text:
Talk:Battle of Adrianople

Strength of Goth Forces
Where is that 40K figure from? Unless someone sources it, I'm going to revert to the prevalent 10K figure. happydrifter 11:15, 30 June, 2009  —Preceding undated comment added 15:15, 30 June 2009 (UTC).

I want to second that question. We can't have a cavalry force of 50,000 as part of a total army of 10,000 to 15,000. Was the total force 60,000 when combined or is that a typo and 50,000 cavalry should be 5,000? Tumb (talk) 17:21, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

 * The infobox listed a Gothic strength - unreferenced - of 50,000 to 60,000. Since that's absurd, I switched that to "More than 10,000." 71.191.233.225 (talk) 03:20, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The infobox also listed a Roman strength - again unreferenced - of 40,000 to 50,000. Since that's about the upper limit of current estimates, I've marked it dubious but not changed it. 71.191.233.225 (talk) 03:20, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Beware of "facts" about this battle
I've added a link to my article about the campaign, which closely examines the text of Ammianus and shows that many common interpretations of the events are wrong. I would caution against adding anything to this article just because it is stated in a book such as Barbero's. For example, the movements of the Goths in the days preceding the battle, and the site of the battlefield, are highly contentious. All the major known facts can be gleaned from the translation of Ammianus by Hamilton, in Penguin. Anything else is just supposition based on the limited information Ammianus gives us. Skookumpete (talk) 22:31, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Well there are some issues - 8 miles vs. 8 hours? - not to mention the use of modern terms often creates ambiguity which the Roman terms would help minimize. And at some point we end up needing to consider Zosimus, the Notitia Dignitatum, logistics, reconstructions of the road network, and so on. 74.96.61.80 (talk) 23:10, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

old talk - may be undated, un-titled and unsigned - please clean-up
Would it be to much to ask that people sign and date their comments?

Thom Simmons, Kapiti Coast, NZ Malangthon July 12, 2005

- your information on this page is incorrect. fritigern did not lead an attack on Valens and Valens did not battle the Visigoths. from several sources it is said that Fritigern and Valens were attacked during peace negotiations. it is in question who exactly it was that attacked them... Gibbons hinted that it might have been by Roman forces who were not happy at the thought of peace. He said that they could have even been Roman troops sent by the brother of valens. both Valens and Fritigern died because of the attack.

Would like to see those sources. J. B. Bury is as highly regarded a source as any and he treats the entire episode in his chapter "The Visigothic Entry Into the Empire." The Hermanric Ostrogoths had already been severely beaten by the Huns and the Alans were streaming toward the borders, being absorbed by the Germanic tribes. The Visigoths under Athanaric had been utterly defeated at the Dniester and everybody was running toward the Roman border. It was chaos. Fritigern was the great uniter. The Goths that met Valens at Adrianople were a mix of the Gothic tribes and other Germanic peoples. There may even have been Hunnic mercenaries amongst them. Fritigern was, however, Visigoth.

Ammianus Marcellinus says that there was a pre-emptive attack at the battle of Hadrianople by the Roman archers led by Bacurius the Iberian that interrupted a peace envoy led by Richomer. In essence the only source, Roman, is saying that it was a rash screw up and the negotiations were not actually in progress (though there had been earlier attempts).

Whether Fritigern was actually engaged is unknown. The cavalry that decimated the Roman infantry were led by Alatheus and Saphrax. When and how Fritigern died is not clear. Ammianus does not say and people like Bury and Gibbon do not say either. If some one has a source please speak up.

Thom Simmons, Kapiti Coast, NZ Malangthon July 12, 2005

Gibbons isn't exactly reknowned for being a great historian anymore, really, and a lot of his stuff shouldn't be considered too reliable unless it's backed up by other sources. As for the Adrinople article itself - the first set battle the Romans lost? That's spectacularly incorrect, as the Romans had a long, proud history of military defeats going back more than eight hundred years by that point.

Well if he ain't considered a great historian, someone ought to tell Norman Kantor and J. B. Bury and others who think he invented the genre. Gibbon does contain errors but a sweeping attempt at discrediting him does not advance the debate. Furthermore, he also quotes primary sources, in this situation he quotes Ammianus at length. There is sufficient value in that to retain Gibbon as a source.

Thom Simmons, Kapiti Coast, NZ Malangthon July 11, 2005

"It was the first set battle that the Romans had ever lost."

The Romans had indeed lost set battles before -- does the Battle of Cannae ring any bells? This line has to go: it's absolutely incorrect. I have deleted it.

Here is what is significant, it was, according to J. B. Bury, the first time the Roman infantry had been routed by cavalry. In that, at least, it is a watershed event that led to the prominence of the cavalry in Europe.

Thom Simmons, Kapiti Coast, NZ Malangthon July 11, 2005

Since this was a puny little article, I translated the much more detailed one from the French wikipedia, hopefully accurately, although someone more fluent than me might want to check (and someone who knows more about the specifics may want to fix some things...like "shield-archers," I'm not sure about that). I want to add the pictures from the French one as well, but it's a little more difficult figuring out how to put them into English. Adam Bishop 21:15, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

With regard to the section "Composition of the Roman troops": Where does this come from?

J. B. Bury (The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians) states that the primary source, Ammianus Marcellinus, "did not tell his readers definitely the number of the forces on either side. So that we do not know precisely how strong the Goths were, or how strong were the Romans."

Thom Simmons, Kapiti Coast, NZ Malangthon July 12, 2005

I previously inserted the bullet pointed lists in "Composition of the Roman Troops", as well as the list of officers, extracting the information from Ammianus' description of the battle.

Paul Jurdeczka, Sydney, Australia 15 May 2008

 * Why does the article earlier say that few romans had heavy armour, even refusing to wear it, then later claim that the romans could not maneuver due to their heavy armour? A. D., Heidelberg, Oct 28, 2005

 * I too found this odd. It's inconsitent and confusing. Hu Gadarn 06:11, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

 * The reference may have been to different types of troops. The "legions" by this stage did not tend to use the previous commonly known segmented armour. However, this does not mean that there were not heavy infantry present who had problems with mobility. Paul Jurdeczka, Sydney, Australia 15 May 2008

Use of Stirrups
I thoroughly enjoyed the article, it was a cracking good read.

I'm under the impression the irresistable force of the visigothic cavalry's charge, and the turning point of the battle. . . was the effectiveness of their early use of stirrups. . . ?

Apparently Valens himself escaped temporarily to a farmhouse, the Visigoths on realising this burnt the farmhouse and Valens in it.

Source for above two "By the Sword"  by Richard Cohen, another cracking good read !

Jerry Kenny  30th Jan 06

Stirrups? Stirrups?? Stirrups??? In the 370s???? The Goths did not use stirrups!!!!! IIRC the Avars introduced stirrups into Europe some centuries later. Jacob Haller 08:09, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I deleted the stuff about stirrups. Jacob Haller 00:34, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

 * It seems to be pretty common in a lot of sources to read that the stirrup was used at Adrianople, usually the controversy is how significant it was to the battle, and to the future Roman calvary. -- Stbalbach 13:54, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Elton, Hugh, 1996, Warfare in Roman Europe, A.D. 350-425, p. 109 ... "This suggests that the lack of stirrups was not important, a hypothesis supported by the apparent lack of chance in cavalry tactics after their introduction in the late *sixth* century." Jacob Haller 06:00, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Feugere, Michel, 1993, trans. Smith, David, 2002, Weapons of the Romans, p. 136 ... "Stirrups were unknown in ancient times, an early mention of them being in the Strategikon of the Byzantine emperor Maurice (AD 582-602). The earliest known archaeologically found stirrups come from seventh-century Avar tombs in Dacia." Jacob Haller 06:00, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

 * I don't know.. how did the story of stirrups become so popular in association with this battle, are you saying it's all myth that has since been debunked, there were no stirrups in the late 4th century? if so this is notable and should be mentioned in the article. -- Stbalbach 03:14, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

 * I haven't heard of '"By the Sword" by Richard Cohen' but it sounds like a historical novel - not quite the standard of source we are looking for here, I think. Deipnosophista 14:33, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

 * Someone added the stirrups again. This has been refuted so many times and re-inserted so many times. I've added a section on obsolete theories to address the stirrups, the cavalry thesis, etc. 71.191.236.44 (talk) 19:02, 28 April 2012 (UTC)

Or lack of a water break?
For my part, I had always thought that one of the factors in the Roman loss was that Valens, not wanting Gratian to share credit for the victory, marched his troops for seven hours over difficult terrain under a hot summer sun right into battle, without even giving them a badly-needed water break (Centuries later on another continent, the same mistake (though in entirely opposite conditions) is believed to have cost Banastre Tarleton the Battle of Cowpens). Do any sources or historians discuss the effect of a long, difficult march on the Romans heading into battle? Shouldn't this be in the article? Daniel Case 17:13, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

 * It's only an 8-mile march, through relatively flat terrain, and Ammianus makes much of the wait at the end. Jacob Haller 17:27, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

 * Still, though, you walk eight miles (Roman miles? Or British miles?) on a hot sunny day in western Turkey, wearing something equivalent to whatever the legionnaires were wearing, and then tell me you're ready to kick some barbarian butt. Especially when you know this is being done too hastily and the enemy decides they'd rather talk than fight. First. Daniel Case 05:23, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

 * I've got exceedingly severe asthma, and as a result, incredibly limited stamina. Nonetheless, I have more than once walked more than 20 miles in one day. If I can do that, any healthy person can do far more. Jacob Haller 05:16, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

I think that this point bears a little water. I am in the service and i have done more than my share of walking. You are supposed to be able to carry on a protracted fight at the end of a hump. Can it be done, absolutely. But your average legionnaire was probably carrying a pretty significant amount of gear. The uniform of the day left a lot to be desired, and for them to go straight from a hump into prolonged combat could have definitely given the Goths an edge. At the end of all my walks, i've always felt like crap, i'm sure Romans felt no differently.

Jonathan Reed 173rd Airborne Brigade  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.36.198.42 (talk) 18:50, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

 * If the legionaries could never march 8 miles and fight a battle, then they would never have won an empire. They "sucked it up" and learned to like it. Kortoso (talk) 22:51, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Roman Forces
This section's pure speculation. None of our surviving sources identifies how many legions or auxilia were involved. (Although Sebastianus had 2,000 or so men, with 300 or so drawn from each of various legions, some time earlier, this was only part of the Roman field army in the theater). I think it better to point out various numbers estimates and/or point people to studies of late Roman field armies and Barbarian tribal armies. Jacob Haller 08:09, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

The Death of Valens and the Consequences
The article states "...in the worst Roman defeat since the Battle of Cannae."

As mentioned in the article on the battle of Cannae the Roman loss at the battle of Arausio was bigger than the loss at Cannae. It was certainly bigger than the loss at the Battle of Adrianople.

To avoid discussions maybe the article should just mention the Battle of Adrianople was a major defeat. Pukkie 08:22, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Pukkie, blessed are the peacemakers. I salute you. Augustulus 01:07, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

I have to completely disagree with this section of the article. I find that the fact the article states that while this was clearly not the end of the roman empire and that it did not completely destroy the Roman empire's army it only succeeded in crippling the army for a short time. This is completely irrelevant and untrue to the article's purpose. The Empire was already in a massive decline and the Army was crippled for a time wayyyy before this time. The Roman empire was a mere shadow of its past form. Cmatos1991 17:46, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

That many soldiers getting killed in one battle was essentially one of the biggest defeats (perhaps except for some battles against the Persians) since Varus lost 3 legions in Germany in AD 9. In an economy and military situation where barbarians were coming across the rivers fleeing the Huns, there has been war in the Balkan provinces for 2 years, and ongoing internal civil wars, the loss of such a large portion of man power was always going to affect the Roman Empire. Alessandro Barbero and Peter heather certainly disagree with you. When reading Heather a couple of years ago I arrived at the opinion this battle was the turning point, and that was before I saw Barbero's book (which I still haven't read). Rome was never going to hold off the hordes after losing this battle. had they won it, they may have held out. Maybe. Paul Jurdeczka - Sydney, Australia 16 October 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pjurdeczka (talk • contribs) 03:46, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Opposing Armies
Made several changes to 'Composition of the Roman Troops.' Need similar section on 'Composition of the Gothic Troops.' I can't reconcile Ammian's account with more than 20,000 Gothic troops, or see how the exiles and their allies could field more than 15,000 relatively lightly-equipped troops. And others, including Delbrück, have kept their estimates of Roman numbers below 15,000 for similar reasons. Jacob Haller 03:40, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Gothic forces: In the first subsection, we should probably discvuss the two contingents, i.e. Fritigern's largely Therving contingent of about 10,000 and Alatheus' and Saphrax' largely Greuthing reinforcements of at most comparable size. In the second subsection, we should discuss experience, equipment, and related issues. Jacob Haller 22:12, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

 * This pre-supposes such information is accurate and widely accepted. It is debated and open to many interpretations. This article should discuss the scholars themselves, including names, dates of works with a summary of position. See Decline of the Roman Empire for example. Let the reader decide. We simply report on what other people say, not tell people what is right or wrong. -- Stbalbach 23:38, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

False Claims
In the first place, the Goths were only Germanic in the loosest linguistic sense; the phrase "Germanic Tribes" suggests more west-Germanic-ness and less agricultural-society-of-the-North-Pontic-plains-ness. In the second place, the 'Visigoth's as such did not exist before the 390s and the 'Ostrogoths' as such did not exist until several decades later; the Thervingi and the Greuthungi do not correspond with the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. The presence of Alans is reasonable but not proven; the presence of Moesian and Thracian rebels is about as reasonable (if we read Ammianus) and not proven either. I suggest listing Thervingi, Greuthingi, and possibly Alani and local rebels. Jacob Haller 22:12, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

 * This was discussed in more detail recently on the talk page of the Goths article. Obviously much of the material on Wikipedia is not up to date with current views on a number of fronts - the Goth's story on Wikipedia basically represents 19th C German historiography. -- Stbalbach 23:42, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Book
Probably it would be useful to rewrite this article (and the french version as well) after having red this book: Alessandro Barbero, The day of barbarians, 2005. http://www.walkerbooks.com/books/catalog.php?key=635 Goneri {unsigned}

strength of armies & casualties
I may be wrong, but it doesnt seem accurate for the estimated strength of the roman army to be 15,000 to 30,000, whereas the death count was about 20,000. Wouldnt the army size be closer to 20,000 to 30,000?

 * See above. Ammianus states the Romans suffered 2/3 losses; noone offers absolute figures. Given 15-30,000 Roman troops that implies 10-20,000 Roman losses. Jacob Haller 01:13, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

If you want to adjust the strength figures, please discuss your changes here, and give recent scholarly sources for your estimates. Thank you. Jacob Haller 23:24, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

I've changed "to" to "or" in the infobox, between the estimates. "To" implies both are correct, which isn't possible, and is unnecessarily wordy (15,000 to 30,000 is alright; 15,000 to 20,000 to 25,000 to 30,000 isn't.) InedibleHulk (talk) 10:33, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

 * How does "to" imply both are correct? I think "to" is a reasonable label when the infobox includes both low-end and high-end estimates. I think "or" implies that there are no intermediate estimates. 71.191.228.51 (talk) 17:21, 12 August 2012 (UTC)

this paragraph is a mess!
Quoted from the background section:

After learning of Sebastian's success against the Goths, and of Gratian's victory over the Alamanni, Valens was more than ready for a victory of his own. He left Melanthias for Adrianople, where he met with Sebastian's force. On August 6, reconnaissance informed him that the Goths were marching towards Adrianople from the north, about 25 kilometers away. The goal of the Goths was to circumvent the Roman army that stretched back towards Adrianople. Despite the difficult ground, Valens reached Adrianople where a camp was constructed with a ditch and a rampart.

 * I can't tell what the second-to-last sentence is supposed to mean (outflank? to what end? with what target? if the Romans are strung out along the road, the Goths could hit the front of the column and roll it up). Also, the article uses the passive voice far too often. Perhaps "... the Roman army fortified its camp behind ditch and rampart" in the last sentence. Jacob Haller 04:22, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Also, I would suggest "reconnaissance informed Valens that 10,000 Goths were marching towards Adrianople from the north, about 25 kilometers away." Jacob Haller 04:30, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Agreed. Please, edit for corrections. Everything can be improved. -- Stbalbach 14:24, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Link Issues
The Sebastianus link leads to the wrong guy. Drop the link or disambiguate and start the stub? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jacob Haller (talk • contribs).
 * Does either one have a more complete name that could be used to disambiguate? If not, pick the one who is the lesser known, and create some sort of identifier like Sebastianus (Adrianople) and then on the Sebastianus article create a top-hat that reads "For the Sebastianus at the Battle of Adrianpole see Sebastianus (Adrianople)" - something like that. -- Stbalbach 14:35, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Greuthungs
The Greuthungs and Ostrogoths are two different groups. Sure, Jordanes identifies the 4th-century Greuthungs as the predecessors of the late-5th/early-6th century Ostrogoths, but Jordanes identifies the Getae, and many less plausible groups, with the Goths. Peter Heather shows this in The Goths and Goths and Romans, 332-589. Jacob Haller 18:35, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Argentaria
What exactly does "Argentaria" mean?

 * A Roman town. At or near Colmar, IIRC. I'm not entirely sure. Jacob Haller 18:45, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks.--Shikyo3 00:38, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Did Somebody Move This?
Because I've been correcting Battle of Adrianople (which used to lead to disambiguation, iirc) to Battle of Adrianople (378). Jacob Haller 01:00, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

nahh i cant tell bruh — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lalala1234321 (talk • contribs) 23:40, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Speculation
I removed the following as it is admittingly speculation and therefore unencylopedic. It should be replace by something along the lines of, "The Roman forces likely consisted of heavy infantry, various archers and cavalry."

A possible composition of the Roman army could be (according to Macdowall, Valens had 15,000 men at Adrianople):
 * 1,500 Scholae (Imperial Guard), commanded by Valens. Each Schola was nominally composed by 500 men, but the campaign strength was possibly reduced to 400 men. Probably they were divided into:
 * Scutarii Prima (heavy cavalry);
 * Scutarii Secunda (heavy cavalry), which, together with Scutarii Prima, were the Scutarii who attacked at the beginning of the battle;
 * Scutarii Sagittarii (horse archers), possibly the mounted archers following the Scutarii attack;
 * 1,000 Equites Palatinae (elite cavalry). The vexillationes Palatinae had a nominal strength of 500 men, possibly 300 men during the campaign. The units that were probably present at Adrianople were:
 * Equites Promoti Seniores (conventional heavy cavalry), whose tribune, Potentius, was killed during the battle;
 * Comites Sagittarii Iuniores (light horse archers), in the right wing cavalry;
 * possibly Comites Clibanarii (heavily armoured cataphracts);
 * 1,500 Equites Comitatenses (conventional cavalry), with units nominally composed by 500 men, actually reduced to 200-300 during the campaign. Most probable present units:
 * Equites Primi Scutarii (conventional heavy cavalry);
 * Equites Promoti Iuniores (conventional heavy cavalry), commanded by Potentius;
 * 5,000 Legiones Palatinae, nominal strength 1000 men, possibly reduced to 800 men during the campaign. The units present at Adrianople were:
 * Lanciarii Seniores (heavy infantry), the most expert unit on the field, made the last stand during the battle;
 * Matiarii Iuniores (heavy infantry), joined the Lanciarii during the last stand;
 * 6,000 Auxilia Palatinae, full strength 500 men, campaign strength 300-400 men:
 * Batavi Seniori (heavy infantry), held in reserve;
 * Sagittarii Seniores Gallicani (foot archers);
 * Sagittarii Iuniores Gallicani (foot archers);
 * Tertiis Sagittarii Valentis (foot archers), raised by Valens;

On the other hand, 15,000 would have been minuscule for a Roman army, even for an army of the late Roman Empire. The loss of two thirds of a 15,000 army, or even of an entire army of 15,000, could have been readily absorbed and made good by the Romans. The inability of the Empire to make good on the losses suffered at Adrianople (comparable in scale and enormity to the catastrophic defeat suffered in the Battle of Cannae, in which 70,000 to 80,000 Romans were killed or captured) suggests that the Roman losses at Adrianople exceeded 15,000. Some argue that Valens led a force of at least 40,000 Romans to disaster. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wasted Sapience (talk • contribs) 19:32, 7 April 2007 (UTC).

Roman Soldier Picture
The picture of the Roman soldier says that he represents the Roman soldier of the 3rd century B.C. The battle took place in 378 A.D. Is the caption wrong? If so, it needs to be corrected. If not then the picture needs to be removed as it makes no sense to have a picture depicting something that is representative of Roman uniforms from a time 700 years before the battle took place. Dr. Morbius (talk) 20:55, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Mjollnirs?
What's up with the mjollnirs in the box? Weren't Goths Christian by that time? Anyhow... which evidence indicates that they worshiped almighty Thor? --Faveladweller (talk) 15:25, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

 * Again, someone switched the fibulae for a Mjollnir. Although it was cleaner to only have one icon, a fibula makes more sense. 71.191.228.6 (talk) 22:36, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Cavalry?
What is the source for the claimed number of Gothic cavalry? Is this OR speculation or is this at least scholarly speculation?

What is the basis for the claim that "Their destruction of Roman troops caused cavalry to be the new dominant fighting force for the next thousand years, taking the place of the previously exalted Roman infantryman." I see a reference here, and can't find a contrary source right now, but much of modern scholarship rejects such claims if it even bothers to address such claims.72.66.37.62 (talk) 02:00, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

There are two separate sections regarding the cavalry hypothesis... One in the discussion of the Gothic forces, where it pushed Oman's older view, and one in the implications. I rewrote the part on the discussion of the Gothic forces, but maybe it would help to merge the two. 71.191.233.225 (talk) 03:43, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Strengths are controversial
Note several sections regarding army strengths and the controversies above. 74.96.61.80 (talk) 00:31, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Coordinate error
The following coordinate fixes are needed for the Battle of Adrianople.

1. The battle's location is in dispute, with the most widely-accepted candidates being near Muratcali [MacDowell] and near Demirhanli [Runkel, Donnelly]. I don't accept either theory, but we need to go by the recognized scholars.

2. The coordinates listed are misleadingly precise.

3. The coordinates listed point a mile west of the Tundzha river. Both of the most widely-accepted candidates are east of the Tundzha river, one a few miles east of it, and the other a full day's march east of it.

4. Better have no coordinates than the wrong coordinates!

—74.96.53.170 (talk) 05:45, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Since the article itself seems to imply a location near Muratcali ("8 miles north of Adrianople"), I've revised the coordinates accordingly and reduced their precision. Deor (talk) 11:17, 23 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.96.53.170 (talk) 16:55, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Speculative battle maps
Our sources give us only vague ideas of the Roman deployment and less about the Goths etc. Yet we have maps with confident blocks, firmly positioned. They are a distraction from the narrative that we can validly report. I have difficulty finding any value in them and I propose to remove them. Comments? Richard Keatinge (talk) 10:34, 20 November 2015 (UTC)

At this diff I have removed the maps (including the bizarre labelling of chariot forces). I have also made a number of other changes, and removed various garbled or speculative forms of original research. There is more to do. Richard Keatinge (talk) 15:27, 7 February 2016 (UTC)

A different map was added by User:TiltuM on 3 June 2018 with the caption "Map of the battle, according to the History Department of the RMcPhillip (talk) 16:37, 16 June 2021 (UTC)

Huns
The infobox lists Huns among the belligerents. Now Ammianus said that there were "Scythians" if I recall correctly, but this shouldn't be interpreted as meaning that the Huns were involved. We've established that the Goths had some cavalry. That much is certain.
 * Kortoso (talk) 18:19, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

Article in Desperate Need of Attention
This article is in pretty sorry shape, how it's rated B-class is beyond me but there are excellent scholarly works about the battle that have been published which I fail to see taken into account in this article. It lacks a decent description of the factors that led to the Roman defeat, the actual course of the battle, and the article is full of "facts" that are uncited or come from poor source material. E.g. the nice citation of Treadgold's estimates of the size of the Thracian and Praesental armies, followed by the un-cited sentence that the army at Adrianople only numbered approximately 15,000 men.

Also will someone please get rid of that picture of the "Roman Soldier?" Something like this would be far more appropriate: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3928/15302207389_0649b6d59d_b.jpg

MMFA (talk) 16:10, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

 * Who is that reenactor? Which group is he with? Why is he a better representation than what is there (Legio XV)? Kortoso (talk) 16:18, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

There is a lot in the article that is militarily sub-literate. For example, suggesting that because a unit title was 'Scutarii' those soldiers used shields, or that 'Mattiarii' may have used maces, is silly. Lanciarii, Scutariii and Mattiarrii were all probably similarly armed, with swords, shields and spears, like most of the rest of the Roman infantry. Their unit titles almost certainly went back decades, and the reasons why they had been given may even have been forgotten by 378. Just as with other units listed in the Notitia Dignitatum, for example the Celtae - there were probably not many Celts among them by the end of the 4th century; not many troops from North Wales left in the Seguntienses; the Bracchiati may possibly not have worn breeches, the Petulantes may not have been saucy boys at all and the Cornuti almost certainly did not have horns on their heads. For scholarly and judicious thinking on this kind of subject, a good guide is Phil Barker's Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome 80.17.36.33 (talk) 11:42, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Battle of Adrianople


text:
Duration (music)

In music, duration is an amount of time or how long or short a note, phrase, section, or composition lasts. "Duration is the length of time a pitch, or tone, is sounded." A note may last less than a second, while a symphony may last more than an hour. One of the fundamental features of rhythm, or encompassing rhythm, duration is also central to meter and musical form. Release plays an important part in determining the timbre of a musical instrument and is affected by articulation.

The concept of duration can be further broken down into those of beat and meter, where beat is seen as (usually, but certainly not always) a 'constant', and rhythm being longer, shorter or the same length as the beat. Pitch may even be considered a part of duration. In serial music the beginning of a note may be considered, or its duration may be (for example, is a 6 the note which begins at the sixth beat, or which lasts six beats?).

Durations, and their beginnings and endings, may be described as long, short, or taking a specific amount of time. Often duration is described according to terms borrowed from descriptions of pitch. As such, the duration complement is the amount of different durations used, the duration scale is an ordering (scale) of those durations from shortest to longest, the duration range is the difference in length between the shortest and longest, and the duration hierarchy is an ordering of those durations based on frequency of use.

Durational patterns are the foreground details projected against a background metric structure, which includes meter, tempo, and all rhythmic aspects which produce temporal regularity or structure. Duration patterns may be divided into rhythmic units and rhythmic gestures (Winold, 1975, chap. 3). But they may also be described using terms borrowed from the metrical feet of poetry: iamb (weak–strong), anapest (weak–weak–strong), trochee (strong–weak), dactyl (strong–weak–weak), and amphibrach (weak–strong–weak), which may overlap to explain ambiguity.

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

title: Duration (music)


text:
Talk:Canvas

True?

 * This canvas is stretched across a wooden frame called a stretcher, and it must be coated with gesso before it can be used.

Is this really true? Some of Francis Bacon's paintings are done on the unprimed side of the canvas - would it have mattered if the "correct" side also hadn't been covered with gesso? --Camembert

Lacking any reply, I'm going to assume that gessoing is usual, but not required (at any rate, I don't suppose Robert Rauschenberg gessoed his Bed before painting on it), and change the text accordingly. --Camembert

 * From experience, I can say that paint will soak through an unprimed canvas. This doesn't mean you can't paint on it. It'll just take a lot more paint. The other thing the gesso does is fill in the texture of the canvas to create a smoother finish. Some artists will use several coats and sand their gesso. Unfortunately, my only sources are personal experience and the memory of tips I've been given by my professors in years past. -WurdBendur (talk) 01:57, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

SIZE?
How big the average painting is? There might had been no strict standard for decades but aint there an approximate tendency?Undead Herle King (talk) 23:02, 28 April 2008 (UTC) ___

This article needs more about the fabric itself - what's it made of? how is it made? After all the use by artists is not its prime application - I suspect that artists started to use canvas because it was a fabric already available for otrher purposes. Whic also means that there should be something in here about its history. Graham 07:27, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

A discription of Canvas
Modern canvas is made of cotton. It differs from other heavy cotton fabrics, such as twill, in the way it is woven. Canvas has a very simple weave, the weft thread just goes over one warp thread and under the next. (The weft thread for twill goes over one and under two and each weft thread moves the pattern over one thread. The result is a diagonal pattern such as you can observe in the cloth use for blue jeans.) Canvas comes in two basic types, plain and Duck. The threads in Duck are more tightly woven. In the USA canvas is graded two ways: by weight (ounces per square yard) and by number. The numbers run in reverse of the weight; so, number 10 canvas is lighter than number 4.

Cotton did not come into popular use until relatively recent times. Until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, separating cotton fiber from the seed was an extremely labor intensive process. For this reason, I wonder if some of the canvas used for paintings, sails, tents, etc., before the 19th century wasn't made from other fibers such as linen, jute, sissel, hemp, etc.

Canvas as a term
I know this is about textile canvas, but I was cursious if anybody could add something about the use of the term "canvas." For example, I understand that "hitting the canvas" refers to someone taking a blow since a canvase was/is used as the covering of a boxing ring. However, it is not clear how the political term came to be adopted as in "we canvased all of the neighborhoods in the district"; this may refer to using a canvas to cover something completely, but it would be interesting to know how this derived. The political use of the verb "to canvas" is not included in dictionaries such as www.dictionary.com. Sorry if this is not entered correctly. This is my first time. FlashMcGruder (talk) 01:11, 29 June 2008 (UTC)
 * If you look at the top of the article page, you'll see what's called a disambiguation, which takes you to a page with a list of the other uses of the word. If you go to that page, you'll find canvassing in the political sense. Most articles for words that have more than one meaning will have disambiguation links. Hope that helps!  freshacconci  speak to me  01:39, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Canvas Stretcher
Similarly to the comment regarding the fabric, more information on the subject of the design of stretchers and their history could be very useful.

See Stretcher bar. Bus stop 17:28, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

It also talks about how great the splining stuff is without ever defining it —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.197.37.141 (talk) 21:47, 3 December 2007 (UTC) NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT       AAAAAAAAAAA      PPPAAAIINNTTTINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG NNOOOOOOOOOTTT   WWHHHHAAAATTTTTT  IIIIII  AA   LLLLLOOOOOKKKKIIINNNGGG     FFFOOOORRR!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.22.239.110 (talk) 05:08, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

Canvas
Any one out there knows how to call a heavy-duty, water-proof, UV stabilized canvas? i need to order some for outdoor cover, and do not know how to define it...

Thanks.

redirect
the link to italian wiki is incorrect. Canvas is Canvas even in italian, "interfodera" is something else..--81.208.124.42 (talk) 13:31, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

canvas: missing differentiation
The "Physical Characteristics" section says "Modern canvas is usually made of cotton or linen, although historically it was made from hemp. It differs from other heavy cotton fabrics, such as denim, in being plain weave rather than twill weave.". So basically any plain-woven fabric made of cotton or linen is canvas? Broadcloth == canvas? That doesn't sound right. Surely there's more to it than that, or we wouldn't need a separate word for it.

Could we add a "making canvas" section or something? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Riventree (talk • contribs) 12:27, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Advertising?
Canvas tent (e.g. Armbruster Manufacturing Co.) 68.148.93.15 (talk) 19:08, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

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Ethan Hawke

Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author and film director. He made his film debut in Explorers (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke starred alongside Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater's Before trilogy from 1995 to 2013. Hawke received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Training Day (2001) and Boyhood (2014) and two for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). Other notable roles include in Reality Bites (1994), Gattaca (1997), Great Expectations (1998), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Maggie's Plan (2015), First Reformed (2017), The Black Phone (2021) and The Northman (2022).

Hawke directed the narrative films Chelsea Walls (2001), The Hottest State (2006), and Blaze (2018) as well as the documentary Seymour: An Introduction (2014). He created, co-wrote and starred as John Brown in the Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird (2018), and directed the HBO Max documentary series The Last Movie Stars (2022). He starred in the Marvel television miniseries Moon Knight (2022) as Arthur Harrow.

In addition to his film work, Hawke has appeared in many theater productions. He made his Broadway debut in 1992 in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 2007 for his performance in Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia. In 2010, Hawke directed Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play. In 2018, he starred in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Sam Shepard's play True West.

He has received numerous nominations including a total of four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.

Early life
Hawke was born on November 6, 1970 to Leslie (née Green), a charity worker, and James Hawke, an insurance actuary. Hawke's parents were high school sweethearts in Fort Worth, Texas, and married young, when Hawke's mother was 17. Hawke was born a year later. Hawke's parents were both students at the University of Texas at Austin at the time of his birth. They separated and later divorced in 1974, when he was four years old.

After the separation, Hawke was raised by his mother. The two relocated several times, before settling in New York City, where Hawke attended the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn Heights. Hawke's mother remarried when he was 10 and the family moved to West Windsor Township, New Jersey. There, Hawke attended the public West Windsor Plainsboro High School (renamed to West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South in 1997). He later transferred to the Hun School of Princeton, a secondary boarding school, from which he graduated in 1988.

In high school, Hawke aspired to be a writer, but developed an interest in acting. He made his stage debut at age 13, in a production at The McCarter Theatre of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. He also performed in West Windsor-Plainsboro High School productions of Meet Me in St. Louis and You Can't Take It with You. At the Hun School, he took acting classes at the McCarter Theatre, located on the Princeton campus. After graduation from high school, he studied acting at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, dropping out after he was cast in Dead Poets Society (1989). He enrolled in New York University's English program for two years, but dropped out to pursue other acting roles.

1980s: Early years and Dead Poets Society
Hawke obtained his mother's permission to attend his first casting call at the age of 14, and secured his first film role in Joe Dante's Explorers (1985), in which he played an alien-obsessed schoolboy alongside River Phoenix. The film was favorably reviewed but had poor box office results. This failure caused Hawke to quit acting for a brief period after the film's release. Hawke later described the disappointment as difficult to bear at such a young age, adding, "I would never recommend that a kid act."

In 1989, Hawke made his breakthrough appearance in Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society, playing one of the students taught by Robin Williams as a charismatic English teacher. The Variety reviewer noted "Hawke, as the painfully shy Todd, gives a haunting performance." The film received considerable acclaim, winning the BAFTA Award for Best Film and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. With revenue of $235 million worldwide, it remains Hawke's most commercially successful movie to date. Hawke later described the opportunities he was offered as a result of the film's success as critical to his decision to continue acting: "I didn't want to be an actor and I went back to college. But then the [film's] success was so monumental that I was getting offers to be in such interesting movies and be in such interesting places, and it seemed silly to pursue anything else."

While filming Dead Poets Society he auditioned for what would be his next film, 1989's comedy drama Dad, where he played Ted Danson's son and Jack Lemmon's grandson. Hawke's next film, 1991's White Fang, brought his first leading role. The film, an adaptation of Jack London's novel of the same name, featured Hawke as Jack Conroy, a Yukon gold hunter who befriends a wolfdog (played by Jed). According to The Oregonian, "Hawke does a good job as young Jack ... He makes Jack's passion for White Fang real and keeps it from being ridiculous or overly sentimental." He appeared in Keith Gordon's A Midnight Clear (1992), a well-received war film based on William Wharton's novel of the same name. In the survival drama Alive (1993), adapted from Piers Paul Read's 1974 non-fiction book, Hawke portrayed Nando Parrado, one of the survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes.

1990s: Reality Bites, and Before Sunrise
Hawke's next role was in the Generation X drama Reality Bites (1994), in which he played Troy Dyer, a slacker who mocks the ambitions of his girlfriend (played by Winona Ryder). Film critic Roger Ebert called Hawke's performance convincing and noteworthy: "Hawke captures all the right notes as the boorish Troy (and is so convincing it is worth noting that he has played quite different characters equally well in movies as different as "Alive" and "Dead Poets Society")." The New York Times noted, "Mr. Hawke's subtle and strong performance makes it clear that Troy feels things too deeply to risk failure and admit he's feeling anything at all." The following year Hawke received critical acclaim for his performance in Richard Linklater's 1995 drama Before Sunrise. The film follows a young American man (Hawke) and a young French woman (Julie Delpy), who meet on a train and disembark in Vienna, spending the night exploring the city and getting to know one another. The San Francisco Chronicle praised Hawke's and Delpy's performances: "[they] interact so gently and simply that you feel certain that they helped write the dialogue. Each of them seems to have something personal at stake in their performances."

Away from acting, Hawke directed the music video for the 1994 song "Stay (I Missed You)", by singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb, who was a member of Hawke's theater company at the time. Spin magazine named Hawke and Loeb's video as its video of the year in 1994. In a 2012 interview, Hawke said that the song, which was included in Reality Bites, is the only number-one popular song by an unsigned artist in the history of music. He published his first novel in 1996, The Hottest State, about a love affair between a young actor and a singer. Hawke said of the novel: "Writing the book had to do with dropping out of college, and with being an actor. I didn't want my whole life to go by and not do anything but recite lines. I wanted to try making something else. It was definitely the scariest thing I ever did. And it was just one of the best things I ever did."The book met with a mixed reception. Entertainment Weekly said that Hawke "opens himself to rough literary scrutiny in The Hottest State. If Hawke is serious ... he'd do well to work awhile in less exposed venues." The New York Times thought Hawke did "a fine job of showing what it's like to be young and full of confusion", concluding that The Hottest State was ultimately "a sweet love story".

In Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca (1997), "one of the more interesting scripts" Hawke said he had read in "a number of years", he played the role of a man who infiltrates a society of genetically perfect humans by assuming another man's identity. Although Gattaca was not a success at the box office, it drew generally favorable reviews from critics. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reviewer wrote that "Hawke, building on the sympathetic-but-edgy presence that has served him well since his kid-actor days, is most impressive". In 1998, Hawke appeared alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert De Niro in Great Expectations, a contemporary film adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel of the same name, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. During the same year, Hawke collaborated with Linklater again on The Newton Boys, based on the true story of the Newton Gang. Critical reviews for each film were mixed. The following year, Hawke starred in Snow Falling on Cedars, based on David Guterson's novel of the same title. Set in the Pacific Northwest and featuring a love affair between a European-American man and Japanese-American woman, the film met with an unenthusiastic reception; Entertainment Weekly noted, "Hawke scrunches himself into such a dark knot that we have no idea who Ishmael is or why he acts as he does."

2000s: Training Day, and Before Sunset
Hawke's next film role was in Michael Almereyda's 2000 film Hamlet, in which he played the title character. The film transposed the famous William Shakespeare play to contemporary New York City, a technique Hawke felt made the play more "accessible and vital". Salon reviewer wrote: "Hawke certainly isn't the greatest Hamlet of living memory ... but his performance reinforces Hamlet's place as Shakespeare's greatest character. And in that sense, he more than holds his own in the long line of actors who've played the part." In 2001, Hawke appeared in two more Linklater movies: Waking Life and Tape, both critically praised. In the animated Waking Life, he shared a single scene with former co-star Delpy continuing conversations begun in Before Sunrise. The real-time drama Tape, based on a play by Stephen Belber, takes place entirely in a single motel room with three characters played by Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman. Hawke regarded Tape as his "first adult performance", a performance commended by Ebert for showing "both physical and verbal acting mastery".

Hawke's next role, and one for which he received substantial critical acclaim, came in Training Day (2001). Hawke played rookie cop Jake Hoyt, alongside Denzel Washington, as one of a pair of narcotics detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department spending 24 hours in the gang neighborhoods of South Los Angeles. The film was a box office hit, taking $104 million worldwide, and garnered generally favorable reviews. Variety wrote that "Hawke adds feisty and cunning flourishes to his role that allow him to respectably hold his own under formidable circumstances." Paul Clinton of CNN reported that Hawke's performance was "totally believable as a doe-eyed rookie going toe-to-toe with a legend [Washington]". Hawke himself described Training Day as his "best experience in Hollywood". His performance earned him Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

Hawke pursued a number of projects away from acting throughout the early 2000s. He made his directorial debut with Chelsea Walls (2002), an independent drama about five struggling artists living in the famed Chelsea Hotel in New York City. The film was critically and financially unsuccessful. A second novel, 2002's Ash Wednesday, was better received and made the New York Times Best Seller list. The tale of an AWOL soldier and his pregnant girlfriend, the novel attracted critical praise. The Guardian called it "sharply and poignantly written ... makes for an intense one-sitting read". The New York Times noted that in the book Hawke displayed "a novelist's innate gifts ... a sharp eye, a fluid storytelling voice and the imagination to create complicated individuals", but was "weaker at narrative tricks that can be taught". In 2003, Hawke made a television appearance, guest starring in the second season of the television series Alias, where he portrayed a mysterious CIA agent.

In 2004, Hawke returned to film, starring in two features, Taking Lives and Before Sunset. Upon release, Taking Lives received broadly negative reviews, but Hawke's performance was favored by critics, with the Star Tribune noting that he "plays a complex character persuasively." Before Sunset, the sequel to Before Sunrise (1995) co-written by Hawke, Linklater, and Delpy, was much more successful. The Hartford Courant wrote that the three collaborators "keep Jesse and Celine iridescent and fresh, one of the most delightful and moving of all romantic movie couples." Hawke called it one of his favorite movies, a "romance for realists". Before Sunset was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Hawke's first screenwriting Oscar nomination.

Hawke starred in the 2005 action thriller Assault on Precinct 13, a loose remake of John Carpenter's 1976 film of the same title, with an updated plot. The film received ambivalent reviews; some critics praised the dark swift feel of the film, while others compared it unfavorably to John Carpenter's original. Hawke also appeared that year in the political crime thriller Lord of War, playing an Interpol agent chasing an arms dealer played by Nicolas Cage. In 2006, Hawke was cast in a supporting role in Fast Food Nation, directed by Richard Linklater based on Eric Schlosser's best-selling 2001 book. The same year, Hawke directed his second feature, The Hottest State, based on his eponymous 1996 novel. The film was released in August 2007 to a tepid reception.

In 2007, Hawke starred alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney in the crime drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. The final work of Sidney Lumet, the film received critical acclaim. USA Today called it "highly entertaining", describing Hawke and Hoffman's performances as excellent. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Hawke's performance, noting that he "digs deep to create a haunting portrayal of loss". The following year, Hawke starred with Mark Ruffalo in the crime drama What Doesn't Kill You. Despite the favorable reception, the film was not given a proper theatrical release due to the bankruptcy of its distributor. In 2009, Hawke appeared in two features: New York, I Love You, a romance movie comprising 12 short films, and Staten Island, a crime drama co-starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Seymour Cassel.

2010s: Before Midnight, Boyhood, First Reformed
In 2010, Hawke starred as a vampire hematologist in the science fiction horror film Daybreakers. Filmed in Australia with the Spierig brothers, the feature received reasonable reviews, and earned US$51 million worldwide. His next role was in Antoine Fuqua's Brooklyn's Finest as a corrupt narcotics officer. The film opened in March to a mediocre reception, yet his performance was well received, with the New York Daily News concluding, "Hawke—continuing an evolution toward stronger, more intense acting than anyone might've predicted from him 20 years ago—drives the movie." In the 2011 television adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, Hawke played the role of Starbuck, the first officer to William Hurt's Captain Ahab. He then starred opposite Kristin Scott Thomas in Paweł Pawlikowski's The Woman in the Fifth, a "lush puzzler" about an American novelist struggling to rebuild his life in Paris.

In 2012, Hawke entered the horror genre for the first time, by playing a true crime writer in Scott Derrickson's Sinister, which grossed US$87 million at the worldwide box office—the film was the first in a series of highly profitable films for Hawke after the start of the new decade. In the week prior to the US opening of Sinister, Hawke explained that he was previously turned off by horror because good acting is not always required for success; however, the producer of Sinister, Jason Blum, who formerly ran a theater company with Hawke, made the offer to the actor based on the character and director.

"when I was younger, I ran a theater company with this guy, Jason Blum. And he loved horror movies and he went on to create his own little subgenre with 'Paranormal Activity'. And he kept trying to talk to me about how I should love this whole genre. And I told him: I've never had a script with a really great character and a real filmmaker attached to it that I'd be interested in. So, he brought me into it."

During 2013, Hawke starred in three films of different genres. Before Midnight, the third installment of the Before series, reunited Hawke with Delpy and Linklater. Like its predecessors, the film garnered a considerable degree of critical acclaim; Variety wrote that "one of the great movie romances of the modern era achieves its richest and fullest expression in Before Midnight," and called the scene in the hotel room "one for the actors' handbook." The film earned co-writers Hawke, Linklater, and Delpy another Academy Award nomination, for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Hawke then starred in the horror-thriller The Purge, about an American future where crime is legal for one night of the year. Despite mixed reviews, the film topped the weekend box office with a US$34 million debut, the biggest opening of Hawke's career. Hawke's third film of 2013 was the action thriller Getaway, which was both critically and commercially unsuccessful.

The release of Linklater's Boyhood, a film shot over the course of 12 years, occurred in mid-2014. It follows the life of an American boy from age 6 to 18, with Hawke playing the protagonist's father. The film became the best-reviewed film of 2014, and was named "Best Film" of the year by numerous critics associations. Hawke said in an interview that the attention was a surprise to him. When he first became involved with Linklater's project, it did not feel like a "proper movie," and was like a "radical '60s film experiment or something". At the following awards season, the film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, while winning Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama and BAFTA Award for Best Film. It also earned Hawke multiple awards nominations, including the Academy, BAFTA, Golden Globe, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Hawke next worked with the Spierig brothers again on the science fiction thriller Predestination, in which Hawke plays a time-traveling agent on his final assignment. Following its premiere at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival, the film was released in Australia in August 2014 and in the US in January 2015. The film received largely positive reviews and was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Film. He then reunited with his Gattaca director Andrew Niccol for Good Kill. In this modern war film, Hawke played a drone pilot with a troubled conscience, which led to The Hollywood Reporter calling it his "best screen role in years." Also in 2014, Hawke appeared in the movie Cymbeline which reunited him with his Assault on Precinct 13 co-star John Leguizamo.

In September 2014, Hawke's documentary debut, Seymour: An Introduction, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), winning second runner-up for TIFF's People's Choice Award for Best Documentary. Conceived after a dinner party at which both Hawke and Bernstein were present, the film is a profile of classical musician Seymour Bernstein, who explained that, even though he is typically a very private person, he was unable to decline Hawke's directorial request because he is "so endearing". Bernstein and Hawke developed a friendship through the filming process, and the classical pianist performed for one of Hawke's theater groups. The film was released in March 2015 to a warm reception; the Los Angeles Times reviewer described it as "quietly moving, indefinitely deep".

Hawke had two films premiered at the 2015 TIFF, both garnering favorable reviews. In Robert Budreau's drama film Born to Be Blue, he played the role of jazz musician Chet Baker. The film is set in the late 1960s and focuses on the musician's turbulent career comeback plagued by heroin addiction. His portrayal of Baker was well received; Rolling Stone noted that "Everything that makes Ethan Hawke an extraordinary actor — his energy, his empathy, his fearless, vanity-free eagerness to explore the deeper recesses of a character — is on view in Born to Be Blue." In Rebecca Miller's romantic comedy Maggie's Plan, Hawke starred as an anthropologist and aspiring novelist alongside Greta Gerwig and Julianne Moore. His other films that year included the coming-of-age drama Ten Thousand Saints and the psychological thriller Regression opposite Emma Watson. In November 2015, Hawke published his third novel, Rules for a Knight, in the form of a letter from a father to his four children about the moral values in life.

In 2016, Hawke starred in Ti West's western film In a Valley of Violence, in which he played a drifter seeking revenge in a small town controlled by its Marshal (John Travolta). He then portrayed two unpleasant characters in a row, first as the abusive father of a talented young baseball player in The Phenom, then as the harsh husband of Maud Lewis (played by Sally Hawkins) in Maudie. While some critics praised his unexpected turns, others felt that Hawke was "miscast" as a cruel figure. He reunited with Training Day director Antoine Fuqua and actor Denzel Washington for The Magnificent Seven (2016), a remake of the 1960 western film of the same name. On June 7, his fourth book, Indeh: A Story of the Apache Wars, a graphic novel he wrote with artist Greg Ruth, was released.

In 2017, Hawke appeared in a cameo role in the science fiction film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets by Luc Besson; and starred in Paul Schrader's drama film First Reformed, as a former military chaplain tortured by the loss of his son he encouraged to enlist in the armed forces, and focused on impending cataclysmic climate change. The film premiered at the 2017 Venice Film Festival to a positive reception.

In 2018, Hawke had two films premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. In Juliet, Naked, a romantic comedy adapted from Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, he appeared as an obscure rock musician whose eponymous album set the plot in motion. His third feature film, Blaze, based on the life of little-known country musician Blaze Foley, was selected in the festival's main competition section. In addition, Hawke starred in Budreau's crime thriller Stockholm which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Hawke was in the 2019 western drama The Kid, directed by Vincent D'Onofrio.

2020s: Continued work
In 2019, Hawke and Jason Blum adapted the book The Good Lord Bird into the miniseries based on the same name which premiered on October 4, 2020, on Showtime. He stars as abolitionist John Brown alongside Daveed Diggs, Ellar Coltrane, and includes an appearance of Maya Hawke. In the 2020 biographical film Tesla, he plays the title character, inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla.

His third novel, A Bright Ray of Darkness, was published in February 2021. In 2022, Hawke starred as the primary villain Arthur Harrow in the Disney+ streaming series Moon Knight, produced by Marvel Studios, and as serial killer of children The Grabber in the Blumhouse feature, The Black Phone. The latter marked Hawke's ninth collaboration with Blumhouse. Also that year, he appeared in Robert Eggers' The Northman, a 10th-century Viking epic which was filmed in Ireland, alongside Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Willem Dafoe.

In 2022, Hawke's six-part biographical documentary on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, The Last Movie Stars, was broadcast on HBO Max. Hawke also voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in the animated children's television series Batwheels.

Stage career
Hawke has described theater as his "first love", a place where he is "free to be more creative". Hawke made his Broadway debut in 1992, portraying the playwright Konstantin Treplev in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull at the Lyceum Theater in Manhattan. The following year Hawke was a co-founder and the artistic director of Malaparte, a Manhattan theater company, which survived until 2000. Outside the New York stage, Hawke made an appearance in a 1995 production of Sam Shepard's Buried Child, directed by Gary Sinise at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. In 1999, he starred as Kilroy in the Tennessee Williams play Camino Real at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts.

Hawke returned to Broadway in Jack O'Brien's 2003 production of Henry IV, playing Henry Percy (Hotspur). New York magazine wrote: "Ethan Hawke's Hotspur ... is a compelling, ardent creation." Ben Brantley of The New York Times reported that Hawke's interpretation of Hotspur might be "too contemporary for some tastes," but allowed "great fun to watch as he fumes and fulminates." In 2005, Hawke starred in the Off-Broadway revival of David Rabe's dark comedy Hurlyburly. The New York Times critic Brantley praised Hawke's performance as the central character Eddie, reporting that "he captures with merciless precision the sense of a sharp mind turning flaccid". The performance earned Hawke a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor.

From November 2006 to May 2007, Hawke starred as Mikhail Bakunin in Tom Stoppard's trilogy play The Coast of Utopia, an eight-hour-long production at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The Los Angeles Times complimented Hawke's take on Bakunin, writing: "Ethan Hawke buzzes in and out as Bakunin, a strangely appealing enthusiast on his way to becoming a famous anarchist." The performance earned Hawke his first Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In November 2007, he directed Things We Want, a two-act play by Jonathan Marc Sherman, for the artist-driven Off-Broadway company The New Group. The play has four characters played by Paul Dano, Peter Dinklage, Josh Hamilton, and Zoe Kazan. New York magazine praised Hawke's "understated direction", particularly his ability to "steer a gifted cast away from the histrionics".

The following year, Hawke received the Michael Mendelson Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Theater. In his acceptance speech, Hawke said "I don't know why they're honoring me. I think the real reason they are honoring me is to help raise money for the theater company. Whenever the economy gets hit hard, one of the first thing [sic] to go is people's giving, and last on that list of things people give to is the arts because they feel it's not essential. I guess I'm here to remind people that the arts are essential to our mental health as a country."

In 2009, Hawke appeared in two plays under British director Sam Mendes: as Trofimov in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and as Autolycus in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. The two productions, launched in New York as part of the Bridge Project, went on an eight-month tour in six countries. The Cherry Orchard won a mixed review from the New York Daily News, which wrote "Ethan Hawke ... fits the image of the 'mangy' student Trofimov, but one wishes he didn't speak with a perennial frog in his throat." Hawke's performance in The Winter's Tale was better received, earning him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play.

In January 2010, Hawke directed his second play, A Lie of the Mind, by Sam Shepard on the New York stage. It was the first major Off-Broadway revival of the play since its 1985 premiere. Hawke said that he was drawn to the play's take on "the nature of reality", and its "weird juxtaposition of humor and mysticism". In his review for The New York Times, Ben Brantley noted the production's "scary, splendid clarity", and praised Hawke for eliciting a performance that "connoisseurs of precision acting will be savoring for years to come". Entertainment Weekly commented that although A Lie of the Mind "wobbles a bit in its late stages", Hawke's "hearty" revival managed to "resurrect the spellbinding uneasiness of the original". The production garnered five Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Outstanding Revival, and earned Hawke a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Director of a Play.

Hawke next starred in the Off-Broadway premiere of a new play, Tommy Nohilly's Blood from a Stone, from December 2010 to February 2011. The play was not a critical success, but Hawke's portrayal of the central character Travis earned positive feedback; The New York Times said he was "remarkably good at communicating the buried sensitivity beneath Travis's veneer of wary resignation." A contributor from the New York Post noted it was Hawke's "best performance in years". Hawke won an Obie Award for his role in Blood from a Stone. The following year Hawke played the title role in Chekhov's Ivanov at the Classic Stage Company. In early 2013, he starred in and directed a new play Clive, inspired by Bertolt Brecht's Baal and written by Jonathan Marc Sherman. Later that year, he played the title role in a Broadway production of Macbeth at the Lincoln Center Theater, but his performance failed to win over the critics, with the New York Post calling it "underwhelming" for showing untimely restraint in a flashy production.

In 2019, Hawke returned to Broadway in the revival of Sam Shepard's True West, co-starring Paul Dano. The show was met with critical acclaim. It received the Critic's Pick from The New York Times. The show's previews began on December 27, 2018, and officially opened January 24, 2019, closing on March 17, 2019. Hawke is a member of the LAByrinth theatre company.

Personal life
Hawke lives in Boerum Hill, a Brooklyn neighborhood in New York City, and owns a small island in Nova Scotia, Canada, where he occasionally lives during the summer. He is a second cousin twice-removed of Tennessee Williams on his father's side. Hawke's maternal grandfather, Howard Lemuel Green, served five terms in the Texas Legislature (1957–67), served as the elected Tarrant County Judge in Texas from 1967 to 1975, and was also a minor-league baseball commissioner. During his bachelor days, Hawke dated Kim Tannahill, a nanny who worked for Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

Family
On May 1, 1998, Hawke married actress Uma Thurman, whom he had met on the set of Gattaca in 1996. They have two children, Maya (b. 1998) and Levon (b. 2002). The couple separated in 2003 amid allegations of Hawke's infidelity, and filed for divorce the following year. The divorce was finalized in August 2005.

In 2008, Hawke married Ryan Shawhughes, who had briefly worked as a nanny to his and Thurman's children before graduating from Columbia University. Dismissing speculation about their relationship, Hawke said, "my [first] marriage disintegrated due to many pressures, none of which were remotely connected to Ryan." They have two daughters, Clementine and Indiana.

Beliefs
Hawke identifies as a feminist and has criticized "the movie business [being] such a boys' club." He has also spoken in support of Colin Kaepernick and individual rights.

Philanthropy
Hawke has served as a co-chair of the New York Public Library's Young Lions Committee, one of New York's major philanthropic boards. In 2001, Hawke co-founded the Young Lions Fiction Award, an annual prize for achievements in fiction by writers under 35. In November 2010, he was honored as a Library Lion by the New York Public Library. In May 2016, Hawke joined the library's board of trustees.

Political views
Hawke supports the Democratic Party, and supported Bill Bradley, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton for President of the United States in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2016, respectively. He is also a supporter of gay rights; in March 2011, he and his wife released a video supporting same-sex marriage in New York.

In an October 2012 interview, Hawke said that he prefers great art to politics, explaining that his preference shows "how little" he cares about the latter; "I think about the first people of our generation to do great art. I see Michael Chabon write a great book; when I see Philip Seymour Hoffman do Death of a Salesman last year—I see people of my generation being fully realized in their work, and I find that really kind of exciting. But politics? I don't know. Paul Ryan is certainly not my man."

Hawke was critical of Donald Trump, criticizing him for his Make America Great Again slogan, and for threatening to put Hillary Clinton in jail. According to Hawke, members of his family voted for Trump.

title: Ethan Hawke


text:
Sankt Pölten

Sankt Pölten (Central Bavarian: St. Pödn), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020. St. Pölten is a city with its own statute (or Statutarstadt) and therefore it is both a municipality and a district in the Mostviertel. Due to its cultural status, it has recently enjoyed an increase of visitors passing through Sankt Pölten on their way to Vienna.

Geography
The city lies on the Traisen river and is located north of the Alps and south of the Wachau. It is part of the Mostviertel, the southwest region of Lower Austria.

Subdistricts
St Pölten is divided into the following subdistricts: Altmannsdorf, Dörfl at Ochsenburg, Eggendorf, Ganzendorf, Hafing, Harland, Hart, Kreisberg, Matzersdorf, Mühlgang, Nadelbach, Oberradlberg, Oberwagram, Oberzwischenbrunn, Ochsenburg, Pengersdorf, Pottenbrunn, Pummersdorf, Ragelsdorf, Ratzersdorf at the Traisen, Reitzersdorf, Schwadorf, Spratzern, St Georgen on the Steinfelde, St Pölten, Stattersdorf, Steinfeld, Teufelhof, Unterradlberg, Unterwagram, Unterzwischenbrunn, Viehofen, Völtendorf, Waitzendorf, Wasserburg, Weitern, Wetzersdorf, Windpassing, Witzendorf, Wolfenberg, Wörth and Zwerndorf.

Transport
The city's main railway station, St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof, is located directly on the West railway of the ÖBB and is also the terminus of the Leobersdorfer Railway, the Mariazellerbahn, the regional railway to Tulln and the regional railway to Krems. It is at the intersection of the Western Motorway A1 and the Kremser Speedway S33, and is traversed by the Vienna Road B1. St Pölten is a junction of the Wieselbus bus lines, which provides radial connections between the capital and the different regions of Lower Austria.

In the city
Between 1911 and 1976, a tramline operated in St Pölten. Today, a network of eleven bus lines operates at regular intervals within the city. Every summer, a free tourist train in the city centre connects the ancient parts of the city with the government district.

History
The oldest part of the city is built on the site of the ancient Roman city of Aelium Cetium that existed between the 2nd and the 4th century. In the year 799, it was called Treisma. St Pölten did not become a town until 1050 and officially became a city in 1169. Until 1494 St Pölten was part of the diocese of Passau, and then became the property of the state. A Benedictine monastery was founded in 791. In 1081 it hosted the Augustinian Chorherren and in 1784 their Kollegiatsstift closed. Since 1785, this building has hosted the cathedral of St Pölten. The city replaced Vienna as the capital of Lower Austria with a resolution by the Lower Austrian parliament on 10 July 1986. The Lower Austrian government has been hosted in St Pölten since 1997.

The name St Pölten is derived from Hippolytus of Rome. The city was renamed to Sankt Hippolyt, then St Polyt and finally St Pölten.

Municipal council
The municipal council consists of 42 members and since the municipal elections in 2016 it consists of the following parties:
 * 26 Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) – the mayor and the first vice mayor
 * 9 Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) – the second vice mayor
 * 6 FPÖ
 * 1 The Greens – The Green Alternative

City's senate
The city's senate consists of 11 members:
 * SPÖ: Martin Fuhs, Mag. Renate Gamsjäger, Engineer Franz Gunacker, Robert Laimer, Wolfgang Nowak, Mag. Johann Rankl, Mag. Ingrid Heihs
 * ÖVP: Alfred Neuhauser, Josef Fraberger
 * FPÖ
 * Greens: Silvia Buschenreiter

Mayor
On 9 July 2004 the municipal council elected the former senator for culture Mag. Matthias Stadler (SPÖ) as the new mayor of St Pölten. The first vice mayor is Susanne Kysela (SPÖ); the second vice mayor is Johannes Sassmann (ÖVP).

Coat of arms, colours and seals
The arms' blazon is silver and azure; on the right a fess gules, on the left a wolf rampant silver langued gules and armed Or.

The colours of the city are red and yellow. The seal of the city contains its coat of arms surrounded by the text Landeshauptstadt St. Pölten. The administration's seal of the magistrate also contains the city's coat of arms with the text Magistrat der Stadt St. Pölten.

Economy
As of 15 May 2001, 40,041 people worked in 2,711 companies in the city. 23 of those companies are large-scale enterprises with more than 200 employees each.

Media
Several media companies are based in St Pölten. These are "@cetera", a literary-cultural magazine; "City-Flyer", an online magazine describing the cultural offerings of the city, which is published on paper monthly; "Campus Radio", a radio station from the University of Applied Sciences; "HiT FM", a radio station broadcasting in Lower Austria; "LetHereBeRock", an online youth magazine about the alternative rock scene; NÖN, a Lower Austrian newspaper; the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation for Lower Austria; and the local television channel "P3tv".

Large-scale enterprises
The largest companies based in St Pölten are the furniture producer Leiner, the paper manufacturer Salzer, and the family owned engineering conglomerate Voith.

Educational facilities

 * Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium St. Pölten (public gymnasium)
 * Public educational facility for kindergarten pedagogy and social pedagogy
 * Public economics school and economics academy
 * Bundesreal- and Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium (BORG) Schulring (public high-level gymnasium)
 * St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (fields: computer simulation, media management, social work, telecommunication and media)
 * Public higher educational facility for professions in economics and school for social professions
 * Public higher technical educational facility and laboratory (fields: EDP and organisation, electronics, electrical engineering, machine engineering, economic engineering) with university of applied sciences for machine construction
 * New Design University (interior architecture and graphics design)
 * Lower Austrian state academy
 * Philosophical-theological university
 * Folk high school
 * Lower Austrian institute for promotion of economy development (WIFI)

Leisure and sports sites
Swimming is available at Aquacity (indoor swimming pool), the St. Pölten outdoor swimming pool and Ratzersdorf Lake (a bathing pond where a nudist beach, beach volleyball, and miniature golf are available). For fitness training there is the City-Treff - Pueblo, the Lifeline, the Reebok and the Seepark. In addition, the city has:
 * American Football Club - St. Pölten Invaders
 * Badminton Club
 * Golf club St. Pölten
 * Skittles at the leisure park Megafun
 * Miniature golf at the Tennis-Allround Center
 * Model aircraft airport of the BSV VOITH
 * Riding club St. Pölten-Wagram
 * Shooting range of the private Schützenkompagnie
 * Skatepark
 * Gliding club St. Pölten

St Pölten hosts a primary base of the Lower Austrian state sports school.

Tennis
Every year in the third week of May the ATP tournament takes place in St Pölten. There are multiple local tennis stadiums, including the Arena im Aufeld, the tennis centre Allround, the tennis courts by the local ice sport association 1872, the courts in St. Georgen, the courts at the Ratzersdorfer Pond, the courts in the Lower Austrian state sports school and the courts of the leisure park Megafun.

Twin towns – Sister cities
St Pölten is twinned with the following cities:
 * 🇺🇸 Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA
 * 🇨🇿 Brno, Czech Republic
 * 🇫🇷 Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
 * 🇩🇪 Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
 * 🇯🇵 Kurashiki, Japan
 * 🇭🇺 Nyíregyháza, Hungary
 * Wuhan, China

Theatres

 * Lower Austrian state theatre
 * Bühne im Hof
 * Festspielhaus St. Pölten

Museums

 * Diocese museum St. Pölten
 * Museum im Hof
 * Lower Austrian state museum
 * Lower Austrian documentation institute for modern art
 * Private museum "Wilhelmsburger ornament and utensil dishes"
 * City museum St. Pölten

Others

 * Repertory theatre Cinema Paradiso
 * Former synagogue
 * Klangturm (tower), the city's landmark
 * Stadtsäle (public event hall)
 * Youth culture hall frei.raum
 * VAZ (Veranstaltungszentrum, event-centre)
 * Drunter & Drüber (≈"haywire"; "higgledy-piggledy"; "topsy-turvy"), a pub in the inner city
 * Tonkünstler Orchestra
 * Business Center Niederösterreich
 * Apotheke zum goldenen Löwen (pharmacy since 1545), oldest shop in town, famous baroque facing

Regular events

 * ATP tennis tournament
 * Cinema at the cathedral (Film am Dom)
 * Capital city festival
 * International culture and film festival
 * Parliament festival
 * St Pölten festival weeks "Klangweile"
 * St Pölten Höfefest
 * FM4 Frequency Festival
 * Pro Golf Tour tournament

Notable people

 * Jakob Prandtauer (1660-1726), an Austrian Baroque architect, died locally.
 * Ernst Stöhr (1860–1917), painter, graphic artist, writer and founding member of the Vienna Secession.
 * Julius Raab, (1891–1964), conservative politician, Chancellor of Austria, 1953–1961
 * Walter Fischer (1901–1978), medical doctor, journalist, radio broadcaster, poet and resistance fighter
 * Maria Emhart (1901-1981), resistance activist, survived the Hitler years and became a national politician (SPÖ)
 * Otto Demus (1902-1990), art historian and Byzantinist; member of the Vienna School of Art History
 * Walter Graf (1903–1982), musicologist
 * Heinrich Maier (1908–1945), priest and resistance fighter against Nazi Germany, attended local gymnasium
 * Bernhard Wicki (1919–2000), Austrian-Swiss actor, film director and screenwriter
 * Karl Österreicher (1923–1995), conductor, music educator, died locally
 * Peter Minich (1927–2013), stage actor who became a tenor performing in operas, operettas and musical films
 * Jörg Demus, (1928–2019), Austrian classical pianist
 * Lolita (1931–2010), singer and actress
 * Erwin Leder, (born 1951), actor e.g. Das Boot & Underworld
 * Alfred Gusenbauer, (born 1960), politician (SPÖ) and former Chancellor of Austria, 2007/2008
 * Martin Fiala, (DE Wiki) ((born 1961) Austrian composer.
 * Oliver Stummvoll (born 1995), model
 * The Clairvoyants (founded 2011), (Thommy Ten and Amélie van Tass) magician and mentalist duo.

Sport

 * Franz Binder (1911–1989), a footballer and coach; played 242 games and 28 for Austria & Germany
 * Karl Daxbacher (born 1953), football manager and player; played 393 games for FK Austria Wien & 6 for Austria
 * Jochen Fallmann (born 1979), a football coach and a former player who played over 450 games.
 * Markus Wagesreiter (born 1982), an handball player who has played 134 games for Austria
 * Lukas Mössner (born 1984), a footballer who played over 370 games
 * Maria Gstöttner (born 1984), football striker, played 467 games for SV Neulengbach and also for Austria women
 * Benjamin Karl (born 1985), a snowboarder with medals from three Winter Olympics

Literature

 * Klaus Nüchtern: Kleines Gulasch in St. Pölten (German): ISBN 3-85439-306-7
 * Thomas Karl: St. Pölten – Ein Wandel durch die Zeit (German): ISBN 3-89702-641-4
 * Otto Kapfinger, Michaela Steiner: St. Pölten neu (German): ISBN 3-211-82954-7

title: Sankt Pölten


text:
Melk

Melk (older spelling: Mölk) is a city in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, next to the Wachau valley along the Danube. Melk has a population of 5,257 (as of 2012). It is best known as the site of a massive baroque Benedictine monastery named Melk Abbey.

The town is first mentioned as Medilica in 831 in a donation of Louis the German; the name is from a Slavic word for 'border.' The area around Melk was given to Leopold I, Margrave of Austria, in the year 976 to serve as a buffer between the Magyars to east and Bavaria to the west. In 996 mention was first made of an area known as Ostarrîchi, which is the origin of the word Österreich (German for Austria). The bluff which holds the current monastery held a Babenberger castle until the site was given to Benedictine monks from nearby Lambach by Leopold II, in 1089. Melk received market rights in 1227 and became a municipality in 1898. In a very small area, Melk presents a great deal of architectural variety from many centuries.

Notable sights
The Forsthaus, which accommodates the city archives and the tourist information office, is the starting point of the tour. Beside the Forsthaus the Zaglauergasse meets with the Wiener Straße. The Zaglauergasse is restricted on one side by remnants of the ancient city wall. At this junction one could find the Wiener Tor (Vienna Gate) until 1874. It has been, along with the Linzer Tor (Linz Gate) on the other side of the city, one of the two entrances to Melk throughout the centuries.

After several metres, the Wiener Straße opens to the affectionately restored Rathausplatz, which got its name from the Rathaus built in 1575. The facade of the town hall was redesigned 150 years ago and the highly elaborate entrance door, made of wood and copper, is the town hall's most outstanding feature.

To its left is the former Lebzelterhaus, which dates back to 1657 and which nowadays is a pharmacy. To the right is a secular building from the Middle Ages. The Kolomanbrunnen market fountain, which is a gift from the abbey to the city, is in the centre of the Rathausplatz. On the top of the fountain the statue of St. Koloman can be seen.

The old bread store with its tiny towers is about 400 years old and is still covered with the original shingle roof. Behind the old bread store extends the oldest lane in Melk, the Sterngasse, which used to be the main street of the town. The interesting wall paintings on the houses indicate what they used to be. Some other houses contain fascinating courtyards.

The hidden Haus am Stein ('house at the rock') is the oldest building of Melk, built during the 15th century. Its facade is covered by a protected ancient vine. At the arm of the Danube river, parts of the former city walls and the Round Tower can be recognised. Following the Nibelungenlände and passing the Salzhof, the visitor reaches the Schiffsmeisterhaus with its high water level marks on the facade. The Danube reached 15.8 metres above the usual water level in 1501.

The Haus auf dem Stein ('house on the rock') was built less than 50 years after this high water disaster. It was used as an atelier by the Austrian painter Walter Prinzl. The counterpart of the Wiener Tor, the Linzer Tor, was located at the end of the Linzer Straße. Neither gate exists anymore, but historical illustrations can be found at the city archives. At the corner of the Stadtgraben (moat), there is the defensive tower, where parts of it are still in original condition.

The Old Post Office is at the end of the moat, which was built in 1792. Its facade is decorated with a beautiful relief created at the end of the Baroque period. The Old Post Office is now used as a convention centre. The church court is dominated by the Gothic Pfarrkirche (parish church). Designed in the late Gothic period and embedded in the northern facade is the Kalvarienberggruppe, a significant sculpture. Before the main road connects to the Rathausplatz, a tablet commemorates the great Austrian composer Anton Bruckner.

About 5 km south of the town is the renowned Renaissance castle Schallaburg.

During World War II, a subcamp of Mauthausen concentration camp was located here. Today the former crematorium is a museum while the rest of the camp was part of what is now the Birago barracks of the Austrian Army.

In 1950, the first official women's Austrian Chess Championship was held in Melk, the winner of which was Salome Reischer.

People

 * Gertrude of Babenberg, Duchess of Bohemia
 * Ingomar Grünauer (born 1938), composer
 * Maximilian Stadler

In fiction
The co-protagonist of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose is Adso of Melk, a Benedictine novice traveling in 1327.

title: Melk