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UXBRIDGE
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UXBRIDGE , a See also:market See also:town in the Uxbridge See also:parliamentary See also:division of See also:Middlesex, See also:England, 18 m. W. by N. of St See also:Paul's See also:Cathedral, See also:London, on the See also:river See also:Colne, and on branches of the See also:Great Western and See also:Metropolitan See also:railways. Pop. of See also:urban See also:district (1901), 8585. There are breweries, foundries and See also:engineering See also:works, and a considerable See also:traffic is carried on by means of the See also:Grand Junction See also:Canal. The town, which is connected by electric See also:tramway with See also:Hammersmith, London, has extended considerably in See also:modern times as a residential centre. The See also: U XMAL, a deserted See also:city of the Mayas in the See also:state of See also:Yucatan, See also:Mexico, 20 M. W. of Tikul, a station on the railway between See also:Merida and See also:Valladolid. The ruins stand on a wooded See also:plain, and See also:cover an See also:area of a little more than See also:half a mile square, although fragments are found over a much larger space. Uxmal is the largest and most important of the deserted cities of Yucatan, and shows some of the finest specimens of See also:Maya See also:architecture. The See also:climate is much drier than that of See also:Chiapas, and the structures are in a better state of preservation than those of See also:Palenque, but the See also:rank vegetation and the decay of the wooden lintels over the doorways have broken down many of the walls. Uxmal was inhabited for some time after the See also:Spanish See also:conquest, but perhaps only by a remnant of a See also:population once much larger. The neighbourhood is now very unhealthy, and it may be presumed that the See also:process of depopulation, caused by increasingly unhealthy conditions and diminishing See also:sources of See also:food See also:supply, was See also:gradual. There are no streams near the ruins, and the See also:water-supply was derived from cisterns and from a few pools now filled with See also:soil and vegetation. A rather soft See also:limestone was used in the buildings, but the locality of the quarries has not been discovered. The walls are commonly about 3 ft. thick, in some cases much thicker, and the stones were set in a whitish See also:mortar. See also: The interior walls were generally plastered and rarely ornamented. There are no windows, but large doorways. The jambs were of dressed stone, usually plain, and the longer lintels were of zapote See also:wood; some of them, where protected from the See also:weather, are still to be seen, sometimes covered with See also:inscriptions. The buildings are rectangular in shape, See also:long and narrow, divided usually into two ranges of rooms. They are generally arranged in See also:groups of four, enclosing a quadrangular See also:court, and sometimes singly on massive eminences. The interiors are cut up into numerous small rooms by transverse partitions, while numerous See also:beam-holes and dumb-sheaves indicate other divisions. The rooms are covered by acutely pointed vaults, the stones forming the sides of the vault being bevelled to the See also:angle, and the See also:apex being covered by capstones covering spaces of one to two feet. The spaces between the vaults are filled with solid See also:masonry, and above all is the roof covering, also of masonry, which is some-times surmounted with an ornamental roof-See also:comb. The buildings stand upon raised terraces, or upon truncated pyramids, approached by broad stairways, usually of cut stone. There are five See also:principal buildings or groups—the See also:Temple of the Magician, Nunnery Quadrangle, House of the Turtles, House of the Pigeons and See also:Governor's See also:Palace. There are other structures and groups, smaller and more dilapidated. One of them, See also:standing immediately S. of the Nunnery, consists of two parallel walls only; it is usually described as the See also:ball-court, or gymnasium, a structure See also:common to most Maya cities. The Temple of the Magician crowns an unusually steep See also:pyramid 240 X 18o ft. at the base and 8o ft. high. It has three rooms, and a smaller temple is built against the upper western See also:side of the pyramid. A broad steep stairway ascends to the See also:summit See also:platform on the E., and a narrower stairway to the lower temple on the W. The See also:west front is filled with remarkable figures and designs, including the lattice See also:work common in Uxmal. The Nunnery Quadrangle consists of four large rectangular See also:independent buildings, enclosing a quadrangular court, the whole occupying a See also:terrace over 300 ft. square at the base and upwards of 15 ft. above the level of the plain. The buildings resemble each other in the arrangement of their rooms, and their elaborately ornamented facades See also:face inwards upon the court. The division of the buildings into numerous small rooms is understood to signify that they were used as communal habitations, possibly of priestly orders. The Governor's Palace, standing upon a triple terrace S. of the Nunnery, is, according to W. H. See also:Holmes, " the most important single structure of its class in Yucatan, and for that See also:matter in See also:America." It is 320 ft. long, 40 ft. wide and 25 or 26 ft. high, divided into a long central and two end sections, separated by recesses and two trans-See also:verse archways about 25 ft. long, to ft. wide and 20 ft. high. These archways were subsequently blocked, and may have been intended originally as portals to a quadrangle which was never built. The upper See also:zone of the exterior walls is about to ft. wide, exclusive of the See also:mouldings and ornamental See also:frieze, and its See also:total length of 720 ft. is crowded with sculptures, in which there are three principal motives —the See also:mask, the See also:fret and the lattice. The projecting snouts in the See also:line of masks forming the upper part of this zone are a See also:peculiar feature of Uxmal ornamentation. The House of the Turtles is a comparatively small structure near the N.W. corner of the Governor's Palace. It has the same features found in the other structures except for a line of sculptured turtles on the mouldings of the frieze. Immediately S.W. of the Governor's Palace is a huge truncated pyramid, 200 X300 ft. at the base and 6o to 70 ft. high. Beyond this is another large quadrangular See also:group known as the House of the Pigeons. It resembles the Nunnery Quadrangle, except that the See also:northern See also:building carries a peculiar roof-comb of See also:colossal See also:size, See also:running its entire length and rising to a height of about 16 ft. The base of this comb is 4 ft. high, capped by a moulding and perforated by over 5o openings. Above this the comb is divided into nine sections rising by large steps to the apex, each pierced by 30 or more openings, like an immense dovecote. Projecting stones suggest that they were built to carry statues or figures like the roof-combs of Palenque. UZ, JOHANN See also:PETER (172o-1796), See also:German poet, was See also:born at See also:Ansbach on the 3rd of See also:October 1720. He studied See also:law, 1739-43, at the university of See also:Halle, where he associated with the poets Johann See also:Ludwig See also:Gleim (q.v.) and Johann Nikolaus Gotz (q.v.), and in See also:conjunction with the latter translated the odes of See also:Anacreon (1746). In 1748 Uz was appointed unpaid secretary to the Justizcollegium, an See also:office he held for twelve years; in 1763 he became See also:assessor to the imperial court of See also:justice at See also:Nuremberg, in 1790 was made a See also:judge and, on the See also:annexation of Ansbach to See also:Prussia (2nd of See also:December 1791), entered the Prussian judicial service, and died, shortly after his See also:appointment as Landrichter, at Ansbach on the 12th of May 1796. Uz wrote a number of graceful lyrics in Gleim's style, and some patriotic odes; he is the typical representative of the See also:rococo See also:period in German See also:poetry. In 1749 the first collection of his Lyrische Gedichte was anonymously published. He also wrote, in alexandrines, Der Sieg See also:des Liebesgottes (1753), a See also:close See also:imitation of See also: In favour of the former are the references in Gen. x. 23, xxii. 21, the inclusion of Job among " the See also:children of the See also:East," the possibility that Bildad the Shuhite (cf. Gen. See also:xxv. 2, 6) belonged to the Suhu, a See also:people living on the right See also:bank of the See also:Euphrates, and the description of Elihu as a Buzite (xxxii. 2). Whether the name Uz is found or not in the See also:cuneiform inscriptions is disputed. In favour of the S.E. position we have the description of Elihu as of the See also:family of See also:Ram' which (1 Chron. ii.) was a distinctly See also:southern people, the fact that Eliphaz was a Temanite (i.e. he came from Edom, cf. Gen. See also:xxxvi. 4) and the references in Gen. xxxvi. 28 and Lam. iv. 21. The mention of Uz in Jer. xxv. 20 is probably a See also:gloss. While Edom and Uz are not to be identified, the traditional association of " See also:wisdom " with Edom may incline us to See also:place the Uz of Job in its neighbourhood rather than in that of the Euphrates. The tradition which places Job's See also:home in Hauran has no value. It is See also:worth noting that the See also:Septuagint forms from Uz the See also:adjective Mains, which points to a See also:pronunciation Aus=Arabic AuI, the name of a See also:god whose See also:worship was widely spread and might therefore be readily See also:borne by tribes or attached to districts in several regions. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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