ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
A ritual (or a rite) is a set of actions people do. In a ritual, the actions are important because every action stands for something. Each ritual of a type is done in a certain way. Danger might be involved in carrying out the ritual. When the ritual has been performed successfully, it is often followed by a celebration. Rituals can mark a personal change. For example, a rite of passage may show that a child has reached the age of majority. All societies seem to have had them. A religious rite is a religious ceremony. Many rituals have a religious significance and are part of the religion or traditions of a community. The rite signals that those who take part are members of the religion, or believers in the religion. The rite may signal status, qualification, prayer and commitment to the god or to the belief. A rite need not be to a religion as understood in the present day. Fervent support of a sports team, or kissing the ring of an organised crime lord, or a military enrollment is equally a rite, because it has consequences for the behaviour of the person, and for their beliefs. A ritual can also be linked to obsessive compulsive disorder, when a person believes that performing the ritual again and again is necessary.
Maria Theresa (13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the only female ruler of the Habsburg Dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. Overview. She reigned as the de facto Empress Regnant of the Holy Roman Empire and Queen of Germany. She was also queen of Hungary and Bohemia, archduchess of Austria, and held many other titles. She changed the royal palace outside Vienna (Austria's capital) to look much like Versailles. Vienna itself became an important center for the arts, especially classical music. Maria Theresa added support to her absolute power by tightening her hold on the government. She also improved conditions for the peasants. She is generally known to history as the Empress Maria Theresa. Biography. Maria Theresa was born in Vienna, Austria, on 13 May 1717. Her parents were Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Her father had made the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, a decree which allowed a female ruler despite the Salic law's prohibition. Maria Theresa married Duke Francis Stephan I of Lorraine for love. They had sixteen children: Maria Theresa died in Vienna, Austria, on 29 November 1780.
Marie Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last Queen of France, as the wife of King Louis XVI, before the monarchy was ended in the French Revolution. She was born as Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna (Marie Antoinette Joseph Jeanne) as an Archduchess of Austria. She married Louis in 1770, when she was 14 years old and four years before he became the king. They were not close at first, and at first it was difficult for them to have children. After seven years of marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, and later to three more children. She was the mother of Louis XVII of France, who never actually became king. Although she was not unpopular at first, many people in France did not want the country to have an Austrian queen. France's alliance with Austria was unpopular; the two countries had been enemies until 1756, and their alliance had led to France's defeat in the Seven Years' War. It was not until during the French Revolution that she became an unpopular symbol of the old French monarchy ("Ancien Régime"). There were rumours that she spent too much money, had lovers and supported France's enemies. There was a rumour that when she learned that peasants were starving, she said "Let them eat cake," but there is no evidence she said this. Many of these rumours were started by other people at the court, where Marie Antoinette had few friends. It is not clear what caused the French Revolution, but there were far bigger causes than her spending. She helped plan the royal family's failed escape from Paris in 1791. This caused many people to think that the royal family, especially Marie Antoinette, were plotting with foreign governments to overthrow the elected government. The royal family were arrested in 1792 and the monarchy was abolished. She was executed by guillotine in 1793, nine months after her husband was executed. Biography. Childhood in Vienna (1755-1767). On the morning of 2 November 1755, Maria Teresa, Queen of Hungary and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, gave birth
Charles-Louis de third, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (18 January 1689 – 10 February 1755), was commonly known as Montesquieu. was a French political thinker who lived during the Age Of Enlightenment. He is famous for his theory of the separation of powers in government. Many constitutions all over the world use it. He helped make the terms "feudalism" and "Byzantine Empire" popular. Political views. Before Montesquieu, the standard feudal system was called "the three estates": Montesquieu's work divided French people into three classes: three classes (or trias politica, a term he coined): These should be balanced, so that no one power would be able to overcome the other two, either singly or in combination. This was a radical idea because it eliminated the three estates structure. Montesquieu's ideas are important because they ended the feudalistic structure. They also helped inspire the constitution of many countries, including the United States. Some of Montesquieu's ideas are still controversial. He believed that women could be leaders in government. But he thought women could not lead a family. Montesquieu argued that hereditary aristocracy was suitable for monarchy, in the sense that it provided a link between the people and the monarch. However, he opposed a hereditary aristocracy under aristocracy, arguing that it would prevent the nobles from exhibiting the necessary moderation on which aristocracy relies.  Montesquieu describes an unusual idea in his essays "The Spirit of the Laws" and "Persian Letters". This idea is the climate theory. It says that climate, the weather of a place, influences the nature of man and his society. Montesquieu believed that some climates were better than others. He believed the mild climate of France is the best since it was the perfect temprature, making perfect individuals. He believed people from hot countries are "too hot-tempered". People in cold, northern countries are "icy" or "stiff." The climate in middle Europe therefore breeds the best people. (This view is possibly influenced by similar statements in "Germania" by Tacitus, one of Montesquieu's favourite authors.) Montesquieu's philosophy that "government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another" prompted the creators of the Constitution to divide the U.S. government into three separate branches.
Aristocracy is a kind of government that puts power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class. The word aristocracy comes from Ancient Greek, in which "aristocracy" means "the rule of the best", but it has come to mean rule by Nobility. The word aristocracy can also be used to refer to the ruling class of an aristocracy. A member of the aristocracy is called an aristocrat. There are different kinds of aristocracy with different ways the government is set up. Historically, most aristocracies were hereditary, which means members of the ruling group passed on their roles to their heir after they died or gave up their role (abdication). In most cases, this was their oldest living son; daughters were usually excluded, or only made heir if there were no living sons. Aristocracies have often had higher and lower roles within them; for example, the role of duke/duchess is higher than the role of baron/baroness. Some examples of aristocracies in history are the Spartiates in Sparta, the eupatridae in Athens, the patricians in Rome, and the various feudal states in Europe. There were also aristocracies outside of Europe. Various forms of government. Aristocracy can be combined with other kinds of government.  Not consistent with aristocracies. These types of governments are founded on ideals that see aristocracies as unfair, unefficient, and to be avoided. It is considered to be corrupt for small ruling groups to form in these kinds of government.
Poseidon () is the god of the sea, earthquakes, storms and horses in ancient Greek religion and myth. He was one of the Twelve Olympians. His parents were Cronos(Kronos) and Rhea. He was the older brother of Zeus yet not by much. Poseidon was generally regarded as an ill-tempered being. His mood was a reflection of the state of his realm. He was thought to conjure up violent storms at sea when angered. While he was married to the goddess Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, like his brother Zeus, Poseidon had a number of affairs with other goddesses and mortal woman, siring such heroes as Theseus and Bellerophon. Lord of the waters, Poseidon was both patron and protector of both sailors and seafarers, who would pray to him for safe passage across the sea. Poseidon was often regarded as the “Father of Horses,” as they were thought to be his creations. He was additionally the chief deity and patron of the city of Corinth, whereupon the Isthmian Games were held every other four years in his honor. Otherwise known as the Earf-Shaker (), Poseidon was thought to be the cause of such disasters, striking the Earth with his trident (a three-pronged spear) whenever he was particularly enraged. The god's symbol was his trident and the bull, horse and dolphin were his sacred animals. The god Neptune is his Roman equivalent. Neptune was a more war-like figure. He is named after the ship which sank by a tsunami.
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a way of writing computer programs using "objects" to stand for data and methods. Often, computer programs that are not object-oriented are a list of instructions for the computer, telling it to do certain things in a certain way. This is called procedural programming. However, in object-oriented programming, computer programs use objects that talk to one another to change the data in those objects and to work in a way that the user wants. Because of the way object-oriented programming is designed, it helps the developer by allowing for code to be easily reused by other parts of the program or even by other people. Most programming languages are a mix of different ways of writing computer programs (called programming paradigms). For example, Python allows for computer programs to be written both in object-oriented programming and in procedural programming. There are many programming languages that allow you to write computer programs in object-oriented programming. Some of these programming languages are: C++, Java, Ruby, Perl, Emarald, Sapphire, PHP, Python, C#, etc. Features. The main idea of object-oriented programming is that everything is an object. However, the object can be of different types: Objects is a term used to refer to instances of classes. Examples. In the examples below, we create a class called codice_1. This class contains the attributes codice_2 (for the name of the person) and codice_3 (for the name of the friend). Each of the methods in the codice_1 class contains a list of instructions that makes use of both the codice_2 and codice_3 attributes. Python. This code is in Python. class Human(object):  def __init__(self, name, friend=None):  self.name = name  self.friend = friend  def say_name(self):  print(f"My name is {self.name}")  def say_goodnight(self):  if self.friend is None:  print("Good night nobody.")  else:  print(f"Good night {self.friend.name}") stephen = Human("Stephen") joe = Human("Joe", stephen) stephen.say_name() # Shows 'My name is Stephen' step
The Twelve Olympians are the most important gods of Greek mythology, who lived atop Mount Olympus (Mytikas peek 2917.727 m). Seventeen gods have been said to have been Olympians, but there were never more than twelve at the same time.  Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis are always considered to be Olympians. Hestia, Dionysus, and Hades are the gods who have sometimes been Olympians. Thus, it is theorised that Hestia gave up her place to Dionysus because she wanted to live amongst humans however no records of this actually exist The Olympians became the most important gods when Zeus and his brothers and sisters won a war against the Titans. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades are all brothers and sisters. All the other gods are Zeus's children and have different mothers.
Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance. His The Birth of Venus and Primavera are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance. His most famous painting is Birth of Venus, however he does have a lot of famous artworks: Fortitude, Madonna and Child, Adoration of the kings and many more. His auction record tops 10 million. Sandro Botticelli was unique; he was influenced by the revival of Greek and roman ideas in Florence at the time, Botticelli was one of the first western artists since classical times to depict non religious subject matter Young Botticelli. Botticelli was born in Florence in the working-class "rione" of "Ognissanti". At first he did an apprenticeship to become a goldsmith. Following the boy's wishes, his doting father sent him to Fra Filippo Lippi. Lippi was working on frescoing the Convent of the Carmine. Lippi's synthesis of the new control of three-dimensional forms, tender expressiveness in face and gesture, and decorative details inherited from the late Gothic style were the strongest influences on Botticelli. Another influence were the Pollaiuolo brothers.They were doing a series of Virtues for the Tribunale or meeting hall of the Mercanzia. This hall was a cloth-merchants' confraternity.Botticelli contributed to this the "Fortitude", dated 1470 in the Uffizi Gallery. He was an apprentice too of Andrea del Verrocchio, where Leonardo da Vinci worked beside him, but he made his name in his local Church of Ognissanti, with a "St. Augustine" that successfully competed as a pendant with Domenico Ghirlandaio's "Jerome" on the other side "the head of the saint being expressive of profound thought and quick subtlety" (Vasari). In 1470 he opened his own independent "studio". Being discovered by the Medici. Lorenzo de' Med
Hermes is the "messenger of the gods". He is the god of winter, travellers and shepherds in Greek mythology. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and is often shown with his caduceus.  Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia. He was born on Mount Cyllene. The story of his birth was told in the Homeric Hymn, which means "Hymn to Hermes". It said that Maia was a nymph. Hermes was very clever and on his first day invented the lyre, by using the shell of a tortoise. He carries a golden sword. One of the myths about Hermes is that he once stole his brother's oxen, and burned them as a sacrifice.
Maia is the goddess of the fields in Greek mythology. She is the oldest of the Pleiades. She is also the most beautiful and the shyest.  The Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Maia and her sisters were all born on Mount Cyllene, which is in Arcadia.  Maia was the mother of Hermes by Zeus, who is another god. She gave birth to Hermes in a cave in Arcadia. After Maia gave birth to Hermes she wrapped him in blankets and then went to sleep. When she woke up, Hermes had crawled away to Thessaly and had invented the lyre and stole some of Apollo's cattle. Maia also looked after Arkas when Hera had turned his mother, Kallisto, into a bear.
Medieval townspeople in western Europe during the period of the High Middle Ages needed protection from lawless nobles and bandits. The walled city was protection from direct assault, but once a townsperson left the city walls, he or she was at the mercy of often violent and lawless nobles in the countryside. Because much of medieval Europe didnt have anything like a police force each city had to provide its own protection for citizens both inside the city walls, and outside. In order to do this towns formed what are called communes. Communes "were sworn allegiances of mutual defense". When a commune was formed, all participating members gathered and swore an oath together, in public, they would defend each other in time of trouble. In addition they would swear to maintain the peace within the city proper. What did it mean for a commune member to defend another? Obviously if a commune member was attacked outside the city it was too late to call for help as it would be unlikely anyone would be around in time. Instead the commune would promise to exact revenge on the attacker, the promise of revenge being a form of defence. However, what would happen if the attacker was a noble who had a castle, too strong for the townspeople? This was often the case and certainly the town commune could not gather the people to attack a castle. Instead they might attack the nobles family, or burn his crops, or kill his serfs, or destroy his orchards. It was eye for eye violent revenge. The commune movement started in the 11th century in northern Italy which had the most urbanized population of Europe at the time, and in what is now Belgium which was also relatively urban at the time. It then spread in the early 12th century to France, Germany, and Spain and elsewhere. England never saw much of the commune movement because it was by comparison a pretty well run kingdom and did not need local protection forces. Although in most cases the development of communes was connected with that of the cities, there were also rural communes, notably in France and England, that were formed to protect the common interests of villagers. The Church and King had mixed reactions to communes. On the one hand
Imperialism is a policy (way of governing) in which large or powerful countries seek to extend their authority beyond their own borders. The policy of imperialism aims at the creation of an empire.  Imperialist countries take control of other countries. They may use military force to do this. However, they may also avoid using military force. They may simply establish economic and/or political control over the other country.  Imperialist policies of countries or kingdoms have goals of taking over more land to create bigger empires.  The ruler of an empire gains natural resources such as agricultural and mining products. Human resources are also gained. Conquered peoples may be forced into slavery or into low-wage work. They may also be called into military service on behalf of the empire. Trade markets are also gained. The people under an imperial government may be forced to buy products from that government or from that government's industries.  Thus, a policy of imperialism can vastly enrich the imperialist country. This benefit can extend over a long period of time. Imperialism has been practiced throughout recorded history. However, there is one historical period that is specifically known as the Age of Imperialism. This period extends from the early 18th century to the mid-20th century.  During the Age of Imperialism, modern and industrialized countries competed for control of pre-industrial parts of the world. In pre-industrial areas, natural and human resources were widely and cheaply available. The imperialist countries that acquired the largest empires during the Age of Imperialism are The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States. Some writers use the term "imperialism" informally. They use the term to mean any type of domination of one country over another part of the world. Domination especially happened in Asia and Africa.
"Heresy" means ideas or actions that do not agree with traditional religious doctrines. Some religious groups use the word "heresy" to describe beliefs that challenge theirs. A person who has these beliefs is called a heretic.  History. Jewish leaders during Jesus's lifetime called him a heretic because he did not preach traditional Judaism, according to the Gospel of Matthew (26:57-67). In its first few centuries, the Roman Catholic Church accused religious doctrines like Monophysitism and Arianism of heresy. Later, throughout the Middle Ages, they accused a number of other religious sects (like the Cathars) of being heretical. In the 11th and 12th centuries, thousands of people were burned at the stake for heresy. This execution ritual was supposedly meant to save the heretic's soul. Under torture, many people accused of heresy falsely confessed. As a result of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church created the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is the official doctrine that decides what heresy is and how to deal with it. Still in the 21st century, Muslims who apostatize are often treated very harshly and frequently killed. Catholicism and Protestantism. The Catholic Church sees several heresies in Protestantism. For example: The Roman Missal contains heresies, according to Protestants.
The Cossacks () (from Cuman "cosac", meaning "free man") were a group of nomadic East Slavic Orthodox Christian warriors originating in the steppes of Ukraine. They are famous for their sense of being free. They are also well known for their military skill, mostly as cavalry swordsmen and archers.  The Ukrainian Cossacks first rose as a warrior group of East Slavic Orthodox Christian horsemen who took up a military tradition and eventually created a Cossack federation in the steppes of Ukraine. They first rose up in the 15th century in response to the raids of the Tatars and the conquests of the Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman occupation of the western bank of Ukraine, the Cossacks rebelled against the Ottoman Empire and were responsible for destroying Ottoman influence in the region. The Ottomans also lost control over Ukraine and parts of Romania because of the Cossack rebels and raiders. The Cossacks captured many Ottoman outposts in the Ukrainian steppes and created a Cossack Hetmanate (State). They sometimes served the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces and later fought against them and took Ukraine. Thus, the Cossacks are considered to be the founders of modern Ukraine in the country since they expelled the Ottomans and Polish from Ukraine and created an independent state for themselves. The name Cossack itself literally means "free man". The term was first used in the year 1395. The most well-known Cossacks are the Ukrainian Cossacks from Zaporizhzhia and the Russian Cossacks (Kazaks) from the Don, Terek, Kuban and Ural areas. They started after the Mongols attacked Kievan Rus. Eventually, the Russian Cossacks guarded land for the Russian government. Cossacks were in the Russian Army in some wars throughout the 1800s and the 1900s. They were mostly responsible for conquering land in Central Asia and the Caucasus for the Russian Empire. In behalf of the Russia, they conquered lands as far east as Siberia and even Alaska, which they conquered. Alaska was later sold to the United