 2013. The hydrographic city: Mapping Mexico Citys urban form in relation to its aquatic condition, 1521-1700. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Mundy BE. 2014. Place-Names in Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Ethnohistory 61(2):329-355.Pennock CD. 2011. ‘A Remarkably Patterned Life’: Domestic and Public in the Aztec Household City. Gender History 23(3):528-546.Terraciano K. 2010. Three Texts in One: Book XII of the Florentine Codex. Ethnohistory 57(1):51-72.

Definition and Examples of Prepositional Adverbs

Definition and Examples of Prepositional Adverbs In English grammar, a prepositional adverb is an  adverb  that can also function as a  preposition. Unlike an ordinary preposition, a prepositional adverb is not followed by an  object. An adverb is a word used to describe or modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs can help describe how an action is performed (carefully, happily, quickly), when an action takes place (before, after, daily, weekly), or where an action takes place (here, there, inside, outside). A preposition, meanwhile, is a word used to show direction, location, or time (on, at, over, near). It is a word that introduces a prepositional phrase, which usually ends with an object. Prepositional phrases include expressions such as on the ground, by the store, and near the wall. English words that can function as prepositional adverbs include the following: about, above, across, after, along, around, before, behind, below, between, beyond, by, down, in, inside, near, on, opposite, out, outside, over, past, round, since, through, throughout, under, up, within, and without. Phrasal Verbs Prepositional adverbs  (also called  adverbial particles) are also used to form  phrasal verbs. These are idiomatic expressions, usually consisting of a verb and an adverb or a verb and a preposition, that form a single semantic unit. Examples include phrases such as see to, pulled up, call on, give in, and hold back. Phrasal verbs are also known as compound verbs or multiword verbs. What makes them unique is the fact that their meaning is not the sum of their parts, as Grover Hudson points out in Essential Introductory Linguistics. Hudson offers the example of throw[ing] up, an action that doesnt involve either throwing or a direction up. Another good example is call off, meaning to cancel. The meaning of the verb call is transformed by the addition of the prepositional adverb off, creating an entirely new meaning. A single verb can be made into several different phrasal verbs, each with their own distinct meaning, by adding different prepositions. For example, the verb come can be turned into come up (with) (to think of an idea), come in (to enter), come across (to find), or come forward (to offer information).   Examples One way to spot prepositional adverbs is to look for prepositions that do not have corresponding objects. In many cases, these words are serving as adverbs: We were playing records, Mama, listening to the radio, just hanging around. Mama, just hanging around.(Annie Lou in Waiting for MacArthur, a play by P. Paullette MacDougal. Dramatic Publishing, 2003)Ring-a-ring-a-roses,A pocket full of posies;Hush! hush! hush! hush!We’re all tumbled down.(Kate Greenaways Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes, 1881)He called her up, she said oracularly, he called her up, and asked her to keep you at the telephone, so he could talk to Miss Louise. A thankless child is sharper than a serpents tooth.(Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Circular Staircase, 1908)After he finished wiping his shoes, he stepped inside.In the last quarter of the game, their fans cheered them on.In the middle of the investigation, an informant came forward with valuable information.As they passed by, they saw all kinds of amazing sights through the window of the train. In each of these examples, the adverb (around, down, up, inside, etc.) is a word that can also serve as a preposition. In each case, though, the word is not used to  form a prepositional phrase. In other words, each preposition (which functions as an adverb) appears without an object, making it a prepositional adverb. Pure Prepositions vs.Prepositional Adverbs In The Elements of English Grammar, George Philip Krapp writes that [t]he difference between the pure preposition and the prepositional adverb is illustrated by the following two sentences: He ran up the stairs.He ran up a bill. In the first sentence, stairs is the object of up. The expression up the stairs is a  prepositional phrase  modifying the verb ran. In the second sentence, however, bill is not the object of up, and up a bill is a not a prepositional phrase modifying the verb ran. Rather, the word up is acting as a prepositional adverb modifying the verb ran. Together, the two words form the phrasal verb ran up, an expression whose distinct meaning has nothing to do with the act of running.

Robert Bolts play A Man for All Seasons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Robert Bolts play A Man for All Seasons - Essay Example Observing Henry VIII we see that he is the King of England who has only a minor role in Bolt’s play. King Henry VIII was More’s friend, but he was strict in his desire to demand his friend’s head when he refused to go along with his royal marriage. Thus, the conflict between English monarchs throne and the Holy See, which arose in 1529, sucked More in itself as a funnel, and drowned him in it. Comparing two characters we can mention that More and King Henry VIII are very different people by their nature. Thomas More is presented as a completely enlightened, erudite person, with excellent oratory skills and, equally importantly, firm principles and beliefs; while King Henry VIII is described as a purposeful, eccentric tyrant, a person in whose charisma something rotten and very dangerous lies in contrast to More. Referring to the Republic and the Nichomachean Ethics in comparing and contrasting two characters we can mention that Thomas More and Henry VIII have different positions towards social justice and attitudes towards what a happy life consists in. Discussing Thomas More’s position in the play we see that More hurriedly resigned and honorably interrupted all relationships with friends.