title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: On November 1, 2019, it was announced that Lord and Miller would be returning as producers and writers for "", which is set to be released on June 2, 2023. In December 2021, Lord and Miller revealed that "Across the Spider-Verse" was being split into two parts after they had written down the story they wanted to tell for the sequel and realized that it was too much for a single film. Work on both parts was taking place simultaneously, with Part Two, since renamed to "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse", set to be released on March 29, 2024.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: On July 2, 2020, it was announced that MTV Studios was developing a reboot of "Clone High", and that original series creators, Lord, Miller, and Bill Lawrence would be involved with the project. In February 2021, the series was given a two season order by HBO Max.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: In September 2017, Lord and Miller were announced as co-directors of the film adaptation of the 2017 novel "Artemis". However, due to the Disney-Fox merger and producer Simon Kinberg ending his deal with the company, the fate of the project is unknown.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: On May 15, 2020, "Variety" reported that Lord and Miller are attached to direct a film adaptation of Andy Weir's next novel "Project Hail Mary" for MGM, with Ryan Gosling attached to star in the leading role and Amy Pascal producing. This would be their first directorial venture together since their departure from "Solo", and they hope to start production by this year.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: In May 2021, it was announced that Lord and Miller would produce and direct an adaptation of the book "The Premonition: A Pandemic Story," which chronicles the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: They also made a five-year deal with Sony Pictures Television to develop animated Marvel series, including a possible "Into the Spider-Verse" series, as well as a first-look deal with Universal Pictures.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: In an interview with /Film during promotion of "The Afterparty", Lord & Miller expressed interest in making a biopic of Hall & Oates.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: Lord co-wrote the comic "Spider-Man Annual #1", marking his first involvement on a comic book; he and Miller also co-wrote a Marvel comic celebrating the company's 80th anniversary, marking Miller's first time writing a comic book.


title: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

text: In September 2020, it was announced that a live-action television series based on the character Silk was in development, with both Lord and Miller serving as executive producers alongside Amy Pascal.


title: Xia dynasty

text: The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In traditional historiography, the Xia was later succeeded by the Shang dynasty.


title: Xia dynasty

text: There are no contemporaneous records of the Xia, who are not mentioned in the oldest Chinese texts, since the earliest oracle bone inscriptions date from the late Shang period (13th century BC). The earliest mentions occur in the oldest chapters of the "Book of Documents", which report speeches from the early Western Zhou period and are accepted by most scholars as dating from that time. The speeches justify the Zhou conquest of the Shang as the passing of the Mandate of Heaven and liken it to the succession of the Xia by the Shang. That political philosophy was promoted by the Confucian school in the Eastern Zhou period. The succession of dynasties was incorporated into the "Bamboo Annals" and the "Records of the Grand Historian" and became the official position of imperial historiography and ideology. Some scholars consider the Xia dynasty legendary or at least unsubstantiated, but others identify it with the archaeological Erlitou culture.


title: Xia dynasty

text: According to the traditional chronology, based upon calculations by Liu Xin, the Xia ruled between 2205 and 1766 BC. According to the chronology based on the "current text" "Bamboo Annals", it ruled between 1989 and 1558 BC. Comparing the same text with dates of five-planet conjunctions, David Pankenier, supported by David Nivison, proposed dates of 1953 and 1555 BC. The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project, commissioned by the Chinese government in 1996, concluded that the Xia existed between 2070 and 1600 BC.


title: Xia dynasty

text: The Xia dynasty was described in classic texts such as the "Classic of History" ("Shujing"), the "Bamboo Annals", and the "Records of the Grand Historian" ("Shiji") by Sima Qian. According to tradition, the resident "Huaxia" were the ancestral people of the Han Chinese.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Traditional histories trace the development of the Xia to the mythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. According to ancient Chinese texts, before the Xia dynasty was established, battles were frequent between Yellow Emperor's tribe and Chi You's tribe. The "Records of the Grand Historian" and the "Classic of Rites" say that Yu the Great, the founder of the Xia dynasty, was the grandson of Zhuanxu, who was the grandson of the Yellow Emperor. But there are also other records, like Ban Gu's, that say Yu's father is a fifth generation descendant of Zhuanxu. Other sources such as "Shan Hai Jing" mention Yu's father Gun was the son of Luoming, who was the son of Huangdi. Sima Qian traced the origin of the dynastic Xia to the name of a fief granted to Yu, who would use it as his own surname and his state's name.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Gun, the father of Yu the Great, is the earliest recorded member of the Xia clan. When the Yellow River flooded, many tribes united together to control and stop the flooding. Gun was appointed by Emperor Yao to stop the flooding. He ordered the construction of large blockades (levees) to block the path of the water. The attempts of Gun to stop the flooding lasted for nine years, but ultimately failed because the floods strengthened. After nine years, Yao had already given his throne to Shun. Gun was ordered to be imprisoned for life by Shun at Yushan (, "Feather Mountain"), a mountain located between modern Donghai County in Jiangsu Province and Linshu County in Shandong Province.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Yu was highly trusted by Shun, so Shun appointed him to finish his father's work, which was to stop the flooding. Yu's method was different from his father's: he organized people from different tribes and ordered them to help him build canals in all the major rivers that were flooding and lead the water out to the sea. Yu was dedicated to his work. The populace praised his perseverance and were inspired, so much so that other tribes joined in the work. Legend says that in the 13 years it took him to successfully complete the work to stop the floods, he never went back to his home village to stop and rest, even though he passed by his house three times.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Yu's success in stopping the flooding increased agricultural production (since the floods were destructive). The Xia tribe's power increased and Yu became the leader of the surrounding tribes. Soon afterwards Shun sent Yu to lead an army to suppress the Sanmiao tribe, which continuously abused the border tribes. After defeating them, he exiled them south to the Han River area. This victory strengthened the Xia tribe's power even more. As Shun aged, he thought of a successor and relinquished the throne to Yu, whom he deemed worthy. Yu's succession marks the start of the Xia dynasty. As Yu neared death he passed the throne to his son, Qi, instead of passing it to the most capable candidate, thus setting the precedent for dynastic rule or the Hereditary System. The Xia dynasty began a period of family or clan control. It is believed that Zhenxun (modern Gongyi) and Yangcheng (modern Gaocheng) were two of the capitals of the dynasty.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Jie, the last king, was said to be immoral, lascivious, and tyrannical. He was overthrown by Tang, the first king of the Shang dynasty.


title: Xia dynasty

text: The time gap between the supposed time of the Xia and the first written references to it have meant that the historicity of the Xia dynasty itself and the traditional narrative of its history are at best uncertain. The Skeptical School of early Chinese history, started by Gu Jiegang in the 1920s, was the first group of scholars within China to systematically question the traditional story of its early history. By critically examining the development of the narrative of early Chinese history throughout history, Gu concluded "the later the time, the longer the legendary period of earlier history... early Chinese history is a tale told and retold for generations, during which new elements were added to the front end".


title: Xia dynasty

text: Some historians have suggested that the Zhou rulers invented the Xia as a pretext, to justify their conquest of the Shang, by noting that just as the Shang had supplanted the Xia, they had supplanted the Shang. The existence of the Xia remains unproven, despite efforts by Chinese archaeologists to link them with the Bronze Age Erlitou culture.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Among other points, Gu and other historians note certain parallels between the traditional narrative of Xia history and Shang history that would suggest probable Zhou-era fabrication or at least embellishment of Xia history. Yun Kuen Lee's criticism of nationalist sentiment in developing an explanation of Three Dynasties chronology focuses on the dichotomy of evidence provided by archaeological versus historical research, in particular, the claim that the archaeological Erlitou culture is also the historical Xia dynasty. "How to fuse the archaeological dates with historical dates is a challenge to all chronological studies of early civilization."


title: Xia dynasty

text: In "The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China", Sarah Allan noted that many aspects of the Xia are simply the opposite of traits held to be emblematic of the Shang. The implied dualism of the Shang myth system, Allan argues, is that while the Shang represent the suns, sky, birds, east and life, the Xia represent the moons, watery underworld, dragons, west and death. Allan argues that this mythical Xia was re-interpreted by the Zhou as a ruling dynasty replaced by the Shang, a parallel with their own replacement of the Shang.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Other scholars also argue that Shang political class's remnants still existed during the early Zhou dynasty, Zhou rulers couldn't simply justify their succession to pacify Shang remnants if it's entirely fabricated since the Shang remnants, who remembered prior histories, wouldn't believe it in the first place. For example, the "Classic of Poetry" preserves the "Eulogies of Shang" (商頌 "Shāng sòng") which represents the powerful State of Song, whose rulers were the direct descendants of Shang dynasty. Among those eulogies, the eulogy "Chang Fa" (長發) celebrated victories by the "Martial King" Tang of Shang against Wei (韋), Gu (顧), Kunwu (昆吾), and Jie of Xia. During the later Song dynasty (960–1279 AD), an ancient bronze artifact, "Shu Yi Zhong" (叔夷鐘), was unearthed with an inscription describing how the founder of the Shang dynasty, Tang, overthrew the Xia dynasty. The owner of this artifact, Shu Yi, a high officer of the Qi Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn period (c. 600 BC), was actually a direct descendant of the Song rulers, which means he himself was a descendant of Shang people. This bronze artifact was used to memorialize his Shang ancestors. The inscription contradicts the hypothesis that the Zhou dynasty manufactured the existence of the Xia dynasty.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Although the Shang oracle bone inscriptions contain no mention of the Xia, some scholars have suggested that polities they mention might be remnants of the Xia.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Guo Moruo suggested that an enemy state called Tufang state of the Fang states mentioned in many inscriptions might be identified with the Xia.


title: Xia dynasty

text: The historian Shen Changyun pointed to four inscriptions mentioning Qǐ (杞), the same name as the state of Qǐ, which according to traditional accounts was established by the defeated royal house of Xia.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the possible existence of the Xia dynasty at locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts. There exists a debate as to whether or not the Erlitou culture was the site of the Xia dynasty, largely centering on whether archeological evidence of urban habitation across the region before the Shang dynasty should be taken as corroboration of the traditional account of a Xia, or expected regardless of the historicity of the Xia due to the trajectory of population growth and agricultural development in the fertile regions of eastern China from the neolithic through early history. Radiocarbon dating places the Erlitou sites at c. 2100 to 1800 BC, providing physical evidence of the existence of a state contemporaneous with and possibly equivalent to the Xia dynasty as described in later classical Chinese historical works. In 1959, a site located in the city of Yanshi was excavated containing large palaces that some archaeologists have claimed to be the capital of the Xia dynasty. Through the 1960s and 1970s, archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts regarding Xia; in 2011, Chinese archaeologists uncovered the remains of an imperial sized palace—dated to about 1700 BC—at Erlitou in Henan, further fueling the discussions about the existence of the dynasty. At a minimum, the era traditionally denoted as the Xia dynasty marked a period of urbanization and agricultural development bridging the late Neolithic cultures and the urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.


title: Xia dynasty

text: Archaeological evidence of a large outburst flood at Jishi Gore that destroyed the Lajia site on the upper reaches of the Yellow River has been dated to about 1920 BC. This date is shortly before the rise of the Erlitou culture in the middle Yellow River valley and the Yueshi culture in Shandong, following the decline of the Longshan culture in the North China Plain. The authors suggest that this flood may have been the basis for the later myth of Yu the Great, and contributed to the cultural transition into the Erlitou period. They further argue that the timing is further evidence for the identification of the Xia with the Erlitou culture.


title: Xia dynasty

text: However, no evidence of contemporaneous widespread flooding in the North China Plain has yet been found.


title: Xia dynasty

text: The only musical instruments dated to the Xia dynasty are two "qing", two small bells (one earthenware, one bronze) and a "xun". Due to this extreme scarcity of surviving instruments and the general uncertainty surrounding most of the Xia, creating a musical narrative of the period is impractical.


title: Xia dynasty

text: The following table lists the rulers of Xia according to Sima Qian's "Shiji". Unlike Sima's list of Shang dynasty kings, which is closely matched by inscriptions on oracle bones from late in that period, records of Xia rulers have not yet been found in archaeological excavations of contemporary sites, or records on later Shang dynasty oracle bones.


title: The arts

text: The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both highly dynamic and a characteristically constant feature of human life, they have developed into innovative, stylized and sometimes intricate forms. This is often achieved through sustained and deliberate study, training and/or theorizing within a particular tradition, across generations and even between civilizations. The arts are a vehicle through which human beings cultivate distinct social, cultural and individual identities, while transmitting values, impressions, judgments, ideas, visions, spiritual meanings, patterns of life and experiences across time and space.


title: The arts

text: They can employ skill and imagination to produce objects, performances, convey insights and experiences, and construct new environments and spaces.


title: The arts

text: The arts can refer to common, popular or everyday practices as well as more sophisticated and systematic, or institutionalized ones. They can be discrete and self-contained, or combine and interweave with other art forms, such as the combination of artwork with the written word in comics. They can also develop or contribute to some particular aspect of a more complex art form, as in cinematography. By definition, the arts themselves are open to being continually re-defined. The practice of modern art, for example, is a testament to the shifting boundaries, improvisation and experimentation, reflexive nature, and self-criticism or questioning that art and its conditions of production, reception, and possibility can undergo.


title: The arts

text: As both a means of developing capacities of attention and sensitivity, and as ends in themselves, the arts can simultaneously be a form of response to the world, and a way that our responses, and what we deem worthwhile goals or pursuits, are transformed. From prehistoric cave paintings, to ancient and contemporary forms of ritual, to modern-day films, art has served to register, embody and preserve our ever shifting relationships to each other and to the world.


title: The arts

text: There are several possible meanings for the definitions of the terms "Art" and "Arts". The first meaning of the word "art" is " way of doing ". The most basic present meaning defines the arts as specific activities that produce sensitivity in humans. The arts are also referred to as bringing together all creative and imaginative activities, without including science. In its most basic abstract definition, art is a documented expression of a sentient being through or on an accessible medium so that anyone can view, hear or experience it. The act itself of producing an expression can also be referred to as a certain art, or as art in general. Whether this solidified expression, or the act of producing it, is "good" or has value depends on those who access and rate it. Such public rating is dependent on various subjective factors. Merriam-Webster defines "the arts" as "painting, sculpture, music, theater, literature, etc., considered as a group of activities done by people with skill and imagination". Similarly, the United States Congress, in the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, defined "the arts" as follows:


title: The arts

text: Art is a global activity in which a large number of disciplines are included, such as: fine arts, liberal arts, visual arts, decorative arts, applied arts, design, crafts, performing arts, and so on. We are talking about "the arts" when several of them are mentioned: "As in all arts the enjoyment increases with the knowledge of the art".


title: The arts

text: The arts can be divided into several areas, the fine arts which bring together, in the broad sense, all the arts whose aim is to produce true aesthetic pleasure, decorative arts and applied arts which relate to an aesthetic side in everyday life.


title: The arts

text: In Ancient Greece, all art and craft was referred to by the same word, "techne". Thus, there was no distinction among the arts. Ancient Greek art brought the veneration of the animal form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty, and anatomically correct proportions. Ancient Roman art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features (e.g. Zeus' thunderbolt). In Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages, the dominance of the church insisted on the expression of biblical truths.


title: The arts

text: Eastern art has generally worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning and local colour (meaning the plain colour of an object, such as basic red for a red robe, rather than the modulations of that colour brought about by light, shade and reflection). A characteristic of this style is that the local colour is often defined by an outline (a contemporary equivalent is the cartoon). This is evident in, for example, the art of India, Tibet and Japan. Religious Islamic art forbids iconography, and instead expresses religious ideas through calligraphy and geometrical designs.


title: The arts

text: In the Middle Ages, the "Artes Liberales" (liberal arts) were taught in European universities as part of the Trivium, an introductory curriculum involving grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and of the Quadrivium, a curriculum involving the "mathematical arts" of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The "Artes Mechanicae" (consisting of "vestiaria" – tailoring and weaving; "agricultura" – agriculture; "architectura" – architecture and masonry; "militia" and "venatoria" – warfare, hunting, military education, and the martial arts; "mercatura" – trade; "coquinaria" – cooking; and "metallaria" – blacksmithing and metallurgy) were practised and developed in guild environments. The modern distinction between "artistic" and "non-artistic" skills did not develop until the Renaissance. In modern academia, the arts are usually grouped with or as a subset of the humanities. Some subjects in the humanities are history, linguistics, literature, theology, philosophy, and logic.


title: The arts

text: The arts have also been classified as seven: painting, architecture, sculpture, literature, music, performing and cinema.


title: The arts

text: Some view literature, painting, sculpture, and music as the main four arts, of which the others are derivative; drama is literature with acting, dance is music expressed through motion, and song is music with literature and voice. Film is sometimes called the "eighth" and comics the "ninth art".


title: The arts

text: Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. The word "architecture" comes from the Greek "arkhitekton", "master builder, director of works," from "αρχι-" (arkhi) "chief" + "τεκτων" (tekton) "builder, carpenter". A wider definition would include the design of the built environment, from the macrolevel of town planning, urban design, and landscape architecture to the microlevel of creating furniture. Architectural design usually must address both feasibility and cost for the builder, as well as function and aesthetics for the user.


title: The arts

text: In modern usage, architecture is the art and discipline of creating, or inferring an implied or apparent plan of, a complex object or system. The term can be used to connote the "implied architecture" of abstract things such as music or mathematics, the "apparent architecture" of natural things, such as geological formations or the structure of biological cells, or explicitly "planned architectures" of human-made things such as software, computers, enterprises, and databases, in addition to buildings. In every usage, an architecture may be seen as a "subjective mapping" from a human perspective (that of the "user" in the case of abstract or physical artefacts) to the elements or components of some kind of structure or system, which preserves the relationships among the elements or components. Planned architecture manipulates space, volume, texture, light, shadow, or abstract elements in order to achieve pleasing aesthetics. This distinguishes it from applied science or engineering, which usually concentrate more on the functional and feasibility aspects of the design of constructions or structures.


title: The arts

text: In the field of building architecture, the skills demanded of an architect range from the more complex, such as for a hospital or a stadium, to the apparently simpler, such as planning residential houses. Many architectural works may be seen also as cultural and political symbols, or works of art. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the successful (and sometimes less than successful) design and implementation of pleasingly built environments in which people live.


title: The arts

text: Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials (including clay), which may take forms such as pottery, tile, figurines, sculpture, and tableware. While some ceramic products are considered fine art, some are considered to be decorative, industrial, or applied art objects. Ceramics may also be considered artefacts in archaeology. Ceramic art can be made by one person or by a group of people. In a pottery or ceramic factory, a group of people design, manufacture, and decorate the pottery. Products from a pottery are sometimes referred to as "art pottery." In a one-person pottery studio, ceramists or potters produce studio pottery. In modern ceramic engineering usage, "ceramics" is the art and science of making objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials by the action of heat. It excludes glass and mosaic made from glass "tesserae."


title: The arts

text: Conceptual art is art wherein the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns.


title: The arts

text: The inception of the term in the 1960s referred to a strict and focused practice of idea-based art that often defied traditional visual criteria associated with the visual arts in its presentation as text. Through its association with the Young British Artists and the Turner Prize during the 1990s, its popular usage, particularly in the United Kingdom, developed as a synonym for all contemporary art that does not practise the traditional skills of painting and sculpture.


title: The arts

text: Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax colour pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers. Digital tools which can simulate the effects of these are also used. The main techniques used in drawing are line drawing, hatching, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, and blending. An artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a "drafter", "draftswoman", or "draughtsman". Drawing can be used to create art used in cultural industries such as illustrations, comics and animation. Comics are often called the "ninth art" (le neuvième art) in Francophone scholarship, adding to the traditional "Seven Arts".


title: The arts

text: Painting is a mode of creative expression, and can be done in numerous forms. Drawing, gesture (as in gestural painting), composition, narration (as in narrative art), or abstraction (as in abstract art), among other aesthetic modes, may serve to manifest the expressive and conceptual intention of the practitioner. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational (as in a still life or landscape painting), photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic (as in Symbolist art), emotive (as in Expressionism), or political in nature (as in Artivism).


title: The arts

text: Modern painters have extended the practice considerably to include, for example, collage. Collage is not painting in the strict sense since it includes other materials. Some modern painters incorporate different materials such as sand, cement, straw, wood or strands of hair for their artwork texture. Examples of this are the works of Jean Dubuffet or Anselm Kiefer.


title: The arts

text: Photography as an art form refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer. Art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, which provides a visual account for news events, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services.


title: The arts

text: Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sculptural processes originally used carving (the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in stone, metal, ceramics, wood and other materials; but since modernism, shifts in sculptural process led to an almost complete freedom of materials and process. A wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or moulded, or cast.


title: The arts

text: Literature is literally "acquaintance with letters" as in the first sense given in the "Oxford English Dictionary". The noun "literature" comes from the Latin word "littera" meaning "an individual written character (letter)." The term has generally come to identify a collection of writings, which in Western culture are mainly prose (both fiction and non-fiction), drama and poetry. In much, if not all of the world, the artistic linguistic expression can be oral as well, and include such genres as epic, legend, myth, ballad, other forms of oral poetry, and as folktale. Comics, the combination of drawings or other visual arts with narrating literature, are often called the "ninth art" (le neuvième art) in Francophone scholarship.


title: The arts

text: Performing arts comprise dance, music, theatre, opera, mime, and other art forms in which a human performance is the principal product. Performing arts are distinguished by this performance element in contrast with disciplines such as visual and literary arts where the product is an object that does not require a performance to be observed and experienced. Each discipline in the performing arts is temporal in nature, meaning the product is performed over a period of time. Products are broadly categorized as being either repeatable (for example, by script or score) or improvised for each performance. Artists who participate in these arts in front of an audience are called "performers", including actors, magicians, comedians, dancers, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are also supported by the services of other artists or essential workers, such as songwriting and stagecraft. Performers often adapt their appearance with tools such as costume and stage makeup.


title: The arts

text: Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who does this is called a choreographer. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic, artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement (such as Folk dance) to codified, virtuoso techniques such as ballet. In sports, gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines while Martial arts "kata" are often compared to dances.


title: The arts

text: Music is often defined as an art form whose medium is the combination of sounds. Though scholars agree that music generally consists of a few core elements, their exact definitions are debated. Commonly identified aspects include pitch (which governs melody and harmony), duration (including rhythm and tempo), intensity (including dynamics) and timbre. Though considered a cultural universal, definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world as they are based on diverse views of nature, the supernatural, and humanity. Music is often differentiated into composition and performance, while musical improvisation may be regarded as an intermediary tradition. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial.


title: The arts

text: Theatre or theater (from Greek "theatron" ("θέατρον)"; from "theasthai", "behold") is the branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle – indeed, any one or more elements of the other performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style, theatre takes such forms as opera, ballet, mime, kabuki, classical Indian dance, Chinese opera and mummers' plays.


title: The arts

text: Areas exist in which artistic works incorporate multiple artistic fields, such as film, opera and performance art. While opera is often categorized in the performing arts of music, the word itself is Italian for "works", because opera combines several artistic disciplines in a singular artistic experience. In a typical traditional opera, the entire work uses the following: the sets (visual arts), costumes (fashion), acting (dramatic performing arts), the libretto, or the words/story (literature), and singers and an orchestra (music).


title: The arts

text: The composer Richard Wagner recognized the fusion of so many disciplines into a single work of opera, exemplified by his cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). He did not use the term opera for his works, but instead Gesamtkunstwerk ("synthesis of the arts"), sometimes referred to as "Music Drama" in English, emphasizing the literary and theatrical components which were as important as the music. Classical ballet is another form which emerged in the 17th century in which orchestral music is combined with dance.


title: The arts

text: Other works in the late 19th, 20th and 21st centuries have fused other disciplines in unique and creative ways, such as performance art. Performance art is a performance over time which combines any number of instruments, objects, and art within a predefined or less well-defined structure, some of which can be improvised. Performance art may be scripted, unscripted, random or carefully organized; even audience participation may occur. John Cage is regarded by many as a performance artist rather than a composer, although he preferred the latter term. He did not compose for traditional ensembles. Cage's composition "Living Room Music" composed in 1940 is a "quartet" for unspecified instruments, really non-melodic objects, which can be found in a living room of a typical house, hence the title.


title: The arts

text: There is no clear line between art and culture. Cultural fields like gastronomy are sometimes considered as arts.


title: The arts

text: The applied arts are the application of design and decoration to everyday, functional, objects to make them aesthetically pleasing. The applied arts includes fields such as industrial design, illustration, and commercial art. The term "applied art" is used in distinction to the fine arts, where the latter is defined as arts that aims to produce objects which are beautiful or provide intellectual stimulation but have no primary everyday function. In practice, the two often overlap.


title: The arts

text: Video games, electronic games involving interaction using an input device such as a controller or keyboard, have a history that dates back to when the first video games were created as early as 1950. By the 1960s, arcade video games had emerged—in the following decades, games for both stationary and portable dedicated video game systems, personal computer games, and mobile games were introduced, each with varying market share in the video game industry. Video games are played in either single-player or multiplayer and have many unique genres, the most popular of which are action games and shooter games.


title: The arts

text: Within the video game community, there is debate surrounding whether video games should be classified as an art form, and whether game developers—AAA or indie—should be classified as artists. Hideo Kojima, a video game designer considered a "gaming arteur", argued that video games are a type of service rather than an art form in 2006. In social sciences, cultural economists show how playing video games is conducive to involvement in more traditional art forms. In 2011, the National Endowment of the Arts included video games in its definition of a "work of art", and the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented an exhibit titled "The Art of the Video Game" in 2012.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The 1934 World Cup was the first in which teams had to qualify to take part. Thirty-two nations entered the competition; 16 teams would qualify for the final tournament. Reigning champions Uruguay boycotted the tournament as only four European teams had accepted their invitation to the 1930 tournament. Italy beat Czechoslovakia 2–1 to become the second World Cup champions and the first European winners.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The 1934 World Cup was marred by being a high-profile instance of a sporting event being used for overt political gain. In particular, Benito Mussolini was keen to use this World Cup as a means of promoting fascism. Although some historians and sports journalists have made accusations of corruption and meddling by Mussolini to influence the competition to the benefit of Italy, Italy has always claimed to have deserved victory in the competition and the successful national team, considered to be one of the best in the country's history, emerged victorious also in the Olympic football tournament of 1936 hosted by Germany and in the 1938 World Cup hosted by France.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The Federale 102 ball, which was manufactured in Italy, was the match ball provided for the 1934 World Cup.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: After a lengthy decision-making process in which FIFA's executive committee met eight times, Italy was chosen as the host nation at a meeting in Stockholm on 9 October 1932. The decision was taken by the executive committee without a ballot of members. The Italian bid was chosen in preference to one from Sweden; the Italian government assigned a budget of Lire 3.5 million to the tournament.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: 36 countries applied to enter the tournament, so qualifying matches were required to thin the field to 16. Even so, there were several notable absentees. Reigning World Cup holders Uruguay declined to participate, in protest at the refusal of several European countries to travel to South America for the previous World Cup, which Uruguay had hosted in 1930. As a result, the 1934 World Cup is the only one in which the reigning champions did not participate. The British Home Nations, in a period of self-imposed exile from FIFA, also refused to participate, even though FIFA had offered England and Scotland direct entry to the tournament without qualification. Football Association committee member Charles Sutcliffe called the tournament "a joke" and claimed that "the national associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland have quite enough to do in their own International Championship which seems to me a far better World Championship than the one to be staged in Rome".


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: Despite their role as hosts, Italy were still required to qualify, the only time the host needed to do so. The qualifying matches were arranged on a geographical basis. Withdrawals by Chile and Peru meant Argentina and Brazil qualified without playing a single match.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: Twelve of the 16 places were allocated to Europe, three to the Americas, and one to Africa or Asia (including Turkey). Only 10 of the 32 entrants, and four of the 16 qualified teams (Brazil, Argentina, United States and Egypt, the first African team to qualify for a World Cup finals tournament), were from outside Europe. The last place in the finals was contested between the United States and Mexico only three days before the start of the tournament in a one-off match in Rome, which the United States won.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: 10 of these teams made their first World Cup appearance. This included 9 of the 12 European teams (Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland) as well as Egypt. Egypt was the first team from Africa in the finals and would not qualify again until the next time the competition was held in Italy, in 1990.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The number of supporters travelling from other countries was higher than at any previous football tournament, including 7,000 from the Netherlands and 10,000 each from Austria and Switzerland.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The group stage used in the first World Cup was discarded in favour of a straight knockout tournament. If a match was tied after ninety minutes, then thirty minutes of extra time were played. If the score was still tied after extra time, the match was replayed the next day.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The eight seeded teams – Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary – were kept apart in the first round.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: All eight first-round matches kicked off at the same time. Hosts and favourites Italy won handsomely, defeating the USA 7–1; "The New York Times" correspondent wrote that "only the fine goal-tending of Julius Hjulian of Chicago kept the score as low as it was".


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: Internal disputes meant Argentina's squad for the tournament did not contain a single member of the team which had reached the final in 1930. In the end, "La Albiceleste" would partake with an amateur squad. Against Sweden in Bologna, Argentina twice took the lead, but two goals by Sven Jonasson and a winner by Knut Kroon gave Sweden a 3–2 victory. Fellow South Americans Brazil also suffered an early exit. Spain beat them comfortably; 3–1 the final score.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: For the only time in World Cup history, the last eight consisted entirely of European teams – Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. All four non-European teams who made the journey to Italy were eliminated after one match.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: In the quarter-finals, the first replayed match in World Cup history took place, when Italy and Spain drew 1–1 after extra time. The match was played in a highly aggressive manner with several players of both sides injured: rough play injured the Spanish goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora in the first match, leaving him unable to participate in the replay, while on the other side rough play by Spaniards broke the leg of the Italian Mario Pizziolo who would not play in the national team again. Italy won the replay 1–0; their play so physical that at least three Spaniards had to depart the field with injuries. Italy then went on to beat Austria in the semi-finals by the same score. Meanwhile, Czechoslovakia secured their place in the final by beating Germany 3–1.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: The Stadium of the National Fascist Party was the venue for the final. With 80 minutes played, the Czechoslovaks led 1–0. The Italians managed to score before the final whistle and then added another goal in extra time to be crowned World Cup winners.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: Throughout the years, several sources have reported that the tournament was marred by bribery and corruption, and could have been influenced by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who used the tournament as a propaganda tool for fascism. According to these accusations, Mussolini personally selected referees for the matches where the Italian national team were playing, while the Italian government meddled in FIFA's organisation of events, re-organizing the logistics of the matches to further promote fascism. Nonetheless, Italy also won the following edition of the World Cup (held in France) as well as the Olympic football tournament in 1936.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: With five goals, Oldřich Nejedlý was the top scorer in the tournament. In total, 70 goals were scored by 45 players, with none of them credited as an own goal.


title: 1934 FIFA World Cup

text: In 1986, FIFA published a report that ranked all teams in each World Cup up to and including 1986, based on progress in the competition, overall results and quality of the opposition (not counting replay results). The rankings for the 1934 tournament were as follows:


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Mark Andrew Consuelos (; born March 30, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Mateo Santos on the ABC soap opera "All My Children" (1995–2001; 2010) and as Hiram Lodge on The CW drama "Riverdale" (2017–2021).


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Mark Consuelos was born in Zaragoza, Spain, to an Italian mother, Camilla, and a Mexican father, Saul Consuelos. He is the youngest of three children: he has one older brother, who is a doctor, and one older sister, who is a lawyer. Consuelos was raised in Italy and the United States since childhood, growing up in Lebanon, Illinois, and later in Brandon, Florida. He attended Bloomingdale Senior High School in Valrico, Florida, and then went to University of Notre Dame before transferring to and graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in marketing in 1994.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Consuelos had a starring role in the educational serial "Connect With English", which aired on public television stations as part of the Annenberg/CPB Project.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In the early 1990s Consuelos was a dancer with the Suncoast Calendar Men, based in Clearwater, FL. He left in 1995 when he got the part on "All My Children".


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In February 1995, Consuelos had his breakthrough when he landed the role of Mateo Santos on the soap opera "All My Children". There, he fell in love with his on-screen love interest Kelly Ripa, and secretly married her in Las Vegas, in May 1996. At the time, he lived on co-star Winsor Harmon's sofa; Harmon was one of the few to know that co-stars Ripa and Consuelos were not only dating, but married.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Ripa and Consuelos continued to tape episodes of "All My Children" until 2002, when Ripa wished to focus more on her other job: taking over for Kathie Lee Gifford as host of what then became "Live! with Regis and Kelly" (later known as "Live! with Kelly", and subsequently as "Live! with Kelly and Michael" and even later became "Live with Kelly and Ryan"). Consuelos is a regular guest co-host.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Since leaving "All My Children", Consuelos has starred in the feature film "The Great Raid", which debuted in theatres in 2005. In 2006, he appeared in the movies "My Super Ex-Girlfriend", as Steve, and "Wedding Daze". He has been seen on the Lifetime series "Missing", with Vivica A. Fox. He also had a part in "Ugly Betty".


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Consuelos hosted two reality dating shows, "Age of Love" and "Science of Love", both airing on NBC in 2007. He guest-starred on "Third Watch", "Friends", "American Family," "Fortune Hunter", "SeaQuest" and "Hope & Faith".


title: Mark Consuelos

text: A weekly live episode of the "Oprah Winfrey Show" premiered in the show's 23rd season with a panel consisting of Mark Consuelos, Ali Wentworth, Oprah Winfrey, and Gayle King. The panel discussed the week's news and highlighted events in the media and on the show.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In the 2009–10 season, Winfrey hosted this segment on her own. Fridays Live did not return for the show's 25th season.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In 2010, Consuelos attended the "Cop Out" premiere in New York where he had a pleasant conversation with Bryan Johnson in view of a spying Walt Flanagan.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In 2012, Consuelos guest-starred on an episode of "" titled "". He played Michael, the prime suspect in a brutal rape during Fleet Week. Consuelos is not new to the "Law & Order" franchise, he had guest-starred in the sixth-season episode "" of "" as the U.S. Attorney involved in a case where the judge's life is threatened.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: Consuelos portrayed Spivey, a recurring character, in "American Horror Story: Asylum", the second season of the anthology horror series.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In 2013, Consuelos co-starred as Florida Senator Andy Guzman in Amazon's "Alpha House", a political comedy written by "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau. Along with John Goodman, Consuelos plays one of four Republican senators living together in a house on Capitol Hill. He has spent the summer of 2014 filming the second season.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In 2017, Consuelos was cast in the series regular role of Hiram Lodge on The CW drama "Riverdale". His oldest son, Michael Consuelos, plays a younger Hiram Lodge starting on the third season. His final episode as a series regular was the fifth season finale, departing after four seasons.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In 1995, Consuelos met Kelly Ripa, his co-star on "All My Children". The two eloped on May 1, 1996. The couple have three children: Michael Joseph (born June 2, 1997), Lola Grace (born June 16, 2001) and Joaquin Antonio (born February 24, 2003).


title: Mark Consuelos

text: On October 3, 2008, he performed the marriage ceremony for Howard Stern and model/actress Beth Ostrosky at the Le Cirque restaurant in New York City. The two couples had grown close, which was why Stern asked Consuelos to officiate. Consuelos agreed, and took it upon himself to seek ordination to make it an official ceremony for Stern and Ostrosky. The guest list for the wedding included Joan Rivers, Barbara Walters, Chevy Chase, Billy Joel and wife Katie Lee, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, and Stern's radio co-host Robin Quivers.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: For many years, Consuelos and Ripa lived on Crosby Street in SoHo, Manhattan. They sold the apartment in 2015 for $20 million and moved to a townhouse on East 76th Street. They had bought the townhouse in 2013, though it was never officially listed on the market, from fashion designer Luca Orlandi and his wife, Oluchi Onweagba, for $27 million, making it the second most expensive townhouse sold in NYC that year.


title: Mark Consuelos

text: In 1998 and 1999, Consuelos won the American Latino Media Arts Award for "Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Soap Opera." Consuelos won "Hottest Romance" along with Ripa in 1997 at the Soap Opera Awards. He also won the Teen's Choice Award for Choice TV Villain in 2018.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Kellan Christopher Lutz (born March 15, 1985) is an American actor and model. He made his film debut in "Stick It" (2006), and is best known for playing Emmett Cullen in "The Twilight Saga" film series (2008–2012). He has since played Poseidon in the 2011 film "Immortals", voiced the title character in the 2013 animated film "Tarzan", played John Smilee in "The Expendables 3" (2014), and Hercules in "The Legend of Hercules" (2014). He co-starred in the CBS thriller series "" (2020–2021).


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Kellan Christopher Lutz was born on March 15, 1985, in Dickinson, North Dakota, the son of Karla (née Theesfeld; b. 1960) and Bradley Lutz (b. 1960), both of German descent. He has six brothers, Brandon, Tanner, David, Daniel, Brad, and Chris. Lutz grew up in the Midwest and in Arizona, and graduated from Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before deciding to pursue an acting career, he attended Chapman University to pursue a degree in chemical engineering.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Lutz had recurring roles on "Model Citizens" (2004) and "The Comeback" (2005), and smaller roles in episodes of "The Bold and the Beautiful", "", "Summerland", "Six Feet Under", "", and "Heroes". He was also in the films "Stick It" (2006), "Accepted" (2006), and "Prom Night" (2008). Additionally, Lutz has performed on the California stage and was the host of Bravo's "Blow Out". He also appeared in the 2006 commercial for Hilary Duff's fragrance With Love... Hilary Duff, and in the 2007 music video for her single, "With Love". In 2008, he appeared in another music video, Hinder's "Without You". In the same year, Lutz also appeared in the miniseries "Generation Kill", based on the book by Evan Wright, and had a starring role in the film "Deep Winter".


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Lutz's big break came when he played Emmett Cullen in the film adaptations of the "Twilight" (2008) saga by Stephenie Meyer. He reprised his role for all four follow-up films, beginning with "" (2009). He also appeared as George Evans in the "90210" spinoff (2009) on The CW. Lutz also appeared the 2010 remake "A Nightmare on Elm Street" as Dean, "a well-liked, well-off high school jock", in April 2010. He reprised his role as Emmett Cullen in the third installment of the "Twilight" saga, "" (2010), and then appeared as the feisty Poseidon, God of the Sea in "Immortals" (2011). Lutz reunited with his "Twilight" co-star and close friend, Ashley Greene, in the film "A Warrior's Heart" (2011). He was considered for the lead role in "Conan the Barbarian" (2011), but eventually lost out to Jason Momoa. He also reunited with his "Immortals" co-star Mickey Rourke in the action film "Java Heat" (2013), which was shot in Indonesia. In 2012, Lutz was one of the candidates for the male lead in the film "", a role that ultimately went to Jeremy Renner. Lutz starred in the epic "The Legend of Hercules" (2014), but the film was a critical and commercial failure, and Lutz was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Lutz is signed with Ford Models. He is one of the models featured in the 2010 Calvin Klein X underwear campaign.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: In 2012, Lutz made a special guest appearance on the TV show "30 Rock", playing a version of himself who is related to the character J.D. Lutz, played by actor John Lutz. In 2011 and 2012, he again portrayed Emmett Cullen, in the fourth and fifth "Twilight" installments, "" and "" (2012).


title: Kellan Lutz

text: In 2016, Lutz starred in the thriller film "Money" with Jamie Bamber, Jesse Williams, and Jess Weixler directed by Martin Rosete and produced by Atit Shah. Lutz had also appeared as the main lead in "" and "Guardians of the Tomb".


title: Kellan Lutz

text: On June 24, 2016, Lutz tweeted that he had a meeting with McG and Mary Viola about playing the role of He-Man.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Beginning in 2020, Lutz played FBI Special Agent Kenny Crosby on CBS's "". He left the role in the third-season premiere to move his family back to California.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Lutz's primary charity is "Saving Innocence" which works to rescue and rehabilitate child victims of sex trafficking in the United States. He was "GQ"s Gentleman of the Year for his work with this organization, and has been the organization's public ambassador since 2011. Lutz dedicates his birthday each year to financially benefit Saving Innocence, and runs campaigns for them on a regular basis.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: In 2010, Lutz was a spokesman for PETA's "Adopt, Don't Buy" campaign. He is also a supporter of West African primate conservation charity Ape Action Africa, and used the Dublin premiere of the film "Tarzan" to raise funds for the charity's work to save endangered gorillas and chimpanzees. Lutz endorsed the documentary film "The Paw Project", which focuses on the declawing of exotic and domesticated cats in America.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: He is also a supporter of rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, in particular with the St. Bernard Project.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: In 2013, he co-founded Foresight Creative Group, a product development company specifically focuses on his patents and inventions. The company, which is partnered in with various charities which he promotes on his social media outlets, released a sleep mask and a dice game named after Lutz.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: Lutz enjoys numerous outdoors and fitness activities, and prefers to perform his own stunts when making films. Although Lutz enjoys watching crime movies, he prefers to star in action films. He is a Christian.


title: Kellan Lutz

text: In October 2017, Lutz revealed that he was engaged to TV host and model Brittany Gonzales. On November 23, 2017, Lutz and Gonzales announced that they had married. On November 28, 2019, Lutz announced on his Instagram account that he and Gonzales were expecting a baby girl in 2020. On February 6, 2020, Gonzales announced the unexpected loss of their baby six months into the pregnancy. The couple's daughter was born in February 2021, and a son was born in August 2022.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Willy's Wonderland is a 2021 American action comedy horror film directed by Kevin Lewis from a screenplay by G. O. Parsons. The film stars Nicolas Cage, who also served as producer, along with Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, Kai Kadlec, Christian Del Grosso, Caylee Cowan, Terayle Hill, Jonathan Mercedes, David Sheftell and Beth Grant. It follows a quiet drifter who is tricked into cleaning up an abandoned family entertainment center as he is stalked by eight murderous animatronic characters possessed by the souls of a cannibalistic killer and his seven psychotic acolytes.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: The project was announced in October 2019, with screenwriter Parsons having conceived the idea based on his 2016 short film "Wally's Wonderland", which was also the script's original name. It caught Cage's attention, who agreed to participate as both an actor and a producer. Lewis was hired as director in December 2019 while the cast joined in February 2020. Prior to its release, the film received a small cult following due to sharing its premise with the "Five Nights at Freddy's" franchise.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: "Willy's Wonderland" was originally set for a worldwide theatrical release on October 30, 2020, but was postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it was released through video on demand, with a simultaneous limited theatrical release in the United States, on February 12, 2021 by Screen Media Films. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews, with praise to Cage's performance and the animatronics' realistic movements but with some criticism for its characters.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: When his vehicle breaks down outside of Hayesville, Nevada, a quiet drifter is picked up by the town's mechanic Jed Love, who takes him to Willy's Wonderland, a once-successful abandoned family entertainment center. Owner Tex Macadoo offers him to work as a night-shift janitor in exchange for repairing his vehicle before he and Jed leave him locked in the restaurant. Meanwhile, teenager Liv Hawthorne gets handcuffed by her parental guardian, Hayesville's sheriff Eloise Lund, due to her previous attempts to burn the building. When Lund leaves, Liv's friends Chris Muley, Kathy Barnes, Aaron Powers, Bob McDaniel, and Dan Lorraine come and release her.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: As the Janitor begins his duties, the restaurant's now-withered eight animatronic mascots—Willy Weasel, Arty Alligator, Cammy Chameleon, Ozzie Ostrich, Knighty Knight, Tito Turtle, Gus Gorilla, and Siren Sara—are revealed to be alive and homicidal. Ozzie attacks the Janitor, who beats Ozzie to death with a mop. While her friends douse the perimeter with gasoline, Liv enters the restaurant through the vents to get the Janitor out. Meanwhile, the Janitor is attacked by Gus in the restrooms; he kills him by curb stomping his face into a urinal. In the vents, Arty chases Liv, but she escapes into a fairy-themed room where Sara kidnaps her. Liv manages to fend off Sara and encounters the Janitor, who ignores her warnings about the animatronics and refuses to leave.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Outside the restaurant, Liv's friends climb to the roof, which collapses, causing them to fall into the building. While the Janitor cleans the kitchen, Liv explains that Willy's Wonderland was originally owned by Jerry Robert Willis, a notorious serial killer. With his seven cannibalistic colleagues, he often murdered unsuspecting families, but the authorities eventually discovered them. They committed a satanic ritual to transfer their souls into the animatronics before committing suicide. When Liv finishes, several animatronics awaken and attack the group. In the ensuing chaos, Knighty impales Aaron with his sword, Tito and Sara devour Dan alive, and Arty mauls Kathy and Bob to death in a party room. With Liv standing in awe, the Janitor decapitates Knighty and breaks Arty's jaws, killing them both.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: As Cammy stalks him in an arcade, Chris calls Lund for help; she goes with deputy sheriff Evan Olson upon learning that Liv is there. On the way, Lund reveals to Evan that after Willy's Wonderland was shut down, the animatronics continued murdering people around Hayesville until she, Tex and Jed made a deal with them. Over the years, they tricked random drifters into cleaning up the building, offering them as sacrifices in order to stop the animatronics' killing spree. Liv's parents were among the victims and a guilty Lund adopted her. When the Janitor and Liv arrive at the arcade, Cammy snaps Chris' neck, killing him. They subdue Cammy and attempt to leave before Lund and Evan stop them. Lund handcuffs the Janitor and leaves him to die as Evan takes Liv away. While driving back, Evan is attacked and killed by a stowaway Tito while Liv escapes.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: In the restaurant, the Janitor subdues Sara, and twists Cammy's head, killing her. Enraged, Lund tries to lure Willy to kill the Janitor, only for Willy to tear her in half. Willy and the Janitor fight each other until the Janitor rips Willy's head off. The next morning, Tex and Jed return to the building and find it completely clean, with the animatronics missing. The Janitor receives his repaired vehicle and invites Liv to accompany him. While Tex and Jed discuss planning to re-open Willy's Wonderland, Sara suddenly appears and sets their car on fire with gasoline. All three are killed in a massive explosion that also destroys the entire restaurant. As the sun rises, the Janitor and Liv drive out of the town, running into and killing a wandering Tito along the way.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Also appearing in the film are Jason Tyler as Eric Miller, a construction worker hired to demolish the restaurant; Ryan Kightlinger as a biker hired as a previous janitor; Joseph and Jessica Teagle as a Hippie couple also hired as previous janitors; Lawreen K. Yakkel, Ashann Bachan, Kevin Brown, Eduardo Lozano, Nathaniel Smith Jr., and D. J. Stavropoulos as members of Jerry Robert Willis' satanic cult; Michael Woodruff, J. J. Madaris, Robert Howell, Chris Speck, Benton Eden, and Elliott Boswell as ATF agents; Jared Soto as a homeless man; Kandace Lee as a smoker killed by Willy Weasel, and Miles Woodruff as a birthday boy from the flashbacks.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: The film was first announced in October 2019 by Screen Media Films after screenwriter and producer G. O. Parsons was advised to create a film to expand his career, but was displeased with his first attempt, a short film titled "Wally's Wonderland". He put the script on Blood List, seeking to have it produced as a full-length film. Shortly after, "Deadline Hollywood" confirmed that Nicolas Cage had joined the cast after the script, which became popular on the site, caught his attention. Cage also agreed to produce the film along with producers Jeremy Davis from JD Entertainment and veteran actor-turned-producer Grant Cramer from Landafar Entertainment, in collaboration with Mike Nilon from Cage's Saturn Films. Kevin Lewis was hired as director while the cast, including Emily Tosta, Beth Grant and Ric Reitz, joined in February 2020.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: After the announcement, the film received a small cult following, with many comparing it to the "Five Nights at Freddy's" video game series, although Parsons and Lewis denied any similarities. The custom pinball machine in the film was based on the 1982 Gottlieb table "Devil's Dare". Certain changes were made during production; the title was changed from "Wally's Wonderland" to "Willy's Wonderland" due to legal issues; and original animatronic characters Douglas Dog, Pauly Penguin, Beary Bear, Pirate Pete, and Regina Rabbit were replaced with Arty Alligator, Tito Turtle, Gus Gorilla, Knighty Knight, and Cammy Chameleon, respectively.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Principal photography began in February 2020 for a month in various parts of Atlanta, Georgia. The crew used a desolated bowling alley in the Sprayberry Crossing shopping center in East Cobb, Marietta for the fictional Willy's Wonderland family entertainment center, setting-up a huge basecamp with housing facilities for the crew members due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Special effects for the film were done by production designer Molly Coffee, whose expertise in design and fabrication with puppetry helped to create the visual movement and appearance for the eight animatronic characters.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: On February 12, 2021, Filmtrax LTD released the score soundtrack for the film composed by Émoi. Producer Grant Cramer performed a track titled "Just The Way I Roll", which appeared in the film's end credits.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: On January 29, 2021, to promote the film, G. O. Parsons announced on his Twitter feed that original "Willy's Wonderland" T-shirts identical to the staff shirt Nicolas Cage wears in the film, would be available.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: On June 25, 2021, Parsons confirmed that American Mythology Productions would release a comic book series serving as a prequel to the film.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Its first issue was released in October 2021. It centers on the backstories of the animatronic characters. Jerry Robert Willis is an American serial killer who preys on families who hire him as a professional photographer out of some sadistic pleasure.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Siren Sara is depicted as a dance teacher who, upon seeing her assistant, Debbie, making out with Gary, her boyfriend (or possible husband), suddenly snaps and kills them both with an ax. Soon after, Willis is convicted of the killings and Sara is also detained. They team up in their satanic pact to kill everyone.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: The story also shows the re-opening of Willy's Wonderland after the deaths of Jerry and his colleagues by Tex and Jed despite protests from the public and the Sheriff. After the animatronics kill a few of the staff, Jed confesses to Tex that the spirits of Jerry and the others are inside the animatronics, but Tex decides to keep the place open as he and Jed dispose of the bodies.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: In the second comic, the backstory of Gus the Gorilla is revealed. He is depicted as a zookeeper who is socially impaired. Upon being reprimanded at the hands of his boss for feeding one of the gorillas a banana, he snaps suddenly and beats her into oblivion, and is captured by law enforcement.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Later on, it is revealed that the Cammy Chameleon animatronic is a woman going by the last name of "Love" and has a split personality in her deranged, psychopathic, and child-like immature mind, and her normal shy persona in the same comic and is revealed to be Jed Love's sister.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: It is revealed that the Arty Alligator animatronic is possessed by former art teacher turned infamous serial killer Arthur Allen, also called "The Bloody Banksy", who mauled people to death and then made artwork with their blood, declaring the world to be a blank canvas, and he is giving it color with each murder.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Tito the Turtle is an unnamed laborer who, upon being ridiculed for his love of turtles, killed every single last one of his co-workers, and was caught shortly after where he met Jerry Robert Willis and Love, joining the "Crazy 8".


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: After the animatronics kill more staff and guests, Jed is hesitant to keep the restaurant open, but Tex is approached by a wealthy family offering him money for a private birthday party for their child which Tex reluctantly agrees, despite Jed's protests. During the party, Willy and the rest of the mascots attack and kill the attending guests and staff forcing an evacuation. The sheriff and then Deputy Lund force the restaurant to be closed and torn down, but Jed states that it will only aggravate Willy and the others.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: The third comic was released on March 30, 2022, showing the origins of Ozzie Ostrich and Knighty Knight.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Ozzie Ostrich is revealed to be a serial killer going by the epithet "The Midnight Strangler". After his abusive mother strangled him so hard his vocal cords stopped working, he became a serial killer who preyed on women attending university.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Knighty Knight was a former renaissance fair employee who, after being insulted for his attire, impaled a guest with his sword, and became the last to join the "Crazy 8" who then escape from the facility.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: After the town hires a crew of builders to demolish the restaurant, Willy and the others leave the restaurant and proceed to kill the foreman and the rest of the builders before slaughtering several townspeople and massacring a basketball game. After the killings, the Sheriff, Deputy Lund, and a mob head to Willy's Wonderland with intent to destroy the animatronics.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: "Willy's Wonderland" was scheduled for worldwide theatrical release on October 30, 2020, but was removed from the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing the closure of theaters across the globe. It was announced on January 15, 2021 that it would be available for digital distribution. It was eventually released through video on demand and received a limited theatrical release on February 12, 2021. Due to being delayed by the pandemic, it was released in Saudi Arabia on September 23, 2021.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: "Willy's Wonderland" grossed $418,286 in North America and grossed $38,858 in other territories for a worldwide total of $457,144, against a budget of $5 million.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: The film grossed around $97,164 in its opening day and made $107,145 over the four-day Presidents' Day weekend. The following day, it grossed $203,886, with Croatia grossing $12,734 and the UAE grossing $14,191.


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: ""Willy's Wonderland" isn't quite as much fun as its premise would suggest -- but it's still got Nicolas Cage beating the hell out of bloodthirsty animatronics, which is nice." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 44 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: "Variety"s Owen Gleiberman wrote: "Kevin Lewis's giant-furry-funhouse-mascot slasher movie knows how preposterous it is but plays it straight". Nick De Semlyn of "Empire" gave the film a score of three out of five stars, concluding that, "though the dialogue and plotting are no great shakes, that commitment to the concept, combined with Cage's swaggering soda-swigger, is enough to make this a good time." IGN's Matt Fowler rated the film six out of ten, writing that "There's not enough here to score high marks, but there's cartoonish carnage aplenty and that warrants a passing grade." Anton Bitel from VODzilla.com awarded the film a score of seven out of ten, saying: "It is set in an amusement centre for children, but comes with adult doses of foul-mouthed language, sex, gore and death. Its scenarios feel a little rote, but are enlivened by the craziness that Cage brings to everything".


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: Kimberley Elizabeth from "Nightmare on Film Street" gave the film a score of 7.5/10, commenting: "Nicolas Cage['s] unique brand of kickassery is the jelly to this animatronic PB & J Horror sandwich". Alix Turner of "Ready Steady Cut" wrote: "Daft plot, fabulous fight scenes, teenagers in peril and plenty of gore. Sure, the film could have been better, but it didn't exactly need to be: this was thoroughly entertaining" and gave to it a rating of 3.5 on 5. Charles Barfield of "The Playlist" gave a similar opinion and rated the film with a "B+". Nicolás Delgadillo of DiscussingFilm.net called the film "unapologetically ridiculous" and "a bizarre hidden gem thrown into Cage's already vast and eclectic body of work."


title: Willy's Wonderland

text: In an interview, G. O. Parsons stated he had an idea for a sequel if the film got enough support. In February 2021, it was announced that a sequel was being actively discussed.


title: 2022 FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights

text: The 2022 FIFA World Cup is a football tournament currently taking place in November and December 2022 involving 32 men's national teams from nations affiliated to the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). The tournament is being broadcast all over the world.


title: 2022 FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights

text: As with all FIFA World Cup matches since the 2002 edition, the production of the 'world television feed' will be by Host Broadcast Services (HBS), part of Infront Sports & Media. Matches will be captured in Ultra-high-definition (UHD) and HLG High-dynamic-range (HDR), with 5.1 surround sound. The 'world feed' is then used by rights holding broadcasters around the world.


title: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

text: The 2022 NHL Entry Draft was the 60th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 7–8, 2022, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Montreal were originally scheduled to host the 2020 draft but were unable to do so due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time since 1985, the team hosting the draft selected first overall.


title: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

text: The first three selections were Juraj Slafkovsky going to the hosting Montreal Canadiens, Simon Nemec being selected by the New Jersey Devils, and Logan Cooley being picked by the Arizona Coyotes. The selections of Slovak players Slafkovsky and Nemec made this the second time that the top two draftees came from a single European country, after Russians Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin in 2004.


title: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

text: Ice hockey players born between January 1, 2002, and September 15, 2004, were eligible for selection in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Additionally, un-drafted, non-North American players born in 2001 were eligible for the draft; and those players who were drafted in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, but not signed by an NHL team and who were born after June 30, 2002, were also eligible to re-enter the draft.


title: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

text: Beginning with the 2014–15 NHL season the NHL changed the weighting system that was used in previous years. Under the new system the odds of winning the draft lottery for the four lowest finishing teams in the league decreased, while the odds for the other non-playoff teams increased. As the league reduced the number of lottery drawings before the 2021–22 season, this resulted in two lotteries being held for this draft. Beginning with this lottery and continuing onward, the teams winning one of the two drawings are allowed to move up a maximum of ten spots in the draft order and a team is only allowed to win the lottery twice in a five-year period. As a result only the eleven lowest finishing teams were eligible to win the first overall selection. The team that won the first drawing would move up to the first selection if they were seeded 1–11, teams seeded 12–16 would move up ten spots. If the team seeded 12 won the first draw they would secure the second overall pick and the team seeded first would secure the first overall pick. For the second draw, the fifteen remaining teams were re-seeded and the teams seeded 1–12 could move up to the second overall pick if it was still available after the end of the first draw, teams seeded 13–15 could move up a maximum of ten spots. If the second overall pick was not available to the winner of the second draw that team would be awarded the next highest available selection. After the two draws were complete, all remaining draft picks were assigned to the remaining teams in inverse order of regular season finish.


title: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

text: The Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils won the two draft lotteries that took place on May 10, 2022, giving them the first and second picks overall. Montreal retained the first pick, while New Jersey moved up three spots. Arizona, Seattle and Philadelphia each dropped one spot to third, fourth and fifth overall, respectively.


title: 2022 NHL Entry Draft

text: In United States, coverage of the opening round of the draft was televised on ESPN and ESPN+. Coverage of the second day of the draft was televised on NHLN and ESPN+.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when Cyrus the Great conquered the Greek-inhabited region of Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to control the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed tyrants to rule each of them. This would prove to be the source of much trouble for the Greeks and Persians alike.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: In 499 BC, the tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, embarked on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos, with Persian support; however, the expedition was a debacle and, preempting his dismissal, Aristagoras incited all of Hellenic Asia Minor into rebellion against the Persians. This was the beginning of the Ionian Revolt, which would last until 493 BC, progressively drawing more regions of Asia Minor into the conflict. Aristagoras secured military support from Athens and Eretria, and in 498 BC these forces helped to capture and burn the Persian regional capital of Sardis. The Persian king Darius the Great vowed to have revenge on Athens and Eretria for this act. The revolt continued, with the two sides effectively stalemated throughout 497–495 BC. In 494 BC, the Persians regrouped and attacked the epicenter of the revolt in Miletus. At the Battle of Lade, the Ionians suffered a decisive defeat, and the rebellion collapsed, with the final members being stamped out the following year.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: Seeking to secure his empire from further revolts and from the interference of the mainland Greeks, Darius embarked on a scheme to conquer Greece and to punish Athens and Eretria for the burning of Sardis. The first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC, with the Persian general Mardonius successfully re-subjugating Thrace and Macedon before several mishaps forced an early end to the rest of the campaign. In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece, this time across the Aegean Sea, under the command of Datis and Artaphernes. This expedition subjugated the Cyclades, before besieging, capturing and razing Eretria. However, while en route to attack Athens, the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon, ending Persian efforts for the time being.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: Darius then began to plan to completely conquer Greece but died in 486 BC and responsibility for the conquest passed to his son Xerxes. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led the second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled. Victory over the allied Greek states at the famous Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Persians to torch an evacuated Athens and overrun most of Greece. However, while seeking to destroy the combined Greek fleet, the Persians suffered a severe defeat at the Battle of Salamis. The following year, the confederated Greeks went on the offensive, decisively defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece by the Achaemenid Empire.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The allied Greeks followed up their success by destroying the rest of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Mycale, before expelling Persian garrisons from Sestos (479 BC) and Byzantium (478 BC). Following the Persian withdrawal from Europe and the Greek victory at Mycale, Macedon and the city-states of Ionia regained their independence. The actions of the general Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the Spartans, and the anti-Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted around Athenian leadership, called the Delian League. The Delian League continued to campaign against Persia for the next three decades, beginning with the expulsion of the remaining Persian garrisons from Europe. At the Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the League won a double victory that finally secured freedom for the cities of Ionia. However, the League's involvement in the Egyptian revolt by Inaros II against Artaxerxes I (from 460–454 BC) resulted in a disastrous Greek defeat, and further campaigning was suspended. A Greek fleet was sent to Cyprus in 451 BC, but achieved little, and, when it withdrew, the Greco-Persian Wars drew to a quiet end. Some historical sources suggest the end of hostilities was marked by a peace treaty between Athens and Persia, the Peace of Callias.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: All the surviving primary sources for the Greco-Persian Wars are Greek; no contemporary accounts survive in other languages. By far the most important source is the fifth-century Greek historian Herodotus. Herodotus, who has been called the "Father of History", was born in 484 BC in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (then part of the Persian empire). He wrote his 'Enquiries' (Greek "Historia", English "(The) Histories") around 440–430 BC, trying to trace the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, which would still have been recent history. Herodotus's approach was novel and, at least in Western society, he invented 'history' as a discipline. As historian Tom Holland has it, "For the first time, a chronicler set himself to trace the origins of a conflict not to a past so remote so as to be utterly fabulous, nor to the whims and wishes of some god, nor to a people's claim to manifest destiny, but rather explanations he could verify personally."


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: Some later ancient historians, starting with Thucydides, criticized Herodotus and his methods. Nevertheless, Thucydides chose to begin his history where Herodotus left off (at the siege of Sestos) and felt Herodotus's history was accurate enough not to need re-writing or correcting. Plutarch criticised Herodotus in his essay "On The Malignity of Herodotus", describing Herodotus as ""Philobarbaros"" (barbarian-lover) for not being pro-Greek enough, which suggests that Herodotus might actually have done a reasonable job of being even-handed. A negative view of Herodotus was passed on to Renaissance Europe, though he remained well read. However, since the 19th century, his reputation has been dramatically rehabilitated by archaeological finds that have repeatedly confirmed his version of events. The prevailing modern view is that Herodotus did a remarkable job in his "Historia", but that some of his specific details (particularly troop numbers and dates) should be viewed with skepticism. Nevertheless, there are still some historians who believe Herodotus made up much of his story.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The military history of Greece between the end of the second Persian invasion of Greece and the Peloponnesian War (479–431 BC) is not well supported by surviving ancient sources. This period, sometimes referred to as the "pentekontaetia" ("πεντηκονταετία", "the Fifty Years") by ancient writers, was a period of relative peace and prosperity within Greece. The richest source for the period, and also the most contemporaneous, is Thucydides' "History of the Peloponnesian War", which is generally considered by modern historians to be a reliable primary account. Thucydides only mentions this period in a digression on the growth of Athenian power in the run up to the Peloponnesian War, and the account is brief, probably selective and lacks any dates. Nevertheless, Thucydides's account can be, and is, used by historians to draw up a skeleton chronology for the period, on to which details from archaeological records and other writers can be superimposed.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: More detail for the whole period is provided by Plutarch, in his biographies of Themistocles, Aristides and especially Cimon. Plutarch was writing some 600 years after the events in question, and is therefore a secondary source, but he often names his sources, which allows some degree of verification of his statements. In his biographies, he draws directly from many ancient histories that have not survived, and thus often preserves details of the period that are omitted in Herodotus and Thucydides's accounts. The final major existing source for the period is the universal history ("Bibliotheca historica") of the 1st century BC Sicilian, Diodorus Siculus. Much of Diodorus's writing about this period is drawn from the much earlier Greek historian Ephorus, who also wrote a universal history. Diodorus is also a secondary source and often derided by modern historians for his style and inaccuracies, but he preserves many details of the ancient period found nowhere else.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: Further scattered details can be found in Pausanias's "Description of Greece", while the Byzantine Suda dictionary of the 10th century AD preserves some anecdotes found nowhere else. Minor sources for the period include the works of Pompeius Trogus (epitomized by Justinus), Cornelius Nepos and Ctesias of Cnidus (epitomized by Photius), which are not in their original textual form. These works are not considered reliable (especially Ctesias), and are not particularly useful for reconstructing the history of this period.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: A few physical remnants of the conflict have been found by archaeologists. The most famous is the Serpent Column in Istanbul, which was originally placed at Delphi to commemorate the Greek victory at Plataea. In 1939, Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos found the remains of numerous Persian arrowheads at the Kolonos Hill on the field of Thermopylae, which is now generally identified as the site of the defender's last stand.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The Greeks of the classical period believed that, in the dark age that followed the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, significant numbers of Greeks fled and had emigrated to Asia Minor and settled there. Modern historians generally accept this migration as historic (but separate from the later colonization of the Mediterranean by the Greeks). There are, however, those who believe the Ionian migration cannot be explained as simply as the classical Greeks claimed. These settlers were from three tribal groups: the Aeolians, Dorians and Ionians. The Ionians had settled about the coasts of Lydia and Caria, founding the twelve cities that made up Ionia. These cities were Miletus, Myus and Priene in Caria; Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Clazomenae, Phocaea and Erythrae in Lydia; and the islands of Samos and Chios. Although the Ionian cities were independent of one another, they recognized their shared heritage and supposedly had a common temple and meeting place, the "Panionion". They thus formed a 'cultural league', to which they would admit no other cities, or even other tribal Ionians.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The cities of Ionia remained independent until they were conquered by the Lydians of western Asia Minor. The Lydian king Alyattes attacked Miletus, a conflict that ended with a treaty of alliance between Miletus and Lydia, that meant that Miletus would have internal autonomy but follow Lydia in foreign affairs. At this time, the Lydians were also in conflict with the Median Empire, and the Milesians sent an army to aid the Lydians in this conflict. Eventually a peaceable settlement was established between the Medes and the Lydians, with the Halys River set up as the border between the kingdoms. The famous Lydian king Croesus succeeded his father Alyattes in around 560 BC and set about conquering the other Greek city states of Asia Minor.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The Persian prince Cyrus led a rebellion against the last Median king Astyages in 553 BC. Cyrus was a grandson of Astyages and was supported by part of the Median aristocracy. By 550 BC, the rebellion was over, and Cyrus had emerged victorious, founding the Achaemenid Empire in place of the Median kingdom in the process. Croesus saw the disruption in the Median Empire and Persia as an opportunity to extend his realm and asked the oracle of Delphi whether he should attack them. The Oracle supposedly replied the famously ambiguous answer that "if Croesus was to cross the Halys he would destroy a great empire". Blind to the ambiguity of this prophecy, Croesus attacked the Persians, but was eventually defeated and Lydia fell to Cyrus. By crossing the Halys, Croesus had indeed destroyed a great empire – his own.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: While fighting the Lydians, Cyrus had sent messages to the Ionians asking them to revolt against Lydian rule, which the Ionians had refused to do. After Cyrus finished the conquest of Lydia, the Ionian cities now offered to be his subjects under the same terms as they had been subjects of Croesus. Cyrus refused, citing the Ionians' unwillingness to help him previously. The Ionians thus prepared to defend themselves, and Cyrus sent the Median general Harpagus to conquer them. He first attacked Phocaea; the Phocaeans decided to abandon their city entirely and sail into exile in Sicily, rather than become Persian subjects (although many later returned). Some Teians also chose to emigrate when Harpagus attacked Teos, but the rest of the Ionians remained, and were each in turn conquered.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: In the years following their conquest, the Persians found the Ionians difficult to rule. Elsewhere in the empire, Cyrus identified elite native groups such as the priesthood of Judea – to help him rule his new subjects. No such group existed in Greek cities at this time; while there was usually an aristocracy, this was inevitably divided into feuding factions. The Persians thus settled for sponsoring a tyrant in each Ionian city, even though this drew them into the Ionians' internal conflicts. Furthermore, certain tyrants might develop an independent streak and have to be replaced. The tyrants themselves faced a difficult task; they had to deflect the worst of their fellow citizens' hatred, while staying in the favour of the Persians. In the past, Greek states had often been ruled by tyrants, but that form of government was on the decline. Past tyrants had also tended and needed to be strong and able leaders, whereas the rulers appointed by the Persians were simply place-men. Backed by Persian military might, these tyrants did not need the support of the population, and could thus rule absolutely. On the eve of the Greco-Persian wars, it is probable that the Ionian population had become discontented and was ready for rebellion.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: In the Greco-Persian wars both sides made use of spear-armed infantry and light missile troops. Greek armies placed the emphasis on heavier infantry, while Persian armies favoured lighter troop types.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The Persian military consisted of a diverse group of men drawn across the various nations of the empire. However, according to Herodotus, there was at least a general conformity in armor and style of fighting. The troops were usually armed with a bow, a 'short spear' and a sword or axe, and carried a wicker shield. They wore a leather jerkin, although individuals of high status wore high-quality metal armor. The Persians most likely used their bows to wear down the enemy, then closed in to deliver the final blow with spears and swords. The first rank of Persian infantry formations, the so-called 'sparabara', had no bows, carried larger wicker shields and were sometimes armed with longer spears. Their role was to protect the back ranks of the formation. The cavalry probably fought as lightly armed missile cavalry.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The style of warfare between the Greek city-states, which dates back until at least 650 BC (as dated by the 'Chigi vase'), was based around the hoplite phalanx supported by missile troops. The 'hoplites' were foot soldiers usually drawn from the members of the middle-classes (in Athens called the "zeugites"), who could afford the equipment necessary to fight in this manner. The heavy armour (the "hoplon") usually included a breastplate or a linothorax, greaves, a helmet, and a large round, concave shield (the "aspis") . Hoplites were armed with long spears (the "dory"), which were significantly longer than Persian spears, and a sword (the "xiphos"). The heavy armour and longer spears made them superior in hand-to-hand combat and gave them significant protection against ranged attacks. Lightly armed skirmishers, the psiloi also comprised a part of Greek armies growing in importance during the conflict; at the Battle of Plataea, for instance, they may have formed over half the Greek army. Use of cavalry in Greek armies is not reported in the battles of the Greco-Persian Wars.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: At the beginning of the conflict, all naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean had switched to the trireme, a warship powered by three banks of oars. The most common naval tactics during the period were ramming (Greek triremes were equipped with a cast-bronze ram at the bows), or boarding by ship-borne marines. More experienced naval powers had by this time also begun to use a manoeuver known as "diekplous". It is not clear what this was, but it probably involved sailing into gaps between enemy ships and then ramming them in the side.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The Persian naval forces were primarily provided by the seafaring people of the empire: Phoenicians, Egyptians, Cilicians and Cypriots. Other coastal regions of the Persian Empire would contribute ships throughout the course of the wars.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: In 507 BC, Artaphernes, as brother of Darius I and Satrap of Asia Minor in his capital Sardis, received an embassy from newly democratic Athens, probably sent by Cleisthenes, which was looking for Persian assistance in order to resist the threats from Sparta. Herodotus reports that Artaphernes had no previous knowledge of the Athenians, and his initial reaction was "Who are these people?". Artaphernes asked the Athenians for "Water and Earth", a symbol of submission, if they wanted help from the Achaemenid king. The Athenians ambassadors apparently accepted to comply, and to give "Earth and Water". Artaphernes also advised the Athenians that they should receive back the Athenian tyrant Hippias. The Persians threatened to attack Athens if they did not accept Hippias. Nevertheless, the Athenians preferred to remain democratic despite the danger from Persia, and the ambassadors were disavowed and censured upon their return to Athens.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: There is a possibility that the Achaemenid ruler now saw the Athenians as subjects who had solemnly promised submission through the gift of "Earth and Water", and that subsequent actions by the Athenians, such as their intervention in the Ionian revolt, were perceived as a break of oath, and a rebellion to the central authority of the Achaemenid ruler.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: The Ionian Revolt and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus, and Caria were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 to 493 BC. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisfaction of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule them, along with opposition to the individual actions of two Milesian tyrants, Histiaeus and Aristagoras. In 499 BC the then tyrant of Miletus, Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap Artaphernes to conquer Naxos, in an attempt to bolster his position in Miletus (both financially and in terms of prestige). The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent removal as tyrant, Aristagoras chose to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against the Persian king Darius the Great.


title: Greco-Persian Wars

text: Struggling to rule the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed local tyrants to rule each of them. This would prove to be the source of much trouble for the Greeks and Persians alike. In 498 BC, supported by troops from Athens and Eretria, the Ionians marched on, captured, and burnt Sardis. However, on their return journey to Ionia, they were followed by Persian troops, and decisively beaten at the Battle of Ephesus. This campaign was the only offensive action taken by the Ionians, who subsequently went on the defensive. The Persians responded in 497 BC with a three-pronged attack aimed at recapturing the outlying areas of the rebellious territory, but the spread of the revolt to Caria meant the largest army, under Darius, moved there instead. While at first campaigning successfully in Caria, this army was wiped out in an ambush at the Battle of Pedasus. This resulted in a stalemate for the rest of 496 and 495 BC.