Gravestone in the context of "Christian burial"

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⭐ Core Definition: Gravestone

A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The use of such markers is traditional for Chinese, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic burials, as well as other traditions. In East Asia, the tomb's spirit tablet is the focus for ancestral veneration and may be removable for greater protection between rituals. Ancient grave markers typically incorporated funerary art, especially details in stone relief. With greater literacy, more markers began to include inscriptions of the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death, often along with a personal message or prayer. The presence of a frame for photographs of the deceased is also increasingly common.

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Gravestone in the context of Aniconism in Judaism

Aniconism in Judaism refers to the idea that Judaism forbids the creation of "graven images," commonly understood to mean the prohibition of idolatry and idol worship. While Judaism is a logocentric religion, Jews were not under a blanket ban on visual art, despite common assumptions to the contrary, and throughout Jewish history and the history of Jewish art, created architectural designs and decorations of synagogues, decorative funerary monuments, illuminated manuscripts, embroidery and other decorative or artistic religious items.

In a refutation of the belief in an aniconic Judaism, and more generally in the underestimation of Jewish visual arts, modern secular historians believe that the phenomenon is a modern construction, and that "Jewish aniconism crystallized simultaneously with the construction of modern Jewish identities". According to current scholarship, the notion of a total prohibition of figural representation in the Biblical and Hellenistic-Roman periods is untenable.

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Gravestone in the context of Sopwith Camel

The Sopwith Camel is a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter aircraft that was introduced on the Western Front in 1917. It was developed by the Sopwith Aviation Company as a successor to the Sopwith Pup and became one of the best-known fighter aircraft of the Great War. Pilots flying Camels were credited with downing 1,294 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter of the conflict. Towards the end of the war, Camels lost their edge as fighters and were also used as a ground-attack aircraft.

The Camel was powered by a single rotary engine and was armed with twin synchronized 0.303 in (7.70 mm) Vickers machine guns. It was difficult to fly, with 90% of its weight in the front two metres (seven feet) of the aircraft, but it was highly manoeuvrable in the hands of an experienced pilot, a vital attribute in the relatively low-speed, low-altitude dogfights of the era. Its pilots joked that their fates would involve "a wooden cross, the Red Cross, or a Victoria Cross".

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