Ar Ma And His World

During the Second World War the Bodleian Library in Oxford acquired a set of Aramaic letters, eight sealings, and the two leather bags in which the sealed letters were once stored. The letters concern the affairs of Aršāma, satrap of Egypt in the later fifth century. Taken with other material associated with him (mostly in Aramaic, Demotic Egyptian, and Akkadian), they illuminate the Achaemenid world of which Aršāama was a privileged member and evoke a wide range of social, economic, cultural, organizational, and political perspectives, from multi-lingual communication, storage and disbursement of resources, and satrapal remuneration, to cross-regional ethnic movement, long-distance travel, religious practice, and iconographic projection of ideological messages. Particular highlights include a travel authorization (the only example of something implicit in numerous Persepolis documents), texts about the religious life of the Judaean garrison at Elephantine, Aršāma's magnificent seal (a masterpiece of Achaemenid glyptic, inherited from a son of Darius I), and echoes of temporary disturbances to Persian management of Egypt. But what is also impressive is the underlying sense of systematic coherence founded on and expressed in the use of formal, even formalized, written communication as a means of control. The Aršāma dossier is not alone in evoking that sense, but its size, variety, and focus upon a single individual give it a unique quality. Though this material has not been hidden from view, it has been insufficiently explored: it is the purpose of the three volumes of Aršāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context to provide the fullest presentation and historical contextualization of this extraordinary cache yet attempted. Volume I presents and translates the letters alongside a detailed line-by-line commentary, while Volume II reconstructs the two seals that made the clay bullae that sealed the letters, with special attention to Aršāma's magnificent heirloom seal. Volume III comprises a series of thematic essays which further explore the administrative, economic, military, ideological, religious, and artistic environment to which Aršāma and the letters belonged.

The Arma Christi, the cluster of objects associated with Christ’s Passion, was one of the most familiar iconographic devices of European medieval and early modern culture. From the weapons used to torment and sacrifice the body of Christ sprang a reliquary tradition that produced active and contemplative devotional practices, complex literary narratives, intense lyric poems, striking visual images, and innovative architectural ornament. This collection displays the fascinating range of intellectual possibilities generated by representations of these medieval ’objects,’ and through the interdisciplinary collaboration of its contributors produces a fresh view of the multiple intersections of the spiritual and the material in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It also includes a new and authoritative critical edition of the Middle English Arma Christi poem known as ’O Vernicle’ that takes account of all twenty surviving manuscripts. The book opens with a substantial introduction that surveys previous scholarship and situates the Arma in their historical and aesthetic contexts. The ten essays that follow explore representative examples of the instruments of the Passion across a broad swath of history, from some of their earliest formulations in late antiquity to their reformulations in early modern Europe. Together, they offer the first large-scale attempt to understand the arma Christi as a unique cultural phenomenon of its own, one that resonated across centuries in multiple languages, genres, and media. The collection directs particular attention to this array of implements as an example of the potency afforded material objects in medieval and early modern culture, from the glittering nails of the Old English poem Elene to the coins of the Middle English poem ’Sir Penny,’ from garments and dice on Irish tomb sculptures to lanterns and ladders in Hieronymus Bosch’s panel painting of St. Christopher, and from the altar of the Sistine Chapel to the printed prayer books of the Reformation.

On the planet of Arma, in the queendoms of Calica and Timnock, two unlikely heroes, short in age but not in courage and tenacity, are declared in a prophecy to fight the evil clutches of Calypso, who is a powerful force of doom. They are swept into a whirlwind of danger to rescue the magic of the world, and in turn, Arma itself. Are they willing to make the necessary sacrifices, possibly even of their own lives, for the fate of the world? The prophecy exhorts them … Water and fire, united as one, trying to see the mission done. Only against the canine mother, will they see how much they need each other. Roses of Arma is the first book of the series – Heroes of Arma.

This book looks into the interplay between different social groups that existed on the Middle Niger Bend between 1549 to 1660. The groups mainly under scrutiny are Muslim traders and scholars – the “Ulema” and the worldly lords that ran the polities that had laid claim to the region of the Middle Niger Bend; first the Askyas, then the Arma. The changing relationships between these different groups and of individuals within them are analysed within the wider historical background of the rise and fall of the Songhay Empire and the subsequent takeover of the region by the Moroccan Arma that had conquered the heart of the Middle Niger Bend in 1591. This work explores the interaction between the groups through the framework of honour, religion and ancestry and traces the initially successful cooperation between rulers, traders and scholars to its breakdown and the final social disintegration of the Middle Niger Bend.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." —Ephesians 6:12 In the arid deserts of Arizona, notorious gunslinger Johnny Ringo meets a solitary end, his trusted Colt Peacemaker in hand. Yet when his body is discovered, the gun is nowhere to be found, creating a historical mystery that still remains unsolved. While many have sought the fabled relic, none have come close to finding it. Until now. In the modern day, antique firearms expert Michael Kent is hired by a wealthy and mysterious collector who claims to have the key to unearthing Ringo’s famed revolver. As Michael delves into the gun's dark history, though, he uncovers a chilling pattern of evil stretching back to it’s very creation. Amidst ancient monasteries and forgotten graves, he is finally forced to accept the truth he never thought possible—a curse has been laid upon the Colt, binding it to a cycle of vengeance and death transcending mankind itself. Worse yet, he may be the only one who can stop it. From the dusty trails of the Wild West to the digital highway of the World Wide Web, Arma del Diablo: The Colt of Destiny weaves together a rip-roaring tale of revenge, redemption, and the eternal struggle between good and evil. Can Michael Kent unravel the mystery of the Colt and put an end to it’s malevolent legacy? Or will the curse continue claiming victims, as inevitable and relentless as time itself?

2011 Updated Reprint. Updated Annually. Italy Justice System and National Police Handbook