query: The second half of the Bible was written by early Christians.

pos: Bible The Bible ( from Koine Greek τὰ βιβλία , tà biblía , `` the books '' ) is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans .   Many different authors contributed to the Bible . What is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups ; a number of Bible canons have evolved , with overlapping and diverging contents . The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint ; the Hebrew Bible is known in Judaism as the Tanakh . The New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians , believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ , written in first-century Koine Greek . These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives , letters , and apocalyptic writings . Among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon , primarily the Apocrypha , a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect .   Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups . Roman Catholics , Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox Christians stress the harmony and importance of the Bible and sacred tradition , while Protestant churches focus on the idea of sola scriptura , or scripture alone . This concept arose during the Protestant Reformation , and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching .   With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies , the Bible is widely considered to be the best-selling book of all time . It has estimated annual sales of 100 million copies , and has been a major influence on literature and history , especially in the West , where the Gutenberg Bible was the first book printed using movable type .

neg: Douay–Rheims Bible The Douay -- Rheims Bible ( pronounced -LSB- ˌduːeɪ -RSB- or -LSB- ˌdaʊ.eɪ _ ˈriːmz -RSB- ) ( also known as the Rheims -- Douai Bible or Douai Bible , and abbreviated as D -- R and DV ) is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College , Douai , in the service of the Catholic Church . The New Testament portion was published in Reims , France , in 1582 , in one volume with extensive commentary and notes . The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty seven years later in 1609 & 1610 by the University of Douai . The first volume , covering Genesis through Job , was published in 1609 ; the second , covering Psalms to 2 Machabees plus the apocrypha of the Vulgate was published in 1610 . Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and had a strong polemical and patristic character . They offered insights on issues of translation , and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate .   The purpose of the version , both the text and notes , was to uphold Catholic tradition in the face of the Protestant Reformation which up till then had overwhelmingly dominated Elizabethan religion and academic debate . As such it was an impressive effort by English Catholics to support the Counter-Reformation . The New Testament was reprinted in 1600 , 1621 and 1633 . The Old Testament volumes were reprinted in 1635 but neither thereafter for another hundred years . In 1589 , William Fulke collated the complete Rheims text and notes in parallel columns with those of the Bishops ' Bible . This work sold widely in England , being re-issued in three further editions to 1633 . It was predominantly through Fulke 's editions that the Rheims New Testament came to exercise a significant influence on the development of 17th century English .   Much of the text of the 1582/1610 bible employed a densely Latinate vocabulary , to the extent of being in places unreadable . Consequently , this translation was replaced by a revision undertaken by bishop Richard Challoner ; the New Testament in three editions 1749 , 1750 , and 1752 ; the Old Testament ( minus the Vulgate deuterocanonical ) , in 1750 . Although retaining the title Douay -- Rheims Bible , the Challoner revision was a new version , tending to take as its base text the King James Bible rigorously checked and extensively adjusted for improved readability and consistency with the Clementine edition of the Vulgate . Subsequent editions of the Challoner revision , of which there have been very many , reproduce his Old Testament of 1750 with very few changes . Challoner 's New Testament was , however , extensively revised by Bernard MacMahon in a series of Dublin editions from 1783 to 1810 . These Dublin versions are the source of some Challoner bibles printed in the United States in the 19th century . Subsequent editions of the Challoner Bible printed in England most often follow Challoner 's earlier New Testament texts of 1749 and 1750 , as do most 20th-century printings and on-line versions of the Douay -- Rheims bible circulating on the internet .   Although the Jerusalem Bible , New American Bible Revised Edition , Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition , and New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition are the most commonly used in English-speaking Catholic churches , the Challoner revision of the Douay -- Rheims is still often the Bible of choice of more traditional English-speaking Catholics .

neg: 2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 is the second chapter of the Second Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament of the Christian Bible . It is authored by Paul the Apostle and addressed to Saint Timothy .

neg: Matthew 7:29 Matthew 7:29 is the twenty-ninth , and final , verse of the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament . It ends a two verse conclusion following the Sermon on the Mount .   In the Westcott-Hort edition of the original Greek , this verse reads :  ην γαρ διδασκων αυτους ως εξουσιαν  εχων και ουχ ως οι γραμματεις αυτων   In the King James Version of the Bible , the text reads :  For he taught them as one having  authority , and not as the scribes .   The English Standard Version translates the passage as :  for he was teaching them as one who  had authority , and not as their scribes .   In the previous verse , the crowd of onlookers were described as astonished at Jesus ' sayings ( τους λογους τουτους , tous logous toutous ) which complete Matthew 's narrative known as the `` Sermon on the Mount '' , and this verse explains why . The final phrase is a verbatim copy of , set in a very different context . Mark 's Gospel simply asserts Jesus ' authority ; Matthew uses it as a concluding argument after presenting the Sermon on the Mount as evidence .   In some translations this verse refers to their scribes . Ulrich Luz suggests that this is a clear indicator that Jesus ' followers saw themselves as separate from the mainstream Jewish community at the time this gospel was written . Scribes refers to the trained rabbis who would quote scribal authorities , and makes clear that Jesus is greater than the most important rabbi . A sermon by the rabbis would have been replete with references to scripture to validate each teaching . The contrast presented by Matthew is that Jesus speaks based on his own authority , not that of past figures .   A few authorities add '' ... and the Pharisees '' ( e.g. Wycliffe 's Bible , the Vulgate Latin , the Syriac , the Persic versions , and the Hebrew edition of Matthew by Munster ) . The Pulpit Commentary suggests that this `` may either be derived from or be an independent gloss due to the fact that the Pharisees were looked upon as the typical Jewish teachers '' .

neg: Second Epistle of Clement The Second Epistle of Clement ( -LSB- Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους , Klēmentos pros Korinthious , Clement to Corinthians -RSB- ) often referred to as 2 Clement or Second Clement , is an early Christian writing .  2 Clement was not accepted in the canonical New Testament , but was included in the Apostolic Fathers collection .

neg: Theodicy and the Bible Theodicy , in its most common form , is the attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil . Theodicy attempts to resolve the evidential problem of evil by reconciling the traditional divine characteristics of omnibenevolence and omnipotence , in either their absolute or relative form , with the occurrence of evil or suffering in the world . `` Writings and discourses on theodicy by Jews , Greeks , Christians , and Eastern religions have graced our planet for thousands of years , '' and `` debates about theodicy continue among believers and unbelievers alike '' .   Theodicy is an `` intensely urgent '' and `` constant concern '' of `` the entire Bible '' . Relating theodicy and the Bible is crucial to understanding Abrahamic theodicy because the Bible `` has been , both in theory and in fact , the dominant influence upon ideas about God and evil in the Western world '' . The Bible raises the issue of theodicy by its portrayals of God as inflicting evil and by its accounts of people who question God 's goodness by their angry indictments . However , the Bible `` contains no comprehensive theodicy '' .   `` The most common theodicy is the free will theodicy . '' It lays the blame for all moral evil and some natural evil on humanity 's misuse of its free will . This article shows that the free will theodicy interacts with the Bible at its core : what Jesus and Paul say about the freedom of the will and with what kind of freedom of the will God endowed humanity at the Creation .

neg: Pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha ( also anglicized as `` pseudepigraph '' or `` pseudepigraphs '' ) are falsely-attributed works , texts whose claimed author is not the true author , or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past . Pseudepigraphy covers the false ascription of names of authors to works , even to authentic works that make no such claim within their text . Thus a widely accepted but incorrect attribution of authorship may make a completely authentic text pseudepigraphical . Assessing the actual writer of a text locates questions of pseudepigraphical attribution within the discipline of literary criticism .   In biblical studies , the term pseudepigrapha typically refers to an assorted collection of Jewish religious works thought to be written c 300 BC to 300 AD . They are distinguished by Protestants from the Deuterocanonical books ( Catholic and Orthodox ) or Apocrypha ( Protestant ) , the books that appear in extant copies of the Septuagint from the fourth century on , and the Vulgate but not in the Hebrew Bible or in Protestant Bibles . The Catholic Church distinguishes only between the deuterocanonical and all the other books , that are called biblical apocrypha , a name that is also used for the pseudepigrapha in the Catholic usage . In addition , two books considered canonical in the Orthodox Tewahedo churches , viz . Book of Enoch and Book of Jubilees , are categorized as pseudepigrapha from the point of view of Chalcedonian Christianity .

neg: Genesis creation narrative The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity . Two creation stories are found in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis . In the first Elohim , the Hebrew generic plural word for God , creates the heavens and the earth in six days , starting with light on the first day and ending with mankind on the sixth ( creating man and woman independently and at the same time ) , then rests on , blesses and sanctifies the seventh . In the second story , God , now referred to by the personal name Yahweh , creates Adam , the first man , from dust and places him in the Garden of Eden , where he is given dominion over the animals . Eve , the first woman , is created from Adam and as his companion .   Borrowing themes from Mesopotamian mythology , but adapting them to the Israelite people 's belief in one God , the first major comprehensive draft of the Pentateuch ( the series of five books which begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy ) was composed in the late 7th or the 6th century BCE ( the Jahwist source ) and was later expanded by other authors ( the Priestly source ) into a work very like the one we have today . The two sources can be identified in the creation narrative : is Priestly and is Jahwistic . The combined narrative is a critique of the Mesopotamian theology of creation : Genesis affirms monotheism and denies polytheism . Robert Alter described the combined narrative as `` compelling in its archetypal character , its adaptation of myth to monotheistic ends '' .   Misunderstanding the genre of the Genesis creation narrative , meaning the intention of the author/s and the culture within which they wrote , can result in a misreading . Reformed evangelical scholar Bruce Waltke cautions against one such misreading , the approach which reads it as history rather than theology and so leads to Creationism and the denial of evolution . As noted scholar of Jewish studies , Jon D. Levenson , puts it : `` How much history lies behind the story of Genesis ? Because the action of the primeval story is not represented as taking place on the plane of ordinary human history and has so many affinities with ancient mythology , it is very far-fetched to speak of its narratives as historical at all . ''

neg: Zephaniah 2 Zephaniah 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Zephaniah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible . This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Zephaniah , and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets .

neg: Bible believer Bible believer ( also Bible-believer , Bible-believing Christian , Bible-believing Church ) is a self-description by conservative Christians to differentiate their teachings from others who they see as placing non-biblical or extra-biblical tradition as higher or equal in authority to the Bible .   In normal usage , `` Bible believer '' means an individual or organization that believes the Bible is true in some significant way . However , this combination of words is given a unique meaning in fundamentalist Protestant circles , where it is equated with the belief that the Christian Bible `` contains no theological contradictions , historical discrepancies , or other such ` errors ' '' , otherwise known as biblical inerrancy .

neg: 2 Corinthians 13 2 Corinthians 13 is the thirteenth ( and the last ) chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible . It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Saint Timothy .

neg: Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come from? Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From ? is a book by American biblical scholar and archaeologist William G. Dever .   Dever has been prominent in the debate between biblical `` maximalists '' and `` minimalists '' over the historicity of the Bible ( specifically the Old Testament ) . This book , which coincided with Dever 's retirement from the University of Arizona , where he served as professor of Near Eastern Archaeology and Anthropology for many years , was written on a semi-popular level to explain the background and origin of the people Dever describes as the `` protoIsraelites . '' It followed an earlier book , What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It ? , in which Dever , contrary to the `` minimalists '' , asserted that the writers of the Old Testament knew a good deal about the Israelites ' past .

neg: Matthew 2:22 Matthew 2:22 is the twenty-second verse of the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament . The young Jesus and the Holy Family have just left Egypt after hearing of the death of King Herod .   In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads :  But when he heard that Archelaus  did reign in Judaea in the room  of his father Herod , he was afraid  to go thither : notwithstanding ,  being warned of God in a dream , he  turned aside into the parts of Galilee :   The World English Bible translates the passage as :  But when he heard that Archelaus  was reigning over Judea in the  place of his father , Herod , he  was afraid to go there . Being  warned in a dream , he withdrew  into the region of Galilee   For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 2:22   Upon Herod 's death his kingdom was divided in three . Judea went to his son Archelaus , who was as great a tyrant as his father . Most notably he killed some 3000 rebels soon after ascending the throne . His cruelty aroused such popular anger that in 6 AD Archelaus was deposed by the Romans in response to complaints from his subjects . As a result the Romans began directly appointing a governor for the area , with Pontius Pilate being a notable example . The concern Joseph expresses in this verse thus fits with what is known from the history of the period . The decision to go to Galilee was also a reasonable one . That region was ruled by Herod 's far more even-tempered son Herod Antipas and there is evidence that the region had become a refuge to others fleeing the rule of Archelaus or the Romans .   One incongruity is that the word translated as reign , more precisely means `` reign as a king . '' This is incorrect , unlike his father Archelaus was only an ethnarch , not a king . Most scholars , even evangelical ones , are content to accept this as the author of Matthew simply being imprecise . There have also been several attempts to explain the discrepancy . Jones notes that Augustus ' decision that Archelaus would only be granted the title of ethnarch occurred six months into his reign . Jones thus thinks it possible that during these first months Archelaus did call himself king , and it would have been during this period that Joseph returned from Egypt .   Joseph is again given important information in a dream . However , this time the author of Matthew does not report on its origin . The vocabulary of the passage and the previous instances make most scholars accept this to be another message from God .   The Gospel of Luke mentions none of this . Most scholars believe this is because Luke sees Nazareth as Joseph 's original home , and thus sees no reason to explain why he returns there . Much time is spent explaining why the family was in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus ' birth . Matthew has the opposite view seeing Bethlehem as the family 's original home , as demonstrated by them having a house in Matthew 2:11 . It thus needs to go into some detail explaining why they eventually move to Nazareth . The important word is that translated as `` withdrew '' in the WEB . Gundry notes that the author of Matthew would have used return if Nazareth was Joseph 's original home and `` withdrawing '' implies leaving for a new location . Schweizer sees this as unambiguous proof that Matthew has Joseph originally from Bethlehem . Evangelicals , of course , reject this view . France states that the author of Matthew does not discuss Joseph 's origin in Nazareth because of his `` typical avoidance of unnecessary detail . ''

neg: Bible translations into Bulgarian The royal Tetraevangelia of Ivan Alexander is an illuminated manuscript Gospel Book in Middle Bulgarian , prepared and illustrated in 1355 -- 1356 for Tsar Ivan Alexander of the Second Bulgarian Empire . The manuscript is regarded as one of the most important manuscripts of medieval Bulgarian culture . The manuscript , now in the British Library ( Add . MS 39627 ) , contains the text of the Four Gospels illustrated with 366 miniatures and consists of 286 parchment folios , 33 by 24.3 cm in size .   Bible translations into modern Bulgarian date from the 1820s and were largely organised by Protestant missionaries . The Bulgarian Orthodox Church initially preferring the continued use of Old Church Slavonic .   The archimandrite Theodosius , abbot of the Bistritsa Monastery in Romania , translated the New Testament for the British and Foreign Bible Society , which was printed at St. Petersburg in 1823 . `` It was begun by the Archimandrite Theodosius , with the sanction of Gregory , Patriarch of Constantinople . ( St. Matthew 's Gospel in Church Slavic and Bulgarian 1823 ) was published by the Russian Bible Society . '' This attempt to translate the Bible into modern Bulgarian was characterized with poor grammatical style and was greatly influenced by the Church-Slavonic version . The entire edition was sent to Saint Petersburg and is said to have been destroyed there . The BFBS had also contracted nationalist journalist Konstantin Fotinov who translated the New Testament but the BFBS did not approve it because `` it was neither Slav -LSB- onic -RSB- nor Bulgarian '' .   An independent attempt to publish a Bulgarian translation of the New Testament occurred in 1828 , as Petar Sapunov and his brother Father Serafim published a translation of the four gospels at the Bucharest metropolitan press in Wallachia ( Romania ) . This translation was completed in the Eastern Bulgarian dialect .   In 1835 Bulgarian monk Neofit Rilski started a new translation of the New Testament . The translation was completed on April 18 , 1838 . The translation was done in the Bulgarian dialect from the area of Gorna Dzhumaya ( present day Blagoevgrad in the region of Macedonia ) . In 1840 5,000 copies of the first complete translation of the New Testament were printed in Smyrna by the British and Foreign Bible Society . A second edition which was printed in Smyrna in 1850 was an almost exact reprint of the 1840 edition . A third edition followed in 1853 with 15,000 copies . The fourth edition was published in 1857 in Bucharest , and for the first time civil characters type was used . In 1859 , two more editions were published . In 1866 , a new `` pocket '' edition with text revised by Elias Riggs and Dr. Albert Long was printed in Constantinople . The New Testament was revised and reprinted a total of nine times .   In the period from 1840 to 1860 the Eastern ( Tarnovo ) dialect was adopted as literary Bulgarian language and the Macedonian dialect , in which the New Testament had been translated , was widely rejected . By 1858 Neofit Rilski had finished large portion of the Old Testament . Riggs met with Neofit Rilski and discussed a possible revision of the Bulgarian New Testament to remove the Macedonian dialect elements . Neofit objected the revision , so Riggs took the translation and returned to Constantinople . In January 1859 Riggs invited the Bulgarian teacher Hristodul Kostovich to help him with the revision .   In 1862 Long and Riggs visited the noted Bulgarian writer and poet Petko Rachov Slaveykov in Tryavna . Slaveykov agreed to help with the translation and began the work on the revising of Neofit 's New Testament at once . Long joined the revision of the New Testament into the Eastern dialect in 1863 and later assisted with the translation of the Old Testament . In June 1871 , after more than 12 years of revision and translation , 36,000 copies of the complete Bible translation in Bulgarian were published in Constantinople . The translation came to be known as the Tsarigrad ( Constantinople ) edition .   The decision to revise and publish the Bible in the Eastern dialect was the historical factor based on which the modern Bulgarian language departed from the Macedonian dialect to adopt the Eastern/Thracian dialect .   With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 , several organizations attempted to provide a new translation of the Bible in Bulgarian . In 1993 a Protestant New Testament was printed . A complete new Orthodox translation was published in 1995 , followed by three new Protestant revisions of the Bulgarian Bible in the period of 2000 -- 2001 by publishing houses of Veren ( Faithful ) , Nov Chovek ( New Man ) and the Bible League .   Jáni Vasilčin published in 1998 the New Testament in Banat Bulgarian language . The Banat Bulgarians are a Catholic minority group in western Romania and northeastern Serbia .   Jehovah 's Witnesses have translated their New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures into Bulgarian .

neg: Matthew 27:61 Matthew 27:61 is the sixty-first verse of the twenty-seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament . This verse describes two women waiting by the Tomb of Jesus after the crucifixion .   The original Koine Greek , according to Westcott and Hort , reads :  ην δε εκει μαριαμ η μαγδαληνη και η αλλη μαρια καθημεναι απεναντι του ταφου   In the King James Version of the Bible it is translated as :  And there was Mary Magdalene , and the other Mary , sitting over against the sepulchre .   The modern World English Bible translates the passage as :  Mary Magdalene was there , and the other Mary , sitting opposite the tomb .   For a collection of other versions see here :   The tense of this verse specifically contrasts it with the previous one . In that verse Joseph of Arimathea leaves after supervising the burial of Jesus . In contrast the two Marys stay . There is no mention of the women leaving , but they presumably do so prior to the sabbath , and also prior to the arrival of the guards that are dispatched in the next verses .   Mary Magdalene and `` the other Mary '' who is presumed to be `` Mary the mother of James and Joses , and the mother of the sons of Zebedee '' mentioned at Matthew 27:57 . In some traditions the second Mary is considered to be the same person as Salome . Matthew has these two women present for the crucifixion , the entombment , and the resurrection . By specifically mentioning these women at all three events the author of Matthew presents a set of witnesses to the entire passion narrative . This serves an apologetic purpose , evidence that the resurrection was not a matter of confusion . By having the women present at the entombment , there is not possibility that they could confuse tombs when the same women return at Matthew 28:1 . That the text so clearly strives to make such a story impossible , is evidence that similar allegations were likely circulating at the time the gospel was written . Keener considers it unlikely that the loyalty of the women is purely apologetic . Women witnesses were given less weight than male ones in that era . Moreover a group of Passionate female followers could have clear scandalous undertones , and in Keener 's view would not have been invented for that reason . Matthew 27:55 mentions that many women were at the crucifixion , but now only two appear . The rest of the women may have fled in the same manner as the disciple .   This verse is based on Mark 15:47 , and paralleled by Luke 23:55 .

neg: Jewish Christian Jewish Christians , also Hebrew Christians or Judeo-Christians , were the original members of the Jewish movement that later became Christianity . In the earliest stage the community was made up of all those Jews who accepted Jesus as a venerable person or the Messiah ( Christ ) . As Christianity grew and developed , Jewish Christians became only one strand of the early Christian community , characterised by combining the confession of Jesus as Christ with continued adherence to Jewish traditions such as Sabbath observance , observance of the Jewish calendar , observance of Jewish laws and customs , circumcision , and synagogue attendance , and by a direct genetic relationship to the earliest Jewish Christians .   The term `` Jewish Christian '' appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians , both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries . It is also a term used for Jews who converted to Christianity but kept their Jewish heritage and traditions .   1st century `` Jewish Christians '' were totally faithful religious Jews . They differed from other contemporary Jews only in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah . Those that taught that Gentile converts to Christianity ought to adopt more Jewish practices than the Church had already included , however , were called `` Judaizers '' . Though the Apostle Peter was initially sympathetic , the Apostle Paul opposed the teaching at the Incident at Antioch and at the Council of Jerusalem , where Paul 's teaching was accepted by the whole Church . Nevertheless , Judaizing continued for several centuries , particularly among Jewish Christians .   As Christianity grew throughout the Gentile world , Christians diverged from their Jewish and Jerusalem roots . Jewish Christianity , initially strengthened despite persecution by Jerusalem Temple officials , fell into decline during the Jewish-Roman wars ( 66-135 ) and the growing anti-Judaism perhaps best personified by Marcion ( c. 150 ) . With persecution by the orthodox Christians from the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century , Jewish Christians sought refuge outside the boundaries of the Empire , in Arabia and further afield . Within the Empire and later elsewhere it was dominated by the Gentile based Christianity which became the State church of the Roman Empire and which took control of sites in the Holy Land such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Cenacle and appointed subsequent Bishops of Jerusalem .

neg: John 20:2 John 20:2 is the second verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament . Mary Magdalene has just discovered that the tomb of Jesus has been opened . In this verse she seeks out and tells this news to Peter and the Beloved Disciple .   The English Standard Version translates the passage as :   That she seeks out Peter and the Beloved Disciple implies that Mary Magdalene knew these two well enough to know where they were staying in Jerusalem . It also shows that Mary felt the two would be concerned enough to act on her information , despite Peter 's actions at the crucifixion . The repeated word `` to '' implies that Peter and the Beloved Disciple were staying at different places and that Mary thus delivered her message twice . John , who is often considered to be the Beloved Disciple , is said by other sources to be staying with Mary , the mother of Jesus , at this time . Schnackenberg notes that the double-barreled name Simon Peter is how the Gospel of John usually refers to Peter .   This is the third appearance of the Beloved Disciple in John , he also appears in John 13:23 and John 19:26 . The introduction of the Beloved Disciple leads to two starkly different views on the veracity of the passage and those that come later . To those who believe in the traditional view that the Beloved Disciple is the author of the Gospel it adds great weight to what comes next as it is the report of an eyewitness . To most modern scholars who feel the Gospel was written at a later date the arrival of the Disciple makes the text less credible as they see him as a fictional creation .   Mary Magdalene refers to they , but does not make clear who they are . Westcott lists three possibilities : She might mean grave robbers . Grave robbery was a problem in Palestine during this era , as a Roman first century edict condemning the practice makes clear . They could also refer to the Jewish leaders who may have had a reason to take the body . Some feel the `` we do n't know where they have put him '' makes it possible that they refers to the grave keepers and that Jesus ' body was merely shifted to another tomb . Brown notes that the verb tithenai , which is translated as laid/put can also mean buried . However , if Mary was thinking the body had merely been shifted by workers it raises the question of why she is so concerned , and why Peter and the Beloved Disciple so quickly leave to investigate .   Mary refers to Jesus as lord , previously in John this title had not been used by Jesus ' followers . Some , such as Brown , see this as evidence that this section was written by a different author from the rest of the gospel . An alternative theory is that the new title is permissible now that Jesus is dead .   Mary states that `` we do n't know where they have put him . '' However the previous verse only mentioned her at the tomb . Many scholars link this to the synoptic gospels where Mary is described as going to the grave with a group of other women . To those who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible this is evidence that the other women were in fact with Mary , but the author of John did not feel it was necessary to mention them . Conversely Wellhausen and Spitta have both argued that the we could have been an alteration by a later editor who modified John to make it more like the other Gospels . Some early versions of the Gospel do have I instead of we at this point . Brown does not think much of this theory as the rest of the passage remains unaltered . Dalman argues that it was not uncommon to use the first person plural for the first person singular in this era .

neg: Johannine literature Johannine literature refers to the collection of New Testament works that are traditionally attributed to John the Apostle or to Johannine Christian community . Johannine literature is traditionally considered to include the following works :  The Gospel of John  The Johannine epistles  The First Epistle of John  The Second Epistle of John  The Third Epistle of John  The Book of Revelation   Of these five books , the only one that explicitly identifies its author as a `` John '' is Revelation . Modern scholarship generally rejects the idea that this work is written by the same author as the other four documents . The gospel identifies its author as the Beloved Disciple , who is traditionally identified with John the Apostle , though again the authorship is debated .

neg: Antiquities of the Jews Antiquities of the Jews ( Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία , Ioudaikē archaiologia ; Antiquitates Judaicae ) , also Judean Antiquities ( see Ioudaios ) , is a 20-volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around AD 93 or 94 . Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people , written in Greek for Josephus ' gentile patrons . In the first ten volumes , Josephus follows the events of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve . The second ten volumes continue the history of the Jewish people beyond the biblical text and up to the Jewish War .   This work , along with Josephus 's other major work , The Jewish War ( De Bello Iudaico ) , provides valuable background material to historians wishing to understand 1st-century AD Judaism and the early Christian period .

neg: Josephus on Jesus The extant manuscripts of the writings of the 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus include references to Jesus and the origins of Christianity . Josephus ' Antiquities of the Jews , written around 93 -- 94 AD , includes two references to the biblical Jesus Christ in Books 18 and 20 and a reference to John the Baptist in Book 18 .   Scholarly opinion varies on the total or partial authenticity of the reference in Book 18 , Chapter 3 , 3 of the Antiquities , a passage that states that Jesus the Messiah was a wise teacher who was crucified by Pilate , usually called the Testimonium Flavianum . The general scholarly view is that while the Testimonium Flavianum is most likely not authentic in its entirety , it is broadly agreed upon that it originally consisted of an authentic nucleus , which was then subject to Christian expansion/alteration . Although the exact nature and extent of the Christian redaction remains unclear , there is broad consensus as to what the original text of the Testimonium by Josephus would have looked like .   Modern scholarship has largely acknowledged the authenticity of the reference in Book 20 , Chapter 9 , 1 of the Antiquities to `` the brother of Jesus , who was called Christ , whose name was James '' and considers it as having the highest level of authenticity among the references of Josephus to Christianity .   Almost all modern scholars consider the reference in Book 18 , Chapter 5 , 2 of the Antiquities to the imprisonment and death of John the Baptist also to be authentic and not a Christian interpolation .   The references found in Antiquities have no parallel texts in the other work by Josephus such as the Jewish War , written 20 years earlier , but some scholars have provided explanations for their absence . A number of variations exist between the statements by Josephus regarding the deaths of James and John the Baptist and the New Testament accounts . Scholars generally view these variations as indications that the Josephus passages are not interpolations , for a Christian interpolator would have made them correspond to the New Testament accounts , not differ from them .

neg: Apostolic Age The Apostolic Age of the history of Christianity is traditionally regarded as the period of the Twelve Apostles , dating from the Great Commission of the Apostles by the risen Jesus in Jerusalem around 33 AD until the death of the last Apostle , believed to be John the Apostle in Anatolia c. 100 . Traditionally , the Apostles are believed to have dispersed from Jerusalem , founding the Apostolic Sees . It holds special significance in Christian tradition as the age of the direct apostles of Jesus Christ . One major primary source for the `` Apostolic Age '' is the Acts of the Apostles , but its historical accuracy is questioned by some and its coverage is partial , focusing especially from onwards on the ministry of Paul ( an apostle to the Gentiles , but not one of the original twelve apostles - Rom . 1:1 ; 11:13 ) and his companions , and ending around 62 AD with Paul preaching in Rome under house arrest .   According to most scholars , the followers of Jesus were composed principally from apocalyptic Jewish sects during the late Second Temple period of the 1st century . Some Early Christian groups were strictly Jewish , such as the Ebionites and the early-church leaders in Jerusalem , collectively called Jewish Christians . During this period , they were led by James the Just . According to , they described themselves as ` disciples of the Lord ' and -LSB- followers -RSB- ` of the Way ' , and according to a settled community of disciples at Antioch were the first to be called ` Christians ' .   Saul of Tarsus , commonly known as Paul the Apostle , persecuted the early Jewish Christians , such as Saint Stephen , then converted and adopted the title of `` Apostle to the Gentiles '' and started proselytizing among the Gentiles . He persuaded the leaders of the Jerusalem Church to allow Gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments at the Council of Jerusalem .   According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church , Paul 's influence on Christian thinking is more significant than any other New Testament author , however the relationship of Paul the Apostle and Judaism is still disputed today ( see the link for details ) . After the Destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70 during the First Jewish-Roman War , or at the latest following the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132 , Jerusalem ceased to be the center of the Christian church , its bishops became `` suffragans '' ( subordinates ) of the Metropolitan bishop of Caesarea . In the 2nd century , Christianity established itself as a predominantly Gentile religion that spanned the Roman Empire and beyond .


query: The Ilkhanate was ruled by Mahmud Ghazan from 1295 to 1304.

pos: Ilkhanate The Ilkhanate , also spelled Il-khanate ( ایلخانان , Ilkhānān ; Хүлэгийн улс , Hulagu-yn Ulus ) , was established as a khanate that formed the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire , ruled by the Mongol House of Hulagu . It was founded in the 13th century and was based primarily in Iran as well as neighboring territories , such as present-day Azerbaijan and the central and eastern parts of present-day Turkey . The Ilkhanate was originally based on the campaigns of Genghis Khan in the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219 -- 24 and was founded by Hulagu Khan , a grandson of Genghis Khan . With the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire after 1259 it became a functionally separate khanate . At its greatest extent , the state expanded into territories that today comprise most of Iran , Iraq , Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia , Turkmenistan , Turkey , western Afghanistan , and southwestern Pakistan . Later Ilkhanate rulers , beginning with Ghazan in 1295 , would convert to Islam .

pos: Ghazan Mahmud Ghazan ( 1271 -- 11 May 1304 ) ( , , sometimes referred to as Casanus by Westerners ) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire 's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304 . He was the son of Arghun and Quthluq Khatun , continuing a long line of rulers who were direct descendants of Genghis Khan . Considered the most prominent of the Ilkhans , he is best known for making a political conversion to Islam in 1295 when he took the throne , marking a turning point for the dominant religion of Mongols in West Asia ( Iran , Iraq , Anatolia and Trans-Caucassia ) . His principal wife was Kököchin , a Mongol princess ( originally betrothed to Ghazan 's father Arghun before his death ) sent by his Khagan Kublai Khan , and escorted from the Mongol capital to the Ilkhanate by Marco Polo .   Military conflicts during Ghazan 's reign included war with the Egyptian Mamluks for control of Syria , and battles with the Turko-Mongol Chagatai Khanate . Ghazan also pursued diplomatic contacts with Europe , continuing his predecessors ' unsuccessful attempts at forming a Franco-Mongol alliance . A man of high culture , Ghazan spoke multiple languages , had many hobbies , and reformed many elements of the Ilkhanate , especially in the matter of standardizing currency and fiscal policy .

neg: Temüge Temüge ( 1168 -- 1246 ) was the youngest full-brother of Genghis Khan , fourth son of Yesugei and Oelun .  The Secret History of the Mongols tells that `` when Temujin was 9 years of age , Temuge was three years old . '' Being the youngest boy in the family , he received a prefix to the name `` otchigin '' ( diminutive form of '' отгон '' or `` otgon '' meaning `` junior '' ) , who in the family is always a `` guardian of the family and home '' ) , and therefore is often referred to as Temuge-otchigin or simply Otchigin . In childhood and adolescence was somewhat spoiled by his mother and older brothers , inclined to luxury , but was `` courageous , powerful and quick in battle '' that was recognized even by the family 's enemies . When the shaman Kokochu ( Teb-Tengri ) started dragging the power over the Mongols to his own family , Genghis khan sanctioned Temuge to kill Kokochu in a staged wrestling match .   As the youngest male sibling , Temüge and his mother , by Mongol traditions , were allotted the most land and people by Genghis Khan during his coronation . Although he seems to have been the least warlike of the brothers , and was criticized by Genghis himself for being lazy and shiftless , Temüge proved himself to be a skilled politician and capable ruler , who , alongside his mother Hoelun , ruled the Mongol heartland in his eldest brothers ' absence being engaged in war campaigns . He appears to have had intellectual leanings , first coming under the influence of the conquered Xia and Jin cultures and then taking an active interest in the other cultures encompassed in the vast Mongol empire .   Temuge attempted to enter the main political arena after the death of Ögedei Khan , his nephew and son of Genghis Khan , in 1241 . At that time , Ogedei 's son Güyük Khan was engaged in so-called `` Western campaign '' in Russia and Europe , so Temuge-otchigin tried to seize the throne , but he was intervened by Töregene , Ogedei 's widow and Güyük 's mother . After the 1246 kurultai elected Güyük as great khan , Temuge was executed .

neg: Jalairid Sultanate The Jalairids were a Mongol Jalayir dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol khanate of Persia in the 1330s . The Jalairid sultanate lasted about fifty years , until disrupted by Timur 's conquests and the revolts of the Kara Koyunlu ( `` Black Sheep '' ) Turkmen . After Timur 's death in 1405 , there was a brief attempt to re-establish the sultanate in southern Iraq and Khuzistan . The Jalairids were finally eliminated by the Kara Koyunlu in 1432 .

neg: Chupan Amir Chūpān ( امیر چوپان died November 1327 ) , also spellt Choban or Coban , was a Chupanid noble of the Ilkhanate , and nominal general of the Mongol Empire . His father was named the Malek of the Mongol Suldus clan . His ancestor was Chilaun , who was one of Chingis Khan 's four great companions .

neg: Ali ibn Il-Arslan Alī ibn Īl-Arslān , was a powerful and influential Turkic statesman who served the early Ghaznavid '' Sultans .

neg: History of Afghanistan The written history of Afghanistan , ( تاریخ افغانستان د افغانستان تاريخ can be traced back to around 500 BCE when the area was under the Achaemenid Empire , although evidence indicates that an advanced degree of urbanized culture has existed in the land since between 3000 and 2000 BCE . The Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up to large parts of Afghanistan in the north , with several sites being known . Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army arrived at what is now Afghanistan in 330 BCE after conquering Persia during the Battle of Gaugamela . Since then , many empires have established capitals inside Afghanistan , including the Greco-Bactrians , Mauryas , Kushans , Hindu Shahi , Saffarids , Samanids , Ghaznavids , Ghurids , Timurids , Mughals , Hotakis and Durranis .   Afghanistan ( meaning `` land of the Afghans '' ) has been a strategically important location throughout history . The land served as `` a gateway to India , impinging on the ancient Silk Road , which carried trade from the Mediterranean to China '' . Sitting on many trade and migration routes , Afghanistan may be called the ` Central Asian roundabout ' since routes converge from the Middle East , from the Indus Valley through the passes over the Hindu Kush , from the Far East via the Tarim Basin , and from the adjacent Eurasian Steppe .   The archaeological manifestation of the Indo-Iranians ( Aryans ) before their split into separate language groups is generally seen as the Andronovo culture to the north of present-day Afghanistan . The Iranian languages were developed by one branch of these people ; the Pashto language spoken today in Afghanistan is one of the Eastern Iranian languages . Elena E. Kuz ` mina argues that the tents of Iranian-speaking nomads of Afghanistan developed from the light surface houses of the Eurasian steppe belt in the Bronze Age .   The Arab invasions influenced the culture of Afghanistan , and its pre-Islamic period of Zoroastrian , Macedonian , Buddhist and Hindu past has long vanished . Turkic empire-builders such as the Ghaznavids and Timurids made the region now called Afghanistan of major importance .   Mirwais Hotak followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani unified Afghan tribes and founded the last Afghan Empire in the early 18th century CE . Afghanistan 's sovereignty has been held during the Anglo-Afghan Wars , the 1980s Soviet war , and the 2001-present war by the country 's many and diverse people : the Pashtuns , Tajiks , Hazaras , Uzbeks , Turkmen , Aimak , Baloch and others . The Pashtuns form the largest group , claiming to be descendants of ancient Israelites or Qais Abdur Rashid but scholars believe that they are a confederation of various peoples from the past who united under Pashtunwali .

neg: Mongol invasions of Korea The Mongol invasions of Korea ( 1231 -- 1259 ) comprised a series of campaigns between 1231 and 1270 by the Mongol Empire against the Kingdom of Goryeo ( the proto-state of modern-day Korea ) . There were seven major campaigns at tremendous cost to civilian lives throughout the Korean peninsula , ultimately resulting in Korea becoming a vassal state of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty for approximately 80 years .

neg: Khanate of Kazan The Khanate of Kazan ( -LSB- Казан ханлыгы , Qazan xanlığı , قازان خانليغى -RSB- Russian : Казанское ханство , tr : Kazanskoye khanstvo ) was a medieval Bulgarian-Tatar Turkic state that occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552 . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Tugh Temür , the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan . The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan , Mari El , Chuvashia , Mordovia , and parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan ; its capital was the city of Kazan . It was one of the successor states of the Golden Horde , and it came to an end when it was conquered by the Tsardom of Russia .

neg: Ahmad Maymandi Abuʾl-Ḥasan al-Qāsim Aḥmad ibn Ḥasan Maymandī ( ابوالحسن القاسم احمد بن حسن میمندی died 31 December 1032 ) , better known as Ahmad Maymandi ( احمد میمندی also spelled Maimandi ) , and also known by his honorific title of Shams al-Kufat ( شمس الکفاة `` sun of the capable ones '' ) , was a Persian vizier of the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni and the latter 's son Mas ` ud I of Ghazni .   The son of the governor of Bust , Maymandi was raised as the foster brother of the Ghaznavid prince Mahmud , and would first start his administrative career as the head of the department of correspondence of Khorasan . He would thereafter rapidly rise to higher offices , finally becoming the vizier of the Ghaznavid dynasty in 1013 , which would last until 1024 , when he was arrested due to the great amount of wealth that he had gained , which the suspicious Mahmud disliked .   However , after a brief civil war , which ended in 1030 , Maymandi was freed by Mahmud 's son Mas ` ud I , who offered him the chance of becoming vizier again . He first rejected the offer , but alter accepted in 1031 . Maymandi 's second vizeriate would only last one year , when he died at Herat . He was succeeded by Ahmad Shirazi .

neg: Sajid dynasty The Sajid dynasty , was an Islamic dynasty that ruled from 889-890 until 929 . Sajids ruled Azerbaijan and parts Armenia first from Maragha and Barda and then from Ardabil . The Sajids originated from the Central Asian province of Ushrusana and were of Iranian ( Sogdians )  descent . Muhammad ibn Abi ` l-Saj Diwdad the son of Diwdad , the first Sajid ruler of Azerbaijan , was appointed as its ruler in 889 or 890 . Muhammad 's father Abi ` l-Saj Devdad had fought under the Ushrusanan prince Afshin Khaydar during the latter 's final campaign against the rebel Babak Khorramdin in Azerbaijan , and later served the caliphs . Toward the end of the 9th century , as the central authority of the Abbasid Caliphate weakened , Muhammad was able to form a virtually independent state . Much of the Sajids ' energies were spent in attempting to take control of neighboring Armenia . The dynasty ended with the death of Abu ` l-Musafir al-Fath in 929 .

neg: Mamluk dynasty (Delhi) The Mamluk Dynasty ( sometimes referred as Slave Dynasty or Ghulam Dynasty ) was directed into Northern India by Qutb ud-Din Aibak , a Turkic general from Central Asia . The Mamluk Dynasty ruled from 1206 to 1290 ; it was the first of five unrelated dynasties to rule as the Delhi Sultanate till 1526 . Aibak 's tenure as a Ghurid dynasty administrator lasted from 1192 to 1206 , a period during which he led invasions into the Gangetic heartland of India and established control over some of the new areas .

neg: Shaikh Mahmoud Shaikh Mahmoud ( d. around 1327 ) was a member of the Chupanid family who lived in the Ilkhanate . He was the fourth son of Chupan .   During his lifetime he was made governor of Armenia and Georgia . Upon the fall of his father in 1327 by the Ilkhan Abu Sa'id , he was brought to Tabriz and executed .   Shaikh Mahmud had four sons ; of these , Pir Hosayn would play an influential role in the strife amongst the Chupanids in the 1340s .

neg: Mongol invasion of Thrace The Mongol invasion of Thrace took place in the winter of 1264/1265 , under the leadership of Nogai Khan .

neg: Qasim Khanate Qasim Khanate or Kingdom of Qasim or Khanate of Qasım ( -LSB- Касыйм ханлыгы / Касыйм патшалыгы , Qasím xanlığı / Qasím patşalığı , قاسيم حانلئعئ / قاسيم پاتسالئعئ -RSB- Касимовское ханство / Касимовское царство , Kasimovskoye khanstvo/Kasimovskoye tsarstvo ) was a Tatar khanate , a vassal of Russia , which existed from 1452 until 1681 in the territory of modern Ryazan Oblast in Russia with its capital Kasimov , in the middle course of the Oka River . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür , the thirteenth son of Jochi ( and thus a grandson of Genghis Khan ) . It was established in the lands which Grand Prince Vasily II of Moscow ( reigned 1425-1462 ) presented in 1452 to the Kazan prince Qasim khan ( d. 1469 ) , son of the first Kazan khan Olug Moxammat .

neg: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World ( 2004 ) is a history book written by Jack Weatherford , Dewitt Wallace Professor of Anthropology at Macalester College . It is a narrative of the rise and influence of Genghis Khan and his successors , and their influence on European civilization . Weatherford provides a different slant on Genghis Khan than has been typical in most Western accounts , attributing positive cultural effects to his rule .   In the last section , he reviews the historiography of Genghis Khan in the West and argues that the leader 's early portrayal in writings as an `` excellent , noble king '' changed to that of a brutal pagan during the Age of Enlightenment . Weatherford made use of three major non-Western sources : The Secret History of the Mongols , the Ta ' rīkh-i jahān-gushā of Juvayni and the Jami al-Tawarikh of Rashid-al-Din Hamadani .

neg: Iran–United Kingdom relations Iran -- United Kingdom relations are the bilateral relations between the countries of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Islamic Republic of Iran . Iran , which was known as Persia before 1935 , has had political relations with England since the late Ilkhanate period ( 13th century ) when King Edward I of England sent Geoffrey of Langley to the Ilkhanid court to seek an alliance .   Diplomatic relations between the two countries have considerably deteriorated in recent years , following the re-election of President Ahmadinejad .   On 28 November 2011 Iran downgraded its relations with Britain due to new sanctions put in place by the UK . The next day a band of students and Basiji attacked the UK embassy compound in Tehran , damaging property and driving the embassy staff away . On 30 November 2011 , in response to the attack , the UK closed its embassy in Tehran and ordered the Iranian embassy in London closed .   According to a 2013 BBC World Service poll , only 5 % of British people view Iran 's influence positively , with 84 % expressing a negative view . According to a 2012 Pew Global Attitudes Survey , 16 % of British people viewed Iran favorably , compared to 68 % which viewed it unfavorably ; 91 % of British people oppose Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons and 79 % approve of `` tougher sanctions '' on Iran , while 51 % of British people support use of military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons .   From July 2012 until October 2013 , British interests in Iran were maintained by the Swedish embassy in Tehran while Iranian interests in the United Kingdom were maintained by the Omani embassy in London .   On July 2013 , it is announced that the UK would consider opening better relations with Iran `` step-by-step '' following the election of President Hassan Rouhani .   On October 8 , 2013 , Britain and Iran announced that they would each appoint a chargé d'affaires to work toward resuming full diplomatic relations .   On February 20 , 2014 the Iranian Embassy in London was restored and the two countries agreed to restart diplomatic relations .  On August 23 , 2015 the embassy was officially reopened .

neg: Gvantsa Kakhaberidze Gvantsa ( გვანცა , or , archaically , Guantsa , გუანცა ; also transliterated as Gwantza , Gontza , Gontsa , or Gonc ` a ) ( died c. 1263 ) was a Queen Consort of Georgia as the third wife of King David VII `` Ulu '' ( r. : 1245-1270 ) .   She was the daughter of Kakhaber IV Kakhaberidze , Duke of Racha and Takveri , who married Gvantsa off to Prince Avag Mkhargrdzeli , Lord High Tutor and Lord High Constable of Georgia with whom she begot a daughter Khvashak . After Avag 's death in 1250 , Gvantsa remarried the Georgian king David VII in 1252 and gave birth to a son , the future king Demetre II of Georgia , in 1259 . In the meantime , Khvashak was reared by the king 's trustee Sumbat Orbeli or Sadun Mankaberdeli ( here the medieval sources diverge ) and later given in marriage to Shams ad-Din Juvayni , an influential minister at the Mongol Il-Khan 's court .   Unlike David VII 's first wife , the late Jigda-Khatun , Gvantsa was on extremely bad terms with the influential royal favorite Jikur , the Master of Ceremonies ( mestumre ) of Georgia . Jikur 's rivals exploited this enmity and accused him of treason before the king who had him executed by drowning in the Mtkvari River . When David staged a failed revolt from the Il-Khan hegemony in 1260 , Gvantsa was captured by the Mongol punitive forces and killed on the orders of the Il-Khan Hulagu through the intrigues of rival Georgian nobles .

neg: Sogdia Sogdia or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization that at different times included territory located in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan such as : Samarkand , Bukhara , Khujand , Panjikent and Shahrisabz . Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empire , eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great ( i. 16 ) . In the Avesta , Sogdiana is listed as the second best land that the supreme deity Ahura Mazda had created . It comes second , after Airyanem Vaejah , `` homeland of the Aryans '' , in the Zoroastrian book of Vendidad , indicating the importance of this region from ancient times . Sogdiana was conquered by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great in 328 BC and later formed part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and Sasanian Empire .   The Sogdian states , although never politically united , were centred on the main city of Samarkand . Sogdiana lay north of Bactria , east of Khwarezm , and southeast of Kangju between the Oxus ( Amu Darya ) and the Jaxartes ( Syr Darya ) , embracing the fertile valley of the Zeravshan ( ancient Polytimetus ) . Sogdian territory corresponds to the modern provinces of Samarkand and Bokhara in modern Uzbekistan as well as the Sughd province of modern Tajikistan . During the High Middle Ages , Sogdian cities included sites stretching towards Issyk Kul such as that at the archeological site of Suyab . Sogdian , an Eastern Iranian language , is no longer a spoken language , but its direct descendant , Yaghnobi , is still spoken by the Yaghnobis of Tajikistan . It was widely spoken in Central Asia as a lingua franca and even served as one of the Turkic Khaganate 's court languages for writing documents .   Sogdians also lived in Imperial China and rose to special prominence in the military and government of the Chinese Tang dynasty ( 618 -- 907 AD ) . Sogdian merchants and diplomats traveled as far west as the Byzantine Empire . They played an important part as middlemen in the trade route of the Silk Road . While originally following the faiths of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism from Persia , Buddhism from India , and Nestorian Christianity from West Asia , the gradual conversion to Islam among the Sogdians and their descendants began with the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana in the 8th century . The Sogdian conversion to Islam was virtually complete by the end of the Samanid Empire in 999 , coinciding with the decline of the Sogdian language , as it was largely supplanted by Persian .

neg: Tarkhan dynasty The Tarkhan dynasty , or Turkhan dynasty , was established by Turkic Tarkhan and ruled Sindh , Pakistan from 1554 to 1591 AD . General Mirza Isa Beg founded the Tarkhan dynasty in Sindh after the death of Shah Husayn Arghun of the Arghun dynasty . Mughal emperor Akbar annexed Sindh after defeating the last Tarkhan ruler .

neg: Dpon-chen The dpon-chen or pönchen , literally the `` great authority '' or `` great administrator '' , was the chief administrator or governor of Tibet located at Sakya Monastery during the Yuan administrative rule of Tibet in the 13th and 14th centuries . In the Mongol Empire the office of the dpon-chen was established in the 1260s and functioned for all practical purposes as the Tibetan government at the pleasure of the Mongol emperors of the Yuan dynasty , unlike the Sakya Imperial Preceptors ( Dishi ) who were active at the Yuan court .   The Mongols set up a government agency and top-level administrative department known as the Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs in Khanbaliq ( modern Beijing ) that supervised Buddhist monks in addition to managing the territory of Tibet ; one of the department 's purposes was to select a dpon-chen to govern Tibet when the Sakya Lama ( e.g. Drogön Chögyal Phagpa ) was away . The dpon-chen was invariably a Tibetan nominated by the ruling Sakya Lama and approved by the reigning emperor . His function was , apart from being the chief executive head of the Sakya government , to appoint a tripön for each of the 13 myriarchies , and to act as liaison between the Yuan government and Tibet . Nevertheless , this system also led to conflicts between the Sakya leaders and the dpon-chens . While dpon-chens had a small army in Sakya itself , their major military support came from the Mongols or Yuan dynasty when an internal rebellion or external invasion occurred . As Yuan declined in the mid-14th century however , in Tibet , Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen toppled the Sakya and founded the Phagmodrupa Dynasty , marking the end of the dpon-chen system .

neg: Achaemenid Assyria Athura ( ð ð ° ð cents ð 1/4 ð Aθurā ) , also called Assyria Babylonia , was a geographical area within the Persian Achaemenid Empire held by the last nobility of Aššur ( Akkadian ) , known as Athura ( Neo-Aramaic ) or Atouria ( Greek ) , during the period of 539 BC to 330 BC as a military protectorate state of Persia under the rule of Cyrus the Great . Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy , Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu , a concept generally interpreted as meaning either a group of people or both a country and its people , without any administrati   It mostly incorporated the original Assyrian kingdom , corresponding with modern northern Iraq in the upper Tigris , the middle and upper Euphrates , modern-day north eastern Syria ( Eber-Nari ) and part of south-east Anatolia ( modern Turkey ) . The Neo-Assyrian Empire collapsed after a period of violent civil wars , followed by an invasion by a coalition of some of its former subject peoples , the Iranian peoples ( Medes , Persians and Scythians ) , Babylonians and Cimmerians in the late 7th century BC , culminating in the Battle of Nineveh , and Assyria had fallen completely by 605 BC . Between 605 and 559 BC , Assyria was divided between the Median Empire to the east and the Neo-Babylonian Empire to the west . Both parts were subsumed into the Achaemenid Empire in 539 BC , and it has been argued that they constituted the satrapies of Media and Athura , respectively . In Herodotus ' account the Ninth Tributary District comprised `` Babylonia and the rest of Assyria '' , and excluded Eber-Nari .   Despite a few rebellions , Assyria functioned as an important part of the Achaemenid Empire . The Assyrian people were given the right to govern themselves throughout Achaemenid rule , and the Assyrian ( Aramaic ) language was used diplomatically by the Persians . Known for their combat skills , Assyrian soldiers ( along with the Lydians ) constituted the main heavy infantry of the Achaemenid empire 's military . Due to the major destruction of Assyria during the fall of its empire , some early scholars described the area as an `` uninhabited wasteland . '' Other Assyriologists , however , such as John Curtis and Simo Parpola , have strongly disputed this claim , citing how Assyria would eventually become one of the wealthiest regions among the Achaemenid Empire . This wealth was due to the land 's great prosperity for agriculture that the Persians used effectively for almost 200 years . In contrast to the policy of the Assyrian Empire , the Achaemenid Persians did not intervene in the internal affairs of their ruling satrapies as long as they continued the flow of tribute and taxes back to Persia .


query: Sunny Leone hosts a reality show.

pos: Sunny Leone Karenjit Kaur Vohra ( born May 13 , 1981 ) , known by her stage name Sunny Leone ( pronounced -LSB- ˈsənē lēˈōn ' ē -RSB- ) , is an actress and model , currently active in Indian film industry . She is a former pornstar , She has an American citizenship . She has also used the stage name Karen Malhotra .  She was named Penthouse Pet of the Year in 2003 , was a contract performer for Vivid Entertainment , and was named by Maxim as one of the 12 top porn stars in 2010 .   She has played roles in independent mainstream events , films and television shows . Her first mainstream appearance was in 2005 , when she worked as a red carpet reporter for the MTV Video Music Awards on MTV India . In 2011 , she participated in the Indian reality television series Big Boss . She hosts the Indian reality show Splitsvilla .   In 2012 she made her Bollywood debut in Pooja Bhatt 's erotic thriller Jism 2 ( 2012 ) and shifted her focus to mainstream acting which was followed up with Jackpot ( 2013 ) , Ragini MMS 2 ( 2014 ) and Ek Paheli Leela ( 2015 ) .   Apart from her acting career she has been part of activism campaigns including the Rock 'n' Roll Los Angeles Half-Marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society and has also posed for a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( PETA ) ad campaign with a rescued dog , encouraging pet owners to have their cats and dogs spayed and neutered .   Since 2011 , Leone has been married to Musician Daniel Weber .

neg: MTV Roadies MTV Roadies is a youth-based popular reality television show on MTV India . The show first aired in 2003 . In the show , a group of contestants travel to different destinations and participate in various tasks that seemingly challenge their physical and mental strength . During the course of the journey , there are vote outs , vote ins , eliminations and game changing twists . Eventually the contestant who manages to survive vote outs and succeed in the final task is chosen as the winner . The show has enjoyed much success among the youth . When asked about the show , the executive producer said , `` Roadies has travel , adventure , drama , touch of voyeurism ... '' .   Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman , the creators of Roadies left the show in 2014 . They told the media that they had done enough to popularise the show and wanted to give opportunities to the new generation to carry the show forward . The latest season titled Roadies Rising is currently underway .

neg: Are You the One? Are You the One ? is an American reality television series on MTV . It follows 20 people who are living together in a tropical destination to find their perfect match . If the 10 men and 10 women are able to correctly choose all ten perfect matches in ten weeks , they will win $ 1 million to split among them . Each episode the cast will pair up with whoever they believe their perfect match is to compete in a challenge . The winners of the challenge will go on a date and have a chance to test their match in the truth booth . The cast members will choose one of the winning couples to go to the truth booth to determine if they are a perfect match or not . This is the only way to confirm matches . Each episode ends with a matching ceremony where the couples will be told how many perfect matches they have , but not which matches are correct . Eight of the couples are still together , including season 1 's Ethan Diamond and Amber Lee , who are married and welcomed a daughter soon after their time on the show .   On March 22 , 2017 , a spin-off show titled Are You The One : Second Chances premiered . 10 perfect matches from previous seasons returned , and the guy/girl teams competed in a litany of games designed to test the strength of their bonds . Each week , the victors were rewarded with cash , and one perfect match were sent packing until the sole perfect match remained .

neg: Sunny Day (song) `` Sunny Day '' is the ninth single released by the American synthpop band Book of Love . The song was released as the second single from the band 's third album , 1991 's Candy Carol .   `` Sunny Day '' was written by band member Ted Ottaviano , who also sings the lead vocals on the track . It became the second Book of Love song to feature him on lead vocals . The single was featured in Jonathan Demme 's 1991 film , The Silence of the Lambs . In a strange twist of fate , band member Lauren Roselli was cast in the role of Stacy Hubka in the movie .    The song was initially remixed by Ben Grosse and released as a CD promo single and cassette single . Shortly thereafter , the band themselves remixed the track , and this remix appeared on their following single `` Counting The Rosaries '' , the CD maxi-single edition of which also included the Ben Grosse remix .   `` Sunny Day '' was reworked in 1993 for Ted Ottaviano 's post Book of Love project with Basil Lucas , Doubleplusgood . The 1993 version , found on Sire 's 1993 compilation , New Faces , features Lambert Moss on vocals and is more of a dance oriented track .   In 2001 , `` Sunny Day '' was once again re-recorded as a new version , for the band 's best of compilation , I Touch Roses : The Best of Book of Love . The 2001 version of `` Sunny Day '' featured Lori Lindsay on guitar , who would later become the lead vocalist of The Myrmidons , Ted Ottaviano and Lauren Roselli 's band formed in the mid-2000s .

neg: Rica, Famosa, Latina Rica , Famosa , Latina ( Rich , Famous , Latina ) is an Estrella TV reality series which was co-created by Lenard Liberman of Estrella TV , and by Joyce Giraud . The Spanish-language show was inspired by the Real Housewives franchise .   Rica , Famosa , Latina premiered on September 16 , 2014 , and followed five financially successful Latina women in Los Angeles . Castmembers in the first season included Estela Mora , Rosie Rivera , Adriana Gallardo , Victoria Del Rosal and Elisa Beristain , the wife of Pepe Garza .   The second season in 2015 , which premiered on Estrella TV on Monday , March 30 , 2015 . Elisa Beristain , Estela Mora , Rosie Rivera and Victoria del Rosal returned , with four new women joining . It has been reviewed in publications such as the Latin Times .

neg: Survivor: South Pacific Survivor : South Pacific is the twenty-third season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor . The season was filmed from May 30 through July 7 , 2011 and premiered on September 14 , 2011 . Applications were due in January 11 , 2011 , approximately 800 applicants visited in various states , from there 16 contestants were chosen as participants . The two original tribes were Savaii and Upolu ( both named from Savai'i and Upolu , two main islands of the independent nation of Samoa ) , and the merged tribe into Te Tuna ( given from a Samoan legend about the origins of the coconut tree ) .   Samoa was not initially selected as a location for this season , as the show had already filmed two seasons ( Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains ) in the area . The production team withdrew from their original locale , Tonga , due to economic problems . The season was filmed in the vicinity of Upolu and it served as the location for the next season . Redemption Island , first introduced in the prior season , returned for this season .   Sophie Clarke was named the winner in the final episode on December 18 , 2011 , defeating Benjamin `` Coach '' Wade and Albert Destrade in a 6 -- 3 -- 0 vote . Ozzy Lusth won $ 100,000 as the `` Sprint Player of the Season '' , winning this honor by the largest margin since the award 's inception in Survivor : China , and earning the fans ' vote over John Cochran .   The complete season was released on DVD on September 8 , 2015 , via Amazon.com 's CreateSpace program .

neg: Tough Love Couples Tough Love Couples is the third season of the American reality television series Tough Love , which first aired on VH1 . The show features six couples seeking relationship advice from the host and matchmaker , Steven Ward , and his mother JoAnn Ward , both of the Philadelphia based Master Matchmakers .

neg: Shane Stanley Shane Stanley ( born June 15 , 1971 in Los Angeles ) is a multi-Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and founder of Visual Arts Entertainment , a film and television production company based in Los Angeles . Best known for executive producing Gridiron Gang starring Dwayne `` The Rock '' Johnson for Sony Pictures and directing Bret Michaels music videos supporting the hit show Rock of Love . Stanley , a four-time nominee , was the youngest to ever win a production Emmy Award , winning his first at sixteen and his second at nineteen for his work on The Desperate Passage Series . Stanley made his directorial debut helming his own screenplay A Sight for Sore Eyes which starred Academy Award nominee Gary Busey . Besides being honored with dozens of prestigious awards and film festival honors , the film was invited to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 and won Best Drama at the International Family Film Festival in 2006 .   Also a commercial and music video director , Stanley 's most recognized work includes campaigns for Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare , Sony PlayStation , Morongo Casino , Resort & Spa , Kimberly-Clark , San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino as well as PSA 's for the American Diabetes Association . His most known music videos include StorySide : B 's `` Miracle '' and Bret Michaels 's Go That Far which reached # 1 and remained on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown for over three months . The video is ranked on the network 's list of 100 Best Music Videos . As of 2010 , five of Stanley 's music videos have been on the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown , ( two simultaneously ) . Shane co-wrote Bret Michaels 's autobiography , `` Roses & Thorns '' for Simon & Schuster and most recently produced the late Zalman King 's , Pleasure or Pain which will release in 2014 . Pleasure or Pain would be Golden Globe Nominee , King 's final film before his passing in 2012 .   In 2015 , Shane directed The Untold Story starring Barry Van Dyke , Nia Peeples , Jason Connery , and Ellen Greene a film he co-wrote with his father , Lee Stanley . This would be their first collaboration since Gridiron Gang in 2005 .  Shane began 2016 helming Mistrust which he co-wrote with Tiffany Johnson . The film stars two-time Golden Globes winner , Jane Seymour ( actress ) , Parker Stevenson , Patrick Bristow , William Shockley ( actor ) , and Nia Peeples .

neg: Gold Fever (TV series) Gold Fever is a documentary television series airing on The Outdoor Channel since 1996 . It is hosted by Tom Massie and features some of the best places where gold can be found . The program is sponsored by the Gold Prospectors Association of America , an organization dedicated to prospecting .

neg: Sophie Clarke Sophie Georgina Clarke ( born July 10 , 1989 ) is a reality television personality known for competing in and winning Survivor : South Pacific .

neg: Project Fame Project Fame was a pan-African version of the international talent/reality show Star Academy . Held in Johannesburg , South Africa from June to August 2004 , the show had 16 African contestants - 9 of which were South African - groomed for stardom , with the weakest being eliminated on a weekly basis ; the top three received record deals and the winner got a lot more prizes .   The contestants were eliminated in the following way : the Board ( judges ) place four contestants on probation , the teachers save one , the other contestants save another and viewers save a third , thereby eliminating the last contestant . As the show progressed , the number of contestants placed on probation rose to five resulting in two contestants being eliminated . The last five remaining contestants ' fates were determined by viewers ' votes .   An East African version ; Tusker Project Fame ( season 1 ) began on 1 October -- 17 December 2006 . It continues to run each year and the latest is Tusker Project Fame season 4 which ended on 6 December 2010 , and won by Ugandan Davis Hillary Ntare .   The show can be described as Idols meets Big Brother Africa as the contestants ' daily activities were recorded 24 hours a day .

neg: Geordie Shore Geordie Shore is a British reality television series broadcast on MTV . Based in Newcastle upon Tyne , it was first broadcast on 24 May 2011 , and is the British version of the American show Jersey Shore . `` Geordie '' is the regional nickname and dialect given to the people of the Tyneside area in north-east England , and is closely associated with the city of Newcastle and its environment where the show is set . Despite this , the show includes cast members from various parts of North East England as well as one from Italy .

neg: Lions4Life Lions4Life is a monthly reality show produced by GreenSmile Productions . It debuted on SuperSport ( TV channel ) 1 on Thursday , 23 February 2012 at 19:30 for its first season , which ran for 11 episodes . Currently , Lions4Life is in its second season , which aired on 31 January 2013 .

neg: The Catalina The Catalina is an American reality television series on The CW . The series debuted on May 29 , 2012 .

neg: GangStarz GangStarz is a popular reality television show in Malaysia , Singapore , Philippines , Thailand and Indonesia . This show is broadcast in Malaysia on TV3 every Sunday at 9:00 pm .

neg: I Can Do That (Philippine TV series) I Can Do That is a Filipino reality television entertainment competition program shown on ABS-CBN . The series is an adaptation of the Israeli show of the same name produced by Armoza Formats , where celebrity contestants will be challenged to showcase various entertainment acts within one week of practice . The show premiered on March 11 , 2017 , and is hosted by Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga .

neg: ¡Viva Hollywood! ¡ Viva Hollywood ! is a VH1 reality television program . Twelve Latino actors and Latina actresses compete for the role of `` America 's Numero Uno Telenovela Star '' . The winner will also receive a contract with Telemundo , the biggest telenovela production company in the United States .

neg: Venus Nicolino Venus Nicolino , known on television as Dr. V , is an American media personality , author and doctor of clinical psychology . She is the host of Marriage Boot Camp : Reality Stars on We TV . Dr. V began hosting the show in its sixth season . She is also notable for appearing in a reality television series from Bravo titled L.A. Shrinks .

neg: Tough Love Miami Tough Love : Miami ( season 4 ) is the fourth season of the American reality television series Tough Love , which first aired on VH1 . The show features eight women seeking relationship advice from the host and matchmaker , Steven Ward , and his mother JoAnn Ward , both of the Philadelphia based Master Matchmakers . This season , Tough Love takes place in Miami Beach , Florida .

neg: SuperBand SuperBand is a spin-off of Project SuperStar , a popular singing talent-search competition in Singapore . Contestants are bands of 2 to 6 people .   To mark the opening of the first season , a special SuperBand Big Jam where all the 18 bands made their debut at Suntec City 's Fountain of Wealth , and was aired as a special at 8:45 pm on April 9 , 2006 . After which , the show was broadcast at 7:30 pm on Monday starting from April 10 , 2006 for the first 4 episodes of Season 1 . Subsequent episodes were aired at 8:00 pm . The results show were aired ` live ' at 11:30 pm on MediaCorp Channel U. For Season 2 , all shows were on Monday at 8:00 pm from June 16 , 2008 with the results show delayed at 11:30 pm after an earlier recording at about 10:00 pm . An exception was on August 18 , 2008 , when the main show was aired at 7:00 pm due to the telecast of the National Day Rally 's English speech at 8:00 pm . The band with the lowest overall scores would be eliminated every week . The scores are determined by judges ' scores ( 50 % ) and by audience voting ( 50 % ) .   The judges for Season 1 were Y.E.S. 93.3 FM DJ Dennis Chew , Producer Li Yi Wen , Billy Koh and Li Si Song . The hosts were Milk , Jeff Wang , Belinda Lee and SuperHost champion Charlyn Lin .   In season 2 , the judges are Bao Xiao Song , Jiu Jian and Cavin Soh . The hosts were Dasmond Koh and Y.E.S. 93.3 FM -RSB- DJ Lin Peifen . Tang Ling Yi also served as host but only on the first episode of the results show , after she requested to venture in the entertainment industry outside of Singapore .

neg: Reality Check (2013 TV series) Reality Check ( Chinese : 心路GPS ) is a Hong Kong television drama serial created by Lee Yim-fong and produced by TVB . It first premiered on Jade in Hong Kong on 18 February 2013 , airing to 20 episodes with two episodes back-to-back .   The serial centers on the relationships between Summer ( Ruco Chan ) and his two mothers - his foster mother , Tsui ( Louise Lee ) and his estranged birth mother , Han ( Rebecca Chan ) .