So far no one has been able to decipher the writing of ancient Crete of which there are many examples. Nearly 2,000 thin, clay tablets were found at the palace at Knossos. It was the first writing in which the characters run from left to right. Sometimes, however, when the writing reached the end of a line it continued in the next line from right to left.
Cretan writing is still but the remains so far found are eloquent witness of a flourishing civilization.
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The royal palace of Knossos in Crete was a true city within a city. The palace was built around an enormous courtyard and contained more than a thousand, perhaps used for ritual performances.
The palace had an ingenious system of plumbing for bringing drinking water and for flushing away waste materials. Light was supplied from above by ‘light wells’ and colonnaded porticoes provided ventilation. The palace was also the home of all the workers and craftsmen who produced all the tools and equipment needed at court.
The artisans of Crete were excellent ceramicists and potters and their vases were exported to all parts of the Mediterranean. The high level of civilization that developed on Crete had a major influence on neighbouring lands, especially on the Achaeans, the ancestors of the ancient Greeks.
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According to the stories of the time hanging gardens of Babylon began as gesture of love and affection. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon from 605 to 562 B. C., had married a Mede princess who was very homesick for her native land and its greenery. To please her, the king created the most beautiful gardens on the terraces of his royal palace.
The ancient peoples considered these gardens as one of the seven found wonders of the world. Archaeologists have never found any trace of them but some writes who saw the gardens have left behind detailed descriptions. They were not literally ‘hanging’ but were ‘up in the air’, that is roof gardens laid out on a series of terraces. These terraces were supported on strong vaults and were filled in with soil in which many kinds of trees grew.
The biggest danger to these gardens was rain which in that region occurs in downpours at certain times of the year. To protect the gardens from the torrential rain the caults were covered in bitumen or resign and clad in sheets of lead.
During the dry season the gardens were irrigated by pumps from the river Euphrates. The water was brought from ground level to a tank placed on the highest terrace.
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The word ‘automobile’, which is another way of saying motor car, means ‘moving by itself’. The motor car travels without being pulled by a horse or any other animal and with No visible force to make its wheels go round. For a long time inventors and engineers wondered how much such a machine could be produced. One of the first attempts to produce an automobile was made during the eighteenth century. It was a very ramshackle affair and can still be seen today in the National Museum in Paris. The machine was designed by the French engineer, Nicholas Joseph Cugnot.
Cugnot’s idea was to exploit the steam engine invented by watt and use it to power a vehicle. He drew up plans which he submitted to the War Ministry since the machine was meant to carry heavy artillery. Cugnot was authorized to make a prototype. The machine he produced was a large, heavy, steam-powered tricycle. His model of 1769 was said to have run for minutes at just over 5 Kilometers an hour while carrying four people. Cugnot then built large vehicle. During a test run at Vincennes the machine got out of control and crashed into a wall, demolishing it.
The accident gave ammunition to Cugnot’s opponents and the experiments stopped. It took many more years before attempts were resumed to make a motor car.
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Shared between two countries
The Sundarbans is spread across West Bengal, India, and Khulna Division, Bangladesh. Covering an estimated10,00,000 hectares, about 64 per cent of the entire mangrove area of the forest is said to be in Bangladesh, with the remaining 36 per cent in India. The Sundarbans is listed as ‘Sundarbans National Park, as a World Heritage Site from India, and as The Sundarbans World Heritage Site from Bangladesh.
The largest Mangrove forest
The Sundarbans is home to the largest mangrove forest in the world, and is also the only mangrove forest to be inhabited by the tiger. Nearly 78 species of mangroves have been recorded at the Sundarbans, making it one of the richest mangrove forests, as well as one among the most biologically productive of all natural ecosystems.
The largest population of tigers
Apart from being the only mangrove forest inhabited by the tiger, the Sundarbans is also home to the largest number of Bengal Tigers in the world A part of the Sundarbans is designated as the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve to protect the species. The tigers here have adapted to the environment and have become amphibious, swimming long stretches in search of food.
A unique tidal system
The Sundarbans experiences a unique tidal phenomenon, witnessing high and low tides several times within a day. During the high tides, you can witness the water levels rising by six to ten feet. And during low tides, you can see huge areas of flat mud lands.
There is a great natural depression called “Swatch of No Ground in the Sundarbans area. This depression leads to a sudden change in the depth of the water from 20 m to 500 m.
What’s in a name?
Did you know the Sundarbans got its name from the Sundari tree? It is a special kind of mangrove tree found in this area. It has aerial roots (roots which are above the ground) to help with respiration. This is especially useful for the tree during the rainy season when the entire mangrove area is waterlogged.
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Pets have always been special to us. A dog is great company, a cat is a precious little bundle, a parrot is a delight, an alligator is a… well, an interesting companion, a bear… probably is unusual! Let’s look at the pets owned by famous personalities in history!
A very important horse
Roman emperor Caligula had a bad reputation for cruelty, but even he had a soft spot for his pet – a horse. So special was
his horse, named Incitatus, that it got to live in a marble shed, drink from a golden bucket, wear a jewelled collar and have gold flakes mixed with its oats! Caligula didn’t stop there – he gave his pet a saddle with a red border. What’s the big deal? It turns out that only the ministers of his court wore a robe with a red border, so Incitatus was promoted as a senior official!
An alligator in the White House
When President Quincy Adams was gifted an alligator by the French aristocrat Marquis de Lafayette, he took a quick decision regarding the reptile’s living arrangements: it would live in a bathtub inside the East Room bathroom of the White House. Unsuspecting guests who entered the bathroom were in for a horrifying shock and fainting fits!
Too fond of dogs
Muhammad Mahabat Khan III, an Indian maharaja, loved dogs. Nothing strange because many people love dogs, right? But he loved them so much that he had nearly 800 dogs! Each dog had its own room, complete with a telephone (though how a dog would use it is not clear) and a personal attendant. Marriages between his dogs were grand affairs and he even invited the British viceroy at the time to attend one such event!
A wise friend from the sea
The French poet, Gérard de Nerval, rescued a lobster and adopted it as a pet, fondly naming it Thibault. He would take Thibault for a walk with an elegant blue ribbon as its leash. When people argued that it was crazy to have a lobster, Nerval calmly explained the pluses of having a crustacean as a pet: it was calm, serious, didn’t bark and knew the secrets of the sea.
An artistic pet
Salvador Dali was famous for his unique moustache, his surreal paintings and his bizarre choice of pet – an ocelot. Babou went with him everywhere, proudly flashing its special studded collar. This included a journey on a luxury cruise and even a visit to a restaurant in Manhattan, much to the alarm of other diners.
No dogs allowed? How about a bear!
Lord Byron, the famous poet, was well-known for his eccentricities. When he enrolled in Trinity College in Cambridge, dogs were forbidden as pets on the campus. So Byron kept a tame bear instead! This flummoxed the college authorities, but Byron had a solid defence. For nowhere in the rulebook was it mentioned “no bears allowed”, was it? Apparently, nobody could legally expel the bear and it stayed on while Byron studied there.
A pet-plus messenger
Much before the serial Game of Thrones made ravens cool, the 12th dynasty pharaoh, Amenemhat II, thought ravens were awesome and he had a pet raven he loved dearly. But this was a special raven that also served the pharaoh faithfully as a messenger. It was apparently the swiftest of messengers, well aware of where to deliver its messages and where to pause on its way back. So fond was he of his pet that Amenemhat II had a tomb built for his loyal raven.
Picture Credit : Google
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