1.
Domus Aurea (Antioch)
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Domus Aurea or the Great Church in Antioch was the cathedral where the Patriarch of Antioch preached. It was one of the churches whose construction was started during the reign of Constantine the Great and it is thought to have been sited on an island where the Imperial Palace of Antioch used to stand during the Seleucid period. From 526 to 587 it suffered from a series of earthquakes, fires and Persian attacks, before being destroyed in another earthquake in 588. Construction of the church was started in 327, during the reign of Constantine the Great, the new church was dedicated in a ceremony on 6 January 341, in the presence of both Constans and Constantius II and a gathering of ninety-seven bishops, which formed the dedication council. It was built on the island between the two branches of the Orontes River, where the Imperial Palace was located. It has not proved possible to establish the site of the church with any greater certainty. The only known depiction of the Domus Aurea is the Megalopsychia Hunt Mosaic, or Yakto mosaic, from the second half of the fifth century, found in the ancient suburb of Antioch. Eusebius in his Life of Constantine, describes the Domus Aurea as being octagonal in plan, sited in a large enclosure, the domed roof, which was made of wood, reached a great height and was gilded inside. The floor consisted of polished marble and every part of the building was decorated with brass, gold. It has been proposed that it was similar in structure to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Julian moved to Antioch in 362, soon after becoming the sole ruler of the eastern empire, following the death of Constantius II. He had the body of Saint Babylas removed from the martyrium near the temple of Apollo at Daphne, when the temple burned down, shortly thereafter, Julian was furious, suspecting the Christians and in response closed the Great Church, removing its liturgical vessels. This act effectively brought his attempts to restore Hellenism in Antioch to an end, the earthquake of late May 526 badly damaged the great church, but still left it standing. However, seven days later the fires that had been burning since the earthquake struck finally destroyed the church, the great church was rebuilt by Ephraim, the comes Orientis, and partly for that reason he was persuaded to become the new Patriarch of Antioch in 528. On 29 November 528 another earthquake struck the city and the church was again destroyed. It was again rebuilt by Ephraim, being rededicated in 537/538 and it was rebuilt for the last time by Justinian I, but was damaged by earthquakes in 551,557 and 577, giving a northward tilt to the dome. The final destruction of the church occurred on 31 October 588. It is said that although the rest of the church was destroyed, after this earthquake it appears that no attempt was made to reconstruct the great church. History of Roman and Byzantine domes
2.
14 regions of Augustan Rome
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In 7 BC, Augustus divided the city of Rome into 14 administrative regions. These replaced the four regiones or quarters traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius and they were further divided into official neighborhoods. Originally designated by number, the regions acquired nicknames from major landmarks or topographical features within them, Regio I took its name from the Porta Capena, a gate through the Servian Walls which the Appian Way takes to get into the city. Beginning from this to the south of the Caelian Hill, it runs to the track of the Aurelian Walls. Regio II encompassed the Caelian Hill, Regio IV took its name from the Temple of Peace built in the region by Vespasian. It includes the valley between the Esquiline and the Viminal hills, the area of the Subura, and the Velian Hill. The name of Regio V derives from the Esquiline hill and it contains parts of the Oppian and Cispian and of the Esquiline, plus the plain just outside the Servian walls. The name of Regio VI derives from the passing over the Quirinal Hill. It was a large regio that encompassed also the Viminal Hill, the slopes of the Pincian. Its major landmarks included the Baths of Diocletian, the Baths of Constantine, temples to Quirinus, Salus, and Flora were also located in Regio VI, and the Castra Praetoria. The Aurelian Wall marked most of its eastern and northern edge, with the Argiletum and Vicus Patricius on the south, the name of Regio VII was derived from the via Flaminia which runs between the Servian walls and the future Aurelian Walls. This was an urban street, corresponding to the modern via del Corso. The regio contained part of the Campus Martius on the east of the street plus the Collis Hortulorum, the name derives from the racecourse located in the southern end of the Campus Martius, close to Tiber Island. The region contains part of the Campus Martius, on the west side of via Lata, the Palatine Hill gave its name to Regio X. Regio XI took its name from the Circus Maximus, located in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine. It contained the Circus Maximus, the Velabrum, as well as the next to the Forum Boarium. Regio XII took its name from the Piscina Publica, a monument that disappeared during the Empire and it had the high ground where the church of San Saba is at present, plus its ramifications towards the Appian Way, where Caracallas baths were. In the 180s, a bank and exchange for Christians operated in the area, Regio XIII contained the Aventine Hill and the plain in front of it, along the Tiber. Here was the Emporium, the first port on the river, Regio XIV contained Tiber Island and all the parts of Rome west beyond the Tiber
3.
Nero
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Nero was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, during his reign, the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire. His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a revolt in Britain, Nero annexed the Bosporan Kingdom to the empire and may have begun the First Jewish–Roman War. In 64 AD, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, Suetonius, writing a generation later, claims that many Romans believed Nero himself had started the fire, in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. In 68, the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne, facing a false report of being denounced as a public enemy who was to be executed, he committed suicide on 9 June 68. His death ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty, sparking a period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Neros rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance and he is known for many executions, including that of his mother, and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother Britannicus. Nero was rumored to have had captured Christians dipped in oil and this view is based on the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, the main surviving sources for Neros reign, but a few sources paint Nero in a more favourable light. Some sources, including some mentioned above, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people, some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Neros tyrannical acts. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, Nero, was born on 15 December 37 in Antium and he was the only son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, sister of Emperor Caligula. Neros father, Gnaeus, was the son of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, Gnaeus was thus the grandson of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and probably Aemilia Lepida on his fathers side, and the grandson of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor on his mothers side. Thus, Nero had as his paternal grandmother Antonia Major, through Octavia, Nero was the great-nephew of Caesar Augustus. Neros father had employed as a praetor and was a member of Caligulas staff when the latter travelled to the East. Neros father was described by Suetonius as a murderer and a cheat who was charged by Emperor Tiberius with treason, adultery, Tiberius died, allowing him to escape these charges. Neros father died of edema in 39 when Nero was two, Neros mother was Agrippina the Younger, a great-granddaughter of Caesar Augustus and his wife Scribonia through their daughter Julia the Elder and her husband Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Agrippinas father, Germanicus, was a grandson of Augustuss wife, Livia, on one side and Mark Antony, Germanicus mother Antonia Minor was a daughter of Octavia Minor and Mark Antony. Germanicus was also the son of Tiberius. Agrippina poisoned her second husband Passienus Crispus, so many ancient historians also accuse her of murdering her third husband, the emperor Claudius
4.
Domus
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In ancient Rome, the domus was the type of house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It could be found in almost all the cities throughout the Roman territories. The modern English word domestic comes from Latin domesticus, which is derived from the word domus, the word dom in modern Slavic languages means home and is a cognate of the Latin word, going back to Proto-Indo-European. Along with a domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a country house known as a villa. The elite classes of Roman society constructed their residences with elaborate decorations, inlaid marble paneling, door jambs and columns as well as expensive paintings. Many poor and lower-middle-class Romans lived in crowded, dirty and mostly rundown rental apartments and these multi-level apartment blocks were built as high and tightly together as possible and held far less status and convenience than the private homes of the prosperous. The homes of the early Etruscans were simple, even for the wealthy or ruling classes and they were small familiar huts constructed on the axial plan of a central hall with an open skylight. It is believed that the Temple of Vesta was, in form, the huts were probably made of mud and wood with thatched roofs and a centre opening for the hearths smoke to escape. This could have been the beginnings of the atrium, which was common in later homes, as Rome became more and more prosperous from trade and conquest, the homes of the wealthy increased in both size and luxury emulating both the Etruscan atrium house and Hellenistic peristyle house. The domus included multiple rooms, indoor courtyards, gardens and beautifully painted walls that were laid out. The vestibulum led into a central hall, the atrium. Leading off the Atrium were cubicula a dining room triclinium where guests could recline on couches and eat dinner whilst reclining, in cities throughout the Roman Empire, wealthy homeowners lived in buildings with few exterior windows. Glass windows werent readily available, glass production was in its infancy, thus a wealthy Roman citizen lived in a large house separated into two parts, and linked together through the tablinum or study or by a small passageway. To protect the family from intruders, it would not face the streets, only its entrance providing more room for living spaces, surrounding the atrium were arranged the masters families main rooms, the small cubicula or bedrooms, the tablinum or study, and the triclinium or dining-room. Roman homes were like Greek homes, only two objects were present in the atrium of Caecilius in Pompeii, a small bronze box that stored precious family items and the lararium, a small shrine to the household gods, the Lares. In the master bedroom was a wooden bed and couch which usually consisted of some slight padding. As the domus developed, the took on a role similar to that of the study. In each of the other bedrooms there was usually just a bed, the triclinium had three couches surrounding a table
5.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
6.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
7.
Ancient Rome
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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
8.
Great Fire of Rome
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The Great Fire of Rome was an urban fire that started on the night between 18 and 19 July in the year 64 AD. It caused widespread devastation, before being brought under control after six days, differing accounts either blame Emperor Nero for initiating the fire or credit him with organizing measures to contain it and provide relief for refugees. The varying historical accounts of the event come from three secondary sources—Cassius Dio, Suetonius and Tacitus, the primary accounts, which possibly included histories written by Fabius Rusticus, Marcus Cluvius Rufus and Pliny the Elder, did not survive. At least five separate stories circulated regarding Nero and the fire, Motivated by a desire to destroy the city, Nero watched from his palace on the Palatine Hill singing and playing the lyre. Nero quite openly sent out men to set fire to the city, Nero watched from the Tower of Maecenas on the Esquiline Hill singing and playing the lyre. Nero sent out men to set fire to the city, Nero sang and played his lyre from a private stage. The fire was said to have been caused by the already unpopular Christians and this story was spread in order to blame someone else, because rumor had it that Nero started it. Tacitus describes the fire as beginning in shops where flammable goods were stored, in the region of the Circus neighboring the Caelian, the night was a windy one and the flames rapidly spread along the full length of the Circus. The fire expanded through an area of narrow, twisting streets, in this lower area of Rome there were no large buildings such as temples, or open areas of ground, to impede the conflagration. It then spread along the Palatine and Caelian slopes, the population fled first to areas unaffected by the fire and then to the open fields and rural roads outside the city. Looters and arsonists were reported to have spread the flames by throwing torches or, acting in groups, Tacitus surmises that some may have acted under orders or that they may simply have wanted to plunder unhindered. According to Tacitus, Nero was away from Rome, in Antium and he returned to the city and took measures to bring in food supplies and open gardens and public buildings to accommodate refugees. After six days the organized clearing of areas brought the conflagration to a halt before it reached the Esquiline Hill. There was an outbreak in the Aemilian district, involving the destruction of temples and arcades. However the fire was now under control, of Romes 14 districts,3 were completely devastated and only 4 completely escaped damage. Moreover, the destroyed parts of Neros own palace, the Domus Transitoria. It seems unlikely that Nero wanted to destroy this palace since he actually salvaged some of the marble decoration, even the paintings and wall decorations of the new palace were similar to the ones that had been burned. Last, the fire started just two days after a full moon, a time that, it is presumed, would not have been chosen by arsonists who would not have wished to be observed
9.
Palatine Hill
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The Palatine Hill is the centremost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Roman Forum, looking down upon it on one side, from the time of Augustus Imperial palaces were built here and hence it became the etymological origin of the word palace and its cognates in other languages. According to Livy the Palatine hill got its name from the Arcadian settlement of Pallantium, more likely, it is derived from the noun palātum palate, Ennius uses it once for the heaven, and it may be connected with the Etruscan word for sky, falad. The term palace itself stems from Palatium, according to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf Lupa that kept them alive. Another legend occuring on the Palatine is Hercules defeat of Cacus after the monster had stolen some cattle. Hercules struck Cacus with his characteristic club so hard that it formed a cleft on the southeast corner of the hill, Rome has its origins on the Palatine. Excavations show that people have lived in the area since the 10th century BC, according to Livy, after the immigration of the Sabines and the Albans to Rome, the original Romans lived on the Palatine. The Palatine Hill was also the site of the ancient festival of the Lupercalia, many affluent Romans of the Republican period had their residences there. Augustus also built a temple to Apollo here, the Palace of Domitian which dominates the site and looks out over the Circus Maximus was rebuilt largely during the reign of Domitian over earlier buildings of Nero. Later emperors particularly the Severans made significant additions to the buildings, the House of Livia, the wife of Augustus, is conventially attributed to her based only on the generic name on a clay pipe and circumstantial factors such as proximity to the House of Augustus. The building is located near the Temple of Magna Mater at the end of the hill. It is notable for its beautiful frescoes, the House of Tiberius is located next to the Temple of Cybele, on the platform built by Nero and in the current Farnese Gardens. During Augustus reign, an area of the Palatine Hill was roped off for a sort of archaeological expedition and he declared this site the original town of Rome. Modern archaeology has identified evidence of Bronze Age settlement in the area which predates Romes founding, there is a museum on the Palatine in which artifacts dating from before the official foundation of the City are displayed. The museum also contains Roman statuary, an altar to an unknown deity, once thought to be Aius Locutius, was discovered here in 1820. In July 2006, archaeologists announced the discovery of the Palatine House, head archaeologist Clementina Panella uncovered a section of corridor and other fragments under Romes Palatine Hill, which she described on July 20 as a very ancient aristocratic house. On the ground floor, three shops opened onto the Via Sacra, the location of the domus is important because of its potential proximity to the Curiae Veteres, the earliest shrine of the curies of Rome. In January 2007, Italian archeologist Irene Iacopi announced that she had found the legendary Lupercal cave beneath the remains of Augustus residence
10.
Suetonius
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Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius, was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar to Domitian and he recorded the earliest accounts of Julius Caesars epileptic seizures. Other works by Suetonius concern the life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians. A few of these books have survived, but many have been lost. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was probably born in about 69 AD, a date deduced from his remarks describing himself as a man twenty years after Neros death. His place of birth is disputed, but most scholars place it in Hippo Regius, Suetonius was a close friend of senator and letter-writer Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes him as quiet and studious, a man dedicated to writing, through Pliny, Suetonius came into favour with Trajan and Hadrian. Suetonius may have served on Pliny’s staff when Pliny was Proconsul of Bithynia Pontus between 110 and 112, under Trajan he served as secretary of studies and director of Imperial archives. Under Hadrian, he became the Emperors secretary, but, in 119, Hadrian dismissed Suetonius for the latters allegedly excessive informality with the empress Sabina. The book was dedicated to a friend Gaius Septicius Clarus, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 119. De Viris Illustribus, to belong, De Illustribus Grammaticis De Claris Rhetoribus De Poetis De Historicis Peri ton par Hellesi paidion Peri blasphemion The two last works were written in Greek. They apparently survive in part in the form of extracts in later Greek glossaries, the below listed lost works of Suetonius are from the Foreword written by Robert Graves in his translation of the Twelve Caesars. Rolfe, with an introduction by K. R. Hurley, Suetonius, J. C. Rolfe, Lives of the Caesars, Volume I. J. C. Rolfe, Lives of the Caesars, Volume II, Suetonius on Christians Barry Baldwin, Suetonius, Biographer of the Caesars
11.
Muses
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The Muses are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs and they were later adopted by the Romans as a part of their pantheon. In current English usage, muse can refer in general to a person who inspires an artist, writer, the earliest known records of the Nine Muses are from Boeotia, the homeland of Hesiod. Some ancient authorities thought that the Nine Muses were of Thracian origin, there, a tradition persisted that the Muses had once been three in number. They were again called Melete or Practice, Mneme or Memory, three ancient Muses were also reported in Plutarchs Quaestiones Convivales. According to Pausanias in the second century AD, there were three original Muses, worshiped on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, Aoidḗ, Melétē, and Mnḗmē. Together, these three form the picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshiped as well, but with other names, Nḗtē, Mésē, and Hýpatē, alternatively they later were called Kēphisṓ, Apollōnís, and Borysthenís, which names characterize them as daughters of Apollo. In later tradition, a set of four Muses were recognized, Thelxinóē, Aoidḗ Archē, one of the people frequently associated with the Muses was Pierus. By some he was called the father of a total of seven Muses, called Neilṓ, Tritṓnē, Asōpṓ, Heptápora, Achelōís, Tipoplṓ, and Rhodía. According to Hesiods Theogony, they were daughters of Zeus, the second king of the gods. For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from the deities, Uranus. Sometimes the Muses are referred to as water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and it was said that the winged horse Pegasus touched his hooves to the ground on Helicon, causing four sacred springs to burst forth, from which the muses were born. Athena later tamed the horse and presented him to the muses, classical writers set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousagetēs. In one myth, the Muses judged a contest between Apollo and Marsyas and they also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them. In a later myth, Thamyris challenged them to a singing contest and they won and punished Thamyris by blinding him and robbing him of his singing ability. He thus challenged the Muses to a match, resulting in his daughters, Pausanias records a tradition of two generations of Muses, the first are the daughters of Uranus and Gaia, the second of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another, rarer genealogy is that they are daughters of Harmonia, some Greek writers give the names of the nine Muses as Kallichore, Helike, Eunike, Thelxinoë, Terpsichore, Euterpe, Eukelade, Dia, and Enope
12.
Esquiline Hill
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The Esquiline Hill is one of the celebrated Seven Hills of Rome. Its southern-most cusp is the Oppius, the origin of the name Esquilino is still under much debate. One view is that the Hill was named after the abundance of Italian oaks, aesculi, according to Livy, the settlement on the Esquiline was expanded during the reign of Servius Tullius, Romes sixth king, in the 6th century BC. The king also moved his residence to the Hill, in order to increase its respectability and it contained terraces, libraries and other aspects of Roman culture. At the Oppius, Nero confiscated property to build his extravagant, mile-long Golden House, the 3rd century AD Horti Liciniani, a group of gardens, were probably constructed on the Esquiline Hill. Farther to the northeast, at the summit of the Cispius, is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the famous Esquiline Treasure, now in the British Museum, was found on the Esquiline Hill. The tiny hamlet of El Esquilinchuche in Honduras is named after the Esquiline Hill
13.
Caelian Hill
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The Caelian Hill is one of the famous Seven Hills of Rome, Italy. Under reign of Tullus Hostilius, the population of Alba Longa was forcibly resettled on the Caelian Hill. In Republican-era Rome the Caelian Hill was a residential district. Archaeological work under the Baths of Caracalla have uncovered the remains of lavish villas complete with murals, the Caelian is also the site of the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo and the ancient basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo, known for its centralized, circular plan. A significant area of the hill is taken up by the villa, livy, Book One Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, Caelian Hill
14.
Ancient Roman units of measurement
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The ancient Roman units of measurement were largely built on the Hellenic system, which in turn was built upon Egyptian and Mesopotamian influences. The Roman units were comparatively consistent and well documented, the basic unit of Roman linear measurement was the pes or Roman foot. Investigation of its relation to the English foot goes back at least to 1647, an accepted modern value is 296 mm. The Roman foot was sub-divided either like the Greek pous into 16 digiti or fingers, frontinus writes in the 1st century AD that the digitus was used in Campania and most parts of Italy. Columella also gives uncial divisions of the jugerum, tabulated by the translator of the 1745 Millar edition as follows, Both liquid. As no two surviving examples are identical, scholarly opinion ranges from 530 ml to 580 ml. Cardarelli gives a value 549.28 ml. A1952 estimate for its value in Pliny the Elders Natural History estimated it as 500 ml.3 ml, which falls comfortably within the accepted range. The core volume units are, amphora quadrantal – one cubic pes congius – a half-pes cube sextarius – literally 1⁄6, of a congius The units of weight or mass were mostly based on factors of 12. Several of the names were also the names of coins during the Roman Republic and had the same fractional value of a larger base unit, libra for weight. Modern estimates of the range from 322 to 329 g with 5076 grains or 328.9 g an accepted figure. The as was reduced from 12 ounces to 2 after the First Punic War, to 1 during the Second Punic War, the divisions of the libra were, The subdivisions of the uncia were, The complicated Roman calendar was replaced by the Julian calendar in 45 BC. In the Julian calendar, a year is 365 days long. Between 45 BC and AD1, leap years occurred at irregular intervals, starting in AD4, leap years occurred regularly every four years. Year numbers were used, rather, the year was specified by naming the Roman consuls for that year. When a year number was required, the Greek Olympiads were used, or the count of years since the founding of Rome, in the middle ages, the year numbering was changed to the Anno Domini count. The Romans grouped days into a cycle called a nundina. Each astrological day was reckoned to begin at sunrise, the Jews also used a seven-day week, which began Saturday evening. The seventh day of the week they called Sabbath, the days they numbered rather than named, except for Friday
15.
Bronze sculpture
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Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures, a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a bronze. It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs and it is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu. Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, then, as the bronze cools, it shrinks a little, making it easier to separate from the mould. Their strength and ductility is an advantage when figures in action are to be created and these qualities allow the creation of extended figures, as in Jeté, or figures that have small cross sections in their support, such as the equestrian statue of Richard the Lionheart. As recently as 2007 several life sized bronze sculptures by John Waddell were stolen, there are many different bronze alloys, and the term is now tending to be regarded by museums as too imprecise, and replaced in descriptions by copper alloy, especially for older objects. Typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin, alpha bronze consists of the alpha solid solution of tin in copper. Alpha bronze alloys of 4–5% tin are used to make coins, the proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The Benin Bronzes are really brass, and the Romanesque Baptismal font at St Bartholomews Church, Liège is described as both bronze and brass. In the Bronze Age, two forms of bronze were used, classic bronze, about 10% tin, was used in casting. Bladed weapons were mostly cast from bronze, while helmets. On one definition, modern statuary bronze is 90% copper and 10% tin, the great civilizations of the old world worked in bronze for art, from the time of the introduction of the alloy for edged weapons. Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro belonging to Harappan Civilization dating back to 2500 BCE is perhaps the first bronze statue of the world, the Greeks were the first to scale the figures up to life size. Few examples exist in good condition, one is the seawater-preserved bronze Victorious Youth that required painstaking efforts to bring it to its present state for museum display, far more Roman bronze statues have survived. Over the long period of Egyptian dynastic art, small lost-wax bronze figurines were made in large numbers. Sri Lankan Sinhalese Bronze statue of Buddhist Alakothiveshwara Tara Devi statue now in England is an example of Bronze statues. From the ninth through the century the Chola dynasty in South India represented the pinnacle of bronze casting in India. Making bronzes is highly skilled work, and a number of casting processes may be employed, including lost-wax casting, sand casting. The term bronze is also applied to metal sculptures made by electrotyping, although these sculptures are typically pure copper and their fabrication does not involve metal casting
16.
Colossus of Nero
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It was modified by Neros successors into a statue of the sun god Sol. It is last mentioned in the 4th century AD, the statue was eventually moved to a spot outside the Flavian Amphitheatre, which became known, by its proximity to the Colossus, as the Colosseum. The statue was placed just outside the palace entrance at the terminus of the Via Appia in a large atrium of porticoes that divided the city from the private villa. The Greek architect Zenodorus designed the statue and began construction between A. D.64 and 68, according to Pliny the Elder, the statue reached 106.5 Roman Feet in height, though other sources claim it was as much as 37 metres. Shortly after Neros death in A. D.68, the Emperor Vespasian added a crown and renamed it Colossus Solis. Around 128, Emperor Hadrian ordered the statue moved from the Domus Aurea to just northwest of the Colosseum, in order to space for the Temple of Venus. It was moved by the architect Decrianus with the use of 24 elephants, Emperor Commodus converted it into a statue of himself as Hercules by replacing the head, but after his death it was restored, and so it remained. The last mention from antiquity of the statue is the reference in the Chronography of 354, today, nothing remains of the Colossus of Nero save for the foundations of the pedestal at its second location near the Colosseum. It was possibly destroyed during the Sack of Rome in 410, or toppled in one of a series of fifth-century earthquakes, the remains of the brick-faced masonry pedestal, once covered with marble, were removed in 1936. The foundations were excavated in 1986, and can be viewed by the public, many experts agree that the name for the Colosseum is derived from this monument. Bede wrote an epigram celebrating the symbolic significance of the statue, Quandiu stabit coliseus, stabit et Roma, quando cadit coliseus, cadet et Roma, quando cadet Roma. This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus, however, at the time that Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian Amphitheatre
17.
Appian Way
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The Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy and its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, Appia longarum. The Appian Way was used as a route for military supplies since its construction for that purpose in 312 B. C. The Appian Way was the first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the region of greater Rome. The few roads outside the city were Etruscan and went mainly to Etruria. By the late Republic, the Romans had expanded over most of Italy and were masters of road construction, Rome had an affinity for the people of Campania, who, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans. The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself with the city of Capua in Campania, the Italic speakers in Latium had long ago been subdued and incorporated into the Roman state. They were responsible for changing Rome from a primarily Etruscan to a primarily Italic state, dense populations of sovereign Samnites remained in the mountains north of Capua, which is just north of the Greek city of Neapolis. Around 343 BC, Rome and Capua attempted to form an alliance, the Samnites reacted with military force. Between Capua and Rome lay the Pontine Marshes, a swamp infested with malaria, a tortuous coastal road wound between Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber and Neapolis. The via Latina followed its ancient and scarcely more accessible path along the foothills of Monti Laziali and Monti Lepini, in the First Samnite War the Romans found they could not support or resupply troops in the field against the Samnites across the marsh. A revolt of the Latin League drained their resources further and they gave up the attempted alliance and settled with Samnium. The Romans were only biding their time while they looked for a solution, the first answer was the colonia, a cultivation of settlers from Rome, who would maintain a permanent base of operations. The Second Samnite War erupted when Rome attempted to place a colony at Cales in 334, the Samnites, now a major power after defeating the Greeks of Tarentum, occupied Neapolis to try to ensure its loyalty. The Neapolitans appealed to Rome, which sent an army and expelled the Samnites from Neapolis, in 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus became censor at Rome. He was of the gens Claudia, who were descended from the Sabines taken into the early Roman state. He had been given the name of the ancestor of the gens. He was a populist, i. e. an advocate of the common people, a man of inner perspicacity, in the years of success he was said to have lost his outer vision and thus acquired the name caecus, blind
18.
Vespasian
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Vespasian was Roman emperor from AD69 to AD79. Vespasian founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empire for twenty-seven years, Vespasian was from an equestrian family that rose into the senatorial rank under the Julio–Claudian emperors. While Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide, after Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69. The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, emperor on 1 July 69. In his bid for power, Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus. Primus and Mucianus led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt, on 20 December 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day Vespasian was declared Emperor by the Senate. Little information survives about the government during Vespasians ten-year rule and he reformed the financial system at Rome after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully, and initiated several ambitious construction projects. He began the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known today as the Roman Colosseum, in reaction to the events of 68–69, Vespasian forced through an improvement in army discipline. Through his general Agricola, Vespasian increased imperial expansion in Britain, after his death in 79, he was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to be directly succeeded by his own natural son and establishing the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian was born in a village north-east of Rome called Falacrinae and his family was relatively undistinguished and lacking in pedigree. His paternal grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, became the first to himself, rising to the rank of centurion. Subsequently he became a debt collector, petros son, Titus Flavius Sabinus, worked as a customs official in the province of Asia and became a money-lender on a small scale among the Helvetii. He gained a reputation as a scrupulous and honest tax-farmer, Sabinus married up in status, to Vespasia Polla, whose father had risen to the rank of prefect of the camp and whose brother became a Senator. Sabinus and Vespasia had three children, the eldest of whom, a girl, died in infancy, the elder boy, Titus Flavius Sabinus entered public life and pursued the cursus honorum. He served in the army as a tribune in Thrace in 36. The following year he was elected quaestor and served in Crete, the younger boy, Vespasian, seemed far less likely to be successful, initially not wishing to pursue high public office. He followed in his brothers footsteps when driven to it by his mothers taunting, during this period he married Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of Flavius Liberalis from Ferentium and formerly the mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman equestrian from Sabrata in Africa. They had two sons, Titus Flavius Vespasianus and Titus Flavius Domitianus, and a daughter, Domitilla and his wife Domitilla and his daughter Domitilla both died before Vespasian became Emperor in 69
19.
Hadrian
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Hadrian was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He is known for building Hadrians Wall, which marked the limit of Britannia. He also rebuilt the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus, philhellene in most of his tastes, he is considered by some to have been a humanist, and he is regarded as the third of the Five Good Emperors. Hadrian was born Publius Aelius Hadrianus into a Hispano-Roman family, although Italica near Santiponce is often considered his birthplace, his actual place of birth remains uncertain. It is generally accepted that he came from a family with roots in Hispania. His predecessor, Trajan, was a cousin of Hadrians father. Trajan did not designate an heir officially, but according to his wife Pompeia Plotina, Trajans wife and his friend Licinius Sura were well disposed towards Hadrian, and he may well have owed his succession to them. During his reign, Hadrian travelled to every province of the Empire. An ardent admirer of Greece, he sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire and he used his relationship with his Greek lover Antinous to underline his philhellenism, and this led to the establishment of one of the most popular cults of ancient times. Hadrian spent a deal of time with the military, he usually wore military attire and even dined. He ordered rigorous military training and drilling and made use of reports of attacks to keep the army on alert. On his accession to the throne, Hadrian withdrew from Trajans conquests in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia, late in his reign he suppressed the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judaea, renaming the province Syria Palaestina. In 138 Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius on the condition that he adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as his own heirs and they would eventually succeed Antoninus as co-emperors. Hadrian died the year at Baiae. In Hadrians time, there was already an established convention that one could not write a contemporary Roman imperial history for fear of competing with the emperors themselves. Information on the history of Hadrians reign comes mostly from later. A general account of his reign is Book 69 of the early 3rd century Roman History by Cassius Dio and his original Greek text of this book is lost, what survives is a brief, much later, Byzantine-era abridgment by the 11th century monk Xiphilinius. He selected from Dios account of Hadrians reign based on his religious interests
20.
Colosseum
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The Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built, the Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in AD72, and was completed in AD80 under his successor, further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian. These three emperors are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named in Latin for its association with their family name, the building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry. Although partially ruined because of damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin. The Colosseums original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheatre, the building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, following the reign of Nero. This name is used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. The name Colosseum has long believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby. This statue was later remodeled by Neros successors into the likeness of Helios or Apollo, Neros head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an symbol of the permanence of Rome. This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus, however, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre. The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze, by the year 1000 the name Colosseum had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was forgotten and only its base survives. The name further evolved to Coliseum during the Middle Ages, in Italy, the amphitheatre is still known as il Colosseo, and other Romance languages have come to use similar forms such as Coloseumul, le Colisée, el Coliseo and o Coliseu. The site chosen was an area on the floor of a low valley between the Caelian, Esquiline and Palatine Hills, through which a canalised stream ran. By the 2nd century BC the area was densely inhabited and it was devastated by the Great Fire of Rome in AD64, following which Nero seized much of the area to add to his personal domain
21.
Quirinal Hill
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The Quirinal Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the residence of the Italian head of state. The Quirinal Palace has an extension of 1.2 million square feet and it was originally part of a group of hills that included Collis Latiaris, Mucialis, Salutaris. These are now lost due to building in the 16th century, according to Roman legend, the Quirinal Hill was the site of a small village of the Sabines, and king Titus Tatius would have lived there after the peace between Romans and Sabines. These Sabines had erected altars in the honour of their god Quirinus, some authors consider it possible that the cult of the Capitoline Triad could have been celebrated here well before it became associated with the Capitoline Hill. The sanctuary of Flora, an Osco-Sabine goddess, was here too, according to Livy, the hill first became part of the city of Rome, along with the Viminal Hill, during the reign of Servius Tullius, Rome sixth king, in the 6th century BC. In 446 BC, a temple was dedicated on the Quirinal in honour of Semo Sancus Dius Fidius, augustus, too, ordered the building of a temple, dedicated to Mars. On a slope of the Quirinal were the gardens of Sallust. On the Quirinal Hill Constantine ordered the erection of his baths and these are now lost, having been incorporated into Renaissance Rome, with only some drawings from the 16th century remaining. In the Middle Ages, the Torre delle Milizie and the convent of St, in the same palazzo were also the two statues of river gods that Michelangelo moved to the steps of Palazzo Senatorio on the Capitoline Hill. According to the division of the center of Rome, the Hill belongs to the rione Trevi. The Quirinal Hill is today identified with the Palazzo del Quirinale, before the abolition of the Italian monarchy in 1946, it was the residence of the king of Italy, and before 1871 it was, as originally, a residence of the Pope. The healthy cool air of the Quirinal Hill attracted aristocrats and papal families that built villas where the gardens of Sallust had been in antiquity, in the 18th century, Ferdinando Fuga built the long wing called the Manica Lunga, which stretched 360 meters along via del Quirinale. In front lies the sloping Piazza del Quirinale where the pair of gigantic Roman marble Horse Tamers representing Castor and Pollux, in Piranesis view, the vast open space is unpaved. The Palazzo del Quirinale was the residence of the popes until 1870, when Rome was united to the Kingdom of Italy, the Quirinale became the residence of the kings until 1946. Several collections are in this Palazzo, including tapestries, paintings, statues, old carriages, watches, furniture and it formerly housed Mussolinis ministry of colonial affairs. The hill is the site of important monuments and buildings. The Piazza and Palazzo Barberini, built by Bernini and Maderno, Palazzo Volpi di Misurata, across from San Carlino, built in the 18th century
22.
Niche (architecture)
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A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. The word derives from the Latin nidus or nest, via the French niche, in Gothic architecture, a niche may be set within a tabernacle framing, like a richly-decorated miniature house, such as might serve for a reliquary. The backings for the altars in churches can be embedded with niches for statues, one of the earliest buildings which uses external niches containing statues is the Church of Orsanmichele in Florence, built between 1380-1404. The Uffizi Palace in Florence modified the concept by setting the niche within the wall so it did not protrude, the Uffizi has two dozen or so such niches containing statues of great historical figures. In England the Uffizi style niches were adopted at Montacute House, in Fra Filippo Lippis Madonna the trompe-loeil niche frames her as with the canopy of estate that was positioned over a personage of importance in the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Europe. At the same time, the Madonna is represented as an iconic sculpture who has come alive with miraculous immediacy, expanding from its primary sense as an architectural recess, a niche can be applied to a rocky hollow, crack, crevice, or foothold. The sense of a niche as a clearly defined narrow space led to its use describing the position of an organisms species. Alcove Grotto Mihrab Wave cut platform Sir John Summerson,1948. in Heavenly Mansions
23.
Exedra
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In architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a buildings façade or is free-standing. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, an exedra may also be expressed by a curved break in a colonnade, perhaps with a semicircular seat. The exedra would typically have a podium that supported the stone running bench. Monument architects have used this free-standing style in modern times. The exedra achieved particular popularity in Roman architecture during the Roman Empire, an exedra was normally a public feature, when rhetoricians and philosophers disputed in a Roman gymnasium it was in an exedra opening into the peristyle that they gathered. A basilica featured a large exedra at the far end from its entrance and this was called a tribuna in Latin, and tribune is used for an area of raised floor backing onto a wall, often in an exedra. Following precedents from Rome, exedrae continued to be in widespread use architecturally after the fall of Rome, in Byzantine architecture and Romanesque architecture, this familiar feature developed into the apse and is fully treated there. A famous use of the exedra is in Donato Bramantes Cortile del Belvedere extension of the Vatican Palace, in Muslim architecture, the exedra becomes a mihrab and invariably retains religious associations, wherever it is seen, even on the smallest scale, as a prayer niche. Both Baroque and Neoclassical architecture used exedrae, Baroque architects, used them to enrich the play of light and shade and give rein to expressive volumes, Neoclassical architects, to articulate the rhythmic pacing of a wall elevation. The interior exedra was richly exploited by Scottish neoclassical architect Robert Adam, a classic example of a Baroque exedra on a reduced scale within its context, is the central niche of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, sheltering a statue of Neptune. Many classicizing bandshells in public parks are exedrae, for the shape, with its half-dome heading, the Hollywood Bowls shell takes the form of the head of a gargantuan exedra, stripped of classicizing details. During the 18th century, a became an popular garden feature or folly. Examples can be found at Belton House and West Wycombe Park, an exedra can be used in landscape design to visually terminate a garden axis. They can incorporate seating, a fountain, tile-work, and landscape lighting, in traditional or contemporary styles
24.
Tacitus
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Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and an historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors. These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus, in AD14, to the years of the First Jewish–Roman War, There are substantial lacunae in the surviving texts, including a gap in the Annals that is four books long. Tacitus is considered to be one of the greatest Roman historians, details about his personal life are scarce. What little is known comes from scattered hints throughout his work, the letters of his friend and admirer Pliny the Younger, and an inscription found at Mylasa in Caria. Tacitus was born in 56 or 57 to an equestrian family, one scholars suggestion of Sextus has gained no approval. Most of the aristocratic families failed to survive the proscriptions which took place at the end of the Republic. The claim that he was descended from a freedman is derived from a speech in his writings which asserts that many senators and knights were descended from freedmen, but this is generally disputed. His father may have been the Cornelius Tacitus who served as procurator of Belgica and Germania, Pliny the Elder mentions that Cornelius had a son who aged rapidly, which implies an early death. There is no mention of Tacitus suffering such a condition, the friendship between the younger Pliny and Tacitus leads some scholars to conclude that they were both the offspring of wealthy provincial families. The province of his birth remains unknown, though various conjectures suggest Gallia Belgica, Gallia Narbonensis and his marriage to the daughter of Narbonensian senator Gnaeus Julius Agricola implies that he came from Gallia Narbonensis. Tacitus dedication to Fabius Iustus in the Dialogus may indicate a connection with Spain, no evidence exists, however, that Plinys friends from northern Italy knew Tacitus, nor do Plinys letters hint that the two men had a common background. Pliny Book 9, Letter 23 reports that, when he was asked if he was Italian or provincial, he gave an unclear answer, since Pliny was from Italy, some infer that Tacitus was from the provinces, probably Gallia Narbonensis. His ancestry, his skill in oratory, and his depiction of barbarians who resisted Roman rule have led some to suggest that he was a Celt. This belief stems from the fact that the Celts who had occupied Gaul prior to the Roman invasion were famous for their skill in oratory, and had been subjugated by Rome. As a young man, Tacitus studied rhetoric in Rome to prepare for a career in law and politics, like Pliny, in 77 or 78, he married Julia Agricola, daughter of the famous general Agricola. Little is known of their life, save that Tacitus loved hunting. He started his career under Vespasian, but entered political life as a quaestor in 81 or 82 under Titus
25.
Annals (Tacitus)
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The Annals by Roman historian and senator Tacitus is a history of the Roman Empire from the reign of Tiberius to that of Nero, the years AD 14–68. Historian Ronald Mellor calls it Tacituss crowning achievement which represents the pinnacle of Roman historical writing, Tacitus Histories and Annals together amounted to 30 books, although some scholars disagree about which work to assign some books to, traditionally 14 are assigned to Histories and 16 to Annals. Of the 30 books referred to by Jerome about half have survived, modern scholars believe that as a Roman senator, Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus—the Roman senates records—which provided a solid basis for his work. Although Tacitus refers to part of his work as my annals, the title of the work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself, the name of the current manuscript seems to be Books of History from the Death of the Divine Augustus. Tacitus wrote the Annals in at least 16 books, but books 7–10, the period covered by the Histories starts at the beginning of the year AD69, i. e. six months after the death of Nero and continues to the death of Domitian in 96. It is not known when Tacitus began writing the Annals, modern scholars believe that as a senator, Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus, the Roman senates records, thus providing a solid basis for his work. Together the Histories and the Annals amounted to 30 books and these thirty books are referred to by Saint Jerome, and about half of them have survived. Although some scholars differ on how to assign the books to work, traditionally fourteen are assigned to Histories. Tacitus friend Pliny referred to your histories when writing to him about his earlier work, although Tacitus refers to part of his work as my annals, the title of the work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself, but derives from its year-by-year structure. Of the sixteen books in Annals, the reign of Tiberius takes up six books and these books are neatly divided into two sets of three, corresponding to the change in the nature of the political climate during the period. The next six books are devoted to the reigns of Caligula, Books 7 through 10 are missing. Books 11 &12 cover the period from the treachery of Messalina to the end of Claudius reign, the final four books cover the reign of Nero and Book 16 cuts off in the middle of the year AD66. This leaves the material that would have covered the two years of Neros reign lost. Tacitus documented a Roman imperial system of government that originated with the Battle of Actium in September 31 BC, yet Tacitus chose not to start then, but with the death of Augustus Caesar in AD14, and his succession by Tiberius. As in the Histories, Tacitus maintains his thesis of the necessity of the principate and he says again that Augustus gave and warranted peace to the state after years of civil war, but on the other hand he shows us the dark side of life under the Caesars. The history of the Empire is also the history of the sunset of the freedom of the senatorial aristocracy, which he saw as morally decadent, corrupt. During Neros reign there had been a widespread diffusion of literary works in favor of this suicidal exitus illustrium virorum, again, as in his Agricola, Tacitus is opposed to those who chose useless martyrdom through vain suicides. In the Annals, Tacitus further improved the style of portraiture that he had used so well in the Historiae
26.
Miseno
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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
27.
Lake Avernus
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Lake Avernus is a volcanic crater lake located in the Avernus crater in the Campania region of southern Italy, around 4 km northwest of Pozzuoli. It is near the field known as the Phlegraean Fields. The lake is circular, measuring 2 km in circumference and 60 m deep. Avernus was of importance to the Romans, who considered it to be the entrance to Hades. Roman writers often used the name as a synonym for the underworld. In Virgils Aeneid, Aeneas descends to the underworld through a cave near the lake, in Hyginus Fabulae, Odysseus also goes to the lower world from this spot, where he meets Elpenor, his comrade who went missing at Circes place. Despite the alleged dangers of the lake, the Romans were happy to settle its shores, on which villas, the lakes personification, the deus Avernus, was worshiped in lakeside temples. A large bathhouse was built on the shore of the lake. In 37 BC, the Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa converted the lake into a base named the Portus Julius after Julius Caesar. It was linked by a canal to a lake and, from there. The lake shore was also connected to the Greek colony of Cumae by a passage known as Cocceios Cave. This was the worlds first major tunnel, it remained usable until as recently as the 1940s. The Borboni, the Naples-ruling members of the House of Bourbon, owned the lake until 1750 when they ceded it to another aristocratic family, who in turn sold it, in 1991, to the Cardillo family. In 2010, a 55-hectare tract of land – including the lake, in the pre-modern era, Italian geographers also called Lago Averno, the, Lago di Tripergola. It was named after the village of Tripergola, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1538. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chambers, Ephraim. Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, james and John Knapton, et al
28.
Raphael Rooms
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The four Raphael Rooms form a suite of reception rooms in the palace, the public part of the papal apartments in the Palace of the Vatican. They are famous for their frescoes, painted by Raphael and his workshop, together with Michelangelos ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, they are the grand fresco sequences that mark the High Renaissance in Rome. The Stanze, as they are called, were originally intended as a suite of apartments for Pope Julius II. He commissioned Raphael, then a young artist from Urbino. It was possibly Julius intent to outshine the apartments of his predecessor Pope Alexander VI and they are on the third floor, overlooking the south side of the Belvedere Courtyard. After the death of Julius in 1513, with two rooms frescoed, Pope Leo X continued the program, following Raphaels death in 1520, his assistants Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle finished the project with the frescoes in the Sala di Costantino. The scheme of the works is as follows, The largest of the rooms is the Sala di Costantino. Its paintings were not begun until Pope Julius and, indeed Raphael himself, had died, the room is dedicated to the victory of Christianity over paganism. Its frescoes represent this struggle from the life of the Roman Emperor Constantine, because they are not by the master himself, the frescos are less famous than works in the neighboring rooms. Continuing a long tradition of flattery, Raphaels assistants gave the features of the current pontiff, Clement VII, the fresco of The Vision of the Cross depicts the legendary story of a great cross appearing to Constantine as he marched to confront his rival Maxentius. The vision in the sky is painted with the words in Greek Εν τούτω νίκα written next to it, the Battle of Milvian Bridge shows the battle that took place on October 28,312, following Constantines vision. The next room, going from East to West, is the Stanza di Eliodoro, painted between 1511 and 1514, it takes its name from one of the paintings. The theme of this private chamber – probably an audience room – was the protection granted by Christ to the Church. The four paintings are, The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, The Mass at Bolsena, The Meeting of Pope Leo I and Attila, Raphaels style changed here from the Stanza della Segnatura. Instead of the images of the Popes library, he had dramatic narratives to portray. The composition is more dramatic than Raphaels earlier frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura. Although the focal point is the figure of the priest at prayer, Heliodorus. At the left Julius II, carried by the Swiss Guard in a chair and his inclusion here refers to his battles to prevent secular leaders from usurping papal territories
29.
Roman concrete
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Roman concrete, also called opus caementicium, was a material used in construction during the late Roman Republic until the fading of the Roman Empire. Roman concrete was based on a hydraulic-setting cement, recently, it has been found that it materially differs in several ways from modern concrete which is based on Portland cement. Roman concrete is due to its incorporation of volcanic ash. By the middle of the 1st century, the material was used frequently, often brick-faced, Roman concrete was normally faced with stone or brick, and interiors might be further decorated by stucco, fresco paintings, or thin slabs of fancy colored marbles. Some Roman concretes were able to be set underwater, which was useful for bridges and it is uncertain when Roman concrete was developed, but it was clearly in widespread and customary use from about 150 BC, some scholars believe it was developed a century before that. Vitruvius, writing around 25 BC in his Ten Books on Architecture, for structural mortars, he recommended pozzolana, which are volcanic sands from the sandlike beds of Pozzuoli brownish-yellow-gray in color near Naples and reddish-brown at Rome. By the middle of the 1st century, the principles of construction in concrete were well known to Roman builders. The city of Caesarea was the earliest known example to have use of underwater Roman concrete technology on such a large scale. Rebuilding Rome after the fire in 64 AD, which destroyed portions of the city. This appears to have encouraged the development of the brick and concrete industries, Roman concrete, like any concrete, consists of an aggregate and hydraulic mortar – a binder mixed with water that hardens over time. The aggregate varied, and included pieces of rock, ceramic tile, reinforcing elements, such as steel rebar, were not used. Gypsum and lime were used as binders, volcanic dusts, called pozzolana or pit sand, were favored where they could be obtained. Pozzolana makes the concrete more resistant to water than modern-day concrete. The pozzolanic mortar used had a content of alumina and silica. Tuff was often used as an aggregate, concrete, and in particular, the hydraulic mortar responsible for its cohesion, was a type of structural ceramic whose utility derived largely from its rheological plasticity in the paste state. The setting and hardening of hydraulic cements derived from hydration of materials and this differed from the setting of slaked lime mortars, the most common cements of the pre-Roman world. Once set, Roman concrete exhibited little plasticity, although it retained some resistance to tensile stresses, the setting of pozzolanic cements has much in common with setting of their modern counterpart, Portland cement. The high silica composition of Roman pozzolana cements is very close to that of cement to which blast furnace slag, fly ash
30.
Mosaic
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A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from the assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is often used in art or as interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called pebble mosaics. Others are made of other materials, mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. Pebble mosaics were made in Tiryns in Mycenean Greece, mosaics with patterns and pictures became widespread in classical times, Early Christian basilicas from the 4th century onwards were decorated with wall and ceiling mosaics. Mosaic fell out of fashion in the Renaissance, though artists like Raphael continued to practise the old technique, Roman and Byzantine influence led Jews to decorate 5th and 6th century synagogues in the Middle East with floor mosaics. Mosaic was widely used on buildings and palaces in early Islamic art, including Islams first great religious building, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Mosaic went out of fashion in the Islamic world after the 8th century, modern mosaics are made by professional artists, street artists, and as a popular craft. Many materials other than stone and ceramic tesserae may be employed, including shells, glass. The earliest known examples of made of different materials were found at a temple building in Abra, Mesopotamia. They consist of pieces of colored stones, shells and ivory, excavations at Susa and Chogha Zanbil show evidence of the first glazed tiles, dating from around 1500 BC. However, mosaic patterns were not used until the times of Sassanid Empire, mythological subjects, or scenes of hunting or other pursuits of the wealthy, were popular as the centrepieces of a larger geometric design, with strongly emphasized borders. Pliny the Elder mentions the artist Sosus of Pergamon by name, describing his mosaics of the left on a floor after a feast. Both of these themes were widely copied, most recorded names of Roman mosaic workers are Greek, suggesting they dominated high quality work across the empire, no doubt most ordinary craftsmen were slaves. Splendid mosaic floors are found in Roman villas across North Africa, in such as Carthage. The tiny tesserae allowed very fine detail, and an approach to the illusionism of painting, often small panels called emblemata were inserted into walls or as the highlights of larger floor-mosaics in coarser work. The normal technique was opus tessellatum, using larger tesserae, which was laid on site, there was a distinct native Italian style using black on a white background, which was no doubt cheaper than fully coloured work. In Rome, Nero and his architects used mosaics to cover surfaces of walls and ceilings in the Domus Aurea, built 64 AD
31.
Elagabalus
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Elagabalus /ˌɛləˈɡæbələs/, also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan dynasty, he was Syrian, the son of Julia Soaemias. In his early youth he served as a priest of the god Elagabal in the hometown of his mothers family, as a private citizen, he was probably named Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus. Upon becoming emperor he took the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus and he was called Elagabalus only after his death. In 217, the emperor Caracalla was assassinated and replaced by his Praetorian prefect, Caracallas maternal aunt, Julia Maesa, successfully instigated a revolt among the Legio III Gallica to have her eldest grandson, Elagabalus, declared emperor in his place. Macrinus was defeated on 8 June 218 at the Battle of Antioch, Elagabalus, barely 14 years old, became emperor, initiating a reign remembered mainly for sex scandals and religious controversy. Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and he replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity of whom he was high priest, Elagabalus. He forced leading members of Romes government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity and his behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, just 18 years old, was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander on 11 March 222, the plot was devised by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard. Elagabalus developed a reputation among his contemporaries for extreme eccentricity, decadence and this tradition has persisted, and with writers of the early modern age he suffers one of the worst reputations among Roman emperors. Edward Gibbon, for example, wrote that Elagabalus abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures, according to Barthold Georg Niebuhr, The name Elagabalus is branded in history above all others because of his unspeakably disgusting life. Elagabalus was born around the year 203 to Sextus Varius Marcellus and his father was initially a member of the Equites class, but was later elevated to the rank of senator. His grandmother, Julia Maesa, was the widow of the consul Julius Avitus, the sister of Julia Domna, and he had at least one sibling, an unnamed elder brother. His mother, Julia Soaemias, was a cousin of the Roman emperor Caracalla and his other relatives included his aunt Julia Avita Mamaea and uncle Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus and among their children, their son Severus Alexander. Elagabaluss family held hereditary rights to the priesthood of the sun god Elagabal, the deity Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa. This form of the name is a Latinized version of the Syrian Ilāh hag-Gabal, which derives from Ilāh and gabal, resulting in the God of the Mountain. The cult of the deity spread to parts of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century. The god was later imported and assimilated with the Roman sun god known as Sol Indiges in republican times and as Sol Invictus during the second, in Greek the sun god is Helios, hence Heliogabalus, a hybrid conjunction of Helios and Elagabalus
32.
Pliny the Elder
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In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncles now missing work on the History of the German Wars. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event. Plinys dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and a statement of his nephew that he died in his 56th year, Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger nor the elder Pliny mention the names and their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th century Augustinian monk Onofrio Panvinio at Verona. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction, but in all cases the names come through, whether he was an augur and whether she was named Grania Marcella are less certain. Jean Hardouin presents a statement from a source that he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona. Hardouin also cites the conterraneity of Catullus, additional efforts to connect Celer and Marcella with other gentes are highly speculative. Hardouin is the scholar to use his unknown source. He kept statues of his ancestors there, a statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail. In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger details how his uncles breakfasts would be light and simple following the customs of our forefathers. This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the Elder was a good Roman and this statement would have pleased Tacitus. Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the Verona theory, one commemorates the youngers career as imperial magistrate and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como. Another identifies his father Lucius village as Fecchio near Como and it is likely therefore that Plinia was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens and he did not take his fathers cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own, Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, no earlier instances of the Plinii are known. In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Plinys birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to defeat
33.
Natural History (Pliny)
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The Natural History is an early encyclopedia in Latin by Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and naval commander who died in 79 AD. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the works subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history, Pliny himself defines his scope as the natural world, or life. The work is divided into 37 books, organised into ten volumes, the Natural History became a model for later encyclopedias and scholarly works as a result of its breadth of subject matter, its referencing of original authors, and its index. The work is dedicated to the emperor Titus, son of Plinys close friend and it is the only work by Pliny to have survived and the last that he published. He began it in 77, and had not made a revision at the time of his death during the AD79 eruption of Vesuvius. Plinys Natural History was written alongside other substantial works, Pliny combined his scholarly activities with a busy career as an imperial administrator for the emperor Vespasian. Pliny claims to be the only Roman ever to have such a work, in his prayer for the blessing of the universal mother, Hail to thee, Nature. And do thou deign to show thy favour unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in thy every department, the Natural History is encyclopaedic in scope, but its format is unlike a modern encyclopaedia. However, it does have structure, Pliny uses Aristotles division of nature to recreate the world in literary form. The work is unified but varied, My subject is the world of nature, or in other words, life, he tells Titus. Nature for Pliny was divine, a concept inspired by the Stoic philosophy which underlies much of his thought. But the deity in question was a goddess whose main purpose was to serve the human race, nature, that is life is human life in a natural landscape. After an initial survey of cosmology and geography, Pliny starts his treatment of animals with the human race and this teleological view of nature was common in antiquity and is crucial to the understanding of the Natural History. The components of nature are not just described in and for themselves, Pliny devotes a number of the books to plants, with a focus on their medicinal value, the books on minerals include descriptions of their uses in architecture, sculpture, painting and jewellery. Plinys premise is distinct from modern ecological theories, reflecting the sentiment of his time. Pliny repeated Aristotles maxim that Africa was always producing something new, natures variety and versatility were claimed to be infinite, When I have observed nature she has always induced me to deem no statement about her incredible. This led Pliny to recount rumours of strange peoples on the edges of the world and these monstrous races – the Cynocephali or Dog-Heads, the Sciapodae, whose single foot could act as a sunshade, the mouthless Astomi, who lived on scents – were not strictly new. They had been mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Pliny had gone to investigate the strange cloud – shaped like an umbrella pine, according to his nephew – rising from the mountain
34.
Baths of Trajan
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The Baths of Trajan were a massive thermae, a bathing and leisure complex, built in ancient Rome starting from 104 AD and dedicated during the Kalends of July in 109. The architect of the complex is said to be Apollodorus of Damascus, the baths were being utilized mainly as a recreational and social center by Roman citizens, both men and women, as late as the early 5th century. The complex seems to have been deserted soon afterwards as a cemetery dated to the 5th century has been found in front of the northeastern exedra, early Christian writers misnamed the remains the Baths of Domitian. Prior to the construction of the Baths, their location on the Oppian Hill was occupied by the ornate Palace of Nero, after Neros suicide, subsequent emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian chose to build over his palace with other forms of architecture. Emperor Trajan covered up the last of the palace with a platform upon which the Baths were built, the baths were erected on the Oppian Hill, a southern extension of the Esquiline Hill. Built on a platform that had itself been built over Neros Palace, the complex rested on a northeast-southwest axis, with the main building attached to the northeast wall. This was contrary to the widely used north-south axis of many buildings in the vicinity. It is suggested that this orientation was chosen by the architects to reduce the bathers exposure to the wind. Within the complex, the building was surrounded by a grassy area. The baths themselves consisted of pools, including a tepidarium, a caldarium, frigidarium, and also gymnasia, and apodyteria. In addition to the facilities of the complex used by the public, there was a system of subterranean passageways and structures used by slaves and workers to service. Also underground, the cistern, surviving today as the Sette sale. It was capable of storing no less than 8 million liters, there were also several exedrae on the eastern and western sides of the building. After archaeological analysis performed after excavation in 1997, it is thought that at least one of these served as a sort of library. Whether it represents the reorganization of a port or an idealized one remains an open question. Also discovered nearby, another mosaic shows grape harvesting scenes, the Date of the Thermae Traiani and the Topography of the Oppius Mons. The Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome, Ancient Cities, The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Baths of Trajan Thermae Traiani, article in Platners Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
35.
Baths of Titus
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The Baths of Titus or Thermae Titi were public baths built in Rome in 81 by Emperor Titus. The baths sat at the base of the Esquiline Hill, an area of parkland, Thermae Titi or Titus baths were built in haste, possibly by converting an existing or partly built bathing complex belonging to the reviled Domus Aurea. They were not particularly extensive, and the much larger Baths of Trajan were built adjacent to them at the start of the next century. The Baths of Titus were restored during the reign of Hadrian as well as in AD238 and it is thus likely that the entire complex underwent a process of early abandonment. Large parts of the building were standing in the 16th century when Andrea Palladio described the floor plan. One of the features of the baths was mural designs by the artist Famulus, before the designs fell into disrepair from exposure to the elements, Nicholas Ponce copied and reproduced them as engravings in his volume Description des bains de Titus. The designs are now recognized as a source of the known as grotesque because the ruins of the Baths of Titus were in a hollow in the ground when they were discovered. Baths of Diocletian Baths of Caracalla Baths of Trajan Roman aqueducts Roman engineering Thermae
36.
Temple of Venus and Rome
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The Temple of Venus and Roma Latin, Templum Veneris et Romae is thought to have been the largest temple in Ancient Rome. Located on the Velian Hill, between the edge of the Forum Romanum and the Colosseum, it was dedicated to the goddesses Venus Felix. The architect was the emperor Hadrian and construction began in 121 and it was officially inaugurated by Hadrian in 135, and finished in 141 under Antoninus Pius. Damaged by fire in 307, it was restored with alterations by the emperor Maxentius, apollodorus was banished and executed not long after this. According to the ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus the temple was among the buildings of Rome which astonished the Emperor Constantius II on his visit to the city in 357. Further restoration was performed under Eugenius, a usurper against Theodosius I, whose policy was the restoration of Pagan cults. However, as many of Romes majestic ancient buildings the temple was later targeted for its rich materials. In 630 Pope Honorius I with the consent of the Emperor Heraclius, a severe earthquake at the beginning of the 9th century is believed to have destroyed the temple. Around 850 Pope Leo IV ordered the building of a new church, Santa Maria Nova, after a major rebuilding in 1612, this church was renamed Santa Francesca Romana, incorporating Romas cella as the belltower. A somewhat fanciful vedute engraving by Giovanni Battista Mercati depicts the site in 1629, the vast quantity of marble that once adorned the temple has all but disappeared due to its use as a raw material for building projects from the Middle Ages onwards. The Italian archaeologist Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani makes reference to his discovery of a kiln in close proximity to the temple in his work The Destruction of Ancient Rome. Presently only a few columns surrounding remain standing in their original positions, the temple itself consisted of two main chambers, each housing a cult statue of a god—Venus, the goddess of love, and Roma, the goddess of Rome, both figures seated on a throne. The cellae were arranged symmetrically back-to-back, Romas cella faced west, looking out over the Forum Romanum, and Venus cella faced east, looking out over the Colosseum. A row of four columns lined the entrance to each cella, the west and east sides of the temple had ten white columns, and the south and north featured eighteen white columns. All of these columns measured 1.8 metres in width, resting on the columns a double impost forms a double entablature extending back into the exedra, with a cofferred half-dome ceiling above the seated statue. The walls behind the aisles are inset with smaller columns standing some distance above the floor on a plinth, small statues set in niches between these columns punctuate the walls, the niches surmounted by alternating arched and triangular pediments. More small statues are positioned on the entablature above each small column, as an additional clever subtlety by Hadrian, Venus also represented love, and AMOR is ROMA spelled backwards. Thus, placing the two divinities of Venus and Rome back-to-back in a temple created a further symmetry with the back-to-back symmetry of their names as well
37.
Grotto
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A grotto is a natural or artificial cave used by humans in both modern times and antiquity, and historically or prehistorically. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or liable to flood at high tide, sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden features. The Grotta Azzurra at Capri and the grotto at the villa of Tiberius in the Bay of Naples are examples of popular natural seashore grottoes, the word grotto comes from Italian grotta, Vulgar Latin grupta, and Latin crypta. It is also related by an accident to the word grotesque. The rooms had sunk underground over time, the Romans who discovered this historical monument found it very strange, a sentiment enhanced by the fact that it was uncovered from an underworld source. This led the Romans to give it the name grottesche, or grotesque, grottoes were very popular in Greek and Roman culture. Spring-fed grottoes were a feature of Apollos oracles at Delphi, Corinth, the Hellenistic city of Rhodes was designed with rock-cut artificial grottoes incorporated into the city, made to look natural. According to tradition, Praenestes sacred spring had a native nymph, Tiberius, the Roman emperor, filled his grotto with sculptures to create a sense of mythology, perhaps channeling Polyphemus cave in the Odyssey. The numinous quality of the grotto is still more ancient, in a grotto near Knossos in Crete, Eileithyia was venerated, even farther back in time, the immanence of the divine in a grotto is seen in the sacred caves of Lascaux. The popularity of artificial grottoes introduced Mannerist style to Italian and French gardens of the mid-16th century, two famous grottoes in the Boboli Gardens of Palazzo Pitti were begun by Vasari and completed by Ammanati and Buontalenti between 1583 and 1593. One of these grottoes originally housed the Prisoners of Michelangelo, before Boboli grotto, a garden was laid out by Niccolò Tribolo at the Medici Villa Castello, near Florence. At Pratolino, in spite of the dryness of the site, there was a Grotto of Cupid, with water tricks for the unsuspecting visitor. The Fonte di Fata Morgana at Grassina, not far from Florence, is a garden building. It is decorated with sculptures in the Giambolognan manner, the outside of garden grottoes are often designed to look like an enormous rock, a rustic porch or a rocky overhang. Damp grottoes were cool places to retreat from the Italian sun, in Kuskovo at the Sheremetev estate there is a Summer Grotto, built in 1775. Grottoes could also serve as baths, an example of this is at the Palazzo del Te, in the Casino della Grotta, courtiers once bathed in the small cascade that splashed over the pebbles and shells encrusted in the floor and walls. Grottoes have also served as chapels, or at Villa Farnese at Caprarola and they were often combined with cascading fountains in Renaissance gardens. The grotto designed by Bernard Palissy for Catherine de Medicis château in Paris, there are also grottoes in the gardens designed by André Le Nôtre for Versailles
38.
Pompeian Styles
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The Pompeian Styles are four periods which are distinguished in ancient Roman mural painting. In the succession of styles, there is a reiteration of stylistic themes, the paintings also tell a great deal about the prosperity of the area and specific tastes during the times. The main purpose of these frescoes was to reduce the claustrophobic interiors of Roman rooms, the paintings, full of color and life, brightened up the interior and made the room feel more spacious. The First style, also referred to as structural, incrustation or masonry style, was most popular from 200 BC until 80 BC. It is characterized by the simulation of marble, with other simulated elements, mural reproductions of Greek paintings are also found. This style divided the wall into various, multi-colored patterns that took the place of extremely expensive cut stone, the First Style was also used with other styles for decorating the lower sections of walls that were not seen as much as the higher levels. An example would be the painting in the Samnite House in Herculaneum. The Second style, architectural style, or illusionism dominated the 1st century BC, early on, elements of this style are reminiscent of the First Style, but this slowly starts to be substituted element by element. It is characterized by use of perspective to create trompe loeil in wall paintings. The picture plane was pushed back into the wall by painted architectonic features such as Ionic columns or stage platforms. These wall paintings counteracted the claustrophobic nature of the small, windowless rooms of Roman houses, images and landscapes began to be introduced to the first style around 90 BC, and gained ground from 70 BC onwards, along with illusionistic and architectonic motives. Decoration had to give the greatest possible impression of depth, imitations of images appeared, at first in the higher section, then in the background of landscapes which provided a stage for mythological stories, theatrical masks, or decorations. During the reign of Augustus, the style evolved, false architectural elements opened up wide expanses with which to paint artistic compositions. A structure inspired by stage sets developed, whereby one large central tableau is flanked by two smaller ones, in this style, the illusionistic tendency continued, with a breaking up of walls with painted architectural elements or scenes. The landscape elements eventually took over to cover the wall, with no framing device. Basically, the more developed Second Style was the antithesis of the First Style, instead on confining and strengthening the walls, the goal was to break down the wall to show scenes of nature and the outside world. Much of the depth of the mature Second Style comes from the use of perspective that blurred the appearance of objects further away. Thus, the foreground is rather precise while the background is somewhat indistinctly purple, blue, one of the most recognized and unique pieces representing the Second Style is the Dionysiac mystery frieze in the Villa of the Mysteries
39.
Grotesque
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In art, performance, and literature, however, grotesque may also refer to something that simultaneously invokes in an audience a feeling of uncomfortable bizarreness as well as sympathetic pity. More specifically, the forms on Gothic buildings, when not used as drain-spouts, should not be called gargoyles. The word first was used of paintings found on the walls of basements of Roman ruins that were called at that time Le Grotte due to their appearance. Spreading from Italian to the other European languages, the term was used largely interchangeably with arabesque and moresque for types of decorative patterns using curving foliage elements. Rémi Astruc has argued that there is an immense variety of motifs and figures. Beyond the current understanding of the grotesque as an aesthetic category, moreover, Astruc identifies the grotesque as a crucial, and potentially universal, anthropological device that societies have used to conceptualize alterity and change. Such designs were fashionable in ancient Rome, as fresco wall decoration, floor mosaics, the Roman wall decorations in fresco and delicate stucco were a revelation. The first appearance of the word appears in a contract of 1502 for the Piccolomini Library attached to the duomo of Siena. Light scrolling grotesques could be ordered by confining them within the framing of a pilaster to give them more structure, giovanni da Udine took up the theme of grotesques in decorating the Villa Madama, the most influential of the new Roman villas. In the 16th century, such artistic license and irrationality was controversial matter, more familiar material for grotesques could be drawn from Ovids Metamorphoses. This large array provided a repertoire of elements that were the basis for later artists across Europe, counter Reformation writers on the arts, notably Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti, bishop of Bologna, turned upon grottesche with a righteous vengeance. Vasari, echoing Vitruvius, described the style as follows, Grotesques are a type of extremely licentious, other 16th-century writers on grottesche included Daniele Barbaro, Pirro Ligorio and Gian Paolo Lomazzo. In the meantime, through the medium of engravings the grotesque mode of surface ornament passed into the European artistic repertory of the 16th century, from Spain to Poland. Later Mannerist versions, especially in engraving, tended to lose that initial lightness and be more densely filled than the airy well-spaced style used by the Romans. Soon grottesche appeared in marquetry, in maiolica produced above all at Urbino from the late 1520s, then in book illustration, in the 17th and 18th centuries the grotesque encompasses a wide field of teratology and artistic experimentation. The monstrous, for instance, often occurs as the notion of play, the sportiveness of the grotesque category can be seen in the notion of the preternatural category of the lusus naturae, in natural history writings and in cabinets of curiosities. The last vestiges of romance, such as the marvellous also provide opportunities for the presentation of the grotesque in, for instance, the mixed form of the novel was commonly described as grotesque - see for instance Fieldings comic epic poem in prose. Grotesque ornament received an impetus from new discoveries of original Roman frescoes and stucchi at Pompeii
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Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
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Pinturicchio
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Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio whose formal name was Bernardino di Betto, also known as Benetto di Biagio or Sordicchio, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Born in Perugia in 1454 and dying in Siena in 1513, Pintoricchio acquired his nickname, meaning and he also used it to sign some of his 14th and 15th century artworks. Pinturicchio was born the son of Benedetto or Betto di Blagio, in his career, he may have trained under lesser known Perugian painters such as Bonfigli and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. According to Vasari, Pinturicchio was an assistant of Perugino. The works of the Perugian Renaissance school are very similar, and paintings by Perugino, Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna, the Sistine Chapel was also where it is believed that Pinturicchio was collaborating with Perugino to some extent. Would be, if it had left with all its original decorations. A great deal still remains, but much has been swept away, the earliest of his works is an altarpiece of the Adoration of the Shepherds, in the Della Rovere Chapel, the first chapel on the south, built by Cardinal Domenico della Rovere. The old fresco of the Virgin and the Child by Pinturicchio was detached from the wall, the fragment was re-used as the altarpiece of the Ducal Chapel of the Cathedral of Massa. The third chapel on the south is that of Girolamo Basso della Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus IV, and bishop of Recanati. The Basso Della Rovere Chapel contains an altarpiece of the Madonna enthroned between Four Saints, and on the east side a very nobly composed fresco of the Assumption of the Virgin. In the Costa Chapel, Pinturicchio or one of his helpers painted the Four Latin Doctors in the lunettes of the vault, most of these frescoes are considerably injured by moisture and have suffered little from restoration. In the centre is a panel of the Coronation of the Virgin. The spaces between them are filled by reclining figures of the Four Sibyls, on each pendentive is a figure of one of the Four Doctors enthroned under a niched canopy. No finer specimen of the decoration of a quadripartite vault can be seen anywhere. In 1492, Pinturicchio was summoned to Orvieto Cathedral and he was employed by Pope Alexander VI to decorate a recently completed suite of six rooms, the Borgia Apartments in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican. These rooms now form part of the Vatican Library, and five still retain a series of Pinturicchio frescoes, the Umbrian painter worked in these rooms till around 1494, assisted by his pupils, and not without interruption. It was not until Pope Alexander VI died that Pinturicchio left Rome for Umbria, leaving much of the work in Rome to be completed by Michelangelo, Raphael, and company. His other chief frescoes in Rome, still existing in good condition, are in the Bufalini Chapel in the southwest sector of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, probably executed around 1484-1486
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Raphael
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Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. Raphael was enormously productive, running a large workshop and, despite his death at 37. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, the best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings and he was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking. Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in the Marche region and his poem to Federico shows him as keen to show awareness of the most advanced North Italian painters, and Early Netherlandish artists as well. In the very court of Urbino he was probably more integrated into the central circle of the ruling family than most court painters. Under them, the court continued as a centre for literary culture, growing up in the circle of this small court gave Raphael the excellent manners and social skills stressed by Vasari. Castiglione moved to Urbino in 1504, when Raphael was no longer based there but frequently visited, Raphael mixed easily in the highest circles throughout his life, one of the factors that tended to give a misleading impression of effortlessness to his career. He did not receive a humanistic education however, it is unclear how easily he read Latin. His mother Màgia died in 1491 when Raphael was eight, followed on August 1,1494 by his father, Raphael was thus orphaned at eleven, his formal guardian became his only paternal uncle Bartolomeo, a priest, who subsequently engaged in litigation with his stepmother. He probably continued to live with his stepmother when not staying as an apprentice with a master and he had already shown talent, according to Vasari, who says that Raphael had been a great help to his father. A self-portrait drawing from his teenage years shows his precocity and his fathers workshop continued and, probably together with his stepmother, Raphael evidently played a part in managing it from a very early age. In Urbino, he came into contact with the works of Paolo Uccello, previously the court painter, and Luca Signorelli, according to Vasari, his father placed him in the workshop of the Umbrian master Pietro Perugino as an apprentice despite the tears of his mother. The evidence of an apprenticeship comes only from Vasari and another source, an alternative theory is that he received at least some training from Timoteo Viti, who acted as court painter in Urbino from 1495. An excess of resin in the varnish often causes cracking of areas of paint in the works of both masters, the Perugino workshop was active in both Perugia and Florence, perhaps maintaining two permanent branches. Raphael is described as a master, that is to say fully trained and his first documented work was the Baronci altarpiece for the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino in Città di Castello, a town halfway between Perugia and Urbino. Evangelista da Pian di Meleto, who had worked for his father, was named in the commission
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Michelangelo
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Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since described as one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of Michelangelos works of painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence and he sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library, at the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peters Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification. Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive, in his lifetime he was often called Il Divino. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, the attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelos impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, at the time of Michelangelos birth, his father was the Judicial administrator of the small town of Caprese and local administrator of Chiusi. Michelangelos mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, the Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa, this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelos birth, the returned to Florence. There Michelangelo gained his love for marble, as Giorgio Vasari quotes him, If there is good in me. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, as a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the Humanist Francesco da Urbino. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches, the city of Florence was at that time the greatest centre of the arts and learning in Italy. Art was sponsored by the Signoria, by the merchant guilds and by patrons such as the Medici. The Renaissance, a renewal of Classical scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti had laboured for fifty years to create the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo was to describe as The Gates of Paradise. The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence – Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of the churches were covered with frescos, begun by Giotto. During Michelangelos childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican, among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence at that period
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Giacomo Casanova
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Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. As was not uncommon at the time, Casanova, depending on circumstances, used more or less fictitious names and he often signed his works Jacques Casanova de Seingalt after he began writing in French following his second exile from Venice. He has become so famous for his complicated and elaborate affairs with women that his name is now synonymous with womanizer. He associated with European royalty, popes, and cardinals, along with such as Voltaire, Goethe. He spent his last years in Bohemia as a librarian in Count Waldsteins household, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725 to actress Zanetta Farussi, wife of actor and dancer Gaetano Casanova. Giacomo was the first of six children, being followed by Francesco Giuseppe, Giovanni Battista, Faustina Maddalena, Maria Maddalena Antonia Stella, and Gaetano Alvise. At the time of Casanovas birth, the city of Venice thrived as the capital of Europe, ruled by political and religious conservatives who tolerated social vices. It was a stop on the Grand Tour, traveled by young men coming of age. The famed Carnival, gambling houses, and beautiful courtesans were powerful drawing cards and this was the milieu that bred Casanova and made him its most famous and representative citizen. Casanova was cared for by his grandmother Marzia Baldissera while his mother toured about Europe in the theater and his father died when he was eight. Though the unguent applied was ineffective, Casanova was fascinated by the incantation, Perhaps to remedy the nosebleeds, Casanova, on his ninth birthday, was sent to a boarding house on the mainland in Padua. For Casanova, the neglect by his parents was a bitter memory, so they got rid of me, he proclaimed. Conditions at the house were appalling, so he appealed to be placed under the care of Abbé Gozzi, his primary instructor. Casanova moved in with the priest and his family and lived there through most of his teenage years and it was also in the Gozzi household that Casanova first came into contact with the opposite sex, when Gozzis younger sister Bettina fondled him at the age of eleven. Bettina was pretty, lighthearted, and a reader of romances. The girl pleased me at once, though I had no idea why and it was she who little by little kindled in my heart the first sparks of a feeling which later became my ruling passion. Although she subsequently married, Casanova maintained an attachment to Bettina
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Marquis de Sade
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Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer, famous for his libertine sexuality. He was a proponent of freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion. The words sadism and sadist are derived from his name, during the French Revolution, he was an elected delegate to the National Convention. Many of his works were written in prison and he was his parents only surviving child. He was educated by an uncle, the Abbé de Sade, in Sades youth, his father abandoned the family, his mother joined a convent. He was raised with servants who indulged his every whim, which led to him becoming known as a rebellious, later in his childhood, Sade was sent to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, a Jesuit college, for four years. While at the school, he was tutored by Abbé Jacques-François Amblet, later in life, the Abbé testified at one of Sades trials, saying that Sade had a passionate temperament which made him eager in the pursuit of pleasure but had a good heart. At the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he was subjected to corporal punishment, including flagellation. At age 14, Sade began attending a military academy. At age 15, he was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant on 14 December 1755 after 20 months of training, becoming a soldier. After 13 months as a sub-lieutenant, he was commissioned to the rank of cornet in the Brigade de S. André of the Comte de Provences Carbine Regiment and he eventually became Colonel of a Dragoon regiment and fought in the Seven Years War. In 1766, he had a theatre built in his castle. In January 1767, his father died, the men of the Sade family alternated between using the marquis and comte titles. His grandfather, Gaspard François de Sade, was the first to use marquis, occasionally, he was the Marquis de Sade, but is identified in documents as the Marquis de Mazan. The Sade family were noblesse dépée, claiming at the time the oldest, Frank-descended nobility, so, at Court, precedence was by seniority and royal favor, not title. There is father-and-son correspondence, wherein father addresses son as marquis, for many years, Sades descendants regarded his life and work as a scandal to be suppressed. At that time, the marquis of legend was so unmentionable in his own family that Xavier de Sade only learned of him in the late 1940s when approached by a journalist. He subsequently discovered a store of Sades papers in the family château at Condé-en-Brie and his youngest son, the Marquis Thibault de Sade, has continued the collaboration
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Domenico Ghirlandaio
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Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence. Ghirlandaio was part of the third generation of the Florentine Renaissance, along with Verrocchio. Many apprentices passed through Ghirlandaios workshop, including the famous Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio was born Domenico di Tommaso di Currado di Doffo Bigordi. Tommaso had two children by his second wife, also named Antonia, whom he married in 1464. Domenicos half-sister Alessandra married the painter Bastiano Mainardi in 1494, both Ghirlandaios father and his uncle, Antonio, were setaiuolo a minuto. Giorgio Vasari reported that Domenico was at first apprenticed to his father, the nickname Il Ghirlandaio came to Domenico from his father, who was famed for creating the metallic garland-like headdresses worn by Florentine women. He was eventually apprenticed to Alesso Baldovinetti to study painting and mosaic, according to the art historian Günter Passavent, he was apprenticed in Florence to Andrea del Verrocchio. He maintained an association with other Florentine painters including Botticelli. Ghirlandaio excelled in the painting of frescos and it is for his fresco cycles that he is best known, an early commission came to him in the 1470s from the Commune of San Gimignano to decorate the Chapel of Santa Fina in the Collegiate Church of that city. The frescos, executed from 1477 to 1478, depict two miraculous events associated with the death of Saint Fina, in 1480, Ghirlandaio painted St. Jerome in His Study as a companion piece to Saint Augustine in His Study by Botticelli in the Church of Ognissanti, Florence. He also painted a life-sized Last Supper in its refectory, from 1481 to 1485, he was employed on frescoes at the Palazzo Vecchio, painting among other works an Apotheosis of St. Ghirlandaio painted the Vocation of the Apostles. He also painted the now lost Resurrection of Christ, the Crossing of the Red Sea has also been attributed to him, but is consistent with the style of Cosimo Roselli who was also part of the commission. Ghirlandaio is known to have created works in Rome, now lost. The first of these paintings contains portraits of Lorenzo de Medici, Sassetti and Lorenzos children with their tutor, the Resuscitation shows the painters own likeness. In 1483, there arrived in Florence a masterpiece of the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes, now known as the Portinari Altarpiece, it was an Adoration of the Shepherds, commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, an employee of the Medici Bank. The painting was in oil paint, not the tempera employed in Florence, the aspect of the painting that had a profound effect on Ghirlandaio was the naturalism with which the shepherds were depicted. Ghirlandaio painted the altarpiece of the Sassetti chapel, an Adoration of the Shepherds and it is in this painting that he particularly shows his indebtedness to the Portinari Altarpiece. The shepherds, among whom is a portrait of the artist himself, are portrayed with a realism that was an advance in Florentine painting at that time, the altarpiece is still in position in Santa Trinita, surrounded by the frescos of which it was the centrepiece
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Maarten van Heemskerck
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Maerten van Heemskerck or Marten Jacobsz Heemskerk van Veen was a Dutch portrait and religious painter, who spent most of his career in Haarlem. He was a pupil of Jan van Scorel, and adopted his teachers Italian-influenced style and he spent the years 1532–6 in Italy. He produced many designs for engravers, and is known for his depictions of the Wonders of the World. Heemskerck was born in the village of Heemskerk, North Holland and he was the son of a farmer called Jacob Willemsz. According to his biography by Karel van Mander, he began his training with the painter Cornelius Willemsz in Haarlem. Heemskerck then went to lodge at the home of the curate of the Sint-Bavokerk. They knew each other because Foppesz owned land in Heemskerk, the artist painted him in a now famous family portrait, considered the first of its kind in a long line of Dutch family paintings. His other works for Foppesz included two life size figures symbolising the Sun and the Moon on a bedstead, and a picture of Adam and his next home was in the house of a goldsmith, Justus Cornelisz, on the edge of Haarlem. Before setting off for Italy on a Grand Tour in 1532 and he travelled around the whole of northern and central Italy, stopping at Rome, where he had letters of introduction from van Scorel to the influential Dutch cardinal William of Enckenvoirt. Giorgio Vasari, who saw the battle-pieces which Heemskerk then produced, said they were well composed, while in Rome where he made numerous drawings of classical sculpture and architecture, many of which survive in two sketchbooks now in the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin. He was to use them as source material throughout the rest of his career, among these are the Capitoline Brutus, van Heemskerck being the first known artist to make a sketch of this now famous bust. On his return to the Netherlands in 1536, he settled back at Haarlem, where he became president of the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke, married twice, the alteration in his style, brought about by his experience of Italy was not universally admired. According to van Mander, in the opinion of some of the best judges he had not improved it, except in one particular and he painted large altarpieces for his friend, the art maecenas and later martyr of the Protestant Reformation, Cornelis Muys. Muys had returned from a period in France to the Netherlands in 1538 and this lucrative and high-profile work in Delft earned Heemskerck a commission for an altarpiece in the Nieuwe Kerk for their Guild of St. Luke. In 1553 he became curate of the Sint-Bavokerk, where he served for 22 years, in 1572 he left Haarlem for Amsterdam, to avoid the siege of Haarlem which the Spaniards laid to the place. He was one of the first Netherlandish artists to make drawings specifically for reproduction by commercial printmakers and he employed a technique incorporating cross-hatching and stippling, intended to aid the engraver. Heemskerck produced designs for a set of engravings, showing eight and they were engraved by Philip Galle and published in 1572. Many works by van Heemskerck survive, an altar-piece executed for the St
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Filippino Lippi
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Filippino Lippi was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy. Born Filippo Lippi in Prato, Tuscany, the son of the painter Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti. They moved to Spoleto, where Filippino served as workshop adjuvant in the construction of the Cathedral there, when his father died in 1469, he completed the frescos with Storie della Vergine in the cathedral. Filippino Lippi completed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Botticelli, who had been a pupil of Filippinos father, in 1472, Botticelli also took him as his companion in the Compagnia di San Luca. His first works greatly resemble those of Botticellis, but with less sensitivity and subtlety, the very first ones were initially attributed to an anonymous Amico di Sandro. Eventually Lippis style evolved into a personal and effective one in the years 1480-1485. Together with Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, Lippi worked on the decoration of Lorenzo de Medicis villa at Spedaletto. On December 31,1482 he was commissioned to work on a wall of Sala dellUdienza of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, a work never begun. Soon after, probably in 1483-84, he was called to complete Masaccios decoration of Brancacci Chapel in the church of the Carmine, the work on the Sala degli Otto di Pratica, in the Palazzo Vecchio, started on February 20,1486. It is now in the Uffizi Gallery, in the same years Piero di Francesco del Pugliese asked him to paint the altarpiece with the Apparition of the Virgin to St. Bernard, now in the Badia Fiorentina, Florence. This is Lippis most popular picture, a composition of unreal items, with its very particular elongated figures, backed by a scenario of rocks. The work is dated to 1480–86, eventually he worked for Tanai de Nerli in Florences Santo Spirito church. On April 21,1487, Filippo Strozzi asked him to decorate the chapel in Santa Maria Novella with the Stories of St. John Evangelist. He worked on this piece intermittently, only completing it in 1503, the windows with musical themes, also designed by Filippino, were completed between June and July 1503. Filippino showed his characters in a landscape which recreated the ancient world in its finest details and he created in this way an animated, mysterious, fantastic but also disquieting style, showing the unreality of something as a nightmare. In this way, Filippino portrayed ruthless executioners deformed by grim faces, in the scene with St. Philip expelling a monster from the temple, the statue of the pagan god is a living figure which seems to dare the Christian saint. In 1488, Lippi moved to Rome, where Lorenzo de Medici had advised Cardinal Oliviero Carafa to entrust him the decoration of the chapel in Santa Maria sopra Minerva. These frescoes show a new kind of inspiration, quite different from the earlier works, Lippi finished the cycle by 1493
