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Nicholas Flamel
Nicolas Flamel (; 1330 – 22 March 1418) was a French ''écrivain public'', a draftsman of public documents such as contracts, letters, agreements and requests. He and his wife also ran a school that taught this trade. Long after his death, Flamel developed a reputation as an alchemist believed to have created and discovered the philosopher's stone and to have thereby achieved immortality. These legendary accounts first appeared in the 17th century. According to texts ascribed to Flamel almost 200 years after his death, he had learned alchemical secrets from a Jewish ''converso'' on the road to Santiago de Compostela. He has since appeared as a legendary alchemist in various fictional works. In modern historical publications Flamel is also often referred to as a copyist of manuscripts and a book seller, but research by M. and R. Rouse has demonstrated that this is not correct and that the very few historical documents that refer to him in this capacity do so mistakenly or ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontoise
Pontoise () is a commune north of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official (capital) of the Val-d'Oise '' département'', although in reality the ''préfecture'' building and administration, as well as the department council (''conseil général''), are located in the neighboring commune of Cergy, which is regarded as the ''de facto'' capital of Val-d'Oise. Pontoise is also the seat of the Arrondissement of Pontoise. The ''sous-préfecture'' building and administration, unlike the ''préfecture'', are located inside the commune of Pontoise. Sister cities The city of Pontoise has three sister city relationships with: * Böblingen, Germany since 1956 * Sevenoaks, United Kingdom since 1964 * Geleen, Netherlands since 1962 Security Known for being a violent city in the late 20th century, with a criminal rate of 137.62 incidents per 1000 inhabitants, Cergy-Pontoise has enjoyed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alchemy
Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD.. Greek-speaking alchemists often referred to their craft as "the Art" (τέχνη) or "Knowledge" (ἐπιστήμη), and it was often characterised as mystic (μυστική), sacred (ἱɛρά), or divine (θɛíα). Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials. Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of " base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical ''magnum opus'' ("Great Work"). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Pike
Albert Pike (December 29, 1809April 2, 1891) was an American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and Confederate States Army general who served as an List of justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court, associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court Government in exile, in exile from 1864 to 1865. He had previously served as a senior Officer (armed forces), officer of the Confederate States Army, commanding the District of Indian Territory in the American Civil War, Indian Territory in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War, Trans-Mississippi Theater. A prominent member of the Freemasonry, Freemasons, Pike served as the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Scottish Rite (Southern Jurisdiction, USA), Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction from 1859 to 1891. Early life and education Albert Pike was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 29, 1809, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews) Pike. He grew up in Byfield, Massachusetts, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undistinguished student and did not obtain a diploma. In the 1880s he worked as a pianist in café-cabarets in Montmartre, Paris, and began composing works, mostly for solo piano, such as his ''Gymnopédies'' and ''Gnossiennes''. He also wrote music for a Rosicrucian sect to which he was briefly attached. After a period in which he composed little, Satie entered Paris's second music academy, the Schola Cantorum de Paris, Schola Cantorum, as a mature student. His studies there were more successful than those at the Conservatoire. From about 1910 he became the focus of successive groups of young composers attracted by his unconventionality and originality. Among them were the group known as Les Six. A meeting with Jean Cocteau in 1915 led to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hunchback Of Notre-Dame
''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (, originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. The title refers to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which features prominently throughout the novel. It focuses on the unfortunate story of Quasimodo, the Roma street dancer Esmeralda and Quasimodo's guardian the Archdeacon Claude Frollo in 15th-century Paris. All its elements—the Renaissance setting, impossible love affairs and marginalised characters—make the work a model of the literary themes of Romanticism. The novel is considered a classic of French literature and has been adapted repeatedly for film, stage and television. Some prominent examples include a 1923 silent film with Lon Chaney, a 1939 sound film with Charles Laughton, a 1956 film with Anthony Quinn and a 1996 Disney animated film with Tom Hulce. Written during a time of cultural upheaval, the novel champions historical preservation. Hugo solidified Notre-D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (1831) and ''Les Misérables'' (1862). In France, Hugo is renowned for his poetry collections, such as and (''The Legend of the Ages''). Hugo was at the forefront of the Romanticism, Romantic literary movement with his play ''Cromwell (play), Cromwell'' and drama ''Hernani (drama), Hernani''. His works have inspired music, both during his lifetime and after his death, including the opera ''Rigoletto'' and the musicals ''Les Misérables (musical), Les Misérables'' and ''Notre-Dame de Paris (musical), Notre-Dame de Paris''. He produced more than 4,000 drawings in his lifetime, and campaigned for social causes such as the abolition of Capital punishment in France, capital punishment and Abolitionism, slavery. Although he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed. His book (''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''), first published in 1687, achieved the Unification of theories in physics#Unification of gravity and astronomy, first great unification in physics and established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and Leibniz–Newton calculus controversy, shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for formulating calculus, infinitesimal calculus, though he developed calculus years before Leibniz. Newton contributed to and refined the scientific method, and his work is considered the most influential in bringing forth modern science. In the , Newton formulated the Newton's laws of motion, laws of motion and Newton's law of universal g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hebrew Language
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival. It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being Aramaic, still spoken today. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native metal, native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc Refining (metallurgy), refining. Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes bimetallism, alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures. Other than in currency and as an in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Book Of Abraham The Jew
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florin
The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a purchasing power difficult to estimate (and variable) but ranging according to social grouping and perspective from approximately 140 to 1,000 modern US dollars. The name of the coin comes from the ''Giglio bottonato'' ( it), the floral emblem of the city, which is represented at the head of the coin. History The ''fiorino d'oro'' (gold florin) was minted in the Republic of Florence after the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade disrupted the minting of fine gold coins in the Byzantine Empire. It came to be accepted across Europe like the Byzantine Solidus had been. The territorial usage of the ''lira'' and the florin often overlapped; where the lira was used for smaller transactions (wages, food purchases), the florin was for la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cimetière Des Innocents
The Holy Innocents' Cemetery (French: Cimetière des Saints-Innocents or Cimetière des Innocents) is a defunct cemetery in Paris that was used from the Middle Ages until the late 18th century. It was the oldest and largest cemetery in Paris and had often been used for mass graves. It was closed because of overuse in 1780, and in 1786 the remaining corpses were exhumed and transported to the unused subterranean quarries near Montparnasse known as the Catacombs of Paris, Catacombs. The place Joachim-du-Bellay in the Les Halles district now covers the site of the cemetery. The cemetery took its name (referring to the Biblical Massacre of the Innocents) from the attached church of the Holy Innocents that was demolished at the same time as the cemetery was cleared. History Sources describe the burial ground, then called ''Champeaux'', and the associated church in the 12th century. It was located next to the central market (the original location of ''Les Halles''). Under the reign of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
