title: Kingdom of Georgia

text: As a result of foreign and internal struggles unified Kingdom of Georgia stopped to exist after 1466 and was subdivided into several political units. Kara Koyunlu tribal confederation was destroyed by Aq Qoyunlu, their kin tribesmen who formed another confederation, which was similar in many ways to its predecessor. Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans naturally took advantage of the Georgian fragmentation. Georgia was at least twice attacked by Uzun Hasan, the prince of the Aq Qoyunlu in 1466, 1472 and possibly 1476–7. Bagrat VI of Georgia, temporary ruler of most of Georgia at the time, had to make peace with the invaders, by abandoning Tbilisi to the enemy. It was only after Uzun Hasan's death (1478) when the Georgians were able to recover their capital. In the winter of 1488, the Ak Koyunlu Turkomans led by Halil Bey attacked Georgia's capital Tbilisi, and took the city after a long-lasted siege in February 1489. Alexander II of Imereti, another pretender to the throne, took advantage of the Aq Qoyunlu Turkoman invasion of Kartli, and seized control of Imereti. Occupation of the capital did not last long and Constantine II of Georgia was able to repel them, but it was still costly to Georgians. Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, formed an alliance with the Georgians in 1502 and decisively defeated Aq Qoyunlu in the same year, destroying their state and marking the end of their invasions.


title: Kingdom of Georgia

text: Between the 11th and the early 13th centuries, Georgia experienced a political, economical and cultural golden age, as the Bagrationi dynasty managed to unite western and eastern halves of the country into a single kingdom. To accomplish that goal, kings relied much on the prestige of the Church, and enrolled its political support by giving it many economical advantages, immunity from taxes and large appanages. At the same time, the kings, most notably David the Builder (1089–1125), used state power to interfere in church affairs. Notably, he summoned the 1103 council of Ruisi-Urbnisi, which condemned Armenian Miaphysitism in stronger terms than ever before, and gave unprecedented power, second only to the Patriarch, to his friend and advisor George of Chqondidi. For the following centuries, the Church would remain a crucial feudal institution, whose economical and political power would always be at least equal to that of the main noble families.


title: Kingdom of Georgia

text: During the Middle Ages, Christianity was the central element of Georgian culture. Specific forms of art were developed in Georgia for religious purposes. Among them, calligraphy, polyphonic church singing, cloisonné enamel icons, such as the Khakhuli triptych, and the "Georgian cross-dome style" of architecture, which characterizes most medieval Georgian churches. The most celebrated examples of Georgian religious architecture of the time include the Gelati Monastery and Bagrati Cathedral in Kutaisi, the Ikalto Monastery complex and Academy, and the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta.


title: Kingdom of Georgia

text: Outstanding Georgian representatives of Christian culture include Euthymius of Athos (Ekvtime Atoneli, 955–1028), George of Athos (Giorgi Atoneli, 1009–1065), Arsen Ikaltoeli (11th century), and Ephrem Mtsire, (11th century). Philosophy flourished between the 11th and 13th century, especially at the Academy of Gelati Monastery, where Ioane Petritsi attempted a synthesis of Christian, aristotelician and neoplatonic thought.


title: Kingdom of Georgia

text: Tamar's reign also marked the continuation of artistic development in the country commenced by her predecessors. While her contemporary Georgian chronicles continued to enshrine Christian morality, the religious theme started to lose its earlier dominant position to the highly original secular literature. This trend culminated in an epic written by Georgia's national poet Rustaveli – "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" ("Vepkhistq'aosani"). Revered in Georgia as the greatest achievement of native literature, the poem celebrates the Medieval humanistic ideals of chivalry, friendship and courtly love.


title: Kingdom of Georgia

text: From the 10th century, Georgians had started to play a significant role in preaching Christianity in the mountains of the Caucasus. "Wherever the missions of the patriarchs of Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem failed, the Georgian Church succeeded in bringing Jesus's Cross and preaching His Gospels". This is corroborated not only by old written sources, but also by Christian architectural monuments bearing Georgian inscriptions, which are still to be seen throughout the North Caucasus in Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria. The golden age of Georgian monasticism lasted from the 9th to the 11th century. During that period, Georgian monasteries were founded outside the country, most notably on Mount Sinai, Mount Athos (the Iviron monastery, where the Theotokos Iverskaya icon is still located), and in Palestine.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Hellenism (Ἑλληνισμός) in a religious context refers to the modern pluralistic religion practiced in Greece and around the world by several communities derived from the beliefs, mythology and rituals from antiquity through and up to today. It is a system of thought and spirituality with a shared culture and values, and common ritualistic, linguistic and literary tradition. More broadly, Hellenism centers itself around the worship of Hellenic deities, namely the twelve Olympians.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Greeks that identify their religion and way of life with Hellenism are commonly referred to as "Εθνικοί Έλληνες" (Ethnic Hellenes). Non-Greek devotees of the Greek gods who embody Hellenic ideals are commonly referred to as Hellenists. More generally, someone who worships the Greek gods but does not necessarily adhere to Hellenic ideals, ethos or ritual may be referred to as a "Hellenic" polytheist or pagan. "Pagan" and "paganism" are insulting terms to use when referring to ethnic Hellenes and Hellenic Ethnic Religion respectively.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Hellenic religion has manifested itself as legal bodies in Greece through the names "Hellenic Ethnic Religion" and "Ancient Hellenic Religion". In the US, the religion has manifested itself through the organizations such as "Hellenion". More broadly, "Hellenic Polytheism" describes groups, and individuals who "reinterpret and reinvent ancient Greek religious practices and identities." "Olympianismos" (Olympianism) and "Neopaganismos" (Neopaganism)" are used by the Greek Orthodox Church in a derogatory manner, while the term "Dodekatheismos" (religion of twelve gods) is used by both Christian critics and some polytheists."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Various religious movements reviving or reconstructing ancient Greek religious practices have been publicly emerging since the 1990s. In 2017, Greece legally recognized Hellenic Religion as a "known religion", granting it certain religious freedoms in that country, including the freedom to open houses of worship and for clergy to officiate at weddings.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: There are no official naming practices for labeling religious expressions deriving themselves from the Hellenic or Hellenistic culture and history in one form or another. The ancient Hellenes did not have a word for 'religion' in the modern sense. Likewise, no known Greek writer classifies either the gods or the cult practices into separate 'religions'. Modern scholarship that speaks of "religions" of the ancient Greeks, is applying a modern category in a modern way. Instead, for example, Herodotus speaks of the Hellenes as having "common shrines of the gods and sacrifices, and the same kinds of customs."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Some informal naming conventions have developed since the formation of the first Hellenic religious organizations in the 1990s, based on academically accepted descriptive definitions. Hellenism has been employed as a religious identifier for Hellenic religion in the same manner as Christianity is understood to mean Christian religion. This conflation of Hellenism with or as Hellenic religion in the Anglosphere is the result of English translations of primary sources from Antiquity.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The word Ἑλληνισμός appears in writings of three authors, Sextus Empiricus (), Diogenes Laërtius (3rd century CE), and Roman Emperor Julian (331 – 26 June 363). In Sextus Empiricus' "Against the Professors", a criticism of professors of all arts and sciences, Ἑλληνισμός is translated by Robert Gregg Bury as "hellenism". Ἑλληνισμός is not employed in a religious manner, but is used in the context of proper Greek grammar. Likewise in Diogenes Laërtius' "Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.1. Zeno", Ἑλληνισμός is once again used to talk about Greek language, not religion. In the English translation by Robert Drew Hicks it is rendered as "pure Greek" and "good Greek":


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: "Ἀρεταὶ δὲ λόγου εἰσὶ πέντε, Ἑλληνισμός, σαφήνεια, συντομία, πρέπον, κατασκευή. Ἑλληνισμὸς μὲν οὖν ἐστι φράσις ἀδιάπτωτος ἐν τῇ..."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: There are five excellences of speech—pure Greek, lucidity, conciseness, appropriateness, distinction. By good Greek is meant language faultless in point...


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Understanding Julian's usage of Ἑλληνισμός arguably has been lost in translation. The word appears in his letter to Arsacius, High-priest of Galatia. The translator, Wilmer Cave Wright rendered Ἑλληνισμός as "Hellenic religion" in the opening sentence where Julian complains that "The Hellenic religion does not prosper" like he desires. The explicit religious nature of the letter, could be the reason why Ἑλληνισμός was translated as "Hellenic religion" for textual comprehensibility, it is inconclusive at this time. Because of the choice in translation, English speaking polytheists claim Julian used the term to define Ἑλληνισμός as traditional Graeco-Roman religion.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The phrase "Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism" refers specifically to the methodology used by some practitioners to recreate the religion based on academic sources, rather than the religion itself, and not all Hellenic Polytheists are reconstructionists. Other organizations, such as (), the (Societas Hellenica Antiquariorum), and the () use a combination of terms interchangeably, including (, 'Hellenic religion'), "Hellenic polytheistic religion", and "Hellenism".


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Other terms in common usage by Hellenic polytheists include "Greek reconstructionism" and "Hellenic Traditionalism", but the two are not synonymous. The American group Elaion uses the term "Dodekatheism" (, , 'twelve' + , , 'belief in the gods') to describe their approach to the Hellenic religion, stating that the term "has been used for some time within and outside Greece to refer to ancient Greek religion and we feel that it is important for those of us outside Greece share a common name and identity with our co-religiosts in the homeland of our spirituality", and that the term 'Hellenism' is linked too closely in current use to the modern Greek nation.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Prominent concepts include, but are not restricted to: Eusebeia (piety), Arete (virtue), and Xenia (hospitality). These are rooted in the various ancient Greek values concepts that they look to for guidance and inspiration from the Tenets of Solon, the Delphic maxims, the Golden verses of Pythagoras, Epicurean philosophy, the ethics of Aristotle, Stoic philosophy and more.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Eusebeia (Εὐσέβεια) is often translated as piety or reverence towards the gods, it can also be translated as right action, and is often used similarly to the term dharma in Hinduism. The focus of Eusebeia for modern Hellenists is to act in a way that honors the gods and goddesses, and by extension other sentient beings, rather than to adhere to a particular set of beliefs. Eusebeia is central to modern Hellenist practice and is one of Hellenism's most important virtues.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Arete (Ἀρετή) is often translated as excellence or moral virtue. Arete is intrinsic to the concept of living up to one's potential. For modern Hellenists, arete is one of the most important virtues, and it is believed that cultivating it will lead to a good life of happiness and prosperity. Cultivating arete is not limited to just one domain, but also refers to the improvement of all aspects of one's existence.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, "arete" is used mainly to describe heroes and nobles and their mobile dexterity, with special reference to strength and courage, but it is not limited to this. Penelope's arete, for example, relates to co-operation, for which she is praised by Agamemnon. The excellence of the gods generally included their power, but, in the Odyssey (13.42), the gods can grant excellence to a life, which is contextually understood to mean prosperity.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: "Xenia" (Ξενία) is the concept of hospitality and is sometimes translated as 'guest-friendship' or 'ritualized friendship'. It is an institutionalized relationship, rooted in generosity, gift exchange, and reciprocity; fundamental aspects of "xenia". Historically, hospitality towards foreigners (Hellenes not of your polis) and guests was a moral obligation. Hospitality towards foreign Hellenes honored Zeus "Xenios" (and Athene "Xenia") patrons of foreigners. In aristocratic circles, as early as the Homeric epics, it was as a sort of fictitious kinship, cemented not only by ties of hospitality and gift exchange but by an obligation to promote the interests of the xenos. "Theoxenia" is a theme in Greek mythology in which human beings demonstrate their virtue or piety by extending hospitality to a humble stranger (xenos), who turns out to be a disguised deity (theos) with the capacity to bestow rewards.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Offerings and libations are considered sacred integral acts within worship. There are several types of offerings that are performed, sacrifices, votive offerings and Libations.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Devotees are divided upon the question of animal sacrifice. Some are fine with the practice, while others do not engage in the practice at all. Some instead offer symbolic food of the animal that is sacrificed instead of the animal, often though not exclusively fruit, bread, or cakes.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Hellenism has historically been a pluralistic religion with beliefs ranging between polytheism, animism and monism, although a Hellenist may hold beliefs that fall into all of these categories. Additionally, there are other interpretations of divinity in line with Hellenistic philosophies, like Epicureanism. Hellenism is, in practice, primarily centered around polytheistic and animistic worship.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Devotees worship the Greek gods, which are the Olympians, divinities and spirits of nature (such as nymphs), underworld deities (chthonic gods) and heroes. Both physical and spiritual ancestors are greatly honored. The gods exhibit both universal and local qualities. For the Greeks, "their gods were at the same time universal, found everywhere and powerful over the whole world, and intensely local, manifesting themselves in particular places."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: There are many festivals throughout the year that many seek to celebrate, where the dates are often set by the lunisolar Attic calendar. The festivals typically commemorate events in Greek history, honoring deities that the festivals celebrate, and connote spiritual themes. The celebrations incorporate religious themes, arts, sacrifices and offerings, family get togethers and feasts. Popular sacred days are Deipnon, Noumenia and Agathos Daimon.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The majority of modern historians agree that the religion practiced by the ancient Greeks had been extinguished by the 9th century CE at the latest and that there is little to no evidence that it survived (in public form at least) past the Middle Ages. (In certain isolated areas it survived until the 12th century, see Tsakonia and Maniots) Greek member Panagiotis Marinis, has claimed that the religion of ancient Greece survived throughout the intervening centuries, and some claim they were raised in families that practiced this religion.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The revival of Hellenic religious identity is typically only part of a larger social movement of re-Hellenizing Greek identity in a comprehensive way, not only religious. This re-Hellenization movement is the current iteration of previous attempts to revive Hellenism. The first to promote such efforts was the late Byzantine philosopher Georgios Gemistus Plethon in the 15th century. It was in Mystras, in the Despotate of the Morea, that Plethon formed a 'circle' of students. It is through Plethon and his students, that many ethnic Greeks today trace their teachings and practices and give credit for tradition's survival to the present day.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Two notable students of Plethon include the historian Laonikos Chalkokondyles and Bessarion. Bessarion, educated in neoplatonism, was considered for the papacy twice. In a letter recounting the news of his teacher's death, Bessarion says that Plethon has left to "dance with the Olympian Gods" (να χορέψει μαζί με τους Ολυμπίους Θεούς) and honors Plethon by claiming him to be the reincarnation of Plato based on the "teachings of the Pythagoreans and Plato about the endless ascent and descent of souls" (διδαχές των Πυθαγορείων και του Πλάτωνα περί ατέλειωτης ανόδου και καθόδου των ψυχών).


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In 1458, just a few years after the death of Plethon, Michael Tarchaniota Marullus was born near the site of ancient Sparta in the Despotate of the Morea or in Constantinople. Both of Marullus's parents were Greek exiles who had fled from Constantinople when it fell to the Turks in 1453, and he always proudly called himself a Greek. Marullus was a poet and stratioti-soldier. Among his works, Marullus composed a collection of hymns, the "Hymni naturales," in which he celebrates the Olympian pantheon. Bartolomeo Scala, his father-in-law, was a member of the Platonic Academy in Florence, Italy.So, my good king of the gods,


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: (Hymn to Hermes)Validating the relationship between Hellenic Ethnic Religion and the Ancient Greek Religion for 'continuity' is difficult as an outsider to the tradition, argued Vlassis G. Rassias. In the 19th century, many, especially German scholars, who were otherwise remarkable scholars, made the huge mistake of reconstructing a theology from the works of Homeros, who is only a poet. Hesiodos, on the other hand, who also engages in theogony, can also be seen as theology. But his works are not set in stone either. We see that when we look at Georgios Gemistos-Plethon, at the beginning of the 15th century who is the link between the ancients and us, and who demonstrates an underground continuation that has never been broken. In one of his invocations to Zeus, Plethon presents him – to the surprise of all who see things statically – as the father of Poseidon and Kronos. The German scholar of the 19th century or modern man, who doesn't even know what tradition means, begins at this point to muse and wonder over Plethon's words. In the end, many of them come to the crazy conclusion that Plethon must be assessed as a heretic. Though when Plethon's presentation of Zeus as the 'father' of Poseidon and Kronos is compared to the Derveni papyrus (discovered in 1962), Plethon appears less the heretic. The Derveni Papyrus recounts an Orphic cosmology, one in which the world of today is Zeus’ creation. The new order of the world arises from Zeus after he swallows the severed phallus, the last act in a series of overthrowings of the ruling figure. In doing this, Zeus contained all things within himself and remade the world and regenerated all the Gods and Goddess once more, being King and 'father' to all things. This aligns with the writings of Plethon. In the Book of Laws, Zeus "existed from all eternity," "not born of any other...he is self-father [αὐτοπάτορα]...has no other father than himself...he is the father and the eldest creator [δημιουργὸν] of all things." The other gods in the Greek pantheon are divided according "to divine nature [θεότητι] into the second and third orders, the first of which are the children of Zeus, his creations, and the second are the children of his children, the creations of his creations."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Emically speaking, "revival" accurately describes the religious activity occurring in Greece and around the world since one of the main hallmarks is group gatherings and public festival celebrations. Etic observations from a distance by classical scholars, describe contemporary practices as inauthentic and therefore irrelevant or remain open on the issue. British classicist Mary Beard criticized Greek Hellenists worshippers, saying, "until these eager neo-pagans get real and slaughter a bull or two in central Athens, I shan’t worry that they have much to do with ancient religion at all", later commented that, "I think I was really responding to the claims made by this group that they were reviving ancient paganism. I am absolutely ok with the idea that religions change. I was reacting to their claims to be a modern version of ancient 'paganism'." American classicist, Sarah Iles Johnston affirmed contemporary practice. "The bricolage and re-imaginings of contemporary Pagans is not entirely different from that of ancient Greek religious culture and that even classical scholars inevitably re-imagine the gods." Revivalists view the tradition as a living, changing religion. Hellenic Revivalism allows room for practitioners to decide what feels right to them, and to adapt historical religious practices to modern life.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Hellenists and other self described pagans/polytheists typically engage in reconstructionism, a methodology that attempts to accurately base modern religious practice on the imitation of culturally and historically genuine examples of ancient religious practices. The term is frequently used in the United States to differentiate between syncretic and eclectic Neopagan movements, and those based on the traditions, writings, history, and mythology of a specific ancient polytheistic culture. The Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes have made a clear distinction between themselves and the Neopagan movements, and identify some 'Hellenic' groups as "simply disguised as 'Hellenes' for reasons that exist hidden within the depths of their own minds."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: During the 18th century, several notable authors and freethinkers embraced Ancient Greek religion to some extent, studying and translating ancient works of theology and philosophy, and in some cases composing original hymns and devotionals to the Ancient Greek pantheon. The English author John Fransham (1730–1810) was one example, considered an eccentric by his peers, who was also referred to as a pagan and a polytheist. In Fransham's 1769 book "The Oestrum of Orpheus", he advanced a theology similar to that of the Neoplatonists: that the first cause of existence is uncreated and indestructible, but not intelligent, and that the universe is shaped by "innumerable intelligent powers or forces, 'plastic and designing,' who ruled all sublunary affairs, and may most fitly be designated by the nomenclature of the Hellenic theology." Despite his apparent belief in the Hellenic gods, Fransham does not seem to have been particularly devoted to their worship. According to an 1875 profile in "Fraser's Magazine", Franshem's "libations to the Penates found their way down his own throat, and when he sacrificed a fowl to 'Esculapius it was usually in the form of chicken-broth for his supper."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Another example of an 18th-century literary figure who may have considered himself a Hellenist was Thomas Taylor (1758–1835), who produced the first English translations of many neoplatonic philosophical and religious texts. Taylor was widely known as the "English Platonist", and rumors existed that he had produced anonymous pamphlets advocating a return to a sort of pagan religion (these rumors have been debunked by modern scholars). Though the extent of his actual devotion to Ancient Greek spirituality remains unknown, brief descriptions written by others about him tend to portray him as a sincerely devout polytheist. One such sketch, written by Isaac D'Israeli, describes Taylor delaying answering his door until he has finished his mid-day hymn to Apollo, and reports that his study contained a hanging globe of clear glass, representing Zeus, that scattered sunbeams he would use to read and write, shifting his position in the room to follow them throughout the day.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In 1779, the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote in his diary that “the beautiful gods continue to visit me.” He did not profess a literal belief in the deities of Classical Greece, rather perceiving them to be poetic symbols of his own deepest experience.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: His work inspired a limited number devotees. The most notable was Godefroi Izarn, the Marquis de Valadi, a young member of a wealthy French family who adopted a "Pythagorean mode of life". In 1788, Valadi traveled to England in order to convince an unnamed "gentleman of eminence in the literary world" to become the head of a new Pythagorean sect, assuring him that Valadi would help him find numerous followers. He refused, and suggested Valadi learn Greek and become the head of the sect himself. Valadi began his studies at Glasgow, where he learned of Taylor, to whom he wrote in a letter:


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Valadi paid Taylor to live in his house and study under him, but his tenure as Taylor's disciple was short lived. He returned to France to fight in the French Revolution in 1789 (he reportedly said, "I came over Diogenes. I am going back Alexander."), and was executed by guillotine in December 1793.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The literary and artistic movement known as Romanticism promoted notions of the masterless personal soul, a heightened regard for nature and an interest in supernatural themes, including both magic and Pagan, especially Classical Greek, religion. Many proponents of Romanticism wrote poems inspired by figures of Greek mythology and in 1821 the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg:


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: "I am glad that you do not neglect the rites of the true religion. Your letter awoke my sleeping devotions, and the same evening I ascended alone the high mountain behind my house, and suspended a garland, and raised a small turf altar to the mountain-walking Pan."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In the early 20th century, several neopagan groups were formed, often incorporating elements of ancient Greek religion and honoring Greek gods, but with heavily syncretic elements drawn from Hermeticism and 19th century folklore studies. Most prominent of these modern traditions are Thelema and Wicca, though Feraferia (an American tradition founded in the 1970s by Fred Adams) places heavier emphasis on a more Hellenistic style of worship and on the Greco-Roman pantheon of gods. One Wiccan organization in the United States, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, began to host a spring festival based on the Eleusinian Mysteries in 1985, which has continued to be held every year through the present day.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: During the 1970s, some began to reject the influence of Hermeticism and other heavily syncretic forms of Greek religion in preference of practices reconstructing earlier or more original forms of Hellenic worship. Early revivalists of Hellenic religion tended to be individuals working alone, and early attempts to organize adherents into larger groups failed. The first successful revival attempt was made by the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes (or YSEE). In 1993, a variety of adherents to the Hellenic religion in Greece and elsewhere came together and began the process of organization. This resulted in a "Hellenic National Assembly", initiated at a gathering in southern Olympus on 9 September 1995. The process culminated with the formal establishment of the YSEE as a non-profit in Greece, in June 1997.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In May 2006 an Athens court granted official recognition to the veneration of the Ancient Greek pantheon. Soon afterwards, on 22 January 2007, the Hellenist group Ellinais held a ceremony at the historic Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. It was the first such rite performed at the temple since the ancient Greek religion was outlawed by the Roman government in the late 4th century. The ceremony involved participants dressed as ancient warriors who left their swords and spears outside the sacred site, to represent the laying down of arms before the Olympic games. The BBC referred to the event as a show of "intentional publicity". The event caught the attention of the Greek Orthodox Church. Reporters at the event suggested the church might step up their opposition to the legitimizing of Hellenism. Father Eustathios Kollas, who presided over a community of Greek Orthodox priests, said: ""They are a handful of miserable resuscitators of a degenerate dead religion who wish to return to the monstrous dark delusions of the past."" Despite the 2006 court ruling, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports continued to disallow ceremonies of any kind at archaeological sites, and some early 21st century Hellenic rituals therefore took the form of protests. In August 2008, a group of adherents, again organized by Ellinais, gathered at the Acropolis both to give libations and other offerings to the goddess Athena, and to protest the removal of architectural pieces from the temples to a new museum at the site.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The first modern Hellenic temple dedicated to the Hellenic gods was started in 1994 just outside Thessaloniki in the village of Oraiokastro and completed in 2009. Another temple, dedicated to Alexander and the Earth opened in the nearby village of Mesaia in 2019.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: A modern Hellenic temple in Athens is still in the planning stages, and worshippers meet at a temporary temple at the headquarters of the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes (YSEE) at an apartment building on Aristotelous street in central Athens.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In 2017, the Greek government officially recognised Hellenism as a religion, about 1600 years after the Ancient Hellenic religion was banned by Emperor Theodosius I.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Hellenism originated in and is practiced in Greece and has inspired religious worship in other countries. Leaders of the movement claimed in 2005 that there are as many as 2,000 adherents to the Hellenic tradition in Greece, with an additional 100,000 who have "some sort of interest". No official estimates exist for devotees worldwide. Outside Greece, religious organizations began to emerge around 1998, with some individuals claiming to have been engaging in some form of traditional practice since the 1970s.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: The first Greek organization to openly support the religious revival of Hellenic religion was Ύπατο Συμβούλιο των Ελλήνων Εθνικών (Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes or YSEE), established in 1997, and is publicly active. YSEE is a founding member of the World Congress of Ethnic Religions (now European Congress of Ethnic Religions) and hosted the seventh annual WCER Congress in June 2004. With branches also in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Germany, their level of real world public activity, and actual membership levels, the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes can be argued to be the defining lead organization for the public revival movement. YSEE is also a member of the European Union's action program to combat discrimination. The organization primarily refers to the religion as the "Ethnic Polytheistic" or "genuine Hellenism" and its practitioners as "Ethnikoi Hellenes", "Ethnic [National] Hellenes". YSEE uses the terms "traditional", "ethnic", and "genuine" to refer to their religious practices. Hellenic polytheist author Vlassis G. Rassias has written a popular series of books on "Christian persecutions against the Hellenes," while the Athens-based group "Ellinais" emphasizes "world peace and the brotherhood of man."


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Another active organization based in Greece, the (, ) religious community was founded in 2008. Labrys has focused primarily on the religious aspects of Hellenism or Hellenic polytheism, avoiding anti-Christian rhetoric and politics, establishing weekly public rituals and engaging in other aspects of practical promotion of polytheism like theater and music. Labrys has also promoted among Hellenes worldwide the need to actively practice household worship and the idea that family and community should be the starting points of religious practice. The community has been organizing since 2008 the largest festival in Athens and also actively participates and supports the religious aspects of the oldest Hellenic festival in Greece, Prometheia which is held every year on Mount Olympus. The Labrys religious community has published a book.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Founded in the United States in 2001, Hellenion identifies its practices as "Hellenic Pagan Reconstructionism" and emphasizes historical accuracy in its mission statement. Hellenion does not provide official membership numbers to the public, but an unofficial estimate of 43 members was made for 2007 and approximately 100 members for 2017. though this number can only give the roughest approximation, as Hellenion offers hardship waivers to those who cannot afford the typical membership fees. In early 2010, the organization reported 1 demos (fully chartered local congregation) and 6 proto-demoi (start-up congregations not fully chartered with less than 3 members) established, which offer rituals and other events for members and frequently for the public as well. Two of the six proto-demoi cannot be independently verified to exist. Hellenion offers legal clergy training, basic adult religious education classes, and other educational/training courses for its members.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: Another American group, Elaion, was founded in 2005 after members of other groups grew dissatisfied with what was, in their view, a de-emphasis on Hellenic ethics, philosophy, poetry, and art, and a re-emergence of "occult" doctrines among some practitioners. Elaion aimed to create an organization that emphasized ethics, piety, and "right-living", which they initially termed "Traditionalist Hellenismos". No reported numbers for current membership levels are known to exist. Among the various modern Stoic philosophical groups, many equate Zeus with Divine Providence, or Divine Logos. Among the modern Epicurean philosophical groups, Society of Epicurus accepts the ancient, naturalistic, polytheistic view of the Epicurean gods as one of three legitimate modern interpretations of Epicurean theology.


title: Hellenism (modern religion)

text: In Brazil, there are some religious groups, in different states. In addition, in Portuguese language, there is the website of RHB – Reconstrucionismo Helênico no Brasil, built since 2003 by Brazilian members of Hellenion and other international groups, such as the American Neokoroi and the Greek Thyrsos.


title: Hafez

text: Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī (), known by his pen name Hafez (, "Ḥāfeẓ", 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", was a Persian lyric poet, whose collected works are regarded by many Iranians as a pinnacle of Persian literature. His works are often found in the homes of people in the Persian-speaking world, who learn his poems by heart and use them as everyday proverbs and sayings. His life and poems have become the subjects of much analysis, commentary and interpretation, influencing post-14th century Persian writing more than any other Persian author.


title: Hafez

text: Hafez is best known for his Divan of Hafez, a collection of his surviving poems probably compiled after his death. His works can be described as "antinomian" and with the medieval use of the term "theosophical"; the term "theosophy" in the 13th and 14th centuries was used to indicate mystical work by "authors only inspired by the holy books" (as distinguished from theology). Hafez primarily wrote in the literary genre of lyric poetry or ghazals, that is the ideal style for expressing the ecstasy of divine inspiration in the mystical form of love poems. He was a Sufi.


title: Hafez

text: Themes of his ghazals include the beloved, faith and exposing hypocrisy. In his ghazals he deals with love, wine and taverns, all presenting ecstasy and freedom from restraint, whether in actual worldly release or in the voice of the lover speaking of divine love. His influence on Persian speakers appears in divination by his poems (, "fāl-e hāfez", somewhat similar to the Roman tradition of "sortes vergilianae") and in the frequent use of his poems in Persian traditional music, visual art and Persian calligraphy. His tomb is located in his birthplace of Shiraz. Adaptations, imitations and translations of his poems exist in all major languages.


title: Hafez

text: Hafez was born in Shiraz, Iran. Few details of his life are known. Accounts of his early life rely upon traditional anecdotes. Early "tazkiras" (biographical sketches) mentioning Hafez are generally considered unreliable. At an early age, he memorized the Quran and was given the title of "Hafez", which he later used as his pen name. The preface of his Divān, in which his early life is discussed, was written by an unknown contemporary whose name may have been Moḥammad Golandām. Two of the most highly regarded modern editions of Hafez's Divān are compiled by Moḥammad Ghazvini and Qāsem Ḡani (495 "ghazals") and by Parviz Natel-Khanlari (486 "ghazals"). Hafez was a Sufi Muslim.


title: Hafez

text: Modern scholars generally agree that he was born either in 1315 or 1317. According to an account by Jami, Hafez died in 1390. Hafez was supported by patronage from several successive local regimes: Shah Abu Ishaq, who came to power while Hafez was in his teens; Timur at the end of his life; and even the strict ruler Shah Mubariz ud-Din Muhammad (Mubariz Muzaffar). Though his work flourished most under the 27-year rule of Jalal ud-Din Shah Shuja (Shah Shuja), it is claimed Hāfez briefly fell out of favor with Shah Shuja for mocking inferior poets (Shah Shuja wrote poetry himself and may have taken the comments personally), forcing Hāfez to flee from Shiraz to Isfahan and Yazd, but no historical evidence is available. Hafez also exchanged letters and poetry with Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah, the Sultan of Bengal, who invited him to Sonargaon though he could not make it.


title: Hafez

text: Twenty years after his death, a tomb, the "Hafezieh", was erected to honor Hafez in the Musalla Gardens in Shiraz. The current mausoleum was designed by André Godard, a French archeologist and architect, in the late 1930s, and the tomb is raised up on a dais amidst rose gardens, water channels, and orange trees. Inside, Hafez's alabaster sarcophagus bears the inscription of two of his poems.


title: Hafez

text: Many semi-miraculous mythical tales were woven around Hafez after his death. It is said that by listening to his father's recitations, Hafez had accomplished the task of learning the Quran by heart at an early age (that is the meaning of the word "Hafez"). At the same time, he is said to have known by heart the works of Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi), Saadi, Farid ud-Din, and Nizami.


title: Hafez

text: According to one tradition, before meeting his self-chosen Sufi master Hajji Zayn al-Attar, Hafez had been working in a bakery, delivering bread to a wealthy quarter of the town. There, he first saw Shakh-e Nabat, a woman of great beauty, to whom some of his poems are addressed. Ravished by her beauty but knowing that his love for her would not be requited, he allegedly held his first mystic vigil in his desire to realize this union. Still, he encountered a being of surpassing beauty who identified himself as an angel, and his further attempts at union became mystic; a pursuit of spiritual union with the divine.


title: Hafez

text: At 60, he is said to have begun a "Chilla-nashini", a 40-day-and-night vigil by sitting in a circle that he had drawn for himself. On the 40th day, he once again met with Zayn al-Attar on what is known to be their fortieth anniversary and was offered a cup of wine. It was there where he is said to have attained "Cosmic Consciousness". He hints at this episode in one of his verses in which he advises the reader to attain "clarity of wine" by letting it "sit for 40 days".


title: Hafez

text: Samarkand was Tamerlane's capital and Bokhara was the kingdom's finest city. "With the blows of my lustrous sword", Timur complained, "I have subjugated most of the habitable globe... to embellish Samarkand and Bokhara, the seats of my government; and you would sell them for the black mole of some girl in Shiraz!"


title: Hafez

text: Hafez, the tale goes, bowed deeply and replied, "Alas, O Prince, it is this prodigality which is the cause of the misery in which you find me". So surprised and pleased was Timur with this response that he dismissed Hafez with handsome gifts.


title: Hafez

text: Hafez was acclaimed throughout the Islamic world during his lifetime, with other Persian poets imitating his work, and offers of patronage from Baghdad to India.


title: Hafez

text: His work was first translated into English in 1771 by William Jones. It would leave a mark on such Western writers as Thoreau, Goethe, W. B. Yeats, in his prose anthology book of essays, "Discoveries", as well as gaining a positive reception within West Bengal, in India, among some of the most prolific religious leaders and poets in this province, Debendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore's father, who knew Persian and used to recite from Hafez's Divans and in this line, Gurudev himself, who, during his visit to Persia in 1932, also made a homage visit to Hafez's tomb in Shiraz and Ralph Waldo Emerson (the last referred to him as "a poet's poet"). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has his character Sherlock Holmes state that "there is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world" (in A Case of Identity). Friedrich Engels mentioned him in an 1853 letter to Karl Marx.


title: Hafez

text: There is no definitive version of his collected works (or "Dīvān"); editions vary from 573 to 994 poems. Only since the 1940s has a sustained scholarly attempt (by Mas'ud Farzad, Qasim Ghani and others in Iran) been made to authenticate his work and to remove errors introduced by later copyists and censors. However, the reliability of such work has been questioned, and in the words of Hāfez scholar Iraj Bashiri, "there remains little hope from there (i.e.: Iran) for an authenticated diwan".


title: Hafez

text: Hafez is the most popular poet in Iran, and his works can be found in almost every Iranian home. In fact, October 12 is celebrated as Hafez Day in Iran.


title: Hafez

text: His tomb is "crowded with devotees" who visit the site and the atmosphere is "festive" with visitors singing and reciting their favorite Hafez poems.


title: Hafez

text: Many Iranians use Divan of Hafez for fortune telling. Iranian families usually have a Divan of Hafez in their house, and when they get together during the Nowruz or Yaldā holidays, they open the Divan to a random page and read the poem on it, which they believe to be an indication of things that will happen in the future.


title: Hafez

text: In the genre of Persian classical music Hafez along with Sa'di have been the most popular poets in the art of āvāz, non-metered form of singing. Also the form 'Sāqi-Nāmeh' in the radif of Persian music is based on the same title by Hafez. A number of contemporary composers such as Parviz Meshkatian (Sheydaie), Hossein Alizadeh (Ahu-ye Vahshi), Mohammad Reza Lotfi (Golestān), and Siamak Aghaie (Yād Bād) have composed metric songs (tasnif) based on ghazals of Hafez which have become very popular in the genre of classical music. Hayedeh performed the song "Padeshah-e Khooban", with music by Farid Zoland. The Ottoman composer Buhurizade Mustafa Itri composed his magnum opus Neva Kâr based upon one of Hafez's poems. The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski composed The Love Songs of Hafiz based upon a German translation of Hafez poems.


title: Hafez

text: Many Afghan singers, including Ahmad Zahir and Sarban, have composed songs such as "Ay Padeshah-e Khooban", "Gar-Zulfe Parayshanat".


title: Hafez

text: The question of whether his work is to be interpreted literally, mystically, or both has been a source of contention among western scholars. On the one hand, some of his early readers such as William Jones saw in him a conventional lyricist similar to European love poets such as Petrarch. Others scholars such as Henry Wilberforce Clarke saw him as purely a poet of didactic, ecstatic mysticism in the manner of Rumi, a view that a minority of twentieth century critics and literary historians have come to challenge. Ralph Waldo Emerson rejected the Sufistic view of wine in Hafez's poems.


title: Hafez

text: This confusion stems from the fact that, early in Persian literary history, the poetic vocabulary was usurped by mystics, who believed that the ineffable could be better approached in poetry than in prose. In composing poems of mystic content, they imbued every word and image with mystical undertones, causing mysticism and lyricism to converge into a single tradition. As a result, no fourteenth-century Persian poet could write a lyrical poem without having a flavor of mysticism forced on it by the poetic vocabulary itself. While some poets, such as Ubayd Zakani, attempted to distance themselves from this fused mystical-lyrical tradition by writing satires, Hafez embraced the fusion and thrived on it. Wheeler Thackston has said of this that Hafez "sang a rare blend of human and mystic love so balanced... that it is impossible to separate one from the other".


title: Hafez

text: For reasons such as that, the history of the translation of Hāfez is fraught with complications, and few translations into western languages have been wholly successful.


title: Hafez

text: One of the figurative gestures for which he is most famous (and which is among the most difficult to translate) is "īhām" or artful punning. Thus, a word such as "gowhar", which could mean both "essence, truth" and "pearl", would take on "both" meanings at once as in a phrase such as "a pearl/essential truth outside the shell of superficial existence".


title: Hafez

text: Hafez often took advantage of the aforementioned lack of distinction between lyrical, mystical, and panegyric writing by using highly intellectualized, elaborate metaphors and images to suggest multiple possible meanings. For example, a couplet from one of Hafez's poems reads:


title: Hafez

text: The cypress tree is a symbol both of the beloved and of a regal presence; the nightingale and birdsong evoke the traditional setting for human love. The "lessons of spiritual stations" suggest, obviously, a mystical undertone as well (though the word for "spiritual" could also be translated as "intrinsically meaningful"). Therefore, the words could signify at once a prince addressing his devoted followers, a lover courting a beloved, and the reception of spiritual wisdom.


title: Hafez

text: Though Hafez is well known for his poetry, he is less commonly recognized for his intellectual and political contributions. A defining feature of Hafez' poetry is its ironic tone and the theme of hypocrisy, widely believed to be a critique of the religious and ruling establishments of the time. Persian satire developed during the 14th century, within the courts of the Mongol Empire. In this period, Hafez and other notable early satirists, such as Ubayd Zakani, produced a body of work that has since become a template for the use of satire as a political device. Many of his critiques are believed to be targeted at the rule of Mubariz al-Din Muhammad, specifically, towards the disintegration of important public and private institutions.


title: Hafez

text: His work, particularly his imaginative references to monasteries, convents, Shahneh, and muhtasib, ignored the religious taboos of his period, and he found humor in some of his society's religious doctrines. Employing humor polemically has since become a common practice in Iranian public discourse and satire is now perhaps the de facto language of Iranian social commentary.


title: Hafez

text: A standard modern English edition of Hafez is "Faces of Love" (2012) translated by Dick Davis for Penguin Classics. "Beloved: 81 poems from Hafez" (Bloodaxe Books, 2018) is a recent English selection noted by Fatemeh Keshavarz (Roshan Institute for Persian studies, University of Maryland) for preserving "that audacious and multilayered richness one finds in the originals".


title: Hafez

text: Peter Avery translated a complete edition of Hafez in English, "The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz", published in 2007. It was awarded Iran's Farabi prize. Avery's translations are published with notes explaining allusions in the text and filling in what the poets would have expected their readers to know. An abridged version exists, titled "Hafiz of Shiraz: Thirty Poems: An Introduction to the Sufi Master".


title: Hafez

text: Divan Hafez is a book containing all the remaining poems of Hafez. Most of these poems are in Persian and the most crucial part of this Divan is ghazals. There are poems in other poetic formats such as piece, ode, Masnavi and quatrain in this Divan.


title: Hafez

text: There is no evidence that most of Hafez's poems were destroyed. In addition, Hafez was very famous during his lifetime; Therefore, the small number of poetry in the court indicates that he was not a prolific poet.


title: Hafez

text: Hafez's Divan was probably compiled for the first time by Mohammad Glendam after his death. Of course, some unconfirmed reports indicate that Hafez published his court in 770 AH. that is, edited more than twenty years before his death.


title: Hafez

text: The year of Hafez's death is 791 AH. Hafez was buried in the prayer hall of Shiraz called hafezieh. In 855 AH, after the conquest of Shiraz by Abolghasem Babar Teymouri, they built a tomb under the command of his minister, Maulana Mohammad Mamaei.


title: Hafez

text: The number in the edition by Muhammad Qazvini and Qasem Ghani (1941) is given, as well as that of Parviz Nātel-Khānlari (2nd ed. 1983):


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: Favourite Worst Nightmare is the second studio album by English rock band Arctic Monkeys, released on 23 April 2007 by Domino Recording Company. Recorded in east London's Miloco Studios with producers James Ford and Mike Crossey, the album was preceded by the release of "Brianstorm" on 2 April 2007. This is the band's first album with bassist Nick O'Malley, replacing their previous bassist Andy Nicholson, who left the band before the North America tour of the band's debut studio album.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: In comparison to the band's debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", the album is considered more ambitious, with ambient sounds and expanded drum rhythms being introduced. Like Arctic Monkey's debut, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" was a widespread critical success, with critics highlighting the band's new emotional depth and Turner's matured songwriting. "NME" and "Uncut" ranked it the second-best album of 2007, while Dutch publication "OOR" named it the best of 2007. In retrospect, the album is considered the start of the band's change of sound with each of their albums after their debut.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: In its first week of release, the album sold over 227,000 copies, going straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart. "Brianstorm" and "Fluorescent Adolescent" were also both hits on the UK Singles Chart, with the former reaching number two on the chart. In the United States, the album debuted at number seven on the "Billboard" 200, selling around 44,000 copies in its first week. The album has since gone 4× platinum in the UK. It was nominated for the 2007 Mercury Prize and won Best British Album at the 2008 BRIT Awards.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: The album's title came from the lyrics to the song "D is for Dangerous", the third song featured on the album. The band said they also considered naming the album "Lesbian Wednesdays", "Gordon Brown", or "Gary Barlow". In an interview with "NME", Nick O'Malley announced several songs including "D is for Dangerous" and "Balaclava". The tracks "The Bakery" and "Plastic Tramp" also mentioned in the "NME" interview did not make it onto the album, but were later released as B-sides on the "Fluorescent Adolescent" single. The track "Leave Before the Lights Come On" was also rumoured for inclusion, but did not make the final cut.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: Half of the album's songs were debuted at concerts before the release of the album. The album was recorded quickly as the band wanted to start touring and play the songs.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: The album's cover art features a black-and-white photograph of a house in the Garston district of Liverpool, with colourful cartoonish images visible through its windows. This marks the second consecutive time the band used a photograph taken in Liverpool as an album cover, following their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not".


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: The music on "Favourite Worst Nightmare" has been characterised as post-punk revival, indie rock, and garage rock, and post-Britpop. In comparison to the band's debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", the album has been described as "very, very fast and very, very loud", being seen as "more ambitious, heavier...and with a fiercely bright production". Reflecting the band's travels around the world more than local stories of the first record, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" is a "faster, meaner" album. The album arguably has influences from The Smiths – "twanging, quasi-ambient backdrops...and Turner's voice [...] crooning like Morrissey or Richard Hawley." Matt Helders said "James was DJing loads in the evening so we'd go out and [...] have a dance." As a result, the drum rhythms of Helders and bassist Nick O'Malley have drawn comparisons to the Eighties funk band ESG. The band's love of classic films also influenced their new style. For example, the organ at the beginning of the album's final track, "505" is replicating Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (where Angel Eyes enters before the final standoff).


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: "Favourite Worst Nightmare" has received universal acclaim since release, with a score of 82 on Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100, based on 38 reviews.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: In a 5-star review, "The Daily Express" described it as "a shockingly good release that just gets better, faster and stronger with each listen", while "The Guardian" said it had "successfully negotiated the daunting task of following up the biggest-selling debut album in British history" and stated that the second half of the album was the stronger half, noting the similarity to Morrissey in "Fluorescent Adolescent" whilst criticising the opening tracks, Brianstorm in particular. Their progression was also highlighted with "The Guardian" saying "if you removed everything from the album except Matt Helders' drumming, it would still be a pretty gripping listen", and "The Observer" praising the new sounds on the album referencing the "piercing, melodic guitar by Jamie Cook" and "where Turner reveals the other weapons in his armoury" when referring to Alex Turner's progression. Pitchfork Media noticed the "new emotional depth" of tracks such as "Do Me a Favour", "Only Ones Who Know" and "505", which were also commonly cited by most other critics as being amongst the highlights. "NME" and "Uncut" ranked it as the second-best album of 2007. Dutch publication "OOR" named it the best of 2007.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: Jacob Stolworthy of "The Independent" reviewed the album on its 10th anniversary in 2017, saying, ""Favourite Worst Nightmare" was the first sign that Arctic Monkeys would change up their sound with each new record in as drastic a fashion as they wished [...] If their debut defined a generation, this record shaped the band's future in a manner more mature, sexy and - just like the party depicted in the rowdy track 'This House Is a Circus' - berserk as f*ck."


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: In its first week of release, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" sold 227,993 copies, emulating "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" in going straight to number one in the UK Albums Chart, albeit selling 130,000 copies fewer than the band's record-breaking debut. The first two singles from the album, "Brianstorm" and "Fluorescent Adolescent", were both UK top-10 hits. The album's first day sales of 85,000 outsold the rest of the top 20 combined, while all 12 tracks from the album entered the top 200 of the UK Singles Chart. By September 2022, 1,200,000 copies of the album had been sold in the UK; it was certified 4× Platinum in 2022. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2007 and won Best British Album at the BRIT Awards the following year.


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: In the USA, the album debuted at number seven, selling around 44,000 copies in its first week and become the band's first top-10 album there. The album also achieved top-10


title: Favourite Worst Nightmare

text: debuts in 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Japan, Mexico, and New Zealand.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental scientific method. He is best known for Boyle's law, which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. Among his works, "The Sceptical Chymist" is seen as a cornerstone book in the field of chemistry. He was a devout and pious Anglican and is noted for his writings in theology.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Boyle was born at Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland, the seventh son and fourteenth child of The 1st Earl of Cork ('the Great Earl of Cork') and Catherine Fenton. Lord Cork, then known simply as Richard Boyle, had arrived in Dublin from England in 1588 during the Tudor plantations of Ireland and obtained an appointment as a deputy escheator. He had amassed enormous wealth and landholdings by the time Robert was born, and had been created Earl of Cork in October 1620. Catherine Fenton, Countess of Cork, was the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, the former Secretary of State for Ireland, who was born in Dublin in 1539, and Alice Weston, the daughter of Robert Weston, who was born in Lismore in 1541.


title: Robert Boyle

text: As a child, Boyle was raised by a wet nurse, as were his elder brothers. Boyle received private tutoring in Latin, Greek, and French and when he was eight years old, following the death of his mother, he, and his brother Francis, were sent to Eton College in England. His father's friend, Sir Henry Wotton, was then the provost of the college.


title: Robert Boyle

text: During this time, his father hired a private tutor, Robert Carew, who had knowledge of Irish, to act as private tutor to his sons in Eton. However, "only Mr. Robert sometimes desires it [Irish] and is a little entered in it", but despite the "many reasons" given by Carew to turn their attentions to it, "they practice the French and Latin but they affect not the Irish". After spending over three years at Eton, Robert travelled abroad with a French tutor. They visited Italy in 1641 and remained in Florence during the winter of that year studying the "paradoxes of the great star-gazer" Galileo Galilei, who was elderly but still living in 1641.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Robert returned to England from continental Europe in mid-1644 with a keen interest in scientific research. His father, Lord Cork, had died the previous year and had left him the manor of Stalbridge in Dorset as well as substantial estates in County Limerick in Ireland that he had acquired. Robert then made his residence at Stalbridge House, between 1644 and 1652, and settled a laboratory where he conducted many experiments. From that time, Robert devoted his life to scientific research and soon took a prominent place in the band of enquirers, known as the "Invisible College", who devoted themselves to the cultivation of the "new philosophy". They met frequently in London, often at Gresham College, and some of the members also had meetings at Oxford.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Having made several visits to his Irish estates beginning in 1647, Robert moved to Ireland in 1652 but became frustrated at his inability to make progress in his chemical work. In one letter, he described Ireland as "a barbarous country where chemical spirits were so misunderstood and chemical instruments so unprocurable that it was hard to have any Hermetic thoughts in it."


title: Robert Boyle

text: In 1654, Boyle left Ireland for Oxford to pursue his work more successfully. An inscription can be found on the wall of University College, Oxford, the High Street at Oxford (now the location of the Shelley Memorial), marking the spot where Cross Hall stood until the early 19th century. It was here that Boyle rented rooms from the wealthy apothecary who owned the Hall.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Reading in 1657 of Otto von Guericke's air pump, he set himself, with the assistance of Robert Hooke, to devise improvements in its construction, and with the result, the "machina Boyleana" or "Pneumatical Engine", finished in 1659, he began a series of experiments on the properties of air and coined the term factitious airs. An account of Boyle's work with the air pump was published in 1660 under the title "New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air, and its Effects".


title: Robert Boyle

text: Among the critics of the views put forward in this book was a Jesuit, Francis Line (1595–1675), and it was while answering his objections that Boyle made his first mention of the law that the volume of a gas varies inversely to the pressure of the gas, which among English-speaking people is usually called Boyle's Law after his name. The person who originally formulated the hypothesis was Henry Power in 1661. Boyle in 1662 included a reference to a paper written by Power, but mistakenly attributed it to Richard Towneley. In continental Europe the hypothesis is sometimes attributed to Edme Mariotte, although he did not publish it until 1676 and was likely aware of Boyle's work at the time.


title: Robert Boyle

text: In 1663 the Invisible College became The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and the charter of incorporation granted by Charles II of England named Boyle a member of the council. In 1680 he was elected president of the society, but declined the honour from a scruple about oaths.


title: Robert Boyle

text: He made a "wish list" of 24 possible inventions which included "the prolongation of life", the "art of flying", "perpetual light", "making armour light and extremely hard", "a ship to sail with all winds, and a ship not to be sunk", "practicable and certain way of finding longitudes", "potent drugs to alter or exalt imagination, waking, memory and other functions and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc.". All but a few of the 24 have come true.


title: Robert Boyle

text: In 1668 he left Oxford for London where he resided at the house of his elder sister Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh, in Pall Mall. He experimented in the laboratory she had in her home and attended her salon of intellectuals interested in the sciences. The siblings maintained "a lifelong intellectual partnership, where brother and sister shared medical remedies, promoted each other's scientific ideas, and edited each other's manuscripts." His contemporaries widely acknowledged Katherine's influence on his work, but later historiographers dropped discussion of her accomplishments and relationship to her brother from their histories.


title: Robert Boyle

text: In 1669 his health, never very strong, began to fail seriously and he gradually withdrew from his public engagements, ceasing his communications to the Royal Society, and advertising his desire to be excused from receiving guests, "unless upon occasions very extraordinary", on Tuesday and Friday forenoon, and Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. In the leisure thus gained he wished to "recruit his spirits, range his papers", and prepare some important chemical investigations which he proposed to leave "as a kind of Hermetic legacy to the studious disciples of that art", but of which he did not make known the nature. His health became still worse in 1691, and he died on 31 December that year, just a week after the death of his sister, Katherine, in whose home he had lived and with whom he had shared scientific pursuits for more than twenty years. Boyle died from paralysis. He was buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields, his funeral sermon being preached by his friend, Bishop Gilbert Burnet. In his will, Boyle endowed a series of lectures that came to be known as the Boyle Lectures.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Boyle's great merit as a scientific investigator is that he carried out the principles which Francis Bacon espoused in the "Novum Organum". Yet he would not avow himself a follower of Bacon, or indeed of any other teacher.


title: Robert Boyle

text: On several occasions he mentions that to keep his judgment as unprepossessed as might be with any of the modern theories of philosophy, until he was "provided of experiments" to help him judge of them. He refrained from any study of the atomical and the Cartesian systems, and even of the Novum Organum itself, though he admits to "transiently consulting" them about a few particulars. Nothing was more alien to his mental temperament than the spinning of hypotheses. He regarded the acquisition of knowledge as an end in itself, and in consequence he gained a wider outlook on the aims of scientific inquiry than had been enjoyed by his predecessors for many centuries. This, however, did not mean that he paid no attention to the practical application of science nor that he despised knowledge which tended to use.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Robert Boyle was an alchemist; and believing the transmutation of metals to be a possibility, he carried out experiments in the hope of achieving it; and he was instrumental in obtaining the repeal, in 1689, of the statute of Henry IV against multiplying gold and silver. With all the important work he accomplished in physics – the enunciation of Boyle's law, the discovery of the part taken by air in the propagation of sound, and investigations on the expansive force of freezing water, on specific gravities and refractive powers, on crystals, on electricity, on colour, on hydrostatics, etc. – chemistry was his peculiar and favourite study. His first book on the subject was "The Sceptical Chymist", published in 1661, in which he criticised the "experiments whereby vulgar Spagyrists are wont to endeavour to evince their Salt, Sulphur and Mercury to be the true Principles of Things." For him chemistry was the science of the composition of substances, not merely an adjunct to the arts of the alchemist or the physician.


title: Robert Boyle

text: He endorsed the view of elements as the undecomposable constituents of material bodies; and made the distinction between mixtures and compounds. He made considerable progress in the technique of detecting their ingredients, a process which he designated by the term "analysis". He further supposed that the elements were ultimately composed of particles of various sorts and sizes, into which, however, they were not to be resolved in any known way. He studied the chemistry of combustion and of respiration, and conducted experiments in physiology, where, however, he was hampered by the "tenderness of his nature" which kept him from anatomical dissections, especially vivisections, though he knew them to be "most instructing".


title: Robert Boyle

text: In addition to philosophy, Boyle devoted much time to theology, showing a very decided leaning to the practical side and an indifference to controversial polemics. At the Restoration of the king in 1660, he was favourably received at court and in 1665 would have received the provostship of Eton College had he agreed to take holy orders, but this he refused to do on the ground that his writings on religious subjects would have greater weight coming from a layman than a paid minister of the Church.


title: Robert Boyle

text: Moreover, Boyle incorporated his scientific interests into his theology, believing that natural philosophy could provide powerful evidence for the existence of God. In works such as "Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things" (1688), for instance, he criticised contemporary philosophers – such as René Descartes – who denied that the study of nature could reveal much about God. Instead, Boyle argued that natural philosophers could use the design apparently on display in some parts of nature to demonstrate God's involvement with the world. He also attempted to tackle complex theological questions using methods derived from his scientific practices. In "Some Physico-Theological Considerations about the Possibility of the Resurrection" (1675), he used a chemical experiment known as the reduction to the pristine state as part of an attempt to demonstrate the physical possibility of the resurrection of the body. Throughout his career, Boyle tried to show that science could lend support to Christianity.


title: Robert Boyle

text: As a director of the East India Company he spent large sums in promoting the spread of Christianity in the East, contributing liberally to missionary societies and to the expenses of translating the Bible or portions of it into various languages. Boyle supported the policy that the Bible should be available in the vernacular language of the people. An Irish language version of the New Testament was published in 1602 but was rare in Boyle's adult life. In 1680–85 Boyle personally financed the printing of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in Irish. In this respect, Boyle's attitude to the Irish language differed from the Protestant Ascendancy class in Ireland at the time, which was generally hostile to the language and largely opposed the use of Irish (not only as a language of religious worship).


title: Robert Boyle

text: Boyle also had a monogenist perspective about race origin. He was a pioneer studying races, and he believed that all human beings, no matter how diverse their physical differences, came from the same source: Adam and Eve. He studied reported stories of parents' giving birth to different coloured albinos, so he concluded that Adam and Eve were originally white and that Caucasians could give birth to different coloured races. Boyle also extended the theories of Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton about colour and light via optical projection (in physics) into discourses of polygenesis, speculating that maybe these differences were due to "seminal impressions". Taking this into account, it might be considered that he envisioned a good explanation for complexion at his time, due to the fact that now we know that skin colour is disposed by genes, which are actually contained in the semen. Boyle's writings mention that at his time, for "European Eyes", beauty was not measured so much in colour of skin, but in "stature, comely symmetry of the parts of the body, and good features in the face". Various members of the scientific community rejected his views and described them as "disturbing" or "amusing".


title: Robert Boyle

text: In his will, Boyle provided money for a series of lectures to defend the Christian religion against those he considered "notorious infidels, namely atheists, deists, pagans, Jews and Muslims", with the provision that controversies between Christians were not to be mentioned (see Boyle Lectures).


title: Robert Boyle

text: As a founder of the Royal Society, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1663. Boyle's law is named in his honour. The Royal Society of Chemistry issues a Robert Boyle Prize for Analytical Science, named in his honour. The Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence in Ireland, inaugurated in 1899, is awarded jointly by the Royal Dublin Society and The Irish Times. Launched in 2012, The Robert Boyle Summer School organized by the Waterford Institute of Technology with support from Lismore Castle, is held annually to honor the heritage of Robert Boyle.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Derrick Vincent Thomas (January 1, 1967 – February 8, 2000), nicknamed D.T., was an American football linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Considered one of the greatest pass rushers of all time, he played 11 seasons with the Chiefs until his death in 2000. Thomas played college football at Alabama, where he won the Butkus Award, and was selected fourth overall by Kansas City in the 1989 NFL Draft. During his career, he received nine Pro Bowl and three first-team All-Pro selections, and set the single-game sacks record.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: After the Chiefs' 1999 season, Thomas was rendered paraplegic by a car crash and died two weeks later from a pulmonary embolism. He was posthumously inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Born in Miami, Florida, Thomas was raised by his mother Edith Morgan. His father, Air Force Captain and B-52 pilot Robert James Thomas, died during a mission in the Vietnam War. Thomas started playing football when he was three years old, and played his high school football at South Miami Senior High School.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Alongside Cornelius Bennett and later Keith McCants at Alabama, Thomas spearheaded one of the best defensive lines in college football and smashed many Crimson Tide defensive records, including sacks in a single season. He was awarded the Butkus Award in 1988. He was also selected as a consensus All-American at the conclusion of the 1988 season, a season which culminated in the Crimson Tide's thrilling 29-28 victory over Army in the 1988 Sun Bowl. In 2000, Thomas was named a Sun Bowl Legend. He was awarded the Sington Soaring Spirit Award by the Lakeshore Foundation. This annual award is named for University of Alabama football legend Fred Sington. Thomas was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2014.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Thomas was selected fourth overall in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. He was the first selection made by new head coach Marty Schottenheimer.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Thomas would record his first career sack in the Chiefs week 2 game against the Los Angeles Raiders. That game was also his first multi-sack game as he finished with 2.5 sacks. He would record another 7.5 sacks that season finishing with 10 his rookie year. He was named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. He was also named to the Pro Bowl.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: In his second year, Thomas recorded at least a half of a sack in each of the Chiefs first 5 games. In the Chiefs week 10 game against the Seattle Seahawks, he broke Fred Dean's 7-year old record of sacks in a single game with 7 sacks. However, on the game's final play, Thomas had a clear shot for an eighth sack, but missed it and the Seahawks would throw a game winning touchdown after the missed sack. He would later call that play the one play in his career he wished he could have a second chance at. He would finish the season with what would prove to be a career high 20 sacks, setting a franchise record that stood until it was broken by Justin Houston in 2014. He finished 2nd in defensive player of the year voting and was named 1st team All-Pro.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: The following season, he would record his first career touchdown on a 23-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the Chiefs week 11 game against the Los Angeles Rams.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Thomas would record double digits sacks for each of the first four seasons in his career. In total, 7 of his 11 seasons in the NFL he recorded double digit sack totals.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: In the Chiefs 1999 season, Thomas recorded a career low for sacks with 7. He would also record his first career interception in the Chiefs week 8 win over the San Diego Chargers. He would record the final sack of his career in the Chiefs week 15 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In what would be the final game of his career, as he would die 37 days later, the Chiefs played their rival the Oakland Raiders. With a victory in the game, the Chiefs would qualify for the playoffs. The Chiefs lost in overtime 41-38. He didn't manage to record a sack on his former teammate Rich Gannon, but he did record 6 total tackles.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: Thomas was named 1st team All-Pro 3 times and was named to the Pro Bowl 9 times. He is 17th All-time in sacks and at the time of his death in 2000, he was 9th All-time with 126.5. He remains the Chiefs' all-time leader in sacks, safeties, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, and defensive touchdowns. During his career, he recorded 1 interception and recovered 19 fumbles, returning them for 161 yards and 4 touchdowns. Thomas said in interviews his favorite quarterback to sack was Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, who he sacked 26 times. The sack total over Elway is most against any quarterback in Thomas' career and the most any individual player sacked Elway. He was posthumously inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame in 2000, with the Chiefs breaking the tradition of waiting four years after the end of the player's career. In 2009, he was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Later that same year, the Chiefs retired the number 58 in honor of him. Following his death until it was officially retired, the Chiefs did not reissue the number. The Chiefs also named their player of the year award in Thomas' honor, an award he won twice himself prior to the award being named in his honor.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: On January 23, 2000, Thomas' 1999 Chevrolet Suburban went off Interstate 435 in Clay County as he and two passengers were driving to Kansas City International Airport during a snowstorm for a flight to St. Louis to watch the between the St. Louis Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Police reports indicated that Thomas, who was driving, was speeding at approximately 70 mph even though snow and ice were rapidly accumulating on the roadway. Thomas and one of the passengers were not wearing seat belts and both were thrown from the car; the passenger, Michael Tellis, was killed instantly. The second passenger, who was wearing his safety belt, walked away from the scene uninjured. Thomas was left paralyzed from the chest down. By early February, Thomas was being treated at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. The morning of February 8, 2000, while being transferred from his hospital bed to a wheelchair on his way to therapy, Thomas told his mother he was not feeling well. His eyes then rolled back, recalled Frank Eismont, an orthopedic surgeon at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Eismont said Thomas went into cardiorespiratory arrest and died as a result of a pulmonary embolism, a massive blood clot that developed in his legs and traveled to his lungs. Months later, Thomas' family sued General Motors for $73 million in damages stemming from the accident. In 2004, a jury ruled that the family was not entitled to any money.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: In 1990, Thomas founded the Derrick Thomas Third and Long Foundation. The foundation's mission is to "sack illiteracy" and change the lives of 9- to 13-year-old urban children facing challenging and life-threatening situations in the Kansas City area.


title: Derrick Thomas

text: The Derrick Thomas Academy, a charter school in Kansas City, Missouri, opened in September 2001. It served nearly 1,000 children from kindergarten through eighth grade until it closed in 2013.


title: Phone sex

text: Phone sex is a conversation between two or more people by means of the telephone which is sexually explicit and is intended to provoke sexual arousal in one or more participants. All parties participate voluntarily; it is typically accompanied by masturbation. As a practice between individuals temporarily separated, it is as old as dial telephones, on which no operator could eavesdrop (1930s–1950s). In the later 20th century businesses emerged offering, for a fee, sexual conversations with a phone sex worker.


title: Phone sex

text: Phone sex takes imagination on both individuals' part, as each party imagines virtual sex. The sexually explicit conversation takes place between two or more persons via telephone, especially when at least one of the participants masturbates or engages in sexual fantasy.


title: Phone sex

text: Phone sex conversation may take many forms, including: guided fantasy, sexual sounds, narrated and enacted suggestions, sexual anecdotes and confessions, candid expression of sexual fantasies, feelings, or love, or discussion of personal and sensitive sexual topics.


title: Phone sex

text: Once means of transmitting payment were developed, phone sex turned into primarily a commercial activity, with customers and sellers.


title: Phone sex

text: Phone sex does not involve physical contact between those participating in it. Couples may choose to engage in phone sex when the inconvenience of distance makes physical intimacy impossible.


title: Phone sex

text: Due to the potential for emotional intimacy between those who have engaged in phone sex, it is a matter of some debate whether phone sex is to be considered infidelity when involving a person outside of a committed personal relationship. Nevertheless, phone sex should not be confused with prostitution wherein money is exchanged for in-person sexual services or physical interaction.


title: Phone sex

text: The editor of "High Society" magazine, Gloria Leonard, is credited with being one of the first people to use "976 numbers", then "900 numbers" for promotional purposes and soon as a revenue stream in the adult industry. Leonard recorded her own voice informing callers of the contents of the next issue of "High Society" magazine before its publication. Later she recorded others such as Annie Sprinkle "talking sexy". Leonard convinced magazine owner Carl Ruderman to purchase more of these numbers and the business began to be successful using the magazine to promote the service. Leonard herself was surprised at the success of these numbers.


title: Phone sex

text: Originally phone sex services consisted of a managed network of dispatchers (live or automated) and erotic performers. Performers would come to a studio where they received a cubicle, coaching, and cash incentives to keep callers on the line longer. This is the world portrayed in Spike Lee's movie about phone sex, "Girl 6". At that time independent phone sex was more dangerous, as Lee's movie portrays.


title: Phone sex

text: With the progress of technology it became more practical, convenient, and economical for providers to work out of their homes. Human dispatchers — female, except for gay male phone sex — answered the advertised phone numbers, processed payment via credit card, chose who of the available performers in the dispatcher's judgment best matched the clients' fantasy (grandma, black girl, college girl, etc.), and connected the client with the provider. The caller could not see the performer's number. Either could hang up, though some services put economic pressure on providers not to do so.


title: Phone sex

text: Originally, per-minute billing was provided by phone companies (in the U.S., using 976, then 900 numbers). There was, from some services, an attempt to keep the caller aroused but short of orgasm, so he would spend more money. (This attitude still survives among some providers.) When public (mostly female) pressure forced the phone companies to stop providing this service to sex workers, a transition was made to a manual method: pre-paid blocks of time, 10, 30, 60 minutes, whatever the customer would pay for. The incentives for providers were then reversed; rather than earning money from keeping the customer on the line (orgasm delayed), they earned more from bringing the caller to orgasm quickly, so as to move on rapidly to another call. Unused minutes were rarely usable on a second call. The provider provided (say) 10 minutes of service, but got to keep all of the money (say 20 minutes).


title: Phone sex

text: When the Internet got relatively mature, sale of any sexual service not involving a minor could be made to anyone not a minor. Software platforms were custom written to handle money collection and transfer, connecting caller and sex worker though neither could see anything but the platform's phone number, and metering the connection. Details vary significantly from one platform to another, but the provider may be given a personal page on the platform to use however she (sometimes he) wishes. All have some way for a provider to post a picture and some text. Big platforms as of 2016 are Niteflirt, TalktoMe, and My Phone Site; the latter also includes provision by which a manager, with the consent of the providers, could have a virtual shop with many providers under them. Foreign (non-US) customers were courted. Customers had a variety of payment options, and pages of providers to choose from, sometimes with voice samples available. In concept they have a lot in common with platforms such as eBay: the seller provides the picture(s), description, and sets the price, a percentage of which is kept by the platform. In the sex industry, similar platforms emerged facilitating the selling of used panties and other odoriferous garments, and for "cam" video sessions, in which the customer, for a fee, can direct the woman on the video screen, and for a higher fee, have a private connection (no one can see caller or provider except each other).


title: Phone sex

text: By the end of the 1980s, nearly all of the major local phone companies in the United States, plus the major long-distance carriers, were actively involved in the adult chat line business. The telephone companies would provide billing services for chat line companies. Typically the telephone companies would bill callers to chat lines and then remit 45% of the money collected to chat line operators. The telephone companies placed the chat line charges on a customer's local phone bill. If a customer disputed a charge, the telephone company would usually “forgive” the charge but block the caller from calling any other chat lines. In 1988, the American phone sex industry generated an estimated $54 million annually (for both producers and telecommunications providers), according to the Information Industry Bulletin. In the 1990s and into the 2000s American Telnet was one of the largest phone sex companies in the US.


title: Phone sex

text: By 2007 only Verizon, Sprint and AT&T remained in the chat line business in the U.S. By 2007 Verizon and MCI had merged and only a few chat line companies remained active as a result. Verizon provided billing services to calls made in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine. AT&T and MCI offered nationwide collection services, with a cap of $50 per call.


title: Phone sex

text: In 2002 profits from phone sex were estimated at one billion dollars a year. In 2007 the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington estimated that phone sex earned U.S. telephone companies close to $500 million per year.


title: Phone sex

text: The vast majority of modern services in the United States use toll-free numbers whereby clients can dial up to request a call with a particular performer using credit cards, ACH Network systems, and a variety of other billing methods. There are still some services that rely upon premium-rate telephone numbers (e.g., 976 and 900 numbers) for billing purposes, although this practice has been largely abandoned due to the high rate of fraud associated with these lines and the inability to dial 900 and 976 lines from cellular phones. As a direct result, most telephone companies allow their customers to block outgoing calls to premium-rate telephone numbers. In 1996, the FCC changed regulations on 900 numbers to address abuse of these services by minors and fraud concerns.


title: Phone sex

text: Independent phone sex operators engage in self-promotion. This self-promotion can involve a personalized website where the phone sex performer lists their specialties and services, engaging prospects in social media, various methods of advertising (via the traditional methods listed below, or on organized third-party network sites that provide a basic level of privacy for performer and client alike) or surfing of sexually themed chat rooms for interested clients.


title: Phone sex

text: Phone sex service providers typically advertise their services in men's magazines, in pornographic magazines and videos, on late-night cable television, and online. Some phone sex services use state-of-the-art customer acquisition techniques such as active database marketing to reach potential clients. These advertising methods almost invariably target men, the primary consumers of phone sex services.


title: Phone sex

text: The major phone sex and adult chat lines spend millions of dollars in advertising every month. Thanks to technology, their marketing departments can track the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns by assigning unique phone numbers to each advertising campaign, regardless if it includes TV, print, online or a combination of all these. Unique numbers might either be toll-free 1-800 numbers or local access numbers in order to accommodate callers who have been targeted in a local advertising campaign. Phone sex services will usually list all the local numbers on their websites. Assigning unique phone numbers to each advertising channel allows phone chat companies to measure not only the number of calls that each channel generates but also the price per call, conversion rate, and return on investment. This information can be further analyzed to determine key insights such as the most and least profitable caller's demographics, best and worst times to advertise and ultimately which advertising channels to invest more in and which ones to cut.


title: Phone sex

text: Phone sex lines appeared in the UK in the 1980s using premium-rate telephone numbers for adult services with sexual content, with many of the lines playing tape recordings. The phone sex market in the UK was closely linked to the pornographic magazine market, and advertising for such services often provides a vital element of a magazine's revenue. Up to a quarter of the page length of some magazines may be devoted to such advertisements. Advertising in newspapers, which had been common in the 1980s, was ended as a result of regulatory changes in 1994 which restricted advertisements to top-shelf adult magazines. At the same time rules were introduced requiring the user to pro-actively opt-in by requesting a pin number. This dramatically reduced the number of calls, and the proportion of the income generated by premium-rate telephone numbers which was associated with adult services fell from 18% in 1992 to 1% in 1996. During the 1990s many companies began to re-route their traffic abroad in an attempt to circumvent the regulations. The industry took to operating from 40 countries worldwide, commonly Guyana and the Caribbean. In 1995 the income generated in this way was $2 billion. The regulations also led to an increase in the use of live call-back services paid by credit cards, which did not fall under the regulator's jurisdiction because they did not use premium-rate numbers. By 2009 the proportion of the UK population that had used phone sex lines was 45%, according to a survey by Durex. Most phone sex workers are recruited through word of mouth or the internet as the companies are widely forbidden from advertising in mass media. The number of female university students working for phone sex lines in the UK doubled between 2011 and 2013, according to a BBC-commissioned investigation. The industry's regulatory body Phone-paid Services Authority (formerly ICSTIC and PhonePayPlus) monitors and enforces specific community standards in terms of content and price for premium rate numbers.


title: Phone sex

text: The legality of phone sex businesses was challenged by the U.S. Federal government in July 1988 with the passage of the Telephone Decency Act, which made it a crime to use a "telephone ... directly or by recording device" to make "any obscene or indecent communication for commercial purposes to any person," punishable by a $50,000 fine or six months in prison." At the time the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was responsible for policing 900 numbers for obscenity and indecency.


title: Phone sex

text: Sable Communications of California filed suit against the FCC in federal court to overturn the Telephone Decency Act. On July 19, 1988, U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima ruled that "the prohibition against 'indecent speech' on 900-number recordings was unconstitutional, though its ban on 'obscene speech' could stand."


title: Phone sex

text: On June 23, 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that obscene speech, even in commercial telephone calls, was not protected, though indecent speech was. Justice Byron White wrote for the high court's majority


title: Phone sex

text: A phone sex worker is a type of sex worker, sometimes referred to as a "phone sex operator", "fantasy artist", "adult phone entertainer", "audio erotic performer", as well as various other monikers. The most valued attributes of a phone sex professional are his or her voice, acting and sexual roleplay skills, along with the experienced ability to discern and respond appropriately to a broad spectrum of customer requests.


title: Phone sex

text: Several online companies provide Internet-based phone sex lines. These services enable callers to post profiles of themselves and then engage in VOIP-based and other types of online sex.


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: Other specified dissociative disorder (OSDD) is a mental health diagnosis for pathological dissociation that matches the DSM-5 criteria for a dissociative disorder, but does not fit the full criteria for any of the specifically identified subtypes, which include dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia, and depersonalization/derealization disorder, and the reasons why the previous diagnoses were not met are specified. "Unspecified dissociative disorder" is given when the clinician does not give a reason. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) refers to the diagnosis as "Other dissociative and conversion disorders". Under the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), it was known as "Dissociative disorder not otherwise specified" (DDNOS).


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: Examples of OSDD include chronic and recurrent syndromes of mixed dissociative symptoms, identity disturbance due to prolonged and intense coercive persuasion, disorders similar to dissociative identity disorder, acute dissociative reactions to stressful events, and dissociative trance.


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: OSDD is the most common dissociative disorder and is diagnosed in 40% of dissociative disorder cases. It is often co-morbid with other mental illnesses such as complex posttraumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, personality disorders, substance use disorders, and eating disorders.


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: There are currently no available drugs that treat dissociative symptoms directly; however, dissociative conditions appear to respond well to psychotherapy.


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: OSDD was officially adopted in the DSM-V, which was published in 2013, alongside Unspecified Dissociative Disorder to replace DDNOS.


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: There are currently four examples of OSDD given in the DSM. OSDD is a "catch-all" category for any presentation that is abnormal but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for any of the dissociative disorders, and therefore the examples given are not the only presentations of OSDD possible. OSDD is only diagnosed when it is known that another dissociative disorder is not present; if the diagnosis is still being clarified, or if there is not enough time to make an informed diagnosis (such as in an emergency room setting), a diagnosis of unspecified dissociative disorder may be given.


title: Other specified dissociative disorder

text: It is worth noting that a person will not be diagnosed with "OSDD type 4" (for example); instead they will simply be diagnosed with OSDD. The diagnosing clinician may specify in the client's file that the diagnosis is "OSDD (dissociative trance)", but in general the simple diagnosis of OSDD will be given.