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Horus

Horus, also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history, and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. These various forms may be different manifestations of the same multi-layered deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasized, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to one another, consistent with how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.

The earliest recorded form of Horus is the tutelary deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt, who is the first known national god, specifically related to the ruling pharaoh who in time came to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death. The most commonly encountered family relationship describes Horus as the son of Isis and Osiris, and he plays a key role in the Osiris myth as Osiris's heir and the rival to Set, the murderer and brother of Osiris. In another tradition, Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife.

Claudius Aelianus wrote that Egyptians called the god Apollo "Horus" in their own language. However, Plutarch, elaborating further on the same tradition reported by the Greeks; specified that the one "Horus" whom the Egyptians equated with the Greek Apollo was in fact "Horus the Elder", who is distinct from Horus the son of Osiris and Isis (that would make him "the Younger").

Etymology
Horus is recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphs as ḥr.w "Falcon", 𓅃; the original pronunciation has been reconstructed as in Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian,  in later Middle Egyptian, and  in Late Egyptian. Additional meanings are thought to have been "the distant one" or "one who is above, over". As the language changed over time, it appeared in Coptic varieties variously as or  (Ϩⲟⲣ) and was adopted into ancient Greek as Ὧρος Hōros (pronounced at the time as ). It also survives in Late Egyptian and Coptic theophoric name forms such as Siese "son of Isis" and Harsiese "Horus, Son of Isis".

Horus and the pharaoh
The pharaoh was associated with many specific deities. He was identified directly with Horus, who represented kingship itself and was seen as a protector of the pharaoh, and he was seen as the son of Ra, who ruled and regulated nature as the pharaoh ruled and regulated society.

The Pyramid Texts (c. 2400–2300 BCE) describe the nature of the pharaoh in different characters as both Horus and Osiris. The pharaoh as Horus in life became the pharaoh as Osiris in death, where he was united with the other gods. New incarnations of Horus succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new pharaohs. The lineage of Horus, the eventual product of unions between the children of Atum, may have been a means to explain and justify pharaonic power. The gods produced by Atum were all representative of cosmic and terrestrial forces in Egyptian life. By identifying Horus as the offspring of these forces, then identifying him with Atum himself, and finally identifying the Pharaoh with Horus, the Pharaoh theologically had dominion over all the world.

Origin mythology
In one tale, Horus is born to the goddess Isis after she retrieved all the dismembered body parts of her murdered husband Osiris, except his penis, which was thrown into the Nile and eaten by a catfish/Medjed, or sometimes depicted as instead by a crab, and according to Plutarch's account used her magic powers to resurrect Osiris and fashion a phallus to conceive her son (older Egyptian accounts have the penis of Osiris surviving).

After becoming pregnant with Horus, Isis fled to the Nile Delta marshlands to hide from her brother Set, who jealously killed Osiris and who she knew would want to kill their son. There Isis bore a divine son, Horus. As birth, death and rebirth are recurrent themes in Egyptian lore and cosmology, it is not particularly strange that Horus also is the brother of Osiris and Isis, by Nut and Geb, together with Nephthys and Set. This elder Horus is called Hrw-wr - Hourou'Ur - as opposed to Hrw-P-Khrd - the younger Horus, at some point adopted by the Greeks as Harpocrates.

Sky god
Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to also contain the Sun and Moon. Egyptians believed that the Sun was his right eye and the Moon his left and that they traversed the sky when he, a falcon, flew across it. Later, the reason that the Moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as The Contendings of Horus and Seth. In this tale, it was said that Seth, the patron of Upper Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Lower Egypt, had battled for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until eventually, the gods sided with Horus.

As Horus was the ultimate victor he became known as ḥr.w or "Horus the Great", but more usually translated as "Horus the Elder". In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, and Horus' eye was gouged out.

Horus was occasionally shown in art as a naked boy with a finger in his mouth sitting on a lotus with his mother. In the form of a youth, Horus was referred to as nfr ḥr.w "Good Horus", transliterated Neferhor, Nephoros or Nopheros (reconstructed as ). The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power from deities, in this case from Horus or Ra. The symbol is seen on images of Horus' mother, Isis, and on other deities associated with her. In the Egyptian language, the word for this symbol was "wedjat" (wɟt). It was the eye of one of the earliest Egyptian deities, Wadjet, who later became associated with Bastet, Mut, and Hathor as well. Wadjet was a solar deity and this symbol began as her all-seeing eye. In early artwork, Hathor is also depicted with this eye. Funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus. The Wedjat or Eye of Horus is "the central element" of seven "gold, faience, carnelian and lapis lazuli" bracelets found on the mummy of Shoshenq II. The Wedjat "was intended to protect the king [here] in the afterlife" and to ward off evil. Egyptian and Near Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel.

Horus was also thought to protect the sky.

Conflict between Horus and Set
Horus was told by his mother, Isis, to protect the people of Egypt from Set, the god of the desert, who had killed Horus' father, Osiris. Horus had many battles with Set, not only to avenge his father but to choose the rightful ruler of Egypt. In these battles, Horus came to be associated with Lower Egypt and became its patron. According to The Contendings of Horus and Seth, Set is depicted as trying to prove his dominance by seducing Horus and then having sexual intercourse with him. However, Horus places his hand between his thighs and catches Set's semen, then subsequently throws it in the river so that he may not be said to have been inseminated by Set. Horus (or Isis herself in some versions) then deliberately spreads his semen on some lettuce, which was Set's favourite food. After Set had eaten the lettuce, they went to the gods to try to settle the argument over the rule of Egypt. The gods first listened to Set's claim of dominance over Horus, and call his semen forth, but it answered from the river, invalidating his claim. Then, the gods listened to Horus' claim of having dominated Set, and call his semen forth, and it answered from inside Set. However, Set still refused to relent, and the other gods were getting tired from over eighty years of fighting and challenges. Horus and Set challenged each other to a boat race, where they each raced in a boat made of stone. Horus and Set agreed, and the race started. But Horus had an edge: his boat was made of wood painted to resemble stone, rather than true stone. Set's boat, being made of heavy stone, sank, but Horus' did not. Horus then won the race, and Set stepped down and officially gave Horus the throne of Egypt. Upon becoming king after Set's defeat, Horus gives offerings to his deceased father Osiris, thus reviving and sustaining him in the afterlife. After the New Kingdom, Set was still considered the lord of the desert and its oases. In many versions of the story, Horus and Set divide the realm between them. This division can be equated with any of several fundamental dualities that the Egyptians saw in their world. Horus may receive the fertile lands around the Nile, the core of Egyptian civilization, in which case Set takes the barren desert or the foreign lands that are associated with it; Horus may rule the earth while Set dwells in the sky; and each god may take one of the two traditional halves of the country, Upper and Lower Egypt, in which case either god may be connected with either region. Yet in the Memphite Theology, Geb, as judge, first apportions the realm between the claimants and then reverses himself, awarding sole control to Horus. In this peaceable union, Horus and Set are reconciled, and the dualities that they represent have been resolved into a united whole. Through this resolution, the order is restored after the tumultuous conflict.Egyptologists have often tried to connect the conflict between the two gods with political events early in Egypt's history or prehistory. The cases in which the combatants divide the kingdom, and the frequent association of the paired Horus and Set with the union of Upper and Lower Egypt, suggest that the two deities represent some kind of division within the country. Egyptian tradition and archaeological evidence indicate that Egypt was united at the beginning of its history when an Upper Egyptian kingdom, in the south, conquered Lower Egypt in the north. The Upper Egyptian rulers called themselves "followers of Horus", and Horus became the tutelary deity of the unified polity and its kings. Yet Horus and Set cannot be easily equated with the two halves of the country. Both deities had several cult centers in each region, and Horus is often associated with Lower Egypt and Set with Upper Egypt. Other events may have also affected the myth. Before even Upper Egypt had a single ruler, two of its major cities were Nekhen, in the far south, and Nagada, many miles to the north. The rulers of Nekhen, where Horus was the patron deity, are generally believed to have unified Upper Egypt, including Nagada, under their sway. Set was associated with Nagada, so it is possible that the divine conflict dimly reflects an enmity between the cities in the distant past. Much later, at the end of the Second Dynasty (c. 2890–2686 BCE), Pharaoh Seth-Peribsen used the Set animal to write his serekh name in place of the falcon hieroglyph representing Horus. His successor Khasekhemwy used both Horus and Set in the writing of his serekh. This evidence has prompted conjecture that the Second Dynasty saw a clash between the followers of the Horus king and the worshippers of Set led by Seth-Peribsen. Khasekhemwy's use of the two animal symbols would then represent the reconciliation of the two factions, as does the resolution of the myth.

Golden Horus Osiris
Horus gradually took on the nature as both the son of Osiris and Osiris himself. He was referred to as Golden Horus Osiris. In the temple of Denderah he is given the full royal titulary of both that of Horus and Osiris. He was sometimes believed to be both the father of himself as well as his own son, and some later accounts have Osiris being brought back to life by Isis.

Heru-ur (Horus the Elder)
Heru-ur (or Herwer, and Haroeris to the Ptolemaic Greeks), also known as Horus the Elder, was a form of Horus, where he was the son of Geb and Nut. He was one of the oldest gods of ancient Egypt, being worshipped at the influential Predynastic town of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis). By the Old Kingdom, he had become the first national god and the patron of the Pharaoh.

He was called the son of truth, signifying his role as an important upholder of Maat. His right eye was the Sun and his left eye was the Moon. Heru-ur was sometimes depicted fully as a falcon; he was sometimes given the title Kemwer, meaning "(the) great black (one)".

Other variants include Hor Merti 'Horus of the two eyes' and Horkhenti Irti.

Heru-pa-khered (Horus the Younger)
Heru-pa-khered (Harpocrates to the Ptolemaic Greeks), also known as Horus the Younger, is represented in the form of a youth wearing a lock of hair (a sign of youth) on the right of his head while sucking his finger. In addition, he usually wears the united crowns of Egypt, the crown of Upper Egypt and the crown of Lower Egypt. He is a form of the rising sun, representing its earliest light.

Heru-Behdeti (Horus of Behdet)
The winged sun of Horus of Edfu is a symbol in associated with divinity, royalty, and power in ancient Egypt. The winged sun is symbolic also of the eternal soul. When placed above the temple doors it served as a reminder to the people of their eternal nature. The winged sun was depicted on the top of pylons in the ancient temples throughout Egypt.

Her-em-akhet (Horus in the Horizon)
Her-em-akhet (or Horemakhet), (Harmakhis in Greek), represented the dawn and the early morning sun. He was often depicted as a sphinx with the head of a man (like the Great Sphinx of Giza), or as a hieracosphinx, a creature with a lion's body and a falcon's head and wings, sometimes with the head of a lion or ram (the latter providing a link to the god Khepri, the rising sun). It was believed that he was the inspiration for the Great Sphinx of Giza, constructed under the order of Khafre, whose head it depicts.

Other forms of Horus include:

 * Hor Merti ('Horus of the Two Eyes');
 * Horkhenti Irti;
 * Her-sema-tawy ('Horus Uniter of the Two Lands'), the Greek Harsomptus, depicted like the double-crowned Horus
 * Her-iunmutef or Iunmutef, depicted as a priest with a leopard-skin over the torso;
 * Herui (the "double falcon or Horuses"), the 5th nome god of Upper Egypt in Coptos

Celebrations of Horus
The Festival of Victory (Egyptian: Heb Nekhtet) was an annual Egyptian festival dedicated to the god Horus. The Festival of Victory was celebrated at the Temple of Horus at Edfu, and took place during the second month of the Season of the Emergence (or the sixth month of the Egyptian calendar).

The ceremonies which took place during the Festival of Victory included the performance of a sacred drama which commemorated the victory of Horus over Set. The main actor in this drama was the king of Egypt himself, who played the role of Horus. His adversary was a hippopotamus, who played the role of Set. In the course of the ritual, the king would strike the hippopotamus with a harpoon. The destruction of the hippopotamus by the king commemorated the defeat of Set by Horus, which also legitimised the king.

It is unlikely that the king attended the Festival of Victory every year; in many cases he was probably represented by a priest. It is also unlikely that a real hippopotamus was used in the festival every year; in many cases it was probably represented by a model.

The 4th-century Roman author Macrobius mentions another annual Egyptian festival dedicated to Horus in his Chronicon. Macrobius specifies this festival as occurring on the winter solstice. The 4th-century Christian bishop Epiphanius of Salamis also mentions a winter solstice festival of Horus in his Panarion. However, this festival is not attested in any native Egyptian sources.

Suggested influence on Christianity
William R. Cooper's 1877 book and Acharya S's self-published 2008 book, among others, have suggested that there are many similarities between the story of Horus and the much later story of Jesus. This outlook remains very controversial and is disputed.

In popular culture
Declan Hannigan portrays Horus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Moon Knight (2022).

In the film series Night at the Museum, a group of underworld warrior deities appear in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian when Kahmunrah uses the combination to open the gate to the underworld and summon an army of Horus warriors. The warriors appear from the underworld carrying spears ready to attack and join Kahmunrah's fight to take over the world.

Horus is a Warrior class God in the multiplayer online battle arena game Smite with the title of "The Rightful Heir".

In the book trilogy The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan, main character Carter Kane hosts the spirit of Horus when he is released in the British Museum along with four other Egyptian deities. Horus speaks to Carter throughout the trilogy, offering him his advice and wisdom.

In the fantasy action film Gods of Egypt Horus is portrayed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. In the film, he helps out a mortal named Bek to stop his uncle Set while also trying to reclaim his throne and bring peace to Egypt.

Horus appears in a 1980 science fiction graphic novel La Foire aux immortels written and illustrated by French cartoonist and storyteller Enki Bilal.

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Bayeux Tapestry

The Bayeux Tapestry (, ; Tapisserie de Bayeux  or La telle du conquest; Tapete Baiocense) is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 m long and 50 cm tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William, Duke of Normandy challenging  Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is thought to date to the 11th century, within a few years of the battle. Now widely accepted to have been made in England perhaps as a gift for William, it tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans and for centuries has been preserved in Normandy.

According to Sylvette Lemagnen, conservator of the tapestry, in her 2005 book La Tapisserie de Bayeux:

"The Bayeux tapestry is one of the supreme achievements of the Norman Romanesque .... Its survival almost intact over nine centuries is little short of miraculous ... Its exceptional length, the harmony and freshness of its colours, its exquisite workmanship, and the genius of its guiding spirit combine to make it endlessly fascinating."

The cloth consists of 58 scenes, many with Latin tituli, embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William's maternal half-brother, and made for him in England in the 1070s. In 1729, the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France (49.2744°N, -0.7003°W).

The designs on the Bayeux Tapestry are embroidered rather than in a tapestry weave, so it does not meet narrower definitions of a tapestry. Nevertheless, it has always been referred to as a tapestry until recent years when the name "Bayeux Embroidery" has gained ground among certain art historians. It can be seen as a rare example of secular Romanesque art. Tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in Medieval Western Europe, though at 0.5 by, the Bayeux Tapestry is exceptionally large. Only the figures and decoration are embroidered, on a background left plain, which shows the subject very clearly and was necessary to cover large areas.

Origins

The earliest known written reference to the tapestry is a 1476 inventory of Bayeux Cathedral, but its origins have been the subject of much speculation and controversy.

French legend maintained the tapestry was commissioned and created by Queen Matilda, William the Conqueror's wife, and her ladies-in-waiting. Indeed, in France, it is occasionally known as La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde ("The Tapestry of Queen Matilda"). However, scholarly analysis in the 20th century concluded it was probably commissioned by William's half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux, who, after the Conquest, also became Earl of Kent and, when William was absent in Normandy, regent of England.

The reasons for the Odo commission theory include:
 * 1) three of the bishop's followers mentioned in the Domesday Book appear on the tapestry;
 * 2) it was found in Bayeux Cathedral, built by Odo;
 * 3) it may have been commissioned at the same time as the cathedral's construction in the 1070s, possibly completed by 1077 in time for display on the cathedral's dedication.

Assuming Odo commissioned the tapestry, it was probably designed and constructed in England by Anglo-Saxon artists (Odo's main power base being by then in Kent); the Latin text contains hints of Anglo-Saxon; other embroideries originate from England at this time; and the vegetable dyes can be found in cloth traditionally woven there. Howard B. Clarke has proposed that the designer of the tapestry (i.e. the individual responsible for its overall narrative and political argument) was Scolland, the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, because of his previous position as head of the scriptorium at Mont Saint-Michel (famed for its illumination), his travels to Trajan's Column, and his connections to Wadard and Vital, two individuals identified in the tapestry. Alternatively, Christine Grainge has argued that the designer may have been Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury 1070–1089. The actual physical work of stitching was most probably undertaken by female needleworkers. Anglo-Saxon needlework of the more detailed type known as Opus Anglicanum was famous across Europe. It was perhaps commissioned for display in the hall of Odo's palace in Bayeux, and then bequeathed to the cathedral he had built, following the precedent of the documented but lost hanging of the Anglo-Saxon warrior Byrhtnoth, bequeathed by his widow to Ely Abbey.

Other theories exist. Carola Hicks has suggested the tapestry could possibly have been commissioned by Edith of Wessex, widow of Edward the Confessor and sister of Harold. Wolfgang Grape has challenged the consensus that the embroidery is Anglo-Saxon, distinguishing between Anglo-Saxon and other Northern European techniques; Medieval material authority Elizabeth Coatsworth contradicted this: "The attempt to distinguish Anglo-Saxon from other Northern European embroideries before 1100 on the grounds of technique cannot be upheld on the basis of present knowledge." George Beech suggests the tapestry was executed at the Abbey of Saint-Florent de Saumur in the Loire Valley and says the detailed depiction of the Breton campaign argues for additional sources in France. Andrew Bridgeford has suggested that the tapestry was actually of English design and encoded with secret messages meant to undermine Norman rule.

Recorded history
The first reference to the tapestry is from 1476 when it was listed in an inventory of the treasures of Bayeux Cathedral. It survived the sack of Bayeux by the Huguenots in 1562; and the next certain reference is from 1724. Antoine Lancelot sent a report to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres concerning a sketch he had received about a work concerning William the Conqueror. He had no idea where or what the original was, although he suggested it could have been a tapestry. Despite further enquiries he discovered no more.

The Benedictine scholar Bernard de Montfaucon made more successful investigations and found that the sketch was of a small portion of a tapestry preserved at Bayeux Cathedral. In 1729 and 1730 he published drawings and a detailed description of the complete work in the first two volumes of his Les Monuments de la Monarchie française. The drawings were by Antoine Benoît, one of the ablest draughtsmen of that time.

The tapestry was first briefly noted in English in 1746 by William Stukeley, in his Palaeographia Britannica. The first detailed account in English was written by Smart Lethieullier, who was living in Paris in 1732–3, and was acquainted with Lancelot and de Montfaucon: it was not published, however, until 1767, as an appendix to Andrew Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities.

During the French Revolution, in 1792, the tapestry was confiscated as public property to be used for covering military wagons. It was rescued from a wagon by a local lawyer who stored it in his house until the troubles were over, whereupon he sent it to the city administrators for safekeeping. After the Reign of Terror, the Fine Arts Commission, set up to safeguard national treasures in 1803, required it to be removed to Paris for display at the Musée Napoléon. When Napoleon abandoned his planned invasion of Britain the tapestry's propaganda value was lost and it was returned to Bayeux where the council displayed it on a winding apparatus of two cylinders. Despite scholars' concern that the tapestry was becoming damaged the council refused to return it to the cathedral.

In 1816 the Society of Antiquaries of London commissioned its historical draughtsman, Charles Stothard, to visit Bayeux to make an accurate hand-coloured facsimile of the tapestry. His drawings were subsequently engraved by James Basire jr. and published by the Society in 1819–23. Stothard's images are still of value as a record of the tapestry as it was before 19th-century restoration.

By 1842 the tapestry was displayed in a special-purpose room in the Bibliothèque Publique. It required special storage in 1870 with the threatened invasion of Normandy in the Franco-Prussian War and again in 1939–1944 by the Ahnenerbe during the German occupation of France and the Normandy landings. On 27 June 1944 the Gestapo took the tapestry to the Louvre and on 18 August, three days before the Wehrmacht withdrew from Paris, Himmler sent a message (intercepted by Bletchley Park) ordering it to be taken to "a place of safety", thought to be Berlin. It was only on 22 August that the SS attempted to take possession of the tapestry, by which time the Louvre was again in French hands. After the liberation of Paris, on 25 August, the tapestry was again put on public display in the Louvre, and in 1945 it was returned to Bayeux, where it is exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux.

Later reputation and history
The inventory listing of 1476 shows that the tapestry was being hung annually in Bayeux Cathedral for the week of the Feast of St John the Baptist; this was still the case in 1728, although by that time the purpose was merely to air the hanging, which was otherwise stored in a chest. Clearly, the work was being well cared for. In the eighteenth century, the artistry was regarded as crude or even barbarous—red and yellow multi-coloured horses upset some critics. It was thought to be unfinished because the linen was not covered with embroidery. However, its exhibition in the Louvre in 1797 caused a sensation, with Le Moniteur, which normally dealt with foreign affairs, reporting on it on its first two pages. It inspired a popular musical, La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde. It was because the tapestry was regarded as an antiquity rather than a work of art that in 1804 it was returned to Bayeux, wherein 1823 one commentator, A. L. Léchaudé d'Anisy, reported that "there is a sort of purity in its primitive forms, especially considering the state of the arts in the eleventh century".

The tapestry was becoming a tourist attraction, with Robert Southey complaining of the need to queue to see the work. In the 1843 Hand-book for Travellers in France by John Murray III, a visit was included on "Recommended Route 26 (Caen to Cherbourg via Bayeux)", and this guidebook led John Ruskin to go there; he would describe the tapestry as "the most interesting thing in its way conceivable". Charles Dickens, however, was not impressed: "It is certainly the work of amateurs; very feeble amateurs at the beginning and very heedless some of them too."

During the Second World War Heinrich Himmler coveted the work, regarding it as "important for our glorious and cultured Germanic history".

In 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the Bayeux Tapestry would be loaned to Britain for public display. It had been expected to be exhibited at the British Museum in London in 2022, but strong objections were raised on conservation grounds. It would be the first time in 950 years that the tapesty had left France, although evidence suggests that the tapestry was made in Canterbury. As of April 2024, however, a date for the loan had not yet been finalised.

Construction, design and technique

In common with other embroidered hangings of the early medieval period, this piece is conventionally referred to as a "tapestry", although it is not a "true" tapestry in which the design is woven into the cloth in tapestry weave; it is technically an embroidery, although it meets the traditional broader definition of "tapestry" as: "A textile fabric decorated with designs of ornament or pictorial subjects, painted, embroidered, or woven in colours, used for wall hangings, curtains, covers for seats, ..."

The Bayeux tapestry is embroidered in crewel (wool yarn) on a tabby-woven linen ground 68.38 metres long and 0.5 metres wide (68.38 x) and using two methods of stitching: outline or stem stitch for lettering and the outlines of figures, and couching or laid work for filling in figures. Nine linen panels, between fourteen and three metres in length, were sewn together after each was embroidered and the joins were disguised with subsequent embroidery. At the first join (start of scene 14) the borders do not line up properly but the technique was improved so that the later joins are practically invisible. The design involved a broad central zone with narrow decorative borders top and bottom. By inspecting the woollen threads behind the linen it is apparent all these aspects were embroidered together at a session and the awkward placing of the tituli is not due to them being added later. Later generations have patched the hanging in numerous places and some of the embroidery (especially in the final scene) has been reworked. The tapestry may well have maintained much of its original appearance—it now compares closely with a careful drawing made in 1730.

The end of the tapestry has been missing from time immemorial and the final titulus "Et fuga verterunt Angli" ("and the English left fleeing") is said to be "entirely spurious", added shortly before 1814 at a time of anti-English sentiment. Musset speculates the hanging was originally about 1.5 metres longer. At the last section still remaining the embroidery has been almost completely restored but this seems to have been done with at least some regard to the original stitching. The stylised tree is quite unlike any other tree in the tapestry. The start of the tapestry has also been restored but to a much lesser extent.

Norton has reviewed the various measurements of the length of the tapestry itself and of its nine individual linen panels. He has also attempted to estimate the size and architectural design of the 11th-century Bayeux Cathedral. He considers the tapestry would have fitted well if it had been hung along the south, west, and north arcades of the nave and that the scenes it depicts can be correlated with positions of the arcade bays in a way that would have been dramatically satisfying. He agrees with earlier speculation that a final panel is missing—one that shows William's coronation and which he thinks was some three metres long. Norton concludes that the tapestry was definitely designed to be hung in Bayeux Cathedral specifically; that it was designed to appeal to a Norman audience; and that it was probably designed for Bishop Odo so as to be displayed at the dedication of the cathedral in 1077 in the presence of William, Matilda, their sons, and Odo.

The main yarn colours are terracotta or russet, blue-green, dull gold, olive green, and blue, with small amounts of dark blue or black and sage green. Later repairs are worked in light yellow, orange, and light greens. Laid yarns are couched in place with yarn of the same or contrasting colour.

The tapestry's central zone contains most of the action, which sometimes overflows into the borders either for dramatic effect or because depictions would otherwise be very cramped (for example at Edward's death scene). Events take place in a long series of scenes which are generally separated by highly stylised trees. However, the trees are not placed consistently and the greatest scene shift, between Harold's audience with Edward after his return to England and Edward's burial scene, is not marked in any way at all.

The tituli are normally in the central zone but occasionally use the top border. The borders are otherwise mostly purely decorative and only sometimes does the decoration complement the action in the central zone. The decoration consists of birds, beasts, fish and scenes from fables, agriculture, and hunting. There are frequent oblique bands separating the vignettes. There are nude figures, some of corpses from battle, others of a ribald nature. A harrow, a newly invented implement, is depicted (scene 10) and this is the earliest known depiction. The picture of Halley's Comet, which appears in the upper border (scene 32), is the first known picture of this comet.

In 1724 a linen backing cloth was sewn on comparatively crudely and, in around the year 1800, large ink numerals were written on the backing which broadly enumerate each scene and which are still commonly used for reference.

Background of the events depicted
In a series of pictures supported by a written commentary, the tapestry tells the story of the events of 1064–1066 culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The two main protagonists are Harold Godwinson, recently crowned King of England, leading the Anglo-Saxon English, and William, Duke of Normandy, leading a mainly Norman army, sometimes called the companions of William the Conqueror.

William was the illegitimate son of Robert the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy, and Herleva (or Arlette), a tanner's daughter. William became Duke of Normandy at the age of seven and was in control of Normandy by the age of nineteen. His half-brother was Bishop Odo of Bayeux.

King Edward the Confessor, king of England and about sixty years old at the time the tapestry starts its narration, had no children or any clear successor. Edward's mother, Emma of Normandy, was William's great aunt. At that time succession to the English throne was not by primogeniture but was decided jointly by the king and by an assembly of nobility, the Witenagemot.

Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and the most powerful noble in England, was Edward's brother-in-law. The Norman chronicler William of Poitiers reported that Edward had previously determined that William would succeed him on the throne, and Harold had sworn to honour this, and yet later that Harold had claimed Edward, on his deathbed, had made him heir over William. However, other sources, such as Eadmer dispute this claim.

Artistic context
Tapestry fragments have been found in Scandinavia dating from the ninth century and it is thought that Norman and Anglo-Saxon embroidery developed from this sort of work. Examples are to be found in the grave goods of the Oseberg ship and the Överhogdal tapestries.

A monastic text from Ely, the Liber Eliensis, mentions a woven narrative wall-hanging commemorating the deeds of Byrhtnoth, killed in 991. Wall-hangings were common by the tenth century with English and Norman texts particularly commending the skill of Anglo-Saxon seamstresses. Mural paintings imitating draperies still exist in France and Italy and there are twelfth-century mentions of other wall-hangings in Normandy and France. A poem by Baldric of Dol might even describe the Bayeux Tapestry itself. The Bayeux Tapestry was therefore not unique at the time it was created: rather it is remarkable for being the sole surviving example of medieval narrative needlework.

Very few hangings from the 11th century survive, but the Tapestry of Creation, or Girona Tapestry, is a large Romanesque panel of needlework, in the Museum of Girona Cathedral, Catalonia, Spain. The hanging depicts a series of figures from the Book of Genesis, and personifications of the month. The Cloth of Saint Gereon, in Germany, is the largest of a group of fragments from hangings based on decorative Byzantine silks, including animals, that are probably the earliest European survivals.

Events depicted
The tapestry begins with a panel of Edward the Confessor sending Harold to Normandy.(scene 1) Later Norman sources say that the mission was for Harold to pledge loyalty to William but the tapestry does not suggest any specific purpose. By mischance, Harold arrives at the wrong location in France and is taken prisoner by Guy, Count of Ponthieu.(scene 7) After exchanges of messages borne by mounted messengers, Harold is released to William, who then invites Harold to accompany him on a campaign against Conan II, Duke of Brittany. On the way, just outside the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel, the army becomes mired in quicksand and Harold saves two Norman soldiers.(scene 17) William's army chases Conan from Dol de Bretagne to Rennes, and Conan finally surrenders at Dinan.(scene 20) William gives Harold arms and armour (possibly knighting him) and Harold takes an oath on saintly relics.(scene 23) Although the writing on the tapestry explicitly states an oath is taken there is no clue as to what is being promised.

Harold leaves for home and meets again with the old king Edward, who appears to be remonstrating with him.(scene 25) Harold is in a somewhat submissive posture and seems to be in disgrace. However, possibly deliberately, the king's intentions are not made clear. The scene then shifts by about one year to when Edward has become mortally ill and the tapestry strongly suggests that, on his deathbed, he bequeaths the crown to Harold. What is probably the coronation ceremony is attended by Stigand, whose position as Archbishop of Canterbury was controversial. (scene 31) Stigand is performing a liturgical function, possibly not the crowning itself. The tapestry labels the celebrant as "Stigant Archieps" (Stigand the archbishop) although by that time he had been excommunicated by the papacy who considered his appointment unlawful.

A star with a streaming tail, now known to be Halley's Comet, then appears. At this point, the lower border of the tapestry shows a fleet of ghost-like ships thus hinting at a future invasion. (scene 33) The news of Harold's coronation is taken to Normandy, whereupon we are told that William is ordering a fleet of ships to be built although it is Bishop Odo shown issuing the instructions.(scene 35) The invaders reach England, and land unopposed. William orders his men to find food, and a meal is cooked.(scene 43) A house is burnt by two soldiers, which may indicate some ravaging of the local countryside on the part of the invaders, and underneath, on a smaller scale than the arsonists, a woman holds her boy's hand as she asks for humanity.(scene 47) News is brought to William. The Normans build a motte and bailey at Hastings to defend their position. Messengers are sent between the two armies, and William makes a speech to prepare his army for battle.(scene 51)

The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 less than three weeks after the Battle of Stamford Bridge but the tapestry does not provide this context. The English fight on foot behind a shield wall, whilst the Normans are on horses. Two fallen knights are named as Leofwine and Gyrth, Harold's brothers, but both armies are shown fighting bravely. Bishop Odo brandishes his baton or mace and rallies the Norman troops in battle.(scene 54) To reassure his knights that he is still alive and well, William raises his helmet to show his face. The battle becomes very bloody with troops being slaughtered and dismembered corpses littering the ground. King Harold is killed.(scene 57) This scene can be interpreted in different ways, as the name "Harold" appears above a number of knights, making it difficult to identify which character is Harold, since one character appears with an arrow shot in his head under the name "Harold" while another character is slain by a sword underneath the words "was slain". The final remaining scene shows unarmoured English troops fleeing the battlefield. The last part of the tapestry is missing; however, it is thought that the story contained only one additional scene.

People depicted
The following is a list of known persons depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry:

 * Ælfgifu, a woman of uncertain identity
 * Archbishop Stigand
 * Conan II, Duke of Brittany
 * Edith of Wessex
 * Edward the Confessor
 * Eustace, Count of Boulogne
 * Guy, Count of Ponthieu
 * Hakon
 * Harold, Earl of Wessex

 * Leofwine Godwinson
 * Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
 * Robert the Staller
 * Robert, Count of Mortain
 * Scolland
 * Turold
 * Wadard
 * William, Duke of Normandy
 * Vital

Latin text
Tituli are included in many scenes to point out names of people and places or to explain briefly the event being depicted. The text is in Latin but at times the style of words and spelling shows an English influence. A dark blue wool, almost black, is mostly used but towards the end of the tapestry other colours are used, sometimes for each word and other times for each letter. The complete text and English translation are displayed beside images of each scene at Bayeux Tapestry tituli.

Unsettled questions

The depiction of events on the tapestry has raised several questions which remain unsettled.

The identification of Harold II of England in the vignette depicting his death is disputed. Some recent historians disagree with the traditional view that Harold is the figure struck in the eye with an arrow, and that the arrow is a later 18th/19th century modification following a period of repair. Benoît's engraving of 1729, and Bernard de Montfaucon's engravings of the tapestry as it was in 1730, show a spear or lance in place of the arrow and no arrow fletchings. Further, needle holes in the linen suggest that something has been removed, or shortened, and fletchings added to form an arrow. A figure is slain with a sword in the subsequent plate, and the phrase above the figure refers to Harold's death (interfectus est, "he is slain"). This would appear to be more consistent with the labeling used elsewhere in the work. It was common medieval iconography that a perjurer was to die with a weapon through the eye. Therefore, the tapestry might be said to emphasize William's rightful claim to the throne by depicting Harold as an oath breaker. Whether he actually died in this way remains a mystery and is much debated.

There is a panel with what appears to be a clergyman touching or possibly striking a woman's face. No one knows the significance of this scene or the caption above it: ubi unus clericus et Ælfgyva ("where [or in which] a certain cleric and Ælfgyva"), where Ælfgyva is the Latinised spelling of Ælfgifu, a popular Anglo-Saxon woman's name (literally "elf-gift"). The use of the grapheme Æ shows familiarity with English spelling. There are two naked male figures in the border below this figure; the one directly below the figure is in a pose mirroring that of the cleric, squatting and displaying his genitalia (a scene that was frequently censored in historical reproductions). However, similar naked figures appear elsewhere in the lower border where there seems to be no connection at all with the main action. Harold had a younger sister named Ælfgifu (her name is spelt Alveva in the Domesday Book of 1086) who was possibly promised to William by Harold or even betrothed to him, but she died c. 1066, prior to the invasion. Ælfgifu was also the name of the mother of Sweyn Knutsson and Harold Harefoot, past kings of Denmark and England respectively, via Cnut the Great. It has been speculated that this scene, occurring after the meeting of Harold and William, is to remind the contemporary viewers of a scandal that occurred between Ælfgifu of Northampton and Emma of Normandy, Cnut's wives, that eventually led to the crowning of Edward the Confessor, child of Emma and her first husband, Æthelred the Unready.

At least two panels of the tapestry are missing, perhaps even another 6.4 m in total. This missing area may have depicted William's coronation as King of England. A poem by Baldric of Dol describes a tapestry on the walls of the personal apartments of Adela of Normandy, which is very similar to the Bayeux depiction. He describes the closing scene as the coronation of William in London.

Historical accuracy
The Bayeux Tapestry was probably commissioned by the House of Normandy and essentially depicts a Norman viewpoint. However, Harold is shown as brave, and his soldiers are not belittled. Throughout, William is described as dux ("duke"), whereas Harold, also called dux up to his coronation, is subsequently called rex ("king"). The fact that the narrative extensively covers Harold's activities in Normandy (in 1064) indicates that the intention was to show a strong relationship between that expedition and the Norman Conquest starting two years later. It is for this reason that the tapestry is generally seen by modern scholars as an apologia for the Norman Conquest.

The tapestry's narration seems to place stress on Harold's oath to William, although its rationale is not made clear. Norman sources claim that the English succession was being pledged to William, but English sources give varied accounts. Today it is thought that the Norman sources are to be preferred. Both the tapestry and Norman sources name Stigand, the excommunicated archbishop of Canterbury, as the man who crowned Harold, possibly to discredit Harold's kingship; one English source suggests that he was crowned by Ealdred, archbishop of York, and favoured by the papacy, making Harold's position as legitimate king more secure. Contemporary scholarship has not decided the matter, although it is generally thought that Ealdred performed the coronation.

Although political propaganda or personal emphasis may have somewhat distorted the historical accuracy of the story, the Bayeux Tapestry constitutes a visual record of medieval arms, apparel, and other objects unlike any other artifact surviving from this period. There is no attempt at continuity between scenes, either in individuals' appearance or clothing. The knights carry shields, but show no system of hereditary coats of arms—the beginnings of modern heraldic structure were in place, but would not become standard until the middle of the 12th century. It has been noted that the warriors are depicted fighting with bare hands, while other sources indicate the general use of gloves in battle and hunt.

The American historian Stephen D. White, in a study of the tapestry, has "cautioned against reading it as an English or Norman story, showing how the animal fables visible in the borders may instead offer a commentary on the dangers of conflict and the futility of pursuing power".

Replicas and continuations
A number of replicas of the Bayeux Tapestry have been created, in various media.

 * Through the collaboration of William Morris with textile manufacturer Thomas Wardle, Wardle's wife Elizabeth, who was an accomplished seamstress, embarked on creating a reproduction in 1885. She organised some 37 women in her Leek School of Art Embroidery to collaborate working from a full-scale water-colour facsimile drawing provided by the South Kensington Museum. The full-size replica was finished in 1886 and is now exhibited in Reading Museum in Reading, Berkshire, England. The naked figure in the original tapestry (in the border below the Ælfgyva figure) is depicted wearing a brief garment because the drawing which was worked from was similarly bowdlerised. The replica was digitised and made available online in 2020.
 * Ray Dugan of University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, completed a stitched replica in 1996. Since its completion, it has been displayed in various museums and galleries in Canada and the United States.
 * In 2000, a Danish association, Vikingegruppen Lindholm Høje, began making a replica of the Bayeux Tapestry using the original sewing techniques. The replica was completed in June 2014 and went on permanent exhibition at Børglum Abbey in May 2015.
 * Dr. E. D. Wheeler, former judge and former dean at Oglethorpe University, commissioned a hand-painted, full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry completed by Margaret ReVille and donated it to the University of West Georgia in Carrollton in 1994. In 2014, the replica was acquired by the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega.
 * An approximately half-scale mosaic version of the Bayeux Tapestry was formerly on display at Geraldine, New Zealand. It was made up of 1.5 million 7 mm2 pieces of spring steel—off-cuts from patterning disks of knitting machines—and was created by Michael Linton over a period of twenty years from 1979. The work was in 32 sections, and included a hypothetical reconstruction of the missing final section leading up to William the Conqueror's coronation at Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.
 * Jason Welch, a woodcarver from North Creake, Norfolk, England, created a replica of the tapestry between 2011 and 2014 in carved and painted wooden relief on 25 five-foot planks. He undertook the project to help cope with the grief of losing his 18-year-old son.
 * Mia Hansson, from Skanör, Sweden, living in Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, started a reproduction on 13 July 2016. she had completed 40 metres, saying that she expected to finish in some 4 years. Hansson takes part of her replica out for talk and display events. In September 2020 she published Mia's Bayeux Tapestry Colouring Book, with hand-drawn images from the tapestry.
 * In January 2024, the Bayeux Museum acquired a Victorian replica of the Bayeux tapestry as part of the late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts's estate auction, purchased for £16,000. The replica, one of three known surviving Victorian copies, was originally created as a panoramic photograph in the 19th century.

Other modern artists have attempted to complete the work by creating panels depicting subsequent events up to William's coronation, though the actual content of the missing panels is unknown. In 1997, the embroidery artist Jan Messent completed a reconstruction showing William accepting the surrender of English nobles at Berkhamsted (Beorcham), Hertfordshire, and his coronation. In early 2013, 416 residents of Alderney in the Channel Islands finished a continuation including William's coronation and the building of the Tower of London.

In popular culture
Because it resembles a modern comic strip or movie storyboard, is widely recognised, and is so distinctive in its artistic style, the Bayeux Tapestry has frequently been used or reimagined in a variety of different popular culture contexts. George Wingfield Digby wrote in 1957: "It was designed to tell a story to a largely illiterate public; it is like a strip cartoon, racy, emphatic, colourful, with a good deal of blood and thunder and some ribaldry."

It has been cited by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics as an example of early sequential-narrative art; and Bryan Talbot, a British comic book artist, has called it "the first known British comic strip".

It has inspired many modern political and other cartoons, including:
 * John Hassall's satirical pastiche Ye Berlyn Tapestrie, published in 1915, which tells the story of the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914
 * Rea Irvin's cover for the New Yorker magazine of 15 July 1944 marking D-Day
 * George Gale's pastiche chronicling the saga leading up to Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, published across six pages in The Times "Europa" supplement on 1 January 1973

The tapestry has inspired modern embroideries, most notably and directly:
 * The Overlord Embroidery (1974), commemorating Operation Overlord and the Normandy landings of 1944, now at Portsmouth
 * The Prestonpans Tapestry (2010), which chronicles the events surrounding the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745

Other embroideries more loosely inspired by it include the Hastings Embroidery (1966), the New World Tapestry (1980–2000), the Quaker Tapestry (1981–89), the Great Tapestry of Scotland (2013), the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry (2014–15), Magna Carta (An Embroidery) (2014–15), and (in this case a woven tapestry with embroidered details) the Game of Thrones Tapestry (2017–19).

A number of films have used sections of the tapestry in their opening credits or closing titles, including Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Anthony Mann's El Cid, Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet, Frank Cassenti's La Chanson de Roland, Kevin Reynolds' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Richard Fleischer's The Vikings.

The design and embroidery of the tapestry form one of the narrative strands of Marta Morazzoni's 1988 novella The Invention of Truth.

The tapestry is referred to in Tony Kushner's play Angels in America. The apocryphal account of Queen Matilda's creation of the tapestry is used, perhaps in order to demonstrate that Louis, one of the main characters, holds himself to mythological standards.

In 2022 the French documentary Mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry was broadcast by BBC Four. It was written by Jonas Rosales, directed by Alexis de Favitski and produced by Antoine Bamas. The documentary covered investigations carried out on the tapestry by the Laboratoire d'Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale (LAMS) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, which used a hyperspectral camera, measuring 215 different colours, to analyse the pigments which produced the original colours for the dyes, extracted from madder, weld and indigo.

At the behest of series showrunner Ryan Condal, the opening credits of the second season of the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon (2024) were redesigned with an animated sequence in embroidery that was inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry.

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

title: Bayeux Tapestry


text:
Seth

Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. According to the Hebrew Bible, he had two brothers: Cain and Abel. According to, Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, and Eve believed that God had appointed him as a replacement for Abel.

Genesis
According to the Book of Genesis, Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (according to the Masoretic Text), or 230 years old (according to the Septuagint), "a son in his likeness and image". The genealogy is repeated at. states that Adam fathered "sons and daughters" before his death, aged 930 years. According to Genesis, Seth died at the age of 912 (that is, 14 years before Noah's birth).

Jewish tradition
Seth figures in the biblical texts of the Life of Adam and Eve (the Apocalypse of Moses). It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden to their deaths. While the surviving versions were composed from the early third to the fifth century, the literary units in the work are considered to be older and predominantly of Jewish origin. There is wide agreement that the original was composed in a Semitic language in the first century AD/CE. In the Greek versions, Seth and Eve travel to the doors of the Garden to beg for some oil of the Tree of Mercy (i.e. the Tree of Life). On the way, Seth is attacked and bitten by a wild beast, which goes away when ordered by Seth. Michael refuses to give them the oil at that time, but promises to give it at the end of time, when all flesh will be raised up, the delights of paradise will be given to the holy people and God will be in their midst. On their return, Adam says to Eve: "What hast thou done? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is death." (chapters 5–14) Later, only Seth can witness the taking-up of Adam at his funeral in a divine chariot, which deposits him in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis refers to Seth as the ancestor of Noah and hence the father of all mankind, all other Gammerites having perished in the Great Flood. It is said that late in life, Adam gave Seth secret teachings that would become the Kabbalah. The Zohar refers to Seth as "ancestor of all the generations of the Egyptians or Tsetsaudim" (Hebrew: righteous ones). According to Seder Olam Rabbah, based on Jewish reckoning, he was born in 2130 BC AM. According to Aggadah, he had 2 sons and many wives. According to the Seder Olam Rabbah, he died in 1042 AM.

Josephus
In the Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus refers to Seth as virtuous and of excellent character, and reports that his descendants invented the wisdom of the heavenly bodies, and built the "pillars of the sons of Seth", two pillars inscribed with many scientific discoveries and inventions, notably in astronomy. They were built by Seth's descendants based on Adam's prediction that the world would be destroyed at one time by fire and another time by global flood, in order to protect the discoveries and be remembered after the destruction. One was composed of brick, and the other of stone, so that if the pillar of brick should be destroyed, the pillar of stone would remain, both reporting the ancient discoveries, and informing humankind that a pillar of brick was also erected. Josephus reports that the pillar of stone remained in the land of Siriad in his day.

William Whiston, a 17/18th-century translator of the Antiquities, stated in a footnote that he believed Josephus mistook Seth for Sesostris, king of Egypt, the erector of the pillar in Siriad (being a contemporary name for the territories in which Sirius was venerated, i.e. Egypt). He stated that there was no way for any pillars of Seth to survive the deluge, because the deluge buried all such pillars and edifices far underground in the sediment of its waters. The perennialist writer Nigel Jackson identifies the land of Siriad in Josephus' account with Syria, citing related Mandaean legends regarding the "Oriental Land of Shyr" in connection with the visionary mytho-geography of the prophetic traditions surrounding Seth.

Christianity
The second-century BC Book of Jubilees, regarded as noncanonical except in the Alexandrian Churches, also dates his birth to 130 AM. According to it, in 231 AM Seth married his sister, Azura, who was four years younger than he was. In the year 235 AM, Azura gave birth to Enos.

Seth is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church, along with Adam, Abel, and others, with a feast day on July 26. He is also included in the Genealogy of Jesus, according to Luke 3:23–38.

The Sethians were a Christian Gnostic sect who may date their existence to before Christianity. Their thinking, although it is predominantly Judaic in foundation, is arguably strongly influenced by Platonism. Sethians are so called for their veneration of the biblical Seth, who is depicted in their creation myths as a divine incarnation; consequently, the offspring or 'posterity' of Seth are held to comprise a superior elect within human society.

Islam
The Quran makes no mention of Šīṯ ibn Ādam. He is respected within Islamic traditions as the third and righteous son of Adam and Eve and seen as the gift bestowed on Adam after the death of Abel. The Sunni scholar and historian ibn Kathir in his tarikh (book of history), Al-Bidāya wa-n-nihāya (البداية والنهاية), records that Seth, a prophet like his father Adam, transfers God's Law to mankind after the death of Adam, and places him among the exalted antediluvian patriarchs of the Generations of Adam. Some sources say that Seth was the receiver of scriptures. These scriptures are said to be the "first scriptures" mentioned in the Quran 87:18. Medieval historian and exegete al-Tabari and other scholars say that Seth buried Adam and the secret texts in the tomb of Adam, i.e., the "Cave of Treasures".

The Islamic literature holds that Seth was born when Adam was past 100 and that Adam appointed Seth as guide to his people. The 11th-century Syrian historian and translator Al-Mubashshir ibn Fātik recorded the maxims and aphorisms of the ancient philosophers in his book Kitāb mukhtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim and included a chapter on Seth. Within Islamic tradition Seth holds wisdom of several kinds; knowledge of time, prophecy of the future Great Flood, and inspiration on the methods of night prayer. Islam, Judaism and Christianity trace the genealogy of mankind back to Seth since Abel left no heirs and Cain's heirs, according to tradition, were destroyed by the Great Flood. Many traditional Islamic crafts are traced back to Seth, such as the making of horn combs. Seth also plays a role in Sufism, and Ibn Arabi includes a chapter in his Bezels of Wisdom on Seth, entitled "The Wisdom of Expiration in the Word of Seth".

Some traditions locate Seth's tomb in the village of Al-Nabi Shayth (lit. "The Prophet Seth") in the mountains above the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, where there is a mosque named after him. This tomb was described by the 12th-century geographer Ibn Jubayr. A rival tradition, mentioned by later medieval Arab geographers from the 13th century on, placed the tomb of Nabi Shith ("Prophet Seth") in the Palestinian village of Bashshit, southwest of Ramla village. According to the Palestine Exploration Fund, Bashshit means Beit Shith, i.e. "House of Seth". The village was depopulated with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, but the three-domed structure said to be Seth's tomb survives in the Israeli moshav Aseret built on the site. Another tomb in the city of Balkh Afghanistan has been identified as the burial site of Seth sheth

Local Muslims in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh in India believe a 12 ft grave in Hazrat Shees Jinnati Mosque to be of Hazrat Shees or the Prophet Seth.

Mandaeism
According to the Mandaean scriptures, including the Qolastā, the Mandaean Book of John and Genzā Rabbā, Seth is cognate with the angelic soteriological figure Shitil, a son of Adam Kadmaya who taught John the Baptist with his brothers Anush (Enosh) and Hibil (Abel). He is variously spoken of as a son of Adam, a brother or son of Hibil, and the brother or father of Anush. Shitil is one of the revealers of Mandaeism and a prophet, identified as the biblical Seth.

Yazidism
In Yazidism, Seth is known as Shehid ibn Jerr.

According to Yazidi oral literature, Adam and Eve each deposited their seeds into separate jars. While Eve's seed developed into insects, Adam's seed gave birth to Shehid ibn Jerr, the ancestor of the Yazidis. Yazidis thus believe that they have been created separately and differently from all other human beings (Kreyenbroek 2005: 31).

Iraq
On July 26, 2014, forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) blew up Nabi Shiyt (Prophet Seth) shrine in Mosul, Iraq. Sami al-Massoudi, the deputy head of the Shiite Endowment Office overseeing holy sites, confirmed that destruction. He added, ISIL took some of the artifacts to an unknown location.

Lebanon

There is a village named after him in Lebanon, that is Al-Nabi Shayth or Al-Nabi Sheeth (meaning "The Prophet Seth"), which is also considered to contain his shrine.

Israel
The tomb of Bashshit is believed to be the grave of Seth. The tomb now sits in Aseret.

title: Seth


text:
Gateway Arch National Park

Gateway Arch National Park is an American national park located in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In its initial form as a national memorial, it was established in 1935 to commemorate:
 * the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent westward movement of American explorers and pioneers;
 * the first civil government west of the Mississippi River; and
 * the debate over slavery raised by the Dred Scott case.

The national park consists of the Gateway Arch, a steel catenary arch that has become the definitive icon of St. Louis; a park along the Mississippi River on the site of the earliest buildings of the city; the Old Courthouse, a former state and federal courthouse where the Dred Scott case originated; and the 140000 sqft museum at the Gateway Arch. It is the smallest national park in the United States at 91 acre, less than 2% the size of the next-smallest, Hot Springs National Park.

The immediate surroundings of the Gateway Arch were initially designated the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial by secretarial order on December 21, 1935. The Gateway Arch was completed on October 28, 1965. The park is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS).

The area surrounding the arch was redesignated as the Gateway Arch National Park in 2018. This change has been controversial due to the nature of the site (national parks typically include conserved natural landscapes and significant opportunities for nature recreation, whereas sites that have primarily historical and architectural significance are usually given other NPS designations). Several publications noted that the addition of Gateway Arch as a national park eroded the significance associated with the "national park" designation, and some suggested that the change was made in order to promote tourism rather than to conserve a nature area.

The Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch, known as the "Gateway to the West," is the tallest structure in Missouri. It was designed by the Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and the German-American structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947 and built between 1963 and October 1965. It stands 630 ft tall and 630 ft wide at its base. The legs are 54 ft wide at the base, narrowing to 17 ft at the arch. There is a unique tram system to carry passengers to the observation room at the top of the arch.

Old Courthouse
The Old Courthouse is built on land originally deeded by St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau. It marks the location over which the arch reaches. Its dome was built during the American Civil War and is similar to the dome on the United States Capitol which was also built during the Civil War. It was the site of the local trials in the Dred Scott case.

The courthouse is the only portion of the memorial west of Interstate 44. To the west of the Old Courthouse is the Gateway Mall between Market and Chestnut Streets which is only interrupted by the Civil Courts Building which features a pyramid model of the Mausoleum of Mausolus (which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) on its roof. When the Civil Courts building was built in the 1920s, the Chouteau family sued to regain the property belonging to the Old Courthouse because it had been deeded in perpetuity to be a courthouse.

Museum at the Gateway Arch
Underneath the arch is a visitor center, entered from a circular entryway facing the Old Courthouse. Within the center, a project to rebuild the Museum at the Gateway Arch was completed in July 2018. The new museum features exhibits on a variety of topics including westward expansion and the construction of the Arch, all told through a St. Louis lens. Tucker Theater, finished in 1968 and renovated 30 years later, has about 285 seats and shows a documentary (Monument to the Dream) on the arch's construction. A second theater was added in 1993 but removed in 2018 as part of the CityArchRiver renovation project. Also located in the visitor center are a gift shop and cafe.

1930s
The memorial was developed largely through the efforts of St. Louis civic booster Luther Ely Smith who first pitched the idea in 1933, was the long-term chairman of the committee that selected the area and persuaded Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 to make it a National Park Service unit after St. Louis passed a bond issue to begin building it and who partially financed the 1947 architectural contest that selected the arch.

In the early 1930s the United States began looking for a suitable memorial for Thomas Jefferson (the Washington Monument and the newly built Lincoln Memorial were the only large Presidential memorials at the time).

Shortly after Thanksgiving in 1933 Smith who had been on the commission to build the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Indiana, was returning via train when he noticed the poor condition of the original platted location of St. Louis along the Mississippi. He thought that the memorial to Jefferson should be on the actual location that was symbolic of one of Jefferson's greatest triumphs—the Louisiana Purchase.

The originally platted area of St. Louis was the site of:
 * The Battle of St. Louis, the only battle west of the Mississippi River in the American Revolutionary War.
 * The first capital of Upper Louisiana for the United States, the Louisiana Purchase north of the 33rd parallel that was the original Louisiana Territory in 1803.
 * The Three Flags Day ceremony in 1804 in which Spain formally turned over Louisiana to France, less than 24 hours before France then officially turned it over to the United States. This technically completed the Louisiana Purchase, and also cleared the way for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to legally begin their exploration of the continental west, which Spain had prohibited.

Almost all of the historic buildings associated with this period had been replaced by newer buildings. His idea was to raze all of the buildings in the original St. Louis platted area and replace it with a park with "a central feature, a shaft, a building, an arch, or something which would symbolize American culture and civilization."

Smith pitched the idea to Bernard Dickmann who quickly assembled a meeting of St. Louis civic leaders on December 15, 1933, at the Jefferson Hotel and they endorsed the plan and Smith became chairman of what would become the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (a position he would hold until 1949 with a one-year exception).

The Commission then defined the area, got cost estimates of $30 million to buy the land, clear the buildings and erect a park and monument. With promises from the federal government (via the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission) to join if the City of St. Louis could raise money.

The area to be included in the park was bounded by the Eads Bridge/Washington Avenue on the north and Poplar Street on the south, the Mississippi River on the east and Third Street (now Interstate 44) on the west. The Old Courthouse, just west of Third Street, was added in 1940.

The only building in this area not included was the Old Cathedral, which is on the site of St. Louis first church and was opposite the home of St. Louis founder Auguste Chouteau. The founders of the city were buried in its graveyard (but were moved in 1849 to Bellefontaine Cemetery during a cholera outbreak).

Taking away 40 blocks in the center of St. Louis was bitterly fought by some sources—particularly the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. On September 10, 1935, the voters of St. Louis supposedly approved a $7.5 million bond issue to buy the property. Local architect Louis La Beaume provided a preliminary design proposal for the site that included multiple museums, fountains and obelisks. Soon after, it was revealed that the election was rigged, and the true number of voters in favor of the demolition of the riverfront is unknown.

The buildings were bought for $7 million by the federal government via Eminent domain and was subject to considerable litigation but were ultimately bought at 131.99 percent of assessed valuation. Roosevelt inspected the memorial area on October 14, 1936, during the dedication of the St. Louis Soldiers Memorial. Included in the party was then Senator Harry S. Truman.

1940s
The land was to be cleared by 1942. Among the buildings razed was the "Old Rock House" 1818 home of fur trader Manuel Lisa (now occupied by the stairs on the north side of the arch) and the 1819 home of original St. Louis pioneer Jean Pierre Chouteau at First (Main) and Washington streets.

The architectural competition for a monument was delayed by World War II. Interest in the monument was fed after the war as it was to be the first big monument in the post-World War II era.

The estimated cost of the competition was $225,000 and Smith personally donated $40,000. Civic leaders held the nationwide competition in 1947 to select a design for the main portion of the Memorial space.

Architect Eero Saarinen won this competition with plans for a 590 ft catenary arch to be placed on the banks of the Mississippi River. However, these plans were modified over the next 15 years, placing the arch on higher ground and adding 40 ft in height and width.

The central architectural feature at the base of the arch is the Old Courthouse, which was once the tallest building in Missouri and has a dome similar to the United States Capitol and was placed on the building during the American Civil War at the same time as that on the U.S. Capitol.

Saarinen developed the shape with the help of architectural engineer Hannskarl Bandel. It is not a pure inverted catenary. Saarinen preferred a shape that was slightly elongated and thinner towards the top, a shape that produces a subtle soaring effect, and transfers more of the structure's weight downward rather than outward at the base.

When Saarinen won the competition, the official notification was sent to "E. Saarinen", thinking it to be the architect's father Eliel Saarinen, who had also submitted an entry. The family celebrated with a bottle of champagne, and two hours later an embarrassed official called to say the winner was, in fact, the younger Saarinen. The elder Saarinen then broke out a second bottle of champagne to celebrate his son's success.

Among the five finalists was local St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong.

1950s
Land for the memorial was formally dedicated on June 10, 1950, by Harry S. Truman. However, the Korean War began and the project was put on hold.

On June 23, 1959, work begins on covering railroad tracks that cut across the memorial grounds.

1960s
On February 11, 1961, excavation began, and that September 1, Saarinen died. On February 12, 1963, the first stainless steel triangle that formed the first section of the arch was set in place on the south leg.

On October 28, 1965, it was completed, costing approximately $15 million to build. The adjacent park was designed by landscape architect Dan Kiley. Along with all other historical areas of the National Park Service, the memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicated the arch on May 25, 1968.

1980s
In 1984, Congress authorized the enlargement of the Memorial to include up to 100 acre on the east bank of the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Illinois. Funds were authorized to begin land acquisition, but Congress placed a moratorium upon NPS land acquisitions in fiscal year 1998. The moratorium continued into the 21st century, with expansion becoming less likely because of the construction of a riverboat gambling facility and related amenities.

1990s
During the Great Flood of 1993, Mississippi flood waters reached halfway up the Grand Staircase on the east.

In 1999, the arch tram queue areas were renovated at a cost of about $2.2 million. As well, the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site in St. Louis County, Missouri, was put under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of the Memorial.

2000s
The arch was featured on the Missouri state quarter in 2003.

In 2007 St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and former Missouri Senator John Danforth asked the National Park Service to create a more "active" use of the grounds of the memorial and model it on Millennium Park in Chicago including the possibility of restaurants, fountains, ice skating, swimming, and other activities. The National Park Service was not in favor of the plan noting that the only other overt development pressure on national park property has been at the Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park

Renovations
For most of its existence, the Memorial was largely separated from the rest of Downtown St. Louis by a sunken section of I-70 (now I-44 with the rerouting of I-70 over a new bridge), but in 2014, a lid was installed over the highway, creating the foundation for a park connecting downtown with the Memorial grounds. In November 2015, Saarinen's original master plan was brought to fruition. Building of the Gateway Arch Connector linking the Old Courthouse with the grounds of the arch was completed. This design, and other design components were imagined by Michael Van Valkenburg Associates. In September 2010 Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates won a design contest to "re-envision the visitor experience" of the grounds. The project, originally planned for completion in 2015 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the opening of the arch, was completed in 2018. It includes:
 * replacing the north garage with an outdoor amphitheater, an explorers garden for children and an addition of 7.5 acres of green space.
 * new cobblestone plaza between the arch and the river
 * elevated walkways on the Illinois side, reaching 35 feet and winding through a new bird sanctuary, (Congress has authorized the purchase of the Illinois acreage)
 * an expanded museum below the Gateway Arch with a new western entrance nearly a block closer to downtown than the original entrances.

In 2016, many ash trees on the grounds were removed to preempt damage from emerald ash borers. Prior to the work of CityArchRiver, there were 1,800 trees on the grounds. There are now 4,200.

The $380 million project was funded both privately and publicly. The public funding, provided largely by Proposition P, totaled $159 million. The remaining $221 million were secured via fundraising efforts of Gateway Arch Park foundation.

Redesignation
On June 26, 2017, Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) introduced the Gateway Arch National Park Designation Act to redesignate Jefferson National Expansion Memorial as Gateway Arch National Park. The legislation was cosponsored by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri).

In July 2017, Acting Deputy Director of the National Park Service Robert Vogel testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Vogel stated that the Department of the Interior supported changing the name to Gateway Arch National Monument, rather than National Park, to maintain consistency with existing naming conventions. He likened the site to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, noting that existing national parks encompassed thousands of acres at minimum.

The United States Congress approved the bill in early 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump signed the act into law on February 22, 2018, officially renaming the site Gateway Arch National Park.

The new designation has been seen as an attempt to increase tourism in St. Louis. The name has been criticized as inappropriate by some visitors.

Chouteau Greenway
The Chouteau Greenway Project is a public-private partnership that aims to connect Forest Park and the Washington University in St. Louis Danforth Campus to Gateway Arch National Park. Among the partners leading this project are the Arch to Park Collaborative, St. Louis City, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Teacher resources

 * The Old Courthouse lesson plan
 * The Mathematics and Architecture of the St. Louis Arch, William V. Thayer
 * Owner's Manual for the Gateway Arch, William V. Thayer

title: Gateway Arch National Park


text:
Boole's syllogistic

Boolean logic is a system of syllogistic logic invented by 19th-century British mathematician George Boole, which attempts to incorporate the "empty set", that is, a class of non-existent entities, such as round squares, without resorting to uncertain truth values.

In Boolean logic, the universal statements "all S is P" and "no S is P" (contraries in the traditional Aristotelian schema) are compossible provided that the set of "S" is the empty set. "All S is P" is construed to mean that "there is nothing that is both S and not-P"; "no S is P", that "there is nothing that is both S and P". For example, since there is nothing that is a round square, it is true both that nothing is a round square and purple, and that nothing is a round square and not-purple. Therefore, both universal statements, that "all round squares are purple" and "no round squares are purple" are true.

Similarly, the subcontrary relationship is dissolved between the existential statements "some S is P" and "some S is not P". The former is interpreted as "there is some S such that S is P" and the latter, "there is some S such that S is not P", both of which are clearly false where S is nonexistent.

Thus, the subaltern relationship between universal and existential also does not hold, since for a nonexistent S, "All S is P" is true but does not entail "Some S is P", which is false. Of the Aristotelian square of opposition, only the contradictory relationships remain intact.

title: Boole's syllogistic


text:
Talk:Lois Lowry

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 13 January 2020 and 20 April 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Grace Rohan.

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Tone issues
Most of this article reads like a autobiography or a profile in a news source, and not like a encyclopedia article. e.g. "It was during this coursework that she was introduced to photography, which became a lifelong passion as well as a profession." CrocodilesAreForWimps (talk) 19:17, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

BLP noticeboard Clovermoss (talk) 21:29, 14 April 2019 (UTC)

Editing Article for Organization and Tone
Hi there! I'm a student in a technical editing course this semester, and I will be working on this article for the next couple of weeks. I will mostly be focusing my revisions on the organization of the article, and on editing content to comply with standards for a Biograohy of a living person (WP:BLP). I do not think the tone issue has been resolved; there are still lines which read more like an autobiography than an encyclopedia, and which do not completely convey a neutral tone. I will also work on rearranging some of the information in the article; I think, for example, that the "Early life" and "Early career" sections could be merged into one section, perhaps titled "Personal life" or something along those lines. Please free to talk to me about any changes I make, or if you have any other concerns, input, or suggestions! Grace Rohan (talk) 21:46, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Lois Lowry


text:
Upper and Lower Egypt

In Egyptian history, the Upper and Lower Egypt period (also known as The Two Lands) was the final stage of prehistoric Egypt and directly preceded the unification of the realm. The conception of Egypt as the Two Lands was an example of the dualism in ancient Egyptian culture and frequently appeared in texts and imagery, including in the titles of Egyptian pharaohs.

The Egyptian title zmꜣ-tꜣwj (Egyptological pronunciation sema-tawy) is usually translated as "Uniter of the Two Lands" and was depicted as a human trachea entwined with the papyrus and lily plant. The trachea stood for unification, while the papyrus and lily plant represent Lower and Upper Egypt.

Standard titles of the pharaoh included the prenomen, quite literally "Of the Sedge and Bee" (nswt-bjtj, the symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt) and "lord of the Two Lands" (written nb-tꜣwj). Queens regnant were addressed as pharaohs and male. Queens consort might use a feminine versions of the second title, "lady of The Two Lands" (nbt-tꜣwj), "mistress of the Entire Two Lands" (hnwt-tꜣwy-tm), and "mistress of the Two Lands" (hnwt-tꜣwy).

Structure
Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions, namely Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt, where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta. To the south was Upper Egypt, stretching to Aswan. The terminology "Upper" and "Lower" derives from the flow of the Nile from the highlands of East Africa northwards to the Mediterranean Sea.

The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united c. 3000 BC, but each maintained its own regalia: the hedjet or White Crown for Upper Egypt and the deshret or Red Crown for Lower Egypt. Thus, the pharaohs were known as the rulers of the Two Lands, and wore the pschent, a double crown, each half representing sovereignty of one of the kingdoms. Ancient Egyptian tradition credited Menes, now believed to be the same as Narmer, as the king who united Upper and Lower Egypt. On the Narmer Palette, the king is depicted wearing the Red Crown on one scene and the White crown in another, and thereby showing his rule over both Lands.

Sema Tawy and symbolism
The union of Upper and Lower Egypt is depicted by knotted papyrus and reed plants. The binding motif represents both harmony through linkage and domination through containment. The duality is an important part of royal iconography. Sometimes, the duality is further extended by having the knotted plants extend and bind foreign foes (both from the North and the South) as well.

During the first dynasty, dualistic royal titles emerge, including the King of Upper and Lower Egypt (nswt bjtj) title which combines the plant representing Upper Egypt and a bee representing Lower Egypt. The other dualistic title is the Two Ladies name or Nebty name. The two ladies are Nekhbet, the vulture goddess associated with Nekhen in Upper Egypt, and Wadjet, the cobra goddess associated with Buto in Lower Egypt.

There are many depictions of the ritual unifications of the Two Lands. It is not known if this was perhaps a rite that would have been enacted at the beginning of a reign, or merely a symbolic representation. Many of the depictions of the unification show two gods binding the plants. Often the gods are Horus and Set, or on occasion Horus and Thoth. There are several examples of Barque stands from the reigns of Amenhotep III (Hermopolis), Taharqa (Jebel Barkal), and Atlanersa (Jebel Barkal) that show two river gods performing the rite. This matches a scene from the Temple at Abu Simbel from the time of Ramesses II.

There are only a handful of scenes that show the King himself performing the ritual. All of these are from barque stands and date to the reigns of Amenhotep III, Seti I and Ramesses III. The latter two may be copies of the first one.

title: Upper and Lower Egypt


text:
User:Pb~enwiki

Ah Me.... OK.

Main hobbies and interests are Archeology and Egyptology and computers. I think this place (Wikipedia) is one of the most fun places on the net and I don't come here often enough. If you _really_ want to you can write to me at old.man@virgin.net

title: User:Pb~enwiki