Animal training are sexgames in which one or more partners, take on the role of an animal, such as a horse (pony girl) or dog. The 'animal' may imitate animal behaviour, wearing items such as collars, leads, bridles and so on, or carry out tasks associated with the animal, such as pulling a vehicle. Research Animal Training
Bastinado is a form of torture or punishment (often used in SMsexgames) involving beating the soles of the feet. Originally, bastinado was employed as a method of corporal punishment, consisting of blows upon the soles of the feet, applied with a stick, in the Far East. Research Bastinado
In law, battery is the intentional or reckless application of physical force to someone without his consent.
Battery is a form of trespass to the person and is a summary offence (punishable with a fine of up to 2000 pounds and/or six months' imprisonment) as well as a tort, even if no actual harm results. If actual harm does result, however, the consent of the victim may not prevent the act from being criminal, except when the injury is inflicted in the course of properly conducted sports or games (e.g. rugby or boxing) or as a result of reasonable surgical intervention, for example in the 'Spanner Case' a group of consenting adults were convicted for indulging in sado-masochistic sex acts. Research Battery
Bondage is a family of sexual activities, generally involving the tying or strapping up of one partner or the other. Popular forms include Japaneserope bondage, involving extensive binding with rope. Often, though not necessarily, bondage is associated with sado-masochism, slave and master games or pony girlgames. Typical variations range from tying a partner's hands behind their back or handcuffing them in the manner of a police arrest, through to tying a partner spread-eagle on their back to a table, or standing against a wall. Tight fitting clothes, such as corsets are another popular form of self-administered bondage, particularly for women. Research Bondage
A butterfly board is a sex toy used in some play piercing games. It comprises a card or wooden board with a hole cut to the shape of the male genitalia. The board is placed over the genitals and the skin of the edges of the penis and scrotum is pinned with needles or nails to it. Research Butterfly Board
Among the Romans, a circus was a nearly rectangular building without a roof, in which public chariot-races and exhibitions of pugilism and wrestling, etc, took place. It was rectangular, except that one short side formed a half-circle; and on both sides, and on the semicircular end, were the seats of the spectators, rising gradually one above another, like steps. On the outside the circus was surrounded with colonnades, galleries, shops, and public places. The largest of these buildings in Rome was the Circus Maximus, capable, according to Pliny, of containing 260,000, and according to Aurelius Victor, 385,000 spectators. At present, however, but few vestiges of it remain, and the circus of Caracalla is in the best preservation. The games celebrated in these structures were known collectively by the name of ludi circenses, circensian games, or games of the circus, which under the emperors attained the greatest magnificence.
The principal games of the circus were the ludi Romani or magni (Roman or Great Games), which were celebrated from the 4th to the 14th of September, in honour of the great gods, so called. The passion of the common or poorer class of people for these shows appears from the cry with which they addressed their rulers - panem et circenses (bread and the games!). The festival was opened by a splendid procession, or pompa, in which the magistrates, senate, priests, augurs, vestal virgins, and athletes, took part, carrying with them the images of the great gods, the Sibylline books, and sometimes the spoils of war. On reaching the circus the procession went round once in a circle, the sacrifices were performed, the spectators took their places, and the games commenced. These were:
1. Races with horses and chariots, in which men of the highest rank engaged.
2. The gymnastic contests.
3. The Trojan games, prize contests on horseback, revived by Julius Caesar.
4. The combats with wild beasts, in which beasts fought with beasts or with men (criminals or volunteers).
5. Representations of naval engagements (naumachioe), for which purpose the circus could be laid under water.
The expense of these games was often immense. Pompey, in his second consulship, brought forward 500 lions at one combat of wild beasts, which, with eighteen elephants, were slain in five days.
The modern circus is a place where horses and wild animals are trained to perform antics, and where exhibitions of acrobats and various pageantries, including a large amount of buffoonery, are presented. Research Circus
Contorniati were ancient medals or medallions in bronze, having a curved furrow (contorno) on each side. They were supposed to have been struck in the days of Constantine the Great and his successors, and to have formed tickets of admission to the public games of the circus of Rome and of Constantinople. Research Contorniati
A dominatrix is a woman who plays the dominant role in sexgames, typically those of a bondage, sado-masochistic or slave and master variety. Usually, a dominatrix is depicted in black leather, frequently with a military-style peaked cap, thigh length, stiletto heeled boots and a whip, and the sexgames are of a sado-masochistic nature, the other participant or participants being known as submissives or 'subs', and being subjected to degrees of humiliation or ordering about by the dominatrix.
The dominatrix is a popular figure in sexgames, particularly among executive business men who find their daily lives an endless stress of decision making, and appreciate having the responsibility for making decisions taken away from them for a short while during an effective role-reversal recreation.
Sexgames involving the dominatrix traverse the spectrum of sado-masochism and slave-master sex from the benign - such as being ordered which sexual positions to adopt, through body worship (being instructed to kiss the dominatrix feet and other parts of the body), through the more strict corporal punishment involving spanking, caning, whipping etc and also varying levels of humiliation. Typical humiliation games include the submissive participant or participants being ordered to crawl about like a dog, being handcuffed, tied or otherwise restrained in bondage, and may involve the submissive male participant being dressed in women's clothes, or being ordered to clean the floor or even toilet bowl with their tongue.
During such games the submissives always refer to the dominatrix as 'mistress' or 'madam', and maintain a suitably servile and submissive nature, unless deliberately courting 'correction' for misbehaviour or cheekiness. Research Dominatrix
An epoch, or era, is a fixed point of time, commonly selected on account of some remarkable event by which it has been distinguished, and which is made the beginning or determining point of a particular year from which all other years, whether preceding or ensuing, are computed. In the Christian countries, the creation and the birth of Christ are the most important of the historical epochs. The creation has formed the foundation of various chronologies, the chief of which are: 1. The epoch adopted by Bossuet, Ussher, and other Catholic and Protestant divines, which places the creation in 4004 BC. 2. The Era of Constantinople (adopted by Russia), which places it in 5508 BC. 3. The Era of Antioch, used until 284 AD, placed the creation 5502 BC. 4. The Era of Aexandria, which made the creation 5492 BC. This is also the Abyssinian Era. 5. The Jewish Era, which places the creation in 3760 BC.
The Greeks computed their time by periods of four years, called Olympiads, from the occurrence every fourth year of the Olympic games. The first Olympiad, being the year in which Coroebus was victor in the Olympic games, was in the year 776 BC.
The Romans dated from the supposed era of the foundation of their city (Ab Urbe Condita, A.U.C.), the 21st of April, in the third year of the sixth Olympiad, or 753 BC (according to some authorities 752 BC).
The Christian Era, or mode of computing from the birth of Christ as a starting-point, was first introduced in the 6th century, and was generally adopted by the year 1000. This event is believed to have taken place earlier, perhaps by four years, than the received date.
The Julian epoch, based on the coincidence of the solar, lunar, and indictional periods, is fixed at 4713 BC, and is the only epoch established on an astronomical basis.
The Mohammedan Era, or Hejira, commences on the 16th of July, 622, and the years are computed by lunar months.
The Chinese traditionally reckoned their time by cycles of 60 years. Instead of numbering them as we do, they traditionally gave a different name to every year in the cycle. Research Epoch
Etruscan Vases are a class of beautiful ancient painted vases made in Etruria, but not strictly speaking a product of Etruscan art, since they were really the productions of a ripe age of Greek art, the workmanship, subjects, style, and inscriptions being all Greek. They are elegant in form and enriched with bands of beautiful foliage and other ornaments, figures and similar subjects of a highly artistic character. One class has black figures and ornaments on a red ground - the natural colour of the clay; another has the figures left of the natural colour and the ground painted black. The former class belong to a date about 600 BC, the latter date about a century later, and extend over a period of about 300 or 350 years, when the manufacture seems to have ceased. During this period there was much variety in the form and ornamentation, gold and other colours besides the primitive ones of black and red being frequently made use of. The subjects represented upon these vases frequently relate to heroic personages of the Greek mythology, but many scenes of an ordinary and even of a domestic character are depicted. The figures are usually in profile. Temples are occassionaly introduced. Many features of Hellenic rituals, games, festivals and domestic life can be gleaned from these vases. Research Etruscan Vases
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Animal Training
