prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What is the day of the horse race of which ESPN covers both the post position draw and the undercard races?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
Thoroughbred Racing on ESPN
ESPN and ESPN2's coverage of Thoroughbred racing consisted of NTRA Racing to the Kentucky Derby , Road To The World Thoroughbred Championships/NTRA Racing to the Breeders' Cup, a series of prep races for the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, the post position draw for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes undercard races, the Kentucky Oaks and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, NTRA 2Day At the Races, Racing Across America, the Preakness undercard races, the Eclipse Awards show, and Long John Silver's Wire to Wire (previously known as RaceHorse Digest), a weekly thoroughbred racing magazine show  They also had Triple Crown morning shows such as Breakfast at Churchill Downs and Breakfast at Pimlico  ESPN also broadcast NTRA Super Saturdays as well  
From 2006 to 2011, ESPN broadcast the Breeders' Cup  ESPN on ABC also broadcast a portion of the Breeders' Cup 

NTRA Racing to the Kentucky Derby
NTRA Racing to the Kentucky Derby was a series of races produced by NTRA Productions that air on ESPN or ESPN2  These networks currently air seven races under the Racing to the Kentucky Derby banner  They are the Lane's End Stakes, Rushaway Stakes, Florida Derby, Swale Stakes, Arkansas Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, and Lexington Stakes  Previous races broadcast on ESPN as part of NTRA Racing to the Kentucky Derby include the Fountain of Youth Classic, Louisiana Derby, El Camino Real Derby, Gotham Stakes, UAE Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Illinois Derby, Wood Memorial, Holy Bull Stakes, Hutcheson Stakes, and Federico Tesio Stakes 

Personalities
Among ESPN's regulars on its horse racing telecasts were hosts Chris Lincoln, Chris Fowler, Joe Tessitore and Kenny Mayne, along with analysts Charlsie Cantey, Dave Johnson, Bob Neumeier, Jerry D  Bailey and Randy Moss, handicapper Hank Goldberg and reporters Lesley Visser, Jeannine Edwards and Jay Privman 
Passage 2:
Political handicapping
The terms horse race and handicapping the horse race, have been used to describe media coverage of elections  The terms refer to any news story or article whose main focus is describing how a particular candidate or candidates is faring during the election, in other words, trying to predict the outcome  This category includes polls  There is a thin line between a horse race news story and a non horse race news story  For example, an article simply describing a candidate's economic policy is a non horse race article, but an article which is about how certain groups of voters are angry at a candidate's economic policy is a horse race article 

Criticisms of horse race coverage
Critics of the news media say that the vast majority of all articles during a political election are horse race style  Different criticisms have been raised as to why that is bad:

It is argued that news sources tend to use horse race journalism as a ploy to lure in audiences and tighten polls during election cycles by discrediting candidates favored to win and hyping underdogs
Horse race coverage is considered by some to cause voters to change their actual perceptions on a candidate in a sort of vicious cycle  For example, a poll showing a third party candidate having a low support percentage may discourage other people from voting for that person so as to avoid the spoiler effect  That effect is magnified if a particular media outlet has a biased point of view that they want to get across  One way that a biased news outlet would use this technique is similar to the "some say" rhetorical device, namely by making uncited references to constituent outrage or support of some particular issue 
Some say that horse race coverage destroys coverage of the issues, because often, an article is mostly about how groups reacted to a speech or other presentation of a candidate on an issue and has little room to discuss the candidate's point of view itself 
A horse race style of article allows for the use of weasel words: a subtle way of editorializing on the part of the author by focusing on the criticisms or praise of an anonymous or small group of voters 
It is argued that horse race coverage distracts voters from issues surrounding candidates by emphasizing poll results, regardless of how reliable the polls may be 

See also
Pollster
Swingometer

External links
Political Glossary: Horse Race
In Defense of (the Right Kind of) Horse Race Journalism
Hyping The Horse Race
Passage 3:
Set Weights
Set Weights (SW) is a condition for a Thoroughbred horse race  Horses carry a weight based on their age and sex  In a mixed-sex race, fillies and mares will usually carry less than colts, geldings and horses  Additional weight, or penalties, can also apply as a condition of the race  Many of the top races, particularly age-restricted races, are set weights races 

See also
Weight for Age
Passage 4:
2013 Preakness Stakes
The 2013 Preakness Stakes was the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes thoroughbred horse race  The race was held on May 18, 2013, and was televised on NBC  The race was won by Oxbow   The post time of the race was 6:18 p m  EDT  The race was the 12th race on a card of 13 races  The Maryland Jockey Club reported total attendance of 117,203, the second highest attendance for American thoroughbred racing events in North America during 2013 

Payout
The 138th Preakness Payout Schedule
$2 Exacta: (6-9) $301 40
$2 Trifecta: (6-9-5) $2,061 60
$1 Superfecta: (6-9-5-1) $1,817 80

Field
2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb as expected entered the Preakness  It was announced on May 6 that Vyjack and Normandy Invasion would also be starting in The Preakness  Other Derby starters confirmed for The Preakness are Goldencents (17th) and the D  Wayne Lukas trained duo of Oxbow (6th) and Will Take Charge (8th)  Later connections of Vyjack and Normandy Invasion withdrew their nominations  Horses that did not start in the Kentucky Derby and were nominated include Illinois Derby winner Departing, Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie and Titletown Five Nine 3-year-olds were entered for the 138th Preakness Stakes   The post position draw was held at the International Pavilion in the Pimlico Infield at 6 p m  on May 15, 2013 and were broadcast live on Horse Racing TV using a blind draw  After the draw Orb was installed as the even money favorite, securing the rail 

Race
On the day of the race, the Kentucky Derby winner Orb was bet down further from even money of 1–1 on the morning line down to a prohibitive odds-on favorite at 3-5 by post time  Florida Derby runner-up Itsmyluckyday was listed as a distant second favorite at 8+1⁄2-1 while Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents was the third choice at almost 9+1⁄2-1 by post time  Oxbow was relegated to longshot status of almost 15+1⁄2-1, the only horse with longer odds was stablemate Titletown Five at 22–1 At the break Oxbow was brushed by Will Take Charge, and then steadied as Goldencents, Oxbow and Titletown Five rushed out to the lead in that order   Orb broke well in sixth place out of nine stakes winning colts  Passing the stands for the first time Oxbow moved to the lead and led by one and one half length over Goldencents completing the first quarter mile in a slow :23-4/5  Making a point to ride three to four paths off the rail Oxbow's jockey Gary Stevens slowed down the pace of the race   Rounding Pimlico's famous "Clubhouse Turn" Oxbow opened a daylight advantage moving ahead by two and a half lengths tipping the clock at :48-3/5 for the first half mile   At this point Orb was running in fifth place only two lengths behind Oxbow 
Racing down the backstretch and entering the final turn Oxbow's lead dwindled to only a length and a half with Goldencents and Itsmyluckyday within striking distance   At the top of the lane Oxbow hit another gear and widened his lead to three lengths over Itsmyluckyday who went six wide and made a menacing run toward the front  The first mile was completed in 1:38 flat on the front end as Derby winner Orb toiled in sixth place Nearing the wire, Oxbow, under some hand urging by Stevens, held on to win by one and three quarter lengths over Itsmyluckyday  Louisiana Derby runner-up Mylute closed from the back of the pack under Rosie Napravnik to finish third by two and a quarter lengths (the best finish ever by a woman jockey in the 138-year history of the Preakness)  Kentucky Derby winner Orb made up some ground at the end but could finish no better than fourth, nine lengths behind the winner   Just after the wire NBC announcer Tom Hammond exclaimed, "Gary Stevens just stole the Preakness," with Oxbow becoming the first wire-to-wire winner of the race since Aloma's Ruler in 1982   The "Hall-of-Fame ride" allowed Oxbow to conserve enough energy to finish the mile and three sixteenths in a final time of 1:57 54; it was the slowest Preakness winning time since 1961 

The full chart
Winning Breeder: Colts Next Stables, LLC; (KY)
Final Time: 1:57 54
Track: Fast
Attendance - 117,203

Records
Winning jockey Gary Stevens became the oldest jockey at aged 50 years to win the race 
Winning trainer D  Wayne Lukas won his sixth Preakness to move one behind Robert Wyndham Walden for most wins in the second leg of the Triple Crown and won his record fourteenth Triple Crown race 

See also
2013 Kentucky Derby
2013 Belmont Stakes
Passage 5:
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby () is an American Grade I stakes race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky  The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs; 2,012 metres), the first time horses in the field race that distance  Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kilograms) and fillies 121 pounds (55 kilograms) Held annually on the first Saturday in May, the race is the first leg of the Triple Crown  The Derby is known as "The Run for the Roses," as the winning horse is draped in a blanket of roses  Lasting approximately two minutes, the race has also been called "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports" or "The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports " It is preceded by the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival 
The race was first run in 1875  Unlike the other races of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the Derby has been run annually since its first edition  The race was rescheduled to later in the year due to World War II in 1945 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 The Derby is the most-watched and most-attended horse race in the United States  
The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby took place on Saturday, May 6, 2023 

History
In 1872, Col  Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr , grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition, traveled to England, visiting Epsom in Surrey where The Derby had been running annually since 1780  From there, Clark went on to Paris, France, where a group of racing enthusiasts had formed the French Jockey Club in 1863  They had organized the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp, which at the time was the greatest race in France  Returning home to Kentucky, Clark organized the Louisville Jockey Club to raise money for building quality racing facilities just outside the city  The track would soon become known as Churchill Downs, named for John and Henry Churchill, who provided the land for the racetrack  The naming went official in 1937 
The Kentucky Derby was first run at 1+1⁄2 miles (12 furlongs; 2 4 km) the same distance as the Epsom Derby, before changing lengths in 1896 to its current 1+1⁄4 miles (10 furlongs; 2 km)  On May 17, 1875, in front of an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, a field of 15 three-year-old horses contested the first Derby  Under jockey Oliver Lewis, a colt named Aristides, who was trained by future Hall of Famer Ansel Williamson, won the inaugural Derby  Later that year, Lewis rode Aristides to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes 
Initially a successful venue, the track ran into financial difficulties due to a protracted, gambling-related horseman boycott removing it from the upper echelons of racing that would last until the Winn era (see below)  In 1894 the New Louisville Jockey Club was incorporated with the new capitalization and improved facilities  Despite this, the business floundered until 1902, when a syndicate led by Col  Matt Winn of Louisville acquired the facility  Under Winn, Churchill Downs prospered, and the Kentucky Derby then became the preeminent stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred horses in North America 
Thoroughbred owners began sending their successful Derby horses to compete in two other races  These two are the Preakness Stakes at the Pimlico Race Course, in Baltimore, and the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York  The three races offered large purses, and in 1919 Sir Barton became the first horse to win all three races  However, the term Triple Crown didn't come into use for another eleven years  In 1930, when Gallant Fox became the second horse to win all three races, sportswriter Charles Hatton brought the phrase into American usage  Fueled by the media, public interest in the possibility of a "superhorse" that could win the Triple Crown began in the weeks leading up to the Derby  Two years after the term went in use, the race (until that time ran in mid-May since inception) changed the date to the first Saturday in May  This change allows for a specific schedule for the Triple Crown races  Since 1931, the order of Triple Crown races has been the Kentucky Derby first, followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes  Before 1931, eleven times the Preakness was run before the Derby  On May 12, 1917, and again on May 13, 1922, the Preakness and the Derby took place on the same day  On eleven occasions the Belmont Stakes was run before the Preakness Stakes, and in 2020, the Belmont was run first, then the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness Stakes last 

On May 16, 1925, the first live radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby aired on WHAS as well as on WGN in Chicago  On May 7, 1949, the first television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, produced by WAVE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Louisville  This coverage was aired live in the Louisville market and sent to NBC as a kinescope newsreel recording for national broadcast  On May 3, 1952, the first national television coverage of the Kentucky Derby took place, aired from then-CBS affiliate WHAS-TV  In 1954, the purse exceeded US$100,000 for the first time  In 1968, Dancer's Image became the first horse to win the race and then face disqualification  A urine test revealed traces of phenylbutazone (an anti-inflammatory painkiller drug) inside Dancer's Image  Forward Pass won after a protracted legal battle by the owners of Dancer's Image (which they lost)  Forward Pass thus became the eighth winner for Calumet Farm  Unexpectedly, the regulations at Kentucky thoroughbred race tracks were changed some years later, allowing horses to run on phenylbutazone  In 1970, Diane Crump became the first female jockey to ride in the Derby, finishing 15th aboard Fathom The fastest time ever run in the Derby was in 1973 at 1:59 4 minutes, when Secretariat broke the record set by Northern Dancer in 1964  Also during that race, Secretariat did something unique in Triple Crown races: for each successive quarter run, his times were faster  Although the races do not record times for non-winners, in 1973 Sham finished second, two and a half lengths behind Secretariat in the same race  Using the thoroughbred racing convention of one length equaling one-fifth of a second to calculate Sham's time, he also finished in under two minutes  Another sub-two-minute finish, only the third, was set in 2001 by Monarchos at 1:59 97, the first year the race used hundredths of seconds instead of fifths in timing In 2005, the purse distribution for the Derby changed, so that horses finishing fifth would henceforth receive a share of the purse; previously only the first four finishers did so The Kentucky Derby began offering $3 million in purse money in 2019  Churchill Downs officials have cited the success of historical race wagering terminals at their Derby City Gaming facility in Louisville as a factor behind the purse increase  The Derby first offered a $1 million purse in 1996; it was doubled to $2 million in 2005 In 2020, The Kentucky Derby was postponed from May 2 to September 5 due to the COVID-19 pandemic  This was the second time in history the race had been postponed, the other being in 1945  Churchill Downs used a new singular 20-stall starting gate for the 2020 Kentucky Derby, replacing the previous arrangement that used a standard 14-stall gate and an auxiliary six-stall gate  The old setup contributed to congestion at the start of the race, especially in the gap between the two gates The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously held major sporting event in the United States (1875) 

Attendance
Millions of people from around the world bet at various live tracks and online sportsbooks  In 2017, a crowd of 158,070 watched Always Dreaming win the Derby, making it the seventh biggest attendance in the history of the racetrack  The track reported a wagering total of $209 2 million from all the sources on all the races on the Kentucky Derby Day program  It was a 9 percent increase compared to the total of $192 6 million in 2016 and an increase of 8 percent over the previous record set in 2015 of $194 3 million  TwinSpires, a platform for betting online and a partner of the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup, recorded $32 8 million in handle on the Churchill Down races for the Kentucky Derby Day program  This record was a 22 percent increase over the preceding year  On the Kentucky Derby race alone, the handle of TwinSpires was $20 1 million, which is a 22 percent rise compared to the prior year The race often draws celebrities  HM Queen Elizabeth II, on a visit to the United States, joined the racegoers at Churchill Downs in 2007 

Sponsorship
The 2004 Kentucky Derby marked the first time that jockeys —as a result of a court order— were allowed to wear corporate advertising logos on their clothing Norman Adams has been the designer of the Kentucky Derby Logo since 2002  On February 1, 2006, the Louisville-based fast-food company Yum! Brands, Inc  announced a corporate sponsorship deal to call the race "The Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands "  In 2018 Woodford Reserve replaced Yum! Brands as the presenting sponsor 

Traditions
In addition to the race itself, several traditions play a significant role in the Derby atmosphere  The mint julep—an iced drink consisting of bourbon, mint, and sugar syrup—is the traditional beverage of the race  The historic beverage comes served in an ice-frosted silver julep cup  However, most Churchill Downs patrons sip theirs from souvenir glasses (first offered in 1939 and available in revised form each year since) printed with all previous Derby winners  Also, burgoo, a thick stew of beef, chicken, pork, and vegetables, is a popular Kentucky dish served at the Derby 
The infield—a spectator area inside the track—offers general admission prices but little chance of seeing much of the race, particularly before the jumbotron installation in 2014  Instead, revelers show up in the infield to party with abandon  By contrast, "Millionaire's Row" refers to the expensive box seats that attract the rich, the famous and the well-connected  Women appear in elegant outfits lavishly accessorized with large, elaborate hats  Following the Call to the Post played on bugle by Steve Buttleman, as the horses start to parade before the grandstands, the University of Louisville Cardinal Marching Band plays Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home"  This song is a tradition which began in 1921  The event attracts spectators from a large area, flying in hundreds of private aircraft to Louisville International Airport The Derby is frequently referred to as "The Run for the Roses", because a lush blanket of 554 red roses is awarded to the Kentucky Derby winner each year  The tradition originated in 1883 when New York City socialite E  Berry Wall presented roses to ladies at a post-Derby party  The Churchill Downs founder and president, Col  M  Lewis Clark, attended that event  This gesture is believed to have led Clark to the idea of making the rose the race's official flower  However, it was not until 1896 that any recorded account referred to draping roses on the Derby winner  The Governor of Kentucky and the Chairman of Churchill Downs Incorporated present the garland and the Kentucky Derby Trophy to the winner  Pop vocalist Dan Fogelberg composed the song "Run for the Roses", released in time for the 1980 running of the race 

Riders Up!
"Riders Up!" is the traditional command from the Paddock Judge for jockeys to mount their horses in advance of the upcoming race  Since 2012, a dignitary or celebrity attendee recites this phrase 

Festival
In the weeks preceding the race, numerous activities took place for the Kentucky Derby Festival  Thunder Over Louisville—an airshow and fireworks display—generally begins the festivities in earnest two weeks before the Derby 

Derby Galas
A number of galas are held to celebrate the Kentucky Derby leading up to Derby day itself including one of the oldest, ongoing galas called Barnstable Brown  Funds raised at Barnstable Brown support the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center at the University of Kentucky 
 

Records
Horse records
Secretariat set the record for speed in 1973 with a time of 1:59 4  During its first two decades when the Derby was run at 1+1⁄2 miles, and the record was 2:34 5, set by Spokane in 1889 
The largest margin of victory is 8 lengths, a feat tied by four different horses: Old Rosebud in 1914, Johnstown in 1939, Whirlaway in 1941, and Assault in 1946 
The highest odds of a winning horse were 91 to 1 for Donerail in 1913  The second-highest odds occurred in 2022, when Rich Strike went off at 80 to 1 and won the race 
Three horses have won the Kentucky Derby without competing as a two-year-old: Apollo (1882), Justify (2018), and Mage (2023) 

Jockey records
107 jockeys have won the Kentucky Derby, with 27 doing so multiple times  Isaac Murphy (1890–91), Jimmy Winkfield (1901–02), Ron Turcotte (1972–73), Eddie Delahoussaye (1982–83), Calvin Borel (2009–10), and Victor Espinoza (2014–15) are the only jockeys to win the Derby in back-to-back years  Borel is the only jockey with three wins in a four-year span (2007, '09, '10) 

Trainer records
116 trainers have won the Kentucky Derby, with 19 doing so multiple times  Six trainers have won the Derby in back-to-back years: Herbert J  Thompson (1932–33), Ben Jones (1948–49), Jimmy Jones (1957–58), Lucien Laurin (1972–73), D  Wayne Lukas (1995–96), and Bob Baffert (1997–98) 

Owner Records
Seventeen owners have won the Kentucky Derby multiple times with horses they fully or partially owned 

* Partnered with other entities in an ownership group for one or more winning horses 

"Oaks/Derby Double"
Jockeys, trainers, and owners competing in the Kentucky Derby often will compete in the Kentucky Oaks, a race for fillies held the day before the Derby  Winning both these races in the same year is referred to as an "Oaks/Derby Double;" 7 jockeys, 3 trainers, and 4 owners have accomplished this feat:

*Until the 1950s, the Oaks was held several days or weeks after the Derby 

Winners
Triple Crown winners are in bold and highlighted with gold 

Notes# Designates a filly 
† Designates a horse that won American Horse of the Year in the same year they won the Derby 
‡ Designates a horse that was inducted in subsequent years into the National Racing Hall of Fame 

Sire lines
Winners of the Kentucky Derby can be connected to each other due to the practice of arranging horse breeding based on their previous success  All of the horses can be traced back to the three foundational sires, with Godolphin Arabian the ancestor of 7 winners, Byerley Turk the ancestor of 11 winners, and Darley Arabian is the ancestor of 130 winners, including all winners since 1938 

Darley Arabian line
The Darley Arabian (1700c) sire line (all branched through the Eclipse (1764) line) produced 131 Derby winners (123 colts, 5 geldings, 3 fillies), including all winners from 1938 to present  The main branches of this sire line are:

The King Fergus (1775) branch (all branched through the Voltigeur (1847) line), produced 14 winners  His sire line continued primarily through his son Vedette (1854) with 12 winners, due to his sons Speculum (1865) with 6 winners (nearly exclusively through Sundridge (1898) with 5 winners, most recently Count Turf in 1951) and Galopin (1872) with 6 winners (exclusively through St  Simon (1881), most recently Go For Gin in 1994) 
The Potoooooooo (1773) branch produced 117 winners (all branched through the Waxy (1790) line), including all winners from 1995 to present  The primary branch of this sire line is through Whalebone (1807), which has produced 112 winners  In turn, the primary branch continues through Sir Hercules (1826), which has produced 90 winners (including all winners since 2006), and then the Birdcatcher (1833) branch which produced 78 winners  From Birdcatcher, the branch of The Baron (1842) has produced 68 winners, of which 66 winners trace to Stockwell (1849)  Stockwell's son Doncaster (1870) sired Bend Or (1877), whose sire line accounts for 64 winners  The main branch of the Bend Or sire line continued through his son Bona Vista (1889) with 55 winners, exclusively through the Phalaris (1913) line, which has dominated in the last several decades (including all winners from 2006 to present) through the following sons:The Pharamond (1925) branch (4 winners all through the Tom Fool (1949) line, most recently Silver Charm in 1997) 
The Sickle (1924) branch, which has produced all winners from 2022 to present (24 winners all branched through the Native Dancer (1950) line, nearly exclusively through Raise a Native (1961) with 23 winners, continued primarily through Mr Prospector (1970) with 16 winners (including all winners since 2022) through 8 different sons: Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby, and 7 other sons through their progeny (most recently Mage in 2023, with his son Fappiano (1977) accounting for 6 winners (most recently Always Dreaming in 2017)) 
The Pharos (1920) branch (27 winners all branched through the Nearco (1935) line, through his sons Royal Charger (1942), Nearctic (1954), and Nasrullah (1940))  The Royal Charger branch produced 5 winners (most recently Barbaro in 2006), the Nearctic branch produced 8 winners, exclusively through his son Northern Dancer (1961) with his win in the 1964 Kentucky Derby, and direct male progeny of 7 winners (most recently Mandaloun in 2021), while the Nasrullah branch produced 14 winners (most recently Nyquist in 2016) primarily due to his son Bold Ruler (1954) with 10 winners (most recently California Chrome in 2014) 
Special notes:
The Waxy (1790) branch produced two main lines: the primary branch of Whalebone (1807), and the secondary branch of Whisker (1812) which produced 5 winners (exclusively through the King Tom (1851) line), most recently 1909 Kentucky Derby winner Wintergreen 
An offshoot of the Whalebone (1807) branch, the Camel (1822) branch (18 winners exclusively through the Touchstone (1831) line), produced 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo through his grandson Orlando's (1841) branch  Since then, each winner of the Kentucky Derby has gone through Whalebone's more frequent sire line branch of Sir Herecules (1826)  The Orlando branch (6 winners exclusively through the Himyar (1875) line) is the less common of the two branches derived through Camel  Orlando's brother Newminster (1848) produced 12 winners (primarily through the Hyperion (1930) line with 8 winners), most recently Chateaugay in 1963 
The Sir Hercules (1826) branch produced two main lines: the primary branch of Birdcatcher (1833), and the secondary branch of Faugh-a-Ballagh (1841) which produced 12 winners (exclusively through the Leamington (1853) line), most recently 1908 Kentucky Derby winner Stone Street 
The Birdcatcher (1833) branch produced two main lines: the primary branch of The Baron (1842), and the secondary branch of Oxford (1857) which produced 10 winners (primarily through the Swynford (1907) line with 8 winners), most recently 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair 
The Bend Or (1877) branch produced two main lines: the primary branch of Bona Vista (1889), and the secondary branch of Ormonde (1883) which produced 8 winners (exclusively through the Teddy (1913) line), most recently 1957 Kentucky Derby winner Iron Liege 

Byerley Turk line
The Byerley Turk (1680c) sire line produced 11 winners (8 colts, 3 geldings)  The main branches of this sire (all branched through the Herod (1758) line) are:

The Highflyer (1774) branch produced 1 winner, most recently Macbeth II in 1888 
The Florizel (1768) branch produced 3 winners (all branched through the Lexington (1850) line), most recently Manuel in 1899 
The Woodpecker (1773) branch produced 7 winners (all branched through the Buzzard (1787) line)  The main branches of this sire line are:
The Castrel (1801) branch produced 1 winner, most recently Kingman in 1891 
The Selim (1802) branch produced 6 winners (all branched through the Glencoe (1831) line)  The main branches of this sire line are:
The Star Davis (1849) branch produced 1 winner, most recently Day Star in 1878 
The Vandal (1850) branch produced 5 winners (all branched through the Virgil (1864) line), most recently Alan-a-Dale in 1902 

Godolphin Arabian line
the Godolphin Arabian (1724c) sire line produced 7 winners (6 colts, 1 gelding)  The main branches of this sire (all branched through the West Australian (1850) line) are:
the Solon (1861) branch produced 3 winners, including:
the Barcaldine (1878) branch produced 1 winner, most recently Omar Khayyam in 1917
the Arbitrator (1874) branch produced 2 winners (all branched through The Finn (1912) line), most recently Flying Ebony in 1925
the Australian (1858) branch produced 4 winners, including:
Baden-Baden (1874), winner of the 1877 Kentucky Derby
the Waverly (1870) branch produced 1 winner, most recently Montrose in 1887
the Spendthrift (1876) branch produced 2 winners (all branched through the Man o' War (1917) line), most recently War Admiral in 1937

Kentucky Derby winners with male-line descendants including other Kentucky Derby winners
Northern Dancer (1964 winner) – 7 colts; most recently Mandaloun (2021)
Ben Brush (1896 winner) - 3 winners (2 colts, 1 filly); most recently Whiskery (1927)
Seattle Slew (1977 winner) – 3 colts; most recently California Chrome (2014)
Unbridled (1990 winner) – 3 winners (2 colts, 1 gelding); most recently American Pharoah (2015)
Hindoo (1881 winner) – 2 colts; most recently Alan-a-Dale (1902)
Bold Venture (1936 winner) – 2 colts; most recently Middleground (1950)
Reigh Count (1928 winner) – 2 colts; most recently Count Turf (1951)
Pensive (1944 winner) – 2 colts; most recently Needles (1956)
Majestic Prince (1969 winner) – 2 colts; most recently Super Saver (2010)
Halma (1895 winner) – 1 colt; Alan-a-Dale (1902)
Leonatus (1883 winner) – 1 colt; Pink Star (1907)
Bubbling Over (1926 winner) – 1 colt; Burgoo King (1932)
Gallant Fox (1930 winner) – 1 colt; Omaha (1935)
Count Fleet (1943 winner) – 1 colt; Count Turf (1951)
Ponder (1949 winner) – 1 colt; Needles (1956)
Determine (1954 winner) – 1 colt; Decidedly (1962)
Swaps (1955 winner) – 1 colt; Chateaugay (1963)
Grindstone (1996 winner) – 1 gelding; Mine That Bird (2009)

See also
Kentucky Oaks
Kentucky Derby Festival
American thoroughbred racing top attended events
Kentucky Derby top four finishers
List of graded stakes at Churchill Downs
"The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved", a seminal example of New Journalism by Hunter S  Thompson
Triple Crown Productions
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
Grand Slam of Thoroughbred Racing
List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area
Derby Pie
List of Kentucky Derby broadcasters
Passage 6:
Claiming race
In Thoroughbred racing, a claiming race is a type of horse race in which the horses are all for sale at a specified claiming price until shortly before the race  In the hierarchy of horse races, based on the quality of the horses that compete, claiming races are at the bottom, below maiden races (races for horses that have never won a race)  In most race tracks in the United States, most of the races are claiming races  For example in Kentucky in 1999, 54% of all races run were claiming races, but had only 20% of the purse dollar value, the lowest average purse among race types The mechanics of claiming vary based on jurisdiction but in most cases almost anyone, or possibly anyone who is licensed to own racehorses, may claim  For example, the Illinois Racing Board stipulates that any horse may be claimed for its entered price by any licensed owner or agent or anyone who has filed an application and been granted a claiming license  Title to the horse typically transfers just before the start of the race, but the previous owner is entitled to the purse, if any, that results from the horse's performance in the race  Usually related parties such as the trainer or employees, or relatives, are prohibited from claiming, as are reciprocal agreements between owners to "protect" each other's horses  If a horse is purchased, a track official tags it (often with a red tag) after the race, and it goes to its new owner, assuming the new owner had sufficient funds on deposit Claiming races have claim amounts which vary, and higher amounts tend to have richer purses  The intent of this is to even the race; if a better-than-class horse is entered (with the expectation of an easy purse win), it might be lost for the claiming price, which is likely less than the horse is worth  Someone may wish to claim a horse if they think the horse has not been trained to its fullest potential under another trainer 
Claiming races serve several purposes  They are a quality classification, as well as a way of ensuring racing outcomes are less predictable, which in turn increases the handle, or amount of parimutuel betting, and a way to bring liquidity to the racehorse marketplace  Although many horses never rise above claiming races, some do  For example Stymie, a USD 1500 claimer, went on to earn over 900,000 USD, winning many storied grade 1 stakes and handicap races in the 1940s  General Quarters, a USD 20,000 claimer, won the grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes and ran in the 2009 Kentucky Derby  Make A Stand, claimed for £8,000 in 1995, won the 1997 Champion Hurdle   In 2018,  Maximum Security won a claiming race, but was not claimed, and went on to run in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, and initially appeared to win, but was disqualified for interfering with other horses  The 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was purchased in a claiming race for $30,000, was entered into the Derby only after Ethereal Road was scratched, and won at 80-1 odds 
Passage 7:
Miss Preakness Stakes
The Miss Preakness Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies over a distance of six furlongs on the dirt held annually run on Black-Eyed Susan Stakes Day at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland as a stakes feature of the undercard  The event offers a purse of $150,000 added 

History
The race was first carded in its inaugural running in 1986  It became graded for the first time in 2002 by the American Graded Stakes Committee  The race was simply called the Miss Preakness Stakes from 1986 through 2003  The race was renamed with sponsorship in 2004 to the "Adena Stallions Miss Preakness Stakes" 

Sponsorship
From 2015 to 2019 the event was sponsored by Adena Springs, a breeding operation owned by Magna Entertainment Corporation Chairman, Frank Stronach  Adena Stallions' are the breeding stock stallions at Adena Springs including: Ghostzapper, Macho Uno, Giacomo, Congaree, Awesome Again and Touch Gold in Midway, Kentucky  Adena Springs stallions standing in Ocala, Florida includes Red Bullet, Milwaukee Brew, and Alphabet Soup   Adena Springs has donated a 2017 no guarantee breeding season to point of entry for the winning entry 

Records
Speed record:  

1:07 70 – Covfefe (2019)Margins: 

8+1⁄2 lengths – Covfefe (2019)Most wins by a jockey:

4 – Chris McCarron     (1986, 1987, 1988 & 1990)Most wins by a trainer:

3 – D  Wayne Lukas    (1995, 1998, & 2007)
3 – Todd Pletcher   (2000, 2011, 2016)Most wins by an owner:

no owner has won this race more than once 

Winners of The Miss Preakness Stakes
See also
Black-Eyed Susan Stakes
List of American and Canadian Graded races
List of graded stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Miss Preakness Stakes "top three finishers" and starters
Pimlico Race Course
Preakness Stakes
Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association
Passage 8:
Alysheba Stakes
The Alysheba Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three and older  over a distance of 1+1⁄16 miles on the dirt held annually in early May on the Kentucky Oaks day meeting at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky  during the spring meeting 

History
The Alysheba became the most recent addition to the Derby Week stakes with the inaugural running on 30 April 2004 as the sixth race on the undercard of the Kentucky Oaks day meeting  It was the first stakes to join the Derby Week lineup since 1997 
The event is named for the talented 1987 Kentucky Derby winner and United States Racing Hall of Fame inductee,  Alysheba, who returned to the Downs in 1988 to win the Breeders' Cup Classic  His victory marked the first time a Derby winner had returned to Churchill to win a stakes since Whirlaway took the 1942 Clark Handicap The event received graded status in 2007 and was upgrade to Grade II in 2012 The 2012 winner Successful Dan broke the track record for the distance which to date still holds 

Records
Speed record1+1⁄16 miles:  1:41 04 -  Successful Dan   (2012)Margins6 lengths - Take Charge Indy (2013)Most wins by a jockey3 - John Velazquez    (2004, 2005, 2015)Most wins by a trainer2 - Todd Pletcher (2005, 2015)
2 - Bob Baffert (2011, 2019)

Winners
See also
List of American and Canadian Graded races
Passage 9:
Jim McKay Turf Sprint
The Jim McKay Turf Sprint is a Listed American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds and up over a distance of five furlongs on the turf held  as part of the undercard for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes annually during the third week of May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland    The race offers a purse of $100,000 The Jim McKay Turf Sprint is the lead off leg of the Mid Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Sprint Turf Division or MATCh Races   MATCh is a series of five races in five separate thoroughbred divisions run throughout four Mid-Atlantic States including; Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park Racecourse in Maryland; Delaware Park Racetrack in Delaware; Parx, Philadelphia Park and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania and Monmouth Park in New Jersey 

Race name
The race was named in honor of James Kenneth McManus (1921-2008), better known by his professional name of Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist  McKay is best known for hosting ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961–1998)  McKay covered a wide variety of special events, including horse races such as the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, golf events such as the British Open, and the Indianapolis 500 

History
The Jim McKay Turf Sprint was first run in 2006 as the Baltimore Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint  In 2007, it ran as the Baltimore City Turf Sprint and in 2008 the race was known as the Old Mutual Turf Sprint  The stakes record is held by Heros Reward, who won the race in 2007 in a time of :55 90 over five furlongs 

Records
Speed record: 

5 furlongs - 55 4/5 - Hero's Reward  (2007)Most wins by a horse:

5 - Ben's Cat (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016)Most wins by a jockey:

3 - Julian Pimentel (2013, 2014 & 2015)Most wins by a trainer:

5 - King T  Leatherbury  (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016)Most wins by an owner:

5 - The Jim Stable    (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016)

Winners of the Jim McKay Turf Sprint since 2006
See also
Jim McKay Turf Sprint top three finishers
Pimlico Race Course
List of graded stakes at Pimlico Race Course
Passage 10:
Horse Racing (video game)
Horse Racing is an equestrian video game released by Mattel Electronics for its Intellivision video game console in 1980   Although primarily a sports video game, Horse Racing received Mattel's "Gaming Network" branding, due to its pari-mutuel betting on horses during the game 
The game houses 8 virtual Thoroughbred race horses residing in the fictional Rainbow Thoroughbred Stables at a fictional western Kentucky race track called Plympton Downs (based loosely on long-time sportscaster/Intellivision sales personality George Plimpton)   Each of the horses have differing racing abilities (front runner, pace keeper, come from behind,    ), and do vary from game time to game time (a horse with come from behind traits during one match may have front runner abilities during the next match)   These horses are known by their colors (instead of their post position numbers—unlike in regular horse racing) 
Horse Racing was also released by Sears for their Intellivision private-label clone, the Super Video Arcade 

Gameplay
In Intellivision's original Horse Racing game, 6 players (bettors) begin each of the 10 races on the simulated match program by checking out the race program screen; 4 horses are entered for each race, with bettors starting out with a $750 simulated bankroll   For each of the 4 horses entered into a race, the odds—along with past performances—are listed (accessed by a side action button during placing bets)   Each bettor then keys in his/her player number (from 1 to 6 on the keypad), enters a bet pay amount against 
his/her bankroll, then—places the bet (of a win or exacta only—by pressing [9] on the keypad) on his/her selection of horse(s)   After all bets are made, a keypad press of [0] then [ENTER] starts the race 
The call to the post then plays   After a brief silence, the starting gate opens up, and 4 Thoroughbred horses run away from the gate   During the actual race, the disk/joystick is used to move a horse along, while the side action buttons perform either of 2 functions (top to coax a horse along, bottom to whip it)   Each race takes place on any of 3 different types of track:  dry, turf (grass), or muddy; additionally, the races run in length from 3 to 10 furlongs   After the horses cross the finish line, the results are shown on the tote board as colorful horse heads (reading from right to left in finishing order), along with the elapsed time of the race   The play screen then switches to the bet placing screen for the next race; after the full 10-race match program has run, a final GAME OVER screen shows up, with the bettors' final bankroll amounts 
The track is horizontally scrolling, with its color changing according to the racing surface (khaki for dry, pine green for turf, and brown for muddy)  A 4-stall starting gate with the horses loaded therein is shown at the start of each race   The cheering crowd fanfare sound is played as the horses cross the finish line 

The Rainbow Thoroughbred Stables
The RTS is a fictional stable in where the race horses featured in the game are housed   Each horse has differing abilities and personalities   These are referred to by their colors (unlike in actual horse races where they would get entrant post position numbers in relation to the inner rail)   These are assigned a button on the keypad as follows:

[1] PINK — Pink Lady
[2] RED — Red Devil
[3] ORANGE — Sun Shine Shake
[4] YELLOW — Gold Torts
[5] GREEN — Green Goblin
[6] BLUE — Blue Boy
[7] VIOLET (PURPLE) — Grape Ghost
[8] WHITE — Snowy GuyOn the original prototype ROM, there was a BLACK horse called Black Maurauder; however, he got dropped from the original release of the game, and got replaced by Snowy Guy 

Legacy
Horse Racing is included in the Intellivision Lives! game collection 
Context 2: Passage 1:
Arab Kingdom of Syria
The Arab Kingdom of Syria (Arabic: المملكة العربية السورية, al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūrīyah) was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized constitutional monarchy existing briefly in the territory of historical Syria  It was announced on 5 October 1918 as a fully and independent Arab constitutional government with the permission of the British military  It gained de facto independence as an Emirate after the withdrawal of the British forces from OETA East on 26 November 1919, and was proclaimed as a Kingdom on 8 March 1920 
As a Kingdom it existed only a little over four months, from 8 March to 25 July 1920  During its brief existence, the kingdom was led by Sharif Hussein bin Ali's son Faisal bin Hussein  Despite its claims to the territory of Greater Syria, Faisal's government controlled a limited area and was dependent on Britain which, along with France, generally opposed the idea of a Greater Syria and refused to recognize the kingdom  The kingdom surrendered to French forces on 25 July 1920 

History
Foundations
The Arab Revolt and the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence were crucial factors in the foundation of the Arab Kingdom of Syria  In the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence promises of an Arab Kingdom were made by the British in return for an Arab uprising against the Ottomans : 209–215  As the British were promising independence, The French made the Sykes–Picot Agreement  Ultimately, the implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement would lead to the undermining and end of the Arab Kingdom of Syria  Despite the significance of the Arab Revolt to modern Arab countries formed in its wake, at the time there was significant distrust and even opposition to the idea of an Arab Kingdom or series of Arab Kingdoms 
This opposition was due in part to the heavy influence of the French and the British in facilitating the revolt and the establishment of what would be considered, by modern standards, puppet states : 185–191  The involvement of foreign powers in distributing large sums of money and military support to establish an empire that would be led by imperial aspirants, rather than legitimate Arab nationalists, was instrumental in the disintegration of the majority of the early Hashemite Kingdoms (Kingdom of Hejaz and Kingdom of Iraq)  Additionally, at the time, many Arabs expressed grave concerns that the family of the Sharif of Mecca, the Hashemites, could wrest control from the Ottoman Sultan, with whom their loyalty had rested for centuries : 187

Arab constitutional government
Near the end of World War I, the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force, under command of Edmund Allenby, captured Damascus on 30 September 1918  Shortly thereafter, on 3 October, Faisal entered the city : 30  The jubilation would be short lived, as Faisal would soon be made aware of the Sykes–Picot agreement  Faisal had come to expect an independent Arab kingdom in the name of his father but was soon told of the division of territory and how Syria fell under French protective power  Faisal saw this admission as a betrayal by the British, but believed the actual settlement would be worked out at a later date when the war had ended  There was some likelihood that by then the British would have changed their support for French pretensions in Syria 
On 5 October, with the permission of General Allenby, Faisal announced the establishment of a fully and absolutely independent Arab constitutional government : 34  Faisal announced it would be an Arab government based on justice and equality for all Arabs regardless of religion  The French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau found disconcerting the establishment of a semi-independent Arab state without international recognition and under the auspices of the British  Even reassurances by Allenby that all actions taken were provisional did not ease the looming tensions between the British, the French, and the Arabs  For Arab nationalists, and many of the Arabs who fought in the Arab Revolt, this independent state would be the realization of a long hard-fought goal 

Determining the status
After the war, at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Faisal pushed for Arab independence  At the Conference, the victorious Allies decided what was to become of the defeated nations of the Central Powers, especially who was to control their territories, such as the Ottoman Empire's Middle East possessions  The status of the Arab lands in the Middle East was the subject of intense negotiations between the French and British  In May 1919, the French and British prime ministers met in Quai d’Orsay to decide between them their respective claims to territories or spheres of influence in the Middle East  The meeting determined that in return for a British guarantee of French control in Syria, the British would be given a mandate over Mosul and Palestine 
At about the same time, an American compromise resulted in an agreement to set up a commission to determine the wishes of the inhabitants  Though they initially supported the idea, Britain and France eventually backed out, leaving the King–Crane Commission of 1919 solely American : 268  The findings of the commission, not published until 1922 after the vote on the mandates in the League of Nations, indicated strong Arab support for an independent Arab state and opposition to a French presence 

Creation
These events in Europe led Syrian nationalist societies like al-Fatat (the Young Arab Society) to make preparations for a national congress  These Syrian nationalist societies advocated complete independence for an Arab Kingdom that united Arabs under Faisal  The King–Crane Commission encouraged efforts to unify, and hasty elections were called including representatives from all over the Arab lands, including Palestine and Lebanon, although French officials prevented many of their representatives from arriving  The first official session of the Syrian Congress was held on 3 June 1919 and al-Fatat member Hashim al-Atassi was elected its president : 17 When the King–Crane Commission arrived in Damascus on 25 June 1919, it was met with a flurry of leaflets saying "Independence or Death" 
On 2 July the Syrian National Congress in Damascus passed the Damascus Program, a series of resolutions calling for a completely independent constitutional monarchy with Faisal as king, asking for assistance from the United States, and rejecting any rights claimed by the French : 19  The resolutions defined the borders as 

on the north, the Taurus Range; on the south, a line running from Rafah to Al-Jauf and following the Syria-Hejaz border below 'Aqaba; on the east, the boundary formed by the Euphrates and Khabur rivers and a line stretching from some distance east of Abu-Kamal to some distance east of al-Jauf; on the west, the Mediterranean Sea 
Any hope that Faisal may have had that either the British or Americans would come to his aid and counter French moves quickly faded, especially after the Anglo-French Agreement for the withdrawal of British troops from Syria and the end of the British military government in Syria  The British withdrew from the region on 26 November 1919 In January 1920, Faisal was forced into an agreement with France which stipulated that France would uphold the existence of the Syrian state and would not station troops in Syria as long as the French government remained the only government supplying advisers, counselors and technical experts : 167  News of this compromise did not bode well with Faisal's vehemently anti-French and independence-minded supporters who immediately pressured Faisal to reverse his commitment, which he did  In the aftermath of this reversal, violent attacks against French forces took place and the Syrian Congress assembled in March 1920 to declare Faisal the king of Syria as well as to officially set up the Arab Kingdom of Syria with Hashim al-Atassi as Prime Minister and Yusuf al-'Azma as Minister of War and Chief of Staff 
This unilateral action was immediately repudiated by the British and French and the San Remo Conference was called by the Allied Powers in April 1920 to finalise the allocation of League of Nations mandates in the Middle East  This was in turn repudiated by Faisal and his supporters  After months of instability and failure to make good on the promises to the French, the commander of French forces General Henri Gouraud gave an ultimatum to King Faisal on 14 July 1920 declaring he surrender or fight : 215

Dissolution
Worried about the results of a long bloody fight with the French, King Faisal surrendered  However, Yusuf al-'Azma, the defense minister, ignored the King's order, and led a small army to confront the French advance into Syria  This army depended mainly on individual weapons and were no match to the French artillery  At the Battle of Maysalun, the Syrian army was easily defeated by the French, with General al-'Azma being killed during the battle  The loss led to the siege and capture of Damascus on 24 July 1920 and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was put into effect thereafter 

Legacy
After surrendering to French forces, Faisal was expelled from Syria and went to live in the United Kingdom in August 1920  In August 1921 he was offered the crown of Iraq under the British Mandate of Iraq 
A pro-French government under the leadership of 'Alaa al-Din al-Darubi was installed one day after the fall of Damascus, on 25 July 1920 : 37  On 1 September 1920, General Gouraud divided the French mandate territory of Syria into several smaller states as part of a French scheme to make Syria easier to control 
The Kingdom, through its short and tumultuous existence, would become a subject of great inspiration to later Arab liberation movements  It would be the often-repeated story of an Arab people breaking out from their colonial bonds only to be castigated for their revolutionary fervor and for their resistance to the imperial powers  The symbolism of the fall of the Kingdom of Syria also imparted deep mistrust of European powers, who were seen as liars and oppressors 

Politics of Syria (1918–1920)
Heads of Government
King
Prime Ministers
Gallery
Passage 2:
Gouding
Gouding (Chinese: 句町) was a monarchical state that lasted approximately 400 years, from 111 BC to 316 AD, and was centered on Guangnan County in modern-day Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province, China 

In December 2015, artifacts unearthed from Gouding were on display at the Guangnan Minorities Museum 

See also
Đông Sơn drums
Neighbouring kingdoms of Dian and Yelang 
Southward expansion of the Han dynasty
Zomia (geography)
Passage 3:
Modern history of Syria
The modern history of Syria begins with the termination of Ottoman control of Syria by French forces and the establishment of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration during World War I  The short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria emerged in 1920, which was however soon committed under the French Mandate, which produced the short-lived autonomous State of Aleppo, State of Damascus (later State of Syria), Alawite State and Jabal al-Druze (state); the autonomies were transformed into the Mandatory Syrian Republic in 1930  Syrian Republic gained independence in April 1946  The Republic took part in the Arab-Israeli War and remained in a state of political instability during the 1950s and 1960s 
The 8 March 1963 coup resulted in the installation of the National Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority  The takeover was engineered by members of the Ba'ath Party led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar  He was overthrown in early 1966 by Marxist-Leninist military dissidents of the party led by General Salah Jadid  Since the Arab Spring of 2011, Bashar al-Assad's government has been involved in the ongoing Syrian civil war 

Syria under the Mandate
OETA
The Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA) was a joint British and French military administration over Levantine and Mesopotamian provinces of the former Ottoman Empire between 1918 and 1920, set up following the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I  The administration ended following the assignment of the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon and British Mandate for Palestine at the 19–26 April 1920 San Remo conference 

Initial civil administration
Following the San Remo conference in April 1920 and the defeat of King Faisal's short-lived monarchy in Syria at the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920, the French general Henri Gouraud established civil administration in the territory  The mandate region was subdivided into six states  They were the states of Damascus (1920), Aleppo (1920), Alawites (1920), Jabal Druze (1921), the autonomous Sanjak of Alexandretta (1921) (modern-day Hatay), and the State of Greater Lebanon (1920), which later became the modern country of Lebanon 
The drawing of those states was based in part on the sectarian make-up on the ground in Syria  However, nearly all the Syrian sects were hostile to the French mandate and to the division it created  This was best demonstrated by the numerous revolts that the French encountered in all of the Syrian states  Maronite Christians of Mount Lebanon, on the other hand, were a community with a dream of independence that was being realized under the French; therefore, Greater Lebanon was the exception to the newly formed states 

Syrian Federation (1922-24)
In July 1922, France established a loose federation between three of the states: Damascus, Aleppo, and the Alawite state under the name of the Syrian Federation (Fédération syrienne)  Jabal Druze, Sanjak of Alexandretta, and Greater Lebanon were not parts of this federation, which adopted a new federal flag (green-white-green with French canton)  On 1 December 1924, the Alawite state seceded from the federation when the states of Aleppo and Damascus were united into the State of Syria 

The Great Syrian Revolt
In 1925, a revolt in Jabal Druze led by Sultan Pasha el Atrash spread to other Syrian states and became a general rebellion in Syria  France tried to retaliate by having the parliament of Aleppo declare secession from the union with Damascus, but the voting was foiled by Syrian patriots 

First Syrian Republic
The red stars that represented the three districts of the republic (Damascus, Aleppo, and Deir ez Zor) 

1936 Independence treaty
In 1936, the Franco-Syrian Treaty of Independence was signed, a treaty that would not be ratified by the French legislature  However, the treaty allowed Jabal Druze, the Alawite (now called Latakia), and Alexandretta to be incorporated into the Syrian republic within the following two years  Greater Lebanon (now the Lebanese Republic) was the only state that did not join the Syrian Republic  Hashim al-Atassi, who was Prime Minister under King Faisal's brief reign (1918–1920), was the first president to be elected under a new constitution adopted after the independence treaty 

Separation of Hatay
In September 1938, France again separated the Syrian district of Alexandretta and transformed it into the Republic of Hatay  The Republic of Hatay joined Turkey in the following year, in June 1939  Syria did not recognize the incorporation of Hatay into Turkey and the issue is still disputed until the present time 

World War II and the founding of the UN
With the fall of France in 1940 during World War II, Syria came under the control of the Vichy Government until the British and Free French invaded and occupied the country in July 1941  Syria proclaimed its independence again in 1941 but it was not until 1 January 1944 that it was recognized as an independent republic 
On 27 September 1941, France proclaimed, by virtue of, and within the framework of the Mandate, the independence and sovereignty of the Syrian State  The proclamation said "the independence and sovereignty of Syria and Lebanon will not affect the juridical situation as it results from the Mandate Act  Indeed, this situation could be changed only with the agreement of the Council of the League of Nations, with the consent of the Government of the United States, a signatory of the Franco-American Convention of 4 April 1924, and only after the conclusion between the French Government and the Syrian and Lebanese Governments of treaties duly ratified in accordance with the laws of the French Republic Benqt Broms said that it was important to note that there were several founding members of the United Nations whose statehood was doubtful at the time of the San Francisco Conference and that the Government of France still considered Syria and Lebanon to be mandates Duncan Hall said "Thus, the Syrian mandate may be said to have been terminated without any formal action on the part of the League or its successor  The mandate was terminated by the declaration of the mandatory power, and of the new states themselves, of their independence, followed by a process of piecemeal unconditional recognition by other powers, culminating in formal admission to the United Nations  Article 78 of the Charter ended the status of tutelage for any member state: 'The trusteeship system shall not apply to territories which have become Members of the United Nations, relationship among which shall be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality '"On 29 May 1945, France bombed Damascus and tried to arrest its democratically elected leaders  While French planes were bombing Damascus, Prime Minister Faris al-Khoury was at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco, presenting Syria's claim for independence from the French Mandate 
Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups and British pressure forced the French to evacuate their last troops on 17 April 1946 

Republic of Syria 1946-1963
Syrian independence was acquired in 1946  Although rapid economic development followed the declaration of independence, Syrian politics from independence through the late 1960s was marked by upheaval  The early years of independence were marked by political instability 
In 1948, Syria was involved in the Arab-Israeli War with the newly created State of Israel  The Syrian army was pressed out of the Israeli areas, but fortified their strongholds on the Golan and managed to keep their old borders and occupy some additional territory  In July 1949, Syria was the last Arab country to sign an armistice agreement with Israel 
In March 1949, Syria's national government was overthrown by a military coup d'état led by Husni al-Zaim in a coup  Some authors claim involvement by the United States CIA Later that year Zaim was overthrown by his colleague Sami al-Hinnawi and Adib al-Shishakli  The latter undermined civilian rule and led to Shishakli's complete seizure of power in 1951  Shishakli continued to rule the country until 1955, when growing public opposition forced him to resign and leave the country  The national government was restored, but again to face instability, this time from abroad  After the overthrow of President Shishakli in a 1954 coup, continued political maneuvering supported by competing factions in the military eventually brought Arab nationalist and socialist elements to power  Between 1946 and 1956, Syria had 20 different cabinets and drafted four separate constitutions 
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, after the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli troops, and the intervention of British and French troops, martial law was declared in Syria  Later Syrian and Iraqi troops were brought into Jordan to prevent a possible Israeli invasion  The November 1956 attacks on Iraqi pipelines were in retaliation for Iraq's acceptance into the Baghdad Pact  In early 1957 Iraq advised Egypt and Syria against a conceivable takeover of Jordan 
In November 1956 Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union, providing a foothold for communist influence within the government in exchange for planes, tanks, and other military equipment being sent to Syria  This increase in the strength of Syrian military technology worried Turkey, as it seemed feasible that Syria might attempt to retake Iskenderon, a formerly Syrian city now in Turkey  On the other hand, Syria and the USSR accused Turkey of amassing its troops at the Syrian border  During this standoff, communists gained more control over the Syrian government and military  Only heated debates in the United Nations (of which Syria was an original member) lessened the threat of war 
Syria's political instability during the years after the 1954 coup, the parallelism of Syrian and Egyptian policies, and the appeal of Egyptian President Gamal Abdal Nasser's leadership in the wake of the Suez crisis created support in Syria for union with Egypt  On 1 February 1958, Syrian president Shukri al-Kuwatli and Nasser announced the merging of the two countries, creating the United Arab Republic, and all Syrian political parties, as well as the Communists therein, ceased overt activities 
The union was not a success, however  Following a military coup on 28 September 1961, Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic  Instability characterised the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on 8 March 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority  The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Ba'ath Party), which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s  The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members 

Ba'athist Arab Republic of Syria 1963-today
First Ba'ath government
The Ba'ath takeover in Syria followed a Ba'ath coup in Iraq, the previous month  The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and with Ba'ath-controlled Iraq  An agreement was concluded in Cairo on 17 April 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September 1963  However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize  Thereafter, the Ba'ath governments in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity  These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Ba'ath government in Iraq was overthrown 
In May 1964, President Amin al-Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organisations—labour, peasant, and professional unions—a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet 

Second Ba'ath government
On 23 February 1966, a group of army officers carried out a successful, intra-party coup, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and the NCR, abrogated the provisional constitution, and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government on 1 March  The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Ba'ath Party principles  In June 1967 Israel captured and occupied the Golan Heights  The Six Day War had significantly weakened the radical socialist government established by the 1966 coup 
On 18 September 1970, during the events of Black September in Jordan, Syria tried to intervene on behalf of the Palestinian guerrillas  Hafez al-Assad sent in armored forces equivalent to a brigade, with tanks, some of them allegedly hastily rebranded from the regular Syrian army for the purpose  Other Syrian units were the 5th Infantry Division and Commandos  On 21 September, the Syrian 5th Division broke through the defenses of the Jordanian 40th Armoured Brigade, and pushed it back off the ar-Ramtha crossroads  On 22 September, the Royal Jordanian Air Force began attacking Syrian forces, which were badly battered as a result  The constant airstrikes broke the Syrian force, and on the late afternoon of 22 September the 5th Division began to retreat  The swift Syrian withdrawal was a severe blow to Palestinian guerillas  Jordanian armored forces steadily pounded their headquarters in Amman, and threatened to break them in other regions of the Kingdom as well  Eventually, the Palestinian factions agreed to a cease-fire  King Hussein and Yasser Arafat attended the meeting of the Arab League in Cairo, where the hostilities briefly ended  The Jordanian-Palestinian Civil War shortly resumed, but without Syrian intervention 
By 1970 a conflict had developed between an extremist military wing and a more moderate civilian wing of the Ba'ath Party  The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the PLO during the "Black September" hostilities with Jordan reflected this political disagreement within the ruling Ba'ath leadership 

Ba'ath Party under Hafez al-Assad, 1970–2000
Power takeover
On 13 November 1970, Minister of Defense Hafez al-Assad effected a bloodless military coup, ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of President 
Upon assuming power, Hafez al-Assad moved quickly to create an organizational infrastructure for his government and to consolidate control  The Provisional Regional Command of Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party nominated a 173-member legislature, the People's Council, in which the Ba'ath Party took 87 seats  The remaining seats were divided among "popular organizations" and other minor parties 
In March 1971, the party held its regional congress and elected a new 21-member Regional Command headed by Assad  In the same month, a national referendum was held to confirm Assad as president for a 7-year term  In March 1972, to broaden the base of his government, Assad formed the National Progressive Front, a coalition of parties led by the Ba'ath Party, and elections were held to establish local councils in each of Syria's 14 governorates  In March 1973, a new Syrian constitution went into effect followed shortly thereafter by parliamentary elections for the People's Council, the first such elections since 1962 

October War
On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt began the Yom Kippur War (also called the "Ramadan War" or "October War" because Syria and Egypt attacked during Muslim Ramadan holiday) by staging a surprise attack against Israel  Despite the element of surprise, Egypt and Syria lost their initial gains in a three-week-long warfare, and Israel continued to occupy the Golan Heights and the Sinai peninsula 

Intervention in Lebanon
In early 1976, the Lebanese Civil War was going poorly for the Maronite Christians, so the Lebanese President Elias Sarkis officially requested Syria intervene militarily  After receiving their first mandate from the Lebanese President, Syria was given a second mandate by the Arab League to intervene militarily in Lebanon  Syria sent 40,000 troops into the country to prevent the Christians from being overrun, but soon became embroiled in this war, beginning the 30 year Syrian presence in Lebanon  Over the following 15 years of civil war, Syria fought both for control over Lebanon, and as an attempt to undermine Israel in southern Lebanon, through extensive use of Lebanese allies as proxy fighters  Many saw the Syrian Army's presence in Lebanon as an occupation, especially following the end of the civil war in 1990, after the Syrian-sponsored Taif Agreement  Syria then remained in Lebanon until 2005, exerting a heavy-handed influence over Lebanese politics, that was deeply resented by many 
About one million Syrian workers came into Lebanon after the war ended to find jobs in the reconstruction of the country  Syrian workers were preferred over Palestinian Arabs and Lebanese workers because they could be paid lower wages, but some have argued that the Syrian government's encouragement of citizens entering its small and militarily dominated neighbor in search of work, was in fact an attempt at Syrian colonization of Lebanon  In 1994, under pressure from Damascus, the Lebanese government controversially granted citizenship to over 200,000 Syrians resident in the country 

Muslim Brotherhood uprising and Hama Massacre
On 31 January 1973, Assad implemented the new Constitution which led to a national crisis  Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the  president of Syria must be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the ulama  They labeled Assad as the "enemy of Allah" and called for a jihad against his rule  Robert D  Kaplan has compared Assad's coming to power to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries " The authoritarian government was not without its critics, a serious challenge arose in the late 1970s from fundamentalist Sunni Muslims, who reject the basic values of the secular Ba'ath program and object to rule by the Alawis whom they consider heretical  From 1976 until its suppression in 1982, the arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood led an armed insurgency against the government  In response to an attempted uprising by the brotherhood in February 1982, the government crushed the fundamentalist opposition centered in the city of Hama, leveling parts of the city with artillery fire and causing many thousands of dead and wounded  During the rest of Hafez al-Assad's reign, public manifestations of anti-government activity were very limited 

During Gulf War
Syria's 1990 participation in the U S -led multinational coalition aligned against Saddam Hussein marked a dramatic watershed in Syria's relations both with other Arab states and with the Western world  Syria participated in the multilateral Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in direct, face-to-face negotiations with Israel  These negotiations failed, and there have been no further Syrian-Israeli talks since President Hafiz al-Assad's meeting with President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000 

Internal power struggle
In what has become known as the 1999 Latakia incident, violent protests and armed clashes erupted following the 1998 People's Assembly's Elections  The violent events were an explosion of a long-running feud between Hafez al-Assad and his younger brother Rifaat, who previously attempted to initiate a coup against Hafez in 1984, but was eventually expelled from Syria  Two people were killed in fire exchanges of Syrian police and Rifaat's supporters during police crack-down on Rifaat's port compound in Latakia  According to opposition sources, denied by the government, the clashes in Latakia resulted in hundreds of dead and injured 

Drought in Syria
From 2006 to 2010, Syria experienced its worst drought in modern history  The drought resulted in a mass migration from the Syrian countryside into urban centers, which notably strained existing infrastructure already burdened by the influx of some 1 5 million refugees from Iraq  The drought itself has been linked to human caused global climate change  It has also been directly linked as a contributing factor to the socieoeconomic conditions that led to initial protests and uprising  Adequate water supply continues to be an issue in the ongoing civil war and the supply is frequently the target of military action 

Under Bashar al-Assad, 2000–present
The Damascus Autumn
Hafiz al-Assad died on 10 June 2000, after 30 years in power  Immediately following al-Assad's death, the Parliament amended the constitution, reducing the mandatory minimum age of the President from 40 to 34, which allowed his son, Bashar al-Assad, to become legally eligible for nomination by the ruling Ba'ath party  On 10 July 2000, Bashar al-Assad was elected president by referendum in which he ran unopposed, garnering 97 29% of the vote, according to Syrian government statistics Bashar, who speaks French and English and has a British-born wife, was said to have "inspired hopes" for reform, and a "Damascus Spring" of intense political and social debate took place from July 2000 to August 2001  The period was characterized by the emergence of numerous political forums or salons where groups of like minded people met in private houses to debate political and social issues  The phenomenon of salons spread rapidly in Damascus and to a lesser extent in other cities  Political activists, such as, Riad Seif, Haitham al-Maleh, Kamal al-Labwani, Riyad al-Turk, and Aref Dalila were important in mobilizing the movement  The most famous of the forums were the Riad Seif Forum and the Jamal al-Atassi Forum  The Damascus Spring ended in August 2001 with the arrest and imprisonment of ten leading activists who had called for democratic elections and a campaign of civil disobedience 

International and internal tensions
On 5 October 2003, Israel bombed a site near Damascus, claiming it was a terrorist training facility for members of Islamic Jihad  Islamic Jihad said the camp was not in use; Syria said the attack was on a civilian area  The Israeli action was condemned by European governments  The German Chancellor said it "cannot be accepted" and the French Foreign Ministry said "The Israeli operation… constituted an unacceptable violation of international law and sovereignty rules " The Spanish UN Ambassador Inocencio Arias called it an attack of "extreme gravity" and "a clear violation of international law "The United States Congress passed the Syria Accountability Act in December 2003, with the goal of ending what the U S  sees as Syrian involvement in Lebanon, Iraq, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction through international sanctions 
Ethnic tensions increased in Syria, following an incident in a football stadium in Al Qamishli, 30 people were killed and more than 160 were injured in days of clashes starting from 12 March  Kurdish sources indicated that Syrian security forces used live ammunition against civilians after clashes broke out at a football match between Kurdish fans of the local team and Arab supporters of a visiting team from the city of Deir al-Zor  The international press reported that nine people were killed on 12 March  According to Amnesty International hundreds of people, mostly Kurds, were arrested after the riots  Kurdish detainees were reportedly tortured and ill-treated  Some Kurdish students were expelled from their universities, reportedly for participating in peaceful protests In June 2005, thousands of Kurds demonstrated in Qamishli to protest the assassination of Sheikh Khaznawi, a Kurdish cleric in Syria, resulting in the death of one policeman and injury to four Kurds Renewed opposition activity occurred in October 2005 when activist Michel Kilo launched with leading opposition figures the Damascus Declaration, which criticized the Syrian government as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish" and called for democratic reform On 6 September 2007 a Syrian facility was bombed in the Deir ez-Zor region  While no one claimed responsibility for this act, Syria accused Israel, which in turn declared that the indicated site was a nuclear facility with a military purpose  Syria denied the claim 
On 26 October 2008 helicopter-borne CIA paramilitary officers and United States Special Operations Forces carried out a raid to the Syrian territory from Iraq The Syrian government called the event a "criminal and terrorist" attack on its sovereignty, alleging all of the reported eight fatalities were civilians  An unnamed U S  military source, however, alleged that the target was a network of foreign fighters who travel through Syria to join the Iraqi insurgency against the United States-led Coalition in Iraq and the Iraqi government 

Syrian civil war
The Syrian civil war is an ongoing internal violent conflict in Syria  It is a part of the wider Arab Spring, a wave of upheaval throughout the Arab World  Public demonstrations across Syria began on 26 January 2011 and developed into a nationwide uprising  Protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, the overthrow of his government, and an end to nearly five decades of Ba’ath Party rule 
Since spring 2011, the Syrian government deployed the Syrian Army to quell the uprising, and several cities were besieged, though the unrest continued  According to some witnesses, soldiers, who refused to open fire on civilians, were summarily executed by the Syrian Army  The Syrian government denied reports of defections, and blamed armed gangs for causing trouble  Since early autumn 2011, civilians and army defectors began forming fighting units, which began an insurgency campaign against the Syrian Army  The insurgents unified under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and fought in an increasingly organized fashion; however, the civilian component of the armed opposition lacked an organized leadership 
The uprising has sectarian undertones, though neither faction in the conflict has described sectarianism as playing a major role  The opposition is dominated by Sunni Muslims, whereas the leading government figures are Alawites, affiliated with the Shia Islam  As a result, the opposition is winning support from the Sunni Muslim states, whereas the government is publicly supported by the Shia dominated Iran and the Lebanese Hizbullah 
According to various sources, including the United Nations, up to 13,470–19,220 people have been killed, of which about half were civilians, but also including 6,035–6,570 armed combatants from both sides and up to 1,400 opposition protesters  Many more have been injured, and tens of thousands of protesters have been imprisoned  According to the Syrian government, 9,815–10,146 people, including 3,430 members of the security forces, 2,805–3,140 insurgents and up to 3,600 civilians, have been killed in fighting with what they characterize as "armed terrorist groups " To escape the violence, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled the country to neighboring Jordan, Iraq and  Lebanon, as well to Turkey  The total official UN numbers of Syrian refugees reached 42,000 at the time, while unofficial number stood at as many as 130,000 
UNICEF reported that over 500 children have been killed, Another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons  Both claims have been contested by the Syrian government  Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture  Human Rights Watch accused the government and Shabiha of using civilians as human shields when they advanced on opposition held-areas  Anti-government rebels have been accused of human rights abuses as well, including torture, kidnapping, unlawful detention and execution of civilians, Shabiha and soldiers  HRW also expressed concern at the kidnapping of Iranian nationals  The UN Commission of Inquiry has also documented abuses of this nature in its February 2012 report, which also includes documentation that indicates rebel forces have been responsible for displacement of civilians The Arab League, US, EU states, GCC states, and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters  China and Russia have avoided condemning the government or applying sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate into foreign intervention  However, military intervention has been ruled out by most countries  The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis, but sent an observer mission in December 2011, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis  The latest attempts to resolve the crisis has been made through the appointment of Kofi Annan, as a special envoy to resolve the Syrian crisis in the Middle East  Some analysts however have posited the partitioning the region into a Sunnite east, Kurdish north and Shiite/Alawite west 

See also
Politics of Syria
Foreign relations of Syria
Passage 4:
Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom
The Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom (traditional Chinese: 甘州回鶻; simplified Chinese: 甘州回鹘; pinyin: Gānzhōu Huíhú), also referred to as the Hexi Uyghurs, was established in 894 around Ganzhou in modern Zhangye  The kingdom lasted from 894 to 1036; during that time, many of Ganzhou's residents converted to Buddhism The Hexi Corridor, located within modern Gansu, was traditionally a Chinese inroad into Central Asia  From the 9th to 11th centuries this area was shared between the Ganzhou Uyghurs and the Guiyi Circuit  By the early 11th century both the Uyghurs and Guiyi Circuit were conquered by the Tangut people of the Western Xia dynasty The Ganzhou Uyghur rulers were descended from the House of Yaglakar 

History
There was a pre-existing community of Uyghurs at Ganzhou by 840 at the very latest In 874, remnant forces of the Tibetan Empire known as the Wenmo, Han Chinese slave soldiers under the Tibetan Empire, in Ganzhou drove out the Uyghurs Around the years 881 and 882, Ganzhou slipped from the control of the Guiyi Circuit 
In 894 the Uyghurs led by Pangteqin (Huaijian Khagan) established the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom in Ganzhou In 902 the Ganzhou Uyghurs sent military aid to Emperor Zhaozong of Tang In 910 the Ganzhou Uyghurs attacked the Kingdom of Jinshan (Guiyi) 
In 911 the Ganzhou Uyghurs attacked the Kingdom of Jinshan and forced them into an alliance as a lesser partner In 916 a Ganzhou Uyghur princess was married to Cao Yijin, governor of the Guiyi Circuit 
In 920 Huaijian Khagan became sickly 
In 924 Huaijian Khagan died and his sons Diyin and Renmei fought over the throne with Diyin coming out on top  They received a royal appointment from the Later Tang dynasty  The Khitans of the Liao dynasty offered to let the Ganzhou Uyghurs return to their former homeland on the Orkhon but they refused the offer In 925 Cao Yijin led an attack on the Ganzhou Uyghurs and defeated them 
In 926 Diyin died and Aduoyu succeeded him as Shunhua Khagan  Shunhua Khagan married Cao Yijin's daughter 
In 930 Cao Yijin visited the Ganzhou Uyghur court in Ganzhou 
In 933 Shunhua Khagan died and Jingqiong succeeded him 
In 961 the Ganzhou Uyghurs accepted the Song dynasty as suzerains In 975 Jingqiong died and Yeluohe Mili'e succeeded him 
In 983 Jingqiong died and Lusheng succeeded him 
In 1003 Lusheng died and Zhongshun Baode Khagan succeeded him  The Tanguts attacked the Ganzhou Uyghurs but were defeated In 1008 the Ganzhou Uyghurs and Tanguts engaged in combat and the Uyghurs emerged victorious  The Liao dynasty attacked the Ganzhou Uyghurs and defeated them In 1009 the Ganzhou Uyghurs captured Liangzhou 
In 1010 the Liao dynasty attacked the Ganzhou Uyghurs and defeated them In 1016 Zhongshun Baode Khagan died and Huaining Shunhua Khagan succeeded him 
In 1023 Huaining Shunhua Khagan died and Guizhong Baoshun Khagan succeeded him 
In 1026 the Ganzhou Uyghurs were defeated in battle by the Liao dynasty In 1028 the Ganhzhou Uyghurs were defeated by the Tanguts  Guizhong Baoshun Khagan died and Baoguo Khagan succeeded him 
In 1036 the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom was annexed by the Tanguts  After the destruction of their realm, the Ganzhou Uyghurs migrated and settled in Dunhuang (Shazhou) and Guazhou  The Guazhou Uyghurs surrendered to the Tanguts in 1030 and Shazhou surrendered in 1036  A record of a Huolasan Khan ruling in Shazhou in 1127 shows that the Uyghurs there retained some amount of autonomy in Western Xia  Another group that settled between Dunhuang and the Qaidam Basin came to be known as the Yellow Head Uyghurs  They practiced Buddhism and lived as pastoral nomads  In the 13th century they were called the Sali Uyghurs  Their descendants are today known as the Yugurs 

Religion
The Uyghurs of Ganzhou originally practiced Manichaeanism as their state religion but abandoned it for Buddhism at the end of the 10th century due to pressure from the Tanguts  Like the Tanguts, they sent Buddhist pilgrimages to Mount Wutai, but the real reason for the expeditions may have been to spy on the Liao dynasty  According to Hong Hao, a Song dynasty diplomat on his way to the Jurchen Jin dynasty, the Uyghurs of the Hexi Corridor still practiced Buddhism:

The Uighur believe mostly in Buddhism  They place the (Buddhist) sculptures in the hall  At each sacrifice, they must slaughter a lamb  Some drink alcohol merrily  Then they dip their finger into the blood of the lamb and dye the mouth of the Buddha with blood  Some hold the foot of the Buddha screaming, which was meant to show intimacy and respect for the Buddha  When chanting the Scripture, they wore Kasaya (the monk’s robe) and used the Indian language 

Modern era
The modern day descendants of the Ganzhou Uyghurs are known as the Yugur 

See also
Yugur
Turkic peoples
Timeline of the Turkic peoples (500–1300) 
Uyghur Khaganate
Qocho
Passage 5:
Omukama of Toro
The Omukama of Tooro is the name given to the king of Tooro, one of the East African kingdom of Tooro  The kingdom was founded in 1830 by Omukama Kaboyo Olimi l who was the son of Kyebambe lll Nyamutukura, the king of Bunyoro  Since that time, Tooro existed as an independent kingdom until 1967 when President Apollo Milton Obote banned all kingdoms in Uganda  The kingdoms were reinstated as cultural institutions in 1993 
The Omukama of Tooro and the other kings play a vital role in Ugandan politics as cultural leaders and agents of peace and stability in their respective kingdoms  Tooro and Bunyoro kingdoms enjoy a close relationship 

List of Abakama (Kings) of Tooro
The following is a list of the Abakama of Tooro, starting around 1800 AD:
Kaboyo Olimi I, (Kasunsu Nkwanzi) c  1830 - 1861
Kazaana Ruhaga l, c 1861- 1862
Nyaika Kasunga Kyebambe I, c  1862-1863 and c  1864 - 1874
Kato Rukidi I, 1863-64
Mukabirere Olimi II, c  1874 -1876
Mukarusa Kyebambe II, c  1876 - 1877
Isingoma Rukidi ll, c  1877
Rubuubi Kyebambe lll c  1878 and 1879
Kakende Nyamuyonjo c  1878 and 1881 - 1882
Katera Rujwenge, c 1878–1879 a period of Interregnum, 1880–1891; reverted to Bunyoro
Daudi Kasagama Kyebambe IV, 1891–1928
George David Kamurasi Rukidi III, 1929–1965
Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, 1966–1995 interrupted by the discontinuation by the Ugandan government, 1967–1993
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, 1995–present

See also
Omukama of Bunyoro
Kabaka of Buganda
Toro Kingdom
Passage 6:
Omukama of Bunyoro
Omukama wa Bunyoro  Translates to The King of Bunyoro is the title given to rulers of the East African kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara   The kingdom lasted as an independent state from the 16th to the 19th century  The Omukama of Bunyoro remains an important figure in Ugandan politics, especially among the Banyoro people of whom he is the titular head  He is closely related to the Omukama of Toro Kingdom 
The Royal Palace, called Ekikaali Karuziika, (Karuziika Palace) is located in Hoima  The current Omukama is Rukirabasaija Solomon Iguru I Gafabusa Amooti and his wife is Omugo (the Queen) Margaret Karunga Adyeri  As a cultural head, the King is assisted by his Principal Private Secretary, a Cabinet of 21 Ministers and  Orukurato (a Parliament) 

Constitutional recognition
In 1962, the United Kingdom granted independence to Uganda  In February 1966, Prime Minister Milton Obote suspended the constitution and seized power, abolishing all of the traditional kingdoms—including Bunyoro—in 1967  The Omukama (King) of Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom was reinstated by Statute No  8 of 1993, enacted by the Parliament of Uganda after the monarchy had been abolished for many years  Unlike the pre-1967 Omukama, who was both titular head and a political figure of the government of Bunyoro, the Omukama today is a cultural leader above partisan politics, although the king remains the titular head of the Bunyoro regional government Article 246 of the 1995 Ugandan constitution provides:

Etymology of Omukama
Omukama means ‘the milker’, as the leader of the kingdom provides his citizens with food and wealth  The word comes from Runyoro-Rutooro omu- (singular human-being class prefix) and -kama ‘to milk’, which ultimately comes from Proto-Bantu kám ‘squeeze, wring’ 
In modern Runyoro-Rutooro, however, dropping the initial vowel of this word (mukama ‘boss, sir’) changes its meaning considerably 

History of the Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara dynasties
Babiito dynasty
The Bachwezi dynasty was followed by the Babiito dynasty of the current Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara  Any attempt to pinpoint the dates of this, or any other dynasty before it, is pure conjecture; as there were no written records at the time  Modern day historians place the beginning of the Babiito dynasty at around the time of the invasion of Bunyoro by the Luo from the North  The first mubiito (singular) king was Isingoma Mpuga Rukidi I, whose reign is placed around the 14th century  To date, there have been a total of 27 Babiito kings of Bunyoro-Kitara 
Source: The official Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom website

List of Omukamas of the Babiito dynasty
Rukidi of Bunyoro, late fifteenth century
Ocaki of Bunyoro, late fifteenth/early sixteenth century
Oyo Nyiba of Bunyoro, early sixteenth century
Winyi I of Bunyoro, early sixteenth century
Olimi I of Bunyoro, mid sixteenth century
Nyabongo of Bunyoro, mid sixteenth century
Winyi II of Bunyoro, late sixteenth century/early seventeenth century
Olimi II of Bunyoro, mid seventeenth century
Nyarwa of Bunyoro, mid seventeenth century
Cwamali of Bunyoro, mid seventeenth century
Masamba of Bunyoro, late seventeenth century
Anabwani I of Bunyoro, late seventeenth century
Kyebambe I of Bunyoro, late seventeenth century
Winyi III of Bunyoro, early eighteenth century
Nyaika of Bunyoro, early eighteenth century
Kyebambe II of Bunyoro, early eighteenth century
Olimi III of Bunyoro, c  1710–1731
Duhaga of Bunyoro, 1731–c  1782
Olimi IV of Bunyoro, c  1782–1786
Nyamutukura Kyebambe III of Bunyoro, 1786–1835
Nyabongo II of Bunyoro, 1835–1848
Olimi V of Bunyoro, 1848–1852
Kyebambe IV of Bunyoro, 1852–1869
Kabalega of Bunyoro, 1869–1898
Kitahimbwa of Bunyoro, 1898–1902
Duhaga II of Bunyoro, 1902–1924
Winyi IV of Bunyoro, 1925–1967
Monarchy discontinued by the Ugandan government, 1967–1994
Solomon Iguru I, 1994–present
Passage 7:
Syrian National Congress
The Syrian National Congress, also called the Pan-Syrian Congress and General Syrian Congress (GSC), was convened in May 1919 in Damascus, Syria, after the expulsion of the Ottomans from Syria  The mission of the Congress was to consider the future of "Syria", by which was meant Greater Syria: present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan  The Congress also intended to present Arab views to the American King-Crane Commission of inquiry  The Congress was considered the first national parliament in the modern history of Syria 
The Congress was attended by representatives from all parts of Greater Syria, including Lebanon and Palestine, and was headed by Hashim al-Atassi  Some participants showed support for King Faisal's demands, while others were beginning to question his willingness to make concessions to pro-Zionist groups  In its final report it pleaded that "there be no separation of the southern part of Syria, known as Palestine, nor of the littoral western zone, which includes Lebanon, from the Syrian country " The King-Crane Commission recommended "the unity of Syria be preserved" in response The  Congress declared an independent Arab Kingdom of Syria on March 8, 1920, proclaiming:
The full and absolute independence of our country Syria, including Palestine, within her natural boundaries, based on a civil, representative form of government, protection of the rights of minorities, and rejection of the claims of the Zionists to Palestine as a national homeland or place of immigration for the Jews 
The new state intended to included Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and portions of northern Mesopotamia  King Faisal was declared the head of state  At the same time Prince Zeid, Faisal's brother, was declared regent of Mesopotamia  Hashim al-Atassi was named Prime Minister and Yusuf al-'Azma became Minister of War and Chief of Staff 
The Congress continued during the short-lived life of the Kingdom until July 17, 1920, when the French gave Faisal an ultimatum to surrender or fight, and Faisal surrendered, bringing to an end the Kingdom and dissolving its institutions 

Gallery
See also
Elizabeth F  Thompson (2020)  How the west stole democracy from the Arabs: The Syrian Arab Congress of 1920 and the Destruction of its Historic Liberal-Islamic Alliance  Grove Atlantic  ISBN 978-0-8021-4820-9  OL 29824859M  Wikidata Q108862853 
Passage 8:
Herodian dynasty
The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean (Edomite) descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and later the Herodian Tetrarchy as a vassal state of the Roman Empire  The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed the throne of Judea, with Roman support, bringing down the century-old Hasmonean Kingdom  His kingdom lasted until his death in 4 BCE, when it was divided among his sons as a tetrarchy, which lasted for about 10 years  Most of those tetrarchies, including Judea proper, were incorporated into Judaea Province from 6 CE, though limited Herodian de facto kingship continued until Agrippa I's death in 44 CE and nominal title of kingship continued until 92 CE, when the last Herodian monarch, Agrippa II, died and Rome assumed full power over his de jure domain 

History
Origin
During the time of the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus (134–104 BCE), Judea conquered Edom (Idumea) and forced the Edomites to convert to Judaism The Edomites were gradually integrated into the Judean nation, and some of them reached high-ranking positions  In the days of Alexander Jannaeus, the Edomite Antipas was appointed governor of Edom  His son Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was the chief adviser to Hasmonean Hyrcanus II and managed to establish a good relationship with the Roman Republic, who at that time (63 BCE) extended their influence over the region, following conquest of Syria and intervention in a civil war in Judea 
There are differing genealogies for the dynasty, depending on the source  According to Sextus Julius Africanus, Antipater's father was named Herod, and Epiphanius of Salamis writes that this Herod's father was named Antipas  It is Josephus who states that Antipas fathered Antipater, without further delineating his ancestry  This model is usually accepted by scholars 
Julius Caesar appointed Antipater to be procurator of Judea in 47 BCE and he appointed his sons Phasael and Herod to be governors of Jerusalem and Galilee respectively  Antipater was murdered in 43 BCE; however, his sons managed to hold the reins of power and were elevated to the rank of tetrarchs in 41 BCE by Mark Antony 

Rise to power
In 40 BCE, the Parthians invaded the eastern Roman provinces and managed to drive the Romans out of many areas  In Judea, the Hasmonean dynasty was restored under king Antigonus II Mattathias as a pro-Parthian monarch  Herod the Great, the son of Antipater the Idumaean and Cypros (possibly of Nabataean descent), managed to escape to Rome  After convincing the Roman Senate of his sincere intentions in favor of Romans he eventually was announced as king of the Jews by the Roman Senate Despite his announcement as king of the whole of Judea, Herod did not fully conquer it until 37 BCE  He subsequently ruled the Herodian kingdom as a vassal king for 34 years, crushing the opposition while also initiating huge building projects, including the harbor at Caesarea Maritima, the plaza surrounded by retaining walls at the Temple Mount, the Masada and the Herodium, among other fortresses and public works  Herod ruled Judea until 4 BCE; at his death, his kingdom was divided among his three sons as a tetrarchy 

Tetrarchies
Herod Archelaus, son of Herod and Malthace the Samaritan, was given the title of ethnarch and ruled over the main part of the kingdom: Judea proper, Idumea, and Samaria  He ruled for ten years until 6 CE, when he was "banished to Vienna in Gaul, where according to Cassius Dio, "Hist  Roma," lv  27—he lived for the remainder of his days " See also Census of Quirinius 
Philip, sometimes erroneously called Herod Philip II, was the son of Herod and his fifth wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem  He was given the title of tetrarch with jurisdiction over the northeast part of his father's kingdom: Iturea, Trachonitis, Batanaea, Gaulanitis, Auranitis, and Paneas  He ruled until his death in 34 CE 
Herod Antipas, another son of Herod and Malthace, was made a tetrarch of Galilee and Perea; he ruled there until he was exiled to Spain by emperor Caligula in 39 CE, according to Josephus  Herod Antipas is the person referenced in the Christian New Testament Gospels, playing a role in the death of John the Baptist and the trial of Jesus  The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was first brought before Pontius Pilate for trial, since Pilate was the governor of Roman Judea, which encompassed Jerusalem where Jesus was arrested  Pilate initially handed him over to Antipas, in whose territory Jesus had been most active, but Antipas sent him back to Pilate's court 

Last rulers
Herod Agrippa was the grandson of Herod  Thanks to his friendship with Caligula, the emperor appointed him ruler with the title of king over the territories of Philip in 37 CE, which were after Philip's death in 34 CE shortly part of the Roman province of Syria, and in 40 CE he was given the territories of Herod Antipas  In 41 CE, Emperor Claudius added to his territory the parts of Judea province that previously belonged to Herod Archelaus  Thus Agrippa I practically re-united his grandfather's kingdom under his rule  Agrippa died in 44 CE 
Agrippa's son Herod Agrippa II was appointed a tetrarch of Chalcis and later king of the territories previously ruled by Philip  He actively participated in the quelling of the Great Revolt of Judea on the Roman side  Agrippa II was the last of the Herodians; with his death in c  92 or 100 CE the dynasty was extinct, and the kingdom became fully incorporated into the Roman province of Judaea 
In addition, Herod of Chalcis ruled as king of Chalcis, and his son, Aristobulus of Chalcis, was tetrarch of Chalcis and king of Armenia Minor 

List of Herodian rulers (47 BCE – 100 CE)
Antipater the Idumaean (Procurator of Judaea) 47–44 BCE
Herod the Great
Governor of Galilee 47–44 BCE
Tetrarch of Galilee 44–40 BCE
Elected king of all Judaea by the Roman Senate 40 BCE, reigned 37–4 BCE
Phasael (Governor of Jerusalem) 47–40 BCE
Pheroras (Governor of Perea) 20–5 BCE
Herod Archelaus (Ethnarch of Judaea) 4 BCE – 6 CE
Herod Antipas (Tetrarch of Galilee) 4 BCE – 39 CE
Philip the Tetrarch (Tetrarch of Batanaea) 4 BCE – 34 CE
Salome I (Tetrach of Jabneh) 4 BCE – 10 CE
Tigranes V of Armenia (King of Armenia) 6–12 CE
Herod Agrippa
King of Batanaea 37–41 CE
King of Galilee 40–41 CE
King of all Judaea 41–44 CE, previously Judaea (Roman province), given to him by Claudius, and reinstated as a province after his death 
Herod of Chalcis (King of Chalcis) 41–48 CE
Herod Agrippa II
Tetrarch of Chalcis 48–53 CE
King of Batanaea 53–100 CE
Aristobulus of Chalcis
King of Armenia Minor 55–72 CE
Tetrarch of Chalcis 57–92 CE
Tigranes VI of Armenia (King of Armenia) 58–61 CE
Gaius Julius Alexander (King of Cetis) 58–72 CE

Herodian dynasty in later culture
Literature
Novels
Hordos u-Miryam (1935), a Hebrew novel by Aaron Orinowsky
Mariamne (1967), a Swedish novel by Pär Lagerkvist
Claudius the God (1934), an English novel by Robert Graves, features Herod Agrippa I as an important character

Plays
Herod appears in some cycles of the Mystery Plays, played as an over the top villain   Such portrayals were still in folk memory in William Shakespeare's time, for Hamlet instructs the players not to "out-Herod Herod" (Act 3, Scene 2) 
Marianna (1565), an Italian drama by Lodovico Dolce
Mariam, the Faire Queene of Jewry (1613) an English drama by Elizabeth Tanfield Cary
Herod and Antipater, with the Death of Faire Mariam (1622), an English drama by Gervase Markham and William Sampson
Mariamne (1636), a French drama by François Tristan l'Hermite
La mort des enfants d’Hérode; ou, Suite de Mariamne (1639), a French drama by Gathier de Costes de la Calprenède
Herod and Mariamne (1673), an English drama by Samuel Pordage
La Mariamne (1696), an Italian opera by Giovanni Maria Ruggeri (mus ) and Lorenzo Burlini (libr )
Mariamne (1723), a French drama by Elijah Fenton
Herod features in two 18th century French plays on Mariamne, by Nadal and Voltaire 
Herodes und Mariamne (1850), a German drama by Christian Friedrich Hebbel
Myriam ha-Hashmonayith (1891), a Yiddish drama by Moses Seiffert
Tsar Irod I tsaritsa Mariamna (1893), a Russian drama by Dmitri Alexandrov
Herod and Mariamne (1938), an English drama by Clemence Dane

Poetry
Herod and Mariamne (1888), an English poem by Amelie Rives
Mariamne (1911), an English poem by Thomas Sturge Moore

Movies
The King of Kings (1927) by Cecil B  DeMille
Salome (1953) by William Dieterie
King of Kings (1961) by Nicholas Ray
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) by George Stevens, David Lean, Jean Nugelesco
Herod the Great (1959) (Italy) by Victor Tourjansky

Figurative arts
Painting
Mariamne Leaving the Judgment Seat of Herod (1887), a painting by John William Waterhouse

Performing arts
Music
Herod’s Lament for Mariamne (1815), an English song by Isaac Nathan (mus ) and George Byron (libr )
Herodes und Mariamne (1922), incidental music by Karol Rathaus
Lied der Mariamne (ohne Worte) (1927), incidental music by Mikhail Gnesin

Ballet
La Marianna (1785), an Italian ballet by Giuseppe Banti (chor )

Opera
Marianne (1796), opera in French with music by Nicolas Dalayrac and a libretto of Benoît-Joseph Marsollier
Hérodiade (1881), opera in French by Jules Massenet after Gustave Flaubert's play Hérodias (1877)
Salome (1905), opera in German by Richard Strauss after Oscar Wilde's play's Salome

Family tree of the Herodian dynasty
See also
Hasmonean dynasty
History of ancient Israel and Judah#Roman occupation
Herod's Temple
Herodian coinage
Herodian kingdom
Kings of Israel and Judah
Kings of Judah
List of High Priests of Israel
Promagistrate
Siege of Jerusalem (37 BC)
Context 3: Passage 1:
Red Branch (novel)
Red Branch (ISBN 080410591X, 1989), by the Irish-American author Morgan Llywelyn, is a novel about the life of the Irish hero Cú Chulainn   Red Branch novelizes several stories from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, including the well-known Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) and Deirdre (of the Sorrows) 
Passage 2:
Robert Jordan
James Oliver Rigney Jr  (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan, was an American author of epic fantasy  He is known best for his series  The Wheel of Time (finished by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan's death) which comprises 14 books and a prequel novel  He is one of several writers to have written original Conan the Barbarian novels; his are considered by fans to be some of the best of the non-Robert E  Howard efforts  Jordan also published historical fiction using the pseudonym Reagan O'Neal, a western as Jackson O'Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung  Jordan claimed to have ghostwritten an "international thriller" that is still believed to have been written by someone else 

Early life
Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina  He went to Clemson University after high school, but dropped out after one year and enlisted in the U S  Army  He served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War as a helicopter gunner  He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm After returning from Vietnam in 1970, Jordan studied physics at The Citadel  He graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree and began working for the U S  Navy as a nuclear engineer  He began writing in 1977 

Personal life
Robert Jordan was a history buff and enjoyed hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool, and pipe-collecting  He described himself as a "High church" Episcopalian and received communion more than once a week  Politically, he described himself as a "libertarian monarchist"  He lived with his wife, Harriet McDougal, who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books; she was also Jordan's editor) in a house built in 1797  He listed John D  MacDonald, Jane Austen, Louis L'Amour, Charles Dickens, Robert A  Heinlein, Mark Twain and Montaigne as his favorite authors 

Illness and death
On March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed that he had been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis and that, with treatment, his median life expectancy was four years  In a separate weblog post, he encouraged his fans not to worry about him and stated that he intended to have a long and creative life He began chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic during early April 2006  He participated in a study of the drug Revlimid, which had been approved recently for multiple myeloma but not yet tested for primary amyloidosis Jordan died on September 16, 2007, from complications stemming from Multiple Myeloma  His funeral service was on September 19, 2007  He was cremated and his ashes buried in the churchyard of St  James Church in Goose Creek, outside Charleston, South Carolina Jordan's papers can be found in the special collections of the College of Charleston 

Selected works
The Wheel of Time
Jordan published 11 books of 14 in the main sequence of the Wheel of Time series  Reviewers and fans of the earlier books noted a slowing of the pace of events in the last few installments written solely by Jordan owing to the expansion of the scale of the series as a whole  Because of his health problems, Jordan did not work at full force on the final installment A Memory of Light (later split into three volumes beginning with The Gathering Storm), but blog entries confirmed that he continued work on it until his death, and he shared all of the significant plot details with his family not long before he died  He maintained that in doing so the book would get published even if "the worst actually happens"  On December 7, 2007, Tor Books announced that Brandon Sanderson had been chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series  Harriet McDougal, Jordan's widow, chose him after reading Mistborn: The Final Empire 
All paperback (PB) page totals given are for the most widely available mass-market paperback editions  The page count for the hardback (HB) editions does not include glossary or appendix page counts 
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is an encyclopedia for the series about the unnamed world where the plot takes place, which is often referred to by fans of the series as the World of the Wheel  It is published in the United States by Tor Books and in the United Kingdom by Orbit Books  The bulk of the text was written by Teresa Patterson based on notes and information provided by Jordan, who also served as the overall editor on the project  While the information in the guide is broadly canonical, the book is deliberately written with vague, biased, or even downright false (or guessed) information in places, as Patterson felt this would reflect a key theme of the series (the mutability of knowledge across time and distance) 

Conan the Barbarian
Jordan was one of several writers who has written Conan the Barbarian stories  When Tom Doherty obtained the rights, he needed a novel very quickly, so Jordan's wife Harriet McDougal recommended him because she knew he had written his first novel, Warriors of the Altaii, in thirteen days 

So he thought I could write something fast, and he was right, and I liked it  It was fun writing something completely over the top, full of purple prose, and in a weak moment I agreed to do five more and the novelization of the second Conan movie  I've decided that those things were very good discipline for me  I had to work with a character and a world that had already been created and yet find a way to say something new about the character and the world  That was a very good exercise 
Conan the Invincible (1982)
Conan the Defender (1982)
Conan the Unconquered (1983)
Conan the Triumphant (1983)
Conan the Magnificent (1984)
Conan the Destroyer (1984) (adaptation of the movie of the same title)
Conan the Victorious (1984)They were packed into two separate volumes par Conan the Destroyer:

The Conan Chronicles
The Further Chronicles of Conan (The Conan Chronicles II in the UK, different contents)Jordan also compiled a well-known Conan Chronology 
Passage 3:
Lion of Ireland
Lion of Ireland, by the American-Irish author Morgan Llywelyn, is a novel about the life of the Irish hero and High King Brian Boru 

Plot summary
The story begins with Brian as a child of around 8 or 9 and it ends with him as an 88-year-old man  The book shows his rise to power and his struggle to maintain it  His personal life is an important part of the plot, because Brian's war against Máel Mórda (leader of the Leinstermen) and Sihtric (king of Dublin) was to be inextricably connected with his complicated marital relations, in particular his marriage to Gormlaith, Máel Mórda's sister and Sihtric's mother, who had been in turn the wife of Amlaíb Cuarán, king of Dublin and York, then of Máel Sechnaill  Even though the book is based on a historical figure, most of it is fiction 

Film adaptation
In 2003, Ireland based RiverFilms proposed a film adaptation of the book as Braveheart and El Cid meet The Vikings On March 4, 2019, it was announced in Deadline that a new movie adaptation was in the works  The series would be created by Irish author Michael Scott  The article was subsequently picked up the Sunday Times, and Irish Central who listed both Scott and BCDF Pictures as producers 
Passage 4:
List of locations in The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time is a series of high fantasy novels by American author Robert Jordan, with Brandon Sanderson as a co-author for the final three novels  Originally planned as a six-book series at its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time came to span 14 volumes, in addition to a prequel novel and two companion books  Jordan died in 2007 while working on what was planned to be the final volume in the series  He prepared extensive notes which enabled fellow fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to complete the final book, which grew into three volumes: The Gathering Storm (2009), Towers of Midnight (2010), and A Memory of Light (2013) 
The series draws on numerous elements of both European and Asian mythology, most notably the cyclical nature of time found in Buddhism and Hinduism; the metaphysical concepts of balance, duality, and a respect for nature found in Taoism; the Abrahamic concepts of God and Satan; and Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace The Wheel of Time is notable for its length, detailed imaginary world, and magic system, and its large cast of characters  The eighth through fourteenth books each reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list  After its completion, the series was nominated for a Hugo Award  As of 2021, the series has sold over 90 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling epic fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings  Its popularity has spawned a collectible card game, a video game, a roleplaying game, and a soundtrack album  A TV series adaptation produced by Sony Pictures and Amazon Studios premiered in 2021 

Setting
The series is set in a future unnamed world and that, due to the cyclical nature of time as depicted in the series, is simultaneously the distant past and the distant future Earth  Fans have come to refer to this world as Randland (from the name of the central character) or the World of the Wheel (cf  a section of the companion book The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time) 

Premise
At the dawn of time, a deity known as the Creator forged the universe and the Wheel of Time, which spins the Pattern of the Ages using the lives of men and women as its threads  The Wheel has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it is rotated by the One Power, which flows from the True Source  The One Power is divided into male and female halves, saidin and saidar, which work in opposition and in unison to drive the Wheel  Humans who can use its power are known as channelers; their principal organization is called the Aes Sedai or "Servants of All" in the Old Tongue 
The Creator imprisoned its antithesis, "Shai'tan", the Dark One, at the moment of creation, sealing him away from the Wheel  However, in a time called the Age of Legends, an Aes Sedai experiment inadvertently breached the Dark One's prison, allowing his influence to seep back into the world  He rallied the proud, the corrupt, and the ambitious to his cause and these servants began an effort to fully free the Dark One from his prison, so he might remake time and reality in his own image  In response to this threat, the Wheel spun out the Dragon, a channeler of immense power, to be a champion for the Light  In the Age of Legends, the Dragon was a man named Lews Therin Telamon, who eventually rose to command the Aes Sedai and their allies in the struggle against the Dark One's forces  After a grueling 10-year war, Lews Therin led his forces to victory in a daring assault on the volcano of Shayol Ghul (the site of the earthly link to the Dark One's prison) and was able to reseal the prison  However, at the moment of victory, the Dark One was able to taint saidin, driving male channelers of the One Power insane  Lews Therin killed his friends and family and then, by intentionally overloading himself with the One Power, killed himself  The other male channelers devastated the world with the One Power, unleashing earthquakes and tidal waves that reshaped the world  Eventually, the last male channeler was killed or cut off from the One Power, leaving the human race all but destroyed and only women able to wield the One Power safely  The Aes Sedai reconstituted and guided humanity out of this dark time  Mankind now lived under the shadow of a prophecy that the Dark One would break free from his prison and the Dragon would be reborn to fight him once more, and although he is humanity's only hope against the Dark One, he would devastate the world a second time in the process 
After a span of three thousand years, the human race has rebuilt a level of technology roughly comparable to that of the Late Middle Ages or Early Modern Era, though with a higher level of general education and understanding of hygiene and anatomy, but nevertheless an almost complete lack of formal science, industrial production, and academic institutions  This can be traced to the post-apocalyptic nature of the world, where much knowledge has survived, but the structures and institutions that made that knowledge possible were destroyed  One major difference from our history is that women enjoy full equality with men in most societies, and are superior in some  This is attributed to the power and prestige of the female-only Aes Sedai influencing the larger society 
Several major wars have ravaged the main continent since the defeat of the Dark One, such as the Trolloc Wars, when the surviving servants of the Dark One tried to destroy civilization once more but were defeated by an alliance of nations led by the Aes Sedai; and the War of the Hundred Years, a devastating civil war that followed the fall of a continent-spanning empire ruled by the high king, Artur Hawkwing  These wars have prevented the human race from regaining the power and high technology of the Age of Legends and also left humanity divided  Even the prestige of the Aes Sedai has fallen, with their shrinking numbers and the emergence of rival organizations such as the Children of the Light, a military order who believe that all who channel the One Power are servants of the Shadow  The nations of the modern era are able to unite in defense against the warrior-clans of the Aiel, who cross into the western kingdoms on a mission of vengeance after they suffer a grievous insult, but are too divided to work effectively together in other areas 

Plot summary
The prequel novel, New Spring, takes place during the Aiel War and chronicles the end of the conflict  The Aes Sedai discover that the Prophecies of the Dragon have been fulfilled and the Dragon has been Reborn  Aes Sedai agents are dispatched to try to find the newborn child before servants of the Shadow can do the same 
The series proper commences almost 20 years later in the Two Rivers district of the kingdom of Andor, a near-forgotten backwater place  A young sheep herder named Rand al’Thor (the series protagonist) and his father Tam al’Thor travel to the nearby town of Emond's Field to deliver cider  Rand, keen to further explore his romance with the mayor's daughter, Egwene al’Vere, becomes caught up with an Aes Sedai called Moiraine Damodred, and her Warder, Lan, after his father sustains a serious wound  Rand and his friends, Matrim "Mat" Cauthon and Perrin Aybara discover from Moiraine that servants of the Dark One are searching for one particular young man living in the area  Unfortunately, Moiraine is unable to determine which of three men it is: Rand himself, Mat, or Perrin, and so takes all three of them out of the Two Rivers district along with his romantic interest Egwene (whom Moiraine has determined can channel the One Power and would teach to be Aes Sedai) and the village "Wisdom" (a local healer) Nynaeve al'Meara after a terrible battle with creatures created by The Dark One  The first novel depicts their flight from various agents of the Shadow and their attempts to escape to the Aes Sedai city of Tar Valon 
From then, the story expands and protagonist Rand, as well as the other characters, are frequently split into different groups, pursuing different missions or agendas aimed at furthering the cause of the Dragon Reborn, sometimes thousands of miles apart  Broadly speaking, the original group of characters from the Two Rivers make new allies, gain experience, and become figures of some influence and authority  As they struggle to unite the western kingdoms against the Dark One's forces, their task is complicated by rulers of the nations who refuse to give up their authority and by factions such as the Children of the Light, who do not believe in the prophecies, and the Seanchan, the people of a long-lost colony of Artur Hawkwing's empire across the western ocean who have returned, believing it is their destiny to conquer the world  The Aes Sedai also become divided between those who believe the Dragon Reborn should be strictly controlled and those who believe he must lead them into battle as he did in the earlier war  As the story expands, new characters representing different factions are introduced; although this expansion of the narrative allows the sheer scale of the growing struggle to be effectively depicted, it has been criticized for slowing the pace of the novels and sometimes reducing the appearances of the original or main cast to extended cameos 
By the sixth novel, it has become clear that the Last Battle, caused when the Dark One is able to exert its influence directly on the world once more, is imminent, as only three Seals (keys to the Dark One's prison) are intact



ground_truth: Saturday

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: In modern history of Syria this kingdom lasted for only four months, this kingdom surrendered to who?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  Once the remaining Seals break, the Dark One will be free to touch the world  The Last Battle, Tarmon Gai'don, is depicted in the fourteenth and final novel in the series, A Memory of Light 

Books in the series
All paperback (PB) page totals given are for the most widely available mass-market paperback editions  The page count for the hardback (HB) editions does not include a glossary or appendix, page counts 
In 2002 the first book, The Eye of the World, was repackaged as two volumes with new illustrations for younger readers: From the Two Rivers, including an extra chapter (Ravens) before the existing prologue, and To the Blight with an expanded glossary  In 2004 the same was done with The Great Hunt, with the two parts being The Hunt Begins and New Threads in the Pattern 

Prologue eBooks
On several occasions, chapters from various books in the series were released several months in advance of publication  These were released in eBook format as promotional tools for the then-upcoming release 
The prologue eBook releases included:

Snow: The Prologue to Winter's Heart (September 2000)
Glimmers: The Prologue to Crossroads of Twilight (July 17, 2002)
Embers Falling on Dry Grass: The Prologue to Knife of Dreams (July 22, 2005) 
What the Storm Means: The Prologue to The Gathering Storm (September 17, 2009) 
Chapter 1 of The Gathering Storm, Tears from Steel, was released free on Friday September 4, 2009 on Tor com
Chapter 2 of The Gathering Storm, The Nature of Pain, was released in Audio form free on Thursday September 24, 2009 on Tor com
Distinctions: The Prologue to Towers of Midnight (Tuesday September 21, 2010) 
Chapter 1 of Towers of Midnight, Apples First, was released free on Friday October 1, 2010 on Tor com
Chapter 2 of Towers of Midnight, Questions of Leadership was released in Audio form free on Tuesday October 19, 2010
Chapter 8 of Towers of Midnight, The Seven-Striped Lass (on September 16, 2010, Chapter 8, The Seven-Striped Lass, was revealed as part of The Great Hunt scavenger hunt setup by Brandon on his website beginning August 30, 2010 in relation to his new book: The Way of Kings) 
By Grace And Banners Fallen: The Prologue to A Memory Of Light (Wednesday September 19, 2012) 
A segment of chapter 1 of A Memory Of Light was released in mid-2012 on Dragonmount com
A segment of chapter 11 of A Memory Of Light was similarly released publicly in mid-2012 on Dragonmount com

Short stories
Jordan wrote two short stories within the franchise in the late 1990s  The first, The Strike at Shayol Ghul, predates the main series by several thousand years  It was made available on the Internet and was later published in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time  Jordan also wrote a short story entitled New Spring, for the 1998 Legends anthology edited by Robert Silverberg  Jordan later expanded this into the stand-alone novel New Spring that was published in January 2004 
During Brandon Sanderson's work on A Memory of Light, two sections of the book were cut and later published as short stories in anthologies  The first, River of Souls, was published in Unfettered: Tales by Masters of Fantasy (2013)  The second, A Fire Within the Ways was published in Unfettered III in 2019  Unlike "River of Souls", "A Fire Within the Ways" is not considered canon 

Encyclopedic works
Tor Books published a companion book to the series, entitled The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, in November 1997, which contains much hitherto unrevealed background information about the series including the first maps of the entire world and the Seanchan home continent  Jordan co-authored the book with Teresa Patterson  Jordan ruled the book broadly canonical but stated that it was written from the perspective of an historian within The Wheel of Time universe and was prone to errors of bias and guesswork On November 3, 2015, The Wheel of Time Companion: The People, Places, and History of the Bestselling Series was released in hardback format, written by Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons from Tor Books  Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons were Robert Jordan's editorial assistants  The book is an encapsulating glossary of the entire series  The authors began compiling material for the volume as early as 2005, and the final book was released after the series' conclusion Origins of The Wheel of Time by Michael Livingston was released on November 8, 2022 

Development
Writing and conception
The novel proved extremely difficult to write because characters and storylines changed considerably during the writing process  The series was originally centered on an older man who discovered relatively late in life that he was the 'chosen one' who had to save the world  However, Jordan deliberately decided to move closer to the tone and style of J  R  R  Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring and made the characters younger and less experienced  Once this decision had been made, writing proceeded much more easily and Jordan completed the second volume, The Great Hunt, at roughly the same time the first book was published Jordan wrote full-time at breakneck speed for the next several years until he completed the seventh volume, A Crown of Swords, at which point he slowed down, delivering a book every two years  Fans objected when he took some time off to expand a short story into a prequel novel called New Spring, so he decided to shelve his plans for additional prequels in favor of finishing off the last two volumes in the series  He rejected criticisms of the later volumes of the series slowing down in pace in order to concentrate on minor secondary characters at the expense of the main characters from the opening volumes but acknowledged that his structure for the tenth volume, Crossroads of Twilight (where he showed a major scene from the prior book, Winter's Heart, from the perspective of the main characters that were not involved in the scene), had not worked out as he had planned  Knife of Dreams, the eleventh volume, had a much more positive reception from critics and fans alike and Jordan announced the twelfth volume, which he had previously announced would have the working title A Memory of Light, would conclude the series  According to Forbes, Jordan had intended for it to be the final book "even if it reaches 2,000 pages "

Jordan's death, and completion by Sanderson
Jordan was diagnosed with the terminal heart disease primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy in December 2005, and while he intended to finish at least A Memory of Light even if the "worse comes to worst," he made preparations in case he was not able to complete the book: "I'm getting out notes, so if the worst actually happens, someone could finish A Memory of Light and have it end the way I want it to end "With Jordan's death on September 16, 2007, the conclusion of the series was in question  On December 7, of that year the publisher Tor Books announced that fantasy author Brandon Sanderson was to finish A Memory of Light  Sanderson, a longtime fan of the series, was chosen by Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal partly because she liked Sanderson's novels and partly because of a eulogy he had written for Jordan On March 30, 2009, Tor Books announced that A Memory of Light would be split into three volumes, with Brandon Sanderson citing timing and continuity reasons  By his estimate in early 2009, the book would have taken several years to write and would have reached 800,000 words  McDougal doubted that Jordan could have concluded it in a single volume  The three volumes were published from 2009 to 2013,  as The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light, with the last book using Jordan's title 

After A Memory of Light
Prior to his death, Jordan had often discussed adding an additional two prequels and an 'outrigger' sequel trilogy  In a Q&A following the release of A Memory of Light, Sanderson ruled out the completion of these works; Jordan had left very little in the way of notes for these additional novels – only two sentences in the case of the sequel trilogy Sanderson went on to release two cut portions of A Memory of Light as short stories  These were released in Unfettered anthologies, part of a charitable endeavour to support authors and artists with medical debt  River of Souls, a canonical segment removed from the published book due to pacing, was released in the first volume in 2013  A Fire in the Ways, a non-canon alternate sequence of events around the climax of the final book, was included in the third volume in 2019  A glossary to the series, The Wheel of Time Companion was released in 2015 

Themes and influences
The Wheel of Time is a novel from the modern fantasy genre, specifically high fantasy  The book is set in a world that is simultaneously the distant past and distant future of the real world, as a result of time being cyclical rather than linear  The opening of the first book establishes the concept:

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend  Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again  In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose   Jordan acknowledged the influence of J  R  R  Tolkien, including deliberately modelling the setting of the first chapters on the Shire in The Lord of the Rings  Concepts drawn from Abrahamic religions include the duality between good and evil and between "Creator" (Light) and Shai'tan, "The Dark One" (Shaitan is an Arabic word that, in Islamic contexts, is used as a name for the Devil or Satan)  Other influences include Arthurian legends, Norse mythology and Irish mythology, as well as real life history In addition, Jordan also drew influences from Eastern mythology, which was rare for a Western fantasy series  The concept of a wheel of time was drawn from Hinduism  Versions of the concept include the Yuga cycle in Hinduism and Kalachakra in Buddhism  The series was also influenced by the concepts of reincarnation and balance, and the symbol of the Aes Sedai resembles the yin and yang 
Fate is an important theme to the series  The series explores in great detail the implications of a common fantasy premise, in which an ordinary boy on the verge of adulthood discovers he is fated to lead a major struggle  It also deals with the divide between fate and free will  Some major characters are ta'veren, who have exceptional abilities to influence the course of history in a tumultuous period, but even they can only go so far as permitted by "The Pattern" that is being set by the Wheel of Time 
The series also featured alternative portrayals of the role of gender in society  The nature of magic in its world means that only women can safely use it  This disparity influences the power dynamics at multiple levels of its societies, including familial, communal and political levels; many of its societies are ruled by women 

Adaptations
Comic books
In 2004, Jordan sold the film, television, video game, and comic rights to the series to production company Red Eagle Entertainment  Dabel Brothers began adapting the series in comic book form, starting with the prequel New Spring in July 2005  The series initially ran on a monthly schedule, but then went on a three-year hiatus after the fifth issue  Red Eagle cited delays and changes to the creative team on the DB Pro end  The final three issues were ultimately completed and published in 2009–10 
In 2009 Dabel moved on to their adaptation of the first book of the series proper, The Eye of the World  On March 17, 2009, they showcased ten pages of art from the prelude to the series "The Wheel of Time: Eye of the World #0 – Dragonmount" on their website  Dynamite Entertainment published 35 issues of Robert Jordon's The Wheel of Time: The Eye of the World comic book series, which concluded in March 2013 When asked in a 2013 interview about whether the comics would continue their run, Harriet McDougal replied "Well, eventually, [we'll] do the whole thing, unless it stops selling in a dreadful way  In other words, I don't really know " The 43 New Spring and Eye of the World comics were later collected together and released as a series of six graphic novels, the last of which was released in February 2015 

Games
There is a Wheel of Time MUD, identified as such or by the initialism WoTMUD, which is based on a world like that of the Wheel of Time but set in a time frame around 30 world years prior   It has been in operation almost continuously since 1993  Notably, the WoTMUD had gained written permission from the author to use his creation including all but major characters A Wheel of Time computer game was released in 1999  Over the course of the game, Aes Sedai must track down a robber following an assault on the White Tower, and prevent the Dark One from being released prematurely  She eventually learns of and executes a long-forgotten ritual at Shayol Ghul to ensure the Dark Lord remains sealed within the prison  While Robert Jordan was consulted in the creation of the game, he did not write the storyline himself, and the game is not considered canon The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game was released in 2001 from Wizards of the Coast using the d20 rules developed for the third edition of the Dungeons and Dragons game  The game had a single adventure module published in 2002, Prophecies of the Dragon  Shortly after the release of the adventure book Wizards of the Coast announced they would not be releasing any further products for the game  Robert Jordan cited some problems with the roleplaying game, such as storyline details in the adventure module that contradicted the books In early 2009 EA Games announced that they had bought the rights for a MMORPG, with the plan to publish it through the EA Partners-Program  The following year Obsidian Entertainment announced that they would be working on the project, for a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC release  However, the project was seemingly dropped around 2014 

Music
In 1999, A Soundtrack for the Wheel of Time was released, featuring music by Robert Berry and inspired by the books 
The German power metal band Blind Guardian have written two songs dedicated to the Wheel of Time series as part of their 2010 album At the Edge of Time: "Ride into Obsession" and "Wheel of Time"  Swedish heavy metal band Katana also wrote a song, entitled "The Wisdom of Emond's Field", on their 2012 album Storms of War  The American power metal band Noble Beast, on their 2014 album of the same name, wrote a song entitled "The Dragon Reborn", in reference to Rand al'Thor  The American black metal band Shaidar Logoth takes its name from an adaptation of the city of Shadar Logoth, and lyrically expands on the character Padan Fain  The Austrian metal band Dragony, on their 2018 album "Masters of the Multiverse", released the song "Flame of Tar Valon", referencing the Amyrlin Seat  The Swedish metal band Freternia, on their 2019 album "The Gathering", released the song "Reborn", referencing the Dragon Reborn, Rand al'Thor



ground_truth: French

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Who was born first,  Morgan Llywelyn or Robert Jordan?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  The American band Lyra wrote the song "The Sword That Could Not Be Broken", about the history of Manetheren, as well as the song "Betrayer of Hope", in reference to Ishamael  The Dread Crew of Oddwood produced the song "The Gleeman", which refers to Thom's battle with a Myrddraal in Whitebridge  The Scottish metal band Farseer, on their 2016 album "Fall Before the Dawn", released the song "Luck of the Joker", which references the most important events that happen to Matrim Cauthon during the whole series In the tradition of the literature-inspired symphonic poem, American composer Seth Stewart produced a full-scale orchestral work entitled "Age of Legends", inspired by the eponymous era of myth and magic described throughout the Wheel of Time series  The orchestral piece was premiered and recorded in 2011 at the Beall Concert Hall 

Television and film
In a 2000 chat on CNN com, Robert Jordan mentioned that NBC had purchased an option to do a miniseries of The Eye of the World  But he expressed doubts that the series would be made stating "key people involved in getting that contract together have left NBC " The series was optioned by Universal Pictures in 2008 for film adaptations, with plans to adapt The Eye of the World as the first film  Neither project ultimately emerged 
In February 2015, Red Eagle Entertainment paid air time to cable network FXX to air Winter Dragon, a  low-budget 22-minute pilot for a potential The Wheel of Time series that allowed Red Eagle to hold on to the rights to the series  The pilot, based on the prologue to The Eye of the World, starred Max Ryan as Lews Therin Thelamon and Billy Zane as Ishamael and aired after Midnight with no announcements or publicity  Harriet McDougal initially stated she was unaware of the show ahead of time, and that the film rights to The Wheel of Time were set to revert to the Bandersnatch Group, her company, a few days later on February 11, 2015  Her comments triggered a slander lawsuit with Red Eagle, which was ultimately dismissed during settlement talks that July  In an interview with io9, Red Eagle Entertainment's CEO Rick Selvage stated "it was more of an [issue of] getting it on the air "  A spokesman for FXX stated that the channel was paid to air the show, but Selvage hinted that it was indeed produced with a future series in mind  "We think there's huge demand for the television series internationally, and we're looking forward to producing it and getting it out in the marketplace "On April 29, 2016, Harriet McDougal confirmed that the legal issues had been resolved and that a TV series was in development  Further details emerged on 20 April 2017, when it was announced that Sony Pictures Television would be handling the adaptation, with Rafe Judkins as writer and executive producer  In February 2018, Amazon Studios revealed that it had struck a deal with Sony Pictures Television to co-develop the series for distribution on Amazon's video streaming service  The series was formally greenlit in October 2018  Production began in late 2019, but was hindered in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic  The series premiered on 19 November 2021 

Fan culture
Many fans of The Wheel of Time attend Dragon Con, which had an exclusive Wheel of Time content track from 2001 through 2012  The Wheel of Time now has its own annual convention, JordanCon, which has been held annually in Atlanta, Georgia, since 2009  The 2020 convention was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic  Instead, it took place over the Internet, some aspects being held through the use of the Zoom platform  The 2023 convention in April was the 15th anniversary of the founding of JordanCon 
In 2022, a new convention titled WoT Con, took place in Dublin, OH  This convention was created to be dedicated to the world of the Wheel of Time in all media aspects: novels, social media, and the television show  The second convention will take place July 14-16, 2023 
Passage 5:
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is an encyclopedia for the bestselling The Wheel of Time epic fantasy series of novels by Robert Jordan about the unnamed world where the plot takes place, which is often referred by fans of the series as the World of the Wheel  It is published in the United States by Tor Books and in the United Kingdom by Orbit Books  The bulk of the text was written by Teresa Patterson based on notes and information provided by Jordan, who also serves as overall editor on the project  While the information in the guide is broadly canonical, the book is deliberately written with vague, biased, or even downright false (or guessed) information in places, as Patterson felt this would reflect a key theme of the series (the mutability of knowledge across time and distance) 

Publication history
The book has been printed in several formats  The original release on 6 November 1997 was a large-format hardback with a predominantly white cover  This led to the book being dubbed 'The Big White Book' by fans  Some additional fans, citing poor quality of the internal illustrations, have dubbed the volume "The Big Book With Bad Art"  This edition of the book runs to 304 pages  The book was reprinted in a slightly different edition of the same size a year later  This edition has a different cover (a map of the Westlands) and the gallery has been expanded to include the cover of the eighth novel, The Path of Daggers, which was released at the same time  A large-format paperback edition followed in November 1999  On 6 June 2002 Orbit re-released the book as a 461-page mass-market paperback, stripped of all illustrations apart from the maps  This is the 'current' UK edition 

Description
The book is an attempt to fill in the enormous backstory of The Wheel of Time novels and also serves as 'guidebook' to the world presented in the books  The original large-editions of the book were presented with full-colour art by Todd Cameron Hamilton and includes maps by Ellisa Mitchell, John M  Ford and Thomas Canty  The covers of the novels, painted by Darrell K  Sweet, were also included  The mass-market paperback editions only include the Mitchell, Ford, and Canty maps, however  The original artwork by Hamilton was fiercely criticised on release The book consists of six sections, outlined as follows:

The Wheel and the Power: a description and explanation of The Wheel of Time, the True Source and the One Power, the relationships between the three, and how they are tapped and used 
The Age of Legends: a historical overview of the Age of Legends, the War of the Shadow and the Breaking of the World  Includes biographies and character studies of the thirteen Forsaken and information on the Friends of the Dark and Shadowspawn 
The World Since the Breaking: a historical overview of events since the Breaking, including the founding of the White Tower and the rise of the Ten Nations, the Trolloc Wars, the rise of Artur Hawkwing in the War of the Second Dragon, the colonisation of Seanchan, the War of the Hundred Years, the start of the New Era, the Whitecloak War, and the Aiel War 
Narrative Paintings: the cover artwork for the first seven (expanded to eight in later editions) novels in the series  This section is missing from mass-market paperback editions of the book 
The World of the Wheel: a gazetteer to the world of the novels, including information on Shara, Seanchan, the Aiel Waste, the Land of the Madmen, and the Ogier  A map of the whole world is shown, along with a more detailed map of Shara and the Aiel Waste, and another of the Seanchan home continent  Information on history, customs, and the Seanchan exotic animals is also included 
Within the Land: focuses on the fourteen nations and the major city-states that make up the main continent shown in the books, featuring information on holidays, prophecies, military forces, governments, trade, and the influence of the Aes Sedai 
Passage 6:
Morgan Llywelyn
Morgan Llywelyn (born December 3, 1937) is an American-Irish historical interpretation author of historical and mythological fiction and historical non-fiction  Her interpretation of mythology and history has received several awards and has sold more than 40 million copies, and she herself is recipient of the 1999 Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year Award from Celtic Women International 

Biography
Llywelyn was born Sally Snyder in New York in 1937  She was the daughter of Joseph John (an attorney) and she attended high school in Dallas  In her teens, Llywelyn moved to the Dallas area, where she developed a love of horses  By the age of 16, Llywelyn was competing in professional horse shows across the United States  By age 18, she modeled for Neiman Marcus and Arthur Murray  After 15 years of experience as a horse trainer and instructor, she tried out for and narrowly missed making the 1976 United States Olympic Team in dressage  She was instead shortlisted, missing the cut off score by  05 percent With her mother's encouragement and a successfully published article on horse training, she refocused her efforts in tracing the Llywelyn family history and eventually made a career out of writing historical novels that allowed the exploration of her Celtic roots  In reference to this career change, Llywelyn had this to say:

I have a strong strain of Welsh on my mother's side, which does indeed go back to Llywelyn ap Iorwerth  And Llywelyn the Great! (We have the proven genealogy from the College of Heralds ) She was very proud of her royal Welsh connection  That is why she was so interested in genealogy in the first place, and inspired me to get involved as well     leading in turn to THE WIND FROM HASTINGS  But both my parents were predominantly Irish – my father totally so – and I spent half the years of my childhood here  So I have always been much more interested in Ireland and its history and legends 
Llywelyn has received several awards for her works  She received the Novel of the Year Award from the National League of American Penwomen for her novel, The Horse Goddess, as well as the Woman of the Year Award from the Irish-American Heritage Committee for Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish  The latter award was presented to her by Ed Koch, then-mayor of New York City Although Llywelyn's grandparents have their roots in Ireland, it was only after the death of her parents and her husband in 1985 that she relocated to Ireland  Llywelyn now lives outside Dublin and has become an Irish citizen In 1990, Llywelyn began her focus on writing books geared for younger readers  These works started with Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish, for which she won an Irish Children's Book Trust Bisto Award in 1991, and includes other titles, such as Strongbow: The Story of Richard and Aoife, for which she won a Bisto Award in the Historical Fiction category, 1993 and the Reading Association of Ireland Award, 1993, and Star Dancer, which departed from her usual Celtic topic and was centered on her experiences with dressage  Further works include The Vikings in Ireland, an exploration of when the Norsemen arrived in Ireland, and Pirate Queen, a younger reader's version of the story of Grace O'Malley, told through letters from Granuaile to her beloved son 

Bibliography
Novels and short fiction collections
1978 The Wind from Hastings, Tor Books, ISBN 9781429983563
1980 Lion of Ireland, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765302571
1983 The Horse Goddess, Tor Books, ISBN 9781429983464
1984 Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish, Tor Books, ISBN 9780765334886 
1984 Personal Habits, Doubleday
1986 Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas, Forge Books, ISBN 9781429920636
1987 Xerxes, Chelsea House Publications, ISBN 0877544476
1989 The Isles of the Blest, Olmstead Press, ISBN 9781587541131
1989 Red Branch, Ivy Books, ISBN 9780804105910
1990 Brian Boru: Emperor of the Irish, Tor Books, ISBN 9780812544619
1989 On Raven's Wing, Mandarin, ISBN 9780749302054
1991 Druids, Del Rey, ISBN 9780804108447
1992 The Last Prince of Ireland: A Novel, W  Morrow, ISBN 9780688107949
1992 O'Sullivan's March
1993 The Elementals, Tor Books, ISBN 9780312855680
1993 Star Dancer, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862783310
1994 Finn Mac Cool, Forge Books, ISBN 9781250754226  
1995 Cold Places
1995 Ireland: A Graphic History (with Michael Scott)
1995 Silverhand (Arcana, Book 1; with Michael Scott), Baen, ISBN 9780671877286
1996 19 Railway Street (with Michael Scott), Poolbeg Press Ltd, ISBN 9781853716423
1996 The Vikings in Ireland
1996 Strongbow: The Story of Richard & Aoife, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862782740
1996 Silverlight (Arcana, Book 2; with Michael Scott)
1996 Pride of Lions
1998 1916, A Novel Of the Irish Rebellion, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765386144 
1999 The Essential Library for Irish Americans
2000 Etruscans (with Michael Scott), Tor Books, ISBN 9780312875510
2000 A Pocket History of Irish Rebels
2000 The Earth Is Made Of Stardust, Borgo Press, ISBN 9781587151590
2001 1921, The War for Independence, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765326935 
2001 Granuaile, The Pirate Queen (republished as Pirate Queen in 2006), The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862789749
2003 1949, The Irish Republic, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765381347
2005 1972, A Novel of Ireland's Unfinished Revolution, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765381330
2006 The Greener Shore: A Novel of the Druids of Hibernia, Del Rey, ISBN 9780345477675, 0345477677
2006 The Young Rebels, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9780862785796
2006 The History of Irish Rebels
2006 The Vikings in Ireland
2008 1999 - A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace, Forge Books, ISBN 9781429927062
2010 Brendan - The Remarkable Life and Voyage of Brendan of Clonfert, Forge Books, ISBN 9780312860998
2012 Cave of Secrets, The O'Brien Press, ISBN 9781847172075
2013 After Rome, Forge Books, ISBN 9781429987400 
2014 1014: Brian Boru & the Battle for Ireland, Dover Publications, ISBN 9780486842004
2016 Only the Stones Survive, Forge Books, ISBN 9780765337931 
2018 Drop by Drop, Tor Books, ISBN 9781250245311 
2019 Step by Step
2020 Inch by Inch, Tor Books, ISBN 9781250245328 
2021 Breath by Breath, Tor Books, ISBN 9780765388728

Awards
Passage 7:
Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas
Grania: She-King of the Irish Seas is a 1986 historical fiction novel about Grace O'Malley (Irish: Gráinne Ní Mháille), the so-called "Sea Queen of Connemara", by American-born Irish author Morgan Llywelyn  Llywelyn's novel is a heavily fictionalized account of O'Malley's life, with the author having created characters as needed for the plot of the story  The novel was the basis for the 2007 Broadway musical The Pirate Queen 
Passage 8:
Pride of Lions (novel)
Pride of Lions (ISBN 9780812536508, 1996), by the American-Irish author Morgan Llywelyn, is a novel about the lives of the children of Irish hero and High King Brian Boru, particularly his son, Donough, after the Battle of Clontarf  It is a sequel to Lion of Ireland published in 1980 
Passage 9:
Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish
Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish is a 1984 historical fantasy novel by Morgan Llywelyn  It depicts the migration of Galicians to Ireland, led by Amergin the bard and the Sons of the Mil  It is loosely based on the Early Irish Lebor Gabála Érenn or The Book of Invasions found in several medieval manuscripts 

Plot summary
Official tagline: "The sweeping historical tale of the coming of the Irish to Ireland, and of the men and women who made the Emerald Isle their own "
In the 4th century BC a group of Gaelic speaking people living in the northwest of Iberia, the Galicians, are waning in prosperity  A group of Phoenician traders unexpectedly arrives and gives hope to the tribe 
The story follows Amergin, druid and chief bard of the Galicians, and his brothers; Éremón, Colptha, Éber Finn, Donn, and Ír - all sons of Milesios  After years of declining prosperity, the Gaelicians hope that the Phoenician traders, led by Age-Nor, will help bring them back  Unfortunately, neither side has anything of much worth to trade 
At a reception in the Heroes' Hall, Age-Nor is attacked by Ír, while Milesios is asleep and unaware  Amergin uses his bardic talent to entrance Ír, thus saving Age-Nor 
Later in the novel, Age-Nor rewards Amergin, despite the bard's vehement protests, by giving him a servant, a shipwright named Sakkar, and regaling him with a tale of a fabled land to the north, Ierne  After a series of mishaps and bad decisions, it is eventually decided that a group of the Gaelicians, led by the Sons of the Mil, will settle this land 
The tribe builds a series of ships with the help of Sakkar, and set sail 
When they arrive on Ierne, they are confronted by the mysterious Tuatha Dé Danann, People of the Goddess Danu  After a battle, the Dananns vanish with no trace, leaving Ierne for the Milesians after Éiru (A Goddess of the Tuatha De Dannan) hands over Ireland to Amergin for it was foretold 

External links
Morgan Llywelyn
Passage 10:
Finn Mac Cool (novel)
Finn Mac Cool is a 1994 novel by the Irish-American author Morgan Llywelyn  It is based on the Fenian Cycle about the Irish hero Finn Mac Cool and the fianna  Terri Windling described it as "a skilfully crafted Irish novel       in the shadowy realm between history and mythology" 



ground_truth: Morgan Llywelyn