title: Vytautas

text: As a result of the Peace of Thorn of 1411, Vytautas received Samogitia for his lifetime. However, the parties could not agree on the border. Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, agreed to mediate the dispute. In 1413, it was declared that the whole right bank of the Nemunas (Neman River) was Samogitia and therefore belonged to Lithuania. The Teutonic Knights disagreed and a new war started in 1414. The war lasted for just a few months, and the dispute was brought to the Council of Constance. Even though the dispute was not resolved, the Samogitians had a chance to present their case to the leaders of Europe. It is seen as an important event in the diplomatic history of Lithuania. Several other mediation attempts failed, and yet another war with the Teutonic Order started in 1422. After several months of fighting, the Treaty of Lake Melno was signed. Samogitia was returned to Lithuania in perpetuity, while the city of Memel (present-day Klaipėda) and surrounding territories stayed with the Order. This border, as established by the treaty, remained stable for some 500 years until the Memel Territory dispute of 1923. With peace established, Vytautas could now concentrate on reforms and the relationship with Poland.


title: Vytautas

text: In 1399 Jadwiga of Poland and her newborn died in childbirth. Jogaila's power in Poland was jeopardised as he was a foreigner king with no other ties to the throne but his wife. Also, the defeat at Vorskla forced a re-evaluation of the relationship between Poland and Lithuania. The result was the Union of Vilnius and Radom in 1401. Vytautas was granted wide autonomy, but after his death the title and powers of Grand Duke of Lithuania were to be transferred to the king of Poland. In case Jagiełło died first without an heir, the Polish nobility agreed not to elect a new king without consulting Vytautas. The unique feature of this union was that the Lithuanian nobility presented their own document: for the first time somebody other than dukes played a role in the state matters.


title: Vytautas

text: Vytautas was one of the creators of the Union of Horodło with Poland in 1413. According to the act of the union, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was to retain a separate Grand Duke and its own parliament. At the same time both the Polish and Lithuanian Sejms were to discuss all the important matters jointly. This union was important culturally as well as politically because it granted Lithuanian Christian nobles the same rights as the Polish szlachta. This act did not include Orthodox nobles. This paved the way for more contacts and cooperation between the nobles of Poland and of Lithuania.


title: Vytautas

text: In January 1429, at the Congress of Lutsk it was proposed by Sigismund, king of Hungary, that Vytautas should be crowned King of Lithuania. It resulted in a great crisis between Vytautas, king Władysław and Polish nobles. The envoys who were transporting documents supporting Vytautas's coronation and proposing an alliance between Lithuania, Hungary and the Teutonic Order were stopped at the Polish-Lithuanian border in the autumn of 1430. Vytautas died in the Trakai Island Castle, ending the whole affair. He was buried in the Cathedral of Vilnius. The knowledge about his remains has been lost.


title: Vytautas

text: According to the "Encyclopædia Britannica" Eleventh Edition, Vytautas "was certainly the most imposing personality of his day in Eastern Europe, and his martial valour was combined with statesmanlike foresight."


title: Vytautas

text: Vytautas backed the economic development of his state and introduced many reforms. Under his rule the Grand Duchy of Lithuania gradually became more centralised, as local princes with dynastic ties to the throne were replaced by the governors loyal to Vytautas. The governors were rich landowners who formed the basis for the Lithuanian nobility. During Vytautas' rule, the influential Radvila (Radziwiłł) and Goštautas families began their rise.


title: Vytautas

text: In 1398, Vytautas brought over families of the Karaim (388 families) and Tatar peoples. Their principal role was to guard the castle and the bridges, but they also served as translators, farmers, traders, and diplomats. He retains a very high reputation among them, with the anniversary of his death being officially celebrated in 1930 in the kenesa in Vilnius.


title: Vytautas

text: Born in 1350 in the castle of present-day Old Trakai (Senieji Trakai), Vytautas was the son of Kęstutis and his wife Birutė. Vytautas was a cousin and childhood friend of Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), who became King of Poland in 1386. Around 1370, he married Anna, who gave birth to Sophia of Lithuania. Sophia was married to Vasily I, Grand Prince of Moscow, and mother and regent to their son Vasili II. After Anna's death in 1418, Vytautas married her niece Juliana Olshanska, daughter of Ivan Olshanski who outlived him. Because of the relationship between the two women, the Bishop of Vilnius was unwilling to perform the ceremony without a papal dispensation; however, Jan Kropidło did not have such scruples and married them on 13 November 1418. According to the 16th century Bychowiec Chronicle, his first wife was Maria Łukomska, however, this is not confirmed by other sources.


title: Vytautas

text: Vytautas appears in several works of fiction dealing with the Polish-Lithuanian conflict with the Teutonic Order. He appears in the narrative poem "Konrad Wallenrod" by Adam Mickiewicz. He was portrayed by Józef Kostecki in "Knights of the Teutonic Order", the 1960 adaptation of the famous novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz.


title: Vytautas

text: In 2014, a short animation was produced by "Four Directions of Fairy Tales" (Cztery Strony Bajek) in association with the Association of Polish Karaims, portraying the Karaim story of Vytautas and his magic horse, with voiceovers in several languages, including Karaim, Polish, English, and Lithuanian.


title: Vytautas

text: Vytautas is also mentioned in Jonathan Franzen's fictitious novel ""The Corrections"", which attributes his death in 1430 to Lithuania's gradual downfall as a "global player".


title: Timeline of English history

text: This is a timeline of English history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in England and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England.


title: Nancy Dussault

text: She is best known for playing Muriel Rush in the sitcom "Too Close for Comfort" (1980–1987). In a career spanning over half a century, Dussault received two Tony Award nominations.


title: Nancy Dussault

text: Dussault was born in Pensacola, Florida. Her parents were George Adrian, a naval officer, and Sarah Isabel (née Seitz) Dussault.


title: Nancy Dussault

text: In 1962, Dussault stepped into the role of Maria in the Broadway production of "The Sound of Music". She received a Tony Award nomination in 1961 for Best Featured Actress (Musical) for "Do Re Mi" and was nominated for her performance in "Bajour" (1965). Of her performance in "Do Re Mi" and later career, Bloom and Vlastnik wrote: "Confidently clowning alongside such pros as Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker...she never faded into the scenery. Equally comfortable as a pure soprano or a rangy high belter, her versatility was well captured on the...cast album...Well cast as a situation comedy wife, she spent much of the 1970s and 80s in California." Other stage shows included "Quality Street" in 1965 at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania. In 1978 she played the title role in "Peter Pan" at the Meldoy Top Theatre in Wisconsin and Sacramento Music Circus. She also appeared in the City Center Gilbert & Sullivan NYC Company, directed by Dorothy Raedler, with such Metropolitan Opera singers as Nico Castel, Muriel Costa-Greenspon, and Frank Poretta, Sr. Dussault took over as the Witch in "Into the Woods" on Broadway (1987–1989). She had appeared twelve years earlier in the revue "Side by Side by Sondheim" on Broadway. More recently she has appeared at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco as Mrs Peachum in "Threepenny Opera" (1999) and as Toinette in Moliere's "The Imaginary Invalid" (2007)


title: Nancy Dussault

text: In Arthur Hiller's 1979 film "The In-Laws", she played Carol Kornpett, wife of Alan Arkin who played Sheldon S. Kornpett, D.D.S.


title: Nancy Dussault

text: On television, Dussault made guest appearances (primarily as a vocalist and dancer) on variety shows of the 1960s, including "The Ed Sullivan Show", "The Carol Burnett Show", and "The Garry Moore Show". She was a regular on the 1970s series "The New Dick Van Dyke Show" and the long-running CBS game show "Match Game".


title: Nancy Dussault

text: Dussault played the pivotal character in the 1975 "The Courtesans" episode of Barney Miller (S1 E5), in which creator/producer Danny Arnold threatened to quit his own show if network censors removed a risque line. The resulting publicity over the x-rated episode ensured the series ratings survival, according to Hal Linden.


title: Nancy Dussault

text: Dussault guest-starred in an episode of the 1979 NBC anthology series "$weepstake$". She also played Ted Knight's wife in the role of photographer Muriel Rush on the 1980s situation comedy "Too Close for Comfort". She was part of the first anchor team of the ABC morning show "Good Morning America", paired with David Hartman, when that show launched in 1975. Dussault was the first actress to portray the character of Theresa Stemple, the mother of character Jamie Stemple Buchman, in season one of the NBC TV series "Mad About You". In January 1997, she played the mayor of Metropolis in "" ("Lethal Weapon" - Season 4, Episode 12).


title: Non-denominational

text: A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination.


title: Non-denominational

text: The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoroastrianism, Unitarian Universalism, Neo-Paganism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Wicca. It stands in contrast with a religious denomination. Religious people of a non-denominational persuasion tend to be more open-minded in their views on various religious matters and rulings. Some converts towards non-denominational strains of thought have been influenced by disputes over traditional teachings in the previous institutions they attended. Nondenominationalism has also been used as a tool for introducing neutrality into a public square when the local populace are derived from a wide-ranging set of religious beliefs.


title: N-back

text: The n-back task is a continuous performance task that is commonly used as an assessment in psychology and cognitive neuroscience to measure a part of working memory and working memory capacity. The n-back was introduced by Wayne Kirchner in 1958.N-Back can also be used as a training method to improve working memory and working memory capacity and also increase fluid intelligence.


title: N-back

text: The subject is presented with a sequence of stimuli, and the task consists of indicating when the current stimulus matches the one from "n" steps earlier in the sequence. The load factor "n" can be adjusted to make the task more or less difficult.


title: N-back

text: To clarify, the visual n-back test is similar to the classic memory game of Concentration. However, instead of different items that are in a fixed location on the game board, there is only one item, that appears in different positions on the game board during each turn. "1-N" means that you have to remember the position of the item, "one" turn back. "2-N" means that you have to remember the position of the item "two" turns back, and so on.


title: N-back

text: For example, an auditory three-back test could consist of the experimenter reading the following list of letters to the test subject:


title: N-back

text: The subject is supposed to indicate when the letters marked in bold are read, because those correspond to the letters that were read three steps earlier.


title: N-back

text: The "n"-back task captures the active part of working memory. When "n" equals 2 or more, it is not enough to simply keep a representation of recently presented items in mind; the working memory buffer also needs to be updated continuously to keep track of what the current stimulus must be compared to. To accomplish this task, the subject needs to both maintain and manipulate information in working memory.


title: N-back

text: The dual-task n-back task is a variation that was proposed by Susanne Jaeggi et al. in 2003. In the dual-task paradigm, two independent sequences are presented simultaneously, typically using different modalities of stimuli, such as one auditory and one visual.


title: N-back

text: The "n"-back task was developed by Wayne Kirchner for his research into short-term memory; he used it to assess age differences in memory tasks of "rapidly changing information".


title: N-back

text: There is some question about the construct validity of the "n"-back task. While the task has strong face validity and is now in widespread use as a measure of working memory in clinical and experimental settings, there are few studies which explore the convergent validity of the "n"-back task with other measures of working memory. Those studies have largely revealed weak or modest correlations between individuals' performance on the "n"-back task and performance on other standard, accepted assessments of working memory.


title: N-back

text: There are two main hypotheses for this weak correlation between the "n"-back task and other working memory assessments. One proposal is that the "n"-back task assesses different "sub-components" of working memory than do other assessments. A more critical explanation is that rather than primarily assessing working memory, performance on the "n"-back task depends on "familiarity- and recognition-based discrimination processes," whereas valid assessments of working memory demand "active recall." Whatever the cause of the performance differences between the "n"-back and other assessments of working memory, some researchers stress the need for further exploration of the construct validity of the "n"-back task.


title: N-back

text: Performance on the "n"-back task seems to be more closely correlated with performance on measures of fluid intelligence than it is with performance on other measures of working memory (which is also correlated with performance on measures of fluid intelligence). In the same vein, training on the "n"-back task appears to improve performance on subsequent fluid intelligence assessments, especially when the training is at a higher "n"-value.


title: N-back

text: A 2008 research paper claimed that practicing a dual "n"-back task can increase fluid intelligence (Gf), as measured in several different standard tests. This finding received some attention from popular media, including an article in "Wired". However, a subsequent criticism of the paper's methodology questioned the experiment's validity and took issue with the lack of uniformity in the tests used to evaluate the control and test groups. For example, the progressive nature of Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) test may have been compromised by modifications of time restrictions (i.e., 10 minutes were allowed to complete a normally 45-minute test). The authors of the original paper later addressed this criticism by citing research indicating that scores in timed administrations of the APM are predictive of scores in untimed administrations.


title: N-back

text: The 2008 study was replicated in 2010 with results indicating that practicing single n-back may be almost equal to dual n-back in increasing the score on tests measuring Gf (fluid intelligence). The single n-back test used was the visual test, leaving out the audio test. In 2011, the same authors showed long-lasting transfer effect in some conditions.


title: N-back

text: Two studies published in 2012 failed to reproduce the effect of dual n-back training on fluid intelligence. These studies found that the effects of training did not transfer to any other cognitive ability tests. In 2014, a meta-analysis of twenty studies showed that n-back training has small but significant effect on Gf and improve it on average for an equivalent of 3–4 points of IQ. In January 2015, this meta-analysis was the subject of a critical review due to small-study effects.


title: N-back

text: A more recent and extended meta-analysis in January 2017 also found that n-back training produces a medium improvement in unrelated n-back training tasks, but a small improvement in unrelated working memory (WM) tasks:


title: N-back

text: The question of whether "n"-back training produces real-world improvements to working memory remains controversial.


title: N-back

text: The "n"-back is now in use outside experimental, clinical, and medical settings. Tutoring companies utilize versions of the task (in conjunction with other cognitive tasks) to allegedly improve the fluid intelligence of their clients. Tutoring companies and psychologists also utilize the task to improve the focus of individuals with ADHD and to rehabilitate sufferers of traumatic brain injury; experiments have found evidence that practice with the task helps these individuals focus for up to eight months following training. However, much debate remains about whether training on the "n"-back and similar tasks can improve performance in the long run or whether the effects of training are transient, and if the effects of training "n"-back generalize to general cognitive processing, for instance, to fluid intelligence. Despite the claims of commercial providers, there are some researchers who question whether the results of memory training are transferable. Researchers from the University of Oslo published results of the meta-analytical review analyzing various studies on memory training techniques (including n-back) and concluded that "training programs give only near-transfer effects, and there is no convincing evidence that even such near-transfer effects are durable."


title: N-back

text: Meta-analysis of 24 "n"-back neuroimaging studies have shown that during this task the following brain regions are consistently activated: lateral premotor cortex; dorsal cingulate and medial premotor cortex; dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex; frontal poles; and medial and lateral posterior parietal cortex.


title: Standin' on the Corner Park

text: Standin' on the Corner Park is a public park in Winslow, Arizona, opened in 1999, commemorating the song "Take It Easy" which was written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey and most famously recorded by the Eagles. The song includes the verse ""Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me."" The park contains a two-story trompe-l'œil mural by John Pugh, a Ford flatbed truck, and a bronze statue by Ron Adamson of Frey who is standing on a corner with a guitar by his side. The park is surrounded by a wall of bricks, with windows to peer into; each brick has a donor's name on it, and a story by each of the donors describing their fondness for Winslow, Arizona.


title: Standin' on the Corner Park

text: Until the 1970s, Winslow was a thriving town in northern Arizona just off Route 66. When I-40 bypassed the community many local businesses disappeared, the tourism sector being among the hardest hit. While some local jobs remained (Winslow is the base of operation for nearly 1,000 railroad workers), the local downtown was badly hurt by the influx of national chains such as Walmart and McDonald's along the new interstate highway to the north of the town. Twenty years passed and Winslow was stuck in a commercial rut.


title: Standin' on the Corner Park

text: The Standin' on the Corner Foundation was formed to create a renaissance of Winslow. Determined to build on tourism, the foundation took advantage of the town being mentioned in the song "Take It Easy" made famous by the Eagles. From 1997 until 1999, the foundation sought out donors and planned design concepts. On September 10 and 11, 1999 the park was opened to the public.


title: Standin' on the Corner Park

text: On October 18, 2004, there was a fire at the Standin' on the Corner Park. While the face of the building and the actual corner survived, the rest of the building was burned down.


title: Standin' on the Corner Park

text: The 2006 release of animated film "Cars" brought renewed attention to the efforts to save local U.S. Route 66 main street businesses in towns long bypassed.


title: Standin' on the Corner Park

text: In September 2016, a statue was unveiled at the park in the likeness of Glenn Frey, who died earlier that year.


title: Triangle piercing

text: A triangle piercing is one of several forms of genital piercing applied to the vulva. It is a horizontal piercing that passes from side to side, beneath the base of the clitoral hood tissue where it meets the inner labia and under the clitoris. The name is derived from the tissue where the labia meets the clitoral hood, which looks like a triangle when pinched.


title: Triangle piercing

text: The piercing can increase sexual sensation during direct clitoral stimulation as well as during vaginal or anal penetration. It can stimulate the clitoris from behind, the only genital piercing to do so, although it does not pass through the clitoris or the clitoral shaft. The usual jewellery worn with the piercing is a barbell. There are reports of the piercing alleviating anorgasmia in some individuals.


title: Triangle piercing

text: It is one of the more complicated and expensive genital piercings. The average healing time is 12 to 18 weeks and the triangle piercing is more likely to experience subsequent bleeding than other types of vulva piercings. There are a number of anatomical requirements with regards to the vulva. For instance, the clitoral hood has to protrude outwards from the body for sufficient distance. Most vulvas are not suited to the piercing. Its complexity results from the fact that the piercer has to use mainly tactile rather than visual cues for its placement. It is in a location where mistakes could result in the piercing being misplaced or lead to pain and damage to the vulva. Some people find it to be one of the more painful genital piercings because it passes through so much tissue and so many nerves.


title: Triangle piercing

text: According to PFIQ magazine, the first triangle piercing was performed by Lou Duff of the Gauntlet body piercing studio in the early 1990s. It was subsequently developed by Elayne Angel.


title: A-Teen

text: A-Teen () is a South Korean streaming television series. A production of Naver subsidiary PlayList Global, the first season aired on Naver TV Cast from July 1 to September 16, 2018, on Wednesdays and Sundays at 19:00 (KST). This is the sequel to the web drama "Seventeen". This time, unlike the previous work, it deals with the stories of high school students turning 18. Venue sponsorship is the same as "Seventeen".


title: A-Teen

text: It's easy to talk about past teens, but we're having teens for the first time right now. Because every moment was so sincere to say that I will not worry. Teenage sympathetic romance web drama.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman River. The second was signed with Prussia on 9 July. The treaties were made at the expense of the Prussian king, who had already agreed to a truce on 25 June after the Grande Armée had captured Berlin and pursued him to the easternmost frontier of his realm. In Tilsit, he ceded about half of his pre-war territories.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: From those territories, Napoleon had created French sister republics, which were formalized and recognized at Tilsit: the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Duchy of Warsaw and the Free City of Danzig; the other ceded territories were awarded to existing French client states and to Russia.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: Napoleon not only cemented his control of Central Europe but also had Russia and the truncated Prussia ally with him against his two remaining enemies, the United Kingdom and Sweden, triggering the Anglo-Russian and Finnish wars. Tilsit also freed French forces for the Peninsular War. Central Europe became a battlefield again in 1809 when Austria and the UK engaged France in the War of the Fifth Coalition.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: The treaty ended the war between Imperial Russia and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires that rendered the rest of continental Europe almost powerless. The two countries secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes. France pledged to aid Russia against the Ottoman Empire while Russia agreed to join the Continental System against the British Empire. Napoleon also convinced Alexander to enter into the Anglo-Russian War and to instigate the Finnish War against Sweden to force Sweden to join the Continental System. More specifically, the Tsar agreed to evacuate Wallachia and Moldavia, which had been occupied by Russian forces as part of the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812. The Ionian Islands and Cattaro (Kotor), which had been captured by Russian admirals Ushakov and Senyavin, were to be handed over to the French. In recompense, Napoleon guaranteed the sovereignty of the Duchy of Oldenburg and several other small states ruled by the Tsar's German relatives.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: The treaty with Prussia stripped the country of about half its territory: Cottbus passed to Saxony, the left bank of the Elbe was awarded to the newly created Kingdom of Westphalia, Białystok was given to Russia (which led to the creation of the Belostok Oblast), and most of the Polish lands in Prussian possession since the Second and Third Partitions became the quasi-independent Duchy of Warsaw. Prussia was to reduce the army to 43,000 and on 9 March 1808, France fixed its tribute to be levied from Prussia at 154,500,000 francs (= Prussian dollar 41.73 mio.), deducting 53,500,000, which had been raised so far during the ongoing French occupation. The sum was lowered in two steps to 120 million francs by 1 November 1808.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: Talleyrand had advised Napoleon to pursue milder terms; the treaties marked an important stage in his estrangement from the emperor. Until 1812, the French occupants requisitioned in money and kind from various corporations and persons, especially by billetting soldiers on cities, further contributions additionally amounting to between 146 and 309 million francs, according to different calculations. The Prussian government indebtedness soared between 1806 and 1815 by thaler 200 million to altogether 180.09 million interest-bearing debts, 11.24 million non-interest-bearing unconsolidated treasury notes and another 25.9 million former provincial debts assumed by the royal government. The cities' debts, especially those of Berlin often billetted on, were not assumed by the Prussian government. Since the creditors deemed Prussia to be over-indebted in 1817, the 4-per cent state bonds were traded at the bourses with a disagio of 27 to 29 percent, in 1818 even with a discountor of 35 percent, causing the effective interest to rise to 6.15 percent. At restructuring part of the debts in 1818 by a £5 million loan (= thaler 30 million) at 5% at the London financial market, the Prussian government had to accept a disagio of 28⅓%, thus paying an annual effective rate of 6.98%.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: When the Treaty was being formulated, it was noted by an observer that the Prussian king was pacing on the bank of the Neman river; Napoleon had to "but raise his hand, and Prussia would cease to exist" (McKay). Hence, many observers in Prussia and Russia viewed the treaty as unequal and as a national humiliation. The Russian soldiers refused to follow Napoleon's commands, as the Lisbon Incident demonstrated to all Europe. Napoleon's plans to marry the tsar's sister were stymied by Russian royalty. Cooperation between Russia and France eventually broke down in 1810 when the tsar began to allow neutral ships to land in Russian ports. In 1812, Napoleon crossed the Neman river and invaded Russia, ending any vestige of alliance.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: The Prussian state was diminished by more than half under the terms of the treaty of Tilsit, from 5,700 Prussian square miles to 2,800 (). Compared to the 9.75 million inhabitants the country had prior to the treaty, no more than 4.5 million remained within the new boundaries of Prussia. The state revenue, which formerly amounted to forty million dollars per annum, was decreased in a still greater proportion; the ceded provinces were quite rich and fertile, and many millions had been expended on their improvement. Almost all that Prussia had gained by the partitions of Poland (1772–1795) was taken from it. Saxony, a former confederate of Prussia, was the recipient of the provinces; and Russia, the more powerful of its erstwhile allies, gained territory with a population of 200,000. The following is a tabulation of the territorial and population losses that Prussia suffered (without the Prussian acquisitions since 1772) under the terms of Tilsit treaty:


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: The War of the Fourth Coalition was over. The Peninsular War began on 19 November 1807 and the War of the Fifth Coalition began in 1809.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the Congress of Vienna would restore many Prussian territories.


title: Treaties of Tilsit

text: By signing these treaties, France left Persia and the Ottomans, who had previously hoped for France's help under treaties with France (including Finckenstein), in the face of Russian aggression, and established the loss of parts of Persia in the Caucasus, such as the present-day republics Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.


title: Ephor

text: The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.


title: Ephor

text: The word ""ephors"" (Ancient Greek "éphoroi", plural form of "éphoros") comes from the Ancient Greek "epi", "on" or "over", and "horaō", "to see", i.e., "one who oversees" or "overseer". The ephors were a council of five Spartan men elected annually who swore an oath monthly on the behalf of the state. The Spartan kings, however, would swear on behalf of themselves.


title: Ephor

text: The ephors did not have to kneel before the Kings of Sparta, and were held in high esteem by the citizens because of the importance of their powers and because of the holy role that they earned throughout their functions.


title: Ephor

text: Two different accounts of the origins of the ephorate exist in ancient sources. The earliest account is found in the "Histories" of Herodotus, who traces its origins to the mythical Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus—a version followed by Xenophon, Plato, or Isocrates. A diverging version first appears in the "Politics", written in the middle of the 4th century by Aristotle, who tells that the ephorate was created by the Spartan king Theopompos. This version is then more prevalent in subsequent authors, such as Cicero, and especially Plutarch. Modern scholars have identified the source of the second version in a lost work written by the Agiad king Pausanias after he had been forced to abdicate and go into exile in 394. In this "logos", Pausanias likely published Lycurgus' laws, including the Rhetra, which details the different element of the Spartan constitution (kings, gerousia, ekklesia), but does not mention the ephors. It has therefore been suggested that Pausanias was hostile to the ephors, to whom he possibly attributed his banishment, and published the Rhetra to discredit their office. Although the contents of this "logos" and Pausanias' motivations remain disputed, most modern scholars think the ephors were created at the time of Theopompos, during the Messenian Wars.


title: Ephor

text: According to Plutarch, the ephorate was born out of the necessity for leaders while the kings of Sparta were absent for long periods during the Messenian Wars. The ephors were elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were eligible. The position of ephor was the only political office open to the whole "damos" (populace) of men between the ages of 30–60, so eligible Spartans highly sought after the position. They were forbidden to be re-elected and provided a balance for the two kings, who rarely co-operated. Plato called the ephors tyrants, who ran Sparta as despots while the kings were little more than generals. Up to two ephors would accompany a king on extended military campaigns as a sign of control, and they held the authority to declare war during some periods in Spartan history.


title: Ephor

text: Since political and economic decisions were made by majority vote, Sparta's policy could change quickly, when the vote of one ephor changed. For example, in 403 BCE, Pausanias convinced three of the ephors to send an army to Attica, a complete reversal of the policy of Lysander. According to Aristotle, the ephors frequently came from poverty because any Spartan citizen could hold the position, and it was not exclusive to the upper-class. Aristotle stated that because of this they were often liable to corruption. There were times when the legal power of an ephor was taken advantage of, such as with Alcibiades's use of Endius, who persuaded the Spartans to allow Alcibiades to take control of Sparta's peace mission to Athens in 420 BCE.


title: Ephor

text: Cleomenes III abolished the position of ephor in 227 BCE, and replaced them with a position called the "patronomos". Cleomenes's coup resulted in the death of four of the five ephors, along with ten other citizens. His abolition of the ephorship allowed him to cement his role as king and prevent anyone from stopping his political reforms. However, the ephorate was restored by the Macedonian King Antigonus III Doson after the Battle of Sellasia in 222 BCE. Although Sparta fell under Roman rule in 146 BCE, the position existed into the 2nd century CE, when it was likely abolished by Roman Emperor Hadrian and superseded by imperial governance as part of the province of Achaea.


title: Ephor

text: The ephorate elections took place close to the Autumn equinox, because the term of the ephors matched the Spartan year, which started with the first full Moon after the equinox, therefore the end of September or October.


title: Ephor

text: There was probably an age requirement of at least 30 years old to be elected ephor, the age from which a Spartan citizen was no longer considered eromenos.


title: Ephor

text: The Spartan constitution is principally known through the work of Aristotle, who describes in detail the elections of the gerontes (the members of the Gerousia), but not the ephors. It is still assumed that the election procedure was similar. Candidates passed one by one before the assembled citizens, who shouted according to their preference, while several assessors who were confined into a windowless building declared winners the five candidates with the loudest shouts. As with the gerontes, this system of voice voting was considered "childish" by Aristotle, because influential men could easily manipulate the results by pressurising the jury.


title: Ephor

text: The kings played a prominent role during election campaigns by favouring their candidates, even though only one instance of such practice is known, when in 243/2 Lysander was elected ephor with the help of the king Agis IV. The fact that influential kings such as Cleomenes I or Agesilaus II had no reported conflict with the ephors support the view that they could decide who would be the ephors. Some ephors were elected thanks to a famous deed that made them known among voters. For example, Leon, ephor in 419/8, had won the quadriga race at the Olympic Games in 440, while his son Antalkidas had concluded a treaty with Persia in 387 before becoming ephor in 370/69. The famous general Brasidas was elected in 431 just after his victory against Athens at Methone.


title: Ephor

text: One of the ephors was eponymous, ie. he gave his name to the year, like the eponymous archon in Athens. He was probably designated during the elections as the candidate with the loudest shouts overall. The eponymous ephor did not have any additional power compared to his colleagues; it was only a prestigious position. In 413/2, the ordinary ephor Endios is thus described by Thucydides as wielding a lot of influence within the college, even though the eponymous was Onomantios.


title: Ephor

text: As the eponymous ephors were used as dates, a list compiling their names existed in Sparta, and is mentioned by Polybius. This list was perhaps published by Apollodoros and Sosicrates, whose lost works were used by Diogenes Laertius. The list went at least as far as 556 (the year of Chilon's ephorate) and possibly up to 754 (during the reign of Theopompos as ancient authors believed). However, Diogenes lived in the 3rd century AD, and even his sources dated from the Hellenistic era, long after the events.


title: Ephor

text: The ephors held numerous duties in legislative, judicial, financial, and executive matters. Following Lycurgus's "Asteropus" in 620 BCE (increase in the power of the ephorate), the ephors became the ambassadors of Sparta. They handled all matters associated with foreign relations, including the creation of treaties with foreign powers and meeting with emissaries to discuss foreign politics. They held power within Sparta by also acting as the Presidents of the assembly and the justices of the supreme civil court as well as controlling army composition. The ephors needed a majority vote to make decisions binding and minority or dissenting decisions were not accepted by the assembly.


title: Ephor

text: According to Plutarch, every autumn at the crypteia, the ephors would "pro forma" declare war on the helot population so that any Spartan citizen could kill a helot without fear of blood guilt. This was done to keep the large helot population in check. Plutarch also stated that every eight years the ephors would watch the skies on a moonless night. If shooting stars occurred, it was up to the ephors to decide whether one or both of the kings had transgressed in his dealings with the gods. A transgression could include any behavior that dishonored the Greek pantheon. Unless the oracle from Delphi or Olympia stated otherwise, the ephors had the ability to depose the offending king or kings. Plutarch also stated that the ephors tried cases involving contracts among citizens. He further reported that each ephor specialized in a different type of disputed contract.


title: Ephor

text: According to Pausanias, the ephors served with the Gerousia on the Supreme criminal court of Sparta. This included presiding over treason, homicide, and other offenses that carried serious punishments. These punishments included exile, death, and disfranchisement.


title: Ephor

text: Ephors had the authority to summon and preside over the assembly's regular meetings in the fifth century BCE. Initially this power was only assigned to kings in early years. However, with the passing of the Great Rhetra regular meetings became mandated. By the late sixth century BCE, the ephors had acquired this authority to oversee the assembly and could use this power against the kings of Sparta. For example, they used this authority to force King Anaxandridas II to change his conjugal arrangements to their advantage. King Anaxandridas' wife was barren but he refused to divorce her so the ephors forced him to marry a second wife to provide heirs.


title: Ephor

text: Two ephors were always sent on military expeditions to ensure the king acted in line, and if not, could put the king on trial. Many kings were put on trial by the ephors, including Leotychidas, who was found to have accepted a bribe from the Thessalians during his military expedition to Thessaly.


title: Ephor

text: The ephors, along with the Gerousia, held the majority of the power within the Spartan government, as the two kings had to consult either with the ephors or the Gerousia in almost any official matter. The ephors also held power over the Helots and the Perioeci. They controlled the Crypteia, the secret police who repressed the Helots, and they were even able to sentence Perioeci to death without a trial.


title: Ephor

text: The ephors also had the authority to choose three "hippagretai" (Commanders of the Guard) every year from men over the age of thirty. The chosen "hippagretes" would then choose three hundred of the best "hebontes" to form a "hippeis". The ephors also were responsible for penalizing disobedience in the military using fines.


title: Ephor

text: Ephors could also intervene in cases of "disturbing the peace." This included punishing underage Spartans indirectly for their offenses against Sparta. This form of retribution would include penalizing the boys' "erastes" (adult lovers). When men between the ages of twenty and thirty (known as "hebontes") committed offenses they were brought before the "paidonomos", a magistrate charged with supervising the education of the youth in the "agoge". Through this system the ephors could directly penalize the "hebontes" by giving them large fines.


title: Ephor

text: The ephors paid close attention to the education of young Spartans, and played a significant role in ensuring the education was up to standard. According to Aelian, they would examine the naked bodies of the boys every ten days to ensure they were of proper complexion and fitness and not being overfed, as well as examining the boys' clothes daily to ensure that they fit.


title: Ephor

text: The concept of an ephorate continues to be used by some contemporary organizations which require a monarchical element within a democratic framework. One such organization is the Ephorate of the Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallions, an American fraternal research society.


title: Ephor

text: The Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture and Sports contains several regional ephorates that carry out the administration of archaeological investigations in their respective regions


title: Ephor

text: The Neapolitan Republic's constitution of 1799, written by Francesco Mario Pagano, envisaged an organ of magistrates reviewing constitutional law, the "eforato", but lasted only 6 months.


title: Ephor

text: Zack Snyder's 2007 film adaptation of the Battle of Thermoplyae, "300", features ephors throughout the movie. In the film they are dramatized as elderly lepers with pale skin and lesions. At the beginning of the movie, Leonidas is shown visiting the ephors and proposing a war strategy to them. The ephors then consult the Oracle and refuse Leonidas' plan, showing that they have been bribed by Xerxes I. King Leonidas thus leads his 300 'bodyguards' to Thermoplyae without their approval.


title: Ephor

text: Rudolph Maté's 1962 film "The 300 Spartans" also depicts the ephorate's role in the Battle of Thermopylae. They are shown conflicting with King Leotychidas over the decision to delay the battle until after the religious harvest festival of Carneia. The ephors decide to delay the battle but under the guise of having private bodyguards, King Leonidas marches into battle with 300 Spartans. The ephors are mentioned later in the film when Leonidas receives a letter from his wife informing him that the ephors have the remainder of the Spartan army will not be joining him. Xenathon is an named ephor in the film.


title: Ephor

text: Ephors have appeared in Steven Pressfield's 1998 "Gates of Fire," an historical fiction novel that recounts the Battle of Thermopylae. In Chapter 15, the ephors appear when a delegation of mothers and wives goes to the council, requesting they be allowed to join the battle.


title: Ephor

text: In Kieron Gillen's graphic novel "Three", ephors are referenced when Gillen describes the Krypteia and writes "Once a year, the masters declare war on the helots." The ephors were in charge of the Krypteia and declaring war on the helots in order to keep them terrified and controlled. The next scene depicts the ephor, Eurytos, being guided by his soldiers to a helot community where they demand hospitality. Eurytos is killed by a helot revolt and the only surviving soldier returns to Sparta to inform the remaining four ephors. The ephors send soldiers to kill the helots who killed Eurytos stating, "The only thing more unthinkable than a helot killing an ephor is that helot escaping punishment."


title: Fresno chile

text: The Fresno chile or Fresno chili pepper ( ) is a medium-sized cultivar of "Capsicum annuum." It should not be confused with the Fresno Bell pepper. It is often confused with the jalapeño pepper but has thinner walls, often has milder heat, and takes less time to mature. It is, however, a New Mexico chile, which is genetically distinct from the jalapeño and it grows point up, rather than point down as with the jalapeño. The fruit starts out bright green changing to orange and red as fully matured. A mature Fresno pepper will be conical in shape, long, and about in diameter at the stem. The plants do well in warm to hot temperatures and dry climates with long sunny summer days and cool nights. They are very cold-sensitive and disease resistant, reaching a height of .


title: Fresno chile

text: The Fresno chile was developed and released for commercial cultivation by Clarence Brown Hamlin in 1952. Hamlin named the pepper "Fresno" in honor of Fresno, California. They are grown throughout California, specifically in the San Joaquin Valley.


title: Fresno chile

text: Fresno chiles are frequently used for ceviche, salsa and as an accompaniment for rice and black beans. Because of their thick walls, they do not dry well and are not good for chili powder. In cooking, they can often be substituted for or with jalapeño and serrano peppers. Mild green ones can typically be purchased in the summer while the hot red ones are available in the fall. It has different culinary usages depending on its maturity.


title: Fresno chile

text: The immature green fruits are more versatile and can be added to many types of dishes. They add mild heat and flavor to sauces, chutneys, dips, relishes, casseroles, soups, stews and savory dishes. Green Fresnos can also be pickled and eaten whole. They make an excellent garnish for Mexican and Southwestern American cuisine.


title: Fresno chile

text: Mature red Fresno peppers provide less flavor and more heat than jalapeño peppers. They are often added to salsas, relishes, ceviches, and marinades. They make good toppings for tacos, tostadas, burgers, sausages and hot dogs. They are large enough to stuff with cheeses, potatoes, seafood and meat. Specific recipes include versions of Romesco and rojo cream sauces.


title: Fresno chile

text: Fresno chiles are an excellent source of vitamin C and B vitamins, containing significant amounts of iron, thiamin, niacin, magnesium and riboflavin. They are low in calories, fat, and sodium and help to reduce cholesterol. Many of these nutrients reach their highest concentrations in red ripe fruit. The heat element is from capsaicin, a chemical compound that provides a natural anti-inflammatory and pain relief and promotes a feeling of being full. Chilies contain a good amount of minerals including potassium, manganese, iron, and magnesium.


title: Adam B

text: Adam Beales (born 11 October 1999), known as Adam B, is a YouTuber, actor, and television host from Derry, Northern Ireland. He is the former co-presenter of the CBBC shows "The Dog Ate My Homework" and "Blue Peter". Beales has over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and has collaborated with Disney.


title: Adam B

text: Beales was born on 11 October 1999 in Derry, Northern Ireland. He completed his schooling at St Columb's College.


title: Adam B

text: At the age of 12, he started his channel Adam B (formerly known as TheNewAdamb99) on 29 July 2012. He started by filming all of his videos and editing them from his bedroom in his parents' house.


title: Adam B

text: He has appeared on BBC Radio, "The Ryan Tubridy Show" and was featured on VidCon London's first conference. In June 2019, he won the Youth 19 Champions Award. From 2019-20, he was the co-presenter in the seventh series of the CBBC show "The Dog Ate My Homework".


title: Adam B

text: On 1 September 2020, Beales was announced as the 40th "Blue Peter" presenter and would make his debut two days later.


title: Adam B

text: On 17 June 2022, Beales announced that he would be leaving "Blue Peter", with his last appearance on 15 July 2022.


title: Adam B

text: On 13 October 2022, Adam published his first booked titled "Adam Wins The Internet" - it is a fictional story, about a young man called Adam who dreams of becoming a YouTuber, even though it looks like he will never achieve it. However one day he accepts a challenge to get one million subscribers in one year by the mysterious "Popularis Incrementum website" which leads to Adam getting to start his own YouTube career with very exciting adventures and results.


title: Adam B

text: Beales is gay. He came out in a video he uploaded on his YouTube channel titled "I'M GAY" on July 22 2022. He began dating his boyfriend Dominic in November 2021.


title: Adam B

text: He works with his mother Edelle and father Paul as video partners. Beales' younger brother Callum also has his own YouTube channel, Callum B. The family collectively share a YouTube channel, Family 4.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The cultural setting of Saudi Arabia is greatly influenced by the Arab and Islamic culture. The society is in general deeply religious, conservative, traditional, and family-oriented. Many attitudes and traditions are centuries-old, derived from Arab civilization and Islamic heritage. However, its culture has also been affected by rapid change, as the country was transformed from an impoverished nomadic society into a rich commodity producer in just a few years in the 1970s. This change has also been affected by and the result of a number of factors including the communications revolution and external scholarships. The most recent ruler or king of Saudi is King Salman of Saudi Arabia.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The Wahhabi Islamic movement, which arose in the 18th century and is sometimes described as austerely puritanical, now predominates in the country. Following the principle of "enjoining good and forbidding wrong", there are many limitations and prohibitions on behavior and dress which are strictly enforced both legally and socially, often more so than in other Muslim countries. However, many of the traditional restrictions have been lifting recently by the government including allowing women to drive and many other female-related issues. On the other hand, the things prohibited by Islam are banned in the country, for example, alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Daily life is dominated by Islamic observance. Five times each day, Muslims are called to prayer from the minarets of mosques scattered throughout the country. Because Friday is the holiest day for Muslims, the weekend is Friday-Saturday. In accordance with Wahhabi doctrine, only two religious holidays, "Eid al-Fitr" and "Eid al-Adha", were publicly recognized, until 2006 when a non-religious holiday, the September 23 national holiday (which commemorates the unification of the kingdom) was reintroduced. In terms of gender relations, Saudi Arabia's norms usually discourage non-familial free mixing between the sexes.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The land of Hijaz, particularly Makkah and Madinah, is the place where Islam was firstly established. Thus, the majority of its population are Muslims. Moreover, Qur’an is considered the constitution of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic law "sharia’" is the main legal source. In Saudi Arabia, Islam is not just adhered politically by the government but also it has a great influence on the people's culture and everyday life.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: 90% of the Saudi citizens are Sunni Muslims while 10% belong to Shia's school. 80% of Shia’ are twelvers who live in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia and Madinah. In Najran Province there are approximately 700,000 seveners Shia’. Moreover, the majority of expatriate in Saudi Arabia are Muslims.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Unlike many other Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia has been following a strict version of Islam where for example, men and women are segregated in universities. Another example of the strict adherence to Islamic values can be seen in women who are required to wear the traditional ”abaya” (long, fully covered dress). However, women are no longer required to wear abayas in public but are required to dress modestly as a form of respecting the Saudi culture. Additionally, Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim country where shops and other public facilities are required to close during prayer time which takes place five times a day and employees and customers are sent off to pray. Thus, the "religious police" (also known as "Haia" or "Mutaween"), who patrol the streets "enjoining good and forbidding wrong" by enforcing dress codes, strict separation of men and women, attendance at prayer ("salat") five times each day, the ban on alcohol, and other aspects of "Sharia" (Islamic law) or behavior it believes to be commanded by Islam. Cinema theatres were shut down in 1980, for example. However, Saudi Arabia has reopened cinema theaters since April 2018.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The kingdom uses not the international Gregorian calendar, but the lunar Islamic calendar, with the start of each lunar month determined not ahead of time by astronomical calculation, but only after the crescent moon is sighted by the proper religious authorities. Civil workers in the governmental sector used to receive their salaries not according to the international Gregorian calendar, but the lunar Islamic calendar. However, the Gregorian calendar has been followed by many international companies operating in the country. Moreover, by 2016, a number of reforms took place in Saudi Arabia. One of them was to used to Gregorian calendar to pay for the civil servants. This measure has been taken to reduce the governmental spending as employees have lost 11 payment days.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Friday is the holiest day for Muslims. Thus, the weekend in Saudi Arabia was Thursday-Friday. In 2013, the late King Abdullah Al-Saud issued a royal decree switching the weekend to become on Friday-Saturday. This step was taken to reduce the adverse effects suffered by Saudi businesses due to the difference in weekdays and weekends between Saudi Arabia and the other regional and international counterparts. Like all other Muslims, on Fridays Saudis attend Jomua’h prayer that is held by afternoon and accompanied with a sermon.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a holy month for all Muslims. In Saudi Arabia, this month is especially important and different as the lifestyle of the people gets more spiritual. During the month, Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Thus, in Saudi Arabia, the working hours are reduced as most of the employees go two hours later than usual. Moreover, friends and families gather by sunset to enjoy breaking their fast together. By night and particularly after the obligatory Isha’ prayer, people stay in mosques to pray the voluntary prayer of Taraweeh. Before the dawn prayer, Fajr, families wake up to eat Suhur, their last meal before they start fasting.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia celebrates two public holidays, namely, ʿĪd al-Fiṭr and ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā. Id al-Fitr comes after the holy month of Ramadan and employees enjoy a customary 5 to 10 days away from work. Id al-Adha comes by the end of Hajj -pilgrimage- and employees get similar off days. However, some other religious days that are considered as public holidays in other Muslim countries are not given days off in Saudi Arabia including, the Islamic New Year, Mawlid Alnabi – Prophet Muhammad's Birthday – and ‘Ashura day.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: "Fierce religious resistance" had to be overcome to permit such innovations as paper money (in 1951), female education (1964), and television (1965) and the abolition of slavery (1962). There were a number of terrorist attacks targeting foreigners between 2001 and 2004, but these have been brought under control.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Public support for the traditional political/religious structure of the kingdom is so strong that one researcher interviewing Saudis found virtually no support for reforms to secularize the state. Even the small minority of Westernized and liberal Saudis expressed "a desire for the kingdom to remain a Muslim society ruled by an overtly Muslim state."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Because of religious restrictions, Saudi culture lacks any diversity of religious expression or buildings but annual festivals such as the Janadriah Festival which celebrates Saudi Culture, custom and handicraft held in a specialized arena just north of Riyadh and public events such as The Annual Book Fair are open to the public and are very popular although policed by the religious police.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The festivals (such as Day of Ashura) and communal public worship of Shia Muslims who make up an estimated 10-15% are suppressed. Celebration of other (non-Wahhabi) Islamic holidays, such as the Muhammad's birthday and the Day of Ashura (an important holiday for Shiites), are tolerated only when celebrated locally and on a small scale. Shia also face systematic discrimination in employment, education, the justice system according to Human Rights Watch.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: No churches, temples or other non-Muslim houses of worship permitted in the country (although there are nearly a million Christians as well as Hindus and Buddhists among the foreign workers). Foreign workers are not allowed to celebrate Christmas or Easter, and reportedly private prayer services are forbidden in practice.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: And at least one religious minority, the Ahmadiyya, are banned with adherents being deported according to a 2007 report by Human Rights Watch.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Proselytizing by non-Muslims and conversion by Muslims to another religion is illegal. According to the HeartCry Missionary Society, in 2014 the Saudi government "issued an official statement signifying that capital punishment may now be used" on those who distribute the Bible and all other "publications that have prejudice to any other religious belief other than Islam."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In legal compensation court cases ("Diyya") non-Muslim are awarded less than Muslims. Atheists are legally designated as terrorists.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi society lives within the circle of customs and traditions in which it was ingrained by the Arab culture of Islam and the Islamic culture, but the regions of the Kingdom differ from each other in the customs of clothing, food, dialects, songs, and even in marriage traditions, and the family in Saudi Arabia is the most important social institution, so the bonds are strong between their members Among them is the concept of obedience and mutual respect.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: A large portion of the original inhabitants of the area that is now Saudi were desert nomads known as Bedouin. They remain a significant and very influential minority of the indigenous Saudi population, though many who call themselves "bedou" no longer engage in "traditional tribal activities of herding sheep and riding camels." According to authors Harvey Tripp and Peter North, Bedouin make up most of the judiciary, religious leaders and National Guard (which protects the throne) of the country. Bedouin culture is "actively" preserved by the government.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Greetings in Saudi Arabia have been called "formal and proscribed" and lengthy. Saudis (men) tend "to take their time and converse for a bit when meeting." Inquiries "about health and family" are customary, but never about a man's wife, as this "is considered disrespectful."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi men are known for the physical affection they express towards total strangers (i.e. Saudi male strangers), thought by some to be a continuation of the desert tradition of offering strangers hospitality to ensure their survival.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The religion and customs of Saudi Arabia dictate not only conservative dress for men and women, but a uniformity of dress unique to most of the Middle East. Traditionally, the different regions of Saudi have had different dress, but since the re-establishment of Saudi rule these have been reserved for festive occasions, and "altered if not entirely displaced" by the dress of the homeland of their rulers (i.e. Najd).


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Many women normally wear an "abaya", a long black cloak that covers all but the hands and face in public despite this not being required. (Modest dress is compulsory for women in Islam but the color black for women and white for men is apparently based on tradition not religious scripture.) Some Saudi women wear a full face veil, such as a "niqāb" or a burqa. Women's clothes are often decorated with tribal motifs, coins, sequins, metallic thread, and appliques. Saudi Arabia has recently relaxed the dress code for women.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In recent years it is common to wear Western dress underneath the "abaya". (Foreign women in Saudi Arabia are "encouraged" by the religious police to wear an "abaya", or at least cover their hair according to "The New York Times". Authors Harvey Tripp and Peter North encourage women to wear an abaya in "more conservative" areas of the kingdom, i.e. in the interior.)


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi men and boys, whatever their job or social status, wear the traditional dress called a "thobe" or "thawb", which has been called the "Arabic dress". During warm and hot weather, Saudi men and boys wear white thobes. During the cool weather, wool thobes in dark colors are not uncommon. At special times, men often wear a "bisht" or "mishlah" over the thobe. These are long white, brown or black cloaks trimmed in metallic thread. A man's headdress consists of three things: the "tagia", a small white cap that keeps the "gutra" from slipping off the head; the "gutra" itself, which is a large square of cloth; and the "igal", a doubled black cord that holds the "gutra" in place. Not wearing an igal is considered a sign of piety. The gutra is usually made of cotton and traditionally is either all white or a red and white checked. The gutra is worn folded into a triangle and centred on the head.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Among young men, since around 2000, Western dress, particularly T-shirts and jeans have become quite common leisure wear, particularly in the Eastern Province.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Traditional footwear has been leather sandals but most footwear is now imported. Saudi Arabia has recently relaxed the dress code for women.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Employment does not play the same part in native Saudi society as in some others. With enormous petroleum export earnings beginning in the mid-1970s the Saudi economy was not dependent on income from productive employment. Economists "estimate only 30–40 percent" of working-age Saudis "hold jobs or actively seek work," and most employed Saudis have less-than-demanding jobs with the government.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2008, 90% of those employed in the private sector were foreigners, and several decades long efforts to replace significant numbers of them with Saudis have been unsuccessful.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: One explanation for this culture of leisure is the hot, dry climate of the peninsula which allowed nomadic herding but permitted agriculture only in a small area (the southwest corner). Like other nomadic herders worldwide, the ancestors of most Saudis did not develop the habits (so-called "work ethic"), skills, infrastructure, etc. of agricultural societies "that lead ultimately to present-day industrialisation". As a consequence, "Saudis have rarely worked in the sense that other nationalities have worked. No product-based commercial economy existed until oil" was discovered.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Traditionally social life in the kingdom has revolved around the home and family. Saudis regularly visit family members, particularly those of an older generation. For women, most of whom have their own jobs, it is routine (in fact the only outside activity) to pay visits to each other during the day, though the ban on women driving can make transportation a problem. The ban was lifted in 2017.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: For men, traditional hours involve a nap in late afternoon (after work if they are employed), and then socializing that begins after maghrib (roughly between 5 and 6:30 pm) and can last until well after midnight. Men gather in groups (known as "shillas" or "majmu'as") of close friends of similar age, background, and occupation. Men typically relax, and joke while smoking "shisha" and playing balot (a card game), and have a meal around midnight before returning home. The groups may meet in "diwaniyyas" in each other's homes or a residence rented for the occasion.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Being part of a closed, family-oriented society, Saudis tend to prefer to do business with, socialize with, and communicate with family members rather than outsiders, be they foreigners, or Saudis from other clans. Extended families tend to live in family compounds in cities whenever possible and stay in contact by cellphone when not. It is customary for elder family member to use their influence ("wasta") for the benefit of family members, particularly for employment and advancement in the large Saudi government bureaucracy where most Saudis work.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Traditionally, in Saudi Arabia (and other Gulf countries), families arrange marriages with the tribe or family's considerations in mind. Forced marriage has also taken place. Sons and daughters have been encouraged to "marry cousins or other relatives in order to increase and strengthen" the extended family or tribe,


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: "or occasionally to marry into another tribe in order to heal rifts". At least in the 1990s, most marriages in Saudi were "consanguineous"—i.e. between close relatives—sometimes a second cousin but usually a first cousin. and marriage between cousins in Saudi is among the highest rate in the world. The practice has been cited as a factor in higher rates of Type 2 diabetes (which affects about 32% of adult Saudis), hypertension (which affects 33%), and higher rates of severe genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis or a blood disorder,


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As a consequence of frequent consanguineous marriage, genetic counseling is a growing field in Saudi Arabia.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Traditionally men having more than one wife (polygyny) was "fairly common", but marriage has become increasingly monogamous as income has declined and western ideas of mutual compatibility between husband and wife have taken hold.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia allows the traditional practice of "triple talaq" divorce, where a man can divorce his wife simply by saying ‘I divorce you’ ("ṭalāq") three times. He can rescind the divorce if this was done in the heat of the moment, but only if the wife agrees (and only on three occasions). The husband must maintain a divorced wife and any children from the marriage if the wife is unable to support herself, although she may have trouble receiving timely payments. Children generally remain with their mother until about five or six, after which boys return to their father to begin their formal education. The husband can claim custody of any sons when they reach the age of ten. Girls more often remain with their mother. A female divorcee usually returns to her family, and few remarry. Despite the liberality of divorce laws, divorce is not commonplace outside of the royal family where it is "endemic".)


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Divorce for women who have been abandoned by their husbands in Saudi Arabia has been criticized for being slow.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Divorce initiated by a wife ("khula") is unusual in the kingdom even if a husband has been unfaithful, abused or deserted his wife, or engaged in criminal activity.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi is one of ten countries where homosexuality is punishable by death (the punishment of stoning to death may be applied to married men who've engaged in homosexual acts or any non-Muslim married or unmarried who commits homosexual acts with a Muslim) as well as fines, flogging, prison time, on first offense. In April 2020, the Saudi Supreme Court abolished the flogging punishment, and replaced it with jail time or fines or both.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As in other Arab and especially Gulf countries, Saudi customs include avoiding certain practices, such as:


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Observers have noted the importance of custom and tradition in Saudi society. Folk beliefs such as "which foot to step first into the bathroom with, or urinating on the wheel of a new car to ward off the evil eye," hold an important place.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Older brothers—even if older by only a few days—should have their hand kissed by younger brothers, sit above them on formal occasions, enter a room before them.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Women who go on even short trips of a few days are expected to visit senior relatives and even close neighbors to bid them goodbye, and upon returning, make another round of visits to the same individuals to pay her respects and dispense small gifts. Saudis may "require four to six months" to check their plans with extended family before finalizing them.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: One observer has noted that "through their love of language, Saudis are swayed more by words rather than ideas and more by ideas than facts." While vigorous public arguments ("shouting matches") may be commonplace, it "is most unusual to see a Saudi strike another Saudi." This emphasis on rhetoric is reflected in foreign affairs where, for example, the government "regularly condemns the State of Israel in the most vehement and bloodcurdling terms but rarely takes action."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Many outsiders are struck by the superficial resemblance of Saudi cities (at least the major cities such as Jeddah, Riyadh and the eastern province), with their superhighways, shopping malls and fast food, to those of post-World War II western cities and suburbs.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As late as 1970, most Saudis lived a subsistence life in the rural provinces, but the kingdom has urbanized rapidly in the last half of the 20th century. As of 2012 about 80% of Saudis live in urban metropolitan areas, specifically Riyadh, Jeddah, or Dammam.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi houses and housing compounds are often noted for the high walls (3 or 4 metres high) surrounding them, explained as useful in keeping out sandstorms and/or reflective of the families' self-contained outlook on the world.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Like many people throughout the world, many Saudis derive "much pleasure and pride" in their homes. Saudis enjoy decorating rooms of their homes in "all the colours of the spectrum" and display objets d'art of many different styles together. "Clashes of colour and culture are the norm, not the exception," with the value of an artefact, "rather than consistency of style" being the major criterion of display. Foreigners may also be struck by the lack of finishing touches in construction ("Electrical switches may protrude from the wall supported only by their wiring") or maintenance ("Piles of masonry are likely to lie scattered beside and on the streets of expensive suburbs").


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia, and specifically the Hejaz, as the cradle of Islam, has many of the most significant historic Muslim sites, including the two holiest sites of Mecca and Medina. One of the King's titles is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the two mosques being Masjid al-Haram in Mecca (which contains Islam's most sacred place, the Kaaba), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, which contains Muhammad's tomb.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: However, Saudi Wahhabism doctrine is hostile to any reverence given to historical or religious places of significance for fear that it may give rise to 'shirk' (that is, idolatry). As a consequence, under Saudi rule, an estimated 95% of Mecca's historic buildings, most over a thousand years old, have been demolished for religious reasons. Critics claim that over the last 50 years, 300 historic sites linked to Muhammad, his family or companions have been lost, leaving fewer than 20 structures remaining in Mecca that date back to the time of Muhammad.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Demolished structures include the mosque originally built by Muhammad's daughter Fatima, and other mosques founded by Abu Bakr (Muhammad's father-in-law and the first Caliph), Umar (the second Caliph), Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law and the fourth Caliph), and Salman al-Farsi (another of Muhammad's companions). Other historic buildings that have been destroyed include the house of Khadijah, the wife of Muhammad, the house of Abu Bakr, now the site of the local Hilton hotel; the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of Muhammad, and the Mosque of abu-Qubais, now the location of the King's palace in Mecca.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: While women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until June 24, 2018 and were consequently limited in mobility, they traditionally have often had considerable informal power in the home. According to journalist Judith Miller, "some Saudi women were veritable tyrants in their own homes. They decided where their children would go to school, when and whom they would marry, whether their husbands would accept new jobs, with whom the family socialized, and where the family would live and spend vacations. They promoted their friends' husbands, sons and relatives to key jobs." David Long, a former American diplomat who had taught in the kingdom, has described Saudi men as "the world's most henpecked".


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Outside the home, a number of Saudi women have risen to the top of some professions or otherwise achieved prominence; for example, Dr. Salwa Al-Hazzaa is head of the ophthalmology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh and was the late King Fahad's personal ophthalmologist. However employment for women is limited, and urban middle and upper-class women spend much time in socializing with the extended family and close friends. Writing in National Geographic Marrianne Alireza noted: "For city women like us the only activity besides living communally within the extended family was leaving our quarters to visit other women in their quarters."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: but no longer common, with the average age at first marriage among Saudi females being 25 years old. However, in 2019 Members of the Saudi Shoura Council in 2019 approved fresh regulations for minor marriages that will see to outlaw marrying off 15-year-old children and force the need for court approval for those under 18. Chairman of the Human Rights Committee at the Shoura Council, Dr. Hadi Al-Yami, said that introduced controls were based on in-depth studies presented to the body. He pointed out that the regulation, vetted by the Islamic Affairs Committee at the Shoura Council, has raised the age of marriage to 18 and prohibited it for those under 15. Female literacy (81%) is lower than that of males, but the percentage of university graduates who are women (60%) is higher.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: While the kingdom states that the status of women is "a very noble and lofty one", according to leading Islamic scholars, women in Saudi do not have equal rights with men. Outside of Saudi, foreign sources have shown that discrimination of women is a significant problem and that there is an absence of laws criminalizing violence against women.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The World Economic Forum 2010 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 129th out of 134 countries for gender parity.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Under Saudi law, every adult female must have a male relative as her "guardian", whose permission she is required to have in order to travel, study, or work. The guardian is legally entitled to make a number of critical decisions on a woman's behalf. However, women above 18 will soon be allowed to travel abroad without taking their guardians permission as a new law is going to be enacted in this regards in 2019. In August 2019, the law has been already enacted and women above 21 are allowed to travel without a prior permission. The law came into effect at the end of August 2019.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In the courts, the testimony of a woman equals half of a man's and the testimony of one man equals that of two women in family and inheritance law. Men are permitted up to four wives, but women are permitted no more than one husband. Men need no legal justification to unilaterally divorce their wives (talaq), while a woman can only obtain a divorce with the consent of her husband or judicially if her husband has harmed her. With regard to the law of inheritance, the Quran specifies that fixed portions of the deceased's estate must be left to the "Qu'ranic heirs" and so daughters of the deceased will receive half of their brothers.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi women's lives are also shaped by Wahhabi religious policy of strict gender segregation. In health, obesity is a problem among middle and upper class Saudi women, who have domestic servants to do traditional work and have limited ability to leave their house. School sports for girls is forbidden, but as of April 2014, Saudi authorities in the education ministry have been asked by the Shoura Council to consider lifting that ban (with the proviso that any sports conform to Sharia rules on dress and gender segregation, according to the official SPA news agency).


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In the public sphere restaurants have specially designated family sections women are required to use. They are also required to wear an abaya and at the very least cover their hair. Women, until June 2018 were forbidden to drive (though exception prior to 2018 were usually made in rural areas). (These restrictions are usually enforced by the "religious police", known as the "mutaween".) Women have been promised the vote in 2015 municipal elections.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Like many Muslim countries of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has a high population growth rate and high percentage of its population under 30 years of age. Estimates of the young population of Saudi Arabia vary:


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Factors such as the decline in per capita income from the failure of oil revenue to keep up with population growth, exposure to youth lifestyles of the outside world, lack of access to quality education and employment opportunity, change in child rearing practices and attitudes towards the ruling royal family—indicate their lives and level of satisfaction will be different than the generation before them.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Since foreign labour is cheap and common, even families of modest means usually have servants. In richer families, each child may have an individual servant.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: However, unlike parents, servants can be fired/sacked and are often neither Muslims nor Arabs. Consequently, according to at least one observer (John R. Bradley), they both "lack the authority... to discipline those in their care", and the ability and knowledge to "pass down by example the core Islamic values and traditions that have always formed the bedrock of Saudi society."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Unlike their parents, who grew up during the oil boom of the 1970s and saw their standard of living rise from poverty to affluence, Saudis born "in the 1980s and 1990s have no memory of the impoverished Arabia prior to the oil boom and thus express almost no sense of appreciation."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Instead, they have experienced a kingdom of poor schools, overcrowded universities, and declining job opportunities.. Moreover, their royal rulers' profligate and often non-Islamic lifestyles are increasingly transparent to Saudis and stand in sharp contrast both to Al Saud religious pretensions and to their own declining living standards."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi youth are exposed to youth lifestyles of the outside world via the internet, as dating, and concerts are banned in their country. However, in 2017 concerts were no longer banned in Saudi Arabia. Public fields for soccer are scarce. Even shopping malls do not allow young men unless they are accompanied by a female relative.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2014, men are no longer required to have a female relative to be able to enter shopping malls. Insofar as young people have a tendency to "resent authority, reject rules, and seek to exert their independence," youth rebellion is more problematic because the number of "restrictions and conventions against which youth can rebel" in the kingdom is far larger than in most societies. The average age of the king and crown prince is 74, while 50–60% of Saudis are under twenty, creating a significant generation gap between rulers and ruled.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In a 2011 survey, 31% of Saudi youth agreed with the statement `traditional values are outdated and ... I am keen to embrace modern values and beliefs`—the highest percentage in the ten Arab countries surveyed.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The number who had confidence about the direction of their country dropped from 98% (in 2010) to 62%.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: While in most societies these numbers might seem unremarkable, in Saudi Arabia any rebellion stands out against "the unquestioning acceptance ... of previous generations".


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: where job prospects are in the public sector, dependent on government revenues. However, funding for public sector may decline not expand in coming years. At least some experts expect the kingdom's expenditures to "exceed its oil revenues as soon as 2014."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Unemployment among 20- to 24-year-olds is 39% – 45% for women and 30.3% for men—compared to an official unemployment rate of 10% circa 2012.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The sport of "Tafheet" also called "drifting" or joyriding—illegal street racing-like phenomenon of generally non-modified factory-setup rental cars at very high speeds, around , across wide highways throwing the car left and right that is especially popular in the margins of society—has been noted by observers. A 2004 school survey carried out in the kingdom's three biggest cities found that 45% of teenage boys were involved to some degree in joyriding.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The sport has been described as "tyre-burning acrobatics often in stolen or `borrowed` cars before a flash-mob of youthful admirers,As a dangerous, illegal and so unregulated activity, crashes and fatalities sometimes occur.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Since the 1960s there has been a significant number of guest workers/foreign expatriates allowed into Saudi on work visas, and these now make up around 20–30% of the population of the country. Guest workers range in occupation from high skilled workers (employed to do jobs Saudis cannot do), to manual service workers (doing jobs Saudis "will not do"). A number of sources describe a "pecking order" among workers established by factors such as the importance of your employer, and country of origin. One source places workers from Gulf oil producing countries at the top, another places Americans there, but all agree that Nationals from places like Bangladesh, Yemen and Philippines are at the bottom. While foreign workers from Western countries are now a small minority, numbering only approximately 100,000, most of whom live in compounds or gated communities.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: With a large number of unemployed Saudis, a growing population and need for government spending but stagnating oil revenues with which to pay foreign workers, the large number of expats has come to be seen as "an enormous problem" that "distorts" the Saudi economy and "keeps young people out of the labour market."


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In October 2011, the Saudi Labour Ministry put a "ceiling" on the number of guest workers at 20% of the Saudi population, requiring a reduction of foreign population by up to three million over several years.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In March 2013, a campaign was initiated to "get rid of its illegal foreign workers, control the legal ones", and lower native-born Saudi unemployment. Approximately one million Bangladeshis, Indians, Filipinos, Nepalis, Pakistanis and Yemenis left between the campaign's beginning and the deadline (November 4, 2013), with authorities planning to expel another one million illegal foreigners in 2014. Ethiopians were a particular target of the campaign, with thousands expelled. Various human rights entities have criticised Saudi Arabia's handling of the issue. Prior to this workers were sometimes not hired or expelled as a way of registering Saudi disapproval of the workers' country. Saudi Arabia expelled 800,000 Yemenis in 1990 and 1991 during the Gulf War due to Yemen's support for Saddam Hussein against Saudi Arabia, and cut the number of Bangladeshis allowed to enter Saudi in 2013 after the Bangladeshi government cracked down on the Islamist Jamaat-e Islami party there.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi–Yemen barrier was constructed by Saudi Arabia against an influx of illegal immigrants and against the smuggling of drugs and weapons.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: A 2004 law passed by Saudi Arabia's Council of Ministers, entitles Muslim expatriates of all nationalities (except Palestinian) who have resided in the kingdom for ten years to apply for citizenship with priority being given to holders of degrees in various scientific fields. (The estimated 240,000 Palestinians living in Saudi Arabia are excluded, because of Arab League agreement instructions barring the Arab states from granting them citizenship of another Arab state.)


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Treatment of foreign workers is also an issue. According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2014, there was a "worrying trend" of expatriate domestic workers filing "complaints of exploitation and abuse" only to face counter-allegations by their employers of "theft, witchcraft or adultery." 41 expat workers from just one country, Indonesia, faced "possible death sentences" in Saudi Arabia on charges "ranging from black magic to stealing, adultery and murder".


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The Arabian Peninsula has a long tradition of slavery and ethnically, Saudis have a range of skin color "from very light to very dark and features from Caucasian to African", a testimony to ethnicity of the slaves that intermarried over the centuries with natives of the region. Abolition of slavery came relatively recently in Saudi (1962), so that it has existed within in the lifetime of many present day Saudis, and according to at least some observers, "a semblance of the slave owner mentality sometimes lingers on" among some Saudi.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Today, Saudis follow many of their traditional habits, especially in food and drinks. As many Saudies are originally descended from tribes of sheep and goat herders, many Saudi dishes are mainly made of sheep meat.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabian cuisine is similar to that of the surrounding countries in the Arabian Peninsula, and has been heavily influenced by Turkish, Persian, and African food. Animals are slaughtered in accordance with halal Islamic dietary laws, which consider pork forbidden ("haram") and alcohol forbidden ("haram"). As a general rule, Saudis (like other Muslims) consider impure pork to be disgusting, but forbidden alcohol a temptation. Consequently, dietary laws regarding the former are more strictly observed than those regarding the latter.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: People of Saudi Arabia are restricted by the religious norms related to food and drink. Thus, alcohol is prohibited in Islam and, accordingly, it is prevented in the country. Furthermore, pork is also prohibited and Saudis do not eat it. Nevertheless, cows, sheep, chicken and other types of animals can't be eaten unless they are slaughtered according to the Islamic law.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: A dish consisting of a stuffed lamb, known as "khūzī", is the traditional national dish. Kebabs are popular, as is "shāwarmā", a marinated grilled meat dish of lamb, mutton, or chicken, sometimes wrapped in flat bread. As in other Arab countries of the Arabian Peninsula, "machbūs" (kabsa), a rice dish with fish or shrimp, is popular. Flat, unleavened bread is a staple of virtually every meal, as are dates and fresh fruit. Coffee, served in the Arabic style, is the traditional beverage.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The appearance of modern supermarkets and commercial restaurants starting in the 1970s has changed Saudi culinary habits. International cuisine, particularly fast food, has become popular in all Saudi urban areas (i.e. in 80% of the country).


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: While traditionally Saudis ate sitting on the floor using the right hand or flat bread to take food from a roasted lamb, goat or camel carcass, the practice of eating while sitting on a chair at a table has become more standard practice, if not the use of knives and forks.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Coffee is often served "with great ceremony", and it is customary to drink two or three cups to indicate your approval of the coffee. Cups are refilled unless a gesture—shaking your cup—is made to indicate you've had enough. It is considered good manners for a guest to eat heartily.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia is a deserted country where many oases can be found. Accordingly, over 18 million date palms are planted in the country and 600 million pounds of date are produced every year. Thus, dates are considered one of the main and permanent fruit in Saudi Arabia, particularly in Ramadan when dates are eaten in sunset by fasters to break their fast. Additionally, dates are eaten as a snack and many Saudi desserts are made of dates. Besides dates, numerous kinds of foodstuffs are planted in Saudi Arabia, including wheat, rice, beans, watermelon and others. Animals, such as goats, sheep, cows and camels are also nurtured in the country.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Educated Saudis are well informed of issues of the Arab world, the Islamic world, and the world at large, but freedom of the press and public expression of opinion are not recognized by the government. The "Basic Law" of the kingdom states that the media's role is to educate and inspire national unity, and are prohibited from acts that lead "to disorder and division". News stories, public speeches and other acts of personal expression cannot conflict with traditional Islamic values, or dissent from government policy, insult government officials, especially the royal family, and cannot delve too deeply into certain sensitive and taboo subject matters that might embarrass the government or spread dissent, i.e. the role of women in Saudi society, the treatment of Shiite Muslims, damage caused by natural disasters, or social problems such as the AIDS-HIV pandemic and human trafficking.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As of 2013, BBC News reported that criticism of the government and royal family and the questioning of Islamic tenets "are not generally tolerated. Self-censorship is pervasive." As of 2014, Freedom House rates the kingdom's press and internet "Not Free".


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Labor unions and political parties are prohibited in the kingdom, although a few underground political parties do exist. The government has created a national "Consultative Council" (which is appointed not elected, and does not pass laws), and has given permission for certain "societies" to exist (though they have little ability to influence government policy).


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Informal public discussion of public policy is not actively encouraged, although it is not expressly illegal per se, unless it is deemed to be promoting immorality, dissent or disloyalty. Limited non-partisan municipal elections were held in 2005.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The most popular sport in Saudi Arabia is Association football (soccer) in both in participation and viewing. It is governed by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation that was founded in 1956.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: There are 60 football clubs participating in three main professional football league levels; the Saudi Professional League involving 16 football clubs, Prince Mohammad bin Salman League with 20 clubs and Second Division with 24 clubs. The demotics competitions also include some cups such as King club, Crown Prince Cup and Saudi Super Cup.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: The Saudi Arabian national football team has qualified five times for FIFA World Cup competitions, in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and most recently, in 2018. Moreover, it qualified for the AFC Asian Cup 10 times and had won three of them.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Recently, some Saudi players have become skilled enough to play in Europe. The players were sent to Spain to play in the La Liga aiming to improve their skills better.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Basketball is also popular. The Saudi Arabian national basketball team won the bronze medal at the 1999 Asian Championship.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Horse racing is also another diversion in Saudi Arabia which has a historical and cultural legacy where Friday afternoon is the traditional time of horse racing in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. The establishment of the Equestrian Club of Riyadh in 1965 was a result of the importance of horse racing. Moreover, now Saudis are the dominant player in some international horse racing such as Royal Ascot to Longchamp and Melbourne.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Falconry is another sport with long traditions rooted in Bedouin culture. It mainly consists of raising falcons, training them and using them for hunting. Despite the inscription of Falconry by the UNESCO as a living human heritage, it is also emerging as a sport.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Camel racing is a uniquely Arabian sport practiced in the kingdom (and the UAE) that still has some mass popularity. There are camel racetracks in most of the kingdom's major centres, and races for prize money on many weekends throughout the winter months. Like racehorses, camels with breeding pedigrees may be very valuable.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2012, Saudi Arabia included women in its Olympic team for the first time. Two female athletes—a runner and judoka—participated. The inclusion followed international criticism for years of exclusion, but was controversial in the kingdom, and "prompted some to abuse the morals" of the athletes on social media.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: As of April 2014, Saudi authorities in the education ministry have been asked by the Shoura Council to consider lifting a state school ban on sports for girls with the proviso that any sports conform to Sharia rules on dress and gender segregation, according to the official SPA news agency.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Women participation have then increased as four athletes were sent to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. They were two runner Sarah Attar, and Cariman Abu al-Jadail joined by judo athlete Wujud Fahmi and fencing competitor Lubna al-Omair.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: In 2018, more than 1300 girls participated in a 3 km marathon, al-Ahsa Runs, for the first time in the country.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Visual arts tend to be dominated by geometric, floral, and abstract designs and by calligraphy. Sunni Islam traditionally prohibits creating representations of people. With the advent of oil wealth in the 20th century came exposure to outside influences, such as Western housing styles, furnishings, and clothes.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Calligraphy is the art of forming arranging beautiful letters and symbols, and it is among the dominant art forms in Saudi Arabia. This art has been emerging in different themes such as metalwork, ceramics, glass textiles, painting, and sculpture.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Apart from the dominant art forms, there were some portrait paintings and sculptures produced by some artists in the 1960s like Artist Dia Aziz Dia from Jeddah.


title: Culture of Saudi Arabia

text: Al-Qatt Al-Asiri is another essential art form represents the identity of the Asir region. It is the art of interior wall decoration usually carried out by women. The base of this art is white gypsum with colorful patterns of geometric shapes and symbol painted on it. This art form is now inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.