The Olympic Games were the most important athletic competitions in Greece and the ancient world, held without interruption for over a thousand years, which preceded and inspired the sport of today. For the winners, the prize was a simple, highly coveted, olive wreath, however, what actually entailed an Olympic victory was glory, both on a personal level and for the city represented. In the spring of 148 BC the Games are now imminent and the meeting between a countryman and a wayfarer, surrounded by a luxuriant olive grove near Olympia, is the prelude to a dialogue in which, thanks to the memories of a special eyewitness who lived centuries earlier, will be celebrated the most famous Olympic athletes, real heroes of antiquity in which history and legend intertwine until they become confused, and where facts and curiosities about the multiform Greek world will be recalled.

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From the "New York Times" comes a thorough, authoritative, easy-to-use guide to a broad range of essential subjects.

The theme of this book evolved from the idea of linking three concepts around food: traceability, ethics and informed choice. We believe that the current devel- ment and implementation of traceability in the agri-food sector offers an interesting way not only of handling food safety but also of addressing and communicating ethical issues arising from current food production practices. Practices in the agri-food sector worry food consumers (as we all are, since we need to eat and drink to stay alive). But how can consumers act upon their concerns? Paradoxically, although consumers are bombarded with information on food – from the media, the food industry, food authorities, NGOs and interest groups – details about how foods are actually produced is often hard to find. Much of the infor- tion available is superficial, conflicting or partial, and it is hard for consumers seeking to mak e informed food choices to know which information to trust. The consumers we interviewed for this project felt that information about food products was withheld and manipulated. Traceability, which provides a record of the history and journey of a given food, and which is increasingly used in the food sector for legal and commercial reasons, has the potential to communicate a more authentic picture of how food is produced.

An illustrated exploration of the design, meaning and symbolism of world football club crests. Why is there a devil shown on the crest of Manchester United? Which club's crest motto is 'To Dare Is To Do'? And whose emblem depicts a bear and a strawberry tree? From the seahorses of Newcastle United to the royal crown of Real Madrid, via the riveting hammers of West Ham United, Valencia's famous bat design and German club St Pauli's unofficial skull-and-crossbones emblem, there is a story behind every crest, a tale of identity. Covering more than 200 clubs from 20 different leagues, World Football Club Crests explores the design, meaning and symbolism of the game's most famous club crests to reveal why the badges look as they do. This carefully curated collection charts the continuing evolution of the designs and describes the changing styles, varied influences and remarkable controversies that have shaped football's most iconic crests. These important symbols of football heraldry will never be viewed in the same way again.

Your faith is challenged daily. We live in a society that has few absolutes, where “truth” is defined by personal philosophies. It’s really not so different from the culture of Corinth during the apostle Paul’s ministry. Believers were struggling with the “gray areas” of life, so Paul wrote letters—1 and 2 Corinthians—to remind them of what God intended as black-and-white. In Letters to a Troubled Church, Bible teacher Ray Stedman uses Paul’s epistles to guide us through difficult matters.

I will speak to you of war, battles, love, hatred, heroism, self-denial and betrayal, of a dead man who will save a living man. Of a weapon, a gift from the gods, a shield, of a narrow pass and a plain where the fate of the world will be judged. This is the prophecy revealed to the seer Megistias from Zeus. It will be fulfilled by the brave and noble Spartan, Teleutias, the genial and faint-hearted Athenian, Nausinous whose friends example will lead him to unparalleled heroism the Persian commander-in-chief Mardonius, the beautiful Spartan woman Helen and the slave from Miletus, Dianeira, who will fight for her freedom and whose heart is torn between two Greeks. You will run with Teleutias in Olympia, you will attend the brilliant symposia of Mardonius and the sensual dance of Dianeira, you will hear Leonidas and Themistocles deliver speeches at the council of the Isthmus of Corinth, you will travel with the royal trireme of Xerxes to Tempe, you will sail with Nausinous and the Athenian fleet. You will feel the fear and horror of battle with the weight of the shield in the left hand and the spear, slippery with perspiration and blood, in the right. You will fight in the phalanx at the battles of Thermopylae and Plataea, where the assault is a faceless beast with hundreds of heads but only one soul, where the earth trembles at its steps, where the sun shines on the bronze breastplates and helmets and the colourful crests made of horses manes and tails quiver, where the painted shields approach united and the well-polished metal tips of the spears are Death itself. The Shield brings together the magic of the novel and a profound historical knowledge, making the reader feel what it meant to be a Greek during antiquity. It is a moving epic, but also a very human story, where the grandeur of the spirit freely chooses the ultimate sacrifice and clashes with hatred, passion, intrigue and betrayal.