1.
Obverse and reverse
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In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called heads, because it depicts the head of a prominent person. In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the front is more commonly used than obverse. For prints and drawings with material on both sides the one judged as more significant will be the recto, a convention now exists typically to display the obverse to the left and the reverse to the right in photographs and museum displays, but this is not invariably observed. Following this principle, in the most famous of ancient Greek coins, the tetradrachm of Athens, the obverse is the head of Athena, similar versions of these two images, both symbols of the state, were used on the Athenian coins for more than two centuries. The opposite side may have varied from time to time and this change happened in the coinage of Alexander the Great, which continued to be minted long after his death. The various Hellenistic rulers who were his successors followed his tradition and this script alone style then was used on nearly all Islamic coinage until the modern period. The type of Justinian II was revived after the end of Iconoclasm, without images, therefore, it is not always easy to tell which side will be regarded as the obverse without some knowledge. After 695, Islamic coins avoided all images of persons and usually, the side expressing the Six Kalimas is usually defined as the obverse. The form of currency follows its function, which is to serve as an accepted medium of exchange of value. Traditionally, most states have been monarchies where the person of the monarch, if not provided for on the obverse, the reverse side usually contains information relating to a coins role as medium of exchange. Additional space typically reflects the countrys culture or government, or evokes some aspect of the states territory. Regarding the euro, some regarding the obverse and reverse of the euro coins exists. This rule does not apply to the coins as they dont have a common side. A number of the used for obverse national sides of euro coins were taken from the reverse of the old pre-euro coins of some individual countries. Several countries continue to use portraits of the monarch and the Republic of Ireland continues to use the State Arms. The Chrysanthemum Crest was no longer used after the war, and so, the side on which the date continues to be regarded as the reverse. Following ancient tradition, the obverse of coins of the United Kingdom almost always feature the head of the monarch
2.
Trajan
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Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born in the city of Italica in the province of Hispania Baetica, Trajans non-patrician family was of Italian, Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in 89 Trajan supported Domitian against a revolt on the Rhine led by Antonius Saturninus, in September 96, Domitian was succeeded by Marcus Cocceius Nerva, an old and childless senator who proved to be unpopular with the army. After a brief and tumultuous year in power, culminating in a revolt by members of the Praetorian Guard, Nerva was compelled to adopt the more popular Trajan as his heir and he died on 27 January 98 and was succeeded by his adopted son without incident. Early in his reign, he annexed the Nabataean Kingdom, creating the province of Arabia Petraea and his conquest of Dacia enriched the empire greatly, as the new province possessed many valuable gold mines. However, its position north of the Danube made it susceptible to attack on three sides, and it was later abandoned by Emperor Aurelian. Trajans war against the Parthian Empire ended with the sack of the capital Ctesiphon and his campaigns expanded the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent. In late 117, while sailing back to Rome, Trajan fell ill and he was deified by the Senate and his ashes were laid to rest under Trajans Column. He was succeeded by his adopted son Hadrian, as an emperor, Trajans reputation has endured – he is one of the few rulers whose reputation has survived nineteen centuries. Every new emperor after him was honoured by the Senate with the wish felicior Augusto, among medieval Christian theologians, Trajan was considered a virtuous pagan. As far as ancient literary sources are concerned, an extant continuous account of Trajans reign does not exist, only fragments remain of the Getiká, a book by Trajans personal physician Titos Statilios Kriton. The Parthiká, a 17-volume account of the Parthian Wars written by Arrian, has met a similar fate, book 68 in Cassius Dios Roman History, which survives mostly as Byzantine abridgments and epitomes, is the main source for the political history of Trajans rule. Besides this, Pliny the Youngers Panegyricus and Dio of Prusas orations are the best surviving contemporary sources and it is certain that much of text of the letters that appear in this collection over Trajans signature was written and/or edited by Trajans Imperial secretary, his ab epistulis. Therefore, discussion of Trajan and his rule in modern historiography cannot avoid speculation, as well as recourse to sources such as archaeology. Marcus Ulpius Traianus was born on 18 September 53 AD in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, Trajans birthplace of Italica was founded as a Roman military colony in 206 BC, though it is unknown when the Ulpii arrived there. Trajan was the son of Marcia, a Roman noblewoman and sister-in-law of the second Flavian Emperor Titus, and Marcus Ulpius Traianus, Marcus Ulpius Traianus the elder served Vespasian in the First Jewish-Roman War, commanding the Legio X Fretensis. Trajan himself was just one of many well-known Ulpii in a line that continued long after his own death and his elder sister was Ulpia Marciana, and his niece was Salonina Matidia. The patria of the Ulpii was Italica, in Spanish Baetica, as a young man, he rose through the ranks of the Roman army, serving in some of the most contested parts of the Empires frontier
3.
Radiant crown
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A radiant or radiate crown, also known as a solar crown or sun crown, is a crown, wreath, diadem, or other headgear symbolizing the sun or more generally powers associated with the sun. It typically takes the form of either a disc to represent the sun. In the iconography of ancient Egypt, the crown is taken as a disc framed by the horns of a ram or cow. It is worn by such as Horus in his solar or hawk-headed form, Hathor. It may also be worn by pharaohs, in Ptolemaic Egypt, the solar crown could also be a radiate diadem, modeled after the type worn by Alexander the Great in art from the mid-2nd century BC onward. It was perhaps influenced by contact with the Shunga Empire, the solar crown worn by Constantine, the first emperor to convert to Christianity, was reinterpreted as representing the Holy Nails. Crown of justification Crowns of Egypt Halo Horned deity
4.
Imperator
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The Latin word imperator was originally a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen, the English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French Empereür. The Roman emperors themselves generally based their authority on multiple titles and positions, nevertheless, imperator was used relatively consistently as an element of a Roman rulers title throughout the principate and the dominate. In Latin, the form of imperator is imperatrix, denoting a ruling female. When Rome was ruled by kings, to be able to rule, so, after the comitia curiata, held to elect the king, the king also had to be conferred the imperium. In Roman Republican literature and epigraphy, an imperator was a magistrate with imperium, but also, mainly in the later Roman Republic and during the late Republican civil wars, imperator was the honorific title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an armys troops in the field would proclaim their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. After being acclaimed imperator, the general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph. Since a triumph was the goal of many politically ambitious Roman commanders, in 15 AD Germanicus was also imperator during the empire of his adoptive father Tiberius. As a permanent title, imperator was used as a praenomen by the Roman emperors and was taken on accession, after the reign of Tiberius, the act of being proclaimed imperator was transformed into the act of imperial accession. In fact, if a general was acclaimed by his troops as imperator, at first the term continued to be used in the Republican sense as a victory title but attached to the de facto monarch and head of state, rather than the actual military commander. The title followed the name along with the number of times he was acclaimed as such. In time it became the title of the de facto monarch, nevertheless, this title was used in Greek-language texts for Roman emperors from the establishment of the empire. After the Roman empire collapsed in the West in the 5th century, Latin continued to be used as the language of learning, the Roman emperors of this period were referred to as imperatores in Latin texts, while the word basileus was used in Greek. After 800, the imperator was used as a formal Latin title in succession by the Carolingian and German Holy Roman Emperors until 1806,1480 to likewise assert their contention to be the heirs to the Byzantine state Reigning female Russian rulers were styled imperatritsa. Still, in rare cases in which a European monarchs Latin titles were used. Famously, after assuming the title Emperor of India, British monarchs would follow their signatures with the initials RI, standing for rex imperator. George VI of the United Kingdom was the last European ruler to claim a title, when he abdicated as Emperor of India in 1948
5.
Caesar (title)
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Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, the change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. For political and personal reasons Octavian chose to emphasize his relationship with Caesar by styling himself simply Imperator Caesar, without any of the other elements of his full name. His successor as emperor, his stepson Tiberius, also bore the name as a matter of course, born Tiberius Claudius Nero, he was adopted by Caesar Augustus on June 26,4 AD, as Tiberius Julius Caesar. The precedent was set, the Emperor designated his successor by adopting him, Claudius in turn adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name Caesar in the traditional way, his stepson would rule as the Emperor Nero. Galba helped solidify Caesar as the title of the heir by giving it to his own adopted heir. Galbas reign did not last long and he was deposed by Marcus Otho. Otho did not at first use the title Caesar and occasionally used the title Nero as emperor, Otho was then defeated by Aulus Vitellius who acceded with the name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus. Vitellius did not adopt the cognomen Caesar as part of his name, vespasians son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus. By this point the status of Caesar had been regularised into that of a given to the Emperor-designate. After some variation among the earliest emperors, the style of the Emperor-designate on coins was usually Nobilissimus Caesar Most Noble Caesar, on March 1,293, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior Emperors and two junior sub-Emperors. The two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as Imperator Caesar NN, pius Felix Invictus Augustus, and were called the Augusti, while the two junior sub-Emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as Nobilissimus Caesar. Likewise, the junior sub-Emperors retained the title Caesar upon accession to the senior position, an exceptional case was the conferment of the dignity and its insignia to the Bulgarian khan Tervel by Justinian II who had helped him regain his throne in 705. The title was awarded to the brother of Empress Maria of Alania, according to the Klētorologion of 899, the Byzantine Caesars insignia were a crown without a cross, and the ceremony of a Caesars creation, is included in De Ceremoniis I.43. The title remained the highest in the hierarchy until the introduction of the sebastokratōr by Alexios I Komnenos. The title remained in existence through the last centuries of the Empire, in the late Byzantine hierarchy, as recorded in the mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the rank continued to come after the sebastokratōr. Pseudo-Kodinos writes that the forms of another form of hat, the domed skaranikon, and of the mantle. In the Middle East, the Persians and the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as Caesar
6.
Augustus (honorific)
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Augustus, /ɔːˈɡʌstəs/, Classical Latin, Latin for majestic, the increaser, or venerable), was an ancient Roman title given as both name and title to Gaius Octavius, Romes first Emperor. On his death, it became a title of his successor. The feminine form Augusta was used for Roman empresses and other females of the Imperial family, the masculine and feminine forms originated in the time of the Roman Republic, in connection with things considered divine or sacred in traditional Roman religion. In Romes Greek-speaking provinces, Augustus was translated as sebastos, or hellenised as augoustos, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Augustus was sometimes used as a name for men of aristocratic birth, especially in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. It remains a name for males. Some thirty years before its first association with Caesars heir, Augustus was an honorific with religious associations. One early context, associates it with provincial Lares, in poetry and prose it was the elevation or augmentation of what is already sacred or religious. Some Roman sources connected it to augury, and Rome was said to have been founded with the august augury of Romulus, the first true Roman Emperor known as augustus was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He was the son and heir of Julius Caesar, who had been murdered for his seeming aspiration to divine monarchy. Octavian studiously avoided any association with Caesars claims, other than acknowledging his position and duties as Divi filius, nevertheless, his position was unique, and extraordinary. He had ended Romes prolonged and bloody war with his victory at Actium. As princeps senatus he presided at senatorial meetings and he was pontifex maximus, chief priest of Roman state religion. He held consular imperium, with authority equal to the chief executive, he was supreme commander of all Roman legions. As a tribune, his person was inviolable and he had the right to any act or proposal by any magistrate within Rome. He was officially renamed Augustus by the Roman Senate on January 16,27 BC – or perhaps the Senate ratified his own choice, Romulus had been considered. His full and official title was Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus and this extension of an Imperial honorific to major and minor deities of Rome and her provinces is considered a ground-level feature of Imperial cult. It continued until the replacement of Romes traditional religions by Christianity. The title or name of Augustus was adopted by his successors, most emperors also used imperator but others could and did bear the same title and functions
7.
Pontifex Maximus
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The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, a distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian who, however, although the most influential office within Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus was ranked the fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests, behind the rex sacrorum and the flamines maiores. It is not included in the Popes official titles, but appears on buildings, monuments and coins of popes of Renaissance, according to the usual interpretation, the term pontifex literally means bridge-builder, maximus literally means greatest. However, it was understood in its symbolic sense as well. The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it, others have held that the word was originally pompifex. The word pons originally meant way and pontifex would thus mean maker of roads, another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated Etruscan word for priest. Yet another hypothesis considers the word as a loan from the Sabine language, in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from Osco-Umbrian ponte, the pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as pomperia. The term ἀρχιερεύς is used in the Septuagint text of the Old Testament, the Collegium Pontificum was the most important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this college and the office of Pontifex Maximus is attributed to the second king of Rome. Much of what is known about the Regal period in Roman history is semi-legendary or mythical, the Collegium presumably acted as advisers to the rex in religious matters. The collegium was headed by the pontifex maximus, and all the pontifices held their office for life, Numa is said to have founded Roman religion after dedicating an altar on the Aventine Hill to Jupiter Elicius and consulting the gods by means of augury. Numa wrote down and sealed these religious instructions, and gave them to the first Pontifex Maximus, in the Roman Republic, the Pontifex Maximus was the highest office in the state religion of ancient Rome and directed the College of Pontiffs. The rex sacrorum was explicitly deprived of military and political power, the official residence of the Pontifex Maximus was the Domus Publica which stood between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra, close to the Regia, in the Roman Forum. His religious duties were carried out from the Regia, unless the pontifex maximus was also a magistrate at the same time, he was not allowed to wear the toga praetexta, i. e. toga with the purple border. The Pontifex was not simply a priest and he had both political and religious authority. It is not clear which of the two came first or had the most importance, in practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of Pontifex Maximus was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder, Julius Caesar became pontifex in 73 BC
8.
Tribune
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Tribunus, in English tribune, was the title of various elected officials in Ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes, there were also military tribunes, who commanded portions of the Roman army, subordinate to the higher magistrates, such as the consuls and praetors, promagistrates, and their legates. Various officers within the Roman army were known as tribunes. The title was used for several other positions and classes in the course of Roman history. The word tribune is derived from the Roman tribes, the three original tribes known as the Ramnes or Ramnenses, Tities or Titienses, and the Luceres, were each headed by a tribune, who represented each tribe in civil, religious, and military matters. Subsequently, each of the Servian tribes was represented by a tribune. Under the Roman Kingdom, the Tribunus Celerum, in English Tribune of the Celeres, or Tribune of the Knights, was commander of the personal bodyguard. This official was second only to the king, and had the authority to law, known as lex tribunicia. Unless the king himself elected to lead the cavalry into battle, in theory he could deprive the king of his imperium, or authority to command, with the agreement of the comitia curiata. It was Brutus who convened the comitia and asked that they revoke the kings imperium, the ancient sources indicate the tribunes may have originally been two or five in number. If the former, the college of tribunes was expanded to five in 470 BC, either way, the college was increased to ten in 457 BC, and remained at this number throughout Roman history. They were assisted by two aediles plebis, or plebeian aediles, only plebeians were eligible for these offices, although there were at least two exceptions. The tribunes of the plebs had the power to convene the concilium plebis, or plebeian assembly, only one of the tribunes could preside over this assembly, which had the power to pass laws affecting only the plebeians, known as plebiscita, or plebiscites. After 287 BC, the decrees of the concilium plebis had the effect of law over all Roman citizens, by the 3rd century BC, the tribunes could also convene and propose legislation before the senate. Although sometimes referred to as plebeian magistrates, technically the tribunes of the plebs were not magistrates, having been elected by the plebeians alone, and not the whole Roman people. However, they were sacrosanct, and the body of the plebeians were pledged to protect the tribunes against any assault or interference with their persons during their terms of office. Anyone who violated the sacrosanctity of the tribunes might be killed without penalty, citizens could appeal the decisions of the magistrates to the tribunes, who would then be obliged to determine the legality of the action before a magistrate could proceed. This power also allowed the tribunes to forbid, or veto any act of the senate or another assembly, only a dictator was exempt from these powers
9.
Consul
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Consul was the title of one of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently a somewhat significant title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other city states and also revived in modern states. The relating adjective is consular, from the consularis, in modern terminology, a consul is a type of diplomat. The American Heritage Dictionary defines consul as an appointed by a government to reside in a foreign country. Throughout most of southern France, a consul was an equivalent to the échevins of the north. The most prominent were those of Bordeaux and Toulouse, which came to be known as jurats and capitouls, the capitouls of Toulouse were granted transmittable nobility. In many other towns the first consul, was the equivalent of a mayor today, assisted by a variable number of secondary consuls. His main task was to levy and collect tax, the Dukes of Gaeta often used also the title of consul in its Greek form Hypatos. The city-state of Genoa, unlike ancient Rome, bestowed the title of consul on various state officials, among these were Genoese officials stationed in various Mediterranean ports, whose role included helping Genoese merchants and sailors in difficulties with the local authorities. This institution, with its name, was emulated by other powers and is reflected in the modern usage of the word. In reality, the first consul, Bonaparte, dominated his two colleagues and held power, soon making himself consul for life and eventually, in 1804. Chief magistrate, an office held for four months by one of the consuls. As noted above, Bologna already had consuls at some parts of its Medieval history, while many cities had a double-headed chief magistracy, often another title was used, such as Duumvir or native styles such as Meddix, but consul was used in some. It was not uncommon for an organization under Roman private law to copy the terminology of state, the founding statute, or contract, of such an organisation was called lex, law. The people elected each year were patricians, members of the upper class. org, see each present country
10.
5 (number)
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5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the number following 4 and preceding 6. Five is the prime number. Because it can be written as 221 +1, five is classified as a Fermat prime, therefore a regular polygon with 5 sides is constructible with compass and unmarked straightedge. 5 is the third Sophie Germain prime, the first safe prime, the third Catalan number, Five is the first Wilson prime and the third factorial prime, also an alternating factorial. Five is the first good prime and it is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n −1. It is also the number that is part of more than one pair of twin primes. Five is conjectured to be the only odd number and if this is the case then five will be the only odd prime number that is not the base of an aliquot tree. Five is also the only prime that is the sum of two primes, namely 2 and 3. The number 5 is the fifth Fibonacci number, being 2 plus 3,5 is also a Pell number and a Markov number, appearing in solutions to the Markov Diophantine equation. Whereas 5 is unique in the Fibonacci sequence, in the Perrin sequence 5 is both the fifth and sixth Perrin numbers,5 is the length of the hypotenuse of the smallest integer-sided right triangle. In bases 10 and 20,5 is a 1-automorphic number,5 and 6 form a Ruth–Aaron pair under either definition. There are five solutions to Známs problem of length 6 and this is related to the fact that the symmetric group Sn is a solvable group for n ≤4 and not solvable for n ≥5. While all graphs with 4 or fewer vertices are planar, there exists a graph with 5 vertices which is not planar, K5, Five is also the number of Platonic solids. A polygon with five sides is a pentagon, figurate numbers representing pentagons are called pentagonal numbers. Five is also a square pyramidal number, Five is the only prime number to end in the digit 5, because all other numbers written with a 5 in the ones-place under the decimal system are multiples of five. As a consequence of this,5 is in base 10 a 1-automorphic number, vulgar fractions with 5 or 2 in the denominator do not yield infinite decimal expansions, unlike expansions with all other prime denominators, because they are prime factors of ten, the base. When written in the system, all multiples of 5 will end in either 5 or 0
11.
Tropaion
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A tropaion, whence English trophy is derived, is an ancient Greek and later Roman monument set up to commemorate a victory over ones foes. Typically this takes the shape of a tree, sometimes with a pair of arm-like branches upon which is hung the armour of a defeated, the tropaion is then dedicated to a god in thanksgiving for the victory. It would be dressed in the hoplite panoply of the period, including, a helmet, cuirass. It remained on the battlefield until the following campaigns, where it might be replaced with a new trophy. The significance of the monument is a notification of victory to the defeated enemies. Since warfare in the Greek world was largely a ritualistic affair in the archaic hoplite-age, the tropaeum in Rome, on the other hand, would probably not be set up on the battle-site itself, but rather displayed prominently in the city of Rome. A tropaeum displayed on the battlefield does not win votes, but one brought back, the name Tropaeum was neoclassically applied by paleontologist James De Carle Sowerby, in 1837, to certain ammonite fossils dating from the Cretaceous Period. His genus name Tropaeum remains in use to this day, the Western Way of War, Infantry Battle in Classical Greece
12.
SPQR
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SPQR is an initialism of a Latin phrase Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, referring to the government of the ancient Roman Republic, and used as an official emblem of the modern-day comune of Rome. The phrase commonly appears in Roman political, legal and historical literature, including the speeches of Cicero, in Latin, Senātus is a nominative singular noun meaning Senate. Populusque is compounded from the nominative noun Populus, the People, and -que, an enclitic particle meaning, the last word, Rōmānus is an adjective modifying the whole of Senātus Populusque, the Roman Senate and People, taken as a whole. Thus, the sentence is translated literally as The Roman Senate and People, or more freely as The Senate, the titles date of establishment is unknown, but it first appears in inscriptions of the Late Republic, from c.80 BC onwards. Previously, the name of the Roman state, as evidenced on coins, was simply ROMA. The abbreviation last appears on coins of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, the two legal entities mentioned, Senātus and the Populus Rōmānus, are sovereign when combined. However, where populus is sovereign alone, Senātus is not, under the Roman Kingdom neither entity was sovereign. The phrase, therefore, can be dated to no earlier than the foundation of the Republic and this signature continued in use under the Roman Empire. The emperors were considered the representatives of the even though the senātūs consulta. Populus Rōmānus in Roman literature is a phrase meaning the government of the People, when the Romans named governments of other countries they used populus in the singular or plural, such as populī Prīscōrum Latīnōrum, the governments of the Old Latins. Rōmānus is the adjective used to distinguish the Romans, as in cīvis Rōmānus. The locative, Rōmae, at Rome, was never used for that purpose, the Roman people appear very often in law and history in such phrases as dignitās, maiestās, auctoritās, lībertās populī Rōmānī, the dignity, majesty, authority, freedom of the Roman people. They were a populus līber, a free people, there was an exercitus, imperium, iudicia, honorēs, consulēs, voluntās of this same populus, the army, rule, judgments, offices, consuls and will of the Roman people. They appear in early Latin as Popolus and Poplus, so the habit of thinking of themselves as free, the Romans believed that all authority came from the people. It could be said that similar language seen in modern political and social revolutions directly comes from this usage. People in this meant the whole government. One of the ways the emperor Commodus paid for his donatives and mass entertainments was to tax the senatorial order, and on many inscriptions, beginning in 1184, the Commune of Rome struck coins in the name of the SENATVS P Q R. From 1414 and 1517, the Roman Senate struck coins with a shield inscribed SPQR, during the regime of Benito Mussolini, SPQR was emblazoned on a number of public buildings and manhole covers in an attempt to promote his dictatorship as a New Roman Empire
13.
Senatus consultum
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A senatus consultum is a text emanating from the senate in Ancient Rome. It is used in the modern phrase senatus consultum ultimum, translated into French as sénatus-consulte, the term was also used during the French Consulate, First French Empire and Second French Empire. Under the Republic, it referred to a text promulgated by the senate on planned laws presented to the senate by a consul or praetor, officially these consulta were merely advice given to the Republics magistrates, but in practice magistrates often followed them to the letter. If a consultum conflicted with a law promulgated by one of the Republics legislative assemblies, all proposed motions could be blocked by a veto from a tribune of the plebs or an intercessio by one of the executive magistrates. Each motion blocked by a veto was registered in the annals as senatus auctoritas, each ratified motion finally became a senatus consultum. Each senatus auctoritas and each senatus consultum was transcribed in a document by the president, under the Roman Empire, the Roman legislative assemblies were rapidly neutralised. Realising these assemblies were very corrupt and dysfunctional, the first emperors transferred all powers to the senate. After this transfer, the senatus consulta had the force of law, the senates legislative power and right to issue consulta were suppressed in the 3rd century under the Dominate, in reference to the full powers conferred to the imperium. In the continued decline in law, the change rendered the emperor alone the guarantor of law. Robert Byrd, The Senate of the Roman Republic,1995, U. S
14.
Orichalcum
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Orichalcum or aurichalcum is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including the story of Atlantis in the Critias of Plato. Orichalcum may have been a metal such as platinum, as it was supposed to be mined. In 2015, metal ingots were found in an ancient shipwreck in Gela, in numismatics, orichalcum is the golden-colored bronze alloy used by the Roman Empire for their sestertius and dupondius coins. The name derives from the Greek ὀρείχαλκος, oreikhalkos, meaning literally mountain copper, the Romans transliterated orichalcum as aurichalcum, which was thought to literally mean gold copper. It is known from the writings of Cicero that the metal they called orichalcum, Orichalcum has variously been held to be a gold/copper alloy, a copper-tin or copper-zinc brass, or a metal no longer known. However, in Virgils Aeneid the breastplate of Turnus is described as stiff with gold, in later years, orichalcum was used to describe the sulfide mineral chalcopyrite and to describe brass. Joseph Needham notes that the 18th century Bishop Richard Watson, a professor of chemistry, Needham also suggests that the Greeks may not have known how orichalcum was made, and that they might even have had an imitation of the original. In 2015, a number of believed to be orichalcum were discovered in a sunken vessel. Orichalcum is first mentioned in the 7th century BC by Hesiod, the interior walls, pillars and floors of the temple were completely covered in orichalcum, and the roof was variegated with gold, silver, and orichalcum. In the center of the temple stood a pillar of orichalcum, on which the laws of Poseidon, Orichalcum is also mentioned in the Antiquities of the Jews - Book VIII, sect. 88 by Josephus, who stated that the vessels in the Temple of Solomon were made of orichalcum, pliny the Elder points out that the metal had lost currency due to the mines being exhausted. In numismatics, the term orichalcum is used to refer to the bronze alloy used for the sestertius and dupondius coins. It is considered more valuable than copper, of which the as coin was made, media related to Orichalcum coins at Wikimedia Commons
15.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
16.
Faustina the Younger
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Annia Galeria Faustina Minor, Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, though Roman sources give a generally negative view of her character, she was held in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was given divine honours after her death. Faustina, named after her mother, was her parents fourth and youngest child and their second daughter and she was born and raised in Rome. Her great uncle, the emperor Hadrian, had arranged with her father for Faustina to marry Lucius Verus, on 25 February 138, she and Verus were betrothed. Faustina’s father ended the engagement between his daughter and Verus and arranged for Faustinas betrothal to her cousin, Marcus Aurelius, Aurelius was also adopted by her father. In April or May 145, Faustina and Marcus Aurelius were married, little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been noteworthy. Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Antoninus, as Pontifex Maximus, Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina. Faustina was given the title of Augusta on 1 December 147 after the birth of her first child, when Antoninus died on 7 March 161, Marcus and Lucius Verus ascended to the throne and became co-rulers. Unfortunately, not much has survived from the Roman sources regarding Faustinas life, Cassius Dio and the Augustan History accuse Faustina of ordering deaths by poison and execution, she has also been accused of instigating the revolt of Avidius Cassius against her husband. The Augustan History mentions adultery with sailors, gladiators, and men of rank, however, Faustina and Aurelius seem to have very close. Faustina accompanied her husband on military campaigns and enjoyed the love. Aurelius gave her the title of Mater Castrorum or ‘Mother of the Camp’ and she attempted to make her home out of an army camp. Between 170–175, she was in the north, and in 175 and she also wanted someone who would act as a counter-weight to the claims of Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, who was in a strong position to take the office of Princeps in the event of Marcus’s death. After a dream of empire lasting three months and six days, Cassius was murdered by a centurion, his head was sent to Marcus Aurelius, egypt recognized Marcus as emperor again by 28 July 175. Faustina died in the winter of 175, after an accident, Aurelius grieved much for his wife and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. She was deified, her statue was placed in the Temple of Venus in Rome, halala’s name was changed to Faustinopolis and Aurelius opened charity schools for orphan girls called Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina. The Baths of Faustina in Miletus are named after her, triumph and Tragedy, The Rise and Fall of Romes Immortal Emperors. Faustina I and II, Imperial Women of the Golden Age, ch.8, La vie de Faustine, femme de Marc-Aurèle
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Augusta (honorific)
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Augusta, was a Roman imperial honorific title given to empresses and honoured women of the imperial families. It was the form of Augustus In the third century, Augustae could also receive the titles of Mater Castrorum. The title implied the greatest prestige, Augustae could issue their own coinage, wear imperial regalia, and rule their own courts. List of Roman and Byzantine empresses
18.
Antoninus Pius
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Antoninus Pius, also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was one of the Five Good Emperors in the Nerva–Antonine dynasty and he died of illness in 161 and was succeeded by his adopted sons Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus as co-emperors. He was born as the child of Titus Aurelius Fulvus. The Aurelii Fulvii were therefore a new senatorial family from Gallia Narbonensis whose rise to prominence was supported by the Flavians. The link between Antoninus family and their home province explains the importance of the post of Proconsul of Gallia Narbonensis during the late Second Century. Antoninus was born near Lanuvium and his mother was Arria Fadilla, the Arrii Antoninii were an older senatorial family from Italy, very influential during Nervas reign. Arria Fadilla, Antoninus mother, married afterwards Publius Julius Lupus, a man of rank, suffect consul in 98. Some time between 110 and 115, Antoninus married Annia Galeria Faustina the Elder and they are believed to have enjoyed a happy marriage. Faustina was the daughter of consul Marcus Annius Verus and Rupilia Faustina, Faustina was a beautiful woman, and despite rumours about her character, it is clear that Antoninus cared for her deeply. Faustina bore Antoninus four children, two sons and two daughters and they were, Marcus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus, his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. Marcus Galerius Aurelius Antoninus, his sepulchral inscription has been found at the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome and his name appears on a Greek Imperial coin. Aurelia Fadilla, she married Lucius Lamia Silvanus, consul 145 and she appeared to have no children with her husband and her sepulchral inscription has been found in Italy. Annia Galeria Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger, a future Roman Empress, married her maternal cousin, when Faustina died in 141, Antoninus was greatly distressed. In honour of her memory, he asked the Senate to deify her as a goddess and he had various coins with her portrait struck in her honor. These coins were scripted ‘DIVA FAUSTINA’ and were elaborately decorated and he further created a charity which he founded and called it Puellae Faustinianae or Girls of Faustina, which assisted destitute girls of good family. Finally, Antoninus created a new alimenta, instead, he lived with Galena Lysistrata, one of Faustinas freed women. Concubinage was a form of female companionship sometimes chosen by powerful men in Ancient Rome, especially widowers like Vespasian and their union could not produce any legitimate offspring who could threaten any heirs, such as those of Antoninus. Also, as one could not have a wife and a concubine at the same time
19.
Pudicitia
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Pudicitia was a central concept in ancient Roman sexual ethics. The word is derived from the more general pudor, the sense of shame that regulated an individuals behavior as socially acceptable. Pudicitia was most often a characteristic of women, but men who failed to conform to masculine sexual norms were said to exhibit feminizing impudicitia. The virtue was personified by the Roman goddess Pudicitia, whose Greek equivalent was Aidos. Romans, both men and women, were expected to uphold the virtue of pudicitia, an ideal that was explored by many ancient writers, including Livy, Valerius Maximus, Cicero. Livy describes the figure of Lucretia as the epitome of pudicitia. She is loyal to her husband and is modest, despite her incredible beauty, some say that the story of Lucretia shows that the more virtuous a woman was, the more appealing she was to potential adulterers. Pudicitia was not only a mental attribute but also physical, an appearance was seen as an indicator of their morality. The way a man or woman presented him or herself in public, for example, if a woman was seen associating with men other than her husband people would make a negative judgment on her pudicitia. Romans idealized the woman who was univira, a woman, married once, even though by the time of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was common. The opposite of pudicitia was impudicitia, shamelessness or “sexual vice. ”An assault on pudicitia was stuprum, romans associated the loss of pudicitia with chaos and loss of control. In Cicero’s oration against Verres, he discusses many of the governor’s transgressions including sexual misconduct with men and women. In the Imperial age, Augustus enacted a program of moral legislation to encourage pudicitia, according to Livy, there were two temples of Pudicitia in Rome. Livy states that the shrine of Pudicitia eventually fell into disuse after its sacred character had been abused
20.
Didius Julianus
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Didius Julianus was Roman emperor for nine weeks during the year 193. Julianus ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard and this led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197. Julianus was ousted and sentenced to death by his successor, Septimius Severus, Julianus was born to Quintus Petronius Didius Severus and Aemilia Clara. Julianuss father came from a prominent family in Mediolanum and his mother was a north African woman of Roman descent and his brothers were Didius Proculus and Didius Nummius Albinus. His date of birth is given as 30 January 133 by Cassius Dio and 2 February 137 by the Historia Augusta, Didius Julianus was raised by Domitia Lucilla, mother of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. With Domitias help, he was appointed at an early age to the vigintivirate. He married a Roman woman named Manlia Scantilla, and sometime around 153, Scantilla bore him a daughter, in succession Julianus held the offices of Quaestor and Aedile, and then, around 162, was named as Praetor. He was nominated to the command of the Legio XXII Primigenia in Mogontiacum, in 170, he became praefectus of Gallia Belgica and served for five years. He further distinguished himself in a campaign against the Chatti, governed Dalmatia and Germania Inferior, and then was made prefect charged with distributing money to the poor of Italy. It was around this time that he was charged with having conspired against the life of Commodus and he governed Bithynia and succeeded Pertinax as the proconsul of Africa. After the murder of Pertinax, the Praetorian assassins announced that the throne was to be sold to the man who would pay the highest price. As the bidding went on, the reported to each of the two competitors, the one within the fortifications, the other outside the rampart, the sum offered by his rival. Eventually Sulpicianus promised 20,000 sesterces to every soldier, Julianus, fearing that Sulpicianus would gain the throne, the guards immediately closed with the offer of Julianus, threw open the gates, saluted him by the name of Caesar, and proclaimed him emperor. Threatened by the military, the senate declared him emperor and his wife and his daughter both received the title Augusta. After the initial confusion had subsided, the population did not tamely submit to the dishonour brought upon Rome, whenever Julianus appeared in public he was saluted with groans, imprecations, and shouts of robber and parricide. The mob tried to obstruct his progress to the Capitol, Julianus declared Severus a public enemy because he was the nearest of the three and, therefore, the most dangerous foe. Deputies were sent from the senate to persuade the soldiers to him, a new general was nominated to supersede him. The Praetorian Guard, long strangers to active operations, were marched into the Campus Martius, regularly drilled
21.
Fortuna
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Fortuna was the goddess of fortune and personification of luck in Roman religion. She might bring good or bad luck, she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Lady Justice, and came to represent lifes capriciousness. She was also a goddess of fate, as Atrox Fortuna, she claimed the lives of the princeps Augustus grandsons Gaius and Lucius. Her father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful, as Annonaria she protected grain supplies. June 11 was sacred to her, on June 24 she was given cult at the festival of Fors Fortuna, fortunas Roman cult was variously attributed to Servius Tullius – whose exceptional good fortune suggested their sexual intimacy – and to Ancus Marcius. The two earliest temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the bank of the Tiber. After undisclosed rituals they then rowed back, garlanded and inebriated, also Fortuna had a temple at the Forum Boarium. Here Fortuna was twinned with the cult of Mater Matuta, and the temples have been revealed in the excavation beside the church of SantOmobono. Fortuna Primigenia of Praeneste was adopted by Romans at the end of 3rd century BC in an important cult of Fortuna Publica Populi Romani on the Quirinalis outside the Porta Collina, no temple at Rome, however, rivalled the magnificence of the Praenestine sanctuary. Fortunas identity as personification of chance events was closely tied to virtus, an oracle at the Temple of Fortuna Primigena in Praeneste used a form of divination in which a small boy picked out one of various futures that were written on oak rods. Cults to Fortuna in her many forms are attested throughout the Roman world, dedications have been found to Fortuna Dubia, Fortuna Brevis and Fortuna Mala. She is found in a variety of domestic and personal contexts, during the early Empire, an amulet from the House of Menander in Pompeii links her to the Egyptian goddess Isis, as Isis-Fortuna. She is functionally related to the god Bonus Eventus, who is represented as her counterpart. Her name seems to derive from Vortumna, the earliest reference to the Wheel of Fortune, emblematic of the endless changes in life between prosperity and disaster, is from 55 BC. Never have sceptres obtained calm peace or certain tenure, care on care weighs them down, great kingdoms sink of their own weight, and Fortune gives way ‘neath the burden of herself. Sails swollen with favouring breezes fear blasts too strongly theirs, the tower which rears its head to the clouds is beaten by rainy Auster. Whatever Fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low. ”Fortuna did not disappear from the imagination with the ascendancy of Christianity. Let the bad worship her. this supposed deity, Fortuna, then, was a servant of God, and events, individual decisions, the influence of the stars were all merely vehicles of Divine Will
22.
Cornucopia
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In classical antiquity, the cornucopia or horn of plenty was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers or nuts. Mythology offers multiple explanations of the origin of the cornucopia, one of the best-known involves the birth and nurturance of the infant Zeus, who had to be hidden from his devouring father Kronus. In a cave on Mount Ida on the island of Crete, baby Zeus was cared for and protected by a number of attendants, including the goat Amalthea. In another myth, the cornucopia was created when Heracles wrestled with the river god Achelous and wrenched off one of his horns and this version is represented in the Achelous and Hercules mural painting by the American Regionalist artist Thomas Hart Benton. In modern depictions, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped wicker basket filled with various kinds of festive fruit, in most of North America, the cornucopia has come to be associated with Thanksgiving and the harvest. Cornucopia is also the name of the annual November Food and Wine celebration in Whistler, British Columbia, two cornucopias are seen in the flag and state seal of Idaho. The Great Seal of North Carolina depicts Liberty standing and Plenty holding a cornucopia, the coat of arms of Colombia, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, and the Coat of Arms of the State of Victoria, Australia, also feature the cornucopia, symbolising prosperity. In the book and film series The Hunger Games, the Cornucopia is filled with weapons, and is the point of the Games. The horn of plenty is used for art and at Halloween, as it is a symbol of fertility, fortune
23.
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
24.
Brass
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Brass is a metal alloy made of copper and zinc, the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties. It is an alloy, atoms of the two constituents may replace each other within the same crystal structure. By comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin, however, bronze and brass may also include small proportions of a range of other elements including arsenic, phosphorus, aluminium, manganese, and silicon. The term is applied to a variety of brasses. Modern practice in museums and archaeology increasingly avoids both terms for objects in favour of the all-embracing copper alloy. It is also used in zippers, Brass is often used in situations in which it is important that sparks not be struck, such as in fittings and tools used near flammable or explosive materials. Brass has higher malleability than bronze or zinc, the relatively low melting point of brass and its flow characteristics make it a relatively easy material to cast. By varying the proportions of copper and zinc, the properties of the brass can be changed, allowing hard, the density of brass is 8.4 to 8.73 grams per cubic centimetre. Today, almost 90% of all alloys are recycled. Because brass is not ferromagnetic, it can be separated from ferrous scrap by passing the scrap near a powerful magnet, Brass scrap is collected and transported to the foundry where it is melted and recast into billets. Billets are heated and extruded into the form and size. The general softness of brass means that it can often be machined without the use of cutting fluid, aluminium makes brass stronger and more corrosion-resistant. Aluminium also causes a highly beneficial hard layer of oxide to be formed on the surface that is thin, transparent. Tin has an effect and finds its use especially in seawater applications. Combinations of iron, aluminium, silicon and manganese make brass wear and tear resistant, to enhance the machinability of brass, lead is often added in concentrations of around 2%. Since lead has a melting point than the other constituents of the brass. The pattern the globules form on the surface of the brass increases the available surface area which in turn affects the degree of leaching. In addition, cutting operations can smear the lead globules over the surface and these effects can lead to significant lead leaching from brasses of comparatively low lead content
25.
Coin
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A coin is a small, flat, round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by a government, Coins are usually metal or alloy, or sometimes made of synthetic materials. Coins made of metal are stored in large quantities as bullion coins. Other coins are used as money in transactions, circulating alongside banknotes. Usually the highest value coin in circulation is less than the lowest-value note. In the last hundred years, the value of circulation coins has occasionally been lower than the value of the metal they contain. Exceptions to the rule of face value being higher than content value also occur for some bullion coins made of copper, silver, or gold, while the Eagle, Maple Leaf, and Sovereign coins have nominal face values, the Krugerrand does not. The first coins were developed independently in Iron Age Anatolia and Archaic Greece, India, Coins spread rapidly in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, throughout Greece and Persia, and further to the Balkans. Standardized Roman currency was used throughout the Roman Empire, important Roman gold and silver coins were continued into the Middle Ages. Fiat money first arose in medieval China, with the paper money. Early paper money was introduced in Europe in the later Middle Ages, the penny was minted as a silver coin until the 17th century. The first circulating United States coins were cents, produced in 1793, Coins were an evolution of currency systems of the Late Bronze Age, where standard-sized ingots, and tokens such as knife money, were used to store and transfer value. In the late Chinese Bronze Age, standardized cast tokens were made and these were replicas in bronze of earlier Chinese currency, cowrie shells, so they were named Bronze Shell. According to Aristotle and Pollux, the first issuer of coins was Hermodike of Kyme The earliest coins are associated with Iron Age Anatolia. Early electrum coins were not standardized in weight, and in their earliest stage may have been ritual objects, such as badges or medals, issued by priests. The first Lydian coins were made of electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of silver, most of the early Lydian coins include no writing, only an image of a symbolic animal. Anatolian Artemis was the Πὀτνια Θηρῶν, whose symbol was the stag, a small percentage of early Lydian/Greek coins have a legend
26.
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
27.
Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
28.
As (Roman coin)
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The as, also assarius was a bronze, and later copper, coin used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The Romans replaced the usage of Greek coins, first by bronze ingots, the system thus named as was introduced in ca.280 BC as a large cast bronze coin during the Roman Republic. The following fractions of the as were produced, the bes, semis, quincunx, triens, quadrans, sextans, uncia, and semuncia, as well as multiples of the as. After the as had issued as a cast coin for about seventy years, and its weight had been reduced in several stages. At about the time a silver coin, the denarius, was also introduced. Earlier Roman silver coins had been struck on the Greek weight standards that facilitated their use in southern Italy and across the Adriatic, but all Roman coins were now on a Roman weight standard. The denarius, or tenner, was at first tariffed at ten asses and this is said to have been a result of financing the Punic Wars. During the Republic, the as featured the bust of Janus on the obverse, the as was originally produced on the libral and then the reduced libral weight standard. The bronze coinage of the Republic switched from being cast to being struck as the weight decreased, during certain periods, no asses were produced at all. The as continued to be produced until the 3rd century AD and it was the lowest valued coin regularly issued during the Roman Empire, with semis and quadrans being produced infrequently, and then not at all by the time of Marcus Aurelius. The last as seems to have produced by Aurelian between 270 and 275 and at the beginning of the reign of Diocletian. The as, under its Greek name assarion, was re-established by the Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and it was a low-quality flat copper coin, weighing ca. 3–4 grams and forming the lowest denomination of contemporary Byzantine coinage and it appears that the designs on the assarion changed annually, hence they display great variations. The assarion was replaced in 1367 by two other denominations, the tournesion and the follaro
29.
Sestertius
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The sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions, during the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name is derived from semis, half and tertius, third, in which third refers to the third as, the sestertius was introduced c.211 BC as a small silver coin valued at one-quarter of a denarius. A silver denarius was supposed to weigh about 4.5 grams, valued at ten grams, in practice, the coins were usually underweight. When the denarius was retariffed to sixteen asses, the sestertius was accordingly revalued to four asses and it was produced sporadically, far less often than the denarius, through 44 BC. In or about 23 BC, with the reform of Augustus. Augustus tariffed the value of the sestertius as 1/100 Aureus, the sestertius was produced as the largest brass denomination until the late 3rd century AD. Most were struck in the mint of Rome but from AD64 during the reign of Nero and Vespasian, Lyon sestertii can be recognised by a small globe, or legend stop, beneath the bust. The brass sestertius typically weighs in the region of 25 to 28 grammes, is around 32–34 mm in diameter, the distinction between bronze and brass was important to the Romans. Their name for brass was orichalcum, also spelled aurichalcum, meaning gold-copper, because of its shiny, orichalcum was considered, by weight, to be about double the value of copper. This is why the half-sestertius, the dupondius, was around the size and weight as the bronze as. Sestertii continued to be struck until the late 3rd century, although there was a deterioration in the quality of the metal used. Later emperors increasingly relied on melting down older sestertii, a process led to the zinc component being gradually lost as it burned off in the high temperatures needed to melt copper. The shortfall was made up with bronze and even lead, later sestertii tend to be darker in appearance as a result and are made from more crudely prepared blanks. The gradual impact of inflation caused by debasement of the currency meant that the purchasing power of the sestertius and smaller denominations like the dupondius. In the 1st century AD, everyday small change was dominated by the dupondius and as, but in the 2nd century, as inflation bit, in the 3rd century silver coinage contained less and less silver, and more and more copper or bronze. By the 260s and 270s the main unit was the double-denarius, the Antoninianus, although these coins were theoretically worth eight sestertii, the average sestertius was worth far more in plain terms of the metal it contained. Some of the last sestertii were struck by Aurelian, the double sestertius was distinguished from the sestertius by the radiate crown worn by the emperor, a device used to distinguish the dupondius from the as and the Antoninianus from the denarius
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Denarius
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In the Roman currency system, the dēnārius, plural, dēnāriī was a small silver coin first minted about 211 BC during the Second Punic War. It is the origin of modern words such as the currency name dinar, it is also the origin for the common noun for money in Italian denaro, in Portuguese dinheiro. Its symbol is X̶, a x with stroke. A predecessor of the denarius was first struck in 267 BC, five years before the first Punic War with a weight of 6.81 grams. Contact with the Greeks prompted a need for coinage in addition to the bronze currency that the Romans were using during that time. The predecessor of the denarius was a Greek-styled silver coin, very similar to the didrachm and drachma struck in Metapontion and these coins were inscribed for Rome but closely resemble their Greek counterparts. They were most likely used for purposes and were seldom used in Rome. The first distinctively Roman silver coin appeared around 226 BC, Rome overhauled its coinage around 211 BC and introduced the denarius alongside a short-lived denomination called the victoriatus. This denarius contained an average 4.5 grams, or 1⁄72 of a Roman pound of silver and it formed the backbone of Roman currency throughout the Roman republic. The denarius began to undergo slow debasement toward the end of the republican period, under the rule of Augustus, its silver content fell to 3.9 grams. It remained at nearly this weight until the time of Nero, debasement of the coins silver content continued after Nero. Later Roman emperors reduced its content to 3 grams around the third century. The value at its introduction was 10 asses, giving the denarius its name, in about 141 BC, it was re-tariffed at 16 asses, to reflect the decrease in weight of the as. The denarius continued to be the coin of the Roman Empire until it was replaced by the antoninianus in the middle of the third century. The last issuance of this occurred in bronze form by Aurelian. For more details, see Denarius, in A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins, the denarius has a link from the Roman times to the British penny and US1 cent piece. It is difficult to give even rough comparative values for money from before the 20th century, as the range of products and services available for purchase was different. Classical historians often say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire the daily wage for an unskilled laborer and common soldier was 1 denarius or about US$2. 8$ in bread
31.
Casting (metalworking)
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In metalworking, casting means a process, in which liquid metal is poured into a mold, that contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and is then allowed to cool and solidify. The solidified part is known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process. Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods, Casting processes have been known for thousands of years, and widely used for sculpture, especially in bronze, jewellery in precious metals, and weapons and tools. Traditional techniques include casting, plaster mold casting and sand casting. The modern casting process is subdivided into two categories, expendable and non-expendable casting. It is further broken down by the material, such as sand or metal. Expendable mold casting is a classification that includes sand, plastic, shell, plaster. This method of mold casting involves the use of temporary, non-reusable molds, sand casting is one of the most popular and simplest types of casting, and has been used for centuries. Sand casting allows for smaller batches than permanent mold casting and at a reasonable cost. Not only does this method allow manufacturers to create products at a low cost, from castings that fit in the palm of your hand to train beds, it can all be done with sand casting. Sand casting also allows most metals to be cast depending on the type of sand used for the molds, sand casting requires a lead time of days, or even weeks sometimes, for production at high output rates and is unsurpassed for large-part production. Green sand has almost no weight limit, whereas dry sand has a practical part mass limit of 2. Minimum part weight ranges from 0. 075–0.1 kg, the sand is bonded together using clays, chemical binders, or polymerized oils. Sand can be recycled many times in most operations and requires little maintenance, plaster casting is similar to sand casting except that plaster of paris is substituted for sand as a mold material. Plaster casting is an alternative to other molding processes for complex parts due to the low cost of the plaster. The biggest disadvantage is that it can only be used with low melting point non-ferrous materials, such as aluminium, copper, magnesium, and zinc. Shell molding is similar to casting, but the molding cavity is formed by a hardened shell of sand instead of a flask filled with sand. The sand used is finer than sand casting sand and is mixed with a resin so that it can be heated by the pattern, because of the resin and finer sand, it gives a much finer surface finish
32.
Roma (mythology)
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In ancient Roman religion, Roma was a female deity who personified the city of Rome and more broadly, the Roman state. Her image appears on the base of the column of Antoninus Pius, a helmeted figure on Roman coins of 280-276 and 265-242 BCE is sometimes interpreted as Roma but the identification is contestable. Other early Roman coinage shows a warlike Amazon type, possibly Roma, ennius personified the Roman fatherland as Roma, for Cicero, she was the Roman state, but neither of these are dea Roma. Though her Roman ancestry is possible - perhaps merely her name, the earliest certain cult to dea Roma was established at Smyrna in 195 BCE, probably to mark Romes successful alliance against Antiochus III. Democratic city-states such as Athens and Rhodes accepted Roma as analogous to their traditional cult personifications of the demos, in 189 BCE, Delphi and Lycia instituted festivals in her honour. In 133 BCE Attalus III bequeathed the people and territories of Pergamon to Rome, as to a trusted ally, the Pergamene bequest became the new Roman province of Asia, and Romas cult spread rapidly within it. In Hellenistic religious tradition, gods were served by priests and goddesses by priestesses but Romas priesthood was male, priesthood of the Roma cult was competed among the highest ranking local elites. In this and later periods, she was associated with Zeus. Her Eastern cult appealed for Romes loyalty and protection - there is no reason to suppose this as other than genuine respect, a panegyric to her survives, in five Sapphic stanzas attributed to Melinno. In Republican Rome and its Eastern colonae her cult was virtually non-existent, very little remains of Romas cult temples in the Eastern Mediterranean world. Four altars survive, and one deliberately mutilated statue, the assassination of Julius Caesar led to his apotheosis and cult as a State divus in Rome and her Eastern colonies. Caesars adopted heir Augustus ended Romes civil war and became princeps of the Republic, and in 30/29 BCE, Republican values held monarchy in contempt, and despised Hellenic honours - Caesar had fatally courted both - but an outright refusal might offend loyal provincials and allies. A cautious formula was drawn up, non-Romans could only offer him cult as divus jointly with dea Roma, two temples were dedicated for the purpose. Roma was thus absorbed into the earliest form of Imperial cult - or, from an Eastern viewpoint, the Imperial cult arose as a pragmatic and ingenious response to an Eastern initiative. It blended and renewed ancient elements of religions and Republican government to create a common cultural framework for the unification of Empire as a Principate. In the West, this was a novelty, as the Gauls, Germans, thereafter, Roma is well attested by inscriptions and coinage throughout the Western provinces. Literary sources have little to say about her, but this may reflect her ubiquity rather than neglect, in the early Augustan era, in provincial Africa, one temple to Roma and Augustus is known at Leptis Magna and another at Mactar. On the Italian peninsula, six have been proven - Latium built two, one of them privately funded, during the reign of Tiberius, Ostia built a grand municipal temple to Roma and Augustus
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Wheel
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A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the components of the wheel. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be moved easily facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, wheels are also used for other purposes, such as a ships wheel, steering wheel, potters wheel and flywheel. Common examples are found in transport applications, a wheel greatly reduces friction by facilitating motion by rolling together with the use of axles. In order for wheels to rotate, a moment needs to be applied to the wheel about its axis, cognates within Indo-European include Icelandic hjól wheel, tyre, Greek κύκλος kúklos, and Sanskrit chakra, the latter both meaning circle or wheel. The invention of the falls into the late Neolithic. Note that this implies the passage of several wheel-less millennia even after the invention of agriculture and of pottery, precursors of wheels, known as tournettes or slow wheels, were known in the Middle East by the 5th millennium BCE. These were made of stone or clay and secured to the ground with a peg in the center, but required effort to turn. True potters wheels were apparently in use in Mesopotamia by 3500 BCE and possibly as early as 4000 BCE, and the oldest surviving example, which was found in Ur, dates to approximately 3100 BCE. The earliest well-dated depiction of a vehicle is on the Bronocice pot. The oldest securely dated real wheel-axle combination, that from Stare Gmajne near Ljubljana in Slovenia is now dated in 2σ-limits to 3340–3030 BCE, the axle to 3360–3045 BCE. Two types of early Neolithic European wheel and axle are known, a type of wagon construction. They both are dated to c, in China, the wheel was certainly present with the adoption of the chariot in c.1200 BCE, although Barbieri-Low argues for earlier Chinese wheeled vehicles, c.2000 BC. In Britain, a wooden wheel, measuring about 1 m in diameter, was uncovered at the Must Farm site in East Anglia in 2016. The specimen, dating from 1, 100–800 years BCE, represents the most complete, the wheels hub is also present. A horses spine found nearby suggests the wheel may have part of a horse-drawn cart. The wheel was found in a settlement built on stilts over wetland and it is thought that the primary obstacle to large-scale development of the wheel in the Americas was the absence of domesticated large animals which could be used to pull wheeled carriages. The only large animal that was domesticated in the Western hemisphere, Nubians from after about 400 BCE used wheels for spinning pottery and as water wheels
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Coinage reform of Augustus
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The coinage reform of Augustus refers to the reform of Roman currency undertaken by Augustus in 23 BC. Augustus brought the minting of gold and silver coins, the aureus and denarius, the gold aureus, weighing about one-quarter ounce, was worth twenty-five silver denarii, weighing about one-seventh of an ounce. Augustus more comprehensively reformed denominations below the denarius, new ratios were fixed among the currencies, the sestertius was now minted from about an ounce of orichalcum, an alloy of copper and zinc, rather than silver, and fixed at a quarter of a denarius. The dupondius, formerly a two-pound bronze coin, was now orichalcum, valued at half a sesterius and weighing half as much. The half-ounce as, worth half a dupondius, the semis, worth half an as, and the quadrans, worth half a semis, were the first pure copper coins minted in Rome since 84 BC
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Copper
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Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of copper has a reddish-orange color. Copper is one of the few metals that occur in nature in directly usable metallic form as opposed to needing extraction from an ore and this led to very early human use, from c.8000 BC. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris, Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives. Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the hemoglobin in fish. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, the adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking a covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper, at the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice, such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form. The softness of copper partly explains its high conductivity and high thermal conductivity. The maximum permissible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3. 1×106 A/m2 of cross-sectional area, Copper is one of a few metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air, as with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal, galvanic corrosion will occur. A green layer of verdigris can often be seen on old structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings. Copper tarnishes when exposed to sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides. There are 29 isotopes of copper, 63Cu and 65Cu are stable, with 63Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper, both have a spin of 3⁄2
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Augustus
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Augustus was the founder of the Roman Principate and considered the first Roman emperor, controlling the Roman Empire from 27 BC until his death in AD14. He was born Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian gens Octavia and his maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesars will as his adopted son and heir, then known as Octavianus. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar, following their victory at the Battle of Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvate was eventually torn apart by the ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, in reality, however, he retained his autocratic power over the Republic as a military dictator. By law, Augustus held a collection of powers granted to him for life by the Senate, including supreme military command, and it took several years for Augustus to develop the framework within which a formally republican state could be led under his sole rule. He rejected monarchical titles, and instead called himself Princeps Civitatis, the resulting constitutional framework became known as the Principate, the first phase of the Roman Empire. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of peace known as the Pax Romana. Augustus dramatically enlarged the Empire, annexing Egypt, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Raetia, expanding possessions in Africa, expanding into Germania, beyond the frontiers, he secured the Empire with a buffer region of client states and made peace with the Parthian Empire through diplomacy. Augustus died in AD14 at the age of 75 and he probably died from natural causes, although there were unconfirmed rumors that his wife Livia poisoned him. He was succeeded as Emperor by his adopted son Tiberius, Augustus was known by many names throughout his life, At birth, he was named Gaius Octavius after his biological father. Historians typically refer to him simply as Octavius between his birth in 63 until his adoption by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, upon his adoption, he took Caesars name and became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus in accordance with Roman adoption naming standards. He quickly dropped Octavianus from his name, and his contemporaries referred to him as Caesar during this period, historians. In 27 BC, following his defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra and it is the events of 27 BC from which he obtained his traditional name of Augustus, which historians use in reference to him from 27 BC until his death in AD14. While his paternal family was from the town of Velletri, approximately 40 kilometres from Rome and he was born at Ox Head, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum. He was given the name Gaius Octavius Thurinus, his cognomen possibly commemorating his fathers victory at Thurii over a band of slaves. Due to the nature of Rome at the time, Octavius was taken to his fathers home village at Velletri to be raised. Octavius only mentions his fathers equestrian family briefly in his memoirs and his paternal great-grandfather Gaius Octavius was a military tribune in Sicily during the Second Punic War
37.
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
38.
Antoninianus
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The Antoninianus, or radiate, was a coin used during the Roman Empire thought to have been valued at 2 denarii. It was initially silver, but was slowly debased to bronze with a silver content. Antoniniani depicting females, usually the wife, featured the bust resting upon a crescent moon. Even at its introduction the silver content was only equal to 1.5 denarii and this helped to create inflation, people rapidly hoarded the denarii, while both buyers and sellers recognised the new coin had a lower intrinsic value and elevated their prices to compensate. Each new issue of the Antoninianus thus had less silver in it than the last, in 271 Aurelian increased the average weight of the Antoninianus. This was carried out for a short time and this period was also when the enigmatic XXI was first marked on the reverse of the Antoninianus. The true meaning of this series of numbers is still a topic of debate, by the late 3rd century the coins were almost entirely made of bronze from melted down old issues like the sestertius. Vast quantities were being minted, with a proportion of the stocks being contemporary forgeries, often with blundered legends. Individual coins were by then practically worthless and were lost or discarded by the millions, today most of these coins are extremely common finds, with a few more scarce examples including Aemilianus, Marcus Aurelius Marius, Quietus and Regalianus. The situation was not unlike the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic in 1920s Germany, the coin ceased to be used by the end of the 3rd century when a series of coinage reforms attempted to arrest the decline by issuing new types. Modern numismatists use this name for the coin because it is not known what it was called in antiquity, an ancient Roman document called the Historia Augusta refers to silver coins named after an Antoninus on several occasions
39.
Caracalla
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Caracalla, formally Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus, was Roman emperor from AD198 to 217. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was the eldest son of Septimius Severus, Caracalla reigned jointly with his father from 198 until Severus death in 211. Caracalla then ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta, with whom he had a fraught relationship, Caracallas reign was marked by domestic instability and external invasions from the Germanic people. Caracallas reign was notable for the Antonine Constitution, also known as the Edict of Caracalla, the edict gave all the enfranchised men Caracallas adopted praenomen and nomen, Marcus Aurelius. Towards the end of his rule, Caracalla began a campaign against the Parthian Empire and he did not see this campaign through to completion due to his assassination by a disaffected soldier in 217. He was succeeded as emperor by Macrinus after three days, Caracalla is presented in ancient sources as a tyrant and cruel leader, an image that has survived into modernity. Dio Cassius and Herodian present Caracalla as a soldier first and emperor second, in the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth started the legend of Caracallas role as the king of Britain. Later, in the 18th century, Caracallas memory was revived in the works of French artists due to the parallels between Caracallas apparent tyranny and that of King Louis XVI, Modern works continue to portray Caracalla as a psychopathic and evil ruler. His rule is remembered as being one of the most tyrannical of all Roman emperors, Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus. He was renamed Marcus Aurelius Antoninus at the age of seven as part of his fathers attempt at union with the families of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. According to Aurelius Victor in his Epitome de Caesaribus, he became known by the agnomen Caracalla after a Gallic hooded tunic that he habitually wore and he may have begun wearing it during his campaigns on the Rhine and Danube. Dio generally referred to him as Tarautas, after a famously diminutive, Caracalla was born in Lugdunum, Gaul, on 4 April 188 to Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. He had a younger brother, Geta, who would briefly rule as co-emperor alongside him. Caracallas father, Septimius Severus, appointed Caracalla joint Augustus and full emperor from the year 198 onwards and his brother Geta was granted the same title in 210. In 202 Caracalla was forced to marry the daughter of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, Fulvia Plautilla, by 205 Caracalla had succeeded in having Plautianus executed for treason, though he had probably fabricated the evidence of the plot himself. It was then that he banished his wife, whose later killing might have carried out under Caracallas orders. Caracallas father, Septimius Severus, died on 4 February 211 at Eboracum while on campaign in Caledonia, Caracalla and his brother, Publius Septimius Antoninus Geta, jointly inherited the throne upon their fathers death. Caracalla and Geta ended the campaign in Caledonia after concluding a peace with the Caledonians that returned the border of Roman Britain to the line demarcated by Hadrians Wall
40.
Patina
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Patina is a thin layer that variously forms on the surface of stone, on copper, bronze and similar metals, on wooden furniture, or any such acquired change of a surface through age and exposure. Patinas can provide a covering to materials that would otherwise be damaged by corrosion or weathering. They may also be aesthetically appealing, Patina also refers to accumulated changes in surface texture and colour that result from normal use of an object such as a coin or a piece of furniture over time. Archaeologists also use the term patina to refer to a layer that develops over time that is due to a range of complex factors on flint tools. This has led stone tool analysts in recent times to generally prefer the term cortification as a term to describe the process than patination. It also refers to development as the result of weathering of a layer, called cortex by geologists. The word patina comes from the Latin for shallow dish, figuratively, patina can refer to any fading, darkening or other signs of age, which are felt to be natural or unavoidable. The chemical process by which a patina forms is called patination, in clean air rural environments, the patina is created by the slow chemical reaction of copper with carbon dioxide and water, producing a basic copper carbonate. In industrial and urban air environments containing sulfurous acid rain from coal-fired power plants or industrial processes, a patina layer takes many years to develop under natural weathering. Buildings in damp coastal/marine environments will develop patina layers faster than ones in dry inland areas, facade cladding with alloys of copper, e. g. brass or bronze, will weather differently from pure copper cladding. Even a lasting gold colour is possible with copper-alloy cladding, for example Colston Hall in Bristol, or the Novotel at Paddington Central, often, antique and well-used firearms will develop a patina on the steel after the bluing, parkerizing, or other finish has worn. Firearms in this state are considered more valuable than ones that have been re-blued or parkerized. The patina protects the firearm from the more damaging rust that would occur were the patina to be polished off, the process is often called distressing. A wide range of chemicals, both household and commercial, can give a variety of patinas and they are often used by artists as surface embellishments either for color, texture, or both. Patination composition varies with the elements and these will determine the color of the patina. For copper alloys, such as bronze, exposure to chlorides leads to green, the basic palette for patinas on copper alloys includes chemicals like ammonium sulfide, liver of sulfur, cupric nitrate and ferric nitrate. For artworks, patination is often accelerated by applying chemicals with heat. Colors range from matte sandstone yellow to deep blues, greens, whites, reds, some patina colors are achieved by the mixing of colors from the reaction with the metal surface with pigments added to the chemicals
41.
Marcus Aurelius
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Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus death in 169, Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, during his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East, Aurelius general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately, the major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. For Marcus life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, a body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.138 to 166. Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his life, but are largely undateable. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources, Marcus family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. Verus elder son—Marcus Aurelius father—Marcus Annius Verus married Domitia Lucilla, Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a fortune from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption. Lucilla and Verus had two children, a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121 AD, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, Verus probably died in 124 AD, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old. Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father, Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of nurses, even so, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him religious piety, simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich. In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her, he was grateful that, although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me. After his fathers death, Aurelius was raised by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus who, technically this was not an adoption, since an adoption would be the legal creation of a new and different patria potestas. Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing, Severus is described as Marcus maternal great-grandfather, he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla. Marcus was raised in his parents home on the Caelian Hill and it was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas
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Drapers' Gardens
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It has been the site of two major office blocks since the 1960s. During the period from the first occupation by the Drapers Company in 1544 it was a garden and place of recreation. Over the following two hundred years the remainder of the gardens remained an open space but were finally built over in 1873. The buildings standing within the boundary of the Drapers Company property line on the west side of Throgmorton Avenue were demolished to make way for the Seifert Tower, the original Drapers Gardens was a skyscraper in the City of London, designed by architect Richard Seifert. It stood at 100 metres tall and had 30 storeys and it was completed in 1967 and demolished in 2007. When viewed from Waterloo Bridge, Drapers Gardens appeared as the closest office tower to St Pauls Cathedral, conversely, there were those who cited the building as a fine example of its period and one of the few genuinely well-designed towers of the 1960s. Richard Seifert, its designer as well as the architect of Tower 42, during the eighties it became apparent that Seiferts building was not suitable as a modern office space and letting income dried up. The new office development was designed by Foggo Associates, the replacement Drapers Gardens is 75 metres tall with 16 floors, three roof terraces and a pocket park, at 270,000 square feet it has more floor space than the Seiferts design. The building’s stepped profile was developed in response to local and long distance views, the developers were Exemplar Developments and Canary Wharf Developments. It was completed in Autumn 2009, the development was then sold on to Evans Randall in 2010 for £242.5 million. Most of the floors of the building were taken by Macquarie. Between the demolition and rebuilding, a dig by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd found Roman remains dating from 63 AD to 383 AD. These included a well with 19 metal vessels in a state of preservation, a ruler
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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
