10.22.25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome. This is Marsha for Radio I. Today I will
be reading National Geographic magazine dated September twenty twenty five,
which is donated by the publisher as a reminder. RADIOI
is a reading service intended for people who are blind
or have other disabilities that make it difficult to read
printed material. Please join me now for the first article

(00:20):
titled Europe's Wily Wanderer by Kelsey Noah Kowski. Savvy an opportunistic,
the golden jackal is one of the most successful carnivores
of the modern era. For many species, climate change has
been devastating, but for a select few animals, our changing

(00:42):
planet is offering new opportunities. A recent study in Themalian
Biology found that over the past two decades, European populations
of the golden jackal have rapidly expanded their range from
small pockets in the Balkans and Caucasus to a large
swath of Europe that stretches from the Arctic Circle to Spain.
Researchers traced one individual found in Finland to a genetic

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population fifteen hundred miles away in central Europe. How do
they do it? The wolf like canids demonstrate and impressive
ability to adapt to diverse locales mezo carnivores. They aren't
picky eaters and will chow down on everything from birds
and insects to plants and discarded human food. They can
change their social structure foraging habits and activity patterns depending

(01:30):
on what the terrain demands. Solitary if necessary, sure, run
in a pack, no problem. The jackals seem as at
home in fragmented farmland, city edges, and suburban gardens as
they are in forests, steps, and even icy northern landscapes.
These first generation migrants, says study author vis La Bogdanovitz

(01:53):
of the Polish Academy of Sciences, don't just adapt to
new environments, they actively seek them out and thrive. Next
article Temple of hat Shepsut, Rock of Ages by David
rahul riebol nesseld in an alcove of rock. Pharaoh Hatshepsut's
temple had many functions. It has survived the ravages of

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time and Hatshepsut's successor's attempts to erase her name from history.
Hatshepsut ruled Egypt, first as co regent and then as
pharaoh for a total of twenty one years. She was
one of the few women in Egyptian history to retain
power for so long. She reigned during one of ancient
Egypt's Golden Ages, when Egypt was awash with wealth. Hatchepsut

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built monumental works all over the nation, a myriad of
temples and shrines, four giant obelisks at the Temple of
Amun in Karnak, and countless artworks celebrating her accomplishments and
immortalizing her prayers. But many of these works were defaced
and destroyed after her death in fourteen fifty eight BC,
Hatshepsu's successor, Tutmost, the third, one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs,

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led the charge to erase her name from history. Her
likeness was chiseled away from monuments and her statues and
works destroyed. Nevertheless, following a major twentieth century reconstruction, Hatshepsut's
massive temple at Dur el Bahi Arabic for Northern Monastery
still stands today, sheltered beneath the red rocks of a

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cliff face. This architectural wonder captivated the ancient world with
its beauty and his attestament to Hotchepsut's glory and her
devotion to the gods. Woman who would be king. Hatchepsitt
was born around fifteen o seven b C. To Tutmos
the first and his great royal wife, Queen Ahmos. Hatchepsut

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would marry her half brother and heir to the throne,
Tutmos the second, becoming his great royal wife. Tutmos the
second died young, leaving behind a two year old son
born to a secondary wife as his heir. The child
was too young to rule, so Hatchepsut, the boy's anis
and stepmother ruled for him. Hot Chepsut gradually transformed her

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role from queen regent to outright pharaoh. When Tutmost the
third was older, he became her second in command, but
he would not rule outright as pharaoh until after her
death around fourteen fifty eight p c. His reign would
be glorious, filled with triumphs all his own, but while
he ruled, a systematic campaign attempted to erase Pharaoh Hutchepsut.

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Millennia later archaeologists would put the pieces back together to
restore Hutchepsot's place in history. Million year temples in the
new Kingdom period, Hutchepsut was one of the first pharaohs
who built the so called Temples of Millions of Years
on the western bank of the Nile, opposite the city
of Thebes modern day Luxor. Five centuries earlier in Middle

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Kingdom times, Pharaoh meant to Hochep the Second had erected
the first mortuary temple here. Perhaps inspired by men to Hochep,
Hotchepsuk installed her massive complex at the foot of a cliff,
a site now known as Deir al Bahri. This sacred
location has been consecrated to the goddess hathor protector of

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the dead, and an important funerary deity in thieves. In
these temples, pharaohs would be worshiped after their deaths. Their
mummies meanwhile rested elsewhere, entombed in private underground chambers in
the Valley of the Kings. As well as being used
for royal funerals, the Temples of Millions of Years were
the focus for other rituals, some related to royalty, others

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to deities, including the Theban god ah Mun and the
sun god Ray. Of all the mortuary temples, hot Chepsuits
would become the main cult structure of the Theban complex.
Construction lasted some fifteen years and was carried out under
the supervision of Senenmut, a high official and favorite of
the pharaoh. The imposing building incorporated ramps and courtyards like

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the nearby Mentuhotep Temple, but Sinnunmut introduced a rubber of
innovations to create a building of unequaled magnificence. It came
to be known as Desir de Ziro Holly of Holies.
Most New Kingdom commemorative temples featured chambers separated by monumental

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gateways pylons, like those that can still be seen at
Luxor and Karnak. Hotchepsut's temple, on the other hand, was
arranged around a central ramp or causeway. Spread along this
causeway at different heights, were three large courtyards. Today, the
walls and courtyards of hat Shepsut's temple might look somewhat plain.
In her time, they would have been filled with vibrant color,

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surrounded by lush gardens and pools, and richly decorated with
sculpture and reliefs. Each decorative element conveyed a religious or
political message in keeping with the ceremonial use of the
temple sacred alignments. The layout of hot Shepsut's temple was
carefully designed. Most obviously, it was positioned to align perfectly

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with the Temple of Omlin at Karnak on the opposite
bank of the Nile. In addition, the precise east west
alignment of its central causeway mirrored the daily payoth of
the Sun, or, according to the beliefs of the day,
the payoth of the god Ray. The temple was also
aligned with the Valley of the Kings, which lies to
the west. This royal necropolis had been inaugurated by hots

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Sheepsut's father, Tutmost the First. In fact, tomb CAVY twenty,
the burial place of Hutshepsut and Tutmost the First, lies
in a straight line from the Sanctuary of Omlan, the
innermost chamber of Hutchepsut's temple. Some experts have suggested that
the original plan was to connect kV twenty with the

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Sanctuary of Amlun via a temple through the interposing cliff,
but the poor quality of the rock prevented it. Stone
balustrades flanked the central ramp, guarded by imposing stone lions.
A colonnade that separates the first and second courtyards to
highlight Hotchepsut's piety and devotion, reliefs depict two massive obelisks

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on their way to the temple of Amon at Karnak.
Around the second courtyard are famous reliefs showing a trading
expedition that Hotchepsut sent to the land of Punt, believed
to be located on the Horn of Africa. Mirrh trees
were brought back from this expedition and planted in the
temple complex. Their resin would later be used in temple rituals.

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Other reliefs represent the divine birth of Hatshepsut, who, according
to tradition, had been begotten by the god Aman Rey
during a visit he made to Ahmos, the wife of Tutmos,
the first Her divine origin was an important tool in
legitimizing Hotchepsod's rule over Egypt. In the second courtyard, there

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are also two sanctuaries, one dedicated to Hathor and the
other to Anubis, a funeral god. Twenty four colossal osidi
Osyrides statues of Farohatshepsud as Cyrus, god of the afterlife,
flanked the entrance to the third courtyard. She wears the
false beard Postiche and the double crown of Upper and

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Lower Egypt Pushent, and she holds the symbols of royalty.
This uppermost courtyard had sanctuaries dedicated to the royal cult,
to the solar god rey Harakhti, and to Anubis. In
the central part of this last courtyard stood the temple's
innermost chambers, a sanctuary dedicated to ahmen Ree. Inside were

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three adjoining chambers decorated with scenes of Hotshepsut and the
god Amlan. The sanctuary of ahmen Rah was the main
setting for a ceremony that was celebrated every year in Thieves,
the Beautiful Festival of the Valley. The celebration dates back
to the Middle Kingdom and reached new heights in hot
Shepsut's time. Badly deteriorated. Reliefs that run along the upper

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courtyard of Hodchepsut's temple depict the festivities during the second
month of the harvest seasoned Shi Mu. In early rummer,
the pharaoh would lead a procession bearing the image of Amund,
followed by a retinue of nobles, priests, dancers, and soldiers.
They would begin at Karnak Temple across the Nile and
visit the mortuary temples. After her death, hught Chepsut was

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intentionally consigned to oblivion by Tutmos the third. He ordered
the demolition of all statues, monuments, and representations of her,
including depictions on her temple. Yet the building remained on
the western bank of the Nile. Each year it still
hosted the most dazzling festival of the Theban Necropolis, standing
strong through the millennia, a lasting testament to the pharaoh

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who built it. Next article from the National Geographic History Magazine.
The Temple of Jerusalem by Javierra dal Barco from King
Solomon to the Roman Empire. According to the Bible, King
Solomon built the first temple to house the Ark of
the Covenant. Over time, the structure became the spiritual heart

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of the Jewish faith. Invaders raised it, but the temple
endured a symbol of survival, resilience, and sanctity. In the
First Book of Kings Saint, King Solomon stands before the
people of Israel to dedicate a temple in honor of
their god Yahweh. The king reminds them that he has
fulfilled the promise Yahweh has made to Solomon's father, King David.

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But the Lord said to my father David, you did
well to consider building a house for my name. Nevertheless,
you shall not build the house. But your son, who
shall be born to you, shall build the house for
my name. First Kings eight the Bible describes how Solomon's
temple is meant to replace the Tabernacle, a tent like
structure that housed the Ark of the Covenant and other vessels.

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The Book of Kings details the construction down to the
dimensions of different chambers and structures. Measuring about one hundred
twenty feet long and fifty five feet wide, The Temple
of Jerusalem took seven years to complete. Scholars have established
that a temple to Yahweh did exist in Jerusalem during
the Iron Age, approximately twelfth to six centuries BC. According

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to the Bible, Solomon ruled in the tenth century BC,
but there is no archaeological evidence corroborating that the temple's
construction took place during that period. It would have been
in the interests of the Hebrew Scripture's authors to attribute
the building of this first Temple to King Solomon, as
The reigns of Solomon and his father David are depicted

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in the Bible as a golden era. The idea that
King Solomon sponsored the first Temple bolsters this narrative and
connects its construction to the concept of a unified Israel centralization.
The archaeological and historic picture becomes clear in the time
of Josiah, King of Judah sirca. Six four eight to
six O nine b c. At this time, according to

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the Bible, the realm of Solomon had split into two kingdoms,
the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah.
Jerusalem belonged to Judah. King Josiah commissioned major reforms to
the existing Temple, which had become far more significant in
religious life. In Two Kings twenty two, Josiah sends the

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high priest Hilkayah to the temple to count the entire
sum of the money that has been brought into the
house of the Lord. The priest discovers a book of
the Law inside the temple and shows it to the king.
After he reads it, Josiah decrees that the temple would
be the one and only place of worship to Yahweh.
Authorized copies of the book the Law would be kept

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inside the temple. Through his reforms, King Josiah effectively centralized
power in Jerusalem with the temple at its heart. That
first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians when they conquered
Jerusalem in the sixth century b C. During the period
of Persian rule, and after Alexander the Great's conquest, the
temple complex was slowly rebuilt. Around five fifteen b C.

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The second Temple was dedicated in Jerusalem. Several centuries later.
Herod the Great seventy two to four b C, King
of Judea, made important renovations and expansions to the structure.
Judea was a vassal province of Rome. Under Herod, the
temple became a building of impressive dimensions. The famous western walls,

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still visible to day, gives an idea of the scale
of the temple precinct. The temple sat at the very
heart of Yahwe worship. The main element of worship was
ritual animal sacrifice. These ceremonies took place there twice a day,
and all Jews symbolically participated by paying half a shekel
to the temple annually. Other acts of worship took place

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in the temple too, such as the reading of hymns
and psalms, and the congregation receiving blessings from the priests.
The tablets bearing the law that Yahwe had delivered to
Moses were kept in the temple inside a cabinet known
as the Ark of the Covenant. This cabinet was stored
inside the Holy of Holies, the most sacred place in
the Temple. The High Priest was the only person allowed

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to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once
a year, on the Tis day of Atonement Yam Kippur.
After the fall, a series of Jewish revolts against Rome
began eighty sixty six. In the course of putting them down,
the Romans raised Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. The
temple's treasures were looted and taken to Rome. The loss

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marked a radical change in the evolution of Judaism. When
the Romans destroyed the Temple and dispersed the Saducees, the
priestly class that had governed it, the Jews lost the
main element that had united them. It was then that
the Pharisees took charge of the faith. The Pharisees were
a Jewish group who focused on the study of the

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law as found in the Torah, the biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuterontomy, and applied its teachings to daily life. Faced
with the challenge of the disappearance of the Temple and
the competition posed by nascent Christianity, the Pharisees convened the
Synid of Jamnia, a liturgical meeting held in what today

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is Yavna, Israel. Here they established a liturgy of prayers
to take the place of sacrifice and worship with the Temple,
which were now impossible. The council also determined the canon
of writings that would be added to the original five
books of the Torah to become the Hebrew Bible. Emphasis
of worship shifted from the location of the temple to

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the reading of the text. From this point on, the
Torah would be the focus. The new liturgy of prayers
established by the Synod would be celebrated in community synagogues.
Before the destruction of the Temple, synagogues had existed as
study centers, but now their role began to expand Jews
from any community wherever it was located in the diaspora

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could celebrate the new liturgy simply by designating a place
to serve as a synagogue. Some elements of the ancient
cult in the Temple were transposed symbolically in the organization
of the liturgy. For example, the main obligatory prayer, the
Amidah or schemona Asrah eighteen blessings, included the blessing given

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by the priests in the Temple. The liturgical services that
are still celebrated in the synagogue in the morning shaharich
in the afternoon Minhach symbolized the two daily sacrifices that
used to be celebrated in the Temple. The memory of
the temple also led many congregations to build synagogues so
that the wall bearing the cabinet where the Torah was

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kept was oriented toward Jerusalem. Likewise, during Young Kippur day
of Atonement, there are two liturgical elements that directly relate
to the Temple. The first is the blowing of the
choffar or ramshorn. The chofar is also blown for Rashishana,
the New Year, a few days before. The second is
a service at the end of the ceremony which is

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called nilat chain closing of doors. The act echoes the
solemn moment, moment when the doors of the Temple were
closed at the end of Young Kippur, a faith transformed.
It was in the Torah that the symbolic force and
sanctity of the Temple were most vividly maintained. Those responsible
for this were the rabbis, who elevated the Torah and

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its study above all else. After the Temple's destruction, the
Torah took its place as the focus of Jewish life.
In doing so, Judaism was liberated from depending on a
single geographical location, instead focusing on a tangible object that
could be present in every Jewish community all over the world.
Throughout through the Torah, it was possible to galvanize the

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feeling of belonging among scattered communities, especially between the third
and fifth centuries BC, when new Jewish communities arose in
places as far apart as Yemen and the Iberian Peninsula.
These communities needed common ties that would unite them with
their breath bren In the most important Jewish centers of
Palestine and Babylon, the reading of the Torah is still

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at the heart of the Jewish liturgy celebrated every Saturday Shabbat.
Reading aloud from the Torah is the most important moment
of the liturgical service. The Torres scroll was removed from
the Torah arc and carried in procession to the days Bima,
where the corresponding Torah portion Parashah is read aloud. The

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Torah is divided up in such a way that it
is read in its entirety every year. To emphasize the
sanctity of the Torah, the scroll from which it is
read should never be touched directly. This is why it
has a handle at each end of the scroll. The
reader uses a pointer called a yad instead of their
own finger to guide them as they read. In the Synagogue,

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the Torah is still read from a scroll rather than
a book, to recall how it appeared in ancient times.
In the Temple after the tenth century, the Torah and
the other sacred texts were also copied in codex format.
As these codices were used for study rather than in
the liturgy, they could incorporate elements that were prohibited in
the Trust rolls, such as illuminations three faiths. In Jerusalem

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after the Romans destroyed at Second Temple complex. The site
plan ruins for centuries. The area contained to hold continued
to hold great meaning in Judaism, but the temple also
occupies a significant place in both Christianity and Islam. Passages
in the canonical Gospels and the Apocryphal Gospels described episodes

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from the life of Jesus that took place at the
Temple in Jerusalem. Shortly after his birth, Jesus is presented
at the Temple, and later, while still a child, Jesus
spends time in the temple debating with teachers of Jewish law.
As an adult, Jesus cleansed the temple, driving out merchants
and money changers from the sacred precinct. In the Koran,

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as in the Bible, Solomon is portrayed as the builder
of the Temple and a figure of immense wisdom. The
Koran includes the story of Mohammed's miraculous night journey from
Mecca to the farther place of worship Musjid el Aksa,
which Muslim tradition identified as the Haram al Sharif, the

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noble sanctuary identified as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In
this account, Mohammad is said to have traveled there in
one night prayed with prophets and briefly ascended to heaven
and prayed with Ibraham, Abraham, Musa, Moses, and Isa Jesus.
When Muslim forces took control of Jerusalem in the seventh century,

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a d only ruins remained where the Second Temple once stood.
The city's new rulers established their own place of worship
where the Second Temple had been. They built the Dome
of Iraq, the third most sacred site in Islam, next
to Mecca and Medina on Temple Mount. Later, the El
Akxa Mosque was built near by. Jerusalem is a city

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of great importance to all three faiths. According to tradition, Abraham, David, Salomon, Jesus,
and Mohammed all walked here, building of their followings in
strengthening their faiths. Controlling Jerusalem in the Temple Mount has
been at the center of violent conflicts stirring and since
the Middle Ages because of the site's shared significance. Today,

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a respectful, yet sometimes uneasy truce remains in place among
the three. There are those who pray to rebuild the
Temple of Jerusalem one day. They believe that the construction
of a third temple will coincide with or bring about
the arrival of the Messiah. But there are others who
have embraced the Temple's role as a symbol of sanctity, wisdom,

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and faith vessels of the book. The Harley Catalan Bible
is one of more than twenty lavishly illustrated Sephardi Bibles
produced by the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula between the
thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. Many of them feature so called
carpet pages, which are entirely filled with an intricate background
pattern and colorful illustrations on top. The Harley Catalan Bible

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contains pages featuring the sacred implements of the Temple of
Jerusalem embossed in gold. Many of these, the Minora, the
Arc of the Covenant, the table of Showbread, and the
incense altar are found in the verses of Exodus and
numbers other Safardi Bibles contain similar layouts of the Temple's
most sacred implements and vessels. Religious scholars interpret their inclusion

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as a statement of the central importance of the Hebrew
Scriptures for Jews of the diaspora. After the Roman destruction
of the Temple in eighty seventy Jews in the diaspora
could turn to scripture. Their centers of worship could be
housed in a magnificent illuminated text. More dispersal, destruction and loss, however,

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were soon to follow. In fourteen ninety two, a century
after the Harley Catalan Bible was produced, the Alhambra Decree
called for the conversion or expulsion of Iberius Jews, prompting
a mass exodus of Safardi Jews across Europe and North Africa.
Reliance on scripture grew as communities spread throughout the world.

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The Temple's predecessor during their time in the Sinai Desert,
the Israelites kept the Arc of the Covenant in the Tabernacle,
a tent like structure that went with them as they
traveled before reaching the Promised Land in Canaan. As described
in the Book of Exodus, Yahwe gave Moses very detailed
instructions on building the Tabernacle, from the exact measurements for

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the frame to the colors of the curtains. Yahwe began
with the need for an innermost shrine, the holiest chamber
that housed the ark. A curtain separated it from the
next chamber, where a minora, a table for the showbread,
and an incense altar were kept. In the outermost room
stood a sacrificial altar of akasha wood and a bronze

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basin for the priest to wash. The tabernacle's divine design
would be replicated later in the construction of Solomon's Temple
the Western Wall. The Roman Empire controlled Jerusalem when Hara
the Great was its king. Known for his ambitious construction projects,
Herod turned his attention to the Second Temple around twenty

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b C. He expanded the century's old structure into a
magnificent complex, but his grand construction only lasted a few decades.
Following a series of revolts in Judea, Rome raised the
city and destroyed the temple in eighty seventy. Today, the
only remnant is a section of the temple's western perimeter wall,
known as the Western Wall. This place is one of

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the holiest sites in Judaism, not only because of its
association with the Second Temple, but also because the Holy
of Holies is believed to be located behind it. From
all over the world, millions of visitors come to the
wall to pray. It is traditional to insert little pieces
of paper bearing petitions to God into the cracks between
its impressive stone ashlars, imagining Solomon's Temple. According to the Bible,

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King Solomon, son of David ordered the construction of a
temple in his capital, Jerusalem to house the Ark of
the Covenant, containing the tablets of the yong Daw of
the Law that Yahwah had given to Moses. The ark
had been housed in a portable sanctuary, the tabernacle, which
the Israelites had employed during their time in the Sinai Desert.
The First of Kings describes the splendor of Solomon's temple

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in great detail. Solomon lined the walls of the house
on the inside with boards of cedar, from the floor
of the house to the rafters of the ceiling. The
cedar within the house had carvings of gourds and open flowers.
All was cedar. No stone was seen. The inner sanctuary.
He prepared to set there the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord. He overlaid it with pure gold. He

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also overlaid the altar with cedar. Solomon overlaid the inside
of the house with pure gold. Then he drew chains
of gold across in front of the Inner Sanctuary and
overlaid it with gold. Next, he overlaid the whole house
with gold, in order that the whole house might be perfect.
Even the whole altar that belonged to the Inner Sanctuary

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he overlaid with gold. King six fifteen through twenty two
Beginnings and Endings circa nine sixty PC. Solomon's Temple is
thought to have been built, although no corroborating archaeological evidence
has yet been found seventh century BC. According to two Kings,
King Josiah carries out religious reforms at the temple after

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the Book of the Law is discovered there. Circa five
eighty six BC, the troops of Nebuchonezer the Second conquered Jerusalem.
He exiles its citizens to Babylon and lays waste to
the First Temple. Circa five thirty nine BC, Persian ruler
Cyrus the Great allows the exiles to return to Jerusalem

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and sanctions construction of the Second Temple. Twenty two b C.
Herod the Great, King of Judaea, greatly expands the Second Temple.
When Judaea is controlled by the Holy Roman Empire eighty seventy,
putting down rebellions in Jerusalem Roman legions raised the city
and destroy the Suk Second Temple. This concludes readings from

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National Geographic Magazine for today. Your reader has been Marshall.
Thank you for listening, Keep on listening and have a
great day.