About the criminal practice the surname Ransom surname the wild relative of chives ramsons other uses refimprove date January 2010 Wiktionary Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extortion extort money or property to secure their release, or it can refer to the sum of money involved. In an early German law, a similar concept was called bad influence Julius Caesar was captured by pirates near the island of Pharmakonisi Pharmacusa , and held until someone paid 50 Attic talent talents to free him. ref Plutarch, http penelope.uchicago.edu Thayer E Roman Texts Plutarch Lives Caesar .html The Life of Julius Caesar in The Parallel Lives , Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919, Vol. VII, p. 445. The pirates originally demanded 20 talents, but Caesar felt he was worth more. After he was freed he came back, captured the pirates, took their money and eventually crucified all of them, a fate he had threatened the incredulous pirates with during his captivity. ref In Europe during the Middle Ages , ransom became an important custom of chivalry chivalric warfare. An important knight , especially nobility or Royal family royalty , was worth a significant sum of money if captured, but nothing if he was killed. For this reason, the practice of ransom contributed to the development of heraldry , which allowed knights to advertise their identities, and by implication their ransom value, and made them less likely to be killed out of hand. Examples include Richard the Lion Heart and Bertrand du Guesclin . When ransom means payment , the word comes via Old French ran on from Latin redemptio buying back ref Cite EB1911 wstitle ransom ref compare wikt redeem redemption . In Judaism ransom is called kofer nefesh lang he . Among other uses, the word was applied to the poll tax of a half shekel to be paid by every male above twenty years at the census. ref bibleverse Exodus 30 11 16 ref Although ransom is usually demanded only after the kidnapping of a person, it is ... more details
Infobox Greek Dimos name Leros name local image map 2011 Dimos Lerou.png image skyline Leros panteli.jpg caption skyline View of Panteli village in Leros lat deg 37 lat min 09 lon deg 26 lon min 51 elevation min 0 elevation max 320 periph South Aegean periphunit Kalymnos regional unit Kalymnos pop municipality 8207 area municipality 74.17 mayor party since population as of 2001 postal code 854 00 area code 22470 licence , , website http www.leros.gr www.leros.gr Leros lang el is a Greece Greek island and Communities and Municipalities of Greece municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea . It lies 317 km 171 nautical miles from Athens s port of Piraeus , from which it can be reached by an 11 hour ferry ride or by a 45 minute flight from Athens . Leros is part of the Kalymnos regional unit Kalymnos regional unit . The island has been also called in lang it L ro and in lang tr leriye . Geography File Front Arkoi Leipsoi Leros Back Agathonisi Farmakonisi Turkey coastline.jpg thumb left Front, left to right Arkoi , Leipsoi , Leros. Back, left to right Agathonisi , Farmakonisi and the Turkey turkish coastline. The island is 74 square kilometres 29 sq mi and has a coastline of 71 km 44 mi . The municipality includes the populated offshore islands of Pharmakonisi pop. 74 , Levitha 8 , and Kinaros 2 , as well as several uninhabited islets, and had a 2001 census population of 8,207, although this figure swells to over 15,000 during the summer peak. It is known for its imposing medieval castle of the Knights of Saint John possibly built on a Byzantine fortress. Nearby islands are Patmos , Lipsi , Kalymnos , and the small islands of Agia Kyriaki and Farmakos . In ancient times it was considered the island of Parthenos Iokallis and linked to the Hellenistic and Roman literature on Meleager and the Meleagrides. The administrative center and largest town is Agia Marina Lerou Agia Marina , with a population of 2,672 inhabitants. Oth ... more details
coast , Fourni Korseon Fournoi , Arkoi , Agathonisi Gaidaros , Pharmakonisi , Kalolimnos ... over Greek islands like Pharmakonisi and Agathonisi were made in late 2008 and early 2009. ref cite ... more details
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