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Ai-Khanoum

Ai-Khanoum (, meaning Lady Moon; ) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was likely founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and served as a military and economic centre for the rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom until its destruction c. 145 BC. Rediscovered in 1961, the ruins of the city were excavated by a French team of archaeologists until the outbreak of conflict in Afghanistan in the late 1970s.

The city was probably founded between 300 and 285 BC by an official acting on the orders of Seleucus I Nicator or his son Antiochus I Soter, the first two rulers of the Seleucid dynasty. There is a possibility that the site was known to the earlier Achaemenid Empire, who established a small fort nearby. Ai-Khanoum was originally thought to have been a foundation of Alexander the Great, perhaps as Alexandria Oxiana, but this theory is now considered unlikely. Located at the confluence of the Amu Darya (a.k.a. Oxus) and Kokcha rivers, surrounded by well-irrigated farmland, the city itself was divided between a lower town and a 60 m acropolis. Although not situated on a major trade route, Ai-Khanoum controlled access to both mining in the Hindu Kush and strategically important choke points. Extensive fortifications, which were continually maintained and improved, surrounded the city.

Ai-Khanoum, which may have initially grown in population because of royal patronage and the presence of a mint in the city, lost some importance through the secession of the Greco-Bactrians under Diodotus I (c. 250 BC). Seleucid construction programmes were halted and the city probably became primarily military in function; it may have been a conflict zone during the invasion of Antiochus III (c. 209 BC). Ai-Khanoum began to grow once more under Euthydemus I and his successor Demetrius I, who began to assert control over the northwest Indian subcontinent. Many of the present ruins date from the time of Eucratides I, who substantially redeveloped the city and who may have renamed it Eucratideia, after himself. Soon after his death c. 145 BC, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom collapsed—Ai-Khanoum was captured by Saka invaders and was generally abandoned, although parts of the city were sporadically occupied until the 2nd century AD. Hellenistic culture in the region would persist longer only in the Indo-Greek kingdoms. While on a hunting trip in 1961, the King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, rediscovered the city. An archaeological delegation, led by Paul Bernard, unearthed the remains of a huge palace in the lower town, along with a large gymnasium, a theatre capable of holding 6,000 spectators, an arsenal, and two sanctuaries. Several inscriptions were found, along with coins, artefacts, and ceramics. The onset of the Soviet-Afghan War in the late 1970s halted scholarly progress and during the following conflicts in Afghanistan, the site was extensively looted.

Ancient
The precise date of Ai-Khanoum's founding is unknown. The northernmost outpost of the Indus Valley Civilization had been established at Shortugai, around 20 km north of Ai-Khanoum, during the late third millennium BC. Shortugai, which existed for several centuries, traded with its southern neighbours and constructed the first irrigation systems in the area. A thousand years later, the area fell under the control of the Persian Achaemenids, who established a satrapy (administrative province) centred on Bactra (present-day Balkh) and expanded eastwards by conquering the Indus Valley. To assert control over the local region, they founded a fort named Kohna Qala on a ford of the Oxus, around 1.5 km north of the later city. Although scholars have speculated that a small Achaemenid garrison may have been placed at the confluence, there is no consensus that a settlement was established at Ai-Khanoum prior to the arrival of the Greco-Macedonians under Alexander the Great c. 328 BC.

Historians have disputed who ordered the transformation of this small settlement into the major city it became. Initially, Ai-Khanoum was identified as Alexandria Oxiana, one of the cities founded by Alexander. There are considerable difficulties with identifying these cities, as the sources disagree; and the authors may have inadvertently referred to the same Alexandria as being at two different cities. As well as Ai-Khanoum, Alexandria Oxiana has been variously interpreted as being Alexandria in Sogdiana, Alexandria near Bactra, or as Termez. As there is a lack of distinct identifying features (such as artwork, sculpture, or inscriptions) associating Alexander with the city, it remains unlikely that he did more than replace an Achaemenid garrison on the site, if it existed, with a Greek one.

Based on ceramic data gathered at the site, it is likely that Ai-Khanoum was expanded in stages. The first stage would have begun under one of the first rulers of the Seleucid Empire—either the empire's founder Seleucus I Nicator or his son and successor Antiochus I Soter. Seleucus established a cohesive Central Asian policy, which "went beyond the limited, ad hoc military and political aims of Alexander", according to historian Frank Holt. After the Seleucid–Mauryan war, Seleucus ceded the Indus Valley to Chandragupta Maurya, in return for a pact of friendship and 500 war elephants; he thus sought the sustained economic and military development of Bactria, which was now the headquarters of the Seleucids in the East.

Antiochus, who had a personal connection to the region through his mother, Apama, the daughter of the Sogdian warlord Spitamenes, continued the policies of his father. Several of Ai-Khanoum's key buildings, including the heroön (hero's shrine), the northern fortifications, and a shrine, were constructed under his reign. It is likely that a mint was opened in Ai-Khanoum in around 285 BC, both because of the metal deposits near the city and a growing Seleucid interest in eastern Bactria, which suggests that this mint spurred the growth of the city as a royal foundation. Around one-third of the bronze coins found in the city were issued in the period following Antiochus' accession in 281 BC, an indication that he continued to spend money on the city. Under his successor Antiochus II, who came to the throne in 261 BC, the mint continued to strike valuable coins and the ramparts were bolstered with a buttress and brick linings.

The city's development was greatly slowed when Diodotus I, governor of the eastern provinces, seceded from the Seleucids and founded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. Although Ai-Khanoum's temple and sanctuary were reconstructed under Diodotus, possibly to enhance religious legitimacy, most Seleucid construction programmes were not continued. Bertille Lyonnet theorises that during this time Ai-Khanoum was merely "a military stronghold with administrative functions". The Seleucid emperor Antiochus III invaded the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in 209 BC, defeating its ruler Euthydemus I at the Battle of the Arius and unsuccessfully besieging Bactra, Euthydemus' capital. Although there is no evidence that Ai-Khanoum was itself attacked by the invaders, Antiochus may have conducted operations near the city, or even minted his currency there. He may have also brought new settlers to the region. The later conquests of Euthydemus and his successor Demetrius I were also beneficial for the city, as the population increased and many public buildings were reconstructed. The improvement in the city's fortunes can be seen through innovations in the manufacturing and sophistication of pottery—Achaemenid styles were replaced with more varied shapes, some of which were reminiscent of Megarian bowls.

The city's zenith came during the rule of Eucratides I in the mid-second century BC, who probably made it his capital, naming it Eucratideia. During his reign, the palace and gymnasium were constructed, the main sanctuary and heroön were rebuilt, and the theatre was certainly active. He probably sponsored Mediterranean artists to place himself on a par with other major Hellenistic kings, the status of his capital city thus being comparable to that of Alexandria, Antioch, or Pergamum. The treasury was found to house substantial quantities of the loot from his campaigns in India against the Indo-Greek King Menander. It is likely that Ai-Khanoum was already under attack by nomadic tribes when Eucratides was assassinated in around 144 BC. This invasion was probably carried out by Saka tribes driven south by the Yuezhi peoples, who in turn formed a second wave of invaders, in around 130 BC. The treasury complex shows signs of having been plundered in two assaults, fifteen years apart.

Although the first assault led to the end of Hellenistic rule in the city, Ai-Khanoum continued to be inhabited; it remains unknown whether this reoccupation was effected by Greco-Bactrian survivors or nomadic invaders. During this time, public buildings such as the palace and sanctuary were repurposed as residential dwellings and the city maintained some semblance of normality: some sort of authority, possibly cultish in origin, encouraged the inhabitants to reuse the raw building materials now freely available in the city for their own ends, whether for construction or trade. A silver ingot engraved with runic letters and buried in a treasury room provides support for the theory that the Saka occupied the city, with tombs containing typical nomadic grave goods also being dug into the acropolis and the gymnasium. The reoccupation of the city was soon terminated by a huge fire. It is unknown when the final occupants of Ai-Khanoum abandoned the city. The final signs of any habitation date from the 2nd century AD; by this time, more than 2.5 m of earth had accumulated in the palace.

Modern
In March 1838, a British soldier-explorer named John Wood was travelling in Badakshan as a representative of the East India Company. He was informed by his guides of the existence of an ancient city in the area, which the natives called Babarrah. All his inquiries were rebuffed by the local inhabitants and the chance of rediscovery was lost, as Wood wrote in an account:

"The appearance of the place, however, does indicate the truth of [Tajik] tradition, that an ancient city once stood here. On the site of the town was an Uzbek encampment; but from its inmates, we could glean no information, and to all our inquiries about coins and relics, they only vouchsafed a vacant stare or an idiotic laugh."

In 1961, the King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, was on a hunting expedition when he noticed the still-visible outline of the city from a hillside. He called in the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA), who had been excavating sites in the country since 1923. The excavation was led first by Daniel Schlumberger and then by Paul Bernard. As the city had never been resettled after its abandonment, the ruins lay close to the surface and were easy to excavate. At other sites in the region, successive generations built upon the foundations of their predecessors, leaving the Hellenistic construction layer as much as 15 m below the ground.

Nevertheless, the excavation of Ai-Khanoum proved problematic and complex. The city's immense size meant that DAFA's small team had to focus their attention on key areas, especially when the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs decreased its funding in the mid-1970s. The inaccessibility of the city's acropolis and the roughness of its terrain meant that any excavation there was much more difficult than on the lower level, leading to it being studied much less than the lower city. Despite these and other constraints, DAFA did not compromise on scientific rigour or procedure. In 1974, the remit of the mission was expanded to include paleogeographical and archaeological surveys of the surrounding areas; building upon these successful surveys, further fieldwork was also planned.

All archaeological work was stopped in 1978, when the Saur Revolution sparked the Soviet-Afghan War and triggered the still-ongoing political instability in Afghanistan. During the warfare, the site was comprehensively looted and several important artefacts were sold on the antiquities market to private collectors. The systematic looting of the northern part of the lower city appears to have been carried out through the digging of hundreds of holes. Although this suggests that the looters expected to find artefacts in an area DAFA had not excavated, the archaeological integrity of the site has been compromised. Although similar holes were found in the gymnasium complex, the palace complex perhaps suffered the greatest damage: the walls were used as a quarry for building materials (in some places even the deepest foundations were gutted), while the small quantities of limestone at the site, primarily found as decoration or capitals, were consumed in lime kilns. The Northern Alliance built a gun battery atop the acropolis, further destabilizing the site.

Location and layout
The city of Ai-Khanoum was founded at the southwest corner of a plain in the region of Bactria, at the confluence of the Oxus (modern Amu Darya) and Kokcha rivers. The plain, which covered an area of around 300 km2, was triangular, being bounded by the rivers on two sides and the mountains of the eastern Hindu Kush on the third. The loess soil of the plain was naturally suitable for agriculture; the proximity to the rivers allowed for the construction of irrigation canals; and the nearby highlands provided herders with large areas of summer pasturage. The area was also rich in minerals: mines on the upper Kokcha in Badakshan were the only sources of lapis lazuli in the world, also producing copper, iron, lead, and rubies. The city was 10 km downstream from the confluence of the Oxus and Qizilsu, a tributary whose valley provided access to the mineral-rich Western Pamirs and Chinese Turkestan, but which also formed a natural corridor for any potential northern invaders. Ai-Khanoum therefore served as a strategically important bulwark, despite not controlling a major crossing of the Oxus or any other large trade route.

Reflecting the city's strategic importance, its founders built Ai-Khanoum to a high defensive standard. To the south and west lay the Kokcha and Oxus, respectively—both riverbanks were steep cliffs more than 20 m high, which presented a challenge to any amphibious assault. Meanwhile, any eastward approach was protected by a natural acropolis, around 60 m in height, which stretched about 2 km north from the Kokcha. This plateau also included a small citadel at its southeast corner—protected by the 80 m-high cliffs on two sides and a small moat on the third, this 150 by fort served as the defensive headquarters of Ai-Khanoum.

These natural defences were reinforced by walls that completely enclosed Ai-Khanoum's city and acropolis. The northern ramparts, which were not assisted by any natural features, were built to be particularly strong: the 10 m-high and 6 m-thick walls were built out of solid mud bricks and protected by large towers and a steep ditch. The size of these ramparts allowed a few defending soldiers to nullify siege engines and engage an attacking force with minimal casualties; the large scale also reflects the low confidence of the Greek architects in the strength of mud-brick walls. The main gate of the city was set in the northern rampart, which also guarded the canal that supplied water to the city's centre.

From the main gate, a street ran southwards in a straight line along the base of the acropolis and continued through the lower city to the southern riverbank—a distance of about 1.5 km. Apart from the southern zone, which housed large dwellings organised in three blocks, the lower town was unplanned; this distinguishes Ai-Khanoum from other Hellenistic foundations of the Near East, such as Seleucia on the Tigris, which tended to be built according to the Hippodamian grid plan. It was also the subject of a major redevelopment during the early second century BC, which resulted in slight disunity in the orientations of some major buildings (the palace, for example, is at an angle to the older main street). Ai-Khanoum was built predominantly using unbaked bricks, with baked bricks and stone used much less often.

Palace complex
The palace complex was large, measuring about 350 by and occupying around a third of the lower town. The size and intricacy of the complex, which was built on the order of Eucratides I, would have served as a demonstration of the ruler's power and wealth; Bernard commented that it "simultaneously served three functions: it was a state structure, a residence, and a treasury". A huge plaza, 27000 m2 in area, lay to the south of the palace and may have been used for military parades, drills, or simply as garrison quarters. The palace itself was accessed through a gateway known as the Main Propylaea, which opened on the west side of the main street; the propylaea itself had been built by an earlier ruler and was reconstructed under Eucratides. Encompassing a wide portico in between two adjoining porches, the roof of the structure was noted for its palmette antefixes. It allowed access to a curved road that ran towards the palace's courtyard.

This rectangular courtyard, which measured 137 by and served as the main entrance to the palace, was entered from the curved road through another propylaeum. The courtyard was bordered by 118 Corinthian columns. The columns of the north, east, and west colonnades were 5.7 m high, while those of the south colonnade were almost 10 m tall, forming a Rhodian peristyle. The palace was entered through a hypostyle behind the southern portico; this vestibule, similar in style to a Persian iwan, was supported by eighteen columns, ornamented slightly differently from those in the courtyard. On the southern side of the hypostyle, a door opened onto a large reception room ornamented with decorations including wooden sconces, painted protomes of lions, and geometrical art; this room was probably enclosed, as it had no drainage system, and it allowed access to the other areas of the palace through doors on every side.

The palace was divided into three zones, each serving different functions and linked by a network of courtyards and long corridors, which were carefully placed, allowing both seclusion and easy access for royalty and highly ranked officials. South of the reception area lay a suite of rooms that would have served as the administrative quarters, consisting of a quadrangular block of two pairs of units separated from each other by corridors meeting at right angles; the eastern pair were used as audience halls, while the western pair possibly functioned as chancelleries. The entrances to the chambers from the encircling corridors were offset, meaning that, in theory, two separate groups could have entered the complex, been allowed an audience, received a decision, and left, without seeing each other.

West of the administrative quarter, on the southwestern side of the palace, lay two units that were identified, by the presence of bathrooms, as residential in purpose. In layout, the structures were similar to other residences excavated in the city, with a small courtyard to the north and living quarters to the south. The larger of the units, which contained other features such as a small iwan behind the courtyard, lay to the west and was separated from its smaller neighbour by an isolating corridor. The three-room bathrooms lay to the rear of the units and were tiled with limestone slabs and pebble mosaics of palmettes and marine animals, continuing an existing tradition of Hellenistic art. Based on the more private nature of the western unit, scholars have speculated that it was intended for the sovereign's family, as contrasted with the eastern unit, which was probably intended for the monarch himself and his intimate companions. North of the residential units lay a small courtyard, which was connected to a small library in the treasury.

Treasury
The treasury building, on the western side of the palace courtyard, from which it could be entered, constituted the third zone. This building was of late construction, as the treasury itself was likely previously located in buildings east of the courtyard. In its latest form, the treasury building was composed of twenty-one rooms grouped around a square courtyard of approximately 30 m on a side. The thirteen rooms on the southern, eastern, and western sides opened directly onto this courtyard, while the eight storage rooms to the north were accessed from doors on an east–west corridor. The complex housed the inventory of the palace in vases labelled in Greek, including gemstones and lapis lazuli from the Badakshan mines, ivory, olive oil, incense, a cash reserve, and other valuables.

Many of the vase labels, which were either written with ink or inscribed post-firing, describe monetary transactions: for example, one attests that an official named Zenon had transferred 500 drachmas to two employees named Oxèboakès and Oxybazos, who were responsible for depositing the sum in the vase and sealing it. Some of the other vases indicate transportation of luxury goods, such as incense from the Middle East, or olive oil from the Mediterranean. Because of the perishable nature of the oil inside it, one of these vases is inscribed with the regnal year of the monarch (Year 24). Combined with other inscriptions in the treasury and the identification of the ruling monarch as Eucratides I, the date of Ai-Khanoum's fall has been dated with fair certainty to around 145 BC. Several items in the treasury are likely to have been loot brought back by Eucratides from his Indian conquests: these include Indian agates and jewellery, offerings from Buddhist stupas, and a disc of mother-of-pearl plates depicting a scene from Hindu mythology. This disc, which was decorated with polychrome glass paste and gold thread, most probably represents the meeting of Dushyanta and Shakuntala.

The library was located at the south of the treasury near the residential quarters. Its function was identified through the discovery of two literary fragments, one on papyrus and the other on parchment; the organic writing material had decomposed, but through a process similar to decalcomania, the letters had been engraved on fine earth formed from mudbrick decomposition. The parchment constituted an unknown theatrical work, most probably a trimetrical tragedy, possibly involving Dionysus, a figure known for travelling to India and the East. On the other hand, the papyrus was a philosophical dialogue discussing the theory of forms of Plato, which some have considered a lost work by Aristotle. It is also possible, conversely, that the text was written by a Greco-Bactrian philosopher in Ai-Khanoum.

Private housing
A residential zone was situated in the area south of the palatial complex. This consisted of rows of blocks of large aristocratic houses, separated by streets at right angles to the main north–south road. The DAFA archaeologists chose to excavate a house near the end of the fourth row from the palace, close to the confluence of the two rivers. This house, 66 by in area, showed evidence of three older architectural stages dating back half a century to c. 200 BC; it consisted of a large courtyard to the north and the main building to the south, separated by a large porch with two columns. The main building comprised a central reception room, encircled by a corridor which provided access to the bath complex, kitchen, and other rooms.

Another house, located 150 m outside the northern rampart, was partially excavated in 1973; the archaeologists were only able to study the central part of the main building and part of the western side in detail. This extramural dwelling was much larger than the one inside the city, covering an area of 108 by. With a large courtyard to the north and buildings to the south, it had a similar layout to the urban house, although its main building was divided by an east–west corridor into two halves—the northern section formed the living quarters, with a central reception room, while the southern section included the service quarters and bath complex. Fragments of columns found at the site indicate a height of nearly 8 m.

As the large dwellings at Ai-Khanoum, including those in the palace, have little in common with the traditional Greek oikos, scholars have theorised as to their origin. The prevailing hypothesis suggests an Iranian origin, similar styles being visible at Parthian Nisa and Dilberjin Tepe under the Kushan Empire. The city also contained other types of housing, including smaller houses for people of lower status.

Religious structures
The excavators discovered three temples at Ai-Khanoum—a large sanctuary on the main street near the palace, a smaller temple in a similar style outside the northern wall, and an open-air podium on the acropolis. The large sanctuary, often called the Temple with Indented Niches, was located prominently in the lower city, between the main street and the palace, and it consisted of a square edifice upon a 1.5 m-high podium, surrounded by an open area. It was constructed by the early Diodotids on the site of a very early Seleucid structure, which had been established shortly after the city's foundation. The eponymous indented niches were situated on the 6 m-high temple walls—one was on each side of the front entrance, while each of the other sides was sculpted with four more. The courtyard was enclosed on three sides by buildings. To the southwest, there was a wooden colonnade with Oriental pedestals; to the southeast was a series of small rooms and porticoes adjoining a porch with columns of the distyle in antis style, which formed the entrance from the main street; and an altar was situated in the northeast wall.

From the beginning of the excavation, the Persian and Achaemenid elements of the temple's architecture were remarked upon. The identifying "indented niches", along with the building's three-stepped platform, were common features of Mesopotamian architecture and successor styles. Many artefacts were found at the temple, including libation vessels (common to both Greek and Central Asian religious practices), ivory furniture and figurines, terracottas, and a singular medallion (pictured). This disc, which depicts the Greek goddess Cybele accompanied by Nike in a chariot drawn by lions, was described as "remarkable" by the Metropolitan Museum of Art on account of its "hybrid Greek and Oriental imagery". Made of silver, the disk combines components of Greek culture, such as the chlamys all the deities wear, with Oriental design motifs such as the fixed pose of the figures and the crescent moon.

The small fragments that remain of the cult statue, which would have stood at the centre of the temple, show that it was sculpted according to the Greek tradition; a small portion of the left foot has survived and displays a thunderbolt, a common motif of Zeus. Based on the apparent dissonance between the Greek statue and the Oriental temple it was located in, scholars have posited the syncretism of Zeus and a Bactrian deity such as Ahura Mazda, Mithra, or a deity representing the Oxus. The thunderbolt has also been used as an attribute for the goddesses Artemis, Athena, or even Cybele; it could even be purely symbolic.

The DAFA archaeologists were only able to perform superficial studies of the other two religious structures. The temple outside the northern wall, which had succeeded a simpler and smaller structure on the site, somewhat resembled the grand central sanctuary in architecture with niches in the walls, but featured, instead of a cult image, three chapels for worship. The podium on the acropolis was oriented towards the east, provoking suggestions that it was used as a sacrificial platform for worship of the rising sun, as similar platforms have been found in the region. As the acropolis was primarily military, with only a few small residences, scholars have suggested that it was used as a ghetto quarter for native Bactrian soldiers; the validity of this segregationary hypothesis continues to be debated.

Heroön of Kineas
One of the most-studied monuments in the city is a small heroön, located just north of the palace in the lower town. This shrine, which was constructed on a three-stepped platform, consisted of a distyle in antis pronaos and a narrow cella. Four coffins—two wooden and two stone—were found underneath the platform. Burials were generally not allowed within the walls of Greek cities—hence Ai-Khanoum's necropolis being located outside the northern ramparts—but special exemptions were made for prominent citizens, especially city founders. Since the shrine predated every other structure in the lower city, it reasonably may be supposed that the person the heroön was built to honour was either the city's founder or an extremely notable early citizen. The most prominent of the coffins, which was also the earliest, was linked to the upper temple by an opening and conduit down which offerings could be poured. As the builders had not endowed any of the other sarcophagi with such a feature, this coffin would likely have housed the remains of that eminent citizen, while the others were reserved for family members. The general scholarly consensus is thus that this man, known from an inscription to have been named Kineas, was the Seleucid epistates or oikistes who governed the first settlers of Ai-Khanoum.

The archaeologists unearthed the base of a stele placed in a prominent position in the pronaos. Engraved upon it were the last five lines of a series of maxims, originally displayed at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi—only small and barely legible fragments of the upright portion of the stele, which would have been inscribed with the first 145 maxims, survive. An epigram was inscribed adjacent to the maxims, commemorating a man named Klearchos, who had copied the maxims from the Delphic sanctuary:

In 1968, Louis Robert, a French historian, proposed that the Klearchos named in the inscription was the philosopher Clearchus of Soli. This identification was founded on the fact that the philosopher Clearchus had written extensively on the morals and cultures of barbarian and Oriental cultures. Robert proposed that on a journey to research his literary subjects in more detail, Clearchus had stopped at Ai-Khanoum and set up his stele there. This theory was accepted as fact, and was often cited as an example of the purely Greek nature of Ai-Khanoum and of the interconnected nature of the Hellenistic world. Later historians have dismissed Robert's hypothesis: Jeffrey Lerner noted that there is no evidence to support the assumption that Clearchus travelled to the eastern regions for research, as opposed to simply using a reference source; following Lerner, Rachel Mairs observed, knowing the philosopher's approximate date of death, that the placement of the stele in the sanctuary would have been a generation after the presumed journey; Shane Wallace, meanwhile, has noted that Klearchus was not an uncommon name and thus Robert's identification was improbable at best. All three propose instead that this Klearchus was a resident of Ai-Khanoum.

Despite the refutation of Robert's theory, the stele still maintains its importance in modern analyses. The text of the epigram is poetic in its composition and vocabulary, echoing well-known Greek works such as Homer's Odyssey, Pindar's odes, and possibly even Apollonius' Argonautica. Mairs and Wallace have attributed the inscription and placing of the stele to "the first Bactrian-born generation" in the middle or late second century BC; they propose that this generation sought to define themselves as part of the wider Greek world by giving Ai-Khanoum legitimacy in the eyes of Delphi, itself a symbol of Hellenic unity. The poem also shares thematic elements with the Buddhist Edicts of Ashoka (inscribed in 260–232 BC); and Valeri Yailenko has proposed that it may have inspired them, suggesting a contribution of Hellenistic philosophy to the development of Buddhist moral precepts.

Other buildings
A gymnasium was located along the western ramparts. In its final architectural phase, it covered an area of 390 by, divided between a southern courtyard and a northern complex, and was accessible from both the palace district and a street running behind the riverside fortifications. There were three doors allowing entrance from the courtyard to a corridor which encircled the main complex. This comprised long rectangular rooms surrounding a square central courtyard, entered through four exedrae, one on each side; the exedra on the northern side contained a small plinth bearing an inscribed dedication and a statue. The inscription was addressed to Hermes and Heracles, the two patron deities of the Greek gymnasium, by two brothers named Triballos and Straton, on behalf of their father, also named Straton; it is probable that the elder Straton was represented by the 77 cm statue.

The arsenal, which was not fully excavated, was on the eastern side of the southern main street, against the base of the acropolis. Substantial quantities of slag found in the building's courtyard suggest that the building housed the workshops of blacksmiths. Although the recovered weapons were diverse, they were few in number, leading to speculation that the main army was in the field when the city was taken; this theory was supported by brick blockages in the arsenal's passages, suggesting a limited number of defenders. Of the pieces found, which included arrowheads, spears, javelins, a caltrop intended to stop mounted animals, and uniform ornaments, the most interest was paid to iron cataphract armour—the earliest example yet found.

The theatre was also built into the side of the acropolis, on the northern part of the main street. Seating between five and six thousand spectators—considerably more than would have lived in the city—it was 85 m in diameter and contained three loggia, just below the diazoma, which were probably used for dignitaries. It is clear that the audience was expected to come from the surrounding districts as well as the city, possibly for religious festivals. The excavators found the bones of around 120 individuals in the orchestra, probably dating from the fall of the city in 145 BC.

Coinage

The excavations of Ai-Khanoum yielded three hoards of Hellenistic coins, along with 274 stray coins, of which 224 were legible. The first hoard was found in a small room in the administrative section of the palace complex in 1970. It contained 677 punch-marked coins and six silver drachmas all bearing the name of Agathocles of Bactria. The latter six coins are inscribed with the Greek and Brahmi scripts on either side, and are significant in their own right as "the earliest unambiguous images" of the Vrsni Viras. The figures on the coins can be definitively identified through their iconography: on the Greek side is Balarama, possibly as Sankarshana, holding his customary plough and a club, while the Brahmi side displays Vāsudeva with his Sudarshana Chakra and a conch shell. The coins indicate that the cult of the Vrsni Viras had spread far from their Mathuran homeland and that they had retained enough importance to be recognised with royal patronage; further, as the Greek obverse would have been superior to the Brahmi reverse, the coins show that Balarama was considered senior to Vāsudeva, in accordance with the traditional lineage system.

The second hoard was found three years later, in the kitchen of the extramural residence. This hoard consisted of 63 silver tetradrachms, of which 49 were Greco-Bactrian; a majority of these were dedicated to Euthydemus I, while the others were dedicated to other kings. The third hoard was found during the winter of 1973–4 by an Afghan farmer near the site, and was quickly sold on the antiquities market in Kabul. Although a large portion of the hoard later passed through New York, where a member of the American Numismatic Society was able to compile an inventory, its integrity had then been lost; some coins had been removed, while others, such as a drachma of Lysias Anicetus, had been added. Only 77 of the 224 legible stray coins were Greco-Bactrian or Indo-Greek; there were also 68 stray Seleucid coins, 62 of which displayed Antiochus I.

One series of Bactrian coins from the reign of Antiochus I was stamped with a triangular monogram during the coining process. At Ai-Khanoum, bricks bearing the same mark were found in the heroön, one of the oldest structures in the city. Therefore, it is considered probable that Ai-Khanoum was the site of the primary Seleucid mint during Antiochus' coregency and early sole reign; an earlier mint, which was most likely located at Bactra but may have been elsewhere, was terminated near-simultaneously after a relatively brief period of operation.

Wider influence
Some items found at Ai-Khanoum, such as Greek olive oil in the treasury or the Mediterranean plater mouldings on Greco-Bactrian artwork, would suggest the existence of large-scale trading networks, but such findings are few, while the Indian art in the treasury seems to have simply been plunder. Historians have thus concluded that Greco-Bactria was isolated in terms of trade, but had a developed administration with a high level of economic diversity. This administration was passed on to the Yuezhi and Kushan nations, as shown by their use of Greek titles and coinage and their adaptations of the Hellenistic numerical and calendrical systems.

The art historian John Boardman has also noted that Ai-Khanoum may have been one of the conduits for Greek art influencing the art of ancient India; the sculpture of the pillars of Ashoka may have been inspired by drawings of Greco-Bactrian buildings brought back to the Mauryan Empire by ambassadors. It is impossible to say whether inspiration came from Ai-Khanoum or other Hellenistic sites. The artwork of Ai-Khanoum does display innovative and original craftsmanship, such as the biggest faïence sculpture found in the Hellenistic world, which melded Oriental production techniques with Greek traditions of acrolithic statues. A statuette of Heracles found at the site displays artistic continuity with later Indo-Greek coinage, which depict Vajrapani as syncretised with the demigod and Zeus.

Modern scholarship
The discovery of Ai-Khanoum, even more than that of the nearby temple of Takht-i Sangin, was of fundamental importance to the study of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. Before its discovery, archaeologists such as Alfred Foucher had devoted careers to trying to find any physical confirmation for the existence of Hellenistic culture in Central Asia, but had continually failed. Apart from textual fragments in classical texts and a variety of coins with Greek inscriptions found throughout the region, there was a near-complete absence of evidence to support the theory. Foucher, who had found nothing during a difficult 18-month excavation in Balkh, gradually lost all hope, famously dismissing the hypothesis as the "Greco-Bactrian mirage". The discovery of Ai-Khanoum re-energised the discipline and several Hellenistic sites have since been found throughout Central Asia. Mairs has noted that the discovery of Ai-Khanoum did represent a sort of "turning point" in the study of the Hellenistic Far East, even if the primary pre-discovery questions were still asked after the excavations had been finished.

title: Ai-Khanoum


text:
Chrysler K platform

The K-car platform was a key automotive design platform introduced by Chrysler Corporation for the 1981 model year, featuring a transverse engine, front-wheel drive, independent front and semi-independent rear suspension configuration—a stark departure from the company's previous reliance on solid axle, rear-drive unibody configurations during the 1970s. Derived from Chrysler's L-cars, the Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni, the platform was developed just as the company faltered in the market, at first underpinning a modest range of compact/mid-size sedans and wagons—and eventually underpinning nearly fifty different models, including all-wheel drive variants—and playing a vital role in the company's subsequent resurgence.

Common platforms
The use of a common platform is a widely used practice for reducing the number of parts and engineering time. Before creating the K platform, Chrysler was building vehicles on a small number of common platforms (e.g. F/L/J/M and R), but the different models shared few parts. In announcing his decision to develop the K platform, Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca said the company's huge number of parts in inventory and the complexity of building many completely different versions of vehicles were reasons Chrysler was losing money. He directed the engineers to focus on making a larger number of common parts where they would not be visible to customers; this was already common practice in Japan and Germany and would help to make the K-cars profitable even at low prices.

Arriving on the brink of Chrysler's near-certain financial collapse, the new platform had a dramatic effect, helping Chrysler report a profit in October 1980 of $10 million ($ in ), its first profit in two years. A plethora of K-platform body styles and badge-engineered variants followed the original range, including the company's minivans and upscale Chrysler division models. The platform interchangeability saved production and purchasing costs, initially costing Chrysler $1 billion over three years to develop ($ in ), but only costing $50 million ($ in ) to generate the second group of badge-engineered variants, the LeBaron and Dodge 400. Within two years, the K platform vehicles accounted for roughly half of Chrysler's operating profits.

In 1984, The New York Times said, "Not only did [K-cars] almost single-handedly save Chrysler from certain death, they also provided the company with a vehicle that could be stretched, smoothed, poked, chopped and trimmed to create almost a dozen different models."

In 1984, David Lewis, an auto industry historian and professor of business history at the University of Michigan said no platform "in the history of the automobile industry has so dramatically allowed a company to survive in such a substantial way. No company has been down so low, in such difficult straits, and then depended on practically a single product to bring it back."

"We talk about all these cars being K car derivatives, which is correct, but that doesn't mean they all have to have K car characteristics. Through different selections of springs, shocks, tires, added sound insulation, improving rubber bushings, the character of the car can be changed quite dramatically. That has been the secret of being able to take a car of the K body compact class all the way up to the New Yorker luxury class."

Sales figures
Following the 1973 oil crisis, compounded by the 1979 energy crisis, American consumers began to buy fuel-efficient, low-cost automobiles built in Japan. With the market for large V-8 engined automobiles declining, American domestic auto manufacturers found themselves trying to develop compact vehicles that could compete with the Japanese imports of Toyota, Honda, and Nissan in price and finish. Chrysler Corporation's answer to the import pressure was the K platform, which featured an economical 4-cylinder engine, front-wheel drive and used many modern weight-reducing measures, such as replacing metal styling parts with plastic interior and exterior components.

The K-cars (Dodge Aries, Plymouth Reliant, Chrysler LeBaron, Dodge 400, and, in Mexico, Dodge Dart) sold over 2 million vehicles from 1981 to 1988, and around 100,000 in their final year, 1989.

The manual transmission provided acceleration of 0 - 60 mph in 10 seconds, while the automatic was between 13 and 14 seconds, similar to or better than most competitors, while fuel economy was rated by the EPA at 26 mpgus city and 41 mpgus highway with the manual transmission. All had a 100.1 in wheelbase. The overall length of the two- and four-door models was 176 in. The wagon was 0.2 in longer. The vehicles had an approximate 14 gal fuel tank. The coupe and sedan had approximately 15 cuft of luggage space; the wagons, 35 cuft with the rear seat upright and about 70 cuft when folded down.

Numerous improvements to the sound insulation and general feel were made for the model year 1983. In 1985, the Reliant, Aries, and LeBaron received a facelift, with a rounded front fascia, smoother hood, and bigger taillights. In 1986, the cars began using fuel injection on the 2.2-liter engine and a 2.5-liter engine replaced the arguably unreliable Mitsubishi 2.6-liter engine.

They were initially very profitable, and Iacocca credited them with allowing the company to pay off its bankruptcy loans early.

Derivatives
The K-derivatives offered a large variety of engines, depending on year and model. Four-cylinder engines were initially equipped with carburetors; fuel injection was phased in beginning in 1986. Engine output ranged from 86 hp to 224 hp. Most vehicles had the 2.2 L or 2.5 L Chrysler four-cylinder engine; however, from 1981 to 1985, a 2.6 L four and from 1987 to 1995, a 3.0 L V6, both made by Mitsubishi were offered.
 * K mid-size cars
 * 1981–1989 Dodge Aries (often referred to as the Aries K, owing to strong publicity for the K cars; 1981 models are badged as such.)
 * 1981–1989 Plymouth Reliant (as above, also known as the Reliant K)
 * 1982–1988 Chrysler LeBaron (coupes and convertibles were produced on this platform until 1986)
 * 1982–1988 Chrysler LeBaron Town and Country
 * 1982–1983 Dodge 400
 * 1982–1985 Dodge Dart K (Mexico only)
 * 1982–1985 Valiant Volare K (2-door) (Mexico only)
 * 1986–1988 Dart by Chrysler (2-door and wagon) (Mexico only)
 * 1986–1988 Volare by Chrysler (2-door) (Mexico only)
 * 1986–1987 Volare by Chrysler (4-door) (Mexico only)
 * 1983–1988 Plymouth Caravelle coupe (Canada only)
 * 1984–1986 Dodge 600 coupe and convertible
 * 1985-1987 Dodge Michigan (Japan only)
 * 1984–1987 Dodge Magnum 400 and Dodge Magnum Turbo (Mexico only)
 * 1985 Chrysler 600 Sedan (Mexico only)
 * E (Extended-wheelbase) mid-size cars
 * 1983–1984 Chrysler E-Class
 * 1983–1986 Chrysler Executive limousine
 * 1983–1987 Chrysler New Yorker
 * 1987 Chrysler New Yorker.jpg Chrysler New Yorker Turbo (For 1988, the non-turbo Chrysler New Yorker began using the larger C Platform (see below) but the Turbo did not)
 * 1983–1988 Dodge 600 sedan
 * 1985–1988 Plymouth Caravelle
 * 1986–1989 Dart by Chrysler (4-door) (Mexico only)
 * 1988–1989 Volare by Chrysler (4-door) (Mexico only)
 * G sports cars (designated as the AG platform from 1989)
 * 1984–1986 Chrysler Laser
 * 1984–1993 Dodge Daytona and Chrysler Daytona (Canada)
 * S minivans
 * 1984–1990 Dodge Caravan
 * 1984–1990 Plymouth Voyager
 * 1990 Chrysler Town and Country
 * H mid-size cars
 * 1985–1988 Chrysler LeBaron GTS
 * 1985–1989 Dodge Lancer
 * 1987 Shelby Lancer
 * P compact cars (designated as the AP platform from 1989)
 * 1987–1994 Dodge Shadow
 * 1987–1994 Plymouth Sundance and Duster
 * 1987–1989 Shelby CSX
 * J sport cars (designated as the AJ platform from 1989)
 * 1987–1995 Chrysler LeBaron coupe and convertible
 * 1988–1994 Chrysler Phantom coupe only (Mexico only)
 * C mid-size cars (designated as the AC platform from 1989)
 * 1988–1993 Chrysler New Yorker
 * 1988–1993 Dodge Dynasty
 * 1988–1993 Chrysler Dynasty (Canada only)
 * AA mid-size cars
 * 1989–1994 Chrysler Saratoga (Europe only)
 * 1989–1995 Dodge Spirit
 * 1989–1995 Plymouth Acclaim
 * 1990–1994 Chrysler LeBaron sedan
 * 1990–1994 Chrysler New Yorker (Mexico only)
 * Q sports car
 * 1989–1991 Chrysler TC by Maserati
 * Y luxury cars (a stretched variant of the C platform used for two top-line models, also designated as the AY platform)
 * 1990–1993 Chrysler New Yorker Fifth Avenue
 * 1990–1993 Chrysler Imperial
 * AS minivans
 * 1991–1995 Chrysler Town and Country
 * 1993 Town and Country.jpg–1995 Dodge Caravan
 * 1991–1995 Plymouth Voyager

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

title: Chrysler K platform


text:
Serge Reggiani

Serge Reggiani (born Sergio Reggiani; 2 May 1922 – 23 July 2004) was an Italian-French actor and singer. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight.

After studying acting at the Conservatoire des arts cinématographiques, he was discovered by Jean Cocteau and appeared in the wartime production of Les Parents terribles. He then left Paris to join the French Resistance.

His first feature film was Les portes de la nuit ("Gates of the Night"), released in 1946. He went on to perform in 80 films in total, including Casque d'or, Les Misérables (1958),Tutti a casa, Le Doulos, Il Gattopardo, La terrazza, The Pianist (1998).

Reggiani also triumphed in the theatre in 1959 with his performance in Jean-Paul Sartre's play Les Séquestrés d'Altona. In 1961, Reggiani co-starred with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier in the film Paris Blues, filmed on location in Paris.

In 1965, at the age of 43, he began a second career as a singer, with the help of Simone Signoret and her husband Yves Montand, and later with the assistance of the French singer Barbara. Reggiani became one of the more acclaimed performers of French chanson, and although he was in his 40s, his rugged image made him popular with both younger and older listeners. His best-known songs include Les loups sont entrés dans Paris ("The Wolves Have Entered Paris") and Sarah (La femme qui est dans mon lit) ("The Woman Who Is in My Bed"), the latter written by Georges Moustaki. He regularly sang songs by Boris Vian (Le Déserteur, Arthur où t'as mis le corps, La Java des bombes atomiques). His young fans identified with his left-wing ideals and anti-militarism, most notably during the student revolts in France in 1968. With age, he became acclaimed as being one of the better interpreters of the chanson and for bringing the poems of Rimbaud, Apollinaire, and Prévert to new audiences.

From 1980, when his son died, Reggiani struggled with alcoholism and depression. In 1995, however, he made a comeback to singing, giving a few concerts despite his deteriorated health and personal distress, the last one being held as late as the spring of 2004.

In later life, he became a painter and gave a number of exhibitions of his works.

Serge Reggiani died in Paris of a heart attack at the age of 82. He is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery.

Selected filmography

 * Boys' School (1938) – Un élève (uncredited)
 * Conflict (1938) – (uncredited)
 * Night in December (1940) – Un figurant
 * Saturnin de Marseille (1941)
 * Strange Inheritance (1943) – Bob Éloi
 * Le carrefour des enfants perdus (1944) – Joris
 * François Villon (1945) – François Villon
 * Star Without Light (1946) – Gaston Lansac
 * Gates of the Night (1946) – Guy Sénéchal
 * Coincidences (1947) – Jean Ménétrier
 * La fleur de l'âge (1947)
 * Manù il contrabbandiere (1948) – Manuel Ambrosini, detto 'Manù'
 * Under the Cards (1948) – Manu
 * The Lovers Of Verona (1949) – Angelo (Romeo)
 * Manon (1949) – Leon Lescaut
 * The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1949) – Joseph Rouletabille
 * Return to Life (1949) – Louis, le mari de la jeune allemande (segment 5 : Le retour de Louis")
 * The Sinners (1949) – Pierre Massot
 * The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1949) – Joseph Rouletabille
 * La Ronde (1950) – Franz the Soldier
 * Old Boys of Saint-Loup (1950) – L'abbé Paul Forestier
 * Good Enough to Eat (1951) – Jean-Louis dit Loup
 * Secret People (1952) – Louis
 * Casque d'or (1952) – Georges Manda
 * Red Shirts (Anita Garibaldi, 1952) – Lantini
 * The King and the Mockingbird (1952) – The chimney sweep (voice)
 * Storms (1953) – Sergio Parnell
 * The World Condemns Them (1953) – André
 * Act of Love (1953) – Claude Lacaud
 * Napoléon (1955) – Lucien Bonaparte
 * The Wicked Go to Hell (1955) – Rudel
 * The Doll That Took the Town (1957) – Mario Grimaldi
 * Élisa (1957) – Bernard Voisin
 * Not Delivered (1958) – Bastien Sassey
 * Les Misérables (1958) – Enjolras
 * The Stowaway (1958) – Alfred Mougins
 * Marie-Octobre (1959) – Antoine Rougier
 * Everybody Go Home (1960) – Assunto Ceccarelli
 * Paris Blues (1961) – Michel "Gypsy" Devigne
 * Warriors Five (1962) – Libero
 * Le Doulos (1962) – Maurice Faugel
 * The Leopard (1963) – Don Francisco ("Ciccio") Tumeo
 * L'enfer (1964) – Marcel #1
 * Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha (1965) – Ivanov
 * The 25th Hour (1967) – Trajan Koruga
 * The Last Adventure (1967) – The pilot
 * Il giorno della civetta (1968) – Parrinieddu
 * The Seven Cervi Brothers (1968) – Inmate Ferrari
 * Army of Shadows (L'Armée des ombres, 1969) – The hairdresser
 *  (1971) – François Nolan
 * Trois milliards sans ascenseur (1972) – Pierrot
 *  (1972) – Thia
 * Don't Touch the White Woman! (1974) – The Mad Indian
 * Vincent, François, Paul... et les autres (1974) – Paul
 * Le Chat et la souris (1975) – Lechat
 * The Good and the Bad (1976) – Le chef de la résistance
 * Une fille cousue de fil blanc (1977) – Jérôme
 * Violette & François (1977) – Père de François
 * Solemn Communion (1977) – Le récitant chanteur (voice)
 * La terrazza (1980) – Sergio
 * L'empreinte des géants (1980) – Fouldroule
 * Fantastica (1980) – Euclide Brown
 * The Beekeeper (1986) – Sick Man
 * Mauvais Sang (1986) – Charlie
 * Let Sleeping Cops Lie (Ne réveillez pas un flic qui dort, 1988) – Le Stéphanois
 * Coupe-franche (1989) – Mathieu
 * There Were Days... and Moons (1990) – Sophie's father
 * I Hired a Contract Killer (1990) – Vic of Vic's French Burgers
 * Plein fer (1990) – Emilio
 * De force avec d'autres (1993) – Sergio
 * Rosenemil (1993) – Dr. Levy
 * Le petit garçon (1995) – Germain
 * Héroïnes (1997) – Montgolfier
 * The Pianist (1998) – Rossell mayor

title: Serge Reggiani


text:
Red Prysock

Wilburt "Red" Prysock (February 2, 1926 – July 19, 1993) was an American R&B tenor saxophonist, one of the early Coleman Hawkins-influenced saxophonists to move in the direction of rhythm and blues, rather than bebop.

Career
With Tiny Grimes and his Rocking Highlanders, Prysock staged a saxophone battle with Benny Golson on "Battle of the Mass". He first gained attention as a member of Tiny Bradshaw's band, playing the lead saxophone solo on his own "Soft", which was a hit for the Bradshaw band in 1952. Prysock also played with Roy Milton and Cootie Williams.

In 1954, he signed with Mercury Records as a bandleader and had his biggest hit, the instrumental "Hand Clappin'" in 1955. During the same year, he joined the band that played at Alan Freed's stage shows. He also played on several hit records by his brother, singer Arthur Prysock, in the 1960s.

Personal life
Prysock was born in 1926 in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, and died of a heart attack in 1993 in Chicago, at the age of 67. He served in the United States Army during World War II, which was when he learned to play saxophone. He was buried at the Salisbury National Cemetery in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Discography

 * Rock and Roll (Mercury, 1956)
 * Fruit Boots (Mercury, 1957)
 * The Beat (Mercury, 1957)
 * Swing Softly Red (Mercury, 1958)
 * Battle Royal with Sil Austin (Mercury, 1959)
 * The Big Sound of Red Prysock (Forum Circle, 1964)
 * For Me and My Baby (Gateway, 1964; reissued on CD in 2003)

title: Red Prysock


text:
Wikipedia:Humour police

The humour police is a term used by those in favour of a little colour and a witticism or two in articles to describe those who aren't.

All Wikipedians think that articles shouldn't resort to silliness. However there are definitely two schools of thought on how lacking in H2O the content should be. Many think that, as an encyclopedia, the content should be very dry, and will actively remove any vaguely humorous passage like "...conservationists have kicked up a bit of a stink about the declining number of skunks in..." Those in favour of humour note that it is common practice in many worthy tomes such as the Financial Times and The Economist to inject a little. Those opposed say it devalues the professionalism of the project; however, since the entire Wikipedia is the embodiment of Open Source and thus completely un-professional (what can you do about an encyclopedia the content of which is contributed by its users?) their argument may be considered a rather weak one.

You might well come across talk page statements such as "I have put something somewhat funny into some articles, but I won't list it here else the humour police will remove it." Meanwhile enjoy the ubiquitous, as Bob Ross put it, happy little accident.

April Fools
The two viewpoints on how much humour Wikipedia should harbour usually comes to a head on April Fools day. Should the front page contain intentionally misleading but funny content? Should all the humour be restricted to one fictitious entry? In 2005, this was debated well before, during and after April Fools day. And it seems destined to be debated in this manner in years to come.

title: Wikipedia:Humour police


text:
Makarska

Makarska (Macarsca, ; Macharscha) is a town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about 60 km southeast of Split and 140 km northwest of Dubrovnik, in the Split-Dalmatia County.

Makarska is a prominent regional tourist center, located on a horseshoe-shaped bay between the Biokovo mountains and the Adriatic Sea. The city is noted for its palm-fringed promenade, where cafes, bars and boutiques overlook the harbor. Adjacent to the beach are several large capacity hotels as well as a camping grounds.

Makarska is the centre of the Makarska Riviera, a popular tourist destination under the Biokovo mountain. It stretches for 60 km between the municipalities of Brela and Gradac.

Pre-history
Near present-day Makarska, there was a settlement as early as the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. It is thought that it was a point used by the Cretans on their way up to the Adriatic (the so-called Amber Road). However it was only one of the ports with links with the wider Mediterranean, as shown by a copper tablet with Cretan and Egyptian systems of measurement.

A similar tablet was found in the Egyptian pyramids. In the Illyrian era this region was part of the broader alliance of tribes, led by the Ardaeans, founded in the third century BC in the Cetina area (Omiš) down to the River Vjosë in present-day Albania.

The Roman era
Although the Romans became rulers of the Adriatic by defeating the Ardiaei in 228 BC, it took them two centuries to confirm their rule. The Romans sent their veteran soldiers to settle in Makarska. After the division of the Empire in 395 AD, this part of the Adriatic became part of the Eastern Roman Empire and many people fled to Muccurum from the new wave of invaders. The town appears in the Tabula Peutingeriana as the port of Inaronia, but is mentioned as Muccurum, a larger settlement that grew up in the most inaccessible part of Biokovo mountain, probably at the very edge of the Roman civilisation. It appears as Macrum on the acts of the Salonan Synod of 4 May 533 AD held in Salona (533), when also the town's diocese was created.

Early Middle Ages
During the Migration Period, in 548, Muccurum was destroyed by the army of the Ostrogoth king Totila. The byzantine Emperor expelled the Eastern Goths (Ostrogoths).

In the 7th century the region between the Cetina and Neretva was occupied by the Narentines, with Mokro, located in today's Makarska, as its administrative centre. The doge of Venice Pietro I Candiano, whose Venetian fleet aimed to punish the piratesque activities of the town's vessels, was defeated here on September 18, 877 and had to pay tribute to the Narentines for the free passage of its ships on the Adriatic.

Late Middle Ages
The principality was annexed to the Kingdom of Croatia in the 12th century, and was conquered by the Republic of Venice a century later. Making use of the rivalry between the Croatian leaders and their power struggles (1324–1326), the Bosnian Ban Stjepan II Kotromanić annexed the Makarska coastal area. There were many changes of rulers here: from the Croatian and Bosnian feudal lords, to those from Zahumlje (later Herzegovina).

In the eventful 15th century the Ottomans conquered the Balkans. In order to protect his territory from the Turks, Duke Stjepan Vukčić Kosača handed the region to the Venetians in 1452. The Makarska coastal area fell to the Turks in 1499.

Under the Turks
Under Ottoman rule, the town was surrounded with walls that had three towers. The name Makarska was cited for the first time in a 1502 document telling how nuns from Makarska were permitted to repair their church. The Turks had links with all parts of the Adriatic via Makarska and they therefore paid a great deal of attention to the port's maintenance. In 1568 they built a fortress as defence against the Venetians. During Turkish rule the seat of the administrative and judicial authority was in Foča, Mostar, for a short time in Makarska itself and finally in Gabela on the River Neretva.

During the Cretan War between Venice and the Turks (1645–1669), the desire among the people of the area to be free of the Turks intensified. In 1646, Venice recaptured the coastline. A period of dual leadership, marked with armed conflicts, destruction, and reprisals, lasted until 1684, until the danger of the Turks ended in 1699.

Once more under the Venetians
In 1695 Makarska became the seat of a bishopric and commercial activity came to life, but it was a neglected area and little attention was given to the education of its inhabitants. At the time when the people were fighting against the Turks, and Venice paid more attention to the people's demands. According to Alberto Fortis in his travel chronicles (18th century), Makarska was the only town in the coastal area, and the only Dalmatian town where there were absolutely no historical remains.

After the fall of the Venetian Republic, it was given to the Austrians by the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797).

From 1797 to 1813
With the fall of Venice, the Austrian army entered Makarska and remained there until Napoleon took the upper hand. The French arrived in Makarska on 8 March 1806 and remained until 1813. This was an age of prosperity, cultural, social and economic development. Under French rule all the people were equal, and education laws written, for the first time in many centuries, in Croatian were passed. Schools were opened. Makarska was at this time a small town with about 1580 inhabitants.

Under the Austrians (1813–1918)
As in Dalmatia as a whole, the Austrian authorities imposed a policy of Italianization, and the official language was Italian. The Makarska representatives in the Dalmatian assembly in Zadar and the Imperial Council in Vienna demanded the introduction of Croatian for use in public life, but the authorities steadfastly opposed the idea. One of the leaders of the National (pro-Croatian) Party was Mihovil Pavlinović of Podgora. Makarska was one of the first communities to introduce Croatian (1865).

In the second half of the 19th century Makarska experienced a great boom and in 1900 it had about 1800 inhabitants. It became a trading point for agricultural products, not only from the coastal area, but also from the hinterland (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and had shipping links with Trieste, Rijeka and Split.

The Congress of Vienna assigned Makarska to Austria-Hungary, under which it remained until 1918.

20th century
In the early 20th century agriculture, trade and fishing remained the mainstay of economy. In 1914, the first hotel was built, beginning the tourism tradition in the area. During World War II, Makarska was part of the Independent State of Croatia. It was a port for the nation's navy and served as the headquarters of the Central Adriatic Naval Command, until it was moved to Split.

After the war, during the socialist Yugoslavia, Makarska experienced a period of growth, and the population tripled. All the natural advantages of the region were used to create in Makarska one of the best known tourist areas on the Croatian Adriatic.

21st century
Following Croatian independence in 1991, Makarska had a sustained growth in first few years with many of the refugees (mostly from Herzegovina) being accommodated in tourist accommodation. In the late 1990s tourism was thriving again and in following decades created a speculative, rapid and wild construction boom with lot of highly problematic expansions (especially in Veliko Brdo), while with little or no urban planning at all. Local and regional experts have been active in drawing attention to the problems caused by the lack of planning and in this have recently been joined by members of the local population and citizens along with urban and environmental activists.

Geography
Makarska is located in central Dalmatia, at the junction of Biokovo and the Adriatic Sea.

The town is sharply separated from the interior by the mountain Biokovo (the highest peak of St. George, 1762 m), and it is connected with the central Dalmatian islands of Brač and Hvar by the Adriatic Sea, which modelled some of the most beautiful Croatian beaches in the Makarska Riviera.

The town itself is located in a natural harbour between two peninsulas, Osejava and Sv. Petra. The flysch zone between the mountain and the sea is only a few kilometres wide, so that the further expansion of the city goes to the east and west, i.e. to the neighbouring settlements of Tučepi and Krvavica.

Main sights

 * St. Mark's Cathedral (17th century), in the Main Square.
 * Statue of the friar Andrija Kačić Miošić by the famous Croatian sculptor Ivan Rendić.
 * St. Philip's Church (18th century).
 * St. Peter's church (13th century), situated on the Sv. Petar peninsula, rebuilt in 1993.
 * The Franciscan monastery (16th century). It houses a library with numerous books and rare incunabulas and a famous, world known collection of shells from all over the world, collected in a Malacological Museum from 1963.
 * Napoleon monument, erected in the honour of the French Marshal Marmont in 1808.
 * The Baroque Ivanišević Palace.
 * Villa Tonolli, which is home to the Town Museum.

Government and politics
The mayor of Makarska is Zoran Paunović (SDP). He was confirmed as mayor on 30 May 2021 winning 59.85% of the vote (2021 Croatian local elections, second round). The deputy mayor (vice mayor) is Antonia Radić Brkan (Ind.).

The City Council is composed of 15 representatives. The last elections were held on 16 May 2017 (2021 Croatian local elections). The two largest parties in the city assembly are SDP with 7 members and HDZ with 5 members.

Climate and vegetation
Makarska experiences a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). Winters are warm and wet, while summers are hot and dry. In summer, daytime temperatures are around 30 °C, often around 35 °C, and nighttime temperatures are around 25 °C. Winter temperatures are mostly from 10 to 15 during the day, and from 6 to 10 °C at night. Makarska is one of the warmest towns in Croatia.

Vegetation is the evergreen Mediterranean type, and subtropical flora (palm-trees, agaves, cacti) grow in the town and its surroundings.

Economy
The main economic activity of Makarska, as well as the whole region, is tourism. Tourists have at their disposal a large number of beds in the hotel and private accommodation.

Education
There are 3 primary schools and 3 secondary schools.

Demographics
According to the 2011 census, the total population of the town is 13,834, in the following settlements:

 * Makarska, population: 13,426
 * Veliko Brdo, population: 408

A 2019 study found that high school students in Makarska were the tallest in the Dinaric Alps (and the world), with males having an average height of 187.6 cm.

Notable natives/residents

 * Giuseppe Addobbati (1909–1986) - Italian film actor
 * Jure Bilić (1922–2006) - Yugoslav and Croatian politician
 * Alen Bokšić (1970–) - Croatian retired football player
 * Ivan Božić (1915–1977) - Yugoslav historian
 * Stipe Drviš (1973–) - Croatian boxer
 * Garry Kasparov (1963–) - Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster; naturalised Croatian citizen
 * Andrija Kačić Miošić (1704–1760) - Croatian poet and monk

Twin towns/cities
Makarska is twinned with: Friendly relationships:
 * Đakovo, Croatia
 * Stari Grad, Croatia
 * Vukovar, Croatia
 * Kavadarci, North Macedonia
 * 🇲🇪 Budva, Montenegro
 * 🇧🇦 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇧🇦 Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * Maribor, Slovenia
 * 🇨🇿 Znojmo, Czech Republic
 * 🇮🇹 Nocera Inferiore, Italy
 * Vinkovci, Croatia
 * 🇮🇹 Roseto degli Abruzzi, Italy
 * 🇩🇪 Stein, Germany
 * 🇩🇪 Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Germany
 * 🇧🇦 Bugojno, Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇨🇿 Olomouc, Czech Republic

Sources and external links

 * GCatholic - former cathedral
 * GCatholic - former cathedral

title: Makarska


text:
Wikipedia:Archived articles for deletion discussions/May-June 2004

May 2004

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text:
User talk:Dahamsta

Cork Photos
As regards photos for Cork, well, a photo of Cork railway station (for the railway history section) would be much appreciated (not sure what position would make it look good though :-) Or else a photo of the bridge across the Lee, near the bus station, with the shot aimed towards the direction the train station is in (a caption could be added about the fact that the railways linking the West Cork Railway used run across that bridge). Cork Opera House would be good to add to the culture section. Also a picture of Patrick Street (if the roadworks/remodelling is done) would be good for "places of interest". Anywhere else you think would be interesting, we can I am sure, find a home for more photos. zoney ♣ talk 13:41, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hey, I am trying to start a collection of photographs of Irish public art on commons, I haven't got so far myself but what would be cool would be any photographs from Cork, in particular, the two guys looking up at the city hall by Oisin Kelly! Notjim 16:00, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * I can't promise anything Notjim, but if you post up some specific requests (as well as the County Hall one, obviously), I'll certainly do my best to take a few photos. I'm no David Bailey though! --dahamsta 22:34, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Football League of Ireland
Hey, their are not a whole lot of regulars on the FAI teams, but i think what you doing is great. My only concern is that you might want remind your compadres to stay away from copyvios, and the cut and past from the team websites and other sources. Also a lot of extraneous information like directions to the stadium and so on, you might want to point them to a EPL or La Liga team so they have and idea of what they should be looking at. Have ran into a couple of problems, but anyway it would be nice to see these pages expanded, get some extra pub for the league. --Boothy443 | comhrÚ 20:50, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks Boothy443. I've asked our users to seek permission for copy and paste, and to post permission if granted in the discuss page (see the Cork City discussion page for an example) so if you could check the discussion pages before reverting I'd appreciate it. I'll certainly point them to resources they could use as templates, however I'd appreciate it if you could point me there first, because I wouldn't know where to look tbh! (I'm not a huge football fan meself tbh, more of a facilitator. :) If you have any problems at all, or suggestions of course, please don't hesitate to get in touch. Oh, and I know what "copyvios" refers to, but where did the word come from? --dahamsta 22:34, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * N/P Dahamsta, i didn't know you responed to my post, i was just going threw my edits and rechecked your page, just a heads up, when you respond to a post on the talk page, it's cool to put the responce on yours, but also put the responce on the other persons page as well, most pople don't monoter other user talk pages, so they woln't know that you responed, and you'll be left scratching you head why they havn't responded. You'll learn the wiki newances as you hang around, it takes a bit, trust me. As for the copyvio stuff, i noicted that on the cork city page, soi didn't clear it, but it's in need of a major clean up. It has a lot of info, which is great for the rebs website, but needs to be pared down for here. As for pointing you to the changes, yeah thats cool, you kight want to add them to your watch list as well if you haven't that way you can see what pages have been changed. As for templates on what they can do, the best of the Eircom league team pages are, imo, St Patrick's Athletic FC (i would put as the current standard), University College Dublin FC (isn't bad), and Dundalk FC, I would say that those three are the best, dont worrie about the infoboxes i can put them up as the pages get worked on. BWT ever though you not a fan, you have to be at least a casual supporter of someone. Was also wondering if you know any one in the north who could put out the word their for their league, i have a starter page for each team, but their all just rotting at the moment. Oh and "copyvio" = "Copyright Violation". Get in touch with me when ever, and hopefuly i get back to you, later. --Boothy443 | comhrÚ 09:58, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Honestly never seen your foot.ie plea dahamsta. On a bit of a mission on this at the moment.  Started with Pats but have branced out to the general articles and even editing mistakes in other clubs/player bios. --Dodge 00:33, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Chatter
Oh hey there, Adam! Welcome to Wikipedia ... I was wondering when you'd show up here :-) Pete C 17:00, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC) (ex-CorkWAN)

 * Been around a while Pete, just keeping my head down with minor edits. :) --dahamsta 18:52, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)

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Richard Harlan

Richard Harlan (September 19, 1796 – September 30, 1843) was an American paleontologist, anatomist, and physician. He was the first American to devote significant time and attention to vertebrate paleontology and was one of the most important contributors to the field in the early nineteenth century. His work was noted for its focus on objective descriptions, taxonomy and nomenclature. He was the first American to routinely apply binomial Linnaean names to vertebrate and invertebrate fossils. Prior to the time of Harlan, it was common practice to publish only a genus name for a fossil animal that was new to science.

Biography
Harlan was born in Philadelphia on September 19, 1796, to Joshua Harlan, a wealthy Quaker merchant, and his wife Sarah Hinchman Harlan, one of their ten children. He was three years older than his brother Josiah Harlan, who would become the first American to visit Afghanistan. Harlan graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818 after taking time off during his studies to spend a year sailing to India as a ship's surgeon for the British East India Company. He worked briefly at the private medical school of Joseph Parish. He wrote a text on the human brain Anatomical Investigations (1824). In 1820, he was a physician at the Philadelphia Dispensary, where he worked with Philip Syng Physick. In 1822 he was elected professor of comparative anatomy at Charles Wilson Peale's Philadelphia Museum. One of his passions was the collection and study of human skulls. In 1822, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society. At its peak, his collection contained 275 skulls, the largest such collection in America. In 1825 he published Fauna Americana, a catalogue of American mammals, including those known only from fossils. In 1832 he went to Montreal to study a cholera epidemic.

Harlan also collected and received natural history specimens from a number of his friends and colleagues including Dr William Blanding (1773-1857), Samuel George Morton (1799-1851), and Samuel Wilson (and his son). He collaborated with other naturalists and supported Audubon during his travels. He described a number of species including Macroclemys temminckii, Harlan's ground sloth, Harlan's muskox and the Indian Hoolock gibbon. A parasite of the alligator snapping turtle is named after him Eimeria harlani.

In 1833 he attended a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science where he presented information on the fossil reptiles of America. He made an error in describing a species called Osteopera platycephala based on the skull of Agouti paca. He was criticized by his colleague from the Peale museum, John D. Godman (1794-1830), who wrote anonymously. In 1834, Harlan described and named Basilosaurus ("king lizard"), a genus of early whale, erroneously assuming he had found a Plesiosaurus-like dinosaur. In 1839 he visited Europe again and received a plaster copy of Mosasaurus hoffmannii from the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle that is now in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. While in France he received news of a fire that had destroyed his collections. In 1842 he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana where he died of apoplexy a year later.

Works
Harlan was the author of several books including:

 * Fauna Americana (1825)
 * American Herpetology (1827)
 * Medical and physical researches, or, Original memoirs in medicine, surgery, physiology, geology, zoology, and comparative anatomy (1835)

title: Richard Harlan