Tag: History

Corona Virus all you need to know

Post author By tahir khan
Post date February 27, 2020
227 Comments on Corona Virus all you need to know
Sticky post

First symptom of corona virus also called as Wuhan corona virus had been found in early 1960’s, along with some deadly virus named severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS). It usually affects the mammals and birds due to strain of airborne droplets spread by other infected individuals.

In early days four types of corona virus were known- Alpha Coronavirus, Beta Coronavirus, Gamma Coronavirus, Delta Coronavirus. First two can infect only mammals like pigs, bats, etc. Gamma Coronavirus mainly affects birds and Delta Coronavirus affects both mammals and birds. This virus is spreading at much faster rate than it should be realized of being infected among the individual. It is reported that Corona virus is spreading at 3 times faster rate than SARS.

Wuhan coronavirus was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2019. At the time of writing, numbers of infected are still on the rise, with a mortality rate of around 1 percent. Snakes were firstly found affected by this virus.

Comparisons have been drawn between the pneumonia caused by the new virus and that induced by SARS, which infected more than 8000 people during a global outbreak that began in 2003. The viruses are from the same family, and both can cause fever and pneumonia.

So far, the new virus seems to have a lower fatality rate. Based on the number of reported cases and deaths, the rate seems to be about 2.8 per cent, compared with a 9.6 per cent rate for SARS. But it is too soon to be sure just how dangerous the virus is. We are still in the early days of the outbreak.

There is also a chance that the virus could mutate to become more contagious or deadly. However, there is no evidence yet that the virus has mutated within people, and the World Health Organization (WHO) told a press conference last week that the virus appears to be stable.

If the virus is able to spread before symptoms show, that could explain why it is spreading so quickly.

Tags Corona, Health, History, Virus

History

Seige of Ancient Numantia against Roman Empire

Post author By tahir khan
Post date June 10, 2019
2 Comments on Seige of Ancient Numantia against Roman Empire

Numantia was ancient group of celts settlement , whose remains are located 7 km north of the city of Soria, on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the municipality of Garray.

The ancient romans were used to being defeated. Like the rulers of most of history’s great empires, they could lose battle after battle but still win the war. An empire that cannot sustain a blow and remain standing is not really an empire. Yet even the Romans found it hard to stomach the news arriving from northern Iberia in the middle of the second century BC. A small, insigniɹcant mountain town called Numantia, inhabited by the peninsula’s native Celts, had dared to throw oʃ the Roman yoke. Rome at the time was the unquestioned master of the entire Mediterranean basin, having vanquished the Macedonian and Seleucid empires, subjugated the proud city states of Greece, and turned Carthage into a smouldering ruin. The Numantians had nothing on their side but their ɹerce love of freedom and their inhospitable terrain. Yet they forced legion after legion to surrender or retreat in shame.

Eventually, in 134 BC, Roman patience snapped. The Senate decided to send Scipio Aemilianus, Rome’s foremost general and the man who had levelled Carthage, to take care of the Numantians. He was given a massive army of more than 30,000 soldiers. Scipio, who respected the ɹghting spirit and martial skill of the Numantians, preferred not to waste his soldiers in unnecessary combat. Instead, he encircled Numantia with a line of fortiɹcations, blocking the town’s contact with the outside world. Hunger did his work for him. After more than a year, the food supply ran out. When the Numantians realised that all hope was lost, they burned down their town; according to Roman accounts, most of them killed themselves so as not to become Roman slaves.

Numantia later became a symbol of Spanish independence and courage. Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, wrote a tragedy called The Siege of Numantia which ends with the town’s destruction, but also with a vision of Spain’s future greatness. In 1882, its ruins were declared a national monument’ and became a pilgrimage site for Spanish patriots. In the 1950s and 1960s, the most popular comic books in Spain weren’t about Superman and Spiderman – they told of the adventures of El Jabato, an imaginary ancient Iberian hero who fought against the Roman oppressors. The ancient Numantians are to this day Spain’s paragons of heroism and patriotism, cast as role models for the country’s young people.

The final siege of Numantia began in the year 134 BC. Scipio Aemilianus, who was a Roman consul at that time, was in command of an army of 30,000 soldiers. His troops constructed a number of fortifications surrounding the city as they prepared for a long siege. Resistance was hopeless but the Numantians refused to surrender and famine quickly spread through the city. After eight months most of the inhabitants decided to commit suicide rather than become slaves. Only a few hundred of the inhabitants, exhausted and famished, surrendered to the victorious Roman legions.

Source: Sapiens-A brief history of humankind , Wikipedia.