title: Shang dynasty

text: The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the "Book of Documents", "Bamboo Annals" and "Records of the Grand Historian". According to the traditional chronology based on calculations made approximately 2,000 years ago by Liu Xin, the Shang ruled from 1766 to 1122 BC, but according to the chronology based upon the "current text" of "Bamboo Annals", they ruled from 1556 to 1046 BC. Comparing the same text with dates of five-planet conjunctions, David Pankenier, supported by David Nivison, proposed dates of the establishment of the dynasty to 1554 BC. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project dated the establishment to c. 1600 BC based on the carbon-14 dates of the Erligang site. The fall of the dynasty is dated 1046 BC by Pankenier and the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project, but Nivison and Shaughnessy support 1045 BC.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Shang dynasty is the earliest dynasty of traditional Chinese history firmly supported by archaeological evidence. Excavation at the Ruins of Yin (near modern-day Anyang), which has been identified as the last Shang capital, uncovered eleven major royal tombs and the foundations of palaces and ritual sites, containing weapons of war and remains from both animal and human sacrifices. Tens of thousands of bronze, jade, stone, bone, and ceramic artifacts have been found.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Anyang site has yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing, mostly divinations inscribed on oracle bones – turtle shells, ox scapulae, or other bones. More than 20,000 were discovered in the initial scientific excavations during the 1920s and 1930s, and over four times as many have been found since. The inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, and religious practices to the art and medicine of this early stage of Chinese civilization.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Many events concerning the Shang dynasty are mentioned in various Chinese classics, including the "Book of Documents", the "Mencius" and the "Zuo Zhuan". Working from all the available documents, the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian assembled a sequential account of the Shang dynasty as part of his "Records of the Grand Historian". His history describes some events in detail, while in other cases only the name of a king is given. A closely related, but slightly different, account is given by the "Bamboo Annals". The "Annals" were interred in 296 BC, but the text has a complex history, and the authenticity of the surviving versions is controversial.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The name "Yīn" (殷) is used by Sima Qian for the dynasty, and in the "current text" version of the "Bamboo Annals" for both the dynasty and its final capital. It has been a popular name for the Shang throughout history. Since the "Records of Emperors and Kings" by Huangfu Mi (3rd century AD), it has often been used specifically to describe the later half of the Shang dynasty. In Japan and Korea, the Shang are still referred to almost exclusively as the Yin ("In" and "eun", respectively for Japan and Korea) dynasty. However, it seems to have been a Zhou name for the earlier dynasty. The word does not appear in the oracle bones, which refer to the state as "Shāng" (商), and the capital as "Dàyì Shāng" (大邑商 "Great Settlement Shang"). It also does not appear in securely dated Western Zhou bronze inscriptions.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The founding myth of the Shang dynasty is described by Sima Qian in the "Annals of the Yin". In the text, a woman named Jiandi (簡狄), who was the second wife of Emperor Ku, swallowed an egg dropped by a black bird (玄鳥) and subsequently gave birth miraculously to Xie (偰) – also appearing as Qi (契). Xie is said to have helped Yu the Great to control the Great Flood and for his service to have been granted a place called Shang as a fief.


title: Shang dynasty

text: In the "Annals of the Yin", Sima Qian writes that the dynasty was founded 13 generations after Xie, when Xie's descendant Tang overthrew the impious and cruel final Xia ruler in the Battle of Mingtiao. The "Records of the Grand Historian" recount events from the reigns of Tang, Tai Jia, Tai Wu, Pan Geng, Wu Ding, Wu Yi and the depraved final king Di Xin, but the rest of the Shang rulers are merely mentioned by name. In the last century, Wang Guowei demonstrated that the succession to the Shang throne matched the list of kings in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian". According to the "Records of the Grand Historian", the Shang moved their capital five times, with the final move to Yin in the reign of Pan Geng inaugurating the golden age of the dynasty.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Di Xin, the last Shang king, is said to have committed suicide after his army was defeated by Wu of Zhou. Legends say that his army and his equipped slaves betrayed him by joining the Zhou rebels in the decisive Battle of Muye. According to the "Yi Zhou Shu" and Mencius the battle was very bloody. The classic, Ming-era novel "Fengshen Yanyi" retells the story of the war between Shang and Zhou as a conflict with rival factions of gods supporting different sides in the war.


title: Shang dynasty

text: After the Shang were defeated, King Wu allowed Di Xin's son Wu Geng to rule the Shang as a vassal kingdom. However, Zhou Wu sent three of his brothers and an army to ensure that Wu Geng would not rebel. After Zhou Wu's death, the Shang joined the Rebellion of the Three Guards against the Duke of Zhou, but the rebellion collapsed after three years, leaving Zhou in control of Shang territory.


title: Shang dynasty

text: After the collapse of the Shang dynasty, Zhou's rulers forcibly relocated "Yin diehards" (殷頑) and scattered them throughout Zhou territory. Some surviving members of the Shang royal family collectively changed their surname from the ancestral name Zi (子) to the name of their fallen dynasty, Yin (i.e. Shang). The family retained an aristocratic standing and often provided needed administrative services to the succeeding Zhou dynasty. King Wu of Zhou ennobled Lin Jian (林堅), the son of Prince Bigan, as the Duke of Bo'ling. The "Records of the Grand Historian" states that King Cheng of Zhou, with the support of his regent and uncle, the Duke of Zhou, enfeoffed Weiziqi (微子啟), a brother of Di Xin, as the Duke of Song, with its capital at Shangqiu. This practice was known as 二王三恪 ("enfeoffment of three generations for two kings"). The Dukes of Song would maintain rites honoring the Shang kings until Qi conquered Song in 286 BC. Confucius was possibly a descendant of the Shang Kings through the Dukes of Song.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Eastern Han dynasty bestowed the title of Duke of Song and ""Duke Who Continues and Honours the Yin"" (殷紹嘉公) upon Kong An (孔安 (東漢)) because he was part of the Shang dynasty's legacy. This branch of the Confucius family is a separate branch from the line that held the title of Marquis of Fengsheng village and later Duke Yansheng.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Another remnant of the Shang established the vassal state of Guzhu (located in present-day Tangshan), which Duke Huan of Qi destroyed. Many Shang clans that migrated northeast after the dynasty's collapse were integrated into Yan culture during the Western Zhou period. These clans maintained an élite status and continued practicing the sacrificial and burial traditions of the Shang.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Both Korean and Chinese legends, including reports in the "Book of Documents" and the "Bamboo Annals", state that a disgruntled Shang prince named Jizi, who had refused to cede power to the Zhou, left China with a small army. According to these legends, he founded a state known as Gija Joseon in northwest Korea during the Gojoseon period of ancient Korean history. However, scholars debate the historical accuracy of these legends.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Before the 20th century, the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) was the earliest Chinese dynasty that could be verified from its own records. However, during the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD), antiquarians collected bronze ritual vessels attributed to the Shang era, some of which bore inscriptions.


title: Shang dynasty

text: In 1899, several scholars noticed that Chinese pharmacists were selling "dragon bones" marked with curious and archaic characters. These were finally traced back in 1928 to a site (now called Yinxu) near Anyang, north of the Yellow River in modern Henan province, where the Academia Sinica undertook archeological excavation until the Japanese invasion in 1937.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Archaeologists focused on the Yellow River valley in Henan as the most likely site of the states described in the traditional histories. After 1950, the remnants of the earlier walled settlement of Shang City were discovered near Zhengzhou.


title: Shang dynasty

text: It has been determined that the earth walls at Zhengzhou, erected in the 15th century BC, would have been wide at the base, rising to a height of , and formed a roughly rectangular wall around the ancient city. The rammed earth construction of these walls was an inherited tradition, since much older fortifications of this type have been found at Chinese Neolithic sites of the Longshan culture .


title: Shang dynasty

text: In 1959, the site of the Erlitou culture was found in Yanshi, south of the Yellow River near Luoyang. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the Erlitou culture flourished c. 2100 BC to 1800 BC. They built large palaces, suggesting the existence of an organized state.


title: Shang dynasty

text: In 1983, Yanshi Shang City was discovered north-east of the Erlitou site in Yanshi's Shixianggou Township. This was a large walled city dating from 1600 BC. It had an area of nearly and featured pottery characteristic of the Erligang culture.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The remains of a walled city of about were discovered in 1999 across the Huan River from the well explored Yinxu site. The city, now known as Huanbei, was apparently occupied for less than a century and destroyed shortly before the construction of the Yinxu complex. Between 1989 and 2000, an important Shang settlement was excavated near Xiaoshuangqiao, about 20 km northwest of Zhengzhou. Covering an intermediary period between the Zhengzhou Site and the late capitals on the Huan River, it features most prominently sacrificial pits with articulated skeletons of cattle, a quintessential part of the late Shang ritual complex.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Chinese historians were accustomed to the notion of one dynasty succeeding another, and readily identified the Erligang and Erlitou sites with the early Shang and Xia dynasty of traditional histories. The actual political situation in early China may have been more complicated, with the Xia and Shang being political entities that existed concurrently, just as the early Zhou, who established the successor state of the Shang, are known to have existed at the same time as the Shang. It has also been suggested the Xia legend originated as a Shang myth of an earlier people who were their opposites.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Erligang culture centred on the Zhengzhou site is found across a wide area of China, even as far northeast as the area of modern Beijing, where at least one burial in this region during this period contained both Erligang-style bronze utensils and local-style gold jewelry. The discovery of a Chenggu-style "ge" dagger-axe at Xiaohenan demonstrates that even at this early stage of Chinese history, there were some ties between the distant areas of north China. The Panlongcheng site in the middle Yangtze valley was an important regional center of the Erligang culture.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Accidental finds elsewhere in China have revealed advanced civilizations contemporaneous with but culturally unlike the settlement at Anyang, such as the walled city of Sanxingdui in Sichuan. Western scholars are hesitant to designate such settlements as belonging to the Shang dynasty. Also unlike the Shang, there is no known evidence that the Sanxingdui culture had a system of writing. The late Shang state at Anyang is thus generally considered the first verifiable civilization in Chinese history.


title: Shang dynasty

text: In contrast, the earliest layers of the Wucheng site, pre-dating Anyang, have yielded pottery fragments containing short sequences of symbols, suggesting that they may be a form of writing quite different in form from oracle bone characters, but the sample is too small for decipherment.


title: Shang dynasty

text: In 2022, a 3,000-year-old gold burial mask was found in a royal tomb belonging to a high-level noble from the Shang dynasty. The mask predates a similar gold mask discovered at the Sanxingdui archaeological site in 2021, making it the oldest example of this burial practice in China and also illustrating a link between Sanxingdui and the Zhongyuan civilization. The mask fully covers the face, to ensure that the wearer’s spirits would remain whole. 200 other artifacts were discovered in the Shangcheng tombs, including gold leaves and plaques inlaid with turquoise, coins made from shell, and bronze and jade weapons.


title: Shang dynasty

text: A study of mitochondrial DNA (inherited in the maternal line) from Yinxu graves showed similarity with modern northern Han Chinese, but significant differences from southern Han Chinese.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The earliest securely dated event in Chinese history is the start of the Gonghe Regency in 841 BC, early in the Zhou dynasty, a date first established by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian. Attempts to establish earlier dates have been plagued by doubts about the origin and transmission of traditional texts and the difficulties in their interpretation. More recent attempts have compared the traditional histories with archaeological and astronomical data.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The oldest extant direct records date from approximately 1250 BC at Anyang, covering the reigns of the last nine Shang kings.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Shang had a fully developed system of writing, preserved on bronze inscriptions and a small number of other writings on pottery, jade and other stones, horn, etc., but most prolifically on oracle bones. The complexity and sophistication of this writing system indicates an earlier period of development, but direct evidence of that development is still lacking. Other advances included the invention of many musical instruments and celestial observations of Mars and various comets by Shang astronomers.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Their civilization was based on agriculture and augmented by hunting and animal husbandry. In addition to war, the Shang also practiced human sacrifice. Crania of sacrificial victims have been found to be similar to modern Chinese ones (based on comparisons with remains from Hainan and Taiwan). Cowry shells were also excavated at Anyang, suggesting trade with coast-dwellers, but there was very limited sea trade since China was isolated from other large civilizations during the Shang period. Trade relations and diplomatic ties with other formidable powers via the Silk Road and Chinese voyages to the Indian Ocean did not exist until the reign of Emperor Wu during the Han dynasty (206 BC – 221 AD).


title: Shang dynasty

text: At the excavated royal palace of Yinxu, large stone pillar bases were found along with rammed earth foundations and platforms, which according to Fairbank, were "as hard as cement". These foundations in turn originally supported 53 buildings of wooden post-and-beam construction. In close proximity to the main palatial complex, there were underground pits used for storage, servants' quarters, and housing quarters.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Many Shang royal tombs had been tunneled into and ravaged by grave robbers in ancient times, but in the spring of 1976, the discovery of Tomb 5 at Yinxu revealed a tomb that was not only undisturbed, but one of the most richly furnished Shang tombs that archaeologists had yet come across. With over 200 bronze ritual vessels and 109 inscriptions of Lady Fu Hao's name, Zheng Zhenxiang and other archaeologists realized they had stumbled across the tomb of King Wu Ding's most famous consort, Fu Hao, who is mentioned in 170 to 180 Shang oracle bone inscriptions, and who was also renowned as a military general. Along with bronze vessels, stoneware and pottery vessels, bronze weapons, jade figures and hair combs, and bone hairpins were found. The archaeological team argue that the large assortment of weapons and ritual vessels in her tomb correlate with the oracle bone accounts of her military and ritual activities.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The capital was the center of court life. Over time, court rituals to appease spirits developed, and in addition to his secular duties, the king would serve as the head of the ancestor worship cult. Often, the king would even perform oracle bone divinations himself, especially near the end of the dynasty. Evidence from excavations of the royal tombs indicates that royalty were buried with articles of value, presumably for use in the afterlife. Perhaps for the same reason, hundreds of commoners, who may have been slaves, were buried alive with the royal corpse.


title: Shang dynasty

text: A line of hereditary Shang kings ruled over much of northern China, and Shang troops fought frequent wars with neighboring settlements and nomadic herdsmen from the inner Asian steppes. The Shang king, in his oracular divinations, repeatedly showed concern about the "fang", barbarians living outside of the civilized "tu" regions, which made up the center of Shang territory. In particular, the "tufang" group of the Yanshan region were regularly mentioned as hostile to the Shang.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Apart from their role as the head military commanders, Shang kings also asserted their social supremacy by acting as the high priests of society and leading the divination ceremonies. As the oracle bone texts reveal, the Shang kings were viewed as the best qualified members of society to offer sacrifices to their royal ancestors and to the high god Di, who in their beliefs was responsible for the rain, wind, and thunder.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The King appointed officials to manage certain activities, usually in a specified area. These included field (agricultural) officials 田, pastors 牧, dog officers 犬 (hunting), and guards 衛. These officers led their own retinues in the conduct of their duties, and some grew more independent and emerged as rulers of their own. There was a basic system of bureaucracy in place, with references to positions such as the "Many Dog officers", "Many horse officers", the "Many Artisans", the "Many Archers" or court titles like "Junior Servitor for Cultivation" or "Junior Servitor for labourers". More distant rulers were known as marquess 侯 or count 伯, who sometimes provided tribute and support to the Shang King in exchange for military aid and augury services. However these alliances were unstable, as indicated by the frequent royal divinations about the sustainability of such relations.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The existence of records regarding enemy kills, prisoners and booty taken point to the existence of a proto-bureaucracy of written documents.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Shang religious rituals featured divination and sacrifice. The degree to which shamanism was a central aspect of Shang religion is a subject of debate.


title: Shang dynasty

text: There were six main recipients of sacrifice: (1) Di (the High God), (2) nature powers like the sun and mountain powers, (3) former lords, deceased humans who had been added to the dynastic pantheon, (4) pre-dynastic ancestors, (5) dynastic ancestors, and (6) royal wives who were ancestors of the present king.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Shang believed that their ancestors held power over them and performed divination rituals to secure their approval for planned actions. Divination involved cracking a turtle carapace or ox scapula to answer a question, and to then record the response to that question on the bone itself. It is unknown what criteria the diviners used to determine the response, but it is believed to be the sound or pattern of the cracks on the bone.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Shang also seem to have believed in an afterlife, as evidenced by the elaborate burial tombs built for deceased rulers. Often "carriages, utensils, sacrificial vessels, [and] weapons" would be included in the tomb. A king's burial involved the burial of up to a few hundred humans and horses as well to accompany the king into the afterlife, in some cases even numbering four hundred. Finally, tombs included ornaments such as jade, which the Shang may have believed to protect against decay or confer immortality.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The Shang religion was highly bureaucratic and meticulously ordered. Oracle bones contained descriptions of the date, ritual, person, ancestor, and questions associated with the divination. Tombs displayed highly ordered arrangements of bones, with groups of skeletons laid out facing the same direction.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Chinese bronze casting and pottery advanced during the Shang dynasty, with bronze typically being used for ritually significant, rather than primarily utilitarian, items. As early as c. 1500 BC, the early Shang dynasty engaged in large-scale production of bronze-ware vessels and weapons. This production required a large labor force that could handle the mining, refining, and transportation of the necessary copper, tin, and lead ores. This in turn created a need for official managers that could oversee both hard-laborers and skilled artisans and craftsmen. The Shang royal court and aristocrats required a vast number of different bronze vessels for various ceremonial purposes and events of religious divination. Ceremonial rules even decreed how many bronze containers of each type a nobleman or noblewoman of a certain rank could own. With the increased amount of bronze available, the army could also better equip itself with an assortment of bronze weaponry. Bronze was also used for the fittings of spoke-wheeled chariots, which appeared in China around 1200 BC.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Bronze weapons were an integral part of Shang society. Shang infantry were armed with a variety of stone and bronze weaponry, including "máo" (矛) spears, "yuè" (鉞) pole-axes, "gē" (戈) pole-based dagger-axes, composite bows, and bronze or leather helmets.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The chariot first appeared in China around 1200 BC, during the reign of Wu Ding. There is little doubt that the chariot entered China through Central Asia and the Northern Steppe, possibly indicating some form of contact with the Indo-Europeans. Recent archaeological finds have shown that the late Shang used horses, chariots, bows, and practiced horse burials that are similar to the steppe peoples to the west. Oracle bone inscriptions suggest that the Shang used chariots in royal hunts and in battle only as mobile command vehicles. In contrast, the western enemies of the Shang, such as the Zhou, began to use limited numbers of chariots in battle towards the end of the Shang period.


title: Shang dynasty

text: Although the Shang depended upon the military skills of their nobility, Shang rulers could mobilize the masses of town-dwelling and rural commoners as conscript laborers and soldiers for both campaigns of defense and conquest. Aristocrats and other state rulers were obligated to furnish their local garrisons with all necessary equipment, armor, and armaments. The Shang king maintained a force of about a thousand troops at his capital and would personally lead this force into battle. A rudimentary military bureaucracy was also needed in order to muster forces ranging from three to five thousand troops for border campaigns to thirteen thousand troops for suppressing rebellions.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The earliest records are the oracle bones inscribed during the reigns of the Shang kings from Wu Ding.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The oracle bones do not contain king lists, but they do record the sacrifices to previous kings and the ancestors of the current king, which follow a standard schedule that scholars have reconstructed. From this evidence, scholars have assembled the implied king list and genealogy, finding that it is in substantial agreement with the later accounts, especially for later kings.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The last character of each name is one of the 10 celestial stems, which also denoted the day of the 10-day Shang week on which sacrifices would be offered to that ancestor within the ritual schedule.


title: Shang dynasty

text: There were more kings than stems, so the names have distinguishing prefixes such as "da" (greater, 大), 中 "zhong" (middle, 中), 小 "xiao" (lesser, 小), "bu" (outer, 卜), "zu" (ancestor, 祖) and a few more obscure names.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The kings, in the order of succession derived from the oracle bones, are here grouped by generation. Later reigns were assigned to oracle bone diviner groups by Dong Zuobin.


title: Shang dynasty

text: The oracle bones have been radiocarbon dated and results are given below. The dates given are uncertainty ranges, not regnal years. That is to say, there is a 80 to 90 percent chance that the divinations recorded were performed within the given date range.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset ( ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with the exception of checks and balances from the courts and local governments).


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset passes all laws, elects the president and prime minister (although the latter is ceremonially appointed by the President), approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government, among other things. In addition, the Knesset elects the state comptroller. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the president and the state comptroller from office, dissolve the government in a constructive vote of no confidence, and to dissolve itself and call new elections. The prime minister may also dissolve the Knesset. However, until an election is completed, the Knesset maintains authority in its current composition. The Knesset meets in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.


title: Knesset

text: The term "Knesset" is derived from the ancient "Knesset HaGdola" () or "Great Assembly", which according to Jewish tradition was an assembly of 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, in the period from the end of the Biblical prophets to the time of the development of Rabbinic Judaism – about two centuries ending c. 200 BCE. There is, however, no organisational continuity and aside from the number of members, there is little similarity, as the ancient Knesset was a religious, completely unelected body.


title: Knesset

text: Members of the Knesset are known in Hebrew as חֲבֵר הַכְּנֶסֶת ("Haver HaKnesset"), if male, or חַבְרַת הַכְּנֶסֶת ("Havrat HaKnesset"), if female.


title: Knesset

text: As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government through its committees. It also has the power to waive the immunity of its members, remove the President and the State Comptroller from office, and to dissolve itself and call new elections.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset has "de jure" parliamentary supremacy, and can pass any law by a simple majority, even one that might arguably conflict with the Basic Laws of Israel, unless the basic law includes specific conditions for its modification; in accordance with a plan adopted in 1950, the Basic Laws can be adopted and amended by the Knesset, acting in its capacity as a Constituent Assembly. The Knesset itself is regulated by a Basic Law called "Basic Law: the Knesset".


title: Knesset

text: In addition to the absence of a formal constitution, and with no Basic Law thus far being adopted which formally grants a power of judicial review to the judiciary, the Supreme Court of Israel has since the early 1990s asserted its authority, when sitting as the High Court of Justice, to invalidate provisions of Knesset laws it has found to be inconsistent with Basic Law. The Knesset is presided over by a Speaker and Deputy Speakers, called the Knesset Presidium, which currently consists of:


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset is divided into committees, which amend bills on various appropriate subjects. Committee chairpersons are chosen by their members, on recommendation of the House Committee, and their factional composition represents that of the Knesset itself. Committees may elect sub-committees and delegate powers to them, or establish joint committees for issues concerning more than one committee. To further their deliberations, they invite government ministers, senior officials, and experts in the matter being discussed. Committees may request explanations and information from any relevant ministers in any matter within their competence, and the ministers or persons appointed by them must provide the explanation or information requested.


title: Knesset

text: There are four types of committees in the Knesset. Permanent committees amend proposed legislation dealing with their area of expertise, and may initiate legislation. However, such legislation may only deal with Basic Laws and laws dealing with the Knesset, elections to the Knesset, Knesset members, or the State Comptroller. Special committees function in a similar manner to permanent committees, but are appointed to deal with particular manners at hand, and can be dissolved or turned into permanent committees. Parliamentary inquiry committees are appointed by the plenum to deal with issues viewed as having special national importance. In addition, there are two types of committees that convene only when needed: the Interpretations Committee, made up of the Speaker and eight members chosen by the House Committee, deals with appeals against the interpretation given by the Speaker during a sitting of the plenum to the Knesset rules of procedure or precedents, and Public Committees, established to deal with issues that are connected to the Knesset.


title: Knesset

text: The other committees are the Arrangements Committee and the Ethics Committee. The Ethics Committee is responsible for jurisdiction over Knesset members who violate the rules of ethics of the Knesset, or are involved in illegal activities outside the Knesset. Within the framework of responsibility, the Ethics Committee may place various sanctions on a member, but is not allowed to restrict a member's right to vote. The Arrangements Committee proposes the makeup of the permanent committees following each election, as well as suggesting committee chairs, lays down the sitting arrangements of political parties in the Knesset, and the distribution of rooms in the Knesset building to members and parties.


title: Knesset

text: Knesset members often join in formal or informal groups known as "lobbies" or "caucuses", to advocate for a particular topic. There are hundreds of such caucuses in the Knesset. The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus are two of the largest and most active caucuses.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset numbers 120 members, after the size of the Great Assembly. The subject of Knesset membership has often been a cause for proposed reforms. Under the Norwegian Law, Knesset members who are appointed to ministerial positions are allowed to resign and allow the next person on their party's list to take their seat. If they leave the cabinet, they are able to return to the Knesset to take the place of their replacement.


title: Knesset

text: The 120 members of the Knesset (MKs) are popularly elected from a single nationwide electoral district to concurrent four-year terms, subject to calls for early elections (which are quite common). All Israeli citizens 18 years or older may vote in legislative elections, which are conducted by secret ballot.


title: Knesset

text: Knesset seats are allocated among the various parties using the D'Hondt method of party list proportional representation. A party or electoral alliance must pass the election threshold of 3.25% of the overall vote to be allocated a Knesset seat. Parties select their candidates using a closed list. Thus, voters select the party of their choice, not any specific candidate.


title: Knesset

text: The electoral threshold was previously set at 1% from 1949 to 1992, then 1.5% from 1992 to 2003, and then 2% until March 2014 when the current threshold of 3.25% was passed (effective with elections for the 20th Knesset). As a result of the low threshold, a typical Knesset has 10 or more factions represented. With so many parties, it is nearly impossible for one party or faction to govern alone, let alone win a majority. No party or faction has ever won the 61 seats necessary for a majority; the closest being the 56 seats won by the Alignment in the 1969 elections (the Alignment had briefly held 63 seats going into the 1969 elections after being formed shortly beforehand by the merger of several parties, the only occasion on which any party or faction has ever held a majority). Every Israeli government has been a coalition of two or more parties.


title: Knesset

text: After an election, the president meets with the leaders of every party that won Knesset seats and asks them to recommend which party leader should form the government. The president then nominates the party leader who is most likely to command the support of a majority in the Knesset (though not necessarily the leader of the largest party/faction in the chamber). The prime minister-designate has 42 days to put together a viable coalition (extensions can be granted and often are), and then must win a vote of confidence in the Knesset before taking office.


title: Knesset

text: Despite numerous motions of no confidence being tabled in the Knesset, a government has only been defeated by one once, when Yitzhak Shamir's government was brought down on 15 March 1990 as part of a plot that became known as "the dirty trick" (Hebrew: התרגיל המסריח, "HaTargil HaMasriaḥ", lit. "the stinking trick").


title: Knesset

text: However, several governments have resigned as a result of no-confidence motions, even when they were not defeated. These include the fifth government, which fell after Prime Minister Moshe Sharett resigned in June 1955 following the abstention of the General Zionists (part of the governing coalition) during a vote of no-confidence; the ninth government, which fell after Prime Minister Ben-Gurion resigned in January 1961 over a motion of no-confidence on the Lavon Affair; and the seventeenth government, which resigned in December 1976 after the National Religious Party (part of the governing coalition) abstained in a motion of no-confidence against the government.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset first convened on 14 February 1949 in Tel Aviv following the 20 January elections, replacing the Provisional State Council which acted as Israel's official legislature from its date of independence on 14 May 1948 and succeeding the Assembly of Representatives that had functioned as the Jewish community's representative body during the Mandate era.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset compound sits on a hilltop in western Jerusalem in a district known as Sheikh Badr before the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, now Givat Ram. The main building was financed by James de Rothschild as a gift to the State of Israel in his will and was completed in 1966. It was built on land leased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Over the years, significant additions to the structure were constructed, however, these were built at levels below and behind the main 1966 structure as not to detract from the original assembly building's appearance.


title: Knesset

text: Before the construction of its current location, the Knesset met in Tel Aviv, before moving to the Froumine building in Jerusalem.


title: Knesset

text: Each Knesset session is known by its election number. Thus the Knesset elected by Israel's first election in 1949 is known as the "First Knesset". The current Knesset, elected in 2021, is the Twenty-fourth Knesset.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset holds morning tours in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, Spanish, German, and Russian on Sunday and Thursday, and there are also live session viewing times on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings.


title: Knesset

text: The Knesset is protected by the Knesset Guard, a protective security unit responsible for the security of the Knesset building and Knesset members. Guards are stationed outside the building to provide armed protection, and ushers are stationed inside to maintain order. The Knesset Guard also plays a ceremonial role, participating in state ceremonies, which includes greeting dignitaries on Mount Herzl on the eve of Israeli Independence Day.


title: Knesset

text: A poll conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute in April and May 2014 showed that while a majority of both Jews and Arabs in Israel are proud to be citizens of the country, both groups share a distrust of Israel's government, including the Knesset. Almost three quarters of Israelis surveyed said corruption in Israel's political leadership was either "widespread or somewhat prevalent". A majority of both Arabs and Jews trusted the Israel Defense Forces, the President of Israel, and the Supreme Court of Israel, but Jews and Arabs reported similar levels of mistrust, with little more than a third of each group claiming confidence in the Knesset.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Saturday. The other Army cemetery is in Washington, D.C. and is called the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery. All other national cemeteries are run by the National Cemetery System of the Department of Veterans Affairs.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Arlington National Cemetery was established during the U.S. Civil War after the land the cemetery was built upon, Arlington Estate, was confiscated from private ownership following a tax dispute. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 2014, the Arlington National Cemetery Historic District includes the Cemetery, Arlington House, Memorial Drive, the Hemicycle, and Arlington Memorial Bridge.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: George Washington Parke Custis was the grandson of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington through her first marriage. When his natural father, John Parke Custis died, G.W.P. "Washy" Custis went to live at Mount Vernon where George and Martha Washington raised him as their own son. In 1802, Custis began building Arlington House on land that he inherited from his natural father. When completed in 1818, he intended the house to serve as not only a home but also a memorial to George Washington (his foster father). In 1804, Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh. They had four children, but only one, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, survived.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Custis's will gave a "life inheritance" to Mary Lee, allowing her to live at and run Arlington Estate for the rest of her life but not enabling her to sell any portion of it. Upon her death, the Arlington estate passed to her eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. The house was known as the Custis-Lee Mansion in the 20th century.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: When Virginia seceded from the Union after the start of the U.S. Civil War at Fort Sumter, Robert E. Lee resigned his commission on April 20, 1861, and took command of the armed forces of the Commonwealth of Virginia, later becoming commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. On May 7, troops of the Virginia militia occupied Arlington and Arlington House. With Confederate forces occupying Arlington's high ground, the capital of the Union was left in an untenable military position. On May 3, General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to clear Arlington and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, of all troops not loyal to the United States. Despite not wanting to leave Arlington House, Mary Lee believed her estate would soon be recaptured by federal soldiers. On May 14, she buried many of her family treasures on the grounds and left for her sister's estate at Ravensworth in Fairfax County, Virginia. McDowell occupied Arlington without opposition on May 24.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: At the outbreak of the Civil War, most military personnel who died in battle near Washington, D.C., were buried at the United States Soldiers' Cemetery in Washington, D.C., or Alexandria Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia, but by late 1863 both were nearly full. On July 16, 1862, Congress passed legislation authorizing the U.S. federal government to purchase land for national cemeteries for military dead, and put the U.S. Army Quartermaster General in charge of this program. In May 1864, Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness. Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery. Within weeks, his staff reported that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area. The property was high and free from floods (which might unearth graves), it had a view of the District of Columbia, and it was aesthetically pleasing. It was also the home of the leader of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America, and denying Robert E. Lee use of his home after the war was a valuable political consideration. The first military burial at Arlington, for William Henry Christman, was made on May 13, 1864, close to what is now the northeast gate in Section 27. However, Meigs did not formally authorize establishment of burials until June 15, 1864. Arlington did not desegregate its burial practices until President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The government acquired Arlington at a tax sale in 1864 for $26,800, equal to $ today. Mrs. Lee had not appeared in person but rather had sent an agent, attempting to pay the $92.07 in property taxes (equal to $ today) assessed on the estate in a timely manner. The government turned away her agent, refusing to accept the tendered payment. Custis Lee, heir under his grandfather's will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States in 1874 claiming ownership of Arlington. On December 9, 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in Lee's favor in "United States v. Lee", deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due process. After that decision, Congress returned the estate to him, and on March 3, 1883, Custis Lee sold it back to the government for $150,000 (equal to $ in 2022) at a signing ceremony with Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln. The land then became a military reservation.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: President Herbert Hoover conducted the first national Memorial Day ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery, on May 30, 1929.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Beginning in 1863, the federal government used the southern portion of the land now occupied by the cemetery as a settlement for freed slaves, giving the name of "Freedman's Village" to the land. The government constructed rental houses that 1,100 to 3,000 freed slaves eventually occupied while farming of the estate and receiving schooling and occupational training during the Civil War and after the War's end. The Old Bell Church, founded in 1866, was led by Rev. Robert S. Laws. However, after the Freedman's Village land became part of a military reservation, the government asked the villagers to leave. When some remained, John A. Commerford, the Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, asked the Army's Quartermaster General in 1887 to close the Village on the grounds that people living in the Village had been taking trees at night from the cemetery for use as firewood. The Quartermaster General and the Secretary of War then approved Commerford's request. The last of the Village's residents departed after the 56th United States Congress appropriated $75,000 in 1900 (equal to $ today) to settle the government's debts to them.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: With limited space but large numbers of World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and other veterans dying and wanting to be buried at Arlington, the need for additional burial space at the cemetery became a pressing issue. In 1991, Cemetery superintendent John C. Metzler, Jr., implemented a $1.4 million plan to clear a former parking lot to create space for about 9,000 new grave sites.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Cemetery received the authority to transfer of woodland from the NPS-controlled Arlington House in 1996 and 2001, of land in 1999 from the DoD that was the site of the Navy Annex building, of land in 1999 from the Department of the Army that was part of Fort Myer, of land from Arlington County's Southgate Road right-of-way in 2004, and just under of land from Fort Myer in 2005.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 2007, Metzler implemented the Millennium Project, a $35 million expansion plan to begin utilizing the Arlington woodland, Fort Myer, and Navy Annex land. The project also included converting of unused space and of maintenance property on the cemetery grounds into burial space in 2006 and 2007 to allow an additional 26,000 graves and 5,000 inurnments. The Millennium Project expanded the cemetery's physical boundaries for the first time since the 1960s, and was the largest expansion of burial space at the site since the U.S. Civil War. Several environmental and historical preservation groups criticized Metzler's plans, as did the NPS and the manager of Arlington House.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On March 26, 2013, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (Public Law 113–6) appropriated to the DoD $84 million to plan, design and construct the Millennium Project. The legislation additionally appropriated to the DoD $19 million to study, plan and design a future expansion of the cemetery's burial space.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On February 22, 1995, officials of the United States Department of the Interior and the United States Department of the Army signed an agreement to transfer from Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, to the Army a part of Arlington Woods, which was located in Section 29 of the NPS at Arlington National Cemetery between Arlington House and Fort Myer. The property transfer, which involved of NPS land, was intended to permit Metzler to start expanding the cemetery beyond its existing boundaries.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Environmentalists expressed concerns that the agreement would result in the partial destruction of the remnant of a historically important stand of native trees. A historical marker near the woodland notes that, while visiting Arlington House in 1825, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette had warned Mary Lee Fitzhugh Custis, the wife of George Washington Parke Custis: "Cherish these forest trees around your mansion. Recollect how much easier it is to cut a tree than to make one grow." The marker further notes that the Virginia Native Plant Society had recognized the woodland as being one of the best examples of old growth terraced gravel forest remaining in Virginia.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On September 23, 1996, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 (Public Law 104–201) authorized the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Secretary of the Army all of the land in Section 29 that was within an "Arlington National Cemetery Interment Zone" and some of the land in the Section that was within a "Robert E. Lee Memorial Preservation Zone".


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On March 5, 1998, the NPS, which is a component of the Department of the Interior, informed the National Capital Planning Commission that it wanted to transfer only to the cemetery, rather than the that the 1995 agreement had described. In response, Metzler stated: "I was surprised. But we will continue to work with the Department of Interior and see what happens."


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On July 12, 1999, the NPS issued a Federal Register notice that announced the availability of an environmental assessment (EA) for the transfer. The EA stated that the Interment Zone contained the oldest and largest tract of climax eastern hardwood forest in Arlington County. This forest was the same type that once covered the Arlington estate, and had regenerated from trees that were present historically. A forestry study determined that a representative tree was 258 years old. The Interment Zone was also determined to contain significant archeological and cultural landscape resources, in addition to those in the Preservation Zone. The EA described four alternative courses of action.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In contrast to the NPS's March 1998 statement to the National Capital Planning Commission, the 1999 EA stated that the preferred alternative (Alternative 1) would transfer to the cemetery approximately , comprising most of the Interment Zone and the northern tip of the Preservation Zone. Another alternative (Alternative 3) would transfer to the cemetery the Interment Zone, while keeping the Preservation Zone under NPS jurisdiction. The EA concluded: "Public Law 104-201 directed the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Secretary of the Army jurisdiction over the Interment Zone, which is the plan in Alternative 3. Adoption of any of the other alternatives would require legislative action to amend the existing law."


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On December 28, 2001, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Public Law 107-107) repealed the "obsolete" part of Public Law 104-201 that had authorized the transfer of portions of Section 29 to the Secretary of the Army. The new legislation required the Secretary of the Interior to transfer to the Secretary of the Army within 30 days the approximately Interment Zone. The transfer therefore involved the entire of NPS land that the 1995 agreement and Alternative 3 in the 1999 EA had described.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The 2001 legislation required the Secretary of the Army to use the Interment Zone for in-ground burial sites and columbarium. In addition, the legislation required the Secretary of the Interior to manage the remainder of Section 29 "in perpetuity to provide a natural setting and visual buffer for Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial."


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On December 12, 2012, the United States Army Corps of Engineers asked for comments on a draft EA that described a further expansion of Arlington National Cemetery as part of the Millennium Project. The 2012 draft EA was intended to implement conversion into burial space of the of Ft. Myer grounds as well as of Section 29 woodland. The draft EA described seven alternatives. The preferred alternative (Alternative E) called for the removal of about one-half of the 1,700 trees with a diameter of or greater on the site. About 640 of the trees were within a 135-year-old portion of Arlington Woods. The draft EA concluded: "Based on the evaluation of environmental impacts..., no significant impacts would be expected from the Proposed Action; therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared and a Finding of No Significant Impact will be prepared and signed."


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On March 12, 2013, the Corps of Engineers released a revised EA for the Millennium Project. The revised EA contained copies of a number of public comments on the draft EA that had criticized the project and parts of the EA while proposing alternative locations for new military burials near the cemetery and elsewhere. However, the Department of Forestry of the Commonwealth of Virginia found that, based on information in the draft EA, the project would not have a significant adverse impact on the Commonwealth's forest resources. The revised EA did not change the preferred alternative (Alternative E) or the Army's plans to prepare and sign the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) that the draft EA had described.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On June 5, 2013, after reviewing 100 public comments that it had received on the revised EA, the Corps of Engineers released a final EA and a signed FONSI for the Millennium Project. The Final EA and the FONSI retained Alternative E as the preferred alternative. The final EA stated that, of the 905 trees to be removed, 771 trees were healthy native trees that had diameters between 6 and 41 inches. The project would remove approximately 211 trees from a less than area containing a portion of a 145-year-old forest that stood within the property boundaries of a historic district that a National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Arlington House had described in 1966. About 491 trees would be removed from an area of trees that was approximately 105 years old. Approximately 203 trees with ages of 50 to 145 years would be removed from a former picnic area. At a public hearing on July 11, 2013, the National Capital Planning Commission approved the site and building plans for the Millennium Project.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 1998, a Congressional proposal to expand the cemetery onto land that the Navy Annex and Fort Myer then occupied led to concerns that Arlington County officials had not been properly consulted, leading to the withdrawal of the proposal. However, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106–65), which was enacted into law during October 1999, subsequently required the Secretary of Defense to transfer administrative jurisdiction of the Navy Annex property to the Secretary of the Army. The Act required the Secretary of Defense to demolish the Annex's buildings and prepare the property for use as part of the cemetery, while requiring the Secretary of the Army to incorporate the Annex property into the cemetery.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In January 2013, the county manager of Arlington County, Virginia, and the executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries (consisting of Arlington National Cemetery and the United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Arlington County Board and the Department of the Army to expand the cemetery even further. Under the tentative plan, Arlington County would give up the easement for Southgate Road (which lies between the Navy Annex property and the cemetery's 2012 boundary), and obtain a narrow easement along the southwest border of the Navy Annex site for a new Southgate Road. In exchange, the Department of Defense would give the Navy Annex parking lot to the county.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Army would also transfer land west of South Joyce Street to Columbia Pike to Arlington County. Additionally, the Commonwealth of Virginia would convey to the cemetery roughly the northern half of the Virginia Department of Transportation land bounded by South Joyce Street, Columbia Pike, and South Washington Boulevard. The cloverleaf interchange between Columbia Pike and S. Washington Blvd. would be eliminated, and the hairpin turn in Columbia Pike straightened, to provide a safer, more natural exit from S. Washington Blvd. onto Columbia Pike. Although exact acreages were not specified and the plan depended upon the Commonwealth of Virginia's cooperation, the MOU if implemented would have created a more contiguous plot of land for the cemetery.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: However, in December 2016, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114–328) authorized the Secretary of the Army to expand the cemetery by acquiring from Arlington County and the Commonwealth of Virginia by condemnation and other means properties near the cemetery that contain the Southgate Road, South Joyce Street and Washington Boulevard right-of-ways, including the Washington Boulevard-Columbia Pike interchange. The Army then informed the Arlington County government in June 2017 that the Army would no longer pursue a land exchange with the county. The Army told the County that the Army would use the entire Navy Annex site to expand the cemetery and would acquire for the cemetery about of public land that Arlington County then owned. The Army would also acquire for the cemetery expansion about of land located between Columbia Pike and Interstate 395 that the Commonwealth of Virginia then owned.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 2018, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced the expansion would allow for 40,000 to 60,000 additional burials and will incorporate the existing United States Air Force Memorial. Construction of roadways is planned for 2021–2023 and of the actual cemetery 2023–2025. Total cost of the project is $274 million. The project covers and by closing and relocating local roadways, allows the cemetery to utilize the former Navy annex property and remain contiguous. The Columbia Pike and interchange will be realigned to maximize burial space. The existing Operations Complex will also be relocated south of the Columbia Pike and its current location will become burial space. The expansion is projected to keep the cemetery open into the middle of the century.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On June 9, 2010, United States Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh reprimanded the cemetery's superintendent, John C. Metzler, Jr., and his deputy, Thurman Higgenbotham, after a DOD inspector general's report revealed that cemetery officials had placed the wrong headstones on tombs, buried coffins in shallow graves, and buried bodies on top of one another. Metzler, who had already announced his intention to retire on July 2, 2010, admitted some mistakes had been made but denied allegations of widespread or serious mismanagement. The investigation also found that cemetery employees were burdened in their day-to-day work by "dysfunctional management, lack of established policy and procedures, and an overall unhealthy organizational climate." Both Metzler and Higgenbotham retired soon after the investigation commenced.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In March 2011, as a result of the problems discovered, Kathryn Condon, the recently appointed executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries, announced that the cemetery's staff had been increased from 102 to 159. She added that the cemetery was also acquiring additional equipment because, "They didn't have the proper equipment to do the job really to the standard they needed to do."


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The mismanagement controversy included a limitation on mass media access to funerals, which also proved controversial. Until 2005, the cemetery's administration gave free access, with the family's permission, to the press to cover funerals at the cemetery. According to "The Washington Post" in 2008, the cemetery gradually imposed increasing restrictions on media coverage of funerals beginning about 2005.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: After the cemetery's management controversy began to end, the Army appointed Patrick K. Hallinan the acting superintendent of the cemetery in June 2010. He was promoted permanently to the position in October 2010. Hallinan had previously worked for the Office of Field Programs in the National Cemetery Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs. In that capacity, Hallinan had oversight of 131 national cemeteries, national cemetery policy, procedures, and operations. Hallinan was promoted to executive director of the Army National Military Cemeteries upon the retirement of Kathryn Condon in spring 2014.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In May 2014, Hallinan stepped down and was replaced by Jack E. Lechner, Jr. as superintendent of the cemetery. Lechner had been a funeral director for 10 years in the private sector before joining the U.S. Army. He rose to the rank of colonel (retiring in November 2011), having spent 2008 to 2010 as chief of the Supply Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, overseeing the equipping of Iraqi and Afghanistan national security forces. Since June 2010, he had served as executive officer and deputy superintendent of the cemetery under Hallinan.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Army removed Lechner as superintendent of the cemetery in early August 2015 after a performance review "called into question his ability to serve successfully as a senior leader". The Army declined to elaborate further and appointed Hallinan to be the temporary Cemetery superintendent until the Army could find a successor.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Katharine Kelley, a former Army officer and senior executive service civilian employee for the Department of the Army, was appointed Superintendent on March 2, 2017. She moved to another Army position in March 2019.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Charles R. "Ray" Alexander, a former Army colonel and senior executive service civilian employee for the Department of the Army, was appointed Superintendent on February 18, 2020.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 1992, the Worcester Wreath company in Harrington, Maine, had a surplus at the end of the Christmas holiday season. Recalling a boyhood trip to the cemetery, company founder Morrill Worcester donated to the cemetery 5,000 wreaths to honor the cemetery's dead, with the help of volunteers and a local trucking company. After thirteen years of similar donations, in 2005 a photo of snowy gravestones covered with wreaths at the cemetery received widespread circulation on the internet. Thousands of people called Worcester, wanting to replicate the wreath-laying service at their own veteran cemeteries. In 2014, volunteers were able to place wreaths in all sections of the cemetery for the first time.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: During May and June 2014, the cemetery celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding with a month-long series of events, tours, and lectures. During these celebrations, cemetery officials formally re-designated the Old Amphitheater as the James Tanner Amphitheater. James R. Tanner was a Union Army officer who lost both legs during the war. He later became a War Department stenographer, and recorded much of the early evidence in the investigation into the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He later was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union Army veterans group. Tanner is buried a few yards from the amphitheater.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Cemetery is divided into 70 sections, with some sections in the southeast and western part of the cemetery reserved for future expansion. Section 60, in the southeast part of the cemetery, is the burial ground for military personnel killed in the "war on terror" since 2001. Section 21, also known as the Nurses Section, is the burial site for many nurses, and the location of the Spanish–American War Nurses Memorial and the Nurses Memorial. Another sectionChaplains Hillincludes monuments to Jewish, Protestant, and Roman Catholic military chaplains.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 1901, Confederate soldiers buried at the Soldiers' Home and various locations within Arlington were reinterred in a Confederate section that was authorized by Congress in 1900. On June 4, 1914, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated the Confederate Memorial designed by Moses Ezekiel. Upon his death in 1917, Ezekiel was buried at the base of the monument as he was a veteran of the Confederate army. All Confederate headstones in this section are peaked rather than rounded. The Naming Commission, appointed by Congress, has recommended removing the Confederate memorial down to its foundation.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: More than 3,800 formerly enslaved people, called "Contrabands" during the Civil War, are buried in Section 27. Their headstones are designated with the word "Civilian" or "Citizen".


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The United States Department of Veterans Affairs oversees the National Cemetery Administration's orders for placement of inscriptions and faith emblems at no charge to the estate of the deceased, submitted with information provided by the next of kin that is placed on upright marble headstones or columbarium niche covers. The Department of Veterans Affairs currently offers 63 authorized faith emblems for placement on markers to represent the deceased's faith. Over time this number grew as the result of legal challenges to policy.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Prior to 2007, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) did not allow the use of the pentacle as an "emblem of belief" on tombstones in military cemeteries. This policy was changed following an out-of-court settlement on April 23 following a series of lawsuits by the family of Patrick Stewart against the VA.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Between 1947 and 2001, privately purchased markers were permitted in the cemetery. The sections in which the cemetery permitted such markers are nearly filled and the cemetery generally does not allow new burials in these sections. Nevertheless, the older sections of the cemetery have a wide variety of private markers placed prior to 2001, including an artillery piece.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: There are 32 British Commonwealth war dead burials, 12 from World War I and 20 from World War II and some headstones are Commonwealth War Graves Commission style.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Tomb of the Unknowns is part of the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater. The Memorial Amphitheater has hosted state funerals and Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies. Ceremonies are also held for Easter. About 5,000 people attend these holiday ceremonies each year. The structure is mostly built of Imperial Danby marble from Vermont. The Memorial Display room, between the amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns, uses Botticino stone, imported from Italy. The amphitheater was the result of a campaign by Ivory Kimball to construct a place to honor America's servicemen/women. Congress authorized the structure on March 4, 1913. Woodrow Wilson laid the cornerstone for the building on October 15, 1915. The cornerstone contained 15 items including a Bible and a copy of the Constitution.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Before the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater was completed in 1921, important ceremonies were held at what is now known as the "Old Amphitheater." This structure sits where Robert E. Lee once had his gardens. The amphitheater was built in 1868 under the direction of Civil War General John A. Logan. Gen. James A. Garfield was the featured speaker at the Decoration Day dedication ceremony, May 30, 1868, later being elected as President of the United States in 1881. The amphitheater has an encircling colonnade with a latticed roof that once supported a web of vines. The amphitheater has a marble dais, known as "the rostrum", which is inscribed with the U.S. national motto found on the Great Seal of the United States, "E pluribus unum" ("Out of many, one"). The rostrum was designed by General Montgomery C. Meigs, then Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army. The amphitheater seats 1,500 people and has hosted speakers such as William Jennings Bryan.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier stands on top of a hill overlooking Washington, D.C. One of the more well-attended sites at the cemetery, the tomb is made from Yule marble quarried in Colorado. It consists of seven pieces, with a total weight of 79 short tons (72 metric tons). The tomb was completed and opened to the public April 9, 1932, at a cost of $48,000.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Other unknown servicemen were later placed in crypts there, and it also became known as the Tomb of the Unknowns, though it has never been officially named. The soldiers entombed there are:


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has been perpetually guarded since July 2, 1937, by the U.S. Army. The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment ("The Old Guard") began guarding the Tomb on April 6, 1948. There is a meticulous routine that the guard follows when watching over the graves. The Tomb Guard:


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: After each turn, the Guard executes a sharp "shoulder-arms" movement to place the weapon on the shoulder closest to the visitors to signify that the Guard stands between the Tomb and any possible threat.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Twenty-one was chosen because it symbolizes the highest military honor that can be bestowedthe 21-gun salute.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: At each turn, the guard makes precise movements followed by a loud click of the heels as the soldier snaps them together. The guard is changed every half-hour during daylight in the summer, and every hour during daylight in the winter and every two hours at night (when the cemetery is closed to the public), regardless of weather conditions.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: A commemorative stamp was issued on November 11, 1922, the first anniversary of the first entombment picturing the Amphitheater. It encompasses the original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The remains of an unidentified American soldier from World War I was entombed on Armistice Day, November 11, 1921, later covered in 1931 by a more elaborate marble sarcophagus.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: There are several memorials on the grounds of the cemetery. However, due to the lack of space for burials and the large amount of space that memorials take up, the U.S. Army now requires a joint or concurrent resolution from Congress before it will place new memorials at Arlington.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Near the Tomb of the Unknowns stands the USS "Maine" Mast Memorial, which commemorates the 266 men who died aboard the USS "Maine". The memorial is built around a mast salvaged from the ship's wreckage. The memorial served as the temporary resting place for two foreign heads of state or government who died in exile in the United States during World War II, Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippines and Ignacy Jan Paderewski of Poland.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Space Shuttle "Challenger" Memorial was dedicated on May 20, 1986, in memory of the crew of flight STS-51-L, who died during launch on January 28, 1986. Transcribed on the back of the stone is the text of the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem "High Flight", which was quoted by then President Ronald Reagan when he addressed the disaster. Although many remains were identified and returned to the families for private burial, some were not, and were laid to rest under the marker. Two crew members, Dick Scobee and Michael Smith, are buried in Arlington. On February 1, 2004, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe dedicated a similar memorial to those who died when the Shuttle "Columbia" broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003. Astronauts Laurel Clark, David Brown, and Michael Anderson, who were killed in the "Columbia" disaster, are also buried in Arlington.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Lockerbie Cairn is a memorial to the 270 killed in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The memorial is constructed of 270 stones, one for each person killed in the disaster. In section 64, a memorial to the 184 victims of the September 11 attacks on the Pentagon was dedicated September 11, 2002. The memorial takes the shape of a pentagon, and lists the names of all the victims that were killed. Unidentified remains from the victims are buried beneath it.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: On June 25, 1925, President Calvin Coolidge approved a request to erect a Commonwealth Cross of Sacrifice with the names of all the citizens of the United States who died fighting in the Canadian forces during World War I. The monument was dedicated November 11, 1927, and after the Korean War and World War II the names of US citizens who died in those conflicts were added.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The Laos Memorial, or Lao Veterans of America memorial, dedicated to Lao and Hmong veterans who served with US Special Forces and CIA advisors during the Vietnam War, to defend the Royal Kingdom of Laos from the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos, is located on Grant Avenue near the eternal flame memorial to U.S. President John F. Kennedy.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 2012, legislation began moving through Congress to approve a "Place of Remembrance" at the cemetery. The memorial will be an ossuary designed to contain fragments of remains which are unidentifiable through DNA analysis. The remains will be cremated before placement in the memorial.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The flags in the cemetery are flown at half-staff from a half-hour before the first funeral until a half hour after the last funeral each day. Funerals are normally conducted five days a week, excluding weekends.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average between 27 and 30 per day. The cemetery conducts approximately 6,900 burials each year.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: With more than 400,000 interments, the cemetery has the second-largest number of burials of any national cemetery in the United States. The largest of the 130 national cemeteries is the Calverton National Cemetery, on Long Island, near Riverhead, New York, which conducts more than 7,000 burials each year.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In addition to in-ground burial, the cemetery also has one of the larger columbaria for cremated remains in the country. Four courts are currently in use, each with 5,000 niches. When construction is complete, there will be nine courts with a total of 50,000 niches; capacity for 100,000 remains. Any honorably discharged veteran is eligible for inurnment in the columbarium, if they served on active duty at some point in their career (other than for training).


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Part 553 (Army National Military Cemeteries) of Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) establishes regulations for the cemetery, including eligibility for interment (ground burial) and inurnment. Due to limited space, the criteria for ground burial eligibility are more restrictive than at other national cemeteries, as well as more restrictive than for inurnment in the columbarium.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The persons specified below are eligible for ground burial in the cemetery, unless otherwise prohibited. The last period of active duty of former members of the armed forces must have ended honorably. Interment may be of casketed or cremated remains.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Due at least partly to the lack of space at the cemetery for ground burial, standards for inurnment (burial of cremated remains) in the columbarium are currently much less restrictive than for ground burial at the cemetery. In general, any former member of the armed forces who served on active duty (other than for training) and whose last service terminated honorably is eligible for inurnment. Eligibility for inurnment is described fully in 32 C.F.R. § 553.15a.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Congress has from time to time created prohibited categories of persons that, even if otherwise eligible for burial, lose that eligibility. One such prohibition is against certain persons who are convicted of committing certain state or federal capital crimes, as defined in 38 U.S. Code § 2411. Capital crime is a specifically defined term in the statute, and for state offenses can include offenses that are eligible for a life sentence (with or without parole). The reasoning for this provision originally was to prevent Timothy McVeigh from being eligible at Arlington National Cemetery, but it has since been amended to prevent others.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Also prohibited under the same statute are those determined, with clear and convincing evidence, to have avoided such conviction by death or flight.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: The first soldier to be buried in Arlington was Private William Henry Christman of Pennsylvania on May 13, 1864. There are 396 Medal of Honor recipients buried in Arlington National Cemetery.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Five state funerals have been held at Arlington: those of Presidents William Howard Taft and John F. Kennedy, his two brothers, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, as well as General of the Armies John J. Pershing. Whether or not they were wartime service members, U.S. presidents are eligible to be buried at Arlington, since they oversaw the armed forces as commanders-in-chief.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Among the most frequently visited sites in the cemetery is the grave of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, who is buried nearby along with their son Patrick and their stillborn daughter Arabella. Kennedy's remains were interred there on March 14, 1967, a reinterment from his original Arlington burial site, some away, where he was buried in November 1963. The grave is marked with an "eternal flame". The remains of his brothers, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, are buried nearby. The latter two graves are marked with simple crosses and footstones. On December 1, 1971, Robert Kennedy's body was re-interred from its original June 1968 burial site.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Two of the astronauts who were killed on January 27, 1967, by a flash fire inside the Apollo 1 Command Module, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee, are buried at the cemetery. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth and a longtime U.S. Senator from Ohio, was buried at the cemetery in April 2017.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: British diplomat and Field Marshal Sir John Dill was buried at the cemetery when he died in Washington D.C. during World War II. The equestrian statue on Dill's grave is one of only two such statues at the cemetery; the other is Major General Philip Kearny's.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Lauri Törni, known for having served in the Finnish army during the Winter War, the German army during World War II, and the US army during the Vietnam War is buried at Arlington. He is the only former member of the Waffen-SS to be interred here.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In 2016, the cemetery announced policies and procedures that limit visitor access to the cemetery's grounds, some of which were thought could create delays for visitors.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: Pursuant to the Department of the Army final rule established in 2016, the cemetery's bicycle policy states bicycling presents a potential safety hazard, and is only allowed on its grounds with a family pass.


title: Arlington National Cemetery

text: In September 2016, acting superintendent of the cemetery Hallinan announced that the cemetery was increasing security measures for its visitors. In addition to random identification checks and other security measures already in place, the cemetery would require pedestrians to enter at set access points: the main entrance on Memorial Avenue, the Ord and Weitzel gate, and the Old Post Chapel gate at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. Before entering the cemetery through its main entrance, all pedestrians are now screened through the cemetery's Welcome Center. All vehicle access requires presenting valid, government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport, when entering the cemetery. Vehicles are also subject to random inspections. Hallinan stated that these processes could result in delays when entering the cemetery.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Beauty and the Beast () is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in "La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins" ("The Young American and Marine Tales"). Her lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and published by French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 in "Magasin des enfants" ("Children's Collection") to produce the version most commonly retold. Later, Andrew Lang retold the story in "Blue Fairy Book", a part of the "Fairy Book" series, in 1889. The fairy tale was influenced by Ancient Greek stories such as "Cupid and Psyche" from "The Golden Ass", written by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis in the second century AD, and "The Pig King", an Italian fairytale published by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in "The Facetious Nights of Straparola" around 1550.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Variants of the tale are known across Europe. In France, for example, "Zémire and Azor" is an operatic version of the story, written by Marmontel and composed by Grétry in 1771, which had enormous success into the 19th century. "Zémire and Azor" is based on the second version of the tale. "Amour pour amour" ("Love for love"), by Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, is a 1742 play based on de Villeneuve's version. According to researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon, the story originated about 4,000 years ago.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: A widower merchant lives in a mansion with his twelve children (six sons and six daughters). All his daughters are very beautiful, but the youngest daughter was named “little beauty,” for she was the most gorgeous among all of them. She continued to be named “Beauty” until she was a young adult. She was the most lovely, as well as kind, well-read, and pure of heart; while the elder sisters, in contrast, are cruel, selfish, vain, spoiled and were jealous of the little beauty. The merchant eventually loses all of his wealth in a tempest at sea, which sinks most of his merchant fleet. He and his children are consequently forced to live in a small cottage in a forest and work for a living. While Beauty makes a firm resolution to adjust to rural life with a cheerful disposition, her sisters do not and mistake her determination for stupidity.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Some years later, the merchant hears that one of the trade ships he had sent has arrived back in port, having escaped the destruction of its companions. Before leaving, he asks his children if they wish for him to bring any gifts back for them. His oldest daughters ask for clothing, jewels, and the finest dresses possible as they think that his wealth has returned. Beauty asks for nothing but her father to be safe, but when he insists on buying her a present, she is satisfied with the promise of a rose, as none grow in their part of the country. The merchant, to his dismay, finds that his ship's cargo has been seized to pay his debts, leaving him penniless and unable to buy his children's presents.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: During his return, the merchant becomes lost during a vicious storm. Seeking shelter, he comes upon a castle. Seeing that no one is home, the merchant sneaks in and finds tables inside laden with food and drink, which seem to have been left for him by the castle's invisible owner. The merchant accepts this gift and spends the night there. The next morning, the merchant has come to view the palace as his own possession and is about to leave to fetch his children when he sees a rose garden and recalls that Beauty had desired a rose. The merchant quickly plucks the loveliest rose he can find, and is about to pluck more to create a bouquet, only to end up being confronted by a hideous "Beast" who tries to kill him for stealing of his most precious possession even after accepting his hospitality. The merchant begs to be set free, revealing that he had only picked the rose as a gift for his youngest daughter. The Beast agrees to let him give the rose to Beauty, but only if the merchant brings one of his daughters to take his place without deception; he makes it clear that she must agree to take his place while under no illusions about her predicament.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: The merchant is upset, but accepts this condition for the sake of his own life, as he has no choice. The Beast sends him on his way with wealth, jewels, and fine clothes for his sons and daughters, and stresses that he must not lie to his daughters. The merchant, upon arriving home, hands Beauty the rose she requested and informs her that it had a terrible price, before relaying what had happened during his absence. Her brothers say that they will go to the castle and fight the Beast, while his older daughters refuse to leave and place blame on Beauty, urging her to right her own wrong. The merchant dissuades them, forbidding his children from ever going near the Beast. Beauty willingly decides to go to the Beast's castle and the following morning she and her father set out atop a magical horse that the Beast has provided them. Once they arrive, the Beast receives her with great ceremony and her arrival is greeted with fireworks entwining their initials. After that, the merchant is sent home with a reward the following morning. He gives her lavish clothing and food and carries on lengthy conversations with her and she notes that he is inclined to stupidity rather than savagery. Every night, the Beast asks Beauty to marry him, only to be refused each time. After each refusal, Beauty dreams of a handsome prince with whom she begins to fall in love. Despite the apparition of a fairy urging her not to be deceived by appearances, she does not make the connection between the prince and the Beast and becomes convinced that the Beast is holding him captive somewhere in the castle. She searches and discovers many enchanted rooms containing sources of entertainment ranging from libraries to aviaries to enchanted windows allowing her to attend the theatre. She also comes across many animals, including parrots and monkeys, which act as servants, but never the unknown prince from her dreams.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: For several months, Beauty lives a life of luxury at the Beast's castle, having every whim catered to, with no end of riches to amuse her and an endless supply of exquisite finery to wear. Eventually, she becomes homesick and begs the Beast to allow her to go see her family again. He allows it on the condition that she returns exactly two months later. Beauty agrees to this and is presented with an enchanted ring, which allows her to wake up in her family's new home in an instant when turned three times around her finger. Her older sisters are surprised to find her well-fed and dressed in finery, and their old jealousy quickly flares when their suitors' gazes turn to Beauty, even though she bestows lavish gifts on them and informs the men that she is only there to witness her sisters' weddings. Her father hints that if Beauty is going to her sisters' wedding, he makes it clear that she must marry the Beast as well. However, Beauty rejects her father, and his brothers do all they can to prevent her from going back to his castle, and she reluctantly agrees to stay longer.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: When the two months have passed, she envisions the Beast dying alone on the castle grounds and hastens to return despite her brothers' resolve to prevent her from doing so. Once she is back in the castle, Beauty's fears are confirmed, and she finds the Beast near death in a cave on the grounds. Seeing this, Beauty is distraught, realizing that she loves him. Despite this, she remains calm and fetches water from a nearby spring, which she uses to resuscitate him. That night, she agrees to marry him. and when she wakes up next to him, she finds that the Beast has transformed into the Prince from her dreams. This is followed by the arrival of the fairy who had previously advised her in her dreams, along with a woman she does not recognize, in a golden carriage pulled by white stags. The woman turns out to be the Prince's mother whose joy quickly falters when she finds out that Beauty is not of noble birth. The fairy chastises the mother and eventually reveals that Beauty is her niece with her actual father being the Queen's brother from Fortunate Island and her mother being the fairy's sister.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: When the matter of Beauty's background is resolved, she requests that the Prince tell his tale, and so he does. The Prince informs her that his father died when he was young and his mother had to wage war to defend his kingdom. The queen left him in the care of an evil fairy, who tried to seduce him when he became an adult; when he refused, she transformed him into a beast. Only by finding true love, despite his ugliness, could the curse be broken. He and Beauty are married, and they live happily ever after together.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Beaumont greatly pared down the cast of characters and pruned the tale to an almost archetypal simplicity. The story begins in much the same way as Villeneuve's version, although now the merchant has only six children: three sons and three daughters of which Beauty is one. The circumstances leading to her arrival at the Beast's castle unfold in a similar manner, but on this arrival, Beauty is informed that she is a mistress and he will obey her. Beaumont strips most of the lavish descriptions present in Beauty's exploration of the palace and quickly jumps to her return home. She is given leave to remain there for a week, and when she arrives, her sisters feign fondness to entice her to remain another week in hopes that the Beast will devour her in anger. Again, she returns to him dying and restores his life. The two then marry and live happily ever after.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: A variant of Villeneuve's version appears in Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book. Most of the story is the same, except at the beginning where the merchant himself is not at sea, but his ships are. His mansion is burned in a fire, along with his belongings, forcing him and his family to move to their country home in the forest. His ships are lost at sea, captured by pirates, etc., except one, which returns later. Unlike the other two versions, the sisters in Lang's story are not jealous of Beauty. Also, Lang maintained the lavish descriptions of the Beast's palace. This version in particular is one of the most commonly told, along with those of Villeneuve and Beaumont.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: This version was written between 1889 and 1913, some time after the original version, and so should be considered as a later version of the story.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: The tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 425C, "Beauty and the Beast". It is related to the general type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband" and subtypes.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: In a study about the myth of "Cupid and Psyche", Danish folklorist Inger Margrethe Boberg argued that "Beauty and the Beast" was "an older form" of the animal husband narrative, and that subtypes 425A, "Animal as Bridegroom", and 425B, "The Disenchanted Husband: The Witch's Tasks", were secondary developments, with motifs incorporated into the narrative.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Emmanuel Cosquin collected a version with a tragic ending from Lorraine titled "The White Wolf" ("Le Loup blanc"), in which the youngest daughter asks her father to bring her a singing rose when he returns. The man cannot find a singing rose for his youngest daughter, and he refuses to return home until he finds one. When he finally finds singing roses, they are in the castle of the titular white wolf, who initially wants to kill him for daring to steal his roses, but, upon hearing about his daughters, changes his mind and agrees to spare him his life under the condition he must give him the first living being that greets him when he returns home. This turns out to be his youngest daughter. In the castle, the girl discovers that the white wolf is enchanted and can turn into a human at night, but she must not tell anyone about it. Unfortunately, the girl is later visited by her two elder sisters who pressure her to tell them what is happening. When she finally does, the castle crumbles and the wolf dies.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Henri Pourrat collected a version from Auvergne in south-central France, titled "Belle Rose" (sometimes translated in English as "Lovely Rose"). In this version, the heroine and her sisters are the daughters of a poor peasant and are named after flowers, the protagonist being Rose and her sisters Marguerite (Daisy) and Julianne, respectively. The Beast is described as having a mastiff jaw, lizard legs and a salamander's body. The ending is closer to Villeneuve's and Beaumont's versions with Rose rushing back to the castle and finding the Beast lying dying beside a fountain. When the Beast asks if she knows that he can't live without her, Rose answers yes, and the Beast turns into a human. He explains to Rose that he was a prince cursed for mocking a beggar and could only be disenchanted by a poor but kind-hearted maiden. Unlike in Beaumont's version, it is not mentioned that the protagonist's sisters are punished at the end.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: The tale is popular in the Italian oral tradition. Christian Schneller collected a variant from Trentino titled "The Singing, Dancing and Music-making Leaf" (German: "Vom singenden, tanzenden und musicirenden Blatte"; Italian: "La foglia, che canta, che balla e che suona") in which the Beast takes the form of a snake. Instead of going to visit her family alone, the heroine can only go to her sister's wedding if she agrees to let the snake go with her. During the wedding, they dance together, and when the girl kicks the snake's tail, he turns into a beautiful youth, who is the son of a count.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Sicilian folklorist Giuseppe Pitrè collected a variant from Palermo titled "Rusina 'Mperatrici" ("The Empress Rosina"). Domenico Comparetti included a variant from Montale titled "Bellindia", in which Bellindia is the heroine's name, while her two eldest sisters are called Carolina and Assunta. Vittorio Imbriani included a version titled "Zelinda and the Monster" ("Zelinda e il Mostro"), in which the heroine, called Zelinda, asks for a rose in January. Instead of going to visit her family, staying longer than she promised, and then returning to the Monster's castle to find him dying on the ground, here the Monster shows Zelinda her father dying on a magic mirror and says the only way she can save him is saying that she loves him. Zelinda does as asked, and the Monster turns into a human, who tells her he is the son of the King of the Oranges. Both Comparetti's and Imbriani's versions were included in "Sessanta novelle popolari montalesi" by Gherardo Nerucci.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: British folklorist Rachel Harriette Busk collected a version from Rome titled "The Enchanted Rose-Tree" where the heroine does not have any sisters. Antonio De Nino collected a variant from Abruzzo, in eastern Italy, that he also titled "Bellindia", in which instead of a rose, the heroine asks for a golden carnation. Instead of a seeing it on a magic mirror, or knowing about it because the Beast tells her, here Bellinda knows what happens in her father's house because in the garden there is a tree called the Tree of Weeping and Laughter, whose leaves turn upwards when there is joy in her family, and they drop when there is sorrow.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Francesco Mango collected a Sardinian version titled "The Bear and the Three Sisters" ("S'urzu i is tres sorris"), in which the Beast has the form of a bear.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Italo Calvino included a version on Italian Folktales titled "Bellinda and the Monster", inspired mostly from Comparetti's version, but adding some elements from De Nino's, like the Tree of Weeping and Laughter.


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Manuel Milá y Fontanals collected a version titled "The King's Son, Disenchanted" ("El hijo del rey, desencantado"). In this tale, when the father asks his three daughters what they want, the youngest asks for the hand of the king's son, and everybody thinks she is haughty for wanting such a thing. The father orders his servants to kill her, but they spare her and she hides in the woods. There, she meets a wolf that brings her to a castle and takes her in. The girl learns that in order to break his spell, she must kill the wolf and throw his body into the fire after opening it. From the body flies a pigeon, and from the pigeon an egg. When the girl breaks the egg, the king's son comes out. Francisco Maspons y Labrós extended and translated the tale to Catalan, and included it in the second volume of "Lo Rondallayre".


title: Beauty and the Beast

text: Maspons y Labrós collected a variant from Catalonia titled "Lo trist". In this version, instead of roses, the youngest daughter asks for a coral necklace. Whenever one of her family members is sick, the heroine is warned by the garden (a spring with muddy waters; a tree with withered leaves). When she visits her family, she is warned that she must return to the castle if she hears a bell ringing. After her third visit to her family, the heroine returns to the garden where she finds her favorite rosebush withered. When she plucks a rose, the beast appears and turns into a beautiful youth.