T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island
Friday, June 24, 2016
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings
that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature
of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual
practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars
refer to and study the myths in an attempt to shed light on the religious and
political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain
understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.
Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large
collection of narratives, and implicitly in Greek representational arts, such
as vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins
of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods,
goddesses, heroes, heroines and mythological creatures. These accounts
initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Greek myths
are known primarily from Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary
sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War and its
aftermath. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the
Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of
divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the
origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns,
in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of
the tragedians and comedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars
and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman
Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.
Archaeological findings provide a principal source of
detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the
decoration of many artefacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth
century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of
Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods,
Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the
existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on
the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of
Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the
present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered
contemporary significance and relevance in the themes.
Ancient Greek religion
Ancient Greek religion encompasses the collection of
beliefs, rituals, and mythology originating in ancient Greece in the form of
both popular public religion and cult practices. These different groups varied
enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults"
in the plural, though most of them shared similarities.
Many of the ancient Greek people recognized the major
(Olympian) gods and goddesses (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Artemis,
Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia, and
Hera), although philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of Platonism used
language that seems to posit a transcendent single deity. Different cities
often worshiped the same deities, sometimes with epithets that distinguished
them and specified their local nature.
The religious practices of the Greeks extended beyond
mainland Greece, to the islands and coasts of Ionia in Asia Minor, to Magna
Graecia (Sicily and southern Italy), and to scattered Greek colonies in the
Western Mediterranean, such as Massalia (Marseille). Greek religion was
tempered by Etruscan cult and belief to form much of the later ancient Roman
religion.
The Twelve Olympians
The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon
(Greek: Δωδεκάθεον from δώδεκα, dōdeka, "twelve" and θεοί, theoi,
"gods"), were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, said to
reside atop Mount Olympus. The Olympians gained their supremacy in a war of
gods in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the Titans.
The concept of the "Twelve Gods" is older than
any extant Greek or Roman sources. The gods meet in council in the Homeric
epics, but the first ancient reference to religious ceremonies for the
Olympians collectively is found in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. The Greek cult
of the Twelve Olympians can be traced to 6th-century BC Athens and probably has
no precedent in the Mycenaean period. The Altar of the Twelve Gods at Athens is
usually dated to the archonship of the younger Pesistratos, in 522/521 BC.
In ancient Greek religion, the "Olympian Gods"
and the "Cults of Twelve Gods" were often relatively distinct
concepts.
Friday, June 17, 2016
WATERLOO PARTY at T.R.A.C.S
No we not
have an Abba party and neither a party about toilets.This party is about the
battle of Waterloo.
The battle
was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then
part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June
1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of
the Netherlands. A French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte was
defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh Coalition: an Anglo-led Allied
army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and a Prussian army under the
command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prince of Wahlstatt. The battle
resulted in the end of Bonaparte's reign and of the First French Empire, and set
a chronological milestone between serial European wars and decades of relative
peace.
Upon Napoleon's return to power in March 1815, many
states that had opposed him formed the Seventh Coalition and began to mobilize
armies. Wellington and Blücher's armies were cantoned close to the
north-eastern border of France. Napoleon chose to attack them in the hope of
destroying them before they could join in a coordinated invasion of France with
other members of the coalition. Waterloo was the decisive engagement of the
Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon's last. According to Wellington, the battle was
"the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life". The defeat at
Waterloo ended Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French, and marked the end of
his Hundred Days return from exile. Napoleon abdicated 4 days later, and on 7
July coalition forces entered Paris.
The battlefield is located in the municipalities of
Braine-l'Alleud and Lasne, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Brussels, and
about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the town of Waterloo. The site of the
battlefield today is dominated by a large monument, the Lion's Mound. As this
mound was constructed from earth taken from the battlefield itself, the
contemporary topography of the battlefield near the mound has not been
preserved.
Having been exiled to the island of Elba in May 1814,
Napoleon returned to France on March 1, 1815, landing near Cannes with 1,000
men. He won support from the rural peasantry as he marched toward Paris, and
Louis XVIII fled the country prior to Napoleon’s arrival in the capital on
March 20. In a treaty of alliance signed on March 25, Great Britain, Prussia,
Austria, and Russia each vowed to maintain 150,000 men in the field until
Napoleon had been overthrown.
Shortly thereafter it was decided that the allied
armies, comprising a total of about 794,000 troops, should assemble along the
French frontier and march on Paris by convergent routes. The time needed for
the Russians to reach the Rhine would delay the invasion until early July, and
that allowed Napoleon the opportunity to organize his defenses. Napoleon could
command over 160,000 first-line troops, but he was forced to relegate many of
them to border defense. Because Louis XVIII, who had been restored to the
throne upon Napoleon’s first abdication, had abolished conscription, Napoleon
was not immediately able to draw on the vast number of trained men who had
returned to civilian life. To address that shortfall, he quickly set about
raising troops for an early campaign. All undischarged soldiers were summoned
to arms, and in eight weeks 80,000 men were added to the army. At the beginning
of June—too late for use in the Waterloo campaign—the conscription class of
1815 was
ordered to mustering points, and Napoleon hoped to have more than 500,000 men under arms before autumn.
By April 27 Napoleon had decided to attack Wellington and Blücher in the southern Netherlands (now Belgium), in the hope of defeating them before the Austrians and Russians could bring
their forces to bear.
 |
| Napoleon |
After the Battle of Quatre Bras, Wellington withdrew from
Quatre Bras to Waterloo. After the simultaneous Battle of Ligny the Prussians
withdrew parallel to Wellington, drawing a third part of Napoleon's forces away
from Waterloo to the separate and simultaneous Battle of Wavre. Upon learning
that the Prussian army was able to support him, Wellington decided to offer
battle on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment, across the Brussels road. Here he
withstood repeated attacks by the French throughout the afternoon, aided by the
progressively arriving Prussians. In the evening Napoleon committed his last
reserves to a desperate final attack, which was narrowly beaten back. With the
Prussians breaking through on the French right flank Wellington's Anglo-allied
army counter-attacked in the centre, and the French army was routed.
 |
| Wellington |
Napoleon’s return and the allied response
 |
| Blücher |
ordered to mustering points, and Napoleon hoped to have more than 500,000 men under arms before autumn.
By April 27 Napoleon had decided to attack Wellington and Blücher in the southern Netherlands (now Belgium), in the hope of defeating them before the Austrians and Russians could bring
their forces to bear.
 |
| Prince of Orange |
The allied campaign against Napoleon began in earnest in
early June, but the armies that had assembled in Belgium were of dubious
quality. Blücher’s four corps included many inexperienced conscripts among
their 120,000 men. Wellington, whose forces numbered more than 93,000 before
the campaign began, characterized his own army as “infamous.” Of the 31,000
British troops under his command, most had never been under fire. Many of the
29,000 Netherlanders under William, Prince of Orange (later William II), were
unreliable, having served under Napoleon little more than a year before. The
remainder of that polyglot army was made up of some 16,000 Hanoverians, roughly
6,800 Brunswickers, and the 6,300 men of George III’s German Legion. Only the
last contingent, veterans of the Peninsular War, could be safely trusted in a
crisis. Thus, the majority of the troops arrayed against Napoleon were no match
for the highly enthusiastic and largely veteran French force. Wellington and
Blücher had agreed to come to each other’s assistance should either be
attacked, but the lack of any real preparation prior to June 15 shows that
little serious attention had been given to such a possibility.
 |
| Michel Ney |
On 15 June 1815, Napoleon appointed Marshal Michel Ney
commander of the left wing of the Army of the North. On 16 June Napoleon's
forces split up into two wings to fight two separate battles simultaneously.
Ney attacked Wellington at Quatre Bras (and received criticism for attacking
slowly, while Napoleon attacked Blücher's Prussians at Ligny
Although Napoleon’s troops mounted a strong attack
against the British, the arrival of the Prussians turned the tide against the
French. The French emperor’s outnumbered army retreated in chaos. By some
estimates, the French suffered more than 33,000 casualties (including dead,
wounded or taken prisoner), while British and Prussian casualties numbered more
than 22,000.
Reportedly fatigued and in poor health during the
Belgian campaign, Napoleon committed tactical errors and acted indecisively. He
also was blamed for appointing inadequate commanders. Ultimately, the Battle of
Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon’s storied military career. He reportedly
rode away from the battle in tears.
Wellington went on to serve as British prime minister,
while Blucher, in his 70s at the time of the Waterloo battle, died a few years
later.
Napoleon’s Final Years
On June 22, 1815, Napoleon once again abdicated. That
October, he was exiled to the remote, British-held island of Saint Helena, in
the South Atlantic Ocean. He died there on May 5, 1821, at age 51, most likely
from stomach cancer. Napoleon was buried on the island; however, in 1840, his
remains were returned to France and entombed in a crypt at Les Invalides in
Paris, where other French military leaders are interred.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
World Tapestry of Dance at The Oval
The Oval Theatre Company presents 'World
Tapestry Of Dance'.
Over the past six months, Red Hykova and Steve
Ruhig-Allen have stretched their limits to create elaborate, intricate dance
routines evoking many of the world's cultures. They'll traverse the globe from
Bangkok to Bollywood, from Korea to Cuba, and from Hungary to Hawaii.
I was there and if you haven’t seen this
show, you missing a treat!
Beautiful scenes, amazing special effects
and tight dance routines!
There are just two options left to see the
show on: June 16th or on June 18th. At 1:00 pm SLT
For a quality performance they are limiting
the sim to maximum of 45 people for each performance. Invite your friends and
please arrive early to avoid disappointment.
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