Anabasis is the Greek title of Xenophon's celebrated account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against his brother Artaxerxes, king of Persia. The title is also given to Arrian's work which records the campaigns of Alexander the Great. Research Anabasis
The Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights is a celebrated collection of Eastern tales, long current in the East, and supposed to have been derived by the Arabians from India, through the medium of Persia. They were first introduced into Europe in the beginning of the eighteenth century by means of the French translation of Antoine Galland. Of some of them no original manuscript is known to exist; they were taken down by Galland from the oral communication of a Syrian friend. The story which connects the tales of the Thousand and One Nights is as follows: The Sultan Shahriyar, exasperated by the faithlessness
of his bride, made a law that every one of his future wives should he put to death the morning after marriage. At length one of them, Shahrazad, the generous daughter of the grand-vizier, succeeded in abolishing the cruel custom. By the charm of her stories the fair narrator induced the sultan to defer her execution every day until the dawn of another, by breaking off in the middle of an interesting tale which she had begun to relate. In the form we possess them these tales belong to a comparatively late period, though the exact date of their composition is not known. Lane, who published a translation of a number of the tales, with valuable notes, is of opinion that they took their present form some time between 1475 and 1525. Two complete English translations were printed around 1900, giving many passages that previous translators had omitted on the score of morality or decency. Research Arabian Nights
Marquetry is the art of veneering or inlaying with wood. The art was known in Egypt and the East two thousand years ago and was introduced from Persia into Venice during the 14th century, whence it spread to Florence, France, Germany and Holland. As intarsia it is conspicuous in church woodwork of the 15th century. Research Marquetry
Murrine vases were priceless vessels brought from Carmania in Persia and used in ancient Rome as wine cups where it was believed they would break if poison was mixed with the wine. Research Murrine
Nature worship is a religious devotion paid either to nature as a deified collective entity or to all things in nature, including the elements, celestial bodies, plants, animals, and humanity. The worship of the elements does not seem to occur in the most rudimentary religions but frequently arises in later stages of religious development. The worship of fire, found among many primitive peoples, reached its highest development in the ancient Parsis sect of Persia. Celestial bodies have been deified in the religious systems of primitive and highly civilised peoples alike. The Khoikhoi of South Africa worship the moon; sun worship was practised by the Iroquois, the Plains Indians, and the Tsimshian Indians of North America and reached a high state of development among the Indians of Mexico and Peru. The sun was also a Hindu deity, regarded as evil by the Dravidians of southern India, but considered good by the Munda of the central parts. The Babylonians were sun worshipers, and in ancient Persia worship of the sun was an integral
part of the cult of Mithra. The ancient Egyptians worshiped the sun god Ra; they also apotheosised the moon and the starSirius. Other Egyptian deities included the constellations and the circumpolar stars. Plants and trees have been worshiped as totems or because of their usefulness, beauty, or fear- inspiring aspect. They are considered either as holy in themselves or as the dwelling places of spirits. Both the soma plant of India and the coca shrub of Peru have been worshiped for the intoxicating properties of products derived from them. Field crops, regarded as harbouring spirits of fertility, have been worshiped both by primitive tribes and by the peasants of Europe, among whom traces of the cult may still be found. Research Nature Worship
Purim is a Jewish festival observed on the 14th and 15th of Adar (March), instituted to commemorate the preservation of the Jews in Persia from the destruction threatened them by the schemes of Haman. Research Purim
Seraglio was a term used in Istanbul (then called Constantinople) during the period from the 16th century onwards for the palace of the grand signior where he kept his court and his concubines were lodged, and where the youths were trained for the chief posts of the empire. The term was also used in Persia and Turkey to describe the house or palace of a prince, or of a foreign ambassador. Later the term came to be more generally used to describe a harem. Research Seraglio
Sufiism was a movement of revolt against the rigid law and wearisome ritual of Islam in Persia. It developed into a pantheistic mysticism which, tinged by the teachings of Zoroaster, adopted also some Buddhist theories of life. Research Sufiism
The Treaty of Berlin was signed on the 13th of July, 1878, at the close of the Berlin Congress, which was constituted by the representatives of the six Great Powers and Turkey. The Treaty of SanStefano, previously concluded between Turkey and Russia, was modified by the Berlin Treaty, which resulted In the division of Bulgaria into two parts, Bulgaria proper and Eastern Rumelia, the cession of parts of Armenia to Russia and Persia, the independence of Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro, the transference of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austrian administration, and the retrocession of Bessarabia to Russia. Greece was also to have an accession of territory. The British representatives were Beaconsfield, Salisbury, and LordOdo Russell. By a separate arrangement previously made between Britain and Turkey, the former got Cyprus to administer. Research Treaty of Berlin
In their original sense the words 'witch' and 'wizard' denoted the possessors of knowledge, or wise people. Much of the witchcraft of Europe was derived from the science of the Magi, or the magicians of ancient Chaldaea and Persia. Original witchcraft was both a science and a religion, hence leading to its persecution. In early Hebrew enactments against witchcraft it is evident that a struggle existed between conflicting sets of ideas, and this struggle continued in Christian times resulting in the persecution of the science as well as the religion and to the perversions that exist today, for example much herbalism is the scientific aspect of ' witchcraft', but much has been forgotten. It is likely that the struggle was predominantly one for power over the people - an ignorant or unwise people are easier to exploit by priests than a people well educated in the ways of science and nature.
In the USA, the early New Englanders believed that human beings could, by compact with evil spirits, obtain power to suspend the laws of nature and thus injure their fellows. In 1671 Samuel Willard, a minister of Massachusetts, proclaimed that a woman of his congregation, Knapp by name, was bewitched, though her insanity was clearly proven. Between 1684 and 1693 more than 100 persons were tried and convicted of witchcraft in the United States, and many of them were hanged. Special courts were appointed by Governor Phipps for the trial of witches. Witnesses were frequently guilty of open perjury, for the charge of witchcraft soon came to be used as a means of striking a private enemy. The witchcraft epidemic was especially prevalent at Salem, where a number of persons professed themselves bewitched and singled out those who had bewitched them. Educated men like Increase Mather firmly believed in it. In 1693 the superstition in the USA began to weaken chiefly through the writings and protests of Thomas Brattle and Robert Calef, of Boston. The same belief prevailed elsewhere at that time. Research Witchcraft
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Anabasis
