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Holofernes
In the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, Holofernes ( grc, Ὀλοφέρνης; he, הולופרנס) was an invading Assyrian general known for having been beheaded by Judith, a Hebrew widow who entered his camp and beheaded him while he was drunk. Holofernes had been dispatched by Nebuchadnezzar to take vengeance on Israel, which had withheld assistance in his most recent war. Having occupied every country along the coastline, Holofernes destroyed all worship of gods other than Nebuchadnezzar. Holofernes was warned against attacking the Jewish people by Achior, the leader of the Ammonites; however, despite the advice he laid siege to the city of Bethulia, commonly believed to be Meselieh. The city almost fell to the invading army; Holofernes' advance stopped the water supply to Bethulia, leading to its people encouraging their rulers to give in to Holofernes' demands. The leaders vowed to surrender if no help arrived within five days. Bethulia was saved by Judith, a Hebrew ...
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Judith Beheading Holofernes
The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical ''Book of Judith'', and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket (often depicted as being carried by an elderly female servant). Artists have mainly chosen one of two possible scenes (with or without the servant): the decapitation, with Holofernes supine on the bed, or the heroine holding or carrying the head, often assisted by her maid. In European art, Judith is very often accompanied by her maid at her shoulder, which helps to distinguish her from Salome, who also carries her victim's head on a silver charger (plate). However, a Northern tr ...
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Book Of Judith
The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells of a Jewish widow, Judith, who uses her beauty and charm to destroy an Assyrian general and save Israel from oppression. The surviving Greek manuscripts contain several historical anachronisms, which is why some Protestant scholars now consider the book non-historical: a parable, a theological novel, or perhaps the first historical novel. The name Judith (), meaning "Praised" or "Jewess", is the feminine form of Judah. Historical context Original language It is not clear whether the Book of Judith was originally written in Hebrew or in Greek. The oldest existing version is in the Septuagint, and might either be a translation from Hebrew or composed in Greek. Details of vocabulary and phrasing point to a Greek text written in a language m ...
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Bethulia
Bethulia (, ''Baituloua''; Hebrew: בתוליה) is a biblical "city whose deliverance by Judith, when besieged by Holofernes, forms the subject of the Book of Judith." Etymology The name "Bethulia" in Hebrew can be associated, in an allegorical sense, with "Beth-el" (house of God). If treated as a real geographical name, it can be explained as a composite word built from "betulah", virgin, and " Jah", the proper name of God, so literally "Yhwh's virgin". This suits the portrayal of Judith as a chaste widow and the book's emphasis on following religious rules, chastity among them. Hugo Willrich suggested in 1900 in his book "Judaica" that "Bethulia" is a corrupted form of "Bethalagan". Location The Jewish Encyclopedia suggests an original allegorical sense, later applied to a concrete place in the described region. However, no place-name easily derivable from Bethulia could be identified there. The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–14) writes: "The view that Bethulia is merely ...
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Salome
Salome (; he, שְלוֹמִית, Shlomit, related to , "peace"; el, Σαλώμη), also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, son of Herod the Great, and princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New Testament, where she is not named, and from an account by Flavius Josephus. In the New Testament, the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas demands and receives the head of John the Baptist. According to Josephus, she was first married to her uncle Philip the Tetrarch, after whose death (AD 34), she married her cousin Aristobulus of Chalcis, thus becoming queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor. The gospel story of her dance at the birthday celebration of her stepfather, who had John the Baptist beheaded at her request, inspired art, literature and music over an extended period of time. Among the paintings are those by Titian and Gustave Moreau. Oscar Wilde's 1891 eponymous play, and its 190 ...
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Jael
Jael or Yael ( he, יָעֵל ''Yāʿēl'') is the name of the heroine who delivered Israel from the army of King Jabin of Canaan in the Book of Judges of the Hebrew Bible. After Barak demurred at the behest of the prophetess Deborah, God turned Sisera over to Jael, who killed him by driving a tent peg through his skull after he entered her tent near the great tree in Zaanannim near Kedesh. Name The Hebrew ''ya'el'' means ibex, a nimble, sure-footed mountain goat native to that region. It literally translates to "he shall ascend or go up". As of 2016, ''Yael'' was one of the most common female first names in contemporary Israel. Family Jael has often been understood to be the wife of Heber the Kenite.Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. "Jael: ...
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The Monk's Tale
"The Monk's Tale" is one of '' The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Monk's tale to the other pilgrims is a collection of 17 short stories, exempla, on the theme of tragedy. The tragic endings of these historical figures are recounted: Lucifer, Adam, Samson, Hercules, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Zenobia, Pedro of Castile, Peter I of Cyprus, Bernabò Visconti, Ugolino of Pisa, Nero, Holofernes, Antiochus, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Croesus. Some literary critics believe that a large portion of the tale may have been written before the rest of the ''Canterbury Tales'' and that the four most contemporary figures were added at a later point. A likely dating for this hypothetical first draft of the text would be the 1370s, shortly after Chaucer returned from a trip to Italy, where he was exposed to Giovanni Boccaccio's '' Concerning the Falls of Illustrious Men'', as well as other works such as the ''Decameron''. The tragedy of Bernabò Visconti must ha ...
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Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific ''A Treatise on the Astrolabe'' for his 10-year-old son Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament. Among Chaucer's many other works are ''The Book of the Duchess'', ''The House of Fame'', ''The Legend of Good Women'', and ''Troilus and Criseyde''. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our ...
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Deaths By Decapitation
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain death is sometimes used as a legal definition of death. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose shortly after death. Death is an inevitable process that eventually occurs in almost all organisms. Death is generally applied to whole organisms; the similar process seen in individual components of an organism, such as cells or tissues, is necrosis. Something that is not considered an organism, such as a virus, can be physically destroyed but is not said to die. As of the early 21st century, over 150,000 humans die each day, with ageing being by far the most common cause of death. Many cultures and religions have the idea of an afterlife, and also may hold the idea of judgement of good and bad deeds in one's life (heaven ...
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Sisera
Sisera ( he, סִיסְרָא ''Sîsərā'') was commander of the Canaanite army of King Jabin of Hazor, who is mentioned in of the Hebrew Bible. After being defeated by the forces of the Israelite tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali under the command of Barak and Deborah, Sisera was killed by Jael, who hammered a tent peg into his temple. Biblical account According to the biblical book of Judges, Jabin, King of Hazor, oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. His general was Sisera, who commanded nine hundred iron chariots from Harosheth Haggoyim, a fortified cavalry base. After the prophetess Deborah persuaded Barak to face Sisera in battle, they, with an Israelite force of ten thousand, defeated him at the Battle of Mount Tabor on the plain of Esdraelon. Judges 5:20 says that "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera", and the following verse implies that the army was swept away by the Wadi Kishon. Following the battle, there was peace for forty years. After the battl ...
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John The Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Baptista; cop, ⲓⲱⲁⲛⲛⲏⲥ ⲡⲓⲡⲣⲟⲇⲣⲟⲙⲟⲥ or ; ar, يوحنا المعمدان; myz, ࡉࡅࡄࡀࡍࡀ ࡌࡀࡑࡁࡀࡍࡀ, Iuhana Maṣbana. The name "John" is the Anglicized form, via French, Latin and then Greek, of the Hebrew, "Yochanan", which means "YHWH is gracious"., group="note" ( – ) was a mission preacher active in the area of Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. He is also known as John the Forerunner in Christianity, John the Immerser in some Baptist Christian traditions, and Prophet Yahya in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively referred to as John the Baptiser. John is mentioned by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus and he is revered as a major religious figure Funk, Robert W. & the Jes ...
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New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as sacred scripture by Christians. The New Testament is a collection of Christian texts originally written in the Koine Greek language, at different times by various authors. While the Old Testament canon varies somewhat between different Christian denominations, the 27-book canon of the New Testament has been almost universally recognized within Christianity since at least Late Antiquity. Thus, in almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books: * 4 canonical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) * The Acts of the Apostl ...
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