Vale of Tempe

The Vale of Tempe (Greek: Tέμπη, Témpi) is a gorge in northern Thessaly, Greece, located between Olympus to the north and Ossa to the south. The valley is 10 kilometers long and as narrow as 25 meters in places, with cliffs nearly 500 meters high, and through it flows the Pineios River on its way to the Aegean Sea. In ancient times, it was celebrated by Greek poets as a favorite haunt of Apollo and the Muses. On the right bank of the Pineios sat a temple to Apollo, near which the laurels used to crown the victorious in the Pythian Games were gathered.

The Tempe Pass is a strategic pass in Greece since it is the main route from Larisa through the mountains to the coast. Though it can be bypassed via the Sarantoporo Pass, the alternate route takes longer. Because of this it has been the scene of numerous battles throughout history. In 480 BC, 10,000 Athenians and Spartans gathered at Tempe to stop Xerxes's invasion. However, once there, they were warned by Alexander I of Macedon that the vale could be bypassed and that the army of Xerxes was overwhelmingly large; accordingly, the Greeks retreated.^[1]

Local history and legend[link]

The Vale of Tempe was home for a time to Aristaeus, son of Apollo and Cyrene, and it was here that he chased Eurydice, wife of Orpheus, who, in her flight, was bitten by a serpent and died. In the thirteenth century AD a church dedicated to Aghia (Saint) Paraskevi was erected in the valley.

During the Third Macedonian War in 164 BC the Romans broke through Perseus of Macedon's defences here and later defeated him in the Battle of Pydna. During the revolution of Andriskos in 148 BC the valley was the site of another conflict. There were other battles fought there during the barbarian raids that mark the end of the Roman era in Greece and in Byzantine and Ottoman times.

Lemprière[link]

John Lemprière in his Classical Dictionary gives this description:

Tempe, (plur.) a valley in Thessaly, between mount Olympus at the north, and Ossa at the south, through which the river Peneus flows into the Ægean. The poets have described it as the most delightful spot on the earth, with continual cooling shades, and verdant walks, which the warbling of birds rendered more pleasant and romantic, and which the gods often honored with their presence. Tempe extended about five miles in length but varied in the dimensions of its breadth so as to be in some places scarce one acre and a half wide. All vallies that are pleasant, either for their situation or the mildness of their climate, are called Tempe by the poets.^[2]

Recent history[link]

Tempe has become notorious for the poor condition of the road passing through it and for horrible accidents that have happened there. The most severe happened in 2003: an entire 11th grade class of 21 students from the village of Makrochori (Prefecture of Imathia) perished when a truck carrying plywood, coming from the opposite direction, hit their bus on its side.^[3] Although the driver was able to reduce the truck's velocity in just a few seconds, sideways momentum was conserved by the plywood which detached from the vehicle and sliced into the left side of the coach, instantly killing many of the passengers.

On December 16, 2009, a small rockfall occurred. No damage or injury occurred. The road was subsequently closed, and during the inspection the next day a massive rockslide occurred, killing one person.^[4] The road remained closed until May 2010 while rocks were scaled off the cliff faces above the road, and rockfall protection fences were built.

The cities of Tempe, Arizona, USA and Tempe, New South Wales, Australia are named for it, as is a farm in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, with nearby farms named Olympus and Ossa. The Vale of Tempe Road tracing a small valley in Penang, Malaysia, is also named for it.

Literature[link]

• Catullus refers to Tempe in Catullus 64 lines 285-286.
• Horace refers to Tempe in Ode I.7.
• Vergil refers to Tempe in Georgics 4.317.
• Ovid refers to Tempe in Metamorphoses I.568 et seq. in an ekphrasis loci.
• Strabo refers to Tempe in his Geographica, Book 9.
• Edmund Spenser refers to Tempe in The Fairie Queene in Book 2, Canto XII, stanza lii.
• Percy Shelley refers to Tempe in Hymn Of Pan.
• John Keats refers to Tempe in Ode on a Grecian Urn.
• Ruskin refers to Tempe in his open letters concerning the railway.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Livius.org: Tempe (Témbi)
• Summary of the works done to protect the road through the Tempe Valley in Northern Greece from rockfalls

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tempe Valley

Coordinates: 39°52′22″N 22°32′48″E / 39.87278°N 22.54667°E / 39.87278; 22.54667

Will Bruder (born in 1946 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American architect.^[1]

Bruder studied art and engineering, but had no formal university training in architecture. After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1968, he worked and studied under Paolo Soleri, where he acquired field experience in woodwork, metal work, and masonry. Through apprenticeship with Soleri and with Gunnar Birkerts,^[2] he obtained registration as an architect and opened his practice in 1974. He is the president of his studio - will bruder+PARTNERS LTD - in Phoenix, Arizona.

Works[link]

Burton Barr Central Library, Phoenix, Arizona, 1995

Henkel US Headquarters Scottsdale, Arizona, 2006

Bruder's largest structure is the Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix, Arizona, a five-story, 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m²) civic landmark that houses an open, one-acre (4,000 m²) reading room and a five-floor, glass-and-steel elevator and stair well (the "Crystal Canyon"). The building incorporates a Buckminster Fuller tensegrity structure in its roof, and features motorized louvers on its south face for improved sun control.

Other works include:

• Cholla Branch Library, Phoenix, Arizona,1986
• Rock Valley Art Center, Deer Valley, Arizona, 1994
• Temple Kol Ami, Phoenix, Arizona, 1994
• Riddell Advertising, Jackson, Wyoming, 1995
• Burton Barr Central Library, Phoenix, Arizona, 1995
• Mad River Wedge, Jackson, Wyoming, 1997
• Townsend Residence, Paradise Valley, Arizona, 1997
• Byrne Residence, North Scottsdale, Arizona, 1998
• Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (annex), Scottsdale, Arizona, 1999
• TAXI 2 mixed use, Denver, Colorado, 2002
• the Vale mixed use/residential, Tempe, Arizona, 2002
• Loloma 5 mixed use/residential, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2002
• Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada, 2003
• Agave Library, Phoenix, Arizona, 2004
• Upton Condominium, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2004
• Henkel US Headquarters / R&D, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2006
• Hercules Library, (Contra Costa County, CA) 2006
• Portland Main Library, Portland, Maine (under construction)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Search many definitive archived photo examples of Mr. Bruder's work
• Illustrated appreciation of the Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix, Arizona
• http://www.willbruder.com

The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking.^[1] The Greek is a mysterious figure involved in numerous criminal activities. His given name is never mentioned on the show, and though he is known only as "The Greek", he has stated (in the episode Port in a Storm) that he is not actually Greek. A quiet and unassuming man, the Greek prefers to keep a low profile, operating all of his business through his lieutenant Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. His smuggling organization operated from a small diner in Baltimore for years, and while Vondas would conduct business the Greek would listen in quietly at the counter. Nick Sobotka, upon seeing the Greek identify himself, was amazed that the shadowy figure had been in plain sight the entire time.

Despite his calm appearance, the Greek is cunning and ruthless, and only interested in facts that make him more money. Series creator David Simon has said that The Greek is an embodiment of raw unencumbered capitalism.^[2] Anyone interfering in this process is eliminated immediately, and he prefers to leave victims headless and handless to hinder identification.

The Greek's smuggling operation includes importing sex trade workers, illicit drugs, stolen goods and chemicals for drug processing. He bribes union stevedores to move containers through the Baltimore port for him and uses his muscle, Sergei "Serge" Malatov, to run containers back and forth from the port to his warehouse, a front managed by "Double G" Glekas. The Greek supplies the major drug dealers in East Baltimore with pure cocaine and heroin, using Eton Ben-Eleazer to move his drugs. His chief client is Proposition Joe, but he is also affiliated with smaller drug dealing organizations like those run by "White Mike" McArdle. His sex trade interests in Baltimore include a brothel run by a madam named Ilona Petrovitch, bringing in girls from eastern Europe. He manages to avoid prosecution for his crimes because an FBI counter-terrorism agent named Kristos Koutris tips him off if a criminal investigation gets too close. It is suggested he and Vondas may serve as federal informants.

Biography[link]

Season 2[link]

The Greek began to draw police attention in Baltimore when his contact at the docks, Frank Sobotka, became the target of an investigation. At the same time a container of thirteen dead young women intended for the sex trade was discovered at the docks, triggering a high-profile homicide investigation. The container belonged to the Greek and the girls were killed by a crewman onboard the vessel that had delivered them. The ship's crew had been paying the girls for sex and when one of the girls refused, she was killed. The crewman responsible dumped her overboard and collapsed the air pipe to kill the remaining women. The Greek had Sergei track the crewman down, interrogated him personally, and had Vondas kill him.

As the investigation continued the police were able to link Eton and Sergei to the drug smuggling operation. When police began tracking containers as they left the port, The Greek and Vondas began to close down the operation temporarily by dumping their cell phones and stealing "clean" containers. Persuading Sobotka to keep the smuggling operation going he bought further protection from Agent Koutris by betraying a load of Colombian cocaine, giving him time to destroy incriminating evidence in the warehouse and Glekas' store.

The Greek recognized that the investigation was too extensive to stop and made plans to leave, sending Vondas to assure Proposition Joe that supply of drugs would continue albeit with new faces. He attempted to buy Sobotka's silence with promised legal aid for his son, but when he learned from Koutris that Frank was planning to turn informant he had the union man killed. Although Frank's nephew Nick Sobotka was able to identify The Greek in a photo and Sergei was pressured to give up the location of his hotel suite, Vondas and the Greek had already boarded a flight to Chicago. Aware that the Greek and Vondas were gone, the police left the investigation behind and moved on to the drug dealers he supplied.

Seasons 4 & 5[link]

The Greek continued to supply "Proposition Joe" Stewart, who formed an organization with other drug dealers called the New Day Co-Op to provide The Greek's product to them in exchange for reduced violence and sharing of territory. When Omar Little steals an entire shipment of heroin from the Greek's men as it is being delivered to Stewart's people, Marlo Stanfield demands a meeting with Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos in order to allay his fears that Stewart was responsible.^[3][4] Once Stanfield is satisfied, he waits for the Major Crimes Unit's investigation into his activities to cease and then moves to establish a direct relationship with Vondas and the Greek. After getting in communication with Vondas through former soldier Sergei,^[5][6] Marlo eventually sells himself as Joe's replacement by convincing the Greek that he requires an insurance policy in the form of a replacement for Proposition Joe, in the event that anything should happen to him. Realizing that Stanfield will move against Stewart regardless of his approval, the Greek accepts Marlo's proposal to act as an "insurance policy," knowing that it will mean Joe's death.^[7][8]

After Stewart's murder, Stanfield meets with Vondas to initiate their new business relationship.^[9][10] Stanfield's tenure proves short lived when he is forced into retirement by an investigation, and the other Co-Op members purchase the connection from Stanfield. In the closing scenes of the series finale, Slim Charles and Fat-Face Rick take over meeting with Vondas while the Greek listens quietly in the background.^[11][12]

References[link]

Burton Holmes
Burton Holmes, ca. 1905
Born	(1870-01-08)January 8, 1870 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died	July 22, 1958(1958-07-22) (aged 88) Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Nationality	American
Occupation	travel lecturer
Known for	travelogues

Wongudan in Seoul, Korea. Photographed by Burton Holmes in 1925, digitally restored.

Burton Holmes (1870–1958) was an American traveler, photographer and filmmaker, who coined the term "travelogue".

Travel stories, slide shows, and motion pictures were all in existence before Holmes began his career, as was the profession of travel lecturer; but Holmes was the first person to put all of these elements together into documentary travel lectures.^{[citation needed]}

Early years[link]

Burton Holmes was born into a middle-class Chicago family, the son of a banker. His interest in travel was sparked at the age of nine when his grandmother took him to hear a then-famous travel lecturer, John L. Stoddard (whom Holmes was to meet on a subsequent trip abroad). In 1890, Holmes accompanied his grandmother on a trip to Europe and when he returned showed slides of his trip at the Chicago Camera Club, of which he was a member. Holmes wrote of this event: "To take the edge off the silence, to keep the show moving, I wrote an account of my journey and read it, as the stereopticon man changed slides." ^[1]

Despite the success of this event, which grossed $350 for the club, it wasn't until several years later that Holmes decided to set himself up as a travel lecturer. In 1893, after sending out 2000 invitations to a select group of Chicagoans, Holmes gave two sold-out talks about a recent trip to Japan.

Travelogues[link]

Initially Holmes had only modest success as a travel lecturer. Then in 1897, John L. Stoddard retired, creating something of a vacuum in the field. Around the same time, Holmes began to supplement his hand-colored glass slides with the then excitingly new technology of moving pictures. As the years went on, film came increasingly to dominate his lectures.^[2]

In the years that followed, Holmes traveled extensively: North and South America, Europe, Russia, India, Ethiopia, Burma (now Myanmar). He lectured about such topics as the Panama Canal, the "Frivolities of Paris," even the adventures of Richard Halliburton, one of his competitors in the travel lecture profession. He visited the first modern Olympics in 1896, rode the first trans-Siberian train, and shot what may be the first movies ever made of Japan, in 1899. In the course of his travels, he crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans more than 50 times. As Holmes became more well-known he brought along assistants to shoot film and stills while he made notes for his lectures, and he also employed a business manager. With the rise of Hollywood, Holmes began to make short travel films for Paramount and later Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Holmes's talks—which totaled over 8000 by the end of his life—drew their largest audiences in cosmopolitan cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. He catered especially to the armchair traveler with escapist fantasies, and for this reason he consciously focused his lectures on the most agreeable and scenic aspects of the places he lectured about. He avoided all discussion of politics, poverty, and other social ills.^[3]

Personal life[link]

In 1914, Holmes married Margaret Oliver, whom he had met on one of his expeditions. They lived primarily at an estate called "Topside" in the Hollywood Hills that was a former riding club. Holmes also had a duplex, "Nirvana", in New York that was packed with treasures from Southeast Asia; this he eventually sold to Robert Ripley.^[4]

Later Years[link]

Famously indefatigable, Holmes was still traveling and lecturing well into his seventies. He finally retired after World War II, just as television was beginning its rise as the next great medium for travelogues.

Legacy[link]

Burton Holmes has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2004, 200 reels of Holmes's documentary footage, long thought lost, turned up in an abandoned storage unit. They are currently housed in the George Eastman House film museum.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Caldwell, Genoa. Burton Holmes Travelogues: The Greatest Traveller of His Time, 1892-1952. Taschen, 2006.
• Caldwell, Genoa. The Man Who Photographed the World. New York: Abrams, 1977.
• Holmes, Burton. The Traveler's Russia. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1934.
• Holmes, Burton. The World Is Mine. Culver City, California: Murray & Gee, 1953.
• Holmes, Burton. The Olympian Games in Athens, 1896: The First Modern Olympics. Grove Press, 1984.
• Soule, Thayer. On the Road with Travelogues: 1935-1995: A Sixty-Year Romp. 1997.
• Wallace, Irving. 'Everybody's Rover Boy', in The Sunday Gentleman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965.

External links[link]

• The Burton Holmes Archive
• Burton Holmes Books and Photos
• The Travel Film Archive
• Burton Holmes at the Internet Movie Database
• 'Burton Holmes, Extraordinary Traveler'
• Taschen books
• YouTube