Via Maris

Traditional description

Via Maris is the modern name for an ancient trade route, dating from the early Bronze Age, linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia — modern day Iran, Iraq, Israel, Turkey and Syria. In Latin, Via Maris means "way of the sea." It is a historic road that runs along the Israeli Mediterranean coast. It was the most important route from Egypt to Syria (the Fertile Crescent) which followed the coastal plain before crossing over into the plain of Jezreel and the Jordan valley."

Its earlier name was "Way of the Philistines", a reference to a passageway through the Philistine Plain (which today consists of Israel's southern coastal plain and the Gaza Strip).

Together with the King's Highway, the Via Maris was one of the major trade routes connecting Egypt and the Levant with Anatolia and Mesopotamia. The Via Maris was crossed by other trading routes, so that one could travel from Africa to Europe or from Asia to Africa. It began in al-Qantara and went east to Pelusium, following the northern coast of Sinai through el-Arish and Rafah. From there it followed the coast of Canaan through Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Joppa, and Dor before turning east again through Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley until it reached Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. Again turning northward along the shore, the Via Maris passed through Migdal, Capernaum, and Hazor. From Hazor it crossed the northern River Jordan at Jacob's Daughters' Bridge then climbed sharply over the Golan Heights and wound its way northeast into Damascus. Here travellers could continue on the King's Highway as far as the Euphrates River or proceed northward into Anatolia.

VIA

Via or VIA may refer to one of the following:

Science and technology

Transportation

Other

STAR (interbank network)

STAR is an interbank network and EFTPOS network in the United States. It is the largest American interbank network, with 2 millionATMs, 134 million cardholders and over 5,700 participating financial institutions. The STAR Network began in 1984 and was acquired by First Data Corporation in 2003. The network is owned and operated by STAR Networks, a subsidiary company of First Data.

Mergers

The network has existed since the 1980s, and has since included several other networks, mostly in the 2000s:

See also

References

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Geomantic figures

The 16 geomantic figures are the primary symbols used in divinatory geomancy. Each geomantic figure represents a certain state of the world or the mind, and can be interpreted in various ways based upon the query put forth and the method used to generate the figures. When geomancy was introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, the figures acquired astrological meanings and new forms of interpretation. The figures bear superficial resemblance to the ba gua, the eight trigrams used in the I Ching, a Chinese classic text.

Properties of the figures

Each of the figures is composed of four lines, each line containing either one or two points. Each line represents one of the four classical elements: from top to bottom, the lines represent fire, air, water, and earth. When a line has a single point, the element is said to be active; otherwise, with two points, the element is passive. Because there are four lines, and since each line can be either active or passive, there are 2⁴, or 16, different figures. The different combinations of elements yields different representations or manifestations of the figure's energy.