1.
Cucurbita
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Cucurbita is a genus of herbaceous vines in the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae, also known as cucurbits, native to the Andes and Mesoamerica. Five species are grown worldwide for their fruit, variously known as squash, pumpkin, or gourd depending on species, variety, and local parlance. Other kinds of gourd, also called bottle-gourds, are native to Africa and belong to the genus Lagenaria and these other gourds are used as utensils or vessels, and their young fruits are eaten much like those of Cucurbita species. Most Cucurbita species are vines that grow several meters in length and have tendrils. The yellow or orange flowers on a Cucurbita plant are of two types, female and male, the female flowers produce the fruit and the male flowers produce pollen. Many North and Central American species are visited by specialist bee pollinators, the fruits of the genus Cucurbita are good sources of nutrients, such as vitamin A and vitamin C, among other nutrients according to species. The plants also contain phytochemicals, such as cucurbitin, cucurmosin. There is debate about the taxonomy of the genus, as the number of accepted species varies from 13 to 30, the five domesticated species are Cucurbita argyrosperma, C. ficifolia, C. maxima, C. moschata, and C. pepo. All of these can be treated as winter squash because the fruits can be stored for months, however. Cucurbita fruits have played a role in culture for at least 2,000 years. They are often represented in Moche ceramics from Peru, after Christopher Columbuss arrival in the New World, paintings of squashes started to appear in Europe early in the sixteenth century. The fruits have culinary uses including pumpkin pie, biscuits, bread, desserts, puddings, beverages. Pumpkins and other Cucurbita fruits are celebrated in festivals and in flower, Cucurbita species fall into two main groups. The first group are annual or short-lived perennial vines and are mesophytic, the second group are perennials growing in arid zones and so are xerophytic, tolerating dry conditions. Cultivated Cucurbita species were derived from the first group, growing 5 to 15 meters in height or length, the plant stem produces tendrils to help it climb adjacent plants and structures or extend along the ground. Most species do not readily root from the nodes, an exception is C. ficifolia. The vine of the perennial Cucurbita can become semiwoody if left to grow, there is wide variation in size, shape, and color among Cucurbita fruits, and even within a single species. C. ficifolia is an exception, being uniform in appearance
2.
Pumpkin
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A pumpkin is a cultivar of a squash plant, most commonly of Cucurbita pepo, that is round, with smooth, slightly ribbed skin, and deep yellow to orange coloration. The thick shell contains the seeds and pulp, some exceptionally large cultivars of squash with similar appearance have also been derived from Cucurbita maxima. Specific cultivars of winter squash derived from other species, including C. argyrosperma, in New Zealand and Australian English, the term pumpkin generally refers to the broader category called winter squash elsewhere. Native to North America, pumpkins are grown for commercial use and are used both in food and recreation. Pumpkins, like squash, are thought to have originated in North America. The oldest evidence, pumpkin-related seeds dating between 7000 and 5500 BC, was found in Mexico, since some squash share the same botanical classifications as pumpkins, the names are frequently used interchangeably. Pumpkin fruits are a type of botanical berry known as a pepo, traditional C. pepo pumpkins generally weigh between 6 and 18 pounds, though the largest cultivars regularly reach weights of over 75 pounds. The color of pumpkins derives from orange carotenoid pigments, including beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha and beta carotene, the word pumpkin originates from the word pepon, which is Greek for large melon, something round and large. The French adapted this word to pompon, which the British changed to pumpion and later American colonists changed that to the word that is used today, pumpkin. The term pumpkin has no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning, all pumpkins are winter squash, mature fruit of certain species in the genus Cucurbita. Characteristics commonly used to define pumpkin include smooth and slightly ribbed skin, circa 2005, white pumpkins had become increasingly popular in the United States. Other colors, including green, also exist. Pumpkins are grown all around the world for a variety of reasons ranging from agricultural purposes to commercial and ornamental sales. Of the seven continents, only Antarctica is unable to produce pumpkins, the biggest international producers of pumpkins include the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, the traditional American pumpkin used for jack-o-lanterns is the Connecticut Field variety. As one of the most popular crops in the United States,1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year, the top pumpkin-producing states include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California. According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 95% of the U. S. crop intended for processing is grown in Illinois, Nestlé, operating under the brand name Libbys, produces 85% of the processed pumpkin in the United States, at their plant in Morton, Illinois. In the fall of 2009, rain in Illinois devastated the Nestlé crop, Pumpkins are a warm-weather crop that is usually planted in early July. The specific conditions necessary for growing pumpkins require that soil temperatures three inches deep are at least 60 °F and soil that holds water well
3.
Pigment
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A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, many materials selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light. Materials that humans have chosen and developed for use as pigments usually have properties that make them ideal for coloring other materials. A pigment must have a high tinting strength relative to the materials it colors and it must be stable in solid form at ambient temperatures. For industrial applications, as well as in the arts, permanence, pigments that are not permanent are called fugitive. Fugitive pigments fade over time, or with exposure to light, pigments are used for coloring paint, ink, plastic, fabric, cosmetics, food, and other materials. Most pigments used in manufacturing and the arts are dry colorants. This powder is added to a binder, a neutral or colorless material that suspends the pigment. A distinction is made between a pigment, which is insoluble in its vehicle, and a dye, which either is itself a liquid or is soluble in its vehicle. A colorant can act as either a pigment or a dye depending on the vehicle involved, in some cases, a pigment can be manufactured from a dye by precipitating a soluble dye with a metallic salt. The resulting pigment is called a lake pigment, the term biological pigment is used for all colored substances independent of their solubility. In 2006, around 7.4 million tons of inorganic, organic, asia has the highest rate on a quantity basis followed by Europe and North America. By 2020, revenues will have risen to approx, the global demand on pigments was roughly US$20.5 billion in 2009, around 1. 5-2% up from the previous year. It is predicted to increase in a growth rate in the coming years. The worldwide sales are said to increase up to US$24.5 billion in 2015, pigments appear the colors they are because they selectively reflect and absorb certain wavelengths of visible light. White light is an equal mixture of the entire spectrum of visible light with a wavelength in a range from about 375 or 400 nanometers to about 760 or 780 nm. When this light encounters a pigment, parts of the spectrum are absorbed by the molecules or ions of the pigment, in organic pigments such as diazo or phthalocyanine compounds the light is absorbed by the conjugated systems of double bonds in the molecule. Some of the inorganic pigments such as vermilion or cadmium yellow absorb light by transferring an electron from the ion to the positive ion
4.
Carotenoid
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Carotenoids, also called tetraterpenoids, are organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria and fungi. Carotenoids can be produced from fats and other basic organic metabolic building blocks by all these organisms, the only animals known to produce carotenoids are aphids and spider mites, which acquired the ability and genes from fungi. Carotenoids from the diet are stored in the fatty tissues of animals, there are over 600 known carotenoids, they are split into two classes, xanthophylls and carotenes. All are derivatives of tetraterpenes, meaning that they are produced from 8 isoprene molecules, in general, carotenoids absorb wavelengths ranging from 400-550 nanometers. This causes the compounds to be colored yellow, orange. Carotenoids are the dominant pigment in autumn leaf coloration of about 15-30% of tree species, carotenoids serve two key roles in plants and algae, they absorb light energy for use in photosynthesis, and they protect chlorophyll from photodamage. Carotenoids that contain unsubstituted beta-ionone rings have vitamin A activity, CRT is the gene cluster responsible for the biosynthesis of carotenoids. Carotenoids belong to the category of tetraterpenoids, structurally, carotenoids take the form of a polyene hydrocarbon chain which is sometimes terminated by rings, and may or may not have additional oxygen atoms attached. Carotenoids with molecules containing oxygen, such as lutein and zeaxanthin, are known as xanthophylls, the unoxygenated carotenoids such as α-carotene, β-carotene, and lycopene, are known as carotenes. Carotenes typically contain only carbon and hydrogen, and are in the subclass of unsaturated hydrocarbons, probably the most well-known carotenoid is the one that gives this second group its name, carotene, found in carrots and are responsible for their bright orange color. Dried carrots have the highest amount of carotene of any food per 100 gram serving, vietnamese Gac fruit contains the highest known concentration of the carotenoid lycopene. Their color, ranging from yellow through bright orange to deep red, is directly linked to their structure. Xanthophylls are often yellow, hence their class name, the double carbon-carbon bonds interact with each other in a process called conjugation, which allows electrons in the molecule to move freely across these areas of the molecule. As the number of conjugated double bonds increases, electrons associated with conjugated systems have more room to move and this causes the range of energies of light absorbed by the molecule to decrease. As more frequencies of light are absorbed from the end of the visible spectrum. Carotenoids are usually due to the presence of long unsaturated aliphatic chains as in some fatty acids. The physiological absorption of these fat-soluble vitamins in humans and other organisms depends directly on the presence of fats, carotenoids are a common and often ornamental feature in animals. For example, the color of flamingos and salmon
5.
Traditional medicine
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Traditional medicine comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within various societies before the era of modern medicine. In some Asian and African countries, up to 80% of the population relies on traditional medicine for their health care needs. When adopted outside of its culture, traditional medicine is often called alternative medicine. Core disciplines which study traditional medicine include herbalism, ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, the line between alternative medicine and quackery is a contentious subject. Traditional medicine may include formalized aspects of medicine, that is to say longstanding remedies passed on. Folk medicine may also be referred to as traditional medicine, alternative medicine, indigenous medicine and these terms are often considered interchangeable, even though some authors may prefer one or the other because of certain overtones they may wish to highlight. Similarly, a remedy is a treatment to cure a disease or ailment that employs certain spices, vegetables. Home remedies may or may not have medicinal properties that treat or cure the disease or ailment in question, in the written record, the study of herbs dates back 5,000 years to the ancient Sumerians, who described well-established medicinal uses for plants. In Ancient Egyptian medicine, the Ebers papyrus from c.1552 BC records a list of folk remedies, the Old Testament also mentions herb use and cultivation in regards to Kashrut. Many herbs and minerals used in Ayurveda were described by ancient Indian herbalists such as Charaka, Latin manuscripts of De Materia Medica were combined with a Latin herbal by Apuleius Platonicus and were incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon codex Cotton Vitellius C. III. These early Greek and Roman compilations became the backbone of European medical theory and were translated by the Persian Avicenna, the Persian Rhazes, Arabic indigenous medicine developed from the conflict between the magic-based medicine of the Bedouins and the Arabic translations of the Hellenic and Ayurvedic medical traditions. Spanish indigenous medicine was influenced by the Arabs from 711 to 1492, islamic physicians and Muslim botanists such as al-Dinawari and Ibn al-Baitar significantly expanded on the earlier knowledge of materia medica. The most famous Persian medical treatise was Avicennas The Canon of Medicine, the Canon was translated into Latin in the 12th century and remained a medical authority in Europe until the 17th century. The Unani system of medicine is also based on the Canon. Translations of the early Roman-Greek compilations were made into German by Hieronymus Bock whose herbal, the book was translated into Dutch as Pemptades by Rembert Dodoens, and from Dutch into English by Carolus Clusius, published by Henry Lyte in 1578 as A Nievve Herball. This became John Gerards Herball or General Hiftorie of Plantes, each new work was a compilation of existing texts with new additions. Womens folk knowledge existed in undocumented parallel with these texts, forty-four drugs, diluents, flavouring agents and emollients mentioned by Dioscorides are still listed in the official pharmacopoeias of Europe. The Puritans took Gerards work to the United States where it influenced American Indigenous medicine, both Hernandez and Ximenez fitted Aztec ethnomedicinal information into the European concepts of disease such as warm, cold, and moist, but it is not clear that the Aztecs used these categories
6.
Plant
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Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
7.
Cell culture
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Cell culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. Most cells require a surface or an artificial substrate whereas others can be free floating in culture medium. The historical development and methods of culture are closely interrelated to those of tissue culture. Viral culture is related, with cells as hosts for the viruses. The laboratory technique of maintaining live cell lines separated from their original tissue source became more robust in the middle 20th century. In 1885, Wilhelm Roux removed a portion of the plate of an embryonic chicken and maintained it in a warm saline solution for several days. Ross Granville Harrison, working at Johns Hopkins Medical School and then at Yale University, published results of his experiments from 1907 to 1910, Cell culture techniques were advanced significantly in the 1940s and 1950s to support research in virology. Growing viruses in cell cultures allowed preparation of purified viruses for the manufacture of vaccines, the injectable polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was one of the first products mass-produced using cell culture techniques. Cells can be isolated from tissues for ex vivo culture in several ways, cells can be easily purified from blood, however, only the white cells are capable of growth in culture. Mononuclear cells can be released from soft tissues by enzymatic digestion with enzymes such as collagenase, trypsin, or pronase, alternatively, pieces of tissue can be placed in growth media, and the cells that grow out are available for culture. This method is known as explant culture, cells that are cultured directly from a subject are known as primary cells. With the exception of some derived from tumors, most primary cell cultures have limited lifespan, numerous cell lines are well established as representative of particular cell types. For the majority of isolated cells, they undergo the process of senescence. Cells are grown and maintained at a temperature and gas mixture in a cell incubator. Culture conditions vary widely for each type, and variation of conditions for a particular cell type can result in different phenotypes. Aside from temperature and gas mixture, the most commonly varied factor in culture systems is the growth medium. Recipes for growth media can vary in pH, glucose concentration, growth factors, the growth factors used to supplement media are often derived from the serum of animal blood, such as fetal bovine serum, bovine calf serum, equine serum, and porcine serum. One complication of these blood-derived ingredients is the potential for contamination of the culture with viruses or prions, current practice is to minimize or eliminate the use of these ingredients wherever possible and use human platelet lysate
8.
Animal testing
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This approach can be contrasted with field studies in which animals are observed in their natural environments. Examples of applied research include testing, breeding, defense research and toxicology, in education, animal testing is sometimes a component of biology or psychology courses. The practice is regulated to varying degrees in different countries, worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million used annually. In the United States in 2014, official statistics indicate that 834,453 vertebrates were used in research, in the European Union, these species represent 93% of animals used in research. If the same was true in the United States, then the number of animals used in research is estimated to be between 12 and 25 million. One estimate of mice and rats used in the United States alone in 2001 was 80 million, in the European Union in 2011,11.5 million animals were used in research. Mice, rats, fish, amphibians and reptiles together account for over 85% of research animals, most animals are euthanized after being used in an experiment. Supporters of the use of animals in experiments, such as the British Royal Society, the terms animal testing, animal experimentation, animal research, in vivo testing, and vivisection have similar denotations but different connotations. Literally, vivisection means the cutting up of a living animal, the word has a negative connotation, implying torture, suffering, and death. The word vivisection is preferred by those opposed to this research, the earliest references to animal testing are found in the writings of the Greeks in the 2nd and 4th centuries BCE. Aristotle and Erasistratus were among the first to perform experiments on living animals, galen, a physician in 2nd-century Rome, dissected pigs and goats, and is known as the father of vivisection. Animals have repeatedly been used through the history of biomedical research, the founders, in 1831, of the Dublin Zoo were members of the medical profession, interested in studying the animals both while they were alive and when they were dead. In the 1880s, Louis Pasteur convincingly demonstrated the theory of medicine by inducing anthrax in sheep. In the 1880s, Robert Koch infected mice and guinea pigs with anthrax, in the 1890s, Ivan Pavlov famously used dogs to describe classical conditioning. In World War I, German agents infected sheep bound for Russia with anthrax, between 1917 and 1918, the Germans infected mules in Argentina bound for American forces, resulting in the death of 200 mules. Insulin was first isolated from dogs in 1922, and revolutionized the treatment of diabetes, on November 3,1957, a Soviet dog, Laika, became the first of many animals to orbit the earth. In the 1970s, antibiotic treatments and vaccines for leprosy were developed using armadillos and this genetic research progressed rapidly and, in 1996, Dolly the sheep was born, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. Toxicology testing became important in the 20th century, in the 19th century, laws regulating drugs were more relaxed
9.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
10.
Agrippina the Younger
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Agrippina the Younger has been described by ancient sources and modern scholars as ruthless, ambitious, violent, and domineering. She was a beautiful and reputable woman and according to Pliny the Elder, she had a canine in her upper right jaw. Many ancient historians accuse Agrippina of poisoning Emperor Claudius, though accounts vary, Agrippina was the first daughter and fourth living child of Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus. She had three brothers, Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar and the future Emperor Caligula, and two younger sisters, Julia Drusilla and Julia Livilla. Agrippinas two elder brothers and her mother were victims of the intrigues of the Praetorian Prefect Lucius Aelius Sejanus and she was the namesake of her mother. Agrippina the Elder was remembered as a modest and heroic matron, who was the daughter and fourth child of Julia the Elder. Maternally, Agrippina descended directly from Augustus, Germanicus, Agrippinas father, was a very popular general and politician. His mother was Antonia Minor and his father was the general Nero Claudius Drusus and he was Antonia Minors first child. Germanicus had two siblings, a sister, named Livilla, and a brother, the future Emperor Claudius. Claudius was Agrippinas paternal uncle and third husband, Antonia Minor was a daughter to Octavia the Younger by her second marriage to triumvir Mark Antony, and Octavia was the second eldest sister and full-blooded sister of Augustus. In the year 9, Augustus ordered and forced Tiberius to adopt Germanicus, Germanicus was a favorite of his great-uncle Augustus, who hoped that Germanicus would succeed his uncle Tiberius, who was Augustuss own adopted son and heir. This in turn meant that Tiberius was also Agrippinas adoptive grandfather in addition to her paternal great-uncle, Agrippina was born on 6 November AD15 or possibly 14, at Oppidum Ubiorum, a Roman outpost on the Rhine River located in present-day Cologne, Germany. A second sister Julia Drusilla was born on 16 September AD16, as a small child, Agrippina travelled with her parents throughout Germany until she and her siblings returned to Rome to live with and be raised by their maternal grandmother Antonia. In October AD19, Germanicus died suddenly in Antioch and she lived on the Palatine Hill in Rome. Her great-uncle Tiberius had already become emperor and the head of the family after the death of Augustus in 14. After her thirteenth birthday in 28, Tiberius arranged for Agrippina to marry her paternal first cousin once removed Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Domitius came from a distinguished family of consular rank. Through his mother Antonia Major, Domitius was a nephew of Augustus, first cousin to Claudius. He had two sisters, Domitia Lepida the Elder and Domitia Lepida the Younger, Domitia Lepida the Younger was the mother of the Empress Valeria Messalina
11.
Claudius
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Claudius was Roman emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and he was born at Lugdunum in Gaul, the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy. Claudius infirmity probably saved him from the fate of other nobles during the purges of Tiberius and Caligulas reigns. His survival led to his being declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligulas assassination, despite his lack of experience, Claudius proved to be an able and efficient administrator. He was also a builder, constructing many new roads, aqueducts. During his reign the Empire began the conquest of Britain, having a personal interest in law, he presided at public trials, and issued up to twenty edicts a day. He was seen as vulnerable throughout his reign, particularly by elements of the nobility, Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position, this resulted in the deaths of many senators. These events damaged his reputation among the ancient writers, though more recent historians have revised this opinion, many authors contend that he was murdered by his own wife. After his death in 54 AD, his grand-nephew and adopted son Nero succeeded him as Emperor, Claudius was born on 1 August 10 BC at Lugdunum. He had two siblings, Germanicus and Livilla. His mother, Antonia, may have had two children who died young. His maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, Augustus sister and his paternal grandparents were Livia, Augustus third wife, and Tiberius Claudius Nero. During his reign, Claudius revived the rumor that his father Drusus was actually the son of Augustus. In 9 BC, his father Drusus unexpectedly died on campaign in Germania, Claudius was then left to be raised by his mother, who never remarried. When Claudius disability became evident, the relationship with his family turned sour, Antonia referred to him as a monster, and used him as a standard for stupidity. She seems to have passed her son off on his grandmother Livia for a number of years, Livia was a little kinder, but nevertheless often sent him short, angry letters of reproof. He was put under the care of a former mule-driver to keep him disciplined, under the logic that his condition was due to laziness, however, by the time he reached his teenage years his symptoms apparently waned and his family took some notice of his scholarly interests. In 7 AD, Livy was hired to tutor him in history and he spent a lot of his time with the latter and the philosopher Athenodorus
12.
Livia
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Livia Drusilla, also known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD14, was the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus throughout his reign, as well as his adviser. She was the mother of the emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the emperor Claudius, paternal great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula and she was deified by Claudius who acknowledged her title of Augusta. She was born on 30 January 59 or 58 BC as the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus by his wife Aufidia, the diminutive Drusilla often found in her name suggests that she was a second daughter. Marcus Livius Drusus Libo was her adopted brother and she was probably married in 43 BC. Her father married her to Tiberius Claudius Nero, her cousin of patrician status who was fighting him on the side of Julius Caesars assassins against Octavian. Her first child, the future Emperor Tiberius, was born in 42 BC, later, Livia, her husband Tiberius Nero and their two-year-old son, Tiberius, moved on to Greece. At this time, Livia already had a son, the future emperor Tiberius, legend said that Octavian fell immediately in love with her, despite the fact that he was still married to Scribonia. Octavian divorced Scribonia in 39 BC, on the day that she gave birth to his daughter Julia the Elder. Seemingly around that time, when Livia was six months pregnant, on 14 January, the child was born. Augustus and Livia married on 17 January, waiving the traditional waiting period, Tiberius Claudius Nero was present at the wedding, giving her in marriage just as a father would. The importance of the patrician Claudii to Octavians cause, and the survival of the Claudii Nerones are probably more rational explanations for the tempestuous union. Nevertheless, Livia and Augustus remained married for the next 51 years, after Mark Antonys suicide following the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Octavian had removed all obstacles to his power and henceforth ruled as Emperor, from 27 BC on, under the honorary title Augustus. He and Livia formed the model for Roman households. Despite their wealth and power, Augustuss family continued to live modestly in their house on the Palatine Hill, Livia would set the pattern for the noble Roman matrona. She wore neither excessive jewelry nor pretentious costumes, she took care of the household and her husband, always faithful, in 35 BC Octavian gave Livia the unprecedented honour of ruling her own finances and dedicated a public statue to her. She had her own circle of clients and pushed many protégés into political offices, including the grandfathers of the later emperors Galba and Otho. With Augustus being the father of one daughter, Livia revealed herself to be an ambitious mother and soon started to push her own sons Tiberius. Drusus was a general and married Augustuss favourite niece, Antonia Minor
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