1.
Nicaea
–
The ancient city is located within the modern Turkish city of İznik, and is situated in a fertile basin at the eastern end of Lake Ascanius, bounded by ranges of hills to the north and south. It is situated with its west wall rising from the lake itself, the lake is large enough that it could not be blockaded from the land easily, and the city was large enough to make any attempt to reach the harbour from shore-based siege weapons very difficult. The ancient city is surrounded on all sides by 5 kilometres of walls about 10 metres high and these are in turn surrounded by a double ditch on the land portions, and also included over 100 towers in various locations. Large gates on the three sides of the walls provided the only entrance to the city. Today the walls have been pierced in places for roads. The later version however was not widespread even in Antiquity, Antigonus is also known to have established Bottiaean soldiers in the vicinity, lending credence to the tradition about the citys founding by Bottiaeans. Following Antigonus defeat and death at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, the city was captured by Lysimachus, who renamed it Nicaea, in tribute to his wife Nicaea, who had recently died. Sometime before 280 BC, the city came under the control of the dynasty of the kings of Bithynia. This marks the beginning of its rise to prominence as a seat of the royal court, the two cities dispute over which one was the pre-eminent city of Bithynia continued for centuries, and the 38th oration of Dio Chrysostom was expressly composed to settle the dispute. Along with the rest of Bithynia, Nicaea came under the rule of the Roman Republic in 72 BC. The geographer Strabo described the city as built in the typical Hellenistic fashion with great regularity, in the form of a square, measuring 16 stadia in circumference, i. e. approx. This monument stood in the gymnasium, which was destroyed by fire but was restored with increased magnificence by Pliny the Younger, in his writings Pliny makes frequent mention of Nicaea and its public buildings. Emperor Hadrian visited the city in 123 AD after it had been damaged by an earthquake. The new city was enclosed by a wall of some 5 kilometres in length. Reconstruction was not completed until the 3rd century, and the new set of walls failed to save Nicaea from being sacked by the Goths in 258 AD, by the 4th century, Nicaea was a large and prosperous city, and a major military and administrative centre. Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First Ecumenical Council there, the city remained important in the 4th century, seeing the proclamation of Emperor Valens and the failed rebellion of Procopius. During the same period, the See of Nicaea became independent of Nicomedia and was raised to the status of a metropolitan bishopric, many of its grand civic buildings began to fall into ruin, and had to be restored in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian I. Nicaea became the capital of the Opsician Theme in the 8th century and remained a center of administration, a Jewish community is attested in the city in the 10th century
Nicaea
–
The Lefke Gate, part of Nicaea's city walls.
Nicaea
–
The theatre, restored by
Pliny the Younger.
2.
Bithynia
–
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast along the Pontic coast, Bithynia was an independent kingdom from the 4th century BC. Its capital Nicomedia was rebuilt on the site of ancient Astacus in 264 BC by Nicomedes I of Bithynia. Bithynia fell to the Roman Republic in 74 BC, and became united with the Pontus region as the province of Bithynia et Pontus and it became a border region to the Seljuk Empire in the 13th century, and was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1330s. Several major cities sat on the shores of the Propontis, Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Cius. Bithynia also contained Nicaea, noted for being the birthplace of the Nicene Creed, on the west and southwest it was separated from Mysia by the river Rhyndacus and on the south it adjoined Phrygia and Galatia. It is occupied by mountains and forests, but has valleys, the most important mountain range is the Mysian Olympus, which towers above Bursa and is clearly visible as far away as Istanbul. Its summits are covered with snow for a part of the year. East of this the range extends for more than 100 miles, both of these ranges are part of the border of mountains which bound the great tableland of Anatolia, Turkey. At its extremity is situated the town of Gemlik at the mouth of a valley, communicating with the lake of Iznik. The Parthenius, the boundary of the province, is a much less considerable stream. The valleys towards the Black Sea abound in fruit trees of all kinds, such as oranges, while the valley of the Sangarius, extensive plantations of mulberry trees supply the silk for which Bursa has long been celebrated, and which is manufactured there on a large scale. Bithynia is named for the Thracian tribe of the Bithyni, mentioned by Herodotus alongside the Thyni, the Thraco-Phrygian migration from the Balkans to Asia Minor would have taken place at some point following the Bronze Age collapse or during the early Iron Age. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as settling side by side, but the last king, Nicomedes IV, was unable to maintain himself in power against Mithridates VI of Pontus. After being restored to his throne by the Roman Senate, he bequeathed his kingdom through his will to the Roman republic, the coinage of these kings show their regal portraits, which tend to be engraved in an extremely accomplished Hellenistic style. As a Roman province, the boundaries of Bithynia changed frequently, during this period, Bithynia was commonly united for administrative purposes with the province of Pontus. Under the Byzantine Empire, Bithynia was again divided into two provinces, separated by the Sangarius, only the area to the west of the river retained the name of Bithynia. Bithynia attracted much attention because of its roads and its position between the frontiers of the Danube in the north and the Euphrates in the south-east
Bithynia
–
Photo of a 15th-century map showing Bithynia.
Bithynia
–
Bithynia and Pontus as a province of the Roman empire
3.
Historian
–
A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although historian can be used to describe amateur and professional historians alike, some historians, though, are recognized by publications or training and experience. Historian became an occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany. Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, while ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region, the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who later became known as the father of history. Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men and he was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, while early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, livy records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire. His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history, in Chinese historiography, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts, which is the source for the Apostolic Age. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages and they wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammads life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, to evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the science of biography, science of hadith and Isnad
Historian
–
Herodotus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and one of the earliest historians whose work survives.
Historian
–
Reproduction of part of a tenth-century copy of
Thucydides 's
History of the Peloponnesian War.
Historian
–
Leonardo Bruni (c.1370–1444), the historian who first divided history into the three eras of
Antiquity, the
Middle Ages, and
Modern times.
Historian
–
A page of
Bede 's Ecclesiastical History of the English People
4.
Roman senator
–
The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat led by Lucius Junius Brutus. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the executive magistrates were quite powerful, since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power, the late Republic saw a decline in the Senates power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant, when the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople, the Senate in Rome ultimately disappeared at some point after AD603, although the title senator was still used well into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. However, the Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople, until the ancient institution finally vanished there c. 14th century, the senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, the early Roman family was called a gens or clan, and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that power naturally reverted to the patres. The senate is said to have created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class, Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium. Romes seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the men in the senate. During the years of the monarchy, the senates most important function was to new kings. While the king was elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king
Roman senator
Roman senator
–
Ancient Rome
Roman senator
–
The
Curia Julia in the
Roman Forum, the seat of the imperial Senate.
5.
Proconsul
–
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. In the Roman Republic, military command, or imperium, could be exercised only by a consul. There were two consuls at a time, each elected to a one year term and they could not normally succeed themselves. If a military campaign was in progress at the end of a consuls term and this custom allowed for continuity of command despite the high turnover of consuls. In the empire, proconsul was a held by a civil governor. In modern times, various officials with notable delegated authority have been referred to as proconsuls, the terms satrap and viceroy are both used in a similar way. Studies of leadership typically divide leaders into policymakers and subordinate administrators, the proconsul occupies a position between these two categories. Max Weber classified leadership as traditional, rational-legal, and charismatic, a proconsul could be both a rule-following bureaucrat and charismatic personality. The rise of bureaucracy and rapid communication has reduced the scope for proconsular freelancing, Quintus Publilius Philo was one of two consuls for the year 317 BC. When his term expired at the end of the year, his army was in the midst of besieging the city of Neapolis. Rather than risk a change of command at such a delicate moment, Philo thus became the first proconsul. With imperial expansion beyond Italy and the annexation of territories as Roman provinces, the other was the praetor and the propraetor. In theory the proconsulate was an authority in which the proconsul acted on behalf of the consuls. Later, in practice, proconsular imperium became the extension of a consul’s imperium beyond the term of his office. This extension was a dispensation from the limit of the term of office which applied only outside the city walls of Rome. It did not have effect within the city walls, therefore, it was an exertion of the military command of the consul, but not of his public office. It was a military measure. As the scale of Romes military engagements and the number of her legions was increased there was a need to increase the number of military commanders, the office of the praetor was introduced in 366 BC
Proconsul
–
Ancient Rome
6.
Consul
–
Consul was the title of one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently a somewhat significant title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other city states and also revived in modern states. The relating adjective is consular, from the consularis, in modern terminology, a consul is a type of diplomat. The American Heritage Dictionary defines consul as an appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country. Throughout most of southern France, a consul was an equivalent to the échevins of the north. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, the capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other towns the first consul, was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls. His main task was to levy and collect tax, the Dukes of Gaeta often used also the title of consul in its Greek form Hypatos. The city-state of Genoa, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of consul on various state officials, among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was emulated by other powers and is reflected in the modern usage of the word. In reality, the first consul, Bonaparte, dominated his two colleagues and held power, soon making himself consul for life and eventually, in 1804. Chief magistrate, an office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had consuls at some parts of its Medieval history, while many cities had a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but consul was used in some. It was not uncommon for an organization under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state, the founding statute, or contract, of such an organisation was called lex, law. The people elected each year were patricians, members of the upper class. org, see each present country
Consul
–
A portrait of the three Consuls,
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès,
Napoleon Bonaparte and
Charles-François Lebrun (left to right)
7.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
8.
History
–
History is the study of the past as it is described in written documents. Events occurring before written record are considered prehistory and it is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians and their works continue to be read today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In Asia, a chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals was known to be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd-century BC texts survived. Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved over the centuries, the modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history is taught as part of primary and secondary education, the word history comes ultimately from Ancient Greek ἱστορία, meaning inquiry, knowledge from inquiry, or judge. It was in that sense that Aristotle used the word in his Περὶ Τὰ Ζῷα Ἱστορίαι, the ancestor word ἵστωρ is attested early on in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes oath, and in Boiotic inscriptions. History was borrowed from Latin into Old English as stær, and it was from Anglo-Norman that history was borrowed into Middle English, and this time the loan stuck. In Middle English, the meaning of history was story in general, the restriction to the meaning the branch of knowledge that deals with past events, the formal record or study of past events, esp. human affairs arose in the mid-fifteenth century. With the Renaissance, older senses of the word were revived, and it was in the Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the sixteenth century. For him, historia was the knowledge of objects determined by space and time, in an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English like Chinese now designates separate words for human history and storytelling in general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance languages, which are synthetic and highly inflected. The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from 1669, Historian in the sense of a researcher of history is attested from 1531. Historians write in the context of their own time, and with due regard to the current dominant ideas of how to interpret the past, in the words of Benedetto Croce, All history is contemporary history. History is facilitated by the formation of a discourse of past through the production of narrative. The modern discipline of history is dedicated to the production of this discourse. All events that are remembered and preserved in some authentic form constitute the historical record, the task of historical discourse is to identify the sources which can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of past. Therefore, the constitution of the archive is a result of circumscribing a more general archive by invalidating the usage of certain texts and documents
History
–
Historia by
Nikolaos Gysis (1892)
History
–
History by
Frederick Dielman (1896)
History
–
The title page to
The Historians' History of the World
History
–
The title page to"La Historia d'Italia"
9.
Aeneas
–
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Venus. His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy and he is a character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homers Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgils Aeneid and he became the first true hero of Rome. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse Æsir Vidarr, Aeneas is the Latin spelling of Greek Αἰνείας. In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Aeneas is first introduced with Aphrodite naming him Αἰνείας for the αὶνóν ἄχος he caused her and it is a popular etymology for the name, apparently exploited by Homer in the Iliad. Later in the Medieval period there were writers who held that, as such, in the natural order, the meaning of Aeneas name combines Greek ennos and demas, which becomes ennaios, meaning in-dweller. However, there is no certainty regarding the origin of his name, in imitation of the Iliad, Virgil borrows epithets of Homer, including, Anchisiades, magnanimum, magnus, heros, and bonus. Though he borrows many, Virgil gives Aeneas two epithets of his own in the Aeneid, pater and pius. The epithets applied by Virgil are an example of a different from that of Homer, for whilst Odysseus is poikilios, Aeneas is described as pius. Likewise, Aeneas is called pater when acting in the interest of his men, the story of the birth of Aeneas is told in the Hymn to Aphrodite, one of the major Homeric Hymns. Aphrodite has caused the other gods Zeus, to fall in love with mortal women, in retaliation, Zeus puts desire in her heart for Anchises, who is tending his cattle among the hills near Mount Ida. When Aphrodite sees him she is smitten and she adorns herself as if for a wedding among the gods and appears before him. He is overcome by her beauty, believing that she is a goddess, after they make love, Aphrodite reveals her true identity to him and Anchises fears what might happen to him as a result of their liaison. Aphrodite assures him that he will be protected, and tells him that she bear him a son to be called Aeneas. However, she warns him that he must never tell anyone that he has lain with a goddess, when Aeneas is born, Aphrodite takes him to the nymphs of Mount Ida. She directs them to raise the child to age five, then take him to Anchises, according to other sources, Anchises later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result is struck in the foot with a thunderbolt by Zeus. Thereafter he is lame in that foot, so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy. Aeneas is a character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods as if for an as-yet-unknown destiny
Aeneas
–
Aeneas flees burning Troy,
Federico Barocci, 1598.
Aeneas
–
Painting Venus and Anchises by
William Blake Richmond (1889 or 90)
Aeneas
–
Aeneas carrying
Anchises, black-figured
oinochoe, ca. 520–510 BC,
Louvre (F 118)
Aeneas
–
Aeneas and Anchises
10.
Founding of Rome
–
The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. The national epic of mythical Rome, the Aeneid of Virgil, the Aeneid was written under Augustus, who claimed ancestry through Julius Caesar from the hero and his mother Venus. This started a series of armed conflicts with Turnus over the marriage of Lavinia, before the arrival of Aeneas, Turnus was betrothed to Lavinia, who then married Aeneas, starting the war. Aeneas won the war and killed Turnus, the Trojans won the right to stay and to assimilate with the local peoples. Toward the end of line, King Procas was the father of Numitor. At Procas death, Numitor became king of Alba Longa, but Amulius captured him and sent him to prison, for many years, Amulius was the king. The tortuous nature of the chronology is indicated by Rhea Silvias ordination among the Vestals, the myth of Aeneas was of Greek origin and had to be reconciled with the Italian myth of Romulus and Remus, who would have been born around 771 BC if taken as historical figures. They were purported to be sons of Rhea Silvia and either Mars and they were abandoned at birth, in the manner of many mythological heroes, because of a prophecy that they would overthrow their great-uncle Amulius, who had overthrown Silvias father Numitor. They were abandoned on the Tiber River by servants who took pity on the infants, the twins were nurtured by a she-wolf until a shepherd named Faustulus found the boys and took them as his sons. Faustulus and his wife Acca Larentia raised the children, when Remus and Romulus became adults, they killed Amulius and restored Numitor. They decided to establish a city, however, they quarreled, thus, Rome began with a fratricide, a story that was later taken to represent the citys history of internecine political strife and bloodshed. The ancient Romans were certain of the day Rome was founded, April 21, even the official Fasti Capitolini offers its own date,752 BC. Recent discoveries by Andrea Carandini on Romes Palatine Hill have also yielded evidence of a series of walls on the north slope that can be dated to the middle of the 8th century BC. According to the legend, Romulus plowed a furrow around the hill in order to mark the boundary of his new city, there is no consensus on the etymology of the citys name. Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested Greek ῥώμη, meaning strength, vigor, a modern theory of etymology holds that the name of the city is of Etruscan origin, derived from rumon, river. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from about 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attests to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron age, in any case, the location that became the city of Rome was inhabited by Latin settlers from various regions, farmers and pastoralists, as evidenced by differences in pottery and burial techniques
Founding of Rome
–
The
she-wolf feeding the twins
Romulus and Remus, the most famous image associated with the founding of Rome
Founding of Rome
–
Aeneas flees burning Troy,
Federico Barocci, 1598.
Galleria Borghese, Rome.
Founding of Rome
–
History
11.
Roman Republic
–
It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
Roman Republic
–
Route of Pyrrhus of Epirus
Roman Republic
–
Roman consul accompanied by two
lictors
Roman Republic
–
Gaius Gracchus, tribune of the people, presiding over the
Plebeian Council
Roman Republic
–
A Roman
denarius struck in 56 BC showing on one side the bust of the
Goddess Diana, and on the reverse the Roman general
Lucius Cornelius Sulla is offered an olive branch by his ally
Bocchus I as the captive
Jugurtha kneels beside Sulla with his hands bound.
12.
History of the Roman Empire
–
The history of the Roman Empire covers the history of Ancient Rome from the fall of the Roman Republic in 27 BC until the abdication of the last Western emperor in 476 AD. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the Republic in the 6th century BC, Civil war engulfed the Roman state in the mid 1st century BC, first between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and finally between Octavian and Mark Antony. Antony was defeated at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, in 212, during the reign of Caracalla, Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire. In defining historical epochs, this crisis is viewed as marking the start of the Late Roman Empire. Diocletian brought the Empire back from the brink, but declined the role of princeps and became the first emperor to be addressed regularly as domine and this marked the end of the Principate, and the beginning of the Dominate. Diocletians reign also brought the Empires most concerted effort against the threat of Christianity. The state of monarchy that began with Diocletian endured until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. Diocletian divided the empire into four regions, each ruled by a separate Emperor, confident that he fixed the disorders plaguing Rome, he abdicated along with his co-emperor, and the Tetrarchy soon collapsed. Order was eventually restored by Constantine, who became the first emperor to convert to Christianity, during the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the Empire was divided along an east–west axis, with dual power centers in Constantinople and Rome. The reign of Julian, who attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion, Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 AD after making Christianity the official religion of the Empire. Most chronologies place the end of the Western Roman empire in 476, the eastern Empire exercised diminishing control over the west over the course of the next century. Octavian, the grandnephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, had himself a central military figure during the chaotic period following Caesars assassination. In 43 BC at the age of twenty he became one of the three members of the Second Triumvirate, an alliance with Marcus Lepidus and Mark Antony. Octavian and Antony defeated the last of Caesars assassins in 42 BC at the Battle of Philippi, although after this point, Octavian subsequently annexed Egypt to the empire. Now sole ruler of Rome, Octavian began a reformation of military. The Senate granted him power over appointing its membership and over the governors of the provinces, in doing so, the Senate had created for Octavian what would become the office of Roman emperor. In 27 BC, Octavian offered to transfer control of the back to the Senate. The senate refused the offer, in effect ratifying his position within the state, Octavian was then granted the title of Augustus by the Senate and took the title of Princeps or first citizen
History of the Roman Empire
–
The Battle of Actium (1672) by
Laureys a Castro
History of the Roman Empire
History of the Roman Empire
–
The
Augustus of Prima Porta
History of the Roman Empire
–
Vespasian commissioned the
Colosseum in Rome.
13.
Byzantine Greeks
–
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi and Graikoí, but are referred to as Byzantines and Byzantine Greeks in modern historiography. The terms Byzantine Empire and Byzantine Greeks were first coined in the English language in 1857 by British historian George Finlay, the social structure of the Byzantine Greeks was primarily supported by a rural, agrarian base that consisted of the peasantry, and a small fraction of the poor. These peasants lived within three kinds of settlements, the chorion or village, the agridion or hamlet, and the proasteion or estate. Many civil disturbances that occurred during the time of the Byzantine Empire were attributed to political factions within the Empire rather than to large popular base. Soldiers among the Byzantine Greeks were at first conscripted amongst the rural peasants, as the Byzantine Empire entered the 11th century, more of the soldiers within the army were either professional men-at-arms or mercenaries. Until the twelfth century, education within the Byzantine Greek population was more advanced than in the West, particularly at primary school level, success came easily to Byzantine Greek merchants, who enjoyed a very strong position in international trade. Despite the challenges posed by rival Italian merchants, they held their own throughout the half of the Byzantine Empires existence. The clergy also held a place, not only having more freedom than their Western counterparts. This position of strength had built up over time, for at the beginning of the Byzantine Empire, under Emperor Constantine the Great, only a part, about 10%. The language of the Byzantine Greeks since the age of Constantine had been Greek, from the reign of Emperor Heraclius, Greek was the predominant language amongst the populace and also replaced Latin in administration. Over time, the relationship between them and the West, particularly with Latin Europe, deteriorated, relations were further damaged by a schism between the Catholic West and Orthodox East that led to the Byzantine Greeks being labeled as heretics in the West. However, the Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, during most of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi, a term which in the Greek language had become synonymous with Christian Greeks. The ancient name Hellenes was in popular use synonymous to pagan and was revived as an ethnonym in the Middle Byzantine period, the term Byzantines or Byzantine Greeks is an exonym applied by later historians like Hieronymus Wolf, the Byzantines continued to call themselves Romaioi in their language. Most historians agree that the features of their civilization were, 1) Greek language, culture, literature. The Eastern Roman Empire was in language and civilization a Greek society, the term Byzantine has been adopted by Western scholarship on the assumption that anything Roman is essentially Western. However, modern Greeks still use the ethnonyms Romaioi and Graikoi to refer to themselves, as well as the terms Romaica, byzantinist August Heisenberg defined the Byzantine Empire as the Christianised Roman empire of the Greek nation. Byzantium was primarily known as the Empire of the Greeks by Western Europeans due to the predominance of Greek linguistic, cultural, many Greek Orthodox populations, particularly those outside the newly independent modern Greek state, continued to refer to themselves as Romioi well into the 20th century. Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like
Byzantine Greeks
–
Byzantine culture
Byzantine Greeks
–
The
double-headed eagle, emblem of the
Palaiologos dynasty.
Byzantine Greeks
–
Soldier wearing the lamellar klivanion cuirass and a straight spathion sword.
Byzantine Greeks
–
A page of 5th or 6th century
Iliad like the one a grammarian might possess.
14.
Greeks
–
The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
Greeks
–
Hoplites fighting. Detail from an Attic black-figure
hydria, ca. 560 BC–550 BC.
Louvre,
Paris.
Greeks
–
A reconstruction of the 3rd millennium BC "Proto-Greek area", according to Bulgarian linguist
Vladimir Georgiev.
Greeks
–
Bust of
Cleopatra VII.
Altes Museum,
Berlin.
Greeks
–
Statues of
Saints Cyril and Methodius, missionaries of
Christianity among the
Slavic peoples, on the
Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc,
Czech Republic.
15.
Dio Chrysostom
–
Dio Chrysostom, Dion of Prusa or Dio Cocceianus, was a Greek orator, writer, philosopher and historian of the Roman Empire in the 1st century. Eighty of his Discourses are extant, as well as a few Letters and his surname Chrysostom comes from the Greek chrysostomos, which literally means golden-mouthed. He should not be confused with the Roman historian Cassius Dio and he was born at Prusa in the Roman province of Bithynia. His father, Pasicrates, seems to have bestowed great care on his son Dios education, the Stoic and Platonist philosophies, however, appear to have had the greatest charms for him. He went to Rome during Vespasians reign, by time he seems to have got married and had a child. He became a critic of the Emperor Domitian, who banished him from Rome, Italy, and Bithynia in 82 for advising one of the Emperors conspiring relatives. He thus visited Thrace, Mysia, Scythia, and the country of the Getae, and owing to the power and wisdom of his orations, he met everywhere with a kindly reception, and did much good. He was a friend of Nerva, and when Domitian was murdered in 96 AD, under Emperor Nervas reign, his exile was ended, and he was able to return home to Prusa. He adopted the surname Cocceianus in later life to honour the given to him by the emperor. Nervas successor, Trajan, entertained the highest esteem for Dio and his kindly disposition gained him many eminent friends, such as Apollonius of Tyana and Euphrates of Tyre, and his oratory the admiration of all. In his later life Dio had considerable status in Prusa, and he probably died a few years later. Dio Chrysostom was part of the Second Sophistic school of Greek philosophers which reached its peak in the early 2nd century. He was considered as one of the most eminent of the Greek rhetoricians and sophists by the ancients who wrote him, such as Philostratus, Synesius. This is confirmed by the eighty orations of his which are extant. These orations appear to be written versions of his teaching, and are like essays on political, moral. He argued strongly against permitting prostitution, two orations of his are now assigned to Favorinus. Besides the eighty orations we have fragments of fifteen others, and he wrote many other philosophical and historical works, none of which survive. One of these works, Getica, was on the Getae, hans von Arnim, Dionis Prusaensis quem uocant Chrysostomum quae exstant omnia
Dio Chrysostom
–
Orations of Dio Chrysostom edited by
Johann Jakob Reiske, 1784. Oration 1, ΠΕΡΙ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ (On Kingship)
16.
Macedonia (Roman province)
–
The province incorporated ancient Macedonia, with the addition of Epirus, Thessaly, and parts of Illyria, Paeonia and Thrace. This created a larger administrative area, to which the name of Macedonia was still applied. The Dardanians, to the north of the Paeonians, were not included and these provinces were all subordinate to the Diocese of Macedonia, one of three dioceses comprising the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. When the Prefecture was divided between the Western and Eastern Empires in 379, the Macedonian provinces were included in Eastern Illyricum, with the permanent division of the Empire in 395, Macedonia passed to the East, which would evolve into the Byzantine Empire. Epirus, later Epirus Vetus, was a province in the Roman Empire that corresponded to the region of Epirus. Between 146 BC and 27 BC, it was part of the province of Macedonia, after which it part of Achaea. Epirus Nova or Illyria Graeca or Illyris proper was a province of the Roman Empire established by Diocletian during his restructuring of provincial boundaries, until then, the province belonged to the province of Macedonia. Dyrrachium was established as the capital of Epirus Nova, the region of Epirus Nova corresponded to a portion of Illyria that was then partly Hellenic and partly Hellenized. Macedonia Prima was a province encompassing most of the kingdom of Macedonia, coinciding with most of the modern Greek region of Macedonia, and had Thessalonica as its capital. Macedonia Salutaris, also known as Macedonia Secunda was a province encompassing partially Dardania and the whole of Paeonia, the second being most of the present-day Republic of Macedonia. The town of Stobi located to the junction of the Erigon and Axios rivers, the economy was greatly stimulated by the construction of the Via Egnatia, the installation of Roman merchants in the cities, and the founding of Roman colonies. The Imperial government brought, along with its roads and administrative system, an economic boom, with vast arable and rich pastures, the great ruling families amassed huge fortunes in the society based on slave labor. The improvement of the conditions of the productive classes brought about an increase in the number artisans. Stonemasons, miners, blacksmiths, etc. were employed in every kind of commercial activity, Greek people were also widely employed as tutors, educators and doctors throughout the Roman world. The export economy was based essentially on agriculture and livestock, while iron, copper, another source of wealth was the kingdoms ports, such as Dion, Pella, Thessalonica, Cassandreia
Macedonia (Roman province)
–
The Roman provinces of Epirus Vetus and Epirus nova in relation to modern borders.
Macedonia (Roman province)
–
The province of Macedonia within the Roman Empire, c. 117
Macedonia (Roman province)
–
A
tetradrachm from Roman controlled Macedonia. It was minted between 148 and 80 BC. Obverse shows Dionysos and reverse shows Herakles.
17.
Roman citizen
–
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. A citizen could, under certain circumstances, be deprived of his citizenship. Roman women had a form of citizenship. Though held in high regard they were not allowed to vote or stand for civil or public office, the rich might participate in public life by funding building projects or sponsoring religious ceremonies and other events. Women had the right to own property, to engage in business, and to obtain a divorce, marriages were an important form of political alliance during the Republic. Client state citizens and allies of Rome could receive a form of Roman citizenship such as the Latin Right. Such citizens could not vote or be elected in Roman elections, slaves were considered property and lacked legal personhood. Over time, they acquired a few protections under Roman law, some slaves were freed by manumission for services rendered, or through a testamentary provision when their master died. Once free, they faced few barriers, beyond normal social snobbery, freedmen were former slaves who had gained their freedom. They were not automatically given citizenship and lacked some privileges such as running for executive magistracies, the children of freedmen and women were born as free citizens, for example, the father of the poet Horace was a freedman. The rights available to citizens of Rome varied over time, according to their place of origin. They also varied under Roman law according to the classification of the individual within the state, various legal classes were defined by the various combinations of legal rights that each class enjoyed. However, the rights available to citizens with whom Roman law addressed were, Ius suffragiorum. Ius honorum, The right to stand for civil or public office, Ius commercii, The right to make legal contracts and to hold property as a Roman citizen. The rights afforded by the ius gentium were considered to be held by all persons, Ius migrationis, The right to preserve ones level of citizenship upon relocation to a polis of comparable status. For example, members of the cives Romani maintained their full civitas when they migrated to a Roman colony with full rights under the law, latins also had this right, and maintained their ius Latii if they relocated to a different Latin state or Latin colony. The right of immunity from taxes and other legal obligations, especially local rules. The right to sue in the courts and the right to be sued, the right to have a legal trial
Roman citizen
–
The
toga was the characteristic garment of the Roman male citizen, and statues of emperors (here
Antoninus Pius) frequently depict them togate (togatus).
Roman citizen
–
The
Roman expansion in
Italy; Citizenship was collectively awarded to all
Italic tribes (
socii) during and after the
Social war by the Lex Julia, Lex Plautia Papiria and Lex Pompeia; All of
Cisalpine Gaul received full citizenship in 49 BCE by the Lex Roscia.
18.
Public servant
–
A civil servant or public servant is a person so employed in the public sector employed for a government department or agency. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the service varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, for instance, only Crown employees are referred to as civil servants whereas county or city employees are not, many consider the study of service to be a part of the field of public administration. Workers in non-departmental public bodies may also be classed as servants for the purpose of statistics and possibly for their terms. Collectively a states civil servants form its service or public service. An international civil servant or international staff member is an employee who is employed by an intergovernmental organization. These international civil servants do not resort under any national legislation but are governed by internal staff regulations, All disputes related to international civil service are brought before special tribunals created by these international organizations such as, for instance, the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO. Specific referral can be made to the International Civil Service Commission of the United Nations and its mandate is to regulate and coordinate the conditions of service of staff in the United Nations common system, while promoting and maintaining high standards in the international civil service. The origin of the modern civil service can be traced back to Imperial examination founded in Imperial China. The Imperial exam based on merit was designed to select the best administrative officials for the states bureaucracy and this system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of scholar-bureaucrats irrespective of their family pedigree. In the areas of administration, especially the military, appointments were based solely on merit, after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Chinese bureaucracy regressed into a semi-merit system known as the Nine-rank system. This system was reversed during the short-lived Sui Dynasty, which initiated a civil service bureaucracy recruited through written examinations, the first civil service examination system was established by Emperor Wen of Sui. The examination tested the candidates memorization of the Nine Classics of Confucianism and his ability to compose poetry using fixed and traditional forms, the system was finally abolished by the Qing government in 1905 as part of the New Policies reform package. The Chinese system was admired by European commentators from the 16th century onward. In the 18th century, in response to changes and the growth of the British Empire, the bureaucracy of institutions such as the Office of Works. Each had its own system, but in general, staff were appointed through patronage or outright purchase, by the 19th century, it became increasingly clear that these arrangements were falling short. The origins of the British civil service are better known, during the eighteenth century a number of Englishmen wrote in praise of the Chinese examination system, some of them going so far as to urge the adoption for England of something similar. The first concrete step in this direction was taken by the British East India Company in 1806, in that year, the Honourable East India Company established a college, the East India Company College, near London to train and examine administrators of the Companys territories in India
Public servant
–
Imperial Civil Service Examination hall with 7500 cells in
Guangdong, 1873.
Public servant
–
Emperor Wen of Sui (r. 581–604), who established the first
civil service examination system in China; a painting by the
chancellor and artist
Yan Liben (600–673).
Public servant
–
Charles Trevelyan, an architect of
Her Majesty's Civil Service, established in 1855 on his recommendations.
19.
Commodus
–
Commodus, born Lucius Aurelius Commodus and died Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, was Roman Emperor from AD180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his fathers death in 180 and his accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded his biological father since Titus succeeded Vespasian in 79. He was also the first emperor to have both a father and grandfather as the two preceding emperors, Commodus was the first emperor born in the purple, i. e. during his fathers reign. Commodus was assassinated in 192, succeeded by Pertinax whose reign did not last long during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors, Commodus was born on 31 August AD161, as Commodus, in Lanuvium, near Rome. He was the son of the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and Aurelius first cousin, Faustina the Younger, the youngest daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. Commodus had a twin brother, Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus. On 12 October 166, Commodus was made Caesar together with his younger brother, the latter died in 169 having failed to recover from an operation, which left Commodus as Marcus Aurelius sole surviving son. He was looked after by his fathers physician, Galen, in order to keep Commodus healthy, Galen treated many of Commodus common illnesses. Commodus received extensive tutoring by a multitude of teachers with a focus on intellectual education, among his teachers Onesicrates, Antistius Capella, Titus Aius Sanctus, and Pitholaus are mentioned. Commodus is known to have been at Carnuntum, the headquarters of Marcus Aurelius during the Marcomannic Wars and it was presumably there that, on 15 October 172, he was given the victory title Germanicus, in the presence of the army. The title suggests that Commodus was present at his fathers victory over the Marcomanni, on 20 January 175, Commodus entered the College of Pontiffs, the starting point of a career in public life. In April 175, Avidius Cassius, Governor of Syria, declared himself Emperor following rumours that Marcus Aurelius had died, having been accepted as Emperor by Syria, Judea and Egypt, Cassius carried on his rebellion even after it had become obvious that Marcus was still alive. During the preparations for the campaign against Cassius, the Prince assumed his toga virilis on the Danubian front on 7 July 175, Cassius, however, was killed by one of his centurions before the campaign against him could begin. Commodus subsequently accompanied his father on a trip to the Eastern provinces. The Emperor and his son traveled to Athens, where they were initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. They then returned to Rome in the Autumn of 176, on 27 November 176, Marcus Aurelius granted Commodus the rank of Imperator and, in the middle of 177, the title Augustus, giving his son the same status as his own and formally sharing power. On 23 December of the year, the two Augusti celebrated a joint triumph, and Commodus was given tribunician power. On 1 January 177, Commodus became consul for the first time, which him, aged 15
Commodus
–
Commodus as Hercules,
Capitoline Museums
Commodus
–
A
Denarius featuring Commodus
Commodus
–
A bust of Commodus as a youth (
Roman-Germanic Museum, Cologne).
Commodus
–
A bust of Commodus (
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). According to
Herodian he was well proportioned and attractive, with naturally blonde and curly hair.
20.
Septimius Severus
–
Septimius Severus, also known as Severus, was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa, as a young man he advanced through the cursus honorum—the customary succession of offices—under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors, after deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, Severus fought his rival claimants, the generals Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia, later that year Severus waged a short punitive campaign beyond the eastern frontier, annexing the Kingdom of Osroene as a new province. Severus defeated Albinus three years later at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul, furthermore, he enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea. In 202, he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes, capturing their capital Garama, late in his reign he travelled to Britain, strengthening Hadrians Wall and reoccupying the Antonine Wall. In 208 he invaded Caledonia, but his ambitions were cut short when he fell ill in late 210. Severus died in early 211 at Eboracum, succeeded by his sons Caracalla, with the succession of his sons, Severus founded the Severan dynasty, the last dynasty of the empire before the Crisis of the Third Century. Born on 11 April 145 at Leptis Magna as the son of Publius Septimius Geta and Fulvia Pia, Septimius Severus came from a wealthy and he had Italian Roman ancestry on his mothers side and descended from Punic - and perhaps also Libyan - forebears on his fathers side. His mothers ancestors had moved from Italy to North Africa, they belonged to the gens Fulvia, Septimius Severus had two siblings, an older brother, Publius Septimius Geta, and a younger sister, Septimia Octavilla. Severuss maternal cousin was Praetorian prefect and consul Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, Septimius Severus grew up in the town of Leptis Magna. He spoke the local Punic language fluently, but he was educated in Latin and Greek. Little else is known of the young Severus education, but according to Cassius Dio the boy had been eager for education than he had actually got. Presumably Severus received lessons in oratory, at age 17 he gave his first public speech, sometime around 162 Septimius Severus set out for Rome seeking a public career. At the recommendation of his relative Gaius Septimius Severus, the emperor Marcus Aurelius granted him entry into the senatorial ranks, membership of the senatorial order was a prerequisite to attain positions within the cursus honorum and to gain entry into the Roman Senate. Nevertheless, it appears that Severus career during the 160s met with some difficulties and it is likely that he served as a vigintivir in Rome, overseeing road maintenance in or near the city, and he may have appeared in court as an advocate. At the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius he was the State Attorney, however, he omitted the military tribunate from the cursus honorum and had to delay his quaestorship until he had reached the required minimum age of 25. To make matters worse, the Antonine Plague swept through the capital in 166, with his career at a halt, Severus decided to temporarily return to Leptis, where the climate was healthier
Septimius Severus
–
Alabaster bust of Septimius Severus at
Musei Capitolini,
Rome
Septimius Severus
–
Bronze head of Septimius Severus, from Asia Minor, c. 195-211 AD, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
Septimius Severus
–
Julia Domna,
Glyptothek, Munich.
Septimius Severus
–
Aureus with Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, Caracalla and Geta
21.
Africa (Roman province)
–
The Roman province of Africa Proconsularis was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of modern-day Algeria, and it was one of the wealthiest provinces in the western part of the empire, second only to Italia. The Arabs later named roughly the same region as the original province Ifriqiya, the land acquired for the province of Africa was the site of the ancient city of Carthage. Other large cities in the region included Hadrumetum, capital of Byzacena, the province was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BC, following the Third Punic War. Rome established its first African colony, Africa Proconsularis or Africa Vetus, governed by a proconsul, utica was formed as the administrative capital. The remaining territory was left in the domain of the Numidian client king Massinissa, at this time, the Roman policy in Africa was simply to prevent another great power from rising on the far side of Sicily. In 118 BC, the Numidian prince Jugurtha attempted to reunify the smaller kingdoms, however, upon his death, much of Jugurthas territory was placed in the control of the Mauretanian client king Bocchus, and, by that time, the romanization of Africa was firmly rooted. In 27 BC, when the Republic had transformed into an Empire, several political and provincial reforms were implemented by Augustus and later by Caligula, but Claudius finalized the territorial divisions into official Roman provinces. After Diocletians administrative reforms, it was split into Africa Zeugitana in the north, the region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the Germanic migrations of the 5th century. The Vandals crossed into North Africa from Spain in 429 and overran the area by 439 and founded their own kingdom, including Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite. They also persecuted Catholicism, as the Vandals were adherents of Arianism, towards the end of the 5th century, the Vandal state fell into decline, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other Berber tribes of the desert. In AD533, Emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, in a short campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and re-established Roman rule over the province. The North African provinces, together with the Roman possessions in Spain, were grouped into the Exarchate of Africa by Emperor Maurice, the exarchate prospered, and from it resulted the overthrow of the emperor Phocas by Heraclius in 610. Heraclius briefly considered moving the capital from Constantinople to Carthage. After 640, the managed to stave off the Muslim Conquest, but in 698. Historian Theodore Mommsen estimated that under Hadrian nearly 1/3 of the eastern Numidia population was descended from Roman veterans, even so, the Roman military presence of North Africa was relatively small, consisting of about 28,000 troops and auxiliaries in Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces. Starting in the 2nd century AD, these garrisons were manned mostly by local inhabitants, a sizable Latin speaking population developed that was multinational in background, sharing the north African region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages. Imperial security forces began to be drawn from the local population, however, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture
Africa (Roman province)
–
Northern Africa under Roman rule
Africa (Roman province)
–
The province of Africa within the Roman Empire
Africa (Roman province)
–
Électrum tridrachme struck at Zeugitane in Carthage
Africa (Roman province)
–
The amphitheatre of Thysdrus (modern
El Djem)
22.
Pannonia
–
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Julius Pokorny believes the name Pannonia is derived from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root *pen-, swamp, water, the Ionian Danube fleet reached as far as Boio-Aria, populated until the late 8th century CE by Celts and Slavs under Aryan rulers. Pliny the Elder, in Natural History, places the eastern regions of the Hercynium jugum and he also gives us some dramaticised description of its composition, in which the close proximity of the forest trees causes competitive struggle among them. But even he—if the passage in question is not an interpolated marginal gloss—is subject to the legends of the gloomy forest and he mentions unusual birds, which have feathers that shine like fires at night. Medieval bestiaries named these birds the Ercinee, the first inhabitants of this area known to history were the Pannonii, a group of Indo-European tribes akin to Illyrians. From the 4th century BC, it was invaded by various Celtic tribes, little is heard of Pannonia until 35 BC, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia. The country was not, however, definitively subdued by the Romans until 9 BC, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube. After the rebellion was crushed in AD9, the province of Illyricum was dissolved, the date of the division is unknown, most certainly after AD20 but before AD50. The proximity of dangerous barbarian tribes necessitated the presence of a number of troops. Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian wars, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior, and Pannonia Inferior. According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona in the north to Servitium in the south, later, the whole country was sometimes called the Pannonias. Pannonia Superior was under the legate, who had formerly administered the single province. Pannonia Inferior was at first under a praetorian legate with a single legion as the garrison, after Marcus Aurelius, it was under a consular legate, the frontier on the Danube was protected by the establishment of the two colonies Aelia Mursia and Aelia Aquincum by Hadrian. In the 4th-5th century, one of the dioceses of the Roman Empire was known as the Diocese of Pannonia. It had its capital in Sirmium and included all four provinces that were formed from historical Pannonia, as well as the provinces of Dalmatia, following the Migrations Period in the middle of the 5th century, Pannonia was ceded to the Huns by Theodosius II. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the province as foederati, afterwards, it was again invaded by the Avars in the 560s, the Slavs, who first settled c. This language and the culture became extinct with the arrival of the Magyars. The native settlements consisted of pagi containing a number of vici, the cities and towns in Pannonia were, The country was fairly productive, especially after the great forests had been cleared by Probus and Galerius
Pannonia
–
Gerulata - a
Roman military camp located near today's
Rusovce,
Slovakia.
Pannonia
Pannonia
–
Aerial photography: Gorsium - Tác - Hungary
Pannonia
–
Aquincum, Hungary
23.
Severus Alexander
–
Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235 and the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He and his cousin were both grandsons of the influential and powerful Julia Maesa, who had arranged for Elagabalus acclamation as emperor by the famous Third Gallic Legion and it was the rumor of Alexanders death that triggered the assassination of Elagabalus and his mother. As emperor, Alexanders peace time reign was prosperous, however, militarily Rome was confronted with the rising Sassanid Empire. He managed to check the threat of the Sassanids, but when campaigning against Germanic tribes of Germania, Alexander attempted to bring peace by engaging in diplomacy and this alienated many in the Roman Army and led to a conspiracy to assassinate and replace him. Under the influence of his mother, Alexander did much to improve the morals and condition of the people and he employed noted jurists to oversee the administration of justice, such as the famous jurist Ulpian. His advisers were men like the senator and historian Cassius Dio and he also created a municipal council of 14 who assisted the urban prefect in administering the affairs of the 14 districts of Rome. The following year he decreased the amount of metal in the denarius while adding more silver, raising the silver purity. In religious matters, Alexander preserved an open mind and it is said that he was desirous of erecting a temple to Jesus but was dissuaded by the pagan priests. He allowed a synagogue to be built in Rome, and he gave as a gift to this synagogue a scroll of the Torah known as the Severus Scroll, in legal matters, Alexander did much to aid the rights of his soldiers. He confirmed that soldiers could name anyone as heirs in their will, Alexander also confirmed that soldiers could free their slaves in their wills. On the whole, Alexanders reign was prosperous until the rise, in the east, of the war that followed there are various accounts. Making Antioch his base, he marched at the head of his troops towards Ctesiphon, but an army was destroyed by the Persians. Nevertheless, although the Sassanids were checked for the time, the conduct of the Roman army showed a lack of discipline. In 232 there was a mutiny in the Syrian legion, who proclaimed Taurinus emperor, Alexander managed to suppress the uprising, and Taurinus drowned while attempting to flee across the Euphrates. The emperor returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph in 233, after the Persian war, Alexander returned to Antioch with the famous Origen, one of the greatest Fathers of the Christian Church. Alexanders mother, Julia Mammaea, asked for Origen to tutor Alexander in Christianity, while Alexander was being educated in the Christian doctrines, the northern portion of his empire was being invaded by Germanic and Sarmatian tribes. A new and menacing enemy started to emerge directly after Alexanders success in the Persian war, in A. D234, the barbarians crossed the Rhine and Danube in hordes that even caused panic at the gates of Rome. As word of the spread, the Emperor took the front line
Severus Alexander
–
Bust of Severus Alexander
Severus Alexander
–
Denarius of Severus Alexander.
24.
Praetorian Guard
–
In Ancient Rome, the Imperial Praetorian Guard or Praetorian Guard were a unit of the Imperial Roman Army formed of elite soldiers initially recruited in Italy. They were first, hand-picked veterans of the Roman Army in charge of providing close protection security details to the Emperor and they also served as secret police protecting the civic administrations and rule of law imposed by the Senate and the Emperor. The title designation was used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around year 275 BC. The Imperial Guard was dissolved by Emperor Constantine I in the 4th century and they were distinct from the Imperial Germanic bodyguard which provided close personal protection for the late Western Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, there was no permanent guard charged with the protection of general officers. However, certain military officers chose to surround themselves with guards to ensure their security, in the event of battle, these cohorts would intervene as a final standing reserve. The consuls were ordinarily protected by the lictors, who would remain around their tents in the army, at the end of the year 40 BC, Octavian and his rival Mark Antony both operated a number of Praetorian units organized individually. According to Appian, amongst them were veterans forming cohorts, Mark Antony commanded three cohorts in the Orient and in 32 BC, he issued coins in honor of his Praetorians. According to Paul Orose, Octavian commanded five cohorts at Actium, following his victory at Actium, Octavian merged his forces with those of his adversary in a symbolic reunification of the Army of Julius Caesar. The Praetorians constituted a guard and a military reserve of the Emperor. Through the machinations of their ambitious prefect, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, in 23, Sejanus convinced Tiberius to have the Castra Praetoria built just outside of Rome. One of these held the daily guard at the imperial palace switching roles in between patrols. Henceforth the entire Guard was at the disposal of the emperors, the reality of this was seen in 31 when Tiberius was forced to rely upon his own cohors praetoria against partisans of Sejanus. Although the Praetorian Guard proved faithful to the aging Tiberius, their political power had been made clear. At the siege of Numance, Scipio Aemilianus formed a troop of 500 men for his personal protection and this usage was then emulated and spread, as Roman generals occupied their positions for longer periods of time. Accordingly, this guard was referred to as Cohors Prætoria and they benefited from several advantages due their close proximity with the emperor, the Praetorians were the only ones admitted while bearing arms in the center of sacred Rome - the Pomerium. Under Nero, the pay of a Praetorian was three and a half times that of a legionary, augmented by prime additions of donativum, granted by the new emperors. This additional pay was the equivalent of years of pay, renewed during important events of the empire, or events that touched the imperial family, birthdays, births
Praetorian Guard
–
A Praetorian soldier from the 2nd century AD - retrieved in
Pozzuoli (1800)
Praetorian Guard
25.
Roman consul
–
A consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and the consulship was considered the highest level of the cursus honorum. Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term, the consuls alternated in holding imperium each month, and a consuls imperium extended over Rome, Italy, and the provinces. Originally, consuls were called praetors, referring to their duties as the military commanders. By at least 300 BC the title of Consul was being used, in Greek, the title was originally rendered as στρατηγός ὕπατος, strategos hypatos, and later simply as ὕπατος. The consul was believed by the Romans to date back to the establishment of the Republic in 509 BC. These remained in place until the office was abolished in 367/366 BC, consuls had extensive powers in peacetime, and in wartime often held the highest military command. Additional religious duties included certain rites which, as a sign of their formal importance, consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together, each with power over the others actions. It is thought that only patricians were eligible for the consulship. Consuls were elected by the Comitia Centuriata, which had a bias in its voting structure which only increased over the years from its foundation. If a consul died during his term or was removed from office, a consul elected to start the year - called a consul ordinarius - held more prestige than a suffect consul, partly because the year would be named for ordinary consuls. The first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was elected the following year and it is possible that only the chronology has been distorted, but it seems that one of the first consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus, came from a plebeian family. Another possible explanation is that during the 5th century social struggles, during times of war, the primary qualification for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the became the normal endpoint of the cursus honorum. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla regulated the cursus by law, the age of election to consul became. Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a year, a former consul would usually serve a lucrative term as a proconsul. The most commonly chosen province for the proconsulship was Cisalpine Gaul, throughout the early years of the Principate although the consuls were still formally elected by the Comitia Centuriata, they were in fact nominated by the princeps. It was a post that would be occupied by a man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, emperors frequently appointed themselves, or their protégés or relatives, consuls, even without regard to the age requirements
Roman consul
–
Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Sabinianus Pompeius Anastasius (consul 517 AD) in consular garb, holding a sceptre and the mappa, a piece of cloth used to signal the start of
chariot races at the
Hippodrome. Ivory panel from his
consular diptych.
Roman consul
–
Ancient Rome
26.
Roman mythology
–
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Romes legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. Roman mythology may also refer to the study of these representations. The Romans usually treated their traditional narratives as historical, even when these have miraculous or supernatural elements, the stories are often concerned with politics and morality, and how an individuals personal integrity relates to his or her responsibility to the community or Roman state. When the stories illuminate Roman religious practices, they are concerned with ritual, augury. Romes early myths and legends also have a relationship with Etruscan religion. In particular, the versions of Greek myths in Ovids Metamorphoses, written during the reign of Augustus, because ritual played the central role in Roman religion that myth did for the Greeks, it is sometimes doubted that the Romans had much of a native mythology. This perception is a product of Romanticism and the scholarship of the 19th century. From the Renaissance to the 18th century, however, Roman myths were an inspiration particularly for European painting, the Roman tradition is rich in historical myths, or legends, concerning the foundation and rise of the city. These narratives focus on human actors, with only occasional intervention from deities, in Romes earliest period, history and myth have a mutual and complementary relationship. As T. P. Wiseman notes, The Roman stories still matter, as they mattered to Dante in 1300 and Shakespeare in 1600, what does it take to be a free citizen. Can a superpower still be a republic, how does well-meaning authority turn into murderous tyranny. Major sources for Roman myth include the Aeneid of Vergil and the first few books of Livys history as well as Dionysius s Roman Antiquities. Other important sources are the Fasti of Ovid, a six-book poem structured by the Roman religious calendar, scenes from Roman myth also appear in Roman wall painting, coins, and sculpture, particularly reliefs. The Aeneid and Livys early history are the best extant sources for Romes founding myths, material from Greek heroic legend was grafted onto this native stock at an early date. By extension, the Trojans were adopted as the ancestors of the Roman people. Rape of the Sabine women, explaining the importance of the Sabines in the formation of Roman culture, numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome who consorted with the nymph Egeria and established many of Romes legal and religious institutions. Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, whose mysterious origins were freely mythologized. The Tarpeian Rock, and why it was used for the execution of traitors, lucretia, whose self-sacrifice prompted the overthrow of the early Roman monarchy and led to the establishment of the Republic
Roman mythology
–
Romulus and Remus, the
Lupercal,
Father Tiber, and the
Palatine on a
relief from a pedestal dating to the reign of
Trajan (AD 98–117)
Roman mythology
–
In this wall painting from
Pompeii,
Venus looks on while the physician
Iapyx tends to the wound of her son,
Aeneas; the tearful boy is her grandson
Ascanius, also known as Iulus, legendary ancestor [
citation needed] of
Julius Caesar and the
Julio-Claudian dynasty
Roman mythology
–
Mucius Scaevola in the Presence of Lars Porsenna (early 1640s) by
Matthias Stom
Roman mythology
–
Capitoline Triad
27.
Romulus and Remus
–
In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus are twin brothers, whose story tells the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus. The killing of Remus by his brother, and other tales from their story, have inspired artists throughout the ages, since ancient times, the image of the twins being suckled by a she-wolf has been a symbol of the city of Rome and the Roman people. Although the tale takes place before the founding of Rome around 750 BC, whether the twins myth was an original part of Roman myth or a later development is a subject of ongoing debate. Romulus and Remus were born in Alba Longa, one of the ancient Latin cities near the site of Rome. Their mother, Rhea Silvia was a virgin and the daughter of the former king, Numitor. In some sources, Rhea Silvia conceived them when their father, through their mother, the twins were descended from Greek and Latin nobility. Seeing them as a threat to his rule, King Amulius ordered them to be killed. They were saved by the god Tiberinus, Father of the River and survived with the care of others, in the most well-known episode, the twins were suckled by a she-wolf, in a cave now known as the Lupercal. Eventually, they were adopted by Faustulus, a shepherd and they grew up tending flocks, unaware of their true identities. Over time, their leadership abilities attracted a company of supporters from the community. When they were adults, they became involved in a dispute between supporters of Numitor and Amulius. As a result, Remus was taken prisoner and brought to Alba Longa, both his grandfather and the king suspected his true identity. Romulus, meanwhile, had organized an effort to free his brother, during this time they learned of their past and joined forces with their grandfather to restore him to the throne. Amulius was killed and Numitor was reinstated as king of Alba, the twins set out to build a city of their own. After arriving back in the area of the seven hills, they disagreed about the hill upon which to build, Romulus preferred the Palatine Hill, above the Lupercal, Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. When they could not resolve the dispute, they agreed to seek the gods approval through a contest of augury, Remus first saw 6 auspicious birds but soon afterward, Romulus saw 12, and claimed to have won divine approval. The new dispute furthered the contention between them, in the aftermath, Remus was killed either by Romulus or by one of his supporters. Romulus then went on to found the city of Rome, its institutions, government, military and he reigned for many years as its first king
Romulus and Remus
–
Capitoline Wolf. Traditional scholarship says the wolf-figure is Etruscan, 5th century BC, with figures of Romulus and Remus added in the 15th century AD by
Antonio Pollaiuolo. Recent studies suggest that the wolf may be a medieval sculpture dating from the 13th century AD.
Romulus and Remus
–
Altar from
Ostia showing the discovery of Romulus and Remus (now at the
Palazzo Massimo alle Terme).
Romulus and Remus
–
Faustulus (to the right of picture) discovers Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf and woodpecker. Their mother Rhea Silvia and the river-god Tiberinus witness the moment. Painting by
Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1616 (
Capitoline Museums).
Romulus and Remus
–
Romulus, Victor over Acron, hauls the rich booty to the temple of Jupiter, by
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
28.
Boudica
–
Boudica or Boudicca was a queen of the British Celtic Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire in AD60 or 61, and died shortly after its failure. Boudicas husband, Prasutagus, ruled as an independent ally of Rome and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters. However, when he died, his will was ignored, according to Tacitus, Boudica was flogged and her daughters raped. They destroyed Camulodunum, earlier the capital of the Trinovantes but at that time a colonia, upon hearing of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium, the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels next target. The Romans, having concluded that they lacked sufficient numbers to defend the settlement, Boudica led 100,000 Iceni, Trinovantes, and others to fight Legio IX Hispana, and burned and destroyed Londinium and Verulamium. An estimated 70, 000–80,000 Romans and British were killed in the three cities by those led by Boudica, Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces in the West Midlands, and, despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the Britons in the Battle of Watling Street. The crisis caused Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, Boudica then either killed herself to avoid capture, or died of illness. The extant sources, Tacitus and Cassius Dio, differ, interest in these events revived in the English Renaissance and led to Boudicas fame in the Victorian era. Boudica has remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom, in 2002, she was number 35 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. The absence of native British literature during the part of the first millennium means that knowledge of Boudicas rebellion comes solely from the writings of the Romans. Boudica has been known by several versions of her name, raphael Holinshed calls her Voadicia, while Edmund Spenser calls her Bunduca, a version of the name that was used in the popular Jacobean play Bonduca, in 1612. William Cowpers poem, Boadicea, an ode popularised a version of the name. Her name was clearly spelled Boudicca in the best manuscripts of Tacitus, but also Βουδουικα, Βουνδουικα, the Gaulish version is attested in inscriptions as Boudiga in Bordeaux, Boudica in Lusitania, and Bodicca in Algeria. The closest English equivalent to the vowel in the first syllable is the ow in bow-and-arrow, the modern English pronunciation is /ˈbuːdɪkə/, and it has been suggested that the most comparable English name, in meaning only, would be Victoria. Tacitus and Cassius Dio agree that Boudica was of royal descent, Dio describes her as possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women. He also describes her as tall, with hair hanging down to below her waist, a harsh voice. He notes that she wore a large golden necklace, a colourful tunic. Boudicca’s husband, Prasutagus, was the king of the Iceni, the Iceni initially voluntarily allied with Rome following Claudiuss conquest of southern Britain AD43
Boudica
–
Queen Boudica in
John Opie 's painting "Boadicea Haranguing the Britons"
Boudica
–
Boadicea and Her Daughters by
Thomas Thornycroft, standing near
Westminster Pier, London
29.
Lucullus
–
Lucius Licinius Lucullus was an optimate politician of the late Roman Republic, closely connected with Lucius Cornelius Sulla. His command style received unusually favourable attention from ancient military experts and he also patronized the arts and sciences lavishly, transforming his hereditary estate in the highlands of Tusculum into a hotel-and-library complex for scholars and philosophers. He built the horti Lucullani, the famous Gardens of Lucullus, on the Pincian Hill in Rome and he died during the winter of 57-56 BC. and was buried at the family estate near Tusculum. The conquest agnomen of Ponticus is sometimes appended to his name in modern texts. In ancient sources it is ever attributed to his consular colleague Marcus Aurelius Cotta after the latters capture. Lucullus was a member of the prominent gens Licinia, and of the family, or stirps of the Luculli and he was grandson of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and son of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who was convicted for embezzlement and exiled in 102/1 from his Sicilian command of 103-2. His first known service was as tribune of soldiers serving in Sullas army in Campania during the bellum Italicum. Lucullus was probably the Quaestor mentioned as the officer in Sullas army who could stomach accompanying the Consul when he marched on Rome. In autumn of the same year Sulla sent Lucullus ahead of him to Greece to take over the command of the Mithridatic War in his name and he initially made Crete, and is said to have won over the cities to the Roman side. From there he crossed to Cyrene where the famous Hellenic colony in Africa was in dire condition following a vicious, after Lucullus had defeated the Mithridatic admiral Neoptolemus in the Battle of Tenedos, he helped Sulla cross the Aegean to Asia. After a peace had been agreed, Lucullus stayed in Asia, Lucullus, however, tried to lessen the burden that these impositions created. Lucullus returned in 80 BC and was elected curule aedile for 79, along with his brother Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, Plutarchs biography entirely ignores this period,78 BC to 75 BC, jumping from Sullas death to Lucullus consulate. Sulla dedicated his memoirs to Lucullus, and upon his death made him guardian of his son Faustus, shortly after this, in 74, he became consul, and defended Sullas constitution from the efforts of Lucius Quinctius. On arrival, Lucullus set out from his province to relieve the besieged Cotta in Bithynia and he harried the army of Mithridates and killed many of his soldiers. He then turned to the sea and raised a fleet amongst the Greek cities of Asia, with this fleet he defeated the enemys fleet off Ilium and then off Lemnos. Turning back to the land, he drove Mithridates back into Pontus and he was wary of drawing into a direct engagement with Mithridates, due to the latters superior cavalry. But after several battles, Lucullus finally defeated him at the Battle of Cabira. He did not pursue Mithridates immediately, but instead he finished conquering the kingdom of Pontus and his attempts to reform the rapacious Roman administration in Asia made him increasingly unpopular among the powerful publicani back in Rome
Lucullus
–
Engraving of a marble bust traditionally said to be Lucullus (
Hermitage Museum)
30.
Mithridates VI of Pontus
–
He is often considered the greatest ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus. Mithridates VI was a prince of Persian and Greek ancestry, Mithridates was born in the Pontic city of Sinope, and was raised in the Kingdom of Pontus. He was the first son among the children born to Laodice VI and his father, Mithridates V, was a prince and the son of the former Pontic monarchs Pharnaces I of Pontus and his wife-cousin Nysa. His mother, Laodice VI, was a Seleucid princess and the daughter of the Seleucid monarchs Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Mithridates V was assassinated in about 120 BC in Sinope, poisoned by unknown persons at a lavish banquet which he held. He left the kingdom to the joint rule of Mithridates mother, Laodice VI, Mithridates, neither Mithridates nor his younger brother were of age, and their mother retained all power as regent for the time being. Laodice VI’s regency over Pontus was from 120 BC to 116 BC, during his mother’s regency, he escaped from his mothers plots against him, and went into hiding. Mithridates emerged from hiding, returning to Pontus between 116 BC and 113 BC and was hailed as king and he removed his mother and brother from the throne, imprisoning both, becoming the sole ruler of Pontus. Laodice VI died in prison, ostensibly of natural causes, Mithridates Chrestus may have died in prison also, or may have been tried for treason and executed. Mithridates first married his younger sister Laodice, aged 16 and his goal was to preserve the purity of their bloodline, solidify his claim to the throne, to co-rule over Pontus, and to ensure the succession to his legitimate children. Mithridates entertained ambitions of making his state the dominant power in the Black Sea and he first subjugated Colchis, a region east of the Black Sea, and prior to 164 BC, an independent kingdom. He then clashed for supremacy on the Pontic steppe with the Scythian King Palacus, the young king then turned his attention to Anatolia, where Roman power was on the rise. He contrived to partition Paphlagonia and Galatia with King Nicomedes III of Bithynia and it soon became clear to Mithridates that Nicomedes was steering his country into an anti-Pontic alliance with the expanding Roman Republic. When Mithridates fell out with Nicomedes over control of Cappadocia, and defeated him in a series of battles, the next ruler of Bithynia, Nicomedes IV of Bithynia, was a figurehead manipulated by the Romans. Mithridates plotted to overthrow him, but his attempts failed and Nicomedes IV, instigated by his Roman advisors, Rome itself was involved in the Social War, a civil war with its Italian allies. Thus, in all of Roman Asia Province there were two legions present in Macedonia. These legions combined with Nicomedes IVs army to invade Mithridates kingdom of Pontus in 89 BC, Mithridates, however, won a decisive victory, scattering the Roman-led forces. His victorious forces were welcomed throughout Anatolia, the following year,88 BC, Mithridates orchestrated a massacre of Roman and Italian settlers remaining in several Anatolian cities, essentially wiping out the Roman presence in the region. This episode is known as the Asiatic Vespers, the Kingdom of Pontus comprised a mixed population in its Ionian Greek and Anatolian cities
Mithridates VI of Pontus
–
Mithridates VI from the
Musée du Louvre
Mithridates VI of Pontus
–
A coin depicting Mithridates VI
Mithridates VI of Pontus
–
De medicina
Media related to Cassius Dio at Wikimedia Commons
Works written by or about Cassius Dio at Wikisource
