mother of all battles Reference library
The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military
... of all battles Iraqi term for the Persian Gulf War ( 1991 ). Saddam Hussein claimed the fight for Kuwait would be the “mother of all battles” (in Arabic, Um al-Mar'rik ) and the phrase received considerable media...
mother of all battles
King John Reference library
Michael Dobson, Will Sharpe, and Anthony Davies
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2 ed.)
...they will recognize whoever wins a battle between the two as rightful king. The two armies battle offstage, but each returns and claims victory: the citizens of Angers are thus still unable to decide whom to favour. The Bastard, irritated with them, suggests that John and Philip should first combine to demolish Angers before settling their differences, and as the two sides prepare to take this advice a citizen of Angers, terrified, suggests that instead of further bloodshed the French and English should make peace by means of a marriage between the Dauphin and...
Babylonian Empire Reference library
Oxford Bible Atlas (4 ed.)
...as having been present at the siege of Jerusalem in Jeremiah 39: 3, 13 . He restored temples at Babylon and nearby Borsippa, and campaigned in the north‐western part of the empire against Appuasha of Pirindu who had entered Khume in order to take plunder and captives. He was pursued to Ura and Kirshu, the island of Pitusu was overrun, and Sallune was burnt. His successor, Labashimarduk, reigned for only a few days. Then Nabonidus (Nabunaid) became king of Babylonia (556–539). He was of priestly descent, and his mother had been taken captive by...
Richard Duke of York Reference library
Randall Martin, Will Sharpe, and Anthony Davies
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2 ed.)
...role as militant mother upholding her son’s rights against a disordered patriarchy. Stage history: Richard Duke of York was probably first written for and performed by Lord Strange’s Men, and then certainly staged by Pembroke’s Men after they came into existence in May 1591 . There is no further stage evidence until John Crowne ’s Royalist adaptation, The Misery of Civil-War ( 1680 , staged 1681 ), whose sensationalizing climax is the battle of Towton (2.2–6). From this point until the beginning of the 20th century, Richard Duke of York was performed...
Judges Reference library
Susan Niditch and Susan Niditch
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...of the verse, moreover, have the quality of a ritual dance of death. The enemy is at the same time seduced and slaughtered, the one serving as metaphor for the other. vv. 28–30 , the author powerfully juxtaposes the scene of Sisera's death at the hands of a woman with a glimpse of another female figure, the hero's mother who anxiously awaits his victorious return from battle. This gifted composer is able to picture the enemy camp with pathos and empathy much as Homer depicts the Trojan women. In contrast to Jael, the tent-dwelling woman, the mother of...
The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement HAMAS Reference library
Islam in Transition: Muslim Perspectives (2 ed.)
...so that they would grow up to be good mothers, aware of their role in the battle of liberation. . . . Article Nineteen Art has regulations and measures by which it can be determined whether it is Islamic or pre-Islamic (Jahili) art. The issues of Islamic liberation are in need of Islamic art that would take the spirit high, without raising one side of human nature above the other, but rather raise all of them harmoniously and in equilibrium. . . . Article Twenty Moslem society is a mutually responsible society. The Prophet, prayers and greetings be unto...
“There Was No King in Israel”: The Era of the Judges Reference library
Jo Ann Hackett
Oxford History of the Biblical World
...women of Shiloh in 21.1–23 . The one individual who musters the militia for battle is the nameless Levite of chapters 19–20 , and ironically this is the only occasion in the entire book that all Israel unites for war—but against one of their own rather than an external enemy. Outside the book of Judges, the first few chapters of 1 Samuel reveal the beginning of attempts to establish lineages of power within this premonarchic society. It is assumed that the sons of the priest Eli will succeed him in the priesthood, that he is part of a...
A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in Islam Reference library
Fatima Mernissi
Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook
...few members of the elite. The mosques were full of people who found it absurd to follow leaders who wanted to lead the community into tearing each other to pieces. Abu Bakra was not in any way an exception. When he was contacted by ‘A’isha, Abu Bakra made known his response to her: he was against fitna . He is supposed to have said to her (according to the way he told it after the battle): It is true that you are our umm [mother, alluding to her title of “Mother of Believers,”...
Cymbeline, King of Britain Reference library
Michael Dobson, Will Sharpe, and Anthony Davies
The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare (2 ed.)
...from Holinshed’s Chronicles , as did the account of the heroic defence of a narrow pass attributed in the play to Belarius, Guiderius, and Arviragus but deriving from an incident at the battle of Loncart (976: this is described in the Scottish section of the work which Shakespeare had consulted when writing Macbeth ) . Other minor details show that Shakespeare had also read the account of Guiderius in the second part of A Mirror for Magistrates ( 1578 ) and Robert Fabyan’s New Chronicle of England and of France ( 1516 ). More centrally, the wager plot...
Stories of Joshua and the Judges, Samuel and Saul Reference library
Oxford Bible Atlas (4 ed.)
...of Jericho ( Josh. 5–6 ), the destruction of the city of Ai ( Josh. 8 ), the defeat of a coalition of the five kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon who made war on the Gibeonites ( Josh. 9–10 ), and the defeat of a northern coalition led by KingJabin of Hazor, and the destruction of his great city ( Josh. 11: 1–15 ). In a summary statement, a biblical writer claims, ‘So Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the Negeb and all the land of Goshen and the lowland and the Arabah and the hill country of Israel and its lowland,...
Jeremiah Reference library
Kathleen M. O'Connor and Kathleen M. O'Connor
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...provenance of this text because Ephraim symbolizes the northern kingdom ( Thompson 1980 : 573 ). But whatever its origins, Rachel is the quintessential bereaved mother who cannot recover from the loss of her children ( v. 15 ). As Jacob's most beloved wife ( Gen 29 ), she is matriarch of all Israel, and her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, become fathers of northern and southern tribes ( Holladay 1989 : 187 ). Rachel's motherhood of northern and southern offspring suggests that she weeps not only for Ephraim but for all the children of Israel for whom...
1 & 2 Samuel Reference library
Gwilym H. Jones, Gwilym H. Jones, and Gwilym H. Jones
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...The aim of this account is to portray David as a mere shepherd boy, not a king's armour-bearer, and how he successfully joined battle with the Philistine. The conversation of vv. 26–32 emphasizes that David did not enter into battle because of arrogance or a spirit of adventure, but because he was destined for this part in God's plan. This account has all the characteristics of popular legendary material about David. Although it was not added to the text of the original narrative until the fourth century bce (after the divergence of the MT from the...
2 Maccabees Reference library
R. Doran and R. Doran
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...pious ( 2 Macc 7 ). God will give back to the martyrs all their bodily parts in a new creative act. D. Date and Place of Composition. In discussing date and place, one has to ask about both the date of Jason of Cyrene and the date of the epitome. The only secure date for Jason's work is that it was written before the epitome. If one assumes that Jason was an eyewitness to the events or that he drew on oral reports from contemporaries, he might have written not long after 161 bce , the date of the battle against Nicanor. In attempting to date the epitome one...
Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel Reference library
Lawrence E. Stager
Oxford History of the Biblical World
...multiple accounts of the same event into his narrative, even when they are at variance or are contradictory. The most obvious example is the prose account of the battle of Kishon ( Judg. 4 ), in which two tribes battle the Canaanites. This is followed in the next chapter by the poetic account, the Song of Deborah, in which at least six tribes fight. All scholars agree that the prose account is later and dependent on the poetic version. Nevertheless, perhaps wishing to preserve a variety of traditions, DH chose to present both versions of the same event. ...
Class Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...representations which endured afterwards in the depiction of social difference: first, a language of colonialism which likened the poor in English villages to savages in darkest Africa, in need of a civilizing mission; second, a view of the poor as morally and politically diseased, in a powerful evocation of healthy and disordered social bodies; and finally, an image of the poor as naughty children in need of mothering from women of another social class. The response of the Somerset village women is revealing. Despite initial reluctance, they started to send...
Transitions and Trajectories: Jews and Christians in the Roman Empire Reference library
Barbara Geller
Oxford History of the Biblical World
...billeting of soldiers stationed in the area. In 212, Emperor Caracalla (211–17) issued his “Constitutio Antoniniana,” which granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Roughly a century later, the emperor Constantine prepared to do battle at the Milvian Bridge, setting in motion a chain of events that would radically alter the empire's religious landscape. The emerging Christian state, with its dual identity both as the continuation of the Rome of Caesar and Augustus and now also as the patron and promulgator of...
1 & 2 Kings Reference library
Walter Dietrich, Walter Dietrich, and Walter Dietrich
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...taking the queen mother's power merely to hold the reins of power himself ( Levin 1982 )? Jehoiada builds up a subversive organization in the temple (and in the palace?) with a good infrastructure, sufficient weaponry, and above all a close relationship with the ‘people of the land’ ( vv. 14, 18, 20 ). The final sentence of v. 20 , contrasting the land (Judah) and the city (Jerusalem), sheds particular light on the political constellation: Athaliah, like all Omrides, enjoyed the support of all members of the urban and aristocratic circles of the capital city....
1 Maccabees Reference library
U. Rappaport and U. Rappaport
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...east of the Euphrates. ( 3:38–41 ) v. 38 , the appointment of three commanders of the expedition against Judas is misleading. Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes was the governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia and supported an anti-Jewish policy ( cf. 2 Macc 4:45; 6:8 ) but did not personally command the forces sent against Judas. According to 2 Macc 8:8–9 , the one who called for military support was Philip, the governor of Jerusalem. Lysias is not mentioned there at all, and may be introduced by the author of 1 Maccabees to increase the importance of the battle....
Revelation Reference library
Richard Bauckham and R. N. Whybray
The Oxford Bible Commentary
...for battle with the beast. ‘Mount Zion’ alludes to Ps 2:6 . For the names (indicating ownership), cf. 3:12 . v. 3 , for the new song, cf. 5:9 . v. 4 , they are not literally all adult celibate males. The image is part of the imagery of holy war, for which soldiers had to keep themselves free of the ritual defilement incurred by sex ( 1 Sam 21:5–6 ). This is used as an image of the moral probity ( cf. v. 5 ) required of Christians (female as well as male) who follow the Lamb in his path of faithful witness to death. The first fruits are the first part of the...
