1.
Etruscan language
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The Etruscan language was the spoken and written language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Campania, Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. Etruscan influenced Latin, but was eventually superseded by it. Grammatically, the language is agglutinating, with nouns and verbs showing suffixed inflectional endings, nouns show four cases, singular and plural numbers, and masculine and feminine genders. Phonologically, Etruscan appears uncomplicated, with a system and an apparent contrast between aspirated and unaspirated stops. The language shows phonetic change over time, with the loss, Etruscan religion influenced that of the Romans and many of the few surviving Etruscan language artifacts are of votive or religious significance. Etruscan was written in a derived from the Greek alphabet. The Etruscan language is believed to be the source of certain important cultural words of Western Europe such as military and people. Etruscan literacy was widespread over the Mediterranean shores, as evidenced by about 13,000 inscriptions, most fairly short and they date from about 700 BC. The Etruscans had a rich literature, as noted by Latin authors, however, only one book, the Liber Linteus has survived. By AD100, Etruscan had been replaced by Latin, around 180, the Latin author Aulus Gellius mentions Etruscan alongside the Gaulish language in an anecdote. Only a few educated Romans with antiquarian interests, such as Marcus Terentius Varro, plautia Urgulanilla, the emperors first wife, was Etruscan. Livy and Cicero were both aware that highly specialized Etruscan religious rites were codified in several sets of written in Etruscan under the generic Latin title Etrusca Disciplina. The Libri Haruspicini dealt with divination from the entrails of the sacrificed animal, a third set, the Libri Rituales, might have provided a key to Etruscan civilization, its wider scope embraced Etruscan standards of social and political life, as well as ritual practices. The single extant Etruscan book, Liber Linteus, which was written on linen and this range may indicate a maximum Italian homeland where the language was at one time spoken. Outside of mainland Italy inscriptions have been found in North Africa, Corsica, Elba, Gallia Narbonensis, Greece, the Balkans, by far the greatest concentration is in Italy. An inscription found on Lemnos in 1886 is in a similar to that used to write the Etruscan language. A few concepts of word formation have been formulated, modern knowledge of the language is incomplete. Etruscan was traditionally considered to be a language isolate, in the first century BC, the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus stated that the Etruscan language was unlike any other
2.
Etruscan civilization
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The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio. Culture that is identifiably Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC, the latter gave way in the 7th century BC to a culture that was influenced by ancient Greece, Magna Graecia, and Phoenicia. The decline was gradual, but by 500 BC the political destiny of Italy had passed out of Etruscan hands, the last Etruscan cities were formally absorbed by Rome around 100 BC. Politics were based on the city, and probably the family unit. In their heyday, the Etruscan elite grew very rich through trade with the Celtic world to the north and the Greeks to the south, archaic Greece had a huge influence on their art and architecture, and Greek mythology was evidently very familiar to them. The study also excluded recent Anatolian connection, the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the Tuscī or Etruscī. Their Roman name is the origin of the terms Tuscany, which refers to their heartland, and Etruria, which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians, from which the Romans derived the names Tyrrhēnī, Tyrrhēnia, the word may also be related to the Hittite Taruisa. The Etruscans called themselves Rasenna, which was syncopated to Rasna or Raśna, the origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC, repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians with Pelasgians. Strabo as well as the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates, pliny the Elder put the Etruscans in the context of the Rhaetian people to the north and wrote in his Natural History, Adjoining these the Noricans are the Raeti and Vindelici. All are divided into a number of states, the Raeti are believed to be people of Tuscan race driven out by the Gauls, their leader was named Raetus. Historians have no literature and no original Etruscan texts of religion or philosophy, therefore, much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods, another source of genetic data on Etruscan origins is from four ancient breeds of cattle. Analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of these and seven other breeds of Italian cattle, the other Italian breeds were linked to northern Europe. Etruscan expansion was focused both to the north beyond the Apennine Mountains and into Campania, some small towns in the sixth century BC disappeared during this time, ostensibly consumed by greater, more powerful neighbours. However, it is certain that the structure of the Etruscan culture was similar to, albeit more aristocratic than. The mining and commerce of metal, especially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean Sea. Here, their interests collided with those of the Greeks, especially in the sixth century BC and this led the Etruscans to ally themselves with Carthage, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean, from the first half of the 5th century BC, the new political situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decline after losing their southern provinces
3.
Province of Piacenza
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The province of Piacenza is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Piacenza, as of 2015, it has a total population of 288,013 inhabitants over an area of 2,585.86 square kilometres, giving it a population density of 111.38 inhabitants per square kilometre. The city Piacenza has a population of 102,269, as of 2015, the provincial president is Francesco Rolleri and it contains 48 comuni. The province dates back to its founding by the Romans in 218 BCE, Piacenza was founded by the Romans for military purposes in 218 BCE. It was conquered by Carthaginian Hasdrubal II in 207 BCE and the city was sacked in 200 BCE by the Gauls, a key city in the region, it was destroyed by barbarians but the town was rebuilt under the rule of bishops in the 10th century. By the 12th century, the city was a comune and it later fought against Frederick I. In the Renaissance period it passed from French, to papal, to Viscontis, pope Paul III formed the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza and Piacenza became part of this duchy. It voted for a union between it and Piedmont in May 1848, this union was enacted in 1859, but after the dismissal of Mario Monti, the provincial union was cancelled. The province of Piacenza is the most westernmost of the nine provinces in the region of Emilia-Romagna in northwestern Italy. It is bounded on the east by the Province of Parma, and to the north by the Province of Cremona, the Province of Lodi, and the Province of Pavia in the region of Lombardy. The Province of Alessandria lies to the west in the region of Piedmont, the alluvial Po Plain is agricultural land and there are many vineyards growing grapes from which the eighteen wines of the region are made. There is some industry, mostly in the mechanical sector. Media related to Province of Piacenza at Wikimedia Commons Provincia di Piacenza homepage Provincia di Piacenza homepage Piacenzainternet. it - Portale di Piacenza
4.
Palazzo Farnese, Piacenza
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For other palaces with this name, see Palazzo Farnese. Palazzo Farnese is a palace in Piacenza, northern Italy and this large partly constructed palace is located on the banks of the River Po in the city of Piacenza in Northern Italy. In 1556, Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Castro and of Parma, also became Duke of Piacenza, Ottavio decided on a residence in the city possibly because he could feel more secure due to the presence of a Spanish garrison. The palace was commissioned by Ottavios wife, Margaret of Austria, the new edifice was erected over a former fortress built by the Visconti in 1352, part of which can still be seen. An initial design was made by Francesco Paciotto, from Urbino, and in 1558, Vignola had already been commissioned to design the Villa Farnese at Caprarola for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, another member of the family. Vignola had to take Piacottos design into account but significantly revised the design which was presented to the patrons in 1561, the drawings are for a vast palace on a scale paralleled only by the Vatican Palace in Italy, the rectangular plan is circa 111 metres by 88 metres. The building works were entrusted to Giovanni Bernardo Della Valle, Giovanni Lavezzari, the construction of this partly built palace was completed in 1602, under Duke Ranuccio I. After the death of the last Farnese duke in 1731, the fell into disrepair. Restoration began only in the early 20th century and today the Palazzo Farnese at Piacenza houses an important series of museums, the Ducal Chapel was used by the family for its religious rites. It is a hall on a plan, turned into an octagon by the introduction of four apses at the corners. The sides have the length as the chapels height up to the hemispherical dome. The chapel is decorated with lilies from the Farnese coat of arms, other symbols referring to the Ducal family such as the unicorn, starfish, dolphins and turtles, appear in the large frieze. In the Archaeological Museum is the famous Piacenza Liver, an Etruscan bronze of a liver with Etruscan writing that was used for haruspicy or divination by the reading of animals entrails. The Gallery or Pinacoteca is housed in the so-called Duchess Apartments and it contains paintings from the 16th-17th centuries once belonging to the Dukes collections. The most important artwork is the Madonna with the Young St John, the museum was endowed in 2006 with the Collezione Rizzi-Vaccari. In consisted of 17 paintings and three sculptures from the 14th through 15th centuries, including works by Jacopo del Casentino, Andrea Bonaiuti, Simone de’ Crocifissi, Palazzo Farnese, Rome Villa Farnese Musei di Palazzo Farnese and Museo di Storia Naturale - official site
5.
Bronze
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These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility, or machinability. The archeological period where bronze was the hardest metal in use is known as the Bronze Age. In the ancient Near East this began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC, with India and China starting to use bronze around the same time, everywhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age starting from about 1300 BC and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BC, the discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were harder and more durable than previously possible. Bronze tools, weapons, armor, and building such as decorative tiles were harder and more durable than their stone. It was only later that tin was used, becoming the major ingredient of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BC. Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the process could be more easily controlled. Also, unlike arsenic, metallic tin and fumes from tin refining are not toxic, the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to 4500 BCE in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik. Other early examples date to the late 4th millennium BC in Africa, Susa and some ancient sites in China, Luristan, ores of copper and the far rarer tin are not often found together, so serious bronze work has always involved trade. Tin sources and trade in ancient times had a influence on the development of cultures. In Europe, a source of tin was the British deposits of ore in Cornwall. In many parts of the world, large hoards of bronze artefacts are found, suggesting that bronze also represented a store of value, in Europe, large hoards of bronze tools, typically socketed axes, are found, which mostly show no signs of wear. With Chinese ritual bronzes, which are documented in the inscriptions they carry and from other sources and these were made in enormous quantities for elite burials, and also used by the living for ritual offerings. Pure iron is soft, and the process of beating and folding sponge iron to wrought iron removes from the metal carbon. Careful control of the alloying and tempering eventually allowed for wrought iron with properties comparable to modern steel, Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, and has continued in use for many purposes to the modern day. Among other advantages, it does not rust, the weaker wrought iron was found to be sufficiently strong for many uses. Archaeologists suspect that a disruption of the tin trade precipitated the transition. The population migrations around 1200–1100 BC reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean, limiting supplies, there are many different bronze alloys, but typically modern bronze is 88% copper and 12% tin
6.
Thesaurus Linguae Etruscae
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The Etruscan language was the spoken and written language of the Etruscan civilization, in Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Campania, Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. Etruscan influenced Latin, but was eventually superseded by it. Grammatically, the language is agglutinating, with nouns and verbs showing suffixed inflectional endings, nouns show four cases, singular and plural numbers, and masculine and feminine genders. Phonologically, Etruscan appears uncomplicated, with a system and an apparent contrast between aspirated and unaspirated stops. The language shows phonetic change over time, with the loss, Etruscan religion influenced that of the Romans and many of the few surviving Etruscan language artifacts are of votive or religious significance. Etruscan was written in a derived from the Greek alphabet. The Etruscan language is believed to be the source of certain important cultural words of Western Europe such as military and people. Etruscan literacy was widespread over the Mediterranean shores, as evidenced by about 13,000 inscriptions, most fairly short and they date from about 700 BC. The Etruscans had a rich literature, as noted by Latin authors, however, only one book, the Liber Linteus has survived. By AD100, Etruscan had been replaced by Latin, around 180, the Latin author Aulus Gellius mentions Etruscan alongside the Gaulish language in an anecdote. Only a few educated Romans with antiquarian interests, such as Marcus Terentius Varro, plautia Urgulanilla, the emperors first wife, was Etruscan. Livy and Cicero were both aware that highly specialized Etruscan religious rites were codified in several sets of written in Etruscan under the generic Latin title Etrusca Disciplina. The Libri Haruspicini dealt with divination from the entrails of the sacrificed animal, a third set, the Libri Rituales, might have provided a key to Etruscan civilization, its wider scope embraced Etruscan standards of social and political life, as well as ritual practices. The single extant Etruscan book, Liber Linteus, which was written on linen and this range may indicate a maximum Italian homeland where the language was at one time spoken. Outside of mainland Italy inscriptions have been found in North Africa, Corsica, Elba, Gallia Narbonensis, Greece, the Balkans, by far the greatest concentration is in Italy. An inscription found on Lemnos in 1886 is in a similar to that used to write the Etruscan language. A few concepts of word formation have been formulated, modern knowledge of the language is incomplete. Etruscan was traditionally considered to be a language isolate, in the first century BC, the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus stated that the Etruscan language was unlike any other
7.
Roman conquest of Italy
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The Roman conquest of Italy was the result of a series of conflicts in which the city-state of Rome grew from being the dominant state in Latium to become the ruler of all of Italy. The first major Roman conquest in historical times came with the defeat of her neighbour Veii in 396 BC. In the second half of the 4th century BC Rome clashed repeatedly with the Samnites, by the end of these wars Rome had become the most powerful state in Italy. The last threat to Roman hegemony came when Tarentum enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus during the Pyrrhic War, by 218 BC Roman conquest of Italy had been completed. The successful conquest of Italy gave Rome access to a manpower pool unrivalled by any contemporary state, of these only books 1-10 and 21-45 have survived down to our times, covering the years from the foundation up to 293 and 220 -167 BC. Independently of Livy the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote Roman Antiquities in 20 books covering from Romes origins to 264 BC, of these the 11 first books have survived, covering the period down to 443. For the latter nine books only fragments exist, slightly earlier than Livy and Dionysius, the Sicilian Diodorus Siculus wrote Bibliotheca historica a universal history of the Mediterranean world in 46 books. From the historical section of this work books 11 -20 survive intact, in these books Diodorus chiefly focuses on events in Sicily and the Eastern Mediterranean, but occasionally also refers to Roman history. During the Roman Empire Livy became the standard account on early Roman history, most later histories are therefore derived from him. Cassius Dio appears to have been an exception, frequently providing details not found in Livy or Dionysius and his books covering early Roman history survive only in fragments, but his work was summarized by the 12th century monk Zonaras. Finally the Greek philosopher Plutarch wrote a series of biographies on famous Greeks and Romans, of particular importance is his biography of king Pyrrhus of Epirus since for the years 292 -264 BC no other substantial narrative has survived. Livy and Dionysius were born 200 years after the completion of Romes conquest of Italy and had to rely on earlier, now lost, the Roman Republic of their times was in many ways fundamentally different from the one that conquered Italy. In antiquity history was primarily a genre where strict historical accuracy could be sacrificed in return for a more entertaining or stylistically impressive account. Just how much, and which parts, date back to authentic records remains a matter of some dispute, another problem is that, except for the Pyrrhic War, all the sources are written from a predominantly Roman point of view. We therefore possess little knowledge of the motivations and internal politics of Romes many enemies, thus the year when Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius Hybrida were consuls becomes 63 BC. During the late 1st Century BC Roman scholars worked out a chronology of Roman history, dating the foundation of Rome to 753 BC. Today known as the Varronian Chronology, this chronology was made official by the early Roman Empire and has remained the standard ever since, however, for the years prior to 300 BC the Varronian Chronology is no longer considered correct. According to the respected Greek historian Polybius the sack of Rome by a Gaulish warband took place in the year as the Peace of Antalcidas which was concluded in 387/386 BC
8.
Cisalpine Gaul
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Cisalpine Gaul, also called Gallia Citerior or Gallia Togata, was the part of Italy inhabited by Celts during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Conquered by the Roman Republic in the 220s BC, it was a Roman province from c.81 BC until 42 BC, when it was merged into Roman Italy. Until that time, it was considered part of Gaul, precisely that part of Gaul on the side of the Alps. Gallia Cisalpina was further subdivided into Gallia Cispadana and Gallia Transpadana, i. e. its portions south and north of the Po River and they brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation. Livy has the Insubres, led by Bellovesus, arrive in northern Italy during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, Milan itself is presumably a Gaulish foundation of the early 6th century BC, its name having a Celtic etymology of in the middle of the plain. Polybius in the 2nd century BC wrote about co-existence of the Celts in northern Italy with Etruscan nations in the period before the Sack of Rome in 390 BC. Ligures lived in Northern Mediterranean Coast straddling South-east French and North-west Italian coasts, including parts of Tuscany, Elba island, Ligurian tribes were also present in Latium and in Samnium. According to Plutarch they called themselves Ambrones, which could indicate a relationship with the Ambrones of northern Europe, little is known of the Ligurian language. Only place-names and personal names remain and it appears to be an Indo-European branch with both Italic and particularly strong Celtic affinities. Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, modern linguists, like Xavier Delamarre argues that Ligurian was a Celtic language, similar to, but not the same as Gaulish. The Ligurian-Celtic question is discussed by Barruol. Ancient Ligurian is either listed as Celtic, or Para-Celtic, the Veneti were an Indo-European people who inhabited north-eastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of the Veneto. By the 4th century BC the Veneti had been so Celticized that Polybius wrote that the Veneti of the 2nd century BC were identical to the Gauls except for language. He further suggested that the identification of the Adriatic Veneti with the Paphlagonian Enetoi led by Antenor — which he attributes to Sophocles — was a due to the similarity of the names. The Roman army was routed in the battle of Allia, the defeat of the combined Samnite, Celtic and Etruscan alliance by the Romans in the Third Samnite War ending in 290 BC sounded the beginning of the end of the Celtic domination in mainland Europe. At the Battle of Telamon in 225 BC, a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed, in the Second Punic War, the Boii and Insubres allied themselves with the Carthaginians, laying siege to Mutina. In response, Rome sent an expedition led by L. Manlius Vulso, vulsos army was ambushed twice, and the Senate sent Scipio with an additional force to provide support. These were the Roman forces encountered by Hannibal after his crossing of the Alps, the Romans were defeated in the Battle of the Ticinus, leading to all the Gauls except for the Cenomani to join the insurgency
9.
Haruspex
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The reading of omens specifically from the liver is also known by the Greek term hepatoscopy. The Roman concept is derived from Etruscan religion, as one of the three branches of the disciplina Etrusca. Such methods continued to be used into the Middle Ages, with Thomas Becket apparently consulting both an aruspex and a prior to a royal expedition against Brittany. The Latin terms haruspex, haruspicina are from an archaic word haru entrails, intestines and from the root spec- to watch, the Greek ἡπατοσκοπία hēpatoskōpia is from hēpar liver and skop- to examine. The Babylonians were famous for hepatoscopy, the Nineveh library texts name more than a dozen liver-related terms. The liver was considered the source of the blood and hence the basis of life itself, from this belief, the Babylonians thought they could discover the will of the gods by examining the livers of carefully selected sheep. A priest known as a bārû was specially trained to interpret the signs of the liver, the liver was divided into sections, with each section representing a particular deity. One Babylonian clay model of a liver, dated between 1900 and 1600 BC, is conserved in the British Museum. The model was used for divination, which was important to Mesopotamian medicine and this practice was conducted by priests and seers who looked for signs in the stars, or in the organs of sacrificed animals, to tell them things about a patient’s illness. Wooden pegs were placed in the holes of the tablet to record features found in a sacrificed animals liver. The seer then used these features to predict the course of a patients illness, haruspicy was part of a larger study of organs for the sake of divination, called extispicy, paying particular attention to the positioning of the organs and their shape. There are many records of different peoples using the liver and spleen of various domestic, the Assyro-Babylonian tradition was also adopted in Hittite religion. At least thirty-six liver-models have been excavated at Hattusa, the Etruscans were also well known for the practice of divining by the entrails of sheep. A bronze sculpture of a known as the Liver of Piacenza. It is marked with the name of regions assigned to various deities of Etruscan religion, from as early as 1900, Ludwig Stieda sought to compare the Etruscan with the Babylonian artefacts. Further evidence has found of haruspices in Bath, England where the base of a statue dedicated by a haruspex named Memor. Anthropomancy Augur Auspice Haruspices, article in Smiths Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities Figurine of Haruspex, vatican Museums Online, Gregorian Etruscan Museum, Room III l. Chapters 1 and 2 of the bārûtu
10.
Etruscan mythology
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Etruscan religion and mythology were partly incorporated into classical Roman culture, including the Roman pantheon. However, in the last years of the Roman Republic the religion began to fall out of favor and was satirized by such public figures as Marcus Tullius Cicero. The Julio-Claudians, especially Claudius, who claimed a remote Etruscan descent, maintained a knowledge of the language and religion for a time longer. A number of works in the Etruscan language survived until the middle of the first millennium AD, but were destroyed by the ravages of time, decree of the Roman Senate. Around the mun or muni, or tombs, were the man or mani, in iconography after the 5th century BC, the deceased are shown traveling to the underworld. In several instances of Etruscan art, such as in the François Tomb in Vulci, a god was called an ais, which in the plural is aisar. The abode of a god was a fanu or luth, a place, such as a favi. There, one would need to make a fler, or offering, three layers of deities are portrayed in Etruscan art. Ruling over them were higher deities that seem to reflect the Indo-European system, Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife, and Cel, as a third layer, the Greek gods were adopted by the Etruscan system during the Etruscan Orientalizing Period of 750/700-600 BC. Examples are Aritimi, Menrva, and Pacha, and over time the primary trinity became Tinia, Uni, the Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them and these practices were taken over in total by the Romans. The Etruscan scriptures were a corpus of texts termed the Etrusca Disciplina and this name appears in Valerius Maximus, and Marcus Tullius Cicero refers to a disciplina in his writings on the subject. These works did not present prophecies or scriptures in the ordinary sense, the Etruscans appear to have had no systematic ethics or religion and no great visions. The Etruscans accepted the inscrutability of their gods wills and they did not attempt to rationalize or explain divine actions or formulate any doctrines of the gods intentions. These revelations may not be understandable and may not be pleasant or easy. He then quipped, regarding divination from the singing of frogs, and yet they do have by nature some faculty of premonition, clear enough of itself, but too dark for human comprehension. Divinatory inquiries according to discipline were conducted by priests whom the Romans called haruspices or sacerdotes, the Etruscans, as evidenced by the inscriptions, used several words, capen, maru, eisnev, hatrencu. They called the art of haruspicy zich nethsrac, a special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha or rath, sacred things
11.
Ancient Near East
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The ancient Near East is studied in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology and ancient history. The ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization and it also saw the creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the invention of the wheel. During the period, states became increasingly large, until by the end the region was controlled by military empires who had conquered a number of different cultures. The phrase ancient Near East utilizes the 19th-century distinction between Near East and Far East as global regions of interest to the British Empire, the distinction began during the Crimean War. The two theatres were described by the statesmen and advisors of the British Empire as the Near East, shortly, they were to share the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century and continues in modern times. Meanwhile, ancient Near East had become distinct, the Near East ruled by the Ottoman Empire ranged from Vienna to the north to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula to the south, from Egypt in the west to the borders of Iraq in the east. The 19th-century archaeologists added Iran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they excluded all of Europe and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the empire. Ancient Near East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks, or eras, the result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization, the late Uruk period saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age. Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world, the Akkadian Empire, founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century BC, and was regarded by many as the worlds first Empire. The Akkadians eventually fragmented into Assyria and Babylonia, Ancient Elam lay to the east of Sumer and Akkad, in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c.3200 BC, it consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Elam was absorbed into the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, however, the Proto-Elamite civilization existed from c.3200 BC to 2700 BC, when Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms, this corresponds to the late Banesh period and this civilization is recognized as the oldest in Iran and was largely contemporary with its neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The Proto-Elamite script is an Early Bronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite language before the introduction of Elamite Cuneiform, the Amorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of the Amorites is associated with the West, including Syria and Canaan and they ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin, Larsa, and later Babylon. Assyria, after enduring a period of Mitanni domination, emerged as a great power from the accession of Ashur-uballit I in 1365 BC to the death of Tiglath-Pileser I in 1076 BC
12.
Etruscan origins
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An autochthonous population that diverged genetically was suggested as a possibility by Cavalli-Sforza. Helmut Rixs classification of the Etruscan language in a proposed Tyrsenian language family reflects this ambiguity, the Etruscan language was of a different family from that of neighbouring Italic and Celtic peoples, who spoke Indo-European languages. The latest mtDNA study suggests that the Etruscans appear to very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe. This coincides with the Rhaetic language which was north of the Alps in the area of the Urnfield culture of Central Europe. The Villanovan culture branched from the Urnfield culture around 1100 BC and they are therefore the owners of the Villanovan culture. Picking up this theme, Bonfante states. the history of the Etruscan people extends, from c.1200 to c.100 BC. Many sites of the chief Etruscan cities of historical times were continuously occupied from the Iron Age Villanovan period on, much confusion would have been avoided if archaeologists had used the name Proto-Etruscan. Nor did they start to speak Etruscan. An additional elaboration conjectures that the Etruscans were. an ethnic island of ancient peoples isolated by the flood of Indo-European speakers. In 1942 the Italian historian Massimo Pallottino published a book entitled The Etruscans, Pallottino presented various hypotheses which gained wide acceptance in the archeological community. He said no one would dream of asking where Italians or Frenchmen came from originally, it is the formation of the Italian and he meant that the formation process for Etruscan civilization took place in the Etruria or nearby. Formulating a different point of view on the evidence, Pallottino says. we must consider the concept Etruscan as. A nation that flourished in Etruria between the eighth and first centuries BC and we may discuss the provenance of each of these elements but a more appropriate concept. The formative process of the nation can only have taken place on the territories of the Etruscans proper, certain Greek and Roman authors saw the presence of the Etruscans in Italy as a historical problem, since they differed from the other civilizations in the area. In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of prince Anchises and his father was also the second cousin of King Priam of Troy. The journey of Aeneas from Troy, which led to the founding of the city of Rome, is recounted in Virgils Aeneid and they came to the Ombrici, where they founded cities and have lived ever since. They no longer called themselves Lydians, but Tyrrhenians, after the name of the son who had led them there. The classic scholar Michael Grant commented on this story, writing that it is based on erroneous etymologies, however, the Greek Historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus objected that the Tyrrhenian culture and language shared nothing with the Lydian
13.
Anatolian languages
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The Anatolian languages are an extinct family of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language. The list below gives the Anatolian languages in a flat arrangement. This model recognizes only one subgroup, the Luwic languages. Modifications and updates of the order continue, however. A second version opposes Hittite to Western Anatolian, and divides the latter node into Lydian, Palaic, Hittite was the language of the Hittite Empire, dated approximately 1650 to 1200 BC, which ruled over nearly all of Anatolia during that time. The earliest sources of Hittite are the 19th century BC Kültepe texts, the Assyrian records of the kârum kaneš, or port of Kanesh and this collection records Hittite names and words loaned into Assyrian from Hittite. The Hittite name for the city was Neša, from which the Hittite endonym for the language, the records show a gradual rise to power of the Anatolian language speakers over the native Hattians, until at last the kingship became an Anatolian privilege. From then on, little is heard of the Hattians, the records include rituals, medical writings, letters, laws and other public documents, making possible an in-depth knowledge of many aspects of the civilization. Most of the records are dated to the 13th century BC and they are written in cuneiform script borrowing heavily from the Mesopotamian system of writing. However, phonetic syllable signs are present also, representing syllables of the form V, CV, VC, CVC, Hittite is divided into Old, Middle, and New. Fortson gives the dates, which come from the reigns of the relevant kings, as 1570–1450, 1450–1380, all cuneiform Hittite came to an end at 1200 with the destruction of Hattusas and the end of the empire. Palaic, spoken in the north-central Anatolian region of Pala, extinct around the 13th century BC, is only from fragments of quoted prayers in Old Hittite texts. It was extinguished by the replacement of the culture, if not the population, as a result of an invasion by the Kaskas, which the Hittites could not prevent. The term, Luwic, was proposed by Craig Melchert as the node of a branch to include several languages that seem more closely related than the other Anatolian languages. This is not a neologism, as Luvic had been used in the early 20th century to mean the Anatolian language group as a whole, the name comes from Hittite luwili. The earlier use of Luvic fell into disuse in favor of Luvian, meanwhile, most of the languages now termed Luvian, or Luvic, were not known to be so until the latter 20th century. Even more fragmentary attestations might be discovered in the future, Luvian and Luvic have other meanings in English, so currently Luwian and Luwic are preferred. Luwian does not always have the same meaning, for example, Silvia Luraghis Luwian branch begins with a root language she terms the Luwian Group, which logically is in the place of Common Luwian or Proto-Luwian
14.
Bronze Age
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The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, proto-writing, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition, although the Iron Age generally followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic. Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing, according to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems. The overall period is characterized by use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques, tin must be mined and smelted separately, then added to molten copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of use of metals. The dating of the foil has been disputed, the Bronze Age in the ancient Near East began with the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BC. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and mathematics, the usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people, ur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The earliest mention of Babylonia appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC, the Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it took over the other city-states. Babylonia adopted the written Semitic Akkadian language for official use, by that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use. Elam was an ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia, in the Old Elamite period, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it
15.
Babylonia
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Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the city of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, during the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called Māt Akkadī the country of Akkad in the Akkadian language. It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia and it retained the Sumerian language for religious use, but by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis occurred between Sumerian and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian and vice versa is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the millennium as a sprachbund. Traditionally, the religious center of all Mesopotamia was the city of Nippur. The empire eventually disintegrated due to decline, climate change and civil war. Sumer rose up again with the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late 22nd century BC and they also seem to have gained ascendancy over most of the territory of the Akkadian kings of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia for a time. The states of the south were unable to stem the Amorite advance, King Ilu-shuma of the Old Assyrian Empire in a known inscription describes his exploits to the south as follows, The freedom of the Akkadians and their children I established. I established their freedom from the border of the marshes and Ur and Nippur, Awal, past scholars originally extrapolated from this text that it means he defeated the invading Amorites to the south, but there is no explicit record of that. More recently, the text has been taken to mean that Asshur supplied the south with copper from Anatolia and these policies were continued by his successors Erishum I and Ikunum. During the first centuries of what is called the Amorite period and his reign was concerned with establishing statehood amongst a sea of other minor city states and kingdoms in the region. However Sumuabum appears never to have bothered to give himself the title of King of Babylon, suggesting that Babylon itself was only a minor town or city. He was followed by Sumu-la-El, Sabium, Apil-Sin, each of whom ruled in the same manner as Sumuabum. Sin-Muballit was the first of these Amorite rulers to be regarded officially as a king of Babylon, the Elamites occupied huge swathes of southern Mesopotamia, and the early Amorite rulers were largely held in vassalage to Elam
16.
Lobes of liver
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The right lobe is much larger than the left, the proportion between them being as six to one. It occupies the right hypochondrium, on its surface by the ligamentum venosum for the cranial half. The ligamentum teres hepatis turns around the inferior marging of the liver to come out ventral in the falciform ligament, the right lobe is functionally separated from the left lobe by the middle hepatic vein. A common misconception is that the falciform ligament separates the two lobes, however, from a functional perspective the falciform ligament separates the medial and lateral segments of the left hepatic lobe. The right lobe is of a quadrilateral form. Its under and posterior surfaces being marked by three fossæ, the fossa for the vein, the fossa for the gall-bladder and the fossae for the inferior vena cava. These separate the right lobe in two lobes on its left posterior part, the quadrate lobe and the caudate lobe. Portal triad hepatoduodenal ligament coronary ligament of the liver This article incorporates text in the domain from the 20th edition of Grays Anatomy Anatomy diagram,12581. 000-1. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01
17.
Pliny the Elder
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In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncles now missing work on the History of the German Wars. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event. Plinys dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and a statement of his nephew that he died in his 56th year, Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger nor the elder Pliny mention the names and their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th century Augustinian monk Onofrio Panvinio at Verona. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction, but in all cases the names come through, whether he was an augur and whether she was named Grania Marcella are less certain. Jean Hardouin presents a statement from a source that he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona. Hardouin also cites the conterraneity of Catullus, additional efforts to connect Celer and Marcella with other gentes are highly speculative. Hardouin is the scholar to use his unknown source. He kept statues of his ancestors there, a statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail. In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger details how his uncles breakfasts would be light and simple following the customs of our forefathers. This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the Elder was a good Roman and this statement would have pleased Tacitus. Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the Verona theory, one commemorates the youngers career as imperial magistrate and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como. Another identifies his father Lucius village as Fecchio near Como and it is likely therefore that Plinia was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens and he did not take his fathers cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own, Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, no earlier instances of the Plinii are known. In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Plinys birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to defeat
18.
Cicero
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Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy family of the Roman equestrian order. According to Michael Grant, the influence of Cicero upon the history of European literature, Cicero introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary distinguishing himself as a translator and philosopher. Though he was an orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. During the chaotic latter half of the 1st century BC marked by civil wars, following Julius Caesars death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. His severed hands and head were then, as a revenge of Mark Antony. Petrarchs rediscovery of Ciceros letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, according to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity. Cicero was born in 106 BC in Arpinum, a hill town 100 kilometers southeast of Rome and his father was a well-to-do member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being a semi-invalid, he could not enter public life, although little is known about Ciceros mother, Helvia, it was common for the wives of important Roman citizens to be responsible for the management of the household. Ciceros brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife, Ciceros cognomen, or personal surname, comes from the Latin for chickpea, cicer. Plutarch explains that the name was given to one of Ciceros ancestors who had a cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. However, it is likely that Ciceros ancestors prospered through the cultivation. Romans often chose down-to-earth personal surnames, the family names of Fabius, Lentulus, and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this name when he entered politics. During this period in Roman history, cultured meant being able to speak both Latin and Greek, Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite, according to Plutarch, Cicero was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Ciceros fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the latter two became Ciceros friends for life, and Pomponius would become, in Ciceros own words, as a second brother, with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. Cicero wanted to pursue a career in politics along the steps of the Cursus honorum
19.
House (astrology)
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Most horoscopic traditions of astrology systems divide the horoscope into a number of houses whose positions depend on time and location rather than on date. In Hindu astrological tradition these are known as Bhāvas, to calculate the houses, it is necessary to know the exact time, date, and location. In natal astrology, some astrologers will use a time set for noon or sunrise if the actual time of birth is unknown. An accurate interpretation of such a chart, however, cannot be expected, the houses are divisions of the ecliptic plane, at the time and place of the horoscope in question. They are numbered counter-clockwise from the cusp of the first house, commonly, houses one through six are below the horizon and houses seven through twelve are above the horizon, but some systems may not respect entirely that division. The several methods of calculating house divisions stem from disagreement over what they mean mathematically, all house systems in Western astrology use twelve houses projected on the ecliptic. The differences arise from which fundamental plane is the object of the division and whether the divisions represent units of time. If space is the basis for division, the chosen plane is divided into equal arcs of 30° each. A difference will be made as to whether these divisions are directly on the ecliptic, or on the celestial equator or some other great circle. The next table represents the outline of the houses as they are still understood today. The houses are numbered from the east downward under the horizon, many modern astrologers assume that the houses relate to their corresponding signs, i. e. that the first house has a natural affinity with the first sign, Aries, and so on. Similarly to how signs are classified according to astrological modality, houses are classified, according to a mode of expression, as Angular, Angular houses are points of initiation and represent action, they relate to cardinal signs. Succedent houses are points of purpose and represent stabilization, succedent houses relate to fixed signs, and finally, Cadent houses are points of transition and they represent change and adaptation, cadent houses relate mutable signs. Again, following a similar classification of signs according to the four elements, houses can be grouped together by triplicity. In old astrological writings, house could also be used as a synonym for domicile or rulership, as in the sentence The Moon has its house in Cancer meaning that Cancer is ruled by the Moon. It may be helpful to think of a planet, in this case the Moon, as the owner of the 4th House. In an individual horoscope, whatever sign occupies any given house can be thought of as the houses tenant, in Indian astrology, the twelve houses are called Bhava and have meanings very similar to their Western counterparts. There are many systems of house division, in most, the ecliptic is divided into houses and the ascendant marks the cusp, or beginning, of the first house, and the descendant marks the cusp of the seventh house
20.
Macrocosm and microcosm
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Macrocosm and microcosm refers to a vision of cosmos where the part reflects the whole and vice versa. It is a present in all esoteric schools of thinking, according to scholar Pierre A. Riffard. It is closely associated with Hermeticism and underlies practices such as astrology, alchemy, §435, pg 151 Theories of Macrocosms and Microcosms in the History of Philosophy, G. P. Conger, NY,1922, which includes a survey of critical discussions up to 1922. Cosmos - an Illustrated Dimensional Journey from microcosmos to macrocosmos - from Digital Nature Agency
21.
Lightning
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Lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge that occurs during a thunder storm. This discharge occurs between electrically charged regions of a cloud, between two clouds, or between a cloud and the ground. The charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equalize themselves through this discharge referred to as an if it hits an object on the ground. Lightning causes light in the form of plasma, and sound in the form of thunder, Lightning may be seen and not heard when it occurs at a distance too great for the sound to carry as far as the light from the strike or flash. This article incorporates public domain material from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration document Understanding Lightning, the details of the charging process are still being studied by scientists, but there is general agreement on some of the basic concepts of thunderstorm electrification. The main charging area in a thunderstorm occurs in the part of the storm where air is moving upward rapidly and temperatures range from -15 to -25 Celsius. At that place, the combination of temperature and rapid upward air movement produces a mixture of super-cooled cloud droplets, small ice crystals, the updraft carries the super-cooled cloud droplets and very small ice crystals upward. At the same time, the graupel, which is larger and denser. The differences in the movement of the precipitation cause collisions to occur, when the rising ice crystals collide with graupel, the ice crystals become positively charged and the graupel becomes negatively charged. The updraft carries the positively charged ice crystals upward toward the top of the storm cloud, the larger and denser graupel is either suspended in the middle of the thunderstorm cloud or falls toward the lower part of the storm. The result is that the part of the thunderstorm cloud becomes positively charged while the middle to lower part of the thunderstorm cloud becomes negatively charged. This part of the cloud is called the anvil. While this is the charging process for the thunderstorm cloud. In addition, there is a small but important positive charge buildup near the bottom of the cloud due to the precipitation. Many factors affect the frequency, distribution, strength and physical properties of a lightning flash in a particular region of the world. These factors include ground elevation, latitude, prevailing wind currents, relative humidity, proximity to warm and cold bodies of water, to a certain degree, the ratio between IC, CC and CG lightning may also vary by season in middle latitudes. Lightnings relative unpredictability limits a complete explanation of how or why it occurs, the actual discharge is the final stage of a very complex process. At its peak, a thunderstorm produces three or more strikes to the Earth per minute
22.
Maurus Servius Honoratus
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These works, In tria Virgilii Opera Expositio, constituted the first incunable to be printed at Florence, by Bernardo Cennini,1471. In the Saturnalia of Macrobius, Servius appears as one of the interlocutors, allusions in that work, the commentary on Virgil has survived in two distinct manuscript traditions. The first is a short commentary, which is attributed to Servius in the superscription in the manuscripts. A second class of manuscripts, all deriving from the 10th and 11th centuries, the added matter is undoubtedly ancient, dating from a time but little removed from that of Servius, and is founded to a large extent on historical and antiquarian literature which is now lost. The writer is anonymous and probably a Christian, although not if, as is often suggested, a third class of manuscripts, written for the most part in Italy, gives the core text with interpolated scholia, which demonstrate the continued usefulness of the Virgilii Opera Expositio. The authentic commentary of Maurus Servius Honoratus is in effect the only complete extant edition of a classic author written before the collapse of the Empire in the West, Servius set his face against the prevalent allegorical methods of exposition of text. For the antiquarian and the historian, the value of his work lies in his preservation of facts in Roman history, religion, antiquities and language. Not a little of the erudition of Varro and other ancient scholars has survived in his pages. The edition of Georg Thilo and Hermann Hagen, remains the only edition of the whole of Servius work. Currently in development is the Harvard Servius, of the five volumes. E. K. Rand, Is Donatuss Commentary on Virgil Lost, Donatuss authorship of the supplementary material. Servio, stratificazioni esegetiche e modelli culturali / Servius, exegetical stratifications, Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article, Maurus Servius Honoratus Commentary on the Aeneid of Virgil is at the Perseus Project in Latin. De Centum Metris at Intratext. com De Centum Metris at Forum Romanorum Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii, Georius Thilo, lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1881-1902, vol. 2, vol.3 part 1, vol.3 part 2
23.
Tinia
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Tinia was the god of the sky and the highest god in Etruscan mythology, equivalent to the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus. He was the husband of Thalna or Uni and the father of Hercle, the Etruscans believed in Nine Great Gods, who had the power of hurling thunderbolts, they were called Novensiles by the Romans. Of thunderbolts there were eleven sorts, of which Tinia, as the supreme thunder-god, Tinia was also part of the powerful trinity that included Menrva and Uni and had temples in every city of Etruria. Tinia was sometimes represented as seated and with a beard or sometimes standing, some of Tinias possible epithets are detailed on the Piacenza Liver, a bronze model of a liver used for haruspicy. These inscriptions have been transcribed as Tin Cilens, Tin Θuf, there have been a number of suggestions as to their meaning, but the Etruscan language is poorly understood and there is no scholarly consensus for the translation. Tinia appears in inscriptions, including, Kylix painted by Oltos. This has given Venel Atelinas for the sons of Tin On the bronze Chimera of Arezzo, Tinscvil A gift to Tinia
24.
Cilens
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This is a list of deities and legendary figures found in the Etruscan mythology. The names below were taken mainly from Etruscan picture bilinguals, which are Etruscan call-outs on art depicting scenes or motifs. Variants of the names are given, reflecting differences in language in different localities and times, many of the names are Etruscan spellings of Greek names. The themes may or may not be entirely Greek, Etruscans frequently added their own themes to Greek myths. The same may be said of native Italic names rendered into Etruscan, which is often a topic of debate in the international forum of scholarship. Achle, Achile Legendary hero of the Trojan War, from the Greek Achilles, achmemrun Legendary king of Mycenaean Greece, from the Greek Agamemnon. Achrum, Acharum Legendary Greek river of the underworld, the Acheron, achvizr, Achuvesr, Achuvizr, Achviztr Unknown character associated with Turan. It may be one of the Samothracian Grest Gods or Cabeiri according to É, aita, Eita The Etruscan equivalent of the Greek god of the underworld and ruler of the dead, Hades. Aivas Tlamunus, Aivas Vilates Also Eivas or Evas, Etruscan equivalents of the Greek heroes Ajax, son of Telamon and Ajax, son of Oileus. Alchumena The Greek legendary character, Alcmena, alcstei, Alcsti The Greek legendary character, Alcestis. Alichsantre, Alechsantre, Alcsentre, Elchsntre, Elachśantre, Elachśntre, Elcste The Trojan legendary character, Alexandrus, alpanu, Alpan, Alpnu Etruscan goddess, whose name is identical to Etruscan willingly. Althaia The Greek figure Althaea, mother of Meleager, Ani Divinity named on the periphery of the Piacenza Liver as dominant in that section. It seems to correspond to Martianus Capellas Templum I, north, ruled by Janus, aminth Etruscan winged deity in the form of a child, probably identified with Amor. Amuce, Amuche, Amuke The Greek legendary figure Amycus of the Argonauts myth, apru Alternate Etruscan spelling of Aphrodite. Aril Etruscan deity identified with Atlas, atlenta, Atlnta The mythological person, Atalanta. Aturmica The mythological figure, Andromache, the Amazon, aulunthe Etruscan, the name of a satyr. Calanice A Greek name of Hercle, Kallinikos, calu Etruscan infernal god of wolves, represented by a wolf. Capne, Kapne The legendary hero, Capaneus, caśntra prophetess, Cassandra, of the Trojan War
25.
Uni (mythology)
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Uni was the supreme goddess of the Etruscan pantheon and the patron goddess of Perugia. Uni was identified by the Etruscans as their equivalent of Juno in Roman mythology, Uni appears in the Etruscan text on the Pyrgi Tablets as the translation of the Phoenician goddess Astarte. Livy states that Juno was an Etruscan goddess of the Veientes and this seems to refer to Uni. She also appears on the Liver of Piacenza, among the pre-Roman Latin tribes, the goddess was worshipped as Uni, a single triad made up of the maiden Juventas, the mother Juno, and the wise Minerva. Later, the Etruscans and early Romans, as we have seen, substituted the chief god Jupiter for Juventas, with her husband Tinia and Menrva, she was part of a powerful triad. In the Etruscan tradition, it is Uni who grants access to immortality to the demigod Hercle by offering her breast milk to him
26.
Juno (mythology)
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Juno is an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counselor of the state. She is a daughter of Saturn and sister of the chief god Jupiter, Juno also looked after the women of Rome. As the patron goddess of Rome and the Roman Empire, Juno was called Regina and, together with Jupiter, Junos own warlike aspect among the Romans is apparent in her attire. She often appeared sitting pictured with an armed and wearing a goatskin cloak. The traditional depiction of this aspect was assimilated from the Greek goddess Athena. The name Juno was also thought to be connected to Iove, originally as Diuno. At the beginning of the 20th century, a derivation was proposed from iuven- and this etymology became widely accepted after it was endorsed by Georg Wissowa. Iuuen- is related to Latin aevum and Greek aion through a common Indo-European root referring to a concept of energy or fertile time. The iuvenis is he who has the fullness of vital force, in some inscriptions Jupiter himself is called Iuuntus, and one of the epithets of Jupiter is Ioviste, a superlative form of iuuen- meaning the youngest. Iuventas, Youth, was one of two deities who refused to leave the Capitol when the building of the new Temple of Capitoline Jove required the exauguration of deities who already occupied the site, Juno is the equivalent to Hera, the Greek goddess for love and marriage. Juno is the Roman goddess of love and marriage, Junos theology is one of the most complex and disputed issues in Roman religion. Even more than other major Roman deities, Juno held a number of significant and diverse epithets, names and titles representing various aspects. In accordance with her role as a goddess of marriage. However, other epithets of Juno have wider implications and are thematically linked. Juno is certainly the divine protectress of the community, who shows both a sovereign and a fertility character, often associated with a military one and she is also attested at Praeneste, Aricia, Ardea, Gabii. In five Latin towns a month was named after Juno, outside Latium in Campania at Teanum she was Populona, in Umbria at Pisaurum Lucina, at Terventum in Samnium Regina, at Pisarum Regina Matrona, at Aesernia in Samnium Regina Populona. In Rome she was since the most ancient times named Lucina, Mater and it is debated whether she was also known as Curitis before the evocatio of the Juno of Falerii, this though seems probable. Her various epithets thus show a complex of mutually interrelated functions that in the view of G, the ancient called her Covella in her function of helper in the labours of the new moon
27.
Terra (mythology)
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In ancient Roman religion and myth, Tellus Mater or Terra Mater is a goddess of the earth. Although Tellus and Terra are hardly distinguishable during the Imperial era, the scholar Varro lists Tellus as one of the di selecti, the twenty principal gods of Rome, and one of the twelve agricultural deities. She is regularly associated with Ceres in rituals pertaining to the earth, the attributes of Tellus were the cornucopia, or bunches of flowers or fruit. Her male complement was a sky god such as Caelus or a form of Jupiter, a male counterpart Tellumo or Tellurus is mentioned, though rarely. Her Greek counterpart is Gaia, and among the Etruscans she was Cel, the word tellus, telluris is also a Latin common noun for land, territory, earth, as is terra, earth, ground. In literary uses, particularly in poetry, it may be ambiguous as to whether the goddess and this article preserves the usage of the ancient sources regarding Tellus or Terra. The two words terra and tellus are thought to derive from the formulaic phrase tersa tellus, meaning dry land, the etymology of tellus is uncertain, it is perhaps related to Sanskrit talam, plain ground. The 4th-century AD Latin commentator Servius distinguishes between tellus and terra in usage, Terra, he says, is properly used of the elementum, earth as one of the four classical elements with air, water, and fire. Tellus is the goddess, whose name can be substituted for her functional sphere the earth, just as the name Vulcanus is used for fire, Ceres for produce, Tellus thus refers to the guardian deity of Earth and by extension the globe itself. Tellus may be an aspect of the numen called Dea Dia by the Arval priests, Varro identifies Terra Mater with Ceres, Not without cause was the Earth called Mater and Ceres. It was believed that those who cultivated her led a pious and useful life, ovid distinguishes between Tellus as the locus of growth, and Ceres as its causa. Mater, the Latin word for mother, is used as an honorific for goddesses, including Vesta. Mother therefore expresses the respect that one would owe a mother, though Tellus, the Temple of Tellus was the most prominent landmark of the Carinae, a fashionable neighborhood on the Oppian Hill. It was near homes belonging to Pompey and to the Cicero family, the temple was the result of a votum made in 268 BC by Publius Sempronius Sophus when an earthquake struck during a battle with the Picenes. Others say it was built by the Roman people and it occupied the former site of a house belonging to Spurius Cassius, which had been torn down when he was executed in 485 BC for attempting to make himself king. The temple constructed by Sophus more than two centuries later was most likely a rebuilding of the peoples, the anniversary of its dedication was December 13. A mysterious object called the magmentarium was stored in the temple, a statue of Quintus Cicero, set up by his brother Marcus, was among those that stood on the temple grounds. Cicero claims that the proximity of his property caused some Romans to assume he had a responsibility to maintain the temple
28.
Neptune (mythology)
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Neptune was the god of freshwater and the sea in Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon, in the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, the brothers presided over the realms of Heaven, the earthly world, and the Underworld. Depictions of Neptune in Roman mosaics, especially those of North Africa, are influenced by Hellenistic conventions, Neptune was likely associated with fresh water springs before the sea. Like Poseidon, Neptune was worshipped by the Romans also as a god of horses, under the name Neptunus Equester, Neptune is the creator of horses and is the god of the sea as well as the owner of a powerful weapon, the Trident. Poseidon is the greek Neptune and is one of the big three gods Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon and he accidentally created horses when he had an affair with Medusa, and also created a boy who roams the seas as a pirate past the pillar of Hercules. The etymology of Latin Neptunus is unclear and disputed, the ancient grammarian Varro derived the name from nuptus i. e. covering, with a more or less explicit allusion to the nuptiae, marriage of Heaven and Earth. Among modern scholars Paul Kretschmer proposed a derivation from IE *neptu- moist substance, similarly Raymond Bloch supposed it might be an adjectival form in -no from *nuptu-, meaning he who is moist. Georges Dumézil though remarked words deriving root *nep- are not attested in IE languages other than Vedic and he proposed an etymology that brings together Neptunus with Vedic and Avestan theonyms Apam Napat, Apam Napá and Old Irish theonym Nechtan, all meaning descendant of the waters. By using the approach the Indo-Iranian, Avestan and Irish figures would show common features with the Roman historicised legends about Neptune. Dumézil thence proposed to derive the nouns from IE root *nepot-, descendant, IE root *nebh-, having the original meaning of damp, wet, has given Sanskrit nábhah, Hittite nepis, Latin nubs, nebula, German Nebel, Slavic nebo etc. The concept would be close to that expressed in the name of Greek god Όυράνος, derived from IE root *h2wórso-, to water, irrigate and *h2worsó- and this etymology would be more in accord with Varros. The district was connected to the cult of the god, Messapus and Halesus. Messapus led the Falisci and others to war in the Aeneid, nepi and Falerii have been famed since antiquity for the excellent quality of the water of their springs, scattered in meadows. Nepet is considered a hydronymic toponym of preIndoeuropean origin widespread in Europe and from an appellative meaning damp wide valley, plain, cognate with pre-Greek νάπη, such an identification may well be grounded in the strict relationship between the Latin and Greek theologies of the two deities. Servius the grammarian also explicitly states Neptune is in charge of all the rivers, springs and he also is the lord of horses because he worked with Minerva to make the chariot. He may find a parallel in Irish god Nechtan, master of the well from all the rivers of the world flow out. Poseidon on the other hand underwent the process of becoming the main god of the sea at an earlier time. For a time he was paired with Salacia, the goddess of the salt water, Neptune was also considered the legendary progenitor god of a Latin stock, the Faliscans, who called themselves Neptunia proles
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Dionysus
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Dionysus is the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy in ancient Greek religion and myth. Wine played an important role in Greek culture, and the cult of Dionysus was the religious focus for its unrestrained consumption. He may have been worshipped as early as c, 1500–1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks, traces of Dionysian-type cult have also been found in ancient Minoan Crete. His origins are uncertain, and his cults took many forms, some are described by ancient sources as Thracian, in some cults, he arrives from the east, as an Asiatic foreigner, in others, from Ethiopia in the South. He is a god of epiphany, the god that comes and his festivals were the driving force behind the development of Greek theatre. The earliest cult images of Dionysus show a male, bearded and robed. He holds a staff, tipped with a pine-cone and known as a thyrsus. Later images show him as a beardless, sensuous, naked or half-naked androgynous youth, in its fully developed form, his central cult imagery shows his triumphant, disorderly arrival or return, as if from some place beyond the borders of the known and civilized. His procession is made up of female followers and bearded satyrs with erect penises, some are armed with the thyrsus. The god himself is drawn in a chariot, usually by exotic beasts such as lions or tigers and this procession is presumed to be the cult model for the followers of his Dionysian Mysteries. He is also known as Bacchus, the adopted by the Romans. His thyrsus, sometimes wound with ivy and dripping with honey, is both a beneficent wand and a used to destroy those who oppose his cult and the freedoms he represents. As Eleutherios, his wine, music and ecstatic dance free his followers from self-conscious fear and care and those who partake of his mysteries are possessed and empowered by the god himself. The cult of Dionysus is also a cult of the souls, his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings and he is sometimes categorised as a dying-and-rising god. Some scholars believe that Dionysus is a syncretism of a local Greek nature deity, Dionysus had a strange birth that evokes the difficulty in fitting him into the Olympian pantheon. His mother was a woman, Semele, the daughter of king Cadmus of Thebes, and his father was Zeus. Zeus wife, Hera, discovered the affair while Semele was pregnant, appearing as an old crone, Hera befriended Semele, who confided in her that Zeus was the actual father of the baby in her womb. Hera pretended not to believe her, and planted seeds of doubt in Semeles mind, curious, Semele demanded of Zeus that he reveal himself in all his glory as proof of his godhood
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Silvanus (mythology)
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Silvanus was a Roman tutelary deity of woods and fields. As protector of forests, he presided over plantations and delighted in trees growing wild. He is also described as a god watching over the fields and husbandmen, the similarly named Etruscan deity Selvans may be a borrowing of Silvanus, or not even related in origin. Silvanus is described as the divinity protecting the flocks of cattle, warding off wolves, hence Silvani were often referred to in the plural. Like other gods of woods and flocks, Silvanus is described as fond of music, the syrinx was sacred to him, later speculators even identified Silvanus with Pan, Faunus, Inuus and Aegipan. He must have associated with the Italian Mars, for Cato refers to him as Mars Silvanus. In the provinces outside of Italy, Silvanus was identified with numerous native gods, Sucellos, Poeninus, Sinquas and Tettus in Gaul, a Romano-Celtic Temple containing several plaques dedicated to Silvanus Callirius has been found at Camulodunum. Calaedicus in Spain the Mogiae in Pannonia Selvans in Etruria The Slavic god Porewit has similarities with Silvanus, the sacrifices offered to Silvanus consisted of grapes, ears of grain, milk, meat, wine and pigs. Virgil relates that in the very earliest times the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians had dedicated a grove, in works of Latin poetry and art, Silvanus always appears as an old man, but as cheerful and in love with Pomona. Virgil represents him as carrying the trunk of a cypress, about which the myth is told. Silvanus – or Apollo according to other versions – was in love with Cyparissus, the latter died of grief, and was metamorphosed into a cypress. In Edmund Spensers epic poem The Faerie Queene, Silvanus appears in Canto VI of Book I and his wyld woodgods save the lost and frightened Lady Una from being molested by Sans loy and take her to him. They treat her as a Queen because of her great beauty and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. Silvanus. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, catos De Agricultura, an offering to Mars Silvanus
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Leinth
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This is a list of deities and legendary figures found in the Etruscan mythology. The names below were taken mainly from Etruscan picture bilinguals, which are Etruscan call-outs on art depicting scenes or motifs. Variants of the names are given, reflecting differences in language in different localities and times, many of the names are Etruscan spellings of Greek names. The themes may or may not be entirely Greek, Etruscans frequently added their own themes to Greek myths. The same may be said of native Italic names rendered into Etruscan, which is often a topic of debate in the international forum of scholarship. Achle, Achile Legendary hero of the Trojan War, from the Greek Achilles, achmemrun Legendary king of Mycenaean Greece, from the Greek Agamemnon. Achrum, Acharum Legendary Greek river of the underworld, the Acheron, achvizr, Achuvesr, Achuvizr, Achviztr Unknown character associated with Turan. It may be one of the Samothracian Grest Gods or Cabeiri according to É, aita, Eita The Etruscan equivalent of the Greek god of the underworld and ruler of the dead, Hades. Aivas Tlamunus, Aivas Vilates Also Eivas or Evas, Etruscan equivalents of the Greek heroes Ajax, son of Telamon and Ajax, son of Oileus. Alchumena The Greek legendary character, Alcmena, alcstei, Alcsti The Greek legendary character, Alcestis. Alichsantre, Alechsantre, Alcsentre, Elchsntre, Elachśantre, Elachśntre, Elcste The Trojan legendary character, Alexandrus, alpanu, Alpan, Alpnu Etruscan goddess, whose name is identical to Etruscan willingly. Althaia The Greek figure Althaea, mother of Meleager, Ani Divinity named on the periphery of the Piacenza Liver as dominant in that section. It seems to correspond to Martianus Capellas Templum I, north, ruled by Janus, aminth Etruscan winged deity in the form of a child, probably identified with Amor. Amuce, Amuche, Amuke The Greek legendary figure Amycus of the Argonauts myth, apru Alternate Etruscan spelling of Aphrodite. Aril Etruscan deity identified with Atlas, atlenta, Atlnta The mythological person, Atalanta. Aturmica The mythological figure, Andromache, the Amazon, aulunthe Etruscan, the name of a satyr. Calanice A Greek name of Hercle, Kallinikos, calu Etruscan infernal god of wolves, represented by a wolf. Capne, Kapne The legendary hero, Capaneus, caśntra prophetess, Cassandra, of the Trojan War
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Vejovis
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Vejovis or Vejove was a Roman god. Romans believed that Vejovis was one of the first gods in this world, Vejovis was portrayed as a young man, holding a bunch of arrows, pilum, in his hand, and accompanied by a goat. Romans believed that Vejovis was one of the first gods to be born and he was a god of healing, and became associated with the Greek Asclepius. He was mostly worshipped in Rome and Bovillae in Latium, on the Capitoline Hill and on the Tiber Island, temples were erected in his honour. In spring, multiple goats were sacrificed to him to avert plagues, the studies about Vejovis are very poor and unclear. God of deceivers, he was called to protect right causes and to give pain and his temple was described as a safe haven for wrongly persecuted people, and dedicated to the protection of newcomers to Rome. He is also at times identified with Apollo, aulus Gellius, in the Noctes Atticae, written almost a millennia after, speculated that Vejovis was the inverse or ill-omened counterpart of Jupiter, compare Summanus. Aulus Gellius observes that the particle ve- that prefixes the name of the god appears in Latin words such as vesanus, insane. He has been identified with Apollo, with the infant Jupiter, in art, he was depicted as a youth holding a Laurel wreath and some arrows, next to a goat. He had a temple between the two peaks of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, where his statue had a beardless head and it stood next to a statue of a goat. There is no evidence that he was a god of expiation. Vejovis had three festivals in the Roman Calendar, on January,7 March, and 21 May
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Turan (mythology)
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Turan was the Etruscan goddess of love, fertility and vitality and patroness of the city of Velch. In art, she was depicted as a young winged girl. Turan appears in scenes of Etruscan bronze mirrors. She is richly robed and jeweled in early and late depictions and she is paired with her young lover Atunis and figures in the episode of the Judgement of Paris. She was commonly associated with such as the dove, goose and above all the swan, Tusna. Turan may be ancient but does not appear on the Piacenza list nor in Martianus list of Etruscan deities. The Etruscan month of July was named after her, although we know the Latin word for it. She was seen as the equivalent to the Roman Venus and the Greek Aphrodite and her name is the pre-Hellenic root of Turannos, so Turan can be viewed as “Mistress. Turan had a sanctuary in the Greek-influenced Gravisca, the port for Tarquinia, one inscription calls her Turan ati, Mother Turan which has been interpreted as connecting her to Venus Genetrix, Venus the mother of Aeneas and progenitor of the Julio-Claudian lineage. The Gallo-Roman Museum Exhibition on Etruscans, states that TURAN in Etruscan, Turan is one of the few Etruscan Goddesses who has indeed, survived into Tuscan Folklore. Called Turanna, she is said to be a spirit of love and happiness who helps lovers in love
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Venus (mythology)
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Venus is the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the mother of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles. The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman art, in the later classical tradition of the West, Venus becomes one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality. It has connections to venerari and venia through a common root in an Indo-European *wenes- or *u̯enis. Their common Proto-Indo-European root is assumed as *wen- or *u̯en- to strive for, wish for, desire, Venus has been described as perhaps the most original creation of the Roman pantheon, and an ill-defined and assimilative native goddess, combined with a strange and exotic Aphrodite. The ambivalence of her persuasive functions has been perceived in the relationship of the root *venes- with Latin venenum, in the sense of a charm, in myth, Venus-Aphrodite was born of sea-foam. Roman theology presents Venus as the yielding, watery female principle, essential to the generation and her male counterparts in the Roman pantheon, Vulcan and Mars, are active and fiery. Venus absorbs and tempers the male essence, uniting the opposites of male and female in mutual affection and she is essentially assimilative and benign, and embraces several otherwise quite disparate functions. She can give military victory, sexual success, good fortune, in one context, she is a goddess of prostitutes, in another, she turns the hearts of men and women from sexual vice to virtue. Images of Venus have been found in murals, mosaics. Petronius, in his Satyricon, places an image of Venus among the Lares of the freedman Trimalchios lararium, prospective brides offered Venus a gift before the wedding, the nature of the gift, and its timing, are unknown. Some Roman sources say that girls who come of age offer their toys to Venus, it is unclear where the offering is made, in dice-games, a popular pastime among Romans of all classes, the luckiest, best possible roll was known as Venus. Venus signs were for the most part the same as Aphrodites, Venus statues, and her worshipers, wore myrtle crowns at her festivals. Likewise, Roman folk-etymology transformed the ancient, obscure goddess Murcia into Venus of the Myrtles, myrtle was thought a particularly potent aphrodisiac. The female pudendum, particularly the clitoris, was known as murtos, as goddess of love and sex, Venus played an essential role at Roman prenuptial rites and wedding nights, so myrtle and roses were used in bridal bouquets. Marriage itself was not a seduction but a condition, under Junos authority. Venus was also a patron of the ordinary, everyday wine drunk by most Roman men and women, in the rites to Bona Dea, a goddess of female chastity, Venus, myrtle and anything male were not only excluded, but unmentionable
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Lares
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Lares, were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain, they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries or fruitfulness, Lares were believed to observe, protect and influence all that happened within the boundaries of their location or function. The statues of domestic Lares were placed at the table during meals, their presence, cult. Roman writers sometimes identify or conflate them with ancestor-deities, domestic Penates, because of these associations, Lares are sometimes categorised as household gods but some had much broader domains. Roadways, seaways, agriculture, livestock, towns, cities and those who protected local neighbourhoods were housed in the crossroad shrines which served as a focus for the religious, social and political life of their local, overwhelmingly plebeian communities. Their cult officials included freedmen and slaves, otherwise excluded by status or property qualification from most administrative, compared to Romes major deities Lares had limited scope and potency but archaeological and literary evidence attests to their central role in Roman identity and religious life. By analogy, a homeward-bound Roman could be described as returning ad Larem, despite official bans on non-Christian cults from the late 4th century AD onwards, unofficial cults to Lares persisted until at least the early 5th century AD. Archaic Romes Etruscan neighbours practiced domestic, ancestral or family cults very similar to those offered by later Romans to their Lares, the word itself seems to derive from the Etruscan lar, lars, or larth, meaning lord. Weinstock proposes a more ancient equivalence of Lar and Greek hero, Lares are represented as two small, youthful, lively male figures clad in short, rustic, girdled tunics – made of dogskin, according to Plutarch. They take an attitude, tiptoed or lightly balanced on one leg. One arm raises a drinking horn aloft as if to offer a toast or libation, Compitalia shrines of the same period show Lares figures of the same type. Painted shrine-images of paired Lares show them in mirrored poses to the left and right of a central figure, Lares belonged within the bounded physical domain under their protection, and seem to have been as innumerable as the places they protected. Some appear to have had overlapping functions and changes of name, likewise those invoked along with other deities by the consul Publius Decius Mus as an act of devotio before his death in battle are simply Lares. The titles and domains given below cannot therefore be taken as exhaustive or definitive, official Cult to the Lares Augusti continued from their institution through to the 4th century AD. They are identified with the Lares Compitalicii and Lares Praestites of Augustan religious reform, Lares Compitalicii, the Lares of local communities or neighbourhoods, celebrated at the Compitalia festival. The Lares Compitalicii are synonymous with the Lares Augusti of Augustan reform, Augustus institution of cult to the Lares Praestites was held at the same Compitalia shrines, but on a different date. Lares Domestici, Lares of the house, probably identical with Lares Familiares, Lares Familiares, Lares of the family, probably identical with the Lares Domestici. Lares Grundules, the thirty grunting Lares or Lares of the eaves, supposedly given an altar, according to Dionysius of Halicarnassus the place where the sow bore the piglets and Aeneas made the sacrifice was sacred, and forbidden to foreigners
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Leda (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Leda was daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius, and wife of king Tyndareus of Sparta. Her myth gave rise to the motif in Renaissance and later art of Leda. She was the mother of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and Castor, Leda was admired by Zeus, who seduced her in the guise of a swan. As a swan, Zeus fell into her arms for protection from a pursuing eagle and their consummation, on the same night as Leda lay with her husband Tyndareus, resulted in two eggs from which hatched Helen, Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux. Which children are the progeny of Tyndareus the mortal king, the split is almost always half mortal, half divine, although the pairings do not always reflect the childrens heritage pairings. Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine, one consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. It is also stated that Helen is the daughter of Zeus. Leda also had daughters by Tyndareus, Timandra, Phoebe. In Homers Iliad, Helen looks down from the walls of Troy, the narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of Lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at least in the Homeric tradition, both were mortal. Another account of the states that Nemesis was the mother of Helen. A shepherd found the egg and gave it to Leda, who kept it in a chest until the egg hatched. When the egg hatched, Leda adopted Helen as her daughter, Zeus also commemorated the birth of Helen by creating the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, in the sky. Leda and the swan and Leda and the egg were popular subjects in ancient art, in the post-classical arts, it became a potent source of inspiration. It is the subject of William Butler Yeats poem Leda and the Swan, march, J. Cassells Dictionary Of Classical Mythology. Peck, H. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, media related to Leda at Wikimedia Commons Warburg Institute Iconographic Database
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Hercules
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Hercules is the Roman adaptation of the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures, the Romans adapted the Greek heros iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition, Hercules is known for his many adventures, which took him to the far reaches of the Greco-Roman world. One cycle of these adventures became canonical as the Twelve Labours, one traditional order of the labours is found in the Bibliotheca as follows, Slay the Nemean Lion. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis, clean the Augean stables in a single day. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. Steal the apples of the Hesperides, Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors. The Etruscan form Herceler derives from the Greek Heracles via syncope, a mild oath invoking Hercules was a common interjection in Classical Latin. Hercules had a number of myths that were distinctly Roman, one of these is Hercules defeat of Cacus, who was terrorizing the countryside of Rome. The hero was associated with the Aventine Hill through his son Aventinus, Mark Antony considered him a personal patron god, as did the emperor Commodus. Roman brides wore a belt tied with the knot of Hercules. The comic playwright Plautus presents the myth of Hercules conception as a sex comedy in his play Amphitryon, during the Roman Imperial era, Hercules was worshipped locally from Hispania through Gaul. Tacitus records a special affinity of the Germanic peoples for Hercules, in chapter 3 of his Germania, Tacitus states. They say that Hercules, too, once visited them, and they have also those songs of theirs, by the recital of this barditus as they call it, they rouse their courage, while from the note they augur the result of the approaching conflict. For, as their line shouts, they inspire or feel alarm, some have taken this as Tacitus equating the Germanic Þunraz with Hercules by way of interpretatio romana. In the Roman era Hercules Club amulets appear from the 2nd to 3rd century, distributed over the empire, mostly made of gold, a specimen found in Köln-Nippes bears the inscription DEO HER, confirming the association with Hercules
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Mars (mythology)
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In ancient Roman religion and myth, Mars was the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in only to Jupiter and he was the most prominent of the military gods in the religion of the Roman army. Most of his festivals were held in March, the named for him, and in October. Under the influence of Greek culture, Mars was identified with the Greek god Ares, whose myths were reinterpreted in Roman literature and art under the name of Mars. But the character and dignity of Mars differed in fundamental ways from that of his Greek counterpart, Mars was a part of the Archaic Triad along with Jupiter and Quirinus, the latter of whom as a guardian of the Roman people had no Greek equivalent. Mars altar in the Campus Martius, the area of Rome that took its name from him, was supposed to have been dedicated by Numa, the peace-loving semi-legendary second king of Rome. Although Ares was viewed primarily as a destructive and destabilizing force, Mars represented military power as a way to secure peace, in the mythic genealogy and founding myths of Rome, Mars was the father of Romulus and Remus with Rhea Silvia. Like Ares who was the son of Zeus and Hera, Mars is usually considered to be the son of Jupiter, however, in a version of his birth given by Ovid, he was the son of Juno alone. Jupiter had usurped the mothers function when he gave birth to Minerva directly from his forehead, to restore the balance, Flora obtained a magic flower and tested it on a heifer who became fecund at once. She then plucked a flower ritually using her thumb, touched Junos belly, Juno withdrew to Thrace and the shore of Marmara for the birth. Ovid tells this story in the Fasti, his poetic work on the Roman calendar. In the earliest Roman calendar, March was the first month, Ovid is the only source for the story. The consort of Mars was Nerio or Nerine, Valor and she represents the vital force, power and majesty of Mars. Her name was regarded as Sabine in origin and is equivalent to Latin virtus, in the early 3rd century BC, the comic playwright Plautus has a reference to Mars greeting Nerio, his wife. A source from late antiquity says that Mars and Nerine were celebrated together at a festival held on March 23, in the later Roman Empire, Nerine came to be identified with Minerva. Nerio probably originates as a personification of Mars power, as such abstractions in Latin are generally feminine. Her name appears with that of Mars in an archaic prayer invoking a series of abstract qualities, the influence of Greek mythology and its anthropomorphic gods may have caused Roman writers to treat these pairs as marriages. The union of Venus and Mars held greater appeal for poets and philosophers, in Greek myth, the adultery of Ares and Aphrodite had been exposed to ridicule when her husband Hephaestus caught them in the act by means of a magical snare
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Saturn (mythology)
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Saturn is a god in ancient Roman religion, and a character in myth. Saturn is a complex figure because of his associations and long history. In later developments he came to be also a god of time and his reign was depicted as a Golden Age of plenty and peace. The Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum housed the state treasury, in December, he was celebrated at what is perhaps the most famous of the Roman festivals, the Saturnalia, a time of feasting, role reversals, free speech, gift-giving and revelry. Saturn the planet and Saturday are both named after the god, the Roman soil preserved the remembrance of a very remote time during which Saturn and Janus reigned on the site of the city before its foundation, the Capitol was named mons Saturnius. The Romans identified Saturn with the Greek Cronus, whose myths were adapted for Latin literature, in particular, Cronuss role in the genealogy of the Greek gods was transferred to Saturn. As early as Livius Andronicus, Jupiter was called the son of Saturn, Saturn had two consorts who represented different aspects of the god. The name of his wife Ops, the Roman equivalent of Greek Rhea, means wealth, abundance, the association with Ops though is considered a later development, as this goddess was originally paired with Consus. Earlier was Saturns association with Lua, a goddess who received the weapons of enemies destroyed in war. Under Saturns rule, humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labour in the Golden Age described by Hesiod, according to Varro, Saturns name was derived from satu, meaning sowing. Even though this etymology looks implausible on linguistic grounds nevertheless it does reflect a feature of the god. A more probable etymology connects the name with Etruscan god Satre and placenames such as Satria, an ancient town of Latium, and Saturae palus and this root may be related to Latin phytonym satureia. Another epithet, variably Sterculius, Stercutus, and Sterces, referred to his agricultural functions, agriculture was important to Roman identity, and Saturn was a part of archaic Roman religion and ethnic identity. His name appears in the ancient hymn of the Salian priests, the temple was consecrated in 497 BC but the area Saturni was built by king Tullus Hostilius as confirmed by archaeological studies conducted by E. Gjerstad. It housed the state treasury throughout Roman history, the position of Saturns festival in the Roman calendar led to his association with concepts of time, especially the temporal transition of the New Year. In the Greek tradition, Cronus was sometimes conflated with Chronus, Time, in late antiquity, Saturn is syncretized with a number of deities, and begins to be depicted as winged, as is Kairos, Timing, Right Time. The figure of Saturn is one of the most complex in Roman religion, G. Dumézil refrained from discussing Saturn in his work on Roman religion on the grounds of our insufficient knowledge. Brelich and G. Piccaluga as his basis, the main difficulty scholars find in studying Saturn is in assessing what is original of his figure and what is due to later hellenising influences
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Etruscan religion
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Etruscan religion and mythology were partly incorporated into classical Roman culture, including the Roman pantheon. However, in the last years of the Roman Republic the religion began to fall out of favor and was satirized by such public figures as Marcus Tullius Cicero. The Julio-Claudians, especially Claudius, who claimed a remote Etruscan descent, maintained a knowledge of the language and religion for a time longer. A number of works in the Etruscan language survived until the middle of the first millennium AD, but were destroyed by the ravages of time, decree of the Roman Senate. Around the mun or muni, or tombs, were the man or mani, in iconography after the 5th century BC, the deceased are shown traveling to the underworld. In several instances of Etruscan art, such as in the François Tomb in Vulci, a god was called an ais, which in the plural is aisar. The abode of a god was a fanu or luth, a place, such as a favi. There, one would need to make a fler, or offering, three layers of deities are portrayed in Etruscan art. Ruling over them were higher deities that seem to reflect the Indo-European system, Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife, and Cel, as a third layer, the Greek gods were adopted by the Etruscan system during the Etruscan Orientalizing Period of 750/700-600 BC. Examples are Aritimi, Menrva, and Pacha, and over time the primary trinity became Tinia, Uni, the Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them and these practices were taken over in total by the Romans. The Etruscan scriptures were a corpus of texts termed the Etrusca Disciplina and this name appears in Valerius Maximus, and Marcus Tullius Cicero refers to a disciplina in his writings on the subject. These works did not present prophecies or scriptures in the ordinary sense, the Etruscans appear to have had no systematic ethics or religion and no great visions. The Etruscans accepted the inscrutability of their gods wills and they did not attempt to rationalize or explain divine actions or formulate any doctrines of the gods intentions. These revelations may not be understandable and may not be pleasant or easy. He then quipped, regarding divination from the singing of frogs, and yet they do have by nature some faculty of premonition, clear enough of itself, but too dark for human comprehension. Divinatory inquiries according to discipline were conducted by priests whom the Romans called haruspices or sacerdotes, the Etruscans, as evidenced by the inscriptions, used several words, capen, maru, eisnev, hatrencu. They called the art of haruspicy zich nethsrac, a special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha or rath, sacred things
