Georgian literary sources for Late Antiquity are commonly held to be later productions devoid of historical value. As a result, scholarship outside the Republic of Georgia has privileged Graeco-Roman and even Armenian narratives. However, when investigated within the dual contexts of a regional literary canon and the active participation of Caucasia’s diverse peoples in the Iranian Commonwealth, early Georgian texts emerge as a rich repository of late antique attitudes and outlooks. Georgian hagiographical and historiographical compositions open a unique window onto a northern part of the Sasanian world that, while sharing striking affinities with the Iranian heartland, was home to vibrant, cosmopolitan cultures that developed along their own trajectories. In these sources, precise and accurate information about the core of the Sasanian Empire-and before it, Parthia and Achaemenid Persia-is sparse; yet the thorough structuring of wider Caucasian society along Iranian and especially hybrid Iranic lines is altogether evident. Scrutiny of these texts reveals, inter alia, that the Old Georgian language is saturated with words drawn from Parthian and Middle Persian, a trait shared with Classical Armenian; that Caucasian society, like its Iranian counterpart, was dominated by powerful aristocratic houses, many of whose origins can be traced to Iran itself; and that the conception of kingship in the eastern Georgian realm of K’art’li (Iberia), even centuries after the royal family’s Christianisation in the 320s and 330s, was closely aligned with Arsacid and especially Sasanian models. There is also a literary dimension to the Irano-Caucasian nexus, aspects of which this volume exposes for the first time. The oldest surviving specimens of Georgian historiography exhibit intriguing parallels to the lost Sasanian Xwadāy-nāmag, The Book of Kings, one of the precursors to Ferdowsī’s Shāhnāma. As tangible products of the dense cross-cultural web drawing the re

This is a print on demand publication. A study of the inventor Reginald A. Fessenden who was born in 1866 in Canada. Although the core of his more public fame rests on his seminal contributions to wireless, the more than 200 patents he was granted cover an amazing range. In addition, Fessenden developed the concept of what is today termed amplitude modulated (AM) radio. He produced and improved upon equipment to demonstrate the principles involved, being the first individual to transmit voice and music over the air. He was the first to establish consistent two-way wireless commun. across the Atlantic Ocean. In the course of his wireless work, he was granted a patent for use of the heterodyne principle that became so important in the vacuum tube era of radio and beyond. Illus.

Lost Knowledge: The Concept of Vanished Technologies and Other Human Histories examines the idea of lost knowledge, reaching back to a period between myth and history. It investigates a peculiar idea found in a number of early texts: that there were civilizations with knowledge of sophisticated technologies, and that this knowledge was obscured or destroyed over time along with the civilization that had created it. This book presents critical studies of a series of early Chinese, South Asian, and other texts that look at the idea of specific “lost” technologies, such as mechanical flight and the transmission of images. There is also an examination of why concepts of a vanished “golden age” were prevalent in so many cultures. Offering an engaging and investigative look at the propagation of history and myth in technology and culture, this book is sure to interest historians and readers from many backgrounds.

Original literature first appeared among the indigenous population of Caucasia in the fifth century AD as a consequence of its Christianization. Though a number of Armenian histories were composed at this time, several centuries elapsed before the Georgians created their own. But how many centuries? Through a meticulous investigation of internal textual criteria, Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography challenges the traditional eleventh-century dating of the oldest Georgian narrative histories and probes their interrelationships. Illuminating Caucasia's status as a cultural crossroads, it reveals the myriad Eurasian influences - written and oral, Christian and non-Christian - on these "pre-Bagratid" histories produced between the seventh and the ninth century. Eastern Georgia's place in the Eurasian world and its long-standing connection to the Iranian Commonwealth are specially highlighted. This volume also examines several related historical and historiographical problems of the early Bagratid period and supplies critical translations of six early Georgian histories previously unavailable in English. Dr. Stephen H. Rapp, Jr. is Assistant Professor of History at Georgia State University, Atlanta (USA), and is the Founding Director of its Program in World History and Cultures.

Is there life after death? Is there a world outside our own? WHAT IF ANCIENT PEOPLE ALREADY KNEW THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS? Acclaimed author Philip Gardiner proves that our ancestors were far more advanced ''scientifically and spiritually'' than previously believed. Through a special technique, ancient Egyptians and others were able to journey to other realities within themselves - in short, to the Otherworld. The author undergoes his own experiments to prove the point. Gardiner also shows that ancient people knew more about their place in the universe than previously thought. They placed buildings and objects in specific places around the globe because these points had a distinct relation to the universal and human wave resonance of electromagnetism. When the ancients journeyed to these places, they were joining with God and visualizing the effect. The remarkable conclusions and discoveries in this book not only dispel some age - old myths, but also address questions such as: ....Is there a universal frequency that allows the mind to travel into other realms? Does the Great Pyramid hold a real secret to the quantum realm? What are those mysterious round towers found scattered around our planet? Is ESP real? What Gateways to the Otherworld uncovers are not just tales of ancient trips to other realms, nor theories on why stone circles were built in specific locations, but real answers based on thorough research and science.