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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The dromon (from Greek δρόμων, dromōn, lit. 'runner'), a type of galley, became the most important type of warship of the Byzantine navy[2] from the 5th to 12th centuries AD, after which the Italian-style galley superseded it. It developed from the ancient liburnian,[3] which was the mainstay of the Roman navy during classical antiquity.[4]
The Middle English word dromond and the Old French word dromont derive from the Greek word; these names identified any particularly large medieval ship.[5]
The appearance and evolution of medieval warships is a matter of debate and conjecture; until recently, no remains of an oared warship from either ancient or early medieval times had been found and information had to be gathered by analyzing literary evidence, crude artistic depictions and the remains of a few merchant vessels (such as the 7th-century Pantano Longarini wreck from Sicily, the 7th-century Yassi Ada ship and the 11th-century Serçe Limanı wreck). Only in 2005–2006 did archaeological digs for the Marmaray project in the Harbor of Theodosius (modern Yenikapi) uncover the remains of over 36 Byzantine ships from the 6th to 10th centuries, including four light galleys of the galea type.[6]
The accepted view is that the main developments which differentiated the early dromons from the liburnians and that henceforth characterized Mediterranean galleys, were the adoption of a full deck (katastrōma), the abandonment of the rams on the bow in favor of an above-water spur and the gradual introduction of lateen sails.[7] Authors have suggested that the latter was introduced into the Mediterranean by Arabs, possibly with an ultimate origin in India. The discovery of new depictions and literary references in recent decades has led scholars to antedate the appearance of the lateen sail in the Levant to the late Hellenistic or early Roman period.[8][9] Not only the triangular, but also the quadrilateral version were known, used for centuries (mostly on smaller craft) in parallel with square sails.[8][10]
The reasons for the abandonment of the ram (Latin: rostrum, Greek: ἔμβολος) are unclear. Depictions of upward-pointing beaks in the 4th-century Vatican Vergil manuscript may well illustrate that the ram had already been replaced by a spur in late-Roman galleys.[11] Byzantinists John Pryor and Elizabeth Jeffreys argue that the purpose of the spur was to allow the dromon to ride up on an enemy's oars and crush them, destroying its propulsion, and point out that one of the medieval Latin terms for spur, "calcar", is derived from the verb "to trample".[12] One possibility is that the change occurred because of the gradual evolution of the ancient shell-first mortise and tenon hull construction method, against which rams had been designed, into the skeleton-first method, which produced a stronger and more flexible hull, less susceptible to ramming.[13] By the early 7th century, the ram's original function had been forgotten, if we judge by Isidore of Seville's comments that they were used to protect against collision with underwater rocks.[14]
Belisarius's fleet during the Vandalic War, as described by Procopius of Caesarea, was apparently at least partly fitted with lateen sails, making it probable that by that time the lateen had become the standard rig for the dromon, with the traditional square sail gradually falling from use in medieval navigation.[15][10] These 6th-century dromons were single-banked ('monoreme') ships of probably 50 oars, arranged with 25 oars on each side.[16] Again unlike Hellenistic vessels, which used an outrigger, these extended directly from the hull.[17] In the later two-banked ('bireme') dromons of the 9th and 10th centuries, the two oar banks (elasiai) were divided by the deck, with the first oar bank below and the second oar bank above deck; these rowers were expected to fight with the ship's marines in boarding operations.[18] The historian Christos Makrypoulias suggests an arrangement of 25 oarsmen beneath and 35 on the deck on either side for a dromon of 120 rowers.[19] The length of these ships was probably about 32 meters.[20] Most contemporary vessels had a single mast (histos or katartion), the larger bireme dromons probably needed at least two masts to maneuver, assuming that a lateen sail for a ship this size would have reached unmanageable dimensions.[21][22] The ship was steered by means of two quarter rudders at the stern (prymnē), which also housed a tent (skēnē) that covered the captain's berth (krab[b]at[t]os).[23] The prow (prōra) featured an elevated forecastle (pseudopation), below which the siphon for the discharge of Greek fire projected; secondary siphons could also be carried amidships on either side.[24][25] A pavesade (kastellōma), on which marines could hang their shields, ran around the sides of the ship, providing protection to the deck crew.[26] Larger ships also had wooden castles (xylokastra) on either side between the masts, similar to those attested for the Roman liburnians, providing archers with elevated firing platforms.[27] The bow spur (peronion) was intended to ride over an enemy ship's oars, breaking them and rendering it helpless against missile fire and boarding.[28]
The four galeai ships uncovered in the Yenikapi excavations, dating to the 10th–11th centuries, are of uniform design and construction, suggesting centralized manufacturing. They have a length of about 30 metres (98 ft), and are built of European Black Pine and Oriental plane.[29]
By the 10th century, there were three main classes of bireme warships of the general dromon type, as detailed in the inventories for the expeditions sent against the Emirate of Crete in 911 and 949: the [chelandion] ousiakon ([χελάνδιον] οὑσιακόν), so named because it was manned by an ousia of 108 men; the [chelandion] pamphylon ([χελάνδιον] πάμφυλον), crewed with up to 120–160 men, its name either implying an origin in the region of Pamphylia as a transport ship or its crewing with "picked crews" (from πᾶν+φῦλον, 'all tribes'); and the dromōn proper, crewed by two ousiai.[30][31] In Constantine VII's De Ceremoniis, the heavy dromōn is said to have an even larger crew of 230 rowers and 70 marines; the naval expert John H. Pryor considers them as supernumerary crews being carried aboard, while Makrypoulias suggests that the extra men correspond to a second rower on each of the upper-bank oars.[32][33] A smaller, single-bank ship, the monērēs (μονήρης, 'single-banked') or galea (γαλέα, from which the term "galley" derives), with c. 60 men as crew, was used for scouting missions but also in the wings of the battle line.[34]
Three-banked ('trireme') dromons are described in a 10th-century work dedicated to the parakoimōmenos Basil Lekapenos. However, this treatise, which survives only in fragments, draws heavily upon references on the appearance and construction of a classical Greek trireme, and must therefore be used with care when trying to apply it to the warships of the middle Byzantine period.[35][36] The existence of trireme vessels is, however, attested in the Fatimid navy in the 11th and 12th centuries, and references made by Leo VI to large Arab ships in the 10th century may also indicate trireme galleys.[37]
For cargo transport, the Byzantines usually commandeered ordinary merchantmen as transport ships (phortēgoi) or supply ships (skeuophora). These appear to have been mostly sailing vessels, rather than oared.[38] The Byzantines and Arabs also employed horse-transports (hippagōga), which were either sailing ships or galleys, the latter certainly modified to accommodate the horses.[39] Given that the chelandia appear originally to have been oared horse-transports, this would imply differences in construction between the chelandion and the dromōn proper, terms which otherwise are often used indiscriminately in literary sources. While the dromōn was developed exclusively as a war galley, the chelandion would have had to have a special compartment amidships to accommodate a row of horses, increasing its beam and hold depth.[40]
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The dromon (from Greek δρόμων, dromōn, lit. 'runner'), a type of galley, became the most important type of warship of the Byzantine navy from the 5th to 12th centuries AD, after which the Italian-style galley superseded it. It developed from the ancient liburnian, which was the mainstay of the Roman navy during classical antiquity. The Middle English word dromond and the Old French word dromont derive from the Greek word; these names identified any particularly large medieval ship.
The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the Byzantine Empire. Like the state it served, it was a direct continuation from its Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its earlier iteration. While the fleets of the Roman Empire faced few great naval threats, operating as a policing force vastly inferior in power and prestige to the army, command of the sea became vital to the very existence of the Byzantine state, which several historians have called a "maritime empire". The first threat to Roman hegemony in the Mediterranean Sea was posed by the Vandals in the 5th century. The re-establishment of a permanently maintained fleet and the introduction of the dromon galley in the same period also marks the point when the Byzantine navy began developing its own characteristic identity, a process furthered with the onset of the early Muslim conquests in the 7th century. Following the loss of the Levant and later Africa, the Mediterranean was transformed from a "Roman lake" into a battleground between the Byzantines and a series of Muslim states. The Byzantine fleets proved critical, not only for the defence of the Empire's possessions around the Mediterranean basin, but also for repelling attacks against the capital, Constantinople. Through the use of the newly invented "Greek fire", the navy's famous weapon, Constantinople was saved from several sieges and numerous naval engagements resulted in Byzantine victories. Initially, the defence of the Byzantine coasts was borne by the great fleet of the Karabisianoi. Progressively however it was split up into several regional fleets, while a central Imperial Fleet was maintained at Constantinople to guard the city and form the core of naval expeditions. By the late 8th century, the Byzantine navy was again the dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean. Conflicts with navies of the Muslim world continued with varying success, but in the 10th century, the Byzantines were able to regain supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. During the 11th century, the navy, like the Empire itself, began to decline. The Byzantines were increasingly forced to rely on the navies of Italian city-states such as Venice and Genoa, with disastrous effects on the Empire's economy and sovereignty. A period of recovery under the Komnenos dynasty was followed by another period of decline, which culminated in the disastrous dissolution of the Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. After the Empire was restored in 1261, several Palaiologan emperors attempted to revive the navy, but their efforts only had a temporary effect. Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos even dissolved the navy completely, allowing Venice to defeat the Byzantines in two wars. By the mid-14th century, the Byzantine fleet was limited to a few dozen ships at best, and control of the Aegean Sea had passed to Italian navies and, in the 15th century, the nascent Ottoman Navy. The diminished Byzantine navy continued to be active until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
Constantinople, the modern Istanbul, was the capital of the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire from 330 until its takeover by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. After this, it continued to function as the Ottoman capital until the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate in 1922. It was located at the core of the modern city of Istanbul, on a peninsula at the southeastern tip of Thrace in Europe; with the Bosporus strait and the ancient cities of Chalcedon and Chrysopolis in Bithynia, Anatolia (Asia Minor) to the east; the Golden Horn and the citadel of Galata (Pera) to the north; the Sea of Marmara to the south; and the Princes' Islands to the southeast. Constantinople was founded on the site of the existing city of Byzantium in 324, during the reign of Constantine the Great, initially as Nova Roma ("New Rome"). In 330 it became the new eastern capital of the Roman Empire, and remained as the sole capital of the empire after the western parts were lost in the 5th century. The ascendancy of Constantinople marks the empire's "Byzantine" era. From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia, the cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; the Imperial Palace of the emperors; the Hippodrome; the Golden Gate of the Land Walls; and opulent aristocratic palaces. The University of Constantinople was founded in the 5th century and included a vast Imperial Library, which contained more than 100,000 volumes. Constantinople was famous for its massive and complex fortifications, which ranked among the most sophisticated defensive architecture of antiquity; the Theodosian walls consisted of a double wall lying about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the first wall and a moat with palisades in front. Constantinople's location between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara reduced the land area that required defensive walls. The city was constructed intentionally to rival Rome, and it was claimed that several elevations within its walls matched Rome's seven hills. The impenetrable defenses enclosed magnificent palaces, domes, and towers, the result of the prosperity Constantinople achieved as the gateway between two continents (Europe and Asia) and two seas (the Mediterranean and the Black Sea). Although besieged on numerous occasions by various armies, the defenses of Constantinople proved impenetrable for nearly nine hundred years. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the city was sacked by the Latin Crusaders and became the capital of the short-lived Latin Empire (1204–1261). The Byzantine Empire of Nicaea recaptured the city in 1261. Under the following Palaiologan dynasty it enjoyed a partial recovery. With the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1299, the empire's territories dwindled, and the city began to lose population. By the early 15th century, the empire was reduced to just Constantinople and its environs, along with the territories of the despotate of Morea, in Peloponnese, Greece, making it an enclave inside the Ottoman Empire. The city was finally besieged and conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. It served as the Ottoman capital until the empire's dissolution and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, when the capital was moved to Ankara. Now known internationally under its modern Turkish name Istanbul, it has become the most populous city in Europe, with a population of more than 16 million residents, and the economic and financial centre of Turkey, straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia.
Justinian I (Latin: Iustinianus, Ancient Greek: Ἰουστινιανός, romanized: Ioustinianós; 482 – 14 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii ('restoration of the Empire'). This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius, Narses, and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic Kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily, Italy, and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths. The praetorian prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian Peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over a million solidi. During his reign, Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. He engaged the Sasanian Empire in the east during Kavad I's reign, and later again during Khosrow I's reign; this second conflict was partially initiated due to his ambitions in the west. Justinian is regarded as one of the most prominent and influential Roman emperors, with numerous accomplishments achieved during his reign. One of the most enduring aspects of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, which was first applied throughout the Eastern Mediterannean and is still the basis of civil law in many modern states. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded works such as the Hagia Sophia. Conversely, Justinian's reign was troubled by religious conflicts between Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Christians.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.
