Lydia

Lydia (Assyrian: Luddu; Greek: Λυδία, Turkish: Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provinces of Uşak, Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian.

At its greatest extent, the Kingdom of Lydia covered all of western Anatolia. Lydia (known as Sparda by the Achaemenids) was a satrapy (province) of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, with Sardis as its capital. Tabalus, appointed by Cyrus the Great, was the first satrap (governor). (See: Lydia (satrapy).)

Lydia was later the name of a Roman province. Coins are said to have been invented in Lydia around the 7th century BC.

Defining Lydia

The endonym Śfard (the name the Lydians called themselves) survives in bilingual and trilingual stone-carved notices of the Achaemenid Empire: the satrapy of Sparda (Old Persian), Aramaic Saparda, Babylonian Sapardu, Elamitic Išbarda, Hebrew סְפָרַד. These in the Greek tradition are associated with Sardis, the capital city of King Gyges, constructed during the 7th century BC.

List of minor Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American franchise which spans several media and genres. It began in 1992 with the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, written by Joss Whedon and directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, and was resurrected as the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997. The show's popularity caused it to spawn a multitude of Expanded Universe tie-in material such as comic books, novels, and video games, as well as a spin-off program entitled Angel. In 2007, four years after the television series' seventh and final season, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was officially continued in the comic book Season Eight. The following is a list of minor recurring characters who appear in the franchise.

A

Aluwyn

(a.k.a. Saga Vasuki)

Amanda

Amanda is a Potential Slayer who appears in Season Seven, played by Sarah Hagan. A Sunnydale High student and member of the swing choir, she first appears in the episode "Help" as part of the seemingly-random stream of students showing up at Buffy's guidance office. Amanda was sent to Buffy for beating up another student who was picking on her. In the later episode "Potential", it is revealed that Amanda is in fact a Potential Slayer, and she aptly slays a vampire who threatens her and Dawn. Afterwards, Amanda moves into the Summers' residence, where she trains and becomes friends with her fellow Potentials. In the final episode of the show, "Chosen", Amanda is activated as a Slayer along with the other Potentials and battles against an army of Turok-Han vampires. She is last seen falling to the ground dead after her neck was snapped by a Turok-Han. She was the first Potential to kill a vampire and the first one to kill a Turok-Han.

Dean Friedman

Dean Friedman (born May 23, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter who plays piano, keyboard, guitar and other instruments, including the harmonica.

Music

Born and raised in Paramus, New Jersey, Friedman received his first guitar when he was 9, in 1964, and started writing songs. When he was a teenager, he played weddings and bar mitzvahs as part of Marsha and the Self-Portraits, sent out demos and majored in music at City College of New York where one of his teachers was guitarist David Bromberg. By the time he was 20, in 1975, he had a manager and a recording contract with Cashman and West's Lifesong label.

In the United States he is described as a one-hit wonder, following his 1977 hit song "Ariel", which reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and stayed in the chart for five months. It is ranked as the 69th biggest hit of 1977. On the Cash Box Top 100, it reached number 17. In Canada, the song reached number 19.

"Ariel" has been described as a "quirkily irresistible and uncategorizable pop song about a free spirited, music loving, vegetarian Jewish girl", from Paramus, New Jersey, where he grew up. It is the only Billboard Top 40 song to contain the word Paramus. It describes the girl Ariel, "standing by the [since dismantled] waterfall at Paramus Park", one of the many shopping malls in Paramus. The quarters she was collecting for "friends of BAI" refers to the New York radio station WBAI-FM, and their listener association, while the song also makes reference to "channel 2," which refers to local CBS affiliate WCBS-TV.