title: Buck Rogers

text: The adventures of Buck Rogers in comic strips, movies, radio, and television became an important part of American popular culture. "Buck Rogers" has been credited with bringing into popular media the concept of space exploration, following in the footsteps of literary pioneers such as Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. It was on January 22, 1930, that Buck Rogers first ventured into space aboard a rocket ship in his fifth newspaper comic story "Tiger Men from Mars". This popular phenomenon paralleled the development of space technology in the 20th century and introduced Americans to outer space as a familiar environment for swashbuckling adventure.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1933, Nowlan and Calkins co-wrote "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", a novella which retold the origin of Buck Rogers and also summarized some of his adventures. A reprint of this work was included with the first edition of the novel "" (1995) by Martin Caidin.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The character first appeared (under the name "Anthony Rogers") in Nowlan's novella "Armageddon 2419 A.D.", published in the August 1928 issue of "Amazing Stories". The newspaper syndicator John F. Dille saw the opportunity to adapt the story into a newspaper comic strip. After Nowlan and Dille enlisted editorial cartoonist Dick Calkins as the illustrator, Nowlan adapted the first episode from "Armageddon 2419 A.D." and changed the hero's name from "Anthony" to "Buck". Some have suggested that Dille coined that name based on the 1920s cowboy actor Buck Jones.


title: Buck Rogers

text: On January 7, 1929, the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D." comic strip debuted. (Coincidentally, this was also the date that the "Tarzan" comic strip began, distributed by United Feature Syndicate.) "Buck Rogers" was initially syndicated to 47 newspapers. On March 30, 1930, a Sunday strip joined the Buck Rogers daily strip.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Writer Nowlan told the inventor R. Buckminster Fuller in 1930 that "he frequently used [Fuller's] concepts for his cartoons". Dick Calkins, an advertising artist, drew the earliest daily strips, and Russell Keaton drew the earliest Sunday strips.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Like many popular comic strips of the day, "Buck Rogers" was reprinted in Big Little Books; illustrated text adaptations of the daily strip stories; and in a "Buck Rogers" pop-up book. At its peak in 1934, "Buck Rogers" appeared in 287 U.S. newspapers, was translated into 18 languages, and appeared in an additional 160 international papers.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Keaton wanted to switch to drawing another strip written by Calkins, "Skyroads", so the syndicate advertised for an assistant and hired Rick Yager in 1932. Yager had formal art training at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and was a talented watercolor artist; all the strips were done in ink and watercolor. Yager also had connections with the Chicago newspaper industry, since his father, Charles Montross Yager, was the publisher of "The Modern Miller"; Rick Yager was at one time employed to write the "Auntie's Advice" column for his father's newspaper. Yager quickly moved from inker and writer of the "Buck Rogers" "sub-strip" (early Sunday strips had a small sub-strip running below) to writer and artist of the Sunday strip and eventually the daily strips.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Authorship of early strips is extremely difficult to ascertain. The signatures at the bottoms of the strips are not accurate indicators of authorship; Calkins' signature appears long after his involvement ended, and few of the other artists signed the artwork, while many pages are unsigned. Yager probably had complete control of "Buck Rogers" Sunday strips from about 1940 on, with Len Dworkins joining later as assistant. Dick Locher was also an assistant in the 1950s. The strip's artists also worked on a variety of tie-in promotions such as comic books, toys, and model rockets.


title: Buck Rogers

text: For all of its reference to modern technology, the strip itself was produced in an old-fashioned manner — all strips began as India ink drawings on Strathmore paper, and a smaller duplicate (sometimes redrawn by hand) was hand-colored with watercolors. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, has an extensive collection of original artwork.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The relations between the artists of the strip (Yager et al.) and the owners of the strip (the Syndicate) became acrimonious, and in mid-1958, the artists quit. Murphy Anderson was a temporary replacement, but he did not stay long. George Tuska began drawing the strip in 1959 and remained until the final installment of the original comic strip, which was published on July 8, 1967. At that point, "Buck Rogers" appeared in only 28 newspapers.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Revived in 1979 by the New York Times Syndicate, the strip was produced by Gray Morrow and Jim Lawrence. Shortened to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" in 1980, long-time comic book writer Cary Bates signed on in 1981, continuing until the strip's 1983 finale.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Buck is rendered unconscious, and a strange gas preserves him in a suspended animation or coma state. He awakens and emerges from the mine in 2429 AD, in the midst of another war.


title: Buck Rogers

text: After rescuing Wilma, he proves his identity by showing her his American Legion button. She then explains how the Mongol Reds emerged from the Gobi desert to conquer Asia and Europe and then attacked America starting with that "big idol holding a torch" (the Statue of Liberty). Using their disintegrator beams, they easily defeated the army and navy and wiped out Washington, D.C. in three hours. As the people fled the cities, the Mongols built new cities on the ruins of the major cities. The Mongols left the Americans to fend for themselves as their advanced technology prevented the need for slave labor. The scattered Americans formed loosely bound organizations or "orgs" to begin to fight back.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Wilma takes Buck back to the Alleghany org in what was once Philadelphia. The leaders don't believe his story at first but after undergoing electro-hypnotic tests, they believe him and admit him into their group.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Other prominent characters in the strip included Buck's friend Dr. Huer, who punctuated his speech with the exclamation, "Heh!"; the villainous Killer Kane and his paramour Ardala; and Black Barney, who began as a space pirate but later became Buck's friend and ally. In addition, Buck and his friends encountered various alien races. Hostile species Buck met included the Tiger Men of Mars, the dwarf-like Asterites of the Asteroid belt, and giant robots called Mekkanos.


title: Buck Rogers

text: When the Sunday strip began, there was no established convention for the same character having different adventures in the Sunday strip and the daily strip (many newspapers carried one but not the other), so the Sunday strip at first followed the adventures of Buck's young friend Buddy Deering, Wilma Deering's younger brother, and Buddy's girlfriend Alura, later joined by Black Barney. It was some time before Buck himself made his first appearance in a Sunday strip.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Over the years, there have been many Buck Rogers appearances in comic books as well as his own series. Buck appeared in 69 issues of the 1930s comic "Famous Funnies", then two appearances in "Vicks Comics", both published by Eastern Color Printing. Then in 1940, Buck got his own comic entitled "Buck Rogers" which lasted for six issues, again published by Eastern Printing.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Kelloggs Cereal Company produced two Buck Rogers giveaway comics, one in 1933 and again in 1935. In 1951, Toby Press released three issues of "Buck Rogers", all reprints of the comic strip. In 1955, an Australian company called Atlas Productions produced five issues of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century".


title: Buck Rogers

text: A second series was based on the 1979 television series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and was published from 1979 to 1982, first by Gold Key, then by Whitman Publishing, continuing the numbering from the 1964 single issue.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 2009, Dynamite Entertainment began a monthly comic book version of Buck Rogers by writer Scott Beatty and artist Carlos Rafael. The first issue was released in May 2009. The series ran 13 issues (#0-12) plus an annual, later collected into 2 trade paperbacks.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 2012, Hermes Press announced a new comic book series with artwork by Howard Chaykin. The series was collected into a graphic novel titled "Howard Chaykin's Buck Rogers Volume 1: Grievous Angels" in 2014.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Starting in 1933, Whitman (an imprint of Western Publishing) produced 12 Buck Rogers Big Little Books:


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1932, the "Buck Rogers" radio program, notable as the first science-fiction program on radio, hit the airwaves. It was broadcast in four separate runs with varying schedules. Initially broadcast as a 15-minute show on CBS from 7 November 1932, it was on a Monday through Thursday schedule. In 1936, it moved to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule and went off the air in May of that year. Mutual brought the show back and broadcast it three days a week from April to July 1939 and from May to July 1940, a 30-minute version was broadcast on Saturdays. From September 1946 to March 1947, Mutual aired a 15-minute version on weekdays.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The radio show again related the story of our hero Buck finding himself in the 25th century. Actors Matt Crowley, Curtis Arnall, Carl Frank and John Larkin all voiced him at various times. The beautiful and strong-willed Wilma Deering was portrayed by Adele Ronson, and the brilliant scientist-inventor Dr. Huer was played by Edgar Stehli.


title: Buck Rogers

text: A ten-minute Buck Rogers film premiered at the 1933–1934 World's Fair in Chicago. John Dille Jr. (son of strip baron John F. Dille) stars in the film, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: An Interplanetary Battle with the Tiger Men of Mars". It was later shown in department stores to promote Buck Rogers merchandise. It was shot in the Action Film Company studio in Chicago, Illinois, and was directed by Dr. Harlan Tarbell. A 35mm print of the film was discovered by the filmmaker's granddaughter, donated to UCLA's film and television archive, restruck and subsequently posted to the web. It is available on the VCI Entertainment DVD 70th Anniversary release of the 1939 "Buck Rogers" serial. The characters featured include Buck Rogers, Wilma Deering, Dr. Huer, Killer Kane, Ardala, King Grallo of the Martian Tiger Men, and robots.


title: Buck Rogers

text: A 12-part Buck Rogers serial film was produced in 1939 by Universal Pictures Company. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his young friend Buddy Wade get caught in a blizzard and are forced to crash their airship in the Arctic wastes. In order to survive until they can be rescued, they inhale their supply of Nirvano gas which puts them in a state of suspended animation. When they are eventually rescued by scientists, they learn that 500 years have passed. It is now 2440. A tyrannical dictator named Killer Kane and his henchmen now run the world. Buck and Buddy must now save the world, and they do so with the help of Lieutenant Wilma Deering and Prince Tallen of Saturn.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The serial had a small budget and saved money on special effects by reusing material from other stories: background shots from the futuristic musical "Just Imagine" (1930), as the city of the future, the garishly stenciled walls from the Azura palace set in "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars", as Kane's penthouse suite, and even the studded leather belt that Crabbe wore in "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" turned up as part of Buck's uniform. Between 1953 and the mid-1970s, this film serial was edited into three distinct feature film versions.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The first version of Buck Rogers to appear on television debuted on ABC on April 15, 1950, and ran until January 30, 1951. There were a total of 36 black and white episodes in all (allowing for a 2-month summer hiatus). One episode of the show survives today.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Its time slot initially was on Saturdays at 6 p.m., and each episode was 30-minutes-long. The program was later rescheduled to Tuesday at 7 p.m., where it ran against the popular "Texaco Star Theatre" hosted by Milton Berle. The show was sponsored by Peter Paul candy bars.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The producers were trying to emulate the success of DuMont's "Captain Video", but the series probably failed as a result of its minuscule budget. The decision to put the show on a summer hiatus for almost two months also undercut efforts to build an audience.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In the 1950 TV series, Buck Rogers finds himself in the year 2430. Based in a secret lab in a cave behind Niagara Falls (the city of Niagara was now the capital of the world), Buck battles intergalactic troublemakers. Due to the minuscule budget, most of the episodes took place mainly in the secret lab.


title: Buck Rogers

text: There were a number of changes to the cast during the series' short duration. Three actors played Buck Rogers in the series: Earl Hammond (who starred as Buck very briefly), Kem Dibbs (whose last appearance in the role was aired on June 3), and Robert Pastene (whose first appearance in the role was aired on June 10). The series apparently went on summer hiatus from around July 7 until the end of August, probably reappearing on the air again around Labor Day with Robert Pastene still in the lead role. (Kem Dibbs went on to have a long acting career in film and television.)


title: Buck Rogers

text: Two actresses portrayed Wilma Deering: Eva Marie Saint and Lou Prentis. Two actors would also play Dr. Huer: Harry Southern and Sanford Bickart. Black Barney Wade was played by Harry Kingston.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The series was directed by Babette Henry, written by Gene Wyckoff and produced by Joe Cates and Babette Henry. The series was broadcast live from station WENR-TV, the ABC affiliate in Chicago. There is one known surviving kinescope of this first Buck Rogers television series, airdate 12-19-50, episode title "Ghost in the House". The surviving episode states it originated from ABC in New York, casting some doubt on the Chicago WENR-TV claims. Perhaps as the show was remounted, the base of operations changed. At the time of broadcast, the ABC owned and operated WJZ-TV New York, which in 1953 became WABC-TV New York.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1979, Buck Rogers was revived and updated for a prime-time television series for NBC Television. The pilot film was released to cinemas on March 30, 1979. Good box office returns led NBC to commission a full series, which started in September 1979. Glen A. Larson produced the film and the first season of the eventual series.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The series starred Gil Gerard as Captain William "Buck" Rogers, a United States Air Force and NASA pilot who commands "Ranger III", a Space Shuttle-like ship that is launched in 1987. When his ship flies through a space phenomenon containing a combination of gases, his ship's life support systems malfunction and he is frozen and left drifting in space for 504 years. By the time he is revived, he finds himself in the 25th century. There, he learns that Earth was united following a devastating global nuclear war that occurred in the late 20th century, and is now under the protection of the Earth Defense Directorate, headquartered in New Chicago. The latest threat to Earth comes from the spaceborne armies of the planet Draconia, which is planning an invasion.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Co-starring in the series were Erin Gray as crack Starfighter pilot Colonel Wilma Deering, and Tim O'Connor as Dr. Elias Huer, head of Earth Defense Directorate, and a former starpilot himself. Ardala appeared (played by Pamela Hensley), as a Draconian princess supervising her father's armies, with Kane (played by Henry Silva in the film; by Michael Ansara in the series) as her enforcer, a gender reversal of the original characters where Ardala was Killer Kane's sidekick. Although Black Barney did not appear as a character in the series, there was a character named Barney Smith (played by James Sloyan) who appeared in the two-part episode, "The Plot to Kill a City". New characters added for the series included a comical robot named Twiki (played by Felix Silla and voiced by Mel Blanc), who becomes Buck's personal assistant, and Dr. Theopolis (voiced by Eric Server), a sentient computer that Twiki often carries around. Buster Crabbe from the original serial series had a cameo in the series as well.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The series ran for two seasons on NBC. Production and broadcast of the second season was delayed by several months due to the 1980 actors strike. When the series returned in early 1981, its core format had been revised. Now rather than defending Earth, Buck and Wilma were aboard the deep-space exploration vessel "Searcher" on a mission to track down the lost colonies of humanity. Tim O'Connor's Dr. Huer was written out of the series and replaced by Wilfrid Hyde-White as quirky scientist Dr. Goodfellow and Broadway character actor Jay Garner as Vice Admiral Efram Asimov of the Earth Force. Also onboard was Thom Christopher playing the role of Hawk, a stoic birdman in search of other members of his ancient race. The revamp was unsuccessful and the series was canceled at the end of the 1980–1981 season.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Two novels based on the series by Addison E. Steele were published, a novelization of the 1979 feature film, and "That Man on Beta", an adaptation of an unproduced teleplay.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Frank Miller was slated to write and direct a new motion picture with Odd Lot Entertainment, the production company that worked with Miller on "The Spirit". However, after "The Spirit" became a box office and critical failure, Miller's involvement with the project ended. In 2015, the producer Don Murphy announced that he was developing a Buck Rogers film based on the novella "Armageddon 2419 A.D.", however this conflicted with the Dille Family Trust, which claimed to hold the rights of the franchise.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In February 2019 the Dille Family Trust (DFT) entered into a Settlement Agreement with the Nowlan Family Trust selling the Trust's assets and assigning the DFT's intellectual property rights to Buck Rogers to the Nowlan Family Trust and the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Civil Action NO 15-6231 case was dismissed with prejudice on March 4, 2019. Subsequently, the Dille Family Trust filed for an adjudication and termination of the trust in Court of Common Pleas of Lawrence County Pennsylvania Orphan Court, Case NO 43-19 OC Lawrence County, PA. The Lawrence County Court retains jurisdiction over the matter. On April 4, 2019 the Beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust filed an Ex Parte Petition in SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES Probate Division. The stated general purpose of the petition was to appoint the Beneficiaries as co trustees of the trust. Case No. 19STPB03164 was dismissed with prejudice on July 11, 2019. Again on October 29, 2020 the Beneficiaries of the Dille Family Trust filed an Ex Parte Petition for an order approving the termination of the trust, distribution of assets and waiver of accounting however this time in the SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN MATEO, Case No, 20PR001401. The case was dismissed with prejudice on April 4, 2021 and the November 2, 2020 Order vacated/set aside. The Lawrence County Court retains jurisdiction over the Trust.


title: Buck Rogers

text: On October 14, 2020, it was announced that Don Murphy, Susan Montford, Flint Dille and Legendary Entertainment will produce a Buck Rogers film which is intended to launch a transmedia franchise. Legendary had no comment.


title: Buck Rogers

text: On December 10, 2020, it was announced that the same Murphy/Montford/Dille/Legendary consortium is developing a new Buck Rogers television series with Brian K. Vaughan writing. Legendary had no comment. On January 29, 2021, it was announced that Smokehouse Pictures will also co-executive produce. Smokehouse co-founder George Clooney is also suggested to star in the series. Legendary had no comment.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1988, TSR, Inc. created a game setting based on Buck Rogers, called "Buck Rogers XXVC". Many products were produced that were set in this universe, including comic books, novels, role-playing game material and video games. In the role-playing game, the player characters were allied to Buck Rogers and NEO (the New Earth Organisation) in their fight against RAM (a Russian-American corporation based on Mars). The games also extensively featured "gennies" (genetically enhanced organisms). The gameplay of the "Buck Rogers – Battle for the 25th Century" board game by TSR dealt with token movement and resource management. There is purported to be a single expansion for the board game called the "Martian Wars Expansion", but it is not known if this was ever released.


title: Buck Rogers

text: From 1990 to 1991, ten "comics modules" set in the "Buck Rogers XXVC" universe were published, entitled "Rude Awakening" #1 - #3, "Black Barney" #1 - #3. and "Martian Wars" #1-#4. These shared the numbering as a series issues #1 - #10 with issue #10 as a flip-book with Intruder #10. There has been speculation that two more stories were printed but not widely distributed.


title: Buck Rogers

text: At the beginning of 1980, a few months after the show debuted, Gottlieb came out with a Buck Rogers pinball machine to commemorate the resurgence of the franchise.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1990, Strategic Simulations, Inc. released a "Buck Rogers XXVC" video game, "", for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Sega Mega Drive, and Amiga. It released a sequel, "Matrix Cubed", in 1992.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1995, TSR created a new and unrelated Buck Rogers role-playing game called "High-Adventure Cliffhangers". This was a return to the themes of the original Buck Rogers comic strips. This game included biplanes and interracial warfare, as opposed to the space combat of the earlier game. There were only a few expansion modules created for High-Adventure Cliffhangers. Shortly afterward, the game was discontinued, and the production of Buck Rogers RPGs and games came to an end. This game was neither widely advertised nor very popular. There were only two published products: the box set, and "War Against the Han".


title: Buck Rogers

text: Many of the later appearances of Buck Rogers departed widely from the original circumstances of the Han-dominated America and the hero from the past helping overturn that domination; Rogers in his numerous later incarnations was given various other past careers which did not include the Han. However, in the 1980s the original "Armageddon 2419 A.D." was taken up again and authorized sequels to it were written by other authors working from an outline co-written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and loosely tied-in with their bestseller "Lucifer's Hammer" (1977). The first sequel begins 2476 AD, when a widowed and cantankerous 86-year-old Anthony Rogers is mysteriously rejuvenated during a resurgence of the presumed-extinct Han, now called the Pr'lan. The novels include:


title: Buck Rogers

text: The first "Buck Rogers" toys appeared in 1933, four years after the newspaper strip debuted and a year after the radio show first aired. Some mark this as the beginning of modern character based licensed merchandising, in that not only was the character's name and image branded on many unrelated products, but also on many items of merchandise unique to or directly inspired by that character. Of the many toys associated with "Buck Rogers", none is more closely identified with the franchise than the eponymous toy rayguns.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The first "Buck Rogers gun" wasn't technically a raygun, although its futuristic shape and distinctive lines set the pattern for all "space guns" that would follow. The XZ-31 Rocket Pistol, a 9½-inch pop gun that produced a distinctive "zap!" sound, was at the American Toy Fair in February 1934. Retailed for 50¢, which was by no means inexpensive during the Great Depression, it was designed to mimic the rocket pistols seen in the comic strips from their inception. In the comics, they were automatic pistols that fired explosive rockets instead of bullets, each round as effective as a 20th-century hand grenade.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The XZ-31 Rocket Pistol, was the first of six toy guns manufactured over the next two decades by Daisy, which had an exclusive contract with John Dille, then head of the National Newspaper Syndicate of America, for all "Buck Rogers" toys. Most of these were pop guns, which had the virtue a being noisemakers that couldn't fire any actual projectiles and were thus guaranteed to be harmless as one of their selling points.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The XZ-35 Rocket Pistol, a smaller 7-inch version without some of the detail of the original that's often called "the Wilma Pistol" by collectors, followed in 1935, retailing for 25¢ and arguably offering less value for quintuple the initial price. Most consumers hardly noticed, because in 1935 the floodgates were opened and they had a lot choices. Both the XZ-31 and XZ-35 were cast in "blued" steel with silvery nickel accents.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol, the first actual "ray gun" toy and such an iconic symbol of the franchise that it made a cameo appearance in the first episode of the 1939 movie serial, as if to show that what the audience was seeing was indeed the Real Thing, debuted in 1935. It was a 10-inch pop gun topped with flint-and-striker sparkler using a mechanism, not unlike that used in cigarette lighters, cast in a distinctive metallic copper color.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The XZ-44 Liquid Helium Water Pistol was produced in late 1935 and early 1936. Loaded like a syringe by dipping nozzle into a container of water and drawing back a plunger, it was advertised to be capable of shooting 50 times without reloading.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1946, following World War II and the advent of the atomic bomb, Daisy reissued the XZ-38 in a silver finish that mimicked the new jet aircraft of the day as the U-235 Atomic Pistol. By then, pop guns were considered old-fashioned, and even the "Buck Rogers" franchise was losing its luster, having been overtaken by real-world events and the prospect of actual crewed space flight.


title: Buck Rogers

text: By 1952, Daisy lost its exclusive license to the "Buck Rogers" name and even dropped any pretense of making a toy raygun. Its final offering was a reissue of the XZ-35 with a garish red, white, blue and yellow color scheme, dubbed the Zooka. The "Buck Rogers" rocket pistol that had started it all 20 years earlier had been overtaken by the real world bazooka.


title: Buck Rogers

text: "Space guns" in general and "rayguns" in particular only gained in prestige as the Cold War "space race" began and interest in "The "Buck Rogers" Stuff" was renewed, but it was no longer enough to offer a futuristic cap or pop gun. A proper raygun needed to actually project some sort of ray if it were to capture the imaginations of would-be space travelers of 1950s Americans. Enter the era of the plastic battery-powered flashlight raygun.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1953, Norton-Honer introduced the Sonic Ray Gun, which was essentially a 7½-inch flashlight mounted on a pistol grip. Pressing the trigger activated not only the flashlight beam (which had interchangeable colored lenses for differently colored "rays") but also an electronic buzzer. It could, therefore, be used as a pretend raygun but also as an actual Morse Code signal device.


title: Buck Rogers

text: This toy, and its successor, the Norton-Honer Super Sonic Ray Gun, was featured prominently in the actual "Buck Rogers" newspaper strips of the time, many of which concluded with a secret message in a Morse Code variant called the Rocket Rangers International Code, the key to which was available only by sending as self-addressed stamped envelope to the newspaper syndicate or the "cheat sheet" included in the package with the toy.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1934, a Rocket Police Patrol Ship windup red and green tin toy spaceship was produced by Louis Marx & Company with Buck seated in the cockpit holding a ray gun rifle. A second orange and yellow Patrol Ship was released the same year by Marx with window profile portraits of both Wilma and Buddy Deering on the right side and Buck and Dr Huer on the left side. Both tin toys are in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1936, a line of Buck Rogers painted lead metal toy soldier three-inch figures were made for the British market. These were a set of six British Premium figures for Cream of Wheat and included Buck, Dr. Huer, Wilma, Kane, Ardala and an unidentified Mekkano Man Robot.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 1937, Tootsietoys put out a six-piece die cast metal set of four 5″ long space ships and two 1.75″ tall figures of Buck and Wilma.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In 2009 and 2011, two versions of Buck Rogers action figures were released by the entertainment/toy companies "Go Hero" and "Zica Toys". The first is a vintage version of Buck Rogers as he appeared in the original comic strip. This 1:6 scale figure of Buck wears the 1930s period uniform including visor leather like plastic helmet and vest, a glass bubble space helmet, a red light up plastic flame jet pack, a mini gold colored metal XZ-38 Disintegrator Ray Pistol and a wooden slotted lid box with the limited edition number up to 1000. The second 1:9 scale figure is based on Gil Gerard wearing the white flight suit from the 1979 movie/TV series and also features a Tigerman figure.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Buck Rogers's name has become proverbial in such expressions as "Buck Rogers outfit" for a protective suit that looks like a space suit. During the mid 20th century, the bulk of the American public's exposure to science fiction literature came through newspaper comics, and their opinion was formed accordingly. Stemming from this, a phrase in common use before 1950 was "that crazy Buck Rogers stuff" in regards to what they viewed as fantastical literature.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Such was the fame of Buck Rogers that this became the basis for one of the most fondly remembered science fiction spoofs in a series of cartoons in which Daffy Duck portrayed Duck Dodgers. The first of these was "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century" (1953), which was directed by Chuck Jones. There were also two sequels to this cartoon, and ultimately a "Duck Dodgers" television series.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Buck Rogers is featured in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster sci-fi movie "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982). E.T. is inspired to create a makeshift communicating device (to 'phone home') by copying a Buck Rogers comic strip.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The "Buck Rogers" appellation has become a particularly descriptive term for vertical landings of "spaceships", which was the predominant mode of rocket landing envisioned in the pre-spaceflight era at the time Buck Rogers made his original appearance. While many science fiction authors and other depictions in popular culture showed rockets landing vertically, typically resting after landing on the space vehicle's fins, "Buck Rogers" seems to have gained a special place as a descriptive compound adjective. For example, this view was sufficiently ingrained in popular culture that in 1993, following a successful low-altitude test flight of a prototype rocket, a writer opined: "The DC-X launched vertically, hovered in mid-air ... The spacecraft stopped mid-air again and, as the engines throttled back, began its successful vertical landing. Just like "Buck Rogers"."


title: Buck Rogers

text: In the 2010s, SpaceX rockets have likewise seen the appellation to "Buck Rogers" in a "Quest to Create a "<nowiki>'</nowiki>Buck Rogers<nowiki>'</nowiki>" Reusable Rocket"


title: Buck Rogers

text: The animated television series "Futurama", created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen in 1999, was strongly influenced by themes and characters from the "Buck Rogers" comic strip, as well as many other science fiction books and films.


title: Buck Rogers

text: The Foo Fighters' self-titled album (1995) features Buck Rogers's XZ-38 Disintegrator Pistol on the album's cover.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Track nine of Hyphy Bay Area rapper Mac Dre's album "Heart of a Gangsta, Mind of a Hustla, Tongue of a Pimp" (2000) is titled "Black Buck Rogers".


title: Buck Rogers

text: In "The Right Stuff" (1983), the film about the United States supersonic test pilots of the 1940s and 1950s and the early days of the United States space program, in one scene, the character of the Air Force Liaison Man tells test pilots Chuck Yeager and Jack Ridley and test pilots and future Mercury Seven astronauts Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton and Gordon Cooper about the need for positive media coverage in order to assure continued government funding for the rocket program, dramatically declaring "no bucks — no Buck Rogers!" In a later scene in which the seven astronauts confront the NASA rocket scientists who have been running the program to demand changes to allow them to fly their spacecraft as actual pilots rather than as mere passive passengers in vehicles totally controlled from the ground—threatening to reveal to the press how they were being marginalized despite their public status as heroes, which would in turn damage Congressional support for the program—Cooper, Grissom and Slayton repeat the "no bucks — no Buck Rogers!" speech to the startled scientists to make their point.


title: Buck Rogers

text: In Martin Scorsese's epic drama "The Aviator" (2004), Howard Hughes refers the Hughes XF-11 as his Buck Rogers ship.


title: Buck Rogers

text: Buck Rogers is heavily referenced in the 2006 two-episode arc of the animated television series "South Park", "Go God Go" and "Go God Go XII".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They are located northeast of Taiwan, east of China, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. They are known in mainland China as the Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands (; also simply ), in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai Islands or Tiaoyutai Islands (), and sometimes in the Western world by the historical name Pinnacle Islands. In Okinawan they are called . In the Yaeyama language, they are called "iigunkubajima".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan. China claims the discovery and ownership of the islands from the 14th century, while Japan maintained ownership of the islands from 1895 until its surrender at the end of World War II. The United States administered the islands as part of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands from 1945 until 1972, when the islands returned to Japanese control under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement between the United States and Japan. The discovery of potential undersea oil reserves in 1968 in the area was a catalyst for further interest in the disputed islands. Despite the diplomatic stalemate between China and Taiwan, both governments agree that the islands are part of Taiwan as part of Toucheng Township in Yilan County. Japan administers and controls the Senkaku islands as part of the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa Prefecture. It does not acknowledge the claims of China nor Taiwan, but it has not allowed the Ishigaki administration to develop the islands.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: As a result of the dispute, the public is largely barred from approaching the uninhabited islands, which are about a seven-hour boat ride from Ishigaki. Vessels from the Japan Coast Guard pursue Chinese ships crossing the maritime boundary in what one visiting journalist described in 2012 as "an almost cold war-style game of cat-and-mouse", and fishing and other civilian boats are prevented from getting too close to avoid a provocative incident.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The Senkaku Islands are important nesting sites for seabirds, and are one of two remaining nesting sites in the world for the short-tailed albatross, alongside Tori-shima, Izu Islands.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Chinese records of these islands date back to as early as the 15th century when they were referred as "Diaoyu" in books such as "Voyage with a Tail Wind" () (1403) and "Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryūkyū" () (1534). Adopted by the Chinese Imperial Map of the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese name for the island group ("Diaoyu") and the Japanese name for the main island ("Uotsuri") both mean "fishing".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Historically, the Chinese had used the uninhabited islands as navigational markers in making the voyage to the Ryukyu Kingdom upon commencement of diplomatic missions to the kingdom, "resetting the compass at a particular isle in order to reach the next one".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The first published description of the islands in Europe appears in a book imported by Isaac Titsingh in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included by Hayashi Shihei. This text, which was published in Japan in 1785, described the Ryūkyū Kingdom. Hayashi followed convention in giving the islands their Chinese names in his map in the text, where he coloured them in the same pink as China.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The name, "Pinnacle Isles" was first used by James Colnett, who charted them during his 1789-1791 voyage in the "Argonaut". William Robert Broughton sailed past them in November 1797 during his voyage of discovery to the North Pacific in HMS "Providence", and referred to Diaoyu Island/Uotsuri Island as "Peaks Island". Reference was made to the islands in Edward Belcher's 1848 account of the voyages of HMS "Sammarang". Captain Belcher observed that "the names assigned in this region have been too hastily admitted." Belcher reported anchoring off Pinnacle Island in March 1845.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In the 1870s and 1880s, the English name Pinnacle Islands was used by the British navy for the rocks adjacent to the largest island "Uotsuri-shima" / "Diaoyu Dao" (then called 和平嶼 "hô-pîng-sū", "Peace Island" in Hokkien); "Kuba-shima" / "Huangwei Yu" (then called "Ti-a-usu"); and "Taishō-tō" / "Chiwei Yu".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: A Japanese navy record issued in 1886 first started to identify the islets using equivalents of the Chinese and English terms employed by the British. The name "Senkaku Retto" is not found in any Japanese historical document before 1900 (the term "Senkaku Gunto" began being used in the late 19th century), and first appeared in print in a geography journal published in 1900. It was derived from a translation of the English name Pinnacle Islands into a Sinicized Japanese term "Sento Shoto" (as opposed to "Senkaku Retto", i.e., the term used by the Japanese today), which has the same meaning.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The collective use of the name "Diaoyutai" to denote the entire group began with the advent of the controversy in the 1970s.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: As the uninhabited islets were historically used as maritime navigational markers, they were never subjected to administrative control other than the recording of the geographical positions on maps, descriptions in official records of Chinese missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom, etc.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The Japanese central government annexed the islands in early 1895 while still fighting China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Around 1900, Japanese entrepreneur constructed a bonito fish processing plant on the islands, employing over 200 workers. The business failed around 1940 and the islands have remained deserted ever since. In the 1970s, Koga Tatsushirō's son Zenji Koga and Zenji's wife Hanako sold four islets to the Kurihara family of Saitama Prefecture. Kunioki Kurihara owned Uotsuri, Kita-Kojima, and Minami-Kojima. Kunioki's sister owned Kuba.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The islands came under US government occupation in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ended World War II. In 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) identified potential oil and gas reserves in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands. In 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty passed the U.S. Senate, returning the islands to Japanese control in 1972. Also in 1972, the Republic of China government and People's Republic of China government officially began to declare ownership of the islands.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Since 1972, when the islands reverted to Japanese government control, the mayor of Ishigaki has been given civic authority over the territory. The Japanese central government, however, has prohibited Ishigaki from surveying or developing the islands.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In 1978, a Japanese political group constructed the first lighthouse on Uotsuri island and grazed two goats. Goats have since proliferated and affected the island's vegetation.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In 1979 an official delegation from the Japanese government composed of 50 academics, government officials from the Foreign and Transport ministries, officials from the now-defunct Okinawa Development Agency, and Hiroyuki Kurihara, visited the islands and camped on Uotsuri for about four weeks. The delegation surveyed the local ecosystem, finding moles and sheep, studied the local marine life, and examined whether the islands would support human habitation.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In 2005, a Japanese fisherman who owned a lighthouse at Uotsuri Island expressed his intention to relinquish the ownership of the lighthouse, and the lighthouse became a national property pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Code of Japan. Since then, the Japan Coast Guard has maintained and managed the Uotsuri lighthouse.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: From 2002 to 2012, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications paid the Kurihara family ¥25 million a year to rent Uotsuri, Minami-Kojima and Kita-Kojima. Japan's Ministry of Defense rents Kuba island for an undisclosed amount. Kuba is used by the U.S. military as a practice aircraft bombing range. Japan's central government completely owns Taisho island.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: On December 17, 2010, Ishigaki declared January 14 as "Pioneering Day" to commemorate Japan's 1895 annexation of the Senkaku Islands. China condemned Ishigaki's actions. In 2012, both the Tokyo Metropolitan and Japanese central governments announced plans to negotiate purchase of Uotsuri, Kita-Kojima, and Minami-Kojima from the Kurihara family.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: On September 11, 2012, the Japanese government nationalized its control over Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, and Uotsuri islands by purchasing them from the Kurihara family for ¥2.05 billion. China's Foreign Ministry objected saying Beijing would not "sit back and watch its territorial sovereignty violated."


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The island group are known to consist of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks. China has identified and named as many as 71 islets that belong to this group after the Japanese Cabinet released names of 39 uninhabited islands.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: These minor features in the East China Sea are located approximately 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, 200 nautical miles east of the Chinese mainland and 200 nautical miles southwest of the Japanese island of Okinawa.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: According to one visitor, Uotsuri-shima, the largest of the islands, consists of a pair of rocky gray mountains with steep, boulder-strewn slopes rising almost straight from the water's edge. Other, nearby islands were described as large rocks covered by low vegetation.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The depth of the surrounding waters of the continental shelf is approximately except for the Okinawa Trough on the south. The shelf is shallow enough that the western islands were likely connected to the mainland during the Last Glacial Period.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Uotsuri, Kitakojima, Minamikojima and surrounding islets are sedimentary in origin, predominantly consisting of probably Miocene aged sandstone and sandstone-conglomerate, with subordinate conglomerate, coal seams up to 10 centimetres thick, and rare siltstone beds. The sedimentary strata have around 300 metres of exposed thickness at Uotsuri, and have SW-NE, EW and NW-SE strikes, with a general inclination of a dip of less than 20 degrees towards the North. These strata are intruded by sheets of Mio-Pliocene porphyritic hornblende diorite, and are fringed by recent coral outcrops and surface talus deposits. Kuba and Taisho are volcanic in origin, with Kuba comprising "pyroxene andesite, lava, volcanic bombs, pumice, limestone, and other rocky material" and Taisho is thought to be consist of "andesite, tuff breccia, and tuffaceous sandstone".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Permission for collecting herbs on three of the islands was recorded in an Imperial Chinese edict of 1893.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Several floral surveys have been conducted on the Senkaku islands, with a 1980 survey finding that Uotsuri had 339 species of plants. These ecological communities varied based on altitude, with the communities being divided into windswept mountaintop vegetation with "Podocarpus macrophyllus" trees, with the understory including "Liriope muscari" and "Rhaphiolepis umbellata," inclined high forest including the palms "Livistona chinensis" and "Arenga engleri," lowland windswept shrub forest includling "Ficus microcarpa" and "Pouteria obovata," and seashore plants. Minamikojima was much less diverse, and dominated by grasses, while Kitakojima only had sparse plant life. Kuba has a forest near the crater, which includes a variety of flora including "Ceodes umbellifera, Macaranga tanarius, Ficus benjamina, Diospyros maritima, Trema orientalis, Machilus thunbergii, and Livistona subglobosa," with forest floor plants being sparse.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In an account by in 1900, it was noted the large number of birds present on the islands, tens of thousands of short-tailed and black-footed albatross would flock on Uotsuri-shima, in the colder months, while hundreds of thousands of sooty tern and brown noddy would descend on Kitakojima and Minamikojima in the warmer months. He also described the air of Uotsuri as swarming with bluebottle flies and mosquitoes. In the same year, an account by , surveying Kuba Island, noted the presence of whimbrel, Von Schrenck's bittern, the streaked shearwater, and the brown booby. Mikinosuke also noted the large number of chickens and feral cats on the island, with dozens of cats descending on the seabirds at night. Kitakojima and Minamikojima are one of only two significant breeding places of the rare short-tailed albatross ("Phoebastria albatrus"). The islands have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Uotsuri-shima, the largest island, has a number of endemic species such as the Senkaku mole ("Mogera uchidai") and Okinawa-kuro-oo-ari ant. Due to the introduction of domestic goats to the island in 1978, the Senkaku mole is now an endangered species. The striped field mouse ("Apodemus agrarius") has also been noted to be present on Uotsuri. Surveys from 1900 to 1953 and noted the presence of the Asian house shrew, black rats and fruit bats but these were not noted in more recent surveys.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Six species of reptile have been recorded from the islands, including "Gekko hokouensis" (Uotsuri, Minami) "Eumeces elegans" (Uotsuri, Minami), an indeterminate species of "Scincella" (Uotsuri) "Ramphotyphlops braminus" (Uotsuri) "Elaphe carinata" (Uotsuri) and "Dinodon rufozonatus" (Uotsuri).


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Rich marine biodiversity adjacent to the islands has been recognized but poorly studied. Seemingly, varieties of larger fish and animals inhabit or migrate through the area, including tunas, sharks, marlins, critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles, dolphins, pilot whales, sperm whales, and humpback whales.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Territorial sovereignty over the islands and the maritime boundaries around them are disputed between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Japan.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The People's Republic and Republic of China claim that the islands have been a part of Chinese territory since at least 1534. China acknowledge that Japan took control of the islands in 1894–1895 during the first Sino-Japanese War, through the signature of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. China assert that the Potsdam Declaration required that Japan relinquish control of all islands except for "the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine", and China state that this means control of the islands should pass to Republic of China, which was part of China at the time of the first Sino-Japanese War as well as of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Both the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC) respectively separately claim sovereignty based on arguments that include the following points:


title: Senkaku Islands

text: Japan does not accept that there is a dispute, asserting that the islands are an integral part of Japan. Japan has rejected claims that the islands were under China's control prior to 1895, and that these islands were contemplated by the Potsdam Declaration or affected by the San Francisco Peace Treaty.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The existence of the back-arc basin complicates descriptive issues. According to Professor Ji Guoxing of the Asia-Pacific Department at Shanghai Institute for International Studies,


title: Senkaku Islands

text: ...the Okinawa Trough proves that the continental shelves of China and Japan are not connected, that the Trough serves as the boundary between them, and that the Trough should not be ignored ...


title: Senkaku Islands

text: ...the trough is just an incidental depression in a continuous continental margin between the two countries ... [and] the trough should be ignored ...


title: Senkaku Islands

text: The stance given by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is that the Senkaku Islands are clearly an inherent territory of Japan, in light of historical facts and based upon international law, and the Senkaku Islands are under the valid control of Japan. They also state "there exists no issue of territorial sovereignty to be resolved concerning the Senkaku Islands." The following points are given:


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In 2012 the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a website in support of its claims; in late 2014 the National Marine Data and Information Service, a department under the State Oceanic Administration of People's Republic of China created a website of its own to support its claims. In 2016, Chinese fishing, Coast Guard and other vessels were entering the territorial waters around the islands almost daily and in August 2016 the Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida reportedly told China's foreign minister Wang Yi "that the activity represented an escalation of tensions" according to Japanese sources. It was the first meeting of the top diplomats since the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling against China's South China Sea claims and was coincident with a three-party meeting (including South Korea) relative to a North Korean submarine-launched missile in the Sea of Japan.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: On 22 June 2020, the Ishigaki City Council voted to change the name of the area containing the Senkaku Islands from "Tonoshiro" to "Tonoshiro Senkaku". Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that the islands belong to Republic of China, and any moves to deny this fact are invalid. The Kuomintang also condemned the council's move, saying the Islands are ROC territory and the nation would not give up even "an inch" of its sovereignty.


title: Senkaku Islands

text: "" is a documentary film produced by Chris D. Nebe and J.J. Osbun of Monarex Hollywood Corporation and directed by Chris D. Nebe. Nebe calls on the Japanese Government to cede the islands to China, asserting that Japan has no justifiable claim to the islands, and that the United States of America has turned a blind eye in Japan's favor due to the need of the United States to have a strong ally between it and China. Reception of the film was positive in Chinese media. A 2015 "Global Times" article reports that Nebe is "regarded by many as a 'Chinese propagandist an assertion also made in 2014 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Correspondents Report".


title: Senkaku Islands

text: In 2018 the National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty (currently located in the Toranomon Mitsui Building, Chiyoda, Tokyo) was established by the Japanese government to raise public awareness of Japanese territorial rights issues concerning the Senkaku Islands, as well as issues concerning territorial claims to Takeshima and southernmost Kuril Islands.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, the holding company of François-Henri Pinault. Sales in 2015 totalled £4.8 billion (US$7.4 billion). In 2017, the "Salvator Mundi" was sold for $400 million at Christie's in New York, at the time the highest price ever paid for a single painting at an auction.


title: Christie's

text: The official company literature states that founder James Christie (1730–1803) conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766. However, other sources note that James Christie rented auction rooms from 1762, and newspaper advertisements for Christie's sales dating from 1759 have also been traced. After his death, Christie's son, James Christie the Younger (1773–1831) took over the business.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's was a public company, listed on the London Stock Exchange, from 1973 to 1999. In 1974, Jo Floyd was appointed chairman of Christie's. He served as chairman of Christie's International plc from 1976 to 1988, until handing over to Lord Carrington, and later was a non-executive director until 1992. Christie's International Inc. held its first sale in the United States in 1977. Christie's growth was slow but steady since 1989, when it had 42% of the auction market.


title: Christie's

text: In 1990, the company reversed a long-standing policy and guaranteed a minimum price for a collection of artworks in its May auctions. In 1996, sales exceeded those of Sotheby's for the first time since 1954. However, profits did not grow at the same pace; from 1993 through 1997, Christie's annual pretax profits were about $60 million, whereas Sotheby's annual pretax profits were about $265 million for those years.


title: Christie's

text: In 1993, Christie's paid $12.7 million for the London gallery Spink & Son, which specialised in Oriental art and British paintings; the gallery was run as a separate entity. The company bought Leger Gallery for $3.3 million in 1996, and merged it with Spink to become Spink-Leger. Spink-Leger closed in 2002. To make itself competitive with Sotheby's in the property market, Christie's bought Great Estates in 1995, then the largest network of independent estate agents in North America, changing its name to Christie's Great Estates Inc.


title: Christie's

text: In December 1997, under the chairmanship of Lord Hindlip, Christie's put itself on the auction block, but after two months of negotiations with the consortium-led investment firm SBC Warburg Dillon Read it did not attract a bid high enough to accept. In May 1998, François Pinault's holding company, Groupe Artémis S.A., first bought 29.1 percent of the company for $243.2 million, and subsequently purchased the rest of it in a deal that valued the entire company at $1.2 billion. The company has since not been reporting profits, though it gives sale totals twice a year. Its policy, in line with UK accounting standards, is to convert non-UK results using an average exchange rate weighted daily by sales throughout the year.


title: Christie's

text: Like Sotheby's, Christie's became increasingly involved in high-profile private transactions. In 2006, Christie's offered a reported $21 million guarantee to the Donald Judd Foundation and displayed the artist's works for five weeks in an exhibition that later won an AICA award for "Best Installation in an Alternative Space". In 2007 it brokered a $68 million deal that transferred Thomas Eakins's "The Gross Clinic" (1875) from the Jefferson Medical College at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia to joint ownership by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the same year, the Haunch of Venison gallery became a subsidiary of the company.


title: Christie's

text: On 28 December 2008, "The Sunday Times" reported that Pinault's debts left him "considering" the sale of Christie's and that a number of "private equity groups" were thought to be interested in its acquisition. In January 2009, the company employed 2,100 people worldwide, though an unspecified number of staff and consultants were soon to be cut due to a worldwide downturn in the art market; later news reports said that 300 jobs would be cut. With sales for premier Impressionist, Modern, and contemporary artworks tallying only US$248.8 million in comparison to US$739 million just a year before, a second round of job cuts began after May 2009.


title: Christie's

text: In 2012, Impressionist works, which dominated the market during the 1980s boom, were replaced by contemporary art as Christie's top category. Asian art was the third most lucrative area. With income from classic auctioneering falling, treaty sales made £413.4 million ($665 million) in the first half of 2012, an increase of 53% on the same period last year; they now represent more than 18% of turnover. The company has since promoted curated events, centred on a theme rather than an art classification or time period.


title: Christie's

text: As part of a companywide review in 2017, Christie's announced the layoffs of 250 employees, or 12 percent of the total work force, based mainly in Britain and Europe.


title: Christie's

text: In June 2021, Christie’s Paris held its first sale dedicated to women artists, most notably Louise Moillon's "Nature morte aux raisins et pêches".


title: Christie's

text: From 2008 until 2013, Christie's charged 25 per cent for the first $50,000; 20 per cent on the amount between $50,001 and $1 million, and 12 per cent on the rest. From 2013, it charged 25 per cent for the first $75,000; 20 per cent on the next $75,001 to $1.5 million and 12 per cent on the rest.


title: Christie's

text: In January 2009, Christie's had 85 offices in 43 countries, including New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Houston, Amsterdam, Moscow, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Rome, South Korea, Milan, Madrid, Japan, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Mexico City.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's main London saleroom is on King Street in St. James's, where it has been based since 1823. It had a second London saleroom in South Kensington which opened in 1975 and primarily handled the middle market. Christie's permanently closed the South Kensington saleroom in July 2017 as part of their restructuring plans announced in March 2017. The closure was due in part to a considerable decrease in sales between 2015 and 2016 in addition to the company expanding its online sales presence.


title: Christie's

text: In 1977, the company opened its first international branch on Park Avenue in New York City in the Delmonico’s Hotel grand ballroom on the second floor; in 1997 it took a 30-year lease on a space in Rockefeller Center for $40 million.


title: Christie's

text: Until 2001, Christie's East, a division that sold lower-priced art and objects, was located at 219 East 67th Street. In 1996, Christie's bought a townhouse on East 59th Street in Manhattan as a separate gallery where experts could show clients art in complete privacy to conduct private treaty sales.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's opened a Beverly Hills salesroom in 1997. In April 2017, in moved to a two-story flagship space in Beverly Hills, designed by wHY.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's has been operating a space in Hong Kong's Alexandra House since 2014. In 2021, the company announced plans to move its Hong Kong headquarters to the Zaha Hadid-designed luxury tower The Henderson in 2024, where it will launch year-round auctions. Measuring more than over four storeys, the new space, which incorporates a permanent saleroom and galleries, is comparable in size to Christie’s London headquarters.


title: Christie's

text: In 2000, allegations surfaced of a price-fixing arrangement between Christie's and Sotheby's. Executives from Christie's subsequently alerted the Department of Justice of their suspicions of commission-fixing collusion.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's gained immunity from prosecution in the United States as a longtime employee of Christie's confessed and cooperated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Numerous members of Sotheby's senior management were fired soon thereafter, and A. Alfred Taubman, the largest shareholder of Sotheby's at the time, took most of the blame; he and Dede Brooks (the CEO) were given jail sentences, and Christie's, Sotheby's and their owners also paid a civil lawsuit settlement of $512 million.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's has been criticized for "an embarrassing history of a lack of transparency around provenance". In May 2020, Hobby Lobby sued the auction house for its sale of a Gilgamesh tablet, allegedly while knowing it had a fake provenance. In June 2020, they were forced to withdraw four Greek and Roman antiquities from sale after it was discovered that they came from "sites linked to convicted antiquities traffickers". The same month, they were criticized for putting up a Benin plaque and two Igbo alusi figures for auction. The plaque was tied to similar plaques taken from Nigeria during the Benin Expedition of 1897 and remained unsold after an auction was held. The alusi figures are alleged to have been taken from Nigeria during the Nigerian Civil War and were sold for €212,500 (after fees), below their low estimate of €250,000. Christie's claims to require "verifiable documented provenance that the object was taken out of its source nation prior to the earlier date of 2000, or the date which is legally applicable between the country in which the sale takes place and the source nation".


title: Christie's

text: In November 2014, Christie's had to withdraw a prehistoric sculpture from Sardinia, valued at $800,000–$1.2m, put on auction by Michael Steinhardt, a US-billionaire, who was given a lifetime ban on acquiring further antiquities by the Manhattan district attorney's office in 2021. After having acquired artworks with unverified provenance for years, for example by convicted art dealer Giacomo Medici, Steinhard's collection had been subjected to search warrants and investigations since 2017. He finally surrendered 180 looted and illegally smuggled antiquities valued at $70m. According to The Guardian, the district attorney said: “For decades, Michael Steinhardt displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artefacts without concern for the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across the globe.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's first ventured into storage services for outside clients in 1984, when it opened a 100,000 square feet brick warehouse in London that was granted "Exempted Status" by HM Revenue and Customs, meaning that property may be imported into the United Kingdom and stored without incurring import duties and VAT. Christie's Fine Art Storage Services, or CFASS, is a wholly owned subsidiary that runs Christie's storage operation.


title: Christie's

text: In September 2008, Christie's signed a 50-year lease on an early 1900s warehouse of the historic New York Dock Company in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and subsequently spent $30 million converting it into a six-storey, 250,000 square feet art-storage facility. The facility opened in 2010 and features high-tech security and climate controls that maintain a virtually constant 70° and 50% relative humidity.


title: Christie's

text: Located near the Upper Bay tidal waterway near the Atlantic Ocean, the Brooklyn facility was hit by at least one storm surge during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. CFASS subsequently faced client defections and complaints arising from damage to works of art. In 2013, AXA Art Insurance filed a lawsuit in New York court alleging that CFASS' "gross negligence" during the hurricane damaged art collected by late cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and his wife Jacqueline Rebecca Louise de Rothschild. Later that year, StarNet Insurance Co., the insurer for the LeRoy Neiman Foundation and the artist's estate, also filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court claiming that the storage company's negligence caused more than $10 million in damages to Neiman's art.


title: Christie's

text: Christie's Education previously offered Master degree programs in London and New York, but they were planned to be phased out in 2019. In 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Christie's noted that there was a lack of racial diversity in the art world, and admitted that Christie's degree programs only exacerbated these inequities.


title: Christie's

text: However, Christie's continue to offer non-degree programmes in London, New York, Hong Kong and Amsterdam as well as online. In addition they offer an Art Business Masterclass Certificate and the Luxury Masterclass Certificate.


title: Christie's

text: With Bonhams, Christie's is a shareholder in the London-based Art Loss Register, a privately owned database used by law enforcement services worldwide to trace and recover stolen art.


title: Throne of Blood

text: As with the play, the film tells the story of a warrior who assassinates his sovereign at the urging of his ambitious wife. Kurosawa was a fan of the play and intended to make his own adaptation for several years, delaying it after learning of Orson Welles' "Macbeth" (1948). Among his changes was the ending, which required archers to fire arrows around Mifune. The film was shot around Mount Fuji and Izu Peninsula.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Despite the change in setting and language and numerous creative liberties, "Throne of Blood" is often considered one of the better film adaptations of the play, and has received much critical praise. The film won two Mainichi Film Awards, including Best Actor for Toshiro Mifune.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Generals Miki and Washizu are samurai commanders and friends under Tsuzuki, a local lord who reigns in the castle of the Spider's Web Forest. After defeating the lord's enemies in battle, they return to his castle. On their way through the thick forest, they meet an evil spirit, who foretells their future, telling them that Washizu will be named Lord of the Northern Garrison and Miki will become commander of the first fortress that day. The spirit then foretells that Washizu eventually will become Lord of Spider's Web Castle, and finally Miki's son will become lord. When the two return to Tsuzuki's estate, he rewards them with exactly what the spirit had predicted. As Washizu discusses this with his wife Asaji, she manipulates him into causing the second part of the prophecy to come true by murdering Tsuzuki when he visits.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Asaji gives drugged sake to Tsuzuki's guards, causing them to fall asleep and allowing Washizu to enter Tsuzuki's bedchamber and kill him in his sleep. When Washizu returns in shock at his deed, Asaji grabs the bloody spear and puts it in the hands of one of an unconscious guard, then cries out that an intruder has entered the castle; Washizu slays the guard before he has a chance to plead his innocence. Kunimaru, Tsuzuki's vengeful son, and Noriyasu, one of Tsuzuki's advisors, both suspect Washizu's treachery and try to warn Miki, who refuses to believe what they are saying about his friend. Under Asaji's influence, Washizu is unsure of Miki's loyalty, but chooses Miki's son as his heir because he and Asaji have no child of their own. Washizu plans to tell Miki and his son about his decision at a grand banquet. However, Asaji tells him that she is pregnant, which leaves him with a quandary concerning his heir; now Miki and his son have to be eliminated.


title: Throne of Blood

text: During the banquet, Washizu is agitated because Miki and his son have not shown up, and drinks sake copiously. He loses his self-control when Miki's ghost suddenly appears. In a delusional panic, he reveals what has happened to Miki by exclaiming that he is willing to slay Miki a second time, unsheathing his sword and slashing at the empty air near Miki's seat. Attempting to cover for him, Asaji tells the guests that he is drunk and has everyone retire for the evening. One of Washizu's men arrives carrying a bundle containing the severed head of Miki, and tells Washizu and Asaji that Miki's son escaped. Washizu kills the assassin.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Later, Washizu's men are beginning to doubt and fear him, and rumors circulate that Miki's son Yoshiteru, Kunimaru, and Noriyasu have joined forces with their onetime rival Inui. Washizu is distraught by the news that his heir has been born dead. In order to ascertain the outcome of the impending battle with his foes, he returns to the forest in search of the evil spirit. The spirit tells him that he will not be defeated in battle until "the trees of the Spider's Web Forest rise against the castle". Washizu believes this is impossible and becomes confident of his victory. Washizu tells his troops of the prophecy, and they share his confidence. The next morning, Washizu is awakened by the screams of Asaji's attendants. In her quarters, he finds Asaji in a semi-catatonic state, trying to wash clean an imaginary stain and stench of blood from her hands. Distracted by the sound of his troops, Washizu leaves to investigate. Washizu is told by a panicked soldier that the trees of Spider's Web Forest "have risen to attack us".


title: Throne of Blood

text: Washizu tries to muster his troops, but they ignore his commands and begin firing arrows at him. several go through his armor and one pierces his neck, severely wounding him, and when he tells them that to kill their lord is treason, they accuse Washizu of the murder of his predecessor. With his enemies approaching the castle gates, he falls to his arrow wounds, trying to draw his sword as he dies. It is then revealed that the attacking force had used trees, cut from the forest during the night, to shield their advance onto the castle.


title: Throne of Blood

text: William Shakespeare's plays had been read in Japan since the Meiji Restoration in 1868, though banned during World War II for not being Japanese. Director Akira Kurosawa stated that he had admired Shakespeare's "Macbeth" for a long time, and that he envisioned making a film adaptation of it after he completed his 1950 film "Rashomon". When he learned that Orson Welles had released his own version of "Macbeth" in 1948, Kurosawa decided to postpone his adaptation project for several years.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Kurosawa believed that Scotland and Japan in the Middle Ages shared social problems and that these had lessons for the present day. Moreover, "Macbeth" could serve as a cautionary tale complementing his 1952 film "Ikiru".


title: Throne of Blood

text: In May 1956, Kurosawa announced that he would be producing three samurai films for Toho, "Throne of Blood", "The Hidden Fortress", and "Revenge", each to be filmed from September 1956 to early 1957 by other directors. Ishirō Honda, best known for directing the 1954 "kaiju" film "Godzilla", was slated to direct "Throne of Blood", but Kurosawa ended up direct all three films himself.


title: Throne of Blood

text: The film combines Shakespeare's play with the Noh style of drama. Kurosawa was an admirer of Noh, which he preferred over Kabuki. In particular, he wished to incorporate Noh-style body movements and set design. Noh also makes use of masks, and the evil spirit is seen, in different parts of the film, wearing faces reminiscent of these masks, starting with "yaseonna" (old lady). Noh often stresses the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence. This is connected to Washizu being denied salvation, with the chorus singing that his ghost is still in the world. Furthermore, the film score's use of flute and drum are drawn from Noh.


title: Throne of Blood

text: All three of Kurosawa's frequent script collaborators participated for the first time: Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Ryūzō Kikushima, each working with the director for their fourth time. Initially, the screenwriters wrote the script with the intention that it would be directed by Ishirō Honda, but Toho insisted Kurosawa take the directing position after reading the script and realizing a large budget was required for the film.


title: Throne of Blood

text: The castle exteriors were built and shot on the volcanic slopes of Mount Fuji. The castle courtyard was constructed at Toho's Tamagawa studio, with volcanic soil brought from Fuji so that the ground matched. The interiors were shot in a smaller studio in Tokyo. The forest scenes were a combination of actual Fuji forest and studio shots in Tokyo. Washizu's mansion was shot in the Izu Peninsula.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Production designer Yoshirō Muraki said the crew opted to employ the color black in the set walls, and a lot of armor, to complement the mist and fog effects. This design was based on ancient scrolls depicting Japanese castles.


title: Throne of Blood

text: The scene in which trees from the Spider's Web Forest approach the castle, was created by Toho's special effects department and directed by Eiji Tsuburaya. Originally, this scene was longer, but Kurosawa cut several shots of trees from the film because he was unimpressed by them.


title: Throne of Blood

text: Washizu's death scene, in which his own archers turn upon him and shoot him with arrows, was in fact performed with real arrows, shot by knowledgeable and skilled archers. During filming, Mifune waved his arms, which was how the actor indicated his intended bodily direction. This was for his own safety in order to prevent the archers from accidentally hitting him.


title: Throne of Blood

text: The film was released theatrically in Japan on January 15, 1957 by Toho, and grossed , making it the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 1957, after Shintoho's "Emperor Meiji and the Great Russo-Japanese War", which grossed ¥542.91 million. In the United States, the film was distributed by Brandon Films with English subtitles at 105 minutes and opened on November 22, 1961.


title: Throne of Blood

text: "Throne of Blood" was the first film to be screened at the 1st BFI London Film Festival on October 16, 1957. After the screening, Akira Kurosawa attended a party at film critic Dilys Powell's house, and had dinner with actor Laurence Olivier, and actress Vivien Leigh who were planning on playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in a film adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" that never materialized. Oliver told Kurosawa that he had enjoyed watching the film and was impressed by the scene in which Toshiro Mifune's Macbeth is shot by arrows. Isuzu Yamada's acting impressed Leigh, and she asked why Yamada made such little movement when she was mad.


title: Throne of Blood

text: In 1991, the film was released in the United States on LaserDisc by The Criterion Collection, and on VHS by Media Home Entertainment. Toho released the film on DVD in Japan in 2002 and on Blu-ray in 2010. In 2013, Madman Entertainment distributed the film on DVD in Region 4. In Region A, The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray in 2014, having released the film on DVD 10 years earlier.


title: Throne of Blood

text: In 2018, the film was screened by the National Film Archive of Japan at the "Essential 2018 National Film Archive Opening Cinema Memorial" in Kyōbashi, Tokyo, along with 9 other Japanese films. In 2021, the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute screened a 4K remaster of the film at the 12th 10am Film Festival.


title: Throne of Blood

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 44 reviews, with an average score of 8.80/10. The site's consensus states, "A career high point for Akira Kurosawa -- and one of the best film adaptations of a Shakespeare play".


title: Throne of Blood

text: In 1961, the "Time" review praised Kurosawa and the film as "a visual descent into the hell of greed and superstition". Bosley Crowther from "The New York Times" called the idea of Shakespeare in Japanese "amusing," and complimented the cinematography. Most critics stated it was the visuals that filled the gap left by the removal of Shakespeare's poetry. U.K. directors Geoffrey Reeve and Peter Brook considered the film to be a masterpiece, but denied it was a Shakespeare film because of the language. Film historian Donald Richie praised the film as "a marvel because it is made of so little: fog, wind, trees, mist". Film critic Stephen Prince compared its minimalist landscapes to the painting technique "sumi-e".


title: Throne of Blood

text: The film has received praise from literary critics despite the many liberties it takes with the original play. The American literary critic Harold Bloom judged it "the most successful film version of "Macbeth"". Sylvan Barnet writes it captured Macbeth as a strong warrior, and that "Without worrying about fidelity to the original," "Throne of Blood" is "much more satisfactory" than most Shakespeare films. Film historian David A. Conrad wrote that just as Shakespeare's play commented on "questions of legitimacy, masculinity, and civil war" that resonated in early 17th-century England, Kurosawa's movie engages with contemporary Japanese debates about the "spiderless cobweb" of postwar bureaucracy and industry. In his "2015 Movie Guide", Leonard Maltin gave the film four stars, calling it a "graphic, powerful adaptation".


title: Throne of Blood

text: Akira Kurosawa's 1960 film "The Bad Sleep Well", was heavily influenced by William Shakespeare's "Hamlet", as well as "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas. Roman Polanski's 1971 film version of "Macbeth" has similarities to "Throne of Blood", in shots of characters on twisted roads, set design, and music to identify locations and psychological conditions. Toshiro Mifune's death scene was the source of inspiration for Piper Laurie's death scene in the 1976 film "Carrie", in which knives are thrown at her, in this case by character Carrie White using her psychic powers. In 1985, Kurosawa returned to adapting Shakespeare, choosing the play "King Lear" for his final epic film "Ran", and again moving the setting to feudal Japan.


title: Throne of Blood

text: "Throne of Blood" is referenced in the anime film "Millennium Actress" (2001) in the form of the Forest Spirit/Witch. It was adapted for the stage by director Ping Chong, premiering at the 2010 Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The Syriac Orthodox Church (; , ), officially known as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and informally as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox church that branched from the Church of Antioch. The bishop of Antioch, known as the patriarch, heads the church, claiming apostolic succession through Saint Peter () in the , according to sacred tradition. The church upholds Miaphysite doctrine in Christology, and employs the Divine Liturgy of Saint James, associated with James, the brother of Jesus. Classical Syriac is the official and liturgical language of the church.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The church gained its hierarchical distinctiveness in 512, when pro-Chalcedonian patriarch Flavian II of Antioch was deposed by Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus, and a synod was held at Laodicea in Syria in order to choose his successor, a prominent Miaphysite theologian Severus the Great (d. 538). His later deposition (in 518) was not recognized by the Miaphisite party, and thus a distinctive (autocephalous) miaphysite patriarchate was established, headed by Severus and his successors. During the sixth century, miaphysite hierarchical structure in the region was further straightened by Jacob Baradaeus (d. 578), while the pro-Chalcedonian faction would form to become the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch (part of the wider Eastern Orthodox Church).


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Mor Hananyo Monastery was the headquarters of the church from until 1932. The patriarchate was transferred to Homs due to the Sayfo genocide and the effects of World War I. The current see of the church is the Cathedral of Saint George, Bab Tuma, Damascus, Syria, since 1959. Since 2014, Ignatius Aphrem II is the current Patriarch of Antioch. The church has archdioceses and patriarchal vicariates in countries covering six continents. Being an active member of the World Council of Churches, the church participates in various ecumenical dialogues with other churches.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Syriac-speaking Christians have referred to themselves as ""Ārāmāyē/Āṯūrāyē/Sūryāyē"" in native Aramaic terms based on their ethnic identity. In most languages besides English, a unique name has long been used to distinguish the church from the polity of Syria. In Arabic (the official language of Syria), the church is known as the "Kenissa Suryaniya" as the term ""Suryani"" identifies the Syriac language and people. Chalcedonians referred to the church as "Jacobite" (after Jacob Baradaeus) since the schism that followed the 451 Council of Chalcedon. English-speaking historians identified the church as the "Syrian Church". The English term "Syrian" was used to describe the community of Syriacs in ancient Syria. In the 15th century, the term "Orthodox" (from Greek: ""orthodoxía""; "correct opinion") was used to identify churches that practiced the set of doctrines believed by the early Christians. Since 1922, the term "Syrian" started being used for things named after the Syrian Federation. Hence, in 2000, the Holy Synod ruled that the church be named as "Syriac Orthodox Church" after the Syriac language, the official liturgical language of the church.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The church is not ethnically exclusive, but two main ethnic groups in the community contest their ethnic identification as "Assyrians" and "Arameans". "Suryoye" is the term used to identify the Syriacs in the diaspora. The Syriac Orthodox identity included auxiliary cultural traditions of the Assyrian Empire and Aramean kingdoms. Church traditions crystallized into ethnogenesis through the preservation of their stories and customs by the 12th century. Since the 1910s, the identity of Syriac Orthodoxy in the Ottoman Empire was principally religious and linguistic.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In recent works, Assyrian-American historian Sargon Donabed has pointed out that parishes in the US were originally using "Assyrian" designations in their official English names, also noting that in some cases those designations were later changed to "Syrian", and then to "Syriac", while several other parishes still continue to use "Assyrian" designations.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The church claims apostolic succession through the pre-Chalcedonian Patriarchate of Antioch to the Early Christian communities from Jerusalem led by Saint Barnabas and Saint Paul in Antioch, during the Apostolic era, as described in the Acts of the Apostles; ""The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch"" (New Testament, ). Saint Peter was selected by Jesus Christ (New Testament, ) and is venerated as the first bishop of Antioch in after the Incident at Antioch.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Saint Evodius was Bishop of Antioch until 66 AD and was succeeded by Saint Ignatius of Antioch. The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" () was by Ignatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD. In A.D 169, Theophilus of Antioch wrote three apologetic tracts to Autolycus. Patriarch Babylas of Antioch was considered the first saint recorded as having had his remains moved or "translated" for religious purposes—a practice that was to become extremely common in later centuries. Eustathius of Antioch supported Athanasius of Alexandria who opposed the followers of the condemned doctrine of Arius (Arian controversy) at the First Council of Nicaea. During the time of Meletius of Antioch the church split due to his being deposed for Homoiousian leanings—which became known as the Meletian Schism and saw several groups and several claimants to the See of Antioch.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Given the antiquity of the Bishopric of Antioch and the importance of the Christian community in the city of Antioch, a commercially significant city in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire, the First Council of Nicaea (325) recognized the Bishopric as one of main regional primacies in Christendom, with jurisdiction over the administrative Diocese of the Orient, thus laying the foundation for the creation of the "Patriarchate of Antioch and All of the East". Because of the significance attributed to Ignatius of Antioch in the church, most of the Syriac Orthodox patriarchs since 1293 have used the name of Ignatius in the title of the Patriarch preceding their own Patriarchal name.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Christological controversies that followed the Council of Chalcedon (451) resulted in a long struggle for the Patriarchate between those who accepted and those who rejected the council. In 512, pro-Chalcedonian patriarch Flavian II of Antioch was deposed by Emperor Anastasius I (d. 518), and new patriarch Severus of Antioch (d. 538) was chosen to succeed him. On 6 November 512, at the synod of Laodicea in Syria, a prominent miapyhsite theologian Severus the Great was elected, and consecrated on 16 November at the Great Church of Antioch. In 518, he was exiled from Antioch, by new emperor Justin I (d. 527), who tried to enforce a uniform Chalcedonian orthodoxy throughout the empire. Those who belonged to the pro-Chalcedonian party accepted newly appointed patriarch Paul, who took over the see of Antioch. The miaphisite patriarchate was thus forced to move from Antioch with Severus the Great who took refuge in Alexandria. The non-Chalcedonian community was divided between "Severians" (followers of Severus), and aphthartodocetae, and that division remained unresolved until 527. Severians continued to recognize Severus as the legitimate miaphysite Patriarch of Antioch until his death in 538, and then proceeded to follow his successors.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Bishop Jacob Baradaeus (died 578) is credited for ordaining most of the miaphysite hierarchy while facing heavy persecution in the sixth century. In 544, Jacob Baradeus ordained Sergius of Tella continuing the non-Chalcedonian succession of patriarchs of the Church of Antioch. That was done in opposition to the government-backed Patriarchate of Antioch held by the pro-Chalcedonian believers leading to the Syriac Orthodox Church being known popularly as the "Jacobite" Church, while the Chalcedonian believers were known popularly as "Melkites—c"oming from the Syriac word for king (malka), an implication of the Chalcedonian Church's relationship to the Roman Emperor (later emphasised by the Melkite Greek Catholic Church). Because of many historical upheavals and consequent hardships that the Syriac Orthodox Church had to undergo, the patriarchate was transferred to different monasteries in Mesopotamia for centuries. John III of the Sedre was elected and consecrated Patriarch after the death of Athanasius I Gammolo in 631 A.D., followed by the fall of Roman Syria and the Muslim conquest of the Levant. John and several bishops were summoned before Emir Umayr ibn Sad al-Ansari of Hims to engage in open debate regarding Christianity and represent the entire Christian community, including non-Syriac Orthodox communities, such as Greek Orthodox Syrians. The Emir demanded translations of the Gospels into Arabic to confirm John's beliefs, which according to the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian was the first translation of the Gospels into Arabic.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: During 1160, the patriarchate was transferred from Antioch to Mor Hananyo Monastery (Deir al. Zaʿfarān) in southeastern Anatolia near Mardin, where it remained until 1933 and re-established in Homs, Syria, due to the adverse political situation in Turkey. In 1959, the patriarchate was transferred to Damascus. The mother church and official seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church are now situated in Bab Tuma, Damascus, capital of Syria.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The eighth-century hagiography "Life of Jacob Baradaeus" is evidence of a definite denominational and social differentiation between the Chalcedonians and Miaphysites (Syriac Orthodox). The longer hagiography shows that the Syriac Orthodox (called "Syriac Jacobites" in the work: "suryoye yaquboye") self-identified with Jacob's story more than those of other saints. Coptic historian and miaphysite bishop Severus ibn al-Muqaffa (ca. 897) speaks of Jacobite origins, and on the veneration of Jacob Baradaeus. He explained that unlike the Chalcedonian Christians (who were labeled as "Melkites"), Miaphysite Jacobites never traded their Orthodoxy to win the favor of the Byzantine emperors, as the Melkites had done ("malko" is derived from "ruler, king, emperor").


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In Antioch, after the 11th-century persecutions, the Syriac Orthodox population was almost extinguished. Only one Jacobite church is attested in Antioch in the first half of the 12th century, while a second and third are attested in the second half of the century, perhaps due to refugee influx. Dorothea Weltecke thus concludes that the Syriac Orthodox populace was very low in this period in Antioch and surroundings.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In the 12th century, several Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs visited Antioch and some established temporary residences. In the 13th century, the Syriac Orthodox hierarchy in Antioch was prepared to accept Latin supervision. In Adana, an anonymous 1137 report speaks of the entire population consisting of Syriac Orthodox. Before the advent of the Crusades, the Syriacs occupied most of the hill country of Jazirah (Upper Mesopotamia).


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Moses of Mardin (fl. 1549–d. 1592) was a diplomat of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Rome in the 16th century.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: By the early 1660s, 75% of the 5,000 Syriac Orthodox of Aleppo had converted to Catholicism following the arrival of mendicant missionaries. The Catholic missionaries had sought to place a Catholic Patriarch among the Jacobites and consecrated Andrew Akhijan as the Patriarch of the newly founded Syriac Catholic Church. The Propaganda Fide and foreign diplomats pushed for Akhijan to be recognized as the Jacobite Patriarch, and the Porte then consented and warned the Syriac Orthodox that they would be considered an enemy if they did not recognize him. Despite the warning and gifts to priests, frequent conflicts and violent arguments continued between the Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs. Around 1665, many Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India, committed themselves in allegiance to the Syriac Orthodox Church, which established the Malankara Syrian Church. The Malankara Church consolidated under Mar Thoma I welcomed Gregorios Abdal Jaleel, who regularised the canonical ordination of Mar Thoma I as a native democratically elected Bishop of the Malabar Syrian Christians.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In the 19th century, the various Syriac Christian denominations did not view themselves as part of one ethnic group. During the "Tanzimat" reforms (1839–78), the Syriac Orthodox was granted independent status by gaining recognition as their own millet in 1873, apart from Armenians and Greeks.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In the late 19th century, the Syriac Orthodox community of the Middle East, primarily from the cities of Adana and Harput, began the process of creating the Syriac diaspora, with the United States being one of their first destinations in the 1890s. Later, in Worcester, the first Syriac Orthodox Church in the United States was built.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Also in the late 1800s, the reformation faction of the Saint Thomas Christians in India left to form the Mar Thoma Syrian Church.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The 1895–96 massacres in Turkey affected the Armenian and Syriac Orthodox communities when an estimated 105,000 Christians were killed. By the end of the 19th century, 200,000 Syriac Orthodox Christians remained in the Middle East, most concentrated around Saffron Monastery, the Patriarchal Seat.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In 1870, there were 22 Syriac Orthodox settlements in the vicinity of Diyarbakır. In the 1870–71 Diyarbakır "salnames", there were 1,434 Orthodox Syriacs in that city. On 10 December 1876, Ignatius Peter IV consecrated Geevarghese Gregorios of Parumala as metropolitan. Rivalry within the Syriac Orthodox Church in Tur Abdin resulted in many conversions to the Syriac Catholic Church (the Uniate branch).


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The Ottoman authorities killed and deported Orthodox Syriacs, then looted and appropriated their properties. During 1915–16, the number of Orthodox Syriacs in the Diyarbakır province was reduced by 72%, and in the Mardin province by 58%.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In 1924, the patriarchate of the Church was transferred to Homs after Kemal Atatürk expelled the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, who took the library of Deir el-Zaferan and settled in Damascus. The Syriac Orthodox villages in Tur Abdin suffered from the 1925–26 Kurdish rebellions and massive flight to Lebanon, northern Iraq and especially Syria ensued.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In the early 1920s, the city of Qamishli was built mainly by Syriac Orthodox refugees, escaping the Syriac genocide.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In 1959, the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church was transferred to Damascus in Syria. In the mid-1970s, the estimate of Syriac Orthodox lived in Syria is 82,000. In 1977, the number of Syriac Orthodox followers in diaspora dioceses was: 9,700 in the Diocese of Middle Europe; 10,750 in the Diocese of Sweden and surrounding countries.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: On 20 October 1987, Geevarghese Mar Gregorios of Parumala was declared a saint by Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch permitting additions to the diptychs.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The supreme head of the Syriac Orthodox Church is named Patriarch of Antioch, in reference to his titular pretense to one of the five patriarchates of the Pentarchy of Byzantine Christianity. Considered the "father of fathers", he must be an ordained bishop. He is the general administrator to Holy Synod and supervises the spiritual, administrative, and financial matters of the church. He governs external relations with other churches and signs agreements, treaties, contracts, pastoral encyclicals (bulls), pastoral letters related to the affairs of the church.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The title "bishop" comes from the Greek word" episkopos," meaning "the one who oversees". A bishop is a spiritual ruler of the church who has different ranks. The highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy is the Patriarch. The second-highest rank is the "Maphrian", also known as Catholicos of India, who is the head of the Malankara Syrian Jacobite Church in India. Then there are metropolitan bishops or archbishops, and under them, there are auxiliary bishops.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: The priest ("Kasheesho") is the seventh rank and is the one duly appointed to administer the sacraments. Unlike in the Catholic Church, Syriac deacons may marry before ordained as priests; they cannot marry after ordained as priests. There is an honorary rank among the priests that are Corepiscopos who has the privileges of "first among the priests" and is given a chain with a cross and specific vestment decorations. Corepiscopos is the highest rank a married man can be elevated to in the Syriac Orthodox Church. The ranks above the Corepiscopos are unmarried.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: In the Syriac Orthodox tradition, different ranks among the deacons are specifically assigned with particular duties. The six ranks of the diaconate are:


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Only a full deacon can take the censer during the Divine Liturgy to assist the priest. In Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, because of the lack of deacons, altar assistants who do not have a rank of deaconhood may assist the priest.


title: Syriac Orthodox Church

text: Historically, in the Malankara Church, the local chief was called as Archdeacon, who was the ecclesiastical authority of the Saint Thomas Christians in the Malabar region of India.