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of the modern era. For many species, climate change has been devastating, but for a select few animals, our changing planet is offering new opportunities. A recent study in Themalian Biology found that over the past two decades, European populations of the golden jackal have rapidly expanded their range from small pockets in the Balkans and Caucasus to a large swath of Europe that stretches from the Arctic Circle to Spain. Researchers traced one individual found in Finland to a genetic

population fifteen hundred miles away in central Europe. How do they do it? The wolf like canids demonstrate and impressive ability to adapt to diverse locales mezo carnivores. They aren't picky eaters and will chow down on everything from birds and insects to plants and discarded human food. They can change their social structure foraging habits and activity patterns depending on what the terrain demands. Solitary if necessary, sure, run

in a pack, no problem. The jackals seem as at home in fragmented farmland, city edges, and suburban gardens as they are in forests, steps, and even icy northern landscapes. These first generation migrants, says study author vis La Bogdanovitz of the Polish Academy of Sciences, don't just adapt to new environments, they actively seek them out and thrive. Next article Temple of hat Shepsut, Rock of Ages by David rahul riebol nesseld in an alcove of rock. Pharaoh Hatshepsut's

temple had many functions. It has survived the ravages of time and Hatshepsut's successor's attempts to erase her name from history. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt, first as co regent and then as pharaoh for a total of twenty one years. She was one of the few women in Egyptian history to retain power for so long. She reigned during one of ancient

Egypt's Golden Ages, when Egypt was awash with wealth. Hatchepsut built monumental works all over the nation, a myriad of temples and shrines, four giant obelisks at the Temple of Amun in Karnak, and countless artworks celebrating her accomplishments and immortalizing her prayers. But many of these works were defaced and destroyed after her death in fourteen fifty eight BC, Hatshepsu's successor, Tutmost, the third, one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs,

led the charge to erase her name from history. Her likeness was chiseled away from monuments and her statues and works destroyed. Nevertheless, following a major twentieth century reconstruction, Hatshepsut's massive temple at Dur el Bahi Arabic for Northern Monastery still stands today, sheltered beneath the red rocks of a cliff face. This architectural wonder captivated the ancient world with its beauty and his attestament to Hotchepsut's glory and her

devotion to the gods. Woman who would be king. Hatchepsitt was born around fifteen o seven b C. To Tutmos the first and his great royal wife, Queen Ahmos. Hatchepsut would marry her half brother and heir to the throne, Tutmos the second, becoming his great royal wife. Tutmos the second died young, leaving behind a two year old son born to a secondary wife as his heir. The child was too young to rule, so Hatchepsut, the boy's anis

and stepmother ruled for him. Hot Chepsut gradually transformed her role from queen regent to outright pharaoh. When Tutmost the third was older, he became her second in command, but he would not rule outright as pharaoh until after her death around fourteen fifty eight p c. His reign would be glorious, filled with triumphs all his own, but while he ruled, a systematic campaign attempted to erase Pharaoh Hutchepsut. Millennia later archaeologists would put the pieces back together to

restore Hutchepsot's place in history. Million year temples in the new Kingdom period, Hutchepsut was one of the first pharaohs who built the so called Temples of Millions of Years on the western bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Thebes modern day Luxor. Five centuries earlier in Middle Kingdom times, Pharaoh meant to Hochep the Second had erected the first mortuary temple here. Perhaps inspired by men to Hochep, Hotchepsuk installed her massive complex at the foot of a cliff,

a site now known as Deir al Bahri. This sacred location has been consecrated to the goddess hathor protector of the dead, and an important funerary deity in thieves. In these temples, pharaohs would be worshiped after their deaths. Their mummies meanwhile rested elsewhere, entombed in private underground chambers in

the Valley of the Kings. As well as being used for royal funerals, the Temples of Millions of Years were the focus for other rituals, some related to royalty, others to deities, including the Theban god ah Mun and the sun god Ray. Of all the mortuary temples, hot Chepsuits would become the main cult structure of the Theban complex. Construction lasted some fifteen years and was carried out under the supervision of Senenmut, a high official and favorite of

the pharaoh. The imposing building incorporated ramps and courtyards like the nearby Mentuhotep Temple, but Sinnunmut introduced a rubber of innovations to create a building of unequaled magnificence. It came to be known as Desir de Ziro Holly of Holies. Most New Kingdom commemorative temples featured chambers separated by monumental gateways pylons, like those that can still be seen at Luxor and Karnak. Hotchepsut's temple, on the other hand, was

arranged around a central ramp or causeway. Spread along this causeway at different heights, were three large courtyards. Today, the walls and courtyards of hat Shepsut's temple might look somewhat plain. In her time, they would have been filled with vibrant color, surrounded by lush gardens and pools, and richly decorated with sculpture and reliefs. Each decorative element conveyed a religious or political message in keeping with the ceremonial use of the

temple sacred alignments. The layout of hot Shepsut's temple was carefully designed. Most obviously, it was positioned to align perfectly with the Temple of Omlin at Karnak on the opposite bank of the Nile. In addition, the precise east west alignment of its central causeway mirrored the daily payoth of the Sun, or, according to the beliefs of the day, the payoth of the god Ray. The temple was also aligned with the Valley of the Kings, which lies to

the west. This royal necropolis had been inaugurated by hots Sheepsut's father, Tutmost the First. In fact, tomb CAVY twenty, the burial place of Hutshepsut and Tutmost the First, lies in a straight line from the Sanctuary of Omlan, the innermost chamber of Hutchepsut's temple. Some experts have suggested that the original plan was to connect kV twenty with the Sanctuary of Amlun via a temple through the interposing cliff,

but the poor quality of the rock prevented it. Stone balustrades flanked the central ramp, guarded by imposing stone lions. A colonnade that separates the first and second courtyards to highlight Hotchepsut's piety and devotion, reliefs depict two massive obelisks on their way to the temple of Amon at Karnak. Around the second courtyard are famous reliefs showing a trading expedition that Hotchepsut sent to the land of Punt, believed

to be located on the Horn of Africa. Mirrh trees were brought back from this expedition and planted in the temple complex. Their resin would later be used in temple rituals. Other reliefs represent the divine birth of Hatshepsut, who, according to tradition, had been begotten by the god Aman Rey during a visit he made to Ahmos, the wife of Tutmos, the first Her divine origin was an important tool in

legitimizing Hotchepsod's rule over Egypt. In the second courtyard, there are also two sanctuaries, one dedicated to Hathor and the other to Anubis, a funeral god. Twenty four colossal osidi Osyrides statues of Farohatshepsud as Cyrus, god of the afterlife, flanked the entrance to the third courtyard. She wears the false beard Postiche and the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt Pushent, and she holds the symbols of royalty. This uppermost courtyard had sanctuaries dedicated to the royal cult,

to the solar god rey Harakhti, and to Anubis. In the central part of this last courtyard stood the temple's innermost chambers, a sanctuary dedicated to ahmen Ree. Inside were three adjoining chambers decorated with scenes of Hotshepsut and the god Amlan. The sanctuary of ahmen Rah was the main setting for a ceremony that was celebrated every year in Thieves, the Beautiful Festival of the Valley. The celebration dates back to the Middle Kingdom and reached new heights in hot

Shepsut's time. Badly deteriorated. Reliefs that run along the upper courtyard of Hodchepsut's temple depict the festivities during the second month of the harvest seasoned Shi Mu. In early rummer, the pharaoh would lead a procession bearing the image of Amund, followed by a retinue of nobles, priests, dancers, and soldiers. They would begin at Karnak Temple across the Nile and visit the mortuary temples. After her death, hught Chepsut was

intentionally consigned to oblivion by Tutmos the third. He ordered the demolition of all statues, monuments, and representations of her, including depictions on her temple. Yet the building remained on the western bank of the Nile. Each year it still hosted the most dazzling festival of the Theban Necropolis, standing strong through the millennia, a lasting testament to the pharaoh who built it. Next article from the National Geographic History Magazine.

The Temple of Jerusalem by Javierra dal Barco from King Solomon to the Roman Empire. According to the Bible, King Solomon built the first temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. Over time, the structure became the spiritual heart of the Jewish faith. Invaders raised it, but the temple endured a symbol of survival, resilience, and sanctity. In the First Book of Kings Saint, King Solomon stands before the people of Israel to dedicate a temple in honor of

their god Yahweh. The king reminds them that he has fulfilled the promise Yahweh has made to Solomon's father, King David. But the Lord said to my father David, you did well to consider building a house for my name. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house. But your son, who shall be born to you, shall build the house for

my name. First Kings eight the Bible describes how Solomon's temple is meant to replace the Tabernacle, a tent like structure that housed the Ark of the Covenant and other vessels. The Book of Kings details the construction down to the dimensions of different chambers and structures. Measuring about one hundred twenty feet long and fifty five feet wide, The Temple of Jerusalem took seven years to complete. Scholars have established that a temple to Yahweh did exist in Jerusalem during

the Iron Age, approximately twelfth to six centuries BC. According to the Bible, Solomon ruled in the tenth century BC, but there is no archaeological evidence corroborating that the temple's construction took place during that period. It would have been in the interests of the Hebrew Scripture's authors to attribute the building of this first Temple to King Solomon, as The reigns of Solomon and his father David are depicted

in the Bible as a golden era. The idea that King Solomon sponsored the first Temple bolsters this narrative and connects its construction to the concept of a unified Israel centralization. The archaeological and historic picture becomes clear in the time of Josiah, King of Judah sirca. Six four eight to six O nine b c. At this time, according to the Bible, the realm of Solomon had split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah.

Jerusalem belonged to Judah. King Josiah commissioned major reforms to the existing Temple, which had become far more significant in religious life. In Two Kings twenty two, Josiah sends the high priest Hilkayah to the temple to count the entire sum of the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord. The priest discovers a book of the Law inside the temple and shows it to the king. After he reads it, Josiah decrees that the temple would be the one and only place of worship to Yahweh.

Authorized copies of the book the Law would be kept inside the temple. Through his reforms, King Josiah effectively centralized power in Jerusalem with the temple at its heart. That first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians when they conquered Jerusalem in the sixth century b C. During the period of Persian rule, and after Alexander the Great's conquest, the temple complex was slowly rebuilt. Around five fifteen b C. The second Temple was dedicated in Jerusalem. Several centuries later.

Herod the Great seventy two to four b C, King of Judea, made important renovations and expansions to the structure. Judea was a vassal province of Rome. Under Herod, the temple became a building of impressive dimensions. The famous western walls, still visible to day, gives an idea of the scale of the temple precinct. The temple sat at the very heart of Yahwe worship. The main element of worship was

ritual animal sacrifice. These ceremonies took place there twice a day, and all Jews symbolically participated by paying half a shekel to the temple annually. Other acts of worship took place in the temple too, such as the reading of hymns and psalms, and the congregation receiving blessings from the priests. The tablets bearing the law that Yahwe had delivered to Moses were kept in the temple inside a cabinet known

as the Ark of the Covenant. This cabinet was stored inside the Holy of Holies, the most sacred place in the Temple. The High Priest was the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year, on the Tis day of Atonement Yam Kippur. After the fall, a series of Jewish revolts against Rome began eighty sixty six. In the course of putting them down, the Romans raised Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. The temple's treasures were looted and taken to Rome. The loss

marked a radical change in the evolution of Judaism. When the Romans destroyed the Temple and dispersed the Saducees, the priestly class that had governed it, the Jews lost the main element that had united them. It was then that the Pharisees took charge of the faith. The Pharisees were a Jewish group who focused on the study of the law as found in the Torah, the biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,

and Deuterontomy, and applied its teachings to daily life. Faced with the challenge of the disappearance of the Temple and the competition posed by nascent Christianity, the Pharisees convened the Synid of Jamnia, a liturgical meeting held in what today is Yavna, Israel. Here they established a liturgy of prayers to take the place of sacrifice and worship with the Temple, which were now impossible. The council also determined the canon of writings that would be added to the original five

books of the Torah to become the Hebrew Bible. Emphasis of worship shifted from the location of the temple to the reading of the text. From this point on, the Torah would be the focus. The new liturgy of prayers established by the Synod would be celebrated in community synagogues.

Before the destruction of the Temple, synagogues had existed as study centers, but now their role began to expand Jews from any community wherever it was located in the diaspora could celebrate the new liturgy simply by designating a place to serve as a synagogue. Some elements of the ancient cult in the Temple were transposed symbolically in the organization of the liturgy. For example, the main obligatory prayer, the Amidah or schemona Asrah eighteen blessings, included the blessing given

by the priests in the Temple. The liturgical services that are still celebrated in the synagogue in the morning shaharich in the afternoon Minhach symbolized the two daily sacrifices that used to be celebrated in the Temple. The memory of the temple also led many congregations to build synagogues so that the wall bearing the cabinet where the Torah was kept was oriented toward Jerusalem. Likewise, during Young Kippur day of Atonement, there are two liturgical elements that directly relate

to the Temple. The first is the blowing of the choffar or ramshorn. The chofar is also blown for Rashishana, the New Year, a few days before. The second is a service at the end of the ceremony which is called nilat chain closing of doors. The act echoes the solemn moment, moment when the doors of the Temple were closed at the end of Young Kippur, a faith transformed. It was in the Torah that the symbolic force and

sanctity of the Temple were most vividly maintained. Those responsible for this were the rabbis, who elevated the Torah and its study above all else. After the Temple's destruction, the Torah took its place as the focus of Jewish life. In doing so, Judaism was liberated from depending on a single geographical location, instead focusing on a tangible object that could be present in every Jewish community all over the world.

Throughout through the Torah, it was possible to galvanize the feeling of belonging among scattered communities, especially between the third and fifth centuries BC, when new Jewish communities arose in places as far apart as Yemen and the Iberian Peninsula.

These communities needed common ties that would unite them with their breath bren In the most important Jewish centers of Palestine and Babylon, the reading of the Torah is still at the heart of the Jewish liturgy celebrated every Saturday Shabbat. Reading aloud from the Torah is the most important moment of the liturgical service. The Torres scroll was removed from the Torah arc and carried in procession to the days Bima,

where the corresponding Torah portion Parashah is read aloud. The Torah is divided up in such a way that it is read in its entirety every year. To emphasize the sanctity of the Torah, the scroll from which it is read should never be touched directly. This is why it has a handle at each end of the scroll. The reader uses a pointer called a yad instead of their

own finger to guide them as they read. In the Synagogue, the Torah is still read from a scroll rather than a book, to recall how it appeared in ancient times. In the Temple after the tenth century, the Torah and the other sacred texts were also copied in codex format. As these codices were used for study rather than in the liturgy, they could incorporate elements that were prohibited in the Trust rolls, such as illuminations three faiths. In Jerusalem

after the Romans destroyed at Second Temple complex. The site plan ruins for centuries. The area contained to hold continued to hold great meaning in Judaism, but the temple also occupies a significant place in both Christianity and Islam. Passages in the canonical Gospels and the Apocryphal Gospels described episodes from the life of Jesus that took place at the

Temple in Jerusalem. Shortly after his birth, Jesus is presented at the Temple, and later, while still a child, Jesus spends time in the temple debating with teachers of Jewish law. As an adult, Jesus cleansed the temple, driving out merchants and money changers from the sacred precinct. In the Koran, as in the Bible, Solomon is portrayed as the builder

of the Temple and a figure of immense wisdom. The Koran includes the story of Mohammed's miraculous night journey from Mecca to the farther place of worship Musjid el Aksa, which Muslim tradition identified as the Haram al Sharif, the noble sanctuary identified as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In this account, Mohammad is said to have traveled there in one night prayed with prophets and briefly ascended to heaven and prayed with Ibraham, Abraham, Musa, Moses, and Isa Jesus.

When Muslim forces took control of Jerusalem in the seventh century, a d only ruins remained where the Second Temple once stood. The city's new rulers established their own place of worship where the Second Temple had been. They built the Dome of Iraq, the third most sacred site in Islam, next to Mecca and Medina on Temple Mount. Later, the El Akxa Mosque was built near by. Jerusalem is a city

of great importance to all three faiths. According to tradition, Abraham, David, Salomon, Jesus, and Mohammed all walked here, building of their followings in strengthening their faiths. Controlling Jerusalem in the Temple Mount has been at the center of violent conflicts stirring and since the Middle Ages because of the site's shared significance. Today, a respectful, yet sometimes uneasy truce remains in place among the three. There are those who pray to rebuild the

Temple of Jerusalem one day. They believe that the construction of a third temple will coincide with or bring about the arrival of the Messiah. But there are others who have embraced the Temple's role as a symbol of sanctity, wisdom, and faith vessels of the book. The Harley Catalan Bible is one of more than twenty lavishly illustrated Sephardi Bibles produced by the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula between the

thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. Many of them feature so called carpet pages, which are entirely filled with an intricate background pattern and colorful illustrations on top. The Harley Catalan Bible contains pages featuring the sacred implements of the Temple of Jerusalem embossed in gold. Many of these, the Minora, the Arc of the Covenant, the table of Showbread, and the incense altar are found in the verses of Exodus and numbers other Safardi Bibles contain similar layouts of the Temple's

most sacred implements and vessels. Religious scholars interpret their inclusion as a statement of the central importance of the Hebrew Scriptures for Jews of the diaspora. After the Roman destruction of the Temple in eighty seventy Jews in the diaspora could turn to scripture. Their centers of worship could be housed in a magnificent illuminated text. More dispersal, destruction and loss, however,

were soon to follow. In fourteen ninety two, a century after the Harley Catalan Bible was produced, the Alhambra Decree called for the conversion or expulsion of Iberius Jews, prompting a mass exodus of Safardi Jews across Europe and North Africa. Reliance on scripture grew as communities spread throughout the world. The Temple's predecessor during their time in the Sinai Desert, the Israelites kept the Arc of the Covenant in the Tabernacle, a tent like structure that went with them as they

traveled before reaching the Promised Land in Canaan. As described in the Book of Exodus, Yahwe gave Moses very detailed instructions on building the Tabernacle, from the exact measurements for the frame to the colors of the curtains. Yahwe began with the need for an innermost shrine, the holiest chamber that housed the ark. A curtain separated it from the next chamber, where a minora, a table for the showbread,

and an incense altar were kept. In the outermost room stood a sacrificial altar of akasha wood and a bronze basin for the priest to wash. The tabernacle's divine design would be replicated later in the construction of Solomon's Temple the Western Wall. The Roman Empire controlled Jerusalem when Hara

the Great was its king. Known for his ambitious construction projects, Herod turned his attention to the Second Temple around twenty b C. He expanded the century's old structure into a magnificent complex, but his grand construction only lasted a few decades. Following a series of revolts in Judea, Rome raised the city and destroyed the temple in eighty seventy. Today, the only remnant is a section of the temple's western perimeter wall,

known as the Western Wall. This place is one of the holiest sites in Judaism, not only because of its association with the Second Temple, but also because the Holy of Holies is believed to be located behind it. From all over the world, millions of visitors come to the wall to pray. It is traditional to insert little pieces of paper bearing petitions to God into the cracks between

its impressive stone ashlars, imagining Solomon's Temple. According to the Bible, King Solomon, son of David ordered the construction of a temple in his capital, Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets of the yong Daw of the Law that Yahwah had given to Moses. The ark had been housed in a portable sanctuary, the tabernacle, which the Israelites had employed during their time in the Sinai Desert. The First of Kings describes the splendor of Solomon's temple

in great detail. Solomon lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar, from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling. The cedar within the house had carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar. No stone was seen. The inner sanctuary. He prepared to set there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. He overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar with cedar. Solomon overlaid the inside

of the house with pure gold. Then he drew chains of gold across in front of the Inner Sanctuary and overlaid it with gold. Next, he overlaid the whole house with gold, in order that the whole house might be perfect. Even the whole altar that belonged to the Inner Sanctuary he overlaid with gold. King six fifteen through twenty two Beginnings and Endings circa nine sixty PC. Solomon's Temple is thought to have been built, although no corroborating archaeological evidence

has yet been found seventh century BC. According to two Kings, King Josiah carries out religious reforms at the temple after the Book of the Law is discovered there. Circa five eighty six BC, the troops of Nebuchonezer the Second conquered Jerusalem. He exiles its citizens to Babylon and lays waste to the First Temple. Circa five thirty nine BC, Persian ruler Cyrus the Great allows the exiles to return to Jerusalem

and sanctions construction of the Second Temple. Twenty two b C. Herod the Great, King of Judaea, greatly expands the Second Temple. When Judaea is controlled by the Holy Roman Empire eighty seventy, putting down rebellions in Jerusalem Roman legions raised the city and destroy the Suk Second Temple. This concludes readings from National Geographic Magazine for today. Your reader has been Marshall. Thank you for listening, Keep on listening and have a great day.