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Antigonus II Gonatas

Antigonus II Gonatas (Ἀντίγονος Γονατᾶς, Antigonos; c. 320 – 239 BC) was a Macedonian Greek ruler who solidified the position of the Antigonid dynasty in Macedon after a long period defined by anarchy and chaos and acquired fame for his victory over the Gauls who had invaded the Balkans.

Birth and family
Antigonus Gonatas was born around 320 BC. The origin of the Hellenistic nickname Gonatas is unknown. He was descended from the Diadochi (the successors of Alexander the Great) on both his father's and mother's side. His father was Demetrius Poliorcetes, himself the son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, who then controlled much of Asia. His mother was Phila, the daughter of Antipater, who had controlled Macedonia and the rest of Greece since 334 BC and was recognized as regent of the empire, which in theory remained united. Cassander, Antipater's oldest son who would become King of Macedon in 305 BC, was his uncle. The year of Antigonus Gonatas' birth, however, Antipater died, leading to further struggles for territory and dominance.

The careers of Antigonus's grandfather Antigonus Monophthalmus and father showed great swings in fortune. After coming closer than anyone to reuniting the empire of Alexander, Antigonus Monophthalmus was defeated and killed in the great Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC and the territory he formerly controlled was divided among his enemies, Cassander, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Seleucus.

Demetrius’ general
The fate of Antigonus Gonatas, now 18, was closely tied with that of his father Demetrius, who escaped from the battle with 9,000 troops. Jealousy among the victors eventually allowed Demetrius to regain part of the power his father had lost. He conquered Athens and in 294 BC he seized the throne of Macedonia from Alexander, the son of Cassander.

Because Antigonus Gonatas was the grandson of Antipater and the nephew of Cassander through his mother, his presence helped to reconcile the supporters of these former kings to the rule of his father.

In 292 BC, while Demetrius was campaigning in Boeotia, he received news that Lysimachus, the ruler of Thrace and the enemy of his father, had been taken prisoner by Dromichaetes, a ruler of the Getae. Hoping to seize Lysimachus' territories in Thrace and Asia, Demetrius delegated command of his forces in Boeotia to Antigonus and immediately marched north. While he was away, the Boeotians rose in rebellion, but were defeated by Antigonus, who bottled them up in Thebes.

After the failure of his expedition to Thrace, Demetrius joined his son at the Siege of Thebes. As the Thebans defended their city stubbornly, Demetrius often forced his men to attack the city at great cost, even though there was little hope of capturing it. It is said that, distressed by the heavy losses, Antigonus asked his father: "Why, father, do we allow these lives to be thrown away so unnecessarily?" Demetrius appears to have showed his contempt for the lives of his soldiers by replying: "We don't have to find rations for the dead." But he also showed a similar disregard for his own life and was badly wounded at the siege by a bolt through the neck.

In 291 BC, Demetrius finally took the city after using siege engines to demolish its walls. But control of Macedonia and most of Greece was merely a stepping stone to his plans for further conquest. He aimed at nothing less than the revival of Alexander's empire and started making preparations on a grand scale, ordering the construction of a fleet of 500 ships, many of them of unprecedented size.

Such preparations and the obvious intent behind them, naturally alarmed the other kings, Seleucus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Pyrrhus, who immediately formed an alliance. In the spring of 288 BC Ptolemy's fleet appeared off Greece, inciting the cities to revolt. At the same time, Lysimachus attacked Macedonia from the east while Pyrrhus did so from the west. Demetrius left Antigonus in control of the rest of Greece, while he hurried to Macedonia.

By now the Macedonians had come to resent the extravagance and arrogance of Demetrius, and were not prepared to fight a difficult campaign for him. In 287 BC, Pyrrhus took the Macedonian city of Beroea and Demetrius's army promptly deserted and went over to the enemy who was much admired by the Macedonians for his bravery. At this change of fortune, Phila, the mother of Antigonus, killed herself with poison. Meanwhile, Athens revolted. Demetrius therefore returned and besieged the city, but he soon grew impatient and decided on a more dramatic course. Leaving Antigonus in charge of the war in Greece, he assembled all his ships and embarked with 11,000 infantry and all his cavalry to attack Caria and Lydia, provinces of Lysimachus.

As Demetrius was chased across Asia Minor to the Taurus Mountains by the armies of Lysimachus and Seleucus, Antigonus attained success in Greece. Ptolemy's fleet was driven off and Athens surrendered.

In the wilderness

In 285 BC, Demetrius, worn down by his fruitless campaign, surrendered to Seleucus. At this point, he wrote to his son and to his commanders in Athens and Corinth telling them to henceforth consider him a dead man and to ignore any letters they might receive written under his seal. Macedonia, meanwhile, had been divided between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, but, "like two wolves sharing a piece of meat", they soon fought over it with the result that Lysimachus drove Pyrrhus out and took over the whole kingdom.

Following the capture of his father, Antigonus proved himself a dutiful son. He wrote to all the kings, especially Seleucus, offering to surrender all the territory he controlled and proposing himself as a hostage for his father's release, but to no avail. In 283 BC, at the age of 55, Demetrius died in captivity in Syria. When Antigonus heard that his father's remains were being brought to him, he put to sea with his entire fleet, met Seleucus's ships near the Cyclades, and took the relics to Corinth with great ceremony. After this, the remains were interred at the town of Demetrias that his father had founded in Thessaly.

In 282 BC, Seleucus declared war on Lysimachus and the next year defeated and killed him at the Battle of Corupedium in Lydia. He then crossed to Europe to claim Thrace and Macedonia, but Ptolemy Keraunos, the son of Ptolemy, murdered Seleucus and seized the Macedonian throne. Antigonus decided the time was ripe to take back his father's kingdom, but when he marched north, Ptolemy Keraunos defeated his army.

Ptolemy's success, however, was short-lived. In the winter of 279 BC, a great horde of Gauls under their leader Brennus descended on Macedonia from the north, crushed Ptolemy's army and killed him in battle, starting two years of complete anarchy in the kingdom. After plundering Macedonia, the Gauls invaded further regions of Greece, moving southwards. Antigonus cooperated in the defence of Greece against the barbarians, but the Aetolians took the lead in defeating the Gauls. In 278 BC a Greek army with a large Aetolian contingent checked the Gauls at Thermopylae and Delphi, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing them to retreat.

The next year (277 BC), Antigonus sailed to the Hellespont, landing near Lysimachia at the neck of the Thracian Chersonese. When an army of Gauls under the command of Cerethrius appeared, Antigonus laid an ambush. He abandoned his camp and beached his ships, then concealed his men. The Gauls looted the camp, but when they started to attack the ships, Antigonus's army appeared, trapping them with the sea to their rear. In this way Antigonus resoundingly won the Battle of Lysimachia strengthening his claim to the Macedonian throne. Around this time, under these favourable omens, Antigonus's niece-wife Phila gave birth to his son and successor, Demetrius II Aetolicus.

Conquering the Macedonian throne
Sosthenes, a Macedonian nobleman, had managed to check the Celts to a certain extent, but it was Antigonus who finally defeated them at Lysimachia and freed the Macedonians from years of terror, hardship and anarchy. As a son of Demetrius, who had ruled Macedon for several years, Antigonus had a legitimate claim to the Macedonian throne and now he was also seen as its savior.

After his victory over the Celts, Antigonus marched towards Macedon and had to fight his way into the country for others were still contending for the throne. First Antigonus defeated Antipater Etesias, a nephew of Cassander, he then drove Ptolemy Epigonos, a son of Lysimachus and Arsinoe, from the country. There were other pretenders, an Alexander and an Arrhidaeus, who might have been the same person. After defeating these, the final problem facing Antigonus was Apollodorus the tyrant of Cassandreia.

Antigonus besieged Cassandreia for ten months, but was unable to dislodge Appolodorus and his men. Antigonus then resorted to trickery, he retreated with his army and sent one of his mercenary commanders, Ameinias the Phocian, to negotiate with Apollodorus. During the negotiations Ameinias had 2,000 of his men launch a surprise attack on the city with specially prepared ladders of the right height, they gained possession of the walls and summoned Antigonus. So by the end of 276 BC Antigonus had gained control of most of Macedon.

Antigonus against Pyrrhus
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, Macedonia's western neighbour, was a general of mercurial ability, widely renowned for his bravery, but he did not apply his talents sensibly and often snatched after vain hopes, so that Antigonus used to compare him to a dice player, who had excellent throws, but did not know how to use them. When the Gauls defeated Ptolemy Ceraunus and the Macedonian throne became vacant, Pyrrhus was occupied in his campaigns overseas. Hoping to conquer first Italy and then Africa, he got involved in wars against Rome and Carthage, the two most powerful states in the western Mediterranean. He then lost the support of the Greek cities in Italy and Sicily by his haughty behaviour. Needing reinforcements, he wrote to Antigonus as a fellow Greek king, asking him for troops and money, but Antigonus politely refused. In 275 BC, the Romans fought Pyrrhus at the Battle of Beneventum which ended inconclusively, although many modern sources wrongly state that Pyrrhus lost the battle. Pyrrhus had been drained by his recent wars in Sicily, and by the earlier "Pyrrhic victories" over the Romans, and thus decided to end his campaign in Italy and return to Epirus.

Pyrrhus's retreat from Italy, however, proved very unlucky for Antigonus. Returning to Epirus with an army of eight thousand foot and five hundred horse, he was in need of money to pay them. This encouraged him to look for another war, so the next year, after adding a force of Gallic mercenaries to his army, he invaded Macedonia with the intention of filling his coffers with plunder. The campaign, however, went better than expected. Making himself master of several towns and being joined by two thousand deserters, his hopes started to grow and he went in search of Antigonus, attacking his army in a narrow pass and throwing it into disorder at the Battle of the Aous River. Antigonus's Macedonian troops retreated, but his own body of Gallic mercenaries, who had charge of his elephants, stood firm until Pyrrhus's troops surrounded them, whereupon they surrendered both themselves and the elephants. Pyrrhus now chased after the rest of Antigonus's army which, demoralised by its earlier defeat, declined to fight. As the two armies faced each other, Pyrrhus called out to the various officers by name and persuaded the whole body of infantry to desert. Antigonus escaped by concealing his identity. Pyrrhus now took control of upper Macedonia and Thessaly, while Antigonus held on to the coastal towns.

But Pyrrhus now wasted his victory. Taking possession of Aegae, the ancient capital of Macedonia, he installed a garrison of Gauls, who greatly offended the Macedonians by digging up the tombs of their kings and leaving the bones scattered about as they searched for gold. He also neglected to finish off his enemy. Leaving him in control of the coastal cities, he contented himself with insults. He called Antigonus a shameless man for still wearing the purple, but he did little to destroy the remnants of his power.

Before this campaign was finished, Pyrrhus had embarked upon a new one. In 272 BC, Cleonymus, an important Spartan, invited him to invade Laconia. Gathering an army of twenty-five thousand foot, two thousand horse, and twenty-four elephants, he crossed over to the Peloponnese and occupied Megalopolis in Arcadia. Antigonus, after reoccupying part of Macedonia, gathered what forces he could and sailed to Greece to oppose him. As a large part of the Spartan army led by king Areus was in Crete at the time, Pyrrhus besieged Sparta with great hopes of taking the city easily, but the citizens organized stout resistance, allowing one of Antigonus's commanders, Aminias the Phocian, to reach the city with a force of mercenaries from Corinth. Soon after this, the Spartan king, Areus, returned from Crete with 2,000 men. These reinforcements stiffened resistance, and Pyrrhus, finding that he was losing men to desertion every day, broke off the attack and started to plunder the country.

The most important Peloponnesian city after Sparta was Argos. The two chief men, Aristippus and Aristeas, were keen rivals. As Aristippus was an ally of Antigonus, Aristeas invited Pyrrhus to come to Argos to help him take over the city. Antigonus, aware that Pyrrhus was advancing on Argos, marched his army there as well, taking up a strong position on some high ground near the city. When Pyrrhus learned this, he encamped about Nauplia and the next day dispatched a herald to Antigonus, calling him a coward and challenging him to come down and fight on the plain. Antigonus replied that he would choose his own moment to fight and that if Pyrrhus was weary of life, he could find many ways to die.

The Argives, fearing that their territory would become a war zone, sent deputations to the two kings begging them to go elsewhere and allow their city to remain neutral. Both kings agreed, but Antigonus won over the trust of the Argives by surrendering his son as a hostage for his pledge. Pyrrhus, who had recently lost a son in the retreat from Sparta, did not. Indeed, with the help of Aristeas, he was plotting to seize the city. In the middle of the night, he marched his army up to the city walls and entered through a gate that Aristeas had opened. His Gallic troops seized the market place, but he had difficulty getting his elephants into the city through the small gates. This gave the Argives time to rally. They occupied strong points and sent messengers asking Antigonus for help.

When Antigonus heard that Pyrrhus had treacherously attacked the city, he advanced to the walls and sent a strong force inside to help the Argives. At the same time Areus arrived with a force of 1,000 Cretans and light-armed Spartans. These forces attacked the Gauls in the market place. Pyrrhus, realising that his Gallic troops were hard pressed, now advanced into the city with more troops, but in the narrow streets this soon led to confusion as men got lost and wandered around. The two forces now paused and waited for daylight. When the sun rose, Pyrrhus saw how strong the opposition was and decided the best thing was to retreat. Fearing that the gates would be too narrow for his troops to easily exit the city, he sent a message to his son, Helenus, who was outside with the main body of the army, asking him to break down a section of the walls. The messenger, however, failed to convey his instructions clearly. Misunderstanding what was required, Helenus took the rest of the elephants and some picked troops and advanced into the city to help his father.

With some of his troops trying to get out of the city and others trying to get in, Pyrrhus's army was now thrown into confusion. This was made worse by the elephants. The largest one had fallen across the gateway and was blocking the way, while another elephant, called Nicon, was trying to find its rider. This beast surged against the tide of fugitives, crushing friend and foe alike, until it found its dead master, whereupon it picked him up, placed him on its tusks, and went on the rampage. In this chaos Pyrrhus was struck down by a tile thrown by an old woman and killed by Zopyrus, a soldier of Antigonus.

Halcyoneus, one of Antigonus's sons, heard that Pyrrhus had been killed. Taking the head, which had been cut off by Zopyrus, he rode to where his father was and threw it at his feet. Far from being delighted, Antigonus was angry with his son and struck him, calling him a barbarian and drove him away. He then covered his face with his cloak and burst into tears. The fate of Pyrrhus reminded him all too clearly of the tragic fates of his own grandfather and his father who had suffered similar swings of fortune. He then had Pyrrhus's body cremated with great ceremony.

After the death of Pyrrhus, his whole army and camp surrendered to Antigonus, greatly increasing his power. Later, Halcyoneus discovered Helenus, Pyrrhus's son, disguised in threadbare clothes. He treated him kindly and brought him to his father who was more pleased with his behaviour. "This is better than what you did before, my son," he said, "but why leave him in these clothes which are a disgrace to us now that we know ourselves the victors?" Greeting him courteously, Antigonus treated Helenus as an honoured guest and sent him back to Epirus.

This was not the end of Antigonus' problems with Epirus: shortly after Alexander II, the son of Pyrrhus and his successor as king of Epirus, repeated his father's adventure by conquering Macedonia. However, only a few years later, Alexander was not only expelled from Macedonia by Antigonus' son Demetrius, but he also lost Epirus and had to go into exile in Acarnania. His exile didn't last long, as the Macedonians had to abandon Epirus eventually under pressure from Alexander's allies, the Acarnanians and the Aetolians. Alexander seems to have died about 242 BC, leaving his country under the regency of his wife Olympias who proved anxious to have good relations with Epirus' powerful neighbour, as was sanctioned by the marriage between the regent's daughter Phthia and Antigonus' son and heir Demetrius.

Chremonidean War
With the restoration of the territories captured by Pyrrhus, and with grateful allies in Sparta and Argos, and garrisons in Corinth and other cities, Antigonus securely controlled Macedonia and Greece. The careful way he guarded his power shows that he wished to avoid the vicissitudes of fortune that had characterized the careers of his father and grandfather. Aware that the Greeks loved freedom and autonomy, he was careful to grant a semblance of this in as much as it did not clash with his own power. Also, he tried to avoid the odium that direct rule brings by controlling the Greeks through intermediaries. It is for this reason that Polybius says, "No man ever set up more absolute rulers in Greece than Antigonus." The tyrants installed or maintained by Gonatas include: Cleon (Sicyon, c. 300–280 BC), Euthydemus and Timocleidas (Sicyon c. 280–270 BC), Iseas (Keryneia, resigned 275 BC), Aristotimus (Elis, assassinated 272 BC), Aristippus the Elder (Argos, from 272 BC), Abantidas (Sicyon, 264–252 BC), Aristodemus the Good (Megalopolis, assassinated 252 BC), Paseas (Sicyon, 252–251 BC), Nicocles (Sicyon, 251 BC), Aristomachus (Argos, assassinated 240 BC), Lydiadas, (Megalopolis, c. 245–235 BC), and Aristippus (Argos, 240–235 BC).

The next stage of Antigonus's career is not documented and what we know has been patched together from a few historical fragments: Antigonus seems to have been on very good terms with Antiochus, the Seleucid ruler of Asia, whose love for Stratonice, the sister of Antigonus, is very famous. Such an alliance naturally threatened the third successor state, Ptolemaic Egypt. In Greece, Athens and Sparta, once the dominant states, naturally resented the domination of Antigonus. The pride, which in the past had made these cities mortal enemies, now served to unite them. In 267 BC, probably with encouragement from Egypt, an Athenian by the name of Chremonides persuaded the Athenians to join the Spartans in declaring war on Antigonus (see Chremonidean War).

The Macedonian king responded by ravaging the territory of Athens with an army while blockading them by sea. In this campaign he also destroyed the grove and temple of Poseidon that stood at the entrance to Attica near the border with Megara. To support the Athenians and prevent the power of Antigonus from growing too much, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the king of Egypt, sent a fleet to break the blockade. The Egyptian admiral, Patroclus, landed on a small uninhabited island near Laurium and fortified it as a base for naval operations.

The Seleucid Empire had signed a peace treaty with Egypt, but Antiochus's son-in-law, Magas, king of Cyrene, persuaded Antiochus to take advantage of the war in Greece to attack Egypt. To counter this, Ptolemy dispatched a force of pirates and freebooters to raid and attack the lands and provinces of Antiochus, while his army fought a defensive campaign, holding back the stronger Seleucid army. Although successfully defending Egypt, Ptolemy II was unable to save Athens from Antigonus. In 263/2 or 262/1 BC, the Athenians and Spartans, worn down by several years of war and the devastation of their lands, made peace with Antigonus, who thus retained his hold on Greece.

Ptolemy II continued to interfere in the affairs of Greece and this led to war in 261. After two years in which little changed, Antiochus II Theos, the new Seleucid king, made a military agreement with Antigonus, and the Second Syrian War began. Under the combined attack, Egypt lost ground in Anatolia and Phoenicia, and the city of Miletus, held by its ally, Timarchus, was seized by Antiochus II. In 255 BC, Ptolemy made peace, ceding lands to the Seleucids and confirming Antigonus in his mastery of Greece.

Two years later, however, the Egyptian interfered again, inducing with his subsidies the Macedonian governor of Corinth and Euboea, Alexander, son of Craterus, to challenge his king, seeking independence as a tyrant. Alexander's revolt was the most serious threat to the Macedonian hegemony in Greece, and since Antigonus' military efforts were unsuccessful, he probably resolved to poison the traitor in 247 BC. By offering a marriage with his heir Demetrius II Aetolicus Antigonus took in his widow Nicaea and regained control of Corinth in the winter of 245/44 BC.

Antigonus against Aratus
Having successfully repelled the external threat to his control of Greece, the main danger to the power of Antigonus lay in the Greek love of liberty. In 251 BC, Aratus, a young nobleman in the city of Sicyon, expelled the tyrant Nicocles, who had ruled with the acquiescence of Antigonus, freed the people, and recalled the exiles. This led to confusion and division within the city. Fearing that Antigonus would exploit these divisions to attack the city, Aratus applied for the city to join the Achaean League, a league of a few small Achaean towns in the Peloponnese.

Preferring to use guile rather than military power, Antigonus sought to regain control over Sicyon through winning the young man over to his side. Accordingly, he sent him a gift of 25 talents, but, Aratus, instead of being corrupted by this wealth, immediately gave it away to his fellow citizens. With this money and another sum he received from Ptolemy II Philadelphus, he was able to reconcile the different parties in Sicyon and unite the city.

Antigonus was troubled by the rising power and popularity of Aratus. If he were to receive extensive military and financial support from Ptolemy, Aratus would be able to threaten his position. He decided therefore to either win him over to his side or at least discredit him with Ptolemy. In order to do this, he showed him great marks of favour. When he was sacrificing to the gods in Corinth, he sent portions of the meat to Aratus at Sicyon, and complimented Aratus in front of his guests: "I thought this Sicyonian youth was only a lover of liberty and of his fellow-citizens, but now I look upon him as a good judge of the manners and actions of kings. For formerly he despised us, and, placing his hopes further off, admired the Egyptians, hearing much of their elephants, fleets, and palaces. But after seeing all these at a nearer distance, and perceiving them to be but mere stage props and pageantry, he has now come over to us. And for my part I willingly receive him, and, resolving to make great use of him myself, command you to look upon him as a friend." These words were readily believed by many, and when they were reported to Ptolemy, he half believed them.

But Aratus was far from becoming a friend of Antigonus, whom he regarded as the oppressor of his city's freedom. In 243 BC, in an attack by night, he seized the Acrocorinth, the strategically important fort by which Antigonus controlled the Isthmus of Corinth and thus the Peloponnese. When news of this success reached Corinth, the Corinthians rose in rebellion, overthrew Antigonus' party, and joined the Achaean League. Next Aratus took the port of Lechaeum and captured 25 of Antigonus's ships.

This setback for Antigonus sparked a general uprising against Macedonian power. The Megarians revolted and together with the Troezenians and Epidaurians enrolled in the Achaean League. With this increased strength, Aratus invaded the territory of Athens and plundered Salamis. Every Athenian freeman he captured was sent back to the Athenians without ransom to encourage them to join the rebellion. The Macedonians, however, retained their hold on Athens and the rest of Greece.

Relationship with philosophers
Antigonus surrounded himself at court with a circle of notable intellectuals and philosophers. He was mentioned several times by Diogenes Laertius in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, in relation to various philosophers, particularly those linked with the Megarian, Pyrrhonist, Cynic, and Stoic schools. We're told that "many persons courted Antigonus and went to meet him whenever he came to Athens" and that after an unnamed sea battle, many Athenians went to see Antigonus or wrote him flattering letters.

The Megarian philosopher Euphantus taught Antigonus "and dedicated to him a work On Kingship which was very popular". We're also told that Antigonus consulted Menedemus of Eretria, a distinguished member of Phaedo's school of philosophy, about whether to attend a drinking party. Antigonus also knew the Pyrrhonist philosopher Timon of Phlius. Menedemus and Timon had both previously studied with the Megarian school. When the eclectic philosopher Bion of Borysthenes, who was best known as resembling the Cynics, fell ill, Antigonus sent two servants to act as nurses to him, and Antigonus himself reputedly later visited him.

Ultimately, though, Antigonus became most associated with the Stoics. Zeno of Citium studied under both the Megarians and Cynics before founding the Stoic school and he became particularly associated with Antigonus. We're told "Antigonus (Gonatas) also favoured him [Zeno], and whenever he came to Athens would hear him lecture and often invited him to come to his court.". Diogenes Laertius reproduces a brief series of letters between Zeno and Antigonus, in which he asked the Stoic to attend his court and help guide him in virtue, for the benefit of the Macedonian people. Zeno at this time was too sickly and frail to travel so instead he sent two of his best students Persaeus and Philonides the Theban, who subsequently lived with Antigonus.

While Persaeus was at Antigonus' court, Antigonus once, wishing to make trial of him, caused some false news to be brought to him that his estate had been ravaged by the enemy, and as his countenance fell, "Do you see," said he, "that wealth is not a matter of indifference?" Persaeus subsequently became an important figure at the Macedonian court. After Antigonus captured Corinth around 244 BC, he put Persaeus in control of the city as Archon. Persaeus died in 243 BC defending the city against the attack led by Aratus of Sicyon.

After Zeno's death, Antigonus reputedly exclaimed "What an audience I have lost!". Antigonus subsequently made a gift of three thousand drachmas to Cleanthes, Zeno's successor as head of the Stoa, whose lectures he also attended. The poet Aratus, who had also studied Stoicism under Zeno, lived at the court of Antigonus.

Relations with India
Antigonus is mentioned in the Edicts of Ashoka as one of the recipients of the Indian Emperor Ashoka's Buddhist proselytism.

Death and appraisal
In 239 BC, Antigonus died at the age of 80 and left his kingdom to his son Demetrius II, who was to reign for the next 10 years. Except for a short period when he defeated the Gauls, Antigonus was not a heroic or successful military leader. His skills were mainly political. He preferred to rely on cunning, patience, and persistence to achieve his goals. While more brilliant leaders, like his father Demetrius and his neighbour Pyrrhus, aimed higher and fell lower, Antigonus achieved a measure of security. It is also said of him that he gained the affection of his subjects by his honesty and his cultivation of the arts, which he accomplished by gathering round him distinguished literary men, in particular philosophers, poets, and historians. A tomb in Vergina is suggested to be his own.

Reception
The life of Antigonus is the basis of the story line of the libretto Antigono by Pietro Metastasio, first set to music by Johann Adolph Hasse in 1744. As with most of Metastasio's librettos, Antigono was set by a number of other 18th-century composers, among them the Bohemians Christoph Willibald Gluck in 1756 and Josef Mysliveček in 1780.

title: Antigonus II Gonatas


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Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu

The Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu (幕末四大人斬り) was a term given to four samurai during the Bakumatsu era in Japanese history. The four men were Kawakami Gensai, Kirino Toshiaki (also known as Nakamura Hanjirō), Tanaka Shinbei, and Okada Izō. They opposed the Tokugawa shogunate (and later, supported the Meiji Emperor). These four samurai were warrior elite and widely considered undefeatable by normal people. The word hitokiri literally means "manslayer" or "man cutter," as the kanji 人 means person, while 斬 can alternatively mean slay or cut.

In fiction

 * Hitokiri is a 1969 film directed by Hideo Gosha and starring Shintaro Katsu as Okada Izo and Yukio Mishima as Tanaka Shinbei.
 * The manga and anime series Rurouni Kenshin is about a former hitokiri named Himura Kenshin, who is based loosely on Kawakami Gensai. Kenshin is also known as Hitokiri Battousai (人斬り抜刀斎), or "Sword-drawing Manslayer".
 * Hideaki Sorachi's manga Gin Tama involves fictionalized versions of two of the four hitokiri (particularly Okada and Kawakami), set in an alternate version of Bakumatsu-era Japan.
 * The Hitokiri is a playable character in the video game For Honor, serving as a heavy hero of the Samurai faction and fighting with a two-handed axe.
 * The 2014 video game Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! features Okada Izo as one of the main antagonists. The 2023 remake version, Like a Dragon: Ishin!, also features Kawakami Gensai, Tanaka Shinbei and Nakamura Hanjiro as minor antagonists appearing in side missions.

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

title: Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu


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User talk:Airaspeed

Hello. Welcome to Wikipedia. The (moving) image Image:La2.gif that you uploaded here is currently listed on Votes for deletion. Please could you go there and explain what it is for. Thank you. GrahamN 15:27 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

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James Arbuthnot

James Norwich Arbuthnot, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, (born 4 August 1952), is a British Conservative Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wanstead and Woodford from 1987 to 1997, and then MP for North East Hampshire from 1997 to 2015.

Arbuthnot served as chairman of the Defence Select Committee from 2005 to 2014, before being nominated as a life peer in the Dissolution Peerages List 2015 of August 2015.

Created Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, of Edrom in the County of Berwick, on 1 October 2015, Lord Arbuthnot sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.

Early life
Arbuthnot was born at Deal, Kent, the second son of Sir John Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet, MP for Dover between 1950 and 1964, and Margaret Jean Duff. He was educated at Wellesley House School in Broadstairs and Eton College, where he was captain of School, before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in Law (BA) in 1974.

Arbuthnot was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1975 and became a practising barrister. An active member of the Chelsea Conservative Association, he was elected a councillor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 1978, and remained a councillor until he was elected to the House of Commons in 1987. In 1980 he became the vice-chairman of the Chelsea Conservative Association.

Arbuthnot contested the Cynon Valley seat, in the Labour heartland of industrial South Wales, at the 1983 general election and was defeated by Ioan Evans. A year later in 1984, Evans died and Arbuthnot fought the resulting by-election, but he was again defeated by the Labour candidate, Ann Clwyd.

In Government (1988–1997)
In the 1987 general election, Arbuthnot was selected to contest the safe Conservative seat of Wanstead and Woodford, as the sitting MP, Patrick Jenkin, was standing down. Arbuthnot won the seat and increased the Conservative majority by over 2,000 to 16,412.

In 1988 he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Archie Hamilton at the Ministry of Defence, and in 1990 became the PPS to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Peter Lilley. He entered the John Major government after the 1992 general election when he was made an Assistant Government Whip. He was promoted in 1994 as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security. The following year he was promoted to Minister for Defence Procurement, where he remained until the end of the Major government in 1997.

Arbuthnot stated that one of his most pleasing parliamentary achievements was "organising an all-party meeting with the Prime Minister for the exoneration of the pilots of the Chinook that crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994".

In Opposition (1997–2010)
Arbuthnot's seat of Wanstead and Woodford was abolished at the 1997 general election, when he was selected for the new seat of North East Hampshire. In Opposition, he was a member of William Hague's Shadow Cabinet as the Conservative Party's Chief Whip until the 2001 general election when he returned to the backbenches. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1998.

Arbuthnot returned to the Shadow Cabinet under Michael Howard as Shadow Trade Secretary in 2003, but stood down after the 2005 general election. Since that election he served as the chairman of the influential Defence Select Committee and was Chair of the Special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011. He is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute.

Arbuthnot was the parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel. He was also a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.

In the 2009 expenses scandal, Arbuthnot apologised and repaid the public money he had claimed for his swimming pool to be cleaned. Later that year, he was further criticised in the press for £15,000 of expenses he claimed for upkeep at his second home, including tree surgery and painting his summer house.

In Government (2010–2015)
In June 2011, Arbuthnot announced that he would not contest the next general election. On 16 January 2015, he publicly declared his atheism, stating "the pressure on a Conservative politician, particularly of keeping quiet about not being religious, is very similar to the pressure that there has been about keeping quiet about being gay"; he later clarified that he is not gay.

Arbuthnot has played a pivotal role in helping the subpostmasters affected by the British Post Office scandal to seek justice after the Post Office wrongly – and, it has been alleged, knowingly – sought and obtained convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting against a large number of them. In September 2023, he supported the £600,000 "take it or leave it" Government compensation for those wrongly convicted saying on The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4, it was "a choice", and that "for some it will be a good way of putting this behind them and getting on with their lives". Arbuthnot was portrayed by Alex Jennings in Mr Bates vs The Post Office, an ITV dramatisation of the scandal.

Personal life
On 6 September 1984, Arbuthnot married Emma Louise Broadbent, daughter of Michael Broadbent, Wine Director of Christie's. Since 2020 she has been a High Court judge, having previously served as the Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate) for England and Wales.

Arbuthnot is the chairman of the advisory board of the UK division of multinational defence and security systems manufacturer Thales. He is a Senior Associate Fellow of the defence and security think tank Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies.

He is a descendant of James V of Scotland. His middle name is after his great-great-grandfather, Norwich Duff (1792–1862). He is also a distant cousin of Gerald Arbuthnot, the former MP for Burnley.

Lord and Lady Arbuthnot have four children:

 * Hon Alexander Arbuthnot (born 1986)
 * Hon Kate Arbuthnot (born 1989)
 * Hon Leaf Arbuthnot (born 1992)
 * Hon Alice Arbuthnot (born 1998).

title: James Arbuthnot


text:
Probainognathidae

Probainognathidae is an extinct family of insectivorous cynodonts which lived in what is now South America during the Middle to Late Triassic. The family was established by Alfred Romer in 1973 and includes two genera, Probainognathus from the Chañares Formation of Argentina and Bonacynodon from the Dinodontosaurus Assemblage Zone of Brazil. Probainognathids were closely related to the clade Prozostrodontia, which includes mammals and their close relatives.

Description

Members of Probainognathidae were relatively small-bodied animals, with skull lengths of around 6 - 7 cm. The temporal region (area behind the eye sockets) was rather wide, and longer than the snout. The secondary palate was well-developed compared to earlier cynodonts, and the portion made up by the maxilla was larger than the part made from the palatine bone. The dentary, the tooth-bearing bone of the lower jaw, was quite tall when seen from the side. The mandibular symphysis (the joint between the two halves of the dentary) was fused in Probainognathus, but unfused in Bonacynodon. In addition to the ancestral quadrate-articular jaw joint found in most non-mammalian cynodonts, probainognathids also had an incipient contact between the squamosal and surangular bones. The canine teeth were large and labio-lingually compressed, and in Bonacynodon they bore a serrated edge. The postcanines had a typical "triconodont" shape, with four main cusps placed in a straight line. Unlike in other basal probainognathians like Chiniquodon, the cusps were not recurved. The lower postcanines bore a discontinuous cingulum which was restricted to the mesiolingual and distolingual sides of the teeth. The shape of the postcanines indicates that probainognathids most likely were insectivorous.

Based on the shape of the maxillary canal, a 2020 paper by Benoit et al. suggested that Probainognathus was among the first cynodonts to possess a mobile rhinarium with whiskers.

Classification
Probainognathidae was erected in a 1973 paper by the American palaeontologist Alfred Romer to contain Probainognathus, a cynodont from the Carnian-aged Chañares Formation of Argentina, which Romer had removed from the family Chiniquodontidae. The family remained monotypic for a long time, until the genus Bonacynodon, from the Ladinian-early Carnian Dinodontosaurus Assemblage Zone of Brazil, was named in a 2016 paper by Martinelli et al. This paper also provided a phylogenetic definition of Probainognathidae, as "the clade including the most recent common ancestor of Probainognathus jenseni and Bonacynodon schultzi, and all its descendants".

Phylogenetic analyses have generally found probainognathids to be relatively early-diverging members of Probainognathia, a clade that includes all cynodonts closer to mammals than to Cynognathia. The exact placement of probainognathids relative to other basal probainognathians varies between analyses. Some analyses find probainognathids to be very close relatives of Prozostrodontia, a group of advanced probainognathians that includes mammals and their close relatives. Some analyses alternatively find Ecteniniidae, a group of large predatory cynodonts, to be closer to prozostrodontians than the probainognathids.

Cladogram from Martinelli et al. (2016)

Cladogram from Stefanello et al. (2023)

title: Probainognathidae


text:
Dezső Lauber

Dezső Lauber  (23 May 1879 – 5 September 1966) was a Hungarian all-round sportsman and architect. He was born in Pécs and died in Budapest.

Lauber was an all-round champion athlete in the late 19th and early 20th century, competing in (among others) bobsleigh, ice skating, golf, cycling, and tennis. In that last sport, he competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, but lost his first match and was eliminated.

He was an architect by profession, and a close associate of 1896 Olympic swimming champion Alfréd Hajós. Together with Hajós, he entered a design for a stadium in the art competitions held during the 1924 Summer Olympics. The jury did not award a gold medal in this competition, but Hajós and Lauber received a silver medal for their design.

Lauber was also secretary of the Hungarian Olympic Committee.

title: Dezső Lauber


text:
Portland Admiralty Roach

Portland Admiralty Roach is a kind of stone from the Isle of Portland used to construct "The Cobb", the well-known seawall at Lyme Regis in Dorset. The stone is rich in fossils (known as shells to local masons) often consisting of almost fifty percent fossilized remains with an average size of approximately 35 mm. The stone, which was quarried by Albion Stone, has a maximum bed height of 2 metres. The stone is renowned for being highly frost resistant and being able to withstand the chemical effects of seawater. The stone is an open textured oolitic limestone from the Portlandian formation formed during the Tithonian age, (152.1 ± 4 Ma to 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago)) of the Late Jurassic epoch. It is formed from ooliths in a micrite (fine grained calcium carbonate) matrix. There are many voids in the stone, caused by percolating rainwater dissolving all or parts of its many shell fossils, mainly bivalves and gastropods.

title: Portland Admiralty Roach


text:
Portland Independent Top Whitbed

Portland Independent Top Whitbed is the variety of Portland stone used to build the Ashton Memorial in Lancaster. It originates from Independent quarries on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England.

title: Portland Independent Top Whitbed


text:
David Arnason

David Arnason (born 23 May 1940) is a Canadian author and poet of Icelandic heritage from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Life
Born in Gimli, Manitoba, Arnason is of Icelandic descent and often writes about the Icelandic community in Canada. He is the son of Baldwin and Gudrun Arnason and the eldest of seven children. He attended the University of Manitoba where he received a B.A. (1961), a Certificate in Education (1963) and M.A. (1969), and has a PhD from the University of New Brunswick (1983-1984). Arnason co-founded the Journal of Canadian Fiction with John Moss at the University of New Brunswick in 1972.

He was one of the co-founders of Queenston House Press in Winnipeg and has been an editor of Turnstone Press in Winnipeg since 1975. He was chairman of the Literary Press Group and a member of the executive of the Association of Canadian Publishers. He served on the Manitoba Arts Council 1985–1987. He was a general editor of the Macmillan Themes in Canadian Literature series. He has been a member of the advisory board of Anansi Press. He began working for the CBC in the early 1970s; he has reviewed books and theatre, as well as created various radio adaptations. He has written short stories, poetry, and novels, fiction and non-fiction. He edited Dorothy Livesay's Right Hand, Left Hand.

He has taught at the University of Manitoba since 1973 and was the head of the English Department from 1997 to 2006. He was Acting Head of the Department of Icelandic, at the University of Manitoba from 1998 to 2006. As of 2018 he is a full professor at the University of Manitoba and chair of both the Icelandic and the English departments. The University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections hold the David Arnason Fonds, which includes manuscripts and correspondence.

Works

 * 1980: Marsh Burning
 * 1981: The Icelanders
 * 1982: Fifty Stories and a Piece of Advice
 * 1984: The Circus Performers' Bar
 * 1987: Skrag
 * 1989: The Happiest Man in the World and Other Stories
 * 1992: The Pagan Wall
 * 1994: The Dragon and the Dry Goods Princess
 * 1994: The New Icelanders: A North American Community
 * 1995: If Pigs Could Fly
 * 2001: King Jerry
 * 2002: The Demon Lover
 * 2005: The Imagined City: A Literary History of Winnipeg Edited by David Arnason & Mhari Mackintosh, ISBN 978-0-88801-298-2 – The Imagined City won both The Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and The Mary Scorer Book Award for best book by a Manitoba publisher in 2005.
 * 2010: Baldur's Song: A Saga

title: David Arnason


text:
Basingstoke Canal

The Basingstoke Canal is an English canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation.

From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, Dogmersfield, Fleet, Farnborough Airfield, Aldershot, Mytchett, Brookwood, Knaphill and Woking. Its eastern end is at Byfleet, where it connects to the Wey Navigation. This, in turn, leads to the River Thames at Weybridge. Its intended purpose was to allow boats to travel from the docks in East London to Basingstoke.

It was never a commercial success and, starting in 1950, a lack of maintenance allowed the canal to become increasingly derelict. After many years of neglect, restoration commenced in 1977 and on 10 May 1991 the canal was reopened as a fully navigable waterway from the River Wey to almost as far as the Greywell Tunnel. However its usage is currently still limited by low water supply and conservation issues.

History

The canal was originally conceived as a way to stimulate agricultural development in Hampshire. It was authorised by the Basingstoke Canal Act 1778, the company being allowed to raise GB£86000 by issuing shares, and an additional GB£40000  if required.

The original proposed route was about 44 mi long, running from Basingstoke to join the Wey and Godalming Navigations near Weybridge, with a large loop running to the north to pass around Greywell Hill. The loop cut through the grounds of Tylney Hall, owned by Earl Tylney, and he objected to the route. Due to this objection, difficulties in raising capital funding, and the American Revolutionary War being in progress, no construction took place for some time.

Nearly ten years later, a favourable forecast of expected traffic was published in 1787, and the canal committee took action. John Smeaton was appointed engineer, together with Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and William Jessop was appointed as assistant engineer and made a survey. To avoid Tylney Hall the route was changed, with the original long contour-following route which had been surveyed around Greywell Hill being replaced by a tunnel through it, shortening the canal by nearly 7 mi.

The contract for construction was awarded to John Pinkerton, part of a family of contractors who had often worked with Jessop, in August 1788. Construction started in October 1788.

The construction of Greywell Tunnel had been initially subcontracted to Charles Jones, although he had been dismissed by the Thames and Severn Canal company in 1788 after failing to complete the Sapperton Tunnel project, not entirely at his own fault. Jones was again dismissed in 1789 after the quality of the tunnel work was criticised.

The canal was opened on 4 September 1794, but two sections of the bank collapsed shortly afterwards, and parts of it were closed until the summer of 1795.

One of the main cargoes carried from Basingstoke was timber, along with agricultural products destined for London. A significant amount of traffic took place in the 1850s, carrying materials for the building of Aldershot Garrison, but this ended within a few years. The Up Nately brickworks, to which a 100 m long arm of the canal was built for access, opened in 1898 and in the following year produced 2 million bricks which were mostly transported on the canal. However, there were problems with the quality of the bricks and the brickworks went into liquidation in 1901 and closed in 1908.

Otherwise, trade on the canal was never as intensive as had been predicted, and several companies attempted to run it, but each ended up bankrupt. The canal had started to fall into disuse even before the construction of the London and South Western Railway, which runs parallel to the canal along much of its length. In 1831, when plans for the railway were being developed, the canal company suggested instead that a link be built between the canal and the Itchen Navigation. The suggestion was rejected and the canal company agreed not to oppose the construction of the railway. Commercial traffic on the canal mostly ended in 1910, although a low level of use would continue until the last cargo of timber to Woking in 1949.

In the winter of 1913, Alec ("A J") Harmsworth attempted to navigate the canal in the narrowboat Basingstoke, carrying a cargo of sand. The intention of this trip was to prove, at the request of the then owner of the canal, that it was still navigable and so avoid the possibility of closure under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act 1854. Under that Act, if the canal were not used for five years then the land the canal was built on could be returned to the original owners.

It turned out not to be possible to navigate the entire length of the canal, but the boat did successfully pass through the Greywell Tunnel and was left at Basing Wharf over Christmas 1913. In January 1914 the boat finally reached Basing House where it was turned and returned to Basing Wharf to unload its cargo. Although it proved to be not possible to reach the end of the canal at Basingstoke Wharf, a legal appeal taking place at the same time established that the canal was private freehold property and therefore not subject to the Railway and Canal Traffic Act. The Basingstoke returned to its base at Ash Wharf, the last successful boat passage through the tunnel.

During World War I the Royal Engineers took over the running of the canal and used it to transport supplies from Woolwich to the barracks at Aldershot, Crookham and Deepcut. The canal was also used to train soldiers in boat handling.

Harmsworth, the last trader working on the canal, purchased the canal in 1923, but only used the lower section (from the Wey as far as Woking) for limited commercial carrying and pleasure cruising. After part of the Greywell Tunnel collapsed in 1932, the canal to the west of that, including Basingstoke Wharf, was sold.

The canal was not nationalised when the British Transport Commission was formed by the Transport Act 1947. After Harmsworth's death in the same year the canal was offered for sale again, and some interested enthusiasts and Inland Waterways Association members attempted to form a Basingstoke Canal Committee. At the auction in 1949 they were under the impression that Joan Marshall of Fleet, who had offered to bid on their behalf, had secured the canal for them. However, it turned out that she had instead bought the canal for GB£10000 on behalf of the New Basingstoke Canal Company, with the purchase having been financed by Mr S. E. Cooke, inventor of the Duracast fishing reel.

This company (with Cooke as Managing Director and Joan Marshall as General Manager) attempted to continue maintaining the canal, including keeping the locks in working order. They tried to raise extra income from fishing and houseboat moorings as well as water supply. Unfortunately there was serious damage to Lock 22 in 1957, when some troops blew up the lock and drained the pound above, and a major breach above Ash Lock caused by flooding in 1968. By the late 1960s the canal was essentially derelict, despite volunteer efforts to improve the situation.

Restoration
In 1966 the Surrey and Hampshire Canal Society (now renamed the Basingstoke Canal Society) was formed by a group of local enthusiasts, with a view to reopening the derelict canal. They particularly campaigned to oppose proposals from the canal company in 1967 which would have retained only those sections of the canal useful for amenity and conservation purposes, culverting the water between them so that the land could be used for development. This would therefore have ended any possibility of through navigation.

As a result of their campaigning, Surrey and Hampshire county councils began negotiations in 1970 to purchase the canal. However, those negotiations initially broke down which resulted in both of them announcing in February 1972 that they would apply to take over the canal via compulsory purchase orders. The orders were confirmed in February 1975 but did not need to be used, as Hampshire County Council had been able to take possession of their (western) part of the canal in November 1973 and Surrey County Council acquired their (eastern) part after negotiations in March 1976.

In February 1977 a job creation project started with the aim of carrying out restoration work on the Deepcut flight of locks. The work was coordinated with the work of the canal society who organised work parties at weekends while the job creation team worked on weekdays.

After about 18 years of restoration, 32 mi of the canal were formally re-opened on 10 May 1991. The western section from North Warnborough to Basingstoke remains un-navigable from the point at which it enters the Greywell Tunnel. The tunnel partially collapsed in 1932 where it passes from chalk into clay geology, and is now inhabited by a protected bat colony making it unlikely that the tunnel will ever be restored. Some of the former canal basin at the western end has also been lost to modern development in and around Basingstoke.

The canal is now managed by the Basingstoke Canal Authority and is open to navigation throughout the year. Lock opening times are restricted due to the very limited water supply in an attempt to postpone summer closures which have plagued the canal since construction. Boat numbers are also limited to 1,300 per year due to the fact that most of the canal has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Site of Special Scientific Interest
Two sections of the canal totalling 101.3 ha are a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Nature Conservation Review site. These are the main length between Greywell and Brookwood Lye, and a short stretch between Monument Bridge and Scotland Bridge in Woking. It is the most botanically-rich aquatic area in England and flora include the nationally scarce hairlike pondweed and the nationally scarce tasteless water-pepper. The site is also nationally important for its invertebrates. There are 24 species of dragonfly and other species include two nationally rare Red Data Book insects.

Eastwards from the mid point of the canal, it is surrounded by large areas of heathland. These are habitats for reptilian species, such as vipers and lizards, and birds such as nightjars, woodlarks and Dartford warblers. Much of this heath survives today due to its use since the late 19th century as military training areas.

Lost sections of the canal
The canal originally started from the centre of Basingstoke, but the first 5 mi of route have now been lost. This section of the canal fell into disuse after the closure of the Greywell Tunnel, due to a lack of boat traffic, general neglect and a lack of water.

There were no locks on the canal after Ash, so the route generally followed the contours of the land with occasional cuttings, tunnels and embankments. The route can be partly determined by noting that the canal falls between the 75m and 80m contours on Ordnance Survey maps, and can be traced on historical map overlays as available at the National Library of Scotland.

The canal started at a basin, roughly where the present day Basingstoke Bus Station is located. From there it ran eastwards parallel to the River Loddon following Eastrop Way, before passing under the A339 Ringway East. It then made a long loop southwards and then eastwards again, partly on an embankment, passing over small streams and water meadows. The furthest visible sign of the canal today is the buried Red Bridge, which can be seen where Redbridge Lane turns northwards west of the Basing House ruins.

From here the canal route passed to the north of Basing House and through Old Basing village. Some remaining cuttings, which may contain water in wet weather, can be found just off Milkingpen Lane and behind the Belle View Road/Cavalier Road estate. There was then another southwards loop, crossing the routes of the present day A30 and M3 and then across the Lyde River at Hatch. From here the canal ran eastwards across fields, on an embankment towards Mapledurwell to then cross over another branch of the Lyde River. There was a short tunnel under Andwell Drove, and then the now demolished Penny Bridge leading under Greywell Road towards Up Nately.

From this point eastwards the canal is still in water and is maintained as a nature reserve, with the towpath as a public footpath leading to the western end of the Greywell Tunnel. Footpaths over the hill lead to the eastern end of the tunnel, in the centre of Greywell village, and the towing path continues onwards to the present day limit of navigation about 500 m to the east.

The Basingstoke Canal Heritage Footpath roughly follows the canal route for 2 mi from Festival Place to Basing House.

The main source of water for the western end of the canal appears to have been the natural springs within the Greywell Tunnel. Along the Basingstoke town section the River Loddon ran parallel with but not into the canal (the present day Eastrop Way, the former route of the canal, can be seen to be well above the river level) and there was also no connection with the River Lyde either at Huish Farm near Hatch (the river can be seen today to flow under the former canal bed just north of the M3) or at Mapledurwell. There are, however, small streams flowing into the canal at Fleet and Aldershot.

In order to alleviate the lack of water in the western part of the canal, a stop lock was built just to the east of the Greywell Tunnel to raise the water level by about 30 cm. However this was a long section of canal with many embankments and it is likely that this was a cheap short term measure, instead of improving the water supply or properly fixing leaks.

Plans
There have been proposals to reconnect Basingstoke with the surviving section of the canal several times in the past, and this remains a long term aim of the Basingstoke Canal Society. However, the bat population now established in the Greywell Tunnel makes it unlikely that the tunnel will ever be able to be reopened.

Another possible idea that has been considered in the past, and is still a long term ambition today, is to connect the remaining canal to the Kennet and Avon Navigation via a new Berks and Hants Canal. This link was proposed three times between 1793 and 1810, and a route was even surveyed by John Rennie in 1824, but following opposition from landowners was eventually rejected by Parliament in 1824 and 1826. This route would allow the tunnel to remain undisturbed.

The Basingstoke Canal Authority
The canal is owned by both Hampshire County Council and Surrey County Council, with each authority owning the land within their jurisdiction. Until 1990, both councils managed their own sections separately. It was decided that a central body should manage the entire waterway and the Basingstoke Canal Authority was formed.

In 1993, the canal visitor centre at Mytchett was opened which now also acts as the central offices of the canal authority.

The canal authority staff are employed, administered and supported by Hampshire County Council; however, the centre belongs to Surrey County Council. Each county council allocates revenue money to the canal authority, as well as the six riparian district/borough authorities through which the canal passes. The canal authority partnership is governed by the Basingstoke Canal Joint Management Committee – a joint committee of Surrey County Council formed of council members from each of the local authority partners.

The structure of the canal authority was last reviewed in 2011, with the two county councils allocating client officers from their Countryside teams to lead the strategic direction for the canal, taking on part of the former Canal Director's role. The canal authority is now formed of one canal manager, a senior administration officer and assistant, visitor services manager and visitor services officer. The canal is maintained by a team of five canal rangers and one senior ranger, supported by a part-time seasonal lock keeper.

Architectural features

A notable feature of the canal is the large number of concrete bunkers known as pillboxes still visible along its length; these were built during World War II as part of the GHQ Line to defend against an expected German invasion.

Odiham Castle is situated at the Greywell (Basingstoke) end of the canal. The canal runs through part of the castle's bailey.

The Greywell Tunnel (now disused), at 1230 yd long, was the 12th longest canal tunnel in Great Britain.

title: Basingstoke Canal


text:
Bill Bauer (poet)

William Alfred Bauer (May 10, 1932 - June 12, 2010) was an American-Canadian writer. Born in Portland, Maine and raised in Auburn, Bauer was educated at Amherst College, Wesleyan University and the University of North Carolina. He married writer Nancy Bauer in 1956, and they had three children: Ernie, Grace and John. In 1965 he moved to New Brunswick to accept a professorship at the University of New Brunswick, and five years later he completed his PhD dissertation (University of North Carolina) on 18th-century letter-writing.

Career
For many years Bauer was a regular member of the Ice House (a.k.a. McCord Hall, or Tuesday Night) community writers' workshop, and he served as both poetry and fiction editor at various times for The Fiddlehead, as well as writing many reviews for the magazine. Before his retirement in 1994, he taught courses in 18th-Century British Literature, Shakespeare, Canadian literature, Maritime literature and Creative Writing. His byline names included W. A. Bauer, William A. Bauer, William Bauer, and Bill Bauer. He published several chapbooks and collections of poetry, including Cornet Music for Plupy Shute (1968), Everett Coogler (1971), The Terrible Word (1978) and Unsnarling String (1983), as well as a short-story collection, Family Album (1979).

“…. a poet who can get his wild sense of humour into poems that are linguistically subtle and open in form. Bauer cares about language, and loves it. The comedy is his way of exploring the large questions of life as process rather than stasis. The Terrible Word is both damn good and damn entertaining.”—Douglas Barbour, The Dalhousie Review

“A gentleman—rather than a vulgarian—satirist, Bauer does not often find vice in his fellow man, but perhaps that is so because the people in his poems are liable to be more confused than destructive…. But laugher almost always wins out over despair.”—Michael Brian Oliver, The Fiddlehead

“One of Bauer’s chief strengths in A Family Album is a strikingly inventive imagination. We are urged to share his delight in life’s absurdities, even while recognizing that the foibles he describes in others are too frequently our own.”—Roger MacDonald, Canadian Book Review Annual

“These stories are specific in capturing a recognizable region: the slow-paced, tradition-bound Eastern Seaboard. It is an idyllic world from certain angles and in certain seasons, but change the perspective, come two steps closer, and it darkens into a place betrayed and deserted by time…. For those interested in the art of narration, these stories are a pleasure to read. One savours the rich and varied vocabulary, and the experimentation with language and structure.”—Carrie MacMillan, Quill and Quire

“Unsnarling String combines humour and down-to-earth philosophy, commonplace experience and delightful eccentricities. Bauer writes about simple things in life that become ridiculously tangled, and about how people reduce life’s complications to simple formulas for survival….. Poems to be read aloud to family and friends.”	Richard Lemm, The Atlantic Provinces Book Review

Works

 * 1968: Cornet Music for Plupy Shute (New Brunswick Chapbooks)
 * 1971: Everett Coogler (New Brunswick Chapbooks)
 * 1978: The Terrible Word (Fiddlehead Poetry Books)
 * 1979: Family Album (Oberon Press)
 * 1983: Unsnarling String (Fiddlehead Poetry Books)
 * 2010: Bright with Invisible History: A William Bauer Reader, ed. Brian Bartlett (Chapel Street Editions)

title: Bill Bauer (poet)


text:
Talk:John Zephaniah Holwell

Untitled
I have removed the text below from the article page to the talk page. The reasons, I think, are obvious. Everyone feel invited to improve this. KF 16:15 19 Jun 2003 (UTC)

The notorious episode of the "Black Hole" of Calcutta furnishes an extraordinary instance of the manner in which narratives are constructed and the place of iteration in historical narratives. It points equally to the difficulty of ascertaining "truth" in history. In 1756, Siraj-ud-daulah , the Nawab of Bengal, occupied Fort William and Calcutta, then the principal possession of the East India Company. 146 people are said to have been imprisoned, at the orders of the Nawab, in a small and airless dungeon at Fort William. Next morning, when the door was opened, 123 of the prisoners had died. This story was recounted by the survivor John Zephaniah Holwell, and soon became the basis for representing Indians as a base, cowardly, and despotic people. Innumerable journalistic and historical works recounted the story of the "Black Hole" of Calcutta, but Holwell's account was the sole contemporary narrative. 146 people could not have been accommodated in a room of the stated dimensions of 24 x 18 feet, and it is now almost universally conceded that Holwell greatly embellished his story. Indian scholars have shown the Nawab had no hand in this affair, and that the number of incarcerated prisoners was no higher than 69. It may even be possible to argue that the episode of the "Black Hole" never transpired. Though for the British it became an article of faith to accept the veracity of the episode in its most extravagant and sordid form, all accounts relied, without stating so, upon the sole authority of the contemporary narrative of Holwell. As Edward Said, following Foucault, has suggested in Orientalism (1978), once something is said often enough, it becomes true.

 * Hmm, well neither Foucault nor Said was a historian, or had any understanding of the principles of historical evidence. Indeed, they came close to denying the existence of any historical truth, arguing that nothing existed except "narratives" and "representations" dependent on "power relationships". All no doubt very interesting, but of little use to mere mortals who think that sometimes things happen and are then recorded: if you don't believe that, then stick to literary theory and forget about writing History at all. If Holwell's account is unreliable (and it may well be) what of the evidence used by these unspecified 'Indian Historians'? Or is that beyond reproach because they are Indian? In fact the British Historian H.E. Busteed wrote back in 1885 (at the height of British Imperial power) that the Nawab was probably unaware of what transpired; J.H. Little, another British historian, was the first to question Holwell's figures, in the Edwardian period: hardly the elaborate discursive conspiracy alleged above. There are also numerous interviews with survivors and articles in the contemporary press which corroborate elements of Holwell's account. It is far from being settled that 'only' 69 people were incarcerated (anyway, surely that's bad enough)? as this figure only takes into account the garrison, and not the large numbers of civilians (Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Portuguese) who took shelter in the Fort. In any case I find it hard to understand why this incident generates such emotions. Whatever the truth of the matter, it is in no way a slur on modern Indians or Bengalis to admit that the Black Hole occurred and that it was a very nasty incident. Serious historians have always recognised that it was a tragic cock-up, not an act of calculated malice and cruelty Sikandarji 15:57, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:John Zephaniah Holwell


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Nancy Bauer

Nancy Bauer, née Nancy Luke (born July 7, 1934) is a Canadian writer and editor who writes for a number of Canadian maritime magazines about people who write, produce crafts and create visual art.

Born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, the daughter of Grace Bridgeford and Wendell Luke, Bauer received her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College in 1956. She moved to Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1965.

From 1967 until 1983, Bauer was the publisher of 25 New Brunswick Chapbooks. She founded the Maritime Writers Workshop, and has served as writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, the Cape Cod Writers Conference, East Word One, and Bemidji State University.

She was married to Bill Bauer, writer and retired professor, until his death in 2010.

Awards

 * 1982: 2nd prize, CBC Literary Competition
 * 1999: Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Literary Arts

Selected bibliography

 * "Finding a pattern with soothing words", New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, February 6th, 2010
 * "A matter of joining forces", New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, April 25th, 2009
 * 1982:Flora, Write this Down. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions,.
 * 1985:Wise Ears. Ottawa: Oberon,.
 * 1988:The Opening Eye. Ottawa: Oberon,.
 * 1991:Samara, the Wholehearted. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions,.
 * 1994:The Irrational Doorways of Mr. Gerard. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions,.

title: Nancy Bauer


text:
USS Arnold J. Isbell

USS Arnold J. Isbell (DD-869), a Gearing-class destroyer, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Arnold J. Isbell, an aircraft carrier captain during World War II. The ship was laid down on 14 March 1945 at Staten Island, New York, by Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, launched on 6 August 1945 and commissioned on 5 January 1946. Constructed too late to see action in World War II, the vessel initially served as a training ship with the United States Atlantic Fleet, before transferring to the Pacific and deploying to Korea during the Korean War and off the Vietnam coast during the Vietnam War. In 1972 Arnold J. Isbell was made part of the reserve training fleet and in 1974, sold to Greece where the ship was renamed Satchouris and served with the Hellenic Navy until being sold for scrap in 2002.

Construction and US career
Her keel was laid down on 14 March 1945 at Staten Island, New York, by Bethlehem Mariners Harbor. She was launched on 6 August 1945 sponsored by Mrs. Arnold J. Isbell, the widow of Captain Isbell; and commissioned on 5 January 1946. She joined the Atlantic Fleet and operated off the east coast.

Following a shakedown cruise to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the destroyer joined the Atlantic Fleet and operated off the East Coast through the end of the year. In January 1947, she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and homeported at San Diego, California. In May, Arnold J. Isbell departed California on her first western Pacific (WestPac) cruise. She visited Tsingtao and Shanghai, China, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Yokosuka, Japan, Okinawa; and Apra Harbor, Guam, before returning to San Diego in December.

During 1948, the warship engaged in hunter/killer training and served as a training ship for Naval Reserve personnel. In February 1949, she sailed to Bremerton, Washington, for two months of upkeep. Following this work, she departed San Diego in April, bound for the Far East. The destroyer was in port at Shanghai and at Tsingtao, China, when each of these cities fell to Communist forces. She evacuated the American consul and his family from Tsingtao. She returned to San Diego in December.

Korean War
Arnold J. Isbell was operating out of San Diego when Communist forces invaded South Korea on 27 June 1950 and the Korean War began. She began preparations for an active role in the conflict. She joined Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 52 and sailed for Korean waters on 6 November. Some of her duties in the combat zone included acting in the screen of Task Force (TF) 77 visiting Taiwan as part of the United States Seventh Fleet, and escorting the troop transports that brought the 45th Infantry Division to Hokkaidō, Japan. In May 1951, the destroyer was reassigned to Task Force 95 and participated in the bombardment of enemy troop concentrations on highways and railroads at Songjin, Chongjin, and Wonsan before returning to San Diego in August for repairs and training exercises along the west coast.

In January 1952, the ship again got underway for Korean action. Between 19 February and 10 August, she acted as a unit of TF 77, the Seventh Fleet striking force. Arnold J. Isbell also operated with TF 95 and took part in hunter/killer operations. For a short time, she was a member of the Taiwan Strait patrol and joined the cruiser USS Saint Paul (CA-73) in bombarding Songjin before she returned to the United States in August. Arnold J. Isbell then began a three-month overhaul at Bremerton, Washington, in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

The destroyer sailed on 21 July 1953 for more operations off the embattled Korean peninsula. Upon her arrival there, she joined TF 95 for patrols along the Korean coast. A highlight of the cruise was her escorting the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) into Pusan harbor, where President Syngman Rhee presented the Seventh Fleet with a unit citation from the Republic of Korea. Arnold J. Isbell also served a brief stint as a training ship for the Nationalist Chinese Navy at Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Returning to the Korean coast, she acted as a rescue and communications ship at Pusan during a major fire. In January 1954, the ship and her sister members of DesDiv 112 (Destroyer Squadron 11) escorted released Nationalist Chinese prisoners of war to Keelung, Taiwan.

Post Korean War
February found Arnold J. Isbell back in the United States and being overhauled by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, California. Her next six and one-half months were devoted to yard work and refresher training. In September, Arnold J. Isbell returned to the Far East. She again served as a training ship for Nationalist Chinese naval forces and then steamed with the fast carrier task force in Philippine waters. The destroyer played a key role in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands in January 1955 as Nationalist forces shortened their lines of defense. She sailed from the area on 25 February for San Diego, arriving in her home port on 13 March. Following repairs and training, Arnold J. Isbell sailed on 27 September for the Far East. The destroyer visited various ports in Japan and Taiwan, and served on the Taiwan Strait patrol. During this tour, she also participated in successful search and rescue operations for a downed Navy patrol plane. Elmo Zumwalt took command of the ship in July 1955. Arnold J. Isbell concluded her duties and arrived back in San Diego on 11 March 1956.

After completing repairs at Mare Island in July, Arnold J. Isbell resumed operations with DesDiv 112 off the coast of California. On 25 September, she sailed, via Pearl Harbor, for her eighth WestPac deployment. Heading south from Hawaii the destroyer crossed the equator on 3 October, bound for Samoa. Upon leaving Pago Pago, her next stop was Wellington, New Zealand, en route to Manus in the Admiralty Islands. Following a brief visit to Guam, she finally reached Yokosuka, Japan. There, the ship joined TF 77 for operations in the area between Hong Kong and Japan. She stopped in the Philippines before returning via Midway Atoll and Pearl Harbor, to San Diego where she arrived in March 1957. The warship had a brief availability period and then took part in a fleet training exercise. She later operated with the Navy's first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571). Arnold J. Isbell also visited Portland, Oregon, for that city's Rose Festival celebration. An 18-day nonstop voyage from San Diego to Brisbane, Australia, initiated the destroyer's ninth Far Eastern cruise. She made stops at the Admiralty Islands, Guam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Okinawa, and Japan before returning to California in June 1958. The destroyer received an overhaul at Mare Island from June until September and then conducted refresher training and prepared for her 10th WestPac cruise.

Arnold J. Isbell got underway on 18 December for WestPac. She operated with the Taiwan Strait patrol and took part in training exercises off Guam, Taiwan, Japan, and Okinawa before returning to San Diego on 29 May 1959 for operations in the southern California area. The vessel participated in numerous fleet exercises and, from 27 June to 15 August, held a midshipman training cruise. The ship once again sailed for the Far East on 6 February 1960 and made stops at Pearl Harbor, Yokosuka, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, and Subic Bay. At midnight on 20 April, she received orders to steam toward a sinking merchant vessel in the South China Sea. After reaching the scene of the disaster, Arnold J. Isbell was able to rescue 104 people. After delivering the survivors to Subic Bay, she proceeded to Hong Kong for three weeks as station ship at that port. A final stop at Yokosuka preceded her sailing for San Diego, where she arrived in June. The destroyer spent the next 12 months in local operations.

In June 1961, her home port was changed to Bremerton, Washington, where she entered the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a fleet rehabilitation and modernization (FRAM) overhaul. During the FRAM refit all secondary armament was removed, as well as No. 2 five-inch turret, which was replaced by two Mk32 triple torpedo tube launchers. The superstructure was extensively rebuilt of aluminum, the bridge enclosed and a new CIC (Combat Information Center) built between the pilothouse and the forward funnel. An Antisubmarine Rocket (ASROC) launcher was fitted between the funnels. A hangar and ASROC reload facility was constructed aft of the rear funnel.

Arnold J. Isbell emerged from the yard with her new configuration on 4 May 1962. On 7 June, she reported to her new home port of Long Beach, California, and commenced refresher training. In October, the ship sailed with Destroyer Squadron 11 for the Far East. During this deployment, she took part in Operation "Red Wheel," "Glass Door," and "Sea Serpent." The destroyer also served as a unit of the Seventh Fleet hunter/killer groups. Upon returning to Long Beach in June 1963, she participated in another fleet exercise, Operation "Saddle Soap". In January 1964, the warship left Long Beach for her 12th tour in Far Eastern waters. During this deployment, she operated with a carrier force and later joined the Taiwan Strait patrol. Arnold J. Isbell visited Pearl Harbor, Subic Bay, Philippines, Hong Kong; and Sasebo, Japan, before returning to Long Beach in May. She began a regular overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in August. Upon completing her yard work in November, the destroyer proceeded to San Diego for six weeks of extensive underway training. Shortly after finishing her underway training, the ship took part in Operation "Silverlance." In March 1965, she received a drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH) system and held trials of her new equipment off San Clemente Island. A midshipman training cruise occupied a large part of her summer. The destroyer sailed on 19 October for the Western Pacific. Following stops at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay, Arnold J. Isbell relieved the destroyer USS Brinkley Bass (DD-887) on 30 December on the northern search and rescue (SAR) station in the Gulf of Tonkin and began her first duty in the combat zone off the coast of Vietnam. The warship then became a unit of TF 77.

Search and rescue duties occupied the vessel until she was relieved on 31 March 1966 and sailed to Hong Kong for four days of rest and relaxation. On 12 April, she got underway to return to the United States. After fuel stops at Midway and Pearl Harbor, Arnold J. Isbell reached Long Beach on 28 April and commenced a leave and upkeep period. She returned to sea on 11 June with a midshipman training cruise to Hawaii and several fleet exercises. The destroyer unloaded her ammunition at Seal Beach, California, on 29 July and entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 31 July for overhaul. Refurbished, the ship began a training period on 16 September and spent the remainder of the year in exercises along the southern California coast and in upkeep during the Christmas holidays. Arnold J. Isbell held refresher training out of San Diego in March 1968 and then conducted local operations until getting underway for the western Pacific on 15 July. She arrived on station off the Vietnamese coast on 12 August and carried out duties as a gunfire support ship. Her routine was broken only by brief periods in port for repairs and liberty for the crew. The destroyer spent the Christmas holidays patrolling off Vietnam and then visited Subic Bay, and Yokosuka.

On 20 January, Arnold J. Isbell headed home. Upon her arrival at Long Beach on 31 January, she commenced a three-month period of leave and availability. She got underway again on 21 April for brief cruise to Acapulco and Manzanillo, Mexico, but was back in home port on 5 May. The vessel joined Task Group 10.1 on 9 June for a midshipman training cruise. Ports visited during this assignment included San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, and Pearl Harbor. This cruise terminated on 31 July, and she returned to Long Beach. A tender availability alongside the destroyer tender USS Isle Royal (AD-29) ensued, and the destroyer then took part in Exercise "Bell Express" from 16 to 22 September. Her next underway period lasted from 17 September to 21 November while she took part in Computex 31–69. She was also involved in gunfire support, antisubmarine warfare, and electronic warfare exercises before ending the year 1969 in port at Long Beach.

Vietnam War
The destroyer sailed on 13 February 1970 for the Far East. While in the combat zone, she performed SAR duty on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, provided gunfire support, and served as escort for five aircraft carriers. She made four port calls to Subic Bay, visited Hong Kong for two weeks, and spent four days in Singapore. En route back to the United States, the ship paid goodwill visits to Sydney, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand. A one-day stopover at Pago Pago was also included in the voyage to Pearl Harbor. Arnold J. Isbell finally arrived in home port on 29 August and spent the rest of 1970 in local operations out of Long Beach. From February to May 1971, Arnold J. Isbell went through an extensive yard period in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Six weeks of rigorous refresher training followed, and, on 9 September, she began what proved to be her final WestPac deployment. During this deployment, the vessel acted as a carrier escort and a naval gunfire support ship in Vietnamese waters. The destroyer also paid a visit to Devonport, Tasmania. On 7 April 1972, she dropped anchor at San Diego.

Then preparations to place the destroyer in the reserve training fleet were carried out. Arnold J. Isbell began her training duties on 16 June by sailing for Hawaii. She returned to California on 17 July and began operations off the West Coast. A trip to Mazatlán, Mexico varied her routine in early November.

Greek service
In 1972 Isbell became part of the Reserve Training Fleet until early 1974 when she was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. She was then transferred to the government of Greece and entered the Greek Navy as Sachtouris (D214). She continued serving Greece into the 1980s and was reportedly scrapped in Turkey in 2002.

Awards and honors
Arnold J. Isbell made 16 tours of the Far East and earned six battle stars for Korean War service and two for Vietnam War action.

title: USS Arnold J. Isbell