Intermodal container

# Intermodal container

## Abstract

An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or cargo container, (or simply “container”) is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – such as from ships to trains to trucks – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. It is like a boxcar that does not have wheels. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. These containers are known by many names: freight container, sea container, ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, or SEAVAN. The term CONEX (Box) is a technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the ISO containers: the much smaller steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.

Intermodal containers exist in many types and standardized sizes, but 90 percent of the global container fleet are "dry freight" or "general purpose" containers: durable closed rectangular boxes, made of rust-retardant Corten steel; almost all 8 feet (2.44 m) wide, and of either 20 or 40 feet (6.10 or 12.19 m) standard length, as defined by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 668:2020. The worldwide standard heights are 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m) and 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m) – the latter are known as High Cube or Hi-Cube (HC or HQ) containers. Depending on the source, these containers may be termed TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), reflecting the 20- or 40-foot dimensions.

Invented in the early 20th century, 40-foot intermodal containers proliferated during the 1960s and 1970s under the containerization innovations of the American shipping company SeaLand. Like cardboard boxes and pallets, these containers are a means to bundle cargo and goods into larger, unitized loads that can be easily handled, moved, and stacked, and that will pack tightly in a ship or yard. Intermodal containers share a number of construction features to withstand the stresses of intermodal shipping, to facilitate their handling, and to allow stacking. Each has a unique ISO 6346 reporting mark.

In 2012, there were about 20.5 million intermodal containers in the world of varying types to suit different cargoes. Containers have largely supplanted the traditional break bulk cargo; in 2010, containers accounted for 60% of the world's seaborne trade. The predominant alternative methods of transport carry bulk cargo, whether gaseous, liquid, or solid—e.g., by bulk carrier or tank ship, tank car, or truck. For air freight, the lighter weight IATA -defined unit load devices are used.

## History

### Origins

Containerization has its origins in early coal mining regions in England beginning in the late 18th century. In 1766 James Brindley designed the box boat 'Starvationer' with ten wooden containers, to transport coal from Worsley Delph (quarry) to Manchester by Bridgewater Canal. In 1795, Benjamin Outram opened the Little Eaton Gangway, upon which coal was carried in wagons built at his Butterley Ironwork. The horse-drawn wheeled wagons on the gangway took the form of containers, which, loaded with coal, could be transshipped from canal barges on the Derby Canal, which Outram had also promoted.

By the 1830s, railroads were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the UK was one of these, making use of "simple rectangular timber boxes" to convey coal from Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where a crane transferred them to horse-drawn carriages. Originally used for moving coal on and off barges, "loose boxes" were used to containerize coal from the late 1780s, at places like the Bridgewater Canal. By the 1840s, iron boxes were in use as well as wooden ones. The early 1900s saw the adoption of closed container boxes designed for movement between road and rail.

### Creation of international standards

The first international standard for containers was established by the Bureau International des Containers et du Transport Intermodal (B.I.C.) in 1933, and a second one in 1935, primarily for transport between European countries. American containers at this time were not standardized, and these early containers were not yet stackable – neither in the U.S. nor Europe. In November 1932, the first container terminal in the world was opened by the Pennsylvania Rail Road Company in Enola, Pennsylvania. Containerization was developed in Europe and the US as a way to revitalize rail companies after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, in New York, which resulted in economic collapse and a drop in all modes of transport.

### Mid 20th century innovations

In April 1951 at Zürich Tiefenbrunnen railway station, the Swiss Museum of Transport and the Bureau International des Containers (BIC) held demonstrations of container systems for representatives from a number of European countries, and from the United States. A system was selected for Western Europe, based on the Netherlands' system for consumer goods and waste transportation called Laadkisten (lit. "Loading chests"), in use since 1934. This system used roller containers for transport by rail, truck and ship, in various configurations up to 5,500 kg (12,100 lb) capacity, and up to 3.1 by 2.3 by 2 metres (10 ft 2 in × 7 ft 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 in × 6 ft 6 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) in size. This became the first post World War II European railway standard of the International Union of Railways – UIC-590, known as "pa-Behälter". It was implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.

The use of standardized steel shipping containers began during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when commercial shipping operators and the US military started developing such units. In 1948 the U.S. Army Transportation Corps developed the "Transporter", a rigid, corrugated steel container, able to carry 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg). It was 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) long, 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) wide, and 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) high, with double doors on one end, was mounted on skids, and had lifting rings on the top four corners. After proving successful in Korea, the Transporter was developed into the Container Express (CONEX) box system in late 1952. Based on the Transporter, the size and capacity of the Conex were about the same, but the system was made modular, by the addition of a smaller, half-size unit of 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) long, 4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) wide and 6 ft 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 in (2.10 m) high. CONEXes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements. By 1965 the US military used some 100,000 Conex boxes, and more than 200,000 in 1967, making this the first worldwide application of intermodal containers. Their invention made a major contribution to the globalization of commerce in the second half of the 20th century, dramatically reducing the cost of transporting goods and hence of long-distance trade.

From 1949 onward, engineer Keith Tantlinger repeatedly contributed to the development of containers, as well as their handling and transportation equipment. In 1949, while at Brown Trailers Inc. of Spokane, Washington, he modified the design of their stressed skin aluminum 30-foot trailer, to fulfil an order of two-hundred 30 by 8 by 8.5 feet (9.14 m × 2.44 m × 2.59 m) containers that could be stacked two high, for Alaska-based Ocean Van Lines. Steel castings on the top corners provided lifting and securing points.

In 1955, trucking magnate Malcom McLean bought Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, to form a container shipping enterprise, later known as Sea-Land. The first containers were supplied by Brown Trailers Inc, where McLean met Keith Tantlinger, and hired him as vice-president of engineering and research. Under the supervision of Tantlinger, a new 35 ft (10.67 m) x 8 ft (2.44 m) x 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) Sea-Land container was developed, the length determined by the maximum length of trailers then allowed on Pennsylvanian highways. Each container had a frame with eight corner castings that could withstand stacking loads. Tantlinger also designed automatic spreaders for handling the containers, as well as the twistlock mechanism that connects with the corner castings.

### Modern form

Containers in their modern 21st-century form first began to gain widespread use around 1956. Businesses began to devise a structured process to utilize and to get optimal benefits from the role and use of shipping containers. Over time, the invention of the modern telecommunications of the late 20th century made it highly beneficial to have standardized shipping containers and made these shipping processes more standardized, modular, easier to schedule, and easier to manage.

Two years after McLean's first container ship, the Ideal X, started container shipping on the US East Coast, Matson Navigation followed suit between California and Hawaii. Just like Pan-Atlantic 's containers, Matson's were 8 ft (2.44 m) wide and 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) high, but due to California's different traffic code Matson chose to make theirs 24 ft (7.32 m) long. In 1968, McLean began container service to South Vietnam for the US military with great success.

### Modern ISO standards

ISO standards for containers were published between 1968 and 1970 by the International Maritime Organization. These standards allow for more consistent loading, transporting, and unloading of goods in ports throughout the world, thus saving time and resources.

The International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC) is a 1972 regulation by the Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organization on the safe handling and transport of containers. It decrees that every container traveling internationally be fitted with a CSC Safety-approval Plate. This holds essential information about the container, including age, registration number, dimensions and weights, as well as its strength and maximum stacking capability.

### Impact of industry changes on workers

Longshoremen and related unions around the world struggled with this revolution in shipping goods. For example, by 1971 a clause in the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) contract stipulated that the work of "stuffing" (filling) or "stripping" (emptying) a container within 50 miles (80 km) of a port must be done by ILA workers, or if not done by ILA, that the shipper needed to pay royalties and penalties to the ILA. Unions for truckers and consolidators argued that the ILA rules were not valid work preservation clauses, because the work of stuffing and stripping containers away from the pier had not traditionally been done by ILA members. In 1980 the Supreme Court of the United States heard this case and ruled against the ILA.

### Impact in worldwide supply shortage of 2020 to present

Some experts have said that the centralized, continuous shipping process made possible by containers has created dangerous liabilities: one bottleneck, delay, or other breakdown at any point in the process can easily cause major delays everywhere up and down the supply chain.

The reliance on containers exacerbated some of the economic and societal damage from the 2021 global supply chain crisis of 2020 and 2021, and the resulting shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, for example, a shortage of shipping containers at ports caused shipping to be backlogged.

Marc Levinson, author of Outside the Box: How Globalization Changed from Moving Stuff to Spreading Ideas and The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, said in an interview:

Because of delays in the process, it's taking a container longer to go from its origin to its final destination where it's unloaded, so the container is in use longer for each trip. You've just lost a big hunk of the total capacity because the containers can't be used as intensively.We've had in the United States an additional problem, which is that the ship lines typically charge much higher rates on services from Asia to North America than from North America to Asia. This has resulted in complaints, for example, from farmers and agricultural companies, that it's hard to get containers in some parts of the country because the ship lines want to ship them empty back to Asia, rather than letting them go to South Dakota and load over the course of several days. So we've had exporters in the United States complaining that they have a hard time finding a container that they can use to send their own goods abroad.

## Description

Ninety percent of the global container fleet consists of "dry freight" or "general purpose" containers – both of standard and special sizes. And although lengths of containers vary from 8 to 56 feet (2.4 to 17.1 m), according to two 2012 container census reports about 80% of the world's containers are either 20- or 40-foot standard-length boxes of the dry freight design. These typical containers are rectangular, closed box models, with doors fitted at one end, and made of corrugated weathering steel (commonly known as CorTen) with a plywood floor. Although corrugating the sheet metal used for the sides and roof contributes significantly to the container's rigidity and stacking strength, just like in corrugated iron or in cardboard boxes, the corrugated sides cause aerodynamic drag, and up to 10% fuel economy loss in road or rail transport, compared to smooth-sided vans.

Standard containers are 8 feet (2.44 m) wide by 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) high, although the taller "High Cube" or "hi-cube" units measuring 9 feet 6 inches (2.90 m) have become very common in recent years. By the end of 2013, high-cube 40 ft containers represented almost 50% of the world's maritime container fleet, according to Drewry's Container Census report.

About 90% of the world's containers are either nominal 20-foot (6.1 m) or 40-foot (12.2 m) long, although the United States and Canada also use longer units of 45 ft (13.7 m), 48 ft (14.6 m) and 53 ft (16.15 m). ISO containers have castings with openings for twistlock fasteners at each of the eight corners, to allow gripping the box from above, below, or the side, and they can be stacked up to ten units high.

Although ISO standard 1496 of 1990 only required nine-high stacking, and only of containers rated at 24,000 kg (53,000 lb), current Ultra Large Container Vessels of the Post New Panamax and Maersk Triple E class are stacking them ten or eleven high. Moreover, vessels like the Marie Maersk no longer use separate stacks in their holds, and other stacks above deck – instead they maximize their capacity by stacking continuously from the bottom of the hull, to as much as 21 high. This requires automated planning to keep heavy containers at the bottom of the stack and light ones on top to stabilize the ship and to prevent crushing the bottom containers.

Regional intermodal containers, such as European, Japanese and U.S. domestic units however, are mainly transported by road and rail, and can frequently only be stacked up to two or three laden units high. Although the two ends are quite rigid, containers flex somewhat during transport.

Container capacity is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes teu). A twenty-foot equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard 20-foot (6.1 m) long container. This is an approximate measure, wherein the height of the box is not considered. For example, the 9 ft 6 in (2.9 m) tall high-cube, as well as 4-foot-3-inch half-height (1.3 m) 20-foot (6.1 m) containers are equally counted as one TEU. Similarly, extra long 45 ft (13.72 m) containers are commonly counted as just two TEU, no different from standard 40 feet (12.19 m) long units. Two TEU are equivalent to one forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU).

In 2014 the global container fleet grew to a volume of 36.6 million TEU, based on Drewry Shipping Consultants' Container Census. Moreover, in 2014 for the first time in history 40-foot High-Cube containers accounted for the majority of boxes in service, measured in TEU. In 2019 it was noted by global logistics data analysis startup Upply that China's role as 'factory of the world' is further incentivizing the use of 40-foot containers, and that the computational standard 1 TEU boxes only make up 20% of units on major east–west liner routes, and demand for shipping them keeps dropping. In the 21st century, the market has shifted to using 40-foot high-cube dry and refrigerated containers more and more predominantly. Forty-foot units have become the standard to such an extent that the sea freight industry now charges less than 30% more for moving a 40-ft unit than for a 1 TEU box. Although 20-ft units mostly have heavy cargo, and are useful for stabilizing both ships and revenue, carriers financially penalize 1 TEU boxes by comparison.

For container manufacturers, 40-foot High-Cubes now dominate market demand both for dry and refrigerated units. Manufacturing prices for regular dry freight containers are typically in the range of $1750–$2000 U.S. per CEU (container equivalent unit), and about 90% of the world's containers are made in China. The average age of the global container fleet was a little over 5 years from end 1994 to end 2009, meaning containers remain in shipping use for well over 10 years.

### Gooseneck tunnel

A gooseneck tunnel, an indentation in the floor structure, that meshes with the gooseneck on dedicated container semi-trailers, is a mandatory feature in the bottom structure of 1AAA and 1EEE (40- and 45-ft high-cube) containers, and optional but typical on standard height, forty-foot and longer containers.

## Types

Other than the standard, general purpose container, many variations exist for use with different cargoes. The most prominent of these are refrigerated containers (also called reefers) for perishable goods, that make up 6% of the world's shipping boxes. Tanks in a frame, for bulk liquids, account for another 0.75% of the global container fleet.

Although these variations are not of the standard type, they mostly are ISO standard containers – in fact the ISO 6346 standard classifies a broad spectrum of container types in great detail. Aside from different size options, the most important container types are:

- General-purpose dry vans, for boxes, cartons, cases, sacks, bales, pallets, drums, etc., Special interior layouts are known, such as: rolling-floor containers, for difficult-to-handle cargo garmentainers, for shipping garments on hangers (GOH)

- rolling-floor containers, for difficult-to-handle cargo

- garmentainers, for shipping garments on hangers (GOH)

- Ventilated containers. Essentially dry vans, but either passively or actively ventilated. For instance for organic products requiring ventilation.

- Temperature controlled – either insulated, refrigerated, and/or heated containers, for perishable goods

- Tank containers, for liquids, gases, or powders. Frequently these are dangerous goods, and in the case of gases one shipping unit may contain multiple gas bottles

- Bulk containers (sometimes bulktainers), either closed models with roof-lids, or hard or soft open-top units for top loading, for instance for bulk minerals. Containerized coal carriers and "bin-liners" (containers designed for the efficient road and rail transportation of rubbish from cities to recycling and dump sites) are used in Europe.

- Open-top and open-side containers, for instance for easy loading of heavy machinery or oversize pallets. Crane systems can be used to load and unload crates without having to disassemble the container itself. Open sides are also used for ventilating hardy perishables like apples or potatoes.

- Log cradles for cradling logs

- Platform based containers such as:

- flat-rack and bolster containers, for barrels, drums, crates, and any heavy or bulky out-of-gauge cargo, like machinery, semi-finished goods or processed timber. Empty flat-racks can either be stacked or shipped sideways in another ISO container collapsible containers, ranging from flushfolding flat-racks to fully closed ISO and CSC certified units with roof and walls when erected.

- flat-rack and bolster containers, for barrels, drums, crates, and any heavy or bulky out-of-gauge cargo, like machinery, semi-finished goods or processed timber. Empty flat-racks can either be stacked or shipped sideways in another ISO container

- collapsible containers, ranging from flushfolding flat-racks to fully closed ISO and CSC certified units with roof and walls when erected.

- trash containers, for carrying trash bags and cans to and from Recycling factories and landfills.

Containers for offshore use have a few different features, like pad eyes, and must meet additional strength and design requirements, standards and certification, such as the DNV2.7-1 by Det Norske Veritas, LRCCS by Lloyd's Register, Guide for Certification of Offshore Containers by American Bureau of Shipping and the International standard ISO10855: Offshore containers and associated lifting sets, in support of IMO MSC/Circ. 860

A multitude of equipment, such as generators, has been installed in containers of different types to simplify logistics – see § Containerized equipment for more details.

Swap body units usually have the same bottom corner fixtures as intermodal containers, and often have folding legs under their frame so that they can be moved between trucks without using a crane. However they frequently do not have the upper corner fittings of ISO containers, and are not stackable, nor can they be lifted and handled by the usual equipment like reach-stackers or straddle-carriers. They are generally more expensive to procure.

## Specifications

Basic terminology of globally standardized intermodal shipping containers is set out in standard:

- ISO 830:(1999) Freight containers – Vocabulary, 2nd edition; last reviewed and confirmed in 2016.

From its inception, ISO standards on international shipping containers, consistently speak of them sofar as 'Series 1' containers – deliberately so conceived, to leave room for another such series of interrelated container standards in the future.

Basic dimensions and permissible gross weights of intermodal containers are largely determined by two ISO standards:

- ISO 668:2013–2020 Series 1 freight containers—Classification, dimensions and ratings

- ISO 1496-1:2013 Series 1 freight containers—Specification and testing—Part 1: General cargo containers for general purposes

Weights and dimensions of the most common (standardized) types of containers are given below. Forty-eight foot and fifty-three foot containers have not yet been incorporated in the latest, 2020 edition of the ISO 668. ISO standard maximum gross mass for all standard sizes except 10-ft boxes was raised to 36,000 kg or 79,000 lb per Amendment 1 on ISO 668:2013, in 2016. Draft Amendment 1 of ISO 668: 2020 – for the eighth edition – maintains this. Given the average container lifespan, the majority of the global container fleet have not caught up with this change yet.

Values vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but must stay within the tolerances dictated by the standards. Empty weight (tare weight) is not determined by the standards, but by the container's construction, and is therefore indicative, but necessary to calculate a net load figure, by subtracting it from the maximum permitted gross weight.

The bottom row in the table gives the legal maximum cargo weights for U.S. highway transport, and those based on use of an industry common tri-axle chassis. Cargo must also be loaded evenly inside the container, to avoid axle weight violations. The maximum gross weights that U.S. railroads accept or deliver are 52,900 lb (24,000 kg) for 20-foot containers, and 67,200 lb (30,500 kg) for 40-foot containers, in contrast to the global ISO-standard gross weight for 20-footers having been raised to the same as 40-footers in the year 2005. In the U.S., containers loaded up to the rail cargo weight limit cannot move over the road, as they will exceed the U.S. 80,000 lb (36,000 kg) highway limit.

## Other sizes

### Australian RACE containers

Australian RACE containers are also slightly wider to optimise them for the use of Australia Standard Pallets, or are 41 ft (12.5 m) long and 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) wide to be able to fit up to 40 pallets.

### European pallet wide containers

European pallet wide (or PW) containers are minimally wider, and have shallow side corrugation, to offer just enough internal width, to allow common European Euro-pallets of 1.20 m (47 + 1 ⁄ 4 in) long by 0.80 m (31 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) wide, to be loaded with significantly greater efficiency and capacity. Having a typical internal width of 2.44 m (96 + 1 ⁄ 8 in), (a gain of ~ 10 centimetres (3 + 15 ⁄ 16 in) over the ISO-usual 2.34 m (92 + 1 ⁄ 8 in), gives pallet-wide containers a usable internal floor width of 2.40 m (94 + 1 ⁄ 2 in), compared to 2.00 m (78 + 3 ⁄ 4 in) in standard containers, because the extra width enables their users to either load two Euro-pallets end on end across their width, or three of them side by side (providing the pallets were neatly stacked, without overspill), whereas in standard ISO containers, a strip of internal floor-width of about 33 centimetres (13 in) cannot be used by Euro-pallets.

As a result, while being virtually interchangeable:

- A 20-foot PW can load 15 Euro-pallets – four more, or 36% better than the normal 11 pallets in an ISO-standard 20-foot unit

- A 40-foot PW can load 30 Euro-pallets – five more, or 20% better than the 25 pallets in a standard 40-foot unit, and

- A 45-foot PW can load 34 Euro-pallets – seven more, or 26% better than 27 in a standard 45-foot container.

Some pallet-wides are simply manufactured with the same, ISO-standard floor structure, but with the side-panels welded in, such that the ribs/corrugations are embossed outwards, instead of indenting to the inside. This makes it possible for some pallet-wides to be just 2.462 m (96 + 7 ⁄ 8 in) wide, but others can be 2.50 m (98 + 3 ⁄ 8 in) wide.

The 45 ft (13.72 m) pallet-wide high-cube container has gained particularly wide acceptance, as these containers can replace the 13.6 m (44 ft 7 + 3 ⁄ 8 in) swap bodies that are common for truck transport in Europe. The EU has started a standardization for pallet wide containerization in the European Intermodal Loading Unit (EILU) initiative.

Many sea shipping providers in Europe allow these on board, as their external width overhangs over standard containers are sufficiently minor that they fit in the usual interlock spaces in ship's holds, as long as their corner-castings patterns (both in the floor and the top) still match with regular 40-foot units, for stacking and securing.

### North American containers

The North American market has widely adopted containerization, especially for domestic shipments that need to move between road and rail transport. While they appear similar to the ISO-standard containers, there are several significant differences: they are considered High-Cubes based on their 9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) ISO-standard height, their 102-inch (2.6 m) width matches the maximum width of road vehicles in the region but is 6 inches (15 cm) wider than ISO-standard containers, and they are often not built strong enough to endure the rigors of ocean transport.

#### 48-foot containers

The first North American containers to come to market were 48 feet (15 m) long. This size was introduced by container shipping company American President Lines (APL) in 1986. The size of the containers matched new federal regulations passed in 1983 which prohibited states from outlawing the operation of single trailers shorter than 48 feet long or 102 inches wide. This size being 8 feet (2.44 m) longer and 6 inches (15 cm) wider has 29% more volume capacity than the standard 40-ft High-Cube, yet costs of moving it by truck or rail are almost the same.

#### 53-foot containers

In the late 1980s, the federal government announced it would once again allow an increase in the length of trailers to 53 feet (16 m) at the start of 1990. Anticipating this change, 53 foot containers were introduced in 1989. These large boxes have 60% more capacity than 40' containers, enabling shippers to consolidate more cargo into fewer containers.

In 2007, APL introduced the first 53-foot ocean-capable containers designed to withstand voyages on its South China-to-Los Angeles service. In 2013, APL stopped offering vessel space for 53-foot containers on its trans-Pacific ships. In 2015 both Crowley and TOTE Maritime each announced the construction of their respective second combined container and roll-on/roll-off ships for Puerto Rico trade, with the specific design to maximize cubic cargo capacity by carrying 53-foot, 102-inch wide (2,591 mm) containers. Within Canada, Oceanex offers 53-foot-container ocean service to and from Newfoundland. 53-foot containers are also being used on some Asia Pacific international shipping routes.

#### Canadian 60-foot containers

In April 2017, Canadian Tire and Canadian Pacific Railway announced deployment of what they claimed to be the first 60-foot intermodal containers in North America. The containers allowed Canadian Tire to increase the volume of goods shipped per container by 13%.

## Small containers

The ISO 668 standard has so far never standardized 10 ft (3 m) containers to be the same height as so-called "Standard-height", 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m), 20- and 40-foot containers. By the ISO standard, 10-foot (and previously included 5-ft and 6 1 ⁄ 2 -ft boxes) are only of unnamed, 8-foot (2.44 m) height. But industry makes 10-foot units more frequently of 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) height, to mix, match (and stack) better in a fleet of longer, 8 ft 6 in tall containers. Smaller units, on the other hand, are no longer standardized, leading to deviating lengths, like 8 ft (2.44 m) or 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 ft (1.98 m), with non-standard widths of 2.20 m / 86.6 in and 1.95 m / 76 + 3 ⁄ 4 in respectively, and non-standard heights of 2.26 m / 7 ft 5 in and 1.91 m / 6 ft 3.2 in respectively, for storage or off-shore use.

### U.S. military

The United States military continues to use small containers, strongly reminiscent of their Transporter and Conex boxes of the 1950s and 1960s. These mostly comply with (previous) ISO standard dimensions, or are a direct derivative thereof. Current terminology of the United States armed forces calls these small containers Bicon, Tricon and Quadcon, with sizes that correspond with (previous) ISO 668 standard sizes 1D, 1E and 1F respectively. These containers are of a standard 8 ft (2.44 m) height, and with a footprint size either one half (Bicon), one third (Tricon) or one quarter (Quadcon) the size of a standard 20-foot, one TEU container. At a nominal length of 10 feet (3.05 m), two Bicons coupled together lengthwise match one 20-foot ISO container, but their height is 6 inches (152 mm) shy of the more commonly available 10-foot ISO containers of so-called 'standard' height, which are 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) tall. Tricons and Quadcons however have to be coupled transversely – either three or four in a row – to be stackable with twenty foot containers. Their length of 8 ft (2.44 m) corresponds to the width of a standard 20-foot container, which is why there are forklift pockets at their ends, as well as in the sides of these boxes, and the doors only have one locking bar each. The smallest of these, the Quadcon, exists in two heights: 96 in (2.44 m) or 82 in (2.08 m). Only the first conforms to ISO-668 standard dimensions (size 1F).

### ABC bulk containers

ABC containers are small containers, typically 20 ft long and 5 ft high, used for hauling dense materials. The smaller size reduces the tare weight (as compared to using a half-full standard height container). They are normally shipped on specialized railroad flatcars, where 6 containers can be carried in the space of 4 standard containers.

### Japan: 12-foot containers

In Japan's domestic freight rail transport, most of the containers are 12 ft (3.66 m) long in order to fit Japan's unique standard pallet sizes.

## Reporting mark

Each container is allocated a standardized ISO 6346 reporting mark (ownership code), four letters long ending in either U, J or Z, followed by six digits and a check digit. The ownership code for intermodal containers is issued by the Bureau International des Containers (International container bureau, abbr. B.I.C.) in France, hence the name "BIC-Code" for the intermodal container reporting mark. So far there exist only four-letter BIC-Codes ending in "U".

The placement and registration of BIC Codes is standardized by the commissions TC104 and TC122 in the JTC1 of the ISO which are dominated by shipping companies. Shipping containers are labelled with a series of identification codes that includes the manufacturer code, the ownership code, usage classification code, UN placard for hazardous goods and reference codes for additional transport control and security.

Following the extended usage of pallet-wide containers in Europe the EU started the Intermodal Loading Unit (ILU) initiative. This showed advantages for intermodal transport of containers and swap bodies. This led to the introduction of ILU-Codes defined by the standard EN 13044 which has the same format as the earlier BIC-Codes. The International Container Office BIC agreed to only issue ownership codes ending with U, J or Z. The new allocation office of the UIRR (International Union of Combined Road-Rail Transport Companies) agreed to only issue ownership reporting marks for swap bodies ending with A, B, C, D or K – companies having a BIC-Code ending with U can allocate an ILU-Code ending with K having the same preceding letters. Since July 2011 the new ILU codes can be registered, beginning with July 2014 all intermodal ISO containers and intermodal swap bodies must have an ownership code and by July 2019 all of them must bear a standard-conforming placard.

## Handling

Containers are transferred between rail, truck, and ship by container cranes at container terminals. Forklifts, reach stackers, straddle carriers, container jacks and cranes may be used to load and unload trucks or trains outside of container terminals. Swap bodies, sidelifters, tilt deck trucks, and hook trucks allow transfer to and from trucks with no extra equipment.

ISO-standard containers can be handled and lifted in a variety of ways by their corner fixtures, but the structure and strength of 45-foot (type E) containers limits their tolerance of side-lifting, nor can they be forklifted, based on ISO 3874 (1997).

## Transport

Containers can be transported by container ship, truck and freight trains as part of a single journey without unpacking. Units can be secured in transit using " twistlock " points located at each corner of the container. Every container has a unique BIC code painted on the outside for identification and tracking, and is capable of carrying up to 20–25 tonnes. Costs for transport are calculated in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).

### Rail

When carried by rail, containers may be carried on flatcars or well cars. The latter are specially designed for container transport, and can accommodate double-stacked containers. However, the loading gauge of a rail system may restrict the modes and types of container shipment. The smaller loading gauges often found in European railroads will only accommodate single-stacked containers. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, there are sections of the rail network through which high-cube containers cannot pass, or can pass through only on well cars. On the other hand, Indian Railways runs double-stacked containers on flatcars under 25 kV overhead electrical wires. The wires must be at least 7.45 metres (24 ft 5 in) above the track. China Railway also runs double-stacked containers under overhead wires, but must use well cars to do so, since the wires are only 6.6 metres (21 ft 8 in) above the track.

### Sea

About 90% of non-bulk cargo worldwide is transported by container, and the largest container ships can carry over 19,000 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent, or how many 20 foot containers can fit on a ship). Between 2011 and 2013, an average of 2,683 containers were reported lost at sea. Other estimates go up to 10,000; of these 10% are expected to contain chemicals toxic to marine life. Various systems are used for securing containers on ships. Losses of containers at sea are low.

### Air

Containers can also be transported in planes, as seen within intermodal freight transport. However, transporting containers in this way is typically avoided due to the cost of doing such and the lack of availability of planes which can accommodate such awkwardly sized cargo.

There are special aviation containers, smaller than intermodal containers, called unit load devices.

## Securing and security

### Securing containers and contents

There are many established methods and materials for stabilizing and securing intermodal containers loaded on ships, as well as the internal cargo inside the boxes. Conventional restraint methods and materials such as steel strapping and wood blocking and bracing have been around for decades and are still widely used. Polyester strapping and lashing, and synthetic webbings are also common today. Dunnage bags (also known as "air bags") are used to keep unit loads in place.

Flexi-bags can also be directly loaded, stacked in food-grade containers. Indeed, their standard shape fills the entire ground surface of a 20 ft ISO container.

## Non-shipping uses

### Containerized equipment

Container-sized units are also often used for moving large pieces of equipment to temporary sites. Specialised containers are particularly attractive to militaries already using containerisation to move much of their freight around. Shipment of specialized equipment in this way simplifies logistics and may prevent identification of high value equipment by enemies. Such systems may include command and control facilities, mobile operating theatres or even missile launchers (such as the Russian 3M-54 Klub surface-to-surface missile).

Complete water treatment systems can be installed in containers and shipped around the world.

Electric generators can be permanently installed in containers to be used for portable power.

### Repurposing

Half the containers that enter the United States leave empty. Their value in the US is lower than in China, so they are sometimes used for other purposes. This is typically but not always at the end of their voyaging lives. The US military often used its Conex containers as on-site storage, or easily transportable housing for command staff and medical clinics. Nearly all of the more than 150,000 Conex containers shipped to Vietnam remained in the country, primarily as storage or other mobile facilities. Permanent or semi-permanent placement of containers for storage is common. A regular forty-foot container has about 4,000 kg (8,818 lb) of steel, which takes 8,000 kWh (28,800 MJ) of energy to melt down. Repurposing used shipping containers is increasingly a practical solution to both social and ecological problems.

Shipping container architecture employs used shipping containers as the main framing of modular home designs, where the steel may be an integrated part of the design, or be camouflaged into a traditional looking home. They have also been used to make temporary shops, cafes, and computer datacenters, e.g. the Sun Modular Datacenter.

Intermodal containers are not strong enough for conversion to underground bunkers without additional bracing, as the walls cannot sustain much lateral pressure and will collapse. Also, the wooden floor of many used containers could contain some fumigation residues, rendering them unsuitable as confined spaces, such as for prison cells or bunkers. Cleaning or replacing the wood floor can make these used containers habitable, with proper attention to such essential issues as ventilation and insulation.

### Single-time use

The City of Göttingen has deployed containers for the disablement of unexploded ordnance: either FIBCs filled with sand or IBCs filled with water.When the bomb squad performs controlled detonations, such prepared containers absorb shock and fragments. This use requires level, load-bearing ground. The deformed containers are unsuitable for further circulation.


2024–25 Super League Greece

# 2024–25 Super League Greece

## Abstract

The 2024–25 Super League Greece, also known as Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the 89th season of the Super League Greece, the top Greek professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment as a national championship under the supervision of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF) in 1927, the 66th championship since the establishment of the 1st National Division in 1959 and the 18th under its current name.

The season began on 17 August 2024. The draw for the fixtures took place on Tuesday 16th of July 21:00 local time and the whole schedule for the regular season was released shortly after.

PAOK are the defending champions, having won their 4th title the previous season.

## Teams

Fourteen teams compete in the league – the top twelve teams from the previous season and two teams promoted from Super League 2. Levadiakos returns in the Super League after a one-year absence and the 2022–23 season. Athens Kallithea will play in the Super League for the first time after 18 years. PAS Giannina were relegated to Super League 2 for the first time, after 4 consecutive years playing in the top division. A.E. Kifisia were relegated to Super League 2 after only one year in Super League.

### Way of conduct

The championship will be held in two phases, namely the regular season (phase 1) and then the Championship play-offs with the top 4 teams, the play-offs for the UEFA Conference League 2025-26 qualifying rounds between the teams ranked 5 through 8 and the Relegation play-outs round with the bottom 6 teams (phase 2). In the regular season 26 matches will be played in 2 rounds of 13 match days each, where in each round all teams will compete against all others based on a draw.

#### Championship Play-offs

After the end of the regular season, the teams ranked 1 through 4 will participate in the Championship play-offs, to determine the winner of the league and how the tickets for next year's UEFA Competitions will be split among those 4 teams, based on their final positions. The 4 teams that will enter this round, will keep the total points that they won during the regular season.

The Championship play-offs will be held in six game days, i.e. in two rounds of three games each,where in each round all teams will compete against all others, based on a draw. The champion will be declared the team (of those that will participate in this round) that after the completion of the play-offs, will have the highest score (the most points during the regular season and the Championship play-offs combined).

#### Europe Play-offs

After the end of the regular season, the teams ranked 5 through 8 will participate in the Europe play-offs, to determine the last available spot for next year's UEFA Conference League 2nd qualifying round, assuming that the 2024-25 Greek Cup winner finishes in the top 4, since Super League is entitled to 5 entrants in 2025-26 UEFA Competitions.

The Europe play-offs will be held in six game days, i.e. in two rounds of three games each,where in each round all teams will compete against all others, based on a draw. The last available European spot will be given to the team (of those that will participate in this round) that after the completion of the play-offs, will finish in 5th place. The 4 teams that will enter this round, will do so with half the points they won during the regular season.

#### Relegation Play-outs

After the end of the regular season, the teams ranked 9 through 14 will participate in the Relegation play-outs, to determine the 2 teams that will be relegated to next year's Super League 2.

The Relegation play-outs will be held over ten game days i.e. in two rounds of five games each, where in each round all teams will compete against all others, based on a draw. The 6 teams that will enter this round, will keep the total points that they won during the regular season. Positions 9 through 14 will be determined by the total points the teams, participating in the play-outs, will have earned cumulatively during the regular season and the play-outs. The last two teams will be relegated to Super League 2.

### Stadiums and locations

## League table

## Results

## Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. To preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for round 13, but then postponed and played between rounds 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for round 16. Juridical decisions regarding a match are also added to the full round after which they were ruled.

## Season statistics

## Awards


Chile Davis Cup team

# Chile Davis Cup team

## Abstract

The Chile men's national tennis team represents Chile in Davis Cup tennis tournament and is governed by Federación de tenis de Chile. The team played in the World Group on 2019 and reached the final one time in 1976, losing the cup against Italy in Santiago. Chile is currently #17 in the ITF Davis Cup rankings. The team is currently captained by former Chilean tennis player Nicolás Massú.

## History

Chile began playing at the Davis Cup in 1928, but would not win a tie until 1933, away at Uruguay, winning their first home tie in 1969, against Argentina. That was their only second home tie in their history.

The team's most successful performance at the Davis Cup was in 1976, losing 1–4 to the Italian team in the final held in Santiago, Chile. Since then, Chile have reached the quarterfinals in three occasions: in 1982, losing 1-4 against Australia, in 2006, losing to the USA 2-3, and in 2010, losing to the Czechs 1-4.

In the 2000s, thanks to Olympic gold winners Nicolás Massú and Fernando González, the Chilean team got promoted to the World Group for the first time in 20 years, and played there for every following season, excepting 2008. During this time, Chile went to play 6 World Group playoffs, winning their 4 home ties, against Japan, Pakistan, Australia and Austria, and losing an away tie to Israel. In 2011, Chile lost 1-4 against both the United States and Italy at home, and got relegated to the Americas Zone Group I. Later in 2012, once again they lost 1-4 away at Italy, without Fernando González, retired, and Nicolás Massú, inactive, for the first time in 9 years. Chile went to lose at Ecuador and Dominican Republic in 2013 and got relegated to the Americas Zone Group II for the first time in 23 years. Chile lost at Barbados 2-3 and won at home against Paraguay 5-0 to remain in the Group II for the 2015 season.

## Current squad

Rankings as of September 11, 2023

Other active players called:

- Matías Soto #723 singles, #251 doubles (called up but hasn't played)

- Diego Fernández Flores #913 singles, #604 doubles (1–0 singles, 0–0 doubles)

## Performances


There is No Natural Religion

# There is No Natural Religion

## Abstract

There is No Natural Religion is a series of philosophical aphorisms by William Blake, written in 1788. Following on from his initial experiments with relief etching in the non-textual The Approach of Doom (1787), All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion represent Blake's first successful attempt to combine image and text via relief etching, and are thus the earliest of his illuminated manuscripts. As such, they serve as a significant milestone in Blake's career; as Peter Ackroyd points out, "his newly invented form now changed the nature of his expression. It had enlarged his range; with relief etching, the words inscribed like those of God upon the tables of law, Blake could acquire a new role."

## Relief etching

In 1822, Blake completed a short two-page dramatic piece which would prove to be the last of his illuminated manuscripts, entitled The Ghost of Abel A Revelation In the Visions of Jehovah Seen by William Blake. Inscribed in the colophon of this text is "W Blakes Original Stereotype was 1788". It is almost universally agreed amongst Blakean scholars, that the "Original Stereotype" to which he here refers was All Religions are One and/or There is No Natural Religion.

During the 1770s, Blake had come to feel that one of the major problems with reproducing artwork in print was the division of labour by which it was achieved; one person would create a design (the artist), another would engrave it (the engraver), another print it (the printer) and another publish it (the publisher). It was unusual for artists to engrave their own designs, due primarily to the social status attached to each job; engraving was not seen as an especially exalted profession, and was instead regarded as nothing more than mechanical reproduction. Artists like James Barry and John Hamilton Mortimer were the exceptions to the norm insofar as they tended to engrave their own material. A further division in the process was that text and images were handled by different artisans; text was printed by means of a movable letterpress, whereas images were engraved, two very different jobs.

During Blake's training as a professional copy engraver with James Basire during the 1770s, the most common method of engraving was stippling, which was thought to give a more accurate impression of the original picture than the previously dominant method, line engraving. Etching was also commonly used for layering in such aspects as landscape and background. All traditional methods of engraving and etching were intaglio, which meant that the design's outline was traced with a needle through an acid-resistant 'ground' which had been poured over the copperplate. The plate was then covered with acid, and the engraver went over the incised lines with a burin to allow the acid to bite into the furrows and eat into the copper itself. The acid would then be poured off, leaving the design incised on the plate. The engraver would then engrave the plate's entire surface with a web of crosshatched lines, before pouring the ink onto the plate and transferring it to the printing press.

Frustrated with this method, Blake seems to have begun thinking about a new method of publishing at least as early as 1784, as in that year a rough description of what would become relief etching appears in his unpublished satire, An Island in the Moon. Around the same time, George Cumberland had been experimenting with a method to allow him to reproduce handwriting via an etched plate, and Blake incorporated Cumberland's method into his own relief etching; treating the text as handwritten script rather than mechanical letterpress, and thus allowing him to make it a component of the image.

Blake's great innovation in relief etching was to print from the relief, or raised, parts of the plate rather than the intaglio, or incised, parts. Whereas intaglio methods worked by creating furrows into which the acid was poured to create 'holes' in the plate and the ink then poured over the entire surface, Blake wrote and drew directly onto the plate with an acid-resistant material known as a stop-out. He would then embed the plate’s edges in strips of wax to create a self-contained tray and pour the acid about a quarter of an inch deep, thus causing the exposed parts of the plate to melt away, and the design and/or text to remain slightly above the rest of the plate, i.e. in relief, like a modern rubber stamp. The acid was then poured off, the wax was removed, and the raised part of the plate was covered with ink before finally being pressed onto the paper in the printing press. This method allowed expressive effects which were impossible to achieve via intaglio. The major disadvantage was that text had to be written backwards as whatever was on the plate would print in reverse when pressed onto the paper. The dominant theory as to how Blake solved this problem is simply that he wrote in reverse. Another theory, suggested by David Bindman, is that Blake wrote his (acid-resistant) text on a sheet of paper the correct way around, and then pressed the paper onto the plate, thus reversing the text and producing the same result as if had he written it backwards in the first place.

Blake could also colour the plates themselves in coloured inks before pressing them or tint them with watercolours after printing. Because of this aspect, a major component of relief etching was that every page of every book was a unique piece of art; no two copies of any page in Blake's entire oeuvre are identical. Variations in the actual print, different colouring choices, repainted plates, accidents during the acid bath etc., all led to multiple examples of the same plate.

Blake himself referred to relief etching as "printing in the infernal method, by means of corrosives melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite which was hid." A contemporary description of the method was provided by Blake's friend, J.T. Smith; "writing his poetry, and drawing his marginal subjects of embellishments in outline upon the copper-plate with an impervious liquid, and then eating the plain parts or lights away with aquafortis considerably below them so that the outlines were left as Stereotype."

Relief etching was the same basic method used for woodcutting, and copper relief etching had been practised in the early 18th century by Elisha Kirkall, but Blake was the first to use such a method to create both words and designs mixed together on the same plate. Apart from the unique aesthetic effects possible, a major advantage of relief etching was that Blake could print the material himself. Because the text was in relief, the pressure needed for printing was constant, unlike in intaglio printing, where different pressures were needed to force the paper into the furrows, depending on size. Additionally, intaglio etchings and engravings were printed with great pressure, but in relief etching, because the printed material was a raised surface rather than incised lines, considerably less pressure was required. As such, relief etching tackled the problem of the division of labour of publishing. Blake's new method was autographic; "it permitted—indeed promoted—a seamless relationship between conception and execution rather than the usual divisions between invention and production embedded in 18th-century print technology, and its economic and social distinctions among authors, printers, artists and engravers. Like drawings and manuscripts, Blake's relief etchings were created by the direct and positive action of the author/artist's hand without intervening processes". Blake served as artist, engraver, printer and publisher.

## Copies

Bibliographically, No Natural Religion is one of the most complex and ambiguous of all of Blake's illuminated manuscripts. What is known for certain is that there were two printing sessions; one in 1794, and one in 1795, when a large paper copy was printed as part of a deluxe edition of Blake's collected illuminated manuscripts.

Although There is No Natural Religion was etched in 1788, whether Blake had printed it prior to 1794 is unknown. However, the fact that it is not mentioned in his 'To the Public' address of October 1793, where he listed all of his extant manuscripts up to that time except All Religions and No Natural Religion, would suggest he had not.

The 1794 printing consists of 87 known impressions of a total of twelve plates. These impressions comprise the majority of Copy A (British Museum), Copy B (Yale Center for British Art), Copy C (Library of Congress), Copy D (Houghton Library), Copy G (Morgan Library & Museum) and Copy M (Victoria and Albert Museum). All 87 impressions of the twelve plates have been colour printed in reddish-brown ink on the same type of paper. However, only Copy G (reproduced below) contains impressions of all 12 plates, although this copy was not assembled by Blake himself, but by John Linnell, after Blake's death, using unbound leaves found amongst Blake's possessions. Additionally, it was once thought that impressions from the 1794 print made up the majority of plates in Copy E, Copy F, Copy H, Copy I, Copy J and Copy K. However, in 1993, Joseph Viscomi proved that all but five of the plates in these copies are imitations. Copy E, Copy J and Copy K are composed entirely of imitations. Copy F and Copy H have two original impressions each, and the rest are imitations. Copy I has one original plate (a9; reproduced below as Plate a9 from Copy G is damaged). Viscomi believes the imitations may have been commissioned by the publisher Basil M. Pickering in the early 1860s.

From the 1795 printing, there is only one known set of impressions (Copy L), now held in the Morgan Library. However, although this second printing also contains 12 plates (with one missing), only four plates from the 1794 print were reprinted. The remaining seven plates are known only in this single impression. The black ink framing lines in Copy L are thought to have been added at a later date, possibly in 1818, just prior to when Blake gave the plates to John Linnell. It has been suggested that the framing lines may have been added due to the discrepancy between the size of the plates and the size of the paper (each plate is roughly 5.4 x 4 cm.; each page is 37.8 x 27 cm). In all copies other than Copy L, the plates are roughly 14 x 11 cm.

In numerous cases in both the 1794 print and the 1795 print, it seems as if the acid has eaten away too much of the relief, and Blake has had to go over sections with ink and wash, often touching the text and design outlines with pen. This ink and wash work may have been executed in 1818, along with the addition of the frame lines, although this cannot be ascertained for certain. Several of the plates also bear evidence of rudimentary colour printing, a method with which Blake was experimenting in the 1790s, and these plates may represent his first attempts at this technique (whereby he used coloured inks to print rather than black). Several of the plates also feature examples of white line engraving, a technique where Blake would literally cut into the stop-out to create tiny furrows, which would be eaten away by the acid, creating a streak effect in the final print.

All known copies of No Natural Religion were assembled from loose plates sold anonymously at Sotheby's on April 29, 1862, to Richard Monckton Milnes, and as such, there is no definitive order (except where the plates are numbered). Despite this lack of definitive order however, the sequence of the plates from the 1794 print is generally agreed to be the frontispiece, followed by the title page, then the Argument, then the plates numbered I–VI, followed by the plates reprinted in 1795. The order of the twelve plates from the 1795 print is generally agreed to be the frontispiece, followed by the title page, then the plates numbered I–VII, followed by the Conclusion, Application and the 'Therefore' plate. Traditionally, Blakean scholars tended to place the Conclusion after the Application, but since Mary Johnson and John E. Grant in 1979, this has been reversed.

After the original 1794 and 1795 printings, the text of There is No Natural Religion was not published until 1886, in a facsimile edition edited by William Muir.

## Series a and Series b

In 1886, William Muir attempted to impose an order on the various plates, but his efforts were not universally accepted. More successful was Geoffrey Keynes ' attempt in 1971, and many of his decisions are still followed by modern editors. Keynes's most important, and controversial, editorial choice was to rigidly divide the two printing sessions into two distinct series, which came to be known as Series a and Series b. Specifically, he used the later addition of the framing lines in Series b (i.e. the 1795 print) to help him establish that Series as distinct from Series a (i.e. the 1794 print).

In Keynes' reordering, Series a comprises eight plates, one of which is missing (Plate a2 (title page); this is because the title page from the 1794 print is actually a version of the title page from the 1795 print, and as the title is thought to suit Series b better than Series a, it tends to be designated Plate b2 and assigned to Series b). Keynes also assigned the three plates from 1794 which were reprinted in 1795 to Series b, designating them b3, b4 and b12. As such, Series b comprises eleven plates, with at least one plate missing (Plate b5; III). In 1978, David Bindman suggested that there are more plates missing from Series b than just Plate 5, as he argued that the last three plates (Application, Conclusion and 'Therefore') are thematically isolated, suggesting more missing plates which should come after Plate b8 (VII). Bindman also saw the missing title page from Series a as important, arguing that although Series a was printed with the same title plate as Series b, there is no direct evidence that There is No Natural Religion is actually the correct title of Series a; " There is No Natural Religion would seem to be the title of Series b, and its content would be compatible with such a title; but there would then be no reason why Series a should have the same title."

Keynes' editorial decisions have been supported by most scholars since 1971, and editors of Blake's collected work in particular tend to adhere to the division into two distinct series'; for example, Alicia Ostriker 's William Blake: The Complete Poems (1977), David Bindman's The Complete Graphic Works of William Blake (1978), David V. Erdman 's 2nd edition of The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (1982), and Bindman's 2nd edition of The Illuminated Blake: William Blake's Complete Illuminated Works (1992), and The Complete Illuminated Books of William Blake (2003).

## One series or two?

However, Keynes' theories have not been accepted by all Blakean scholars. For example, in Blake's Illuminated Books, Volume 3: The Early Illuminated Books (1993), Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick and Joseph Viscomi argue that the two Series are one, and the only difference between the 1794 and 1795 prints is that the 1794 print is an abridged version of the whole, and only the second half of the work was printed in 1795. They argue that "the existence of only one title, as well as the c. 1794 abridgement containing plates from both groups, suggest that the work was etched not as two separate Series but as a single work arranged into two parts, the second answering the first." If this is correct, Series a cannot stand alone, as the irony found within it is only revealed when it is contrasted with Series b and thus, were it to be interpreted alone, "Blake would have appeared to contemporary readers as an advocate of the very position he is attacking." This argument has been accepted by several modern editors of Blake's work, such as W.H. Stevenson in the 3rd edition of Blake: The Complete Poems (2007).

An important component of Keynes' theory was that the three plates from the 1794 print reprinted in 1795, formed a part of Series b, not Series a. However, if they are included with Series a (such as in Bindman's The Complete Graphic Works of William Blake), they come at the end; plates numbered I & II to refute the theories of the previous plates, followed by the 'Therefore' plate to bring the work to a close. As such, Eaves, Essick and Viscomi argue that the 1794 print represents a twelve-plate abridgement (the twelve plates are a1, a2/b2, a3-9, b3-4 and b12). They argue that "the b-series plates provide a brief but bold refutation of the empirical and materialist principles offered on the preceding pages and indicate the irony with which Blake offers the first group of aphorisms." They especially argue that the abridgement theory is supported by plates a9 and b3, which is the crossover point from irony to refutation. Plate a9 depicts a prone figure with his head on the right, whereas plate b3 is a mirror image, a figure with his head on the left; "this visual reversal complements the sudden change of philosophical perspective in the accompanying text." The plates are also ideologically in direct opposition; they both deal with perceptions and organs of sense, but whereas a9 asserts that man can experience through such organs only, b3 states that this is patently false, and perceptions can go beyond organs of sense. Plate b4 elaborates on this theory, and plate b12 fulfils the prophecy of what will happen "when we know more." Thus the series forms a coherent, if brief, statement. As to the question of why Blake omitted the rest of the plates, Eaves, Essick and Viscomi argue that plates b6-11 deal with issues which thematically wouldn't fit into the abridgement—hence the 1794 print represents a streamlined version of the overall thesis; "a statement on the empiricist theory of perception followed by its direct and forceful rebuttal."

A major question related to the 1795 print is why did Blake only print Series b (or under Eaves, Essick and Viscomi's terms, the second half of the overall work). There are two possibilities. Perhaps he did print the entire work, but Series a (i.e. the first half) was lost. The second theory is that he may have printed only Series b as he wanted it to exist as a companion to the 1795 print of All Religions; "the decision to delete the first sequence may have been motivated by a desire to create an eleven-page companion to All Religions are One, a work in ten plates. Both are positive statements of Blake's principles; the presence of the ironic first sequence of propositions from There is No Natural Religion would have come between and disrupted the symmetrical relationship between the companion works." In support of this theory is the fact that Copy L of No Natural Religion was printed on the same paper and in the same ink as the only existing copy of All Religions, and also has the same framing lines.

Taking all of this into consideration, it is possible, however tentative, to suggest what the original appearance of the overall work may have been when first etched in 1788. Eaves, Essick and Viscomi propose the following order:

- Plate a1 (frontispiece with elderly couple and shepherds)

- Plate a2 (title page)

- Plate a3 (The Argument)

- Plate a4 (I. "Man cannot conceive...")

- Plate a5 (II. "Man by his reasoning power alone...")

- Plate a6 (III. "From a perception...")

- Plate a7 (IV. "None could have...")

- Plate a8 (V. "Mans desires are limited...")

- Plate a9 (VI. "The desires and perceptions...")

- Plate b3 (I. "Mans perceptions are not bounded...")

- Plate b4 (II. "Reason or the ratio...")

- Plate b5 (III. Untraced plate)

- Plate b6 (IV. "The bounded is loathed...")

- Plate b7 (V. "If the many become...")

- Plate b8 (VI. "If any could desire...")

- Plate b9 (VII. "The desires of Man being Infinit...")

- Plate b10 (Conclusion)

- Plate b11 (Application)

- Plate b12 ('Therefore')

- Plate b1 (full plate design usually treated as a frontispiece to Series b)

Although it is possible that plate b1 served as a divider between the two series, Eaves, Essick and Viscomi believe it was a tailpiece to the overall work. In that position, it would mirror the only other full plate design (the frontispiece). Also, the graphical content would suggest it as a tailpiece, as it returns to the gothic architecture of the title page. It also serves as an illustration of plate b12 ('Therefore') insofar as it depicts a resurrection where we become as God is; "the work therefore ends with its most hopeful and religious concept, the restoration of humanity to spiritual life" insofar as "the plate holds out the promise of a resurrection from the 'death' of Lockean philosophy and into the life of the spirit."

## Dating

Until 1971, most editors tended to consider All Religions are One as later than There is No Natural Religion. For example, in his 1905 book The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals, John Sampson places No Natural Religion prior to All Religions in his 'Appendix to the Prophetic Books'. However, in 1971, Geoffrey Keynes argued that All Religions are One was the earlier of the two, based on what he saw as its "greater technical imperfection." In his 1978 book, The Complete Graphic Works of William Blake, David Bindman initially disagreed with Keynes, arguing that the imperfections in All Religions are not because of an earlier date of composition, but because of the increased complexity of the plates, with such complexity demonstrating Blake growing in confidence from the more rudimentary plates for No Natural Religion. Most scholars however support Keynes, and All Religions are One precedes There is No Natural Religion in almost all modern anthologies of Blake's work; for example, Alicia Ostriker's William Blake: The Complete Poems (1977), David V. Erdman's 2nd edition of The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (1982), Morris Eaves', Robert N. Essick's and Joseph Viscomi's Blake's Illuminated Books, Volume 3: The Early Illuminated Books (1993), even Bindman's own The Complete Illuminated Books of William Blake (2003), and W. H. Stevenson's 3rd edition of Blake: The Complete Poems (2007).

Further evidence for Keynes's hypothesis is discussed by Eaves, Essick and Viscomi, who, in counterpoint to Bindman, see the style of No Natural Religion as more confident than that of All Religions. They especially cite the use of upright roman lettering in All Religions contrasted with the italic, cursive writing on several plates of No Natural Religion; italic text "was easier to execute since it required fewer independent strokes. And since the resulting dense matrix of lines provided better support for the inking dabber, italic permitted a shallower etch." Blake introduced italic script on plate a3 of No Natural Religion, a script which he would use throughout the 1790s. Other evidence for an earlier dating of All Religions is that many of the individual letters themselves lean to the left, unlike in No Natural Religion. This was a common problem in mirror writing, and its presence in All Religions but not No Natural Religion suggests Blake was only learning how to overcome it as he worked.

## Content

When analysing No Natural Religion it is important to remember that the images are not necessarily literal depictions of the text; "the philosophical propositions offer little visual imagery or even named objects. These qualities may have determined the relative independence of many of the designs from the accompanying text. The links are thematic and metaphoric, not direct and literal."

## Interpretation

One of the most immediately obvious aspects of the two series is how they fundamentally contradict one another. In Series a, Blake explicitly states that Man is purely physical and limited to that physicality; "Naturally he is only a natural organ subject to sense", and he "cannot naturally Perceive. But through his natural or bodily organs." Because of this, Man can only understand that which he has already encountered (i.e. he cannot understand something he has not encountered, because to do so would involve faculties beyond the physical senses); Man "can only compare & judge of what he has already perceiv'd." Man cannot even extrapolate new comprehensions by combining old ones; "From a perception of only 3 sense or 3 elements none could deduce a fourth or fifth." Thus, because man is limited by organic physicality ("None could have other than natural or organic thoughts if he had none but organic perceptions"), both his thoughts and his desires are so limited; "Mans desires are limited by his perceptions. none can desire what he has not perceiv'd." As such, "The desires & perceptions of man untaught by any thing but organs of sense, must be limited to organs of sense." Overall, Series a serves as a declaration of extreme empiricism, which goes much further than any of the empiricist theorists ever took it.

Series b however, completely refutes the basic concepts of empiricism. It begins by declaring that "Mans perceptions are not bounded by organs of perception, he perceives more than sense (thou' ever so acute) can discover." As such, Man can indeed discover aspects beyond his own immediate experience; "Reason or the ratio of all we have already known. is not the same as it shall be when we know more." Blake points out that Man is fundamentally desirous of discovering more and moving beyond the bounds of his specific physicality, which is nothing more than a restriction; "The bounded is loathed by its possessor." As a result, Man yearns to know that which he does not yet know because "Less than all cannot satisfy Man." However, Man should never desire more than he can possess, because "if any could desire what he is incapable of possessing, despair must be his eternal lot." However, because Man tends to desire the infinite, thus "the desire of Man being Infinite the possession is Infinite & himself Infinite." That is to say, if Man can only desire what he can possess, yet he desires the infinite, then he must be able to possess the infinite. Blake takes from this that if Man's desires and possessions can be infinite, then Man too must be Infinite, and, by extension, Man can see the Infinite. Indeed, not to see the Infinite is a perversion of Man's true nature, as defined by the Poetic Genius; "If it were not for the Poetic or Prophetic character. the Philosophic & Experimental would soon be at the ratio of all things & stand still, unable to do other than repeat the same dull round over again"; i.e. Man is made to do more than perceive and experience through the senses only. Furthermore, to see the Infinite is to see God, which is to transcend the sensate ("the Ratio"); "He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only." Therefore, for Man to see God, he must be as God, and as such, "God becomes as we are that we may be as he is."

David Bindman summarises There is No Natural Religion as "an early and fundamental statement of philosophical beliefs, expressed in the rational language of 18th-century philosophers." In line with this way of thinking, S. Foster Damon suggests that "the first series states John Locke's philosophy of the five senses until it becomes self-evidently absurd." A similar conclusion is reached by Denise Vultee, who argues that both All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion are "part of Blake's lifelong quarrel with the philosophy of Bacon, Newton, and Locke. Rejecting the rational empiricism of 18th-century deism or "natural religion", which looked to the material world for evidence of God's existence, Blake offers as an alternative the imaginative faculty or "Poetic Genius"." In this sense, No Natural Religion is a "mockery of rationalism and an insistence on Man's potential infinitude."

However, as well as attacking the theories of empiricism, Blake also engages with the concept of natural religion. Northrop Frye argues that " Theology distinguishes between "natural" and "revealed" religion, the former being the vision of God which man develops with his fallen reason, and the later the vision communicated to him by inspired prophets. To Blake, there is no natural religion. The only reason people believe in it is because they are unwilling to believe in the identity of God and Man." For Harold Bloom, because Blake is able to see the identity of God and man, the rejection of Locke and the tenets of deism makes way for a system in which "to see the infinite in all things is to see God because it is to see as God sees, which Blake believes is the only way to see God. But to see as God sees, man must himself be infinite, a state to be attained only by the individual utterly possessed by the Poetic character." Similarly, "there is no natural religion, according to Blake, because no man reasoning from fallen nature can come to see that "the real man, the imagination" and God are the same. Religion must be "revealed" in the sense that Revelation means the consuming of natural appearance by a more imaginative vision." Along these same lines, Eaves, Essick and Viscomi argue that, for Blake, natural religion is a "contradiction in terms antithetical to religious belief. Natural religion is derived from experience provided by the fallen senses, not from the Poetic Genius. Thus it is not a religion and cannot be included in the 'all' of All Religions are One."

In Blake's ironic treatment of empirical doctrines and natural religion, a key element introduced in Series b is desire; "the rational mind, merely a mechanical manipulation or "ratio" of sense experience, "shall be" transformed as spiritual enlightenment advances and we discover more than "organic perceptions" allow. If it were not for desires reaching beyond the sensate, Man would be trapped in a self-imposed empiricist prison. For Blake, expanding the prison or accumulating more will not bring any respite, as only the Infinite will satisfy Man. If we could not attain the infinite, we would be in eternal despair, but because we are not, Blake reasons that we thus must be able to attain the Infinite, and as such, Man becomes Infinite himself; "Locke's principle of a reciprocal and mutually validating relationship among the mind, the sense organs, and their objects has been converted into a similarly structured reciprocity among infinite desire, its infinite object, and its infinite desirer."

In terms of influences, in 1787 Henry Fuseli was working on a translation of J. K. Lavater 's Aphorisms on Man for the publisher Joseph Johnson, when he hired Blake to engrave the frontispiece. Blake became so enamoured of Lavater's work that on the inside cover of his own copy of the book, he inscribed both his name and Lavater's, and drew a heart encompassing them. Blake also extensively annotated his own copy of Aphorisms, and a number of critics have noted parallels between the Lavater annotations and Blake's own aphorisms in both All Religions and No Natural Religion. S. Foster Damon specifically points to Lavater's first two aphorisms as having a strong influence on Blake;

- Know, in the first place, that mankind agree in essence, as they do in their limbs and senses.

- Mankind differ as much in essence as they do in form, limbs, and senses - and only so, and not more".

To these points, Blake has annotated "This is true Christian philosophy far above all abstraction.

The importance of Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and John Locke is paramount to the work, and it is known that Blake despised empiricism from an early age. c. 1808, he annotated Volume 1 of The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, edited by Edmond Malone, and wrote

Burke's Treatise on the Sublime & Beautiful is founded on the Opinions of Newton & Locke on this Treatise Reynolds has grounded many of his assertions. in all his Discourses I read Burkes Treatise when very Young at the same time I read Locke on Human Understanding & Bacons Advancement of Learning on Every one of these Books I wrote my Opinions & on looking them over find that my Notes on Reynolds in this Book are exactly Similar. I felt the Same Contempt & Abhorrence then; that I do now. They mock Inspiration & Vision Inspiration & Vision was then & now is & I hope will always Remain my Element my Eternal Dwelling place. how can I then hear it Contemnd without returning Scorn for Scorn

The extreme empiricism of Series a closely mirrors some of the theories espoused by Locke and Bacon. For example, Blake's assertion that Man cannot deduce any other senses is specifically based on Bacon; "Man, being the servant and interpreter of nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought of the course of nature beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything" and Locke; "it is not possible for any one to imagine any other Qualities in Bodies, howsoever constituted, whereby they can be taken notice of, besides Sounds, Tastes, Smells, visible and tangible Qualities. And had Mankind been made but with four Senses, the Qualities then, which are the Object of the Fifth Sense, had been as far from our Notice, Imagination, and Conception, as now any belonging to a Sixth, Seventh, or Eighth Sense, can possibly be." However, Locke did argue that Man could build on simple ideas and create a complex concept of spirituality; "Moral Beings and Notions are founded on, and terminated in these simple Ideas we have received from Sensation or Reflection." Blake ironically rejects this notion, arguing instead that just as Man cannot deduce more senses than he has, he cannot deduce ideas beyond those immediately perceivable by the senses. This claim, that Man cannot desire anything beyond his senses (such as transcendence), is going much further than either Locke or Bacon, neither of whom made any such assertion.

Harold Bloom also cites the work of Anthony Collins, Matthew Tindal and John Toland as having an influence on Blake's thoughts. In a more general sense, "Blake sees the school of Bacon and Locke as the foundation of natural religion, the deistic attempt to prove the existence of God on the basis of sensate experience and its rational investigation." To that end, Blake "manipulates the syncretic mythology of Jacob Bryant, Paul Henri Mallet, and perhaps other founders of what has become the comparative study of religion, to argue for the existence of a universal and supra-rational 'Poetic Genius' that expresses itself through the shared (though ever various) forms of all religions."

In relation to his later work, Northrop Frye sees All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion as forming a fundamental statement of intent for Blake, a kind of pre-emptive outline of his future work, "a summarised statement of the doctrines of the engraved canon." Similarly, Morris Eaves, Robert N. Essick and Joseph Viscomi state that they "contain some of Blake's most fundamental principles and reveal the foundation for later development in his thought and art." W.H. Stevenson calls them "a very early statement of fundamental opinions held all his life." As an example of how Blake returned to the specific themes of No Natural Religion, in Milton a Poem (1804–1810), he writes "This Natural Religion! this impossible absurdity" (40:13), and in Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion (1804-1820), "Natural Religion and Natural Philosophy are the Religion of the Pharisees who murdered Jesus" (52: "To the Deists"). He also repeats the important phrase "dull round" in his 1809 Descriptive Catalogue; "Historians pretend, who being weakly organized themselves, cannot see either miracle or prodigy; all is to them a dull round of probabilities and possibilities."


All For Me Grog

# All For Me Grog

## Abstract

" All For Me Grog " (Roud 475) is a traditional folk song, also known as "Good Brown Ale and Tobacco" or "Across the Western Plains", that was originally popular with sailors and later adopted by folk music performers and pub singers. It was collected by George Gardiner in 1906 under the title "The Nobby Hat". James Madison Carpenter collected a version in c 1928 as "All for the Grog". In 1961 A. L. Lloyd and Alf Edwards recorded the song on an E.P. by Topic Records.

It tells the tale of a man who sells all his possessions, and even his wife, to pay for drink and tobacco. Although the song is effectively about a man's ruin through drink, it is upbeat and celebratory rather than regretful, with the intention to go back to the sea to find a new fortune. It is usually performed as a raucous chorus song. Grog originally referred to a daily ration of rum that used to be given in diluted form to sailors in the Royal Navy. It later came to refer to all types of drink.

There is an Australian version of the song called Across the Western Plains.

The song was recorded as a single by The Dubliners which charted at No.10 in Ireland in July 1967. It had previously been recorded by The Watersons on their eponymous 1966 album and, more recently, by The Mary Wallopers on their eponymous 2022 album.

Serbian band Orthodox Celts recorded a version of the songs for their 1994 self-titled début album.

The American quintet Bounding Main released their version of the song on their 2006 album Lost at Sea.


Mike Borkowski

# Mike Borkowski

## Abstract

Michael John Borkowski (born May 6, 1973) is an American race car driver. Borkowski has raced in a variety of cars and series, is experienced in both road and oval racing, but is best known for his victory over Tommy Kendall in the 1997 Trans-Am Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway, ending Kendall's historic run of 11 consecutive race wins. Borkowski also went on to win the final race of the 1997 Trans-Am Series at the Reno Grand Prix.

## Early career

Borkowski grew up in the small town of Middlebury, Connecticut and began racing Quarter Midgets at the Silver City Quarter Midget Club in Meriden, Connecticut — the same club as race car drivers Jeff Simmons, Erin Crocker, Joey Logano, and renowned Indycar engineer Chris Simmons. Borkowski competed in Quarter Midgets from 1981 to 1988, winning four New England States Championships in the process.

At age 16, Borkowski made the transition to full size cars competing in the 1989 Spenard David School and 1990 Bertil Roos School Racing Series, winning three out of seven races, two pole positions, and finishing on the podium five times. In 1990 he also competed in the SCCA's New England States Road Racing and North Atlantic Road Racing Championships, dominating both Championships with seven wins, two track records, seven pole positions, and eight fastest race laps.

Still a senior in high school at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, Borkowski turned pro in 1991, competing in SCCA's Pro Sports 2000 Series, winning Rookie of the Year. Borkowski continued his winning ways in the 1992 and 1993 Pro Sports 2000 Championships, capturing five wins, eleven podiums, nine track records, four pole positions along with the 1993 Series Championship.

In 1992, Borkowski had a unique opportunity to co-pilot the Oldsmobile Aerotech in a grueling test of endurance and speed at the Firestone Test Track in Fort Stockton, Texas, setting multiple FIA World Speed Records in the process.

1994 saw the transition for Borkowski to open-wheel race cars. He was awarded the Team USA Scholarship to compete at the legendary British Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. In 1994, he also competed in and won the SCCA Pro Formula 2000 Championship, winning four of six races entered in a seven race series, four pole positions, finishing on the podium in all six starts, and setting six track records.

## Indy Lights, Indycar, and Sportscars

In 1995, Mike ran a limited schedule in Indy Lights with Team Medlin, competing and finishing in the top ten in all six races run with a best finish of fourth at Belle Isle Park in Detroit.

In 1996 Borkowski was tapped to run his first 24 Hours of Daytona as factory driver for the #1 Oldsmobile Aurora GTS-1 alongside drivers Irv Hoerr, Brian Cunningham, and Darin Brassfield. The team was leading in class when the car caught fire at the 9 hour mark, preventing the car and team from finishing the race. In 1996, Borkowski was also selected for the inaugural Team Green Academy, however, was unable to participate due to being signed by Team Rahal Letterman.

1997 was a breakout year for Borkowski's professional career, competing for Team Rahal Letterman in partnership with Tom Gloy Racing in the Trans-Am Series, collecting the two aforementioned wins, third in the overall championship, and Rookie of the Year honors.

In 1998 Borkowski returned to Indy Lights under the Team Rahal Letterman banner but with limited success, collecting only one top five finish at Vancouver in fourteen starts. In 1998, Borkowski also ran his second 24 Hours of Daytona, campaigning a Tom Gloy fielded GT1 Ford Mustang Cobra alongside drivers Tony Kanaan and Robbie Buhl, finishing third in class.

In 1999, Borkowski qualified and raced in one Indy Racing League event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, however the race was stopped prior to completion after crash debris entered the grandstands killing three spectators. Borkowski also made his one and only attempt at qualifying for the Indy 500 driving for PDM Racing but never got his chance when rain cut short qualifying on Bubble Day.

Later in his career, Borkowski returned full-time to driving sports GT and prototype race cars in the Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2003, he was hired by legendary Brumos Racing to campaign a Porsche powered Daytona Prototype alongside David Donohue in the inaugural season for the Rolex Series and Daytona Prototype class. Together Borkowski and Donohue won three races, stood on the podium ten times, and finished second overall in the series championship. Between 2003 and 2010, Borkowski competed in both the Rolex Series' Daytona Prototype and GT classes for various teams including Speedsource, Michael Shank Racing, Playboy Racing, and Stevenson Motorsports. During this period he drove a variety of cars with a variety of co-drivers including Daytona Prototype's (with Paul Tracy, Kenny Wilden, and Brian Friselle), a Nissan 350Z and BMW M6 (with Tommy Constantine), and a Chevrolet Camaro GT.R (with Matt Bell).

In 2004, Borkowski also piloted a Lola Nissan LMP2 prototype in the 12 Hours of Sebring with co-drivers Ian James and John Macaluso, winning their class.

## NASCAR

Borkowski had a limited NASCAR career, competing in one Winston West Series, one Busch North Series, one Craftsman Truck Series, and nine Busch Series events between 1999 and 2003. His best finish was a tenth at Talladega Superspeedway in 2000 driving for the now defunct Bill Davis Racing. After causing four crashes in one race, Borkowski was fired. First crashing Lyndon Amick who faked him out on throwing his helmet, then crashing Jason Jarrett who then threw his knee pads at Borkowski's car under caution. Then with 9 laps to go, he crashed Ted Christopher and Tony Raines in one crash and Jay Sauter and Michael Ritch on the last lap at the Busch 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, on the same weekend that Adam Petty was killed in a crash. Bill Davis Racing released him after this event due to pressure from his sponsor. Borkowski was then sued by title sponsor AT&T for "allegedly tarnishing their brand image".

## Motorsports career results

### IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

#### Indy 500 results

### NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

### ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)


The Lions of Al-Rassan

# The Lions of Al-Rassan

## Abstract

The Lions of Al-Rassan is a historical fantasy novel by Canadian writer Guy Gavriel Kay. It is set in a peninsula of the same world in which The Sarantine Mosaic and The Last Light of the Sun are set, and is based on Moorish Spain. The novel concentrates on the relationships between the three peoples: the Kindath (analogous to the Jews), the Asharites (analogous to the Muslims), and the Jaddites (analogous to the Christians), although the religions of the Kindath, Asharites, and Jaddites, as described in the novel, bear no relation to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

The three protagonists in the novel are from each of these three races and religions: Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath physician in Fezana (loosely based on Rebecca of York); Rodrigo Belmonte, a Jaddite captain of a company of cavalry (loosely based on El Cid); and Ammar ibn Khairan, an Asharite poet, mercenary, and advisor to King Almalik of Cartada (loosely based on Muhammad ibn Ammar).

## Synopsis

### Premise

Three major religions exist in the peninsula in which the story is set. Jaddites and Asharites are the largest groups; the Kindath are a smaller group which is often persecuted and owns minimal territory.

The peninsula now known as Al-Rassan was formerly known as Esperaña when under Jaddite control. The land is split between three Jaddite kingdoms in the north (Valledo, Ruenda, and Jaloña) and several Asharite city-states in the south, of which Cartada and Ragosa figure most prominently in the story. After centuries of being dominated by the Asharites, the Jaddite kingdoms are regaining their strength, while the once-powerful caliphate of Al-Rassan is divided and vulnerable.

Fifteen years prior to the events of the main story, Ammar ibn Khairan assassinated the last Caliph of Esperaña on the orders of Almalik I of Cartada.

### Plot

The city of Fezana lies in the north of Al-Rassan. It pays parias to the Jaddite kingdom of Valledo. King Almalik I of Cartada organizes a purge of the wealthy citizens of Fezana to be blamed on his longtime courtier Ammar ibn Khairan. Jehane bet Ishak, a physician in Fezana, unwittingly saves one of her patients from the purge.

Ammar joins forces with the heir to Cartada, also called Almalik, and assassinates Almalik I. The new king Almalik II takes the throne and promptly exiles Ammar. Ammar travels to Ragosa, accompanying the former concubine of Almalik I, Zabira. Zabira hopes to overthrow Almalik II and install her own son on the throne of Cartada.

Meanwhile, a group of Valledans brutally attacks a village outside the walls of Fezana. Jaddite Captain Rodrigo Belmonte halts the slaughter, leading to the death of a member of the powerful Derrada family. As a result, Rodrigo is exiled by King Ramiro of Valledo. Rodrigo and Jehane also make their way to Ragosa.

Rodrigo, Ammar, and Jehane meet in the court of King Badir of Ragosa. Ammar and Rodrigo are hired as mercenaries, and Jehane as a physician. Zabira asks Badir to support her son’s claim to the throne of Cartada. Badir eventually agrees to go to war against Cartada. As the story progresses, Jehane develops a platonic friendship with Rodrigo and a romance with Ammar. Ammar and Rodrigo also befriend one another despite their different religions and cultures.

The Jaddites begin a holy war against the Asharite city-states, in a rough parallel to the Crusades. To the south of Al-Rassan, in the Majriti Desert, the Muwardis practice a stricter version of the Asharite religion. The brother of Almalik II convinces the Muwardis to intervene in the affairs of Al-Rassan, both to repel the Jaddites and to cleanse the Asharite lands of their impious leaders.

Unrest in Fezana leads to a massacre of Kindath citizens. Jehane, Ammar, and Rodrigo arrive in Fezana in time to rescue Jehane’s parents. Outside the city, they meet King Ramiro. A Muwardi ambush injures Diego, the son of Rodrigo Belmonte. Jehane’s father performs emergency surgery to save his life.

King Ramiro proposes to begin a conquest of not only the Asharite city-states, but also of the other two Jaddite kingdoms. He hopes to form a united Esperañan government over the whole peninsula. Rodrigo Belmonte is promoted to constable of Valledo. Rodrigo offers to become co-constable with Ammar. Ammar refuses, placing his loyalty to Cartada above his friendship with Rodrigo. Ammar and Jehane leave together. Ammar becomes leader of the Cartadan army. War spreads across the peninsula. Ammar and Rodrigo face each other in single combat before a battle. One man kills the other, though the narrative does not immediately reveal which man is the victor.

In an epilogue, news arrives that Cartada has been conquered, placing the whole peninsula under Esperaña’s control. Rodrigo has been buried in a place of honor, and his epitaph is a line from Ammar’s poetry. Ammar composes a lament for the lost Al-Rassan while his wife Jehane listens.

## Major themes

The interplay between bigotry and tolerance is a major theme of the novel. The stories of the main characters are interwoven in such a way that each is responsible for saving the lives of persons who are loved by the others. The surgery to save Diego Belmonte is seen as a key event: "In this scene, the son of a Jaddite warleader is saved through an Asharite's warning and a Kindath's medical skill; it hints at the possibility of peaceful interaction among the three embattled religious groups." The possibility of cooperation between people of different faith is glimpsed as an ideal that leads to the miraculous, in this case an extraordinary act of surgery. It is in the Epilogue, in the Kindath city of Sorenica, rebuilt after its destruction by Jaddites at the outset of their holy war, where the possibilities of co-existence are realized.

The uses and misuses of religion for political ends are also demonstrated in the novel, with rulers and clergy using religion to manipulate the people and their leaders into desired courses of action.

The definition of civilization and the search for the attributes of a civilized society in a hard divided world is another theme of the novel. Kay characterizes the relatively liberal and tolerant Asharite city of Ragosa or the Kindath city of Sorenica as places of civilization. Silvenes, the capital of the former Khalifate of Al-Rassan, now ruined and largely abandoned, is seen wistfully as the symbol of civilization lost. In contrast, the cruder Jaddite cities of Esperaña with their increasing military power and the ascetic desert communities of the Muwardi Asharites are places with fewer of the attributes of civilization.

While Kay presents war and conquest with an air of nobility and grandeur, the novel also constantly reminds the reader of the real price of war paid in bloodshed, loss and grief.

## Awards

- Geffen Award (Translated Fantasy Books) nominee, 2005