I Used To Know That Part 9

The four princ.i.p.al oceans of the world with areas in square miles (sq km) are:OCEANS The deepest point in the world is the Mariana Trench (in the Pacific, east of the Philippines), at 36,161 feet (11,022 m).

The World's Longest Rivers

The world's longest rivers are more fairly divided than its mountains, so here are the 17 that are longer than 2,175 miles (3,500 km), with the countries they mostly flow through: If you counted the Mississippi and Missouri as two separate rivers, they would both still find a place on this list, as would the Ob and Irtysh. The Yenisey on its own would also qualify.

Geological Time

The largest subdivision of geological time is an era, which can be divided into periods and then into epochs. The major divisions tend to be marked by ma.s.s extinctions, with smaller ones indicated by smaller extinctions and/or climate change. There have been three main eras; anything earlier than this was referred to as Precambrian.

* PALEOZOIC ERA, FROM ABOUT 600-250 MYA (MILLION YEARS AGO) Paleozoic literally means ancient life. Life on Earth had existed for perhaps 4,000 million years before this, but it consisted largely of single-celled creatures such as algae and bacteria. The Cambrian period, the first part of the Paleozoic, is when bigger creatures-some of them with backbones-began to emerge, although they were still living in the sea. The Paleozoic was followed by the Permian extinction, when 95 percent of all life on Earth-plants and animals on both land and sea-died. Just like that. Just when they were beginning to get the hang of it. (To be fair, the period of extinction lasted millions of years, so "just like that" is an exaggeration, but scientists still don't know for sure why it happened.) Anyway, it paved the way for...

* MESOZOIC ERA, FROM ABOUT 250-65 MYA Mesozoic means middle life. This was the age of the dinosaurs, and it was divided into three periods:* Tria.s.sic (c. 250-220 mya): the time of the first dinosaurs, small and agile to start with but poised to take over the world.

* Jura.s.sic (c. 220-155 mya): when giant herbivores such as Apatosaurus (which used to be called Brontosaurus) and Diplodocus ruled.

* Cretaceous (c. 150-65 mya): dominated by Tyrannosaurus rex, but also the time when plants first produced flowers.

Then along came the Cretaceous-Tertiary (known as the KT) extinction, when the Earth may or may not have been hit by a meteorite. Nothing quite as bad as the Permian but still enough to wipe out the dinosaurs, and following that...

* CENOZOIC ERA, FROM ABOUT 65 MYA TO THE PRESENT Cenozoic means recent life. This is when mammals and birds took over. It is sometimes divided into the Tertiary and Quaternary periods and then subdivided into these epochs:* Palaeocene (65-55 mya): when the first large mammals emerged to fill the gaps left by the dinosaurs.

* Eocene (55-35 mya): a period of great warmth, when the first gra.s.ses started to grow.

* Oligocene (35-25 mya): when mammals and flowering plants began to greatly diversify.

* Miocene (25-5.5 mya): when the common ancestor of human beings and primates emerged.

* Pliocene (5.5-2 mya): when that same common ancestor came down from the trees.

* Pleistocene (2 million-11,750 years ago-this is where you enter the Quaternary period if you belong to that school of thought.): mammoths and Neanderthal man came and went, but h.o.m.o sapiens may be here to stay.

* Holocene (11,750 years ago-present, but see below): the emergence of agriculture and thus of the first civilizations.

There is a suggestion that the Holocene period finished in the year 1800 and that human impact since the time of the Industrial Revolution justifies us designating a new period, the Anthropocene.

GENERAL STUDIES.

This chapter covers various subjects that didn't fit elsewhere in the book: mythology, art, music-all the subjects that weren't included in the exams but you had to learn a bit of anyway.

World Religions

There are, of course, lots of them and lots of subdivisions within them, but here is a little about the five really big ones, starting with the oldest.

* JUDAISM Monotheistic religion whose beginnings are lost in the mists of time. Its adherents are called Jews, their G.o.d is eternal and invisible, and trusting in G.o.d's will is a fundamental tenet. Jewish law as revealed by G.o.d is contained in the Torah, which comprises the first five books of the Christian Old Testament. The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is a sacred site.

* HINDUISM Polytheistic, about 5,000 years old, and followed primarily in India. One of its tenets is that one's actions lead to the reward or punishment of being reincarnated in a higher or lower form of life. The aim is to be freed from this cycle and attain the state of unchanging reality known as Brahman. The three princ.i.p.al creator G.o.ds are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, but Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu) is also widely worshipped. The main scriptures are the Vedas. The Ganges River is seen as a G.o.ddess of purity and pilgrims come to the holy city of Varanesi (Benares) to bathe in the river. The cow is a sacred symbol of fertility.

* BUDDHISM Founded in the 6th century B.C. by Gautama Siddhartha, known as the Buddha or "Awakened One." There are no G.o.ds in Buddhism; its adherents follow the philosophy expressed in the Buddha's Four n.o.ble Truths-that existence is characterized by suffering, that suffering is caused by desire, that to end desire is therefore to end suffering, and that this may be achieved by following the Eightfold Path to the ideal state of nirvana.

* CHRISTIANITY Monotheistic religion that grew out of Judaism 2,000 years ago and is based on the belief that Jesus Christ is the son of G.o.d. The holy book is the Bible, divided into the Old and New testaments; the New Testament is the one concerned with the teachings of Christ and his apostles. The church divided initially into Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) branches. The Catholic Church still recognizes the Pope as leader and Rome as a holy city, but a major rift beginning in the 16th century led to the emergence of the Protestants and many subsequent subdivisions. Jerusalem is the traditional site of Christ's burial and resurrection.

* ISLAM Monotheistic religion whose G.o.d is called Allah, founded in the 7th century A.D. by the one prophet, Mohammed. The holy book-the Koran or Qur'an-contains the revelations that Allah made to Mohammed. The holy cities are Mecca, birthplace of Mohammed, and Medina, where he is buried. All able-bodied Muslims who can afford it are expected to make a pilgrimage (hadj) to Medina at least once in their lives. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is the oldest intact Muslim temple in the world and is built over the point from which Mohammed traditionally ascended to heaven.

* THE TEN COMMANDMENTS Given to Moses by G.o.d on Mount Sinai (remember Charlton Heston and those ma.s.sive tablets?), these are a basic code of conduct for both Jews and Christians.1. Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy G.o.d in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his a.s.s, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

Roman Numerals I = 1.

C = 100.

V = 5.

D = 500.

X = 10.

M = 1,000.

L = 50.

From there, the Romans could make up any number they wanted-except, interestingly enough, zero, because they didn't have a symbol for it. They made the other numbers by adding (putting letters at the end) or subtracting (putting them at the beginning).

For example:I = 1 II = 2.

III = 3 but IV (for example, 1 before 5) = 4 Similarly,V = 5 VI = 6.

VII = 7.

VIII = 8 but IX (1 before 10) = 9 The same principle applies with the big numbers, so you end up with something like XLIV (44, because it is 10 before 50 and 1 before 5) and CDXCIX (499, made up of 100 before 500, 10 before 100, and 1 before 10). You would have thought 499 might be ID (1 before 500), but it isn't.

The Seven Wonders of the World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, described in an old encyclopedia as "remarkable for their splendor or magnitude," were: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon * The Mausoleum at Halicarna.s.sus * The Lighthouse of Alexandria * The Colossus of Rhodes * The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus * The Statue of Zeus at Olympia * The Great Pyramid of Giza Of the seven, only the Great Pyramid is still in existence.

A Bit of Cla.s.sical Mythology

There are lots of Greek and Roman G.o.ds, as well as enough mythological characters and demiG.o.ds to fill a book on their own, but these are some you might remember:

Famous Artists

This was meant to be a Top 20, but the list kept growing. There are so many artists that have contributed to the wonderful world of art we know today that I found I couldn't leave any of these names out.

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510, Italian): best known for The Birth of Venus (Venus with flowing hair, standing in a sh.e.l.l).

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519, Italian): painter, sculptor, inventor, and all-around polymath-one of the great figures of the Renaissance. Among many of his celebrated works are Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564, Italian): painter-most famous for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican-and sculptor of the statue of David in Florence.

Raphael (1483-1520, Italian): painter of many versions of the Madonna and Child; and of frescoes, notably The School of Athens for the Sistine Chapel.

t.i.tian (c. 1490-1576, Italian): greatest painter of the Venetian school. His religious and mythological subjects include a.s.sumption of the Virgin and Bacchus and Ariadne.

Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543, German, latterly in England): court painter to Henry VIII, responsible for the flattering portrait of Anne of Cleves, which encouraged the king to marry her.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-69, Flemish): famous for scenes of peasant life and landscapes.

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos, 1541-1614, Greek living in Spain): used distinctive elongated figures in his paintings of saints and in The Burial of Count Orgaz.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640, Flemish): greatest of the Baroque artists, based mainly in Antwerp. Painted the ceiling of the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall, London, but is best remembered for depictions of abundantly fleshy women.

Frans Hals (c. 1581-1666, Dutch): best known for portraiture. Painter of The Laughing Cavalier.

Diego de Velazquez (1599-1660, Spanish): court painter to Philip IV, producing many portraits of his patron and his family, notably Las Meninas. Also The Rokeby Venus, painted where the G.o.ddess is lying naked on a bed, facing away from the viewer, and looking at herself in a mirror.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69, Dutch): prolific portraitist and self-portraitist; creator of The Night Watch, the most famous painting in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Jan Vermeer (1632-75, Dutch): based in Delft and noted for his skillful use of light; painted everyday scenes of women reading or writing letters or playing musical instruments. Best known for his oil on canvas, Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Ca.n.a.letto (Giovanni Ca.n.a.l, 1697-1768, Italian): famous for his views of Venice, but also spent time in London and painted scenes of the Thames.

William Hogarth (1697-1764, British): engraver; hard-hitting social satires such as The Rake's Progress and Gin Lane.

Francisco de Goya (1746-1828, Spanish): painter, notably of the portraits Maja Clothed and Maja Nude, and the dramatic Shootings of May 3rd 1808, inspired by Spanish resistance to French occupation.

J(ohn) M(allord) W (illiam) Turner (1775-1851, British): prolific painter of landscapes and maritime scenes, most famously The Fighting Temeraire. His use of color and light and his portrayal of weather inspired the French Impressionists Monet and Renoir.

John Constable (1776-1837, British): painter of landscapes, notably The Haywain.

Edouard Manet (1832-83, French): established before the Impressionists, he adopted some of their techniques but was never quite one of that school. Famous works include Dejeuner sur l'Herbe (the one where the men are fully dressed and the women are not) and A Bar at the Folies-Bergere.

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903, American, working in England): painter, notably of The Artist's Mother; also known as a wit. When Oscar Wilde remarked, "How I wish I'd said that," Whistler responded, "You will, Oscar, you will."