Week 03

Canaan Isaac

Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites. Isaac was the only biblical patriarch whose name was not changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan. Compared to Abraham and Jacob, the Bible relates fewer incidents of Isaac's life. He died when he was 180 years old, making him the longest-lived of the three.

Monotheism

Monotheism has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god or in the oneness of God. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church gives a more restricted definition: "belief in one personal and transcendent God", as opposed to polytheism and pantheism. A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform (panentheistic) monotheism which, while recognising many distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity.
Monotheism is distinguished from henotheism, a religious system in which the believer worships one god without denying that others may worship different gods with equal validity, and monolatrism, the recognition of the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity.

Vocabulary

atheist

 One who disbelieves or denies the existence of a God, or supreme intelligent Being.

invulnerable

Incapable of being wounded, or of receiving injury.

Maleficent

It is a 2014 American dark fantasy film directed by Robert Stromberg from a screenplay by Linda Woolverton and starring Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, and Lesley Manville. Loosely based on Charles Perrault's original fairy tale and inspired by Walt Disney's 1959 animated film, Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent portrays the story from the perspective of the eponymous antagonist, depicting her conflicted relationship with the princess and king of a corrupt kingdom.Walt Disney Pictures announced the film's development in 2010, with Joe Roth as producer, and Jolie, Don Hahn and Michael Vieira as executive producers. Principal photography took place between June and October 2012. Maleficent premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on May 28, 2014, and was released in the United Kingdom that same day.The film was released in the U.S. on May 30, 2014 in the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats, as well as in conventional theaters. It was met with mixed reviews from critics, but was a commercial success, having grossed over $758 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2014 and the highest-grossing film starring Jolie. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design at the 87th Academy Awards.

Apocalypse

An apocalypse (Ancient Greek: ἀποκάλυψις apokálypsis, from ἀπό and καλύπτω, literally meaning "an uncovering") is a disclosure of knowledge or revelation. In religious contexts it is usually a disclosure of something hidden, “a vision of heavenly secrets that can make sense of earthly realities".

Auld Lang Syne

It is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world, its traditional use being to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight. By extension, it is also sung at funerals, graduations and as a farewell or ending to other occasions. The international Boy Scout youth movement, in many countries, uses it to close jamborees and other functions. The song's Scots title may be translated into standard English as "old long since", or more idiomatically, "long long ago", "days gone by" or "old times". Consequently, "For auld lang syne", as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as "for (the sake of) old times".

Week 02

The History of English in ten minutes

Roman Numerals

Example:

9 = IX

99 = XCIX

999 = CMXCIX

Epic poetry

An epic poem, epic (from Latin epicus, from the Ancient Greek adjective ἐπικός, epikos, from ἔπος, epos, "word, story, poem"), epos (from Latin epos, from Greek ἔπος, epos), or epopee (from French épopée, from neo-Latin epopoeia, from Ancient Greek ἐποποιία, epopoiia) is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.

Some of the most famous examples of epic poetry include the Ancient Greek Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, the ancient Indian Ramayana and Mahabharata, Dante's Divine Comedy, the Portuguese Lusiads, and John Milton's Paradise Lost.

The Iliad of Homer

It is an ancient Greek epic poem in dactylic hexameter, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy (Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles.Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege; the earlier events, such as the gathering of warriors for the siege, the cause of the war, and related concerns tend to appear near the beginning. Then the epic narrative takes up events prophesied for the future, such as Achilles' looming death and the sack of Troy, although the narrative ends before these events take place. However, as these events are prefigured and alluded to more and more vividly, when it reaches an end the poem has told a more or less complete tale of the Trojan War.

Aeneid

It is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the Iliad. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas's wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Rome and a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous pietas, and fashioned this into a compelling founding myth or national epic that at once tied Rome to the legends of Troy, explained the Punic Wars, glorified traditional Roman virtues, and legitimized the Julio-Claudian dynasty as descendants of the founders, heroes, and gods of Rome and Troy.

The Aeneid is widely regarded as Virgil's masterpiece and one of the greatest works of Latin literature.

Odyssey

It is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The Odyssey is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second-oldest extant work of Western literature; the Iliad is the oldest. Scholars believe the Odyssey was composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia.The poem mainly focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths), king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed Odysseus has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres (Greek: Μνηστῆρες) or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage.

Lady with an Ermine

It is a painting by Leonardo da Vinci from around 1489–1490.

 The painting is one of only four portraits of women painted by Leonardo,
the others being the Mona Lisa, the portrait of Ginevra de' Benci, and La belle ferronnière.

Mesopotamia

The Tower of Babel

It is a Near Eastern etiological myth that is recorded in the Jewish Tanakh's first book (Genesis); it is meant to explain the origin of different languages.

The Face That Launch'd A Thousand Ships

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Her lips suck forth my soul: see where it flies!
Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena.
I will be Paris, and for love of thee,
Instead of Troy, shall Wittenberg be sack'd;
And I will combat with weak Menelaus,
And wear thy colours on my plumed crest;
Yea, I will wound Achilles in the heel,
And then return to Helen for a kiss.
O, thou art fairer than the evening air
Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars;
Brighter art thou than flaming Jupiter
When he appear'd to hapless Semele;
More lovely than the monarch of the sky
In wanton Arethusa's azur'd arms;

And none but thou shalt be my paramour!

Ancient Greece - A Moment of Excellence

Week 01

中秋節