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129-718: The Marco Polo Bridge is well known because it was highly praised by the Venetian traveler Marco Polo during his visit to China in the 13th century (leading the bridge to become known in Europe simply as the Marco Polo Bridge ), and for the 20th-century Marco Polo Bridge Incident , which marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) . In recent years, the water of Yongding River has been diverted to different areas of Beijing, so there

258-561: A Tribune to govern the local administration, perpetuating the Roman custom started in the last years of the Western Roman Empire . Between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new political reform affected Venetia : like the other Byzantine provinces of Italy it was transformed into a duchy , at the head of which was the doge . Following the brief regime of the magistri militum , in 742 ducal electivity

387-515: A conspiracy for a rebellion against Venice was dismantled in Candia. The conspiracy was led by Sifis Vlastos as an opposition to the religious reforms for the unification of Churches agreed at the Council of Florence . In 1481, Venice retook nearby Rovigo , which it had held previously from 1395 to 1438. The Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven-year war with

516-524: A stone tortoise and crowned with hornless dragons , while the lower-level officials had to be satisfied with steles with plain rounded tops, standing on simple rectangular pedestals. Steles are found at nearly every significant mountain and historical site in China. The First Emperor made five tours of his domain in the 3rd century BC and had Li Si make seven stone inscriptions commemorating and praising his work, of which fragments of two survive. One of

645-474: A T-shaped symbol. Near the ancient northwestern town of Amud in Somalia , whenever an old site had the prefix Aw in its name (such as the ruins of Awbare and Awbube ), it denoted the final resting place of a local saint. Surveys by A.T. Curle in 1934 on several of these important ruined cities recovered various artefacts , such as pottery and coins , which point to a medieval period of activity at

774-654: A commemorative function or served as boundary markers. Although sometimes plain, most bore a cuneiform inscription that would detail the stele's function or the reasons for its erection. The stele from Van's "western niche" contained annals of the reign of Sarduri II , with events detailed yearly and with each year separated by the phrase "For the God Haldi I accomplished these deeds". Urartian steles are sometimes found reused as Christian Armenian gravestones or as spolia in Armenian churches - Maranci suggests this reuse

903-572: A corpus of post-5th century historical texts engraved sometimes on steles, but more generally on materials such as stone and metal ware found in a wide range of mainland Southeast Asia ( Cambodia , Vietnam , Thailand and Laos ) and relating to the Khmer civilization. The study of Khmer inscriptions is known as Khmer epigraphy . Khmer inscriptions are the only local written sources for the study of ancient Khmer civilization. More than 1,200 Khmer inscriptions of varying length have been collected. There

1032-534: A family unit or a household scene. One such notable example is the Stele of Hegeso. Typically grave stelai are made of marble and carved in relief, and like most Ancient Greek sculpture they were vibrantly painted. For more examples of stelai, the Getty Museum's published Catalog of Greek Funerary Sculpture is a valuable resource Steles (Chinese: bēi 碑 ) have been a major medium of stone inscription in China,

1161-711: A few judges, in 1130 it was decided to place the Consilium Sapientium , which would later become the Great Council of Venice , alongside his power. In the same period, in addition to the expulsion of the clergy from public life, new assemblies such as the Council of Forty and the Minor Council were established and in his inauguration speech the Doge was forced to declare loyalty to the Republic with

1290-621: A hallmark of Classic Maya civilization. The earliest dated stela to have been found in situ in the Maya lowlands was recovered from the great city of Tikal in Guatemala . During the Classic Period almost every Maya kingdom in the southern lowlands raised stelae in its ceremonial centre. Stelae became closely associated with the concept of divine kingship and declined at the same time as this institution. The production of stelae by

1419-462: A large fleet to support his offensive by sea. Antonio Grimani , more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea battle of Zonchio in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto, Durazzo , Modon , and Coron . Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by

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1548-588: A large part of Northeast Italy , Istria , Dalmatia , the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed the Peloponnese , Crete and Cyprus , most of the Greek islands , as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean . The islands of

1677-690: A large part of Ancient Greek funerary markers in Athens. Regarding stelai (Greek plural of stele), in the period of the Archaic style in Ancient Athens (600 BC) stele often showed certain archetypes of figures, such as the male athlete. Generally their figures were singular, though there are instances of two or more figures from this time period. Moving into the 6th and 5th centuries BC, Greek stelai declined and then rose in popularity again in Athens and evolved to show scenes with multiple figures, often of

1806-780: A name that continued to be used until the 18th century. Starting from the 15th century, the documents written in Latin were joined by those in the Venetian language , and in parallel with the events in Italy, the Duchy of Venice also changed its name, becoming the Lordship of Venice, which as written in the peace treaty of 1453 with Sultan Mehmed II was fully named the Illustrissima et Excellentissima deta Signoria de Venexia ('The Most Illustrious and Excellent Signoria of Venice'). During

1935-734: A navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and had taken over most of what is now the Veneto, including the cities of Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua. Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. The Venetian slave trade was divided in to the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade . Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves, imported from Caffa (via

2064-533: A political vision close to that of the Holy Roman Empire and consequently attempted to establish feudalism in Venice as well, causing a revolt in 976 which led to the burning of the capital and the killing of the doge. These events led the Venetian patriciate to gain a growing influence on the doge's policies and the conflicts that arose following the doge's assassination were resolved only in 991 with

2193-520: A rival city of Venice in the salt trade, decided to abdicate in favor of his brother, at the time patriarch of Grado, who refused. Since there was no heir in 887 the people gathered in the Concio and elected Pietro I Candiano by acclamation. The Concio managed to elect six doges up to Pietro III Candiano who in 958 assigned the position of co-dux to his son Pietro who became doge the following year. Due to his land holdings, Pietro IV Candiano had

2322-502: A total of 627 lions. The posture of each lion varies, as do their ages. Most date from the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, some are from the earlier Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), while the few lions dating from as long ago as the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) are now quite rare. Four ornamental columns each 4.65 m (15 ft) high and a white marble stele stand at the ends of

2451-493: A widespread social and religious phenomenon. Emperors found it necessary to promulgate laws, regulating the use of funerary steles by the population. The Ming dynasty laws, instituted in the 14th century by its founder the Hongwu Emperor , listed a number of stele types available as status symbols to various ranks of the nobility and officialdom: the top noblemen and mandarins were eligible for steles installed on top of

2580-528: Is a very fine stone bridge, so fine indeed, that it has very few equals in the world. Construction of the original bridge on this site commenced in 1189, the final year of Emperor Shizong of Jin 's reign and was completed under his successor in 1192. Following damage from a flooding, the bridge was reconstructed under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1698. The bridge was highly praised by

2709-483: Is also considered to be an architectural masterpiece. It is built of granite , with a large central arch flanked by ten smaller ones. Each of the ten piers is protected by triangular iron pillars that have been installed to prevent damage by flood and ice. Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice , officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenìssima ,

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2838-513: Is often no water under the bridge. The name "Marco Polo Bridge" derives from the appearance, before its reconstruction, in Marco Polo 's book of travels , where he praised it highly. The names "Lugou" or "Lukou Bridge" and "Lugouqiao" or "Lukouchiao" derive from Lugou, a former name of the Yongding . In old bilingual plates, the bridge was also named as "Lu Kow Kiao". Over this river there

2967-684: Is the Rosetta Stone , which led to the breakthrough allowing Egyptian hieroglyphs to be read. An informative stele of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum . Two steles built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language . Standing stones ( menhirs ), set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland , were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in

3096-593: Is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument . The surface of the stele often has text, ornamentation, or both. These may be inscribed, carved in relief , or painted. Stelae were created for many reasons. Grave stelae were used for funerary or commemorative purposes. Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines . Stelae were occasionally erected as memorials to battles. For example, along with other memorials, there are more than half-a-dozen steles erected on

3225-701: The promissione ducale ; thus the Commune of Venice , the set of all the assemblies aimed at regulating the power of the doge, began to take shape. In the 12th century, Venice decided not to participate in the Crusades due to its commercial interests in the East and instead concentrated on maintaining its possessions in Dalmatia which were repeatedly besieged by the Hungarians . The situation changed in 1202 when

3354-730: The Apulian ports; the king of France: Cremona; the king of Hungary : Dalmatia, and each one some of another's part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello , in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded to come to terms with Spain, and Julius II soon recognized

3483-459: The Black Sea slave trade ), were sold in Venice. In the early 15th century, the republic began to expand onto the Terraferma . Thus, Vicenza , Belluno , and Feltre were acquired in 1404, and Padua , Verona , and Este in 1405. The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King Sigismund of Hungary , but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the republic

3612-696: The Byzantine-Norman wars . The following year, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos granted Venice the chrysobol , a commercial privilege that allowed Venetian merchants substantial tax exemptions in numerous Byzantine ports and the establishment of a Venetian neighbourhood in Durrës and Constantinople . The war ended in 1085 when, following the death of the leader Robert Guiscard , the Norman army abandoned its positions to return to Puglia. Having taken office in 1118, Emperor John II Komnenos decided not to renew

3741-585: The Cretan War (1645–1669) , after a heroic siege that lasted 21 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession – the island of Crete (although it kept the control of the bases of Spinalonga and Suda) – while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War , the republic initiated

3870-591: The Far East , and, independently, by Mesoamerican civilisations, notably the Olmec and Maya . The large number of stelae, including inscriptions, surviving from ancient Egypt and in Central America constitute one of the largest and most significant sources of information on those civilisations, in particular Maya stelae . The most famous example of an inscribed stela leading to increased understanding

3999-465: The First Dynasty of Egypt . These vertical slabs of stone are used as tombstones, for religious usage, and to mark boundaries, and are most commonly made of limestone and sandstone, or harder kinds of stone such as granite or diorite, but wood was also used in later times. Stele fulfilled several functions. There were votive, commemorative, and liminal or boundary stelae, but the largest group

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4128-646: The Iron Age kingdom which existed in the Armenian Highlands of modern Armenia , Turkey and Iran between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. Some were located within temple complexes, set within monumental rock-cut niches (such as the niche of the Rock of Van , discovered by Marr and Orbeli in 1916 ), or erected beside tombs. Others stood in isolated positions and, such as the Kelashin Stele , had

4257-535: The Late Stone Age . The Pictish stones of Scotland, often intricately carved, date from between the 6th and 9th centuries. An obelisk is a specialized kind of stele. The Insular high crosses of Ireland and Great Britain are specialized steles . Totem poles of North and South America that are made out of stone may also be considered a specialized type of stele. Gravestones , typically with inscribed name and often with inscribed epitaph , are among

4386-561: The Maya had its origin around 400 BC and continued through to the end of the Classic Period, around 900, although some monuments were reused in the Postclassic ( c.  900 –1521). The major city of Calakmul in Mexico raised the greatest number of stelae known from any Maya city , at least 166, although they are very poorly preserved. Hundreds of stelae have been recorded in

4515-570: The Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica . They consist of tall sculpted stone shafts or slabs and are often associated with low circular stones referred to as altars, although their actual function is uncertain. Many stelae were sculpted in low relief, although plain monuments are found throughout the Maya region. The sculpting of these monuments spread throughout the Maya area during the Classic Period (250–900 AD), and these pairings of sculpted stelae and circular altars are considered

4644-523: The Merneptah Stele , which features the first known historical mention of the Israelites . In Ptolemaic times (332 - 30 BC), decrees issued by the pharaoh and the priesthood were inscribed on stelae in hieroglyphs, demotic script and Greek, the most famous example of which is the Rosetta Stone . Urartian steles were freestanding stone obelisks that served a variety of purposes, erected in

4773-621: The Morean War , which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War , when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". The Turks took

4902-725: The Peace of Cremona . In 1281 Venice defeated the Republic of Ancona in battle and in 1293 a new war between Genoa, the Byzantine Empire and Venice broke out, won by the Genoese following the Battle of Curzola and ending in 1299. During the war, various administrative reforms were implemented in Venice, new assemblies were established to replace popular ones such as the Senate and in the Great Council power began to concentrate in

5031-690: The Smyrniote crusades , but its participation was suspended due to the siege of Zadar by the Hungarians. The Genoese expansion to the east, which caused the Black Death , brought the rivalry between the two republics to resurface and in 1350 they faced each other in the War of the Straits . Following the defeat in the Battle of Sapienza , Doge Marino Faliero attempted to establish a city lordship, but

5160-637: The Stato da Màr . The skirmishes between the Venetians and the Genoese resumed and in 1378 the two republics faced each other in the War of Chioggia . Initially the Genoese managed to conquer Chioggia and vast areas of the Venetian Lagoon, but in the end it was the Venetians who prevailed; the war ended definitively on 8 August 1381 with the Treaty of Turin which sanctioned the exit of the Genoese from

5289-436: The Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law , and demanded that they be repealed. When this

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5418-399: The Tiepolo conspiracy . Once the coup d'état failed and the establishment of a lordship was averted, Doge Pietro Gradenigo established the Council of Ten , which was assigned the task of repressing any threat to the security of the state. In the Venetian hinterland, the war waged by Mastino II della Scala caused serious economic losses to Venetian trade, so in 1336 Venice gave birth to

5547-406: The Treaty of Campo Formio , agreeing to share all the territory of the republic, with a new border just west of the Adige. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo , viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province ( Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German). Though

5676-424: The Uskok War in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio , Spanish governor of Milan, around Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of Romano di Lombardia in 1618. During the same period, the Spanish governor of Naples, Don Pedro Téllez-Girón , clashed against Venice for commercial disputes at

5805-426: The Venetian traveler Marco Polo during his visit to China in the 13th century, leading the bridge to become known in Europe simply as the "Marco Polo Bridge". The Chinese structural engineer Mao Yisheng bestowed similar praise, once opining that "the most ancient bridge in China is the Zhaozhou Bridge , the most splendid the Lugou Bridge, and the most elegant and artistic the Five-Pavilion Bridge ." The bridge

5934-409: The Venetian Lagoon in the 7th century, after having experienced a period of substantial increase in population, were organized into Maritime Venice , a Byzantine duchy dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna . With the fall of the Exarchate and the weakening of Byzantine power, the Duchy of Venice arose, led by a doge and established on the island of Rialto ; it prospered from maritime trade with

6063-408: The War of Saint Sabas ; on 24 June 1258 the two republics faced each other in the Battle of Acre which ended with an overwhelming Venetian victory. In 1261 the Empire of Nicaea with the help of the Republic of Genoa managed to dissolve the Eastern Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire. The war between Genoa and Venice resumed and after a long series of battles the war ended in 1270 with

6192-408: The battle of Ragusa , having previously indirectly supported Ferdinand during the Uskok War. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the War of the Mantuan Succession . During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at

6321-402: The battle of Villabuona , and Venice's closest ally Mantua was sacked. Reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman Empire and Spain ensured the republic suffered no territorial loss, and the duchy of Mantua was restored to Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers , who was the candidate backed by Venice and France. The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in

6450-498: The battlefield of Waterloo at the locations of notable actions by participants in battle. A traditional Western gravestone (headstone, tombstone, gravestone, or marker) may technically be considered the modern equivalent of ancient stelae, though the term is very rarely applied in this way. Equally, stele-like forms in non-Western cultures may be called by other terms, and the words "stele" and "stelae" are most consistently applied in archaeological contexts to objects from Europe,

6579-526: The clerical script . Chinese steles from before the Tang dynasty are rare: there are a handful from before the Qin dynasty , roughly a dozen from the Western Han , 160 from the Eastern Han , and several hundred from the Wei , Jin , Northern and Southern , and Sui dynasties . During the Han dynasty, tomb inscriptions ( 墓誌 , mùzhì ) containing biographical information on deceased people began to be written on stone tablets rather than wooden ones. Erecting steles at tombs or temples eventually became

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6708-424: The co-dux , with the throne. The system brought Agnello's two sons, Giustiniano and Giovanni , to the ducal position, who was deposed in 836 due to his inadequacy to counter the Narentine pirates in Dalmatia . Following the deposition of Giovanni Partecipazio, Pietro Tradonico was elected who, with the promulgation of the Pactum Lotharii , a commercial treaty between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, began

6837-399: The coup d'état was foiled by the Council of Ten which on 17 April 1355 condemned the Doge to death. The ensuing political instability convinced Louis I of Hungary to attack Dalmatia which was conquered in 1358 with the signing of the Treaty of Zadar . The weakness of the Republic pushed Crete and Trieste to revolt, but the rebellions were quelled, thus reaffirming Venetian dominion over

6966-414: The 17th century, monarchical absolutism asserted itself in many countries of continental Europe, radically changing the European political landscape. This change made it possible to more markedly determine the differences between monarchies and republics: while the former had economies governed by strict laws and dominated by agriculture, the latter lived off of commercial affairs and free markets. Moreover,

7095-451: The Byzantine Empire and other eastern states. To safeguard the trade routes, between the 9th and 11th centuries the Duchy waged several wars, which ensured its complete dominion over the Adriatic. Owing to participation in the Crusades , penetration into eastern markets became increasingly stronger and, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice managed to extend its power into numerous eastern emporiums and commercial ports. The supremacy over

7224-417: The Dalmatian cities for the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had

7353-469: The Doge Enrico Dandolo decided to exploit the expedition of the Fourth Crusade to conclude the Zara War and the following year, after twenty years of conflict, Venice conquered the city and won the war, regaining control of Dalmatia. The Venetian crusader fleet, however, did not stop in Dalmatia, but continued towards Constantinople to besiege it in 1204 , thus putting an end to the Byzantine Empire and formally making Venice an independent state, severing

7482-410: The Duchy of Venice ( Ducatum Venetiae ) and the Carolingian Empire , de facto ratified the independence of Venice from the Byzantine Empire. In the following century, references to Venice as a Byzantine dominion disappeared, and in a document from 976 there is a mention of the most glorious Domino Venetiarum ('Lord of Venice'), where the 'most glorious' appellative had already been used for

7611-577: The Maya region, displaying a wide stylistic variation. Many are upright slabs of limestone sculpted on one or more faces, with available surfaces sculpted with figures carved in relief and with hieroglyphic text . Stelae in a few sites display a much more three-dimensional appearance where locally available stone permits, such as at Copán and Toniná . Plain stelae do not appear to have been painted nor overlaid with stucco decoration, but most Maya stelae were probably brightly painted in red, yellow, black, blue and other colours. Khmer inscriptions are

7740-425: The Mediterranean Sea led the Republic to the clash with Genoa , which lasted until the 14th century, when, after having risked complete collapse during the War of Chioggia (with the Genoese army and fleet in the lagoon for a long period), Venice quickly managed to recover from the territorial losses suffered with the Treaty of Turin of 1381 and begin expansion on the mainland . Venetian expansion, however, led to

7869-405: The Most Serene Republic of Venice ( Italian : Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia ; Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblega de Venexia ), a name by which it is best known today. Similarly, the doge was also given the nickname of serenissimo or more simply that of His Serenity . From the 17th century the Republic of Venice took on other more or less official names such as the Venetian State or

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7998-455: The Republic of Venice took on various names, all closely linked to the titles attributed to the doge . During the 8th century, when Venice still depended on the Byzantine Empire , the doge was called in Latin Dux Venetiarum Provinciae ('Doge of the Province of Venice'), and then, starting from 840, Dux Veneticorum ('Doge of the Venetians'), following the signing of the Pactum Lotharii . This commercial agreement, stipulated between

8127-404: The Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River . Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula , pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol . Fearing

8256-425: The Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after the Ottomans captured the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome siege of Shkodra . In 1480, no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet, the Ottomans besieged Rhodes and briefly captured Otranto . In February 1489,

8385-416: The Venetian Republic. The republic is often referred to as La Serenissima , in reference to its title as one of the " Most Serene Republics ". The Duchy of Venice was born in the 9th century from the Byzantine territories of Maritime Venice . According to tradition, the first doge was elected in 697, but this figure is of dubious historicity and comparable to that of the exarch Paul , who, similarly to

8514-459: The Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the Lombard part of the state. After Napoleon's ultimatum, Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May and abdicated , while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed

8643-521: The ancient Near East and Egypt, China, and sometimes Pre-Columbian America. Steles have also been used to publish laws and decrees, to record a ruler's exploits and honors, to mark sacred territories or mortgaged properties, as territorial markers, as the boundary steles of Akhenaton at Amarna , or to commemorate military victories. They were widely used in the ancient Near East , Mesopotamia , Greece , Egypt , Somalia , Eritrea , Ethiopia , and, most likely independently, in China and elsewhere in

8772-448: The anti-Scaliger league and the Scaliger War . The following year the coalition expanded further and Padua returned to the dominion of the Carraresi . In 1338, Venice conquered Treviso , the first nucleus of the Domini di Terraferma , and in 1339 it signed a peace treaty in which the Scaligeri promised not to interfere in Venetian trade and to recognize the sovereignty of Venice over the Trevisan March. In 1343 Venice took part in

8901-405: The arrival of the Byzantine fleet and the retreat of the Franks. Following the failed Frankish conquest, Doge Obelerio was replaced by the pro-Byzantine nobleman Agnello Participazio who definitively moved the capital to Rivoalto in 812, thus decreeing the birth of the city of Venice . With his election, Agnello Partecipazio attempted to make the ducal office hereditary by associating an heir,

9030-481: The bridge. One stele, installed on top of a stone tortoise , records the reconstruction of the bridge by the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1698. The other stele bears calligraphy by the Qianlong Emperor , a grandson of the Kangxi Emperor. It reads "Morning moon over Lugou" (蘆溝曉月 Lúgōu xiǎoyuè ). For the 800 years since its completion, the bridge has been a well known scenic spot in Beijing. As well as being famed for its aesthetic features, Marco Polo Bridge

9159-399: The bridge. The most intriguing feature of these beasts is the fact that there are more lions hiding on the head, back or under the belly or on paws of each of the big lions. Investigations to determine the total number of animals have been carried out on several occasions but the results have proved inconsistent, ranging anywhere from 482 to 501. However, record has it that there were originally

9288-521: The capital. Having taken control of the situation, the doge placed Venezia under Frankish protection, but a Byzantine naval blockade convinced him to renew his loyalty to the Eastern Emperor. With the intention of conquering Venezia in 810, the Frankish army commanded by Pepin invaded the lagoon, forcing the local population to retreat to Rivoalto , thus starting a siege which ended with

9417-419: The chrysobol of 1082, arousing the reaction of Venice which declared war on the Byzantine Empire in 1122. The war ended in 1126 with the victory of Venice which forced the emperor to stipulate a new agreement characterized by even better conditions than the previous ones, thus making the Byzantine Empire totally dependent on Venetian trade and protection. With the intention of weakening the growing Venetian power,

9546-693: The civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum and established himself as sultan . The conflict escalated until Pietro Loredan won a crushing victory against the Turks off Gallipoli in 1416 . Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania , which was acquired from King Ladislaus of Naples during the civil war in Hungary . Ladislaus was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on

9675-608: The coalition of the Habsburg monarchy , Spain and France in the League of Cambrai , which in 1509 defeated the Republic of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello . While maintaining most of its mainland possessions, Venice was defeated and the attempt to expand the eastern dominions caused a long series of wars against the Ottoman Empire , which ended only in the 18th century with the Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 and which caused

9804-463: The competition for dominion over the Mediterranean. In 1403, the last major battle between the Genoese (now under French rule) and Venice was fought at Modon , and the final victory resulted in maritime hegemony and dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would soon be contested, however, by the inexorable rise of the Ottoman Empire . Hostilities began after Prince Mehmed I ended

9933-630: The consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. The situation culminated in the Battle of Motta in late August 1412, when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats, led by Pippo Spano and Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at Motta and suffered a heavy defeat. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia and subjected Traù , Spalato , Durazzo , and other Dalmatian cities. In Lombardy , Venice acquired Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1428, and Cremona in 1499. In 1454,

10062-588: The danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war,

10191-495: The day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later,

10320-572: The delicate situation in Romagna , then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the Papal States , but effectively divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II . The pope wanted Romagna ; Emperor Maximilian I : Friuli and Veneto ; Spain:

10449-459: The doge, was assassinated in 727 following a revolt. Father Pietro Antonio of Venetia, in his history of the lagoon city published in 1688, writes: "The precise time in which that family arrived in the Adria is not found, but rather, what already an inhabitant of the islands, by the princes, who welcomed citizens, and supported with the advantage of significant riches, in the year 697 she contributed to

10578-565: The earliest examples dating from the Qin dynasty . Chinese steles are generally rectangular stone tablets upon which Chinese characters are carved intaglio with a funerary, commemorative, or edifying text. They can commemorate talented writers and officials, inscribe poems, portraits, or maps, and frequently contain the calligraphy of famous historical figures. In addition to their commemorative value, many Chinese steles are regarded as exemplars of traditional Chinese calligraphic scripts, especially

10707-691: The economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century with the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the Enlightenment . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as secretary by Comte de Montaigu, who had been named ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened

10836-561: The election of Pietro II Orseolo . Pietro II Orseolo gave a notable boost to Venetian commercial expansion by stipulating new commercial privileges with the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. In addition to diplomacy, the doge resumed the war against the Narentan pirates that began in the 9th century and in the year 1000 he managed to subjugate the coastal cities of Istria and Dalmatia. The Great Schism of 1054 and

10965-469: The emperor provided substantial commercial support to the maritime republics of Ancona , Genoa and Pisa , making coexistence with Venice, which was now hegemonic on the Adriatic Sea , increasingly difficult, so much so that it was renamed the "Gulf of Venice". In 1171, following the emperor's decision to expel the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, a new war broke out which was resolved with

11094-511: The ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta , Nicosia , and Kyrenia , but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570 and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on

11223-674: The faculty of appointing the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople and the possibility of sending a Venetian representative to the government of the Eastern Latin Empire . With the end of the Fourth Crusade, Venice concentrated its efforts on the conquest of Crete, which intensely involved the Venetian army until 1237. Venice's control over the eastern trade routes became pressing and this caused an increase in conflicts with Genoa which in 1255 exploded into

11352-604: The first time in the Pactum Lotharii and where the appellative "lord" refers to the fact that the doge was still considered like a king, even if elected by the popular assembly. Gaining independence, Venice also began to expand on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea , and so starting from 1109, following the conquest of Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, the doge formally received the title of Venetiae Dalmatiae atque Chroatiae Dux ('Doge of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia'),

11481-644: The frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige River. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps . In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben , the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take

11610-557: The hands of about ten families. To avoid the birth of a lordship, the Doge decided to increase the number of members of the Maggior Consiglio while leaving the number of families unchanged and so the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio was implemented in 1297. Following the provision, the power of some of the old houses decreased and in 1310, under the pretext of defeat in the War of Ferrara , these families organized themselves in

11739-460: The highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea , the Axumites erected a number of large stelae, which served a religious purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these granite columns is the largest such structure in the world, standing at 90 feet. Additionally, Tiya is one of nine megalithic pillar sites in the central Gurage Zone of Ethiopia. As of 1997, 118 stele were reported in the area. Along with

11868-571: The interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published The Social Contract (1762). Following the Lombard occupation and the progressive migration of the Roman populations, new coastal settlements were born in which the local assemblies, the comitia , elected

11997-516: The island of Cyprus , previously a crusader state (the Kingdom of Cyprus ), was added to Venice's holdings. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people. War with the Ottomans resumed from 1499 to 1503. In 1499, Venice allied itself with Louis XII of France against Milan, gaining Cremona . In the same year, the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto by land and sent

12126-559: The islands of Tinos and Aegina , crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth . Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands , and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu , but its defenders managed to throw them back. In

12255-475: The lagoon for a decade. Following his death, the Byzantines entrusted the government of the province to the regime of the magistri militum , which lasted until 742 when the emperor granted the people the appointment of a dux . The Venetians elected by acclamation Theodato , son of Orso, who decided to move the capital of the duchy from Heraclia to Metamauco . The Lombard conquest of Ravenna in 751 and

12384-666: The last ties with the former Byzantine ruler. The empire was dismembered in the Crusader states and from the division Venice obtained numerous ports in the Morea and several islands in the Aegean Sea including Crete and Euboea , thus giving life to the Stato da Màr . In addition to the territorial conquests, the doge was awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire, thus obtaining

12513-552: The later history by being buried underground for several centuries. Steles created by the Kaifeng Jews in 1489, 1512, and 1663, have survived the repeated flooding of the Yellow River that destroyed their synagogue several times, to tell us something about their world. China's Muslim have a number of steles of considerable antiquity as well, often containing both Chinese and Arabic text. Thousands of steles, surplus to

12642-527: The long process of detachment of the province from the Byzantine Empire. After Tradonico was killed following a conspiracy in 864, Orso I Participazio was elected and resumed the fight against piracy, managing to protect the Dogado from attacks by the Saracens and the Patriarchate of Aquileia . Orso managed to assign the dukedom to his eldest son Giovanni II Participazio who, after conquering Comacchio ,

12771-555: The loss of all possessions in the Aegean . Although still a thriving cultural centre, the Republic of Venice was occupied by Napoleon 's French troops and its territories were divided with the Habsburg monarchy following the ratification of the Treaty of Campo Formio . Throughout its history, the Republic of Venice was characterized by its political order. Inherited from the previous Byzantine administrative structures, its head of state

12900-603: The meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This

13029-555: The monarchies, in addition to being led by a single ruling family, were more prone to war and religious uniformity. This increasingly noticeable difference between monarchy and republic began to be specified also in official documents, and it was hence that names such as the Republic of Genoa or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces were born. The Lordship of Venice also adapted to this new terminology, becoming

13158-704: The most common types of stele seen in Western culture. Most recently, in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin , the architect Peter Eisenman created a field of some 2,700 blank steles. The memorial is meant to be read not only as the field, but also as an erasure of data that refer to memory of the Holocaust. Egyptian steles (or Stelae, Books of Stone) have been found dating as far back as

13287-465: The most famous mountain steles is the 13 m (43 ft) high stele at Mount Tai with the personal calligraphy of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commemorating his imperial sacrifices there in 725. A number of such stone monuments have preserved the origin and history of China's minority religious communities. The 8th-century Christians of Xi'an left behind the Xi'an Stele , which survived adverse events of

13416-462: The nascent mercantile aristocracy gathered in the Great Council , the largest assembly of the Veneciarum municipality . In the 13th century the popular assembly of the concio was progressively stripped of all its powers and, similarly to the Italian city lordships , in Venice too power began to concentrate in the hands of a small number of families. To avoid the birth of a lordship and dilute

13545-520: The naval forces of the Holy League , composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish , and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria , defeated the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto . Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76

13674-607: The nomination of the first Prince Marco Contarini, one of the 22 Tribunes of the Islands, who made the election". In 726, Emperor Leo III attempted to extend iconoclasm to the Exarchate of Ravenna, causing numerous revolts throughout the territory. In reaction to the reform, the local populations appointed several duces to replace the Byzantine governors and in particular Venetia appointed Orso as its doge, who governed

13803-635: The original requirements, and no longer associated with the person they were erected for or to, have been assembled in Xi'an's Stele Forest Museum , which is a popular tourist attraction. Elsewhere, many unwanted steles can also be found in selected places in Beijing, such as Dong Yue Miao, the Five Pagoda Temple, and the Bell Tower, again assembled to attract tourists and also as a means of solving

13932-485: The outbreak of the investiture struggle in 1073 marginally involved Venetian politics which instead focused its attention on the arrival of the Normans in southern Italy. The Norman occupation of Durrës and Corfu in 1081 pushed the Byzantine Empire to request the aid of the Venetian fleet which, with the promise of obtaining extensive commercial privileges and reimbursement of military expenses, decided to take part in

14061-770: The pharaoh, or his senior officials, detailing important events of his reign. Some of the most widely known Egyptian stelae include: the Kamose Stelae, recounting the defeat of the Hyksos ; the Victory Stele , describing the campaigns of the Nubian pharaoh Piye as he reconquered the country; the Restoration Stele of Tutankhamun (1336 - 1327 BC), detailing the religious reforms enacted after the Amarna period; and

14190-404: The population dropped to 124,000 people by 1581. According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade , a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing from a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of

14319-553: The power of the old houses, the Lockout of the Great Council took place in 1297, a measure that increased the number of members of the Great Council leaving the number of families unchanged and therefore precluding the entry of the new nobility. Stele A stele ( / ˈ s t iː l i / STEE -lee ), from Greek στήλη , stēlē , plural στήλαι stēlai , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it

14448-405: The present and the afterlife, which allowed the deceased to receive offerings. These were both real and represented by formulae on the false door. Liminal, or boundary, stele were used to mark size and location of fields and the country's borders. Votive stelae were exclusively erected in temples by pilgrims to pay homage to the gods or sacred animals. Commemorative stelae were placed in temples by

14577-548: The problem faced by local authorities of what to do with them. The long, wordy, and detailed inscriptions on these steles are almost impossible to read for most are lightly engraved on white marble in characters only an inch or so in size, thus being difficult to see since the slabs are often 3m or more tall. There are more than 100,000 surviving stone inscriptions in China. However, only approximately 30,000 have been transcribed or had rubbings made, and fewer than those 30,000 have been formally studied. Maya stelae were fashioned by

14706-421: The restoration of the status quo . At the end of the 12th century, the commercial traffic of Venetian merchants extended throughout the East and they could count on immense and solid capital. As in the rest of Italy, starting from the 12th century, Venice also underwent the transformations that led to the age of the municipalities . In that century, the doge's power began to decline: initially supported only by

14835-555: The south was completed in 1971. Later, due to the cultural and historical significance of the old bridge, it was decided that the old bridge be preserved, and another new bridge was to be built to take over the vehicular traffic. The new bridge, which carries the Jingshi Expressway , was built next to the New Marco Polo Bridge in 1985. After the completion of the Jingshi Expressway bridge , vehicular traffic

14964-788: The stelae in the Hadiya Zone, the structures are identified by local residents as Yegragn Dingay or "Gran's stone", in reference to Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or "Gran"), ruler of the Adal Sultanate . The stelae at Tiya and other areas in central Ethiopia are similar to those on the route between Djibouti City and Loyada in Djibouti . In the latter area, there are a number of anthropomorphic and phallic stelae, which are associated with graves of rectangular shape flanked by vertical slabs. The Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain age, and some of them are adorned with

15093-677: The subsequent conquest of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne 's Franks in 774, with the creation of the Carolingian Empire in 800, considerably changed the geopolitical context of the lagoon, leading the Venetians to divide into two factions : a pro-Frankish party led by the city of Equilium and a pro-Byzantine party with a stronghold in Heraclia . After a long series of skirmishes in 805, Doge Obelerio decided to attack both cities simultaneously, deporting their population to

15222-536: Was a sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice . Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto , over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area (a territory currently comparable to the Metropolitan City of Venice ), during its history it annexed

15351-524: Was a deliberate desire to capitalize on the potency of the past. Some scholars have suggested Urartian steles may have influenced the development of the Armenian khachkar . Greek funerary markers, especially in Attica, had a long and evolutionary history in Athens. From public and extravagant processional funerals to different types of pottery used to store ashes after cremation, visibility has always been

15480-538: Was also the location of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident , which marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) . Following the Communist takeover of China in 1949, the bridge was decked in asphalt and carried motor vehicular traffic. To alleviate traffic on the bridge, the New Marco Polo Bridge ( Chinese : 蘆溝新橋 ; pinyin : Lúgōu Xīnqiáo ) located about 1 km to

15609-563: Was an 'explosion' of Khmer epigraphy from the seventh century, with the earliest recorded Khmer stone inscription dating from 612 AD at Angkor Borei . Ogham stones are vertical grave and boundary markers, erected at hundreds of sites in Ireland throughout the first millennium AD, bearing inscriptions in the Primitive Irish language. They have occasionally been described as "steles." The Horn of Africa contains many stelae. In

15738-404: Was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law. Rivalry with Habsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in

15867-561: Was named the last Captain General of the Sea ( Capitano Generale da Mar ) of the Republic in 1784. By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galiots . In spring 1796, Piedmont (the Duchy of Savoy ) fell to the invading French, and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi . The army under Napoleon crossed

15996-444: Was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict which forbade clergymen from exercising almost all priestly duties. The republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite friar Paolo Sarpi , a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict

16125-410: Was shifted to the two new bridges and the old Marco Polo Bridge was closed to motor vehicles. The asphalt surface of the old bridge was removed during a restoration in 1986. The Marco Polo Bridge is 266.5 meters (874 ft) in length and 9.3 m (30.5 ft) in width, supported on 10 piers and 11 segmental arches . Hundreds of artistically unique stone lions from different eras line both sides of

16254-399: Was the doge, a position which became elective from the end of the 9th century. In addition to the doge, the administration of the Republic was directed by various assemblies: the Great Council , with legislative functions, which was supported by the Minor Council , the Council of Forty and the Council of Ten , responsible for judicial matters, and the Senate . During its long history,

16383-419: Was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen . Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley , extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century. Angelo Emo

16512-467: Was the tomb stelae. Their picture area showed the owner of the stele, often with his family, and an inscription listed the name and titles of the deceased after a prayer to one, or several, of the gods of the dead and request for offerings. Less frequently, an autobiographical text provided additional information about the individual's life. In the mastaba tombs of the Old Kingdom (2686 - 2181 BC), stelae functioned as false doors, symbolizing passage between

16641-450: Was transferred from the Empire to local assemblies, thus sanctioning the beginning of the ducal monarchy which lasted, with ups and downs, until the 11th century. If the first stable form of involvement of the patriciate in the management of power occurred with the institution of the curia ducis , starting from 1141 with the beginning of the municipal age , an unstoppable process of limitation and removal of ducal power from part of

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