Surena

Surena or Suren (died 53 BC) was a Parthian spahbed ("General" or "Commander") during the 1st century BC. He was a member of the House of Suren and was best known for defeating the Romans in the Battle of Carrhae. Under his command Parthians decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman invasion force under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus. It is commonly seen as one of the earliest and most important battles between the Roman and Parthian empires and one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history.

'Surena' remains popular as a name in Iran. 'Surena' is the Greek and Latin form of Sûrên or Sūrēn. As 'Suren', the name remains common in Armenia.Suren means "the heroic one, Avestan sūra (strong, exalted)."

Context

In Life of Crassus 21, written c. 225 years after the commander's time, Plutarch described Surena as "an extremely distinguished man. In wealth, birth, and in the honor paid to him, he ranked next after the king; in courage and ability he was the foremost Parthian of his time; and in stature and personal beauty he had no equal." Also according to Plutarch, there were "many slaves" in his army, suggesting the general had great wealth. Plutarch also described him as "the tallest and finest looking man himself, but the delicacy of his looks and effeminacy of his dress did not promise so much manhood as he really was master of; for his face was painted, and his hair parted after the fashion of the Medes."

Pierre Corneille

Pierre Corneille (French pronunciation: ​[pjɛʁ kɔʁnɛj]; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Jean Racine.

As a young man, he earned the valuable patronage of Cardinal Richelieu, who was trying to promote classical tragedy along formal lines, but later quarrelled with him, especially over his best-known play Le Cid about a medieval Spanish warrior, which was denounced by the newly formed Académie française for breaching the unities. He continued to write well-received tragedies for nearly forty years.

Biography

Early years

Surena (robot)

Surena (Persian: Surenā‎‎) is an Iranian humanoid robot, named after the Parthian General Surena.

According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Iran's manufacture of Surena makes it one of five countries in the world with the technology to make humanoid robots.

Surena I

This robot was introduced in December 13th 2008. It had a height of 165 centimetres and weight of 60 kilograms, and is able to speak according to predefined text. It also has remote control and tracking ability.

Surena II

On July 3, 2010, Surena II was introduced. Developed by robotics experts in Tehran University, it has a height of 145 centrimetres and weight of 45 kilograms. Surena II is able to walk, but slowly with a combination movements of hands, head and legs. It is also able to stand on one leg and keep its balance, and to dance. Surena II has 22 degrees of freedom, including 12 at its legs, 8 at its hands and 2 at its head. It is a product of 10,000 hours of work by a team of 20 robotics experts and engineers. Surena II is not a real robot when compared to e.g., to the Japanese robot, ASIMO as it is very slow moving and has no sensors expected from a robot...