title: Trabzon

text: In 1340, Tur Ali Beg, early ancestor of the Aq Qoyunlu raided Trebizond. In 1348, he besieged Trebizond, however he failed and lifted the siege. Later on, Alexios III of Trebizond gave his sister to Kutlu Beg son of Tur Ali Beg, and established a kinship with them.


title: Trabzon

text: Constantinople remained the Byzantine capital until it was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, who also conquered Trebizond eight years later, in 1461.


title: Trabzon

text: Its demographic legacy endured for several centuries after the Ottoman conquest in 1461, as a substantial number of Greek Orthodox inhabitants, usually referred to as Pontic Greeks, continued to live in the area during Ottoman rule, up until 1923, when they were deported to Greece. A few thousand Greek Muslims still live in the area, mostly in the Çaykara-Of dialectical region to the southeast of Trabzon. Most are Sunni Muslim, while there are some recent converts in the city and possibly a few Crypto-Christians in the Tonya/Gümüşhane area to the southwest of the city. Compared to most previously Greek cities in Turkey, a large amount of its Greek Byzantine architectural heritage survives as well.


title: Trabzon

text: The last Emperor of Trebizond, David, surrendered the city to Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1461. Following this takeover, Mehmed II sent many Turkish settlers into the area, but the old ethnic Greek, Laz and Armenian communities remained. According to the Ottoman tax books ("tahrir defterleri"), the total population of taxable adult males (only those with a household) in the city was 1,473 in the year 1523.<ref name="Modern Times page 27/28">"The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times", Richard G. Hovannisian, page 27/28, 2004</ref> The total population of the city was much higher. Approximately 85% of the population was Christian, and 15% Muslim. Thirteen percent of the adult males belonged to the Armenian community, while the vast majority of Christians were Greeks. However, a significant portion of the local Christians were Islamized by the end of the 17th century - especially those outside the city - according to a research by Prof. Halil İnalcık on the Ottoman tax books ("tahrir defterleri"). Between 1461 and 1598 Trabzon remained the administrative center of the wider region; first as 'sanjac center' of Rum Eyalet, later of Erzincan-Bayburt eyalet, Anadolu Eyalet, and Erzurum Eyalet.


title: Trabzon

text: In 1598 it became the capital of its own province - the Eyalet of Trebizond - which in 1867 became the Vilayet of Trebizond. During the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, his son Prince Selim (later Sultan Selim I) was the Sanjak-bey of Trabzon, and Selim I's son Suleiman the Magnificent was born in Trabzon in 1494. The Ottoman government often appointed local Chepni Turks and Laz beys as the regional beylerbey. It is also recorded that some Bosniaks were appointed by the Sublime Porte as the regional beylerbeys in Trabzon. The Eyalet of Trabzon had always sent troops for the Ottoman campaigns in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.


title: Trabzon

text: Trebizond had a wealthy merchant class during the late Ottoman period, and the local Christian minority had a substantial influence in terms of culture, economy and politics. A number of European consulates were opened in the city due to its importance in regional trade and commerce. In the first half of the 19th century, Trebizond even became the main port for Persian exports. The opening of the Suez Canal greatly diminished the international trading position of the city, but did not halt the economic development of the region. In the last decades of the 19th century, the city saw some demographic changes. As the population of the province greatly expanded due to increased living standards, many families and young men - mostly Christians, but also some Jews and Greek or Turkish speaking Muslims - chose to migrate to the Crimea and southern Ukraine, in search for farmland or employment in one of the cities which had been newly established there. Among these migrants were the grandparents of Bob Dylan and Greek politicians and artists. Many Christian and Muslim families from Trabzon also moved to Constantinople, where they established businesses or sought employment - such as the grandfather of Ahmet Ertegün. These migrants were active in a wide range of trades including baking, confection, tailoring, carpentry, education, advocacy, politics and administration. The influence of this diaspora has since continued, and can still be seen in the many restaurants and shops in cities around the Black Sea in the 21st century such as in Istanbul, Odessa and Mariupol. At the same time, thousands of Muslim refugees from the Caucasus arrived in the city, especially after 1864, in what is known as the Circassian genocide.


title: Trabzon

text: Next to Constantinople, Smyrna (now Izmir) and Salonika (now Thessaloniki), Trebizond was one of the cities where western cultural and technological innovations were first introduced to the Ottoman Empire. In 1835, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions opened the Trebizond Mission station that it occupied from 1835 to 1859 and from 1882 to at least 1892. Hundreds of schools were constructed in the province during the first half of the 19th century, giving the region one of the highest literacy rates of the empire. First, the Greek community set up their schools, but soon the Muslim and Armenian communities followed. International schools were also established in the city; An American school, five French schools, a Persian school and a number of Italian schools were opened in the second half of the 19th century. The city got a post office in 1845. New churches and mosques were built in the second half of the 19th century, as well as the first theater, public and private printing houses, multiple photo studios and banks. The oldest known photographs of the city center date from the 1860s and depict one of the last camel trains from Persia.


title: Trabzon

text: Between one and two thousand Armenians are believed to have been killed in the Trebizond vilayet during the Hamidian massacres of 1895. While this number was low in comparison to other Ottoman provinces, its impact on the Armenian community in the city was large. Many prominent Armenian residents, among them scholars, musicians, photographers and painters, decided to migrate towards the Russian Empire or France. The large Greek population of the city was not affected by the massacre. Ivan Aivazovsky made the painting "Massacre of the Armenians in Trebizond 1895" based on the events. Due to the high number of Western Europeans in the city, news from the region was being reported on in many European newspapers. These western newspapers were in turn also very popular among the residents of the city.


title: Trabzon

text: In 1901 the harbour was equipped with cranes by Stothert & Pitt of Bath in England. In 1912 the Sümer Opera House was opened on the central Meydan square, being one of the first in the empire. The start of the First World War brought an abrupt end to the relatively peaceful and prosperous period the city had seen during the previous century. First Trebizond would lose many of its young male citizens at the Battle of Sarikamish in the winter of 1914–15, while during those same months the Russian navy bombarded the city a total of five times, taking 1300 lives. Especially the port quarter Çömlekçi and surrounding neighborhoods were targeted.


title: Trabzon

text: In July 1915 most of the adult male Armenians of the city were marched off south in five convoys, towards the mines of Gümüşhane, never to be seen again. Other victims of the Armenian genocide were reportedly taken out to sea in boats which were then capsized. In some areas of Trebizond province - such as the Karadere river valley in modern day Araklı, 25 kilometers east of the city - the local Muslim population tried to protect the Christian Armenians.


title: Trabzon

text: The coastal region between the city and the Russian frontier became the site of key battles between the Ottoman and Russian armies during the Trebizond Campaign, as part of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I. The Russian army landed at Atina, east of Rize on March 4, 1916. Lazistan Sanjak fell within two days. However, due to heavy guerrilla resistance around Of and Çaykara some 50 km to the east of Trabzon, it took a further 40 days for the Russian army to advance west. The Ottoman administration of Trabzon foresaw the fall of the city and called for a meeting with community leaders, where they handed control of the city to Greek metropolitan bishop Chrysantos Philippidis. Chrysantos promised to protect the Muslim population of the city. Ottoman forces retreated from Trabzon, and on April 15 the city was taken without a fight by the Russian Caucasus Army under command of Grand Duke Nicholas and Nikolai Yudenich. There was an alleged massacre of Armenians and Greeks in Trabzon just before the Russian takeover of the city. Many adult Turkish males left the city out of fear for reprisals, even though governor Chrysantos included them in his administration. According to some sources the Russians banned Muslim mosques, and forced Turks, who were the largest ethnic group living in the city, to leave Trabzon. However, already during the Russian occupation many Turks who had fled to surrounding villages started to return to the city, and governor Chrysantos helped them to re-establish their facilities such as schools, to the dismay of the Russians. In early 1917 Chrysantos tried to broker a peace between the Russians and the Ottomans, to no avail. During the Russian Revolution of 1917 Russian soldiers in the city turned to rioting and looting, with officers commandeering Trebizonian ships to flee the scene. Governor Chrysantos was able to calm the Russian soldiers down, and the Russian Army ultimately retreated from the city and the rest of eastern and northeastern Anatolia. In March and April of 1918 the city hosted the Trebizond Peace Conference, where the Ottomans agreed to give up their military gains in the Caucasus in return for recognition of the eastern borders of the empire in Anatolia by the Transcaucasian Seim (a short-lived transcaucasian government). In December 1918 Trabzon deputy governor Hafız Mehmet gave a speech at the Ottoman parliament in which he blamed the former governor of Trebizond province Cemal Azmi – a non-native appointee who had fled to Germany after the Russian invasion – for orchestrating the Armenian Genocide in the city in 1915, by means of drowning. Subsequently, a series of war crimes trials were held in Trebizond in early 1919 (see Trebizond during the Armenian Genocide). Among others, Cemal Azmi was sentenced to death in absentia.


title: Trabzon

text: During the Turkish War of Independence several Christian Pontic Greek communities in the Trebizond province rebelled against the new army of Mustafa Kemal (notably in Bafra and Santa), but when nationalist Greeks came to Trabzon to proclaim revolution, they were not received with open arms by the local Pontic Greek population of the city. At the same time the Muslim population of the city, remembering their protection under Greek governor Chrysantos, protested the arrest of prominent Christians. Liberal delegates of Trebizond opposed the election of Mustafa Kemal as the leader of the Turkish revolution at the Erzurum Congress. The governor and mayor of Trebizond were appalled by the violence against Ottoman Greek subjects, and the government of Trabzon thus refused arms to Mustafa Kemal's henchman Topal Osman, who was responsible for mass murders in the western Pontus. Osman was forced out of the city by armed Turkish port-workers. Governor Chrysantos travelled to the Paris Peace Conference, where he proposed the establishment of the Republic of Pontus, which would protect its different ethnic groups. For this he was condemned to death by the Turkish Nationalist forces, and he could not return to his post in Trebizond. Instead, the city was to be handed to 'Wilsonian Armenia', which likewise never materialized. Following the war, the Treaty of Sèvres was annulled and replaced with the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). As part of this new treaty, Trebizond became part of the new Turkish republic. The efforts of the pro-Ottoman, anti-nationalist population of Trebizond only postponed the inevitable, because the national governments of Turkey and Greece agreed to a mutual forced population exchange. This exchange included well over one hundred thousand Greeks from Trebizond and the vicinity, to the relatively new Greek state. During the war Trebizond parliamentarian Ali Şükrü Bey had been one of the leading figures of the first Turkish opposition party. In his newspaper "Tan", Şükrü and colleagues publicized critiques of the Kemalist government, such as towards the violence perpetrated against Greeks during the population exchange. Şükrü argued that recognition of ethnic diversity was not a threat to the Turkish nation.


title: Trabzon

text: Topal Osman's men would eventually murder parliamentarian Şükrü for his criticism of the nationalist government of Mustafa Kemal in March 1923. Topal Osman was later sentenced to death and killed while resisting arrest. After pressure from the opposition, his headless body was hanged by his foot in front of the Turkish parliament. Ali Şükrü Bey, who had studied in Deniz Harp Okulu (Turkish Naval Academy) and worked as a journalist in the United Kingdom, is seen as a hero by the people of Trabzon, while in neighboring Giresun there is a statue of his murderer Topal Osman. Three years later Trabzon deputy Hafız Mehmet - who had testified to his knowledge of, and opposition to, the Armenian Genocide - was also executed, for his alleged involvement in the İzmir plot to assassinate Mustafa Kemal. The literal decapitation of the Turkish political opposition - which was in large part based in the Trabzon region - decreased the city's national influence, and led to a long standing animosity between the Kemalists and the population of Trabzon. A political and cultural divide between the Eastern Black Sea Region and the rest of Anatolia continued to exist throughout the 20th century, and still influences Turkish politics today. Even in the 21st century, politicians who hail from Trabzon are often faced with xenophobic attacks from both nationalist and conservative circles.


title: Trabzon

text: During World War II shipping activity was limited because the Black Sea had again become a war zone. Hence, the most important export products, tobacco and hazelnuts, could not be sold and living standards degraded.


title: Trabzon

text: As a result of the general development of the country, Trabzon has developed its economic and commercial life. The coastal highway and a new harbour have increased commercial relations with central Anatolia, which has led to some growth. However, progress has been slow in comparison to the western and the southwestern parts of Turkey.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon is famous throughout Turkey for its anchovies called "hamsi", which are the main meal in many restaurants in the city. Major exports from Trabzon include hazelnuts and tea.


title: Trabzon

text: The city still has a sizable community of Greek-speaking Muslims, most of whom are originally from the vicinities of Tonya, Sürmene and Çaykara. However, the variety of the Pontic Greek language - known as ""Romeika"" in the local vernacular, "Pontiaka" in Greek, and "Rumca" in Turkish - is spoken mostly by the older generations.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon Province has a total area of and is bordered by the provinces of Rize, Giresun and Gümüşhane. The total area is 22.4% plateau and 77.6% hills. The Pontic Mountains pass through the Trabzon Province.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon used to be an important reference point for navigators in the Black Sea during harsh weather conditions. The popular expression "perdere la Trebisonda" (losing Trebizond) is still commonly used in the Italian language to describe situations in which the sense of direction is lost. The Italian maritime republics such as Venice and in particular Genoa were active in the Black Sea trade for centuries.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon has four lakes: Uzungöl, Çakırgöl, Sera and Haldizen Lakes. There are several streams, but no rivers in Trabzon.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon has a climate typical of the eastern Black Sea region, a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: "Cfa," Trewartha": Cf") near the coast. A very small percentage of the province can be classified as subtropical, however, as slightly elevated rural areas near the coast are oceanic ("Cfb/Do"), the mountainous offshores are humid continental ("Dfb/Dc") and subarctic ("Dfc/Eo"); and tundra ("ET/Ft") can be found in the peaks of the Pontic Alps. Furthermore, during the time the Köppen climate classification was created, the city center had a borderline oceanic-humid subtropical climate, falling just under the threshold for the hottest month of the year, yet climate change and the city's urban heat island contributed to its reclassification as humid subtropical in recent decades. This and the fact that the subtropical microclimate zone along the shore occupies a very narrow band due to the continuous parallel mountain range starting right at the coast is why local authorities still classify the city as oceanic, as this climate subtype is better representative of the entire coastal region of the province.


title: Trabzon

text: Summers are warm, the average maximum temperature is around in August, while winters are generally cool, the lowest average minimum temperature is almost in February. Precipitation is heaviest in autumn and winter, with a marked reduction in the summer months, a microclimatic condition of the city center compared to the rest of the region. Snowfall is somewhat common between the months of December and March, snowing for a week or two, and it can be heavy once it snows.


title: Trabzon

text: The water temperature, like in the rest of the Black Sea coast of Turkey, is generally mild, and fluctuates between and throughout the year.


title: Trabzon

text: As of 1920, the port at Trabzon was considered "the most important of the Turkish Black Sea ports" by the British. It traded as far as Tabriz and Mosul. As of 1911, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey signed an agreement to develop a harbor at the port. When the Russians occupied Trabzon, a mole was built. They built a breakwater and were responsible for creating an extended pier, making loading and unloading easier. In 1920, Trabzon produced linen cloth, silver filagree, tanning and small amounts of cotton, silk and wool. Tobacco and hazelnuts were exported. The tobacco produced in Trabzon was called "Trebizond-Platana". It was described as having "large leaves and a bright colour." Trabzon was known for producing poor quality cereals, mostly for local use.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon produced a white green bean, which was sold in Europe. It was, as of 1920, the only vegetable exported out of the province. Poultry farming was also popular in Trabzon. Sericulture was seen in the area before 1914. The area produced copper, silver, zinc, iron and manganese. Copper was kept for local use by coppersmiths. During the Balkan Wars production ceased due to poor exportation and fuel supplies.


title: Trabzon

text: The current ethnic background of the people of Trabzon is mostly Turkish. There are also descendants of Circassian muhajiris in the city, as well as smaller number of Laz people, Muslim Greeks (Romeyka-speakers) and Armenians (Hemshin). Local Turks are mostly of Chepni Turkmen origin. The main language of these ethnic groups is Turkish. Modern migration since the dissolution of the Soviet Union has brought a significant number of Russians, Ukrainians and people from the Caucasus (mostly Georgia) into the city. Russian language shops and facilities can be found in the town.


title: Trabzon

text: Pontic Greek has been spoken in the region since early antiquity. The local dialect developed along its own lines and is today partly intelligible to speakers of Standard Greek. It was spoken mainly by a Greek Orthodox population up to the population exchange; nearly all speakers of this local variant of Pontic Greek are now Muslims. A very similar dialect is spoken by a community of about 400 speakers, descendants of Christians from the Of valley now living in Greece in the village of Nea Trapezounta (New Trebizond), today part of Katerini, Central Macedonia.


title: Trabzon

text: Laz people also live in Trabzon. Numerous villages inside and out of Trabzon of the Laz date back as early as the period of Queen Tamar's rule (Georgian: თამარი, also transliterated as T'amar or Thamar; c. 1160 – 18 January 1213) in the newly unified Kingdom of Georgia. During the Queen's rule, sizeable groups of immigrating Georgians moved to Trabzon where they continue to preserve their native tongue. There was an Armenian community in Trebizond as early as the 7th century.


title: Trabzon

text: During the 13th and 14th centuries, numerous Armenian families migrated there from Ani. Robert W. Edwards published part of an early 15th-century diary from the Castilian ambassador who visited Trabzon and compared the churches of the Greek and Armenian communities. It was stated by the ambassador that the Armenians, who were not well-liked by the Greeks, had a population large enough to support a resident bishop. According to Ronald C. Jennings, in the early 16th century, Armenians made up approximately 13 percent of the city's population. At present, Trabzon does not have an Armenian-speaking community.


title: Trabzon

text: The Chepni people, a tribe of Oghuz Turks who played an important role in the history of the eastern Black Sea area in the 13th and 14th centuries, live in the Şalpazarı (Ağasar valley) region of the Trabzon Province. Very little has been written on the Turkification of the area. There are no historical records of any considerable Turkish-speaking groups in the Trabzon area until the late 15th century, with the exception of the Chepnis. The original Greek (and in some regions Armenian) speakers imposed features from their mother language into the Turkish spoken in the region. Heath W. Lowry's work with Halil İnalcık on Ottoman tax books ("Tahrir Defteri") provides detailed demographic statistics for the city of Trabzon and its surrounding areas during the Ottoman period.


title: Trabzon

text: It is possible that the majority of the population of Trabzon and Rize (and other ancient Greek colonies in the Pontus region) — except up to the time of the Chepni Turk immigration waves — consisted of indigenous Caucasian tribes (the Colchians and the Laz) who had been partly Hellenized religiously and linguistically. Michael Meeker stresses the cultural resemblances (e.g. in village structure, house types, and pastoral techniques) between the Eastern Black Sea coast and the areas in the Caucasus proper.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon has a number of tourist attractions, some of them dating back to the times of the ancient empires that once existed in the region. In the city itself, one can find a hub of shops, stalls and restaurants surrounding the "Meydan", a square in the center of the city, which includes a tea garden.


title: Trabzon

text: Other sites of the city include: Fatih Mosque (originally the Panagia Khrysokephalos Church), Yeni Cuma Mosque (originally the Agios Eugenios Church), Nakip Mosque (originally the Agios Andreas Church), Hüsnü Köktuğ Mosque (originally the Agios Elevtherios Church), İskender Pasha Mosque, Semerciler Mosque, Çarşı Mosque, Gülbahar Hatun Mosque and Türbe (commissioned by Sultan Selim I), Kalepark (originally Leonkastron).


title: Trabzon

text: Within Trabzon Province, the main attractions are the Sümela Monastery (i. e. the Monastery of the Panagia Soumelá) and the Uzungöl lake. The monastery is built on the side of a very steep mountain overlooking the green forests below and is about south of the city. Uzungöl is known for its natural environment and scenery. Other sites of interest in the broader region include:


title: Trabzon

text: Folk dancing is still very much in evidence in the Black Sea region. The "Horon" is a famous dance that is indigenous to the city and its surrounding area. It is performed by men, women, the young and elderly alike; in festivities, local weddings and harvest times. While similar to Russian Cossack dances in terms of vividness, the Trabzon folk dance is probably indigenous to the eastern Black Sea region, which has an impressive variety of folk music.


title: Trabzon

text: The people of Trabzon have a reputation for being religiously conservative and nationalist. Many Trabzonites generally show a strong sense of loyalty to their family, friends, religion and country. Atatürk selected his presidential guards from Trabzon and the neighbouring city of Giresun because of their fierce fighting ability and their loyalty.


title: Trabzon

text: Outside of the relatively urban space of Trabzon proper, and within parts of it as well, rural traditions from the Black Sea village life are still thriving. These include traditional gender roles, social conservatism, hospitality, and a willingness to help strangers; and all aspects, both positive and negative, of an agrarian lifestyle, such as hard work, poverty, strong family ties, and a closeness to nature.


title: Trabzon

text: The people of the eastern Black Sea region are also known for their wit and sense of humour; many jokes in Turkey are told about the natives of the Black Sea region "Karadeniz fıkraları" (Black Sea jokes). The character "Temel", a universal buffoon figure found in many cultures, forms an important part of the Turkish oral tradition.


title: Trabzon

text: The city's profile was raised somewhat in the English-speaking world by Dame Rose Macaulay's last novel, "The Towers of Trebizond" (1956), which is still in print.


title: Trabzon

text: Black Sea Technical University in Trabzon hosts students from all over Turkey, especially from the Black Sea and East Anatolian regions, as well as students from the Turkic states in Central Asia.


title: Trabzon

text: Historically the city was a center of Greek culture and education and from 1683 to 1921, a teachers' college operated known as Phrontisterion of Trapezous, which provided a major impetus for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the region. The building of this institution (built in 1902) still remains the most impressive Pontic Greek monument in the city and today hosts the Turkish school "Anadolu Lisesi".


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon's regional cuisine is traditionally reliant on fish, especially "hamsi" (fresh European Anchovy similar to the British Sprat or American Smelt). Trabzon meets 20% of the total fish production in Turkey. Regional dishes include the "Akçaabat köfte" (spicy lamb meatball from the Akçaabat district), "Karadeniz pidesi" (canoe shaped pita bread, often filled with ground beef, cheese and eggs), "kuymak" (a Turkish fondue made with cornmeal, fresh butter and cheese), "Vakfıkebir ekmeği" (large country-style bread), "Tonya tereyağı" (Tonya butter), "tava mısır ekmeği" (deep-dish corn bread) and "kara lahana çorbası" (bean and cabbage soup). "Taflan kavurması" is a cherry laurel dish served with onions and olive oil. Trabzon is also famous for its hazelnuts. The Black Sea region of Turkey is the world's largest producer of cherry and hazelnut; and a large production area of tea; all of which play an important role in the local cuisine.


title: Trabzon

text: Football is the most popular sport in Trabzon. The city's top sports club, Trabzonspor, was until 2010 the only Turkish football club outside İstanbul to win the Süper Lig (six times), which was previously (until Trabzonspor's first championship title in the 1975–76 season) won only by the "Big Three" clubs of Istanbul, namely Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş. Due to Trabzonspor's success, the decades-old term "Big Three" which defined the most successful football clubs in Turkey had to be modified into the "Big Four".


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzonspor is also one of the most successful Turkish clubs in the European Cups, managing to beat numerous prominent teams such as Barcelona, Inter, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Olympique Lyonnais. Renowned former players of Trabzonspor include Şenol Güneş, Lars Olsen and Shota Arveladze. In the 2021-2022 season, Trabzonspor left their Istanbul competition far behind, securing an early championship and ending a 38-year dry streak. Hundreds of thousands Trabzonite expatriates and fans from around the globe made their way to the city to participate in one of the first mass gatherings in the country for nearly two years, marking the end of the Corona pandemic. Officially the pandemic-measures had not been fully lifted, which led to some criticism towards the city's municipal government for allowing the festivities to continue for hours into the night, long past curfew.


title: Trabzon

text: Trabzon hosted the First Edition of the Black Sea Games in July 2007 and the 2011 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Rashad Anton Evans (born September 25, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist. Evans started his professional career in 2003, he was the Heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter 2 and is also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and a 2019 inductee of the UFC Hall of Fame.


title: Rashad Evans

text: In present day, he serves on the UFC broadcasting team as a desk analyst while also advocating for the health benefits of functional mushrooms through his company Umbo, co-founded alongside former NFL quarterback, Jake Plummer.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Wrestling out of Niagara-Wheatfield High School in Sanborn, New York, Evans twice made it to the state finals tournament of New York by winning his weight class for his region, in which he received All-State honors both times. In 1997 he placed 4th in the state at 145 pounds. In 1998 he placed 4th in the state at 171 pounds. In 1999 he entered the National Junior College Athletic Association National Championships for the 165 pound weight class in which he finished in 4th place. Competing once again at this tournament in 2000, he was the champion of the 165 pound weight class.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Moving on to the NCAA Division I wrestling, Evans competed for Michigan State, in the Big Ten conference. In 2002 he finished in 4th place in the conference championships, losing a decision to fellow future UFC competitor Jacob Volkmann in the third place match. In addition to Volkmann, this 174 pound weight class also saw more future UFC competitors with Gerald Harris and Josh Koscheck competing in it this year. In 2003, Evans again competed in the 174 pound weight class, capturing 3rd place in the Big Ten Championships. Entering the NCAA Division 1 championships on top of this 3rd-place finish, Evans won his opening match before losing a close 3–0 decision to the eventual national champion, Robbie Waller. Staying alive through the consolation bracket Evans pinned his next opponent before being matched up with legend Greg Jones, a 3x National Champion who would finish his college career with a record of 126–4. Evans won the match via 3–2 decision, becoming one of only 4 people to defeat Jones in his college career. Evans lost his next match to Purdue's Ryan Lange, in which a win would have qualified him for All-American status, in a close 3–2 decision, ending his college career. He finished his career at Michigan State with a record of 48 wins and 34 losses.


title: Rashad Evans

text: In 2004, under the tutelage of future UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn, Evans competed in five professional mixed martial arts fights, winning all five. This led to his selection as one of the nine heavyweights to compete on "The Ultimate Fighter 2", a reality TV series on Spike. The season began airing on August 22, 2005, culminating in a live finale between the final two fighters of each weight division, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 5, 2005. Rashad Evans is also a black belt in Gaidojutsu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and studied karate as a child.


title: Rashad Evans

text: At and , Evans was the shortest and the second-lightest of the nine heavyweight competitors. He was considered the underdog in each of his fights, but made it to the finals by defeating Tom Murphy, Mike Whitehead, and Keith Jardine all by decision. During his tenure on the show, Evans was criticized by opposing coach Matt Hughes for his showboating during fights, but the two eventually settled their differences, and Hughes even cornered Evans for his semifinal bout. In the finale, Evans defeated Brad Imes by split decision, thus winning a three-year, six-figure contract with the UFC and a brand new car. After "The Ultimate Fighter", Evans joined Greg Jackson's Submission Fighting camp along with fellow competitor Keith Jardine, who would eventually become his training partner and good friend.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans dropped down to light heavyweight after the show, deciding he would have a better chance of success in a lower weight class. His first fight under the contract took place on April 6, 2006, against Sam Hoger, who had been a semi-finalist on "The Ultimate Fighter 1". Evans defeated Hoger via split decision despite nearly falling victim to a kimura submission at the end of the second round.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans followed with a victory by majority decision over "The Ultimate Fighter 1" finalist Stephan Bonnar on June 28, 2006. Evans maintained control throughout the fight with repeated take downs, including a number of slams in the center of the cage and went on to secure the victory.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Three months later, Evans faced Jason Lambert at "UFC 63". Lambert, riding an eight-fight win streak, was seen as Evans's first real test at 205 pounds. Evans controlled the fight from early on, and knocked Lambert out with punches from the mount in the second round. It was his first stoppage victory in over two years.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans next headlined "" against UFC newcomer Sean Salmon, a highly decorated collegiate wrestler who held a 9–1 professional record. Though Salmon had won the first round by scoring two takedowns, Evans came back with a head kick knockout early in the second round. Salmon remained motionless for several minutes after the fight and was eventually carried out on a stretcher to a local hospital. The kick came to the surprise of many fans who had previously considered Evans a one-dimensional wrestler.


title: Rashad Evans

text: At "UFC 73", Evans squared off against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz. The two competitors fought to a draw as all three judges scored the bout 28–28. Ortiz had won two out of three rounds on all scorecards, but was docked a point for holding the cage fence to defend against a takedown by Evans. Immediately after the fight, Ortiz asked for a rematch. At a press conference following "UFC 73", UFC President Dana White promised a rematch which, for various reasons relating to scheduling, did not occur until 4 years later at "UFC 133".


title: Rashad Evans

text: Unable to get a rematch with Ortiz, Evans made his debut as a headliner on a pay-per-view event at "UFC 78" instead, against fellow undefeated fighter and "The Ultimate Fighter 3" winner Michael Bisping. After three close rounds, Evans came out on top on two of the judges' scorecards, winning by split decision. This fight marked Bisping's first loss and his final bout in the light heavyweight division. After his win over Bisping, Evans drastically changed his fighting style, which he kept secret until his fight against UFC Legend Chuck Liddell.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Entering the fight as a very heavy underdog, Evans shocked the world by knocking out former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell in brutal fashion at "UFC 88". Liddell threw an uppercut that Evans countered with an overhand right, landing flush. Liddell remained unconscious for several minutes before finally walking out of the cage under his own power. The knockout was awarded knockout of the year by Sherdog for 2008. Evans had previously been scheduled to face Liddell at "UFC 85" as a replacement for the injured Mauricio Rua. When Liddell pulled out of the event due to an injured hamstring, Evans was matched with James Irvin. When Irvin pulled out after breaking his foot, the fight was removed from the card altogether. After the fight, UFC President Dana White confirmed in the post-event press conference that Evans's next fight would be a title shot against newly crowned light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin at "UFC 92".


title: Rashad Evans

text: On December 27, 2008, at "UFC 92", Evans faced champion Forrest Griffin for the UFC Light Heavyweight belt. Griffin controlled most of the first two rounds with effective striking and low kicks. In the third round, however, Evans caught a low kick and countered with a straight right hand that dropped Griffin. Evans followed Griffin to the ground and eventually managed to finish the stunned champion with punches inside Griffin's guard. With the victory, Evans became the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. It capped off a year in which Evans won Fighter of the Year honors from Sherdog.com.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans's first defense of the UFC Light Heavyweight title against challenger Lyoto Machida ended in a knockout. During a flurry of punches from Machida, Evans started trash talking Machida telling him 'his hands were made of pillows'. Machida continued his onslaught, knocking the champion out. A photograph of Evans's face during the knockout became an infamous meme called "Shad face" among MMA fans. This was the first loss of his career and the 15th straight win of Lyoto Machida's career. Then, Evans went on to coach against Rampage Jackson in "". Evans was scheduled to fight Jackson on December 12, 2009, at "UFC 107", but this was canceled due to Jackson being cast for the A-Team movie. On September 22, 2009, Jackson wrote in a blog on his website that he is "done fighting" because of events that occurred between Jackson and Dana White, the president of the UFC. Thiago Silva was named as Evans' next opponent at "UFC 108".


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans fought Thiago Silva in the main event of UFC 108 on January 2, 2010. Dana White was quoted as saying that if Evans could defeat Thiago Silva at UFC 108, then he would go on to face Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. During the Spike TV broadcast of the UFC 108 preliminary card, Evans confirmed that he received his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Rolles Gracie that morning. Evans would go on to defeat Thiago Silva – another BJJ black belt – by unanimous decision. Deviating from his usual standing and striking, Evans displayed his grappling skills with numerous takedowns that frustrated Silva throughout the match, but Evans failed to damage Silva substantially while on the ground. In the third round, after severely mocking his opponent's fighting style with various taunts, Silva connected with a right hook to Evans's jaw, rocking him. Silva hesitated in finishing Evans off in order to return the taunting, however, and Evans was able to recover leading to a UD win. Evans was expected to finally face rival Quinton Jackson at UFC 113, but the bout took place on May 29, 2010, at UFC 114.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans caught Jackson with a right hand early in the first round and throughout the rest of the fight tried to take Jackson down, succeeding three times out of nine. In the third round Evans was hurt by Jackson but recovered and ended the final round with another takedown and strikes on the ground. The judges scored the bout 30–27, 30–27, 29–28 giving Evans the unanimous decision. Afterwards UFC President Dana White then officially confirmed that Evans would square off against Maurício Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight title, but not until mid-Spring or early-Summer of 2011 as Rua recovered from knee surgery. The fight was then booked for the main event of UFC 128 when the UFC returned to Newark, New Jersey.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Following Evans's training partner Jon Jones's victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, it was announced that Evans injured his knee during training. Jones was then told in his post-fight interview that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans in his fight against Mauricio Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones accepted and the fight was set for UFC 128. It was then expected that if Jones won, he would face Evans in his first title defense.


title: Rashad Evans

text: During a UFC 128 post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani, Evans stated that he was done training at Jackson's Martial Arts in preparation for his fight with Jon Jones. He then commenced training at Imperial Athletics in Boca Raton, Florida, at a new camp co-founded by Evans and several Brazilian fighters who had concomitantly left American Top Team due to a dispute over management services; these were later joined by some African-American fighters, and as a result the camp's members became known colloquially as the "Blackzilians", especially on Twitter. Evans gave further insight to MMAWeekly about his leaving Jackson's Submission Fighting, "When you get to a certain point, you really need a lot of time (with the coaches)… make sure you get the one-on-one, and you just need different things," he explained. "After being at Jackson's for a while, with so many people at the gym, it just got harder and harder for me to get that time."


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans/Jones was expected to take place on August 6, 2011, at UFC 133, but Jones was sidelined with a hand injury. Evans was expected to face rising prospect Phil Davis at the event instead. A title fight between José Aldo and Chad Mendes was delayed, so the UFC promoted Evans vs. Davis to serve as the main event. However, with less than four weeks until the event, Davis pulled out of the bout citing a knee injury. A rematch with Tito Ortiz was scheduled to headline the event. Evans defeated Ortiz at UFC 133 via TKO in the second round. The victory secured Evans a title shot against Jones.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans and Jones were rumoured to finally clash on December 10, 2011, at UFC 140. However, a lingering thumb injury cost Evans another title opportunity, and he was replaced by Lyoto Machida to fight Jon Jones for the belt at UFC 140. Jones retained the Light Heavyweight belt, defeating the challenger Machida, which left open the possibility of a future fight between Evans and Jones for the title.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans faced Phil Davis on January 28, 2012, at UFC on Fox 2. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Evans out-wrestled the former division one national wrestling champion landing numerous takedowns throughout the fight.


title: Rashad Evans

text: In his second title shot, Evans faced UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones on April 21, 2012, at UFC 145. Evans lost to Jones via unanimous decision.


title: Rashad Evans

text: In his first post-title shot fight, Evans faced Antônio Rogério Nogueira in the co-main event at UFC 156 on February 2, 2013. Nogueira won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans faced Dan Henderson on June 15, 2013, in the main event at UFC 161. He won the fight by split decision.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans faced Chael Sonnen at UFC 167 in a Light Heavyweight bout on November 16, 2013, in the co-main event of the evening. He won the fight via TKO in the first round.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans was expected to face Daniel Cormier at UFC 170 on February 22, 2014. However, a leg injury knocked him off the card just 10 days before the event. Originally expected to be out for a month, Evans was instead sidelined indefinitely.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans was linked to a potential bout with Alexander Gustafsson on January 24, 2015, at UFC on Fox 14. However, Evans announced was not ready to accept a fight during that time frame as he was still rehabilitating a lingering knee injury.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans was expected to face Glover Teixeira on February 22, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 61. However, on January 7, Teixeira pulled out of the bout citing a slow to heal knee injury that he had sustained in his last fight. In turn, Evans was removed from the event entirely. A heavyweight bout between Antônio Silva and Frank Mir, previously scheduled for UFC 184, took place a week earlier and headlined the event.<ref name="Mir/Silva"></ref>


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans announced in mid-February 2015 that he expected to be sidelined an additional six to sevens months after undergoing another knee surgery and hoped to return by the end of 2015.


title: Rashad Evans

text: A long discussed bout against Maurício Rua was rescheduled and was expected to take place on April 16, 2016, at UFC on Fox 19. However, Rua was pulled from the fight on March 9 in favor of a matchup with Corey Anderson a couple of weeks later at UFC 198 and was replaced by former title challenger Glover Teixeira. Evans lost the fight via knockout in the first round.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans was expected to face Tim Kennedy in a middleweight bout on November 12, 2016, at UFC 205. However, on November 8, Evans was pulled from the fight after an undisclosed irregularity was found during his pre-fight medical exam. Subsequently, Kennedy was removed from the card as well. The bout was quickly rescheduled and was expected to take place a month later at UFC 206. Once again, Evans was unable to obtain medical clearance to compete on the card and was pulled from the bout on November 21. An irregularity in his pre-fight tests was responsible for both removals and he is expected to undergo an additional screening with an neurologist to prove he is healthy enough to fight, before possibly returning to the cage in January or February, according to his manager. middleweight winner Kelvin Gastelum was his eventual replacement on the card.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans faced Dan Kelly on March 4, 2017, at UFC 209. He lost the back-and-forth fight via split decision.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans faced Sam Alvey on August 5, 2017, at UFC Fight Night 114. He lost the fight by split decision.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans faced Anthony Smith in a light heavyweight bout on June 9, 2018, at UFC 225. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.


title: Rashad Evans

text: On December 19, 2021, Evans is scheduled to compete in his first professional grappling match against Ryan Aitken under the Combat Jiu-Jitsu ruleset at the Featherweight edition of the CJJ World Championships.


title: Rashad Evans

text: On September 20, 2019, news surfaced that by his request, Evans was released from the UFC in order to pursue a return from retirement in another organization. In December 2021, Evans revealed he would be fighting for the first time since 2018 for Khabib Nurmagomedov's Eagle Fighting Championship promotion. His comeback fight took place at on January 28, 2022, against Gabriel Checco. Evans defeated Checco by unanimous decision.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans and his ex-wife have one son and a daughter. He also has a daughter from a previous relationship and a son who was born in 2015. On New Year's Eve 2020, Evans's wife, Celiana, gave birth to their son Solaris.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans's brother Lance made a brief appearance on "", but was eliminated by Vinicius Magalhaes due to a rib injury and did not join the cast.


title: Rashad Evans

text: Evans has appeared in a Microsoft commercial, where he says the lines, "You got a problem with that!" and "I'm a PC!", while sparring with an unidentified opponent. Evans was a frequent commentator on the ESPN show MMA Live. Evans also made an appearance on Spike TV's show Deadliest Warrior. In the episode, Evans easily pierces a pig carcass with the xyston similar to one used by Alexander the Great, and crushed a gel torso's throat with an elbow.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivekanandan (19 November 1961 – 17 April 2021), known professionally as Vivek, was an Indian actor, comedian, television personality, playback singer and social activist who worked in the Tamil film industry. Introduced in films by director K. Balachander, he won three Filmfare Awards for Best Comedian in Tamil for his performances in the films, "Run" (2002), "Saamy" (2003) and "Perazhagan" (2004) and five Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Best Comedian for the films, "Unnaruge Naan Irundhal" (1999), "Run" (2002), "Parthiban Kanavu" (2003), "Anniyan" (2005) and "Sivaji" (2007). His comedy style consisted of one-liners and word plays that featured social and political satire, which led to critics comparing him to N. S. Krishnan and earning him the nickname "Chinna Kalaivanar". He died on 17 April 2021 due to cardiac arrest at the age of 59.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: In 2009, the Government of India awarded Vivek the Padma Shri award for his contribution to the arts. Sathyabama University conferred Vivek with an honorary doctorate for his contribution to society through cinema. As a television personality, Vivek hosted a number of events and interviewed media personalities, notably A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Inspired by Kalam's environmentalism, Vivek founded the Green Kalam initiative in 2010 with the mission of planting one billion trees across Tamil Nadu.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivek was born in Perunkottur Village near Sankarankovil, Tamil Nadu, India on 19 November 1961. Vivek graduated from The American College in Madurai.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: While working at the Secretariat in Chennai, Vivek in his free-time participated at the Madras Humour Club where people would perform stand-up comedy. He helped pioneer the movement to expand and subsequently won the Best Entertainer Award several times during his pantomimes at the club. Vivek subsequently left Chennai and went on to obtain a bachelor's degree in commerce from Madurai and during semester breaks, he would return and perform at the club. P. R. Govindarajan, Founder of Humour Club, introduced him to film director K. Balachandar for the first time and began a professional relationship as a script-writer for the director's films. Vivek revealed that after four years, Balachandar explained a situation and asked him to write a script for sixteen characters, which Vivek completed overnight. He later understood that this was actually a test, and through his performance, Balachandar became closer to Vivek. While assisting with the script for "Manathil Uruthi Vendum" in 1987, Balachandar offered Vivek an acting role of Suhasini's brother in the film, which he decided to pursue. He began his career portraying supporting roles and collaborated again with Balachandar in "Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal" (1989) and "Oru Veedu Iru Vasal" (1990), before often appearing in the primary cast as a friend to the film's lead actor in films such as K. S. Ravikumar's "Putham Pudhu Payanam" (1991) and Vikraman's "Naan Pesa Ninaipathellam" (1993). He then also made appearances in Rajinikanth's "Uzhaippali" and "Veera", playing secondary cast roles. Vivek had to wait till 1996 to establish himself as a sole comedian who could help carry the film, and thereafter began to appear in increasingly prominent roles in his ventures.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: In the late 1990s, Vivek was able to make a breakthrough by appearing as the lead comedian in films, who would often be the main friend of the lead actor and thus his on-screen time began to increase. He worked consecutively on successful films starring Ajith Kumar, appearing as a sidekick in "Kaadhal Mannan", "Unnai Thedi" and "Vaali", and had similar success repeatedly featuring alongside Prashanth in "Kannedhirey Thondrinal", "Poomagal Oorvalam" and "Aasaiyil Oru Kaditham". He subsequently became amongst the most busy actors in 2000 and 2001, featuring in over fifty films in two years. Films including "Kushi", "Priyamanavale" and "Minnale" became blockbusters, while his roles in Mani Ratnam's "Alaipayuthey", "Mugavaree" and "Dumm Dumm Dumm" all won critical acclaim for the actor. The rising success of Vivek's films had meant that he was featured on film posters on an equivalent scale to the lead actor, and thus helped stuck films find distributors. Telugu films were dubbed into Tamil and released with an additional comedy track featuring the actor such as "Kanden Seethaiyai", while devotional films "Kottai Mariamman", "Palayathu Amman" and "Nageswari" were released with a separate comedy track featuring Vivek. In 2000, director K. Subash had planned a film starring Vivek in the leading role titled "Enakkenna Korachal?", however the film never materialised. Similarly in 2001, he began production on a film titled "Panju" by Rama Narayanan in which he appeared as the protagonist, but the venture was also then shelved as was another film to be directed by Sivachandran.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivek worked on more commercially successful ventures in 2002 and 2003, receiving consecutive Filmfare Best Comedian Awards and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Comedians for his work. His comedy track in "Run" won him multiple accolades, with a critic adding Vivek's "nods to current social events showed a stroke of brilliance". He played extended comedy roles in Vikram's "Dhool" and Priyadarshan's "Lesa Lesa", while winning further acclaim for his portrayal of a teacher in "Saamy" and a software engineer in "Parthiban Kanavu". He then played a marginally more serious role in S. Shankar's coming-of-age tale "Boys", portraying a mentor to the group of youngsters, and his performance was well received. Critics noted that "Vivek, for a change, follows Shankar’s script and delivers with his impeccable sense of comic timing", while the reviewer from "The Hindu" said "the show belongs to Vivek, he's the mouthpiece for the director." Success continued in 2004, where he retained the Filmfare Award for Best Comedian for his role of a marriage assembler in "Perazhagan", while his roles in "Chellamae" and "M. Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi" helped contribute to the films' commercial success respectively. His rising profile as an actor meant that he became the first comedian to become an ambassador for the soft drink, securing the sponsorship deal with Mirinda after the brand had carried out market surveys to find a popular promoter. He also made a special exception to appear in a few artistic films and often charged significantly less remuneration for the ventures, notably playing character roles in Janaki Vishwanathan's "Kutty" (2001) and Thangar Bachan's "Azhagi" (2002). In the later film, the director had requested Vivek to write and appear in a role himself, in order to use his fame to help the film find a distributor for release.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: A film which would feature Vivek in the leading role finally materialised in early 2004 and he completed a project titled "Solli Addipean" directed by newcomer Ramki. The team worked on the production of the film for close to a year and ensured that the audience would be able to accept the comedian's transformation into a lead role, with actresses Chaya Singh and Tejashree cast as the film's heroines. Despite completion, the film has been stuck since 2004 and as a result of a failure to find a distributor, the film is unlikely to have a theatrical release. Another proposed film where he would play the lead role, "Super Subbu" by V. C. Guhunathan, also failed to develop after an announcement. In mid 2004, he suffered an injury during the production of a film and took a break from acting assignments for a period of six months.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivek returned by portraying a well-received supporting role in Shankar's "Anniyan" (2005), appearing as an undercover police officer hunting down clues left by a psychopath serial killer. The film opened to critical and commercial success with a critic noting "Vivek's comedy is bankable", and the actor subsequently went on to win the State Award for Best Comedian for his work on the venture. He continued his comeback with appearances in Vijay's "Aathi", Ajith Kumar's "Paramasivan" and Silambarasan's "Saravana", all of which released on the same day in January 2006. After winning acclaim for his performance as a comedic undercover detective in Susi Ganesan's "Thiruttu Payale", Shankar approached him to feature in a prominent role in his venture "Sivaji" (2007), starring Rajinikanth, which would go on to become the most expensive Tamil film made at release. Vivek allotted ninety days for the film, significantly more than any of his previous films, and his performance as Rajinikanth's sidekick Arivu won him another award from the state for Best Comedian. He won positive reviews from critics for his performance, with reviewers noting his "one-liners are really whacky and hilarious" and that "Vivek must come in for special mention for his performance".


title: Vivek (actor)

text: In the late 2000s, Vivek's market reach began to falter as a result of changes in screenplay in Tamil cinema, which saw fewer films adopting a separate comedy track. Moreover, the lack of big budget films signed by the actor and the emergence of Santhanam, saw Vivek reach a nadir in 2012, where he only had a single release. His acclaimed work during the period involved a portrayal of a don in "Padikathavan" (2009), an appearance in drag in "Guru En Aalu" (2009) and as a police officer in the "Singam" (2010) series. Re-emerging after a sabbatical, Vivek announced his plans to move away from his usual comedy roles after being advised by director Bala and Kamal Haasan and signed for a film titled "Naan Than Bala" (2014), in which he played a serious role. Simultaneously he began work on another film as the lead actor in "Palakkattu Madhavan" (2015) opposite Sonia Agarwal, while appearing in another parallel lead role with Karunas in Sakthi Chidambaram's unreleased "Machan". After his return, Vivek collaborated with film makers to appear again in bigger budget films and worked on Velraj's "Velaiyilla Pattathari" (2014), Gautham Vasudev Menon's "Yennai Arindhaal" (2015), Aishwarya Dhanush's "Vai Raja Vai" (2015).


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivek notably starred as himself in Radha Mohan's comedy drama film "Brindavanam" (2017), which explored his friendship with a deaf and dumb fan. The film and Vivek garnered critical acclaim, with a reviewer noting the actor is in "good form" and "completely steals the limelight". In 2019, he appeared as retired cop who heads to live in Seattle in the thriller film "Vellai Pookkal", and won positive reviews for his portrayal of a serious character. A reviewer noted "despite seeming a bit awkward in certain scenes, the actor pulls it off thanks to his persistence", while another critic stated Vivek delivers his role in a "believable and convincing manner". His next release was "Dharala Prabhu", starring Harish Kalyan, and "Aranmanai 3" in 2020 and 2021 respectively. "The Legend", released in 2022 after his death, was his final film. Through his career, he had acted in over 220 films.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivek married Arulselvi, with whom he had three children: Amritha Nandini, Tejaswini and Prasanna Kumar. Prasanna Kumar died in 2015, aged 13, due to complications arising from dengue fever and brain fever. His friend Cell Murugan was his frequent costar.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: On 16 April 2021, Vivek experienced breathlessness and chest pain and was admitted to a SIMS Hospital in Chennai after falling unconscious at home. Doctors deemed him critical and discovered that he had a thrombosis with 100% blockage in the left anterior descending artery, which caused congestive heart failure. Following an angioplasty, he died in hospital on 17 April 2021 at the age of 59. He was given a state funeral amidst large crowds near his residence in Virugambakkam, Chennai. A day prior to the attack, Vivek received Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and campaigned for vaccination against COVID-19. This led to speculation that his death may be linked to the vaccine, however the National Human Rights Commission ruled out any link between the vaccine and his heart attack, and instead related to hypertension. Vivek's funeral took place in Chennai with full state honours.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: In 2010, Vivek launched Green Kalam, a project to plant trees across India inspired by former President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Through Twitter, he mobilized volunteers, particularly from schools and colleges, to join the initiative. Kalam insisted the project should not be named after him, after which Vivek briefly changed its name to Green Globe. As of his death, over 3,300,000 saplings had been planted.


title: Vivek (actor)

text: Vivek, along with actors Suriya, Jyothika and Karthi, had been appointed an ambassador for the Plastic Pollution Free Tamil Nadu campaign by the state's government under the leadership of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami in 2018.


title: History of Palestine

text: The history of Palestine is the study of the past in the region of Palestine, also known as the Land of Israel and the Holy Land, defined as the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (where Israel and Palestine are today). Strategically situated between three continents, Palestine has a tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. Palestine is the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, and has been controlled by many kingdoms and powers, including Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel and Judah, the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great and his successors, the Hasmoneans, the Roman Empire, several Muslim Caliphates, and the Crusaders. In modern times, the area was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, then the United Kingdom and since 1948 it has been divided into Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.


title: History of Palestine

text: The region of Palestine/Land of Israel was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization. In the Bronze Age, the Canaanites established independent city-states that were influenced by the surrounding civilizations, among them Egypt, which ruled the area in the Late Bronze Age.


title: History of Palestine

text: During the Iron Age, two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, controlled much of Palestine, while the Philistines occupied its southern coast. The Assyrians conquered the region in the 8th century BCE, then the Babylonians in c. 601 BCE, followed by the Persians who conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in the late 330s BCE, beginning a long period of Hellenization in the region. In the late 2nd century BCE, the Hasmonean Kingdom conquered most of Palestine and parts of neighboring regions but the kingdom gradually became a vassal of Rome, which annexed the area in 63 BCE. Roman Judea was troubled by large-scale Jewish revolts, which Rome answered with by destroying Jerusalem and the Second Jewish Temple.


title: History of Palestine

text: In the 4th century, as the Roman Empire christened, Palestine became a center of Christianity, attracting pilgrims, monks and scholars. Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 636–641, several Muslim ruling dynasties succeeded each other as they wrestled control of Palestine: the Rashiduns; the Umayyads, who built the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; the Abbasids; the semi-independent Tulunids and the Ikhshidids; the Fatimids; and the Seljuks. In 1099, the Crusaders established the Kingdom of Jerusalem in Palestine, which the Ayyubid Sultanate conquered in 1187. The Crusaders failed to retake Palestine despite further attempts. The Egyptian Mamluks took Palestine from the Mongols (who had conquered the Ayyubid Sultanate) in 1260. The Ottoman Empire captured the region in 1516 and ruled it until Egypt took it in 1832. Eight years later, the United Kingdom intervened and returned the region to the Ottomans. Considerable demographic changes happened during the 19th century and with the regional migrations of Druze, Circassians and Bedouin tribes. The emergence of Zionism also brought many Jewish immigrants from Europe, and the revival of the Hebrew language.


title: History of Palestine

text: During World War I the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, favoring the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. The British captured Palestine from the Ottomans shortly thereafter. The League of Nations gave Britain mandatory power over Palestine in 1922. British colonial rule and Arab efforts to prevent Jewish migration into Palestine led to growing sectarian violence between Arabs and Jews, eventually causing the British government to announce its intention to terminate the Mandate in 1947. The United Nations General Assembly recommended partitioning Palestine into two states; one Arab and one Jewish. However, the situation in Palestine had deteriorated into a civil war between Arabs and Jews. The Arabs rejected the Partition Plan, the Jews ostensibly accepted it, declaring the independence of the State of Israel in May 1948 upon the termination of the British mandate. Nearby Arab countries invaded Palestine, but Israel not only prevailed but also conquered far more territory of the Mandate than envisioned by the Partition Plan. During the war, 700,000, or about 80% of all Palestinians fled or were driven out of the territory that Israel conquered, and were not allowed to return, in an event that became known as the "Nakba" ("Catastrophe") to the Palestinians. Starting in the late 1940s and continuing for decades thereafter, about 850,000 Jews from the Arab world immigrated ("made Aliyah") to Israel.


title: History of Palestine

text: After the war, only two parts of Palestine remained in Arab control: the West Bank (and East-Jerusalem), annexed by Jordan, and the Gaza Strip (occupied by Egypt), which were conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Despite international objections, Israel started to establish settlements in these occupied territories. Meanwhile, the Palestinian national movement gradually gained international recognition, largely thanks to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO, founded in 1965) under the leadership of Yasser Arafat. In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the PLO established the Palestinian National Authority (PA) as an interim body to run parts of Gaza and the West Bank (but not East Jerusalem) pending a permanent solution to the conflict. Further peace developments were not ratified and/or implemented, and in recent history, relations between Israel and Palestinians have been marked by repeated military conflicts, especially with the Islamist group Hamas, which also rejects the PA. In 2007, Hamas won control of Gaza from the PA, now limited to the West Bank. In November 2012, the State of Palestine (the name used by the PA) became a non-member observer state in the UN, allowing it to take part in General Assembly debates and improving its chances of joining other UN agencies.


title: History of Palestine

text: The earliest human remains in the region were found in Ubeidiya, some 3 km south of the Sea of Galilee, in the Jordan Rift Valley. The remains are dated to the Pleistocene, c. 1.5 million years ago. These are traces of the earliest migration of "Homo erectus" out of Africa. The site yielded hand axes of the Acheulean type.


title: History of Palestine

text: Nahal Amud between Safed and the Sea of Galilee was the site of the first prehistoric dig in Palestine. The discovery of the "Galilee Skull" in the Zuttiyeh Cave in 1925 provided some clues to human development in the area. Qafzeh is a paleoanthropological site south of Nazareth where eleven significant fossilised "Homo sapiens" skeletons have been found at the main rock shelter. These anatomically modern humans, both adult and infant, are now dated to about 90–100,000 years old, and many of the bones are stained with red ochre, which is conjectured to have been used in the burial process, a significant indicator of ritual behavior and thereby symbolic thought and intelligence. 71 pieces of unused red ochre also littered the site.


title: History of Palestine

text: Mount Carmel has yielded several important findings, among them Kebara Cave that was inhabited between 60,000 and 48,000 BP and where the most complete Neanderthal skeleton found to date. The Tabun cave was occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages (500,000 to around 40,000 years ago). Excavations suggest that it features one of the longest sequences of human occupation in the Levant. In the nearby Skhul Cave excavations revealed the first evidence of the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture, characterized by the presence of abundant microliths, human burials and ground stone tools. This also represents one area where Neanderthals – present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago – lived alongside modern humans dating to 100,000 years ago. In the caves of Shuqba in Ramallah and Wadi Khareitun in Bethlehem, stone, wood and animal bone tools were found and attributed to the Natufian culture (c. 12,800–10,300 BCE). Other remains from this era have been found at Tel Abu Hureura, Ein Mallaha, Beidha and Jericho.


title: History of Palestine

text: Between 10,000 and 5000 BCE, agricultural communities were established. Evidence of such settlements were found at Tel es-Sultan in Jericho and consisted of a number of walls, a religious shrine, and a tower with an internal staircase Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 BCE, providing important information about early human habitation in the Near East. Along the Jericho–Dead Sea–Bir es-Saba–Gaza–Sinai route, a culture originating in Syria, marked by the use of copper and stone tools, brought new migrant groups to the region contributing to an increasingly urban fabric.


title: History of Palestine

text: By the early Bronze Age (3000–2200 BCE), independent Canaanite city-states situated in plains and coastal regions and surrounded by mud-brick defensive walls were established relying on nearby agricultural hamlets for their food. The Canaanite city-states held trade and diplomatic relations with Egypt and Syria. Parts of the Canaanite urban civilization were destroyed around 2300 BCE, though there is no consensus as to why. Incursions by nomads from the east of the Jordan River who settled in the hills followed soon thereafter.


title: History of Palestine

text: In the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1500 BCE), Canaan was influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Diverse commercial ties and an agriculturally based economy led to the development of new pottery forms, the cultivation of grapes, and the extensive use of bronze. Burial customs from this time seemed to be influenced by a belief in the afterlife. The Middle Kingdom Egyptian Execration Texts attest to Canaanite trade with Egypt during this period. The Minoan influence is apparent at Tel Kabri.


title: History of Palestine

text: A DNA analysis published in May 2020 showed that migrants from the Caucasus mixed with the local population to produce the Canaanite culture that existed during the Bronze Age.


title: History of Palestine

text: During 1550–1400 BCE, the Canaanite city-states became vassals to the New Kingdom of Egypt, which expanded into the Levant under Ahmose I and Thutmose I. Political, commercial and military events towards the end of this period (1450–1350 BCE) were recorded by ambassadors and Canaanite proxy rulers for Egypt in 379 cuneiform tablets known as the Amarna Letters. These refer to local chieftains, such as Biridiya of Megiddo, Lib'ayu of Shechem and Abdi-Heba in Jerusalem. Abdi-Heba is a Hurrian name, and enough Hurrians lived in Canaan at that time to warrant contemporary Egyptian texts naming the locals as "Ḫurru".


title: History of Palestine

text: In the first year of his reign, the pharaoh Seti I (ca.1294–1290 BCE) waged a campaign to resubordinate Canaan to Egyptian rule, thrusting north as far as Beit She'an, and installing local vassals to administer the area in his name. A burial site yielding a scarab bearing his name, found within a Canaanite coffin excavated in the Jezreel Valley, attests to Egypt's presence in the area.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Late Bronze Age collapse had greatly affected the Ancient Near East, including Canaan. The Egyptians withdrew from the area. Layers of destruction from the crisis period were found in several sites, including Hazor, Beit She'an, Megiddo, Lachish, Ekron, Ashdod and Ashkelon. As with other sites in the region, the sites of Canaan are generally unclear as to the exact date of the destruction, and who the destroyers were. Some of the devastation was attributed to the tribal settlement of the Israelites, led by Joshua as described in the Hebrew Bible. However, Joshua's conquest is currently controversial among archaeologists, also because the two most prominent ruins in the biblical story, Jericho and Ai, cannot be linked to sites in the 12th century BCE. The layers of destruction in Lachish and Megiddo date back to about 1130 BCE, More than a hundred years after the destruction of Hazor circa 1250 BCE, and therefore did not occur during the years of the life of a single commander.


title: History of Palestine

text: Beginning in the late 13th century and continuing to the early 11th century, hundreds of smaller, unprotected village settlements were founded in Canaan, many in the mountainous regions. In some of them, the characteristics identified in a later period with the inhabitants of Israel and Judah, such as the four-room house, appear for the first time. The number of villages reduced in the 11th century, counterbalanced by other settlements reaching the status of fortified townships.


title: History of Palestine

text: After the withdrawal of the Egyptians, Canaan became home to the Israelites and the Philistines. The first record of the name Israel is documented in the Merneptah stele, established by Pharaoh Merneptah around 1209 BCE. The Israelites settled the central highlands, a loosely defined highland region stretching from the Judean hills in the south to the Samarian hills in the north. Based on the archaeological evidence, they did not overtake the region by force, but instead branched out of the indigenous Canaanite peoples. The population, at most forty-five thousand, were poor and lived relatively isolated from the Canaanite city-states that occupied the plains and the coastal regions. In contrast to the Philistines, the Israelites did not eat pork, preferred plain pottery, and circumcized their boys.


title: History of Palestine

text: Sometime in the 12th century, the Philistines, who had immigrated from the Aegean region, settled in the southern coast of Palestine. Traces of Philistines appeared at about the same time as the Israelites. The Philistines are credited with introducing iron weapons, chariots, and new ways of fermenting wine to the local population. Over time, the Philistines integrated with the local population and they, like other people in Palestine, were engulfed by first the Assyrian empire and later the Babylonian empire. In the 6th century, they disappeared from written history.


title: History of Palestine

text: Two related Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah, emerged during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Israel was the more prosperous of the kingdoms and developed into a regional power. By the 8th century BCE, the Israelite population had grown to some 160,000 individuals over 500 settlements.


title: History of Palestine

text: Israel and Judah continually clashed with the kingdoms of Ammon, Edom and Moab, located in modern-day Jordan, and with the kingdom of Aram-Damascus, located in modern-day Syria. The northwestern region of the Transjordan, known then as Gilead, was also settled by the Israelites. Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the period from about 1200 to 586 BCE.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Omride dynasty greatly expanded the northern kingdom of Israel. In the mid-9th century, it stretched from the vicinity of Damascus in the north to the territory of Moab in the south, ruling over a large number of non-Israelites. In 853 BCE, the Israelite king Ahab led a coalition of anti-Assyrian forces at the Battle of Qarqar that repelled an invasion by King Shalmaneser III of Assyria. Some years later, King Mesha of Moab, a vassal of Israel, rebelled against it, destroying the main Israelite settlements in the Transjordan.


title: History of Palestine

text: In the 830s BCE, king Hazael of Aram Damascus conquered the fertile and strategically important northern parts of Israel which devastated the kingdom. He also destroyed the Philistine city of Gath. During the late 9th century BCE, Israel under King Jehu became a vassal to Assyria and was forced to pay tribute.


title: History of Palestine

text: King Tiglath Pileser III of Assyria was discontent with the empire's system of vassal states and set to control them more directly or even turn then into Assyrian provinces. Tiglath Pileser and his successors conquered Palestine beginning in 734 BCE to about 645 BCE. This policy had lasting consequences for Palestine as its strongest kingdoms were crushed, inflicting heavy damage, and parts of the kingdoms' populations were deported.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Kingdom of Israel was eradicated in 720 BCE as its capital, Samaria, fell to the Assyrians. The records of Sargon II indicate that he deported 27,290 inhabitants of the kingdom to northern Mesopotamia. Many Israelites migrated to the southern kingdom of Judah. When Hezekiah rose to power in Judah in 715 BCE, he forged an alliance with Egypt and Ashkelon, and revolted against the Assyrians by refusing to pay tribute. In response, Sennacherib of Assyria attacked the fortified cities of Judah. In 701 BCE, Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem, though the city was never taken.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Assyrian expansion continued southward, gradually conquering Egypt and taking Thebes in 664 BCE. The kingdom of Judah, along with a line of city-states on the coastal plain were allowed to remain independent; from an Assyrian standpoint, they were weak and nonthreatening.


title: History of Palestine

text: Struggles over succession following the death of King Ashurbanipal in 631 BCE weakened the Assyrian empire. This allowed Babylon to revolt and to eventually conquer most of Assyria's territory. Meanwhile, Egypt reasserted its power and created a system of vassal states in the region that were obliged to pay taxes in exchange for military protection.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 616 BCE, Egypt sent its armies north to intervene on behalf of the fading Assyrian empire against the Babylonian threat. The intervention was unsuccessful; Babylon took Assyria's Nineveh in 612 BCE and two years later Harran. In 609 the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II again marched north with his army. For some reason, he executed the Judahite king Josiah at the Egyptian base Megiddo and a few months later he installed Jehoiakim as the king of Judah. At the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, the Babylonians routed the Egyptian forces, causing them to flee back to the Nile. The next year, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Philistine cities Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon, and Gaza. By 601 BCE, all the former states in the Levant had become Babylonian colonies.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Babylonians continued the practices of their predecessors the Assyrians and deported populations that resisted its military might. Many of them were settled in Babylon and were used to rebuild the country which had been devastated through the long years of conflict with the Assyrians.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 601 BCE Nebuchadnezzar launched a failed invasion of Egypt which forced him to withdraw to Babylon to rebuild his army. This failure was interpreted as a sign of weakness, causing some vassal states to defect, among them Judah, leading to the Judahite–Babylonian War. Nebuchadnezzar responded by laying siege to Jerusalem in 598 to end its revolt. In 597, the king Jeconiah of Judah, together with Jerusalem's aristocracy and priesthood, were deported to Babylon.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 587 BCE Nebuchadnezzar besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, bringing an end to the kingdom of Judah. A large number of Judahites were exiled to Babylon. Judah and the Philistine city-states of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron, were dissolved and incorporated into the Neo-Babylonian Empire as provinces. Judah became the province of Yehud, a Jewish administrative division of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.


title: History of Palestine

text: Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE, Palestine became part of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. At least five Persian provinces existed in the region: Yehud Medinata, Samaria, Gaza, Ashdod, and Ascalon. The Phoenician city-states continued to prosper in present-day Lebanon, while the Arabian tribes inhabited the southern deserts.


title: History of Palestine

text: In contrast to his predecessors, who controlled conquered populations using mass-deportations, Cyrus issued a proclamation granting subjugated nations religious freedom. The Persians resettled exiles in their homelands and let them rebuilt their temples. According to some scholars, this policy helped them to present themselves as liberators, gaining them the goodwill of the people in the empire's provinces.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 538 BCE, the Persians allowed the return of exiled Judeans to Jerusalem. The Judeans, who came to be known as Jews, settled in what became known as Yehud Medinata or Yehud, a self-governing Jewish province under Persian rule. The First Temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians, was rebuilt under the auspices of the returned Jewish population.


title: History of Palestine

text: Major religious transformations took place in Yehud Medinata. it was during that period that the Israelite religion became exclusively monotheistic – the existence of other Gods was now denied. Previously, Yahweh, Israel's national god, had been seen as one god among many. Many customs and behavior that would come to characterize Judaism were adopted. Most importantly, Biblical scholars believe that the final Hebrew versions of the Torah and Books of Kings date from this period. Jews also adopted the Aramaic script, which they brought back from Babylon; the Aramaic script replaced the Paleo-Hebrew script and is still used by Modern Hebrew today.


title: History of Palestine

text: The region of Samaria was inhabited by the Samaritans, an ethno-religious group who, like the Jews, worship Yahweh and claim ancestry to the Israelites. It is widely believed the Samaritans were a blend of nationalities whom the Assyrians had resettled in the area with some of the remaining Israelites. The Samaritan temple cult, centered around Mount Gerizim, competed with the Jews' temple cult centered around Mount Moriah in Jerusalem and led to long-lasting animosity between the two groups. Remnants of their temple at Mount Gerizim near Shechem dates to the 5th century.


title: History of Palestine

text: Another people in Palestine was the Edomites. Originally, their kingdom occupied the southern area of modern-day Jordan but later they were pushed westward by nomadic tribes coming from the east, among them the Nabataeans, and therefore migrated into southern parts of Judea. This migration had already begun a generation or two before the Babylonian conquest of Judah, but as Judah was weakened the pace accelerated. Their territory became known as Idumea.


title: History of Palestine

text: Around the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, the Persians gave the Phoenician kings of Tyre and Sidon, based in modern-day Lebanon, control over the coastal plain all the way to Ashdod. Perhaps to facilitate maritime trade or as a repayment for their naval services. At about the same time, the Upper Galilee was also granted to Tyre. In the middle of the 4th century the Phoenicians occupied the entire coast as far as Ascalon in the southern coastal plain.


title: History of Palestine

text: Nomadic Arabian tribes roamed the Negev desert. They were of paramount strategic and economic importance to the Persians due to their control of desert trade routes stretching from Gaza in the north, an important trading center, to the Arabian peninsula in the south. Unlike the people in the provinces, the tribes were considered "friends" with the empire rather than subjects and they enjoyed some independence from Persia. Until the middle of the 4th century, the Qedarites were the dominant tribe whose territory ran from the Hejaz in the south to the Negev in the north. Around 380 BCE, the Qedarites joined a failed revolt against the Persians and as a consequence they lost their frankincense trade privileges. The trade privileges were taken over by the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe whose capital was in Petra in Transjordan. They established themselves in the Negev where they built a flourishing civilization.


title: History of Palestine

text: Despite the devastating Greco-Persian Wars, Greek cultural influences rose steadily. Greek coins began to circulate in the late 6th and early 5th centuries. Greek traders established trading posts along the coast in the 6th century from which Greek ceramics, artworks, and other luxury items were imported. These items were popular and no well-to-do household in Palestine would have lacked Greek pottery. Local potters imitated the Greek merchandise, though the quality of their goods were inferior to the Greeks. The first coins in Palestine were minted by the Phoenicians followed by Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod. Yehud began minting coins in the second quarter of the 4th century.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 404 BCE, Egypt threw off the Persian yoke and began extending its domain of influence and military might in Palestine and Phoenicia, leading to confrontations with Persia. The political pendulum swung back and forth as territory was conquered and reconquered. For a brief period of time, Egypt controlled both coastal Palestine and Phoenicia. Egypt was eventually reconquered by Persia in 343.


title: History of Palestine

text: By the 6th century, Aramaic became the common language in the north, in Galilee and Samaria, replacing Hebrew as the spoken language in Palestine, and it became the region's "lingua franca". Hebrew remained in use in Judah; however the returning exiles brought back Aramaic influence, and Aramaic was used for communicating with other ethnic groups during the Persian period. Hebrew remained as a language for the upper class and as a religious language.


title: History of Palestine

text: In the late 330s BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Palestine on his way to Egypt. The conquest was relatively uncomplicated as Persian control of the region had already waned. Tyre and Gaza were the only cities that did not immediately submit to Alexander who slaughtered their citizens as punishment.


title: History of Palestine

text: After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, his vast empire was divided between his generals, known as the "Diadochi" ("successors"), who fought each other for control over it. Ptolemy I Soter established himself as the ruler of Egypt. His main rival was the Diadochi Antigonus I Monophthalmus with whom he wrestled control of Palestine for several decades. Ptolemy took Palestine in 320-318 BCE, but had to withdraw in 315 BCE to avoid a confrontation with Antigonus who had invaded. With the help of Diadochi Seleucus I Nicator, he captured Palestine in 312 BCE, but could only hold it for a few months as Antigonus's armies were approaching again. The events of 312 BCE repeated in 302 BCE, but in 301 BCE Antigonus was defeated by a coalition of Diadochi kings and the province was awarded to Seleucus. Seleucus did not attempt to conquer the province he was due and his former ally, Ptolemy, occupied it. However, he did not relinquish his claim to it, leading to several wars being fought for the control of Palestine between Ptolemy's and Seleucid's successors over the following century. In the fifth of these wars, in 201/200 BCE, the Seleucids conquered Palestine from the Ptolemies for good.


title: History of Palestine

text: In contrast to the Persians, who stayed out of the internal affairs of the conquered peoples, the Greeks introduced Greek language, culture, customs, religion and architecture to the regions that they controlled – a process called hellenization ("greekification"). Hellenization was pervasive in Palestine; speaking Greek and adopting Greek customs conferred many benefits for the upper classes. Hellenistic pottery absorbing Philistine traditions flourished. Hellenization took root first in the densely settled coastal and lowland areas, and only really began to impinge on more backward areas such as Judea in the early 2nd century.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Greeks also founded many Greek cities, known as "poleis", whose residents were granted tax exemptions and other privileges. The "poleis" had Greek style governments, Greek institutions and temples for the worship of Greek gods. Many of these cities were not new establishments but rather were rebuilt and renamed, often after the kings themselves. For example, Akko was refounded as Ptolemais (becoming the region's capital during the Ptolemaic era) and Rabbath-Ammon, the capital of the Ammonites, was renamed Philadelphia (after Ptolemy II Philadelphos). The "poleis" won the Greeks the loyalty of the residents whose living standards rose.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Ptolemaic era lasted to 201 BCE and was, despite the numerous wars, a time of peace and prosperity for Palestine. Trade and commerce flourished, particularly in Palestine's most Hellenized areas.


title: History of Palestine

text: A fundamental concept for the Ptolemaic kings and all Hellenistic monarchs was to treat all land as their personal property. Agriculture was controlled using a complicated system of leasing and state supervision. State monopolies were enacted on a number of important goods such as oil, grain, salt, linen, and beer. The Ptolemies also introduced tax farming; the auctioning of tax collection to wealthy locals. If the tax farmer failed to raise the bidded amount, they had to pay for shortfalls out of their own pockets but they could keep the surpluses. Tax farming proved to be very lucurative for many persons who engaged in it. Unlike in Egypt, where tax farmers and bureaucrats for the most part were Greeks, in Palestine it allowed an indigenous upper class to interpose itself between the rural population and the state apparatus. These policies made the Ptolemaic kings some of the richest in the world, but also guaranteed the greatest possible exploitation of the under classes.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Jewish community in Alexandria became the most important center for Jewish culture outside Palestine. During the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, sages brought from Jerusalem to Alexandria produced the Septuagint (LXX), the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Due to its monumental impact, it has been referred to as the greatest translation of all time.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Seleucids defeated the Ptolemies in 201, but it took them until 198 before they had the former province of Syria and Phoenicia under their control. The continuing Hellenization of Palestine pitted traditional against eagerly Hellenizing Jews. The latter felt that the former's orthodoxy held them back. In 175 BCE, Jerusalem's high priest Jason convinced the Seleucid king Antiochus IV to refound the city as a "polis" named Antiochia.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 167, Antiochus IV issued an edict outlawing the practice of Judaism, including Sabbath observance, circumcision, and dietary laws. Violations were punishable by death. The Second Jewish Temple was rededicated to the Greek god Zeus. The cause for the repression is unknown; one theory holds that the hellenizers proposed it to the king to deal a fatal blow to the traditionalists, another that it was punishment for unrest instigated by the pious, a third that the king mistook a failed coup in the temple's leadership for rebellion. Whatever the cause was, it led to a revolt, led by Judas Maccabeus of the Hasmonean family, during which Jewish rebels conducted guerilla warfare against both Seleucid troops and hellenized, "lawless" Jews.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 164 Antiochus IV (or his son Antiochus V) rescinded the edict and allowed the Jews to cleanse and rededicate the temple to their God, an event commemorated by the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. However, the same year a century-long war of succession broke out in the Seleucid royal house, destabilizing the empire. Judas took advantage of the situation and renewed the hostilities. The rebels were also supported by the Romans who sought to undermine the Seleucids.


title: History of Palestine

text: Judas was succeeded by his brother Jonathan, who skillfully played off the claimants to the Selecuid throne against each other to extract concessions. The Seleucids reached an accord with Jonathan in 157 BCE and later appointed him High Priest – Judea's most important office. Jonathan's and his successor and brother Simon's diplomacy paid off and around 140 Judea was "de facto" independent.


title: History of Palestine

text: The Seleucid's continued infighting gave Judea free reigns and from 130 it began to conquer its neighbors. Non-Jews in conquered territory were forcibly converted to Judaism, expelled or made to pay tribute. The Edomites became Jewish, and the Samaritan temple at Mount Gerizim was destroyed. By 100, Judea included the entire Palestinian hinterland from the Galilee in the north to the Negev in the south. From 100 to 70 the Hasmoneans conquered many "poleis" along the coast and in the Transjordan. The warfare and associated plunder made both the Hasmonean kings and Jerusalem's temple institution incredibly rich.


title: History of Palestine

text: In 63 BCE, a war of succession in the Hasmonean court provided the Roman general Pompey with the opportunity to make the Jewish kingdom a client of Rome, starting a centuries-long period of Roman rule. After sacking Jerusalem, he installed Hyrcanus II, one of the Hasmonean pretenders, as High Priest but denied him the title of king. Most of the territory the Hasmoneans had conquered were awarded to other kingdoms, and Judea now only included Judea proper, Samaria (except for the city of Samaria which was renamed Sebaste), southern Galilee, and eastern Idumaea. In 57 BCE, the Romans and Jewish loyalists stamped out an uprising organized by Hyrcanus' enemies. Hoping to quell further unrest, the Romans restructured the kingdom into five autonomous districts, each with its own religious council with centers in Jerusalem, Sepphoris, Jericho, Amathus, and Gadara.


title: History of Palestine

text: "Poleis" that had been occupied or even destroyed by the Hasmoneans were rebuilt and they regained their self-governing status. This amounted to a rebirth for many of the Greek cities and made them Rome's trusty allies in an otherwise unruly region. They expressed their gratitude by adopting new dating systems commemorating Rome's advent, renaming themselves after Roman officials, or minting coins with monograms and imprints of Roman officials.


title: History of Palestine

text: The turmoil in the Roman world brought by the Roman civil wars relaxed Rome's grip on Judea. In 40 BCE, the Parthian Empire and their Jewish ally Antigonus the Hasmonean defeated a pro-Roman Jewish force led by high priest Hyrcanus II, Phasael and Herod I, the son of Hyrcanus' leading partisan Antipater. They managed to conquer Syria and Palestine. Antigonus was made King of Judea. Herod fled to Rome, where he was elected "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate and was given the task of retaking Judea. In 37 BCE, with Roman support, Herod reclaimed Judea, and the short-lived reemergence of the Hasmonean dynasty came to an end.


title: History of Palestine

text: Herod I, or as he later became known, Herod the Great, ruled from 37 to 4 BCE. He became known for his many building projects, for increasing the region's prosperity, but also for being a tyrant and involved in many political and familial intrigues.


title: History of Palestine

text: Herod rebuilt Jerusalem from top to bottom, greatly increasing the city's prestige. One of Herod's greatest achievements was the reconstruction of the Second Temple, which became one of the largest structures in the empire, with an enormous 14 hectare courtyard, still visible today as the Temple Mount. The Temple functioned as the center of Jewish sacrificial worship, as well as a national bank, and a tourist and pilgrimage destination, drawing visitors from throughout the empire, many of which passed through Caesarea Maritima, a newly built port city. Caesarea was by far the largest port in Roman Judea and one of largest in the whole eastern Mediterranean. The city was built using state-of-the-art Roman engineering complete with a market, aqueduct, government offices, baths, villas, a circus, and pagan temples.


title: History of Palestine

text: Throughout this period, the Jewish population gradually increased, and the region saw a massive wave of urbanization. More than 30 towns and cities of different sizes were founded, rebuilt, or enlarged in a relatively short period. The Jewish population of the land on the eve of the great revolt may have been as high as 2.2 million. Jerusalem itself reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple period, when the city covered and had a population of 200,000.