title: Bodhisattva

text: The first six perfections ("pāramitās") are the most significant and popular set of bodhisattva virtues and thus they serve as a central framework for bodhisattva practice. They are the most widely taught and commented upon virtues throughout the history of Mahayana Buddhist literature and feature prominently in major Sanskrit sources such as the "Bodhisattvabhumi", the "Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra," the "King of Samadhis Sutra" and the "Ten Stages Sutra". They are extolled and praised by these sources as "the great oceans of all the bright virtues and auspicious principles" ("Bodhisattvabhumi") and "the Teacher, the Way and the Light...the Refuge and the Shelter, the Support and the Sanctuary" ("Aṣṭasāhasrikā").


title: Bodhisattva

text: While many Mahayana sources discuss the bodhisattva's training in ethical discipline ("śīla") in classic Buddhist terms, over time, there also developed specific sets of ethical precepts for bodhisattvas (Skt. "bodhisattva-śīla"). These various sets of precepts are usually taken by bodhisattva aspirants (lay and ordained monastics) along with classic Buddhist pratimoksha precepts. However, in some Japanese Buddhist traditions, monastics rely solely on the bodhisattva precepts.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The perfection of wisdom ("prajñāpāramitā") is generally seen as the most important and primary of the perfections, without which all the others fall short. Thus, the "Madhyamakavatara" (6:2) states that wisdom leads the other perfections as a man with eyes leads the blind. This perfect or transcendent wisdom has various qualities, such as being non-attached ("asakti"), non-conceptual and non-dual ("advaya") and signless ("animitta"). It is generally understood as a kind of insight into the true nature of all phenomena ("dharmas") which in Mahayana sutras is widely described as emptiness ("shunyatā").


title: Bodhisattva

text: Another key virtue which the bodhisattva must develop is great compassion ("mahā-karuṇā"), a vast sense of care aimed at ending the suffering of all sentient beings. This great compassion is the ethical foundation of the bodhisattva, and it is also an applied aspect of their bodhicitta. Great compassion must also be closely joined with the perfection of wisdom, which reveals that all the beings that the bodhisattva strives to save are ultimately empty of self ("anātman") and lack inherent existence ("niḥsvabhāva"). Due to the bodhisattva's compassionate wish to save all beings, they develop innumerable skillful means or strategies ("upaya") with which to teach and guide different kinds of beings with all sorts of different inclinations and tendencies.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Another key virtue for the bodhisattva is mindfulness ("smṛti"), which Dayal calls "the sine qua non of moral progress for a bodhisattva." Mindfulness is widely emphasized by Buddhist authors and Sanskrit sources and it appears four times in the list of 37 "bodhipakṣadharmas". According to the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā", a bodhisattva must never lose mindfulness so as not to be confused or distracted. The "Mahāyānasūtrālamkāra" states that mindfulness is the principal asset of a bodhisattva, while both Asvaghosa and Shantideva state that without mindfulness, a bodhisattva will be helpless and uncontrolled (like a mad elephant) and will not succeed in conquering the mental afflictions.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Just as with non-Mahayana sources, Mahayana sutras generally depict the bodhisattva path as a long path that takes many lifetimes across many aeons. Some sutras state that a beginner bodhisattva could take anywhere from 3 to 22 countless eons ("mahāsaṃkhyeya kalpas") to become a Buddha. The "Mahāyānasaṃgraha" of Asanga states that the bodhisattva must cultivate the six paramitas for three incalculable aeons ("kalpāsaṃkhyeya"). Shantideva meanwhile states that bodhisattvas must practice each perfection for sixty aeons or kalpas and also declares that a bodhisattva must practice the path for an "inconceivable" ("acintya") number of kalpas. Thus, the bodhisattva path could take many billions upon billions of years to complete.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Later developments in Indian and Asian Mahayana Buddhism (especially in Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism) lead to the idea that certain methods and practices could substantially shorten the path (and even lead to Buddhahood in a single lifetime). In Pure Land Buddhism, an aspirant might go to a Buddha's pure land or buddha-field ("buddhakṣetra"), like Sukhavati, where they can study the path directly with a Buddha. This could significantly shorten the length of the path, or at least make it more bearable. East Asian Pure Land Buddhist traditions, such as Jōdo-shū and Jōdo Shinshū, hold the view that realizing Buddhahood through the long bodhisattva path of the perfections is no longer practical in the current age (which is understood as a degenerate age called "mappo"). Thus, they rely on the salvific power of Amitabha to bring Buddhist practitioners to the pure land of Sukhavati, where they will better be able to practice the path.


title: Bodhisattva

text: This view is rejected by other schools such as Tendai, Shingon and Zen. The founders of Tendai and Shingon, Saicho and Kukai, held that anyone who practiced the path properly could reach awakening in this very lifetime. Buddhist schools like Tiantai, Huayan, Chan and the various Vajrayāna traditions maintain that they teach ways to attain Buddhahood within one lifetime.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Some of early depictions of the Bodhisattva path in texts such as the "Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra" describe it as an arduous, difficult monastic path suited only for the few which is nevertheless the most glorious path one can take. Three kinds of bodhisattvas are mentioned: the forest, city, and monastery bodhisattvas—with forest dwelling being promoted a superior, even necessary path in sutras such as the "Ugraparipṛcchā" and the "Samadhiraja" sutras. The early "Rastrapalapariprccha sutra" also promotes a solitary life of meditation in the forests, far away from the distractions of the householder life. The "Rastrapala" is also highly critical of monks living in monasteries and in cities who are seen as not practicing meditation and morality.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The "Ratnagunasamcayagatha" also says the bodhisattva should undertake ascetic practices ("dhūtaguṇa"), "wander freely without a home", practice the paramitas and train under a guru in order to perfect his meditation practice and realization of "prajñaparamita". The twelve "dhūtaguṇas" are also promoted by the "King of Samadhis Sutra", the "Ten Stages Sutra" and Shantideva. Some scholars have used these texts to argue for "the forest hypothesis", the theory that the initial Bodhisattva ideal was associated with a strict forest asceticism. But other scholars point out that many other Mahayana sutras do not promote this ideal, and instead teach "easy" practices like memorizing, reciting, teaching and copying Mahayana sutras, as well as meditating on Buddhas and bodhisattvas (and reciting or chanting their names). Ulrich Pagel also notes that in numerous sutras found in the "Mahāratnakūṭa" collection, the bodhisattva ideal is placed "firmly within the reach of non-celibate layfolk."


title: Bodhisattva

text: Related to the different views on the different types of "yanas" or vehicles is the question of a bodhisattva's relationship to nirvāṇa. In the various Mahāyāna texts, two theories can be discerned. One view is the idea that a bodhisattva must postpone their awakening until full Buddhahood is attained (at which point one ceases to be reborn, which is the classical view of nirvāṇa). This view is promoted in some sutras like the "Pañcavimsatisahasrika-prajñaparamita-sutra." The idea is also found in the "Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra", which mentions that bodhisattvas take the following vow: "I shall not enter into final nirvana before all beings have been liberated." Likewise, the "Śikṣāsamuccaya" states "I must lead all beings to Liberation. I will stay here till the end, even for the sake of one living soul."


title: Bodhisattva

text: The second theory is the idea that there are two kinds of nirvāṇa, the nirvāṇa of an arhat and a superior type of nirvāṇa called "apratiṣṭhita ("non-abiding) that allows a Buddha to remain engaged in the samsaric realms without being affected by them. This attainment was understood as a kind of non-dual state in which one is neither limited to samsara nor nirvana. A being who has reached this kind of nirvana is not restricted from manifesting in the samsaric realms, and yet they remain fully detached from the defilements found in these realms (and thus they can help others).


title: Bodhisattva

text: This doctrine of non-abiding nirvana developed in the Yogacara school. As noted by Paul Williams, the idea of "apratiṣṭhita nirvāṇa" may have taken some time to develop and is not obvious in some of the early Mahāyāna literature, therefore while earlier sutras may sometimes speak of "postponement", later texts saw no need to postpone the "superior" "apratiṣṭhita nirvāṇa".


title: Bodhisattva

text: In this Yogacara model, the bodhisattva definitely rejects and avoids the liberation of the "śravaka" and "pratyekabuddha", described in Mahāyāna literature as either inferior or ""hina"" (as in Asaṅga's fourth century "Yogācārabhūmi") or as ultimately false or illusory (as in the "Lotus Sūtra"). That a bodhisattva has the option to pursue such a lesser path, but instead chooses the long path towards Buddhahood is one of the five criteria for one to be considered a bodhisattva. The other four are: being human, being a man, making a vow to become a Buddha in the presence of a previous Buddha, and receiving a prophecy from that Buddha.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Over time, a more varied analysis of bodhisattva careers developed focused on one's motivation. This can be seen in the Tibetan Buddhist teaching on three types of motivation for generating bodhicitta. According to Patrul Rinpoche's 19th century "Words of My Perfect Teacher" ("Kun bzang bla ma'i gzhal lung"), a bodhisattva might be motivated in one of three ways. They are:


title: Bodhisattva

text: These three are not types of people, but rather types of motivation. According to Patrul Rinpoche, the third quality of intention is most noble though the mode by which Buddhahood occurs is the first; that is, it is only possible to teach others the path to enlightenment once one has attained enlightenment oneself.


title: Bodhisattva

text: According to James B. Apple, if one studies the earliest textual materials which discuss the bodhisattva path (which includes the translations of Lokakshema and the Gandharan manuscripts), "one finds four key stages that are demarcated throughout this early textual material that constitute the most basic elements in the path of a bodhisattva". These main elements are:


title: Bodhisattva

text: According to Drewes, the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra" divides the bodhisattva path into three main stages. The first stage is that of bodhisattvas who "first set out in the vehicle" ("prathamayānasaṃprasthita"), then there is the "irreversible" ("avinivartanīya") stage, and finally the third "bound by one more birth" ("ekajātipratibaddha"), as in, destined to become a Buddha in the next life. Lamotte also mentions four similar stages of the bodhiattva career which are found in the "Dazhidulun" translated by Kumarajiva: (1) "Prathamacittotpādika" ("who produces the mind of Bodhi for the first time"), (2) "Ṣaṭpāramitācaryāpratipanna" ("devoted to the practice of the six perfections"), (3) "Avinivartanīya" (non-regression), (4) "Ekajātipratibaddha" ("separated by only one lifetime from buddhahood").


title: Bodhisattva

text: Drewes notes that Mahāyāna sūtras mainly depict a bodhisattvas' first arising of bodhicitta as occurring in the presence of a Buddha. Furthermore, according to Drewes, most Mahāyāna sūtras "never encourage anyone to become a bodhisattva or present any ritual or other means of doing so." In a similar manner to the nikāya sources, Mahāyāna sūtras also see new bodhisattvas as likely to regress, while seeing irreversible bodhisattvas are quite rare. Thus, according to Drewes, "the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā", for instance, states that as many bodhisattvas as there grains of sand in the Ganges turn back from the pursuit of Buddhahood and that out of innumerable beings who give rise to bodhicitta and progress toward Buddhahood, only one or two will reach the point of becoming irreversible."


title: Bodhisattva

text: Drewes also adds that early texts like the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā" treat bodhisattvas who are beginners ("ādikarmika") or "not long set out in the [great] vehicle" with scorn, describing them as "blind", "unintelligent", "lazy" and "weak". Early Mahayana works identify them with those who reject Mahayana or who abandon Mahayana, and they are seen as likely to become "śrāvakas" (those on the "arhat" path). Rather than encouraging them to become bodhisattvas, what early Mahayana sutras like the "Aṣṭa" do is to help individuals determine if they have already received a prediction in a past life, or if they are close to this point.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The "Aṣṭa" provides a variety of methods, including forms of ritual or divination, methods dealing with dreams and various tests, especially tests based on one's reaction to the hearing of the content in the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā" itself. The text states that encountering and accepting its teachings mean one is close to being given a prediction and that if one does not "shrink back, cower or despair" from the text, but "firmly believes it", one is either irreversible or is close to this stage. Many other Mahayana sutras such as the "Akṣobhyavyūha", "Vimalakīrtinirdeśa", "Sukhāvatīvyūha", and the "Śūraṃgamasamādhi Sūtra" present textual approaches to determine one's status as an advanced bodhisattva. These mainly depend on a person's attitude towards listening to, believing, preaching, proclaiming, copying or memorizing and reciting the sutra as well as practicing the sutra's teachings.


title: Bodhisattva

text: According to Drewes, this claim that merely having faith in Mahāyāna sūtras meant that one was an advanced bodhisattva, was a departure from previous Nikaya views about bodhisattvas. It created new groups of Buddhists who accepted each other's bodhisattva status. Some Mahayana texts are more open with their bodhisattva doctrine. The "Lotus Sutra" famously assures large numbers people that they will certainly achieve Buddhahood, with few requirements (other than hearing and accepting the "Lotus Sutra" itself).


title: Bodhisattva

text: According to various Mahāyāna sources, on the way to becoming a Buddha, a bodhisattva proceeds through various stages ("bhūmis") of spiritual progress"." The term "bhūmi" means "earth" or "place" and figurately can mean "ground, plane, stage, level; state of consciousness". There are various lists of bhumis, the most common is a list of ten found in the "Daśabhūmikasūtra" (but there are also lists of seven stages as well as lists which have more than 10 stages).


title: Bodhisattva

text: In some sources, these ten stages are correlated with a different schema of the buddhist path called the five paths which is derived from Vaibhasika Abhidharma sources.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The "Śūraṅgama Sūtra" recognizes 57 stages. Various Vajrayāna schools recognize additional grounds (varying from 3 to 10 further stages), mostly 6 more grounds with variant descriptions. A bodhisattva above the 7th ground is called a "mahāsattva". Some bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra are also said to have already attained Buddhahood.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Buddhists (especially Mahayanists) venerate several bodhisattvas (such as Maitreya, Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara) which are seen as highly spiritually advanced (having attained the tenth bhumi) and thus possessing immense magical power. According to Lewis Lancaster, these "celestial" or "heavenly" bodhisattvas are seen as "either the manifestations of a Buddha or they are beings who possess the power of producing many bodies through great feats of magical transformation."


title: Bodhisattva

text: The religious devotion to these bodhisattvas probably first developed in north India, and they are widely depicted in Gandharan and Kashmiri art. In Asian art, they are typically depicted as princes and princesses, with royal robes and jewellery (since they are the princes of the Dharma). In Buddhist art, a bodhisattva is often described as a beautiful figure with a serene expression and graceful manner. This is probably in accordance to the description of Prince Siddhārtha Gautama as a bodhisattva. The depiction of bodhisattva in Buddhist art around the world aspires to express the bodhisattva's qualities such as loving-kindness ("metta"), compassion ("karuna"), empathetic joy ("mudita") and equanimity ("upekkha").


title: Bodhisattva

text: Literature which glorifies such bodhisattvas and recounts their various miracles remains very popular in Asia. One example of such a work of literature is "More Records of Kuan-shih-yin's Responsive Manifestations" by Lu Kao (459-532) which was very influential in China. In Tibetan Buddhism, the "Maṇi Kambum" is a similarly influential text (a revealed text, or terma) which focuses on Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara, who is seen as the country's patron bodhisattva) and his miraculous activities in Tibet.


title: Bodhisattva

text: These celestial bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin) are also seen as compassionate savior figures, constantly working for the good of all beings. The Avalokiteshvara chapter of the "Lotus Sutra" even states that calling Avalokiteshvara to mind can help save someone from natural disasters, demons, and other calamities. It is also supposed to protect one from the afflictions (lust, anger and ignorance). Bodhisattvas can also transform themselves into whatever physical form is useful for helping sentient beings (a god, a bird, a male or female, even a Buddha). Because of this, bodhisattvas are seen as beings that one can pray to for aid and consolation from the sufferings of everyday life as well as for guidance in the path to enlightenment. Thus, the great translator Xuanzang is said to have constantly prayed to Avalokiteshvara for protection on his long journey to India.


title: Bodhisattva

text: In the Tibetan tradition, there are eight bodhisattvas known as the "Eight Great Bodhisattvas", or "Eight Close Sons" (Skt. "aṣṭa utaputra"; Tib. "nyewé sé gyé") and are seen as the main bodhisattvas of Shakyamuni Buddha. These same "Eight Great Bodhisattvas" (Chn. "Bādà Púsà", Jp. "Hachi Daibosatsu") also appear in East Asian Esoteric Buddhist sources, such as "The Sutra on the Maṇḍalas of the Eight Great Bodhisattvas" (八大菩薩曼荼羅經), translated by Amoghavajra in the 8th century and Faxian (10th century). The Eight Great Bodhisattvas are the following:


title: Bodhisattva

text: While the veneration of bodhisattvas is much more widespread and popular in the Mahayana Buddhist world, it is also found in Theravada Buddhist regions. Bodhisattvas which are venerated in Theravada lands include Natha Deviyo (Avalokiteshvara), Metteya (Maitreya), Upulvan (i.e. Vishnu), Saman (Samantabhadra) and Pattini. The veneration of some of these figures may have been influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. These figures are also understood as devas that have converted to Buddhism and have sworn to protect it.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The recounting of Jataka tales, which discuss the bodhisattva deeds of Gautama before his awakening, also remains a popular practice.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The bodhisattva Prajñāpāramitā is a female personification of the perfection of wisdom and the "Prajñāpāramitā sutras". She became an important figure, widely depicted in Indian Buddhist art. Bodhisattva is a Sanskrit masculine noun. Female Bodhisattvas do not exist in Indian Buddhist literature, but exist in Tibetan Buddhist literature. Thus only in Tibetan Buddhism Tara becomes a female Bodhisattva.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Guanyin (Jp: Kannon), a female form of Avalokiteshvara, is the most widely revered bodhisattva in East Asian Buddhism, generally depicted as a motherly figure. Guanyin is venerated in various other forms and manifestations, including Cundī, Cintāmaṇicakra, Hayagriva, Eleven-Headed Thousand-Armed Guanyin and Guanyin Of The Southern Seas among others.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Gender variant representations of some bodhisattvas, most notably Avalokiteśvara, has prompted conversation regarding the nature of a bodhisattva's appearance. Chan master Sheng Yen has stated that Mahāsattvas such as Avalokiteśvara (known as Guanyin in Chinese) are androgynous (Ch. 中性; pinyin: "zhōngxìng"), which accounts for their ability to manifest in masculine and feminine forms of various degrees.


title: Bodhisattva

text: In Tibetan Buddhism, Tara or Jetsun Dölma ("rje btsun sgrol ma") is the most important female bodhisattva.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Numerous Mahayana sutras feature female bodhisattvas as main characters and discuss their life, teachings and future Buddhahood. These include "The Questions of the Girl Vimalaśraddhā" (Tohoku Kangyur - Toh number 84), "The Questions of Vimaladattā" (Toh 77), "The Lion's Roar of Śrīmālādevī" (Toh 92), "The Inquiry of Lokadhara" (Toh 174), "The Sūtra of Aśokadattā's Prophecy" (Toh 76), "The Questions of Vimalaprabhā" (Toh 168), "The Sūtra of Kṣemavatī's Prophecy" (Toh 192), "The Questions of the Girl Sumati" (Toh 74), "The Questions of Gaṅgottara" (Toh 75), "The Questions of an Old Lady" (Toh 171), "The Miraculous Play of Mañjuśrī" (Toh 96), and "The Sūtra of the Girl Candrottarā's Prophecy" (Toh 191).


title: Bodhisattva

text: Over time, numerous historical Buddhist figures also came to be seen as bodhisattvas in their own right, deserving of devotion. For example, an extensive hagiography developed around Nagarjuna, the Indian founder of the madhyamaka school of philosophy. Followers of Tibetan Buddhism consider the Dalai Lamas and the Karmapas to be an emanation of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Various Japanese Buddhist schools consider their founding figures like Kukai and Nichiren to be bodhisattvas. In Chinese Buddhism, various historical figures have been called bodhisattvas.


title: Bodhisattva

text: Furthermore, various Hindu deities are considered to be bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhist sources. For example, in the "Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra", Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma and Saraswati are said to be bodhisattvas, all emanations of Avalokiteshvara. Deities like Saraswati (Chinese: "Biàncáitiān", 辯才天, Japanese: Benzaiten) and Shiva (C: "Dàzìzàitiān", 大自在天; J: Daikokuten) are still venerated as bodhisattva devas and dharmapalas (guardian deities) in East Asian Buddhism. Both figures are closely connected with Avalokiteshvara. In a similar manner, the Hindu deity Harihara is called a bodhisattva in the famed "Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī," which states: "O Effulgence, World-Transcendent, come, oh Hari, the great bodhisattva."


title: Bodhisattva

text: The empress Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty, was the only female ruler of China. She used the growing popularity of Esoteric Buddhism in China for her own needs. Though she was not the only ruler to have made such a claim, the political utility of her claims, coupled with sincerity make her a great example. She built several temples and contributed to the finishing of the Longmen Caves and even went on to patronise Buddhism over Confucianism or Daoism. She ruled by the title of " Holy Emperor", and claimed to be a Bodhisattva too. She became one of China's most influential rulers.


title: Bodhisattva

text: While bodhisattvas tend to be depicted as conventionally beautiful, there are instances of their manifestation as fierceful and monstrous looking beings. A notable example is Guanyin's manifestation as a preta named "Flaming Face" (). This trope is commonly employed among the Wisdom Kings, among whom Mahāmāyūrī Vidyārājñī stands out with a feminine title and benevolent expression. In some depictions, her mount takes on a wrathful appearance. This variation is also found among images of Vajrapani.


title: Bodhisattva

text: In Tibetan Buddhism, fierce manifestations (Tibetan: "trowo)" of the major bodhisattvas are quite common and they often act as protector deities.


title: Bodhisattva

text: The place of a bodhisattva's earthly deeds, such as the achievement of enlightenment or the acts of Dharma, is known as a "bodhimaṇḍa" (place of awakening), and may be a site of pilgrimage. Many temples and monasteries are famous as bodhimaṇḍas. Perhaps the most famous bodhimaṇḍa of all is the Bodhi Tree under which Śākyamuṇi achieved Buddhahood. There are also sacred places of awakening for bodhisattvas located throughout the Buddhist world. Mount Potalaka, a sacred mountain in India, is traditionally held to be Avalokiteshvara's bodhimaṇḍa.


title: Bodhisattva

text: In Chinese Buddhism, there are four mountains that are regarded as bodhimaṇḍas for bodhisattvas, with each site having major monasteries and being popular for pilgrimages by both monastics and laypeople. These four sacred places are:


title: Bodhisattva

text: The etymology of the Indic terms bodhisattva and bodhisatta is not fully understood. The term bodhi is uncontroversial and means "awakening" or "enlightenment" (from the root "budh-"). The second part of the compound has many possible meanings or derivations, including:


title: Attack on Titan (season 3)

text: The third season of the "Attack on Titan" anime television series was produced by IG Port's Wit Studio, chief directed by Tetsurō Araki and directed by Masashi Koizuka, with Yasuko Kobayashi handling series composition and Kyōji Asano providing character designs. It covers the ""Uprising"" (chapters 51–70) and ""Return to Shiganshina"" (chapters 71–90) arcs from the original manga by Hajime Isayama. The season's first 12 episodes were broadcast on NHK General TV from July 23 to October 15, 2018, before going into hiatus until April 29, 2019. Adult Swim began airing Funimation's English dub on August 18, 2018.


title: Attack on Titan (season 3)

text: The season follows Eren and his fellow soldiers from the Survey Corps who are still fighting for their survival against the terrifying Titans. However, threats arise not only from the Titans beyond the walls, but from the humans within them as well. After being rescued from the Colossal and Armored Titans, all seems well for the soldiers, until the government suddenly demands custody of Eren and Historia. Sought after by the government, Levi and his new squad must evade their adversaries in hopes of keeping Eren and Historia safe.


title: Attack on Titan (season 3)

text: In the second half of the season, the Survey Corps led by Erwin embark on a mission to retake Wall Maria, returning to the tattered Shiganshina District that was once Eren's home. The Survey Corps strive to carve a path towards victory as Eren vows to take back everything that was once his.


title: Attack on Titan (season 3)

text: The score is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano. The opening theme for the season's first 12 episodes is "Red Swan" by Yoshiki featuring Hyde, and the ending theme is by Linked Horizon. The opening theme for the second part of third season is performed by Linked Horizon and the second ending theme is "Name of Love" performed by Cinema Staff.


title: Attack on Titan (season 3)

text: Sawano once again returned as composer. The soundtrack was released on June 26, 2019. As with the second season's soundtrack, music featured in compilation films and OVAs released between season two and three was included in the soundtrack. Vocals were provided by Laco, David Whitaker, Gemie, Eliana, mpi and yosh.


title: Supermassive Games

text: Supermassive Games Ltd is a British video game developer based in Guildford, Surrey. The studio is best known for developing horror games such as "Until Dawn" for the PlayStation 4, "The Dark Pictures Anthology" for Bandai Namco Entertainment and "The Quarry" for 2K Games.


title: Supermassive Games

text: Supermassive Games was founded by Pete Samuels in 2008, who have previously worked at Psygnosis and Electronic Arts. The company signed a contract to serve as Sony's second-party developer. The studio first worked on downloadable content for Media Molecule's "LittleBigPlanet", and games utilizing the PlayStation Move motion controller including "Sackboy's Prehistoric Moves" and "Start the Party!". The strategy was a success initially, as the studio posted full-year sales of £5.7 million in 2011. In 2012, the studio partnered with BBC and released "". It was intended to be the first game of a trilogy, but the game was poorly received. BBC then announced the decision to cancel all other games in the trilogy in the following year. Another partnership game with BBC, "Wonderbook: Walking with Dinosaurs", was released in 2013.


title: Supermassive Games

text: The studio's breakout title, "Until Dawn", was also initially envisioned as a PlayStation Move title, though all motion controls were dropped when it was retooled into a PlayStation 4 game. "Until Dawn" was a survival horror interactive movie inspired by slasher films, and it became an unexpected success for Sony when it was released in 2015. With the success of "Until Dawn", the studio continued to expand the "Until Dawn" universe, releasing spin-off titles including "" and "The Inpatient" for PlayStation VR, Sony's virtual reality headset. The studio also released the critically panned "Bravo Team" for PSVR. Supermassive initially wanted it to be "the game which defines shooters on VR", but it faced various development challenges throughout its development cycle.


title: Supermassive Games

text: Supermassive then returned to the horror genre when it partnered with publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment to create an anthology series called "The Dark Pictures Anthology"; the first game in the series is called "", which was released in August 2019. Unlike Supermassive's previous titles, which all but two were available exclusively on Sony platforms, all games in the "Dark Pictures" series will also be available on Microsoft platforms including Windows and Xbox One. Supermassive plans on releasing a new entry in "The Dark Pictures Anthology" every 6 months, with a total of 8 games in the series, though more could be added if the series succeeds in sales. "Man of Medan" was followed by "" (2020), "House of Ashes" (2021) and "" (2022) which concluded the first season. Supermassive also released "The Quarry" in 2022, a standalone game envisioned as a spiritual successor to "Until Dawn" inspired by teen slasher and monster films.


title: Supermassive Games

text: In March 2021, Nordisk Film, under their Nordisk Games division, purchased a 30.7% stake in the studio. In July 2022, Nordisk Games fully acquired Supermassive Games, making Supermassive a subsidiary of the Denmark based company.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States.


title: Budweiser

text: "Budweiser" may also refer to an unrelated pale lager beer, originating in České Budějovice, Czech Republic (in German, ) produced by the Budějovický Budvar brewery. There have been multiple trademark disputes between the two companies. Usually, either Anheuser-Busch or Budějovický Budvar are granted the exclusive use of the "Budweiser" name in a given market. Anheuser-Busch commonly uses the "Bud" brand for its beer when "Budweiser" is not available. The AB lager is available in over 80 countries, though not under the Budweiser name in places where Anheuser-Busch does not own the trademark. AB Budweiser is a filtered beer, available on draft and in bottles and cans, made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt.


title: Budweiser

text: The name "Budweiser" is a German derivative adjective, meaning "of Budweis". Beer has been brewed in Budweis, Bohemia, (now České Budějovice, Czech Republic) since it was founded in 1265. In 1876, Adolphus Busch and his friend Carl Conrad developed a "Bohemian-style" lager in the United States, inspired after a trip to Bohemia, and produced it in their brewery in St. Louis, Missouri.


title: Budweiser

text: Anheuser–Busch has been involved in multiple trademark disputes with the Budweiser Budvar Brewery of České Budějovice over the trademark rights to the name "Budweiser".


title: Budweiser

text: In the European Union, except Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Spain, the American beer may only be marketed as "Bud", as the Budweiser trademark name is owned solely by Czech beer maker Budweiser Budvar. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, both the Budvar and Anheuser–Busch lagers are available under the Budweiser name, though their logos differ.


title: Budweiser

text: The Budweiser from Budějovice has been called "The Beer of Kings" since the 16th century. Adolphus Busch adapted this slogan to "The King of Beers." This history notwithstanding, Anheuser Busch owns the trademark to these slogans in the United States.


title: Budweiser

text: In 1969 AB introduced the Superman-esque advertising character of Bud Man. Bud Man served as the inspiration behind several characters including "The Simpsons's" Duffman.


title: Budweiser

text: From 1987 to 1989, Bud Light ran an advertising campaign centered around canine mascot Spuds MacKenzie.


title: Budweiser

text: In 2010, the Bud Light brand paid $1 billion for a six-year licensing agreement with the NFL. Budweiser pays $20 million annually for MLB licensing rights.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser has produced a number of TV advertisements, such as the Budweiser Frogs, lizards impersonating the Budweiser frogs, a campaign built around the phrase "Whassup?", and a team of Clydesdale horses commonly known as the Budweiser Clydesdales.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser also advertises in motorsports, from Bernie Little's Miss Budweiser hydroplane boat to sponsorship of the Budweiser King Top Fuel Dragster driven by Brandon Bernstein. Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the CART championship. It is the "Official Beer of NHRA" and it was the "Official Beer of NASCAR" from 1998 to 2007. It has sponsored motorsport events such as the Daytona Speedweeks, Budweiser Shootout, Budweiser Duel, Budweiser Pole Award, Budweiser 500, Budweiser 400, Budweiser 300, Budweiser 250, Budweiser 200, and Carolina Pride / Budweiser 200. However, starting in 2016, the focus of A-B's NASCAR sponsorship became its Busch brand.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser has sponsored NASCAR teams such as Junior Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports, DEI, and Stewart-Haas Racing. Sponsored drivers include Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1999–2007), Kasey Kahne (2008–2010), and Kevin Harvick (2011–2015). In IndyCar, Budweiser sponsored Mario Andretti (1983–1984), Bobby Rahal (1985–1988), Scott Pruett (1989–1992), Roberto Guerrero (1993), Scott Goodyear (1994), Paul Tracy (1995), Christian Fittipaldi (1996–1997), and Richie Hearn (1998–1999).


title: Budweiser

text: Anheuser-Busch has placed Budweiser as an official partner and sponsor of Major League Soccer and Los Angeles Galaxy and was the headline sponsor of the British Basketball League in the 1990s. Anheuser-Busch has also placed Budweiser as an official sponsor of the Premier League and the presenting sponsor of the FA Cup.


title: Budweiser

text: In the early 20th century, the company commissioned a play-on-words song called "Under the Anheuser Bush," which was recorded by several early phonograph companies.


title: Budweiser

text: In 2009, Anheuser-Busch partnered with popular Chinese video-sharing site Tudou.com for a user-generated online video contest. The contest encouraged users to suggest ideas that included ants for a Bud TV spot set to run in February 2010 during Chinese New Year.


title: Budweiser

text: In 2010, Budweiser produced an online reality TV series centered around the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa called "Bud House", following the lives of 32 international football fans (one representing each nation in the World Cup) living together in a house in South Africa.


title: Budweiser

text: Anheuser-Busch advertises the Budweiser brand heavily, expending $449 million in 2012 in the United States alone. Presenting Budweiser as the most advertised drink brand in America, and accounted for a third of the company's US marketing budget.


title: Budweiser

text: On November 5, 2012, Anheuser-Busch asked Paramount Pictures to obscure or remove the Budweiser logo from the film "Flight" (2012), directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Denzel Washington.


title: Budweiser

text: In an advertisement titled "Brewed the Hard Way" which aired during Super Bowl XLIX, Budweiser touted itself as "Proudly A Macro Beer", distinguishing it from smaller production craft beers.


title: Budweiser

text: On October 7, 2016, the Budweiser Clydesdales made a special appearance on the Danforth Campus at Washington University in St. Louis ahead of the presidential debate. A special batch beer named Lilly's Lager was exclusively brewed for the occasion.


title: Budweiser

text: In December 2020, Budweiser sent personalized bottles of beer to every goalkeeper who Lionel Messi had scored against.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser has been distributed in many sizes and containers. Until the early 1950's, Budweiser was primarily distributed in three packages: kegs, bottles and bottles. Cans were first introduced in 1936. In 1955 August Busch Jr. made a strategic move to expand Budweiser's national brand and distributor presence. Along with this expansion came advances in bottling automation, bottling materials and distribution methods. These advances brought new containers and package designs. Budweiser is distributed in four large container volumes: half-barrel kegs (), quarter-barrel kegs (), 1/6 barrel kegs () and "beer balls". Budweiser produces a variety of cans and bottles ranging from . On August 3, 2011, Anheuser-Busch announced its twelfth can design since 1936, one which emphasizes the bowtie.


title: Budweiser

text: Packages are sometimes tailored to local customs and traditions. In St. Mary's County, Maryland, fluid ounce cans are the preferred package.


title: Budweiser

text: In an attempt to re-stimulate interest in their beer after the repeal of Prohibition, Budweiser began canning their beer in 1936. This new packaging led to an increase in sales which lasted until the start of World War II in 1939.


title: Budweiser

text: Over the years, Budweiser cans have undergone various design changes in response to market conditions and consumer tastes. Since 1936, 12 major can design changes have occurred, not including the temporary special edition designs.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser cans have traditionally displayed patriotic American symbols, such as eagles and the colors red, white, and blue. In 2011, there was a branding redesign that eliminated some of the traditional imagery. The new design was largely in response to a large decline in sales threatening Budweiser's status as America's best-selling beer. In order to regain the domestic market share that Budweiser had lost, the company tried to update its appearance by giving the can a more contemporary look. The company hoped that the new design will offset the effects that unemployment had on its sales. Although the more modern design was intended for young male Americans, the new design was also part of an attempt to focus on the international market. Budweiser began selling its beer in Russia in 2010, and is currently expanding its operations in China.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser is produced using barley malt, rice, water, hops and yeast. The brewing happens in seven steps: milling, mashing, straining, brew kettle, primary fermentation, beechwood lagering and finishing. It is lagered with beechwood chips in the aging vessel. While beechwood chips are used in the maturation tank, there is little to no flavor contribution from the wood, mainly because they are boiled in sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for seven hours for the very purpose of removing any flavor from the wood.


title: Budweiser

text: The maturation tanks that Anheuser-Busch uses are horizontal, causing flocculation of yeast to occur much more quickly. Anheuser-Busch refers to this process as a secondary fermentation, with the idea being that the chips give the yeast more surface area to rest on. This is combined with a krausening procedure that re-introduces wort into the chip tank, reactivating the fermentation process.


title: Budweiser

text: Placing beechwood chips at the bottom of the tank keeps the yeast in suspension longer, giving it more time to reabsorb and process green beer flavors such as acetaldehyde and diacetyl that Anheuser-Busch believes are off-flavors which detract from overall drinkability.


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser and "Bud Light" are sometimes advertised as vegan beers, in that their ingredients and conditioning do not use animal by-products. Some people object to the inclusion of genetically engineered rice and animal products used in the brewing process. In July 2006, Anheuser-Busch brewed a version of Budweiser with organic rice for sale in Mexico. It has yet to extend this practice to any other countries.


title: Budweiser

text: In addition to the regular Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch brews several different beers under the Budweiser brand, including Bud Light, Bud Ice, and Bud Light Lime.


title: Budweiser

text: In July 2010, Anheuser-Busch launched Budweiser 66 in the United Kingdom. Budweiser Brew No.66 has 4% alcohol by volume, and is brewed and distributed in the UK by Inbev UK Limited.


title: Budweiser

text: In 2020, Budweiser introduced Bud Light Seltzer. In August 2020, Bud Light Seltzers added grapefruit, cranberry and pineapple flavors, to its original offerings of black cherry, mango, lemon lime and strawberry. In October 2020, Bud Light Seltzers added Apple Crisp, Peppermint Pattie, and Gingersnap, with the cans sporting "ugly sweater" designs.


title: Budweiser

text: In July 2020, Budweiser introduced Bud Zero, its first alcohol-free low-calorie beer. It has zero sugar, zero alcohol, and 50 calories.


title: Budweiser

text: On May 10, 2016, "Advertising Age" reported that the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau had approved new Budweiser labels to be used on 12-ounce cans and bottles from May 23 until the November elections. The name "Budweiser" was changed to "America". Much of the text on the packaging was replaced with patriotic American slogans, such as E pluribus unum and "Liberty & Justice For All".


title: Budweiser

text: Budweiser is licensed, produced and distributed in Canada by Labatt Brewing Company (also owned by AB InBev). Of the 15 Anheuser-Busch breweries outside of the United States, 14 of them are positioned in China. Budweiser is the fourth leading brand in the Chinese beer market.


title: AEW World Championship

text: The AEW World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Unveiled on May 25, 2019, it is the promotion's top championship for male singles competitors, and Chris Jericho was the inaugural champion. The current champion is MJF, who is in his first reign.


title: AEW World Championship

text: On January 1, 2019, the professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was founded and its inaugural event, Double or Nothing, was scheduled for May 25. The unveiling of the promotion's world championship was first teased on AEW's YouTube channel on May 22, where actor and comedian Jack Whitehall humorously attempted to reveal the title belt but struggled to get the championship out of its bag. During that same video, Whitehall revealed that the winner of Double or Nothing's Buy In pre-show battle royal, called the Casino Battle Royale, would face the winner of Double or Nothing's main event at a future date to determine the inaugural AEW World Champion. The Casino Battle Royale was won by Adam Page, while Chris Jericho defeated Kenny Omega in the main event, setting up the inaugural championship match. During Double or Nothing, pro wrestling veteran Bret Hart unveiled the AEW World Championship belt.


title: AEW World Championship

text: Shortly after Double or Nothing, the inaugural championship match was scheduled for AEW's event All Out on August 31. At the pay-per-view, Jericho defeated Page in the main event to become the inaugural champion. The following day, it was reported by Tallahassee Police that the physical championship belt was stolen from Jericho's limousine while he was traveling; it was recovered on September 4.


title: AEW World Championship

text: On the June 3, 2022, episode of "Rampage", reigning champion CM Punk, who had won the title just days prior at Double or Nothing, announced that he was injured and required surgery. He initially wanted to relinquish the title; however, AEW president Tony Khan decided that an interim champion would be crowned until Punk's return, after which, Punk would face the interim champion to determine the undisputed champion. To determine the interim champion, AEW set up the that would culminate in a match at on June 26, a co-promoted event between AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The first two matches took place on the June 8 episode of "Dynamite". A Casino Battle Royale opened the show, which Kyle O'Reilly won. O'Reilly then faced the number one ranked singles competitor Jon Moxley in the main event of the episode, which Moxley won. The third match took place on June 12 at NJPW's Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto, which Tanahashi won; Tanahashi was originally scheduled to face Punk at Forbidden Door for the title before Punk's injury. At Forbidden Door, Moxley defeated Tanahashi to become the interim AEW World Champion. Punk made his return in early August and Moxley defeated Punk on the August 24 episode of "Dynamite" to become the undisputed champion.


title: AEW World Championship

text: After the All Out post-event media scrum on September 5, CM Punk, who had just won his second AEW World Championship at the event, got into a legitimate physical altercation with AEW executive vice presidents Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), following berating comments he had made about them and others during the scrum. As a result, AEW president Tony Khan suspended all involved. On the September 7 episode of "Dynamite", Khan announced that both the World Championship and Trios Championship, held by Omega and the Bucks, were vacated. Khan then announced that there would be a tournament to crown a new AEW World Champion. The AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions began that same episode and continued across episodes of "Dynamite" and "Rampage" until its conclusion at "Dynamite": Grand Slam on September 21. Tournament competitors included Bryan Danielson, "Hangman" Adam Page, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, Chris Jericho, and Jon Moxley. Moxley defeated Danielson in the tournament final at Grand Slam to win the championship for a record third time.


title: AEW World Championship

text: The standard AEW World Championship belt has five plates on a black leather strap. The large center plate prominently has the AEW logo at the center, with a diamond outline behind the logo. Above the logo is a banner that reads "WORLD", while below the logo is another banner that reads "CHAMPION". Below this banner is a nameplate to display the reigning champion's name. The two inner side plates are tall and skinny, with the AEW logo again at the center. Above and below this logo are two halves of the globe. The two outer side plates are similar to the inner ones but slightly smaller. The belt design was inspired by the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship belt, and AEW wanted their design to be significantly similar to that belt. It was created by well-known professional wrestling championship belt maker Dave Millican.


title: AEW World Championship

text: On the November 30, 2022, episode of "Dynamite", reigning champion MJF, who had just won the title at Full Gear on November 19, discarded the standard AEW World Championship belt, calling it trash, and unveiled his own custom version, which he dubbed the "Big Burberry Belt", or Triple-B for short. It features the exact same design as the standard belt; however, the leather strap is brown and fashioned in Burberry's trademark check pattern to match MJF's signature Burberry scarf.


title: AEW World Championship

text: As of 28, 2022, there have been nine reigns between six champions and one vacancy, as well as one interim champion. Chris Jericho was the inaugural champion. Jon Moxley has the most reigns at three and has the longest combined reign at 347 days. He also served as the interim champion in mid-2022 while reigning lineal champion CM Punk was out with an injury (this is not counted as one of Moxley's three reigns). Kenny Omega's reign is the longest at 346 days, while Punk's second reign is the shortest at 3 days. Jericho is the oldest champion when he won it at 48 years old, while MJF is the youngest champion at 26 years old.


title: AEW World Championship

text: MJF is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Jon Moxley for the title at Full Gear on November 19, 2022, in Newark, New Jersey, which was MJF's Casino Poker Chip cash-in match.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; ), officially the State of Hessen (), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darmstadt and Kassel. With an area of 21,114.73 square kilometers and a population of just over six million, it ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, among the sixteen German states. Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Germany's second-largest metropolitan area (after Rhine-Ruhr), is mainly located in Hesse.


title: Hesse

text: As a cultural region, Hesse also includes the area known as Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen) in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate.


title: Hesse

text: The German name "Hessen", like the names of other German regions ("Schwaben" "Swabia", "Franken" "Franconia", "Bayern" "Bavaria", "Sachsen" "Saxony"), derives from the dative plural form of the name of the inhabitants or eponymous tribe, the Hessians ("Hessen", singular "Hesse"). The geographical name represents a short equivalent of the older compound name "Hessenland" ("land of the Hessians"). The Old High German form of the name is recorded as "Hessun" (dative plural of "Hessi"); in Middle Latin it appears as "Hassia", "Hessia", "Hassonia". The name of the Hessians ultimately continues the tribal name of the "Chatti".


title: Hesse

text: The ancient name "Chatti" by the 7th century is recorded as "Chassi", and from the 8th century as "Hassi" or "Hessi".


title: Hesse

text: An inhabitant of Hesse is called a "Hessian" (German: "Hesse" (masculine), plural "Hessen", or "Hessin" (feminine), plural "Hessinnen").


title: Hesse

text: The American English term "Hessian" for 18th-century British auxiliary troops originates with Landgrave Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel hiring out regular army units to the government of Great Britain to fight in the American Revolutionary War.


title: Hesse

text: The English form "Hesse" was in common use by the 18th century, first in the hyphenated names of the states of "Hesse-Cassel" and "Hesse-Darmstadt", but the latinate form "Hessia" remained in common English usage well into the 19th century.


title: Hesse

text: The European Commission uses the German form "Hessen", even in English-language contexts, due to the policy of leaving regional names untranslated.


title: Hesse

text: The synthetic element hassium, number 108 on the periodic table, was named after the state of Hesse in 1997, following a proposal of 1992.


title: Hesse

text: The territory of Hesse was delineated only in 1945, as Greater Hesse, under American occupation. It corresponds only loosely to the medieval Landgraviate of Hesse.


title: Hesse

text: In the 19th century, prior to the unification of Germany, the territory of what is now Hesse comprised the territories of Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau, the free city of Frankfurt and the Electorate of Hesse (also known as Hesse-Cassel).


title: Hesse

text: Finds of tools in southern Hesse in Rüsselsheim suggest the presence of Pleistocene hunters about 13,000 years ago. A fossil hominid skull that was found in northern Hesse, just outside the village of Rhünda, has been dated at 12,000 years ago.


title: Hesse

text: The Züschen tomb (German: Steinkammergrab von Züschen, sometimes also Lohne-Züschen) is a prehistoric burial monument, located between Lohne and Züschen, near Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany. Classified as a gallery grave or a Hessian-Westphalian stone cist ("hessisch-westfälische Steinkiste"), it is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Central Europe. Dating to c. 3000 BC, it belongs to the Late Neolithic Wartberg culture.


title: Hesse

text: An early Celtic presence in what is now Hesse is indicated by a mid-5th-century BC La Tène-style burial uncovered at Glauberg. The region was later settled by the Germanic Chatti tribe around the 1st century BC, and the name "Hesse" is a continuation of that tribal name.


title: Hesse

text: The ancient Romans had a military camp in Dorlar, and in Waldgirmes directly on the eastern outskirts of Wetzlar was a civil settlement under construction. Presumably, the provincial government for the occupied territories of the right bank of Germania was planned at this location. The governor of Germania, at least temporarily, likely had resided here. The settlement appears to have been abandoned by the Romans after the devastating Battle of the Teutoburg Forest failed in the year AD 9. The Chatti were also involved in the Revolt of the Batavi in AD 69.


title: Hesse

text: Hessia, from the early 7th century on, served as a buffer between areas dominated by the Saxons (to the north) and the Franks, who brought the area to the south under their control in the early sixth century and occupied Thuringia (to the east) in 531. Hessia occupies the northwestern part of the modern German state of Hesse; its borders were not clearly delineated. Its geographic center is Fritzlar; it extends in the southeast to Hersfeld on the river Fulda, in the north to past Kassel and up to the rivers Diemel and Weser. To the west, it occupies the valleys of the rivers Eder and Lahn (the latter until it turns south). It measured roughly 90 kilometers north–south, and 80 north-west.


title: Hesse

text: The area around Fritzlar shows evidence of significant pagan belief from the 1st century on. Geismar was a particular focus of such activity; it was continuously occupied from the Roman period on, with a settlement from the Roman period, which itself had a predecessor from the 5th century BC. Excavations have produced a horse burial and bronze artifacts. A possible religious cult may have centered on a natural spring in Geismar, called "Heilgenbron"; the name "Geismar" (possibly "energetic pool") itself may be derived from that spring.


title: Hesse

text: The village of , now a part of Gudensberg near Fritzlar and less than ten miles from Geismar, was likely an ancient religious center; the basaltic outcrop of Gudensberg is named after Wodan, and a two-meter tall quartzite megalith called the "Wotanstein" is at the center of the village.


title: Hesse

text: By the mid-7th century, the Franks had established themselves as overlords, which is suggested by archeological evidence of burials, and they built fortifications in various places, including Christenberg. By 690, they took direct control over Hessia, apparently to counteract expansion by the Saxons, who built fortifications in Gaulskopf and Eresburg across the river Diemel, the northern boundary of Hessia. The Büraburg (which already had a Frankish settlement in the sixth century) was one of the places the Franks fortified to resist the Saxon pressure, and according to John-Henry Clay, the Büraburg was "probably the largest man-made construction seen in Hessia for at least seven hundred years". Walls and trenches totaling one kilometer in length were made, and they enclosed "8 hectares of a spur that offered a commanding view over Fritzlar and the densely-populated heart of Hessia".


title: Hesse

text: Following Saxon incursions into Chattish territory in the 7th century, two "gaue" had been established; a Frankish one, comprising an area around Fritzlar and Kassel, and a Saxonian one. In the 9th century, the Saxon Hessengau also came under the rule of the Franconians.


title: Hesse

text: From 962 the land which would become Hesse was part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 10th and 11th centuries it was mostly encompassed by the Western or Rhenish part of the stem duchy of Franconia.


title: Hesse

text: In the 12th century, Hessengau passed to the Landgraviate of Thuringia. As a result of the War of the Thuringian Succession (1247–1264) the former Thuringian lands were partitioned between the Wettin Margraviate of Meissen, which gained Thuringia proper, and the new Landgraviate of Hesse, which remained with the Ludovingians. From that point on the Ludovingian coat of arms came to represent both Thuringia and Hesse.


title: Hesse

text: It rose to prominence under Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous, who was one of the leaders of German Protestantism. After Philip's death in 1567, the territory was divided among his four sons from his first marriage (Philip was a bigamist) into four lines: Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Rheinfels, and the also previously existing Hesse-Marburg. As the latter two lines died out quite quickly (1583 and 1605, respectively), Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt were the two core states within the Hessian lands. Several collateral lines split off during the centuries, such as in 1622, when Hesse-Homburg split off from Hesse-Darmstadt, and in 1760 when Hesse-Hanau split off from Hesse-Kassel. In the late 16th century, Kassel adopted Calvinism, while Darmstadt remained Lutheran and consequently the two lines often found themselves on opposing sides of conflicts, most notably in the disputes over Hesse-Marburg and in the Thirty Years' War, when Darmstadt fought on the side of the Emperor, while Kassel sided with Sweden and France.


title: Hesse

text: The Landgrave Frederick II (1720–1785) ruled Hesse-Kassel as a benevolent despot, from 1760 to 1785. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach toward diplomacy. He funded the depleted treasury of the poor government by loaning 19,000 soldiers in complete military formations to Great Britain to fight in North America during the American Revolutionary War, 1776–1783. These soldiers, commonly known as Hessians, fought under the British flag. The British used the Hessians in several conflicts, including in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. For further revenue, the soldiers were loaned to other places as well. Most were conscripted, with their pay going to the Landgrave.


title: Hesse

text: In 1789 the French Revolution began and in 1794, during the War of the First Coalition, the French Republic occupied the Left Bank of the Rhine, including part of Lower Katzenelnbogen (, Hesse-Kassel's part of the former County of Katzenelnbogen which was held by the appanage Hesse-Rotenburg). Emperor Francis II formally recognised the annexation of the Left Bank in the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville. This led in 1803 to the , a substantial reorganisation (mediatisation) of the states and territories of the Empire. Several exclaves of Mainz were mediatised to Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, and Hesse-Darmstadt also gained the Duchy of Westphalia from Cologne, the parts of Worms on the right-bank of the Rhine, and the former Free City of Friedberg. Nassau-Weilburg gained the right-bank territories of Trier among other territories. Orange-Nassau gained the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (as the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda). The Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was also elevated to the status of Prince-Elector (), with his state thereby becoming the Electorate of Hesse or Electoral Hesse (, being the German-language term for the Empire's College of Electors).


title: Hesse

text: In July 1806 Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau-Weilburg, Nassau-Usingen, and the newly-merged Principality of Isenburg became founding members of Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine. Hesse-Darmstadt expanded further in the resulting mediatisation, absorbing numerous small states (including Hesse-Homburg and much of the territory of the Houses of , and Sayn-Wittgenstein). It was also elevated by Napoleon to the status of Grand Duchy, becoming the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Orange-Nassau, which refused to join the Confederation, lost Siegen, Dillenburg, Hadamar and Beilstein to Berg and Fulda to the Prince-Primate of the Confederation (and former Elector of Mainz) Karl Theodor von Dalberg; the remainder of its territory was merged with that of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg in August 1806 to form the Duchy of Nassau. Waldeck also joined the Confederation in 1807.


title: Hesse

text: The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in August 1806, rendering Hesse-Kassel's electoral privilege meaningless. Hesse-Kassel was occupied by the French in October 1806 and the remainder of Lower Katzenelnbogen was annexed to the French Empire as . The rest of its territory was annexed to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807; Hesse-Hanau (a secundogeniture of Hesse-Kassel) was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt in 1810 along with the other territories held by the Prince-primate: Frankfurt, Fulda, Aschaffenburg and Wetzlar.


title: Hesse

text: As a result of the German campaign of 1813 the Kingdom of Westphalia and the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt were dissolved and Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau were restored; Orange-Nassau was also restored in its territories previously lost to Berg.


title: Hesse

text: As a result of the 1815 Congress of Vienna Hesse-Kassel gained Fulda (roughly the western third of the former Prince-Bishopric, the rest of which went to Bavaria and Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach) from Frankfurt and part of Isenburg, while several of its small northern exclaves were absorbed into Hanover, some small eastern areas were ceded to Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Lower Katzenelnbogen was ceded to Nassau. Hesse-Darmstadt lost the Duchy of Westphalia and the Sayn-Wittgensteiner lands to the Prussian Province of Westphalia but gained territory on the left bank of the Rhine centred on Mainz, which became known as Rhenish Hesse (), and the remainder of Isenburg. Orange-Nassau, whose ruler was now also King William I of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg, was ceded to Prussia but most of its territory aside from Siegen was then ceded on to Nassau. Hesse-Homburg and the Free City of Frankfurt were also restored.


title: Hesse

text: While the other former Electors had gained other titles, becoming either Kings or Grand Dukes, the Elector of Hesse-Kassel alone retained the anachronistic title of Prince-Elector; a request to be recognised as "King of the Chatti" () was rejected by the Congress.


title: Hesse

text: Following the mediatisations and the Congress of Vienna significantly fewer states remained in the region that is now Hesse: the Hessian states, Nassau, Waldeck and Frankfurt. The Kingdoms of Prussia and Bavaria also held some territory in the region. The Congress also established the German Confederation, of which they all became members. Hesse-Hanau was (re-)absorbed into Hesse-Kassel in 1821.


title: Hesse

text: In the 1866 Austro-Prussian War the states of the region allied with Austria were defeated during the Campaign of the Main. Following Prussia's victory and dissolution of the German Confederation, Prussia annexed Electoral Hesse, Frankfurt, Hesse-Homburg, Nassau and small parts of Bavaria and the Grand Duchy of Hesse, which were then combined into the Province of Hesse-Nassau. The name survived, denoting the region around Kassel. The Grand Duchy of Hesse retained its autonomy in defeat because a greater part of the country was situated south of the river Main and it was feared that Prussian expansion beyond the Main might provoke France. However, Upper Hesse (: the parts of Hesse-Darmstadt north of the Main around the town of Gießen) was incorporated into the North German Confederation (), a tight federation of German states established by Prussia in 1867, while also remaining part of the Grand Duchy. In 1871, after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the whole of the Grand Duchy joined the German Empire.


title: Hesse

text: Around the turn of the 20th century, Darmstadt was one of the centres of the Jugendstil. Until 1907, the Grand Duchy of Hesse used the Hessian red and white lion "barry" as its coat-of-arms.


title: Hesse

text: The revolution of 1918 following the German defeat in WWI transformed Hesse-Darmstadt from a monarchy to a republic, which officially renamed itself the People's State of Hesse (). The parts of Hesse-Darmstadt on the left bank of the Rhine (Rhenish Hesse), as well as those right-bank areas of Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Nassau within of Koblenz or Mainz were occupied by French troops until 1930 under the terms of the Versailles peace treaty that officially ended World War I in 1919. The Kingdom of Prussia became the Free State of Prussia, of which Hesse-Nassau remained a province.


title: Hesse

text: In 1929 the Free State of Waldeck was dissolved and incorporated into Hesse-Nassau. In 1932 Wetzlar (), formerly an exclave of the Prussian Rhine Province situated between Hesse-Nassau and the Grand Duchy's Upper Hesse, was transferred to Hesse-Nassau. The former Hessian exclave of Rinteln (, the Hessian part of the former County of Schaumburg) was also detached and transferred to the Province of Hanover.


title: Hesse

text: On 1 July 1944 the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau was formally divided into the provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau. At the same time the former Hessian Schmalkalden exclaves (), together with the of the Province of Saxony, were transferred to Thuringia. The territories of the new provinces did not directly correspond with their pre-1866 namesakes but rather with the associated NSDAP : Gau Electoral Hesse and Gau Hesse-Nassau (excluding the areas which were part of the People's State of Hesse).


title: Hesse

text: After World War II, the Hessian territory west of the Rhine was again occupied by France, while the rest of the region was part of the US occupation zone. On 17 September 1945 the Wanfried agreement adjusted the border between American-occupied Kurhessen and Soviet-occupied Thuringia. The United States proclaimed the state of Greater Hesse () on 19 September 1945, out of the People's State of Hesse and most of what had been the Prussian Provinces of Kurhessen and Nassau. The French incorporated their parts of Hesse (Rhenish Hesse) and Nassau (as ) into the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate () on 30 August 1946.


title: Hesse

text: Due to its proximity to the Inner German border, Hesse became an important location of NATO installations in the 1950s, especially military bases of the US V Corps and United States Army Europe.


title: Hesse

text: The first elected minister president of Hesse was Christian Stock, followed by Georg-August Zinn (both Social Democrats). The German Social Democrats gained an absolute majority in 1962 and pursued progressive policies with the so-called . The CDU gained a relative majority in the 1974 elections, but the Social Democrats continued to govern in a coalition with the FDP. Hesse was first governed by the CDU under Walter Wallmann during 1987–1991, replaced by a SPD-Greens coalition under Hans Eichel during 1991–1999. From 1999, Hesse was governed by the CDU under Roland Koch (retired 2010) and Volker Bouffier (incumbent as of 2020).


title: Hesse

text: Frankfurt during the 1960s to 1990s developed into one of the major cities of West Germany. As of 2016, 12% of the total population of Hesse lived in the city of Frankfurt.


title: Hesse

text: Situated in west-central Germany, the state of Hesse borders the German states of Lower Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and North Rhine-Westphalia (starting in the north and proceeding clockwise).


title: Hesse

text: Most of the population of Hesse lives in the southern part, in the Rhine Main Area. The principal cities of the area include Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Offenbach, Hanau, Giessen, Wetzlar, and Limburg. Other major towns in Hesse are Fulda in the east, and Kassel and Marburg an der Lahn in the north. The densely populated Rhine-Main region is much better developed than the rural areas in the middle and northern parts of Hesse.


title: Hesse

text: The most important rivers in Hesse are the Fulda and Eder in the north, the Lahn in the central part of Hesse, and the Main and Rhine in the south. The countryside is hilly and the numerous mountain ranges include the Rhön, the Westerwald, the Taunus, the Vogelsberg, the Knüll and the Spessart.


title: Hesse

text: The Rhine borders Hesse on the southwest without running through the state. Only one oxbow lake—the so-called —runs through Hesse. The mountain range between the rivers Main and the Neckar is called the Odenwald. The plain between the rivers Main, Rhine, and Neckar, and the Odenwald Mountains is called the Ried.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse is a unitary state governed directly by the Hessian government in the capital city Wiesbaden, partially through regional vicarious authorities called "Regierungspräsidien". Municipal parliaments are, however, elected independently from the state government by the Hessian people. Local municipalities enjoy a considerable degree of home rule.


title: Hesse

text: The state is divided into three administrative provinces ("Regierungsbezirke"): Kassel in the north and east, Gießen in the centre, and Darmstadt in the south, the latter being the most populous region with the Frankfurt Rhine-Main agglomeration in its central area. The administrative regions have no legislature of their own, but are executive agencies of the state government.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse is divided into 21 districts (Kreise) and five independent cities, each with their own local governments. They are, shown with abbreviations as used on vehicle number plates:


title: Hesse

text: The term "Rhenish Hesse" () refers to the part of the former Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt located west of the Rhine. It has not been part of the State of Hesse since 1946 due to divisions in the aftermath of World War II. This province is now part of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a hilly countryside largely devoted to vineyards; therefore, it is also called the "land of the thousand hills". Its larger towns include Mainz, Worms, Bingen, Alzey, Nieder-Olm, and Ingelheim. Many inhabitants commute to work in Mainz, Wiesbaden, or Frankfurt.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse has been a parliamentary republic since 1918, except during Nazi rule (1933–1945). The German federal system has elements of exclusive federal competences, shared competences, and exclusive competences of the states. Hesse is famous for having a rather brisk style in its politics with the ruling parties being either the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Due to the Hessian electoral laws, the biggest party normally needs a smaller coalition partner.


title: Hesse

text: As Hesse is a partly sovereign federated state, its constitution combines the offices of the head of state and head of government in one office called the Minister-President (German: "Ministerpräsident") which is comparable to the office of a prime minister.


title: Hesse

text: In the 2018 state elections the two leading parties, CDU and SPD, lost 11.3% (7 seats) and 10.9% (8 seats) of the vote respectively. The Green party, a member of Hesse's previous governing coalition with CDU, gained 8.7% (16 seats). The largest gains during the election were made by Alternative for Germany (AfD) at 13.1%. As AfD had not passed the 5% threshold in the 2013 state election, this marked its first entry into the Hessian parliament ("Hessischer Landtag"). The two other parties also made gains. The major losses of the two leading parties (whose coalition made up the federal cabinet during the election) closely mirrors the results of the 2018 state elections in Bavaria. In the current parliament the conservative CDU holds 40 seats, the centre-left SPD and the leftist Green party each hold 29 seats, the right-wing AfD holds 19 seats, the liberal FDP party holds 11 seats and the socialist party Die Linke holds 9 seats.


title: Hesse

text: As a member state of the German federation, Hesse does not have a diplomatic service of its own. However, Hesse operates representation offices in such foreign countries as the United States, China, Hungary, Cuba, Russia, Poland, and Iran. These offices are mostly used to represent Hessian interests in cultural and economic affairs. Hesse has also permanent representation offices in Berlin at the federal government of Germany and in Brussels at the institutions of the European Union.


title: Hesse

text: The flag colors of Hesse are red and white, which are printed on a Hessian sack. The Hessian coat of arms shows a lion rampant striped with red and white. The official anthem of Hesse is called ""Hessenlied"" ("Song of Hesse") and was written by Albrecht Brede (music) and Carl Preser (lyrics).


title: Hesse

text: Hesse has a population of over 6 million, nearly 4 million of which is concentrated in the Rhein-Main region (German: "Rhein-Main Gebiet") in the south of the state, an area that includes the most populous city, Frankfurt am Main, the capital Wiesbaden, and Darmstadt and Offenbach. The population of Hesse is predicted to shrink by 4.3% by 2030, with the biggest falls in the north of the state, especially in the area around the city of Kassel. Frankfurt is the fastest growing city with a predicted rise in population of 4.8% by 2030. Frankfurt's growth is driven by its importance as a financial centre and it receives immigrants from all over the world: in 2015 over half of the city's population had an immigrant background.


title: Hesse

text: Three different languages or dialect groups are spoken in Hesse: The Far North is part of the Low Saxon language area, divided into a tiny Eastphalian and a larger Westphalian dialect area. Most of Hesse belongs to the West Middle German dialect zone. There is some disagreement as to whether all Hessian dialects south of the Benrath line may be subsumed under one dialect group: Rhine Franconian, or whether most dialects should be regarded as a dialect group of its own: Hessian, whereas only South Hessian is part of Rhine Franconian. Hessian proper can be split into Lower Hessian in the north, East Hessian in the East around Fulda and Central Hessian, which covers the largest area of all dialects in Hesse. In the extreme Northeast, the Thuringian dialect zone extends into Hesse, whereas in the Southeast, the state border to Bavaria is not fully identical to the dialect border between East Franconian and East Hessian.


title: Hesse

text: Since approximately World War II, a spoken variety of Standard German with dialect substrate has been superseding the traditional dialects mentioned so far. This development knows a north-to-south movement, the north being early to supplant the traditional language, whereas in the south, there is still a considerable part of the population that communicates in South Hessian. In most of the areas, however, the traditional language is close to extinction, whereas until the first half of the 20th century, almost the entire population spoke dialect in almost all situations. The Upper Class started to speak Standard German beginning in the late 19th century, so for decades, the traditional language served as a sociolect.


title: Hesse

text: The prominent written language in Hesse has been Standard German since the 16th century. Before, the Low Saxon part used Middle Low German, the rest of the Land Early Modern German as prominent written languages. These had supplanted Latin in the High Middle Ages.


title: Hesse

text: In 2016 Christianity was the most widespread religion in the state (63%). 40% of Hessians belonged to the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau or Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck (members of the Evangelical Church in Germany), 25% adhered to the Roman Catholic Church, while other Christians constituted some 3%, the third most common religion of the Hessian population is Islam with 7% of the population.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse is the only state in Germany where students have to study all three stanzas of the Das Deutschlandlied.


title: Hesse

text: A single existing big science facility in Hesse is GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt-Wixhausen with 1,520 employees. The second one Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research is in construction till 2025.


title: Hesse

text: In space research there are 2 European organization European Space Operations Center and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites in Darmstadt.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse has a rich and varied cultural history, with many important cultural and historical centres and several UNESCO world-heritage sites.


title: Hesse

text: Darmstadt has a rich cultural heritage as the former seat of the Landgraves and Grand Dukes of Hesse. It is known as centre of the art nouveau Jugendstil and modern architecture and there are also several important examples of 19th century architecture influenced by British and Russian imperial architecture due to close family ties of the Grand Duke's family to the reigning dynasties in London and Saint Petersburg in the Grand Duchy period. Darmstadt is an important centre for music, home of the Darmstädter Ferienkurse for contemporary music and the Jazz Institute Darmstadt, Europe's largest public jazz archive.


title: Hesse

text: Frankfurt am Main is a major international cultural centre. Over 2 million people visit the city's approximately 60 exhibition centres every year. Amongst its most famous art galleries are the Schirn Kunsthalle, a major centre for international modern art, and the Städel, whose large collections include over 3000 paintings, 4000 photographs, and 100,000 drawings including works by Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt and Dürer. Goethe was born in Frankfurt and there is a museum in his birthplace. Frankfurt has many music venues, including an award-winning opera house, the Alte Oper, and the Jahrhunderthalle. Its several theatres include the English Theatre, the largest English-speaking theatre on the European continent.


title: Hesse

text: Kassel has many palaces and parks, including Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, a Baroque landscape park and UNESCO World Heritage site. The Brothers Grimm lived and worked in Kassel for 30 years and the recently opened Grimmwelt museum explores their lives, works and influence and features their personal copies of the Children's and Household Tales, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage "Memory of the World" Document register. The Fridericianum, built in 1779, is one of the oldest public museums in Europe. Kassel is also home to the "documenta", a large modern art exhibition that has taken place every five years since the 1950s.


title: Hesse

text: The Hessian Ministry of the Arts supports numerous independent cultural initiatives, organisations, and associations as well as artists from many fields including music, literature, theatre and dance, cinema and the new media, graphic art, and exhibitions. International cultural projects aim to further relations with European partners.


title: Hesse

text: Frankfurt is host to the classic cycle race Eschborn-Frankfurt City Loop (known as "Rund um den Henninger-Turm" from 1961 to 2008). The city hosts also the annual Frankfurt Marathon and the Ironman Germany.


title: Hesse

text: Outside Frankfurt, notable professional sports teams include Kickers Offenbach, SV Darmstadt 98, Marburg Mercenaries, Gießen 46ers, MT Melsungen, VfB Friedberg, and the Kassel Huskies.


title: Hesse

text: The Hessian state broadcasting corporation is called HR (Hessischer Rundfunk). HR is a member of the federal ARD broadcasting association. HR provides a statewide TV channel as well as a range of regional radio stations (HR 1, HR 2, HR 3, HR 4, you fm and HR info). Besides the state run HR, privately run TV stations exist and are an important line of commerce. Among the commercial radio stations that are active in Hesse, Hit Radio FFH, Planet Radio, Harmony FM, Radio BOB and Antenne Frankfurt are the most popular.


title: Hesse

text: With Hesse's largest city Frankfurt am Main being home of the European Central Bank (ECB), the German Bundesbank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Hesse is home to the financial capital of mainland Europe. Furthermore, Hesse has always been one of the largest and healthiest economies in Germany. Its GDP in 2013 exceeded €236 billion (about US$316 billion). This makes Hesse itself one of the largest economies in Europe and the 38th largest in the world. According to GDP-per-capita figures, Hesse is the wealthiest state (after the city-states Hamburg and Bremen) in Germany with approx. US$52,500.


title: Hesse

text: Frankfurt is crucial as a financial center, with both the European Central Bank and the Deutsche Bundesbank's headquarters located there. Numerous smaller banks and Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, KfW Bank, Commerzbank are also headquartered in Frankfurt, with the offices of several international banks also being housed there. Frankfurt is also the location of the most important German stock exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Insurance companies have settled mostly in Wiesbaden. The city's largest private employer is the R+V Versicherung, with about 3,900 employees, other major employers are DBV-Winterthur, the SV SparkassenVersicherung and the Delta Lloyd Group.


title: Hesse

text: The Rhine-Main Region has the second largest industrial density in Germany after the Ruhr area. The main economic fields of importance are the chemical and pharmaceutical industries with Sanofi, Merck, Heraeus, Stada, Messer Griesheim, Bayer Crop Science, SGL Carbon, Celanese, Cabot, Clariant, Akzo Nobel, Kuraray, Ineos, LyondellBasell, and Evonik Industries. But also other consumer goods are produced by Procter & Gamble, Coty and Colgate Palmolive. The Rhine-Main Region is not restricted only to Hesse, smaller part is in Rhineland-Palatinate. There situated 2 important pharma companies: BioNTech(HQ), which found the first mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 in the world (licensed to Pfizer), and Boehringer Ingelheim, close to Hesse's border in Mainz and Ingelheim respectively. It supports from Max Planck Institue for Heart and Lung Research, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and Paul Ehrlich Institute.


title: Hesse

text: Also in other part of Hesse there is important pharma and medical manufacturers, especially in Marburg where there is industry park based on ex-Behring Werke: BioNTech (mRNA vaccines), CSL Behring, Temmler and Melsungen with B. Braun. Pharma activity in Marburg is also supported from research facilities: Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, , (researh of Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus; Parasitology) with BSL4-Labor, .


title: Hesse

text: Heraeus, Umicore and Evonik Industries manufacture different type of catalysts from Platinum metals, Vanadium, Neodymium, Manganese, Copper and etc.


title: Hesse

text: In east Fulda there is the tire plant (Fulda Reifen). 2 other tire plants are in Korbach from Continental and Hanau from Goodyear.


title: Hesse

text: Specialised metallurgical industry focused on platinum metals has been represented by Heraeus and Umicore and magnetic materials have been a focus of Vacuumschmelze based in Hanau. Also in Hanau there used to be a plant produing nuclear fuel (classical uranium, but also MOX fuel), but the production has stopped and the facility has been mothballed. Heraeus continues to manufacture irradiation sources from Cobalt and Iridium.


title: Hesse

text: In the mechanical and automotive engineering field Opel in Rüsselsheim is worth mentioning. After acquisition Opel by Stellantis, it is in rapid decline of production and employment. Which has also negative effect on automotive parts supplier, Continental will close a plant in Karben and cut jobs at other location in Hesse. In northern Hesse, in Baunatal, Volkswagen AG has a large factory that manufactures spare parts, not far-away from it there is also a Daimler Truck plant, which produces an axes.


title: Hesse

text: Alstom, after takeover of Bombardier, has a large plant that manufactures Traxx locomotives in Kassel. Industrial printers (Manroland, Gallus Holding), x-ray airport check equipment (Smiths), handling and loading equipment (Dematic), chemical equipment (Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions), vacuum pumps (Pfeiffer Vacuum), vacuum industrial furnace (ALD Vacuum Technologies), textile machines (Karl Mayer), shavers (Braun), medical (Fresenius, Sirona) and industrial (Schenck Process, Samson) apparatuses are produced in Rhine-Main Region.


title: Hesse

text: Manufacturing of heating boilers and heat pumps are typical for Hesse and represented with and Viessmann.


title: Hesse

text: Vistec produces electron-beam lithography systems for semiconductor industry in Weilburg, also there is manufacturing of inspection, testing and measurement equipment for semiconductor fabrication process from KLA-Tencor.


title: Hesse

text: Leica Microsystems manufactures different types of microscopes, inclusive they with special light microscopic optics, which are used in wafer and photo mask testing. PVA TePla from Wettenberg is specialist for crystal growing process (Si, Ge, GaAs, GaP, InP) with Czochralski Process, Float-Zone Process, High-Temperature Chemical Vapor Deposition, Vertical Gradient Freeze equipment, quality inspection apparatus, plasma and vacuum machine. ABB Robotics is in Friedberg. Satisloh is a machine manufacturer in Wetzlar for the production of lenses and components for the optical industry.


title: Hesse

text: The company operating Frankfurt Airport is one of the largest employers in Hesse with nearly 22,000 employees. Aerospace cluster contains also Rolls-Royce's aviation engine work in Oberursel and APU manufacturing plant and service center of Honeywell in Raunheim.


title: Hesse

text: Companies with an international reputation are located outside the Rhine-Main region in Wetzlar. There is the center of the optical, electrical and precision engineering industries, Leitz, Leica, Minox, Hensoldt (Zeiss) and Brita with several plants in central Hesse.


title: Hesse

text: Oculus Optikgeräte manufactures Scheimpflug tomographs for examining the anterior segment of the eye, topographers for measuring the anterior surface of the cornea, tonometers for assessing the biomechanical properties of the cornea, a wide-angle observation system for vitreous body surgery, universal trial goggles for subjective refraction, various perimeters for visual field testing and vision testing devices for testing eyesight.


title: Hesse

text: Electrical transformers are produced by Hitachi ABB Power Grids in Hanau and Siemens Energy in Frankfurt-am-Main. SMA Solar Technology manufactures an inverters for photovoltaic systems. Rittal is specialized on electrical enclosure situated in Herborn and Eschenburg. Power semiconductors from IXYS in Lampertheim and UV and infrared lamps from Heraeus.


title: Hesse

text: Many IT and telecommunications companies are located in Hesse, many of them in Frankfurt and Darmstadt, like Software AG (Darmstadt), T-Systems (Frankfurt and Darmstadt), Deutsche Telekom (laboratories in Darmstadt), DB Systel (Frankfurt), Lufthansa Systems (Raunheim near Frankfurt) and DE-CIX (Frankfurt).


title: Hesse

text: Sweet making is typical, there are 2 big factories: Ferrero, Stadtallendorf and Baronie (Sarotti), Hattersheim am Main. Frankfurter Sausage is famous, but there is also other sorts like Frankfurter Rindswurst, Ahle Wurst.


title: Hesse

text: Beverage industry is well-developed and manufactures sparkling wine (Sekt), white wine (Riesling), mineral waters (Selters), beers (Radeberger) and cider.


title: Hesse

text: The leather industry was predominantly based in Offenbach, but is now extinct, existing only in museums. The same happened with Frankfurt's fur industry and Hanau's jewelry industry.


title: Hesse

text: The Hochtaunuskreis has the lowest unemployment rate at 3.8% while the independent city of Kassel has the highest rate nationally at 12.1%. In October 2018 the unemployment rate stood at 4.4% and was lower than the national average.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse has a dense highway network with a total of 24 motorways. The internationally important motorway routes through Hesse are the A3, A5, and A7. Close to Frankfurt Airport is the Frankfurter Kreuz, Germany's busiest and one of Europe's busiest motorway junctions, where the motorways A3 (Arnhem-Cologne-Frankfurt-Nuremberg-Passau) and A5 (Hattenbach-Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Basel) intersect. The A5 becomes as wide as four lanes in each direction near the city of Frankfurt am Main, and during the rush-hour, it is possible to use the emergency lanes on the A3 and A5 motorway in the Rhine-Main Region, adding additional lanes. Other major leading Hesse highways are the A4, the A44, the A45, the Federal Highway A66 and the A67. There are also a number of smaller motorways and major trunk roads, some of which are dual carriageways.


title: Hesse

text: Hesse is accessed by many major rail lines, including the high-speed lines Cologne–Frankfurt(op.speed 300 km/h) and Hanover–Würzburg. Other north-south connections traverse major east–west routes from Wiesbaden and Mainz to Frankfurt and from Hanau and Aschaffenburg to Fulda and Kassel. The Frankfurt Central Station is the most important hub for German trains, with over 1,100 trains per day.


title: Hesse

text: The region around Frankfurt has an extensive S-Bahn network, the S-Bahn Rhein-Main, which is complemented by many regional train connections. In the rest of the country, the rail network is less extensive. Since 2007, the region around Kassel has been served by the RegioTram, a tram-train-concept similar to the Karlsruhe model.


title: Hesse

text: Frankfurt Airport is by far the largest airport in Germany with more than 57 million passengers each year, is and among the world's ten largest. Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport lies to the south, and is frequented by general aviation and private planes. Kassel Airport offers a few flights to holiday destinations, but has struggled to compete. There are also a number of sports airfields. Low-cost airlines, especially Ryanair, use Frankfurt-Hahn Airport as a major base, although the airport is actually located about 100 km from Frankfurt in the neighbouring state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The DFS (German air traffic control) has its headquarters in Langen.


title: Duke

text: Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked below princess nobility and grand dukes. The title comes from French "duc", itself from the Latin "dux", 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank (particularly one of Germanic or Celtic origin), and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province. In most countries, the word duchess is the female equivalent.


title: Duke

text: Following the reforms of the emperor Diocletian (which separated the civilian and military administrations of the Roman provinces), a "dux" became the military commander in each province. The title "dux", Hellenised to "doux", survived in the Eastern Roman Empire where it continued in several contexts, signifying a rank equivalent to a captain or general. Later on, in the 11th century, the title "Megas Doux" was introduced for the post of commander-in-chief of the entire navy.


title: Duke

text: During the Middle Ages the title (as "Herzog") signified first among the Germanic monarchies. Dukes were the rulers of the provinces and the superiors of the counts in the cities and later, in the feudal monarchies, the highest-ranking peers of the king. A duke may or may not be, "ipso facto", a member of the nation's peerage: in the United Kingdom and Spain all dukes are/were also peers of the realm, in France some were and some were not, while the term is not applicable to dukedoms of other nations, even where an institution similar to the peerage (e.g. Grandeeship, Imperial Diet, Hungarian House of Magnates) existed.


title: Duke

text: During the 19th century, many of the smaller German and Italian states were ruled by dukes or grand dukes. But at present, with the exception of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, there are no dukes ruling as monarchs. Duke remains the highest hereditary title (aside from titles borne by a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty) in Portugal (though now a republic), Spain, and the United Kingdom. In Sweden, members of the Royal Family are given a personal dukedom at birth. The Pope, as a temporal sovereign, has also, though rarely, granted the title of duke or duchess to persons for services to the Holy See. In some realms the relative status of "duke" and "prince", as titles borne by the nobility rather than by members of reigning dynasties, varied—e.g., in Italy and Germany.


title: Duke

text: A woman who holds in her own right the title to such duchy or dukedom, or is married to a duke, is normally styled duchess. Queen Elizabeth II, however, was known by tradition as Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands and Duke of Lancaster in Lancashire.


title: Duke

text: A duchy is the territory or geopolitical entity ruled by a duke, whereas his title or area is often called a dukedom. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a fully independent state and its head, the Grand Duke, is a sovereign monarch reigning over his Luxembourgish subjects.


title: Duke

text: The Duke of Cornwall holds both the dukedom (title) and duchy (estate holdings), the latter being the source of his personal income; those living on the ducal estates are subjects of the British sovereign and owe neither fealty nor services to the duke "per se". In Scotland the male heir apparent to the British crown is always the Duke of Rothesay as well, but this is a dukedom (title) without a duchy. Similarly, the British monarch rules and owns the Duchy of Lancaster as Duke of Lancaster, but it is held separately from the Crown, with the income of the duchy estates providing the Sovereign's Privy Purse.


title: Duke

text: The Channel Islands are two of the three remaining Crown Dependencies, the last vestiges of the lands of the Duchy of Normandy. The Islanders in their loyal toast will say "Le Roi, notre Duc" (The King, Our Duke). Though the title was apparently renounced under the Treaty of Paris in 1259, the Crown still maintains that the title is retained: "In 1106, William's youngest son Henry I seized the Duchy of Normandy from his brother Robert; since that time, the English Sovereign has always held the title Duke of Normandy," and that "By 1205, England had lost most of its French lands, including Normandy. However, the Channel Islands, part of the lost Duchy, remained a self-governing possession of the English Crown. While the islands today retain autonomy in government, they owe allegiance to The King in his role as Duke of Normandy."


title: Duke

text: During the Middle Ages, after Roman power in Western Europe collapsed, the title was still employed in the Germanic kingdoms, usually to refer to the rulers of old Roman provinces.


title: Duke

text: The Venetians installed a "Duke of Durazzo" (today Durrës) during their brief rule over the city and its environs in 1205–1213.


title: Duke

text: In 1332, Robert of Taranto succeeded his father, Philip. Robert's uncle, John, did not wish to do him homage for the Principality of Achaea, so Robert received Achaea from John in exchange for 5,000 ounces of gold and the rights to the diminished Kingdom of Albania. John took the style of Duke of Durazzo.


title: Duke

text: The Visigoths retained the Roman divisions of their kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and it seems that dukes ruled over these areas. They were the most powerful landowners and, along with the bishops, elected the king, usually from their own midst. They were the military commanders and in this capacity often acted independently from the king, most notably in the latter period before the Muslim invasions.


title: Duke

text: The army was structured decimally with the highest unit, the thiufa, probably corresponding to about 1,000 people from each "civitas" (city district). The cities were commanded by counts, who were in turn answerable to the dukes, who called up the "thiufae" when necessary.


title: Duke

text: When the Lombards entered Italy, the Latin chroniclers called their war leaders "duces" in the old fashion. These leaders eventually became the provincial rulers, each with a recognized seat of government. Though nominally loyal to the king, the concept of kingship was new to the Lombards and the dukes were highly independent, especially in central and southern Italy, where the Duke of Spoleto and the Duke of Benevento were "de facto" sovereigns. In 575, when Cleph died, a period known as the Rule of the Dukes, in which the dukes governed without a king, commenced. It lasted only a decade before the disunited magnates, in order to defend the kingdom from external attacks, elected a new king and even diminished their own duchies to provide him with a handsome royal demesne.


title: Duke

text: The Lombard kings were usually drawn from the duke pool when the title was not hereditary. The dukes tried to make their own offices hereditary. Beneath them in the internal structure were the counts and gastalds, a uniquely Lombard title initially referring to judicial functions, similar to a count's, in provincial regions