Poet
Poet (in Arabic, sha‘ir). In ancient Arabia, the poet was considered to be possessed by some special knowledge, communicated to him by a kind of familiar spirit which inspired him. He had in his company one or more real persons (in Arabic, rawi) whose business it was to remember his verses and to recite them in other camps. In many cases, the rawi himself became a poet of note. The poet stood for the honor of his tribe; he had to mourn his relations or the valiant men of his clan or sing the defiant diatribe (in Arabic, hija’) against the enemy. In the eighth century, the poets began to beg for favors from the mighty and the rich, to add lampoons against rivals and to use new themes such as poems on boys and obscene ditties. The Prophet condemned the poets “whom follow the beguiled” (Qur’an 26:224), although Hassan ibn Thabit is considered as his poet laureate.
Sha'ir see Poet
Poet (in Arabic, sha‘ir). In ancient Arabia, the poet was considered to be possessed by some special knowledge, communicated to him by a kind of familiar spirit which inspired him. He had in his company one or more real persons (in Arabic, rawi) whose business it was to remember his verses and to recite them in other camps. In many cases, the rawi himself became a poet of note. The poet stood for the honor of his tribe; he had to mourn his relations or the valiant men of his clan or sing the defiant diatribe (in Arabic, hija’) against the enemy. In the eighth century, the poets began to beg for favors from the mighty and the rich, to add lampoons against rivals and to use new themes such as poems on boys and obscene ditties. The Prophet condemned the poets “whom follow the beguiled” (Qur’an 26:224), although Hassan ibn Thabit is considered as his poet laureate.
Sha'ir see Poet
police
police (in Arabic, shurta; in Turkish, karakol [“police station”]). In the ‘Abbasid period, the title “commander of the bodyguard” was reserved for a special official who was responsible for order and public security. Under the ‘Abbasids, the Spanish Umayyads and the Fatimids, the commander of the bodyguard was empowered to take action on mere suspicion. Only the lower classes, however, were under his power. In the Ottoman Empire, the maintenance of security and order was entrusted mainly to the Janissaries. After the suppression of the latter in 1826, public security became the responsibility of an official called ser-‘asker.
shurta see police
karakol see police
police (in Arabic, shurta; in Turkish, karakol [“police station”]). In the ‘Abbasid period, the title “commander of the bodyguard” was reserved for a special official who was responsible for order and public security. Under the ‘Abbasids, the Spanish Umayyads and the Fatimids, the commander of the bodyguard was empowered to take action on mere suspicion. Only the lower classes, however, were under his power. In the Ottoman Empire, the maintenance of security and order was entrusted mainly to the Janissaries. After the suppression of the latter in 1826, public security became the responsibility of an official called ser-‘asker.
shurta see police
karakol see police
Polisario
Polisario (Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro). Army of the Western Sahara that was, for years fighting the Moroccan and Mauritanian occupation of Western Sahara, an occupation that began in 1975 (for Mauritania until 1979).
Polisario was formed in 1973 as a reaction towards several broken promises on Saharan independence from the Spanish colonialist regime. The name “Polisario” was a short form of Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro.
Polisario has since 1975 been stationed in Tindouf, the westernmost town in Algeria. While the exact numbers of the troops was not known, most estimates set it at around 10,000. Polisario was led by a former member of the Communist Party in Morocco, Mustapha Ouali, at the time of the occupation. His battle was with the Polisario started well into the period of Spanish colonization.
Polisario had so much success fighting Mauritania, which for the first years was the main enemy, that the occupation ended on this side. However, despite the peace treaty between the two parties, signed August 5, 1979, the southern third of Western Sahara was passed on to the far stronger Morocco. Morocco then managed to fight off Polisario, apparently now for good, as a 1600 kilometers long sand wall has been built along the border, making it very difficult for Polisario’s army to pass. The result was the United Nations peace plan of 1988, that in reality gave Morocco a carte blanche in the region, and the proposed referendum on the future of Western Sahara, was put off time after time.
From the mid-1980s Morocco largely managed to keep Polisario troops off by building a huge berm or sand wall (the Moroccan Wall), staffed by an army roughly the same size as the entire Sahrawi population, enclosing within it the economically useful parts of Western Sahara (Bou Craa, El-Aaiun, Smara, etc.) This stalemated the war, with no side able to achieve decisive gains, but artillery strikes and sniping attacks by the guerrillas continued, and Morocco was economically and politically strained by the war. Today Polisario controls the part of the Western Sahara on the east of the Moroccan Wall, comprising about a third of the territory, but this area is economically useless, heavily mined, and almost uninhabited.
A cease-fire between the Polisario Front and Morocco, monitored by MINURSO (UN), has been in effect since September 6, 1991, on the promise of a referendum on independence the following year. However, the referendum stalled over disagreements on voter rights. Numerous attempts to restart the process (most significantly the launching of the 2003 Baker plan) seem to have failed. The Polisario has repeatedly threatened to resume hostilities if a referendum cannot be held, and claims that the current situation of "neither peace, nor war" is unsustainable. Pressures on the leadership from the refugee population to resume fighting are apparent, but to date the cease fire has been respected.
In April 2007, the government of Morocco suggested that a self-governing entity, through the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the United Nations Security Council in mid-April 2007, and quickly gained French and US support. Polisario had handed in its own proposal the day before, which insisted on the previously agreed referendum, but allowed for negotiating the status of Moroccans now living in the territory should the outcome of a referendum be in favor of independence. The stalemate led the UN Security Council to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach "a mutually accepted political solution". This led to the negotiations process known as the Manhasset negotiations. Four rounds were held in 2007 and 2008. No progress was made, however, as both parties refused to compromise about what they considered core sovereignty issues. Polisario agreed to add autonomy as per the Moroccan proposal to a referendum ballot, but refused to relinquish the concept of an independence referendum itself, as agreed in 1991 and 1997. Morocco, in its turn, insisted on only negotiating the terms of autonomy offered, but refused to consider an option of independence on the ballot.
In May 2010, Polisario Front suspended contacts with the MINURSO, because of the failure on implementing the self-determination referendum.
Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro see Polisario
Polisario (Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro). Army of the Western Sahara that was, for years fighting the Moroccan and Mauritanian occupation of Western Sahara, an occupation that began in 1975 (for Mauritania until 1979).
Polisario was formed in 1973 as a reaction towards several broken promises on Saharan independence from the Spanish colonialist regime. The name “Polisario” was a short form of Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro.
Polisario has since 1975 been stationed in Tindouf, the westernmost town in Algeria. While the exact numbers of the troops was not known, most estimates set it at around 10,000. Polisario was led by a former member of the Communist Party in Morocco, Mustapha Ouali, at the time of the occupation. His battle was with the Polisario started well into the period of Spanish colonization.
Polisario had so much success fighting Mauritania, which for the first years was the main enemy, that the occupation ended on this side. However, despite the peace treaty between the two parties, signed August 5, 1979, the southern third of Western Sahara was passed on to the far stronger Morocco. Morocco then managed to fight off Polisario, apparently now for good, as a 1600 kilometers long sand wall has been built along the border, making it very difficult for Polisario’s army to pass. The result was the United Nations peace plan of 1988, that in reality gave Morocco a carte blanche in the region, and the proposed referendum on the future of Western Sahara, was put off time after time.
From the mid-1980s Morocco largely managed to keep Polisario troops off by building a huge berm or sand wall (the Moroccan Wall), staffed by an army roughly the same size as the entire Sahrawi population, enclosing within it the economically useful parts of Western Sahara (Bou Craa, El-Aaiun, Smara, etc.) This stalemated the war, with no side able to achieve decisive gains, but artillery strikes and sniping attacks by the guerrillas continued, and Morocco was economically and politically strained by the war. Today Polisario controls the part of the Western Sahara on the east of the Moroccan Wall, comprising about a third of the territory, but this area is economically useless, heavily mined, and almost uninhabited.
A cease-fire between the Polisario Front and Morocco, monitored by MINURSO (UN), has been in effect since September 6, 1991, on the promise of a referendum on independence the following year. However, the referendum stalled over disagreements on voter rights. Numerous attempts to restart the process (most significantly the launching of the 2003 Baker plan) seem to have failed. The Polisario has repeatedly threatened to resume hostilities if a referendum cannot be held, and claims that the current situation of "neither peace, nor war" is unsustainable. Pressures on the leadership from the refugee population to resume fighting are apparent, but to date the cease fire has been respected.
In April 2007, the government of Morocco suggested that a self-governing entity, through the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the United Nations Security Council in mid-April 2007, and quickly gained French and US support. Polisario had handed in its own proposal the day before, which insisted on the previously agreed referendum, but allowed for negotiating the status of Moroccans now living in the territory should the outcome of a referendum be in favor of independence. The stalemate led the UN Security Council to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach "a mutually accepted political solution". This led to the negotiations process known as the Manhasset negotiations. Four rounds were held in 2007 and 2008. No progress was made, however, as both parties refused to compromise about what they considered core sovereignty issues. Polisario agreed to add autonomy as per the Moroccan proposal to a referendum ballot, but refused to relinquish the concept of an independence referendum itself, as agreed in 1991 and 1997. Morocco, in its turn, insisted on only negotiating the terms of autonomy offered, but refused to consider an option of independence on the ballot.
In May 2010, Polisario Front suspended contacts with the MINURSO, because of the failure on implementing the self-determination referendum.
Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia El-Hamra y Rio de Oro see Polisario
Pomaks
Pomaks. Name given to a Bulgarian speaking group of Muslims in Bulgaria and Thrace, now divided amongst Bulgaria, Greece, and western Macedonia. Adoption of Islam in these regions was gradual and at different periods. The process of conversion began at the end of the fourteenth century and lasted until the nineteenth century.
In Bulgaria, the designation “Pomak” is now taken to be derogatory and is no longer found in print or in public use. Yet the Pomaks exist, Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the early centuries of the Ottoman occupation. They live chiefly in the Rhodope Mountains and on the southeast slopes of the Pirin Mountains. Many thousands also live in Greece and Turkey, where they settled during migrations over the past century.
There is no consensus as to the nature of Pomak conversion to Islam. It is certain that the Ottomans reached the Rhodope area in 1371 and that by the 1700s a majority there were Muslims. Bulgarian scholars claim the Pomaks were forced to convert en masse through unprecedented terror and torture. Although historical evidence is scant, the “forced” conversion of Pomaks has become part of the national consciousness of the Bulgarian people and is detailed in many songs and legends.
Non-Bulgarians concur that conversion was almost everywhere voluntary in response to various economic, legal and religious pressures. No doubt many Christians converted to avoid the jizya (cizye) tax demanded of non-Muslims by the Ottomans, or to gain preferred legal status. The Bektashi order of Islam may have been particularly attractive to villagers since it embraced many pre-Christian and Christian customs. The Turkic nomadic Yoruk and the Bogomils (a persecuted heretical Christian sect) probably accepted Islam to the degree to which it coincided with their own folk practices. Actually folk Christianity and folk Islam were quite similar, both based on agricultural rites and shrines. Conversion may well have been a mere pragmatic decision requiring at first only minor concessions to Islamic practice, such as the use of a Muslim first name. Only later did Pomaks adopt other Muslim customs such as the wearing of veils by women in front of strangers.
During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Pomaks in the Vacha valley rebelled against Bulgaria and established an autonomous state, called Republic of Tamrash. In 1886, the Ottoman government accepted the Bulgarian rule over Eastern Rumelia and that was the end of the free Pomak state. During the Greek Struggle for Macedonia, many Pomaks participated on the Greek and Turkish side, against Bulgaria. Ali Zeir Chavouz from Drama, was one of the main Pomak fighters and took part in many battles against Bulgarians and the Ottoman army. After the Second Balkan War, Pomaks rebelled against Bulgaria (which occupied Western Thrace). On August 16, 1913, the revolution began in Kosukavak (Krumovgrad nowadays), Mastanli (Momchilgrad nowadays) and Kardzhali. The rebels also occupied Komotini, Xanthi and Dedeagats (Alexandroupoli nowadays). On September 1, 1913, the "Provisional Government of Western Thrace" (Garbi Trakya Hukumet i Muvakkatesi) was established in Komotini. The Ottoman administration did not support the rebels and finally under the neutrality of the Greek and Ottoman governments, Bulgaria took over the lands on October 30, 1913. The rebels (even though, they were Muslim) requested support from the Greek state.
In 1918, eight Pomak, Bulgarian parliament deputies appealed to the leaders of Greece and France to protect their ethnic and religious minority from the Bulgarian policies.
After World War II, with their representatives at the Paris Peace Treaties talks of 1947, certain Pomaks of Bulgaria brought back the request for union with Greece. The efforts of the Pomaks did not have the result because the Yalta Conference, where the three great powers of that era met, had already decided on the fate of the nations in Europe.
Pomaks. Name given to a Bulgarian speaking group of Muslims in Bulgaria and Thrace, now divided amongst Bulgaria, Greece, and western Macedonia. Adoption of Islam in these regions was gradual and at different periods. The process of conversion began at the end of the fourteenth century and lasted until the nineteenth century.
In Bulgaria, the designation “Pomak” is now taken to be derogatory and is no longer found in print or in public use. Yet the Pomaks exist, Bulgarians who converted to Islam during the early centuries of the Ottoman occupation. They live chiefly in the Rhodope Mountains and on the southeast slopes of the Pirin Mountains. Many thousands also live in Greece and Turkey, where they settled during migrations over the past century.
There is no consensus as to the nature of Pomak conversion to Islam. It is certain that the Ottomans reached the Rhodope area in 1371 and that by the 1700s a majority there were Muslims. Bulgarian scholars claim the Pomaks were forced to convert en masse through unprecedented terror and torture. Although historical evidence is scant, the “forced” conversion of Pomaks has become part of the national consciousness of the Bulgarian people and is detailed in many songs and legends.
Non-Bulgarians concur that conversion was almost everywhere voluntary in response to various economic, legal and religious pressures. No doubt many Christians converted to avoid the jizya (cizye) tax demanded of non-Muslims by the Ottomans, or to gain preferred legal status. The Bektashi order of Islam may have been particularly attractive to villagers since it embraced many pre-Christian and Christian customs. The Turkic nomadic Yoruk and the Bogomils (a persecuted heretical Christian sect) probably accepted Islam to the degree to which it coincided with their own folk practices. Actually folk Christianity and folk Islam were quite similar, both based on agricultural rites and shrines. Conversion may well have been a mere pragmatic decision requiring at first only minor concessions to Islamic practice, such as the use of a Muslim first name. Only later did Pomaks adopt other Muslim customs such as the wearing of veils by women in front of strangers.
During the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Pomaks in the Vacha valley rebelled against Bulgaria and established an autonomous state, called Republic of Tamrash. In 1886, the Ottoman government accepted the Bulgarian rule over Eastern Rumelia and that was the end of the free Pomak state. During the Greek Struggle for Macedonia, many Pomaks participated on the Greek and Turkish side, against Bulgaria. Ali Zeir Chavouz from Drama, was one of the main Pomak fighters and took part in many battles against Bulgarians and the Ottoman army. After the Second Balkan War, Pomaks rebelled against Bulgaria (which occupied Western Thrace). On August 16, 1913, the revolution began in Kosukavak (Krumovgrad nowadays), Mastanli (Momchilgrad nowadays) and Kardzhali. The rebels also occupied Komotini, Xanthi and Dedeagats (Alexandroupoli nowadays). On September 1, 1913, the "Provisional Government of Western Thrace" (Garbi Trakya Hukumet i Muvakkatesi) was established in Komotini. The Ottoman administration did not support the rebels and finally under the neutrality of the Greek and Ottoman governments, Bulgaria took over the lands on October 30, 1913. The rebels (even though, they were Muslim) requested support from the Greek state.
In 1918, eight Pomak, Bulgarian parliament deputies appealed to the leaders of Greece and France to protect their ethnic and religious minority from the Bulgarian policies.
After World War II, with their representatives at the Paris Peace Treaties talks of 1947, certain Pomaks of Bulgaria brought back the request for union with Greece. The efforts of the Pomaks did not have the result because the Yalta Conference, where the three great powers of that era met, had already decided on the fate of the nations in Europe.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, one of the original members of the PLO, is a Marxist-Leninist group founded in 1967 by George Habash. The group was against the 1993 Declaration of Principles-- the accord reached by Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Subsequently, its participation in the PLO was suspended. The PFLP participation in meetings with Arafat’s Fatah party and PLO representatives in 1999 to discuss national unity but continues to oppose negotiations with Israel. Committed numerous international terrorist attacks, including airplane hijackings, during the 1970s, has allegedly been involved in attacks against Israel since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000. Syria has been a key source of save haven and limited logistical support.
The PFLP was established in 1967 in an amalgamation of three different guerrilla groups by the militant Palestinian leader George Ḥabash. Conflicts within the organization over ideology led to several splits and generated independent factions, most notably the PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC) established in 1968 by Aḥmad Jibrīl. Each of these factions engaged in guerrilla activity against Israel and often undertook acts of terrorism against the Jewish state and Western interests. The PFLP itself carried out or organized many notorious attacks against Israeli and Western targets, most notably the hijacking and destruction of several commercial airliners in the late 1960s and early ’70s. The PFLP rejected political compromise with Israel—it opposed the peace process begun with Israel in the 1990s—and pledged to replace that state with a secular, democratic state in Palestine. It took a vigorously anti-Western and anti-capitalist stance on other Middle Eastern questions. Ḥabash retired as head of the organization in 2000. His successor, Abū ʿAlī Muṣṭafā, was killed by Israeli forces in the PFLP’s West Bank offices in 2001
PFLP see Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP, one of the original members of the PLO, is a Marxist-Leninist group founded in 1967 by George Habash. The group was against the 1993 Declaration of Principles-- the accord reached by Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Subsequently, its participation in the PLO was suspended. The PFLP participation in meetings with Arafat’s Fatah party and PLO representatives in 1999 to discuss national unity but continues to oppose negotiations with Israel. Committed numerous international terrorist attacks, including airplane hijackings, during the 1970s, has allegedly been involved in attacks against Israel since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000. Syria has been a key source of save haven and limited logistical support.
The PFLP was established in 1967 in an amalgamation of three different guerrilla groups by the militant Palestinian leader George Ḥabash. Conflicts within the organization over ideology led to several splits and generated independent factions, most notably the PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC) established in 1968 by Aḥmad Jibrīl. Each of these factions engaged in guerrilla activity against Israel and often undertook acts of terrorism against the Jewish state and Western interests. The PFLP itself carried out or organized many notorious attacks against Israeli and Western targets, most notably the hijacking and destruction of several commercial airliners in the late 1960s and early ’70s. The PFLP rejected political compromise with Israel—it opposed the peace process begun with Israel in the 1990s—and pledged to replace that state with a secular, democratic state in Palestine. It took a vigorously anti-Western and anti-capitalist stance on other Middle Eastern questions. Ḥabash retired as head of the organization in 2000. His successor, Abū ʿAlī Muṣṭafā, was killed by Israeli forces in the PFLP’s West Bank offices in 2001
PFLP see Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command (PFLP-GC). This group, led by Ahmed Jibril, split from the PFLP in 1968, wanting to focus more on terrorist than political action. The PFLP-GC is violently opposed to the PLO and is closely tied to Syria and Iran. The PFLP-GC conducted multiple attacks in Europe and Southwest Asia during the 1970s and 1980s. Unique in that it conducted cross-border operations against Israel using unusual means, including hot-air balloons and motorized hang gliders. Currently, the group has focused on small-scale attacks in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
The PFLP-GC was founded in 1968 as a Syrian-backed splinter group from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). It was headed by Secretary-General Ahmed Jibril, a former military officer in the Syrian Army who had been one of the PFLP's early leaders. The PFLP-GC declared that its primary focus would be military, not political, complaining that the PFLP had been devoting too much time and resources to Marxist philosophizing.
Although the group was initially a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), it always opposed Yassir Arafat and opposes any political settlement with Israel. For this reason, it has never participated in the peace process. The PFLP-GC left the PLO in 1974 to join the Rejectionist Front, protesting what it saw as the PLO's move towards an accommodation with Israel in the Arafat-backed Ten Point Program of the Palestinian National Council (PNC). Unlike most of the organizations involved in the Rejectionist Front, the PFLP-GC never resumed its role within the PLO.
PFLP-GC is considered very close to Syria, and has in effect acted as a Syrian proxy force in Lebanon both during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), and after the Syrian occupation of Lebanon after the war. In 1976, after the PFLP-GC supported Syrian attacks on the PLO, an anti-Jibril faction defected from the organization, and created the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF).
By 2000, the group had limited influence in Palestinian politics, but was still influential in the Palestinian refugee camps of Syria, where it was based, and Lebanon, where Syrian support added to its importance. Its role in Lebanon after Syria left the country in 2005 was uncertain, but it was involved in a number of clashes with Lebanese security forces. In late October 2005, the Lebanese Army surrounded camps of the PFLP-GC in a tense standoff, after Lebanese authorities claimed that the PFLP-GC was receiving Syrian arms across the border. The group came under fierce criticism within Lebanon, accused of acting on Syria's behalf to stir up unrest.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the group carried out a number of attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, and gained notoriety for using spectacular means. In one such attack, a guerrilla landed a motorized hang glider (apparently supplied by Libya) near an army camp near Kiryat Shemona in Northern Israel on November 25, 1987. He killed six soldiers and wounded several others, before being shot dead himself. The action has been seen by some as providing the catalyst for the eruption of the First Intifada. The PFLP-GC has not been involved in major attacks on Israeli targets since the early 1990s, but it has reportedly cooperated with the Hezbollah guerrillas in South Lebanon.
PFLP-GC see Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command (PFLP-GC). This group, led by Ahmed Jibril, split from the PFLP in 1968, wanting to focus more on terrorist than political action. The PFLP-GC is violently opposed to the PLO and is closely tied to Syria and Iran. The PFLP-GC conducted multiple attacks in Europe and Southwest Asia during the 1970s and 1980s. Unique in that it conducted cross-border operations against Israel using unusual means, including hot-air balloons and motorized hang gliders. Currently, the group has focused on small-scale attacks in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
The PFLP-GC was founded in 1968 as a Syrian-backed splinter group from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). It was headed by Secretary-General Ahmed Jibril, a former military officer in the Syrian Army who had been one of the PFLP's early leaders. The PFLP-GC declared that its primary focus would be military, not political, complaining that the PFLP had been devoting too much time and resources to Marxist philosophizing.
Although the group was initially a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), it always opposed Yassir Arafat and opposes any political settlement with Israel. For this reason, it has never participated in the peace process. The PFLP-GC left the PLO in 1974 to join the Rejectionist Front, protesting what it saw as the PLO's move towards an accommodation with Israel in the Arafat-backed Ten Point Program of the Palestinian National Council (PNC). Unlike most of the organizations involved in the Rejectionist Front, the PFLP-GC never resumed its role within the PLO.
PFLP-GC is considered very close to Syria, and has in effect acted as a Syrian proxy force in Lebanon both during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), and after the Syrian occupation of Lebanon after the war. In 1976, after the PFLP-GC supported Syrian attacks on the PLO, an anti-Jibril faction defected from the organization, and created the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF).
By 2000, the group had limited influence in Palestinian politics, but was still influential in the Palestinian refugee camps of Syria, where it was based, and Lebanon, where Syrian support added to its importance. Its role in Lebanon after Syria left the country in 2005 was uncertain, but it was involved in a number of clashes with Lebanese security forces. In late October 2005, the Lebanese Army surrounded camps of the PFLP-GC in a tense standoff, after Lebanese authorities claimed that the PFLP-GC was receiving Syrian arms across the border. The group came under fierce criticism within Lebanon, accused of acting on Syria's behalf to stir up unrest.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the group carried out a number of attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, and gained notoriety for using spectacular means. In one such attack, a guerrilla landed a motorized hang glider (apparently supplied by Libya) near an army camp near Kiryat Shemona in Northern Israel on November 25, 1987. He killed six soldiers and wounded several others, before being shot dead himself. The action has been seen by some as providing the catalyst for the eruption of the First Intifada. The PFLP-GC has not been involved in major attacks on Israeli targets since the early 1990s, but it has reportedly cooperated with the Hezbollah guerrillas in South Lebanon.
PFLP-GC see Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- General Command
Potiphar
Potiphar (in Arabic, Qitfir) (Potifar). Biblical personage who in the Qur’an is merely referred to by his title al-‘Aziz. Little is related about him in Islamic tradition.
Potiphar is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph.
Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave. Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar's wife, furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him into sleeping with her, accuses him falsely of attempting to rape her. Potiphar casts Joseph into prison, where he comes to the notice of Pharaoh through his ability to interpret the dreams of other prisoners.
Potiphar's wife is not named in either the Yahwist or Elohist stories. The mediaeval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives it as Zuleikha, as does the Persian poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha (from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones")).
Qitfir see Potiphar
'Aziz, al- see Potiphar
Potifar see Potiphar
Potiphar (in Arabic, Qitfir) (Potifar). Biblical personage who in the Qur’an is merely referred to by his title al-‘Aziz. Little is related about him in Islamic tradition.
Potiphar is a person in the Book of Genesis's account of Joseph.
Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, is taken to Egypt where he is sold to Potiphar as a household slave. Potiphar makes Joseph the head of his household, but Potiphar's wife, furious at Joseph for resisting her attempts to seduce him into sleeping with her, accuses him falsely of attempting to rape her. Potiphar casts Joseph into prison, where he comes to the notice of Pharaoh through his ability to interpret the dreams of other prisoners.
Potiphar's wife is not named in either the Yahwist or Elohist stories. The mediaeval Sefer HaYashar, a commentary on the Torah, gives it as Zuleikha, as does the Persian poem called Yusuf and Zulaikha (from Jami's Haft Awrang ("Seven thrones")).
Qitfir see Potiphar
'Aziz, al- see Potiphar
Potifar see Potiphar
Prester John
Prester John (Presbyter Johannes). Mythic Christian ruler in East Africa or Ethiopia. Prester John was thought by some medieval Western Christians to be a potential ally against the Muslims.
The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter Johannes), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of the Saint Thomas Christians resided. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. Among his treasures was a mirror through which every province could be seen, the fabled original from which derived the "speculum literature" of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which the prince's realms were surveyed and his duties laid out.
At first, Prester John was imagined to reside in India. Tales of the Nestorian Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers convinced themselves they had found him in Ethiopia. Prester John's kingdom was thus the object of a quest, firing the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but remaining out of reach. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and inter-religious tension made such a vision seem distant.
John, Prester see Prester John
Presbyter Johannes see Prester John
Johannes Presbyter see Prester John
Prester John (Presbyter Johannes). Mythic Christian ruler in East Africa or Ethiopia. Prester John was thought by some medieval Western Christians to be a potential ally against the Muslims.
The legends of Prester John (also Presbyter Johannes), popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of the Saint Thomas Christians resided. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. Among his treasures was a mirror through which every province could be seen, the fabled original from which derived the "speculum literature" of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, in which the prince's realms were surveyed and his duties laid out.
At first, Prester John was imagined to reside in India. Tales of the Nestorian Christians' evangelistic success there and of Thomas the Apostle's subcontinental travels as documented in works like the Acts of Thomas probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia, and eventually Portuguese explorers convinced themselves they had found him in Ethiopia. Prester John's kingdom was thus the object of a quest, firing the imaginations of generations of adventurers, but remaining out of reach. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and inter-religious tension made such a vision seem distant.
John, Prester see Prester John
Presbyter Johannes see Prester John
Johannes Presbyter see Prester John
Prince Buster see Campbell, Cecil
Priyayi
Priyayi (Prijaji). Term which refers to the governing and scribal class of Indonesia. The priyayi comprise the elite of pre-modern Indonesian society.
Priyayi (formerly Prijaji) is the Dutch era class of the nobles of the Robe, as opposed to royal nobility or bangsawan (Indonesian) or ningrat/di ningrat (Javanese) in Java, Indonesia's most populous island. Priyayi was a Javanese word coined for the descendants of the adipati or governors, the first of whom were appointed in the 17th century by Sultan Agung of Mataram to administer the principalities he had conquered. During Dutch colonization, bureaucratic posts were generally attributed to members of these families, who formed the upper classes of traditional Javanese society, in contrast to the other classes, especially the peasantry or wong cilik ('little people' in Javanese). Their culture is marked by affected elaborate customs and etiquettes.
There are three main cultural streams (aliran in Indonesian) in Javanese society. Namely, the santri, abangan, and priyayi. The priyayi stream are the traditional bureaucratic elite and were strongly driven by hierarchical Hindu-Javanese tradition. Initially court officials in pre-colonial kingdoms, the stream moved into the colonial civil service, and then on to administrators of the modern Indonesian republic.
Members of the santri stream are more likely to be urban dwellers, and tend to be oriented to the mosque, the Qur'an, and perhaps to Islamic canon law (Sharia). In contrast, the abangan tend to be from village backgrounds and absorb both Hindu and Muslim elements, forming a culture of animist and folk traditions. The santri are sometimes referred to as Puthihan (the white ones) as distinct from the 'red' abangan.
Until the 18th century the priyayi, under the royal families, were the rulers of the Javanese states. Like the knights in medieval Europe and the samurai of Japan, the priyayi were loyal to their lord and had a sense of honor and a readiness to die in battle. Their culture was marked by an elaborate code of etiquette. After the Dutch gained control of the Javanese kingdom of Mataram (18th century) and introduced indirect rule, the priyayi were used as administrators. Gradually they became professional civil servants. For this reason, the priyayi as a class were often regarded as Javanese civil servants. The priyayi were the first Indonesians to be exposed to Western (Dutch) education. Not surprisingly, the leaders of the Indonesian nationalist movements before World War II were predominantly from the priyayi. The Budi Utomo, the first proto-nationalist organization in Java, was also founded by the members of this class.
Prijaji see Priyayi
Priyayi (Prijaji). Term which refers to the governing and scribal class of Indonesia. The priyayi comprise the elite of pre-modern Indonesian society.
Priyayi (formerly Prijaji) is the Dutch era class of the nobles of the Robe, as opposed to royal nobility or bangsawan (Indonesian) or ningrat/di ningrat (Javanese) in Java, Indonesia's most populous island. Priyayi was a Javanese word coined for the descendants of the adipati or governors, the first of whom were appointed in the 17th century by Sultan Agung of Mataram to administer the principalities he had conquered. During Dutch colonization, bureaucratic posts were generally attributed to members of these families, who formed the upper classes of traditional Javanese society, in contrast to the other classes, especially the peasantry or wong cilik ('little people' in Javanese). Their culture is marked by affected elaborate customs and etiquettes.
There are three main cultural streams (aliran in Indonesian) in Javanese society. Namely, the santri, abangan, and priyayi. The priyayi stream are the traditional bureaucratic elite and were strongly driven by hierarchical Hindu-Javanese tradition. Initially court officials in pre-colonial kingdoms, the stream moved into the colonial civil service, and then on to administrators of the modern Indonesian republic.
Members of the santri stream are more likely to be urban dwellers, and tend to be oriented to the mosque, the Qur'an, and perhaps to Islamic canon law (Sharia). In contrast, the abangan tend to be from village backgrounds and absorb both Hindu and Muslim elements, forming a culture of animist and folk traditions. The santri are sometimes referred to as Puthihan (the white ones) as distinct from the 'red' abangan.
Until the 18th century the priyayi, under the royal families, were the rulers of the Javanese states. Like the knights in medieval Europe and the samurai of Japan, the priyayi were loyal to their lord and had a sense of honor and a readiness to die in battle. Their culture was marked by an elaborate code of etiquette. After the Dutch gained control of the Javanese kingdom of Mataram (18th century) and introduced indirect rule, the priyayi were used as administrators. Gradually they became professional civil servants. For this reason, the priyayi as a class were often regarded as Javanese civil servants. The priyayi were the first Indonesians to be exposed to Western (Dutch) education. Not surprisingly, the leaders of the Indonesian nationalist movements before World War II were predominantly from the priyayi. The Budi Utomo, the first proto-nationalist organization in Java, was also founded by the members of this class.
Prijaji see Priyayi
Proclus
Proclus (in Arabic, Buruqlus) (Proclus Lycaeus) (February 8, 412 – April 17, 485). Head of the pagan philosophical school at Athens. The outstanding scholastic systematizer of Neoplatonic thought was mainly familiar to Arabic thinkers as proclaiming the eternity of the world.
Proclus Lycaeus, called "The Successor" or "Diadochos", was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism. He stands near the end of the classical development of philosophy, and was very influential on Western medieval philosophy (Greek and Latin) as well as Islamic thought.
Proclus was born February 8, 412 (his birth date is deduced from a horoscope cast by a disciple, Marinus) in Constantinople to a family of high social status in Lycia (his father Patricius was a high legal official, very important in the Byzantine Empire's court system) and raised in Xanthus. He studied rhetoric, philosophy and mathematics in Alexandria, with the intent of pursuing a judicial position like his father. Before completing his studies, he returned to Constantinopole when his rector, his principal instructor (one Leonas), had business there.
Proclus became a successful practicing lawyer. However, the experience of the practice of law made Proclus realize that he truly preferred philosophy. He returned to Alexandria, and began determinedly studying the works of Aristotle under Olympiodorus the Elder (he also began studying mathematics during this period as well with a teacher named Heron- no relation to Hero of Alexandria who was also known as Heron). Eventually, in 431, this gifted student became dissatisfied with the level of philosophical instruction available in Alexandria, and went to Athens, the preeminent philosophical center of the day, to study at the Neoplatonic successor of the famous Academy founded 800 years before (in 387 B.C.T.) by Plato. There he was taught by Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, and Asclepigenia. He succeeded Syrianus as head of the Academy, and would in turn be succeeded on his death by Marinus of Neapolis.
Proclus lived in Athens as a vegetarian bachelor, prosperous and generous to his friends, until the end of his life, except for a voluntary one year exile, which was designed to lessen the pressure put on him by his political-philosophical activity, little appreciated by the Christian rulers. He spent the exile traveling and being initiated into various mystery cults as befitted his universalist approach to religion, trying to become "a priest of the entire universe". His house has been discovered recently in Athens, under the pavement, south of Acropolis, opposite the theater of Dionysus. He had a great devotion to the Goddess Athena, whom he believed guided him at key moments in his life. Marinus reports that when Christians removed the statue of the Goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to stay at his home.
Proclus died on April 17, 485, and was buried near Mount Lycabettus in a tomb.
The majority of Proclus' works are commentaries on dialogues of Plato (Alcibiades, Cratylus, Parmenides, Republic, Timaeus). In these commentaries he presents his own philosophical system as a faithful interpretation of Plato, and in this he did not differ from other Neoplatonists, as he considered the Platonic texts to be divinely inspired (ho theios Platon -- The divine Plato, inspired by God) and therefore that they spoke often of things under a veil, hiding the truth from the philosophically uninitiated. Proclus was, however, a close reader of Plato, and quite often makes very astute points about his Platonic sources. Unfortunately, a number of his Platonic commentaries are lost.
Proclus also wrote an influential commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements of Geometry. This commentary is one of the most valuable sources we have for the history of ancient mathematics, and its Platonic account of the status of mathematical objects was influential. In this work, Proclus also listed the first mathematicians associated with Plato: a mature set of mathematicians (Leodamas of Thasos, Archytas of Taras, and Theaetetus), a second set of younger mathematicians (Neoclides, Eudoxus of Cnidus), and a third yet younger set (Amyntas, Menaechmus and his brother Dinostratus, Theudius of Magnesia, Hermotimus of Colophon and Philip of Opus). Some of these mathematicians were influential in arranging the Elements, that Euclid later published.
In addition to his commentaries, Proclus wrote two major systematic works. The Elements of Theology, which consists of 211 propositions, each followed by a proof, beginning from the existence of the One (the first principle of all things) and ending with the descent of individual souls into the material world. The Platonic Theology is a systematization of material from Platonic dialogues, showing from them the characteristics of the divine orders, the part of the universe which is closest to the One.
We also have three essays, extant only in Latin translation: Ten doubts concerning providence; On providence and fate; On the existence of evils.
Proclus was reared at Xanthus in Lycia, and he studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria. At Athens he studied under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus, whom he followed as diadochos (Greek: “successor”), or head of the Academy founded by Plato. Remaining there until his death, he helped refine and systematize the Neoplatonic views of the 3rd-century Greek philosopher Iamblichus, whose school stressed elaborate metaphysical speculation.
Like Iamblichus, Proclus opposed Christianity and passionately defended paganism. As a Neoplatonic Idealist, he emphasized that thoughts comprise reality, while concrete “things” are mere appearances. Ultimate reality, the “One,” is both God and the Good and unifies his ethical and theological systems. His attitudes significantly influenced subsequent Christian theology, in both East and West, through their adaptation by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a 5th-century writer whose forgeries were long thought to be works by a 1st-century convert of the Apostle Paul, Dionysius the Areopagite.
The most important Arabic philosophical work to transmit Proclus’ ideas was the Liber de causis (“Book of Causes”), which passed as a work of Aristotle in medieval times despite its dependence upon Proclus’ own Institutio theologica (Elements of Theology). Latin translations of this, his most important work, and many of his other writings in Greek were made in the 13th century by the scholar William of Moerbeke and became the principal sources for medieval knowledge of Platonic philosophy. The Elements is a concise exposition of Neoplatonic metaphysics in 211 propositions. His Elements of Physics distilled the essence of Aristotle’s views, and his In Platonis theologiam (Platonic Theology) explicated Plato’s metaphysics. His commentaries on Plato, extant in their entirety, include those on The Republic, Parmenides, Timaeus, and Alcibiades I.
Although more highly regarded as a systematizer and commentator than as an original thinker, Proclus was also the author of numerous non-philosophical writings, including astronomical, mathematical, and grammatical works. He wrote seven hymns and two epigrams, one of which he composed for the common tomb of himself and his master, Syrianus.
Proclus' works had a great influence on the history of western philosophy. The extent of this influence, however, is obscured by the channels through which it was exercised. An important source of Procline ideas was through the Pseudo-Dionysius.[3] This late 5th or early 6th century Christian Greek author wrote under the pseudonym Dionysius the Areopagite, the figure converted by St. Paul in Athens. Because of this fiction, his writings were taken to have almost apostolic authority. He is an original Christian writer, and in his works can be found a great number of Proclus' metaphysical principles.
Another important source for the influence of Proclus on the Middle Ages is Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, which has a number of Proclus principles and motifs. The central poem of Book III is a summary of Proclus' Commentary on the Timaeus, and Book V contains the important principle of Proclus that things are known not according to their own nature, but according to the character of the knowing subject.
A summary of Proclus' Elements of Theology circulated under the name Liber de Causis (the Book of Causes). This book is of uncertain origin, but circulated in the Arabic world as a work of Aristotle, and was translated into Latin as such. It had great authority because of its supposed Aristotelian origin, and it was only when Proclus' Elements were translated into Latin that Thomas Aquinas realized its true origin.
Proclus' works also exercised an influence during the Renaissance through figures such as George Gemistios Plethon and Marsilio Ficino. Before the contemporary period, the most significant scholar of Proclus in the English speaking world was Thomas Taylor, who produced English translations of most of his works, with commentaries.
His work inspired the New England Transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who declared in 1843 that, in reading Proclus, "I am filled with hilarity & spring, my heart dances, my sight is quickened, I behold shining relations between all beings, and am impelled to write and almost to sing."
Modern scholarship on Proclus essentially begins with E.R. Dodd's edition of the Elements of Theology in 1933. Since then he has attracted considerable attention, especially in the French-speaking world. Procline scholarship, however, still (as of 2006) falls far short of the attention paid to Plotinus.
The following epigram is engraved on the tomb which houses Proclus and his master Syrianus:
"I am Proclus,
Lycian whom Syrianus brought up to teach his doctrine after him.
This tomb reunites both our bodies.
May an identical sojourn be reserved to our both souls!"
The crater Proclus on the Moon is named after him.
Buruqlus see Proclus
Proclus Lycaeus see Proclus
Lycaeus, Proclus see Proclus
The Successor see Proclus
Diadochos see Proclus
Proclus (in Arabic, Buruqlus) (Proclus Lycaeus) (February 8, 412 – April 17, 485). Head of the pagan philosophical school at Athens. The outstanding scholastic systematizer of Neoplatonic thought was mainly familiar to Arabic thinkers as proclaiming the eternity of the world.
Proclus Lycaeus, called "The Successor" or "Diadochos", was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism. He stands near the end of the classical development of philosophy, and was very influential on Western medieval philosophy (Greek and Latin) as well as Islamic thought.
Proclus was born February 8, 412 (his birth date is deduced from a horoscope cast by a disciple, Marinus) in Constantinople to a family of high social status in Lycia (his father Patricius was a high legal official, very important in the Byzantine Empire's court system) and raised in Xanthus. He studied rhetoric, philosophy and mathematics in Alexandria, with the intent of pursuing a judicial position like his father. Before completing his studies, he returned to Constantinopole when his rector, his principal instructor (one Leonas), had business there.
Proclus became a successful practicing lawyer. However, the experience of the practice of law made Proclus realize that he truly preferred philosophy. He returned to Alexandria, and began determinedly studying the works of Aristotle under Olympiodorus the Elder (he also began studying mathematics during this period as well with a teacher named Heron- no relation to Hero of Alexandria who was also known as Heron). Eventually, in 431, this gifted student became dissatisfied with the level of philosophical instruction available in Alexandria, and went to Athens, the preeminent philosophical center of the day, to study at the Neoplatonic successor of the famous Academy founded 800 years before (in 387 B.C.T.) by Plato. There he was taught by Plutarch of Athens, Syrianus, and Asclepigenia. He succeeded Syrianus as head of the Academy, and would in turn be succeeded on his death by Marinus of Neapolis.
Proclus lived in Athens as a vegetarian bachelor, prosperous and generous to his friends, until the end of his life, except for a voluntary one year exile, which was designed to lessen the pressure put on him by his political-philosophical activity, little appreciated by the Christian rulers. He spent the exile traveling and being initiated into various mystery cults as befitted his universalist approach to religion, trying to become "a priest of the entire universe". His house has been discovered recently in Athens, under the pavement, south of Acropolis, opposite the theater of Dionysus. He had a great devotion to the Goddess Athena, whom he believed guided him at key moments in his life. Marinus reports that when Christians removed the statue of the Goddess from the Parthenon, a beautiful woman appeared to Proclus in a dream and announced that the "Athenian Lady" wished to stay at his home.
Proclus died on April 17, 485, and was buried near Mount Lycabettus in a tomb.
The majority of Proclus' works are commentaries on dialogues of Plato (Alcibiades, Cratylus, Parmenides, Republic, Timaeus). In these commentaries he presents his own philosophical system as a faithful interpretation of Plato, and in this he did not differ from other Neoplatonists, as he considered the Platonic texts to be divinely inspired (ho theios Platon -- The divine Plato, inspired by God) and therefore that they spoke often of things under a veil, hiding the truth from the philosophically uninitiated. Proclus was, however, a close reader of Plato, and quite often makes very astute points about his Platonic sources. Unfortunately, a number of his Platonic commentaries are lost.
Proclus also wrote an influential commentary on the first book of Euclid's Elements of Geometry. This commentary is one of the most valuable sources we have for the history of ancient mathematics, and its Platonic account of the status of mathematical objects was influential. In this work, Proclus also listed the first mathematicians associated with Plato: a mature set of mathematicians (Leodamas of Thasos, Archytas of Taras, and Theaetetus), a second set of younger mathematicians (Neoclides, Eudoxus of Cnidus), and a third yet younger set (Amyntas, Menaechmus and his brother Dinostratus, Theudius of Magnesia, Hermotimus of Colophon and Philip of Opus). Some of these mathematicians were influential in arranging the Elements, that Euclid later published.
In addition to his commentaries, Proclus wrote two major systematic works. The Elements of Theology, which consists of 211 propositions, each followed by a proof, beginning from the existence of the One (the first principle of all things) and ending with the descent of individual souls into the material world. The Platonic Theology is a systematization of material from Platonic dialogues, showing from them the characteristics of the divine orders, the part of the universe which is closest to the One.
We also have three essays, extant only in Latin translation: Ten doubts concerning providence; On providence and fate; On the existence of evils.
Proclus was reared at Xanthus in Lycia, and he studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria. At Athens he studied under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus, whom he followed as diadochos (Greek: “successor”), or head of the Academy founded by Plato. Remaining there until his death, he helped refine and systematize the Neoplatonic views of the 3rd-century Greek philosopher Iamblichus, whose school stressed elaborate metaphysical speculation.
Like Iamblichus, Proclus opposed Christianity and passionately defended paganism. As a Neoplatonic Idealist, he emphasized that thoughts comprise reality, while concrete “things” are mere appearances. Ultimate reality, the “One,” is both God and the Good and unifies his ethical and theological systems. His attitudes significantly influenced subsequent Christian theology, in both East and West, through their adaptation by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a 5th-century writer whose forgeries were long thought to be works by a 1st-century convert of the Apostle Paul, Dionysius the Areopagite.
The most important Arabic philosophical work to transmit Proclus’ ideas was the Liber de causis (“Book of Causes”), which passed as a work of Aristotle in medieval times despite its dependence upon Proclus’ own Institutio theologica (Elements of Theology). Latin translations of this, his most important work, and many of his other writings in Greek were made in the 13th century by the scholar William of Moerbeke and became the principal sources for medieval knowledge of Platonic philosophy. The Elements is a concise exposition of Neoplatonic metaphysics in 211 propositions. His Elements of Physics distilled the essence of Aristotle’s views, and his In Platonis theologiam (Platonic Theology) explicated Plato’s metaphysics. His commentaries on Plato, extant in their entirety, include those on The Republic, Parmenides, Timaeus, and Alcibiades I.
Although more highly regarded as a systematizer and commentator than as an original thinker, Proclus was also the author of numerous non-philosophical writings, including astronomical, mathematical, and grammatical works. He wrote seven hymns and two epigrams, one of which he composed for the common tomb of himself and his master, Syrianus.
Proclus' works had a great influence on the history of western philosophy. The extent of this influence, however, is obscured by the channels through which it was exercised. An important source of Procline ideas was through the Pseudo-Dionysius.[3] This late 5th or early 6th century Christian Greek author wrote under the pseudonym Dionysius the Areopagite, the figure converted by St. Paul in Athens. Because of this fiction, his writings were taken to have almost apostolic authority. He is an original Christian writer, and in his works can be found a great number of Proclus' metaphysical principles.
Another important source for the influence of Proclus on the Middle Ages is Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, which has a number of Proclus principles and motifs. The central poem of Book III is a summary of Proclus' Commentary on the Timaeus, and Book V contains the important principle of Proclus that things are known not according to their own nature, but according to the character of the knowing subject.
A summary of Proclus' Elements of Theology circulated under the name Liber de Causis (the Book of Causes). This book is of uncertain origin, but circulated in the Arabic world as a work of Aristotle, and was translated into Latin as such. It had great authority because of its supposed Aristotelian origin, and it was only when Proclus' Elements were translated into Latin that Thomas Aquinas realized its true origin.
Proclus' works also exercised an influence during the Renaissance through figures such as George Gemistios Plethon and Marsilio Ficino. Before the contemporary period, the most significant scholar of Proclus in the English speaking world was Thomas Taylor, who produced English translations of most of his works, with commentaries.
His work inspired the New England Transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who declared in 1843 that, in reading Proclus, "I am filled with hilarity & spring, my heart dances, my sight is quickened, I behold shining relations between all beings, and am impelled to write and almost to sing."
Modern scholarship on Proclus essentially begins with E.R. Dodd's edition of the Elements of Theology in 1933. Since then he has attracted considerable attention, especially in the French-speaking world. Procline scholarship, however, still (as of 2006) falls far short of the attention paid to Plotinus.
The following epigram is engraved on the tomb which houses Proclus and his master Syrianus:
"I am Proclus,
Lycian whom Syrianus brought up to teach his doctrine after him.
This tomb reunites both our bodies.
May an identical sojourn be reserved to our both souls!"
The crater Proclus on the Moon is named after him.
Buruqlus see Proclus
Proclus Lycaeus see Proclus
Lycaeus, Proclus see Proclus
The Successor see Proclus
Diadochos see Proclus
Prophet of Islam
Prophet of Islam. See Muhammad.
Prophet of Islam. See Muhammad.
Protestant Christians
Protestant Christians. Members of European and American Christian churches that have been established in several Southwest Asian and North African countries. The churches are not indigenous to the region and, therefore, have few (if any) local traditions and characteristics. Most Protestant Christians belong to expatriate communities, especially in Bahrain, Oman and Qatar where they make up between five percent and fifteen percent of the local population. They also make up a considerable community in Saudi Arabia where they must accept considerable limitations on their practice. A few hundred thousands adherents are the result of missionary activities. This is particularly the case for Sudan.
Protestantism is one of the four major divisions within Christianity (or five, if Anglicanism is considered separately) together with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. The term is most closely tied to those groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation.
The doctrines of the various Protestant denominations vary, but nearly unanimous doctrines include justification by grace through faith and not through works, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the ultimate authority in matters of faith and order.
In the sixteenth century the followers of Martin Luther established the evangelical churches of Germany and Scandinavia. Reformed churches in Switzerland were established by John Calvin and more radical reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli. Thomas Cranmer reformed the Church of England and later John Knox established a more radical Calvinist communion in the Church of Scotland.
Protestant Christians. Members of European and American Christian churches that have been established in several Southwest Asian and North African countries. The churches are not indigenous to the region and, therefore, have few (if any) local traditions and characteristics. Most Protestant Christians belong to expatriate communities, especially in Bahrain, Oman and Qatar where they make up between five percent and fifteen percent of the local population. They also make up a considerable community in Saudi Arabia where they must accept considerable limitations on their practice. A few hundred thousands adherents are the result of missionary activities. This is particularly the case for Sudan.
Protestantism is one of the four major divisions within Christianity (or five, if Anglicanism is considered separately) together with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Roman Catholic Church. The term is most closely tied to those groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation.
The doctrines of the various Protestant denominations vary, but nearly unanimous doctrines include justification by grace through faith and not through works, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the ultimate authority in matters of faith and order.
In the sixteenth century the followers of Martin Luther established the evangelical churches of Germany and Scandinavia. Reformed churches in Switzerland were established by John Calvin and more radical reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli. Thomas Cranmer reformed the Church of England and later John Knox established a more radical Calvinist communion in the Church of Scotland.
Ptolemy
Ptolemy (in Arabic, Batlamiyus) (Claudius Ptolemaeus) (c. 90-c. 168). More than any other Greek scientist, Ptolemy dominated medieval Islamic astronomy, astrology, geography, harmonics, and optics.
Claudius Ptolemaeus, known in English as Ptolemy, was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. He died in Alexandria around 168.
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest ("The Great Treatise", originally "Mathematical Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika, more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos ("Four books"), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
Virtually nothing is known about Ptolemy’s life except what can be inferred from his writings. His first major astronomical work, the Almagest, was completed about 150 and contains reports of astronomical observations that Ptolemy had made over the preceding quarter of a century. The size and content of his subsequent literary production suggests that he lived until about 170.
The book that is now generally known as the Almagest (from a hybrid of Arabic and Greek, “the greatest”) was called by Ptolemy Hē mathēmatikē syntaxis (“The Mathematical Collection”) because he believed that its subject, the motions of the heavenly bodies, could be explained in mathematical terms. The opening chapters present empirical arguments for the basic cosmological framework within which Ptolemy worked. The Earth, he argued, is a stationary sphere at the center of a vastly larger celestial sphere that revolves at a perfectly uniform rate around the Earth, carrying with it the stars, planets, Sun, and Moon — thereby causing their daily risings and settings. Through the course of a year the Sun slowly traces out a great circle, known as the ecliptic, against the rotation of the celestial sphere. (The Moon and planets similarly travel backward — hence, the planets were also known as “wandering stars”— against the “fixed stars” found in the ecliptic.) The fundamental assumption of the Almagest is that the apparently irregular movements of the heavenly bodies are in reality combinations of regular, uniform, circular motions.
How much of the Almagest is original is difficult to determine because almost all of the preceding technical astronomical literature is now lost. Ptolemy credited Hipparchus (mid-2nd century B.C.T.) with essential elements of his solar theory, as well as parts of his lunar theory, while denying that Hipparchus constructed planetary models. Ptolemy made only a few vague and disparaging remarks regarding theoretical work over the intervening three centuries; even though the study of the planets undoubtedly made great strides during that interval. Moreover, Ptolemy’s veracity, especially as an observer, has been controversial since the time of the astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). Brahe pointed out that solar observations Ptolemy claimed to have made in 141 are definitely not genuine, and there are strong arguments for doubting that Ptolemy independently observed the more than 1,000 stars listed in his star catalog. What is not disputed, however, is the mastery of mathematical analysis that Ptolemy exhibited.
Ptolemy was preeminently responsible for the geocentric cosmology that prevailed in the Islamic world and in medieval Europe. This was not due to the Almagest so much as a later treatise, Hypotheseis tōn planōmenōn (Planetary Hypotheses). In this work he proposed what is now called the Ptolemaic system—a unified system in which each heavenly body is attached to its own sphere and the set of spheres nested so that it extends without gaps from the Earth to the celestial sphere. The numerical tables in the Almagest (which enabled planetary positions and other celestial phenomena to be calculated for arbitrary dates) had a profound influence on medieval astronomy, in part through a separate, revised version of the tables that Ptolemy published as Procheiroi kanones (“Handy Tables”). Ptolemy taught later astronomers how to use dated, quantitative observations to revise cosmological models.
Ptolemy also attempted to place astrology on a sound basis in Apotelesmatika (“Astrological Influences”), later known as the Tetrabiblos for its four volumes. He believed that astrology is a legitimate, though inexact, science that describes the physical effects of the heavens on terrestrial life. Ptolemy accepted the basic validity of the traditional astrological doctrines, but he revised the details to reconcile the practice with an Aristotelian conception of nature, matter, and change. Of Ptolemy’s writings, the Tetrabiblos is the most foreign to modern readers, who do not accept astral prognostication and a cosmology driven by the interplay of basic qualities such as hot, cold, wet, and dry.
Ptolemy has a prominent place in the history of mathematics primarily because of the mathematical methods he applied to astronomical problems. His contributions to trigonometry are especially important. For instance, Ptolemy’s table of the lengths of chords in a circle is the earliest surviving table of a trigonometric function. He also applied fundamental theorems in spherical trigonometry (apparently discovered half a century earlier by Menelaus of Alexandria) to the solution of many basic astronomical problems.
Among Ptolemy’s earliest treatises, the Harmonics investigated musical theory while steering a middle course between an extreme empiricism and the mystical arithmetical speculations associated with Pythagoreanism. Ptolemy’s discussion of the roles of reason and the senses in acquiring scientific knowledge have bearing beyond music theory.
Probably near the end of his life, Ptolemy turned to the study of visual perception in Optica (“Optics”), a work that only survives in a mutilated medieval Latin translation of an Arabic translation. The extent to which Ptolemy subjected visual perception to empirical analysis is remarkable when contrasted with other Greek writers on optics. For example, Hero of Alexandria (mid-1st century) asserted, purely for philosophical reasons, that an object and its mirror image must make equal angles to a mirror. In contrast, Ptolemy established this principle by measuring angles of incidence and reflection for planar and curved mirrors set upon a disk graduated in degrees. Ptolemy also measured how lines of sight are refracted at the boundary between materials of different density, such as air, water, and glass, although he failed to discover the exact law relating the angles of incidence and refraction.
Ptolemy’s fame as a geographer is hardly less than his fame as an astronomer. Geōgraphikē hyphēgēsis (Guide to Geography) provided all the information and techniques required to draw maps of the portion of the world known by Ptolemy’s contemporaries. By his own admission, Ptolemy did not attempt to collect and sift all the geographical data on which his maps were based. Instead, he based them on the maps and writings of Marinus of Tyre (c. ad 100), only selectively introducing more current information, chiefly concerning the Asian and African coasts of the Indian Ocean. Nothing would be known about Marinus if Ptolemy had not preserved the substance of his cartographical work.
Ptolemy’s most important geographical innovation was to record longitudes and latitudes in degrees for roughly 8,000 locations on his world map (see the photographWorld map after Ptolemy, Geographia (Ulm, 1496), Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. [Credit: Giraudon/Art Resource, New York]), making it possible to make an exact duplicate of his map. Hence, we possess a clear and detailed image of the inhabited world as it was known to a resident of the Roman Empire at its height—a world that extended from the Shetland Islands in the north to the sources of the Nile in the south, from the Canary Islands in the west to China and Southeast Asia in the east. Ptolemy’s map is seriously distorted in size and orientation compared to modern maps, a reflection of the incomplete and inaccurate descriptions of road systems and trade routes at his disposal.
Ptolemy also devised two ways of drawing a grid of lines on a flat map to represent the circles of latitude and longitude on the globe. His grid gives a visual impression of the Earth’s spherical surface and also, to a limited extent, preserves the proportionality of distances. The more sophisticated of these map projections, using circular arcs to represent both parallels and meridians, anticipated later area-preserving projections. Ptolemy’s geographical work was almost unknown in Europe until about 1300, when Byzantine scholars began producing many manuscript copies, several of them illustrated with expert reconstructions of Ptolemy’s maps. The Italian Jacopo d’Angelo translated the work into Latin in 1406. The numerous Latin manuscripts and early print editions of Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography, most of them accompanied by maps, attest to the profound impression this work made upon its rediscovery by Renaissance humanists.
There are several characters or items named after Ptolemy, including:
* The crater Ptolemaeus on the Moon;
* The crater Ptolemaeus on Mars;
* the asteroid 4001 Ptolemaeus;
* a character in the fantasy series The Bartimaeus Trilogy: this fictional Ptolemy is a young magician (from Alexandria) whom Bartimaeus loved; he made the journey into "the Other Place" being hunted by his cousin, because he was a magician;
* the name of Celestial Being's carrier ship in the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
* track number 10 on Selected Ambient Works 85–92 by Aphex Twin.
Batlamiyus see Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemaeus see Ptolemy
Ptolemaeus, Claudius see Ptolemy
Ptolemy (in Arabic, Batlamiyus) (Claudius Ptolemaeus) (c. 90-c. 168). More than any other Greek scientist, Ptolemy dominated medieval Islamic astronomy, astrology, geography, harmonics, and optics.
Claudius Ptolemaeus, known in English as Ptolemy, was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the Thebaid. He died in Alexandria around 168.
Ptolemy was the author of several scientific treatises, at least three of which were of continuing importance to later Islamic and European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the Almagest ("The Great Treatise", originally "Mathematical Treatise"). The second is the Geography, which is a thorough discussion of the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise known sometimes in Greek as the Apotelesmatika, more commonly in Greek as the Tetrabiblos ("Four books"), and in Latin as the Quadripartitum (or four books) in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day.
Virtually nothing is known about Ptolemy’s life except what can be inferred from his writings. His first major astronomical work, the Almagest, was completed about 150 and contains reports of astronomical observations that Ptolemy had made over the preceding quarter of a century. The size and content of his subsequent literary production suggests that he lived until about 170.
The book that is now generally known as the Almagest (from a hybrid of Arabic and Greek, “the greatest”) was called by Ptolemy Hē mathēmatikē syntaxis (“The Mathematical Collection”) because he believed that its subject, the motions of the heavenly bodies, could be explained in mathematical terms. The opening chapters present empirical arguments for the basic cosmological framework within which Ptolemy worked. The Earth, he argued, is a stationary sphere at the center of a vastly larger celestial sphere that revolves at a perfectly uniform rate around the Earth, carrying with it the stars, planets, Sun, and Moon — thereby causing their daily risings and settings. Through the course of a year the Sun slowly traces out a great circle, known as the ecliptic, against the rotation of the celestial sphere. (The Moon and planets similarly travel backward — hence, the planets were also known as “wandering stars”— against the “fixed stars” found in the ecliptic.) The fundamental assumption of the Almagest is that the apparently irregular movements of the heavenly bodies are in reality combinations of regular, uniform, circular motions.
How much of the Almagest is original is difficult to determine because almost all of the preceding technical astronomical literature is now lost. Ptolemy credited Hipparchus (mid-2nd century B.C.T.) with essential elements of his solar theory, as well as parts of his lunar theory, while denying that Hipparchus constructed planetary models. Ptolemy made only a few vague and disparaging remarks regarding theoretical work over the intervening three centuries; even though the study of the planets undoubtedly made great strides during that interval. Moreover, Ptolemy’s veracity, especially as an observer, has been controversial since the time of the astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546–1601). Brahe pointed out that solar observations Ptolemy claimed to have made in 141 are definitely not genuine, and there are strong arguments for doubting that Ptolemy independently observed the more than 1,000 stars listed in his star catalog. What is not disputed, however, is the mastery of mathematical analysis that Ptolemy exhibited.
Ptolemy was preeminently responsible for the geocentric cosmology that prevailed in the Islamic world and in medieval Europe. This was not due to the Almagest so much as a later treatise, Hypotheseis tōn planōmenōn (Planetary Hypotheses). In this work he proposed what is now called the Ptolemaic system—a unified system in which each heavenly body is attached to its own sphere and the set of spheres nested so that it extends without gaps from the Earth to the celestial sphere. The numerical tables in the Almagest (which enabled planetary positions and other celestial phenomena to be calculated for arbitrary dates) had a profound influence on medieval astronomy, in part through a separate, revised version of the tables that Ptolemy published as Procheiroi kanones (“Handy Tables”). Ptolemy taught later astronomers how to use dated, quantitative observations to revise cosmological models.
Ptolemy also attempted to place astrology on a sound basis in Apotelesmatika (“Astrological Influences”), later known as the Tetrabiblos for its four volumes. He believed that astrology is a legitimate, though inexact, science that describes the physical effects of the heavens on terrestrial life. Ptolemy accepted the basic validity of the traditional astrological doctrines, but he revised the details to reconcile the practice with an Aristotelian conception of nature, matter, and change. Of Ptolemy’s writings, the Tetrabiblos is the most foreign to modern readers, who do not accept astral prognostication and a cosmology driven by the interplay of basic qualities such as hot, cold, wet, and dry.
Ptolemy has a prominent place in the history of mathematics primarily because of the mathematical methods he applied to astronomical problems. His contributions to trigonometry are especially important. For instance, Ptolemy’s table of the lengths of chords in a circle is the earliest surviving table of a trigonometric function. He also applied fundamental theorems in spherical trigonometry (apparently discovered half a century earlier by Menelaus of Alexandria) to the solution of many basic astronomical problems.
Among Ptolemy’s earliest treatises, the Harmonics investigated musical theory while steering a middle course between an extreme empiricism and the mystical arithmetical speculations associated with Pythagoreanism. Ptolemy’s discussion of the roles of reason and the senses in acquiring scientific knowledge have bearing beyond music theory.
Probably near the end of his life, Ptolemy turned to the study of visual perception in Optica (“Optics”), a work that only survives in a mutilated medieval Latin translation of an Arabic translation. The extent to which Ptolemy subjected visual perception to empirical analysis is remarkable when contrasted with other Greek writers on optics. For example, Hero of Alexandria (mid-1st century) asserted, purely for philosophical reasons, that an object and its mirror image must make equal angles to a mirror. In contrast, Ptolemy established this principle by measuring angles of incidence and reflection for planar and curved mirrors set upon a disk graduated in degrees. Ptolemy also measured how lines of sight are refracted at the boundary between materials of different density, such as air, water, and glass, although he failed to discover the exact law relating the angles of incidence and refraction.
Ptolemy’s fame as a geographer is hardly less than his fame as an astronomer. Geōgraphikē hyphēgēsis (Guide to Geography) provided all the information and techniques required to draw maps of the portion of the world known by Ptolemy’s contemporaries. By his own admission, Ptolemy did not attempt to collect and sift all the geographical data on which his maps were based. Instead, he based them on the maps and writings of Marinus of Tyre (c. ad 100), only selectively introducing more current information, chiefly concerning the Asian and African coasts of the Indian Ocean. Nothing would be known about Marinus if Ptolemy had not preserved the substance of his cartographical work.
Ptolemy’s most important geographical innovation was to record longitudes and latitudes in degrees for roughly 8,000 locations on his world map (see the photographWorld map after Ptolemy, Geographia (Ulm, 1496), Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. [Credit: Giraudon/Art Resource, New York]), making it possible to make an exact duplicate of his map. Hence, we possess a clear and detailed image of the inhabited world as it was known to a resident of the Roman Empire at its height—a world that extended from the Shetland Islands in the north to the sources of the Nile in the south, from the Canary Islands in the west to China and Southeast Asia in the east. Ptolemy’s map is seriously distorted in size and orientation compared to modern maps, a reflection of the incomplete and inaccurate descriptions of road systems and trade routes at his disposal.
Ptolemy also devised two ways of drawing a grid of lines on a flat map to represent the circles of latitude and longitude on the globe. His grid gives a visual impression of the Earth’s spherical surface and also, to a limited extent, preserves the proportionality of distances. The more sophisticated of these map projections, using circular arcs to represent both parallels and meridians, anticipated later area-preserving projections. Ptolemy’s geographical work was almost unknown in Europe until about 1300, when Byzantine scholars began producing many manuscript copies, several of them illustrated with expert reconstructions of Ptolemy’s maps. The Italian Jacopo d’Angelo translated the work into Latin in 1406. The numerous Latin manuscripts and early print editions of Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography, most of them accompanied by maps, attest to the profound impression this work made upon its rediscovery by Renaissance humanists.
There are several characters or items named after Ptolemy, including:
* The crater Ptolemaeus on the Moon;
* The crater Ptolemaeus on Mars;
* the asteroid 4001 Ptolemaeus;
* a character in the fantasy series The Bartimaeus Trilogy: this fictional Ptolemy is a young magician (from Alexandria) whom Bartimaeus loved; he made the journey into "the Other Place" being hunted by his cousin, because he was a magician;
* the name of Celestial Being's carrier ship in the anime Mobile Suit Gundam 00.
* track number 10 on Selected Ambient Works 85–92 by Aphex Twin.
Batlamiyus see Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemaeus see Ptolemy
Ptolemaeus, Claudius see Ptolemy
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