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Variety (linguistics)
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In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.[1] The use of the word "variety" to refer to the different forms avoids the use of the term language, which many people associate only with the standard language, and the term dialect, which is often associated with non-standard varieties thought of as less prestigious or "correct" than the standard.[2] Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard varieties. "Lect" avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.
Variation at the level of the lexicon, such as slang and argot, is often considered in relation to particular styles or levels of formality (also called registers), but such uses are sometimes discussed as varieties as well.[1]
Contents
1 Dialects
2 Standard varieties
3 Registers and styles
4 Idiolect
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Dialects[edit]
Main article: Dialect
O'Grady et al. define dialect: "A regional or social variety of a language characterized by its own phonological, syntactic, and lexical properties."[3] A variety spoken in a particular region is called a regional dialect; some regional varieties are called topolects, especially to discuss varieties of Chinese.[4] In addition, there are dialect varieties associated with particular ethnic groups (sometimes called ethnolects), socioeconomic classes (sometimes called sociolects), or other social or cultural groups.
Dialectology is the study of dialects and their geographic or social distribution.[3] Traditionally, dialectologists study the variety of language used within a particular speech community, a group of people who share a set of norms or conventions for language use.[1] More recently, sociolinguists have adopted the concept of the community of practice, a group of people who develop shared knowledge and shared norms of interaction, as the social group within which dialects develop and change.[5] Sociolinguists Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet explain: "Some communities of practice may develop more distinctive ways of speaking than others. Thus, it is within communities of practice that linguistic influence may spread within and among speech communities."[6]
The words dialect and accent are sometimes used interchangeably in everyday English speech, but linguists and scholars define the two terms differently. Accent is used to refer only to differences in pronunciation, especially those that are associated with geographic or social differences. Dialect, which refers to differences in syntax, morphology, and vocabulary as well as pronunciation, is the broader term.
Standard varieties[edit]
Main article: Standard language
Most languages have a standard variety, some variety that is selected and promoted by either quasi-legal authorities or other social institutions, such as schools or media. Standard varieties are more prestigious than other, nonstandard varieties and are generally thought of as "correct" by speakers of the language. Since the selection is an arbitrary standard, standard varieties are "correct" only in the sense that they are highly valued by large numbers of individuals of medium and higher socio-economic status, those with the power to control language use, such as writers, publishers, public speakers and the ruling class, within the society that uses the language. As Ralph Harold Fasold puts it, "The standard language may not even be the best possible constellation of linguistic features available. It is general social acceptance that gives us a workable arbitrary standard, not any inherent superiority of the characteristics it specifies."[7]
Sociolinguists generally recognize the standard variety of a language as one of the dialects of that language.[8]
In some cases, an official body, such as the Académie française,[9] describes the grammar and usage of a standard variety. More often, though, standard varieties are understood only implicitly. Writing of Standard English, John Algeo suggests that the standard variety "is simply what English speakers agree to regard as good".[10]
Registers and styles[edit]
Main articles: Register (sociolinguistics) and Style-shifting
A register (sometimes called a style) is a variety of language used in a particular social setting.[11] Settings may be defined in terms of greater or lesser formality,[12] or in terms of socially-recognized events, such as baby talk, which is used in many western cultures to talk to small children or as a joking register used in teasing or playing The Dozens.[11] There are also registers associated with particular professions or interest groups; jargon refers specifically to the vocabulary associated with such registers.
Unlike dialects, which are used by particular speech communities and associated with geographical settings or social groupings, registers are associated with particular situations, purposes, or levels of formality. Dialect and register may be thought of as different dimensions of variation. For example, Trudgill suggests the following sentence as an example of a nonstandard dialect that is used with the technical register of physical geography:
There was two eskers what we saw in them U-shaped valleys.[8]
Most speakers command a range of registers, which they use in different situations. The choice of register is affected by the setting and topic of speech, as well as the relationship that exists between the speakers.[13]
The appropriate form of language may also change during the course of a communicative event as the relationship between speakers changes, or different social facts become relevant. Speakers may shift styles, as their perception of an event in progress changes. Consider the following telephone call to the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, DC.
Caller: ¿Es la embajada de Cuba? (Is this the Cuban embassy?)
Receptionist: Sí. Dígame. (Yes, may I help you?)
Caller: Es Rosa. (It's Rosa.)
Receptionist: ¡Ah Rosa! ¿Cóma anda eso? (Oh, Rosa! How's it going?)
At first, the receptionist uses a relatively formal register, as befits her professional role. After the caller identifies herself, the receptionist recognizes that she is speaking to a friend, and she shifts to an informal register of colloquial Cuban Spanish.[13] The shift is similar to metaphorical code-switching, but since it involves styles or registers, it is considered an example of style-shifting.
Idiolect[edit]
An idiolect is defined as "the language use typical of an individual person".[14] An individual's idiolect may be affected by contact with various regional or social dialects, professional registers and, in the case of multilinguals, various languages.[15]
For scholars who view language from the perspective of linguistic competence, essentially the knowledge of language and grammar that exists in the mind of an individual language user, the idiolect is a way of referring to the specific knowledge. For scholars who regard language as a shared social practice, the idiolect is more like a dialect with a speech community of one individual.[16]
See also[edit]
Abstand and ausbau languages
Language localization
List of language subsystems
Koiné language, a standard language or dialect that arises due to contact between mutually intelligible varieties (dialects) of the same language
Variation (linguistics)
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c Meecham, Marjorie and Janie Rees-Miller. (2001) "Language in social contexts." In W. O'Grady, J. Archibald, M. Aronoff and J. Rees-Miller (eds) Contemporary Linguistics. pp. 537-590. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Jump up ^ Schilling-Estes, Natalies. (2006) "Dialect variation." In R.W. Fasold and J. Connor-Linton (eds) An Introduction to Language and Linguistics. pp. 311-341. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ Jump up to: a b O'Grady, William, John Archibald, Mark Aronoff, and Jane Rees-Miller. eds. (2001) Contemporary Linguistics. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Jump up ^ "topolect". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010.
Jump up ^ Lave, Jean & Etienne Wenger. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jump up ^ Eckert, Penelope & Sally McConnell-Ginet. (2003) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jump up ^ Fasold, Ralph. (2006) "The politics of language." In R.W. Fasold and J. Connor-Linton (eds) An Introduction to Language and Linguistics. pp. 371-400. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
^ Jump up to: a b Trudgill, Peter. (1999) "Standard English: what it isn't" In T. Bex & R.J. Watts (eds) Standard English: The Widening Debate. pp. 117-128. London: Routledge.
Jump up ^ "Le Dictionnaire". Académie française (in French). Retrieved 20 July 2016.
Jump up ^ Algeo, John. (1993) "What Makes Good English Good?" In L. Miller Cleary and M.D. Lin (eds) Linguistics for Teachers. pp. 473-82. New York: McGraw.
^ Jump up to: a b Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph. (2006) The Anthropology of Language. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cenage.
Jump up ^ Joos, Martin. (1961) The Five Clocks. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
^ Jump up to: a b Saville-Troike, Muriel. (1982) The Ethnography of Communication: An Introduction. Oxford and Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
Jump up ^ Freeborn, Dennis, Peter French & David Langford. (1993) Varieties of English. Houndsmill and London: MacMillan Press.
Jump up ^ Gregory, Michael and Susanne Carroll. (1978) Language and situation: language varieties and their social contexts. London: Routledge.
Jump up ^ Barber, Alex. (2004) "Idiolects." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 07-01-2009.
External links[edit]
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House of Burgesses
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The Virginia House of Burgesses
Colony of Virginia
Patrick Henry in the House of Burgesses by Peter F. Rothermel
History
Established
1619
Succeeded by
Virginia House of Delegates in 1776
Meeting place
Reconstructed chamber in Williamsburg
Jamestown, Virginia (1619–1699)
Williamsburg, Virginia (1699–1776)
The Virginia House of Burgesses /ˈbɜːrdʒəsɪz/ was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America.[1] The House was established by the Virginia Company, which created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America, and to make conditions in the colony more agreeable for its current inhabitants.[2]
From 1619 to 1776, the representative branch of the legislature of Virginia was the House of Burgesses, which governed in conjunction with a colonial governor and his council. Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699, when the government was moved to Williamsburg. In 1776 the colony became the independent Commonwealth of Virginia and the House of Burgesses became the House of Delegates.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 Name
2 Early years
2.1 First session
2.2 Later 17th century
3 Moving toward independence
4 Meeting places
5 Legacy
6 See also
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 Further reading
10 External links
Name[edit]
Main article: Burgess (title)
Originally a synonym of burgher or bourgeois, the word "burgess" came to mean a borough representative in local or parliamentary government.
Early years[edit]
The Colony of Virginia was founded by an English stock company, the Virginia Company, as a private venture, though under a royal charter. Early governors provided the stern leadership and harsh judgments required for the colony to survive its early difficulties. As early crises with famine, disease, Native American attempts to keep their good land, the need to establish cash crops, insufficient skilled or committed labor, the colony needed to attract enough new and responsible settlers if it were to grow and prosper.
To encourage settlers to come to Virginia, in 1618–1619, the Virginia Company's leaders drew up a great charter.[4] Emigrants who paid their own way to Virginia would receive fifty acres of land. They would not be mere tenants. Civil authority would control the military. A council of burgesses, representatives chosen by the inhabitants of the colony for their government, would be convened as the House of Burgesses. The governor could veto their actions and the company still had overall control of the venture, but the settlers would have a say in their own government, including the right of the House of Burgesses to introduce money bills.[5] The House of Assembly was created at the same time in Bermuda (which had also been settled by the Virginia Company, and was by then managed by its offshoot, the Somers Isles Company) and held its first session in 1620.[citation needed]
A handful of Polish craftsmen, brought to the colony to supply skill in the manufacture of pitch, tar, potash, and soap ash, were initially denied the political rights of English settlers. They downed tools in protest, but returned to work after being declared free (probably in the sense of civil liberty) and enfranchised, apparently by agreement with the Virginia Company.[6]
First session[edit]
On July 30, 1619, the first European-style legislative assembly in the Americas convened for a six-day meeting at the church on Jamestown Island, Virginia. A council chosen by the Virginia Company as advisers to the governor, the Virginia Governor's Council, met as a sort of "upper house," while 22 locally elected representatives met as the House of Burgesses. Together, the House of Burgesses and the Council would be the Virginia General Assembly.[5]
The House's first session of July 30, 1619, accomplished little, being cut short by an outbreak of malaria. The assembly had 22 members from the following constituencies: James City (Captain William Powell, Ensign William Spense), Charles City (Sergeant Samuel Sharpe, Samuel Jordan), the City of Henricus (Thomas Dowse, John Polentine or Plentine), Kicoughtan (Captain William Tucker, William Capps), Martin-Brandon (Captain John Martin's Plantation) (Thomas Davis, Robert Stacy), Smythe's Hundred (Captain Thomas Graves, Walter Shelley), Martin's Hundred (John Boys, John Jackson), Argall's Gift Plantation (Thomas Pawlett, Edward Gourgainy), Flowerdew (or Flowerdieu) Hundred Plantation (Ensign Edmund Rossingham, John Jefferson), Captain Lawne's Plantation (Captain Christopher Lawne, Ensign Washer), and Captain Ward's Plantation (Captain John Warde or Ward, Lieutenant John Gibbs or Gibbes).[7]
Later 17th century[edit]
Especially after the massacre of about 400 colonists on March 22, 1622 by Native Americans, and epidemics in the winters before and after the massacre, the governor and council ruled arbitrarily and allowed no dissent. By 1624, the royal government in London had heard enough about the problems of the colony and revoked the charter of the Virginia Company. Virginia became a crown colony and the governor and council would be chosen by the king. Nonetheless, the basic form of government of the colony was retained, although the right of the General Assembly to exist was not officially confirmed until 1639.[5]
In 1634, the General Assembly divided the colony into eight shires (later redesignated as counties) for purposes of government, administration, and the judicial system. By 1643, the expanding colony had 15 counties. All of the county offices, including a board of commissioners, judges, sheriff, constable and clerks, were appointed positions. Only the members of the House of Burgesses were elected by a vote of the people. Women had no right to vote. Only free and white men originally were given the right to vote, by 1670 only property owners were allowed to vote.[5]
In 1652, the parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell forced the colony to submit to being taken over by the English government. Again, the colonists were able to retain the General Assembly as their governing body. Only taxes agreed to by the assembly were to be levied. Still, most Virginia colonists were loyal to Prince Charles, and were pleased at his restoration as King Charles II in 1660. He went on directly or indirectly to restrict some of the liberties of the colonists, such as requiring tobacco to be shipped only to England, only on English ships, with the price set by the English merchant buyers;[8] but the General Assembly remained.[5]
A majority of the members of the General Assembly of 1676 were supporters of Nathaniel Bacon. They enacted legislation designed to further popular sovereignty and representative government and to equalize opportunities.[9] Bacon took little part in the deliberations since he was busy fighting the Native Americans.[10]
The statehouse in Jamestown burned down for the fourth time on October 20, 1698. The House of Burgesses met temporarily in Middle Plantation, 11 miles (18 km) inland from Jamestown, and then in 1699 permanently moved the capital of the colony to Middle Plantation, which they renamed Williamsburg.[11]
Moving toward independence[edit]
Second Capitol at Williamsburg (viewed from Duke of Gloucester Street)
Though not a unique occurrence on the frontier, colonists remained loyal to the British crown during the French and Indian War in North America from 1754 to 1763. The conflict, which somewhat uniquely began in the Ohio Valley and spread to Europe, resulted in local colonial losses and economic disruption. Higher taxes were to follow, and adverse local reactions to these and how they were determined would drive events well into the next decade.[12]
In 1764, desiring revenue from its North American colonies, Parliament passed the first law specifically aimed at raising colonial money for the Crown. The Sugar Act increased duties on non-British goods shipped to the colonies.[13] The same year, the Currency Act prohibited American colonies from issuing their own currency.[14] These angered many American colonists and began colonial opposition with protests. By the end of the year, many colonies were practicing non-importation, a refusal to use imported English goods.[13] In 1765 the British Quartering Act, which required the colonies to provide barracks and supplies to British troops, further angered American colonists; and to raise more money for Britain, Parliament enacted the Stamp Act on the American colonies, to tax newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, dice, and playing cards.[15] American colonists responded to Parliament's acts with organized protest throughout the colonies. A network of secret organizations known as the Sons of Liberty was created to intimidate the stamp agents collecting the taxes, and before the Stamp Act could take effect, all the appointed stamp agents in the colonies had resigned.[16] The Massachusetts Assembly suggested a meeting of all colonies to work for the repeal of the Stamp Act, and all but four colonies were represented.[17] The colonists also increased their non-importation efforts,[18] and sought to increase in local production.
In May 1765, Patrick Henry presented a series of resolves that became known as the Virginia Resolves, denouncing the Stamp Act and denying the authority of the British parliament to tax the colonies, since they were not represented by elected members of parliament. Newspapers around the colonies published all his resolves, even the most radical ones which had not been passed by the assembly.[19] The assembly also sent a 1768 Petition, Memorial, and Remonstrance to Parliament.
From 1769 -1775 Thomas Jefferson represented Albemarle County as a delegate in the Virginia House of Burgesses.[20] He pursued reforms to slavery and introduced legislation allowing masters to take control over the emancipation of slaves in 1769, taking discretion away from the royal Governor and General Court. Jefferson persuaded his cousin Richard Bland to spearhead the legislation's passage, but reaction was strongly negative.[21]
In 1769 the Virginia House of Burgesses passed several resolutions condemning Britain's stationing troops in Boston following the Massachusetts Circular Letter of the previous year; these resolutions stated that only Virginia's governor and legislature could tax its citizens.[22] The members also drafted a formal letter to the King, completing it just before the legislature was dissolved by Virginia's royal governor.[23]
In 1774, after Parliament passed the Boston Port Act to close Boston Harbor, the House of Burgesses adopted resolutions in support of the Boston colonists which resulted in Virginia's royal governor, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, dissolving the assembly. The burgesses then reassembled on their own and issued calls for the first of five Virginia Conventions. These conventions were essentially meetings of the House of Burgesses without the governor and Council, Peyton Randolph the Speaker of the House would serve as the President of the Convention, and they would elect delegates to the Continental Congress.[3] The First Continental Congress passed their Declaration and Resolves, which inter alia claimed that American colonists were equal to all other British citizens, protested against taxation without representation, and stated that Britain could not tax the colonists since they were not represented in Parliament.[24]
In 1775 the burgesses, meeting in conventions, listened to Patrick Henry deliver his "give me liberty or give me death" speech and raised regiments. The House of Burgesses was called back by Lord Dunmore one last time in June 1775 to address British Prime Minister Lord North's Conciliatory Resolution. Randolph, who was a delegate to the Continental Congress, returned to Williamsburg to take his place as Speaker. Randolph indicated that the resolution had not been sent to the Congress (it had instead been sent to each colony individually in an attempt to divide them and bypass the Continental Congress). The House of Burgesses rejected the proposal, which was also later rejected by the Continental Congress.[25] The burgesses formed a Committee of Safety to take over governance in the absence of the royal governor, Dunmore, who had organized loyalists forces but after defeats he took refuge on a British warship.[26]
In 1776 the House of Burgesses ended. The final entry in the Journals of the House of Burgesses is "6th of May. 16 Geo. III. 1776 … FINIS."[27] Edmund Pendleton, a member of the House of Burgesses (and President of the Committee of Safety) who was present at the final meeting, wrote in a letter to Richard Henry Lee on the following day, "We met in assembly yesterday, and determined not to adjourn, but let that body die." Later on the same morning, the members of the fifth and final Virginia Revolutionary Convention met in the chamber of the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg and elected Pendleton its president. The convention voted for independence from Britain.[28] The former colony had become the independent Commonwealth of Virginia and the convention created the Constitution of Virginia with a new General Assembly, composed of an elected Senate and an elected House of Delegates. The House of Delegates acceded to the role of the former House of Burgesses.[3]
Meeting places[edit]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (January 2015)
In 1619, the House of Burgesses first met in the church in Jamestown. Subsequent meetings continued to take place in Jamestown.[1]
In 1700, the seat of the House of Burgesses was moved from Jamestown to Middle Plantation, soon renamed Williamsburg.[29] The Burgesses met there, first (1700 to 1704) in the Great Hall of what is now called the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary, while the Capitol was under construction. When the Capitol burned in 1747, the legislature moved back into the College until the second Capitol was completed in 1754. The present Capitol building at Colonial Williamsburg is a reconstruction of the earlier of the two lost buildings.
In 1779, and effective in April 1780, the House of Delegates moved the capital city to Richmond during the American Revolutionary War for safety reasons.[30]
Legacy[edit]
The House of Burgesses became the House of Delegates in 1776, forming the lower house of the General Assembly, the legislative branch of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Through the House of Burgesses, the Virginia House of Delegates is considered the oldest continuous legislative body in the New World.[31]
In honor of the original House of Burgesses, every four years, the Virginia General Assembly traditionally leaves the current Capitol in Richmond, and meets for one day in the restored Capitol building at Colonial Williamsburg. The most recent commemorative session (the 26th) was held in January 2016.[32][33]
In January 2007, the Assembly held a special session at Jamestown to mark the 400th anniversary of its founding as part of the Jamestown 2007 celebration, including an address by then-Vice-President Dick Cheney.[34]
See also[edit]
List of members of the Virginia House of Burgesses
List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Hatch, Charles (1956). America's Oldest Legislative Assembly & Its Jamestown Statehouses, Appendix II. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
Jump up ^ Bosher, Kate (1907). "The First House of Burgesses". The North American Review. 184 (612): 733–39.
^ Jump up to: a b c Gottlieb, Matthew S. "House of Burgesses". Virginia Foundation of the Humanities. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
Jump up ^ Virginia Company of London (1957). Instructions to George Yeardley, 18 November 1618 (Sometimes called "The Great Charter"). Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 4. Introduction by Samuel M. Bemiss. Williamsburg, Virginia: Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation. pp. 95–108. Retrieved 5 July 2013. Fn. 4: There is no authority in these Instructions for the Governor to establish a General Assembly. There is, however, evidence in the Instructions to Wyatt (p. 123) that a "Commission" was given to Yeardley which granted this authority.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Rubin, Jr. Louis D. Virginia: A History.New York W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1977. ISBN 0-393-05630-9. pp. 3–27.
Jump up ^ Pula, James S. (2008). "Fact vs. Fiction: What Do We Really Know About The Polish Presence In Early Jamestown?". The Polish Review. 53 (4): 490–91. JSTOR 25779776.
Jump up ^ Stanard, William G. and Mary Newton Stanard. The Virginia Colonial Register. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons Publishers, 1902. OCLC 253261475, Retrieved July 15, 2011. p. 52.
Jump up ^ Rubin, 1977, p. 19.
Jump up ^ Rubin, 1977, p. 25.
Jump up ^ Rubin, 1977, p. 26.
Jump up ^ Rubin, 1977. p. 29.
Jump up ^ Anderson, Fred (2005). "The Real First World War and the Making of America.". American Heritage. 6. 56 (75).
^ Jump up to: a b Johnson, Allen. "The Passage of the Sugar Act". The William and Mary Quarterly. 16 (4): 507–14.
Jump up ^ Greene, Jack; Richard Jellison (1961). "The Currency Act of 1764 in Imperial-Colonial Relations, 1764–1776.". The William and Mary Quarterly. 3. 18 (4): 485–518.
Jump up ^ "America During the Age of Revolution, 1764–1775". Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
Jump up ^ "The Sons of Liberty".
Jump up ^ Rothbard, Murray (1975). The Stamp Act Congress. NY: Arlington House.
Jump up ^ America During the Age of Revolution, 1764–1765, Library of Congress
Jump up ^ Wood, 2002, p.14
Jump up ^ Thomas Jefferson Foundation: Timeline of Jefferson's life
Jump up ^ Meacham, 2012, pp. 47–49
Jump up ^ MacDonald, William (1914). Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606–1775. NY: Macmillan.
Jump up ^ America During the Age of Revolution, 1768–1769, Library of Congress
Jump up ^ Macdonald, William (1916). Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606–1913. NY: Macmillan.
Jump up ^ "Virginia Resolutions on Lord North’s Conciliatory Proposal, 10 June 1775". Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
Jump up ^ Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Dunmore, John Murray". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
Jump up ^ "Final Meeting of the House of Burgesses (“Finis” Document), May 6, 1776". Encyclopedia of Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
Jump up ^ "The General Assembly Adjourns (1776)". Shaping the Constitution. Library of Virginia. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
Jump up ^ Olmert, Michael (1985). Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Jump up ^ "April dates in Virginia history". Virginia Historical Society. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
Jump up ^ "This Day in History". Retrieved 23 March 2016.
Jump up ^ Hodges, Ty (27 January 2016). "Colonial Williamsburg's Capitol Building to Host General Assembly on Saturday". Williamsburg Yorktown Daily. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
Jump up ^ "www.history.org – Historic Sites & Buildings : Capitol of Colonial Williamsburg". www.history.org.
Jump up ^ "Vice President's Remarks to a Joint Session of the Virginia General Assembly". Retrieved 6 May 2012.
Bibliography[edit]
Meacham, Jon (2012). Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. Random House LLC. ISBN 978-0-679-64536-8.
"Timeline of Jefferson's Life". Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
Wood,, Gordon S. (2002). The American Revolution, A History. New York, Modern Library. ISBN 0-8129-7041-1.
Further reading[edit]
Hatch, Charles E., Jr., (1956 rev). America's Oldest Legislative Assembly & Its Jamestown Statehouses, Appendix II. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service.
Mayer, Henry (1986). A Son of Thunder, Patrick Henry and the American Republic. New York: Franklin Watts.
Rubin, Jr. Louis D. Virginia: A History.New York W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1977. ISBN 0-393-05630-9.
Salmon, Emily J. and Campbell, Jr., Edward D. C., editors, The Hornbook of Virginia History. Richmond, Virginia: The Library of Virginia, 1994.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to House of Burgesses.
Craftsmen 1608 Historical Marker (Route 31, Jamestown, Virginia)
Generall Historie of Virginia by Captaine John Smith
Historic Jamestowne
Library of Congress: Evolution of the Virginia Colony, 1610–1630
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Star and crescent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The modern red star and crescent (a heraldic decrescent) design used as the de facto Emblem of Turkey.
Ancient design of the star and crescent symbol as used in Byzantium in the 1st century BCE
The star and crescent is an iconographic symbol used in various historical contexts but most well known today as a symbol of the former Ottoman Empire and, by popular extension, the Islamic world. It develops in the iconography of the Hellenistic period (4th–1st centuries BCE) in the Kingdom of Pontus, the Bosporan Kingdom and notably the city of Byzantium by the 2nd century BCE. It is the conjoined representation of the crescent and a star, both of which constituent elements have a long prior history in the iconography of the Ancient Near East as representing either Sun and Moon or Moon and Morning Star (or their divine personifications). Coins with crescent and star symbols represented separately have a longer history, with possible ties to older Mesopotamian iconography. The star, or Sun, is often shown within the arc of the crescent (also called star in crescent, or star within crescent, for disambiguation of depictions of a star and a crescent side by side);[1] In numismatics in particular, the term crescent and pellet is used in cases where the star is simplified to a single dot.[2]
In Byzantium, the symbol became associated with its patron goddess Artemis/Hecate, and it is used as a representation of Moon goddesses (Selene/Luna or Artemis/Diana) in the Roman era. Ancient depictions of the symbol always show the crescent with horns pointing upward and with the star (often with eight rays) placed inside the crescent. This arrangement is also found on Sassanid coins beginning in the 5th or 6th century CE.
The combination is found comparatively rarely in late medieval and early modern heraldry. It rose to prominence with its adoption as the flag and emblem of the Ottoman Empire and some of its administrative divisions (eyalets and vilayets) and later in the 19th-century Westernizing tanzimat (reforms). The Ottoman flag of 1844, with a white ay-yıldız (Turkish for "crescent-star") on a red background, continues to be in use as the flag of the Republic of Turkey, with minor modifications. Other states formerly part of the Ottoman Empire also used the symbol, including Libya (1951–1969 and after 2011), Tunisia (1956) and Algeria (1958). The same symbol was used in other national flags introduced during the 20th century, including the flags of Azerbaijan (1918), Pakistan (1947), Malaysia (1948), Singapore (1959), Mauritania (1959), Uzbekistan (1991), Turkmenistan (1991),Comoros (2001), and Maldives (1965).
In the later 20th century, the star and crescent have acquired a popular interpretation as a "symbol of Islam",[3] occasionally embraced by Arab nationalism or Islamism in the 1970s to 1980s, but often rejected as erroneous or unfounded by Muslim commentators in more recent times.[4]
Unicode introduced a "star and crescent" character in its Miscellaneous Symbols block, at U+262A (☪).
Contents
1 History
1.1 Origins and predecessors
1.2 Classical antiquity
1.2.1 Hellenistic era
1.2.2 Iran (Persia)
1.2.3 Roman Empire
1.3 Medieval and early modern
1.3.1 Christian and classical heraldric usage
1.3.2 Islamic usage
1.4 Use in the Ottoman Empire
2 Contemporary use
2.1 State flags
2.2 Symbol of Islam
2.3 Municipal coats of arms
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
History[edit]
Origins and predecessors[edit]
Depiction of the emblems of Ishtar (Venus), Sin (Moon), and Shamash (Sun) on a boundary stone of Meli-Shipak II (12th century BCE)
Venus, Sun and Moon on the Stele of Nabonidus (r. 556–539 BCE) found at Harran (Şanlıurfa Museum)[5]
Crescents appearing together with a star or stars are a common feature of Sumerian iconography, the crescent usually being associated with the moon god Sin (Nanna) and the star with Ishtar (Inanna, i.e. Venus), often placed alongside the sun disk of Shamash.[6][7] In Late Bronze Age Canaan, star and crescent moon motifs are also found on Moabite name seals.[8]
The Egyptian hieroglyphs representing "moon" (
N11) and "star" (
N14) appear in ligature, forming a star-and-crescent shape

, as a determiner for the word for "month", ꜣbd.[9]
The depiction of the crescent-and-star or "star inside crescent" as it would later develop in Bosporan Kingdom is difficult to trace to Mesopotamian art. Exceptionally, a combination of the crescent of Sin with the five-pointed star of Ishtar, with the star placed inside the crescent as in the later Hellenistic-era symbol, placed among numerous other symbols, is found in a boundary stone of Nebuchadnezzar I (12th century BCE; found in Nippur by John Henry Haynes in 1896).[10] An example of such an arrangement is also found in the (highly speculative) reconstruction of a fragmentary stele of Ur-Nammu (Third Dynasty of Ur) discovered in the 1920s.[11]
Classical antiquity[edit]
Hellenistic era[edit]
Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontus (r. 120–63 BCE) used an eight rayed star with a crescent moon as his emblem. McGing (1986) notes the association of the star and crescent with Mithradates VI, discussing its appearance on his coins, and its survival in the coins of the Bosporan Kingdom where "[t]he star and crescent appear on Pontic royal coins from the time of Mithradates III and seem to have had oriental significance as a dynastic badge of the Mithridatic family, or the arms of the country of Pontus."[12] Several possible interpretations of the emblem have been proposed. In most of these, the "star" is taken to represent the Sun. The combination of the two symbols has been taken as representing Sun and Moon (and by extension Day and Night), the Zoroastrian Mah and Mithra,[13] or deities arising from Greek-Anatolian-Iranian syncretism, the crescent representing Mēn Pharnakou (Μήν Φαρνακου, the local moon god[14]) and the "star" (Sun) representing Ahuramazda (in interpretatio graeca called Zeus Stratios)[15][16]
Further information: Byzantium § Emblem
By the late Hellenistic or early Roman period, the star and crescent motif had been associated to some degree with Byzantium. If any goddess had a connection with the walls in Constantinople, it was Hecate. Hecate had a cult in Byzantium from the time of its founding. Like Byzas in one legend, she had her origins in Thrace. Hecate was considered the patron goddess of Byzantium because she was said to have saved the city from an attack by Philip of Macedon in 340 BCE by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue of the goddess known as the Lampadephoros ("light-bearer" or "light-bringer").[17]
Some Byzantine coins of the 1st century BCE and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be a six-rayed star on the reverse.
Star and crescent on a coin of Uranopolis, Macedon, ca. 300 BCE (see also Argead star).
A star and crescent symbol with the star shown in a sixteen-rayed "sunburst" design (3rd century BCE).[18]
Coin of Mithradates VI Eupator. The obverse side has the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΙΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ ΕΥΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ with a stag feeding, with the star and crescent and monogram of Pergamum placed near the stag's head, all in an ivy-wreath.[19]
Byzantine coin (1st century) with a bust of Artemis on the obverse and an eight-rayed star within a crescent on the reverse side.
Iran (Persia)[edit]
The star and crescent symbol appears on some coins of the Parthian vassal kingdom of Elymais in the late 1st century CE. The same symbol is present in coins that are possibly associated with Orodes I of Parthia (1st century BCE). In the 2nd century CE, some Parthian coins show a simplified "pellet within crescent" symbol.[20]
A star and a crescent appearing (separately) on the obverse side of a coin of Orodes II of Parthia (r. 57–37 BCE).
Coin of Phraates V of Parthia (r. c. 2 BCE to CE 4)
Coin of Vardanes I of Parthia (r. c. CE 40–45)
A coin of Sassanid king Kavadh I (r. 488–531). Kavadh was the first Sassanid ruler to introduce star-and-crescent motifs as decorations on the margin of the obverse side of his coins. Note the continued use of the star and the crescent appearing on either side of the king's head.
The star and crescent motif appears on the margin of Sassanid coins in the 5th century.[21] Sassanid rulers also appear to have used crowns featuring a crescent, sphere and crescent, or star and crescent.
Use of the star-and-crescent combination apparently goes back to the earlier appearance of a star and a crescent on Parthian coins, first under King Orodes II (1st century BCE). In these coins, the two symbols occur separately, on either side of the king's head, and not yet in their combined star-and-crescent form. Such coins are also found further afield in Greater Persia, by the end of the 1st century CE in a coin issues by the Western Satraps ruler Chashtana.[22] This arrangement is likely inherited from its Ancient Near Eastern predecessors; the star and crescent symbols are not frequently found in Achaemenid iconography, but they are present in some cylinder seals of the Achaemenid era.[23]
Ayatollahi (2003) attempts to connect the modern adoption as an "Islamic symbol" to Sassanid coins remaining in circulation after the Islamic conquest [24] although there is no evidence for any connection of the symbol with Islam or the Ottomans prior to its adoption in Ottoman flags in the late 18th century.[25]
Roman Empire[edit]
In the 2nd century, the star-within-crescent is found on the obverse side of Roman coins minted during the rule of Hadrian, Geta, Caracalla and Septimius Severus, in some cases as part of an arrangement of a crescent and seven stars, one or several of which were placed inside the crescent.[26]
Coin of Roman Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138). The reverse shows an eight-rayed star within a crescent.
Roman period limestone pediment from Perge, Turkey (Antalya Museum) showing Diana-Artemis with a crescent and a radiant crown.
Medieval and early modern[edit]
Christian and classical heraldric usage[edit]
Further information: Crescent (heraldry), Star (heraldry), and Sun (heraldry)
The crescent on its own is used in western heraldry from at least the 13th century, while the star and crescent (or "Sun and Moon") emblem is in use in medieval seals at least from the late 12th century. The crescent in pellet symbol is used in Crusader coins of the 12th century, in some cases duplicated in the four corners of a cross, as a variant of the cross-and-crosslets ("Jerusalem cross").[27] Many Crusader seals and coins show the crescent and the star (or blazing Sun) on either side of the ruler's head (as in the Sassanid tradition), e.g. Bohemond III of Antioch, Richard I of England, Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse.[28] At the same time, the star in crescent is found on the obverse of Crusader coins, e.g. in coins of the County of Tripoli minted under Raymond II or III c. 1140s–1160s show an "eight-rayed star with pellets above crescent".[29]
The star and crescent combination appears in attributed arms from the early 14th century, possibly in a coat of arms of c. 1330, possibly attributed to John Chrysostom,[30] and in the Wernigeroder Wappenbuch (late 15th century) attributed to one of the three Magi, named "Balthasar of Tarsus".[31]
Crescents (without the star) increase in popularity in early modern heraldry in Europe. Siebmachers Wappenbuch (1605) records 48 coats of arms of German families which include one or several crescents.[32]
The star and crescent combination remains rare prior to its adoption by the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 18th century. In the late 16th century, the Korenić-Neorić Armorial shows a white star and crescent on a red field as the coat of arms of Illyria.
Great Seal of Richard I of England (1198)[33]
Equestrian seal of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse with a star and a crescent (13th century)
Templar seal of the 13th century, probably of the preceptor of the commanderies at Coudrie and Biais (Brittany).[34]
The Polish Leliwa coat of arms (14th-century seal)
Coats of arms of the Three Magi, with "Baltasar of Tarsus" being attributed a star and crescent increscent in a blue field, Wernigerode Armorial (c. 1490)
Coat of arms of John Freigraf of "Lesser Egypt" (i.e. Romani/gypsy),[35] 18th-century drawing of a 1498 coat of arms in Pforzheim church.
Depictions of stars with crescents are a common motif on the stećak 12th to 16th century tombstones of medieval Bosnia
1668 representation by Joan Blaeu of Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bosnia from 1595 Korenić-Neorić Armorial
The coat of arms of "Illyria" from the Korenić-Neorić Armorial (1590s)
Star and crescent on the obverse of the Jelacic-Gulden of the Kingdom of Croatia (1848)
Islamic usage[edit]
Further information: Crescent § Middle_Ages
While the crescent on its own is depicted as an emblem used on Islamic war flags from the medieval period, at least from the 13th century although it does not seem to have been in frequent use until the 14th or 15th century,[36] the star and crescent in an Islamic context is more rare in the medieval period, but may occasionally be found in depictions of flags from the 14th century onward.
Some Mughal era (17th century) round shields were decorated with a crescent or star and crescent.
Depiction of a star and crescent flag on the Saracen side in the Battle of Yarmouk (manuscript illustration of the History of the Tatars, Catalan workshop, early 14th century).
A miniature painting from a Padshahnama manuscript (c. 1640), depicting Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as bearing a shield with a star and crescent decoration.
A painting from a Padshahnama manuscript (1633) depicts the scene of Aurangzeb facing the maddened War elephant Sudhakar. Sowar's shield is decorated with a star and crescent.
Use in the Ottoman Empire[edit]
Further information: Flags of the Ottoman Empire
Star-and-crescent flag of the Ottoman Empire, used as the naval ensign and state symbol from late 18th century, and as the official Ottoman national flag from 1844 to 1923.
The adoption of star and crescent as the Ottoman state symbol started during the reign of Mustafa III (1757–1774) and its use became well-established during Abdul Hamid I (1774–1789) and Selim III (1789–1807) periods.[37] A buyruldu from 1793 states that the ships in the Ottoman navy have that flag, and various other documents from earlier and later years mention its use.[37] The ultimate source of the emblem is unclear. It is mostly derived from the star-and-crescent symbol used by the city of Constantinople in antiquity, possibly by association with the crescent design (without star) used in Turkish flags since before 1453.[38]
With the Tanzimat reforms in the 19th century, flags were redesigned in the style of the European armies of the day. The flag of the Ottoman Navy was made red, as red was to be the flag of secular institutions and green of religious ones. As the reforms abolished all the various flags (standards) of the Ottoman pashaliks, beyliks and emirates, a single new Ottoman national flag was designed to replace them. The result was the red flag with the white crescent moon and star, which is the precursor to the modern flag of Turkey. A plain red flag was introduced as the civil ensign for all Ottoman subjects. The white crescent with an eight-pointed star on a red field is depicted as the flag of a "Turkish Man of War" in Colton's Delineation of Flags of All Nations (1862). Steenbergen's Vlaggen van alle Natiën of the same year shows a six-pointed star. A plate in Webster's Unabridged of 1882 shows the flag with an eight-pointed star labelled "Turkey, Man of war". The five-pointed star seems to have been present alongside these variants from at least 1857.
In addition to Ottoman imperial insignias, symbols appears on the flag of Bosnia Eyalet (1580–1867) and Bosnia Vilayet (1867–1908), as well as the flag of 1831 Bosnian revolt, while the symbols appeared on some representations of medieval Bosnian coat of arms too.
In the late 19th century, "Star and Crescent" came to be used as a metaphor for Ottoman rule in British literature.[39] The increasingly ubiquitous fashion of using the star and crescent symbol in the ornamentation of Ottoman mosques and minarets led to a gradual association of the symbol with Islam in general in western Orientalism.[40] The "Red Crescent" emblem was used by volunteers of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as early as 1877 during the Russo-Turkish War; it was officially adopted in 1929.
After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the new Turkish state maintained the last flag of the Ottoman Empire. Proportional standardisations were introduced in the Turkish Flag Law (Turkish: Türk Bayrağı Kanunu) of May 29, 1936. Besides the most prominent example of Turkey (see Flag of Turkey), a number of other Ottoman successor states adopted the design during the 20th century, including the Emirate of Cyrenaica and the Kingdom of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and the proposed Arab Islamic Republic.
Contemporary use[edit]
State flags[edit]
The Ottoman flag of 1844 with a white "ay-yıldız" (Turkish for "crescent-star") on a red background continues to be in use as the flag of the Republic of Turkey with minor modifications.
Other Ottoman successor states using the star and crescent design in their flag are Tunisia (1956), Libya (1951, re-introduced 2011) and Algeria (1958). The modern emblem of Turkey shows the star outside the arc of the crescent, as it were a "realistic" depiction of a conjunction of Moon and Venus, while in the 19th century, the Ottoman star and crescent was occasionally still drawn as the (classical but "astronomically incorrect") star-within-crescent. By contrast, the designs of both the flags of Algeria and Tunisia (as well as Mauritania and Pakistan) place the star within the crescent.
Flag of Turkey
Flag of Algeria
Flag of Libya
Flag of Tunisia
The same symbol was used in other national flags introduced during the 20th century, including the flags of Azerbaijan (1918, re-introduced 1991), Pakistan (1947), Malaysia (1948), Mauritania (1959), and the partially recognized states of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976) and Northern Cyprus (1983). The symbol also may represent flag of cities or emirates such as the emirate of Umm Al-Quwain .
Flag of Azerbaijan
Flag of Pakistan
Flag of Malaysia
Flag of Mauritania
Flag of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Flag of Northern Cyprus
Flag of Umm al-Quwain
National flags with a crescent alongside several stars:
Flag of Singapore (1959): crescent and five stars (based on the five stars of the flag of the People's Republic of China)[41]
Flag of Uzbekistan (1991): crescent and twelve stars
Flag of Turkmenistan (2001): crescent and five stars (representing five provinces)
Flag of the Comoros (2002): crescent and four stars (representing four islands)
Flag of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (2003): crescent and southern cross

Symbol of Islam[edit]
Further information: Symbols of Islam
By the mid 20th century, the symbol came to be re-interpreted as the symbol of Islam or the Muslim community.[42] This symbolism was embraced by movements of Arab nationalism or Islamism in the 1970s, such as the proposed Arab Islamic Republic (1974) and the American Nation of Islam (1973).[43]
Cyril Glassé in his The New Encyclopedia of Islam (2001 edition, s.v. "Moon") states that "in the language of conventional symbols, the crescent and star have become the symbols of Islam as much as the cross is the symbol of Christianity."[3]
By contrast, some religious Islamic publications emphasize that the crescent is rejected "by many Muslim scholars".[4]
Municipal coats of arms[edit]
The star and crescent as a traditional heraldic charge is in continued use in numerous municipal coats of arms (notably the based on the Leliwa (Tarnowski) coat of arms in the case of Polish municipalities).
Coat of arms of Halle an der Saale, Germany (1327).
Coat of arms of Mińsk Mazowiecki, Poland.
Coat of arms of Przeworsk, Poland.
Coat of arms of Tarnobrzeg, Poland.
Coat of arms of Tarnów, Poland.
Coat of arms of Zagreb, Croatia.
Flag of Portsmouth, England (18th century): crescent and estoile (with eight wavy rays).[44]
Coat of arms of Mattighofen, Austria (1781)
Coat of arms of Oelde, Germany (1910).
Coat of arms of Niederglatt, Switzerland (1928)[45]
Coat of arms of Oberglatt, Switzerland (1928)[45]
Coat of arms of Niederweningen, Switzerland (1928)[45]
See also[edit]
Crescent
Lunar phase
Phosphorus (morning star) / Hesperus
Pentagram of Venus
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "There are also three cases [... viz., associated with the "Danubian Rider Religion"] where the star, figured as a radiate disc 'balancing the crescent moon', must represent Sol, balancing Luna who is represented as a crescent instead of in bust. The 'star in crescent' theme itself appears only once, on an engraved gem, accompanied by the lion and an indecipherable inscription [...] This theme is connected with the Orient and has a long history behind it in the Hittite, Babylonian, Assyrian, Sassanid and Iranian worlds. Campbell gives us valuable particulars. The heavenly bodies thus symbolized were seen as the powerful influence of cosmic fatalism guiding the destinies of men." Dumitru Tudor, Christopher Holme (trans.), Corpus Monumentorum Religionis Equitum Danuvinorum (CMRED) (1976), p. 192 (referencing Leroy A. Campbell, Mithraic Iconography and Ideology' '(1969), 93f.
Jump up ^ e.g. Catalogue of the Greek coins in The British Museum (2005), p. 311 (index).
^ Jump up to: a b Cyril Glassé , The New Encyclopedia of Islam (revised ed. 2001), s.v. "Moon" (p. 314).
^ Jump up to: a b "many Muslim scholars reject using the crescent moon as a symbol of Islam. The faith of Islam historically had no symbol, and many refuse to accept it." Fiaz Fazli, Crescent magazine, Srinagar, September 2009, p. 42.
Jump up ^ A similar stele found in Babylon is kept in the British Museum (no. 90837).
Jump up ^ Michael R. Molnar, The Star of Bethlehem, Rutgers University Press, 1999, p78
Jump up ^ "the three celestial emblems, the sun disk of Shamash (Utu to the Sumerians), the crescent of Sin (Nanna), and the star of Ishtar (Inanna to the Sumerians)" Irving L. Finkel, Markham J. Geller, Sumerian Gods and Their Representations, Styx, 1997, p71. André Parrot, Sumer: The Dawn of Art, Golden Press, 1961
Jump up ^ Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel, Fortress Press, 1998, p. 322.
Jump up ^ A.H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. 3rd Ed., pub. Griffith Institute, Oxford, 1957 (1st edition 1927), p. 486.
Jump up ^ W. J. Hinke, A New Boundary Stone of Nebuchadrezzar I from Nippur with a Concordance of Proper Names and a Glossary of the Kudurru Inscriptions thus far Published (1907), 120f. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, object nr. 29-20-1.
Jump up ^ J. V. Canby, Reconstructing the Ur Nammu Stela, Expedition 29.1, 54–64.
Jump up ^ B.C. McGing, The Foreign Policy of Mithradates VI Eupator, King of Pontus, Brill, 1986, p 97
Jump up ^ ""The star and the crescent, the emblem of the Pontus and its kings, were introduced by Mithradates and his successors to the Bosporus and appeared on Bosporan coins and locally produced jewelry. On the coins this symbol often appears near the head of a young man wearing a Phrygian cap, who is identified as either a solar deity or his deified worshipper. [...] the star and the crescent, the badge of the Pontus and its kings, shown on the Colchian amphora stamp, and appearing on engraved finger-rings discovered in this area allude to the possibility of an earlier association of the Pontic dynasty with the cult of mounted Mithra. Mithra in fact must have been one of the most venerated gods of the Pontic Kingdom, since its rulers bore the theoporic name of Mithradates [...] although direct evidence for this cult is rather meager." Yulia Ustinova, The Supreme Gods of the Bosporan Kingdom, Brill, 1998, 270–274
Jump up ^ Strabo (12.3.31) writes that Mēn Pharnakou had a sanctuary at Kabeira in Pontus where the Pontic kings would swear oaths. Mēn Pharnakou is a syncretistic Anatolian-Iranian moon deity not directly comparable to Zoroastrian Māh. Albert F. de Jong, Traditions of the Magi: Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature (1997), %A9n%20Pharmakou&f=false p. 306.
Jump up ^ "His royal emblem, an eight rayed star and the crescent moon, represented the dynasty's patron gods, Zeus Stratios, or Ahuramazda, and Mén Pharnakou, a Persian form of the native moon goddess." Andrew G. Traver, From Polis to Empire—The Ancient World c. 800 B.C.–A.D. 450, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, p. 257
Jump up ^ "The significance of the star and crescent on royal coins has also been frequently debated. Many scholars have identified the star and the crescent as royal symbols of the Pontic kingdom. Their appearance on every royal issue suggests they were indeed important symbols, and the connection of this symbol to the royal family is definite. The nature of it, however, is still uncertain. Kleiner believed they were symbols of an indigenous god and had their origins in Persia. He associated the star and crescent with the god Men and saw them as representations of night and day (the star may be considered the sun here). Ritter, on the other hand, suggested that the star and crescent symbols derived from Perseus, just as the star symbol of the Macedonians did. […] Ma and Mithras are two other deities with whom the star and crescent symbol are associated. Olshausen believed that the star and crescent could be related to a syncretism of Pontic and Iranian iconography: the crescent for Men and the star for Ahura Mazda. Recently, Summerer has convincingly suggested that Men alone was the inspiration for the symbol on the royal coins of the Pontic kingdom. Deniz Burcu Erciyas, "Wealth, Aristocracy, and Royal Propaganda Under The Hellenistic Kingdom of The Mithradatids in The Central Black Sea Region in Turkey", Colloquia Pontica Vol.12, Brill, 2005, p 131
Jump up ^ "Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were the crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance." Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress, Routledge, 1994, p 15. "In 340 B.C., however, the Byzantines, with the aid of the Athenians, withstood a siege successfully, an occurrence the more remarkable as they were attacked by the greatest general of the age, Philip of Macedon. In the course of this beleaguerment, it is related, on a certain wet and moonless night the enemy attempted a surprise, but were foiled by reason of a bright light which, appearing suddenly in the heavens, startled all the dogs in the town and thus roused the garrison to a sense of their danger. To commemorate this timely phenomenon, which was attributed to Hecate, they erected a public statue to that goddess [...]" William Gordon Holmes, The Age of Justinian and Theodora, 2003 p 5-6; "If any goddess had a connection with the walls in Constantinople, it was Hecate. Hecate had a cult in Byzantium from the time of its founding. Like Byzas in one legend, she had her origins in Thrace. Since Hecate was the guardian of "liminal places", in Byzantium small temples in her honor were placed close to the gates of the city. Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to the legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever-present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions. Her mythic qualities thenceforth forever entered the fabric of Byzantine history. A statue known as the 'Lampadephoros' was erected on the hill above the Bosphorous to commemorate Hecate's defensive aid." Vasiliki Limberis, Divine Heiress, Routledge, 1994, p 126-127. This story survived in the works , who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian I. His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the 10th century lexicographer Suidas. The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium, and Eustathius.
Jump up ^ "Cybele Plaque" from Ai Khanoum, Bactria, 3rd century BCE. Helios is shown separately in the form of a bust with a rayed halo of thirteen rays. F. Tissot, Catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan, 1931-1985 (2006), p. 42.
Jump up ^ H. G. Liddell, A History of Rome from the earliest times to the establishment of the Empire (1857), p. 605. C.f. forumancientcoins.com.
Jump up ^ Michael Alram, Nomina Propria Iranica in Nummis, Materialgrundlagen zu den iranischen Personennamen auf Antiken Münzen (1986); C. Augé, "Quelques monnaies d'Elymaïde," Bulletin de la Société Française de Numismatique, November 1976; N. Renaud, "Un nouveau souverain d'Elymaïde," Bulletin de la Société Française de Numismatique, January 1999, pp. 1-5. Coins of Elymais (parthia.com).
Jump up ^ "The star and crescent are common Persian symbols, being a regular feature of the borders of Sassanian dirhems." Philip Grierson, Byzantine Coins, Taylor & Francis, 1982, p118
Jump up ^ "A rare type with crescent and star alone on the reverse is probably Chashtana's earliest issue, struck before he extended his power into Malwa." H.H. Dodwell (Ed.), The Cambridge Shorter History of India, Cambridge University Press, 1935, p. 83.
Jump up ^ Achaemenid period: "not normally associated with scenes cut in the Court Style"; Persepolis seal PFS 71 (M. B. Garrison in Curtis and Simpson (eds.), The World of Achaemenid Persia: History, Art and Society in Iran and the Ancient Near East (2010), p. 354) PFS 9 (M. B. Garrison, Seals And The Elite At Persepolis; Some Observations On Early Achaemenid Persian Art (1991), p. 8). Parthian period: "[t]he Parthian king Mithradates I conquered Mesopotamia around 147 BC, and Susa in about 140 BC A later Parthian king, Orodes II (58-38 BC), issued coins at Susa and elsewhere which display a star and crescent on the obverse. The succeeding ruler, Phraates IV (38-3/2 BC), minted coins showing either a star alone or a star with crescent moon. In representing the star and crescent on their coins the Parthians thus adopted traditional symbols used in Mesopotamia and Elam more than two millennia before their own arrival in those parts." John Hansman, "The great gods of Elymais" in Acta Iranica, Encyclopédie Permanente Des Etudes Iraniennes, v.X, Papers in Honor of Professor Mary Boyce, Brill Archive, 1985, pp 229–232
Jump up ^ "Sasani coins remained in circulation in Moslem countries up to the end of the first century (Hijra). This detailed description of Sasani crowns was presented because the motifs mentioned, particularly the crescent and star gradually changed into Islamic symbols and have often appeared in the decorative patterns of various periods of Islamic art. [...] The flags of many Islamic countries bear crescents and stars and are proof of this Sasani innovation." Habibollah Ayatollahi (trans. Shermin Haghshenās), The Book of Iran: The History of Iranian Art, Alhoda UK, 2003, pp 155–157
Jump up ^ "when we come to examine the history of the crescent as a badge of Muhammadanism, we are confronted by the fact that it was not employed by the Arabs or any of the first peoples who embraced the faith of the prophet" "The truth is that the crescent was not identified with Islam until after the appearance of the Osmanli Turks, whilst on the other hand there is the clearest evidence that in the time of the Crusades, and long before, the crescent and star were a regular badge of Byzantium and the Byzantine Emperors, some of whom placed it on their coins." William Ridgeway, "The Origin of the Turkish Crescent", in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 38 (Jul. - Dec. 1908), pp. 241-258 (p 241)
Jump up ^ Selene and Luna on Roman Coins (forumancientcoins.com): "Bronze coin of Caracalla from Nicopolis ad Istrum with a single star in the arms of the crescent moon; coin of Geta showing five stars; a denarius of Septimius Severus with an array of seven stars." Roman-era coins from Carrhae (Harran): Carrhae, Mesopotamia, modern day Harran (wildwinds.com)
Jump up ^ In the 12th century found on pennies of William the Lion (r. 1174–1195). William Till, An Essay on the Roman Denarius and English Silver Penny (1838), p. 73. E.g. "Rev: short cross with crescent and pellets in angles and +RAVLD[ ] legend for the moneyer Raul Derling at Berwick or Roxburgh mint" (timelineauctions.com). Seaby SE5025 "Rev. [+RAV]L ON ROC, short cross with crescents & pellets in quarters" (wildwinds.com).
Jump up ^ Bohemond III of Antioch (r. 1163–1201) "Obv. Helmeted head of king in chain-maille armor, crescent and star to sides" (ancientresource.com)
Jump up ^ "Billon denier, struck c. late 1140s-1164. + RA[M]VNDVS COMS, cross pattée, pellet in 1st and 2nd quarters / CIVI[TAS T]RIPOLIS, eight-rayed star with pellets above crescent. ref: CCS 6-8; Metcalf 509 (ancientresource.com).
Jump up ^ "The earliest church in the Morea to include a saint holding a shield marked by the crescent and star may be St. John Chrysostom, which has been dated on the basis of style to ca. 1300 [...]" Angeliki E. Laiou, Roy P. Mottahedeh, The Crusades From the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, Dumbarton Oaks, 2001, p 278
Jump up ^ p. 21; adopted by Virgil Solis in his Wappenbüchlein (1555)
Jump up ^ Sara L. Uckelman, An Ordinary of Siebmacher's Wappenbuch (ellipsis.cx) (2014)
Jump up ^ Richard is depicted as seated between a crescent and a "Sun full radiant" in his second Great Seal of 1198. English heraldic tradition of the early modern period associates the star and crescent design with Richard, with his victory over Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus in 1192, and with the arms of Portsmouth (Francis Wise A Letter to Dr Mead Concerning Some Antiquities in Berkshire, 1738, p. 18). Heraldic tradition also attributes a star-and-crescent badge to Richard (Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, 1909, p. 468).
Jump up ^ Found in the 19th century at the site of the Biais commandery, in Saint-Père-en-Retz, Loire-Atlantique, France, now in the Musée Dobré in Nantes, inv. no. 303. Philippe Josserand, "Les Templiers en Bretagne au Moyen Âge : mythes et réalités", Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest 119.4 (2012), 7–33 (p.24).
Jump up ^ In 15th-century Europe, it was widely assumed that the gypsies were Egyptians (hence the name gypsies), and several gypsy leaders are known to have styled themselves as "counts of lesser Egypt". Wilhelm Ferdinand Bischoff, Deutsch-Zigeunerisches Wörterbuch (1827), p.14
Jump up ^ Pamela Berger, The Crescent on the Temple: The Dome of the Rock as Image of the Ancient Jewish Sanctuary (2012), p. 164f
^ Jump up to: a b İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). 4. Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı. 1991. p. 298.
Jump up ^ "It seems possible, though not certain, that after the conquest Mehmed took over the crescent and star as an emblem of sovereignty from the Byzantines. The half-moon alone on a blood red flag, allegedly conferred on the Janissaries by Emir Orhan, was much older, as is demonstrated by numerous references to it dating from before 1453. But since these flags lack the star, which along with the half-moon is to be found on Sassanid and Byzantine municipal coins, it may be regarded as an innovation of Mehmed. It seems certain that in the interior of Asia tribes of Turkish nomads had been using the half-moon alone as an emblem for some time past, but it is equally certain that crescent and star together are attested only for a much later period. There is good reason to believe that old Turkish and Byzantine traditions were combined in the emblem of Ottoman and, much later, present-day Republican Turkish sovereignty." Franz Babinger (William C. Hickman Ed., Ralph Manheim Trans.), Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, Princeton University Press, 1992, p 108
Jump up ^ e.g. A. Locher, "With Star and Crescent: A Full and Authentic Account of a Recent Journey with a Caravan from Bombay to Constantinope"; Andrew Haggard, "Under Crescent and Star" (1895).
Jump up ^ "Mosque and minaret are surmounted by crescents; the air glowing over the Golden Horn is, as it were, full of moons." Hezekiah Butterworth, Zigzag journeys in the Orient vol. 3 (1882), p. 481.
Jump up ^ Lee Kuan Yew (1998). The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew. Singapore: Times Editions. pp. 342–343. ISBN 978-981-204-983-4.
Jump up ^ The symbolism of the star and crescent in the flag of the Kingdom of Libya (1951–1969) was explained in an English language booklet, The Libyan Flag & The National Anthem, issued by the Ministry of Information and Guidance of the Kingdom of Libya (year unknown, cited after Jos Poels at FOTW, 1997) as follows: "The crescent is symbolic of the beginning of the lunar month according to the Muslim calendar. It brings back to our minds the story of Hijra (migration) of our Prophet Mohammed from his home in order to spread Islam and teach the principles of right and virtue. The Star represents our smiling hope, the beauty of aim and object and the light of our belief in God, in our country, its dignity and honour which illuminate our way and puts an end to darkness."
Jump up ^ Edward E. Curtis, Black Muslim religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960–1975 (2006), p. 157.
Jump up ^ The blazon of the coat of arms is attested in the 19th century, as Azure a crescent or, surmounted by an estoile of eight points of the last (William Berry, Robert Glover, Encyclopædia Heraldica, 1828). This is apparently based on minor seals used by Portsmouth mayors in the 18th century (Robert East H. Lewis, Extracts from Records in the Possession of the Municipal Corporation of the Borough of Portsmouth and from Other Documents Relating Thereto, 1891, p. 656). The medieval seal showed no such design (Henry Press Wright, The Story of the 'Domus Dei' of Portsmouth: Commonly Called the Royal Garrison Church, 1873, p. 12). The claim connecting the star and crescent design to the Great Seal of Richard I originates in the mid 20th century (Valentine Dyall, Unsolved Mysteries: A Collection of Weird Problems from the Past, 1954, p. 14).
^ Jump up to: a b c Peter Ziegler (ed.), Die Gemeindewappen des Kantons Zürich (1977), 74–77.
Charles Boutell, "Device of Star (or Sun) and Crescent". In The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume XXXVI (New Series). London: John Nicols & Son, London, 1851, pp. 514–515
External links[edit]
Media related to Star and crescent at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of ☪ at Wiktionary
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