title: Ebla

text: The vizier was the king's chief official. The holder of the office possessed great authority; the most powerful vizier was Ibrium, who campaigned against Abarsal during the term of his predecessor Arrukum. Ibrium held office for 18 years with warfare occurring in all but one year. During the reign of Isar-Damu, Ebla continued the war against Mari, which defeated Ebla's ally Nagar, blocking trade routes between Ebla and southern Mesopotamia via upper Mesopotamia. Ebla conducted regular military campaigns against rebellious vassals, including several attacks on Armi, and a campaign against the southern region of Ib'al – close to Qatna. In order to settle the war with Mari, Isar-Damu allied with Nagar and Kish. Some scholars have suggested that the Kish in question was not the Mesopotamian city but rather a town near Nagar in the Kkabur area. The campaign was headed by the Eblaite vizier Ibbi-Sipish, who led the combined armies to victory in a battle near Terqa. The alliance also attacked Armi and occupied it, leaving Ibbi-Sipish's son Enzi-Malik as governor. Ebla suffered its first destruction a few years after the campaign, probably following Isar-Damu's death.


title: Ebla

text: The first destruction occurred  ; palace "G" was burned, baking the clay tablets of the royal archives and preserving them. Many theories about the cause and the perpetrator have been posited:


title: Ebla

text: The second kingdom's period is designated "Mardikh IIB2", and spans the period between 2300 and 2000 . The second kingdom lasted until Ebla's second destruction, which occurred anytime between 2050 and 1950 , with the 2000  dating being a mere formal date. The Akkadians under Sargon of Akkad and his descendant Naram-Sin invaded the northern borders of Ebla aiming for the forests of the Amanus Mountain; the intrusions were separated by roughly 90 years and the areas attacked were not attached to Akkad. Archi accept that the Ibla mentioned in the annals of Sargon and Naram-Sin is the Syrian Ebla but do not consider them responsible for the destruction which ended the Archive period. By the time of Naram-Sin, Armi was the hegemonic city in northern Syria and was destroyed by the Akkadian king.


title: Ebla

text: A new local dynasty ruled the second kingdom of Ebla, but there was continuity with its first kingdom heritage. Ebla maintained its earliest features, including its architectural style and the sanctity of the first kingdom's religious sites. A new royal palace was built in the lower town, and the transition from the archive period is marked only by the destruction of palace "G". Little is known about the second kingdom because no written material have been discovered aside from one inscription dating to the end of the period.


title: Ebla

text: The second kingdom was attested to in contemporaneous sources; in an inscription, Gudea of Lagash asked for cedars to be brought from Urshu in the mountains of Ebla, indicating Ebla's territory included Urshu north of Carchemish in modern-day Turkey. Texts that dates to the seventh year of Amar-Sin ( ), a ruler of the Ur III empire, mention a messenger of the Ensí ("Megum") of Ebla. The second kingdom was considered a vassal by the Ur III government, but the nature of the relation is unknown and it included the payment of tribute. A formal recognition of Ur's overlordship appears to be a condition for the right of trade with that empire.


title: Ebla

text: The second kingdom disintegrated toward the end of the and ended with the destruction of the city by fire, although evidence for the event has only been found outside of the so-called "Temple of the Rock", and in the area around palace "E" on the acropolis. The reason for the destruction is not known; according to Astour, it could have been the result of a Hurrian invasion  , led by the former Eblaite vassal city of Ikinkalis. The destruction of Ebla is mentioned in the fragmentary Hurro-Hittite legendary epic "Song of Release" discovered in 1983, which Astour considers as describing the destruction of the second kingdom. In the epic, an Eblaite assembly led by a man called "Zazalla" prevents king Meki from showing mercy to prisoners from Ebla's former vassal Ikinkalis, provoking the wrath of the Hurrian storm god Teshub and causing him to destroy the city.


title: Ebla

text: The third kingdom is designated "Mardikh III"; it is divided into periods "A" ( ) and "B" ( ). In period "A", Ebla was quickly rebuilt as a planned city. The foundations covered the remains of Mardikh II; new palaces and temples were built, and new fortifications were built in two circles – one for the low city and one for the acropolis. The city was laid out on regular lines and large public buildings were built. Further construction took place in period "B".


title: Ebla

text: The first known king of the third kingdom is Ibbit-Lim, who described himself as the Mekim of Ebla. A basalt votive statue bearing Ibbit-Lim's inscription was discovered in 1968; this helped to identify the site of Tell-Mardikh with the ancient kingdom Ebla. The name of the king is Amorite in the view of Pettinato; it is therefore probable the inhabitants of third kingdom Ebla were predominantly Amorites, as were most of the inhabitants of Syria at that time.


title: Ebla

text: By the beginning of the Ebla had become a vassal of Yamhad, an Amorite kingdom centered in Aleppo. Written records are not available for this period, but the city was still a vassal during Yarim-Lim III of Yamhad's reign. One of the known rulers of Ebla during this period was Immeya, who received gifts from the Egyptian Pharaoh Hotepibre, indicating the continuing wide connections and importance of Ebla. The city was mentioned in tablets from the Yamhadite vassal city of Alalakh in modern-day Turkey; an Eblaite princess married a son of King Ammitaqum of Alalakh, who belonged to a branch of the royal Yamhadite dynasty.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla was destroyed by the Hittite King in about 1600 . Indilimma was probably the last king of Ebla; a seal of his crown prince Maratewari was discovered in the western palace "Q". Alternatively, Maratewari could well be the last king according to Archi, who also argued that the "Song of Release" epic describes the destruction of the third kingdom and preserves older elements.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla never recovered from its third destruction. It was a small village in the phase designated "Mardikh IV" (1600–1200 ), and was mentioned in the records of Alalakh as a vassal to the Idrimi dynasty. "Mardikh V" (1200–535 ) was a rural, Early Iron Age settlement that grew in size during later periods. Further development occurred during "Mardikh VI", which lasted until  . "Mardikh VII" began in the and lasted until the 7th century, after which the site was abandoned.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla consisted of a lower town and a raised acropolis in the center. During the first kingdom, the city had an area of 56 hectares and was protected by mud-brick fortifications. Ebla was divided into four districts – each with its own gate in the outer wall. The acropolis included the king's palace "G", and one of two temples in city dedicated to Kura (called the "Red Temple"). The lower city included the second temple of Kura in the southeast called "Temple of the Rock". During the second kingdom, a royal palace (Archaic palace "P5") was built in the lower town northwest of the acropolis, in addition to temple "D" built over the destroyed "Red Temple".


title: Ebla

text: During the third kingdom, Ebla was a large city nearly 60 hectares in size, and was protected by a fortified rampart, with double chambered gates. The acropolis was fortified and separated from the lower town. New royal palace "E" was built on the acropolis (during Mardikh IIIB), and a temple of Ishtar was constructed over the former "Red" and "D" temples (in area "D"). The lower town was also divided into four districts; palace "P5" was used during Mardikh IIIA, and replaced during Mardikh IIIB by the "Intermediate Palace".


title: Ebla

text: Other third kingdom buildings included the vizier palace, the western palace (in area "Q"), the temple of Shamash (temple "N"), the temple of Rasap (temple "B1") and the northern palace (built over the "Intermediate Palace"). In the north of the lower town, a second temple for Ishtar was built, while the former "Temple of the Rock" was replaced by a temple of Hadad.


title: Ebla

text: The kings of the first kingdom were buried outside the city; the last ten kings (ending with Irkab-Damu) were buried in Darib, while older kings were buried in a royal mausoleum located in Binas and only one royal tomb dating to the first kingdom was discovered in Ebla (Hypogeum "G4"). This first kingdom tomb was probably built during the reign of the last king and might be an indication of Eblaite adoption of Mesopotamian traditions to bury the kings beneath their royal palaces.


title: Ebla

text: The third kingdom royal necropolis was discovered beneath palace "Q" (the western palace); it contains many hypogea but only three were excavated. Those tombs were natural caves in the bedrock of the palace's foundation; they all date to the 19th and and had a similar plan consisting of an entrance shaft, burial chambers and a dromos connecting the shaft to the chamber.


title: Ebla

text: The royal tomb found in the royal palace "G" is designated hypogeum "G4"; it dates to the archive period, most probably the reign of Isar-Damu. The tomb is heavily damaged; most of its stones were sacked and nothing of the roof system remains. It also lacks any skeletal remains or funerary goods suggesting that it was either heavily pillaged, never used, or was built as a cenotaph.


title: Ebla

text: Excavated between 1992 and 1995, it is located underneath the western sector of the palace at a depth of almost 6 meters. The tomb is composed of two rooms opened on each other's with lime plaster floors. Both rooms are rectangular in shape; the eastern room (L.6402) is 4 meters wide, more than 3,5 meters long (total length is unknown due to heavy damage) and west-east oriented. The western room (L.5762) is 5.20 meters long, 4 meters wide and west-east oriented. Limestone was used to build the walls and few blocks protruding from the sides toward the middle of the rooms suggest the roof to have been a corbelled vault.


title: Ebla

text: The first kingdom's government consisted of the king (styled "Malikum") and the grand vizier, who headed a council of elders ("Abbu") and the administration. The second kingdom was also a monarchy, but little is known about it because of a lack of written records. The third kingdom was a city-state monarchy with reduced importance under the authority of Yamhad.


title: Ebla

text: The queen shared the running of affairs of state with the king. The crown prince was involved in internal matters and the second prince was involved in foreign affairs. Most duties, including military ones, were handled by the vizier and the administration, which consisted of 13 court dignitaries – each of whom controlled between 400 and 800 men forming a bureaucracy with 11,700 people. Each of the four quarters of the lower city was governed by a chief inspector and many deputies. To oversee royal interest, the king employed agents (mashkim), collectors ("ur") and messengers ("kas").


title: Ebla

text: Many client kingdoms owed allegiance to Ebla and each was ruled by its own king (En); those vassal kings were highly autonomous, paying tribute and supplying military assistance to Ebla. The administrative center in the capital was named the "SA.ZA"; it included the royal palaces, storerooms and some temples. Regions beyond the walls of the capital were collectively named in Eblaite texts "uru-bar" (literally meaning outside of the city). The villages and towns under the central authority were either ruled directly from the capital, or had appointed officials. The titles of the civil servants do not clearly define the bearer's responsibilities and authority as each town had its own political traditions.


title: Ebla

text: The regions under the direct control of the king that were economically vital for the capital are called the "chora" by archaeologists. Regions under direct control of the king extended beyond the chora and it is difficult to determine the exact size of the kingdom and the chora due to the constant military expansion of Ebla which added new territories; some of those were ruled directly while others were allowed to retain their own rulers as vassals.


title: Ebla

text: Generally, the chora is the core region of Ebla that includes the economic hinterland supporting the capital. It includes the cities and villages where the king or his vizier had palaces, towns that included important sanctuaries of gods related to the royal institution, towns visited by the monarch during the different rituals he participated in (such as the renewal of royalty ritual), and other cities such as the ones where textiles were delivered. The chora spans around 3000 km²; from west to east it includes the plains east of Jabal Zawiya, the Maṭkh swamp, al-Hass mountain and mount Shabīth. Areas directly on the borders of the chora such as al-Ghab, al-Rouge plain and al-Jabbul have close cultural affinity with the chora.


title: Ebla

text: Mardikh II's periods shared the same culture. the population of Ebla during Mardikh IIB1 is estimated to have numbered around 40,000 in the capital, and over 200,000 people in the entire kingdom. The Eblaites of Mardikh II were Semites, close to their Northwestern Semitic neighbors, such as the Amorites. Giovanni Pettinato said the Eblaite language, one of the oldest attested Semitic languages, was a West Semitic language; Gelb and others said it was an East Semitic dialect closer to the Akkadian language. Academic consensus considers Eblaite an East Semitic language, which exhibits both West and East Semitic features.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla held several religious and social festivals, including rituals for the succession of a new king, which normally lasted for several weeks. The Eblaite calendars were based on a solar year divided into twelve months. Two calendars were discovered; the "old calendar" used during the reign of Igrish-Halam, and a "new calendar" introduced by vizier Ibbi-Sipish. Many months were named in honor of deities; in the new calendar, "Itu be-li" was the first month of the year, and meant "the month of the lord". Each year was given a name instead of a number.


title: Ebla

text: Women received salaries equal to those of men and could accede to important positions and head government agencies. The Eblaites imported Kungas from Nagar, and used them to draw the carriages of royalty and high officials, as well as diplomatic gifts for allied cities. Society was less centered around the palace and the temple than in Mesopotamian kingdoms. The Eblaite palace was designed around the courtyard, which was open toward the city, thus making the administration approachable. This contrasts with Mesopotamian palaces, which resembled citadels with narrow entrances and limited access to the external courtyard. Music played an important part in the society and musicians were both locals, or hired from other cities such as Mari. Ebla also hired acrobats from Nagar, but later reduced their number and kept some to train local Eblaite acrobats.


title: Ebla

text: The Mardikh III population was predominately Semitic Amorite. The Amorites were mentioned in the first kingdom's tablets as neighbors and as rural subjects, and they came to dominate Ebla after the destruction of the second kingdom. The city witnessed a great increase in construction, and many palaces, temples and fortifications were built. The Amorite Eblaites worshiped many of the same deities as the Eblaites of earlier periods, and maintained the sanctity of the acropolis in the center of the city. The third kingdom's iconography and royal ideology were under the influence of Yamhad's culture; kingship was received from the Yamhadite deities instead of Ishtar of Ebla, which is evident by the Eblaite seals of Indilimma's period.


title: Ebla

text: During the first kingdom period, the palace controlled the economy, but wealthy families managed their financial affairs without government intervention. The economic system was redistributive; the palace distributed food to its permanent and seasonal workers. It is estimated that around 40,000 persons contributed to this system, but in general, and unlike in Mesopotamia, land stayed in the hands of villages, which paid an annual share to the palace. Agriculture was mainly pastoral; large herds of cattle were managed by the palace. The city's inhabitants owned around 140,000 head of sheep and goats, and 9,000 cattle.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla derived its prosperity from trade; its wealth was equal to that of the most important Sumerian cities, and its main commercial rival was Mari. Ebla's main articles of trade were probably timber from the nearby mountains, and textiles. Handicrafts also appear to have been a major export, evidenced by the quantity of artifacts recovered from the palaces of the city. Ebla possessed a wide commercial network reaching as far as modern-day Afghanistan. It shipped textiles to Cyprus, possibly through the port of Ugarit, but most of its trade seems to have been directed by river-boat towards Mesopotamia – chiefly Kish. The main palace "G" was found to contain artifacts dating from Ancient Egypt bearing the names of the pharaohs Khafre and Pepi I.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla continued to be a center of trade during the second kingdom, evidenced by the surrounding cities that appeared during its period and were destroyed along with the city. Trade continued to be Ebla's main economic activity during the third kingdom; archaeological finds show there was an extensive exchange with Egypt and coastal Syrian cities such as Byblos.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla was a polytheistic state. During the first kingdom, Eblaites worshiped their dead kings. The pantheon of the first Ebla included pairs of deities and they can be separated into three genres; in the first and most common one, there were the couples, such as the deity and his female consort. The second type of pairs was the divine twosomes, such as the deities that cooperate to create the cosmos, like in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian pantheons. The third type included divine pairs who were actually a single deity that had two names. Eblaites worshiped few Mesopotamian deities, preferring North-Western Semitic gods, some of which were unique to Ebla. The first genre of pairs included Hadabal (NI-"da"-KUL), who was exclusive to Ebla, and his consort, Belatu ("his wife"); Rasap and his consort Adamma; the patron gods of the city Kura, who was unique to Ebla, and his consort Barama. The third genre included the artisan god Kamish/Tit, Kothar-wa-Khasis and the planet Venus represented by twin mountain gods; Shahar as the morning star and Shalim as the evening star.


title: Ebla

text: The first Eblaites worshiped many other deities, such as the Syrian goddess Ishara, who was the goddess of the royal family. Ishtar was also worshiped but was mentioned only five times in one of the monthly offering lists, while Ishara was far more important, appearing 40 times. Other deities included Damu; the Mesopotamian god Utu; Ashtapi; Dagan; Hadad ("Hadda") and his consort Halabatu ("she of Halab"); and Shipish, the goddess of the sun who had a temple dedicated to her cult. The four city gates were named after the gods Dagan, Hadda, Rasap and Utu, but it is unknown which gate had which name. Overall, the offering list mentioned about 40 deities receiving sacrifices.


title: Ebla

text: During the third kingdom, Amorites worshiped common northern Semitic gods; the unique Eblaite deities disappeared. Hadad was the most important god, while Ishtar took Ishara's place and became the city's most important deity apart from Hadad.


title: Ebla

text: At the beginning of the process of deciphering the tablets, Giovanni Pettinato made claims about a possible connections between Ebla and the Bible, citing an alleged references in the tablets to the existence of Yahweh, the Patriarchs, Sodom and Gomorrah and other Biblical references. However, much of the initial media excitement about a supposed Eblaite connections with the Bible, based on preliminary guesses and speculations by Pettinato and others, is now widely discredited and the academic consensus is that Ebla "has no bearing on the Minor Prophets, the historical accuracy of the Biblical Patriarchs, Yahweh worship, or Sodom and Gomorrah". In Ebla studies, the focus has shifted away from comparisons with the Bible; Ebla is now studied as a civilization in its own right. The claims led to a bitter personal and academic conflict between the scholars involved, as well as what some described as political interference by the Syrian authorities.


title: Ebla

text: According to ancient DNA analyses conducted by Skourtanioti et al. (2020) on 10 human remains from Tel Mardikh from Early and Middle Bronze age, the inhabitants of the kingdom of Ebla were a mixture of Copper age Levantines and Mesopotamians, and were genetically similar to contemporary Levantines from Alalakh and Sidon. One Early Bronze Age (2700-2500 BC) individual carried haplogroup E1b1b1b2a-M123, a lineage likely linked to the diffusion of Afroasiatic languages. Another Early Bronze age (2572-2470 cal BCE) individual belonged to J1a2a1a2-P58, while four Middle Bronze Age (2000-1800 BC) individuals carried haplogroups G2a, J1a2a1a2-P58, and the West Asian T1a1-L162 which was present since the middle PPNB Levant.


title: Ebla

text: In 1964, Italian archaeologists from the University of Rome La Sapienza under the direction of Paolo Matthiae began excavating at Tell Mardikh. In 1968, they recovered a statue dedicated to the goddess Ishtar bearing the name of Ibbit-Lim, mentioning him as king of Ebla. That identified the city, long known from Lagashite and Akkadian inscriptions. In the next decade, the team discovered a palace (palace G) dating from  . Finds in the palaces include a small sculpture made out of precious materials, black stones and gold. Thirteen full and fragmentary lenticular cuneiform tablets were found in the palace throne room, thought to have been there versus the archive because of the city's fall. In a storeroom off the throne room the nearly complete standard of the queen and fragments believed to come from the standard of the king were found. Other artifacts included wood furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl and composite statues created from colored stones. A silver bowl bearing king Immeya's name was recovered from the "Tomb of the Lord of the Goats", together with Egyptian jewels and an Egyptian ceremonial mace presented by pharaoh Hotepibre.


title: Ebla

text: About 17,000 cuneiform tablet fragments were discovered; when put together, they constitute 2,500 complete tablets, making the archive of Ebla one of the biggest from the About 80% of the tablets are written using the usual Sumerian combination of logograms and phonetic signs, while the others exhibited an innovative, purely phonetic representation using Sumerian cuneiform of a previously unknown Semitic language, which was called "Eblaite". Bilingual Sumerian/Eblaite vocabulary lists were found among the tablets, allowing them to be translated. The tablets provide many important insights into the cultural, economic and political life in northern Mesopotamia around the middle of the They also provide insight into the everyday lives of the inhabitants, and contain information about state revenues, Sumerian-Eblaite dictionaries, diplomatic exchanges with foreign rulers, school texts, hymns and myths.


title: Ebla

text: The over 4000-year-old tablets constitute one of the oldest libraries ever found. At Ebla, “the archives or library constituted an orderly collection of records at least 500 years older than any other that had been found anywhere before.” There is evidence of their arrangement and classification. The larger tablets had originally been stored on shelves, but had fallen onto the floor when the palace was destroyed. The locations of the fallen tablets allowed the excavators to reconstruct their original positions on the shelves. They found the tablets had originally been shelved according to subject.


title: Ebla

text: These features were absent from earlier Sumerian excavations. Sophisticated techniques of arrangement of texts, coupled with their composition, evidence the great antiquity of archival and library practices, which may be far older than was assumed to be the case before the discovery of the Ebla library. A sizable portion of the tablets contain literary and lexicographic texts; evidence seems to suggest the collection also served – at least partially – as a true library rather than a collection of archives intended solely for use by the kings, their ministers, and their bureaucracy. The tablets show evidence of the early transcription of texts into foreign languages and scripts, classification and cataloging for easier retrieval, and arrangement by size, form and content. The Ebla tablets have thus provided scholars with new insights into the origin of library practices that were in use 4,500 years ago.


title: Ebla

text: While the absolute chronology of the archive is not yet certain a relative chronology for the 50 year period has been established. Because Ebla did not use Mesopotamian style year names or year numbers and the name of rulers was rarely mentioned in the texts scholars used script changes, grammar changes, and most importantly a prosopography of the members of the court, especially the wives and daughters of the king. The most relevant tablets for this effort were a series of yearly metal accounts and monthly linen accounts.


title: Ebla

text: Most of the recovered tablets and tablet fragments were stored at the Idlib Regional Museum in Syria. Their current condition is unknown.


title: Ebla

text: Ebla's first kingdom is an example of early Syrian centralized states, and is considered one of the earliest empires by scholars, such as Samuel Finer, and Karl Moore, who considers it the first-recorded world power. Ebla's discovery changed the former view of Syria's history as a bridge between Mesopotamia and Egypt; it proved the region was a center of civilization in its own right.


title: Ebla

text: As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations of Ebla stopped in March 2011. By 2013, it was under control of an opposition armed group called Arrows of the Right, who took advantage of its elevated location to use it as an observation point to watch for incoming government air attacks, as well as attempting to protect the site from looting. Many tunnels were dug and a crypt full of human remains was discovered; the remains were scattered and discarded by the robbers, who hoped to find jewelry and other precious artifacts. Besides excavations by rebels, nearby villagers also began digging at the site with the aim of finding and looting artifacts; some villagers removed carloads of soil suitable for making ceramic liners for bread-baking ovens from the tunnels.


title: Ebla

text: The site was captured by the Syrian Armed Forces on 30 January 2020 during the 5th Northwestern Syria offensive, along with surrounding villages.


title: Lonesome Crow

text: Lonesome Crow is the debut studio album by the German hard rock band Scorpions. It was recorded soon after Scorpions became a fully professional band under the production of Conny Plank, apparently in only six or seven days, and released 9 February 1972 in West Germany as the soundtrack to the German anti-drug movie "Das Kalte Paradies", and May 1973 in the United States. The album's style is darkly melodic, typical for early Scorpions but unlike their later work.


title: Lonesome Crow

text: It is the band's only album with lead guitarist Michael Schenker – just 16 at the time of the recording – as a full-time member. He soon left to join UFO and was replaced by Ulrich Roth. Schenker would, however, rejoin briefly during the recording and touring of 1979's "Lovedrive".


title: Lonesome Crow

text: Michael Schenker in later years has spoken bitterly about not getting his proper writing credit, with a blanket "all songs by Scorpions" when in his mind many of the songs were written by himself and Klaus alone. In particular Michael cites "In Search of the Peace of Mind" remaining, unjustly, in the Scorpions set list for years when it's in reality, his song. Apart from these occasional performances of "In Search of the Peace of Mind" up to 1978 and between 1996 and 2006, Scorpions have played no song from "Lonesome Crow" since the tour in support of their third album "In Trance".


title: Lonesome Crow

text: The songs "Action" and "I'm Goin' Mad" are re-recordings of the songs for their unreleased 1970 single on CCA label that were later released on the compilation "Psychedelic Gems 2", making them the earliest released Scorpions recordings.


title: Lonesome Crow

text: The album had several different sleeves and was re-titled "Action" for its initial release in Scandinavia, "The Scorpions" for one 1976 release, and "The Original Scorpions", with a different running order, for a Japanese release in 1981 and its first-ever CD issue in 1986. The 1982 German reissue cover art was created by the artist Rodney Matthews.


title: Iyengar

text: Iyengar (also spelt Ayyangar or Aiyengar, pronounced ) refers to the name of an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, whose members follow Sri Vaishnavism and the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. Found mostly in the Southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, Iyengars are divided into two denominations, the Vadakalai and the Tenkalai. The community belongs to the Pancha Dravida Brahmana classification of Brahmins in India.


title: Iyengar

text: There are several opinions regarding the etymology of the term "Iyengar", which is the anglicized form of the Dravidian word "Aiyaṅgār" (, ).


title: Iyengar

text: One is that it derives from the Proto-Dravidian word "ayya-gāru" (𑀅𑀬𑀕𑀭𑀼), which became "Ayyangāru" (), and later "Ayengar". The term "ayya" is the Tamil equivalent of the Sanskrit word "ārya," (𑀆𑀭𑁆𑀬/आर्य) which in Sanskrit means "noble". "Gāru" refers to a form of the Pali term "gārava", and later "gaurava", meaning respect or esteem.


title: Iyengar

text: Another is that the word "ayyangār" was first used by Kandhādai Ramanuja Ayyangār of Tirupati, around 1450 AD.


title: Iyengar

text: The Iyengar community traces its philosophical origins to Nathamuni, the first Sri Vaishnava acharya, who lived around 900 CE. He is traditionally believed to have collected the 4,000 works of Nammalvar and other alvars, the poet-saints of Southern India who were intensely devoted to Vishnu on both an emotional and intellectual plane. The belief is that he set this collection - commonly called the "Tamil Prabhandams" - to music, and he introduced the devotional hymns of the alvars into worship, thus mixing their Tamil Veda with the traditional Vedas written in Sanskrit. A scriptural equivalence was accepted by the community that formed from his works. The Sanskrit texts are considered to be metaphysical truth and the Tamil oral variants to be based on human experience of the same. This community became immersed in the dual-language worship in temples where issues of varna were of no concern.


title: Iyengar

text: A century or so later, Ramanuja became the principal amongst religious leaders who formalized the efforts of Nathamuni as a theology. Ramanuja developed the philosophy of Visishtadvaita and is described by Harold Coward as "the founding interpreter of Sri Vaisnavite scripture," while Anne Overzee says that he was a collator and interpreter rather than an original thinker. Although showing originality in his method of synthesizing the Tamil and Sanskrit sources, Ranjeeta Dutta said that the two sets of sources "continued to be parallel to each other and not incorporative" at this time.


title: Iyengar

text: Nathamuni and Ramanuja were both Brahmins, while Nammalvar was of the Vellala community. All three men were Tamils, although Ramanuja documented his thoughts in Sanskrit.


title: Iyengar

text: Ramanuja was initially a proponent of the traditional bhakti philosophy that demanded adherents have a good command of Sanskrit texts and a ritualized approach to life and devotion. This outlook marginalized women and members of the Shudra Varna because they were disbarred from learning the Sanskrit Vedas. Ramanuja later changed his position and became more receptive to a more inclusive theory. His thoughts also contained what John Carman has described as a "significant ambiguity", of which Ramanuja may not himself have been aware. His metaphorical devices suggested that devotion through ritual "earned" salvation but also that salvation was given through the grace of God. Subsequently, some time around the fourteenth century, the Iyengar community divided into two sects. Both sects maintained a reverence for his works but were increasingly divided due to the doctrinal uncertainties evident in them.


title: Iyengar

text: The Vadakalai sect is referred to as the "Northern" culture or school, and the Tenkalai sect is the "Southern" culture or school. These cultures reference the perceived prominence given by the sects to the terse style of Sanskrit traditions and the lyrical "Tamil Prabhandams", respectively. S. M. Srinivasa Chari believes this linguistic differentiation to be overstated. The Vadakalai favour Vedanta Desika as their acharya and the Tenkalai prefer instead the teachings of Manavala Mamuni. Chari notes that the sects share a common allegiance to Nammalvar and Ramanuja. and that their subsequent significant thinkers "wholly accepted the authority and importance" of both linguistic styles. Harold Schiffman says that the linguistic schism reflects wider underlying doctrinal differences between the populist southern school and the social conservatism of the north, with Tamil historically being a language understood by the masses. while Sanskrit was elitist and "caste-bound".


title: Iyengar

text: Vedic philosophy holds that the supreme goal in life is to attain the blissful state of Brahman through moksha, being the process of liberation of the suffering soul from the cycle of reincarnation. Although eighteen points of difference between the two Iyengar sects are generally recognised, being referred to as the "ashtadasa bhedas", most of these are minor. Abraham Eraly describes a principal difference, being Coward considers this to be "the" difference between the two schools of thought, and Carman says that "... both [sects] accord primacy to divine grace, but one group feels it necessary to insist that there is no human contribution at all to the attainment of salvation." These variations in interpretation of the nature of "prapatti" – loosely translated "self-surrender to god" – are called "marjara nyaya" and "markata nyaya", referring to the young of cats and monkeys. They give rise to another naming convention for the two sects, being the "monkey school" and the "cat school".


title: Iyengar

text: Unlike the Vadakalai, the Tenkalai Iyengar sect reject the varna system, and accepted those of lower castes into their temples. The sect was founded by Pillai Lokacharya.


title: Iyengar

text: Vadakalai Iyengars believe that it is necessary to offer obeisance/prostration to God multiple times, while Tenkalai Iyengars believe that it is enough if you offer obeisance/prostration to God once. This is the reason why a Vadakalai Iyengar is often seen prostrating four times, while Tenkalai Iyengars are seen prostrating only once.


title: Iyengar

text: The sectarian rivalry has at times been bitter and, according to Andre Beteille, "aggressive". Thomas Manninezhath notes an intensification of disputes at the time of Thayumanavar in the eighteenth century and on other occasions legal processes have been used in attempts to settle the control of temples.


title: Iyengar

text: Prior to the independence of India, Brahmins had a significant presence in the government posts and education system of Madras province, a part of which is now Tamil Nadu. Since independence, grievances and alleged instances of discrimination by Brahmins in Tamil Nadu are believed to be the main factors which fueled the Self-Respect Movement and marginalised them. This, in combination with the depressed economic and social conditions of non-Brahmins, led the non-Brahmins to agitate and form the Justice Party in 1916, which later became the Dravidar Kazhagam. The Justice Party banked on vehement anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin propaganda to ease Brahmins out of their privileged positions. Gradually, the non-Brahmin replaced the Brahmin in every sphere and destroyed the monopoly over education and the administrative services which the Brahmin had previously held.


title: Iyengar

text: There were also accusations that they were Sanskritists who had a contemptuous attitude towards Tamil language, culture and civilisation. Kamil Zvelebil, a Dravidologist, argues from a study of the history of Tamil literature that this accusation is inaccurate and factually wrong. He notes that the Brahmin was chosen as a scapegoat to answer for the decline of Tamil civilisation and culture in the medieval and post-medieval periods.


title: Iyengar

text: Mandayam Iyengars are a subgroup of Iyengars, settled in various parts of Karnataka, predominantly Melkote. Mandayam Iyengars also speak a different dialect of Tamil called as Mandayam Tamil. Mandayam Iyengars follow Ramanujacharya and Manavala Mamunigal. Mandyam Iyengars do not celebrate the popular Hindu festival of Diwali in remembrance of the day Tipu Sultan massacred close to 1500 men, women and children of this community on Diwali of 1773 in Srirangapatna.


title: Iyengar

text: Chelluru Iyengars are a subgroup of Tenkalai Iyengars, believed to have migrated from Selvanallur ( a village in banks of Godavari) and settled in and around Madurai as early as 9th Century. Chelluru Iyengars follow Ramanujacharya and Manavala Mamunigal.


title: Iyengar

text: Tamil Brahmin weddings are held to a distinct standard of religious orthodoxy in comparison to the ceremonies of other communities. They consist of age-old traditions, enactments, time-bound customs, as well as practices for securing kinship affiliations for the sacred initiation of the bride into her new family. These are performed in an elaborate fashion that are intended to secure the blessings of both God and one's ancestors. A typical Iyengar wedding is made up of the following events:


title: Josh Hader

text: Joshua Ronald Hader (born April 7, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Milwaukee Brewers. Hader is a four-time All-Star and three-time winner of the National League Reliever of the Year Award.


title: Josh Hader

text: The Baltimore Orioles selected him in the 19th round of the 2012 MLB draft. He was traded twice before joining the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2015. Hader played for the United States national baseball team in the Pan American Games in 2015, and appeared in the All-Star Futures Game in 2016. Traded to the Milwaukee Brewers organization in 2015, Hader made his MLB debut in 2017. In 2021, he became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 400 strikeouts. The Brewers traded Hader to the Padres in 2022.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader attended Old Mill High School in Millersville, Maryland, where he played for the school's baseball team. As a senior, Hader had a 10–0 win–loss record, a 0.30 earned run average (ERA), and 125 strikeouts. He also had a batting average above .400. After graduating from high school, Hader was prepared to enroll at Anne Arundel Community College.


title: Josh Hader

text: The Baltimore Orioles selected Hader in the 19th round of the 2012 MLB draft, with the 582nd overall selection. He signed with the Orioles for a $40,000 signing bonus, rather than attend Anne Arundel. Beginning his professional career, Hader's fastball velocity increased, from as a high school player, to as he changed his workout routine.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader played for the Gulf Coast Orioles in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and the Aberdeen Ironbirds of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League, allowing only 14 hits and nine walks while striking out 48 in innings pitched. In 2013, the Orioles assigned Hader to the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Class A South Atlantic League (SAL). He appeared in the SAL All-Star Game, and through July 31, pitched to a 3–6 record with 79 strikeouts and a 2.65 ERA in 17 games started.


title: Josh Hader

text: On July 31, 2013, the day of the MLB trade deadline, the Orioles traded Hader and L. J. Hoes to the Houston Astros in exchange for Bud Norris. He completed his 2013 season with the Quad Cities River Bandits of the Class A Midwest League.


title: Josh Hader

text: Pitching for the Lancaster JetHawks of the Class A-Advanced California League in 2014, Hader and two relief pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter on May 13. After pitching to a 9–2 record with a league-leading 2.70 ERA and 112 strikeouts in innings, the Astros promoted him to the Corpus Christi Hooks of the Class AA Texas League in August. He was named the California League Pitcher of the Year. Hader returned to Corpus Christi in the 2015 season. He was selected to play for the United States national baseball team in the 2015 Pan American Games.


title: Josh Hader

text: On July 30, 2015, the Astros traded Hader, Brett Phillips, Domingo Santana, and Adrian Houser to the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Gómez and Mike Fiers. The Brewers assigned Hader to the Biloxi Shuckers of the Class AA Southern League. He finished the season with a 3.03 ERA combined.


title: Josh Hader

text: The Brewers invited him to spring training in 2016. Hader began the 2016 season with Biloxi, and made his first start for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League on June 12. He was selected to appear in the 2016 All-Star Futures Game. The Brewers added him to their 40-man roster after the season.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader began the 2017 season with Colorado Springs. The Brewers promoted him to the major leagues on June 9. He made his major league debut on June 10.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader began 2018 in the Milwaukee bullpen. On April 30, Hader became the first pitcher ever to record eight strikeouts in an outing that was less than three innings long. He recorded a -inning save against the Cincinnati Reds, in which he faced nine batters, recording eight strikeouts and one walk. Owning a 1.21 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 44 innings, Hader was named to the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. Hader appeared in the 2018 All-Star Game at the top of the eighth inning. During his appearance, he gave up hits to Rangers' Shin-Soo Choo and Astros' George Springer before Mariners' Jean Segura hit a home run to left field to give the American All-Stars a 5–2 lead. After giving up a single to Boston Red Sox baseman Mitch Moreland, Hader was replaced after 26 pitches, allowing four hits and one out over five batters.


title: Josh Hader

text: In 2018, Hader was 6–1 with 12 saves and a 2.43 ERA. He had 143 strikeouts in innings. Among MLB pitchers who threw at least 20 innings, Hader held left-handed batters to the lowest batting average (.088). He won the National League Reliever of the Year Award, becoming the first non-full-time closer to win the award.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader began the 2019 season as the Brewers' closer following injuries to fellow relievers Jeremy Jeffress (shoulder strain) and Corey Knebel (Tommy John surgery). On March 30, Hader pitched an immaculate inning to earn the save against the St. Louis Cardinals, striking out Tyler O'Neill, Dexter Fowler, and Yairo Munoz on nine consecutive strikes, seven of which were swinging strikes. Hader received the NL Reliever of the Month Award for both May and June. In the 2019 National League Wild Card Game, Hader blew the save for the Brewers, giving up a three-run single to Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals, which, coupled with an error from right fielder Trent Grisham, led to Washington's go-ahead run scoring on the play and resulted in the Brewers eventually losing the game. Hader finished his 2019 season with a 3–5 record, a 2.62 ERA, and 138 strikeouts over relief innings. He won his second consecutive NL Reliever of the Year Award.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader began the 2020 season with 12 consecutive hitless appearances, the longest such streak in major league history. Hader finished the season with a 3.79 ERA and an NL-leading 13 saves in 15 chances.


title: Josh Hader

text: On May 8, 2021, Hader reached 400 strikeouts faster than any other pitcher in MLB history, doing so in innings pitched, breaking the prior record of 236 innings, which had been set by Craig Kimbrel in 2014. For July, Hader was named NL Reliever of the Month, the fourth time he won the award. On September 11, Hader pitched the ninth inning to close out a combined no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. He finished the 2021 season with 34 saves in 35 opportunities; he recorded a career-low 1.23 ERA with 102 strikeouts in innings.


title: Josh Hader

text: After beginning the 2022 season with 25 saves in 27 appearances and a 1.05 ERA, Hader’s pitching declined during the summer, and on August 1, the Brewers traded him to the San Diego Padres for Taylor Rogers, Dinelson Lamet, Esteury Ruiz, and Robert Gasser. He made his Padres debut the following day, earning the win against the Colorado Rockies. However, his struggles continued, including a stretch of earning only two saves in 13 appearances, with an increased ERA of 6.52.


title: Josh Hader

text: Hader is the son of Tom and Patricia Hader. Hader is married to Maria Hader. The couple's first child was born in June 2022.


title: Josh Hader

text: During the 2018 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, a series of tweets by Hader ranging from mid-2011 to late-2012 were discovered to contain racist, homophobic and sexist content. Friends and family of Hader who were invited to the game were given blank jerseys to wear due to the controversy. Hader issued an apology after the game and deleted his account on Twitter.


title: Queequeg

text: Queequeg is a character in the 1851 novel "Moby-Dick" by American author Herman Melville. The son of a South Sea chieftain who left home to explore the world, Queequeg is the first principal character encountered by the narrator, Ishmael. The quick friendship and relationship of equality between the tattooed cannibal and the white sailor show Melville's basic theme of shipboard democracy as well as his fondness for Polynesians (see "Typee", "Omoo" and "Mardi"). Once aboard the whaling ship "Pequod", Queequeg becomes the harpooner for the mate Starbuck.


title: Queequeg

text: Melville drew inspiration for Queequeg from a description in George Lillie Craik's book, "The New Zealanders" (1830), of Te Pēhi Kupe, a Māori chief of the Ngāti Toa iwi famous for his travels in England.


title: Queequeg

text: Queequeg is a native of a fictional island in the South Pacific Ocean named Rokovoko. The island is the home to his primitive tribe, who practice cannibalism, in particular devouring the flesh of enemies slain in battle. Queequeg claims that the only case of indigestion he has suffered was after a feast in which 50 slain enemies were eaten. He displays no shame regarding the practice, describing his people in a matter-of-fact fashion. In port, he prefers a diet of rare red meat, but will settle for whatever is on the menu, such as clam chowder—which is described as "his favorite fishing food."


title: Queequeg

text: Although the son of a chief, he chose to leave his island out of curiosity to see more of the world and to experience and evaluate the civilization of the Christian world. At first rejected by the whaler that landed on his island, he skillfully jumped from a canoe and clamped to the side of the boat as it was leaving for the open sea, at which point the captain relented. At the opening of the novel, he is in the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, having returned from a whaling voyage. Queequeg and Ishmael first meet when Queequeg returns late to the inn where he is staying, not knowing that Ishmael has been booked into the same room with him. Although Queequeg initially threatens to kill Ishmael, and Ishmael initially is afraid of this cannibal, the latter soon decides "better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian." Upon waking next morning about daylight, Ishmael finds Queequeg's arm thrown over him in the "most loving and affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife." Ishmael convinces Queequeg to ship on another whaling expedition with him. At the time of the novel, he has been away from his home island for many years, so long that it is possible that his father is dead and that he would become the chief if he returned.


title: Queequeg

text: Queequeg practices a form of animism using a small idol named Yojo, for whom he builds small ceremonial fires. As part of his religion, he practices a prolonged period of fasting and silence (which Ishmael calls his "Ramadan"), at one time locking himself in his room in Nantucket. Even after Ishmael enters the room, he keeps his fast and silence without acknowledging the presence of others. Nevertheless, he spontaneously attends a Christian sermon of Father Mapple in New Bedford, although he slips out before the end.


title: Queequeg

text: He is unflappable and extremely easy-going among white society, never grudging an insult. He immediately takes to Ishmael and decides (based on advice from his idol) that Ishmael should decide on the ship for both of them together.


title: Queequeg

text: He is an extraordinary harpooner, demonstrating his skill for the money-tight owners of the "Pequod" by striking a small drop of tar floating on the water with one throw. The owners are so impressed that they immediately offer him a 90th lay ( of the ship's profit) in exchange for his signing on with the crew. By contrast, Ishmael (who has experience in the merchant marine but none as a whaler) is initially offered a 777th lay but eventually secures a 300th. In port, Queequeg carries his sharpened harpoon with him at all times, unless prevented from doing so. He shaves with his harpoon as well and smokes regularly from a tomahawk that he carries with him.


title: Queequeg

text: Although he fades in importance toward the end of the novel, he is ultimately responsible for saving Ishmael's life from beyond the grave. After the "Pequod" is destroyed, Ishmael, the only character to survive, does so by clinging to a lifebuoy that had originally been built as a coffin for Queequeg while he was suffering from a fever.


title: Queequeg

text: In Chapter 3 "The Spouter-Inn", Ishmael describes Queequeg's face/head as "of a dark, purplish, yellow color, here and there stuck over with large blackish looking squares." Later on Ishmael realizes the marks are tattoos and goes on to say "There was no hair on his head–none to speak of at least–nothing but a small scalp-knot twisted up on his forehead. His bald purplish head now looked for all the world like a mildewed skull." Upon disrobing, Ishmael describes his body thus: "at last showed his chest and arms. As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with the same squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years' War, and just escaped from it with a sticking-plaster shirt. Still more, his legs were marked, as if a parcel of dark green frogs were running up the trunks of young palms."


title: Queequeg

text: In Chapter 10 "A Bosom Friend", Ishmael describes Queequeg as having "large, deep eyes, fiery black and bold... He looked like a man who had never cringed and never had had a creditor... His [Queequeg's] forehead was drawn out in freer and brighter relief, and looked more expansive than it otherwise would... It reminded me of General Washington's head, as seen in popular busts of him. It had the same long regularly graded retreating, like two long promontories thickly wooded on top. Queequeg was George Washington cannibalistically developed."


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Rick Karsdorp (born 11 February 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who last played as a right-back for Italian Serie A club Roma and the Netherlands national team.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Born in Schoonhoven, Netherlands, Karsdorp started at , as his father, Fred, worked there as a trainer. Karsdorp was then scouted by Feyenoord and as a result of joining the club and his parents’ divorce, he and his father moved to Bergambacht. However, Karsdorp revealed that: "When things did not go so well for me at school in my youth, my father coordinated with Feyenoord that I was not allowed to play football anymore. Only when things got better at school. I was allowed to come back to the training. That has been a good lesson in my development." Following his improved behaviour at school, he re–joined VV Schoonhoven and stayed there for six months before re-joining Feyenoord. Karsdorp became a youth exponent from the Feyenoord Academy. He started out, playing in the midfield position before playing in the right–back position. In December 2013, Karsdorp signed his first professional contract with the club, keeping him until 2015.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Ahead of the 2014–15 season, Karsdorp was given a number twenty–six shirt for Feyenoord. His first team debut was on 6 August 2014 against Beşiktaş in a UEFA Champions League third round qualifier replacing Jordy Clasie after 69 minutes in a 3–1 away defeat. Two weeks later on 24 August 2014, he made his league debut for the club, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute, in a 2–1 loss against FC Utrecht. In the UEFA Europa League match against HNK Rijeka on 23 October 2014, Karsdorp was at fault when he and Matthew Steenvoorden were completely misjudged, leading Andrej Kramarić to score, as the club lost 3–1. Shortly after, Karsdorp signed a contract extension with Feyenoord, keeping him until 2018. Since the start of the season, Karsdorp found himself placed on the substitute bench, due to a competition from fellow right–backs, Khalid Boulahrouz and Luke Wilkshire.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: By February, he became a first team regular in the right–back position following the absent of Boulahrouz and Wilkshire. In a match against PSV Eindhoven on 22 March 2015, Karsdorp set up the club's first goal of the game for Anass Achahbar, who scored twice, in a 2–1. He then set up Feyenoord's first goal of the game, in a 4–1 loss against Vitesse on 11 May 2015. In a follow–up match against PEC Zwolle, Karsdorp received a straight red card in the 71st minute, as the club lost 3–0. After serving a one match suspension, he returned to the starting line–up against Heerenveen in the second leg of the league's play–off spot semi–final, as Feyenoord lost 3–2 on aggregate. At the end of the 2014–15 season, Karsdorp went on to make 21 appearances in all competitions.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Ahead of the 2015–16 season, Karsdorp switched number shirt to two. In the opening game of the season against Utrecht, however, he was sent–off in the 50th minute for a professional foul, in a 3–2 win. But his red card was rescinded by the KNVB disciplinary committee and was allowed to return to the pitch. This was followed up by helping the club keep two clean sheets against SC Cambuur and Vitesse. Karsdorp set up three goals in three matches between 13 September 2015 and 27 September 2015 against Willem II, Roda JC and PEC Zwolle. However, he suffered a groin injury while training that saw him sidelined for a month. While on the sidelines, Karsdorp signed a contract extension with Feyenoord, keeping him until 2020 on 23 October 2015. He didn't make his return to the first team until on 1 November 2015 against ADO Den Haag, starting a match and played 74 minutes before being substituted, in a 1–0 loss. His assist form continued when Karsdorp set up the club's fourth goal of the game, in a 5–0 win against FC Twente on 22 November 2015 and this was followed up by setting up two goals, in a 4–2 win against SBV Excelsior.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Following his return from injury, he continued to regain his first team place, playing in the right–back position. However in mid–February, Karsdorp suffered a groin injury that kept him out for two matches. It wasn't until on 28 February 2016 when he returned to the starting line–up, in a 2–1 win against Utrecht. Karsdorp then set up two goals, in a 2–0 win against Vitesse on 13 March 2016. Since returning from injury, he continued to regain his first team place, playing in the right–back position and helped Feyenoord not only win the KNVB Cup following a 2–1 win against FC Utrecht in the final, but also helped Feyenoord finish third place in the league after beating Willem II 1–0 on 1 May 2016. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Karsdorp went on make thirty–five appearances in all competitions.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: At the start of the 2016–17 season, Karsdorp started the whole game in the right–back position, as Feyenoord lost 1–0 against PSV Eindhoven in the Johan Cruyff Shield. He helped the club keep three consecutive clean sheets in the first three league matches against Groningen, Twente and Heracles. Since the start of the 2016–17 season, Karsdorp continued to regain his first team place, playing in the right–back position. It wasn't until on 30 October 2016 when he scored his first goal for the club, in a 2–2 draw against Heerenveen.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Karsdorp started in every match since the start of the 2016–17 season until he suffered a meniscal injury while playing against rival, Ajax on 2 April 2017 and was substituted as a result. While on the sidelines, Karsdorp signed a contract extension with Feyenoord, keeping him until 2021. It wasn't until on 7 May 2017 when he returned to the starting line–up and played 82 minutes before being substituted, in a 3–0 loss against Excelsior. In the last game of the season against Heracles Almelo, Karsdorp came on as an 81st-minute substitute and played the rest of the match, winning 3–1 to help the club win the league for the first time since 1999. At the end of the 2016–17 season, he went on to make forty–one appearances and scoring once in all competitions.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: On 28 June 2017, Karsdorp signed with Roma on a five-year deal for a fee of €14 million with various performance-related clauses worth up to €5 million in additional payments. With the transfer, he became Feyenoord's most expensive outgoing player in history.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: However, Karsdorp suffered a knee injury that saw him sidelined at the start of the 2017–18 season. After returning to the substitute bench in October, he made his Roma debut, starting a match and played 82 minutes before being substituted, in a 1–0 win against Crotone on 25 October 2017. But his return was short–lived when Karsdorp suffered a knee injury during the match against Crotone and was sidelined for the 2017–18 season. This turns out to be his only appearance for the club.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Ahead of the 2018–19 season, Karsdorp switched number shirt from twenty–six to two. He then returned to the first team and didn't make his first appearance of the season until on 31 August 2018, starting a match and played 77 minutes before being substituted, in a 2–1 loss against A.C. Milan. But Karsdorp found himself behind the pecking order in the first team, resulting in him being placed on the substitute bench, as well as, his own injury concern. He then started in the next five matches, playing in the right–back position between 14 January 2019 and 8 February 2019. Following another injury sustained, Karsdorp found his playing time, mostly from the substitute bench, as he continued to fight for his first team place, as well as, his own injury concern for the rest of the 2018–19 season. At the end of the 2018–19 season, he went on to make fourteen appearances in all competitions.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: On 7 August 2019, Karsdorp returned to Feyenoord on a loan for the remainder of the season. Upon joining the club, he said: "I didn't play much football for two years, everyone knows that. It was often said that I was injured, sometimes that was not the case, but I feel fit now."


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Karsdorp's first game after signing for Feyenoord on loan came in the opening game of the season, in a 1–1 draw against Heerenveen. Karsdorp then played in both legs against Hapoel Be'er Sheva and set up two goals in the second leg, as he helped the club win 6–0 on aggregate to reach UEFA Europa League Group Stage. It wasn't until on 15 September 2019 when Karsdorp scored his first goal for the club, in a 3–2 win against ADO Den Haag. After missing one match, he returned to the starting line–up against FC Twente on 29 September 2019 and set up Feyenoord's first goal of the game, in a 5–1 win. This was followed up by scoring his second goal of the season, in a 2–0 win against Porto in the UEFA Europa League match. However, Karsdorp suffered a groin injury that kept him out for two months. It wasn't until on 25 January 2020 when he made his return to the first team, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute, in a 3–2 win against Heracles. Karsdorp then set up two goals in two matches between 16 February 2020 and 22 February 2020 against PEC Zwolle and Fortuna Sittard. He continued as a first-team regular, making twenty–two appearances and scoring two times in all competitions before the 2019–20 Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup, which the club reached the KNVB Cup Final, were halted in the Netherlands on 12 March due to the pandemic, which the season was eventually cancelled. Following this, Karsdorp returned to his parent club despite transfer speculation of him rejoining.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: In August 2011, Karsdorp was called up to the Netherlands U17 squad for the first time. He made his Netherlands U17 debut, starting the match, in a 1–0 win against Italy U17 on 16 September 2011. Three days later on 19 September 2011, Karsdorp made his second (and last) appearances for the U17 side, coming on as a 41st-minute substitute, in a 3–1 win against Israel U17.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: In August 2012, Karsdorp was called up to the Netherlands U18 for the first time in his career. He made his Netherlands U18 debut against USA U18 on 11 September 2012, starting the match and scoring the U18’s first goal of the game, in a 4–2 loss. Karsdorp went on to make two appearances for Netherlands U18 side.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: In August 2013, Karsdorp was called up to the Netherlands U19 for the first time in his career. He made his Netherlands U19 debut against Germany U19 on 6 September 2013, starting the match in the central midfield position, in a 6–1 loss. Karsdorp then scored his first Netherlands U19 goal, in a 3–1 win against Turkey U19 on 13 October 2013. He went on to make seven appearances and scoring once for the U19 side.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: In October 2014, Karsdorp was called up to the Netherlands U20 squad for the first time. He made his Netherlands U20 debut, starting the whole game, in a 2–2 draw against Turkey U20 on 9 October 2014. Karsdorp went on to make three appearances for the U20 side.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: A month later in November, Karsdorp was called up to the Netherlands U21 squad for the first time. He made his Netherlands U21 debut, starting the whole game, in a 3–1 loss against Germany U21 on 13 November 2014. Karsdorp went on to make two appearances for the U21 side.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: Karsdorp received his first call up to the senior Netherlands team in September 2015 for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Czech Republic. He was called up again in March 2016 for friendlies against France and England.


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: It wasn't until on 7 October 2016 when Karsdorp made his Netherlands debut, starting in the right–back position, in a 4–1 win against Belarus. In a follow–up match against France, he, once again, started in the right–back position, as the national side lost 1–0. His next appearance for Netherlands came on 25 March 2017 against Bulgaria in a friendly match, as they lost 2–0. Having not been called up for the senior team in over two years, Karsdorp said in September 2019: "Of course I was part of the Dutch national team and I also watched the Orange squad in the past week. I am happy with the two victories and I don't want to be involved with the Orange at all. I only played four games here, before that. fifteen matches in 100 weeks. Look, if I have played twenty games, delivered ten assists and scored five goals, you can ask me whether the Orange will come back into the picture. I have consciously returned to Feyenoord. You just know that if you play here every week and you are doing well that opportunities arise".


title: Rick Karsdorp

text: In June 2018, Karsdorp married his long term–girlfriend, Astrid Lentini. In addition to Dutch, he speaks English and is learning Italian. His wife, Astrid, who is of Italian origin, helps interpret the language for him.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: Evaluna Mercedes Reglero Rodríguez de Echeverry (born August 7, 1997), known as Evaluna Montaner, is a Venezuelan actress, singer, music director, dancer, television presenter, daughter of singer Ricardo Montaner and younger sister of Mauricio and Ricardo Montaner, known as Mau y Ricky.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: Evaluna was born in Caracas, Venezuela to Ricardo Montaner and Marlene Rodríguez. She was raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since childhood she learned piano, harp and various types of dance. She attended The Cushman School until the age of 13, when she began studying at home. She currently lives in Miami.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: On February 8, 2020, she married her boyfriend of five years, the Colombian singer Camilo Echeverry. In October 2021, the couple announced that Montaner was pregnant with their first child. On April 6, 2022, their daughter, Índigo, was born.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: Evaluna got her first role as a supporting character in Nickelodeon's Latin American series "Grachi", playing Melanie Esquivel, the protagonist's sister.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: In 2012, Evaluna's father Ricardo Montaner chose to sing the Christian ballad La Gloria de Dios (The Glory of God), in addition to taking her on the tours of Frequent Flyer Tour, which began her career as a singer.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: The song was presented for the first time in Argentina, during the tribute program to Ricardo Montaner in Gracias por venir, gracias por estar.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: Si existe (If it exists) was the name of her first single released in December 2013, made with the help of her mother, the Venezuelan Marlene Rodriguez.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: In 2014, she played a supporting role in the movie "Hot Pursuit" as Teresa Cortez, a teenage girl who has her 15 year old party, shared the screen with stars Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: In July 2014 Evaluna participated in the Christian festival held in Argentina called Jesús Fest where she presented her single, "Yo me salvé" (I Saved Myself), which would be released at the end of 2014 with its English version titled "Wings" and its respective videos.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: In 2015 Evaluna performed again at Jesús Fest in Tecnopolis, Argentina, where she sang her songs and made some covers of Christian songs.


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: In 2018 and after a break of four years without singing, she presented her new singles "Por tu amor" and "Me liberé".


title: Evaluna Montaner

text: In May 2019, she starred in "Club 57", a co-production between Nickelodeon and Rainbow S.r.l. that was filmed in Miami and Italy. Her character, Eva, is a lover of science and mathematics who becomes trapped in 1957 with her brother Rubén (Sebastian Silva). In the series, she performed songs in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.


title: Bond duration

text: In finance, the duration of a financial asset that consists of fixed cash flows, such as a bond, is the weighted average of the times until those fixed cash flows are received.


title: Bond duration

text: When the price of an asset is considered as a function of yield, duration also measures the price sensitivity to yield, the rate of change of price with respect to yield, or the percentage change in price for a parallel shift in yields.


title: Bond duration

text: The dual use of the word "duration", as both the weighted average time until repayment and as the percentage change in price, often causes confusion. Strictly speaking, Macaulay duration is the name given to the weighted average time until cash flows are received and is measured in years. Modified duration is the name given to the price sensitivity and is the percentage change in price for a unit change in yield.


title: Bond duration

text: Both measures are termed "duration" and have the same (or close to the same) numerical value, but it is important to keep in mind the conceptual distinctions between them. Macaulay duration is a time measure with units in years and really makes sense only for an instrument with fixed cash flows. For a standard bond, the Macaulay duration will be between 0 and the maturity of the bond. It is equal to the maturity if and only if the bond is a zero-coupon bond.


title: Bond duration

text: Modified duration, on the other hand, is a mathematical derivative (rate of change) of price and measures the percentage rate of change of price with respect to yield. (Price sensitivity with respect to yields can also be measured in absolute (dollar or euro, etc.) terms, and the absolute sensitivity is often referred to as dollar (euro) duration, DV01, BPV, or delta (δ or Δ) risk). The concept of modified duration can be applied to interest-rate-sensitive instruments with non-fixed cash flows and can thus be applied to a wider range of instruments than can Macaulay duration. Modified duration is used more often than Macaulay duration in modern finance.


title: Bond duration

text: For everyday use, the equality (or near-equality) of the values for Macaulay and modified duration can be a useful aid to intuition. For example, a standard ten-year coupon bond will have a Macaulay duration of somewhat but not dramatically less than 10 years and from this, we can infer that the modified duration (price sensitivity) will also be somewhat but not dramatically less than 10%. Similarly, a two-year coupon bond will have a Macaulay duration of somewhat below 2 years and a modified duration of somewhat below 2%.


title: Bond duration

text: Macaulay duration, named for Frederick Macaulay who introduced the concept, is the weighted average maturity of cash flows, in which the time of receipt of each payment is weighted by the present value of that payment. The denominator is the sum of the weights, which is precisely the price of the bond. Consider some set of fixed cash flows. The present value of these cash flows is:


title: Bond duration

text: In the second expression the fractional term is the ratio of the cash flow formula_4 to the total PV. These terms add to 1.0 and serve as weights for a weighted average. Thus the overall expression is a weighted average of time until cash flow payments, with weight formula_10 being the proportion of the asset's present value due to cash flow formula_3.


title: Bond duration

text: For a set of all-positive fixed cash flows the weighted average will fall between 0 (the minimum time), or more precisely formula_12 (the time to the first payment) and the time of the final cash flow. The Macaulay duration will equal the final maturity if and only if there is only a single payment at maturity. In symbols, if cash flows are, in order, formula_13, then:


title: Bond duration

text: with the inequalities being strict unless it has a single cash flow. In terms of standard bonds (for which cash flows are fixed and positive), this means the Macaulay duration will equal the bond maturity only for a zero-coupon bond.


title: Bond duration

text: This represents the bond discussed in the example below - two year maturity with a coupon of 20% and continuously compounded yield of 3.9605%. The circles represent the present value of the payments, with the coupon payments getting smaller the further in the future they are, and the final large payment including both the coupon payment and the final principal repayment. If these circles were put on a balance beam, the fulcrum (balanced center) of the beam would represent the weighted average distance (time to payment), which is 1.78 years in this case.


title: Bond duration

text: For most practical calculations, the Macaulay duration is calculated using the yield to maturity to calculate the formula_15:


title: Bond duration

text: The key difference between the two durations is that the Fisher–Weil duration allows for the possibility of a sloping yield curve, whereas the second form is based on a constant value of the yield formula_23, not varying by term to payment. With the use of computers, both forms may be calculated but expression (3), assuming a constant yield, is more widely used because of the application to modified duration.


title: Bond duration

text: Similarities in both values and definitions of Macaulay duration versus Weighted Average Life can lead to confusing the purpose and calculation of the two. For example, a 5-year fixed-rate interest-only bond would have a Weighted Average Life of 5, and a Macaulay duration that should be very close. Mortgages behave similarly. The differences between the two are as follows:


title: Bond duration

text: In contrast to Macaulay duration, modified duration (sometimes abbreviated MD) is a price sensitivity measure, defined as the percentage derivative of price with respect to yield (the logarithmic derivative of bond price with respect to yield). Modified duration applies when a bond or other asset is considered as a function of yield. In this case one can measure the logarithmic derivative with respect to yield:


title: Bond duration

text: When the yield is expressed continuously compounded, Macaulay duration and modified duration are numerically equal. To see this, if we take the derivative of price or present value, expression (2), with respect to the continuously compounded yield formula_23 we see that:


title: Bond duration

text: In financial markets, yields are usually expressed periodically compounded (say annually or semi-annually) instead of continuously compounded. Then expression (2) becomes:


title: Bond duration

text: To find modified duration, when we take the derivative of the value formula_8 with respect to the periodically compounded yield we find


title: Bond duration

text: This gives the well-known relation between Macaulay duration and modified duration quoted above. It should be remembered that, even though Macaulay duration and modified duration are closely related, they are conceptually distinct. Macaulay duration is a weighted average time until repayment (measured in units of time such as years) while modified duration is a price sensitivity measure when the price is treated as a function of yield, the "percentage change" in price with respect to yield.


title: Bond duration

text: Modified duration is measured as the percent change in price per one unit (percentage "point") change in yield per year (for example yield going from 8% per year (y = 0.08) to 9% per year (y = 0.09)). This will give modified duration a numerical value close to the Macaulay duration (and equal when rates are continuously compounded).


title: Bond duration

text: Formally, modified duration is a "semi-"elasticity, the "percent" change in price for a "unit" change in yield, rather than an elasticity, which is a percentage change in output for a "percentage" change in input. Modified duration is a rate of change, the percent change in price per change in yield.


title: Bond duration

text: Modified duration can be extended to instruments with non-fixed cash flows, while Macaulay duration applies only to fixed cash flow instruments. Modified duration is defined as the logarithmic derivative of price with respect to yield, and such a definition will apply to instruments that depend on yields, whether or not the cash flows are fixed.


title: Bond duration

text: Modified duration is defined above as a derivative (as the term relates to calculus) and so is based on infinitesimal changes. Modified duration is also useful as a measure of the sensitivity of a bond's market price to finite interest rate (i.e., yield) movements. For a small change in yield, formula_51,


title: Bond duration

text: Thus modified duration is approximately equal to the percentage change in price for a given finite change in yield. So a 15-year bond with a Macaulay duration of 7 years would have a modified duration of roughly 7 years and would fall approximately 7% in value if the interest rate increased by one percentage point (say from 7% to 8%).


title: Bond duration

text: Fisher–Weil duration is a refinement of Macaulay’s duration which takes into account the term structure of interest rates. Fisher–Weil duration calculates the present values of the relevant cashflows (more strictly) by using the zero coupon yield for each respective maturity.


title: Bond duration

text: Key rate durations (also called partial DV01s or partial durations) are a natural extension of the total modified duration to measuring sensitivity to shifts of different parts of the yield curve. Key rate durations might be defined, for example, with respect to zero-coupon rates with maturity '1M', '3M', '6M', '1Y', '2Y', '3Y', '5Y', '7Y', '10Y', '15Y', '20Y', '25Y', '30Y'. Thomas Ho (1992) introduced the term key rate duration. Reitano covered multifactor yield curve models as early as 1991 and has revisited the topic in a recent review.


title: Bond duration

text: Key rate durations require that we value an instrument off a yield curve and requires building a yield curve. Ho's original methodology was based on valuing instruments off a zero or spot yield curve and used linear interpolation between "key rates", but the idea is applicable to yield curves based on forward rates, par rates, and so forth. Many technical issues arise for key rate durations (partial DV01s) that do not arise for the standard total modified duration because of the dependence of the key rate durations on the specific type of the yield curve used to value the instruments (see Coleman, 2011 ).


title: Bond duration

text: For a bond with coupon frequency formula_43 but an integer number of periods (so that there is no fractional payment period), the formula simplifies to:


title: Bond duration

text: Consider a 2-year bond with face value of $100, a 20% semi-annual coupon, and a yield of 4% semi-annually compounded. The total PV will be:


title: Bond duration

text: The modified duration, measured as percentage change in price per one percentage point change in yield, is:


title: Bond duration

text: The DV01, measured as dollar change in price for a $100 nominal bond for a one percentage point change in yield, is


title: Bond duration

text: Consider a bond with a $1000 face value, 5% coupon rate and 6.5% annual yield, with maturity in 5 years. The steps to compute duration are the following:


title: Bond duration

text: The coupons will be $50 in years 1, 2, 3 and 4. Then, on year 5, the bond will pay coupon and principal, for a total of $1050. Discounting to present value at 6.5%, the bond value is $937.66. The detail is the following:


title: Bond duration

text: The ', or ' or Bloomberg ', also called ' or in the United States, is defined as negative of the derivative of the value with respect to yield:


title: Bond duration

text: The DV01 is analogous to the delta in derivative pricing (one of the "Greeks") – it is the ratio of a price change in output (dollars) to unit change in input (a basis point of yield). Dollar duration or DV01 is the change in price in "dollars," not in "percentage." It gives the dollar variation in a bond's value per unit change in the yield. It is often measured per 1 basis point - DV01 is short for "dollar value of an 01" (or 1 basis point).


title: Bond duration

text: The name BPV (basis point value) or Bloomberg "Risk" is also used, often applied to the dollar change for a $100 notional for 100bp change in yields - giving the same units as duration.


title: Bond duration

text: PV01 (present value of an 01) is sometimes used, although PV01 more accurately refers to the value of a one dollar or one basis point annuity. (For a par bond and a flat yield curve the DV01, derivative of price w.r.t. yield, and PV01, value of a one-dollar annuity, will actually have the same value.)


title: Bond duration

text: DV01 or dollar duration can be used for instruments with zero up-front value such as interest rate swaps where percentage changes and modified duration are less useful.


title: Bond duration

text: Dollar duration formula_65 is commonly used for value-at-risk (VaR) calculation. To illustrate applications to portfolio risk management, consider a portfolio of securities dependent on the interest rates formula_66 as risk factors, and let


title: Bond duration

text: that is, a component that is linear in the interest rate changes plus an error term which is at least quadratic. This formula can be used to calculate the VaR of the portfolio by ignoring higher order terms. Typically cubic or higher terms are truncated. Quadratic terms, when included, can be expressed in terms of (multi-variate) bond convexity. One can make assumptions about the joint distribution of the interest rates and then calculate VaR by Monte Carlo simulation or, in some special cases (e.g., Gaussian distribution assuming a linear approximation), even analytically. The formula can also be used to calculate the DV01 of the portfolio (cf. below) and it can be generalized to include risk factors beyond interest rates.


title: Bond duration

text: The primary use of duration (modified duration) is to measure interest rate sensitivity or exposure. Thinking of risk in terms of interest rates or yields is very useful because it helps to normalize across otherwise disparate instruments. Consider, for example, the following four instruments, each with 10-year final maturity:


title: Bond duration

text: All four have a 10-year maturity, but the sensitivity to interest rates, and thus the risk, will be different: the zero-coupon has the highest sensitivity and the annuity the lowest.


title: Bond duration

text: Consider first a $100 investment in each, which makes sense for the three bonds (the coupon bond, the annuity, the zero-coupon bond - it does not make sense for the interest rate swap for which there is no initial investment). Modified duration is a useful measure to compare interest rate sensitivity across the three. The zero-coupon bond will have the highest sensitivity, changing at a rate of 9.76% per 100bp change in yield. This means that if yields go up from 5% to 5.01% (a rise of 1bp) the price should fall by roughly 0.0976% or a change in price from $61.0271 per $100 notional to roughly $60.968. The original $100 invested will fall to roughly $99.90. The annuity has the lowest sensitivity, roughly half that of the zero-coupon bond, with a modified duration of 4.72%.


title: Bond duration

text: Alternatively, we could consider $100 notional of each of the instruments. In this case the BPV or DV01 (dollar value of an 01 or dollar duration) is the more natural measure. The BPV in the table is the dollar change in price for $100 notional for 100bp change in yields. The BPV will make sense for the interest rate swap (for which modified duration is not defined) as well as the three bonds.


title: Bond duration

text: Modified duration measures the "size" of the interest rate sensitivity. Sometimes we can be misled into thinking that it measures "which part" of the yield curve the instrument is sensitive to. After all, the modified duration (% change in price) is almost the same number as the Macaulay duration (a kind of weighted average years to maturity). For example, the annuity above has a Macaulay duration of 4.8 years, and we might think that it is sensitive to the 5-year yield. But it has cash flows out to 10 years and thus will be sensitive to 10-year yields. If we want to measure sensitivity to parts of the yield curve, we need to consider key rate durations.


title: Bond duration

text: The yield-price relationship is inverse, and the modified duration provides a very useful measure of the price sensitivity to yields. As a first derivative it provides a linear approximation. For large yield changes, convexity can be added to provide a quadratic or second-order approximation. Alternatively, and often more usefully, convexity can be used to measure how the modified duration changes as yields change. Similar risk measures (first and second order) used in the options markets are the delta and gamma.


title: Bond duration

text: Modified duration and DV01 as measures of interest rate sensitivity are also useful because they can be applied to instruments and securities with varying or contingent cash flows, such as options.


title: Bond duration

text: For bonds that have embedded options, such as putable and callable bonds, modified duration will not correctly approximate the price move for a change in yield to maturity.


title: Bond duration

text: Consider a bond with an embedded put option. As an example, a $1,000 bond that can be redeemed by the holder at par at any time before the bond's maturity (i.e. an American put option). No matter how high interest rates become, the price of the bond will never go below $1,000 (ignoring counterparty risk). This bond's price sensitivity to interest rate changes is different from a non-puttable bond with otherwise identical cash flows.


title: Bond duration

text: To price such bonds, one must use option pricing to determine the value of the bond, and then one can compute its delta (and hence its lambda), which is the duration. The effective duration is a discrete approximation to this latter, and will require an option pricing model.


title: Bond duration

text: where Δ "y" is the amount that yield changes, and formula_72 are the values that the bond will take if the yield falls by "y" or rises by "y", respectively. (A "parallel shift"; note that this value may vary depending on the value used for Δ "y".)


title: Bond duration

text: These values are typically calculated using a tree-based model, built for the "entire" yield curve (as opposed to a single yield to maturity), and therefore capturing exercise behavior at each point in the option's life as a function of both time and interest rates; see .


title: Bond duration

text: Spread duration is the sensitivity of a bond's market price to a change in option-adjusted spread (OAS). Thus the index, or underlying yield curve, remains unchanged. Floating rate assets that are benchmarked to an index (such as 1-month or 3-month LIBOR) and reset periodically will have an effective duration near zero but a spread duration comparable to an otherwise identical fixed rate bond.


title: Bond duration

text: The sensitivity of a portfolio of bonds such as a bond mutual fund to changes in interest rates can also be important. The average duration of the bonds in the portfolio is often reported. The duration of a portfolio equals the weighted average maturity of all of the cash flows in the portfolio. If each bond has the same yield to maturity, this equals the weighted average of the portfolio's bond's durations, with weights proportional to the bond prices. Otherwise the weighted average of the bond's durations is just a good approximation, but it can still be used to infer how the value of the portfolio would change in response to changes in interest rates.


title: Bond duration

text: Duration is a linear measure of how the price of a bond changes in response to interest rate changes. As interest rates change, the price does not change linearly, but rather is a convex function of interest rates. Convexity is a measure of the curvature of how the price of a bond changes as the interest rate changes. Specifically, duration can be formulated as the first derivative of the price function of the bond with respect to the interest rate in question, and the convexity as the second derivative.


title: Bond duration

text: Convexity also gives an idea of the spread of future cashflows. (Just as the duration gives the discounted mean term, so convexity can be used to calculate the discounted standard deviation, say, of return.)


title: Bond duration

text: Note that convexity can be positive or negative. A bond with "positive convexity" will not have any call features - i.e. the issuer must redeem the bond at maturity - which means that as rates fall, both its duration and price will rise.


title: Bond duration

text: On the other hand, a bond "with" call features - i.e. where the issuer can redeem the bond early - is deemed to have "negative convexity" as rates approach the option strike, which is to say its duration will fall as rates fall, and hence its price will rise less quickly. This is because the issuer can redeem the old bond at a high coupon and re-issue a new bond at a lower rate, thus providing the issuer with valuable optionality. Similar to the above, in these cases, it may be more correct to calculate an effective convexity.


title: Bond duration

text: Mortgage-backed securities (pass-through mortgage principal prepayments) with US-style 15- or 30-year fixed-rate mortgages as collateral are examples of callable bonds.


title: Bond duration

text: The "Sherman ratio" is the yield offered per unit of bond duration, named after DoubleLine Capital's chief investment officer, Jeffrey Sherman. It has been called the "Bond Market's Scariest Gauge", and hit an all-time low of 0.1968 for the US Corporate Bond Index. The ratio is simply the yield offered (as a percentage), divided by the bond duration (in years).


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: The first season of the American streaming television series "Luke Cage", which is based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, follows a former convict with superhuman strength and unbreakable skin who fights crime in Harlem, New York. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise. The season was produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios, with Cheo Hodari Coker serving as showrunner.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: Mike Colter stars as Cage, reprising his role from the series "Jessica Jones". He is joined by principal cast members Mahershala Ali, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Erik LaRay Harvey, Rosario Dawson, and Alfre Woodard. "Luke Cage" entered development in late 2013, and Colter was cast, to appear in "Jessica Jones" and star in "Luke Cage", in December 2014. Production took place in New York City from September 2015 to March 2016, with the season exploring race and politics while looking to replicate the atmosphere and culture of Harlem. Coker especially emphasized the use of music: Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad composed a "'90s hip-hop" score; various artists give onscreen performances in the fictional nightclub Harlem's Paradise throughout the season; and each episode is named after a Gang Starr song. Visual effects, including for the depiction of Cage's abilities, were provided by FuseFX.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: The first two episodes of the season premiered in Harlem on September 28, 2016, with the full season of 13 episodes released on Netflix on September 30 to an estimated high viewership—it was believed to become the fourth most-viewed season on Netflix within 30 days of its release—and positive reviews, particularly for the first 7 episodes. Critics praised the cast, especially the performances of Ali and Woodard, as well as the music and general style. Its pacing and some writing were viewed as some of the season's shortcomings. The series' approach to racial issues was discussed by many commentators. The season won several awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award. A second season of "Luke Cage" was ordered on December 3, 2016.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: In October 2013, Marvel and Disney announced that Marvel Television and ABC Studios would provide Netflix with live action series centered around Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage, leading up to a miniseries based on the Defenders. In December 2014, Mike Colter was cast as Cage, which was envisioned as a recurring role on "Jessica Jones" before headlining his own series. Netflix and Marvel announced that Cheo Hodari Coker would be the showrunner for "Marvel's Luke Cage" in late March 2015, after he pitched the series to Netflix as an examination of Harlem, "like what "The Wire" did for Baltimore." The season consists of 13 hour-long episodes.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: Each episode of the season is named after a Gang Starr song, with Coker wanting the full season to feel like an album of music, explaining, "When Prince put out an album, you would shut things out and listen to the whole thing" similarly to modern binge-watching of television series. Coker was inspired to name the episodes based on music by television producer Shonda Rhimes, who names each episode of "Grey's Anatomy" after a pop song. Coker chose the Gang Starr songs ahead of his first pitch meeting with Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb, to help organize his planned story arcs. He chose the songs based on their titles only, so each episode's events does not necessarily reflect the respective song's lyrics.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: Loeb described the season as "a fugitive story", and "a story of redemption", and said it was about Luke Cage's "story and where he came from and, most importantly, where he's going" after telling an "early part of the middle" of his story on "Jessica Jones". Colter noted that the series uses flashbacks to tell elements of the story like the previous Marvel Netflix shows. Coker described the series as "a powerful fusion of dark drama, hip-hop, and classic superhero action" and "The Wire" of Marvel Television. More specifically, Coker felt the season was a hip-hop Western, comparing it to Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of films, with Cage the Man with No Name coming to a town, Harlem, where he is convinced to fight injustice. Coker further compared the characters Cottonmouth and Misty Knight to the resident villain and local law enforcement, respectively, of the Western genre, and described the Harlem's Paradise nightclub as the town's saloon.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: The season picks up "a few months" after "Jessica Jones", with Luke Cage trying to stay off the radar. The end of the second episode "get[s] this series into forward action mode [by making Cage] see that he couldn't just sit back and do nothing." Coker said the arc for Cage in the season was 'hero', and felt this was a more natural way of introducing the character than telling a traditional origin story as other Marvel properties have done. This also differentiated the show from the rest of the MCU. Coker had plotted the story of the first four episodes before the show's writers room began work, but had initially done so over two or three episodes, with the event at the end of the second episode originally taking place at the end of the first. Loeb and Marvel's Karim Zreik told Coker to slow the pace of the show down, which led to an approach that Coker compared to "Unforgiven." Coker also planned the "rugpull" at the end of the seventh episode from his initial pitch, wanting the audience to feel the same way he had reading "Alpha Flight" #12 which featured the death of Guardian.


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: Set in Harlem, rather than the Hell's Kitchen of the previous Marvel Netflix series, Colter described the season as "a completely different world". Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said that unlike the fictionalized version of Hell's Kitchen depicted in "Daredevil" and "Jessica Jones", which was more inline with how it was when the comics were first written, the Harlem of "Luke Cage" represents the Harlem of "today", and is truer to the real-life modern New York. However, Colter admitted that the show's version of Harlem "does resemble Harlem of maybe ten years ago." Coker said that Harlem was a world for the series, but also about legacy. He wanted to replicate the experience of walking through Harlem and hearing different music coming from cars driving past and open windows, which he felt was unique to the neighborhood. Coker further described the Harlem's Paradise nightclub as the series' Iron Throne, and wanted it to "invoke the history of Harlem ... it's crime, politics, music, really the whole cornucopia of the black creative existence in one place."


title: Luke Cage (season 1)

text: Cage is seen wearing a black hoodie throughout the series, which, beyond being practical for a character trying to lie low, was a nod to Trayvon Martin and Black Lives Matter. Colter said it was meant to invoke "the idea that a black man in a hoodie isn't necessarily a threat. He might just be a hero." The series also features a political campaign with the slogan "Keep Harlem Black", "in the face of gentrification that threatens to homogenize Harlem's cultural history." Discussing these racial undertones, Coker asked, "how does the presence of a bulletproof black man change the ecosystem of a neighborhood? Not just in terms of the street-level crime. How do the cops react to someone like that? What are the ripple effects of doing that? That's one of the things I wanted to explore on the show". He did caution comparisons to recent headlines involving racial tension given when they had begun working on the show, stating that his focus had been on "identity", which he saw as a common element in all black art.