1.
Nuremberg Chronicle
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Written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in German, translation by Georg Alt, it appeared in 1493. It is one of the early printed books—an incunabulum—and one of the first to successfully integrate illustrations. Latin scholars refer to it as Liber Chronicarum as this appears in the index introduction of the Latin edition. English-speakers have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in which it was published, german-speakers refer to it as Die Schedelsche Weltchronik in honour of its author. Two Nuremberg merchants, Sebald Schreyer and his son-in-law, Sebastian Kammermeister and they also commissioned George Alt, a scribe at the Nuremberg treasury, to translate the work into German. Both Latin and German editions were printed by Anton Koberger, in Nuremberg, the contracts were recorded by scribes, bound into volumes, and deposited in the Nuremberg City Archives. The first contract, from December,1491, established the relationship between the illustrators and the patrons, Wolgemut and Pleydenwurff, the painters, were to provide the layout of the chronicle, to oversee the production of the woodcuts, and to guard the designs against piracy. The patrons agreed to advance 1000 gulden for paper, printing costs, a second contract, between the patrons and the printer, was executed in March,1492. It stipulated conditions for acquiring the paper and managing the printing, the blocks and the archetype were to be returned to the patrons once the printing was completed. The author of the text, Hartmann Schedel, was a doctor, humanist. He earned a doctorate in medicine in Padua in 1466, then settled in Nuremberg to practice medicine, according to an inventory done in 1498, Schedels personal library contained 370 manuscripts and 670 printed books. The author used passages from the classical and medieval works in this collection to compose the text of Chronicle and he borrowed most frequently from another humanist chronicle, Supplementum Chronicarum, by Jacob Philip Foresti of Bergamo. It has been estimated that about 90% of the text is pieced together from works on humanities, science, philosophy, Nuremberg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire in the 1490s, with a population of between 45,000 and 50,000. Thirty-five patrician families comprised the City Council, the Council controlled all aspects of printing and craft activities, including the size of each profession and the quality, quantity and type of goods produced. Although dominated by an aristocracy, Nuremberg was a center of northern humanism. Anton Koberger, printer of the Nuremberg Chronicle, printed the first humanist book in Nuremberg in 1472, Sebald Shreyer, one of the patrons of the chronicle, commissioned paintings from classical mythology for the grand salon of his house. Hartmann Schedel, author of the chronicle, was a collector of both Italian Renaissance and German humanist works. Hieronymus Münzer, who assisted Schedel in writing the chapter on geography, was among this group, as were Albrecht Dürer and Johann
2.
Phenomenon
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A phenomenon is any thing which manifests itself. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as things that appear or experiences for a sentient being, the term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon. In contrast to a phenomenon, a noumenon can not be directly observed, Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in this part of his philosophy, in which phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms. In modern philosophical use, the phenomena has come to mean what is experienced is the basis of reality. He wrote that humans could infer only as much as their senses allowed, thus, the term phenomenon refers to any incident deserving of inquiry and investigation, especially events that are particularly unusual or of distinctive importance. According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, Modern philosophers have used phenomenon to designate what is apprehended before judgment is applied and this may not be possible if observation is theory laden. In scientific usage, a phenomenon is any event that is observable, however common it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe, record, another example of scientific phenomena can be found in the experience of phantom limb sensations. This occurrence, the sensation of feeling in amputated limbs, is reported by over 70% of amputees, although the limb is no longer present, they report still experiencing sensations. This is an event that defies typical logic and has been a source of much curiosity within the medical and physiological fields. A mechanical phenomenon is a phenomenon associated with the equilibrium or motion of objects. Some examples are Newtons cradle, engines, and double pendulums, in gemology, a phenomenon is an unusual optical effect that is displayed by a gem. Play-of-color, labradorescence, iridescence, adularescence, chatoyancy, asterism, aventurescence, lustre, group phenomena concern the behavior of a particular group of individual entities, usually organisms and most especially people. The behavior of individuals often changes in a setting in various ways. Social phenomena apply especially to organisms and people in that states are implicit in the term. Attitudes and events particular to a group may have effects beyond the group, in popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. The term is most commonly used to refer to occurrences that at first defy explanation or baffle the observer
3.
Eclipse
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An eclipse occurs during a syzygy. The term eclipse is most often used to either a solar eclipse, when the Moons shadow crosses the Earths surface, or a lunar eclipse. A binary star system can also produce eclipses if the plane of the orbit of its constituent stars intersects the observers position, for any two objects in space, a line can be extended from the first through the second. The latter object will block some amount of light being emitted by the former, as viewed from such a location, this shadowing event is known as an eclipse. Typically the cross-section of the involved in an astronomical eclipse are roughly disk shaped. The region of an objects shadow during an eclipse is divided into three parts, The umbra, within which the object completely covers the light source, for the Sun, this light source is the photosphere. The antumbra, extending beyond the tip of the umbra, within which the object is completely in front of the light source, the penumbra, within which the object is only partially in front of the light source. A total eclipse occurs when the observer is within the umbra, an annular eclipse when the observer is within the antumbra, during a lunar eclipse only the umbra and penumbra are applicable. This is because Earths apparent diameter from the viewpoint of the Moon is nearly four times that of the Sun, the same terms may be used analogously in describing other eclipses, e. g. the antumbra of Deimos crossing Mars, or Phobos entering Marss penumbra. For Earth, on average L is equal to 1. 384×106 km, hence the umbral cone of the Earth can completely envelop the Moon during a lunar eclipse. If the occulting object has an atmosphere, however, some of the luminosity of the star can be refracted into the volume of the umbra. This occurs, for example, during an eclipse of the Moon by the Earth—producing a faint, on Earth, the shadow cast during an eclipse moves very approximately at 1 km per sec. This depends on the location of the shadow on the Earth, http, //www. sciforums. com/threads/speed-of-eclipse-shadow. 53722/ An eclipse cycle takes place when a series of eclipses are separated by a certain interval of time. This happens when the orbital motions of the bodies form repeating harmonic patterns, a particular instance is the saros, which results in a repetition of a solar or lunar eclipse every 6,585.3 days, or a little over 18 years. Because this is not a number of days, successive eclipses will be visible from different parts of the world. An eclipse involving the Sun, Earth, and Moon can occur only when they are nearly in a line, allowing one to be hidden behind another. Because the orbital plane of the Moon is tilted with respect to the plane of the Earth. The Sun, Earth and nodes are aligned twice a year, there can be from four to seven eclipses in a calendar year, which repeat according to various eclipse cycles, such as a saros
4.
Deformity
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A deformity, dysmorphism, or dysmorphic feature is a major abnormality in the shape of a body part or organ compared to the normal shape of that part. Frogs can be mutated due to Ribeiroia infection, in many cases in which a major deformity is present at birth, it is the result of an underlying condition severe enough that the baby does not survive very long. Mythological creatures may have been created due to a deformative syndrome also, for instance, the Irish Mythology includes the Fomorians, who are almost without exception described as being deformed, possessing only one of what most have two of or having larger than normal limbs. Body dysmorphic disorder Congenital abnormality Disfigurement Polymelia Teratology Thousand Smiles Foundation C. Michael Hogan, national Council for Science and the Environment
5.
Births
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Birth, also known as parturition, is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. In some species the offspring is precocial and can move around almost immediately after birth but in others it is altricial, in marsupials, the fetus is born at a very immature stage after a short gestational period and develops further in its mothers wombs pouch. It is not only humans and mammals give birth. Some reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates carry their young inside them. Some of these are ovoviviparous, with the eggs being hatched inside the mothers body, in these large animals, the birth process is similar to that of a human, though in most the offspring is precocial. This means that it is born in an advanced state than a human baby and is able to stand, walk. In the case of whales, dolphins and porpoises, the calf is normally born tail first which minimises the risk of drowning. The mother encourages the newborn calf to rise to the surface of the water to breathe, most smaller mammals have multiple births, producing litters of young which may number twelve or more. In these animals, each fetus is surrounded by its own amniotic sac and has a separate placenta and this separates from the wall of the uterus during labor and the fetus works its way towards the birth canal. Humans usually produce a single offspring at a time, the mothers body is prepared for birth by hormones produced by the pituitary gland, the ovary and the placenta. The total gestation period from fertilization to birth is normally about 38 weeks, the normal process of childbirth takes several hours and has three stages. The first stage starts with a series of contractions of the muscular walls of the uterus. The active phase of the first stage starts when the cervix is dilated more than about 4 cm in diameter and is when the contractions become stronger, the head of the baby is pushed against the cervix, which gradually dilates until is fully dilated at 10 cm diameter. At some time, the sac bursts and the amniotic fluid escapes. In stage three, which begins after the birth of the baby, further contractions expel the placenta, amniotic sac, enormous changes take place in the newborns circulation to enable breathing in air. The umbilical vein, umbilical arteries, ductus venosus and ductus arteriosus are not needed for life in air, birthing in cattle is typical of a larger mammal. A cow goes through three stages of labor during normal delivery of a calf, during stage one, the animal seeks a quiet place away from the rest of the herd. Hormone changes cause soft tissues of the canal to relax as the mothers body prepares for birth
6.
Sacrificial lamb
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A sacrificial lamb is a metaphorical reference to a person or animal sacrificed for the common good. The term is derived from the traditions of Abrahamic religion where a lamb is a valued possession. In politics, a sacrificial lamb candidate is a chosen to contest an election despite the fact that he or she has little chance of victory. The political party thus appoints the person as a sort of sacrifice to the stronger opponent, for instance, Alan Keyes or Geraldine A. Ferraro. In 2004, Howard Mills was considered a sacrificial lamb candidate for the U. S. Senate from New York against Chuck Schumer. Very often, the lamb is a family member, partner, or old buddy of the protagonist, with whom he or she has an assumed intimacy. The term is almost always used critically, with the implication that the character was used transparently as a plot device, an example of this in early literature is Macaria in Heracleidae by Euripides. A more modern example is Anthony Edwards character, Goose, in Top Gun, when escorting cattle across a river suspected of having piranhas, farmers will sometimes sacrifice a sick or injured cow downstream before letting the herd enter the water
7.
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
8.
Religion in ancient Rome
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The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety in maintaining good relations with the gods. According to legends, most of Romes religious institutions could be traced to its founders, particularly Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second king of Rome, who negotiated directly with the gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, the way of the ancestors or simply tradition, as Rome came into contact with foreign cultures, and conquered them, foreign religions increasingly attracted devotees among Romans, who increasingly had ancestry from elsewhere in the Empire. The emperors promoted the Imperial cult around the empire, and this, ultimately, Roman polytheism was brought to an end with the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the empire. The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes, there was no principle analogous to separation of church and state in ancient Rome. During the Roman Republic, the men who were elected public officials might also serve as augurs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives, Julius Caesar became pontifex maximus before he was elected consul. The augurs read the will of the gods and supervised the marking of boundaries as a reflection of universal order, Roman religion was thus practical and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, I give that you might give. Even the most skeptical among Romes intellectual elite such as Cicero, for ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a shrine at which prayers and libations to the familys domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances, women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. The Romans are known for the number of deities they honored. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Greeks, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature, etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of magic, conspiratorial, or subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional morality and unity, one way that Rome incorporated diverse peoples was by supporting their religious heritage, building temples to local deities that framed their theology within the hierarchy of Roman religion. Inscriptions throughout the Empire record the worship of local and Roman deities. Because Romans had never been obligated to one god or one cult only
9.
Augur
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The augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. This was known as taking the auspices, the ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society—public or private—including matters of war, commerce, and religion. Roman augurs were part of a college of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position, at the foundation of the Republic in 510 BC, the patricians held sole claim to this office, by 300 BC, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. Senior members of the collegium put forth nominations for any vacancies, in the Regal period tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time, by the time of Sulla, they had reached fifteen in number. Augury sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Romes pax, fortuna, political, military and civil actions were sanctioned by augury, historically performed by priests of the college of augurs and by haruspices on behalf of senior magistrates. The presiding magistrate at an augural rite thus held the “right of augury”, magistracies were therefore religious offices in their own right, and magistrates were directly responsible for the pax, fortuna and salus of Rome and everything that was Roman. The effectiveness of augury could only be judged retrospectively, the divinely ordained condition of peace was an outcome of successful augury and those whose actions had led to divine wrath could not have possessed a true right of augury. Of all the protagonists in the Civil War, only Octavian could have possessed it, lucan, writing during the Principate, described the recent Civil War as unnatural - a mirror to supernatural disturbances in the greater cosmos. His imagery is apt to the principles of augury and its broader interpretation by Stoic apologists of the Imperial cult. In the Stoic cosmology, pax deorum is the expression of natural order in human affairs, according to Cicero, the auctoritas of ius augurum included the right to adjourn and overturn the process of law, consular election could be - and was - rendered invalid by inaugural error. For Cicero, this made the augur the most powerful authority in the Republic, Cicero himself was co-opted into the college only late in his career. In the later Republic, augury came under the supervision of the college of pontifices, the office of pontifex maximus eventually became a de facto consular prerogative. In ancient Rome the auguria were considered to be in equilibrium with the sacra and were not the way by which the gods made their will known. The augures publici concerned themselves only with related to the state. The jus augurale was rigorously secret, therefore very little about the aspects of ceremonies. We have only the names of some auguria, e. g, the first one required the sacrifice of red dogs and took place before wheat grains were shelled but not before they had formed. Of the second we know only the name implies a ritual related to the harvest. Augurium and auspicium are terms used indifferently by the ancient, modern scholars have debated the issue at length but have failed to find a distinctive definition that may hold for all the known cases
10.
Animal sacrifice
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Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of an animal to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Such forms of sacrifice are practised within many religions around the world, all or only part of a sacrificial animal may be offered, especially in the context of ritual slaughter. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until Late Antiquity, the Minoan settlement of Phaistos in ancient Crete reveals basins for animal sacrifice dating to the period 2000 to 1700 BC. The most common usages are animal sacrifice, zevah shelamim and olah, a qorban was an animal sacrifice, such as a bull, sheep, goat, deer or a dove that underwent shechita. Sacrifices could also consist grain, meal, wine, or incense, the Hebrew Bible says that Yahweh commanded the Israelites to offer offerings and sacrifices on various altars. The sacrifices were only to be offered by the hands of the Kohanim, before building the Temple in Jerusalem, when the Israelites were in the desert, sacrifices were offered only in the Tabernacle. After building Solomons Temple, sacrifices were allowed only there, after the Temple was destroyed, sacrifices was resumed when the Second Temple was built until it was also destroyed in 70 CE. After the destruction of the Second Temple sacrifices were prohibited because there was no longer a Temple, offering of sacrifices was briefly reinstated during the Jewish–Roman wars of the second century CE and was continued in certain communities thereafter. The Samaritans, a group related to the Jews, practice animal sacrifice in accordance with the Law of Moses. References to animal sacrifice appear in the New Testament, such as the parents of Jesus sacrificing two doves and the Apostle Paul performing a Nazirite vow even after the death of Christ. Christ is referred to by his apostles as the Lamb of God, some villages in Greece sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practice known as kourbania. Sacrifice of a lamb, or less commonly a rooster, is a practice in Armenian Church. This tradition, called matagh, is believed to stem from pre-Christian pagan rituals, Animal sacrifice was instituted in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a minor Latter Day Saint faction founded by James J. Strang in 1844. Strangs Book of the Law of the Lord deals with the topic of animal sacrifice in chapters 7 and 40, given the prohibition on sacrifices for sin contained in III Nephi 9, 19-20, Strang did not require sin offerings. Rather, he focused on sacrifice as an element of religious celebrations, especially the commemoration of his own coronation as king over his church, which occurred on July 8,1850. The head of house, from the king to his lowest subject, was to offer a heifer, or a lamb. Every man a clean beast, or a clean fowl, according to his household, while the killing of sacrifices was a prerogative of Strangite priests, female priests were specifically barred from participating in this aspect of the priestly office. Firstfruits offerings were also demanded of all Strangite agricultural harvests, Animal sacrifices are no longer practiced by the Strangite organization, though belief in their correctness is still required
11.
Glossary of ancient Roman religion
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The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans and this legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Western Church. For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities, for public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. For temples see the List of Ancient Roman temples, individual landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list, see Roman temple. The verb abominari was a term of augury for an action that rejects or averts an unfavourable omen indicated by a signum, the noun is abominatio, from which English abomination derives. At the taking of formally solicited auspices, the observer was required to acknowledge any potentially bad sign occurring within the templum he was observing, regardless of the interpretation. He might, however, take actions in order to ignore the signa, including avoiding the sight of them. The latter tactic required promptness, wit and skill based on discipline, thus the omen had no validity apart from the observation of it. The aedes was the place of a god. It was thus a structure that housed the image, distinguished from the templum or sacred district. Aedes is one of several Latin words that can be translated as shrine or temple, for instance, the Temple of Vesta, as it is called in English, was in Latin an aedes. See also the diminutive aedicula, a small shrine, in his work On Architecture, Vitruvius always uses the word templum in the technical sense of a space defined through augury, with aedes the usual word for the building itself. The design of an aedes, he writes, should be appropriate to the characteristics of the deity. Thus in theory, though not always in practice, architectural aesthetics had a theological dimension, the word aedilis, a public official, is related by etymology, among the duties of the aediles was the overseeing of public works, including the building and maintenance of temples. The temple of Flora, for instance, was built in 241 BC by two aediles acting on Sibylline oracles, the plebeian aediles had their headquarters at the aedes of Ceres. In religious usage, ager was terrestrial space defined for the purposes of augury in relation to auspicia, there were five kinds of ager, Romanus, Gabinus, peregrinus, hosticus and incertus. The ager Romanus originally included the space outside the pomerium. According to Varro, the ager Gabinus pertained to the circumstances of the oppidum of Gabii
12.
Blood rain
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Blood rain or red rain is a phenomenon in which blood is perceived to fall from the sky in the form of rain. Cases have been recorded since Homers Iliad, composed approximately 8th century BC, before the 17th century it was generally believed that the rain was actually blood. Literature mirrors cult practice, in which the appearance of rain was considered a bad omen. It was used as a tool foreshadowing events, but while some of these may be literary devices, there is now a scientific consensus that the blood rain phenomenon is caused by aerial spores of green microalgae Trentepohlia annulata. Recorded instances of blood rain usually cover small areas, the duration can vary, sometimes lasting only a short time, others several days. By the 17th century, explanations for the phenomenon had moved away from the supernatural, in the 19th century, blood rains were scientifically examined, and theories that dust gave the water its red colour gained ground. Today, the dominant theories are that the rain is caused by red dust suspended in the water or by the presence of micro-organisms, alternative explanations include sunspots and aurorae. Occurrences of blood rain throughout history are distributed from the ancient, the earliest literary instance is in Homers Iliad, in which Zeus twice caused a rain of blood, on one occasion to warn of slaughter in a battle. The same portent occurs in the work of the poet Hesiod, writing around 700 BC, the first-century Greek biographer Plutarch also recounts a tradition of a rain of blood during the reign of Romulus, founder of Rome. Roman authors Livy and Pliny record some later cases of blood rain, unusual events such as a rain of blood were considered bad omens in Antiquity, and this belief persisted through the Middle Ages and well into the Early modern period. And milk and butter were turned to blood, and Lothere, king of Kent, died. Tatlock suggests that although the Chronicle was written long after the events and he notes that although the rain may seem to be foreshadowing the death of Lothere, medieval chroniclers often noted unusual occurrences in their works merely for their general interest. From heaven here came a flood, three days it rained blood, three days and three nights. When the rain was gone, here came another token anon. Here came black flies, and flew in mens eyes, in their mouth, in their nose, their lives went all to destruction, such multitude of flies here was that they ate the corn, woe was all the folk that dwelt in the land. Thereafter came such a mortality that few here remained alive, afterward here came an evil hap, that king Riwald died. Many works which record occurrences of blood rain, such as that of Layamon, were written significantly after the event was supposed to have taken place. The 14th-century monk Ralph Higden in his work, the Polchronicon, recounts that in 787 there was a rain of blood, written in the 12th century, the Book of Leinster records many sensational events, including showers of silver, it records a shower of blood in 868
13.
Roman Senate
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The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat led by Lucius Junius Brutus. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the executive magistrates were quite powerful, since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power, the late Republic saw a decline in the Senates power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant, when the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople, the Senate in Rome ultimately disappeared at some point after AD603, although the title senator was still used well into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. However, the Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople, until the ancient institution finally vanished there c. 14th century, the senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, the early Roman family was called a gens or clan, and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that power naturally reverted to the patres. The senate is said to have created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class, Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium. Romes seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the men in the senate. During the years of the monarchy, the senates most important function was to new kings. While the king was elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king
14.
Marcus Claudius Marcellus
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Marcus Claudius Marcellus, five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War. Furthermore, he is noted for having conquered the city of Syracuse in a protracted siege during which Archimedes. Marcus Claudius Marcellus died in battle in 208 BC, leaving behind a legacy of military conquests, little is known of Marcus Claudius Marcellus’ early years since the majority of biographical information pertains to his military expeditions. The fullest account of Marcellus’ life was written by Plutarch, a Greek biographer in the time of the Roman Empire, according to Plutarch, Marcellus was a skilled fighter in his youth and was raised with the purpose of entering military service. Marcellus’ general education may have been lacking, in his youth, Marcellus quickly distinguished himself as an ambitious warrior, known for his skill in hand-to-hand combat. He is noted for having saved the life of his brother, Otacilius, as a young man in the Roman army, Marcellus was praised by his superiors for his skill and valor. As a result of his service, in 226 BC. The position of curule aedile was quite prestigious for a man like Marcellus, an aedile was an overseer of public buildings and festivals and an enforcer of public order. This is generally the first position one might take in seeking a political career. Around the same time that he became an aedile, Marcellus was also awarded the position of augur, by about the age of 40, Marcellus had already become an acclaimed soldier and public official. Following the end of the First Punic War, in which Marcellus fought as a soldier, in the fourth and final year of the war, Marcellus was elected consul with Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus. The previous consuls had pushed the Insubrians, the primary Gallic tribe involved, following such terrible defeats, the Insubrians surrendered, but Marcellus, not yet consul, persuaded the two acting consuls not to accept the terms of peace. As Marcellus and his colleague were ushered into office as the new consuls, the Insubrians mustered 30,000 of their Gallic allies, Marcellus invaded Insubrian lands up to the Po River, just as the previous consuls had done. From here, the Gauls sent 10,000 men across the Po and attacked Clastidium and this battlefield was the stage for Marcellus’ confrontation with the Gallic king, Viridomarus, which cemented his place in history. The confrontation, as told by Plutarch, is so heavy in detail that one might question the veracity of his narration, Plutarch recounts that, prior to the battle, Viridomarus spotted Marcellus, who wore commanders insignia on his armor, and rode out to meet him. Across the battlefield, Marcellus viewed the beautiful armor on the back of the enemy riding toward him. Marcellus concluded that this was the nicest armor, which he had prayed would be given by him to the gods. ”Marcellus extracted the armor from his fallen foe. The spolia opima, meaning ultimate spoil, is known in Roman history as the most prestigious, only a general who kills the leader of the opposing army prior to a battle may be honored with taking a spolia opima
15.
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus
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Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon, putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty in the Third Macedonian War. His father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the defeated and killed in the battle of Cannae. Lucius Aemilius was, in his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Paulii and their influence was immense, particularly due to their fortune and alliance with the Cornelii Scipiones. He was father to Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, after the fulfilment of his military service, and being elected military tribune, Paullus was elected curule aedile in 193 BC. The next step of his cursus honorum was the election as praetor in 191 BC, at the term of this office he went to the Hispania provinces, where he campaigned against the Lusitanians between 191 and 189 BC. However, he failed to be elected consul for several years, Paullus was elected consul for the first time in 182 BC, with Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus as junior partner. His next military command, with proconsular imperium, was in the next year, the Third Macedonian War broke out in 171 BC, when king Perseus of Macedon defeated a Roman army led by the consul Publius Licinius Crassus in the battle of Callinicus. After two years of results indecisive for either side, Paullus was elected again in 168 BC. As consul, he was appointed by the senate to deal with the Macedonian war, shortly afterwards, on June 22, he won the decisive battle of Pydna. Perseus of Macedonia was made prisoner and the Third Macedonian War ended, in 167 BC, Paullus received the senates instruction to go home and to first pillage Epirus, a kingdom suspected of sympathizing with the Macedonian cause. Paullus return to Rome was glorious, as a gesture of acknowledgment, the senate awarded him the nickname Macedonicus. This was the peak of his career, in 164 BC he was elected censor. He fell ill, appeared to be recovering, but relapsed three days and died during his term of office in 160 BC. His father Lucius Aemilius Paullus died in battle in 216 BC in the Battle of Cannae, the Aemilii Paulli were connected by marriage and political interests to the Scipios, but their role in his subsequent upbringing is not clear. He had been married first to Papiria Masonis, daughter of the consul Gaius Papirius Maso, from this marriage, four children were born, two sons and two daughters. He divorced his wife while his son was still a baby, according to Roman historians. Nevertheless, he was elected consul in 182 BC, since four boys were too many for a father to support through the cursus honorum, Paullus decided to give the oldest two boys up for adoption, probably between 175 BC and 170 BC. The elder was taken by a Quintus Fabius Maximus and became Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, thus joining his fortunes to the house of a national hero
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Perseus of Macedon
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Perseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He also has the distinction of being the last of the line, after losing the Battle of Pydna on 22 June 168 BC, Perseus was the son of king Philip V of Macedon and a concubine, probably Polycratia of Argos. He therefore feared that the throne pass on his legitimate younger brother Demetrius, not least due to interference from the Romans. Perseus thus staged a plot to make their father believe that his brother was a traitor, in 179 BC Philip V of Macedon died and Perseus took the throne. Although his role in killing Demetrius had not endeared him to the Romans, yet, Perseus other actions troubled the Senate. Soon Rome and Perseus went to war in the Third Macedonian War, blaise Pascal mentions in his Pensées that Perseus was blamed for not committing suicide, supposedly after his defeat at Pydna. The Antigonid kingdom was dissolved, and replaced with four republics, Andriscus of Macedon broke off the Roman rule for about a year, but was defeated in 148 BC by the Romans. In 146 BC, following the quashing of a rebellion led by the last Macedonian king Andriscus, the four republics were dissolved, in 178 BC, he had married Laodice V, the daughter of Seleucus IV from Syria. He became a metalworker, learned the Latin language. History of Macedonia Macedonian Wars Media related to Perseus of Macedon at Wikimedia Commons
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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
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Licinius Crassus
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Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Amassing an enormous fortune during his life, Crassus is, exempting Augustus Caesar, Crassus began his public career as a military commander under Lucius Cornelius Sulla during his civil war. Following Sullas assumption of the dictatorship, Crassus amassed a fortune through real estate speculation. Crassus rose to prominence following his victory over the slave revolt led by Spartacus. A political and financial patron of Julius Caesar, Crassus joined Caesar, together the three men dominated the Roman political system. The alliance would not last indefinitely due to the ambitions, egos, while Caesar and Crassus were lifelong allies, Crassus and Pompey disliked each other and Pompey grew increasingly envious of Caesars spectacular successes in the Gallic Wars. The alliance was re-stabilized at the Lucca Conference in 56 BC, after which Crassus, following his second Consulship, Crassus was appointed as the Governor of Roman Syria. Crassus used Syria as the launchpad for a campaign against the Parthian Empire. Crassus campaign was a failure, resulting in his defeat. Crassus death permanently unraveled the alliance between Caesar and Pompey, within four years of Crassus death, Caesar would cross the Rubicon and begin a civil war against Pompey and the optimates. Marcus Licinius Crassus was the second of three born to the eminent senator and vir triumphalis P. Licinius Crassus. This line was not descended from the Crassi Divites, although often assumed to be, the eldest brother Publius died shortly before the Italic War and Marcus took the brothers wife as his own. This grandfather was son of P. Licinius Crassus, the latters brother C. Marcus Crassus was also a talented orator and one of the most energetic and active advocates of his time. Cinnas proscription forced Crassus to flee to Hispania, after Cinnas death in 84 BC, Crassus went to the Roman province of Africa and joined Metellus Pius, one of Sullas closest allies. Marcus Licinius Crassus next concern was to rebuild the fortunes of his family, according to Plutarchs Life of Crassus, Crassus made most of his fortune through rapine and fire. Sullas proscriptions ensured that his survivors would recoup their lost fortunes from the fortunes of wealthy adherents to Gaius Marius or Lucius Cornelius Cinna, Crassuss wealth is estimated by Pliny at approximately 200 million sestertii. Some of Crassus wealth was acquired conventionally, through traffic in slaves, production from silver mines, Crassus bought property which was confiscated in proscriptions. He notoriously purchased burnt and collapsed buildings, Plutarch wrote that observing how frequent such occurrences were, he bought slaves who were architects and builders
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