The historic Elfreth’s Alley, dating as early as 1703, contains 32 houses all built until 1836 and lies within the Old City on the northeast corner of Center City, Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
The cobblestone alley is lined with Georgian and Federal style as well as Trinity residences, named after local blacksmith and property owner Jeremiah Elfreth, that were typical in Philadelphia back in those days.
It features the Elfreth’s Alley Museum which preserves the 18th century home of a pair of dressmakers, restored to its Colonial look, while it annually stages the Fête Day in early June that honours its diverse ethnic background.
Σύμφωνα με το θρύλο, σε μια ανελεή επιδίωξη της γνώσης ο Odin θυσίασε τον ευατό του κρεμώμενος από το ιερό δέντρο του κόσμου (συμπαντική έννοια) Yggdrasil με σκοπό να ανακαλύψει τα μυστικά των ρούνων (ιερά μυστικά), τα οποία κατείχαν οι τρεις αρχέγονες θεότητες της μοίρας Norns (Urðr, Verðandi and Skuld).
Ο Odin χρειαζόταν να αποδείξει ότι ήταν άξιος τέτοιας γνώσης για αυτό υπέβαλλε τον εαυτό του στο μαρτύριο, με μία λόγχη να διαπερνά το σώμα του επίσης, για εννιά μέρες και νύχτες έχοντας επιπλέον απαγορεύσει στους άλλους θεούς να του προσφέρουν οποιαδήποτε βοήθεια από άποψη τροφής ή υγρών κατά τη διάρκειά του.
Σε αυτό το θέμα, δεν πρέπει στην πραγματικότητα να κρέμασε τον εαυτό του από τον λαιμό από ένα κλαδί, όπως συχνά απεικονίζεται, αλλά αντιθέτως από τον κορμό του όπως ακριβώς ο Arnold Schwarzenegger ως Conan εμφανίζεται από το Δέντρο των Συμφορών (εικόνα) στην πολύ γνωστή ταινία ‘Conan the Barbarian.’
Στην ουσία, ο Odin σταυρώθηκε επάνω στο Yggdrasil, κάτι που ενδεχομένως εξηγεί την ερμηνεία του ονόματός του ως ‘υποστήριγμα του Odin,’ καθώς το πρότυπο της δοκιμασίας ξεκάθαρα δείχνει ομοιότητες με το μαρτύριο του Ιησού επάνω στο σταυρό σύμφωνα με τη χριστιανική παράδοση, το οποίο είναι χρονολογικά αρκετά κατοπινό.
Ο Odin κρεμώταν εκεί κοιτώντας διαρκώς κάτω (το οποίο δεν θα μπορούσε να κάνει αν είχε κρεμαστεί από το λαιμό) χωρίς σταματημό στα αρχέγονα νερά του Urðarbrunnr, ή Πηγάδι του Urðr (Πηγάδι της Μοίρας), στις ρίζες του Yggdrasil καλώντας τους ρούνους, όπως ακριβώς ο Ιησούς καλούσε τις Γραφές (ιερά μυστικά) επάνω στο σταυρό, μέχρι που τελικά άρχισε να διακρίνει σχήματα αυτών στο τέλος της ένατης νύχτας.
Υπόψη σας, σε μια σταύρωση κάποιος μπορούσε επίσης να δένεται παρά να καρφώνεται επάνω σε ένα σταυρό, μια δοκό ή κάποιο άλλο ξύλινο υποστήριγμα όπου αφηνόταν κρεμώμενος μέχρι να πεθάνει από εξάντληση.
ΣΣ Ο Odin απεικονίζεται επίσης πολλές φορές κρεμώμενος από τον κορμό του Yggdrasil όπως προσωπικά θεωρώ ο ίδιος.
This is the top end of the landmark Angels Flight, a narrow gauge funicular railway, on South Hill Street in the Bunker Hill District in Downtown Los Angeles.
It involves two funicular cars named Olivet and Sinai that run in opposite directions on a shared cable and cover a distance of roughly 91m (298ft) with an elevation gain of 29m (96ft).
The short railway was originally laid down along the 3rd Street Tunnel linking Hill Street and Olive Street in 1901 to wind up in 1969 before it reopened in its current location half a block south on South Hill Street in 1996, linking it to California Plaza.
Chand Baori is a large stepwell (baori) about 30m deep into the ground, among the largest in the country, that lies at the village of Abhaneri in the state of Rajasthan, northeastern India.
Tradition has that it was named after a local ruler named Raja Chanda of the Nikumbh dynasty but no relative inscription or the like has been found about it by way of evidence to substantiate that.
Architectural style and carvings, in light of similarities to the terraced temples of Paranagar and Mandore, suggest that it was likely constructed around the 8th or 9th century AD while it features an upper palace building that was added much later to the site.
On top of it, the baori contains no less than 3500 narrow steps down a cascading 13 stories in remarkable symmetry, featuring a number of arched pavillions on the north side, and was intended as a water reserve for the locals amidst the arid land of Rajasthan.
By and large, the English word ‘dragon’ appears to come via the Norman ‘dragun’ from the Old French (Frankish) ‘dragon’ (that in turn maybe from its Old Occitan namesake) which traces further back to the Latin ‘draco’ or ‘dracco’ and eventually down to ancient Greek (Koini, Common) ‘Δράκων’ (ðrakon).
Nonetheless, the latter definitely derives on the earlier Hellenic ‘ΔΡΑΚΩΝ’ (pronounced as ‘dra’kun’ instead) while the Latin form may as well derive, as it often happens, on the Anatolian tongues or Etruscan, which shows itself many similarities to Lydian, Phrygian and Lycian.
That said, that may not quite be the case yet and, as mentioned in another post, there is an Armenian word (տարխուն) pronounced as ‘tɑɾˈχun’ (tarhun) that is actually the name of a plant carrying the sense of ‘dragon plant,’ which could as well derive on the name of the very ancient Hittite storm god Tarḫun since the two are very much identical.
After all, ancient Armenia overlapped the lands of the once Hittite Empire and the Mitanni while Tarḫun was the equivalent or the same god as Hattian Tar(h)u and Hurrian Teshub, a legendary feat of whom all was slaying the mighty dragon Illuyanka.
By implication, the god’s name Tarḫun may not only carry the meaning of ‘conqueror’ but also more specifically then the nuance of ‘Conqueror of the Dragon.’ For that matter, in cuneiform Hattian Tar(h)u’s name appears also as ‘Daar(h)u’ which in turn could reflect on his Hittite counterpart as ‘Daarḫun’ indicating an interchange between ‘t’ and ‘d’ as first letter in the names.
The other way round, the English ‘tar-ragon’ (little dragon) derives on Middle French ‘tar-gon’ and that from Latin ‘tragonia’ tracing all the way down to Hellenic ‘ΔΡΑΚΩΝ’ (drakun) again that not only shows the same interchange between ‘t’ and ‘d’ but also a shift of the ‘r’ on the other side of the initial ‘a.’
Therefore, the same interchange between ‘t’ and ‘d’ as well as shift of ‘r’ may have occured between ‘Tar-ḫun’ and ‘ΔΡΑΚΩΝ’ (dra’kun) conveyed from Anatolia across the Aegean and further afield, with the former the apparent origin of the very word.
Come to that, note also that the ‘ḫ’ in ‘Tarḫun’ was pronounced as ‘χ’ where the respective letter ‘χ’ was pronounced as an ‘aspirated k’ in Hellenic in the same position so there is further phonetic accordance between the two apart from their structure.
Even more so when linguists seem to have established a connection between Greek ”Δράκων’ (ðrakon) and Armenian ‘tɑɾˈχun’ (tarhun) in the first place.
Ultimately, Hittite and Hattian are far older tongues and Tarhun a far older name so the direction is obvious in this case.
PS The above mentioned also suggest that Hellenic ‘ΔΡΑΚΩΝ’ could have had an earlier, or alternate, form of ‘ΔΡΑΧΩΝ’ with effectively the same pronunciation (dra’kun).
Note also the name Τράχωνες (tra-chones), a neighbourhood in Athens, coming from an earlier form of ‘τραχών’ (‘tra-‘chon,’ stressed on the last syllable instead) that has no known etymology.
Yet, it would be pronounced as ‘tra’kun’ in ancient Hellenic which falls perfectly in accord with ‘ΔΡΑΧΩΝ’ or ‘ΔΡΑΚΩΝ’ with the same interchange of ‘τ’ (t) and ‘ð’ (d) at the beginning to further support the above – and I am pretty sure it has got the same origin.
It appears as though ancient philosopher Pythagoras (c. 570 – 495 BC) wasn’t actually the one that discovered the theorem named after him, the noted Pythagorean Theorem, but may have more of introduced it within the bounds of Europe.
Plimpton 322 (picture), a Babylonian clay tablet probably made around 1800 BC, demonstrates that Babylonians knew how to construct what is known as ‘Pythagorean triples’ around 1300 years before Pythagoras himself lived while the rule was apparently in widespread use within the Old Babylonian Empire.
The Berlin Papyrus 6619, dated as early as the Middle Kingdom and the Twelfth Dynasty (roughly 1991 to 1802 BC), suggests that Egyptians were also aware of the theorem around the same time through a mathematical problem it presents.
Furthermore, the Baudhayana Shulba Sutra in India, dated sometime between the 8th and 5th century BC, involves a list of Pythagorean triples and a statement of the theorem that deal with both the isosceles right triangle and the general case, as does the Apastamba Shulba Sutra (c. 600 BC).
It is quite likely that Pythagoras rather found out about it during the ten years he is believed to have lived in Egypt and studied under the very priests in Thebes as well as under Oenuphis in Heliopolis, said by Antiphon to have learnt Egyptian by Pharaoh Amasis II himself, where he is also thought to have studied under the Magi in Persia.
Breaking through History 