1.
Acropolis
–
An acropolis is a settlement, especially a citadel, built upon an area of elevated ground—frequently a hill with precipitous sides, chosen for purposes of defense. An example in Ireland is the Rock of Cashel, Acropolis is also the term used by archaeologists and historians for the urban Castro culture settlements located in Northwestern Iberian hilltops. The most famous example is the Acropolis of Athens, which, by reason of its historical associations, although originating in the mainland of Greece, use of the acropolis model quickly spread to Greek colonies such as the Dorian Lato on Crete during the Archaic Period. Because of its classical Hellenistic style, the ruins of Mission San Juan Capistranos Great Stone Church in California, other parts of the world developed other names for the high citadel or alcázar, which often reinforced a naturally strong site. In Central Italy, many small rural communes still cluster at the base of a fortified habitation known as La Rocca of the commune. The term acropolis is also used to describe the complex of overlapping structures, such as plazas and pyramids, in many Maya cities, including Tikal
2.
Province of Naples
–
The Province of Naples was a province in the Campania region of southern Italy, since January 2015 has been replaced by the Metropolitan City of Naples. The province of Naples is the most densely populated in Italy, at the 2013 census were all located in the province, as were 10 of the top 15. It has an area of 1,171.13 km², largest communities in the Napoli metropolitan area), The area is particularly fruitful for tourism, both national and international. Together they are known as the Campanian Archipelago. On Capri, there is the famous Blue Grotto, inside the grotto the sea seems to be lit from underwater, it is a magnificent blue colour, hence its name. The Sorrentine Peninsula has long being a destination for tourism, it is well known for the drink Limoncello. It is rich with villas, castles, guard towers, churches, the most popular sport in the province is football. This area was one of the first in Southern Italy to start playing sports, the most successful club from the province are by far SSC Napoli, who have won Serie A twice and the UEFA Cup while Diego Maradona was with the club
3.
Campania
–
Campania is a region in Southern Italy. Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean Sea to the west, it includes the small Phlegraean Islands, Campania was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was part of Magna Græcia. During the Roman era, the area maintained a Greco-Roman culture, the capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regard to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Velia. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, the rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri. During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece, known as Cumaeans, another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, moved down from central Italy into Campania. The Roman consul Quintus Publilius Filo recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC, the Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south. Campania was a part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC, valued for its pastures. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, during the Pyrrhic War the battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum, which grew in stature until it was only to Capua in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua, in a bid for equality with Rome, the rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained allies of Rome. Naples resisted Hannibal due to the imposing walls, Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious. The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised. As part of the Roman Empire, Campania, with Latium, Roman Emperors chose Campania as a holiday destination, among them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri. It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania, Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time. Unfortunately, the period of calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which buried the cities of Pompeii. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire, under the Normans, the smaller independent states were brought together as part of the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period elements of Spanish, French
4.
Magna Graecia
–
The settlers who began arriving in the 8th century BC brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, such as in the culture of ancient Rome. Most notably the Roman poet Ovid referred to the south of Italy as Magna Graecia in his poem Fasti, according to Strabo, Magna Graecias colonization started already at the time of the Trojan War and lasted for several centuries. Also during that period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Eastern Libya and they included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of Italy Magna Graecia since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks, the ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria, Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions. With colonization, Greek culture was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites, an original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic civilisations. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis, Syracuse, Acragas Paestum, other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum, Epizephyrian Locri, Rhegium, Croton, Thurii, Elea, Nola, Ancona, Syessa, Bari and others. Following the Pyrrhic War in the 3rd century BC, Magna Graecia was absorbed into the Roman Republic, a remarkable example of the influence is the Griko-speaking minority that still exists today in the Italian regions of Calabria and Apulia. Griko is the name of a language combining ancient Doric, Byzantine Greek, there is a rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now but once numerous, to around 30,000 people, most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Some scholars, such as Gerhard Rohlfs, argue that the origins of Griko may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia, one example is the Griko people, some of whom still maintain their Greek language and customs. For example, Greeks re-entered the region in the 16th and 17th century in reaction to the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Ottoman Empire, especially after the end of the Siege of Coron, large numbers of Greeks took refuge in the areas of Calabria, Salento and Sicily. Greeks from Coroni, the so-called Coronians, were nobles, who brought with them substantial movable property and they were granted special privileges and tax exemptions. Other Greeks who moved to Italy came from the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese, the Maniots were known for their proud military traditions and for their bloody vendettas, many of which still continue today. Another group of Maniot Greeks moved to Corsica, Ancient Greek dialects Greeks in Italy Italiotes Graia Graïke Graecus Griko people Griko language Hellenic civilization Names of the Greeks Cerchiai L. Jannelli L. Longo F. The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily, in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 21 June,2005,17,19 GMT18,19 UK, salentinian Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece. Traditional Griko song performed by Ghetonia, traditional Griko song performed by amateur local group. Second Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Southern Italy, the Greeks in the West, genetic signatures of the Hellenic colonisation in southern Italy and Sicily
5.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
Euboea
–
Euboea or Evia is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece, in general outline it is a long and narrow, seahorse-shaped island, it is about 180 kilometres long, and varies in breadth from 50 kilometres to 6 kilometres. It forms most of the unit of Euboea, which also includes Skyros. Its ancient and current name, Εὔβοια, derives from the words εὖ good, the phrase στὸν Εὔριπον to Evripos, rebracketed as στὸ Νεὔριπον to Nevripos, became Negroponte in Italian by folk etymology, the ponte bridge being interpreted as the bridge of Chalcis. That name entered common use in the West in the 13th century, with variants being Egripons, Negripo. Under Ottoman rule, the island and its capital were known as Eğriboz or Ağriboz, Euboea was believed to have originally formed part of the mainland, and to have been separated from it by an earthquake. This is fairly probable, because it lies in the neighbourhood of a fault line, in the neighbourhood of Chalcis, both to the north and the south, the bays are so confined as to make plausible the story of Agamemnons fleet having been detained there by contrary winds. At Chalcis itself, where the strait is narrowest at only 40 m, the extraordinary changes of tide that take place in this passage have been a subject of note since classical times. At one moment the current runs like a river in one direction, a bridge was first constructed here in the twenty-first year of the Peloponnesian War. Geography and nature divide the island itself into three parts, the fertile and forested north, the mountainous centre, with agriculture limited to the coastal valleys. The main mountains include Dirfi, Pyxaria in the northeast and Ochi, the neighboring gulfs are the Pagasetic Gulf in the north, Malian Gulf, North Euboean Gulf in the west, the Euboic Sea and the Petalion Gulf. At the 2001 census the island had a population of 198,130, the history of the island of Euboea is largely that of its two principal cities, Chalcis and Eretria, both mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships. Both cities were settled by Ionian Greeks from Attica, and would eventually settle numerous colonies in Magna Graecia and Sicily, such as Cumae and Rhegium and this opened new trade routes to the Greeks, and extended the reach of western civilization. The classicist Barry B. Powell has proposed that Euboea may have been where the Greek alphabet was first employed, 775-750 BC, and that Homer may have spent part of his life on the island. Chalcis and Eretria were rival cities, and appear to have been equally powerful for a while, one of the earliest major military conflicts in Greek history took place between them, known as the Lelantine War, in which many other Greek city-states also took part. Following the infamous battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium, Persian forces captured and sacked Athens, and also took Euboea, Boeotia, in 490 BC, Eretria was utterly ruined and its inhabitants were transported to Persia. Though it was restored nearby its original site after the Battle of Marathon, both cities gradually lost influence to Athens, which saw Euboea as a strategic territory. Euboea was an important source of grain and cattle, and controlling the island meant Athens could prevent invasion, Athens invaded Chalcis in 506 BC and settled 4,000 Attic Greeks on their lands
7.
Archaic Greece
–
According to Anthony Snodgrass, the Archaic period in ancient Greece was bounded by two revolutions in the Greek world. The Archaic period saw developments in Greek politics, economics, international relations, warfare and it laid the groundwork for the Classical period, both politically and culturally. The word archaic derives from the Greek word archaios, which means old and it refers to the period in ancient Greek history before the classical. The Archaic period was considered to have been less important and historically interesting than the classical period. More recently, however, Archaic Greece has come to be studied for its own achievements, with this reassessment of the significance of the Archaic period, some scholars have objected to the term archaic, due to its connotations in English of being primitive and outdated. No term which has suggested to replace it has gained widespread currency, however. Much of our evidence about the period of ancient Greece comes from written histories. By contrast, we have no evidence from the Archaic period. We have written accounts of life in the period in the form of poetry, and epigraphical evidence, including parts of law codes, inscriptions on votive offerings, however, none of this evidence is in the quantity for which we have it in the classical period. What is lacking in evidence, however, is made up for in the rich archaeological evidence from the Archaic Greek world. Indeed, where much of our knowledge of classical Greek art comes from later Roman copies, other sources for the period are the traditions recorded by later Greek writers such as Herodotus. However, these traditions are not part of any form of history as we would recognise it today, indeed, Herodotus does not even record any dates before 480 BC. Politically, the Archaic period saw the development of the polis as the predominant unit of political organisation, many cities throughout Greece came under the rule of autocratic leaders, called tyrants. The period also saw the development of law and systems of communal decision-making, with the earliest evidence for law codes, by the end of the Archaic period, both the Athenian and Spartan constitutions seem to have developed into their classical forms. The Archaic period saw significant urbanisation, and the development of the concept of the polis as it was used in classical Greece. The urbanisation process in Archaic Greece known as synoecism – the amalgamation of small settlements into a single urban centre – took place in much of Greece in the eighth century BC. Both Athens and Argos, for instance, began to coalesce into single settlements around the end of that century and these two factors created a need for a new form of political organisation, as the political systems in place at the beginning of the Archaic period quickly became unworkable. Though in the part of the classical period the city of Athens was both culturally and politically dominant, it was not until the late sixth century that it became a leading power in Greece
8.
High Middle Ages
–
The High Middle Ages or High Medieval Period was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, by 1250 the robust population increase greatly benefited the European economy, reaching levels that would not be seen again in some areas until the 19th century. This trend was checked in the Late Middle Ages by a series of calamities, notably the Black Death but also including numerous wars, from about the year 780 onwards, Europe saw the last of the barbarian invasions and became more socially and politically organized. The Carolingian Renaissance led to scientific and philosophical revival of Europe, the first universities were established in Bologna, Paris, Oxford and Modena. The Vikings had settled in the British Isles, France and elsewhere, the Magyars had ceased their expansion in the 10th century, and by the year 1000, a Christian Kingdom of Hungary was recognized in Central Europe, forming alliances with regional powers. With the brief exception of the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, in the 11th century, populations north of the Alps began to settle new lands, some of which had reverted to wilderness after the end of the Roman Empire. In what is known as the clearances, vast forests. At the same time settlements moved beyond the boundaries of the Frankish Empire to new frontiers in Europe, beyond the Elbe River. The High Middle Ages produced many different forms of intellectual, spiritual, the rediscovery of the works of Aristotle led Thomas Aquinas and other thinkers of the period to develop Scholasticism, a combination of Catholicism and ancient philosophy. For much of the time period Constantinople remained Europes most populous city, in architecture, many of the most notable Gothic cathedrals were built or completed during this era. The Crisis of the Late Middle Ages, beginning at the start of the 14th century, in England, the Norman Conquest of 1066 resulted in a kingdom ruled by a Francophone nobility. The Normans invaded Ireland by force in 1169 and soon established throughout most of the country. Likewise, Scotland and Wales were subdued to vassalage at about the same time, the Exchequer was founded in the 12th century under King Henry I, and the first parliaments were convened. In 1215, after the loss of Normandy, King John signed the Magna Carta into law, from the mid-tenth to the mid-11th centuries, the Scandinavian kingdoms were unified and Christianized, resulting in an end of Viking raids, and greater involvement in European politics. King Cnut of Denmark ruled over both England and Norway, after Cnuts death in 1035, England and Norway were lost, and with the defeat of Valdemar II in 1227, Danish predominance in the region came to an end. Meanwhile, Norway extended its Atlantic possessions, ranging from Greenland to the Isle of Man, while Sweden, under Birger Jarl, however, the Norwegian influence started to decline already in the same period, marked by the Treaty of Perth of 1266. Also, civil wars raged in Norway between 1130 and 1240, by the time of the High Middle Ages, the Carolingian Empire had been divided and replaced by separate successor kingdoms called France and Germany, although not with their modern boundaries. Germany was under the banner of the Holy Roman Empire, which reached its mark of unity
9.
Cumaean Sibyl
–
The Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. The word sibyl comes from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess, there were many sibyls in different locations throughout the ancient world. Centuries ago, concurrent with the 50th Olympiad not long before the expulsion of Romes kings, tarquin then relented and purchased the last three at the full original price, whereupon she disappeared from among men. The books were kept in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, Rome. The temple burned down in the 80s BC, and the books with it and these were carefully sorted and those determined to be legitimate were saved in the rebuilt temple. The Emperor Augustus had them moved to the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill, the Cumaean Sibyl is featured in the works of, among others, Virgil, Ovid and Petronius. The Cumaean Sibyl prophesied by “singing the fates” and writing on oak leaves and these would be arranged inside the entrance of her cave but, if the wind blew and scattered them, she would not help to reassemble the leaves to form the original prophecy again. The Sibyl was a guide to the underworld, its entry being at the crater of Avernus. All night long, all day, the doors of Hades stand open, but to retrace the path, to come up to the sweet air of heaven, That is labour indeed. The Sibyl acts like a bridge between the world and the deads sphere. She shows the way to Aeneas, and she teaches him what he has to know facing the dangers of their journey in the underworld, although she was a mortal, the Sibyl lived about a thousand years. This came about when Apollo offered to grant her a wish in exchange for her virginity, she took a handful of sand, later, after she refused the gods love, he allowed her body to wither away because she failed to ask for eternal youth. Her body grew smaller with age and eventually was kept in a jar, eventually only her voice was left. In the Middle Ages, both the Cumaean Sibyl and Virgil were considered prophets of the birth of Christ, because the fourth of Virgils Eclogues appears to contain a Messianic prophecy by the Sibyl. In it, she foretells the coming of a saviour, whom Christians identified as Jesus and this was seized on by early Christians as such—one reason why Dante Alighieri later chose Virgil as his guide through the underworld in The Divine Comedy. Virgil may have influenced by Hebrew texts, according to Tacitus. The title of Sylvia Plaths semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar has been said to be a reference to the ampulla in which the Sibyl lived, robert Graves fashioned a poetic prophesy by the Sibyl to bind the story together in his work of historical fiction, I, Claudius. Geoffrey Hills poem After Cumae in For the Unfallen also refers to the Sibyls mouthy cave and she edited these writings into the current first-person narrative of a man living at the end of the 21st century, which proves to be the end of humanity
10.
Battle of Cumae
–
The Battle of Cumae was a naval battle in 474 BC between the combined navies of Syracuse and Cumae against the Etruscans. The Greek city of Cumae was founded in 8th century BC in an area towards the southern Etruscan border, by 504 the southern Etruscans were defeated by the Cumaeans, but they still maintained a powerful force. In 474 they were able to raise a fleet to launch an attack on Cumae. After he was called for military assistance Hiero I of Syracuse allied with forces from the maritime Greek cities of southern Italy to defend against Etruscan expansion into southern Italy. In 474 they met and defeated the Etruscan fleet at Cumae in the Bay of Naples, after their defeat, the Etruscans lost much of their political influence in Italy. They lost control of the sea and their territories were taken over by the Romans, Samnites. The Syracusans dedicated a captured Etruscan helmet at the panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia. The Etruscans would later join the failed Athenian expedition against Syracuse in 415 BC, the battle was later honored in Pindars first Pythian Ode
11.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
12.
Italian language
–
By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
13.
Tyrrhenian Sea
–
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy, the sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian peninsula to the east, and the island of Sicily. The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres, the Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet, therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the part of the sea. On the Southwest, A line running from Cape Lilibeo to the South extreme of Cape Teulada in Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio, A line joining the West extreme of Cape Testa in Sardinia with the Southwest extreme of Cape Feno in Corsica. On the North, A line joining Cape Corse in Corsica, with Tinetto Island and thence through Tino, there are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea, The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins, the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the ridge known as the Issel Bridge. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans, who were said to be emigrants from Lydia, the Etruscans settled along the coast of modern Tuscany and referred to the water as the Sea of the Etruscans. The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are, Naples, Palermo, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Trapani, in France the most important port is Bastia. Note that even though the port of Rome is frequently used. Instead, the port of Rome refers to the facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is an island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground a few metres off the coast of Giglio, the ship was recently removed and towed to Genoa. In Greek mythology, it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed the four winds kept by Aeolus, the winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south
14.
Bacoli
–
Bacoli is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 kilometres west of Naples. Bacoli borders the municipalities of Monte di Procida and Pozzuoli and its territory, of volcanic origin, is part of the Phlegraean Fields. The volcano of Cape Miseno and the Miseno port date from c, the frazione of Cuma - Fusaro includes the site of Cumae, the first settlement in Italy by the ancient Greeks. The archaeologial remains of Baiae are also located in the comune, the frazione of Miliscola was, in the Roman Empire, the seat of a military school Kymi, Greece, since 1983 Marche region, Italy, since 2001 Kobani, Syria, since 2015 Official website
15.
Eretria
–
Eretria is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th/5th century BC, mentioned by famous writers. Excavations of the ancient city began in the 1890s and have been conducted since 1964 by the Greek Archaeological Service and the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece. The first evidence for activity in the area of Eretria are pottery shards. No permanent structures have yet been found and it is therefore unclear whether a permanent settlement existed at that time. The first known settlement from the Early Helladic period was located in the plain, a granary and several other buildings as well as a pottery kiln have been found so far. This settlement was moved to the top of the Acropolis in the Middle Helladic period, in the Late Helladic period, the population dwindled and the remains found so far have been interpreted as an observation post. The site was abandoned during the Greek Dark Ages, the oldest archaeological finds date the foundation of the city to the 9th century BC. It was probably founded as the harbour of Lefkandi, which is located 15 km to the west, the name comes from the Greek ἐρέτης, erétēs, rower, and the verb ἐρέσσειν/ἐρέττειν, eréssein/eréttein, to row, which makes Eretria the City of the Rowers. Eretrias population and importance increased at the time as Lefkandi began to decline in importance from c.825 BC onwards. The natural superiority of Eretrias harbour and the importance of trade to the Euboeans is one explanation for this gradual population migration from Lefkandi to Eretria. The earliest surviving mention of Eretria was by Homer, who listed Eretria as one of the Greek cities which sent ships to the Trojan War, in the 8th century BC, Eretria and her near neighbour and rival, Chalcis, were both powerful and prosperous trading cities. Eretria controlled the Aegean islands of Andros, Tenos and Ceos and they also held territory in Boeotia on the Greek mainland. Eretria was also involved in the Greek colonisation and founded the colonies of Pithekoussai, at the end of the 8th century BC, however, Eretria and Chalcis fought a prolonged war for control of the fertile Lelantine plain. Little is known of the details of war, but it is clear that Eretria was defeated. The city was destroyed and Eretria lost her lands in Boeotia, neither Eretria nor Chalcis ever again counted for much in Greek politics. As a result of defeat, Eretria turned to colonisation. She planted colonies in the northern Aegean, on the coast of Macedon, the Eretrians were Ionians and were thus natural allies of Athens
16.
Chalcis
–
Chalcis or Chalkida is the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός, in the late Middle Ages, it was known as Negropont, a name that was applied to the entire island of Euboea as well. The earliest recorded mention of Chalcis is in the Iliad, where it is mentioned in the line as its rival Eretria. It is also documented that the set for the Trojan War gathered at Aulis. Chamber tombs at Trypa and Vromousa dated to the Mycenaean period were excavated by Papavasiliou in 1910. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, colonists from Chalcis founded thirty townships on the peninsula of Chalcidice and several important cities in Magna Graecia, such as Naxos, Rhegion and Cumae. Its mineral produce, metal-work, purple and pottery not only found markets among these settlements, early in the 6th century BC, its prosperity was broken by a disastrous war with the Athenians, who expelled the ruling aristocracy and settled a cleruchy on the site. Chalcis subsequently became a member of both the Delian Leagues, in the Hellenistic period, it gained importance as a fortress by which the Macedonian rulers controlled central Greece. It was used by kings Antiochus III of Syria and Mithradates VI of Pontus as a base for invading Greece, under Roman rule, Chalcis retained a measure of commercial prosperity. The city is recorded as a city in the 6th-century Synecdemus and mentioned by the contemporary historian Procopius of Caesarea, the town survived an Arab naval raid in the 880s and its bishop is attested in the 869–70 Church council held at Constantinople. By the 12th century, the featured a Venetian trading station, being attacked by the Venetian fleet in 1171 and eventually seized by Venice in 1209. For Westerners, its name was Negropont or Negroponte. The town was a condominium between Venice and the Veronese barons of the rest of Euboea, known as the triarchs, who resided there. Chalcis or Negroponte became a Latin Church diocese, the first bishop being Theodorus, the Greek bishop of the see, a large hoard of late medieval jewellery dating from Venetian times was found in Chalcis Castle in the nineteenth century and is now in the British Museum. The synagogue dated to around 1400 and that siege is the subject of the Rossini opera Maometto II. The Ottomans made it the seat of the Admiral of the Archipelago, in 1688, it was successfully held by the Ottomans against a strong Venetian attack. The modern town received an impetus in its trade from the establishment of railway connection with Athens. The old town, called the Castro, was surrounded by a circuit of defense walls until they were completely razed for urban development around the start of the 20th century
17.
Metropolis
–
The term is Greek and means the mother city of a colony, that is, the city which sent out settlers. This was later generalized to a city regarded as a center of an activity, or any large. A big city belonging to an urban agglomeration, but which is not the core of that agglomeration, is not generally considered a metropolis. The plural of the word is most commonly metropolises, although the correct plural is metropoles, in the ancient past, metropolis was the designation for a city or state of origin of a colony. Many large cities founded by ancient civilizations have been considered important world metropoles of their times due to their large populations, some of these ancient metropoles survived until the modern days and are among the worlds oldest continuously inhabited cities. This usage equates the province with the diocese or episcopal see, in modern usage the word has come to refer to a metropolitan area, a set of adjacent and interconnected cities clustered around a major urban center. In this sense, metropolitan usually means spanning the whole metropolis or proper of a metropolis, the concept of a global city is of a city that has a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socioeconomic means. The term has become familiar, because of the rise of globalization. An attempt to define and categorize world cities by financial criteria was made by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, the study ranked cities based on their provision of advanced producer services such as accountancy, advertising, finance and law. The inventory identifies three levels of cities and several sub-ranks. A metropolis is not necessarily a global city—or, being one, it not be among the top-ranking—due to its standards of living, development. A metropolis that is also a city is a global metropolis. Cairo and Alexandria are considered Egypts biggest metropolis, lagos is Nigerias biggest metropolis city. In South Africa, a municipality or Category A municipality is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a conurbation. This is by contrast to areas which are rural, where the local government is divided into district municipalities. There are eight municipalities in South Africa. In the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, there are eleven metropolitan areas, Dhaka North, Dhaka South, Gazipur Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barisal, lands are highly priced and residents are considered to have a better urban lifestyle. Special police departments are allotted for the cities, and there are city corporations for which mayors are elected for five-year regimes
18.
Pithecusae
–
Ischia or Archipelago Campano is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the end of the Gulf of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands, roughly trapezoidal, it measures approximately 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has about 34 km of coastline and a surface area of 46.3 square kilometres. It is almost entirely mountainous, the highest peak is Mount Epomeo, the island is very densely populated, with 60,000 residents. Ischia is the name of the comune of the island. The other comuni of the island are Barano dIschia, Casamicciola Terme, Forio, Lacco Ameno, the roughly trapezoidal island is formed by a complex volcano immediately southwest of the Campi Flegrei area at the western side of the Bay of Naples. The eruption of the trachytic Green Tuff ignimbrite about 56,000 years ago was followed by caldera formation, the highest point of the island, Monte Epomeo, is a volcanic horst consisting of a Green Tuff ignimbrite deposit that was submerged after its eruption and then uplifted. Many small monogenetic volcanoes were formed around the uplifted block, volcanism during the Holocene produced a series of pumiceous tephras, tuff rings, lava domes, and lava flows. The latest eruption of Ischia, in 1302, produced a cone and the Arso lava flow. Special researches on local cetaceans have been conducted to monitor and protect this bio-diversity, Virgil poetically referred to it as Inarime and still later as Arime. Martianus Capella followed Virgil in this name, which was never in common circulation, the Romans called it Aenaria. Arime and Pithekousai both appear to derive from words for monkey, however, Pliny derives the Greek name from the local ceramic clay deposits, not from píthēkos, he explains the Latin name Aenaria as connected to a landing by Aeneas. If the island actually was, like Gibraltar, home to a population of monkeys, an acropolis site of the Monte Vico area was inhabited from the Bronze Age, as Mycenaean and Iron Age pottery finds attest. Euboean Greeks from Eretria and Chalcis arrived in the 8th century BC to establish an emporium for trade with the Etruscans of the mainland and this settlement was home to a mixed population of Greeks, Etruscans, and Phoenicians. The ceramic Euboean artifact inscribed with a reference to Nestors cup was discovered in a grave on the island in 1953, engraved upon the cup are a few lines written in the Greek alphabet. Dating from c.730 BC, it is one of our most important testimonies to the early Greek alphabet, according to certain scholars the inscription also might be the oldest written reference to the Iliad. In 474 BC, Hiero I of Syracuse came to the aid of the Cumaeans and he occupied Ischia and the surrounding Parthenopean islands and left behind a garrison to build a fortress before the city of Ischia itself. This was still extant in the Middle Ages, but the garrison fled before the eruptions of 470 BC
19.
Ischia
–
Ischia or Archipelago Campano is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the end of the Gulf of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands, roughly trapezoidal, it measures approximately 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has about 34 km of coastline and a surface area of 46.3 square kilometres. It is almost entirely mountainous, the highest peak is Mount Epomeo, the island is very densely populated, with 60,000 residents. Ischia is the name of the comune of the island. The other comuni of the island are Barano dIschia, Casamicciola Terme, Forio, Lacco Ameno, the roughly trapezoidal island is formed by a complex volcano immediately southwest of the Campi Flegrei area at the western side of the Bay of Naples. The eruption of the trachytic Green Tuff ignimbrite about 56,000 years ago was followed by caldera formation, the highest point of the island, Monte Epomeo, is a volcanic horst consisting of a Green Tuff ignimbrite deposit that was submerged after its eruption and then uplifted. Many small monogenetic volcanoes were formed around the uplifted block, volcanism during the Holocene produced a series of pumiceous tephras, tuff rings, lava domes, and lava flows. The latest eruption of Ischia, in 1302, produced a cone and the Arso lava flow. Special researches on local cetaceans have been conducted to monitor and protect this bio-diversity, Virgil poetically referred to it as Inarime and still later as Arime. Martianus Capella followed Virgil in this name, which was never in common circulation, the Romans called it Aenaria. Arime and Pithekousai both appear to derive from words for monkey, however, Pliny derives the Greek name from the local ceramic clay deposits, not from píthēkos, he explains the Latin name Aenaria as connected to a landing by Aeneas. If the island actually was, like Gibraltar, home to a population of monkeys, an acropolis site of the Monte Vico area was inhabited from the Bronze Age, as Mycenaean and Iron Age pottery finds attest. Euboean Greeks from Eretria and Chalcis arrived in the 8th century BC to establish an emporium for trade with the Etruscans of the mainland and this settlement was home to a mixed population of Greeks, Etruscans, and Phoenicians. The ceramic Euboean artifact inscribed with a reference to Nestors cup was discovered in a grave on the island in 1953, engraved upon the cup are a few lines written in the Greek alphabet. Dating from c.730 BC, it is one of our most important testimonies to the early Greek alphabet, according to certain scholars the inscription also might be the oldest written reference to the Iliad. In 474 BC, Hiero I of Syracuse came to the aid of the Cumaeans and he occupied Ischia and the surrounding Parthenopean islands and left behind a garrison to build a fortress before the city of Ischia itself. This was still extant in the Middle Ages, but the garrison fled before the eruptions of 470 BC
20.
Kymi, Greece
–
Kymi is a coastal town and a former municipality in the island of Euboea, Greece, named after an ancient Greek place of the same name. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kymi-Aliveri, the municipal unit has an area of 167.616 km2. The ancient Euboean Kyme is mentioned as a harbor town related to the more prominent poleis of Chalkis, together with these, it is sometimes named as the founding metropolis of the homonymous Kymē in Italy, an important early Euboean colony, which was probably named after it. There are few or no traces of ancient Euboean Kyme. A Bronze Age settlement has been excavated in nearby Mourteri, some modern authors believe that Kyme never existed as an independent polis in historical times but that it was a mere village dependent on either Chalkis or Eretria. Visitors have plenty to see in Kymi, a small town. It is also the reason why they called Balcony of the Aegean, Kymi has one of the largest artificial ports in the country and efforts to provide this transportation hub in the eastern Aegean islands and northern Greece. At the same time the City Kymi is in terms of vegetation of the greenest of Greece and is second all in clean sands. Interesting for the spots are numerous. The most famous agricultural products produced in Kymi is figs, cherries, from products to purely local color distinguish the cocoon display handicrafts made from cocoons, and many kinds of sweets such as baklava and almond. The road network in the Kymi region is quite underdeveloped, there is only one major road connecting the city of Kymi with Chania Avlonariou, Aliveri and from there to the Greek National Road 44 towards Chalkis and Karystos. Kymi has a few basketball courts, as well as a football pitch. There is also a club called Kymi Sports Club with teams in football, basketball and volleyball
21.
Iron Age
–
The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions, meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper, stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however, steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more common in lower-priced goods
22.
Cimmerians
–
The Cimmerians are an ancient people, first mentioned in the late 8th century BC in Assyrian records. Likely originating in the Pontic steppe and invading by means of the Caucasus, they probably assaulted Urartu and they were defeated by Assyrian forces under Sargon II in 705 and turned towards Anatolia, conquering Phrygia in 696/5. They reached the height of their power in 652 after taking Sardis, soon after 619, Alyattes of Lydia defeated them. There are no mentions of them in historical sources. The origin of the Cimmerians is unclear and they are mostly supposed to have been related to either Iranian or Thracian speaking groups which migrated under pressure of the Scythian expansion of the 9th to 8th century BC. This association is controversial, or at best conventional, and is not to be taken as a claim that specific artifacts are to be associated with the Cimmerians of the Greek or Assyrian record. The term Thraco-Cimmerian was first introduced by I, sir Henry Layards discoveries in the royal archives at Nineveh and Calah included Assyrian primary records of the Cimmerian invasion. These records appear to place the Cimmerian homeland, Gamir, south rather than north of the Black Sea, the first record of the Cimmerians appears in Assyrian annals in the year 714 BC. These describe how a people termed the Gimirri helped the forces of Sargon II to defeat the kingdom of Urartu and their original homeland, called Gamir or Uishdish, seems to have been located within the buffer state of Mannae. The later geographer Ptolemy placed the Cimmerian city of Gomara in this region, the Assyrians recorded the migrations of the Cimmerians, as the former peoples king Sargon II was killed in battle against them while driving them from Persia in 705 BC. The Cimmerians were subsequently recorded as having conquered Phrygia in 696–695 BC, in 679 BC, during the reign of Esarhaddon of Assyria, they attacked the Assyrian colonies Cilicia and Tabal under their new ruler Teushpa. Esarhaddon defeated them near Hubushna, and they also met defeat at the hands of his successor Ashurbanipal. A people named Kimmerior is described Homers Odyssey as living beyond the Oceanus, in a land of fog and darkness, at the edge of the world, according to Herodotus, the Cimmerians had been expelled from their homeland between the Tyras and Tanais rivers by the Scythians. Unreconciled to Scythian advances, to burial in their ancestral homeland. The Cimmerian commoners buried the bodies along the river Tyras and fled across the Caucasus, Herodotus also names a number of Cimmerian kings, including Tugdamme, and Sandakhshatra. In 654 BC or 652 BC – the exact date is unclear – the Cimmerians attacked the kingdom of Lydia, killing the Lydian king Gyges and causing great destruction to the Lydian capital of Sardis. They returned ten years later during the reign of Gyges son Ardys II, the Cimmerian occupation of Lydia was brief, however, possibly due to an outbreak of plague. They were beaten back by Alyattes II of Lydia and this defeat marked the effective end of Cimmerian power
23.
Peninsula
–
A peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on the majority of its border, while being connected to a mainland from which it extends out. Examples include the upper and lower peninsulas of the state of Michigan, the surrounding water is usually understood to be continuous, though not necessarily named as a single body of water. Peninsulas are not always named as such, one can also be a headland, cape, island promontory, bill, point, a point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape. A river which courses through a very tight meander is also said to form a peninsula within the loop of water. In English, the plural of peninsula is peninsulas or, less commonly, peninsulas can be found on coastlines and in smaller bodies of water throughout the world, ranging in scale from square meters to millions of square kilometers. Theres the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, and in Southern Europe theres the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian Peninsula, south America has the Brunswick Peninsula, and Antarctica has the Antarctic Peninsula. In Africa, theres the Horn of Africa, and in Australia, asia has the 3 largest peninsulas in the world, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Peninsula, and the Indochinese Peninsula
24.
Archaic Greek alphabets
–
The system now familiar as the standard 24-letter Greek alphabet was originally the regional variant of the Ionian cities in Asia Minor. It was officially adopted in Athens in 403 BC and in most of the rest of the Greek world by the middle of the 4th century BC, the green type is the most archaic and closest to the Phoenician. The red type is the one that was transmitted to the West and became the ancestor of the Latin alphabet. The blue type is the one from which the later standard Greek alphabet emerged, *Upsilon is also derived from waw. The green type uses no additional letters beyond the Phoenician set, thus, the aspirated plosives /pʰ/, /kʰ/ are spelled either simply as Π and Κ respectively, without a distinction from unaspirated /p/, /k/, or as digraphs ΠΗ, ΚΗ. Likewise, the clusters /ps/, /ks/ are simply spelled ΠΣ and this is the system found in Crete and in some other islands in the southern Aegean, notably Thera, Melos and Anaphe. The red type also lacks Phoenician-derived Ξ for /ks/, but instead introduces a supplementary sign for that sound combination at the end of the alphabet, in addition, the red alphabet also introduced letters for the aspirates, Φ = /pʰ/ and Ψ = /kʰ/. Note that the use of Χ in the red set corresponds to the letter X in Latin, while it differs from the later standard Greek alphabet, where Χ stands for /kʰ/, only Φ for /pʰ/ is common to all non-green alphabets. The red type is found in most parts of central mainland Greece, as well as the island of Euboea, the light blue type still lacks Ξ, and adds only letters for /pʰ/ and /kʰ/. Both of these correspond to the standard alphabet. The light blue system thus still has no letters for the clusters /ps/, /ks/. In this system, these are typically spelled ΦΣ and ΧΣ and this is the system found in Athens and several Aegean islands. The dark blue type, finally, is the one that has all the consonant symbols of the standard alphabet, in addition to Φ and Χ, it also adds Ψ. This system is found in the cities of the Ionian dodecapolis, Knidos in Asia Minor, in the psilotic dialects of Anatolia and adjacent eastern Aegean islands, as well as Crete, vocalic Η was used only for /ɛː/. In a number of Aegean islands, notably Rhodes, Milos, Santorini and Paros, in Knidos, a variant letter was invented to distinguish the two functions, Η was used for /h/, and for /ɛː/. In south Italian colonies, especially Taranto, after c.400 BC and this latter symbol was later turned into the diacritic sign for rough breathing by the Alexandrine grammarians. The normal letter epsilon was used exclusively for the latter, while a new special symbol stood both for short /e/ and for /ɛː/, the letter Digamma for the sound /w/ was generally used only in those local scripts where the sound was still in use in the spoken dialect. During the archaic period, this includes most of mainland Greece, as well as Euboea, in Athens and in Naxos it was apparently used only in the register of poetry
25.
Etruscan civilization
–
The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, the latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by ancient Greece, Magna Graecia, and Phoenicia. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands, the last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC. Politics were based on the city, and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them. The study also excluded recent Anatolian connection, the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia, the word may also be related to the Hittite Taruisa. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna, the origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC, repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians with Pelasgians. Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates, pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History, Adjoining these the Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy, therefore, much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods, another source of genetic data on Etruscan origins is from four ancient breeds of cattle. Analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of these and seven other breeds of Italian cattle, the other Italian breeds were linked to northern Europe. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania, some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean, from the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces
26.
Ancient Rome
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
27.
Latin alphabet
–
The Latin alphabet is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world. It is the script of the English language and is often referred to simply as the alphabet in English. It is an alphabet which originated in the 7th century BC in Italy and has changed continually over the last 2500 years. It has roots in the Semitic alphabet and its offshoot alphabets, the Phoenician, Greek, the phonetic values of some letters changed, some letters were lost and gained, and several writing styles developed. Two such styles, the minuscule and majuscule hands, were combined into one script with alternate forms for the lower and upper case letters, due to classicism, modern uppercase letters differ only slightly from their classical counterparts. The Latin alphabet started out as uppercase serifed letters known as roman square capitals, the lowercase letters evolved through cursive styles that developed to adapt the formerly inscribed alphabet to being written with a pen. Throughout the ages, many stylistic variations of each letter have evolved that are still identified as being the same letter. From the Cumae alphabet, the Etruscan alphabet was derived, the Latins ultimately adopted 21 of the original 26 Etruscan letters. Gaius Julius Hyginus, who recorded much Roman mythology, mentions in Fab, the Parcae, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos invented seven Greek letters — A B H T I Y. Others say that Mercury invented them from the flight of cranes, which, palamedes, too, son of Nauplius, invented eleven letters, Simonides, too, invented four letters — Ó E Z PH, Epicharmus of Sicily, two — P and PS. The Greek letters Mercury is said to have brought to Egypt, Cadmus in exile from Arcadia, took them to Italy, and his mother Carmenta changed them to Latin to the number of 15. Apollo on the added the rest. The original Latin alphabet was, The oldest Latin inscriptions do not distinguish between /ɡ/ and /k/, representing both by C, K and Q according to position, K was used before A, Q was used before O or V, C was used elsewhere. This is explained by the fact that the Etruscan language did not make this distinction, C originated as a turned form of Greek Gamma and Q from Greek Koppa. In later Latin, K survived only in a few such as Kalendae, Q survived only before V. G was later invented to distinguish between /ɡ/ and /k/, it was simply a C with an additional diacritic. C stood for /ɡ/ I stood for both /i/ and /j/, V stood for both /u/ and /w/. K was marginalized in favour of C, which stood for both /ɡ/ and /k/
28.
Messina
–
Messina is the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, opposite Villa San Giovanni on the mainland, according to Eurostat the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014,277,584 inhabitants. The citys main resources are its seaports, cruise tourism, commerce, the city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city has the University of Messina, founded in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola, Messina has a light rail system, Tranvia di Messina, that was opened on 3 April 2003. This line is 7.7 kilometres and links the central railway station with the city centre. The city is home to a significant Greek-speaking minority, rooted in its history, founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, Messina was originally called Zancle, from the Greek ζάγκλον meaning scythe because of the shape of its natural harbour. A comune of its Metropolitan City, located at the entrance of the Strait of Messina, is to this day called Scaletta Zanclea. In the early 5th century BC, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honour of the Greek city Messene, the city was sacked in 397 BC by the Carthaginians and then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse. In 288 BC the Mamertines seized the city by treachery, killing all the men, the city became a base from which they ravaged the countryside, leading to a conflict with the expanding regional empire of Syracuse. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River, carthage assisted the Mamertines because of a long-standing conflict with Syracuse over dominance in Sicily. When Hiero attacked a second time in 264 BC, the Mamertines petitioned the Roman Republic for an alliance, although initially reluctant to assist lest it encourage other mercenary groups to mutiny, Rome was unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and encroach on Italy. Rome therefore entered into an alliance with the Mamertines, in 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily, the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian Peninsula. At the end of the First Punic War it was a city allied with Rome. In Roman times Messina, then known as Messana, had an important pharos, Messana was the base of Sextus Pompeius, during his war against Octavian. In 1548 St. Ignatius founded there the first Jesuit college in the world, the Christian ships that won the Battle of Lepanto left from Messina, the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who took part in the battle, recovered for some time in the Grand Hospital. The city reached the peak of its splendour in the early 17th century, under Spanish domination, in 1674 the city rebelled against the foreign garrison. A massive fortress was built by the occupants and Messina decayed steadily, in 1743,48,000 died of plague in the city. In 1783, an earthquake devastated much of the city, and it took decades to rebuild, in 1847 it was one of the first cities in Italy where Risorgimento riots broke out
29.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
30.
Puteoli
–
Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia, the Roman colony was established in 194 BC, and took the name Puteoli which it has his roots from puteus, meaning well and osco fistulus. An alternative etymology of Puteoli from the Latin puteo, referring to the smell in the area. This is because Pozzuoli lies in the center of the Campi Flegrei, Puteoli was the great emporium for the Alexandrian grain ships, and other ships from all over the Roman world. It also was the hub for goods exported from Campania, including blown glass, mosaics, wrought iron. The Roman naval base at nearby Misenum housed the largest naval fleet in the ancient world and it was also the site of the Roman Dictator Sullas country villa and the place where he died in 78 BC. The local volcanic sand, pozzolana formed the basis for the first effective concrete, instead of just evaporating slowly off, the water would turn this sand/lime mix into a mortar strong enough to bind lumps of aggregate into a load-bearing unit. This made possible the cupola of the Pantheon, which is still the worlds largest unreinforced concrete dome, the apostle Paul landed here on his way to Rome, from which it was 170 miles distant. Here he stayed for seven days and then began with his companions his journey by the Appian Way to Rome, Puteoli is considered the best candidate for the unnamed city where the 1st century Roman novel Satyricon takes place. Saint Proculus was martyred here with his companions in the fourth century, the seven eagle heads on the coat-of-arms for the town of Pozzuoli are said to represent seven of these martyrs. November 16 was the official feast day for Saint Proculus, st. Proculus was affectionately nicknamed u pisciasotto because November 16 was often a day of rain. The townspeople also celebrated his feast day on the second Sunday in May, charles Lyell visited Pozzuoli in 1828 and studied the Macellum columns. The events raised the sea bottom by almost 2 m, the towns attractions include, The Macellum of Pozzuoli, also known as the Temple of Serapis or serapeum, is considered the citys symbol. The temple was actually a marketplace and its name derives from the misinterpretation of its function after a statue of the god Serapis was found in 1750 at this location. Flavian Amphitheater, the third largest Italian amphitheater after the Colosseum, Solfatara Forum Minor Amphitheater, very near to the Flavian one, its remains were absorbed by other buildings, but some arches can be seen by Via Solfatara and Via Vigna. Villa Avellino, one of the few urban parks of Pozzuoli and it also shows several Roman ruins and water tanks. There is also a still working Roman face water fountain, rione Terra, the first settlement of Puteoli, originally Dicearkia in Greek
31.
Miseno
–
Miseno is one of the frazioni of the municipality of Bacoli in the Italian Province of Naples. Known in ancient times as Misenum, it is the site of an ancient port in Campania, nearby Cape Miseno marks the northwestern end of the Bay of Naples. According to mythology, Misenum was named after Misenus, a companion of Hector, Misenus is supposed to have drowned near here after a trumpet competition with the sea-god Triton, as recounted in Virgils Aeneid. In 38 BC, Misenum was the site where a pact was made between Octavian, and his rival Sextus Pompeius. In ancient times, Misenum was the largest base of the Roman navy, since its port was the base of the Classis Misenensis and it was first established as a naval base in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa, the right-hand man of the emperor Augustus. With its gorgeous natural setting close to the base and the nearby important Roman cities of Puteoli and Neapolis. Pliny the Elder was the praefect in charge of the fleet at Misenum in AD79, at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Seeing the beginnings of the eruption, Pliny left for a view and to effect a possible rescue. The account of his death is given by his nephew Pliny the Younger, the church of San Sossio stands here. It is said to be the birthplace of Saint Sossius, a deacon who was martyred with Proculus of Pozzuoli and it is also the place of death of Emperor Tiberius. Misenum is one of the settings in Robert Harris novel Pompeii, whose protagonist, Attilius. In the novel Ben-Hur, Misenum is the location of a villa owned by Quintus Arrius later bequeathed to his adopted son Judah Ben-Hur, the Ben-Hur family would later live in Misenum. Media related to Miseno at Wikimedia Commons The Church of St. Sossio in Miseno
32.
Naples
–
Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
33.
Thucydides
–
Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC and his text is still studied at both universities and military colleges worldwide. The Melian dialogue remains a work of international relations theory while Pericles Funeral Oration is widely studied in political theory, history. More generally, Thucydides showed an interest in developing an understanding of nature to explain behaviour in such crises as plague, massacres, as in that of the Melians. In spite of his stature as a historian, modern historians know relatively little about Thucydidess life, the most reliable information comes from his own History of the Peloponnesian War, which expounds his nationality, paternity and native locality. Thucydides informs us that he fought in the war, contracted the plague and was exiled by the democracy and he may have also been involved in quelling the Samian Revolt. Thucydides identifies himself as an Athenian, telling us that his fathers name was Olorus and he survived the Plague of Athens that killed Pericles and many other Athenians. He also records that he owned gold mines at Scapte Hyle, because of his influence in the Thracian region, Thucydides wrote, he was sent as a strategos to Thasos in 424 BC. During the winter of 424–423 BC, the Spartan general Brasidas attacked Amphipolis, eucles, the Athenian commander at Amphipolis, sent to Thucydides for help. Thus, when Thucydides arrived, Amphipolis was already under Spartan control, Amphipolis was of considerable strategic importance, and news of its fall caused great consternation in Athens. It was blamed on Thucydides, although he claimed that it was not his fault, using his status as an exile from Athens to travel freely among the Peloponnesian allies, he was able to view the war from the perspective of both sides. During his exile from Athens, Thucydides wrote his most famous work History of the Peloponnesian War, because he was in exile during this time, he was free to speak his mind. This is all that Thucydides wrote about his own life, but a few facts are available from reliable contemporary sources. Herodotus wrote that the name Olorus, Thucydidess fathers name, was connected with Thrace, Thucydides was probably connected through family to the Athenian statesman and general Miltiades, and his son Cimon, leaders of the old aristocracy supplanted by the Radical Democrats. Cimons maternal grandfathers name was also Olorus, making the connection exceedingly likely, another Thucydides lived before the historian and was also linked with Thrace, making a family connection between them very likely as well. Finally, Herodotus confirms the connection of Thucydidess family with the mines at Scapté Hýlē, in essence, he was a well-connected gentleman of considerable resources who, by then retired from the political and military spheres, decided to fund his own historical project. The remaining evidence for Thucydidess life comes from rather less reliable later ancient sources, pausanias goes on to say that Thucydides was murdered on his way back to Athens. Many doubt this account, seeing evidence to suggest he lived as late as 397 BC, Plutarch claims that his remains were returned to Athens and placed in Cimons family vault
34.
Daunians
–
The Daunians were an Iapygian tribe which inhabited northern Apulia in classical antiquity. Together with the Peucetians and the Messapians they constituted the Iapygians and they shared the Messapian language with these two other tribes, but had developed a separate archaeological culture by the seventh century BC. They occupied a region called the Daunia, which extended from the Ofanto river in the southeast to the Gargano peninsula in the northwest and this region is mostly coincident with the Province of Foggia today. Towards the late Bronze Age, Illyrian populations from the eastern Adriatic arrived in Apulia, the region was previously inhabited by Italic peoples of Southern Italy, among them are the Ausones/Oscans, Sabines, Lucani, Paeligni, Bruttii, Campanians, Aequi, Samnites and Frentani. The Dauni were similar to but also different from the Peucetii and Messapii, particularly striking is the Daunian pottery which begins with geometric patterns but which eventually includes crude human, bird and plant figures. The ethnonym is connected to the name of the wolf, plausibly the totemic animal of this nation, the cult of the wolf was widespread in ancient Italy and was related to the Arcadian mystery cult. In fact, daunos means wolf, according to ancient glosses, among the Daunian towns one may mention Lucera and among other nations the ethnonym of the Lucani and that of the Hirpini, from another word meaning wolf. The outcome of the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirate dh is proper of the Illyrian languages and so is different from the corresponding Latin faunus and Oscan, which is not attested. There are numerous testimonies among ancient authors of a presence of the Daunians beyond the Apennines in Campania, the most notable instance is Ardea, the centre of the Rutulians who were considered Daunians, Vergil writes that Turnus father was Daunus. Festus writes that a King Lucerus of Ardea fought along with Romulus against Tatius and this is the origin of the name of the Roman Luceres
35.
Aurunci
–
The Aurunci were an Italic tribe which lived in southern Italy from around the 1st millennium BC. They were eventually defeated by Rome and subsumed into the Roman Republic during the half of the 4th century BC. Aurunci is the name given by Roman writers to an ancient race or nation of Italy, in like manner, Festus makes the mythical hero Auson the founder of the city of Aurunea. Servius terms the Aurunci one of the most ancient nations of Italy, on the east and south they bordered closely on the Sidicini of Teanum and the people of Cales, who, according to Livy, were also of Ausonian race, but were politically distinct from the Auruncans. Virgil evidently regards these hills as the abode of the Auruncan. But the first occasion on which appear in Roman history exhibits them in a very different light, as a warlike and powerful nation. Their territory was included in Campania. The Aurunci mountains and the town of Sessa Aurunca bears the Auruncis name. Ausones Aurunca Osci List of ancient Italic peoples This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Bunbury. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography
36.
Capua
–
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now, the name of Capua comes from the Etruscan Capeva. The meaning is City of Marshes and its foundation is attributed by Cato the Elder to the Etruscans, and the date given as about 260 years before it was taken by Rome. If this is true it refers not to its capture in the Second Punic War but to its submission to Rome in 338 BC, placing the date of foundation at about 600 BC, while Etruscan power was at its highest. In the area several settlements of the Villanovian civilization were present in prehistoric times, Etruscan supremacy in Campania came to an end with the Samnite invasion in the latter half of the 5th century BC. About 424 BC it was captured by the Samnites and in 343 BC besought Roman help against its conquerors, the citizens of Capua received the civitas sine suffragio. In the second Samnite War with Rome, Capua proved an untrustworthy Roman ally, so that after the defeat of the Samnites and it was the capital of Campania Felix. In 312 BC, Capua was connected with Rome by the construction of the Via Appia, the most important of the military highways of Italy. The gate by which it left the Servian walls of Rome bore the name Porta Capena, livy and others have suggested that the luxurious conditions were Hannibals Cannae because his troops became soft and demoralized by luxurious living. Historians from Bosworth Smith onwards have been skeptical of this, observing that his troops gave as good an account of themselves in battle after that winter as before. Considerable difficulties occurred in preventing illegal encroachments by private persons, and it was, after that period, let, not to large but to small proprietors. Frequent attempts were made by the leaders to divide the land among new settlers. Brutus in 83 BC actually succeeded in establishing a colony, but it was soon dissolved, the town of Capua belonged to none of these organizations, and was entirely dependent on the praefecti. Its luxury remained proverbial, and Campania is especially spoken of as the home of gladiatorial combats, from the gladiatorial schools of Campania came Spartacus and his followers in 73 BC. The number of colonists was increased by Mark Antony, Augustus, in the war of 69 it took the side of Vitellius. Under Constantine we hear of the foundation of a Christian church in Capua, in 456 it was taken and destroyed by the Vandals under Gaiseric, but must have been soon rebuilt. During the Gothic War, Capua suffered greatly, when the Lombards invaded Italy in the second half of the 6th century, Capua was ravaged, later, it was included in the Duchy of Benevento, and ruled by an official styled gastald. In 839, the prince of Benevento, Sicard, was assassinated by Radelchis I of Benevento, sicards brother Siconulf was proclaimed independent prince in Salerno and the gastald of Capua declared himself independent
37.
Livy
–
Livy and Augustuss wife, Livia, were from the same clan in different locations, although not related by blood. Livy was born as Titus Livius in Patavium in northern Italy, there is a debate about the year of Titus Livius birth,64 BC or more likely 59 BC. At the time of his birth, his city of Patavium was the second wealthiest on the Italian peninsula. Patavium was a part of the province of Cisalpine Gaul at the time, in his works, Livy often expressed his deep affection and pride for Patavium, and the city was well known for its conservative values in morality and politics. Livy’s teen years were during the 40s BC, a time that coincided with the wars that were occurring throughout the Roman world. The governor of Cisalpine Gaul at the time, a man called Asinius Pollio, had tried to bring Patavium into the camp of Marcus Antonius, the wealthier citizens of Patavium refused to contribute money and arms to Asinius Pollio, and went into hiding. Therefore, Livy and the residents of Patavium did not end up supporting Marcus Antonius in his campaign for control over Rome. Later on, Asinius Pollio made a jibe at Livys patavinity and his jibe at Livy and his patavinity, however, may have been said because the city of Patavium had rejected Asinius Pollio, and he still harboured harsh feelings toward the city as a whole. Titus Livius probably went to Rome in the 30s BC, and it is likely that he spent an amount of time in the city after this. During his time in Rome, he was never a senator nor held any other governmental position and his elementary mistakes in military matters show that he was never a soldier. However, he was educated in philosophy and rhetoric and it seems that Livy had the financial resources and means to live an independent life. He devoted a part of his life to his writings. Livy was known to give recitations to small audiences, but he was not heard of to engage in declamation and he was familiar with the emperor Augustus, formerly Octavian, and the imperial family. Octavian was one of the three men fighting for the control of Rome during the Civil Wars in the 40s BC, Octavian gained power after defeating Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra, and was later given the honorary name of Augustus. Considering that Augustus came to be known as the greatest Roman emperor in the eyes of the Romans and it is said that Livy was the one who encouraged the future emperor Claudius, who was born in 10 BC, to explore the writing of history during his childhood. Livy himself was married and had at least one daughter and one son, Livy’s most famous work was his history of Rome. In it he explains the history of the city of Rome. Because he was writing under the emperor Augustus, Livy’s history emphasizes the great triumphs of Rome and he wrote his history with embellished accounts of Roman heroism in order to promote the new type of government implemented by Augustus when he became emperor
38.
Roman Senate
–
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
39.
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
–
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final king of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, from his cognomen Superbus, ancient accounts of the Regal period mingle history and legend. His reign is described as a tyranny that justified the abolition of the monarchy, Tarquin was the son or grandson of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, and Tanaquil. According to an Etruscan tradition, the hero Macstarna, usually equated with Servius Tullius, defeated and killed a Roman named Gnaeus Tarquinius and this may recollect an otherwise forgotten attempt by the sons of Tarquin the elder to reclaim the throne. To forestall further dynastic strife, Tullius married his daughters, known to history as Tullia Major and Tullia Minor, to Lucius Tarquinius, the future king and their sister, Tarquinia, married Marcus Junius Brutus, and was the mother of Lucius Junius Brutus. The elder Tullia was of mild disposition, yet married the ambitious Lucius Tarquinius, after the murder of their siblings, Lucius and Tullia were married. Together, they had three sons, Titus, Arruns, and Sextus, and a daughter, Tarquinia, who married Octavius Mamilius, Tullia encouraged her husband to advance his own position, ultimately persuading him to usurp the throne. Tarquin solicited the support of the senators, especially those from families who had received their senatorial rank under Tarquin the Elder. He bestowed presents upon them, and spread criticism of Servius the king, in time, Tarquin felt ready to seize the throne. He went to the senate-house with a group of armed men, sat himself on the throne, and summoned the senators to attend upon King Tarquin. The kings retainers fled, and as he made his way, dazed and unattended, toward the palace, Tullia, meanwhile, drove in her chariot to the senate-house, where she was the first to hail her husband as king. But Tarquin bade her return home, concerned that the crowd might do her violence, as she drove toward the Urbian Hill, her driver stopped suddenly, horrified at the sight of the kings body, lying in the street. But in a frenzy, Tullia herself seized the reins, the kings blood spattered against the chariot and stained Tullias clothes, so that she brought a gruesome relic of the murder back to her house. The street where Tullia disgraced the dead king afterward became known as the Vicus Sceleratus, Tarquin commenced his reign by refusing to bury the dead Servius, and then putting to death a number of leading senators, whom he suspected of remaining loyal to Servius. By not replacing the slain senators, and not consulting the senate on matters of government, in another break with tradition, Tarquin judged capital crimes without the advice of counselors, causing fear amongst those who might think to oppose him. He made an ally when he betrothed his daughter to Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum. Early in his reign, Tarquin called a meeting of the Latin leaders to discuss the bonds between Rome and the Latin towns, the meeting was held at a grove sacred to the goddess Ferentina. At the meeting, Turnus Herdonius inveighed against the Tarquins arrogance, Tarquin then bribed Turnus servant to store a large number of swords in his masters lodging
40.
King of Rome
–
The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for an average of 35 years, the kings after Romulus were not known to be dynasts and no reference is made to the hereditary principle until after the fifth king Tarquinius Priscus. Consequently, some have assumed that the Tarquins and their attempt to institute a hereditary monarchy over this conjectured earlier elective monarchy resulted in the formation of the republic, early Rome was not self-governing, and was ruled by the king. The king possessed absolute power over the people, the senate was a weak oligarchy, capable of exercising only minor administrative powers, so that Rome was ruled by its king who was in effect an absolute monarch. The senates main function was to out and administer the wishes of the king. Candidates for the throne could be chosen from any source, for example, one such candidate, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was originally a citizen and migrant from a neighboring Etruscan city-state. The people of Rome, sitting as the Curiate Assembly, could either accept or reject the nominated candidate-king. The insignia of the king was twelve lictors wielding the fasces, a throne of a Curule chair, the purple Toga Picta, red shoes, only the king could wear a purple toga. The people knew the king as a mediator between them and the gods and thus viewed the king with religious awe and this made the king the head of the national religion and its chief executive. Having the power to control the Roman calendar, he conducted all religious ceremonies and appointed lower religious offices and it was Romulus who instituted the augurs and who was believed to have been the best augur of all. Likewise, King Numa Pompilius instituted the pontiffs and through them developed the foundations of the dogma of Rome. Beyond his religious authority, the king was invested with the military, executive. The imperium of the king was held for life and protected him from ever being brought to trial for his actions. As being the owner of imperium in Rome at the time. His executive power and his sole imperium allowed him to issue decrees with the force of law, also, the laws that kept citizens safe from the misuse of magistrates owning imperium did not exist during the times of the king. Another power of the king was the power to appoint or nominate all officials to offices. The king would appoint a tribunus celerum to serve as both the tribune of Ramnes tribe in Rome but also as the commander of the personal bodyguard
41.
Battle of Lake Regillus
–
The Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary Roman victory over the Latin League shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic and as part of a wider Latin War. The Latins were led by an elderly Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, who had expelled in 509 BC, and his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius. The battle marked the final attempt of the Tarquins to reclaim their throne, according to legend, Castor and Pollux fought on the side of the Romans. The threat of invasion by Romes former allies in Latium led to the appointment of Aulus Postumius Albus as dictator, the year in which the battle occurred is unclear, and has been since ancient times. Livy places the battle in 499 BC, but says some of his sources also suggest the battle occurred during Postumius consulship in 496 BC, the other major source for this historical period, Dionysius of Halicarnassus also places the battle in 496 BC. Modern authors have also suggested 493 BC or 489 BC, Lake Regillus was located in the relic of a volcanic crater between Rome and Tusculum. The lake was drained in the fourth century BC, the dictator Postumius led the Roman infantry, while Titus Aebutius Elva was Master of the Horse. Tarquin was accompanied by his eldest and last remaining son, Titus and it was said that the presence of the Tarquinii caused the Romans to fight more passionately than in any previous battle. Early in the battle, the king was injured attacking Postumius, the magister equitum charged at Mamilius, and both were wounded, Aebutius in the arm, and the Latin dictator in the chest. The magister equitum had to withdraw from the field, and direct his troops from a distance, as the outcome of the battle seemed in doubt, Postumius ordered the equites to dismount and attack on foot, forcing the Latins to retreat and capturing the Latin camp. Tarquin and the Latin army abandoned the field, and the result was a decisive Roman victory, Postumius and his army returned to Rome, where the dictator celebrated a triumph. A popular legend reported that the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, fought alongside the Romans, Postumius ordered a temple built in their honour in the Roman Forum, in the place where they had watered their horses. In the nineteenth century, the battle was celebrated in Thomas Macaulays Lays of Ancient Rome, from the Founding of the City. Livy, Ab urbe condita Book II cap, Ab Urbe Condita The Battle of Lake Regillus poem from Macaulays Lays of Ancient Rome. Cornell, Tim, The Beginnings of Rome, Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, C. 1000-263 BC, Routledge,1995
42.
Latin League
–
The Latin League was an ancient confederation of about 30 villages and tribes in the region of Latium near the ancient city of Rome, organized for mutual defense. The term Latin League is one coined by modern historians with no precise Latin equivalent and it was originally created for protection against enemies from surrounding areas under the leadership of the city of Alba Longa. An incomplete fragment of a recorded by Cato the Elder tells us that at one time the league included Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Lavinium, Cora, Tibur, Pometia. During the reign of Tarquinius Superbus, the Latins were persuaded to acknowledge the leadership of Rome. The treaty with Rome was renewed, and it was agreed that the troops of the Latins would attend on a day to form a united military force with the troops of Rome. That was done, and Tarquin formed combined units of Roman, the early Roman Republic formed an alliance with the Latin League in 493 BC. According to Roman tradition, the treaty, the foedus Cassianum and it provided that both Rome and the Latin League would share loot from military conquests and that any military campaigns between the two would be led by Roman generals. The alliance helped repel attacks from such peoples as the Aequi and the Volsci, tribes of the Apennine Mountains and it is still unclear if the Latins had accepted Rome as one into the League, or if the treaty had been signed as between Rome and the Latin League. The increasing power of Rome gradually led to its domination of the league, the renewal of the original treaty in 358 BC formally established Roman leadership and eventually triggered the outbreak of the Latin War. Following the Roman victory, the league was dissolved, after 338 BC, the end of the Latin league, Rome renamed the cities municipia and established coloniae inside them. This meant that the towns were now ruled by Rome and that the living there were considered Roman colonists. Alba Longa, Ardea, Aricia, Cora, Lanuvium, Lavinium, Pometia, Tibur, and Tusculum
