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Alexandros Koumoundouros

Alexandros Koumoundouros (Αλέξανδρος Κουμουνδούρος, 4 February 1815 – 26 February 1883) was a Greek politician. Born in Kampos, on the Messenian side of the Mani Peninsula, he was the son of Spyridon-Galanis Koumoundouros, the bey of the area during the last period of the administration of the region by the Ottoman Empire.

He was a political personality famous for his work towards national progress, his patriotism and unselfishness, despite him having been in office during a very unsettled period of Greek history.

Biography

After the Greek War of Independence, he moved to Nafplion where he went to school, then to Athens to study law. In 1841, he took part in the revolution in Crete despite believing it was a lost cause—the conditions were not right for such an undertaking at that time.

Koumoundouros’ long career encompassed many facets of political life, including serving in parliament, authoring of legislation, promotion of a democratic regime, restoration of the army, distribution of national farms to landless farmers, and the approval of major construction work (such as the Isthmus of Corinth).

During his 50-year-long period of political involvement he tried to remain neutral, and to avoid confrontation both with the three Great Powers and with the smaller powers of that time. In this period he held various ministerial appointments eighteen times, was twice president of the Greek Parliament and ten times Prime Minister of Greece. Despite often experiencing inimical conditions, including at least three assassination attempts, he still managed to create a firm foundation for democracy in Greece.

Early political career
He was appointed as Public Prosecutor in the Tribunal of Kalamata, but he soon quit this position in order to become a politician. His first political distinction emerged in 1853 when he was elected deputy of the province of Messinia (the province of Kalamàta). Two years later he became Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, and the following year Minister of Economics.

He kept the same ministry in the new governments both of 1857 and 1859. After the overthrow of King Otto in 1862 he became Minister of Justice of the temporary government.

The first elections for a proper government after the fall of King Otto took place in 1863 and Koumoundouros remained as Minister of Justice, however, the extremely poor political stability lead to new elections the following year.

In the succeeding government of 1864, Koumoundouros was moved to the Ministry of Religion and Education and later to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Tenure as Prime Minister
On 25 March 1865, he became Prime Minister of Greece for the first time and won the elections of 1866, too. Four years later, he retained the position of the Minister of Army and Internal Affairs, in addition to being Prime Minister. In 1875, Koumoundouros was successful in uniting all other parliamentary parties against Charilaos Trikoupis. In August 1875, he became President of the Parliament once again and in the elections of the same year he was made Prime Minister of the country once more.

Elections took place three times in 1876 and Koumoundouros was victorious in two of them. He also won the elections of 1878.

Koumoundouros’ greatest achievement came in 1881, during his last (tenth) premiership, when after the Congress of Berlin and after diplomatic contacts with the Ottomans, he managed to bring about the annexation of the areas of Thessaly and Arta to the Greek mainland (with the Convention of Constantinople).

Right after this achievement he called for new elections so that representatives of the newly annexed regions could enter Parliament. Despite this concession, the new candidates elected the representative of the opposition party as President of Parliament. As a result, Koumoundouros resigned on 3 March 1882. He died some months later on 26 February 1883, in his home on Ludwig Square (now known as Koumoundourou Square), in Athens, and was buried at public expense in the First Cemetery of Athens.

Personal life
After the end of the unsuccessful Cretan revolution, he married Ekaterìni Konstantinou G. Mavromichàli of the famed Maniot family. They had two children. His first son Konstantìnos, was born in Kalamata 1846, and daughter Marìa, was born in Kalamata 1845. Ekaterìni died young and Koumoundouros married Efthimìa Perotì who presented him with his second son in 1858, Spirìdonas and in 1867 a daughter, Olga.

title: Alexandros Koumoundouros


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Potion

A potion is a liquid "that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers." It derives from the Latin word potio which refers to a drink or the act of drinking. The term philtre is also used, often specifically for a love potion, a potion that is supposed to create feelings of love or attraction in the one who drinks it. Throughout history there have been several types of potions for a range of purposes. Reasons for taking potions ranged from curing an illness, to securing immortality to trying to induce love. These potions, while often ineffective or poisonous, occasionally had some degree of medicinal success depending on what they sought to fix and the type and amount of ingredients used. Some popular ingredients used in potions across history include Spanish fly, nightshade plants, cannabis, and opium.

During the 17th to 19th century, it was common in Europe to see peddlers offering potions for ailments ranging from heartbreak to the plague. These were eventually dismissed as quackery. Prostitutes, courtesans, enchanters and midwives were also known to distribute potions.

Etymology
The word potion has its origins in the Latin word potus, an irregular past participle of potare, meaning "to drink". This evolved to the word potionem (nominative potio) meaning either "a potion, a drinking" or a "poisonous draught, magic potion". In Ancient Greek, the word for both drugs and potions was "pharmaka" or "pharmakon". In the 12th century, the French had the word pocion, meaning "potion", "draught", or "medicine". By the 13th century, this word became pocioun, referring to either a medicinal drink, or a dose of liquid medicine (or poison).

The word "potion" is also cognate with the Spanish words pocion with the same meaning, and ponzoña, meaning "poison"; The word pozione was originally the same word for both "poison" and "potion" in Italian, but by the early 15th century in Italy, potion began to be known specifically as a magical or enchanted drink.

Administrators of potions
The practice of administering potions has had a long history of being illegalised. Despite these laws, there have been several different administrators of potions across history.

Quacks
Quacks or charlatans are people who sell "medical methods that do not work and are only intended to make money". In Europe in the 15th century it was also common to see long-distance peddlers, who sold supposedly magical healing potions and elixirs. During the Great Plague of London in the 17th century, quacks sold many fake potions promising either cures or immunity. Because pills looked less trustworthy to the public, potions were often the top sellers of quacks. These potions often included bizarre ingredients such as floral pomanders and the smoke of fragrant woods. The well known Wessex quack Vilbert was known to sell love potions made of pigeon hearts. By the 18th century in England, it was common for middle class households to stock potions that claimed to solve a variety of ailments. Quackery grew to its height in the 19th century.

Pharmacists
In 18th- and 19th-century Britain, pharmacies or apothecaries were often a cheaper, more accessible option for medical treatment than doctors. Potions distributed by chemists for illnesses were often derived from herbs and plants, and based on old beliefs and remedies.

Prior to the Pharmacy Act 1868 anybody could become a pharmacist or chemist. Since the practice was unregulated, potions were often made from scratch.

Potions were additionally used to cure illness in livestock. One potion found in a 19th-century pharmacist's recipe book was to be used for "lambs of about 7 years old" and contains chalk, pomegranate and opium.

The role of women in distributing potions
There was a strict hierarchy in the medical community of Europe during the 12th to 15th centuries. Male doctors were the most respected and paid followed by female apothecaries, barber-surgeons and surgeons. Women were often the main way that individuals who could not afford doctors or apothecaries could gain medical treatment Potions, in addition to calming teas or soup, were a common homemade treatment made by women. When unable to go to a female house member, early modern people would often go to the wise women of their village. Wise women (who were often supposed witches) were knowledgeable in health care and could administer potions, lotions or salves in addition to performing prayers or chants. This was often free of charge or significantly less expensive than the potions of apothecaries.

The limited jobs available to women during the 17th to 18th century in Europe often involved a knowledge of potions as an additional way to gain a financial income. Jobs that often involved the selling of love potions included prostitutes, courtesans, enchanters and midwives. These practices varied by region. In Rome, up until the period of the civil wars, the only physicians were drug-sellers, enchanters and midwives. In Greece, retired courtesans often both created potions and worked as midwives. Prostitutes in Europe were often expected to be an expert in magic and administer love potions.

Self-administration
In the Middle Ages and the early modern period using potions to induce sterility and abortion was widely practiced in Europe. The majority of abortive potions were made using emmenagogue herbs (herbs used to stimulate menstruation) which were intended to cause a period and end a pregnancy. Additionally abortive potions could also be prepared by infusion of a herb or tree. The willow tree was a common ingredient in these potions, as it was fabled to cause sterility. Several key theological and legal literature of the time condemned this practice, including Visigothic law and the Church.

Many herbal potions containing emmenagogues did not contain abortifacients (substances that induce abortion) and were instead used to cure amenorrhoea (a lack of period). There are several different types of literature in the humoral tradition that propose the use of herbal potions or suppositories to provoke menstruation.

Giulia Tofana and Gironima Spana
Giulia Tofana (1581-1651) was an Italian poisoner, known as the inventor of the famous poison Aqua Tofana. Born in Sicily, she invented and started to sell the poison in Palermo in Sicily. She later established herself in Rome, where she continued the business, specialising in selling to women in abusive marriages who wanted to become widows. She died peacefully in 1651 and left the business to her stepdaughter Gironima Spana, who expanded it to a substantial business in the 1650s. The organization was exposed in 1659 and resulted in the famous Spana Prosecution, which became a subject of sensationalistic mythologization for centuries.

Paula de Eguiluz
Paula de Eguiluz was born into slavery in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in the 17th century. Within the area in which she lived, sickness and disease ravaged the towns and major cities. Paula de Eguiluz decided to research and find her own cures to these maladies. Because of this, she is widely known for being involved in health care and healing.

Once her healing and health care practice took off, she started to sell potions and serums to clients. de Eguiluz's business attracted a following and slowly got her into a bit of trouble.

Due to Paula's healing accomplishments, she was arrested approximately 3 times. During these inquisitions, she was forced to tell the jury that she performed witchcraft. In response to these false confessions, she was imprisoned and whipped several times.

Catherine Monvoisin
Catherine Monvoisin, better known to some as La Voisin, was born within the year 1640 in France.

Catherine Monvoisin married Antoine Monvoisin who was a jeweler in Paris. His business plummeted and Catherine had to find work in order for her and her family to survive. She had a knack for reading people very accurately coupled with chiromancy and utilized her skills in order to make money.

La Voisin would read people's horoscopes and perform abortions, but she also sold potions and poisons to her clients. Her work quickly became well known throughout France and people would quickly become her clients. Around the year 1665, her fortune telling was questioned by Saint Vincent de Paul's Order, but she was quick to dismiss the allegations of witchcraft.

Catherine would then begin making potions whether it be for love, murder, or everyday life. Her love potion consisted of bones, the teeth of moles, human blood, Spanish fly beetles, and even small amounts of human remains. Her predecessor and major influence was Giulia Tofana.

On March 12, 1679, Catherine was arrested Notre- Dame Bonne- Nouvelle due to a string of incidents involving her and her potions. She confessed her crimes of murder and told authorities a majority of everything they needed to know about the people she knowingly murdered.

On February 22, 1680, La Voisin was sentenced to a public death wherein she was to be burned as the stake for witchcraft.

Jacqueline Felicie
Jacqueline Felice de Almania was tried in Italy in 1322 for the unlicensed practice of medicine. She was mainly accused of doing a learned male physicians job and accepting a fee. This job involved "examining urine by its physical appearance; touching the body; and prescribing potions, digestives, and laxatives." Eight witnesses testified to her medical experience and wisdom. However, as she had not attended university, her knowledge was dismissed. Jacqueline Felice was then found guilty and fined and excommunicated from the church.

Popular types of potions
Emotions such as anger, fear and sadness are universal and as such potions have been created across history and cultures in response to these human emotions.

Love potion
Love potions have been used throughout history and cultures. Scandinavians often used love-philtres, which is documented in the Norse poem The Lay of Gudrun.

In 17th-century Cartagena, Afro-Mexican curer (curanderos/as) and other Indigenous healers could gain an income and status from selling spells and love potions to women trying to secure men and financial stability. These love potions were sold to women of all social classes, who often wished to gain sexual agency.

Confectio Alchermes
In the early 9th century, Arab physician Yuhanna ̄ Ibn Masawaih used the dye kermes to create a potion called Confectio Alchermes. The potion was "intended for the caliph and his court and not for commoners." The potion was intended to cure heart palpitations, restore strength and cure madness and depression.

During the Renaissance in Europe, Confectio Alchermes was used widely. Recipes for the potion appeared in the work of the popular English apothecary Nicholas Culpeper and the official pharmacopoeia handbooks of London and Amsterdam. Queen Elizabeth's French ambassador was even treated with the remedy; however, the recipe was altered to include a "unicorn's horn" (possibly a ground-up narwhal tusk) in addition to the traditional ingredients. The ingredients for the potion mainly included ambergris, cinnamon, aloes, gold leaf, musk, pulverized lapis lazuli, and white pearls.

St Paul's potion
St Paul's potion was intended to cure epilepsy, catalepsy and stomach problems. Many ingredients used in the potion had medicinal value. According to Toni Mount the list of ingredients included "liquorice, sage, willow, roses, fennel, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cormorant blood, mandrake, dragon's blood and three kinds of pepper".

Many of these ingredients still have medicinal value in the 21st century. Liquorice can be used to treat coughs and bronchitis. Sage can help memory and improve blood flow to the brain. Willow contains salicylic acid, which is a component of aspirin. Fennel, cinnamon and ginger are all carminatives, which help relieve gas in the intestines. The cormorant blood adds iron to treat anemia. If used in small doses, Mandrake is a good sleeping draught (though in large doses Mandrake can be poisonous.) Dragon's blood refers to the bright red resin of the tree Dracaena draco. According to Toni Mount "it has antiseptic, antibiotic, anti-viral and wound-healing properties, and it is still used in some parts of the world to treat dysentery."

Immortality potion
Creating a potion for immortality, was a common pursuit of alchemists throughout history. The Elixir of Life is a famous potion that aimed to create eternal youth. During the Chinese dynasties, this elixir of life was often recreated and drunk by emperors, nobles and officials. In India, there is a myth of the potion amrita, a drink of immortality made out of nectar.

Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca, is a hallucinogenic plant-based potion used in many parts of the world. It was first created by indigenous South Americans from the Amazon basin as a spiritual medicine. The potion was often administered by a shaman during a ceremony. The potion contains the boiled stems of the ayahuasca vine and leaves from the chacruna plant. Chacruna contains dimethyltryptamine (also known as DMT), a psychedelic drug. The potion caused users to vomit or 'purge' and induced hallucinations.

Folklore
Potions or mixtures are common within many of local mythologies. In particular, references to love potions are common in many cultures. Yusufzai witches, for example, would bathe a recently deceased leatherworker and sell the water to those seeking a male partner; this practice is said to exist in a modified form in modern times.

Famous potions in literature
Potions have played a critical role in many pieces of literature. Shakespeare wrote potions into many of his plays including a love potion in A Midsummer Night's Dream, poison in Hamlet, and Juliet takes a potion to fake her death in Romeo and Juliet.

In the Harry Potter series, potions also play a main role. The students are required to attend potion classes and knowledge of potions often becomes a factor for many of the characters.

In the fairytale "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen, the Little Mermaid wishes to become human and have an immortal soul. She visits the Sea Witch who sells her a potion, in exchange for which she cuts out the Little Mermaid's tongue. The Sea Witch makes the potion using her own blood that she cuts from her breast. She warns the Little Mermaid that it will feel as if she had been cut with a sword when her fin becomes legs, that she will never be able to become a mermaid again, and risks turning into seafoam and not having an immortal soul if she fails to win the Prince's love. The Little Mermaid decides to take the potion which successfully turns her into a human so that she can try to win the love of the Prince and an immortal soul.

In the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Henry Jekyll creates a potion that transforms him into an evil version of himself called Edward Hyde. Dr. Jekyll does not explain how he created this potion because he felt his "discoveries were incomplete," he only indicates that it requires a "particular salt." He uses the potion successfully to go back and forth between his normal self, Dr. Jekyll, and his evil self, Mr. Hyde.

Solanaceous plants
In the 11th century, plants belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae were often used as an ingredients in the potions - aphrodisiac or otherwise - and flying ointments of witches. The specific nightshades used in such concoctions were usually tropane alkaloid-containing species belonging to the Old World tribes Hyoscyameae and Mandragoreae. These potions were known as pharmaka diabolika ("devilish drugs"). The root of Mandragora officinarum, the celebrated mandrake, fabled in legend to shriek when uprooted, was often used to prepare sleeping potions, although it could prove poisonous in excess, due to its tropane alkaloid content. M. officinarum is native to the Mediterranean region. Administered in small doses mandrake root has been used in folk medicine as an analgesic, an aphrodisiac and a remedy for infertility. Larger doses act as an entheogen of the deliriant class, having the potential to cause profound confusion and dysphoria characterised by realistic hallucinations of an unpleasant character. Classical and Renaissance authors have left certain accounts of the use of the plant by witches in the preparation of potions intended variously to excite love, cause insanity or even kill. Scopolamine, a toxic, deliriant alkaloid present in (and named after) Scopolia carniolica and also present in Mandragora, Hyoscyamus and other Solanaceae, was used by the infamous Dr. Crippen to kill his wife.

Spanish fly
In ancient Greece, the Spanish fly (also known as cantharides) was crushed with herbs and used in love potions. It was believed to be effective due to the bodily warmth that resulted from ingesting it. However, this was actually a result of inflammation from toxins in the tissues of the beetle. Ferdinand II of Aragon drank many potions and elixir contains the Spanish fly.

Cochineal
Cochineal, another type of dye, replaced kermes as an ingredient in Confectio Alchermes in the 17th and 18th century. Cochineal was also heavily used as an ingredient in potions for jaundice. Jaundice potions were a mix of Cochineal, cream of tartar and Venetian soap and patients were directed to take it three times a day.

Cannabis and opium
Opium and cannabis has been used in potions throughout human history. Potions containing cannabis and/or opium were particularly popular in Arabia, Persia, and Muslim India after the arrival of the drugs around the 9th century. Cannabis and opium were a common ingredient used in potions and tinctures sold by apothecaries in 19th-century Europe, as the ingredients made patients feel better, and the addictive nature of the drug meant it sold well. Nepenthes pharmakon is a famous type of magical potion recorded in Homer's Odyssey, intended to cure sorrow. Pharmakon was the word for medicine in Ancient Greek. The potion was recreated in the 18th century, and contains both the plant nepenthe and opium.

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

title: Potion


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User talk:Houseofvalcore

The House of Valcore is a household within many nations on the Great Continent, All are Medieval and Renaissance Subcultures and are run as small countries.

Households are a very important part of these countries as they sponsor new members into groups such as Knighthoods and Guilds. We also work as an orientation to the ways of Medieval and Renaissance Life.

A Household is (usually) set up around Familial lines with a Patron and Matron (Mother and Father) and Siblings as well as adopted persons who are members of the household but not considered "Blood" relations. These members make up the House Guards, sponsored Knights and various other roles. If you are interested in joining the House of Valcore, Feel free to E-Mail the Patron at sirrobertvalcore1@yahoo.com The Great Continant is a way of discribing the mundane States of New York and Pencilvania Members of the House of Valcore enguage in medieval combat using Flat padded weapons. Unlike boffer weapons, these "Flat Weapons" Take on a more realistic look than the traditional round boffer weapon. Members of the House of Valcore also do many medieval and renaissance crafts and passtimes. For more information, take a look at http://houseofvalcore.tripod.com

Also take a look at The Kingdom of Styria at:  http://kingdomstyria.tripod.com This Group is not a part of the SCA, Instread it is one of the many free kingdoms.

The House of Valcore holds no ties to the Empire of the Imperial Magistracy

title: User talk:Houseofvalcore


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Oxford Classical Dictionary

The Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD) is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first published in 1949 (OCD1 or OCD), edited by Max Cary with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and Alexander Souter. A second edition followed in 1970 (OCD2), edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, and a third edition in 1996 (OCD3), edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. A revised third edition was released in 2003, which is nearly identical to the previous third edition. A fourth edition was published in 2012 (OCD4), edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. In 2016, a fully digital edition launched online, edited by Sander Goldberg (2013–2017) and Tim Whitmarsh (2018–present). Continuously updated on a monthly basis, this edition incorporates all 6,300 entries from OCD4 (which are being updated on a rolling basis) as well as newly commissioned entries, and features multimedia content and freely accessible maps of the ancient world.

The OCD 's over 6,400 articles cover everything from the daily life of the ancient Greeks and Romans to their geography, religion, and their historical figures.

Digital and on-line availability
The fourth edition and the third revised edition of the OCD are available online for members of subscribed institutions and for subscribed individuals via Oxford Reference. The third edition (1996) was also available on CD-ROM, but it is partially incompatible with more recent versions of Windows and has not been revised or re-released.

The new digital edition is accessible online to institutional and individual subscribers via the Oxford Research Encyclopedias. Entry extracts/summaries and select full-length entries are freely available to non-subscribing individuals.

Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization (OCCC), part of the Oxford Companions series of Oxford University Press, is an independent publication consisting of a selection of articles from the OCD, with accompanying illustrations. The first edition was published in 1998 (OCCC1 or OCCC), edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, and contains over 600 articles selected from the OCD3. A paperback edition was issued in 2004. The current second edition was published in 2014 (OCCC2), edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow, and contains over 700 articles selected from the OCD4.

Varia
National Latin Exam

A copy of the OCD has traditionally been offered by the National Latin Exam as a prize for students who obtain four consecutive ascending gold medals on the exam.

Editions and versions

 * Oxford Classical Dictionary
 * Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Max Cary, with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and A. Souter. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949.
 * Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Nicholas G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970.
 * Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. 3rd ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-19-866172-6.
 * Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. 3rd rev. ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-19-860641-3.
 * Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. 4th ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-954556-8.
 * Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Tim Whitmarsh. Digital ed. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.

 * Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
 * Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1998, 2004. ISBN 978-0-19-860165-4 (hb), ISBN 978-0-19-860958-2 (pb).
 * Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Edited by Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, and Esther Eidinow. 2nd ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-19-870677-9.

title: Oxford Classical Dictionary


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Mammoth Mountain

Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex partially located within the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, in the Inyo National Forest of Madera and Mono Counties. It is home to a large ski area primarily on the Mono County side.

Mammoth Mountain was formed in a series of eruptions that ended 57,000 years ago. Mammoth still produces hazardous volcanic gases that kill trees.

Geology
Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex in Mono County, California. It lies in the southwestern corner of the Long Valley Caldera and consists of about 12 rhyodacite and dacite overlapping domes. These domes formed in a long series of eruptions from 110,000 to 57,000 years ago, building a volcano that reaches 11059 ft in elevation. During this time, massive dacite eruptions occurred roughly every 5000 years. The volcano is still active with minor eruptions, the largest of which was a minor phreatic (steam) eruption 700 years ago.

Mammoth Mountain also lies on the south end of the Mono-Inyo chain of volcanic craters. The magma source for Mammoth Mountain is distinct from those of both the Long Valley Caldera and the Inyo Craters. Mammoth Mountain is composed primarily of dacite and rhyolite, part of which has been altered by hydrothermal activity from fumaroles (steam vents).

Volcanic gas discharge
Mammoth is outgassing large amounts of carbon dioxide out of its south flank, near Horseshoe Lake, causing mazuku in that area. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the ground ranges from 20 to 90 percent. Measurements of the total discharge of carbon dioxide gas at the Horseshoe Lake tree-kill area range from 50 to 150 ST per day. This high concentration causes trees to die in six regions that total about 170 acre in size (see photo).

The tree-kills originally were attributed to a severe drought that affected California in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Another idea was that the kills were the result of a pathogen or other biological infestation. However, neither idea explained why all trees in the affected areas were killed regardless of age or health. Then, in March 1990, a U.S. Forest Service Ranger became ill with suffocation symptoms after being in a snow-covered cabin near Horseshoe Lake.

Measurements around the lake found that restrooms and tents had a greater than 1% concentration (toxic) and a deadly 25% concentration of  in a small cabin. concentrations of less than 1% are typical and healthy in most soils; however, soil concentrations of in the tree-kill areas ranged from 20% to 90%. This overabundance of was found to be the cause of the tree-kills because tree roots need to absorb O2 directly and the high  level reduced available O2. Researchers also determined that Mammoth releases about 1300 ST of every day. As of 2003, the concentration of carbon dioxide in soil gas at Mammoth Mountain is being monitored on a continuous, year-round basis at four sites—three at Horseshoe Lake and one near the base of Chair 19 at the ski area.

The most likely sources of the are degassing of intruded magma and gas release from limestone-rich metasedimentary rocks that are heated by magmatic intrusions. The remarkable uniformity in chemical and isotopic composition of the and accompanying gases at different locations around Mammoth Mountain indicates that there may actually be a large reservoir of gas deep below the mountain from which gas escapes along faults to the surface. Measurements of helium emissions support the theory that the gases emitted in the tree kill area have the same source as those discharged from Mammoth Mountain Fumarole. There is evidence that the rate of discharge has been declining, with emissions peaking in 1991.

Ski patrol fatalities incident
In April 2006, three members of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area ski patrol died while on duty when a fumarole caused a snow bridge to collapse under the patrollers. The 2005/2006 winter season delivered significant snow depth of 52 ft. As the ski patrollers assessed the fumarole for skier safety, the perimeter snow collapsed, dropping the patrollers 21 ft into the bottom of the fumarole, exposing them to extremely high levels of carbon dioxide. It is unclear if they died as a result of the fall or as a result of the gas.

Recreational use

Mammoth Mountain is home to the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, founded by Dave McCoy in 1953. Mammoth is a ski, snowboard, and snowmobile mountain during the winter months. Mammoth is the highest ski resort in California and is notable for the unusually large amount of snowfall it receives compared to other Eastern Sierra peaks—about 400 in annually and about 300 out of 365 days of sunshine—due to its location in a low gap in the Sierra crest. The ski area has more than 3500 acre of skiable terrain, with 3100 ft of vertical serviced by 25 lifts. In the summer months the ski gondolas are used by mountain bikers and tourists who wish to get a summit view of Long Valley Caldera directly to the east and Sierra peaks to the west, south and north. To the south of the mountain, there are a number of lakes that serve as tourist attractions in the summer.

title: Mammoth Mountain


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Talk:Judeo-Christo-Islamic/Archive 1

I believe it is best to list such terms alphabetically. Susan Mason

There is precendent for that. - &#35918&#30505

This page should be deleted. There is no Christo-Islamic-Judeo tradition to speak of. Each of these three different religions has very different views on theology, faith, ethics, religious law, and inter-faith relations. Further, there is no content to this supposed article at all. RK

This page obviously does have content-are u sure your browser is working correctly? Christianity and Islam both derive from Judaism (or at least claim to), its kinda hard for me to see how there is not Christo-Islamic-Judeo tradition. They all have very similar views on how there is a God and he wants people to be good and stuff. Susan Mason

 * Susan, there is no content here. Just links to other articles. And your incredibly simplistic claim that these three different religions are really the same shows that you know little of substance about any of them. Please, I beg of you, stop writing things that are not true, and stop writing things about the way you wish things were, rather than the way they really are.  Wikipedia is an academic encyclopedia, not a junior high school wish list.

 * Are you able to disagree without insulting people? The content here links to other articles, lists are very useful. At some point Im sure there will be more text here as well, the wiki is a work in progress. Susan Mason

 * Bob, they are not the same... but they share a lineage.. and Abraham in particular... not to mention the ten commandments. Idolatry is the subject of one of the most fundamental commandments, and you are wrong to characterise my and Susans work as disrespectful of differences. I would add, that its better to disrespect differences than it is to disrespect principles held in common. Im not typing to a brick wall am I? - &#35918&#30505

Do not call me "Bob"; that is not my name. And your claims about Islam are grossly false; they most certainly do not have the Ten Commandments anywhere in Quran. In fact, Muslims views both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as deliberate lies, that were made by Jews and Christians to hide the true word of God! Your claims are simply fictional. Your position is thus unsupportable. RK

I am often amazed at how similar fundamental christianity, judaism, and islam all are. Susan Mason

 * They are not the same at all. Please, stop substituting your fantasy for reality. These are three different religions with very different points of view. Your personal wishes are not facts.

 * Both of you: slinging "A is true" and "No, B is true" renders the "discuss this page" page useless -- this is not a discussion. Can't either of you support your opinions, even badly?  For my part, I'm inclined to think there probably could be something here, but until there is, it should redirect to Abrahamic religion. Tuf-Kat

 * I agree that one should support one's position. Susan has been unable to do so, while I have. Further, as you can see for yourself, most of the Wikipedia community has already agreed with my point of view. See the article on the Judeo-Christian tradition. The only problem is that Susan and Stevertigo refuse to do any reading on the subject, and they substitue their wishes for reality.  That is a betrayal of our high academic standards. RK

Its all well and good to say that neither of us is stating any support, but we have stated that christianity and islam are derived from judaism, what more support do we need? And of course, Abrahamic religion is completely acceptable. Susan Mason

 * Toker's assessment of the situation is crystal.. though I would not be hasty in implementing the suggestion of a redirect. And Robert, your just plain wrong about Islam, and it comes from your lack of a NPOV study of it. I suggest this as a primer http://www.alislam.org/books/study-of-islam/books.html- - &#35918&#30505

 * Wikipedia contributors should be aware that Stevertigo is writing absolute fictions (again) about Islam. His claims are totally fictional. Muslims do not study the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament; they teach that these works were deliberately corrupted, and contain lies about God. Muslims thus teach that the only reliable truth about God can be found in the Quran. Stevertigo's claims to the contrary are utterly fictional. RK

RK sounds anti-Islamic. Susan Mason

 * Susan, stop lying about the beliefs of Muslims. Instead of typing up your dreams abotu what you wish they believe, do some research on the subject. I am outraged that you and Stevertigo are making up totally fictional claims about Islam, and presenting your fictions as fact, and then slandering me because I am pointing out your gross erros.

 * Are you arguing that Islam is not derived from Judaism? Susan Mason
 * No, that is obviously a distortion of what he is saying. RK claimed that Muslims revere the Old & New Testaments but believe it has been altered and corrupted.  Thus, the only true source of the word of God is the Koran.  What should be here, if anything, would be the ideas that the Koran and both Testaments agree on. Tuf-Kat

 * Thank you, Tuf-Kat. This is the second time today that Susan attacked a statement I never said. In any case, Islam is not really derived from Judaism. That would be a distortion of its true historical origins, which lies in an original religion that drew from Arab paganism, parts of Judaism, and parts of Christianity, and which created its own theology. It is clear to me that Susan is simply ignorant of Islam. RK

And why would you feel I have a problem with stating ideas common amongst the different facets of the Christo-Islamic-Judeo tradition, otherwise known as the Abrahamic religion. Susan Mason

 * Susan, stop attacking statements which no one has ever made. That is not what Tuf-Kat said. RK

 * I have no doubt you are perfectly capable of doing so, and never meant to imply otherwise -- though your actions seem more designed to raise a ruckus than actually providing information on Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The more I think about this, the more I feel this should be redirected to Abrahamic religion, since it could then provide info on Rastafarianism and Baha'ai and how all five are similar and different (plus any more small Abrahamic religions I don't know about, if any). Tuf-Kat

What are you going on about? My actions are designed to raise a ruckus? If Im not even disagreeing with you, where is the ruckus? Susan Mason

At best, "Christo-Islamic-Judaic tradition" is an ideological construct used by a small group of people towards particular ends. It certainly is not an axample of good/current scholarship on comparative religion. At best, the article should explore who introduced the term. and why, and how its use has spread. Slrubenstein

 * I agree with RK and Slrubenstein. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are three distinct religions, with different traditions. They have different holy scriptures, although Judaism and Christianity agree on many of the same ones, and some "Old Testament"/Tanakh stories are (I think) retold in the Quran. Within "traditional" Christianity as understood by Catholicism and Orthodoxy, "Tradition" means what Christ has taught the Church, and what the Church has taught successive generations of Christians. I'm sure you would agree that this tradition is quite different from the tradition handed down to today's Jews, and the tradition handed down to today's muslims. Yes, there are some things in common, but that does not make them the same tradition. I would even argue that Christianity no longer shares a single tradition since the Great Schism, and certainly not since the Protestant Reformation, although all these traditions have much more in common with each other than they do with Judaism or Islam. Wesley 17:08 Mar 4, 2003 (UTC)

It is best to redirect to Abrahamic religions. You cannot deny that when compared to Druidism or Wiccanism or Hinduism, that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are clearly related and of the same family. Susan Mason
 * The very notion of "related" and "family" are ideological and reflect a very particular approach to the study of religion (as is the notion "Abrahamic religion"). Perhaps there are some legitimate scholars of comparative religion who have made this claim.  If so -- please enlighten us and provide the names and citations. Slrubenstein

 * How about you name a scholar whom you feel is authoritative and we'll call him up and see if he thinks Christianity and Islam are historically derived from Judaism. Did Jesus read the Torah? Was Muhammed aware of the Christian worldview? Have Jews ever sat down and talked with Christians and Islamics? Hmmmmmmm... Susan Mason

 * Susan! Stop your personal attacks. You know full well that Slrubetstein did not say this. Further, stop lying about Jews, and claiming that we are ignorant because we never talk to Muslims and Christians. A great many Jews are involved in inter-faith study and dialogue, myself included. Maybe someday you should do so as well, because then you might actually learn something about this topic. Our point is that you are making stuff up off the top of your head, and presenting your myths, distortions and fictions as if they were facts. Then you get mad at me, at Slrubenstein and at others when we object to you writing grossly mistaken fantasies. RK

Judaism as we know it developed around the same time as Christianity. Of course Mohammed was "aware" of Christianity; that doesn't mean that Christianity and Islam belong ot some "family." Mohammed and other Islamic leaders were familiar with lots of stuff! Have Jews sat down with Christians and Muslims? Of course! But that doesn't make them members of the same family -- Jews have sat down with stoics and Zoroastrianists too. In any event, all the scholars that I know of (Wellhausen, Vermes, Fredricksen) who see a link between Judaism and Christianity emphasize the break between the two, and call attention to the non-Jewish influences on Christianity. You might as well just claim that Mithraism is the "father" religion of Christianity. Now I repeat my request: name your sources. Slrubenstein

 * But your sources (Wellhausen, Vermes, Fredricksen) appear to be agreeing with me that there is a distinct and noteworthy relationship between Judaism and Christianity or else they wouldnt be talking about a break or rift in the first place! Nobody talks about the "break" between Shintoism and Shamanism because there was never much of a connection to begin with. Wasn't Jesus a Jew? And don't Christians consider the Jewish "bible" to be holy? And don't Islamic people consider the Jewish and Christian bibles to be holy? Susan Mason

 * Yes -- but these facts do not therefore mean that there is a "tradition." I think scholars who jump from these facts to construct some Judeo-Christian or Judeo-Islamic-Christian tradition are doing so too hastily, and for ideological reasons; the supposition of the "tradition" invariably distorts our understanding of the very specifics you mention.  By the way, Wellhausen, Vermes, and Fredricksen are not "my" sources -- they belong to everyone!  But if you reject them please tell us why, and please tell us what sources you prefer to rely on for such articles. Slrubenstein

 * First off, they are your sources as long as you are the only one bringing them up during this discussion, seondly, I do support them. Please refer me to where they specifically state that there is no such thing as a Christo-Islamic-Judeo tradition, something which you have already agreed is a scholary understanding of the religions:

 * SLR: "I think scholars who jump from these facts to construct some Judeo-Christian or Judeo-Islamic-Christian tradition are doing so too hastily"

 * obviously then scholars do believe in such a tradition, although, of course, not all scholars feel this way. I am sure any discussion of the subject will benefit from the opinions of Wellhausen, Vermes, and Fredricksen, so I urge you to find relevant passages. Susan Mason

 * They never refer to a "Judeo Christian" tradition to my knowledge, that's my point. But for the moment, I really would like to know your sources.  You have added much more content to this article than I have, so your sources are more important. Slrubenstein

I haven't added anything to this article. There isn't anything in this article. What are you talking about? Susan Mason
 * You are right -- my mistake, and I apologize. Kaufman: The Religion of Israel, Wellhausen: Prolegomena to a history of the Religion of Israel, Fredriksen: From Jesus to Christ, Vermes: Jesus the Jew. Slrubenstein

The problem is that Susan is writing stuff up that isn't true, and then demands that we all prove that her claims are false. Unable to provide scholarship, she relies on circular reasoning and misquotes. I fail to see how any further dialogue with her can improve this article. She has a religious agenda to falsely portray three totally different religions as being very similar (if not identical), and she has made it clear that she won't let facts get in her way. She clearly is misuing Wikipedia to promote her personal agenda. That is a violation of our NPOV policy. RK

RK, are you providing sources and scholarship and the like? Why don't you treat others the way you want to be treated? How can u deny that that there is some basic similarity between these religions, are they not monotheistic? Do they not have many of the same figures held in positions of holy reverence? Do they not have taboos, morals, and sins in common? Do they not have geographical and historical similarities? Susan Mason

 * RK, you may be right about the contents of this talk page -- but Susan was right, there is no real concent to the article, and I checked the constituent articles and she hasn't been making many real substantive contributions to those pages either. It is possible that she is using these talk pages to educate herself.  I do think you are raising a very valid point about not promoting our own views through the contents of articles, all I am saying is that in this instance Susan is not the main culprit. Slrubenstein

Im so tired of hearing how Im promoting some insidious and private agenda, Ive been hearing that since I first started on this site. The only reason I stick around is because it's obviously a damn good idea to create a free encyclopedia, but most of you are such jerks. Susan Mason

Sheesh! I never even realized the backwards order of the names. Judeo-Christo-Islamic is proper, as it is inline with the order of "inheritance" as far as Abrahamic religions go. - #35918&#30505< Why not use alphabetical? This is definitely not a common use term, and otherwise there will be argument about who gets to go first. In the future, on similar subjects, there may be argument about which actually came first. Its best to use alphabetica. Susan Mason

 * If it is not a common term -- indeed, if it is not used in the literature and is scarcely heard of outside of Wikipedia, then it does not merit a Wikipedia page. An encyclopedia is not a place to publish a contributor's original theories or favorite idiosyncratic expressions; it is a place to collect together knowledge that is established elsewhere in the world.

 * Real-World Data: The word "Judeo-Christo-Islamic" has 37 Google hits. The permutation which has the most is "Judeo-Islamic-Christian" at 73. For comparison, "Abrahamic religion" has 26 800 and "Abrahamic faith" has 16 800.

 * This suggests that none of the JCI/JIC/CJI expressions has significant currency when compared to "Abrahamic". Since "JCI" and "Abrahamic" both admittedly denote the same idea (the common heritage of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) I propose that "Abrahamic" is the correct term for Wikipedia to use to denote that idea. --FOo

I agree. Susan Mason

I might agree, if Abrahamic had treatment for the uses of these terms... however, the idea of exploring links between religions is not invalid is it? how do we denote these? - &#35918&#30505

Bear in mind, that eventually we here on the wikipedia are going to come to understand something new and original, its inevitable. The fact religions are similar is a good place to start, I think. Afterall, it isn't my POV, its God's POV, and God's POV is NPOV because he is God and he can do that. Susan Mason

 * Dontcha go getting all nUtTy, uNitaRIAn, or mUShy on us now SuE... - &#35918&#30505 ps.: "And if you think peace is a common goal, that goes to show how little you know...."

lol Susan Mason

Whew, that's a lot of arguing. My ignorant self proposes the following:

Regarding names, I suggest the alphabetical, in order to be the most neutral. All combinations (Judeo-Christo-Islamic, Judeo-Islamic-Christian, etc.) can redirect to the alphabetical article.

As this page is named X-X-X_tradition, let's fill it with a list of things that all three religions have in common (i.e. regardless of their relatedness or non-relatedness). We all know at least one: monotheism. For some more, try this Google query. If after some time, it is found that there is very little in common between them, then we can disregard this as a separate topic and redirect to Abrahamic religions. Can everyone agree on this? (I hope so) -Fagan

nonsense... appreciate the concern, but the issue of titleship, despite the jabbering, is itself not a great controversy... If we were to continue in the use... it wouldnt be any less political to change it to CIJ - anyone who considers the order to be paramount in terms of vanity - is not going to be happy in any case... "abrahamic" seems like a solution, but that context is not a comparative religion term in itself... It would need a little treatment, thats all im saying... aw fuck it Ill do it..- &#35918&#30505

actually RK strongly disputes that this article is even valid. He says it is absurd to suggest that these religions are similar. Abrahamic religion is an article on this subject, as are the pages which this one links to. And a decision to list things alphabetically seems really neutral to me. This term is not in common usage, and so whatever google says is the most popular variant on this is hardly very important. And I do think Abrahamic religion would be acceptable to most anyone Susan Mason

 * Ms. "Susan Mason" is lying. She claims that I wrote it is "absurd to suggest that these religions are similar" ? I never wrote any such thing. In fact, I helped edit two articles on Islamic philosophy and Jewish philosophy which give examples of how they are similar!.  RK

He's right to point out differences, and hes keen to, but even he has to back off from bugus notion that there is no relationship at all worthy of comparing... Either your misinterpreting him, (and making too big a deal of what he thinks) or hes patently wrong... It matters not either way. - &#35918&#30505

Read Islamic philosophy and say there is 'no relationship', clearly there is, and it was explored long ago. Also read modern Islamic philosophy and ask if there are any parallels to modern Jewish or Christian thought. Clearly there are. Then, from an historical point of view, read early Muslim history and ask 'did something similar happen in other writing-based religions that permitted philosophy and theology to mix?' Some would argue clearly yes. Emphasizing the central role of the Prophet Abraham is certainly a good move, as it allows the smaller religions that accept this tradition to be brought in and their insights examined. The J-C-I, J-I-C, stuff is just foolish, avoid it.

A "similarity" is not the same thing as a "tradition" -- the two issues should be treated separately. There is an article on Judeo-Christian tradition, which among other things describes the construction of the "tradition." There is also an article on "Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity," to give a broader view of the relationship between the two. I suggest we handle this topic the same way: any claim about a Judeo-Christo-Islamic tradition" is the same thing as "Abrahamic religion" and should be incoprorated into that article. A more general discussion of similarities and differences between these religions can be in articles "Comparing and COntrasting Christianity and Islam" and "Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Islam," "Comparing and Contrasting Judaism and Zoroastrianism," "Comparing and COntrasting Christianity and Mithraism," etc. Slrubenstein

 * Good points. RK 02:07 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

As much fun as it is to watch the back and forth between Susan Mason, RK and Slrubenstein, I'd like to vote for removing the insults... Silver Maple
 * Uh, what insults? In any case, the last time this page was active was March 5, so I imagine any insults stopped almost four months ago. Slrubenstein
 * For example, calling each other liars. There was a recent edit where that occurred.  Why not give Susan the benefit of the doubt and say that she must have been in error?  I am aware that she is no longer around to defend herself (having been banned).  Why not finally move some of the bad blood into a backup tape, to leave only the relevant parts of the discussion for interested readers?  Seriously, this whole talk page doesn't present any of you in a positive light.  Why not shelf it? Silver Maple
 * Well, I really do not have any investment in this as I -- to my knowledge -- never called anyone a liar. If you want to archive any of this, go ahead.  But I wouldn't delete it ... Slrubenstein

title: Talk:Judeo-Christo-Islamic/Archive 1


text:
Talk:Pattern language

Title?
There is a stub on this same subject at Pattern Language. I'm not sure which is the correct capitalization but since this seems to be a specific term it may be treatable as a proper noun (thus it would need to be capitalized). Whatever the articles final title both entries need to be merged. --mav 06:47 24 Jun 2003 (UTC)

A pattern language is a generic thing that can be applied to any discipline. _Pattern Language_ is the title of a book by Christopher Alexander. I think they should be separate articles, but I haven't read the book. I hope someone will take that on... Wordie 18:55, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * I think a more appropriate title for such an article would be Pattern Language (book) - having articles that differ only in a minor point of capitalisation is likely to just lead to confusion. Such a page could then be added to Pattern language (disambiguation). - IMSoP 19:27, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * The book is called (carefully, I know, by the authors) A Pattern Language. Thus the page for the book would properly (and unambiguously) be called A Pattern Language (book). I have read the book, and it deserves its own page.dilgreen 13:34, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Perhaps we could title the general page Pattern Languages (plural) because it is a general concept that has been applied, although somewhat differently, to a fair number of different fields. I agree that there also deserves to be a separate page labelled "A Pattern Language" or perhaps, "A Pattern Language -- Christopher Alexander, et. als." Truthtable1 21:09, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

What?
The description on this page is all very general. I'm still not sure what a PL even is -- even after looking at the links. Would something like UML be a pattern language? Is it a general term ("pattern language") that can be applied widely, or a specific term ("Pattern Language") for what Christopher Alexander was describing? (Which was what again?) Someone please make this article more clear. It's like an article about computer programming that doesn't talk about what types of programs might be possible, nor any examples of particular programming languages! - dcljr 02:30, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * I agree. Considering that Wikis were first created for the discussion of pattern languages, it seems like we should have a better entry on the subject. (I would write one myself, but I frankly have only the faintest idea of what a PL is -- in fact, I originally visited this site in order to learn more, and gained very little.)   —  Adam Conover † 04:14, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * OK - I made a couple of small refinements to the text today. I will attempt more having read these comments. I'm an architect, studied with Christopher Alexander, so have an idea of what pattern languages mean to me. However, I do think that the concept as applied to programming has different emphases, strengths and weaknesses, so I may skew the page somewhat (I've done a little programming, but am a rank amateur in terms of theory).dilgreen 13:38, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I think that the concepts of a Pattern and a Pattern Language are best explained by examples rather than by definitions. Unfortunately, this means that it takes time.  At least I have not found a "quick" way to explain these to adults so that they immediately differentiate a Pattern correctly from other related but different concepts such as stories, examples, templates, scripts, concepts, principles. And, as Dilgreen rightly points out, Patterns and Pattern Languages have played out somewhat differently in different fields.  Not surprisingly, given the differences in cultures, training, goals, contexts, etc., Christopher Alexander's work has a very different (but not totally unrelated) flavor from Patterns in Software Engineering.  One problem is that many people try to equate a Pattern with a concept that they are already familiar with.  This is a mistake.  It is something like other things but also different.  Another problem is that when people first see the term "Pattern Language" they typically assume that it is a language for expressing patterns rather than a language made up of patterns. It might be worth explicitly making these points and differentiations right up front.  ?? For instance, "A Pattern is different from a Template in that a Template has specific and predetermined points of customization.  A Pattern is more flexible than that."  Does that sound useful or more confusing?Truthtable1 21:24, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Here is my attempt: A Pattern refers to the named solution of a recurring problem. The concept is different from other related concepts such as templates or concepts.  A template typically implies that the points of variability are predetermined.  A Pattern is meant to be more flexible than that. In addition, a Pattern generally has a number of distinct parts which are at different levels of generality.  For example, a Pattern contains an explication of the forces at work in the problem and its solution. These forces are laid out at a high conceptual level. A Pattern is generally introduced with a very specific and evocative exemplary  image.  At the end, one tries to summarize the essence of the solution in terms of a very general schematic diagram.

A Pattern Language is an inter-related lattice of Patterns that tries to cover a field of design. Since the original work of Christopher Alexander and colleagues in architecture, Pattern Languages have been applied to fields as diverse as Object-Oriented Design, Human Computer Interaction, Change Management, Software Project Management, Socio-technical endeavors, and Pedagogy. As might be expected in such diverse fields, the Pattern Languages are not identical in terms of format, coverage or origin. Truthtable1 01:05, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I believe I either started this article, or edited an early draft. A pattern language is just what it says: a language.  It has grammar, syntax and vocabulary.  Customarily (as in Alexander) it's described as a picture or design (the vocabulary part), with places the design fits (syntax) and rules that make it useful in that place (grammar).  The advantage over other forms of design is that one can design very complicated things in a piecewise way, by breaking apart a problem into smaller pieces (decomposition), and applying a proven design from the vocabulary to each piece (application or unification).  Then the design can come together (synthesis).  I know it works with software, because I use it every day.  I'm starting to see applications everywhere, which is a little spooky.  Alexander claimed in his book that he didn't invent the design system, he noticed it while looking at old-world cities designed to comprehensive building laws. I hope this helps.  I think I'll rewrite anything that looks incomplete. Ray Van De Walker 04:05, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

 * I think I've finished my rewrite for now. I worry that the intro is too long, but note the comments above, whcih complained about vagueness.  The vagueness seemed to happen on: 1. What is this thing for? (short)  2. Why is it good? (short)  3.  What is it? (longer, because I added a brief example for each part, usually not done in an intro.  But, you smart guys complained about vaguness, so these are needed, right?) Ray Van De Walker 05:24, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Further disambiguation?
This article could probably benefit from being split into pattern language (architecture) and pattern language (software engineering). --erauch 05:05, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Agree - see my note in 'What' above. I'm not up to the Wiki specifics need to do it though. Anyone interested in working with me on this one (preferably a programmer with some knowledge of pattern languages as used in that area)?dilgreen 13:40, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

I also wonder whether pattern language really stemfs from within architecture (see origin!), which is important to evaluate whether this method is really adequate for architecture!?

 * I do not think it should be split. The same logic also applies to mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, military formations, sail plans, navigation, and almost every other synthetic field I know anything about at all.  It's very abstract, but I think if you split it, you will lose the abstraction that lets it be widely applied. Ray Van De Walker 04:09, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Attention
I've listed this article on Pages needing attention. - dcljr 04:36, 29 Aug 2004 (UTC)

10 Dec 2006: I've remarked article for restructure. It seems that none of the problems has been corrected yet. (See the other titles in talk page) most importantly, This article could probably benefit from being split into pattern language (architecture) and pattern language (software).

 * Don't split, I'd say. The idea of pattern languages (as defined by Alexander) is that it would be applicable to different domains, not just architecture and computers. Splitting an article about pattern languages in software construction would possibly be appropriate once there is enough material on that, and this material justifies such a split. Until then, there should be different sections (but not different articles) about "Pattern languages in architecture", "..in interaction design" (the more creative/psychological aspect of computer science), "..in software construction" (the more technical aspect of cs) and "..in other fields" (if any material can be found on that). --Lhead 21:02, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Expanded, clarified
Ok, I've added a significant amount of material and tried to distinguish between the general ideas and the specific applications. I am no pattern language expert -- I hope others will run with it! wordie 12:55, 8 Sept 2004 (UTC)

Total rewrite
I tried to totally rewrite this article. Lots of important issues were missing in the previous version, and I found none of the existing explanations helpful. The rewrite is yet unfinished, so I hope there will be some more experts around .. --Lhead 04:54, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Whoo, this sounds agressive :) ok, not everything was so bad in the old version, but I still believe the new rewrite is benefitial for the article. --Lhead 20:43, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Non-constructive cleanup :(
Nah, perfect. After the last cleanup (or amputation, I should say..), there is not much left of my structural skeleton :( For those interested in working on this article, I suggest a look at my older version, . It's messed up with unfinished notes, which are bad style for a wikipedia article, but should be good starting points for further writing. -- Lhead 00:19, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

I returned some of the removed sections, this time with complete sentences :) The section I added ("application domains") is far from perfect, but it's simply necessary to have this information in the article. Feel free to improve or replace it - but don't just delete (for whatever reason). Thanks, --Lhead 17:29, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Very Abstract Introduction
Current article begins with such high abstraction that I can't find a place to stand. I prefer the opening on this old page such as http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pattern_language&oldid=117887280 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cgmusselman (talk • contribs) 01:48, 2 May 2007 (UTC).
 * Hm ok, feel free to change back to the old introduction :-) Or write your own, based on what you find in the history and the current version. I sometimes tend to overcomplicate things. --Lhead 09:18, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

May I suggest that "too abstract and ambiguous" is a "recurrent problem" within the "context" of "trying to explain what the heck a pattern language is"? ;) Perhaps someone should craft a pattern to address it...  In the meantime, I would disagree with the proposed definition: "a special form of textual documentation, used to document successful solutions to typical challenges in a design process."  There is nothing about patterns that suggests they must inherently be expressed in text.  Also, they often do not document exact solutions.  Frequently, they document values -- the writer's opinion about which values are more important and which ones are less.  For example, in Alexandre's book, he does not tell you how many windows to put in  your room.  But he does tell you what to consider when you are deciding (use them to direct light, and try to put space next to them where people can sit).  In the "ChocolateChipRatio" example, it doesn't tell you how many cups of chocolate chips to use.  It tells you to maximize them, and it tells you that the pattern author believes they are widely considered the tastiest part of the cookie. So a PL more correctly documents design values ("best practices", according to some author's definition of "best".)

It is also worth remembering that the goal of this article, like all wikipedia articles, is not to be an authoritative reference for PL experts; it is to provide a starting point for laypeople who want to learn.

Perhaps some self-referential examples are in order here? Wikipedia itself makes use of lots principles that could be considered patterns, when instructing people about how "design" good articles. They often contain information about when to use the principle (and when not to), as well as the reason why the principle is recommended.

 * Avoid first person pronouns
 * Provide context for the reader
 * Avoid weasel words

No, they aren't structured the exact way Alexandre suggests, but I think this form of illustration could still be helpful for people trying to wrap their heads around the idea, who are starting from having no idea what a PL is.

Wordie 00:17, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Ok, so we have these different attempts of definition..

Dearden/Finlay:
 * "A pattern may be defined as a structured description of an invariant solution to a recurrent problem within a context. A pattern language is a collection of such patterns organised in a meaningful way." (Dearden/Finlay)

myself:
 * "A pattern language is a special form of textual documentation, used to document successful solutions to typical challenges in a design process."

wordie:
 * "A pattern language is a structured method of describing good design practices within a particular domain. It is characterized by

 * 1) Noticing and naming the common problems in a field of interest,
 * 2) Describing the key characteristics of effective solutions for meeting some stated goal,
 * 3) Helping the designer move from problem to problem in a logical way, and
 * 4) Allowing for many different paths through the design process.
 * Pattern languages are used to formalize decision-making values whose effectiveness becomes obvious with experience but that are difficult to document and pass on to novices. They are also effective tools in structuring knowledge and understanding of fundamentally complex systems without forcing oversimplification -- including organizing people or groups involved in complex undertakings, revealing how their functions inter-relate as part of the larger whole." (wordie)

For some reason I didn't like your introduction at first. Maybe I thought it must all fit in one sentence. But in the end, your version seems like the best to read and understand. Change back? Hm, wait..

One problem I see is that your definition doesn't explain what a single pattern is. And I see some conflict arising about that question: Does "pattern" mean the piece of text, or the idea / phenomenon behind? If patterns can be "discovered" as something that existed before, then it's more the idea. In the Dearden/Finlay definition, pattern means the piece of text ("a structured description"). So maybe it's both? Or it depends on who you ask.

What I didn't like about your chocolate chip ratio pattern is that it still feels too specific to me. As for my understanding of patterns, there must be something reusable about them, something beyond the cookie and chocolate situation (what about coffee and sugar?). On the other hand, I didn't want to remove it.

I would agree to recover your version of the intro, but followed by some additional explanations about what a single pattern is supposed to be, and about the use in different domains - just to give an overview. Then, these explanations can be extended in the following sections.

-- Lhead 00:55, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Hello LHead, you are correct that most definitions are a single sentence, and that the style guide promotes that. However, it allows for certain exceptions, and I believe that this should be one.  The four points in my definition are paraphrased from Alexandre's book, and seem to be (from my experience with software patterns) paradigmatic.

 * I agree that a brief definition of a single pattern should be included in the article. However, it does not belong in the definition (that is, the initial paragraph).  There's a whole article on what a single pattern is, and for good reason -- it's hard to explain.  The definition in this article should define "pattern language" so that people have a clue what it's about -- not how its components work.  Incidentally, this is basically Alexandre's point about why we use pattern languages in the first place: to document "why", not "how". (In architecture, you document "how" with a blueprint.  It's the "why" information that is missing.)  So, I suggest that the definition should tell the reader what a pattern language is in terms of "why" people use them/find them useful.

 * That said, I agree that there should be a short description of what a single pattern is. It can go in its own section (which is how it was in my last edit).  In fact, in that vein, I am going to restore the "bulleted-style" definition, but minus the second paragraph (can go later in the article too).

 * As for the use of patterns in different domains, I don't think that should go in the definition either. It could warrant its own section, or indeed several of them, branching off to the various independent articles on patterns in education, software, etc etc.
 * Wordie 16:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Simple statement of composition needed
I would like to see a simple statement added to the introduction that describes the composition of a Pattern Language, such as:

 * "A Pattern language is a collection of design patterns." or "A pattern language is an organized collection of design patterns within a specific domain."

I teach students how to use design patterns and build pattern languages. One of the early stumbling blocks some students reach is confusion around the difference between the two terms "pattern Language" and "design pattern". I sometimes struggle to help them gain clarity. This article would do well to help differentiate and properly relate the two terms. --Maxelrod (talk) 14:50, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Semiotics
LHead has asked "Does "pattern" mean the piece of text, or the idea / phenomenon behind?". I suggest that we do not need to answer this question in this article. Debating matters of etiology is beyond the scope of an encyclopedic article -- perhaps it belongs in a WikiBook on the subject. Besides, if a pattern language was documented in audio recordings, or in a person-to-person retelling using sign language, it would still be a pattern language. The definition can be suitably broad that this question need not be addressed. The subject is slippery enough without getting into the-signified-vs-the-signifier. Wordie 16:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Should patterns be reuseable?
LHead has raised concerns that the ChocolateChipRatio pattern is too specific and, in order to properly shed light on patterns, should be reuseable.

I agree that patterns should be reuseable -- in the domain for which they are defined. Obviously this example is trivial to the point of being fanciful: that's the point, after all, in a beginner-level explanation. However, I would argue that it correctly demonstrates reuseability by being applicable to the field of interest in question: cookies with chocolate chips in them. That could be double-chocolate chip cookies, walnut and chocolate chip cookies, peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies... (see where I am going with this?). A chocolate-chips-in-cookies pattern should no more be applicable to sugar-in-coffee, than a windows-in-rooms pattern should be applicable to doors-in-garages. Wordie 16:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Change to definition and opening sections
I have changed the definition to the "bulleted" form shown above, minus the explanatory paragraph tacked on to the end (not necessary). I have added material and reordered the first few sections to clarify who this "Alexandre" guy is, and to show the relationship between a single pattern and a pattern language. I am not able to work on this further -- no time, and I believe it needs significant restructuring. It is currently written at a level that is, in my view, far too in-depth. There is some "balancing of forces" that needs to happen here; on the one hand we want to be accurate, and not omit so much information that we distort the subject. On the other hand we have a reading public, many of whom know nothing about design in general -- let alone architecture, or software engineering, or methods of documenting these. I hope someone can take on the task of simplifying and streamlining it -- perhaps breaking off into other articles as needed. Wordie 16:57, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Moved material to "Design pattern"
Redistributed info between "pattern language" and "design pattern" in a way that I hope causes both articles to make sense by themselves, while referencing each other appropriately. Also removed material that was highly speculative ("possible values"), POV ("interesting... important... happily..."), or so specific that it is really about Alexandre's book, not pattern languages as a whole (details about typefaces). I do understand that the guy's ideas are very influential; maybe that info can go in an article about him, or the ones about his books. As it is, pattern languages are hard enough to explain without any abstruse info that isn't absoluletly necessary to get the idea across. I also removed the sections on specific fields of application, since that information is already referenced clearly (and, I believe, adequately) under "Usage". I agree that the info is important, but a reader who wants it can go read the individual articles. I don't believe the info about software engineering patterns is necessary in order to understand what patterns are, therefore it deserves to be in its own article -- not this one. I hope the article is one that the lay reader can "enjoy rather than struggle with"! Wordie (talk) 23:35, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Too long
The Pattern language should talk about some simple concepts and categories, and leave details from other application domains to specific pages on those topics.

The article should be able to be reduced by abut 50%, and merging similar paragraphs in the Origins, Usage, and Application Domains would help quite a bit.

Design Pattern (architecture)

Design Pattern (computer science)

Design Pattern (interaction design)

Wikip rhyre (talk) 04:09, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Wiki way ward cunningham genesis missing
Sadly, for all its verbosity, the article does NOT mention c2.net, the Portland Patterns Repository, which were early Wiki software implementations.

Wikip rhyre (talk) 04:09, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Who is Alexander?
The page has a lot of references to "Alexander" early on but I suspect the page has been edited so that Christopher Alexander and his relevance isn't mentioned until quite a long way down the page. Probably could do with mentioning him in the intro if he is going to be referenced so heavily in the page.

217.156.203.60 (talk) 10:26, 4 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Well spotted; fixed. __ Just plain Bill (talk) 14:36, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Could also consider reducing the references to him, as they give the article an "advertising-like" feel. Often with infomercials and the like you get either the pronoun "I" or the seller's name bombarded at the audience over and over and over again. This has sort of the same quality. Blcklbl (talk) 17:36, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Update for Recent Developments?
I think the content here is good for general audiences, but really needs updating, from what seems largely 9 year old text.

Some increasingly important details might be added, regarding the method and practice of researching, describing and applying patterns, that approach making PL a new kind of scientific method. It seems to me what makes CA's "big idea" important is that it offers a general method any profession can use, for making explicit the ancient non-verbal methods of holistic design, as a concrete practice of discovering and recording unifying responses to complex situations. Simply the effort to list all the "forces" to be dealt with forces the practice to turn attention back and forth between theory and reality in a much more informative way than most sciences use.

Another thing to bring up is the practical use of PL for documenting naturally occurring patterns and systems displaying holistic design, so the context in which intentional design patterns need to operate can be more closely studied. At PURPLSOC this year there were several papers that explored ideas for how PL could become a science. I wrote long papers on that both for that meeting and the PLoP meeting in the fall, both of which seemed well received.

How I introduce it starts with showing how familiar natural design processes and purposeful design processes really go through many of the very same stages of progression as they proceed. So one can learn a lot about purposeful designs by studying the growth stages observed in natural design examples, especially if planning for engaging living systems. I don't think I'd get to suggesting any edits till January '16, but thought I'd pose these questions, and see if there's a response. talk JessieHenshaw (talk) 21:45, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

Guiding Patterns of Naturally Occurring Design: Elements Guiding Patterns of Naturally Occurring Design: Mining Living Quality

Article is poor quality - in dire need of a rewrite and references
The introduction does a rather poor job on describing what a pattern language actually is, the language is ambiguous, and it is much too long.

I specifically tripped over these sentences (which, incidentally appear verbatim at http://groupworksdeck.org/pattern-language): "A pattern language is an attempt to express the deeper wisdom of what brings aliveness within a particular field of human endeavor, through a set of interconnected expressions arising from that wisdom. Aliveness is one placeholder term for "the quality that has no name": a sense of wholeness, spirit, or grace, that while of varying form, is precise and empirically verifiable."

I think this statement should be replaced with something shorter, in simple and clear language, and properly sourced. I don't think the term "aliveness" is helpful in this introduction, even though it might have been used in Alexander's book.

As far as I understand it, a pattern language is a specific way of representing knowledge by describing specific building blocks (the patterns) and the relationships and interconnections of these blocks.

"Some advocates of this design approach claim that ordinary people can use it to successfully solve very large, complex design problems." Who?

Bullet points in the introduction should go to a separate section. Description of syntax, grammar etc. could do with some cleanup.

95.91.236.15 (talk) 01:02, 25 December 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Pattern language


text:
Dabiša of Bosnia

Stephen Dabiša (Stjepan/Stefan Dabiša; Dabiša István; died on 8 September 1395) was as a member of the Kotromanić dynasty who reigned as King of Bosnia from March 1391 until his death. Elected to succeed the first king, Tvrtko I, Dabiša at first maintained the integrity of the Kingdom of Bosnia. He successfully resisted Hungary, Naples, and even Ottoman Turks. The latter part of his reign, however, saw the ascent of magnates and considerable loss of Bosnia's territory and influence.

Background
Dabiša's relationship with the rest of the Kotromanić family is uncertain. In a letter, Dabiša called himself younger brother of Tvrtko I, who became Ban of Bosnia in 1353, but this should not be taken literally. Influenced by the writings of the 16th century Ragusan chronicler Mavro Orbini, modern historiography usually describes Dabiša as the illegitimate son of Ninoslav, who was the brother of Tvrtko's father Vladislav.

According to Orbini, Dabiša ruled the župa (county) of Neretva (corresponding to the area around the Upper Neretva and the town of Konjic) and, supporting Tvrtko's brother Vuk, took part in the rebellion that led to the deposition of Tvrtko in 1366. Dabiša, however, is the only rebel mentioned by Orbini whose name does not appear in contemporary accounts of the uprising. Tvrtko prevailed in 1367 and banished Dabiša, revoking his lands. Dabiša spent the following two decades in obscurity, while Tvrtko had himself crowned King of Bosnia in 1377.

Election and initial success
Dabiša appears to have mended his relations with King Tvrtko I in the late 1380s, as he is recorded at royal court in Sutjeska in June 1390. Under unclear circumstances following Tvrtko's sudden death on 10 March 1391, Dabiša was elected king by the rusag. He immediately notified the authorities of the neighbouring republics of Venice and Ragusa, which recognized his accession on 1 and 15 June respectively, as well as the kings Sigismund of Hungary and Ladislaus of Naples. Following in his predecessor's footsteps, Dabiša took up using the royal name Stephen.

In the first years of his reign, Dabiša successfully maintained the integrity of Tvrtko's Kingdom of Bosnia, which included not only Bosnia proper, but also Croatia proper, Dalmatia, Zachlumia, and Rascia. The former two had been conquered from King Sigismund and Queen Mary of Hungary, and the Republic of Ragusa's immediate attempts to convince the Dalmatian cities to return to the fold of the Hungarian Crown ended in failure. Sigismund and Mary were not the only one claiming Dalmatia - or the Hungarian lands in general. Insisting that Dabiša did not support his bid for the Hungarian throne as effectively as his predecessor had, King Ladislaus of Naples started to enforce his own claim to Dalmatia and Croatia. Tvrtko I had professed to support Ladislaus when he expanded his realm to include those lands. Dabiša nevertheless remained at Ladislaus' side in his struggle against Sigismund.

From Tvrtko I, Dabiša also inherited the hostility of the Hungarian king, who strived to recover the territories lost to Tvrtko. Sigismund's wish to have his war against Bosnia equated to a crusade obtained Pope Boniface IX's approval. Dabiša was Roman Catholic, but a substantial population of his kingdom consisted of adherents of the Bosnian Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church, branded "heretics and schismatics" respectively in Sigismund's letter to Boniface. It is not known what came about this planned offensive. In the spring of 1392, Dabiša's troops defeated an Ottoman Turkish incursion, reminiscing Tvrtko's victory at the Battle of Bileća. Within a year, Dabiša and Sigismund had agreed to a truce.

Signs of decline
While the Kingdom of Bosnia retained its standing among neighbouring states in the immediate aftermath of Tvrtko I's death, it was already during Dabiša's reign that conditions within the state started deteriorating. The nobility grew stronger and for the first time acted independently of the king, starting with the Zachlumian Sanković noble family. Dabiša curbed the Sanković power, but the trend was irreversible and eventually led to the weakening of the royal authority. Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, the kingdom's leading magnate, who governed Croatia on behalf of the Bosnian crown and in defiance of Hungarian claims, came into agreement with Sigismund and Mary but remained loyal to Dabiša. Dabiša and his other vassals were coming closer to an agreement with Sigismund as well, and the two kings were expected to make the Compromise of Đakovo in May 1393. In the end, the meeting did not take place.

By June 1394, King Dabiša was in open conflict with John Horvat, a fervent supporter of Ladislaus and enemy of Sigismund. He ordered that men from his islands of Brač, Hvar, and Korčula assist in the siege of Omiš, a city ruled by Horvat. Sigismund, who had been amassing an army since April, took advantage of the discord. The Battle of Dobor saw John Horvat's defeat and execution as well as destruction of the eponymous town on the river Bosna by Sigismund's troops. Soon thereafter, in a camp near the ruins of the town, Dabiša submitted to Sigismund. He resigned Croatia and Dalmatia to the Hungarian king and, with the agreement of his vassals, recognized him as his feudal overlord as well as heir designate to the Bosnian throne. It is not clear what prompted Dabiša to agree to such harsh terms. In return, as evident from a treaty issued in July 1394, Sigismund included Dabiša among the highest ranking Hungarian officials and named him ispán (count) of Somogy.

Death and legacy
The agreement to recognize Sigismund as king following Dabiša indicates that the latter was by then of advanced age. Indeed, King Dabiša's health deteriorated in early 1395. At the end of March, writing from Bišće in Hum land, Dabiša requested that Ragusan authorities send a physician. The following month, in Sutjeska, he issued a charter granting the Zachlumian village of Veljaci to his daughter Stana, whose daughter Vladika was married to the nobleman Juraj Radivojević. He died on 8 September 1395. Despite initially consenting to his agreement with Sigismund, it was Dabiša's widow, Helen, who succeeded in ascending the throne with the support of the magnates.

Despite an auspicious start, Dabiša's reign ended with the Kingdom of Bosnia displaying first signs of decay. Much of Tvrtko's extraordinary legacy was lost in the summer of 1394, and the state resumed its previous boundaries. Dabiša left the Bosnian state more dependent on Hungary than ever before, and the kingdom's influence in the Balkans waned.

title: Dabiša of Bosnia


text:
Language technology

Language technology, often called human language technology (HLT), studies methods of how computer programs or electronic devices can analyze, produce, modify or respond to human texts and speech. Working with language technology often requires broad knowledge not only about linguistics but also about computer science. It consists of natural language processing (NLP) and computational linguistics (CL) on the one hand, many application oriented aspects of these, and more low-level aspects such as encoding and speech technology on the other hand.

Note that these elementary aspects are normally not considered to be within the scope of related terms such as natural language processing and (applied) computational linguistics, which are otherwise near-synonyms. As an example, for many of the world's lesser known languages, the foundation of language technology is providing communities with fonts and keyboard setups so their languages can be written on computers or mobile devices.

title: Language technology


text:
Radical of an ideal

In ring theory, a branch of mathematics, the radical of an ideal $$I$$ of a commutative ring is another ideal defined by the property that an element $$x$$ is in the radical if and only if some power of $$x$$ is in $$I$$. Taking the radical of an ideal is called radicalization. A radical ideal (or semiprime ideal) is an ideal that is equal to its radical. The radical of a primary ideal is a prime ideal.

This concept is generalized to non-commutative rings in the semiprime ring article.

Definition
The radical of an ideal $$I$$ in a commutative ring $$R$$, denoted by $$\operatorname{rad}(I)$$ or $$\sqrt{I}$$, is defined as
 * $$\sqrt{I} = \left\{r\in R \mid r^n\in I\ \hbox{for some}\ n \in \Z^{+}\!\right\},$$

(note that $$I \subseteq \sqrt{I}$$). Intuitively, $$\sqrt{I}$$ is obtained by taking all roots of elements of $$I$$ within the ring $$R$$. Equivalently, $$\sqrt{I}$$ is the preimage of the ideal of nilpotent elements (the nilradical) of the quotient ring $$R/I$$ (via the natural map $$\pi\colon R\to R/I$$). The latter proves that $$\sqrt{I}$$ is an ideal.

If the radical of $$I$$ is finitely generated, then some power of $$\sqrt{I}$$ is contained in $$I$$. In particular, if $$I$$ and $$J$$ are ideals of a Noetherian ring, then $$I$$ and $$J$$ have the same radical if and only if $$I$$ contains some power of $$J$$ and $$J$$ contains some power of $$I$$.

If an ideal $$I$$ coincides with its own radical, then $$I$$ is called a radical ideal or semiprime ideal.

Examples

 * Consider the ring $$\Z$$ of integers.
 * The radical of the ideal $$4\Z$$ of integer multiples of $$4$$ is $$2\Z$$ (the evens).
 * The radical of $$5\Z$$ is $$5\Z$$.
 * The radical of $$12\Z$$ is $$6\Z$$.
 * In general, the radical of $$m\Z$$ is $$r\Z$$, where $$r$$ is the product of all distinct prime factors of $$m$$, the largest square-free factor of $$m$$ (see Radical of an integer). In fact, this generalizes to an arbitrary ideal (see the Properties section).
 * Consider the ideal $$I = \left(y^4\right) \subseteq \Complex[x,y]$$. It is trivial to show $$\sqrt{I}=(y)$$ (using the basic property but we give some alternative methods: The radical $$\sqrt{I}$$ corresponds to the nilradical $$\sqrt{0}$$ of the quotient ring $$R = \Complex[x,y]/\!\left(y^4\right)$$, which is the intersection of all prime ideals of the quotient ring. This is contained in the Jacobson radical, which is the intersection of all maximal ideals, which are the kernels of homomorphisms to fields. Any ring homomorphism $$R \to \Complex$$ must have $$y$$ in the kernel in order to have a well-defined homomorphism (if we said, for example, that the kernel should be $$(x,y-1)$$ the composition of $$\Complex[x,y] \to R \to \Complex$$ would be $$\left(x, y^4, y-1\right)$$, which is the same as trying to force $$1=0$$). Since $$\Complex$$ is algebraically closed, every homomorphism $$R \to \mathbb{F}$$ must factor through $$\Complex$$, so we only have to compute the intersection of $$\{\ker(\Phi) : \Phi \in \operatorname{Hom}(R,\Complex) \}$$ to compute the radical of $$(0).$$ We then find that $$\sqrt{0} = (y) \subseteq R.$$

Properties
This section will continue the convention that I is an ideal of a commutative ring $$R$$:

\quad {\overset{u}{\rightleftharpoons}} \quad \left\lbrace\text{ideals }J\mid J\subseteq R/I\right\rbrace,$$ defined by $$u \colon J\mapsto J/I=\lbrace r+I\mid r\in J\rbrace.$$
 * It is always true that $\sqrt{\sqrt{I}} = \sqrt{I}$, i.e. radicalization is an idempotent operation. Moreover, $$\sqrt{I}$$ is the smallest radical ideal containing $$I$$.
 * $$\sqrt{I}$$ is the intersection of all the prime ideals of $$R$$ that contain $$I$$$$\sqrt{I}=\bigcap_{\stackrel{\mathfrak{p}\text{ prime}}{R\supsetneq\mathfrak{p}\supseteq I}}\mathfrak{p},$$and thus the radical of a prime ideal is equal to itself. Proof: On one hand, every prime ideal is radical, and so this intersection contains $$\sqrt{I}$$. Suppose $$r$$ is an element of $$R$$ that is not in $$\sqrt{I}$$, and let $$S$$ be the set $$\left\{r^n \mid n = 0, 1, 2, \ldots \right\}$$. By the definition of $$\sqrt{I}$$, $$S$$ must be disjoint from $$I$$. $$S$$ is also multiplicatively closed. Thus, by a variant of Krull's theorem, there exists a prime ideal $$\mathfrak{p}$$ that contains $$I$$ and is still disjoint from $$S$$ (see Prime ideal). Since $$\mathfrak{p}$$ contains $$I$$, but not $$r$$, this shows that $$r$$ is not in the intersection of prime ideals containing $$I$$. This finishes the proof. The statement may be strengthened a bit: the radical of $$I$$ is the intersection of all prime ideals of $$R$$ that are minimal among those containing $$I$$.
 * Specializing the last point, the nilradical (the set of all nilpotent elements) is equal to the intersection of all prime ideals of $$R$$ $$\sqrt{0} = \mathfrak{N}_R = \bigcap_{\mathfrak{p}\subsetneq R\text{ prime}}\mathfrak{p}.$$This property is seen to be equivalent to the former via the natural map $$\pi\colon R\to R/I$$, which yields a bijection $$u$$: $$\left\lbrace\text{ideals }J\mid R\supseteq J\supseteq I\right\rbrace
 * An ideal $$I$$ in a ring $$R$$ is radical if and only if the quotient ring $$R/I$$ is reduced.
 * The radical of a homogeneous ideal is homogeneous.
 * The radical of an intersection of ideals is equal to the intersection of their radicals: $$ \sqrt{I \cap J} = \sqrt{I} \cap \sqrt{J}$$.
 * The radical of a primary ideal is prime. If the radical of an ideal $$I$$ is maximal, then $$I$$ is primary.
 * If $$I$$ is an ideal, $$\sqrt{I^n} = \sqrt{I}$$. Since prime ideals are radical ideals, $$\sqrt{\mathfrak{p}^n} = \mathfrak{p}$$ for any prime ideal $$\mathfrak{p}$$.
 * Let $$I,J$$ be ideals of a ring $$R$$. If $$\sqrt{I}, \sqrt{J}$$ are comaximal, then $$I, J$$ are comaximal.
 * Let $$M$$ be a finitely generated module over a Noetherian ring $$R$$. Then $$\sqrt{\operatorname{ann}_R(M)} = \bigcap_{\mathfrak{p} \,\in\, \operatorname{supp}M} \mathfrak{p} = \bigcap_{\mathfrak{p} \,\in\, \operatorname{ass}M} \mathfrak{p}$$ where $$\operatorname{supp}M$$ is the support of $$M$$ and $$\operatorname{ass}M$$ is the set of associated primes of $$M$$.

Applications
The primary motivation in studying radicals is Hilbert's Nullstellensatz in commutative algebra. One version of this celebrated theorem states that for any ideal $$J$$ in the polynomial ring $$\mathbb{k}[x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n]$$ over an algebraically closed field $$\mathbb{k}$$, one has
 * $$\operatorname{I}(\operatorname{V}(J)) = \sqrt{J}$$

where
 * $$\operatorname{V}(J) = \left\{x \in \mathbb{k}^n \mid f(x)=0 \mbox{ for all } f \in J\right\}$$

and
 * $$\operatorname{I}(V) = \{f \in \mathbb{k}[x_1, x_2,\ldots x_n] \mid f(x)=0 \mbox{ for all } x \in V \}.$$

Geometrically, this says that if a variety $$V$$ is cut out by the polynomial equations $$f_1=0,\ldots,f_r=0$$, then the only other polynomials that vanish on $$V$$ are those in the radical of the ideal $$(f_1,\ldots,f_r)$$.

Another way of putting it: the composition $$\operatorname{I}(\operatorname{V}(-))=\sqrt{-}$$ is a closure operator on the set of ideals of a ring.

title: Radical of an ideal