1.
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
2.
Judea (Roman province)
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It was named after Herod Archelauss Tetrarchy of Judea, but the Roman province encompassed a much larger territory. The name Judea was derived from the Kingdom of Judah of the 6th century BCE, Judea province was the scene of unrest at its founding in 6 CE during the Census of Quirinius and several wars were fought in its history, known as the Jewish–Roman wars. The first intervention of Rome in the dates from 63 BCE, following the end of the Third Mithridatic War. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, Pompey sacked Jerusalem and established Hasmonean prince Hyrcanus II as Ethnarch and High Priest, a later appointment by Julius Caesar was Antipater the Idumaean, also known as Antipas, as the first Roman Procurator. Herod the Great, Antipaters son, was designated King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 40 BCE and he did not gain military control until 37 BCE. During his reign the last representatives of the Hasmoneans were eliminated, and he died in 4 BCE, and his kingdom was divided mostly among three of his sons, who became tetrarchs. One of these tetrarchies was Judea corresponding to the territory of the historic Judea, plus Samaria, Herods son Herod Archelaus, ruled Judea so badly that he was dismissed in 6 CE by the Roman emperor Augustus, after an appeal from his own population. Another, Herod Antipas, ruled as tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 BCE to 39 CE, the third tetrarch, Herods son Philip, ruled over the northeastern part of his fathers kingdom. In 6 CE Archelaus tetrachy came under direct Roman administration, even though Iudaea is simply derived from the Latin for Judea, many historians use it to distinguish the Roman province from the previous territory and history. Iudaea province did not initially include Galilee, Gaulanitis, nor Peraea or the Decapolis, the capital was at Caesarea, not Jerusalem. Quirinius became Legate of Syria and conducted the first Roman tax census of Syria and Iudaea, pontius Pilate, whose name was recorded in the Pilate Stone, was one of these prefects, from 26 to 36 CE. Still, Jews living in the province maintained some form of independence and could judge offenders by their own laws, including capital offences, until c.28 CE. The Province of Judea, during the late 2nd Temple period was divided into five conclaves, or administrative districts, 1) Jerusalem, 2) Gadara, 3) Amathus, 4) Jericho. Caiaphas was one of the appointed High Priests of Herods Temple, both were deposed by the Syrian Legate Lucius Vitellius in 36 CE. The Crisis under Caligula has been proposed as the first open break between Rome and the Jews and he elevated Iudaeass procurator whom he trusted to imperial governing status because the imperial legate of Syria was not sympathetic to the Judeans. Following Agrippas death in 44 CE, the returned to direct Roman control, incorporating Agrippas personal territories of Galilee and Peraea. Nevertheless, Agrippas son, Agrippa II was designated King of the Jews in 48 and he was the seventh and last of the Herodians. From 70 CE until 135 CE, Iudaeas rebelliousness required a governing Roman legate capable of commanding legions
3.
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
4.
Roman triumph
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He rode in a four-horse chariot through the streets of Rome in unarmed procession with his army, captives, and the spoils of his war. At Jupiters temple on the Capitoline Hill, he offered sacrifice, inevitably, the triumph offered extraordinary opportunities for self-publicity, besides its religious and military dimensions. From the Principate onwards, the reflected the Imperial order. The triumph was consciously imitated by medieval and later states in the royal entry, in Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honours, which connected the vir triumphalis to Romes mythical and semi-mythical past. In effect, the general was close to being king for a day and he was drawn in procession through the city in a four-horse chariot, under the gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd, to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. The spoils and captives of his victory led the way, his armies followed behind, once at the Capitoline temple, he sacrificed two white oxen to Jupiter and laid tokens of his victory at Jupiters feet, dedicating his victory to the Roman Senate, people, and gods. Triumphs were tied to no particular day, season, or religious festival of the Roman calendar, most seem to have been celebrated at the earliest practicable opportunity, probably on days that were deemed auspicious for the occasion. Tradition required that, for the duration of a triumph, every temple was open, the ceremony was thus, in some sense, shared by the whole community of Roman gods, but overlaps were inevitable with specific festivals and anniversaries. Some may have been coincidental, others were designed, Pompey postponed his third and most magnificent triumph for several months to make it coincide with his own dies natalis. Religious dimensions aside, the focus of the triumph was the general himself, the ceremony promoted him – however temporarily – above every mortal Roman. This was an opportunity granted to very few, from the time of Scipio Africanus, the triumphal general was linked to Alexander and the demi-god Hercules, who had laboured selflessly for the benefit of all mankind. His sumptuous triumphal chariot was bedecked with charms against the possible envy, in some accounts, a companion or public slave would remind him from time to time of his own mortality. This is probably so for the earliest legendary and later semi-legendary triumphs of Romes regal era, as Romes population, power, influence, and territory increased, so did the scale, length, variety, and extravagance of its triumphal processions. The procession mustered in the space of the Campus Martius probably well before first light. Triumphal processions were notoriously long and slow, the longest could last for two or three days, and possibly more, and some may have been of greater length than the route itself, some ancient and modern sources suggest a fairly standard processional order. First came the captive leaders, allies, and soldiers walking in chains. Next in line, all on foot, came Romes senators and magistrates, followed by the generals lictors in their red war-robes, their fasces wreathed in laurel, then the general in his four-horse chariot. A companion, or a slave, might share the chariot with him or, in some cases
5.
Roman emperor
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The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history, often when a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it reflects his taking of the title Augustus or Caesar. Another title often used was imperator, originally a military honorific, early Emperors also used the title princeps. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably Princeps Senatus, Consul, the first emperors reigned alone, later emperors would sometimes rule with co-Emperors and divide administration of the Empire between them. The Romans considered the office of emperor to be distinct from that of a king, the first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically republican, his successor, Tiberius, nonetheless, for the first three hundred years of Roman Emperors, from Augustus until Diocletian, a great effort was made to emphasize that the Emperors were the leaders of a Republic. Elements of the Republican institutional framework were preserved until the end of the Western Empire. The Eastern emperors ultimately adopted the title of Basileus, which had meant king in Greek, but became a title reserved solely for the Roman emperor, other kings were then referred to as rēgas. In addition to their office, some emperors were given divine status after death. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century, Romulus Augustulus is often considered to be the last emperor of the west after his forced abdication in 476, although Julius Nepos maintained a claim to the title until his death in 480. Constantine XI was the last Byzantine Roman emperor in Constantinople, dying in the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, a Byzantine group of claimant Roman Emperors existed in the Empire of Trebizond until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1461. In western Europe the title of Roman Emperor was revived by Germanic rulers, the Holy Roman Emperors, in 800, at the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as emperor could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, however, Julius Caesar, unlike those after him, did so without the Senates vote and approval. Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity in 45 BC and had been pontifex maximus for a long period. He gained these positions by senatorial consent, by the time of his assassination, he was the most powerful man in the Roman world. In his will, Caesar appointed his adopted son Octavian as his heir, a decade after Caesars death, Octavians victory over his erstwhile ally Mark Antony at Actium put an end to any effective opposition and confirmed Octavians supremacy. His restoration of powers to the Senate and the people of Rome was a demonstration of his auctoritas, some later historians such as Tacitus would say that even at Augustus death, the true restoration of the Republic might have been possible. Instead, Augustus actively prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be his successor, the Senate disputed the issue but eventually confirmed Tiberius as princeps
6.
Vespasian
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Vespasian was Roman emperor from AD69 to AD79. Vespasian founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empire for twenty-seven years, Vespasian was from an equestrian family that rose into the senatorial rank under the Julio–Claudian emperors. While Vespasian besieged Jerusalem during the Jewish rebellion, emperor Nero committed suicide, after Galba and Otho perished in quick succession, Vitellius became the third emperor in April 69. The Roman legions of Roman Egypt and Judaea reacted by declaring Vespasian, their commander, emperor on 1 July 69. In his bid for power, Vespasian joined forces with Mucianus, the governor of Syria, and Primus. Primus and Mucianus led the Flavian forces against Vitellius, while Vespasian took control of Egypt, on 20 December 69, Vitellius was defeated, and the following day Vespasian was declared Emperor by the Senate. Little information survives about the government during Vespasians ten-year rule and he reformed the financial system at Rome after the campaign against Judaea ended successfully, and initiated several ambitious construction projects. He began the building of the Flavian Amphitheatre, better known today as the Roman Colosseum, in reaction to the events of 68–69, Vespasian forced through an improvement in army discipline. Through his general Agricola, Vespasian increased imperial expansion in Britain, after his death in 79, he was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to be directly succeeded by his own natural son and establishing the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian was born in a village north-east of Rome called Falacrinae and his family was relatively undistinguished and lacking in pedigree. His paternal grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, became the first to himself, rising to the rank of centurion. Subsequently he became a debt collector, petros son, Titus Flavius Sabinus, worked as a customs official in the province of Asia and became a money-lender on a small scale among the Helvetii. He gained a reputation as a scrupulous and honest tax-farmer, Sabinus married up in status, to Vespasia Polla, whose father had risen to the rank of prefect of the camp and whose brother became a Senator. Sabinus and Vespasia had three children, the eldest of whom, a girl, died in infancy, the elder boy, Titus Flavius Sabinus entered public life and pursued the cursus honorum. He served in the army as a tribune in Thrace in 36. The following year he was elected quaestor and served in Crete, the younger boy, Vespasian, seemed far less likely to be successful, initially not wishing to pursue high public office. He followed in his brothers footsteps when driven to it by his mothers taunting, during this period he married Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of Flavius Liberalis from Ferentium and formerly the mistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman equestrian from Sabrata in Africa. They had two sons, Titus Flavius Vespasianus and Titus Flavius Domitianus, and a daughter, Domitilla and his wife Domitilla and his daughter Domitilla both died before Vespasian became Emperor in 69
7.
Second Temple
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The Second Temple was the Jewish Holy Temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, between 516 BCE and 70 CE. Jewish eschatology includes a belief that the Second Temple will be replaced by a future Third Temple, the accession of Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire in 559 BCE made the re-establishment of the city of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple possible. According to the Bible, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great, the events take place in the second half of the 5th century BCE. Listed together with the Book of Ezra as Ezra-Nehemiah, it represents the chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The original core of the book, the memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Ezra around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era, the book tells how Nehemiah, at the court of the king in Susa, is informed that Jerusalem is without walls and resolves to restore them. The king appoints him as governor of the province Yehud Medinata, there he rebuilds the walls, despite the opposition of Israels enemies, and reforms the community in conformity with the law of Moses. After 12 years in Jerusalem, he returns to Susa but subsequently revisits Jerusalem and he finds that the Israelites have been backsliding and taking non-Jewish wives, and he stays in Jerusalem to enforce the Law. A wide interest was felt in this movement, although it was regarded with mixed feelings by the spectators. The Samaritans made proposals for co-operation in the work, Zerubbabel and the elders, however, declined all such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple without help. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews, according to Ezra 4,5, the Samaritans sought to frustrate their purpose and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended. Seven years later, Cyrus the Great, who allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, on his death, the false Smerdis, an impostor, occupied the throne for some seven or eight months, and then Darius became king. It was ready for consecration in the spring of 516 BCE, the Book of Haggai includes a prediction that the glory of the second temple would be greater than that of the first. Some of the artifacts from the Temple of Solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 597 BCE. In the Second Temple, the Kodesh Hakodashim was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the First Temple. Still, as in the Tabernacle, the Second Temple included, The Menorah for the Hekhal The Table of Showbread The golden altar of incense, with golden censers. According to the Mishnah, the Foundation Stone stood where the Ark used to be, the Second Temple also included many of the original vessels of gold that had been taken by the Babylonians but restored by Cyrus the Great. According to the Babylonian Talmud, however, the Temple lacked the Shekinah, the dwelling or settling divine presence of God, and the Ruach HaKodesh, judea became at that moment part of the Seleucid empire of Syria
8.
Titus
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Titus was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, prior to becoming Emperor, Titus gained renown as a military commander, serving under his father in Judea during the First Jewish–Roman War. The campaign came to a halt with the death of emperor Nero in 68. When Vespasian was declared Emperor on 1 July 69, Titus was left in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion, in 70, he besieged and captured Jerusalem, and destroyed the city and the Second Temple. For this achievement Titus was awarded a triumph, the Arch of Titus commemorates his victory to this day. Under the rule of his father, Titus gained notoriety in Rome serving as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, despite concerns over his character, Titus ruled to great acclaim following the death of Vespasian in 79, and was considered a good emperor by Suetonius and other contemporary historians. As emperor, he is best known for completing the Colosseum, after barely two years in office, Titus died of a fever on 13 September 81. He was deified by the Roman Senate and succeeded by his younger brother Domitian, Titus was born in Rome, probably on 30 December 39 AD, as the eldest son of Titus Flavius Vespasianus—commonly known as Vespasian—and Domitilla the Elder. He had one sister, Domitilla the Younger, and one younger brother, Titus Flavius Domitianus. One such family was the gens Flavia, which rose from obscurity to prominence in just four generations, acquiring wealth. Tituss great-grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, had served as a centurion under Pompey during Caesars civil war and his military career ended in disgrace when he fled the battlefield at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Nevertheless, Petro managed to improve his status by marrying the extremely wealthy Tertulla, whose fortune guaranteed the upwards mobility of Petros son Titus Flavius Sabinus I, Sabinus himself amassed further wealth and possible equestrian status through his services as tax collector in Asia and banker in Helvetia. By marrying Vespasia Polla he allied himself to the prestigious patrician gens Vespasia, ensuring the elevation of his sons Titus Flavius Sabinus II. The political career of Vespasian included the offices of quaestor, aedile and praetor, and culminated with a consulship in 51, as a military commander, he gained early renown by participating in the Roman invasion of Britain in 43. The story was told that Titus was reclining next to Britannicus, the night he was murdered. Further details on his education are scarce, but it seems he showed promise in the military arts and was a skilled poet. From c.57 to 59 he was a tribune in Germania. He also served in Britannia, perhaps arriving c.60 with reinforcements needed after the revolt of Boudica, in c.63 he returned to Rome and married Arrecina Tertulla, daughter of a former Prefect of the Praetorian Guard
9.
Judea
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Judea or Judæa is the ancient Hebrew and Israelite biblical, the exonymic Roman/English, and the modern-day name of the mountainous southern part of Canaan-Israel. As a consequence of the Bar Kokhba revolt, in 135 CE the region was renamed and merged with Roman Syria to form Syria Palaestina by the victorious Roman Emperor Hadrian, a large part of Judea was included in Jordanian West Bank between 1948 and 1967. The name Judea is a Greek and Roman adaptation of the name Judah, nimrud Tablet K.3751, dated c.733 BCE, is the earliest known record of the name Judah. Judea was sometimes used as the name for the entire region, in 200 CE Sextus Julius Africanus, cited by Eusebius, described Nazara as a village in Judea. Judea was the used by English-speakers until the Jordanian occupation of the area in 1948. Jordan called the area ad-difa’a al-gharbiya, yehuda is the Hebrew term used for the area in modern Israel since the region was captured and occupied by Israel in 1967. The classical Roman-Jewish historian Josephus wrote, In the limits of Samaria and Judea lies the village Anuath and this is the northern boundary of Judea. The southern parts of Judea, if they be measured lengthways, are bounded by a village adjoining to the confines of Arabia, however, its breadth is extended from the river Jordan to Joppa. The city Jerusalem is situated in the middle, on which account some have, with sagacity enough. This country begins at Mount Libanus, and the fountains of Jordan, and reaches breadthways to the lake of Tiberias and its inhabitants are a mixture of Jews and Syrians. And thus have I, with all possible brevity, described the country of Judea, Judea is a mountainous region, part of which is considered a desert. It varies greatly in height, rising to an altitude of 1,020 m in the south at Mount Hebron,30 km southwest of Jerusalem, and descending to as much as 400 m below sea level in the east of the region. The climate, accordingly, moves between Mediterranean in the west and desert climate in the east, with a strip of steppe climate in the middle, major urban areas in the region include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Gush Etzion, Jericho and Hebron. Geographers divide Judea into several regions, the Hebron hills, the Jerusalem saddle, the Bethel hills and the Judean desert east of Jerusalem, the hills are distinct for their anticline structure. In ancient times the hills were forested, and the Bible records agriculture, animals are still grazed today, with shepherds moving them between the low ground to the hilltops as summer approaches, while the slopes are still layered with centuries-old stone terracing. The Jewish Revolt against the Romans ended in the devastation of vast areas of the Judaean countryside, regardless, the Northern Kingdom was conquered into the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE. Judea is central to much of the narrative of the Torah, with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, the Babylonian Empire fell to the conquests of Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. Judea lost its independence to the Romans in the 1st century BCE, by becoming first a tributary kingdom, then a province, queen Alexandra Salome had recently died, and a civil war broke out between her sons, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II
10.
Victoria (mythology)
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Victoria, in ancient Roman religion, was the personified goddess of victory. She is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike, and was associated with Bellona and she was adapted from the Sabine agricultural goddess Vacuna and had a temple on the Palatine Hill. The goddess Vica Pota was also identified with Victoria. Victoria is often described as a daughter of Pallas and Styx, and as a sister of Zelus, Kratos, unlike the Greek Nike, the goddess Victoria was a major part of Roman society. Multiple temples were erected in her honor, when her statue was removed in 382 CE by Emperor Gratianus there was much anger in Rome. She was normally worshiped by triumphant generals returning from war, also unlike the Greek Nike, who was known for success in athletic games such as chariot races, Victoria was a symbol of victory over death and determined who would be successful during war. Victoria appears widely on Roman coins, jewelry, architecture, and she is often seen with or in a chariot, as in the late 18th-century sculpture representing Victory in a quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Il Vittoriano in Rome has two. Nike or Victoria was the charioteer for Zeus in his battle to over take Mount Olympus and these represent the spirit of victory rather than the goddess herself. They continued to appear after Christianization of the Empire, and slowly mutated into Christian angels,12 Victoria Media related to Victoria at Wikimedia Commons
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.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
13.
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
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Domitian
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Domitian was the Emperor of Rome from 81 to 96. He was the brother of Titus and son of Vespasian. During his reign, his authoritarian rule put him at odds with the senate. After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard and his 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the defenses of the empire. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia, and in Dacia, Domitians government exhibited totalitarian characteristics, he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, as a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. Domitians reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by court officials and he was succeeded the same day by his advisor Nerva. Modern revisionists instead have characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat whose cultural, economic, Domitian was born in Rome on 24 October 51, the youngest son of Titus Flavius Vespasianus—commonly known as Vespasian—and Flavia Domitilla Major. He had a sister, Domitilla the Younger, and brother. One such family, the Flavians, or gens Flavia, rose from obscurity to prominence in just four generations, acquiring wealth. Domitians great-grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, had served as a centurion under Pompey during Caesars civil war and his military career ended in disgrace when he fled the battlefield at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Sabinus himself amassed further wealth and possible equestrian status through his services as tax collector in Asia, by marrying Vespasia Polla he allied the Flavian family to the more prestigious gens Vespasia, ensuring the elevation of his sons Titus Flavius Sabinus II and Vespasian to senatorial rank. The political career of Vespasian included the offices of quaestor, aedile, and praetor, and culminated with a consulship in 51, as a military commander, Vespasian gained early renown by participating in the Roman invasion of Britain in 43. Nevertheless, ancient sources allege poverty for the Flavian family at the time of Domitians upbringing, even claiming Vespasian had fallen into disrepute under the emperors Caligula, by all appearances, the Flavians enjoyed high imperial favour throughout the 40s and 60s. While Titus received an education in the company of Britannicus, Vespasian pursued a successful political. The same year the Jews of the Judaea province revolted against the Roman Empire in what is now known as the First Jewish-Roman War. Vespasian was assigned to lead the Roman army against the insurgents, of the three Flavian emperors, Domitian would rule the longest, despite the fact that his youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his older brother
15.
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
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Caesarea
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Caesarea is a town in north-central Israel. Located midway between Tel Aviv and Haifa on the plain near the city of Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. The town was built by Herod the Great about 25–13 BCE as the port city Caesarea Maritima and it served as an administrative center of Judaea Province of the Roman Empire, and later the capital of the Byzantine Palaestina Prima province during the classic period. Following the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, in which it was the last city to fall to the Arabs and it was abandoned after the Mamluk conquest. It was re-populated in 1884 by Bosniak immigrants, who settled in a fishing village. In 1940, kibbutz Sdot Yam was established next to the village, in February 1948 the village was conquered by a Palmach unit commanded by Yitzhak Rabin, its people already having fled following an attack by the Lehi. In 1952, a Jewish town of Caesarea was established near the ruins of the old city, Caesarea Maritima was built during c. 20–10 BCE near the ruins of a naval station known as Stratonos pyrgos. It was likely an agricultural station in its earliest configuration. In 90 BCE, Alexander Jannaeus captured Stratons Tower as part of his policy of developing the shipbuilding industry, Stratons Tower remained a Jewish settlement for two more generations, until the area became dominated by the Romans in 63 BCE, when they declared it an autonomous city. The pagan city underwent vast changes under Herod the Great, who renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. In 22 BCE, Herod began construction of a sea harbor and built storerooms, markets, wide roads, baths, temples to Rome and Augustus. Every five years the city hosted major sports competitions, gladiator games, Caesarea also flourished during the Byzantine period. In the 3rd century, Jewish sages exempted the city from Jewish law, or Halakha, the city was chiefly a commercial centre relying on trade. The Muslim historian al-Biladhuri mentions Kaisariyyah/Cæsarea as one of ten towns in Jund Filastin conquered by the Muslim Rashidun army under Amr ibn al-Ass leadership during the 630s, the area was only seriously farmed during the Rashidun Caliphate period, apparently until the Crusader conquest in the eleventh century. Over time, the farms were buried under the sands shifting along the shores of the Mediterranean. Nasir-i-Khusraw noted a beautiful Friday Mosque in Caesarea in year 1047 C. E. so situated that in its court you may sit and this was converted into the church of St. Peter in Crusader times. A wall which may belong to this building has been identified in modern times, khusraw further noted that it is a fine city, with running waters, and palm-gardens, and orange and citron trees
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Nike (mythology)
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In ancient Greek religion, Nike was a goddess who personified victory. She was variously described as the daughter of the Titan Pallas and the goddess Styx, and the sister of Kratos, Bia, the word νίκη nikē is of uncertain etymology. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin, Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus, the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon. According to classical myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titanomachy against the older deities, Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer, a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around rewarding the victors with glory and fame. Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings, with one of the most famous being the Winged Victory of Samothrace, most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory, Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena, and is thought to have stood in Athenas outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon. Nike is also one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins, the sports equipment company Nike, Inc. is named after the Greek goddess Nike. Project Nike, an American anti-aircraft missile system is named after the goddess Nike, a figure of Nike with a vessel was the design of the first FIFA World Cup trophy, known also as the Jules Rimet trophy. Since Giuseppe Cassiolis design for the 1928 Summer Olympics, the face of every Olympic medal bears Nikes figure holding a palm frond in her right hand. The goddess appears on the emblem of the University of Melbourne, spirit of Ecstasy, the hood ornament used by the automobile manufacturer Rolls-Royce was inspired by Nike. The Titanic Engineers Memorial, Southampton depicts Nike blessing the engineers of the RMS Titanic for staying at their post as the ship sank, the Honda motorcycle companys logo is inspired by the goddess Nike. Winged Victory of Samothrace Altar of Victory Nike of Paeonius Ángel de la Independencia Smith, William, A Dictionary of Greek, online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Media related to Nike at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of Nike at Wiktionary Theoi Project, Nike Goddess Nike
18.
Minerva
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Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She was born with weapons from the head of Jupiter, after impregnating the titaness Metis, Jupiter recalled a prophecy that his own child would overthrow him. Fearing that their child would grow stronger than he and rule the Heavens in his place, the titaness forged weapons and armor for her child while within the father-god, and the constant pounding and ringing gave him a headache. To relieve the pain, Vulcan used a hammer to split Jupiters head and, from the cleft, Minerva emerged, whole, adult, from the 2nd century BC onwards, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the goddess of music, poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving. She is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named as the owl of Minerva, stemming from an Italic moon goddess *Meneswā, the Etruscans adopted the inherited Old Latin name, *Menerwā, thereby calling her Menrva. It is assumed that her Roman name, Minerva, is based on this Etruscan mythology, Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, war, art, schools and commerce. She was the Etruscan counterpart to Greek Athena, like Athena, Minerva was born from the head of her father, Jupiter. The word mens is built from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- mind, the Etruscan Menrva was part of a holy triad with Tinia and Uni, equivalent to the Roman Capitoline Triad of Jupiter-Juno-Minerva. Minerva was the daughter of Jupiter, as Minerva Medica, she was the goddess of medicine and doctors. As Minerva Achaea, she was worshipped at Lucera in Apulia where votive gifts, in Fasti III, Ovid called her the goddess of a thousand works. Minerva was worshipped throughout Italy, and when she eventually became equated with the Greek goddess Athena, unlike Mars, god of war, she was sometimes portrayed with sword lowered, in sympathy for the recent dead, rather than raised in triumph. In Rome her bellicose nature was emphasized less than elsewhere and her worship was also spread throughout the empire—in Britain, for example, she was syncretized with the local goddess Sulis, who was often invoked for restitution for theft. The Romans celebrated her festival from March 19 to March 23 during the day which is called, in the plural, Quinquatria, the fifth after the Ides of March, the nineteenth. A lesser version, the Minusculae Quinquatria, was held on the Ides of June, June 13, by the flute-players, in 207 BC, a guild of poets and actors was formed to meet and make votive offerings at the temple of Minerva on the Aventine Hill. Among others, its members included Livius Andronicus, the Aventine sanctuary of Minerva continued to be an important center of the arts for much of the middle Roman Republic. When it was founded, the emperor himself was present and was believed to be of divine nature as a result of its construction, Minerva is featured on the coinage of different Roman Emperors. She is often represented on the side of a coin holding an owl
19.
Herod Agrippa II
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Herod Agrippa II officially named Marcus Julius Agrippa and sometimes just called Agrippa, was the eighth and last client ruler of Rome from the Herodian dynasty, the fifth bearing the title of King. He was the son of the first and better-known Herod Agrippa, the brother of Berenice, Mariamne, Herod Agrippa II was educated at the court of the emperor Claudius, and at the time of his fathers death he was only seventeen years old. Claudius therefore kept him at Rome, and sent Cuspius Fadus as procurator of the Roman province of Judaea, the tetrarchy of Chalcis was subsequently in 57 given to his cousin, Aristobulus. Herod Agrippa celebrated by marrying off his two sisters Mariamne and Drusilla, flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian, repeats the gossip that Herod Agrippa lived in an incestuous relationship with his sister, Berenice. In 55, the Emperor Nero added to his realm the cities of Tiberias and Taricheae in Galilee and it was before him and his sister Berenice that, according to the New Testament, Paul the Apostle pleaded his case at Caesarea Maritima, possibly in 59. Agrippa expended large sums in beautifying Jerusalem and other cities, especially Berytus and his partiality for the latter rendered him unpopular amongst his own subjects, and the capricious manner in which he appointed and deposed the high priests made him disliked by his coreligionists. Agrippa convened the people and urged instead that they tolerate the injustices done to them. By 66 the citizenry of Jerusalem expelled their king, Agrippa, and his sister, Berenice, from Jerusalem. During the First Jewish-Roman War of 66–73, he sent 2,000 men, archers and cavalry, to support Vespasian, showing that, although a Jew in religion and he accompanied Titus on some campaigns, and was wounded at the siege of Gamla. After the capture of Jerusalem, he went with his sister Berenice to Rome and he had a great intimacy with the historian Josephus, having supplied him with information for his history, Antiquities of the Jews. Josephus preserved two of the letters he received from him, the modern scholarly consensus holds that he died before 93/94. He was the last prince of the house of Herod, Herodian dynasty Herodian kingdom List of Hasmonean and Herodian rulers This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. article name needed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Easton, Matthew George. Yohanan Aharoni & Michael Avi-Yonah, The MacMillan Bible Atlas, Revised Edition, Jewish Encyclopedia, Agrippa II Agrippa II - Article in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith Livius. org, Julius Marcus Agrippa
20.
Herod the Great
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Herod, also known as Herod the Great and Herod I, was a Roman client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus, Herod also appears in the Christian Gospel of Matthew as the ruler of Judea who orders the Massacre of the Innocents at the time of the birth of Jesus. Despite his successes, including singlehandedly forging a new aristocracy from practically nothing and his reign polarizes opinion amongst scholars and historians, some viewing his legacy as evidence of success, or a reminder of his tyrannical rule. It is generally accepted that Herod was born around 73 BCE in Idumea, however, some authors think that he was born in about 72/71 BCE. He was the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high-ranked official under ethnarch Hyrcanus II, and Cypros. Herods father was by descent an Edomite whose ancestors had converted to Judaism, Herod was raised as a Jew. A loyal supporter of Hyrcanus II, Antipater appointed his son governor of Galilee in 47 BCE and his elder brother, Phasael, was appointed governor of Jerusalem. Herod enjoyed the backing of Rome, but his brutality was condemned by the Sanhedrin, in 41 BCE, Herod and his brother Phasael, were named as tetrarchs by the Roman leader Mark Antony. They were placed in this role to support Hyrcanus II, later, Antigonus, Hyrcanus nephew, took the throne from his uncle with the help of the Parthians. Herod fled to Rome to plead with the Romans to restore Hyrcanus II to power, the Romans had a special interest in Judea because their general Pompey the Great had conquered Jerusalem in 63 BCE, thus placing the region in the Roman sphere of influence. In Rome, Herod was unexpectedly appointed King of the Jews by the Roman Senate, Josephus puts this in the year of the consulship of Calvinus and Pollio, but Appian places it in 39 BCE. Herod went back to Judea to win his kingdom from Antigonus, toward the end of the campaign against Antigonus, Herod married the granddaughter of Hyrcanus II, Mariamne, who was also a niece of Antigonus. Herod did this in an attempt to secure his claim to the throne, however, Herod already had a wife, Doris, and a young son, Antipater, and chose therefore to banish Doris and her child. After three years of conflict, Herod and the Romans finally captured Jerusalem and Herod sent Antigonus for execution to Marc Antony, Herod took the role as sole ruler of Judea and the title of basileus for himself, ushering in the Herodian Dynasty and ending the Hasmonean Dynasty. Josephus reports this as being in the year of the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus, but also says that it was exactly 27 years after Jerusalem fell to Pompey, cassius Dio also reports that in 37 BCE the Romans accomplished nothing worthy of note in the area. According to Josephus, Herod ruled for 37 years,34 of them after capturing Jerusalem, as Herods family were converts to Judaism, his religious commitment was questioned by some elements of Jewish society. Herod later executed several members of his own family, including his wife Mariamne I, Herods rule marked a new beginning in the history of Judea. Judea had been ruled autonomously by the Hasmonean kings from 140 BCE until 63 BCE, the Hasmoneans retained their titles, but became clients of Rome after the conquest by Pompey in 63 BCE
21.
Claudius
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Claudius was Roman emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and he was born at Lugdunum in Gaul, the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy. Claudius infirmity probably saved him from the fate of other nobles during the purges of Tiberius and Caligulas reigns. His survival led to his being declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligulas assassination, despite his lack of experience, Claudius proved to be an able and efficient administrator. He was also a builder, constructing many new roads, aqueducts. During his reign the Empire began the conquest of Britain, having a personal interest in law, he presided at public trials, and issued up to twenty edicts a day. He was seen as vulnerable throughout his reign, particularly by elements of the nobility, Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position, this resulted in the deaths of many senators. These events damaged his reputation among the ancient writers, though more recent historians have revised this opinion, many authors contend that he was murdered by his own wife. After his death in 54 AD, his grand-nephew and adopted son Nero succeeded him as Emperor, Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC at Lugdunum. He had two siblings, Germanicus and Livilla. His mother, Antonia, may have had two children who died young. His maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, Augustus sister and his paternal grandparents were Livia, Augustus third wife, and Tiberius Claudius Nero. During his reign, Claudius revived the rumor that his father Drusus was actually the son of Augustus. In 9 BC, his father Drusus unexpectedly died on campaign in Germania, Claudius was then left to be raised by his mother, who never remarried. When Claudius disability became evident, the relationship with his family turned sour, Antonia referred to him as a monster, and used him as a standard for stupidity. She seems to have passed her son off on his grandmother Livia for a number of years, Livia was a little kinder, but nevertheless often sent him short, angry letters of reproof. He was put under the care of a former mule-driver to keep him disciplined, under the logic that his condition was due to laziness, however, by the time he reached his teenage years his symptoms apparently waned and his family took some notice of his scholarly interests. In 7 AD, Livy was hired to tutor him in history and he spent a lot of his time with the latter and the philosopher Athenodorus
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Tiberias
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Tiberias is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Established around 20 CE, it was named in honour of the 2nd Emperor of the Roman Empire Tiberius, in 2015 it had a population of 42,610. In the 2nd–10th centuries, Tiberias was the largest Jewish city in the Galilee and the political and religious hub of the Jews of Israel. Its immediate neighbour to the south, Hammat Tiberias, which is now part of modern Tiberias, has known for its hot springs, believed to cure skin and other ailments. Herod Antipas made it the capital of his realm in the Galilee, the city was built in immediate proximity to a spa which had developed around 17 natural mineral hot springs, Hammat Tiberias. Tiberias was at first a pagan city, but later became populated mainly by Jews, with its growing spiritual. The Jewish oral tradition holds that Tiberias was built on the site of the ancient Israelite village of Rakkath or Rakkat, in Talmudic times, the Jews still referred to it by this name. Conversely, in The Antiquities of the Jews, the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus calls the village with hot springs Emmaus, todays Hammat Tiberias and this name also appears in The Wars of the Jews. Antipas settled many non-Jews there from rural Galilee and other parts of his domains in order to populate his new capital, and built a palace on the acropolis. The prestige of Tiberias was so great that the Sea of Galilee soon came to be named the Sea of Tiberias, however, the Jewish population continued to call it Yam Ha-Kineret, its traditional name. The city was governed by a city council of 600 with a committee of 10 until 44 CE when a Roman procurator was set over the city after the death of Herod Agrippa I. Tiberias is mentioned in John 6,23 as the location from which boats had sailed to the side of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd seeking Jesus after the feeding of the 5000 used these boats to travel back to Capernaum on the north-western part of the sea. Under the Roman Empire, the city was known by its Greek name Τιβεριάς, in 61 CE Herod Agrippa II annexed the city to his kingdom whose capital was Caesarea Philippi. It became a city after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, with Judea subdued. It was to be its final meeting place before its disbanding in the early Byzantine period, when Johanan bar Nappaha settled in Tiberias, the city became the focus of Jewish religious scholarship in the land. The Jerusalem Talmud would follow being compiled by Rabbi Jochanan between 230–270 CE, Tiberias 13 synagogues served the spiritual needs of a growing Jewish population. In the 6th century Tiberias was still the seat of Jewish religious learning, in 628, the Byzantine army returned to Tiberias upon the surrender of Jewish rebels and the end of the Persian occupation after they were defeated in the battle of Nineveh
23.
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
24.
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
25.
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
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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
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Hebrew Bible
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They are composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew, with some passages in Biblical Aramaic. The term does not comment upon the naming, numbering or ordering of books, the term Hebrew Bible is an attempt to provide specificity with respect to contents but avoid allusion to any particular interpretative tradition or theological school of thought. Hebrew Bible refers to the Jewish biblical canon, in its Latin form, Biblia Hebraica, it traditionally serves as a title for printed editions of the Masoretic Text. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term Hebrew Bible as a substitute to terms with religious connotations. Hebrew Bible Old Testament without prescribing the use of either, however, he accepts that there is no reason why non-Christians should feel obliged to refer to these books as the Old Testament, apart from custom of use. Modern Christian formulations of this tension include Supersessionism, Covenant Theology, New Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, in terms of canon, Christian usage of Old Testament does not refer to a universally agreed upon set of books but, rather, varies depending on denomination. The Hebrew Bible includes small portions in Aramaic, written and printed in Aramaic square-script, the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium. The oldest texts seem to come from the 11th or 10th centuries BCE and they are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together. Since the 19th century, most biblical scholars have agreed that the Pentateuch consists of four sources which have been woven together and these four sources are J, D, E and P sources. They were combined to form the Pentateuch sometime in the 6th century BCE and this theory is now known as the documentary hypothesis, and has been the dominant theory for the past two hundred years. The Deuteronomist credited with the Pentateuchs book of Deuteronomy is also said to be the source of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, several editions, all titled Biblia Hebraica, have been produced by various German publishers since 1906. Between 1906 and 1955, Rudolf Kittel published nine editions of it,1966, the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft published the renamed Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia in six editions until 1997. Since 2004 the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft has published the Biblia Hebraica Quinta, other projects include, Hebrew University Bible Project Hebrew Bible, A Critical Edition Biblical canon Books of the Bible Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible Torah Brueggemann, Walter. An introduction to the Old Testament, the canon and Christian imagination, the People of Ancient Israel, an introduction to Old Testament Literature, History, and Thought, Harper and Row,1974. Sinai and Zion, An Entry into the Jewish Bible, archived from the original on 14 March 2012. The Ancient Near East, Volume I, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. An abridgement of Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament Noth, how the Bible Became a Book. The Old Testament, A Literary History, hebrew-English Tanakh, the Jewish Bible Complete, fully vocalized, contilated, Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, together with the classic English translation by the Jewish Publication Society
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Isaiah
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Isaiah was the 8th century BCE Jewish prophet who gave his name to the Book of Isaiah. The exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and any such historical Isaiah is complicated, jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon, he is the first listed of the Neviim Aharonim, the latter prophets. Muslims consider Isaiah a prophet mentioned in Muslim exegesis of canonical scriptures, the first verse of the Book of Isaiah states that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah. Uzziahs reign was 52 years in the middle of the 8th century BCE, Isaiah lived until the fourteenth year of Hezekiahs reign, and may have been contemporary for some years with Manasseh. Thus Isaiah may have prophesied for as long as 64 years, another interpretation, holds that it was simply an honorary title is likely. They had two sons, naming one Shear-Yashuv, meaning A remnant shall return and the younger, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, meaning, Spoil quickly, soon after this, Shalmaneser V determined to subdue the kingdom of Israel, Samaria was taken and destroyed. This led the king of Assyria to threaten the king of Judah, Sennacherib led a powerful army into Judah. Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians, but after a brief interval war broke out again. Again Sennacherib led an army into Judah, one detachment of which threatened Jerusalem, Isaiah on that occasion encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians, whereupon Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he spread before the LORD. Whom hast thou taunted and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice. Yea, thou hast lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel, according to the account in 2 Kings 19 the judgment of God now fell on the Assyrian army and wiped out 185,000 of its men. Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah and he made no more expeditions against either the Southern Levant or Egypt. The remaining years of Hezekiahs reign were peaceful, Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh, but the time and manner of his death are not specified in either the Bible or other primary sources. The Talmud says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh, according to rabbinic Literature, Isaiah was the maternal grandfather of Manasseh. Some writers assert that Isaiah was a vegetarian, on the basis of passages in the Book of Isaiah that extol nonviolence and reverence for life, such as Isaiah 1,11,11, 6-9,65,25, and 66,3. Some of these refer to the vegetarian Isaiah, the notorious vegetarian Isaiah, and Isaiah. Gregory of Nyssa, believed that the Prophet Isaiah knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel. Of specific note are the songs of the Suffering Servant which Christians say are a direct revelation of the nature, purpose
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First Jewish Revolt coinage
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First Jewish Revolt coinage was issued by the Jews after the Zealots captured Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple from the Romans in 66 AD at the beginning of the First Jewish Revolt. The Jewish leaders of the revolt minted their own coins to emphasize their newly obtained independence from Rome, in the Revolts first year, the Jews minted only silver coins, which were struck from the Temple’s store of silver. These coins replaced the Tyrian shekel, which had previously used to pay the Temple tax. The newly minted silver coins included shekels, half-shekels, and quarter-shekels, each being labelled with the year of minting and their denomination. These are the first truly Jewish silver coins, and depict a chalice on the obverse with the year of the revolt above, three budding pomegranates are featured on the reverse, with the inscription Jerusalem the Holy. During the second and third years of the Revolt bronze prutah coins were issued, depicting an amphora, and with the date, in the fourth year of the revolt three large sizes of bronze coins were minted, possibly because the supplies of Temple silver were diminishing. It is believed by numismatists that these coins were fractions of a shekel and this coin is usually called an eighth, probably being an eighth of a shekel. The medium size coin has the inscription, with the denomination reva inscribed. An etrog is depicted on the obverse, and two lulav are on the reverse, the larger of the three bronze coins are inscribed chatzi. On the obverse a lulav and etrog are again depicted, with a palm tree and these coins are sometimes referred to as Masada coins
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Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70)
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The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War. The siege ended with the sacking of the city and the destruction of its Second Temple, the destruction of both the first and second temples is still mourned annually as the Jewish fast Tisha BAv. The Arch of Titus, celebrating the Roman sack of Jerusalem, at one point they destroyed the food stocks in the city, a drastic measure thought to have been undertaken perhaps in order to enlist a merciful Gods intervention on behalf of the besieged Jews. Titus began his siege a few days before Passover, surrounding the city, the thrust of the siege began in the west at the Third Wall, north of the Jaffa Gate. By May, this was breached and the Second Wall also was taken shortly afterwards, leaving the defenders in possession of the Temple and the upper and lower city. The Jewish defenders were split into factions, John of Gischalas group murdered another faction leader, Eleazar ben Simon, the enmities between John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were papered over only when the Roman siege engineers began to erect ramparts. Titus then had a built to girdle the city in order to starve out the population more effectively. Titus was almost captured during this attack, but escaped. Overlooking the Temple compound, the fortress provided a point from which to attack the Temple itself. Battering rams made little progress, but the fighting itself eventually set the walls on fire, destroying the Temple was not among Titus goals, possibly due in large part to the massive expansions done by Herod the Great mere decades earlier. Titus had wanted to seize it and transform it into a dedicated to the Roman Emperor. The fire spread quickly and was out of control. The Temple was captured and destroyed on 9/10 Tisha BAv, at the end of August, Josephus described the scene, As the legions charged in, neither persuasion nor threat could check their impetuosity, passion alone was in command. Crowded together around the many were trampled by their friends, many fell among the still hot and smoking ruins of the colonnades. As they neared the Sanctuary they pretended not even to hear Caesars commands, the partisans were no longer in a position to help, everywhere was slaughter and flight. Most of the victims were citizens, weak and unarmed, butchered wherever they were caught. Round the Altar the heaps of corpses grew higher and higher, while down the Sanctuary steps poured a river of blood, josephuss account absolves Titus of any culpability for the destruction of the Temple, but this may merely reflect his desire to curry favor with the Flavian dynasty. The Roman legions quickly crushed the remaining Jewish resistance, some of the remaining Jews escaped through hidden underground tunnels, while others made a final stand in the Upper City
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Masada
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Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the edge of the Judaean Desert. Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE, Masada is one of Israels most popular tourist attractions. The cliff of Masada is, geologically speaking, a horst, as the cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 400 m high, and the cliffs on the west are about 90 m high, the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult to navigate. The top of the plateau is flat and rhomboid-shaped, about 550 m by 270 m. Three narrow, winding paths led from below up to fortified gates, almost all historical information about Masada comes from the first-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus. Josephus writes that the site was first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BCE, Herod the Great captured it in the power struggle that followed the death of his father Antipater. It survived the siege of the last Hasmonean king Antigonus II Mattathias, no Hasmonean-period building remains could be identified during archaeological excavations at Masada. According to Josephus, between 37 and 31 BCE, Herod the Great built a fortress on the plateau as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels, the Sicarii, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop after slaughtering the Roman garrison. According to Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist Jewish splinter group antagonistic to a grouping of Jews referred to as the Zealots. Josephus said that the Sicarii raided nearby Jewish villages including Ein Gedi, in 73 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea, Lucius Flavius Silva, headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada. The Roman legion surrounded Masada, built a wall and then a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau. According to Dan Gill, geological investigations in the early 1990s confirmed earlier observations that the 114 m high assault ramp consisted mostly of a spur of bedrock. The ramp was complete in the spring of 73, after two to three months of siege, allowing the Romans to finally breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram on April 16. The Romans employed the X Legion and a number of units and Jewish prisoners of war, totaling some 15,000. A giant siege tower with a ram was constructed and moved laboriously up the completed ramp. Originally, Jewish rebels on top of Masada threw stones at those building and constructing the ramp, to counter this tactic, the Romans put captured Jewish prisoners from previously conquered towns to work at the ramp
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Arch of Titus
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The Arch of Titus is a 1st-century AD. honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. AD.82 by the Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Tituss victories, including the Siege of Jerusalem. The arch has provided the model for many triumphal arches erected since the 16th century—perhaps most famously it is the inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Based on the style of sculptural details, Domitians favored architect Rabirius, sometimes credited with the Colosseum, without contemporary documentation, however, attributions of Roman buildings on basis of style are considered shaky. The restoration was a model for the side of Porta Pia. The arch is large with both fluted and unfluted columns, the latter being a result of 19th century restoration, the spandrels on the upper left and right of the arch contain personifications of victory as winged women. Between the spandrels is the keystone, on which stands a female on the East side. The soffit of the archway is deeply coffered with a relief of the apotheosis of Titus at the center. The sculptural program includes two panel reliefs lining the passageway within the arch. Both commemorate the joint triumph celebrated by Titus and his father Vespasian in the summer of 71, the south panel depicts the spoils taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. The golden candelabrum or Menorah is the focus and is carved in deep relief. Other sacred objects being carried in the procession are the Gold Trumpets, the fire pans for removing the ashes from the altar. These spoils were likely originally colored gold, with the background in blue, in 2012 the Arch of Titus Digital Restoration Project discovered remains of yellow ochre paint on the menorah relief. The north panel depicts Titus as triumphator attended by various genii and lictors, a helmeted Amazonian, Valour, leads the quadriga or four horsed chariot, which carries Titus. Winged Victory crowns him with a laurel wreath, the juxtaposition is significant in that it is one of the first examples of divinities and humans being present in one scene together. This contrasts with the panels of the Ara Pacis, where humans, the sculpture of the outer faces of the two great piers was lost when the Arch of Titus was incorporated in medieval defensive walls. The attic of the arch was originally crowned by more statuary, the main inscription used to be ornamented by letters made of perhaps silver, gold or some other metal. The Arch of Titus measures,15.4 meters in height,13.5 meters in width,4.75 meters in depth, the inner archway is 8.3 meters in height, and 5.36 in width
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Temple in Jerusalem
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These successive temples stood at this location and functioned as a site of ancient Israelite and later Jewish worship. The Hebrew name given in the Hebrew Bible for the complex is either Beit YHWH, Beit HaElohim House of God, or simply Beiti my house. The term hekhal hall or main building is often translated temple in older English Bibles, in rabbinical literature the temple is Beit HaMikdash, The Sanctified House, and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name. The Hebrew Bible says that the First Temple was built in 957 BCE by King Solomon and this temple was sacked a few decades later by Shoshenq I, Pharaoh of Egypt. The First Temple was totally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, according to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Babylonian Empire the year before. It was completed 23 years later, on the day of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great. However, with a reading of the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the Second Temple. Cyrus in 536 BCE, which is recorded in the first chapter of Ezra, next, Darius I of Persia in 519 BCE, which is recorded in the sixth chapter of Ezra. Third, Artaxerxes I of Persia in 457 BCE, which was the year of his reign. Finally, by Artaxerxes again in 444 BCE in the chapter of Nehemiah. Moreover, the narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was allegedly turned from his anger at the last minute by astute diplomacy, further, after the death of Alexander on 13 June 323 BCE, and the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple. Under the Ptolemies, the Jews were given many civil liberties, however, when the Ptolemaic army was defeated at Panium by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BCE, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews, attempting to introduce the Greek pantheon into the temple. Moreover, a rebellion ensued and was crushed, but no further action by Antiochus was taken. However, his policies never took effect in Judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension, Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his older brother to the Seleucid throne and immediately adopted his fathers previous policy of universal Hellenisation. The Jews rebelled again and Antiochus, in a rage, retaliated in force, considering the previous episodes of discontent, the Jews became incensed when the religious observances of Sabbath and circumcision were officially outlawed. When Antiochus erected a statue of Zeus in their temple and Hellenic priests began sacrificing pigs, when a Greek official ordered a Jewish priest to perform a Hellenic sacrifice, the priest killed him
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Tabernacle
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Solomons Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as the dwelling-place of God some 300 years later. The main source for the account of the construction of the Tabernacle is the biblical Book of Exodus, specifically Exodus 25–31 and 35–40. It was standing diagonally, partially covering a table for showbread and this description is generally identified as part of the Priestly source, written in the sixth or fifth century BCE. However whilst the first Priestly source takes the form of instructions, traditional scholars contend that it describes an actual tabernacle used in the time of Moses and thereafter. According to historical criticism, an earlier, pre-exilic source, the Elohist, the English word tabernacle is derived from the Latin tabernāculum meaning tent or hut, which in ancient Roman religion was a ritual structure. The word sanctuary is used for the biblical tabernacle, as is the phrase tent of meeting. The Hebrew word mishkan implies dwell, rest, or to live in, historical criticism has identified two accounts of the tabernacle in Exodus, a briefer Elohist account and a longer Priestly one. Traditional scholars believe the account describes a different structure, perhaps Moses personal tent. The Hebrew nouns in the two differ, one is most commonly translated as tent of meeting, while the other is usually translated as tabernacle. Exodus 33, 7-10 refers to the Tabernacle of the congregation, the people directed their worship toward this center. Historical criticism attributes this description to the Elohist source, which is believed to have written about 850 BCE or later. It is an enclosure containing the altar and bronze laver for the priests to wash surrounded these chambers. This description is identified by historical criticism as part of the Priestly source and this view is based on Exodus 36,37,38 and 39 that describe in full detail how the actual construction of the Tabernacle took place during the time of Moses. The detailed outlines for the tabernacle and its priests are enumerated in the Book of Exodus, Exodus 25, Materials needed, the Ark, the table for 12 showbread, Exodus 26, The tabernacle, the bars, partitions. Exodus 27, The copper altar, the enclosure, oil, Exodus 28, Vestments for the priests, ephod garment, ring settings, the breastplate, robe, head-plate, tunic, turban, sashes, pants. Exodus 29, Consecration of priests and altar, Exodus 30, Incense altar, washstand, anointing oil, incense. There is a set of rules to be followed for the carriage of the Tabernacle laid out in the Hebrew Bible. For example, You must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with its furnishings and they must carry the Tabernacle and its equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it
36.
Solomon's Temple
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Because of the religious sensitivities involved, and the politically volatile situation in Jerusalem, only limited archaeological surveys of the Temple Mount have been conducted. No archaeological excavations have been allowed on the Temple Mount during modern times, therefore, there are very few pieces of archaeological evidence for the existence of Solomons Temple. The only source of information on the First Temple is the Hebrew Bible, according to the biblical sources, the temple was constructed under Solomon, during the united monarchy of Israel and Judah. The Bible describes a Hiram I of Tyre who furnished architects, workmen and he also co-operated with Solomon in mounting an expedition on the Red Sea. 1 Kings 6,1 puts the date of the beginning of building the temple in the year of Solomons reign over Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BCE and this puts the date of its construction in the mid-10th century BCE. Some scholars have speculated that a Jebusite sanctuary may have occupied the site. 1 Kings 9,10 says that it took Solomon 20 years altogether to build the Temple, the Temple itself finished being built after 7 years. During the united monarchy the Temple was dedicated to Yahweh, the God of Israel, according to the Hebrew Bible, the Temple was plundered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire king Nebuchadnezzar II when the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem during the brief reign of Jehoiachin c. A decade later, Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem and after 30 months finally breached the city walls in 587 BCE, subsequently burning the Temple, according to Jewish tradition, the Temple was destroyed on Tisha BAv, the 9th day of Av. The Temple of Solomon is considered to be according to Phoenician design. The detailed descriptions provided in the Tanakh are the sources for reconstructions of its appearance, technical details are lacking, since the scribes who wrote the books were not architects or engineers. Nevertheless, the descriptions have inspired modern replicas of the temple, the usual explanation for the discrepancy between its height and the 30-cubit height of the temple is that its floor was elevated, like the cella of other ancient temples. It was floored and wainscotted with cedar of Lebanon, and its walls, there was a two-leaved door between it and the Holy Place overlaid with gold, also a veil of tekhelet, purple, and crimson and fine linen. It had no windows and was considered the dwelling-place of the name of God, kodesh haKodashim was prepared to receive and house the Ark, and when the Temple was dedicated, the Ark, containing the original tablets of the Ten Commandments, was placed therein. When the priests emerged from the place after placing the Ark there. The Hekhal, or Holy Place, is called the greater house and the temple, the word also means palace, was of the same width and height as the Holy of Holies. Its walls were lined with cedar, on which were carved figures of cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, chains of gold further marked it off from the Holy of Holies
37.
Third Temple
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The Third Temple, or Ezekiels Temple, is a Holy Temple architecturally described and prophesied in the Book of Ezekiel, a house of prayer for all people with a sacrificial service. It is noted by Ezekiel as an eternal edifice and permanent dwelling place of the God of Israel on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and this Temple would be the third central religious space for Jews after Solomons Temple and the rebuilt Second Temple. Although it has not been built, prospects for its completion are important in Jewish eschatology, the architecture of the temple is described in detail in Chapters 40 to 42 of Ezekiel. Maimonides qualified those chapters as complex for the reader and even for the seasoned scholar. The layout and measurements of the building are described in detail, each cherub had two faces, the face of a human being toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a lion toward the palm tree on the other. Since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, religious Jews have expressed their desire to see the building of a Third Temple on the Temple Mount, prayer for this is a formal part of the Jewish tradition of thrice daily Amidah prayer. Though it remains unbuilt, the notion of and desire for a Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, particularly Orthodox Judaism, the prophets in the Tanakh called for its construction to be fulfilled prior to, or in tandem with, the Messianic age. The rebuilding of the Third Temple also plays a role in some interpretations of Christian eschatology. Architectural plans for the third Temple exist most notably in Chapters 40–47 of the Book of Ezekiel, Orthodox Judaism believes in the rebuilding of a Third Temple and the resumption of Korban, although there is disagreement about how rebuilding should take place. This belief is embedded in Orthodox Jewish prayer services, the generally accepted position among Orthodox Jews is that the full order of the sacrifices will be resumed upon the building of the Temple. Maimonides wrote in his philosophical treatise, A Guide for the Perplexed. However, in his Jewish legal code, the Mishneh Torah, he states that animal sacrifices will resume in the third temple, some attribute to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook the view that animal sacrifices will not be reinstituted. These views on the Temple service are sometimes misconstrued, the morning prayer service also includes a study session of the daily Temple ritual and offerings as a reminder, including detailed study of the animal sacrifices and incense offerings. The service also contains the daily and special-occasion psalms the Levites used to sing in the Temple, translations and commentary on prayers with this language tend to discuss both meanings in Orthodox Judaism. The laws of purity are directly based, in function and terminology. A number of requirements, such as the practices of immersing in a mikveh before Yom Kippur, washing the hands in the morning, before meals. Many contemporary and seemingly unconnected rules for living are intimately linked with these Temple rituals. In August 1967, after Israels capture of the Mount, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, Rabbi Goren was also well known for his controversial positions concerning Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount
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Altar (Bible)
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‹See Tfd› Altars in the Hebrew Bible were typically made of earth or unwrought stone. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places The first altar recorded in the Hebrew Bible is that erected by Noah, Altars were erected by Abraham, by Isaac, by Jacob, and by Moses. After the theophany on biblical Mount Sinai, in the Tabernacle–and afterwards in the Temple–only two altars are mentioned, the Altar of Burnt Offering, and the Altar of Incense. The blood of the sacrifices would be thrown against the base of the altar, also consumed at the altar would be some of the meat offerings, and the drink offerings were poured out here. All sacrifices had to be seasoned with salt There are three piles of wood burned atop the altar. Nothing was placed on it, and no coals were taken from it and it existed solely to fulfill the commandment that there be a perpetual fire, as the Torah states, And a fire shall burn there on the altar constantly, it shall not be extinguished. Three particular types of wood were preferred, fig, walnut and these woods all burn well, and were therefore preferable. The choicest branches of fig were used for the second fire, if all of the lamps of the menorah went out, they would have to be rekindled from the fire on the Altar of Burnt Offering. A large pile of ashes was formed in the center of the altar from the remnants of the three fires, a portion of the ashes from this pile were required to be removed every morning before the first sacrifice of the day. In the Second Temple, the priest who fulfilled this mitzvah was chosen by every morning. He would vest in his vestments and wash his hands before approaching the altar. The ashes were taken up in a silver shovel and set on the ground to the east of the altar at what was called, then he would change from his priestly vetments into ordinary clothing and remove the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. In Exodus 27,3 the various utensils used with the altar are enumerated, the altar could not be carved using utensils made of iron or of bronze, nor were any allowed on or near it, because iron and bronze were used for implements of war. The Altar and its utensils were considered to be sacred, according to the Bible, the fire on the altar was lit directly by the hand of God and was not permitted to go out. No strange fire could be placed upon the altar, the burnt offerings would remain on the altar throughout the night before they could be removed. A second lottery would be made to determine which priests would fulfill the duties involved in offering the sacrifice and preparing the menorah. The first altar of this type was made to be moved with the Children of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness and its construction is described in Exodus 27, 1-8. It was square,5 cubits in length and in breadth and it was made of shittim wood, and was overlaid with brass
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Ark of the Covenant
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The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a gold-covered wooden chest described in the Book of Exodus as containing the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. According to various texts within the Hebrew Bible, it also contained Aarons rod, when carried, the Ark was always hidden under a large veil made of skins and blue cloth, always carefully concealed, even from the eyes of the priests and the Levites who carried it. God was said to have spoken with Moses from between the two cherubim on the Arks cover. When at rest the tabernacle was set up and the holy Ark was placed under the veil of the covering the staves of it crossing the side bars to hold it up off the ground. Moses instructed Bezalel and Oholiab to construct the Ark, in Deuteronomy, however, the Ark is said to have been built specifically by Moses himself without reference of Bezalel or Oholiab. The Book of Exodus gives detailed instructions on how the Ark is to be constructed and it is to be 2½ cubits in length, 1½ in breadth, and 1½ in height. Then it is to be gilded entirely with gold, and a crown or molding of gold is to be put around it, a golden lid, the kapporet which is covered with 2 golden cherubim, is to be placed above the Ark. Instructions missing from the biblical account include the thickness of the seat, the thickness of its sides and bottom. The Ark is finally to be placed under the veil of the covering, the biblical account continues that, after its creation by Moses, the Ark was carried by the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering in the desert. Whenever the Israelites camped, the Ark was placed in a room in a sacred tent. When the Israelites, led by Joshua toward the Promised Land, arrived at the banks of the River Jordan, as memorials, twelve stones were taken from the Jordan at the place where the priests had stood. In the Battle of Jericho, the Ark was carried round the city once a day for seven days, after the defeat at Ai, Joshua lamented before the Ark. When Joshua read the Law to the people between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, they stood on each side of the Ark and we next hear of the Ark in Bethel where it was being cared for by the priest Phineas the grandson of Aaron. According to this verse it was consulted by the people of Israel when they were planning to attack the Benjaminites at the battle of Gibeah. A few years later the elders of Israel decided to take the Ark out onto the battlefield to assist them against the Philistines and they were, however, heavily defeated with the loss of 30,000 men. The Ark was captured by the Philistines and Hophni and Phinehas were killed, the news of its capture was at once taken to Shiloh by a messenger with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. The mother of the child Ichabod died at his birth, the Philistines took the Ark to several places in their country, and at each place misfortune befell them. At Ashdod it was placed in the temple of Dagon, the next morning Dagon was found prostrate, bowed down, before it, and on being restored to his place, he was on the following morning again found prostrate and broken
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Shekhinah
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Shekinah, Shechinah, or Schechinah, is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning dwelling or settling and denotes the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. This term does not occur in the Bible, and is from rabbinic literature, ‹See Tfd› Shekinah is derived from the Hebrew verb שכן. The Semitic root means to settle, inhabit, or dwell and this abstract noun is not present in the Bible, and is first encountered in rabbinic literature. The word for the Tabernacle, mishkan, is a derivative of the root and is used in the sense of dwelling-place in the Bible, e. g. Psalms 132,5. The concept is similar to that in the Gospel of Matthew 18,20, some Christian theologians have connected the concept of Shekhinah to the Greek term Parousia, presence or arrival, which is used in the New Testament in a similar way for divine presence. The Shekinah is held by some to represent the attributes of the presence of God. The Shekinah is referred to as manifest in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem throughout Rabbinic literature and it is also reported as being present in the acts of public prayer. So too in the Talmud Sanhedrin 39a, we read, Whenever ten are gathered for prayer, there the Shekinah rests, it also connotes righteous judgment, and personal need. The word shekina does not occur in the Bible, although the similar word shakan, there is also no occurrence of the word in pre-rabbinic literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is only afterwards in the targums and rabbinic literature that the Hebrew term shekinah, or Aramaic equivalent shekinta, is found, and then becomes extremely common. In the Targum the addition of the noun term Shekinah paraphases Hebrew verb phrases such as Exodus 34,9 let the Lord go among us which Targum paraphrases with Gods shekinah. In the post-temple era usage of the term Shekinah may provide a solution to the problem of God being omnipresent, and it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And the spirit of the LORD will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, isaiah wrote I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple. Jeremiah implored Do not dishonor the throne of glory and referred to Thy throne of glory, on high from the beginning. The Book of Ezekiel speaks of the glory of the God of Israel was there and this recurrent theme is best known from the writings and songs of the legendary mystic of the 16th century, Rabbi Isaac Luria. For the Shabbat is a queen and a bride and this is why the masters of the Mishna used to go out on the eve of Shabbat to receive her on the road, and used to say, Come, O bride, come, O bride. And one must sing and rejoice at the table in her honor, one must receive the Lady with many lighted candles, many enjoyments, beautiful clothes, and a house embellished with many fine appointments. The tradition of the Shekinah as the Shabbat Bride, the Shabbat Kallah, the 17th blessing of the daily Amidah prayer said in Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform services is Blessed are You, God, who returns His Presence to Zion
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Holy of Holies
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The Holy of Holies is a term in the Hebrew Bible which refers to the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle where God dwelt. The area is defined by the four pillars, the pillars held up the veil of the covering under which the Ark of the Covenant was held off the floor by its two staves. 300 years later, it was the Temple in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was kept during the First Temple, the area could be entered only by the High Priest on Yom Kippur after sanctifying himself. The Ark is said to have contained the Ten Commandments, which were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and it is currently thought to be located under the Dome of the Rock. The construction Holy of Holies is a translation of a Hebrew idiom which is intended to express a superlative. Examples of similar constructions are servant of servants, Sabbath of sabbaths, God of gods, Vanity of vanities, Song of songs, king of kings, in the Authorized King James Version, Holy of Holies is always translated as Most Holy Place. This is in keeping with the intention of the Hebrew idiom to express the utmost degree of holiness, the King James Version of the Bible has been in existence for over four hundred years. For most of time, it was a primary reference in much of the English speaking world for information about Judaism. Thus, the name Most Holy Place was used to refer to the Holy of Holies in many English documents, the Bible reports that in the wilderness, on the day that the tabernacle was first raised up, the cloud of the Lord covered the tabernacle. According to the Hebrew Bible, the Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant with representation of Cherubim, upon completion of the dedication of the Tabernacle, the Voice of God spoke to Moses from between the Cherubim. The Holy of Holies, the most sacred site in Judaism, is the sanctuary within the Tabernacle and Temple in Jerusalem when Solomons Temple. The Holy of Holies was located in the westernmost end of the Temple building, being a perfect cube,20 cubits by 20 cubits by 20 cubits. The inside was in darkness and contained the Ark of the Covenant, gilded inside and out. According to Hebrews 9,4 in the New Testament, Aarons rod, the Ark was covered with a lid made of pure gold, known as the mercy seat for the Divine Presence. Josephus records that Pompey profaned the Temple by insisting on entering the Holy of Holies in 63 BCE, the animal was sacrificed on the Brazen Altar and the blood was carried into the most holy place. The golden censers were found in the Most Holy Place. According to the Hebrew Bible, in order that God may dwell among the Israelites, the Magdala stone is thought to be a representation of the Holy of Holies carved before the destruction of the Temple in the year 70. The exact location of the Kodesh Hakodashim is a subject of dispute, traditional Judaism regards the Holy of Holies as the place where the presence of God dwells
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Menorah (Temple)
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Fresh olive oil of the purest quality was burned daily to light its lamps. The menorah has been a symbol of Judaism since ancient times and is the emblem on the coat of arms of the state of Israel. The Hebrew Bible, or Torah, states that God revealed the design for the menorah to Moses and describes the construction of the menorah as follows, hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. 32Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side, 33Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 34And on the lampstand are to be four cups shaped like flowers with buds. 35One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the pair. 36The buds and branches shall be all of one piece with the lampstand, 37Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. 38Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold, 39A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. 40See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. Numbers, chapter 8, adds that the seven lamps are to light in front of the lampstand. In Jewish oral tradition, the menorah stood 18 handbreadths high, archaeological evidence, including depictions by artists who had seen the menorah, indicates that they were not straight, but show them as rounded, either semicircular or elliptical. In that frieze, the menorah is shown resting upon an octagonal base. The lower base was identical in design to the upper base, each facet of the octagonal base was made with two vertical stiles and two horizontal rails, a top rail and a bottom rail, resembling a protruding frame set against a sunken panel. These panels appeared to have had some relief design set or sculpted within them and this menorah has arms which are polygonal, not rounded, and the base is not graduated but triangular. Representations of the seven lamp artifact have been found on tombs and monuments dating from the 1st century as a frequently used symbol of Judaism and it has been noted that the shape of the menorah bears a certain resemblance to that of the plant Salvia palaestina. Contrary to some modern designs, the ancient menorah did not contain anything resembling seven candles, the lamps of the menorah were lit daily from fresh, consecrated olive oil and burned from evening until morning, according to Exodus 27,21. Although all the lights were extinguished, that light continued burning oil. This miracle according to the Talmud was taken as a sign that the Shechinah rested over Israel and it was called the ner hamaaravi because of the direction of its wick
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Foundation Stone
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The Foundation Stone is the name of the rock at the centre of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It is also known as the Pierced Stone because it has a hole on the southeastern corner that enters a cavern beneath the rock. It is the holiest site in Judaism, Jewish tradition views it as the junction of Heaven. Jews traditionally face it while praying, in the belief that it was the location of the Holy of Holies in the Temple, the rock is located towards the centre of the Temple Mount, an artificial platform built and expanded over many centuries. There is some controversy among scholars about equating Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount. Early Jewish writings assist in confirming that the Dome of the Rock, completed in 691, is the site of the Holy of Holies, rabbis have discussed the precise location of the rock. The Radbaz is convinced that “under the dome on the Temple Mount, the Travels of Rabbi Petachiah of Ratisbon, c. This is the view of the Arizal and the Maharsha, who state the prophecy that “Zion will become a ploughed field” indicates that no dwelling will be established there until the time of the Redemption. It therefore follows that the footprint of the Temple courtyard and Holy of Holies is situated in the area between the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. Some believe the position is north of the Dome of the Rock, opposite the Gate of Mercy and this gate was described as being opposite the opening of the sanctuary. Modern Jewish academics list four possible locations of the Foundation Stone, the stone that was located beneath the altar is now the one that is under the Dome of the Rock. The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is now near El Kas fountain to the South of the Dome of the Rock. The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is now inside the Spirits Dome situated to the North of the Dome of the Rock, the marble slab was removed by Saladin. The Mishnah gives the height of the rock as three thumb-breadths above the ground, Radbaz discusses the apparent contradiction of the Mishnah’s measurements and the actual measurement of the rock within the Dome he estimates as a “height of two men” above the ground. This is the holiest site in Judaism, jews all over the world pray towards the Foundation Stone. The Roman-Era Midrash Tanchuma sums up the centrality of and holiness of this site in Judaism, As the navel is set in the centre of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world. According to the sages of the Talmud it was from this rock that the world was created and it is the centre point of the world and on this spot stood the Holy of Holies”. According to the Talmud, it was close to here, on the site of the altar and it was on this rock that Adam—and later Cain, Abel, and Noah—offered sacrifices to God
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Boaz and Jachin
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According to the Bible, Boaz and Jachin were two copper, brass or bronze pillars which stood in the porch of Solomons Temple, the first Temple in Jerusalem. According to Josephus in Antiquities of the Jews, Boaz stood on the left when entering Solomons Temple, while Jachin stood on the right, the pillars had a size nearly six feet thick and 27 feet tall. The eight-foot high brass chapiters, or capitals, on top of the columns bore decorations, in brass, of lilies. The original measurement as taken from The Torah was in cubits, which records that the pillars were 18 cubits high and 12 cubits around, and hollow - four fingers thick. Nets of checkerwork covered the bowl of each chapiter, decorated with rows of 200 pomegranates, wreathed with seven chains for each chapiter, and topped with lilies. The pillars did not survive the destruction of the First Temple, Jeremiah 52,17 reports, II Kings 25,13 has a similar account. The pillars were carried away in pieces for ease of transportation, when the Second Temple was built, they were not returned and we have no record of new pillars being constructed to replace them. The Romanesque Church of Santa Maria Maggiore at Tuscania has an entrance flanked by a pair of free-standing stone columns intended to evoke Boaz. Some variants of the Tarot card The High Priestess depict Boaz, russell Hobans novel The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz. Jakin, a town in the southwest of the U. S. state of Georgia. In The Lost Symbol, the villain Malakh had tattooed Boaz, brazen Laver Molten Sea Solomonic column Treasury of Scripture Knowledge Definition
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Western Wall
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The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall. The Western Wall is considered due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Because of the status quo policy, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray, though it is not the holiest site in the Jewish faith, which lies behind it. The original, natural and irregular-shaped Temple Mount was gradually extended to allow for an ever-larger Temple compound to be built at its top, on top of this box-like structure Herod built a vast paved esplanade which surrounded the Temple. Of the four retaining walls, the one is considered to be closest to the former Temple. The term Wailing Wall is not used by Jews and increasingly many others who consider it derogatory, in a broader sense, Western Wall can refer to the entire 488 metre-long retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. The wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, from the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none was successful. During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the Eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. This period ended on June 10,1967, when Israel gained control of the following the Six-Day War. Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site the Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what is now the Western Wall plaza. The earliest Jewish use of the Hebrew term ha-kotel ha-maaravi, the Western Wall, the name Wailing Wall, and descriptions such as wailing place, appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century. The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German and this term itself was a translation of the Arabic el-Mabka, or Place of Weeping, the traditional Arabic term for the wall. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn, at some time in the 19th century, the Arabs began referring to the wall as the al-Buraq Wall. This was based on the tradition that inside the wall was the place where Muhammad tethered his miraculous winged steed, al-Buraq. The tradition on which this is based only states that the Prophet, or the angel Jibrail, tethered the steed at the gate of the mosque, meaning, at the gate of the Temple Mount. Israeli archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov concluded that the Muslim association with Western Wall began in the nineteenth century in response to renewed Jewish identification with the site. The Western Wall commonly refers to a 187-foot exposed section of ancient wall situated on the flank of the Temple Mount
