Arabic names are composed of four parts: laqab, kunya, ism, and nisba. The laqab is an honorific title, often a compound with –dīn, ‘religion’; hence Shams al-Dīn, ‘Sun of Religion’, Husām al-Dīn, ‘Sword of Religion’, Badr al-Dīn, ‘Full Moon of Religion’. These titles begin to appear in Ayyubid and Mamluk times and are current everywhere… Read More »
In Ancient China the 24 hours of the day were divided into the following 12 two-hour periods, sometimes called “watches”. They are: Zi 子 (11pm-1am), Chou 丑 (1am-3am) , Yin 寅 (3am-5am), Mou 卯 (5am-7am), Chen 辰 (7am-9am), Si 巳 (9am-11am), Wu 午 (11am-1pm), Wei 未 (1pm-3pm), Shen 申 (3pm-5pm), You 酉 (5pm-7pm), Xu 戌… Read More »
The “seven sages of the bamboo grove” 竹林七贤 were Ji Kang 嵇康, Ruan Ji 阮籍, Shan Tao 山涛, Xiang Xiu 向秀, Liu Ling 刘伶, Wang Rong 王戎 and Ruan Xian 阮咸. In the Weizheng period (240-249) they often met together in a bamboo grove in Shanyang county 山阳县, Henan province, in the region of present-day Hui county… Read More »
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