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Birka

Birka (Birca in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö.

Birka was founded around AD 750 and it flourished for more than 200 years. It was abandoned c. AD 975, around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people.

The archaeological sites of Birka and Hovgården, on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking Scandinavia and their influence on the subsequent history of Europe. Generally regarded as Sweden's oldest town, Birka (along with Hovgården) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Many burial sites have been uncovered at Birka, leading to the finding of many objects including jewelry and many textile fragments. In recent years, objects from Birka have been in the public eye due to ongoing academic research connection Birka to evidence of trade with the Middle East.

History

Birka was founded around 750 AD as a trading port by a king or merchants trying to control trade. It is one of the earliest urban settlements in Scandinavia. Birka was the Baltic link in the Dnieper Trade Route through Ladoga (Aldeigja) and Novgorod (Holmsgard) to the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate. Birka is the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar.

As a trading center, Birka most likely offered furs, iron goods, and craft products, in exchange for various materials from much of Europe and Western Asia. Furs were obtained from the Sami people, the Finns, and people in Northwestern Russia, as well as from local trappers. Furs included bear, fox, marten, otter, beaver, and other species. Reindeer antlers and objects carved from reindeer antlers like combs were important items of trade. The trade of walrus tusks, amber, and honey is also documented.

Foreign goods found from the graves of Birka include glass and metalware, pottery from the Rhineland, clothing and textiles including Chinese silk, Byzantine embroidery with extremely fine gold thread, brocades with gold passementerie, and plaited cords of high quality. From the ninth century onwards coins minted at Haithabu in Northern Germany and elsewhere in Scandinavia start to appear. However, the vast majority of the coins found at Birka are silver dirhams from the Middle East while English and Carolingian coins are rare.

Written accounts
Sources from Birka are mainly archaeological remains. No texts survive from this area, though the written text Vita Ansgari ("The Life of Ansgar") by Rimbert (c. 865) describes the missionary work of Ansgar around 830 at Birka, and Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) by Adam of Bremen in 1075 describes the Archbishop Unni, who died at Birka in 936. Saint Ansgar's work was the first attempt to convert the people of Birka from the Norse religion to Christianity. It was unsuccessful.

Both Rimbert and Adam were German clergymen writing in Latin. There are no known Norse sources mentioning the name of the settlement, or even the settlement itself, and the original Norse name of Birka is unknown. Birca is the Latinised form given in the written sources by Rimbert and Adam; and Birka is the contemporary, unhistorical Swedish form. The Latin name is probably derived from an Old Norse word "birk" which probably means a market place. Related to this was the Bjärköa law (bjärköarätt) which regulated the life of market places in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Birka and similar spellings are very common in Scandinavian place names still today leading to speculation that all references to Birka, especially those by Adam of Bremen, were not about the same location.

Both publications are silent on Birka's size, layout, and appearance. Based on Rimbert's account, Birka was significant because it had a port and it was the location of the regional ting. Adam only mentions the port, but otherwise, Birka seems to have been significant to him because it was the start of Ansgar's Christian mission and because Archbishop Unni was buried there.

Vita Ansgari and Gesta are sometimes ambiguous, which has caused some controversy as to whether Birka and the Björkö settlement are the same location. Many other locations have been suggested through the years. However, Björkö is the only location that shows remains of a town of Birka's significance, which is why the vast majority of scholars regard Björkö as the location of Birka.

Birka was abandoned during the latter half of the 10th century. Based on the dating of the coins, the city seems to have died out around 960. Roughly around the same time, the nearby settlement of Sigtuna supplanted Birka as the main trading center in the Mälaren area. The reasons for Birka's decline are disputed. A contributing factor may have been the post-glacial rebound, which lowered the water level of Mälaren changing it from an arm of the sea into a lake and cutting Birka off from the nearest (southern) access to the Baltic Sea. The Baltic island of Gotland was also in a better strategic position for Rus'-Byzantine trade and was gaining eminence as a mercantile stronghold. Historian Neil Kent has speculated that the area may have been the victim of an enemy assault.

The Varangian trade stations in Russia suffered a serious decline at roughly the same date.

Rimbert's description
In Vita Ansgari ("The life of Ansgar") monk and later archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen Rimbert gives the first known description of Birka. The town was the center of Catholic missionary activities in the 9th century Sweden. Rimbert's interests were in the Christian faith, not so much in the Swedish geopolicy, so his descriptions of Birka remain approximate at best.

Bridgehead of Christian missionaries
This is how it all started in 829:

"Meanwhile it happened that Swedish ambassadors had come to the Emperor Louis the Pious, and, amongst other matters which they had been ordered to bring to the attention of the emperor, they informed him that there were many belonging to their nation who desired to embrace the Christian religion, and that their king so far favoured this suggestion that he would permit God's priests to reside there, provided that they might be deemed worthy of such a favour and that the emperor would send them suitable preachers. (Chapter IX)"

"Ansgar then undertook the mission committed to him by the emperor, who desired that he should go to the Swedes and discover whether this people was prepared to accept the faith as their messengers had declared. (Chapter X)"

Ansgar was already experienced in the missionary work in Denmark, and set forth to Sweden. Rimbert describes the trip very generally:

"It may suffice for me to say that while they were in the midst of their journey they fell into the hands of pirates. The merchants with whom they were travelling, defended themselves vigorously and for a time successfully, but eventually they were conquered and overcome by the pirates, who took from them their ships and all that they possessed, whilst they themselves barely escaped on. foot to land. —With great difficulty they accomplished their long journey on foot, traversing also the intervening seas (maria), where it was possible, by ship, and eventually arrived at the Swedish port called Birka. (Chapters X and XI)"

Rimbert does not say where Ansgar sailed off or where he landed. Noteworthy is just his note about several "seas" that they had to cross to get to Birka from the place they had landed to. Since Rimbert mentions them to have crossed the seas by ship "where it was possible" they clearly had the alternative of going around them as well, meaning that the seas were probably the numerous lakes in southern Sweden. When Ansgar again travelled to Birka from Germany about 852, it went easier:

"Ansgar accomplished the journey on which he had set out, and after spending nearly twenty days in a ship, he arrived at Birka (Chapter XXVI)"

This might mean that he sailed off from Hamburg or Bremen instead of some port in Baltic Sea, since the later account by Adam of Bremen gives the distance of Scania and Birka to be only five days at sea.

Kings
Several Swedish kings of the 9th century, Björn, Anund and Olof, are all mentioned in Vita to have spent time in Birka. None of them is however said to have had his residence there, as the Swedish king and his retinue periodically moved between the Husbys, parts of the network of royal estates called Uppsala öd.

King Björn met Ansgar in Birka when he arrived there in 829 (Chapter XI). Later King Olof met him there as well during his last trip in 852 (Chapter XXVI).

Church
Ansgar's missionary work resulted in first churches to be built in Sweden. Talking about Herigar, the prefect of Birka:

"A little later he built a church on his own ancestral property and served God with the utmost devotion. (Chapter XI)"

Herigar's church was not far from the place where tings were held:

"On one occasion he himself was sitting in an assembly of people, a stage having been arranged for a council on an open plain. He then summoned his servants and told them to carry him to his church. (Chapter XIX)"

Another church was also built in Sweden, however location is left open:

"This Gautbert, who at his consecration received the honoured name of the apostle Simeon, went to Sweden, and was honourably received by the king and the people; and he began, amidst general goodwill and approval, to build a church there (Chapter XIV)"

The exiled Swedish King Anund Uppsale confirms that either one of the churches was in Birka itself when he ponders if Birka should be plundered:

"'There are there,' he said, 'many great and powerful gods, and in former time a church was built there, and there are many Christians there who worship Christ' (Chapter XIX)"

Probable fortress
Danes attacked Birka, accompanied with the deposed king Anund, which caused great distress in the town.

"Being in great difficulty they fled to a neighbouring city (ad civitatem, quæ iuxta erat, confugerunt) and began to promise and offer to their gods—But inasmuch as the city was not strong and there were few to offer resistance, they sent messengers to the Danes and asked for friendship and alliance. —Hergeir, the faithful servant of the Lord, was angry with them and said, 'They will lead away your wives and sons as captives, they will burn our city (urbs) and town (vicus)' and will destroy you with the sword (Chapter XIX)"

As the neighbouring "city" is not mentioned in any other context than during the Danish attack as a place where people took refuge, it probably meant a nearby fortress. Eventually Danes left, sparing Birka from destruction.

Ting assembly
When Ansgar asked if King Olof would permit him to establish the Christian religion in the kingdom during his second visit in 852, the king said to him:

"On this account I have not the power, nor do I dare, to approve the objects of your mission until I can consult our gods by the casting of lots and until I can enquire the will of the people in regard to this matter. Let your messenger attend with me the next assembly (Chapter XXVI)"

"When the day for the assembly which was held in the town of Birka drew near, in accordance with their national custom the king caused a proclamation to be made to the people by the voice of a herald, in order that they might be informed concerning the object of their mission. —The king then rose up from amongst the assembly and forthwith directed one of his own messengers to accompany the bishop's messenger, and to tell him that the people were unanimously inclined to accept his proposal and at the same time to tell him that, whilst their action was entirely agreeable to him, he could not give his full consent until, in another assembly, which was to be held in another part of his kingdom, he could announce this resolution to the people who lived in that district. (Chapter XXVII)"

Tings were huge open-air events, which required plenty of space. The more important ting that king Olof talked about was probably the Ting of all Swedes, which was held at the end of February in Uppsala, during the Disting. The king was obliged to obey the common decisions made at this ting, and the most powerful man at this assembly was not the king, but the lawspeaker of Tiundaland. Locally important tings were the Westrogothic Ting of all Geats in Skara and the Ostrogothic Lionga ting in the vicinity of today's Linköping.

Adam of Bremen's description
In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church), Adam of Bremen mentions Birka many times, and the book is the main source of information on the city. After its initial release in 1075–6, Gesta was complemented with supplementary Scholias until the death of Adam in the 1080s. Birca is described as an existing city in the original version, but then as destroyed in Scholia 138.

One of Adam's main sources had been the German bishop Adalvard the Younger of Sigtuna and later of Skara as hinted in Scholia 119. He was also very familiar with Rimbert's work. Adam himself never visited Birka.

Location and port
Adam described Birka as a Geatish port town and had gathered many details about it.

"Birka is the main Geatish town (oppidum Gothorum), situated in the middle of Sweden (Suevoniae), not far (non longe) from the temple called Uppsala (Ubsola) which the Swedes (Sueones) held in the highest esteem when it comes to the worship of the gods; here forms an inlet of the Baltic or the Barbaric Sea a port facing north which welcomes all the wild peoples all around this sea but which is risky for those who are careless or ignorant of such places ... they have therefore blocked this inlet of the troubled sea with hidden masses of rocks along more than 100 stadions (18 km). On this anchorage, being the best sheltered within the maritime region of Sweden (Suevoniae), all the ships belonging to Danes (Danorum) known as Norwegians (Nortmannorum) as well as to Slavs (Sclavorum), Sembrians (Semborum) and other Scythian (Scithiae) peoples use to convene every year for sundry necessary commerce. (I 62)"

"Turning from the northern parts to the mouth of the Baltic Sea we first meet the Norwegians (Nortmanni), then the Danish region of Skåne (Sconia) stands out, and beyond these live the Geats (Gothi) for a long stretch all the way to Birka. (IV 14)"

Having described Västergötland and Skara, Adam writes:

"Beyond it Östergötland (Ostrogothia) extends along the sea, that is called the Baltic Sea, all the way to Birka. (IV 23)"

Noteworthy in the following statement is the usage of the term "not far" (non longe) which was also used to describe the distance between Birka and the Uppsala temple:

"Furthermore we have been told that there are many more islands in that sea, one of which is called the Great Estland (Aestland) – And this island is told to be quite close to the Woman Land (terrae feminarum), which is not far (non longe) away from Birka of the Swedes. (IV 17)"

Adam also had travel instructions from Skåne to Sigtuna:

"From Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes one reaches Sigtuna (Sictonam) or Birka after five days at sea, for they are indeed alike. But by land from Skåne across the Geatish people (Gothorum populos) and cities Skara (Scaranem), Telgas and Birka, one reaches Sigtuna only after a full month. (IV 28)"

"Telgas" is not mentioned anywhere else, and it remains as speculative as Birka. The most popular identification among many telge names in Sweden is Södertälje. Scholia 121 of IV 20 tells also:

"For those who sail from Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes to Birka, the journey takes five days, from Birka to Russia (Ruzziam) likewise five days at sea. (Scholia 121)"

The following definition remains even more mysterious:

"In pity of their errors, our archbishop ordained as their diocesan capital Birka, which is in the middle of Sweden (Sueoniae) facing Jumne (Iumnem), the capital of the Slavs, and equally distant from all the coasts of the surrounding sea. (IV 20)"

Since it is physically impossible for any Swedish town to face Jumne, the latter being situated along River Oder, Adam's statement is probably a misunderstanding. No place having a similar name to Birka is known to have situated on the opposite shore of Oder, so it may be possible that something similar to Jumne was located opposite to Birka.

Bishop
Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen that oversaw the missionary work in Scandinavia until 1103, had appointed bishops to Sweden at least from 1014 onwards, the first see being in Skara. Several bishops were appointed for Sweden in 1060s, one also for Birka.

"For Sweden, six were consecrated: Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardum) and Acilinum, also Adalvard the Younger (Adalwardum) and Tadicum, and furthermore Simeon (Symeonem) and the monk John (Iohannem). (III 70)"

Scholia 94 appends this as follows:

"Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardus senior) was to superintend both lands of the Geats (uterque praefectus est Gothiae), Adalvard the Younger Sigtuna (Sictunam) and Uppsala (Ubsalam), Simeon (Symon) the Sami people (Scritefingos), John (Iohannes) the islands of the Baltic Sea. (Scholia 94)"

Furthermore, the following was said about John's location after talking about Birka:

"For this city he ordained, as the first among our people, the abbot Hiltin, whom he wanted to call John. (IV 20)"

John seems to have been situated in Birka in order to prepare for the missionary work among the many heathen people that flooded to Birca from around the Baltic coasts. This was a logical continuation to Birka's position as the first missionary town in Sweden. Noteworthy here is that the biggest islands in the Baltic Sea, Öland and Gotland, were part of the diocese of Linköping in the Middle Ages, covering also Östergötland and eastern Småland.

Location of Unni's tomb
Scholia 122 of IV 20 locates the tomb of Hamburg's archbishop Unni in Birka:

"There is the port of Saint Ansgar and the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni, and a familiar haven, it is said, for the holy confessors of our diocese. (Scholia 122)"

According to Gesta, Unni had died in 936 (I 64).

Destruction
After having consistently described Birka as an existing city, Scholia 138 of IV 29 describes Birka's sudden demise. Talking about Adalvard the Younger, the bishop of Sigtuna and later that of Skara, Adam or a later copyist has written:

"During his journey he seized the opportunity to make a detour to Birka, which is now reduced to loneliness so that one can hardly find vestiges of the city; therefore impossible to come upon the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni. (Scholia 138)"

The remark does not make it clear if Adalvard found the city destroyed or if that had happened after his visit and the later remark was just to warn the future pilgrims not to go there anymore in vain. As Adalvard was back in Bremen already by 1069 and is mentioned as one of Adam's sources of information, it would have been expected that word about Birka's destruction had reached also Adam before he published his work half a decade later.

Björkö archaeological site
The exact location of Birka was also lost during the centuries, leading to speculation from Swedish historians. In 1450, the island of Björkö was first claimed to be Birka by the "Chronicle of Sweden" (Prosaiska krönikan).

In search of Birka, National Antiquarian Johan Hadorph was the first to attempt excavations on Björkö in the late 17th century.

In the late 19th century, Hjalmar Stolpe, an entomologist by education, arrived on Björkö to study fossilized insects found in amber on the island. Stolpe found very large amounts of amber, which is unusual since amber is not normally found in lake Mälaren. Stolpe speculated that the island may have been an important trading post, prompting him to conduct a series of archeological excavations between 1871 and 1895. The excavations soon indicated that a major settlement had been located on the island and eventually Stolpe spent two decades excavating the island. After Björkö came to be identified with ancient Birka, it has been assumed that the original name of Birka was simply Bierkø (sometimes spelled Bjärkö), an earlier form of Björkö.

A significant collection of textiles fragments were retrieved during excavations, mostly from chamber graves. Agnes Geijer published the most detailed analysis of this collection in 1938, although her study was based upon only around 5% of the 4800 textile fragments preserved from the site. The collection represents a usual variety of different types of textiles showing high quality textiles manufactured by different techniques like tabby and twill. Mostly made from wool and flax, the quality of the textiles studied by Geijer ranged from very coarse to fine fabrics with high thread counts that required complicated techniques to create. The variety of materials and techniques to make the tablet woven textiles led Geijer to theorize that some of the textiles were imported. Geijer also found remains of the three-end twill textile that has not been found anywhere else in Northern Europe. Geijer theorized that some of the fragments came from the East, possibly China, due the use of gold and silver wire as well as silk.

Ownership of Björkö is today mainly in private hands and is used for farming and management also benefits biodiversity.

The archaeological remains are located in the north part of Björkö and span an area of about 7 hectares (17 acres). The remains are both burial-sites and buildings, and in the south part of this area, there is also a hill fort called "Borgen" ("The Fortress"). The construction technique of the buildings is still unknown, but the main material was wood. An adjacent island holds the remains of Hovgården, an estate that housed the King's retinue during visits.

Approximately 700 people lived at Birka when it was at its largest, and about 3,000 graves have been found. Its administrative center was supposedly located outside of the settlement itself, on the nearby island of Adelsö.

The most recent large excavation was undertaken between 1990 and 1995 in a region of dark earth, believed to be the site of the main settlement.

Shipyard
On 15 June 2022, it was announced that archaeologists from Stockholm University's Archaeological Research Laboratory had found a Viking Age shipyard in Lake Mälaren. It was the first time a site like the shipyard had been found.

"The site found consisted of a stone-lined depression in the Viking Age shore zone with a wooden boat slip at the bottom. The finds at the site consist of large quantities of both unused and used boat rivets, whetstones made from slate and woodworking tools."

"Allah" textile controversy
In 2017, Annika Larsson, a textile researcher, claimed in a press release by Uppsala University to have discovered a textile among the finds from Birka that bore the Arabic words "Allah" and "Ali". She theorized that some of the Vikings could have been influenced by Islam, leading to widespread media coverage. Stephennie Mulder, a professor of Islamic art at the University of Texas at Austin, replied to Larsson's findings in a Twitter thread. Based on the epigraphy, Mulder argued that the textile bore a simple geometric pattern and not Arabic writing because the dating of the textile was from the 10th century and the style of writing Larsson claimed was on the textile, square Kufic, is not seen until the 15th century. Larsson had also proposed extensions to the tablet weaving that expanded beyond the original drawing by Agnes Geijer in 1938. Textile specialist Carolyn Priest-Dorman argued that the expansions are impossible because the fragment has finished edges called selvages and the band would have shown cut weft threads if the fragment had been narrowed at some point. Larsson's drawings were speculative and not based on evidence that an expansion existed. The backlash following these criticisms led the press release on the Uppsala University website to include a note that Larsson's research was preliminary and a comment regarding the criticisms. In 2020, Larsson published an article reiterating her claim that the textile bore Arabic writing, without addressing these criticisms.

"Allah" ring controversy
A ring was found during the archeological excavations at Birka between 1872 and 1895, when archeologist Hjalmar Stolpe discovered it in a 9th-century Viking woman's burial. It is made of high-quality silver alloy and is set with a pink-violet oval glass. The ring, preserved at the Swedish history museum, became known as the "Allah ring" because of the pseudo-Kufic inscription found on the ring's glass that resembles the word Allah (Arabic: الله). While other rings were found at the Birka excavations, the "Allah ring" was the only one that had this type of inscription. The Arabic historical linguist Marijn van Putten argued that the inscription on the ring was an example of pseudo-Kufic and that it has no meaning in Arabic. Nevertheless, other analysts extrapolated that the pseudo-Kufic engraving was indeed Arabic and that this was sufficient evidence to directly link Vikings to Islamic civilization. In her Twitter thread on the "Allah” textile, Stephennie Mulder drew on the work of van Putten to argue that like the textile, the ring had been similarly misunderstood. However, she acknowledged that the Arabic language—found on the ring and other objects from Birka—was appreciated by the Vikings as a sign of social status. The inscription could suggest that the ring's owner might have been one of the Viking elites who were in contact with the Islamic world via trade or travel.

Dragonhead
The Birka dragonhead is a 45mm long decorative object made from a tin alloy. Sven Kalmring and Lena Holmquist maintain that the dragonhead was cast from a soapstone mold due to the presence of casting burs on the object and the fact that similar casting molds of dragons have been found in Birka. Stylistically similar dragonheads have been discovered around the Baltic, and scholars like Anne-Sofie Gräslund believe they likely functioned as dress pins.

Wearable accessories
10 small silver crosses were found in graves at Birka. Missionaries, brought by Rimbert and others, lead to some converts to Christianity. 27 graves contained small pendants of Thor's hammer from around the 10th century. Both traditional Viking religious beliefs and Christianity were present at Birka. Many Birka grave excavations produced a number of funerary findings unique to the deceased and the region of the grave. In the excavation of grave Bj 463, a small copper alloy brooch with animal motifs was found alongside the skeletal remains of a young girl from Birka, and similar ones appeared in other excavations around Birka.

The brooch is understood to be typically related to female burials and also female jewelry of the Viking period. The surrounding fragments of textiles attached to these brooches, scattered around various graves across Sweden, also give an understanding of what the typical womenswear of the Viking age may have been in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Dirham coins
Dirham coins have been located all around Scandinavian countries and suggest strong trade relations existed between the medieval Middle East and Northern Europe. A dirham coin was found in the excavation of grave sites in Birka, with Arabic writing and an absence of imagery that would date the coin sometime after the 7th century. Other writing on the coin indicates the location of the mint as well as the names of a caliph and an Amir, which place the coin's origins in al-Shah, modern day Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The coin's inscription in Arabic translates into English:"There is no deity but Allah alone he has no equal For God Muhammad is the messenger of God."

Birka burial sites
Over 3,000 grave sites are located in Birka, including both cremations and inhumations in coffins or chamber graves. Skeletal analysis and the presence of gender-specific jewelry and objects in graves has shown that the majority of the deceased are female. Scholar Nancy L. Wicker suggests that the disproportionate number of female graves is due to the fact that female grave goods are easily identifiable, but male graves without objects are difficult to identify.

Many graves contain objects such as coins, glass, and textiles that originated in foreign countries as far as the Middle East and Eastern Asia. According to Nancy L. Wicker, these objects were either imported to Birka as luxury trade goods, or they belonged to foreign individuals who were buried at Birka.

Grave Bj 463 contained the skeleton of a girl from the mid-10th century. She was buried in a coffin with grave goods associated with high-status women, including a round brooch, glass beads, and a needle case. By the condition of her teeth, she was 5–6 years old at the time of her death, and further analysis determined that her diet was similar to that of male warriors instead of a typical child's diet. Scholar Marianne Hem Eriksen maintains that this girl is an unusual case of a high-status child burial, as children were seldom buried with identifiable grave goods.

title: Birka


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Beta-lactamase

Beta-lactamases (β-lactamases) are enzymes  produced by bacteria that provide multi-resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics such as penicillins, cephalosporins, cephamycins, monobactams and carbapenems (ertapenem), although carbapenems are relatively resistant to beta-lactamase. Beta-lactamase provides antibiotic resistance by breaking the antibiotics' structure. These antibiotics all have a common element in their molecular structure: a four-atom ring known as a beta-lactam (β-lactam) ring. Through hydrolysis, the enzyme lactamase breaks the β-lactam ring open, deactivating the molecule's antibacterial properties.

Beta-lactamases produced by Gram-negative bacteria are usually secreted, especially when antibiotics are present in the environment.

Structure
The structure of a Streptomyces serine β-lactamase (SBLs) is given by. The alpha-beta fold resembles that of a DD-transpeptidase, from which the enzyme is thought to have evolved. β-lactam antibiotics bind to DD-transpeptidases to inhibit bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. Serine β-lactamases are grouped by sequence similarity into types A, C, and D.

The other type of beta-lactamase is of the metallo type ("type B"). Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs) need metal ion(s) (1 or 2 Zn2+ ions ) on their active site for their catalytic activities. The structure of the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 is given by. It resembles a RNase Z, from which it is thought to have evolved.

Mechanism of action
The two types of beta-lactamases work on the basis of the two basic mechanisms of opening the β-lactam ring.

The SBLs are similar in structure and mechanistically to the β-lactam target penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) which are necessary for cell wall building and modifying. SBLs and PBPs both covalently change an active site serine residue. The difference between the PBPs and SBLs is that the latter generates free enzyme and inactive antibiotic by the very quick hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme intermediate.

The MBLs use the Zn2+ ions to activate a binding site water molecule for the hydrolysis of the β-lactam ring. Zinc chelators have recently been investigated as metallo-β-lactamase inhibitors, as they are often able to restore carbapenem susceptibility.

Penicillinase
Penicillinase is a specific type of β-lactamase, showing specificity for penicillins, again by hydrolysing the β-lactam ring. Molecular weights of the various penicillinases tend to cluster near 50 kilodaltons.

Penicillinase was the first β-lactamase to be identified. It was first isolated by Abraham and Chain in 1940 from E. coli (which are Gram-negative) even before penicillin entered clinical use, but penicillinase production quickly spread to bacteria that previously did not produce it or produced it only rarely. Penicillinase-resistant beta-lactams such as methicillin were developed, but there is now widespread resistance to even these.

Resistance in Gram-negative bacteria
Among Gram-negative bacteria, the emergence of resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins has been a major concern. It appeared initially in a limited number of bacterial species (E. cloacae, C. freundii, S. marcescens, and P. aeruginosa) that could mutate to hyperproduce their chromosomal class C β-lactamase. A few years later, resistance appeared in bacterial species not naturally producing AmpC enzymes (K. pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., P. mirabilis) due to the production of TEM- or SHV-type ESBLs (extended spectrum beta lactamases). Characteristically, such resistance has included oxyimino- (for example ceftizoxime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime, as well as the oxyimino-monobactam aztreonam), but not 7-alpha-methoxy-cephalosporins (cephamycins; in other words, cefoxitin and cefotetan); has been blocked by inhibitors such as clavulanate, sulbactam or tazobactam and did not involve carbapenems and temocillin. Chromosomal-mediated AmpC β-lactamases represent a new threat, since they confer resistance to 7-alpha-methoxy-cephalosporins (cephamycins) such as cefoxitin or cefotetan but are not affected by commercially available β-lactamase inhibitors, and can, in strains with loss of outer membrane porins, provide resistance to carbapenems.

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)
Members of this family commonly express β-lactamases (e.g., TEM-3, TEM-4, and SHV-2 ) which confer resistance to expanded-spectrum (extended-spectrum) cephalosporins. In the mid-1980s, this new group of enzymes, the extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), was detected (first detected in 1979). The prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria have been gradually increasing in acute care hospitals. The prevalence in the general population varies between countries, e.g. approximately 6% in Germany and France, 13% in Saudi Arabia, and 63% in Egypt. ESBLs are beta-lactamases that hydrolyze extended-spectrum cephalosporins with an oxyimino side chain. These cephalosporins include cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime, as well as the oxyimino-monobactam aztreonam. Thus ESBLs confer multi-resistance to these antibiotics and related oxyimino-beta lactams. In typical circumstances, they derive from genes for TEM-1, TEM-2, or SHV-1 by mutations that alter the amino acid configuration around the active site of these β-lactamases. A broader set of β-lactam antibiotics are susceptible to hydrolysis by these enzymes. An increasing number of ESBLs not of TEM or SHV lineage have recently been described. The ESBLs are frequently plasmid encoded. Plasmids responsible for ESBL production frequently carry genes encoding resistance to other drug classes (for example, aminoglycosides). Therefore, antibiotic options in the treatment of ESBL-producing organisms are extremely limited. Carbapenems are the treatment of choice for serious infections due to ESBL-producing organisms, yet carbapenem-resistant (primarily ertapenem-resistant) isolates have recently been reported. ESBL-producing organisms may appear susceptible to some extended-spectrum cephalosporins. However, treatment with such antibiotics has been associated with high failure rates.

TEM beta-lactamases (class A)
TEM-1 is the most commonly encountered beta-lactamase in Gram-negative bacteria. Up to 90% of ampicillin resistance in E. coli is due to the production of TEM-1. Also responsible for the ampicillin and penicillin resistance that is seen in H. influenzae and N. gonorrhoeae in increasing numbers. Although TEM-type beta-lactamases are most often found in E. coli and K. pneumoniae, they are also found in other species of Gram-negative bacteria with increasing frequency. The amino acid substitutions responsible for the extended-spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) phenotype cluster around the active site of the enzyme and change its configuration, allowing access to oxyimino-beta-lactam substrates. Opening the active site to beta-lactam substrates also typically enhances the susceptibility of the enzyme to β-lactamase inhibitors, such as clavulanic acid. Single amino acid substitutions at positions 104, 164, 238, and 240 produce the ESBL phenotype, but ESBLs with the broadest spectrum usually have more than a single amino acid substitution. Based upon different combinations of changes, currently 140 TEM-type enzymes have been described. TEM-10, TEM-12, and TEM-26 are among the most common in the United States. The term TEM comes from the name of the Athenian patient (Temoniera) from which the isolate was recovered in 1963.

SHV beta-lactamases (class A)
SHV-1 shares 68 percent of its amino acids with TEM-1 and has a similar overall structure. The SHV-1 beta-lactamase is most commonly found in K. pneumoniae and is responsible for up to 20% of the plasmid-mediated ampicillin resistance in this species. ESBLs in this family also have amino acid changes around the active site, most commonly at positions 238 or 238 and 240. More than 60 SHV varieties are known. SHV-5 and SHV-12 are among the most common. The initials stand for "sulfhydryl reagent variable".

CTX-M beta-lactamases (class A)
These enzymes were named for their greater activity against cefotaxime than other oxyimino-beta-lactam substrates (e.g., ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, or cefepime). Rather than arising by mutation, they represent examples of plasmid acquisition of beta-lactamase genes normally found on the chromosome of Kluyvera species, a group of rarely pathogenic commensal organisms. These enzymes are not very closely related to TEM or SHV beta-lactamases in that they show only approximately 40% identity with these two commonly isolated beta-lactamases. More than 172 CTX-M enzymes are currently known. Despite their name, a few are more active on ceftazidime than cefotaxime. They are widely described among species of Enterobacteriaceae, mainly E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Detected in the 1980s they have since the early 2000s spread and are the now the predominant ESBL type in the world. They are generally clustred into five groups based on sequencing homologies; CTX-M-1, CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-9 and CTX-M-25. CTX-M-15 (belonging to the CTX-M-1 cluster) is the most prevalent CTX-M-gene. An example of beta-lactamase CTX-M-15, along with ISEcp1, has been found to have transposed onto the chromosome of Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC BAA-2146. The initials stand for "Cefotaxime-Munich".

OXA beta-lactamases (class D)
OXA beta-lactamases were long recognized as a less common but also plasmid-mediated beta-lactamase variety that could hydrolyze oxacillin and related anti-staphylococcal penicillins. These beta-lactamases differ from the TEM and SHV enzymes in that they belong to molecular class D and functional group 2d. The OXA-type beta-lactamases confer resistance to ampicillin and cephalothin and are characterized by their high hydrolytic activity against oxacillin and cloxacillin and the fact that they are poorly inhibited by clavulanic acid. Amino acid substitutions in OXA enzymes can also give the ESBL phenotype. While most ESBLs have been found in E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and other Enterobacteriaceae, the OXA-type ESBLs have been found mainly in P. aeruginosa. OXA-type ESBLs have been found mainly in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from Turkey and France. The OXA beta-lactamase family was originally created as a phenotypic rather than a genotypic group for a few beta-lactamases that had a specific hydrolysis profile. Therefore, there is as little as 20% sequence homology among some of the members of this family. However, recent additions to this family show some degree of homology to one or more of the existing members of the OXA beta-lactamase family. Some confer resistance predominantly to ceftazidime, but OXA-17 confers greater resistance to cefotaxime and cefepime than it does resistance to ceftazidime.

Others
Other plasmid-mediated ESBLs, such as PER, VEB, GES, and IBC beta-lactamases, have been described but are uncommon and have been found mainly in P. aeruginosa and at a limited number of geographic sites. PER-1 in isolates in Turkey, France, and Italy; VEB-1 and VEB-2 in strains from Southeast Asia; and GES-1, GES-2, and IBC-2 in isolates from South Africa, France, and Greece. PER-1 is also common in multiresistant acinetobacter species in Korea and Turkey. Some of these enzymes are found in Enterobacteriaceae as well, whereas other uncommon ESBLs (such as BES-1, IBC-1, SFO-1, and TLA-1) have been found only in Enterobacteriaceae.

Treatment
While ESBL-producing organisms were previously associated with hospitals and institutional care, these organisms are now increasingly found in the community. CTX-M-15-positive E. coli are a cause of community-acquired urinary infections in the UK, and tend to be resistant to all oral β-lactam antibiotics, as well as quinolones and sulfonamides. Treatment options may include nitrofurantoin, fosfomycin, mecillinam and chloramphenicol. In desperation, once-daily ertapenem or gentamicin injections may also be used.

Inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases
Although the inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases are not ESBLs, they are often discussed with ESBLs because they are also derivatives of the classical TEM- or SHV-type enzymes. These enzymes were at first given the designation IRT for inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamase; however, all have subsequently been renamed with numerical TEM designations. There are at least 19 distinct inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamases. Inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamases have been found mainly in clinical isolates of E. coli, but also some strains of K. pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, P. mirabilis, and Citrobacter freundii. Although the inhibitor-resistant TEM variants are resistant to inhibition by clavulanic acid and sulbactam, thereby showing clinical resistance to the beta-lactam—lactamase inhibitor combinations of amoxicillin-clavulanate (co-amoxiclav), ticarcillin-clavulanate (co-ticarclav), and ampicillin/sulbactam, they normally remain susceptible to inhibition by tazobactam and subsequently the combination of piperacillin/tazobactam, although resistance has been described. This is no longer a primarily European epidemiology, it is found in northern parts of America often and should be tested for with complex UTI's.

AmpC-type β-lactamases (class C)
AmpC type β-lactamases are commonly isolated from extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. AmpC β-lactamases (also termed class C or group 1) are typically encoded on the chromosome of many Gram-negative bacteria including Citrobacter, Serratia and Enterobacter species where its expression is usually inducible; it may also occur on Escherichia coli but is not usually inducible, although it can be hyperexpressed. AmpC type β-lactamases may also be carried on plasmids. AmpC β-lactamases, in contrast to ESBLs, hydrolyse broad and extended-spectrum cephalosporins (cephamycins as well as to oxyimino-β-lactams) but are not typically inhibited by the β-lactamase inhibitors clavulanic acid and tazobactam, whereas avibactam can maintain inhibitory activity against this class of β-lactamases. AmpC-type β-lactamase organisms are often clinically grouped through the acronym, "SPACE": Serratia, Pseudomonas or Proteus, Acinetobacter, Citrobacter, and Enterobacter.

Carbapenemases
Carbapenems are famously stable to AmpC β-lactamases and extended-spectrum-β-lactamases. Carbapenemases are a diverse group of β-lactamases that are active not only against the oxyimino-cephalosporins and cephamycins but also against the carbapenems. Aztreonam is stable to the metallo-β-lactamases, but many IMP and VIM producers are resistant, owing to other mechanisms. Carbapenemases were formerly believed to derive only from classes A, B, and D, but a class C carbapenemase has been described.

IMP-type carbapenemases (metallo-β-lactamases) (class B)
Plasmid-mediated IMP-type carbapenemases (IMP stands for active-on-imipenem), 19 varieties of which are currently known, became established in Japan in the 1990s both in enteric Gram-negative organisms and in Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species. IMP enzymes spread slowly to other countries in the Far East, were reported from Europe in 1997, and have been found in Canada and Brazil.

VIM (Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase) (Class B)
A second growing family of carbapenemases, the VIM family, was reported from Italy in 1999 and now includes 10 members, which have a wide geographic distribution in Europe, South America, and the Far East and have been found in the United States. VIM-1 was discovered in P. aeruginosa in Italy in 1996; since then, VIM-2 - now the predominant variant - was found repeatedly in Europe and the Far East; VIM-3 and -4 are minor variants of VIM-2 and -1, respectively.

Amino acid sequence diversity is up to 10% in the VIM family, 15% in the IMP family, and 70% between VIM and IMP. Enzymes of both the families, nevertheless, are similar. Both are integron-associated, sometimes within plasmids. Both hydrolyse all β-lactams except monobactams, and evade all β-lactam inhibitors. The VIM enzymes are among the most widely distributed MBLs, with >40 VIM variants having been reported. Biochemical and biophysical studies revealed that VIM variants have only small variations in their kinetic parameters but substantial differences in their thermal stabilities and inhibition profiles.

OXA (oxacillinase) group of β-lactamases (class D)
The OXA group of β-lactamases occur mainly in Acinetobacter species and are divided into two clusters. OXA carbapenemases hydrolyse carbapenems very slowly in vitro, and the high MICs seen for some Acinetobacter hosts (>64 mg/L) may reflect secondary mechanisms. They are sometimes augmented in clinical isolates by additional resistance mechanisms, such as impermeability or efflux. OXA carbapenemases also tend to have a reduced hydrolytic efficiency towards penicillins and cephalosporins.

KPC (K. pneumoniae carbapenemase) (class A)
A few class A enzymes, most noted the plasmid-mediated KPC enzymes, are effective carbapenemases as well. Ten variants, KPC-2 through KPC-11 are known, and they are distinguished by one or two amino acid substitutions (KPC-1 was re-sequenced in 2008 and found to be 100% homologous to published sequences of KPC-2). KPC-1 was found in North Carolina, KPC-2 in Baltimore and KPC-3 in New York. They have only 45% homology with SME and NMC/IMI enzymes and, unlike them, can be encoded by self-transmissible plasmids.

, the class A Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) globally has been the most common carbapenemase, and was first detected in 1996 in North Carolina, USA. A 2010 publication indicated that KPC producing Enterobacteriaceae were becoming common in the United States.

CMY (class C)
The first class C carbapenemase was described in 2006 and was isolated from a virulent strain of Enterobacter aerogenes. It is carried on a plasmid, pYMG-1, and is therefore transmissible to other bacterial strains.

SME (Serratia marcescens enzymes), IMI (IMIpenem-hydrolysing β-lactamase), NMC and CcrA
In general, these are of little clinical significance.

CcrA (CfiA). Its gene occurs in ca. 1–3% of B. fragilis isolates, but fewer produce the enzyme since expression demands appropriate migration of an insertion sequence. CcrA was known before imipenem was introduced, and producers have shown little subsequent increase.

NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase) (class B)
Originally described from New Delhi in 2009, this gene is now widespread in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from India and Pakistan. As of mid-2010, NDM-1 carrying bacteria have been introduced to other countries (including the United States and UK), most probably due to the large number of tourists travelling the globe, who may have picked up the strain from the environment, as strains containing the NDM-1 gene have been found in environmental samples in India. NDM have several variants which share different properties.

General overview
In general, an isolate is suspected to be an ESBL producer when it shows in vitro susceptibility to the cephamycins (cefoxitin, cefotetan) but resistance to the third-generation cephalosporins and to aztreonam. Moreover, one should suspect these strains when treatment with these agents for Gram-negative infections fails despite reported in vitro susceptibility. Once an ESBL-producing strain is detected, the laboratory should report it as "resistant" to all penicillins, cephalosporins, and aztreonam, even if it is tested (in vitro) as susceptible. Associated resistance to aminoglycosides and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, as well as high frequency of co-existence of fluoroquinolone resistance, creates problems. Beta-lactamase inhibitors such as clavulanate, sulbactam, and tazobactam in vitro inhibit most ESBLs, but the clinical effectiveness of beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations cannot be relied on consistently for therapy. Cephamycins (cefoxitin and cefotetan) are not hydrolyzed by majority of ESBLs, but are hydrolyzed by associated AmpC-type β-lactamase. Also, β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations may not be effective against organisms that produce AmpC-type β-lactamase. Sometimes these strains decrease the expression of outer membrane proteins, rendering them resistant to cephamycins. In vivo studies have yielded mixed results against ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae. (Cefepime, a fourth-generation cephalosporin, has demonstrated in vitro stability in the presence of many ESBL/AmpC strains.) Currently, carbapenems are, in general, regarded as the preferred agent for treatment of infections due to ESBL-producing organisms. Carbapenems are resistant to ESBL-mediated hydrolysis and exhibit excellent in vitro activity against strains of Enterobacteriaceae expressing ESBLs.

ESBLs
Strains producing only ESBLs are susceptible to cephamycins and carbapenems in vitro and show little if any inoculum effect with these agents.

For organisms producing TEM and SHV type ESBLs, apparent in vitro sensitivity to cefepime and to piperacillin/tazobactam is common, but both drugs show an inoculum effect, with diminished susceptibility as the size of the inoculum is increased from 105 to 107 organisms.

Strains with some CTX-M–type and OXA-type ESBLs are resistant to cefepime on testing, despite the use of a standard inoculum.

Inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases
Although the inhibitor-resistant TEM variants are resistant to inhibition by clavulanic acid and sulbactam, thereby showing clinical resistance to the beta-lactam—beta lactamase inhibitor combinations of amoxicillin-clavulanate (Co-amoxiclav), ticarcillin-clavulanate, and ampicillin/sulbactam, they remain susceptible to inhibition by tazobactam and subsequently the combination of piperacillin/tazobactam.

AmpC
AmpC-producing strains are typically resistant to oxyimino-beta lactams and to cephamycins and are susceptible to carbapenems; however, diminished porin expression can make such a strain carbapenem-resistant as well.

Carbapenemases
Strains with IMP-, VIM-, and OXA-type carbapenemases usually remain susceptible. Resistance to non-beta-lactam antibiotics is common in strains making any of these enzymes, such that alternative options for non-beta-lactam therapy need to be determined by direct susceptibility testing. Resistance to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides is especially high.

Escherichia coli or Klebsiella
For infections caused by ESBL-producing Escherichia coli or Klebsiella species, treatment with imipenem or meropenem has been associated with the best outcomes in terms of survival and bacteriologic clearance. Cefepime and piperacillin/tazobactam have been less successful. Ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, and ceftazidime have failed even more often, despite the organism's susceptibility to the antibiotic in vitro. Several reports have documented failure of cephamycin therapy as a result of resistance due to porin loss. Some patients have responded to aminoglycoside or quinolone therapy, but, in a recent comparison of ciprofloxacin and imipenem for bacteremia involving an ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae, imipenem produced the better outcome

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
There have been few clinical studies to define the optimal therapy for infections caused by ESBL producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains.

Use as a pharmaceutical
In 1957, amid concern about allergic reactions to penicillin-containing antibiotics, a beta-lactamase was sold as an antidote under the brand name neutrapen. It was theorized that the breakdown of penicillin by the enzyme would treat the allergic reaction. While it was not useful in acute anaphylactic shock, it showed positive results in cases of urticaria and joint pain suspected to be caused by penicillin allergy. Its use was proposed in pediatric cases where penicillin allergy was discovered upon administration of the polio vaccine, which used penicillin as a preservative. However, some patients developed allergies to neutrapen. The Albany Hospital removed it from its formulary in 1960, only two years after adding it, citing lack of use. Some researchers continued to use it in experiments on penicillin resistance as late as 1972. It was voluntarily withdrawn from the American market by 3M Pharmaceuticals in 1997.

Detection
Beta-lactamase enzymatic activity can be detected using nitrocefin, a chromogenic cephalosporin substrate which changes color from yellow to red upon beta-lactamase mediated hydrolysis.

Extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) screening can be performed using disk-diffusion. Cefpodoxime, ceftazidime, aztreonam, cefotaxime, and/or ceftriaxone discs are used.

Evolution
Beta-lactamases are ancient bacterial enzymes. Metallo β-lactamases ("class B") are all structurally similar to RNase Z and may have evolved from it. Of the three subclasses B1, B2, and B3, B1 and B2 are theorized to have evolved about one billion years ago, while B3 seems to have arisen independently, possibly before the divergence of the Gram-positive and Gram-negative eubacteria about two billion years ago. PNGM-1 (Papua New Guinea Metallo-β-lactamase-1) has both metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) and tRNase Z activities, suggesting that PNGM-1 is thought to have evolved from a tRNase Z, and that the B3 MBL activity of PNGM-1 is a promiscuous activity and subclass B3 MBLs are thought to have evolved through PNGM-1 activity. Subclasses B1 and B3 has been further subdivided.

Serine beta-lactamases (classes A, C, and D) appear to have evolved from DD-transpeptidases, which are penicillin-binding proteins involved in cell wall biosynthesis, and as such are one of the main targets of beta-lactam antibiotics. These three classes show undetectable sequence similarity with each other, but can still be compared using structural homology. Groups A and D are sister taxa and group C diverged before A and D. These serine-based enzymes, like the group B betalactamases, are of ancient origin and are theorized to have evolved about two billion years ago.

The OXA group (in class D) in particular is theorized to have evolved on chromosomes and moved to plasmids on at least two separate occasions.

Etymology
The "β" (beta) refers to the nitrogen's position on the second carbon in the ring. Lactam is a blend of lactone (from the Latin lactis, milk, since lactic acid was isolated from soured milk) and amide. The suffix -ase, indicating an enzyme, is derived from diastase (from the Greek diastasis, "separation"), the first enzyme discovered in 1833 by Payen and Persoz.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Beta-lactamase


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Talk:Bundesland

Untitled
Should German names be used in the List of the Bundeslands / in the articles about them? (please discuss this before writing articles using the German AND English names).

 * If they have English names we should use them - Sachsen and Bayern redirect to Saxony and Bavaria already. Are there English names for some of the others though? --rmhermen

 * I don't think we should use German name (English name) and then redirect to the English named article. It would be better to say: English name (German name). Of cause only there where English names exist ;-) --Daniel Wiebelt

 * It seems more natural to me to put the English in parentheses, so that the main name given in each case i the page*, not to integrate them into the article. --MichaelTinkler

 * changed --Daniel Wiebelt

As a Germanophile, I like the English version of the name as the Article title, but don't mind if the German is used in

 * Germany name = English name (whith special names of the inhabitants)

 * Baden-Württembergaarlander (that's right in English without ä)

We should also decide where we place the German names, because all Bundeslander articles should have the same structure. --Daniel Wiebelt

 * I suggest doing it as I did for Thuringia, but I don't think it matters too much. I do think we ought to try to do umlauts as HTML character entity references (e.g., &uuml;). If you do them in Latin-1, as you have above, they will display incorrectly for some people, because the pages are not marked as Latin-1. --Zundark, 2001 Nov 13

 * Rheinland_Pfalz = Rhineland-Palatinate
 * en that instances of such operations have

apparently been observed by About, which are the corresponding Utilities?

What is an Ümmerläuterer? Son Sonson (My talk)

title: Talk:Bundesland


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Burhanuddin Rabbani

Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghan politician and teacher who served as president of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 1996 to 2001).

Born in the Badakhshan Province, Rabbani studied at Kabul University and worked there as a professor of Islamic theology. He formed the Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Society) at the university which attracted then-students Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud, both would eventually become the two leading commanders of the Afghan mujahideen in the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979. Rabbani was chosen to be the President of Afghanistan after the end of the former communist regime in 1992. Rabbani and his Islamic State of Afghanistan government was later forced into exile by the Taliban, and he then served as the political head of the Northern Alliance, an alliance of various political groups who fought against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. During his time in the office, there were a lot of internal clashes between different fighting groups.

After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served briefly as President from 13 November to 22 December 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen as his succeeding interim leader at the Bonn International Conference. In later years he became head of Afghanistan National Front (known in the media as United National Front), the largest political opposition to Karzai's government.

On 20 September 2011, Rabbani was assassinated by a suicide bomber entering his home in Kabul. As suggested by the Afghan parliament, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai gave him the title of "Martyr of Peace". His son Salahuddin Rabbani was chosen in April 2012 to lead efforts to forge peace in Afghanistan with the Taliban.

Early life and education
Rabbani, son of Muhammed Yousuf, was born in 20 September 1940 in the northern province of Badakhshan. He was a Persian-speaking ethnic Tajik. After finishing school in his native province, he went to Darul-uloom-e-Sharia (Abu-Hanifa), a religious school in Kabul. When he graduated from Abu-Hanifa, he attended Kabul University to study Islamic Law and Theology, graduating in 1963.

Soon after his graduation in 1963, he was hired as a professor at Kabul University. In order to enhance himself, Rabbani went to Egypt in 1966, and he entered the Al-Azhar University in Cairo where he developed close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood leadership. In two years, he received his master's degree in Islamic Philosophy. He resumed his position at the university and became closely associated with his fellow professor, Gholam Mohammad Niazi, whom he served as secretary in 1969 and 1970. Rabbani was one of the first Afghans to translate the works of Sayyid Qutb into Persian. Later he returned to Egypt to complete his PhD in Islamic philosophy and his thesis was titled "The Philosophy and Teachings of Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Jami." In 2004 he received Afghanistan's highest academic and scientific title "Academician" from the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan.

Political career
Rabbani returned to Afghanistan in 1968, where the High Council of Jamiat-e Islami gave him the duty of organizing the University students. Due to his knowledge, reputation, and active support for the cause of Islam, in 1972, a 15-member council selected him as head of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan; the founder of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan, Gholam Mohammad Niazi was also present. Jamiat-e Islami was primarily composed of Tajiks.

In the spring of 1974, the police came to Kabul University to arrest Rabbani for his pro-Islamic stance, but with the help of his students the police were unable to capture him, and he managed to escape to the countryside. In Pakistan, Rabbani gathered important people and established the party. Sayed Noorullah Emad, who was then a young Muslim in the University of Kabul, became the General Secretary of the party and, later, its deputy chief. Rabbani alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud and others planned to take action either against the Daoud government or people who they deemed communist in 1975, but failed.

"Among ourselves we decided that Daoud personally was not a communist, but a Muslim, surrounded by communists, who should be eliminated. For that purpose we prepared a list of eighty military and civilian communists and instructed our companions to carry it out.…Surprisingly news of the failure of the uprising in Laghman and other regions reached us in Peshawar."

When the Soviets intervened in 1979, Rabbani helped lead Jamiat-e Islami in resistance to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan regime. Rabbani's forces were the first Mujahideen elements to enter Kabul in 1992 when the PDPA government fell from power. He took over as President from 1992 in accordance to the Peshawar Accords. Rabbani was the third ethnic Tajik leader of modern Afghanistan after Habibullah Kalakani in 1929 and Abdul Qadir in 1978 (and possibly including Babrak Karmal, whose ethnicity was disputed). His rule was limited since the country was fractured by civil war between different sides. Rabbani was forced to flee following the Taliban's conquest of Kabul in 1996. Rabbani operated his government in exile, following the establishment of the Taliban rule of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In this period between 1996 and 2001, the Rabbani government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan remained the internationally recognized government, despite only controlling about 10% of Afghan territory. For the next five years, he and the Northern Alliance, commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud and others, were fighting the Taliban until the 2001 US-led Operation Enduring Freedom toppled the Taliban government. Rabbani was head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which had been formed in 2010 to initiate peace talks with the Taliban and other groups in the insurgency, until his death.

Assassination
Rabbani was killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul on 20 September 2011, his 71st birthday. Two men posing as Taliban representatives approached him to offer a hug and detonated their explosives. At least one of them had hidden the explosives in his turban. The suicide bomber claimed to be a Taliban commander, said he bore a "very important and positive message" from Taliban leaders in Pakistan, and said he wanted to "discuss peace" with Rabbani. Four other members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council were also killed in the blast. Rabbani was buried in the Wazir Akbar Khan cemetery.

Afghan officials blamed the Quetta Shura, which was the leadership of the Afghan Taliban allegedly hiding in the affluent Satellite Town of Quetta in Pakistan. The Pakistani government confirmed that Rabbani's assassination was linked to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A senior Pakistani official stated that over 90% of terrorist attacks in Pakistan were traced back to Afghan elements and that their presence in the country was "an important issue for [peace in] Pakistan" and "a problem for Afghanistan". Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar stated that Pakistan was "not responsible if Afghan refugees crossed the border and entered Kabul, stayed in a guest house and attacked Professor Rabbani".

In 2011, just days before he died, Rabbani was trying to persuade Islamic scholars to issue a religious edict banning suicide bombings. The former president's 28-year-old daughter said in an interview that her father died shortly after he spoke at a conference on "Islamic Awakening" in Tehran. "Right before he was assassinated, he talked about the suicide bombing issue," Fatima Rabbani told Reuters. "He called on all Islamic scholars in the conference to release a fatwa" against the tactic.

Government minister Nematullah Shahrani said Rabbani is irreplaceable because "he had relations with all these tribes."

United States President Barack Obama and several NATO military leaders condemned the assassination. Japan also offered its condolences at the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Afghan President Hamid Karzai cut short his trip for the General debate of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly following his assassination. Rabbani's son Salahuddin then took over chairmanship of the High Peace Council from his father.

Honors and awards

 * 🇹🇯 Tajikistan : Order Ismoili Somoni Rib.png Order of Ismoili Somoni – posthumously awarded on 2 September 2014
 * 🇨🇺 Cuba :Ribbon_jose_marti.png Order of José Marti – posthumously awarded on 15 August 2021

title: Burhanuddin Rabbani


text:
Talk:Boudica

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 6 January 2021 and 6 April 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Obfuscatiion. Peer reviewers: SpencerPaddock.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 16:09, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Head of Nero
This edit removed a passage suggesting that a bronze head of Nero was removed from its statue during the insurrection, pointing out that: "theory unsupported". Yet the reference, also deleted, reads: "[…]the balance of probability is that this provincial bronze statue of Rome’s fifth emperor was toppled and decapitated during the Boudiccan Revolt of 60/61.". Surely that's enough to sustain it in the article, albeit with some qualification, if that's thought necessary. I'm minded to reinstate this--AntientNestor (talk) 11:46, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree, go for it. Richard Keatinge (talk) 13:15, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Done. Also at Boudican revolt.--AntientNestor (talk) 07:17, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

 * The full version of your quote is: “Whatever its original location, context and significance, the balance of probability is that this provincial bronze statue of Rome’s fifth emperor was toppled and decapitated during the Boudiccan Revolt of 60/61.” This does not appear to be either an endorsement of the theory that the bronze came from Colchester, or of the theory that it is an image of the head of Claudius. I would question whether balance of probability is a valid reason for keeping this in.

 * The head was first displayed at the Society of Antiquaries in 1908. In 1914, it was “supposed” that the “large bronze head, closely resembling Claudius”, had probably been “torn from the Temple of Claudius … by British pillagers” during the Boudiccan Revolt. This would appear to be where the dot-joining began. A study by Russell and Manley in 2013 concluded that, on the contrary, the head looked nothing like Claudius and probably had no connection with Colchester.

 * Russell & Manley, whose words I quoted in the edit summary, said in 2015: “The previously commonly-accepted idea that the bronze head of Claudius, found in 1907 near Saxmundham, was ripped from a statue in Colchester during the Boudican uprising is now classified as a theory unsupported by any evidence. (British Museum artefact notice; see also Russell, 2006; Russell and Manley, 2014).”

 * I think these are good enough reasons to cast this story overboard, if you have no further objections. 194.81.226.132 (talk) 15:51, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
 * To spell that out a little more, our article's "which had probably stood in front of the temple was decapitated and its head taken as a trophy" isn't supported by the source. Russell and Manley consider whether it might have come from Colchester (plausible locations within which include in or in front of the temple of Claudius) along with other possibilities, but conclude only that "the balance of probability is that this provincial bronze statue of Rome’s fifth emperor was toppled and decapitated during the Boudiccan Revolt of 60/61" without saying where that happened or that the head was taken as a trophy. We could say that a bronze head found in Suffolk may have been struck from a statue of Nero at this time, or that it probably was, but not that the statue was in Colchester, which would be implied if we left a corrected sentence in the paragraph about Colchester without qualification. NebY (talk) 17:32, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Not "cast the story overboard" but "retain it with qualification", then.--AntientNestor (talk) 20:20, 27 July 2022 (UTC)
 * But where? In this article, it doesn't fit into the linear narrative but could perhaps be added to the 21st-century part of the Legacy section, saying that the British Museum has a head found in Suffolk, probably struck from a statue of Nero during the revolt. Boudican revolt is also a linear narrative and doesn't seem to offer such an opportunity. NebY (talk) 21:31, 27 July 2022 (UTC)

The article is very much a linear narrative but the "head of Nero" sentence could still remain with "Colchester", where it's the best fit, but enlarging on the possibility that it could have come from some other stage or location of the uprising.--AntientNestor (talk) 08:35, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

 * Fitting it into the Colchester narrative implies that that's the probable story of the head. I recommend reading the entire source to understand how unsafe that conjecture is and that it is not one which we as Wikipedians are justified in following contrary to our source. Besides, we don't even need it to describe the progress of the revolt; that's amply clear without it. The most we need to do is to describe it under Legacy as a likely relic of the revolt. NebY (talk) 15:18, 28 July 2022 (UTC)

 * I agree that the source, taken as a whole, expresses doubt about the original location (my original post only quoted from the summary). It's an important artefact from the rebellion so I suppose that it wouldn't be out of place as legacy in ===21st Century===, with some context included. Although I brought this up, I'm reluctant to do it myself: it needs a fresh take now.--AntientNestor (talk) 16:14, 28 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Afterthought: It's more relevant on Boudican revolt than here: in the context of this account of her whole life it's not significant.--AntientNestor (talk) 06:09, 29 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Richard Keatinge (talk) 08:08, 29 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Good point! OK, I've removed it from this article. In Boudican revolt, I've moved rephrased mention of it to a new section "Relics", titled in the hope that we might have more relics we can mention but in preference to "Legacy" which really might promise more than we're delivering; indeed, offering one bronze head as the sole legacy might even seem contemptuous. NebY (talk) 19:04, 29 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. AntientNestor (talk) 20:29, 29 July 2022 (UTC)

Battle location
A recent edit states: "The last known location of the Roman army was north Wales whilst Boudica's army's last known location was Hertfordshire and so according to a historian, the final battle place of Boudica could have taken place anywhere between these locations."

These statements are not correct. The last known location of the Roman army was Londinium, not north Wales. Tacitus stated that, when Suetonius on Mona (Anglesey) heard of the uprising, he "went through the midst of the enemy to Londinium". ("At Suetonius ... inter hostis Londinium perrexit.") "Suetonius went to Londinium" meant "Suetonius with his army went to Londinium". It did not mean "Suetonius leapt on to a horse and galloped off to see what was happening, leaving his army behind to catch up later." (In the same way that "Caesar conquered Gaul" obviously meant that Caesar conquered Gaul with his army.) So when Suetonius arrived at Londinium, it was with his entire army, other than the men who were left to garrison Mona, and when he withdrew from Londonium it was with his army.

It may also not be stated as fact that "Boudica's army's last known location was Hertfordshire," by which Verulamium is presumably intended. Suetonius would have had no need to march his army back up Watling Street, and it would not have been sensible to do so. This assumption appears to be based on a combination of misreading of the Latin text, which is admittedly vague, and on previously expressed opinions that because Verulamium is mentioned third in a list, it must have therefore been Boudica's third target. There is no evidence whatsoever to support this assumption. Tacitus gives only a brief summary of events, which are not necessarily in chronological sequence, and he does not say that Boudica's army was responsible for destroying Verulamium, only that it happened. If the rebellion was spreading, the attackers at Verulamium could equally have been local tribes. So it appears not to be correct to state that the final battle "could have taken place anywhere between" north Wales and London.

I offer these thoughts for discussion and consensus. The author may also wish to contribute further comments. 194.81.226.132 (talk) 16:05, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

 * It's not up to us to interpret Tacitus, dismiss Dio, or judge what would be sensible strategy. See below. NebY (talk) 21:29, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Sources, points of view
"We strive for articles in an impartial tone that document and explain major points of view, giving due weight for their prominence. [] All articles must strive for verifiable accuracy, citing reliable, authoritative sources." (Five pillars) Consequences for this article, Boudican revolt and Defeat of Boudica include
 * Shortcuts to relevant policies and guidelines include WP:V, WP:RS, WP:SPS and WP:FRINGE.
 * In short, we don't use self-published books, blogs and websites (WP:SPS). We try to avoid relying on primary sources and Wikipedians should never interpret the content of primary sources for themselves (WP:SCHOLARSHIP). We prefer newer secondary and tertiary sources to older - see WP:AGE MATTERS - and Scholarly sources and high-quality non-scholarly sources are generally better than news reports for academic topics. (WP:RSEDITORIAL)
 * We should look to modern scholars writing reliable sources to track the movements of Sertorius Suetonius and Boudica.
 * We should not prioritise an archaeolgist's off-the-cuff remarks for a news report, pouring scorn on a local councillor's idea that relics of the battle will be found in a Birmingham construction site, either.
 * We should treat the postulations of Richard Williams Morgan and Owen "Morien" Morgan as unsupported WP:FRINGE. They're interesting to a historiographer such as Martha Vandrei, writing in "Queen Boudica and Historical Culture in Britain: An Image of Truth" about representations and uses of Boudica (see also her short History Today article Queen Boudica, A Life in Legend and her discussion of them could have a place in our Boudica section, but they are not reliable sources for Wikipedia. I recommend reading our articles about them for further background on their motivations and inspirations and on their current reputation, or Prys Morgan's "From a Death to a View: The Hunt for the Welsh Past in the Romantic Period" in The Invention of Tradition (ed Eric Hobsbawm & Terence Ranger) for an engaging introduction to the preceding movement.
 * We must not insert our own assessments into aticles in Wikipedia's voice ("although from reading Tacitus it seems unlikely", "plausible suggestions") - that too requires a WP:RS.
 * We should remain mindful of the reader; if we present a dense paragraph describing a main theory followed by bullet points of the claims advanced in the magazines of local historical societies, many readers will jump to the bullet points. NebY (talk) 21:03, 5 August 2022 (UTC) corrected 12:46, 6 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for this thoughtful critique of the way the article is developing. The piece seems no longer to comply with WP:UNDUE and it needs someone with a sound, balanced knowledge of the topic to put it right.--AntientNestor (talk) 21:25, 5 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I wanted to start on the talk page, but there's a lot we can do to improve this as a Wikipedia article by following Wikipedia's principles and practices. NebY (talk) 22:15, 5 August 2022 (UTC)

Modern Boudicca pronunciation
I know the Boudica pronunciation took over some time ago, but at a certain point, the modern pronunciation for Boudicca with the soft 'c' was used. Can someone add this in the IPA bit?Halbared (talk) 16:51, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

North East Wales theory
The source supporting the deleted text was a BBC radio news report concerning Roman remains found in Birmingham. An archaeologist was quoted as saying "We know the Roman Army was coming down from Wales." It therefore appears that the last-known location of the Roman army was not thought to have been north Wales. The archaeologist was also said to have commented that the battle could have taken place anywhere in between. An off-the-cuff comment in this context would not appear to qualify as quotable information from a published source. 194.81.226.131 (talk) 15:18, 15 August 2022 (UTC) (Minor reword 194.81.226.132 (talk) 15:51, 15 August 2022 (UTC) ) (Minor revision 194.81.226.132 (talk) 16:59, 15 August 2022 (UTC))

 * Yes. (It's also disturbing that a Birmingham councillor assumed Roman remains = Boudica's last battle, and that he had the PR clout to get it on the BBC.) As the only WP:RSs in that para didn't support it, I've pulled it, allowing us to lose the subheads. NebY (talk) 23:38, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

Bioligy
This is stupid 2A02:C7F:9B35:5800:E851:2A60:2B10:AF06 (talk) 12:26, 9 October 2022 (UTC)

Revolt article
There is a separate article about the revolt, so I'm unclear why there is so much overlap between this article and the other one. It looks as if the level of detail here needs to be moved across to the other article if it is not already there. Comments? Amitchell125 (talk) 08:29, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Agree; keep the salient points only here. There's also lavish treatment at Defeat of Boudica.--AntientNestor (talk) 08:44, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Agreed. It's tedious work keeping the two articles in step and some editors might not realise there are two, so improvements, corrections and clarifications may not appear in both. 's diplomatic to say "lavish"; we have eg problematic duplications and variations about the place of the final battle and Boudica's burial in Defeat of Boudica. Should that be merged into Boudican revolt? NebY (talk) 16:50, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Great idea! Do want to be bold go ahead with the merge yourself? Amitchell125 (talk) 18:42, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * We'd need a proper merge discussion. NebY (talk) 18:50, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Sorry, that's what I meant. Amitchell125 (talk) 20:15, 10 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Great, long overdue for a merge and delete IMHO. Richard Keatinge (talk) 20:41, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

Speculation
I was shocked to read that "It is likely [Prasutagus and Boudica] considered themselves to have Roman citizenship; an indication of this was that Prasutagus made a will, behaviour that was typical of a Roman citizen." Will-making was not exclusive to Roman citizens; indeed leaving part or all of one's kingdom to Rome was a gambit used by some rulers who didn't want an heir to have a motive to kill them (the will could be rewritten in old age to omit Rome). Attalus III, for example, did not consider himself a Roman citizen but famously left Pergamon to Rome in 133 BC, greatly enriching the republic. While this calls the source into doubt, it also raises a wider issue for the article. The source first; it's by a journalist, it's described as "an evocatively told story", "a gripping and enlightening recreation". I'd like to see an academic review of it. What I've seen quoted here suggests that it sets out to engage the reader with a great deal of speculative colour. The article's been expanded by including such speculation from various sources. We should certainly not put such speculation forward in Wikipedia's voice, but more than that, we need an indication of a degree of academic consensus to include it at all. NebY (talk) 16:24, 13 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi, reading through a lot of Collingridge's book recently, I am coming to the conclusion that it is rather speculative in places, and might have passages that need careful checking before they are used. I'll look for an academic review as you suggest. She was the last of the authors I turned to when working on improving this article, and so if necessary she can be 'unpicked', so to speak, quite easily.

 * I don't know which other parts of the article (or which sources) you regard as speculative. Could you provide more information? Amitchell125 (talk) 18:16, 13 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Here's another example, which i deleted after starting this talk-page section:
 * His position as a client king benefitted both his people and the Romans, who profited from being occupiers whilst permitting a local king to continue ruling on their behalf. Prasutagus and Boudica would have led comfortable lives, partly as a result of increased contact with Roman tastes and styles.
 * It doesn't have any direct foundation in sources or archaeology. It seems to be making a more general assumption that clientship was beneficial to the clients, which is highly arguable especially in the light of frequent revolts by clients and Roman expansion of the empire, let alone the idea that contact with Roman tastes would make their lives more comfortable. I glanced at Waite's bio on Amazon, presumably provided by himself or his publisher, which tells us about his previous army and police career, his talks to local history groups etc, his social media presence and so on, but not about his academic credentials.
 * We are currently also citing him for the banal truism
 * If the uprising had not been recorded by the ancient sources, little more than a name—and perhaps not even that—would now be known.
 * We also have a statement about Dio's style that could be sourced to more established historians, even to specialists in historiography or on Cassius Dio himself. It's not clear why we'd want to elevate Waite to being our authority on him.
 * According to the historian John Waite, Dio wrote in a flamboyant style that was "reliant on sensationalistic impact". His account is known from an epitome of his works by John Xiphilinus, an 11th century Byzantine monk.
 * Is that statement about the epitome from Waite? It reads as very close paraphrasing of Vandrei. Waite is also provided as the source for
 * the terms of the treaty compelled the Iceni to be neutral during the conquest of Britain
 * which is apparently banal and unarguable, except that we don't know how Waite knows the treaty prevented the Iceni from joining with the Romans in conquest, lacked a breach clause, or laid out that the Roman agenda was to conquer Britain.
 * I don't have the book to hand but I cannot, on this evidence, regard it as a WP:RS and I don't see that it's necessary to fill the article out with such speculation. We are editors, and one of the most important decisions editors make is to leave it out.
 * This is just a brief look at some uses of one source. I haven't tried to review the whole article; you asked for more information so I expanded on my previous deletion and just followed that thread. NebY (talk) 19:21, 13 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Looking at today's edits, I see more speculation:
 * No details of Boudica's background exist, but she probably originated from an important local family.
 * I'm curious about
 * The Iceni emerged in c. 30, the earliest united British tribe capable of minting its own coinage. The exact boundaries of the Iceni lands are not known.
 * "Emerged" is an odd term when unqualified - it presumably means when they first appear in the archaeological record rather than when they formed or when they came out of the forest. It's not stated whether 30 is AD or BC, and does Davies say they were the first capable of minting or the weaker statement that theirs are the oldest British coins we have? NebY (talk) 20:33, 13 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Plenty to work on here! Many thanks for taking the time. Amitchell125 (talk) 20:38, 13 October 2022 (UTC)

Comments
Article is beautifully done, complete, and should pass GA. My only critique is that the gallery images will be stumbling blocks for persons with disabilities, and while alt text is not a GA requirement, it would be welcome. -SusanLesch (talk) 16:09, 1 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I can easily do the alt texts. Many thanks for the heads up, Amitchell125 (talk) 17:46, 1 November 2022 (UTC)

Redundant citations for "Hingley & Unwin 2006"
It seems unnecessarily redundant to repeat the full citation for "Hingley & Unwin 2006" 15 times. This is why sfn & harvnb were created. In the next day or so, I will work on fixing this. It also looks like there are a couple of other sources that can get the same treatment.

To see a this in operation in a good article, please see John C. Young (college president). For its use in a feature article, please see Ezra Meeker.

I usually do not add a Citations subheading, but usually put full citations for repeated references in the Sources subheading, under References. Peaceray (talk) 03:00, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

 * Looks like I need to proceed carefully footnote by footnote. The very first footnote that I checked had a pagination error. Peaceray (talk) 06:52, 7 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Still in progress ... Peaceray (talk) 15:47, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

 * ✅ Peaceray (talk) 00:31, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Lead image
Which image should be used in the infobox?

Tim O'Doherty (talk) 20:13, 8 November 2022 (UTC)

 * I think the left image is more engaging. Peaceray (talk) 23:56, 8 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I disagree. I think that it is too low-res, too pixelated and has an unattractive patch of reflected light. The right image is higher-quality and easier to read, in my opinion. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 07:33, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * The B&W engraving is certainly of better resolution, but the process has allowed some moiré, which is distracting. Disclosure: I originally substituted the current colour image for the engraving, but I'm less certain now after reading Tim's comments.--AntientNestor (talk) 08:27, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * While the full-blown image may be two low-res & pixelated, we are discussing essentially a thumbnail size image for the Infobox. The color version is certainly more eye-catching than the monochrome image, which looks not much better than a grey smudge at the thumbnail resolution.
 * If you wanted something with better resolution for a thumbnail, I would suggest using the cropped version of B, File:Boadicea Haranguing the Britons (called Boudicca, or Boadicea) by John Opie - cropped.jpg.
 * I have done a preview of all three. I would be fine with A or the cropped version of B, but not B itself. Peaceray (talk) 20:17, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Alternatively, there is an image here that the copyright holder has published in the public domain. Could this be uploaded to the Commons? If so, that would be ideal. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 16:23, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * I tried, but Commons gave me the following message:
 * Copy uploads are not available from this domain.
 * Peaceray (talk) 20:49, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * There is also this version File:Queen Boudica by John Opiecrop.jpg Peaceray (talk) 20:53, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * The version there seems to run into the same issues, resolution, reflection, albeit to a much lesser extent. It is slightly better, but I do think I'd still prefer the engraving. However, we could of course choose a third alternative, such as this image. Tim O'Doherty (talk) 21:16, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Well done! Tim O'Doherty (talk) 22:58, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Dio's Roman History
There are three different citations for Dio's Roman History. I plan to consolidate them with one that matches the text in the quotation & place the full citation in the Sources section.

There are a many citations for the same text. One name which was used in the article was Cassius Dio Cocceianus, which redirects to Cassius Dio. Some Worldcat records use the former, some the latter. I will use the latter to avoid confusion.

This is the citation that I will use: I will include links to the pages in the harvnb template. Peaceray (talk) 00:13, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

 * Cassius Dio is not an English-style name, so citing it as "Dio, Cassius" is incorrect. See Roman naming conventions. His full name was probably Lucius Cassius Dio, with "Lucius" being his praenomen, the equivalent of an English given name, and his nomen "Cassius" and cognomen "Dio" both being inherited family names. It would be better cited simply as "Cassius Dio". --Nicknack009 (talk) 21:01, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * If you change cites please make sure to fix the refs that rely on them. See Category:Harv and Sfn no-target errors for details. -- LCU ActivelyDisinterested ∆transmissions∆ °co-ords° 10:57, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Boudica