Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word ''iconography'' literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek ''εἰκών'' "image" and ''γράφειν'' "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the Byzantine and Orthodox Christian tradition. Still in art history, an iconography may also mean a particular depiction of a subject in terms of the content of the image, such as the number of figures used, their placing and gestures. The term is also used in many academic fields other than art history, for example semiotics and media studies, and in general usage, for the content of images, the typical depiction in images of a subject, and related senses. Sometimes distinctions have been made between ''Iconology'' and ''Iconography'', although the definitions and so the distinction made varies.

Iconography as a field of study

Foundations of iconography

Early Western writers who took special note of the content of images include Giorgio Vasari, whose ''Ragionamenti'', interpreting the paintings in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, reassuringly demonstrates that such works were difficult to understand even for well-informed contemporaries. Gian Pietro Bellori, a 17th century biographer of artists of his own time, describes and analyses, not always correctly, many works. Lessing's study (1796) of the classical figure Amor with an inverted torch was an early attempt to use a study of a type of image to explain the culture it originated in, rather than the other way round. Iconography as an academic art historical discipline developed in the nineteenth-century in the works of scholars such as Adolphe Napoleon Didron (1806–1867), Anton Heinrich Springer (1825–1891), and Émile Mâle (1862–1954) all specialists in Christian religious art, which was the main focus of study in this period, in which French scholars were especially prominent. Richard Krautheimer, a specialist on early medieval churches and another German émigré, extended iconographical analysis to architectural forms.

The period from 1940 can be seen as one where iconography was especially prominent in art history. Whereas most icongraphical scholarship remains highly dense and specialized, some analyses began to attract a much wider audience, for example Panofsky's theory (now generally out of favour with specialists) that the writing on the rear wall in the ''Arnolfini Portrait'' by Jan van Eyck turned the painting into the record of a marriage contract. Holbein's ''The Ambassadors'' has been the subject of books for a general market with new theories as to its iconography, and the best-sellers of Dan Brown include theories, disowned by most art historians, on the iconography of works by Leonardo da Vinci.

Technological advances allowed the building-up of huge collections of photographs, with an iconographic arrangement or index, which include those of the Warburg Institute and the ''Index of Christian Art'' at Princeton (which has made a specialism of iconography since its early days in America). These are now being digitised and made available online, usually on a restricted basis.

With the arrival of computing, the Iconclass system, a highly complex way of classifying the content of images, with 28,000 classification types, and 14,000 keywords, was developed in the Netherlands as a standard classification for recording collections, with the idea of assembling huge databases that will allow the retrieval of images featuring particular details, subjects or other common factors. For example, the Iconclass code "71H7131" is for the subject of "Bathsheba (alone) with David's letter", whereas "71" is the whole "Old Testament" and "71H" the "story of David". A number of collections of different types have been classified using Iconclass, notably many types of old master print, the collections of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and the German Marburger Index. These are available, usually on-line or on DVD. The system can also be used outside pure art history, for example on sites like Flickr.

Brief survey of iconography

Iconography in religious art

Religious images are used to some extent by all major religions, including both Indian and Abrahamic faiths, and often contain highly complex iconography, which reflects centuries of accumulated tradition.

Iconography in Indian religions

Central to the iconography and hagiography of Indian religions are mudra or gestures with specific meanings. Other features include the aureola and halo, also found in Christian and Islamic art, and divine qualities and attributes represented by asana and ritual tools such as the dharmachakra, vajra, dadar, chhatra, sauwastika, phurba and danda. The symbolic use of colour to denote the Classical Elements or Mahabhuta and letters and bija syllables from sacred alphabetic scripts are other features. Under the influence of tantra art developed esoteric meanings, accessible only to initiates; this is an especially strong feature of Tibetan art. The art of Indian Religions esp. Hindus in its numerous sectoral divisions is governed by sacred texts called the Aagama which describes the ratio and proportion of the icon, called ''taalmaana'' as well as mood of the central figure in a context. For example Narasimha an incarnation of Vishnu though considered a wrathful deity but in few contexts is depicted in pacified mood.

Although iconic depictions of, or concentrating on, a single figure are the dominant type of Buddhist image, large stone relief or fresco narrative cycles of the ''Life of the Buddha'', or tales of his previous lives, are found at major sites like Sarnath, Ajanta, and Borobudor, especially in earlier periods. Conversely, in Hindu art, narrative scenes have become rather more common in recent centuries, especially in miniature paintings of the lives of Krishna and Rama.

Christian iconography

Christian art began, about two centuries after Christ, by borrowing motifs from Roman Imperial imagery, classical Greek and Roman religion and popular art - the motif of Christ in Majesty owes something to both Imperial portraits and depictions of Zeus. In the Late Antique period iconography began to be standardised, and to relate more closely to Biblical texts, although many gaps in the canonical Gospel narratives were plugged with matter from the apocryphal gospels. Eventually the Church would succeed in weeding most of these out, but some remain, like the ox and ass in the Nativity of Christ. After the period of Byzantine iconoclasm iconographical innovation was regarded as unhealthy, if not heretical, in the Eastern Church, though it still continued at a glacial pace. More than in the West, traditional depictions were often considered to have authentic or miraculous origins, and the job of the artist was to copy them with as little deviation as possible. The Eastern church also never accepted the use of monumental high relief or free-standing sculpture, which it found too reminiscent of paganism. Most modern Eastern Orthodox icons are very close to their predecessors of a thousand years ago, though development, and some shifts in meaning, have occurred - for example the old man wearing a fleece in conversation with Saint Joseph usually seen in Orthodox Nativities seems to have begun as one of the shepherds, or the prophet Isaiah, but is now usually understood as the "Tempter" (Satan).

In both East and West, numerous iconic types of Christ, Mary and saints and other subjects were developed; the number of named types of icons of Mary, with or without the infant Christ, was especially large in the East, whereas Christ Pantocrator was much the commonest image of Christ. Especially important depictions of Mary include the Hodegetria and Panagia types. Traditional models evolved for narrative paintings, including large cycles covering the events of the Life of Christ, the Life of the Virgin, parts of the Old Testament, and, increasingly, the lives of popular saints. Especially in the West, a system of attributes developed for identifying individual figures of saints by a standard appearance and symbolic objects held by them; in the East they were more likely to identified by text labels.

From the Romanesque period sculpture on churches became increasingly important in Western art, and probably partly because of the lack of Byzantine models, became the location of much iconographic innovation, along with the illuminated manuscript, which had already taken a decisively different direction from Byzantine equivalents, under the influence of Insular art and other factors. Developments in theology and devotional practice produced innovations like the subject of the Coronation of the Virgin and the Assumption, both associated with the Franciscans, as were many other developments. Most painters remained content to copy and slightly modify the works of others, and it is clear that the clergy, by whom or for whose churches most art was commissioned, often specified what they wanted shown in great detail.

The theory of typology, by which the meaning of most events of the Old Testament was understood as a "type" or pre-figuring of an event in the life of, or aspect of, Christ or Mary was often reflected in art, and in the later Middle Ages came to dominate the choice of Old Testament scenes in Western Christian art. Whereas in the Romanesque and Gothic periods the great majority of religious art was intended to convey often complex religious messages as clearly as possible, with the arrival of Early Netherlandish painting iconography became highly sophisticated, and in many cases appears to be deliberately enigmatic, even for a well-educated contemporary. The subtle layers of meaning uncovered by modern iconographical research in works of Robert Campin such as the Mérode Altarpiece, and of Jan van Eyck such as the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin and the Washington Annunciation lie in small details of what are on first viewing very conventional representations. When Italian painting developed a taste for enigma, considerably later, it most often showed in secular compositions influenced by Renaissance Neo-Platonism.

From the 15th century religious painting gradually freed itself from the habit of following earlier compositional models, and by the 16th century ambitious artists were expected to find novel compositions for each subject, and direct borrowings from earlier artists are more often of the poses of individual figures than of whole compositions. The Reformation soon restricted most Protestant religious painting to Biblical scenes conceived along the lines of history painting, and after some decades the Catholic Council of Trent reined in somewhat the freedom of Catholic artists.

Secular Western painting

Secular painting became far more common from the Renaissance, and developed its own traditions and conventions of iconography, in history painting, which includes mythologies, portraits, genre scenes, and even landscapes, not to mention modern media and genres like photography, cinema, political cartoons, comic books and anime.

Renaissance mythological painting was in theory reviving the iconography of the ancient world, but in practice themes like Leda and the Swan developed on largely original lines, and for different purposes. Personal iconographies, where works appear to have significant meanings individual to, and perhaps only accessible by, the artist, go back at least as far as Hieronymous Bosch, but have become increasingly significant with artists like Goya, William Blake, Gauguin, Picasso, Frida Kahlo and Joseph Beuys.

Iconography in disciplines other than art history

Iconography, often of aspects of popular culture, is a concern of other academic disciplines including Semiotics, Anthropology, Sociology, Media Studies and Cultural Studies. These analyses in turn have affected conventional art history, especially concepts such as signs in semiotics Discussing imagery as iconography in this way implies a critical "reading" of imagery that often attempts to explore social and cultural values. Iconography is also used within film studies to describe the visual language of cinema, particularly within the field of genre criticism.

Articles with iconography studies on individual works

Castelseprio frescoes

The Flagellation by Piero della Francesca

The Wilton Diptych

St. Jerome in His Study by Antonello da Messina

Two Venetian Ladies and St. Augustine in His Study by Vittore Carpaccio

Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer

Marie de' Medici cycle by Rubens

William Hogarth paintings and prints

Works cited

Białostocki, Jan, ''Iconography'', ''Dictionary of The History of Ideas'', Online version, University of Virginia Library, Gale Group, 2003

Cook, Pam and Mieke Bernink, eds. 1999. ''The Cinema Book''. 2nd ed. London: BFI Publishing. ISBN 0851707262.

G Schiller, ''Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I'',1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, ISBN 853312702

See also

Cultural icon

Donor portrait

Gay icon

Halo (religious iconography)

Logo

Meme

National emblem

Pop icon

Symbolic anthropology

Symbology

Symbolism (disambiguation)

*Specific religions:

**Early Christian art

*

**Saint symbology

*Buddhist art

**Ashtamangala

**Greco-Buddhist art

**Iconography of the Buddha (Thailand and Laos)

**Korean Buddhist sculpture

**Thangka

**Three hares

Individuals:

*Erwin Panofsky

External links

What iconographers do - case study

Iconography of Deities and Demons in the Ancient Near East (Project of the Swiss National Science Foundation at the Universities of Zurich and Fribourg)

Web site for European Sacred Mountains, Calvaries and Devotional Complexes

Christian Iconography

Essays on Iconography

Sacred Icons in Modern Era about the Cult of Great Mother

Orthodox Christian and Eastern rite Catholic teaching about Iconography

Notes

Category:Art history

ca:Iconografia cs:Ikonografie de:Ikonografie es:Iconografía eo:Ikonografio fr:Iconographie gl:Iconografía hr:Ikonografija io:Ikonografio id:Ikonografi it:Iconografia he:איקונוגרפיה hu:Ikonográfia arz:ايقونوجرافيا nl:Iconografie ja:図像学 no:Ikonografi nn:Ikonografi pl:Ikonografia pt:Iconografia ru:Иконография sh:Ikonografija fi:Ikonografia sv:Ikonografi th:ประติมานวิทยา uk:Іконографія

name	Max Richter
background	non_performing_personnel
born	1966, Germany
occupation	Composer, pianist, producer
years active	1990s–present
label	Fat Cat Records
website	maxrichtermusic.com
notable instruments	}}

Max Richter (born 1966) is a German-born British composer.

Biography

Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence . After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus. He stayed with the group for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich. The ensemble was signed to Decca/Argo, producing five albums. In 1996, Max collaborated with Future Sound of London on their album ''Dead Cities'', beginning as a pianist, but ultimately working on several tracks, as well as co-writing one track (titled "Max"). Richter subsequently worked with the band over a period of two years, also contributing to the albums ''The Isness'' and ''The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness''. In 2000, Richter worked with Mercury Prize winner Roni Size on the Reprazent album ''In the Mode''. Richter produced Vashti Bunyan's album ''Lookaftering'' (2005) and Kelli Ali's album ''Rocking Horse'' in 2008.

Solo work

In 2002, Richter released his solo debut ''Memoryhouse'', an experimental album of “documentary music” recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which explores real and imaginary stories and histories. It combines ambient sounds, voices, and poetry readings. The album went out of print several years later, but was re-released in 2009. Four tracks (“Europe, After the Rain”, “The Twins (Prague)”, “Fragment“, and “Embers”) were used in the six-part 2005 BBC documentary ''Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution'' produced by Laurence Rees. On his second album, ''The Blue Notebooks'' (2004), actress Tilda Swinton reads from Kafka’s ''Blue Octavo'' and other "shadow journals". ''Songs from Before'' (2006) features Robert Wyatt reading texts by Haruki Murakami. Richter released his fourth solo album ''24 Postcards in Full Colour'', a collection of 24 classically-composed miniatures for ringtones, in 2008. The pieces are a series of variations on the basic material, scored for strings, piano and electronics. Richter's latest album, ''Infra'', is an extension of his 25-minute score for a ballet choreographed by Wayne McGregor which was staged at the Royal Opera House. ''Infra'' is composed of music written for piano, electronics and string quintet, the full performance score, as well as material that subsequently developed from the construction of the album.

Film Scores

Richter has composed numerous film soundtracks. He executed the score to Ari Folman’s Golden Globe-winning film ''Waltz with Bashir'' in 2007, supplanting the standard orchestral soundtrack with synth-based sounds. Richter wrote the music for Feo Aladag's film ''Die Fremde'' (with additional music by Stéphane Moucha). In 2010, Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth" was remixed with Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" for the Martin Scorsese film ''Shutter Island''. In July 2010, "On The Nature Of Daylight" and "Vladimir's Blues" featured throughout the BBC Two two-part drama ''Dive'', which was co-written by Bafta award winning Dominic Savage and Simon Stevens. Richter also wrote the soundtrack to Peter Richardson’s documentary, ''How to die in Oregon'',and the score to ''Les Impardonnables'' (2011) directed by André Téchiné. Films featuring Max's music which go on release in 2011 include French drama ''Elle s’appelait Sarah'' by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, and David MacKenzie's romantic thriller ''Perfect Sense''. Richter is currently composing the score to Ari Folman’s new film ''The Congress'' which is set for release in 2012-13.

Collaborations

Richter wrote the score to ''Infra'' as part of a Royal Ballet-commissioned collaboration with dancer Wayne McGregor and artist Julian Opie. The production was staged at the Royal Opera House in London in 2008. In 2010, Richter's soundscape ''The Anthropocine'' formed part of Darren Almond’s film installation at the White Cube gallery in London.

Solo discography

''Memoryhouse'' (BBC, 2002)

''The Blue Notebooks'' (Fat Cat Records, 2004)

''Songs from Before'' (Fat Cat Records, 2006)

''24 Postcards in Full Colour'' (Fat Cat Records, 2008)

''Infra'' (Fat Cat Records, 2010)

Film scores

''Soundproof'' (2006) Director: Edmund Coulthard

''Henry May Long'' (2007) Director: Randy Sharp

''Hope'' (2007) Director: Stanislav Mucha

''Waltz with Bashir'' (2008) Director: Ari Folman. Won 'Best Composer' at the 21st annual European Film Awards.

''Darwin – Notes From A Genius'' (2008) Producer: Jeremy Bristow

''Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me'' Director: John Alexander

''Die Wilde Farm'' (2009) Director: Dominique Garing & Frédéric Goupil

''Lila, Lila'' (2009) Director: Alain Gsponer

''Penelopa'' (2009) Director: Brian Ferris

''How to Die in Oregon'' (2010) Director: Peter D. Richardson

''Sarah’s Key'' (2010) Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner

''My Trip to Al-Qaeda'' (2010) Director: Alex Gibney

''Die Fremde'' (2010) Director: Feo Aladağ

''The Womb'' (2010) Director: Benedek Fliegauf

''Impardonnables'' (2011) Director: André Téchiné

''Perfect Sense'' (2011) Director: David MacKenzie

References

External links

Official Website

Max Richter on Myspace

FatCat Records Artist page

Max Richter Facebook

Max Richter Twitter

Review of 'Infra' in Tokafi Magazine

Review of 'Infra' in Nowness magazine

Category:21st-century classical composers Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:Postminimalist composers Category:Experimental composers Category:British film score composers Category:German film score composers Category:British pianists Category:German pianists Category:British people of German descent Category:1966 births Category:Living people

de:Max Richter (Komponist) es:Max Richter fr:Max Richter he:מקס ריכטר hu:Max Richter pl:Max Richter pt:Max Richter ru:Рихтер, Макс

name	Keep of Kalessin
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Trondheim, Norway
genre	Black metal (early)Melodic black metal, melodic death metal (later)
years active	1993–200020032005–present
label	Nuclear BlastCandlelightTabuIndie
associated acts	1349, Aptorian Demon, Antares Predator, Gehenna, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Satyricon, Tormentor, Subliritum| website www.keepofkalessin.no
current members	Obsidian C.ThebonWizziacVyl
past members	See below
notable instruments	}}

Keep of Kalessin is an extreme metal band from Trondheim, Norway formed in 1993. The group's early lineup consisted of Ghash on vocals, Obsidian C. (the group founder) on guitars and keyboards, Warach on bass, and Vyl on drums. They released two albums under this lineup: ''Through Times of War'' in 1997, and ''Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark'' in 1999, before splitting up. Obsidian C. then toured with Satyricon, but revived the Keep of Kalessin name for a 2003 EP, ''Reclaim''. In 2006 he reconstituted the group with a new lineup and released a third full-length, ''Armada)''. They toured with Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir early in 2008. Their fourth album Kolossus was released on June 6, 2008. They take their name from Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series of books, where Kalessin is the name of the arch-dragon who is the bearer of the Earthsea world. Keep of Kalessin was nominated for a Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008.

Biography

Unlike most black metal bands, ''Keep of Kalessin'' is in its harshness still melodic and technically oriented. In contrast to traditional Norwegian black metal, Keep of Kalessin also make use of other instruments like the piano, keyboards and synthesizers. They started experimenting with a new sound which gave ''Keep of Kalessin'' its new character after Obsidian C. recruited the new band-members Thebon, Wizziac and Vyl for their album ''Armada'' in 2006, the follow-up after the ''Reclaim'' EP in 2003. Before ''Reclaim'', the band had a much darker and colder character because of the different line-up they had back in the days. The line-up split in 2000, though Obsidian C. still wanted to make something of the band and the split-up wasn't the end of the band yet. He wanted to give Keep of Kalessin a unique character and develop its music, and improve himself too as a musician and lyrics writer, but the band still needed a drummer who could keep up with his riffing and he couldn't find one in Trondheim. After nearly 3 years, the band Satyricon was in the need of a guitarist and Obsidian C. participated in the auditions and "played the ass off" some other 30 guitarists who also had applied for the job. He made it to the band and came in contact with Satyricon's drummer Frost.

Obsidian C. didn't give up on Keep of Kalessin and as soon as Frost heard its material, without hesitation, he immediately said yes when Obsidian C. asked him to do the drumming on his new EP. As the band's new guitarist, Obsidian C. also toured with the band and this made it possible to recruit Attila Csihar for his EP to do the vocals. This new line-up recorded Keep of Kalessin's new EP ''Reclaim'' and sky-rocketed the band into the elite black metal scene of Norway. But the line-up did not last and fell apart because of the distances between the band members. Still, this would not stop Obsidian C. and he was more and more determined to bring Keep of Kalessin to the masses. As part of Satyricon he toured a lot with the band and understood that touring is a must to promote a band. Not much later he teamed up again with Vyl, who was a part of the band before the breakup in 2000. Now the band still needed a vocalist and preferably a bassist as well. This is when Thebon (vocals) and Wizziac (bass guitar) became part of the band.

Together with Torstein Parelius – the lyric writer from their EP ''Reclaim'' – the new line-up spent 2 years preparing to record their next album entitled ''Armada''. This elevated the band to a higher place in the elite black metal scene of Norway and the band finally had a line-up which could last and made the band even more promising than before.

This same line-up recorded in 2007 the new album ''Kolossus'', released in the summer of 2008, demonstrating the band improved their sound after the well received and highly acclaimed release ''Armada'' in 2006 which even got some good attention from the more mainstream media in Norway. This resulted in a nomination for the Spellemannprisen in the metal category in 2008. On Kolossus they started to experiment more with different instruments and the band indeed created a unique character for Keep of Kalessin.

In 2010, Keep of Kalessin entered a song in the Melodi Grand Prix, the annual competition to select Norway's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, which was hosted by the country due to its victory in the 2009 content, becoming the first heavy metal band to vie in the competition. The band performed their new song, "The Dragontower", in the first of 3 semi-final rounds and advanced to the Gold Final round, where the band finished in 3rd place overall through a combined viewer and jury vote.

Obsidian C. announced in the ''Studio Report 4'' video of ''Kolossus'' that they're already working on some new songs for the next album.

Discography

Studio releases

''Through Times of War'' (1997)

''Agnen: A Journey Through the Dark'' (1999)

''Armada'' (2006)

''Kolossus'' (2008)

''Reptilian'' (2010)

Extended plays

''Reclaim'' (2003)

Demos

''Skygger av Sorg'' (1996)

Band members

Current members

Arnt "Obsidian C." Grønbech - guitars, keyboards, bass, backing vocals (1993–present)

Torbjørn "Thebon" Schei - vocals (2005–present)

Robin "Wizziac" Isaksen - bass, backing vocals (2005–present)

Vegar "Vyl" Larsen - drums, guitar (1996–1999, 2005–present)

Former members

''Ghâsh'' - Vocals - (1996–1999)

''Warach (Øyvind A.Winther)'' - Bass - (1996–1999)

''Attila Csihar'' - Vocals - (2003)

''Frost (Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad)'' - Drums - (2003)

''Cernunnus (Tor-Helge Skei)'' - Guitars (2003)

''Kesh'' - Bass (2003)

''Remi(Snake)Normann'' - lead guitar- (2010)

References

External links

Keep of Kalessin Official Homepage

Category:Norwegian black metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1993 Category:1993 establishments in Norway Category:Melodi Grand Prix contestants

bg:Keep of Kalessin da:Keep of Kalessin de:Keep of Kalessin es:Keep of Kalessin fr:Keep of Kalessin it:Keep of Kalessin lt:Keep of Kalessin nl:Keep Of Kalessin ja:キープ・オヴ・カレシン no:Keep of Kalessin pl:Keep of Kalessin ro:Keep of Kalessin ru:Keep of Kalessin fi:Keep of Kalessin sv:Keep of Kalessin

Name	Tutankhamun
Alt name	Tutankhamen, Tutankhaten, Tutankhamon possibly Nibhurrereya (as referenced in the Amarna letters)
Reign	ca. 1333–1323 BC
Dynasty	18th Dynasty
Predecessor	Smenkhkare? or Neferneferuaten?
Successor	Ay
Spouse	Ankhesenamen
Notes	See Tutankhamun#Names
Children	two daughters
Father	Akhenaten
Mother	unidentified mummy, "The Younger Lady"
Birth date	ca. 1341 BC
Death date	ca. 1323 BC (aged c.18)
Burial	KV62
Monuments	}}

Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with ''Tutenkh-'', ''-amen'', ''-amon''), Egyptian '''', ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled c.1333 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten, means "Living Image of Aten", while Tutankhamun means "Living Image of Amun". In hieroglyphs, the name Tutankhamun was typically written Amen-tut-ankh, because of a scribal custom that placed a divine name at the beginning of a phrase to show appropriate reverence. He is possibly also the ''Nibhurrereya'' of the Amarna letters, and likely the 18th dynasty king 'Rathotis' who, according to Manetho, an ancient historian, had reigned for nine years — a figure which conforms with Flavius Josephus's version of Manetho's ''Epitome''.

The 1922 discovery by Howard Carter and George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon of Tutankhamun's nearly intact tomb received worldwide press coverage. It sparked a renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's burial mask remains the popular symbol. Exhibits of artifacts from his tomb have toured the world. In February 2010, the results of DNA tests confirmed that he was the son of Akhenaten (mummy KV55) and his sister/wife (mummy KV35YL), whose name is unknown but whose remains are positively identified as "The Younger Lady" mummy found in KV35.

Life

Tutankhamun was the son of Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) and one of Akhenaten's sisters. As a prince he was known as Tutankhaten. He ascended to the throne in 1333 BC, at the age of nine or ten, taking the reign name of Tutankhamun. His wet-nurse was a woman called Maia, known from her tomb at Saqqara.

When he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenepatan, who later changed her name to Ankhesenamun. They had two daughters, both stillborn.

Reign

Given his age, the king probably had very powerful advisers, presumably including General Horemheb, the Vizier Ay, and Maya, the "Overseer of the Treasury". Horemheb records that the king appointed him 'lord of the land' as hereditary prince to maintain law. He also noted his ability to calm the young king when his temper flared.

Domestic policy

In his third regnal year, Tutankhamun reversed several changes made during his father's reign. He ended the worship of the god Aten and restored the god Amun to supremacy. The ban on the cult of Amun was lifted and traditional privileges were restored to its priesthood. The capital was moved back to Thebes and the city of Akhetaten abandoned. This is also when he changed his name to Tutankhamun.

As part of his restoration, the king initiated building projects, in particular at Thebes and Karnak, where he dedicated a temple to Amun. Many monuments were erected, and an inscription on his tomb door declares the king had "spent his life in fashioning the images of the gods". The traditional festivals were now celebrated again, including those related to the Apis Bull, Horemakhet, and Opet. His restoration stela says:

The temples of the gods and goddesses ... were in ruins. Their shrines were deserted and overgrown. Their sanctuaries were as non-existent and their courts were used as roads ... the gods turned their backs upon this land ... If anyone made a prayer to a god for advice he would never respond.

Foreign policy

The country was economically weak and in turmoil following the reign of Akhenaten. Diplomatic relations with other kingdoms had been neglected, and Tutankhamun sought to restore them, in particular with the Mitanni. Evidence of his success is suggested by the gifts from various countries found in his tomb. Despite his efforts for improved relations, battles with Nubians and Asiatics were recorded in his mortuary temple at Thebes. His tomb contained body armour and folding stools appropriate for military campaigns. However, given his youth and physical disabilities, which seemed to require the use of a cane in order to walk (he died at age 18), historians speculate that he did not take part personally in these battles.

Health and appearance

Tutankhamun was slight of build, and was roughly tall.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061128084450.htm He had large front incisors and the overbite characteristic of the Thutmosid royal line to which he belonged. He also had a pronounced dolichocephalic (elongated) skull, although it was within normal bounds and highly unlikely to have been pathological. Given the fact that many of the royal depictions of Akhenaten often featured such an elongated head, it is likely an exaggeration of a family trait, rather than a distinct abnormality. The research also showed that the Tutankhamun had "a slightly cleft palate" and possibly a mild case of scoliosis.

Cause of death

There are no surviving records of Tutankhamun's final days. What caused Tutankhamun's death has been the subject of considerable debate. Major studies have been conducted in an effort to establish the cause of death.

Although there is some speculation that Tutankhamun was assassinated, the general consensus is that his death was accidental. A CT scan taken in 2005 shows that he had badly broken his leg shortly before his death, and that the leg had become infected. DNA analysis conducted in 2010 showed the presence of malaria in his system. It is believed that these two conditions (malaria and leiomyomas) combined, led to his death.

Probable product of incest

According to the September 2010 issue of ''National Geographic'' magazine, Tutankhamun was the result of a incestuous relationship and, because of that, may have suffered from several genetic defects that contributed to his early death. For years, scientists have tried to unravel ancient clues as to why the boy king of Egypt, who reigned for 10 years, died at the age of 18. Several theories have been put forth; one was that he was killed by a blow to the head. Another put the blame on a broken leg. As recently as June 2010, German scientists said they believe there is evidence he died of sickle cell disease.

Research conducted by archaeologists, radiologists, and geneticists who started performing CT scans on Tutankhamun in 2005 found that he was not killed by a blow to the head, as previously thought. That same team began doing DNA research on Tutankhamun's mummy, as well as the mummified remains of other members of his family, in 2008. DNA tests finally put to rest questions about Tutankhamun's lineage, proving that his father was Akhenaten, but that his mother was not one of Akhenaten’s known wives. His mother was one of Akhenaten’s five sisters, although it is not known which one. New CT images discovered congenital flaws, which are more common among the children of incest. Siblings are more likely to pass on twin copies of harmful genes, which is why children of incest more commonly manifest genetic defects. It is suspected he also had a partially cleft palate, another congenital defect.

The team was able to establish with a probability of better than 99.99 percent that Amenhotep III was the father of the individual in KV55, who was in turn the father of Tutankhamun. The DNA of the so-called Younger Lady (KV35YL), found lying beside Queen Tiye in the alcove of KV35, matched that of the boy king. Her DNA proved that, like Akhenaten, she was a child of Amenhotep III and Tiye; thus, Tutankhamun's parents were brother and sister. Queen Tiye held much political influence at court and acted as an adviser to her son after the death of her husband. Some geneticists dispute these findings, however, and "complain that the team used inappropriate analysis techniques."

While the data are still incomplete, the study suggests that one of the mummified fetuses found in Tutankhamun's tomb is the daughter of Tutankhamun himself, and the other fetus is probably his child as well. So far only partial data for the two female mummies from KV21 has been obtained. One of them, KV21A, may well be the infants' mother and thus, Tutankhamun's wife, Ankhesenamun. It is known from history that she was the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, and thus likely to be her husband's half-sister. Another consequence of inbreeding can be children whose genetic defects do not allow them to be brought to term.

The research team consisted of Egyptian scientists Yehia Gad and Somaia Ismail from the National Research Center in Cairo. The CT scans were conducted under the direction of Ashraf Selim and Sahar Saleem of the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University. Three international experts served as consultants: Carsten Pusch of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany; Albert Zink of the EURAC-Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy; and Paul Gostner of the Central Hospital Bolzano.

As stated above, the team discovered DNA from several strains of a parasite proving he was infected with the most severe strain of malaria several times in his short life. Malaria can trigger circulatory shock or cause a fatal immune response in the body, either of which can lead to death. If Tutankhamun did suffer from a bone disease which was crippling, it may not have been fatal. "Perhaps he struggled against others [congenital flaws] until a severe bout of malaria or a leg broken in an accident added one strain too many to a body that could no longer carry the load," wrote Zahi Hawass, archeologist and head of Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquity involved in the research.

Tomb

Tutankhamun was buried in a tomb that was small relative to his status. His death may have occurred unexpectedly, before the completion of a grander royal tomb, so that his mummy was buried in a tomb intended for someone else. This would preserve the observance of the customary seventy days between death and burial.

King Tutankhamun's mummy still rests in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. On November 4, 2007, 85 years to the day after Carter's discovery, the 19-year-old pharaoh went on display in his underground tomb at Luxor, when the linen-wrapped mummy was removed from its golden sarcophagus to a climate-controlled glass box. The case was designed to prevent the heightened rate of decomposition caused by the humidity and warmth from tourists visiting the tomb.

Discovery of tomb

Tutankhamun seems to have faded from public consciousness in Ancient Egypt within a short time after his death, and remained virtually unknown until the 1920s. His tomb was robbed at least twice in antiquity, but based on the items taken (including perishable oils and perfumes) and the evidence of restoration of the tomb after the intrusions, it seems clear that these robberies took place within several months at most of the initial burial. Eventually the location of the tomb was lost because it had come to be buried by stone chips from subsequent tombs, either dumped there or washed there by floods. In the years that followed, some huts for workers were built over the tomb entrance, clearly not knowing what lay beneath. When at the end of the twentieth dynasty the Valley of the Kings burials were systematically dismantled, the burial of Tutankhamun was overlooked, presumably because knowledge of it had been lost and his name may have been forgotten.

Exhibitions

Relics from Tutankhamun's tomb are among the most traveled artifacts in the world. They have been to many countries, but probably the best-known exhibition tour was ''The Treasures of Tutankhamun'' tour, which ran from 1972 to 1979. This exhibition was first shown in London at the British Museum from March 30 until September 30, 1972. More than 1.6 million visitors came to see the exhibition, some queuing for up to eight hours and it was the most popular exhibition in the Museum's history. The exhibition moved on to many other countries, including the USA, USSR, Japan, France, Canada, and West Germany. The Metropolitan Museum of Art organized the U.S. exhibition, which ran from November 17, 1976 through April 15, 1979. More than eight million attended.

In 2004, the tour of Tutankhamun funerary objects entitled "Tutankhamen: The Golden Hereafter" made up of fifty artifacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb and seventy funerary goods from other 18th Dynasty tombs began in Basle, Switzerland, went to Bonn Germany, the second leg of the tour, and from there toured the United States. The exhibition returned to Europe and to London. The European tour was organised by the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), and the Egyptian Museum in cooperation with the Antikenmuseum Basel and Sammlung Ludwig. Deutsche Telekom sponsored the Bonn exhibition.

In 2005, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, in partnership with Arts and Exhibitions International and the National Geographic Society, launched the U.S. tour of the Tutenkahamun treasures and other 18th Dynasty funerary objects this time called "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs". It was expected to draw more than three million people.

The exhibition started in Los Angeles, California, then moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Chicago and Philadelphia. The exhibition then moved to London before finally returning to Egypt in August 2008. Subsequent events have propelled an encore of the exhibition in the United States, beginning with the Dallas Museum of Art in October 2008 which hosted the exhibition until May 2009. The tour continued to other U.S. cities. After Dallas the exhibition moved to the de Young Museum in San Francisco, followed by the Discovery Times Square Exposition in New York City.

In 2011 the exhibition will visit Australia for the first time, opening at the Melbourne Museum in April for its only Australian stop before Egypt's treasures return to Cairo.

The exhibition includes 80 exhibits from the reigns of Tutankhamun's immediate predecessors in the Eighteenth dynasty, such as Hatshepsut, whose trade policies greatly increased the wealth of that dynasty and enabled the lavish wealth of Tutankhamun's burial artifacts, as well as 50 from Tutankhamun's tomb. The exhibition does not include the gold mask that was a feature of the 1972-1979 tour, as the Egyptian government has determined that the mask is too fragile to withstand travel and will never again leave the country.

A separate exhibition called "Tutankhamun and the World of the Pharaohs" began at the Ethnological Museum in Vienna from March 9 to September 28, 2008 showing a further 140 treasures from the tomb. This exhibition continued to Atlanta and the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Curse

For many years, rumors of a "Curse of the Pharaohs" (probably fueled by newspapers seeking sales at the time of the discovery) persisted, emphasizing the early death of some of those who had first entered the tomb. However, a recent study of journals and death records indicates no statistical difference between the age of death of those who entered the tomb and those on the expedition who did not.

Aftermath of death

Although it is unknown how he met his death, the Amarna letters indicate that Tutankhamun's wife, recently widowed, wrote to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, asking if she could marry one of his sons, saying that she was very afraid, but would not take one of her own people as husband. However, the son was killed before reaching his new wife. Shortly afterward Ay married Tutankhamun's widow and became Pharaoh as a war between the two countries was fought, and Egypt was left defeated.

Significance

Tutankhamun was nine years old when he became pharaoh and reigned for approximately ten years. In historical terms, Tutankhamun's significance stems from his rejection of the radical religious innovations introduced by his predecessor and father, Akhenaten. Secondly, his tomb in the Valley of the Kings was discovered by Carter almost completely intact — the most complete ancient Egyptian royal tomb ever found. As Tutankhamun began his reign at such an early age, his vizier and eventual successor Ay was probably making most of the important political decisions during Tutankhamun's reign.

Tutankhamun was one of the few kings worshiped as a god and honored with a cult-like following during his lifetime. A stela discovered at Karnak and dedicated to Amun-Re and Tutankhamun indicates that the king could be appealed to in his deified state for forgiveness and to free the petitioner from an ailment caused by wrongdoing. Temples of his cult were built as far away as in Kawa and Faras in Nubia. The title of the sister of the Viceroy of Kush included a reference to the deified king, indicative of the universality of his cult.

In popular culture

If Tutankhamun is the world's best known pharaoh, it is partly because his tomb is among the best preserved, and his image and associated artifacts the most-exhibited. As Jon Manchip White writes, in his foreword to the 1977 edition of Carter's ''The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun'', "The pharaoh who in life was one of the least esteemed of Egypt's kings has become in death the most renowned." As a side effect, the interest in this tomb and its alleged "curse" led to horror movies featuring a vengeful mummy.

Film and television

''We Want Our Mummy'', a 1939 film by the Three Stooges. In it, the slapstick comedy trio explores the tomb of the midget King Rutentuten (pronounced "rootin'-tootin'") and his Queen, Hotsy Totsy. A decade later, they were crooked used-chariot salesmen in ''Mummy's Dummies'', in which they ultimately assist a different King Rootentootin (Vernon Dent) with a toothache.

King Tut, played by Victor Buono, was a villain on the ''Batman'' TV series which aired from 1966 to 1968. Mild-mannered Egyptologist William Omaha McElroy, after suffering a concussion, came to believe he was the reincarnation of Tutankhamun. His response to this knowledge was to embark upon a crime spree that required him to fight against the "Caped Crusaders", Batman and Robin.

The Discovery Kids animated series ''Tutenstein'' stars a fictional mummy based on Tutankhamun, named Tutankhensetamun and nicknamed Tutenstein in his afterlife. He is depicted as a lazy and spoiled 10-year-old mummy boy who must guard a magical artifact called the Scepter of Was from the evil Egyptian god of Set.

The first episode of the 2005 BBC series ''Egypt: Rediscovering a Lost World'' focuses on the life and death of Tutankhamun and the serendipitous discovery of his tomb.

''La Reine Soleil'' (2007 animated film by Philippe Leclerc), features Akhenaten, Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamun), Akhesa (Ankhesenepaten, later Ankhesenamun), Nefertiti, and Horemheb in a complex struggle pitting the priests of Amun against Akhenaten's intolerant monotheism.

Other

"King Tut", a whimsical 1978 song by (American comedian) "Steve Martin and the Toot Uncommons" (a backup group consisting of members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band).

1989 televison networks often advertised commercials for ''King Kuts'' dog food, complete with Anubis-styled canine animation and music to the tune of "Camel Caravan." The can label was also adorned with themed heiroglyphs.

The mummy of Tutankhamun is depicted as a villain in Raj Comics's ''Nagraj'', a Hindi superhero comicbook. In this series, his mask is the source of his power.

For "''Transformers''" the Decepticon character Frenzy repeats the name, "Tutankhamun."

The video game ''Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy'' features a fictional representation of Prince Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun is the victim of an unnamed magical ritual which results in almost instantaneous mummification and extraction of what appears to be his "life force". In the instruction manual, the Mummy is described as young, inexperienced and naive.

Names

At the reintroduction of traditional religious practice, his name changed. It is transliterated as twt-ˤnḫ-ỉmn ḥq3-ỉwnw-šmˤ, and according to modern Egyptological convention is written Tutankhamun Hekaiunushema, meaning "Living image of Amun, ruler of Upper Heliopolis". On his ascension to the throne, Tutankhamun took a ''praenomen''. This is transliterated as nb-ḫprw-rˤ, and, again, according to modern Egyptological convention is written Nebkheperure, meaning "Lord of the forms of Re". The name ''Nibhurrereya'' in the Amarna letters may be closer to how his praenomen was actually pronounced.

References

Further reading

Andritsos, John. Social Studies of ancient Egypt: Tutankhamun. Australia 2006

Booth, Charlotte. ''The Boy Behind the Mask''", Oneworld, ISBN 978-1-85168-544-8

Brier, Bob. ''The Murder of Tutankhamun: A True Story''. Putnam Adult, April 13, 1998, ISBN 0-425-16689-9 (paperback)/ISBN 0-399-14383-1 (hardcover)/ISBN 0-613-28967-6 (School & Library Binding)

Carter, Howard and Arthur C. Mace, ''The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun''. Courier Dover Publications, June 1, 1977, ISBN 0-486-23500-9 ''The semi-popular account of the discovery and opening of the tomb written by the archaeologist responsible''

Desroches-Noblecourt, Christiane. Sarwat Okasha (Preface), ''Tutankhamun: Life and Death of a Pharaoh''. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1963, ISBN 0-8212-0151-4 (1976 reprint, hardcover) /ISBN 0-14-011665-6 (1990 reprint, paperback)

Edwards, I.E.S., ''Treasures of Tutankhamun''. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976, ISBN 0-345-27349-4 (paperback)/ISBN 0-670-72723-7 (hardcover)

Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, ''The Mummy of Tutankhamun: the CT Scan Report'', as printed in ''Ancient Egypt'', June/July 2005.

Haag, Michael. "The Rough Guide to Tutankhamun: The King: The Treasure: The Dynasty". London 2005. ISBN 1-84353-554-8.

Hoving, Thomas. ''The search for Tutankhamun: The untold story of adventure and intrigue surrounding the greatest modern archeological find''. New York: Simon & Schuster, October 15, 1978, ISBN 0-671-24305-5 (hardcover)/ISBN 0-8154-1186-3 (paperback) ''This book details a number of interesting anecdotes about the discovery and excavation of the tomb''

James, T. G. H. ''Tutankhamun''. New York: Friedman/Fairfax, September 1, 2000, ISBN 1-58663-032-6 (hardcover) ''A large-format volume by the former Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum, filled with colour illustrations of the funerary furnishings of Tutankhamun, and related objects''

Neubert, Otto. ''Tutankhamun and the Valley of the Kings''. London: Granada Publishing Limited, 1972, ISBN 583-12141-1 (paperback) ''First hand account of the discovery of the Tomb''

Reeeves, C. Nicholas. ''The Complete Tutankhamun: The King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure''. London: Thames & Hudson, November 1, 1990, ISBN 0-500-05058-9 (hardcover)/ISBN 0-500-27810-5 (paperback) ''Fully covers the complete contents of his tomb''

Rossi, Renzo. Tutankhamun. Cincinnati (Ohio) 2007 ISBN 978-0-7153-2763-0, a work all illustrated and coloured.

External links

Grim secrets of Pharaoh's city BBC News

Tutankhamun and the Age of the Golden Pharaohs website

''The Independent'', October 20, 2007: "A 3,000-year-old mystery is finally solved: Tutankhamun died in a hunting accident". See also video at ''The-Maker.net''

British Museum Tutankhamun highlight

King Tut: Ancient Egypt Unveiled - slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Category:Pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Category:Amarna Period Category:Atenism Category:Curses Category:Historical deletion in ancient Egypt Category:Ancient child rulers Category:Ancient Egyptian mummies Category:1340s BC births Category:1320s BC deaths

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Name	Bill Nelson
Nationality	American
Jr/sr	Senior Senator
State	Florida
Party	Democratic
Term start	January 3, 2001
Alongside	Marco Rubio
Preceded	Connie Mack III
Office2	Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner and Fire Marshal of Florida
Term2	January 3, 1995-January 1, 2000
Governor2	Lawton Chiles 1995-1998Buddy MacKay 1998-1999Jeb Bush 1999-2000 |preceded2Tom Gallagher
Succeeded2	Tom Gallagher
District3	11th
State3	Florida
Term start3	January 3, 1983
Term end3	January 3, 1991
Preceded3	Daniel A. Mica
Succeeded3	Jim Bacchus
District4	9th
State4	Florida
Term start4	January 3, 1979
Term end4	January 3, 1983
Preceded4	Louis Frey
Succeeded4	Michael Bilirakis
Office5	Member of theFlorida House of Representatives
Term start5	1972
Term end5	1979
Birth date	September 29, 1942
Birth place	Miami, Florida
Residence	Orlando, Florida
Spouse	Grace Cavert Nelson
Children	Bill Nelson, Jr.Nan Ellen Nelson
Alma mater	Yale University (B.A.)University of Virginia (J.D.)
Religion	Christian
Website	Senator Bill Nelson
Branch	United States Army Reserves United States Army
Serviceyears	1965-1968, 1970-1971 (Reserve) 1968-1970 (Active Duty)
Rank	Captain }}

Clarence William "Bill" Nelson (born September 29, 1942) is the senior United States Senator from the state of Florida. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a former U.S. Representative and former Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida. He is a leader in air and space policy, and in 1986, he became the second sitting member of the United States Congress to fly in space.

Born in Miami, Nelson attended the University of Florida before transferring to Yale University. He went on to receive his law degree from the University of Virginia. In 1965, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve; he served on active duty from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of captain, and left the following year. Nelson was admitted to the Florida bar in 1968, and began practicing law in Melbourne in 1970. In 1971, he worked as legislative assistant to Governor Reubin Askew.

In 1972, Nelson was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. He won re-election in 1974 and 1976. Nelson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. He served in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1991. In January 1986, he flew as a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. After a failed gubernatorial race in 1990, he successfully ran for the office of Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida in 1994 and served for six years. In 2000, Nelson ran as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack. In the Senate he is generally considered a social moderate and economic liberal. He was re-elected in 2006 with 60 percent of the vote.

Personal life

Early life and career

Nelson was born in Miami, the only child of Nannie Merle Nelson and Clarence Nelson. He spent his formative years in Melbourne, Florida, where he attended Melbourne High School. In his youth, he served as an international president of Key Club International. He attended the University of Florida for several years, then transferred to Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1965. In 1968, he received his law degree from the University of Virginia.

In college, Nelson was enrolled in ROTC. In 1965, he joined the U.S. Army Reserve; he served on active duty from 1968 to 1970, attaining the rank of captain. He remained in the Army until 1971.

Nelson was admitted to the Florida bar in 1968, and began practicing law in Melbourne in 1970. In 1971, he worked as legislative assistant to Governor Reubin Askew.

Family

In 1972, Nelson married Grace Cavert. The couple has two adult children: Bill Nelson, Jr., and Nan Ellen Nelson.

Religion

The biography on Nelson's Senate website does not list his religion. He was baptized as a Baptist, and grew up attending Baptist and Episcopal churches. In 2005, he joined the First Presbyterian Church in Orlando.

Florida legislature

In 1972, Nelson was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. He won re-election in 1974 and 1976.

U.S. House of Representatives

Nelson was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. He served in the U.S. House from 1979 to 1991.

Spaceflight

Name	Clarence William "Bill" Nelson
Type	NASA Payload Specialist
Nationality	American
Birth date	September 29, 1942
Birth place	Miami, Florida
Previous occupation	Representative, U.S. House
Current occupation	U.S. Senator
Time	6d 02h 03m
Mission	STS-61-C
Insignia	}}

In 1986, Nelson became the second sitting member of Congress (and the first member of the House) to travel into space. He went through NASA training with Senator Jake Garn of Utah. He was a Payload Specialist on 's STS-61-C mission from January 12 to 18, 1986.

The primary objective of the mission was to deploy the Ku-1 communications satellite, second in a planned series of geosynchronous satellites owned and operated by RCA Americom. The deployment was successful. The flight also carried a large number of small experiments, including 13 GAS canisters devoted to investigations involving the effect of microgravity on materials processing, seed germination, chemical reactions, egg hatching, astronomy and atmospheric physics.

''Columbia'' landed at Edwards AFB at 5:59 a.m. PST, on January 18. Mission elapsed time was 6 days, 2 hours, 3 minutes, 51 seconds. It was the last successful Space Shuttle flight before the ''Challenger'' accident, as the disaster occurred only 10 days after Columbia's return.

1990–2000

Gubernatorial campaign

In 1990, Nelson ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Florida. He lost to former U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles, who went on to win the general election. During the primary campaign, Nelson tried to make an issue out of Chiles' health and age, a strategy that backfired on him in a state with a large population of retirees and senior citizens.

Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner

In 1994 Nelson announced his intention to seek the office of Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida. He won the election with 52% of the vote over State Rep. Tim Ireland's 48%. In 1998, he again defeated Ireland for his reelection to the office.

In 2000, Nelson resigned his post as Commissioner following his election to the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Senate

Election

In 2000, Nelson ran as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack. He won the election, defeating U.S. Representative Bill McCollum, who ran as the Republican candidate.

Political actions and positions

In his official Senate biography, Nelson calls himself "the leading congressional expert on NASA". He lists legislative priorities and accomplishments that include anti-identity-theft and anti-spam measures; opposition to reducing the U.S. Navy's aircraft-carrier fleet; opposition to oil drilling off the Florida coast; supporting a Medicare prescription-drug benefit that allows the government to negotiate lower prices from drug suppliers; and obtaining federal relief for victims of the 2004 hurricane season.

Nelson's votes have tended to be more liberal than conservative excluding votes on torture. He has received high ratings from moderately left-of-center groups such as Americans for Democratic Action, and low ones from extreme right groups such as the Eagle Forum and the Club for Growth. According to ratings by the ''National Journal'', Nelson's votes have been moderately liberal on economic matters; moderate on social issues and liberal but close to the center on foreign policy.

In 2005, Nelson was one of ten Democrats who voted in favor of the Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) on its 55-45 passage in the Senate; Nelson's vote was cast despite opposition by special interests like the sugar lobby.

On several occasions, Nelson has voted against his party to reduce or eliminate the estate tax, notably in June 2006, when he was one of four Democrats voting for a failed (57-41) cloture motion on a bill to eliminate the tax.

In 2007, Nelson was the lone Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee to vote against an amendment to withhold funds for CIA use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects. His vote, combined with those of all Republican members of the committee, killed the measure.

Nelson is a member of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus, which generally opposes easing sanctions on Cuba.

In March 2010, Nelson voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which passed and were signed into law by President Obama. A Mason-Dixon Florida poll indicated that the measure was opposed by a majority of those surveyed, and by nearly two-thirds of Florida voters aged 65 or older. The same poll showed Nelson's negative rating rising to 34%, from 16% at the time of his 2006 re-election. However, a Gallup poll indicated that 79% of Democrats approved of the legislation, with only 40% of all adults opposing the legislation.

On December 18, 2010, Nelson voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

Nelson does not support Congressional Term Limits.

2006 re-election campaign

Following the 2004 election, in which Republican George W. Bush was re-elected and the Republican party increased its majority in both the House and the Senate, Nelson was seen as vulnerable. He was a Democrat in a state that Bush had won, though by a margin of only five percentage points. Evangelical Christian activist James Dobson declared that such Democrats, including Nelson, would be "in the 'bull's-eye'" if they supported efforts to block Bush's judicial nominees; and Nelson's refusal to support efforts in Congress to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case was seen as "a great political issue" for a Republican opponent to use in mobilizing Christian conservatives against him. Florida governor Jeb Bush, precluded by term limits from seeking re-election in 2006, was suggested as an opponent who might secure Nelson's seat for the Republicans.

Bush chose not to run for the seat. Katherine Harris, the former Florida Secretary of State and two-term U.S. representative, defeated three other candidates in the September 5 Republican primary. Nelson was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Harris's role in the 2000 presidential election made her a polarizing figure. Many Florida Republicans were eager to reward her for her perceived party loyalty in the Bush-Gore election; many Florida Democrats were eager to vote against her for the same reason. Harris's campaign was beset by difficulties: poor fundraising, a series of gaffes, and a high turnover of staff, including the loss of three campaign managers and of chief advisor Ed Rollins. In February, it was learned that Harris had received $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions from defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade.

In April, a ''National Review'' editorial urged Harris to withdraw, arguing that she would unquestionably win the primary and lose the general election. In May, when the party found itself unable to recruit a candidate who could defeat Harris in the primary, many Republican activists admitted that the race was already lost.

Harris's campaign focused heavily on evangelical Christianity. In an August interview with ''Florida Baptist Witness'', she declared: "[I]f you're not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin" Nelson, meanwhile, focused on safe issues, portraying himself as a bipartisan centrist problem-solver. He obtained the endorsement of all 22 of Florida's daily newspapers. Harris failed to secure the endorsement of Jeb Bush, who publicly stated that she could not win; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which had supported her in her congressional campaigns, did not endorse her in this race.

As the election approached, polls showed Harris trailing Nelson by 26 to 35 points. Nelson transferred about $16.5 million in campaign funds to other Democratic candidates, and won the election with 60.4% of the vote to Harris's 38.2%.

Committee assignments

Committee on Armed Services

*Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities (Chairman)

*Subcommittee on SeaPower

*Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

Committee on the Budget

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

*Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security

*Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety

*Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet

*Subcommittee on Space, Aeronautics, and Related Sciences (Chairman)

Committee on Finance

*Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure

*Subcommittee on Health Care

*Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy

Select Committee on Intelligence

Special Committee on Aging

Trip to Damascus

On December 13, 2006, Nelson went to Damascus and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "He (Assad) stated that we in fact, have an interest, common interest, to stabilize Iraq. I think it is a crack in the door, and it is for discussions to continue," Nelson said in a conference call from Amman, Jordan after meeting Assad in Damascus. The White House said that members of Congress should not be going to Syria. "I think it is a real stretch to think that the Syrians don't know where we stand or what we think. We have made it clear and we will continue to make it clear," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. In the days following Nelson's meeting with Assad, Senator Arlen Specter flew to Syria and met with Assad. Specter wrote an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer that emphasized the importance of such visits and reaffirmed Nelson's position that it was part of his constitutional duty.

Florida primary controversy

In 2007, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed a measure that changed Florida's primary date to January 29, several weeks earlier than the previous date. The measure passed the Florida House of Representatives by a vote of 118-0, and passed the State Senate by a vote of 37-2. This change was in violation of the Democratic National Committee's rules regarding state primary dates, which caused the DNC Chairman Howard Dean to threaten to strip the state of its delegates to the Democratic National Convention if they did not schedule the primary for a date that fell within the guidelines of the DNC. Senator Nelson played an active role in attempting to restore the activity of the delegates, going so far as to threaten a lawsuit against the DNC if an appropriate settlement was not reached. On May 31, 2008 the DNC bylaws committee decided to seat all of the Florida delegates with each being apportioned one-half vote.

Electoral history

Footnotes

External links

United States Senator Bill Nelson ''official U.S. Senate site''

Nelson for US Senate ''official campaign site''

NASA Bill Nelson official NASA astronaut biography

{{U.S. Senator box |state=Florida |class=1 |before=Connie Mack III (R) |after=Incumbent |years=January 3, 2001- |alongside=Bob Graham, Mel Martinez, George LeMieux, Marco Rubio}}

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