The plan of the Small Temple is a simple copy of the Great Temple. The hypostyle hall or pronaos is supported by six pillars. They show scenes with the queen playing the sinistrum (an instrument sacred to the goddess Hathor), together with the gods Horus, Khnum, Khonsu, and Thoth, and the goddesses Hathor, Isis, Maat, Mut of Asher, Satis and Taweret. In one scene Ramesses is presenting flowers or burning incense. The capitals of the pillars have the face of the goddess Hathor; known as a Hathoric column. The bas-reliefs in the hall show Ramesses becoming a god. There are scenes of the king (with his wife) defeating his enemies. Another scene shows the queen making offerings to the goddess Hathor and Mut. Three large doors open into another room. On the south and the north walls of this room there are scenes of the king and his wife giving papyrus plants to Hathor. Hathor is shown as a cow on a boat sailing through papyri plants. On the west wall, Ramesses II and Nefertari are shown making offerings to god Horus and the gods of the Cataracts — Satis, Anubis and Khnum. This room leads to the sanctuary and two side rooms.
The sanctuary has bas-reliefs on the side walls with scenes of offerings to various gods made either by the pharaoh or the queen. On the back wall, there is a niche in which Hathor, as a divine cow, seems to be coming out of the mountain. Queen Nefertari is closely linked to this goddess.
Each temple has its own priest to represent the king in daily religious ceremonies. The Pharaoh should be the only celebrant in daily religious ceremonies performed in different temples throughout Egypt. In reality, the high priest also played that role. A priest, like the king, needed education in art and science. Reading, writing, engineering, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, space measurement, time calculations, were all part of this learning. The priests of Heliopolis, for example, became guardians of sacred knowledge and were seen as wise men.
Arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust held by the abutments at either side. A viaduct (a long bridge) may be made from a series of arches. However other less expensive structures are typically used today.
The oldest existing arch bridge may be the Mycenaean Arkadiko bridge in Greece. It was built in about 1300 BC. The stone corbel arch bridge is still used. The well-preserved Hellenistic Eleutherna Bridge has a triangular corbel arch. The 4th century BC Rhodes Footbridge rests on an early voussoir arch.
Both the Etruscans and ancient Greeks knew about arches. But the Romans were the first to use arches for bridge construction.
Roman arch bridges were usually semicircular. A number were also segmental arch bridges (such as Alconétar Bridge), meaning it has a curved arch that is less than a semicircle. Such a ssegmental arch bridge allowed great amounts of flood water to pass under it. This would prevent the bridge from being swept away during floods. Also the bridge itself could be more lightweight. Generally, Roman bridges had wedge-shaped primary arch stones (called voussoirs) of the same in size and shape. The Romans built both single spans and lengthy multiple arch aqueducts. Their bridges featured flood openings in the piers.
In medieval Europe, bridge builders improved on the Roman structures by using narrower piers. They used thinner arch barrels and lower span-rise ratios on bridges. Gothic pointed arches were also introduced reducing lateral thrust. In particular the 14th century saw bridge construction reaching new heights. Spans of up to were previously unheard of in masonry arch construction.
In the 19th century steel became cheaper and allowed even longer bridges. Tied arch bridges became commonplace because they don't need such large, expensive foundations. Some in the late 20th century were made over .
Stone, brick and other similar materials are strong in compression. They are fairly strong in shear. But they cannot resist much force in tension. As a result, masonry arch bridges are designed to be constantly under compression. Each arch is constructed over a temporary falsework frame, known as a centring. In the first compression arch bridges, a keystone in the middle of the bridge bore the weight of the rest of the bridge. The more weight that was put onto the bridge, the stronger its structure became. Masonry arch bridges use fill material (typically compacted rubble) above the arch in order to increase this dead-weight on the bridge. This also prevents tension from occurring in the arch ring as loads move across the bridge. Unreinforced concrete was also used. When masonry (cut stone) is used, the angles of the faces are cut to minimize shear forces. Where random masonry (uncut and unprepared stones) is used they are mortared together. The mortar is allowed to set before the falsework is removed.
Striped hyaena
The striped hyaena ("Hyaena hyaena") is a widespread small carnivore. It is native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It is listed by the IUCN as near threatened, and the global population may be under 10,000 mature individuals. It is persecuted, and its prey base is declining.
It is the smallest of its genus and has many primitive viverrid characteristics which are lost in the larger species. For example, it has a smaller and less specialised skull.
It is mainly a scavenger, but large individuals may kill their own prey. Attacks on humans are rare, but do happen. The striped hyena is a monogamous animal, with both males and females assisting one another in raising their cubs. A nocturnal animal, the striped hyena only comes out in complete darkness, and is quick to return to its lair before sunrise. It has a habit of feigning death when attacked. It has also been known to stand its ground against larger predators such as leopards in disputes over food.
The striped hyaena features prominently in Middle Eastern and Asian folklore. It is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, where it is referred to as "tzebua" or "zevoa", though the species is absent in some English translations.
Béziers
Béziers () is a commune in the Hérault département in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is a subprefecture of the department and also the capital of the "arrondissement" of the same name.
Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France. Research shows that Béziers was built by Greeks in the 6th century BC. Some archaeologists think that Béziers could be the oldest town of France, even before Marseille.
The site where is Béziers has been occupied since Neolithic times, before the arrival of Celts. Roman "Betarra" was on the road that linked Provence with Iberia. The Romans refounded the city as a new place for veterans in 36–35 BC and called it "Colonia Julia Baeterrae Septimanorum". Stones from the Roman amphitheatre were used to construct the city wall during the 3rd century. The city was occupied by the Moors between 720 and 752.
Béziers was a Languedoc stronghold of Catharism, which the Catholic Church condemned as heretical and which Catholic forces exterminated in the Albigensian Crusade.
Béziers was the first place to be attacked. The crusaders got to the town on 21 July 1209 and burned the cathedral of Saint Nazaire. A few parts of the Romanesque cathedral survived, and repairs started in 1215. The restoration, along with that of the rest of the city, continued until the 15th century.
After the Louis Napoléon's coup d'état in 1851, troops killed protesters in Béziers. Others were condemned to death or taken to the Guiana.
The city is in the southeastern of the department, in the plain of Hérault (the "plaine héraultoise"). It is on a small cliff on the eastern side of the Orb river, a tributary of the Hérault river.