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Silver Age of Comic Books

The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and widespread commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those featuring the superhero archetype. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to 1970, and was succeeded by the Bronze Age.

The popularity and circulation of comic books about superheroes had declined following World War II, and comic books about horror, crime and romance took larger shares of the market. However, controversy arose over alleged links between comic books and juvenile delinquency, focusing in particular on crime, horror, and superheroes. In 1954, publishers implemented the Comics Code Authority to regulate comic content.

In the wake of these changes, publishers began introducing superhero stories again, a change that began with the introduction of a new version of DC Comics' The Flash in Showcase #4 (October 1956). In response to strong demand, DC began publishing more superhero titles including Justice League of America, which prompted Marvel Comics to follow suit beginning with The Fantastic Four #1.

A number of important comics writers and artists contributed to the early part of the era, including writers Stan Lee, Gardner Fox, John Broome, and Robert Kanigher, and artists Curt Swan, Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, Mike Sekowsky, Gene Colan, Carmine Infantino, John Buscema, and John Romita Sr. By the end of the Silver Age, a new generation of talent had entered the field, including writers Denny O'Neil, Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas, and Archie Goodwin, and artists such as Neal Adams, Herb Trimpe, Jim Steranko, and Barry Windsor-Smith.

Silver Age comics have become collectible, with a copy in the best condition known of Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), the debut of Spider-Man, selling for $1.1 million in 2011. In 2022, a copy of Fantastic Four #1 sold for $1.5 million.

Origin of the term
Comics historian and movie producer Michael Uslan traces the origin of the "Silver Age" term to the letters column of Justice League of America #42 (February 1966), which went on sale December 9, 1965. Letter-writer Scott Taylor of Westport, Connecticut, wrote: "If you guys keep bringing back the heroes from the [1930s–1940s] Golden Age, people 20 years from now will be calling this decade the Silver Sixties!" According to Uslan, the natural hierarchy of gold-silver-bronze, as in Olympic medals, took hold: "Fans immediately glommed onto this, refining it more directly into a Silver Age version of the Golden Age. Very soon, it was in our vernacular, replacing such expressions as ... 'Second Heroic Age of Comics' or 'The Modern Age' of comics. It wasn't long before dealers were ... specifying it was a Golden Age comic for sale or a Silver Age comic for sale."

Background
Spanning World War II, when American comics provided cheap and disposable escapist entertainment that could be read and then discarded by the troops, the Golden Age of comic books covered the late 1930s to the late 1940s. A number of major superheroes were created during this period, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Captain America. In subsequent years comics were blamed for a rise in juvenile crime statistics, although this rise was shown to be in direct proportion to population growth. When juvenile offenders admitted to reading comics, it was seized on as a common denominator; one notable critic was Fredric Wertham, author of the book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), who attempted to shift the blame for juvenile delinquency from the parents of the children to the comic books they read. The result was a decline in the comics industry. To address public concerns, in 1954 the Comics Code Authority was created to regulate and curb violence in comics, marking the start of a new era.

DC Comics
The Silver Age began with the publication of DC Comics' Showcase #4 (October 1956), which introduced the modern version of the Flash. At the time, only three superheroes—Superman (and his younger incarnation as Superboy), Batman (with his sidekick Robin), and Wonder Woman—were still published under their own titles. According to DC comics writer Will Jacobs, Superman was available in "great quantity, but little quality". Batman and Robin were doing better, but Batman's comics were "lackluster" in comparison to his earlier "atmospheric adventures" of the 1940s, and Wonder Woman, having lost her original writer and artist, was no longer "idiosyncratic" or "interesting". Aquaman and Green Arrow (with his sidekick, Speedy) were also still appearing as back-up features in Adventure Comics, "the only other two superheroes" known to have remained continuously in print from the Golden Age as the Silver Age began, largely due to their creator's ongoing affection for them. Jacobs describes the arrival of Showcase #4 on the newsstands as "begging to be bought", the cover featured an undulating film strip depicting the Flash running so fast that he had escaped from the frame. Editor Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Carmine Infantino were some of the people behind the Flash's revitalization. Robert Kanigher wrote the first stories of the revived Flash, and John Broome was the writer of many of the earliest stories.

With the success of Showcase #4, several other 1940s superheroes were reworked during Schwartz' tenure, including Green Lantern, Aquaman, the Atom, and Hawkman, and the Justice Society of America was reimagined as the Justice League of America. The DC artists responsible included Murphy Anderson, Gil Kane, Ramona Fradon, Mike Sekowsky, and Joe Kubert. Only the characters' names remained the same; their costumes, locales, and identities were altered, and imaginative scientific explanations for their superpowers generally took the place of magic as a modus operandi in their stories. Schwartz, a lifelong science-fiction fan, was the inspiration for the re-imagined Green Lantern —the Golden Age character, railroad engineer Alan Scott, possessed a ring powered by a magical lantern, but his Silver Age replacement, test pilot Hal Jordan, had a ring powered by an alien battery and created by an intergalactic police force.

In the mid-1960s, DC established that characters appearing in comics published prior to the Silver Age lived on a parallel Earth the company dubbed Earth-Two. Characters introduced in the Silver Age and onward lived on Earth-One. The two realities were separated by a vibrational field that could be crossed, should a storyline involve superheroes from different worlds teaming up.

Although the Flash is generally regarded as the first superhero of the Silver Age, the introduction of the Martian Manhunter in Detective Comics #225 predates Showcase #4 by almost a year, and at least one historian considers this character the first Silver Age superhero. However, comics historian Craig Shutt, author of the Comics Buyer's Guide column "Ask Mister Silver Age", disagrees, noting that the Martian Manhunter debuted as a detective who used his alien abilities to solve crimes, in the "quirky detective" vein of contemporaneous DC characters who were "TV detectives, Indian detectives, supernatural detectives, [and] animal detectives". Shutt feels the Martian Manhunter only became a superhero in Detective Comics #273 (November 1959) when he received a secret identity and other superhero accoutrements, saying, "Had Flash not come along, I doubt that the Martian Manhunter would've led the charge from his backup position in Detective to a new super-hero age." Unsuccessful attempts to revive the superhero archetype's popularity include Captain Comet, who debuted in Strange Adventures #9 (June 1951); St. John Publishing Company's 1953 revival of Rocket Man under the title Zip-Jet; Fighting American, created in 1954 by the Captain America team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; Sterling Comics' Captain Flash and its backup feature Tomboy that same year; Ajax/Farrell Publishing's 1954–55 revival of the Phantom Lady; Strong Man, published by Magazine Enterprises in 1955; Charlton Comics' Nature Boy, introduced in March 1956, and its revival of the Blue Beetle the previous year; and Atlas Comics' short-lived revivals of Captain America, the Human Torch, and the Sub-Mariner, beginning in Young Men Comics #24 (December 1953). In the United Kingdom, the Marvelman series was published from 1954 to 1963, substituting for the British reprints of the Captain Marvel stories after Fawcett stopped publishing the character's adventures.

The talking animal superheroes Supermouse and Mighty Mouse were published continuously in their own titles from the end of the Golden Age through the beginning of the Silver Age. Atomic Mouse was given his own title in 1953, lasting ten years. Atomic Rabbit, later named Atomic Bunny, was published from 1955 to 1959.

Marvel Comics
DC Comics sparked the superhero revival with its publications from 1955 to 1960. Marvel Comics then capitalized on the revived interest in superhero storytelling with sophisticated stories and characterization. In contrast to previous eras, Marvel characters were "flawed and self-doubting".

DC added to its momentum with its 1960 introduction of Justice League of America, a team consisting of the company's most popular superhero characters. Martin Goodman, a publishing trend-follower with his 1950s Atlas Comics line, by this time called Marvel Comics, "mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The [sic] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes", Marvel editor Stan Lee recalled in 1974. Goodman directed Lee to likewise produce a superhero team book, resulting in The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961).

Under the guidance of writer-editor Stan Lee and artists/co-plotters such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Marvel began its own rise to prominence. With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, The Fantastic Four #1 initiated a naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons, who squabbled and worried about the likes of rent-money. In contrast to the straitlaced archetypes of superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and others complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became popular among college students who could identify with the angst and the irreverent nature of the characters such as Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Hulk during a time period of social upheaval and the rise of the counterculture of the 1960s.

Comic books of the Silver Age explained superhero phenomena and origins through science, inspired by contemporary science fiction, as opposed to the Golden Age, which commonly relied on magic or mysticism.

Comics historian Peter Sanderson compares the 1960s DC to a large Hollywood studio, and argues that after having reinvented the superhero archetype, DC by the latter part of the decade was suffering from a creative drought. The audience for comics was no longer just children, and Sanderson sees the 1960s Marvel as the comic equivalent of the French New Wave, developing new methods of storytelling that drew in and retained readers who were in their teens and older and thus influencing the comics writers and artists of the future.

Other publishers
One of the few most-selling American comics publishers in 1956, Harvey Comics, discontinued its horror comics when the Comics Code was implemented and sought a new target audience. Harvey's focus shifted to children from 6 to 12 years of age, especially girls, with characters such as Richie Rich, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and Little Dot. Many of the company's comics featured young girls who "defied stereotypes and sent a message of acceptance of those who are different". Although its characters have inspired a number of nostalgic films and ranges of merchandise, Harvey comics of the period are not nearly as sought after in the collectors' market in contrast to DC and Marvel titles.

The publishers Gilberton, Dell Comics, and Gold Key Comics used their reputations as publishers of wholesome comic books to avoid becoming signatories to the Comics Code and found various ways to continue publishing horror-themed comics in addition to other types. Gilberton's extensive Classics Illustrated line adapted literary classics, with the likes of Frankenstein alongside Don Quixote and Oliver Twist; Classics Illustrated Junior reprinted comic book versions of children's classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Rapunzel, and Pinocchio. During the late 1950s and the 1960s, Dell, which had published comics in 1936, offered licensed TV series comic books from Twilight Zone to Top Cat, as well as numerous Walt Disney titles. Its successor, Gold Key—founded in 1962 after Western Publishing started its own label rather than packaging content for business partner Dell—continued with such licensed TV series and movie adaptations, as well as comics starring such Warner Bros. Cartoons characters as Bugs Bunny and such comic strip properties as Beetle Bailey.

With the popularity of the Batman television show in 1966, publishers that had specialized in other forms began adding campy superhero titles to their lines. As well, new publishers sprang up, often using creative talent from the Golden Age. Harvey Comics' Harvey Thriller imprint released Double-Dare Adventures, starring new characters such as Bee-Man and Magicmaster. Dell published superhero versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Werewolf. Gold Key did licensed versions of live-action and animated superhero television shows such as Captain Nice, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, and continued the adventures of Walt Disney Pictures' Goofy character in Supergoof. American Comics Group gave its established character Herbie a secret superhero identity as the Fat Fury, and introduced the characters of Nemesis and Magic-Man. Even the iconic Archie Comics teens acquired super powers and superhero identities in comedic titles such as Archie as Capt. Pureheart and Jughead as Captain Hero. Archie Comics also launched its Archie Adventure line (subsequently titled Mighty Comics), which included the Fly, the Jaguar, and a revamp of the Golden Age hero the Shield. In addition to their individual titles, they teamed in their group series The Mighty Crusaders, joined by the Comet and Flygirl. Their stories blended typical superhero fare with the 1960s camp.

Among straightforward Silver Age superheroes from publishers other than Marvel or DC, Charlton Comics offered a short-lived superhero line with characters that included Captain Atom, Judomaster, the Question, and Thunderbolt; Tower Comics had Dynamo, Mercury Man, NoMan and other members of the superhero espionage group T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents; and even Gold Key had Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom.

Underground comics
According to John Strausbaugh of The New York Times, "traditional" comic book historians feel that although the Silver Age deserves study, the only noteworthy aspect of the Silver Age was the advent of underground comics. One commentator has suggested that, "Perhaps one of the reasons underground comics have come to be considered legitimate art is due to the fact that the work of these artists more truly embodies what much of the public believes is true of newspaper strips—that they are written and drawn (i.e., authentically signed by) a single person." While a large number of mainstream-comics professionals both wrote and drew their own material during the Silver Age, as many had since the start of American comic books, their work is distinct from what another historian describes as the "raw id on paper" of Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton. Most often published in black-and-white with glossy color cover and distributed through counterculture bookstores and head shops, underground comics targeted adults and reflected the counterculture movement of the time.

End and aftermath
The Silver Age of comic books was followed by the Bronze Age. The demarcation is not clearly defined, but there are a number of possibilities.

Historian Will Jacobs suggests the Silver Age ended in April 1970 when the man who had started it, Julius Schwartz, handed over Green Lantern—starring one of the first revived heroes of the era—to the new-guard team of Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams in response to reduced sales. John Strausbaugh also connects the end of the Silver Age to Green Lantern. He observes that in 1960, the character embodied the can-do optimism of the era. However, by 1972 Green Lantern had become world-weary, with the character saying in one story, "Those days are gone—gone forever—the days I was confident, certain ... I was so young ... so sure I couldn't make a mistake! Young and cocky, that was Green Lantern. Well, I've changed. I'm older now ... maybe wiser, too ... and a lot less happy." Strausbaugh writes that the Silver Age "went out with that whimper".

Comics scholar Arnold T. Blumberg places the end of the Silver Age in June 1973, when Gwen Stacy, girlfriend of Peter Parker (Spider-Man), was killed in a story arc later dubbed "The Night Gwen Stacy Died", saying the era of "innocence" was ended by "the 'snap' heard round the comic book world—the startling, sickening snap of bone that heralded the death of Gwen Stacy." Silver Age historian Craig Shutt disputes this, saying, "Gwen Stacy's death shocked Spider-Man readers. Such a tragedy makes a strong symbolic ending. This theory gained adherents when Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross's Marvels miniseries in 1994 ended with Gwen's death, but I'm not buying it. It's too late. Too many new directions—especially [the sword-and-sorcery trend begun by the character] Conan and monsters [in the wake of the Comics Code allowing vampires, werewolves and the like]—were on firm ground by this time." He also dismisses the end of the 12-cent comic book, which went to 15 cents as the industry standard in early 1969, noting that the 1962 hike from 10 cents to 12 cents had no bearing in this regard. Shutt's line comes with Fantastic Four #102 (September 1970), Jack Kirby's last regular-run issue before the artist left to join DC Comics; this combines with DC's Superman #229 (August 1970), editor Mort Weisinger's last before retiring.

According to historian Peter Sanderson, the "neo-silver movement" that began in 1986 with Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and Curt Swan, was a backlash against the Bronze Age with a return to Silver Age principles. In Sanderson's opinion, each comics generation rebels against the previous, and the movement was a response to Crisis on Infinite Earths, which itself was an attack on the Silver Age. Neo-silver comics creators made comics that recognized and assimilated the more sophisticated aspects of the Silver Age.

Legacy
The Silver Age marked a decline in horror, crime, romance, talking animal humor, and Westerns as American-comics genres.

An important feature of the period was the development of the character makeup of superheroes. Young children and girls were targeted during the Silver Age by certain publishers; in particular, Harvey Comics attracted this group with titles such as Little Dot. Adult-oriented underground comics also began during the Silver Age.

Some critics and historians argue that one characteristic of the Silver Age was that science fiction and aliens replaced magic and gods. Others argue that magic was an important element of both Golden Age and Silver Age characters. Many Golden Age writers and artists were science-fiction fans or professional science-fiction writers who incorporated SF elements into their comic-book stories. Science was a common explanation for the origin of heroes in the Silver Age.

The Silver Age coincided with the rise of pop art, an artistic movement that used popular cultural artifacts, such as advertising and packaging, as source material for fine, or gallery-exhibited, art. Roy Lichtenstein, one of the best-known pop art painters, specifically chose individual panels from comic books and repainted the images, modifying them to some extent in the process but including in the painting word and thought balloons and captions as well as enlarged-to-scale color dots imitating the coloring process then used in newsprint comic books. An exhibition of comic strip art was held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs of the Palais de Louvre in 1967, and books were soon published that contained serious discussions of the art of comics and the nature of the medium.

In January 1966, a live-action Batman television show debuted to high ratings. Circulation for comic books in general and Batman merchandise in particular soared. Other masked or superpowered adventurers appeared on the television screen, so that "American TV in the winter of 1967 appeared to consist of little else but live-action and animated cartoon comic-book heroes, all in living colour." Existing comic-book publishers began creating superhero titles, as did new publishers. By the end of the 1960s, however, the fad had faded; in 1969, the best-selling comic book in the United States was not a superhero series, but the teen-humor book Archie.

Swedish cartoonist Joakim Lindengren draws a Silver Age pastiche in his Kapten Stofil comic book series (1998–2009) about the powers of nostalgia in a grumpy, old comic book named Captain Geezer who longs to return to the Silver Age. Lindengren also borrows many elements from Silver Age comics in United States of Banana, a comic book he created with Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi.

Artists
Arlen Schumer, author of The Silver Age of Comic Book Art, singles out Carmine Infantino's Flash as the embodiment of the design of the era: "as sleek and streamlined as the fins Detroit was sporting on all its models". Other notable pencilers of the era include Curt Swan, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, Don Heck, George Tuska, Dick Ayers, and John Romita Sr.

Two artists that changed the comics industry dramatically in the late 1960s were Neal Adams, considered one of his country's greatest draftsmen, and Jim Steranko. Both artists expressed a cinematic approach at times that occasionally altered the more conventional panel-based format that had been commonplace for decades. Adams' breakthrough was based on layout and rendering. Best known for returning Batman to his somber roots after the campy success of the Batman television show, his naturalistic depictions of anatomy, faces, and gestures changed comics' style in a way that Strausbaugh sees reflected in modern graphic novels.

One of the few writer-artists at the time, Steranko made use of a cinematic style of storytelling. Strausbaugh credits him as one of Marvel's strongest creative forces during the late 1960s, his art owing a large debt to Salvador Dalí. Steranko started by inking and penciling the details of Kirby's artwork on Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. beginning in Strange Tales #151, but by Strange Tales #155 Stan Lee had put him in charge of both writing and drawing Fury's adventures. He exaggerated the James Bond-style spy stories, introducing the vortex beam (which lifts objects), the aphonic bomb (which explodes silently), a miniature electronic absorber (which protected Fury from electricity), and the Q-ray machine (a molecular disintegrator)—all in his first 11-page story.

Collectibility
The following comics are sought after by collectors due to their historic significance. A near-mint-plus copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider-Man, sold for $1.1 million to an unnamed collector on March 7, 2011.

title: Silver Age of Comic Books


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Rodhocetus

Rodhocetus (from Rodho, the geological anticline at the type locality, and cetus, Latin for whale) is an extinct genus of protocetid early whale known from the Lutetian of Pakistan. The best-known protocetid, Rodhocetus is known from two partial skeletons that taken together give a complete image of an Eocene whale that had short limbs with long hands and feet that were probably webbed and a sacrum that was immobile with four partially fused sacral vertebrae. It is one of several extinct whale genera that possess land mammal characteristics, thus demonstrating the evolutionary transition from land to sea.

Description
Rodhocetus was a small whale measuring 2 - 3 m long. Throughout the 1990s, a close relationship between cetaceans and mesonychians, an extinct group of cursorial, wolf-like ungulates, was generally accepted based on morphological analyses. In the late 1990s, however, cladistic analyses based on molecular data clearly placed Cetacea within the Artiodactyla near the hippopotamus. One of the diagnostic characteristics of artiodactyls is the double-pulley astragalus (heel bone), and palaeontologists, unconvinced by the data from the labs, set themselves out to find archaeocete single-pulley heel bones. Hind legs from three archaeocete species were recovered within a few years, among them those of Rodhocetus balochistanensis, and all three had double-pulley heel bones, thus settling the cladistic controversy.

Through a principal components analysis demonstrated that Rodhocetus had trunk and limb proportions similar to the Russian desman, a foot-powered swimmer using its tail mainly as a rudder. From this Gingerich concluded that Rodhocetus was swimming mostly at the surface by alternate strokes of its hind feet, and that it was insulated by fur rather than blubber, as are Dorudon and modern cetaceans, which made it buoyant and incapable of deep diving.

R. kasrani
The holotype of R. kasrani, GSP-UM 3012 found in 1992, was described by : a cranium with two dentaries, most of the vertebral column as far as the anterior tail (C2–C7; T1–13; L1–6, S1–4, Ca1–4), most ribs, parts of the sternum, both hip bones, and a left femur. Gingerich et al. 1994 referred a specimen collected in 1981, GSP-UM 1852 two dentaries with teeth, to R. kasrani. The body mass of the holotype has been estimated between 340 and 590 kg based on different techniques.

Derived traits in R. kasrani, relative to older archaeocetes such as Pakicetus, include high-crowned cheek teeth, larger auditory bullae, larger mandibular foramen, and mandibular canals. The higher neural spines and shorter femur (60–70%) distinguish Rodhocetus from the more primitive Ambulocetus. The convex posterior surface of the exoccipital, shorter cervical vertebrae, and unfused sacral vertebrae distinguishes R. kasrani from Indocetus. In contrast to later archaeocetes such as Protocetus and later cetaceans, Rodhocetus retains external nares above upper canines, high neural spines on anterior thoracic vertebrae, and four sacral vertebrae with sacroiliac joints similar to those in land-mammals (suggesting a hip joint that could support the body weight.)

Several cranial features identifies R. kasrani as an archaeocete: both the premaxillae and the dentaries are elongated, the frontal shield is wide, and the nuchal crest is high. The auditory bullae are large and dense but, there are no associated pterygoid fossae or air sinuses. The mandibular foramina are large with a pan bone 90 mm long and 65 mm high.

The specific name kasrani comes from Qaisrani, the Baloch tribe inhabiting the type locality. The protocetid Qaisracetus is also named after them.

R. balochistanensis
The fossil remains of R. balochistanensis were found in eastern Balochistan, Pakistan in 2001 by Philip Gingerich. Dating from about 47 million years ago, they are one of a series of recent discoveries, including the pakicetids, which have thrown considerable light on the previously mysterious evolutionary origin of whales.

The holotype of Rodhocetus balochistanensis, GSP-UM 3485, is:
 * A weathered braincase found at the surface next to a partial dentary with an unfused mandibular symphysis, a characteristic of protocetids.
 * Large parts of the axial skeleton including cervical, thoracic and proximal caudal vertebrae, but excluding sacral vertebrae.
 * Forelimb material including the left distal humerus, radius and ulna, and two virtually complete hand skeletons including all carpal bones, unfused and lacking an os centrale, and phalanges.
 * Parts of the pelvis including an acetabular rim.
 * Hind limb material includes the right femur, patella, tibia, and possible partial fibula; two virtually complete foot skeletons include tarsal and metatarsal bones and phalanges. The astragalus (heel bone) is characteristic of artiodactyls with a deep tibial trochlea restricting lateral movements and a large calcaneal tuber (posterior part of heel bone) providing leverage for powerful extension. The metatarsals and phalanges are very long and thin and can not have been weight-bearing, suggesting that Rodhocetus was predominantly aquatic and on land must have walked on the plantar surface of the tarsals. The shape of the metatarsal and phalanges reveal that these bones could be tightly compressed during flexion and widely separated during extension.

The five-fingered hand of R. balochistanensis is mesaxonic (i.e. has a central digit) with three weight-bearing central digits equipped with nail-like hooves, flanked by two more slender digits lacking hooves (distal phalanges preserved on first, second, and fourth digits). The four-toed foot is paraxonic (i.e. central axis passes between the two central digits), with all four digits ending in pointed nails (distal phalanges preserved on second and third digits).

With an estimated body weight of 450 kg, R. balochistanensis was 13% smaller than R. kasrani (590 kg), but its femur is larger.

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

title: Rodhocetus


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Talk:Horus

Claim about Algol
I'm removing the following text from the article. The first documented observation of Algol's variability is in the late 17th century, i.e., after the invention of the telescope, although apparently it's theoretically possible that the variation could be seen by the naked eye. The Egyptian text doesn't seem to contain any explicit reference to Algol, and I don't know whether any Egyptian text assigns particular significance to Algol—the most important stars in Egyptian tradition, by far, were Sirius and the stars in Orion. The argument seems to rest solely on a similarity between the periodic brightening and dimming of Algol and the pattern of lucky and unlucky days. Moreover, this argument is being used to reconstruct a slightly shorter orbital period for Algol in ancient times: "The mass transfer between the two members of this binary should cause a long-term increase of the orbital period, but observations over two centuries have not confirmed this effect. Here, we present evidence indicating that the period of Algol was 2.850 days three millennia ago." All that seems highly speculative to me, but more importantly, I don't know of any signs that the idea has gained any traction in the Egyptological community. Therefore, I'm putting the references here until I or somebody else can find evidence that the hypothesis has gained wider support. A. Parrot (talk) 00:53, 11 February 2019 (UTC)

 * Horus represented the eclipsing binary Algol in the Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637.

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 22:37, 27 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Horus and the pharaohs.jpg

Ra-Horackhty
Ra-Horakhty has been mistranslated the real name is Hor-Ra. Hor was fused with Ra as others such as Amun were and received sun attributes from him.

Hor absorbed a number of Gods including Er (Haroeris) to give light and truth attributes and Ur (Ophois) to give war attributes.

Akhet translates to horizon or on the horizon (in the afterlife) so that line translates as Hor who is Ra on the horizon.

The hieroglyphic name for Hathor translates to house of sky not house of Horus. The bird hieroglyph represents freedom (sky, big blue). 2A00:23C8:AB80:8001:9C0B:6767:B29E:80BD (talk) 03:11, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

Heru or Hor
To reach consensus regarding subjects name

I vote for Hor

Article already states the difference between Horus (Hor) and the separate entity absorbed by him Heru (Haroeris)

I see little reason to discuss this but personally we already have a well sourced answer but to be sure

Thank you for your time voting 2A00:23EE:14A0:304:73C6:293E:DA0C:6C86 (talk) 04:46, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * There's no reason why multiple names cannot be given (as in the Britannica article). Heru is a transliteration of ḥr.w "Horus", "falcon". Horus the elder is ḥr.w wr, transliterated as Heru-ur, Herwer or Haroeris. They are different. This is clear from the "Etymology" and "Other forms of Horus" section. Furius (talk) 09:58, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * :No you misunderstand. Hor is Horus, Heru is Haroeris, and Ur is Wer. They ate not interchangable names they are distinct names of different deities.
 * You can merge the deities to make combined names such as Heru Ur or Hor Heru but they are separate identities. 2A00:23C8:AB80:8001:8F86:2EA6:ED3:9C1A (talk) 14:13, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * What sources do you have for your claim that Wer is a distinct deity? My understanding is that it's just an adjective. A. Parrot (talk) 21:44, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi there. It states on the article itself under other forms of Horus - Heru Ur and from the edit history I can see it has not been added recently either.
 * "He absorbed a number of local gods including a hawk god Nekheny the nome of Nekhen and Wer (a god of light known as “the great one” whose eyes were the sun and moon) to become the patron of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis), the first national god ("God of the Kingdom") and later the patron god of the pharaohs." 2A00:23EE:17C0:7212:CD86:14A1:6CD5:3FC3 (talk) 23:14, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Sigh. It's misinformation, and it wasn't based on the Strudwick source at the end of the paragraph (I checked). Apparently this claim was added by User:Heshbi in 2020 (revisions seen here). There don't seem to have been any sources for this claim when it was added, either. I should have caught it when it was added, but in any case, I've removed it now.
 * I should keep a closer eye on additions to this article, but I'm afraid this one depresses me even more than most of those about ancient Egyptian deities. Whereas most major deities have enough coverage in the Egyptological sources that somebody could write a decent article on them, there are no wide-ranging Egyptological studies of Horus, so it's hard to get a clear picture of how the Egyptological community characterizes him. So I don't know how his multiple forms should be treated.
 * I'm generally a mergist, believing that treating a topic coherently in one article is usually better than splitting it up, and the Egyptological sources dealing with multiple deities generally fit with this approach. (When rewriting Hathor, for example, I quoted Robyn Gillam as saying that Hathor is more like "a type of deity rather than a single entity", but most sources treat Hathor as a single deity with multiple manifestations, so I designed the Wikipedia article to do the same.) Horus is something of an exception, because his child forms are pretty distinct from his adult ones and had a significant presence in Greco-Roman culture, and I assume that's why the article on Harpocrates was created separately from this one. But my impression is that Horus the Elder, Horemakhet, et al., are usually folded in with the adult Horus. A. Parrot (talk) 23:56, 1 April 2023 (UTC)
 * This is wrong. Here's p. 500 of Budge's Hieroglyphic Dictionary giving "ḥer" and "ḥeru" as transliterations of Horus.
 * The article clearly states here that the transliteration of Haroeris is Heru-ur not Heru. Furius (talk) 00:06, 2 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Your french counterparts dictate otherwise
 * https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haro%C3%ABris
 * Heru Ur or HerWer is Heru the Great. Heru and Heru Ur are the same identity. Just for your personal knowledge. 2A00:23EE:19D0:A0A:B6C2:4B2:51D6:FB10 (talk) 00:54, 2 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Have I made a troublesome bother for you that might last an eternity now? My apologies no motive to intrude dear be a good dear and fix it will you dear thank you dear 31.94.8.195 (talk) 01:00, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

I have reverted 2a00:23c8:ab80:8001:ffd9:ad60:bcbc:9c71 again. This editor is trying to use http://www.jeszika.com/egyptian-deities as a source, but it's clearly not a reliable source; it's a commercial website belonging to a painter! Moreover, the relevant text on that page—"Early versions of Horus absorbed a number of local gods - including a hawk god Nekheny and Wer (a god of light with the sun and moon for eyes known as the ‘great one’) in pre-dynastic Egypt"—is very similar to the text from this article and seems to have been copied from it. As I said, Heshbi added the text to this article in 2020, and based on the Wayback Machine, that page on the website may not have existed any earlier than mid-2022. I think what we have here is a case of circular sourcing. A. Parrot (talk) 05:54, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

 * User:Apokryltaros deleted this section to deny recognition to the sockpuppeteer in the discussion above, but I've reverted the change because I think my reasoning for removing Heshbi's text should be recorded here.
 * For future reference, wr can mean "eldest" as well as "great" (Raymond O. Faulkner, 1962, A Concise Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian, p. 63) and several sources translate "Harwer" as "Horus the Elder" (George Hart (2005), The Routledge Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, p. 72; Richard H. Wilkinson (2003), The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, p. 201; Geraldine Pinch (2002), Egyptian Mythology, p. 143). A. Parrot (talk) 13:42, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

Discussion: Article is at times difficult to follow: Suggest change to the order of the texts
Discussion:

The article on Horus is, at times, difficult to follow, as it tries to put disparate information together into a coherent whole, which may also mean it is including a measure of interpretations of Horus by later civilizations and also later writers.

I suggest changing the article to show the ancient views of Horus but listed in the order of the extant texts (based on scholarly-based dating).

And so, I suggest that the article largely or primarily begins with and mentions – and include translations of – the actual source texts themselves, starting with the oldest found; and then work up to more-recent texts and interpretations (such as to those that the ancient Greeks and/or Romans had).

I for one want to understand Horus from the onset, not largely from some syncretization of any number of religions or myths.

I'd rather see the article speak of Horus's first appearances in the texts and artifacts/artefacts.

This method of ordering the article could help untangle the weave of later Horus interpretations, not to mention help untangle a lot of current misunderstandings (and even conspiracy theories) that seem more prevalent than actual understandings, historically, of the appearance of Horus in the ancient literature.

What expert of the textual order would love to take this on!

Misty MH (talk) 02:32, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

No reason to have a semicolon
In the third paragraph of this page, there's a sentence:

"However, Plutarch, elaborating further on the same tradition reported by the Greeks; specified that the one 'Horus'..."

There should be a coma not a semicolon. Project Apollo (talk) 20:40, 7 April 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 April 2024
Add the coptic "ϩⲟⲗ" name to the page's languages 87.221.216.165 (talk) 23:27, 9 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Pictogram voting wait.svg Already done M.Bitton (talk) 22:04, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Horus


text:
Mont

Mont may refer to:

Places

 * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state
 * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium
 * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France
 * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France
 * Mont, Saône-et-Loire, a commune in France

Other uses

 * Mont (food), a category of Burmese snacks and desserts
 * Mont (surname)
 * Mont., botanical author abbreviation of Camille Montagne (1784-1866), French military physician and botanist
 * Seawise Giant, the largest ship in the world, later renamed MV Mont for her final journey
 * Menthu or Mont, a deity in Egyptian mythology
 * M.O.N.T, South Korean boy group
 * Metal-organic nanotubes, a class of polymers

title: Mont


text:
Khenti-kheti

In Egyptian mythology, Khenti-kheti (also spelt Chenti-cheti), was a crocodile-god, though he was later represented as a falcon-god. His name means "foremost retreater".

Origin & Evolution
At earlier times, he was the crocodile god of the region called Athribis in Lower Egypt. This is why, in Egyptian history, he has often been associated with Sebek and is said to be The Owner of Athribis. However, during the New Kingdom, he was shown to be related to Horus and was shaped like a hawk. At that time his name was Horas Khenti-Kheti.

Legend
He could take the form of a giant black bull, named Kemwer. He was later replaced by Osiris, also known as "Osiris, who lived in Athribis".

title: Khenti-kheti


text:
Dedun

Dedun (or Dedwen) was a Kushite or Nehasi (C-Group culture) god worshipped during ancient times in ancient Egypt and Sudan and attested as early as 2400 BC. There is much uncertainty about his original nature, especially since he was depicted as a lion, a role that usually was assigned to the son of another deity. Nothing is known of the earlier Kushite mythology from which the deity arose, however. The earliest known information in Egyptian writings about Dedun indicates that he already had become a god of incense by the time of the writings. Since at that historical point, incense was an extremely expensive luxury commodity, and Nubia was the source of much of it, he was quite an important deity. The wealth that the trade in incense delivered to Nubia led to his being identified by them as the god of prosperity and of wealth in particular.

Although he is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts of ancient Egypt as being a Nubian deity, there is no evidence that Dedun was worshipped by the Egyptians or that he was worshipped in any location north of Swenet (contemporary Aswan), which was considered the most southerly city of Ancient Egypt. Nevertheless, in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, during the Egyptian rule over Kush, Dedun was said by the Egyptians to be the protector of deceased Nubian rulers and their god of incense, thereby associated with funerary rites.

Atlanersa, a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, is known to have started a temple dedicated to the syncretic god Osiris-Dedun at Jebel Barkal.

title: Dedun


text:
Impossible cube

The impossible cube or irrational cube is an impossible object invented by M.C. Escher for his print Belvedere. It is a two-dimensional figure that superficially resembles a perspective drawing of a three-dimensional cube, with its features drawn inconsistently from the way they would appear in an actual cube.

Usage in art
In Escher's Belvedere a boy seated at the foot of a building holds an impossible cube. A drawing of the related Necker cube (with its crossings circled) lies at his feet, while the building itself shares some of the same impossible features as the cube.

Other artists than Escher, including Jos De Mey, have also made artworks featuring the impossible cube. A doctored photograph purporting to be of an impossible cube was published in the June 1966 issue of Scientific American, where it was called a "Freemish crate". An impossible cube has also been featured on an Austrian postage stamp.

Explanation
The impossible cube draws upon the ambiguity present in a Necker cube illustration, in which a cube is drawn with its edges as line segments, and can be interpreted as being in either of two different three-dimensional orientations.

An impossible cube is usually rendered as a Necker cube in which the line segments representing the edges have been replaced by what are apparently solid beams. In Escher's print, the top four joints of the cube, and the upper of the two crossings between its beams, match one of the two interpretations of the Necker cube, while the bottom four joints and the bottom crossing match the other interpretation. Other variations of the impossible cube combine these features in different ways; for instance, the one shown in Escher's painting draws all eight joints according to one interpretation of the Necker cube and both crossings according to the other interpretation.

The apparent solidity of the beams gives the impossible cube greater visual ambiguity than the Necker cube, which is less likely to be perceived as an impossible object. The illusion plays on the human eye's interpretation of two-dimensional pictures as three-dimensional objects. It is possible for three-dimensional objects to have the visual appearance of the impossible cube when seen from certain angles, either by making carefully placed cuts in the supposedly solid beams or by using forced perspective, but human experience with right-angled objects makes the impossible appearance seem more likely than the reality.

title: Impossible cube


text:
Aspen Hill, Maryland

Aspen Hill is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is located 6 miles north of Washington D.C. Its population as of the 2020 census was 51,063.

Etymology
The community name is derived from aspen trees that once were found near the first post office in the area. The post office was located in a general store on what was then known as the Washington-Brookeville Pike (now the intersection of Connecticut and Georgia Avenues) and opened circa 1864.

History
In the 1920s and 1930s, Aspen Hill was known as being the location of Aspin Hill Memorial Park, one of three pet cemeteries then operating on the East Coast of the United States. Burials at Aspen Hill Cemetery included dogs that had served the during World War I as well as the pets of area residents. Memorial ceremonies honoring pets were often held there on World Day for Animals.

In July 1950, Louis M. Denit sold 517 acres of land in Aspen Hill to Gelman Construction Company for about $300,000. Denit was a well-known attorney who specialized in banking and trust law. Gelman Construction Company bought the land to build 2,450 three-bedroom ramblers, a shopping center, schools, playgrounds, and churches. The homes were priced at less $10,000 each.

In January 1955, Minnie Goodman sold 268 acres of land in Aspen Hill to Metropolitan Homes, Inc. The land was the last vacant tract of land of its size between Rockville and Wheaton. Metropolitan Homes planned to build 12,000 homes, schools, shopping centers, and churches on the land. Prices for the homes started at $15,000 each.

Aspen Hill was one of the locations in which a fatal shooting took place in October 2002 as part of the Beltway sniper attacks.

Geography
As a census-designated place, Aspen Hill's boundaries are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The United States Postal Service does not accept “Aspen Hill” as a place name; addresses in the community must use the place names Rockville, Silver Spring, or Wheaton.

Some addresses use Wheaton (20906), notably in the Aspen Hill Shopping Center, while immediately across Aspen Hill Road at the Northgate Plaza Shopping Center, the addresses use Silver Spring (20906). Immediately to the west across Connecticut Avenue, addresses use Rockville (20853). As a result, crime statistics which are reasonably considered as belonging to Aspen Hill are buried in the statistics of three different areas. Aspen Hill straddles a corner where three statistical areas meet in what locals consider the commercial heart of Aspen Hill.

The United States Census Bureau, defines Aspen Hill as a census-designated place located at 39°6' North, 77°5' West. In the 2000 Census Bureau Gazetteer, Aspen Hill was located at 39.08861°N, -77.08028°W (39.088525, −77.080267).

Other organizations, such as the Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. (AHCA) (2021), have their own definitions. For the most accurate boundaries and geographical map of the AHCA visit Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc., Boundaries & Map (AHCA) (2021). This an archived website from the early 2000's Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc.. The Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. has been serving the community since 1985 for over 35 years in Aspen Hill, Montgomery County, Maryland.

Other local resources such as the Montgomery Gazette and the Washington Post use a more broad definition. Generally speaking, if it is not a part of Manor Country Club or Leisure World, and is south of Norbeck Road and north of Veirs Mill Road, east of Rock Creek and west of Bel Pre Creek or Matthew Henson State Park or Matthew Henson Greenway, the local media consider it to be Aspen Hill.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the community has a total area of 10.5 sqmi, of which 10.5 sqmi is land and 0.1 sqmi (0.57%) is water.

Education
For the most accurate listing of schools visit the Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc., Public Schools (AHCA) (2021). The Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. has been serving the community since 1985 for over 35 years in Aspen Hill, Montgomery County, Maryland. The Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. serves the following elementary schools within the AHCA boundaries: Wheaton Woods Elementary School, Rock Creek Valley Elementary School, Brookhaven Elementary School, Lucy Barnsley Elementary School, and Harmony Hills Elementary School. The Aspen Hill Civic Association, Inc. serves the following middle schools within the AHCA boundaries: Earle B Wood Middle School, and Parkland Middle School. Students within the AHCA boundaries area is served by both Rockville and Wheaton High Schools located outside the civic association boundaries. Other special or magnet schools serve residents as well.

Aspen Hill is also served by Bel Pre, Flower Valley, and Strathmore elementary schools. Older students living in Aspen Hill generally attend Earle B. Wood Middle School, Parkland Middle School, or Argyle Middle School. Rockville High School, Wheaton High School, and Kennedy High School serve Aspen Hill's teenagers.

Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy is in Aspen Hill CDP.

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 48,759 people, 16,697	households, and 11,959 families living in the community. The population density was 4,799.2 PD/sqmi. There were 16,697 housing units at an average density of 1,590.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the area was 50.60% White, 21.70% Black or African American, 0.60% Native American, 10.9% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 11.5% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. 27.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 37.2 of the population were non-Hispanic whites and 13.4% were White Latinos. 20.9% were non-Hispanic African-Americans and less than 1% were Afro-Latino.

As of 2010, the Hispanic and Latino community in Aspen Hill was predominantly Central American, especially Salvadoran. 40% of Aspen Hill's Latino community was Salvadoran, 6% Honduran, 6% Guatemalan and 3% Nicaraguan. 8% of Latinos were of Mexican descent. Less than 2% were of Spaniard descent. 22% of Aspen Hill's Latinos were of South American descent, with 8% being Peruvian American, 4% being Colombian American, and 4% being Bolivian American. 3% of Latinos were Puerto Rican, 3% were Dominican American, 2% were Chilean American, 2% were Ecuadorian American, and 1% were Cuban American. Costa Ricans, Panamanians, Argentines, Paraguayans, Uruguayans and Venezuelans each constituted 1% or less of the Latino population.

As of the census of 2000, there were 50,228 people, 18,187 households, and 13,076 families living in the community. The population density was 4,799.2 PD/sqmi. There were 18,565 housing units at an average density of 1,773.9 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the area was 55.60% White, 20.98% Black or African American, 0.33% Native American, 11.51% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 7.48% from other races, and 4.04% from two or more races. 15.44% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 9% of Aspen Hill's residents were Irish, 9% German, 7% English, 4% Central American, 4% Italian, 4% Subsaharan African 3% Chinese, 3% South American, 3% West Indian, 3% Korean, 3% Polish, 3% Salvadoran, 2% Russian, 2% Indian, 2% Scottish and 2% Jamaican. People of Vietnamese, Arab, Mexican, French, Greek, Filipino, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, Brazilian, Ukrainian, Peruvian, Haitian, Dutch, Bolivian, Swedish, Puerto Rican, Thai, Guatemalan, Hungarian, Colombian and French-Canadian descent each comprised 1% of the population.

There were 18,187 households, out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.7% were married couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the area the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males.

The median income for a household in the area was $63,340, and the median income for a family was $73,736 (these figures had risen to $75,014 and $81,474 respectively as of a 2007 estimate ). Males had a median income of $44,341 versus $36,739 for females. The per capita income for the area was $27,905. About 4.6% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.0% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

title: Aspen Hill, Maryland