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Deir al-Balah

Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah (دير البلح) is a Palestinian city in the central Gaza Strip and the administrative capital of the Deir al-Balah Governorate of the State of Palestine. It is located over 14 km south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The city is known for its date palms, after which it is named.

Deir al-Balah dates back to the Late Bronze Age when it served as a fortified outpost for the New Kingdom of Egypt. A monastery was built there by the Christian monk Hilarion in the mid-4th century AD and is currently believed to be the site of a mosque dedicated to Saint George, known locally as al-Khidr. During the Crusader-Ayyubid wars, Deir al-Balah was the site of a strategic coastal fortress known as "Darum" which was continuously contested, dismantled and rebuilt by both sides until its final demolition in 1196. Afterward, the site grew to become a large village on the postal route of the Mamluk Sultanate (13th-15th centuries). It served as an episcopal see of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem in Ottoman times until the late 19th century.

Under Egyptian control Deir al-Balah, whose population tripled through the influx of refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was a prosperous agricultural town until its capture by Israel in the Six-Day War. After 27 years of Israeli occupation, Deir al-Balah became the first city to come under Palestinian self-rule in 1994. Since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, it has witnessed frequent incursions by the Israeli Army with the stated aim of stopping Qassam rocket fire into Israel. Ahmad Kurd, a Hamas member, was elected mayor in late January 2005.

Deir al-Balah etc.
"Deir al-Balah", which in Arabic translates as the "Monastery of the Date Palm", was named after the grove of date palms that lay west of the city. Its name dates back to the late 19th century, before which the city was locally known as "Deir Mar Jiryis" or "Deir al-Khidr" and "Deir Darum" in Ottoman records. "Mar Jiryis" translates as "Saint George" while in Islamic tradition al-Khidr could either refer to Saint George or Elijah. The inhabitants of Deir al-Balah associated al-Khidr with Saint George. The town had been named after al-Khidr, the most venerated saintly person throughout Palestine. The mosque in Deir al-Balah which bears his name is traditionally believed by locals to contain his tomb.

Darom etc.
Up until the later Ottoman era, Deir al-Balah was referred to in Arabic as "Darum" or "Darun" which derived from the settlement's Crusader-era Latin name "Darom" or "Doron." That name was explained by the Crusader chronicler William of Tyre as a corruption of domus Graecorum, "house of the Greeks" (dar ar-rum). More recently, the eighteenth century scholar Albert Schultens supposed its roots are the Ancient Hebrew name "Darom" or "Droma", from the Hebrew root for "south", which referred to the area south of Lydda, i.e. the southern parts of the coastal plain and Judean foothills together with the northern Negev Desert. During early Arab rule, "ad-Darum" or "ad-Dairan" was the name of the southern subdistrict of Bayt Jibrin, a corruption of the Aramaic name of the region, Daroma.

Geography
Deir al-Balah is situated in the central Gaza Strip, along the coastline of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its city center is about 1,700 m east of the coast while the ancient site of Darum was uncovered 3 km to the south of central Deir al-Balah. While the city's municipal borders stretch eastward toward the border with Israel, its urban area does not extend beyond the main Salah al-Din Highway to the east.

Nearby localities include Nuseirat Camp and Bureij Camp to the north, Maghazi Camp to the northeast and Wadi as-Salqa to the south. Khan Yunis is 9.7 km to Deir al-Balah's south and Gaza City is located 14.6 km to the north.

The city has absorbed the coastal Deir al-Balah Refugee Camp, although it remains outside of Deir al-Balah's municipal administration. While the total land area was recorded as 14,735 dunams (14.7 km² or 1,473.5 hectares) in 1997, the total built-up areas of the city consist of between 7,000 and 8,000 dunams (7–8 km² or 700-800 hectares.) Deir al-Balah is divided into 29 administrative areas.

Bronze Age Canaanite, and Iron Age Philistine city

Deir al-Balah's history dates back to the mid-14th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age. At that time it served as an outpost in the New Kingdom of Egypt on its frontier with Canaan. During the reign of King Ramesses II (1303–1213 BC), Deir al-Balah became the easternmost of six garrisoned fortresses in the Eastern Mediterranean. The string of fortresses began with the Sinai fort in the west, and continued through the "Way of Horus" military road to Canaan. The square-shaped fortress of Deir al-Balah had four towers at each corner and a reservoir. Archaeological findings in Deir al-Balah revealed a large ancient Egyptian cemetery with graves containing jewelry and other personal belongings. The inhabitants of the fortress employed traditional Egyptian techniques and artistic designs in their architectural works. The cosmopolitan aspect of the frontier site is proven by the rich Cypriot, Mycenaean and Minoan findings.

Deir al-Balah remained in Egyptian hands until around 1150 BC when the Philistines conquered the southern coastal area of Canaan. The Philistine settlement is thought to have been situated southwest of the excavation site; its remains are hidden under large sand dunes. Five pits dug into the Late Bronze Age layers and containing Philistine pottery are among the few findings from that period.

The archaeological excavations at the Egyptian-period site were executed between 1972 and 1982, during Israel's occupation, and headed by Trude Dothan. After the conclusion of the excavations the area was used for farming purposes and is now covered by vegetable gardens and fruit orchards while the main findings can be seen in Israeli museums like the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the Hecht Museum in Haifa.

Similar cultural development is also attested at Tall al-Ajjul at that time, also in the Gaza strip.

Byzantine period
During Byzantine rule, the first hermitage in Palestine was established by the early Christian monk Hilarion at the site of modern-day Deir al-Balah. Hilarion initially built a small hut there, but during the reign of Constantius II (337–361) he set up the hermitage. Towards the end of his life, the monastery grew and began to attract numerous visitors. Hilarion resided at the monastery for a total of 22 years until his departure for Cyprus where he died in 371 AD. The hermitage was divided into several small cells constructed of mud brick and palm tree branches. According to local tradition and observations from Western travelers in the 19th century, the prayer hall of the Monastery of Hilarion is currently occupied by the Mosque of al-Khidr. French explorer Victor Guérin noted that two marble columns in the mosque were possibly parts of the Byzantine-era monastery.

Early Islamic period
In 632, during the early period of Islamic rule in Arabia, the Muslim commander Usama ibn Zayd launched a raid against Byzantine-held Darum, which referred not to Deir al-Balah specifically, but to the area south of Lydda which included modern-day Deir al-Balah. The site was one of the first places in Palestine to be annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate following the conquest of Gaza by Amr ibn al-'As in 634. Throughout early Muslim Arab rule and until the arrival of the Crusaders in the late 11th century, "Darum" normally referred to the southern district of Jund Filastin whose capital fluctuated between the towns of Bayt Jibrin or Hebron.

The Fatimid caliph al-Aziz Billah (r. 975-996) granted his favored vizier, Yaqub ibn Killis, a fief in modern-day Deir al-Balah, as testified by an inscription dating to the 980s located in the city's al-Khidr Mosque. The fief included a large estate with date palms.

Crusader and Ayyubid rule
Deir al-Balah was built on the ruins of the Crusader fort of Darom (also referred to as "Doron") which was built by King Amalric I. The exact date of the fort's construction is unknown, although it was likely erected after 1153 following Amalric's capture of Ascalon to the north from the Fatimid Caliphate. As described by William of Tyre, the fort was small, tantum spatium intra se continens quantum est jactus lapidis (containing inside as much space as a stone's throw) and square-shaped with four towers, one of which was larger than the others. Amalric used Darom as a launching point for several unsuccessful military campaigns against Fatimid Egypt. In addition to its role as a frontier fort on the border of Egypt, Darom also served as an administrative center charged with collecting taxes from the southern areas of the kingdom and customs from caravans and travelers coming from Egypt. It was deemed a permanent threat by the rulers of Egypt.

Not long after its construction, a small suburb or village with a church was established by local farmers and traders just outside the fort. According to medieval chronicler William of Tyre, "it was a pleasant spot where conditions of life for people of the lower ranks were better than in cities". The population of the village consisted of indigenous Eastern Orthodox Christians allied to and protected by the Crusader administration and garrison based in the fort. The inhabitants were considered lower-class, but integral members of society by the Crusaders of European or mixed descent. Because Darom was absent of Greek bishops, in 1168 Pope Alexander III gave the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem direct jurisdiction over the dioceses, putting the largely Greek Orthodox inhabitants under the authority of the Catholic Church.

Following Amalric's withdrawal from his fifth offensive against Egypt in 1170, Muslim general Saladin, fighting on behalf of the Fatimids, attacked and besieged the fortress as part of his foray into the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Despite initial gains, Darom was not captured or destroyed. It later became a stronghold of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller from Jerusalem, led by King Baldwin III. After the Muslim army defeated the Crusaders in the decisive Battle of Hattin in 1187, their leader Saladin, by then the independent sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty, advanced south and captured both Ascalon and Darom by 1188. His first order was the fort's demolition, but he later decided against destroying it. Instead, the fortress was substantially expanded and strengthened. "Darum", which is what the Muslims called the fortress village, was encased by a wall with 17 strong towers protected by a deep moat with stone-paved sides. It hosted a garrison commanded by the emir (commander) Alam ad-Din Qaysar and served as a store for supplies and ammunition.

The Crusaders recaptured the fortress on 24 May 1191 after a short siege commanded by King Richard the Lionheart. Authority over Darum was assigned to Count Henry I of Champagne, but Richard later had the fortress demolished in July 1193 prior to withdrawing his forces from Ascalon. The Ayyubids rebuilt the fortress soon after in order to use it as a bridgehead to reconquer territories lost in Palestine during the Third Crusade. Nonetheless, in 1196, Sultan al-Aziz Uthman decided to have it demolished in case of its capture by the Crusaders. According to 15th-century historian al-Maqrizi, this decision resulted in public resentment since travelers and merchants had significantly benefited from the fort's protection. In 1226, Syrian geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi visited Darum and noted it was one of the cities of Lot and contained a ruined castle.

Mamluk period
Following its demolition, it is not known how long Darum remained deserted, but it was eventually resettled during Mamluk rule which began in 1250. For much of the Mamluk period, the town came under the administration of the politically important Niyabah of Gaza (Province of Gaza), part of the larger Mamlaka of Damascus (Kingdom of Damascus.) Along with Karatiyya and Bayt Jibrin, Darum was an amal (district) of the Province of Gaza with its own wali (governor).

It became a halting post along the newly introduced regular mail routes connecting Damascus and Cairo, which were run by horse-mounted messengers with colored sashes. Syrian historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari did not mention Darum in his list of the route's stopping points in 1349, instead noting that al-Salqah was the only post between Rafah and Gaza, suggesting that Darum was not a major settlement at the time. However, 14th-century Egyptian historian Ahmad al-Qalqashandi counters al-Umari's account, writing that Darum was the last halting post before Gaza. Roads, bridges, postal stations and a khan (caravanserai) were built in the town to accommodate the messengers. Pigeon mail service was introduced for which towers were built. Produce available in Darum during this time period included barley, wheat, grapes and grape leaves, olives, raspberries, lemons, figs, sweet melons, pomegranates and dates. Surrounding the town were the encampments of the Batn Jarm, an Arab clan that also lived around Gaza.

Ottoman period
Sometime prior to the Ottoman conquest of Palestine in 1516 or in the beginning years of Ottoman rule, Darum gained the additional name of "Deir" as in "Deir Darum" after its Byzantine-era monastery. The village continued to thrive during the early Ottoman era in Palestine which is attributed to the urban infrastructure originally established by the Crusaders. Its continued importance also stemmed from its close proximity to Gaza and its position on the former Via Maris trade route. The first Ottoman tax census in 1525 revealed Deir al-Balah was a relatively large village with a religiously mixed population of 87 Christian families and 56 Muslim families. In 1596 it was part of Gaza Sanjak (District of Gaza) and had a Muslim majority with 175 Muslim families and 125 Christian families. With an estimated population of 1,500, it was one of eight villages at the time to have between 1,000 and 2,000 inhabitants. Annual tax revenue from the town amounted to 17,300 akces. Pierre Jacotin named the village Deir K Helleh on his map from 1799. In 1838, Deir el-Belah was noted as a Muslim village in the Gaza district.

A substantial part of Deir al-Balah's inhabitants died in 1862 because of stagnant drinking water originating from the town's swamps. The swamps were seasonal, forming each winter as a result of flooding which failed to breach the sandstone ridge. A year later, on 29 May 1863, French explorer Victor Guérin wrote that Deir al-Balah was a small, partly ruined village with a population of 350. Date farming was the principal economic activity that the inhabitants engaged in. In 1878, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine noted Deir al-Balah had grown to become a large village of mud houses "with wells and a small tower". At the time, it served as a see of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.

WWI and British period

Deir al-Balah was captured by the British Army following the surrender of Khan Yunis on 28 February 1917. By April an aerodrome and an army camp were established there and Deir al-Balah became a launching point for British forces against Ottoman-held Gaza and Beersheba to the north and northeast, respectively. Of the 25 British war cemeteries dating from World War I, one of the six largest was built in Deir al-Balah in March 1917. It continued to be used until March 1918 and contains a total of 724 graves.

Deir al-Balah became a part of the British Mandate of Palestine starting in 1922. A municipal council to administer the town was established by the British authorities in 1946, but it had limited jurisdiction over civil affairs and provided a few basic services.

In the 1945 statistics, Deir al-Balah had a population of 2,560; 40 Christians and 2,520 Muslims, with 14,735 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 327 dunams were for citrus and bananas, 472 plantations and irrigable land, 14,438 used for cereals, while 39 dunams were built-up land.

1947-48 war and Egyptian occupation
In the lead-up to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, residents of Deir al-Balah participated in a local attack against the nearby kibbutz of Kfar Darom, despite being discouraged by Egyptian Army officers, but they were repelled and suffered casualties. During the war, Egypt captured the town along with other towns in an area that became known as the Gaza Strip. The Egyptians later established a sharia court system that held jurisdiction over personal affairs. Egyptian rule introduced relative prosperity to Deir al-Balah. The town witnessed a booming citrus industry made possible by the discovery of a substantial reservoir of ground water in the vicinity. Overall, during the Egyptian occupation of Gaza citizens of the Strip were much poorer than before the partition of Palestine. The population of the strip, including Deir al-Balah swelled during this time period and the Egyptian government restricted movement to and from the Gaza Strip inhibiting its inhabitants from looking elsewhere for gainful employment or housing.

In the name of pan-Arabism, the Egyptian state officially merged with the Gaza Strip and Syria between 1959 and 1961 as part of the short-lived United Arab Republic (UAR). The project fell apart before significant integration occurred and the legal status of the Gaza Strip was mostly an afterthought during the attempt to create a unified Arab state, with the Strip and its citizens not explicitly being mentioned in the proclamation declaring the founding of the UAR or in the UAR's provisional constitution.

1967 war, Israeli occupation, post-Oslo autonomy
During the Six-Day War in June 1967, Deir al-Balah's mayor Sulaiman al-Azayiza briefly led local resistance against the incoming Israeli Army until formally surrendering the city shortly thereafter. The Israeli authorities took control of the springs, an important irrigation source. This move combined with increasing competition from Israeli citrus farmers, damaged the local citrus industry. In 1982 the mayor was dismissed and the municipal council of Deir al-Balah was disbanded and replaced by an Israeli military-appointed administration. During the course of the Israeli occupation, Deir al-Balah's urban areas extended into lands designated for agriculture, largely as a result of building restrictions which hindered organized expansion.

When the First Intifada broke out in 1987, Deir al-Balah's residents participated in the uprising against Israeli rule. Around 30 residents died during the period of the Intifada, which formally ended in 1993 with the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel. In 1994 Deir al-Balah was the first city to officially come under the control of the Palestinian National Authority as a result of the Gaza–Jericho Agreement.

The city has been frequently targeted in Israeli military incursions since the Second Intifada in 2000, largely due to Qassam rocket-strikes by Palestinian militants. The areas surrounding the city have also been frequent targets of razing. On 4 January 2004, Israeli authorities bulldozed around 50 dunams (5 hectares) of land in the Abu al-Ajen area east of Deir al-Balah's center. Later on 7 January, the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ) reported that "Israeli bulldozers staged into al-Hikr area south of Deir el-Balah city under heavy barrage of gunfire and razed 70 dunams (7 hectares) of land planted with guava and orange groves owned by the Abu Holy and Abu Reziq families."

During factional clashes across the Gaza Strip in June 2007 which ended with Hamas gaining control over that territory, at least four paramilitaries from Hamas and Fatah were killed in Deir al-Balah. On 2 January 2009, Deir al-Balah was shelled by the Israeli Army as part of its month-long offensive Operation Cast Lead.

In the beginning of December, during the second month of the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, IDF tanks cut off the passage from Khan Yunis to Deir al-Balah. The IDF campaign, which was intended to target members of Hamas in the center region of the Gaza Strip, brought down multiple apartment buildings. While resulting in the death of a Hamas commander, the bombing campaign has overwhelmed the Shuhada Al-Aqsa Hospital staff with patients. Doctors described the bombing campaign on December 3 as a bloody day.

In December 2023, the Jaffa Mosque (مَسْجِد يَافَا) was destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Deir al-Balah (31.4156°N, 34.351°W).

Archaeology
White marble pillar shafts were built into the walls of some houses in old Deir al-Balah. They resembled the medieval-era pillars in the Temple Mount ("Haram ash-Sharif") in Jerusalem.

Mosque of al-Khidr
The Mosque of al-Khidr (also called "Maqam al-Khader") is 24.3 ft by 53.4 ft and was built on the site of a Byzantine monastery. The northern and southern walls were buttressed and the eastern wall has three apses. The Survey of Western Palestine related in 1875 that there were Greek inscriptions on one of the steps leading to the door at the southern wall while on the floor was a broken stone slab marked by two Maltese crosses, apparently resembling a tombstone. Further slabs and Greek inscriptions were found in the eastern part of the mosque and in the courtyard. In the center is a tomb made of modern masonry that tradition claims is the tomb of Saint George ("Mar Jirjis") or al-Khidr, as he is known in Arabic.

Prior to the predominance of orthodox Islam in Palestine, the region contained numerous domed structures dedicated to Muslim patron saints, among which was the Mosque of al-Khidr in Deir al-Balah. In March 2016, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the Gaza Strip began the restoration of the Mosque of al-Khidr with financial support from UNESCO and the Nawa Foundation. The project aims to convert the mosque-tomb into a children's cultural library.

Demographics
According to a census conducted in 1922 by the British Mandate authorities, Deir al-Balah had a population of 916 inhabitants (893 Muslims, 22 Jews and one Christian). The census of 1931 lists 1,587 inhabitants (1,577 Muslims and 10 Christians). The village statistics of 1938 list the population as 1,823. With a population of 2,560 (2,520 Muslims and 40 Christians) in 1945, Deir al-Balah was a relatively large village. The influx of Palestinian refugees from nearby areas captured by Israel during the 1948 War drastically increased the population thereafter. In the 1997 census by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Deir al-Balah's population was recorded as 42,839, a figure which included the adjacent Deir al-Balah Camp (the smallest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.) Nearly 75% of the population were below the age of 30.

In 2004 the PCBS estimated the population to be 46,159. In the 2007 census by the PCBS, the population of Deir al-Balah city alone was 54,439, making it the largest municipality in the Deir al-Balah Governorate. The camp's population was 6,438. However, Nuseirat combined with its refugee camp has a larger population than Deir al-Balah combined with its camp. There were a total of 8,395 households and the average family size consisted of between six and seven members. The gender distribution in the city was 50.3% male and 49.7% female.

Deir al-Balah's entire population is Muslim. A sizable Greek Orthodox Christian population existed until the mid-19th century. In the 1931 British census of Palestine, there were only 10 Christians in Deir al-Balah out of a population of 1,587. Today, refugees make up the majority of the population, accounting for over 66% of the city's inhabitants in 1997. However, this figure also included the Deir al-Balah Camp.

Economy

The Deir al-Balah Governorate's principal economic activity is services, accounting for 67.4% of the labor force. Commerce, hospitality and retail account for 12.9%, agriculture and fishing 10.1%, transportation and communication 5.4% and manufacturing 3.4%. In 2009 the unemployment rate in the governorate was 35.2% while the labor force participation rate was 38.7%. In 2007 there were 1,108 business establishments in the city.

Agriculture and fishing
Deir al-Balah is well known for growing date palms, an estimated 20,000 of which covered the landscape south and west of the city in the 1990s. However, some 3,550 trees were uprooted or bulldozed by the Israeli Army in the early years of the Second Intifada beginning in 2000. There were an estimated 16,500 palms in Deir al-Balah in 2003. In addition to being a local delicacy, date cultivation constitutes one of the principal sources of income for many of Deir al-Balah's residents. The particular type of date that is cultivated in the area is known as "Hayani." It has a distinctly red color. Other leading agricultural products cultivated in Deir al-Balah include citrus, almonds, pomegranates and grapes.

The city has a small fishing industry and is the site of one of four wharfs in the Gaza Strip. In 2007 there were about 76 active fishing vessels employed by 550 fishermen. From 2000 to 2006, during the Second Intifada, income from fishing was halved. In order to alleviate losses resulting from a 10 km fishing limit off the coast imposed by the Israeli Navy following Hamas's victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections, the Palestinian Authority Department of Fisheries has sought to construct eight artificial reefs in both Deir al-Balah and Gaza City.

Education
According to the 1997 PCBS census, 87.7% of residents in Deir al-Balah over the age of 10 were literate. The number of people who finished elementary education was 5,740, while 5,964 finished primary education and 5,289 completed secondary school. In higher education, 1,763 people attained associate degrees, 1,336 attained bachelor's degrees and 97 attained higher degrees.

Educational services in Deir al-Balah are under the jurisdiction of the Khan Yunis Directorate of Higher Education. There were a total of 85 schools in the Deir al-Balah Governorate in 2007-08 according to the PNA's Ministry of Education and Higher Education. The Palestinian government operated 39 school while four were privately owned. The remainder were run by UNRWA and were mostly located in refugee camps in Deir al-Balah's vicinity. The total number of students in the governorate was 67,693, of which 50.3% were male 49.7% female.

The Palestine Technical College, a vocational and technical college founded in 1992, is located in Deir al-Balah. A library was added to the campus in 1998.

Government
Deir al-Balah's first village council was established in 1946 and an elected local government continued to administer the city until 1982 when the Israeli military authorities dissolved the council and appointed a mayor. In 1994 Deir al-Balah gained the status of a city by the Palestinian Authority (PNA). The Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, appointed Samir Mohammed Azayiza as mayor until 2000 when he replaced him with Sami Abu Salim, a wealthy businessman from the city. The services and functions of the municipality include city planning, infrastructure maintenance and repair, providing utilities, school administration and garbage collection.

A 15-member municipal council currently administers Deir al-Balah. Although thought to be a stronghold of Fatah, Hamas members defeated Fatah's candidates in the 2005 Palestinian municipal elections by a large margin, taking 13 seats. Despite their political affiliations, all candidates ran as Independents. Two female candidates also gained seats. Local sheikh, school operator and Hamas member Ahmad Harb Kurd garnered the most votes.

Mayors

 * Sulaiman al-'Azayiza (at least 1967–1982)
 * Israeli Military Governor (1982–1994)
 * Samir Mohammed 'Azayiza (1994–2000)

 * Sami Abu Salim (2000–2005)
 * Ahmad Kurd (2005–2020)

title: Deir al-Balah


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Braided monoidal category

In mathematics, a commutativity constraint $$ \gamma $$  on a monoidal category $$\mathcal{C}$$ is  a choice of isomorphism $$ \gamma_{A,B} : A\otimes B \rightarrow B\otimes A$$ for each pair of objects A and B which form a "natural family." In particular, to have a commutativity constraint, one must have $$ A \otimes B \cong B \otimes A $$ for all pairs of objects $$ A,B \in \mathcal{C}$$.

A braided monoidal category is a monoidal category $$\mathcal{C}$$ equipped with a braiding—that is, a commutativity constraint $$ \gamma $$ that satisfies axioms including the hexagon identities defined below. The term braided references the fact that the braid group plays an important role in the theory of braided monoidal categories. Partly for this reason, braided monoidal categories and other topics are related in the theory of knot invariants.

Alternatively, a braided monoidal category can be seen as a tricategory with one 0-cell and one 1-cell.

Braided monoidal categories were introduced by André Joyal and Ross Street in a 1986 preprint. A modified version of this paper was published in 1993.

The hexagon identities
For $$\mathcal{C}$$ along with the commutativity constraint $$\gamma$$ to be called a braided monoidal category, the following hexagonal diagrams must commute for all objects $$A,B,C \in \mathcal{C}$$. Here $$\alpha$$ is the associativity isomorphism coming from the monoidal structure on $$\mathcal{C}$$:

Coherence
It can be shown that the natural isomorphism $$\gamma$$ along with the maps $$ \alpha, \lambda, \rho $$ coming from the monoidal structure on the category $$\mathcal{C}$$, satisfy various coherence conditions, which state that various compositions of structure maps are equal. In particular:

 * The braiding commutes with the units. That is, the following diagram commutes:

 * The action of $$\gamma$$ on an $$N$$-fold tensor product factors through the braid group. In particular,

$$ (\gamma_{B,C} \otimes \text{Id}) \circ (\text{Id} \otimes \gamma_{A, C}) \circ (\gamma_{A,B} \otimes \text{Id}) = (\text{Id} \otimes \gamma_{A,B}) \circ (\gamma_{A,C} \otimes \text{Id}) \circ (\text{Id} \otimes \gamma_{B, C}) $$

as maps $$ A \otimes B \otimes C \rightarrow C \otimes B \otimes A$$. Here we have left out the associator maps.

Variations
There are several variants of braided monoidal categories that are used in various contexts. See, for example, the expository paper of Savage (2009) for an explanation of symmetric and coboundary monoidal categories, and the book by Chari and Pressley (1995) for ribbon categories.

Symmetric monoidal categories
A braided monoidal category is called symmetric if $$\gamma$$ also satisfies $$ \gamma_{B,A} \circ \gamma_{A,B} = \text{Id}$$ for all pairs of objects $$A$$ and $$B$$. In this case the action of $$\gamma$$ on an $$N$$-fold tensor product factors through the symmetric group.

Ribbon categories
A braided monoidal category is a ribbon category if it is rigid, and it may preserve quantum trace and co-quantum trace. Ribbon categories are particularly useful in constructing knot invariants.

Coboundary monoidal categories
A coboundary or “cactus” monoidal category is a monoidal category $$ (C, \otimes, \text{Id}) $$ together with a family of natural isomorphisms $$ \gamma_{A,B}: A\otimes B \to B\otimes A $$ with the following properties:

 * $$ \gamma_{B,A} \circ \gamma_{A,B} = \text{Id}$$ for all pairs of objects $$A$$ and $$B$$.
 * $$ \gamma_{B \otimes A, C} \circ (\gamma_{A,B} \otimes \text{Id}) = \gamma_{A, C \otimes B} \circ (\text{Id} \otimes \gamma_{B,C})$$

The first property shows us that $$ \gamma^{-1}_{A,B} = \gamma_{B,A} $$, thus allowing us to omit the analog to the second defining diagram of a braided monoidal category and ignore the associator maps as implied.

Examples

 * The category of representations of a group (or a Lie algebra) is a symmetric monoidal category where $$ \gamma (v \otimes w) = w \otimes v $$.
 * The category of representations of a quantized universal enveloping algebra $$  U_q(\mathfrak{g})$$ is a braided monoidal category, where $$ \gamma $$ is constructed using the universal R-matrix. In fact, this example is a ribbon category as well.

Applications

 * Knot invariants.
 * Symmetric closed monoidal categories are used in denotational models of linear logic and linear types.
 * Description and classification of topological ordered quantum systems.

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

title: Braided monoidal category


text: File:Local-realsm-setup.png

title: File:Local-realsm-setup.png


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Portal:Biology/Featured picture

Selected images for the Biology portal.

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User talk:CCCPSpy

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User talk:Jgwest

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! --Lst27 ( t a l k )  21:33, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
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Merge discussion for Zero interest-rate policy
An article that you have been involved in editing, Zero interest-rate policy, has been proposed for a merge with another article. If you are interested in the merge discussion, please participate by going, and adding your comments on the discussion page. Thank you. greenrd (talk) 22:06, 21 August 2013 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jgwest


text:
User talk:Kc8rpe

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! --Lst27 ( t a l k )  21:33, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * How to edit a page
 * Editing, policy, conduct, and structure tutorial
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 * Manual of Style

License tagging for Image:Mix941whbcfm.jpg
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title: User talk:Kc8rpe


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Talk:Latter-day Saints and the cross

Redundant with Mormonism and Christianity?

I don't believe so. Last time I looked up that page it didn't reference this issue. Perhaps this should be merged into a section of that page?--Chiros Sunrider 20:08, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Support the merge. --Masamage 22:24, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Latter-day Saints and the cross


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José María Heredia y Heredia

José María Heredia y Heredia, also known as José María Heredia y Campuzano (December 31, 1803 – May 7, 1839) was a Cuban-born poet considered by many to be the first romantic poet of the Americas and the initiator of Latin American romanticism. More recently, this view has been qualified, highlighting Heredia's roots in Neoclassicism and the aesthetics of eighteenth-century Sensibility. He is known as "El Cantor del Niagara" and regarded as one of the most important poets in the Spanish language. He has also been named National Poet of Cuba.

Heredia studied at the University of Havana, and received a law degree in 1823. In the autumn of 1823 he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy against the Spanish government for participating in pro-independence activities against the Spanish authorities, and was sentenced to banishment for life. To avoid the sentence, Heredia fled to the United States and spent two years in New York City when he was 19. He then took refuge in Mexico in 1825. For a few months he was one of the editors of the literary magazine El Iris. He became naturalized as a citizen of Mexico and obtained a post as magistrate.

Many of his earlier pieces are merely clever translations from French, English and Italian; but his originality is placed beyond doubt by such poems as the Himno del desterrado, the epistle to Emilia, Desengaños, and the celebrated ode to Niágara. One of his most celebrated poems was called "En El Teocalli de Cholula," which explores the universality of nature and immense beauty of indigenous ruins. In common with a number of Spanish and Latin American Romantics, his intellectual formation was in Neoclassicism, and indeed his poetry is notable for its perfection of form as well as (often) the sincerity and depth of his feelings. Heredia published a first edition of his poems (Poesías) during his stay in New York, in 1825, to great acclaim both in the Americas and in Western Europe. Andrés Bello (from his exile in London) and Alberto Lista (from Spain) acknowledged the precociousness of Heredia, praising the originality and freshness of his poetry. A significantly expanded second collection, that included revised versions of many of the poems found in the earlier edition, saw the light in Toluca in 1832, also published by Heredia himself. In 1836 he obtained permission to visit Cuba for two months to reunite with his mother. Disappointed in his political ambitions, and broken in health, Heredia returned to Mexico in January 1837, and died in Mexico City on 7 May 1839.

Childhood
José María Heredia was born in Santiago de Cuba on December 31, 1803, to parents José Francisco Heredia Mieses and Mercedes Heredia Campuzano-Polanco natives of Santo Domingo. As a young boy in Cuba, he learned how to read and write Latin and Greek and translated famous works such as Homer, Horace, and other classical authors and texts. He spent the majority of his upbringing in Santo Domingo for his family moved there when he was still a small child. His father was appointed Magistrate at the Court of Caracas, and the family moved to Venezuela because of his job.

Middle years
He returned to Cuba from Venezuela in 1818 and then registered at the University of Havana at the young age of 14. He did not stay at the University of Havana long; he continued his career the following year in Mexico. The death of his father, José Francisco Heredia, in 1820 caused his son José María to return to Cuba the following year from Mexico.

Heredia in the United States
Heredia's time in the United States lasted from December 4, 1823, until August 22, 1825. The reason his time living in the United States was cut short was because he was extended a personal invitation from Guadalupe Victoria, the president of Mexico at the time, for a permanent residency in Mexico. As a "youth of twenty with an abhorrence for English," he traveled between cities: Boston, New York, New Haven, Philadelphia. While in these cities, he lived in boarding homes with fellow Cuban exiles or tourists. Among the Cubans Heredia encountered, they were "restless to leave the United States for any Spanish-speaking territory not under Spanish Rule." Even though he did not manage to pierce the literary spheres of North America (at the time), his two years spent in exile in the United States are increasingly critical with regard to his major works. His love for liberty grew as he discovered in his travels here the rewarding activity of free men; as he learned to read in English and imitate the prose of his US-American literary counterparts. Also, the nature found throughout North America, especially Niagara Falls, played a huge role in his most influential and famous works. His time spent in exile in the United States aided in forming a community of readers that also experienced the same thing.

Romanticism
José María Heredia spent many years in exile in the United States and Mexico, away from his homeland, Cuba. Many of his poems, for he was a prominent poet, reflect a mixture of tropical sensuality and dreamy melancholy, which are often inspired by his homesickness. The force and beauty of nature and the focus on individuality emerges strongly in his poems. Latin American Romanticism contains many qualities, all of which can be found in Heredia's most popular poems. "'Elements in thought, style, manner that are typical of Romanticism in the humanities, and especially in literature, are: (1) a focus on the individual; (2) a dedication to personal and political liberty and freedom; (3) passion in terms of emotions and the expression of individuality that may include suffering; (4) appreciation for and treatment of new subject matters in art and ideas that include extremes such as the sublime or the ideal on the one hand and the ugly or grotesque on the other hand; (5) lyricism in music and poetry including melodramatic personal styles and melodrama in the theater or drama; (6) foregrounding of sensitivity (la sensibilidad; lo sensible) to nature, the poor and the sick, etc.; and (7) discovery or inclusion in the humanities of what traditional Latin American society, which had been dominated by culture from France, Spain, and Portugal, had been seen as exotic (i.e., coming from Asia, Oceania, or the Middle East, etc.).'"It has been said that "if the United States had Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, Latin America had the Cuban poet Heredia" in regards to the prominence and literary importance of his poetry. Being compared to the great [North] American writers of the Romantic Movement shows who his work was characterized by the stylings of romanticism. His Romanticism is that of the search and longing for freedom, both political and literary. To this extent, his poetry comes directly from his life.

Important works
"En el Teocalli de Cholula" ("On the Teocalli of Cholula" in English) and "Niagara" are his most important poems. His poetry lasts both because of the subject matter and for the intensely personal feeling in the works. Nature is clearly depicted in the fashion of the Romantic Era and mirrors his spiritual and emotional states. Nature acts as his freedom. In these poems, the poet praises the natural beauty of both Americas. The most prominent Romantic feature in Heredia is the ever-present involvement of his life in his poetry as well as the dark notes of death, melancholy and gloominess that pervade his writings.

"On the Teocalli of Cholula"
Heredia's fascination with the Aztec Ruins is immensely contingent with the thematics of Romanticism. Representative of the ghostly past, it calls forth a feeling of death and mystery of the Romantic Era. Written after the death of his father in Mexico, a lyrical voice experiences the melancholy of watching the sunset over the fields of the valley of Anahuac, and after, reflecting on the disappearance of the pyramid builders and how the times have changed.

"Niagara"
Niagara Falls was easily made accessible to the public thanks to the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. Its existence attracted national and foreign romantics to witness in awe this spectacle of the forces of nature. Heredia stood in great wonder and "projected his anguished sentiments into its powerful flow and fall and swirl." The "Niágara" was originally published in Heredia's first collection, entitled Poesías, published in New York, 1825. The theme of a fissure or split in the relationship between subject and object appears in "Niágara" to coincide with his feelings of split or torn between countries.

Editions
With the exception of a few isolated poems, Heredia's work has not been translated into English. Among the many Spanish-language editions stands out the critical edition of Heredia's poetry, by Tilmann Altenberg, Poesías completas de José María Heredia (Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2020).

title: José María Heredia y Heredia


text:
Town Haul

Town Haul is a television program on TLC, hosted by Genevieve Gorder. It makes-over old (small) towns to give them a new look. Its first town was Jeffersonville, New York. Its second town was Laurens, South Carolina. In the first two seasons, they typically made over family-run businesses. In the third season, set in the town of Washington, Missouri, the first rebuild was of a house, but the second was of a historic, family owned business known for its mile high pies.

title: Town Haul


text:
Eimmart (crater)

Eimmart is a lunar impact crater that is located near the east-northeastern limb of the Moon, to the northeast of the Mare Crisium. The northern and eastern outer rim of this crater borders on the narrow Mare Anguis. To the northwest of Eimmart are the smaller crater Delmotte and the prominent Cleomedes.

The rim of this crater has been lightly eroded, especially along the south-southeastern portion, but most of the edge remains intact. The small crater Eimmart A lies along the eastern rim, and is surrounded by a skirt of higher albedo material, particularly to the south and west across the interior of Eimmart. The interior floor is relatively level, and is marked by the ray material from Eimmart A.

Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Eimmart.

title: Eimmart (crater)


text:
Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Test matches in the 19th century (to 1883)

Test matches in the 19th century (to 1883)
Self-nomination. I think this is a pretty good review of the history of Test cricket up to the first Ashes series and is now ready for featured article status, jguk 21:36, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Support Being a cricket fan myself, but I must admit I find the title of the article too long. Squash 22:53, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Object. The 1883 cutoff doesn't seem to make much sense. There's a couple of minor POV problems (i.e. "Certainly it was true that..."). More importantly, there seems to be problems with balance - for instance, three paragraphs on one match, and only a couple of sentences on others, with no apparent reason why. It could also do with a copyedit. Ambi 09:06, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC) Wonderful. Kudos - brilliant rewrite, and this is now one brilliant article. Ambi 10:15, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * I've given the article a complete workover. The lead section is reworked to give the 1883 cutoff sense, and the minor POV eliminated. I have also added more information on the matches that were little talked about before, so there are a few sentences on each one now. Of course, some games are more interesting than others, and there's more text on the more interesting ones. As far as its title, would History of Test cricket (to 1883) be better? Maybe chat on the article's talk page? jguk 14:48, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Support A lot of hard has gone into this. Brookie 16:32, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose. To borrow a set of arbitrary standards from jguk, there is way, way, way too much detail for users not interested in cricket. (After all, we're not dealing with over 1,000 years of history of the world's largest state.) 172 23:07, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC) [Sorry if my choice of a heuristic demonstration annoyed anyone. Good article. I'd vote support if I knew more about the topic. 172 19:17, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)]
 * On principle, every subject can have a featured article, including this one. This oppose vote is in contrary to this principle and should be ignored. After all, how am I meant to fix it? (It also seems a tad vindictive, just because I, along with others, think the History of Russia article is too long at present and should be broken down into 2 to 3 articles), jguk 09:12, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Once you figure out that it is not to be broken up into 2-3 articles and that it already summarizes 13 individual articles, I will no longer feel the need to make a similarly ill-thought out statement as a demonstration of my point. 172 09:36, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Please don't be petty, 172. One ill-considered objection does not need another in revenge. Ambi 10:24, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * It is not "revenge." The point is to applied flawed reasoning somewhere else in order to help Jguk understand that the reasoning is flawed. 172 10:32, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Support Nichalp 18:42, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)
 * Support. Evil Monkey∴Hello 21:26, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)
 * Support --Ngb 23:02, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Support - and I'm not a fan of the game, but the article is of a very high standard. Well done. Rossrs 13:05, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Support, nice work. Neutralitytalk 15:09, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)


text: File:CacophonySpeedMetalSymphony.jpg

title: File:CacophonySpeedMetalSymphony.jpg


text: User talk:81.156.179.223

title: User talk:81.156.179.223


text:
Hispellum

Hispellum (modern Spello) was an ancient town of Umbria, Italy, 6 km north of Fulginiae on the road to Perusia.

The Site
The site of Hispellum was significant as the valley had two major rivers, the Clitumnus and Tinia mentioned by Silius Italicus, giving fertility to the land. From 220 BC the Via Flaminia gave the city a direct link to Rome.

History
The area of Hispellum has been occupied from the Iron Age (7th c. BC), as shown by archaeology particularly in the necropolis at Portonaccio, although most of the tombs date to the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Traces of the early settlement from 7th - 4th centuries BC have been found near the church of Sant’ Andrea.

Umbria had been conquered by the Romans by approximately 260 BC. Incorporation into the Roman state occurred soon afterwards; some Umbri were given full citizenship or citizenship without the right to vote and about 40,000 Romans settled in the region.

Hispellum was one of the Umbrian towns that resisted Hannibal and possibly sent aid to Rome during the Second Punic War. It began to be urbanised from the late 3rd century when a long artificial terrace with a retaining wall of opera quadrata using local limestone laid without mortar was built near Sant’ Andrea in the area of the later forum.

Hispellum is mentioned in Pliny, Strabo and Ptolemy's Geography.

The ancient sanctuary to Venus (or her Umbrian equivalent) was an important sacred place for Umbrian tribes from the 3rd c. BC and the site was monumentalised, at least in the south-eastern part towards the city, in the Republican age (2nd-1st century BC).

Some of the land of the Valle Umbra was brutally confiscated by Augustus to found colonies there as a reward for tens of thousands of Caesar's veterans who had fought for the Triumvirate and additionally, tens of thousands of them who had fought for the Republican cause in the war at Philippi. This led to the Umbrian revolt culminating in the Perusine War (41-40 BC). Hispellum supported Augustus in the Perusine War and became Colonia Julia Hispellum in ca. 41-40 BC. Augustus also favoured Hispellum by extending its territory to the springs and sanctuary of the Clitunno, 20 km distant, which had originally belonged to the territory of Mevania, and the city provided a public bath and accommodation there.

Under Augustus the town was also developed and monumentalisation of the hill slope was increased by the extension of the sanctuary with inclusion of the theatre etc. on a Hellenistic model, as at Tibur, Praenesta and other sites in Lazio.

It must have received more colonists under Vespasian as it is also referred to in inscriptions as "Colonia Urbana Flavia". It received another influx of veteran colonists under Hadrian.

Hispellum received the name of Flavia Constans by a rescript of the emperor Constantine recorded on a marble tablet found in 1733 at the centre of the sanctuary and now at the Communal Palace of Spello. It showed that the city was important, as it was thereby appointed the seat of the annual meetings of the Umbrian peoples, which had previously taken place only in the Etruscan city of Volsinii.

Sights

A survey of the upper town in the late 20th century showed that about 80% of the buildings lie on Roman foundations, making Spello the most Roman town in modern Umbria.

Roman remains also include:

 * The rich and elaborate Villa of the Mosaics has been excavated in recent years and is open to the public.
 * The 1.8 km-long walls are among the finest specimens of Roman wall in central Italy, formed by a very thick and compact concrete structure, covered on both sides by a very regular face of rectangular blocks of local pink limestone
 * The gate by which the town is entered (Porta Consolare) is ancient and has three portrait statues above it, although they are not original to the gate, having been found in the area of the amphitheatre
 * Five other gates may still be seen as part of the city wall, built of rectangular blocks of Subasio limestone. They include the Porta Venere, Porta dell'Arce, Porta Urbica
 * The upper town also has vestiges of what is possibly a triumphal arch: the inscription is dedicated to Augustus.
 * In the interior of the city are sections of large block walls, substructures for terracing the hill.
 * The Umbrian sanctuary of Venus includes the grounds of the Villa Fidelia as well as remains of the amphitheatre (the entrance and some stone curtain, which stood in the plain alongside the road to Assisi, can be seen to the northwest of the town), a temple of Venus, baths beneath the church of San Claudio near the amphitheatre with geometric mosaic floors and heated rooms.
 * The forum: the whole area between the Palazzo Comunale and the Convent of S. Andrea was terraced on the eastern and south-eastern sides by a supporting wall in local limestone preserved for about 130 m.
 * a villa rustica in via Baldini from the 1st/2nd centuries AD with thermal baths in 3 rooms. It was sited on a necropolis of the Republican age. The walls are preserved to their full height in the SE corner where part of a basin with stone slabs covered in cocciopesto has been brought to light: In the southwest corner are remains of the lower part of a square basin and tiled flooring in tiles (perhaps a settling tank), as in the immediate vicinity are traces of a furnace.
 * A large collection of local Roman inscriptions is housed in the Palazzo Comunale.
 * Roman remains under the present Piazza della Repubblica.

Villa of the Mosaics
The villa is one of the most important Roman sites in Umbria, even in Italy, with its spectacular mosaic floors of extraordinary technical quality in terms of design and colour rendering.

Of a total area of 500m2, there are 20 rooms remaining, 10 of which contain magnificent mosaic floors with geometric motifs and figures in various colours: white, red, black. green and yellow. A large peristyle, a porticoed courtyard that surrounded the garden complete with statues and fountains, was surrounded by a series of elaborate rooms with mosaics. The most important room was the triclinium with the Seasons mosaic.

It was first built in the Augustan age and modified at the end of the 2nd century. The villa was located along a secondary branch of the ancient Via Flaminia road, which came from Rome and extended through Umbria and continued to Rimini. It was a villa rustica, a farming estate with an agricultural part including several service rooms.

It was discovered in 2005, while building a carpark in a sports field just outside Spello's walls.

The sanctuary complex
A sanctuary of the Augustan period which included a grandiose theatre-temple-amphitheatre complex is located partially in the grounds of the Renaissance-style villa Fidelia to the northwest of the city. Geophysical surveys have allowed reconstruction of the sanctuary and its relationship to the theatre. The sanctuary occupied the area near the bottom of the Spello hill facing west as part of a scenographic layout. Three terraces were created to support the villa, two of which with mighty walls in Roman concrete (opus caementicium) covered with opus vittatum which supported the lower terraces are still visible. The second terrace contains the present "Italian" garden and Villa Fidelia itself which overlaps the lower terrace. The lower wall has remains of a large central nymphaeum and a quadrangular niche. Of the upper wall only the internal part in opus caementicium remains.

On the other side of the road are the scanty remains of the theatre, as well as the amphitheatre.

During construction of the villa Fidelia, around 1600, an inscription was found on a mosaic floor (CIL, XΙ, 5264), with a dedication of a statue and a base to Venus by the quinquennial duumvirs M. Granius and S. Lollius. The Church of S. Fedele in opus mixtum is probably to be connected with the late phase of the sanctuary mentioned by a Constantinian rescript (CIL,XI, 5265) of 333-337 AD, in which the emperor at the request of the inhabitants of the city allows the Umbrian population to be able to meet, no longer in Volsinii, and celebrate the theatrical and gladiatorial games with the Etruscan population.

The precious epigraphic text, found downstream from the sanctuary, testifies that the sacred theatre-temple structure existed prior to the rescript and must have already served for the annual meetings of the league of the Umbrians. The special geographical position of the sanctuary appears particularly strategic within the Umbrian valley, at the branch of the Via Flaminia towards Perusia and in visual and ideological connection with the sanctuaries at Mevania, Vettona, Urvinum Hortense and Trebiae.

The aqueduct
The Roman Aqueduct from Collepino to Spello is almost 5 km long. It was used until the 19th century and has been recently restored. It was mainly underground but has been exposed in several places where it runs to the side of the Chiona river, its specus forming an artificial terrace. On the lower wall of the aqueduct are many rectangular openings for inspection and maintenance.

Porta Urbica
Also known as the Porta San Ventura from the nearby church of the same name, this gate has a monumental character with a sober façade, and is a decorative arch inserted in the western walls. Built in the Augustan age, the gate has a single round arch and is built of ashlars of local limestone, is supported by smooth Tuscan pillars with no base, and has an architrave above crowned by a pediment. The gate was reopened in 1960 after being walled up for many years.

title: Hispellum


text:
Talk:The Dirty Fork

Untitled
Are you sure it's not Spanish? A.K.A.47

"The Dirty Fork sketch originally appeared in How to Irritate People" Not on my DVD it doesn't, unless the DVD is cut. Lee M 03:21, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, haven't seen the DVD version, but it was on my VHS copy Lokicarbis 04:28, Mar 14, 2005 (UTC)
 * It's not on my VHS copy - it may indeed have been cut for some copies or regions. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.240.227.248 (talk) 14:33, 8 December 2006 (UTC).

Merger?
Should be merged with "the Restaurant sketch" 70.51.122.7 05:49, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm inclined to agree. Lokicarbis 00:58, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I also agree. The two articles are distinction without a difference. Lou Sander 05:22, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

video
Is there some reason the video wasn't up or did no one just get around to it?--Mr.Brownstone 20:10, 7 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Someone placed a link to YouTube, i replaced it with another YouTube link of the sketch but with higher quality BritBoy 21:02, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

deletion notice
I removed the deletion notice because it appeared to me to be an arbitrary notice placed on several Monty Python sketches. While its true that this skit and several others can not be absolutely defined as notable, I would argue that was actually the nature of Monty Python. Some of the funniest bits of that show were not the sketches which are commonly known, such as Spam but really the segue pieces. I am therefore removing the deletion notice on the grounds that it is arbitrary, and that Wikipedia provides an excellent repository for showcasing Monty Python skits. There are after all 100s of Monty Python Skits and only a handful that have been made into articles in Wikipedia.--10stone5 20:20, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

again, removal of deletion notice
I'm removing the deletion notice again because of the arbitrary nature in which these articles are being cited for deletion. One individual is making the call on what should or should not be deleted on some 10 or so Monty Python articles.--10stone5 20:31, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:The Dirty Fork